Lightning Strikes Twice

Eleven

"I swear, I'm going to bitchslap the head off the next person to shoot me with something." Méalla groaned, coming to on the floor of a rundown shack. She saw Hayley's wrists were zip tied to a stove leg while Méalla had the unfortunate luck of having a stake pinning her left shoulder to the wall.
"Are you alright?" Hayley's voice was concerned.
"I'm fine. Little me is too, from the heartbeat. Just got to rip this stake out in 3, 2, 1!" Méalla groaned as she yanked the stake out with her right hand.
"You look gray. When was the last time you fed?" Hayley asked.
Méalla ignored the question, considering she hasn't fed in probably a day and a half with everything happening.
"What happened while I was out?" She asked, rolling her shoulder to ease the cricks.
"Tyler injected some werewolf with my baby's blood to see if it would transition him into a hybrid. It did. Now they're outside plotting."
"Yes, it did Hayley. I can't let Klaus get that baby. If he does, he wins." Tyler came in, picking a knife up off the table. He walked towards Hayley.
"Then help me hide the baby from him!" Hayley pleaded. "Help me run!"
"He'll find you, he'll take your kid away, and he'll make more hybrid monsters. Slaves who do everything he says." Tyler continued advancing. Méalla could tell he wasn't focused on her so she started to slowly stand up to take him by surprise.
"Tyler, whatever you're thinking of doing, there has to be another way. You're not like this!" Hayley cried, eyes turning darker when they saw Méalla moving.
Tyler shook his head and he was close enough to Hayley that she stabbed him in the gut with a piece of wood.
"That was stupid!" Tyler yelled. Méalla started to move faster when she got knocked down by the door slamming open.
"Get away from her!" The man warned.
"What do you care?" Tyler said not turning around.
"I said get away!" The man repeated.
"You got what you wanted, now get lost!" Tyler hissed. Méalla got back on her feet, still woozy. "Dwayne, he's gonna kill me! And he's gonna kill you, too, he said that hybrids are too dangerous to live! You need to stop him!" Hayley screamed.
"Shut up!" Tyler yelled back. Dwayne moves in a blur, picking Tyler up and tossing him across the room. Tyler dropped the knife he was holding within Hayley's reach and Méalla sped over to her, helping her cut off the zip ties. Once they were off, Méalla helped Hayley up.
"Run." She pushed Hayley out the door. Hayley hesitated. "Go! I'll catch up with you." Méalla then turned back inside just to see Tyler rip Dwayne's heart out.
Méalla knew she was pretty weak from not feeding and being shot multiple times, so she decided not to fight. She turned and sped off, hoping to find Hayley and get them out of there. She didn't find the wolf, but she did find Klaus.
"Méalla! Are you alright?" Klaus held her arms.
"I'll be fine. You need to go find Tyler, he's going after Hayley and the baby." With that, Klaus sped off.
Méalla leaned against a tree to think when she heard a child screaming. Across the clearing, she saw a man hit a girl across the face. She wanted to go help but she heard Klaus, Elijah, and Hayley shouting. She sped back to the shack, stopping just behind the tree line.
"My big brother, so, you doubt my intentions? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, standing next to the noble Elijah, how can I be anything but the lesser brother? A liar, a manipulator, a bastard. That's all I am to you, isn't it? And Rebekah. And, judging by the way Hayley hangs on your every word, it's clear she feels the same way!"
Klaus gets a little quiet before continuing. "No doubt my child will as well. Maybe even if you have your way, Méalla's child as well."
Méalla's heart broke at the look on her brother's face.
"You know that will never happen, Niklaus." Méalla spoke quietly, moving from her place in the trees.
Elijah looked a little guilty and started to speak softly. "Brother, if"
"You've said all that needs to be said, Brother." Klaus said, the word brother dripping with venom. He held out his arms in defeat. "I'll play the role I've been given." Méalla saw Klaus turn away, but vamp speed back and bite Elijah. Wiping his mouth, Klaus said "You two enjoy each other's company. You'll have much to bond over, once the hallucinations and dementia set in. Consider that bite to be my parting gift to you both." He vamp sped away.
Méalla quickly caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder.
"Niklaus!" She spoke. He turned to her, hurt and bitterness in his eyes.
"What? Come to say even more about how i'll use my child for nefarious plots?" His words were brittle.
"No. I know you never had that thought cross your mind. I know how much your child means to you. I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I'm going to stay here for a few more minutes, but it's not because of Hayley or Elijah. I saw somebody who looked in need of help. A girl." Méalla hugged Klaus.
"I'll see you at home Little Quill." Few words but Méalla could hear the meaning behind them. She stood back as Klaus vamp sped off.

Méalla walked around the encampment, having walked back. She ignored the shack Hayley and Elijah were in, and started looking for the girl she had saw earlier. She was having no luck until she started hearing crying from a tent on the outer edge of the clearing.
Walking to the tent, she peeked in to see the girl from before, with a fresh bruise on her cheek. She was sitting on a small cot. Her dark hair was in a loose braid and her skin was extremely pale. Her face was red and blotchy from tears.
"Hey sweetie. Are you okay?" Méalla stayed at the tent entrance, not wanting to startle the girl.
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." The girl's voice was shaky and she was obviously lying through her teeth.
"It's smart not to talk to strangers, but if you let me come in, we can talk enough that I won't be a stranger. I promise I'm not going to hurt you." Méalla coaxed.
"Okay." The girl sniffled. Méalla slowly walked into the tent, coming to sit beside the on the cot.
"What's your name, sweetie?" Méalla asked softly.
"Alexandra but I like Alex better. What's yours?" The girl answered shakily. She had stopped crying but was still upset and curled into herself.
"Well Alex, I'm Méalla. Can you tell me about that bruise on your cheek?" Méalla was angry at the man she saw hit Alex.
"It's um, it's nothing. I just fell." Alex answered like she had been rehearsing.
"Alex, you don't have to lie to me. I saw that man hit you. Why did he do that?" Méalla said softly but sternly.
"That was my dad. It's my fault really, I was cleaning his watch but I dropped it and it broke." Alex answered in a small voice.
"Alex, it wasn't your fault. Does your dad hit you often?"
"No, only, only when I mess up. Times have just been really rough for him." Alex looked down, holding her knees to her chest.
"Alex, it's not your fault that he hurts you. He shouldn't at all. I know you feel like you're to blame but I promise you, it's not your fault. You don't deserve it."
Alex didn't respond, continuing to look down.
"You want to know something?" Méalla asked, trying a different tactic. Alex looked up.
"What?" The girl asked.
"My dad hit me too. It was hard, because he said it was for discipline and that he only did it to make me better. I thought I couldn't do anything about it. Now, I know I should've done something. To this day, I still feel like I deserved some of it. But I don't and I didn't."
"Really?" Alex asked quietly.
"Really. You don't deserve to be hurt for any reason. Is there anyone you can turn to for help?"
"No everybody is scared of my dad. He's strong and he always gets his way. And since my mom died, people don't want to get in the way of his grief."
"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. You know what? Whenever something happens, you come find me. I know there are scary people running around, but I'll keep you safe. Whenever something happens, you come to me, Méalla Mikaelson." Méalla said softly.
"Mikaelson? As in, the Mikaelsons?" Alex visibly got even paler, if that was possible.
"Yes. I know my family has a reputation for being evil but we're not as bad as we seem. If it makes you feel better, if you don't want to come to a Mikaelson, you can go to a lady named Hayley Marshall. Would you like to come meet her? I promise nobody will hurt you." Méalla felt a strange protectiveness over this girl, who've she's barely known for an hour.
"Okay." Alex nodded. Méalla slowly reached her hand out and Alex tentatively took it in her own. When Méalla stood up, Alex's eyes grew wide at her visible bump.
"Are you having a baby?" Méalla chuckled at the expression on Alex's face.
"Yes, I am."
Alex and Méalla walked slowly through the encampment, talking about Alex's favorite places when they came to the shack.
"This is where Hayley is. And my brother Elijah."
Alex cling to Méalla's hand and stood behind her a little bit.
"Hayley? Elijah? I have someone I'd like you to meet." Hayley and Elijah looked up at Méalla's words.
"This is Alex, my new friend."
Alex waved slightly and moved behind Méalla's legs a little more.
"She was telling me about all the cool places here in the bayou."
"Hi there Alex. I'm Hayley." Hayley smiles gently.
"Méalla, can we talk outside?" Hayley asked. With a look towards Alex, who moved closer to Elijah, Méalla nodded and went onto the porch.
"I'm sorry, bringing a kid here but I saw her dad hit her and it's not the first time so I wanted her to meet you because I told her to come to me or you if something happened." Méalla launched into a quiet explanation.
"I figured. I know you know Klaus best. Was his motive for keeping the baby really to make Hybrids?" Hayley asked softly.
Méalla shook her head. "No. He didn't even know that the baby could sire Hybrids. He would've told me something that big."
"Okay. I'm still mad at him for biting Elijah." Hayley responded.
Again, Méalla felt a twist of jealousy when Hayley talked about Elijah. She shook it off.
"Love, is there something else on your mind?" Méalla asked a contemplative Hayley.
"I found a bible with a family tree going back generations. I think I'm the baby who was last written down. The baby was born on my birthday, and it seemed to be a record of an Alpha line."
"Oh."