The Hybrid's Wife

Chapter five

Vampires stood under the shade, all of them looking like they wanted to murder Klaus. Diego and Thierry looked particularly upset.

"Look man, let her go, and Marcel will cut a deal" Diego muttered, glaring at where Klaus was holding my arm.

"Diego" I shook my head. "Now isn't the time to be bold"

"No, I want to see how far this young vampire is willing to go" Klaus looked at me with amusement. I just gave him a look in return, rolling my eyes at his behavior, he always had to be the Alpha male.

"Klaus Mikaelson" Marcel's voice boomed through the courtyard, drawing everyone's attention.

"Marcel" Klaus looked up at his adopted son, a smirk on his face. "I've come for the French Quarter, hand it over peacefully, and I won't slaughter your loyalists"

"Hand over Eve and we might be able to talk" our son folded his arms.

"I will not be a bargaining chip" I glowered at the two men, however I did not withdraw from Klaus' hold. "Sort this out amongst yourselves"

"What about everything he's done?" Marcel shouted. "You could get out"

I glanced around at the surrounding crowd. "Send all the vampires away Marcel, this is a matter to be dealt with by the three of us"

Marcel sent a nod, signaling they follow my order. Hoods went up, every inch of skin covered as they crept out, sticking to the shadows as much as possible.

The man himself jumped off, landing in the courtyard, just feet away from the two of us.

"Why won't you let me add you to my side of the deal?" Marcel asked me.

"Klaus and I have a lot of issues, something you were well aware of" I said regretfully. "But we are trying to work it out, now that doesn't mean I forgive him for what he's done, but I ran away from him, something he has yet to forgive me for"

Klaus' arm tightened on mine. "Now onto the matter at hand, the French Quarter" Klaus strolled forward, pulling me along with him. "You can either hand it over peacefully, or my family is willing to wage war"

My head snapped in his direction, my eyebrows furrowing together. "War?"

"You might have built some backwater town into something, but you left in fact you ran from it, so I took the city, I made it what it is, this is my town" Marcel pointed a finger at Nik's chest angrily. "So you can start a war, I've got an army of vampires, the witches follow my rules, and there aren't any werewolves in the Quarter."

The air of confidence around Klaus didn't falter for a second. "Are you so sure the witches follow your little rules? That the werewolves stay out of the Quarter? That your vampires are all loyal to you?" Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Your witches were the ones who lured us here"

Marcel looked in my direction. I raised my free hand up in innocence "don't look at me, I came to visit you, I don't know anything he's planning"

"Don't underestimate my ability to scheme Marcel, within a week the Quarter will be mine, whether you like it or not" Klaus turned on his heel, leading us out of the building, I glanced back at Marcel one last time, mouthing 'I'm sorry' to him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, realizing that we weren't headed in the direction of the car.

"We're going for a stroll to see the damage caused by Marcel on our Quarter." He stated simply.

"Must you threaten war? Marcel did build New Orleans up, why take it away?" I questioned, rushing to keep up with his pace

"Because he's a child throwing a tantrum, and I seek to take back our home" he continued down the street. "He might have taken the reins of power for a while, but this is our city"

"He's our son, let him have it" I rolled my eyes at him.

"He has what I want, a kingdom, loyal followers, power" we ignored everyone else, focusing on the path ahead of us.

"You have me, your family, you have all the power" I tried to reason.

"I just need to figure out how he's controlling the witches, then I can unlink Hayley from Sophie Deveraux" he smirked at me, continuing like I hadn't said anything.

I huffed "why is Hayley linked to whoever Sophie is?"

"The witches are blackmailing us, if Sophie dies, so does the baby and Hayley" he explained.

"And you haven't just taken Sophie yet because?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's a very delicate situation, if I take her, she'll hurt the child" Klaus glared at a guy who brushed past my shoulder.

"Relax" I put my free hand on his arm, soothing the murderous thoughts that I knew were running through his head. "Can we go home?" I asked, hoping to distract him further.

"Yes"

...

Klaus and Elijah had gone, they said something about business to attend to, leaving me with Hayley inside the house. I found the girl in the kitchen, sat at the table, looking to be deep in thought, a bottle of something in her hand. The darkened windows looking ominous on the New Orleans night.

"Hey" I greeted gently, pulling a chair and sitting next to her.

"You know I was trying to figure it out, but I just can't, how can someone so kind be married to someone like him? He might have been different before, but I saw him murder an entire pack of hybrids, my friend will forever be hunted by him" she searched my eyes for an answer.

"when my mother became pregnant, she decided to keep the baby, now this was during a time when it was frowned upon to have a child out of wedlock, so she moved herself across the world, and settled in a small village. Around the same time another woman was pregnant also, she gave birth to a baby boy a month before my mother gave birth to me. The two women became best friends, I was welcome in their home, the boy in mine. As I began to grow up, my mother would have... suitors come to visit, now this special boy would take me away, even if it was just for a little while and we'd sneak to the falls, they became our haven, we'd sleep under the stars together, and he'd pick wildflowers for me. The boy often sought refuge at the falls when his father was particularly nasty, for some reason the man hated him, and by proxy I was hated too. Eventually I was no longer allowed to come to his home, and he was forbidden from ever seeing me again" Hayley was an avid listener. I just smiled fondly at the memories swirling to the surface.

"What happened?" She questioned.

I grinned "We snuck away, whenever we could, our bond only made stronger. He always had such a pure heart, full of love and an adoration for beauty. It's been locked away, he puts up walls, only letting them fall for the people he trusts the most" I smiled her way. "He let his walls down with you, even if it was for a second, the child you carry has bonded the two of you, and it isn't even in a romantic way"

Hayley sighed "I-I just I don't know if I'm ready to be a mother" she uncovered the label of the bottle, finally letting me see it.

Wolfsbane

"You were going to..." I watched as she pressed the bottle into my hands.

"I was, I thought I couldn't possibly have this child, not with him as a father, but if it's in your care, there's hope" she nodded at me, getting up and exiting the kitchen.