36 | WHATEVER IT TAKES

Hours later, it was night time and the Feast of Blessings parade begins. The witches march down the street, and the three currently-alive Harvest girls are hoisted above the crowd on thrones. The girls are each dressed for the element they represented in the Harvest – Monique in floral earth tones, for earth; Davina in bright red-orange, for fire; and Abigail in white, for air. Genevieve anxiously watches it all from the sidelines.

Khalia, as a favor to Elijah – who promised to stock her supply of vodka for the next ten years if all goes well, saving her the trouble of having to do it herself – was also in attendance. He also made her promise that she would watch over Hayley, because he didn't trust the witches. Feeling the exact same way, Khalia reluctantly agreed.

She still hasn't figured out what to do with Hayley.

Keeping her eyes on the doorway while hidden somewhere in the shadows, Khalia felt the itch to kill. All of these humans, all of this blood - warm and pulsing through the veins of the mortals. Out of nowhere, the feeling - the craving and the hunger - vanished as complete serenity washed over her, drowning the monster part of her.

Hayley has arrived then.

Ever since the realization of Hayley being her humanity, Khalia has been more aware of when the werewolf was in her immediate vicinity. It wasn't like she knew exactly where the werewolf was; just that she was close by.

Coming out of her thoughts, she looked back to where Elijah was welcoming the guests. Khalia's breath caught in her throat as she raked her eyes over Hayley's familiar figure. The vampire allowed herself to smile at Hayley. There was nothing wrong with smiling in the shadows. No one could see her.

The eldest living Original smiled at the werewolf, "Strange. I thought you'd be in the company of your colorful friends."

"Oh. You asked for a representative for the werewolves, so take me or leave me." Hayley deadpanned, eyes flickering around in search of her vampire. She, too, was now aware of the female Original's presence nearby. It irked her that she couldn't spot the accented woman. The werewolf's eyes flickered over the mass of people, desperately seeking her out. A low growl of frustration left her when she didn't find what she was looking for.

"You'll do." Elijah smiled at her once more. "But seeing as you are carrying my niece inside your womb, I acquired a chaperone to accompany and keep you safe this evening."

"I don't need a freaking-" Hayley cut herself off as her favorite Original vampire appeared next to Elijah. "Khalia." She breathed, sounding as breathless as she felt.

"Hayley." Khalia nodded politely, shoving her hands into the pockets of the black pantsuit she was wearing. "Drink? I saw water and apple juice somewhere."

"Sure." Hayley nodded, almost as if in a daze as she stared at the immortal girl. Nerves bubbled inside of her as they walked. What should she say?

"How's the baby?" Khalia asked out of nowhere, grabbing two glasses of apple juice as they passed by a table. She handed one to the pregnant girl.

"I thought you weren't talking to me." The werewolf retorted snidely, looking at her cup to avoid the vampire's eyes. Khalia didn't blame her. Still, it made her a bit uneasy.

"I talked to you the other night, but we can walk in silence if that's what you want." Khalia offered flippantly. She didn't want Hayley to know that she affected her, no matter how miniscule.

"You know I don't want that." Hayley snapped, glaring a little at the Original vampire. She deflated immediately. She has barely seen the Mikaelson sister lately and what little time they have right now, she didn't want to waste by arguing. "You told me to leave."

Hurt. There was so much hurt in those five words that it sliced right into Khalia's heart, causing it to ache.

"Because I can't give you what you want." Khalia gave her a rueful smile. Part of her wished she could give the werewolf wanted, because deep down inside, Khalia wanted it too. Her defenses started to weaken, and around Hayley that was never a good thing, so she strengthened her resolve and looked at the werewolf with hard eyes. "Besides, you left long before that."

Before Hayley could respond, Genevieve kicks off the after-party by greeting the guests, as everyone grabs drinks from the bar. "Welcome. As is our time-honored tradition, you are all welcome to deliver your offerings. It is our custom that no one should be turned away, no blessing be denied."

"Fake bitch." Khalia muttered in distaste, lips quirking upwards when Hayley laughed lightly in amusement.

Guests line up to bring their offerings to the Harvest girls. First is Hayley, who smiles at Davina and is about to give her gift to her, but someone comes up to the werewolf and places a hand on her. In a flash, Khalia is in between them, gripping the attendants hand in her own.

"Lay a hand on her again, and it will be last thing you ever do. Do you understand me?" Khalia's voice was something short of an inhuman growl, anger searing through her whole body, every cell alight with it.

"Yes, I understand." The attendant nodded, eyes wide with fear and her voice shook with that fear.

"Is there a problem here?" Genevieve asked as she appeared in Khalia's line of vision, causing the Original's rage to tenfold.

Khalia scowled at her, anger burning brighter in her veins as she spat her venomous words, "Why don't you just go find a bed and lie down in it? It's what you're good at."

"Come on, Khalia, let's just go." Hayley's voice washed over her like a soothing and calming wave, all of the heat inside of her dying down when the werewolf gently tugged her away by the bicep, the vampire following willingly. Another fire started to flare inside of her as Hayley's scent of earth and apples invaded her senses. She was so close and warm, it was intoxicating.

"That was mean." Hayley whispered, hands blindly searching for Khalia's.

Khalia shrugged indifferently, lacing her fingers with the werewolf's out of instinct, voice soft as she spoke. "I don't like her."

Their eyes locked and like two magnets being drawn together, they leaned in together. The space between them was to much. Closer and closer and closer. Lips millimeters from each other, desperately wanting nothing more than to finally touch.

Clearing her throat, Khalia snapped back to reality and took her hands back before taking a step away. The vampire ignored the look of immense hurt on the pregnant girl's face as she got herself under control. It was better this way.

"Where's Klaus?" Hayley asked in a desperate attempt to break the tense silence that settled between them.

"Probably making a spectacle somewhere." Khalia shrugged, grateful for the lifeline the werewolf threw her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please." Klaus' voice caught everyone's attention.

"Speak of the devil." Khalia murmured as she looked at her brother. Hayley took a step closer to the vampire, hoping she wouldn't notice. The immortal caught the action but let it slide. After all, she liked being this close to the werewolf as well.

"We are gathered here today to pay homage to our beloved witches, but one very special witch has been utterly ignored. That seems a little unfair to me." Klaus went on and Khalia narrowed her eyes at him. What was he up to now? The Hybrid hands Davina a small box as his offering.

"No. I don't want your gift." Davina declined his present and Khalia couldn't suppress her snort of amusement, no matter how hard she might have tried.

"I understand why you would reject me, given our past. In truth, many of us here today have been wronged in the conflict which my brother's treaty ended. Your friend Josh was involved in a plot to kill me. It would be well within my right to execute him here and now. But, in the spirit of solidarity, and for your favor, Davina, I hereby pardon him. Josh from this day forward, you have nothing to fear from me. Please." Klaus hands Davina the box again. This time she takes it before he leaves the two of them, and Josh beams in relief.

"Such a drama queen." Hayley rolled her eyes, but there was a pleased smile on her lips as they walked through the party.

"Comes with being a Mikaelson." Khalia smirked smugly.

Suddenly, Klaus catches up to them and wraps an arm around Hayley, doing an excellent job of pretending not to see the dark glare his sister was aiming at his head. "I hear you made quite an impression with the wolves. My arrangement with them was supposed to be a secret, and yet you forced it out of them. It's very bold. As was your decision to represent them here today, on your own. I trust you'll do nothing to harm our cause."

"Are you really gonna go behind Elijah's back?" Hayley spat, glaring at the Hybrid before looking at the Demon Mikaelson.

"I know." Khalia nodded to her unasked questioned.

Klaus wanted to stomp his foot in frustration, but settled for a disgruntled expression instead. After all, he’s the feared Original Hybrid. “Come on! What difference does it make to you as long as your people benefit?”

Hayley glared at him warningly, “If I find out that you are playing some game, trying to manipulate us for one of your schemes-”

Klaus interrupts her, much to her chagrin. “You know, you've come a long way, little wolf. I knew you were tough, I knew you were cunning, but I never knew you were a queen.”

Remembering what Klaus said earlier that day, about Hayley being werewolf royalty, she understood his comment even if she didn't know how or where Hayley fit in the Royal werewolf lines. In all honestly, Khalia didn’t want to know. She clenched her fists, locked her jaw and her eyes sweeping over the party in an effort to distract herself. Her eyes landed on a large group of drummers, who marches into the party.

More than a little confused, Khalia, Hayley, Elijah and Klaus linger nearby and watch them. Protective hackles rising instinctively, Khalia stepped in front of the pregnant werewolf to shield her from whatever was about to come.

“Happy Fête des Bénédictions. We have a message for all of you from Marcel Gerard.” The lead drummer announces.

“This can not be good.” Khalia told her siblings and Hayley in a low voice, all of them hearing her perfectly thanks to their supernatural hearing. They all nodded in agreement.

The rest of the crowd frowns, and everyone starts whispering to each other. All of the drummers take out straight razors and slice their wrists open, bleeding all over the floor. The vampires in the room start to get antsy and vamp-out at the smell of blood. Khalia pulls Hayley close to her, wrapping her arms around her as best she could – the werewolf going willingly and happily, all but feeling like she was ascending to heaven with Khalia this close to her and holding her oh-so-tenderly.

“Control yourselves. This is a vulgar trick.” He shouts to the crowd, but Khalia knew it was in vein. She knows about a vampires hunger for blood. She saw it, experience it for a while, but Kol struggled with control for his bloodlust until the day of his death. Khalia never had any problems with her control – unless being starved for a few days, but that was never a problem – but she always preferred to let her inhibitions go. “We do not violate our agreement.”

The lights suddenly go out, and the vampires start feeding on the drummers, as well as other humans at the party. The crowd dissolves into chaos. Khalia lets her vampire eyes and fangs come to the surface, sharp eyes glancing around. She wanted to get Hayley out of here,  but didn’t want to risk not seeing someone clearly in the dark and hurting Hayley or the baby. So, she stood right where she was.

When a vampire got to close for comfort, she hisses dangerously and growled darkly – Hayley gripping her tighter every time she did so. They promptly sped in another direction. Not even a starving vampire would be crazy enough to try and attack the Demon Mikaelson.  The chaos continues, and when the lights switch back on, there are dozens of dead and injured humans lying on the ground. On the walls, someone has written THERE WILL BE NO PEACE on the wall.

Rage flared through Khalia’s chest at the sight. Her attention was quickly turned back to the werewolf in her arms.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Khalia pulled away from her, but kept a hold of her arms. Her eyes frantically searched over every inch of Hayley.

"Yeah," Hayley whispered, nodding her head. She mentally scolded herself. Now was definitely not the time to start swooning over the fact that Khalia called her sweetheart for the first time in weeks. It was probably just a reflex. That didn't stop her heart from doubling its already thundering pace or her stomach fluttering.

"Good." Khalia let out a sigh of relief with her whole body as she pulled Hayley closer to her again, cradling the werewolf against her chest protectively. The Original's heart was still hammering against her ribcage, a mix of adrenaline and fear for Hayley's life searing through her veins. The only thing that kept her from going off the rails and started ripping through the mortals that were still alive around her, was the fact that Hayley is in her arms. Safe, alive and protected.

Elijah stepped closer to the two, looking them up and down. "Is she alright?"

"Yes." Khalia nodded, chin moving against Hayley’s head. Hayley, who had no intention of moving from Khalia’s shoulder ever, was upset when she was let go of and handed over to Elijah. "Keep her safe for me."

Elijah looked at his sister with wide, and a little frantic, eyes. "Khalia, whatever you are thinking of doing, please, don't."

The female Original clenched her jaw tightly, giving her brother a calm look, but her eyes gave her away. It was alight with a dark and murderous fire and the noble Original almost flinched at the sight.

"No peace, right?" The smirk on her lips was feral, the glint in her eyes turning into something crazy and deranged. Her eyes flashed to Hayley for a second and her face softened considerably. When she looked back at her brother, her resolve and face was set in stone. "No matter what, keep her safe. I'm trusting you, Elijah."

Elijah opened his mouth to try and stop his sister, but she vanished into the night before he could utter a letter.

***

Finding them was a lot easier than Khalia expected. They – Marcel together with a lackey named Thierry –  were toasting glasses and it fueled Khalia’s anger and bloodlust. The Demon Mikaelson sped to them, ripping out Thierry’s heart before either of them had the chance to register her presence. His blood heart and lifeless body fell to the guard with a satisfying thud.

But Khalia was far from done. She sped to Marcel, grabbing him by the throat with a bloody hand, lifting him slightly. A cruel grin curled on her lips as the older vampire watched the younger one struggle for breath. She gripped his neck even tighter.

“Khalia, let him go.” Elijah’s voice came from behind her.

Khalia turned to him; Marcel still gripped up in the air and her face darkened impossibly as her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t I tell you to watch over Hayley?”

“She went back to the Bayou, it wasn’t like I could stop her.” Elijah told his sister, pointedly ignoring the way her face fell from the news. He tried once again, “Now, sister, let him go.”

“Why? If I kill him now, most of our problems would solved.”

“Khalia, you’ve made your point. Now let the damned mongrel go this instant.” Elijah snapped as his patience depleted and frustration got the best of him, voice harsher than she’s heard it in a long time.

The female Immortal eyed him for a long, silent second with a perfectly arched brow. She looked back to Marcel, dark eyes locking on dark eyes. “I will let you go, this once, but mark my words, Marcellus: if you ever put Hayley in harm's way again, I will not be this gracious.”

Khalia then snapped his neck, letting his body drop to the ground near Thierry’s. She gave her brother a flat look. “Happy?”

“Overjoyed.” Came the dry reply.

Feeling the of the night’s events catching up to her as well, Khalia softened a little. “Let’s go home, big brother.”

“Very well,” He nodded. “But I need to make a stop by the Bayou first.”

“Oh, well in that case, I’ll meet you at home.” Her words were clipped and cold, but not outright harsh or nasty.

“Come with me.” Elijah suggested.

“No.” Khalia refused, but Elijah saw it coming, expected it even.

“You can’t avoid her forever, Khalia.” Elijah sighed as he looked at his broken sister, who looked more than a little lost. And he wasn’t speaking geographically.

“I don’t plan to.” She retorted smartly. She honestly didn’t, she just planned on avoiding Hayley until she figures out how to deal with the fact that Hayley seems to be who keeps the monster inside her at bay, and in the worst case scenario, who reigns it in and calms it down.

“The only way to solve a problem is to face it head on.” Elijah said, barely resisting the urge to shake his sister.

Khalia scoffed, “What are you, my shrink?”

“I’m whatever it takes for you to start healing again.” Elijah responded, robbing Khalia of her speech for a few seconds. She stood, looked down at her bloody hand and looked around for a sink. She spotted one in the far side of the room, sped to it and washed her hands as best she could without soap. There was a towel near the basin and she dried her hands on it before speeding back to her brother.

She tilted her head at him, “If I say yes, will you stop nagging?”

“I will.” Elijah nodded, hiding a grin at the sour look on his sister’s face. He didn’t care what Khalia says or swears, seeing Hayley will only make her feel better, will extinguish her anger and tame her bloodlust properly. Still silently musing on the effect Hayley’s mere presence has on his younger sister, he only sped of to the Bayou after Khalia left first with a might roll of her eyes.

In the Bayou, music plays as the werewolves all hang out together outside around a bonfire. Khalia’s nose turned up somewhat, feeling a little horror rising inside of her with the realization that Hayley lives out here, in these conditions. She pushed it down, the werewolf made her own choice to stay here and there is nothing Khalia can do about it. She followed Elijah as he made his way to what smelled like a human.

Huh, Khalia mused to herself, must be a werewolf descendent that never killed someone and went through the turn.

"Good evening, Eve." Elijah greeted politely, ever the gentleman.

"Hello Elijah." Eve greeted him with a smile. It dimmed somewhat when she noticed the woman by his side. "Who is this?"

Elijah had truly forgotten to introduce his sister. He was so used to her making a spectacle, and therefore letting everyone around her know who she is, that this almost subdued attitude of hers made him feel a little of kilter. "Forgive my manners and allow me to introduce my sister, Khalia Mikaelson."

"Oh my God." The human gasped with wide eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the Demon Mikaelson." Khalia waved her of impatiently, keeping her eyes nailed to a tree or a leaf or the dirt – anything but looking at Hayley. Eve, on the other hand, was struck dumb by the sheer normalness of the gesture. "Get over it already. It's old news."

Eve cleared her throat and looked at Elijah. “You don't need to keep coming out. I'd tell you if something was wrong. But she's doing okay. The girl has a natural gift for leading. She surprised everyone.”

Elijah smiles and watches Hayley laugh and talk to her family. “Not everyone.”

“Do you want to join us?” Eve offered sincerely.

“No, thank you.” He answered, glancing at his younger sister, who was pointedly staring at anything but the one person she never wanted to take her eyes off. “Don't tell her I was here.” He turned around and sped away.

Eve turned her gaze to Khalia, who was about to follow her brother. "And you?"

"I don't think-"

"Khalia?" The Original vampire cut herself off when Hayley's voice hit her ears.

Ever so slowly, she turned to the pregnant werewolf. Her pulse spiked, watching as Hayley’s tan skin glowed in the light of the fire, how it made her more breathtaking than usual, especially when a pleased but still hopeful smile curled on her lips. “What are you doing here?”

Khalia swallowed visibly, internally cursing her brother for just leaving her out here. She ignored how she breathed easier than she has in days as Hayley came closer to her. "I just want to make sure that Elijah brought you home in one piece."

The hope disappeared and Hayley’s face fell. Then the hope returned as she took a step closer to Khalia. "Can you stay for a little while? Please?"

The vampire wanted to take a step back, but found herself unable to move physically away from the werewolf. "Pretty sure I'm not welcome here."

"I want you here." Hayley immediately answered, no hesitation whatsoever.

Brown eyes locked on green ones, staring intently. Khalia didn’t know what to do. Should she stay? Should she leave? The vampire was torn. Part of her – the part that still didn’t know what to do with the realization of how important Hayley is to her – wanted to leave. The other part – the one that craves Hayley presence, wants nothing more than to bask in the warmth of her smile, to hold her hand tightly – wanted to stay.

Then she noticed how Hayley’s excitement and joy and hope slowly slipped off her face, the longer Khalia stayed quiet and the choice was suddenly so obvious to the vampire.

"Okay, sweetheart, I’ll stay for a while."

The way Hayley’s face lit up with a smile, brighter than the fire burning a few feet from them, was the best thing Khalia has seen in a long time.

***

i’m back you guys! sorry for the long wait. i hope it was worth it.

-Mixie