37 | STATE OF MIND AND HEART

“Khalia!” Klaus barged into his sister’s room, voice loud and enough to make her jump upright as she was yelled into consciousness, hair standing in every direction as she looked at him with eyes full of sleep.

“This better be bloody good, Nik. I was having a rather nice dream.” Khalia complained through a yawn, voice groggy with sleep, rubbing at her eyes before running her hands over the birds nest atop her head.

A sly smirk spread on the Hybrid’s face, momentarily forgetting why he screamed his sister awake. “Oh, did you now? Say, it didn’t happen to involve you and a certain werewolf girl with no amount of clothing, did it?”

Khalia hurled one of her pillows at her brother, cheeks flaming at the mere idea. The Hybrid caught the pillow easily.  “Not all of us are perverse like you are.”

“Well, how would I know what goes on in that dark and twisted mind of yours?” Klaus questioned innocently, tossing the pillow back on the bed, clasping his hands behind his back.

Khalia fell back down on her bed, threw an arm over her eyes as she searched for patience and strength. “Is there any particular reason why you came to scream me awake, Nik?”

“Right, well on to business then. Have you seen mother’s grimoire?”  Klaus asked his sister, voice hardening a little.

Khalia removed the arm over her eyes, looked at her brother like he’s lost a few marbles. “Uh, no. Why would I have? You know witch mumbo-jumbo was Kol’s area of expertise.”

At her answer, resignation welled up in the Hybrid. He knew it, but he asked his sister just in case he was wrong. Annoyance made a growl rise in his chest, rumbling up his throat and escape his lips in a harsh snarl of, “Elijah.”

Khalia snickered at the look on her brother’s face. “Do you think he’s finally figured out what you’ve been doing behind his back?”

The Hybrid pondered the question for a few seconds. “No, but if he hid mother’s spell book, then he certainly suspects something.”

Khalia nodded against her pillow, another yawn breaking through. “Right, well, good luck then, brother. I’m going back to sleep.”

“No, you’re helping me find it.” Klaus informed her matter-of-factly.

“And when exactly did I become your assistant?”

Klaus gave her a cheery grin, “Don’t make it sound so dreadful, Khalia, you can simply think of it as moral support.”

She closed her eyes, pulling her blankets up and over her shoulders. “I’ll pass, but thank you.”

“Please.” He uttered softly. Khalia’s eyes opened, locked on her brother’s, saw the clear blue eyes that was trained on her in silent question.

“I hate you.” Khalia groaned exaggeratedly as she threw her blanket off her, and got out of bed to get dressed.

Twenty minutes later, the two Mikaelson siblings were in Elijah’s study. Klaus was rummaging through his desk, desperately looking for the grimoire that Elijah took from him. Khalia was lounging on the couch lazily, content to watch her brother search.

“I heard you killed Thierry and went to visit Hayley in the Bayou last night.” The Hybrid mentioned casually in the middle of throwing out one of Elijah’s drawers.

Khalia directed a scowl at him, “Do you always lend your ears out to Elijah’s gossip?”

Klaus paused in his search, looking up to search for his sister’s eyes. “So, you’re not denying it?”

Khalia sighed, moving her hands behind her neck, lifting her feet up to Elijah’s coffee table that stood in front of the couch. “No, I’m not.”

“How did it go?” Klaus asked with unbound curiosity. All Elijah told him was that when he left the Bayou last night, their sister didn’t come with him. And when she returned the previous night – and Klaus knows because he was still up painting – it was well after midnight.

“I ripped his-”

Klaus cut her off with a roll of his eyes, “I could careless about how you killed Thierry. I’m talking about Hayley. How did that go?”

Khalia paused, then clacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You’re a nosey bastard, you know that, Niklaus?”

“Yes, I do.” He nodded shamelessly. “Now answer the question.”

A sound of exasperation left Khalia, wondering how this conversation turned into an interrogation, but nevertheless she answered. “It went fine. I sat with her by the fire while she did all the talking. I left after she fell asleep on my shoulder. Anything else you want to know, brother?”

Klaus processed the information, looking thoughtful and decidedly pleased with her answer. “How are things between you then?”

“I don’t know.” Khalia shrugged. It was the truth. She really didn’t know how things were between them. Hayley wanted something more from her, something she was in no state of mind or heart to give. And even if she was, the vampire wouldn’t want to risk the heart ache. She would protect Hayley and her baby until she takes her last breath, but anything else was completely out of the question. “Better, I guess.”

Klaus nodded and finally stopped prying, resuming his furious searching for their mother’s grimoire in Elijah’s study. The Hybrid was busy on one of the bookshelves, when Elijah entered the study. He stopped in the doorway, eying his two siblings – the one searching and the other lounging on the couch, without any alcohol in her immediate vicinity, much to his pleasant surprise – before walking into the room.

“Can I help you find something?” He asked his searching brother.

Klaus rounded on him with an extremely suspicious look. “Yes, in fact, I believe you can. I'm looking for a book, about yea big, filled with our mother's most powerful spells. It appears to have been misplaced.”

Elijah sits down at his desk. “How very mysterious.”

“Maybe this place is haunted, after all the people who were killed here.” Khalia added with a poorly suppressed snicker. Klaus gave his sister an annoyed look while the corners of Elijah’s lips turned upwards. They all knew Elijah hid the book from his younger brother.

“Indeed. At first, I feared the witches had succeeded in their efforts to obtain it, but considering their last attempt ended with me relieving a rather large, tattooed gentleman of his hands, I began to wonder if the thief wasn't a bit closer to home.” The Hybrid glares as Elijah nonchalantly scribbles in a notebook. “Don't make this harder than it needs to be, brother.”

“Well, admittedly, I did have a theory that your sudden interest in mother's grimoire was in some way related to whatever foolishness you've been conducting with the Crescent wolves. Therefore, I took it upon myself to carefully place it where naughty little fingers could not pry.” Elijah admitted blithely, giving his brother a flat look.

“Looks like he figured it out all by himself, Nik.” Khalia informed her brother gleefully.

Klaus shot his sister a glower, but didn’t take the bait of her teasing. He looked back at his older brother. “And here I thought you, of all people, would understand. I am simply trying to help those wolves! Play Samaritan to the abused. Champion to the underdog, so to speak.”

Neither sibling believed that for even half a second.

“How splendidly noble of you.” Elijah replied sarcastically.

“Have you ever considered that, like you, I am trying to keep Hayley safe? Using our mother's magic to empower her people so they are capable of protecting her?” Klaus tried to reason with his brother. He knew, however, he’d have more luck if he used the ‘protecting Hayley’ with his sister.

The eldest Original stands up and walks toward him. “Yes, unless, of course, they decide to seek retribution for decades held in exile, and Hayley will find herself in the middle of an uprising. One that will only provoke further violence. You see, you risk turning New Orleans into a war zone, brother. I won't let that happen.”

“The drums of war were beating long before we returned. I suggest you use a little less of this-” He makes a talking gesture with his hand. “-and a little more of these.” He points to his ears, and smiles fakely before sitting on the couch next to his sister. Khalia couldn’t suppress it any longer, dissolving into a fit of laughter.

Elijah walked out of his study, leaving his two childish siblings to keep each other company. He’s had quite enough of them for right now.

Klaus turned to his sister, one second away from pouting petulantly. “Why didn’t you take my side? This will only benefit your sweetheart.”

Khalia smacked her brother upside the head, using a good amount of her supernatural strength. “First of all, do not ever call her that again. Second of all, if her life is really in danger, I will dispose of the threat without hesitating, without anyone being able to stop me. Right now, you just want to build an army, so no, I’m not inclined to force Elijah into giving you the book. We both know he’ll hand it over eventually, just be a little patient.”

Before the Hybrid could retort, his phone rang. Curious at the narrowed eyes, Khalia peeked at the ID caller. She snarled when she saw the name. Marcel. Klaus picked up the phone and after exchanging exactly one sentence with each other, the Hybrid hung up.

He stood from the couch, looking at his sister, wiggled his phone at her. “I’m off to St. Anne’s.”

“Yes, I heard.” Khalia smirked mischievously. “Carmen has you on quite the leash, doesn’t she?”

“It’s Camille,” Klaus corrected for the umpteenth time. “And I’m not on a leash. If anyone here is on a leash, it’s you.”

Slightly insulted, Khalia frowned deeply. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

This time, Klaus smirked. “Exactly what I said. All Hayley has to do is bat her eyelashes  and smile prettily and you do whatever she asks.”

“No, I do not.” She denied indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh yes, you do.” Klaus outright laughed at his sister’s expression.

Khalia took a deep breath, reigning in her temper. She glowered up at her brother, “Nik, I think right now is the best time for you to become a missing person and fuck off.”

“So defensive.” The Hybrid wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, ignoring the look his sister sent him.

“Niklaus!” She snarled, shooting to her feet, and Klaus did as she told him, speeding away from the Compound as fast as he could.

***

Khalia had the Compound all to herself. She was a person that normally thrives on chaos and disorder, more often than not being the cause of it, but with the way things have become in New Orleans, she relishes in the quiet moments. The brief instances of peace and quiet she gets. And if her heart longed for a green-eyed brunette to be by her side, then that was no one’s business but her own.

Klaus was still at St. Anne’s and Elijah was in the Bayou to try and dissuade the werewolves from working with Klaus. Her eldest brother asked her if she’d like to come with, but she said no. Elijah didn’t push, seeing that his sister was in a relaxed mood – he wasn’t about to be the one that destroyed that.

The Original did normal, stupid things. She sent her laundry out, she made her bed, threw out her trash can that was full of empty blood bags and restocked the mini-bar table in her room.

Like always, the peace never lasted very long and she got a call from her oldest brother not an hour after he left. She pulled the device out of her jeans’ back pocket and picked up it with a grin, “Miss me already, Elijah?”

Elijah hated to be the one to ruin his sister’s mood, but she’d be much worse off if he didn’t tell her at all. “Khalia, there’s been a bomb attack on the Bayou.”

Khalia immediately spiraled into an epic state of panic, worry and fear.

“What? Is Hayley okay? Where is she? Elijah, answer me, for fuck’s sake.” Khalia ranted in fear and frustration  – feeling helpless and like someone was taking all of the air out of her lungs the longer she went without answers.

“Hayley is fine,” Khalia nearly collapsed from relief at her brothers words, but ultimately just stumbled into a chair, taking deep breaths to control her uneven breathing that bordered on hyperventilating, calming her unsteady heart and strengthening her shaking legs. “-completely unharmed, but she went after Marcel, thinking it is the vampires behind this attack.”

“She WHAT? How could you let her do that?” Khalia raged, fear and worry so powerful that her hands started shaking, her phone almost slipping from her grip.

“Let her?” Elijah echoed incredulously, a second away from rolling his eyes. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Khalia, but much like you, no one lets her do anything. She does what she wants.”

“Bloody hell, Elijah.” Khalia snarled in frustration, running a hand through her hair. “I’ll go look for her.”

She hanged up on Elijah, immediately dialing Hayley’s number. Luckily the werewolf picked up on the second ring. “Hayley Marshall, where the fuck are you?”

Ignoring the way her heartbeat tripped then sped up like she ran a marathon, the werewolf answered her vampire quickly. “I’m at Marcel’s loft.”

Khalia flicked her tongue over her teeth in annoyance, worry subsiding a bit. Marcel might be looking for a fight, but he’s not suicidal. He wouldn’t hurt Hayley after her warning last night, even less so knowing that she in on her way to his loft. “Stay there. I’m on my way.”

***

Hayley looked at the phone fondly for a second, before clearing her throat, turning back to Marcel with more than a little smug look on her face. She felt warm all over, even more confident than usual, knowing that Khalia was on her way to come and get her. “I figure that we have about five minutes – if that – before Khalia shows up, so I highly suggest that you finish talking before then.”

“What’s the deal with you two anyway?” Marcel asked her curiously. “As much as she kept Kol and his fangs away from me, she also never cared about anything else but him. So tell me, Hayley, what is it that makes you so different from anyone else in this world? What makes you so special?”

Hayley’s breath caught in her throat at the words, heart yearning for his words to be true. But she knew it wasn’t. She practically handed her heart to Khalia on platter, but the vampire threw it back in her face. Granted, when she left for the Bayou, she destroyed the fragile bond that was building steadily between them, but if Khalia just asked her to come back after she broke the curse, she would have. Klaus and Elijah have both asked her to come back, but it was Khalia that didn’t want to see her, so she stayed away. Her voice was icy when she spoke. “There is no deal with us, there’s nothing between us and there is nothing special about me.”

Her tone did nothing to dissuade Marcel. Hayley may not be able to see it, or might not even be willing to believe it, but Marcel could see clearly that Khalia Mikaelson cares about the werewolf. And it wasn’t because the woman is pregnant with her brother’s child. No, if that was the case, she would have done more to try and get to know him all those centuries ago when Klaus took him in.

This is something else. Something akin, but clearly much more powerful and stronger and bigger than what he shared with Rebekah.  Something that made him more scared of Khalia than he’s ever been in his life because there is no one in this world who fights as hard as a Mikaelson does for the people they care about.  Something that would make him protect Hayley whenever possible, because no one in this world is more dangerous as a Mikaelson with nothing left to loose. Having already lost her twin – who she loved more than anyone in this world, and a family that can take care of themselves, Khalia Mikaelson would have nothing left to loose and will become a full-fledged demon if she ever lost Hayley.

Marcel shrugged, not letting any of his thoughts show. “Well, you mean enough for her that she came here and ripped out my best friend’s heart and would have killed me if it wasn’t for Elijah, all just because you were at the feast last night and could have gotten hurt. It doesn’t matter to her that she was there to protect you. According to her, I put you in danger and had to pay the price for that.”

This conversation was really, really bad for her heart. She needed to get out of it. Right now. “Look, I don’t know anymore than you do about what goes on in the head of Khalia Mikaelson, never mind her heart.”

“But you want to.” It was a statement, not a question.

Hayley glared, but didn’t bother denying it or saying anything else towards the topic of her and the Original vampire. “How long have you known who I am?”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to answer him again with anything related to Khalia, he decided to get back to their first topic. “I saw how interested you were in those Crescents. After your little family reunion out at the old plantation house, I started to put two and two together.”

“Tell me something, Marcel. Did you kill my parents?” Hayley asked, regarding him with sharp eyes.

“There was in-fighting among the wolves. Your folks were laying low. Somebody turned on them. I honestly don't know who. I got there afterwards, found you in your crib.” Marcel answered honestly.

Hayley was doubtful. So he just decided to save her out of the goodness of her heart? She didn’t buy it. “Give me one good reason why I should believe anything that you have to say.”

“Believe whatever you want, but you were the last Labonair. I mean, could've been a lot of leverage for our side, but instead, I took you to Father Kieran.” Marcel told her. He pulled out a duffle bag and hands it to her.

The werewolf eyed the bag warily, “What's that?”

“Money, mostly. Stuff you need to start over someplace safe. Whatever happened in the Bayou, I'm not your guy. But, the way things are going? Eventually, I might have to be.” The vampire felt sorry for her, that she had to be pregnant from an Original and get stuck right in the middle of a city on the brink of war.

“So this is your grand plan?” Hayley raised a brow. “Get me out of town, and Khalia, Klaus and Elijah follow closely behind?”

Marcel didn’t know for sure about the brothers, but just based on Khalia’s over-protectiveness when it comes to the werewolf, he knew that the Original vampire would follow Hayley anywhere. “I can't say that wouldn't be a positive side effect.”

“So why don't you leave? Follow your own advice?”

“I was born here, Hayley.” He answered her easily.

“So was I.” She reminded him.

The next second, the door to Marcel’s loft was off its hinges and flew halfway across the open plan living space. In the doorway – or what was left of it anyway – stood one seriously pissed of looking Khalia Mikaelson. For a brief second, Marcel reconsidered leaving New Orleans. Her gaze zeroed in on him, eyes narrowing threateningly, and the next second his back was against a wall; an elbow pressed to his throat as obsidian vampire eyes bored into his.

“I warned you last night. Was my warning not clear enough?” Khalia hissed dangerously.

“I didn’t do it, I swear.” Marcel was still able to speak, the elbow not yet digging into his throat just yet. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hayley coming closer to them and tried to wave her way with his hands that were still free – protective or no, Marcel didn’t want Hayley anywhere near an enraged Khalia Mikaelson.

“Why should I believe you?” She snarled at him. Marcel saw Hayley advancing closer and closer, clearly not listening to his unspoken advice. Panic flared a little inside of him, what if Khalia accidentally hurt the werewolf while caught up in her rage? It was official, Marcel decided, Hayley Marshall – or Andrea Labonair, or whatever else the werewolf might go by – is completely and utter insane. Willingly going near an angered – and decidedly more demon than human at this point – Khalia Mikaelson was simply just not done.

But then, when the werewolf reached out, lightly grabbing Khalia’s wrists and pulling the Original off him, he nearly went into shock and his eyes almost fell out of his head when the vampire let her do it, went without any sort of objection even.

“I believe him.” Hayley said, looking into Khalia’s eyes dark vampire eyes, not even a little afraid. She squeezed the immortal girl’s wrist slightly.

Khalia took a deep breath, nodded before removing her hands from Hayley’s light grip.

Marcel stared. Nothing special to Khalia, his tanned ass. Another glance at Hayley told him that the werewolf was totally unaware of the power she has over the vampire. How did she not realize that if it was anyone else on this planet – her siblings included – that tried what Hayley just freely did, they would have gotten a snapped neck for just attempting it?

“Let’s go, Hayley.” Khalia said, low voice sending a shiver climbing up the werewolf’s spine. It didn’t help when Khalia gently grabbed her by the elbow and steered her to the front door.

Marcel started after them, wondering if he should tell them. Deciding that it could only help clear his name, he opened up his mouth. “Guy on the bike? The bomber? Word is, he had a gambling problem. Owed money to the casinos – more importantly, to the humans who run them. And Hayley? When things get bad, remember, I tried to get you clear of it again.”

The two left after that and Marcel hoped that in the end, everything would work out for them. Angry and hurt and bitter as he may be towards Khalia for killing Thierry, he has only wished all of the Mikaelson’s a peaceful life after he learned that Mikael hunted them down. Yes, he called Mikael to New Orleans once, but he just wanted to drive Klaus away, not kill him.

He just hoped they could get their peace somewhere far away from NOLA. He had a feeling his hopes were in vain.

***

AUTHOR’S NOTE

i am trying to finish this season, preferably before the end of february, because i looked back and realized that i started this story back in 2017. i think, after almost three years, it is about time for me to finish up season 1.

also, prepare for the scene where hayley gets killed by the witches, because its going to hit khalia harder than anything else this season has.

hope you enjoyed!

-Mixie