4 | BURNING VEINS

After their descussion, the Mikaelson siblings left, Klaus going one direction and the two sister's another way. At this moment, Rebekah and Khalia walked through the Quarter as they call Klaus on the blonde vampire's cell phone.

"Niklaus, for the love of Mary Magdalene, how long does it take to ask a simple question?" Rebekah questioned him, her tone irretated and Khalia snickered.

"Of all the people in the world, I didn't think you'd have a love for Mary Magdalene." Khalia comments with a smirk, recieving a laugh from Klaus and a shove from Rebekah.

"Much longer than you'd think, considering the answer was, as expected, 'No'." Klaus told the two girls.

"Told you so." Khalia commented.

"Marcel's man, Thierry, is suspicious. He thinks the two of you killed ten nightwalkers." Klaus told the two and Khalia scoffed while Rebekah feinged offense.

"Well, that's a lie! I only killed seven and Khalia one. Should I make Thierry the eight?" Rebekah asks him and Khalia smirked at her sister's words.

"Marcel is playing friendly. We can't kill the favorite son, or he'll catch onto us." The hybrd rejected his sister's offer.

"So, war it is, then?" The blonde asked.

"Indeed." Klaus confirmed, making Khalia grin in happiness.

"Thank God, I haven't killed in almost a week and last night doesn't count seeing as that was only one kill." She said, making her two siblings roll their eyes.

"Do you know what to do with the witch?" Klaus asks.

"I believe I do." Rebekah replies as she and Khalia exchanged smiles.

"Good. You manage Sophie Deveraux. I'll take care of the next step." Klaus tells the two and hangs up. The two vampires arrives at a Voodoo shop and waitwaits outside the shop. Rebekah turns to greet Sophie, who is approaching her from down the street while Khalia just ignored the witch. She really didn't like witches. It was the one thing she and her twin didn't have in common, she hated witches while Kol couldn't get enough of them.

"Oh, so glad you could make it. Elijah only lies daggered and rotting whilst you dilly-dally." Rebekah bites sarcastically.

"You're lucky I came at all. What do you want?" Sophie asked the two and the dark haired Original narrowed her eyes at the girl.

"Now, I know we can't lay a finger on you because of that pesky little spell that links you to Hayley, but I can still kill members of your coven. Give us attitude like that again and I'll do it." Khalia's threatening words made Sohpie glare at her but Khalia wasn't even a little fazed since she practically invented the glare. Sophie also didn't say anything, knowing that when Khalia Mikaelson makes a threat you take her seriously.

"Hayley was attacked last night by Marcel's crew because somebody told him there was a werewolf in the Quarter. She only made one stop. Whoever saw her here ratted her out. Watch and learn." Rebekah says and a dark look passed on Khalia's face as she thought about Hayley getting hurt.

Rebekah and Khalia turns and walks into the shop, and Sophie follows her in. Inside the shop, Katie emerges from a back room with a box, and smiles when she sees Sophie.

"Hey, Soph." The girl greets.

"Hey, Katie." Sophie greets back and Katie sees Rebekah touching a necklace hanging from a stand, and shows no sign of recognition toward her.

"That's filled with marigold - great for attracting the opposite sex. It would look awesome on both of you."

Khalia chuckled before turning to the witch with a smirk on her lips, "That's nice, honestly, but I'm gay. And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't need a flower to attract attention." The dark haired vampire said, gesturing to her body as she spoke her last sentance.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Katie said, embarrased and Rebekah chuckles at her facial expression but gets serious as she says,

"I very seriously doubt that." Rebekah said, reffering to the marigold necklace. "Do you have any others, one with, say, I don't know.... wolfsbane, perhaps?"

"Wolfsbane? Why would you want that?" The witch asked, her tone confused.

Rebekah glances at her sister and gives the brunette a nod. With a dangerous smile on her lips and a crazed look on her face, Khalia vamp-speeds toward Katie, and holds her off the ground in a choke-hold.

"Please do not play dumb with us." Rebekah says as she walks and stands next to her sister. Khalia picks her up and slams her flat onto her back on a table.

"Khalia!" Sophie yells out, horrified.

Katie gasps for breath before answering, "I just sold a werewolf some herbs. That's all."

"Are you lying to us, Katie? I suggest you answer my question honestly because if you don't, Khalia would be more than happy to rip your heart out." The brunette vampire nods in agreement.

The witch chokes and coughs some more, "Sophie- "

Said witch sighed uncomfortably before she said, "Just answer the question, Katie. Please."

"Yes. I told someone, but you don't understand. I- I love him." Katie says with a sigh and Kol's twin rolled her eyes while a groan escaped her lips.

"Oh great." Khalia says sarcastically and violently throws Katie down onto the floor and holds the heel of her boot dangerously close to the witch's throat.

"And tell me, who is this vampire Romeo of yours? Shall I count to three?" Rebekah asks.

***

After telling Klaus about Katie's lover, who turned out to be Thierry - something that pleased the Hybrid very much - they all agreed to meet up back at the Mansion. Rebekah had the task of picking up Sophie Deveraux while Khalia just waited for them to arrive in the study. They eventually arrived and now the Mikaelson trio was trying to convince Sophie to do a locator spell on Elijah. They were failing. Khalia wanted nothing more that to rip out Sophie's throat, but seeing as Hayley was linked to the witch, she couldn't do anything and it was really working on her nerves.

"Are you out of your mind? No way." Sophie said incredulously.

"It's very simple- We need you to perform a teeny, tiny locator spell to help us find our brother." Rebekah treied again with Khalia just gritted her teeth and reminded herself once again that Sophie is linked to Hayley. And the baby, of course.

Sophie scoffed, "Witches who practice magic in this town get caught, and then they get killed."

"Yes, about that. It seems you left out a crucial detail when we made our deal- Marcel's secret weapon, the way he knows when a witch is using magic..." Klaus started but trailed off.

"Girl about yea high, cute as a button, anger issues?" Rebekah describes Davina and Khalia just listens, not having seen the teenage witch. Sophie looks shocked when she realizes who they're talking about.

"Davina? Where have you seen her?" Sophie asked, her tone urgent and the brunette Mikaelson wasn't mistaken, desparate.

"I don't know. The little brat erased my memory right after she threw me out a window with her bloody mind." Rebekah snapped bitterly, she was still sour because of the incident.

"And even if we did know, we wouldn't tell you. Leverage and all." Khalia told her with a shrug. "But the better question is: why didn't you tell us?" No answer was given to the oldest Mikaelson female's question.

"Let me cut to the chase." The hybrid started. "Davina has Elijah. You witches, I assume, want to get Davina away from Marcel. We don't know where she is. Ergo, we need magic." Klaus explained.

"Davina would sense it." Sophie tells them and Khalia smirks because Sophie isn't saying no anymore and now it was time for them to put their plan into motion. The brunette gave her blonde sister a nod and Rebekah started talking.

"Unless, of course, another witch- say, a traitor to the cause, Katie for example- was to perform much more powerful magic at the same time. That would create a smokescreen, concealing your very smallspell from Davina." Rebekah explained, glancing at Khalia to see if she explained it right, seeing as it was the brunette's idea to begin with.

Nodding in agreement, Khalia said."Now, I wasn't as into magic as my twin brother, Kol, but I did learn a few things and that sounds about right." She expected a wave of emotional pain to hit her like everytime she said her brother's name, and it came - like everytime - but there was something different this time. The pain was somehow lighter, not much but a little bit and it made Khalia feel confused yet happy.

"Katie doesn't deserve to die." Sophie immediately says in her fellow witch' defense.

Klaus angrily slams his hands on the table and stands up to face her. "Sophie Deveraux! You're in no position to be so principled. You can't win a war without a few strategic losses, no matter how regrettable they may be. How many times have the vampires been one step ahead, known something they shouldn't? Your sister, executed in the public square for practicing magic- who knew she'd be caught? Did she even attempt to flee?" Khalia smiled as she knew where her brother was going with this.

Sophie kept quiet as she was stunned in realization "...She was caught hiding in a cargo hold of a freighter before it set sail down the Mississippi." She spoke up not long after.

"And who, pray tell- of Marcel's valued inner circle- manages his business at the docks?" Klaus asked, everyone in the room already knowing the answer.

"Katie's boyfriend, Thierry." Sophie said with a defeated sigh.

"She sounds like a traitor to me." And we all know who likes to point out things that pisses people off.

***

The brunette Original was laying on her bed, bored out of her mind. She decided not to attend Marcel's party and watch over Hayley. She didn't volenteer but she didn't object when Klaus made the suggestion either and she finally admitted to herself that slowly but surely, she was getting used to the werewolf and growing fond of her. But nothing more than fondness.

Or so she'd like to think.

But the vampire is not stupid. She knows what these feeling could lead to.

A part of her was scared and didn't want it, but the other part loved it. Having someone to love, it would give her something, other than her family and herself, to fight for. But what if she loses that fight and loses Hayley. How would she survive that? The answer is that she wouldn't. She and her family may very well be a thousand year old vampires but even they have feelings, they just happen to hide them very, very well.

Sighing and shaking her head to clear it from her train of thoughts, she decided to take a swim and put on a bikini. Grabbing a towel from her en-suite and checking on Hayley - to find the werewolf sleeping, she walked outside. Seeing as she was a vampire, the cold didn't really affect them but the air was humid anyways. She dived into the pool and the cold water circled her body. Her mind felt so open, so free. She stayed down there for quite some time before the need for air came. She took a deep breath and lifted herself up. She dived in again and this time she didn't just stay down there, she actually swam.

Unknown to her, Hayley woke up and hearing the slooshing of water in the back yard, she went outside. She saw a certain brunette, that made her heart beat much faster than it should, lift herself out of her pool and Hayley's eyes was glued to her body that didn't have that much covering it. Hayley's mouth went dry and her mind went blank. It was offical, Khalia Mikaelson was the hottest person she had ever seen and the werewolf is sure that she ever will see. The vampire had the perfect body and under the moonlight, she looked even more perfect. Her body glistened with water and the werewolf watched as she dived back into the pool expertly.

Deciding to take a very big risk, Hayley walked outside and to the pool. She sat down the poolside, pulled up her jeans and placed her feet in the water. Khalia heard the noise and panic rose up in her. She shot to the top with her vampire speed but relaxed when she saw Hayley.

"Damn, sweetheart, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She told the werewolf with a breathless laugh. Hayley immediately smiled at the sound, having not heard it before.

"Sorry." She apologized but Khalia just shook her head, indicating that it wasn't a big deal. The vampire began to swin over to where the werewolf was sitting, making Hayley's heartbeat sped up.

"Everything okay?" Khalia asked in slight concern as she reached Hayley. She was inches away from the werewolf but didn't go any closer.

"Fine. I woke up and heard the water." She explained shortly, her mind in a daze from Khalia's lack of clothing. Possibilities and images flashed around in her mind.

Khalia nodded, accepting the answer and felt relieved. "Want to join me?" She offered, suprising both herself and the werewolf.

"No." Hayley denied quickly, her mind was already in overdrive. Chances are that she would drown if she got in the pool with a more than half- naked Khalia Mikaelson.

Smirking with a mischievious sparkle in her eyes, one that she hasn't had since Kol died, she sped forward, grabbed Hayley by her hips and pulled her into the pool. Hayley gasped at the sensation of the cold water against her warm skin and Khalia kept her grip on the werewolf's waist, just in case. At least that's what she told herself.

A fire began to burn inside of Hayley from where Khalia's hands where gripping her waist. She looked into the vampires eyes and she slowly placed her arms on the Original's upper arms, causing an identical fire to erupt inside of Khalia. The two gravitated closer to each other, in kissing reach but at the last moment the vampire turned her head away and moved out of Hayley's grip.

Without a word she got out of the pool and went inside of the mansion, not looking back once. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't take the risk of getting hurt ever again. She would never give someone the power to break her ever again. It wasn't Kol's fault that he died, she knows that but that didn't stop her from breaking into millions of little pieces. And as long as it was up to her, Khalia Mikaelson wouldn't let someone.

But the thing that Khalia didn't know was that, no matter what she decided, it wouldn't matter. Because since the second the two locked eyes, two halves of one soul connected. And nothing, not even death, can break the soul apart ever again.

***

Here you go! You know what to do if you liked it.

-mixie_2000