I learned that the ambulance that had taken the kids to the hospital was missing, and that the kids were missing again, going up to Marcel's apartment to tell him, knocking on his door repeatedly.

I heard Sofya and Marcel inside, Sofya being an assassin for hire that had once worked for Lucien, but was now Marcel's... girl-friend? Friend with benefits? I didn't know, and I didn't care.

"Just ignore it," Sofya told him.

"No, just one second," Marcel told her. I continued to knock impatiently. "Yeah, all right." Marcel opened the door. I walked in without pause. "Mm-hmm. Come in." 

Sofya gave me an annoyed look, tilting her head, rolling her eyes, walking away into the next room to give us a minute to talk.

Marcel closed the door, turning to face me. 

I turned to face him. "Marcel, we've got a problem. Those kids, they never made it home."

"What are you talking about?" Marcel asked. "I loaded those kids into the ambulance myself."

I sighed, worried but annoyed that people were still going after the kids. "The ambulance is missing, too."

Marcel became as concerned as I was.

****

The Mikaelsons were back so that Vincent could heal and cure Hope, but she was still sick because the other kids were still sick and being planned to be sacrificed.

Hope had heard whispers saying that the name of this darkness that Vincent was so terrified of was called the Hollow. 

Marcel and Vincent were working with Elijah for the day.

I was working with Hayley, talking to the witches in the Quarter. "Listen up. Listen up. For five years now, we've had a truce. Stays out of each other's business. Tended to our own. But now, your problems are becoming ours. Someone is taking children. As you know, there is one nonnegotiable rule. We do not mess with kids." I pointed to the Ouroboros symbol that stood for the Hollow on the wall behind the witches. "Now, you've seen that graffiti. Someone here's got to know who's responsible. Right? So just give me a name. Hmm?"

A witch that stood next to her son looked up at me. "We don't owe you anything." The crowd murmured in agreement. I rolled my eyes slightly. "You're not friend to witches."

Hayley appeared behind the witches. "You don't trust him. I get it. But one of those kids is my daughter. She's seven. She likes to paint, catch fireflies, make up stories. All I know is that she's sick. Right now, I don't care about the past. I'm just a mom asking you to help me."

The witch looked at her son for a moment, clearly wondering what she would do if it was her child was being targeted, giving in, looking at Hayley. "There's a girl named Lara. I saw her draw the same symbol on her window in blood."

"Where do we find this witch?" I asked.

The witch chuckled, shaking her head. "She's not a witch." She looked at Hayley. "She's one of your kind. A wolf. She ran off to the bayou."

Hayley and I exchanged a surprised look.

****

Hayley and I were walking through the bayou in search of the wolf named Lara.

Hayley was on the phone with Klaus, who was at the compound with Hope. "How is she?"

"She's sleeping. Freya will be here soon to stir up one of her medicinal concoctions. Tell me you have answers."

"Noah and I have a lead. A wolf who got caught up with the Hollow."

"A wolf involved in witch business?"

"Crazy, I know. I want to ask her a few questions."

"Well, regardless of her excuses or your loyalties, I expect you to show this traitor the error of her ways."

"I'll handle it." Hayley hung up. We found Lara standing on the dock over the river of the bayou. Hayley turned to face me. "She's not gonna want to talk to a vampire. I'll go."

"The thing is, the last time I came across one of the Hollow's goons, the guy tried to kill me," I told her. "So, fair warning."

Hayley nodded in understanding, walking toward Lara on the dock, stopping several feet back, too cautious to get near her. "Lara? My name's Hayley. I don't know if--"

"I know who you are," Lara told her. "Hayley Marshall." She turned to face us. "I know why you're here. You're here because of the children. I'm sorry. I am." Her expression of pain turned as cold and deadly as her voice did. "They're as good as dead."

Hayley and I exchanged a look of concern and worry, looking at Lara cautiously.

****

We were still talking.

"We're not here to hurt you," Hayley told her.

"You can't hurt me any more than I've already hurt myself," Lara told us. "I didn't know this was gonna happen. I didn't know they were gonna bring children into it."

"It's okay," Hayley told her. "Just tell us who 'they' are."

"Those that serve the Hollow," Lara answered. "Followers of the blue light. I thought we were doing something good. Trying to take back our city."

"Back from what?" Hayley asked.

Lara took out a knife, using it to point at me. "From them. From the vampires. Noah Dumaine. Marcel Gerard. All the others. For five years, we kept quiet. Watching you lord over this city like it was yours."

"Hey, I'm not the one that took over the city again," I told her. "I spent the last five years keeping the peace. Marcel--"

"It is not his city to rule!" Lara told us. "New Orleans belongs to all of us. And the Hollow offered us the power we needed. So long as we pledged our allegiance."

"But Lara, you're a Crescent," Hayley told her. "You have the pack, you don't need this cult."

"You were gone," Lara told her. "You chose the Original family over your own kind. Don't you see? Our pack means nothing. You mean nothing!"

"You're right," Hayley told her. "I wasn't there. But I have a daughter now. And, Lara, she's one of the kids. She's one of the kids that's in danger. So, please, help us help them."

Lara laughed without humor, hysterically psychotic by now. "You can't help them. The Hollow wants power. The kind that only comes from sacrifice. Those kids will die so it can get stronger. And it will feed. And it will rise. And will all bow before it. The great beast." She looked at me. "Even you vampires. My only mercy is I won't be here to see it."

Lara suddenly stabbed herself in the throat with her knife, shocking both Hayley and me, killing herself, choking as she bled out.

Hayley caught Lara as she fell, kneeling down, holding her body as she died in her arms, looking at me.

We were both in shock and worried about what this thing could do to all of us.

****

We were called to meet up with Vincent, Elijah, Marcel and Klaus elsewhere in the bayou, because Vincent's friend Will Kinney was taken over by the Hollow and they were able to trace him back to somewhere in the bayou, back to the kids.

Vincent and Elijah were looking at a wooden spinning object.

Vincent looked at Elijah. "Yeah, I assume you told everybody to be on their best behavior?"

"Oh, I told them," Elijah answered. "Now, whether or not they'll be obedient is another thing altogether." Klaus and Marcel walked toward them. "Where's Hope?"

"Freya's with her now," Klaus answered. "She's fighting it. Whatever 'it' is."

"The kids are attached to that spell," Vincent told us. "If we save the kids, we save your little girl."

Hayley and I walked toward them.

"And the sooner you can all be on your way," Marcel told them.

"Clearly, we're skipping all the hugs and hellos," I told them sarcastically. "Vincent?"

Vincent pointed off in a direction. "Trail leads off this way, so I guess we, uh, follow the breadcrumbs."

"Tactless savages holding a ghost-raising rave," Klaus told us. "Best make short work of them. I say we--"

"We split up," Marcel cut him off. "Klaus, you're with me. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Anybody got a problem with that?" He started to walk away. "I don't give a damn."

Klaus and Marcel walked off in one direction. Elijah and Vincent walked off in another. Hayley and I walked off in another.

I looked at Hayley. "So you knew that Crescent girl before you left?"

"I did," Hayley answered. "But whatever that was today, that wasn't her. She said something about blue light."

"Yeah, Vincent told me and Marcel about that," I explained. "He said that it's called the Fifolet, saying that New Orleans legend states that a spirit might present itself in a bright blue ball of light."

"Awesome," Hayley told me sarcastically. "How do we kill it?"

I chuckled in amusement, shrugging. "We'll find out soon enough."

****

After dark, we all found a clearing where Will had met with the witches that were preparing the sacrifice ritual of the kids, who were all wrapped in sheets on an alter.

Will held up a talisman.

"Now that you've returned, brother, you may join us as we claim our power," Witch 1 told him. "Our rightful place. And lay waste to all who would deny our master. Are you prepared to prove your loyalty to the Hollow?"

"I know what I have to do," Will told them. "I'm not afraid."

"We should begin," Witch 1 told him, taking out a long dagger, holding it toward Will.

"Enough with this circus of sadists," Klaus told us, finding a dagger on the tree next to him, taking it off, throwing it into Witch 1's chest.

Hayley and Vincent gasped in surprise. Vincent awkwardly scratched his head.

All of the witches looked toward us, ready to fight.

I rushed closer to Witch 2, grabbing him by the throat, slamming him onto the ground, breaking his neck.

Klaus and Marcel exchanged a look, smirking slightly, rushing closer to join the fight.

Klaus snapped Witch 3's neck.

Marcel bit Witch 4 on the neck, feeding until he died.

Elijah hit Witch 5 over the head, making him fall unconscious.

Vincent looked at Hayley. "Hey, we got to get the kids. Get the kids!"

Vincent ran over to the alter to get the children. Witch 6 tried to stab Vincent in the back from behind. Hayley grabbed his arm, making him stab himself in the chest instead of Vincent.

Vincent handed one of the children to Hayley, taking another one to follow her into the treeline to put the two kids down.

Elijah rushed over to the third kid to take it to safety.

I snapped Witch 8's neck.

Marcel ripped Witch 9's throat out.

Will was holding the talisman over the last child that was still on the alter. "Vinculum mond sa. Vinculum mond sa."

Vincent ran up to the alter to grab the last kid. "Will? Will! Come on, man. It's over."

Will shook his head. "No, Vince. It's only just begun."

Vincent ran away with the last kid to put him down next to Hayley, Elijah and the other kids.

Will used the talisman's power to make Marcel fall to the ground and pull him closer.

Klaus rushed over to Will, gripping his throat in an attempt to stop him.

Will smiled sadistically. "You can't stop what's coming."

Klaus snapped Will's neck, letting him fall dead.

Vincent was horrified, but not shocked. "No!" A ring of fire was struck up around Marcel and Klaus, making them fall to their knees, unable to move. Elijah and I rushed up to the circle of fire, but we couldn't get inside. Vincent ran up next to us, unable to put the flames out with magic. "Oh, man, we got this all wrong. They wanted us here."

"Why?" I asked.

"They want to channel your power, and anchor the Hollow to the living world," Vincent answered. We were all horrified, walking back toward the kids and Hayley. Vincent knelt next to one of the kids, pulling back his sheet, revealing that it was Adam. "Okay, they're alive. These kids are linked to that ritual. We can't free Marcel and Klaus unless we break the spell."

"How do we stop this?" I asked.

Vincent was overwhelmed. "I don't know. It's a sacrificial ritual. I can't break it unless I kill one of the kids."

Elijah looked as if he was considering his options to save most of the children and Klaus, though he hated the options that were in front of us.

Hayley was horrified.

I was overwhelmed. "No, no. There has to be another way."

Vincent looked around. "Yeah, um... so, these kids are powering that ritual." He looked at Elijah. "But there might be a loophole, if I link it to you."

"Are you suggesting we take my life?" Elijah asked.

"I'm suggesting we stake you with wood," Vincent answered. "You die, temporarily, and that might be enough to break the spell." Elijah was relieved that there was another way, nodding in agreement. Vincent took one of Adam's hands, and one of Elijah's hands, starting the spell to transfer the link from the kids to Elijah. "Mare. Mare leurs. Mare leurs esprits. Mare leurs esprits. Mare leurs esprits. Mare leurs esprits." I broke off a tree branch from nearby, turning to Elijah. "Noah, do it now!"

I drove the makeshift stake into Elijah's heart, temporarily killing him.

Hayley caught Elijah as he fell, kneeling down to hold his body as he started to desiccate. 

The fire all around us extinguished itself, releasing Marcel an Klaus from the circle of fire.

Vincent sighed heavily in relief, hanging his head.

"Did it work?" Hayley asked.

Vincent nodded. "Yeah."

We sighed in relief.

Hayley took the branch out of Elijah's heart.

Klaus and Marcel walked toward us.

****

I found Marcel sitting at the bar in St. James, walking closer to sit down next to him, pouring myself a drink. "I know today was rough for you."

"So now you wanna stop fighting and be best friends again?" Marcel asked.

"Well, you worked with your enemies today to save those kids," I told him. "We all worked together. That may go to prove that we're not enemies at all."

Marcel chuckled in amusement. "Still trying to get a peace between me and the Mikaelsons. At least some things never change." He took a drink. "But you're right. We did work together today, and hey, at least we put an end to it."

"But the thing they idolized, the Hollow, it must have wanted us there," I told him. "It wanted to come into our world by anchoring itself to one of us. So, that makes me wonder, did we end it? Or is it just getting started?"

Marcel looked at me in confusion. "You think it's gonna come after me?"

I took a drink. "Marcel, I gotta tell you, man. I wonder if it hasn't already got to you. What did you see when you were in the circle?"

Marcel looked confused, as if he was trying to remember. "Nothing. Not a thing."

I poured myself another drink, finishing it all. "I hope you're right." I stood, turning to leave, but stopped. "That's the funny thing about our city, though, Marcel. Nothing ever stays buried."

I patted Marcel on the shoulder, walking away, leaving.

I was really hoping that the Hollow didn't get to Klaus, or to Marcel, but they were in that fire, and they couldn't see anything that was in front of them.

It had me wondering if it didn't get to them like it got to the witches, to Lara, to Will, to Eva...

And if it did get to them, how the hell were we supposed to save them from its influence?