Klaus and I had returned to New Orleans, meeting up with Freya.

"Sister," Klaus told her. "The years have been kind to you."

Freya smiled, embracing Klaus. "Well, you know, just sun block, the love of a good woman, and literal witchcraft. You can't stay. Hope and Rae are home."

"I have no interest in infecting our daughters with this darkness," Klaus assured. "Once we've found Hayley, I'll crawl back to whence I came."

"And hopefully you'll be more open to talking to them," I told him.

Klaus gave me a halfhearted look. "Kaylin." I smirked sarcastically. Klaus couldn't help but chuckle. "This city reeks of blood like it hasn't since the War of 1812."

"Yeah, well, you're to blame this time, Nik," I told him. "I know you spoke to Elijah, and then hours later, it rained blood."

"No story that begins with water turning into blood has ever ended in triumph," Freya pointed out.

"I need to leave or things are gonna get worse," Klaus told us. "Freya, tell us about Hayley."

Freya sighed worriedly. "Tried every locator spell I know in every language I know, and I don't..."

Klaus and I heard Hope and Rae coming down. Klaus, knowing that he had to leave, rushed out of the compound before they entered the room.

"Dad?" Hope asked.

Seeing that Klaus was no longer here, Hope looked at us in disappointment and sadness. Rae sighed sadly, looking down.

**********

While Klaus was looking for another lead, I went to Rousseau's, standing outside, texting Marcel to meet me in the alley.

Marcel rushed outside to join me. "Kaylin. Didn't know you wanted to be part of the vampire community in New Orleans."

"Oh, I don't," I answered. "But... crashing a funeral, my favorite way to spend a Friday night. Marcel, it's good to see you, after all this time. Sorry about Rebekah."

"I'm sure you are," Marcel told me. "It's good to see you, too. Why are you here?"

"Hayley's missing," I answered. "It's been days. Klaus is in town, helping look for her." Marcel gave me a look. I smirked in amusement, innocently. "Don't worry, he'll stick to the shadows. But there's certain leads we can't follow, because Nik has to stick to the shadows, and I don't know the people in this city like you do."

Marcel nodded in understanding, worried about Hayley. "What do you need from me?"

I sighed in relief, managing a small smile.

**********

Hope and Rae had called me to Rousseau's kitchen because Klaus had apparently tried to attack Hayley's boyfriend Declan.

I compelled Declan. "Looks like you need to go back to the butcher's immediately. You won't remember meeting Klaus today."

Declan nodded once the compulsion took hold. "Ah, hey, Kaylin." I smirked sarcastically. Declan nodded to Hope and Rae. "Morning, kids. Um, I'll be back. I forget to stop by the Shank. But saved you three a bread pudding in the fridge."

Declan left the restaurant.

I sighed, turning to Klaus. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Listening to the voices in my head hasn't ever done me any favors," Klaus replied.

"Yeah, I can hear the whispers in your head," Rae told him. "Is that really what you, Kol, Elijah and Rebekah have to go through every day? It would drive me insane. Listening to voices in my head every day just from psychic abilities drives me insane. Which is why Hope made me a bracelet to where I could turn that off if I wore it."

"Yeah, and why aren't you wearing it right now, Rae?" I asked.

Rae smiled sheepishly, taking out the bracelet to put it on. "Sorry, Mom."

Klaus couldn't help but chuckle at that, but sighed worriedly. "Kaylin, could you please take Hope and Rae home?"

"You're not even gonna look at us?" Hope asked. "Mom's missing, Dad. I'm scared."

"We're too close," Klaus told them, backing away from the girls. "I can hear the whispers getting louder. You must, too."

"Let us help you find her," Rae told us.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll have Freya bind you to the compound with a spell," Klaus warned. "I don't want it to come to that. Kaylin, take them home."

Klaus rushed off. I sighed worriedly in sadness, turning to Hope and Rae. Hope was heartbroken, and Rae was saddened.

**********

Marcel and Josh had figured out from Henry that he was protecting his sire, meaning Hope, meaning she had something to do with Hayley's disappearance.

I walked through the compound. "Hope! Rae!" Hope and Rae walked out toward me. "Please tell me it isn't true. Hope, what have you done with your mother?"

Hope swallowed nervously. Rae looked at her in confusion.

**********

Now Klaus was here, talking to us. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I knew it would take something big to bring you home," Hope told him.

"So you had your little hybrid friend attack your mother?" I asked skeptically.

"Henry just did the heavy lifting," Hope explained. "And 'attack' is a really strong word, Kaylin. Mom's fine. In a really nice coffin, sleeping. I cloaked her in a sleeping spell that I wrote myself."

I gave Klaus a look. "She really is your daughter."

"Oh, well, in that case, I've never been prouder," Klaus told us sarcastically.

"Hope, where is she?" Rae asked.

"Dad's just gonna go disappear again if I tell you guys, Rae," Hope told her.

"Hope, you and Rae are both in danger when I'm in proximity of you," Klaus told her. "I know you feel that. The dark magic inside us manifests itself in ugly ways."

I stood. "We could be putting others in dangers, too. The whole city."

"I don't care," Hope told us.

I sighed in exasperation. "This is not a debate, Hope."

**********

Klaus gave Hope a look. "The little girl I knew would never have dreamed up a scheme like this."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but that little girl hadn't read your memoirs," Hope replied. "You compelled Cami O'Connell to write your story, about a guy who used to put his family members in coffins and use them as leverage."

Rae looked at Klaus and me, raising her eyebrows questioningly. We sighed, nodding.

Rae stood, walking closer to Hope. "So you've studied Klaus's old tricks. Did you remember mine?" She took off her bracelet so she could read Hope's mind without touching her, going through Hope's thoughts with no difficulty at all until she found what we needed, looking at Klaus and me. "She's at St. Anne's."

Hope backed away. "Rae! Get out of my head!"

"Rae and you both could die, Hope," I told her. "Just by standing here, Nik could be destroying both of you. Rae and I can go get Hayley. I'll ask her to take it easy on you."

"Okay," Klaus told us. "Then it's time for me to go. Kaylin, Hope, Rae? Goodbye."

Klaus, Rae and I turned to leave the room.

Hope raised her hand to magically shut the doors in front of us. "I know some tricks, too."

**********

Rae looked at Klaus. "You called, you wrote letters, then you stopped. Why?"

"Hope knows why, Rae," Klaus told her. "I'm surprised she hasn't told you or Kaylin or Hayley."

"Told us what?" I asked.

Klaus attempted to leave through another door.

Hope had placed a barrier preventing us from leaving. "I didn't think I had to knock before entering an astral plane. Sorry I interrupted your murder orgy."

"You came to me that night because cards and letters weren't enough," Klaus told her. He looked from Hope to Rae. "I stopped them for your own good."

"You don't know what's good for us," Rae told him. "You know, you stir up these stories about a crazy Original dropping bodies, and people talk at school, and we have to be quiet little Hope and Rae Marshall, when we are so mad we want to scream."

Klaus raised his voice slightly. "Well, welcome to the bloody party."

"Nik," I told him.

Rae was clearly hearing something from Klaus's head, stunned. "You started to kill again because of me and Elijah."

Klaus and I were both worried about Rae knowing that because we both knew she would blame herself, sighing.

I walked closer. "Rae..."

"You wanted to protect Elijah," Rae told him. "But you were doing it so I wouldn't be sick without having evil souls to feed on to keep me alive." Hope was stunned as well. "We were so confused and worried as to why you were killing again, but... you were doing it for Elijah. For me."

"Rae, what I do is not your fault," Klaus told her.

Rae looked away, sighing heavily. "It is when you're doing it to keep me from becoming sick again."

"The people I've killed are vampires, murderous monsters," Klaus told her. "So you can keep your conscience clear of them dying."

"And yet, you still killed them for me," Rae replied. "To protect Elijah. To keep me alive."

**********

Hope and Rae were sitting down next to me.

"I was protecting you when I left," Klaus told us. "Trying to keep Hope and Rae alive. Trying to fight the whispers in my head that wanted to make me harm Kaylin and the rest of my family. Hope, the horror in your eyes that night when you saw me is... burned into my memory."

"I was nine," Hope told him. "And I saw this scary monster who looked like my dad, who taught me and Rae how to mix paint, who called us princesses and called my stepmother Kaylin a queen. I didn't know which version of you was real. And I waited for you to explain it, or apologize, or tell me that you loved me. Rae and Kaylin waited for you, too. But you didn't come."

Klaus sighed worriedly in regret and pain. "In my experience, fathers and lovers cause pain. Whether by their presence or their absence, there's a certain type of ruin that only they can--can leave behind. Hope, Rae, you--you were such sweet little girls. Perhaps I was always bound to leave you broken."

Rae was surprised. "You--you really think we're broken? Maybe you're right. Mom's admitted that she's been broken for years, even before she met you. And I guess I was born broken."

"And maybe those little girls you miss so much, and the wife you love, would be better off if they'd never loved you at all," Hope told him.

Hope was crying, Rae was close to crying, and Klaus and I had tears in our eyes from all of this, all of us emotional and devastated for not being able to be together as a family.

Rae used her psychic power to take the barrier spell down. "We can go now."

Hope didn't bother putting the spell back up.

I looked at them in sadness and sympathy. "Hope. Rae... please."

**********

Rae and I were making our way through St. Anne's church to the attic.

"You may need to use your psychic powers to wake her up," I told her.

"Yeah, I know," Rae agreed. "Hope's head was filled with the cloaking spell and sleeping spell that she put on her."

Rae used her power to open the door, leading the way inside, turning on the light. Both of us were horrified to see that the room was torn apart, bloodied, and Hayley's coffin was wide open and empty.

"Hayley?" I asked.

Rae was breathing heavily in horror and shock. "Oh, my God."

**********

Rae and I returned to the compound where Klaus and Hope were.

"Nik, we went to the church to get Hayley," I told him. "She wasn't there."

"What?" Hope asked in shock. "No. I protected her. I wrote the perfect cloaking spell, I kept her safe. I--I don't understand. The--the coffin was just empty."

"The coffin was destroyed," Rae answered. "Whatever happened to your mom didn't happen without a fight.'

Klaus looked at Hope. "Look, I know it wasn't your intention for someone to get hurt. I know you did this because I left you with no choice." Hope and Rae were both starting to breathe heavier like they were about to get sick. "Sweethearts, look at me. This--this is my fault. I'm gonna fix it."

"I've already spoke to Alaric," I told them. "You'll go back to Mystic Falls tonight. We need to know you're safe." Hope and Rae were coughing, like they were choking on something. "What is it? Rae? Hope?"

Hope and Rae coughed up snakes, falling to their knees. Klaus and I knelt next to them worriedly in horror.

Rae looked at Klaus sadly. "Go, go. You have to go. You have to get out."

"I'll find Hayley," Klaus promised. "And I swear I'll return her to you. Kaylin, take them back to Mystic Falls. I love you. I love all of you."

"We love you," I told him sadly.

Klaus rushed out of the compound. Hope, Rae and I were devastated.

**********

Outside in the Quarter, Hope, Rae and I were packing up the car, getting ready to leave. Rae was overwhelmed with so many thoughts in her head from psychic powers reading the thoughts of everyone in the Quarter that she had to put the bracelet on so she could shut it all out.

"Kaylin, thanks for the ride back to school," Hope told me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Hope? Rae? Are you two okay?"

"Not really," Rae answered. "You?"

"Not really," I answered. "Hey, you know that Nik has love you, right?"

"Yeah, we know," Hope answered.

"He killed people for me for five years," Rae told me. "Yeah, I know, obviously."

I chuckled sadly. "You should not have gotten that out of his head."

"I couldn't help it," Rae told me sheepishly. "It was a loud thought it in his head like the Hollow was making it louder."

Hope and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're not gonna blame yourself for my dad killing people to keep you alive, are you, Rae?" Hope asked.

Rae sighed, shrugging. "If we're gonna go, we should probably go."

We were about to get into the car when we heard a woman scream, and people yelling for help, running toward a gathering crowd to see what was going on, seeing that in the Quarter for everyone to see, Henry had been attacked and removed from the garden, his heart removed, hulled up on a balcony, the hybrid death made public for everyone to see.

I was completely shocked. "Oh, my God."

Rae was horrified. "Henry."

Hope shook her head in denial. "No, no."

Everyone was in so much shock that they didn't know what to do.