[ Chapter Fifteen ]

MARCEL WAS DEAD.

Raylynn could not believe Hayley when he told her mere hours after the Gerard man had his heart ripped from his chest. Marcel threated to drink the serum removed from Aurora's bloodstream. He threated to become just like Lucien, a monster more powerful than an Original. Even Klaus.

Elijah did not want to take the chance. He ripped Marcel's heart out and dropped his body off a bridge. That night, he cried about what he had done.

Klaus took it hard. Marcel had been like a son to him. And he watched his brother kill him. Right before his eyes.

Later on, Kol returned to the compound and relayed how the ancestral plane no longer had a hold over the French Quarter. He, Vincent, and Josh crossover into the witches' world and contacted Davina. A sliver of her soul remained, giving her the ability to destroy the ancestors with help from Kol. But in doing so, she also destroyed herself.

More bad news came when Freya checked on the location of Klaus's enemies. All of them were on their way to New Orleans. Each and every last drop of blood on the spelled map.

They readied themselves for the fight of their lives. Klaus, Kol, and Elijah prepped weapons downstairs in the courtyard the next morning, while Raylynn did the same upstairs to keep an eye on Ryan.

Raylynn dressed in more durable clothing, incase she had an encounter with one of the enemies. She sheathed a few daggers on her thighs and slid her bow and quiver onto her back. Ryan sat in a baby carrier strapped to her chest. The only place she could be sure he would be safe.

When shouting erupted in the courtyard, Raylynn eased out of her room to warn Hayley and Freya. They needed to get out of there. She moved as quietly as possible. Bow raised and ready. At the threshold of the study, Raylynn paused at the sight of a woman stood in front of Freya. The eldest Mikaelson clutched her throat as blood poured onto her shirt. With the mystery woman's back to her, Raylynn pulled on the bowstring and released an arrow. It soared through the room, landing in the center of the woman's spine. Right where her heart would be.

The woman froze, before she fell to the floor. Grey and dead.

Raylynn ran over to Freya, who had taken to lean against a table. "What happened? What's wrong?" she asked when the blonde paled.

Hayley sped in after the huntress. "You guys okay?"

Freya groaned with her hand still pressed against her throat. "Poison."

Raylynn's eyes widened.

Before either of them could speak, a man burst into the study. He rushed for Freya, but Hayley intercepted their path. She sped to him and grabbed his shoulders. He shoved her back, against another table. Raylynn went to raise her bow, until Hayley reached up and ripped through the man's chest. His heart came out in her hand, splattering the front of her in blood.

Hayley wiped her mouth and moved over to Raylynn and Freya. "Let's get you out of here." She ushered them out of the room. "Come on. Let's go."

_______

With Hope and Ryan in tow, all three women fled the compound for Hayley and Jackson's apartment across the street. Raylynn managed to grab a few prepacked bags on the way out with supplies for both children. Hope sat in her playpen, playing with her stuffed rabbit, while Ryan fell asleep against Raylynn's chest.

Freya laid down on the couch, panting as the poison that entered her body through the cut on her throat coursed through her veins. "The prophecy is coming true. This is the day Lucien said would come," she exclaimed.

Hayley shook her head. "No. There has to be another way out of this, especially with your magic." She bit into her wrist and sat down on the coffee table next to the couch. "Here. Drink. It won't cure you, but it will help you."

Freya nodded, pushing herself up to drink the blood.

Raylynn racked her brain for something, anything that could help the witch. Lucien had been poisoned before with werewolf venom. He cured himself without Klaus's blood. The same one Klaus stole to heal Freya from the same poison the day they saved Rebekah from the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe... "Lucien has an antidote," she blurted, drawing the other two women's attention to her. "It's in his penthouse."

Freya sighed, leaning back form Hayley to rest against the cushions. "Even if I was cured, the power I used to fight Lucien -it's gone. There's nothing that can stop Marcel now."

Yeah, Marcel did not actually die when Elijah tore out his heart. Although he threatened to drink the serum, he already did so well before he met up with the Mikaelson brothers. So when Elijah killed him, Marcel transitioned into the beast. Just like Lucien did. And since Freya used all the power she stole through Davina from the ancestors, there was nothing they could do to stop the crazed man.

"There might be one thing," Hayley said.

_______

Hayley's plan involved a trip across the city to Lucien's abandoned penthouse suite. They would search for the cure the man used to heal himself of a werewolf bite, while the proposed ways to end Marcel and his quest for revenge.

Hope and Ryan were placed in two separate playpens as they began their search. The master bedroom looked more like a warzone when they were finished. Pillows were torn to shreds, clothes tossed to the floor, and each piece of furniture was reduced to splinters. But, they could not find anything that pertained to the vampire. It was like everything disappeared with Lucien's death.

"It's not here," Freya said when she finished with the closet. "I can't find it."

Raylynn raised a hand to rub circles on her forehead. A migraine began to develop. "We'll find it," she reassured the woman, despite her growing pain.

"When you were poisoned before, Klaus stole an antidote from Lucien. It has to be here," Hayley exclaimed, gesturing to the room.

Freya shook her head. "There's not other place to look. If I can't find the cure, I will die."

In that moment, the front door of the penthouse burst open. "Freya!" Klaus's voice sounded through the walls.

Raylynn raced out of the bedroom to find Klaus, Kol, and Elijah stumble into the living room. The youngest brother was held up between the others. A blood stain on his throat. An inflamed bite-mark. Klaus and Elijah dropped him onto the couch. The latter moved away and leaned against an end table. His shirt sleeved had been rolled up to reveal his own bite-mark on his forearm.

Oh, shit.

"Elijah!" Hayley shouted at the sight of the reddened skin. She rushed over to his side.

"Don't." Elijah shook off when she tried to touch him. "We'll deal with it later."

Kol slumped against the couch cushions. Sweat already covered his skin in a light sheen. "I am going to die."

Raylynn moved to stand next to the couch and met his gaze. "You're not going to die. Remember what I said yesterday?"

Hope started to cry loudly in the other room.

Kol chuckled in a humorless manner. "I don't think you're going to be able to help me this time, Ray."

"Look," Klaus spoke, drawing all their attention to him, "Lucien engineered his venom from the seven werewolf packs, so maybe -that's the key to a cure."

"Oh, great. That's the first piece of a puzzle none of us will be alive to solve," Freya stated as she plopped down onto the coffee table. "I'm poisoned, Rebekah is hexed, and our brothers are bitten. We need three different cures to three different ailments. Each of which could take years to find, and none of us will make it through the day."

Raylynn's hands shook at her sides. No. They had to do something. They could not die.

But, what else were they to do? Freya was right. They had no cure for any of their afflictions. And if Finn was any indication, they had hours at most before Elijah and Kol would die.

What were they going to do?

_______

Raylynn moved back into the master bedroom to look after Hope and Ryan. Both children began to cry when the men stormed into the penthouse. Hope calmed down shortly after, but it took Ryan a while longer to fall back into a calm state. Raylynn questioned whether or not the two of them could feel what went on around them. They were witches after all. Tribrids, even. Maybe they had a better understanding of what happened than they thought.

Klaus got a call from Rebekah, who woke up earlier from her forced sleep to separated Marcel from the Mikaelson brothers. She explained that the newly turned beast wanted to stage a trial for Klaus's sins. A spectacle for Marcel and the enemies who now swarmed the city. An event that would most likely end in the hybrid's death.

The adults convened in the living room to discuss how to proceed.

"It's not a trial. This is suicide," Elijah exclaimed to his younger brother. "Take Hope, Ryan, and the girls -get the hell out of the city."

Hayley shook her head, turning away from where she stared out a window. "No. We won't leave here."

Raylynn nodded in agreement. "She's right. We're not going anywhere."

"No! Davina, please!" Kol began to scream and thrash on the couch. "No, don't leave me!"

Hayley, Klaus, and Elijah ran over to the man's side to hold him down. Kol only fought them harder.

"Shh -shh," Elijah tried to calm his brother down.

Freya stood from where she sat in the corner of the room. "There may be a way to save them," she said as the approached Klaus.

Klaus turned away from Kol to her. "Then I will move the world to make it so."

"I need time."

Klaus's brows furrowed. "You think I should stand trial before the death-dealing mob?"

Freya sighed. "Well, that's the easy part. In order to save our family, you need to come out of that trial alive."

_______

Raylynn could not hear anymore. Not of the trail. Not of Kol's screams. She moved back into the master bedroom to escape the chaos around her. Blood pounded in her ears, and her heart thudded against her ribs.

This can't be happening.

Raylynn sat down at the foot of the bed and set her eyes on Ryan. The baby boy remained still in the playpen. Not a twitch of his little hands or feet.

Klaus entered the room after her. He sat next to her and looked to where his children slept. Ready to say good bye to them for what could be a very long time.

Freya's plan consisted of one crucial detail. Klaus had to go stand trial, and he had to stay alive. He would have to get Marcel to use Papa Tunde's blade on him. His semi-conscious state would connect the rest of his siblings live to his own.

Then came the second part. Freya would use the sleep spell used on her by Dahlia. She and the rest of her infected siblings would be forced into a prolonged slumber until Raylynn and Hayley found the cures needed to wake them. However long it took.

Raylynn leaned against Klaus's shoulder, enjoying the last few moments with him. She did not know how the trail would go, or if he and Rebekah could even get Marcel to use Papa Tunde's blade on him. And if by chance they did, she would still lose him until she and Hayley saved the rest of his siblings.

Raylynn left the room a little while later so Klaus could say goodbye to Hope and Ryan. It could be years before he saw them again. Or, in the case of their plan, until they saw him again.

Close to time for Klaus to depart from the penthouse, Raylynn stormed into the master bedroom. "You can't go alone," she exclaimed as she rushed to face the man. "Let me come with you. Or -or Hayley. Just -take one of us."

Klaus sighed, turning away from the children's playpens to meet her gaze. "She already tried to persuade me." He reached out, cupping her cheek in his hand. "I have to do this alone. I am the only one they want."

Tears brimmed Raylynn's eyes. "They're going to tear you apart. Please, you can't do this."

Klaus rubbed his thumb across her pale skin. "It is the only way to save our family," he said, before he leaned down to capture her lips with his.

The kiss lasted too short for them. Filled with so much love and trust that made Raylynn's heart swell. A tears slipped through her lashed when they pulled apart.

Klaus wiped the salty streak away. "I do love you, you know."

Raylynn nodded. "I love you, too."

Klaus's lips twitched up for a moment as he released along breath. His hand slowly slipped from her cheek and dropped to his side. He met her eyes, one last time, before he left the room.

Raylynn stared after him as more tears fell. She listened and heard the door of the penthouse open and close. His final departure. Raylynn's knees buckled, dropping her to the floor.

_______

Once Raylynn composed herself, she made her way back into the living room. Ryan and Hope remained asleep, which made what they were about to do much easier.

Kol had finally passed out from the pure exhaustion that swarmed his body, but he rocketed up from the couch as another hallucination plagued his mind. "No! Don't hurt her!"

Hayley ran over to him to hold him down. "Freya! It's getting worse!"

"Don't hurt her, Davina!" Kol shouted.

Raylynn stood back and watched Hayley try to calm the man down. She would have have joined her, but he already lashed multiple times. Her strength was no match for an Original, much less against one no longer in their right mind.

"Calm down. Calm down, okay?" Hayley attempted to soothe him.

His body appeared to relax. "Davina is gone," he cried. "She's gone."

Raylynn's heart clinched at his claim.

Hayley held his face in her hand. "She's at peace now. It's okay." She then went to pull away, but Kol's hand shot out and wrapped around her throat.

Raylynn rushed over to them and grabbed Kol's arm. She tried to pull him off of Hayley, but he only tightened his grip.

Elijah sped to them and pried his brother's hand from Hayley's neck. "Brother! Calm yourself," he commanded, successfully freeing the woman from his grasp. He turned to her and asked, "are you okay?"

Hayley rubbed her throat and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

_______

The Mikaelson Compound no longer looked as it did that morning. Vampires of varying ages crowded around the walkways and courtyard to watch the trial of Klaus Mikaelson. Broken furniture littered the space, while papers floated through the air. Fires raged in metal barrels, illuminating Marcel perched on his makeshift throne.

Rebekah just finished her testimony about her brother. Her curse took over and ranted about things she would have never said. They did not go in the hybrid's favor.

The vampires screamed and shouted and cheered for death. For pain and bloodshed.

"Enough!" Klaus shouted, silencing them all. He turned to where Marcel sat at the edge of the courtyard. "I'm disappointed in you, Marcellus. Using my poor, impaired sister to propagate your vitriol. It's hardly the mark of a true leader, wouldn't you say?"

Marcel scoffed. "Oh, please. You want the last word? Take it. Then, we can finish this."

Klaus stared at the man for a long moment, before he began, "look at you. Outraged over the loss of Davina. She who routinely betrayed my family." He jumped down form the large crate he stood on and strode toward the beast. "And, in the end, defied even you. Perhaps -you should have warned her what befalls those who cross me Maybe -what happened to her way you fault."

He did not mean his words. Not really. Klaus needed to anger Marcel to the point of wanting him to suffer, not for him to die.

"No matter." Klaus stepped away from Marcel and turned to the crowd of vampires. "Davina's death did help defeat Lucien, so I suppose you could say the little witch did finally prove herself to be of some minute worth." He gestured to them. "And as for you lot -yes -I murdered your loved ones!" He set his stare on one man. "I killed your harlot." Then another. "I rid the world of your slum." To a woman. "And I freed you from your decrepit mother. So, what of it?"

Klaus raked his gaze over the rest of the vampires. "Each and every one stands here today because I willed it to be so. This mockery of a trail is allowed only because of me. And your very immortality is a gift -from me. A debt that you can never repay. One that far offsets all my supposed crimes. I -owe -you -nothing." He raised his arms in seemed to be a show of defeat or acceptance. "So, go on! Kill me! I welcome the peace of death as a reprieve from this tedium. I will die suffering, but a taste of agony I have inflicted upon all of you. The scales remain in my favor. And, in the end, you will all know that I won. You will remember me, Klaus Mikaelson," he shouted, before he lowered his voice and set his eyes on Marcel, "your maker."

Marcel did not get the chance to speak his verdict when Rebekah yelled, "death is too good for him!" She clutched her cursed arm to her chest as she faced the beast. "You have the means to make him suffer. Let that be his fate!"

As soon as the words left her lips, the crowd erupted in a frenzy. They screamed and cried for the torture of the hybrid.

To end the inevitable riot, Marcel stood to his feet to silence them. "Justice -for Klaus Mikaelson -should be a fate worse than death." He walked forward, reaching into his jacket to pull out Papa Tunde's blade. He raised it for the other vampires to see. "This blade is imbued with Dark Magic. It will cause unending agony. All the pain that we have felt at his hands of the man will pale in comparison to what he will soon fell for as long as I decide to let him live."

The vampires cheered as they surged toward they hybrid. Klaus tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. They grabbed his arms and legs, lifting him in the air high above their heads, and carried him to where Marcel stood at the edge of his raised throne.

Marcel gripped the blade tightly in his hand and stared down at Klaus. "For Davina, Diego, Thierry, Gia, Cami, and the boy I used to be. The one you called your son," he exclaimed and then drove the weapon into the hybrid's chest.

Klaus screamed out as the Dark Magic flooded his body and the blade sunk deeper into his skin.

Rebekah stayed at the edge of the courtyard and stared at her brother. Her features twisted as if she could feel his pain. She looked over to Marcel, who smiled at his sires defeat, before she spun on her heel and fled the scene.

_______

Raylynn chewed on the ends of her nails when the remaining Mikaelson siblings sat around the largest table in the room. Hayley stood at her side as they watched Freya ready her spell.

A piece of aged parchment laid across the surface in front of the witch with all of the siblings names written on its surface in Runic Script. Four puddles of blood pooled together next to each name, while a ring of salt line the table and lit candles were scattered around the parchment.

Hayley held her phone out with the speaker turned on. Rebekah escaped the compound and made it over to Hayley's old apartment to hide out until they came for her.

"Bekah, is it over?" Raylynn questioned.

"Nik found a way to stay alive," Rebekah said, causing a rush of relief to pass through the huntress's body. "Our plan worked. Now, it's up to you, Ray and Hayley. Make his sacrifice count."

Both women exchanged a look. One of determination. "We will," Hayley told her. "Hang tight. We'll come for you soon." She then hung up.

Raylynn turned her attention back to Freya.

The witch placed a bloody dagger on the parchment. "Rebekah's dagger. It has her blood," she said as more sweat clung to her forehead and began her spell when she joined hands with her brothers. "Vintomas inta grum, vin novus nocasomin. Vintomas inta grum, vin callus novasomin."

Raylynn reached out and grasped Hayley's hand at her side. She watched as the three Mikaelson shook. A drip of blood fell from Freya's nose, but she did not stop. She repeated the chant until her eyes closed and she fell back against her chair. Kol and Elijah dropped back at the same time, releasing their hold on one another as they lost consciousness.

Raylynn stared at them. Hayley's grip tightened on her hand. The spell worked. The Mikaelsons were safe. Raylynn and Hayley were now all alone.

_______

In the headspace of the Mikaelson siblings, a spacious garden spread out before them filled with flowers of all colors. A two-story farmhouse sat at the edge of the property. Picturesque and peaceful.

"Not exactly what I was expecting, but I guess beggers can't be choosers," Kol voiced with a smile. The beast bite on his neck no longer seen.

Freya stepped up to his side. No sweat covered her skin. "So, you like it? It's what I always dreamed of. A home away from the city. Just family."

Elijah stood on the other side of his sister and glanced around at the landscape. "So this creation, it is yours, or is it Niklaus?"

Freya sighed. "We're linked to his life-force by the same spell as Aunt Dahlia used to keep me alive for a thousand years. I realized it was the only way. Put us in a deep sleep. Buy Ray and Hayley enough time to find cures for us all."

"Hence the Chambre de Chasse."

"My little addition to the spell. In here, we can remain together until we wake," Freya told him and then walked over to where Kol moved to stare at the setting sun.

Elijah looked around to find Rebekah near a row of tulips.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. "He knew," Rebekah cried when her brother appeared next to her. "He had to be the anchor to Freya's spell." She exhaled, turning to face Elijah. "He saved us."

_______

A moving truck sat parked in a parking lot on the outskirts of the city. Hayley reached up to grab the raised door, glancing back at the four coffins where the Mikaelson siblings rested. She sighed and jumped down, dragging the door down with her. Hayley moved around the side of the truck and climbed into the cab. Hope greeted her from her carseat.

Raylynn gripped the steering wheel of her black Jeep. She stared at the back of the moving truck, ready for the long drive ahead of them. Ryan sleep the night away secured in the backseat.

The corners of two white envelopes peeked out from the pockets of both Hope and Ryan's diapers bags. Each with their names written across the front by their father, Klaus Mikaelson. Untouched and unread.

When the moving truck's rear lights flared, Raylynn's shifted her car into drive and followed Hayley as they left New Orleans.

_______

Back in the once prideful Mikaelson Compound, Klaus laid in a tomb bricked together by Marcel. Papa Tunde's blade stayed inside his chest, enveloping his mind and body in a pain unimaginable. He forced himself to focus on the thoughts of his children and the love of his life, Raylynn Montgomery. The only thing that could save him from the insanity the blade wanted to inflict.

Klaus's last free memory had been of the letters he wrote to his children. His final goodbye.

"My dearest Ryan and Hope.

I do not know how this will find you. As children full of wonder, teenagers full of opinions, or as a man and woman with the world at your feet. I write to tell you that I love you, and to explain that in our family's darkest hour, I was called upon to save my siblings, and so I did. Please, do not mourn me. Whatever pain I endured, I do in service of those I love.

Be good to your mothers. I draw comfort knowing that they will protect the both of you. And I know they will not rest until our family is united -until then, my sacrifice will allow you both to grow. To become the beautiful daughter and courageous son I can now only imagine. Please, remember that you two are the legacy this family has always desired, the promise we fought to protect. You both are, and will always be -our hope and little king."

<February 20, 2019>

I'M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE!!

We have finally reached the end of Stolen. Well, the original Stolen. We are now moving on into Risen, or now Part Two. One of my favorites books in this series.

Anyway, I may not be able to update until the end of this week. I have a lot going on school wise and life wise, which takes precedence over this story. Sorry.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.