[ Chapter Two ]

RAYLYNN HAD ONLY been asleep for an hour or two by the time she heard shouting outside her bedroom door. She groaned, rubbing her eyes before she threw her blanket off of her body to rise from the bed. She slipped a pair of fuzzy slippers onto her feet and exited her room to discover what the commotion was about. Raylynn moved across the second level walkway to stand next to the metal railing. Her eyes narrowed when she found Klaus striding over to where Elijah and Jackson entered the courtyard.

What was Jackson doing here? If Raylynn remembered correctly, which she did, he and the rest of his pack was about to turn back into wolves.

"Tell me what you know," Elijah demanded as he approached his brother.

A coy smile formed on Klaus's lips. "Has Jackson misplaces his bride? Come to think about, I did read that global warming was affecting migration patterns. Try Georgia!"

Raylynn made her way down the nearest staircase and called out gaining their attention, "what the hell is going on?"

Jackson only glared at the hybrid before him. "I just left the bodies of people I care about to rot in the woods because you left them defenseless against poachers!" Raylynn stepped closer with wide eyes, while Klaus also seemed surprised, but he covered it up with a grin. "Like Kingmaker Land Development. Does that ring a bell?" Jackson asked, making Klaus's expression fall. "Yeah, the CEO is Lucien Castle. Elijah tells me you two go way back..."

Elijah stood in front of his brother and cut the wolf off. "So, I will ask you once again -what do you know?"

Klaus pointed to Elijah as he said, "as it happens, I just came back from a romp with our good friend Lucien. You can find him in the penthouse of the gaudy new construction on Canal. And while you two are chatting up, be sure to ask him about the prophetic vision he showed me of our family's spectacular downfall. You could use a good laugh."

Raylynn's brows furrowed as she looked between the brothers in complete confusion. She held up her hand and voiced, "okay, hold up! What are y'all talking about? What's going on?"

Elijah turned to her and said flatly, "Hayley's missing." Before the huntress could ask further, he turned to Jackson. "You stay here. Niklaus and I will deal with this."

"Actually, as long as Hayley's prowling about on two legs and unaccounted for, I'm staying with my daughter," Klaus exclaimed as he stepped toward Jackson. "And, should I discover that this is yet another cock-eyed scheme for Hayley and you to abscond with her, the paltry remains of your beloved wolf pack will be sniffing at your entrails come morning."

Raylynn sighed, while Jackson scowled. Klaus gave the wolf a condescending smile, before he turned away. He did not get far when Elijah sped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

Elijah looked at the hybrid, slightly amused "This doesn't frighten you, brother. But one day, your daughter will know exactly the kind of man her father is," his said as he expression fell into one of more serious tone. "If anything should happen to Hayley, you mark my words -no one will have to take hope from you. She will, without question, leave you of her own accord." He then turned on his hell and strode out of the courtyard with Jackson on his heels.

Raylynn blinked, stunned by the harshness of the Original's words. She got that he was pissed with his brother, but he should have never brought up Hope. "That was crossing the line. I get his made, but really?"

"It seems Hayley's absence has driven him over the edge," Klaus stated as he stared where the Original disappeared.

Raylynn shook her head, her agitation toward Elijah growing by the second. But, she chose to push it down and turned to face the man next to her. "So, what did you mean before?" she asked, causing him to look at her. "What prophetic vision?"

"Nothing to worry about," Klaus told her. "At least, not yet." He pivoted on his heel and made his way up the stairs to check on his daughter.

Raylynn just stared after him, her lips pulled up into a pout. She really hated it when he did that.

_______

Later on that night, or should she say the next morning, Raylynn was on the verge of banging her head up against a wall. Freya failed to answer the dozens of calls that she and Klaus left for her, probably in a bar that had the music up to loud, or just did not care. Then, Cami showed up and proceeded to tell them all about how she thought Lucien to be responsible for the various murders around the city. Klaus obviously did not believe her, saying that it was too slopping for it to be the vampire. Cami did not agree with him, which seemed to worsen their already strained encounter with each other.

Finally, around three, Raylynn leaned against the second level railing to stare at the courtyard below. She watched as Freya stumbled into the room, arm-in-arm with a guy who had a glow stick necklace around his neck. Raylynn shook her head at the sight. Freya would choice a frat-boy to bring home.

"Nightcap?" the witch questioned as they moved further into the open space. "You'll find bourbon on basically every horizontal surface."

The frat-boy stepped away to move in front of her. "Or, we can skip to the fun part."

Freya laughed, reaching up to grab ahold of his head and brought his lips onto hers. They proceeded to kiss for a long moment, until a figure appeared beside them. Raylynn lifted a hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing and ruining the moment.

Klaus smiled brightly and bellowed, "Freya! It's about time you brought a gentlemen home to meet the family." He turned his attention on the man beside her. "I'm Freya's brother. And you are? No, don't tell me. Let me guess -Brad? Chad? Brody? Let's go with Brody."

Raylynn released a snort, causing Freya to look up to where she stood on the second floor. The witch did not appear amused in the slightly, while the huntress could not hide the smile on her lips.

"What are your intentions for my sister? Shall we discuss a dowry?" Klaus questioned, staring the man down as he flashed his hybrid eyes.

The frat-boy jumped back. "Bro, what the...?"

Klaus's features then morphed into a glare. "Leave now."

The frat-boy's eyes widened, spinning on his heel to run out of compound as fast as he could. Klaus laughed in purse amusement, while Freya gave him a flat stare. Raylynn bit her lip to hold back her own laughter, knowing that the witch was already annoyed enough as it was.

Klaus turned to his sister and exclaimed when he noticed her gaze, "he was drunk! No one will believe his story."

A grin merely formed on Freya's lips. "Not three months ago, you utterly despised me, and now you're playing protective brother."

"I'm sure you're quite capable of protecting yourself against the scourge of Fraternity Row," Klaus stated, until his expression fell into a more serious one. "I need you to perform a locater spell. Hayley's missing. I would have had Ray try, but she is still inexperienced."

Raylynn nodded and called out to them, "true. I could end up doing it wrong, and then we'd be nowhere."

Freya glanced toward the huntress and then back to her brother. "You're worried about her," she observed.

Klaus simply stared at her. "I prefer to know the whereabouts of my enemies. Besides, Hayley has a history of taking what's mine," he said and turned on his heel to climb a staircase. Before he could get far, his sister stopped him.

"No," Freya stated, causing the hybrid to face her. "You're afraid she's truly lost." Her own expression hardened as she stepped forward. "I'll need the best connection to Hayley. You'll have to wake Hope."

_______

Once they woke the fussy toddler, the three of them moved to one of the downstairs sitting rooms. Freya spread a bit of black sand around a map laid across a table. Raylynn sat across from her, while Klaus stood nearby with Hope in his arms. Freya closed her eyes and began to chant.

"Vinde val tratunderes. Vinde val tratunderes."

Suddenly, Freya gasped loudly and her eyes snapped open. Raylynn leaned back at the burst of movement. Her gaze dropped to the map, but found that the sand had not moved an inch. She looked back up to find the witch's shock turned to worry.

"I can't find her," Freya said lowly. "There's nothing -it's like she doesn't exist."

Klaus widened in alarm, while Hope remained oblivious to the situation and chewed on her fingers. "...or she's dead," the hybrid said.

Raylynn shook here head. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a sharp yell.

"No!" Jackson stormed into the room with Elijah on his heels. "No. No. You have to find her."

A look of dread fell over Freya's face, breathing heavily from the jolt from the spell. Klaus had begun to pace the room, while Raylynn racked her brain for any other possible solution to why Hayley could not be detected by magic. Before any of them could come up with one, Jackson shouted in pain. Raylynn shifted her attention toward him and watched as the man's eyes shifted to gold. He was turning back into a wolf.

Freya jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "Klaus, the chains!"

Everyone moved into action to help secure Jackson before he could wreck havoc on their home. All except for Raylynn. The huntress remained at the table and stared at the remnants of the locator spell. What none of them let her voice was that she thought that someone, a witch, had cloaked Hayley. That would explain why no one could find her, not even Freya.

But, maybe they just needed a more powerful witch.

Raylynn stared at the map in front of her and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, before she repeated the spell Freya used.

"Vinde val tratunderes. Vinde val tratunderes."

Raylynn gasped when scenes began to flash behind her eyelids. Hayley appeared, glaring at a group of people that surrounded her. She then fell to the ground, groaning in pain, before she slowly rose to her feet. The scenes cut in and out, but Raylynn was able to see Hayley grab a with and was then covered in blood. The huntress's eyes snapped open as she sucked in gulps of air.

Well, that was new.

_______

Jackson was soon under control and strung up in the courtyard. He had stopped transforming into his wolf form, but they were not about to trust the man to roam free. If something changed, he would be a full-fledged wolf in minutes and could put Hope in danger. No one wanted that.

Raylynn moved upstairs with Klaus and Hope, waiting for any news on why Jackson no longer transformed or where Hayley disappeared. The hybrid sat next to his daughter's playpen for a long time, until he decided to call his friend, Lucien, to question him about the recent murderers around the city. The vampire claimed that he had nothing to do with it, but Raylynn was not entirely convinced.

While they remained in the upstairs sitting room, a loud shout could be heard from the courtyard. They passed it off as nothing, until more and more followed. Klaus left the room to investigate, while Raylynn stayed with Hope. She tried to get the little girl back to sleep, but she did not want to cooperate.

Raylynn sat on the floor with her back resting against the couch. Hope was next to her on a blanket with a few toys set around her. The shouting had only grown louder and more persisted, but there was nothing Raylynn could do while she watched Hope. She pulled out her phone, checking to see if anyone felt like informing her what exactly was going on. She looked away for only a second or two, but that seemed to be enough for Hope to make her escape. Raylynn jumped to her feet and raced after the little girl. She came to a stop when she found the toddler beside the railing of the second level. Hope had managed to pull herself up by the metal posts, standing firm on her chubby feet.

Raylynn stepped around the corner to grab her, until her shock grew by another sight. Klaus stood on the walkway, blood dripping from his nose and chin as he stared at his daughter. A head of dark hair was in front of him, dressed in the same clothing and blood as Hayley in Raylynn's vision. The huntress watched at the woman turned, revealing that she was in fact Hayley.

The hybrid's eyes widened when she laid eyes on her daughter, who continued to stand on her own two feet. Hayley took light steps forward, raising a hand to her mouth. "Ohhh. She's walking," she breathed, moving closer to Hope. "When did she start walking?"

Raylynn looked on, ignoring the fact that the fighting and shouting had stopped. She watched Hayley stop in front of her daughter to pick her up from the ground to hold her close against her chest.

"I missed it," Hayley breathed, squeezing her daughter, not caring, or not remembering that she was still covered in blood. "I missed everything."

"No -you didn't," Raylynn spoke, drawing the woman's attention to her. "That was -that was the first time. You didn't miss it."

Hayley stared at the huntress as her eyes began to water. Raylynn did not have a chance to react, before the woman rushed forward and threw an arm around her. Raylynn sucked in a breath, not sure what to do as Hayley pressed herself against her with Hope still in her other arm. She simply stood there with her arms still at her sides. She just could not bring herself to hug the woman back, not after what happened all those months ago. Not after Hayley left her for man she barely knew.

Raylynn lifted her arms and set them on Hayley's waist, pushing her away with a blank expression. A flash of hurt appeared on the hybrid's face, but she quickly stepped back and forced it away. Raylynn took the time to glance around the courtyard and found that everyone stared up at them, or at least at Hayley.

With a deep breath, the hybrid turned on her heel and made her way toward one of the staircases. Hayley made it to the courtyard with Klaus hot on her heels. Jackson, who was just released from his chains by Freya, rushed over to his wife and wrapped her and his step-daughter in a hug.

"What happened?" Jackson asked when they pulled away. "Is the curse broken?"

Hayley sighed tiredly. "I'll explain later. We're safe -for now."

"Good for you. I'll have your bedroom made up," Klaus exclaimed in a seemingly polite tone.

Hayley whirled toward him with a murderous glare. "The only way that I will stay under your roof is if I'm in a coffin."

Klaus countered back, just as angry. "If you think I will allow Hope out of my protection for a second..."

"What you'll allow doesn't matter, Klaus," Hayley cut him off. "Welcome to a twenty-first century custody battle. Moms win them now."

Raylynn remained back, her gaze flicking between them like a tennis match. She was not about to get in the middle their argument. There was only so much she could take of their fighting over their daughter.

Elijah stepped forward when the tension between the parents began to reach new heighted. "If I may?" he voiced. "The apartments across the street have recently been renovated. I might pay a visit to the management," he said and turned to his brother with a glare of his own. "The fact that Hope will never be out of earshot should assuage your incessant paranoia."

Klaus scoffed. "So we are to listen as my daughter is raised by savages."

Jackson released his own noise of disdain. "Because everyone here is so civilized?"

Raylynn rolled her eyes. She really wanted to punch him. Jackson and Elijah.

The Original continued to stare at the older hybrid. "Brother, you created the problem. This might well be the solution."

Hayley looked toward him with a grateful nod. "Put the place in Jackson's name," she demanded and snapped toward the man in front of her. "Klaus won't be invited in."

Klaus remained silent, watching as Hayley and Jackson walked away with his daughter. Elijah merely shot his brother a look and followed after them. Freya did the same, before she turned to head up to her bedroom. Klaus's expression fell as he set his gaze on the huntress.

Raylynn could clearly see the anger and sadness, but there was nothing she could do or say that could make it better. She held up her hands in a surrender and said, "I'm sorry, but I'm not getting into this. This is between you and Hayley." She backed away from him to follow Freya's lead.

_______

Later in the morning, Raylynn found herself in the courtyard with Klaus, Freya, and Elijah. Apparently, the prophecy Klaus mentioned was not as harmless as he claimed it to be. So instead of sleeping, Raylynn had to listen to Elijah inform them that Lucien's prophet spoke of the end for the Mikaelson family. Not a pleasant thing to hear at five in the morning.

Freya set up for another spell in the courtyard. She placed a bowl in the center of a table, instructing Klaus to fill it will his blood. "If you fed on this prophetic witch, her blood is still in her system," she told him. "If there's a weapon that can kill you, we need to know." She then lit a tall back candle and set it in front of the bowl, while Klaus reluctantly bit into his wrist and bled into it. Smaller white candles were spread across the table, surrounding the three sheets of paper she produced with Norse runes written onto them. Each of them depicting Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah's names. Freya sat at the table and slowly dipped her fingers into her brother's blood to begin the spell.

"No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve. No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve," she chanted while blood dripped from her ears.

Raylynn felt the ground start to rumble beneath her feet as Freya strained from the spell. She knew the signs. Freya did not have enough magic.

"Freya?" Elijah questioned in worry. "Stop!" he pleaded, but his sister persisted.

"No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve. No mentre le prophecie que la otra ve."

Raylynn jumped into action and rushed over to the witch. She stood behind her and placed her hands atop the woman's shoulders. As soon as her hands came into contact, she watched multiple scene flash behind her eyelids. Just as they did when she tried to locate Hayley. Elijah's Victorian portrait in the courtyard made another appearance, as did the shadowed man with incredibly long fangs dripping blood.

Once the flashes stopped, Raylynn was thrown backward by the force of the spell. She landed harshly on her butt, gasping for a breath as she tried to comprehend what she just witnessed. She looked around her and found Freya also on the floor with blood on the sides of her head. Raylynn felt a strange sensation under her eyes, forcing her to raise her hand to wipe under them. She pulled it away to find blood on her fingertips. Her gaze lifted to find Klaus and Elijah staring at them in a mixture of shock and worry.

"It's true," Freya stated as she caught her breath. "You have a terrible shadow over you. Rebekah, too. If this prophecy is fulfilled, you will all fall..." she paused, looking as though she did not want to say more.

Raylynn's chest rose and fell at a fast rhythm when she spoke. "One by friend, one by foe, and one -by family," she breathed.

Klaus and Elijah stared at one another as the words slipped through the huntress's lips. The huntress knew that something was wrong from the moment she laid eyes on Lucien. That something bad was about to happen. Raylynn just did not think that it would end in the demise of the entire Mikaelson family.

<October 15, 2018>

So I've had This Is Me from The Greatest Showman stuck in my head for the past day and I'm not even mad.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.