𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙊𝙐𝙍
ミ★ ( reign of wolves, act one ) ★彡

     The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results—and Rebekah and Rhea think they are going insane. Tension in the plantation house was palpable; the women in the household were evidently pissed off with Klaus and his lack of urgency to get Elijah back and save Rhea, and the fact that his priority is rising to a position of power over New Orleans (like it always is). They shouldn't be surprised by it, his previous actions always show he has the same priority: himself. And if there's anything Rhea knows about a narcissist like Klaus, it's that they don't like to be ignored, which is what they have been doing. It's honestly quite amusing to ignore Klaus and pretend he isn't there, and it's what he deserves until he starts to work on getting Elijah back—which is what he should've been doing in the first place.

Rhea was enjoying a cup of blood, looking over at Rebekah's laptop screen next to her while she vigorously searched Google Maps for any type of clue that might point them in Elijah's direction. Rhea's energy has severely plummeted and she can feel herself wasting away as the days go by which is extremely worrying at how fast the desiccation is occurring compared to last time despite the necklace that Matteo gave her for protection—maybe they've bonded too much that even the necklace can't stop it from happening. Hayley was sat on the sofa, flipping through a book lightly arguing with Agnes, who had invited herself over, "I told you Agnes, I feel great!"

     "You are overdue for a checkup." Agnes argued back sternly, placing her hands on her hips.

     "What am I gonna do? Pop into the Quarter for a quick ultrasound? A pregnant werewolf escorted by a witch? Nothing to see here!" Hayley said sarcastically.

     "A lot of women would kill to have a child. It strikes me as odd that you're not taking better care of yours." Rebekah remarked as she momentarily looked up from her computer screen, only a hint of jealousy seeping through her tone.

     Awkward silence fills the room for a moment from Rebekah's jab. They all knew how much Rebekah desired to be human and start a family, and there Hayley was; with a miracle baby that she doesn't want. Agnes purses her lips before informing, "I know a doctor out in the Bayou, off the beaten path. Now, I took the liberty of making an appointment for you. Tonight, after-hours, just us. Vampires will never get word of it."

     Hayley pondered for a moment and rolled her eyes in reluctant agreement, "Okay, fine. Bayou-baby-doctor it is."

     Agnes and Hayley leave the room and Rhea looked over to Rebekah again, who was staring at her computer screen intensely still; now looking at satellite photos of the French Quarter.

     Klaus walks in and laughed at her when he saw what the contents of her screen, "Please, sister, tell me you're not still at it with the internet search." He shakes his head in amusement at her desperation, "How does one begin, anyway? Just type in 'anonymous attic'?" He teased as he poured himself a bourbon.

     "Someone has to find Elijah, even if I have to search every bloody attic in New Orleans." Rebekah responded bluntly, not looking at him.

     "Like looking for a needle in a rather large pile of needles." Klaus remarked.

     "I remember details about the attic Marcel took me to. There were shutters on the windows behind Elijah's coffin." Rebekah recalled and Rhea listened, intrigued.

      "Well, that should narrow it down immensely." Klaus remarks sarcastically again since there was about a hundred different churches with shutters where their attics were, "Myself, I prefer actual strategy as opposed to mind-numbing labor. Marcel's delay in returning our brother makes me suspect he's no longer in charge of the situation. If Davina's loyalty to Marcel is strained, perhaps the young witch will be open to discussing a new alliance."

     Rhea smiled bitterly, "As usual, your power grabs are more important than rescuing Elijah."

     Klaus shrugged, "I prefer to think of it as killing two birds with one stone. Rob Marcel of his secret weapon, bring your soulmate home."

     Rebekah and Rhea, still unimpressed, smiled tightly at Klaus as he sipped his drink.

     A priest is cleaning up a very run-down looking church when Rebekah and Rhea entered and started looking around. He briefly looked up at them before going back to what he was doing, "Church is closed. If you want your horror fix, go take a ghost tour." He said to them.

     "I don't much care for ghosts. I am, however, fascinated by window shutters. I've been on a town tour of them all day. I noticed the windows of your attic have shutters." Rebekah said.

     The priest raised an eyebrow at her quirky interest, "Are you really interested in shutters?"

     "I can assure you it's our current life obsession." Rhea grinned, "What's your name?"

     "Father Kieran. And you are?" He asked them.

     "Mildly curious." Rebekah answered and Father Kieran sighed deeply as Rebekah notices a red stain on the nearby wall, "What happened here?"

     Father Kieran sighed again, "St. Anne's used to be the heart of the neighborhood. It's been abandoned for a while now... since the night of the massacre." Rhea's eyebrow raised in interest at the mention of a massacre, "Nine seminary students were killed... by one of their own. You're standing on blood."

     "We're not squeamish. Where's the attic?" Rhea responded urgently.

     "Like I said, the church is closed." Was all the priest answered with.

     Rebekah moved herself right in front of his face and compelled him, "Where is the attic?"

     "Past the sacristy, up the stairs." Father Kieran answered dully.

     Rebekah smiled, "Thank you. Now, forget we were here." She ordered before she and Rhea walked away. After a moment, Father Kieran shook his head, as if shaking himself out of a daze.

     The two of them walked upstairs amd they found the attic, and opened the door, "I knew it!" Rebekah grinned and she tries to enter the room, but she is unable to cross the threshold, as though Davina has somehow magically revoked her invitation.

     In the doorway, they look over at Elijah laying in his open coffin. His eyes open and look toward them, and he uses his vampire telepathy to speak with Rhea in her head. When Rhea blinked, she was back in her home in Mystic Falls, looking incredibly confused.

     "What the fuck?" Rhea questioned as Elijah approaches her from behind, smiling roguishly in his suit from the day they met.

     "Oh, how I missed you and your vulgarity." Elijah grinned.

     Rhea's head snapped around to see her soulmate standing behind her, "Elijah!" She exclaimed as she ran toward him and jumped into his arms, pressing kisses all over his face before kissing his lips intensely, "I missed you so much." She said against his lips before she pulled away, "But, what is all this?"

     "You don't remember? It's the day we first met—also known as my favourite memory of you." Elijah stated.

     Rhea chuckled, "I know that. But, what are we doing here? And how are you even awake?"

     "I need you to know it's not one of Davina's tricks. She would never know about this day." Elijah explained before smiling, "Davina removed the dagger, unaware that doing so even once would negate the dagger's power. In a few hours, I shall be as good as new."

     "So, get me into the attic and we can find a way to get you out." Rhea said desperately, "I need you back with me, I can't handle it much longer without you."

     Elijah traced his thumb over her desiccation, "I can't leave just yet, unfortunately." He said and her hopeful face dropped with dread and panic, "This girl, Davina, she's... curious. Willful, too. Soon, I shall be able to speak to her, perhaps to even propose a truce of some kind."

     "And what about us? The longer you stay daggered, the quicker I will deteriorate." Rhea reminded him.

     "Don't worry. I will speak to Davina about it and hopefully I can convince her to find a way to stop this without breaking our bond." Elijah assured her, "But, if we can end this war between the vampires and the witches, we'll be able to eliminate the threat to Hayley and her baby. Perhaps then our entire family can finally know peace."

     Rhea rolled her eyes, "This family will never know peace with Klaus running amok." She remarked.

     Elijah's lip twitched with amusement, "In the meantime, I need you and Rebekah to look after Hayley. She is our family now, so I need her and her unborn child to fall underneath our protection." He said sternly and she sighed with disapproval, "Swear to me, Rhea."

     "I swear. You have my word." Rhea said back and he returned her back to reality, where she still stands in the doorway, looking at him in his coffin.

     "Rhea, are you okay?" Rebekah questioned her, snapping her out of her daze. The two looked at each other, "You've been out of it for a while. What happened?"

     "I spoke to him. He wants us to leave him here so he can bond with Davina." Rebekah looked shocked and confused, and Rhea quickly added, "And he wants us to look out for Hayley and the baby."

     Rebekah looked at Elijah and sighed, "I swear we'll look after them." She told her brother before they turned to leave when her phone beeped, her eyes looked concerned as she read the text.

     The men who raided the clinic that Agnes had taken Hayley to were still looking for her in the woods behind the clinic. Hayley quickly hid behind a tree and they pass her, not seeing her. She ran up to them and kicked the first man she encountered in the gut before knocking him to the ground.

     She jumped and kicked the second man down as well as she snapped his neck. A third man tried to attack her, but she grabbed a knife from his hand and cut his neck with it as she spun in the air. When a fourth lunges toward her, she grabbed his shotgun and knocked him to the ground, and possibly killed him as she kicked him and beat him in the head with the butt of the gun.

     As Hayley crouches into a defensive position on the ground, her eyes flash werewolf-gold as she looks around for any more threats. A large, burly man descended upon her, but, before Hayley can react, his neck is snapped from behind by Rebekah, who has just arrived with Rhea, "Have to say, I'm impressed." The Original stated.

     "How did you find me?" Hayley questioned as she relaxed at the sight of Rebekah and Rhea.

     "Your text got me halfway, vamping here did the rest." Rebekah explained before nodding her head at the dead bodies around them, "Who are they?"

     "Witches. Warlocks. Whatever." Hayley shrugged. She didn't care that they were people, or who they were—whoever they were, they were dead now.

     Rhea noticed more men with flashlights in the distance heading toward them, "Well, whoever they are ,there's more of them." She informed them, pulling Hayley up off of the ground and pushing her into the other direction, "Run!"

     Hayley reluctantly heeded her warning and began to run away, "If I had a dollar for every mess my family has got me into..." Rebekah mumbled to herself before preparing to fight.

     Rebekah is then shot in the heart with two arrows, which temporarily neutralize her and she falls to the ground. Hayley sees her go down and watches in horror, "Rebekah!"

     "I said run, damn it!" Rhea snapped as she dodged an arrow before it lodged itself into Hayley's shoulder instead. The arrow seemed to be coated in something that causes her to pass out and fall to the ground as well.

     "Oh, shit." Rhea whispered as she went to Hayley's side to drag her away from the site, only to be hit in the back by an arrow and pass out moments later.

     When Rebekah woke up, she was still in the woods of the Bayou after passing out from being shot in the heart with an arrow. She pulled out the arrows with a groan of pain and sat up to find five or more bodies surrounding her, all of which look as though they were mauled. Rebekah looks around in horror when she doesn't see Hayley, but she sees Rhea passed out with an arrow in her back.

     "What the hell?" She gasps for breath as she pulls herself to her feet, looking for Hayley as she walked over toward Rhea to pull the arrow out of her, in hopes of it waking her up.

     Seconds later, Rhea woke up with a gasp, "Ow!" She groaned as she held onto her shoulder, feeling the pain more than usual just from the arrow lodging itself into her desiccation that was on her back. "What's going on?"

     "Hayley's gone. We need to find her." Rebekah told her and Rhea was immediately on her feet, "Let's go."

     The two began walking around and looking for clues as to where Hayley could be. They walk into a little cottage nearby and they see the doctor passed out on the floor next to a used syringe. Suddenly, Klaus appears, "Wow! You abandoned your quest for power to help out your family! Having an off day?" Rebekah remarked, tilting her head to the side.

     "Who took her?" Klaus asked them calmly.

     "We don't know." Rebekah answered.

     "What do you mean, you don't know? And who killed her attackers?" Klaus questioned them again.

     "We don't know!" Rhea insists, "She said they might've been witches and warlocks but who knows. We had poisoned arrows in us. Hayley and Rebekah passed out before I did, so, if it wasn't us, and it wasn't you who killed them, then—" She was cut off by wolves howling in the distance. Klaus looks at her and raises his eyebrows and she realises who might've done the damage, "Maybe let's ask the werewolves if they know." She said as she walked outside and Klaus follows her outside, speechless.

     When they exit the building, they see Hayley stumbling toward them, her clothes tattered and dirty. She looks dazed and exhausted as they run toward her, "Hayley! What happened? Tell me what happened." Klaus demanded.

     "I can't remember." Hayley answered groggily, still feeling the affects of the poisoned arrow.

     Klaus anxiously examines Hayley for any wounds and his eyebrows furrowed as he notices something odd, "You've completely healed. There's not a scratch on you."

     "One of the perks of being a werewolf, remember?" Hayley reminded them.

     "No, not that fast." Rhea said suspiciously, "It would take me a few hours to heal from something that intense."

     Rebekah wrapped an arm around Hayley protectively, "Leave her alone!" She snapped before a thought crosses her mind, "It's the baby. The vampire blood—Klaus' vampire blood—in your system. It can heal any wound." Klaus turned and stared at her incredulously, "Your own child healed you." Rhea and Klaus couldn't help but smile at the thought as Rebekah turned the subject back to Hayley, "How did you escape? You were outnumbered and unarmed? Those men were ripped to shreds!"

     "I think it was the wolf." Hayley answered quietly, "I think it's trying to protect me."

     Klaus angrily pointed to Hayley, "The witches were supposed to protect you! When I get my hands on Sophie Deveraux—"

     "It wasn't Sophie. It was Agnes." Hayley corrected him, not wanting Sophie to take the blame for something she didn't do.

     "Fine! Agnes, Sophie, it's all the same to me! I'll slaughter the lot of them!" Klaus roared.

     "Not if Elijah gets there first." Rhea stated and their heads all snapped to her.

     "Elijah? Did you find him?" Hayley asked the Lockwood hybrid.

     Rhea nodded, "He has a plan. All he asks is that we take care of you." She answered Hayley.

     Hayley smiled appreciatively before turning to Klaus, "Hey, so... can we go home now? I'd really like to sleep for a few days..." Hayley stood up, and Klaus nods with a smile.

     When she goes to walk, her knees buckle as she stumbled and started to fall, but Klaus zooms over and caught her before she hit the ground and scooped her up into a bridal-carry in his arms, "Ooh, I've got you, love." He cooed and they all walked toward their car, Hayley still in Klaus' arms, "I've got you."