◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞-𝖔𝖓𝖊: ❛ perfect pretender ❜ ◢

✧

MARISOL COULDN'T SLEEP WITH A MAN BY HER SIDE. Magnus was her only exception, when he was young and they could only afford one bed in some places, but no one else. A lifetime of paranoia, raised by witches who questioned every outsider who approached their town and then raising her own nephew with a cautious eye, pissing off Original vampires...all of that would do that to you.

          She only trusted herself, and could only sleep when she was alone in her room with the door locked, though she knew it wouldn't do any good against a vampire. It was for comfort more than practicality, but it made her feel better at night so she always continued the practice.

          But Diego was by her side, and she was very aware of the fact that both of them had no clothing between them under his sheets which smelled like fresh linen, so she couldn't go to sleep. He drew circles into her side and she closed her eyes, not wanting to make any conversation with him. She was there for one reason, and she completed that, now she just wanted to relax even further and forget the night even more than she was before.

          Of course, it wasn't exactly working.

          "I can tell that you aren't actually asleep," Diego commented in a low voice, his finger swirling around on her back which was turned to him.

          Marisol bit her lip, opening her eyes, and she turned to him, meeting his dark eyes that looked all too mirthful at the moment. "Just had to call me out, didn't you?" she asked, a teasing smile tracing her lips now.

          She wasn't amused at all, but she could play the part. If there was one thing Marisol Bigora was good at, it was pretending.

          His eyes dropped to her lips before he leaned in to kiss her, and for this night alone, she allowed him. Tomorrow morning, she would go back to pretending he never existed. Tomorrow morning, she wouldn't let him kiss her and she wouldn't kiss him, but tonight...tonight she could allow this bittersweet intimacy to happen and forget all about that.

          Tonight, she could pretend with her lonely lover, and tomorrow she would face the man who once held her entire soul in his hands before he crushed it.

          "Maybe I just like looking at your face more than your back," Diego told her, a soft smile tugging at his lips and he looked so perfectly content with tonight, with her in his arms. She almost wanted to break his heart now and tell him that this was only tonight, not tomorrow or the next day, but she figured that would ruin the mood.

          She would deal with that tomorrow.

          The laundry list for tomorrow was getting longer by the second, but too much had already happened today. Hayley's baby almost dying, running around New Orleans trying to fix, coming so close to that death...it was too much. There were seconds there she thought it was going to be like Magnus all over again, watching as time slowed as Kol took his neck and snapped it, Magnus' newly lifeless body falling to the ground.

          No, she didn't want to think about that, because that didn't happen. The baby didn't this time, it wasn't her fault, Hayley and the baby were fine. They were alright, she just needed a distraction.

          "You said you needed a distraction," Diego voiced, and it was almost like he could read her mind. She didn't like that, "What from?"

          "Now if I told you, I would be thinking about it and not be distracted," Marisol told him, leaning in to kiss him again and forget some more.

          She just needed a break from everything, because every day had a new reason to make her hair go grey. Tonight, though, everything was on pause. It was just her, Diego, and the bed they were lying on.

          "Fair point," Diego conceded when they parted again, "I'm just always here if you need something."

          "What I need," Marisol got on top of him, "Is for you to shut up and to kiss me again."

          She leaned down, and he clearly looked pleased she was on top, and grabbed his face to kiss him. As long as she did this, she could think about this, focus on it, and let the world disappear. That's all she really needed.

          But it seemed like all good things came to an end, because abruptly her phone began to ring loudly and she groaned. "Ignore it," Diego said, greedily trying to take another kiss from her, but she shoved herself off of him.

          "Can't," she disagreed, getting up to find her phone in the mix of all her clothes on the ground, "Could be important."

          When she finally found it, her phone was flashing the name Elijah and she groaned again. Declining the call, because she couldn't talk to him in front of Diego when the vampire could hear, she began putting on her clothes.

          "What? No," Diego pouted when he saw this and Marisol shot him a small grin.

          "Sorry, it's work," she apologized.

          Diego raised an eyebrow. "At this hour?"

          "I work irregular hours," she shrugged, "My job's kind of a weird one."

          When she finished putting on her clothes, she went back to Diego and gave him one last kiss as a goodbye. Maybe also as a thanks for being her distraction for the evening, not that she would ever let him or herself ever really consider that.

          "Gotta go," she said just as her phone lit up again. She looked and saw that now Klaus was calling her, which meant that it really was important, and she had to book it away from Diego to take their calls.

          Diego muttered a goodbye back to her as she got out of his apartment as fast as she could, leaving the goodbye and joining the streets which were still alive with people even though it was incredibly late at night.

          She clicked on Elijah's contact, bringing her phone to her ear and waiting for him to pick up. "Where are you?" Elijah asked right as he accepted the call.

          Immediately put off, Marisol frowned. He was being incredibly forceful tonight, which was different from him in the past, and she wasn't sure if she liked this exact change at all. "None of your business," Marisol snapped back at him, because she had the right to her own privacy and life away from them, "Why are you and Klaus calling me?"

          "Is Hayley with you?" he asked instead of answering her question, but it was enough of an answer for her.

          "No, I haven't seen her since we got inside earlier," she told him, her frown deepening, "Why? Is everything okay?"

          She heard him sigh on the other end. "Hayley's missing, Marisol, someone took her."

✧

          OF COURSE, SHE wasn't the only one on edge because of Hayley's disappearance – kidnapping, really – but her heart hadn't stopped speeding since Elijah had told her the news over the phone. She almost dropped it in shock when she heard, unable to comprehend that someone stole her right from the house which was supposed to be safe space for her, especially after finding out that Klaus suspected it to be Marcel.

          Her first instinct was to disagree, to defend her friend because Marcel would never do such a thing, but as she thought about it more the less she believed herself. No, Marcel would never do such a thing to her or one of his vampires, but Klaus was someone he didn't trust. Klaus was someone he regarded as a sort of enemy, and that was a different playing field.

          She didn't know Marcel as an enemy, she didn't know what he was capable of or what moves he could pull, so she couldn't definitively say that he wouldn't do this. She wanted to believe he was innocent, though.

          Thankfully, the witches were actually helpful and Sabine did a locator spell for Hayley which landed her in the bayou, which was great. Just the place Marisol wanted to go back to after Hayley almost dying, getting lost, and having to kill all those witches before going back again to release the magic in their bones back to the ancestors. God, she hated the bayou.

          "We should head south towards the water," Elijah suggested as they left the car, walking through the woods towards the swamp.

          "You seem quite determined to find the little wolf," Klaus noted and Marisol frowned at him.

          "If we're moving too fast for you, Niklaus, you're welcome to wait in the car. Do be certain to leave the windows come," Elijah said, not replying to Klaus' comment.

          Of course, that only brought the blond brother pleasure. "Ah, so I've touched a nerve? You've begun to admire this girl, haven't you? Perhaps that's why you've been barking orders since your return, hoping to impress Hayley by assuming the role of the family patriarch."

          "If you're going to insist on treating her like a walking incubator, then that's your mistake," Elijah clarified, "I extend Hayley common decency, that does not mean I admire her. I have simply welcomed her into our family which is something you have forgotten to do."

          Elijah's eyes shuffled to Marisol for a moment, but she refused to meet them. She didn't know why he went so far to clear himself from Klaus' view of the situation, as if it bothered her. It didn't. Why would it? It wasn't like they really had anything to begin with, all those years ago, or like they had something now. She was perfectly fine if he found Hayley attractive, she did have beautiful eyes.

          Klaus began to sniff the air and Elijah paused for a moment. "Have you found her scent?" he asked.

          "Impossible," Marisol shook her head, "I don't smell Hayley at all."

          But Klaus groaned. "No," he said in a low voice, as if angry at what he was smelling, "But I found someone else's."

          By the sound of it, whoever he smelt he obviously didn't like, and it put a bad taste in her mouth. He took off in the distraction he smelt something from, so Elijah grabbed her arm and before she could react they were running after Klaus until they landed at an abandoned vehicle.

          She tore herself away from Elijah, because the contact of his hand against her arm made her heart beat faster for a second, and she didn't like that. He should have no affect her, not anymore.

          "This vehicle reeks of someone I think I was rid of..." Klaus seethed as he tore through items in the car, "Tyler Lockwood."

          By the way he spat out the name, Marisol knew to cross her arms and be displeased. "And why would your little hybrid-sidekick from Mystic Falls have any interest in Hayley?" Elijah inquired.

          "He wants revenge because I went after his girl," Klaus admitted.

          "I'm a little lost here," Marisol pipped up, looking between the brothers, "Who's Tyler Lockwood?"

          "Back when I had the means to sire hybrids, he was my first," Klaus explained, "Although, I didn't give him much choice in the matter."

          Marisol nodded slowly in understanding. Just that would be enough to make an enemy out of a person. "Got it. Not friendly in the slightest," she assessed, and Klaus nodded in confirmation. Great...

          "He was loyal in the beginning, but he grew insubordinate, turned my other hybrids against me. I couldn't have that, so I massacred the lot of them. Tyler ran like a coward before I could finish him off," Klaus went further.

          Elijah sighed in frustration, knowing that all these offenses from Klaus was more than enough reason for Tyler to want to kill Hayley and the baby. "Anything else that you would like to share?"

          "Well, there was this business with his mum..."

          "You killed his mother," Elijah accused him, sounding incredulous as he stared at his brother, who neither confirmed nor denied it, "Wonderful."

          "He needed to be taught a lesson!" Klaus defended himself.

          "That is not how you're supposed to teach lessons," Marisol stared at him in disbelief, "That is how you create enemies."

          "And what lesson will you be taught, Niklaus, if he retaliates by harming Hayley?" Elijah turned this back around at Klaus.

          Klaus' nose twitched, and his eyes lined with fury for a moment. "Enough, I'll kill Tyler Lockwood myself," then he sped away before Elijah or Marisol could say anything else.

          "Anyone ever tell you that your brother is incredibly dramatic sometimes?" Marisol turned to Elijah, and he cracked a smile before taking her hand and leading her into the woods.

          "Yes, but not in those terms," he answered, "But right now, we have to focus on finding Hayley."

          Then he sped them away as well before she had the chance to struggle away from him. She really did hate this mode of travel, speeding with a vampire, it always made her stomach twirl and whirl around, but it wasn't like she could argue when they were already in motion, so she just held onto Elijah a little bit tighter.

✧

          IT WAS A lot. Getting Hayley back, saving her from Tyler in the woods where she almost knifed Elijah in the face, only for her to tell them that the baby's blood could turn werewolves into hybrids. Elijah should've seen it coming, more than Marisol anyway, because learning that Klaus had actually made hybrids was news to her.

          Yeah, she knew he broke his curse and he was a full hybrid, but it was different learning that he actually made others like him. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but it didn't really matter how she felt about it because she wasn't the one with hybrid making abilities.

          "Klaus must've known, that's the only explanation!" Hayley said with such conviction. She was completely sure of what she was saying, with no room for doubt, "He couldn't care less about the baby. He just wants her to be born so he can use her to make more sired hybrids."

          "Are you sure? Like, really and completely sure?" Marisol asked, an eyebrow raised and arms crossed as she looked at Hayley.

          "Of course I am," Hayley looked at her like she was crazy, "What other reason could there be?"

          Marisol shrugged. "Klaus is weird. I don't know if he cares or not, don't really know him, but I do know that he cared enough to prepare me that you were coming back and I should get ready to face you again," she gestured to Elijah. "It was kinda nice."

          "That doesn't make him a good guy," Hayley shook her head.

          "I've found that morality is very grey, actually," Marisol said, "Guess it comes with living so long."

          Hayley shook her head again, frowning a little and looking away from her. "You know...the way that Dwayne was acting...it was more like he was sired to me," she said after a moment, dwelling on the subject a bit more.

          Marisol stood up straighter at that. Interesting, definitely interesting. Elijah looked at Hayley for a moment before sighing, "I should take you home."

          "Are you serious?" Hayley looked at him as if he were mad, "Home to what?"

          "Look, regardless of my brother's intentions, mine remain the same. I said that I would protect you, even, if need be, from Klaus himself," Elijah told her earnestly, and Marisol couldn't help but look away.

          Maybe Klaus was right, maybe Elijah really was fond of Hayley. That was fine, of course, but she still felt like someone was punching at her heart repeatedly. And she shouldn't, because she had no tie to Elijah, but it still felt like she did, and she hated it. She didn't need any of this.

          She swallowed, looking back at them, pretending like she wasn't affected by this at all. She couldn't be. She was a temporary fixture here, present until Klaus no longer needed her and she was free to leave, but Hayley's presence in the family – which included Elijah – was permanent. It shouldn't matter to her.

          "I can take care of myself," Hayley told him, "I've done it for a long time."

          And wasn't that the story of her life?

          "I want to talk to Klaus before we go home," Hayley said decisively, and Elijah nodded.

          He grabbed the both of them, waiting for a moment to catch where he could hear his brother, before speeding them over to Klaus' location. They got to a shack near the water as Klaus walked out of it dragging a body.

          "There you are! I see you've found our wandering stray," Klaus' eyes flickered to Hayley before they went back to the dead body, "Perhaps you could shed some light on the situation. This –" he kicked the dead body, "– appears to be a hybrid."

          "His name was Dwayne," Hayley told him, her voice nothing but cold.

          It was obvious that Klaus didn't care at all about who the person was. "Well, whoever it was, I didn't sire him. Any idea how that's possible?"

          "As if you didn't know," Hayley snapped at him. She shoved herself in Klaus' face, only from Elijah to go and push Hayley behind him defensively.

          Klaus raised an eyebrow at this, amused. "Ah, well, aren't you two fast friends? Oh, come on, then. What kind of horrible accusation have you conspired to levy against me?" he inquired, finding all of this as just entertainment.

          "Tyler Lockwood brought Hayley here to test a theory. That the blood of her child could be used to sire hybrids. He claims that you knew that. Furthermore, that you intended to use this knowledge to build an army," Elijah explained to him, looking at Klaus with disappointment.

          Marisol watched as Klaus' demeanor of careless amusement slowly morphed into something darker, and she knew that they messed up with how Elijah presented the facts. "And, of course, you assumed it's true. I mean, why else would I show interest in my own flesh and blood? A heartbroken little crybaby points his finger at me, and my own brother falls in line, eager to believe it! How quickly you believe the worst, especially when it comes from her."

          Watching them, it reminded Marisol of Ophelia. Watching as her little sister who she held so dearly turned to her with anger, fury filling her every moment as she cursed her own sister.

          "Oh, spare me your indignation," Elijah's eyes burned as well, "When have you ever demonstrated any kind of concern towards Hayley or her child, beyond your own selfish pursuits? And what was it you once said to me? Every king needs an heir!"

          Klaus watched them with betrayed eyes, and Marisol clammed up. She was frozen, unable to speak because she wouldn't even know what to say in the first place.

          "My big brother," he said that, so full of hatred, so full of sadness, so full of longing, and she understood every tone in the three words because she felt them herself, "So, you doubt my intentions? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, standing next to the noble Elijah, how can I be anything but the lesser brother? A liar, a manipulator, a bastard."

          The way he said the last word, lowly, hurt dripping from it, she had to look away. He was the wolf, just like her. He was the wolf, he was the bastard, he was the one that stood out. He was her, in a sense, and it made her want to cry. It made her ache, because watching them was like reliving that night with Ophelia where everything changed. Where her sister left and was replaced with a monster so full of hatred for everything about her, who cursed her, who left her like this with Magnus.

          "That's all I am to you, isn't it?" Klaus continued with the same tone, "And Rebekah. And, judging by the way Hayley hangs on to your every word, it's clear she feels the same way! No doubt my child will as well."

          Softer this time, realizing his harsh treatment, Elijah let out a, "Brother, if –"

          "You've said all that needs to be said, brother," Klaus took a step back, shaking his head, "I'll play the role I've been given."

          He sped forward to Elijah, grabbing his neck and savagely breaking into it, biting him. Marisol ran towards them, breaking them apart, staring at Klaus with shock and a little fear. He turned on Elijah in a single moment, and he could do the same to her.

          "You all enjoy each other's company. You'll have much to bond over, once the hallucinations and dementia set in. consider that bite to be my parting gift to the both of you," he looked between Hayley and Elijah.

          For a second, his eyes found Klaus, and there was some part of understanding for each other through the tears. Then, he was gone. Marisol blinked, looking back to the two of them.

          "I told you," she whispered, "I told you..."

          But it was too late now. Elijah was facing the consequences for their actions and soon, the price would fall on herself and Hayley.

          "I know," Elijah said in a sad voice before clearing his throat. He walked into the shack and Hayley looked to Marisol, but Marisol didn't meet them before following Elijah inside.

          There were plenty of artifacts and items inside, which Hayley obviously wanted to go through because of the connection she felt to the area. Marisol shuffled uncomfortably, knowing too much about the area, what happened, and how she wasn't sharing any of that with Hayley.

          "You don't have to help," Hayley mentioned as she saw Elijah looking around, "I can dig through the werewolf antique show with just Marisol. Besides, shouldn't you put some kind of ointment or something on that?" she pointed to the bite mark on his neck.

          Elijah shook his head. "The bite won't kill me. Like Niklaus himself, it's more of a nuisance than anything."

          "Good, because we're going to need a way to get back eventually," Hayley smiled, "And, thanks, by the way, for staying out here. Both of you. You didn't need to."

          "I've had some experience dealing with people who have a werewolf bite, figured it'd come in handy now," Marisol shrugged.

          "You said the people of the village are the only family you have left," Elijah looked to Hayley, eyes connecting, "I can relate."

          Hayley looked down for a second before looking back up, "You're thinking about Klaus."

          Elijah couldn't help but sigh. "Perhaps I was too willing to condemn him," he pondered, "In the thousand years that we have been together, my brother has committed numerous unspeakable acts. But, then again, so has Rebekah. So have I."

          "So did I, the last time I was in Cabo. We've all done bad things. It's just, most people die before the list gets embarrassing. But, don't for a second compare yourself to Klaus," Hayley assured him.

          Marisol shook her head. "I don't buy that. You and Klaus come have the same poisoned blood, so compare yourselves. Like you said, you've done some bad things, probably worse than some stuff Klaus has done. You're a thousand years old, it happens, but like it or not, you're exactly like Klaus. He's just more up front about it while you like to hide behind your fancy suits and outdated language."

          "You believe that? That I'm a terrible person?" Elijah asked her, and she almost thought she could detect some hurt in his voice.

          "Yeah," she nodded, "You are, so am I. So is Hayley. All of us are terrible people. Objectively, anyway. By the normal standards of morality, we're pretty bad."

          "That doesn't mean we're bad people," Hayley disagreed, "Elijah's kept me safe, so have you, it means that you're good."

          "Morality's subjective anyway," Marisol shrugged, willing to let it go. She didn't need to spend her time arguing about something as silly as morality. If Hayley wanted to believe that they were all good people and Klaus was the only villain, so be it, but that didn't mean Marisol bought into it or ever would.

          She couldn't live with those absolutes. Enough time on earth taught her that absolutes just didn't exist, everything is much more grey than that.

          "It's like a freaking hot-box in here. I'm gonna get some air," Hayley stood up, leaving the shack.

          Marisol watched her leave before going back to looking at all the artifacts left behind in here. It wasn't her problem to go make things right with Hayley instantly, she wasn't here for the girl right now. She just...everything was getting so complicated right now, and she didn't like it.

          She needed some time to think, and maybe that's what Hayley needed herself.