Hellfire | Hayley Marshall

Chapter 35

Eisa woke with a terrible headache.

"Oh, fuck," she groaned, feeling an ice pack had been pressed to her templer.

She was in her old room at the Compound. Kol was at her bedside, waiting.

"Took you long enough, Sister," he said, smiling slightly.

"What the bloody hell happened?" she asked, wincing as she sat up. "Was I really drunk enough to come here?"

Kol winced. "You don't remember, do you?"

"What am I supposed to remember?"

"Someone named Eva Sinclair, subduing you."

"What?"

Kol sighed. "There's a lot to go through. I suggest you only ask questions at the end."

"Last night," he began, "Finn and I went to Freya's apartment, and helped her with the spell that would link our souls to her pendant. We were tired afterward, and spent the night on her couches. When we got to our lofts in the morning, we saw the door of yours was not fully closed. We went inside, and found it empty.

"Bex called us not long after, panicked. Said a woman had been in the Compound, and she tried to take Hope. Elijah had identified her as Eva Sinclair. They both said they'd been trying to call you, and you had not answered. Finn and I found your phone on your bed. We knew something was wrong.

"Elijah called Isela. She's here now, but she performed the Locator Spell from Mexico. She could not find you. It took the combined efforts of Finn, Freya, Isela, and I to find you in an abandoned warehouse, where Eva Sinclair was keeping the children she'd kidnapped in the past. Finn was the first to go and see her. He thought he could reason with her.

"No," breathed Eisa, seeing the look on Kol's face. "Kol, he didn't..."

Kol sighed. "He didn't go in alone. He had gone with Marcel. Eva proved stronger than both anticipated. After all, she was channeling you. We simply didn't know it yet. She snapped their necks. Freya sensed something was wrong when she felt Finn's spirit enter the pendant. We were able to find Eva, free the children, and rescue you. But by the time we arrived, Vincent Griffith was awake, and disoriented. Nik insisted we ought to just plop Finn back into him. Elijah took him to the witches instead."

"Finn's gone," breathed Eisa. "Not dead... but gone."

Kol nodded. "The only one who can see him and speak with him is Freya. Unfortunately... the pendant is not able to conjure the illusion of him for the rest of us."

He scooted closer to her as she started to cry. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back and listening to her sobs.

"At the very least, the witches are allied with us, now," he told her. He pulled out a bottle of scotch. "I brought you this."

Eisa didn't want to think that it was unwise to drink, especially after what had just happened. She was tired. So, so tired of this. She popped the top of the bottle off and started to drink.

"Perhaps you need a break from it all, Sister," Kol told her. "Traveling always helped you."

"I hate it here," muttered Eisa, leaning back against the headboard. "I'm not happy. I cannot be happy in this city. I've lost Finn a second time. I want Hayley. I don't know how to cope with either of those things."

"A break," repeated Kol. "Sister, you get into a depressive episode each time you break up with someone. With Hayley, it seems to have been worse than usual. You're not well, and Dahlia's impending arrival is doing no one any good. Especially not you."