Bloody Symphony | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 10

Hayley returned at the start of the following week.

She sent a message through Aiden, asking if they could bring the wolves to the Compound for further discussion regarding the Unification Ceremony.

"Hey, thanks for meeting me here," said Hayley, beaming as Jackson and Natanya walked up to meet her on the balcony outside her room. Downstairs, the wolves were settling in, and chatting.

"Heh, I ask you to marry me, you take off for three days," said Jackson awkwardly, but with playful undertones. "Good thing I'm a secure guy... sort of."

"I promise I'll explain everything in time. It was something urgent." She clapped her hands together. "So, you ready to do this thing? Get hitched? Take the plunge? Slap on the old ball-and-chain?"

"Woah, woah, woah," said Jackson. "It's not that simple. It's a mystical Unification Ceremony. It's not like we can just go to Vegas."

"Right," said Hayley, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Look," said Jackson, "as long as the werewolves need those rings, they'll be under the witches' control. Now, if we wanna change that, we gotta do this by the book, literally. We have to find a shaman who can perform the ceremony, trials to endure, devotion rituals..."

"Devotion rituals?" said Hayley, blushing a bit. "That sounds... interesting."

"Don't worry, nothing too terrible. But it does have to be intimate, of course, because that's how the marriage will work. Look... I know we're kinda diving into this thing, but... I think it's cool. I'm looking forward to the 'getting to know you' part. Because I want to know you."

Natanya cleared her throat after a good five seconds of Hayley and Jackson staring into each other's eyes wordlessly. "So, I'll be in charge of finding the shaman. It needs to be a wolf elder, and I know just where to find one."

"Good," said Hayley, eyes flickering away from her fiancé. "Who's the Elder?"

"Our Grandma Mary. She's the only one left... it kinda has to be her. Which is good, because we know her."

Hayley nodded. "I've been wanting to meet her." She suddenly perked up at the sound of a door opening downstairs. "They're here."

Jackson raised a brow. "Who?"

Hayley beckoned them to the stairs. "Come see!"

As they moved down to join the werewolves, they saw that Marcel and his vampires were entering the Compound. "Hello," said Hayley, stepping between them to make sure no one lunged at one another. "We all need to have a chat."

She faced the wolves. "You're all here because you want freedom. And, I promise you, if you stay, you will be free. But..." she faced Marcel, "we need as much help as we can get."

"My vampires and I are willing to stand with you against the witches," said Marcel. "In return, all I want is a promise that there will be peace between our sides after the wedding."

Jerick scoffed on the werewolf side. "You're the one who spent the last one hundred years killing and cursing us!"

"Which means you might wanna listen to what I have to say," said Marcel.

Suddenly, another figure walked up. "I see you're brokering a truce between mongrels and parasites," said the man, causing everyone to frown. "And just how long do you think that's really going to last? A month? A week? A day? What you don't yet seem to understand is that the only thing that can exist between your two degenerate species is hatred, war, and death."