From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 18

Hayley's Pov

It takes half an hour for all of my bones to grow back, and another ten for me to manage to get onto my feet. Once I do, a series of nausea hits me in the back of the head. I drop onto my knees, and throw up the toxic fumes I inhaled when I was trying to escape the plane before.

In the distance, I can hear sirens wailing. Clearly, the humans in the vicinity didn't miss the giant explosion that occurred thirty thousand feet off the ground.

"K-Klaus?" I croak. My throat is so dry that it hurts too much to speak.

"Klaus!" I scream, stumbling deeper into the wreckage.

That plane engine created a deep crater in the ground. I crawl my way into it, and begin to desperately claw at whatever I can find.

"There's a survivor!" a voice calls.

Footsteps. Dozens of medics dressed in white uniforms rush over to me, and lift me out of the crater. Ignoring my protests, they put me down on a stretcher, and stick god knows how many needles into me. They make an attempt at treating my wounds, then jump back in surprise when they find that I have none. No burns, no cuts, no broken bones...

I rip the syringes out of my arms, and race back over to the smouldering wreckage.

"Klaus!" I shriek. I cough up blood, and the people around me catch me when my knees buckle.

"Ma'am, no one could have survived that. It's more than a miracle that you're alive and capable of normal speech and actions. You need to calm down," a woman with a British accent tells me.

I punch her in the face, and immediately, six people rush forward in alarm.

"She's in hysteria. Get some sedatives in her," a doctor orders.

In frustration, I dig my fangs into the doctor's neck. I swallow several gulps of blood, before turning to the others.

People scream and begin to run away. I rush after them, and kill three more people before I'm aware of what I'm doing.

"Leave. Forget everything that happened here, and don't come back," I compel the rest of the medics, firefighters, cops, and reporters.

I make my way to the crater once more. Now that I've had blood, most of my usual strength has returned. I throw the pieces of metal bit by bit, grunting and sweating with the effort.

And after about three hours, I finally find what I've been looking for. The body of the man who saved my life.

All of his flesh has been burned and scorched, leaving behind nothing but a series of grotesque scars and cracked skin. Eighteen rods of metal have imbedded themselves in his chest, stomach, and arms. And as for his legs...

I clamp a hand over my mouth when I see that Klaus's right leg has completely been severed from the rest of his body. The blood that pooled out of this irreversible injury has mixed in with the mud, giving off the impression that Klaus's blood is black.

I glance upwards, and see something that makes me throw up a little.

His heart. Klaus Mikaelson's heart has been impaled on a wooden pole a few feet away from me.

Night falls, and only then does Klaus wake up with a gasp.

I stumble away from him in surprise, and watch as his chest heaves in and out. Both of us glance down at his leg, which, unlike his heart, hasn't grown back.

With a pained groan, Klaus pushes himself into a sitting position, and grabs his severed leg, which I've placed next to him. He pushes the limb against his knee, and slowly, his vampire powers begin to reattach his leg to his body.

"You okay?" I say shakily.

Klaus looks at me. "I'm fine," he responds.

I pull myself up, and help him get into a standing position.

Together, the two of us climb out of the crater. We land on the singed grass, and stay there for a few moments, just staring up at the stars.

A few minutes pass by, and I sit up to glance at Klaus.

"Thank you," I say quietly.

Klaus sits up, too, and watches me with curious eyes.

"I couldn't lose you," he replies softly.

This answer intrigues me. I half expected him to say something insensitive, like, 'You're capable of death, but I'm not. It was the logical choice to make.'

But he didn't. Rather, he answered in a way that showed me he cares about me.

"Whatever the reason... I owe you my life, Klaus. I-" I stop talking when I see that he isn't listening to me. He's staring at something behind me, instead.

I turn around, too, and the scene that meets my eyes causes my heart to sink into the ground.

Three words have been painted across one of the plane's wings in human blood.

'Not human blood,' I realize, when the direction of the wind changes.

I know this scent well. The words have been written using a mixture of witch, werewolf, and vampire blood.

Three words. Three words that make me boil over in desperation, anger, hysteria, and most of all, fear.

Three words...

'She. Will. Die.'