From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 35

The streets of New Orleans were eerily quiet at twilight. More often than not, the supernatural species of the Crescent City would get strange feelings, warning them of the events that were to unfold. When they received word that Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall were returning, most of the vampires barricaded themselves inside private homes. The werewolves made themselves nearly invisible within the bayou. The witches cast protection spells and boundary spells, cursing fate for bringing the two makers of chaos back to them after so many months of peace.

The Regent of the Nine Quarters stood in front of the gates to the Lafayette Cemetery. She waited for them to come to her. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Davina had been putting this off for too long. She had known this day would come, but the knowledge she had lived with for over fourteen years did nothing to help calm her nerves.

Then there they came. The two remaining hybrids in the entire world came marching towards her from afar. She straightened her back and brought forth all the bravery and coolness she could muster. Davina Claire had been serving as regent to some of the most powerful covens for fifteen years now. Yet suddenly, she was sixteen years old again, trapped between being a tool for the vampires and the object of loathing for the witches. She was fragile, unable to do the things needed in order to protect herself.

Davina shook these thoughts away. She would be more useful to Klaus and Hayley alive rather than dead. She could only hope to make them realize that before one of them raced up to her and broke her neck.

"It was you," Klaus said when they were roughly ten steps apart.

"It was me," Davina said. Her tone was surprisingly calm.

"Why?" Hayley spoke, her voice trembling in fury.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me she would have been better off with you two as her parents," Davina replied, not a trace of remorse on her face. "I gave her what you two never would have been able to. A loving family. Friends who wouldn't judge her for her parentage. A normal, happy life."

"I didn't believe it when you told us at first," Klaus said. There was dangerous humor alive in his eyes. "The pitiful little witch whose significance was based on the magic she had unrightfully stolen from others."

"What changed your mind?"

"I revisited my memories of the day Hope was taken from us. It wasn't hard. Those memories are what haunts me each time I wake up and fall asleep every day. But after receiving your call, I changed my perspective. Hayley and I found that you had the perfect chance and the means to do what you claim you did."

"Why tell us now, Davina?" Hayley said, somehow seeming even more terrifying than Klaus. "Did you get bored of your life as the most powerful witch in Louisiana? You're finished with this life, but you just want to make a martyr of yourself?"

"Davina Claire, the witch who gave her life to defend her covens from the monstrous abominations that we are," Klaus nodded. "I can see how the story would go."

"You're not going to kill me, Klaus. Nor you, Hayley," Davina crossed her arms.

"Of course not," Klaus smiled. "Why give you an easy death, when we can simply make you immortal and give you an unending supply of excruciating torture?"

"Hope is here."

Klaus and Hayley froze. "What did you just say?" Hayley said.

"That's why I invited you here. As much as I hate the two of you... My concern for your child outweighs all that. Strange activity has been taking place ever since last week."

"How strange?" Klaus said, seeming to forgo all his contempt for Davina at the mention of his daughter.

"No one can get into the Lafayette Cemetery. What's worse is, I'm the only one who's aware that's even a problem."

"What does that mean?" Hayley said.

"It's some kind of confounding charm, mixed with a memory alteration spell. In all of New Orleans, no other witch seems to care about the fact that our most sacred plot of land has become off-limits to us."

"Off-limits? So there's some kind of boundary spell surrounding it?" Hayley asked.

"It's like the thing that prevents vampires from entering a home uninvited. Look," Davina pressed her hand against the gates to the cemetery with all her might, but nothing happened.

"I was trying to figure out how to fix this problem when yesterday, I received this." Davina pulled out an old mirror from her coat pocket. Klaus took it in his hands and nearly recoiled at the touch. There was too much dark magic imbued into that mirror, even for him.

"Years ago, I made an alliance with a coven of witches who work for an organization called the Strix." Davina noticed that Klaus's breath hitched. "They told me they'd provide me with a spell to... Well, to break the sire link you have with your vampires. The one that says if you die, all your sires do, too."

Klaus's expression turned murderous, but Davina continued. "It was the worst mistake of my life. The Strix coven practices some of the most ancient, darkest magic known to humankind. While you were hunting for Hayley all those years ago, you came upon some of your oldest acquaintances- Tristan de Martal and Lucien Castle. Their death- Well, Tristan's death- it undid everything the Strix had been working for. They dispersed. The vampires took Aya Al Rashid as their leader, and the witches... The witches went to work for someone whose identity I haven't figured out yet. Whoever it is, they had their witches send me a message with this mirror."

"What message?" Hayley said, getting impatient.

"They have Hope. She's trapped in the Lafayette Cemetery with no way out."

"No," Hayley abruptly said. "Hope is in Britain, in that damned magic castle, participating in some death defying-"

"Hope is here," Davina repeated her words from before. "She's in the cemetery. The Strix witches must have known I'd reach out to the two of you. Hope is the bait that's being used to lure the two of you in. This is, without a doubt, a trap set for the two of you."

"We don't care," Klaus snarled. "Our safety doesn't matter, only our daughter's does."

"As I expect it to be," Davina replied. "Whoever set this up has been working on this plan for a very long time, Klaus. You and I may never have seen eye to eye with each other, but... For Hope's sake, be careful. You don't know what to expect in there."

Davina stepped aside. Klaus and Hayley walked forward. Davina watched them, waiting to see if her theory was correct, if the gates would open only for the two of them.

Just as predicted, Klaus and Hayley were able to cross over the magical boundary without any difficulties. The moment they did, they were shielded from view, made invisible to any outsiders.

Davina sighed. Back when she had been a teenager, she had promised herself that, were she to ever ally herself with Klaus Mikaelson, she would go to the nearest bar and chug down a bottle of the strongest drink they had.

As she had no better way to spend her time while waiting to see if Klaus and Hayley would succeed, she stepped into the old Rousseau's bar and ordered a bottle of bourbon. The balance of the supernatural world might just be upturned by the results of tonight.