Lightning Strikes Twice

Forty Seven

In a tomb, Hayley woke up in her naked human form on the floor to find that she was trapped in a magical circle made of salt and surrounded by lit white candles. She was both confused and worried as she looked around to figure out where she is, and she turned quickly when she heard footsteps approaching her.
Davina appeared beside her, looking unamused as she held a bundle in her hands.
"What the hell am I doing here? Why am I trapped?" Hayley almost growled at the witch.
Davina rolled her eyes and threw the bundle at her, which turned out to be a blanket which Hayley used to cover herself up.
"I used magic to draw you here and to keep you a captive audience." Davina replied simply.
Hayley stood to her feet, even more furious than before.
"Davina, I need to see my daughter."
"I'm sorry, but there's something I need you to do for me first." Davina was calm.
Hayley was not at all impressed, and glared at Davina.

Elijah, holding Hope in his arms, was desperately making his way through the Bayou in search of Hayley and Alex. If anything happened to them...
"Hayley! Alex!"
Elijah, concerned, continued walking through the woods, stopping when he came upon one of the steel-jawed animal traps, which was both covered in and surrounded by a huge puddle of blood. Elijah gulped nervously and considered this for a moment before a familiar voice called out from behind him. It was Jackson.
"Where is she?"
Elijah spun on his heel, seeing Alex and Jackson behind him and looked at them with surprise. Jackson was naked, covered in blood and hiding behind a tree, both to help support himself and to give him some modesty in front of Elijah and Hope.
"Where the hell is Hayley?"
Alex was strangely pale and quiet. She was also holding herself up against a tree. Elijah realized her old leg injury was bothering her and that she had multiple new ones across her body, including a serious wound on her shoulder.
Elijah also realized that Jackson was panting heavily and looked down to find that Jackson's leg was seriously wounded from being caught in the trap and was bleeding severely.

Hayley, still trapped in Davina's magic circle in one of the tombs, had wrapped the blanket around herself and was holding it up with one hand while she furiously beat against the magical boundary with the other and growled angrily. She yelled as she pounded, hoping to get Davina's attention. Finally, Davina came back into the room with her arms full of supplies, looking calmly at Hayley, who was glaring furiously at her.
"Davina, let me out of here right now, or I swear I will kill you."
Davina rolled her eyes and tossed a shirt and jeans at her before holding up a blood bag.
"You can try. Or, we can have a polite conversation."
"You magically kidnapped me on the one night that I can see my daughter. Do not talk to me about 'polite!'"
"I drew you here to help you!"
"Elijah asked you months ago to break the curse, and you said no."
"The Regent of witches can't be seen doing favors for the Mikaelsons."
She paused before tossing the blood bag onto the floor of the circle.
"But, maybe we can help each other."
Hayley was too hungry to argue any farther and knelt down and started chugging the blood from the bag as quickly as she can, squeezing it so hard that it got all over her hands.
"Look, I have access to the witch ancestors. I can channel the power of the one who created the spell that cursed you. You can be free, Hayley."
Hayley stood to her feet and licked the blood from her fingers, interested in what Davina is proposing but still furious.
"Under your terms, I'm guessing."
Davina sighed.
"Spill." Hayley demanded.
Davina hesitated. "There's a witch in the 9th Ward who hates that I'm Regent. She tried to kill me. If I retaliate, I'm starting a civil war, and I don't want to do that."
"Fine. Just tell me who you want dead." Hayley said, immediately understanding.

Elijah placed Hope in her stroller, where she was restlessly fidgeting while Elijah used a butter knife from the picnic he had set up earlier in the day to pry one of the bullets from the hunters' assault rifles out of his shoulder, Jackson's shoulder and Alex's torso and shoulder. Jackson hisses and groaned in pain while Alex made little noise as Elijah finally freed the last one, and once he's finished, Elijah rolled up his sleeve and offers Alex his wrist. Alex took it, reluctantly, while Jackson nodded his head no.
"Take my blood."
"I'm good. We need to find Hayley."
"There's still no sign of her." Elijah said.
He lowered his voice, grim and unhappy. "I've seen the bodies."
Jackson sighed. "Hunters set up traps all over the Bayou. Mowed us down with gunfire. Any wolf that wasn't taken out scattered."
Jackson winced and looked down at his gunshot wound, gritting his teeth and clearly dreading his next statement.
"Elijah... how many bodies?"
Elijah, affected by the thought of all the dead wolves, looked down and away from him, silently answering Jackson's question. Jackson, momentarily stunned by this revelation, tried to keep it together and paused to think. Alex's eyes started to tear but she blinked them back. Now wasn't the time. They needed to find Hayley, get Hope home, and wake up Méalla.
"A trap wouldn't hold Hayley after she turned back." Jackson said, finally.
Jackson looked over at Hope, who still looked restless and was staring at them curiously.
"Nothing would stop her from seeing that little girl. Something's wrong."
Elijah started to pack up his things, and Jackson turned to look at him in confusion.
"Where are you going?"
"To take my niece home. Then, I'll continue the search. You stay here, you tend to your dead."
Jackson cut him off. "No! No. I got five hours 'til I'm a wolf again. Elijah, she's my wife."
Elijah nodded in understanding.
"I'm coming too." Alex said, finally breaking her silence. "I can help track her if need be."
Elijah and Jackson looked at each other, in mutual agreement about wanting the girl to be safe but relented once they realized it was safer with them.