Rue | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 34

Their day was fairly productive.

The children had their fun exploring the house and playing all sorts of games to keep themselves entertained. Hayley and Ibeth practically turned the place upside down removing trash and organizing items that survived the attack from Klaus's sirelings.

"Are you two intending to host a yard sale?" inquired Klaus when he saw them tossing items into a box.

"We're working out what to donate," said Ibeth. "Let us know if anything is important."

He peered into the box. "None of those are mine. I don't care." He pursed his lips. "I found Hope and Jayden exploring the rubbish in the attic. They're restless."

"They're not restless, just bored," said Hayley. "Most kids their age are in school at this point, they'd have friends to play with. There's only so much they can do to entertain themselves with just one other person to have fun with."

"Well, once Freya teaches Hope to hone her magic, she'll be powerful beyond measure. She won't need friends. She'll be worshiped, as will my son once he grows and realizes the full extent of his strength."

"Worshiped?" said Ibeth. "We're talking about a seven-year-old and a five-year-old who have considered consuming roly-poly bugs. They want to use their powers to help people. They don't want to take over the world."

"Exactly," agreed Hayley. "Right now, Hope just wants someone to hold the other end of the jump rope. And Jayden wants to eat ice cream all day every day and race everyone."

Klaus shrugged. "They'll be above such things. They will have power enough to protect themselves from anything. We won't have to trap them in bloody Boundary Spells just to keep her safe."

Hayley managed a smile. "Thank you, by the way. I know it's not in your nature to keep violence out of this house."

His eyes flickered to Ibeth, then to the floor. "Well, we'll protect their innocence for as long as we can. We all know the importance of that. No one protected ours."

Ibeth reached out to pat his shoulder as he came closer. "Want to help us go through the rest of this stuff? I assume you gave up on that mandible."

He nodded, then reached into a different box, withdrawing a book. "Oh, look at that." He gasped playfully. "How to Defeat The Hollow: Volume One. Hidden in here amongst these old Guns N' Roses records. Oh, sweet child of mine."

"I am a sweet child."

They saw Jayden in the doorway, holding a bowl of ice cream and slowly dipping his spoon in.

"Who gave you that?" asked Ibeth, not believing he'd managed to serve himself.

He grinned. "If I tell you, it ruins the surprise!"

"Surprise? You haven't had a proper meal."

He giggled and sprinted away before she could try and coax the bowl away from him. "He must have asked one of the maids," said Klaus. "I did tell them to do anything the children asked of them."

Hayley smirked. "He's probably eaten half the bucket by now." She held up a small photograph. "You know, we should take more family pictures. Now that we're all together, let's take one."

Klaus scowled. "There is a reason vampires avoid photographs."

"Well, not everyone in this family is immortal anymore. It might be nice for us to have something to preserve... a reminder of when the kids were little."

"I like that idea," said Ibeth, causing Klaus to roll his eyes. "What? Come on, we can keep the pictures with us, it's not like we'll post them on Facebook and enter a 'Best Christmas Card' contest."