The Afterlife

•|Chapter VII: Infiltration|•

Declan quickly paced around his room, pulling clothing from the drawers and sloppily packing them away in the suitcases and duffel bags that were spread across his bed. There wasn't enough space to take everything. He zipped up the bags and gathered them then headed out of the room. The sound of the television grew louder as he'd gotten down the stairs.

"There have been over fifty one accidents around the city. Investigators claim that there is some sort of invisible barrier."

Declan paused as he passed the tv to get a better look. The city was barricaded by police and the national guard. Everything after invisible barrier was practically just a muffled noise hidden behind the worries of what to do next. He dropped his bags and stared at the screen like he'd lost. He wanted to leave the city while he had the chance, but it seemed that that chance was already up.

"Feels unreal, doesn't it?"

Declan flinched as Klaus stepped from the kitchen with his hands locked together behind his back. He was starving. Being in the prison world made him thirsty. More thirsty than he'd ever been in his life. His veins darkened near his eyes shortly before the grey faded away.

"Please." Declan looked more defeated than he had staring at the news. "I already gave Hope everything she asked for. I don't have anything else to give."

Klaus vamped across the living room. Only one pace lied in between the two men, one filled with fear and the other with an undercurrent rage that had slowly dispersed into the light. Declan's breath shuddered as Klaus stared into his eyes. It looked like he was debating. Declan couldn't tell if it were Klaus's silence or his presence that scared him. Then Klaus grabbed his neck, and Declan grabbed Klaus's hand in hopes of losensing an impossibly tight grip.

"I think you have a lot to give. Your most prized possession. Your life. I want it." Klaus almost whispered. "I asked for peace. I have given your faction mercy." He enjoyed the feeling of Declan fighting against him, but he wished it were Vincent. "I have given your faction my word. I promised you all my redemption." His grip tightened, impossibly tighter, around Declan's throat as he watched his enemy struggle for his life. "Now, you get nothing."

Slowly, the fight left Declan's body and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The body was limp in Klaus's hand for only a short moment before he let it go. There was a thirst for revenge in his eyes while he stared at the lifelessn man at his feet. He still hadn't felt at home. He still felt the weight of Vincent's power hovering over him. He still felt trapped and controlled, like he'd be jolted into another reality sooner rather than later. Even if it was just another mask of imagination, he feared it. He certainly feared believing that the things happening around him were real.

Hope followed behind her father all night and all morning while Freya and Davina continued to get a connection to Henrik. He tried on many accounts to exit the barrier. Hope didn't think the spell helped with his mind, but she refused to take it down until the Faction surrendered. She could only imagine what it was that Vincent had done to him. What he'd been shown during all that time. Whatever it was, it must've been horrible. He didn't think she was real. He didn't think it was safe to be around her, and that in itself was enough to make her hate Vincent impossibly more. She was outside near the tree when she heard Declan struggling for his life, and when she'd heard it stop, she imagined what was going through her father's head.

"I always hated stake outs."

Hope turned to see her uncle Kol walk up behind her from the morning shadows. Klaus vamped out of the house then, and both their attention turned in his direction. Kol vamped in front of Hope before she could shoot off, blocking her path.

"Leave him." Her uncle went on. "We would serve him better by destroying the peasants that put him in this position. He already texted Freya and Hayley that he's alive and well."