𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 || 𝐍. 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐧

26

Everyone followed as we walked past the crypts. The sound of chanting in the distance signaled our proximity to our destination. With one more turn, I saw the witch, knife poised above my children.

"No!" I yelled.

Elijah swiftly grabbed an urn and hurled it at her, causing Genevieve to lose her balance and drop the knife.

We charged towards them, but the two harvest girls linked hands, thrusting their arms forward and sending us flying backward.

"You fools! To come against us in our place of power, in our strongest hour. You do not face three; you face us all," Monique informed us confidently.

Undeterred, we rose to our feet and split up. I pursued Genevieve, disarming her by kicking the knife out of her hand. Overwhelmed with anger, I relentlessly struck her, refusing to relent until she lay defeated. Then, my attention turned to the cries of my babies, compelling me to rush to their side.

As I sprinted towards them, pain suddenly surged through my head. I dropped to my knees, clutching my head, realizing that Genevieve was giving me an aneurysm.

Through the haze, I spotted the blonde witch impaled on a metal railing. Monique seized the opportunity, picking up the dropped knife and holding it over my babies. Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah tried to reach her, but she conjured flames to block their path.

"No!" I screamed, attempting to rise, but Genevieve intensified the pain

Monique began the sacrifice, but suddenly, she was struck by a blade, causing cuts all over her body. She fell to the ground, blood spilling from her mouth. I turned and realized that Marcel had thrown the blade and took all three of my babies, with Nik following him.

__

AT THE COMPOUND

Elijah and Hayley had just come back to the Abattoir. They told me and Nik that Esther was the one behind the attack and she wasn't going after all of them she was going after the first born.

"We should have anticipated our mother's involvement. She cannot be restrained by something as trivial as death, and now she has the witches under her command. They will never cease their pursuit," Klaus grimly stated.

"No"

"Nor would I expect the Guerrera wolves to back down. Alora, Hayley and the children are wolf royalty, and as such, they are a threat to Francesca's claim to leadership. They will never be safe" I listened in on their conversation, knowing he was right.

"What you said earlier, about me accumulating enemies every day of my wretched life... The worst of them are within these borders, brother. I have brought into this world weapons they can wield against us," Klaus spoke, his voice laced with remorse.

"Then we must arm ourselves. Brother, we have faced and triumphed over every adversary in this town, and we shall do so again, regardless of who stands against us. We will fortify this home into a stronghold," Elijah determinedly declared.

"I will not have our children live as prisoners," Klaus replied adamantly.

"Then we leave here together, all of us." Elijah proposed.

"Wherever we go, however far we run, those who seek power and revenge will hunt us, they will hunt them. They have inherited all our enemies with none of our defenses." Klaus contemplated.

"So whether we stay or we leave, we condemn them"

"There is a third option" I walked out of the nursery with two of my babies in my arms, "I grew up not knowing a lot about my birth parents, and not really having a parents love." I looked down smiling at my babies, "I made a promise to our babies and to myself... that they would not grow up like I did, that they would grow up safe and loved, and yet here they are on their first day in this world with a grandmother that is bent on sacrificing one of them and a mother that might have to drink the blood of one of her own babies to survive transitioning into a hybrid, and I'm the one that loves them the most" I sobbed, overwhelmed by the emotions surging within me.