Heavy Head (Book 4: Battle Series, The Originals)

Ch. 4: Keepers of the House

I learned that the ambulance that had taken the kids to the hospital was missing, and that the kids were missing again, going up to Marcel's apartment to tell him, knocking on his door repeatedly.

I heard Sofya and Marcel inside, Sofya being an assassin for hire that had once worked for Lucien, but was now Marcel's... girl-friend? Friend with benefits? I didn't know, and I didn't care.

"Just ignore it," Sofya told him.

"No, just one second," Marcel told her. I continued to knock impatiently. "Yeah, all right." Marcel opened the door. I walked in without pause. "Mm-hmm. Come in." 

Sofya gave me an annoyed look, tilting her head, rolling her eyes, walking away into the next room to give us a minute to talk.

Marcel closed the door, turning to face me. 

I turned to face him. "Marcel, we've got a problem. Those kids, they never made it home."

"What are you talking about?" Marcel asked. "I loaded those kids into the ambulance myself."

I sighed, worried but annoyed that people were still going after the kids. "The ambulance is missing, too."

Marcel became as concerned as I was.

****

The Mikaelsons were back so that Vincent could heal and cure Hope, but she was still sick because the other kids were still sick and being planned to be sacrificed.

Hope had heard whispers saying that the name of this darkness that Vincent was so terrified of was called the Hollow. 

Marcel and Vincent were working with Elijah for the day.

I was working with Hayley, talking to the witches in the Quarter. "Listen up. Listen up. For five years now, we've had a truce. Stays out of each other's business. Tended to our own. But now, your problems are becoming ours. Someone is taking children. As you know, there is one nonnegotiable rule. We do not mess with kids." I pointed to the Ouroboros symbol that stood for the Hollow on the wall behind the witches. "Now, you've seen that graffiti. Someone here's got to know who's responsible. Right? So just give me a name. Hmm?"

A witch that stood next to her son looked up at me. "We don't owe you anything." The crowd murmured in agreement. I rolled my eyes slightly. "You're not friend to witches."

Hayley appeared behind the witches. "You don't trust him. I get it. But one of those kids is my daughter. She's seven. She likes to paint, catch fireflies, make up stories. All I know is that she's sick. Right now, I don't care about the past. I'm just a mom asking you to help me."

The witch looked at her son for a moment, clearly wondering what she would do if it was her child was being targeted, giving in, looking at Hayley. "There's a girl named Lara. I saw her draw the same symbol on her window in blood."

"Where do we find this witch?" I asked.

The witch chuckled, shaking her head. "She's not a witch." She looked at Hayley. "She's one of your kind. A wolf. She ran off to the bayou."

Hayley and I exchanged a surprised look.

****

Hayley and I were walking through the bayou in search of the wolf named Lara.

Hayley was on the phone with Klaus, who was at the compound with Hope. "How is she?"