Protecting Them (Only His Series: Book 3) *OLD VERSION*

Chapter 8

Alex's P.O.V

I left Hayley in charge until I got back from helping Klaus out. I walked up to the cabin and saw Klaus standing outside the front door. "Klaus?" I asked and he turned to me. "Where's Mikael?"

I saw he had the white oak stake in his hand, and I sighed in relief. I looked inside the cabin to see Cami and a young boy who was checking on Davina, she was unconscious, while I watched with Klaus from the doorway.

"We should get her to a hospital." Cami said worried and I nodded. The boy noticed Klaus and I standing in the doorway, then addressed us.

"Oh. Hello, darling. Back to huff and puff, and blow the house down with your little friend?" He asked and I rolled my eyes, while I could tell Klaus was unamused.

"You know, it's funny how often a person's sharp tongue can end up cutting their own throat." Klaus said and Cami turned to us as she sighed in frustration.

"Klaus, he's just a kid. Give him a break." Cami said and looked at me confused. "Alex? What are you doing here?"

"Klaus texted me to come here."

"Yeah, the blonde one's right. You know, you may want to try a bit of lavender under your pillow. Does wonders for stuck-up pillocks with anger issues." He said to Klaus and I groaned in annoyance.

"Shut up." I snapped at the boy.

"I promised not to kill Davina. I said nothing of this insolent sod." Klaus said to her. I swear to God, if you even try to hurt Davina, I'll kill you myself. The boy smirked at us, while Cami got up and lead us outside.

"Klaus, Alex, come on." Cami said and Klaus continued to stare suspiciously at the boy, as I pulled him onto the porch with me.

"A minute ago, you had the opportunity to kill your father with this thing, and you didn't. You're not going to kill this kid with it, either!" Cami said to Klaus and I looked at him shocked. You had the opportunity to kill Mikael and you didn't? Klaus looked into the cabin, where the boy was still tending to Davina, and sighed.

"Fine." Klaus said to Cami and she looked relieved.

"Thank you." She said. Klaus turned to me and handed me the car keys, as well as the white oak stake.

"Go get the car. Both of you. Let's take her to hospital." He said and I smiled at him before we left. I got into the driver's side while Cami got into the passengers. I started the car and looked in the back to see Mikael in pain.

"You deserve it, asshole." I mumbled to myself and looked at Cami as she gave me a confused look.

"You know him?" She asked.

"Yup, and I never liked him." I said to her. "He reminds me too much of my own father." She nodded and we dropped the subject. Someone then slammed her head against the dashboard. I jumped and turned off the car. "Oh my god! Cami!" I said and listened for her heartbeat. She was alive, thank god.

I had the white oak stake in my hand, ready to kill anyone who came near us, as I looked around. Then I was pulled out of the car and slammed into the side of it. I struggled as someone held me by my throat. I looked in front of me to see Mikael, as he took the stake from me, while I was still struggling to breath.

"Hello, girl." He said and I struggled against him, trying to get free. "Let's take a walk." Mikeal grabbed me by my arm and rushed me away from the cabin.

~

Mikael was dragging me away from the cabin through the woods near the Bayou and I was terrified. "Klaus will find you!" I said to him.

"Oh, he will. But, I will be ready." Mikael said back.

"How? I've seen the kind of pain that blade causes." I asked him.

"I have fought more pain than anyone, living or dead." He clutched Papa Tunde's blade in one hand. "But, once I fed, I shall be restored." He explained to me and I became more scared. He feeds off vampires as well as humans. I tried to run away, but he kept my arm in his grip and sighed impatiently.

"Not you." He held the blade against my neck. "You, my dear, are leverage. Once I threaten to dismember you in front of him, Klaus will hesitate. And, in that moment of weakness, I shall end him." Mikael said to me.

"This is crazy! The two of you, going round and round trying to kill each other? You're obsessing over the death of someone whose fatal flaw is that he was fathered by another guy!" I yelled at him and it felt good to say it to his face, but he soon became enraged.

"Hush! You are a sympathizer of the weak! No wonder he seeks your company." He said to me and paused. "I hear music. And, where there's music, there's food."

He dragged me farther through the woods, where we came upon a group of several dozen people, all of whom are wearing various Halloween masks and partying around a large bonfire. Mikael grabbed me by the head and forced me to look at them.

"Well, well, well, well... What have we here?" Mikael paused. "Hillbilly Halloween. Oh, perfect." He said and dragged me towards the crowd as I struggled against him.

~

Mikael dragged a struggling me into a run-down warehouse. I was furious at him by now. "I used to try to convince Klaus that there was good in everyone, that you really did care about him, deep inside, once." I said to him and Mikeal threw me on the floor, but that didn't stop me from talking. "He told me I was naive, that I could never fathom how deep your hatred ran." Even though I could.

"I didn't always hate him. When Klaus was born, I was overjoyed. I thought, 'This one - this one has the eyes of a warrior. He will be worthy.' But, my hope was short-lived. And, when I found out that he wasn't really my son, my relief was GLORIOUS. But, that passed with the knowledge that he was begat of a beast." Mikael explained to me.

"His mother's infidelity was not his fault!" I said to him.

"Everything that followed was because of Niklaus' obsession with the wolves! He ventured out to watch them turn under the full moon, and he took my youngest son, Henrik. He was but a child, and he was torn apart." Mikeal said to me.

"It was an accident!" I yelled at him and it only enraged him.

"An accident? AN ACCIDENT? HE MURDERED MY WIFE! HIS OWN MOTHER! Who sought to cleanse him of his beast-like nature! He betrayed me. He turned my entire family against me! And yet, you defend him?" He yelled at me. I became so overwhelmed by anger on what he was saying about Klaus. That I, once again, stood to my feet, so I could stare him in the eyes.

"I have, along with Camille, desperately tried to convince him not to kill you! That the stupid bloodshed in this family does not have to be an endless cycle despite how much I hate you!" I yelled at him. Mikael pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, but I continued to yell louder. "And, after centuries on this earth, do you really not see that all of your violence is POINTLESS?" I asked him and Mikael looked like he was crying, but in fact, he was actually laughing hysterically.

"Let me hazard a guess - you are one of these alienists, right?" Mikael asked him. I, begin completely frustrated with him, angrily wiped the tears from my face.

"Nope! That's Cami and they're called therapists these days, and, to be honest, you could do with some couch time. But I, on the other hand, am his girlfriend who also happens to be his only friend." I corrected him.

"Actually, my dear, since -" He winced in pain as he moved towards me. "- my wound does not appear to be healing, what you seemed to be is food." Mikeal said to me and I back away from him. My anger became fear once those words left his mouth.

"You - you said you wouldn't!" I said to him in fright and he smiled at me.

"Yes, I did, didn't I? And although the blood of a full belly makes for good fodder -" He vamped-out and grabbed me "- in times of need, even the devil eats flies." Mikael said and bit down on my neck as I let out a loud scream in terror and pain.

Then I blackout.