Always and Forever (The Hybrid and The Wolf - Book 7)

Chapter 13 - When The Saints Go Marching In

Elijah, Klaus, Hayley and Kenner were still in the woods in Mystic Falls.

Elijah looked at his brother. "Niklaus. Don't." Klaus aimed the White Oak Stake at his heart, preparing to kill himself. "Put it down."

"Walk away, Elijah," Klaus told him. "You shouldn't be here."

"Put it down and let's talk," Eljah replied.

"There's nothing left to say," Klaus said. "It's time to end this chapter. Get rid of this dark magic once and for all."

Kenner woke up. "Dad?" Klaus looked at his son. "What's going on here?"

Klaus looked at Hayley. "Get him out of here."

"Your death is not the answer," Hayley said, shaking her head.

"Death?" Kenner repeated. "What--what are you talking about?" His eyes went wide in realization. "They put it into you. But you told me that they put it into something safe and--and instead, you used Hope's first transition to trick us. So what happens? You just kill yourself and the magic goes away." Klaus looked down, not answering. Kenner looked at Elijah. "And you're gonna let him go through with this?"

"I don't need his permission to save yours and your sister's lives," Klaus said.

"Come back with me to New Orleans, Niklaus," Elijah pleaded. "We'll find another way."

"We both know that's not gonna happen," Klaus told him. He looked at his son. "I'm sorry, Kenner. I've made my decision."

"And I've made mine," Kenner said, clenching his fist as he magically knocked his father unconscious. Elijah and Hayley looked at Kenner, shocked. "I'm not losing anyone else."

~*~*~

Back in New Orleans, Klaus was chained up in the dungeon. Elijah, Rebekah and Kol stood in front of him.

"Just when I thought you were showing the vaguest signs of maturity," Kol said. "Our brother makes a unilateral decision that leaves the rest of us stewing in his melodrama."

"His death is not a melodrama," Rebekah replied.

"Well, he's spiralling," Elijah told him. "This energy feeds off anger and our brother as we know has enough to set the world on fire."

"How many times are we going to play this game?" Kol asked. "All right, calamity and doom approaches our brother, and all of a sudden, a trap door appears and poof! He escapes." Rebekah glared at him. "He's a cockroach that will outlive us all and we're immortal."

"And what if it's different this time?" Rebekah asked. "What if he figures out a way to end it all?"

"I don't think he would notice or care that I wasn't there to witness it," Kol answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going home."

Kol walked away, leaving.

"He'll be back," Elijah said.

"Will he?" Rebekah asked.

Rebekah left the dungeon too.

~*~*~

Freya, Hope and Kenner were in Hope's bedroom.

"Your dad is strong," Freya said. "But that works against him here. The energy will feed off of that strength, he'll quickly go mad and it won't be long before he's unrecognizable and impossibly dangerous to all of us."