Lightning Strikes Twice

Thirty

"Eira! Slow down, Mother would be furious if I destroyed my new dress!" A red-faced Méalla called, watching the raven-haired beauty as she caught her breath.
"Oh come now, Méalla, surely your dress isn't why you stand watching me dance across the field?"
"Maybe not, but I shall never say." Méalla grinned as Eira came back and grabbed her hand, twirling the both of them among the flowers. The sun was high in the sky, and their mothers had let Eira and Méalla finish their chores early, to enjoy the warmth while it lasted. Méalla's new dress in question was a deep blue, complimenting her fiery hair. Eira was wearing a deep brown, trimmed with tan.
Méalla and Eira toppled to the ground, laughing.

"You have a smile on your face. Which of the names I mentioned did you dream of?" Esther's voice shook Méalla awake. "Was it Eira, the girl of a tragic death, or Niamh, the girl with a treacherous tale? Or maybe Hayley, the wolf mother of your brother's child?"
Méalla grimaced as Esther's hand, warm from her cup of tea, cupped her face. Méalla heard far away screaming and snapped her head up, to which her mother turned and chuckled gently.
"No worry, it's just dear Elijah. Like you, to truly be reborn as part of the family, he has to be purified."
"And what does this purification include?" Méalla twisted her wrists, pulling to try and find a way out of the chains.
"For Elijah, it means reminding him of what vampirism did to make him a savage. For you, well, that obviously won't work. You never much cared how you acted, of course as long as the people you loved were safe. So I am going to remind you of every time you've failed to act in a way to protect. When I'm finished, you'll be begging to be free of the vampiric curse. You could be a pure wolf or a witch who can protect in every way."
"What a lovely family reunion idea Mother. Perhaps you could do the honors of ripping your head off yourself, with your powerful skill as a witch."
Esther clucked her tongue, blowing out a candle.

"Niamh, you do not want the life I have." Niamh turned to look at Méalla.
"How could I not? Immortality, youth, beauty, discovery..." Niamh's wistful tone carried across the garden as she fingered a rose.
"Watching the people you love grow old and die. Warring between the factions, hateful humans. Creating a new life in a new place every few years to avoid suspicion..." Méalla continued for her, knowing Niamh would not be so easily dissuaded.
"But I would be with you. We could travel the world together, experience life as times change. Please, Méalla."

Méalla's heart sunk as Rebekah's words sunk in. She had a terrible feeling all day while out and about, and now she realizes it's because of what she had just learned.
Jeremy Gilbert had just killed Kol. Not subdued him, not daggered him. Killed him with the white oak stake while Klaus was forced to watch from the doorway. With him, his entire sireline had fallen as well. Vampires just dropped dead, all around. Kol, her crazy, mischievous, baby brother who tried at every turn to get her to publish her writing.

Hayley lay on the sacristy floor, body still warm as life slowly left the beautiful wolf. Blood covered her from thighs to throat and her hair was matted with sweat. Méalla hugged her close, hoping that this was wrong, that she was alive, and that they would go save their daughters. Hayley's arms lay limp  and her head had fallen and Méalla's hopes were dashed.

Esther watched as Méalla's head hung limply, face pained. Finn stood next to her, watching with a slight smirk.

Klaus, Cami, Marcel, and Hayley are standing in the Compound Courtyard.
"Last I saw of Méalla was scouting the wolves' escape. Last anybody saw Elijah and Oliver was fighting Finn's wolves. Something's happened." Hayley's voice was anxious.
"No doubt my demented mother is involved." Klaus' face was bitterly angry.

Méalla knew she was unconscious but she couldn't wake herself up. She looked around her surroundings, realizing she was in snowy woods. She saw a younger version of her mother, in her original body, crying as a dark haired woman held a girl. A young boy stood behind Esther, cowering but reaching for the girl.
"Please, do not do this!" Esther cried.
"You wanted a family! Fate said otherwise, and so you came to me. And, for a price, I granted your wish." She emphasized her next words by gripping the girl tighter. "Now, I must collect."
"When Mikael returns from his journey, I swear..."
"You will tell him Freya grew ill and died!"
Freya? As in?
"No, Dahlia!"
"You were forced to burn her body to stop the spread of plague."
"Sister, please, I cannot give up my child!"
"You've already offered me more than just this one child! Our bargain was for this first-born, and every first-born of each generation that is to come, for as long as your line shall last."
"If you do this, if you take my daughter, I swear to you, I will return to the black arts. I will grow in power as a witch, and I will make you pay!"
"Your power is nothing against mine! Foolish girl. You knew the bargain you made! And, should you defy me, then I will take all your children. Including little Finn!" Finn started to cry, and Dahlia gestured to Esther's pregnant body. "Even unborn Elijah!" "No, Dahlia!"
Dahlia angrily rushed away from them.
"No!" Esther reached for Freya.
"Mommyyyyyy!" Freda started to scream and struggle.
"Dahlia! Freya, please!" Esther was sobbing as she screamed.
Freya continued to scream, and Esther completely broke down as Dahlia leaves with Freya.
First born? Freya didn't die by the plague? Méalla's heart sunk as she started putting pieces together as to Freya's death was faked and why Saoirse and Hope were to be killed. Esther had made a deal for the first-borns of every generation to be given away in order to become fertile. Saoirse was the first born of the her generation, minutes older than Hope. Méalla's mouth tightened, realizing that this Dahlia would try to take Saoirse from her, if she's still alive.

Esther lay on the floor gasping for breath, almost retching from the memory of Freya being taken. Klaus had dropped her and sped Elijah away while she crawled to leave Méalla for rescue by her siblings. They will come for her but not before Esther's ready for them to.