From Sea To Land • n.m

02 | a death wish

"From childhood I had never believed in permanence, and yet I had longed for it."

—'The Quiet American',
by Graham Greene

          A DEEP BREATH IN AND ... New Orleans never failed to amaze Sirena. Her enhanced sense of smell let her know of almost anything she needed to take into consideration while walking around the Quarter.
     There were witches, the sickly sweet scent of the magic running through their veins getting mixed up with the foul sulfuric one that was so characteristic of vampires; both species walking around in a fragile coexistence along with the humans.

     But then ... wet dog. A werewolf. What kind of suicidal wolf would get into the quarter when Marcel's rules were more than obvious?

     Her eyes searched around the street, trying her best to find the lost soul who appeared to have a death wish, until her sea–blue eyes feel into the figure of a girl waiting outside a voodoo shop.

     She was really pretty, Sirena noticed. Even from the distance, her chocolate brown hair and tanned skin was a perfect contrast with her stunning hazel eyes.

     Hayley Marshall, the future mother.

     The door of the shop opened again and a witch handed her something, a suspicious, small package.

     Even if her sense of smell was enhanced, her hearing wasn't and it always seemed to frustrate her to no end, specially in situations such as wanting to know why–on–earth the werewolf was buying wolfsbane.

     Deciding it was best to follow her, the mermaid made a mental note to put aside her plans to stalk the Original family for the day, putting Hayley as her new point of focus.

     In all honesty, it had been extremely boring seeing the girl walk aimlessly around town, her thoughts and worry painted on her face with the frown as deep and troubled as the problems between the supernaturals in the city.

     At least the mermaid had gotten the chance to have a taste of the wonderful beignets, so characteristic and famous in New Orleans. It had made her lips tingle with the sweet and white sugar, reminding her of the snow in the northern seas whenever she and her parents had had the chance to visit when she was younger.

     Oh, how wonderful it was to be young and carefree, without the weight of the world on her shoulders.
     When her mother, Aralyn, would braid her hair and put all sorts of shiny trinkets on it; or when her father, Eurypulus, would read to her the history of the Thalasso pod, carved into the stone walls of their island, their home, the Marmoris.

     But nothing had been the same during the past six years, ever since the day of the prophecy.

     She shook her head to get rid of her thoughts and instead focused on the werewolf girl sitting alone in a bench with a cup of tea in her hand, ready to drop in it the liquid wolfsbane the witch had given her earlier. However, she stopped, contemplating the full cup.

     "Are you sure of what you're doing?" The mermaid asked while sitting next to her on the bench.

     Hayley jumped in her place, almost dropping the cup with the scolding liquid altogether. "Who the hell are you?"

     She was ready to fight, fearing the beautiful and unknown girl was one of Marcel's vampires. Her inner wolf didn't like the unknown, and everything about this girl screamed 'unpredictable'.

     "I'm Sirena." She smiled while offering her hand, yet pulling it back when Hayley only eyed it warily. "And I'm not a vampire, much less one of Marcel's. But I do wonder if you are sure of what you're doing."

     "This is no place for a werewolf." Hayley answered coldly.

     "Yeah, I thought you had a death wish when I saw you around the Quarter earlier." Sirena chuckled to herself.

     "I just want to get this over with." The pregnant girl confessed. "I'm Hayley, by the way."

     "Pleasure to meet you."

     A noise in the bushes close by startled both women. With no one in sight, they both stood up from the bench carefully, ready to fight or flight at the first sight of danger. With her hearing, Sirena pulled Hayley behind her when she heard a vampire coming from their left.

     "Daring move coming to the Quarter." A male vampire spat out to them, showing the veins under his eyes. "The wolf's coming with me."

     "I'm up to here with vampires telling me what to do." Hayley grumbled before she threw the scolding tea to his face and turned around, only to find two other vampires ready to attack them from behind.

     But Sirena was faster, she pulled their hearts out at the same time without blinking twice and turned around with a satisfied smile towards Hayley. She raised her hands and let them fall in a swift move and, much to the werewolf's amazement, all the blood that stained them fell off her skin and onto the gravel, as if it was never there in the first place.

     "Well, be more careful next time, Hayley. I'll see you around." Sirena winked at the stunned brunette and disappeared almost as fast as a werewolf.

     Hayley opened her mouth in shock and closed it again, looking all around for any other threats or any sign of the odd girl she just met, who began to seem more and more like a figment of her imagination.

     "And here I thought the pregnant lady was a damsel in distress." Rebekah's voice held a slight sense of pride as she eyed the bodies on display at Hayley's feet.

     "It wasn't me." The werewolf's answer wiped the Mikaelson's smirk off her face. "There was a girl, Sirena."

     "Is she working for Marcel?" The blonde's jaw was clenched too tightly at the thought of the pregnant girl's ingenuity to be around one of Marcel's vampires.

     "No, she wasn't a vampire. I have no idea what the hell she was."

     It was unsettling, the surprise that Rebekah could see lingered in Hayley's face, the werewolf who always seemed to carry a frown on her sharp and elegant features.

     Whoever this girl was, they needed to discover if she could be an ally or should be taken down as a foe.
     And they both seemed to get to the silent agreement of not telling Klaus yet, knowing about Hayley's adventure in the French Quarter would be enough to make him furious.