CHAPTER TWO | ONE WRONG TURN ON BOURBON

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AVERY FELT JEALOUS. She knew it was wrong— more than wrong, psychotic, in fact. Hope's Mom had been kidnapped by God knows who, and Avery was just jealous that the crisis would bring Klaus Mikaelson back to New Orleans. She was jealous that Elijah would never do that if the roles were reversed, if she had lost Riley. Of course, he would if he actually had any idea who they were, but he didn't.

Riley gently knocked on her daughter's bedroom door, noticing her lift her head at the sound of the knocking. "Hey. Just thought I'd check on you. You okay?"

"Have you—" Avery lifted herself up from her bed with a hopeful look on her face. "Have you found Hayley yet?"

"Still nothing." Riley hummed. "I can't get a fix on her. It's like she's cloaked, or—" She stopped explaining when she saw the defeatist look on Avery's face. "We'll find her, I promise. We've been through a lot worse."

The silence enveloped them for a moment before Avery let her thoughts overcome her. "Is he coming back here? Klaus?"

"To help find Hayley, yes. But, he's not staying— he can't. He knows he can't be around you or Hope, he just wants to try and find his daughters's mother." Riley heard the sudden entrance of, who she assumed, was Klaus downstairs. "Get some rest, okay?"

Riley was quick to leave her daughters bedroom and hurry to the study, where she heard Klaus and Freya in deep conversation. The Evans girl had not seen Klaus in the flesh for seven whole years, and she never thought she would ever say it, but she was excited to see him. Even if the circumstances were dire. 

"Riley." He mused the moment the strawberry-blonde vampire ran into view. "It's good to see you."

"God, I've missed you!" She gasped. The girl ran forward and wrapped her arms around him, gripping tightly around his body as he did hers. "Have you— seen him?" Her voice broke as she watched him nod. "Is he happy?"

"Yes." Klaus revealed. Even though it pained her to know, she was happy that Elijah was okay. 

Freya's face fell. "You can't stay. Hope and Avery are here."

"I have no interest in effecting those girls with this darkness. Once we've found Hayley, I'll crawl back to whence I came." The Hybrid sniffed the air and scowled, glancing between the two women. "This city reeks of blood like it hasn't since the War of 1812."

"Yeah, well, you're to blame this time." The Mikaelson witch told her brother with a slightly stern glare. "I know you spoke with Elijah, and then hours later, it rained red."

"No story that begins with water turning into blood has ever ended in triumph. I need to leave or things are gonna get worse." He swallowed thickly. "Tell me about Hayley."

"We've tried every single locator spell in every single language possible. We can't—" Riley started, but almost instantly, Klaus disappeared before Hope ran into the room.

"Dad?"

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"Uh—" Avery cleared her throat as soon as she left her bedroom to see Roman Sienna snooping around. The moment she made her presence behind him known, he seemed panicked. "I have a few questions, and given that you're inside my house, the first one doesn't need to be answered. The second— what're you doing here?"

"Waiting for Hope." He shrugged simply, his eyes glancing across a few artefacts that were left on display in the hallway. "She's gone out. Back in a few, she said."

Avery stepped forward and tugged the artefact out of his hands and placed it back down. "See, that's weird to me because you never really paid her much attention at school, and now all of a sudden you're at our house, what, seven hours away from school?"

Roman narrowed his eyes. "Have you always been this judgemental or are you trying something new?"

"Not sure it's any of your business. I don't like you, and I don't trust you."

"Hope does." He smirked the minute he heard the Mikaelson girl hurry up the staircase to join them. "Hey, you know this is like a house of horrors. Viking grimoires. A million weird knives. And, did you guys know you have a dead redhead wrapped in a bedsheet in your parlour?"

"Yeah. That's my dad's crazy ex." Hope shrugged with ease. "It's a sleeping spell. Just no one really knows what to do with her."

"Normal." Roman shuffled uncomfortably. Just as Hope was about to turn away, he gripped her arm gently. "Hey. Look, I can keep a secret. I've got plenty of my own. So, what are you?"

Avery started to panic as she saw the look in Hope's eyes— she wanted to tell him. "Hope. Don't."

"My name is Hope Mikaelson. My grandmother practically invented dark magic. My mom is the Crescent Alpha and my dad is Niklaus Mikaelson."

Roman breathed aloud. "So, that makes you..."

"The Tribrid." Avery finished for him, throwing her head backward in irritation. "Yeah, it's so cool. Now, can you get lost, please?"

Roman completely ignored Avery, locking his eyes with Hope before he brushed his hand against her cheek. "It must've been so lonely, keeping your life a secret all this time."

"Hope, Avery!" The mixed yells of Klaus and Riley echoed through the courtyard as the three teenagers stiffened in fear.

"You have to go. He will literally wear your spine as a necklace, leave!" 

The second Roman left the compound in a panic, Klaus and Riley burst into the study. "Please, tell me it isn't true." Klaus' eyes fell to Hope. "What have you done with your mother?"

"I— I—" Hope continued to stutter. She was unable to get the words out to even begin to explain what she had done, but Avery was confused. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. "I'm sorry. I knew it would take something big to bring you home!"

Riley's eyes looked to her daughter, hoping to God Avery had nothing to do what Hope's scheme. "Did you know about this?"

"What?! No, of course not!" Avery started to panic as she glanced back to her cousin. 

"So, you had your little Hybrid friend attack your mother?" 

"Henry just did the heavy lifting. And, attack is a really strong word." Hope continued to defend herself as Klaus, Riley and Avery stared in disbelief.

"This is why you turned Henry? But, I thought it was for the money?" Avery blinked, staring at Hope in complete shock. "Are you crazy?"

"Look, Mom's fine. In a really nice coffin, sleeping. I cloaked her in a sleeping spell that I wrote myself."

"Well, in that case, I've never been prouder!" Klaus sarcastically yelled whilst Riley placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"Hope, where is she?" The Evans vampire asked.

The Mikaelson girl's eyes flickered to her father. "You're just gonna go disappear again if I tell you."

"Hope, you and Avery are in danger when we're in proximity. I know you both feel that! The dark magic inside us manifests itself in ugly ways. We could be putting others in danger, too. The whole city!"

"I don't care!"

"This is not a debate, Hope!" Klaus yelled. "The little girl I knew would never have dreamed up a scheme like this."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but that little girl hadn't read your memoirs. You compelled Cami O'Connell to write your story. About a guy who used to put his family members in coffins and use them as leverage."

"So, you've studied my old tricks. Did you learn this one?" He strode over to Hope and grabbed her head, jumping into her thoughts to reveal Hayley's location. "She's at St. Anne's."

"Perfect. Let's go get her." Riley nodded to Klaus as they started to leave the room. Hope slammed the door shut, preventing Klaus from leaving with Avery and Riley. "Guess I'm going myself."

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After Hope had prevented Klaus from going to St. Anne's with Riley, she went alone and she never came back. Hope had finally released Klaus, who hurried to join Riley in her retrieval of Hayley, but the two were nowhere to be found. The coffin was completely torn apart, and both Riley and Hayley had appeared to be taken. All that was left of Riley, was her necklace which was left broken on the floor. 

Klaus walked into the Abattoir with a sombre look on his face. Avery glanced up, eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he appeared without her Mom. "Where's Mom?"

"I went to the Church." Klaus spoke softly. He knew this was going to be hard for the two teenagers to hear. "They weren't there. Neither of them." 

"What?" Avery started to panic. "No. No, of course she was. She was going to find Hayley."

"What? No, I protected her. I wrote the perfect cloaking spell. I kept her safe. I—I don't understand. The— the coffin was just empty?"

"The coffin was destroyed. Whatever happened to your mothers didn't happen without a fight. Look, Hope, I know it wasn't your intention for someone to get hurt. I know you did this because I left you with no choice. This is my fault, and I'm going to fix it. I've already spoken with Alaric, you'll both go back to Mystic Falls tonight. I need to know you're both safe." As he spoke, the girls began to simultaneously start coughing as if they're choking. "What's happening?"

The coughing became more violent until each other them coughed up a large snake straight from their throats and onto the ground in front of them. Hope and Avery were in floods of tears, watching the snakes slither away. 

"You need to go, it's getting worse!" Avery cried aloud.

"I'll find your mothers, and I swear I'll return them to you." Klaus told them with a sure tone as he backed away slowly. "I love you, Hope."

"This—" Avery began as she lifted herself up to her feet. She brushed her tears from her eyes as she glared at Hope. "This is your fault! All of it!"

"Avery, I'm sorry. I— I didn't mean for this to happen, please. I swear." Hope cried. "I just wanted my dad. I know that you know what that feels like, but he'll find them both."

"If anything happens to my Mom, I will never forgive you." Avery swore with harsh eyes that glared straight at Hope before she turned on her heels to pack. 

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Avery stepped out of the compound onto the street with her duffle bag. It was Hope's idea to let Roman give them a ride back to school, and the only reason Avery agreed was because the thought of taking a bus for seven hours made her feel sick. 

"Hey, thanks for the ride back to school." Hope innocently smiled to Roman, though he just glanced at Avery. "We're not really speaking right now."

"Right." He trailed off, awkwardly. "Everything okay?"

Before anyone could say anything further, a woman's scream echoed through Bourbon Street. The three followed the sounds of screaming and beckoning for someone to call 9-1-1 until eventually they saw what all the commotion was about. Henry had been removed from the Head Garden below the compound. He was desiccated and string up on a building with his heart removed. 

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