As time passed, Hayley's pregnancy only became more obvious, and the physical signs were undeniable that she was pregnant.
That was when they went to have an examination with the witches and discovered she was carrying a girl.
The one with her was Rebekah, and that was when the two of them were attacked, and Rebekah was struck through the heart with a wooden arrow.
"Nooooo!" Hayley panicked when she saw the group of people approaching and her protector had been killed.
One of the men made the motion of pulling back the crossbow and aiming at Hayley.
Then, before the man could fire, a howl was heard, and Hayley didn't even have time to think where it came from before all the men disappeared.
"Are you alright?" Nik's hands touched her shoulders, and she jumped back.
"You scared me." Hayley almost screamed, but held herself back. "Rebekah..."
Hayley looked down with trembling hands, but there was nothing there. The place where Rebekah should have been was empty.
"It's alright." Nik pulled her into a hug and stroked her head. "You're safe now."
"But Rebekah was hit." Hayley cried in Nik's arms, and he laughed.
"Don't worry." Nik calmed her once more. "Rebekah is an Original."
"Did you kill all of them?" Hayley tried to look where the bodies were, but Nik pulled her back into the embrace. "Hey, I don't need to be protected... I don't need... I've seen worse things... I..."
Hayley tried, but couldn't hold herself together and started crying in Nik's arms. She didn't know why.
But she truly trusted Nik. It was like instinct to her.
"Of course you need to be protected," Nik replied, still stroking her hair. "You are pregnant with my sister in your belly. That alone is enough reason to protect you. And no, I didn't kill them all. I only killed two out of ten. Rebekah killed most of them."
"Wait." Hayley's eyes widened even while staying in Nik's arms. "She was staked. How did she kill most of them?"
"Rebekah is an Original and over a thousand years old," Nik laughed, amused as Hayley's understanding of the world was shattered. "Being staked only stops her for a few seconds."
Hayley stayed silent for a few moments, trying to process all of that. Her breathing was still uneven, her heart racing not only from the attack... but from what Nik had just said.
"A few seconds...?" she repeated, almost whispering, as if saying it out loud would make it even more absurd.
Nik only smirked, as if watching someone discover that the world did not follow the rules she always believed in.
"You're going to be surprised by many more things yet, little wolf."
Before Hayley could answer, a sharp sound came from behind them.
It was the sound of something moving very fast, and when Hayley looked back she saw Rebekah completely covered in blood from head to toe.
"That was... irritating," Rebekah muttered, completely annoyed, and started kicking the ground. "My new outfit went to hell. For fuck's sake."
Hayley slipped out of Nik's arms and ran to her.
"You died!" Hayley said, still in shock.
Rebekah arched an eyebrow.
"Please, have a little more faith in me."
Nik let out a low laugh behind them.
"Technically, she only took a dramatic pause."
Rebekah shot him an irritated look.
"Next time, why don't you arrive sooner, hmm?"
"And miss your heroic performance?" Nik replied, amused. "Never."
Hayley still looked from one to the other, as if trying to fit all the pieces of an impossible puzzle together.
"This... this isn't normal..." she said, running a hand over her face.
Rebekah stepped closer to her, gentler now.
"No, it isn't. But you're not exactly living a normal life either, are you?"
Hayley automatically placed a hand over her belly.
The silence that followed was different. Heavier. More real.
Nik watched that carefully.
"They knew," he said, his tone now more serious. "That attack wasn't random."
Rebekah nodded.
"The witches broke the agreement."
Hayley frowned.
"You're saying they're after me?"
Nik stepped forward, his expression now completely different—no humor, no lightness.
Only danger.
"No, little wolf," he said calmly. "They're after what you carry."
--+--
I looked at the bodies in the distance, pinned to the trees and completely mangled.
Yeah, my aunt has a lot of style in her killings when she's angry. She's close to Elijah in physical strength.
Maybe physically stronger than Kol and even stronger than Finn.
Who would expect that the pampered sister of the Originals was so strong?
"Ow!" Pain came in the form of a kick that sent me flying. I rolled on the ground and got back up. "Why did you do that?"
"You were thinking something weird about me," Rebekah replied, showing me her fist. "Respect your aunt, brat."
Damn, her intuition is sharp.
"Haha, sorry." I scratched my head. There wasn't much else to do. "Can you take care of the little wolf?... I have something to do."
"Of course. Just don't overdo it." Rebekah looked at me with a glint of support. "Make sure to do what your father would do."
--+--
It didn't take long before I was in the church where some witches gathered.
"Well, well," I shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "Someone dared to touch my family, and that is unforgivable."
Rage poured out of me, and I felt my blood burn and my magic grow furious inside me.
"Who are you, vampire? Why is your face like that?" the witch shouted with fear in her eyes. "This is no place for your kind."
Oh, so my vampire face activated. I looked at my hands and saw they were pale and covered with black veins.
Looks like I'm furious, hahaha.
Why am I so enraged? Hayley isn't my mother. My mother is Tessa. I shouldn't be this angry.
"Get out of here, monster!" the witch hurled a fireball at me, and I simply moved my hand, casting a wind spell that extinguished the flames. "How is this possible? It's not possible! A vampire can't have magic!"
All the witches stepped back in fear.
The witch panicked, and that is good. Fear me. Fear me. Panic. I will torture you all.
The silence that fell over the church was not peaceful... it was pure terror.
All eyes were fixed on me, as if trying to understand... or deny what they were seeing.
A vampire... with magic.
"T-this is an abomination..." one of the witches whispered, stepping back another pace.
I smiled.
But it wasn't a normal smile.
It was the kind of smile that brought no comfort at all.
"Abomination?" my voice came out low, drawn out... almost amused. "Funny... coming from the ones who just sent hunters after a pregnant woman."
The air around us began to vibrate.
Candles flickered.
The stained-glass windows groaned as if they were about to shatter at any moment.
"We did nothing!" another witch tried, but her voice failed halfway through the sentence.
Lie.
I could feel it.
Their magic... was restless.
Guilty.
"Lie..." I stepped forward, and the floor beneath my feet cracked slightly. "You knew. You authorized it."
One of the elders finally stepped forward, though trembling.
"That child should not exist!" she shouted. "She is an imbalance! A threat to nature!"
Ah.
So that was it.
I tilted my head, studying her... the way a predator studies prey.
"And so you decided to kill the mother?" I asked, far too calm for someone in my position.
No one answered.
But I didn't need them to.
The answer was there.
In the fear.
In the silence.
In the mistake.
"You were wrong." My voice came out cold.
A crack echoed.
And suddenly... one of the witches was hurled against the wall with brutal force, her body slamming into the altar and collapsing before she could even scream.
Panic.
Screams.
"STOP HIM!"
Magic exploded toward me—fire, wind, raw energy.
But I only raised my hand.
And everything... stopped.
As if the air itself had frozen.
The attacks hung suspended for a second... then dissolved like dust.
Now the fear was absolute.
"I gave you a chance..." I began, walking slowly among them. "But you chose to attack first."
I passed by one of the witches.
She tried to run.
She couldn't.
A simple movement of my finger... and she dropped to her knees, choking as if something invisible was crushing her throat.
"You touched my family..." Why the hell am I so furious? I barely know them. I shouldn't care.
But I do care. Damn it. You were right, mother. I grew attached.
I stopped in the center of the church.
I closed my eyes for a second.
And when I opened them...
They were completely black.
"And I do not forgive that."
The ground trembled.
The windows exploded outward.
And what came next... was not a fight.
It was a massacre.
Magic tearing through the air.
Bodies being thrown.
Screams cut short.
I used only my witch magic to kill them. I did not use vampire magic.
No, I wanted to kill them using the abilities they bragged about most.
Then in the middle of the bodies, I looked upward.
"I know you're listening... you bastards..." My shout thundered. "Do not dare cross the line again, or not even the excuse of controlling the Hollow will stop me from throwing you into the deepest part of purgatory. Do not cross the line, and I will respect yours. This is the first and last warning."
My voice echoed through the ruined church, crossing broken stone, shattered wood, and blood spread across the floor.
For a few seconds... nothing happened.
Only silence.
Then the extinguished candles lit themselves again.
One by one.
Cold blue flames.
The air grew heavy, suffocating. The temperature dropped so much that my breath came out in mist.
Ah.
So they chose to answer.
The shadows on the ceiling began to move, crawling like living creatures until they gathered before the ruined altar. From there emerged the distorted shapes of several feminine silhouettes, faces hidden behind veils of smoke.
The Ancestors.
"Child of corruption..." several voices spoke at once. "Witch and vampire. Life of magic and death. You abomination tolerated by nature have no right to threaten us."
I laughed quietly.
"Right?" I walked over the debris without looking away. "You sent people to attack a pregnant woman and think you can still talk about rights?"
The shadows stirred.
"The child carries chaos."
"The child carries power."
"The child carries rupture."
"Then she fits this city perfectly," I answered dryly.
The altar cracked further.
The entities stepped forward, and I felt spiritual pressure trying to crush me from within. It was strong. Ancient. The weight of generations of dead magic.
My knee almost buckled.
Almost.
I clenched my teeth and let my own magic rise, burning through my veins like lava.
"Nice trick..." I said, straightening. "But I inherited ancient things too."
I raised my hand.
And shadows swirled around me and began to dance.
The voices hesitated.
Recognition.
Fear.
"Persephone..." they whispered.
A slow smile appeared on my face.
"That's right. My mother."
With a sharp motion, the shadows moved and attacked the spirits. They cut through the figures like blades, tearing the spiritual manifestation apart. The whole church shook.
Screams echoed from every corner, not human, not alive.
The candles exploded.
The figures recoiled to the ceiling, trembling with fury.
"You dare wound us?"
"No," I answered. "That was only a warning. Just because you are spirits does not make you untouchable. I can end you whenever I want."
Silence again.
More tense than before, and the spirits began murmuring as if making a decision.
"Very well, we will play the game by the rules," the spirits said. "We will not involve third parties. Our attacks will be by our own hand."
"Good, see how things get solved through conversation?" I nodded proudly that they understood without needing violence.
Then one single voice spoke, separate from the others. Older. Colder.
"You love too quickly."
I frowned.
"What?"
"The she-wolf. You show affection for her that you should not have, demigod," the spirit said wisely. "You grow attached too easily. That is your flaw."
The shadows rippled.
"We will use that against you."
My smile vanished.
Because that... struck far too deeply.
"Try it," I said at last.
The Ancestors began to disappear.