JUST A LITTLE BIT OF YOUR HEART | TO [2]

II • YOU HUNG THE MOON

two | tu as accroché la lune

Bayou

Monique Deveraux, securely holding baby Hope in her warm arms, is trailing closely after Elijah Mikaelson as they're both desperately making their way through the dark woods of the bayou in search of the child's own mother. Where could Hayley Marshall be? The Crescent werewolf girl from earlier tonight said that if she's not with her daughter, then she's probably dead, though Monique is the one who refused to believe that a strong and resilient werewolf/vampire hybrid like Hayley would be so easy to be murdered then. Hybrids die permanently once either their head or their heart is eliminated. The hunters were ordinary people, therefore they won't be able to fight her.

"HAYLEY! HAYLEY!" The young man called aloud throughout the forest while his precious niece snuggles closer to the young woman's chest behind him.

Elijah, seemingly concerned along with Monique closely trailing after him, continues leading them through the dark woods, as night time remains, stopping once he comes upon one of the sharp steel-jawed animal traps, which is both covered in and surrounded by a huge puddle of blood. Elijah gulps nervously while Monique immediately shields Hope's eyes from looking below at the weapon as both vampires consider this for a moment before a familiar, low masculine voice called out from behind them.

"Where is she?" Being that the young woman they're frantically searching for is his own beloved wife, it's very underrated to say that he's worried.

Elijah spins on his heel and looks at Jackson Kenner with raw surprise. Monique turns around after him, only to see as the young man is stark naked, covered in fresh blood and hiding behind a tree, both to help support himself and to give him some modesty in front of Elijah, Monique and Hope.

"Where the hell is Hayley?" Jackson questioned the pair of old vampires.

Elijah and Monique both notice that Jackson is panting heavily and look down to find that the unfortunate young man's left leg is seriously wounded from being caught in one of the steel-jawed traps and is bleeding severely. Afterward, Monique has gently placed Hope in her stroller, in which she is restlessly fidgeting while she watches as Elijah uses a butter knife from the picnic they had set up earlier in the day together to pry one of the bullets from the hunters' assault rifles out of his left shoulder. Jackson hisses and groans in agony when Elijah finally frees the last one, and once he's finished, Elijah rolls up his sleeve and offers him his wrist, albeit reluctantly.

"Take my blood." To heal quicker.

Jackson rolls his eyes in annoyance, "I'm good. We need to find Hayley." His wife, as a hybrid in human form now, could be anywhere at the moment.

"You're welcome." Monique called out sarcastically with a tired tone.

A genuinely tired sigh leaves Elijah, "There's still no sign of her." He lowers his own voice, seemingly grim and concerned, "We've seen the bodies."

"That doesn't mean she's one of them." Monique shakes her head a little, "She's a hybrid. They're not so easy to be killed-- either you remove the head or the heart, and those hunters are nothing compared to her."

A tired sigh leaves Jackson, "Well, I hope you're right. Hunters set up traps all over the bayou. Mowed us down with gunfire. Any wolf that wasn't taken out scattered." He winces and looks down at his gunshot wound, gritting his teeth and clearly dreading his next statement, "Elijah...how many bodies?"

Elijah, not unaffected by the thought of all the dead wolves, looks away from him, silently answering the question. Jackson, momentarily stunned by this revelation, tries to keep it together and pauses to contemplate it.