Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"SHE'S GONE."
Klaus did not look up as his siblings crashed through the doors of St. Anne's. Hayley and Tom followed right behind, but their horror quicker caught up at the sight before them.
The girl that was once Rory Aden laid terribly still in the hybrid's arms. He cradled her carefully like she was made of glass, a princess who had been cursed to sleep forever.
But there was no mistaking the fact that Rory was dead.
"No!"
"How?" Rebekah braved the words to ask as they approached Klaus and Rory. Her heart had broken at the sight of her brother clutching her to his chest, refusing to let go of the girl they all loved dearly. Rory had become her sister, had reminded Rebekah that life was worth living and happiness was out there.
"I was bested."
Elijah blinked numbly. "You were bested. Huh." His eyes couldn't believe this sight before him was true. It had to be a trick. If Rory was gone, what chance did their family have without her? She had changed everything for them, changed his brother for the better, and had accepted them for all of their being.
"You were BESTED?" Klaus looked up at Hayley as she sneered at him, her anger taking forefront of her pain. Rory had been the first real family she had known. Rory was a fighter—she couldn't just be gone like that. Hayley snarled, "The invincible hybrid!"
Tom's eyes widened, filling with rage at the sight of blood marring Klaus's mouth and the matching wound to Rory's throat. "You didn't save her, you finished her off! You swore she wouldn't—"
"She wanted me to," Klaus weakly defended his actions. Her blood raced through his own veins now. It tasted bittersweet on his mouth despite being well aware how delicious it was. Angel blood was rare, but a few gulps—as much as he could before he broke down as her heart had already stopped—had been enough to restore his strength. "I was supposed to keep her safe. And now she's dead and my children are to be sacrificed before the moon fades from the morning sky."
"Children?"
Klaus nodded gravely, tears shining in his eyes. "A girl and a boy. Twins." A surge of protectiveness filled him. He snapped out of his shocking grief.
He had not lost it all—not yet.
"We still have time," Rebekah said encouragingly. She looked at Hayley and they exchanged a look.
"We'll take care of her," Hayley promised, crouching beside Klaus and began shifting Rory's body into her arms, but Tom joined her then, stoically holding his daughter's dead body.
