WAR OF HEARTS • hayley marshall

43 | I STARTED TO LOVE YOU

WARNING: stock up on your tissues. i cried a fuckton writing this chapter, right from the beginning. so, yeah. good luck and sorry in advance for the heartache.

"Where could they be?" Khalia asked, frantic and desperate. She ran a hand through her hair, tugging at it in frustration. This not knowing where Hayley is was worse than anything she's ever experienced, the only thing beating it was Kol's death. But what if Hayley is- No. Nope. Not going there.

"The only place I can think where they would have taken her, is the Cemetery." Elijah told his sister, watching as determination set her face into stone.

Khalia nodded, that sounded reasonable and like their only option right now. "Let's go."

The two sped off, running as fast as they could while still under the influence of the werewolf venom. They divided the cemetery in two, searching and searching. Khalia killed anyone that came into her line of sight - human and witch - trying to get rid of all of the restlessness and worry inside of her. And when they met up in the entrance of the cemetery, it was clear on both faces that neither of them had found a trace of the kidnapped pregnant werewolf.

"Now what?" Khalia asked her brother, chest heaving a bit, looking very close to spiraling down a path of destruction, going through the whole of New Orleans until she found her werewolf.

Out of nowhere, her whole body went freezing cold, goosebumps rising on her skin and a full body shiver running through her. Her skin was warm, but something inside of her went cold and wilted. Like something inside her had died. It wasn't like when her Kol's souls were ripped apart by his death, no, it was more like the life force of something inside her was taken. The coldness telling her that something was terribly, horribly wrong.

Khalia frowned deeply, not understanding what the hell was happening to her.

"Khalia, are you okay?" Elijah shook his sister by the arm, trying to get her attention.

"Fine," She waved him off, that cold feeling making her uneasy. "What's the plan?"

Elijah thought quickly, making a plan that made sure he could keep his sister within his sight. God knows, if she was left alone, New Orleans wouldn't survive it. "We look for her. We go back and start in the French Quarter and work our way out from there." Elijah placed his hands on Khalia's shoulders. "We will find her, Khalia, even if we have to scour this entire city to do so."

"Okay." Khalia took a deep breath, wanting to get a hold on her emotions that were all over the place. "Okay, let's find her."

They started in the City of the Dead, then the Cauldron. Next on their list was St. Anne's church. Khalia knew they were finally in the right place when she smelled blood - not just any blood, but Hayley's blood. Her stomach knotted itself over and over, legs quivering as her whole body startled trembling, because she had no idea what waited for her behind that door. But that much blood . . .

No. No, that is not an option. That is not what happened here tonight.

Steeling herself as her brother bursts into the church and looks around desperately, frantically shouting, "HAYLEY! NIKLAUS!"

Khalia follows him inside, both of them still panting and out of breath as a result of the werewolf bites, and struggling to focus their vision. Elijah stops dead in his tracks as he sees that Klaus is sitting at the sacristy with Hayley's head resting in his lap. Klaus is near tears. Elijah approaches them with a horrified look on his face, Khalia following behind her brother.

"No. No, no. No..." Elijah denies it until the last second, until he falls to his knees next to Hayley and realizes that she's dead.