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Katherine’s smile was small but fond. At the kitchen island, Kai was finger painting with Lizzie and Josie. A few years ago, she would never have imagined being around kids, let alone being invited (willingly) into Alaric and Jo’s home. It was odd.
When her phone rang, she turned away from the laughter to answer it.
“What’s up, loser?”
“Why do I already regret calling?”
“I love you too, Marcel. What happened?” she asked just as some orange paint slapped against the cupboard by her head. A delighted squeal followed.
“Nice shot, Lizzie!” She raised an eyebrow at Kai, who didn’t stop grinning proudly. “Lizzie, you shouldn’t throw paint,” he said about as convincingly as she’d expected.
“Kitty’s fast!”
“Can’t argue with that.”
“Sounds like you’re having lots of fun,” Marcel said amusedly.
“Apparently Kai has a life now he’s not in a prison world, so I can only see him when he’s babysitting. Now, what happened?”
“Klaus is going to take the Hollow from Hope, then stake himself to destroy it.”
Oh, for fucks’ sake, Klaus.
“Pardon? What happened to the separation plan?” she hissed.
“Hit a snag. None of them could be around Hope or each other ever again, or the Hollow would reunite itself.”
“Son of a bitch.” Kai looked up, stunned, and with good reason. Luckily, Lizzie and Josie didn’t seem to have heard her. Then she realised something that should have been obvious. “His siblings don’t know about this, do they?”
“Nope. Vincent told me after Klaus asked him to change the spell. He’s hoping that keeping up the pretence that they’ll still be separating it will give him the advantage to finish himself off.”
“This is bullshit.” Katherine pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked at Kai, who didn’t appear to have blinked in the last few minutes. Josie was painting his fingernails contentedly. “Though it isn’t a bad plan.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
She ignored that.
“I have an idea.”
His sigh was very resigned for someone who’d never been led wrong by her before.
“Alright. What do you need?”
XXX
The compound was utter carnage when Katherine walked in, Kai at her side. Rebekah was screaming obscenities at Klaus whilst Elijah stood, quite literally, in the middle in an obvious attempt at mediation. Kol and Marcel were watching in disdain and annoyance respectively. Furniture was broken and Klaus’s shirt was ripped.
“Someone spilled the beans, then,” Kai observed.
“Enough!” Katherine said loudly. Rebekah silenced immediately, and everyone turned to look at Katherine. “What is going on here?”
“Marcel told us what Klaus is planning on doing. We won’t stand for it!” Rebekah snapped.
“Did Marcel get to the part where I have an alternative solution, or did you all immediately opt for violence?”
The utter silence that fell answered her question quite nicely. “Are the others here?”
“Upstairs,” Kol said, gesturing as though she didn’t know where that was.
“Someone go and get them. We need to talk about it before going through with this perfectly crafted plan.” Whilst Elijah went to do that, she approached Klaus. “You’re an idiot asshole.”
“Yes, I gathered as much when Rebekah became a banshee. It appeared to be the only solution in which my family remained together, and Hope stayed alive.”
“Your family wouldn’t have been together. You wouldn’t have been there.” She stepped away to let him contemplate that and went to Marcel’s side. She gave him her best disappointed look. “What are you, a rookie? Why’d you lead with the bad news?”
“Yeah, yeah, I screwed up,” he said dryly. “What’s Kai doing here?”
“He’s the plan.”
Hayley, Vincent, and Freya joined them. Katherine didn’t ask where Hope was. It was better that she didn’t hear them anyway.
“Who’s this?” Freya asked curiously. She was eyeing Kai like she could x-ray him with her gaze alone. He beamed at her.
“This is Kai. He was part of the Gemini coven until they cast him out, and wrongfully locked him in a prison world which we rescued him from 18 years later. He’s Jo’s twin brother.”
Kol, who had been pivotal in providing information at the time but had never met the outcome, sat forward on his chair.
“You’re a siphoner,” he added, his formerly grim expression melting into something much more hopeful and relieved. At his words, Vincent and Freya raised their eyebrows in sync.
“What’s a siphoner?” Hayley asked.
“A rare kind of witch, though not all witches consider them such. The Gemini coven are amongst those who consider them abominations,” Kol said. “They’re not born with their own magic. They have to absorb it from elsewhere; spells, objects, people, whatever holds magic and has a physical manifestation. It isn’t permanent. The magic runs out eventually. The more power absorbed, the longer it lasts.”
“You can siphon the magic from Hope,” Hayley realised. Kai shrugged.
“Yeah. Not going to lie, it’ll hurt her a bit, but she’ll live because she’s got her own magic going on under the Hollow.”
“And you won’t take that from her, right? She’ll still be a witch.”
“Oh yeah, totally. I’m just going for the evil shit.”
“And what happens after?” Klaus asked. “Will the Hollow take possession of you when you’ve absorbed it?”
“Nope. I’m siphoning the magic that binds the Hollow together. Without the magic, it can’t survive. So, I can exhaust the magic like I would anything else, or I can release it into an object, and we can throw it in a fire. Either way, it’s bye-bye Hollow.”
The silence that followed was heavy with contemplation. Most of them seemed stunned. Kol looked utterly convinced as he relaxed back into his seat. Hayley was eyeing Katherine with what could only be described as critical doubt.
“It can’t be this simple,” Rebekah said, seemingly against her will. The words sounded forced, like she didn’t want to voice the fear. Katherine shrugged.
“I think you’ve earned simple,” she said.
“Hayley, what do you think?” Klaus asked. Hayley raised an eyebrow.
“Why?” she asked Katherine.
“Why not?” She could tell by the glare that she needed to elaborate. “No child should be forced to separate from those who love them so much.”
Elijah took her hand and squeezed.
“Okay,” Hayley agreed quietly. Then, firmer, she added, “Let’s save our daughter and our family.”
XXX
Katherine had just closed her final suitcase when someone knocked on the ajar door. She listened for a moment; the heartbeat was too fast to be a vampire and too slow for a human.
“Come in, Hayley.”
When the hybrid entered, her expression was uncomfortable, at the very least.
“Thank you.” Katherine stopped playing with the case and stared at Hayley. That was beyond the realm of expected. “I can’t believe I’m saying it either, but I guess you’re not the same person who tried to kill me a few years ago.”
“Oh, I’m definitely the same person. I just don’t have an interest in killing you anymore.” Hayley laughed slightly. “I changed my mind on helping Klaus, so I can change it for you too.”
“It’ll take me a while to get used to you helping me.”
“When it comes to Hope, I will always do what I can.”
Hayley’s expression shifted as she bit her lip.
“I guess . . . you’re a part of this family too. I’m glad she has that.”
“And this is officially too much for me.” Hayley snorted. “They know how to reach me if you need a sensible solution again.”
“I’m hoping it’ll be a while before the next problem crops up. I’ll see you around, Katherine.”
Katherine smirked as she left. She wondered if Josh would help with her bags. Kai had already returned to Mystic Falls, and she’d said her goodbyes to everyone else. She wanted to tell Elijah she was leaving, but part of their chase was that she didn’t announce her departure.
What if she did, though?
It wasn’t hard to find him in his study. The compound’s rooms were heavily soundproofed, but she sniffed him out. The windows were open and gossamer curtains were rippling in the gentle breeze. Just out of the sunlight’s range, Elijah sat regally in an armchair, placing a marked book onto an antique side table. He was frowning at her.
“Come with me,” she said bluntly. The frown transformed to raised eyebrows. “I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t want you to chase me. I want to travel with you. I want to be with you. So, what do you say?”
“I’ve waited 500 years for this very moment.” He strode over, holding her waist with that fierce adoration he had. “Where shall we go, my love?”
She kissed him softly.
“Everywhere.”