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"You were always the one I'd rather call my father. And please don't forget that.
-HB"

1161

"Hayden! Come see! I've made a new masterpiece!"

Then now nineteen year old Hayden Bentley strutted down the newly remodeled house Niklaus had built the week prior with excitement.

He'd always loved seeing Niklaus' paintings.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he could see the back of Niklaus facing him.

"I'm here, let me see Nik."

Niklaus quickly spun around and kissed the tips of his fingers at his adopted son, eyes shining with happiness.

When Hayden saw the painting, he became mesmerized by it.

"Nik. Wow. It's beautiful!"

"It's you."

Hayden winked at his father figure.

"Oh, I know, and I am quite beautiful."

Niklaus laughed at the boy as his three other siblings emerged through the front door of the mansion.

"Wow, Nik. That one looks great."

Elijah Mikaelson, the second born of the Mikaelsons, pat his brother on his shoulder as he looked at the detailed painting of Hayden.

Elijah has to admit Hayden had become family to the Mikaelson siblings, he'd gotten along with all of them. Although, all Rebekah wanted to know was what he was like in bed.
Elijah saw the boy as a younger brother, like the youngest Mikaelson they'd lost so many years ago, Henrik.

Kol nudged Hayden's shoulder playfully, the two alike more than almost anything.

Niklaus looked at the boy with admiration, glad he's been in his life for so many years, and now, hopefully, for many more. Elijah found it endearing how much he cared for the boy, how much he made himself a better person in order to be a role model for him.

Before he met Hayden, Niklaus was spiraling down a dark path after his father tried murdering him.

Well, the only father he's known, as they all knew Niklaus was the bastard child. As was Hayden, which is why Elijah believed Niklaus took care of him.
He knew what it felt like to not be wanted within the family, and wanted to make sure he never felt that way.

"I'm starving! Can we please get some food!"

All the Mikaelsons, and Hayden, turned to the blonde sitting at the dining table with her face in a pout. Elijah looked from her to his brothers who nodded absently.

Hayden sat down on the newly installed oak bench he'd built in his spare time, picking up his bag full of his paints and parchment, smiling fondly at the siblings in front of him.

"Looks like we'll be back Hayden. Don't let anyone in, and remember, always..."

Hayden locked arms with Niklaus as they shared a father/son moment, "And forever."

Rebekah smiled at the sight, her mind now thinking how nice it was for her older brother to have someone like Hayden around.
For a century he'd been on a rampage, until he met the young boy at the age of eight, who he soon took a liking to.

Rebekah thought the boy was becoming a handsome man at that time, in fact, he looked like a man at the time as well, but looking at their shared family moment, she let all thoughts of him as anything else flush from her mind completely.

"C'mon Nik. I'm hungry!"

Niklaus nodded once more at the boy who didn't very much like to feed, although he very well could being the hybrid he was. Yet he still chose to live off of human food.

Hayden watched Niklaus and his siblings speed out of the house and off to find food, most likely somewhere in town, he only knew that much.

Looking down at his bag he stood up and wandered to the biggest room in the brick mansion with the biggest window they made just for him.
He enjoyed looking out the window at night, the stars mesmerizing to him, and during the day to watch the way the sun poured out onto the field and animals.

He simply gathered an easel and canvas from the corner of the room and sat down in the middle of the window to see everything the world had to offer.

With his paint brush now in his hands he began to paint the scene in front of him, being sure to capture every single detail he could find.

"One day... One day I'll paint the world... I know it."

2028

"Are you ever going to answer my question?" Hayden sighed from his spot on the hard bed, lifting his head to look up at the wooden ceiling above him. He let his lips twitch upward fleetingly.

Suddenly his voice was carrying itself through the air as his eyes side glanced at the girl.

"You know, curiosity is the one thing I could never truly leave in my past, and you, Hope, I am very curious about you."

Hope took a step back out of fear that covered up the guilt she had for being intrigued by him herself. Hayden could see it on her face, and merely smirked at the girl.

"W-Why? Why are you curious about me?"

Hayden only smiled at the girl before him, because frankly, he didn't know himself. Why was he so curious about the girl? He didn't know that himself, there was just something about her that made him want more.

To know more, be more.

Hayden stood up from the cell bed as he heard footsteps approaching the cell, narrowed eyes at the three that walked in.

The blonde and brunette from before, and the man named Alaric.

"Find anything out?"

Hope shook her head, the blonde laughing viciously. "Why would you, right?"

Hope openly glared at the girl, as did Hayden, as Alaric stepped toward the cell gate with a syringe he could only guess was full of vervain from the smell of it.

"Who are you? And why are you here? Are you from Malivore?"

Malivore.

A name he hadn't heard in a long time. He remembered the times when his father was obsessed with finding absolute power. Malivore was a name he knew well.
He knew almost anything and everything about it, or rather, him.

Hayden tilted his head with a raised brow, "How do you know about Malivore?"

This raised all the more suspicion from the two girls and Alaric, and even more curiosity from the tribrid.

"So you are from Malivore."

Hayden laughed, "No, I'm not. Just know quite a lot about the subject. Why would I be here from Malivore? And for what?"

Alaric narrowed his eyes at the younger looking man, syringe in his hand ready to use if the vampire tried anything.
The pearl-white man stepped forward toward the gate, smirk growing at the fear in the blonde's eyes.

"I would really like to know how you know about it. And what exactly you know."

The tribrid emerged from behind the older man, "Will you tell us what you know if we do?"

The vampire nodded leaning against the gate, getting quite tired of being behind the silver bars. With a sudden motion he pushed open the gate, walking out of the cell and grabbing the vervain filled syringe from Alaric and breaking it.

The three of them looked at the boy with shock at the fact that he wasn't burning from the touch of vervain.
The first thought that ran through Alaric's mind was he had to be an original. It would explain his strength and how he was a match to Hope.

But he also knew that there were no other Mikaelsons in the world they didn't know about.

The second thing that ran through his mind was that he could be the youngest Mikaelson, Henrik, but he was known to have died over a thousand years ago.

The tribrid could only stop and look at his hand that was only shiny from the liquid being poured on top of it. She was the only one that she knew of that could withstand vervain.

He was different, just like her.

"Holy shit!"

"Lizzie!"

"Sorry dad."

Dad. So the blonde girl is Alaric's daughter, and he guessed the brunette was as well.

"Well this is fun. Could we go somewhere more spacious? I quite hate small spaces."

Hayden let his thick British accent merge with the American one he'd worked so hard on, wanting his true self to be shown around the tribrid.

"Sure, yeah. Follow me."

The three girls and vampire all followed the man up the stairs and to his office. Hayden was impressed to say the least, seeing the Headmaster sign on the door.

Alaric sat behind a long wooden desk, his daughters taking a seat on the window seat behind him and away from the intimidating vampire. Hope sat in the chair beside an empty one, looking expectantly at Hayden for him to sit down in it.

When he did take his seat he glanced around the office to take in all the Knick knacks the man had. He liked his office, it was vintage in his opinion.

"Malivore. We know it wants something we have. We just don't know what yet, or rather who."

Hayden's eyes zeroed in on an artifact on his shelf, using his vampire speed to come right up next to it.

"This knife, I'd keep it safe. It looks quite important."

Alaric stood up to walk next to the vampire and look at what he was looking at, and realized the knife should've been in the library glass case anyway.
He nodded, walking back to his desk chair. He sat with his elbows on the desk, looking at Hayden expectantly.

"So what do you know?"

Before the tribrid could stop herself she was blurting our questions left and right at the vampire, no form of fear in her voice as she spoke to him. He rather liked it.

"Firstly, I'd like to officially introduce myself. I'm Hayden Bentley. Quite old if I do say so myself."

The blonde perked up at the name Bentley, brows raised in excitement.

"Bentley as in Bentley?"

Trying to get some type of emotion out of the tribrid beside him, Hayden winked at the blonde as he answered her. "The one and only sweetheart."

If looks could kill, Hayden would be six feet under with the look Alaric was giving him.

He quickly cleared his throat and glanced at the tribrid who looked unamused. He still didn't even know what a tribrid is.

"Malivore. It takes those that are the upmost evil and takes them away from existence. Completely erasing them from the minds of everyone."

"And how do you even know this?"

"My father."

Hope looked at the vampire with wide eyes, motioning for him to elaborate.

"And who is your father?"

Hayden sighed, leaning back in his seat. This was when he would lose any trust he'd built. His father was someone for the books, he learned, and now that they'd know, they'd probably want to kill him or keep him in an even stronger dungeon.

"Draconian. AKA, Count Dracula."

Lizzie laughed loudly from her seat by the window, so hard she had to hold herself up against her sister. "That's a good one! Everyone knows Dracula is a myth!"

Although the despised his father, he always stood up for his name. Sure, he was murderer, but he was still his father.

"Well then I most be dreaming because I know who my fucking deadbeat father is."

As cautiously as he could, Alaric stood up and walked over to his bookshelf to pull out his book on vampire myths.
He quickly looked in the table of contents until he found the name he was looking for.

When he found the page, he spun the book toward Hayden, who looked at it with distaste.

' Count Dracula : Real of Myth?

Count Dracula was said to be born during the 12th century, turned into a vampire by that of another vampire myth. Dracula has never been spotted, and to this day has only been used as a scary story to tell young human children. Dracula was never mentioned throughout history as anyone real. Although rumors have it Dracula was a dangerous man who became a ripper later in life after someone close to him either died or left him.   

Myth.

Written by Darius Wilburr, 1300'

If the book were in his hands, Hayden would've for sure dropped it. But he simply dropped himself into the seat he previously sat with his mind racing a thousand miles per hour.

How could Dracula be a myth?

He knew Darius Wilburr! He remembered helping him write this book! Stories about vampires, by vampires, for vampires! It didn't make any sense to him.

It had to be a joke.

"You've changed the words! Or spelled it! Something! I know who my father is!"

Now Hope was standing up to make sure the vampire didn't try and run up on the witches or human in the room.

"There's no way. Unless... No. He couldn't possibly have."

Alaric turned the page where a picture of what Dracula was presumed to look like sat, and it looked quite a lot like Hayden.
But not exactly him, that much Alaric could tell. Maybe he was telling the truth. Then the bulb in his brain turned on, what if Dracula went into Malivore?

"My father's a complete imbecile!"

Chapter Edit(s):

A/N
I hope you guys are liking this story so far!! The gifs are also telling a story along the way :))) And we're in for a rideeee but don't worry I'll be starting to get into the actual storyline of Legacies with my own little twist on it >:)

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