˖*°࿐chapter twenty two.
xxii. FAMILY MATTERS

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╔═                                             

𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊

                                             ═╝

𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒

Going into Kai's bedroom, Janelle found him sitting on the bed. His head was hung low, and his breathing pattern was uneven. A frown found its way up to her lips.

She didn't like seeing him this way.

Janelle finally approached him, kneeling and taking Kai's face in her hands. He tried to avoid his girlfriend's gaze as she forced him to look at her.

"Kai," She whined as he continued to stare at the ground. "Look at me, please," He sighed but finally brought his eyes up to hers. "What's wrong?"

"My family," Kai answered. "They hate me."

"What? No, they don't," Janelle said softly to him, but he only shook his head.

"Yes, they do. They hate me. I know it," he repeated, more to himself. "My own father barely even acknowledges me anymore all because I can't manifest my own magic. He thinks I'm a failure at being a son."

"Awe, Kai," Janelle cooed, caressing his cheek. She got up from her position on the floor and sat back against the pillows on the bed. "Come here."

Kai crawled his way over to her and laid his head down on her chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. He started to play with the hem of Janelle's shirt, mumbling, "Maybe I am a failure. And maybe Josette is right. You'd be better off without someone like me."

Kai's words were like a jab towards Janelle's heart.

A few weeks prior, Janelle and Jo were having a conversation, and Jo brought up Kai. She told Janelle that she could do better than her twin brother, but Janelle refused to listen to what she had to say. What neither of them realized was Kai heard the entire thing. But Janelle still couldn't believe Kai took it seriously and thought his girlfriend really could do better.

"Hey, listen to me," Janelle demanded, making Kai glance up at her. "I don't ever wanna hear you say something like that again. You're not a failure, and I'm not going to leave you, okay?"

"But —"

"No," she cut him off, "I love you, Kai. And nothing you or anyone says to me is going to change that. Because I know what kind of person you are. Your family just hasn't taken the chance to see that yet. But I don't want that to bring you down and make you think you're not good enough."

"I don't want to lose you..." Kai suddenly whispered.

"You're not going to lose me. It's always going to be you, Kai. Never forget that."

———

Feeling the aching pain in her neck as she woke up, Janelle finally managed to open her eyes. She took in her surroundings and noticed there wasn't much to see. She was in a dark room, and the only type of light she got was from the one shining above her.

"What the hell?" she muttered to herself.

As Janelle went to stand, she realized she couldn't because her hands and feet were bound to a chair. She tried to break free, but it was honestly no use considering she was tied back with chains.

A door suddenly swung open, catching Janelle's attention. In walked another one of those men with a hood on, except this one took his off to reveal his face. He approached Janelle as she squinted her eyes.

"Don't I know you?" she asked.

"Probably," he shrugged. Of course, Janelle knew him. He was another werewolf she had seen around New Orleans, but he wasn't very willing to give up his name. The man held out a glass full of red liquid that appeared to be blood with a straw in it. "Drink this."

Janelle pressed her lips together, moving her head away. "No," she refused.

The last time Janelle drank blood, it sent her into a rage. She wasn't exactly planning on going through that again.

The werewolf sighed, "Your baby needs to feed, so drink it."

Janelle completely ignored what he just said. "What do you want with my baby?"

"Oh, I'm not the one who wants your baby," he stated, causing Janelle to furrow her eyebrows in confusion, "she is."

Footstep emerged from the doorway, and at first, the figure was just a shadow, until they fully stepped into the light. Janelle immediately recognized the familiar blonde woman she had only met a few years ago.

"Hello, Janelle."

"Esther," Janelle scoffed as she shook her head. "I should've known. Leave it to you to wanna kill your own grandchild."

"Well, it's lovely to see you as well," Esther half-heartedly smiled. "Leave us," she gestured to the wolf.

"Isn't it bad enough you failed at being a mother, now you're gonna fail at being a grandmother, too? I'd applaud you, but my hands seemed to be restrained."

Esther kept her stance as she took a step forward, "Do you know why I'm doing this? Why I've come so far to find you and put an end to this madness?"

"No. But I'm pretty sure you're going to tell me. So by all means, enlighten me in this master plan of yours," Janelle replied to her, blankly.

"Janelle, you may not agree with my intentions, but the truth is you, and I are very much alike."

"Yeah, right," Janelle snorted. "How is that even remotely possible?"

"Because when I was your age, I desired the same thing you did — a child. A family that I could call my own. But unfortunately, after I had married Mikael, I learned that I was barren. So I had to turn to someone who I knew would help me. A great and powerful witch — my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Janelle said to her.

"I rarely ever talk about Dahlia," she confessed. "She cast a fertility spell that allowed me to conceive all of my seven children. But with such magic, required a great sacrifice. In exchange for giving me what I wanted, Dahlia was given claim to my first-born child, Freya, my daughter."

"So, you made a deal with the devil. Haven't we all? Frankly, that's not my problem."

"On the contrary, it's quite the opposite. As long as my bloodline continues, Dahlia will come for every first-born of each generation of Mikaelson's."

The color from Janelle's face suddenly drained away as she started to fear the worse. "That's why you turned your children into vampires. You didn't want to take the risk of your sister coming back. But what you didn't count on was having an affair with Klaus' father."

"Don't you see? I'm doing this to protect you. To spare you and Niklaus the loss of having your daughter being ripped away by a woman as evil as Dahlia."

Janelle choked back a sob, "By killing her?"

"Your child possesses great magical abilities. If Dahlia gets a hold of her, she will train her in the arts of dark magic, ultimately raising her to be the imminent destruction of this world. I can't allow that."

"But this is my child, Esther. Your son's child." Janelle emphasized. "You can't just take her away because you're afraid to face your sister."

"I've already seen the pain you've had to go through because of this pregnancy. I know it hurts to hear this, but this isn't the child you were meant to have. I'm merely here to end your suffering. Bring you a better life."

Janelle couldn't hold it back any longer. The tears ran down her face as she was forced to sit back and feel hopeless. She really couldn't do anything at this moment.

She was never going to meet that little girl she saw in her future.

Her little girl.

She was never going to get the opportunity to start her own family.

Everything was now falling apart.

"I truly am sorry, Janelle," Esther apologized, slowly walking away.

The latch on door shut and Janelle was left alone in silence. The only thing that could be heard was the sound Janelle's cries.

———

"How hard is it to do a damn locator spell?"

Kai turned his heads towards Damon, who had already grown impatient hours ago. "Don't you think I'm trying as hard as I can? Wherever Janelle is, I can't bypass the location because someone is blocking my magic."

Damon glared at him, feeling the need to rip out Kai's throat for giving him an answer that he did not want to hear. "You're obviously not trying hard enough because it's been over four hours and we still haven't gotten anywhere."

"Damon," Jo stood up from her spot next to Kai on the couch, "he is doing everything he can to find Janelle, all right? All this arguing isn't going to get us anywhere if you keep breathing down Kai's neck every 30 seconds. So why don't you go into the other room and take some time to calm yourself down."

Damon's jaw clenched as he snatched a bottle of bourbon from the table behind the couch and stormed up the stairs. He found himself in his room, pacing back and forth.

He tried to bring his mind elsewhere, but it always seemed to find it's way back to his little sister. Damon hated himself for letting Janelle slip away so easily. He didn't know where she was, if she was hurt, or what could possibly be happening to her at this very moment.

It was killing him.

Damon took back a long swig from the bottle and angrily tossed it against the wall, but a hand caught it before it could make an impact.

Damon brought his eyes up to his brother, who stood only a few feet across from him. "You gotta stop beating yourself up about this, Damon. This isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is. I'm the reason Janelle is even in this mess. I'm the one who asked her to go into that stupid prison world to save Bonnie. I'm the one who let her run off to New Orleans with her hybrid boyfriend when I could have very well force her to stay here. But I let her go because I didn't want her to hate me again for refusing her any happiness. I could've been the annoying, overprotective excuse of a brother and avoided all of this. So don't you tell me this isn't my fault."

"We may have wanted to make those decisions for her, but we couldn't," Stefan said. "As much as we hate to admit it, she's not a baby anymore. We can't keep holding her hand for the rest of her life. This is the life Janelle chose for herself; this is the person she's grown up to be. Of course, she's going to make a few mistakes, but as her family, we have to let her make them. The more we try to control her life, the more she'll push us away."

Damon frowned as he ran his hands over his face in frustration. "I should've protected her. I never should've let her go."

Stefan could see how much the guilt was getting to Damon, and it made him want to cry. Stefan pulled his brother into a tight hug as Damon wrapped his arms around him.

"We'll get her back, brother. I promise."

———

"Excuse me! Is there a bathroom around here, or something?!" Janelle shouted at no one in particular. "Cause in case you've forgotten, I am indeed pregnant, so my bladder is the size of a walnut right now." When no answered her, Janelle grew aggravated. "Hello!"

And just like that, the door swung open and the same werewolf from earlier approached. "Shut. Up," he spat through gritted teeth.

"Make me," she said. He went to move closer to Janelle but quickly stopped himself. She smirked, knowing he couldn't do anything to her without an order first. "That's what I thought. Now, could you be so kind as to untie me and point me in the direction of the nearest restroom?"

He let out a dry chuckle, "You're not going anywhere."

"Okay, fine. Then, you can be the one to explain to Esther how her $8,000 Persian rug is going to be ruined within the next three minutes."

The man thought it over before smacking his lips and making his way around Janelle, beginning to undo her chains. "You will tell no one about this," he ordered.

"Whatever you say," Janelle replied as she looked at what was beyond the entrance. It appeared that she was in a house, a very large and expensive one, given the items that she could make out.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"Why does that matter?" he retorted, finally removing the restraints from Janelle's feet.

"Well, I'd like to know the name of the family I'll be speaking to when I tell them their son is dead." Janelle flicked her wrist, throwing the werewolf across the room before vanquishing him with the beam of blue light she had previously used.

Once he was gone, Janelle wasted no time running out the room. She ran as fast as her feet would take her throughout the many hallways. She tried shimmering out, but it wasn't working. There must have been a barrier over the house that kept Janelle from doing so, yet she could still use her other active powers.

It seemed like every turn she took; it gave off the illusion that she was running in circles. It was never-ending.

Just as Janelle turned a corner, she bumped into a hard chest. She fell to the floor with a thud and looked up to see who was in front of her.

"Aiden?" Janelle whispered.

Aiden was another werewolf from New Orleans that Janelle knew, except she had a closer bond with him as opposed to the others she's encountered, which is why it was weird for her to see him here.

Aiden stuck his hand out to Janelle, and she grabbed it, letting him lift her to her feet. "Sorry about that. You good?"

"Oh, you mean besides the fact Esther is hell-bent on killing my unborn child, and you're here to assist?" Janelle asked rhetorically with a roll of her eyes. "Then, yeah. I'm just peachy."

Aiden sighed, "I'm sorry, Janelle."

"You already said that," She crossed her arms over her chest. "And why are you helping her? I know you, Aiden. You've got a good heart, and you definitely wouldn't agree to something like this at will. What's Esther got on you?"

Aiden glanced over his shoulder, hearing footsteps coming their way, and brought the two of them into the nearest room. He shut the door and waited for the people to pass. "I think they're gone."

Janelle was finally able to put two and two together when it came to Aiden. "It's Josh, isn't it? The guy you've been seeing." Aiden stayed silent, and that was enough of an answer for her. "Do you know where he is?"

"No," he answered, "and if I don't cooperate with what Esther wants, Josh is as good as dead."

"All the more reason you should get me out of here, so I can help you find him before it's too late."

"I can't," Aiden refused. "Esther is tracking my every move. She'll know something's up if I let you out."

Janelle's jaw dropped as she just stared at him. "So what? Are you just going to sit back and let her do this to me? I've put my own life on the line for you. From convincing Marcel to let your pack stay in town when he wanted to rip your head off, and helping you save all those children from triggering their werewolf curse. I seriously thought you were my friend, Aiden. But I guess that doesn't mean anything to you."

"You are my friend, Janelle. But I love Josh. I can't risk him getting hurt." Aiden was hoping that Janelle would see where he was coming from, but instead, it just pissed her off.

"Fine," Janelle seethed. "But when I get out of this, I'm gonna find that little boy toy of yours, and I'm gonna serve his head to you on a silver platter." She taunted with a smirk, earning a surprised expression from Aiden. "That way, the two of you can spend all of eternity together in death."

Aiden's jaw clenched, and he harshly snatched Janelle by her arm. Janelle chuckled darkly as he tugged her down a flight of stairs. She was brought into the conservatory that was on the other side of the house, and Aiden forced Janelle to sit in one of the chairs.

She pursed her lips as Esther turned around to face them, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Caught her trying to sneak out," Aiden lied to which Janelle purposely coughed, shifting herself in her seat. "She killed James."

"Oh, is that what his name was?" Janelle scrunched her nose up, resting her chin on her palm. "He looked more like a Ronald."

Esther sighed, clasping her hands together, "I didn't want to have to do this, Janelle. But it appears that you've left me no choice."

Janelle wasn't expecting anything to surprise her anymore, mainly because she didn't have a care in the world at the moment because of the baby taking over her demeanor.

About a minute passed until Janelle heard the sound of someone's feet being dragged against the hardwood floor. Two men came in, hauling a body into the room, and then dropping it onto the ground. Janelle's head tilted to the side, obviously not catching on to what Esther was doing.

That was until she took a closer look at the person who was laying there. Once she saw the distinctive birthmark of a Phoenix on the woman's wrist that held an exact match to the one she had in the same spot, everything changed.

It was Cassandra laying there, but she wasn't moving.

Janelle felt her chest caving in as she let out a shaky, heavy breath. Her eyes were already glazing over. "What did you do to her?" she demanded.

"Tied up loose ends," Esther replied. "She was in the way; I took care of it."

There was a long, long silence shared between the two witches.

No words were shared.

Janelle could feel her eyes flaming out before turning back, and then she screamed. Abruptly standing from her chair, Janelle lunged for Esther, only to be held back by the two men.

One of them tied Janelle's hands back with rope while the other restrained her. "If you're not already dead by the time I get out of here, believe me when I say I'm gonna hunt you down and make you pay for what you've done."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"You little —" Janelle sucked her teeth and moved to get to Esther again, but the man on her right dug his nails into her arm, stopping her. Janelle reacted back by elbowing him in the gut, hard. He grunted and tightened his grip once more.

"Lock her up," Esther ordered, and the two men did as asked.

Aiden gave Janelle a sympathetic look as she was being taken away. Janelle shook her head at him and turned to Esther, saying, "You're gonna rot in hell."

"I vacation there."

Janelle was returned to the same dim room and chained up once again to the uncomfortable chair. This time though, a blindfold was put over her eyes so that she couldn't see anything.

Just when Janelle thought the men were about to leave, she felt a tiny pinch on her shoulder. She was suddenly brought into a very sleepy state, yet she wasn't even tired.

And just like that, she was out like a light.