Elijah and Gia insisted on coming along.

"Here, my littlest wolf," said Klaus, laying her down on the couch. "Our home..." he looked around with distaste. "Once the pride of our family, now a flophouse."

"Indeed, the mighty have fallen," murmured Elijah.

Yara looked around. "Vincent should be here any–"

"I'm here," he said, coming out of the kitchen. He smiled kindly at Yara, a little less so at Elijah and Klaus, then shook Gia's hand. "This must be Hope." He knelt beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Cold," she murmured.

"Why would they pick Hope?" asked Yara as Vincent sat her up. "They had to have known she wasn't anywhere nearby."

"'Cause she's a special witch," said Vincent. "Special bloodline, powerful, born in the Quarter. I mean, a sacrifice like that is something that's gonna be rewarded."

"Why would someone do that to kids?" muttered Gia uncomfortably. "Especially such little ones..."

"I don't know," murmured Vincent. "Okay, just stay still, little one." He began to clap his hands rhythmically, chanting, "Nettoyer timoun sa a. Nettoyer timoun sa a. Nettoyer timoun sa a. Nettoyer timoun sa a. Nettoyer timoun sa a."

Hope suddenly let out a gasp. "Mama?" She reached out for Yara, who scooped her up, her little body much warmer.

"That's it," said Vincent. "Your little girl's purified."

"Thank you, thank you so much," said Yara as Klaus nodded his head gratefully. She made toward him, but stopped in her tracks when a crow squawked overhead, suddenly falling in front of her. She covered Hope's eyes as dozens of other began to fall around her, trapping her in an oddly asymmetrical circle. "What the–?"

"What is this?" demanded Klaus, stepping in to draw her out.

"I don't know," said Vincent again, now thoroughly confused.

Hope rubbed Yara's shoulder. "Mama? Put me down."

"My love, no, I don't think you want to see–"

She wiggled out despite her hesitation. As soon as she saw the birds, she frowned. "Do you hear that? Whispers... saying a name... over and over."

"What are they saying?" asked Klaus, kneeling in front of her.

Hope repeated, "'Kre Nah Han. Kre Nah Han.'"

"That's Creole," said Yara. "I haven't heard anyone speak it in centuries. Why are they saying 'The Hollow?'"

Vincent's face fell. "The Hollow is coming. That's what that means. I have to go."

He rushed out. As soon as he left, Hope leaned onto Klaus, pressing her cheek against his, which startled him when he realized she was cold again. "Papa, I feel sleepy," she said weakly.

Gia offered to keep an eye on her as she tried to sleep in one of the cleaner rooms upstairs. Elijah and Klaus were pacing while Yara sat on the fountain, not sure what 'The Hollow' was or why Vincent had been so startled.

"How dare he leave without saying anything?" said Klaus hotly. "My daughter's life is at risk and instead of communicating–"

"Let's try to dial down the anger," warned Yara. "We're not even supposed to be here. Okay... here's what we're going to do. You two are going to stay here, I'm going to find Vincent."

"Elijah can stay," said Klaus. "Make an excuse if she asks for us. I'd rather my daughter not know I've gone off to murder witches."

The elder brother shook his head. "Yara is right, we cannot be reckless, Niklaus."

"And how would you have me respond? Should I delegate my child's safety to someone else?"

"It's why I want you both here," said Yara. "Elijah is definitely not supposed to be here and Klaus, we can't react before we know what's going on. Marcel is out there, he knows we're coming, and we don't want him to come calling and for you to be out devastating the communities. Let me see what I can find out about vincent. If something bad is happening, we need him on our side willing to help us, because this isn't just affecting Hope. There are other kids involved. We can't risk this turning into a bloodbath with a bunch of five-year-olds. Give me some time and I'll be back."

"Freya is on her way," said Gia from the staircase, motioning for Elijah to take his turn watching Hope. "I'm going to head out– Josh just told me that the vampires are on the lookout for some image of a serpent eating its own tail. Apparently that's something Marcel saw today out in the Quarter and I swear I remember Hayley mentioning something about that when she told me about the deserter wolves. It may be connected. I need to find out what it's about."

"Be careful," warned Elijah.

"I will be," promised Gia.

Yara waited in the back of St. Anne's when she found out that Vincent was addressing his witches there. It was no longer a gym, which both pleased and saddened her.

"Look, guys," he said, "I know what we're up against. There's a faction of our own people, witches. They've started to make human sacrifices to a spirit called The Hollow. Now, this thing is dark, it's angry, it's very powerful. As soon as I know more, I will tell you. Those of you whose kids are still here, safe, get them home and don't leave your homes. Everyone else... the ambulance with the kids we rescued was hijacked. We're still working on finding them, and I swear we will. I can't say more until I know for sure what's going on. Please... be cautious."

She strode forward, past the witches who no longer recognized her. "I want to help," she said. "Tell me what I can do."

"Follow me," said Vincent, leading her up to the balcony. "Look, I know I can trust you to listen, so I'll say this once. If your family wants to help because your little girl's involved, then we gotta do it my way."

"Of course," said Yara. "It's not like any of us know what The Hollow is. I assume you know in depth?"

He nodded wearily. "It's definitely something I've seen before. This city and everyone in it is in danger because of it. And it might just be all my fault."

"Your fault? Vincent, no, how could it possibly–?"

"You remember my wife Eva, right?"

"The one that stole and sacrificed children, but didn't really kill them?"

"Yeah. She wasn't always like that, though. What you saw was a shell. She was everything. She was smart, she was beautiful. She was just full of love and light. And then something evil got inside of her, and it twisted her up. And it left nothing but darkness. And now I think that same darkness has come back again." He sighed, rubbing his face and sitting on a bench beside a table filled with spell ingredients. "Seven years ago, Marcel was running this city with an iron fist. A lot of witches were terrified at every single turn. He was protecting Davina, he says, but I had something to protect, too. I wanted to take him down for my wife, for my unborn kid."

Yara winced sympathetically, not knowing Vincent had almost been a father. "I started looking for forms of magic that Marcel couldn't defend against," he continued. "Couldn't find anything. And then, one night, I walked into my house and find this notebook sitting on my table, some instruction manual with sacrificial magic, but it wasn't not like anything I'd ever practiced before. It made me feel invincible. But it wasn't a sacrifice to the Ancestors, no, it was something different. Something older than them. And the book never gave it a name."

"This book, do you have it? Or do you know who has it?"

"I gave it to Marcel and told him that if I come for that book, he needs to kill me."

"That's extreme."

"I thought, at first, someone planted it in my home. But it's written in my handwriting, Yara, and I don't remember writing it."

A chill ran down her spine. "That's... holy shit. Wait, but how does this tie into Eva?"

"She got involved and she cracked the code. The sacrifices I was doing, it was just whatever animal I could find. She realized the sacrifice needed to be something truly loved. She became committed to that power, and she was willing to go further with it than I was. And that scared me. We both agreed to stop. And then one day... babies started going missing from their beds.When I found out that Eva was responsible for taking those kids, I knew that I had to do something about it. But she was too far gone to answer any questions, so I got some healers and we tried to cleanse her. I mean, I used every single drop of power that I had. But she wasn't possessed by any demons. She had become a demon. So I don't know, I don't know what happened to our baby. I don't know if it was the sacrificial magic. I don't know if it was my attempts to save her. Doesn't even matter. Either way, it's my fault."

"Vincent, I'm so sorry," she whispered.

He sighed. "No changing it." He sat up, pushing forward a jar of ashes. "But we can still try to save these kids, and little Hope. These are the ashes of a witch that lost his way and it might just be the key to helping us find ours. This thing, um, The Hollow, its magic has a very unique signature. I felt it on this witch the other day when Marcel and I took him out, so if I can trace that energy back to its source..."

Yara finished, "You can find who is working for it. But how does it get those people in the first place?"

"It speaks like a broadcast. I was able to shut it out, but a lot of people have a harder time doing that. You know, there's a difference between what we project and what we have inside of our hearts, what we try to hide inside of our hearts, right? Now that thing, it took everything that's dark and twisted inside of me and it used it against me. It used it against my wife and it ended up taking everything that I've ever loved away from me."

"We're going to get rid of it," promised Yara. "For you, for Hope, for anyone who has ever been hurt by it. To the best of my abilities, I will help you."

He smiled good-naturedly, setting a stick of sage to burn and chanting over the ashes, "Chèche le virtute, Chèche le virtute, Chèche le virtute, Chèche le virtute."

He suddenly gasped, looking up as if a vision appeared before his eyes. "Vincent?" she asked. "What did you see?"

"My friend, they've got him," he murmured. "Detective Will Kinney. He... he kidnapped those kids again. He's the one that helped investigate those murders by The Strix."

"Okay, can we get him out of it? Is there a way to undo the brainwashing?"

"I can try. I'll lure him to the St. James and we'll try something. We have to."

Yara followed him after updating Klaus, letting Vincent lure Will in while she waited in one of the upstairs room.

"Weird time to have a drink, bud," said Will when he arrived. "Should be out looking for those kids."

"Yeah," said Vincent at the bar. "I'm a little upside-down, Will. I got this, um, evil mojo just breathing down my back. And it's the same thing that took out my wife then it took me out and now I think it's trying to take out my best friend."

She heard a scuffling sound, as if Will had tried to leave, or maybe as if Vincent had reached out to grab him. "Was this your plan, Vince?" asked Will. "Invite me here, confront me?"

"Whatever this thing promised you, it's not gonna deliver," insisted Vincent.

"You're wrong. The Hollow rewards those who are loyal. Maybe if you did what it asked you to do, things might be different for all of us."

Yara frowned, wondering what Will meant by 'different.' He continued, "That's what it showed me, Vince. Look at this city! It's overrun with evil. And the only way to take it back is to do one little evil thing myself."

"This is not what you are!" cried Vincent as Yara made her way downstairs. "You can walk away from this. I can help you walk away from this."

"You can't help me. You can't even help yourself. Don't you see? You're in the middle of everything that's to come. Which is why they sent me here, Vince. For you."

She got there just before he could fire his gun, removing it from his hand and letting the bullet lodge into the wall. She headbutted him and yanked his arms behind his back, dragging him out of the building so Vincent could perform his magic again. "Secure him, Yara," said Vincent, grabbing Will's temples.

She used Will's own handcuffs to trap him, pressing her feet into his heels and covering his mouth as Vincent began to chant, "Briser le bouclier. Briser le bouclier. Briser le bouclier. Briser le bouclier..."

Will was struggling, snarling, seeming more like a rabid animal than a man. "What are you gonna do?" asked Yara worriedly as Will kept twitching. "What will this accomplish?"

"Someone's put a block on his mind," said Vincent, closing his eyes. "Keeps your vampire tricks out. Maybe if I take it off, you can compel him to get those kids back and then we'll figure out how to break him completely. He's as much of a victim as all those kids."

She nodded. "Okay. Work fast."

He continued to chant, which only made Will grow angrier. He started screaming in pain, the sound muffled in Yara's hand. He suddenly twisted his arms, the handcuffs breaking as if they'd been made of paper instead of steel. He reached into his shirt, pushing forward a talisman that threw them both into the brick walls between the two buildings.

"There's no going back, Vince," said Will, a crazed look in his eyes as he rushed off.

It was only when he was out of sight that they were dropped back to the floor. "Fuck," said Yara angrily. "How the hell–?"

"It's okay," said Vincent, rubbing his hands together. "I tagged him with magic, so now we can trace him. Right back to the kids."

"Should I tell Klaus and Elijah–?"

"Might as well."

By the time they met out in the Bayou, waiting by a clearing leading down a dark path, Freya had arrived and was watching Hope. Klaus and Elijah arrived together, followed by Gia and the two Crescent Alphas.

"It's good to see you," said Yara, hugging Hayley, then Jackson. "Wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me, too," said Hayley. "Gia helped us realize that those deserters didn't leave for no reason. It's connected to The Hollow. We're still waiting to find out more but it seems like they convinced them they could take the city back from the vampires."

"They've since been killed," said Jackson sadly. "Right after this Hollow thing used them to kidnap those kids."

"You knew them personally?" asked Elijah.

"We did," said Jackson. "But whatever they became... that wasn't them. They were twisted, different. There was something about a blue light–?"

"Yeah, that's the 'Fifolet,'" said Vincent. "New Orleans legend says that a spirit might present itself in a bright blue ball of light."

Gia made a face. "Who else are we waiting for?"

"Me."

Yara smiled when she heard Marcel's voice, but both Elijah and Klaus tensed. "The sooner we're done, the sooner you can all be on your way," he said simply, not looking at Elijah.

Vincent cleared his throat. "Well, trail leads off that way. So I guess we follow the breadcrumbs."

"Tactless savages holding a ghost-raising rave," said Klaus. "Best make short work of them. I say we–"

"–we split up," interrupted Marcel. "Klaus and Elijah, different teams. I'll go with Klaus, Yara, and Jackson. Elijah can be with Hayley, Gia, and Vincent."

It was better when someone else made the decision for them.

The walk through the forest was awkward. Jackson led the way down the path, but neither he nor Yara felt like speaking up with Klaus and Marcel were just looking at each other without being brave enough to talk to one another.

The sky overhead began to darken. It was almost pitch black by the time they reached a second clearing, where a horrible altar of bones had been assembled. Atop a circular slab of wood, seemingly cut from a gigantic tree, were laid the little bodies of the kidnapped children, wrapped in burlap sacks but still breathing, barely.

There was a group of acolytes waiting, staring off at another path as Will Kinney walked up, holding out his talisman.

The head acolyte spoke, "Now that you've returned, brother, you may join us as we claim our power. Our rightful place. And lay waste to all who would deny our master. Are you prepared to prove your loyalty to The Hollow?"

"I know what I have to do," said Will. "I'm not afraid."

The man nodded. "We should begin."

Klaus sneered, "Enough with this circus of sadists." He reached for a tree branch, hurling it through the air until it lodged in the throat of the acolyte leader, killing him.

Everyone zoomed at them at once, launching their attack. Vincent made for Will while Marcel, Elijah, Klaus, and Jackson all took on one of the other acolytes. Yara, Hayley, and Gia grabbed the kids as quickly as possible, moving them away from the altar.

"They're cold and unresponsive," said Yara, feeling for their pulses. "Their hearts are slowing down..."

She heard a snap, turning around just as Will lifted his arm, and Klaus broke his neck in retaliation. "No!" yelled Vincent.

Elijah and Jackson had just reached them to check on the kids when flames burst out of the altar, forming a circle that Vincent only just escaped. Klaus and Marcel were trapped inside with the dead bodies, forced to their knees and staring blankly ahead at the figurehead, an alligator skull.

"Oh, man, we got this all wrong," said Vincent shakily. "They wanted us here."

"What?" said Hayley. "Why?"

"They wanted to channel their power and anchor The Hollow to the living world."

"Then how do we stop it?" asked Gia. "The kids are growing colder by the second."

He was trembling, unsure what to say. "These kids are linked to that ritual. We can't free Marcel and Klaus unless we break the spell."

"Break the spell how?"

"I don't know! It's a sacrificial ritual. I can't break it unless I kill one of the kids."

"No, no, no!" said Jackson firmly. "We can't kill them."

"These poor things," said Yara, trying to huddle them together and warm them up. "There's got to be another way.

Vincent nodded. "Okay. Yeah, um, so these kids are powering that ritual. But there might be a loophole, if I link it to one of you," he gestured to Elijah and Hayley.

Hayley raised a brow. "Us? Why?"

"You two can't die if staked with wood. If we link the spell to you instead of the kids and we stake you so you die, temporarily, it might be enough to break the spell."

"Do it," said Hayley immediately. "Whatever you have to do, just don't hurt those kids."

"Ready a branch," Vincent told Gia as he put one hand on Hayley's shoulder, the other going to a young boy's arm. "Mare. Mare leurs. Mare leurs esprits. Mare leurs esprits! Mare leurs esprits! Mare leurs esprits! Mare leurs esprits! Do it now, Gia–"

She grabbed onto Hayley, stabbing it into her chest. The hybrid fell to the floor, and as soon as she fully lost consciousness, the kids awoke, all looking around and beginning to cry.

"It worked," breathed Jackson, removing his flannel and offering it to whoever reached first. The others followed suit, letting the kids take their jackets until they were bundled up.

Klaus and Marcel walked toward them wearily. "Are you okay?" asked Yara, hugging Marcel and then Klaus.

"We're fine, love," said Klaus quietly. "Are the children–?"

"They're alright, I think. Please, go check on Hope. Let me help Vincent get them back home. Hayley, Jackson, thank you so much for your help."

Hayley nodded as she sat back up, having had the stake removed by Elijah. "Yeah, of course. We'll let you know if we hear anything else. I am not letting any more Crescents be recruited to this stupid cult."

Elijah and Gia helped Vincent and Yara take the four kids back to St. Anne's, where their anxious parents were waiting. One of the mothers immediately rushed to her son, Adam, kissing him on the head and hugging him to her chest. Yara remembered the fear that had run through her when she thought the witches were going to sacrifice Hope. She didn't wish that on her worst enemy.

"Hey," she said, awkwardly waving at a woman beside Freya, now enjoying a green tea in her usual seat at the table. "Who is–?"

"I'm Keelin," said the woman, shaking her hand. "A Malraux werewolf. Apparently we're in high demand. First the Heretic girl, now Freya here."

"She's the last of her kind," explained Freya. "And I need her venom to make more of the cure."

"As long as I get a little financial help, I'm great with that," said Keelin. "Loans are killing me. I'm almost out of residency to become an ER doctor."

"Congratulations," said Yara. "Good luck with that. And thank you, by the way. I'll be upstairs."

Hope was happy to see her, squealing and leaping into her arms as soon as she heard her making toward the room.

"How are you feeling, my sweet girl?" asked Yara, caressing her face.

"Much better," said Hope. "Papa gave me beignets."

"Ah, of course he did. That Papa of yours, he loves beignets."

"And he loves me so much he gives them to me whenever I want them!"

Yara smiled and kissed her head. "Were you afraid, my love?"

"A little, but Gia is brave, she told me I am really strong and I can beat anything! And Uncle 'Lijah says anyone who is smart like me can survive."

"Aw, my girl..." she sighed, cupping her face. "That's all very true. Eventually, when you're older, we'll talk more about this and why it happened. I wish for this to be the end. But it might not be. There is a bad guy in town, minha esperança.And we're going to do everything we can to beat them so they don't hurt you or any other kid. Sounds good?" (T: My hope.)

She nodded. "Mama, how do I know Creole?"

"I'm not sure, darling. I haven't spoken it in a long time."

"Why not?"

"It reminds me of a time when I was much younger, when I still had my mama, and it wasn't all nice. Some bad guys hurt us really bad."

"Does it mean it's a bad language?"

"Not at all, sweetheart. I know many old tongues. Most notably the ones from places I lived."

"Hmm. Okay. How do you say..." she looked at the lit candle on the windowsill, "'fire' in those languages?"

"My mother came from the Terena tribe, and in their language, the word for 'fire,' I think, was yukú. In Nahuatl, we would say 'flame' as tlemiyahuatl. In Yucatec Mayan, we'd say k'áak'o. In Haitian Creole, it was dife."

Her eyes were as wide as saucers. "It sounds so pretty when you say it."

Yara grinned. "Think that sounds cool? Wait 'til you hear the names of some of the volcanoes in Mexico. Chichinautzin. Iztaccihuatl. Jocotitlán. Popocatepetl. Sanganguey. Zitacuaro. They are beautiful. Ancient languages are majestic, my dear. I miss them, sometimes. You should ask your papa to speak Aramaic with you one day."

She hummed. "You should use those languages more if they are pretty."

"You are very right, my love. Just for you, I will. In alab óolal." (T: My hope.) She nuzzled her nose against her daughter's, listening as she giggled. "My perfect, sweet girl."

Hope suddenly drew away, pulling her blanket up. "What's wrong?" asked Yara, alarmed. "Are you cold again?"

"No," she said, covering her face. "But I can feel it. The Hollow is here."