A/N: The prologue is mostly Delphine-centric, but that's probably going to change in less than three chapters or so..
Canada, May 1945
Even as a child, Delphine's voracious hunger for living was insatiable. It was ironic that after over one hundred years that the only thing that changed was her living conditions and aging five years (give or take). Because here she was, looking after a child when she could never have her own, living under the roof of her maker (she preferred it that way, though).. the only real difference was the slight change in diet and the ability to learn anything she desires.
Flute, harp, piano, botany, biology, chemistry, physiology.. Compared to her human life, Delphine Cormier had the entire universe at her fingertips.
It's with that in mind that Delphine decided to leave Scott's room once the toddler's fever finally wains. Ever since he was brought back from Germany, Delphine has been at the young boy's side, nursing him through it and making sure he didn't pass in the middle of the night.
The woman he came with was emaciated and incapacitated beyond belief, and going to a human hospital was out of the question. She was there, after all, when the three wolves were liberated from the inhumane and repugnant research facility.
Determined to enjoy her first moments of release from her watch, she takes a long hot shower, finds dinner (and one of their stand-by humans to feed on) before she makes her way to her Maker's suite. The woman must sense her close by, for she doesn't even have to knock before a soft "entrez" is heard from inside the room.
She quietly opens the double doors, half-bobbing in a curtsy that's evolved over the past hundred years out of habit before shutting the door and walking into the room. She halts at the carpet, watching as her Maker keeps vigilant watch over the two sleeping forms in her bed.
"Bonsoir, Delphine," Marion finally hums, apparently not as all-consumed by the woman on the bed as Delphine predicted, "how is the three-year-old?"
"Much better. I believe 'Scott' will be able to pull through without needing to be turned."
"Good.. Come closer, my dear." Marion looks up from the sleeping brunette for a heartbeat before looking back down to the Irish woman.
Delphine nods and walks over to the foot of the bed, watching the loup-garou cautiously as Marion slips from her spot on the bed, "Have you learned anything about her, Maman?"
"She was the Alpha of her pack before she was swept up in the war and sent to the camps.." Marion speaks as she walks over to her armoire, pulling out a robe before walking back to Delphine as she slides it over her shoulders, "there's only one other pack left in Europe."
Delphine is keeping a hawk-eye's watch on Siobhan, "Our sources were correct then.."
"One pack remains in the states. The humans there have reduced their numbers to thirteen."
"We will need to help them find a way to repopulate." Delphine offers as she leans against the familiar bench at the foot of Marion's bed.
Marion had no intention of not helping.. she only offers a raised brow at Delphine's exhausted posture before egging the blonde on, challenging her. "Why should we?"
"Because it is our duty?" Delphine offers as she observes the ten-year-old wrapped around in Siobhan's emaciated arms, "Because we can't let the humans destroy another race.."
Marion hums in agreement as she folds her arms and Delphine unfolds her own, neither disappointed by or approving of her answer before playing devil's advocate, "Because they could provide valuable mates?"
Delphine looks over at her curiously, "Mates?"
Marion nods slightly as she reaches over in and lightly tangles her finger's with her child's, "Crossbreeding with them could improve their likelihood of survival."
"But it could also result in a different species." Delphine sat down on the bench as she tried to figure out just want Marion is leading her towards.
"Perhaps.. or we could create werewolves of our own."
"Create? How?"
"Cloning, perhaps? Splicing is too dangerous. ... We already have a sample population if we need access to it."
Delphine shakes her head, "We haven't even created a mammali-"
"-The humans haven't." Marion stops her, watching in amusement as Delphine's eyes nearly widen into saucers. Marion didn't keep her away from the sciences that they had available. Vampires have always been farther ahead of humans in that regard. However, Delphine still had much to learn and Marion had been more interested in opening her horizon's.
She wasn't quite the niave girl she turned in the early 1800's that could barely even write anymore.
Delphine's thirst for knowledge was just as voracious as her thirst for blood was as a doe-eyed fledgling. It still amuses Marion to this day that she could easily tap into a childlike wonder with the vampire. Her child's thirst for knowledge provided a refreshing contrast to the stifling know-it-all's that she still works with. Although instead of being below them these days, Marion works above them, to her amusement.
"..How long do you think we might have until we are able to..?"
"At least three decades, maybe two given the studies conducted during the war."
Delphine flinches at the reminder, unable to get the image of the brunette that's currently sleeping in her Maker's bed out of her mind. The sight of the (Irish?) wolf clinging to the two boys for dear life in a last bid to protect them when they descended upon the camp would likely be burnt into the back of her eyes for years to come, "How can we be sure that the information Aldous Leekie collected is even reliable?"
"We will have little choice."
Delphine nods slightly and looks back to the sleeping brunette, "You love her, Maman, don't you?"
Marion chuckles, "Love is a complicated word for someone you've only just met last week."
Fighting a smile, Delphine raises a playful, teasing eyebrow, "Perhaps not complicated enough?"
Marion rolls her eyes, walking over to her dresser and grabbing a pitcher of water. Pouring the water into a crystal glass, she throws a playful chide over her shoulder in Delphine's direction, "Go to bed, my whimsical girl. You've earned your rest."
United Kingdom - June, 1968
"Checkmate." Scott leans back in his chair and grins up at Delphine.
"What?! No way! That has to be a mistake!" Delphine's mouth hangs open as her eyes scan the board, desperately playing back their last ten moves.
She should never have moved her bishop.
"Admit it, Del, he finally beat you," The fledgling vampire that Marion only just turned two years ago, Felix, looks up from the TV with disinterest, "or at least quiet down so that I can continue with my showing."
"Eugh! Mon Dieu, I do not believe this!" Delphine slumps in her chair as her eyes continued to scan the table one last time, just in case she was wrong.
Scott punches his fist in the air, grinning with a victorious shout before getting up to put the pieces back into their the box they were kept in when not in use.
"Non, non, non! We are going to rematch, there is no way you can repeat what you just-"
"-I figured out your formula, Delphine. The queen has been dethroned." Scott bows dramatically before grabbing his coat, "And now, I must leave for a very lovely date with Dianne."
Felix grins, looking away from the television again with a smirk on his face, "Oh, did you rename your cat?"
Scott scoffs, rolls his eyes and leaves Marion's home without another word.
Leaning back in her chair again, Delphine huffs out a breath of annoyance just as she senses Marion walking into the house, "Don't be an exhaust pipe, darling, it's unattractive."
"Mother!" Felix, grinning, leaps from the couch and immediately greets her with an affectionate hug that he had only reserved for his family, "How was London? Did you bring me anything on your way back?"
"In the car, love. This one is edible." Marion, much to his delight, wiggles her brows suggestively before waiting for him to leave.
Delphine stands from her spot, a familiar dip of her head automatically taking place out of cordiality before walking over to her, "Maman, he is going to pick up bad habits."
"Mmm, perhaps, my dear... but at least he isn't feeding on the lowest this country has to offer and risking picking up any diseases."
Delphine nods slightly, watching as Marion takes off her coat, "How was the visit?"
"Good," Marion hangs it up in a closet, "the lab will be ready for you and Scott in the morning, I want you to go get him ready when you have the time."
"Emm.. moi?"
"Who else can I trust to get the job done?"
Delphine shakes her head slightly, "... Scott is on a date.. with Dianne. He's excited about it."
Marion nods, "Good, then you have time to talk with me in the gardens." Pulling her coat back on, the older vampire holds out her hand as if she were nothing more than a child, "Come."
...
"How is the team you've selected?"
"Quite good, actually. They have more than potential. In fact," Marion emphasizes as they near the apple tree Marion insisted on keeping at the estate despite it's recent lack of foliage, blossoms, or flowers, "they've recently discovered the possibility of pre-selecting our artificial's mates."
It's not a complete lie, but it's still a bit cruel to keep her in the dark.
Delphine's attention is caught; Marion's guiding her right where she wants her to fall, "Truly?"
Marion nods as her arm loops around Delphine's in a sisterly manner, "Yes. I was hoping that I might convince you and Felix to consent to having one."
"It seems unfair for them not to have the right to choose..."
Marion chuckles as she stops at the base of the tree, "They will have their free will, my dear. Not even I would take that from them."
Delphine nods slightly as she chews on her lower lip, arms folding the second Marion lets go of one of them, ".. I'm not sure, Maman... It feels unethical."
"The entire process will likely be considered unethical. Look at me, darling, You've been a somber mess ever since James.. passed. Do you really not long for someone other than a passing man to keep your bed warm?"
Delphine shakes her head slowly in sudden resignation, moving to sit down on the wrought-iron bench, "Fine.. but only under one condition; only four of them will be pre-selected, out of the hundred planned."
Marion smiles, "Of course, I see no reason why not."
London - Late October, 1990
Delphine watched as her three eggs and four others are prepared and packed up to be sent to the American Mid-West.
She didn't think she'd get attached to any bundle of cells. They were tiny and most of them were likely to die off before they hit one year of age.. still, she couldn't help but stick to naming them and hoping for them.
#324B21 has to be her favorite so far... she's taken to calling her Celeste.
She doesn't like anything about this plan, but there isn't much choice. The only fertile loup-garou in Europe is pregnant and the recovery time is too long for them to risk losing three irreplaceable eggs. There are two 'werewolves' in the Americas that are fertile, luckily enough. Although one of them is only eighteen, she wouldn't risk losing the chance at bringing her creation to life, even though the thought of the soon-to-be American clones growing up away from her left her anxious and disheartened.
So she's resigned herself to watching as her Celeste, the trio of tiny bundles of cells that she's labored over day and night for months leaves the room, likely not to be heard of until late infancy. She's spent countless hours trying to ensure they would not suffer any dangers or side-effects after being cloned from a fragment of cells that could hardly be considered alive anddevelop smoothly.
This entire process has probably ruined something in her.
She's more pessimistic lately.
She won't admit to being attached, but she couldn't shake the fear in her bones as she watched the transport vehicle carrying the seven eggs leave their labs.
Toronto - Present Day
Siobhan checked her phone one last time to take a (third) chance. Scoffing down at it, she shook her head and pocketed it into a pair of blue jeans.
Her pups were supposed to call in on a weekly basis—and that included Cosima, Jenni, and Tony ever since their pack was 'torn apart' (slaughtered) nearly twenty years ago. If they failed to, they'd be given a grace period of one week. She trusted them to pull their own tails out of trouble at this point. If they didn't call by then, she would round up the entire pack back at the Safe House. No exceptions.
Cosima, unlike the others (including Sarah), was usually the best at calling in on a regular basis. Siobhan considered her a daughter, and their relationship reflected that too well, sometimes. Hence why Cosima was usually only given twelve days instead of fourteen.
She was different than the rest of the lot, which was why on the thirteenth day of her not calling in, Siobhan told Helena to round up Krystal and Beth while she went to get the little mutt she called her daughter.
Sarah had to know where Cosima was. She was never far from her brother, and Cal usually brought him around to help with grunt work ever since Cosima's transfer to the University of Minnesota.
With that thought in mind, she subdues her irritation and pulls the door open to see the young parents in the living room, already expecting her.
"Tea?"
"Shut your gob and sit down." Siobhan shuts the door behind her and walks into the room as she sees Cal obeying, taking a spot on the couch immediately. She's always felt relieved that he was a little afraid of her (and humored, mostly).
Sarah is hovering on the opposite side of the carpet as Siobhan shoves her hands through her coat pockets to conceal her irritation and inability to shift, "I'll assume you lot haven't seen Tony or C'sima in a few days, either, have you?"
Sarah and Cal look at each other in unison-like scorned children-and shake their heads before Sarah speaks up, "They haven't been by since 'quarter moon, S."
Siobhan folds her arms, balling her fists painfully until her nails threaten to cut into her own flesh. Cal, smelling the early scent of copper, looks up at her in alarm, "Get your shit an' get in the car, we're shacking up in the safe house for a moon."
Leaving no room for argument, she turns and heads towards the door, "You have ten minutes to pack. I suggest you get at it, chickens."
Cal waits for her to leave before letting out an exhausted breath, "I guess I'll put the food in the freezer."
Sarah watches the door for a minute before nodding slightly with a pathetic 'yeah'.
"Want me to pack for Kira?"
"I got it." Sarah rises from their spot, "I guess we should bring Patches along, then."
Cal nods in agreement before chuckling, "Kira will be thrilled."
...
Delphine types out a text to both Scott and Felix on her phone, rapid fire, as she walks down an empty, sterile hallway and notifies them of her safe arrival. Heading towards Scott's lab, she's about to turn a corner when she sees Marion prowling up to her, "Hello, Maman."
"Delphine, I've been looking for you," Marion gently grabs onto her arm and turns her around, leading her in the opposite direction and away from the old building, "-it seems that your wolf has finally surfaced."
"Celeste? But she was-"
"They've lied to us. That's all they seem to be spitting out lately. Two other wolves are with her..-" Marion rushes her toward the back of the main building as they walk, relatively close already to the examination rooms and emergency parking.
"With her?"
"She's here, injured and backed into a corner. I need you there to mediate and make sure nothing goes awry.."
Delphine nods and pockets her phone, "Where is she?"
"4E, you know the room."
"Yes, I'll go there now."
"Good, I'll keep an eye out. Even though I know I won't have to." Marion offers her a small smile before disappearing off into the opposite direction.
Turning back towards her destination as Marion leaves, Delphine takes off towards the stairs.
After all this time..