Disclaimer: I don't own the Originals, but would possibly sell my soul to own them and all the ice cream in the world. Julie Plec and The CW have the rights until then.
Chapter Three
The werewolves let me sleep in a room towards the back of their bullet house. The twin bed is made, the sheets are fresh, and the mattress is heaven to my exhausted body. I sleep solidly for about five hours; then Khloe shakes me awake before she tugs Aaron out of bed.
Khloe, I realize, does not like me or trust me. José, on the other hand, finds me entertaining, like a fish in an aquarium; the feeling is mutual. Aaron I know likes me, Leo is hard to get a read on, and no one's bothered to tell me Khloe's little brother's name yet, much less let me talk to him.
José, the wiry were in his mid-twenties like Leo, cooks me a Cajun chicken omelet in the pre-dawn hours. It makes my eyes water and scorches my tongue, but it is really tasty and has me asking for seconds. José is pleased, apparently he is the pack's favorite cook, but few outsiders enjoy his detail to flavor.
While I eat, Aaron and José give me a quick primer on the supernatural world. Khloe occasionally adds in a tidbit when she feels like it – her brother, whose name is Dudley it turns out, is out on an errand with Leo.
From the wolves I learn that vampires, werewolves, and witches all exist; while ghosts of the supernatural used to exist, but no longer do – apparently a long story. Vampires are immortal, undead people who hunger for blood; they have super strength, healing, and speed with super reflexes and senses too, and are the werewolves' greatest enemy. They're also allergic to sunlight, but daylight rings protect them. Khloe mentions something called vervain, which protects humans from vamps for the most part and Aaron adds that the undead really can't enter homes without an invitation.
Werewolves are shape shifters who once triggered, by killing a human, turn into wolves every full moon. They have all the super abilities of vampires when turned or close to a full moon that in some cases are even better than vamps, but without a moonlight ring they are like humans the rest of the time. Their bite is lethal to vampires, but they're mortal and weakened by wolfsbane, and more easily killed than vampires. Beyond that Khloe won't let the others share anymore more with me because I'm still a wild card.
So Aaron and José tell me a little about witches, who are humans that can cast spells, make potions, and enchant objects. There are many types of magic in the world; traditional, ancestral, dark, and something called traveler magic. As Leo's pack prefers to keep away from witches, they don't know a lot about their magic and how it works. They do know that most of the witches in New Orleans practice ancestral magic.
"Here in New Orleans it was just witches and werewolves livin' side-by-side for a good long time," José tells me as I finish up my seconds; "Then 'bout three hundred years ago the Original family moved in and brought the blood-suckers to town. There were territorial disputes, deaths, and a lot of distrust for several centuries. Then for a short time there was unity between all the species about a hundred years ago, until 1919."
The Original family, I've been told, is the first ever group of vampires in the world. All vampires can apparently trace their lineage back to the family and supposedly one of the brothers is also the first hybrid; part vampire, part wolf.
"After the fire the Originals skipped town and the vampire, Marcel, took over with his own vampire army. The blood-suckers came after the packs first, forced us out of the Quarter and into the bayou. They killed off entire bloodlines, had witches curse other packs, and let in-fighting finish their work for them. When the packs were no longer a threat, the vamps turned their attention to the witches. I heard they interrupted an important ceremony of the witches, nearly cost them all their magic and destroyed the whole city in the process about fifteen years ago. Of course, that was around the same time the Original family came back into town and a lot of crazy stuff happened in the following years."
I perk up in interest. This is the recent past, far more relevant to the city I'm currently in today. More importantly, it is in the time period when I was born and might explain why my parents thought I was dead, or something along those lines.
"Supposedly the hybrid brother had a kid that apparently died because of the Guerrera pack. He and his family wiped the entire pack out in retaliation, but the battle lines changed again. Witches learned how to make moonlight rings so that werewolves had their strength and venom all the time and the two groups aligned to take out the vampires," José points to the black-stone rings he and Khloe wear that I'd seen on Leo the night before;
"A war followed. Alliances were made and broken and made again. In the end it wasn't one faction besting the other and taking control of the city – the Originals played us all and took the victory. They forced a treaty on all the supernatural inhabitants of New Orleans and they've kept the peace between all the factions for the last decade."
"But ten years of tension doesn't heal away centuries of fighting," Khloe adds, whittling away at a wooden cube, crafting something; "It also doesn't build up trust."
"If things are that unstable, why are you guys even considering taking me to the witches? How can you even trust me?" I ask, trying to process this information overload.
"Because trust has to start somewhere," Leo says from behind me, making me jump in my chair; "And there are a few groups within the factions that have proven themselves to me in the past. Marcel may have been the one who tried to wipe out the packs the first time around, but he has a rule about children, and so do the Originals. During the war ten years ago, they saved my life and the lives of many of my pack," Leo nods to Khloe and José;
"They made sure we were out of the crosshairs when the real fighting went down and Klaus, the hybrid Original, helped me to form this pack. They've kept their distance for the most part, but they look out for us still. In return we respect their rules, for the most part. Through Marcel we have access to the witch Davina and her coven and most of them are pretty likable for witches. I trust them with the lives of my pack and I trust them to do right by you in finding your family."
Leo gestures for me to follow him. I stand up, running my hand through my hair like a brush when I realize we're heading outside. Aaron follows after us, but Khloe and José stay to clean up.
"As for trusting you?" Leo continues as we walk through the house; "You saved Aaron without asking for anything in return and you're an open book when it comes to your emotions; you'd make a terrible liar."
I grumble somewhat under my breath at that. I can totally lie if I need to, I just don't like to and I am so not an open book. When I catch sight of Aaron grinning ear-to-ear in a mirror, I want to smack myself – I'd forgotten about the super hearing.
Outside, Dudley is waiting for us in a two-door, white pickup truck. Aaron and I squeeze into the back while Leo takes the passenger seat. Then I buckle up for my life and endure an hour long ride through the city as Leo multitasks – giving me the details I'd asked for as we head for our destination while teaching Dudley how to drive.
"We werewolves don't have a lot of magic on our own, but there are some totems that hold great power and meaning to us. Luna is an important figure to my people. Generations ago my family was entrusted with a statue of Luna – Take a left here Dudley; signal!"
I scramble for a finger hold as the truck swerves across two lanes to make the turn in time. Angry horns blare behind us. Aaron bumps into me, whooping – boys.
"Back when Marcel forced the packs into the bayou, my family lost Luna in the chaos. My father managed to track down the whereabouts of the stature before he was killed in the war. A group of witches had gotten their hands of Luna and tried to access her power. When they failed, they decided if they couldn't have her, then the werewolves shouldn't either. They hid Luna in a condemned sanatorium and placed powerful curses around her to keep everyone out – Red lights mean stop Dudley!"
Tires squeal as Dudley breaks. Aaron and I are thrown forward into the backs of the front seats. I earn a bruise that that my body immediately begins to heal; Aaron gets a mouthful of the headrest and doesn't whoop so much afterwards.
"Many werewolves and even vampires have gone into the sanatorium to get Luna back, none have ever returned. Davina looked at the spells once, said her coven could break through the spells given time, but she doesn't trust that kind of power in the wolves' hands. Here we are; break slowly Dudley."
We pile out of the truck and walk to the base of the steps leading to the creepy, abandoned sanatorium. Leo turns me around by my shoulders to look me in the eye.
"The others told you how the werewolf curse works – to activate we have to kill a human. Majority of my pack is made up of kids; they've never killed before, they don't want to kill, and I don't want them to have to. Luna won't work for us the same way she would for others because of that, but she can protect us. With Luna I can protect my pack; I can help them live normal lives, to be kids, without feat of other wolves, vamps, or witches."
Leo shines out of love for his pack as he speaks – a brilliant peridot-teal hue. His words ring true. More than that, I can see he's decided he likes me, that he does trust me, and that he is willing to be friends.
"I'll help, but I'm not sure what chance I have if an entire coven is needed to break these spells."
"Based on what Aaron saw of your powers, you're more powerful than any witch in the Quarter, even Davina," Leo encourages me, falling easily into the role of a good leader; "Still, I don't expect you to bring Luna back today without any real training. Find her, get a good look at the spells guarding her, and promise me that the first chance you get you'll break her free."
"That I can do," I tell him and hold out my pinky finger, because the serious moment needs something to break it up.
Leo looks at my finger in confusion, then at me, and I grin cheekily back. Aaron shoves his fist into his mouth, trying to muffle his laughter, giving me a thumbs-up from behind Leo's back. Dudley snorts and then pretends to cough. A touch of a grin comes to his face and Leo accepts my pinky promise.
"Wish me luck," I call as I march up the steps towards the sanatorium.
Aaron wishes me something else entirely, but I am too far away to hear him clearly. All I hear is something about a necklace and a full moon.