Present Day

Juliette was incredibly talented when it came to glaring. Bea realized that now that her sort-of friend stared her down. It really was a shame Bea and Rigby were too pissed and frustrated to give a shit.

"You want information on the Originals. The group of vampires that would have no qualms whatsoever killing my witchy ass for giving you that information. And specifically the whereabouts of Klaus. Literally the most powerful person in the world. You know I like you guys, but you have to give me more than that if I'm gonna put my ass on the line."

Bea truly struggled not to snarl at the young woman.

When she had dragged Rigby away from their apartment on a mission to get Kol back, she'd assumed it would be simply be a matter of reaching out to the right people for information that could lead them to Klaus.

And then it turned out Slater was dead. He had been their best bet, what with his infinite contacts. Of course Bea had assumed Juliette would help after they discovered this, but they had driven all the way to New York fucking City only to find out that she had moved out of her apartment.

It had taken them nearly two infuriating months to find a witch who knew exactly where Juliette had moved.

The suburbs. Of Pennsylvania.

Bea glared back at the hard-to-find witch, annoyed that Juliette wouldn't help them point blank, but she understood the witch's reasoning. Before she herself had remembered everything about her husband and what he had told her about his siblings she had only known the Originals as terrifying entities – half legends at best.

Bea decided she might as well tell Juliette about what they were doing if it was the only way to get her to comply. She had met the girl when she was 12 and in an abusive foster home. After killing the couple and placing her with another family she had stopped by every once in a while to check on her. It was inevitable that she would grow reasonably fond of the bubbly young woman.

"I'm married to Kol Mikaelson, and he is with Niklaus."

Rigby whipped her head to face her and narrowed her eyes at her before muttering, "Didn't realize you were going to let that information spread. Instant target on both our backs."

Juliette had clearly overheard Rigby's words and looked offended when she answered, "I wouldn't tell anyone anything that could get you two hurt. I'd miss your moody vampire presence in my life and oh my fucking God why didn't you tell me you're married?! To an Original, holy fucking –"

Rigby, who hadn't slept since they left their hotel room the previous day, seemed ready to tear her hair out when she cut the witch off and said, "Yes. She is married. Lower the volume… and the enthusiasm. It's giving me hives."

Bea took over once more before any questions could be asked and said, "I'm going to tell you some information that could result in your death if it gets out that you know. Are you able to handle that?"

Juliette snorted and waved nonchalantly at her, prompting her to continue.

"Niklaus Mikaelson has a curse placed on him to bind his werewolf ancestry. He is truly a hybrid and-"

"Had. Had a curse placed on him. Everyone who knows any higher ups in the supernatural community knows that there is a hybrid running around proclaiming himself the messiah as of a few months ago. Werewolves are panicking. I wasn't sure it was actually Klaus, though."

Bea froze completely. This was a development that she had not anticipated. It had never truly sunk in that she and Rigby didn't immerse themselves very deeply in the vampire community – but how on Earth had they not known this?

Bea couldn't call forth any productive thoughts. Klaus having already broken his curse complicated their situation immensely and at the moment Bea was unable to formulate a plan that could use this to their advantage.

It was Rigby who broke the silence, much to Bea's relief.

"Let's not start with Klaus. He'll be completely covered with spells that prevent accurate tracking, so if you don't know his whereabouts directly from others it's essentially useless. But what you can do is find out where an enormous amount of magic was conducted in the last couple of months. We can go there, and from there retrace his steps."

Bea knew she must have looked absurd, what with all of her teeth showing as she beamed at her best friend. At times she forgot how very lucky she was to have Rigby at her side. Turning her descendant in 1972 had been a decision borne of pity for the young witch whose near-constant visions were driving her insane. But Eleanor Morris had foreseen Bea's arrival for years and asked to become a vampire nearly immediately after they had met.

Bea had not known at the time that it would be one of the best decisions of her life. The two had become incredibly close, and to her never ending amusement their friendship had begun after Bea had given her a nickname based on a Beatles song that wound up sticking even decades later.

Juliette clapped her hands together in apparent agreement, redirecting Bea's attention, and stood. The witch began opening and closing drawers in her kitchen, evidently gathering materials for the spell as she muttered ingredients under her breath.

Rigby bumped her shoulder against Bea's and said in a low tone so as not to be overheard by Juliette, "Sorry for the short fuse. You know I get cranky when I'm tired."

Bea only shrugged, not judging at all. She herself was known for her outrageous temper, the slaughter of the two young men at their last apartment was a clear indicator of that. Though in Bea's defense, she'd discovered she had been turned by accident by her brother-in-law after he had destroyed her life.

She figured there was a certain amount of leeway to be granted for such a situation.

When Juliette plopped down in front of the two once more and began laying out bowls and maps, Bea immediately focused in on what was happening.

"Alright, so I'm going to track any major disrupts of the magical variety in the last six months or so. I'm going to start with Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. If nothing shows up we can move down the East coast."

It only took five minutes or so to set up, but Bea grew more impatient every time the witch started rambling about unrelated topics. They had already wasted two months on this search, and every additional second wasted was incredibly infuriating. Rigby's hand rubbing soothing circles on her back was the only thing grounding her.

It only required a single drop of the mixture, and a few chanted words. Utterly underwhelming, in Bea's opinion. However a minute later the drop had moved across the map to hover over a spot in Virginia.

"Can we get a bit more specific? Print out a map of Virginia on its own?"

Juliette snorted and pulled a second map out from beneath the first, clearly offended by the implication that she was anything less than completely prepared.

"Already on it."

The second time the location was identified, Bea couldn't hold in her hysterical laugh. Rigby was watching her as if she was crazy, but Bea couldn't hold it in.

"That fucking drama queen. Jesus Christ, even big bad hybrids have theatrical streaks. Breaking the curse in his home town. What a –"

Rigby cut her off and looked faintly amused herself.

"So I take it 'Mystic Falls' is a pretty sure bet to start at?"

Bea nodded and leaped up from her seat, already re energized and excited that they had a lead. They had a lead. This was actually happening. They would go to Mystic Falls and scope out anything supernatural. If all was well, they'd immediately set off on the trail of bodies Niklaus was sure to have left since turning.

She was one step closer to Kol.

Rigby stood beside her as well and stretched her arms over her head, her back popping loudly.

With a slight yawn, she turned to face Bea and casually said, "The collateral?"

Bea paused for a moment and thought over the issue. It was not good at all for Juliette to know where they were. For her to know anything about their mission, actually. They had come to her for the very reason that she was a chatty girl who always sought gossip. If the wrong people discovered what they were doing - discovered Bea's existence at all - they would be in danger. And Bea could never allow anything that could harm Rigby to take place.

It only took her a moment to speed forward and snap Juliette's neck.

Bea let out an exasperated sigh as she looked down at the body. It was so hard finding discreet help nowadays.