Wyld
I watched Silas look through the grimoire collection that Lauren had inherited from Jonas Martin.
"Is it just me or do witches keep getting dumber?" Silas asked.
"The older the grimoire, the more chances it's had to be destroyed. If Jonas found a grimoire, it had to not be destroyed. Preserved grimoires were either protected by a powerful spell or actively preserved. Hence, if Jonas found an old grimoire the witch who wrote it was probably smarter." I explained.
"I'm sorry; I got bored long before you got to your point." Silas tossed the grimoire to the floor. "I can't believe your girlfriend believed the 'soulmate' crap after listening to you talk."
"Does it count as defending her taste if I defend myself?" I asked.
"You know it was my people who figured out all of this, right?" Silas asked. "There weren't any spells before some psychics began astral projection and called people to Greece. I'm not going to learn anything from your books."
"Are you saying no one has invented anything since then?" I asked.
"Not much. You had a fire starter in India, a telekinetic in Japan, someone in North Africa who could read minds, and we all got together and realized that if we let out our power a little at a time we could learn to copy each other. My ex-fiance's family started stringing things together and figured out the more complex spells. Everything in here is just using what we learned back then. Biology, boundary, cloaking, divination..." Silas recited from the index. "...all of this shit is stuff we were experimenting on in my day. Only thing I don't get about this time is the werewolves, those are freaky."
"You were locked in a cave for two thousand years. How sure are you that there's nothing in these you can learn?" I asked. "Like, right now you see a bunch of things you understand. But what about hundreds of years of competition and refinement, or using things in situations you never encountered? Vampire fighting spells, or environmental survival spells come to mind."
"Even if the spells would be neat, you're forgetting that I lost all my old powers? I can't cast spells anymore." Silas pointed out, sounding annoyed.
"You have the brain of a very skilled and powerful witch, and I want as many magical options as possible." I explained. "We're going up against the great Qetsiyah, so any magical tricks you can add to my arsenal would be extremely helpful. Do you have a better way to spend your time?"
"I could go off and destroy her allies." Silas reminded me.
"Are we sure that's a good idea? I genuinely don't know. If there are Travelers of Qetsiyah's faction in New Orleans we can spy on them to learn about what she's trying to do. On the other hand, if she asks them to do something important it doesn't help if we know about it if she's pulled something spectacular out of her ass." I rambled.
"Hm. Yeah, I see why you'd want me to read all this crap. However, I don't give a damn about what you want so I think I'd prefer to just go kill gypsies." Silas said.
"I suppose part of cooperation is knowing how to work together; alright. You go off and murder my enemies, I go and recruit more allies. Text me when you're done." I sighed. "I was really hoping to avoid being complicit in war crimes today, but I suppose that it was not meant to be."
Josephine LaRue served as the chief representative of the Ancestors and leader of the collective might of the nine covens that lived in New Orleans. Lauren had pressed an argument that we should both go to meet her to look more respectable, though I was pretty sure she just wanted to avoid anyone meeting with Davina Claire.
The two of us teleported into the front yard from our location in the Prison World. Information held by Father O'Connell had helped us find the place. A jogger stared at us with open mouthed astonishment and I waved merrily at him.
"Poor guy," Lauren shrugged. "What's he gonna do, call the cops on teleporters?"
"He might see a doctor," I suggested. I saw the old woman in charge of the Nine Covens walk out her front door with a controlled expression and waved at her.
"May I ask what you are doing on my front lawn?" Josephine asked.
"Ms. LaRue, we're witches named Jeff Foxworth and Lauren White. I'm a psychic who knows bits of the future. Along with my companion, we're deeply involved in the mess that is causing ripples that hit your people. We have come to apologize as much as we can." I explained.
"You're a vampire," Josephine stated.
"I'm a witch," I said.
Josephine frowned and touched my forehead. "I was wrong. You're not quite a vampire, and you are a witch.
"We come bearing gifts." Lauren added. Lauren knelt down and opened a cardboard box. "Two grimoires from the witches Emily Bennett and Esther Mikaelson, one quart of blood from the doppelganger Katerina Petrova, and one stake of White Oak from a tree mystically identical to the one used to create the Original Vampires."
"Oh my." Josephine looked at the box.
"I'm not going to pretend we didn't copy everything in those grimoires. We have more doppelganger blood and more stakes, but we felt it was a measure of good faith to share knowledge and power with you," I elaborated. "Contained in those grimoires are the recipes for powerful mystical talismans and the instructions for a few incredible spells."
"Come inside, please. The neighbors will be confused." Josephine looked confused but not annoyed. I picked up the box and carried it into her house.
"Fascinating." Josephine examined the Ascendant that Lauren had handed her. "You created this yourself, without Gemini help or instruction?"
"I gained access to some notes on the process about a year ago and became curious," Lauren explained. "I knew the Gemini linked their lives and powers to that of their coven's leader, and my father is descended from Gemini apostates. I had no desire to rejoin my relatives, but my heritage was involved with the creation of a counterbalance to their leader's absolute power."
"This is a key to an entire dimension you created," Josephine smiled. "You did that in a year?"
"I did it in about two months." Lauren chuckled. "I didn't try using it until about nine months ago. My family was attacked by a group called the Coven of the Thirteen, who sought to possess my body and use it for their own devices. The Gemini created their mirror worlds to hold and preserve a tyrannical leader against his will, keeping him alive until he could be replaced. I was low on options, and wasn't sure suicide would actually work or if they'd just possess and resurrect my corpse, so transporting myself to a fresh Prison World was the best idea I had at the time."
"Was Jeffrey with you at the time or did you meet him later?" Josephine asked and handed the Ascendant back to Lauren.
"We believe I was caught in the Prison World's creation as I practiced another spell involving the Other Side at the same moment. We could be wrong on the particulars of that, but we know that both of us were transported to my approximate location in the Prison World's mirror of Virginia at the time," I said carefully. "The two of us met up and as fellow prisoners, cooperated to get out of it."
"You contacted the Original Witch." Josephine sighed.
"I am a seer. I knew her plans for revival, and we could touch the Other Side. With Esther's help we could leave. We had no other obvious path to escaping. Even reliable contact with Earth was tricky. The consequences were awful, but not necessarily worse than the timeline where we did not act." I explained.
"You seriously believe that the chaos involving the Old Ones and the Travelers was justified?" Josephine looked shocked.
"I am a very powerful seer. In the original timeline, Klaus broke a curse that had weakened him since shortly after he became a vampire. Klaus began forcible recruitment of werewolves and turned them into Hybrids of werewolf and vampire. This campaign led to massive losses of life at every step, culminating in Klaus's slaughter of most surviving Hybrids. Instead, Klaus is dead." I smiled. "I killed him myself."
"Fair," Josephine smiled.
"As much as I would prefer the Travelers not attacking, I doubt the loss of witch life is much worse for you than it would have been otherwise. In my visions the witches of the French Quarter attempted a Harvest ritual which was interrupted by Marcel Gerard. These witches were, bluntly, idiots about this as they both publicized their plan to the other factions and mislead the Harvest Girls about the nature of the ritual. The four teenagers were told they would be pricked with a needle, and instead had their throats slit. Marcel interrupted this and managed to save one of the girls, who viewed him as a hero who saved her and tried to save her friends. Marcel used the girl to detect magical activity throughout the French Quarter and effectively ban it on pain of execution. Marcel is dead, also thanks to me, and hopefully you will manage to influence the French Quarter witches to ensure nothing quite so insane happens if a Harvest is necessary." I smiled at the memory of the insanity involved with that plot.
"You believe this." Josephine looked very worried. "I have some prophetic powers, but what you describe is a rare talent indeed."
"I have my own limitations, but it has proven one of my best weapons." I assured her.
"Beyond your apology and gifts, I would like you to tell me why you are coming to me so directly?" Josephine asked.
"Primarily because we are all involved in the same mess, even if I caused most of it." Lauren admitted. "I was hoping your witches could help us sort out the Traveler situation and help us with the Coven of the Thirteen. I believe it would benefit New Orleans to have our help solving these problems, and we would benefit from your resources and support."
"I can see why you think you have plenty to offer." Josephine glanced at the Ascendant. "Your track record is troubling, but you know that."
"I admit, it's even more troubling than I have described. The reason for the Traveler surge is my personal mistakes." I added. "I attempted to negotiate with them, and they attacked ruthlessly. Only demands from the Coven of the Thirteen for Lauren's body and my peculiar nature as a pseudo-vampire saved us from complete death and defeat at their hands. Even now the Travelers have looted the mirror world for knowledge and power they are using to kill witches. I believe I have a responsibility to do what I can to mitigate or reverse the damage I have caused."
"You are honest." Josephine looked at me. "At the least, you are honest about what you expect I may learn anyway."
I smiled at the humor in Josephine's eyes. "I hold a few things private, but nothing I believe is relevant to the crisis at hand."
"Collaboration with Travelers is punished by shunning from the New Orleans community of witches. Why would we accept you into our fold when you have already committed such a crime?" Josephine asked.
"Oh come on!" Lauren snapped. "You know that if we work together you'll save lives and can gain almost anything you want from the deal. Stop jerking us around!"
"You could use what we give you to do even more damage, if your decisions continue to be as flawed as you have described." Josephine gave Lauren a cool glare. "I know you cannot promise to put yourself under our authority, both due to your strong personality and your great power."
"What do we have to do to ensure we can work together on our mutual problems?" I asked, placing a hand on Lauren's shoulder.
"Oh, nothing." Josephine smiled again. "Accepting the help of two witches as powerful as the two of you is obviously the best choice for my people. You have come to me with honesty and sincerity. I simply want you both conscience of how precarious your situation is, given your recent history. There are those who will seek to undermine you out of fear and distrust. I must ask what exactly you want from me before we proceed."
"In a perfect world?" I asked. "My oracular talents have given me a particular trust for a young witch named Davina Claire, and the chance to mentor her would be the first thing I would ask of you."
Lauren shook her head. "That is your number one priority?"
"There are also two powerful but less trustworthy witches I'd like to speak to. I believe you know the couple with the first names Eva and Vincent?" I asked.
"Vincent Griffith and Eva Sinclair?" Josephine looked surprised. "What makes you feel they are untrustworthy?"
"In my visions they get into some very dark magic. I do not understand the full details and would much rather not raise suspicions based on crimes that haven't actually happened, but if I was given access to their assistance I would appreciate it. Outside of that, I have two allies currently striking at the Travelers, and information on their activities and cooperation on directly fighting off their attacks would only be logical. Access to any libraries you have on magic would be much appreciated, primarily so I can prepare for confronting the Thirteen. If you have any special tasks you would appreciate being handled I would gladly start that immediately." I rambled.
"To be honest I didn't think we'd get this far." Lauren said. "So, recall how I am descended from the Gemini coven?" Lauren pulled a small coin from her pocket and held it out in front of her. "Are you aware of Siphoners?"
Josephine frowned. "You have your own reserves of magic, and large ones."
"Yes, from my mother's side. From my father's Gemini ancestry I inherited the power to siphon." Lauren admitted and she siphoned some magic from the talisman she had pulled out, causing a red glow. "If there are say, cursed objects that you have no use for, persistent spells that are no longer useful, or any similar sources of power that are of little value I would be able to put them to use safely."
"There might be some curses I want lifted." Josephine admitted. "Would you be willing to split up? I can call the Claires and Griffiths for Jeffry to work with, while there are some experiments I would try with Lauren."
"Alright." Lauren sighed. "You win. Davina Claire's all yours." She nodded at me.
Lauren
Vicki and Silas stormed into the abandoned house I'd selected as a rendezvous looking cheerful despite being covered in blood.
"That had to be seventy Travelers, right?" Vicki asked Silas.
"Not even close to that, but you did pretty good." Silas nodded and I saw a duffel bag that he was carrying that I had not noticed before. "Give the heads to Queen GILF to prove we can kill Travelers who piss her off, 'kay?"
"Hopefully you attacked the right group and not like, the peace faction their leader bitched about." I smiled. "By the way, heads of enemies is a really nice gift."
"Actually, they probably are 'bad guy' Travelers." Silas nodded. "I'm not sure why you would care, but the Travelers mostly haunt Europe. Easier for them to blend in, there. If they're in New Orleans they're trespassing on witch land, and they've been killing witches lately."
"If there were toddlers in the camp, Silas wiped my memory about it." Vicki added.
"Good. Silas, we've had laws of war for a long time in my culture. We can't always stick to those, but we like to imagine our fights being clean and well marked ones where everyone wears uniforms if they are ready to kill and be killed and everyone else is left alone. I don't know about Ancient Greek warfare, but our idea of honor is framed around that."
"You guys are a bunch of pussies," Silas answered. "Or maybe it's just Jeff rubbing off on you."
"It's mostly Jeff," I admitted after a moment. "Maybe not the idea of honor, but the way he thinks about it. I'm not sure if I'd have thought to ask if I hadn't met him."
"I get it. When I met 'Mara I looked at things in a whole new light. Suddenly I was thinking about the future and I couldn't imagine one without her in it." Silas sighed. "You know how that turned out."
"You're only two-thousand years old and you're literally immortal. It could end with 'we had a bad time starting out but we spent a million years happy.' Jeff's mentioned that to me when we talked about how to deal with you." I replied.
"Fuck." Silas said. "A million years? I can't even begin to process that, and I just spent two thousand years at the bottom of a hole. No one knows if magic can even last that long."
"Jeff thinks it will," I said.
"Ah, the 'jumpchain' he read. The font of incredible information that makes no sense outside of being super accurate." Silas shuddered. "What would you even do with a million years?"
"Get high?" Vicki had gotten bored with our conversation and sat down next to me. "Eat all the chicken wing types? Ooh, think you could breed dogs that can talk?"
"Assuming Jeff's my literal soulmate?" I asked. "We'd like, talk and raise a family and still not be bored after a million years of spawning baby witches."
"Are you really gonna just be the world's most boring couple forever?" Vicki sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder.
"We could try swinging after a couple centuries." I suggested. "Maybe have murder parties after I become a vampire. Find someone pretty who deserves to die and really get our torture on."
"Ooh." Vicki smiled. "Can I come?"
"Stop teasing her." Silas suggested. "I'm pretty sure your boyfriend would vomit if you tried that."
Francesca Guerrera and her brothers met with me at a McDonald's; their business suits and bodyguards looked delightfully out of place at the establishment I had selected. I activated a cloaking spell to hide our conversation after everyone was inside. Vicki had compelled the staff and customers not to notice anything unusual.
"Where is Mr. Wesley?" Francesca asked. It took me a minute to remember we had used pseudonyms for that meeting.
"My associate is working with our new allies. I am here to explain the full parameters of our deal," I told her. "You have to understand that if we give you power, then everything you do will reflect on my coven. We are not going to war with the witches of New Orleans."
Francesca Guerrera frowned. "My family has been in New Orleans for centuries. Our rightful place is here."
"The witches are bound here by their graveyards' being connected to the Ancestral Plane. They can't leave. You'd be mildly inconvenienced by setting up elsewhere. The people I am already working with are behind the destruction of Niklaus's sire line, and working towards the destruction of every sire line and the end of all vampires. Five Original Hybrids and a pack of lesser Hybrids will be able to start operations in any city without competition from vampires. You'd be idiots to insist on doing so in the heart of witch territory." I insisted.
Francesca looked very annoyed. "I was of the understanding we were entering an alliance, not being recruited as servants. We can leave right now if you refuse to treat us with respect."
"You aren't going to be servants, but I've been reading up on your family history. Werewolves have made several bids for control of this city. The world is about to become free of your number one predator once the vampires are wiped out. Your number two predator won't be leaving." I pointed out.
"They will if we make them." Francesca argued.
"Their dead will stay even if you drive out the living witches. Dead witches won't necessarily be as dangerous without living descendants, but they don't stop being witches just because they're dead. On certain times they can act or even rise from the dead on their own collective power." I explained. "You aren't a witch, and I am; I know this war won't end well for you if you start it."
"The Mikaelsons thrived here." Francesca said.
"They didn't war with the local witches when they didn't have to, either. They stayed here because of the witches, I think. A group of witches that won't move just because the most powerful vampires in the world settled down are a useful resource for the Originals. Whenever they needed a spell they knew who to bribe or threaten. If we become allies, my new coven will provide you with all of that and more." I offered.
"You're saying you would be willing to keep helping my family whenever we have a problem, and give us vast power. Of course the unexpected catch you've already brought up is forcing us from our homeland. What else can I expect?" Francesca asked.
"Fighting my enemies, but you already expected that. Seriously nasty witches, any of the Mikaelsons who break free of Esther's control, large groups of Travelers, a weird group of superpowered vampire hunters. There's a reason I want a couple of armies to help me." I elaborated.
"Not too much to ask, for endless power and immortality." Francesca admitted.
"If it helps, you're perhaps the best choice for the generals of this army, but not the only choice." I pointed out. "All I need is a latent werewolf without a triggered curse to make into an Original, and then I can start making lesser Hybrids and spreading transformation control. You and your brothers are clearly a superior choice; there's five of you, you have the discipline and intelligence to hide your nature for generations, you're well connected in the business and criminal worlds, you're aware of the supernatural community. If I wanted someone easily controlled I would have sought out someone ignorant of their werewolf heritage. I would vastly prefer allies who can grow strong without hand holding."
"Are there any other caveats?" Francesca asked.
"I can't say for sure," I admitted after a moment's thought. "It has been a thousand years since anyone tried to make a new Original Vampire. I'm not even sure if that's the right term for what I'm turning you into, as the Originals were already produced. When Esther transformed her family there were a half a dozen unforeseen side effects. Obviously I will try to mitigate the weaknesses of Esther's process and add strengths, but there are risks and trade-offs no matter what I try. If there are choices to be made I will do my best to get your input on them, but explaining the technical details may not be possible and I may be constrained by different power sources and negotiations as I try to create my own version of an immortality spell."
"That is understandable." Francesca nodded. "We have three candidates for activating our werewolf sides selected." She gestured to one of her brothers, who handed her a binder. "A repeat offender who molested children, a hitman, a mob boss in hiding. Your associate said the 'darkest souls' would work best?"
"Ah, yes. I need the most evil people possible for a purpose unrelated to activating your werewolf genes, but they're going to die anyway so why not be efficient about it," I said. "It seems like good practice to find people who deserve to be killed anyway if we're going to do this, though."
"It does take time to do it this way, but I understand the concern." Francesca nodded. "Can you share what you need the most evil souls for?"
"Remember how some witches don't stop working to hurt you after they die? My enemies are particularly good at cheating death. I found what can be roughly described as a demon that eats evil souls, and the demon needs to be fed before she can be healthy enough to help." I explained.
Francesca frowned hard. "You do realize my family is Catholic, right?"
"You're already mobsters." I pointed out. "You'll find a way to justify this one. Besides, don't bad people deserve to go to hell? That's what happens if a demon eats their souls."
Wyld
Lauren walked into the hotel room looking tired.
"Anything I should know about the werewolves?" I asked.
"They're still on board, but kind of freaked out by some of it," Lauren admitted. "Hello, Davina."
"Hi." Davina looked up from her chair where she was reading Esther's grimoire. "You must be Lauren."
"Perceptive," Lauren griped and sat down in my lap. "Is she everything you hoped for?"
"She's a fast learner," I told Lauren. "We may need to hook her up to a stronger power source than her Ancestors, especially if we take her out of New Orleans."
"All of my friends are here!" Davina squealed. "I'm not going anywhere, yet."
"Ah." Lauren smiled. "You do like girls who shout at you."
Davina looked a bit embarrassed. "I don't shout much."
"Her anger is more snarky, simmering boil," I assured Lauren.
Lauren scowled at me. "So, what have you got?"
"Well, Eva and Vincent have no plans on murdering children, but both of them had class so they had to leave already. I'm pretty sure I found a spell for tactical non-verbal teleportation while testing Davina's skills."
"Interesting." Lauren nodded sullenly.
The window broke and glass went everywhere. I jumped to my feet as Davina and Lauren both started saying spells. I grabbed the package that'd broken through the window and jumped out of it in a second. Once I was away from the girls I pried the box open.
The box contained a head. For a wild second I thought the head was Lauren's, but then I realized it was Esther Mikaelson's. In the box was a note. "We have rejected our mother's offer. Give us Rebekah."
"Oh, Mikaelsons." I laughed.