Yes, New story! I couldn't help myself!
Patience is not a virtue.
Not when dangerous men become formidable by mastering it.
Golden light poured into the studio, signaling the early evening. It was a rather slow day for the Original hybrid. Downstairs, the other inhabitants of the sprawling, secluded mansion went about their business as normal. Laughing, cooking, practicing spells, and preparing for an inevitable change in the future. None of them understood how close it was to being actualized. That the actions of one of them today would secure all he had promised them. Well, they knew one occurrence happening tonight, but the other was more subtle in passing. Not all battles were fought in a righteous fury of harsh storms and biting wind in open fields. Most raged under the cover of secrecy, brought on by wicked tongues spewing sweet words. Tonight, sweet words would flow in plenty merely miles away from them.
"I haven't heard from Greta yet, Alpha," Maddox reported. There was a skip in his heartbeat, even though his expression betrayed nothing. He knew Klaus could sense it, which amused the hybrid.
Klaus put aside the sketch he'd been working on. Nothing substantial, just wayward charcoal stroking a scene of coming dusk. It stained the tips of his fingers, which he cleaned off with a rag draped over an empty easel. "It's been a few hours. Give her time."
Maddox swallowed hard. Klaus could hear the rapid bounding of blood beneath his skin. Violent and swift. The air thickened a little, potent with a dose of unrestrained power. He was anxious.
"Maddox," said Klaus.
It was a command to ease, with a hint of chastising. Maddox was too old and learned for a display like this. The hybrid hadn't drilled him through weeks of painful training for him to lose it like a toddler shooting sparks for the first time.
"Sorry, Alpha," Maddox bowed forward a bit.
Patience was a skill that took longer than most expected. But when mastered, it made a world of difference.
Klaus stood up from the bench and placed both hands on his protege's flushed face. "Relax. Greta knows what she's doing. She knows how important this is for us. If you don't have faith in her, who will you trust? Do you doubt me?"
Maddox swallowed. Some of the tension dissipated from his shoulders. "Never." His heart was steady. It was the truest thing he could ever utter. He trusted his Alpha with his life and his death, should Klaus require it.
A slow, sharp smile graced Klaus' lips. "Good."
They all did. All the witches and werewolves under Klaus had faced the sting of disappointment in their former lives. Drifting in aimless wander until all their paths crossed his. What he gave was a balm to soothe that ache. They found acceptance in him and one another. In the promise of a new order.
"She is worthy of your trust."
"She is worthy of my trust," Maddox recited.
Maddox was learning. His pacing wasn't as tremendous as the rest. Greta came to mind, but when he did, it clicked forever. His trust was hard won, but once gained, it remained forever. Klaus considered him one of the more favored witches amongst his repertoire. They both shared an identical heritage; Maddox had a wolf for a mother and a witch for a father. Although his childhood was significantly more loving, there was no acceptance from his father's people. It took years to find a coven willing to accept a half-breed.
That was when the hybrid stumbled on the young witch.
"I'm just worried she'll miss the blood moon passing tonight." Maddox nervously scratched his palm.
"Even if she does, be assured that her assignment is just as important.
"I know she doesn't go long without communicating and that it makes you anxious, but her current assignment requires a —" Klaus paused in thought. "Delicate hand."
"The last time we spoke, she was pulling into the Whitmore. That was this morning." It was about five PM now. "The gathering is tonight. I thought she was going to call beforehand."
Klaus chuckled, going back to sit on the bench. There was a reason he gave Greta a wide berth. She worked better straying outside the lines instead of on a leash. That might frustrate a master with an iron grip. Klaus, for all his controlling tendencies, also knew when to loosen the chain for a necessary purpose. Her loyalty was assured. "She'll call once it's over. Nothing to worry about."
Patience. Such a nifty attribute. It was so interesting how a few hundred years ago, Klaus would not have maintained such calm. But time ground certain hard lessons into his being. That was not to say he was a tamed beast.
Just a careful one.
Maddox needn't worry. Everything would go exactly the way they needed it to.
Footsteps approached from the hallway. From the clanking steps and light gait, he could tell it was Lourdes. There was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
She did so, both hands tucked into the front pocket of her jeans. Maddox stiffened again. Lourdes eyed him with a knowing smirk. "You boys getting busy without me?" Her fingers teased against the other witch's knuckles and all the blood rushed from his face.
Klaus tutted a playful warning at her, knowing she wouldn't take it to heart. Maddox had a rather clinical upbringing, so his manner around attractive women left plenty to be desired. Lourdes made a sport of teasing him out of his shell, armed with the knowledge that he desired her, too. But Klaus felt there was no need to rile poor Maddox today when he was already wound tighter than a sailor's rope.
"Everyone's ready for you," she said.
Klaus hummed. "Give me a few minutes."
Her eyes lingered over his sketch in disapproval. "I thought you'd have a different muse by now." He gave a loaded look that spoke volumes without uttering a word. Lourdes eased her wily mouth for the moment. He respected her opinion but did not appreciate being rushed past his own schedule by anyone. There was still a beast behind the patient veneer. Tempting it was not wise.
"I'll be down in a moment."
Maddox and Lourdes left him to organize the others. He showered in his bedroom and changed into an all-black ensemble. There was no mourning or somberness; quite the opposite. It was joyful, freeing. Revelatory. Why spoil it with pomp?
The Original Hybrid made his way down to the expansive marble-coated foyer, where fifty loyal souls waited in perfect silence. Men and women, witches and werewolves. All full of anticipation, eager and hopeful. And anger, so much anger. But it was not directed at him. Maddox, Lourdes, and Dwayne stood on steps closest to him a few steps below on the staircase due to their position in his inner circle.
Klaus stood at the very top, arms folded at his back, watching them all with laser focus. He knew each one by name and scent. Their hopes, dreams, and fears. Their stories and histories. Where they were coming from and what their futures held.
"Abomination."
The silence was deafening.
He took a single step forward. "Is that not what they call us? Abominations. Each and everyone one of you has heard that word more than once in your life. Perhaps not in that exact form, but iterations of it followed you until you made your way to me. You were made to feel that way by your families, by the very structures meant to nurture and protect you. Covens and packs."
Murmurs rose up.
Dwayne raised one hand and clenched. There was silence again. Klaus walked past the three, giving the werewolf an appreciative nod. "Witches! You slaved under two cruel masters. One binds you under an involuntary title, a servant of nature." Excitement stirred up amongst the witches. "The spirits tell you their will keeps the balance. But when have they served more than their own purpose? They prevent you from seeking answers to better yourselves, keeping the illusion that your powers are bound to them. Well, let me tell you, the spirits are not nature!"
The witches raised their voices in agreement.
He walked amongst them all, taking stock of the eager faces surrounding him. "Those of your brave enough to question this archaic law were thrown out of your covens. Those of you who didn't fit in the spirits' ideal were thrown out." Maddox and Lourdes remained stoic, even though it resonated with them.
"Natures owes nothing to the spirits, nor does it need the aroma of dead has-beens to fuel itself. Nature answers to itself only. So why should you answer to them?!"
Loud voices bellowed in agreement.
"Wolves; brothers and sisters of the moon. Your very existence is a pain, is it not? The full moon takes your mind from you, giving you pain in return." He scented their agreement. How tired they were of the curse that branded their existence. "Many of you have questioned why, only to be turned from your own packs. You seek to become something more, something greater. Free from a painful curse."
The wolves growled in unison.
Klaus stood at the center of them all. "Tonight begins a new order! We will break free from all those that seek to tear us down. There will be no more abominations here. At this moment passes the third blood moon of the year. In a few months, all will be ripe and ready for my transformation. A transformation that will see me take you all along, witches and hybrids, unbound rulers of a new world."
His arms spread wide and his eyes lit in their gold form. Everyone cheered and shouted in excitement. Klaus reveled in their praise, soaking the power that filled the room from the sheer number of supernatural beings in one room. The New Order was alive and nothing would bring them down. Especially not once Greta had acquired their secret ingredient.
A few miles away, something stirred in a witch named Bonnie Bennett. She didn't know what it was or how it came, but whether she knew it or not, her life was about to change.