A/N: Some characters from The Originals in this one!

TW: Mentions of incest and creepiness in the last Klaus POV. IDK how to warn for that.


ELIJAH

The flight from Roanoke to New Orleans took four long hours. The instant the plane had safely landed, Elijah, Kol, Maddox, and hybrid Pilar were in a car and on their way to the Dowager Fauline Cottage.

"Do we have any new information on the kidnappers?" Elijah asked briskly. He checked his phone and noted the time; it was early in the morning hours, the sun still sleeping behind the horizon. The group had left only a couple of hours after receiving the news of Freya's kidnapping, but Elijah feared they were too far behind the kidnappers.

Baahir, Miriam's soul-brother, was driving as quickly as he could through the city without drawing human attention to them. Without turning around to look at Elijah, he answered, "No. No one has come forward to admit to the kidnapping. The New Orleans coven is shocked and appalled that someone would interfere with their affairs. I know you will want to talk to them, but I genuinely believe they have nothing to do with it. They value their own well-being over helping other covens, and the witch I have on the inside says that the coven hasn't received any money or anything helpful to push the vampires out of the city. So there is no apparent incentive for them to lie to us."

Elijah privately agreed. "Did they find any clues in the last few hours?"

"My mate Philip texted me just before I picked you up and said they have something, but he wouldn't say what. We'll be there in forty minutes."

"We are going straight to the Cottage?" Kol confirmed.

"Yes. Everyone is gathered there."

"Good." Elijah let his tone soften, "It is a shame we are introducing you to Kol under these dire circumstances."

"I was going to come up and visit for Halloween anyway," Baahir shrugged. "I still will. Then we can have proper introductions that aren't overshadowed by a kidnapped sister."

Kol said nothing, just raised an eyebrow. Elijah elbowed him, frowning.

"Oh, um, it is nice to meet you? Even though I don't need your permission to pursue your sister. I do what I want and answer to no one."

Elijah wanted to snap his brother's neck.

Baahir chuckled. "Beautifully put, my newest brother. Though it pales in comparison to the speech Elijah gave me when we first met. He promised to protect and care for Miriam, while also subtly threatening me to stay loyal. It was a work of art, honestly."

Maddox and Pilar snickered.

Elijah just sighed.

There was a group of nine witches waiting for them when they pulled up to the Cottage. Josephine LaRue stood in the front of the group. Standing next to her was a black man who held himself with confidence. When Elijah approached, he stuck a hand out, and introduced himself as Vincent Griffith.

"Have the heads of all the New Orleans covens gathered here as a show of force, or to convince us that they are harmless?" Kol said loudly, tactlessly.

Vincent Griffith frowned. "Hey, man, we don't need to help you."

"Yes, you do," Elijah assured the witch. "You need us to help you figure out who was able to break into your prison without you noticing."

Vincent opened his mouth to speak, but Josephine LaRue held up a withered hand.

"Enough. This bickering gets us nowhere." Her shockingly blue eyes landed on Elijah's face. "My witches were able to get into the Cottage to interview some of the inmates. One said she saw who stole the coffin. Vincent, give Mr. Mikaelson the drawing."

Reluctantly, Vincent pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Elijah.

The paper had a childish drawing on one side. The witch who had drawn it had used colorful crayons that made the ominous image look like something one would see on the fridge of a proud mother. Elijah frowned and handed the image to Kol.

"Fuck," Kol muttered.

A rainbow-colored owl innocently stared up at them, unaware of the implications of its existence.

"The Strix," Elijah confirmed. "They have taken Freya."


The hunt was on.

Elijah notified his entire network that Aya and any member of the Strix were now persona non grata. He put a bounty on Aya's head so high that she would not be able to enter any space without being mobbed. After he made a few calls, he notified Niklaus and Finn, who were not happy about the recent developments. Klaus had raged, and so had Finn. Their once-mellow brother was animated in his anger. Elijah was privately encouraged by the display of fury- he hoped that meant that Finn was moving past his grief.

Once he hung up with his brothers, he called Miriam.

"Hey, babe," she answered, sounding out of breath.

"Hello, vorgyðja. What are you doing sounding so awake in the morning?"

"I am helping Laura get ready for school. We may or may not just have had an argument surrounding the topic of bringing one of the magical texts Greta keeps in her room to show-and-tell at the elementary school today," Miriam chuckled.

"I doubt that the public school system is ready for the confirmation that witches do, in fact, exist," Elijah said wryly.

"I agree. We compromised, and she is now taking one of the potted aloe plants to talk about; she thinks its healing properties are cool, and she promised not to mention the actual magical uses it has," Miriam said.

"As compromises go, that one seems reasonable. I hate to sour the mood, but I do have bad news to deliver. Freya was taken by the Strix."

"Shit. That's not good."

"No, it is not. Keep an eye out, and don't leave the Hearth without Niklaus or Finn."

"'Lijah, I don't believe I've gone anywhere without a shadow since I started living with you all," Miriam said dryly. "I'm not stupid; I won't pull a stunt and leave without telling anyone. And the pack has been told to be extra vigilant until we get Freya back. We'll be fine here."

"I just worry," Elijah murmured. He didn't want to tell her that he had been tempted to take her with him so that he could keep an eye on her the entire time. He knew they had made the correct decision by sending him (the most well-mannered Mikaelson) and Kol (the Mikaelson with the superior knowledge of magic) instead of Finn (who was too emotionally unstable to be of any help) and Klaus (who was more likely to kill the witches and/or kick start a war with Marcel before Miriam had said it started). Still, the distance from his mate ached. The knowledge that she was miles away, without him hovering over her, made him antsy.

"I know you do. Hopefully this will be over soon." Through the cell phone Elijah could hear little Laura's voice demand the phone. "Elijah, is Kol there? Laura wants to say hi."

Highly amused, Elijah called his brother over and handed him the phone.

"Miri?" Kol said.

Elijah smirked as Laura's tiny voice came through: "Kol! It's Laura, I'm taking the aloe plant to show-and-tell today, and I get to show everyone and they'll be so jealous and I just wanted to say hi. Hi! I'm going to eat cereal now."

"Um, good?" Kol looked lost, but the little girl had already returned the phone to a giggling Miriam. "Miri, I don't understand why that girl likes me."

"It's because you ooze 'I love children'," Miriam said teasingly.

Kol rolled his eyes. "I'm hanging up now."

"Bye, Kol! Bye, Elijah!"

"Goodbye, Miriam," both brothers replied. Kol hung up the phone and gave it back to Elijah.

"The Strix could not have done this without witches," Kol said as the two brothers walked back to the main group. The New Orleans witches, save for Josephine LaRue and Vincent Griffith, had left.

"What I don't understand is how the Strix knew that Freya was here?" Baahir said.

"We made sure that we ordered ingredients for the spell from different vendors, so the vendors would not figure out the spell," Elijah said. "June vetted each and every one to make sure they did not have any contact with each other. The pack would not have betrayed Niklaus. That just leaves the witches."

"Our witches didn't tell them," Vincent insisted sharply.

"We cannot be sure of that," Josephine LaRue said grimly. "Our people are desperate for power, which the Strix have. Someone might have gone rogue."

Vincent grimaced, but did not contradict his superior.

"How can we weed out a potential traitor?" Elijah asked.

"If letting heads roll is a secondary plan, I do know of a spell that will compel a person into telling the truth," Kol said. "The spell can be put into drink form. If you gather all the witches and put out a punch bowl or something of the like, you can dose your entire coven."

"How long will it take to make it?"

"A day. We need to do the spell at a certain time of night, and gather a few ingredients, but they should be relatively easy to acquire. With the help of Maddox and anyone that Ms. LaRue can spare, we should know the identity of the traitor in no time."

"Get it done," Elijah ordered. "The sooner we find this traitor, the sooner we can get a lead on Aya and the Strix."

They all sprang into action. Kol, Maddox, and a reluctant Vincent went to the magical districts to find the ingredients they needed. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Elijah found himself at a bar in a fancy hotel, his laptop in front of him on the small table. Pilar sat across from him, a paperback book in her hands. She was there for intimidation; as one of the only hybrids in the world, her bite was a lethal weapon. There might be vampires older than her, but she was nearly as strong as an ancient vampire.

However, at the moment, one of the world's strongest creatures was reading a book with a scantily clad woman and bare-chested man on the cover.

"Is that book considered high literature?" Elijah asked over the rim of his laptop.

"I think it is," she flashed a sharp smile at him. "Anything that can be enjoyed should be considered literature. I am glad I can enjoy it now. I rarely have time to read more than a chapter or two a day. Raising Laura is a full-time job."

"Children can be a handful," Elijah agreed. He remembered his own daughter fondly. She had been rambunctious as a toddler. He wished he could have seen her grow up into a woman.

Pilar's eyes swept the room, coming to a stop in the direction that Elijah knew was the lobby entrance. "Speaking of children, Klaus's soul-son just walked through the door."

Elijah turned to see Marcel Gerard strut into the hotel, his right-hand-man by his side.

"Marcellus," he said pleasantly.

"Elijah Mikaelson," Marcel plastered a large, bright, fake smile on his face. "What are you doing in my neck of the woods?"

"I am working on my laptop, and my beautiful companion is reading what I assume to be a debauchery-infused bodice ripper," Elijah replied, leaning back in his seat lazily.

"It is most definitely filled with debauchery," Pilar confirmed, her predatory gaze fixed on Marcel. "The Duke and the Duchess just had a three-way with the neighboring Lord. The sex scene was muy caliente."

Marcel cleared his throat, obviously thrown off-guard. Elijah found vicious pleasure in watching Marcellus squirm. The sense of betrayal still stung Elijah's heart. Niklaus's son had taken over the city they had so lovingly built all those decades ago. Yes, the Mikaelsons had fled, but Marcel had done nothing to notify them of his survival. They had not figured out that he had lived until the 1990s. By then, Elijah and Klaus had started their feud, and neither had the time to devote to taking back New Orleans. To see Marcellus swagger into the hotel as if nothing ever happened hurt Elijah more than Marcellus keeping his survival from them.

Marcel regrouped after Pilar's comment, and addressed Elijah, "What are you doing in my city, Elijah?"

Elijah stood up gracefully. "I am in New Orleans for work. You and your lackey are more than welcome to join Ms. Osorio and I, but I am afraid I would be rather boring company at the moment. I have too many emails to write, you see."

"Ah. Did you bring your brothers with you on your… work trip?" Marcel asked. The question behind the question was: 'is Klaus here in the city?'

"Niklaus stayed behind. But Kol is here, if you want to meet him again," Elijah smirked.

Marcel's charming façade cracked at the reminder of Kol's violent ways. "I could do without seeing Kol again. So Klaus isn't here? Where is he?"

"At our home," Elijah said, purposefully vague.

"With your mate?" Marcel prodded. Elijah's gaze turned icy, but Marcel continued, "We were sent the video of you executing the werewolves, and I sent my man Thierry here to Mystic Falls to witness Klaus become a Hybrid. Everyone is aware of your mate, but only a few have met her."

"And I would like to keep it that way," Elijah said sharply. "Let's get one thing straight, Marcellus; if you so much as even breathe in the direction of my mate, I will rain hellfire upon you and this city. The streets will run red. No vampire will be safe. I will make sure that when I am done, nothing of your legacy will remain."

Marcel glared and opened his mouth, but Elijah cut him off.

"I know you and your vampires are one of the stronger factions in the city right now. You may have cursed the werewolves, however, the witches are still a force to be reckoned with. The human faction is numerous, if not powerful. If you step one foot out of Louisiana, I will guarantee your downfall. I have no current quarrel with you, Marcellus. Let's keep it that way." He placed a heavy, threatening hand on Marcel's shoulder.

Angry but cowed, Marcel gave a short nod. He shrugged off Elijah's hand. "We'll get out of your hair, so you can finish your work here. But if you overstay your welcome, I won't feel any remorse when I push you out of my city."

Marcel and his lackey left then, desperate to get the last word in.

Elijah snarled wordlessly. Marcel was a growing unwanted problem, like a weed in a garden. They would have to deal with him soon, in one way or another. Though content in Roanoke, Niklaus would eventually set his sights on his beloved New Orleans. Marcel would not give up the city. Klaus had taught his son many things, but to give up in the face of opposition was not one of those things. The two would wage a war over the city, with Marcel and his vampires (and possibly the human and witch factions, if he could figure out how to control them) against Niklaus and his hybrids. Many innocents would be caught in the cross-fire. Elijah prayed to the old gods that Miriam would not be one of those innocents.

But the time for contemplating the future was for after they figured out who betrayed the covens.

Elijah sat back down, but he was tense, a coiled spring ready to explode.

"I don't want to be in New Orleans when Klaus and Marcel fight," Pilar commented as she settled deeper into her seat and picked up her scandalous book again.

"Neither do I," Elijah murmured.


KLAUS

Klaus paced the length of his room, the wolf itching to push past his skin.

The last 24 hours hadn't gone the way he wanted. Freya had been taken by the Strix, who were nowhere to be found. Elijah and Kol were still in New Orleans, tracking down possible leads on a witch who may have betrayed their coven. Elijah had called June and demanded she return with the witches she had found in South America. The last ingredient had been discovered- the blood of a rare magical animal that resided in the rivers of South America- and once they found Freya they would be able to free her from the remaining few years of the sleeping curse, without waking evil aunt Dahlia.

But all their efforts would be for naught if they couldn't find Freya! Klaus snarled viciously at the thought of anyone stealing a member of his family, his pack.

The notion of 'pack' had grown in the last few months. 'Pack' had once just meant him and his two closest siblings. 'Pack' had broadened to include Finn and Kol, and Miriam, and the Roanoke wolf pack, and Caroline, and tentatively Freya. Klaus growled, annoyed. The pack was filled with too many moving parts, and too many vulnerable members. Miriam, Caroline, and Freya were all easy targets for his many, many enemies.

No, the problem wasn't the pack.

The problem was his enemies.

There were too many people in the world that would do anything to harm him and his pack. Lucien was hunting werewolves for his detestable science experiments. Tristan headed the Strix, who had just stolen his sister. Marcel had stolen the city he had so lovingly built. The children in Mystic Falls were planning an attack. So many enemies…

He could deal with them one at a time, Klaus decided.

A tentative knock on his door broke him out of his musings.

Miriam peeked her head in, a cautious look on her face. "Hi."

He frowned and asked, "Did Elijah call you? Tell you that Aya and the Strix have Freya?"

She stepped into the room, but did not advance further. "Yes."

"Do you have any information to share?" he asked, his voice hard. "Anything that you've kept from us in your quest to keep 'the timeline pure', or whatever rot you spewed when you refused to tell us the entire truth?"

She took half a step back in response to his ire. "I've told you everything you needed to know. Or, at least what I thought would be helpful."

He laughed, but there was no humor in his tone. "You are but a child to us. Our skills in strategy outweigh yours by a millennium."

"That is true," she allowed, "and I regret that you don't have my knowledge. Maybe you would be able to do more with it. But don't you dare infantilize me. I am doing what I think is best for this family, Klaus."

"Do better," he hissed. "Tell me what you have left out."

Miriam held so much of the future in her mind; it was a shame that he couldn't access it. His brothers would call him controlling, but knowing every possible factor of those around them had kept them alive. Knowledge had kept them alive, and she was keeping it from him. Freya, their sister and a powerful witch, had been taken. Could that have been avoided if Miriam had simply told him everything?

Though he knew it to be an irrational feeling, betrayal cut through him.

"What I have left out is inconsequential," she snapped.

"Is it?" He challenged. "Or are you trying to keep us from doing things your delicate sensibilities find abhorrent?"

"Your behavior right now is abhorrent," she shot back. "Do you really want to know what happens? You win, but at a great loss. Your girlfriend dies. Your baby momma's husband dies. Marcel's daughter and Kol's girlfriend dies. Finn dies. You don't see your child for five years while you rot in a prison. Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now?"

Klaus snarled at the picture she painted and advanced on her. "Don't mock me with what-ifs. That future will not happen if I have any say about it!"

"I agree with you, you stupid man," she tried to shove him away from her, but Klaus refused to move. "You're right, I'm not equipped to hold the knowledge of the future that floats in my head. But I'm trying my best! You don't get to shame me for that!"

With that, she marched away from him.

In no mood to placate her, Klaus let her walk away. He whipped out his cell phone and began to call his informants.

He had a power-hungry stable boy to find.


ELIJAH

They found all of the ingredients that same day. That night, Kol and Maddox went on the roof of the hotel they were staying at- Le Pavillion Hotel - and put the ingredients together while Maddox performed the spell they needed to activate the truth-telling properties.

"Here it is," Kol said when he returned to his and Elijah's room after the spell. Kol held up a small vial of shockingly blue liquid. "This should be more than enough to dose the entire coven. Has Josephine LaRue ordered their attendance yet?"

"Yes," Elijah confirmed. "Tomorrow at noon all of the witches who may have known about Freya will be gathered in the conference room of the hotel."

"Great!" Kol set the vial down on the coffee table and flopped down on one of the couches in the large living room. "I cannot wait to leave this horrible place."

"'This horrible place' was our home for many years," Elijah said, somewhat crossly.

"Your home, 'Lijah, not mine," Kol corrected. "I, unlike you, have never called one place home."

Elijah refused to show remorse- Kol would be relentless if he showed even a molecule of exploitable weakness- but he felt it all the same. Not for the last time would he realize that the way he and his two closest siblings had treated Kol. They had alienated him. And while Miriam hadn't told Elijah their entire future, from what he could gather, there was a time when Kol was working against them. He could understand why his youngest brother would want to work against them. He could not support or forgive such a move, but he could understand the reasoning behind it.

Kol's betrayal had happened in a different reality. Maybe with Miriam's influence and more brotherly support he would not make the same decision in this world. Elijah could only hope… and be ready to take out any threat to the family, even if that threat was a brother.

"You have a home now," Elijah said firmly.

Kol hummed noncommittally.

"You do," Elijah insisted. "I am not sure how else to convince you, brother, but you have a home with us."

"Maybe, but my goodwill extends to the city of Roanoke, not here in New Orleans. Would you really support Nik if he waged a war against Marcel?"

Elijah disliked being reminded of his own internal battles. He was quick to dodge the question: "That is a bridge we will cross when we get there. At the moment there are more important things to talk about than the future."

Kol rolled his eyes. "By all means, keep living in denial, brother mine."

Elijah's jaw ticked; brothers (younger, older, vampire or hybrid) were all troublesome.


The next afternoon came quickly. At noon all of the witches gathered in one of the gathering spaces the hotel provided. They were understandably tense, barely eating any of the food or provided. However, everyone was drinking the fruit punch. The day was humid and hot, and no one wanted to be uncomfortable and dehydrated. And if Maddox had cast an innocuous spell that encouraged drinking, no one needed to know.

After Elijah felt the witches had stewed in their own anxiety for an appropriate amount of time, He strode to the front of the room with Kol, Josephine LaRue, and Vincent Griffith. He cleared his throat.

"May I have everyone's attention?"

Elijah spotted Kol roll his eyes from his place at Elijah's side. Elijah suppressed a grin. He needn't have spoken, for the instant he had walked into the room every eye had been on him. The witches reeked of fear at the sight of him, and Elijah reveled in it. Their fear made them honest. Their fear kept his family safe from retaliation. Their fear was delicious.

"I have asked that you all meet here so that we can discover the identity of the person or persons who released information about my sister Freya to the Strix," Elijah announced to the room. "This person, whoever they may be, has not only made an enemy of the Mikaelson family, but has betrayed their own coven. The New Orleans witches vowed to help my family free our trapped sister, and by working with our enemies, the traitor has brought needless danger to their coven. Which one of you is the culprit?"

There was silence.

None of the witches moved.

And then, in the back of the room, a man jerked forward.

The witches all gasped as the man stumbled through the crowd, sweat rolling down his brow.

"Me!" he choked. "It was me!"

"Jonathan?!" a woman screeched as she followed him through the room. "What did you do?!"

Jonathan fell to his knees in front of Elijah. Tears welled up in his eyes. "I did it. I'm so sorry."

"Jonathan Claire, explain yourself!" Josephine LaRue said sharply.

"Claire?" Elijah interrupted at the familiarity of the last name. "Do you have a daughter named Davina?"

"Yes, we do," the woman said. "A daughter that he betrayed!"

"Peg, Peggy, I didn't mean to," Jonathan Claire insisted. "She seduced me."

"Seduced you?" Peggy gave a brittle laugh. "So you not only betrayed our coven, you betrayed our marriage?"

"She seduced me," Jonathan repeated frantically. "She approached me a year ago-"

"A year?!"

"-And she told me everything I wanted to hear. You know how devious vampires are! They promise things."

"What did she promise you?" the wife seethed. "Immortality? Strength? Power?"

"Comfort," the word was pulled out of his mouth by the spell. "Aya talked to me, soothed my worries about the war with Marcel and protecting Davina. Peggy, I thought I loved her."

Peggy scoffed. "So you were fucking a vampire. You disgusting pervert. She is the enemy!"

"She was the love of my life!" he shouted.

Peggy reared back as if struck. "The love of your life?! This slut who wormed her way into our coven for information? You thought she loved you? Well, if that's what you believe, then I won't stop your love. Keep your undead whore. You will find no home with me or mine. From this day on, you are dead to me, and to Davina."

"You can't keep me from my daughter!" Desperation dripped from his lips.

"Enough!" Elijah snapped. The energy in the room had shifted as soon as the traitor had revealed himself. The witches were unhappy. They did not take disloyalty lightly. Elijah needed to get his answers before the witches killed the man. "Has she told you anything useful?"

"I-I-I don't know! She would ask about the coven, and how our fight with Marcel was going. I told her everything, even about the Mikaelson witch we were trying to free."

"She was probably fishing for information," Kol murmured, too low for human ears to pick up. "Aya and her cult members might have been interested in keeping track of what was happening in New Orleans. There is powerful magic here. Aya was lucky that this idiot mentioned Freya to her."

Elijah agreed. Unlike paranoid Niklaus, Elijah realized that not everyone was out to get their family. Some, like Aya, just used the opportunities presented to them. Still, he needed every last bit of information out of Jonathan Claire before his wife justifiably killed him.

"Jonathan, did Aya mention anything that might hint at what her plans are?" Elijah asked.

"I-uh, I'm not sure-"

"Be sure, Jonathan," Peggy snapped.

"She said… she said something about seeing some old friends soon, specifically you, Elijah," Jonathan said, his eyes darting wildly from his furious wife to Elijah's cold face.

"What does that mean?" Kol demanded.

"All I know is that she was planning on seeing Elijah soon. Visiting him in Virginia, I think she said once."

Dread like ice water ran through Elijah's veins. He exchanged a worried look with Kol, who immediately pulled out his cell phone and called Finn. Elijah turned to Josephine LaRue and Vincent Griffith.

"My brother and I need to leave immediately. Do with the traitor what you wish; we have no use for him."

"We will deal with him severely, that I can promise you," Josephine LaRue said. "Good luck in your endeavors, Mr. Mikaelson. If you ever need any help, the New Orleans coven owes you a debt."

Elijah nodded sharply, then he and Kol sped out of the hotel conference room and up to their suite, where Pilar, Maddox, and Baahir and his mate Philip were waiting.

"Pack it up!" Kol announced as he entered the room. He raced to his bedroom and began packing his small amount of things at top speed.

To their credit, Pilar and Maddox didn't even hesitate in beginning to gather up the magical texts and grimoires they had brought with them.

"Aya is planning on going to Roanoke, so we need to get there as soon as possible," Elijah said before he too sped to his separate room and packed the few belongings he had taken with him on the trip. In less than two minutes he was back in the main room.

"But it should be okay, right?" Maddox finally asked as he snapped one of the cases shut. "Klaus and Finn are in Roanoke, along with most of the pack and several witches."

"That's not true," Kol said as he reappeared with his suitcase in one hand, and his cell phone in the other. "Finn, tell everyone what you just told me."

"Klaus left yesterday. He left sometime after you called; no one here is sure when exactly he left. He took three hybrids with him. He did not say where he was going, or when he would come home."

Maddox blanched. "That just leaves two hybrids to protect the town!"

"Finn, he said nothing about his intentions?" Elijah demanded. His mind raced with possible reasons Niklaus might have left. He knew the Strix had Freya. He had hybrids. He was prone to rash decisions and not informing his siblings of his plans. This did not bode well.

"Nothing," Finn confirmed. "He said nothing to me, and nothing to Miriam."

"Where would our idiot brother go?" Kol asked Elijah.

"To find Lucien or Tristan," Elijah responded grimly. "Finn, we are on our way back. Be vigilant, we believe that Aya might make her way to Roanoke sooner rather than later."

"I will," Finn vowed, before hanging up.

"Hurry up," Elijah said to the room. "We live in five minutes."

They had a city to return to.


KLAUS

Lucien Castle had been found.

Only an hour or two after Klaus's fight with Miriam he received news of Lucien's whereabouts. He gathered three of his hybrids and they were on a plane in record time. The destination: Las Vegas, Nevada.

Once there it was easy to find Lucien. He was living in the penthouse apartment above a casino that he owned, and not being quiet about his presence in the city. His casino's name was plastered on signs all over town. The vampires that Klaus passed whispered Lucien's name reverently. The witches in the city had a deep respect for Lucien.

Lucien's success put something sour in Klaus's stomach. To think that the stable boy he had turned eternal by accident now owned a serious portion of a huge city was like having a tag on his clothing that dug into his skin: irritating, and meant to be ripped out at the root.

Klaus had never played well with the children in the village he had grown up in. Any child who was not a sibling was not allowed to touch his things (and even then sharing with his brothers and sister rankled). He would bite, kick, and push other young children away from the things he believed were his. Even things he wanted but that weren't his, he fought for. Maybe his upbringing- a horrible father, a weak mother, too many siblings- accounted for his possessiveness. Or maybe it was due to his werewolf blood. Whatever the reason, he did not like witnessing the prosperity of others.

To walk through the city, hearing Lucien's name praised, made Klaus want to burn the entire place to the ground. He wanted Las Vegas to become a crater in the desert, a warning to others like Sodom and Gomorrah were. All would turn to pillars of salt for even daring to look upon the ashes of the city.

"Sir?" one of his hybrids asked.

The four of them were standing in the shadows just outside of Lucien's large casino. The area was crowded. People- tourists, bachelor and bachelorette parties, businessmen, college students from the local university, families on vacation- filled every square inch of the city. The lights were bright. The sounds were loud. The smells were heightened in a city environment. A flash of longing bolted through Klaus. He wanted his quieter town and his warm little mate.

But he couldn't return yet.

"Let's go," he said.

He led his hybrids into the casino. No one stopped them as they moved through the building. Led by rumors he had heard on the street, Klaus made his way to the back of the building, where a private set of elevators were located. They were unassuming, save for the two vampires that guarded them.

"Step aside, gentlemen," Klaus ordered with a disarming smile.

The two vampires exchanged looks, judging their ability to keep the Original Hybrid from entering the elevator, then stepped aside.

"I thank you for your cooperation," Klaus sniped as he entered the elevator.

The doors slid closed.

When they opened again, it was to a scene out of every vampire's darkest fantasies.

A variable den of sin, there was blood everywhere. Human servers, obviously compelled, cut their wrists over ornate goblets to serve to vampires. Human partiers willingly offered their arms and necks to the vampires in attendance. The music was loud and alluring. The thump of the beat vibrated through Klaus's chest. A large, fully stocked bar occupied a good portion of the back wall. Above the dance floor was a lounge area, and Klaus spied Lucien sitting on a plush leather couch amongst his sycophants. Klaus made his way to the lounge, not caring who he bumped into on his way there.

Lucien flinched when he spotted Klaus, but quickly put on a large, fake smile.

"Klaus!" He lazily motioned them over. "My sire! What are you doing in my neck of the woods?"

"Oh, just a friendly visit," Klaus responded, his tone leaning on the sharper side, instead of the airy indifference that Elijah could produce. He waved his hybrids away before sitting down across from Lucien. "I wanted to see what the first of my sire line has been up to."

"I haven't been busy, really," Lucien smirked. They both knew that was a lie. "I have been enjoying Sin City. Humans can be very creative in their pleasures, I have found."

"I can tell," Klaus said as he looked around. "You are living the high life, Lucien."

"Is there any other way to live?" Lucien snarked.

"I guess not."

"But, I assume, you are not here to discuss different ways to live a life. Come! Drink! Be Merry! For tonight will only come once, though we may come many times," Lucien said with a cheeky smile. He pulled a waitress into his lap and began to drink from her neck.

Klaus joined in on the revelry. Though he had a plan, he would put it on pause to enjoy himself. He needed to release his frustrations, and Lucien's party was the most convenient way to do so. Klaus drank his fill of blood and alcohol without inhibition. He danced, letting vampires rub against him just so that they could brag about touching the infamous Hybrid.

During all the partying, Klaus could feel Lucien's eyes on him. When the two were apart, Lucien would track Klaus around the room with single-minded focus. When the two were together, sharing stories and laughing like old friends, Klaus could see Lucien push down his worry. And oh! That feeling! The sour scent of fear, the rapid thumping of a heart- Klaus had missed it. It was nearly as intoxicating as the blood and the alcohol running through his system.

Hours passed in devilish fun.

Dawn had arrived, scaring away the vampires. The music was turned down. The que at the bar lessened. Most of the human waitstaff was either gone or dead on the dance floor.

"I have an apartment a few floors up," Lucien said as he took a last swig from the tumbler in his hand. "We can talk in private up there… well, with your guard dogs listening in."

Klaus rolled his eyes but followed Lucien to the elevators, and up to his apartment.

"Callie!" Lucien called as he opened the doors to his apartment. "We have guests!"

"At this hour?" came the sleepy reply from the direction Klaus assumed was the bedroom.

"Yes. Come here, sweet thing, I want you to meet my sire."

Lucien walked to the large kitchen, and Klaus went with him, leaving the hybrids to occupy themselves in the corner of the room. The apartment was an open floor plan, with the kitchen overlooking a large sunken living space. Floor to ceiling windows looked out over the city. The décor was dark and sharp and sultry, and vastly different from the décor at the Hearth.

Lucien grabbed a couple of glasses and poured bourbon into them. He handed one to Klaus and took one for himself. The two men sat down on the expansive couch, on either end.

Light footsteps alerted them to another person entering the room.

The woman was on the shorter side, with wide hips and thick thighs. The knee-length, satin purple nightgown left little to the imagination. She was almost sickly in her paleness; she probably had anemia from being fed on too often. But what made Klaus jerk back was her resemblance to Aurora de Martel.

"Ah, Callie, darling. This is Niklaus, my sire. Klaus, this is Callie, my fiancée," Lucien introduced as he pulled the human girl onto his lap. He tugged on a strand of the girl's red hair, which had been dyed to match Aurora's hair shade.

"Fiancée?" Klaus was genuinely shocked.

"Fiancée," Lucien confirmed, a devious look in his eye. "Darling, tell our love story."

"Ohmygod, it was sooo romantic!" the girl squealed. "I had been dating his friend, Tristan, when we met at this party. There were, like, a lot of vampires there, and one was bothering me. Tristan did nothing, but Lucien," she sighed his name, "he saved me. He swooped in like Prince Charming. I broke up with Tristan, and Lucien and I started dating. We dated for a few months before he proposed last January! We're planning a big wedding."

"Oh. That's… a lovely tale," Klaus said with fake sincerity.

"It is, isn't it?" Lucien was still smirking. He nudged the girl off his lap. "Go away, darling. Back to sleep for you. Let the men talk now."

She giggled, like Lucien had said something comedic and not deeply misogynistic. He smacked her bottom, loudly, and still giggling, the girl returned to the bedroom.

"Lucien… what the hell was that?"

"That was my fiancée," his smile was wicked. "Of course, the stupid thing doesn't realize that 'fiancée' is another word for 'pet'. You see, Tristan and I share the same taste in women."

"Women who look like Aurora?"

Lucien nodded. "Exactly. Lucien won't fuck his sister, and he won't let me fuck her, so we both make do. Whenever we find a girl who bears a passable resemblance to Aurora, we share. Tristan found Callie, and used her for a couple of years before getting bored. He traded her to me. I think I'll get another year or so of use from her, then I'll kill her."

"Do you compel her?" Klaus asked.

"No, and that is the best part of this arrangement. Tristan told her of our world, so all I had to do was save her from danger, and she thinks me a hero! I smile at her, and buy her pretty, useless things. She has no family, and a low self-worth, so I manipulate her until her world revolves around me," Lucien's eyes lit up with malicious glee. "It is ridiculously easy to bind a woman to you."

"So you need to trick a woman into your bed?" Klaus said dryly.

Lucien stiffened. "You have a new woman in your life, don't you, Nik? A mate, if the tales are to be believed."

Klaus growled low in his throat. "Careful, old friend. Would hate to ruin this gorgeous velvet couch with your own blood."

Lucien held his hands up, relenting. "Fine, fine. But do take my advice: if you want to keep your mate, you must bind her to you. A necklace makes a great collar. Bracelets, inlaid with diamonds, are pretty versions of shackles. A pretty dress, a straight jacket. And a wedding ring? Oh, that is a brand that women wear proudly."

From the corner, a shocked noise came from one of Klaus's hybrids.

"I know this thought appeals to you, Nik. How could it not? Imagine a woman wholly and completely under your spell, with no need for compulsion or trickery. The devotion! Oh, nothing tastes quite like it. She would have eyes only for you, because the thought of straying from your side would bring her immense pain. Callie cannot stray, and I assure you, if you implement the same process with your own mate, she will be the same."

"As interesting as this conversation is, I came here to ask you about more pressing topics," Klaus deflected. He ignored the seed that Lucien had planted, and instead focused on his own goals.

"Are you sure? Talking shop can be ever so boring. If you want, you can have Callie for the night," Lucien offered. "She won't fight back- or she will, if that is what you like. You wouldn't have to tell your mate- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

A second.

That was how long Klaus was tempted.

A second of desire for the life he had given up. A second to imagine himself as single, unattached, with no family, no pack, no children running around Hearth Hall. A second to long for the simplicity of the life he had led before he had reunited with his siblings and found Miriam. A second to want to be the man he was with Aurora; young, with a good portion of his humanity still intact, and with a great deal less enemies. A second to want a round or two of meaningless sex with a stranger, instead of the slow courtship with his mate.

It would be a second he would regret for a while.

"As tempting as it would be to sleep with an Aurora look-alike-"Klaus sneered at the word 'tempting' -"I would rather discuss more important matters."

"Whatever could these important matters be?" Lucien quipped.

"Cut the crap, Lucien." Klaus sped over to Lucien and plunged his hand into his chest. "Are you on vervain?"

"O-Of course," Lucien choked. "I ingest it, put it in all my hair products, I even have vervain-tinted gum!"

"Then we will have to do this the long way," Klaus grinned, all teeth, and dragged Lucien to his feet. He hauled the vampire through the apartment until he found a locked door. "Your office, I assume?"

"Yes," Lucien glared.

Klaus broke through the door easily. The office was ostentatious, with large pieces of furniture, dark colors, and a plethora of historic artifacts on the shelves. In the middle of the room was a massive and ornate desk that would have made Elijah green with envy. Upon the desk were three computer screens. Klaus deposited Lucien into a chair, and had his hybrids hover over the man. He fished Lucien's phone out of his pocket and took it with him as he went to sit down behind the ginormous desk.

"You could just ask me your questions, instead of ruining one of my favorite shirts," Lucien groused, as if he hadn't been in danger of losing his life a minute previous.

"Would you have answered me honestly?"

Lucien shrugged. "Eh, who knows? I'm known to be truthful from time to time."

"Let's test that truthfulness, then," Klaus turned on the computer and leaned back in the plush leather seat as he waited for the device to boot up. "What is your password for your phone and computer?"

Something akin to shame flickered over Lucien's face. "It is a birthdate for both passwords."

"Not yours, I'm assuming. No, you aren't that dumb. You haven't any relatives, or close friends. You wouldn't use a fictional character's birthday… no, I think it would be more personal than that. This is your private phone and your personal computer, they would require a password that no one could know… It's Aurora's birthday, isn't it?"

"Yes," Lucien said through gritted teeth.

"I am surprised your Aurora look-alike didn't try to change it to her birthday."

"She did," Lucien said glumly, before smiling wickedly, "I punished her for that. Do you want to know what I did? I used this handy little device called the pear of anguish on her until she was crying and promising never to go through my things again. Do you know what it does, my dear?" Lucien addressed Klaus's hybrid, Alicia, who was the only woman in the room. "It is inserted up a woman's cunt, and made to get bigger and bigger, until the point of pain and mutilation. After she learned her lesson, I calmed her down, took the delightful little thing out of her, then proceeded to fuck her until she passed out."

Alicia turned to Klaus, fear and anger in her gaze.

"Enjoyable little tale, Lucien," Klaus said with barely contained fury, "but you are straying from the topic at hand. I have questions, and you are going to give me answers. Don't address my hybrids again, or I will let them use your own devices against you. And I can assure you, they don't care how much pain they cause you."

"Fine, fine."

"I know about Castle Industries. I know you are trying to rise above your station. But what I want to know is what you know."

"I know a great many things-"

"The Strix have taken something important of mine," Klaus interrupted before Lucien could spew more of his venom. "Are you working for Tristan, or does your alliance only extend to sharing women?"

Lucien glowered at Klaus's words. "I detest the idea that I would be working for Tristan. We are working together. We have a common goal, if you will, that has encouraged us to set aside our differences."

Klaus chuckled. "That is an amusing image, Lucien. But men like Tristan will never see their underlings as equals. Tristan de Martel was raised to believe he was born with the right to the privileges around him. You and I, on the other hand, have had to scrape by with whatever kind of power we could get. I found my power by bettering myself, accumulating wealth, allies, and fulfilling my Hybrid identity. You, dear Lucien, have taken power from the powerless. People like poor Callie are crushed under your designer shoe, and you call that power. Your alliance with Tristan is shaky at best. Did he even tell you about what he took from New Orleans?"

Lucien pursed his lips and looked away.

"That's what I thought. Alicia, you may snap his neck."

"WAIT-"

Snap.

"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Alicia said as she wiped her hands on her pants after touching Lucien. "He's a psychopath, holy shit. I'm going to try to compel the girl to leave, and then maybe shift and piss in his bed."

"You three are encouraged to destroy the place, or even take what you want," Klaus said. Giddy at their freedom, the three hybrids began to go through Lucien's apartment. Klaus settled into his seat and began to comb through Lucien's devices.

He spent hours reading emails, texts, and other various documents. Lucien's scientists had begun working on a way to make Lucien super powerful with the venom of the original North American werewolf packs. By the dated documents, Klaus could tell that the work began the day after Klaus had unlocked his werewolf side. The research was interesting, but it threatened the existence of the Mikaelsons.

He needed to get rid of all the research facilities, as well as the research itself. It would be a lot of work to scrub every hint of Lucien's efforts from the planet.

Hours later, the sun had fully risen in the sky, and it glared hotly on Klaus's back as he worked. Every so often he would get up and snap Lucien's neck when the vampire shuddered back to the living. He wasn't going to give Lucien another second to poison his mind.

A little after noon, Klaus's cell phone rang. He answered it quickly: "Elijah. What news do you have on Freya's whereabouts?"

"Why aren't you in Virginia?" Elijah demanded instead of answering Klaus's question.

"I was following a fruitful lead," Klaus said. "I was wasted on the sidelines, so I joined the game in my own way."

"You immature, inconsiderate, hard-headed idiot!" Elijah hissed.

Sensing that Elijah's anger had been stoked by something besides him leaving, Klaus asked, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that you left, and you took three hybrids with you, leaving Roanoke more vulnerable. Aya is heading to Roanoke, brother. And you aren't there, are you?"

Klaus's heart jumped into his throat. "I'm in Las Vegas. It'll take me hours to return home."

"We are boarding the plane back to Virginia at the moment," Elijah said. "We will get there before you, but please, make your way back home post haste. We need you, Niklaus."

Guilt gnawed at him. He had left his home, his mate, vulnerable to attacks. "I'm heading back now."

"Good." Elijah hesitated, before warning, "Niklaus, if she is put in danger by your lack of planning and communication…"

"I know, Elijah," Klaus said sharply. He hung up, then stood up.

He had a plane to catch.


Over two thousand miles away, a dozen vampires were hidden in the shadows, watching Miriam, Jenna, and Greta as the three women walked down the street…


So we're picking up the plot!

A couple of things: The Hollow stuff hasn't happened yet, so Vincent and Eva are still married, and Eva isn't pregnant yet. The TO timeline is wonky (Hayley and Klaus conceive Hope in late March of 2011, and Hope is born in May 2012), so I'm going to fix it how I want. Also I gave more backstory to Davina's family life. As no Original has died in this universe, the Trinity doesn't know about the linked sire lines. My personal headcannon is that Lucien started experimenting with werewolf venom to become stronger AFTER Klaus became a full Hybrid.

QUESTION: What's everyone reading right now, either fanfic or book? I want recs!