Gen lost track of time as she siphoned away layers of spells keeping the lockbox shut tight. At last, she felt the last spell fade and with a simple unlocking spell, the box opened. As she peered inside, a knock on her bedroom door startled her and she quickly stashed the box under her pillow, grabbing a book from her nightstand and opening it as the door opened.
"Genevra! I called for you several times!" Marie said sternly. "What are you doing up here?"
"Tending my studies, ma'am," she replied, holding up her book. Please don't come closer. Please just leave...
"Are your chores done?"
"Dishes are washed and put away, laundry is in the wash, and I dusted and swept the lower floor," she replied. "I have closing shifts the next two nights, so I wanted to do some studying before I go to work."
"Picking up extra shifts are you? Anything interesting since that failed ritual?" she asked.
"Nothing your other spies aren't already aware of, I'm sure," Gen said, not daring to look up and give her lies away. "Now if you don't mind, I'd rather be alone for a while."
Marie scrutinized her for what seemed like forever before finally leaving, the door remaining half open behind her. Gen didn't move from that spot until she heard Marie's footsteps away from her room. Quickly, she pulled the box from behind her pillow and stashed it in her large purse then changed from her casual outfit into her work uniform before stepping out onto her bedroom balcony. There was no way she could study the contents of the box at home with Marie there. She climbed onto the railing and jumped, catching hold of the nearby tree branch and climbing down from there.
The walk to the French Quarter was peaceful. Not the quiet sort of peace that one would gain from a meditation in an empty garden, but the sort of peace one would feel as if they had returned to where they truly belonged. The music, the energy of Bourbon Street, the colorful artists, the mysterious undertones. It was a place where anyone could find a sense of belonging.
Gen stepped through the doors of Rousseau's and waved to Cami at the bar before taking a seat at the far end. She dug out the box again and opened it, pulling out the old, leatherbound journal and a stack of papers. A cup of coffee set at the edge of her vision caught her eye and she looked up at Cami with a smile.
"Needed to get away again?" she asked.
"Yeah… Jon is out of town with Gregory so there's no one else to hold Marie's attention," she replied, taking a sip of the coffee. She sighed in contentment. "You make the best coffee, Cami."
"You know you really should get yourself out of there," Cami advised.
"Would if I could, but I can't leave Jon to the wolves like that," she said. "They'd smother him even more than they already do."
"At the cost of your own peace though?" Cami paused and poured a drink for the patron down the bar before returning to Gen. "You can't put everyone else's needs over your own… You'll burn yourself out."
"Coming from someone who knows from experience?" she asked.
Cami tensed and the pair met each other's eyes for a moment before Cami looked back down at the glass she was cleaning. Gen shook her head.
"Sorry I'll uh… let you get back to work," she said and returned her attention to the journal in front of her.
Gen opened the journal to the front page and nearly dropped it as she saw the name written on the page. Aaron Morel.
Jon blinked at the man. How could he know who he was? Who even was he? So many questions swirled around his mind, yet his mouth seemed incapable of forming words for the moment. Aaron stood, setting aside his book. Jon instinctively backed away.
"I-I didn't want to do this.. He said I had to!" Jon insisted. "I don't even know who you are or what you did!"
"Relax, Jonathan," Aaron said calmly. "Come have a seat… I'll tell you why your grandfather brought you here. I owe you some answers after I failed you and your sister."
"How do you know about her? And about me?"
He sighed and picked up the small book again, feeling the smooth leather of the cover before looking back up at Jon.
"Let me tell you a story about a young father who desperately wanted to protect his children," he said. "His wife had died in childbirth… Her body was not yet cold when he packed up his newborn twins and carried them away. He contacted old friends and contacts, hoping they could help him save his twins from the fate that awaited them."
"Wait wait, are you saying that you're our father?" Jon asked.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," he replied. "I was standing against the entire coven, but I had to try. They banished me out here when they took you back… I never knew why they spared my life that night."
"Seems they were saving you… I suppose this is meant to be some kind of test for me," Jon said, sinking into the chair across from him. "Grandpa told me I had to eliminate a traitor to our coven... He told me it was the first step toward taking my place as patriarch of the coven."
"Then where's your sister? Shouldn't she be doing this with you?" he asked.
"Probably hiding out in the French Quarter," Jon said. "They don't seem to care to teach Gen much of anything. Hell she'd barely know how to control her magic if I didn't share my lessons with her."
Aaron's fist clenched for a moment and it took all his discipline not to lash out. It isn't his fault… He took a slow breath as he looked into his son's eyes.
"You mean to tell me that they are neglecting Genevra's learning but teaching you?" he clarified.
"Yeah, but to be honest, Gen's the lucky one," Jon said. "She's not under constant scrutiny. She can go out without being questioned. She can talk to people, make friends. She has freedom. I always thought we were supposed to lead together, but lately Gran and Grandpa have really only focused on me."
Aaron put his head in his hands and closed his eyes for a moment. "This is exactly what I feared would happen… It's why I wanted to take you two away from this. They've already decided who will win."
Jon leaned forward, confusion contorting his face. "Win? Win what?"
"The Merge."
Gen spent almost half an hour reading over the last entries in the journal. It was full of talk of saving her and her brother from the fate the coven had planned for them. Continued repetition of "The Merge" troubled her. She had caught snatches of ideas about a ritual by that name but the books containing them always had the pages torn out.
She glanced down at the stacks of papers that had been hidden with the journal and skimmed over one, then another, and another. These were some of the very pages from those books. She read through diagrams, walkthroughs, and histories of the ritual as she sat at the bar, passing the rest of the day reading every scrap of paper. She became so absorbed she didn't notice as someone sat in the stool right next to her.
"Curious subject matter for one so young, isn't it?" drawled a voice to her left.
Gen instinctively moved to cover the pages as her head whipped around to see a rather good looking vampire in a leather jacket. He looked to be in his early twenties, but the look in his dark blue eyes told a tale of a much longer life.
"Who… it's you," she breathed, startled. "The other Original… If I recall my reading, you're Klaus Mikaelson. The Hybrid."
Klaus tipped his glass and nodded. "The one and only, but you didn't answer me."
"For all you know I'm older than I look."
"Ah but escaping to another area, even going so far as to get a job in a different area," he observed, "seems like something one too young to be out of their own would do."
"I could afford to go any time I wanted, but I just can't right now," she replied, turning her eyes to her now cold cup of coffee.
"And why is that?"
"My twin. He's my only family left," she said. "I couldn't leave him behind."
"Admirable loyalty… I wonder… Would your twin do the same for you?"
Gen found herself hesitating to give what should have been an easy answer, but now, after reading about this Merge ritual, she wasn't so sure. After all, Jon had to have known. How else would he have known that the box was there?
"I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe once he would have… But now I don't know."
"Perhaps it's time to think over who is worthy of your loyalty then, young lady," he said, setting down his empty glass. "Perhaps you should consider looking to those outside your supposed family."
Gen found herself staring into her coffee mug. It was odd. She usually didn't put much stock in the words of vampires, but his words had a ring of truth to them. Could she really trust her brother anymore? She pulled out the pile of pages and the box tumbled out of her bag and a small, glass vial fell from it. Klaus caught it quickly and set it on the bar, a small label facing out.
"Jonathan," he read and raised an eyebrow.
"What…" Gen couldn't find words as she picked up the vial. "This is blood, powerful blood."
Klaus took the vial, opening it and taking a deep inhale before closing it again. "It's vampire blood."
Gen snatched it back and stuffed everything back into her bag before turning to the bar. "Cami? I gotta go. It's a… uh.. a family emergency. I'll be back at 8 for my shift," she promised, fumbling to find her wallet in the mess.
Klaus watched in silence, setting a $100 bill on the bar before taking Gen by the shoulder, guiding her toward the back and out to the back alley before the blonde bartender could say anything. Gen was walking before the door even shut and Klaus followed her.
"Care to explain that?" he asked.
"No I don't," she replied. "I need to… go look into this more."
"What's so troubling about vampire blood from this Jonathan?"
Gen whirled around at her follower. "The vampire blood's not from him, it's for him."
She returned to her path, pulling out her cell phone and trying to call her twin directly. After all, she had to know if he knew about all this. She had to know he hadn't betrayed her.
"The Merge? Care to explain what that is?" Jon asked.
"You know the coven's history, how it broke off from the Gemini coven many years ago," Aaron explained. "The Merge is how the Gemini coven maintains its power, but it can only be performed by twins. You and Genevra were the first twins born to the coven."
"Yeah but what exactly is the purpose of this ritual? What happens? And why is there a 'winner?'"
"The twins merge their power and blood together and in the process their life force links the coven's lives and their power to that of the winner, the one who survives."
Jon's phone started buzzing away in his pocket and he looked down, seeing his sister's name flash across the screen and quickly hit the ignore button, looking back up at Aaron.
"What happens to the loser?"
"The loser's life, power, and consciousness is absorbed by the winner. I never wanted you two to be forced into this."
"So why don't we run now?" he suggested. "We can go get Gen and leave the city and we can be a family again!"
In quick succession a series of jars around the room began to shatter and Aaron looked into the desperate eyes of his son. His alarms had been triggered, which meant his property's protections had been broken or siphoned away. Jon knew it too by the tension visible in his stance.
"Son, I won't have you hurt in this process," Aaron said and took Jon's hand. "Siphon me and do what you must."
"No, I don't want to hurt you!"
"Jonathan you have to do this or they will hurt you!"
Jon trembled as he took from his own father the magic he needed and looked to the wooden walls then toward the cabinet of alcohol along one wall.
"Go out the back window," he said. "I'll make it look convincing. Run!" As soon as Aaron was out of view he whispered a quiet "Incendia!"
Flames erupted around the cabinet of liquor, causing glass to break and the fire to spread along the wooden walls. Jon walked out the front door as flames began to consume the entire house behind him and met his grandfather on the path.
"It's done," Jon said and started walking back the way they came, refusing to even look at his grandfather.
He had to get back to his twin and share what he had learned. He hoped that her discoveries could shed light on a way out of this.
