CHAPTER 3

A sturdy all-electric pickup truck was going a solid 20 miles past the speed limit weaved in and out of the cars around it. "Freya, I've got a proposition for you that I really want you to consider," Marcel began as he slowed to take a right turn onto the highway heading down to Virginia. Freya raised an eyebrow as she plucked one ear bud from her ear, an audio book quietly whispering from it.

"Something you waited until I couldn't get away from you to tell me?" the Norwegian replied. "And you also made sure our spouses weren't around either. Should I be worried around you Mr. Gerard?" she said with an arched eyebrow.

Marcel rolled his eyes, "Jesus Freya." The witch chuckled. Marcel stopped a moment to consider his next words in the aftermath of her cheeky insinuation. He wasn't about to propose cheating, but it was something binding and intimate; just entirely non-sexual or romantic. It was for the family.

Freya noticed his serious face coming on. "Marcel, is everything alright?"

Marcel nodded, and decided to just spit it out. "I think we should bond. Like what Dahlia did with Klaus. You'd become the most powerful witch in the world, and functionally invulnerable. I can't help but be worried about opponents that we have no idea how to deal with. And I think that we should be ready for anything."

Marcel let out a breath before continuing. Since Freya didn't interrupt, he pressed forward, "If you're worried about outliving Keelin or your daughter, you've got two people who could immortalize them with a word. I'm not suggesting this lightly, but without Klaus and Elijah, I am worried about this family. We still have so many enemies, and I'd rather not be caught–,"

"I agree," Freya spoke softly. "Your fears are the same as mine. I talked to Kol after he handed over the knife, and I didn't tell you all before, but he nearly lost his fight to the thing that carried it. Not to the creature itself, but the knife. The wounds this blade cause have scarred his body, just superficially, but I think that knife can cause serious damage to non-originals, and I hate being vulnerable. I hate that Keelin and our daughter are vulnerable." Freya huffed as she went back over her words in her head. "I probably sound just like my mother before she turned my siblings into blood drinkers."

Marcel was baffled. "Yeah. You're probably right about Esther. I thought we'd argue about it much more."

Freya looked a little guilty. That's weird, oh wait a minute. "You've been thinking about this for a while weren't you?" Marcel guessed.

Freya nodded. "Ever since Dahlia proved it was possible really. And then you were our enemy, and me, my brothers and sister were incapacitated...by you. Hope is young, my daughter is young, and I'm the eldest. I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't ready to take some extreme precautions. After the Hollow tore this family apart, I began making preparations," Freya shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I was going to ask you about this when we got to Mystic Falls."

Despite the severity of their conversation, Marcel couldn't help but let out one of his deep laughs. "It seems we are more alike than we thought, aren't we auntie?" Freya smacked him on the shoulder.

"Far be it for me to agree with Rebekah, but being your auntie makes me feel old," Freya mumbled. Marcel laughed some more.

"You don't happen to have the materials with you right now do you?" Marcel asked, his tone shifting back to a decidedly non-humours tone. "Have you broached the topic with your wife?"

Freya nodded. "Keelin wasn't thrilled about it, but she's been putting up with this family's bullshit for so long that I think it wore her down a little. I'm not going to use the exact spell Dahlia did, I've made improvements. Safeguards that will bind both of us from becoming too monstrous."

"Shit, you've really went and thought this through. I suppose you're the smartest one of us left huh?" Marcel chuckled.

"Only just," Freya admits. She takes a moment to pause the audiobook she'd been listening to for the duration of this conversation. "Keelin insisted on oaths that if broken would render us both human. And frankly, I agree with her."

Marcel saw through her lie instantly, "No you don't, but it looks like she eventually convinced you huh?"

Freya flushed a little, being caught so easily in a lie. "Okay fine, it took her a while to convince me, but I agree with her now. The first of these oaths is no killing children, so I really do hope you can get on board with that. Having a daughter kinda traded in my apathy for empathy on that one"

Marcel nodded, but pointed out the dark truth, "And if a child is bewitched against us?"

Freya nodded, "There are stipulations for acting in defence and unavoidable situations. It's not an exact science, but if you disagree with the rest of the conditions, we can work it over."

"Is there a nuclear option? If somehow one of us becomes an irredeemable monster, and somehow bypasses your conditions?" Marcel asked.

Freya smirked as she flicked her hand and the right turn signal was activated. Marcel took the cue and pulled off at the next exit. Everything was about to change again, but this time, it was certainly in their favour. "I don't think that will ever happen, but if it ever does, Hope will be the nuclear option. Or, our wives."

"Hope isn't immune to my venom." Marcel said softly, horrified that he could indirectly be the cause for her death. "If she can't withstand that, then there's no real way an immortal Hope could beat evil me."

Freya smirked, "I have some of her blood, which I'll fuse as a component to your venom during the ritual. Like a reverse inoculation. Specifically, it'll make it so that while your venom could hurt her like a bitch, it wouldn't be any worse than a normal bite for her after today. And that's not even taking into account her powers in this horrifying hypothetical future."

Marcel nodded slowly at that, his fears placated. He didn't want to lose somebody like he lost Josh.

Besides, Hope would never let things escalate like that in the first place. And even if it did, Hope would have centuries under her belt as a uniquely powerful being. She'd find a way. As much as Hope reminded Marcel of Klaus and Hayley, her attitude surrounding 'cleaning up after everyone's mess' was very Freya of her. And Freya got that trait from Dahlia. So when Freya said that one day in the far flung future Hope would stop them if it came to it, Marcel knew the girl he'd truly come to view as his young sister could do it.

Their car came to a stop behind a diner. They got out, Freya grabbed her duffel bag of witchery from the boot, and fixed Marcel with an intense stare, "You ready for this?"

Marcel cracked his knuckles in the most cliché way possible before replying, "It's hero time," with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Face-palming, Freya led them into the woods to become their final-forms.