Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise.
So I'm really sorry, but it turns out that I hate Finn, and he made it especially difficult for me to write this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it!
Siegrain-Black: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
RenTenTen: Marcel's going to be in be in deep doo-doo
guest: To be fair Marcel trying to take Damon's ring is more because Damon's a complete irritant and less about the power trip – Damon just brings that out in people!
sammyleann: Kai is going to be part of this story, but he is definitely not Maya's father, the plan I have for him and the rest of the characters is very different.
tinajayy: It's not really a prediction when its Damon, that dude makes trouble wherever he goes! Finn's the only one in NOLA for now.
Dant3: Thank you, I'm glad you like it! It's been a long time since I've been able to write anything I enjoy. I hope you like where I go with this!
xrysatsan: Now the question is will he help, or hinder?
Blu3b3rryT3a: Kol and Klaus should set of alarm bells for everyone, nothing good could possibly come out of it! Caroline's always going to get her way when it comes to Maya, because as far as Maya's concerned, Caroline's like her platonic soulmate, Maya would burn the world to ash for her. Mikaelsons do have a flare for the dramatic and Finn is no different. Turns out that Maya a bit of a drama queen herself.
TheQueenofGoodbyes: Marcel's not gonna die, at least not before Klaus gets to NOLA, Nik should be the one to decide Marcel's fate, he's the one that raised him after all.
guest: Maya will always protect her family, loyalty is very important to her and Kol's going to be especially impressed because that was a spell that he taught her. Marcel was totally being a jerk, and he is going to get what's coming to him. Whether Finn will be a help or a hindrance, you'll just have to wait and see. Jenna and Elijah may or may not meet up this summer, it all depends on how brave Jenna's feeling.
LifePrice1412: I know right, I thought it was funny because Klaus is a control freak and it shouldn't be surprising that he knows everything that's going on with his siblings!
mrs. morgan 35: That particular memory isn't going to show up for a while!
NotRob: Maya's a troublemaker at heart! And she's of the opinion that she'll try to keep things from spiralling out of control, but if it does, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ oh well. Also there's all that teenage impulsiveness coming through, and Damon is not a help for that.
akb0048ha: Hope you enjoy!
TikiKiki: Please enjoy what's next!
xotinkerbella: That's right, there was no reason for Finn to curse Kol and kill him, even after being manipulated by Esther. Freya's not going to get the chance to do break up the family because she's going to be linked to one of them in order to keep her in line. I have an idea for what I'm going to do with the Trinity, because the whole 'beast' storyline just pissed me off, and I can't really have so many werewolves hunted down and tortured to death because Klaus will need them in order to make his hybrids. Also if Maya's planning on being with Klaus, Aurora is a huge problem for her, because that bitch is crazy! The more I think about Rebekah and Marcel, the more I hate it, Marcel did so much to her family and to her favourite brother in such a short period of time, I don't understand how she could forgive him. Sidenote – how do we feel about Rebekah/Mason Lockwood?
MyNameIsAngel: Thanks!
Felinegreat: Maybe…maybe not!
Tristana702: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Marcel has his good days and bad days for me, so we'll see where I go with him.
Sam: Thanks!
Hazeleyes92: Mikaelsons are a dramatic bunch, he was probably just waiting round the corner for the perfect time to enter.
WiseGirllDivergence46: Not sure how much Finn you're going to get, because I hate that dude!
Hearteyesmf: Thank you! Kol needs a partner in crime to stop him from going off the deep end and on the plus side, I imagine it really bugs Klaus.
Serena Salvatore: Thank you! I didn't want this to be your typical OC just follows the storyline, but I also don't want her to change things to much, because there parts of the storyline that need to happen.
"Bloody hell!"
"Oh shit!"
"Crap!" Damon, Enzo and Maya all muttered at the same time when she revealed who it was, none of them had been prepared to meet the eldest Mikaelson. Finn and Sage stalked into the alley, Sage gave Damon a cheeky wave when his eyes widened at the sight of her, he'd slept with an Original's girlfriend, he was so dead!
"Who the hell are you?" Marcel asked, tensing, he looked familiar, but he'd definitely never seen him before.
"Allow me to introduce myself, Finn Mikaelson, I believe that you know my sister."
Marcel's eyes widened, if it was possible, he would have paled at Finn's words, "Is she here?" he hedged, he hadn't seen Rebekah in a century, and she would be pissed to know that he was alive and didn't come for her.
Finn slammed him against the wall, his hand around Marcel's throat as he lifted him off the floor. The vampires surrounding them tried to stop him, but Sage, Damon and Enzo killed a few of them, while Maya snapped the rest of their necks. "Lucky for you, my baby sister is not here, but I wouldn't get too comfortable," Finn tightened his grip and hissed, "I know what you did Marcellus."
Maya turned to Sage, "Klaus will be really pissed if Finn kills him, really pissed," she emphasised.
Sage didn't particularly care about anything that upset Finn's psychotic brother, but she got the feeling from the young girl that if Finn did kill Marcel, he'd be looking at the business end of a dagger very soon. Nodding she whooshed to Finn's side, "Finn, we have business," she gave a miniscule shake of the head and Finn eased up on the pressure around Marcel's throat.
"Allow me to be perfectly clear, these vampires, and the witch are under my protection, and since you have met my kind before, you know that I cannot be killed. Do not push me." He broke Marcel's neck and then turned to the two vampires and witch.
"We should talk in private," Maya blurted out, "Before the ones that aren't dead wake up." She rushed out.
"You're right," Sage said, a wicked gleam in her eye, "We should." She grabbed Maya and whooshed away.
Finn broke Damon and Enzo's legs, (they would heal faster than the broken necks of the other vampires) and sped after the two women.
Damon groaned as the bones in his legs realigned, "They took Maya," he said, looking around as he stood up, he pulled Enzo to his feet once he'd healed.
"We need to call Nik," Enzo said, "But first we need to get out of here." They whooshed out of the alley and headed straight to the apartment.
Before they could call Klaus, the phone rang, "Enzo my brother Finn's on the way to New Orleans, I don't know when he left but he'll probably be there soon."
"Too late for that!" Enzo said.
"What?"
"Finn and his girlfriend just broke our legs and stole Maya!"
"WHAT?!" Klaus yelled.
Maya was sat on an uncomfortable wrought iron chair, her wrists tied down to the armrests, she fought the urge to roll her eyes, clearly they thought that she'd need her hands in order to cast. "You know, I have to be honest, the whole kidnapping thing, doesn't exactly give me the warm fuzzies."
Finn narrowed his eyes at her, "You said we should speak privately."
Maya scowled, "Yeah, privately, that doesn't mean you get to just steal me off the street! Also the restraints are a little overkill don't you think?"
"We saw what you did in that alley, we're just taking precautions, no one wants to end up with a snapped neck." Sage replied, the older woman hadn't taken her eyes from Maya, studying her carefully, young but powerful, working for Kol and possibly Klaus, she'd have to be careful with the witch. As much as she hated Finn's psychotic family, she knew that just giving them a funny look could be the cause of her death. She'd been given leniency because Finn loved her and she loved Finn, but she doubted that leniency would be extended if she damaged Kol's witch.
"What do you want?" Maya asked, calculating how much more time she'd have to be in this house, by now Damon and Enzo had to be back in their apartment, and they would have called Nik, if he was smart (which he was), Nik would use his blood for a locator spell and Damon and Enzo would sweep in trying to save her. She knew that the Original had a few witches that owed him on speed dial, but she wasn't sure about having Damon and Enzo come and find her. Finn was an Original and Sage was close to nine centuries old, either one of them could kill her friends without breaking a sweat and she didn't want that to happen.
"You are here to collect my sister," Finn said, "A sister that I thought long dead, I'm the only one that Freya knows, and yet I knew nothing of this plan."
"Well Nik didn't think that you could be trusted," she gave as much of a shrug as she could with her arms tied down, "and given the circumstances I'm inclined to agree."
"You will tell me where my sister is, and free her from whatever it is that has stopped her from finding me, and then we will let you go." Finn stated, as though it was a done deal.
"I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I'm not a slave to the Originals, I'm doing your brother a favour and in return he does one for me, that's how we work, you don't get to order me to do anything." Maya replied, shocked by Finn's audacity, it was true that even with her memories she didn't know much about Finn apart from his hatred of what he was, but she'd always thought that that he was follower not a leader, she didn't really see him as being a problem, something she'd clearly miscalculated.
"You are here, at my mercy," Finn replied angrily, "You will do as I say, or I have no use for you. I put you and your friends under my protection, but it can just as easily be taken away."
Maya's eyes hardened, "My friends and I don't need your protection, we have Nik's, and if I wanted to use it, I would have name dropped him in that alley, way before I took out some of Marcel's guys. But I didn't, because the only way to get your sister out of the city, is with the permission of the Regent, and she hates vampires. So congratulations, you've potentially screwed us out of getting her, because if the Regent thinks that I'm with you, you can kiss all chances of getting your sister out of here goodbye. Your best bet is to let me go, head back to New York and wait for your sister there."
"I will not allow my sister to be used by Niklaus for whatever nefarious scheme he has planned. I spent 900 years at his mercy, I will not allow him to do the same to Freya!"
"Look I get it, your brother's a dick, you don't trust him, but he's the only reason that you even have a chance at seeing your sister again. Because if you'd had your way, and he'd un-daggered you after Alexander and his hunter buddies shoved that thing in your chest, you would have spent the rest of your existence trying to kill yourself. And you were so young back then, that you probably would have succeeded, now you're much harder to kill, which means that your sister actually has the chance of knowing you."
"I will not thank Niklaus for keeping me in a coffin, do you know what happens after centuries of being daggered? You become aware! I could hear everything that my siblings did, and not once did they ever try to wake me, not once did they even ask Niklaus to raise me. NOT ONCE! I WAS IN HELL! And they didn't care, I will never let them harm my sister."
Maya's eyes softened a fraction, she knew that Finn was telling the truth, and it must have been agony for him, but she couldn't afford to feel sympathetic towards the eldest Original, she couldn't quite remember everything about him, but she had the distinct feeling that he was the reason that Kol had died, and considering that she was genuinely enjoying her magic lessons with him, she wasn't going to let that happen. "I told you, Nik's a dick, there's never been any doubt about that, and if it makes you feel better, I'll strongly suggest that he apologises to you. But let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. You don't scare me, my loyalty is to Nik, and unless he does something to betray that trust, it will remain with him. Nik needs Freya's help, and if you try and stop that, you won't have to worry about your brother daggering you," she could feel a darkness creep into her voice, and it looked like Sage and Finn could sense it too, because they tensed, looking ready for a fight, "Because I'll shove that thing into your chest myself, the only difference is, I'll drop you in the middle of the ocean after, and you really will never wake up!" she growled the last part.
Finn and Sage's eyes changed, neither taking the threat lightly, Sage moved to rush forward but fell to the floor with her neck snapped, "Fun fact," Maya said, standing, she used her little monologue to undo her restraints without her captors knowing, "I don't actually need my hands to do magic." Finn fell to the ground, his head twisted at an unnatural angle. "It just makes it easier." Shaking off the darkness that had crept into her she looked outside and cursed, the sun was starting to get low, which meant that Marcel's guys would be coming out of the woodwork in spades, and the two vampires behind her wouldn't take long to wake, she needed to do something and fast.
"Well," Maya said to herself, "Might as well test out how effective my barrier spell is now." She closed her eyes and let her magic reach out, searching the house for candles, smiling when a few handfuls appeared. She set them out and jot down a quick note for Finn and Sage when they woke, without a celestial event she wouldn't be able to trap them inside the house for too long. Sticking the note to the interior of the front door, she re-broke the vampires' necks and then laid her hands on them, she might as well use their own magic to trap them, no sense in wasting her reserves.
The candles lit in a circle around the vampires, she stepped outside, and focused the spell on them, she wasn't taking the chance of being stuck with them, "Phasmatos intus custodiunt mortuos claudunt eos." Her voice grew in strength, until she was shouting her spell, feeling as though an invisible wall was growing before her, brick by brick. "Phasmatos intus custodiunt mortuos claudunt eos! PHASMATOS INTUS CUSTODIUNT MORTUOS CLAUDUNT EOS!" Panting as she felt the barrier tighten around the house and settle, she passed her hand through the threshold of the door, but could feel a ripple of the magic there. At least it meant that she could get either Damon or Enzo to drop off a human or two them, she didn't want Finn and Sage to starve, just needed them out of the way while she was in New Orleans. Maya waved her hand and the front door shut and she started walking down the driveway of the abandoned home.
Pulling out her phone she noticed multiple calls from Nik, Kol, Damon and Enzo, sighing she returned the most recent call, Enzo, she'd call Nik after, at least none of them had phoned her mother yet, that would have been a pain in the arse. Enzo picked up on the first ring, "Maya! Where are you?!" he asked, panicked.
"I have no idea," she replied looking around, "I can keep walking and see if I can find a street sign or something."
"Don't, Nik's got a witch on her way to do a locator spell to find you."
"I wouldn't bother, I'm not with Finn anymore, he and Sage are locked up tight, give me a few and I'll find something," closing her eyes she reached out and searched for magic in the area, hoping to sense a vampire or witch nearby, when she felt the familiar sense of vampire close to her she smiled, she couldn't be far from the French Quarter. "Hang on I think I got something!" Rushing forward she could hear more sounds of life, "I'm on Willow Street, wherever the hell that is, is one of you gonna come and get me?"
"We're on our way Love," Enzo breathed a sigh of relief, "You're sure that those two can't get to you again?"
"Positive, we've got a little while before they're free."
Enzo paused at that, "Define a 'little while'"
"Four, maybe five days."
"And if we aren't done by then?"
Maya shrugged, "We'll have to figure that out when it comes to it. It'll be fine."
"You really have a thing for downplaying a bad situation you know that?" Damon cut in, "Find somewhere to hide out, we don't want any of Marcel's guys picking you up before we get there."
"No problem Damon, there's a couple places here that are empty, call me when you're here, I'm going to call Nik, let him know that I'm okay."
"We'll see you soon love."
Maya hung up on Enzo and dialled Nik, he picked up on the second ring, "You're a real dick you know that?" she asked in lieu of a hello.
"What a lovely greeting, I'm so glad that I wasted my time calling for a witch to find you!" he replied sarcastically.
"Don't bother, I rescued myself! Doesn't change the fact that you're a dick."
"And what is it I've done to make you accuse me so?"
"I was kidnapped because Finn doesn't trust you not to hurt Freya, he wanted me to grab Freya for him so that he can make sure that she doesn't get used by you. If you and Kol had made sure that no one could hear you, then he wouldn't even be here! Also you need to apologise to your brother, maybe twice cus I was kind of a dick too."
Klaus laughed, "I don't apologise love, ever."
"Maybe you should this time! Turns out that after you've been daggered for centuries, you become aware of your surroundings, Finn could hear everything going on around him, he knew every time you daggered a sibling, every time you woke one up, and he knows that not one of them ever tried to wake him up. I can't imagine what that was like, so you should probably say you're sorry, even if you don't mean it."
"Did…did you see that?" Klaus asked quietly, he had no idea that daggers could do that.
"He told me, then I saw it, it does kind of make you a huge dick."
"I still don't apologise to anyone."
"Well think about doing it for me? Because I really was a bitch to your brother, I mean he did kidnap me, but I might have said something that was kind of uncalled for…"
"What did you say exactly?"
"I don't want to talk about it now, let's just say it was very…Klaus-like, violent, hurtful and completely unnecessary."
"Well, now I need to hear it! Especially if you think that it was something I would say!"
She wrinkled her nose in thought, he was going to find out eventually, "I kind of told him that if he tried to stop Freya from helping you, that he didn't have to worry about you daggering him, because I would…"
"I'll admit that's 'Klaus-like' but not very hurtful."
"And I might have also said that I would dump him in the middle of the ocean and that he'd never wake up…"
"I TOLD YOU, YOU TWO WERE ALIKE!" Kol's voice yelled over the phone.
"Kol? What-why are you listening in?"
"Who do you think found out that Finn and Sage were headed to New Orleans?" Kol asked smugly.
"Probably the same person that told him what I was doing in New Orleans in the first place! What did you say to Finn?!"
"I didn't say anything to him! Tell her Nik!"
"Well I certainly didn't do it," Klaus said dryly.
"Did you remember to shut the door to your study anytime we talked?" Maya asked.
"Of course I did! I mean maybe not every time…"
Maya rolled her eyed, "Nik, please throw your brother out of a window, he's the dick!"
"I'll get right on that love," Klaus replied, amused, his baby brother was definitely getting an arse kicking, forgetting to shut his door! The worst kind of rookie mistake anyone could make. "Did Finn and Sage hurt you?"
"No, I'm good, they tied me up and thought that it meant I couldn't do anything to them. But Kol and I have been working on my spellwork, I broke both their necks and put up a temporary barrier so they can't leave the house they took me too. Hopefully I'll be gone by the time they get out."
"And if you're not?"
"I'll figure it out." She shrugged.
"Nonsense, I'll be in New Orleans by tonight."
"NO!" Maya yelled, "DO NOT COME HERE!"
"Why?" Klaus asked, was he finally going to find out the reason behind her need to keep him from his favourite city?
"Uh-I'll tell you when I get to New York, it's probably something that we should talk about in person…"
"Then I'll come down." Kol said, "You clearly need help darling."
"No! No, no, no! Absolutely not! You cannot come here at all Kol!"
"Why not?" he asked affronted, he could help!
"Because you're a stirrer Kol, you stir things up and not in a good way. I already have one of those here with me, I don't need one with a thousand years-worth of experience!"
Klaus laughed at his brother's pout, Kol hated being told 'no', "You're certain you don't want me there? After all don't I make you feel…safe?" He asked, referring to their moment in the hospital when she'd insisted that she'd be safe at his side. Kol snorted in amusement at that and ended up with a fist in the face, that threw him to the other end of the room.
"I'll be fine Nik, just make sure that the plane's ready to go when we are. Oh!" she looked out the window of the empty house she'd been hiding in and saw her vampires pull up, "Enzo and Damon are here, I'll talk to you later. Don't forget to throw Kol through a window for me!" She hung up before she could respond and ran outside, jumping into Enzo's arms.
It was two days later when Maya had gotten the summons from the Regent, and it came in the form of Davina Claire. Maya was at a café with Enzo, both enjoying the summer sun while eating a little lunch, when Davina came up to them. "Hey Davina!" Maya smiled at the younger girl, this version of Davina Claire was sweet and innocent, Maya didn't know what had happened to change that about Davina, but she hoped that whatever it was could be stopped.
"Hi Maya!" Davina said, a little hesitantly when she realised that Maya was sitting with a vampire, "Um…could we talk? In private?" she knew that vampires ran the Quarter, but she'd never actually been this close to one before, she'd heard the King of the Quarter had a rule about children.
"Oh!" Maya looked over at Enzo who shook his head, he wasn't letting her out of his sight again, looking back at Davina, she gave the girl an apologetic smile, "This is Enzo, he's my brother, and my protection here, I kind of pissed of some vampires and Enzo's not leaving my side. But anything you tell me, I'm just gonna tell him anyway…unless it's totally personal! I would never divulge personal secrets to anyone!" she insisted.
"I won't hurt you sweetheart, I don't hurt kids, and I'm just here to make sure my sister's safe, I promise."
"I swear he won't hurt you, but if you're still uncomfortable I could give you my number, and we can just talk over the phone," Maya offered.
Davina looked between the two of them, her coven had told her all about how dangerous the vampires in the Quarter were, but Maya was comfortable sitting next to one, called him her brother, ate with him, without fear of being hurt. "No, it's okay, can I sit?"
"Of course," Maya gestured to the chair opposite her, with one hand, the other firmly clasped in Enzo's.
Davina sat down, "I have a message from the Regent, she said to meet her tonight in front of the Cottage, if you know what that means."
"I do," Maya nodded, "Thanks Davina, did you want to have lunch with us? There's still a lot about the Quarter I don't know, and Enzo's like an old man! He's got a ton of knowledge stuck in his brain, just bursting to get out."
Enzo elbowed her in the side, "Hey!" he complained, "What have I told you about making fun of my age! It's not my fault I grew up in an age far superior to yours!"
"Oh yeah," Maya rolled her eyes, "No modern medicine, no indoor plumbing, no internet, you were really born in a golden age!" she teased.
Their joking manor caused Davina to let out a giggle, were vampires really so terrible if they could act like Enzo? "You two really act like you're family."
Enzo shrugged, "We might not be blood related, but she's my sister, has been since the age of seven, she means everything to me, just because I'm a vampire and she's a witch, doesn't mean that we can't care about one another."
"It's true," Maya added, "Being a vampire doesn't turn you into a monster, it just amplifies who you are, as a human I imagine Enzo was very loyal, and loved deeply." She gave him an adoring look, "As a vampire, that's been amplified, he's even more of those things."
"But, my coven says that vampires are killers, are you telling me you've never killed anyone before?" Davina asked Enzo.
He shook his head at the witches' simplistic view of his kind, "Of course I've killed, vampires are predators and humans the prey, lions and tigers kill all the time, it doesn't make them evil."
"But vampires don't have to kill," Davina insisted, "They still do!"
"A killer instinct is just that Davina, every so often it needs to be satisfied, or else you just create a monster."
"My coven has seen vampires do horrible things," the girl tried again.
"Think of it like this Davina, vampires are humans… but also more than, and humans…" she sighed, "Humans slaughter each other because of the colour of their skin, or their faith, or their politics, or for no reason at all, hate for people comes to them as easily as they draw breath. Witches aren't any different if they hate a vampire just because they're a vampire. You don't know Enzo, you don't know who he is, what he's done, he could have been newly turned, with no death on his hands and you didn't know that, but you were still afraid to sit down with him here next to me. It doesn't make you a bad person Davina, just human, a French Quarter witch could try to kill me tomorrow just because I'm friendly with vampires, if that happens would you like me to believe that all French Quarter witches are the same?"
Davina shook her head, "I-I've never thought about it like that," she said, Maya's words had triggered something, she'd always been content to believe in her coven, but was Maya right? "I should go, you've given me a lot to think about."
"No problem," Maya shrugged giving the younger girl a soft smile, "I'll talk to you later."
Davina left and Enzo looked over at Maya, "That was thoughtful little speech love, been working on it long?"
"Not really, I believe everything that I said, but I pretty much stole that speech from Magneto."
"Magneto?" Enzo replied slowly, "The mutant from that comic book you love so much?"
"Yeah!"
He laughed, "You're such a nerd!"
"Hey!" she protested, smacking his arm, "I am not!"
"Yes or no, was that speech word for word?"
"I…paraphrased…"
"Such a nerd," Enzo shook his head with a smile.
Rolling her eyes Maya stood, "Come on, lets get Damon, we're going to have to plan for tonight."
Damon and Enzo were on either side of Maya as they arrived at the Dowager Fauline Cottage, The Regent and her entourage were already there, and Maya could feel vampires watching from the distance. "Can we get this over with?" Maya asked as she stood before Josephine, ignoring the glare the older woman threw at her companions.
"Details first," the Regent said, her research into the Cottage had given her no answers and similarly her investigation into Maya had not yielded many results. The girl claimed that she'd been sent by her coven, and yet she had no evidence of which coven Maya belonged to, Maya's mother was not a witch, they'd gone back generations and not a single Sommers in Maya's line had even the slightest inclination towards magic. Which meant that Maya's gift came from her father, a father that was conspicuously absent, there was no name listed on Maya's birth certificate and her investigator could not come up with a hint towards who Maya was related to. "Whether or not you find who your are looking for, you will remove the hex on my hands." The Regent stated.
"I can agree to that," Maya acquiesced, "I'll do it when we're finished here."
"I am opening the Cottage for you and no one else, you're the only one that may enter."
"No," Maya said quickly, before one of the vampires could protest.
"This is not a negotiation," Josephine stated.
"I have no guarantee that you won't just shut me in with the rest of those crazy witches, and I'm not taking the chance. I go nowhere without protection, and my vampires are my protection."
"I will not let them enter the Cottage." Josephine replied stubbornly.
Maya scowled, "You've investigated me, I can tell. I can also tell that you haven't come up with anything on me, you don't know who I am, or what I'm capable of, but I'm sure that your girls told you about my confrontation with Marcel and his vampires." At Josephine's nod she continued, "I took them on without breaking a sweat, without fear, and I've already shown you that I'm capable of fixing your hands. Do you really think that I'm not capable of opening this Cottage without your help?"
"If you could do it yourself, then why did you ask for my help?" The Regent asked.
"I did it out of common curtesy, if I open those doors, they stay open, the spell on the cottage will be broken and every crazy, murderous witch that's been locked up in there is free to roam this city once more. I don't want to do that, but I will if given no other choice, but it's your choice, you open the doors and I go in there with my vampires and come out with my coven sister, and in return I fix your hands. Or you refuse, I open the cottage, take my sister and leave you and the rest of the nine covens to deal with the mess, either way I get what I want, but you don't."
Josephine paused, she was the Regent of the Nine Covens, she did not get backed into a corner, and yet this girl was going just that, Maya had given her a taste of what it might be like to have her hands back, and she didn't want to lose that, she had the feeling that Maya would do what she promised. "You have two hours to search the Cottage, if you do not find who you came for and leave within that time, I will shut the doors and seal all three of you inside."
"Fine," Maya said, if Josephine did lock them inside she would siphon the spell, and leave New Orleans to deal with the problems that came with that, but the Regent didn't need to know that. "Now open the doors."
Josephine raised her hands and muttered a few words, and Maya felt a shift in the magic surrounding the Cottage. "Come on," Maya said, gesturing to Damon and Enzo.
/
The three of them whooshed inside, Enzo released Maya and they looked around the prison, "This place gives creepy a whole new definition." Damon said.
"Witch prison Damon, it's not celebrity rehab," Maya replied, shuddering at the feel of the dark magic in the Cottage, "We need to hurry, but I do not want to split up, we don't know how much power these witches have."
"I agree," Enzo said, "We'll start in the basement and work our way up. Let's go!" he grabbed Maya up and whooshed down to the basement, closely followed by Damon.
The three of them had spent an hour searching the basement, and the first two floors of the Cottage, before Maya felt a pulse of magic that made her look up at the ceiling. "You know, I'm pretty sure that cottages are actually meant to be small, all these floors are seriously bad advertising."
"You're telling me," Damon replied annoyed, "This place is nuts, it doesn't look this big from the outside."
"It's like the Tardis," Enzo shrugged, causing his companions to shoot him an incredulous look.
"Who's the nerd now?" Maya asked.
"I'm British," Enzo defended, "Doctor Who is like the recommended reading you get in school, it must be watched."
Damon snorted in amusement, "If that's true then what's that autographed Doctor Who poster you have stashed in your closet? Extra credit?"
"You're one to talk, you have that signed Captain Kirk doll in your room."
"It's an action figure!" Damon hissed.
"Oh my God," Maya said, looking delighted, "I knew I was the cool one of the group, but I didn't realise that you two were such geeks!"
"Shut up Maya!" they both said at the same time, causing the girl to cover up a snort of laughter.
"Come on!" she said, calming down, "I get the feeling I know where we're supposed to go." She made her way up the stairs to the third floor, looking for the way into the attic, finding the door hidden in the hallway closet, she tried to open it, but it was locked. "Damn!"
"Move over," Damon said. Gripping the handle he turned and heard the lock break on the other side, he pushed the door open. The attic was far more ominous that the rest of the house, if that could be believed, the stairs leading up to it were dark, Maya couldn't see in front of her.
"Can you find the light switch?" Maya asked.
"Nope," Damon replied unhelpfully, "Take my hand, Enzo you take the rear, we'll go up together."
The three of them made their way upstairs and Maya could just about make out the outline of her vampires when they reached the top, it was pitch black, something that shouldn't have been possible considering that the moon was quite bright and its light should have been coming through the window in the attic. Enzo pulled out his phone and lit up the screen, "Thank god for modern technology," he muttered, he should have been able to see even in the dark, but it was like there was a heavy blanket in the room, blinding his sight. When the phone came to life Maya looked around, spotting something glinting in the light.
"Over there!" she said, the three made their way over and Maya gasped, it was a glass coffin, and inside, a young blonde woman, who looked for all intents purposes, asleep.
"This her?" Damon asked.
Placing her hand on top of the glass, Maya flinched as she felt an onslaught of memories slot themselves into place in her head, "This is Freya, come on, we need to get her out of here."
"Shall we open the coffin?" Enzo asked.
"No, she put herself in here, I have no idea the kind of protections she put in place and we don't have time for me to navigate them, can you two bring her in the coffin?"
"No problem," Damon replied, grabbing one end of the coffin, Enzo picked up the other, "Let's go, Maya I want you ahead of us at all times, so that we can see you."
/
Josephine couldn't hold back her shock as she saw the three of them come out with a coffin, no one had died in the Cottage, she would have felt it, and yet, there was a woman in the coffin, a woman that wasn't in any of the files she had, Maya had been telling the truth!
"Told you so," Maya said, unable to keep the smug look from her face, she liked being underestimated.
"How is this possible?" Josephine asked.
"Don't feel too bad," Enzo said with a smirk, "She was locked away almost a hundred years ago, you weren't born then."
Josephine shot him a glare and turned back to the Cottage, sealing it back up, before looking at Maya, "I believe that it is time to fulfil your end of the bargain."
Maya nodded, "You're right, lets go." She said, motioning for the older witch to follow her, when Josephine gave her a questioning look Maya paused, "I'm not doing this out in the open, we're going back to my place, considering I'm fairly sure that you wont invite Enzo or Damon into your home."
"I will not."
"Right, so follow us back to our apartment here, you already know where it is."
/
Josephine was sat at the dinner table in the apartment, Maya hadn't let any of her people in, but allowed them to wait directly outside. Damon was outside with the entourage whilst Enzo lurked in the corner of the room, making sure that the Regent didn't try anything. "Are you ready?" Maya asked. She'd made the concoction again, and had a towel ready to cover their hands up so Josephine couldn't see her work. At the Regent's nod, she took hold of her hands, dipped them in the opaque liquid and Enzo laid the towel over them. Closing her eyes Maya stretched her senses, she felt the hex, how it weaved into the Regent's magic, felt where it stopped, and began to siphon. Maya muttered a few words, drawing the hex away by using it's own magic against itself, as it drew away from Josephine's own magic it became easier to siphon. Concentrating Maya drew it all out of the The Regent, following each wispy tail that the hex left, ensuring that not even the smallest part of it was left in Josephine, before pulling away.
The Regent gasped as she looked at both of her hands, her fingers straight, not a hint of the pain that she'd been in, present anymore, moving them slowly she shed tears at the feeling, she never thought that this was something that she'd be able to have again. Maya watched as the Regent marvelled at her hands, the French Quarter witches were some of the most powerful, she'd been genuinely surprised that none of them had been able to break the hex. But when she felt the hex that wrapped around the Regent's gnarled hands she'd been shocked, the magic had been tied to the Ancestors, the Regent's mother, unwilling to let her daughter go, had ensured that even from beyond the grave she would have to endure the hex. What was with supernatural mothers and their inability to allow their children to grow into their own without doing what they believed was 'best' for them?
"Thank you," Josephine whispered, almost reverently.
"The magic was tied to your Ancestors," Maya said, "Had they wanted to, they could have undone the hex, but they chose not to, that's also why none of your own could undo the hex, they couldn't see the difference between it and your own magic. I'm not saying this to hurt you, but you are the link that communes with the Ancestors on a daily basis, perhaps you should ask why they didn't want you to be healed."
Josephine nodded and stood, "Now that our business is concluded, how long do you plan to remain in New Orleans?"
"We'll be gone by the end of the week," Maya replied.
"The next time you are in New Orleans, join me for tea." The older woman said, before sweeping out of the apartment.
"That was intense," Enzo commented.
"You should have Nik get the plane ready for the day after tomorrow, I don't want to be in this city much longer, that barrier spell I put up will only last another few days." Maya replied.
"I'll call him first thing in the morning."
The next day Maya was in one of the shops in the Cauldron, it was a shop that specialised in Voodoo, she'd spoken with the a few witches in the Quarter at length, there used to be a coven in New Orleans referred to as the Voodoo Queens, but they had been subdued and destroyed by the human faction in NOLA years ago. Luckily, while they were gone their knowledge remained, and she'd been able to figure out that she needed extra items in order to pull of the spell she'd wanted to. The shop owner refused to let Enzo or Damon in, so they were waiting just outside, whilst Maya was perusing the shelves for ingredients, when she felt his presence.
"Marcel," she said, not turning from the shelf.
"You know you've caused quite a stir among the witches, all they can talk about it how some small town girl from the middle of nowhere managed to do what the Regent herself couldn't."
"Your point?"
"You're powerful," Marcel said, "Especially for one as young as you."
Turning around she finally faced him, "Is this the part where you ask for my help? Or where you threaten me? I'd like to know, so that I know how much pain I'll be leaving you in, when I leave the store."
Marcel smiled, but his eyes were cold, she knew that those eyes could hold warmth in them, had seen it, but she was a danger to him, to his rule, "You brought an Original into my city."
"I wouldn't say that too loud, especially when we know who this city really belongs to."
He frowned, a low growl escaping him before he could stop it, "I should kill you."
"You can try," Maya replied, "I may be under Finn's protection, but he's not the Original I work for."
"And who do you work for then?"
"The one I work for, he's got a great temper, and is very possessive, if you managed to kill me, he'd burn this city to the ground."
Marcel ran her words through his head, she didn't work for Rebekah, she'd said 'he', and Elijah was too controlled to allow his emotions to get the better of him, which only left two, Klaus and Kol, both had hair trigger tempers, both would tear apart a city at the drop of a hat, but only one would potentially stop themselves from killing him, "Who?" he ground out.
Maya smiled, "That's for me to know, and you to dot dot dot," she replied, stealing one of Damon's favourite lines, "But please make your threats, I was getting a little bored."
"Who was in the coffin?" he asked suddenly.
"What?"
"You took someone from the Fauline Cottage, who was it?"
"My coven sister, she was cursed and locked away so that we couldn't get her back, I fixed the Regent's hands and in turn, I got her back."
"And how did you do that exactly? A witch your age shouldn't have been able to pull that off."
"What can I say?" she shrugged, "I had a really, really good teacher."
Marcel froze for a moment at that, Kol was known to run with witches, he was actually an expert in them, did that mean that she was working for Kol? If she was then he was screwed.
"What do you want Marcel? I have a lot to do before I leave, and not a lot of time to do it in."
"You spelled that cocky vampire's ring," he said, getting to what he really wanted, his men had seen what happened when someone tried to remove the ring, and had been talking about it, wanting that kind of protection for themselves.
"So?"
"I want that spell," he said, "So my witch can do it."
Maya laughed, "That spell, was one of my own creation, I'm quite proud of it, but I won't be giving it to anyone."
"I'm not asking princess," he replied.
"And my answer's still no, I don't work for free Marcel, my daylight rings and the protections that they come with cost upward of $1.5 million."
"You charge for daylight rings?" he asked.
"How else am I supposed to pay for college?" she replied, "With money comes the ability to do whatever I want, I don't know why more witches don't charge for their services, trading in favours is so tedious."
"You're telling me the Originals pay you?" he asked incredulously.
She shrugged, "At the end of the day, money really does make the world go round, so I'm not about to cut into my own profits by giving you my spell, if your witch is smart enough, I'm sure she'll come up with something!" Maya waved her hand and Marcel ended up frozen where he stood, he glared at her, he couldn't even open his mouth to talk.
"This has been fascinating, really, but I have errands to run, don't worry, the spell will wear off when I'm out of range!" she headed up to the counter at the back of the shop, paid for her items and left, she didn't appreciate the fact that the witch who ran the place kept her friends out, while she let Marcel have his way.
Maya, was sat in the private plane that Klaus had sent for them, waiting while Damon and Enzo loaded Freya, very carefully in the cargo hold. It wouldn't do well to arrive with the Original's only mortal sister all banged up. Taking out her phone she called Kol, "We're going to be leaving New Orleans in a few minutes," she said.
"Did you manage to find everything that you'll need for the spell?" Kol asked.
"Yes, and I spoke to a few witches that work with Voodoo, they all said the same thing, if we want this to work then the link has to be attached on both ends, we'll have a vampire taking over Freya's role in the spell, but Freya will also need to be linked to someone, to trick the spell into thinking that nothing's changed."
"Who do you want to link her to?"
"I don't know, I get the feeling that she should be linked to one of you, just to ensure that she can't be hurt or killed, before I find a way to permanently break the spell, but I have no idea who, I mean, she can't be linked to Nik, that could interfere in his ability to break the curse, and I'm not linking her to Finn, he's far too much of a liability to allow him that much power over his sister."
"Which leaves, Rebekah, Elijah and myself," Kol concluded, "and each of us has our own pros and cons."
"Elijah has his strength of character, but I feel like he'd be blinded by his need for a family and let Freya get away with too much."
"You'd be right, my brother would not be the best disciplinarian, especially as Freya is technically his elder sister."
"Nik says that Rebekah's got great instincts when it comes to liars."
"She does."
"But she's emotional, I can't trust that she won't get jealous of Nik giving Freya all the attention and do something drastic."
"A fair point," Kol conceded.
"Which leaves…"
"Me."
"You know the most about magic, I think you'd be able to spot if she tries anything, but you also have a temper, and we need Freya on side in order to break Nik's curse."
"I can reign myself in," Kol said.
"Are you sure?"
"Do you have a better option?"
"Not really."
"Then it's settled, in order to wake Freya, you will link our sister to me, and we shall find a way to break Nik's curse."
Thanks for reading, if you can please leave a review, the feedback gives me life!