Interlude: Josephine
"Eat," she said. "You need the strength."
Antoinette gave a small nod before stabbing at the steak in front of her. She, as usual for her, was quiet, looking over everything and taking it all in. They were in a crowded diner, enjoying the morning rush. There were people around and with them came the scents: A myriad of different colourings all with their own smidgen of information.
It was easy to get distracted, allow the part of her mind primed to reading into these scents to go on a free for all. In this state she could read them, make guesses where they'd been, the amount of activity from the night before and even guess at what that activity was. If she focused enough she could even push her mind into reading the emotions of the room, a similar ability to that of the Lockwood clan.
All that trouble with an older mind and for a mind as young as Antoinette's, it was nearly impossible not to get lost in it all.
Josephine watched as her sister ate, mechanically chewing through the meat before slicing for another piece. She couldn't help herself, her hand moved and messed the younger girl's hair. Annie looked up, giving Josephine a bright smile before returning to her food.
All this is for you, she thought. She'd made it so she saw the larger image, protecting the entirety of her people, strengthening them through the bonds of family but when she broke it down she was doing all this for little Annie.
She took in a breath and got the general shift. The direction of the scent, the intensity of the air from outside, crisper and filled with a certain amount of green to it. Then there was the musk, an animal sort of smell that was slightly watered down. Looking in the direction and she could see the man, large and broad shouldered, skin dark and with unkempt hair.
He looked through the room and spotted them, striding into the room. He took a seat in front of Josephine and Antoinette.
"Everything went well?" she said as she peeled an orange.
"Everyone's been accounted for," said Eric. "The witches were good on their word, protecting the Innocents."
"That's good," she said, her voice working on its own to form the emotions she no longer felt. "The Lockwoods? What do you think about them? With what you've seen so far?"
"Mason's easier to read," said Eric. "Like many of us he's suffered through the transformations so he's working towards alleviating that. From what Jules' pack has let slip, he's been working on this for a long time. With the Moonstone."
"I know," said Josephine. "But it's Tyler I'm more worried about. Their clairvoyant has been working on this town which makes things foggy for me."
Eric was quiet for a moment, his features running through a myriad of emotions before he said, "We could take him out, make the picture clearer."
"We could," she said. "But should we?" Josephine took in another breath before reaching into her pocket, pulling out a small tin that was charred on the outside. She put the thing on the table before pulling out a match and flicking it on.
"Excuse me," said a woman, a waitress. "You can't smoke in here."
Josephine ignored her and dropped the match in the tin, there was a waft of smoke that quickly spread through the room. The waitress, who had been walking towards them, returned to looking over the small notebook in her hands.
"If he's like me, then he knows to be guarded," she said. "He knows the forces he's up against and even if his power-set is more versatile he'll know that he'll be at a disadvantage. He'll be prepared for death and he'll more likely have countermeasures."
Eric frowned. "I thought you couldn't read him."
"I can't," she said. "But I can't read you. I can't read my sister. Hell, I can't read a lot of people using my power. But I can use information I've gleaned to put the puzzle that is him into perspective."
"Also, killing is bad," said Antoinette. "Bad as in bad. And bad because people get angry."
"You're right," said Josephine giving Annie another rub of the head. "Bonnie will react. Bonnie's father will react. We can't predict any of this because of the change. But we need to get an image of the situation. We need Micah Bennett watched. Eye candy. Preferably one of the empath variants."
"I'll have Charlotte start working on him," said Eric, getting to his feet.
"Hank," said Josephine.
Eric stopped before he gave a short nod. "Right. What about the Old One? How long will we be here?"
"We'll have more breathing room once I'm married to Tyler," she said. "I've already got the framework on how to lead through the distance, making it so the magic holds while people return to their original territories. But there's the chance that Klaus might be here in the week or the month. We'll have to be ready to fight if that's the case."
"The others won't like this," said Eric.
"I know. But this is all towards the end-goal," she said. "Tell them what I always say. If they've lost their trust in me then they can leave. I won't blame them for doing that."
Eric let out a sigh and gave a nod. "Better get everything prepared," he said and he stood, leaving.
"Call the Evans kids," said Josephine. "I want you to spend time with them for the next few hours. Make sure I don't take over too much."
Annie gave a nod and pulled out her phone.
This was the price for the spell, the price for not having been born in the right family. If she'd been a witch like Micah, she could only imagine the things she would have already achieved. Instead the man had been attending school the past few months and doing the gods knew what.
Josephine felt her heart beating faster, the anger filling her up and colouring her thoughts. She took a long breath and pushed it all back, focusing on the future and what she was trying to do. Coming to this place at this time was for a reason, trying to seize an opportunity which had presented itself.
Another hybrid had just popped up and she didn't understand it. That's the true reason she was doing all this. When she learned how this had happened then she'd move towards creating more Original hybrids. Step one had already been achieved: She had the Original Father.