2-04

There were wolves milling about in the Lockwood Property, some stopping when the car set in. I felt uncomfortable being here, all these people that I didn't know and couldn't read, their expression which looked hostile. But with the vigour of the anger still running through me I could push it back quite easily, force the fear and discomfort away toward red-laced thoughts.

The looks weren't directed at me, at least not entirely. Enzo was with me, in front and being the guard while Bonnie and Jared were at either side of me. There hadn't been much conversation during the car trip, all of us in our respective thoughts with me trying to direct my thoughts forward and failing.

Josephine rankled me, how she thought she would have done things better, how she thought I wasn't doing enough with the power I had. Didn't she understand how complicated it had been for me? Being locked in my mind? Not having the chance to experiment at a young age?

In the haze anger came quicker, seemed to have more weight but it was holding me back. I focused not on her but the Originals. They were what I wanted to be dealt with first and foremost.

"Micah," said Mason with a smile that quickly punched a hole through my anger. The way he looked, the smile, the eyes, all of it taken together was enough that…I pushed back and focused on the anger. It was easy to forget I was a teenager, a male teenager, and that my body was going through a major phase.

"I started to think you weren't coming," he said.

"I was preparing for this," I said.

"I can see that," he said looking at the other. "You've brought your personal cavalry."

"Pretty insulting, that," Enzo muttered. "Makes a guy feel more like a goon than anything else."

"And aren't we?" said Jared. "We do follow his orders after all." There was just a bit of bite in the comment. He was still angry at me, but he could only display that through passive aggression.

Not really something to focus on because I could understand it. In the car I'd had time to think things through, put myself in his position and imagined if someone had cleaved open a chasm between Bonnie and me. Even if I liked that person something like that wouldn't be easily forgiven.

"I don't order," I said. "I just tell you what might happen in the future and most of the time you all agree with me that I have the best course of action."

Bonnie looked at me, her lips quirking. She wanted to say something but she just stopped herself, letting out a sigh and looking forward. Why? Because what she would say would be on the fear from before? Because she would have said something that would have shown we were no longer a united front?

"Right," said Mason. "Josephine has been waiting for you. Follow me?" I gave a nod and we followed, taking the enchanted rings to get into the house and moving to a drawing room in the second floor.

Josephine sat on a small table with a ragged book in front of her; the girl's sister sat on the floor beside Josephine, letting the older girl run a hand through her hair. It was adorable in a way I couldn't understand and it made me feel a pang of something watching it…loss? Did I perhaps have a younger sibling in the other life?

I pushed that back, thoughts like that were liable to send me in a depressive spiral.

Three more wolves were in the room with her, two of them men and the other a woman. The woman looked the oldest with weathered skin and a scar running from her neck to her lower face; one man was burly with dark skin; while the last was tall and lean, pale skin with very dark hair, his eyes shined as they looked my way.

"Micah," said Josephine with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She gave her sister a tap on the head while she stood, the girl got to her feet and ran out of the room. "Thank you for coming."

"We have a problem," I said. "Since we have an alliance its beneficial to all of us if we worked together." I told my mind to ease on the coldness, to put on a warm smile but I couldn't quite achieve the effect.

Josephine gave me a nod before she said, "If that's the case, the introductions are in order. These are members of my greater pack," she said. "Former Alphas who help keep order with a pack this big. We have Leah," she gestured at the woman who gave us a smile. "Eric," she said and looking at the man he seemed familiar, "and Hank." The man gave a bright grin.

"Pretty young for an Alpha aren't you?" said Bonnie.

"I come from a pack of four," he said. "Mostly my sister and my two cousins."

But he was still here. There was something there, something to be on the lookout for in the future.

"I think you might know us," I said. "But if you don't, my sister Bonnie, and my friends Enzo and Jared," I said gesturing to each. "I hope this isn't construed as rude but I feel we need to get into the crux of it all. There are other things I have to attend to in town."

"Of course," said Josephine and she took a seat. Mason closed the door and moved us towards a sofa were Bonnie and I sat, Enzo choosing to stand and Jared chose a separate seat. If she was anything like me then Josephine would have surely noticed that, but how she'd use it was the question.

If she'll even use it, a part of me thought. Stop painting everyone as an enemy.

Smart but I didn't feel it. If I treated everyone like an enemy then my mind actually started putting an effort into deciphering them.

Josephine moved, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a match box. She lit the thing, throwing the burning match into a dirty tin and smoke flared out, white in colour. No doubt an enchantment of sort, maybe similar to ward Elijah had that had been Cloaking him.

"The matter of the Old One," said Josephine. "Elijah. You know what if foreshadow?"

I gave her a nod. "And the others know too," I said. "We've been mentally preparing for it for some time. We know the danger of the Originals so we've made it a point of not fighting them, giving them what they want as far as we can."

Leah's eyebrows furrowed at that and so too did Josephine's. No doubt for different reason. I could easily guess Josephine, but it was Leah that I couldn't quite read. Mason was also wearing a picture of confusion, but then he knew this to be false. He said nothing though.

"You're aware that he'll want Elena dead," said Josephine.

"We know," said Bonnie. "Which is why we worded the statement the way we did. Within reason we'll help them. No doubt there will be a way which won't result in Elena's death without actively fighting Elijah. It's safer to take that option."

"And Klaus?" said Josephine. "The moment he comes here."

"Your people are in danger," I interrupted. "I wouldn't blame you if you left."

Slowly shook her head. "No. Even with the danger we are invested in this town," she said. "On what has already been set with the hybrid, Tyler Lockwood. We have decided to stay."

"I can't say that we'll be able to protect you if anything happens," said Bonnie.

"We're wolves," said Eric. "We've never needed the aid of witches." Jared snorted at that but said nothing. A small action but I could see Eric react a little, his eyes moving to the tin before they moved back to Jared.

"As Eric has said," Josephine said. "We can protect ourselves. It's you, though, I'm worried about," she said looking straight at Bonnie. I felt my stomach sink even without knowing what she was going to say. "You come close to death when everything truly starts."

I didn't say anything, just watching. There was almost a sympathetic look to her as she said this, as she created fear. I glanced at Bonnie and she seemed to be shaking slightly, the anger came back and I wanted to say something before Bonnie spoke first.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've come close to death," she said.

"As manipulations go that was pitiful truth be told," said Jared.

"Not really," said Hank and he grinned, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. From those two words I got the sense that a lot had been communicated between him and Josephine.

Without the haze of anger this might have actually been fun. It was a fight of sorts, another pissing competition, with each side trying to gain ground over the other. Where I had shared brutal experiences with the others, Josephine had had time to garner a relationship with her people.

Who was winning was the harder part and it made me think that this was stupid to begin with, why weren't we just helping each other? No sooner had asked the question than my emotions answered me, it was because we didn't like each other.

I took a breath and remembered what Shane had said, that I was redirecting what I felt towards Josephine and it was probable that she was doing the same to me too. We were alike in many way which was probably why we didn't get along. We cared too much about those around us.

"It's different isn't it?" I said. Josephine frowned. "From what everyone imagines? From what no doubt you must have imagined? Having this sort of responsibility?"

She was quiet for a long time before she let out a tired chuckle. "The first two years of my life were spent constantly having nightmares," she said. "Of what Klaus does."

"In all honesty it's starting to now hit me," I said. "Panic attacks."

She reached into her jacket and pulled out a bottle of pills, shaking it. "Ditto. He's dangerous," she said. "Unstable."

"I know," I said in return. "But Elijah—"

"No," she interrupted. "I mean him. Elijah. Klaus, at least, knows he's deranged. But Elijah…" She shook her head, looking at me for the longest time before he said. "You don't know?"

I didn't like admitting it but I shook my head. "I don't think I do."

"You remember the broad strokes, right?" he said. "Of how vampires were created? Of the greater ingredient in it all?"

"Doppelgangers," I said. "They know."

"Well, the Doppelganger they used died," she said. "I can't remember who the official story says killed her—"

"Esther," I said.

"It wasn't her," she said. "It was Elijah. He killed her and then made Esther take away his memories. Everything less than noble he's done he's used the spell to lock away in a portion of his mind, pretending it never happened. He is dangerous."

"But right now he's better than Klaus," I said. "His experimentations."

"If it comes down to it I'll tell him the truth from the get-go," she said. "Spare the deaths."

"Even with the bond?"

"We can win over that," she said. "These are all things I've thought about—"

"Which might well mean you're working towards them," I interrupted, the image of that particular plot coming to mind. "I'm sorry," I said. "Breaking the moment, but the knowledge that we have makes it very easy to become a chess master, particularly if you have objectives you're working towards."

"I already have a way of turning my people into hybrids," she said.

"But that's if Stefan can sustain everyone one of them—"

"Oh let's not pretend he can't," she said, annoyance in her voice. "Amara."

I shook my head. "Petrol and Diesel," I said. "Functionally they do the same thing but one lasts longer. We don't know the amount of power that Stefan can expand before he ceases. Amara's lucky in that she can't."

"But he's a vampire," said Hank.

"Clair games, guy," said Jared and he was grinning. "Don't say anything and just bask."

It was easy to forget that anyone else in the room existed. I was speaking to someone else who knew what I knew about this world. I lost my train of thought.

"Even so," she said. "We can't kill Klaus."

"I was never planning to," I said. "You know, this would be much easier if we just worked together, animosity aside, no disregarding what the other did through the years. We're facing Originals after all and they've got stronger witches."

"We could just call the Travellers," she said.

I shook my head. "We might be pushing things to come into effect sooner."

"What if," she said. "Stefan wasn't in the picture? I know enough about magic to know that there is power in rarity. We could use Mikael as an anchor for Tyler, he's an Original, he won't die and the man has been desiccating for however long he's been dessicating."

"What if we want to use him against Klaus?"

"Would you want to use him?" she asked and I shook my head. "Then this is the best course of action and it gives my people a measure of protection, also increasing the amount of arms you can make come to bare."

"That's if you don't betray us and just leave," said Enzo.

"Tyler is our anchor point," I said. I looked at Enzo. "You wanted us to go offensive. This a step towards that."

"Do I even have a choice?" he said. "I couldn't understand half of what was said."

"Tell me about it," Bonnie muttered.

A victory in one respect, I thought as I looked at her, but a loss in another.

888

AN: Been a while, but I've got something of an excuse. I've been working on the other stories, editing or rewriting them so they're more coherent as a whole. It's taking more time than I thought, especially since I keep getting ideas for new stories that I really want to write. But I'll try and updating more in the coming month.