Ok, Hello guys! I know - I took forever, and yes - I'm sorry. A few quick things before you read :

- I own nothing but Angelique and the plot

- There are legends around the end of the story - I made them up, so excuse the inaccuraties that you may find.

- I have absolutely no idea when the next chapter will come out, but one thing's for sure - you'll finally get something juicy ;)

Please - bear with me and my fickle muse 3 Feel free to tell me what you think!

~Nikkitosa

The price you pay

It turns out that yes, the spring is still there, and the water is pretty good – clean, warm, with steam filling the air, and old linen draperies here and there still hanging from the ceiling, giving the place that exotic note of the past. I near the huge spring, turned into an old version of a swimming pool. Pulling a medium-sized jar out of my leather bag, I place it on a little marble pedestal and fetch a lighter out of my pocket. Placing the lid to the side, the candle's wick appears and I lighten it, the nice smell of herbs and wildflowers filling the space. A small smile plays in the corner of my mouth as the steam absorbs the scent and makes it more subtle.

After lighting the torches that were there already alongside with some candles, I take off my clothes, undo the bandages around my forearms and enter the warm water. The feeling of instant relaxation washes over me in mere seconds and I find myself purring under the pleasant sensation. With my auburn hair pinned up on my head and out of my face, with only a few rebellious locks falling freely down my back, I let myself swim around for a while, enjoying the calmness and tranquillity that seem to be oozing from the walls.

After some time, in which I stretch my stiff muscles and swim around, I find a nice place near my candle where I stop, and unconsciously start stroking my forearms. On the right I have a tattoo of the old runes distinguishing me as one of the True Healers while on the left one there's the Mark of the Huntress, associating me with the House of the First, the Lyken hunters and huntresses. Separately both types of runes bring a lot of honour and pride to their owner, but having them at the same time… let's say that committing oneself to the two extremely opposite institutions back then was considered not only a taboo, but also a sign of either precocious dementia, also known as schizophrenia, or of great devotion. Unfortunately only few ever gave any though to the second option, making those who wanted both to heal and protect feel doubtful which path to choose. I was one on the rare few that had always admired the H&H (Healer & Huntress) and so when all the ones precious to me were killed and no one did a thing, I decided that I should take matters into my own hands and live the life I choose.

Now, so many centuries later, I still find that decision right for the time it had been made. I suffered many losses on both personal and professional level for that choice, but in the end I consider it worth it. The debt was paid and the hatchet was buried. Or at least hidden out of sight. 'But many had to die.'

"Wisdom comes with making difficult decisions and sticking to them no matter the consequences. " I remind myself, a sad smile gracing my face. "No matter the price."

My low whispers are quickly suffocated by the steamy fog, but I can still hear them ringing in my ears.

Out of nowhere the recent events around Klaus come forward, bringing along some troubling thoughts and questions. Like my regained healing powers that disappeared after I gave myself to the House of First. Because I couldn't be both at that time, all the 'healing' powers and tricks I could do, vanished. My knowledge was still there, though, so I never suffered a bad poisoning or an inflamed wound, I just had to make the remedy in the good old-fashioned way – by hand. Yet they were gone up until now. 'That potion wouldn't have worked if I was still under a cloud – my blood wouldn't have reacted to the other ingredients.'

'Ok, so my blood has regained its miraculous properties, but what about the spells? Am I now able to perform them?' Wondering in that direction will do me no good right now so I try to focus on something else. With my luck Klaus comes to my mind second. That strange feeling from before is still a mystery to me and hardly can I relate it to something I have felt before. The realisation itself that I no longer despise him makes me feel unsure and nervous. 'I understand the whole baby-issue I have and the reason why I cope with Hayley, but him?! On what devil's behalf am I not hating him in the guts?' I can't answer those questions, and that fact makes me feel agitated to the point where I wanna smash something against the wall.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" a male voice asks from behind one of the linen draperies.

That accent makes my skin prickle and become quite sensitive – a reaction that literally catches me off-guard. 'How am I supposed to deal with him, when my own body seems to be having a mind of its own?'

"What do you want, Nicklaus?" I ask, a little bit rudely, I admit.

"The last time I checked this was my family home, so I should be the one asking you that question, don't you think?" his smug tone makes me roll my eyes.

"Don't bother, I'm leaving anyway." I reply and swim towards the stairs where I left a fluffy towel and my clothes.

"Why in such a hurry? I was hoping to have a chat with you?" by the way he said it, I know he did something, and tension pokes my nerves.

I don't need to go all the way to the stairs, because there's nothing there anymore. Rolling my eyes at the childish action I shake my head and try not to get mad.

"So taking my stuff and leaving me naked in the water is your idea of a conversation? How fitting." the sarcasm drips from my tongue.

"I quite like the view, really." his voice comes somewhere from my right side and I try to spot him.

'He stays out of reach and sight.' I notice and a smirk plays on my lips before I can stop it.

"Something amusing you?" he seems intrigued by my sudden change of moods and my smirk widens.

"Yes." I admit, stressing the 's'.

"Care to cooperate?"

"Your actions."

"How so?"

"You knew I was down here and that I was taking a bath, obviously not wanting to be bothered, yet you came. Furthermore you claim you want to speak, but you took my clothes away, not letting me get out of the water and have a proper conversation. You seem to not know what you want." I conclude and wait for his answer.

"I never said you must stay in the water. If you want a face-to-face conversation, please, feel free to do so."

'All this amuses him! Little twat!' I grumble to myself and cross my hands over my breasts.

"You are such a gentleman!" I ironically exclaim and roll my eyes.

"I never claimed I am, darling." he simply says, this time somewhere from the left.

"Ok. You wanted to talk – talk. I'm all ears." I suddenly say and tilt my head slightly to the side.

The silence spreads for some time and I raise my eyebrow.

"What? Thought I wouldn't want to speak? Or did you bite your tongue?"

He doesn't answer so I continue, ignoring the warning bells in my head telling me to shut the fuck up and figure out a way to get out of here without him seeing me.

"Or probably you are shy? Never seen a woman naked?" I keep on guessing, voicing random thoughts.

"I assure you, the last thing you can say about me is that I'm shy." I seem to have offended him. 'Good.'

"You were the one who took my clothes, so…"

"You are nothing special, darling."

The last remark hits its target and I intake sharply. Gritting my teeth, I too late realise that I have given myself up.

"Did I offend you?" his mocking little voice makes me wanna grab him by the throat and drown him in the water. "Don't worry. Not all women can be perfect." he keeps on bragging about how I seem to be missing a certain trait, how I am too muscular and on and on.

I take a deep breath and exhale. 'I don't have time for this bullshit!' But before I can show him just how pitiful he looks now, a low howl travels through the old tunnels leading here. My skin prickles and all the snarky remarks I have prepared disappear. Swimming towards the stairs as fast and soundless as I can, I don't fail to hear the distinguishing chatter of claws, soon followed by growls.

"Towel!" I hiss and in seconds the said garment is wrapped around me, Klaus' taller body hiding me from the intruders.

"What are you doing?" I whisper while tying a knot on the side, making sure it won't fall.

"You should get out of here. Hayley told me… about the whole wolf problem." he answers, a coy smirk tugging at his lips.

I frown and am about to tell him to mind his own business, but a loud and prominent howl interrupts me and my head snaps towards the furthest end of the underground cave. Large shadows move behind the linen draperies for a few seconds, before they charge our way, turning into shreds the centuries old fabric.

"It's time for you to leave." suddenly the playfulness and charisma in his tone disappear and he becomes serious and stern, his gaze focused on the creatures.

"Do you know who they are?" I ask.

"What? What does it matter?" he hisses at me.

"Just answer!"

"No. I have never seen them."

"And they are neither from Hayley's pack, nor yours?" I keep on pressing.

"No! Now go!"

Klaus turns his back to me and prepares to stop them, without even wondering why they are here. It's like his only thought is to get me out of here. 'To protect me.'

"I'm not leaving you alone against a whole pack of Lykens!" I state and stand next to him, my appearance getting me a few eager growls. 'So they are here for me!'

"They'll rip you to shreds!" he exclaims.

"Like you care." I scoff and make sure the towel will stay put.

Running to my bag, hidden behind a column, I pull out my double blades and swing them in my arms. 'Like the good old days!' a pang of sadness hits me but I push it away. 'It's a matter of life and death!' I tell myself and stand up, peeking from behind my hiding place.

Only to be left bedazzled by the sight – Nicklaus Mikaelson, the man who wanted me dead from the moment he laid his eyes on me, is now fighting against the werewolves to save my skin and buy me some time. Only half changed his now Lyken eyes help him spot his opponents' moves and with his sharpened instincts and reflexes, block their attacks. He seems to be doing fine, until one of them sneaks behind his back.

"Behind you!" I shout and the blond turns, only to be hit in the chest and sent flying into the pool with a loud splash. "Klaus!"

Now out in the open and with him out of the way, the werewolves starts rounding me, trying to probably corner me. Scoffing at that tactic I roll my eyes and swirl my blades. They catch some of the candles' light and shine.

"You really don't want to piss me off." taking a step forward I let the walls around my Huntress side slide down, making the deadly aura swirl around me like an old blanket.

"I give you a simple choice – turn around and leave and tell whoever sent you that I'll find him and kill him, or stay and die like the dogs you are."

They seem to wonder for a whole minute before one of them, the biggest, probably the alpha, jumps at me with his jaws open and claws wide spread. I duck and swing my swords, leaving a deep gash from his shoulder down to his leg. With a pained howls and some whimpering, the creatures collapses down, the thudding sound echoing in the suddenly silent space. I smirk and with a clear blow cut its head off, while making an eye-contact with the second-in-charge in the pack.

"You know who I am. Better change your mind, or meet his fate."

The tension rises with every passing second and the wolves nervously move their shoulders, waiting for a command. Despite my hopes that at least this one has some brain and a feeling of self-preservation, I'm left disappointed as he barks and jumps at me, his pack following close behind.

In the next ten minutes I remember what it was like to hunt Lykens down and kill them, their dark blood streaming down my hands, splashed all over my face, and the blades in my hands singing their most favourite tune. The corpses in my feet are still warm by the time I rush to the water and notice its pinkish colour.

"Klaus…" I whisper and then shout his name.

It takes some walking around before I spot him underwater, probably unconscious. 'They had some kind of venom all over their claws and teeth.'

Jumping in the water after leaving my weapons near the edge, I swim towards him and dive. Picking his body around the waist and pulling it up, I manage to drag both of us towards the shallow waters. Pulling his larger and heavier body to the stairs turns out to be the easy part as now I have to figure out how to heal him. Nearing my head to his face I can hear his shallow breathing and take that as a good sign and quickly check his wound. His T-shirt is stuck to his chest so I rip it apart, only to reveal three huge gashes, each at least a centimetre deep.

"Shit!" I hiss under my breath and look around for any kind of remedy.

Unfortunately the content of my leather bag wasn't arranged for healing wounds, but rather curing poisons.

"Wake up, Klaus! Fight it!" I try to bring him round, not really expecting my tactic to work.

To my greatest amazement his eyelids flutter and crack open, revealing two breath-taking blue irises.

"W-what happened?" he growls and tries to stand up, but the pain sends him back against my chest, where he had been lying not a second ago.

"Easy. They almost tore you apart. Some sort of nasty poison prevents you from healing." I quickly explicate while looking everywhere but down at him.

"You seem to be fine." his voice is rasp and tis alerts me that things are getting worse.

"You are losing your strength. You need to feed or you will die." I state, clearly realising that I'm the only 'food' source here.

"I'll manage." he declaims and I scoff.

"Now you decided to act like a grown-up? Unbelievable. Either feed or you'll die, Klaus. You don't have any other options." I manage to pull him higher, so now his head rests on my shoulder.

"I thought you hated werewolves?" he grows weaker by the second and the sudden questioning irritates me.

"I don't mind Hayley." I shoot back and look at the other side, baring my neck to him. "Now feed!"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why do you hate all of us?"

I look at him for what seems like an eternity, calculating if I can just cut myself and shove my blood down his throat.

"If I tell you will you feed?"

He only nods, his still crystal-clear eyes looking at me expectantly.

"A pack of Lykens slaughtered my whole village. Alongside with my sister and my infant baby girl. They let me live so that I could remember what they did and warn the others not to mess with them. I guess it didn't turn out the way they expected." I whisper while spacing away, retuning to that horrific chapter of my life. "It was long ago, anyway." I add.

"You still have a lot of hatred in you." he is now panting, his blood literally dripping away into the water.

"The hatred vanished long time ago. Now I feel nothing. I'm empty." my voice is barely audible, and suddenly I feel bad for all the innocents I killed. "Most of them didn't deserve to die. I killed them for their fellow brothers' monstrous choices." I stop and blink a few times, not wanting to cry right now.

"You regret it?"

"Yes."

"Yet you still despise us?"

"I try to be more flexible." I say, a small smile now mirroring his own, appears on my face. "Now feed."

"I don't wanna test your flexibility."

Even on the verge of death he can joke around and try to be funny. 'To make me see that he's not like them – a savage, a monster. He's different. He's more.'

"I call it paying my debt." I say and nod. "Now bite, or God help me, I'm gonna force my blood down your throat!"

He smirks and lifts himself up. His hot breath fans over my neck and I feel my body stiffening, preparing for the pain coming with the bite.

"Have you been bitten before?" he whispers against my skin, his lips touching my neck in a very sensual manner.

"No." I simply reply and my heartbeat quickens, almost making me pant.

He doesn't say a thing and I just stand there, waiting. Then his tongue moves over the tender skin and before I know it, his fangs sink in, making me hiss. Yet the pain is gone in an instance and something new comes in its place. Pleasure. Arousal. Heat. My body trembles slightly from the sudden mixture and I close my eyes, letting myself feel.

He drinks my blood greedily and a part of me wants to push him away, in fear of drinking me dry, but a bigger part wants to pull him closer, wrap my legs around his torso, and keep him there.

"Klaus.." I want to warn him, but the word leaves my lips like a moan.

He seems to like that sound as a low growl vibrates in his chest, and his hands grab me by the elbows and pull me even closer.

"Klaus…" his name leaves my lips more warningly this time, or at least that's what I'd like to believe.

He pulls away so suddenly that a low whimper skips past my lips at the loss. For a few moments we just stand there, face-to-face, looking at each other, before I jump to my feet and exit the water. I can feel his eyes on me the whole time, yet I don't turn around.

"Let's get out of here." for once my voice seems to have lost that boldness it usually holds.

I hurry and hide behind a column where I can change back into my clothes without being troubled. Meanwhile Nicklaus walks around, picking up random stuff. Finally ready, I walk around my hiding place and find him carrying my leather bag over his shoulder.

"You shouldn't have." I calmly say as I try to take it from him.

He pulls away, giving me a coy smirk and nods towards the exit.

"Ladies first."

For a moment I look him doubtfully but eventually shake my head and leave, his body only an arm's length apart from mine.

I return home as fast as I can, knowing perfectly well that the more time I spend around Klaus, the less control I'll have over my body and its needs. Now, finally as far away as possible, I feel the control his presence has over me vanishing. 'And after Jack and I have some quality time together, I'll be as good as new!' with that I go into the kitchen and pull the bottle of whiskey from the fridge, grab a glass and lock myself into my room, where I fill the bath and enjoy the rest of the night, drinking myself into oblivion.

The Court is spacious and the marble walls and floor give it the impression of a huge box. The chains around my wrists rattle when I try to move. I huff and look around from under my long messy hair. There are soldiers, both man and women, guarding each entrance and one near every column. Their armour is rather simple, consisting of a breastplate over a ring mail.

"Do you know why you are here?" a deep male voice bellows and I raise my head. He is nothing more than a blurred figure, faded out by time.

"Yes." despite my poor state, my voice is confident.

Someone grabs me harshly by the elbow and pushes my forward. The chains ring in the almost empty room.

"So you are willing to pay the price?" this time it's a woman's voice and I look to the left.

A beautiful creature in armour is leaning against one of the pillars, her short blonde hair pulled back with pins. I notice the sword hanging on her right hip. A true masterpiece, made by the strongest of metals. Everything but the blade and the hair in her is a blur as well.

"Yes."

In a flash the point of the said blade pokes my throat and I barely manage to register what she's doing, before a long, shallow, but still precise cut appears. Blood drips down on the floor.

I stay silent and look the woman dead in the eyes, gritting my teeth. After some time she smirks and tilts her head to the side.

A cold shiver runs down my spine and I can almost feel someone's hand on my shoulder. Cold lips touch my ear and a familiar voice whispers:

"Don't. Forgive them. Live. Please, sister…" the voice fades after no more than a second and I narrow my eyes.

"I'll have her." the words are dripping with challenge. "Release her."

The chains fall on the ground with a loud ringing sound.

"I'll train you, teach you, and have you. Until you prove yourself worthy, you are my personal slave. Do you understand?"

I only nod. 'Revenge is worth it!' I tell myself as they lead me to another room, where I can wash and change my clothes. My sister's words and image follow me around, the disappointment and worry swaying in the air around me.

I wake up still in the tub by the sound of a shattering glass. Still dizzy and disorientated, I somehow manage to get out and wrap myself in a towel without colliding with something pointy and breaking my neck. Grabbing my robe from the hanger on the wall I quickly change into in and rush down the stairs, my blades in my hands.

"Shit!" someone hisses and I stop near the living room.

Peeking from behind the wall I notice a dark-haired figure kneeling on the ground, collecting the broken glass.

"Hayley?" I ask and her head snaps my way.

Indeed, the young wolf is the one who broke into my home. Lowering my weapons I near her and tilt my head to the side.

"What are you doing here?"

She keeps on picking up the pieces, not answering me. For a second the thought of using brutal force and kicking her out passes through my mind but I brush it away, blaming my awful hangover and the many dreams, mainly flashbacks that seem to be popping out quite often now.

"What happened this time?" I try again as I kneel next to her and collect the rest of the broken pieces.

She shakes her head and an unexpected tear streams down her cheek. Before I realise it, I gently brush it away and lift her chin. 'Gentle soul.' the words ring in my ear, but it's not my voice that I hear.

"Hey. Whatever they did this time, it so not worth your tears."

"They'll come looking from me. I ran away." she whispers and tries to hide her face. "I have nowhere to go."

I give her a sympathetic smile and nod.

"You can crash in here. On one condition, though."

"What?"

"Tell me what happened."

With a nod she stands up and goes into the kitchen, returning with another glass of water in hand. I'm comfortably seated in one of the leather armchairs and with a nod towards the couch I invite her nearer, trying my best to keep my foul mood hidden.

After no more than half an hour I don't know whether to be pissed out of my mind, or laugh. It turns out that after my hurried departure, Klaus realised that his orders have been disobeyed by his family. That led to a series of yelling and fighting, and regardless of Elijah making sure that Hayley stays unharmed and out of this, Klaus eventually got to her. She assured me that he hadn't hurt her, but her bruised upper arm spoke otherwise. Either way she got upset and went to her room where she fell asleep, not bothered by none of the Mikaelsons'. Until the morning when she snuck out and heard them talking about locking her in the house, with no access to the outer world. She ran, of course, and after divagating for some time, came upon my humble home.

"What are you going to do now?" despite the badly masked fear in her voice, her posture and eyes are calm and confident.

The silence, now prolonging more than necessary, makes her anxious, which results and a napkin ending in shreds all over my coffee table.

"First I'll make myself one strong, boiling hot coffee, drink an aspirin and change into something more…" I look at my silk robe "… more presentable. While I do so, feel free to have something to eat and rest for a little bit."

With that said I leave her to her thoughts, giving her some privacy and time to relax. And some time for me to make sure I'm in check. Throwing some jeans and a T-shirt on after noticing that the weather outside seems to be getting bad, I return to the kitchen and turn on the coffee maker. While waiting for it, I open the fridge and grab the Greek yogurt that has been left only halfway eaten, and push the door closed with my foot. By the time I have a bowl filled with chopped fruit and yogurt, my coffee is ready and so is the glass of water with aspirin next to it. Grabbing the first-aid kit on the go, I walk into the living room where Hayley is silently munching over a bowl of cereal with some milk.

"You are welcome in my home, Hayley, as long as you wish." I tell her while bandaging her bruised arm. There's no wound, just the irritated skin, yet I rub some oils that will help soothe the discomfort faster.

After that we eat in silence before I excuse myself, telling her that I have some work in the basement I need to take care of, but she's free to roam around the house and call me if she needs something.

Halfway out of the room, her voice catches up with me.

"What made you change it?"

I stop and turn towards her, eyebrow raised.

"Change what?"

"Your opinion towards werewolves." she clarifies.

I smirk and continue walking.

"It didn't change. This is me being flexible as fuck." I whisper the last part and return back to my room where I grab my leather bag and head to the basement, trying to figure out how to keep the baby and the mother out of trouble for the next 24 hours. 'Worst timing ever.'

Everything comes with a price. Every supernatural power you obtain has certain retaliation over the user.

Being one of the True Healers means that alongside the great knowledge and the ability to cure almost everything, your energy supply is rather small. Every time a medicine is created or a person is healed, some of the energy gets locked into it, meaning that the perpetrator is left with only enough to stay alive. The solution we came up with was to carry small ampoules with us that contain certain herbs that can boost us up for some time. It was a great idea, until the side effects appeared and we were left empty handed and weaker at the same time.

When I joined the House of the First, I knew that they will make me give up my Healer status, which I quite fancied and was proud of at that time, despite its cons. When I finished my training and was made to go through the locking process, I refused, stating that I wanted to be both. It wasn't easy convincing the council that I wouldn't give up any of my statuses and will bare all the consequences coming along with them without voicing it. Eventually they gave up and let me do whatever I wanted. And I did it – I became both. It took a lot of training and devotion, lots of sleepless nights and painful mornings, but I managed. Because being a Huntress, killing Lykens and other sups if necessary, has its big fat price tailing along.

It's a well-known fact that the werewolves change on every full moon against their will, which makes the process quite painful and tortuous. Us - killing them means that were are depriving the nature of one of its best killers, creating an imbalance. So in order to make sure the said balance could be maintained, the ones who kill the children of the Great She-wolf /according to an old legend the spirit of the Mother Nature took a physical form of a she-wolf and mated with a human during a full moon, when she had turned human as well. After 60 days, again full moon, she gave birth to four babies – three boys and a girl, before vanishing forever. It's believed that out of these four children, only one reached virility – the girl, Selena, the Great She-wolf. From her, the line of werewolves began/ should suffer the punishment, brought upon them by their own creator. Yet, instead of full moon, the Hunters suffer the painful crossing whenever the moon turns red. A story tells that upon seeing her children getting slaughtered, Selena cut open her chest and cursed all the Hunters to experience her and her kids pain ten times worse, until the soil baths in their blood, just like hers irrigated it then. Mother Nature saw what happened and mourned the death of her last child deeply, which resulted in a terrible storm. It's also said that to preserve her daughter's curse from fading and her sacrifice – from being forgotten, she locked her soul into the moon, which she was named after. And whenever the time for paying the debt comes, the moon turns crimson red, sentencing the entire House of the First to a night full of terror and pain. Because we are no werewolves and cannot change the pain lasts the whole night.

Over the centuries this punishment turned into a mean of testing the Hunter's mentality and seeing if he or she is worthy to wear the Mark. Many died during those nights, taking their own life away, just to make the pain stop. For those of us who managed to survive the Red Moon, we were given all the privileges of being a Hunter – the strength, the heightened senses, the speed and the immortality.

It's our duty to forever protect the innocents and kill the beats. Our only task is to stop the same creatures, whose curse weighs upon us. Oh, the irony and its many faces.