Key:
"Words."
Thoughts / "emphasis" / Title of Books or spells used
~~Parseltongue~~
¬¬Foreign Language¬¬
"Magical language."
Declarations of War
25th February 2010 – Mystic Falls Hospital
Any thoughts of Katherine Pierce's appearance in Mystic Falls had to be put to the side when a series of frantic phone calls were received, leading to an intimidating group storming through the electronic doors of Mystic Falls Hospital's Emergency Room. Arcturus, Teddy, the two Marauders, Narcissa, and Stiles were more than willing to mow down anyone between them and their target. It didn't take them long before that found him. Tyler and Matt Donovan were sitting slumped together, slumped in their chairs as though their worlds were crashing on top of them.
Tyler heard them coming and gave his friend's arm a squeeze before standing to meet them. Cissa took him in her arms without a thought. "Oh, you poor dear."
"What happened, Tyler?" Arcturus borderline demanded of the teen that Cissa was mothering, throwing up a privacy spell with a flick of his wrist.
"I was taking them home like we agreed when a car coming the other way swerved and hit us," Tyler explained in a subdued voice. He turned to Stiles. "It was Lydia Martin. The doctors say we're lucky she was going slower than the speed limit or..."
Tyler couldn't finish the thought, but they knew what he meant. Cissa lost possession of him only because Teddy pushed himself between them, hugging his fellow werewolf with all his strength.
"Lydia? No, Lydia's an excellent driver," Stiles argued. The hyperactive teen looked as broken as Tyler. "There's no way she'd lose control if she was driving slow."
"There's the sheriff," Remus pointed out and Arcturus dropped his charm so the group could meet her at the now standing Matt.
"What's happening? Is she alright?" Matt pleaded. Liz Forbes looks a shadow of herself and the family prepared themselves for the worst.
"There was some internal bleeding," Liz started, speaking in a jerky rhythm as though the words were being ripped from her. "They're taking her into surgery."
"I'm sorry, Liz," Arcturus told her, tipping off his hat to the worried mother. "If there's anything I can do to help."
"Thank you, Caspian. They're doing everything they can."
Matt had dropped back into his chair, and Sirius gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze. Narcissa had hugged Liz, who seemed grateful for the physical contact.
"What about Lydia? Is she -"
"Stable," Liz interrupted, sounding frustrated, and they learnt the reason. "She's unconscious now, but the doctors said she was mumbling earlier about how the car went completely out of control. Given what else has happened tonight, I'm inclined to believe her."
"Liz?"
Before the woman could answer Arcturus' question, another voice filled the hallway. Noah Stilinski's. "No, I don't need a damn wheelchair!"
"Dad?" Stiles spun, stumbling and almost falling if not for Sirius automatically catching him. The deputy was hobbling down the hallway, looking like he'd just got thrown out of a biker bar.
"I'll tell them," Noah said to Liz as he barely kept himself standing when Stiles barrelled into him. "You go wait on news of Caroline."
Liz swallowed and mumbled a thanks before walking off. Arcturus looked at his somewhat friend and fellow father and saw something hard as steel staring back from Noah's usually friendly face.
"We're going to need an empty room," the deputy told them. The family shared worried glances but agreed, finding one nearby. Stiles and Teddy were helping the man sit on the edge of the empty bed. "And one of you will have to silence the room."
Noah's finger wave made sure they all knew what he meant. Stiles voiced their thoughts. "Wait, you know?"
"I may be a washed up soldier, Stiles," Noah snorted, then winced as the action aggravated the man's injuries. "But I'm not blind."
Arcturus gave a brief nod. Remus drew his wand to cast privacy charms while Sirius stepped forward to scan the battered man, whistling at the medical information his spells were telling him. "You shouldn't even be standing, let along dragging yourself through a hospital."
Arcturus and Noah hadn't broken gazes. It took the former to get the ball rolling. "Your combat or Claudia."
"Both," Noah admitted, causing his son to jolt back and gap at him. "I'm apparently called a... squid?"
"Squib," Remus offered as he took the medical report from Sirius. Narcissa had her wand palmed and was ready to hit the man with something dangerous, should Noah say the wrong thing. "Siri is right, you shouldn't be moving. But we can help you once you're home."
"Squib, right. I noticed things I shouldn't have when I was in the army, and someone noticed me noticing. I got recruited -"
"A special squib task force of the US military that MACUSA can call upon when they need mundane expertise to help stop a threat and keep our world a secret. I've worked with it in the past."
Noah snorted at Arcturus' interruption. "I'm sure. You walk the same way some people I knew did. It's where I met Claudia. She was our liaison and things happened. Stiles is like her, isn't it?"
"Dad?" said boy asked, fear lacing his voice. Noah didn't give him a chance to worry, pulling him close in a loving hug despite the obvious pain it caused him.
"He is," Arcturus confirmed.
"You've all been involved in the craziness this year, haven't you? More than Liz and the Council know."
"We have."
Noah sighed and gave a resigned nod. "I don't believe what they do. I know not everything is a monster, but I can't say I'm happy about all this."
"You're being very free with your words, Mr Stilinski," Narcissa pointed out in her coldest high society tone. "Given that you most assuredly know we can wipe your memory."
"I do," he admitted. "But that's why I wanted this talk. Something else has come to Mystic Falls. Doing the jobs I did gives someone a sixth sense of danger. Even if that danger comes from magic. I was doing a routine patrol when I felt something was wrong and got out of my car. A rogue firework smashed through the front windscreen, another hit the back of the car and it exploded. I would be dead if I hadn't felt the magic tripwire."
"A magical attack," Sirius frowned, getting a nod from the man who had Stiles once more wrapped around him. Arcturus' phone went off and he frowned when he saw the text message, stepping into a corner to make a silenced phonecall. It gave Noah a chance to pass on more bad news. "I'm afraid it gets worse. There's no easy way to say this, Tyler, but your parents were in a car crash on the way home."
Remus and Teddy caught Tyler as he staggered at the information. Noah pressed on. "From what I heard, they think your father lost traction and slammed into a tree at high speed. He didn't make it. Carol was being brought in by ambulance."
The teen werewolf whined an agonising sound of pain, and once again Narcissa took him in her arms. A spike of magic had them turning to Arcturus just as the man made an abortive punch, his fist visibly shaking as it paused millimetres from the wall.
"That was Jeremy," he growled, taking heaving breaths to calm himself. "Someone attacked John Gilbert in their home. Jeremy was laying down for an early night when he heard Elena's screams and found her holding the man's stomach in. Jeremy said he could feel traces of foreign magic in the kitchen, but it was fading fast."
"You only activated the anti-vampire wards on their house," Sirius said, speaking the reason for Arcturus' fury.
"Yeah," Arcturus nodded, finally bringing himself under control enough to look human when he turned back to the group. "But that's going to change after tonight. That's two definite attacks."
"Three," Tyler croaked, eyes closed as the other two wolves and Cissa continued to support him. "Dad never sped, no matter how angry he got. That's how my great-aunt died."
The group shared determined looks. War had finally come to Mystic Falls.
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OoOoO
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26th February 20010 – MF Hospital
They'd taken Noah back to the manor via a side trip to the Gilbert home to activate the building's full set of wards. Anyone with a smallest bit of awareness of magic or the supernatural world would feel something when they got to the home's boundaries. Arcturus had told both Stiles and Tyler to activate their own home's defensive wards. While not as obvious, the protections would kick in the second they sensed a threat to anyone who lived there. Noah had stayed at the manor that night, getting healed and sharing stories with Arcturus that only the pair with their security clearance could hear of. Noah's problem with alcohol would dwindle, knowing he had someone he could talk to about the nightmares, leaving the man to 'only' struggle with the loss of his wife.
Arcturus had given him the same gift he gave Jenna, allowing Stiles to pass on Claudia Stilinski's words from beyond the grave after making sure the deputy knew not to ask to speak to her. Noah still have to pretend to heal at a normal rate, but the man wouldn't suffer beyond days off work.
The tribrid had returned to the hospital with Peter and Derek, the two werewolves walking half a step behind him as they headed to Caroline Forbes' room. It surprised the trio to learn that she wasn't in the ICU ward, but they would find out why as they got closer and their enhanced hearing picked up part of a conversation.
"...yeah, with the sheriff," Matt Donovan sighed.
"No one else?" The unmistakable voice of Bonnie Bennett asked, causing Arcturus and Peter to share a look. There had been too much inflection in her words for it to be casual.
"Stefan's brother, Damon, stopped by late last night."
"Healing," the two Alphas whispered to each other, changing directions to where Lydia Martin slept.
"Probably as a favour to Elena," Peter added.
"Most likely," Arcturus agreed. "Are you still thinking of offering this one the bite once she's healed?"
"If there's one thing I've learnt over the years -"
"More years than you look like you're carrying."
Peter chuckled before continuing. They both knew the same was true for Arcturus as well. "The best time to give someone the bite is around this age. They're already on the 'finding out who they are' journey. Adults have a much more secure identity that can clash with their new condition."
"She's better than her former boyfriend," Arcturus snarled.
Jackson Whittemore had replaced Tyler on the high school football team, only to get far too suspicious of Scott McCall's new physical condition. In part because of McCall's inability to be discrete when talking about sensitive information. The jock had worked out what McCall was and tried blackmailing him to be turned. Thanks to McCall telling Stiles, Arcturus had called Whittemore into his office and acted as though he was McCall's Alpha and the only one who could make another wolf. The moron then attempted to blackmail him and got a face full of memory charms. A call to MACUSA saw the family move to a supernaturally quiet part of the country with the boy on a watchlist and under surveillance. Depending on the Congress' opinion of Whittemore's character, they would either aid him in achieving his dreams, all the while making sure he didn't stumble back into the non-mundane world, or they'd do the reverse and ruin the kid's life to where he'd be lucky to be able to afford taking care of himself.
"I assume you've been scouting out other students?" He asked, pulling his thoughts away from arrogant teenagers.
"Isaac Lahey," Peter confirmed with a sharp nod. "He's alone with an abusive father."
Arcturus almost stumbled and turn to give the Hales a look, getting nods back. He growled low and his footsteps grew louder. "I hate it when I miss those."
"Erica Reyes and some others," Derek added, getting a calmer response to the name.
"She's a hard-working girl who hasn't let her condition get the better of her," the tribrid said with approval. Miss Reyes was one of the unfortunate souls to have both severe epilepsy and unable to take medication for it. Arcturus had looked into her condition but had found no magical cure for it, and he was uneasy to use his blood's unique healing abilities, as those had to be directed. He would not mess around with the girl's brain chemistry. The trio found Lydia's room and walked in. It was the first time Arcturus had been around the girl without others masking her aura, and he swore softly. "Well, you'll get a pack bond out of her, but that's about it."
"What do you mean?" Derek asked.
Peter sniffed, his eyes widening as he worked out what Arcturus had sensed. "Well, I'll be. She's a banshee."
"And falls under my remit," Arcturus pointed out, approaching the sleeping girl to scan her with his magic. "Her power is waking up already, but your pack could do with someone like her, and that's without her intelligence being a boon."
"Our pack," Peter corrected, grinning at the stink eye Arcturus sent him. "I might not be comfortable with it, but you know it's the truth."
Arcturus grunted, stepping away from the sleeping girl once he was happy with what his scans had told him. "She's healing on her own. I suggest leaving her be for now and focusing on the others you've selected."
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OoOoO
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Lockwood Manor
Tyler would never say he hated his mother, but some days, he borderline despised her. It was one of those days.
Despite the fact his father wasn't dead twenty-four hours and Carol Lockwood should still be in hospital, the Mystic Falls socialite had forced the doctors to release her for the day as long she had an on-site medical professional to watch over her. All so she could dress in her finest and have an open house wake.
The staff were all doing their jobs to their usual perfection, but it fell to Tyler as the new man of the house to welcome each new mourner. Tyler might not hate his mother, but he hated all the need to keep up appearances. His internal grumblings got cut short when he saw a black SUV coming up the pathway and he recognised the man driving. The truck pulled up in front of the manor with a small skid and a tall, curly-haired, scruffy man got out. He was dressed in faded jeans, a white sleeveless t-shirt that didn't look any better with the unbuttoned white shirt thrown over the top.
"Well, the black sheep returns," Tyler declared, stepping up to the top step to watch his uncle approach.
"Tyler?" The man smiled, only for the look to freeze as he got close enough for the two Lockwoods to catch each other's scents. Their eyes both flashed gold, and they were lucky their stereo growls sounded more like grunts to the passing public.
"Yeah," Tyler nodded, only having control because of the Remus' lessons that kept him from snapping at McCall.
"In my mind, you're twelve-years-old," Mason Lockwood remarked through a tense jaw.
"That's two years older than the last time you saw me, uncle Mason."
"A lot's changed," Mason said. The man made to hug Tyler, his family connection overriding the wolf's instincts for a moment, but then stopped as though unsure how it would be received. Tyler held out a hand for his uncle to shake, and if they squeezed with more than human strength, that was their business. "We should talk later."
"I agree," Tyler nodded, letting his uncle's hand go and watching the other werewolf walk into the house. Tyler's skin crawled, and he knew he was too on edge to keep doing door duty. He was about to walk off when he saw Elena walking up to the steps. "Hey, Elena, thanks for coming, and come on in."
He didn't wait to see if she wanted to talk. Instead, he hunted down his father's office and the high end booze he knew was inside. Tyler's solitude lasted long enough for the Stiles and Jeremy to find him.
"Hey man, sorry about your dad," Jeremy offered as the trio entered the spacious office.
"Yeah," Tyler snorted, taking a gulp from his father's hip flask. "Today's been a big day of sorrys from people who just don't give a crap."
"We do," Stiles admonished, causing Tyler to toast the teen before looking to pass the flask over to Jeremy, who waved it away.
"Artie would smell it on us."
"True," Tyler said. "Where's the little guy?"
"Too many you know whats," Stiles tapped his nose to let the wolf know what he was meaning. "And too many unknowns running around."
One of those unknowns made an appearance.
"Hey, what's going on here, Tyler?" Mason asked, deliberately loud and with heavy footsteps as he entered the office.
"Nothing," Tyler told him, ignoring Stiles falling off his chair in surprise with long practice.
"Don't you have someplace else to be?" Mason gave the two younger boys a glare. The pair eyed him and it took Tyler nodding his head before they left. The man watched them leave and closed the glass doors behind them. Tyler's instincts rose, and he watched every move his uncle made as he approached. Mason sat on the edge of the large desk and held out a hand, giving a tilt of his head to the flask Tyler held. The teen handed it over, watching his uncle take a tremendous pull before handing it back.
Mason waited for Tyler to take another drink before speaking. "How'd you trigger the curse?"
"You tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine," he shot back. Tyler knew not to give information away for free.
"That's fair," Mason admitted with a heavy sigh. "I was at a bar when one of my best friends got it in his head that I was sleeping with his girl. He just wouldn't stop, no matter what I said, and I had to slam him to the ground. It was all happening in a rush and he landed wrong. The curse triggered, and I've had to change ever since."
Tyler let loose a deep breath. He couldn't imagine causing Jeremy or Stiles' death on top of that being the trigger for his wolf. He handed his uncle the flask back. "A vampire stalker was hanging around school during one of our decade dances. I got lucky in killing him. There's another in town who realised what I was and has been helping me."
"You're lucky," Mason pointed out, getting a nod in return.
"What brought you back, uncle Mason?" Tyler finally asked the important question. "The accident happened last night and -"
"And I'd have needed to be already on my way to make it when I did," Mason finished, taking a pull from the flask that Tyler was sure meant it was now empty. "I came to talk to your dad about some old family artefacts. Heirlooms."
"What, you blow through your trust fund already?"
Mason laughed. "I did that when I was twenty-two. Nah, I remembered an old piece of my mum's. My dad gave it to her when they married, and I was going to ask your dad if I could have it. Sentimental value, you know? It should probably be in the house somewhere."
"What's it look like?" Tyler asked in his most nonchalant voice. He leant back in the chair, acting for all the world like he had no genuine interest in the answer.
"It's a moonstone," Mason explained, holding out his thumb and finger to suggest the size he meant. "Old. Ugly. Minimum sentimental value."
"Hey man, whatever," Tyler threw up his arms. "But no, dad never let me know where he stored anything like that. You'd need to ask my mum."
"Thanks."
Tyler gave his uncle a nod and watched the man walk out of the office as though he hadn't been lying the entire time.
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OoOoO
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Potter/Peverell Manor
The family frowned as one when Tyler and Jeremy walked through the door late that evening. The moon was near full and the drive out to the Potter land was a solitary one, a perfect place for an ambush.
"What are you boys doing here?" Amelia demanded from where she was relaxing next to Sirius. Remus and Hermione had buried themselves in books researching a new potion, while Cissa had been tutoring Teddy. Arcturus was savouring a drink lost in his thoughts. Viktor and the Delacours had returned to Europe to warn Arcturus' allies of the attack the previous night, and the family was expecting an influx of bodies sooner rather than later.
"It's my fault," Jeremy confessed. The teen pulled a family ring from his pocket as he walked towards Arcturus. "Uncle John has left town, but he gave me dad's ring. I... ah... was wondering -"
"If I'd do the same for it as I did for Alaric's?" Arcturus finished wandlessly summoning the piece of jewellery. "Of course, kiddo."
The teens sat, and everyone waited for Arcturus to finish his adjustments to the ring and hand it back to Jeremy. Only then did Tyler speak up, drawing something from his back pocket and tossing it to the tribrid.
"My triggered werewolf uncle is back in town looking for that."
Seeker reflexes had Arcturus catching the pale stone with ease, only for him to stiffen as his magic told him what he now held.
"What is it?" Sirius asked.
"A moonstone."
"Not a moonstone," Arcturus corrected the werewolf. "The moonstone."
The family stared at him while Jeremy and Tyler shared a confused look.
"Kreacher, the Black Jewellery Box," the tribrid ordered. The elf answered with an immediate open and held the ornate container over. Arcturus gave the thing one last dirty look before dropping it into the secure box and closing the lid. A whispered spell had the box, elf, and all those in the room with Black blood glow.
"Only you can open it," he told those who shared his blood. "And only with Kreacher's permission. You can't order him to help you open the box as long as it holds the moonstone.
"Hermione, what are the effects hecatolite has on werewolves?" Arcturus shot out at his close friend, making her jump.
"Oh, um," she shot a look at Remus, who continued staring wide-eyed at the box until Kreacher popped it away. "Hecatolite, otherwise known as moonstone, is said to defuse the wolf's instincts. We looked into using it in the potion, but it wasn't viable with the other ingredients."
Arcturus nodded at her answer. The pair had been working on-and-off on a new Wolfsbane potion for years whenever either had the time and energy to meet up. Eventually, they decided on Polyjuice as the potion's base, since it dealt with body transformations, although it restricted their ability to incorporate other ingredients.
"It does, yes, but not in a healthy way." Arcturus looked at Jeremy and Tyler and sighed. "You both know how I was bound in my youth. That binding wasn't done to restrict my wolf, but to keep me the same as I was. A subtle difference. My vampire father is Elijah Mikaelson, one of the Originals of this kind of vampirism. His brother is Niklaus, the first true hybrid. Their mother used hecatolite, that moonstone specifically, to bind the man's wolf after his first kill as a vampire activated the curse."
Here the tribrid sighed, leaning back in his chair and closed his eyes. The group exchanged glances as the man looked exhausted. Teddy and Hermione nibbled their lips, Amelia uncurled herself from Sirius' side, and Narcissa felt her heart clench.
"The stone scatters the effects of moonlight," the tribrid continued, looking for all the world as though he were talking in his sleep. "Enough of the stuff and werewolves of all kinds won't feel the moon's effects and won't even shift. But the problem is that once exposed to the moon's effects, their werewolf side is now out of control. Think of it as a vampire having their hunger contained. It doesn't cure them of the bloodlust, they simply don't feel it. The charm Deaton gave McCall imitated what a moonstone spell would do."
"So, using moonstone to bind a wolf?" Tyler had to ask, horror etched into his handsome features.
"Is deep psychological torture. Klaus Mikaelson has had his unlocked werewolf side trapped beneath the effects of that moonstone for a thousand years. It's the lock needed for the ritual that will free his wolf. The lock that Katherine Pearce stole from the Originals when she escaped being an ingredient in the ritual to free Niklaus' wolf."
Jeremy and Tyler shared looks. The man had explained why Katherine and Elena were identical and the doppelgänger's role in breaking a spell, but this was the first time Arcturus was sharing the full details. The magical Gilbert had to ask. "What are the other ingredients?"
"A werewolf, a vampire, and a full moon," Narcissa answered, frowning. "Miss Pearce has reappeared from under whatever rock she was hiding under, and Tyler's werewolf uncle returns home to get the stone. She's bringing the ingredients together. She's looking to buy her freedom from Niklaus by giving him the chance to perform the ritual."
Arcturus opened his eyes, the green swirling and mixing with the red of a vampire, the gold of a Loup Garou, and the fluorescence blue of a Fera who had taken a life. He nodded and was about to speak when his phone went off. He took it out, looked at the caller ID, and pressed a button. "You're on loudspeaker unless you tell me otherwise."
"No, that's good." Peter's smooth tones filled the air. "The others need to hear this. I take it you know Gerard Argent is in town for Kate's 'funeral'?"
With Kate Argent effectively dead to the Argent clan, the Hunter family had decided to treat her as such, and hold an empty casket funeral. "I do. Gerard's the de facto head of the family even though the Argents are supposed to be matriarchal. MACUSA has a lot of unease about the man, some things even I never got notified of."
"An Omega had come to town looking for an Alpha to accept him. No chance of that. The man was feral and had been eating dead bodies. And not just recently dead, either." Peter waited the group out as they all made sounds of disgust at the image. "I agree. The Argents caught him tonight and Gerard killed him. Derek and I overheard him telling Chris Argent he's thrown the family's Code away. Arcturus, he declared war on all wolves, no matter their control of their condition. And everyone else who 'murdered' Kate."
"Keep yourselves safe, Peter. I've got a call to make," Arcturus ordered, standing to stalk out of the room without giving the group another glance.
"Merlin's saggy bollocks!" Sirius snarled, jumping to his feet to pace. "What next?"
"Could the Argents be behind the attacks?" Tyler nervously asked. The pacing man's wife answered.
"Connected, maybe, but that's it. I sent a team of Aurors to investigate as soon as I heard. They had an Unspeakable with them and it was they who caught the faint traces of magic at each scene. Wanded magic." The woman sighed and stood, kissing Sirius' cheek, and used her wand to transfigure her clothing into something she could wear at work. "I need to head in and tell my superiors. If a Hunter family has gone out of control, then MACUSA will have to respond."
"Isn't that what he's doing now?" Hermione frowned.
"Hermione." Remus shook his head with a rueful smile. "He's got too many connections. It would help us all if Amelia got the ball rolling here."
"And you boys," Narcissa said, pinning Tyler and Jeremy with a steely gaze as Amelia headed to the Floo connection. "Will stay here for the night."
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OoOoO
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Arcturus waited until he was in his office before making his call. The room's defences activated and locked the room up so tight even air couldn't get in and out. It took runes to provide the room a breathable atmosphere. He stared out of the office window as he waited.
"Bailey," the unmistakable New York accent of Thomas Bailey declared once the protected call went through.
"Gerard Argent has just declared war on shifters and anyone connected to Kate Argent's punishment."
"Fuck!" The America snapped. Arcturus heard the unmistakable sound of someone rushing down a corridor. "And you're calling me because you know Isabella would drown that accursed town in bodies."
"There's more," the tribrid said, his non-answer an answer enough to the accusation. Arcturus explained the moonstone and their guess at Katherine's plan. As much as he wanted to help his vampire uncle be free of the curse, he had no clue as to the hybrid's mental state since the death of Rhett Potter.
Thomas was silent as he listened to the report. The man was a collection of extremes, able to explode when taken unawares, but emotionless once he got himself in the right mindset. Finally, the man who was part of the Thirteen Families sighed. "It gets worse, Arcturus. We've never been able to prove it, but we've long believed the Strigoi Elder Viktor has used the Argents as attack dogs. We know he's a patron of theirs."
"Viktor won't be a problem for another thirteen years," Arcturus reminded the man. "It's Lady Amelia's turn right now."
The Strigoi vampires were led by a 'council' of three – the original three Strigoi - with each Elder only active for a century before sleeping for the next two. The trio had set the system up to stop them from turning on themselves and destroying their race. Given that both the Kindred and Originals saw the Strigoi as the lesser vampire race, the Strigoi needed all the solidarity they could get to prove themselves. Lady Amelia was a Hungarian vampire and the most progressive of the Elders. Arcturus hadn't met the woman, but he'd met those who had the ear of those who had her ear.
"How much do you know of the Strigoi situation?" Thomas' voice held a strange tone that put Arcturus' instincts on edge.
"I know Lady Amelia's been over here running the New World Coven and been trying to work with you lot to build bridges with the Kindred, and through them the other vampire races. She'd be a much more successful if she had total control of the Strigoi, but no one trusts Elder Viktor or Elder Marcus Corvinus to honour any deal she's able to make."
Like most vampires of all races, the oldest of the species tended to use a single name. Marcus Corvinus, despite being the first of the Strigoi, was the only one of the trio who kept his surname.
"And the Old World Coven?"
"Run by Viktor's Regent Kraven. According to Kahn, he's an egotistical little shit that only got the position because he killed Lucian, the Lycan leader. What's this about, Thomas?"
Kahn was a six-hundred plus vampire who couldn't be more of a happy-go-lucky Cockney Bastard if he tried. He'd moonlighted as part of the infamous Richardson Gang of South London in the 1950s and 60s. Also known as the 'Torture Gang,' the group had split London in half between themselves and the Krays in the East. Given Kahn's accent was straight out of the heart of the East End, Arcturus could only guess how the vampire proved himself to the Richardsons. He was also the Thirteen's mole within the Old World Coven.
Thomas Bailey didn't give an immediate reply. Arcturus' eyes swept back and forth as he scanned the grounds, and the mage kept nudging the wards to check for any intrusion.
"Lady Amelia's dead," Thomas dropped the bomb that had Arcturus got statue still, ceasing all movement, including breathing. "She got a fake message to bring the New World Coven to Budapest, and the Lycans massacred them to the last."
"Impossible," Arcturus snapped. "The checks and balances the Strigoi use keep those types of messages from being believed."
"Turns out Kraven hadn't killed Lucian after all, but was working with the man to kill Elder Viktor," Thomas explained, causing Arcturus to sigh. "Kahn's message said he used the Nemeton wave as the excuse. Someone realise what was happening and woke Elder Viktor up early. Of course, there's an entire ritual needed for one Elder to wake another that didn't get performed, so the man is almost insensible right now. But he's aware enough to be coordinating the civil war that's taken over the Old World Coven."
"That's all we need, the damn Strigoi ripping themselves apart right now."
"Most would say it's joyous news," Thomas pointed out.
"Most wouldn't remember you prefaced all of this by telling me of your fears that Elder Viktor was the Argent puppet master."
"We think he'll turn everything he has on the Lycans once he takes out Kraven's attempted coup, but after that? He's well known to hate anything that shifts, Arcturus."
"In other words, someone else targeting my back."
Thomas sighed. "Listen, the report came back from the car crash scenes. It's Belmont magic. We're sending old friends of yours to help."
The man had hung up before Arcturus realised who he was talking about. The tribrid stared at the phone and growled. "Bastard."
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OoOoO
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27th February 2010 – Salvatore Boarding House
Stefan walked into the building's main living room just as his brother was pouring himself a glass of blood. Damon looked up with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Would you care for one?"
"No, thank you," Stefan smiled as he moved to sit on the arm of a couch. "I just ate."
"Aren't you worried that one day all the forest animals are going to band together and fight back?" Damon quipped. "Surely they talk?"
"I'm just happy that's a blood bag," Stefan ignored the jibe to his diet with long practice. "And not a sorority girl supplying your dinner."
"I like this," Damon smirked, swaying slightly from the amount of alcohol he'd already drunk that morning as he moved to the chair nearest his brother and leaned against its back. "You, walking on eggshells around because you think I'm going to explode. It's very suspenseful. Is Elena worried too?"
Stefan just smirked back at Damon, letting him get it off his chest.
"I bet I'm your every conversation."
"Have you heard from Katherine?"
The smile and humour bleed off Damon's face at the question, and pain flashed in his eyes before he hid it. "I think the Lockwoods have a family secret. They don't have daylight rings, so they're not vampires. But they're something else."
"Is this your... new obsession?"
"Oh, if you'd rather have some unknown supernatural element running around town, I'll drop it."
"We haven't seen the last of Katherine. You do know that, right? We have no idea what she's up to."
"Sure we do," Damon scoffed. "She came back to tell me the last 145 years of my loving her meant nothing and to profess her undying love for you. So, I'm going to let you deal with her. I have more important things to do. Like... explode! Cheers!"
Damon toasted Stefan with the glass. The younger brother lasted until Damon was almost out of the room before he broke. "Why do you think they aren't human?"
Damon spun around wearing an 'I win' smirk, only for it to be replaced by his 'I mean business' one. "I was talking to Carol Lockwood this morning. Mason and the Tyler kid had come back from a run and didn't know I was listening."
The vampire wasted effort by tapping his ear to explain the method of eavesdropping. "They were talking about how they dealt with the stronger emotions, heightened strength, everything but the craving for blood."
"And you haven't asked Caspian?"
Damon doesn't wince, but it's a near thing. He still isn't sure why he's keeping hush to his brother over what the man said of his real names and history with the Bennett witches, but Damon just couldn't bring himself to share the details. "He knew that Campbell family probably had you but wouldn't step in unless Elena understood it meant he'd kill them, and his son is best friends with Tyler Lockwood. I'd say he's not likely going to help us snoop into the kid's family secrets."
Stefan stared at his brother and then sighed, giving a nod.
They hashed some ideas around, but it took the carnival that evening for them to do anything. Tyler was having fun being the arm wrestling champ in a winner-stays-on competition. Until Mason stepped in and the two Lockwoods locked hands. The vampires were familiar with tests of strength, and both raised eyebrows at the sheer force the two were putting against each other. Mason looked just as shocked by his nephew's strength, even though the man had come out a winner. And then Damon pushed Stefan under the bus, only to be disappointed to see his brother wimp the match as easily as he did.
"You didn't put any effort in," he snarled once Stefan was back by his side, only to be shocked at the reply.
"Yeah, I did."
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If Tyler had been suspicious about his uncle's story before, it went doubly so now. One of the carnie workers had deliberately pushed into him as he was heading to his car to check up on Teddy, and refused to back down from the fight he was starting. Tyler might have been a calmer young man since Arcturus Peverell stepped into his life, but he was still a werewolf on the first night of the full moon. Which meant he was at his most aggressive without being forced to change.
It took Mason to get between Tyler and the mindless carnie and use his werewolf strength to knock the worker down. Mason started dragging him off, but a scent in the air had Tyler turn back just as Stefan Salvatore approaching the carnie.
"I'll meet you back at the house," he told Mason, getting a confused look back. "Go! I'll be fine. I need to go somewhere first."
Mason stared at him for a moment before nodding and heading off into the shadows to find his car. Tyler turned and snaked his way through the packed parking lot, straining his hearing to pick up the carnie's confused question and Stefan's answer.
"Why'd I just do that?"
"You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Damn it, they know, Tyler thought, closing his eyes. The vampire brothers were erratic, and he knew Artie and the others were worried about them learning secrets. He did his best to calm his panic, taking deep slow breaths that were harder for enhanced hearing to pick out from the background noise. Only when he knew he was in control did he open his eyes. He had someone to check over to make sure Mason's punch hadn't done too much damage.
Tyler followed the scent of the guy's blood. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea, and Tyler found a vamped-out Caroline feeding on the guy in a darkened part of the carnival. Tyler swore and used his enhanced strength to race to the pair and jump on both, shouting 'Sanctuary' as he did so. The emergency Portkey that he always carried activated, and they were spinning away into the magical ether.
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Potter/Peverel Manor, Mystic Falls
The manor's wards went off, and the alarm sounded in every room. Arcturus only stayed to say 'An emergency Portkey' before vampire-speeding himself to the landing room, the others racing after him to the best of their abilities. The emergency Portkeys would drop the owner and anyone they carried into a room that instantly put them in a full status until someone outside the room released them.
The none-supernatural beings arrived to find Tyler sitting on the floor of the bare stone room, leaning against one wall with a leg bent beneath him as Arcturus was crouched next to a weeping, bloody faced Caroline Forbes.
"The Salvatores suspect something about me and my uncle," Tyler explained with a sigh.
"And we've just found Katherine's sacrificial vampire for the ritual," Arcturus informed them. "Tyler stopped Caroline from killing someone. I've healed him and sent him back. He'll think he passed out from a delayed reacted to a punch."
Arcturus hadn't taken his eyes away from the young woman who was staring back at him. She'd seen what he did, seen the speed he worked and the magic he'd performed. He could read the question in her eyes and allowed his vampire face to appear.
"You're amongst friends now, Caroline," he promised, holding out a hand. "If you'll let us be. We can help you."
"I've sent a message to Pearl. She'll be here soon," Sirius said from the door, getting a nod from the tribrid.
"You're not alone, Caroline," Arcturus continued in the same calm voice. "We can help you understand what's happening. Learn how to live as you are now. But I need you to take that first step. Tyler did. So did Jeremy. Take my hand, Caroline. Accept there's someone who wants to help you and who won't see you as a monster."
"I'm a murderer. I'm a monster."
"No, no, Caroline. The boy is alive, I promise. You saw me save him. Your emotions are all over the place right now because of your change. It's natural. We can teach you how to get control. But I need you to be the one who makes that choice. You have to accept the help. You have to be the one to refuse to let this destroy you."
Arcturus felt Pearl and Anna's arrival, but never turned away from the wide-eyed newborn. This wasn't the first time he'd been in a situation like this, nor would it be the last, and he'd learned many hard-won lessons over the years. The key being that anyone forced into becoming a supernatural being had to accept being helped. With that acceptance came the first step in accepting themselves.
"I don't want to be a monster," she replied. A simple statement, but the hand reaching out to him told him everything. Newborns were in a strange place of having superior strength to many older vampires, while being mentally weaker. He'd slipped into her mind after facing no resistance and had seen everything she'd experienced.
"And you won't be," he promised, putting his vampire face away as he helped her rise. Pearl took that as her cue to enter the room and wrap her arms around the trembling girl.
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28th February 2010 – MF High
Arcturus had to give the old man credit. He had a pair of balls on him.
Gerard Argent sat in the principal's chair as though he owned it and hadn't had his daughter-in-law torture the previous owner into taking a sabbatical. Arcturus took a sniff and fought not to scrunch his nose up at the chemical stench coming off the man. He didn't know what illness the Argent patriarch had, but the range and potency of the drugs he picked up through the man's scent suggested a fatal disease.
"You Argents have a long reach," he pointed out, head tilting to indicate the room and his new position.
"We do," Gerard agreed. "It's only my first day and -"
"Have you seen my contract yet?" Arcturus asked, enjoying the clenching of the man's jaw at being interrupted.
"I have."
"Then you know it's open-ended and I'm the only one who can terminate it," he smirked, putting his hat on before standing. "It doesn't matter how much influence the Argent family has, or how high your friends are, I can go higher. You could have the personal number of the President, and one of my contacts could have him forget your family ever existed. Consider me an unofficial protector of the students of this school from those who are supposed to be on their side, Mr Argent, and we'll get on fine."
Arcturus didn't wait to be dismissed. He walked out of the office like he owned it and found Stefan Salvatore waiting for him. "Stefan? My office?"
"Please."
The pair walked in silence until they reached their destination. The tribrid threw off his hat and coat while waving the vampire into a chair. "So, what's the problem?"
"Caroline sent Elena a text this morning about getting help from a witch. It's not Bonnie, so I... ah..."
"You wanted to see if it was me," he offered, getting a nod in return. "It is. I doubt you heard, but Tyler got into a fight last night with one of the carnival workers. Teddy wasn't feeling well and missed the event, and Tyler promised to drop by to tell him all about it. I came to pick him up when he told me about the fight, and I told him we needed to check on the guy. A vicious punch can have lasting damage if done wrong, after all. We were lucky enough to come across the kid before Caroline made a meal of him, and I offered my help."
"No offence, Caspian, but you're not really the kind that could help Caroline."
"Apart from some Daylight jewellery, no, but I also have Pearl and Ann Zhu living on my land. Those two ladies can do what I can't."
Stefan blinked at the names, causing Arcturus to chuckle. "You'd forgotten they were still in town?"
"Uh, yeah, I had."
Arcturus chuckled again. "That's what happens when vampires keep a low profile, Stefan. They blend in. Caroline will learn everything she needs to know, even if the Zhus turn out not to be the ideal teachers. I've got a few vampires I can call who could step in."
Stefan nodded and went to leave the office, only to pause before he got to the door. "You've been around, haven't you? Seen things? Know things most don't?"
"You could say that."
"Are the Lockwoods dangerous?"
The question hung in the air between them. The vampire had turned to face Arcturus, who let knowledge show in his gaze even if it wasn't said. "No more or less than anything else in the world, just different. But as people? Tyler isn't a threat to you, your brother, or Elena. He'd be an idiot to be given he's friends with Jeremy. Mason? Well, it's not like every vampire is the same, is it? You are different to Damon, and you're both different to Katherine Pierce."
They stared at each other. Stefan nodded and left. Arcturus knew it wasn't the last they'd said on the subject. A text message pulled his thoughts away from the vampire problem and onto the werewolf issue. Isaac Lahey, Peter's newest Beta, had just been arrested for the murder of his father by a creature unknown and would be in a cell for the night. During a full moon.
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Sheriff's Station – That evening
"Are you sure about this?" Noah asked again. It was already dark outside as he showed Arcturus and Peter to the cell they were keeping Isaac in.
"Golems are perfect for something like this," Arcturus promised. "He's innocent, but even MACUSA needs more than an evening to do things legally without arousing undue attention. The lawyer will be here tomorrow morning, but he can't stay in the cell tonight."
"And how are you going to get him out of here?"
"He won't be walking," Peter quipped, getting a dirty look from Arcturus.
"The problem isn't Isaac, it's everyone else," Arcturus admitted. Too many secrets with too many layers known by too many people. The spinning plates were making things harder for Arcturus, not easier, and he knew he'd have to decide to either reveal more and risk danger, or pull back from events.
Noah grunted as they approached the cell, opening it to reveal an agitated and worried Isaac. Arcturus withdrew something from his pocket and cancelled the shrinking charm to reveal what looked like a life-sized Ken doll. A wave of the tribrid's hand had it dressed in the same clothing Isaac wore.
"We need a drop of your blood, Isaac," Peter told his Beta, his voice calm but commanding, so the teen held out his hand without arguments. A flash of a claw and Peter's inch perfect slash flicked blood from Isaac's palm onto the golem's face. The magical creation rippled and became a perfect copy of the teen. "Good, now hold on tight."
"Take care of them," Arcturus told the Alpha, who just gave a smirk back and vanished via Portkey. "You can lock it up now. We'll bring Isaac back to the cell in the morning with no one noticing."
"I'd forgotten about those things," Noah confessed, doing as the other man had said.
"Sirius will be by later," Arcturus explained as they headed to the front of the building. "The Argents are loose cannons and might try to hurt 'Isaac' while he's locked up. He'll monitor the place just in case."
"I got Stiles' garbled message."
The mage snorted. Even when understanding the situation, the boy's message was still a mess. Allison and McCall had dragged Stiles into their chaos despite knowing Stiles was close to Arcturus and neither trusting him. Nor wanting to come to him for help.
Things turned out more complicated that Arcturus had expected. With his need to be behind his property's wards during the full moon, he would learn about everything the next morning. Sirius had sent the Argent thug back to them with a nasty vomiting hex that would take days to fade, a warning from one family to the other. Derek and McCall had investigated Isaac's home with Allison Argent showing up to kiss her boyfriend goodnight before he locked himself in the same freezer Isaac's father locked him in. Arcturus had wanted to call up the man's soul and torture it for a few months, but knew that was his own abusive childhood reacting to the information.
The worrying thing was the appearance of some kind of mutated creature. The family had used a Pensieve to look at Derek's memories and neither vampire, werewolf, magical, or tribrid had ever seen anything like it. It looked like some unholy mix of Don Cheny's Wolf Man and the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London, only possessing a reptilian tale straight out of a comic book.
They knew what had killed Isaac's father. They just had no clue what the damn thing was.
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Last Edited - 25th September 2023
Word Count – 8,728
Previous Word Count - 8,662