It's the weekend, Erna, Eric and Andrew met after classes in the school gate. To their surprise, Hope came along as well.
Eric looked at her strangely. "Don't you usually keep to yourself? Why are you disturbing our time with mother?" He is not fond of hiding his feelings.
"I invited her. I see that mother doesn't dislike her and I didn't want her to stay at the dorm by herself all weekend." Erna pinched her brother and told him.
"Children, I got my license again. Hop in." Katherine rolled down the window and looked at Alaric who stood a small distance from them. Seeing her look over, he forced a smile and waved. She just turned to Hope who seem nervous.
"Seat up front, The three of you squeeze in the back." Hope let out a breath and quickly entered the car. Katherine drove away.
"This is a bad idea." Alaric mumbled feeling uneasy seeing Hope into that woman's car. "Hailey said she will check on her once in a while during the weekend."
"Did your paranoid father allow you to go home with a complete stranger?" Katherine asked Hope who just bit her lips and didn't respond.
"Okay, rule number one. Don't pretend to be shy when you are nothing but in your head." Katherine said with a chuckle.
"Did you just read my mind?" Hope's blue eyes widened.
"I didn't need to. You don't have a single submissive bone in your body. A Mikaelson first born witch, your father's temper and your mother's bravery." Katherine looked through the review mirror and saw Andrew scoffing.
"Now why don't you tell me why you wanted to join us this weekend?" Katherine asked but the one who answered is Eric.
"Because she saw us fighting in the woods." He answered for Hope who widened her eyes.
"Creep." Andrew taunted. The three of them sometimes argue and the only way to settle it is usually to fight.
"I didn't..." Hope said with red cheeks.
"Anyways Mikel will be taking us on a mission. I want you all to study the people and tell me which one of them has been keeping people in his basement using them in his experiments." She gave them a look.
"Are we going hunting?" Eric asked with sparkling eyes. The nine tails are like enforcers and guardians in the three factions.
"Dad never let us go to these missions." Erna frowned. She then looked at her mother who is smiling at her.
"Your dad doesn't want you to be exposed to the bloodshed too soon. That is why we will use the legal system to punish the culprit. That, and a little magic." Katherine winked.
"So we are essentially playing detective?" Andrew rolled his eyes.
"Magical detective." Katherine smiled.
They drove to the pack house to drop off their luggage, the local sheriff is already waiting with his sister, Tony and two servants taking away tea sets. Her phone rang so she let the kids say hello while she answers it.
"Yes."
"How is it going? Do you need me there?"
"Everything is fine." She answered calmly.
"Can we meet and talk?"
"Not this weekend, I have a packed schedule."
"Ill cook. Plus you need to talk to someone about what you went through. I have a perfect candidate."
"Hehe.. Are you worried about my sanity?" She asked with amusement.
"It isn't just you I am worried about."
Katherine understood what he means and he is right to worry. But she is still annoyed by it and hung up the call crushing her phone into scrap. She threw it in a nearby bin and walked over to the others.
"...children." Katherine heard the grumbling voice of Matt Donavon it seems he is not happy with using children in a case.
"Little Matthew, are you finding this troublesome? By the way, where is your dear sister?" She asked him with a kind smile.
"It's not Matthew, it's just Matt." The sheriff said
"Really? That doesn't make sense!" She blinked studying his face to see if he is joking with her.
"I have these files here, according to the team, he is holding these people in a humid space, with little ventilation. Likes to kidnap them when they walk alone at night mostly on Vinas Avenue street." Matt put out photos of the victims.
"We don't know how he is making their body deformed to this extent."
"Oh my God!" Erna wanted to puke when she saw the disturbing scene in the picture.
"Oh wow, humans are really sick." Katherine said with an amused smile.
"There goes my breakfast." Hope grumbled running to the side.
"Are you sure it's a human?"
"No. But tell me Matt, is there another group of species as curious and daring as humans?" She asked him. When he didn't answer, she simply closed the evidence file.
"I want you to take us to the scene of the crime."
"Is that a good idea?" Matt asked drowning.
"This is a distance from here. How about I come back later to take you there?" He asked looking uneasy.
"Are you brushing me off, little Matty?" Katherine raised an eyebrow.
"The only reason I asked you is because I couldn't get hold of Caroline. The drawings on the victims bodies has tattoos similar to her own."
"A tattoo on Caroline? Are you talking about to runes on her body?" This is a surprise. She is the one who put those on Caroline.
"You know about it? How?" Matt became alert.
"Well, for starters, I put them there. Secondly those runes require a lot more than magic. The ink is specially made, the ritual has specific ingredients and the spell is only known to me." Katherine said with a matter of fact tone.
"Was it you who gave Caroline that strength? She was strong enough to go against vampires several centuries older than her." Matt Donavon paced.
"It was the least I could do." Katherine said.
"Why?"
"I was asking for forgiveness. Elena put me up to it." Katherine smiled, she did not notice how her smile seemed kind. As if she is thinking about someone she cares about.
"You know Elena?" Matt stilled in his pacing, giving Katherine a deep look.
"I have been erased in the collective minds of anyone who knew me before." Katherine answered his unasked question.
"But father remembers you." Erna said. The triplets all looked at her in question. Hope also found it interesting.
"I put a spell on my wedding ring. Incase he came looking, he will receive his memories. I had to disappear at that time. But if you look, there are remnants of my footprints everywhere." Katherine pinched her youngest son's
"Like what?" Hope got interested.
"Read one of Stefan's journals, he probably wrote something about me in there. He was delusional and loves drowning in self pity." Katherine rolled her eyes.
"The point is, if you want to find this person, only I can translate those runes." She opened a file and pointed at a picture with a person's back spotting a large rune.
"What does it say?"
"Speed."
"Really?"
"The ink, ritual and the activation process must be done poorly otherwise this person would have been granted a lot of speed." She knows this because she gave Caroline the same rune.
"What ingredients?" Hope looked at the rune.
"You can't just ask someone's body to have tremendous speed out of the blue. It has to come from somewhere."
"Where dis you get the one you gave to Caroline?" Matt asked visibly tense.
"The fastest vampire in the world." She smiled with a fond smile on her face.
"Who is that?" Andrew asked. Katherine only put her finger on her mouth.
"One of the originals." She said in a low voice.
"Who?" Eric looked scandalized.
"Guess." She said making the children think about it deeply.
"It has to be Nicklaus the hybrid." Erna said but Katherine didn't agree.
"Not him? Who could be faster than him?" Hope widened her eyes in wonder.
"Nick is not the fastest, he is the strongest and has wolfish flexibility but he is not the fastest. I don't think he is faster than the youngest." Katherine chimed in.
"No way!" Hope exclaimed.
"I have seen it. Besides at that time, there was still the destroyer." Katherine added.
"You met gr...him too?"
"Yeah." Katherine smiled. "I shattered his hand, threatened to cut him into many pieces and feed his tender vampire meat to my pets. He loved me." She laughed.
"We got a long very well. Also, we both held a clear distain for the hybrid." She ruffled Hope's hair.
Hope opened her mouth and closed it again. Her head dropped.
"You don't like him." He said in a low disappointed voice.
"We are too much alike to get along. You'll understand when the time comes. It's annoying to be near someone who can counter your schemes and think several moves ahead as you do."
"He is the master of schemes." She said with a bit of pride.
"As are you. You just haven't seen it yet. You are very smart littlest witch." This made Hope blush.
"So where would this person get these runes from?" Matt brought everyone back to the topic.
"Right. I wrote a few pages while I was staying in the Gilbert house. Then there's the sight of my ritual here in Mystic Falls. Or they could be someone from my own pack."
"Where is the place?"
"A warehouse in Xavier street."
"That belongs to you?" Matt is very angry. That place is like a trap haven. He had thought it was because of the old witches from before.
"You know it?" She smiled.
"Yes. Can you get rid of those magical traps you left there? Many people have gotten injured trying to enter that place." Matt slapped the stone table.
Katherine looked at him coolly. "I bought the land. That entire place belongs to me, so I don't understand your fury. If they got injured they were simply thieves."
"Just do it." Matt seem to snarl.
"I don't think so little Matt." She crossed her arms.
"Are you sure about that?" He quickly pulled his gun. Hope widened her eyes while Tony frowned.
"Sigh." She didn't move, but the gun started separating into many parts falling on the ground.
"What..?" Matt took a step back looking horrified.
"Really? A gun?...wow.." She gave him a disdainful glance.
"It only been a few minutes since we spoke. And you're already scaring the kids." A magnetic voice came from the entrance.
"What are you doing here? We have Hope for the weekend." Katherine said exasperated by Elijah's sudden visit.
Mikel stood in his way. "Haven't you done enough damage Mikaelson?" Mikel's voice is tight, as if he is holding himself back.
Understanding his deep meaning. Elijah sneered and took a step forward. "I am just as capable of doing more." Elijah showed his vampire face, Mikel did not back down, his eyes became completely black, he also took a step forward threateningly.
"You two are scaring the kids." Katherine rolled her eyes.
"Uncle Elijah!" Hope ran up to him and gave him a hug. Just then, the wind picked up, but because this place is sacred land, nothing died. Elijah smiled fondly at the little girl, his murderous aura from a while ago completely gone.
"Dad!" The three children ran to him, ramming into him as if trying to nock him over. Katherine stood still folding her arms.
This man...
"What?! How is my uncle your father?!" Hope became flustered.
"They're adopted." Katherine tried to salvage the situation. But...
"I'm their biological father." Elijah said calmly. The place became quiet. Servants ran away from the backyard when they saw that something is amiss.
Mikel walked towards him and punched him in the face, repeatedly.
"Stop!" Hope shouted, her magic responded to her rage in kind. However, Elijah also started fighting back.
Katherine pulled the children towards her home in the woods. On the way, they are all silent, until Hope couldn't stand it.
"You hide this from me? Why?" She asked Erna who didn't answer.
"They did it to respect my sacrifice. If certain people found out about my existence, they will be in danger. Forever." Katherine made a long story short.
Inside the tree house, she had put her old furniture from the warehouse. "I guess I should buy decent furniture."
"Who is after you?" Hope remembered how she and her mom used to live on the road all the time.
"A dangerous organization. I guess I should find and eradicate it now that I'm back. I doubt it's more powerful than my clan." The last part is said in a low voice.
"Why do you think dad showed up here?" Andrew made them all chilled orange juice.
"He wants to expose me so I can be used to help his family again."
Katherine thought to herself. Elijah is shrewd and very calculating. He probably wants to use her under the guise of 'family' like those Mikaelson people do.
Right now the siblings can not meet each other but it's not certain what would happen if Katherine intervened.
"Anyways, I'm glad he came." Eric said with a smile.
"Your mom doesn't look happy about it." Hope pointed out. The triplet looked at their mother. She seems to be angry but they can't be sure yet.
"Mom..." Eric tried to grab her hand. Katherine pinched his soft cheek.
"What are you worried about? Too many unnecessary thoughts in such a small body." Katherine smiled after enjoying the tender cheek.
"Mom!" Eric blushed and looked away.
"How about supper? I can make you spirit food."
"How about pizza?"
"Dad can make really good lasagna." Erna said, her small face brightening up a bit.
Hope saw Katherine's helpless expression and smirked. This is interesting.
"Are you a Petrova doppelganger like aunt Elena?" Hope asked in a young serious voice.
"Yes."
"Then how come no one knows anything about you?" The triplets also quieted down.
"A world wide spell erased me from the collective memories of everyone in the world. Everyone but those I made preparations for." Katherine explained clearly.
"Who can perform such a spell?"
"Not a who. But a place. Once you go inside, you are erased in the world's memories."
"Why would that place exist?" Hope frowned. This place sounds dangerous.
"Because it was created to imprison powerful monsters. Things that were thrown in there, and then erased from the world as if they never existed."
"Why?" Hope pressed.
"These things were too chaotic to exist in the world where humans exist. At least that's what I think. I don't know why they are forgotten after entering the place." She only knew that three factions created the monster.
"And you went in there on your own volition? Why?" Andrew asked this time.
"At the time, I was afraid if I don't disappear, they will discover your existence. I couldn't let that happen."
"Then its because of us?"
"God, no. I went in there because I didn't just have you guys to protect, but my clan needed me to disappear to be left alone. Otherwise those people would have kept coming like an endless stream. Even an elephant can be drowned by ants."
"By telling us this, aren't you worried this information will get out?"
"I have my ways. The clans already have the three leaders including your older sister, besides, your father is no saint."
"You can take them now?"
"They are not the problem. Its their network I couldn't trace. Even if I kill one person, who is to say there are not ten thousand more waiting to take his place?" Katherine pursed her lips.
"You made a sacrifice for your family."
"Also for my own piece of mind." Katherine clarified.
"So, we really are related by blood?"
"Yeah. At that time, your family was very happy to have you." Katherine gave a side glance to Hope.
"I have a feeling you don't particularly like me."
"Dear child. I don't dislike nor do I like you." Katherine felt this is a fair thing.
"What are we eating?" She asked looked at Erna who is looking at the wooden door.
"You can come in now." Katherine wanted to roll her eyes.
Mikel walked in and stood behind Katherine. She looked at his clean clothes with approval. Then she turned to Elijah.
"Dad!" Eric looked at Elijah as he stumbled into the house. Hope looked horrified. How can her uncle be bested so easily?
"That thing is making you weak." Katherine sneered and waved his hand. A dense bluefish energy came out feom Elijah and rushed towards Hope.
All the color drained feom Hope's face. But before it could get close to her. It is sucked into Katherine's bracelet. Then she gave Elijah a spirit cleansing potion. It dispelled any mental strain that demonic power was potting on him.
"So old, but still swallowing any dirty thing on the way. Seriously, how can you bring such filth near the children?" Elijah slept through the night recovering his mental strength.
"What did you do?" Hope can not believe what she just saw with her own eyes.
"Its just a small demonic spirit. My own fox spirit is many times stronger." She rolled her eyes. As soon as Elijah was injured, that thing started to corrode his mind. That is why Katherine could see it and accurately pull it out from his conscious mind space.
"After I have purified it of the consciousness, I will let my spiritual beast eat it up. Maybe I will advance and again another tail." Katherine entered another room and started to set up a rune formation.
...