Freya wiped the blood on her hands onto a cloth already saturated with it. The smell of burned herbs lingered in the chamber. Damon sat on the edge of the table, elbows on knees, staring at his feet. Katherine hovered nearby, one hand pressed against the stone, her posture stiff.
Kol lounged against the opposing wall. "You two look like hell."
Damon exhaled sharply. "You aren't exactly mistaken," he said, rubbing his thumb into his palm. "How long?"
"Long enough," Freya replied, "that we nearly lost the tether."
"I am surprised you didn't," Katherine intoned, her eyes locking onto Freya's. "And Viktor doesn't know."
"No," said Freya, holding the other woman's gaze. "He doesn't. Not yet."
There was an uncomfortable pause, and then Damon pushed himself up from the table. He stood straighter than he usually did, but his broad shoulders still carried an unfamiliar tension that made Katherine raise a questioning brow.
"Then we tell him," she said then, "…now."
Freya didn't protest. She simply turned and walked out of the chamber, Kol trailing after the first bloods.
The first blood stood in the great parlor, gazing out through a long expanse of windows onto the storm-wrecked courtyard. The sky was overcast with the aftermath of the latest tempest. He turned at the sound of approaching steps, his expression going momentarily vacant before he registered who had entered the room.
Damon and Katherine halted inside the doorway. A pregnant stillness settled where they stood.
The vampire's piercing eyes swept over them both, and when he spoke his voice was thick with emotion.
"How?"
"Kol and I," explained Freya. "The residual magic in the white oak hadn't severed the tether entirely. We pulled them back."
The first blood's scrutinizing gaze lingered on Damon and Katherine.
"You should have informed me," he said finally.
"I was very busy dismantling the town," said Kol. "I did not think you would have appreciated the interruption."
"I would have preferred an early notice," replied the first blood. His jaw was tight. He let his eyes settle on Damon and Katherine. "You are here. That is an improvement anyway."
"It is," admitted Damon.
"Then let us get started," said Klaus, stepping inside the parlor, followed by Malia. The young woman inhaled deeply the moment she entered the room, and as her dark eyes settled on Damon and Katherine, their previous conversation was forgotten in favor of something far more complicated. Klaus, however, was already smiling.
No sooner had the front doors opened again than Seline came strolling in. She paused a few feet away from the first blood, inclining her head in a regal, if not particularly gracious, greeting.
"I found her."
Viktor straightened, attention snapping fully to the petite blond. The other four first bloods became still.
"Talk."
"Her name is Seraphine Duval," said Seline. "She's human, though she hasn't aged beyond her early twenties. She's been in New Orleans for nearly two centuries. She neither makes nor keeps vampires. She believes every vampire ultimately traces back to the Originals, which makes them vulnerable to manipulation. Her witches are hers, but she hires them anyway, and they are all dependent. She has the Guerrera pack. Francesca Guerrera is her subordinate, and Seraphine gave them moon rings so that they could turn whenever the whim hits."
Seline paused to collect her thoughts.
"Seraphine admitted that her network provides the younger magical bloods with their tools and theories, but they are unnecessary. The older ones do as she asks merely to prove to themselves, as she told me, that they can survive the chaos."
Seline paused again.
"She also wanted you to know that she has always treated her people generously and without unnecessary cruelty. In return, she expects loyalty. If what she says about her people is true, they do what they do for survival and the promise of reward, and she gives both liberally. She'll always want something new, though."
Viktor digested this. When Seline finished, he waited until the room went quiet before asking, "Who knows she sent out word?"
The only sound for a while was the crackle of the fire.
It was Klaus who broke the silence.
"Moon rings? That will be problematic!"
"More so," said Elijah, padding into the room from the direction of the fire, "not impossible."
The last word was carefully chosen, and the others, who had fallen silent, were silent.
Freya's expression tightened.
"If Seraphine made those rings herself," she said, "then she has access to magic we haven't accounted for."
"You mean to war against her?" asked Damon.
"Not necessarily," said Viktor. "First the Guerrera pack. Then the witches. We apply pressure, make them reluctant and expendable. They feed her strength; she does not need the power of many willing and able bodies. Her visibility is limited; we can make it more so."
"Count me in," said Damon.
"I'll help," said Katherine, almost too quietly to hear.
"You will," said Viktor, regarding them both. "That has always been your choice."
Malia watched the windows for a long moment before focusing on her father.
"And Seraphine?"
Viktor's eyes shifted toward her.
"If she's been watching you for two centuries," Malia continued, "she's already studied how you react."
For the first time since Seline's arrival, Viktor was silent for a beat longer than necessary.
"We watch and learn," he said finally, "and then decide whether she remains useful or needs to be disposed of."
No one disagreed.
Outside, the stars emerged from a sky still bruised and angry from the recent and ongoing storm. Elsewhere in the city, beneath these same darkened clouds, Francesca Guerrera stood in an open glade with the wolves. The moon rings on their fingers caught the reflected light as she re-read the message one last time, folding the paper carefully when she finished, before looking up and saying,
"At dawn, tomorrow."
The rings gleamed as the assembled werewolves turned to face her.
A/N
Hello, I know things hasn't gone according to plan but after my exams, I fell ill and had to go back home, where I was facing some network issues and I can't even access my Patreon so that plan is on hold for now.
I will be returning to school early on this month before the main resumption date, so that I can have time to work on the Patreon and the fanfics that I will be posting there.
Updates would be slow till then, but in the meantime, please help me add these two books to your collections so that they will enter the collection rankings.
The Perfect Cultivator
And
I Am The System's Final Error
Both by Chaosgod24
And I will do a massive update on this fanfic and the other ones.
Thank you, please help me..