The nightmare came with frost.
Not the Hollow's suffocating presence—Kol knew that sensation intimately now, the weight of ancient hunger pressing against dimensional barriers. This was different. Cold instead of chaotic. Patient instead of desperate. Something that had waited centuries and could wait centuries more.
He woke gasping, ice crystals actually forming on his skin despite the Louisiana heat. Beside him, Davina stirred, her magic instinctively flaring in response to his distress.
"Another one?" she asked, voice rough with sleep.
"Different this time." Kol sat up, reaching for the Grimoire. It was already open, pages turning of their own accord to display an urgent warning:
EXTERNAL THREAT DETECTED POWER SIGNATURE: PRE-ORIGINAL ERA CLASSIFICATION: UNKNOWN DIRECTION: NORTHEAST RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE RESEARCH
Pre-Original era. Something older than the vampires who'd defined supernatural existence for a millennium.
"Wake the others," Kol said. "We need to talk."
---
The compound's war room filled within an hour. Klaus arrived carrying Hope, refusing to let her out of his sight since the void sense warning. Elijah brought coffee—the small courtesies that kept civilized vampires civilized. Rebekah looked irritated at being summoned before dawn, but present nonetheless.
"Something's coming," Kol announced without preamble. "Something old enough that my Grimoire can't classify it. The power signature predates any magic I've encountered."
"How is that possible?" Rebekah demanded. "The Ancestors predate us. Various ancient covens predate us. But you've dealt with all of them."
"This is different." He pulled Esther's grimoire from void storage, the one he'd stolen months ago from the cemetery. "I think the answer is in here. Pages I couldn't translate before—maybe they're relevant now."
Vincent took the book, his witch expertise making him the obvious choice for translation. He flipped through pages, muttering under his breath, until he stopped on a section written in a language that made his face go pale.
"This is old Norse. Pre-Christian. And it references..." He looked up at the assembled Mikaelsons. "Did any of you know Esther had a sister?"
Silence.
"Sister?" Klaus's voice was flat. "Mother never mentioned a sister."
"According to this, she had one. Dahlia. A witch of significant power who helped Esther conceive children when she was believed barren." Vincent kept reading, his expression growing more troubled. "In exchange for the fertility magic, Esther agreed to give Dahlia the firstborn of each generation."
The room went cold.
"Firstborn," Elijah repeated quietly. "Freya. Our oldest sister. Mother told us she died of plague."
"Mother lied." Vincent turned the page. "Freya was taken by Dahlia as payment. And the deal didn't end with one generation. It continues. Firstborn of each generation, forever."
Everyone's eyes went to Hope, sleeping peacefully in Klaus's arms.
"No." Klaus's voice carried an edge that could cut steel. "No one is taking my daughter."
"The deal was made before you were born," Vincent continued. "Bound by blood magic older than vampirism. Dahlia's been collecting firstborns for over a thousand years. She hibernates for centuries, wakes for one year to claim what's owed, then sleeps again."
"When does she wake?" Kol asked, already knowing he wouldn't like the answer.
Vincent calculated, cross-referencing dates in Esther's notes. "Based on her cycle... within the next few months. Maybe sooner if she sensed Hope's birth."
"She sensed something," Kol confirmed. "My void sense picked up awareness. Ancient, patient, hungry. She knows Hope exists."
Klaus stood abruptly, pacing with the barely-controlled violence of a caged predator. "Then we kill her before she fully wakes. Find her hiding place, destroy her while she's vulnerable."
"It's not that simple." Vincent's voice was grave. "According to these notes, Dahlia is the most powerful witch Esther ever encountered. She taught Esther everything she knew about dark magic, immortality bindings, power accumulation. Esther—the woman who created the Original vampires—learned it all from her sister."
"So Dahlia is worse than Esther?"
"Dahlia makes Esther look like a hedge witch."
The weight of that statement settled over the room. They'd barely survived Esther's convergence assault. An enemy more powerful than her, with a legitimate magical claim to Hope...
"There's more," Vincent said, still reading. "Freya. Your oldest sister. She's not dead."
"What?"
"Dahlia kept her. As a power source, according to these notes. Freya's been alive this entire time, trapped in some kind of astral prison, her magic siphoned for Dahlia's hibernation cycles."
Rebekah's hand went to her mouth. "She's been alive? For a thousand years?"
"Trapped and used. But alive." Vincent closed the grimoire. "If you want to fight Dahlia, Freya might be your best resource. She's been with the witch for centuries. She'd know weaknesses, limitations, anything that could help."
Klaus stopped pacing. His expression had shifted from rage to something more calculated—the predator identifying a strategy.
"Then we find Freya first. Free her. Learn everything she knows about Dahlia." He looked at Kol. "Can your powers locate someone trapped between dimensions?"
"Theoretically." Kol's void sense reached outward, probing the spaces between spaces. "But I don't know what I'm looking for. I've never met Freya."
"You have something better." Elijah gestured at Klaus, at Rebekah, at himself. "Family blood. Magical connection. Use us as anchors."
It was a solid plan. Kol hated that Klaus had come up with it first.
---
That night, Kol found Klaus in Hope's nursery, holding his daughter against his chest while she slept.
"I just got her." Klaus's voice was barely audible. "I spent a thousand years afraid to love anything because everything I touched turned to ash. Then she came, and I thought... maybe this time. Maybe I could protect someone."
Kol sat in the chair across from him. "We won't let Dahlia take her."
"You don't know that. You've seen what ancient witches can do. Esther nearly killed us all, and she's apparently the lesser sister." Klaus looked up, and for once there was no mask, no calculated cruelty, no hybrid bravado. Just a father terrified of losing his child. "What if we can't stop her?"
"Then we don't stop her alone." Kol leaned forward. "We have the alliance. Vampires, werewolves, witches—all of New Orleans united. We have Bonnie Bennett and the Other Side project. We have Mikael, if he's genuinely committed to redemption. And we'll have Freya, once we free her."
"Against one witch?"
"Against an army's worth of resources, if we use them right." Kol's voice firmed. "Dahlia's been sleeping for centuries. She doesn't know what the world's become. She expects scattered witches and primitive defenses, not coordinated supernatural governance. We have advantages she can't anticipate."
Klaus studied him for a long moment. "You actually believe we can win."
"I believe we can survive. Winning comes after."
Hope stirred in her father's arms, making soft sounds that had no business being so affecting. Klaus looked down at her with an expression Kol had never seen on his brother's face before—pure, uncomplicated love.
"Find Freya," Klaus said quietly. "Whatever it costs, whoever I have to kill, whatever deals must be made—find our sister."
"I will."
The Grimoire pulsed against Kol's chest, displaying new information gathered from his research:
FREYA MIKAELSON Last Known Location: Astral prison maintained by Dahlia Status: Alive. Trapped. Waiting. Estimated Location: Dimensional pocket anchored to physical tether
"She's alive," Kol reported. "And waiting for rescue."
Klaus's smile held edges that promised violence. "Then we give her something worth waiting for."
Note:
Please give good reviews and power stones itrings more people and more people means more chapters?
My Patreon is all about exploring 'What If' timelines, and you can get instant access to chapters far ahead of the public release.
Choose your journey:
Timeline Viewer ($6): Get 10 chapters of early access + 5 new chapters weekly.
Timeline Explorer ($9): Jump 15-20 chapters ahead of everyone.
Timeline Keeper ($15): Get Instant Access to chapters the moment I finish writing them. No more waiting.
Read the raw, unfiltered story as it unfolds. Your support makes this possible!
👉 Find it all at patreon.com/Whatif0