a/n: 'calm' before the storm...
We're so close to canon. Sorry if it's felt slow or odd; but was fun to write and hopefully not too awful to read
Comment and vote xx
- Bea <3

Mentioning the police had unintentionally launched an argument. The community was at risk of discovery, not something the Mikaelsons cared much about, everyone's opinions making layers of white noise until MJ's hands were over her ears. It was like they were all talking through the high school announcement system, broken static the last thing she needed.

Then, MJ shot to her feet in a burst, everyone pausing to stare at her.

Expecting something.

She just blinked.

"MJ?"

Kol's phone rang.

The device on the remains of the shack steps.

All of the New Orleans relaxed at the now familiar sixth sense.

It wasn't like MJ could predict every message, but when she was tense, she got hypersensitive.

"Unknown number," Kol picked it up, "Always loved pressing buttons in tense situations."

He answered.

"Evening –"

"Is MJ with you?"

A flood of relief spread through MJ's body, "Sam!"

She rushed closer, Kol flipping to speaker.

"I thought you were dead."

"Nice to feel loved."

"Your stuff's still at The Bayou."

"Yeah, I'm on my mum's phone. You didn't pick up."

"My phones..."

Destroyed by water and charge.

"...Not important – you okay?"

"I'm..." He didn't sound it, "With my family."

"How long?"

"Since lunch."

That was a wake-up call.

Sam was an early shifter – but still. MJ had seen Levi at eleven a.m-ish, meaning they'd been running around quite uselessly into the evening.

"There was shooting. And traps. Then this guy..." He sounded dazed, "They hid me in the shed."

His perfect behaviour would've alerted Mati to his identity.

"He followed me home."

The edge to his voice wasn't good. MJ had successfully given Sam a way to control the urge to kill, but it had clearly worn him down. Each full moon, he looked skinnier and paler. Tired bags around his eyes as he tried to see the good in the dancing and the food.

"Family messaged while you were out," Kol spoke quickly, "Was going to catch you up."

But Andrew.

"I've just shifted," Sam continued, "And this dude is coming for my family –"

He cut himself off with a controlling breath.

Attacking Elijah after the neck snap was the only time they'd seen him properly snap.

Insulting Klaus during Finn's lockdown had been the first crack, but it was still just exhausted words. Not pure rage. Nothing close to bloodlust heightened emotions the rest of them used to explain destroyed furniture.

"Has Hayley shifted back yet?"

"Nope. We're at The Bayou – "

"Hope?"

"With Marcel."

"I'm coming – "

"Sam – "

"I'll be there."

Silence.

"MJ," He spoke lowly, "You must've seen the bodies."

"I can certainly smell them."

Dead Crescents everywhere.

Driving her up the wall with temptation.

"My pack needs me."

"The pack gets you the rest of the month – "

"Spence and Jace..."

The crack in his voice broke her heart.

"Next month. My mum wants this shit dealt with too."

"You're sure?"

"See you in five."

"Sam –"

"MJ."

There was no point arguing.

"Five minutes."

"Okay."

Sam was alive.

He was on his way.

MJ hadn't cost him his life by casting that stupid spell.

THE WOLVES
You Hung The Moon

After Kol had hung up, MJ had dried them off with a hand flick, the mix of burning and water sticking in the air. Then, her phone. Breathing across the screen and watching it click back to life.

Taking in the bickering group.

The numbers she had to work with.

Klaus, Kol, Elijah, Freya Marcel, Jeremy, Pri, Cami – Vincent and Josh. Sam on his way. Always the early shifter. A supernatural hunter supposedly in the city centre. Looking for her. Lucien – Hope.

"Oh no," MJ stared at her restored phone screen.

Her dad had pictures of Levi outside Mati's house.

Josh with the wolves en-route to see their families.

Cami and Vincent –

"We need to stop wasting time," Elijah muttered.

"Agreed," MJ dialled, "This will hopefully allow us to do that."

They'd spent the day not communicating. Separate teams, when their enemies were almost definitely working together– an old Mikaelson familiar face somehow unseen purely because anyone who'd know what he looked like had been out of the city.

"Cami –"

"I was just texting to update!" Cami was still at Marcel's, "Focus on the pack – "

"Update what," Klaus spoke.

"Good. You're together," Cami huffed, "Lucien Castle wants your phone number."

Pri kept closer, "You guys spoke to him?"

"He was scoping out my place," Marcel's voice.

MJ felt her heart jump.

Marcel.

Her friend, who she'd called earlier, the owner of a storage locker of her mum's things.

"Google Kingmaker Land Development," Pri's energy was back, "That's his company. Check it's who you saw, not someone compelled to screw with us."

"Or," MJ needed to kill the tension, "Plan."

No more useless arguing.

"Pri," She started, "Go back to the city. Help them."

"But – "

"You know him," She stopped the complaint, "And you're an investigative journalist. No offence, Cam and Vincent. You can give diagnosis and theories, but this is her job."

Pri looked miffed.

"You can also keep them safe. From Levi, or Lucien, or whoever – "

Klaus shook his head, "If Lucien's here – "

"You can talk with him tomorrow – "

"Not to point out the obvious," Klaus crossed his arms, "But why would Lucien need to do any of this?"

"He's a vampire relocating," Kol shrugged, "Killing off the wolf population is expected."

Klaus's face was unmoving, "I was referring to the targeted acts against Mira."

Since they assumed that he and Levi were working together.

"And the entirely unsubtle murders."

A pause.

"He wants to see me? I'll happily book a meeting."

MJ couldn't help but smile at the phrasing.

"But Lucien has been alive for a thousand years. No one should look for him without proper reason – or protection."

Ah.

The real reason for his interruption.

MJ had technically given Cami the job of finding him.

"I'm the only one who'll talk to him," Pri seemed to click, "He knows killing me would come with consequences."

"Ah yes," He nodded falsely, "The luminescent stripper-dressing youth of New York City strike so much fear."

"Go smoke some weed, you pent-up puppy."

Kol grinned at Elijah, watching his face in reaction to his sire-ling.

"Has a thousand years not given you the creativity to insult someone without relying on misogyny?" Pri wondered, "Or do you just genuinely think sex workers are less?"

"I wasn't introduced to the strangers?" Marcel spoke up, "Pria Yadav."

"Marcel Gerard."

"None of my friends mentioned you'd taken a vacation."

"Did I time travel back to when calling cards were a thing?"

"You two know each other?" Vincent sounded dubious.

"Not personally," Pri answered.

"A nineteen-year-old taking over one of the biggest supernatural hubs in the country gets talked about."

"I love feeling stalked," Pri mused.

"You knew who I was too."

"Funnily enough, I know who killed my friend's mum."

Kol just about caught his laugh.

"Obvi," She waved a hand, "There was more to the story."

MJ had emotional whiplash listening to the pair.

"But I didn't exactly have time to google every vampire screaming 'king of the hill' when I had a city to run."

"I don't trust you," Klaus declared.

"You don't have to," Pri taunted, "MJ does."

"I do," MJ added, "If you don't, go with them."

"Yeah," Cami clicked what she was doing, "Leave Elijah and Kol to protect MJ."

Confliction across his face.

"I'm sure you can trust the man who snapped my neck," MJ finished, "And the guy who does not give a shit about wolves to protect me from a hunter wiping out your kind."

Klaus started to growl.

But he didn't disagree.

'Picking between them' was a dumb cliché.

Facts influenced the choice.

- Cami was lowkey defenceless.
-   MJ was near impossible to kill.

If Klaus picked Cami, it was because she needed him more. But;

- MJ was freshly electrocuted.
-   Cami was investigating something potentially unrelated.

MJ was where the actual threat was. And she and Cami were too in sync, working together to get Klaus to back off. Letting Cami help was far safer than forcing her to sneak around them.

Jeremy spoke up, "I'll go with them – "

"You are far too cocky," Kol's eyes were dark, "Killing me was luck! Not skill."

"Killed him?" Marcel's confused voice.

"Hi...ur," Jeremy didn't know how to act, "Jeremy Gilbert."

"You're the guy that killed him?"

"Yeah."

A beat.

"It was – "

"Welcome to the city."

Kol's head tipped back, "I took it easy on him!"

"You need anything while you're here, Jeremy," Marcel continued, "I'm your guy."

"Hey, Marcel," Kol stepped closer, "Want to explain your secret room of Ana Ruiz's belongings?"

Marcel cleared his throat, "What?"

"Behrman's Place in Algiers?" Kol slowed at MJ's fuming expression, "In your name?"

A blink to process her anger.

Flashing his 'innocent puppy' face.

MJ sighed in defeat.

"A hunter trick to upset her? Or is it actually yours?"

MJ processed the silence.

"Look – "

"Marcel," She stopped him.

"It's – "

"I don't - "

"MJ – "

"If I think about it – "

"The witches were after it - "

"So what!" MJ burst, "You've had two years to bring it up!"

No response.

"Sorry," She didn't like yelling, "Just..."

Keeping it from the witches - except they'd already had Ryos's book.

He'd needed Ryan to think they'd never existed.

It was basically everything she hadn't brought back from the prison world.

"It sucks, but it makes sense."

Focusing on breathing.

Not the blood.

Singed ends of her hair -

"Thank you – "

"I should've said – "

"Marcel," She kept her tone steady, "Another time."

Inhala. Exhala.

Eyes darting around.

Elijah lifted the sandwich platter again, allowing her to still and focus on it.

"The point."

It was easy to drift with so many of them in one place.

She vamp-sped to Elijah, picking one up and nibbling along the crusts.

"Jeremy and Pri will help them."

Flavours fresh thanks to a charm she'd put on the case months early.

"Marcel can check in with his contacts to see if the police have made any progress."

"If we find Lucien," Pri put the thought out there, "We'll text."

"Come to mine," Marcel decided, "He vanished, but the police file's here."

Klaus's demeanour was slightly less tense, "Hope?"

"I won't leave her," Marcel sounded bored, "But if I get any word from Hayley – "

"Hayley, Hayley, Hayley," Klaus droned, "I've been nothing but amenable to the custody agreement – "

"Don't call this a custody agreement," MJ winced, "Like..."

"If she shows up somewhere," His hands came out, "She can have what remains of her fleeting time. If she doesn't, oh no! What a shame! Maybe the new migration patterns have led her astray!"

Pri just looked at MJ, "Address?"

A moment of tapping.

A map pin.

A text.

Pri grabbed Jeremy's hand, the pair vanishing into the night with her vampire speed.

MJ breathed out again, taking another sandwich.

"Text if you find anything."

"Will do," Cami promised.

"Be safe."

"You too."

They hung up.

MJ's shoulders rolled backwards.

She'd taken momentary charge because people like Pri and Jeremy needed her to be that way, but the Mikaelsons would always be the Mikaelsons, and she couldn't just boss them about.

"She's using you," Klaus declared, "That girl – your sentimentalism."

"Klaus," MJ felt her soul about to explode, "I don't care if she is."

They'd expected denial or defence, not dismissal.

"I have met so many people in my 'short' life."

Constantly moving.

"I have seen some of the worst."

From them to Mary Porter, to the casually cruel dagger of people aware of her situation growing up, doing nothing to help.

"Pri is on the list of rare bests," She didn't blink, "If she's hiding something – "

Which Gina's lack of involvement implied.

" – It's not our business. And it has nothing to do with Levi Ajan."

"That's a naïve attitude."

"She is the only reason I'm able to hold a goddamn conversation!"

Silence.

"I do not exist without Pri."

In so many ways.

"Everything good about me is because I met her."

Issues running deep.

"I copied how she talked. How she carried herself – her hobbies. Yeah, I've got my own shit now, but that doesn't change that I only discovered my shit because she made me!"

The New York years were hard to explain.

"She was twelve."

During MJ's time in Mystic Falls, it might've appeared like MJ didn't value her group there as much as she should. But it was more complicated. People in New York were good. Her life hadn't been. It was the start of faking her age to get work. Not always having food. And the ending made the good harder to remember, especially with the Mystic Falls tomb flashing her brain right back to that ending.

"Pri shouldn't have had that responsibility, but she saw teachers ignore my weight drop. Not sleeping. That all my clothes were homemade or nonexistent."

Twitching fingers, not wanting to get into it all.

"So she made it her responsibility."

New York MJ was such a different person.

She'd thought not practising magic was a good thing.

Determined to hide from herself, making anything that had brought her happiness there coated with imposter syndrome.

"And she did a phenomenal job."

Even if MJ still hadn't been the best socially when she left New York, how would a twelve-year-old reverse seven years of witch ghost harassment?

"Pri is ridiculously smart," Her body half-turned to Elijah, "And skilled. Moral – honourable, in a way that makes people turn to her like she isn't just some twenty-two-year-old newbie."

The roller skates, and colours, and vapes, may paint one picture, but Pri was in charge for a reason.

"She will not put Cami in a dangerous situation," She softened her tone, "And she will keep her safe if they end up in one unintentionally."

Klaus just looked towards the trees.

"Nik."

He forced himself to untense too.

"Find a reason for me not to trust her. Whatever," MJ wouldn't pretend she wasn't paranoid, "Just not tonight. Not right now."

They needed to stay on task.

"Can someone get me one of the half-transformed bodies!"

A burst of wind, "On it."

Sam.

"It is my pack and all."

Joints locked, staring at the bodies by the water and sniffing the air.

MJ moved, latching her arms around Sam's neck to grab his focus back.

He winced before getting into the correct position for them to hug. MJ was able to feel bone too easily. As someone who had spent his teen years playing American football, then most of his free time working more than one job, Sam had always been hard to touch.

Now, ready to be blown away.

"Dude – "

"I know – "

"Sam!" She pushed back to cup his face, "I'm taking the spell off."

"It's only one more month," He argued, "Then the rings – "

"No!"

"I mean," Kol scanned him, "You don't look that bad."

Sam snorted, "Thanks."

He stepped back from the hug.

"But I know I look like shit," He pointed as MJ's mouth opened, "It's nowhere near you-in-Feb levels yet – so I'm fine."

"Peak depression me shouldn't even be on the scale for you."

"I've not lost that much weight," He reasoned, "It's the muscle drop."

Klaus sighed as dramatically loud as he could, Sam not looking at him.

"And, next month..."

"You'll be back on two feet," MJ was scooting closer to hug him again, arms around the waist, "Please let me take the spell off?"

"No."

"You need to eat more, and you're not gonna eat unless I take it off."

"I'm fine!"

MJ just squeezed him tighter.

"My mum's planned my welcome home feast, and I'll gain it all back in that alone."

She pulled back, "I'll be cooking you one too."

Sam finally let himself smile.

"It's not gonna be the food," Kol pointed out, "You've technically not drunk blood."

Eating animals, as an animal, gave some blood intake, keeping them from desiccating, but it was complicated. Wolves didn't need to eat every day. To not have desiccated despite days of no blood, The Crescent Curse must interfere with the vampirism. Hence MJ's point about how they didn't know if Hayley and Sam could survive a kill while cursed.

And Sam had been keeping his food intake way below what a wolf would need.

Which meant even less blood, possibly none since the delivery guy he'd attacked pre-MJ's-spell.

MJ had never really thought about whether a vampire could lose weight, but, at least, while cursed, Sam clearly could. He wasn't desiccating, but he was suffering the consequences, healing factor muted without the blood to power it, wolf healing not as effective.

"Yeah, well," Sam didn't wanna talk about that, "What's going on?

MJ let him dodge, "What do you already know?"

"That I ripped through the face of some guy with yellow eyes."

Elijah and Freya shared a nervous look.

"Bolted to avoid getting shot by exterminators," He clocked the van, "He followed me."

The bit they knew.

"Hell-ish day. You guys know Mr-Yellow-Eyes?"

"Levi Ajan," Kol answered, "Enchanted hunter. Here to kill MJ."

"Great," Sam didn't even question Andrew's body on the pier, "Any plan, or just siphoning him to nothing?"

"Siphon him to nothing," MJ confirmed.

"I thought," Elijah shook his head, "It was a wolf at your home?"

"It was Levi," MJ countered, "His mum sent pictures."

Cueing Sam into the cover story for her dad.

"Which raises a different question," She wanted Sam's opinion, "Wolfsbane really affected him?"

"Yup," Sam turned so his back was towards Klaus, "Would've been screwed without it."

MJ panicked, "The protection spell?"

"Still up!" He assured her, "Just, he was rabid. If he'd stayed on the street trying to get in?"

"Not good."

"Wolfsbane got him screaming and running off."

"Let me get this straight," Klaus was eyeing Kol up, "A house of wolves have liquid vervain on hand?"

"It numbs the shift," Sam didn't miss a beat, "How'd you think I stayed hidden from Marcel?"

"You haven't had to shift in years, and Mira's made your mother a moonlight ring."

He was finally facing the original, "You think I'd lie about this?"

"I think my earlier statement about how Hayley could be weaponising this time would only gain from you confusing us with faulty information."

"Ohhhh," Sam chuckled darkly, "My family's been dragged into this – I know it might be hard for you to comprehend, but some of us actually give a shit about keeping family safe."

"I kept my daughter safe."

"By fucking up the rest of her extended family!"

"None of you are family - "

"Packs are family."

"All dead now, so what does it really matter - "

Sam went to launch himself at him, MJ speeding in the way.

She held his look, "We'll keep them safe."

"I..." His hand graced her arm, "You guys met him?"

"Had a fight with him already."

"And you didn't win?"

"He jumped through a window," She snorted, "And he was weirdly strong."

"Magic."

"Exactly."

"Jeremy said he'd killed people before he found you," Kol commented, "Do you think those kills made him stronger?"

"That is how The Brotherhood of The Five worked," Klaus agreed.

Freya looked to her siblings, "I feel like I need context?"

"Yeah," Sam was half-lost in thought, "Brotherhood of The Five?"

"Hunters enchanted by a witch to kill off vampires," Elijah answered, "They found us in Italy and are the creators of the daggers."

"They also were tied to the first immortal," Kol followed, "Tattoos on their body leading to the cure, which doubled as the immortal's location."

"Jeremy's one of them," MJ paused, "Or was? I don't know. He still has the heightened skills, but no tattoo."

No more pure immortals and the cure in his sister's body.

Even if that felt oddly unbalanced.

Surely vampires could fill the void she and Stefan had technically made by killing Silas?

"Levi didn't have the same feel as Jeremy," She had made contact, "And Jeremy didn't get an automatic re-spawn after death the way Levi seems to."

All the information she'd slowly been given...

What was her brain screaming?

Chess.

"What if the spell on him is some sacrificial magic exchange?" She pondered, "He kills. He absorbs the magic of the victim. When he gets killed, all that magic is released, exchanged for his life."

When MJ had first explained resurrection to Bonnie and Caroline, she'd talked about it like a pawn shop.

To 'buy' a spirit back, you have to give a spirit.

Often getting up-charged, needing more than one, to open and close the rip you'd make.

"I had my mum's spirit for years. Floare resurrection has a time limit, making it less of a rule break. Ancestral spirits...well, Esther Mikaelson proves time isn't a factor."

A thousand years, and a deal with the other ancestors, resurrecting her that first time.

"And the Ajan Line is from New Orleans. We gotta remember that."

Ressurection almost a pastime.

"1900s isn't that long ago; most of his heritage will be consecrated. Looking over him."

"The Five got stronger with each kill," Kol continued, "Because the kills unlocked the magic of the tattoo. Magic that's a part of them. If the Ajan line is absorbing other people's?"

"There's only so much magic you can take," MJ felt a click.

"Siphoners absorb," Kol pointed out, "You die from too much."

"Not just die," MJ fiddled with her bracelet, "Puke bugs. Throw up goo. Your body reacts to magic. Especially dark magic."

"He's taking the magic of wolves," Kol finished the thought, "But that magic is part of what makes them weak to wolfsbane."

Elijah tilted her head, "He gains their power and their weaknesses?"

"How strong do you have to be to make a supernatural hunter?" MJ focused on Kol, "Stronger than a literal animal? Faster than the magically undead?"

"The witch who made The Five died," He answered, "Despite being a descendant of Qetsiyah."

i.e. a Bennett; very powerful.

The Brotherhood of The Five was unique because they were a new species. Their own strengths and fallbacks. Their main flaw is that they could only get so strong – the map's completion a cap. Never actually breaking into wolf or vampire speed but above humans.

While it may feel annoying to know you can't get any stronger, it protected them.

Too much power would come with deadly consequences.

Witches died.

If The Five could move with the speed of a vampire, they would no longer be human, which would go against their reason for existing. Human preservation. The witch who'd made them had walked an incredibly difficult line perfectly.

The answer was on the tip of MJ's tongue.

She could taste it.

Words in her mind, waiting to be placed in the correct order.

"The spell," MJ's feet started to turn her, "We know it's connected to The Hybrid Curse."

Klaus scowling.

"Which is based on immortality. The wolf gene. Doppelganger blood..."

"I didn't give her the spell," Kol stressed, "Just the binding part."

MJ stalled.

"Mira?"

"There was no fully written spell. I had to go into memories."

A copy now existed because she'd written it to reference against her reverse.

"Back then there was," Klaus revealed, "I destroyed it after learning my brother had been giving it out."

"I didn't give it out!" Kol whined, "It only got phrased like that to piss you off."

"Which seems to annoy you more now," Klaus mused, "Funny how that is."

"Forced you to rely on the ancestors," MJ pointed out, "If you'd had the original, you would've got a reverse earlier."

He shrugged, "Who needs spirits when you can simply lock a seventeen-year-old in an apartment."

"Ha-ha," MJ shook her head, "Just..."

During their fight, Levi had jumped and clung to the ceiling like it had been nothing – not a human fight instinct, but something that could've easily been performed by a vampire or wolf.

Golden eyes.

Starting pale yellow, then seeming possessed?

"Andrew said Levi wanted me here."

He'd set the lake up for her.

And it might've worked if she'd gone to The Bayou alone.

Momentarily dying instead of redirecting, no voices screaming at her to pull it together, leaving her vulnerable for him to fish out. Rip her head off. Heart out. Whatever worked best.

"Freya," She started, "Hayley and Hope."

"I'll collect Hope from Marcel. Try and track from The Compound."

Blood might not have got them a location but the baby herself?

"Her power might combat whatever ancestral spirits are working against us."

"It will," Klaus lifted his head, "No one is stronger than my daughter."

"No one's as overdramatic," Kol corrected, "Screaming through the night – definitely you – "

"As someone old enough to remember your infancy, you were the one always screaming."

"You were two!" Kol shut down, "You don't remember – and you used to be scared of butterflies."

"You're still scared of spiders."

"They go against all that is meant to naturally exist – "

"So do I," Klaus taunted, "Implying you're scared of me, brother?"

Kol's mouth opened, hand coming up, then dropping it with narrowed eyes.

"Exactly."

"You're scared of me," He pointed, "Not the other way around."

"I was wary of the man who would bury me alive for fun," Klaus gave him that, "Now I know that 'all I ever wanted – "

"Can we not joke about his death right now?" MJ's voice cut, "Like?"

Tiny sparks of electricity were forming around her fingers.

Leftover energy.

Trapped and threatening to fry them all.

"It's been brought up all day."

Usually, MJ would let it slide unless Kol seemed uncomfortable. And, on the phone call, she'd seen the edge appearing in his eyes. Incredibly protective of the sensitivity Kol tried to mask. And, if she was being honest?

She was stressed.

Jeremy was literally in the area.

If the power hadn't been cut and Kol had gotten fried alongside her?

If he smelt of burning?

"If I have to hear about it again, I'm blowing everyone up."

"I will tease my brother whenever and however I wish."

"Mira," Kol wondered aloud, "How long do you think it would take to lace all the water in The Compound with wolfsbane?"

"I'll supply the wolfsbane," Sam muttered.

Something in MJ twitched.

Maybe it was her connection to nature reacting to whatever rage was bubbling inside Sam.

Maybe it was Klaus ignoring her request.

"Not while Jeremy is in town," She flicked her fingers to get the sparks out, "No."

She went to take a step forward, Kol frowning, but her words caught in her throat.

That stupid feeling again.

MJ closed her eyes and carefully lowered herself to the down, fingers across the dirt.

Scanning for the source of tainted power.

"It feels different," Freya spoke.

"You been sensing spirits too?"

"Not until I got here."

Something had changed within the soil beneath her feet.

Voices in footprints.

"If you keep feeling a push-back," MJ swallowed, "We call Davina."

Kol raised an eyebrow, "She won't want to help."

"I know," She didn't care, "But if something's up with the spirits?"

"You'd think The Regent would know about it," Sam's tone was dry.

In her vision, she'd been led to The Cemetery.

Sam clicked his teeth, "What did we do to get a witch this pissed off?"

"Most of her family were torn apart by wolves," Kol answered, "Leaving only her and her baby."

"...I guess, fair enough..."

"Keys," Freya looked to Elijah.

He handed them to her, "I'll go with you."

"Nope," MJ lifted a hand, "You're coming with me."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You too," MJ smiled at Klaus, "The pair of you – "

Her sentence was cut off by a bloody and naked Jackson stumbling out of the trees, wincing with every step, hands stained, lower half coated. Wounds from fighting his way out of one of the traps hidden among the forest floor.

"Jack – " Sam rushed forward to catch him.

Eyes rolling back, "Help."

~***~

Arriving at Marcel's apartment had been an interesting experience for Jeremy and Pri, stepping inside the tall building and making their way up to the main room. Only one person waiting for them despite the three voices on the call. Cami sitting on the sofa, laptop to her left, police file open and spread across the coffee table.

"Hey," She tried for a smile, "Marcel's gone to check his police contact and hand Hope over to Freya."

Freya behind them speed-wise but not text update-wise.

"Vincent's done with Mikaelson madness," She rested back, "Headed to the police. Wants to keep them off MJ's back."

"Been there...both parts," Jeremy admitted, "Still there."

"Yet, here you are," Cami pointed out, "Technically working with the family you hate."

"With MJ."

"We didn't exactly get into history earlier," The woman knew to be delicate, "But you're Elena's brother."

"...I am."

"I'm sorry about what happened."

He shifted, "Thanks."

"I know Kol somewhat loves what happened, but..."

"My sister's in a coma until my ex-girlfriend dies."

Best to just have it out there.

"Yeah," Jeremy bobbed his head, "Hopefully, I'll still be around to see her again. Until then, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Sorry."

"Don't need to apologise, just...thank you for not enjoying it."

Cami couldn't help but feel bad for him.

She'd technically met MJ while she'd been a high schooler, and it was hard not to feel bad for all of them. If dealing with Klaus now felt like a lot, as an adult, she couldn't imagine how that would've been for a bunch of seventeen and freshly eighteen-year-olds.

And to then be demonised for how you reacted to that experience?

Jeremy sucked in, "You were at the wedding."

"Yeah."

"Then you understand how bad our luck is."

The massacre somewhat haunted her nightmares.

"I'm just trying to keep going."

"Understood," Cami motioned to the table, "Welcome to Team 'Police Investigation.'"

"Happy to be here," Pri said somewhat sarcastically, "No offence. Levi just feels like my responsibility, so being sent to here – "

"You think MJ's avoiding you."

"Not avoiding," Pri shook her head, "I know she's trying to stop 'the Original Hybrid' from killing me. I get it. I do. It's just...I've been chasing Levi for months."

Cami rubbed the sofa, "And this Lucien?"

"If we can prove he orchestrated all of this?"

The Mikaelson point was true.

Pri couldn't just fight him herself.

She needed proof to get the people old enough to kill Lucien on board.

"I will take back my shitty attitude."

"You can buy me a drink for putting up with it."

"I like you," Pri decided, "And deal."

"More your area than mine," Jeremy didn't want pretences, "I just knew MJ was trying to defuse."

"Either way, you've met the guy," Cami wasn't about to complain about support, "You have his bank accounts?"

Pri waved her phone, "I've messaged my guy to see if he can get more recent charges."

"Until he answers," Cami tapped the table, "Earlier? Kinney said the bodies were being killed elsewhere, then left in Lafayette Square."

New info for Jeremy, old for Pri's supernatural hearing.

"They've got the other locations of death."

"Oh," Pri took a seat, "First was that bookshop."

"Frenchman Art's and Books," Cami nodded, "Now, we know the other one was behind PJ's Coffee. The Canal's Street One."

Pri didn't know where that was.

"If we ignore the third death as a hunter misdirect, those are our results."

"But," Pri stretched back, "Regardless of where people get killed, they get dumped at the Square."

"Kinda sounds like something a witch would do," Jeremy admitted, "Mark an area for power."

Cami paused, "We were assuming a vampire got turned by a Mikaelson doing these cuts to him."

"I could see it."

"But a witch might make more sense."

Though, Vincent hadn't recognised it as a ritual.

"There's not obvious teeth marks. No feeding."

While they'd been calling MJ's momentarily destroyed phone, Cami had pulled out her research from Year One and gotten Marcel to confirm some things. Dates of incidents tied to the covens, a printed photo of MJ's Cauldron map on the table that she was adding too.

Ridiculously upside-down crosses of lines, but giving them a reference point.

"Printed stuff is MJ's attempt to track kills made by witches."

Development paused following the Ryos-Cauldron-Breakdown.

"The pen is all the major kills Marcel can remember the Mikaelson's making."

Coloured red.

"He wasn't here for a few years, but his information cross-referenced with my family's log of the supernatural in the city, and we have a guide to key locations."

And while Lafayette Square did come up, it was more out of a random body dump rather than some targeted and displayed attack.

"Your family tracks this stuff?"

"Some of my ancestors played supernatural...I don't wanna say police because they didn't really police anything, more..." She winced, "Tidy up? Collect dangerous objects? Make deals to keep allyship?"

Jeremy smiled, "You ever ask MJ about the Gilbert and Lockwood journals?"

"No?"

"You might wanna."

"Your family have a similar history."

"Yeah," He nodded, "Not that it would give you details on your home turf, but it might have some tips for keeping yourself safe. Things to look out for."

She smiled in appreciation.

"The Lockwood journals more than my family ones."

"Because?"

"Mine just kinda track people figuring vampires out, hating vampires, then going insane 'cos of a family ring. Tyler's hid their werewolf nature, their vampire knowledge, and some other stuff he never really understood 'cos it was actual supernatural info. Letting MJ make copies to decipher."

"I'll ask her."

"Separately," Pri scanned the map, "This might be useful?"

"A few mortal serial killers are also included," She admitted, "People like the Axeman. I don't know – just, you never know."

"I would technically count as a mortal killer," Jeremy nodded, "Fair to include it."

"There are no obvious patterns," Pri tilted her head, reaching for the police file.

"Eh," Jeremy motioned to the mess, "You could probably make a triangle."

Cami gave him a look.

"It's a powerful shape," He reasoned, "Expression uses them, and MJ called it a default spell shape."

Cami grabbed her notepad, "Expression?"

"Three locations that make an equilateral triangle, twelve kills in each," He shook his head, "Not just random one-offs. Like, exploding building type kills."

"Oh," She stopped writing, "But triangles are still shapes of power?"

"Yeah," He'd mentioned it for a reason, "So, like, if any of these cases you've drawn out are like three humans in three spots."

Cami looked at the black pen she'd used to mark the current kills.

"Or, one human, hung in a certain way, in three spots."

She focused on each of the two potential areas for a third kill.

"Um," Pri finally looked up from the crime scene file, "Not to shut down the 'it's a witch' theory – but I can say this is Lucien now. Like, with evidence."

She took Cami's laptop to open a new tab.

"You mind if I log into my online drive?"

"Go for it. Why?"

"This is my proof."

"Of what?"

"These cuts?"

The way the face had been morphed, the body hung like a doll.

"Two bodies in New York match."

Cami fought off a smile, "They do?"

"Lucien's story with me has more details," She'd given the brief version, "This place used to belong to a massive group of nightwalkers."

Googling it while logging in.

"Here."

A map of New York for Cami to look at.

"MJ kicked them out because she found a room of Floare locked up and drained of blood behind the club space."

Eyes wide.

"Obviously, that couldn't be reported on. So, the property just went on the market – Cue, bidding war."

"Lucien Castle part of it," Cami had tabs open with his company and name up following the phone call, "Logically?"

"Only after I rejected his attempt to buy my building."

"You own a building?"

"It's the vampire hub building," Pri shifted, "Belonged to Maci Roux, if you've heard of her?"

"Pieces," She'd been in the drive back from the wedding.

"She's not about, so it became mine through proxy. No way was he getting it. Then, he suddenly had instant property ownership of the place MJ had just freed of vampires."

"And?"

"The two favourites to win the bid showed up dead."

Cami paused, "How would that go unreported?"

"It got reported," She had a news story up, "Framed as a duel suicide. The men committed together because they couldn't 'live with their sins.'"

Cami scoffed.

"Lucien strung up his competition and made it seem like they'd killed themselves over a gay affair their wives would never forgive."

"That's..."

"Demented," Jeremy suggested, "Yep."

Pri rubbed her thumb over the space bar, "I let him get away with it."

"Why?"

"They had kids," She reasoned, "It didn't feel right to potentially cause people to poke about asking questions when they were grieving."

Cami watched her, "How do you know it was Lucien?"

"Gut feeling," Her hand went up, "I know that's not enough, but think about the timing."

The research doc she showed Cami outlined how it lined up with him.

"And now?"

"Levi and Lucien both moving through the same cities," Jeremy started as a show of support, despite his initial push-back.

"Bodies left in the same way," Pri continued, "Keeping us torn between two different cases."

Cami blinked.

Like something was clicking in her brain.

"Say that again."

"What?"

"Coincidences."

Pri straightened up, "Coincidences."

The human tilted her head, staring at her notebook page.

"Cami..."

"I know you wanna chase the vampire, but mind amusing the human who doesn't want to die tonight?"

"Happily."

"Coincidences," She repeated, "They don't exist – MJ always says they don't exist."

MJ.

"Have you ever talked to MJ about places to go if you ever visited?"

Pri put the laptop on the table, "Not really."

"I assumed I was banned from ever coming here," Jeremy.

"Well," Cami replaced the New York search with New Orleans, "The first place – the book shop."

"You know something about it?"

"That my reaction to learning someone had been taken and potentially killed there was 'awful,' but then," Cami stared at the locations as she typed them in, "I was there a week ago."

Pri and Jer shared a look.

"It's selfish to say, but it's part of the brain's survival instincts," She paused, "That's a massively oversimplified explanation of the different responses you naturally have, but – "

Not the time.

"MJ and I go there every time they update their artists to look at the new prints."

Pri pulled a face.

"Then, we started getting our coffee from PJ's when we'd go on afternoon's out."

A beat.

"Funnily enough, I doubt it's targetting places I go."

"But you go with MJ," Pri finished.

"Isn't all of this about her," Cami reasoned, "And triangle theory?"

What she was calling it until someone gave her a better title.

"The distance between PJ's and Frenchman's? Lands on...somewhere between Louis Armstrong Park and a tattoo shop that one of MJ's witch friends works at."

An estimate because google maps didn't have a direct length feature.

"Or the International School of Louisiana. Which, I've never heard MJ mention, but who knows."

Jeremy spoke up, "I might have."

Both women looked at him.

"MJ didn't talk about her past much," He justified, "It just rings a bell."

Pri was on her phone, "It's an immersive school that strands kids based on French or Spanish. 35% of their day is spent in that language."

Reciting for a website.

"I could see this being her middle school – though, it says its students come from single language homes."

Cami pulled a face, "She's always said she was ahead of her classes."

"I'll text her about it," Pri switched tabs swiftly, "If not her, I could've been Ryos. Or somewhere her mum taught music? Meaning she would've visited for shows and stuff."

"So this is, like," Jeremy shook his head, "Full MJ targeting. Whether we're talking Levi or Lucien. Or some unknown third-party witch who's trying to mess with us."

"Yup," Pri popped the 'p,' "Someone really wants her attention."

Cami's eyes became distant.

"You okay?"

"Just," She shrugged, "MJ liked these places because she felt calm there."

Silence.

"Wanting to get her attention or make a point is one thing," Her expression became mad, "But taking away the few places she feels peaceful?"

The same protective rage she'd felt while scolding Ric about MJ was kicking in.

"That's declaring war."

"Or lacking sensitivity," Jeremy crossed his arms, "Which a lot of vampires do."

"You gotta remember that a vampire won't know her witch senses," Pri half-defended, "They're just seeing where she goes a lot. We know it's happy places."

Strawberry gum was pulled out of her pocket.

"So we stop it."

Cami was rubbing her tired eyes, "Which we do, how exactly?"

"Go to our two potential hotspots for kills," Pri started, "While you start making me a list of places MJ and you on the regular. Then, I compel the people who work there to be my eyes and ears."

Cami looked at her.

Really looked at her.

Vincent's caution around her, trying to be as analytical as she could be when she'd woken up, eaten breakfast, and had coffee. Not when she'd spent a day staring at dead bodies, recently undead best friend being hunted by an enchanted murderer, killing off a pack of werewolves.

"You can get some rest," Pri reminded her, "I'll zoom about and get it all wrapped up."

"I'm in."

What reason was there not to trust Pri?

Other than general paranoia and Klaus's inability to share his friend?

"Perfect," Pri smiled, "Hopefully, by the time my sleeper agents are set, my bank guy will have gotten back to me."

~***~

MJ had beelined to Jackson too, a bullet lodged in his shoulder and blood pouring from other injuries. Slight awkwardness in the air as she realised she'd been about to announce how the group was gonna divide up, now healing someone. A circuit she could get trapped in.

"Go," She said to Freya, "Get Hope. Find Hayley."

Jackson's head jerked, only to cry out in pain before he could ask anything.

"Keep in contact."

"You too," Freya sent Elijah a pointed look before climbing into the front seat.

Then one to Klaus through the glass.

Telling them both to keep it together.

Behave.

MJ half-smiled, ignoring the brother's expression, listening to how Jackson's grunt underscored Elijah's pacing.

Kol watching Sam.

How he was staring towards the trees with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Take my blood," Elijah reluctantly offered.

"I'm good," Jackson glowered, "Hayley?"

"No sign of her."

"But we know she's alive," MJ wouldn't have got a vision otherwise.

"...Assuming you guys have seen the bodies."

MJ kept her eyes on Klaus.

Seeing how he was determined not to react.

To not look around.

Linger like he hadn't been chasing a pack his whole life.

He met her eyes, lifting his brows challengingly.

She just matched the expression.

"They're everywhere," Sam's voice was low.

A step towards the shadows.

"This isn't lasting past tonight," MJ couldn't let it, "And, if it is...we're getting the rings."

"The rings might be usable tonight," Kol followed her thinking.

"Three full moons," MJ ran her hand across the injuries, closing them up, "We don't know if that means three full 28-day cycles or that once three full moons have been, we can use them."

No more werewolves running around.

But if she risked testing that, there was a chance she'd screw the spell up entirely.

Another three months waiting.

"Everyone's either scattered," Jackson added, "Dead or gone. Um..."

He looked down in worry.

Sam's throat bobbed, swallowing slowly before his head drifted towards the giant beacon of light in the sky. The moon. It was odd to have to get used to seeing a full moon, but triggering a curse at a younger age left that shape almost empty in his mind, now one of the few constants he got to see each month.

A longer breath in.

Closing his eyes.

A mistake.

Sam felt his throat closing up at the scent of blood and moulted fur. Knowing the people. The scents. The families left behind – kids and teenagers, and cousins, and siblings, the pack dropping from one of the largest out there, a combination of five others after Hayley's wedding, to body and body and body and body and body and –

"Fuck this," His eyes opened, "Fuck all of this."

Stomping towards the trees.

"I'm getting the bodies!"

An exchanging of looks.

"All of them."

MJ's hands were still on Jack, looking after him in panic.

Kol called after him, "Is that a sensible choice?"

"People need bodies to mourn," He didn't look back, "They deserve to have the bodies."

Even the half-transformed ones.

It might not have been pretty, but it was their relative's right to get to bury or burn them.

And MJ might be able to force the wolf corpses back to human, so they could at least see their loved ones in a peaceful form. A respectful one. A one that would show just how bad the damage was. How much the city had lost by treating wolves like outsiders since before The Mikaelson's return.

Wolves, witches, and vampires.

The Big Three.

Not the only species that mattered, but the fundamental pillars of nature found across all continents, even if the forms they took were slightly altered.

New Orleans officially down one.

Even if Sam was alive, Hayley, Jackson, or one of two others, had made it out alive, how did that qualify as a pack? A family? A community of people who protected and supported, and guided each other?

"The hunter – "

"I don't care."

He was gone.

MJ bit her cheek, "Kol."

"Focus," He was already following after him, "I'll make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"How noble," Klaus mocked.

"How useful," MJ returned to what she'd been saying as she healed, "They can do that. We – "

Elijah, Klaus, and she.

" – Are finding Levi."

Kol paused, spinning round in the entrance, considering it, then vamping away to catch Sam up.

Klaus grinned, "A sign of trust?"

"He trusts Mira," Elijah rebutted, "Not you."

Kol's voice in their ear, "You don't speak for me."

"Am I incorrect?"

"...I'm going to say yes, I trust NeeeKlaus, just to spite you."

"How mature."

MJ looked to Jackson, "All the non-triggered are waiting at The Bayou Bar to find out what's happened."

He was staring at his bare feet.

Healed up didn't wipe away the blood.

Pain from being cut into by bone-breaking metal teeth.

Elijah moved to the car before MJ could, grabbing his clothes.

"The Crescent Werewolf Pack was the largest pack around," MJ had to have hope, "There's gotta be more alive than we realise. People who scattered like Sam did."

Silence.

"We can do the proper funerals."

More silence.

"Once we've found Hayley and freed her from whatever trap she's in."

Jackson shook his head, "A trap wouldn't hold Hayley after she turned back."

"Nothing would stop her from seeing Hope," Elijah agreed, "Something's wrong."

"And we will figure it out," MJ assured him, "Levi's the threat."

"You mentioned Davina – "

"Kol and Sam can talk to her once they've dealt with the bodies."

"I want to talk to her."

"Why?" MJ challenged, "Why do you have to do it?"

Elijah blinked slowly.

"We are all on the same team here."

"Niklaus has made it perfectly clear that we aren't."

"Both of you made it perfectly clear," MJ's face turned sour, "But this isn't Dahlia."

She was so done.

"This entire mess is about Hayley and me. I'm being threatened. She's potentially dead. But yeah, let's drag out the brotherly bickering. Let's make it about that."

He poked his tongue into his teeth.

"Here's how this is gonna go," MJ was done asking nicely.

A turn to Jackson.

"You are gonna go and talk to your pack. Show that you are alive – and that you need to have each other's backs more than ever. Nik and Elijah are coming with me!"

Her fake excitement added to the unhinged look in her eyes.

"We're gonna go find the supernatural hunter."

Elijah's mouth opened, "I – "

"Am going to help us kill the person who could actually do damage to Hayley."

Finishing his sentence for him made her feel powerful.

Maybe it shouldn't have, but it did.

Maybe it was the vampirism, or perhaps the comparison between seventeen-year-old her initially terrified of him to twenty-one-year-old her taking control was something she needed.

"And once we've killed him, we're gonna have a long chat with Lucien about why he hired the mortal hunters to kill her pack. You know, the thing Hayley would give a shit about."

Which they should have been thinking about.

"What she'd be focused on."

"Mira – "

"You chill to handle Davina?" She was talking to Kol.

His footsteps paused out of sight down the path.

"If you're sure you want her involved," He answered, "Her smuggery that you need her might be somewhat insufferable."

Did MJ and Davina need to make up?

Probably?

No?

Yes?

"Just ask her what's going on with the spirits."

"Will do," Kol's voice really did just calm her down.

"Everyone's on board? Great!"

"MJ," Jackson was shaking his head, "No."

"What?"

"I've only got a few hours 'til I'm a wolf again."

"Exactly," MJ motioned to the dead, "And you have around twenty teenagers who have only had me to support them for over six months. And I don't have time to explain why they're all orphans right now. Their alpha? He does."

"She's my wife."

MJ's heart hurt.

"I need to see her."

"If we find her," She forced her tone to chill, "You will have a location, and you can come running."

"But – "

"Jacks," Her eyes locked with his, "Trust me on this."

It was clear he didn't want to, but, "Okay."

"Thank you."

"The second you know anything."

"The second," She promised, "Now,"

A smile to the two unhappy originals.

"You two."

Klaus feigned fear, "Us two?"

"Follow me!" She marched past them, grabbing both of their arms to force them to walk, "We're going back to the storage locker."

There had to be a clue there.

The chessboard locked in her head.

The guy was somewhere in the city.

"Andrew admitted he led us away for a reason."

When he'd tried to bolt.

"We're gonna find out what that reason is."

~***~

Cami and Pri inspected the tattoo place, Jeremy at the school. As the human, and the newest to the supernatural, Cami needed the vampire bodyguard more than the enchanted hunter who'd done their rodeo before.

They'd swung by her apartment to drop off her things, logging out of Pri's drive, then vamp-sped there.

"You're a reporter?" Cami checked.

"Investigative journalist," Pri was eyeing up the buildings, "There."

Pointing up to a security camera.

"Follow me," She was marching towards the convenience store beneath it, "Wait – "

"Sorry," The person at the door was slipping the sign, "We're closing – "

"Not buying anything," Pri was right in his face, "We just need to talk about your security camera."

His eyes had turned dazed as he stared at hers.

"Let us in and flip the sign."

He opened the door, so they could step inside, then turned it to 'closed' so no one else with late-night cravings could potentially interrupt. Early hour closing times worked to catch drunk people stumbling home, but it was still just after business hours.

"Hi," Pri had a smiley face, Cami scanning like she was scared someone might pop out, "We're about to become your best friends."

"What's going on?"

Pri placed her hands on the counter, "There's a really high chance someone's gonna get murdered where your cameras are watching."

"What – "

"And we need that footage. And an alert when it happens," Compelling again, "My name's Pri, she's Cami. What's yours?"

"Robert."

"Well, Robert," She held a hand for him, still maintaining eye contact, "We came to you to ask about your camera. We didn't mention any murders. But you offered to let me set up a feed from your security camera because you respect the press."

Covering their bases for if the guy ended up interrogated.

"Would you like to set up a feed to my camera?" The man repeated.

"You know how to do that?" Cami checked.

"Yup," Pri spun to face her with a smile, "Well, it depends on the camera, but we'll see. Show us your system, Robert."

"Follow me."

"Thank you!"

Cami swallowed, glancing at the window, only to notice a familiar car pulling up.

"Cam?"

"Detective Kinney is outside."

Pri paused, staring through the glass.

"That's the car he had when he met up with Vincent and me earlier."

Not marked as a police vehicle, but a police detective inside.

"I thought they were gonna be trailing MJ," Pri mused, "Change of plans – "

A turn back to Robert.

"Give me your phone."

He lifted it out of a pocket, handing it over.

"Here is my number," She added swiftly, "You're gonna text me all the info about your security system I ask for. I'm going respond with instructions later tonight, and you're gonna follow them."

He nodded, unblinking.

"And, the second anything happens," Pri passed his phone back to him, "You text me."

"I text you."

"Any suspicious people. Any murders. Any screaming down this street?"

"I text you," Robert nodded.

"And while you remember us having a conversation and asking for the security footage, you don't remember the murder, mind control, or the other instructions I've given you."

With a breath in, Robert became confused.

He took a second to recalibrate, then nodded, "Happy to help you guys."

"Thank you so much," Pri's smile was sugary sweet, "Now – "

"Kinney," Cami finished with a sigh, exiting the shop.

He noticed them noticing, opening the door and standing next to it.

"Detective?" She greeted.

"Cami," He left the car door open, leaning next to it, "You're out late."

"No, hi? Hello? Just, 'you're out late,'" Pri cut to the chase, "You're following us."

"Miss Jung's friend," He addressed, "And maybe I am."

Cami crossed her arms, "I'm trying to help with your investigation."

"Any progress on the killer's profile?"

Pri narrowed her eyes at his ease in subject change.

"Listen," Cami shook her head, "I know Vincent said I could help, but you should probably consult someone with a little more experience."

"If you're not interested in the case, why are you here?"

"I can be interested and still not think I'm fit to work on it."

human, knowing the killer was probably a vampire, i.e. very at risk.

Kinney took a beat to scan Pri, then shifted, stepping away from his car.

"You know, I've seen you in town before," He spoke to Cami, "You and Mira Jung are friends with Klaus Mikaelson."

Pri rolled her eyes, catching his attention.

"Not a fan of the mysterious philanthropist-slash-artist with no past on record?"

"Oh, don't mind me," Pri's hands went up, "Please continue your clear intentions of interrogating yet another innocent person over things that don't matter while there's a murderer on the loose."

"How do you know it doesn't matter," Kinney called out, "You're a friend of a target. Who is also friends with this man. I'd simply like to know if he is a friend or a patient of the psychiatrist."

Cami's mouth opened slightly, shaking her head.

Even if Vincent had mentioned Klaus's name, he wouldn't have pointed Kinney in that direction when he'd returned to the police earlier. They knew Klaus's alibi. And Vincent wouldn't want the human force going after him.

"If he's a patient," Pri spoke while she processed, "Doctor-Patient confidentiality exists."

Meaning; back off.

"And if he's a friend? Unless you pull her into the station, she doesn't have to answer."

"Miss Jung seems to surround herself with dangerous environments. If there wasn't something off about the guy, Cami would say."

"I think," Cami spoke slowly, "You should explain why you followed us."

"Cami – "

"I'm not allowed to discuss my clients," She repeated the point.

Kinney just sighed, "I know who you are too."

Pri paused slightly, shooting Cami a careful look, taking in her moment of fluster.

A moment, then a realisation

"Right," She sounded weak, "My brother murdered a church full of seminary students."

Pri tried not to react to that reveal.

"My name must be familiar to the local PD."

"It is," Kinney confirmed, "But then Vincent brought you in. Cueing one background check. And a friendship with a target gets a slightly deeper one."

Most time, women were killed by people they knew.

"Your uncle Kieran's death last year? That autopsy report was just full of holes."

Her body language started to turn in, "He had a heart attack."

"Perfectly rational explanation."

Pri's momentary shock started to convert towards righteous fury.

"There's always a perfectly rational explanation."

"Um – "

"Your family has a whole century full of strange deaths," He spoke over Pri, "Unexplainable behaviour. Grave-robberies. Beheadings. Missing persons. Police reports with entire sections blacked out."

The signature of the supernatural.

"Whenever there's a problem in The Quarter, there's an O'Connell."

Cami didn't let him break eye contact with her, so he could see precisely how much rage she was swallowing as he spoke.

"Either causing it or cleaning it up.

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"No."

"You are," Pri countered, "You're just trying to avoid the word 'cos MJ roasted you to shit earlier for trying it on her."

"Her family's whole 'good Catholic' aesthetic is a cover."

"To what?"

"Haven't figured that part out yet. But I will."

"If we're basing your investigation off of women being killed by people they know," Pri stepped closer, "It's statistically the men in their life. Perhaps the creepy policeman trying to intimidate them?"

"I've tried to talk to her about her boyfriend's brother."

Implying they'd done more research since MJ's 'interview.'

"Which would've led to the boyfriend. And the rest of his family. And they're incredibly unexplainable backstory and behaviour."

Cami and Pri shared a look.

Cami knew there was evidence of The Mikaelson's immortality in old city newspapers.

MiMi Pasare's update meant the general public couldn't learn about the family, but registered supernatural could. And, even if he didn't try to get himself registered for more information, a MiMi deep-dive could lead to The Witchdoctor. 'The Originals Map' with plenty of info on the family.

"That gestures like that only confirm further."

"My 'gesture,'" Pri's tone was building, "Is because 'unexplainable backstory' was you Mi – MJ justification."

Pri was 'adapting.'

"And all you learnt was that her life just fucking sucks."

Kinney did hesitate.

"Making her feel like a criminal, you dick."

Cami was trying to determine if she should tell Pri to back down or let it happen. Starting a fight with a man already looking at them like the problem would make things worse. It would get more questions asked when they wanted the police away from them. But Cami didn't know Pri. She didn't know how to make her stop.

"Get some evidence rather than easy and underdeveloped explanations."

Ironic given her stance on Lucien.

"Careful," Kinney moved towards his car, "I am happy to have Miss O'Connell's help. But that doesn't mean you can have anything to do with my investigation."

"Do your fucking job and solve it then!"

He slammed the door behind him, driving away.

"You can't just swear at the police," Cami reminded her.

"I can, and I will."

"They can arrest you for it."

"And I will compel myself out of jail," She was searching her bag for her vape, "And compel him to retake whatever training he's meant to have."

A pause.

She closed her eyes and focused on the minor nicotine hit.

All vampires had a different way of sublimating their heightened emotions.

She stood down, "You okay?"

"Peachy," Cami fiddled with her jacket, "You wanna finish your security plan?"

Robert was still inside.

Pri nodded, "Then back to yours."

"And hopefully we'll have an address for Lucien."

~***~

MJ was leading the brothers through the maze of storage rooms, eyes listening out in case any other potential distractions were lurking around. There was a loaded feeling in her gut going through everything that had happened that day.

...Testing her power and tricks that could do actual damage to her...

"If this is all about Lucien," She thought about the summer, "What do I need to know about him?"

"We told you what happened," Klaus reminded her.

"How he turned. But what else?"

"What else matters?"

"Who is he as a person?" MJ listed, "How has he changed? What would he want with me?"

"Lucien won't be a threat to you," Elijah took in the doors, "And if we think he is the end goal, why are we here. Rather than finding him."

"Because going to Lucien means leaving Levi unaccounted for."

"Do you want to let me have the credit of saving Hayley from him?" Klaus goaded.

"I think it would be incredibly entertaining to see you swoop in, only for her to turn and rip your eyes out, him already dead."

"So she wouldn't need to be saved if I was the one doing it, but if you were there, she would be a damsel? Interesting commentary on her character, brother."

"She would be open to my help. Not need it."

"Help," Klaus nodded, "Is that what it's called? Not entitlement to the mother of my child?"

A tilted head.

"What will we tell Hope when she begins to question why her uncle has such an interest in her married mother's bedroom?"

"Because now you care about making things easy to explain to your daughter?"

"Third reminder," MJ gloated, "Someone is currently trying to kill me."

The door to the storage room up ahead.

"So if you guys could jump ahead to the bit where you remember you have each other's backs, it would be greatly appreciated."

Nothing.

"The second Andrew got fight-y, you did," Her voice was high, "Klaus swooped in for Kol, and you swooped in for him, Elijah. Meaning..."

Her eyes on Klaus.

"He still has your back. And you should be grateful for that. And an admission that you overreacted about Dahlia – "

"Overreacted?"

"Was burning Gia to death really necessary?"

"Kol had a whole scheme based on compelling her into a state so Elijah would be forced to kill her! He should be grateful I made it quick."

Elijah's mouth was opening slowly, "Kol was planning what?"

"You snapped Mira's neck in front of him. Did you not think it odd how he hasn't truly retaliated?"

"He has done nothing but enjoy my discomfort – "

"Because enjoying your moods is the equivalent to watching your girlfriend die?"

Especially with the added side of Kol having technically watched MJ die twice that month.

"I really don't know what's happened to you, Elijah. Once so smart. Yet surprised by the obvious."

"Okay," MJ clapped, "Back to what seems to be the night's topic!"

Since it clearly wasn't going in.

"The embedded sexism in all of you."

Marcel's introduction interrupting Pri's point.

"Stop. Punishing. Women."

It was exhausting.

"No matter how many times any of you claim to be feminists."

Elijah more than Klaus.

"You always take out your problems on women."

Damon's behaviour wasn't unique to him.

"Whether it be friends. Or love interests. Or the nearest innocent smile."

Vampires had developed from The Originals. Mimicking them.

"Then, you stand around arguing about it – and how unfair it is you're never allowed to love. None of these punishments are about any of you! Stop making them about you!"

The choice that night wasn't 'help MJ' or 'help Hayley.'

The brothers were just making it seem that way.

Lost in arguing.

"My neck was snapped. Mine."

Throat drying up slightly.

"Because Elijah was trying to take me off the board. Yes, so he could get to you – but it was about my power. My brains. My knowledge. My revenge, if I ever wanna take it."

Even if she didn't mean it to be, it felt ominous.

"And I wouldn't take it out on Gia, Hayley, or anyone. Because he is the person that deserves to suffer for it."

"I think my punishment makes him suffer."

"Fuck you, Klaus."

When he was in a mood, he was as much a brick wall as Damon.

"You could've bitten him. You had a dagger left. You could've boxed him and dumped him in an ocean, drowning for eternity. But you burnt Gia alive."

The Crescent Curse was a more complicated conversation.

"Of course Hayley wanted to run from a family where the woman always ends up dead!"

Again, MJ couldn't call herself a feminist but not support Hayley escaping Klaus.

The timing and reasoning had just been screwed.

And her own 'daddy issues' made her want to fight it.

"If I ever leave, it's because, despite dating Kol, 'you don't need rights if I have compulsion,' Mikaelson, I'm safer with him than I am being connected to either of you."

There was a flash in Klaus's expression.

"I'm not going to," She held his gaze, "But it's a point to be made."

Kol was at least aware he was problematic. And he was learning. Elijah's argument with MJ about how to keep Hayley safe while Klaus had been daggered proved that he wasn't self-aware, and Klaus had never claimed to be.

- He'd bit Caroline multiple times, threatening to kill her even more.

- He'd spiked MJ's drink with blood despite knowing she didn't want it.

- He'd poisoned Davina when she'd been sixteen.

But he'd also been somewhat respectful with Cami? Post compelling her to do things.

And that was the shortlist.

He was not above compelling a woman to do things for him.

- Blood-bag slave women galore in Mystic Falls.

Laura's paycheck was an MJ-enforced thing.

"Despite what you might think, I don't need you guys to talk this out right now."

It would last hours and probably end in a fight.

"I just need you to put your common sense glasses on and remember that teams don't need to get on. They just need to work together."

Neither spoke.

"And once they've remembered they're on the same side. It might be easier to have those harder conversations. Without using women, and our pain, to justify your behaviour."

It might not have been the time to talk about it, given the murders, but if they were gonna stand there and argue, MJ would lecture them.

"If either of you actually wants to talk about how you feel. Or why you do things. You know," She let her eyes jump to Elijah for a second, "That I will always listen."

Rather than shut them down.

"But this isn't that. It's a game of who can keep their hand on the car the longest, the people who suffer because of it be damned."

As she turned to keep walking to the door, missing the sliver of a purple oustlined eye in her shadow.

~***~

"Not to point out the obvious," Kol said while lugging a wolf over his shoulder, "You'll never know if you've found everyone."

"There were twenty-seven cursed the first time," Sam was carrying three, looking down at a fourth, "About five people un-triggered, well, five who didn't move."

Kol watched his stare.

"With the five packs who handed their power over to Jackson – "

Healed, dressed, and gone.

" – and the strays who showed up to get your mum's rings," He picked it up too, "It was seventy-three new members."

Most packs are small after centuries of being hunted, averaging around fourteen members.

"Twenty-six people untriggered."

They'd already made about five trips back to the clearing, putting them all in one place.

"Only four of which were adults."

A beat.

"A hundred and five people, factoring in deaths and leavers pre-Dahlia."

Kol processed that he'd missed just how big the pack had been, not exactly interested in counting when he'd been with Esther.

"I can list their names if you want me to."

"Point made."

"Can you grab that one?"

Another body.

Always another body.

Thrown over Kol's shoulder to join the pre-existing one.

Was there a correct way to hold dead wolves?

The blood from the injuries was staining his shirt, Kol's throat clawing to get out – fangs needing to be felt. His earlier thought spoke as they turned back to the path.

"You need to eat something."

"I'm fine," Sam vamp-sped back to the clearing.

"Moving like this just tells me you're hungry," Kol scrunched his nose up at the cemetery they were making, "Trying not to linger on the bullets or bloodshed, scared it'll – "

Sam just faced him.

Rows of corpses, him in the middle, closing all of their eyes. Kneeling down and letting them look asleep, touching points on the faces like he followed any religion, trying to believe the touch of a living friend would make peace easier to find for the spirits.

Or he was trying to memorise the animal's faces.

Like that would turn them back to recognisable features.

"You need to feed."

"I will bite you."

"Kinky," Kol huffed, "How was getting electrocuted?"

Sam looked towards the water, "A sign to head home."

"I have to ask," Kol brushed himself down, "Did you die?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I was spasming on the floor, mind went black, then a ran," Sam summed up, voice bored, "I could smell that something was off, so I didn't just drink, and doing that meant it wasn't as bad as it could've been. I don't know if the blackout was from pain or..."

Death.

"Who cares."

He was gone again.

Kol vamped after him, "You should've asked Jackson to help us."

"Don't you ever get sick of your own voice?" Sam just grabbed a body, "Because I really do."

A half-transformed one.

"And I really am."

Kol watched how his features flickered, "You didn't think to feed on the way here?"

"I wasn't about to feed anywhere near my family."

"Sam – "

"I need the vein."

Fists clenching.

"And the second I get one, I'm gonna drain it," A slight shake, "And the last thing I need right now is to drop a body."

"Blood bag then."

"It needs to be fresh."

Static filling the air, Kol really looking at him.

The hunger in his expression wasn't as simple as a spell stopping him from tearing through everything he saw for food. It was darkened eyes, slightly sunken in his unnaturally pale face, shadows of sleep deprivation hiding the lines creeping in at the top of his cheeks.

"We'll get you fresh then."

His shaking head was cut off by Kol's eyeroll.

"Would you rather be alone with you rip into the first drunk collegegoer you find?"

"Who gives a fuck about eating when my family is basically extinct."

Dead leaves crunching beneath his feet were the only thing Sam could deal with listening to, sinking down to sit against a tree trunk. Messy hair filled with knots and mud, the smell of the bloating filling their nostrils from the ones who'd been the first to go.

"...I killed them."

Kol raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Two or three of the mortal hunters."

Bodies Elijah had noted down as dead but once again assumed Hayley.

Why would he assume Sam when Hayley was the person who ripped heads off.

"I was fully in control, but I did it."

"That's fair enough."

"Don't say that," He ran his palms over the mud, "They were just doing their jobs."

A company had hired them.

"They didn't know."

"Sam," Kol tried his best, "I can kill the remaining ones if you'd like."

Nail digging down.

"Or, well, kill the man who hired them."

"Not sure that'd make me feel any better."

"But it wouldn't make you feel any worse," He reasoned, "And I won't feel bad about doing it at all."

For a moment, Kol was sure he saw the hybrids lips twitch into a tired smile.

"Go spend time with your family."

"I've gotta see the pack."

"You don't – "

"I do," Sam slowly pushed back to his feet, "They need to know that some of us our left."

Kol glanced two a body, metal pieces sticking through their body, locked in a trap, disagreeing with that a little.

"That we're here for them."

"You know," Kol watched how slowly he moved, "I hated hearing about you."

Sam didn't understand the change.

"While I was dead," He continued, "MJ told me about her 'New Orleans' friends. Jeremy and Bonnie would fill me in on the parts MJ deliberately omitted."

For a moment, Sam stopped thinking about the stench of the air.

"Mira knows I lean towards jealousy, so didn't exactly mention her new werewolf pet," Kol focused on the tree-tops, "Or his previously incredibly well-kept physique."

Sam pushed his chin down, trying to work out if that was a compliment.

"I had a lovely plan to murder you."

"Thank you for not?"

"I didn't get what she saw in you. Confusion gave me pause."

"You're so emotionally stunted."

"You're so similar," Kol looked disgusted, "God knows if this was the witches, she'd be taking almost the exact same stance despite the fact it's not either of your jobs to hold everyone together."

"That's called caring about people, Kol," Sam lulled, "You have hope. You hold onto it – and them, with everything you have. Even when people call you crazy for doing so."

"You're not the alpha Sam."

"And?"

"Not that I know anything about packs – isn't it Jackson's job to help the young ones?"

"Jack's good with kids."

"But he chooses Hayley. So you have to swoop in."

"Because he loves her."

Kol moved closer, "Klaus tried to make me doubt my relationship by pointing out how Mira was a leader, and I never would be."

Sam's mood dropped at his name.

"He failed to realise that it was precisely what made us well suited."

"I'm really confused what the point of this conversation is?"

"Davina or the pack?"

Sam stilled.

"If it came down to it..."

"What does Davina have anything to do with this?"

"Because Jackson would choose Hayley," Kol mused, "Mira...I want to say me, but she will pick duty."

He'd always been matter-of-fact.

"Because she wishes to make others happy, more than she wishes to be happy herself."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"Incredibly so," He'd never deny it, "But it's one of the things I love about her. We balance each other out. And, one day, when she finds peace within herself, she'll have passed the baton onto someone else, and we'll still have eternity."

"Still not seeing the point."

"Jackson is going to be trapped in Hayley's bubble. And she will be trapped in Klaus's. And the rest of you will suffer for it," Kol memorised Sam's reactions, "You want to fix your pack? You need to do it."

He may not have counted the wolves under his mother's thumb, but he knew their old alpha had hidden in the Bayou until Sam and Hayley had taken a stand.

"But doing that?" Kol let the phrases hang in the air, "Being a leader? Sometimes hurting people? Davina's choice to not push – "

"Can you stop bringing up Davina?"

"Why? You clearly fancied her."

"She spent half of last year yelling at me for stuff I couldn't control, and she'd taken bullshit stances on everything since we got cursed."

Josh had kept him updated when MJ had stopped bringing her up.

"So you can call me bitter."

"Finally learning self-respect?" Kol mused, only to hear him growl, "You've spent the past few months somewhat alone, Sam. Are you really going to push her away when you need her most?"

"It's what she does."

"She got attacked this morning."

That recaught his attention.

"Several packs across the world come with witches," He added lightly, "Several packs travel around states to see places and pick up other wolves. Trying to combat the fact your species has been somewhat dying off."

"Are you implying I should start my own pack and take Davina with me?"

He shrugged.

"Kol," Sam was almost amused, "I'm not a leader."

"You're exactly like MJ; we both know she is."

Before Sam could respond, they heard someone skid into the clearing.

Stilling in shock.

Both instantly appeared, Sam yanking the teenager back as he went to throw himself onto the bodies. Medium height, curly brown hair, and hazel eyes that were exactly like his brother's had once been, sixteen years old and gagging at the smell of death in the air, eyes welling up as he finally stopped fighting Sam, arms clinging to him.

"Nick," Sam held him tight, "You should be with the others – "

"Jackson told us – " Shaking and small.

Looking at the older boy.

Sam was stuck at eighteen, even if he was technically turning twenty-one in a few days.

Elijah and Freya had been handling main pack celebrations because MJ and her friends were organising his birthday since he'd be back to an animal for the actual day. And now, he was holding a kid to his chest, tears in his eyes, twisted hallucinations dancing across the remains.

"Where's Hayley?"

"On her way."

A lie was far more comforting than the truth.

"I'm gonna make sure this is all sorted – okay?"

Nick shook his head, arms still around him, "I – I can – "

"You're gonna go to The Bayou Bar, you're gonna order whatever the hell you want, and then you're gonna wait for me to get back with her."

"I want to help."

Sam closed his eyes, rubbing the back of the teenager's head.

"Please."

"Okay," He changed the plan, "Are you okay on your own? Or do you want me with you?"

"What is it?"

"I need sheets."

To cover the bodies.

While families deserved the chance to see them, it was only a choice if they weren't just lying in the most visited spot in The Bayou.

"As many fallen branches as we can find for a proper Crescent Funerals."

"The Crescents are dead," Nick shoved back, "We all just keep dying."

"Dead or not, they're Crescents," Sam spoke with the perfect balance of calmness and warmth, "And so are we. And we are gonna make sure they find peace."

Nick calmed a little.

"For that, they need funerals."

Tears half-wiped from his face, still threatening to fall but held off, focused on Sam.

"Do you think you can have faith that peace is out there?"

"I can."

"Thank you," Sam rubbed his arm, "We're so close to being back for good, Nick."

The boy managed a nod.

"You only need to be strong for a little longer."

"Are you okay?"

"Perfectly," He smiled naturally, "Just get those sheets for me."

He nodded.

Another rushed hug, arms around Sam's neck tightly, hiding his face in his shoulder.

Then a nervous glance to Kol, backing up the path he'd come.

Sam letting his smile vanish, shoulders slumping. Deliberately not looking at Kol, knowing that his face would be somewhat smug, ready to make another point.

Instead, he opted for a different point.

"MJ's magic doesn't go wrong, but she couldn't track Hayley?"

"She's been having dreams recently. They got in the way."

"Um," Sam shook his head, "I'm gonna need more context than that."

"Witch dream about my birth, grew a flower in her sleep," Kol focused on the magic rather than the hunting and Lucien part, "A spirit or two seem to be stalking her. Possibly her brother. Possibly a voodoo one. Possibly something unrelated."

Sam blinked.

Kol waved a hand in front of him, confused.

"She had a dream about your birth?"

"Thank you for finding that as weird as I did!" Kol cheered, "She practically brushed it off."

"Given the history of hallucinations, it probably isn't that weird for her."

Kol's mouth opened.

"Not saying it's not weird, but your girlfriend's got a high bar."

Kol knew that was true, "Still."

"If spirits are getting in the way," Sam let himself do one last scan of the clearing, "...The pack needs Hayley."

"Which means," Kol took the opening, "Davina."