Esmeray was surprised that Klaus actually ignored her.
He hardly looked at her now. He certainly didn't speak to her. She studied and made notes on the spell to help herself understand, and he hardly glanced in her direction even when he heard the pencil scraping against the paper.
Obviously, he was vexed. She didn't care. He could muster up the guts to leave her alone for a day. She kept watching him take out the small wooden wolf and examine it, as if wanting to bash it into her head to grant her the magic she needed for the ritual. He didn't trust her yet, even though the long-awaited day was approaching rapidly.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," said Maddox the following morning after Esmeray had stayed up working on the spell. In the kitchen, Katherine was making coffee, and she watched the witch intently.
"Yes, do hurry," Klaus urged him. "I'm anxious to get out of this body. And if you get hung up, call me. You know how impatient I get."
Maddox nodded and left, and Esmeray looked back at the papers in front of her as Klaus turned to face the main room. "Where is he going?" asked Katherine curiously, though her voice was soft and still riddled with fear. She held out the coffee pot for Klaus, who took it.
"To retrieve me," the Original replied. "So I can get out of this bad hair-do."
Katherine looked confused. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Klaus?"
"Well, the full moon is almost upon us." He reached into his pocket and placed the moonstone down. "I've killed the witch, I have the moon stone, and the doppelgänger is waiting in the wings. Ohh, I am ready to break this curse." He didn't turn to look at the wolf behind him, but added, "And I think that by now, the girl is ready to perform the spell."
Esmeray didn't look at him. Katherine, however, gazed at her, then at Klaus, still not getting it. "And why would you do that here?" she inquired. "There's so many people that would try to stop you."
Klaus looked at her like she was stupid. "Because I have to. It's the birthplace of the doppelgänger."
Katherine frowned. "I didn't realize that was a requirement."
"Well, how could you? You betrayed me and fled England before I could give you the details, Katerina." He stepped forward menacingly. "But... I did find your birthplace and I slaughtered your family. So I guess we're cool. Let's just hope that Elena isn't as stupid as you were."
The vampire gulped. "She won't run. She'll die before she lets anyone that she loves get hurt. She knows by now that the ritual only requires her blood."
Klaus smirked, and looked into Katherine's eyes to compel her. "You can't leave until I tell you to. Make sure the wolf doesn't go anywhere."
He walked out the front door, leaving the coffee pot on the table beside the coat rack. Esmeray and Katherine shared a look, before the hybrid stood and went to get the pot, taking it to Katherine.
"Thank you," said Esmeray quietly. "At least he's leaving me alone."
Katherine just huffed. She didn't seem to like the idea of saying 'you're welcome.' "You're wide awake after staying up all night."
"I don't have my magic. For the first time in awhile, my head feels completely clear this close to a full moon."
"Congratulations," said Katherine sarcastically. "You're finally normal."
Esmeray shrugged. "I wouldn't call it 'normal.'"
"You'll be even less normal if Klaus does help you with your ritual. What do you even intend to do with that? What are the benefits of being a hybrid when you know no one?"
"I don't know," the girl admitted. "I suppose I'll try to find any members of the Poldark Pack and try to settle down somewhere that I feel happy."
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Listen, honey, you're ancient. The world has changed. Happiness is scarce. You're better off letting yourself travel to have fun. Go to parties. Take a new person home every night. Don't just stay in a pack and procreate like your mommy and daddy told you to. Let loose. Have you even done anything?"
She shook her head. "No... nothing at all, really. I hardly traveled, but when I did, it was always to another pack, and very straightforward."
"Oh, dear God," said Katherine, slapping her own forehead. "I mean, have you done anything intimate with anyone? Or was I right in assuming you're completely untouched and inexperienced?"
Esmeray felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh. Well... I haven't actually done anything myself."
"Not even kissing anyone? Your existence sounds miserable."
"No. And nothing more extreme. I only have memories of the witches who wanted me to teach spells. I know what... it feels like. But I haven't actually gotten a chance to do it."
Katherine snorted. "I'm sure you had plenty of chances, honey, you were just too oblivious to go through with it. And the memory thing... that's weird, but it's expected, when it comes to you. You're like an overly innocent and lame kid."
She tried to pretend she wasn't slightly offended. "I didn't have chances, not really," she said sheepishly. "The boys my age were afraid of me. That doesn't really bode well to get... intimate. Besides, back in those times... if you were intending to compete for Alpha, you had to wait to get married."
"That's a stupid rule."
"It was just because they wanted the Alphas to only have one child, even after there was a contest instead of a monarchy. Alphas couldn't be burdened with taking care of too many children; it was expected of fathers and mothers to be very attentive with their offspring. Absent fathers or neglectful mothers weren't a thing in our Pack. If someone knew that you weren't giving your all to your kid, they intervened. And regarding the potential suitors... most of the boys my age were going to take part in the tournament. They knew it would come soon enough because my Pack no longer trusted my father to be in charge when he couldn't handle me and they also knew I wasn't going to be allowed to compete. Had they succeeded him, maybe one of them might've tried to marry me to ensure our child would be a half-pure wolf. But again... they were scared. I didn't actually have friends my own age."
"You are so pitiful," sighed Katherine, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
"It's not my fault my Pack did things a certain way. As for the memories, it was to ensure we were aware of the important things in life. Yes, it was very strange to see multiple people doing intimate things with their partners to end up with child, but it at least made us aware of what to expect so that we wouldn't waste time asking what they deemed as stupid questions. If we knew almost everything, we could devote ourselves to improvements."
"Did you even try to make friends? Try to have a boyfriend?"
"I did try to make friends, and it didn't work out. The boyfriend part..." she trailed off.
Katherine raised her eyebrows. "So there was a boy."
"A boy and a girl," she said softly. "Nuka and Kateri. They were twins, and Kateri was older. The first set of twins in my generation, deemed a blessing. They were incredibly good looking. Two years older than me, talented warriors, the ideal wolves. They had these gorgeous green eyes. I never once spoke to them but I admired them from afar and I wondered often what it might be like to kiss one of them, or both."
"You didn't even act on that desire?" asked Katherine. "You had two options and you went for nothing?"
"I didn't have a lot of confidence. Everyone made me feel like I was a hurricane waiting to happen. I thought they'd be afraid of me. By the time I was bold enough to say something... Kateri was married and had a child, and Nuka was betrothed."
"Hang on. Kateri was a woman. Wasn't the whole gay thing shunned?"
This seemed to be news for Esmeray. "No," she said bluntly. "We were encouraged to like whoever we wanted to no matter what their identities. Based on the historical knowledge I have acquired, my people are now referred to as the Native Americans whose land was stolen by English settlers. If you've heard of their teachings, they were accepting of all sorts of people. Alphas were encouraged to marry someone of the opposite sex just to procreate. But anyone else had free reign. All of us were practically pansexual and panromantic... or maybe polysexual is more accurate— I should read into that more. We had transgender and genderfluid individuals too. My mother was actually the witch who fabricated a spell to help modify their bodies to have the sex organs they desired."
Katherine didn't answer. She had her head craned to the side, and she seemed to be listening to something that was happening outside. She didn't speak on it, but her eyes suddenly widened, and Esmeray heard a knock on the door.
The vampire sped to it, but her hand couldn't even grasp the knob, as if a barrier had been put in place. Esmeray rushed over and tried to open it as she heard a familiar voice say, "Alaric, are you home? Andie... Star. Jenna's friend."
Esmeray couldn't open it either. "Hello?" she called out, but it didn't seem the woman had heard her.
There was a pause, and a scuffling noise, and the door swung open, revealing not only Andie, but also Damon Salvatore.
"Thank God," sighed Katherine as Andie walked in, looking surprised. "Wow!" she said. "You were right. She looks exactly like Elena."
"Yep," said Damon, fixating his eyes on Esmeray and Katherine when he realized he couldn't get through the barrier into the apartment. "I thought you two would be dead."
Katherine half-smiled. "Unfortunately not. What are you doing here?"
Andie smiled at Esmeray. "We're here to rescue you."
"No, sweetie," Damon said, "we're here to see if they deserve to be rescued."
Esmeray bit her lip. "I don't intend to leave."
Damon scoffed. "What is wrong with you? First you're BFF's with Elijah, and now you're besties with Klaus?"
"I'm not besties with him."
"He's going to 'help' her," said Katherine distastefully. "If she does the ritual, he's going to give her something she wants."
"Get it somewhere else," said Damon simply. "You can't seriously want to stay here."
"I don't want to," admitted Esmeray. "But I'm not going to screw Klaus over. He'll kill me, and I'm already worried enough."
Damon rolled her eyes and brought out a small vial, which made Katherine's breath hitch. "Vervain," he told her. "Your salvation, since I know you're eager to get the hell out."
"It's not going to undo anything," Katherine pointed out.
"There's always a loophole," Damon replied. "Did he tell you to stay in this apartment until he said it was okay to leave?"
Katherine moved to speak, but no sound came out. "You can't say," Damon noted. "Did he tell you to do absolutely everything he says until the end of time?"
She shook her head. "No."
"There's your loophole. Drink this and it'll prevent any further compulsion."
Katherine moved forward to take it, but could not cross over the threshold, and Damon smirked. "Give it to me," she demanded.
"Answer one question first. You double-crossed us with Isobel. Why?"
The vampire huffed. "I didn't think you could stand a chance against Klaus, so I was looking out for myself."
The man across from her let out a snort. "And where did that get you? Here." He tossed her the vial. "Be careful with that. If he finds out you have that, you're never getting out of here." He watched as she uncorked it and downed a bit, though it made her cough. "You owe me," added Damon. "And I will collect. As for you, Witchy Woo Wolf, stay and suffer, see if I care. Come on—" He motioned for Andie to follow him out.
"Nice to meet you," Andie told Katherine before waving kindly at Esmeray and closing the door behind her.
Katherine was in a considerably better mood for the entire rest of the day. She turned on some music as loud as it would go and danced around. Esmeray watched her from the couch, not really feeling up for dancing.
"Drink!" coaxed Katherine, shoving a bottle of bourbon right under Esmeray's nose.
The wolf scrunched up her face and leaned back. "No, thank you."
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Have you ever heard the question: 'What modern day thing would kill a Victorian Era child?' Most people answer that it would be a Four Loko or a Starbucks beverage. Now that I think about it, I'm sure a Four Lokowould absolutely destroy you."
Esmeray, who had no idea what a Four Loko was, blinked and stared at her blankly. Katherine took back the bottle and started to chug before saying, "You are the prime example of a Victorian Era child right now, acting like a bit of bourbon is going to bring your death."
"I don't want to drink or do drugs, the nurse thinks it's very bad."
"The nurse lady whose memories you saw? You're going to listen to her? You are so boring. Drink, Ray."
She tensed. "Don't call me that," she muttered.
"What do I call you then? Victoria? It fits with the whole Victorian Era thing—"
"You can call me Esmeray."
"Fine. Drink, Esmeray."
"I don't want to."
"Drink."
"You won't succeed with the peer pressure. I said no. Shouldn't you understand, after five hundred years, that no means no?"
Katherine turned away as if Esmeray's mere presence was offending her. "Look, you don't have any knowledge of what cool or normal people do for fun, and I'm just trying to introduce you to it."
"I have plenty of memories of people being reckless. Those Professors have seen students do very idiotic things while under the influence. I'd rather not get intoxicated."
"I just know that the day that you try beer for the first time, you're going to pass out." She was going to say something else, but she suddenly stopped, sped to the couch beside Esmeray, set the bottle of bourbon down in front of her, and went rigid, pretending she'd been sitting there the entire time as Klaus walked in.
He stared at the two and made a face at the sound of the blasting music. "You mind turning that down?"
Katherine robotically grabbed the remote to turn it down. "Why so grumpy?"
"Well, this body has outlived its usefulness," he told her blandly, not casting another look in Esmeray's direction. He took out the small wooden wolf from his pocket and placed it on the counter.
"Do you want a drink?" offered Katherine, standing up and grabbing onto the bourbon.
Klaus let out an exasperated sigh. "No, Katerina, I don't want a drink."
"Come on," she prompted, getting closer to him. "It might loosen you up." She offered him the bottle and he took it, throwing it against the wall and smashing it to pieces, which made Esmeray flinch.
He pushed Katherine back and looked into her eyes to compel her. "What I want is for you to sit down and shut up."
Having to pretend she could still be compelled, she did as she was told. The door swung open once again, and it was Maddox, with several people behind him.
"Maddox," Klaus sighed. "What took you so long?"
"You've got a lot of luggage," he said as two men brought in several heavy looking cases probably filled with clothes and other personal items. A woman with curly black hair and gorgeous oval eyes came in, smirking at Klaus, who looked pleased to see her.
"Greta," breathed Klaus, letting Esmeray know that this was Luka's sister. "Finally."
"Hello, love," she said kindly as she came closer to him. "Nice body. You ready to get out of it?"
He smirked, and behind Greta, two more men entered wheeling a gigantic wooden crate, big enough to fit a body inside of it.
They were ready to perform the spell within minutes. The four men left, and Greta set up a semi-circle of candles as Maddox positioned the crate upright. Klaus went to stand beside it and closed his eyes as Maddox and Greta got on their knees in front of the crate, their eyes closed and their arms hanging loosely at their sides. The candles lit up, and Esmeray and Katherine watched as they began to chant.
"Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Uenes Phasmatos Et Sonos. Ex Tutam Exum Lamia Matus."
After about the sixth time chanting, the candles flared up, and the man beside the crate gasped loudly. Alaric seemed to be back in his own body. He opened his eyes and stared at Katherine in confusion. "Elena?" he mumbled before crumpling to the floor.
Maddox got to his feet and went to open the box. There was a pause as the man within it opened his eyes, a wicked smile on his face. His dirty-blond hair was curled neatly, and he had a black jacket over a white button down that had several buttons open near the top, revealing a beaded necklace that seemed to resemble a rosary.
"Now that's more like it," said Klaus in a British accent, smirking over at Alaric's unconscious body, then turning to face Katherine, who had gone incredibly rigid. She took the slightest step back and he sped to her, moving faster than any normal vampire.
He gripped Katherine by the throat, relishing in how afraid she looked. Carelessly, he snapped her neck and dropped her onto the nearest chair, as if he was going to let her rest until morning. When he turned to face Esmeray, she tried not to act afraid, but in this body, he could hear her heart racing, and it delighted him.
"Are you afraid, my little werewitch?" he said, stepping closer.
"S-Stop," she begged as he cornered her near the bookshelf. "You said you w-wouldn't..."
Klaus seemed to glare into her soul. "I said I wouldn't act flirty with you, love, I never said I wouldn't threaten you properly." Within an instant, he'd seized her throat, and she croaked, his grip far stronger now, which left her barely able to breathe. He loosened his hold only to let her keep her life, but with ease, he lifted her off the group, her toes barely brushing over the wooden floor. He said nothing at first, watching her claw at his arm to try and get him to let her go. "You have no idea how fragile you are," he sneered. "I could snap your neck the way I would a twig. If you ever try to command me again, I will ensure you suffer for the rest of your miserably mortal life. You will do the spell. If you've been a good girl, I will help you with your ritual. If not, I will kill you the instant I am unbound, do I make myself clear?"
"Y-Yes," she gasped, knowing she couldn't last much longer without sufficient air.
He let her fall, and she hit the ground hard, despite her feet having only been a few inches away from it. She stared up at him hatefully, but he was no longer paying attention to her. "Maddox," he said, looking at the witch. "You will stay here tonight. I will return in the morning." He moved toward Greta, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving her bottom a firm slap. "You, love, are coming with me."
He led her out, and Esmeray got to her feet shakily, massaging her throat and watching as Maddox cleaned up the candles. He merely moved Alaric's body out of the way.
"Can I at least put him on the couch?" said Esmeray quietly.
Maddox shrugged. "Don't see why you care about a human."
"This is his apartment. It's rude to leave him lying there."
He watched her struggle to drag the body to the couch. Having never trained excessively, even her wolf strength wasn't much use when it came to lifting up a man who was much heavier and bigger than her. She did her best work of getting him on the couch and huffed before going to sit on another armchair, crossing her arms.
Maddox came over to her before she could go to sleep, handing her the wooden carving of the wolf. "Klaus says you're to take your magic back now," he told her. "But if you try anything... let's just say you're going to become very familiar with fleeing from him the way Kathy had to for five hundred years."
"I'm not going to do anything," she mumbled, taking the wolf and enclosing it in her palm. She drew a deep breath and concentrated, and the apartment shook as the magic flooded back into her, making several glasses in the kitchen break from the apparent release of power.
"Good," said Maddox, handing her the spell to look over again. "Last chance to study up. Tomorrow, we'll see how powerful you really are."