Cami texted a few minutes later.
"'Will is going to bring Lucien to the station for questioning,'" Ingrid read off aloud from the text. "'Vincent and I are waiting for him at the main NOLA PD building...'" She texted back, 'Is anyone going to make sure Will doesn't get eviscerated on the spot??'
Three little jumping dots let her know that Cami was typing. She replied, 'No, he said he didn't want Vincent to go with him, and I obviously wouldn't go.'
'Cool,' Ingrid replied, 'I'll go with him, then.'
More dots, and Cami replied, 'Are you insane? You can't go with him!'
'Someone should. I'm not sure Lucien actually knows that I lost my magic. I'll take some dark objects to be safe. At least the sight of me might make Lucien question his choices. He can't kill me, or Klaus will skin him alive.'
Despite Cami's protests that it wasn't a good idea, Ingrid arranged to go with Will, ignoring his insistence that she wasn't qualified to be there.
"First you're threatening me, now you want to go on a house call with me?" asked Will as they rode up to the penthouse in the elevator. "You confuse me."
She shrugged. "I just want to observe. Besides, Cami says you found a third body. No offense, but if Lucien is our guy, I don't think he'll be scared of your gun."
"And what, he'll be scared of you? You're unarmed."
Ingrid smirked. "If he's smart, he'll be wary." She observed the magical bracelets on her wrists, and glanced down at the anklets she'd fastened above her heels. "Come on, Will, you can admit you were pissing your pants when I yelled at you."
"Not pissing my pants," he said. "Just wondering if I need to make sure my will is in order in case you end up murdering me." He shrugged. "But, if you yell at that guy the way you yelled at me, maybe he won't be so brave after all."
The elevator chimed, dropping them off on the top floor. They walked to the door, and Will knocked firmly. Ingrid could hear movement inside, and seconds later, Lucien opened up, wearing only his jeans, his bare chest on full display.
"Ingrid," he said sweetly. "And here I thought I made a terrible impression on you the other night."
"Oh, you did," said Ingrid dryly.
"Mr. Castle," said Will, holding up his badge. "Detective Kinney, NOLA PD. I was hoping to ask you a few questions."
Lucien rolled his eyes, but then smirked. "By all means, your place or mine?" He winked at Ingrid.
"The station," said Ingrid. "Put on a shirt and hurry up."
Will pulled her aside when Lucien went to get changed. "You're not a law enforcement officer," he hissed. "Stop talking to him. How do you even know this guy?"
"Family friend. More like, he's friends with one of my cousins, and the rest of us... don't seem to like him."
"You are so cruel," said Lucien as he appeared behind them. Will flinched. Lucien simply closed his door, not even bothering to lock it. "Playing hard to get."
"Hard to get?" said Ingrid as they went back into the elevator. "I couldn't possibly be attracted to you, and you don't seem to understand that."
"Ah, yes, Nik did mention you were dating Cami."
"Mhm," confirmed Ingrid, standing between Will and Lucien. "So how about you stop those gears in your brain that are insisting you can 'turn me straight?' I've met far too many men that think the way you do and it's disgusting. Get over yourself."
"Ingrid," hissed Will.
"No, no, let her," said Lucien, who was apparently finding this quite funny. "You have got quite the fire in you, Ingrid Mikaelson."
"That's not my name."
"Are you ashamed of it?"
"No. I consider myself part of the Mikaelson family, but Mikael is not my father. Einar is. And I am proud to be Ingrid Einarson. Why did you choose the last name Castle, hmm?"
"Because I liked it," he said. "If you marry Camille, will you take her last name or will she take yours?"
"Considering she has all her degrees under her current name, I don't think she'd want to change it. I don't see why we need to take each other's last names."
"And what of the children you might plan to have? 'Einarson-O'Connell' sounds like a mouthful."
"You're going to get a mouth-full of my foot— and a few broken teeth— if you don't shut up."
Will just covered his face, wondering why he hadn't arrested Ingrid days ago.
Ingrid was happy to ride in the passenger's seat of Will's cop car. Lucien was in the back, taking all sorts of business phone calls as if nothing was wrong. When they arrived at the station, Lucien was taken into an interrogation room, while Ingrid met Cami and Vincent outside.
"I'm getting all sorts of complaints about you," said Vincent, glancing at Ingrid.
"Oops," she said innocently. "But to be fair, he was safer with me there."
"Well, not if you're poking a hornet's nest."
"Aw, Lucien's a hornet's nest now?" She narrowed her eyes at the man across the glass from them, staring ahead, knowing they were there, but unable to see them. "I didn't think he'd upgraded from being scum at the bottom of my foot."
"Ingrid," groaned Vincent, making a face.
"What? He gave me the creeps, I'm not going to be nice to him. Plus he was prying into my relationship with Cami, it was annoying. If he's a nice guy, Klaus will surely advocate for me to give him a chance. As long as he stops staring at my breasts each time we're in the same room, I'll gladly be kinder to him."
Lucien wiggled his eyebrows, and Ingrid just rolled her eyes. "But if he keeps doing that, I might have to melt his face off."
This time, he winked and blew her a kiss. Obviously, it was amusing to taunt her.
Cami motioned for her to be silent as Will went into the room with Lucien.
"Mr. Castle," he said, tossing a case file onto the table for him to look through. "Thought you might want to see this."
Lucien camly took it in his hands, opening it and perusing the photos of the murdered men. "Oh, I read about this. Those poor men... ah, in life, they were anything but poor. Solid gold cuff-links, Bulgari watches... such ostentatious displays of wealth no doubt attracted the attention of some vile criminal element."
"You seem to know a lot about the case," said Will suspiciously. "Big fan of True Crime?"
Lucien laughed patronizingly, then motioned to the cuffs of his jacket. "Look at my watch, Mr. Kinney. My cuff-links. But for a twist of fate, one of those faces might be mine!"
"Well, you sound real frightened by the prospect," said Will, unamused. "You know, in my experience, people like you don't believe in fate. They make their own luck, whether it's good or bad."
Lucien smiled fakely. "Well, then I shouldn't be here long. 'People like me' tend to have exceptional lawyers to get us out of trouble like this." His smile fell. "But, while I'm here, you should know that I do hate to be bored, and you... bore me." He leaned forward, looking into Will's eyes. "I know that Cami O'Connell and Ingrid Einarson are behind that mirror, and I would very much like to talk to them."
"Vervain," muttered Ingrid. "Didn't think about that."
Will walked out of the room obediently. Lucien stared at the glass, wiggling his fingers to wave at them.
"No," said Vincent once Will approached them. "Neither of you are going in there."
"Vincent," said Cami reasonably, "he's not going to kill us in the middle of a police precinct."
"Well, he could," said Ingrid realistically. "He could make it look like an accident."
Cami raised a brow at her. "You're not helping."
"Oh, no, I'm just siding with Vincent, you shouldn't go in."
"But you will?"
"Yes." She wiggled the bracelet on her arm. "I'm protected."
Cami crossed her arms, as if to say, 'You and I both know that's not enough to use on him.' Without another word, she marched into the interrogation room, and Ingrid had no choice but to follow.
"Hello, ladies," said Lucien sweetly, though his expression dropped when Vincent also walked in.
"You asked to speak to us," said Cami, sitting down across from Lucien, while Ingrid and Vincent stood behind her. "Here we are, willing to listen. Which, if I'm gonna be honest, is more than you deserve."
Lucien made a face. "I thought New Orleans had the same burden of proof as the rest of the colonies. What is it? Ah, yes— innocent until proven guilty."
Vincent reached for two chairs stacked in the corner, pulling one for Ingrid, and one for himself, though he sat on it backwards. "The murders started the same day you got into town," the Tremé witch said. "All the victims match a pattern— wealth that, uh, you yourself seem to exude. Not to mention, we know what you are."
"Hmm," said Lucien. "What I am is a ruthless, vicious, unstoppable killer. That's not to say I had anything to do with this— far from it. Why, Ingrid has done awful things, and she's not on your suspect list, is she? The truth is, none of you know me. But if you did, you would see that we were the same. All of us, actually. Four souls caught in the orbit of Family Mikaelson, yet somehow survived to tell the tale. Though, each of us has our share of scars."
Ingrid narrowed her eyes. "Elaborate. I know a lot about you already. Klaus's first sireling, you met back in Southern France, the yer 1002."
"But you don't quite know the details of how I turned, do you?" he said. "Why, the whole reason Nik had to give me his blood was because the Count's son, Tristan, chained me up and tortured me— whipping me until I was bruised, bloody, and raw. All because he thought I was seeing his sister. Far from the truth actually, considering Nik pursued her, knowing the great affections I held for her. See this?" He pointed at one of the crime scene photos where the victim's face was shown with the creepy smile carved from ear to ear. "Tristan did that to me. And when Nik healed me, it vanished."
"Even after all these years, you continue to reenact your trauma," murmured Cami. "You're choosing victims who are the contemporary equivalent of the privileged son who hurt you."
Lucien scoffed. "I share a deeply personal tale of woe, one meant to garnish sympathy and inspire kinship, yet all you take away is an admission of guilt."
Vincent shrugged. "Messed-up new guy comes to town, messed-up new guy is responsible for murders." He tapped the case files for emphasis.
Lucien rolled his eyes. "Uh, okay." He sighed in exasperation. "Given that you seem incapable of comprehending a sophisticated solution, allow me to posit an equally simple one." He ignored the way Vincent laughed at his subtle insult. "These murders are an attempt to disparage my good name, thus poisoning me agains the one person I came here to protect— Niklaus himself. Now, if someone wants to weaken my ability to protect Niklaus, perhaps it's because they themselves would like to see him dead?"
"You're an intelligent man, so I won't insult you," said Cami. "We both know that nothing you say proves anything. So, what I want to know is why you asked to speak with me, and with Ingrid. Why tell us your story? Is it because we know Klaus, and part of you must still blame him? Maybe you want to make him look bad in our eyes?"
Lucien laughed loudly. "Ha, I'm so—" he cut himself off, laughing again, and tried to grasp Cami's hand, only for Ingrid to swipe out her own and catch it before he could. "Oh, no wonder Klaus speaks so highly of both of you," he said, wiggling his hand so Ingrid would let go of him. "Cami, with that delicious, mortal mind framing every moment of your meager lifespan. And Ingrid... why, you're just like him. The truth is, I know you both have Klaus's ear, and I need him to trust me. As for your claim that I blame him for my ancient wounds? Well, time heals all wounds, and my wounds healed a thousand years ago.
"You see, like I mentioned previously, Nik's blood healed my wounds. It was a complete accident that I came to ingest it. I foolishly believed that that alone made me a vampire just like him, and well... it landed me on the other end of a sword. The pointy one, if we're being specific. And so I died, for a little while. Talk about trauma— not the wounds themselves, or even the execution, but the humiliation of being judged by one's supposed betters. I will never again stand for such judgment. Though, for you, I will gladly declare my innocence. In fact, I can prove it."
"Prove it how?" asked Cami, confused.
"Well, if by nothing else, then perhaps logic?" he offered. "Why should I undermine my own safety by leaving behind a trail of dead bodies? I mean, why commit myself to these preposterous murders? Unlike my enemies, I have nothing to gain."
"And which enemies are we referencing here?" inquired Ingrid. "Who would want to frame you for this?"
"Now isn't that the question we should be asking?" replied Luicen. "And how fortunate it's one I can answer."
The door burst open, and suddenly, Klaus was in the room with them. "I'd have thought your time with me would inspire a more careful selection of the company you keep," he said sharply to both Cami and Ingrid. "Get up, we're leaving."
"Wait!" said Cami. "He says he knows who the killer is!"
He scowled. "Whatever Lucien's said to you today has most certainly been a lie."
Lucien scoffed loudly in protest. "Oh, come on, Nik! Why should I lie? If you refuse to believe me then you are just giving Tristan the victory he seeks. He is the guilty one."
"Tristan?" said Ingrid. "As in... Tristan de Martel?"
"Precisely," said Lucien.
Klaus's lip twitched. "I'm going to need a word with Lucien... in private." He glanced at Ingrid. "Perhaps a Silencing Spell?"
"Oh, no," said Ingrid. "You're not going to ask me to leave, then ask me to cast a Silencing Spell. I'm staying here."
"Yes, please, Nik, don't overwork her," said Lucien. "She's fragile enough as it is." He gestured to the bracelets. "Did you really think that would make me believe all is well with you? Come on, love, I wouldn't harm you. Especially not knowing the delicate state you're in. Everyone knows it."
Ingrid remained rooted to the spot, despite Cami and Vincent exiting the room. "And who's everyone? Who does that entail?"
"Tristan, of course!" he said.
"Whatever Tristan's role in this charade may be, have no fear, I will discover it," said Klaus viciously. "First, I'm going to drain you of vervain. Then, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and, once you've answered, if I'm feeling sentimental, perhaps I'll grant you a painless death."
"Please, enough posturing," said Lucien, getting to his feet. "Ask me anything you want. As I've said, I am only here to protect you. Let's discuss these absurd murders. If it were true that I was scattering bodies about and scarring up faces, then you would be right to assume I'm mentally unstable. I'm not, by the way. But, who would benefit most from you thinking that I am? Who else but Tristan? Because if you don't trust me— if you kill me and are forced to stand alone— wouldn't that benefit him?"
"It's a very interesting theory," said Klaus, walking around the table until he was standing behind Lucien. "Only... I don't need your protection. I'm quite capable of protecting myself."
"Undoubtedly," said Lucien. "But who looks after your family, hmm? You need me, Nik. I can protect you, you can protect your family, and in turn," he gestured to Ingrid, "they can heal from their own wounds without worry they'll be ripped to shreds. Tristan will be gunning for her, and for Freya, leaving you without a witch on your side. Ingrid, though fierce, cannot defend herself at the present moment. I reiterate— you need me."
The door burst open, and Detective Kinney suddenly entered the room. "What the hell are you doing here?" he said when he saw Klaus.
"I'm Mr. Castle's legal counsel," lied Klaus, walking over to Will to compel him. "Here to ensure justice is served."
"Hmm," said Will. "Well, your client's not gonna need you today. We found another body. This one's fresh." He looked at Lucien grudgingly. "It couldn't have been you. You're free to go, Mr. Castle. Don't leave town."
Cami and Vincent appeared behind Will as Lucien got up, looking smug as he spread his arms. "And, like a phoenix, I rise." He started to head to the door. "Do think about what I said, Nik."
Klaus and Ingrid waited outside while Cami and Vincent finished speaking to Will about the case. Lucien was still inside, apparently waiting for his chauffeur to arrive.
"He is such an ass," said Ingrid coldly. "I just don't believe him. But I also don't think we should ignore his warning about Tristan."
They straightened up as Cami emerged. "For the record," she said, "Vincent thinks you should kill him."
"I would second that, if I wasn't worried about what he said regarding Tristan gunning for me and Freya," said Ingrid. "He has The Strix Coven on standby. I was once someone they feared. Now... I'm like a dog toy to them."
They all watched as Lucien emerged from the station wearing sunglasses, staring up at the sky triumphantly before climbing into the back seat of a black car that came to pick him up.
"Klaus," said Cami, "if he's not lying... if he is telling the truth, if he is here to help you... hear him out, but don't trust him."
"Believe me, I don't," muttered Klaus. He glanced at Ingrid. "Is there no way to get you back to normal, sooner? For your own safety, of course."
"Haha," she said sarcastically. "You mean so that I can help you with spells."
"That might be nice."
"I don't know," she said. "We've tried basically everything and nothing has worked. How are we going to deal with Lucien?"
"Well, he seems to like you."
She narrowed her eyes. "You better not be about to suggest I chat him up."
Klaus shook his head. "Not 'chat him up.' Chat with him, and that's it."
"No," she said firmly. "No, no, no. He may not have hurt me today but he might another day, because he confirmed he knows about my magic not being back yet. It's been half a year and at this point it feels like it'll never come back. I don't like him, I'm not going to be able to pretend I even want to be his friend."
"And if there were a way to give you enough power to stand a chance if you were alone with him and he decided to attack you?"
"You were just questioning me about how I might get back to normal sooner."
"Well," he said, "there was an idea I heard Kol mentioning to Freya. Something about giving you a talisman like the one she has, bearing Finn's soul. That necklace," he gestured to the one she was wearing, that Hayley and Jackson had given her, "they could infuse it with the power of every dark object we have, and it would allow you to do magic like a regular witch. Like Davina, we'll say. It would be sufficient."
"Wow. So you not only ruined what was a potential surprise for me, but you did it because you want an advantage against your old friend. I am not going to let you use me like a wind up toy you send to him when you want him out of your way. I don't want to be made to talk to him in any context."
"Oh, bloody hell, Ingrid," said Klaus irritably, "I am not asking you to sleep with him and I am not asking you to even be kind to him! All you need to be is a distraction, and you distract him enough with the witty comments. At least consider it, for an emergency situation."
He 'wooshed' away, as if to avoid hearing her protests. Cami huffed, and it was clear she looked jealous.
"Great," said Ingrid dryly. "And I imagine if I resist, he'll threaten me some other way."
"If you're going to do this, I'll help you," said Cami.
"Don't be ridiculous, it's even less safe for you to be near him."
"Keep in mind he seems to like both of us. Maybe we can use that to our advantage."
"Oh, sure," said Ingrid sarcastically. "And next thing you know we'll be in some sort of twisted threesome with him."
"I don't even want to think about how that would work."
"It's simple, we'd be the two slices of bread, and you'd be the sandwich filling... simultaneously getting filled up."
Cami turned so red that Ingrid burst out laughing.
"We're still on for Saturday, right?" asked Cami shyly.
"Yes," said Ingrid. "Nothing is going to get in the way of that date. Especially not this annoying little shit named Lucien."
"Um, well, he is a thousand-year-old vampire, so not that little."
"Oh, please. Chronologically I am older than him."
"Really?"
"Yes. I was born a few months after Elijah. Lucien is between Klaus and Kol's age, or at least, he was when he was turned. He's a little boy to me. An annoying gnat I can squash with my foot. If I had my magic... his heart would already be in my hands."
"I'd hold off on that, because he might come in handy."
"I guess it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils, hmm? Tristan or Lucien. Maybe I'll just kill them both and call it a day."
"And how will you manage that?"
"Good question. I'll figure something out."
"As long as it doesn't happen on Saturday."
"Look, unless Irene manages to cause a nuclear catastrophe from the confines of my room, nothing will draw me away from you."
Cami made a face. "Have you met your cat? I wouldn't put it past her to do it just so you can spend time with her."