Hayley and I enter the Mad Crow Diner in the Appalachian Mountains. Nik is standing at the bar on his phone.
"If you find him, don't hesitate." He says and then he hangs up the phone.
"The twins are asleep. They closed their eyes as soon as Mary started the car." I tell him. "I doubt they'll miss either of us over the next few days."
We had to find someone we trust to watch the twins, so we could deal with our Lucien situation. We have no idea why his company is tracking wolves, but the plan is to find out.
"So which of these Kingmaker offices should we hit up first?" Hayley questions out loud. "There's ten of them." Nik stares between the two of us as we look at the map. When he doesn't answer we look at him and Hayley adds. "What?"
"Lucien has revealed his true nature." Nik states. "He's taken Freya." I scrunch my eyebrows in concern. Annoyance and worry clear on my face. I never liked Lucien, he has been shady since the unfortunate day I met him. "Now it seems her rescue depends on Elijah working with my ever-reliable brother Finn."
"And you want to go back to New Orleans to head up the hunt." I conclude. He sighs. "That's okay. You should go look for your sister. Hayley and I can investigate Kingmaker facilities."
Hayley nods. "Lucien's working very hard to cover up these wolf kidnappings and I wanna know why." We push away from the bar, ready to leave, but Nik grabs my wrist lightly, stopping me.
"No." He denies. "The wolves, Freya's abduction, it can't all be a coincidence. We'll let my brothers pursue the obvious path. The three of us will pursue this one. No doubt all roads lead to the same treacherous bastard." He points at the list of facilities.
"I'd bet on it." I state.
__________________
We pull up to another brick building and get out of the car. We have already checked several and came up empty handed. Now we are in front another location in Lexville, Tennessee.
"Does he just build these from a kit or something?" Hayley questions as we approach the facility that looks identical to the last ones. "They're the exact same for the last five offices. Same windows, same plants."
"And inside same generic abstract art, same compellable receptionist." Nik says.
"Are you sure you don't want to ditch and go help your brothers?" I inquire, knowing that him not helping Freya bothers him. "We can handle this."
"And split up the team now?" He smirks. "Just when I'm discovering that the two of you have car pool karaoke skills? I think not." Hayley and I chuckle with smiles as he teases us. "No, Lucien is playing a game here. Each unassuming little office building we search, the more sure I am of it. We keep going. Together. Even if we have to scour a hundred of these poxy places."
"Just so you know, this new attitude about team worker is making you very attractive." I flirt, smirking at him and he laughs lightly.
"Oh, really?" He asks and I shrug, still smiling.
"Okay, Okay, enough of that." Hayley groans. "I'm not going to be three wheel in your nauseating flirting."
"Would you rather I flirt with you?" I tease.
"No." Hayley and Nik deny in unison. I burst into laughter at their faces. Hayley's in disbelief and Nik's holds slight jealously.
Still amused I walk ahead and into the building. Hayley and Nik trail behind me. We enter and walk down a hallway that has a door and the end. Nik holds the door open for Hayley and I to pass through, before he enters himself. There's a reception desk with a woman sitting behind it and a small waiting area to the left.
"Ah, hello, love." Nik say the the lady as was approach the desk. I scoff and nudge him at the pet name, making him smirk, knowing he did it on purpose. "We're here for a spot of search and potentially destroy." He compels her. "Do tell, where are the areas off limits to general staff?"
The lady smirks and I feel something off from the way she is looking at Nik. "You just wait right here." She leans back in her chair. Her face saying she knows something we don't. "And I'll have someone out here to help you with your inquiry." She bring her hand under the table casually.
The room goes dark and an intense red light flashes. She had pushed the alarm. We are instantly surrounded by men in tactical gear with machine guns. "Freeze. Right there." One of them demands. Another one says "Hold still!" Their guns are aimed at us with red dots. "Let me see your hands, right now!" They order us.
"Here we go." I smirk.
"Shall we?" Hayley inquires.
"Ladies, first." Nik says.
"What a gentleman." I tease.
Hayley and I shift our faces. Extending our fangs and changing our eyes to ember. We growl at the same time. I grab the nasal of the gun closest to me and rip it out of the man's hands. I use the gun and bash him in the head, knocking him unconscious. I reach for another and instantly snap his neck. Gun shot are going off all around us, but not hitting us. A man points his gun at me again and as he pulls the trigger I yank another man in front of me, as a shield. I drop the dead guy to the ground and charge at the one that tried to shoot me. I push the butt of the gun into his face, making him stumble and drop his weapon. I swing my fist hitting him again in the jaw. I grab his head and bash it into my knee. He falls limp to the ground. I look around and see that all the men are either knocked out or dead. Especially the one Nik through through the glass door. We go to a door in the receptionist area, but before we can open it, a small man in a lab coat comes through. The guys sees us and his face turns to terror. Nik grabs the man by his shoulder and swings him around putting his back to his chest. Then, he snaps his neck and fishes out a key card from his lab coat pocket. Nik drops the dead man and chuckles at us, showing Hayley and I the card. He swipes it on the lock and it goes from red to green, granting us access.
We follow the hallway to another door. Nik swipes the card again and we enter the room. About a dozen unconscious people are laying up right in metal entrapments. On each of their faces is some kind of mask that covers their mouths. Hoses are attached to the masks and they run to individual machines for each person.
"They're all wolves." Hayley says in disbelief.
Hayley goes up to one to get a better look. She goes to touch the guy and he jerks awake and growls, making her jump back in shock. On the front of the masks are vials that contain orange liquid. The man is slightly choking.
"They're still alive." I announce.
Nik turns and looks at a clear curtain. I grab it and pull it open. A girl is sitting on a chair, like the chairs you sit in at the dentist. Her face has odd burn marks and her hair is a mess. She looks dead.
"This one's a vampire." Nik informs us. "What the hell is Lucien up to here?"
___________________
We have been taking the masks off the wolves and feeding them blood to heal. Nik goes over to one of the wolves and gently pulls his mask off and hangs it on the guys IV pole. "Help me with this one." Nik says to Hayley and me. We carefully grab the guys upper body and we pull him from the metal entrapment. We help him sit on a chair. He is conscious and holding himself up, but he looks sick and weak. Hayley bites her wrist and offers it to him.
"No vampire blood." He shakes his head.
"It's okay." Hayley reassures. "The others drank. I'm a Hybrid. Go on. Go on." She encourages. He hesitates, before taking her offer.
"He needed their venom." Nik says in realization, looking at a discarded mask. "Lucien's cure for werewolf bites." He opens the fridge and pulls out a vial of blue liquid. "He harvested the venom he needed then reverse engineered a vaccine. Clever stuff."
"I doubt he stopped there." I cross my arms. "There's more. I can feel it."
"And her? The dead vampire?" Hayley inquiries, unsure of a vampire's role in all this.
"It was wolf venom that killed her." Nik explains. "Just Lucien, testing his cure."
"Why does he need to test out something he knows already works?" Hayley asks.
____________________
Hayley and I start freeing the wolves as Nik takes a call from Elijah. We manage to get all of them out of their torture beds and healed. Nik hangs up his phone and looks at us.
"Freya's safe." He tells us.
"What about the others?" Hayley asks before I can.
"Finn's in a bad way. Some kind of werewolf bite." Nik says. "Elijah thinks I should return home and heal him, ease his pain."
"You should." I agree with Elijah.
"You both should." Hayley interjects and I go to object, but she stops me. "As soon as these last few recover, I'll get them home, gather what I can and torch this place."
"No." Nik denies. "Finn can purge it himself, he's earned the agony. Besides, you know how much I love burning things to the ground."
"Klaus, when you said that you wanted to work together as a family for Hope and Bexley's sake, I wanted to see what that looked like, and now I do." Hayley tells him. "I appreciate you helping me and Kelsey rescue the wolves, but if there is any chance of making Finn an ally, you should do it. Go."
"I agree with her." I sigh. "I'm not Finn's biggest fan and I probably never will be. But, we are going to need as much help as we can get. Lucien's up to something and it's not over. Besides, Finn's you brother."
____________________
Nik and I enter the ballroom. After a lot of persuading from Hayley, she convinced me to leave with Nik. She even said she'd get the twins from Mary after she destroys Lucien's torture lab.
As we enter, Kol is arguing with Freya and Elijah is in the middle playing mediator. Finn is withering on the couch, totally oblivious to what is going around him. He is clearly in an insane amount of pain and in a horrible sweat.
"Sibling squabbling. How familiar." Nik says, grabbing everyone's attention. "Although the teams seem to have changed. Someone care to tell me why?"
"Our brother needs us." Elijah states. Finn gasps in agony and pulls at his shirt.
Nik walks over by Finn's head and bites his wrist. He, then, pours his blood down Finn's throat. Finn calms down and gathers his breathing. He looks up at Nik in appreciation. "Thank you, brother."
"How are you feeling?" Freya asks in concern as she kneels next to him.
Finn sighs. "I feel strangely euphoric."
"I've been known to have that effect." Nik smirks teasingly and I chuckle at his ego.
Kol begins to clap sarcastically. "What a precious family moment. Pardon me while I go and gouge out my eyes with a hot poker."
Finn smirks with little energy. "I thank even you, Kol. Your little witch actually came through."
"Well, duh, my sister is brilliant." I state, complimenting her.
"Today." Finn stammers with a smile. "I saw a glimpse of your coveted 'always and forever.' And...." Before he can finish he jolts forward suddenly and vomits over the back of the couch.
"Finn! Finn!" Nik panics and the sibling gather around him in worry. "What's happening?"
"What's happening?!" Finn voices in pure terror. He grunts and thrashes around as his sibling try holding him down.
"What's wrong with him?" Elijah questions.
"His body, it's dying." Freya says with sorrow and confusion as Finn wheezes.
"No, no, it's not possible." Nik denies. "I cured him!"
"Hey, hey, hey. It's gonna be all right, brother." Freya tries to comfort him. "We'll fix this, you'll see. Okay?" She looks up at Elijah. "Get my pendant."
"It won't work." Kol shakes his head. "Davina fused his soul to this body."
"We've got to try." Freya counters. "There's no Other Side, no ancestral well if he dies."
"No." Nik demands at Kol. "Get your bloody girlfriend back here to undo what she's done." He looks down at Finn. "Finn, you will drink from the source until Freya can move you." He goes to bite his wrist again.
"No." Finn says stopping him. "Don't leave me..." Freya keeps a tight grip on his hand.
"Finn." Nik calls place a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, brother, we're here." Elijah tells him putting his hand on his chest. Tears pool my eyes as I watch them. "We are here."
"Hey." Freya breathes out, holding back her own tears. "I'm here, brother. Please... You are not alone." Kol places his hand on Finn's foot. "I am here. I am with you. Okay? I'm with you."
Elijah grips his hand. They all stay holding him, so he knows he isn't alone. His head rolls as he faces the ceiling. Gray veins slowly creep up his neck and to his face. Finn flutters his eye close, as he excepts his fate. Freya begins to sob. Elijah's eyes are ringed red and Kol leaks out a tear. Nik looks down, unable to help him. Finn may have caused them problems and plotted to kill them at one time, but he was their brother and none of them truly wanted him dead. I keep my distance, knowing that this is a family moment and that they need to find comfort in each other.
_______________________
They decided to burn Finn's body and scatter his ashes in the river. I attempted to stay at the Compound, but Nik insisted I go with them. Part of me feels like I'm intruding, however I don't argue with him. Elijah holds Finn's urn as the five of us stand on a bridge. Kol and Freya look out over the water, standing between Elijah and Nik. I grip Nik's hand, hoping to comfort him just a little bit. Elijah takes the lid off the urn and looks at it. He stays silent for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before speaking.
"You fought against what time and circumstance made you." He reaches in and take a fist full of ashes. He releases them into the water. "You're free now." Then he passes the urn to Kol.
"I loathed you for centuries." Kol starts. "Even now it remains unabated. But, I know torment, brother. So I hope you somehow find peace in the abyss." He copies Elijah, taking a fist full of ashes and letting it go into the river, before passing the urn to Freya.
"When you were born, you gave me a gift. You were my first friend. Today you gifted me my life, and my brothers united, even if for a moment." She says, tears cascading down her face and her voice breaking. "I love you." She releases more of his ashes. "Always and forever, brother. Until forever ends."
Nik takes the urn next, letting go of my hand and reaching in collecting ashes in his grip. He swallows the lump in his throat and takes his eyes off the urn, looking out to the river. "Just know that you will be avenged." He lets go of the ashes in his hand.
We stand there looking out in silence. We plan on paying our respects the best we can. Plotting how we are going to take down Lucien in our heads.
____________________
Back at the Compound, we gather in the study. Freya lays on the couch staring into space. I sit in a chair in silence, staring at the lit fireplace.
"Lucien did all of this to become like his maker, and yet my bite cannot kill an Original." Nik says. "What are we up against here, brother?"
"I truly don't know." Elijah shakes his head.
"I might." Hayley says entering the study. I look away from the fire and Freya and I stand, joining the brothers in giving Hayley our full attention. "Kelsey, Klaus, and I found Lucien's R&D lab full of werewolves. He is harvesting venom but not to find a cure. He's trying to create a more lethal strain."
"Well, that must be what he added to the spell to make him whatever the hell he is now." Freya says. "He kept boasting about having something that would make him better than an Original."
"Klaus is descended from one of the seven original wolf bloodlines, Kelsey and I are descended from another." Hayley states. "Lucien's venom? Is deprived from all the seven packs."
"Giving him a bite that not even I can cure..." Nik adds.
"Great. Original on steroids." I spit out.
"There were two vials of serum and he only drank one." Freya tells us. "Maybe it's because the spell will wear off eventually and he'll need another dose."
"Or he made enough for two." Nik counters.
"For someone he's in love with." I groan. "Aurora." Nik and I say in unison.
Elijah and Nik storm down to the basement to confirm what we already know. Lucien freed Aurora and plans to make her the second Mega Original with mental issues.