Hayley rushes into the compound to find Jackson standing over Freya who is lying on the couch with her arm in a sling. "I just got your text, what happened?"
"She got jumped," Jackson explains. "Three vampires, all dressed like yuppies."
"Strix?" Hayley asks.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, Jackson is thrown to the ground by an invisible force. He grunts and picks his head up to see a furious blonde in front of him. "What did you do to my sister?" Lexi demands.
Hayley helps him up and glares at Lexi. "Not his fault! She was jumped, Lexi."
Lexi growls, her eyes burning red. She takes a step forward only to have two dark haired werewolves jump in front of her to stop her. "Calm down, Lex," Cora warns, already in a defensive position.
Lexi lets her eyes fade, her glare still focused on Jackson. "You should know better than to leave this family and expect to be welcomed back into the fold. You left, Jackson Kenner."
"And he's back." Derek reminds her, grabbing her hand gently. "Let's forget about it, ok? Focus on Freya?"
Lexi glances at him before sighing. "Aren't you going to give her your blood, Hayley?" Lexi looks at Hayley, a fierce expression on her face.
Hayley nods hesitantly before sitting next to Freya and offering her a bloody wrist. The witch gladly drinks before sighing deeply. "You alright, sister?" Lexi questions softly. Freya nods in response.
"Kind of hard to ignore it when someone needs your help, huh?" Hayley whispers into Jackson's ear. He makes a face, rolling his eyes.
He opens his mouth to respond, but Freya beats him to it. "They took it. The Serratura," she says, eyes wide with panic. She pulls herself up before explaining, "I was meeting with a witch from the bloodline who built the lock. I was hoping she would help me destroy it, but it's not possible. She said the only way to get rid of it is to use it. We have to get it back and lock something else away. Anything but my family."
Cora groans, "Great. How about we pay Tristan a visit?" Lexi and Derek turn to her, identical looks of discomfort on their faces. "I'll ask nicely?" Cora tries, sending them an innocent smile.
"I'm afraid," Elijah walks into the courtyard, a grave expression on his face. "We have a far more urgent problem."
He looks over to the entrance as Lexi catches a familiar scent, though it seems darker somehow.
A blonde walks into the room, looking pale and tired. Rebekah puts on a smile and says, "Well, to be fair, I am the prettiest urgent problem you have ever seen."
—|—|—|—
Freya stands over the other blondes as Lexi carefully inspects a skull engraving on Rebekah's wrist. The others watch from the sidelines, Derek and Elijah closer than the others.
Rebekah sees the grave look on Lexi's face and sighs in frustration. "Give me the bad news, Doc." She mocks.
Lexi rolls her eyes, "Aya's stake was cursed. It infected you. As this mark grows, you will go mad. Left unchecked..." Lexi trails off, a strange look crossing into her eyes.
Freya mistakes the hesitation for discomfort. "Left unchecked, you will become a relentless, unstoppable ripper," she says bluntly.
"Aya always was thorough," Rebekah mutters.
"The Strix always employ a safeguard," Lexi sighs.
"In the event that we were successful in retrieving your body, you were cursed," Elijah explains, thinking out loud.
"Well, it wouldn't be hard to hunt someone if they were on a rampage." Cora points out.
Elijah turns to his sisters, a desperate look on his face. "Can you fix this?" He questions, looking at the witches.
Freya picks up the stake Elijah brought with him and examines the runes on the end. "Familiar?" She asks, handing it to Lexi.
The wolf takes the stake gingerly, running her finger over the runes. "The spell carved here. We can reverse it." Lexi confirms, nodding her head.
Freya smiles, but something is off. When she turns back to Elijah, her eyes seem unfocused and she looks pale.
"We would...need some time..." Freya says quietly. "And a hell of a lot of magic—"
Freya cuts herself off as her eyes roll into the back of her head. Derek catches her swiftly and lays her on the couch next to Lexi and Rebekah. Rebekah looks panicked as Lexi, Hayley, and Jackson start to examine the fallen Mikaelson.
"She was fine. Hayley healed her." Jackson explains.
Then, something catches Lexi's eye. She softly moves Freya's hair out of the way to reveal a cut.
"It's not healed," she says, glancing up at the others.
"That's not good," Cora whispers, standing next to Elijah.
Lexi cautiously presses her ring finger against the wound and brings her finger into the light to examine the blood. She carefully presses her finger to her tongue before she grabs a bowl and spits up the contents of her stomach.
Derek and Cora grow alarmed but know not to interfere. "This is poison," Lexi states after wiping her mouth. "This wasn't trying to just attack her."
"This was an assassination attempt." Derek realizes gravely. Lexi looks up at him, a hint of awe in her eyes.
"Someone wanted her dead."
—|—|—|—
Freya's eyes slowly open to find a blinding light in her face. She blinks it away before turning towards the voice saying, "She's waking up!"
Lexi turns back to Freya, her blue eyes anxious. Freya doesn't react to the small smile on Lexi's lips, only blinks again. When her eyes open once more, the smile is gone.
Lexi helps Freya into a seated position, asking, "Are you alright?"
"I feel weak," Freya answers, panting. She sees Rebekah and Elijah right behind Lexi while the wolves stay back, watching from a distance.
"Those vampires must have stabbed her with something," Jackson says.
"So, the Strix like slow-acting poisons. Great," Cora mutters sarcastically.
"There has to be an antidote," Lexi says, shooting Cora a look.
"If I can get my hands on it," Elijah adds. He pulls out his phone and walks out of the room as Freya motions to Rebekah.
The vampire cautiously gets down next to Lexi, offering her arm. "For this, I'll need a pure silver knife, some with muskroot..."
"I'll get the knife," Hayley suggests.
"I'll track down the root," Jackson says.
"We'll help you," Cora answers as Derek let his lips turn up in a small, proud smile. She catches it and deadpans, "What? I can't be helpful?"
"This is ridiculous!" Lexi exclaims, standing. "Freya, you can barely hold a feather right now, let alone save the whole bloody world from Rebekah!"
"We'll channel Finn." Comes Freya's response. Lexi stares at her for a moment before scoffing.
She turns to Derek with an offended expression. "Can you tell her she's insane?"
"Um..." Derek opens his mouth but does not answer.
"Lovely." Rebekah rolls her eyes. "My fate rests in the hands of our black sheep of a brother that we have trapped in a necklace."
"I'm sure he just leaping to help us." Lexi hisses.
"Well, he's the only other witch powerful enough to help us. You and I are out of options, sister." Freya's eyes flicker between the two blondes. Lexi clenches her jaw and turns to Rebekah. They share a look before they sigh, submitting to their older sister's plan.
I apologize for the next chapter. And the ones after. Yeah... Hope you enjoyed!