"SO, WHICH RESTAURANT'S missing a compelled chef?" Cullen questions as Klaus walks downstairs. After last night things between them were still tense, each one of them wallowing in their own silent pain. The array of breakfast food laid out in the courtyard seemed to be a nice distraction though.
"It's certainly a card I've played in the past, but I had no hand in this..." Klaus claims, coming to join Cullen at the table.
"Well, then, I guess we have Elijah to thank?" Cullen assumes.
"This wasn't my doing." A familiar voice calls, causing Cullen and Klaus to turn towards Elijah as he walks downstairs.
"Then, where did this all come from?" Cullen exclaims, gesturing to the table. Almost as if on cue a silver lid covering a platter on the table begins to rattle, catching all of their attention. Klaus is the first to make a move, slowly reaching for the lid, Cullen lets out a gasp as two crows flutter around before flying into the air. "What the hell was that?"
The crows weren't the only thing under the lid, a small card was sat in the middle of the platter. Klaus grabs ahold of it, glancing towards Elijah. "An invitation from our mother."
"Your mother?" Cullen questions, eyes wide. "She's back."
"It appears so." Elijah drawls. "Along with our father."
"Great." Cullen mutters.
"Yes." Klaus quips. "There is nothing as truly rewarding as a homicidal family reunion."
"You know it's times like these I am really glad I grew up without a mother." Cullen states.
"We have enough enemies here." Klaus ignores Cullen's comment. "And now, the war for our home is to be fought against my own family."
"Your wretched mother and her disciples tried to put a carving knife through our baby's heart. I will happily add to the body count." Cullen exclaims.
Klaus grins at Cullen, the woman matching his thoughts exactly. "You will do no such thing." Elijah interrupts. "Esther's a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits. We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."
"Well, her last invitation was on all her children. I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul." Klaus states.
"Well, then. We have--" Elijah checks his watch. "-- this afternoon to prepare for the worst. Cullen I would like you to do an identification spell, so we can know when our mother eventually jumps into another body."
Cullen nods. "I can do it, but I may need help. I haven't exactly been practicing magic much lately and being a heretic doesn't help. I'm more powerful, but now it's harder to tap into my magic, make a connection with it."
"I will go to Marcel." Elijah announces. "See if he knows of any other witch." With that the trio splits off, each doing their part to prepare for the night to come.
-
"Hey." Cullen calls, entering Klaus' bedroom. "Hayley just called me. She said that Oliver told her that your mother has a partner-in-crime... another witch."
"Building alliances in her quest to destroy us, I imagine." Klaus exclaims.
"Why does she hate you so much, Klaus?" Cullen questions. "She had six kids-- it's not like she doesn't have the maternal gene."
"Seven, actually." Klaus corrects. "And, I think at one time, she loved us very much. One died before I was born."
Cullen sighs. "I didn't know that."
Klaus nods. "Years later, my brother Henrik was killed by the werewolves in our village. The loss of another child pushed my mother over the edge. So, she used her magic to turn us into immortals. I think that's when she loved us the most. But, it was her undoing. It triggered a sequence of events that led to the reveal of her long-held secret. My birth father was the werewolf whose pack killed my little brother. Of course, when Mikael found out, he murdered my real father, and so, my mother lost her lover, too."
"Wow." Cullen mutters, eyebrows raised. "No wonder she's crazy. I'm out of my mind having just given away Hope... I can't imagine if she'd actually died."
"You know, my siblings used to tell each other she didn't hate us-- she hated herself for what we've become. I think they believed that even after she tried to kill us all." Klaus states.
There's a moment of silence before Cullen speaks again. "What did you believe?"
"I don't know." Klaus mutters. "I just knew I wanted her dead."
"Well." Cullen begins, a smirk on her face. "Every good story needs a wicked witch. It'll be all the more satisfying when we melt her."
-
After her conversation with Klaus, Elijah had called her, informing her that a witch named Lenore would be helping her. He told that she lived across the river, near Marcel and that she would be expecting her. With those vague directions she was left with, she had to call Marcel to get the woman's address.
Cullen bids the two Mikaelson brothers goodbye and good luck before she speeds across town, entering Lenore's shop. "Hello." Cullen calls out.
"You must be Cullen, the heretic." A dark skinned woman enters from the backroom.
Cullen nods, walking towards her. "For tonight, the witch."
"Let's get started shall we." Lenore exclaims, gesturing to the backroom. Cullen is hesitant for a moment before she follows the woman. The low lit room holding the ambiance that would be expected for witches. "So." Lenore begins as they start to set up. "What's your business in this? You're not a Mikaelson."
Cullen shrugs. "I sort of am... in spirit."
Lenore stops for a minute, looking over the younger woman. "The witch mother?"
"In the flesh." Cullen quips.
"For what it's worth." Lenore continues. "I'm sorry. No one should ever have to lose a child."
At the mention of her child, Cullen tenses slightly. "No. No one should."
"Are you ready?" Lenore questions once they finish preparing. As Cullen's nod the two woman join hands, beginning to chant. "Aux sa ah ça le vous de le vous l'inspir non do set. Aux sa ah ça le vous de le vous l'inspir non do set. Aux sa ah ça le vous de le vous l'inspir non do set." Cullen can feel the spell working, just as they finish Lenore releases Cullen's hands, grabbing ahold of the table in front of her.
"Are you okay?" Cullen questions, backing up slightly at the woman's odd behavior.
"Yes." Lenore responds in a daze.
"You sure?" Cullen questions, she felt fine. There was no reason for Lenore to be acting the way she was.
"Just getting my bearings." Lenore tells her. Before Cullen can question her further she stops, noticing the brand on the back of Lenore's hand.
"The mark." Cullen mutters, eyes wide. "It's you, isn't it? Esther." Cullen's phone interrupts them as it begins to ring. She tries to subtly reach for it, but it was obvious.
"Go ahead." Esther drawls. "You can answer it."
Picking her phone up, Cullen speaks quickly. "Klaus. I'm at Lenore's shop-"
"That'll be enough." Lenore interrupts, using her magic to cut off the call between her son and Cullen.
Cullen glares at the older witch. "They're gonna come for me."
"My darling. That's been the idea all along." After a short moment of silence between the woman Lenore speaks up. "It's so lovely to finally meet you. Tell me, do my sons ever acknowledge the good you bring into their lives? After all, it was you who gave them hope." Cullen is quiet for a moment while she tries to decipher whether or not Lenore meant the feeling or her daughter. "The promise of a child shows us all the possibilities of a future that could be. Children are meant to save us from the worst parts of who we are. A truth that makes my own circumstances all the more tragic, wouldn't you say?"
"I don't pity you, Esther." Cullen states.
"It's a terrible thing, for a mother to fail her child." Lenore continues. "As you well know. But now, I offer you freedom. The gift of a new body. Freedom from being a heretic. You are the most unnatural of us all. I have the ability to return to you all that you have lost, Cullen. To make it so that you could have a family of your own. More children of your own. Wouldn't that be nice?"
Before Cullen can tell her to screw off Klaus and Elijah finally arrive. "I assume I have the misfortune of speaking to my mother?" Klaus questions, glaring at Lenore. Before he can get any closer, Lenore stops him by using her magic. "You hide behind your spells like a coward."
"I did not come here to wage war." Lenore claims.
"Everything you do is an act of war." Elijah speaks up.
"My intent was never to harm." Esther explains. "Only to heal, as I have already healed your brothers Finn and Kol. For you, I will undo everything that has been done, thereby giving you a new life. One without the vampire curse I inflicted upon you. Ask Cullen to share with you my loving proposition."
At the mention of the mother of his child Klaus lunges forward. "You're a fool if you think we'll accept anything that you offer."
"Oh." Lenore laughs. "You are wrong, Niklaus. There will come a time, my darlings, that you will beg for it." And in the blink of an eye she was gone, leaving the three of them to glance between one another, worried looks on their faces.
-
"Besides her offer what did she say?" Elijah interrogates as they enter the compound, stopping in the courtyard.
"I don't know." Cullen sighs. "She rambled a lot. She blamed the two of you for what happened to Hope, to me."
Klaus stops his pacing to glare at Cullen, angry that she would even repeat the nonsense his mother was spewing. "Well, I hope you're not thinking of taking her offer?"
Cullen's taken back at Klaus' accusing tone, it was obvious he was thinking the worst of her. "No, you asshat."
Klaus rolls his yes at Cullen's childish response before turning to his brother. "Our mother, Elijah-- the woman who brought us into the world, made us what we are-- and the whole time, she lied to me. She made me weak."
"You were never weak, Niklaus. You are-- you have always been-- the most fierce of us all. In a thousand years, I have never seen anyone successfully stand against you. Not even our wicked father. Not one of the countless devoted to your destruction. You'll protect our home, even in the face of an adversary such as our mother, because that, brother... that is what you do." Elijahs reassures Klaus.
"You remain ever the wise counsel, brother. The rest of the family could learn something from you." Klaus looks towards Cullen, making it clear that he was referring to her and her latest attitude. Cullen scoffs, rolling her eyes as she walks away, leaving the two brothers to themselves.
Elijah shakes his head as he glances between Cullen's retreating form and Klaus. "You two act like teenagers."
Klaus raises his voice, knowing Cullen can hear him even in her bedroom. "No surprise there. She was a bloody teenager up until a couple months ago."
"Bite me, Klaus." The brothers hear Cullen yell back, earning a small laugh from the both of them. Even in times of sorrow and impending danger, the family of three could find the smallest bit of happiness and because of that they knew hope could be found even in the darkest of times.