CULLEN SIGHS AS she looks over the city from her balcony. She didn't know whether to enjoy quiet moments like this or to hate them. On one hand it was nice to relax for a minute and take a breath, on the other hand if she was left alone with her thoughts for too long she began thinking about Hope. A sudden scream pulls her out of her thoughts all together though as she turns, walking back into the compound.
"Oh." Cullen drawls, entering Klaus' bedroom only to see him covered in blood. "So, I see your interrogation went well?"
"Eh, it turns out these witches are delicate creatures." Klaus exclaims. "No matter. I suspected my mother had Elijah captive."
"Great." Cullen nods. "Let's go find them."
Klaus shakes his head, moving towards the doorway between him and Cullen. "Esther is too powerful. She won't be easily found. I need to draw her out."
"Wait, where are you going?" Cullen stops him as he begins to close the door between them.
"I'm going to change my shirt." Klaus responds. "Would you like to watch?" Cullen scoffs, rolling her eyes as she shakes her head. Klaus smiles before becoming serious. "I'm going to find my brother."
"Let me come with you." Cullen exclaims.
Klaus moves forward, trying to make his point. "I know you want to help, Cullen, but my mother is wretched. She will target you in order to thwart me, and I can't very well save Elijah if I'm busy saving you, can I?" With that Klaus closes the door between them leaving Cullen to find her own way to help.
Making her way to her room she's stopped by Hayley. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Cullen questions.
"I'm here to ask you if you want to help with a rescue mission." Hayley tells her.
"Are we going after Elijah?" Cullen's eyebrows furrow.
"Nope. I'm talking about Oliver. Now, he and Elijah were fighting the werewolves together when they disappeared. I've heard that Oliver's been captured and is about to be executed. Now, look-- if we can save Oliver, then we might be able to find out where Elijah is." Hayley explains.
"Okay." Cullen nods. "What do you need from me?"
"I need you to find an Alpha." Hayley states. "I can take care of Finn, he's the one controlling the wolves and maybe I can talk to some of them, get them to see that they're on the wrong side."
"Got it." Cullen responds. "Where should I go first?"
"The Bayou."
-
If Cullen had to explain her ideal day it definitely wouldn't be this. While she was happy to help Hayley, she was not happy to trek around the humid Bayou. Nonetheless she did as Hayley instructed, beginning to search for the Alpha the free wolves had been following.
Cullen is quiet as she steps into a clearing, freezing when she hears the subtle sound of an arrow being drawn back. Using her vampire speed she spins around, grabbing ahold of the arrows before they can hit her. "Is that your best shot?" Cullen calls, throwing the arrows to the ground. "You'll have to do a lot better than that if you're going to kill a heretic."
The man who shot the arrows comes out from behind a tree, knife in hand. Cullen stands her ground, ready to fight is she needed to. "Stop." A familiar voice suddenly calls, holding the man in his path.
"Jackson?" Cullen questions, turning to face the man she hadn't seen in a while.
"Cullen." Jackson greets. "I see you met my friend Ansel."
"You know her?" The man, Ansel, questions.
"Yeah, actually. I do." Jackson responds. "She's a friend of a friend."
With everyone now introduced Jackson leads Cullen to the place where he had been staying. "What happened?" Cullen questions as they take a seat around a fire. "Why are you out here?"
"After Francesca Guerrera took over the wolves, she offered me a moonlight ring as long as I'd call her Alpha. I declined." Jackson explains. "So, a couple of her brothers dragged me out here and left me for dead. By the time I healed up, word had spread about what happened to you, and to your baby." At the mention of Hope, Cullen looks away, not wanting to think about her absence. "So, I knew it was over, and I just drifted. And that's when I met Ansel. See, he's been teaching me the old ways, the traditions. What it means to be a wolf."
Cullen laughs slightly, glancing between Jackson and Ansel. "You mean by living out in the ass-end of nowhere?"
"Hey, easy. Your kind makes him ornery." Jackson cuts her off.
"My kind?" Cullen arches an eyebrow. "Jackson, whatever you and your friend think of me, my kind is the witches, at least the ones that aren't insane. Hayley sent me out here. She knows that the wolves need an Alpha. Oliver was taken. He needs one, too."
"Yeah, I heard about that." Jackson mutters. "The thing is, Oliver betrayed me. He plotted with the Guerreras. He spilled his own people's blood."
"He was trying to make up for that." Cullen interrupts.
"It doesn't matter." Jackson snaps. "Witches have him-- he's dead. Not that I care."
"You don't want to be the Alpha? Fine." Cullen stands up. "Hayley and I will save Oliver ourselves." As Cullen is about to walk away she's blocked by Ansel. "You got a problem, old man?"
"I have no love of vampires." Ansel tells her. "But I will not allow a wolf to be killed by witches."
Cullen sighs, looking towards Jackson as Ansel walks away. "Which one does he hate more? Witches or vampires?"
-
After calling Hayley to inform her about Jackson, Cullen and Ansel met her at the cemetery where he was being Oliver was being kept. "Ollie. Ollie." Hayley calls as they enter the lycée. "Wake up."
"What are you doing?" Oliver questions, looking between the group before zeroing in on Ansel. "Who the hell is that?"
"We're here to save your ass." Hayley tells him, ignoring his question. "Please tell me you know where Elijah is."
As Oliver shakes his head Ansel speaks up. "They know we're here."
"Sorry." Cullen mutters, reach for Oliver's chains. "No time to be gentle." She pulls him down watching as he falls to the floor.
"Let's go." Hayley crouches down, grabbing ahold of him.
"Just leave me here. Go." Oliver stress, too weak to walk.
"To hell with that." Hayley states. "They want a fight, I'll give them a fight."
"No." Ansel interrupts. "I came with your friend to save one of my own, not watch as you kill scores of them. Take your friend out the back, move as fast as you can. Cullen and I will hold them off here." Hayley turns toward Cullen, a look on her face asking if she could handle it. Cullen nods, telling her to go.
They watch as Hayley guides Oliver out, turning to exit the lycée themselves, watching the hoard of werewolves running towards them. She turns to Ansel, a smirk on her face. "You ready old man?" Ansel doesn't answer, only pulls out his knife and that's enough for Cullen as they jump into action. They take out each wolf one by one until there's only one left. Cullen goes for the kill so she's distracted when Klaus shows up, eyes widening when she turns around to see Ansel holding his knife to Klaus' throat.
Cullen's confusion only furthers when she sees the expression on Klaus' face. She had never seen it before. He looked like a scared little boy being told off by a parent. At that thought Cullen freezes, putting the pieces together. She knew Ansel looked familiar and every since meeting him her magic had been giving off no warning signal. It was like it knew he was family.
"You." Klaus breathes.
"Niklaus?" Ansel questions, knife still raised.
"No, no." Klaus raises his voice, grabbing ahold of Cullen as he backs them away. "You're not real."
"Niklaus." Ansel tries again.
"No." Klaus yells, backing further away. "You're a phantom, conjured by Esther, that's all that you are. Mother! Stop this charade! I know that thing is not real!"
"Look at me, Niklaus." Ansel commands. "I am flesh and blood."
Cullen leans into Klaus as he continues to shake. Placing her mouth next to his ear she whispers. "He is real." Klaus glances down at her with a terrified look on his face, not even believing Cullen.
"I am your flesh and blood, Niklaus." Ansel continues.
"You've been dead a thousand years!" Klaus exclaims, letting go of Cullen to move towards Ansel.
"And through that time, I lingered on the Other Side, watching you let the world fall apart, until I woke, four moons past, in the land of wolves like myself." Ansel explains.
"No." Klaus points at him, refusing to believe anything he was saying. "No. You're just in my head. You're an illusion, meant by my mother to sway me to accept her bargain."
"I do not speak for Esther. I know nothing of her bargains." Ansel cuts him off, moving closer to him. "But you are my son."
Klaus stops him before he can get any closer, backing away so he has a hold on Cullen. "Even if what you say is real, you are nothing to me. For all I care, you can crawl back to hell." With that Klaus speeds them away, far from his father.