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CHAPTER 58: THE SEVEN

❝ the only place i would rather be right now is by your side. ❞

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WHAT IS A VAMPIRE? The definition given in Webster's International Dictionary is: a reanimated body of a dead person believed to come from the grave and wander about by night with a dangerous craving for blood. Whitney's Century Dictionary says that a vampire is: a kind of spectral body which, according to a superstition existing among the Slavic and other races on the Lower Danube, leaves the grave during the night and maintains a semblance of life by sucking the warm blood of living men and women while they are asleep.

Lucien was a vampire. The worst kind. The kind that lies and steals and cheats. Turns out that he is the face behind Kingmaker Land Development. He is the enemy. He has been from day one. Kidnapping Freya and stealing the white oak only verified that. You see, while they had been busy dealing with the resurrection of Kol and Finn as well as the loss of Klaus and Enola, he was able to sneak right in and steal the last remaining piece of the white oak. All because they didn't see him as a big enough threat. And who would? The guy was an absolute clown.

But Lucien was also the reason Klaus and Enola were in a rundown diner in the middle of nowhere trying to piece together a plan they weren't sure would work. All they knew is that they needed to get Hope to safety while they followed leads. Everyone else had their hands full searching for Freya and trying to figure out what Lucien was up to. Everyone except for one person. Hayley. They had to trust her not to kidnap Hope again. They had to trust her enough to get through this.

"Hope is down for the count. She fell asleep as soon as Hayley started the car. I doubt she will miss either of us over the next few days." Enola hummed, sliding into the booth across from Klaus. He was looking down at the list they had compiled and she was growing impatient. "So which one of these Kingmaker offices should we hit up first? There are ten of them." She paused, looking up when he didn't respond. "What is it?"

"Lucien has revealed his true nature. He has taken Freya." Klaus muttered deep in thought. He felt so useless all the way out here. While everyone was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, he was sitting comfortably in a diner a few hundred miles away."Now it would seem her rescue depends on Elijah working with my ever reliable brother Finn—you remember Finn, right? The dullard I kept in a box for nine hundred years?"

"How could I forget? My friends killed him. Then your mom resurrected him and he became a lunatic witch hell bent on destroying us all. Until he was locked away in Freya's handy dandy pendant until he was recently resurrected with Kol." Enola chuckled. She paused. "You want to go back to New Orleans to help with the hunt." She nodded her head in an understanding manner. "Fine. You should go. I will stick with Kingmaker though. Lucien is working very hard to cover up these wolf kidnappings and I want to know why."

Klaus stared at Enola with a slight frown. He had made her a promise to be more attentive. To make decisions as partners. Because that is what they were. Partners. He could not bring himself to leave her alone. She was his heart and soul. She deserved better than to be left to find a lead all on her lonesome. He loved her far too much to allow that to ever happen. So he reached forward and gently grabbed her hands in his.

"No," Klaus declared. "The werewolves, the abduction of Freya, it cannot all be a coincidence. We will let my brothers pursue the obvious path. You and I will pursue this one. As partners. No doubt all roads lead back to the same treacherous bastard."

"Are you sure?" Enola frowned. "Because I can—"

"Litter monster," Klaus smiled softly. "The only place I would rather be right now is by your side."

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Enola and Klaus clambered out of the vehicle with matching frowns. It had been a long day and all they had wanted to do was get back home to their daughter. Maybe drop by the doctor's office on the way to check on their unborn child. They were probably long enough along to know the gender. Unfortunately before they could do that, they had to figure out what Lucien was up to. Nothing good. That is for sure.

"Does he just build these from a freaking kit or something? This is the exact same from the last five offices." Enola noted. "Same structure, same windows—hell, they even have the same plants."

"And inside the same generic abstract art, same compellable receptionist." Klaus finished with a devious grin.

"Are you sure you wouldn't be better off with your brothers?" Enola inquired softly. "I can do the leg work."

"And split up the team now? I have missed your carpool karaoke far too much to do that." Klaus grinned, earning a smile from Enola. "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."

"Let's do this," Enola nodded.

Enola and Klaus strutted into the building that looked identical to the last five. They had to wonder if it was really built from a kit. They couldn't seem to comprehend how every single Kingmaker Land Development building was built the exact same. They immediately spotted the receptionist behind the desk near the entrance. The name tag said Miranda.

"Hello, love. My wife and I are here for a spot of search and potentially destroy." Klaus grinned cheekily, eyes dilating in an attempt to compel Miranda. "Do tell, where are the areas off limits to general staff?"

"You just wait right here and I will have someone out here to help you with your inquiry," Miranda smiled politely.

But instead of making this easy for Enola and Klaus, Miranda just had to press the security button under the desk. Red lights immediately began to flash overhead as a rather loud alarm began to blare throughout the office building. They rolled their eyes at the dramatics when armed men appeared, surrounding them from all sides. They didn't look at all surprised by this display of theatrics.

"Shall we?" Enola hummed.

"After you," Klaus grinned. "Mrs. Mikaelson."

"You know, I realize we never went on a honeymoon." Enola frowned.

"We still have time," Klaus said. "We are immortal, after all."

It only took Enola and Klaus a few minutes to handle the enemy. The alarm was still blaring and flashing red by the time they had finished. That did nothing to deter them as they made their way down the hallway on the right in search of any clues that just might tell them what the hell was going on here. It was then that a stubby old man with a name tag that read: DARRYL exited a room on the left side of the corridor. He paused at the sight of them, before turning to run.

Klaus killed Darryl with ease as Enola stole the key card to the room. She swiped it across the access pad, prompting it to emit a high pitched beeping noise as it flashed green. They shared a look before swinging the door open and storming into the room as if ready to go to war. Upon entrance, they both immediately took note of the unconscious people chained down the medical table like lab rats.

"They are all wolves," Enola noted. She slowly began to step around the room before stopping in front of one of the men. She reached out in an attempt to shake him awake but before she could even get close he gasped to life. "Oh my god. They are still alive."

Enola looked back at Klaus. He was busy examining a young girl chained to a table on the other side of the room. He looked to be deep in thought. But he was snapped out of it when he felt the burning gaze of his wife in the back of his head. He turned around to face her with wide eyes, motioning to the girl he was just intently staring at.

"She is a vampire," Klaus informed. "What the bloody hell is Lucien up to?"

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Enola and Klaus decided to divide and conquer. While she went around making sure everyone was okay, he searched the room top to bottom in an attempt to find any clues that would tell them what Lucien was up to. The werewolves seemed to be skittish and jumpy. Not that they could blame them. They had been here for god knows how long acting as science experiments.

"No vampire blood," An older man pleaded as Enola neared.

"The others drank. It is okay." Enola promised. The poor man hesitated before latching onto her outstretched arm. She watched him carefully before speaking again. "I didn't get your name."

"Colson," He answered quietly, pulling away. "My name is Colson."

"It's nice to meet you, Colson." Enola smiled softly. "I am Enola."

"He needed their venom." Klaus informed, opening a cabinet on the other side of the room. "Lucien has a cure for werewolf bites." He pulls a vial out of the cabinet with a deep frown. "He harvested the venom he needed then reverse engineered a vaccine. Clever stuff."

"And her? The dead vampire?" Enola inquired, glancing over in the direction of the poor girl.

"It was the wolf venom that killed her. Just Lucien testing his cure." Klaus sighed.

"Why does he need to test out something he knows already works?" Enola frowned.

Enola and Klaus were interrupted by the incessant buzzing of a cell phone. She waited patiently for him to pull the device out of his back pocket. He paused before showing her the caller i.d. It was Elijah. She nodded in understanding, allowing him to step away to take the call in private. She turned back to Colson with a reassuring look before speaking out.

"Go outside and tell the others to keep their eyes peeled for trouble," Enola said. "As soon as this place burns, I will take you back to the Crescents."

"I'm not from there. One was, but he died last week. We're from the seven packs." Colson explained. "Deep Water, Malraux, BasRoq, Barry, Poldark. I'm a Paxon."

"They had to look long and hard to find all of you," Enola breathed.

"They wanted our venom," Colson continued, motioning to the dead vampire. "They kept pumping it into her. Over and over again. Then they would heal her with some drug. Except the last time. They shot her up with something so powerful there was no saving her."

"Go," Enola whispered solemnly. "I'm going to burn this hellhole to the ground."

Enola watched as Colson left before Klaus ended the call. She waited for him to take her side with bated breath. It had been a long day. She was hoping to hear good news. Hopefully everything else had worked out the way they thought it would. But judging by the worried crease in his brow, something definitely went wrong.

"Freya is safe," Klaus reassured.

"And the others?" Enola asked hesitantly.

"Finn is in a bad way. Some kind of werewolf bite." Klaus shrugged. "Elijah thinks I should return home and heal him, ease the pain."

"Yeah," Enola cleared her throat. "Pull the car around. I will torch this place."

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Finn Mikaelson was dead. Again. Lucien had kidnapped Freya and Vincent. He forced them to help him create some sort of substance that he drank. His heart was torn from his chest when back up had arrived to save the hostages. What none of them were expecting was for him to rise from the dead as a different kind of monster. He bit Finn before disappearing into the night with a whole other vile of this mystery concoction that turned him into whatever he is.

Enola and Hayley stood in the study with Klaus and Elijah. Kol had left a while ago to meet Davina as Freya layed limp on the couch. None of them knew exactly what to do to cheer her up. While none of them were particularly torn up about the death of Finn, they knew it had hit her quite hard. She had always been the closest to him because they knew each other before she was dragged away kicking and screaming. She loved him more than life itself.

"Lucien did all of this to become like his maker and yet my bite cannot kill an Original," Klaus muttered in thought. His face was one of utter perplexity as he attempted to wrap his head around all of the events that had transpired today. "What are we up against here?"

"I truly do not know," Elijah confessed solemnly.

"I might," Enola said, turning to face Klaus with a deep frown. "Nik and I found the R&D lab where Lucien kept werewolf slaves. He is harvesting venom but not to find a cure. I think he is trying to create a more lethal strain."

"That must be what he added to the spell to make him whatever the hell he is now," Freya sniffled. She was trying her best to stay strong, but the thought of her dear brother dying is still engraved in the back of her mind. She was going to destroy Lucien. "He kept boasting about having something that would make him better than an Original."

"Klaus is descended from one of the seven original werewolf bloodlines, I am descended from another. The venom that Lucien has made? It is derived from all seven packs." Enola continued.

"Giving him a bite that not even Niklaus can cure," Elijah realized.

"There were two vials of serum and he only drank one," Freya sat up as the panic began to set in.

"Maybe it is because the spell will wear off eventually and he will need another dose," Hayley spoke up hopefully.

"Or he plans on giving it to someone else," Enola spoke lowly.

"Aurora,"

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AUTHORS NOTE.
i never really cared for lucien. he just never stuck out to me. aside from his sense of humor. until next time, my loves!!!