Fuck.

"It's Norse, I'm telling you." Sam sat at the table in the library, books spread out around him. I paced, silently thanking whatever deity was out there that my healing was returning, not quite as fast but it got me on my feet.

"Don't do that." I groaned, cuddling Bennett close as I paced. "Because if it's Norse, then there's only one person that could've done it, and I'll have to deal with that bastard."

Even if I refused, I knew it was true.

Fucking Klaus and his fucking ways.

He cursed my kid somehow, cursed me.

"I need to see Damon."

"You're still recovering from childbirth." Sam set his book down. "Just take a minute."

"Tell me to sit down again and I'll stab you." Bennett liked walking around, liked the way I could rock him.

"You threaten people when you're tired and hurt-"

"And I'm also an immortal hybrid with a healing factor. I'm fine."

"I thought that wasn't working so well." Dean looked up from his laptop screen.

"It's slow, but still faster than a standard human. I'm used to wounds knitting together within minutes, not hours." I waved it off. "That's not the point, now I've got to find the very man I'm running from to make sure he didn't hurt Bennett."

"Okay, say you do find-" Dean cleared his throat. "Klaus, what's the plan? You're going to get trapped again, and what happens to Bennett?"

"I wouldn't take him with me, I'd be much faster on my own. He'd be okay for a few days without me, I have formula. I just need to make sure this isn't going to hinder him. Like why is there a line on his that isn't on mine." Okay, so maybe I hadn't thought it all the way through. "Bennett deserves to have a chance to live without the shadow of his father looming over him."

The boys exchanged a glance. "Just give me the damn baby so you're ready in case he rushes you." Dean held out his arms.

I couldn't help but hesitate. I hadn't stopped holding him since Sam laid him on my chest, even when we bathed and dressed him. Only hours old, I didn't want to put him down. I knew he was right though, Damon was near unpredictable at this point.

So instead, I walked over to Dean and pressed a kiss to my newborn's head. He stirred during the transfer, but soon settled down against Dean's chest, cuddling into him.

"Mav, he's gonna be okay." Sam assured, moving to the seat next to his brother's.

It was kind of adorable, how entranced they were with such a small human.

"Fine, I'll go deal with the bloodthirsty vampire. You know, if you guys had just let him go, we wouldn't have to worry about this."

"You're the one that wanted to keep him alive. We let the wolf go. That was our compromise." Dean's eyes narrowed at me.

"And it's not that I'm not grateful for that, I just think it's time for him to go home, he's got his own people to protect."

"Not gonna happen."

"Whatever, you guys are the ones who have to keep procuring blood for said pet vampire."

Sam tongue ran over his bottom lip. "How do you get your blood?"

"What do you mean?" I knew they were itching to ask about my hybrid nature, but this was the first time either had tried to broach the subject.

"Aren't you part blood sucker?"

"Yes, but I don't need blood in the way regular vampires do. I mostly need it after a nasty injury."

"That doesn't answer my question. How do you get it."

"I hunt some poor human down and drain them." I deadpanned, crossing my arms. "What do you think I do? I steal from the local blood bank and wipe their memories."

Sam's brow furrowed. "You can wipe memories?"

"Little known vampire ability. Took me a while to get the hang of it-"

"Have you ever done it to us?" Dean didn't look at me, instead he studied Bennett's face.

"No." Yes. "I haven't. I've had the two of you on vervain for months."

"Isn't vervain what hurts vampires?" Sam asked.

"Stings like a bitch when I'm handling it, but it keeps you two safe from vampires trying to compel you. It works best when you ingest it, because they can't rip it off you."

"How many hybrids are out there?" Of course Dean would be the one to worry about that.

"Just me, Tyler, and Klaus. He kind of slaughtered the rest when we broke what's called a sire bond, which was a whole other thing, and I survived by the skin of my teeth, I have no idea how Tyler did it."

"Sire bond?"

"Well." Dean scoffed humorlessly. "Aren't we learning all sorts of new things."

I needed to play this carefully. I wanted Bennett out of Dean's arms, but if I tried to take him, Dean would know I didn't fully trust him, not in this moment, and he would take it the wrong way.

We were teetering on the precipice of trust and actively trying to kill me, and I still wanted them to be my friends.

"The sire bond practically enslaved us all to Klaus. It wasn't that we had to do what he said, it's that we wanted to please him, thank him for taking away the full moon's curse. We didn't have to turn every month if we didn't want to, because trust me, it's not a fun experience, but it came at a cost, so Tyler led the charge, quietly taught us all how to break it. I don't know how Klaus found out, but he did and he went on a rampage." A shiver ran down my back at the memory. "Trust me, Klaus is scary on a good day, when he's pissed? It's fucking terrifying."

"You want to face him?"

"Fuck no. I have a feeling this is in a witch's grimoire, the kind of grimoire that's as old as they are. I need to know where Klaus is, because where he is, his family's stuff is. And I think that if this whole thing is his fault, then he's gonna want to keep it close by."

"How are you going to get this grimoire?" Sam settled against the back of his chair.

"I'm sneaky."