Chapter 51: French Quarter
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Also, this is a power progression fanfic, so please remember, the chances of Max getting stronger as the story progresses is almost definite.
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[The Bayou of New Orleans]:
[Maxton POV]:
Maxton lay sweaty in a bed of hay that was surprisingly soft. Beside on either side of him, were men—2 to be exact.
To his right was the rugged, manly Jackson Kenner; his clothless form toned and sweaty, littered with patches of hair on his chest, face, legs—Gods, he was divine, a top and his natural alpha cock? 12 long inches that were to die for.
To his left was Oliver—Jackson's second-in-command and beta. He was more muscular than Jackson and much more feral in bed. Supposedly, he was supposed to be Maximus' mate, but Maxton, having an 8/10 Charm factor and all of Max's abilities and libido, wouldn't settle for just Oliver, so he ensured he ensnared Jackson, too.
Both were dominant. Both were animals in bed. Both destroyed Maxton's hole like it owed them money. And both were more than happy to let him drown himself in their masculine scents.
One of the things Maxton achieved first when arriving in the great state of Louisiana was magically have the local wealthy—as well as every wealthy human two states in all directions—donate each at least $25 million to a private account, secure and untraceable. Maxton figured they didn't need the money since it was only a drop in their pool of cash, but, either way, the more wealthy individuals donated $50 million to $150 million—and the final payoff was 445 billion dollars.
The reason? To purchase the entire Bayou of Lafourche Bayou Region, of course; i.e. the entire territory of the Crescent Pack.
The purchase was swift and allowed the wolves full-proof protection against vampires. Also, a safe haven to crash. Since purchasing the bayou, Maxton had accomplished a ton of things.
First, he gave out Moonlight Rings to all 60+ wolves, allowing them access to their human forms with all of their strengths and powers of their wolf forms.
Additionally, only after seducing Jackson and Oliver the first time, ensuring their enthralling, did Maxton give the two serums that gave them the evolved werewolf abilities of Season 2—without need for the Unification Ceremony. But just those two. The others remained restricted to Moonlight Rings. Maximus was very clear on hierarchy.
Maxton also gave them the Bite, allowing them lesser direwolf forms to shift into. It also increased their base strengths significantly. And their stamina—Gods, could they absolutely demolish Maxton for even longer periods now. It was way too good not to appreciate.
Furthermore, Maxton psychically banned them from exiting the Bayou into New Orleans. They won't even have the thought... Well, except Aiden, but only at the right time, from when he meets Josh in canon, of course.
This was to protect them and keep wolf losses to a minimum, even when canon starts. Max wanted the wolves to live—Well, more of them to, anyway. And Maxton figured their numbers only shrunk when they travelled into the vampire-dense populace of the city, so why go into the city at all?
Of course, Maxton also upgraded the Bayou. With the aid of money, werewolf muscle and a little bit of magic, Max was able to make a mini city deep in the Bayou—houses, cabins, stores, electricity, hunting grounds, wrestling rings—and more. Basically, everything a werewolf community could possibly need, all within a jog away.
Maxton even invited other werewolf packs and, as they came, had their alpha submit to Jackson's rule—And, with their submissions, not only did the Crescent Pack grow in number to roughly 230 members, but, thanks to a bit of Maxton's magic and psychic abilities, they answered solely to Jackson—And Maxton; Maximus by proxy, of course.
Now, Maxton gave these wolves the Moonlight Rings, too, but he also placed the mental restriction to stay in the Bayou in their minds, unable to enter the city.
Maxton knew he couldn't keep them here forever. They needed more interactions with people. But he knew letting 230+ werewolves in a city of vampires who hate them wasn't a good idea.
It was right as he was thinking this, both of his men were sleeping. It was as he was attempting to think of a solution that Maximus thought of one for him: In less than 20 minutes, Max had already executed the plan.
[Maximus Bennett POV]:
After imprinting the mark of Verbatim on various trees of the Bayou's 3 million acres under Maxton's territory, Max ensured only the thousands of werewolf souls—bodies, living now, thanks to his control over the Other Side—who died previously was able to interact with and socialize with wolves of the Crescent Pack.
Thousands of ancestral werewolves — and humans who already knew about the supernatural and were willing to mate or even befriend them — from all over the world, a second chance at life and compelled to socialize, interact and, for some, mate with the Crescent Bayou Pack—All wolves were compelled to follow Jackson's commands, forcing seamless submission and multi-pack assimilation to Jackson's pack. Between the newly integrated werewolves, acesstral reborn werewolves and the tolerant humans who were integrated to the pack as well, the population grew astronomically from its original 250 werewolf residents, boosting the city's numbers to a whooping 8,500+ in number, 7,800 happened to be werewolves, the others were just humans.
It was all done in less than 10 minutes and Max vanished even swifter after that, heading into the city.
He had a powerful witch spirit to assimilate, after all, and a theory to test. And the place of said spirit's imprisonment was in the seat of the French Quarter Witches' power…
[Klaus Mikaelson POV]:
Klaus was not happy.
Not only were his plans for the Mystic Falls gang gutted, but he also ended up getting bounced wall to wall by the very witch he was already hesitant to piss off. It was not a fun experience.
After the fiasco, Klaus sent Greta away. He needed time to process everything and go over what exactly went wrong.
He tried sending away Elijah, too, but his brother seemed more determined lately to stay by his side. And, while that isn't necessarily new, it does beg the question: Why?
Nevertheless, Klaus considered the journey to reach that answer to be secondary to the situation he found himself in currently.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Klaus asked Elijah, who seemed taken aback. "Oh, don't act shocked, Elijah. I know of your meet with him a few weeks ago. If anyone can possibly understand that witch, it'd be you. So... I ask, can we trust him?"
Elijah seemed to think on this deeply before giving his answer.
"He's much more powerful than he was before when I met with him. I'm not certain if he was this powerful than he was before when I met with him. I'm not certain if he was this powerful before and I just didn't know or if, somehow, he's gotten much stronger in that short amount of time. But he is powerful."
"I would imagine so, considering he ragdolled me around this room like I was but a doll in the hands of a child," snapped Klaus. "And that was not what I asked. I asked if I needed to worry about him? Can he be trusted to keep his word and follow through with his promise?"
"He... is a strange one," Elijah admitted, slowly. "He claims to see what others don't—And he has proof to back his claims. I don't know if we can trust him, but I do know that unlocking your werewolf side is important to whatever may be his plan. I also know that your current survival is also vital to that plan."
"Oh, I have doubts about that," Klaus muttered, remembering the way he was flung across the room so casually. He began rubbing his sore areas. "He's definitely capable of doing what he claimed. I just hope he intends to actually do it."
"He does, though," a third voice sounded, startling both vampires present as they turned to see Kol Mikaelson, of all people, entering the apartment.
He was dressed in a black shirt, pants and tennis shoes—All modern clothes which told Klaus he'd been out of his casket for a long while, or, at least, long enough to get accustomed to 21st Century apparel.
"Kol...?" Elijah seemed shocked.
"How...? ...how?" Klaus began, also shocked. "You were daggered. I daggered you."
"You did," Kol grinned, his sharp, mischievous grin, clearly enjoying the attention. "Unfortunately for you, I didn't stay that way. I've been active for at least a month by now, brother. Maximus freed me ages ago."
"Maximus..." Klaus' mind raced. "He said he was holding back because his boyfriend were our brother—" Klaus realized. "You and Max?"
"You're always were quick to figure things out, Nik," Kol chuckled, his smirk ever present, even as he took in the mess that was the apartment room—The ruined television, the overturned desk, the upside down bed and the shattered dresser, just to name a bit. "I take it that my mate's grief made your interactions with him... messy."
"That's one way to say it," Klaus muttered to himself.
"Grief?" Elijah questioned.
"Some bastards killed his cousin," Kol explained, casually. "Most are dead. The rest are in hiding. He'll find them eventually, though. He always does."
"And we are to assume you have no influence over his decisions?" Elijah questioned.
"Have you seen how powerful he is, brother?" Kol shot back. "Believe it or not, but I'm a passenger to his decision making in this relationship. For once, I'm the one being led around. It's not that bad of a feeling but I hold no primary control over his actions. I love that man, but I cannot control him. He's unbindable. You'd have better luck controlling a Rebekah."
A silence passed over the trio of brothers as the two of them digested that.
"And are you not here to get revenge?" Klaus tensed up and asked, to which Kol seemed to consider.
"I could. Revenge is a grand idea," Kol said, nodding slowly, before shaking his head. "But no, not today. I came to make sure my mate hadn't killed you two. It would suck to be brotherless all because you two couldn't keep your blasted pipeholes shut. Oh, and I'm also here to brag."
"Brag?" Elijah frowned. "About what, pray tell?"
"This," Kol walked up to a candle, looking at it, he spoke. "Incendia."
Instantly, it lit up, its warm glow illuminating the shock on his brothers' faces. For everyone knew a vampire couldn't have magic while being a bloodsucker. It went against nature.
And yet the Original vampire that was Kol Mikaelson had just performed magic. Clear as day.
"Max is stronger than anyone gives him credit for," Kol said, pride in his eyes. "One of the first things he did after rescuing me was give me my magic back while I'm still a vampire. If he can do that then giving you your werewolf side must be as simple to him as compelling someone is to us."
As if to echo true his words, it was then, at 11 PM, that he felt it—The unlocking and awakening of something primal deep inside himself. It was old and yet oh-so familiar while being a stranger at the same time.
Klaus' werewolf side had just been unlocked.
"Well," Klaus grinned. "I guess I have my work cut out for me. Looks like I will be heading to the Appalachian Mountains. After all, I am a hybrid of my word."
[Maximus Westphall-Bennett POV]:
Max stood at the entrance sign of the city of New Orleans' French Quarter, not yet crossing over into the city.
It was night-time, just past 11 at night. He had just snapped his fingers a moment ago, completely removing Klaus' curse placed on him by Esther herself.
'For something as simple as that, no detailed invocation is necessary,' Max thought privately. 'I even managed to cast the spell without causing a nexus virdei. That took very minimal power for me but, for a normal witch, it would've been an impossible feat. I reckon it was so easy because I assimilated Qetsiyah. Pre-Qetsiyah me could've also undone the curse with a snap, but not without creating a nexus virdei.'
As Maximus pondered this, he looked again at the sign: "Welcome To The French Quarter."
'The witches beyond this point will be annoying...', Max thought. 'Unfortunately, their ancestral well has her—and I need her... So I will be going in.
However, before I do...'
Max purchased a hotel room at the building just outside the French Quarter and meditated.
'I'll need to test a theory.'
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