The mausoleum loomed in the darkness, its stone walls weathered by centuries of wind and rain. The name Pickett was carved deep into the entrance, but the dead inside weren't ordinary men. The air carried the scent of damp earth, cold stone, and something else—something older, something tainted by time and magic.
Enzo stepped out of the Mustang. The door creaked as he opened it, and Lucy stirred in the in the trunk, a faint groan escaping her lips. She was coming around. Good. He needed her awake for this next part.
With a quiet sigh, he reached across, gripping her wrist, pressing two fingers against her pulse. Steady but weak. She'd be fine. He had been careful—he always was. But it didn't mean she wouldn't be pissed.
Her lashes fluttered, dark eyes hazy with the remnants of unconsciousness. Then recognition slammed into her like a brick wall.
"You," she rasped.
"Me," Enzo agreed smoothly, tugging the door open. "Up you go, love."
She tried to jerk back, but her limbs were still sluggish from the pressure point strike. He caught her effortlessly, pulling her upright before she could collapse again.
"Where—" Her gaze flickered past him, to the mausoleum, and whatever grogginess remained vanished in an instant. Her breath hitched.
"No," she whispered.
Enzo tightened his grip. "Yes."
She fought him then, sharp and quick despite her weakened state. But Enzo had been prepared for that. His fingers dug into her wrist just enough to send a warning.
"Keep struggling and I'll make this much less pleasant," he said, voice light but edged with steel.
Lucy stilled, fury burning behind her eyes.
"Attagirl," he murmured, then guided her toward the mausoleum.
The air inside was thick with something ancient. Something waiting. The stone walls bore the remnants of old spells, protective enchantments layered over one another, but time had worn them down. Only a few still held. Abby Bennett's magic, the last traces of it, was all that kept what lay beneath from rising.
Enzo didn't believe in fate, but there was a certain poetry in using one Bennett witch to undo the work of another.
Lucy must have felt it too.
"I won't do it," she said, voice low but firm.
Enzo reached into his jacket, pulling out his phone. A single photo sat on the screen—Abby Bennett, head tilted back against the headrest of a car, unconscious. It was timestamped three minutes ago.
Lucy's breath caught. "You're lying."
Enzo slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Sam's got her tucked away nice and safe," he said. "For now."
A pause. A long one.
Then—softly, bitterly— "I should've killed you the second you enter my office."
Enzo's lips curled into a smirk. "Probably."
He turned her wrist over, running his thumb over the delicate veins beneath her skin. "Do the spell, Lucy."
Her jaw clenched. He could see the war raging in her. But in the end, family won out.
Her fingers curled, lips parting as she whispered the words.
The air shifted.
A ripple ran through the mausoleum, deep and quiet, like a breath held for too long finally exhaled. The old magic groaned in protest. The walls trembled. And then—
The seal broke.
Enzo stepped back, releasing Lucy as dust swirled from the crypt beneath them. The stone lid shuddered, then slid open with a slow, grating scrape. The scent of decay flooded the room, sharp and sour beneath the damp.
And then—silence.
Lucy swayed, looking sick, but Enzo had no time for sympathy. He reached into his coat, pulling out a knife.
She saw it too late.
A sharp slice, clean and precise. Blood welled at her wrist, dark and rich. She gasped, trying to jerk away, but Enzo was already moving. He tilted her wrist over the open crypt—
A single drop. Then another.
The moment it touched the body inside, everything changed.
The air crackled. The temperature plummeted. The walls seemed to pulse, as if the mausoleum itself had been waiting for this.
And then—
A sharp inhale. A ragged, inhuman sound.
Mikael's eyes snapped open.
Lucy staggered back, eyes wide with terror. Enzo? He simply watched.
The ancient vampire sat up, slow and deliberate. His skin, pale and sunken, stretched tight over his bones, but there was strength in his movements.
His gaze landed on Enzo.
"You dare wake me," Mikael rasped.
Enzo smirked. "Guilty."
Mikael's nostrils flared. His gaze flickered to Lucy's bleeding wrist. Hunger flared in his eyes—then twisted into something else. Disgust.
"You feed me human blood?" His voice was low, dangerous.
"Consider it an appetizer," Enzo said, pulling out a small glass vial from his pocket. "I've got something else you might like."
Mikael's gaze darkened.
Enzo turned, striding toward a man standing in the corner—a worker, wide-eyed, shaking, kept still only via a cheeky talisman gifted by Sam as a graduation gift for passing his hunter's trials.
Without hesitation, Enzo pulled the stopper from the vial. A single drop of vampire blood glistened at the rim.
Mikael's eyes sharpened.
Enzo met his gaze. Then he tipped the drop onto the worker's tongue and snapped his neck swiftly.
The reaction was immediate.
The worker fell down, body seizing. Veins blackened beneath his skin. His breath turned ragged, then—nothing. Stillness..
Mikael's expression remained unreadable.
And then Enzo stepped forward, crouching beside the body. "Patience," he murmured. "You'll get your vampire blood soon enough."
Right on cue—
The worker gasped. His eyes shot open, black veins crawling beneath the surface. His mouth parted in a silent scream as the change took hold.
Enzo glanced up at Mikael.
"See?" he murmured. " And I brought you a birthday gift."
Mikael's hunger flickered, his control barely holding.
Then, a new sound. A car engine, rolling to a stop outside.
Enzo's lips curled.
"Right on time," he murmured.
The mausoleum door creaked open. Footsteps.
Then—
"Tatia," Mikael said.
Katherine Pierce froze in the doorway, her eyes narrowing as she took in the scene—the open crypt, the worker's body, Enzo standing too comfortably beside it.
"…What the hell did I just walk into?" she muttered.
Enzo smiled.
"Well, love," he said smoothly, "that depends."
His gaze flickered to the figure just behind her.
Sam.