The Vixen & the Fox II

Chapter 242

They arrived in New Orleans uncertain of where to begin. All trails lead here, to the Big Easy, which was not limiting to the actual location of where they had lost Isaac initially, and recently Cora's own trail having gone ice cold as well. Despite the subtropical climate they had lost their packmates in.

There'd been a massacre in Melle, France, all of the Argents were dead, killed, and Isaac was gone. There had been no physical trace of Isaac, and Cora had been the one to fine this out. Stiles didn't fully get those two's bond, but they always seemed to have a mental track on the other in some capacity or other. And when they had learnt of the Argents and Hunters' deaths and Isaac's disappearance, they had dug into it. Which had led Stiles into a completely different aspect of the supernatural: witches.

Europe was flooded with Covens, and so was the rest of the World, but he was talking organized, community, they networked; it was really weird because all the witches Stiles and the pack had ever dealt with were one offs. But apparently witches were exceptionally organized. But in the inquiries into the deaths of the Argent Hunters, they had learned there were two witches a step ahead of them: one Kol Mikaelson and one Davina Claire. It was the only thing they learned before Cora had disappeared because it was something she had passed to them. Cora had disappeared in Louisiana though, that's where her last ping was, and her last email had mentioned a massive pack, the Crescent Moon Wolves.

There were a few odd links, here and there, Triad Industries having popped up in Beacon Hills, California, Fort Valley, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Mystic Falls, Virginia. And other than New Orleans, which was a major city, none of the other locations made sense, given that Triad Industries didn't seem to be involved in agriculture, or shipping, or real-estate even; it was a private contractors business. It was linked with Kingmaker Land Development Inc., which had international links, particularly in France, it had bases in Melle, Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, and Lille; there were a few other places too in the business' control. It was an international business, having dealings with most of Europe, parts of Africa and Asia, and the US as well as Canada; it seemed not to have ties to South America, Central America, or Australia, which was interesting to Stiles. The two businesses were linked, but they also seemed independent of one another.

The only other prominent link Stiles could find was between Kingmaker Land Development Inc. and the Dread Doctors; but that was flimsy at best, and the finances were well concealed. But the Operating Theatre was owned by Kingmaker Land Development Inc., and there seemed to be an overlap there; so, Stiles had a pin in that idea.

Stiles had then dove into the witches.

He and Lydia had both hard into the first and only real solid lead they had from Cora and that was Kol Mikaelson and Davina Claire.

Kol Mikaelson had the best forgery that Stiles had ever witnessed, seriously, it was so good he'd have thought it real if not knowing how to make excellent forgeries himself. The more he delved into Kol's background the more he found the entire family was peculiar. Their forgeries were so good, they were almost real, but when Stiles actually started delving into the family, the further back he went, the more he found they had to be a supernatural of some sort. What he didn't know, but they were obviously old. Oldest trace of them he found was in the general area of Normandy, France, with the de Martel family, a minor noble family in the early eleventh century.

There were references to the family being from the North, or of the Scandinavian region. But before that Stiles had no traces of the family. There were a few preserved documents written in Younger Futhark found by Lydia from some witches by one Kol, these had been found in a coven's possession near Melle. Further inquiries to Kol were met by the witch community with distrust and hostility, which made Stiles think Kol was important. There were also rumors and unconfirmed whispers about Kol being the wildest Mikaelson, and the most unhinged, and so on but he hadn't found documented proof. However, this changed when Stiles traced Kol's siblings. There were three who prominently stood out.