---
The Noble Blood
"Family," Finn announced in a calm yet commanding tone, "this is Sage. From now on, she is my wife."
Sage lowered her head humbly. "My lord… I don't deserve such an honor…"
Rebekah's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "Who the hell is she? And why did you get married without telling us?"
Klaus frowned deeply. "Brother, how can you bring a stranger into our family?"
Kol folded his arms, his expression hard. "No. She doesn't have our approval."
Elijah sighed and shook his head. "There's no way we can accept a stranger into the Mikaelson family. I'm sorry, brother."
The room filled with tension. Every eye turned toward Sage — unwelcome, unaccepted, and utterly alone.
But beneath their anger lay something else — not hatred, but jealousy. Not the jealousy of lovers, but of children afraid of losing a father.
Over the centuries, Rebekah, Klaus, and Kol had come to see Finn as the father Mikael could never be. Mikael had been a monster to them all — save perhaps to Freya, the only one who might have known his gentler side.
Rebekah had been Finn's little girl, spoiled and adored. To her, he was the perfect father figure.
Klaus, never having known a father's love, sought pride in Finn's eyes more than in anyone else's.
Elijah and Kol, however, simply didn't want a stranger intruding — especially Elijah, who had been denied his own love. Why should Finn be allowed his?
"Enough," Finn's voice finally thundered. "She is my wife — whether you accept it or not. I won't allow oppression against her, nor from her toward you. Understood?"
He looked at each of them in turn. The sharpness of his gaze silenced the room, and even Sage froze where she stood. No one dared to speak again.
Elijah made one last attempt to challenge his brother's authority, but Finn's will was unshakable.
---
Years passed. Finn waited until Sage reached twenty before elevating her to nobility. They married in a quiet ceremony beneath northern stars, following the old Norse rites.
Sage's powers soon awakened — the ability to command shadows themselves. Dark shapes answered her call, bending and curling to her will. But unlike the Originals, she had no dominion over the sub-elements of darkness; her control stopped at the edge of shadow.
Finn theorized that all vampires created after their generation were limited — confined to only one branch of the primordial power. Sage also possessed ghostly abilities, though weaker than those of her husband. Still, she was immortal. A stake could only put her to sleep; even decapitation would not kill her — her body would simply regenerate within minutes.
To test this, Finn turned a criminal into a noble. When he ripped out the man's heart, the creature died for good. Later, out of boredom, they transformed an ordinary vampire, teaching him the noble's rites. But when his head was severed, he perished completely. His regeneration was slow and weak.
Finn observed coldly. "Nobles born after the first generation are easier to kill."
Rebekah crossed her arms. "So only the ones we turned directly are truly powerful."
Kol nodded. "Then we should form a council — to decide who deserves to be turned."
Finn agreed. "We can't allow an army of immortals to rise against us."
Rebekah smirked faintly. "Though someone was turned without our permission."
Her eyes flicked toward Sage, who shrank behind Finn. Rebekah didn't hate her — hate was too strong a word. But she resented her. Sage had taken the man she called father.
"Rebekah…" Finn's warning tone echoed. She turned away, stifling her irritation.
Elijah broke the silence. "An immortal army could be useful."
Klaus smiled darkly. "I agree. With an army, we'd be unstoppable."
Kol rolled his eyes. "Until we anger them. I say only chosen ones become nobles."
Finn nodded. "Agreed."
The siblings raised their hands one by one — a family council born from both pride and fear.
"I propose," Finn continued, "that each of our lineages may have twenty-seven direct nobles."
"Why twenty-seven?" Kol asked.
"A royal number for each lineage," Finn said. "It will keep order among vampires and keep threats away."
Elijah leaned forward. "A nobility for each king."
"Exactly," Finn replied. "When our twenty-seven are made, we may only turn another noble once one dies."
Klaus frowned. "Why not thirty?"
"Because a broken number seems like a limitation," Finn explained. "Let the world believe we can make only twenty-seven — should they ever rise against us."
Rebekah smiled. "A clever deception."
Finn's lips curved. "Exactly. Sage shall be the second noble — my queen."
He lied. He had already created four nobles in secret, all posing as him. Sage's eyes narrowed, suspicion flaring behind her calm expression.
"Second noble?" Rebekah arched a brow. "Didn't you say you accidentally turned a werewolf's victim once? Where is she?"
Finn smiled faintly. "Hiding from Mikael."
The siblings fell silent. Mikael's name was enough to chill any room. Elijah's eyes gleamed — he had done the same once but kept quiet, unwilling to draw Klaus's wrath.
Time passed again. The family's resentment toward Sage faded. And then… the world discovered vampires.
---
In a crowded village square, a man's voice boomed, "Look, my friends! These demons walk among us — monsters of the night! I call them vampires!"
He ripped a cloak off a bound woman, and sunlight struck her skin. Flames erupted. Her screams tore through the air.
"Behold!" the man shouted. "These monsters must be destroyed!"
From the shadows, the Mikaelsons watched.
Finn sighed. "A pathetic display — torturing peasants for a show."
Kol sneered. "Fools. They could never catch a noble. They fight shadows with sticks."
Sage clenched her fists. "Barbarians. Shall we kill them?"
Her fury was different — personal. The sun could still wound her; she wouldn't die like a common vampire, but she would burn endlessly until dusk. The pain was enough to make her rage.
She was ready to strike, but Finn caught her hand gently and shook his head. She obeyed.
Rebekah, watching the man who led the crowd, tilted her head. "Let me handle this," she whispered. "I'll make him talk."
And she did.
Days later, the man who had condemned vampires was at her side, utterly captivated. Rebekah's charm was a weapon — subtle and lethal.
From afar, Finn watched every moment, his cold gaze warning the man that if he touched her in the wrong way, death would be a mercy. The man understood.
---
Months later, the hunter — Alexander — came to dine at the Mikaelson cabin.
"So," Finn said dryly, "you're courting my daughter? I'd like to say it's a pleasure to meet you, but it isn't. I am Finn Mikaelson — and you are not welcome here."
"Father!" Rebekah protested. "I don't mock your wife!"
Her glare fell on Sage, who lowered her eyes.
Alexander forced a polite smile. "Good evening, sir. You seem rather young to have so many children. They don't look like your wife's."
Finn's voice was calm, practiced. "My first wife died in the plague. She gave me my beloved children." He placed a hand on Klaus's shoulder, then on Kol's, before meeting Rebekah's eyes. "And you're trying to take one away from me."
"Father, please—"
Alexander frowned. "Strange. A father who isn't glad to give his daughter's hand."
Finn's gaze sharpened. "My daughter is no object of trade. You're alive only because she likes you."
Alexander's jaw tightened. "Was that a threat, sir?"
"No, boy," Finn said coldly. "A promise."
The room chilled. His aura didn't flare, but they all felt it — the sheer weight of death in his tone.
Alexander swallowed hard. "You can rest assured — I'll never harm her."
"For your sake," Finn replied, "see that you don't. Now tell me… what are those creatures you hunt?"
"Vampires," Alexander said. "Demons in human form."
"And how do you kill them?"
"With sunlight and a stake through the heart."
Finn smiled faintly. "Then they aren't much of a threat."
Alexander leaned forward. "The common ones, no. But there are nobles — greater vampires, immortal and far stronger. They are our true enemies."
At those words, the Mikaelsons exchanged a brief, dangerous glance. Alexander noticed — and his heart raced. He had found them. The nobles. A whole family of them.
---
Days later, Rebekah lay beside Alexander, smiling softly.
"It's late," she whispered. "Father will be furious if I don't return."
"Stay," he said, brushing her hair from her face. "I can tell you more about the noble vampires."
"Really? What makes them different?"
"There are two kinds," he said. "Lesser and greater. The lesser still burn in the sun and can die by decapitation. But the greater… they are truly immortal. Even beheading cannot kill them."
Her eyes narrowed. "And you've seen one?"
"I have," Alexander said grimly. "She had two nobles beside her. We cut off their heads — killed them both. But her… even headless, she rose again. She slaughtered us all like children."
He shivered, remembering. "Everything around her withered — even the air. She claimed to be a superior noble. The Queen of Vampires. The first and oldest of them all."
Rebekah stared into his eyes. She saw recognition dawning — and knew he suspected her truth.
"I see," she murmured. "What was her name?"
"She never told me," he said. "But I have a weapon that can destroy them — all of them."
He reached for a dagger beside the bed. "White oak in the blade," he said proudly. "It can at least incapacitate a noble."
Rebekah tilted her head. "A dangerous weapon indeed."
She barely finished the sentence before he drove the dagger into her heart.
The pain was instant — searing, cold, treacherous. Her eyes widened, her heart slowed… then she looked at him. Her hand closed around the dagger and pulled it free.
Alexander stumbled back, trembling. "How… why didn't you die?!"
Rebekah rose, eyes black with fury. "You have a weapon to kill nobles. But I am not a noble, Alexander. I am royalty."
Her voice turned monstrous. In a blur she was before him, her fingers brushing his arm. Flesh and bone exploded into dust.
"Pity," she whispered. "I truly loved you."
Blood tears streamed down her face as she touched him again — another limb vanished.
"I wanted to marry you," she said softly. "I wanted you to be my Sage."
Alexander screamed, crawling backward, broken and terrified.
"But you betrayed me," Rebekah hissed. "You made me lose the trust of the only man I could ever call father."
She touched his leg — it vanished too. Alexander sobbed, shaking and bleeding, the smell of fear filling the room.
Rebekah raised her hand; air swirled around her fist, compressing into an invisible force. As she prepared to strike, another hand caught her wrist.
"Enough," Finn's voice commanded. "I'll deal with this. Go."
"But, Father—"
"Go."
Her shoulders fell. "Yes, Father."
She left, tears running down her face — not for Alexander's betrayal, but for the disappointment in Finn's tone.
Finn looked down at the mutilated hunter. "I told you," he said softly, "that if you hurt my daughter, you'd suffer a fate worse than death."
Alexander tried to bite through his tongue, but shadows rose from the floor — Sage's hands.
"You will not kill yourself," she said coldly. "My husband isn't finished with you."
Finn's expression was calm — terrifyingly so. "Pathetic, isn't it?" he murmured. "To be kept alive by the very noble you sought to destroy."
And in that moment, Alexander understood: nobles served vampires greater than themselves. There existed yet another class beyond them — beings even more powerful than legend dared whisper.
And he… had just found them.