ᚱᛖᛒᛖᚲᚨᚺ ᛗᛁᚲᚨᛖᛚᛋᛟᚾ

               “Oh, Finn especially. I forgot how much of a threat he was, BORING us to death.” Kol, she could understand, even though her mind revolted against the idea. But Finn? He had always been a judgmental piece of crap but he was not a danger. Of course, Leah had done nothing at all to free their brothers from their fate – but she still hated it. “Maybe if Nik let them leave, as they wanted to, there would be no threat at all.” Away from the family but wasn’t it better than lying daggered in a box?

              Was leaving really such a crime?

              Leah took a shaky breath and slowly sat back down. She did know. She also knew the only reason she had managed to get away the first time around was because she put an ocean between them. “ – what about Elijah? Is he around?” Employing her doe-eyes to try to get their big brother’s protection was the last resort, one very unlikely to work.

“it would have happened sooner or later.” rebekah shrugged. finn’s judgmental nature had been insufferable when they were mere humans. as vampires, all of that had been heightened...especially for niklaus who had his werewolf temper to contest with. “the whole point of sticking together was to protect ourselves from mikael.” safety in numbers and all that. “or have you forgotten that?” 

     “ ah, but the real ticker is that they all seem to think that they have massive importance in the world. “ everyone in the sleepy town of mystic falls did. even the mortals. it was sad that they believed they were the only place around that suffered loss, animal attacks and a town wide eviction notice. clearly none of them picked up a newspaper or did any research outside of the town to see that their little bubble was nothing compared to the horrors that everyone else faced daily. “ hopefully, getting rid of most of their population deflated that little town ego of their’s. “ the heretic shrugged, biting into the corner of his lip as he stood up from the chair to cross over to the other side of the room in search of the blood bags she had promised. “ question is, do you want her dead? “ he retorted over his shoulder, using his newly gained vampire speed to go into the next room to grab the bags, returning seconds later with three of them in tow. “ as long as they aren’t heretics, i don’t care. “ the male shrugged, setting two of the bags down on the table, while taking the other one along with him as he sat back down in his seat. “ you’re too kind. “ kai reached for an empty glass, ripping open the bag with his teeth before pouring the contents inside. “ but really, i don’t understand why you or any of your family gets a bad rap, you aren’t that bad. “ in fact, the mikaelsons were the only family aside from lilian salvatore’s heretics that he could stand, and that was saying a lot cause kai parker really didn’t like anybody.  

              Freya considered it; unfortunately, she could not find a single good argument to counter Rebekah’s claim. “Perhaps you are right.” She sighed. “But even if he does, he will not hurt you – ever again. I will make sure of it.” As deep as her love for her father used to be, Freya’s priorities were straight; and unlike in Finn’s case, she had no delusion there would ever be any sort of reconsideration between them. Nor there should be. “If you required me to take up a job, you should have just said so. Even without a business, I am certain I would find a suitable profession,” she joked back, lightly. “But would you not borrow your sister money without it?”

He couldn’t stop the roll his eyes at her words and the smile that stretched across his lips. Their past had been an entire mess, no doubt about it. He had never been given the chance to take her out anywhere. The closest they’d gotten was the day Mikael came back into town, and that ended miserably. “Please see to it that you do. I’d hate to wreck any other plans you might have.“ A teasing smile played at his lips and he lifted a hand from hers to brush his fingers across her cheek.

“who knew you were such a gentleman?” rebekah teased. it hadn’t taken her long after meeting him to realise that marcel was quite unlike the brutish men that had overrun the city (and the world) at the time. of course, it had been quite a while before she had come to see him as anything more than niklaus’ adopted son. “now, not that i’m picky, but if you intend to take me out might i ask that we steer clear of the theatre.” she was remembering the disaster of what was supposed to be their first official date. “best not to tempt fate.” 

              Leah was aware of that possibility but until Rebekah mentioned it, she had chosen to ignore it. Fear raised in her throat now, worsened by the fact Rebekah sounded so scared herself; that Rebekah didn’t know what to do any more than she did. Her being collected before had helped Leah remain calm as well but the thought of father being this close –

              “I can move quietly, take a look behind the corner first.” Could she, though? However used to sneaking around unnoticed she was, this was Mikael; and her dead heart was probably pounding loud enough to wake up the entire castle. “It’s a risk, sister, but – if we stay here, he’ll catch us for sure. This way, we’ll at least have a chance.”

despite the brave face that rebekah employed so often, so desperately wanting to match up to her brothers, she was rather quick to scare. she had been able to hide it up until now, assuming a brusque facade, but with the suggestion of their father so near...

really, kol had just grown to figure that rebekah would make a rather annoying fuss if he didn’t, and he’d grown rather bored of such a thing. one could imagine how anyone else would feel about the incessant nagging feeling. while he clearly didn’t mind her company, who’d have the patience for that? “see? sometimes impulse works for the best.” he remarked with an impish grin before pondering the other question. “don’t know, don’t care. been a while since i’ve seen either of them and frankly, i haven’t quite bothered to look.”

           “gone are the days when it was about when one with nature.” perhaps there were still some witches like that, who knew? but henrik knew that he was going to have to be careful while he was here. still, he was more worried about his sister, no matter if he’d announced himself or not. “good.” he gives her a small smile and sighed.

              “nothing a blood bag and a glass of bourbon won’t fix.” he thinks to himself for a moment, he wants to talk to her before he tells her. “what you did back there was impressive.”

“it wouldn’t be new orleans if you didn’t bump into a couple of extremists every once in a while; most of them are still on the one with nature train.” she sighed and brushed her hair back impatiently. she had little tolerance for the vampire equals abomination doctrine. 

              “But mindless slaughter is not, and has never been, NECESSARY.” Drinking blood – and Finn felt the thirst all the time, a constant reminder of what he had been turned into. It was also making him rather grumpy on daily basis. “I’m afraid I don’t want to do that. And – sister, are you telling me you have never wished to be human again?”

               “i don’t know what i want!” the outburst is louder than she intended. “i’ve had ONE goal, rebekah. one goal over eight bloody centuries. to see you all suffer - that’s gone now.” who was she without that goal, without those eight hundred years? “i don’t know what you to expect. for me to go to our family, and we all hold hands and sing KUMBAYA?” 

               she was trying not to act like a dick to her sister - rebekah didn’t deserve in. not knowing what she did, but oh, how hard it was to let it go. she looked away from her sister, she didn’t want her to see the SHAME she felt for falling for such an obvious manipulation plastered on her face.

              Whatever was going on, it sounded bad. Leah had to fight the urge to turn around and run the other way – but they had their brothers to meet. And if they took the other route, this could caught them unprepared. “If we take too long, they might send someone to look for us – “ And then things will get even more complicated. Suddenly, Leah understood why splitting up was such a bad idea.

              She swallowed. Alright. A choice had to be made, and it had to be made quickly. “If they are human – “ If because that was a gamble. They could be witches, they could be werewolves ( or father ). “Then they likely won’t even notice us, if we move fast enough. And with father coming already – if it comes to it, we can fight.” Tear through them, if need be, although Leah didn’t know if she would be able to go through it.

witches or werewolves would have been a welcome obstacle. witches could be easily overcome as long as they had the element of surprise. as for the wolves, well...they themselves had been created with the sole purpose of being able to defend themselves from the wolf attacks. 

“now that you mention it a nice romantic dinner does sound rather spotting, does it?” he quipped in sarcasm. not that he’d already procured a means of disposal, but it’s not like it would have been difficult to do, with or without help. “yes, of course i’ll be dealing with them before i make my leave. might gather up a decent size supply with what’s left while i’m at it.”

              Finn couldn’t help smiling, head tilting to the side as his brows raised almost mockingly. “Are they though, Rebekah? Do I seem any less rude?” After what they had done he owed them nothing, kindness least of all things, but he would not point it out. Not openly, anyway. “If anything, you have proven my point – you all relish in violence but it’s hardly an appropriate reaction to someone irritating you.”

He shifted his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together as she spoke. When she finished, he lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a single kiss to it. “You are my favorite thing to pay attention to. But I’m a bit out of practice” dropping his head down, he brushed his lips to hers briefly. “Let me take you out tonight.”

“are you asking me on a date?” despite herself, she grinned. they had never been on an actual date before, given that they had been forced to live out their romance in secret, or otherwise were too preoccupied with supernatural drama. “i’ll have to check my schedule,” she feigned nonchalance, “but i should be able to fit you in.”

              “So you did not just attack me?” So maybe his comment hadn’t been necessary but it wasn’t even directed at Rebekah specifically, more at the state of the entire family. And, as people in this century seemed to say, it was a free country. “And here I hoped, sister, that we were through acting like children.”