Now, fully clothed, we eavesdropped on the vampires outside. I could hear fine laying on Kol's bed, but he needed to stand by the door, so I stood with him.
"I'm going to give you two seconds to tell us why we don't go up there and take the witch," Gia was saying. "You lied to us. You betrayed everything you taught us. How can you lead us?"
"Hey! I'm sorry I let you down, all of you," Marcellus responded. "But the way that you are feeling right now, this despair, this hunger; I have been through it and if you let me help you survive it, I guarantee you, it will only make you stronger. Now you can challenge Artemis, but the older a vampire is, the more powerful they are and no one knows just how old she is. Arti would kill every last one of you and if by some miracle you do overtake her, Klaus will kill you for revenge for his brother's life. But at sundown, Vincent's gonna drop that barrier spell and those doors are gonna open and we are gonna be smack in the middle of a parade full of innocent people. We can't fall apart now."
"Oh, Kol, a parade," I sighed, picturing the rivers of blood. "We would have taken out the whole thing together."
"I know, darling." He put his hands on my shoulders and planted a kiss on my neck.
Gia had continued speaking. "Innocent. Guilty. We're hungry. We have to feed."
"We don't feed on locals, that's our rule," Marcellus said. "That is how we survived three hundred years in this city and that is why we get to call it home, because we live by a code."
"The same one that won't let you tell your own people that you're dying of a werewolf bite?" came Gia's voice.
"I'm not dying of anything!" Marcellus yelled. "Now I've got a vial of Klaus's blood in my place right across the river along with enough blood to satisfy all of you. All we have to do is get there. You once asked me what I was fighting for, I told you I was fighting for this city, for our home, but if we feed out there we lose it. The barrier will be down any moment now. Let me help you get home."
"Well that was truly inspiring," I grinned at Kol. Marcellus, like Nik, always had a taste for the dramatic speeches.
"Let's get the bloody hell out of here," Kol sighed and we began moving the furniture as the bells rang, marking the hour.
We snuck out onto the balcony in time to watch Marcellus cautiously reach out and declare: "It's down. Let's go."
"Go see Davina," I sighed, looking at Kol.
"Don't look at me like you're thinking about leaving," he responded. "I need you, I need something from her; it's different."
"I feel like a fucking modern teenager. It makes me want to kill someone," I yelled in hysterics. "It makes me want to kill you! It makes me want to kill her! I'm a vampire and you're my fucking mate! This isn't how it's supposed to be!"
His lips gently touched mine in a reassuring kiss. "We are mates," he told me. "We'll get through this. We have forever."
The three of us: Nik, Rebekah, and I called Elijah to inform him about Freya. At the same time, a new portrait of Rebekah had been hung to commemorate her old body. "That's not my chin, Nik," she said, looking up at it. "It's much more delicate."
"The only delicate thing about you is your ego," Nik retorted.
"When placed beside the behemoth that is yours," she quipped.
"Please," Elijah's voice came from the mobile device. "Can we dispense with this fascinating dispute just for a moment and return to the subject of our long lost sister."
"There's nothing much to discuss, Elijah," Rebekah returned to the conversation at hand. "She said she was Freya and then darted off into the night."
"And you believed her?" said Elijah's voice.
Rebekah shrugged. "I met the girl in a mystical looney bin. She could be anyone telling any lie, but she did seem familiar somehow."
"But how can she be alive if she disappeared before the rest of you turned into vampires?" I asked.
"A question as annoying as it's many possibilities considering this family's annoying predilection for cheating death," Nik returned.
"I don't know, Nik," Rebekah moaned. "I'm just telling you what she said."
"Well did you happen to ask if by the same miracle, our Aunt Dahlia lives as well?" he sneered.
Rebekah began to respond, but Nik interrupted her by continuing to yell about a curse on the first-borns.
"Well let me turn back time and do it again to your liking then," she retorted.
"Enough!" Elijah silenced them. "Both of you, if she is who she says we'll find out soon enough. For now, it is imperative that no one learns of Hope's existence. This has been our salvation thus far.
"Unless Hayley's husband to be starts flapping his gums," Nik mumbled. "Perhaps I should take preventative measures and separate him from his head."
"Jackson will do nothing to jeopardize that wedding," Elijah's voice told us.
Rebekah stared at us, incredulous. "Hayley's getting married what in the hell else did I miss?"
It was extremely boring in the house since Kol had disappeared. "Nik. Nik?" Rebekah was wandering around.
"That was Aiden," Nik hung up his cellphone. "Finn has Marcel."
"Since when?" I asked.
"I don't know," he growled. "Nor do I know where they are, what they're doing, or what specifically to do about it! This family makes me want to murder people."
"Join the club," I joked.
"Not now, Arti," he groaned.
"My timing is impeccable as usual," I heard Kol's voice. I turned around and there he was, standing in the doorway.
Nik's upper lip twitched as he debated if he should attack Kol right away or wait a moment to find out what possessed his brother to come back. "Well, the traitor thinks he can just walk in here like he's welcome."
"As gracious as your apology must be, you're still getting one hell of a slap!" Rebekah began making his way towards him.
"Can't you see something's wrong?" I interrupted her. "He's calm."
She stopped and took a moment to look at him.
"Thank you," Kol told me. "I understand the irony of what I'm about to say, but I came here because I need your help."
Nik chuckled, appreciating the irony.
"Look, you don't understand, Nik," Kol continued. "Finn has locked me in this body. No more jumping, no changing. He's put a curse on me, Nik. I am dying!" There was a pause in which no one spoke, his siblings only looked skeptical. "You don't believe me," he realized, but I walked up to him and put my arms around his waist. I wasn't about to let him be taken form me again.
"Well, you're hardly the champion of truth telling," Nik quipped.
"Of course, why would a brother expect his siblings to leap to his aid," Kol sneered.
"Oh, spare me the pity party, Kol. Your recent actions warrant a certain merit of disbelief," Nik made a good point.
I thought it was obvious Kol was telling the truth, but Nik had to be convinced for himself. Nothing I could have said would have changed his mind so I remained silent.
` "Look, I know what I've done, but I won't apologize for trying to pull one over on you, Bex, you deserved it, but I don't deserve to die!" Kol pleaded. "Certainly not at the hands of my own family."
Nik grabbed his arm to turn him away from their sister. "What kind of con are you playing?"
"The con I hate the most; the truth," he answered.
"He's not lying. Even as a boy, Kol never lied once called on the act. He may play dirty pool, but he's not lying," Rebekah spoke. It seemed Nik trusted her more than he did me.
"Nik, I was helping Marcel for Davina," Kol explained. "Finn has him. He's trying to get a secret out of him, something he thinks he knows about you."
I looked away uncomfortably, not used to keeping secrets from Kol. As I avoided making eye contact, I noticed Nik and Rebekah were also looking away.
"He's right, isn't he?" Kol noticed our uncomfortable silence.
"Marcel doesn't know anything about anything," Nik stated with authority.
"Well you better hope that that's true because believe me, Finn has the means to get it out of him," Kol responded.
"So what's the secret anyway?" He asked while he set up a spell with Rebekah. The two sat together and I leaned on his shoulders, desperate for contact.
"The term secret implies something known by only those who have earned the right to be aware of it," Nik told his younger brother.
"Does Arti know?" he asked.
"Of course I know," I squeezed. "I haven't stuck around for a thousand years to be excluded."
"And I haven't?" he chuckled.
"No, you kept running off to be with your witches, leaving me behind to deal with his temper," I answered.
"Start the spell," Nik ordered.
Kol continued without looking up. "Well it's easier said than done. Finn is channeling the power from our parents. He's a lot stronger than something a week old witch and I can do."
"Now hang on," Rebekah protested. "I might not be trained but I-" She was interrupted by the candles going out. "Blast," she muttered.
"The spell Finn cast to lock you in your body; do you remember it?" Nik asked.
Kol stood to appear equal to Nik. "I was a little distracted by the murder-y part."
"If we can use that spell against him, once he's locked in his body, I can end our collective woes with a brief snap of the neck," Nik explained. "All I need to do is pull it from your memory."
"Ah no, no, no," Kol backed away. "I am not allowing anybody into my mind. Do you understand?"
"You came into my home, asking for my help!" Nik yelled. "This is it; it's not a request." He clasped his hands to the sides of Kol's head. It only took a moment before he pulled away, snarling.
"I'm guessing just by the look on your face that it worked," Kol tried speaking carefully.
Nik threw his brother against the wall. "You come simpering for brotherly love and that whole time you were plotting against me with that damn dagger," he growled. "You're no better than Finn."
"And you threatening me makes you better than Finn, does it?" Kol returned.
"Both of you just stop it," Rebekah pleaded.
"I came to you because you're my family, but I see now while you, Elijah, Rebekah, and Arti all hang portraits and share secrets, I am the odd one out. You want to know where Finn is? You want to find a way to kill him? Then figure it out yourself," he cried.
He held out his hand and Nik dropped to his knees. Rebekah tried to intervene and Kol attacked her as well. After watching them suffer for a moment, he let up and ran out of the house.
"Fuck," I breathed and ran after him.