Handsome Devil

Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries or its characters. I only own my plot and my OC's.

Sorry for any errors.

Zorra's POV:

~~~ Level Two ~~~

Not long after I freed Niklaus the world blurred and reformed. When it stopped our surroundings were different. Instead of being in a log cabin, we were in this large palace-like home. It had marble walls and arched ceiling hallways. All the halls had portraits of the Original family decorating them. Each one from a different era. I asked Niklaus if he ever lived here, but he said no. While it bared a resemblance to a few of his past homes, it itself wasn't one. That's a shame. It was a beautiful place.

Have you ever played those videogames where you're trapped in house, so you have to wander around it, picking up things and trying to find a way out? That's exactly what Level Two was like. The first round we had to find a way downstairs, the second was finding a way to get outside onto the porch.

We went in rooms and ruffled through drawers. Everything we searched had personal things from one of our pasts. There was this large trunk we found a key to, it had tunics that ranged from a young child to a grown adult inside. They were all bloodied and torn. It was obviously their attempt to throw Mikael in Niklaus's face again. The parlor downstairs had a corpse hanging upside down from the ceiling.

The man was Niklaus's biological father, I learned. I also found out that was a very touchy subject. The longer we spent here, the fouler his mood got. Not that I blamed him. There was just as much stuff here to rub salt in the wounds of my past too. We spent a week and a half in the house. All the keys we found either went to a way downstairs or into rooms, drawers, and trunks. None of them led outside. However, we did start collecting pieces we found. When we had all of them Niklaus put together an electric screwdriver and was able to take the front door off.

Man of many talents.

When we stepped outside the fresh air and cool breeze was a relief. Laying on porch's railing was a bulging envelope. Niklaus got to it before I could. He took out a folded newspaper, two bus tickets, money, a small key on a chain, and a strip of construction paper.

"What's all that for?" I inquire.

Blue eyes analyzed the contents in his hands for a minute before looking over at me. "It seems we're going on a scavenger hunt."

I frowned, already fed up with these games. "Where's the next clue at?"

"In one of my siblings coffins." He let out an exasperated sigh and started toward the yard. "It's 2001. They're currently in a storage building in Miami. Let's get this over with."

~~~ Level Three: Round One ~~~

"There's no car." I point out as I follow him. "Are we going to walk to a bus station?"

He turned and swept me into his arms. "No. That would take too long. Hold on."

My arms obediently go around his neck and I bury my face in his shoulder. I was still in the outfit my 'mother' picked out for me. The blouse and skirt fluttered around wildly when Niklaus took off. My hair was no doubt slapping him in face as he ran.

"We're here." He announces an unknown amount of time later, putting me on my feet. I could barely hear him over all the loud noise.

I smooth out my outfit and pull all my hair to one side before braiding it. My green eyes observed the madness that was the train station we arrived at. An arm grabs my elbow gently and leads me through the throng of people. We squeeze through the crowd as best we could. After the occasional jab to my ribs from an impatient person rushing past me, we reach a man sitting behind a counter. My companion slides our tickets to him under the glass window. Then we head for our train.

The ground was covered in blood, glass, and rubbish. Niklaus warned me over the chaos to watch out for the broken drink machine we made our way around. I turned back and was surprised to see the sheer size of the riot that formed. The tugging on my elbow reminded me to not get distracted, so I faced forward again.

There were clouds of dust, both from the train that was about to depart and the nervous stomping of feet. People crowded around the doors and waited impatiently for their turn to board. The train was long and sleek. Large bus-like carriages connected one after another. When we finally were able to board there were many rows of seats, with a window alongside each row.

It was a lot more peaceful on the train than in the station. Not long after we sat down it started down the tracks with a little jerking motion. We were quiet for a long while, each lost in our own thoughts. Music could be heard over the murmuring of voices. It didn't take long for us to notice that each song had a message that struck a chord with one of us. My jaw locked. I was really getting pissed off with the childishness of Polly and Pamela.

My thoughts drifted this way and that. My sister. My job. Hoping I don't get evicted from my apartment because tips were a large source of my income. I could hardly earn tips if I wasn't there. Then my thoughts came to Kol, which made me think of the off handed comments Niklaus made while we were looking through the palace-like house. It reminded me of the words he told me before. Words that dug their way into my brain and whispered doubts about Kol and whatever was happening between us.

Deciding this was as good a time as any, I turn to Niklaus. I was going to find out why he wanted to drive a wedge between us so badly. There was enough going on without him adding to my stress. I couldn't do anything about my anger toward Polly and Pamela, not yet, or all the hurdles we're going to have to jump through in the levels to come, but I COULD do something about this. Unlike those things, this was in my control. So it was what I focused on.

"What's your problem?" I demand. He gazed at me with a touch of confusion, so I elaborated. "With Kol and me. What's your problem?"

I could see he was about to act like he had no idea what I was talking about. Unfortunately for him I was fed up with his mind games. They end now.

My fingers curl around his bicep warningly. "Don't do that. Don't act like I'm imagining things. You don't want Kol and I together, do you? Admit it."

He was silent for a moment, clearly debating on how to continue. Then Niklaus's face shifts to one of determination.

"No I don't." He answers with conviction.

I drew back with a frown. "Why?"

"You're a smart girl, Zorra. Surely you can see being together isn't in either one of your best interest."

"Why is it not in my best interest exactly?" I bristled. "I don't care if he's a vampire. I can handle it. I don't even if care if he used to be a manwhore as long as he's faithful to me."

He gave me a patronizing look and gestured to our surroundings. "Come on, sweetheart. All he did was flirt with you in a bar and look where it got you. If you rejected his advances and left him be, you wouldn't be in this mess."

"Alright, good point. I'll give you that." I respond curtly. "What about Kol then? Is him being happy so terrible? If it is, why don't you just go ahead and dagger him for another century?"

His temper started to come unhinged, blue eyes were set ablaze. "That was for his own good."

"For his own good?" I challenge. "Or yours?"

Niklaus's jaw ticked. "You shouldn't give half-cocked opinions about things you know nothing of."

"Explain it then."

"I'll do anything to protect my siblings." He says strongly. "Anything, Zorra. Even if it makes me unpopular. I don't care if they disapprove of my methods. One of Kol's few redeeming qualities is that he's on the same page as me regarding romantic relations with lovers. I always did like his lack of sentiment. It's bad enough I have to constantly deal with Rebekah and Elijah's significant others. I don't need Kol going soft on me too."

I look at him with baffled disbelief at his twisted logic. "You really turn every person Rebekah and Elijah let into their hearts against them?"

He doesn't let them fall in love and be happy because of his paranoia? Because of the twisted sense it's for the best? Damn, and I thought MY family was dysfunctional.

"No, of course not. I usually just kill them and be done with it." He shrugged uncaringly.

I shift further away from the hybrid. "If the situation was different, would you have killed me?"

"Yes." He replied with blunt honesty.

My arms cross over my chest and I look away from him. I was fed up with the conversation. I just want to finish the train ride so we can get on with the dammed scavenger hunt. I stiffen when fingers grip my chin and force my face back.

Niklaus looks at me softly. "I do like you, Zorra. It's nothing personal. Honest. You have to understand that love outside of family is a weakness. One we can't afford with the amount of enemies we've collected over the years. It's not too late to end this before either one of you gets in too deep. Kol is only approaching the cusp of caring for you. He hasn't fallen yet. You must end it when we get back, Zorra. For both of your sakes."

"I don't think I can do that." I tell him truthfully, jerking my head from his grasp.

Love isn't always a weakness, I think to myself, it can also be a strength. It can give you something worth fighting for. A reason for living.

"At least consider it?" He implores. "I know you care for him. Which is exactly why you must let him go."

Over my dead body.

"I'll think about it." Is what I say instead.

"Thank you, love."

No other words were exchanging the rest of the ride. I look at the families, the single mothers with their children, the couples making out, and the loners gazing out the window. Hours passed before we came to our stop. We got off in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on the border of Miami and Hialeah.

Then we got a cab and Niklaus told him where to go. The silence was even tenser now without the music and murmuring voices. Well it was tense for me, Niklaus seemed completely at ease.

Ass.

"There you go." The cabdriver told us an hour later. "Do you need me to wait here while you get whatever you need in storage?"

"We're good." Niklaus rejected, throwing bills over the seat.

We both got out and walk toward the storage building. Niklaus opens the door for me.

"Thanks." I mutter, mostly out of reflex.

He led us down a hallway and turned left. At the end of that hallway he came to a stop. He put the key in the lock and turned it. Then he knelt so he could pull the door up. The room was much larger on the inside than I thought it'd be. Along the walls were coffins. The light reflected off of them, making the glossy black paint glimmer.

"This is messed up on so many levels." I breathe as I take in the scene.

Blue eyes cut over to me in annoyance. "Just start looking."

I walk to the closest one. Try as I might, I couldn't open it. "Locked."

"So is this one." He tells me, unable to open one across the room. We kept trying until he finally found one that would open. "Look, sweetheart."

My gaze shoots over to him and lands on an open coffin. All that was inside was a strip of construction paper that looked like the one in the envelope from before. "Whose coffin was that?"

"Finn." He muttered, picking the paper up to read.

Was that one of the siblings who are dead now?

I move closer, dread clenches my stomach. "If he's not there… where is he?"

As if in answer, a person speaks from behind us.

"Niklaus." An accented voice greets sourly.

We turn to face the man in old fashioned garb. He had sharp facial features and long brown hair. In my opinion he's not nearly as good-looking as the other Mikaelsons I've met. I think he'd look better with shorter hair. Not many men can pull off the longhaired look.

I thought about Rebekah, Elijiah, Niklaus, Kol, and hell even Mikael. I didn't think there could be an ugly Mikaelson, but this Finn was damn near.

"Finn." Niklaus responds, voice curt and eyes narrowed.

Time moves differently in the dream world. They'll think more time is passing then what actually is.

Hope you enjoyed.