Fifty-four
.
"You're not going with me?"
"Liv asked me first." My apologetic smile doesn't keep him from lowering his gaze with disappointment. "I'll be in the room, though. I'll be with you the whole time, and one sign from you and I'll put an end to the whole thing."
"No, it's alright," he says, giving me a sad smile I want to kiss away. "My brother asked me to do this, so I'm gonna do it." He lifts my hand and presses a long kiss to my palm, one that seems to mean so much I can't speak. "And Liv calling the dibs on you is actually a good lesson to learn." I tilt my head, not following, and he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. "It reminds me I should never take you for granted."
On our way to Mystic Falls, this conversation won't leave my mind. It's a good thing Liv is driving, it gives me the opportunity to gaze at nothing throughout my window.
"Don't you have something to say?" my friend asks after a moment. "Or to sing?" I shake my head, still lost in thoughts, and she frowns. "I'll let you choose the music?" she tries. I snort and turn to face her.
"You would let me choose the music," I repeat, not buying it for a second. What is it with Parkers and music in cars?
"I don't know," she shrugs, "I mean, you seem really down. I'm the one who's going to a meeting with my only living brother; the one who managed to kill all of my siblings but one."
I inhale and crack my neck left and right.
"I don't wanna argue over that."
"Yeah, I can't believe that would be open to argument."
"What about your only living sister?" I say, changing the subject. "Are you planning on giving her an answer about being her maid of honor? Are you going to the wedding at all?"
"You know I'm going," she says, giving me a sideway glance. "We went shopping for dresses and shoes last week."
"Not the point. What about when she gives birth to your future nieces or nephews, will your name be on the emergency contact list? What if she asks you to be their Godmother?"
"Where are you getting at?"
"Are you going to allow her into your life at some point?" She opens her mouth, ready to throw something at me, but she catches herself and closes it. She chews on her lip for a while and I end up looking back to my window. When Liv speaks, her voice is so low, it's almost like I invented it.
"What if I let her in and she leaves again?"
.
%
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When we enter the house, Alaric and Jo are already there. Damon is here of course – drinking – and Elena and Stefan are talking about Lily. After Jo's bachelorette party, Stefan tracked her down and locked her in the cellar. Bonnie is currently downstairs, giving Lily her portion of blood for today. Mostly she and Stefan have been working on trying to get her ripper urges under control, while Damon won't hear about it, pretending everything is normal, though he can see this experience is taking a toll on his brother.
When Jo sees us, she almost gets up to greet Liv, but the latter walks to the other side of the room, and there is nothing I can do against that.
"Okay," Caroline cheerfully says when she comes downstairs, "I prepared the library for your private coven meeting."
"Thanks for the snacks, Caroline," Liv retorts, but her voice sounds sadder than ironical, "it'll make it so much better." When she realizes she doesn't fool anyone, she heads upstairs. Great. I already can't wait for this moment to be over.
When the door rings, we all think it's Kai and I'm the one to go. Instead, I invite Enzo in. Because the more, the merrier; and I could use some British humor to chill.
"What is going on here? Has somebody died that I don't know of?" Or not.
"We're just waiting for the almighty Gemini leader to deign to join us," Damon retorts. "Do take a seat if you want to pointlessly wait here with us for something that you won't get to hear anyway." Enzo's brow raises at that. I know, it's gonna be a real blast. He turns to me when I exhale, watches me for a long second, then watches Jo and the others.
"Can't hurt to stay for a drink," he mumbles, before heading to Damon's alcohol consol.
We don't wait long for Kai to show up, and when he does, no one comments on the fact that he looks paler than usual. This is going to be so hard for him; I suddenly wish I had said it already. He'd hate me for that, but he wouldn't have to suffer through it. God, Andy, you are such a lost cause.
He gives a circular look in the living room and Caroline lets him know that Liv is already upstairs. She's been incredibly nice to him lately – not that they would see each other often, but she never treats him like he could snap. If anything, she's been supportive, and friendly.
"Let's get this over with, then," he says in a cheerful tone that doesn't fool any of us.
"We'll be right here," Damon offers a bit mockingly, probably bored to spend part of the afternoon locked up in the house for no relevant reason – other than Jo's early request.
Kai watches him for a while, and Damon slowly loses his smirk, realizing this is not a joke.
"You know what," my witch says, "why don't you all come along?" I clench my jaw at that, watching him clutch the old book he's holding; he's panicking. Most of the others glance at me for a hint, but I don't let him out of my sight, and neither does Damon.
"Aren't you gonna discuss private Gemini stuff?"
"Yeah. But it's bound to come out anyway, and I never wanna have to go over this again, so… larger round of invites; everybody upstairs. Come on, move it along. You too, Bon-Bon, you're gonna love it." They look at me again and I slightly nod. When Kai and I are the last ones downstairs, I take his hand, squeeze it, and he inhales deeply. "Let's get this over with."
One look inside the library is enough to make my palms sweat. Damon is lazily holding Elena in his arms, her back against his chest; next to them stand Bonnie, Stefan, Enzo – who mostly looks like he got trapped into this by mistake and wants out – and Caroline. They are all leaning against the farthest wall, trying to give a semblance of privacy to the Gemini, but we all know they'll get to hear it. Jo is sitting in an armchair and Alaric is standing behind her, a hand on her shoulder. As for Liv, she is sitting on the sofa, waiting for me to take place next to her. One armchair has been moved around to face everybody else. One versus all.
Kai sits down as well and drops the book on the table next to him. "Wow, such an audience." His grin doesn't reach his eyes, though, and I think everybody senses that some serious shit is coming, and they are starting to feel uncomfortable for him. "Where to begin?"
"How about you tell us why we're here?" Liv's voice is cold, bitter, and I want to beg her to shut it; it's going to be difficult enough, she doesn't need to make it worse.
"You're here because your favorite leader has some coven information to share; four main points that will be discussed today. First, just so we're all clear about it: family directives. On the inter-Covens scene, the Gemini are commissioned, by me, to reach out to other covens of witches and powerful bloodlines in order to get together and design a new Other Side."
This announcement provokes surprise, but not in a bad way. Kai doesn't leave anyone time to comment on that, and continues, "Second, on a more internal line, I have in mind to completely suppress the merge from or coven tradition–"
"What," Liv grits.
"…which means Jo's twinsies won't have to go through it in order to become leader. Or– leaders. I still need to work on the specifics, but, no more dying over leadership."
Liv opens her mouth, ready to object, but finds nothing to say. She stares at him in utter confusion, then glances at Jo, who looks very calm and serene about this. Even Alaric looks shocked by this revelation, but Jo believes him.
"Third order of business – and… my least favorite part." He rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat. "Someone asked me very nicely to tell you the terrifying truth…" Some gazes turn to me but I don't move. "…and I promised him that I would. So." He inhales. "It's actually very fitting to have so many vampires in the room; you'll understand why in a moment."
My stomach wrings. I try not to focus on his shaking hands.
"Once upon a time, a happy family of magicians lived in the magical land of Oregon. The father was this important community leader and the mother was…" He trails off, giving the floor a delusional smile, "the mother was caring, and the two children – let's call them Hansel and Gretel – were young and gifted, and they were all– well, happy enough. I mean, Hansel and Gretel would one day have to compete to death for leadership, but no pressure, things were cool. Until that fateful day of 1980, when the parents realized Hansel wasn't the gifted child they thought he was."
"Are we on for the sad story of your life?" Liv deadpans, and I take her hand, shooting her a look.
"It's a story, Liv. Don't interrupt me when I tell it. Where was I? Oh, yes; 'it was on a dreary night of November that they beheld the accomplishments of their toils'."
"Is he quoting Frankenstein?" Damon asks in a low voice; Caroline instantly hushes him, giving him a look.
"Of course, they'd probably been raised with terrifying stories about heretic siphoners going all rippers on everybody, so when their eight-year-old little boy turned out to be a powerless creature, what do you think they did?" He raises an inquiring glance to the back of the room and they uncomfortably shift their weight from one foot to another, not liking where this is all going. "They shunned him, of course; cast him away, called him a freak, oh and my favorite: they made it a rule in the family that no one should touch him, ever. I mean, what if he were to hug someone and suck their magic by accident? He could have– you know, cast a spell on a broom and tried to fly all the way to the moon."
"We'd get a bouquet of stars for Mom on the race back," Jo whispers, tears already pooling in her eyes. Alaric squeezes her shoulder a bit tighter; behind us, people share uncomfortable glances. This heart-to-heart about his childhood is so at odds with what they would expect from him.
"You were always faster than me anyway," Kai mutters before resuming his story. "He was eight, and they cast him away."
"You mean, you were eight," Liv says dryly, and I clutch her hand tighter, "you were cast away. Let's just stop pretending this isn't about our family."
"And what do you think that little boy did, Olivia, when his own mother started calling him an abomination of nature?"
"He lashed out to them–"
"He cried. Because he cared. He had feelings and he cried for nights and weeks; he begged his parents for a kiss, or a hug, or even a look." They hold gaze, and their eyes fill with tears at equal rate. Liv looks away, chewing on her lip.
"But it was over. He didn't exist for them anymore. They'd stopped caring. And then they started having children again. Because such a freak cannot run for leader, right? And he was bound to become an evil monster; I mean that lie, about Jo breaking the vase when it was him? So much potential to become a true villain." My chest tightens. I hate to see him joke about it like that, but it's also what hits them most. It makes them see the absurdity of all this.
"New babies were born, welcomed and cared for, until a blessed new set of twins would arrive. Meanwhile, Hansel, was not allowed to be touched, or loved, 'cause he wasn't worth it anyway."
"Look, I get that your version of the story is very sad, but you did kill four of our siblings in cold blood, and you came for us too. Don't try and make it look like it was our parents' fault."
"Liv–" Jo starts.
"Dad told me about your changing moods, about how you would get angry out of nowhere and lash out to them."
"Liv," Jo repeats with more authority. "Shut up."
"No, I mean, I get it," Kai argues for her. "On certain days I would be normal and on others, I would get mad at anyone; that's confusing." He looks at his younger sister and she lowers her gaze. Tension builds and silence gets heavier. "Jo, do you remember the first time you actually saw me have that kind of crisis?"
"Uh– we were teenagers."
"It had never happened before, right?" She shakes her head and he continues, "I'll give you a hint, then: we were thirteen." Jo slightly frowns, as she thinks and thinks and thinks, until she looks back up at him.
"The tree story," she realizes.
"The tree story," he simply confirms.
"What's the tree story?" It's the first time Liv's voice isn't aggressive. Progress.
"Don't climb that tree, Jo," Kai calls, looking back at her while she whispers, "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing."
She shakes her head to herself and turns to Liv, "I fell off the tree and broke my arm. I let Kai have some of my magic to perform a healing spell, so mom and dad wouldn't ground me." She looks back at him, a lone tear rolling down her cheek.
"But mom found out," Kai resumes, inhaling deeply, "such a loving woman. She yelled at me, healed Jo, and grounded me for three days. 'You won't be eating with us, Malachai, not until you learn not to steal people's magic'. Of course, I completely missed the educational values that were certainly hidden somewhere in that; I just thought it was incredibly unfair and I could have cried myself to sleep. But by then, I had this." He pushes the book towards them and a heavy silence fills the room again, until Jo takes it.
"Where did you get that?"
"The first time? In the attic. More recently? Under a floorboard in my old bedroom, where I last hid it. I brought it back from my trip to Portland."
"What is it, mom's favorite cook book?" Liv mocks, and her sister shoots her a look. I'm not the only one who's feeling the urge to slap her, right? I mean, I know it's her way of blocking pain, and trying to appear strong and unbothered, but still.
"It was one of Grandma Susan's grimoires," Jo explains.
"I liked Grandma Suzie," Kai lightly comments, "she didn't hate me. Well, she couldn't tell who we were half of the time; that helped."
"And you brought it here because…?" Liv asks.
"First, it's a proof, that I'm not making it up. Second, this thing was my lifeline for nearly eight years. I bookmarked the right spell for you." He straightens up, addressing the vampires for the first time, "You guys can take a look if you want; I'm pretty sure it was transcribed from the original spell that created vampires. It's about your 'flipping the switch' thing; it's a nasty one, isn't it?"
"Oh my God," Bonnie lets out, and his eyes lock on her.
"Ah, Bon-Bon's figured it out."
"What did you do?" she whispers.
"I did what each of your friends did when they had the opportunity to stop the pain. I turned it off."
