Chapter 49
Mystic Fall was a five hours' drive from Charlotte. The expression the taxi driver wore when Nora informed him of their destination was truly memorable. The man certainly didn't expect to make such a long drive when he woke up this morning.
As for his expression when he noticed Nora and Kol changing in the back of the car… Well, that one was absolutely fantastic. So much, in fact, that Kol had to help Nora remove the trace of eyeliner on her cheek when she burst into laughter while putting on makeup.
"Maybe we should have left earlier and just put on some casual clothes instead of going shopping," Nora sighed as Rebekah's phone rang out in the car. Again.
They had just reached Virginia and still had more than an hour's drive before they reached Mystic Falls.
"Please darling," Kol scoffed, "have you forgotten your own words? The plan is to make a grand entrance."
"Casual clothes in a ball sounds original."
"No, just tasteless. Nora, we have money. We need to show it and make sure my family understands we don't need them." He paused and glanced at her with a glint in his eyes. "That, and seeing you all dolled up is a feast to the eyes."
Nora rested her chin in the palm of her hand. "Right," she drawled with a smirk, "and your decision has nothing to do with a certain vampire sister you want to annoy by being very late to the ball?"
"Touché," he grinned. "But you do look beautiful."
"Well, you are not so bad yourself, hon." She leaned in and whispered by his ear, "Should I call you little beauty?"
Her breath on his skin sent shivers down his spine and a sweet feeling crept in his heart.
"Play nice, darling," he laughed, giving her a slight pinch at the waist. "Don't start something we can't finish."
"Alright… Little beauty."
Her smile was seductive and confident, well aware of the power she had on him. And that smile of hers only grew bigger when they got out of the car at half past eight, more than one hour after the beginning of the ball.
Kol was wearing a black tuxedo with his hair brushed back. Next to him, Nora's multicolored dress was rather eye-catching. The top was form-hugging while the lower part of the dress was made of several layers of gauze that fell right above her ankles.
Kol tucked her hair behind her ear and couldn't stop himself from kissing her briefly, leaving Nora with no other choice than to pull out a handkerchief to wipe off the red lipstick on his lips. Afterward, they walked up the cobblestones path leading to the mansion, Nora's left arm wrapped in Kol's right one and Rebekah's phone landing in one of the bush to keep the leaves and branches company with its shrill ringtone.
A human stood by the front door. "Your invitation?"
"We don't have one," Kol gave the man a polite smile even though he was struggling to keep himself from rolling his eyes. Why would he ever need an invitation to a ball organized by his own crazy family?
"Then, my apologies but I cannot allow you to enter."
Acting coy, Nora brought her hand up to hide her smirk and said with a giggle, "Oh it's fine, dear. Do you have a preference for your place of burial?"
Kol flashed the man his fangs just when Nora finished speaking. The human immediately paled and stumbled back.
"Now, dear, may we go inside, or do I need to call Rebekah Mikaelson to let her know someone stopped her brother, Kol Mikaelson, from attending the ball?" Nora asked, making a show of running a finger underneath Kol's eyes where dark veins had spread.
"N-no n-need!" the man squealed in fright and moved out of the way, his legs and arms shaking. "G-good ev-evening!"
Kol let out a mocking snort before pulling Nora into the entrance hall, his back straightening slightly as his eyes swept around the place, looking for any signs of danger.
"Don't worry, hon. Remember, if something happens, we'll just burn down this place and have a campfire."
He turned to her, a faint smile dancing at the corners of his lips. "So, you do know how to sweet talk, darling?"
She winked at him. "Only because I learned from the best."
"Is that so?" he responded, the expression on his face clearly asking for compliments.
"Yes!" Nora laughed, "Really the best of the best. Happy, now?"
His answer came in the form of a peck on her cheek.
"Now, Nora, how do you suggest we make our grand entrance? Slam the doors open? Kill someone? Or perhaps rip Elijah's heap off? Wait, no, he would miss on the fun. Let's just rip his arms off."
Shaking her head, Nora tugged on his hand and started walking toward the two wooden doors separating them from the ballroom.
"No matter how tempting your idea is, Finn would dislike it if you start waving Elijah's arms around the place. Especially if that bastard starts screaming like a pig."
"Please," Kol snorted, "Elijah would never scream like that."
Nora lifted her brows, clearly startled by his defense of his brother. Smirking, Kol whispered in her ear, "Pretty sure even a white oak stake in his heart wouldn't be able to stop him from lecturing people."
With that said, he slammed the door open - the handle breaking off the door and ending up in his hand - and they entered the room. Contrary to their expectations, their entrance actually didn't attract any attention at first. The ballroom was crowded with people either talking to each other or waltzing in the center of the room. Only a few people turned to them for a moment before looking away, obviously not interested in any way by Kol and Nora.
Then, the sound of glass breaking into pieces echoed through the room, drawing the attention of the vampires present.
"We should thank Rebekah," Nora snickered when people followed the shocked gaze of Kol's sister and landed on them.
From where he stood, Kol could see Finn and the undead Esther staring at them, the former with surprise on his face and the latter with a mix of hatred and fear that she couldn't conceal fast enough. On the other side of the room, Elijah, who had been talking to the doppelganger, turned toward Kol and Nora with a frown wrinkling his forehead. It was kind of funny how the so-called noble brother of the family couldn't help himself. First, Tatia, then Katerina, and now that one.
As for Niklaus, the hybrid was not in the room.
Rebekah rushed toward them, easily walking through the crowd. If not for her long green dress, Kol was certain she would have been running.
"Kol! Nora! You two are here!" Rebekah exclaimed when she reached them, her voice carrying a hint of hope when she looked at Nora.
Nora and Rebekah's relationship had always been a bit odd. Sometimes, they could be as close as sisters. And the rest of the time he was daggered and his little darling hated his sister. Seeing Rebekah act like this made him wonder what Nora did the last time the two of them saw each other.
"Rebekah," Nora acknowledged the blond vampire in a cold voice. "How unfortunate to see you today."
"Nora…" Rebekah tried again, casting a pleading glance at Kol - which he happily ignored.
"What? Don't you also feel it's unfortunate? Last time Kol attended one of your family balls, you helped him get daggered and your people tried to kill me."
Kol stilled. This… was something she failed to tell him.
Although he wanted nothing more than to leave this place with Nora, he couldn't. They came for Finn and wouldn't leave without him. Hence he offered his sister his most innocent smile. "Quite a pity she's so difficult to kill, right?"
"Kol, Nora, I swear this is a misunderstanding!"
"Spare me, Rebekah, I don't want to hear about the past." He pointed at their mother. "Isn't it what this ball is about? Family, forgiveness, and all that hypocritical stuff?"
Elijah joined them with a stiff smile and a just as much stiff gait, his whole being seemingly asking - begging, really - for someone to remove the huge stick he had stuck up his ass. Poor Elijah. It was so high up nobody could ever find it.
"Kol, at last, you are here," Elijah said in his stern, disgustingly fatherly, and righteous voice. "We had to announce the first dance without you."
Kol faked a gasp and clutched his chest, as if in tremendous pain. "How terrible! Brother, how could you do that? I won't ever forgive you."
"Kol," Elijah scowled, "as you might notice, our mother is most displeased with your behavior. So please, on her behalf, behave and don't cause unnecessary troubles. Lord knows Nikaus and Katerina gave this town a hard enough time already." He then turned to face Nora, quickly assessing her and holding out his hand to her. "Now, may I know the name of your companion?"
Kol easily detected his brother's worry and scoffed inside his mind. Of course, Elijah would worry that Kol compelled some innocent girl and planned to hurt her after the little and very stupid party.
Nora smiled brightly at Elijah, showing two rows of white teeth. She gave a short glance at the hand before her but her own hands remained where they were.
"Nora Mikaelson, this gentleman's wife," she introduced herself pleasantly, and Rebekah and Kol were probably the only ones detecting the mockery and disdain in her voice.
Her words stunned Elijah for a moment before his frown deepened.
"Kol, what have you d-"
"Elijah, stop it," Rebekah quickly cut him off, "Nora is not compelled. They have been married for a very long time now."
"What?" Elijah gasped out, his proud and stern face crumbling into dust, right in front of them. Such a sight didn't happen often and Kol made sure to carve this memory into his mind. Should he also ask Nora to take a picture?
"I'm surprised you don't recognize her," Kol commented mockingly. "After all, you killed her once and indirectly caused her death another time. Oh, and apparently sent people to kill her in 1914 after Niklaus and you daggered me. Tsss… Brother, who could have guessed? Your memory is actually quite bad!"
Nora chuckled and took the handle of the door from his hand, placing it in Elijah's open hand.
"Now," she said sweetly, "if you may excuse us, I see Finn right over there. It's been nine hundred years since we last saw him and we have a lot to catch up. Don't forget to fix the door."
Acting perfectly in sync with each other the way only people married for centuries could do, Kol and Nora both turned a blind eye to Elijah's shocked expression and ignored Rebekah, walking past them to go to Finn who was walking down the stairs. Esther wasn't there anymore.
"So you did marry her," Finn stated in an odd voice once they were close enough to each other. "Nora…. It has been a long while. I hope you have been well."
Nora didn't try to sugarcoat her words or treat Finn like a fragile person. "As well as I could have been with a husband going in and out a dusty, smelly coffin and scheming to stop Kaus the rest of the time."
"Keep speaking like that and I'm going to believe you are unhappy with me," Kol grumbled and pulled her into his arms, her back against his chest.
"Alright, alright, stop acting like a child," Nora retorted with a giggle, leaning all her weight against him. "Of course, you make me happy. It's the stupid trio that annoys me."
Finn sucked in a breath and let out a sort of strangled cry that almost sounded like a laugh, startling himself. He composed himself soon afterward and said awkwardly, "You two haven't changed."
Kol smirked upon hearing this. Nora's prediction turned out to be true.
"Finn, don't try to coax us, we don't do threesomes. How could we still be the same? Everyone changes. Even you."
"Perhaps you are right," Finn acknowledged, shifting his gaze. "I do feel different."
Nora sighed and looked at Finn with pity. "As if the whole world is turning around you while you alone stand still? As if you do not belong to this time? As if the people around you, even those with familiar faces, were all strangers you can't connect with?"
Because of the time-traveling experiences and the time spent in a box with a dagger in the heart, neither Nora nor Kol were strangers to that kind of feeling. But none of them could truly understand what Finn felt after being betrayed and abandoned by his own family for nine centuries.
In the past, Kol failed to save him. He wouldn't make the same mistake a second time even if the enemy was Finn himself.
"You have a way with words, Nora," Finn said after a long while.
"Just saying the truth."
"… I need to go."
Finn turned around and proceeded to go up the stairs.
Kol stopped him. "Finn, there is something I want and need you to know. You are not alone, nor will you ever be again. The tragedy of before, it won't happen again. Leave with us, brother. You are the one reason we came here tonight."
Finn didn't look back even if he paused his steps. But once Kol stopped talking, he shook his head and repeated again, "I need to go."
"Finn, damn it, you speak English!" he all but yelled, "Come with us and leave this damn place. There is a whole world outside these walls."
"I can't. I… am sorry, Kol."
Nora placed a hand on Kol's arms and lifted her head to stare at Finn's back.
"Can you at least give us a bit of your time, tomorrow? We have a lot of things to tell you. Things you need to know. About your wife."
This time, Finn didn't reply and began to climb up the stairs again, his back giving off a feeling of despair and sorrow.
"Whatever your mother is doing," Nora whispered slowly, "what are the odds of Finn working with her?"
"Ah, so you also guessed she was preparing something." Kol paused. "Finn has always been closed to Esther, that much is true. Nevertheless, even if he does work with her, it's most likely done out of hatred and despair."
"We will save him," Nora swore quietly before draping his arms over her shoulders.
"Yes, we will."
And so the ball starts! Just like the butterfly effect, changes are getting bigger and bigger. In the next chapter, Klaus is finally introduced to Nora.