Davina and I spent a fair bit of time together over the next few days, mostly to just get away from everyone else, where I also became better acquainted with Josh, who I was glad to see was still alive. He had to hide out during the day, so I crafted him a daylight ring to make things easier and even taught Davina who to make one herself, showing her a lot of different forms of magic that none of the other Harvest girls could dream of. It made Davina more confident, knowing that she had an edge that they didn't, magic that neither they nor their ancestors had ever come across before because it was based from druid magic. I taught her how to read and channel natural magic, and helped her discover which elements she harmonised best with, one of which was fire so I encouraged her to try and use fire as her main channelling source as often as possible. "But it doesn't always have to be literal fire. Anything assigned to the fire element will work just as well, including people as they are a source of heat, and it is said in some cultures that the soul itself is a living embodiment of fire and life fused together. It's our spark, the thing that makes humans really tick." We enjoyed our time together, and I began to view Davina more of a little sister than anything else, and came to care about her more than ever before.
So at the Feast of Blessings, I was armed with several gifts when I watched the parade and went to the after party, intending to give them all to Davina just to piss off the other two Harvest girls all the more. I met Hayley there, and I stuck by her side as we mingled since she was there as a representative of the wolves and she was quickly whispering to me everything that she had learned from Jackson, who had made a deal with Nik to get moonlight rings. Bad move. "You guys can't back out on a deal with Nik, but you can't do what he says either." I whispered back to her, having cast a spell around us so that no one with vampire hearing could hear what we were saying. "If you guys had wanted moonlight rings, you should have come to me. I don't know the exact spell, but I could figure it out for you. You won't need to be at Nik's bidding if you can get moonlight rings by yourselves."
"You'd really do that for us Lia?"
"Sure, we'll just say you guys owe me a favour. A huge favour, but since I like you and Jackson has always made a point of treating me like a queen whenever I'm around because I'm a druid, I think I can stretch to making a couple fancy rings for you guys. I bet Nik has the formula, we'll have to figure out how to get our hands on it before he starts waging his own war or whatever it is he's got planned." I knew Nik was up to no good. Can't he ever just sit and take a day off or something? Pretty soon he's going to be up to his shoulders in diapers, he'll have bigger problems to worry about other than being king of a city. Hearing the clinking of a glass to signify a speech, I dropped the muting spell around us in order to listen to Genevieve who addressed the masses.
"Welcome. As is our time-honoured tradition, you are all welcome to deliver your offerings. It is our custom that no one should be turned away, no blessing be denied." Wryly I wondered what kind of blessing I could ask from the witches that would be worth my while, but then I felt the little one wriggle inside. My thoughts immediately turned to her, and I wondered, if this truly was a Feast of Blessings, and that I could ask for anything, then perhaps I could ask the witches to bless this little girl, so in that way, they could never hurt her. It was worth a shot, at the very least. So I followed Hayley to form a line, the mass of people meaning that we became separated but not by many, standing a few bodies behind her with my large box neatly wrapped in silver with a gold bow, containing several gifts inside that I intended for Davina.
I had chosen each with care, growing rare and valuable herbs, some jewellery, precious stones to channel power from, incense and candles, pretty much everything a witch could ever want, though I was excited for her to find the diamond necklace I had gotten for her. When we'd been walking about the town, she had seen it in a shop window and looked at it for a long while with a little smile on her face before then turning away and walking forward again. She never mentioned it, didn't even talk about it, but the way she had looked at it with that kind of wonder in her eyes that young girls often did whenever they saw something beautiful and expensive, something that if they had, would make them feel special. It had taken a good chunk out of my savings to buy it, but considering I didn't have to worry about money so long as I was connected to the Mikaelson family, I saw it as no issue. So as the ceremony of the gift giving began, I watched as Hayley stepped forward and started to put her gift down before Davina's feet.
The attendant stopped her and instead, directed Hayley to give her gift to Monique instead. Hayley was so surprised that she did as she was asked, frowning in confusion before moving away, and I saw the smile quickly vanish from Davina's face. Oh hell no. When my turn came, there was a clear show of ostracising with all the gifts being placed at either Monique's or the other girl's feet, with Davina being left with absolutely nothing. The attendant tried to direct me to place my gift with Monique, but there was no chance that I was going to allow the gifts I had painstakingly collected for Davina to go to that spiteful witch. I walked over and immediately pressed the silver wrapped box into Davina's hands, making sure she had a good grip on it. "This is for you, Davina, and my request is that you bless the little girl I'm carrying. Bless her with good health, happiness, and protection. That's all I ask." Relieved to see me and a little tearful to finally receive something, Davina nodded her head.
"I grant you this blessing." Brushing against her chin to tell her to keep it up, I then moved aside to allow the next person to give their gift, though as the attendant moved to take the gift away from Davina, I snapped my fingers which made the skin on the attendant's hands burst with a bright, sharp flame which burned harshly but was gone in an instant so that no one else would notice, other than to see the attendant snatch her hands away all at once with a light gasp.
"Only Davina can touch that box, by the way. I enchanted it. Good luck." Tossing Davina a wink, I settled myself back into the crowds in order to wait until this whole thing was over and I could go get Davina, however soon enough she was running away from the gift giving clutching still the single box in her hands. My box. I was majorly pissed, and the pregnancy only amplified those emotions which made me contemplate just setting every witch here on fire. It was majorly tempting. I started after Davina only for Josh to bump into her first whereby Davina gaped at him in shock.
"Josh! What are you doing here?"
"What, are you kidding? No way I'd miss out on your big day. Besides, music, wind, fire? The club kid in me is, like, in heaven." Josh was such a sweet guy, I couldn't help but feel affectionate towards him and my mood quickly swung in the opposite direction as I leaned against the wall nearby, listening to their conversation as everyone else ignored them. "You don't look like you're having much fun, though. Hey, come on. Let's get out of here." They made to leave, but apparently I was wrong in my assumption that no one else was paying attention to them, because at that moment, Nik suddenly appeared.
"Joshua." I'm pretty sure Josh's stomach dropped right there and then judging from the look on his face. "What a fortunate coincidence, finding you here. We have unfinished business."
"You need to leave here. Right now." Davina bravely stood to protect her friend, facing down Nik which was no small feat, however Nik merely nonchalantly pointed out that Davina no longer had the means to beat him like she had done in the past. "Now, to be fair love, you're not quite as powerful as you once were, are you? You're in no position to give orders." In a heartbeat Nik had grasped hold of Josh and forced him to move along with him to main hall and up part of the stairs in order to make himself visible to all. Here we go, more of the theatrics. He just had to make a spectacle of things, didn't he?
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please. We are gathered here today to pay homage to our beloved witches, but one very special witch has been utterly ignored." He began, calling everyone to attention so that they had no choice but to hear him as Davina worriedly looked up at him and Josh from below. "That seems a little unfair to me." He then proceeded to hand Davina a small box which was meant to be his offering to her. I smiled secretly to myself. Just the other day Nik had come to me asking advice on how to seek a truce between himself and Davina. He had wanted to give her a daylight ring as well as the spell to create them, but I told him I had already taught her how to do that, so I helped him find something else. We decided on two things. One, to pardon Josh, her best friend, and two, something that I had originally intended to give to her myself. A dragon stone.
"No. I don't want your gift." Davina rejected him on principle, refusing to even take the gift as she clutched onto mine all the more.
"I understand why you would reject me, given our past. In truth, many of us here today have been wronged in the conflict which my brother's treaty ended. Your friend Josh was involved in a plot to kill me. It would be well within my right to execute him here and now. But, in the spirit of solidarity, and for your favour, Davina, I hereby pardon him. Josh from this day forward, you have nothing to fear from me." Josh look completely floored, and in that moment, even Davina had no response to his words. Nik gently pressed the box into his hands before leaving her be, though as he stepped aside, his eyes rose and caught hold of mine. I smiled to him, gently and with as much adoration as I dared to betray with a single nod of my head to tell him that he'd done a good job.
Davina opened the box and, although she did not recognise what the stone was, could tell that it was infused with a great deal of magical power. It was bright orange with a golden centre, shining like living flames whilst radiating with heat and warmth. "It's called a dragon stone. Extremely rare, but for a fire element such as yourself, all the more valuable." I explained as I moved to stand behind Davina, peering over her shoulder to the precious stone. "There are very few of those left in the world, you know. I hope you know that means that Niklaus is sincere in his words to you, Davina." Davina did not know how to respond, and could not even decide which gift was more unbelievable. The stone, or Josh's absolution. In the end, we decided that it was best for Davina to simply go home seeing as there was no point in her staying. The other witches would not allow anymore offerings to be made towards her, so there was no sense in her remaining where she would only get more upset, so I encouraged her to go home and open up her gifts. "Just remember who your favourite person is from now on, okay?" Ruffling her hair, I left Josh to take her home, intending to find Hayley so that we could turn to addressing the matter with Nik and the wolves.
Barely crossing halfway across the room, I was made to stop when a group of drummers suddenly entered the room, announcing their arrival noisily and forcing the crowds to give way for them. I pushed my way to the front, folding my arms as I stood opposite where Hayley, Elijah and Nik were standing. "Happy Fête des Bénédictions. We have a message for all of you from Marcel Gerard." My blood ran cold, and in a sudden burst of premonition where I saw flashes of blood and screaming, I knew what was going to happen even as the drummers raised blades to their wrists and slit them open.
The hot gush of blood sent every vampire in the room into a frenzy, enough so that even Elijah could not control them. I flung my magic up around me to protect myself and the baby first, before then using my magic to quickly heal the wounds of the drummers before they could bleed out everywhere whilst simultaneously casting non-violence wards everywhere around me. The lights suddenly cut out, plunging everything into darkness where amidst the chaos and confusion, screams began to curdle the air. My magic allowed me to sense what was going on, and as vampires descended upon the humans in order to drink their feel, I repelled them as best as I was able to, feeling splatters of blood spray in my face as one person screamed almost directly into my ear as her neck was bitten. I healed her after dismissing the vampire, keeping everything as under control as I possible could until the lights returned, the wounded were sprawled on the flood with blood everywhere. I wanted to hurl, but I choked it back and forced the vampires who were still feeding to let go whilst remaining in my protective barrier as I then started to search around.
"Nik? Nik!"
"I'm here." At first he tried to reach me but my barrier stopped him, so with an exhale of relief I lowered the defences and let his arms rush to engulf me. After a moment, he recognised that I was covered in blood and immediately looked me over, with a worried glance to my stomach.
"The baby is fine, it's not my blood." My eyes then spotted the warning on the wall, and I found myself gripping onto Nik more securely at the scarlet lettering, made with blood to make it all the more ominous. There will be no peace. "Hayley…is Hayley…?"
"Elijah has her. Come, we are leaving."
"But the injured…"
"We will take care of it, you are my first and only concern, Ophelia. Come." With his hands fixed upon me, Nik led me firmly away from the now blood stained party. Once I was safely back in my room, Nik started to prowl like some kind of overprotective wolf, as if worried that someone will come after me next.
"Marcel won't lay a finger on me." I told Nik pointedly, kicking off my shoes and searching for some soothing lotion to rub into my neck, back and stomach after having washed and changed to get rid of the smell of blood.
"And what makes you so certain of that?" Choosing to ignore the rather curt attitude in which Nik replied, I reminded him that Marcel had a rule about not harming children, and since I was currently pregnant, that meant that I was off his hit list. "That does not mean Marcel would not take you just to spite me. He could lock you away until the child is born and then kill you."
"I don't think he'll do that either."
"How so?"
"Because I'm a nice person, and he actually likes me." This was as simple a logic as I could provide, but it was fool proof. I had no concerns at all that Marcel might do anything to me or the baby, so I had no qualms about closing my eyes and sleeping peacefully tonight. Save for the nightmares about blood and stuff. "Are you going to just pace around everywhere or settle down?"
"I'm restless."
"Because you're planning something with the wolves and the moment you finally start to move all your pieces into place, Marcel jumps in and screws everything up for you." Cold eyes turned to glower at me. "I'm just saying, I know you pretty well by now Nik, I'm pretty sure I can guess your movements at this point." Making myself comfortable on the bed, I started to massage some cream into my neck and back to try and massage the stress points, however after a few moments Nik came and pushed my hands aside in order to take over. His subtle yet firm fingers worked themselves into the knots and tense spots which immediately made me groan. "Now this is heaven."
"And if I am making plots involving the wolves, sweet Ophelia, how will you respond? Because if you intend to get in my way…"
"Hey, I'll only get involved if whatever it is you're doing puts those wolves in danger." Reaching up in order to curl my fingers lightly around his wrist, tilting my head back in order to look up at his face. "I don't have access to my visions like I used to, so I can't tell what you're planning or how this is all going to play out, but the more you try and take over, the less control you'll actually have, Nik. I'll do what I have to in order to keep the peace, and to keep you safe." A multitude of emotions seemed to cast a shadow upon his face, my head resting back against his chest as I looked up at him, trying to assess his response.
It came in the form of a kiss, his lips descending upon mine so quickly that I hadn't even seen him move or realise what he was doing until I felt the soft pressure of his mouth against mine. A surprised sound escaped me as my eyes widened, flailing slightly though Nik's hand came to the back of my head in order to support me, gently holding me upright as his kiss explored the familiar cavern of my mouth. In a moment of weakness, I succumbed to that sensation and wanted nothing else than to further that kiss, but I quickly snapped back to my senses and pushed him away in order to catch my breath, closing my eyes as a burning pressure intensified across my chest. "What was that for?"
"It was nothing but a sudden fancy, my sweet Ophelia. I apologise." Deciding that I needed to hide my expression for a moment, I buried my face into a pillow which I brought up to my chest, though Nik resumed his massaging of my shoulders which soon eased away the tension I had gained back. "So once again we find ourselves on opposing sides still promised not to interfere with one another. It feels just like old times."
"Only because you insist on being a dictatorial prat." Muttering a little darkly, Nik laughed in good humour and instead of growing angry, merely continued to massage my neck and shoulders before then moving onto my stomach, rubbing the cream slowly onto my stretch marks and pressing his hand over where the baby was moving to feel her inside. She would be here soon, only a month was left to go before she would be here. I was worried about the labour, I hadn't thought about that when I'd first offered to take on the pregnancy for Hayley, but now I couldn't escape the inevitable. I just hope it doesn't hurt as much as people said it did.
Nik continued to linger with me even as I settled down to sleep, resting slightly on my side whilst surrounded by pillows to help support me, though after a while I cracked an eye open to find him looking at me from beside me, having taken up the other half of my bed. "You're still worried, aren't you?"
"I am merely ensuring the safety of my sweet Ophelia and my daughter."
"Fine. In that case, you may as well stay. Just don't snore too loud, or disturb me. I can barely sleep through the night as it is, so if you're the one to wake me and not the little one, then nothing on earth will save you." Chuckling at my rather profound threat, Nik made himself at home on my bed and even put his arm around me in order to place his hand over the swollen curve. Ordinarily I would have been annoyed, but I let it pass since it was only because he wanted to feel his daughter under his palm, and I was too tired to argue. In fact, him being there seemed to keep the little one from being too active during the night, and I got the best sleep I had managed in a long while, meaning that when I woke up I was fully refreshed and even in a good enough mood to hum and sing away whilst getting up early in the morning to paint, with Nik soon joining me at the easel as if it were the most natural thing in the world with nothing else to bother our consciences or concerns.