Daisy awakens an hour later with a dry throat. The many sweets she and Rebekah had consumed had made her thirsty. As quietly as possible, so as not to disturb the blonde, she climbs out of bed and proceeds to tiptoe towards the door. She had considered borrowing Rebekah's robe, but it was only a short trip and the pajama she had borrowed from Rebekah was warm enough.
The mansion seemed even bigger at night, and all that could be heard was Daisy's bare footsteps on the marble. She grins upon reaching the kitchen. She was a little proud that she had found her way in the dark, seeing as she had only been to the house twice and was not yet familiar with the layout.
After patting the wall for a few seconds, she finds the light switch. Daisy is about to walk to the counter when her gaze drops to the floor, it was covered in various red smears. Daisy swallows, desperately hoping it was some kind of berry juice and not blood. Her eyes follow the trail of smudges and eventually land on the handle of the refrigerator, which was also covered in the substance.
After taking a deep breath to steady herself she steps towards the fridge. Daisy wasn't the type of person to go snooping in people's belongings, but curiosity gnawed at her. She opens the fridge, cautious not to touch the dirty parts of the handle, and gasps when she sees the contents. There were blood bags placed among the usuals food articles like cheese and milk. Daisy rubs her eyes, not sure if they were playing tricks on her.
Daisy is startled when she hears footsteps approaching, she quickly closes the fridge just to come face to face with Elijah.
"Elijah." Daisy gasps while clutching her chest. She feels her cheeks heating up, embarrassed to have been caught. Lowering her gaze, Daisy sees the blood-covered front of his dress shirt.
"Oh god." Daisy chokes out, eyes flying back up to Elijah's face. His face was impassive, cold. It was beyond intimidating to Daisy, she slowly backs away, only to bump into another person. Daisy lets out an involuntary whimper and halts in her movements. She did not dare to look at whoever she had bumped in, scared that that person was also covered in blood.
"Goodevening, Daisy." Elijah greets solemnly, still looking down at his mate. He was somewhat hurt by his mate's attempt to increase their distance from one another, but also understood her aversion. He could imagine the assumptions that were crossing Daisy's mind.
Kol scoffs, looking quite annoyed with Elijah. Their mate had just discovered their blood supply and Elijah somehow deemed it appropriate to greet her in such an indifferent manner. Elijah shoots Kol an impatient look, not in the mood for his criticism, even if it weren't verbal.
"What happened?" Daisy asks softly. Daisy didn't want to know, not really, but starting a polite chat while coming up with a plan to get away safe sounded better than getting killed right away. Daisy thought it best not to beg, she had read enough thrillers where begging only added to the fun of the murderer. 'Maybe they aren't murderers, maybe they had an accident?' Daisy resolves, not really believing it herself.
"We had a bit of a... scuffle," Niklaus replies hesitantly, gaze studiously upon his mate. He could her heart beating rapidly, giving away the frightfulness that she had hidden under her somewhat calm facade.
Daisy turns her head upon hearing Niklaus's voice. She sees both Finn and Niklaus leaning against the kitchen island. Both were covered in blood and looking at her in a bit of a shifty manner as if they expected her to run away at any moment. Daisy didn't think running was an option seeing as the four men were more athletic than her, judging by their muscular builds. Perhaps she could scream for Mrs. Mikaelson or Rebekah, but there was a possibility one of them was also involved in whatever this was.
"Scuffle..." Daisy repeats, glancing briefly at Niklaus's blood-covered hands. Daisy clenches her fists, preparing herself to punch them if they tried anything, but lets them slack right away, she would presumably do little damage and it would only make them angry.
"I'm sorry, my love. You weren't supposed to find out like this." Finn apologizes, looking genuinely sorry. He had never wanted his mate to fear him. He had hoped to explain the vampire and soulmate situation to her when their friendship had been more profound, after they had proven to her that they would never hurt her. This was one of the few times he was pleased with his vampire nature, they could make her forget and try again.
"What is-" Daisy starts, now looking quite panic-stricken. He was apologizing, this probably meant they were going to kill her now.
Daisy is cut off as Elijah grips her chin, making her look up at him. Elijah's hands were cold and firm, not warm and gentle like when he had taken care of her wound at the ball. Daisy tries to pull away but is held in place by Kol.
Kol grimaces as he grips onto Daisy's shoulders, disliking the entirety of the situation. The day had been perfect, he had made her laugh, entertained her, but of course, it had to go wrong at some point. Hearing her petty protests was enough to make him cringe.
Daisy averts her gaze, focussing her eyes on Elijah's tie. She did not dare to look into his eyes, which until now had reflected nothing but warmth and affection.
"Look at me, darling." Elijah requests gently, not letting go of her chin. To his regret, he sees tears brimming in Daisy's eyes, a heartbreaking sight.
Daisy shakes her head almost imperceptibly while biting back a sob. She thought murderers usually didn't want to look their victims in their eyes, or they would sympathize, but maybe the Mikaelson men enjoyed that all the better.
"Daisy, we are not going to hurt you. Please look at me." Elijah promises, smiling softly as Daisy subsequently meets his eye. "Good girl." He praises.
Daisy shudders involuntarily at the praise while trying to focus on Elijah's eyes.
"I want you to forget what you saw. You're going to go back upstairs and sleep without a worry." Elijah orders as he stares intently into her eyes.
Daisy stares back, she didn't understand how he wanted her to forget about all this, surely she could try, but it wasn't exactly a failsafe method.
"Do you understand me, Daisy?" Elijah asks, still staring into her eyes. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed in concentration.
"I understand." Daisy murmurs, if agreeing to Elijah's delusional idea of forgetting this meant that he wouldn't hurt her, she would do it.
Elijah looks appraisingly at Daisy for a second before gently wiping a tear off her cheek. He notices her flinching and, with a wounded expression, he lets go of her chin. Kol lets go of Daisy's shoulders and Elijah steps back, allowing Daisy to walk back upstairs.
Daisy tries to steady her breathing and take control of her shaking limbs as she walks past Elijah.
Sniffing softly Daisy crawls under the covers, immediately snuggling up to the blonde. Daisy wasn't sure if Rebekah was aware of her brothers' nighttime activities, but she needed some comfort.
With a sigh she closes her eyes, hoping morning would come soon.
• • •
"Wake up sleepy head." Rebekah shakes Daisy's shoulder gently. She could have of course let the girl sleep in, but she was pretty sure Daisy didn't like skipping classes.
Daisy smiles softly at Rebekah upon waking. "Good morning, Bekah." Daisy mumbles, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness.
"Good morning, Daisy." Rebekah replies cheerfully, before pulling Daisy out of bed.
There are clothes on the stool as well as a towel. Come downstairs when you're done, alright?" Rebekah calls as she steers Daisy into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Daisy nods, before shaking her head, remembering that Rebekah can't see her. "Yes, alright-thank you." Daisy stammers.
Daisy looks in the mirror and frowns at her reflection. Her eyes were slightly puffy and her skin was ashen. Daisy thought of everything that had happened last night, the way she had caught Jason and Sophie, how she had stood crying on the doorstep of the Mikaelsons, and how she had seen the four Mikaelson men in the kitchen, covered in blood. They wanted her to forget what she had seen, but what had she seen exactly. There had been blood, a lot of it and there were blood bags in their refrigerator and that was all.
Perhaps she had drawn the wrong conclusion, maybe they had been in a car accident or a fight which resulted in their bloody state, Niklaus did mention they had a scuffle. And maybe the blood bags were for dialysis. Daisy knew nothing about kidney disease, but she knew that a patient had to have blood for it. Daisy shakes her head, coming up with theories didn't help her. The Mikaelsons had only been nice and sweet to her, she had no reason to think they were bad people. Surely it was all a misunderstanding or bad timing.
Daisy hums softly as she steps into the shower, she gazes curiously at the various bight-colored bottles. She picks one and sniffs it, peaches, her favorite scent. Daisy smiles softly as she rubs the sweet gel into her skin while resolving that she wasn't going to worry about last night. All would be fine.
• • •
"Where's Daisy?" Elijah asks as he sees Rebekah enter the kitchen.
"Good morning to you too, Elijah. Yes, I've slept wonderful, thank you for asking." Rebekah replies, rolling her eyes at her brother. She knew they were obsessed with the girl, but that didn't mean they had to abandon all manners.
"No times for jokes, sister. Where is she?" Elijah asks, looking unamused at his little sister.
"Showering, why?" Rebekah replies, looking quizically at her brothers, who all seemed to be a little tense.
"She's still here. good." Nikaus comments before taking a sip of his coffee.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Rebekah asks, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at her brothers, already assuming they had done something incredibly stupid, well more stupid than usual.
"She was downstairs last night she saw the blood bags." Elijah replies stiffly, looking pointedly at Kol. He had been the one who placed the blood bags in the upstairs refrigerator instead of the one in the cellar, as usual. He had also been the cause of the blood trail, claiming he had felt peckish after murdering.
"Not just the blood bags, she saw us, covered in blood. We pretty much made her cry of fright." Niklaus adds while scowling at Elijah. According to him, Elijah should have acted faster, if he hadn't dragged the damn thing out, she might have not cried at all.
"But we compelled her." Kol hastily adds, already dreading the shouting match Rebekah was preparing for them.
"Well, that sounds like a great foundation for a relationship." Rebekah deadpans while fixing her brothers with an unimpressed look. "Why would she have left if you compelled her?"
"She seemed... hesitant, I wasn't sure if it had worked," Elijah confesses. He hadn't seen any jewelry on her, but there was always the possibility that she consumed it.
"You guys are morons. Why was she in the fridge anyway?"
"She saw a trail of blood on the floor and followed it to the fridge." Finn replies while carefully placing the pancakes he had baked onto a plate.
"Nice going, idiot." Rebekah snaps, looking aggravated at Kol.
"Why do you think it was me?" Kol huffs, indignation clear in his voice.
Rebekah raises a skeptical eyebrow at Kol, not at all buying his innocent act.
"Alright fine it was me." Kol admits, rolling his eyes.
"Good morning, Daisy." Niklaus says as soon as he hears her footsteps approaching.
"Good morning." Daisy mumbles upon entering the kitchen. She awkwardly halts in the opening, feeling all eyes on her. She glances briefly at the floor where the smears had been the previous night, but there was nothing there.
Finn walks up to Daisy and offers her his hand while holding the plate with pancakes in the other.
Daisy blinks up at Finn, hesitating for a second before slipping her hand in his. Daisy had encouraged herself not to worry about last night's events, but now that she was back in the kitchen it was a bit harder than she had imagined.
Finn leads Daisy to the table and places the plate in front of her.
"You seem a little tense, love." Niklaus remarks, looking concernedly at his mate. Her pale face and red-rimmed eyes were enough for his inner animal to be alarmed. He had already killed the culprits who had hurt her, but he was more than willing to do some more killing on her behalf. Perhaps Daisy had a childhood bully who he could retaliate against for her.
"Just not looking forward to seeing Jason today." Daisy mumbles, poking at her food with her fork.
Daisy looks up as she sees Kol walking up to the fridge. Daisy watches him closely as well as the contents of the refrigerator. There were no blood bags to be seen.
"Who knows, it might not be bad at all, my dear Daisy." Elijah reassures, stroking Daisy's cheek briefly. Daisy's eyes fluttered close for a second, his touch was soft and warm, like she remembered.
"Thank you. For last night. You guys were... so kind, but I should go, grab my backpack from home." Daisy decides, pushing the plate away from her and looking ready to rise.
"No need, Angel. We can drop by your place, on the way to school." Kol offers, smiling brightly at his mate.
"Oh, I can walk it's fine." Daisy counters, not wanting to burden the Mikaelsons longer than necessary.
"Please, we insist." Rebekah urges, smiling at the girl. She didn't understand why she was continually amenable to help her brothers but then realized the idiots could use all the help when it came to courting Daisy.
• • •
"Hey, mom." Daisy calls as she enters the house.
"Hey sweetie, I was wondering where you went." Daisy's mother walks up to the front door, embracing her daughter tightly. "How are you?"
"Jason and I are over." Daisy blurts out, looking calmly at her mother, whose face contorts into a frown.
"I'm sorry, baby. When did this happen?"
"Last night."
"And you didn't call me?!" Daisy's mother looks a little offended at her daughter.
"I didn't want to disturb you." Daisy admits, blushing a little. She and her mother usually shared everything, so it was admittedly a little odd that she hadn't called.
"So what happened?" Daisy's mother asks, looking interestedly at Daisy's outfit. It was a bit more extravagant than what she would usually wear to school.
"I went to the Mikaelsons And they were very kind. I stayed the night" Daisy summarizes, not feeling in the mood to tell her mother they had given her a key to their home, that would be her little secret for now. Her mother would surely criticize the gesture and make her give the key back.
"And how are you feeling now?" Daisy's mother asks while studying her daughter's face.
"A little sad, but not as sad as last night anymore. Rebekah distracted me." Daisy smiles fondly, remembering how Rebekah had painted her nails and cracked jokes about her brothers.
"Aww, I'm so glad you're making friends honey. Real friends." Daisy's mother rubs Daisy's arm affectionately, before stepping aside, letting her daughter grab her backpack.
"Me too, mom."