AN: hey i am not dead just a lot contributed to not being able to update like I originally planned. The least of which being finding out I was pregnant and then getting use to having a baby in the routine. So hopefully with schedule under control for the most part again y updates should be back on. thank you for all the support and comments especially since this is only the second story I have ever written and do not have a beta.
It took about three days for the final touches on the house to finish and for Nik's siblings to be brought in. Bella had been sitting in Nik's art studio reading his mothers grimoire in full it turns out there were a few more secrets involved with changing her children than just the loss of her youngest son than she was willing to admit to anyone. The problem being that even with the affinity for soul magic all those blood related to her possessed and still do if the reading Bella was getting off her children were any indication. Esther seemed to be the least experienced in her family magic and seemed to have refused to have really learn most of the teaching which was good in that it will be simple to take control of the immortality spell on Nik's siblings and fix the issue of mortality curse Esther wove in to kill her children if needed. The bad news was it meant that none of her children got any of their true family teaching other than the older sister which was handed over to their aunt and wouldn't that be news to share on top of the fact that they would be getting their magic back.
Bella ignored the smashing and yelling in the other parts of the mansion as she noted in the back of her mind that the siblings were awake and arguing. She had no doubt that their aunt who defiantly was well versed in their families soul magic teaching if the curse and deal placed on Esther about future children was any indication. That Bella would be giving them at least one of their siblings back to them once they were found which would also allow for them to be taught in their family magics by the person that knows it best and had the family grimoires to teach it to them. She also wondered just how strong the soul magic affinities were in the family before the mother if the number of twins in the siblings alone were any indication with all but three children of the seven children before one of their deaths were twins. Her musing was cut short by yet another smashing sound though the yelling had stopped deciding to intervene before any of the sibling could truly leave Bella closed the grimoire and headed towards where she felt her mate not in the least that she was going to be meeting them dressed in one of the white Henley shirts she "borrowed" from Nik with the it hanging off her right shoulder and the sleeves pushed up to just below her elbows. She also paid no mind to the only the front of the shirt being tucked into a pair of her dark wash high waisted with rips through out jeans. She did notice however that the sound of her bare feet caught the attention of his siblings before she even entered the room their anger still being the prominent emotion she was seeing as the oldest brothers comment hung in the air as they watched her be pulled into Nik's lap and settle so that she could see all of them.
"You still have not given us any indication for wanting us to remain Elijah if father is truly as dead as you claim it should be …." whatever he was going to say died on his lips as Bella settled and he watched as his younger brother truly relaxed in front of his eyes a sight he and going from the expressions on the other two now undaggered siblings faces had never seen.
That was the thing about their sibling bond none of the Mikaelson siblings could never quite shake or a habit they would never break it was being able to read the true emotions off of each other and others despite what a persons body language was saying. Niklaus had learned to hide his true emotions well to protect himself from Mikael at a young age and to help him as best they could his siblings learned to read him and as a consequence each other. it was an art form that grew with them over the coarse of their life time which meant truly emotions wise their was nothing they could hide from each other, secretes were another story all together and they had long ago agree to let each other keep their secrets but emotions, emotions they could never really hide their emotions though Nik was the hardest to read out of all of them. Elijah taking advantage of their distraction in watching Nik and Bella indicated for the others to join them at sitting down and finally succeeding he took a sip out of the glass of blood in his hand before answering Finn's question.
"I have several reasons for wanting you all to remain with us for the time being, brother. The least of which is so I have help getting the three of you up to speed on the times and before you say anything Kol one of the main points to that is their are multiple ways for humans to catch you feeding in which you need to be made aware of." Elijah ignored the scoff Kol made at being called out before Bella took over the explanation.
" What would you say if we told you that in the process of figuring out the curse placed on your brother was a two fold curse we were to tell you that with the exception of Elijah the three of you were hybrids as well." Watching as she spoke she noticed as the manic gleam started to shine brighter in the youngest eyes so she was the only one not to twitch as the laugh that left his mouth followed by the words that were spoken in a very thick accent.
" A thousand years of witches says otherwise my dear." Bella placed a hand on Nik's arm as he answered with a far louder growl of his own to the accusation before she spoke again.
"Ah, well then its a good thing your brothers spoke with those much older than your thousand year old witch and much stronger too." Bella watched the different emotions play out among the three though the homicidal tendencies dialed back in the wake of fear in the youngest again as he the word, "Silas" escaped.
Bella could only grin as the amusement from her mate radiated along with the exasperation from Elijah at her word games as she decided to continue the explanation; like she hadn't been wording it in a way to play with them in pay back for the broken objects and the stab wounds that her mate was healing from.
"No, but we will get back to why you jumped to that conclusion from my words in a moment..." She never finished her train of thought due to the oldest jolting forward in his seat and wonderment started to overwhelm even the anger he was feeling. He had been studying her since she had entered the room and had picked up on how she was staring at things that they couldn't see as well as the word games and clues he began to look between the three of them as the words stammered out of his mouth in astonishment.
"How... Where... but your out of the circle though we were told you weren't able to leave those and that it was just our imagination." his words brought confusion to go zapping through Elijah and Nik's auras but Kol and Rebekah were a different story mostly because their twin bond seemed to be feeding each others anger. Bella watched as Rebekah seemed to be cycling through disbelief and hope and the disbelief seemed to be tempering the anger in Kol but only slightly.
"vættir" Seemed to hang in the air and as Bella grinned at him Bella watched as he seemed to be concentrating on her before relaxing and she watched as his emotions completely evened out and seemed to influence all his siblings emotions more letting them relax and focus more on the conversation and not what they were feeling.
It seemed that each child had inherited a certain trait from their family magic and just assumed it was something they could do the thing was the block should have kept him from doing that. Looking at him again Bella noticed the he had an extra bond that his other siblings lacked looking at the bond she noticed it was a twin bond and was still active meaning the twin was still alive. The problem came from the block and another spell most likely on the twins end interfering with the bond which was why he had to concentrate if he wanted to effect the emotions of his siblings. Bella thought to herself that this family became more and more interesting the more of them she met and that her queen would agree with her.
"That right there what you just did is one of your proofs that your mother was lying to you with out having to bring anyone else into it but my question is have you wondered why you could do that when the other two can't at present?" Kol was the one to answer for his brother.
"Yes because I could do that as well when we were warlocks." Realizing that his older brother being able to keep part of the gift he cherished had been the start of some of the cracks on their bonds. Bella decided she was going to need back up for containing their reactions to the news and filling Elijah and Nik on the new information she was going to impart on them.
"come on then we are going outside for the rest of the conversation so that you lot can let out your anger any way you need to and Nik wont have to worry about the new renovated house." Giving the bond with her twin a tug Bella waited for him to tug back and feels him heading her way before standing up and pulling Nik out the back of the mansion by his hand noticing his siblings only paused for a few moments before trailing behind them.
She was heading for her unfinished project she had been working on when she needed a break from the research and wanted to teach Maddox about her favored element. You see Nik had renovated the front drive of the house too which meant the fountain that had been there but unfunctional due to neglect over time had decided on replacing it and Bella decided she wanted to keep it and use it for an experiment she wanted to test out about the rings. So to keep her happy Nik had it moved to the back of his property just behind the hedge maze that was the back garden. Other than her twin none of the others had gotten a chance to see what she had been doing other than a few more trees popping up in that area. the base of the fountain was twenty six feet in diameter and Bella had sunk it into the ground like a shallow pool. Half of the outer ring of the fountain had five weeping snow cherry trees that had been manipulated to grow so they meet in the middle and allowed for their branches to grow in such a way that the whole fountain was cover and hung like curtains. A few of the roots had grown over the edges allowing them to be manipulated into benches the center tiered piece of the fountain the verry top tier held wolfsbane, vervain and witch hazel while the second tier help and assortment of hanging plants that dropped down into the bottom tier that help a variety of flowers.
Waving her hand as she walked up to her project the branches that were hanging like curtains parted like they were actual curtains Bella moved to the side to let the others in first feeling her brother jogging through the garden. As they stepped inside together Bella snickered at her brother telling Nik that he couldn't demote him from his friend to just his mates brother when he had known him longer. As he faced Bella and held out his hands Bella knew he had already seen her plan to ward off the spirits plus he was excited to see the queens and kings reaction to knowing premade structure could be shielded by the portals if their was enough power put in when the portals were originally created. Guiding her brother along they pored their magic first into the trees guiding it to the roots and from the roots to the outer rim of the fountain as they worked along the original family could see the results as flowers began to sprout along the edges. When the last flower sprouted Bella and Maddox could feel the portal beginning to open continuing to poor their magic into the portal to make sure it became a permanent feature rather than a temporary one became much easier when Bella felt the presence of the squirl guard lounging in the branches above. After a few minutes they nudged the twins magic back so they could continue with the conversation though at present only Bella and Maddox knew they were there.
Maddox settled on the ground in front of where they came in leaning back against the side he stretched out one of his legs while the other was bent for his arms to rest on and as the tree branches closed them in behind him he started using his fire to recreate the fire creature lights his king had taught him as Bella moved to join Nik on one of the roots. The other set of twins settled with Rebekah sitting on the roots and Kol siting to her right on the ground and leaning again her leg one of his hands where wrapped around her ankle he seemed to be using it to ground himself and to help center their twin bond again. As Elijah and Finn settles against the trees and roots Bella started on her explanation.
" I will get a brief summary about my twin and I out of the way first you can have the context to understand how the blocks and the curses on you guys came to be found about. Along with the further research into your mother grimiore which revealed some things to a few of which are become more clear the longer I am around your family."
As she pointed to Finn she started talking again, "You sire are going to have to tell me about your experience with my kind when you were younger that had you researching enough to figure me out so quickly. Now and days if any of my kind are found in their rings we typically liked to be called fae and at this point in time my brother and I are the only ones not trapped in some way." She switched to pointing to Kol, " the name you mentioned earlier has a major role for why all others of my kind are trapped and after everything with your mother and fixing your curses we will be talking about the story you have heard and I can guarantee you that my version of the story is much more truthful as I have heard from those that were present that day since some of them were fae. So the short answers to how we are not trapped like the others is that my father found a loop hole in the spell trapping them when he was looking for a way to lift the trap and one thing lead to another and instead of just the son he saw he got twins. The problem with that was that the woman he picked gave my brother away before our bond could settle and I did not know about my twin until I was eight and we were only just reunited a few months ago."
"Now the very basics for my kind are that their are two races of us and at a later date if you wish to know more I will be more than happy to fill you in but for now you should know the major difference is in the gifts we have seelie fae like my brother whose gift in its most basic form is foresight quiet honestly there isn't anything they can't see with enough practice with their gift the past included. Unseelie fae on the other hand are more soul inclined with our magic, your bonds your emotions anything that has to do with your soul I can see. Mostly I just look at the emotions of others around me to see how I should handle my interaction with them if I feel inclined to interact with them at all my cousin will tell you that other than him and two others I have not been inclined to interact positively with anyone until this year and he would not be lying but that's what happens when a soul magic users twin bond gets damaged and the fact that its being healed with being reunited has a huge part in that too."
"So when I met Nik in his real body I was able to see his curse at the time but what caught my attention was that when Elijah stood next to him, he had the same curse only what was behind the block for lack of better words was sleeping. Looking at what your mother wrote in her grimiore and viewing your auras even when you were daggered confirmed at least one of her reasoning for the curse then delving into the earlier parts of her grimiore just today confirmed a few more reasons and paired with what Finn did earlier you might not be calling her your mother any more."
"To put it bluntly she lied to you and she is continuing to lie to any witch or spirit who asks and since she has been doing it for so long she might just believe that lie herself now. The only physical evidence for this lie was written off as a doodle in the margins by a spelling mistake that if I hadn't known about the curse would not have looked into the so called mistake further. There is no easy way to bring this up but you lot have a family magic, a very strong unique family magic that no other witches study or learn in this day in age in fact most spirit witches claim that your sort of magic doesn't exist when asked about it so much so that only your mother and her sister survived the hunt for your family when they were younger. Your family magic is a form of soul magic She doesn't have to many details on it but I bet your aunt does. Since your aunt was the only one of the two to still try and learn the family magic your mother tried to get away with never having to do magic again until after she married Mikael." Bella paused as she noticed some recognition with horror and rage going through the oldest she looked at him as he motioned for her to continue talking.
" When she was having trouble conceiving due to a curse that was placed on her she and many others tried to lift it before she contacted her sister who refused to help with making a deal and with soul magic being used on your aunts part no doubt the deal would have to be completed. The deal was that she would help your mother have children as many as her heart desired but every oldest child of every generation after would be given to your aunt whenever she came for them. Your aunt deliberately choose to wait until whatever age it was to retrieve your twin and Esther deliberately claimed she died and went as far as to use magic on your bond and memories so you wouldn't go looking for her since your bond would have demanded it." Bella ignored the enraged growl he let out pushing forward knowing the rest would at least give him something positive to focus on.
"When she convinced Mikael to move countries and have more children she made sure those of you that had magic would not know about the family magics and when she brushed off any signs of the family magic showing you followed along like you were taught to. Having the other village witch teach you and her blood magic was just a bonus. When your youngest sibling was lost and Mikael demanding a way to protect you guys she saw an opportunity to keep her sister from being able to get the rest of her deal. Hearing Ayana's ancestors whispering about an immortality spell she went about making it her own power was not a problem and blood from a magic person would not be to difficult either with the female doppelganger already in your village and close to your family. The problem is that she used your families soul magic to combine with and manipulate the blood magic. If she hadn't you lot would probably would've been the first cold ones in existence rather than originals." she knew later that night and the next few days on a few towns were going to have multiple massacres from the rage all of the siblings were giving off.
"I filled you in on the family soul magic because of the vision my brother and a few other fae have seen that lets me know that when she is resurrected the original witch will be preforming some spell on you guys that will give me the key I need to unlocking your curse and making you the true immortals you should be." Looking Finn in the eye she made sure he understood her next sentence.
" The reason I brought up what happened to your twin in detail is because your twin bond is still active, your twin is still alive and you should be able to at least feel her once your block is removed. The blocks on both your ends are messing with the bond its why you can still feel and mess with your siblings emotions through your bonds with them your subconsciously drawing on her magic through your bond. once your end gets unblocked you should be able to track her down of coarse it might take you a while and if she's still around then your aunt probably is to but I'm sure your siblings are more than willing to help you when asked."
Bella snuggled into Nik as her words sunk in and their anger cooled to something manageable she noticed Nik's emotions were screaming at him to help his pack and she knew as soon as Finn mentioned even a hint of wanting help at finding her, he would be one of the first to push down his paranoia and do so. Bella privately thought that was why Nik was so drawn to Maddox when they first meet and the reason for keeping him around when he normally wouldn't he was seeing the same symptoms his brother was going through not knowing it was caused by the bond. Having watched the after math and the healing she and her brother went through she also thought Nik was going to be channeling his paranoia into making sure his brother was going to be prepared for the aftermath of their reunion since it would probably put Bella and Maddox's to shame.
Bella's prediction was only partially correct the massacres lasted a whole week, though that week was also spent very productively as well. Maddox and Bella called Caroline about an hour after the siblings calmed down enough to go shopping. Caroline and Rebekah after meeting shortly became best friends bonding over fashion and a major dislike for doppelgangers. withing the first three days of them being awake an unholy alliance was formed between Enzo and Kol while Nik and Damon choose to watch the chaos they created together play out preferring violent blood shed over chaotic blood shed. Caroline had also convinced Rebekah to join her in school to help with the doppelganger and her witchy friend. Bella found a new research buddy in Finn who could be found in her cave reading almost any grimiore he could get his hands on in between catching up on the literature that had developed over the years. It took another week before signs began to show that Esther was going to show up soon her coffin going missing and if the game Stefan tried to play with Nik were any indication. Feeling a rush of dark magic combined with the Bennett witches magic on the edge of her senses shortly after the coffin was taken certainly confirmed that.