I stood next to Nik as we watched Elijah sleep. He was breathing erratically, covered in a sheen of sweat, and his muscles were tense, as though he'd been overwhelmed by fear.
"I know you are locked in battle, however deep in your mind our mother has set the stage. Hear my voice." Nik told his brother as he twitched anxiously in his sleep. "Our mother thinks she will win because she has left you alone, but you are not alone. Let me in." Nik put one hand on Elijah's head and one on his chest, hoping to gain entry into Elijah's mind. Elijah's body goes rigid as though he'd been shocked and Elijah's muscles began to seize and spasm painfully. "Let me help end whatever torment she has forced upon you." Nik's nose began to bleed as he delved into Elijah's mind.
"Nik, you need to stop." I told him. "Well find another way to wake him up." Nik groaned in pain as he ignored me before I ripped Nik away from Elijah. "Stop!" Nik, startled, panted in an attempt to catch his breath as he wiped the blood from his nose.
"I'm trying to enter Elijah's thoughts to wake him." He reminded me. "Esther's locked me out."
"Well hurting yourself isn't going to help him." I told him before walking to Elijah. I took a good look at him to see a flower petal shaped wound on his neck. "Hey did you see this?" Nik joined me at Elijah's bedside to examine the wound.
"I haven't seen this since I was a child. Mikael would return home from battle more blindly temperamental than usual, and our mother would use the petals of a rare merlock orchid to put him to sleep. She would mend his mind with a spell, and then wake him with the roots of the same plant." He explained to me before turning to me, looking hopeful. "If she has access to it now, then maybe it also grows in the Bayou. You and Hayley stay here with your wolves and mind the fort."
"I'd rather rip your mother's head off." I told him.
"Stay clear of her. I mean it, Nicole. She already got to you once. What would happen if I were to wake Elijah only to find you a victim of her madness?" he asked me. "I would not be able to…" I cut him off by kissing him. When I pulled away from him I smiled at him lightly.
"Fine, I won't go after her. I promise." Nik looked at me for a moment before smiling down at me. "I'm going to go find the merlock orchid. Join me?"
"Always." I told him before we both turned and left Elijah alone.
A few hours later we were wandering around the Bayou, looking for the merlock orchids to awaken Elijah. As we walked through the forest I started noticing an extra heartbeat and breathing. Nik and I shared a look and I nodded at him lightly. He used his vampire speed to get to the person and pinned him to the tree. I joined him and saw Ansel.
"Ansel?" I asked looking at him confused.
"Stop following me. I have no intention of taking Esther's bargain, and no desire to be remade a mortal being. Now, kindly piss off. I'm in a hurry to help my real family." Nik told him before stomping away pulling me with him.
"You seek the merlock orchid." Ansel called after us and we turned to him suspiciously.
"How did you know that?" Nik asked him.
"I saw you carry Elijah home last night. Who do you think used to find the orchid for your mother to put Mikael to sleep? Without my help, you could search forever." He told us. Nik and I shared a look before turning back to a smiling Ansel. The smile was small, but was defiantly there.
"My mother brought you back from the dead. My sense of strategy tells me that it wasn't to play a father-son game of hide and seek." Nik told him before turning to look for the flower.
"You can storm off in a fit of stubbornness if you like, but I suggest you do so toward the west." Ansel said gesturing to the right. Nik stopped for a moment before considering his options with a sigh.
"Nik," he looked at me. "We have nothing else to go on."
Nik and I walked together in the forest while Ansel trailed behind us. To say we walked in an awkward silence would be putting the tension mildly.
"A thousand years estranged, and you choose to walk in silence? Surely you have questions for me." Ansel told Nik.
"Just one—" Nik sighed turning to his father. "Is there a way to cure Elijah without having to listen to the pointless ramblings of an old man?"
"I'm afraid the price of my expertise is conversation." Ansel told him walking between us and patting Nik affectionately on the back before walking ahead of us.
"You know, I used to tell myself that my real father must have had no idea I existed. Otherwise, he'd never leave me to suffer under Mikael." Nik told him.
"Esther forbade from seeing you. So, I waited, knowing that one day, you would trigger your curse and need your real father. When that happened, Mikael found me first. I fought him for you." Ansel revealed.
"Yes, well, your grand declaration is just a few years too late." Nik said.
"Now, you joke, but I know you've always felt a void in your life. I've watched you from beyond for centuries. You've traveled all corners of the world, seen monuments erected, feasted on the blood of the history's most extraordinary men, but you've never found true peace." Ansel said clearly affecting Nik with his words. "The only moments of joy in your life, however fleeting, have been simple pleasures. As you climbed the Himalayas, as you tended to your horses. Quiet days, teaching that boy Shakespeare—"
"Ansel, you need to stop." I told him.
"I watched you fall in love with this woman." I paused staring at Ansel. "I watched you grieve her death twice. I watched you paint. I watched the happiness on your face when you son was born. I watched you feel your unborn daughter's kick—" That was the moment he went too far. Nik sped to him and grabbed him in a choke-hold.
"I believe Nikole ordered you to stop!" Nik shouted angrily. "A millennium of observing me— were your eyes closed as I slaughtered whole villages? Fed my way through thousands of innocents? Because, let's face it— I have a tendency to play with my food." Ansel stared at him silently as Nik stepped closer so they were nose-to-nose. "Have I made you proud, Father?" Nik shoved past Ansel angrily who looked at me heartbroken.
"You had no right to mention our children to him. He was taken from you by Esther so you should know how he feels about them." I told him before passing him up. "Talk to him." I told Nik before passing him up so he could walk with his father. We walked in silence for a moment before I heard Ansel speaking to Nik once more.
"And why would I do that?" he asked me.
"Because he's your father." I reminded him.
"My father who abandoned me." He said.
"You father who Esther kept you from." I told him. "Doesn't that sound familiar?" I asked him before moving past him.
"Who's side are you on, Nikole?" He asked stopping me by grabbing my arm harshly.
"Always and forever." I reminded him. "That's the vow I made you on our wedding day. And that's the vow I intend to keep. Both my fathers are dead, Nik. They died protecting me and my sister. You know Mikael. Maybe you should get to know Ansel." I told him before continuing in the direction we'd been heading with them behind me.
"You're a lucky man." Ansel told Nik finally breaking the silence between them. "She loves you more than you think you deserve."
"Speak about her again and I'll rip your head off." Nik warned and we walked the rest of the way in silence.
We finally made it to a large tree where the merlock orchids were growing upon the branches. Surround the tree were dozens and dozens of a certain purple-flowered herb.
"Vervain." Nik said getting more frustrated. "It's everywhere. My relentless mother has set a trap."
"When are we snapping her neck again?" I asked partially sarcastic. Ansel just looked at the tree before smiling pleasantly back at us.
"I'll retrieve the merlock for you."
"At what cost?" Nik asked him suspiciously. Ansel, finally growing tired of Nik's attitude, threw his knife into the ground and approached Nik.
"Why don't you use your vampire abilities to end your doubts? Search my mind. You'll see I'm not aligned with your mother." Ansel told him.
"I have absolutely no interest in the inner-workings of your brain." Nik told him.
"I'm surprised at your cowardice." Ansel told him.
"Oh?" Nik asked him.
"While you stand here in fear of me, your brother suffers further." Ansel reminded him.
"Oh for the love of… If you two are going to play King of the Hill I'm going to get what we came for so we can help Elijah." I started towards the tree before I felt Nik's arms around my waist holding me back.
"Gather the orchids." He ordered and Ansel did so.
Later that day, Nik and I were sitting across from Ansel as a campfire burned between us. Ansel was using his long knife to cut the orchid we'd traveled so long to find.
"I've always seen a blade to have a very different use." Nik told him.
"Mikael taught you to kill, Klaus- but, you were born to create. Power lies in embracing your true nature." Ansel told him.
"You think I should accept my mother's offer? Sacrifice my vampirism? And then what? Become a florist?" Nik asked him sarcastically.
"You wouldn't be sacrificing anything. As a wolf, you'll be king to an entire species." Ansel told him smiling. I looked into Nik's face and saw the temptation on his face. "You would feel at true peace. And you'll be a better husband and father. Your wife a better mother." I froze, feeling Nik do the same next to me.
"I am no longer a father. She's no longer a mother." Nik told Ansel before taking my hand and pulling me with him from the campfire.
"In our animal form, we feel everything more acutely." Ansel said stopping us in our tracks. We listened to him, but didn't face him. "When you were a boy, after each full moon, I would wake closer to your village, having been drawn to you in the night. Since I've been back, each month when I turn, I wake further from New Orleans. I know the call of my own blood, Klaus." Dred filled my spine and chilled me to my core. My hand tightened in Nik's grasp as Nik turned to him. "I know your children are still alive." I looked into Nik's face to see him shocked by this revelation. Ansel continued to prepare the merlock orchid as Nik and I joined him around the campfire once more. Nik and I stared at each other every so often. When Ansel was done with the poultice he put it in a handkerchief and handed it to Nik. "This will help Elijah." He stood and turned away from us.
"Ansel." Nik called after him and Ansel turned back with interest. "I'd be lying if I said your offer wasn't appealing." I turned to Nik, shocked at his words. Was he going to take Esther's deal? Turn into a werewolf and spend the rest of a human life with his father? "I've never known a parent to be a benevolent force. I think I would have liked to have been your son. But, a different path was chosen for me, and I have, for the past one thousand years, been son of Mikael. Paranoid. Vengeful. And, powerful enough to protect my family." Ansel clasped the back of Nik's head affectionately and stared him in the eyes.
"I want to help you defend her." Ansel told us. I looked between father and son, but couldn't see the look on Nik's face. I could, however, hear the tears on his voice as he spoke his next words.
"I believe you. But, love is what Esther twists. She will take the best of your intentions, and she will use them to get to our children. Nik took Ansel's hand in his own and clasped it tightly. "You waited too long before you came to rescue me." Nik brushed past Ansel so he was looking at me once more and tears filled my eyes at the raw pain, flash of hope, and sheer determination in his. "I won't make the same mistake with Nikolas or Katherine." Nik picked up Ansel's blade and Ansel turned towards him, confused and hurt.
"No." Ansel said as Nik walked towards him with the blade in hand. I watched Ansel's face as he realized what his only son had intended to do. "No, Klaus. I know you. You are not capable of this." Ansel told him desperately.
"That's the first lie you've told me." Nik told him. Ansel looked at Nik sadly, and after a moment, Nik slashed at his father's chest with the blade, slicing Ansel's chest open in a diagonal line. Ansel and I gasped in shock even though we'd both seen it coming. Ansel staggered forward and Nik stepped forward and caught his dying father in his arms, slowly lowering his body onto the ground. I moved to Nik's side and looked into his face to see he looked horrified at what he'd done. Ansel, still shocked, caressed Nik's cheek with his hand before he finally died in Nik's arms. Nik, overwhelmed, started to cry and I maneuvered myself so I could hold him from behind and comfort him.
When we arrived back home we headed straight for Elijah's room, where he was still sleeping fitfully. Nik took out the handkerchief Ansel had given him, and started smearing the poultice onto Elijah's neck.
"We were innocent once, Elijah." Nik told him quietly. "This bloodlust was forced upon us by our parents, turning us from prey to predator. We're the demons lurking in shadow. We are the savage villains in fairy tales taught to children. But, not for my children. Not for Nikolas. Not for Katherine. In their stories, we are knights in shining armor. Without you by my side, I don't think I can survive my own love for my children. I need you. I need you, brother. The monster in me can only be challenged by the monster in you. Only together can we fight our demons and save our family." Suddenly, Elijah woke with a gasp staring at the two of us. We all looked at each other shocked before Nik finally smiled at him and I hugged him.
"Welcome back, big brother."
Later that night, I walked into mine and Nik's room behind him. We stood in silence for a moment before I took a deep breath.
"I'm selfish, aren't I?" I asked him and he turned to me confused.
"Why do you say that?" he asked me.
"I should have killed Ansel. That way you wouldn't have had to kill your own father. I should have been able to bear that burden for you. Ansel might have been Katherine and Nikolas' grandfather and your father, but he meant nothing to me. I might have been in pain for a short time about taking a life, but I wouldn't…" he moved towards me and took me into his arms.
"Shh, love." He told me. I hadn't even noticed I'd been crying until his shirt started to get wet from my tears. "You've never been selfish. You've always thought of everyone else first. You are kind and good, and I don't want you thinking like that again." I nodded before pulling away from him and wiping my eyes.
"Thank you, Nik. I don't know what I'd do without you. Probably go insane." I laughed lightly.
"You'll never have to know." He told me smiling down at me lightly.
"The things we do for our children." I said quietly. "I never knew what that meant until now."
"Neither of us did." He reminded me. He leaned down and kissed me gently when we heard a knock on the door. We turned to see Elijah smiling lightly at us. "How do you feel?" Nik asked him.
"The worst has past. Though, I suspect the nightmares are far from over." Elijah informed.
"Well, gather your strength. After the message I sent Mother tonight, I expect hell-fire to rain upon us imminently." Nik told him.
"We need to make a move before she strikes." Elijah said approaching us when, suddenly, Marcel and Hayley appeared in the doorway.
"Well, actually, moves were made while you were sleeping." Marcel told Elijah.
"It's good to see you vertical." Hayley said smiling at Elijah. "Marcel and I each left a gift for you in the ballroom. You're welcome?" Nik and I shared a confused look before the three of us pass Marcel and Hayley and headed for a ballroom. When we arrived we saw two witches, both wearing enchanted manacles which were suspending them from the balcony by their wrists. One I recognized as Finn and the other was the boy who was with Davina when Mikael had grabbed me.
"Kidnapping? That's a rather unpleasant way to begin a family reunion!" the boy asked and my eyes widened.
"Kol?" I asked shocked.
"Well, wait until you see how we end it!"
