"My sons, come forward." Esther offers as if we care for her request given what she was trying to do.
"Stay beside me, mother." Finn warns, pushing Ester slightly behind him as she continues to prepare her perverted ritual.
"It's okay. They can't enter." Esther waves off.
"That's lovely. We're stuck out here, while the favourite son plays sacrificial lamb. How pathetic you are, Finn." Niklaus growls, beating me to the punch by seconds, 'Damn him'
"Be quiet. Your brother knows virtue you cannot even imagine." Esther rebukes. At this I roll my eyes,
"Whatever you think of us, killing your own children will be an atrocity." Elijah says stone faced, only his eyes would betray him at a time like this.
"Fin's probably the worst of us, isn't that right? Ripper!" I taunt. Fin flinches at this and Ester turns to him in shock 'not so perfect now is he?' I thought vindictively.
"My only regret is that I did not let you die a thousand years ago." Esther answers as she turns back to us "it matters not that Fin is a monster, he is making the right choice now"
"Enough. All this talk is boring me. End this now, mother, or I'll send you back to Hell." Niklaus snarls, 'could he not come up with something better than an empty threat?'
"For a thousand years, I've been forced to watch you. Felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood. Even you, Elij…" she trails off looking further behind us eyes going wide, Fin's too. Behind us a blue glow casts us into shadows temporarily.
Niklaus, Elijah and I turn around to see what had caught there attention. 'What stopped her from her tirade? What was more important?'. As we turned we're bathed fully in blue light as a blue swirling portal opens up fully behind us.
Niklaus turns back to Ester "What is this? What have you done?" but Ester just shakes her head looking confused.
Out the swirling door had fallen a woman, her honey blond hair curled and flowing down to her shoulders and over her face. Dressed in a blue open necked shirt that clung to every curve and black jeans that looked painted on.
She growled, deep and yet a small part of my being reacted in possessive arousal at the noise.
Before me or my siblings could react to this turn of events, another figure stepped out the portal, followed shortly by another. Becka,having arrived while we were distracted, dragging along Elena, gasped at the 2 male figures that stood over the woman figure.
Stood infant of us were non other than Fin and Elijah.
I turn around to look at my brothers, confirming that both Fin and Elijah are behind and next to me, before turning back to the portal. Nope, definitely 2 sets of them 'please gods, don't let there be another Nik'. I haven't prayed in years but this was a situation that needed some divine intervention.
The copy of Fin had his arms crossed and was looking at the woman in amusement. Elijah was shaking his head and started to speak to the woman, who by now had rolled over and was looking up at the 2 men, facing away from us.
"What did you do?" Elijah scolds the woman.
"In my defence you left me alone all week, trapped in the house and bored" Elijah thew up his hands and open his mouth to speak when she continued on "but I don't think this was me"
This time it was Fin's turn to shake his head "You're a grown ass Woman Nikola, we should be allowed on leave you alone for a few days"
I was starting to suspect I knew who this woman was, with her next rebuke the suspicion only grew.
"When have I ever done anything bad while alone?"
Oh I had heard that tone before, just not for a thousand years. I shot a look at the Elijah that was stood by my side, despite the shock he was clearly in he too seamed to have recognised the tone. 'Could it actually be true?'
"Well…" I was not prepared for the 3rd figure to stroll out the portal, though really I should have seen it coming. "there was that time you killed the mayor". The other me drawls.
The woman, Nikola, huffed before snapping at my double "Someone had to pay for the Murder of that little girl, they covered it up. So yes I killed the mayor…". During her trade she had stood up, she was short maybe about 5" 3, and the copies of my bothers and I had at least a foot each on her.
The Fin copy rolled his eyes "and 1 or 2…"
"5" the Elijah copy snapped, clearly unimpressed with the under playing of past events. He opens his mouth to continue and despite not seeing it, I could picture the smirk on the woman face as she interrupted the Noble Original look alike.
"6" she waved her had in an elegant dismissal of death "of his subordinates."
Here Fin's face contorted into a smirk, something never seen on the actual Fin's face, "Don't forget the murderer and the girls Nanny"
"The Nanny was an accident" Nikola snapped, sounding remorseful in her actions. 'Maybe not Niklaus then?'
At that moment another man walked out the portal, looking about it as if curious but uncaring. His face was sharp, angled and elegant but something about the man and his blond hair, and style of dress screamed a familiarity to me.
The green eyes framed by dark eyelashes and eyeliner, the shoulder length blond hair tied in a bun on the top of his head, and long legs clad in skinny jeans that lead to feet sat in wedged heeled boots. The man, Reuben if the muttering of the Elijah clone was to be believed, screamed masculine despite the feminine touches to his person.
During my perusal of this new mystery I heard my sister gasp. I snook a glance out the corner of my eye and see her pointing to something. Following this I turned back to the newcomer, and to around their neck. 'Oh my gods' the only coherent thought running though my head at that moment.
Around the mans neck was a necklace, one I had not seen since before I was last dagger when it had sat around my sisters neck.
Before I could recover from this revelation, Reuben looked at Nikola speaking calmly, yet I could still see the woman shiver slightly at his deep and rich voice. "What have you done now, big sister".
'Welp, that confirms it. The woman must be their Klaus' I heard a indigent huff from my right, Nik was clearly not happy about this. Only the situation and my intrigue of what was happening in-front of me helped in suppressing my snigger.
"It wasn't me this time," Nikola huffs at the man "besides, this feels more like a Kol mess to me". She points at my copy, who startles and splutters at the accusation for a second. He stops and starts to smirk at her.
"Well you see my love," My copy stalks forward towards the woman, "that accusation is all well and good, except" He grabs her. Pulling Nikola to his chest and whispering into her ear, though we could all still hear what he said "I wasn't the one messing with magic to get out the house, I was away with our brothers. Nice try though".
As the words left left his lips the blue light behind them sputtered before going out. The other set of Original vampires froze as their only way home was closed to them.
The woman started to struggle in an attempt to get back to the portal even though it had closed. All the time muttering "no" to herself. She freed herself from my copies arms only the be grabbed by the Fin clone. Nikola struggled for a second before he bit her neck with his blunt teeth and she went lip in his arms.
Her eyes glazed for a few seconds indicating she was awake but controlled 'if only our Klaus could be subdued like that' only after the thought did I recoil at the odd implication that the action had left me with.
While we had all been focused on the pair, the other 3 brothers had formed a protective circle around them. All facing us.
My copy was eyeing the ritual going on behind us, his face gave nothing away but his eyes screamed danger. "Elijah," his words brought the attention of both to him though he still did not move his eyes from the ritual circle. "they are preforming a ritual, if Nikola didn't do this, then it must have been them".
The cone of Elijah hummed before turning to the real version of himself. "The ritual, what was it's goal?".
The hesitation was clear in as he went to answer, this had the heckles of the men in the other set rising. Nikola was pushed behind the other Fin, she held onto his back but stood on her own feet. The rest of the group closed ranks and Reuben put his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it in a comforting fashion.
Finally Nik got bored of the hesitation from our elder brother, "it's a ritual in which our big brother and mother plan to kill us all" he spat.
At his words all those present turned around towards the pair. Fin raised his chin and stood tall, clearly proud in their plan. Mother on the other hand sank back now the eyes of 8 Originals were on her.
The silence of our stare-down was broken by the arrival of the Salvator brothers and Bennett witches. Damion, or whatever he is called, ran straight to the Doppelgänger who had been sat at my sisters feet in shock since arriving. The others frozen as they took in the scene.
"I want to go home"
The whispered plea was still heard by everyone in the clearing. Eyes turned to Nikola and she continued on, looking straight into the eyes of her Fin "I don't want to be anywhere near her,". Her eyes turned to Elijah "not after last time".
Reuben brought her into a hug and started to whisper into her ear, so low that even our vampire hearing could only pick it bits and pieces. Small snippets of "Your baby", "Henrik", "safe" and "Protect you" were heard, but the lack off context made them almost meaningless.
The other Elijah, Fin and Kol turned back to us. It was my double that spoke next, looking at us but clearly addressing his brothers.
"Even when I figure out the spell to open it back up, my guess is we will need to full moon." He briefly looked to the sky "and the apex has just past".
At his words Nikola whimpered and Ester looked to the sky as well, before screaming her displeasure at the missed opportunity to kill us. 'Shame' I think sarcastically.
The other Elijah didn't even seam fazed by our mothers actions, turning fully to face his Kol. "How much power do you believe would be needed to do it without the full moon?"
The other me looked pensive, glancing briefly at Nikola before turning full to his brother "More power that a single coven could handle, let alone just one person". At the small wiper from his sister Kol continues "but we could still try".
Here it was their Fin that interrupted "No." It was a surprise when the other Original family all stood up straight looking at Fin. His face was set in a frown as he spoke "We're not taking that kind of risk, we will find a place and then stay their until the next full moon".
I thought for sure they were going to argue with him, but each just nodded their head in acceptance. The man then turned to the real Elijah.
"given the actions of…" he trailed off looking at the other Fin, "your eldest, Im going to guess you are the leader of you family" At Elijah's subtle nod, Nik huffed but didn't interrupt.
The other Fin shot a glance at Nik before turning back to Elijah, "Would you know any safe houses we may acquire for the month?"
"We have a manner in town, if you don't mind sharing a house you can stay with us" Elijah answered.
Before they could reply Nik huffed again "While I'd love to let you stay at my" he shot Elijah a look "manor. We have some family issues to deal with. Sorry" honestly he didn't sound it even remotely.
The other Me shot his Fin a look. "Brother," They all looked at him "the magic is fading, I should arm myself properly if we are to stay here".
At Fin and Elijah's nods he shot forward. Stopping just outside the ritual circle he bent and placed his hands on the floor, before inhaling slowly. I couldn't tell what was occurring but given the rapid paling of both Bonnie and Ester I knew it wasn't good, for them at least. The fire around the ritual died down completely and Fin joined the women in staring at the other Kol.
"What are you" Ester gasped
"How is that possible" muttered Bonnie
The mutterings were simultaneous and the smirk that stretched across my clones face sent shivers down my spine. "Now that" as he spoke he twisted around to face Bonnie "would be telling".
"So.." Started the other Fin, addressing Nik "now the threat to your family is gone, any chance we can stay for the month?"
Nik looked reluctant for a second, before he smirked. "Sure" my siblings our mother and I gapped at him. "just give me a minute".
Nik ran behind our mother, clocked her on the head and lifted her unconscious body over his shoulder. While my family was shocked the other group just smirked. Flashing Nikola an amused look, the other me lifted the still slightly dazed woman into his arms.
"Follow me" and with that Nik flashed away the other group following just behind.