Part 6
Elijah stared at the beautiful young woman who was smiling sweetly. Her dress was bloody, dirty and tattered like she would have just fought against a pack of wild animals.
"Who the hell are you?" Klaus snapped before Elijah managed to say anything.
"Kol," she said. "I need to find Kol."
"He's not here, sweetheart and you're not welcome here either," Klaus huffed.
The girl didn't seem to hear him; she was carefully placing the man she was carrying on the ground. He seemed to be badly hurt or dead.
"My poor dear," she hummed and touched the man's face. "So brave. It's alright, mommy's right here. Daddy will be here soon and he'll make everything better."
She kissed the man's forehead and started to hum some kind of lullaby.
"Excuse me," Klaus snapped. "I thought I made it clear that you're not welcome here."
"Kol," she murmured. "Where is he?"
"He's not here at the moment," Elijah replied.
The girl's bottom lip was trembling.
"I need to find him. They broke it."
Elijah raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
The girl shivered and wrapped her arms around her.
"They broke it. He gave it to me, it was mine and they broke it. They broke it. They broke it…"
Her eyes were filling with tears.
"Hey…" Elijah said, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"I was bad," she murmured. "Bad, bad, bad…. I need Kol."
"Alright. Are you a friend of his?"
Tears were still coursing down her cheeks, but she broke into a snigger.
"We play together."
"I'm sure you do," Klaus huffed. "Unfortunately he's not allowed to invite his playmates here, so I suggest you leave while you still can."
"Niklaus," Elijah sighed. "Do you really think that we should send her outside looking like this? That would draw attention…"
"She never should have come here looking like this," Klaus snapped. "Perhaps I should just kill her and…"
"If you even try to harm a hair on her head, I'll rip your heart out," Kol's voice snarled as he appeared next to the girl and knelt. "Flora? What…? Are you hurt?"
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I was bad."
Quickly Kol wrapped his arms around her.
"It's okay. You're safe, darling, I'm right here."
"Aaron…"
Kol glanced at the man.
"He'll be fine."
"Don't be mean to him."
"I'll try not…"
"Promise."
"Flora…"
"Promise."
"Alright, darling, I promise."
Klaus cleared his throat.
"Kol? Would you mind explaining what this woman is doing here? I thought I told you not to bring your playthings here."
Slowly Kol stood up, helping the girl to her feet.
"She's not a plaything," Kol stated icily. "And she's more than welcome here."
Klaus crossed his arms.
"Is that so? Who is she then?"
Kol pressed his lips together and wrapped his arm around the girl's waist.
"If you must know, she's my wife. Excuse us."
Kol picked up the unconscious man and lifted him over his shoulder before leading the girl inside.
"I didn't know that he has a wife," Hayley stated after a moment of silence.
"Neither did us," Elijah replied and glanced at Klaus. Clearly he hadn't known either.
Hayley frowned.
"What? Why didn't your brother tell you that he's married?"
Elijah could guess the answer to that, although he had to admit that he was surprised that Kol had wanted to get married in the first place. There had to be something very special about this girl.
"Here we go," Kol murmured as he placed Aaron on his bed. The truth was that he was furious at the young vampire for failing to keep Flora safe, but right now he couldn't show it. The last thing he wanted was to upset Flora more.
"Come here, darling," he said and gently pulled Flora closer to him. "Are you hurt?"
"They were mean," she said and let out a sob. "My violin… They broke it."
"Who?" Kol asked, struggling to sound calm.
She stared into emptiness for a moment before he managed to make her look at him.
"Flora? Tell me who did this."
"They were angry because of the other vampires. They said that they don't kill their own kind."
Kol cursed silently. How the hell had these vampires found Flora?
"And you know what else?" she asked, sounding very serious.
Kol felt a lump in his throat. If those bastards had touched his Flora…
"What, darling?"
"They didn't wipe their feet. There was dirt on the floor."
"There was? I'll kill them for that."
She bowed her head.
"I was bad."
"I'm sure you weren't…"
"I was. I killed them all. Please don't be mad."
Fresh tears were filling her eyes; Kol couldn't bear to see her crying.
"Of course I'm not," he assured and wrapped his arms around her. "Did those bastards hurt you?"
"A little," she hummed. "But I hurt them more."
Kol smiled and gently kissed her forehead.
"That's my girl."
She giggled and playfully nibbled his ear. That turned him on immediately, but first things first.
"Flora…. Please forgive me for not being there. I should have protected you."
"I don't want to go back there," she said quietly. "The dirt…"
"You're not going back there," he replied firmly.
She was quiet for a moment before speaking.
"I shouldn't have come here."
"You did the right thing," he assured. "I'm the one who failed to protect you."
"Your family…"
"Don't worry about them." He paused and looked into her eyes. "You're the most important person in this world to me, surely you know that?"
She smiled and ran her fingers over his cheek.
"Are you mine?" she hummed.
"Always," he replied and kissed her hand. "Only yours."
She licked her lips and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down.
"Show me."
His eyes darkened, he didn't hesitate to obey. He lifted her up, wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed her against the wall. In that moment he forgot everything and everyone else, including the unconscious man on his bed. He forgot his siblings and all their questions he would no doubt have to answer. All that mattered to him right now was his Flora. If anything would have happened to her… He couldn't even think about that.