Niklaus and I tried to stay away from the rest of the family for a little while after Henrik's death. Mikael was still angry, although his ire had calmed down from the murderous level. I think he knew deep down that it was not truly Nik's fault that Henrik died but he just did not want to admit it.
I was sitting by the fire, mending some clothing while cooking our midday meal when I heard Niklaus' axe stop chopping wood. He had only started less than half an hour ago, so it would not make sense that he was done by now. Concerned that Mikael may have come to torment his son some more, I set aside my sewing and calmly but hurriedly made my way outside.
I felt relief fill me when I realized that it was just Elijah who was outside, talking to Niklaus quietly. When the door to the house closed rather loudly behind me, both men looked up and smiled at me.
"Ahh, there you are, Lisette," Niklaus said, smiling as I made my way over to him. "Elijah has just stopped by to inform us that Mother has invited us over for a family dinner tonight."
"Is there a special occasion for it?" I asked Elijah.
"I believe Mother wants to show that there are no ill feelings after the passing of our brother. She said there was also to be a surprise after dinner, although what it is, I cannot fathom."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Now, I'd better get inside and check on our meal. Have you eaten yet, Elijah? I'm sure there is enough for you as well, if you would like to stay."
"Thank you for the offer, Lisette, but I am fine. Mother prepared our midday meal before sending me to see you two. I must return to work now, however. Tatia and I are taking a walk later and I have to finish with my work before then. I shall see the both of you tonight." He smiled before leaving.
"Come inside soon," I told Nik, as I started back to the house. "The food is almost ready and you wouldn't want it to get cold."
"I shall be right there," he responded, before returning to his wood chopping.
*Time Skip*
That evening, close to the time where the sun was going down, we made our way over to Mikael and Esther's home. Elijah let us inside when we arrived and I immediately went over to Esther and Rebekah to help them prepare the meal. Esther smiled warmly in greeting, her eyes widening after a moment as she stared at me.
"Rebekah, would you go help Kol set the table, please?" She said, sending her daughter off. She motioned me to come closer before asking me softly, "Are you with child?" I nodded, a small smile on my face. She pulled me into a hug, but I did not miss the conflicted look on her face as she pulled back.
"Are you alright, Esther?" I asked.
"Yes, I am fine," she assured me. "Just a bit tired and missing Henrik still."I nodded in understanding, squeezing her hand softly in mine before we finished preparing the meal making idle small talk between ourselves.
We transported the food to the table with the help of Niklaus and Elijah before all of us took our seats. We all stared, slightly shocked, as Mikael walked around the table and poured wine in all of our glasses. Wine was much more expensive than other alcohols, and was only used on special occasions. None of us questioned him, however.
He went back to his seat after we all had a drink and stayed standing, his cup held aloft. I realized we were going to toast something. "To the life of your brother, Henrik. It was cut prematurely, but he will be with us forever. May the rest of us thusly stay safe from harm forever, so that we may never suffer the loss of another one of our family members."
It was an odd toast, but we went along with it, downing the wine in honor of Henrik. After that we tore into the meal, chatting quietly amongst ourselves. I felt Esther's eyes on me for nearly the whole meal, but I brushed it off. She was probably just excited about the baby.
After the dinner, Esther sent Finn, Kol, and Elijah down to the stream to wash the dinnerware off. Mikael went with them like he always does, to hold a torch for light and also for protection if anything appeared in the night. He was a very adept swordsman.
Esther was very silent as we helped her clean up from the meal. After we were done, we sat and talked quietly while Esther bustled about. I had offered to help her, but she declined, saying she wanted to keep busy at the moment.
We were stopped mid laugh when the front door burst open, Mikael the only one striding inside. "Father, where are Finn, Kol, and Elijah?" Rebekah asked in confusion.
"They'll be here soon," he said in a cold tone, before he pulled out his sword and stabbed Niklaus through the chest.
"NIK!" Rebekah and I screamed together. I raced to his side while Rebekah turned to her father, shock written on her face. "Father, why are you doing this?" She gasped through tears.
"It is for your own good, Rebekah," he responded cryptically before he shoved his sword through her heart as well, leaving her to tumble to the floor, mouth opening and closing in shock like a fish out of water, her hand clutched to the hole in her chest in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.
"BEKAH!" I cried, staring at my dying sister. I stared up at Mikael in fear as he made his way over to me, his sword glistening with the blood of two of his children.
"I apologize, Lisette, but this is for the best," he said before unceremoniously stabbing me through the chest. I felt a piercing pain and let out a small gasp. He pulled his sword out of me and I slumped slowly to the ground, feeling my blood welling uncontrollably out of my wound. I slid my hand down to my stomach, tears pooling in my eyes as I mourned my not own impending death, but the death of my little son.
My head rolled to the side as my vision became unfocused. I stared at Rebekah and Niklaus sadly as my body slowly shut down and I sunk into the cold arms of death.
I breathed deeply before rolling stiffly onto my side, blinking in the light of the dimly lit room, trying to remember what had happened. Then it hit me. Mikael had killed us!
Miraculously, I heard Niklaus and Rebekah stirring beside me. I stared at them in shock before the sudden realization hit me that I had lost more than my own life. My hand raced back down to my abdomen and I held it there lightly as Niklaus comforted a very distressed Rebekah, promising her that we would be alright.
The door opened and Both siblings turned to face the door. We watched Mikael walk in, dragging a calm girl behind him. "What are you doing," Niklaus asked. I slowly sat up, staring at Mikael with rage in my eyes, although my face remained expressionless. He had killed my son.
"We must finish what we started," he said, roughly dragging the girl over to siblings. I stared from the background, momentarily forgotten. "You have to drink if you want to live," he said, pushing the girl down in front of them and pulling out a knife to slice open her wrist. "Drink," he ordered Rebekah.
"No," Niklaus, said, trying to push his father away, but Mikael just shoved him in my direction.
"Care for your wife while I take care of your sister," he ordered. "Now drink! Drink!" He yelled, shoving Rebekah's mouth down onto the girl's dripping wrist.
Nik pulled me close to him as we watched Rebekah pulled back from the girl's arm, fangs showing prominently in her mouth and a slight smile on her face. Mikael dragged the girl over to Nik and me and shoved the still bleeding wrist in Niklaus' mouth unceremoniously as well. He struggled for a second like Rebekah had before he pulled back from the girl, long teeth showing as well.
"Drink, Lisette," Mikael ordered, holding out the girl's wrist to me.
I did not have a chance to refuse before Mikael grabbed me by the hair close to my scalp and forced my mouth onto the girl's bleeding arm. I struggled violently, trying to keep the blood from entering my system, but it leaked down my throat anyways. I felt a rush of power course through me, and I pulled back with the same expression of euphoria that Niklaus and Rebekah had had.
The power rush caused me to forget my pain for an hour or two, but by the time the sun rose the next morning, my sorrow had returned tenfold. The others were also struggling with enhanced emotions and senses. I hid my sorrow from my family, although it was clear to me that Elijah was feeling upset about it as well. It would hurt all of them, especially Rebekah and Niklaus, if they knew about the child I had lost. Esther, Elijah, and I were the only ones who knew of his existence and I planned to keep it that way.
We found out the next morning when the sun rose that we could no longer go outside during the day. The sun, which had helped give us power, now burned us if the rays touched our skin. It took about two weeks for Esther to find a spell that would enchant rings for us to wear that prevented the burning of our flesh in the light. When we could venture outside again, we found that the vervain flowers at the base of the white oak Esther used to bring us eternal life burned us as well if we touched them. We couldn't enter anyone's home without their invitation, and once they began to catch on that we were acting different than before, they were not welcoming. The desire to drink blood was almost insatiable as well. Finn and I were the best at control. The others could not resist draining someone if they even caught the slightest scent of blood from a minor scratch.
I was out hunting with Niklaus and Elijah when it happened. We were a few villages away from our own, to keep the attention away from our home. We had not been vampires for long, but Niklaus and I had been very careful not to harm anyone yet. Rebekah and Kol had killed a person or two, although they were very remorseful about it later.
This time, however, Nik was not so lucky. We always attacked from behind so we did not have to kill people, because if they saw us, we could not allow them to stay alive out of fear that they will reveal who and what we are. The man got a glimpse of our faces when Niklaus went to drink from him, and Elijah told his younger brother to kill the man so we would not be discovered. Nik complied but as soon as the life drained out of the man, Nik fell to the ground in pain, screaming as his bones cracked in horrible distortions. I stared, terrified, as he transformed into one of the things we hid from each full moon, a creature that had killed Henrik. A werewolf.
Elijah ordered me to run back home when Niklaus fully transitioned and began growling at us ferally. He did not seem to have any control over his mind, he was just an animal, and like an animal, he had the impulse to hunt. I followed Elijah's instructions and retreated home, afraid of this violent creature that did not seem like Niklaus.
When Nik came home two days later, he looked traumatized. He explained to me that the only logical reason he was part wolf and his siblings were not was because Esther had had a relationship with another man at some point before his birth. I comforted him, letting him know that I would not leave him and that he would still be my husband, even if he was cursed to be a werewolf hybrid. We were safe from Mikael's wrath for now, because Elijah would never tell his father about Nik's… affliction, but who knew what would happen if Nik turned again.
It occurred again a few weeks later, but this time in front of Finn, who did not hesitate to inform his father about the incident. Mikael was soon pounding down our door in a rage as soon as Nik returned, drained from his shift. Mikael grabbed Nik, and with Finn's help, dragged him towards a clearing near our home. I tried to stop them, but Kol caught me and held my arms pinned behind me when I tried to run after Mikael and Finn to stop them.
He dragged me behind the trio, my limbs struggling in a vain attempt to free themselves from his grip. I was seething as Kol pulled me along and forced me to stand and watch as Finn and Mikael tried to bind Nik to a Y shaped wooden structure that stretched his arms out to the sides, allowing him little movement.
"Nik!" Rebekah's horrified voice cut through the air as she sprinted towards her older brother, preparing to fight her father and Finn to save Niklaus. Finn released Niklaus' arm that he had been holding down as his younger brother struggled violently and grabbed Rebekah in a similar grip that Kol had on me.
"Elijah, help me bind him!" Mikael called his second oldest son who was standing off to the side, an unclear expression on his face. "Elijah, now!" Mikael ordered fiercely, and Elijah sped over to his father, gripping Niklaus' arm just as Nik was about to escape, slamming him back onto the post and clipping the cuff in place. Elijah's eyes held remorse, but he would not disobey his father. Nik still struggled even after he was completely tied but it was futile. He was stuck.
Elijah and Finn helped carry a table covered in Esther's magic articles over to where Nik was tied. He begged his mother to release him, but Esther just stared at him with no emotion on her face. Finn passed Rebekah to Elijah before going to stand by his mother. As she began to chant, I felt my already fierce anger spike even higher. Reeling back my neck, I bashed my head into Kol's nose, making his grip on me falter enough for me to slip out of his arms. Grabbing his face, I stared into his eyes angrily. "Stay back, Kol, or I will hurt you," I spat venomously before throwing him into the nearest tree. He slumped to the ground but did not come after me.
Finn and Mikael were focusing on Esther and Niklaus too much to notice Kol and me. They did notice when I zipped over and grabbed Esther by the neck, however. I held her tight enough that she could still breathe, but I had her head tilted back and ready to bite into if I felt threatened.
"Let Niklaus go, or I will drain her," I threatened, not feeling any remorse at threatening the life of the woman who I had once considered my mother.
"Let my wife go, now, Lisette," Mikael spat, glaring at me. "She needs to fix the mistake she made." Finn stared at me, his face covered in concentration.
"Niklaus is not a mistake," I growled.
"I beg to differ," Mikael responded sharply. "He is the bastard some of some werewolf and my unfaithful wife. We need to exterminate his wolf side. It was his fault that Henrik died. He probably led his younger brother into the jaws of his other family in an attempt to be accepted by them. Too bad no one wants a bastard."
"Let Nik go, now," I demanded, my hand tightening on Esther's throat and eliciting a choking noise from her as her oxygen was cut off. "I will kill her if you do not release him."
"You would kill the woman who acted as your mother, to spite the man who was like your father, all because he wants to get rid of the side of a monster whose species helped kill his child? You would betray your own family?"
"Nik is my family," I said in a serious tone. "You made it official the day you arranged our marriage. As my husband, he comes as priority over my adoptive family, so I am asking you once more to release him before I do something that you will regret." Mikael stared at me in silence, refusing to release Niklaus still. "Very well," I said. "You give me no choice." I allowed my fangs to come out and felt the veins around my eyes bulge as I focused in on the pulse in Esther's neck. I opened my mouth, preparing to sink my teeth into her when a burning pain invaded my mind. I felt my eyes roll backwards as I screamed, hands dropping Esther as I crumpled to the ground, clutching my head.
As the pain slowly subsided, I felt hands grab either side of my face, causing my eyes to wander shakily to the angry viking that glared at me. "You do not threaten me, girl. You are nothing but a weak, pathetic child, and I regret the day Esther and I took you into our home, you ungrateful whelp." I felt an intense pressure on my neck as Mikael turned it forcefully to the side and the last thing I heard was a loud crack echoing through the air, followed by a hoarse yell from Niklaus' direction and my own gasp of shock as my last breath left my body, leaving me to crumple to the ground, lifeless.
*Time Skip*
I shot upright, coughing as I tried to clear whatever it was that was in my nose. Was this soil? My hacking was so loud that I could barely decipher the words being shouted from above me. Wiping my eyes to clear the earth from them, I opened them to be greeted with the blurry figures of Niklaus, Rebekah, and Elijah staring down at me happily, mouths opened in shock, although sadness still permeated Rebekah's features, the same emotion visible
but lessened on the two brothers.
"How are you alive?" Rebekah asked, jumping down into the hole that I now realized was my grave to swoop me into a hug. I stared around me in shock, before my gaze focused on Nik and Elijah.
"Apparently we cannot die under normal circumstances," I mused. "And while I am glad that you did not burn me, I am unsure as to why I was receiving a commoner's burial and not a warrior's funeral like Henrik was given," I said, looking back and forth between the two of them as they gazed at me apologetically.
"It is uncommon for a woman to be burned as a warrior," Nik began before I cut him off with a scoff.
"Well, I do not care. If I happen to die, and for real this time, I expect a proper warrior's send off. I do not want to be stuck underground for all eternity." Nik rolled his eyes before he and Elijah reached down into the pit to pull Bekah and I out. I gasped when I saw the destruction that lay above my temporary grave. "What on earth happened?" I asked, shocked beyond belief.
Elijah explained how Mikael went on a rampage after Esther completed her hybrid curse using Tatia's blood, whom Esther had killed for the ritual. Apparently, the viking killed the werewolf who Esther had been with, before killing the man's entire family and almost every other person in the village. After he was finished with the wolves, he came and ripped Esther's heart from her chest right in front of Nik, which I found very odd, considering how determined he had been to save her earlier when I had threatened Esther's life. Maybe he just wanted to kill her himself, as some sick revenge against her for cheating on him. I honestly would not put it past him. Still, it seemed a bit obscure, even for Mikael.
Apparently he left after killing Esther, leaving his children behind. Kol and Finn were currently gathering what they could salvage from their home which Mikael had ripped apart after taking his own belongings. The siblings were apparently planning to leave after burying Esther and me. I am glad I woke up when I did or else I would be buried six feet under and alone. I would have been able to survive by myself if I needed to, but having a family makes one's existence far less lonely.
"Come, let's get everything from our home that we may want to keep," I told Nik before walking in that direction.
"I'm afraid that isn't possible, Lissi," Nik called after me. I turned around, a questioning look on my face. "Mikael burnt our home down out of spite. I was able to gather a few things before it was too late, but almost everything is gone." I felt my face fall. Everything was gone? I reached up to my neck, gripping the necklace Niklaus had given me after our wedding, a habit I had recently developed when I was upset. "I got your mother's grimoire," he said, gesturing to the bag hanging over his shoulder, making a small smile grow on my face. That last remembrance of my mother was one of the only important things that had been in our house.
"Rebekah, do you have a dress I could borrow? This one is a bit dirty," I said, gesturing to the streaks of earth covering the front. She nodded before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the house. As we passed a freshly dug patch of earth, I saw tears grow in her eyes and I gave her hand a tight squeeze to comfort her. She smiled at me before wiping the tears away from her eyes and continuing to pull me towards the house.
After I'd changed and we'd gathered all of our belongings that we could carry easily, we set off to get away from this horrible place that had brought so much sorrow in the last few months.