Chapter Thirty Nine
'I still don't understand why you're making me go.' I muttered, snuggling deeper into the covers; I longed for more sleep but I knew I wouldn't get any unless the overly amused hybrid at the foot of the bed decided to get some more sleep too.
'You know why, love. Now get moving before Elijah comes in and decides to drag you out, his patience isn't as great as mine,' Nik replied, his brows raising in amusement as he pursed his lips to bite back a laugh.
'Oh yes, your patience is definitely much better than Elijah's,' I chuckled, throwing the covers away from me and going to walk over to the bathroom. I was still naked from last night's activities, so I wasn't surprised when Nik caught my wrist as I went to move around him.
'You are positively exquisite,' he murmured against my lips, his hands resting softly on my bare waist.
'As are you,' I whispered back, kissing him fully on the mouth before I pulled back, grinning devilishly, 'I'm afraid I have a very important meeting to get ready for, so this will have to wait.'
His expression was a mixture of annoyance, shock and amusement, so all in all priceless. I couldn't help but laugh as I locked the bathroom door behind me, not wanting to give him the invitation to join me, otherwise we would be late for the meeting and I didn't have the energy to be on the wrong side of Elijah. I turned on the shower, after twisting my hair into a bun on top of my head; it didn't need washing as I had already one it the day before. When I was satisfied with the temperature I stepped under the water, enjoying the way that it cascaded over my body before I grabbed the body wash and lathered it over me, my hands pausing over my suddenly huge baby bump. The past few months, since everyone had left, my bump had been growing at a rather alarming rate; Elijah had looked into it and after coming up with nothing he finally went to Genevieve. I didn't find out until after that he had even considered going to her, and I was furious. It was the first time that Elijah had ever gotten on my bad side, and I don't think he was eager for a repeat.
After I had calmed down he had told me that Genevieve had admitted to casting the spell to render the protection over my baby void, which we already knew, and that the baby wasn't growing at an alarming rate, but the magic protecting it had simply been wearing off. Elijah had discovered this a few weeks ago, and since then my bump hadn't grown anymore, meaning the magic had fully worn off and caught up to the size that the baby was now; I looked like I had a watermelon under my shirt. Of course, the moment that this started happening we all realised that we couldn't risk anyone in the quarter finding out, and as my pregnancy had been impossible to hide with an ever growing baby bump, I had been placed under house arrest. Which probably wasn't the best way to avoid suspicion; Nik and Elijah had been attending meetings without me for two months and it took two minutes for the suspicion to grow. Seeing as I hardly ever left Nik's side for extended periods of time people started to speculate and the rumours started with it. People thought Nik had killed me out of spite for siding with Bekah. People thought I had left Nik and Elijah and left town with Bekah and everyone else. They were starting to get more and more antsy, and seeing as most of the vampires had apparently been okay with the new leadership because it meant that I would be their Queen, there had been a few conflicts and attempted uprisings. Hence why I was being forced out of bed at seven in the morning to attend my first ever supernatural forces meeting.
Once I was finished in the shower I stepped out and wrapped a bathrobe around myself, not bothering with a towel as the watermelon sized baby bump prevented it from covering my whole body. Nik wasn't in the bedroom when I stepped out, but I could sense that he wasn't far away; I could hear him and Elijah talking downstairs, their voices soft and I assumed it was so that I wouldn't be able to hear them. So as I dressed in a soft grey body con dress that went down to my knees, white converse and a black leather jacket, I eavesdropped on their conversation.
'I don't know about this Elijah. Telling them now might be too soon.' Nik argued, sounding concerned.
'Brother, we have talked about this extensively; introducing Kimberly's pregnancy ourselves before the witches reveal it is a smart move. We need them to trust us and so the news needs to come from us.' Elijah replied, his voice calm and collected as he tried to calm Nik's worries.
'What if they don't stand beside us? What if they think the baby is a move for power? What if-,' Nik rambled but Elijah cut him off.
'You know by now that any threats against our family are not tolerated, if they are anything less than supportive and welcoming to the baby then they will be dealt with accordingly,' Elijah promised him.
I heard Nik exhale in relief and I shook my head fondly as I removed my hair from the bun it had been contained in, allowing it to fall loosely around my shoulders, down to my waist. Now completely ready, I went to meet them downstairs. Before I got there I heard the conversation change again and the new topic made my heart clench painfully.
'Have you heard from her?' Nik asked, his voice now soft.
'Why would I have heard from her, brother?' Elijah answered, and I was almost certain that he would have turned away from Nik before he continued so that he couldn't see the pain in his eyes that was present whenever Hayley was bought up, 'I banished her from this family to protect her and I haven't heard from her since.'
At that moment I entered the room, 'yes and that's your fault. Hayley is a part of this family and she didn't deserve to be banished. I understand that you wanted to protect her but leaving should have been her choice, not yours.'
'Kimberly-,' He started, but I cut him off, already knowing what he was going to say.
'Yeah, yeah it's not my business, I have no right to interfere.' I mimicked his British accent as I repeated everything he had said to me multiple times over the past few months whenever I dared to mention her name, before I continued, my voice serious, 'I can feel how heartbroken you are every time I look at you Elijah, and I hate seeing you this way. So do us both a favour and go and see her, explain everything. She has a right to know.'
With that the room fell into silence for a moment as Elijah considered my words, and before he could overthink it too much I held up my hand.
'Go to her now. Before you overthink it and talk yourself out of it.' I started pushing him towards the gates, ignoring Nik's amused chuckle at what was probably a humorous sight, 'we'll be fine. Do something for yourself for once, Elijah.'
I let go of him when we reached the gates and he turned, his mouth open in protest, but it snapped shut when he saw the 'just do it' look I was giving him. Without another word he turned and left, leaving me to face Nik with a victorious smile as I curtsied at his round of applause.
'That was impressive love,' Nik chuckled as he reached me, his hands once again resting on my waist while mine wound around his neck.
'What can I say? I can be very persuasive, it's a gift.' I murmured, closing my eyes from the pleasure of Nik's hands moving back and forth on my waist, they opened when he suddenly stopped and I could tell that they had turned amber as the desire had built within me.
'They'll be here soon, and you need to feed.' Nik murmured as an explanation, directing me to the crook of his neck, without another word I bought my quadbrid face forward and gently bit into his neck. We had fallen into a routine now; he would let me feed from him every morning after we had gotten up and before bed. With Nik's blood keeping me nourished, I found the smell of blood didn't make me nauseous as long as my own hunger was satisfied. If Nik didn't have enough time to let me feed from him be would leave me a blood bag full of his blood that he had drawn every week to make sure there would always be enough just encase he couldn't be around. I usually fed directly from him though; we both preferred it and the reasoning why was hard to explain. While a blood bag satisfied me, Nik's blood tasted and felt much better coming from the vein; I think it had something to do with the mate bond, the more I drank from him, the deeper our connection became.
I pulled back after a few minutes and Nik leant down to lick away the blood running down my own neck where I had opened up in the same place as him. I felt him smirk against my neck as I shivered from the action. When he pulled back I narrowed my eyes playfully before I leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. I kissed him, closed mouthed, over and over again because I knew it drove him crazy, and as if it was on cue he growled hungrily, one hand coming to the side of my face to hold me in place, while the other roughly grabbed my waist as he bit my lip, deepening the kiss. Before we could get any further, however, we pulled apart at the same time as we picked up on footsteps entering the house. We shared a look full of promise to continue this later before Nik went to the head seat of the dining table and I sat in the seat to his left, hiding my baby bump until the moment was right.
Up until this point Nik and Elijah had only been meeting with vampires of the quarter, but today was sure to be an… interesting meeting as we were going to broach the idea of a truce between all species. Nik had requested that Genevieve send a harvest girl as a representative for the witches seeing as I really didn't trust the red head herself. I didn't know who she was going to send, but I was hoping it would be Davina- I had been keeping in touch with her over the phone but I hadn't been able to meet her face to face for obvious reasons. As for the werewolves, I had mentioned the idea to Hayley the day before and she had promised to send someone to represent the wolves, after she thanked me for involving them. I had kept in touch with her, despite Elijah pushing her away, but refrained from telling her about the baby or the real reason that Kol, Bekah, Finn and Elena were gone; that needed to come from Elijah.
The first one to walk in was Thierry; the representative for the vampires, I sent him a friendly smile as he took his seat across from me, which he returned. Usually when Nik was calling meetings, the top ten vampires that he trusted all came, but seeing as we wanted to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, we only invited one to represent them all as a whole.
'Thierry, mate, any news in the quarter?' Nik asked, coming to stand behind him, placing his hands on his shoulders.
'No, everything is the same. Vampires are feeding of tourists and the locals remain untouched.' Thierry murmured, and I could tell that he was being honest.
'Very good. Listen today we're going to try and make some kind of peace in the quarter. I know you're going to be apprehensive, but please remain open minded.' I said, being sure to make my voice soft; I wanted him to feel like he had a choice.
'Alright.' He nodded, sounding unsure.
Jackson was the next to enter and he came over to take the seat next to me, kissing my cheek as he did, earning him a warning growl from Klaus. I rolled my eyes and sent him a wave of reassurance as I squeezed Jackson's hand in greeting before I let go.
'What is he doing here?' Thierry asked, his tone one of disgust.
'Watch your tone.' I said, facing Thierry, 'this is what we meant when we said to keep an open mind.'
Thierry looked like he was about to protest and storm out, but before he could our final guest joined us, and when I saw who it was I felt my face harden and I sent Nik an annoyed look, but he looked just as surprised as I did.
'Genevieve. What are you doing here?' Nik asked, smiling but his tone was anything but friendly.
'You asked for a representative for the witches, so here I am.' She smiled, her eyes gleaming with mischief; she knew exactly what she was doing and I didn't want her to have the satisfaction of getting the reaction she wanted. So I placed my hand on Nik's knee underneath the table to calm him down as well as prevent him from saying something that might piss off the witch.
'Thank you for coming, just take a seat we were about to begin.' I smiled sweetly, though underneath I was absolutely seething, but my anger simmered a little at her surprise to my treatment. After a brief moment of hesitation she took a seat next to Jackson and Nik squeezed my hand on his thigh briefly before standing, walking around the table like a shark circling its prey, his hands clasped behind his back.
'As you know, Kimberly has been out of commission for the past few months, but I assure you that we stand together strong and united, more so than we ever have. Do disregard anything that you have heard saying otherwise.' Nik started, coming to a stop behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder as a sign of our union.
'Then where has she been the past two months?' Thierry asked, sounding curious.
'Well…' I started but Nik squeezed my shoulder, cutting me off.
'We will get to that later. For now, lets talk about a truce. We think it's about time that there was peace between the witches, vampires and the werewolves.' Nik murmured, going back to pacing around the table; I had to stop watching because he was starting to make me dizzy.
'It's been a long time coming, really.' I muttered, nodding to Jackson when he grunted in agreement.
'I don't think so, vampires are not going to tolerate any kind of treaty with werewolves.' Thierry said.
'Really, because you have no trouble having a King and a Queen who are half werewolf.' I pointed out, amused when he couldn't come up with a retort.
'The witches are not going to be happy to have werewolves living in the quarter either, vampires are bad enough.' Genevieve chipped in.
'Well I don't see why witches would have a problem with werewolves seeing as it was the witches who put the curse on the crescent wolves twenty years ago. As for vampires having issues with the werewolves, they are only really a threat to you on a full moon.' I said, my eyes flickering in between Genevieve and Thierry as I addressed them separately.
'And on a full moon we'd be out in the bayou and away from you.' Jackson chipped in, his arms folding over his chest as he leaned back in his chair, 'as far as I'm concerned it should be the werewolves who would have a problem with living in peace with the two of your kind.'
'Really? Wasn't it the wolves who tried to take over the quarter twenty years ago?' Thierry ground out.
'Okay,' I cut in before we lost control of the situation, leaning into Nik's touch as he came to stand behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders, 'that is the whole point of this treaty. So that you can all live your lives without having to look over your shoulder, worrying about what the witches, werewolves or vampires have got planned for you. Wouldn't you prefer that?'
The whole room fell into silence as everyone considered my words, I could feel the different emotions coming from everyone in the room; Jackson and Thierry were apprehensive, but also cautiously hopeful. But Genevieve desired to earn Nik's trust, and mine, so I wasn't at all surprised when she was the first one to break the silence.
'I will sign for the witches.' She said, raising her chin confidently as she met my gaze, I gave her a nod before I looked over to Thierry as he opened his mouth to speak.
'What happens if someone breaks it?' He asked.
'Anyone who breaks the treaty will be dealt with accordingly.' Elijah answered as he walked into the dining room, and I couldn't stop the grin from forming on my face when I saw Hayley following behind him.
'What do you mean dealt with accordingly?' Jackson asked.
'Obviously it depends on the crime and the species involved but the punishments can vary from temporary banishments to death.' Nik answered, smirking at everyone around the table.
'The werewolves will sign.' Jackson answered after sharing a look with Hayley.
'Great, looks like the balls in your court, Thierry.' I said with a smile.
'Fine. I'll sign for the vampires.' He answered, somewhat begrudgingly.
'Excellent. I hope that you are aware, as the representatives of each of your species it is your duty to make sure that they stay in line at all times.' Elijah added, smiling softly when everyone nodded in agreement.
'Well let's get this finalised then shall we?' Nik smirked, shouting for one of the maids to come in with the tools he had already had her prepare; a circular stone bowl, a knife and a feathered pen. They were all laid out on the table and Elijah produced the written up treaty from his coat laying it beside the assorted tools. Nik picked up the knife first, slicing open his palm and allowing his blood to pour into the bowl, I had to force myself to look away from his blood, not wanting my desire to overcome me in that moment. He passed the knife to me and I repeated his movements, as did everyone around the table when their time came. Once everyone's blood was in the bowl, Nik dipped the feathered pen into it, signing his name, all of us once again repeating the process. Once it was finished Nik picked up the parchment, grinning at it before he handed it off to the maid, addressing the room once again.
'Now that we've got that out of the way, onto the second reason for this meeting. On the interest of all species being treated as equal, we wanted you to find out at the same time. Kimberly and I are having a child.' Nik said, grinning at the varying degrees of confusion on people's faces, well everyone except for me, Elijah and Hayley.
'That's not possible.' Thierry said, looking flabbergasted.
Before the others could start calling us liars, I stood up, allowing them to see just how pregnant I actually was. Needless to say the whole room fell into an awed and shocked silence as they stared at my bump.
'Oh my god, you're huge!' Hayley said, her eyes widening when she realised what she had said, making me laugh.
'Yeah, thanks for that Hayles.' I shook my head fondly as I sat back down, not comfortable with the attention.
'I'm sorry, it's just-,' She started to justify her words but I cut her off by holding up my hand, a grin on my face.
'Don't worry about it, it shocked me too.'
'So the baby will be…' Jackson trailed off as he waited for an answer.
'Part vampire, werewolf and witch.' Nik supplied, taking my hand in his, entwining our fingers.
'So as you can see, we want this treaty to succeed more than anyone. For the sake of my niece, I will enforce this treaty until the rift between the species becomes a distant memory.' Elijah said, taking the seat next to Thierry and threating his fingers together in front of his face as if he were pondering something.
'Well I hope it works out. Congratulations.' Jackson said, standing and giving me a hug before addressing everyone else, 'we should get back, tonight's a full moon and we need to prepare, make sure everyone is ready.'
'Okay, thank you for coming.' I said, standing to see them out; I wanted a minute with Hayley before she left.
When we reached the gates she turned to me and hugged me hard, both of us laughed when my bump created an obstruction.
'I can't believe it.' Hayley murmured, her hands hovering over my belly as if she was unsure, but when I gave her an encouraging smile her hesitance disappeared.
'I still can't either. I assume Elijah has told you everything?' I asked her, not wanting to outright say it; Thierry and Genevieve didn't need to know the truth.
'He did, but so much has happened the past few months. I'm going to be here for you guys, of course, I consider you family and I would never turn my back on that…' She trailed off, biting her lip.
'But you're happy in the bayou.' I finished for her, giving her a soft smile as I squeezed her hand comfortingly, 'that's nothing to be sorry for. I'm happy you're happy. But you better visit me.'
'I will. I wanted to before but I was worried about it being awkward between Elijah and me, but now we've cleared the air, so we're good.' She smiled, giving me one last parting hug before her and Jackson left. When I returned to the dining room I went straight to my seat, making myself comfortable; I noticed that Elijah had taken Jackson's previous seat and I knew it was because he wanted a body in between Genevieve and me.
'Is there anything else we need to discuss? If not I need to get back to my girls.' Genevieve said, moving to stand.
'Nope, you're free to go.' I told her, trying not to sound too eager over her departure. I made a mental note to call Davina later to see how she was doing with her witchcraft; she had managed to tap into her magic again and she was flourishing. I was really proud of her and I told her so; she didn't give up and didn't let her fear over the ancestors hold her back.
'You look like you have something you want to say,' I commented looking over to Thierry.
'The whole time I've been a vampire here we've never gone for the peace route. I guess it just seems too good to be true.' He admitted.
'Only time will tell, mate. Now off you pop. You have my number if you need assistance with anything.' Nik said, clapping Thierry's shoulder as he stood, leading him to the gates.
'Well that went better than expected,' I muttered, standing and making my way to the courtyard, taking a seat on the sofa.
'Indeed. I assume that had something to do with your presence. Niklaus doesn't usually introduce a new idea, he enforces it, your way avoided a lot of unnecessary squabbling.' Elijah smiled, taking a seat in the armchair across from me.
'Well I'm glad I could help.' I said, absentmindedly rubbing my stomach, leaning back on the sofa and closing my eyes.
'We should celebrate.' Nik announced as he joined us in the courtyard, lifting my feet, sitting down and resting my feet on his lap.
'That's not a bad idea, Nik.' I agreed, what better way to get everyone used to being civil towards each other? We could shove them into a party with booze and music, lessening the tensions a little.
'I agree. If you would allow me, I could make the arrangements.' Elijah said.
I didn't even open my eyes as I gave him my permission; Nik agreed as well and I felt Elijah leave the room, already taking charge on the party. I felt Nik shift, laying down between me and the sofa, one hand resting on my bump and the other going under my head as his own head rests in the crook of my neck, inhaling.
'This isn't a good idea. We're going to end up staying here all day,' I murmured, yawning and tilting my head so my face was resting in Nik's curls.
'Why would that be a bad thing, love?' Nik whispered back, his breath tickling my neck and making my skin break out in goose bumps.
'I don't know if we deserve to be this relaxed with everything that needs to me done,' I mumbled against his curls, but of course he heard me perfectly fine.
'Nonsense. We are expecting, we deserve to be as relaxed as we can possibly be before the baby comes.' He replied, his tone taking on a humorous lilt.
I laughed lightly, my hand tangling in his hair, 'well I can't argue with that.'
Nik chuckled and leaned up, my hand shifting to his shoulder from the movement. My breath caught in my throat from the way he was looking at me; his eyes were glimmering with love and admiration. He was looking at me as if I were the only thing in the world that mattered to him and I found myself wondering what I had done to deserve him. His hand came to softly caress the side of my face; he smiled softly when I involuntarily leaned into his touch. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but he was struggling to find the words, though it wasn't necessary; his eyes and his touch was telling me everything that his mouth couldn't.
I smiled and moved my hand from his shoulder to the side of his face, my thumb moving back and forth comfortingly across his stubble.
'I feel the same way,' I told him, smiling when he looked surprised, but he soon collected himself and leaned down, kissing my lips softly. What started off soft and tender soon became charged with lust and promise as his mouth moved against mine, his hand tauntingly travelling up my body, starting just below my left knee and gliding up, bringing the body con dress with it. When his hand touched my core, my whole body jolted from the sensation and Nik smirked against my lips, his hand leaving my core sliding underneath my underwear to grip my bare ass. I reached down, my hands slipping underneath his shirt and trailing up to his pecks, taking his shirt with it. He pulled back for a moment and shrugged off his dark grey Henley before his lips were back on mine once more.
The next day soon presented itself, and by the afternoon Klaus and I were still in bed, my back on Klaus' chest, he was absentmindedly drawing shapes on my shoulder with one hand, while the other was entwined with mine, resting on my chest. I was trying my hardest to tune out all the noise that was happening downstairs in the courtyard; Elijah was renovating in preparation for the party in a few hours, we had been woken up with the banging at seven in the morning. Nik had managed to contain my annoyance by distracting me in other ways and suggesting that we stay in bed all day seeing as Elijah genuinely didn't want any help with the preparations.
We were snapped out of our comfortable silence when our phones rang in unison, Nik passed me mine while he answered his.
'Hello?' I murmured into my phone, turning onto my side, my head lying on Nik's arm while my free hand rested on his chest, idly tracing over his feather tattoo.
'Kim! Thank god, I've been trying to call you for two hours, I finally have service!' Bekah answered, her voice excited.
'Hey, Bekah! How are you?' I asked, frowning over to Nik when he gestured for me to be quiet, but when he showed me who he was speaking to, I understood. Genevieve.
'Hold on two seconds Bekah, Genevieve is talking to Nik.' I said, bringing the phone away from my ear when Bekah answered that she would hang on.
'What exactly is it you wanted, Genevieve?' Nik asked, his tone not exactly friendly.
'Well, now that you've officially announced Kimberly's pregnancy I thought I'd offer the services of a witch doctor. She is currently residing in the bayou, I have told her about the treaty but she wants to wait to see if it's successfully reinforced before she comes to the quarter.' Genevieve offered.
'Well Kimberly's right here I'll let her answer herself.' Nik smirked, offering me the phone.
'That's nice of you Genevieve but I think we're good.' I said, hanging up the phone forgoing hearing her response.
Nik chuckled at my bluntness, softly kissing my hair, while I put my phone on speakerphone so that Bekah could talk to us both.
'We're back Bekah.' I said, placing a kiss to Nik's jaw.
'What happened?' She asked.
'Genevieve was trying to convince Kimberly to see a bayou doctor.' Nik informed her.
'Oh, hey Nik! It's good to hear your voice, brother.' Bekah said, and I could tell she was smiling.
'You too, little sister.' Nik chuckled, his hand absentmindedly rubbing up and down my arm.
'So I'll take it you declined her offer.' Bekah said, sounding disapproving, 'is that really wise? I mean you didn't even know about this pregnancy three months ago, shouldn't you make sure that everything is running smoothly?'
'I don't trust Genevieve. I had a vision of her saying that she was going to kill my baby, Bekah. I'm definitely not going to any doctors that she recommends.' I muttered, my fist clenching in anger.
'That's fair enough, but you need to make sure everything is going smoothly with the baby. You could find out the sex and how far along you actually are seeing as all we're doing is speculating at this point.' Bekah argued, her tone soft as she tried to convince me.
'I don't know, Bekah-,' I started but she cut me off.
'If you're worried about her trying something, take Nik or Elijah with you. Though I'm pretty sure you could handle yourself.'
'I'll think about it.' I conceded, hoping that would be enough for her to drop the subject.
'Okay, I'll take that for now.' Bekah agreed before she moved on to a new topic, 'how's Elijah doing anyway? Is he still not talking to Hayley?'
'He went to tell her what was happening this morning, though he must have left it too long because Hayley has decided to remain in the bayou.' Nik informed her.
'It'll blow over, I'm sure.' Bekah murmured, her tone hopeful that it would.
'He's keeping himself busy arranging a party for tonight. Werewolves, witches and vampires will be present.' I said, my tone one of humour.
'Well with all of them in the same room you will be kept on your toes that's for sure.' Bekah snorted.
'Speaking of, sister, we have to get ready. Talk to you soon?' Nik clarified, and I could feel that he was hopeful he would hear from his baby sister much sooner rather than later.
'Of course, Nik. You know how tenacious I can be.' She replied, and I could tell that she was smiling, 'until next time. I love you both.'
'We love you too, sister.' I replied before hanging up the phone and tossing it on the nightstand.
From the sounds of it, the party was already in full swing downstairs and so far I couldn't feel any anger that would suggest a brawl was on the brink of breaking out. As much as I didn't want to move, I knew we had to; we were two of the three hosts of this party meaning our absence would be noticed. We both used our vampire speed to dress in the outfits that Elijah had already organised for us; Nik was wearing a black tux with a deep purple bowtie that matched my dress. My dress was fitted to just above my bump where it flared out, flowing freely all the way down to the floor. There were silver rhinestones around the neckline, which bought attention to my breasts, as well as the tear shape hole that was cut out between them. I left my hair down, allowing it to hang loosely to the left side of my neck where I assured it would stay with the silver diamante pins I added to the back of my skull. My make up was minimal; mascara, bronzer and a lip stain that was the same plum colour as my dress. After I added my plain black flats I was ready to go, taking Nik's arm with a grateful smile as he led us down stairs.
'Elijah has out done himself,' I commented as we walked down the staircase, I almost didn't recognise the courtyard, I felt as if we had stepped into an exclusive nightclub. The room was bathed in a purple ambiance, the music was so loud the walls felt like they were vibrating and the courtyard had been cleared of it's normal furniture, small round tables covered with a white cloth and a small rose resting in the centre were scattered over the floor space. We had appeared just on time, that or Elijah had purposely been waiting for us, because as soon as we reached the main party the music stopped and Elijah stood with a glass of champagne on the staircase we had just vacated. Nik and I shared an amused look before we gave him our full attention.
'Thank you all for joining us tonight. I am sure you are all now aware of the treaty that has been put in place, we ask that in light of this agreement you put aside any differences you may have had so that we may all live in peace. Enjoy your evening,' he toasted his champagne and the rest of the room followed suit; aside from me and Nik seeing as we hadn't been downstairs long enough to procure a drink yet.
Once Elijah was finished the music began again and chatter picked up immediately. I turned when I heard my name being called, and left Nik with a kiss to his cheek; I went to see Davina while he went to speak to Elijah.
'I'm glad you're here, Davina.' I said to her, hugging her tightly; I may have been speaking to her religiously over the phone but it was never the same as seeing someone in the flesh.
'Me too, Kimmie. I can't believe you're pregnant! Why didn't you tell me?' She asked when she pulled away, I could sense that she was slightly hurt and I sent a comforting wave to her out of reflex.
'No one know, sweetie. Well no one aside from Nik and Elijah, we didn't want to say anything until it had all settled for us, we could barely believe it so we didn't know how everyone else would react.' I answered honestly, well as honestly as I could while leaving out the truth over why Bekah, Kol, Finn and Elena had left.
'That's fair enough.' She agreed, giving me a soft smile, 'I should get back to Genevieve and the others, they don't want us separating too long encase there's any trouble.'
'You know I'd protect you if anything happened.' I told her, giving her an assuring look.
'I know that but it's Genevieve,' she shrugged and that was enough of an explanation for me. I gave her a sympathetic look and a hug before we parted.
As I watched Davina disappear into the crowd I looked around for any other familiar faces, but I couldn't find any; I assumed that Hayley and Jackson hadn't arrived yet or they were already preoccupied with other people. Just as I was about to seek out Nik I heard a crash coming from my right and I hurried in that direction without even thinking only to see Elijah holding a blonde werewolf whose name I think was Oliver to the wall, looking and feeling murderous.
'What is going on here?' I asked, noticing that Diego was watching Elijah and Oliver with a smug grin on his face.
'It seems that Oliver here was all too eager to break the treaty.' Elijah growled, his voice ice cold.
'And I assume that Oliver acted on his own?' I asked, continuing when Elijah turned to give me a questioning stare, 'he just walked in here raring to attack a vampire and did it for no reason?'
When Elijah failed to give me an answer I reached to the left of me, grabbing Diego by his arm and shoving him forward.
'From his arrogance at seeing you ready to kill Oliver, I'm assuming he had a hand in the altercation as well.' I clarified.
'Is this true, Diego?' Nik asked, appearing out of nowhere and coming to stand beside me, fixing Diego with a hard stare.
'He kept shoving into me and making comments about how he murdered my family. I snapped, okay?' Diego said, holding his hands up; I gave Elijah and Nik a slight nod when I sensed that he was telling the truth.
'Well then, boys how about we settle this the old fashioned way? Seeing as this is the first day of the treaty and I really wouldn't want this party ruined with murder this early into the evening...' I trailed off, walking over to Elijah and gesturing for him to release Oliver, once he did I grabbed his arm and moved him to stand in front of Diego, 'apologise. Both of you.'
They both looked at me as if they were wondering if I were serious, when they saw the hard stare I was giving them their jaws dropped open in shock.
'Any feuds the vampires may have had with werewolves or vice versa are in the past and if they keep getting rehashed to justify you trying to kill each other then you're just going to be constantly at war. So, be men suck it up and just let it go,' I emphasised my last words, hoping that they would see how stupid this was.
After a long moment Diego held out his hand and after another long moment, Oliver held out his, they shook, offering each other a mumbled 'I'm sorry'. But it was good enough for me; they each walked off in opposite directions and for the first time I noticed that the whole room had become silent and we had attracted an audience. I felt my cheeks reddening at the attention while I silently willed them to stop.
'What?' I asked, lamely.
I could sense that the whole crowd were in awe but I failed to understand why. I looked over to Nik and then Elijah for clarification but they just smiled at me, looking almost proud. Before I could completely freak out at how mute everyone was being, someone in the crowd started clapping and when I looked over to who it was I saw Hayley and Jackson grinning at me. Before I could question it further, everyone was clapping; I would have to ask Nik why later on but in that moment all I wanted to do was disappear. Nik sensed this and he gestured for the music to start back up and when it did everyone seemed to take this as their cue and fanned out, resuming their activates, all aside from Jackson and Hayley who made their way over to me and Nik who now had his arm around my waist.
'That was amazing.' Hayley said, hugging me tightly before she let me go, 'I'm suddenly really glad we signed that treaty.'
When they noticed my confusion, Jackson explained, 'instead of letting it end in bloodshed you diffused the situation. Everyone saw that empathetic side of you and I'm pretty sure they appreciate it too.'
'Oh,' was all I could think to say, leaning into Nik's side as he placed a kiss to my temple.
After the close call of the treaty being thrown out of the window, the rest of the night progressed rather smoothly. People started to make their way over to me in pairs; I could sense that they were rather intimidated of me, but I made sure to take care of that by sending comforting waves towards them. I didn't want anyone to be afraid of me; I wanted to make sure that everyone was as comfortable as possible to tell me if anything was wrong and they weren't likely to do that if they feared me. Quite a few, like Hayley, thanked me for the way I handled the interaction earlier, and I realised just how scared everyone was to just live in fear that they may be sentenced to absolute death if they stepped out of line. That was a fear I was determined to erase. Nik managed to steal me away for a dance after a few hours of mingling, which I was grateful for; I was glad people were talking to me but I had underestimated how exhausting it was.
'Are you having a good time, love?' Nik murmured, only low enough for me to hear; my head was resting on his chest, one hand on his waist and the other holding his as we moved together.
'I am. Despite what happened earlier, I think the night is progressing rather well.' I replied, fighting back a yawn.
'I agree, seeing you in action tonight confirmed something that I knew from the minute I saw you.' He said, the tone of his voice hinting that he was smirking.
'What was that?' I asked, smiling teasingly as I moved my head from his chest to look him in the eye, only a few inches in between our faces.
'That you would be a good Queen.' He rested his forehead against mine, and I couldn't help but close my eyes at the sensation.
'I'm glad I didn't disappoint.' I said, my eyes still closed, as I trusted him to lead me.
'You have never disappointed me, love. And I'm certain you never will.' He replied, his voice sincere.
'Never is a strong word,' I commented.
'It is,' he agreed, twirling me away from him and then back again.
'What if-,' I started but I was cut off when the music stopped again and the sound of drums could be heard coming from the hallway; Nik and I shared a confused look before we went to investigate.
Before we even reached the five African- American drummers in white suits marching down the stairs, I knew that whatever reason they had for being there wasn't good. The lead drummer came to a stop on the last step, the pairs behind him stopping as well. I moved so that I was directly in front of them, ready to interfere if necessary.
'We have a message, from Marcel Gerard,' the leader said, raising a small pocketknife in the air; the four men behind him did the same and I stepped forward, standing in front of the leader, instantly knowing what he was going to do. I heard and smelled the blood as he sliced his wrist and when it was done, I noticed all of the vampires loosing control at the smell of fresh human blood; the newbie vampires wouldn't be able to restrain themselves. Before I could say anything, Elijah and Nik came to stand either side of me, Elijah speaking in a calm and firm voice.
'Control yourselves. We will not violate our treaty.'
But the vampires wouldn't listen and before it was too late, I threw my arms in front of me, sending waves of calm forward at a strong enough rate that a shield grew from the gold flowing out of my hands, protecting the five men behind me as well as Elijah and Nik. A second later, the lights went out and multiple vampires tried to rush forward to feed on the bleeding humans, but it was no use; my shield was keeping them out easily. I could hear Elijah and Nik healing the individuals behind me and when the lights came on I dropped the shield instantly, noticing that the vampires who had tried to attack were lying on the floor, unconscious, but everyone else looked fine; I couldn't sense any pain. I vaguely registered Nik and Elijah compelling the musicians to leave and forget everything that they had witnessed, as a message on the mirror directly across from me caught my eye and I made my way over to it, picking up the smell of the fumes that suggested it was red spray paint before I had come to a complete stop. It read:
THERE WILL BE NO PEACE.
I shook my head, annoyed; there was no question as to who was behind this: Marcel Gerard. He was trying to create a rift in between the species and start a war seeing as he had been banished from the quarter. He was probably missing ruling the city like he once had. I felt Nik come up behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist and his hands resting on my baby bump.
'You saved the day, yet again.' He commented, kissing my temple.
'Marcel is playing with fire,' I murmured, my hands resting over his as I leaned back into his embrace.
'Indeed.' He agreed, turning me around and away from the offensive graffiti, my hands wound around his neck to accommodate the new position, 'but Elijah has gone to deal with that, he's assured me he won't kill him but he will be punished accordingly. I'm sure it would have been a much greater penalty if he had succeeded in making the vampires break their vow tonight.'
'Definitely. Elijah would have been furious. We all would have.' I agreed, resting my head on his shoulder, my eyes drooping.
'Come on love, I think you and our littlest wolf have had enough excitement for one day,' Nik murmured, bending down and picking me up bridal style; I didn't complain he was right I was exhausted and most definitely ready for bed.
I was grateful that he took us to our bedroom via the more secluded route seeing as the party was still in full swing downstairs; now that the bleeding humans had been removed the vampires were completely fine and saw no reason to not continue the party. Once we reached our room Nik gently put me on my feet, turning to close the double doors behind him before applying the lock. I wasted no time in stripping off my dress, undoing the zip on the side and stepping out of it and into one of Nik's shirts; it was a little tight over my stomach but my own clothes weren't even close to fitting me anymore. I kicked off my shoes, rubbed off my make up with a wet wipe and pulled the pins out of my hair before I got into bed, grateful when Nik joined me a few seconds later. He pulled me against his chest and I nuzzled into him, inhaling, happy when sleep claimed me not minutes later.
There's chapter thirty nine! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! Until next time :)
Mili:Pffft ur the writer make it happen lol jk They'll be back together eventually I promise :)
A HUGE thank you to pinky-pie, sdhjpgw7, Krissy92, AnsCat, Mari Wollsch and UniqueGeek for choosing to either favorite or follow my story- it means a lot! :)