"Oh! It gets better, Caroline!" Kol laughed as he took a bite of Kung Pow chicken from one of the take-out boxes scattered on the coffee table in the living room as Rebekah sat forward on the couch next to him, taking over the story.
"So, there were are in St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans," she said in an excited voice, "And we're face to face with this scary voodoo priestess who has just risen from her grave and is heading straight towards us…"
"And that's when Klaus raises his hands and cries out, 'Don't hurt us, we're just three helpless vampires!'" Kol laughs, re-creating the motion with his own hands
"Well, I thought it would work at the time!" Klaus chuckled, his eyes adverting to Caroline as he dug through his own take out box with his chop sticks, "You know…distract her."
"Then what happened?" Caroline smirked, intrigued as her eyes moved to Kol, then Rebekah, and finally Klaus as she watched them consume their late night snack in silence for a moment, building the suspense with a shared smile, before Kol swallowed the bite in his mouth, then opened it again to speak, but was cut off.
"Then, Elijah came along and saved all their asses…like usual," Misha chimed in as he walked into the room with a beer and a stack of napkins from the kitchen in his hands
"Ugh!" Rebekah cried, throwing up her hands up with a smile, "Do you always have to ruin the ending of all our stories like that?"
"I hate to break it to you, Honey," Misha laughed as he tossed the napkins on the coffee table and took a seat in the recliner, resting his beer bottle on his knee, "But, your older brother's been pulling your hindquarters out of the fire for over a thousand years…there isn't much to ruin in your story endings because the ending is always the same."
Klaus chuckled as he took a drink from his own beer bottle then changed the subject.
"Kaspar still asleep?"
"Yeah…" Misha answered, a puzzled look crossing his face
"Did you check on him?" Klaus asked, taking in a mouthful of rice, "Is he still breathing?"
"Sadly, I did go up a couple of hours ago and check his vitals," Misha smirked, "He slapped my hand away and turned over and just continued to sleep soundly—maybe a little too soundly—"
"Oh, my God," Kol quipped, "Kaspar is sleeping too soundly, who do we speak to about this? Who do we fire? The Sandman? Because I've been wanting to stick it to that bastard for years!"
"Kol..." Klaus chided, then shook his head, "Don't."
"What?" Kol shrugged
"Because your quips are tacky," Caroline added matter-of-factually and Klaus covered his mouth to stifle his laughter, but Misha and Rebekah were not as successful.
After a few moments, as their laughter subsided, Rebekah leaned forward and broke open a fortune cookie.
"Try not to worry, Misha," she said in a reassuring voice, "he's probably just drained. I'm sure that fight with Mother was no picnic and probably took a toll physically, mentally and magically. You'll see, he'll sleep it off and be as good as new in a few hours."
"I'm sure Rebekah's right," Klaus tried to sooth the warlock, coming back to his senses, "And I know your worried-Kaspar is your only living sibling and you want to keep him safe- but try not to let your fears overwhelm you."
Misha scoffed, taking another swig from his beer bottle while keeping eye contact with the original
"Try not to let my fears overwhelm me?" he smirked sadly, "You know better than anyone, Nik, that in our world, there is always something to fear."
Klaus put down his chopsticks on his plate and studied Misha with sad eyes for a moment and nodded before Caroline interjected, changing the subject.
"You had other siblings?" Caroline asked curiously
"I did," Misha said softly, turning and focusing his attention on her, "Four besides Kaspar. An older sister, Glorianna-'Gloria'-, an older brother, Octavian, and two younger brothers—twins—Luka and Dominic."
"What happened to them?" Caroline suddenly found herself asking, consequently finding all three pairs of Mikaelson eyes on her.
"Gloria was a witch, she worked for Klaus and died at the hands of Katerina Petrova," Misha answered automatically, "Octavian we lost to werewolves… and the twins—"
Misha suddenly stopped, closing his eyes in pain.
Then after a moment, the warlock opened his eyes and said softly, his voice breaking, "Excuse me, won't you? I—it's late and I've had too much liquor and Lo Mein to continue this conversation right now."
Then he took one last swig from his beer, setting the empty bottle gently on a side table, before gracefully lifting himself out of the recliner and leaving the room.
"Uh! I never know when to keep my mouth shut," Caroline said in a relenting voice, throwing her face in her hands when the warlock had disappeared from view, "It's like some horrible sickness—"
"It's alright, Love," Klaus soothed, putting a hand on her knee, "It's just that, where we come from, some things are better left forgotten."
"You mean Misha's siblings—how they all died?" Caroline asked, raising her head and looking at him, but Klaus didn't answer right away
"Just the youngest ones really...the twins..." Kol said softly, "They were..."
"Like I said," Klaus said, giving Kol a look that told him to keep his mouth shut, "Some things are better left forgotten."
# # # # # #
A cold breeze blew through Stephens woods as an owl landed high in the branches of one of the oak trees clustered around the Felghram star—the ritual site of the Vikings—it's bright yellow eyes blinking in the moonlight and it's head turning to look down at the large amount of blood still soaking into the ground below.
It was Matt Donovan's blood, though his body was long gone and buried by the Salvatore Brothers after his sacrifice at Kaspar's hand, that had initially attracted the bird's hunting senses.
And when the owl realized that there was nothing dead or wounded to feed in the sacred circle, it let out a hoot and flew off into the night in search of new prey.
Moments later, a tattooed, mulatto-skinned arm pushed through the bloody soil and grass in the center of the Felghram star and stretched out, grasping hold of the ground, and soon a shoulder appeared, then a neck and a head...
As the dark warrior drew his first breath in a thousand years and opened his new eyes.
# # # # # #
Misha sighed as he splashed cold water on his face in the upstairs bathroom, keeping his eyes closed as he turned off the faucet and reached out blindly for the hand towel…though it seemed closer than he thought the hanging rack was.
Misha took the towel, opening his eyes as he dried his face, resting them on the figure now standing in front of him.
"Liliya," he breathed, "What—what are you doing here? I thought you crossed over after we sent Esther back."
"Not quite yet," she said in a solemn voice, "As for why I'm here-I'm here because I need your help. I think Elijah and his siblings may be in danger, again."
"There is always something to fear…" Misha whispered, revisiting his words from his conversation with Klaus, lowering the towel from his face with a sigh
Liliya nodded, her eyes sad, "And, in this case, someone."
Misha narrowed his eyes, "Any idea who?"
"There are whispers in the spirit realm of a hunter rising in Mystic Falls…" Liliya replied, but Misha cut her off
"Wait...a hunter?" Misha asked curiously, "You mean a vampire hunter?"
Liliya gave Misha knowing look before nodding again
"But, Mikael is dead," Misha continued, "and we've encountered more than our fair share of hunters over the centuries, but I haven't seen one in well over two hundred years. What would one be doing in Mystic Falls after all this time? And what do the spirits mean by a hunter 'rising'?"
"All I know is that blood spilled on sacred earth brought him here," Liliya replied in a hesitant voice, "And...there's...more...it's why I came to you and not Elijah or the others."
Misha turned his head in curiosity, but said nothing, waiting for Liliya to continue
"The spirits say that this hunter was born and died in Mystic Falls, that he is dark skinned," Liliya said, closing her eyes and took in a deep breath, "And he has... Nordic tattoos."
Misha's breath caught and his face fell, turning ashen as he stumbled against the sink to support himself.
"Dominic..." he whispered