Klaus put a fist through the wall, swearing loudly. "This bitch thinks she can take our happily ever after away again and I'm not having it!"
"Niklaus, please." Elijah tried to express his disdain for Klaus' violent anger. "There is no point in reacting like this. So Astrid got away again. She is only a witch. If we keep moving, eventually we will catch her."
Rebekah who had been quiet this whole time now finally spoke up. "Both of you...don't you think this is a little too easy? We've gotten close many times these last two weeks but never close enough for a kill. She is just a witch. So how can that be? I also think that perhaps she is trying to distract us from something worse."
"She took our omega's blood at many points across the centuries." Elijah was thinking out loud for the benefit of the group. "There are numerous things a witch can do with their victim's blood for components. Maybe she can sort of tell where we are, the same way Vincent could if she tried."
Their phones buzzed to indicate they had been added to a group chat with Vinny. Alright. I've had enough. I'm taking a break from my studies to eat lunch and I'm going off campus to find something if the three of you won't agree to meet me. I desperately need some kind of contact with one of you. Preferably all of you, but at this point I'm not feeling picky.
Klaus sighed. "I was a little dismissive earlier."
"We can't afford to stop." Rebekah was firm. "Astrid is in Mystic Falls with us right now. She is just waiting for a chance. She must be scared to make such bold moves for the first time. Which has me hopeful that's because we're closer to being free of her than ever."
Last chance. Maybe Caroline is still doing that special at the grill if I hurry...
"Regardless of what we can afford, at least one of us needs to give Vincent some alpha time. She's just going to walk into Astrid's arms otherwise."
Rebekah sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll go, even though I've already got my blood up." Rebekah said stood from the cafe table, actually smiling at the idea of seeing her omega. As she was checking for her car keys in her purse, Elijah's phone started buzzing.
"It's Hope." He informed them and answered. He put the receiver to his ear and greeted his niece. "Hope, how can I help you?" His expression turned to stone in an instant. "We'll be there in five minutes."
x
Vinny sighed in frustration, more than a little tired after all the effort it took to pull Finn from the grave and then make him a witch again. This was the second spell she had showed Freya, something Cosette had crafted herself. It was a ritual casting by which a supernatural creature could change their race to another supernatural creature. None of her alphas were answering her and all she wanted was a whiff of their scent, a jacket or an overshirt to sleep with. When she got no answer after giving them a couple more moments to argue it out, Vinny started for the front door, intent on sniffing her alphas out. I won't actually leave the school. I'll just get some air.
The sunlight made her eyes flinch back a little, as Vinny had not come outside for a couple days now. But once they had adjusted and Vinny drew in one full breath, she felt good. The air was warm, but not hot and a soft breeze prevented the atmosphere from being stifling. There were also birds chirping. Newly invigorated, Vinny stepped off the front porch only to notice a student coming toward her with intent.
"Hello." She smiled, feeling much better with some fresh air in her lungs. "You're a little late to class don't you think?"
The young man stopped in front of her arms crossed and gave her a long, gauging look. What is he doing? Vinny gauged him back, realizing it was a vampire. Her hand slipped into her pocket, closing around the alpha mace she kept. It wouldn't stop him, but it would slow him up closer to her own level of speed. "I have a message from a friend." He finally said with a smile that had lots of unnerving energy to it.
Vinny relaxed just a little. He leaned in to deliver said message. "Did you really think a school would stop me from reaching you? Nothing can stop me." His voice took on feminine qualities and then he opened his mouth wide and bit down on the side of her neck, hands grabbing Vinny's shoulders to anchor himself in place. Shock and pain flared; filling Vinny as she screamed shrilly, flinging out one hand and sending him flying into the gate where he was impaled. Good thing I've been practicing my defensive magic. She pressed her hands to her neck and stumbled back inside as blood seeped between her fingers, but before she could make it up the last steps a rage that wasn't hers filled her paired with an absolute agony in her gut.
Vinny crumpled at the top, going fetal as she tried to understand what had just happened. I can feel the vampire's agony. His fury. It hurts so much. A flaming figure swooped through the blurry sky over her head and dove for the squirming vampire on the fence. Hope called out as it dove. "Landon no! He bonded-" Vinny lost consciousness.
x
Vinny wasn't someone else when she opened her eyes to a dream. No, she found herself existing in a pale white space like a hospital room if those were dimly lit. Floating, Vinny tried to traverse through the landscape, looking for something that wasn't an endless and pearly expanse. I'm dead, aren't I? She thought grimly, her absolute horror and pain tearing a sob from her throat. She couldn't feel any of her alphas, after all. Not even a little. Then there was the fact she knew she'd felt her attackers pain when he was impaled, experiencing his fury in the moment. They won't ever want me now. I smell like a bad alpha. Vinny felt her heart tearing in half.
"Why didn't you just kill me?!" She screamed into the void, sobbing with abandon. "Finish me, Astrid! We were friends once, please remember that!" Alpha! She cried inwardly, pleading for any of them to answer her. Alpha please, I'm sorry! Don't leave me. I'm sorry. Bad omega. Bad girl. She devolved into hysterical self deprecation and just stopped moving. "I wish I was dead." She said finally. "Never to return, rather than this."
A low snarl came from behind her and Vinny turned around in time to be crushed into a multi-armed hug, her lungs filling with the scent of her alphas. "Never say that again, love." It was Klaus.
"Am I dying again?" Vinny asked, sobbing freely even now.
"No." Elijah carefully rubbed her back, fingers on his other hand combing through her hair. "Vincent, Freya is making a list of how to unhook bonds and when you wake up, you're no longer going to belong to that man."
"Alpha bonds can't be broken." Vinny whispered, a fresh wave of horror rolling over her.
Klaus grinned at her and Vinny felt a bit more reassured. "Maybe not for human alphas and omegas. One of the techniques Freya found will allow us to purge that waste of space from your system and in the process bind us to you instead."
"Don't go picking for her, Nik." Rebekah softly chided him. "That one could have consequences."
"Like what?" Vinny asked, genuinely not caring as long as she was free from this unwanted bond. "What could be worse than this?"
"Vincent...how well do you like being mostly human?" Elijah tried to be tactful in his response.
"If that's what Freya decides to do for me, I'll take it. Just get me free from him." She shivered in their arms. "I wanted to surprise you with-"
"Our siblings and father, I know. Shhhh..." Rebekah gently rubbed her back between Elijah's careful ministrations. "Freya already brought them back while you were recovering from blood loss."
"How are you here?" Vinny croaked, not understanding how this didn't mean she was dead. "Isn't being together dangerous while my curse remains in place?"
"My darling sister has spelled the three of us to sleep. Whereas you can wake up anytime, we will not move until we are released. Freya thinks of everything, love." Klaus pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Did you say Henrik and father are back?" Vinny whispered, suddenly hopeful. If anyone could find an errant witch, it was Mikael. She glanced a little worriedly at Klaus who just smiled.
"Yes. They're guarding you, Henrik standing right by father." Rebekah chuckled. "It's adorable. He said you already knighted him once and he's keeping his promise to his maiden fair."
Vinny smiled, a little less afraid. "Oh well I'm perfectly safe with brave Henrik at my back." She relaxed into the grip of her alphas for a while, maybe hours or perhaps it was only moments. "I don't want to wake up and you three be gone." She murmured, done with the way things had been going for her.
"We have an idea on that one, love. To break the curse." Rebekah paused, a little nervous. "Do you want to hear?"
"Of course." Vinny twisted in the nest of arms to give Rebekah a kiss on the lips, a bare ghost of what she really wanted.
"Well, Vincent...We're going to get you drunk." Elijah started. "Carefully. Then...administer simultaneous bonding bites."
Vinny was a little nervous. "Ah my brain might not- I see. Fuzzy things up with alcohol and while I sleep my mind will get used to feelings and thoughts from three outside directions." She whistled to herself. "That's going to be a hell of a dream." She hesitated, then in a clear accent that made her sound like Inga spoke in the language of her original birth. "In our youth that was as good as marriage. Do you three intend-"
"Yes." Klaus didn't let her finish. "We've been hunting Astrid for two weeks. During that time I got over myself and we all spoke and agreed that we are sharing you."
Vinny slipped back into English. "That's good, because I recently realized my curse can't be broken from the inside. I must rely on those outside of it. You three." Vinny relaxed. "It's almost over, then. I think. Freya just severed the bond to my attacker. I can't feel him anymore."
Elijah kissed her forehead. "Time to wake up, Vincent. We have a date with the travel bar you keep in your things."
Vinny's eyes shot open to find herself pressed into Rebekah's sleeping chest, with Elijah curled between her legs and Klaus snuggled into her other shoulder. She didn't speak yet, didn't call out to the Viking or his son on the other side of her door, instead enjoying the time she had to safely scent her alphas and touch their skin. Then she carefully disentangled herself and walked to the door, opening it and scooping Henrik up as she spun in absolute joy, showering the top of his head with kisses even as her eyes filled with tears. She spoke the old language again. "Henny! You really are back."
He wrinkled his nose and pretended not to enjoy it. "Your accent is terrible." He spoke in the only language he'd had time to learn. Then he leaned into her hug and shook quietly as the two of them could finally be family again. "You look so different, Inga." He patted her cheek with one hand. Mikael watched in a fond silence, quietly waiting his turn.
"My name is Vinny now, Henrik. I'm Italian and I'm going to show you what that means as soon as I'm safe. You'll love Italy. It has lots of good sweet things and old places to explore." She put Henrik down and rushed into Mikael's waiting arms, now inhaling the scent of her chosen father. "Ever since you killed my abusive father, all I ever wanted was for you to be there at my important events. Now I-"
He hushed her. "I will be. I have my boy back and I have...with difficulty forgiven Niklaus. It took time, but I came to realize it's not his fault his mother was an adulteress." He rested his forehead on hers as he used to do in order to calm Inga when she had a bad fever. "I know the plan those three have. I will imbibe the drinks as well. This is after all a marriage by our old ways and I love my sons and daughters." Vincent glowed at this.
"Then it is time I cook as I have never cooked before. I could never in good conscience just have a party with fantastic alcohol and no feast to go with it." Mikael pushed off the wall he was leaning on.
"Lead the way."