I was still trying to process what he'd just told me. Niklaus Mikaelson, the infamous hybrid, the strongest creature on this earth. And I thought that he was cute. Well he was nothing but sweet to me all this time and of course I'm not stupid, I understand that he never showed me his other side, but the day we met he was attacked and considering all the rumors I heard about him and his temper, he really should have killed me right away, but he didn't.

I was looking thoughtfully at the bottom of my empty glass until I realized that he might interpret my silence wrongly.

"Now I understand why that witch tried to desiccate you instead of killing." I finally said and he seemed to sigh in relief. "What did you do to her, by the way?"

He was still standing behind his armchair, his hands on its carved back, probably thinking about how to answer my question without scaring me away.

"I learned everything that I wanted to know from her and then killed her," he simply stated and I nodded to show that I understand. "You are suspiciously calm for someone who seems to know everything about everyone, as I'm sure you know a lot of things about me as well."

"Yeah I've heard a few things, but I don't know everything in the world Nik, trust me." Then I looked at him and asked the question that was bugging me a little. "Why didn't you tell me who you were? We know each other for almost a month now, and I told you a lot of things about myself but whenever I asked you about you or your family you changed the subject. You should've known by now that I'm not the one to judge or get scared easily."

He averted my gaze when he went to pour himself another drink and sat down once again.

"I'm a thousand years old, love. I'm also very paranoid and cautious, I have so many enemies that I lost count, but they are nothing compared to one particular enemy. I'm sure you've heard of him," he said his face like an empty mask, but I still could feel his pain and fear.

"The Hunter. Mikael." He flinched when he heard his name and took another sip of his drink. He somehow looked so vulnerable that I felt an irresistible urge to hug him. I felt sorry for him, his mother cursed him and his father was hunting down him and his siblings for centuries, but I knew he wouldn't want me to pity him. So I continued as if nothing happened. "I understand, you couldn't risk him knowing where you or your siblings were. Actually I've heard some rumors about him. I don't know if it's true but I heard he went after some little girl and her mother's best friend, a witch, desiccated him and hid his body somewhere."

He squeezed his glass so hard that it shattered in his hand, the blood stained pieces falling everywhere. It happened so suddenly that I jumped a little before rushing to him in panic.

"Oh my God! Are you okay? Show me!" I grabbed his hand and winced seeing it pierced with pieces of glass, blood dripping everywhere as glass prevented his wounds from healing. "You should be more careful." I scolded him trying to get rid of the pieces of glass.

I managed to get rid of bigger pieces but there were so many tiny ones that I wouldn't be able to pull them out with my fingers. So I held my hand above his injured one and concentrated, then carefully started pulling all the pieces out with my magic.

When I finally finished, my hands and everything around us was covered in his blood. I looked at his already healed palm satisfied with myself, and only then I realized that he was suspiciously quiet all this time and looked at him. And immediately regretted doing that, dealing with his wounds I didn't realize that he was so close to me, his face inches away from mine, his expression soft.

"I um, I should probably go and wash my hands," I murmured quietly, staring into his eyes, my voice nothing more than a whisper. I was so captivated with emotions in his beautiful eyes, with how his expression darkened when his gaze fell on my slightly parted lips and back to my eyes.

"Yes, you probably should," he whispered, and my knees weakened at the hint of raspiness in his voice.

Without giving myself time to do anything stupid I quickly stood up and went to the kitchen. I washed the blood off my hands, then washed my face with cold water to cool down my red hot cheeks a little bit. I was slightly pissed at myself for chickening out, I wanted to kiss him so bad but ruined the perfect opportunity. Well it's too late now.

When I went back he wasn't there anymore. I hesitated for a moment but decided to go and look for him.

It didn't take me long, I found him upstairs in a room next to mine, he was standing near the window with yet another glass of scotch in his hand, surrounded by paintings. I guessed that it was his studio and decided to knock slightly even though the door was already open.

"Come on in, love. There's no need to knock," he invited me in with a small smile.

"I know that the door was open, but I personally wouldn't like everyone barging into my studio." I simply shrugged returning the smile.

"You're not everyone."

I blushed a little at his words and looked at the paintings around me, trying to ignore his burning gaze.

He was really talented. There were landscapes, abstract works and portraits, all of them incredibly beautiful and creative, but one particular painting caught my eye right away. It was a family portrait, people on it dressed in a really old-fashioned way, four men and a woman, all of them very beautiful. The woman was standing in the middle with two men on each side, and I immediately recognized one of them. Standing to the woman's right was Nik, and except for the long hair and clothes he hadn't changed at all.

"You look sexy with long hair," I said when he came to stand beside me, giving him a playful smirk which he instantly returned. "But I still prefer you with short haircut."

"Ah yes. I prefer it this way as well. Do you know who the people on the painting are? I'm curious of what you can tell me about them. I'm sure you won't disappoint me," he said raising an eyebrow.

"I guess that's the Original family," I smiled deciding to indulge his curiosity. "That's Rebekah in the middle, your only sister. I don't know much about her, only that she is very beautiful which now I know is true. That one who looks strict and impeccable I presume is Elijah. I heard that he is noble and moral good brother with a burning passion for suits. That one is Finn, I think, I don't know much about him, the only thing that I've heard is that he hated being a vampire. And the last one is Kol. Now, I've heard and read a lot of interesting things about that one. And I actually developed a little crush on him when I was fourteen." I giggled seeing Nik's expression darken and not with passion this time.

"How could you have a crush on him if he wasn't around for almost a century," he frowned looking at me intently.

"Well, um, he is well known amongst witches. And he actually had "a thing" with one of my ancestors back in the days," I said looking at his reaction and giggled again when I saw him raising his eyebrows as if knowing already what I was gonna say next. "My ancestors loved to write journals, and that particular ancestor who "dated" your brother, um, described their "adventures" very vividly in her journals, she even added a few illustrations, that's why I recognized him right away. Though I would've done it even faster if he was shirtless."

During my narration his mouth hung open and his eyebrows kept raising slowly but surely until they were almost touching his hairline. He looked so hilarious that I couldn't hold my laughter anymore.

"And you had a crash on him?" He asked shocked.

"I was only fourteen and it was like watching porn for the first time, I have a very good imagination just so you know."

"Please, tell me you are not serious," he said rolling his eyes at me in exasperation, which intensified my giggles. Teasing him was so much fun.

"Okay, okay. I didn't have a crush on him, he's not my type. It's just all those journals were very entertaining." He seemed to relax a little bit, and I had to admit to myself that I kinda liked him being jealous. "Where are they by the way? I heard that you always stick together."

His expression darkened immediately and I instantly regretted asking the question.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It's none of my business," I assured him quickly, not wanting to upset him.

"No, it's alright, it's not that much of a secret. Rebekah, Finn and Kol are daggered, while Elijah abandoned me some decades ago," he stated nonchalantly, but I could hear pain in his voice.

I took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"What happened?" I asked quietly rubbing his palm gently to comfort him. For a minute I thought he would take his hand away but he slightly squeezed it back instead.

"Well, you were right about Finn. He really hated what we've become, so when his suicidal attempts became more and more... creative, shall we say, we didn't have other choice than to dagger him almost nine centuries ago. Kol and Rebekah pissed me off so I daggered them as well. And Elijah and I had an argument after which he left me."

He averted my gaze and I could tell that he wasn't telling me everything. Somehow I felt like he was intentionally trying to seem worse than he was.

"You can tell me the truth, you know? You don't need to pretend to be a monster with me," I said, gently cupping his cheek, making him look at me.

"I don't pretend, love. I am a monster."

"That may be true, I heard a lot of terrifying things about you. Don't get me wrong, I know exactly who you are Niklaus Mikaelson. But you were nothing but kind to me and you may say that you were pretending, but don't forget that I'm a Seer, I know some things, and I always can tell when someone is lying. You may be a monster to your enemies, but I know that you love your family. Always and Forever." He flinched a little but didn't look away. "You don't need to pretend with me."

He stood there, frozen, looking into my eyes as if trying to see into my soul, but found only tenderness and compassion.

"I don't deserve you looking at me like that. I don't deserve you," he murmured, but I rolled my eyes at him.

"Please, I'm not some angel or something. As you haven't shown me your darker side, I haven't shown you mine either. I can be a monster too, when someone hurts my loved ones."

"You are a feisty little thing, aren't you, love?" He smirked a little trying to play it cool, but I could tell that it meant a lot to him. He took both of my hands and kissed them, then pulled them a little, gesturing me to follow him. "Come, I want to show you something that I've never shown anyone except for my family."

His words made me a little nervous, but I still went with him, really curious about what he was about to show me. He led me downstairs to some ordinary-looking door which was hidden under the stairs to the second floor and was apparently leading to the basement. We appeared in a small room with some old furniture and management tools but I immediately sensed a presence of magic. I looked at him questioningly then looked at the wall which was radiating magic. I concentrated a little and saw that there was a door hidden with a spell.

"I knew that you would be able to see it," he smiled and somehow I could feel that he was proud of me.

I didn't say anything as he led me to a hidden door. Behind it was another room but much bigger than the first one. It was almost empty except for...

"Now that is creepy " I whispered looking at five fancy looking coffins. "You haven't brought me here to murder me, right? Have I told you that I love you? You are not so cruel as to kill a girl that is in love with you, right?"

He laughed cheerfully, tilting back his head, and I waited patiently till he finished, watching him with a soft smile. I really liked his laughter.

"Relax, sweetheart, I'm not gonna kill you," he answered, his voice dripping with amusement, then he became serious. "Come, I want to introduce you to someone."

He opened one of the coffins and I gasped seeing a vampire lying there with grey skin and a dagger in his chest. Then I looked at his face properly and gasped again when I recognized him from the portrait.

"Thalia meet Finn, my oldest brother. He probably tried every existing way to kill himself, so we decided to dagger him for his own good." He closed the coffin and led me to another one, opening it. This time I was prepared for what I was about to see, so I just took a deep breath when I recognized Kol. "Please meet my youngest brother Kol, mischievous little brat, psychotic homicidal maniac and the wildest Mikaelson," he said fondly and I could tell that unlike Finn, he really loved his younger brother. "I daggered him in 1974 and he's lying here since then. He's called the wildest for a reason, unlike the rest of us he never could suppress his temper and lay low, so every time when he endangered us with one of his bloody temper tantrums, we daggered him. Though last time he went even further and made an alliance with witches to create a weapon to neutralize me, because these daggers don't work on me thanks to my hybrid nature." He fondly patted his brother on the shoulder before closing his coffin. The next one belonged to a beautiful blonde. "Meet my only living sister Rebekah," he said with a smile gently caressing her hair. "A feisty little thing just like you, love. She's the only one that never left my side, never betrayed me no matter what I did. She has my temper but terrible taste in men. In 1920-s we were almost killed by Mikael, but she refused to run because she fell in love with a vampire. I would never forgive myself if I lost her, so I decided it would be better if she was angry with me but alive, than killed by our own father, so I daggered her." He planted a gentle kiss on her forehead then closed her coffin.

We left the basement and once again appeared in a living room.

"Do you have any groceries here, I would like to cook something." He nodded and we headed to the kitchen where he gestured me to help myself. I promised him once that I would treat him with my Italian pasta so I was gonna do just that.

"Tell me about Elijah," I asked him while gathering the ingredients that I needed. He sat on the bar stool watching me wandering around his kitchen with a small smile on his face.

"Ah Elijah. Your description of him was quite accurate. The noble brother. Me, him and Rebekah were the closest among our siblings. He was always by my side, my most loyal companion. But his loyalty to me almost killed him. After the last time when our father almost killed us I told him to leave because choosing between me and him, father would most definitely chase after me, but he refused. I knew that I couldn't convince him, so I told him that I buried our siblings at the bottom of the ocean." I stopped what I was doing and looked at him in shock.

"Wow... it's... And he believed you?"

"Yes," he said bitterly. "And I haven't seen him since."

I stood there for a minute in silence, hesitating. I wanted to hug him but I knew he wouldn't like that, so I just continued with what I was doing.

"Are you going to undagger your siblings when you kill Mikael?" I inquired putting a pot on the stove.

"Of course. I'm not sure about Finn, as he most definitely will continue his suicidal attempts and I love him even if he's a depressed little whiner," he said smiling fondly. "But Kol and Rebekah for sure. They would probably try to kill me but I'm literally immortal, so... Kol would most definitely leave, he was always a loner. And Rebekah... to be honest I won't be surprised if she leaves me as well. I love my little sister and always try to protect her and sometimes I cross the line. She always wanted a family, to get married, to become a mother, to get old and die surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. But as I said she has a terrible taste in men. The only one more or less worthy of her was Marcellus." I remembered then vaguely that he told me about a little boy that he adopted in New Orleans and nodded showing him that I knew who he was talking about. "I was watching them falling for each other, though they thought that they were discreet, and decided to see if Marcel's intentions about her were serious. I daggered her and gave Marcel a choice, either undagger her and spend with her the rest of his human life or leave her and become a vampire. It was a test, if he picked her I would've still changed him, but he chose to become a vampire. Rebekah remained daggered for 52 years, and was very upset when she woke up."

"That's kinda sad actually. I feel sorry for her. It's in women's nature to want children and family, but she would never be able to have it. Though if that Marcel guy chose her, if he really loved her, they could've adopted a child or something. I hope she finds her love, she really deserves it."

"How can you say that? You don't even know her." He asked, with a hint of interest.

"She was craving for it for a thousand years. No one deserves it more than her."

We fell silent, thinking our own thoughts. I was chopping vegetables for a salad and thinking about the Originals. I liked Rebekah, I think we could've become friends if we met. I wasn't sure about Elijah, maybe it was the hint of disappointment in Nik's voice when he told me about his departure, but I still was surprised that he believed him. I mean, they know each other for thousand years, how could he believe that Nik would do it to their family? Kol was another story, even though Nik described him as a homicidal maniac, I felt a little bad for him. He sounded like a little boy trying to get attention, maybe he felt left out after Finn was daggered, when he saw Nik, Rebekah and Elijah being closer to each other with their Always and Forever. Who knows?

I finished cooking and Nik helped me to serve the table. We started eating and he complimented my cooking skills making me blush.

"Tell me about this family relic of yours that you want to get back so desperately," he asked pouring me a glass of wine. "I'm sensing a story behind it."

"That's because you have good instincts," I said, taking a sip of my wine. "It's a Grimoire, which belonged to my ancestor Nefeli. We, Black witches, hunt down magical items that fell into humans' hands for generations now, it's kinda our family business. It all started when Nefeli's daughter Ariadne, devoted her life to searching for her mother's Grimoire, which was stolen by her sister. She hadn't found it of course, but she bequeathed to her descendants to search for it. And somehow it happened that while searching for it, my ancestors began to run into a lot of other magical items and started collecting them as well."

"I see. But haven't you said that witches of your bloodline can only give birth to one witch?" He asked curiously.

"Yes I have. But from time to time it happened throughout our history that my ancestors gave birth to two children, but only one of them was a witch, and the other just a human. That was exactly Nefeli's case. She had two daughters a witch and a human. Human one was always jealous of her sister and her powers, she probably felt left out when their mother taught her sister magic, but that doesn't justify what she did. One night she killed her mother in her sleep and tried to kill her sister too, but failed and ran away with her mother's Grimoire, just to get revenge on her sister. Generations of Black witches were searching for it everywhere, and now when I've found it, I will do everything to get it back."

"Kol used to collect magical items as well, he had some secret place back in New Orleans where he created a lot of cursed objects with his witchy friends when he was trying to get rid of me," he said smirking smugly.

"I don't believe that he seriously wanted to kill you, he probably was just trying to create some sort of a dagger that would work on you or something," I said reassuringly. "You know I wanted to ask you something, when talking about Rebekah, you said that she was your only living sister... "

"Ah yes. My mother bore seven children. The oldest was Freya, she died of the plague when she was five, after that my parents took Finn and Elijah and moved to the New World, where I, Rebekah, Kol and Henrik were born. Henrik was killed by werewolves, that's why our mother turned us into vampires in the first place, to protect us. Then when Mikael learned that I wasn't his son he killed every werewolf in that village starting a war between species." He looked calm, his face emotionless, but he couldn't fool me, it was a hard topic for him and I didn't want him to be sad.

"I'm sorry about Freya and Henrik," I said softly, then quickly continued trying to distract him from sad thoughts. "My grandfather was a werewolf too you know, but he never triggered his curse."

"That means that if you take away an innocent life you...?" he inquired hesitantly.

"No, nothing like that. You can be a witch or a werewolf, not both."

He nodded thoughtfully sipping from his glass of wine, before asking me another question.

"I never asked you about your magic by the way, how is it? Any progress?"

We carried on with our dinner, discussing different topics, wisely avoiding sensitive areas. It was a cozy evening, we felt so comfortable with each other that it felt like we were an old married couple. Later he helped me to wash the dishes and we had a lot of fun splashing each other with water, then he walked me to my room where he wished me sweet dreams and kissed me on the forehead. It was such a sweet gesture that I ended up falling asleep with the smile on my face.