Sophia POV
The next morning I awoke to an empty bed since Nik hadn't even joined me when I decided to head to bed which meant he probably never joined me at all, I showered then dressed in a black skirt, a wine red top and a black jacket over the top with matching wine red heels before I headed out of our room heading straight for his art room where I found him painting at a large easel.
"Hey" I walked in and he barely turned to acknowledge me making me frown. "Nik have you gotten any sleep?" I walked over and sat down next to him on the table.
"Rebekah's out looking into the milling records" he replied making me frown.
"That's not what I asked" I argued and he finally turned towards me putting down his brush. "Nik I think you need to try and get some sleep" I got up and walked towards him putting my hands on his waist.
"I'm alright love, Rebekah was looking for you" he brushed his hand over my cheek before stepping back and went back to his painting.
"She talked mayor Lockwood into meeting with us, we're gonna try and find out what happened to the white oak tree" I told him but he didn't seem to act like he'd heard me. "I'll be back later, try and get some sleep" I frowned as I headed out turning back once to look at him since he wasn't acting like himself before I left heading to The Grill to meet up with Rebekah. "Sorry I'm late, I was dealing with...something" I apologized looking at the mayor as I took the seat next to Beks.
"Thank you for meeting with me mayor, I figured as head of the preservation society you'd be a good person to ask about the oldest trees in this community" Rebekah began.
"A long line of Lockwood women used to keep those records back before any of them had actual jobs" Carol smiled at us and I smiled back since that was a good thing for women and the thing I hated most about my time, we were taught how to run the household for a husband and that's it.
"I've been to the founders archive but I can't seem to find any record of the tree I'm looking for"
"It probably got cut down, big old trees built half this town in the 1900s" she replied just as I saw Damon and Stefan enter.
"Ho, she-devil and Mrs Klaus, 9 o'clock" I heard my twin say and I rolled my eyes for the nicknames as he and Stefan pass going straight to the bar.
" Do you happen to know who kept the milling ledgers during that period?" I asked turning back to Carol.
"Back then, all the logging mills were owned by the Salvatore's" she replied and my eyes widened a little since when the hell had my family taken over the mills, I turned and looked towards my brothers knowing this was gonna get interesting and that I'd have to talk with them.
"...you know, quitting blood cold turkey after a ripper binge, probably not the best approach" I heard Damon say and frowned towards my little brother. "Every time you play that all-or-nothing game, you eventually leave a trail of bodies so I'm thinking now's a good time to pay our old friend moderation a visit"
"They were all on the founders council, Damon. That's what they have in common" Stefan replied not replying back to Damon but clearly answering a question I'd missed.
"But why them huh?" Damon asked him. "Brian Walters and Alaric weren't from founding families, I mean hey if you gotta slaughter council members go a-list, at least in 1912 they killed a Salvatore"
"Which Salvatore would that be?" I asked since Rebekah and I had approached them since we needed those records, they turned in their seats seeing us behind them.
"Zachariah Salvatore" Damon smirked especially when I gave them a look since who the hell was that, the Salvatore bloodline ended with us and I sure as hell have never had any kids and unless one of them knocked up some girl which was unlikely. "He was our nephew" he went on and I raised my eye.
"From who?" I asked frowning at them. "I doubt Stefan knocked anybody up, he was too good for that and the only one he ever slept with was Katherine and you-"
"So Zachariah Salvatore was your nephew?" Rebekah asked them before I could continue.
"Well, our father knocked up one of the maids during the civil war, she had a son" my eyes widened before I made a disgusted face since that man was truly horrible and that meant that I'd once had another half-brother...kill me now I don't need any more blood relatives. "But as far as everyone else knew, Stefan, Sophia and I were dead family name had to go somewhere"
"And uh...your family owned the logging mills back then" Beks asked and I sighed since that was subtle.
"You're full of a lot of questions" Damon said looking at Rebekah suspiciously.
"I'm just researching the town history, I grew up here after all" Rebekah argued covering while I stood by still digesting the news Damon had just spilled.
"You know, you don't have to disguise your true motives Blondie Bex, if you want more sex just ask for it" Damon replied and my head snapped up towards him.
"Not enough liquor in the world" Bekah snapped back at him and I turned to her even more surprised.
"Oh come on it was too good for you to be this hostile"
"You had sex with my twin brother?!" I exclaimed looking at Rebekah.
"You sleep with my brother all the time" Beks argued and I recoiled back.
"Gross Beks and I married your brother, there's a difference" I replied as Stefan suddenly takes the bottle and gets up.
"You'll have to excuse my little brother, he's jonesing for some o-positive" Damon spoke up and I turned to glare at him.
"I'm not jonesing" Stefan protested.
"So they never catch the killer?" Rebekah asked getting back onto the topic at hand leaving me feeling violated and disgusted that she actually slept with Damon and I was guessing it was the night of the ball given she came home in her dress which meant she left it until now for me to find out.
"Nope, wrote it all off on vampires"
"Maybe it was a vampire" Beks said looking at Damon.
"Yeah, yeah maybe it was a vampire, Damon" Stefan agreed.
"Don't think for a second you didn't cross my mind too brother but these murders weren't your style, were they?" Damon argued looking at Stefan. "Plus there were no other vampires circulating then"
"Well, there was one other vampire, remember Sage?" Stefan suggested.
"Oh right Sage, speaking of great sex" Damon smirked and I practically gagged.
"You're so disgusting Damon" I protested moving to the other side of Rebekah and ordered a drink since I definitely was gonna need it to get through this conversation, whatever happened to my kind, shy twin is beyond me, vampirism ruined him.
"I knew Sage once, trashy little thing" Beks spoke up but Damon looks at Stefan clearly ignoring us.
"You really think it was Sage who was killing all those founders back then?"
"Town questioned every grown man in Mystic Falls, probably never occurred to them that a woman could have done it" Stefan replied and I smiled since that had been the days, women were considered weak and frail and meant we got away with literal murder when we wanted to.
"So uh...tell me more about your old relatives, I heard they tore down half the woods to make this town" Rebekah quickly cut in to try and get back to the logging records.
"Easy there, lushy pants it's been a hoot and a half but it's boys night and you weren't invited" Damon argues taking the bottle as she'd grabbed for it while Stefan takes two glasses and they leave.
"Your brothers an ass" Bekah whined and I rolled my eyes.
"I could have told you that before you slept with him" I replied pulling out my phone to check in with Nik but he didn't reply and that worried me, he was worrying me. "It's not over yet Beks" I sighed downing my drink in one go since we were leaving without those records and waited until Damon started playing darts while Stefan sat and drank back to his broody self.
"So...let's just say sage was killing everyone in 1912, who the hell is doing it now it's not that psycho, Dr. Fell, she's a woman there's no way she could stab 3 grown men" I overheard Damon saw right before he throws a dart but had already made my way over and caught it before it hit.
"That's a bit sexist, a woman could easily kill a man with the right motivation brother" I smirked at him.
"You just uh...don't give up, do you?" Stefan asked and I smiled.
"Perhaps I just want to catch up with my brothers" I told them and watched as they shared a look.
"Why are you so grumpy?" Beks suddenly asked looking towards Stefan.
"He's on a master cleanse, trying to be a better man and all" Damon replied for him.
"You know you were a lot more fun in the twenties" Rebekah pointed out still looking at Stefan and I smiled a little.
"You'll rile him up, he's testy when he's being self-righteous"
"I'm not being self-righteous, Damon I'm just not interested in slaughtering innocent human beings anymore" Stefan argued with Damon and I huffed since honestly he had a saint complex.
"Oh ok fair enough, my mistake you used to be self-righteous" Damon argued before he pulled out a book. "...'Dear diary, Damon has lost his way. Though I have pulled my own life together, he continues to waste his'..." he reads and I recognize it as one of Stefan's journals, he used to write all the time when we were kids and clearly continued on in his vampire life just like I had since it was the only thing I once had in common with my little brother.
"Ouch" Rebekah laughed and took the journal from Damon's hands. "...'His bitterness consumes him. He is nothing but blackness and bile'..." she read then closes the journal walking to Stefan. "Oof judgey" I roll my eyes at their antics as she turns and looks at Damon. "You know, if I'm being honest you didn't seem like much fun either, Damon"
"I wasn't, woman I was in love with was stuck in a tomb she wasn't getting out for 100 years I wasn't having any fun at all" Damon replied and I scoffed.
"She was never actually in the tomb in begin with" I spat bitterly and moved towards the table sitting down stealing their bottle and poured myself a drink throwing it back instantly before I check my phone again with another frown, none of my texts were getting replies.
"That sounded like sage, all right" Rebekah suddenly said and I looked up since I clearly missed something that was said.
"How did you know her?" Damon asked her.
"She was obsessed with my brother Finn over 900 years ago"
"What?!" Damon exclaimed surprised by that. "Creepy, suicidal guy?" I looked down at Stefan as he was furiously hitting his ring against the table. "You're doing it again" Damon called over to him and Stefan gets up agitated.
"I need to, uh...I got to get out of here" I frowned at my little brothers struggle, I knew all about the ripper days now and I'd searched why he was called the Ripper of Monterey.
"Sure, first admit you're jonesing" Damon argued.
"Damon, I'm not gonna..." he starts to leave but Damon stops him.
"Admit it" Damon pressed and I frowned at him.
"Ok, fine I'm freaking out, I'm ready to eat the entire wait staff why do you need to hear me say it?" Stefan snapped at him.
"Because I'm feeling a little self-righteous, too" Damon replied letting Stefan go and he immediately left and Damon soon followed.
"You go on ahead Beks, I've had enough of my brothers" I told her knowing she wanted to keep following and digging for answers but I was done.
"Alright" she nodded and left to follow my brothers while I went out the opposite exit heading over to the car getting in and drove back to the mansion heading up to Nik's art room seeing him exactly where I left him with advanced work on the painting he was working on.
"Nik" I walked towards him and grabbed his arm only to feel myself get sped into the nearest wall with the paintbrush against my neck. "Nik it's me!" I yelled looking into his eyes. "Nik please it's me, it's me" I pulled my hand up putting it over his to try and release his grip on it while my other hand cupped the side of his face and got him to look at me. "It's me, your fine" his eyes focused in on me.
"Sophia?" I nodded my head and just like that he'd let me go and I fell a little since he'd held me up so my toes had barely been touching the ground but I didn't care, I grabbed his shoulder and turned him back to me.
"Hey, look at me" I reached his face and turned his eyes towards me.
"I'm sorry love"
"It's okay, I'm not hurt but talk to me please"
"I...I thought she had forgiven me, I thought we were a real family-" my eyes softened when he trailed off finally understanding why he was acting so strange.
"I'm so sorry Nik, I can't imagine what your going through but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere" I reassured him cupping both his cheeks. "It might not be the same as having your siblings or your mother forgiving you but your my family and I'll never abandon you"
"Don't ever leave me" he begged and my heart literally broke as well as anger took hold for the fact that Esther had done this, she'd made him believe that she'd forgiven him only to turn her back on him again, how a mother could do this to her children is beyond me.
"I'll never leave you Nik, I promised you always and forever and that vow will extend into my grave"
"Preferably without that last part Angel" he replied making me smile since he always said that whenever I mentioned dying before him.
"I love you Nik, more than my own life" I crooned brushing his hair away from his eyes.
"I love you Sophia, always & forever" he replied brushing a loose strand of hair tucking it behind my ear before he kissed me and I smiled glad to have the old Nik back and I swore that whatever it took we were gonna hunt down his mother and I was going to kill her for what she's done.
