Sophia's POV
Damon and I walked into the library carrying the last couple of boxes of stuff we'd gotten from the hunter's trailer since Damon was determined to find out find out the big deal about this particular hunter since he definitely hadn't been a normal human that suddenly figured out vampires existed and picked up a stake with foolheartedly ideas of eradicating our species and Nik's reaction to the guy had puzzled us enough to want to investigate further.
"So what is all this?" Stefan asked us holding up one of the stakes with this hunters symbol carved into it.
"Some personal items that our dear sister and I snaked from the vampire hunters RV" Damon replied as he set the box he was carrying onto a table. "May he rest in peace" he kissed his hand in a prayer and I rolled my eyes but couldn't help agree. "I'm searching for a supernatural handbook"
"You know for a fact he was supernatural?" Stefan questioned.
"Well he certainly wasn't natural" I argued as I pulled the stuff out of the box Damon had carried in seeing a bunch of test tubes and chemistry supplies.
"The guy magically appears just as someone blows up the entire founders council, he's covered in a tattoo that only Jeremy Gilbert of all people in the world seems to be able to see, Klaus mentioned something about him being one of 'The Five' and then he kamikazes himself with explosives" Damon added joining me as we pulled everything out. "Sound natural to you?" he asks our little brother.
"What's 'The Five'?" Stefan asked and when I looked up I saw his eyes on me and I scoffed rolling my eyes.
"Whatever Klaus knows it was way before me brother, this is the first time I've heard of it" I explained recoiling in on myself a little when I called Nik 'Klaus' in a serious way since it just felt unnatural to me since I barely ever called him Klaus.
"It's what I'm hoping is in the first chapter of the handbook" Damon said once they stopped looking at me like they were trying to figure out if I was lying or not and I just glared at them before thankfully Damon's phone rang. "Liz Forbes, my favorite Sheriff" he answered it. "What?" has asked making both Stefan and I look up. "That's...concerning, keep me posted" he added before hanging up leaving both Stefan and I looking at him waiting to filled in.
"What your not gonna tell me?" Stefan asked him.
"Can't tell you, it's private...we're in a fight" Damon argued and I rolled my eyes for the fact that they were fighting and I was caught in the middle...just like when we were kids.
"Your in a fight I'm not in a fight" Stefan protested. "I'm over it, I've been over it"
"You're not still mad at me about Elena?" Damon asked and I glared at them since seriously that's what they were fighting about.
"You let her feed on you" Stefan replied and my eyes widened turning to Damon since what the hell was he thinking. "I'm always going to be mad at you but we're not in a fight"
"Very well, then" Damon huffed seemingly surprised that Stefan had let it go but honestly I wouldn't have if Nik blood shared with someone else but if I was Stefan I wouldn't be mad at Damon for it I'd be mad at Elena since it was practically cheating. "They didn't find any remains at the explosion site" he added and I sighed since that was just perfect.
"So Connor's still out there" Stefan pointed out the obvious.
"Apparently so" Damon shrugged before looking up at Stefan. "I'm going to need you to get on this today, I have to take Elena to college" he said and I raised an eye in question since why was he talking the doppelbitch to college.
"I'm sorry, you have to do what, exactly?" Stefan asked him.
"I'm teaching her how to feed, she needs to learn 'snatch, eat, erase' now more than ever" I rolled my eyes since she was honest to god the worst vampire in the history of vampirism since feeding just came natural yet she was determined to be a drama queen as usual and when Stefan opened his mouth to argue Damon quickly held up his hands. "Ah, we're not in a fight, remember?" he quickly said before leaving the room leaving Stefan and I behind.
"I'll help you out Stef" I sighed turning to my little brother since I just wanted this hunter business dealt with already so that I can leave. "And frankly I think I know exactly where to look" I sighed knowing this day was gonna be hell. "Let me poke around and I'll meet up with you later since clearly you have some things to talk about with Elena" he nodded his head and I left the room heading out of the house with one destination in mind since they'd be only one reason the hunter is still alive and breathing and that meant someone saved him...it wasn't me and it wasn't Damon, which only left one other person and I was gonna kill him for this.
I searched all over town for him since I really didn't feel like going to the mansion knowing it'd be hard to step foot in it knowing he and I were supposed to build a home there together and was leaving it as the last place to look hoping I got lucky and he was out running errands or terrorizing people and made my way to the last place I was checking before I enviably had to go to the mansion and walked into The Grill looking around and my eyes fell on the wrong Mikaelson talking to Matt Donovan.
"...it's parked outside, paid for, insured...everything but a big red bow" Rebekah told him and that's when I noticed the car keys on the bar in front of Matt, she was apologizing clearly in the usual Mikaelson fashion...flattery with expensive gifts.
"If that's your idea of an apology, you should probably give it to Elena...she's the one you killed" Matt argued and I scoffed so over hearing the whiny bitches name today, why everyone cared so much about Elena I'll never understand I mean the world didn't revolve around the girl and she wasn't dead, she was a vampire...be approbative that she's not really dead and gone although for me that'd be a blessing, I watched Matt walk away from her and when he stepped out of view was when I spotted the very person I'd originally been looking for sitting at the bar with a glass of wine.
"Your trying too hard" I heard him speak up while he was looking at Rebekah and I rolled my eyes knowing he was about to be an ass to her as usual whenever men were involved with his little sister as well as since he could learn something as it seemed he wasn't trying at all to mend things between us given aside from getting me his blood after Connor poisoned me at Rebekah's party with werewolf venom we haven't spoken at all.
"Last I heard you were leaving town forever" Bekah bit back venomously.
"Well I was but then I thought to myself how can I when my sister clearly so desperate for love and affection is left here bribing the help"
"What did you want Nik?" she asked him sounding disinterested in anything he had to say. "I thought I was dead to you"
"Things change Rebekah" Nik shrugged.
"Like Sophia's blatant disregard for your behavior given she finally left you" Bekah cut him off and I found myself smiling at the quick witted reply but then it fell when I saw Nik's look of anger towards her clearly not appreciative of her pointing out our complicated relationship right now.
"I've stumbled upon something I think might be of interest to you" he replied clearly holding his tongue on whatever he'd wanted to say to her.
"Doubt that" Rebekah argued.
"No?" Nik asked and I frowned confused on what it was that he had but I guess it had something to do with the hunter. "Well what if I told you The Brotherhood of the Five still existed?" he asked her and my curiosity was definitely piqued when I saw the look on Rebekah's face, that meant something to her clearly.
"What?" she asked him.
"You see, and like that bygones" Nik laughed smugly making me roll my eyes since he really was an ass sometimes, he was blind to his disregard of Rebekah's feelings and how much he walked over her and I'd been blind too but not anymore. "Come on love, work to do"
"We don't have anything to do, there is no 'we', I don't care about 'The Five' and I don't care about you" Bekah snapped practically telling him that she wasn't going to be walked over.
"As you wish" I heard Nik reply before he walked away and for a moment his eyes caught mine noticing I was there but he said nothing and turned away as he walked out of The Grill making my frown deepen.
I know I was the one that asked for space but I'd thought some part of him would fight me on it and at least try to fix what was wrong between us but it's like he didn't even care and I don't know which hurt worse, the fact that he wasn't trying or the fact that he was giving me the space that I asked for.
I pushed my feelings away since now was not the time to get caught up in my marriage drama and I approached Beks since maybe I could get something out of her that would tell me what in the hell this 'Brotherhood of the Five' was all about while I texted Stefan telling him that it was pretty much a given that Nik had the hunter and that he'd undoubtedly be in the mansion somewhere chained up and detained leaving him to follow up on that as it meant less time I was in my husband's presence.
"Hey Beks" I greeted and she turned to me, a slight suspicious look in her eyes. "I swear I'm not here for him, I saw what just went down and wanted to make sure my sister-in-law was okay given we both know how much of an ass your brother is right now"
"For once we agree" she smiled and I couldn't help smiling back.
"So did you really buy Matt a new truck?" I questioned with a smirk and she rolled her eyes. "You Mikaelson's and extravagant apology gifts" I laughed before I followed her when she started walking and saw a human girl in a booth with Matt serving her.
"...like the loser new girl, I'm with my friend she just..." the girl trailed off when Rebekah pushed past Matt and took a seat in the booth.
"Sorry family drama" Rebekah excused her absence to the human girl.
"You two are friends?" Matt questioned.
"Is it so hard to believe I would have one?" Bekah asked him.
"Yeah, it is" he replied without a second of doubt. "And I'm keeping the truck" he added before he left and I rolled my eyes.
"Hey off limits" Bekah snapped seeing as the girls eyes were watching Matt leave. "I have dibs" I laughed a little under my breath before I turned back and saw the human girl looking at me finally noticing that I was here. "Oh right sorry, this is my sister-in-law Sophia Salvatore " Rebekah introduced me and I turned raising my eye when Beks called me a Salvatore.
"I usually just go by Sophia" I smiled at the human girl and held out my hand and she shook it.
"I'm April" she introduced herself and I nodded with a small polite smile before I took the seat next to Rebekah right as Stefan suddenly appeared and sat in the seat next to April leaning towards her.
"You won't remember any of this" he compelled her and I scoffed sitting back further in my seat crossing my arms already knowing I was gonna hate whatever he had to say. "Klaus wants me to fake peace with you so you'll talk about 'The Five'" he stated turning towards Rebekah.
"Yeah I bet but don't help him he'll just betray you, it's what he does just ask your sister" Rebekah replied and I frowned since could I not go five minutes without being reminded that things were complicated with the man I love.
"I'd rather stay out of it actually" I argued seeing Stefan look over at me but after my words he turned back to Rebekah.
"Alright well forget him, help me instead" Stefan changed tactics, like we couldn't see through that.
"Why you hate me more than he does?" Rebekah shot back instantly and I smirked a little.
"Because I want to figure out what he's up to and plus I can give you the one thing that he won't" Stefan argued and I frowned towards him.
"And what's that?" Beks asked him.
"A clean slate" he replied and even I scoffed since I doubted that, not when she'd gone after their precious Elena. "I'm not saying that I'm willing to forgive you for what you did to Elena but I'm willing to set it aside and start over"
"Why would you do that?"
"Because you're obviously not leaving town any time soon and I'm just looking for a way we can all get along" Stefan replied and I noticed he'd looked over at me as well which made me frown knowing he'd pretty much included me in that sentence. "Plus, you can't be too happy wandering around school with no friends"
"Well what if I don't care what you or anyone else thinks?" Rebekah argued.
"Well I'm pretty sure that you care what...uh Matt over there thinks, so maybe I can talk to him about a clean slate, too" Stefan replied and I rolled my eyes especially when Rebekah actually agreed and I found myself getting up to let her out of the booth and following them out of The Grill and heading for Nik's mansion.
I pushed away the foreboding feelings forced upon me the moment the mansion came into view since it's the first time I've been back here since I left and hated the reason that I was returning and kept my face as impassively as I could as we walked right in and walked towards the study walking in seeing Nik already standing next to the hunter.
"Welcome homes sister...Sophia" Nik smirked turning towards us clearly hearing us coming.
"Is this a trick?" Rebekah asked him looking back and forth between the hunter and Nik. "How do you know he's one of 'The Five', where's his bloody tattoo?"
"Oh the tattoos invisible on this lot like they were on the last" Nik smiled looking at the hunter and I frowned so confused. "Let's eat" he announced walking out of the room again and we went out to the other room where a table was set up with a range of foods already prepared and a compelled woman to serve. "Thank you my lovely" I glared towards Nik as the compelled girl left after placing full plates in front of us and he smiled seeing it so I turned my head away from him. "I could kiss the council for burning all the vervain in town, they made my life so much easier" I scoffed rolling my eyes at him. "Rebekah love eat your veggies"
"I'm not eating until you apologize" Bekah argued making a small smirk settle on my face content to sit back and watch the sibling bicker like I always did since they were as bad as each other.
"For which indiscretion there have been so many"
"Nik" I warned and he smirked over at me.
"You broke my neck" Bekah enunciated each word.
"You threw away Elena's blood so I can't make any more hybrids" Nik protested as if that justified his behavior.
"Because you took me for granted"
"That's what big brothers do sweetheart!" Nik argued and I rolled my eyes again unable to stop myself from thinking about Damon and my head instinctively lifted to meet Stefan's eyes as he stared at me.
"Let me just name the million other people I'd rather be having dinner with right now" Stefan cut in and I scoffed at him since he wasn't being held here unwillingly was technically free to leave at any time, for why I was here I was still figuring that out myself.
"Alright fine" Nik stated throwing up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry I often forget how delicate you are, forgive me?" I raised an eye at Nik since that was a terrible apology.
"I'll take it into consideration" Bekah said and I laughed at little at her reply.
"Okay good" Stefan quickly said before Nik could say anything and leaned forward in his seat. "Now why don't you tell me about Rebekah's hunter"
"Right Alexander" Nik smiled and dived into the story for us. "Nice chap forgoing the obvious issues, he was looking for creatures of the night which is why we felt quite safe around him wearing our daylight rings" he told us how the Mikaelson's had treated this hunter to a meal sometime in the time of 1114 to find out about them and he mentioned they talked about having some kind of weapon.
"So that's what this is about, a weapon?" Stefan asks them since that doesn't seem to be cause enough for everyone's clear interest in this hunter.
"Not just any weapon" Bekah protested.
"Rebekah love, don't get ahead of the story" Nik quickly cut her off and I glared at him since couldn't anything just be plain and simple with us getting to the point already.
"How is a weapon the answer to all of my prayers?" Stefan asked looking at Nik but he was sharing looks with Rebekah, the two of them the only ones knowing obviously. "Okay" Stefan sighed leaning back in his seat. "Why don't we just skip with the theatrics and get right to the point?" he asked looking at Nik.
"Not quite yet" he argued. "Because in order to find this weapon, we need to solve the puzzle which seems to have disappeared"
"What puzzle?" Stefan and I asked him at the exact same time and I frowned hating whenever I was in sync with my siblings like that and Nik just looks at us like it's supposed to be obvious.
"The tattoo" Stefan said suddenly coming to the realization and I frowned. "What is it?" he asked looking at Nik again.
"A map" Nik smiled. "Leading us to its treasure"
"Fat lot of good a tattoo's going to do if we can't see it" Bekah protested.
"We can't but someone else can" Nik argued and I frowned confused as he turned to the girl he'd compelled to be our waitress tonight. "Why don't you tell the hybrid to bring him in, love?" he told her and she went off to do as he said. "You see, the hunter was so eager to get to the bottom of his mystery tattoos that he mentioned there was only one other person who could see them" he explained right as a hybrid enters with Jeremy Gilbert and my little brother in all his Saint Stefan glory wastes no time in rushing up to get to him but Nik's faster and gets in his way before he could reach him. "I wouldn't" he warns him and I frown. "Lucky for us, young Jeremy here is a bit of an artist"
"I'm not helping you with anything" Jeremy protests but Nik turns to his hybrid who wastes no time in grabbing Jeremy's hand and removing the pesky Gilbert ring which prevents him from being killed by supernatural beings and he throws it towards Nik who catches it.
"I'm afraid you are" Nik argues holding it up knowing he had the upper hand now.
"I should've gone to college with Damon" I whispered to myself and saw Rebekah look at me since it was only the two of us at the table.
He got Jeremy working on sketching the tattoo in the other room while we abandoned dinner but were still sitting around the table to continue getting the rest of the story and information on why this hunter was so damn important.
"So tell me more about this tattoo" Stefan told them.
"My sister's suitor was unwilling to tell us anything, Rebekah however was more than willing to...investigate, isn't that right?" Nik replied looking at Rebekah. "My sister's boyfriend threw a slumber party that night, he and his brothers put us all down in our sleep...Elijah, Kol, Finn...and me" Nik said and my eyes widened since that's where the daggers came from.
"How was I supposed to know?" Rebekah snapped at him and Nik raises his glass.
"Cheers, to my sister's uncanny ability to choose men"
"I thought the daggers didn't work on you because of your werewolf side" Stefan argued and Nik smirked.
"They don't" he replied and told us how he killed the original Brotherhood of the Five and that Rebekah's hunter had told her what the tattoo lead to. "Go ahead Rebekah tell him, tell him what the hunter told you the tattoo leads to, what's this great weapon that could bring about the end of the vampire species?" we turned to Rebekah as she hesitated for a second glaring at Nik.
"A cure" she finally replied and my eyes widened since that wasn't possible. "He said there was a cure" she added looking at Stefan while Nik stood and moved towards the tray of decanters.
"There is no cure for vampirism" Stefan said what we were both obviously thinking as he got up and followed Nik.
"I'm telling the truth, Stefan" Rebekah protested.
"Then why wouldn't you have searched for it, found it?" Stefan asked angrily towards Nik.
"Because when the hunters drew their final breath that night the marks disappeared from their body, the map was gone the Brotherhood of the Five extinct" Nik replied as he poured himself a drink then turned towards Stefan. "For 900 years there was not a whisper of another hunter until our friend in there showed up in town" Nik added and I lowered my eyes to the table as I tried to wrap my head around all this.
"Well now we have the map, what do we do next?"
"We don't do anything, you can't be trusted, little sister you'll be blabbing this secret to the first boy who calls you pretty" Nik argued and I got up from my seat to glare at him since he couldn't do that, he couldn't ask for her help then push her away now it wasn't right. "I mean, it's pathetic really, isn't it?" he asks looking at Stefan. "How she continues to hand her heart to any man who shows her a hint of affection, you think she would have learned by now from the endless cycle of disappointment and deception!" he added.
"But I haven't!" Rebekah yelled out in protest to his words. "Instead I stay with you and let you leech every moment of happiness from my life, you know at least I fared better than Finn" she argued. "Klaus left him daggered because he was tired of his judgment.
"No Finn was a dullard, he's more interesting lying in a box" Nik argued and I rolled my eyes at their fight since it wasn't getting us anywhere.
"You want the cure for Elena, don't you?" Rebekah asked him and I frowned turning back to Nik seeing his look which said that's exactly what he planned to do with the cure. "So you can go back to mass producing your hybrids, that's why you brought Stefan in cause you knew he'd help you even though he hates your guts, you know what you can shove your cure" she spat before she stormed out of the house slamming the front door in the process and I glared at Nik when he smiles and looks at Stefan.
"Well, I hope you got what you wanted out of her before you chased her off" Stefan spoke up.
"She never would have told me what I needed to know but she'll tell you" Nik replied and I shook my head at him.
"What do you need me to find out?" Stefan asked and I knew he was proving Rebekah's point, he was going to help Nik because this cure meant that poor little Elena didn't have to be a vampire anymore, she got more and more people showing her sympathy just because she couldn't handle being a blood sucking vampire...you know what everyone else did when they couldn't handle it...they flipped it off or they killed themselves and that was more noble than whining about it 24/7 and letting everyone around her bend over backwards just to continue being the center of attention.
"The map is useless without the tool to decipher it"
"The sword" Stefan nodded knowing that's what Nik had meant.
"She knows where it is and you're going to get her to tell you, you have a chance to save Elena from the very thing that's going to destroy her, you can call it a deal with the devil if you like but you know you won't walk away from it" he added and one look at my little brother I knew Nik was right and when he left I couldn't help glare at him for agreeing to this.
"Your never gonna learn are you?" I spat turning to Nik the moment I heard the door shut behind my brother. "After everything your continuously repeating the same endless cycle, you keep pushing people away and you know where that's gonna lead...to you truly being alone" I spat ignoring his glare as I made my way out of the room heading up the stairs since while I was here I was gonna grab more of my stuff since I wasn't coming back here anytime soon.
I threw most of my clothes into a bag using my speed to make it quick work before I grabbed it and started walking out only to watch as Nik strolled right in and he grabbed the bag from my hands dropping it to the ground before I found myself pushed against the wall.
"Nik let me go!" I yelled.
"You're not leaving me!" he growled out and I glared at him using every bit of force I had to push him off me and he stepped backwards.
"We're not working anymore!" I yelled at him. "Do you think I want this?" I asked him. "Do you think this isn't breaking my heart saying goodbye to 100 years of marriage because it is!" he stared at me and everything was silent. "We can't continue going like this Nik"
"You're the one that asked for space"
"I asked for space, I didn't ask for you to give up!" I yelled, my anger bringing out the the very thought I'd had since seeing him at The Grill. "I want to forgive you Nik but I can't when you keep doing the exact same thing and I can't keep repeating the same cycles with you"
"Sophia-"
"Nik please just...I don't know what we can do to come back from this when you keep lying, when you keep acting this way" I sighed moving past him picking up the bag he'd dropped and headed for the door while he seemed frozen in spot. "I love you Nik but right now I just think we're better off apart until we can see if what we have is worth fighting for"
"Your always worth fighting for love" I heard him say right as I walked out the door.
I fought back my tears fighting with myself not to turn around and it worked as I made it down the stairs and out the front door finding myself home quicker than I'd have wanted and ignored Stefan who was waiting by the fire but I headed up to my room and threw my bag onto the bed before I sank down to the floor at the base and let out the tears I'd held back in Nik's presence, I hated crying but I couldn't hold it back anymore.
I let out every ounce of emotion that I've been holding in feeling like my heart was splitting in two because as much as I wanted to forgive Nik, to forgive my brothers and just find a way to have everything in my life be perfect I knew it was never gonna happen because I didn't get to be the hero that my brothers were or the villain that my husband insisted on being because that wasn't who I was...I had both equal parts of good and bad since I have spilled blood in my life but I can also feel remorse which keeps me from being a true monster and keeping me from turning off my emotions.
But things are different seeing as I've always had Nik to help pull me through the dark and right now I was feeling myself losing my ability to keep myself from taking those agonizing steps down into the darkness as my entire body screamed at me to not feel, to not care and just let go of the pain I was feeling over the agonizing fight between everyone that I loved right now...all I had to do was let go and it'd all stop...
"Sophia" I looked up quickly brushing away the tears from my face.
"Can't you just leave me alone?" I spat at him as I stood to walk into my bathroom but he caught my arm.
"I'm sorry my love but we can't have the news of the cure spread" I frowned furrowing my brows at him before he locked eves with me. "You'll forget everything you heard and saw today, you spent a quiet day home curled up with a book in the library and that's all you remember" I watched his eyes dilate before I glared at him and lifted my hand slapping him watching his head whip to side with the force I'd thrown behind it before he turned eyes wide.
"Are you serious right now?!" I yelled moving back from him. "You honestly think you could just compel me to forget and what...that I'd forgive you, god your such as ass!" I turned towards my bedroom door but he caught my arms again.
"I'm so sorry about this" before I could turn around I felt the sharp twist and everything went black...
