(A/N): We're back in 1966 with Evie and friends, to see Evie's reaction to Khal's commentary on her future. In this chapter, Evie starts a fight, Nicholai almost gets punched in the face, and Evie ogles Nuria. We also see a mention of a familiar character, so there's that! Light foreshadowing.

January 16th, 1966

Evie

What- what the flipping heckle was that supposed to mean? 'The whole quiver'? Judging by what he'd said about 'cupid shooting my demigod with an arrow', it was pertaining to my future romantic venture- another thing I still didn't understand- but I wasn't sure what he was trying to say, when he said he'd been shot with 'the whole quiver'. Did that mean he- my supposed demigod- was going to extra in love with me? Could that possibly mean... I was his mate?

"Khal- come on. You've got to have more for me than that." He shrugged- which I really didn't like the look of.

"Nothing that I can tell you right now, without changing the course of the future- and possibly rendering this whole exercise pointless, by ensuring none of what I'm saying comes to pass." I clamped my mouth shut, willing everyone else to do the same. No one was going to endanger my happiness- least of all me. I did my best to change the subject.

"So you were saying about the- the secrecy thing? The law that means I should have forgotten everything already, but we're breaking it, because we're all a bunch of very cool, rebellious criminals." I did my best to make it sound enticing, rather than dangerous, and even though Nicholai continued to watch on warily, Grey snorted in a blatant show of amusement.

"Relax," He said, as if he was trying to soothe a cornered animal, but was far too entertained to keep it out of his tone. His lips twitched like they were about to split into a grin. "I'll keep you safe from Nick- although, I know for a fact he's broken more laws than you have, sweet Siren." I let the nickname slide, as a kind of payment for his protection.

I shrugged, glancing back at Khal briefly and finding myself bolstered by the small grin toying at his lips. "You don't know that," I told Grey. "I could be the world's greatest criminal, and you'd never know." One of his eyebrows arched like he was intrigued by the idea, but before he could even open his mouth to say anything, Nicholai scoffed from beside me.

"Not likely," He said, as if he were doing nothing more than commenting on the weather. "With the way your heartbeat starts racing over the slightest thing, I doubt you've done anything more serious than some light jaywalking." How dare he?! Be completely, utterly... correct.

From the smug looks on their faces, I knew they could tell, so I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Nicholai- since he was currently the more frustrating of the two. "Oh, yeah? You think that's an achievement? I'm twenty-four, Grandpa, what's your excuse for being a giant stick in the mud?" Nicholai's smug mug turned into an icy glare, and Grey choked as he tried to restrain his laughter.

"She's got a point, Nick." 'Nick' did not look like he appreciated this particular comment- nor the one preceding it.

"It's called, 'being the only responsible member of my entire species'- you should try it some time." Oh, heck no. He thought I was irresponsible? Me?! This, I wouldn't stand for.

"Tell me, Nicholai, do you have a mate?" He froze- in fact, I think the whole room did. I didn't remove my eyes from Nicholai, but I heard a quiet scuffing sound as Grey moved in closer. Uh oh, that wasn't a good sign- had I pushed things too far?

"No," He ground out after a few seconds, looking like he'd much rather grind my bones to dust. "No, I don't. I also don't see how that's-"

I was hesitant to continue pushing, but I did it anyway. At least if Nicholai murdered me, I wouldn't have to worry about trying to figure out Khal's predictions, anymore. "Seems to me like your desire to be the only 'responsible' vampire around, isn't doing you any favors in the romance department." He growled at me- actually growled!- but I didn't let my instinctive fear response stop me from making my point. "Maybe if you relaxed a little, you'd be able to find a mate." I worried I'd pushed things too far- not because of the clear fury on his face, but because of the pain patiently waiting in line behind it.

"Or, he could open his eyes, and let the only woman that's ever tolerated his surly behind for more than five minutes have her wicked way with him, like she really wants." Grey said, and I couldn't tell if Nicholai's blush was one of anger, or embarrassment. Oh. So there was a woman in Nicholai's life? But... wait. Khal's prediction was that he had a choice to make, right? Between dying later, alone, or earlier, but for someone he loved? Did that mean-?

"Um, or maybe don't let her in." Nicholai continued to glare at me, but Grey's eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "If your prediction was that you'd die-" Grey's eyes widened as he seemed to realise what I was getting at, but Nicholai waved me off, still looking more annoyed than anything else.

"It's not about Shari," He said easily, which- her name was Shari? Was she pretty? She sounded pretty. I mean, I assumed she was a vampire, and based on my experience with them- present company very much included- that was invariably the case, but was she- did Nicholai like her back, or was it a one-sided sort of thing? "She can take care of herself- almost better than I can- and we're not-" Grey scoffed, effectively cutting him off.

"I don't need to be able to hear your heartbeat to be able to tell that you're lying- and even if you've got your emotions in check, you still smell like bullshit." Harsh, and exactly what Nicholai deserved. "Don't hold yourself back just because you're afraid of getting hurt, Nick-"

"Hypocrite." He spat, and Grey flinched. Oh, there was a story behind that. "Tell me, does she still bother to pretend she's okay with you going from her bed to Sidonie's?" Oh? "Do you ever pretend, when you're with your 'Maîtresse', that her blonde hair is red? Do you think she knows that when you make her come, all you can hear is-" In a second, my view was blocked. Grey had moved- presumably to punch Nicholai, and I couldn't say I blamed him- but before he'd had the chance to make contact- judging by Nicholai's as of yet unmarred face- Nuria had stepped in between.

Neither of them tried to get past her, and even though they were both still glaring, they were very careful to keep their eyes off of her, lest she take it as a sign of aggression- aggression against her, at least. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking the picture of stern authority- and I tried very hard not to let my eyes drop below her waist, now that I knew everyone in the room would likely be able to smell my resulting... uh, interest, in her... assets. Oh, and also because it would be wildly disrespectful. That too. "Chant, calm yourself." A muscle in his jaw jumped. "Ellwood, you too." Nicholai blew a blatantly irritated breath out of his nostrils.

Then, Nuria turned on me, and I flushed under her watchful gaze. "Evie," She started, then paused, as if she needed the time to collect herself. That was a first. "I know Nicholai started it-" He made a small, outraged noise, and she shot him a glare that silenced him in an instant. Well, that I couldn't hide my reaction to, but luckily, Nuria's only reaction was the corner of her lips twitching upward. "-but I would appreciate it if you could refrain from riling people up while under my roof- especially since you're a fragile, sweet little human-" I'm sure Nicholai didn't think I was all that sweet, anymore. "-and they're literal vampires."

"Yes, ma'am." The corner of her lips twitched again, but she turned away again before I had the chance to figure out whether it'd been intentional or not.

"I suppose while I'm still here, I should ask you whether there's anything else you require my help with." Nicholai said stiffly, but when no one else said anything, I jumped on the offer before he had the chance to rescind it. It may not have been for me, but by God, I was taking it!

"Yeah, I-" His gaze was sharp when he turned it on me, but I did my best to ignore it. "-Jerremyah mentioned earlier that your family were Hunters-" He flinched again, which I felt a little bad about, but I figured dwelling on it would only make it worse. "-what can you tell me about them? Why do they hate vampires so much?"

He cocked an eyebrow at me, looking only slightly more uncomfortable than he did haughty, now. "Why do they hate vampires?" He repeated, and when I nodded, he huffed out a bitter little laugh. "Because we're abominations against nature, that's why."

(A/N): Shari!

Translations (French):

Maîtresse = Mistress.

I so very nearly named this chapter 'Abominations Against Nature'.

Fun fact! Soon after I wrote this chapter, I found out (from TV Tropes, of all places) that in the 1950's and 60's, 'bloody' was considered pretty offensive, and was censored from BBC broadcasts. Now knowing that, I modified this chapter, the past Evie chapters, the Amelia chapters, and the solo Soren chapter, since they all take place in 1966/67. I originally had Evie and Amelia say 'bloody' as a way to demonstrate that they tend to be less vulgar than my other characters, and 'bloody' was basically meant to be their peak. Unfortunately, I had to go back and change their use of it, so they continue to say what I want them to, rather than what the words coming out of their mouths apparently mean, in reality. Soren I was less sure about, because I feel like he WOULD swear, just not at work, and even though his use of it was relegated to his thoughts, I eventually decided to take it out, pretty much just because I don't want people to get the wrong idea about the sort of character he is. Amelia still says 'you're full of shit' in 442, because she's trying to appeal to the more 'lowbrow' gardeners, but I did add in a little line when Amelia says she 'mostly' picked it up from Nolan, that explains that he's only ever sworn in front of her accidentally- because I didn't want you guys to think that Nolan is anything other than the most wholesome of beans, even if he is a little rough around the edges.

If you're wondering where the 'bloody' was in this chapter, it was the very first line (I changed 'bloody hell' to 'flipping heck'). In the same vein, I changed Evie's 'hell no' into a 'heck no'. For the record, Evie doesn't care if other people swear (hence why she hasn't really reacted to them saying that sort of thing), she just feels incredibly uncomfortable saying it herself. Every other character has kept their original swearing habits, because they're all foul mouthed heathens (and I'm okay with that).

Edit on 4/4/24 - I changed 'flipping heck' to 'flipping heckle', because even if we see heck as a tamer version of hell nowadays, in the past (so, the 1960's when this takes place) it was a lot more offensive, considering it's a combination of hell and fuck. I imagine Evie started trying to mimic one of her friends by saying 'heck', then chickened out at the last minute and turned it into 'heckle', instead.