Broken Souls

28

Having calmed Enzo, the vampire men were back to drinking. Kai had stopped drinking to help Sol finish up their work. With their new stock spelled and uploaded to the website, Sol found herself helping Rebekah plan the ball. Rebekah was taking the event very seriously, looking into caterers and wait staff. She'd also debated hiring a live band. Sadly, it only took Rebekah a few minutes to find that Sol wasn't good at party planning, much less a formal ball. As such, she was shooed away by Rebekah.

"Nik!" Sol called out into the house. "Rebekah is being mean!"

"And you have no taste or style! How do you dress yourself everyday?" She called back, laughs being heard all around the house at their small spat.

"With the clothes your brother's bought me! How's that, Beks?" Sol heard to woman gasp, and heard footfalls soon after. Laughing maniacally, she ran upstairs and into Nik's art studio, where he'd been since the men stopped drinking earlier. "Nik!" She ran into his arms, twirling them so he was in front of the door. The hybrid could only laugh at his soulmates antics, holding his hands up to avoid getting paint on her.

"You should know best it's not good to antagonize my sister, Little Witch."

"It wasn't antagonizing," she pulled from his chest with a pout. "It was teasing. I tease with love."

"Will you tease me as well?" Nik asked, a gag coming from the hall. Rebekah had been coming up to have a word with Sol, but quickly ran off after hearing her brother's suggestive words. She'd be better of asking Kai, at least he had style of his own.

The woman hummed at his question, eyes falling over all the canvases. "We'll see," a playful smirk pulled at her lips. "What have you been working on?" She spun around to see his easel behind her, holding his most recent work, but hands covered her eyes.

"It's not ready, my love. Soon, you'll be able to see it." His heated breath met her ear, sending shocks down her spine. Accepting his words, she spun back to him.

"I'll give you lots of compliments when it's ready." She wrapped her arms around him once more. His heart warmed at her words.

"I'm covered in paint, my love. You should let me clean up."

Shaking her head, Sol clung to the man. Even going as far as wrapping her legs around his waist, hoisting herself up. Like a panda clinging to bamboo, Sol hugged Niklaus tightly and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for finding me, Nik. I don't know where I'd be without all of you." Tears pricked her eyes at the thought, but she held them back. Allowing herself to just be in the moment with him, feeling his body against hers.

Abruptly, she pulled her head back, hands holding onto his shoulders. She eyed his hands, still in the air at his sides. "I don't care about some paint, Nik. I can buy new clothes," she moved his hand to her hips. Leaning in close, her face was inches from him. "Can I kiss you?" She whispered softly against his lips.

"You never need to ask, love. You're free to do as you please." He whispered in return before she pushed her lips against his. A low whine escaped her lips at the contact. Never had she done this before, but she had wanted to kiss her men badly. Following Nik's lead, she parted her lips, nearly gasping when his tongue entered her mouth.

Eagerly, she met his tongue with her own, trying not to wonder if she was doing well at returning his kiss. A few moments later, Nik pulled away, pants escaping Sol's lips. He smiled at his soulmates pleading face, his thumb brushing below her lips. "You need to breathe through your nose, Sol."

Her heart jumped. Rarely did the Mikaelson brothers call her by her name, and using it in a situation like this only fired her up even more. Nodding quickly, she leaned back in for more. Happily, he accepted her lips once more, taking his time to show her how it was properly done. Her eagerness being a telling sign she'd never kissed someone before. He'd never say a word about though, not wanting to risk embarrassing her.

Instinctively, her hips moved against him, wanting more. Nik tightened his grip on her hips, stopping her movement before pulling back. "Time to breathe, my love." Sol's brows furrowed at his words. Wasn't she breathing through her nose? "We'll have time for many things later, preferably not in my studio, covered in paint, and with the door open when everyone can hear."

Unlike embarrassing her about it being her first kiss, this scenario was very much on the table, and he enjoyed the way her cheeks flared at the realization all the vampires in the house could hear. Enzo was still in the house, too! She buried her face into Nik's shoulder, groaning at the thought of teasing that will undoubtably ensue.

"You should've said something, closed the door at least!" Sol didn't even pick up her head, feeling Nik's body shake as he laughed.

"I couldn't exactly do that with your tongue down my throat, could I?"

Sol gasped, head raising in shock. "Don't say that! That's such a lie! You had plenty of time before and after the first kiss!" She placed both hands on his cheeks, feet finding the floor once more. "No more kisses for Nik," she announced, walking out of the studio. She managed to escape into her and Kai's shared magic room, that was set up for them to work in.

Seeing as the siphon was already in there, and unaware of what just took place, she took the opportunity to learn some magic from the man. "Done helping Rebekah?" She asked as he set up some items.

"Taking a break. We couldn't agree on table cloth material." His shoulders quickly bounced in a shrug.

"You seem to be getting along otherwise, right?" Her eyebrows wiggled at the man. She knew it would be slow rolling with his sociopathy, but Rebekah was a strong and determined woman. If anyone could win Kai over, it would be Rebekah.

"It's going," he replied vaguely, not interested in her teasing. "Let's look at herbs today," Kai gestured at the different piles on them scattered on the table before going into a long tangent of each one and it purposes. She would have regretted walking in to hide out and learn if she didn't need to know this stuff to go up against Esther at the ball next week. It was going to be a long day.

Kai was a stricter teacher, compared to her previous ones, but he was still a good one. However, he hadn't let her go until Finn called them down for dinner. Sol took the out, dashing out of the room and straight into Elijah.

"'Lijah," she whined. "I'm exhausted! I listened to Kai rant about herbs for nearly four hours!" The man wrapped an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the steps.

He hummed, looking down at her. "Was it worth it to delay the upcoming teasing?" A smirk pulled at his lips.

"Not you, too!" Sol cried out dramatically. "I kiss someone one time and I'm teased for it. I just won't kiss anyone ever again!" She declared, keeping the theatrics in her voice to make it clear she was being playful and not serious. There was no way she'd be serious. She wanted more kisses, many more. Not to mention, if Niklaus was the only one who got to kiss her, the other three would be plotting murder.

Kol showed up with an impish glint in his eyes. "How could you say such blasphemy when you have yet to kiss me, darling? Surely I can kiss better than Nikki." He sent the mentioned brother a momentary glare before looking back at Sol. "Should I demonstrate?" He started leaning in, meeting Solène's palm.

She sighed. "Maybe next time, Kol. I'm quite peckish after staring at herbs for hours," she sent a playful glare at Kai who was unfazed as he was picking up his silverware. Placing an apologetic kiss on his cheek, she sat down at her place at the dining table. Elijah sat beside her, Finn on her other side. The Mikaelsons and Enzo nursed glasses of blood while the two magically inclined beings ate their food. Taking her free hand, she slipped it over Elijah's hand, which was resting on his thigh. He complied, lacing his fingers with hers before she moved their hands between them. Swaying their hands forwards and back, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Placing down her fork, she pulled out her phone to find a text from Stefan.

"Coffin in possession."