Broken Souls

38

The family all looked at Carter, except Kol for obvious reasons. Kai seemed unfazed by the mans presence and turned to Niklaus. "So, are we changing her or not?" Sol sighed, happy he at least had the mind to be vague about their current activities in front of the oblivious human. "There are other ways to obtain magic. If she changes her mind..." Kai's voice drifted off, allowing their minds to fill in the blanks. There goes the secrecy, Sol let out another sigh as she watched Carter's face scrunch.

Rightfully so, the man was confused what they were talking about. Change her? As in her clothes? Then, why did he start talking about magic? Carter decided to focus more on the grey corpse and his ex-girlfriend. This presented the perfect opportunity for Niklaus to hold a silent conversation between his siblings. Each of them nodded, agreeing Esther should be changed to avoid her regaining magic. Nik bent down next to feed his mother his blood before snapping her neck as silently as he could.

"Sol, what the hell is that?" He pointed to Kol's body. "Why does your boyfriends body look like that? And why are you holding a dagger? And why the hell is everyone else so calm about it? Not to mention there's an unconscious woman on the ground!"

"Oh her," Sol drifted her gaze to Esther, avoiding the questions about Kol. "That's their mother. Don't worry about her. She'll be fine soon." Dead, more like. He doesn't need to know that though. Maybe Esther could... No, she's awful, but Carter's disappearance would go very noticed... Many people saw him here and no one has seen him leave.

"And the grey guy?" Carter's arms crossed, trying not to visibly freak out about this whole thing.

"He'll be fine soon," Sol's eyes moved back over to Kol. Her heart hurt seeing him like this. She wanted to hold him in her arms and whisper sweet words to him. Heart clenching, she moved her gaze away and back to Carter. "Why did you come looking for me?"

"It's strange for the hosts to disappear halfway through their party. I wanted," his words got cut off by Finn.

"You wanted to try and humiliate her again?" The eldest offered, annoyed the man showed up in their presence once more.

"No, I..." Carter hesitated. How was he supposed to admit he was curious about their relationship underneath his embarrassment about becoming a joke to his teammates? He wanted to know how it all worked; how they all started their relationship.

Niklaus picked up on this curiosity in his eyes. "Or perhaps you were hoping to catch us in a more... compromising position? Is that it? She made it quite clear she never slept with you. Did you wonder if she was with more than one of us at a time?" A wicked smirk graced the hybrid's lips as he watched the soccer player turn red. While it was entertaining to taunt him, he didn't want the human imagining Sol any which way.

In a split second, Carter was pushed up against the nearest wall with a hand around his throat. "You better not be thinking about her that way. In fact, don't think about her at all." Kol's voice filled her ears before she completely processed his movements. Her heart leaped with excitement.

"H-How did you move so fast?" The human spoke through his closing windpipe.

"I can do so much more than that," Kol threatened while his eyes began to shift in color, black veins forming under his eyes. His fangs were the tip of the iceberg as Carter finally realized he stepped into something dangerous.

Once more, the door swung open. This time, Daniel was standing there with a crossbow loaded with a wooden stake. Sol audibly groaned. Of all things, Daniel had to be a vampire hunter, too?

"Let him go," he demanded, tightening his grip on the crossbow.

"Daniel? The hell are you doing with that? What is this guy?" Carter's gaze jumped from Kol to his cousin, heart pounded against his rib cage.

"He's a vampire, Carter. They all are. Solène and that new guy are the only two humans." Moving to look at Kol, he continued, "I've kept him on vervain for years, so let him go."

"And just how did you come to find out about vampires?" Sol was totally unconcerned about the wooden stake. It wouldn't kill Kol. Although, it did remind her to locate that indestructible one Esther decided to make. Stefan probably has it. God, I want to hate him, but he's kind of adorable when he's broody and concerned someone is going to die.

"A vampire killed my grandmother. After that, my grandfather taught me what he knew; including the identity of the vampire."

Annoyance filled her, bringing on a headache. "Let me guess; it was Damon Salvatore."

Daniel paused for a second before tightening his grip once more on the crossbow. "Yes." Of course it was! I'm seriously going to kill him one day.

Solène finally stands from her seat, dagger still in her hand. "Look, Daniel, that little stake is not going to kill the Mikaelson's. Did your grandfather ever mention them? The first vampires to ever be created over a thousand years ago?" She could see the confusion in his eyes. Perhaps he didn't get that much history in his teachings. "The Originals can't die with your everyday stake," the female siphon shrugged. "Kol, you can let Carter go. We have more important matters to attend to, don't you think?"

Only then did Kol notice his mother's unconscious body on the ground. He wasn't quite sure how to feel. Never before did he really have to think about her death. She's been dead for so long, but now she was in front of him again. It was her goal to kill them, so her death would not bother him too much, he decided.

"Take Carter and go. I would also suggest letting go of your vendetta. Damon won't be so easily killed. He's got a surprising amount of friends who wish to keep him alive. It'll be your life or his, even I have to be the one to make the decision." It was an obvious threat to back down before bloodshed was involved. Her family seemed surprised she was helping Damon Salvatore, but became amused when she turned her head to gag again.

"No one tell him I said that. That was gross. I just owe him one. I'm not becoming soft." They chuckled at her weird antics while Daniel continued to look at her confused.

"You're a witch, aren't you? Why are you with them? I thought witches hate vampires?"

"They do, typically. Kai and I are special cases, however." A warm smile pulled at her lips. Carter surprised by the soft expression on his ex's face. "They're our soulmates, our family. We'll be with them forever and always." Her eyes trailed over to them. "Family above all."

"And Damon?" Daniel ignored her romantic sentiments while his cousin started to wonder what she meant by soulmates. Surely she was just using it casually, right? Soulmates don't exist. They can't, can they?

"Friend of friends. He's got a gaggle of teens around him who will protect him if they have to. Not to mention I owe them some favors. It wouldn't surprise me if Damon's safety was one of the cashed in favors... Alright, time to go. Got some family drama to deal with." Her hands shooed the past of cousins out the door. She'd given them a lot to think about, but they'd have to do that elsewhere.

The family had much more important things to do. One of them being, Kol. She rushed into his arms once the door was closed. Burying her face into his suit jacket while his siblings begin to catch him up on everything that's happened. His grip tightened around her when they mentioned Damon stabbing Sol, but she simply started to trace shapes onto his back with her finger tips.

Before they could mention Esther's memory sharing, the woman shot up with a gasp.