Claudia Lockwood-Mikaelson

Chapter 5 - An Irritating Mikaelson

"Hello love. Elijah tells me you are staying with us for a while. It is good to see you again Claudia," a familiar voice with a British accent reaches my ears.

I look up to see Niklaus Mikaelson slide into the seat opposite mine with a coffee and nervous tingles of electricity start in my belly. I have to be honest, he looks just as great in casual clothes as he had in his suit at Maeve's wedding. I push the thought aside.

I swallow contemplating my response, he has some balls coming here and pretending he didn't just use me the entire time I was with him to get a rise out of Elijah.

I am tempted to tell him to leave me alone, but he is correct, I am staying with him and his family for the next few days at least. Friends, maybe not but civility I should be able to manage. It's the least I can do. There is a short pause as I watch him for a moment, waiting for him to speak until it becomes apparent he isn't going to.

"Nik, you're only nice when you want something. Last time it was to use me to provoke Elijah. Whatever it is this time, I'm not interested. I don't want to be a pawn in your family feud again thank you very much. I don't appreciate being used." I snap at him.

I lied, I clearly can't be civil either.

"I'd be careful what you say to me love, men have lost heads for a lot less," he says in a warning tone. I roll my eyes at his words. He's clearly all talk, the self-important prat. "And I don't believe that's true love. You certainly didn't mind being used by your one night stand after the wedding did you? I'd say you probably quite enjoyed it?"

I freeze up at his words feeling like I'm going to be sick. "What?" I ask hoarsely. "What are you talking about?"

He grins sensing he has touched a nerve. "Maeve said you left the reception early claiming you were ill and you weren't in your hotel the following morning when she went to check on you" he elaborates. "Unless feeling slightly aggravated by my little disagreement with Elijah suddenly qualifies you as being taken ill, I am inclined to believe you lied to her. It doesn't take a genius to put it all together." He teases me and then frowns looking displeased with his own idea.

"Don't ever bring that up again, you understand? I mean it. Ever." I practically yell at him and a torrent of insults pour out of my mouth. He seems taken aback but then glowers at me knowing better than to say anything at the moment. The nearby customers make no attempt to hide their stares. Once I finally stop cursing him I'm irritated that yelling hasn't made me feel any better after those awful memories were dredged up. Sighing I take a sip of my latte. It's horribly lukewarm.

"Sorry," I mutter apologetically doing my best to avoid his gaze. "But I'm serious, not another word." I glance around to see if Elijah and Maeve are also with him. Not today. I suppose Elijah would have stepped in moment ago if they were.

"Oh my brother's not going to haul me off, away from you this time. In fact he was the one that suggested I meet you here before you see Maeve." Nik says to me finally picking up on how serious I am. He changes the topic of conversation, any anger that was building between us gone. It's clear he has no intention of leaving any time soon.

"Don't be ridiculous he wouldn't suggest that, you're clearly here to get on his nerves again. Like I told you before, I'm not interested in being in the middle of a family feud. You're adults, sort it out yourselves," I repeat my earlier words.

"That's where you're wrong love, we have sorted things out. You can ask him yourself when you see him. How else would I know where to find you? We came to an agreement."

"An agreement?" I echo in disbelief.

"Yes, he will leave us be." Nik beams at me expectantly.

"Ah ok, that's, um, good." I respond not really sure what he is hoping I will say. I don't believe it for a second but then what would I know of fights between siblings?

Klaus looks at me quizzically and inhales deeply.

"You smell different, love," Klaus tilts his head to the side contemplating. His eyes light up. "What did you say your surname was?"

"Um," I hesitate nervous, not sure where this is going. "Lockwood," I tell him.

"Might you be related to a Tyler Lockwood of Mystic Falls?" He continues his line of questioning the corner of his mouth twitching in a faint smirk.

"Yes he's my cousin actually, why? Do you know him?"

"I do know Tyler, yes. Now I'm fascinated to know, when did you activate your werewolf gene? Certainly after the wedding. So tell me... who did you kill?" He smirks at me as my blood runs cold and I gape at him in astonishment. I recover after a few seconds. Dread fills my stomach, it's true. It's all true. I should have listened to Dad instead of fleeing here but half of me believed him, the other half didn't want to. Now I know which side is right, I listened to the wrong half. And it's not a realisation I want to have right here, right now. Especially not in front of Nik.

"I don't know what you're talking about, you're delusional. I need to get going, I said I'd see Maeve this morning," I ramble on, my eyes looking for the exit as I hastily stand from my seat. I push down the memories from when I unknowingly activated the curse. My whole mouth goes dry.

Tyler, he must have heard about my family's curse from Tyler. My flushed face and panicked behaviour give my thoughts away, I've definitely confirmed his suspicions now and we both know it. Now is not the time or place for this. Am I in danger now he knows?

"Oh don't go love, I only want us to get acquainted. You are Maeve's friend after all and I imagine we'll be seeing quite a lot of each other, isn't that great?" He asks me nonchalantly as if he hasn't just sprung those words causing my blood to curdle, out loud. He flashes his gorgeous grin at me from across the table, almost allowing me to gloss over his words. Almost.

"I certainly hope not, you're an arrogant arse," I snap insulting him again. This time causing him to actually laugh. I scowl at him. How dare he throw around accusations he knows nothing about and sit and laugh at me as he does so.

"But you're right, we do have to see each other again unfortunately." I grimace at the thought, "and while I'd rather piss glass, I will do anything for Maeve including being around the likes of you if it makes her happy. Now, whatever silly ideas you probably heard from Tyler, I don't want to hear them again. You're delusional or plain stupid if you believe him."

He puts a hand over his heart, "Oh Claudia you wound me," he says dramatically. I roll my eyes at him yet again and spin on my heel to leave.

"I have wolf blood too you know." He speaks clearly, his words piquing my interest as I halt and look back at him exactly as he wants me to. He notices and speaks up again, "there is a lot you don't know about my family, the one that Maeve has just married into. You see, while I know all about your family's little secret, we have our own..." he trails off and gestures to the chair I had been sat in not moments before. "Sit back down."

I make up my mind pretty quickly, I don't know whether he will bring this up again if I leave. I am amazed he is happy to speak so freely in a coffee shop as my dad had stressed the importance of keeping a low profile. He also warned me to control the anger that comes as part of being a wolf but it's too late for that now. I had snorted and told him he was crazy, but maybe now this is my second chance. Time to really listen.

Unfortunately the second time around, it has to come from Nik. I suppose it's a humbling lesson to listen to Dad or I'll be stuck having to take pointers from all high and mighty men like Nik every time I dismiss his advice. I will hesitate before I do so again, this is going to be humiliating once he realises I know next to nothing but I can't walk away now.

I walk back over to him, "I'm sat."

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