Anemoia • Mikaelsons mate

Chapter 21

I'm finally back :). This was quite a long hiatus, I apologize. I hope to get to more writing and upoading regularly again. For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Lots of love to you, dear reader

• • • Chicago, present-day • • •

Florence looks on in shock as Niklaus flashes over to Stefan, pinning the vampire to the wall by his throat. She could see cracks forming in the plaster upon impact and winces. Her mother would have grounded her for months if she were to make a small scratch on the musty wallpaper that adorned their living room.

"Funny, that your brother felt the need to visit Chicago just now. I didn't believe you were this co-dependent on each other." Niklaus snaps. He was not yet seeing red, but anger and contempt were boiling to the surface, leaving the Original hybrid with visions of violence yet to be committed.

"What's going on? Why-" Florence mumbles whilst staring wide-eyed at the hybrid's sudden violent outburst. She was well-familiar with this side of Niklaus, from various perspectives, but she didn't understand why her confession had triggered such a response.

Perhaps she should be flattered in some way that the hybrid took such offense to the idea of her being attacked, but that surely couldn't have been the instigator seeing as he did not know, nor care for her.

"Damon is Stefan's brother." Gloria whispers whilst wrapping a hand around Florence's wrist.

The witch's eyes widen when another flash of her niece's face appears, and she quickly lets go of Florence.

Gloria shoots the human girl a cautious look. They would certainly have to talk about this when their lives weren't at the hands of the temperamental hybrid.

"What is he doing here?" Niklaus demands, his grip not loosening.

"I don't know." Stefan grits out, fingers clawing at Niklaus's unrelenting grip.

"You're lying to me, again!" Niklaus snarls, eyes tinting gold in his anger. He was very tempted to let his friend suffer from the effects of a werewolf bite. Or perhaps a quick disembowelment would make Stefan more agreeable.

"I'm-" Stefan sputters, gasping in pain when Niklaus's hand punches through his chest, firmly gripping his heart. Despite being close to getting murdered, again, his mind was occupied with worries about Elena. Without any interference on his part, Gloria would surely track the necklace down, leading Niklaus straight to a very alive Elena Gilbert. All will have been for nothing.

Niklaus ignores the sound of a gasp, coming from the human girl. "I will find your brother, string him up, and make you watch as he suffers in ways that can only be imagined by someone who has lived as long as I have," He squeezes the heart in his hand for emphasis.

"Let him go, Nik" Rebekah sighs, rolling her eyes. She didn't feel the need to come to Stefan's rescue, but there was no necessity to further traumatize the human girl with violent excesses. "You can torture your friend later, we have guests, remember?"

Kaleb bites back a groan. He had been silently shuffling in the direction of the stairs, whilst also trying to pull Florence with him. They would have been so close to escaping if the blonde hadn't drawn everyone's attention back to them.

"Fine." Niklaus retracts his hand from Stefan's chest with great reluctance and shoves the vampire to the ground, making his displeasure known.

"Mature." Rebekah deadpans, taking a seat on a nearby table. The heels she had chosen today weren't as comfortable as they had looked.