Black Magic ▹ The Vampire Diaries [1]

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN
A FAMILY OF MONSTERS

"Life. We'd long known it was cruel."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     They found out from the Salvatore brothers that Esther and Finn were at the abandoned witch house, where the Bennett coven had been burned alive all those years ago. Abby and Bonnie Bennett were there with them, offering their magic to complete the spell. The spell to turn them all human again. Esther, having turned them all into what they were, was planning on reversing the spell with the help of the Bennett line. Henrik wasn't sure what her plan was for him. Perhaps she would reverse his resurrection spell again. It wasn't going to be pleasant if she succeeded. Henrik wondered if he would lose consciousness before his entire body fell apart, or if he would be awake for it. The only bright side to the latter was that he would be able to see the look on Esther's face when her youngest child died right in front of her in the most horrific way possible.

She had stitched his body together out of nothing but ash from his funeral pyre. If she was planning on taking those stitches out, then she deserved to see every horrifying detail in the fallout.

The drive to the haunted witch house was silent. Elijah was in the driver's seat, knuckles white around the steering wheel. Klaus was fuming in the passenger seat, making the entire ride more uncomfortable than it already was, and Kol was in the back with Henrik, consumed with his own thoughts. Henrik wasn't better off. He was curled up in his seat, his head pounding again just like that morning, and a lit cigarette was between his fingers. His window was rolled down to let the smoke out, not that he was smoking it. It was left burning between his fingers as he tried to get rid of his headache. He was starting to wonder if his magic was taken completely, or if Esther was just using it to power whatever spell she was doing now. Or perhaps magic was simply addictive, and now that he no longer had it in his body, he was going through something akin to withdrawal. He frowned to himself and flicked the cigarette out of the window, then pressed his forehead against his knees.

"I should have known," he said, his voice muffled against his jeans. There was a shuffling beside him, and then fingers were tugging at the hood of his jacket, which was pulled up over his head. Henrik let out an annoyed grunt and pressed his forehead harder against his knees. He didn't want to look at Kol right now, didn't want to see the pity on his face. He had endured the look enough times today, each time it was revealed to one of his siblings that he no longer had his magic. Kol was the worst, because Kol knew how it felt.

"Come again?" Kol asked, tugging again. He could have easily forced Henrik to sit up and look at him, but Kol had never been forceful with him, even at his worst. He just continued to tug gently at his hood, then switched to tugging at his sleeve. It was oddly comforting, even though it normally would have been annoying. It was probably because his voice was light and warm, not matching with the tense atmosphere inside the car at all. Henrik could hear the smile in his voice. "No one can hear you, Rikkie." A frown pulled at his lips, and he pulled his mouth away from his jeans so his next words came out loud and clear.

"My magic missing," he said, and the tugging abruptly stopped. Henrik couldn't even hear his brothers breathing anymore, and that only made him feel worse. His hands were tucked into the sleeves of his jacket, so his nails dug into the skin of his arms. It felt better than just sitting there. His breath hitched. "I should have noticed but I didn't. I was too distracted." Distracted by the stupid family ball they had thrown, distracted by his siblings, distracted by Ethan Lockwood and his pretty eyes and even prettier smile. The thought of him did nothing but make him feel even more miserable.