The Original Wife

Chapter Three

"Come on, Cassandra!" Rebekah called out and dragged Cassandra with her. Cassandra sighed inwardly and followed her. Rebekah dragged her to one of the cars and drove. Cassandra looked at it curiously. Rebekah pressed something and music filled the car. She cringed in distaste. "What is this?" she asked hesitantly. Rebekah threw her an amused glance. "Modern music." Cassandra cringed again and practiced shutting the music out, which was surprisingly hard. They pulled up outside of a bar and Cassandra frowned. "'Mystic Grill'?" she asked. "This isn't very ... creative, is it?"

Rebekah shrugged. "No, it's not."

"So, why are we here?" Cassandra asked.

"I need to give out an invitation." Rebekah said. They walked inside and Rebekah looked around. Cassandra did so as well and spotted the doppleganger. It was always impressive how they looked exactly the same. Rebekah walked up to them and Cassandra followed. Esther had asked all of them to not hurt the locals, and Rebekah clearly wasn't adverse to that. "Careful Caroline. It's all well and good until she stabs you in the back." Rebekah said snidely to the blonde girl. Cassandra closed her eyes with an annoyed sigh. Sometimes, provocating wasn't the best

"What are you doing here? I know your mom's rules. No hurting the locals." the doppleganger said. Her name was Elena, Cassandra remembered.

"Get over yourself Elena. It's not all about you." Rebekah replied, which was disproven by the fact that Rebekah even bothered to go up to the two of them. She watched Rebekah walked away and looked at the two girls, one vampire, one human. "I'll introduce myself." she said. "I'm Cassandra Mikaelson."

"Sister?" Caroline asked.

"Niklaus' wife." she answered. The two exchanged troubled glances. Cassandra turned around to see Rebekah talk with a boy and give him an invite. So that's why they came here.

"Oh my god. She's inviting him to the ball. Why is she inviting him?" the blonde asked frantically.

"Probably to get this reaction from us." Elena suggested.

Caroline scoffed. "What time is this stupid dance?" Cassandra waited a bit before Rebekah walked back and they walked outside. "Come on, we need to get ready." Rebekah said and so they drove back.

Hours later the ball started. Cassandra stood in front of the mirror and stroked the dark red dress she was wearing. She looked at her wedding ring and hesitated. Then she left it lying on the table and walked outside. She ignored Klaus and walked up to the woman she recognized as the mayor. She had been with Esther while she talked to her. "Hello, Carol." she said and gave the woman a smile. She smiled back nervously. "Hello, Mrs Mikaelson."

"Hello. I'm afraid I do not know your name." she said to the black haired vampire. She remembered him from the night she was awoken by the two of them.

"Damon Salvatore." he said stiffly. She nodded in his direction. Kol came up beside her and kissed Carol's hand. "Mayor Lockwood. We haven't formally met. Kol Mikaelson. I hope your lovely town embraces us just as much as we plan to embrace it." he said charmingly. Damon held out his hand. "Damon Salvatore. Have we met?"

Kol ignored his hand and smiled provocatively. "I've met a lot of people. And you don't particularly stand out." She forcefully kept herself from hitting him on the back of his head. Avoiding conflict didn't work like that. Avoiding conflict worked with politeness and without provocation. Kl walked away and as if he'd waited for this to happen, Klaus appeared behind her. In sync all three tensed. Klaus touched her back and she avoided it. "Don't touch me." she told him.

"Trouble in paradise?" Damon asked with a smirk. Cassandra stared at him in disbelief and caught herself. "At least we aren't caught in a - what is it called? Love triangle?" she asked innocently. He scowled at her and then suddenly stopped.

"Excuse me, Carol." he said and walked away. She did the same and walked aimlessly through the room, on the search for intelligent conversation. She caught sight of the doppleganger with Damon and another vampire at her arms and shook her head. And so it started again.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" Kol asked as he came to stand beside her.

"Once again the doppleganger ensnares two brothers to destroy them." she said with a sigh. "They were doomed from the moment they met her."

Kol nodded in agreement and they looked up.

"Uh, if everyone could gather, please." Elijah called out and Kol and Cassandra walked up to the staircase. The others joined them and they looked down at the others.

"Welcome, thank you for joining us. You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance." Elijah said.

"Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom." And there was the part she already knew she'd loath. The 'dancing' part. With Niklaus. "Will you give me this dance?" Niklaus asked and she reluctantly took his hand. They started dancing and Cassandra did her utmost to avoid looking at him, which he ignored and started talking.

"It's nice to be together again." Niklaus said with a smile.

"Don't even try." she warned him. "I'm not in the mood for talking with you and acting like we are happy."

"You're not wearing your ring." he noted.

"Oh, that old thing? I didn't like it anyway." she said casually and relished in the hurt she felt from him. "So I thought, why should I continue wearing it?"

He looked away.

"And your bribery is not well received." she told him. For the last few days she had found little gifts. Jewelry, mostly, because he knew how much she loved shiny things.

"I just want to give gifts to my beautiful wife." he said with a smile.

"The same thing goes for flattery." His smile fell. She danced with him for some more until it was time to switch. She managed to get Kol and made sure that Klaus was busy dancing before she practically fled from the dancing. "You shouldn't leave." Kol commented. "He should be the one to run."

"I do not want anything to do with him. As soon as Esther allows me to leave I will." she told him. "Maybe I'll visit in a few decades." With these words she flashed away. She didn't want to be there. She'd go down when Esther was holding her speech, but after this she'd hide away in her room. She heard a glass ringing and flashed back downstairs and stood at the side of the rest. She looked up and accidently caught Niklaus' eyes and quickly looked away.

"Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!" Esther said and Cassandra took a glass of rosé coloured champagne from the tray of one of the waiters.

"Cheers!" she said together with the others and drank a sip from her champagne. It was surprisingly tasty and she took another sip.

She narrowed her eyes when she noticed Rebekah and Kol. Something was off about them. She decided to eavesdrop and sighed. Of course Rebekah and Kol would be the first ones to break the rules. It was surprising that they hadn't already. At least Rebekah seemed to have changed her mind. She followed Kol while he started to trick the boy Rebekah had invited to the ball.

"Good evening. You're Rebekah's friend. We haven't met." Kol said, sounding friendly.

"Matt Donovan." the boy said and they shook hands.

"Kol Mikaelson." Kol said and started squeezing. Cassandra walked closer, ready to intervene. "Kol!" she called out sharply. He looked to her. "Do not provoke your mother!" she hissed quietly. "Wait until you can actually leave." The boy's hand cracked and he screamed. Of course. She closed her eyes to control herself and took a deep breath. The boy fell to the floor and Damon flashed behind him.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" he said. "Easy on the hand. Guy's a quarterback." Damon rushed at Kol and pushed him off the balcony, following him immediately. She put her face in her hands. It was good that they couldn't be killed, or otherwise they would be dead in a week. She looked down just in time to watch Damon snap Kol's neck. She was only awake for a few days and she already needed a break. She turned around and walked to her room. She wouldn't deal with this now.