LOVE ²

9 ⋆ if i should fall from grace with god

It took a fifteen-minute walk back to the compound to sufficiently question her sanity and whether this was really a good idea for her to finally come to the conclusion that Davina was entirely right.

Now, all it would take is another few decades for her to push the anxiety down far enough to make herself do something about it.

"Okay, so I talked to big bro," Annabel told Nik through the phone as she walked into the compound and up to her room. She looked around and didn't see or smell anyone nearby as she walked into her room, so she continued, "He isn't interested in any rescue missions."

"What are you talking about? Why not?"

"Because he's a dumbass who thinks he can manipulate his way out of the situation instead. You know, the classic Mikaelson way."

"Oh, don't act like you're not just as diabolical as the rest of us. The only difference is that you don't have fangs."

"Hey, at least when I'm diabolical I keep it on the inside," she said. "I don't act on any of my homicidal urges."

"No, you just have them constantly and bottle them all up inside, nothing unhealthy about that."

"'Course not," she agreed.

"Are you sure Elijah's safe? Do you honestly think he can handle himself against this witch?"

She thought for a moment about Elijah telling her his plan to do the impossible and sway Davina's loyalty to Marcel, but decided against telling the most violent man she knew about the little witch just yet. "I think so," she said. "He'll realize manipulation isn't gonna get him out of this one, and then he'll figure it out."

"Well, that was reassuring."

"Yeah, well, he didn't really do that great a job trying to convince me either. I think he'll make it out alive, though. And that's all that matters."

Once he hung up the phone, Annabel tossed it on her bed. She then looked over to the side door, the one connecting her room with Diego's. It was ajar, so she took that as an opportunity to listen to Davina's truthful words. Annabel had been hanging out with Diego so much in recent weeks, and she had felt it - some connection she didn't quite understand. He seemed to understand her more than most, as she did with him. And they never talked about it, but they both felt the same feeling, the same joy seeing each other, the same bond they hadn't experienced before.

"Whatcha doin', creeper?" she heard, and looked up, seeing Diego enter his room. She had migrated over to the door, not even realizing it, and was just standing there until he pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Just creepin'," she said with a smile. He smirked, walking over to his nightstand to grab his phone off the charger as Annabel said, "I have a question."

He looked up from his phone, walking over to her, "Oh yeah? What's your question, princess?"

"Well," she began with a little smile, "I really just need your opinion on something." Annabel hadn't felt butterflies since she was a little kid, and she absolutely hated the fact that she was getting them now, but she absolutely loved the reason. Him smirking down at her, their bodies closer than either of them had intended, but not as close as they wanted them to be, her arms crossed against her chest as she leaned on the doorframe. "Since I'm 18 now, I was wondering, on a scale of one to three hundred," she began, staring right into his darkened, lustful eyes, "how many years would we be put in the Garden if I told you to push me up against a wall and leave hickeys all over my body?" Her voice held confidence her heart couldn't keep up with, though in that moment, the butterflies passed, replaced with something different. Something very, very different.