Bloom • Mikaelson

XVII. Where family's involved

NIKLAUS TRACES LIGHT CIRCLES ON MY bare back. Since having drinks with Rebekah, my mind has been elsewhere. I always knew Ivonna hated Nik — he was different then when we were kids. A monster, if I was looking to label it. However, he had always screwed things up on his own. Besides complaining, Ivonna never had to do anything. Now, it's different. She has a group of people who want him dead as well, she's even tried to kill him once herself. I understand where my identical twin is coming from. The love of my life was no good for me, my heart had witnessed it first hand many times. However, I also knew I was no good for him. I was a weakness he couldn't afford to have. A target, one of his thousands of enemies could use against him. I suppose I am selfish in that way. Refusing to end things even if it'd be better for both of us. Nik flips me over and pulls me to him. He studies me for awhile before speaking.

"What's wrong, my love?" Nik frowns.

I send Nik a smile to ease his worry and it only causes him to frown harder. Nik knows me as well as Ivonna had. I would always be lied bare to them. An open book — written words across my skin.

"Something Ivonna said. It's nothing, really." I wave my hand.

"No, tell me."

"Why? When we could be doing much more fun things?"

I drag my hands down Niklaus' bare chest, my lips pulling into a smile. It was easy to seduce Niklaus. I had done it many times before and every time it worked. This time it doesn't, however. I can tell he's still worried, even when I press my lips to his neck.

"I'm okay, really. Ivonna's always saying something that gets to me. She's my second half, she knows how to really strike a nerve." I shrug.

"You keeping saying 'something' Ivonna said. But you're not telling me what." Nik sits up, pulling away to look at me.

Ivonna knew me inside and out — mind and soul because we were one person in two separate bodies. Knowing me meant knowing her and who doesn't know themselves? However, Niklaus knew me just as well. Instead of knowing me because we were the same, he had a thousand years to learn. He knew my body and my mind. He often studied me in the earlier years of our relationship. He knew how my body reacted to his touch, how my shoulders tensed when I was worried. He knew most of all how I seduced him as a way to avoid talking about things.

"Ivonna absolutely despises you and wants you dead. Which is nothing new, but she has already tried once. There's a group of people that want you dead, Niklaus." I frown.

"I have made thousands of enemies over a thousand years. Someone's going to always want me dead." Niklaus says.

"It just makes me wonder if I'm doing what's best by being with you."

This makes Niklaus' eyes widen and his lips tug into a frown. I take his hands in mine and press them to my lips.

"The two most important people in my life hate each other. Is my happiness really worth all this? I love you, Niklaus with everything in me. However, that doesn't mean I'm oblivious to your temper. I don't want to lose Ivonna at your hands or you at hers."

Nik pulls his hands out of my grasp and cups my face. I can feel his breath on my nose when he starts speaking.

"I would never harm your sister, no matter how infuriating that twin of yours is. I love you too much." Nik presses our foreheads together.

I smile at him, pressing a light kiss to his lips. A sharp pain just about splits my head in half. I jump back away from Niklaus, clutching my head in my hands and a scream escapes my lips. My phone starts ringing right before another scream escapes. Ivonna's name reads across the screen as Nik reaches for it. Before Nik can get even one word out, Vonna's screaming on the other end. I can't make out her words between the excruciating pain in my head and my screams. In a blink of the eye, Ivonna is standing in front of Niklaus and I.

"What's wrong?" Nik frowns.

"We have to get her to Rome." Ivonna says.

"Why?"

"We didn't tell you everything the first time around. Nadia can't go more than a hundred fifty years without a blood moon. However, she can't go very long without the necklace either. It's lose-lose."

Another pain splits my head in two and then everything goes black.

Ivonna Petrovich

Niklaus catches Nadia before she can hit the ground. With a wave of my hand and a whispered words, we appear in Breanne's bar. Lucky for us, Rome is on a different time wave and the bar is closed. Breanne comes out from the bar. She nods at Niklaus when he lays her down the table. Breanne looks up at me, she knows exactly what's happening and what we'll have to do. However, we don't share that bit of information with Klausy. He'd kill us both.

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"Where is she?" Niklaus asks.

I just stare at him, he's only been asking every other breath for the past two weeks.

"The same place she's been every time you ask about her. In Rome." I roll my eyes.

Niklaus doesn't respond. He's clearly upset about something that isn't my twin sister. Asking about Nadia was the thing to distract him. Which failed. His fist flies into the wall, creating a decent sized hole. With his hybrid strength and the strength of his anger and adrenaline, I'm sure he could bring this whole house down.

"What's wrong?" I question — I feel it's something Nadia would do.

"Like you give a damn." Niklaus growls.

"Nadia would have. Maybe I do give a damn — a tiny itsy-bitsy bit of amount."

"Salvatore stole my caskets!"

I stop and stare at Niklaus. It's been awhile since I seen the bastard before his return to Mystic Falls, but I knew exactly what caskets he was talking about. The caskets that held his family. The family he oddly cares about — in his own way, of course. I shouldn't care, really. The two Mikaelsons I did care about wasn't in caskets. Then again, family is family. We do the strangest things when family's involved. I fix Niklaus with a hard stare. He was clearly distraught.

"I'll help you find your family." The words surprise even me.

"Why? Why would you help me?" Niklaus frowns.

"Family is family. Nadia would help you in a heartbeat, without so much as a second of hesitation. If nothing else, I can trust you with my sister's life. I'll extend you the same curtesy for the time being."