✓ | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂, Stefan and Damon

Chapter 42

This is kind of a filler chapter, so I'm sorry about that. A lot of stuff really did need to get explained and I thought that this chapter would help introduce new relationships and stuff about the hybrids. The end is the best part.

The Mikaelson family household was well known to, throughout the ages, become deathly and filled to the brink with aggressive males. Before, we had maybe two outlandishly aggressive men up and at it at the same time, the others locked away in coffins. Now, we had about thirty, all awake and alive and ready to bring out the worst in each other. Don't get me wrong, the women in the Mikaelson family were never meek. Oftentimes we could find ourselves ripping into someone who dared to insult us.

The difference was that the women would do it verbally while the men would do it physically.

Many battles of dominance had taken place over the past few weeks, Kol and Nik taking part in a few of them themselves. Too many freaking fights had broken out over the television, which had to be replaced at least three times due to someone flinging another person right onto the large screen. While we did have infinite money, it was becoming a hassle for Elijah, who was the one who was ordered to deal with this kind of thing.

Almost all of the fights were at the Hybrid House, which happened to still have room for more people even when almost 100 people lived inside. The place had four floors and served as the mansion of Mystic Falls, even larger than the Mayor's house.

Even when Elijah was the one who usually brought back the hybrids back to their senses, Nik was their alpha and had ordered them to stop pestering Elijah when they had disagreements. Our elder brother was being worked to the brim, barely ever having any time to himself while at the house. It was the main reason that he had been avoiding everyone and everything for the past two days.

"Do you think that he will ever come out of this stupor of his?" Nik asks, swiping more paint along the canvas. I roll my eyes at my hybrid brother's lack of empathy for the stress Elijah had been under.

"I think that Elijah will come out once you get your hybrids to stop walking all over him. You know that our brother wishes to please you. Unfortunately, that means working his ass off trying to fix the social hierarchy within your pack. Give him a break, Nik, he needs time to destress and figure out a way to handle everything here," It was now time for Nik to roll his eyes at me, delicately working at his painting.

"You speak as if being here is horrid," I hear the hurt in my brother's voice.

"This place is amazing, Nik, but not everyone in here has any idea how wolves work. Socially, we act like humans. The hybrids are different and need structure in order to really work. None of us can give them that because we just aren't hybrids."

"What do you suspect that I do about this, sister? I haven't got a clue how we're supposed to work either," I sigh and walk towards the doorway, my steps heavy.

"To lead. Nobody knows how to lead until they need to," at that, I left the Original hybrid to finish his painting.

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Familial relations, while being an ongoing struggle, would get better with time. I would always hold out hope that one day, even if that day is years or centuries in the future, we will be able to be like a normal family. We could be the biggest family in the world, but I just wanted to be more human. Less murder, less plans of attack. In a way, I just wanted less enemies that would continue to try and attack the people I cared most about.

I would always fight against those who hurt the people I love.

With Laurel, things with the few normal vampires in the house were going smoothly. While the hybrids did need more leadership, Finn and Laurel had taken charge with the vampires. They looked up to them and their relationship. The two of them had deemed that Kol was wrong and that Finn was not a bore. Finn had to prove himself, but I think that it was good for the girl to push him outside of his comfort zone. Even vampires would have to break out of their shells eventually.

While the sudden absence at the hybrid house had alerted some of the hybrids, most of them just piped down whenever someone spoke his name. They knew that they had pushed the man to his breaking point and needed to stop doing so. The better lot of them were too stubborn to just drive over to the boarding house and apologize for their behavior, something that they shared with their hybrid sire.

The sire bond was still intact for almost all of the hybrids, only a few of them breaking it, their reason just being that they wanted their loyalty to not be blind. Nik had allowed them to do it, knowing that their loyalty was worth more if they had more autonomy.

Baby brother had gotten even closer with Jeremy, if that was even possible at this point. The two of them did literally everything together. No matter how many times I asked, Henrik would not admit if he did or didn't have a massive crush on his best friend, just evading the question or walking away when I mentioned it. Not only was it frustrating for me, but the rest of the family had joined in with me on the feelings of frustration when it came to the unknown. It wasn't like any of us would tell! We would try and get them together if either one of them confessed their true feelings to us!

Even when our lives became even more muddled with expectations and harsh realities, my mates were always by my side. During meetings about the various projects going on, one of which being the need to find another ascendant and any other siphoners, they supported me and would push back on anything that they knew wouldn't work. Damon held off on his remarks during the more serious and professional meetings and Stefan managed to bring a lot of knowledge on some of the people that he has met and could have information about our goals.

Another valuable person in these meetings was Lexi, who I hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk to. It turned out that she was mated to one of our hybrids. Her mate, Ethan, was one of the most charismatic people that I'd ever met. Nobody else could compare to his people skills. He not only could work information out of a person, but he could do so without the other person even being able to take any hints that he was doing so.

No matter how big the family would get, no matter how many mating bonds muddled the rotations that we had created, Always and Forever would be the promise of our lifetime.

The chirping tune of my ringtone fills my senses. I sigh and accept the call from the blonde vampire ripper saver herself.

"Astrid, we found the ascendant you were talking about."