laissez les bon temps rouler//jackson kenner

2.3

When I head downstairs I see the table in the courtyard covered in fruit and other breakfast foods. I look around curiously unsure of what to make of this. I hear Nik walking down the stairs towards me.

I turn to look at him. "So, which restaurant's missing a compelled chef?"

Nik looks confused. "It's certainly a card I've enjoyed playing in the past, but I had no hand in this..." Nik gestures to the food on the table.

I shrug my shoulders. "Well, then, I guess we have Elijah to thank?"

Elijah walks into the courtyard and stands next to Nik. He looks just as confused as Nik and I. "This wasn't my doing..."

I frown. "Then, where did this all come from?"

Suddenly the silver lid on the platter begins to rattle. I jump back slightly from the sudden noise. Nik looks uneasy as he lifts the platter, which releases two starlings that fly up toward the ceiling. We all duck to avoid being hit by the birds and look at eachother nervous and confused.

"I am afraid to ask what the hell that was," I state.

Nik reaches for a piece of paper on the platter. "An invitation from our mother."

I head upstairs to my room. I stand out on the balcony taking in the fresh air. The last thing I need right now is for my mother to ruin my plans of bringing Jolie back. When I head back into my room Nik is sitting on my bed.

"We have enough enemies here. And now, the war for our home is to be fought against our own family," Nik states.

"Our wretched mother and her disciples tried to put a carving knife through my baby's heart. I will happily add to the body count," I tell him with a smile.

Elijah walks in the room. "You will do no such thing. Esther's a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits. We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."

"Well, her last invitation was on all her children. I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul," Nik reminds us.

Elijah shrugs his shoulders. "Well, then. We have," He checks his watch, "this afternoon to prepare for the worst."

Elijah leaves the room. I turn to Nik. "Are we sure I can't kill any witches?"

Nik smiles. "I make no promises."

After Nik leaves the room I get a call from Oliver. It's about my mother and a new minion of hers. I head downstairs to find Nik. He is in the dining room giving orders to a group of caterers.

"Skip the salad course. Let's not make this dreadful evening any longer than it needs to be." Nik chooses a wine and dismisses the caterer.

"So, I guess letting Oliver live paid off. He just informed me our mother has a partner-in-crime... another witch," I inform him.

"Building alliances in her quest to destroy us, I imagine," Nik states.

I look at him sadly. "I remember we all tried to tell each other that she didn't hate us; she hated herself for what we've become. I think even Bekah and Elijah believed that, even after she tried to kill us all." I pause for a moment. "We all know what you wanted."

Nik looks at me sadly with a few tears in his eyes. "I just knew I wanted her dead."

I look at Nik for a moment. The subject of our mother has always been a heavy one. When Nik and I were little our mother loved us very much, but once we turned and every day after our mother has grown to resent the monsters she created.

"Well, every good story needs a wicked witch. It'll be all the more satisfying when we melt her," I tell him. I smile slightly and Nik does the same.

I head to Marcel's loft. I need a necklace that I'm hoping he is in possession of. It's for a spell to hopefully mark Esther so we know what body she is possessing.