CHAPTER XIII
❝ Pleasure meeting you. ❞
"I'm really sorry for how Casper behaved back there." said Lucy with an apologetic smile as she took a sip from her wine glass.
"No worries." Klaus said calmly, not wanting to ruin either his mood or the party.
"By the way, who exactly is he? Or might I ask, what is he?" asked Klaus curiously.
"A witch, one of the reasons for hating vampires." said Lucy. "So, please don't mind his behaviour. It's mutual for every vampire."
"Childhood friends, huh?" asked Klaus who doesn't seem keen on dropping the topic anytime soon.
"Nice guess." she nodded. "More than a century and half."
"Interesting." hummed Klaus, drowning his remaining wine just as Elijah's voice flooded everyone's ears.
"Uh, if everyone could gather please." came Elijah's voice as Klaus politely excused himself to stand along his siblings on the stairs.
"Welcome. Thank you for joining us." said Elijah just as the Original Witch ascended down to join her family as well. "You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance. 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."
"May I?" asked Klaus as he returned back to her side, extending his hand for her to take.
"Gladly." she smiled gratefully, accepting his hand as all the pairs gathered in the ballroom, all standing in coordination.
The song 'Give Me Love' by Ed Sheeran played in the background as everyone started dancing.
"Do you know that girl he's dancing with?" asked Lucy as her eyes remained fixated on Casper who was dancing with a blond-haired girl clad in a beautiful teal-colored gown.
"That's Caroline Forbes." responded Klaus in an overly-calm fashion, who was obviously irritated or maybe even jealous by the fact that Lucy had yet to even glance his way since the dance started.
"Oh, Liz's daughter. Right, they look familiar." she nodded, her gaze still set on the pair of them. "Isn't she a vampire?"
"Exactly. I thought he hated vampires."
"Me too."
"Are you jealous?" asked Klaus as Lucy's gaze finally shifted to him at this question.
"No." she said in a 'duh' tone. "I'm just worried that he is willingly associating with a vampire. Somethin' going on in his mind."
"Are you friends or foe?" he chuckled.
"I don't know." she shrugged. "Never quite literally sat down and discussed the appropriate name tag."
"You have some really complex relationships."
"Believe me, I never repeat my mistakes."
"Amazing, neither do I." said Klaus as Lucy was twirled around and the next moment she found herself dancing with a person she didn't recognise.
"Finn Mikaelson." he introduced himself with a warm smile.
"You are the oldest Mikaelson." she said with a smile. "Pleasure meeting you. I'm Lucy. Lucy Wright."
"I know." he nodded. "I believe that you are aware that my mother wishes to speak with you."
"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked in a confused tone, genuinely unaware of any such meeting being setted up with the Original Witch.
"Your friend, Mr.Daldron, he spoke to my mother this morning and he mentioned several wonderful deals you have to offer."
"Excuse me." she said hastily as she saw Casper descend up the stairs where Esther stood and Lucy hurried towards them.
Ascending up the stairs, moving at the fastest pace possible that could look like fast-walking instead of running, her eyes were fixated on Esther and Casper who were just about to turn around the corner into a deeper corridor.
She was so busy on keeping her eyes on them, that she tripped on the last stair, her ankle turning at a painful angle, nearly sent tumbling down the stairs but a pair of strong arms were there to steady her and save her from the apparent embarrassment from falling down in front of everyone as well as a few injuries of falling from the first floor.
"Easy there, love." came Klaus' voice, his breath fanning against her neck, hands having a firm grip on her arms preventing her from tripping down the stairs.
"Oh, shit, shit." cursed Lucy as she tried to balance on her feet. "I need to do a spell to fix it."
"Slow down there." said Klaus as she tried to move forward herself but her broken ankle prevented her from doing so.
"Let me help you." he offered, taking a firm grip on her arms to help her walk.
"Just get me somewhere to sit down." she asked as he led her inside an empty room, helping her sit on the couch safely as he respectively took a nearby chair and sat on that.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." she breathed out as Klaus curiously watched her do a non-verbal spell to fix her broken ankle.
"You seemed in a bit of a hurry. Everything alright?" he asked as Lucy contemplated his question and decided to obviously not tell him.
"It's nothing." she said, her eyes scanning whatever part of the corridor was visible through the open door of the room they were in.
"Are you su-"
"Yes, yes." she said impatiently which of course made the Original Hybrid a bit suspicious.
"What place is this?" she asked in awe as she finally looked around, noticing the numerous paintings surrounding them.
"It's my art studio."
"Wow...." she breathed out, standing up, even though there was still some lingering pain in her ankle; and looking around at all the different paintings.
"You like it?" he asked unsurely as he came to stand beside her, trying to read her facial expressions; who was looking fondly at a painting hanging on the wall.
"There's not even a question in that. Of course I do." she chuckled. "They are so beautiful and detailed. You made them?"
"Yes. One of my passions." he said softly as Lucy's eyes turned to meet his, which hadn't moved from her face even once.
"One of them is also hanging at Hermitage. Not that anyone would notice..... Have you?"
"I have never been there even though I travel a lot." she shrugged. "I guess I never really got the chance of enjoying wherever I went."
"I can take you." he offered. "Rome. Tokyo. Paris."
"No, no." she laughed.
"What about you? You also seem to like art a lot."
"I love them." she breathed out before letting out a soft laugh. "I tried making one once, but it turned out to be the most horrible one ever."
But before he could respond, a sudden voice made them both jump and Klaus turned towards the door with an annoyed look on his face as they both took in the sight of Kol Mikaelson standing there, a broken vase at his feet, which apparently caused the sudden loud noise.
"Kol." said Klaus with a forced smile. "What are you doing here?"
But Kol wasn't listening to him, his shocked gaze was fixated on the woman standing next to his brother, who, surprisingly, also held the same expression.
"Lucia." he breathed out in shock accompanied by a confused laugh.
"Kol? What are you doing here? When did you come to Mystic Falls?" Lucy bombarded him with questions as to great surprise for the Original Hybrid, she hugged his little brother tightly.
"Well, I don't know, you tell me when did you come here?" Kol asked in equal shock.
"Just a few days ago, probably a week." she said. "But forgot me. Talk about yourself. I get that you haven't been in touch with me for about a century, but what about others? Have you been in touch with others, and only ignored me?"
"I haven't been in touch with anyone." he smirked before turning to his brother who stood there in surprise and annoyance alike. "Why don't you tell her, brother?"
"Wait, what?" interrupted Lucy. "He is your brother? You are a Mikealson? And you have been dragged for the past one century?"
"Yes, yes and yes." Kol responded amusedly. "Anyway, brother, mother has called everyone downstairs for raising a toast of some sort."
"Of course." Klaus nodded with a forced smile, not even liking it a bit that his little brother knew Lucy already, and observationally it looks like they were long lost friends as well.
His annoyance and jealousy only rose as Kol and Lucy kept chatting joyously on their way back downstairs.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." came Esther's voice as she clinked her glass to gain everyone's attention, bringing a halt to all the conversations going around.
"Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass." she continued. "It provides me no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
"Excuse me." said Lucy hastily as she saw Casper exiting the party and she followed after him, ignoring the look Klaus and Kol gave her on her abrupt departure.
"So, what is that you have planned, Casper?" said Lucy casually as she came to walk alongside him, having reached outside the house, in the garden area, but Casper ignored her and continued to walk towards where all the cars were parked.
"Or must I say, your 'daddy' have planned for you to do?" she taunted as Casper finally turned to her, slamming her painfully against a car but she merely laughed at him.
"Stop it." he spat in anger. "I am sick of you taunting me every time by my father's name."
"Then, maybe, you should stop being your 'daddy's son'." she said, her fake smile falling at last, as she pushed him back equally painfully.
"Tell me, what were you talking about to the Original Witch?" she asked threateningly.
"Why does it even matter to you?"
"Because you are making some goddamn deals under my name"
"Somebody had to do something." he shrugged. "You were busy having fun with that Hybrid, so I took the matter in my hands."
"What did you do, Casper?"
"I made a deal with the devil."
"Huh?" she pushed him back again. "What do you mean 'deal with the devil'?"
"What did you do, Casper?" she repeated, pushing him back once again when he didn't answer.
"ANSWER ME!" she shouted, about to push him once again, but this time he stopped her from even touching him, having a tough grip on her wrists and holding them down with one hand.
"Don't you dare raise your voice at me." he said firmly, the fury evident in his eyes. "I would no longer be suppressed by you. You were asked to do the same thing, but you didn't even pay it a single glance. Tell me, did you open that spellbook even once?"
"I-"
"Leave it." he cutted her off, knowing the answer already. "I know you didn't. So, I decided to do it myself, there is no longer any need for you."
"Just answer me. What did you do, Casper?" she said as he finally released her wrists, taking a step back. "Just at least tell me why you even came here. Because I know very well that you didn't come to celebrate your birthday with me."
"Jackpot!" he fake cheered, giving a false grin. "You are absolutely correct there. I didn't come here to celebrate my birthday, I came here because I was told to."
"Seriously." she let out an exasperated laugh. "You are doing all this just because your father manipulated you in doing so?"
"Correction there." he said with a smug smile. "This time it was not my father, it was your father."
Word Count :1980