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Chapter 44
At the Bennett family dinner table, tension hovered like a thick fog. Everyone had decided to meet at the new mansion Eleanor had just bought right outside of New Orleans so she could keep tabs on her family. That, and so she didn't have to travel with her mother so much. Right in the middle of the table sat an array of food that every Bennett had begun to eat from.
Mina sat in front of one of her favorite dishes; her aunt Kelia's mac and cheese. However, she couldn't bring herself to eat a lot because her stomach was filled with nervousness. Bonnie's spell to suppress her vampiric side for a couple of hours would make it to where even the most powerful of witches couldn't sense her.
But that didn't mean she wasn't scared shitless.
Next to Mina was Harley. Unlike her cousin, she had nothing holding her back from sucking on the Honey Hot wings Addison had made. With that and some mac and cheese, she would be set for anything this fucked up family get-together would bring.
Beside Harley was Emery. She took multiple stabs at her lettuce before taking a bite, looking back and forth at her aunts trying to figure out why they were all there. "So... how's life, family?"
At the head of the table, Eleanor smiled, cutting up a piece of asparagus and popping it into her mouth. "Wonderfully, my sweet child." Eleanor looked over to her sisters and let out a dramatic cough. "Sisters, you've been silent this entire time. Care to share why?"
"Here we go," Harley mumbled, taking another bite of one of her wings. They hadn't even been sitting at the table ten minutes yet.
"Eating, Elle," Kelia explained. "But Bailey," the conversation continued. "Have you introduced yourself to Bonnie?"
Bonnie who was directly in front of Eleanor at the end of the table looked up and locked eyes with the curly-haired girl sitting between Kelia and Addison. "Yeah, she did," Bonnie confirmed with a smile. "We met in the kitchen." According to her, she was the youngest at the table being a senior in high school at seventeen.
Bonnie looked at her deeply, admiring her beautiful blue eyes and her light brown curly hair. While she was stunning, she didn't exactly look like any of the women at the table. Seeing the slight look of confusion, Bailey smiled. "My dad was their brother... Florence."
Bonnie picked up on the was but didn't say anything of it. Instead, she kept the conversation rolling by asking, "How many of you are there?"
"Siblings?" Kelia asked. When Bonnie nodded, she continued. "There are five of us in all, but only three are still here. The eldest Eleanor," Kelia started pointing at her older sister. "Then there was Florence and me. Then Cora, and Addison."
"Cousins wise," Emery picked up, "There's six. Harley is the oldest, then there's..."
"Me," Mina said, taking a couple of sips of her water. "Then you, Bon."
"I'm next," Emery proudly stated, dusting off her blue sundress. "Me and my brother, Erikson."
"And I'm the youngest... we'll the youngest of our generation. Erikson's daughter, Amoni, is the official youngest of the family. She just turned 1 a couple of weeks ago."
Addison scoffed, flapping her napkin open and placing it on her lap. "You're the youngest, dear. That half mutt doesn't count as a member of our line."
"Addy, seriously?" Kelia sighed.
"Addison!" Eleanor barked.
"Holy hell," Harley groaned. "Already? Insults to the family already?"
Emery simply took another mouthful of lettuce from her salad.
"And she is my grandchild," Eleanor barked, slamming her fork down. "There is nothing wrong with her."
Bonnie looked around the table in confusion. "Why doesn't she count? Amoni, that is."
Mina coughed. Knowing where this was going, she tried to stop it. "Let's not–"
"Because abominations can't take control of our coven. And if one cannot lead the Bennett coven, then they are not a Bennett."
"Addison, stop it," Kelia commanded.
"Why?" She started. "It's why we're all glad that Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson can't procreate," Addison continued, now looking at both Mina and Bonnie. "Both of you would be knocked up and unable to stay in the family."
"Aunt Addison–" Harley started but was quickly cut off.
"Excuse me?" Bonnie questioned.
"Would you like me to repeat myself, child?" Addison smirked. "In the event you could become pregnant with that abomination's child, we would all be forced to disown you. Just as we did your mother."
"That's enough," Harley yelled.
"Well get to disowning then," Bonnie bit back, pushing her chair out and standing up.
"What?" Kelia asked, hearing Bonnie's revelation. When she and her sisters looked at each other, she could tell that each and every one of them was thinking the same thing.
"You got knocked up by the hybrid?" Addison barked. She thrust her hand out, her magic attacking Bonnie. "Answer me, girl!"
"ADDISON!"
Bonnie's magic instantly created a shield around her. Her own magic began to push against Addison as her shoulders shook with power. Glasses of water and tea popped and shattered as the two Bennett women fought with pure magic.
"Bonnie, stop!" Mina yelled, her hand going to her cousin's shoulder. Obviously, being ignored, Mina shook her hand off.
With her own outstretched hand, Bonnie pushed her magic harder, causing Addison to stumble back. As the older witch tried to summon a wave of magic of her own, she groaned as blood began to leak from her nose. Feeling herself start to lose, she glanced over to the living room. Using her magic to pick up the glass coffee table, she threw it, aiming the glass at Bonnie's head.
Harley threw out her hand, stopping the table and sending it to the ground, leaving it shattered into thousands of little pieces.
Eleanor rose from the table before throwing up a shield in front of Eleanor to stop the magical assault. Flicking her wrist, Addison was flung back into her seat.
No longer feeling a fight, Bonnie's magic ceased.
"Take her upstairs," Harley commanded, now standing beside Mina. "Now. Bailey, Em, both of you go upstairs," Harley finished.
When all of her cousins had been cleared out of the room, she looked around. "If this," she wiggled her finger around "is what you think family is, aunts, you are just as lost as Esther Mikaelson."
"Excuse me?" Addison growled.
"I'm not sure what you're going to do with Bonnie," She calmly stated. "But I am sure about one thing. If she is kicked from this family, you'll have lost three members... You've already lost Erikson because of your childish behavior, then you'll lose Bonnie, and I will follow. She is the kindest soul in this family and without her, this family is dead."
.
..
...
Bonnie Bennett sat on the bed in the spare bedroom with tears filling her eyes. For once, she had met a group of people just like her and now she would lose them. Mina sat on the bed with her, holding Bonnie as she rubbed up and down her back.
Emery sat in the desk chair, watching as all of her cousins lay hurt.
Bailey sat on the floor by the window seal, wondering how this was even possible. She'd heard the stories of the werewolf original turned vampire. How could he procreate?
"Bonnie–"
Hearing Harley's voice, Bonnie sat up. "I want to go home."
"Not yet," Harley said calmly. "We need to have a cousin talk, and you are one of us. You need to be here."
"Harley–" Mina started but was cut off.
"Listen, I know what happened down there was fucked up," She said bluntly. "But Bonnie, you aren't going anywhere." Seeing her little cousin get ready to say something, she put a hand on her shoulder. "Let me finish. Every single person in this room is a Bennett witch. We are family, sisters in magic. We are bound by more than blood. Our cores are the same, our values and above all our magic. Bonnie, your child will always be safe with everyone in this room, okay?"
"Yeah," Emery started, sitting up now. "What happened down there isn't a reflection of all of us. That's just Aunt Addison."
Bailey nodded. "I don't understand how it's possible... but it doesn't matter. You're family and so is that baby."
"No more secrets, though," Harley said. "Between us. If I knew you were going to... announce it today, I would've been more prepared."
Bonnie nodded. "Are you guys sure? I don't want to drag you guys into something that–"
"Drag us?" Emery asked. "Bonnie, you're pregnant. Not battling a lion. You're not forcing us into war. You don't have to ask us to choose you, babes. We already do."
"Harley once told me," Mina started but stopped when she laughed at the memory. "... that having cousins was like having a built-in best friend. We're your built-in besties."
"BnB," Emery tested on her tongue. "That's a group chat name." Pulling out her phone, she did a couple of taps before suddenly everyone's phone beeped. "Done."
"Did you seriously just make a group chat, right now?" Harley sighed. "Anyways, no secrets, okay? We're a sisterhood."
Mina looked down then back up at Harley. "And no judging about said secrets?"
"Nope," Emery confirmed.
"Unless you're like... half vampire or something," Bailey laughed.
When Mina sunk back, Harley gasped. Emery slapped her hands over her mouth.
"You're a vampire?" Harley whisper-yelled. "How? When? What the fuck?"
"Long story short, I died with vampire blood in my system, therefore turning me into the first ever Bennett heretic."
"Holy hell!" Emery gasped. "I can't even sense it. I'm normally pretty good—" She cut herself off before looking at Bonnie. "You covered her scent, didn't you?"
A knock on the door made the subject change. Harley, still in protective mode, opened it, ready to tell her aunts off again. Instead of it being Addison or Eleanor, the two people who would both chew her out, it was Kelia.
"I've come in peace," Kelia started with her hands up. "How far along are you, Bonnie?"
"Why?" Bonnie asked. "I'm not getting rid of it."
Kelia shook her head vigorously. "I would never ask you to." When Bonnie continues to eye her suspiciously, she closes the door behind you. "I only mean to check on you, Bonnie. Bennett witch pregnancies don't always happen without issues. Our power is sometimes too much for our babies to live... for you, the risk is heightened because of the.... abnormality that is Niklaus'—"
"My baby doesn't have 'abnormalities', aunt," Bonnie snapped.
"I apologize, Bonnie," She started, mentally kicking herself for using that word. "I don't mean to offend. I simply want to check on you and the baby." She looked down at Bonnie's stomach then looked back up. "May I check?"
Harley stepped closer to Bonnie and Mina in protection. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Harley," Kelia sighed. "You know better than anyone that I do not believe what my sisters do. I was the first to hold little Amoni. I even gave the sweet girl her name... a name of power."
"What do you mean when you say Bennett witch pregnancies don't happen without issues?" Bonnie asked. "I don't feel anything wrong with the baby."
"When our people have children, their normally suffocated in the womb by our magic," Kelia said simply. "It's why most of us only have one child. There are exceptions of course, but most of them are twins... if twins occur, the babies are protected by the magic of their sibling. Eleanor with Emery and Erikson or my mother with myself and Florence."
Bonnie looked around the room. "None of you have siblings?" Mina shook her head with Harley and Bailey. Then she considered it more. Her grams only had one child as well. "Your mother had five children, though?"
"Because she gave away her magic when she found out about our existence," Kelia explained. Sitting beside Bonnie, she continued. "That was fine for her. She had our father, who was a powerful witch himself. With your grandmother, her sister, her twin, by her side, she could do that. She could throw away her magic four times."
"Oh shit, I didn't know that," Emery started.
"I'm not trying to scare you, Bonnie," Kelia started again. "You are carrying a child... a child of Bennett blood and I simply want to assure its survival."
"How can you help?" Bonnie started.
"Right now, I can check to see if there are any early signs. If not, you're good until you get a little farther along. If there are, I can teach you the recipe for a potion that would weaken you temporarily. The less magic you have, the less magic around your womb that can hurt your baby."
Bonnie nodded slowly. "Okay," Before Kelia could reach her hand out, she stopped her. "I won't let anyone hurt my baby."
"Neither will I," Kelia confirmed. "How far along are you?"
"Should be almost two months," She began, leaning back and allowing Kelia's hands to float over her stomach. Chanting slowly, the older witch pulled back rather quickly.
"You're not four months, Bonnie," Kelia started. "I—no baby has developed that much in two months."
"What?" Bonnie asked. She looked over to Harley.
"Calm down," Harley said slowly, making her way beside her aunt. "I was an ultrasound assistant."
Connecting hands with Kelia, they both chanted slowly, allowing their power to swirl with the baby's. Jumping back, Kelia and Harley locked eyes.
"What?" Bonnie asked. "I should know what's happening!" Panic flooded through her like a river. Was her expression hurting it?
"Bonnie," Harley started. "You're... seven months?"
"That's not possible," Bonnie shook her head. "Seven months ago, I hated Klaus. I—This can't be possible. I found out I was pregant two months before the whole Esther sitution. And it's been two months since then. "
"She's right," Bailey started. "Two plus two is four."
"Okay, but her belly isn't that big," Emery pointed out. "How is she seven months pregnant but not that big? 7 months is nearly full term."
"It's Niklaus's vampire blood," Eleanor said calmly, appearing in the room. "You, Bonnie, are pregnant with a vampire, something that's not meant to age. Yet, it is aging."
Bonnie stood up fast. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, child," Eleanor began, "... your child is a vampire and it wants out of your body. Your baby will most likely rapidly age until it kills you or you give birth."
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