Guys these chapters are all so damn long and I'm really proud of myself for it
I'm also really proud of that cover because it was my first time ever using Adobe Photoshop :')
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Chapter Five
Kol, Rebekah, and Elijah all had burns on them. They were very confused when they arrived at Avarice's castle, for they hadn't even noticed the marks that the creatures had made on them. What surprised them even more was that their healing abilities didn't seem to work with the burns.
Kol had burns on his shoulder and neck, and Avarice explained to them that the hands of a Mare were what they used to steal the soul of a mortal. So, wherever a Mare touched a person with their hands, it burned them. Rebekah had a much darker and more severe burn on her throat. Elijah, however, had gotten the worst of it all. It appeared that he had fought back the hardest. He had a harsh burn on his neck, and an even harsher one in the centre of his chest.
Avarice left the room and went to the library to get one of the many magic books at her disposal. In finding a book about the Mares, she quickly checked to make sure that her power could get rid of the burns, and then took the book with her back to the main parlour. The Mikaelson's all looked up at her in anticipation, waiting to see what she would do. They seemed very worried about the burns. It was not surprising, seeing how they had almost died from poisoning only a few days before.
Aspin came in right after her, seeming tired. That is, until she was shocked awake when she saw the Mikaelson's.
She looked to Avarice in confusion. "You brought them here?"
When he heard her voice, Levi jumped to his feet and questioned if she was all right, to which she replied that she was fine. Then she looked back at Avarice and awaited her answer.
Avarice nodded. "The castle has wards on it. The mansion did as well, but these ones are far stronger."
Aspin was a little more accepting of that than Levi was.
"And when will you be informing Kaige of their whereabouts?" he asked, looking out the large glass windows to the castle that stood in the distance. It was even larger than Avarice's castle, but much darker. More daunting.
She looked back down at the books. "When the bastard comes over and asks. Now, shall we stop talking about this and actually start to explain to these poor people what in the hell we have done to them?"
Levi and Aspin blinked in reply, and Avarice took that as a 'go ahead' from them.
The Mikaelson's were all patiently waiting, sitting on the array of couches and chairs that adorned the parlour. Avarice read the spell one last time, then recited it softly. So softly that she surprised the Mikaelson's when it worked, and her hand suddenly erupted in light. It looked like fire, but instead of being orange and yellow, it was white.
"I will heal you and explain," Avarice said, then went to Kol first.
She decided would save the majority of her power for Elijah, the one who had been hurt the most.
"We are Dream Reapers."
"You deal with the dead?" Kol asked, his eyes suddenly shining ever so slightly.
"Not in the way you think. You see, a Grim Reaper just deals with a person's soul once they are dead. We handle the in-between."
"How so?" Freya asked, glancing worriedly at Avarice as the Reaper put her hand to Kol's neck, covering the burn.
"They call us Dream Reapers because we give each soul one last vision in the moment that they die. It is usually a good one, unless they are a truly vile creature. It could be of the person they love, of their family, or even of the future. In the case of the latter, this is used occasionally when a person made a sacrifice that saved others."
"So you're the ones that do the whole 'life flashed before my eyes' bit?" asked Kol.
She nodded. "Yes, in a way. Sometimes the visions are fabricated by us, though."
"Do you handle the souls of the living as well as the supernatural?" Kol was especially curious.
"No. I do not. An old... Friend," she paused, as if taking in the feel of the words, then repeated them in a quicker fashion. "An old friend of mine, Kaige, handles the humans. I take care of those in the supernatural world, as do Levi and Aspin."
"She's our boss," Aspin hummed happily.
"Forgive me, but what exactly does this have to do with us?" Freya asked. "Were you preparing to give us a vision as we died?"
"No," she said plainly, and couldn't help but smile a little at her achievement when she saw that Kol was completely healed.
She moved over to Rebekah, who was a little more uncertain. But then she unbuttoned the to four buttons of her shirt, and opened it to reveal the large hand-print shaped mark that had taken over her collarbone, and the other mark that had formed around her neck. It would take a little more time with Rebekah.
"Because your family are the first vampires to ever exist, I of course had to pay attention to your actions. We needed to be ready if one of you died. For example, when Finn and Kol died the first time around, we had thousands of vampires to deal with afterwards. The second time wasn't nearly as hard, since Kol died as a witch and Finn died after having come back, his sireline already gone. Even so, we needed to pay attention to the rest of you as well. We needed to be ready."
"Except, there was one little problem with that plan," Levi sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose.
"According to the fates, you weren't supposed to die," Avarice explained.
"What the blood hell are 'the fates'?" Rebekah asked, her brow furrowed.
"They are books that are written for every individual. It has a thousand different paths, each of them changing with every decision that is made. They tell that person's future, and the only person in your family that was fated to die was Finn." She didn't miss the way that Freya flinched. "The rest of you were supposed to stay alive."
"And so why were we brought here?" Freya asked.
"Your spell was strong enough, Freya, but you were not. Even with a person to channel, you would not have been able to do it. Because it is our job to uphold the fates and deal with each supernatural soul that dies, we needed to intervene. The only way that I could save you all in the limited time we had was to bring you here."
"It was you," Elijah said, that being the first time he had spoken since he entered the castle. "That is why you were in the garden, was it not? You were watching us."
Rebekah was finished, and Avarice moved over to Elijah.
"Yes," she nodded. "It was I who brought you here. I understand that it was entirely against your will, and that you were almost hurt because of my actions, but it was the only way that I could save you all. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, but nothing will change if you do not."
She spoke a little colder than she had wanted to.
One of the servants came into the room, and Avarice was pleased to see that it was her favourite of the ones in her castle: Vanessa. Her skin was dark, and her hair was long and curly, but her irises were a mixture of white and grey with black pupils. Avarice almost smirked when she saw the Mikaelson's startled expressions at Vanessa's appearance. She was absolutely gorgeous, but Avarice's kind was used to seeing the white-eyed ones. The Mikaelson's, who were from the mortal world, had probably never seen anyone with purely white eyes.
Having finished telling the Mikaelson's everything they needed to know, she asked Vanessa to take them to vacant rooms. Preferably rooms that were near each other, and close to hers. Vanessa nodded, looking at the immortals without a single ounce of fear or intimidation. One of the many things that Avarice admired about the woman. Vanessa turned and took Freya, Kol, and Rebekah to their rooms.
Elijah unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled his white undershirt down to expose both marks. She placed her hand over the centre of his chest, seeming to have to concentrate deeply for his particular wounds. Elijah watched her carefully, his brow furrowed as her hand hovered along his skin.
It surprised him that her power felt so... Warm. She was a ruler of the dead, and her power was warm. One might think that she should be as cold as one of the dead souls that she dealt with daily.
"I need to get Aspin home," Levi muttered.
"Don't you dare. You are staying here for the night," Avarice insisted.
"But our father-"
"Will deal with me if he has an issue. He remembers our sparring matches; he won't have a problem with you staying here if I say he won't."
Levi sighed, and nodded with a gracious smile. Aspin just grinned at her. They both thanked her as they left the room, but Avarice noticed the way that Levi glanced over his shoulder and looked at Elijah warily. He still wasn't quite sure about the Mikaelson's, and he had a right not to be.
After all, they were thousand year-old vampires with a kill count that was likely higher than the bubonic plague.
"You know their father fairly well, I take it?" Elijah asked. "You speak of him the same way that Niklaus used to speak... Speak of..." he trailed off, a suddenly pained look coming over him.
"Marcel Gerard?"
He stayed silent, but that was answer enough.
"Well, yes. I do know their father very well. He is one of the seven."
Elijah raised a brow. "The seven?"
She nodded. "Yes. The servants here sometimes call us 'the seven sins'."
"Us?"
"Indeed. Aspin and Levi's father, Yaeger, is one of the seven, as am I. Though there are only three of us now. Kaige, Yaeger, and myself. We are the original Dream Reapers, but the other four have died off in one way or another. Levi and Aspin's mother being one of them."
Elijah was finally finished, and she pulled her hand away. She waved it in the air once or twice, and then the fire-like light vanished. She stood from the couch, and went over to her magic book. She closed it, then looked back at him.
"I can show you to your room, if you like," she told him.
She didn't know if he trusted her yet, but he did stand and follow her. He must have at least believed she had the capabilities to keep his family safe.
She led him to his room, and felt his eyes linger on her from the doorway as she went further down the hallway to her own.