The world seemed to have new, brighter colors when she walked out of that barn. Elijah was gently stabilizing her, wrapping an arm around her waist, but she wasn't feeling weak. Her bod was tired and thirsted for blood, but the thought that she was alive again, that the chance to live a happy life, gave her so much energy. In the face of just jumping off death's edge, it all felt so easy.
"You look shitty."
Grace said bluntly, but grinned. She wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck. Chuckling, he pulled her close, still not really believing that he held her in his arms again.
"I thought you were dead, Grace. Do you really think it struck my mind to clean up nicely?"
Shaking her head, she pressed her lips onto his, not caring if the others were still around. Elijah closed his eyes and simply enjoyed the feeling of her lips against his. Hearing her breathe just became the essence of his life.
"We both should shower. Immediately."
She whispered before taking his hand and walking towards their home. Rebekah seemed to have left on her own, so the last reunion that had to be made was about to take place without her.
Nik stood in the living room, staring at nothing in particular. He turned around when he heard his best friend rip the door wide open. Tears pooled in her eyes again, but the wide, stunningly cheerful smile spread on her face again.
With an whoosh of air, she rushed to the hybrid and hugged him, nearly knocking him off his feet. Nik chuckled and immediately returned the embrace. He lightly padded her back, happy that she brought him this warm welcome. It made him feel important and he was relieved to see that his siblings and Grace were happy to see him alive.
When they pulled back, Grace suddenly slapped Nik right across the face. A loud smack sounded and he felt the skin of his cheek throbbing shortly. Still, she probably hurt herself more. His smile faded and an annoyed, but surprised expression came to surface.
Elijah flinched, his instincts telling him to get in between his brother and the woman he loved. But then he remembered that Grace Gilbert was the only person on this planet that could do that and not get her heart ripped out.
"Was this stunt really necessary, Nik? I really thought you and I are pushing up daisies from now on."
Nik rubbed his cheeks and rolled his eyes.
"Well, I deserved that."
Grace couldn't hide her smile, but before she turned around, she stopped in her tracks.
"Oh, and of course it was for ditching your sister and letting her be tortured. To be honest you deserve another slap for that. But that's something Beks can do herself."
The hybrid chuckled and Grace watched the short, but caring hug between Elijah and Nik. It was good to see the brothers of peace. Those two men...they were so complicated.
"Well, what's next?"
Grace asked. It seemed to easy that for a moment everything was alright. With the Mikaelson family there never was a really long time of peace and laying back.
...
Rough days laid behind Grace, Elijah and Nik. For once, there weren't any life threatening actions happening, but still they were very exhausting.
Grace found a new project in helping Elena learn to feed. She maybe wasn't the best role model, but Grace was the only vampire in her nearer circle that was outside the sensitive Salvatore zone, not judging and most importantly neither using bunnies or blood bags as her main source of food. Damon supported her also in this, which made them quite successful in making Elena feed without killing anyone. Still, there was something off about her feeding habits. Which vampire couldn't keep blood from a blood bag in?
Since Nik and Elijah found this hunter and his connection to the cure, the brothers bonded for the task ahead. They all had the same goal: turning Elena back into a human. All of them had different reasons, of course, but that wasn't too much of a problem.
When the plan got further, Grace and Elijah chose to join Nik in finding the hunter's sword in Italy. They were in desperate need of some time off. Maybe they weren't completely on their own, but they still it was better than in the middle of Mystic Falls, where trouble never ended and they never got any time for themselves.
Rebekah took off the night before they wanted to leave. At least that was what Nik told them. Of course it stroke both Grace and Elijah odd, but they had to put some trust into Nik for once. He had no reason to pull off something stupid, didn't he?
The days they spent in Italy was a glimpse of the future to come. It's what she imagined when a time would come where she was free of any family duty. She wanted to travel and explore, maybe even settle down somewhere and enjoy eternity with the man she loved.
To be honest, Nik did most of the work surveilling the workers to dig out the sword. Grace and Elijah spent hours together, simply enjoying their love, discussing not important matters and drinking amazing wine. Far away from all this chaos, life felt so much easier.
Of course it didn't stay like that for long. But that's not what they expected. It was a little vacation and the couple swore to each other that they would take a time out more often. Sometimes it was ok to be selfish, to do something for themselves.
In the morning, Nik stormed into their hotel room without knocking. Grace was just enjoying the view of Elijah getting dressed to get them some food, while she stayed in bed for another while.
"Gracie, get up. We need to go."
She pulled up her brows and shot her friend an annoyed look. He had this habit of intruding their intimate moments.
"I'm naked, Nik. Get out."
Grace said while trying to hide her grin. Nik rolled his eyes and stood in front of the huge bed, ignoring that Elijah was shooting metaphorical daggers into his head.
"Do I look like I care? It's urgent. One of my hybrids got killed while trying to kill the hunter and your sister actually finished the job."
He growled through gritted teeth. Dead hunters and hybrids were a sensitive subject to the Original.
The young vampire's eyes widened and both she and Elijah now shifted their whole attention towards Nik. He had briefly told Grace about the hunter's curse and now Elena was infected by it. She wasn't strong enough to handle something that made Klaus Mikaelson want to kill himself.
Like the gentleman he was, Elijah handed her underwear and a shirt so she wouldn't have to jump out of bed butt naked.
"It's ok. Go. I'll pay attention that everything concludes smoothly here and I'll join you tomorrow."
Elijah said before gently stroking Grace's cheek. He knew that she was worried about her sister. Even tough every one knew that after all the injustice Elena had shown towards her older sister, the Original could understand. He had a thousand years of similar history.
They exchanged a short glance.
"Thank you."
Grace whispered before she pulled her boyfriend down and kissed him sweetly. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that Nik advert his gaze. But not in awkward manner, he looked quite angered. It was something that stroke Grace odd for some days now. He always seemed to get rather grim whenever his brother and Grace showed the slightest hint of affection for each other, even if they were just holding hands. She knew Nik well enough to see that something was wrong. But that wasn't the most urgent matter right now.
After a relatively silent, comfortable first class flight back to Virginia, they arrived back in their hometown. They directly went to the Lockwood mansion where all the hybrids had gathered. All of them had started to drink and it figured that it was that kind of wake where everyone got drunk.
Grace felt heavily uncomfortable in between the wolves, so she decided she simply had to drown it in a lot of Bourbon, too. Soon after, she laid across a sofa, the bottle rarely leaving her mouth. Nik sat next to her, her legs in his lap, seeming quite grumpy despite the amounts of alcohol he drank. Grace herself couldn't care less about one more dead hybrid, but for Nik they were important, so she stood by him.
Tyler joined the group with a girl Grace hasn't yet seen. She frowned when she examined her and the girl seemed to get quite uncomfortable under her gaze. Grace had this effect on people.
Nik stood up to bicker with Tyler and the young vampire's head fell back with a groan. Way too much alpha male testosterone for one room. Grace had thought it was bad while Elijah and Nik fought, but it got even worse between to wolves.
Caroline came in to interrupt it like a force sent from heaven.
"Nikky, Blondie's coming in, time to be the good guy again."
It made the hybrids chuckle light. Nik on the other shot a glare over his shoulders.
"I hate you when you're drunk, Gracie."
"Love ya, too."
"Seriously, my brother lets you loose for one night and here you are, tipping over the edge wherever you can."
"Has anyone told you that you're such a buzzkill? Because of you I won't get any action with your lovely brother tonight, so let me at least get properly drunk."
A row of 'ew's erupted and Grace chuckled viciously. In contrary to Elijah she never was shy to scatter some way too intimate details to scare people off.
"Can't you take your bickering outside?!"
Suddenly, the girl next to Tyler chirped in. Her tone was way too disrespectful for Grace's liking. She sped in front of her and looked the werewolf in the eyes.
"Who put you in charge?"
The girl stared back at her without hesitation. Brave.
"Listen, we're mourning our friend here. I know you couldn't care less, so be quiet and drink, or leave."
Grace chuckled amused, her gaze ice cold.
"You seem to be new here, aren't you? I'm warning you for once, wolf girl, I have quite the reputation. I like killing for fun and I don't even have to bother about your wolfey friends here, because I'm the best protected vampire in town. Just a tip: be careful who you got on your bad side."
With that, Grace flashed her a calculating smile and declared the conversation over. Still, she got a lingering impression of the wolf girl. Her instincts were trying to tell her something, but she couldn't really grasp what. There was something special about her, but she couldn't lay her finger on it.
"What was that about?"
Nik whispered when she stepped to her side. She threw a short glance over the shoulder without the female werewolf noticing and frowned again.
"Nothing. Just paranoia. Can we leave?"
The hybrid looked at her confused, but nodded.
...
The next stop on their tour through Mystic Falls was the Gilbert home. Grace didn't know why, but every time she saw the house she grew up in, a chill ran down her spine. Maybe bad juju.
Nik spoke to Stefan about the hunter's curse on the phone right when they arrived on the doorstep. Of course Stefan wouldn't let them in, so the younger Salvatore came out of the door and looked at both the hybrid and the younger vampire angrily.
"This would be much more civilized if you'd invite us in."
Grace shrugged.
"Well, I can just walk in and grab her."
Stefan shot her a glare, which Grace returned with a vicious smile.
"Don't you dare, Grace."
Both Nik and the oldest Gilbert chuckled at his anger.
"Seems we hit quite the sensitive spot, didn't we, Gracie? Well, back to business. I killed the original five hunters, which makes me quite the expert. Keeping a hunter from fulfilling his duty had quite the consequence. Death won't keep Connor from making Elena his last vampire kill."
Stefan frowned and looked at Nik, not sure if he should trust the hybrid. But why would Klaus lie? They had the same goal in this.
"She needs our help, Stef. We can lock her up, keep her away from any possibility to kill herself."
Grace spoke up, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"She's strong. There's no need to make her a prisoner."
Both Nik and Grace rolled their eyes at his inability to listen.
"Stronger than something that made this stubborn bastard want to kill himself?"
Nik nudged her for her stubborn words. But before Stefan could reply anything, Elena stumbled out of the house, looking frightened and deeply exhausted. The hybrid reacted quicker than anyone else, rushed to Elena, grabbed her and then they were gone.
Damon followed shortly after and both brothers glared at Grace in rage. She bit her lip trying to hide her grin and shrugged before she sped off, too.
When she arrived, Elena and Nik were in one of the windowless cellar rooms, which still carried quite the luxury for a cell.
She listened in to what Nik told her sister about his fifty-two years with the curse upon him and Grace felt the immediate urge to hug him tightly. But she also felt her heart hurt when she walked around the corner and saw the state Elena was in. She was pain and looked generally awful. Psychic pain could drive to whole other dimensions than physical pain ever could.
"Please, don't let me be locked up here. Grace, I can fight this."
Elena pleaded and Grace swallowed the lump in her throat and got the tough girl mask up again.
"It's for your best, 'Lena. We can't risk that you'll kill yourself."
"Don't worry, there's torture worse than this. Just spend some days living with my brother and her. A whole new definition of lovesick fools, believe me."
Grace elbowed Nik and he chuckled.
"Hallucinations come in quite surprising forms, love. Have fun."
The friends backed out of the room which was locked behind them by one of the hybrid minions.
Nik walked off to somewhere else, while Grace decided to go up to her and Elijah's shared bedroom and rest a bit. She finally found the time to read one of her favorite books again. But it wasn't long before she heard noises from downstairs and she rushed back down, only to be knocked down with one hard blow by her sister. Elena vanished and Grace was stunned in surprise. She urgently needed some training, it was quite embarrassing that her little sister could take her out that easily.
Confused, she ran deeper into the cellar only to find no hybrid present and an impaled Stefan. With gritted teeth, she ripped out the pole from his stomach.
"You're so unbelievable stupid, you know that, do you?"
She mumbled while she pulled out her phone to call Nik.
"Scooby gang let Elena out. Where are you?"
A low growl was to be heard and the hybrid mumbled some insults.
"I can't leave anyone alone for a minute..."
Grace opened her mouth to scold him, but Caroline's upset voice suddenly sounded through the speaker.
"We know how to end the curse. If the next potential hunter kills his first vampire, it'll stop."
"And where should we get a potential hunter before Elena burns herself in the sun? In my case it took 52 years."
Nik said annoyedly.
"Jeremy is one."
The blonde stated and Grace nearly dropped her phone. Could this family not be normal for once?
"No, no. Not an option."
Where they even thinking clearly? This Connor person was hell bent on killing every vampire that came in his way, he was bat shit crazy. Jeremy had two vampires as sisters. They never could return to normal again.
"I'll pick you up in sec, Gracie."
Nik ended the call afterwards and a minute later he was back in the estate.
"Are you hurt?"
Worry was obvious in his eyes and Grace sighed before shaking her head.
"Caroline asked me to sacrifice a hybrid, so your brother can activate the hunter's gene."
She shook her head and drove her hand through her long hair nervously.
"What did you ask for in return?"
He shrugged and smiled a little.
"A date with her."
Grace couldn't help but laugh. It was nearly hysterical but still it got a bit of tension off her.
"Are you serious?"
Nik nudged her to stop her from making fun of him, but she simply couldn't.
"Yes, I am. I like her, you know that."
"If you ever call me and Elijah lovesick again, I'll remind you of this moment."
Rolling his eyes, he placed a hand on her back to make her move outside. It brought Grace back to reality.
"I'm not ok with letting my brother get involved in this. Damn, Nik, he's seventeen. Do you think he can handle killing someone and with that make him into a vampire killing machine?"
He sighed and stopped t make her look at him.
"Gracie, we don't have time for this. Elena's god knows where, if Jeremy doesn't do this now, she'll kill herself. Do you want that? I'll let you choose."
Her life has become one massive decision between to evils, two options that all had miserable disadvantages. She didn't reply anything and just continued walking towards the Gilbert home as an answer.
When they arrived there, she knocked on the door.
"Do you think I also would've been one those potentials if you hadn't turned me into a vampire?...Jeremy Gilbert open the goddamn door!"
The last remark she yelled.
"Probably. Imagining that is quite funny. But hot, too."
He chuckled when she slapped his arm in response.
"I find it creepy. Potential vampire hunter and now a proud vampire."
Finally Jeremy opened the door.
"Ready to kill a vampire?"
...
An hour later, it was finally over. Jeremy killed that hybrid, while the wolf girl screamed from the top of her lungs and Elena was free off the tormenting hallucinations.
Grace was awake for nearly forty-eight hours when she fell into the large bed. She took a deep breath and rubbed her temples in order to get rid of the throbbing, stress caused headache. When she picked up her phone, she noticed that she had received a text.
I'm at the airport now, which means I'll see you in less than ten hours. Those days with you here were beautiful, I'm looking forward to make such treasures into everyday life. Sleep well, my love.
- E
Grace literally could hear his voice in her head. A smile spread across her face before she leaned her head back into the pillow and fell asleep peacefully.
..............
@entrusting just made me aware of the fact that this story is close to 50 chapter :D do you have any wishes for a special?