A/N: This is so terribly late, my life is like beyond hectic atm :( Also, the sticky note on my comp with the outline for this chapter, accidentally deleted.... So, yeah. Sorry that it's short!
Adriana's POV
Pacing wildly through the room, I much down on my finger nail. The strong smell of lavender and vanilla filling my nose, and I tug on the ends of my burnt blonde hair. The door opens and closes to the house, and turning I hurry to the entryway.
"Dad!" I exclaim, and run forwards hugging him tightly. He hugs me back with one arm, and looking down my eyes widen at the sight of his arm.
It is covered in tiny splinters, and his shirt and pants are burned and ashy. "Oh my god, dad! Come On, lets get you cleaned up." I say, taking his good hand and leading him to where the others are.
Aunt Rebekah and Briar are helping everyone get fixed up, and they all look up and breathe a sigh of relief at seeing dad.
The stench of alcohol, peroxide, blood, and ashes is overwhelming. But everyone is too busy to notice, wooden chairs are stationed in a row with a tray next to it stacked high with medical equipment, and used rags and trays lay in messy piles.
"Aunt Rebekah, can you pass me a cloth, knife, bin, and tweezers please?" Turning to dad I gesture to a seat, "You, sit: And no, I'm not asking." My voice is like steel, and he doesn't bother to argue as he sits down, cringing at the pain radiating through his body.
Taking the tools from Aunt Rebekah, I kneel down beside him and gently take his arm in my hand and put it on the arm rest. "This might hurt." I say, and look down at the swollen healed up arm. It had swallowed up the splinters, but it can't absorb the wood. Taking the knife, I start at the top of the swollen arm and slice straight down and around it as well.
He lets out a low hiss, but stays still. "Sorry, sorry!" I exclaim, and wipe some of the blood off.
"Don't pretend your not enjoying this sweetheart." Dad says, and tries to relax back into his chair.
Smirking, I pick up the tweezers. "Okay, maybe just a little bit." He glances at me, his bright blue eyes twinkling with mischief. "I still can't believe that they managed to get to our house our personal house." Moving quickly, I yank out some of the splinters, dropping them down into the glass bin with a few clinks.
He doesn't respond, but by the look on his face he's shocked to. "Mom got out fine, she just has a few burns and cuts. Uncle Elijah got it the worst, he has really bad burns and a lot of splinters and glass and all that stuff, but Aunt Rebekah is helping him so he'll be fine. Everyone else is fine." I say, as I remove ten more splinters.
The skin on his arm keeps healing quickly, and I keep have to re-cut it to get out the rest of the wood. "How about you? Are you hurt?" He asks, and his voice is low and meaningful.
Hesitating briefly, I shake my head. "No, nothing serious." Scrubbing off the blood, the skin quickly heals, only leaving some blood stains in it's place. "There you go, all fixed up." Collecting everything, I put it all into a large bin before cleaning up the workplace.
"Thanks." He says, before standing up and heading over to where Briar is sitting and helping Uncle Elijah with a very stubborn piece of glass that is firmly set in staying in his shoulder.
After cleaning everything up, I slip out of the room before bounding up the ricketing wooden stairs, the floorboards creaking under my light feet. Turning to the third staircase, I find myself walking slowly up them, heading to my favorite room.
Standing outside of it, my heart leaps to my throat as my hand wraps around the brass handle. Swallowing hard, I turn the handle, letting the door creep open. The memories and the smell of old books floating outside, and capturing me up. Taking me back in time, to another time, another memory, and a better time...
Flashback
"No way! You cannot have this book! This was published like, a hundred and five years ago! There's barely any left anymore, where did you find it? And it's so old to!" I exclaim, holding the old piece of history in my hands. Kidnapped by John Louis Stevenson - published in 1886, and even though there were many adaptions to it, not many originals are left.
Kyle chuckles, and stands beside me and touches the cover. "That's because this is the original - the first one to be published, the museums think that they have the first one but... There wrong. This was given to be from Mr. Stevenson himself." He says with that adorable crooked smile.
"You knew him? Oh my god!" My eyes widen in shock, and suddenly my heart starts pounding the idea of holding the original book in my hands.
Another chuckle, and he carefully takes the book from my hands, sliding it back onto the freshly sanded wood shelves. "I was his apprentice - before I was a vampire that is, and I did such a good job that he wanted me to have his first published book. It's even signed by him." He turns to face me, his soft brown eyes laying onto my own cerulean blue ones.
Smiling, I drop my eyes from his. "I keep forgetting your-were immortal, it's really strange isn't it? To be able to watch the changes of the world, and to be able to collect all these books... My dad has a room that is probably five times the size of this one, stuffed full with books and scrolls." Glancing up at him, I turn and run my fingers over the leather binding of the books as I walk.
My fingers pause at a plastic bounded one, it looks much, much newer then the old leather ones the others are made out of. "Whats this one of?" Pulling it off the shelf, I just crack the cover open when it is taken from my hands with speed only a vampire can handle. "Hey! I was reading that!" Turning abruptly to face him, his face is bright red with... Not rage, but embarrassment.
"Its uh, not readable to the public." He says softly, and holds it closely to his side.
At first pure confusion covers me, and then it hits me. "It's your diary! Aww, that's so cute! I keep a diary to, don't fret over it. It's good to write things down, no worries its nothing to be embarrassed about." Shrugging, he nods and slides it back onto the shelf.
"Thank you, Adriana. For understanding, that is." He says, and and turns to face me as he tucks a strand of hair out of my eyes.
"Always and Forever."
End Flashback
Blinking away the tears, I take a few deep breaths before walking into room and over to the bookcase. Pulling out the book that I want, I tuck it under my arm before turning to go when I come face - to - face with Briar. Anger sweeps over me, for this is my special place in the house, and she should know better then to sneak up on me like that!
Covering up my anger with shock, I blink rapidly - a common sign of nervousness - before licking my lips. "What are you doing here?" It comes out more breathy then I would have liked, but it will have to suffice for now.
She doesn't seems fazed by the fact that I'm standing a few feet from her, only hours after I tried - and failed - to kill her. "I was just looking for you actually. Klaus has an idea on what to do with the Astra situation, he told me to come and find you." She says it smoothly, her eyes never leaving mine.
Jutting out my chin and straightening my posture, I barely nod before brushing past her. "Thank you, Briar Rose. I suspect my father is to..." I look her up and down quickly, but long enough to prove a point.
"Busy, to come and tell me himself. I'm glad he's chosen such a pretty vampire to be his messenger. Let's just hope you continue to be of use to him, it would be dreadful to see you have to leave." Flashing her a smile, I turn on my heel before heading downstairs.
Sauntering into the living room, everyone glances up at me before back over to father. "Well hello to all you to. Are you feeling better, Uncle?" I ask, sending him a soft smile and he barely nods in my direction.
I open my mouth to respond, but mom quickly shakes her head and holds out her hand to me. Giving a forced smile, I take it and sit next to her. "What's going on? Is there any news?"
Uncle Elijah sighs, and pulls out a letter from his jacket pocket. "If there wasn't any news, do you think I would be calling this meeting niece?" He retorts, and I swallow hard and avoid his gaze. "Good. We all know who's home this is; Kyle Montgomery's, the very man whom broke Adriana's heart.
"But, we are not here to make accusations and start another war. This morning, I received a letter from a colleague of mine in Berlin. Its about Kol." He pauses, and I can see dad stiffen at his name, why is that, I wonder.
"It gives word that Kol has left Berlin, and plans to come and meet us back in New Orleans at the end of week. He's returning back from his travels, and he has some useful information on how we can stop Astra." Relief fills the room, and Aunt Rebekah grins at me.
At this point, we could use as much information and help as we can get to stop Astra. "Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt but-"
"You don't mean a lot of things lately, don't you Adriana?" Uncle cuts me off, and the room goes silent.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I demand back, and stand up abruptly: Mom grabs my hand, but I shake it off. "You've been acting really strange around me lately, and I want to know why! Right now, and I'm not asking." The coldness and superiority in my voice shocks me, but I'm too annoyed to really care. w
"We will discuss this later,as this is not the time for this." I open my mouth to protest, but he only cuts me off. "Later, Adriana!" He snaps, and the look in my eyes must have startled him, for he quickly avoids looking at me. "Astra wants to break us apart, but I firmly believe that with the right resources, we could tear her army apart as well. Show her that we have the upper hand, but we would have to take everything that she cares for."
"The apple of her eyes, the center of her world is Samuel. If we can kill him, we could finally have the upper hand. Blinded by rage, Astra will be forced to play right into our hands. Backing her right up into a corner, where we can finally kill her and all this will be over." But this last words didn't come from my uncle, instead they came from Briar Rose. Butting in again, like always.
Rolling my tongue over my teeth, I nod and cross my arms over my chest. "Okay, when do we start? Were going to need inside information, and I think I might have a way to get whatever we need. All I have to do is ask, just trust me with this okay?" I ramble, and everyone looks over at me, causing me to shrug in response. "What? I have my ways!"
"And, who might this person be?" Uncle Elijah asks, and I smirk in response.
"She prefers to stay anonymous." Standing up, I pull my hair back into a ponytail. "I'm going to go and get prepared for this, we'll attack tonight." Not bothering to wait for an answer, I quickly leave the room and into the library. Yanking out a random book, I tear the front page out before scrambling for a pen.
Rooftop 626, meet me there tonight at midnight. Please come ~ A
Tucking it under the cup holder, I turn and grab my bag before heading out of the house.
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I pause outside, trying to figure out where to go. Where does someone go when there house was just burnt down by a witch and angry psychopaths? Probably the mental ward, because this shit don't happen in normal people's lives! Running a hand through my loose waves, I head towards the only place in this city that would let me in without trying to murder me; the compound.
Once I arrive, I walk in to see roughly twenty vampires feeding on humans, and Marcel talking with a day walker I don't recognize. Shrugging it off, I sneak upstairs and head towards the back room, locking the door behind me. Setting my bag down on the floor, I pull out two packs of Hanukkah candles, before opening them and placing them around me.
"Accendo." All the candles wicks erupt into flames, and smiling softly, I close my eyes. Pulling the spell forwards, and focusing only on who I want to talk to.
"Rana." I repeat ten times, and suddenly a cold blast of wind blows through the room. My eyes snap open, and to my amazement the candles are still burning fiercely.
Rana appears in front of me, her long dark brown hair hanging in loose waves, and she is still wearing a loose white shirt and jean shorty shorts that she died in.
"You called?" She says with a grin, and standing up, I step carefully over the candles to hug her. "Hanukkah candles? Really?" She asks with a chuckle.
"Hey! Don't judge, I had to sneak in here so I couldn't exactly sneak in with a bag filled with normal candles!" I retort playfully, and we laugh softly.
"Not to cut this short but uh... What's up?" She asks, putting her hands in her front pockets.
Raising one eyebrow, I don't bother to ask her what's up with her. "Yeah, so um, I need you assistance with something. I-we need to spy on Astra, and no one else can get in. Since your um..." I fidget nervously.
"Dead. It's not a bad word Adriana, I know what I am, I know that I'm not going to come back and I've made my peace with that." She says, and places a hand on my arm.
Nodding, I tell her everything about what happened and what I need her to do. "So, do you think that you could lend a helping hand? Or five?" I ask.
She grins, and wanders around the room. "I'll be more then happy to help. Anything I can do, I'll do. Give me a few hours, and then call me forwards. Actually, scratch that, I'll call you." Rana says, and I raise one eyebrow at her.
"What? The dead can't call the living! It's impossible! How will I even know?"
A mischievous grin dances over her face. "Oh trust me, you'll know." She says with a grin, and just like that she's gone!
Blinking, I look around and shake my head in disbelief. There's a lot about magic that I still have to learn, and not much that I can learn. There's no one in my family - that isn't crazy pschyo's - that can teach me magic. And no one that I trust to teach me! Turning around, I waves my hand over the candles and they all go out.
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End Adriana's POV, Start Briar Rose's POV
Watching Adriana leave, I take a few deep breaths to calm myself. Elijah and Rebekah start to drift around the room, and I look over at Klaus. "What are we supposed to do Klaus? Astra and her little morons burned your house, and everything was in there! Our plans, our tools, everything. How are we supposed to defeat them?" I question him, meeting his eyes - his very blue eyes.
He sighs, and crosses his arms over his chest. "I'm aware of the situation, Briar. And to answer your question, I have one idea; to attack them hard and fast, and kill them all." He says, and heads towards the door.
Blinking rapidly, I turn and head after him. "Wait, Klaus! That's your big plan? To just attack and kill them? What about Mikael, Astra, Samuel, and there entire army? You can't single handily take them all out on your own! There's no way I'm letting you do this!" My voice is loud enough for Klaus to hear, but not Elijah and Rebekah; unless there deliberately listening.
Klaus turns, and stares at me. "Well yes sweetheart, that is my "big plan". We don't have any other plan at the moment, and, unless you want to come along, then don't get in my way. You are beautiful, but I will not hesitate to stop you from stopping me." He says, and turns and walks out of the house.
Groaning, I dart after him and appear in front of him. "Klaus, stop it! This is suicide, or next to it anyway. No one can defeat Mikael yet, not until we find a way to jam whatever spell Astra is using. You might do everything you can to stop me, but I'm going to do everything I can do to stop you." My voice is hard and firm, and Klaus sighs.
Suddenly I am pinned against a tree, his hand firmly on my shoulder. "Don't worry sweetheart, you won't be able to stop me." He stares into my eyes.
"No, Klaus!" I knee him, and grab his head slamming it into the tree before jumping out of the way. His body launches through the tree, shattering it. "You can't compel me!" I snap at him, and he jumps up and turns to face me.
His eyes are dark, and suddenly a flick of fear runs through me. Suddenly, everything clicks in; I'm not on vervain... He knows that from when he kissed me. Was he just using me? I'm so caught up in my thoughts, that I'm not paying attention to Klaus. I find myself pinned against another tree, this time by my throat.
"Klaus, please! Let me go!" I hiss at him, and elbow his head but it barely leaves a scratch.
He holds my face and stares deep into my eyes. "You will not try to stop me from doing this, and you will not tell Rebekah and Elijah where I am going." Closing my eyes, I re-open them and he's gone.
"YOU BASTARD!" I scream, and slide to the ground the compulsion burning like a hole in my brain. After a few minutes, Elijah and Rebekah are outside in front of me.
"What in the bloody hell happened to you? And where did my bastard brother go?" Rebekah demands, and glares at me.
I open my mouth to respond, but find that I can't say. "Compulsion." Is all I can muster, and the two Originals exchange a glance.
"He's going to stop that bloody, witch!" She snaps, and grabs my arm yanking me roughly to my feet. "Let me guess, he compelled you to not stop him?" I stare at her blankly.
"Right, you can't say. Alright then, were not going to stop him, were going to help him to make sure he doesn't get himself killed. Lets go!" She snaps, and Elijah follows us as we head towards the car.
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We arrive at the compound first, and Adriana walks out and climbs into the back seat beside me. "I did a locator spell when you texted, here's the coordinates. It's in the back woods, somewhere off the beaten path. I got as close as I could, but Astra was blocking my original spell so I had to dig to find another one... What are you waiting for? Drive!" She exclaims, and Rebekah stomps on the pedal.
"I told Marcel to meet us there with his day walkers, and then tell his night walkers to be there at nightfall. He's going to be there in an hour, along with some wolf friends of mine." She says, while drawing up something on a piece of paper.
"What are you drawing?" I ask her bluntly, in a flat tone. She looks up, and holds my gaze before returning to her paper. "What are you drawing?" I ask again, in the same flat tone.
Adriana sighs, and looks up. "It's The Witch's Knot. Also known as the Witch's Charm or Magic Knot, and it's very complicated to draw. So please, do shut up and let me focus."
I raise one eyebrow. "It doesn't look that hard. Just a bunch of loopy lines and a circle." I shrug slightly, and she sighs aggravatingly.
"Well it isn't easy, okay? It's comprised of four interlocking vesica piscis shapes and a central circle, and it has to be exactly right, or it doesn't work. It's a protection thing. I learned it in a book, okay?" She says, and finishes it.
Rolling my eyes, I grab a piece of paper and my hand flies over the paper. "Here, your line was 2 degrees off." I hand it to her, and she takes it incerduously.
"You just know everything don't you?" She snaps.
"When it comes to magic, pretty much." I retaliate, and lean back in the my seat. A few minutes later, we pull onto a dirt road and off to the side.
Looking over at Adriana, she is muttering a spell and taping the symbol to the car window.
"Why are we stopping?" I ask, leaning forwards in my seat.
Rebekah glances over her shoulder at me. "We don't want them knowing were coming, we'll have to go on foot from here. Hope you didn't wear good shoes!" She says tossing me a smirk over her shoulder, before climbing out of the car and leading the way to up the street. "Are you sure this is accurate Adriana?"
Adriana stares at her palm, and I look over trying to get a closer look. "Is that... What I think it is?" My voice is wavering, and she looks up and me and nods smiling softly.
"Yep. It's a palm graph, and Aunt Bex, it should be right up her-" All of a sudden she goes flying off to the side. Screaming, I jump out of the way and gasp seeing a wolf on top of her. It had hit her in the side, causing her to land in the brush.
She screams, and tries to kick it off but it latches onto her shoulder. "Adriana!" Elijah yells, and darts forwards grabbing the wolf and throwing it off, before Rebekah and I run towards it.
I quickly kick it, while Bex grabs onto the head and snaps it's neck. All under ten seconds. "Good job." I mutter to her, before turning to look over at Adriana.
Her face and chest are clawed up, and a bite mark is on her shoulder. "Oh my god!" I breathe, and head over to her, just as she is sitting up rubbing her head with one hand. Her bites and scratches slowly starting to heal.
"God, that sucked." She groans, and stands up with the help of Rebekah and Elijah. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Lets just go and get dad and get back out again, I'm not in the mood for a fight." She growls in response to her families constant asking of "are you okay?" and "do you want to go back to the car?" It was even starting to get on my nerves.
"That sounds like a splendid idea, but I hate to ruin it." A sassy voice says from the right, and we all quickly turn to face Astra.
"Now, are you hear for your father - Niklaus - or Kyle? I get them so confused lately, especially since they both make rather... Quick decisions. Wouldn't you say so Adriana?" My eyes dart over to scan Adriana's face, and it has a dark expression on it.
"If your not careful, I'll make a quick decision about your life." She hisses back, her jaw clenching in anger.
Astra sends a smirk her way. "Magic is a fun thing my darling. It helps with small things, big things, emotions, bonds - breaking and making - along with knowing when your being watched. I'm powerful sweetie pie, and I knew instantly that someone was watching me the last few days - weeks even. So, I did a little de-cloaking spell. And what do you know? There she was. What was her name again? Oh darn... Oh, I know! Ranora Straight." A little smirk dances over her face, and she adjusts her whole body to a fresh, bratty look.
Adriana growls, and shows her fangs as she tries to lunge a her. But Rebekah grabs her arms stopping her. "I swear to god if you hurt her... I will kill you!" She snarls, and steps back. Elijah gives her and Astra a confused look, and there's a hint of pain in his eyes.
Astra laughs, and pulls out a knife from the bag over her shoulder. "It looks like she scratched it a bit... Pity, I liked this knife." Before the last word comes out of her mouth, she launches it through the air and it pierces right into my shoulder.
Pure pain shoots through my shoulder, and I stagger backwards grabbing at the knife. "You bitch!" I half hiss half yell at her, and try to pull it out.
"Sorry darlin', it slipped!" She holds out her hand, and the dagger goes flying out of my shoulder and rests on her hand.
My palm instantly flies up to my shoulder to try and stop the bleeding, my vampire healing trait working to slow for my liking.
"Don't worry, I would never kill you. My coven has a very strict law against killing it's own. Family is very much number one there, and I would never hurt a descendent of myself." She smiles a sugary sweet smile, and I couldn't hide the shock on my face. My stomach turns into a knot, with a million butterflies swarming around, while my blood turns icy cold. "Wh-what?" I croak out.
"I'm an ancestor of yours. Your six times Great Aunt to be exact. On your mothers side, of course. You see, we come from a line of very powerful witches. Why else would your mother have drilled magic into you? Before her death, that is. It's tragic really... But not nearly as tragic as you becoming a vampire, and almost stopping the Duboilas* line.
"To make a very long story short, were known for using our blood as a key ingredient in spells and rituals. I used my blood in the spell to shut off Kyle's humanity switch. Which means only a descendent of mine can reverse it with his - or her - blood. Otherwise, it's impossible to turn the switch back on. The only way to turn back on is... Wellll... Death." She gives a slight smirk.
Adriana gasps, and a pained, angry expression crosses of her face. "NO! You bitch!" She snarls, and then her eyes widen and she extends her hand. "Smila!" The knife goes flying towards her and lays in her palm, before she turns dashing off in a blur.
"Aww, guess she's going to miss the opening act, what a shame. All the games start right about..... Now." She raises her hands and fire erupts behind us, and Zariana, some witches, Samuel, and a whole lot vampires emerge from behind her.
"No, I'm in the betting mood, so lets make a bet shall you? I bet that I will win and you will lose. The whole point of a bet isn't to see who wins - at least not in my rule book anyway, its about what you get when you win: So lets see whose lives we can bet on today! Klaus seems like a good one. Okay, here goes: If you win, you get back Klaus damage free with a basket of worms. If I win and you lose, well, honey, I hope you don't mind me delivering him in pieces. Tootleoo!" She says with a smirk, and waggles her fingers before she disappears.
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A/N: That's a wrap for that chapter! :D Next one is going to be up really soon. I'm so sorry this is late, my life is really hectic right now! Things should start calming down soon though. As a special treat, down below is a Scene Preview For Chapter 40: This Black Heart Of Mine Is Breaking.
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Start Adriana's POV
I stop vamp running once I reach the city, and head towards the compound immediately. Once I reach there, everyone is already gone. Looking up the sky, I didn't realize that the sun was long gone, and the full moon has already risen. "God dammit!" I yell, and throw a chair into a wall.
Pulling out the knife and holding it up, my heart is pounding a mile a minute. "I will get you out Rana, I promise. But first, I have to do something else." I slide the knife into my boot, and my phone vibrates.
10:30pm Aunt Bex: We've got this covered, take care of things there. Be Safe, I Love You.
10:32pm Adri: Okay, be safe to. Text me if anything changes. Love You to.
A Few Hours Later
I pace nervously on the rooftop, constantly looking around, and checking my back for wolves. A howl echo's in the distance, and I sigh slightly; knowing that my mom is out there as a wolf is not helping my nerves. The sound of gushing wind echo's in my ears, and I smile slightly turning around. "Kyle."
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Notes; Duboilas = Do - bwall - ee - es