Enigmatic Fears: A Klaus Mikaelson Story {7}

Chapter 25: Not Always Easily Restrained

~Grace POV~

Grace had woken up early that morning, eager to train with her aunt when there was a knock on the door, earlier than she had expected.

"Coming!" She called back as she tied up her hair messily and opened her door. "Aunt Fre—Oh. Hi Mr Saltzman."

"Hey Grace." He told her with a sheepish smile. "We need to talk."

"Sorry Mr Saltzman, but it'll have to wait, I need to see my aunt." She replied but he shook her head.

"It can't." He said as she reluctantly let him in.

"Alaric, if this is about yesterday, my answer hasn't changed." She told him.

"And I understand why." He replied. "I understand you want your parents to get back together but your mom and I are together now and we're happy. And we have been for a long time now and I want to keep being happy with her."

Grace looked at him and rolled her eyes at him. "This has nothing to do with my dad."

"It doesn't?"

"No." She said with a shake of her head. "My dad's not exactly a model husband, is he?"

"So it's me." He said with a nervous sigh. "I thought you liked me."

"I do." She insisted. "You are a great guy and I am so glad my mom and I have had you in our lives."

"So, what is it?" He asked her and she sighed.

"Yesterday, you said you would try and make as happy as you possibly could and that is not enough. My mom deserves better." Grace told him. "It's not enough to just be good, or even best, you have to be better. You have to be impossibly amazing because that is what my mom deserves. You have to be more than perfect. Because my mom is done kissing frogs and unless you're completely and unequivocally certain that you're her Prince Charming, then don't do this. My dad has hurt my mom so many times and she keeps going back to him because he's all she's known. If you become that...it won't end well for you. So make sure you know what you're getting into."

Alaric stared back at Grace in surprise, the headmaster completely stunned to silence but Grace's response to him.

"I gotta go get ready." She told him as she went to open the door for him. "See you later, Ric."

~Elijah POV~

"I have a room, you know?" Antoinette said as she pulled her lips from Elijah's. "Perhaps we should go there."

"But then we couldn't make out in this filthy alley." Elijah replied, causing his fiancé to chuckle. "You were right."

"About?"

"The feeling after sunset without the ring." He explained. "It's the most transcendent joy."

Antoinette beamed back at him as she ran her thumb against his cheek. "I'll take credit for most of that joy, thank you very much." She replied as she pressed a kiss to his lips. She kissed him again, this time turning as she rested her free hand against his chest. "Behind you, on the corner." Elijah went to glance back but was quickly reprimanded by her. "Don't look. He was in the bar earlier. You think it's your family again?"

"I think..." He began as he kissed her once more. "We oughta introduce ourselves. Ladies first."

He took her hand and kissed it before dashing away to the person that was seemingly following them. Elijah slammed his head against the wall and their stalker collapsed painfully to the ground. He took the camera and flipped through the photos that had been taken with a concerned eye.

"Someone's been busy." He said as he looked at pictures of Antoinette. "Busy watching you."

~Grace POV~

"Okay." Freya told her excited niece. "Let's see what you can do."

Grace nodded and leapt to the top of the railing, catching each bar with as much as ease as she could possibly muster.

"Pretty cool huh?" Grace replied, not turning to face her aunt just yet in case it was only cool in her head. "What do you think?"

"She's probably just wishing she had core muscles like yours." Grace turned back to see her smirking older brother and all colour in her face dissolved.

"Elliott."

"Hello, my little Joey."

She panicked and lost her footing from her peak and began to drop, only to be caught effortlessly by her brother.

"Careful there." He told her as he placed her on the floor. Elliott grinned at her, but Grace was practically paralysed in her fear. "Do I not get a hug?"

"Of course you do." She replied with a nervous chuckle as she pulled him in for a tight embrace. "Sorry, I just didn't expect to see you here! What are you doing here?"

"Well I heard what you two were doing and I figured I'd lend a hand." He answered with a shrug.

"I kinda wished you'd seen me stick the landing." She said awkwardly.

"You were surprised, I am surprising." He told her with a grin. "But what I did see, was great."

"Well, it'll be nothing compared to what I can do once I trigger my wolf side." She told him with a beam, but her brother and aunt's mood instantly mellowed at the mere mention of it.

"Yeah..." Elliott muttered awkwardly.

"Has your mom ever talked you through turning?" Freya asked her with concern as the youngest Mikaelson took a sip of her water.

"I mean a little." Grace answered. "And I have friends, you know. Obviously, the whole killing a human part sounds kind of rough—"

"What about the whole breaking every bone in your body part?" Elliott asked her.

"You know, when your mom talked to me about it," Freya began. "She always talked about how much she despised it."

"But you know my mom." Grace replied with an unfazed shrug. "She's not big on the whole wolf thing."

"But when she really described it, Grace, it sounded worse than anything I could ever imagine." Freya continued. "And honestly, it's not what she wants for you."

"It definitely isn't what my mom wanted for me." Elliott concurred.

"Wants." Grace corrected. "Not what she wants for you."

~Fiore POV~

"Your daughter is a menace." Greta began as Klaus and I watched her. "A threat."

"My daughter is a child." I shot back at her.

"A child born of werewolf blood who can create hybrids at will." Greta snapped. "Her defect must be corrected."

"HER DEFECT IS MY DEFECT!" I yelled at her, clutching her throat between my hands as I pictured crushing it between my hands.

"Blossom..." Klaus murmured and I sighed, pulling away with a glare. He had only let me in here because I promised to behave but with each word she spoke, it became harder and harder to do so.

"Watch your tongue." I warned her. "I'm not always easily restrained."

"Yes, I would also advise against saying that again because if you do so I will pluck out your eyeballs and eat them like olives." Klaus added.

"I'll call it what it is." She continued. "A dirtying of my species. Which diminishes the pure and superior nature of vampires."

"Make your point." I demanded.

"Your daughter will purify herself." Greta told us, turning to Klaus with a determined gaze. "Submitting to the same spell that your mother once used to bind you. Once her werewolf side is sublimated, Grace will no longer be capable of creating her abominations."

"And what if I don't agree?" Klaus asked threateningly.

"It's a simple choice." She replied. "Your daughter's werewolf nature. Or Hayley's worldly life. The clock is ticking."