save my soul : k.m.

polluting vodka - chapter 33

'Marcel? Are you okay?'

'I called you ten times so better question is are you okay? Klaus sounded miserable.' Marcel was frantic on the other end of the phone, not aware of the death of a Mikaelson. She looked hesitant, looking down at Nik who was sprawled out on a dark oak chair looking dishevelled. The only thing typical about the man in that moment was the glint he held in his eye for when he was looking at his wife, it never disappeared.

Klaus nodded, as if to say the vampire could know and Astrid spoke with an unstable breath, 'Kol's dead. His hex finally got the better of him.'

The other end of the line went dead. It was a rare moment when Marcel and Kol saw eye to eye but Marcellus could still feel sympathy, 'I'm sorry to hear that. Where's Davina?'

'She came home with us. She's safe.'

He knew who he was talking too and acted appropriately. After a long pause, Astrid spoke again. 'Are you okay? Nik said you needed to speak to me?'

'We've got a dead witch on our hands.'

Marcel was in Uruslines Avenue in the Tremé, he had just made it to the end of the road and he was walking quickly away from the body hoping that no one would suspect him. 'A dead witch? Who would do that? Do you know who she is?' Nik looked up concerned at Astrid's reply, standing up and trying to listen in.

'No. But she's from the Tremé.'

Astrid's heart dropped, if anyone was to descend upon the Quarter in numbers it would either be the Tremé or the 9th Ward coven. She began to pace the room, 'Well not every death is supernatural-'

'Astrid her heart was lying next to her, bitten into. The blood is fresh and her neck's been ripped into as well. If that wasn't a vampire then it was a newly powered Crescent wolf high on adrenaline from the wedding yesterday. This doesn't bode well for either of us.'

She suddenly came to realisation. There hadn't been fresh bad blood between the vampires and the covens since Marcel's rules, nothing new enough to trigger a murder. And who else would recklessly leave a body in the middle of a street if not someone who hadn't been in New Orleans long?

'Marcel, go home. Keep the vampires away from the Tremé. If that body has been spotted then they're probably plotting already.' She had a plan and she was going to execute it. 'What? Why?' He asked as he finally made it back into the Quarter, 'Astrid I need you to tell me what's going on. I can help.'

She looked at Klaus again before telling him only what she wanted him to know.

'I know who murdered her.'

When she hung up the phone, she jumped straight into action. Pulling out a pair of black skinny jeans and a beige long sleeved top with a v neck, she began to get changed in front of Nik as he asked where she was going.

'I'm going to pay Mr. De Martel a visit.'

'Then I'm going with you.' He went to get dressed too, keeping on the black t-shirt but she stopped him next to their chest of drawers. She placed a hand on his shoulder first and he paused, looking up from the drawer before turning his head left to face her. He looked between her eyes and her lips before going back to searching for a pair of trousers but she took his face with her other hand.

'You aren't going to stop me from doing this are you?' He asked her genuinely and she smiled, still looking exhausted but it was obvious the girl was jelly in his arms as he wrapped one around her. She kissed him gently. Astrid had needed that contact all day but she still withheld some emotion. He melted into her, some of the tension that had built up earlier crumbled away in slow motion.