Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 63

It was ridiculous how quickly chaos erupted near the Mikaelsons.

For one, it had been chaotic to bathe the twins this time around.

"Okay, I don't know why they're splashing so much this time," said Alaric weakly as the girls started to wave their little arms and legs as if intentionally trying to make a mess.

"They're wide awake right now," said Hilda, trying to hold Lizzie steady. "Oh— come on, darling, I can't wash your face if you do that. Do you want to get soap in your eye? I guarantee it's not a pleasant experience."

"And we can't bathe them one at a time..."

"...or the other one will start a riot..."

"...and then they'll both be screaming..."

Josie started to gurgle as Alaric tried to gently rub the cloth with soap and water over her still shaking arms. "Please, princess, just calm down for a minute," he pleaded desperately. "Just—" he shut his eyes quickly as the twins splashed more water up, hitting him right in the face.

"I'm glad we have ratty t-shirts to wear for this process," said Hilda as Alaric pulled his shirt up to wipe his face.

He chuckled lightly. "I'll be glad when they can do this by themselves." He watched as Hilda tried to keep Lizzie from kicking anymore. She was struggling, since she didn't want to grip too hard and accidentally hurt her. "Here, let's switch—"

They moved places, and Alaric did his best to calm Lizzie down while Hilda took advantage of her vampire speed to bathe Josie in the short moments when she was still. They switched again, and Lizzie started to wail as Alaric used a clean cloth to wrap Josie up and dry her. At the very least, this left Lizzie fairly still, and Hilda was able to bathe her before wrapping her in a similar manner.

Alaric and Hilda had both ended up with their shirts drenched and wrinkled, their faces splattered in soap. Miraculously, the twins became calm, and were happy to receive their bottles once they were dressed. They fell asleep with their bellies full, smelling like soap and cuddled up beside each other, looking like perfect little angels who hadn't just made bathtime a warzone.

"I think next time, let's try one of us staying with one of the twins in the other room, entertaining them, while the other tries to quickly bathe the other one," suggested Hilda as she went to change her shirt. "If I go first with Lizzie, maybe Josie will be calm enough and I can finish fast enough so that Josie won't fuss when you try to bathe her."

"We could try that," Alaric agreed. "Damn. I'm really thankful that I have you, because I don't know how I would have managed to do this by myself."

She offered him a smile as she put on a comfier (and dry) shirt. "Likewise. I'll be back, I need to go check on Freya's progress."

In the time it had taken Hilda to help Alaric bathe the twins, the Compound had erupted into a problem that could not easily be fixed. She moved down the stairs leisurely at first until she heard the sound of a commotion. As she made it back to the lounge, this time at full speed, she saw more chaos unfolding.

"What are you doing?" she cried as she watched Elijah snap Marcel's neck. Freya was chanting by the table, and Davina was screaming, but before Hilda could do anything, her brother caught her.

"I can't let you do that," he said, slamming her into the nearest wall.

"Elijah, get off!" Hilda yelled, reaching her hands up to try and claw him off, but he snapped her arms to the side, making her cry out in pain.

"PLEASE, STOP!" Davina sobbed as Freya continued to chant. "Don't do this to me! Don't make me go back, please— KOL! HILDA!"

Hilda was fighting like mad trying to get her brother off, but she hadn't trained in months, and he was easily able to keep her down as Freya stopped chanting. Davina let out a piercing scream of pure terror, and she suddenly vanished.