Marshall Twins [2 - Twins Series]

20 - A Closer Walk with Thee

Book: Marshall Twins
Chapter 20
Word Count: 2978

At Rousseau's for Father Kieran's wake, the Marshall twins found Klaus and Elijah sat at a nearby table and joined them.

"I will warn you, girls, Niklaus is in a spectacularly foul mood today." Elijah spoke.

"Sod off." Klaus rolled his eyes.

"What's the deal with these moonlight rings?" Avery questioned Klaus. "Oliver's trying to set a revolution every five seconds."

"People are scared, angry, and frankly, we're tired of stalling." Hayley added.

"It's a day of peace, girls. Try and enjoy it. And, in the meantime, with all manner of unknown enemies conspiring against our family, you'll both move back in with us." Klaus stated.

"Awesome!" Avery exclaimed sarcastically. "But Hayley and I are very capable of looking after ourselves."

"The rings are in progress." Klaus muttered, frustrated. "I will live up to my word. We will find and punish whoever launched the attack on the Bayou, and you will return to the compound for your own safety! But, right now..." He grabbed his bottle of scotch and opened it. "I'm gonna finish this bottle, and the next, in the hopes of drowning the demon who has chosen today to haunt me." Klaus looked up at the ceiling before chugging right from the bottle. "Cheers, Mikael. Impeccable, Freudian timing."

"Elaborate." Elijah instructed, stunned. Avery and Hayley look at Elijah and Klaus in concern. "Have you dreamt of our father?"

"Go ahead, have a good laugh." Klaus sighed.

"I can assure you there is no piece of this that I find even remotely amusing, Niklaus. Especially considering I've been dreaming of him, too." Elijah mentioned, immediately grabbing Klaus' full attention. Elijah continued. "If you are also seeing him..." He stopped mid-thought when he noticed Genevieve enter Rousseau's. She caught his eye, and smiled. "Perhaps our elusive, unknown enemy is orchestrating a further attack?"

"Well, then..." Klaus stared at Genevieve. "What better way to punctuate a day of peace than by killing someone?" He and Eiljah continued to look at Genevieve as he smiled and waved at her.

---

Avery and Hayley sat on Francesca's front porch, waiting until Francesca and her bodyguard return home. When Francesca noticed them, she groaned, and tried to be polite.

"Ah. Avery and Hayley, right? I'm guessing you're not here because you want to make a new friend?"

"We don't count terrorists as friends." Hayley snapped as she and Avery stood up to face her. Francesca chuckled, and turned to her bodyguard.

"Wow. I've been accused of everything from grand larceny to blackmail, but 'terrorist', that's new!"

"A human pulled up to our home in the Bayou on a motorcycle and blew himself up." Hayley informed.

"I heard." Francesca grabbed her keys and walked to the front door. "Awful. Goodnight!"

Avery, annoyed, headbutted her bodyguard before slamming his head into a birdbath and knocking him out. Francesca stared in shock for a moment before smiling fakely at the Marshall twins.

"Word on the street is, he owed a hundred grand to the Palace Royale casino! And then, after he died, the debt was erased. Just like magic." Avery said.

"Jeff was a fixture at my roulette table. Sometimes he was up, sometimes he was down. I absolved his family of the debt he owed out of the goodness of my heart." Francesca shrugged. "Feel free to sniff around. My hands are clean! And, I'd advise you to mind your manners. It's lucky you two are still alive. You're the ones the wolves all whisper about like royalty. Especially you, Avery. If I was interested in hurting the wolves, you'd be my target. And, when I go after someone? I don't miss."