Grace - Elijah Mikaelson -

Chapter 72

Grace had promised herself to at least go to lectures once a week. Well, her plan didn't quite fulfilled as family drama ruined it. 

But today it seemed eerily peaceful, apart from the smaller of struggles of leading a vampire community. It was nearly too quiet. 

Now she sat in the lecture hall and could do the thing she actually came to New Orleans for - studying. Instead of listening eagerly to the interesting lecture, she stared on her phone for the whole time, waiting for the next catastrophe to pop up on the screen. She couldn't concentrate one bit as all her thoughts circled around the threat of Dahlia. Grace had this feeling that the feared witch was already closer than they thought and as she had learnt from experience, she never was wrong with such intuitions. 

When Nik's name together with the message I need your help showed on her phone, she was quicker to her feet than possible for human degree and she earned some confused glances from the students around her. Grace had grown so used to being around other vampires, she kinda forgot how to be human. How would this be when she grew older? Would she become like the Mikaelson who were well integrated, but always seemed a little over the top in many ways? Maybe living with them let have this feeling of being 'above humans' and from time to time she noticed herself thinking about as nothing more than food. 

Fortunately she already had found a place to sit close to the door, so she could quietly and quickly rush outside. When she checked the time, she groaned. She had been in here less than thirty minutes and couldn't remember a word the lecturer said. Slowly she realized that she could stop her attempts to come here, this had nothing to do with being a student anymore. Maybe she should look for universities that had better e-learning programs. 

But would there ever be a chance to actually use her abilities as a historian? She had time witnesses around her all the time, she could simply compel herself a degree, but what use was it if her only reason to live was fighting off enemies? Since she became a vampire it had been mere days that she had to do normal things. Their Christmas evening was one of them. She urged a day like this. Was a nice, civilized date night with Elijah too much to ask for? Or a proper pub crawl with Nik and Beks without mourning someone? 

In the mean time, Nik had texted her the address of a cafe in the Quarter. She pulled up her brows in confusion. Did he need her help with picking a frappuccino? 

Of course she was completely wrong. When she saw Mikael through the window of the small coffee shop, her eyes widened. But when she saw him sitting opposite Nik, without them trying to kill each other, she thought she was having a weird dream. 

Stunned, she walked inside the cafe and came to a halt in front of their table, earning a laid back grin from Nik and a scowl from Mikael. Her eyes flickered to the white oak stake in front of Nik, which was way too close to his ruthless father. It made her pretty anxious. 

"And here I thought I'd never see you two other than wrapped up in a price fight together. Well, nothing's impossible I guess." 

Nik chuckled and motioned for her to sit which she did cautiously. Despite the fact that her friend seemed relaxed, Grace stayed ready to fight just for being sure. Mikael was the last person on earth she would trust one bit.

"You never had the chance to properly meet my father, sweetheart. It's still important to meet the in-laws today, isn't it?" 

She shot him a glare, to which he winked. Grace knew exactly what he was getting at. 

"How sweet of you, darling. But it wasn't really necessary to pull me out of a lecture for having tea with your loving dad." 

Her voice was mockingly cheery and Nik's smile grew even wider, while Mikael looked more annoyed by the second as he watched them.