The Key

10

EDITED

I walk out to the back porch, looking for Nik who is sitting on a chair flipping through one of Hope's sketch books.

He grins when he looks up and sees me,

"Our daughter is an art prodigy."

"Well, she definitely got that from you. I don't have a single artistic bone in my body," I scoff at him.

He puts the sketch book on a side table next to him and he holds his arms out for me, I go and sit on his lap letting him hold me for a moment. The warm night air of the south feeling wonderful on my bare legs since I changed into a summer dress.

"Is she asleep now?" Nik asks me as I move my head to look at him.

I nod and laugh a bit, 

"With her muddy shoes on."

"Who else do I know that does that?" Nik smirks at me, his tone playful.

We laugh together for a few seconds before he stops, this undeniable deep sadness creeping back into his eyes. It was there yesterday, and here it is again today.

"You okay?" I ask him, my voice almost a whisper as we just stare into each other's eyes.

"I have done so many horrible things since the last time I've held you in my arms, little wolf. You have no idea. The chaos, the bloodshed," His eyes become a deep blue pit, empty almost now as he tells me of the darkness that has eaten away at him. 

He moves his head to look out into the yard, not wanting to face me at the moment.

"Hey," I grab his stubbly chin with one hand, making him turn and look me in the eye again,

 "You can't let the bad things that you did in your past define you. I know you. You are good."

Nik shakes his head, searching my face,

"No, you are good. There's just too much good in you. It's why I love you."

"I love you, too," I whisper.

God, his eyes are so blue I could drown in them.

"Would you still want marry me?" Nik asks sadly, his eyes flitting down to play with the hem of my dress in his fingers.

"I thought you'd never ask," I tell him.

The hybrid looks up at me, shock all over his face. I grab his face and rush to press my lips to his, and he meets me halfway. We have been starving for this, for one another, for seven years and we didn't even realize how badly we needed each other until this moment. 

In a flash caused by both of us we are back in the room we were sharing on the bottom floor, locking the door behind us, Nik tosses me with vampire speed onto the bed. My summer dress coming off, his shirt following suit, our limbs become entangled with one another as our lips find each other again.

We continue this blissful moment of passion until a knock on the door sends us both sitting up right quickly.

"Mom?" Hope's sad little voice through the door makes me grab Nik's discarded shirt from the floor and throw it on in a flash.

I unlock the door as Nik is grabbing another shirt behind me quickly, and I open it.
Hope's face is scrunched in worry as she looks at me, I bend down to her height and grab her hands in mine.

"What is it love?" I ask her, my eyes desperately looking wherever for any sign of an injury only to find none.

"I think something's wrong," She whispers, her voice full of fear, making my stomach drop ten stories.

Nik is standing behind me and he speaks up now, his voice also filled with worry for our little girl,

"What do you mean, darling? What's wrong?"

"I had a dream about a bad man. He was hurting these kids and I think he hurt me, too," Hope says, her voice no longer a whisper but the fear still evident in her tone,

"I feel dizzy, and my head hurts a lot."

I stand quickly, picking Hope up as I do and propping her on my hip, I head towards the living room. Nik is hot on my trail.

"Elijah? Freya?!" I call out into the house, I know they are home. Kol and Rebekah left earlier today, but Elijah wanted to stay behind and Freya did too.

Hope leans into my shoulder, blood dripping from her right nostril, her eyes struggling to stay open, her body temperature getting colder by the second.

"Mom, I'm so cold," She says, her voice is barely audible, though my ears picked it up easily as I'm sure Nik's did as well.

Elijah appears in a flash and sees a sick looking Hope in my arms,

"What's wrong?"

Freya comes down the stairs and over to us as well,

"I heard my name, what's wrong?"

I look down at Hope,

"She's got a bloody nose and she's freezing."

"She told us she had a dream about a bad man hurting her and other kids," Nik explains, looking to Freya who has her hands hovering above Hope's head now.

"She's never been sick, ever," Elijah says, his eyes filled to the brim with worry for Hope.

Freya opens her eyes and looks at me and Hope, 

"This is a magical affliction. It feels, I don't know, it's hard to explain. Almost cold."

A moment passes between all of us and Elijah looks confused as he reaches into his coat pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. It was spelled there, probably seconds ago.

Elijah scans it quickly before looking to Nik and I,

"It's from Vincent Griffith, a warlock in the French Quarter. He knows what's wrong with Hope, he can cure her. But we have to go back to New Orleans."

"Well let's get going, it will take us through the night to get to New Orleans," I tell the Mikaelson siblings.

Niklaus shakes his head at me, his eyes stern,

"You are not going."

"Excuse me?" I ask him, my eyes wide in shock.

"I already lost you once, Debria. This family will not go through that again," Nik says harshly to me.

I frown at him, hugging Hope closer to my body,

"We are all going, she needs both of us now. And that is final."