All the cards

18

Davina called me as I got Izzy ready for a bath.
"Hey, Davina. How are you?" I called, keeping the phone on loudspeaker.
"A little nervous. Any word on Kol?"
"Rebekah's still searching but I think I might have something. It's not solid yet, but I am forming a sort of plan."
"That's great. What is it?"
"I want see if it pans out first. Don't get your hopes up."
"Sure."
"Davina, I have to go. Izzy's not feeling so well."
"Oh, right. Of course. Talk to you later." She hung up. The veins around Izzy's eyes emerged as he growled before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
"He's so adorable." Amira cooed. "He's like a little monster. So cute."
"I didn't think he needed blood."
"None of us did. Are you certain Hope doesn't need it?"
"Izzy was technically born dead. I guess he would have been stuck mid transition until he tasted human blood. Hope, however, was born to a living mother. So her blood can turn others, and I guess it can turn her if she dies."
"So Izzy needs blood, right?"
"Yeah. Do me a favour? Pour half a blood bag into one of Izzy's sippy cups while I give him a bath. He's probably still hungry."
"Sure." Amira headed downstairs. Izzy clapped and giggled at me.
"You better not stop growing just because you're a vampire."
"Mama." He said. The veins under his eyes bulged again, as his eyes turned red. His fangs were tiny. Sharp enough to puncture human skin, but small enough to belong to a child his age. He started laughing again as his face turned back to normal and I supposed he found the sensation tickling.
"You are usually a happy, hyperactive baby. But I don't know if I can keep up with these heightened emotions of yours." I sighed leading him to the bathroom. "It's times like this that I wish, I had your daddy here with me. I know he's here for you, but sometimes I wish he was here for me, too. He had a way of making everything better."
"Dada?" Izzy repeated.
"Yes. Your dada."
"Mama." He said.
"Yes baby?"
"Op."
"Hope is at home with her mama." I said. I knew he didn't fully understand what I was saying, nor did he seem to pay much attention to me. I put him in the tub and he reached out to me.

By the time I managed to clean him properly, Amira has filled a sippy cup with some blood.
"Thanks." I said, drying him off. As soon as I clothed him, I fed him the blood.
"I also brought a human. To see if he can resist human blood."
"That's a good idea. I need to make sure he won't bite Hope." I stopped, sensing someone familiar. "Who's the human?"
"Yeah, that's the thing. I thought it'd be a good idea to have a human who's in the know."
"Amira."
"What? You're friends now... right?"
"Yeah."
"Friends help each other."
"You know who else helps? Family. Like the mortal aunt you have."
"Uh, I couldn't find Freya."
"She's in her room."
"I couldn't find her before. So I went with Isaac." She shrugged.
"You're asking him to let my son possibly drain all his blood."
"No, you're asking." Amira walked away. It was futile to call after her. I just continued feeding Izzy his blood. He fell asleep when he finished and I put him in his bed, and headed down.
"Hi." I said softly, approaching Isaac. Freya sat right beside him.
"Hey." He replied. "Amira called me, but didn't really specify."
"She's meddling." I explained.
"So, sister. Care to officially introduce us?"
"Isaac, this is Freya. Long lost sister. Freya, this is Isaac. He's a friend. Didn't you guys already meet?"
"Uh, the only time I saw him was when we were trying to wake him from Dahlia's magic coma."
"And I was kind of unconscious in that." He shrugged.
"Oh."
"Have you seen Niklaus or Elijah?" Freya asked.
"Yeah. They're out chasing after Aurora."
"She's back in town too?"
"Made her grand entrance this morning." I shrugged. "Go check on Izzy, would you? I left him sleeping but just make sure he's not doing anything unusual." Freya looked at Isaac and at me.
"Sure." She smirked, and walked away.
"Come on." I gestured to Isaac. "Let's take a walk." He followed me outside.
"Is everything okay?"
"You want the human truth or the whole supernatural truth?"
"The supernatural truth. I'm in this, now. I want to know everything."
"Well my son is now a vampire." I said. "And there's a prophecy detailing the demise of my siblings."
"A prophecy?"
"There's this seer who had a vision and now the first vampires my siblings ever sired are in town. When you kill an original vampire, everyone they ever turned and everyone they turned and so on die off too."
"Heavy."
"Yeah, so they're here claiming to protect their sires."
"Claiming?"
"There's never good news where they are concerned."
"You don't like them."
"That one way to put it." I scoffed. My phone rang. "Give me a second. Hey Hayles."
"Hey Amity. Any chance you can babysit today?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure. When do you need me?"
"Right now?"
"Oh. Okay. I'll be right there."
"Thanks, I owe you." She said.
"No problem." I smiled, and hung up. "I have to go."
"Yeah, of course."
"If you're serious about wanting to know everything, you can talk to Freya or Amira. They'll fill you in."
"Uh..."
"You know Amira, and I promise Freya doesn't bite. Literally, she's not a vampire."
"Or I could." Mal popped up.
"No chance." I turned to him.
"You wound me."
"Go away, Mal." I said. He let out a dramatic sigh, but disappeared. "Mal's a handful. He's more of a, uh... brother in a past life, kind of guy."