Blue ▹ The Originals [2]

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
THE HOLLOW PROBLEM

"We each survive in our own way."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     Henrik stared down at the world map in irritation, anger brewing in the pit of his stomach and spreading throughout his entire body. Ever since his and Francis's fight about the Hollow a few days before, Henrik had been hard at work trying to figure out why the Hollow was suddenly so strong. His first instinct was to call Vincent, and once he learned that things were escalating in New Orleans, he'd started doing locater spells on each of his siblings, but since all of them had cloaking spells on them for safety reasons, he'd had to bend over backwards just to get through them. He found Rebekah first, and she was right where she was supposed to be, in New York. Next, he located Kol, who was still in San Francisco with Davina. Hope was currently in New Orleans, suspended from the Salvatore School for turning a werewolf into a hybrid, and all that was left was Klaus and Elijah.

Both of whom were in France, though considering he was using a world map, he couldn't really tell what their exact locations were. For all he knew, Klaus and Elijah could be in completely different cities. France was a large place, after all, but over the years, they had learned that distance didn't guarantee safety. Kol and Rebekah were on separate ends of the United States, so they were always safe, but Henrik's situation was different. Elijah had always stayed in Europe, as far as he knew, but whenever Klaus came to visit, it was like distance didn't matter. Since they were both in France and no doubt very close, then it made sense that Henrik was being affected as well, no matter how far away his two brothers were. Scowling, he pushed away from his desk and started toward the bathroom.

"I think it's time for me to take care of the Hollow problem," he announced, appearing in the bathroom doorway. "For good." Francis, who was soaking in a bath with the lights dimmed lower than usual and only a few candles lit, opened a single eye and looked at him. A second later, he was closing it again and sinking lower into the water. Even in the dim light, Henrik could see steam rising off the surface, could feel the heat even from the doorway. Henrik hadn't been invited to join him this time, which wasn't particularly surprising. Things were still tense between them, like any second, they would descend into another fight. This time it wasn't even Henrik who was on edge. It was Francis, and the fact that he wasn't the type to lash out was only making it worse. Henrik would have preferred for Francis to lash out. At least then he'd be able to let some of his anger out.

"Oh?" Francis drawled, tilting his head back against a towel rolled up under his neck. Henrik couldn't tell if he was just relaxed or if he was being passive-aggressive. That was the most frustrating thing about Francis when he was upset. He got so passive-aggressive that sometimes Henrik couldn't even see it. It was somewhat playful, too, which made it worse. It was like Francis was constantly amused, like he knew his amusement would get on Henrik's last nerve and that was precisely the point. "Freya and Vincent have been looking for a way to defeat the Hollow for, what, ten years? Eleven?"

"Yes, well," Henrik huffed, "they're not me, are they?" He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his shoulder against the doorway. There was an ache in his neck from leaning over his desk for the past few days, and a headache was forming in his temples.

"No," Francis agreed with a small laugh, making Henrik twitch with irritation and grit his teeth. "They most certainly are not." It wasn't said in a nasty way. It wasn't a backhanded compliment, more like an affectionate observation, but it still made Henrik crack. Completely fed up, Henrik pushed away from the doorway and stomped forward, intentionally making his boots land on the marble as loud as he could. He felt a bit guilty when the sound landed on Francis's sensitive ears and caused him to wince slightly, but then he remembered his passive-aggressiveness and chose to glare down at him instead. Francis had always had sensitives ears and eyes, his senses stronger than most, but maybe he should have thought about that before having an attitude problem the past three days.