Rebel Just For Kicks: Kol Mikaelson [1]

17: A Bomb Always Goes Off

MJ felt her spine breaking as she clutched her necklace.

"Convoca Sufletul și Arată Adevărul, Arunca Voalul, Putere De La Mine Schimbate," She was trying to use the right tune, but something was going wrong.

First, her shoulder blades had snapped back, and she'd panicked, thinking she might've hurt her spine on accident. Normally, cracking her back didn't hurt that badly.

Then the bottom of her spine felt like it was being hiked up.

She was already kneeling on the floor, trying to summon her mother's spirit, and she found herself arching back, no clue what was going on.

'Unravel'

She fought it.

She didn't care how bad her head hurt, or how loud the voices got, or how her arms were shaking. She'd put up with it, because she needed the power boost if she was going to live with tomb vampires hiding in every corner. She'd siphoned three vampires, she'd stripped them of magic, and all that power was just in her. She couldn't let it out. She refused to be defenceless.

She started to cough. Something was stabbing into her throat and as she moved her hand to her mouth, she found a feather.

"What the hell?"

As the second one came up, she realised what was happening.

The magic wasn't trying to kill her, it was trying to change her. She'd tapped into the wrong part of her brain when trying to cast the spell.

She felt her face cracking as the world spun.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't stand in front of Marcel, with her mum's blood on her hands, and see anything but the colour red.

Her brother knew her too well. She was pushed behind him, hidden, one hand still on her, a death grip, the other coming out in front, ready to cast a spell. He held Marcel's gaze, and that was the moment that solidified her brother as, just, something else. He was standing off against a vampire who'd been around for at least a century and a half, and he was having to do it because of her. All of this came back to her.

"Don't," She whispered.

She couldn't watch him die too.

He didn't even acknowledge that she'd said anything. Neither did Marcel.

"You're sixteen, right?" Marcel asked Ryos.

"Nearly."

"You had driving lessons?"

"Yeah."

"You good at it?"

A pause.

MJ didn't know what was going on.

Why on earth did that matter? And why was it any of Marcel's business?

She had to think he was trying to confuse them. If they were distracted, their defences would be down, and killing them would be easier.

"I'd say so," Ryos nodded.

"Are you actually good at it?"

"This is the city of no left turns, constant potholes, and streetcars," Ryos said bluntly, "If I can drive here I can drive anywhere."

"Fair enough," Marcel pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and tossed them over

Ryos caught them without breaking the staring contest.