Enigmatic Fears: A Klaus Mikaelson Story {7}

Chapter 35: A Rite Of Passage

"They just texted." Caroline said as we paused our journey at a travel stop. "Our tracking class should be zeroing in on them. We'll have the location of them any minute."

"And until then?" Klaus asked impatiently.

"We can drink cheap coffee from that diner over there." Caroline said as she walked towards it.

"She didn't even ask what we wanted." I muttered.

"One black coffee and one hot chocolate, I know you." She replied smugly.

"Hot chocolate. Perfect for you because you're a child." I muttered with a roll of my eyes.

"I'll take it over your rancid tasteless tar drink any day." He said with a smirk. "Does your fiancé like it that way too?"

"Focus less on Alaric and more on your daughter." I shot back. "Particularly what you're gonna say to her. It's best to get the yelling out before you see her. She does not take to it very well."

"You know, all this advice and yet you have a lot to answer for." Klaus reprimanded.

"Oh, if anyone here has a lot to answer for it is you and your new best friend Caroline. Do you have a secret language too?"

Klaus rolled his eyes but did not give my words any further acknowledgement, choosing to focus on his own inexplicable grievances. "After all your haranguing—be a better father, be more engaged—"

"Haranguing?" I interrupted. "I did not harangue because I am not a haranguer! You are the chief haranguer! In fact, this right here is sure to be a haranguing even though I am absolutely not at fault! I gave you advice!"

"That I followed at my own peril." He said with a shake of his head. "And Grace didn't make it any easier."

"Because she is not seven anymore." I told him. "Bloody hell, I've been there her whole life and she still doesn't make it any easier for me. She doesn't have to look up to you just because you're her father. You have to earn it."

"You know truth be told; it's been absolutely awful." He confessed. "I mean it was bad before when I had to keep my distance, but now, the desire to keep her close, to protect her, the constant worry—I've never known such pain."

I couldn't help but laugh at his admission, which he did not take kindly to. "Thank you so much Blossom, for not making a miserable time more miserable, truly appreciated."

"Don't be such a baby." I told him with a light shove. "I just think it's funny because you're saying the words that run through my head every second of every day. That confession alone has finally earned you your parent card."

"Just as she became a truant." He muttered sadly. "Why? Why would she do this?"

"You really have to ask?" I told him with a chuckle. "When I am her mother? Some girls just like the bad boys."

"You say that like it's inevitable." He replied. "It's not a rite of passage."

"Isn't it?" I asked him. "My mother left her entire country for her witch boyfriend. Silas convinced Amara to become immortal when he already had a crazy witch fiancé. I had you, then Kol, then you, then Damon, then you again—I mean if there was one person that was destined to fall for a menace to society then it was Grace Marceline Mikaelson."

"But you also had Jeremy."

"A bad boy in his own right."

"And then...Alaric." He said, his voice quieting.

"Sometimes you need something different." I replied, just as quiet as him, almost feeling sad at my own admission that I was actually letting him go. "Especially since some of those boys were far too artsy for me."

As I teased him, the mood lightened up and the two of us smirked at each other.

"I'm sure some had very pure intentions." He replied, meeting my gaze with a warm smile.

"Perhaps." I replied as I rested my head on his shoulder with a sigh.

"Perhaps."

Caroline came back out, desperately trying not to spill one of the three cups in her hands as she rushed out to us.

"The tracking class failed." She told us.

"You mean a group of teenagers were unable to find a mythical tribrid?" I asked sarcastically.

"Absolutely shocking." Klaus added. "Perhaps our hard-earned money is better off being spent at another magic boarding school."

"I'd have to agree."

"Yeah, real cute guys." She said with a roll of her eyes. "Doesn't matter, because we have her location."

"How?" Klaus asked.

"Find my iPhone." She replied smugly as she got into the car. "Let's go."

"Technology today is just amazing." Klaus muttered.

"Yeah, if you'd picked up your phone in the last seven years, you might have even seen one of its most primitive features—the call." I teased as I got into the car.

"You know, the more I think about it, the more I think you're the bad one, not me."

~Grace POV~

"What the hell is going on?" Grace demanded as Roman fed her aunt water.

"He's the one that led them to me in the church attic." Hayley answered for the blonde vampire.

"So I was right before." She murmured in disbelief. "You did bring me here because you hate me."

"Grace—"

"How did you even know where she was?" Grace questioned as Roman crouched down in front of the window. She thought back to how he would've found out and then realised the truth. "You got inside my head. The first day you touched me. When you tucked my hair behind my ear. You were really just trying to figure out where my aunt was hidden."

"Grace, I know this looks bad." Roman said as he took a step towards her, which she quickly counteracted by taking one back. "But if you just do the binding spell—"

"Binding spell?" Hayley interrupted. "What binding spell?"

"Greta said that if I did the binding spell, they'd let you live." Grace confessed.

"Greta said that?" Hayley queried.

"It's just so that she can't make any more hybrids." Roman clarified. "Our movement is about getting control and order back. That's all my mom wants."

"Greta's your mom?" Grace asked furiously, and Hayley struggled to get out of her binds.

"Untie me NOW!" The wolf queen demanded.

"I can't." He told her. "Just for the binding spell and you'll be fine."

"Nothing will be fine for you unless you untie me!" Hayley yelled, frightening Grace with the darkness in her eyes.