23

                                    

                                          
Deciding that I should stay as close to Mystic Falls, I decided the tunnels would be the most ideal place to search for my brothers. Rebekah obviously wasn't with them, and I could find her afterwards. There was a specific section of the tunnels, where Abraham and I went to practise our most secretive magic. We had cloaked it to all but ourselves, made it look as though it was a dead-end, when all we really had to do was walk through the wall. It would only work for Abraham and I. It was where we created the spell that would save our line from Dahlia's grasp. Where we started to look for a spell that would help Freya without alerting Dahlia to our family. There was a wall with our family tree. Those who were living and those who were dead. I traced the tree with a finger. It started with Mikael and Esther. Next to Esther's name was Dahlia. And from Esther and Mikael started our line. Those in our line who were dead had a cross through their names. 
It wasn't a normal inscription. It was magic. As soon as someone was born into our family their name would appear. There was a cross through Mikael and Esther but not through Dahlia and Freya. I frowned looking deeper. I decided I could come back to Freya. Right now I had to find my brothers. I stepped away from the wall and sat on the ground. I set my bag down beside me, before taking out candles, a bowl and the vial of Nik's blood. I poured his blood into the bowl, and added a little bit of water and some earth. I used magic to mix them together, before whispering the spell for fire. There was a small explosion as the blood mixture reacted with the flame before the smoke cleared it. I smudged someone the mixture on my forehead, and my two wrists. Laying my hands on my knees wrists facing up, I tried chanting again.
"Phasmatos tribum, ostende mihi, sanguis meus. Phasmatos tribum, meis invocabo virtutis potentia creaturae noctis lunam. Ostende mihi faciem sanguis meus!" I chanted.
                          
Over the next three days I started to feel the power decrease and give way. I gave one final shove and an image formed in my mind. The witch house. Unfortunately, there was only so much I could do. I had pushed my limits, used more magic than I'd ever used alone and worked on the spell over several nights. The candle in front of me shot a bright flame before fading and I fell back. 
It took a few minutes before I awoke. Though I was far from being at full strength, I gathered what little I had and sped to the witch house only to see Nik was there.
"Well, you know, the funny thing about witches is, that living or death, they care about their own. A hundred dead witches have a thousand living descendants-" he keeled over in pain but continued to speak. "And I have no problem, killing every last one of them, if I don't get my coffins back. As we speak, my hybrid friend is prepared to end the Bennett line."
"Niklaus!" I stood up straight.
"Fortunately for you, my sister actually cares for you." Niklaus huffed and took a step back. 
"Look, your problem is with my brother. He's a nasty piece of work, I agree. But you have no quarrel with the rest of my siblings and I. And if that isn't enough to convince you, know that I've already punctured a large enough hole in your cloaking spell to allow me to find you. Removing it is child's play from here. I'd rather not, but I will if I have to." I spoke. I waited a second before they removed the spell themselves. "Thank you."
"My sister. Ever the diplomat." Niklaus boasted.
"Nik, I am physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Do not test me right now." 
"Where's the fourth?" He asked. "I asked, where's the fourth coffin. Show me."
"What are you talking about, Nik? What fourth coffin?"
"You don't know? It's a strange locked one. See, we got enough of a heads up that your brother was coming that we could only move one coffin, so we went with the mysterious one."
"I will tear you, limb from limb. And only then, when you're a riving mass of blood and flesh, will I rip your heart from your chest." 
"Sorry. The same rules apply. You know, leverage and all. I know you want your family back. But something tells me, you want what's in that coffin a lot more."
"I do not have enough patience for a fight right now. Who is in the locked coffin, Nik?"
"Not in front of him." Niklaus shook his head.
"Fine. Then help me bring our sibling home where we will undagger them. And you can tell me what else you're hiding." I said. I picked up a coffin, and gestured for Nik to do the same.
"You want us to carry them?"
"Yes. Damon, pick up Kol. You will help us bring them home. Both of you pick up a coffin." Niklaus sighed but did as told.
"I don't have to do what you tell me to. You're not the boss of me." Damon tried to protest.
"I think we've already established that there is a side to me you don't want to see. And I have had no sleep for three days, and spent every ounce of my energy on this spell. I've had secrets revealed, as well as a few trips down memory lane during one of the darkest times of my life. Now, if I were you I would not test me right now, because believe me, if you do, you will not like how I respond."
"Damon, do what she says. Trust me. I've never seen her this irritable. If you value your life, I'd get on with it."
"Fine." He muttered picking a coffin.
"Good. Now run home." I said before speeding off. I set Finn's coffin on a platform. Opening his coffin, I grabbed at the dagger. It didn't budge. I rolled my eyes and waved my hand across the dagger. "Purifico." Trying again, I slipped the dagger out with ease. Niklaus and Damon walked in then.
"You managed to undagger him?"
"Yes." I sighed.
"Go get some sleep." Klaus said. "I will wake our siblings, and they'll be alive by the time you come to."
"If they aren't, Niklaus, so help you-"
"Go sleep, sister." He said and I trudged up the stairs.