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This chapter has been a real labour of love for me, as a writer I have reached the entry point into the really fun stuff, a sequence of events that this chapter begins to lead up to but I'm deliberating over the order I want events to unfold in and so my mind has been elsewhere - part of the reason this chapter took so long but here, eventually it is. 
                          
Enjoy x


                          
"Leka nosht lyubov." 
                          
"Leka nosht, Niklaus." she managed to reply between the yawn. 
                          
It had been a long day.
                          
7th June 2010
                          
With Damon saved and very much recovered from his wolf bite his brother - the younger Salvatore - had fallen neatly in line as Nik's errand boy, at his beck and call, thee to follow every command- any need, any want he had his minion to aid him. It was quite a sight but Grace grew used to it quickly. 
                          
Nik had compelled him to listen to her every instruction and follow her orders implicitly but she rarely asked anything of him in fear of growing to like the power, she herself never wished to abuse the power she held over him.
                          
She knew one too many beasts and so she knew how easy it was to fall from grace. In the days since their deal Nik had been off doing his own little 'errands' leaving her alone with Salvatore. She hasn't quite yet worked out how uncomfortable she made him, on a scale of one to ten it was nothing to call the police with but it was enough to leave a chill and sow nagging doubt into her mind. 
                          
She knew from Kat that there were ways to avoid compulsion - she also knew that this particular vampire had done her one over before, six months were all the fault of dearest Elena and although she had lied to him about the finer details she was still living and breathing when he buried her in the crypt. She was still very much alive.
                          
And so she had her doubts, the once docile and mute brother was now far more vocal and brash. The blood could do that to people she supposed, without it one was left dull and sensitive so following that conclusion she could only presume that before they were turned Stefan was equally as lively as his brother was now. 
                          
It was later that night that Nik sauntered back to the flat - his eyes wild and alive. It was a new feature that came with his awoken wolf, this life and passion that always was beneath the surface had now boiled over. It was as though he had been remade - he was still formed from the same clay but slightly different. 
                          
She could tell by the look in his eye, the brush of his hand. It was different, not bad, just different. 
                          
The only thing she wanted now more than ever was to leave - her and this town were over but Nik was taking his time and it was beginning to agitate her but she still as yet to find the voice to tell him.  
                          
From the stories she had heard this was his home before he was turned - his last true link to his humanity. This however she found wasn't a link he wished to cherish or rekindle but a link he wanted to replace. 
                          
Nik had become hellbent in imprinting this new and improved version of himself upon the town of Mystic Falls, as though he had something to prove to them.  
                          
As if their opinions mattered, she scoffed. Nik was above all others, removed from the world by being the only individual with his unique traits his inhuman qualities surpassed that of any other and that was what set him apart. It was as if he was searching for normality amid his differences and this was the last place he was truly normal, this was where he lost his identity, his humanity.