• • •
Niklaus grew more frustrated as it had been one month of his search for Machae with no successful result. Even with the help of Rebekah and Elijah.
They visited more witches and tortured more, demanded answers but deep down they knew witches themselves did not have the answer.
Elijah and Rebekah could clearly see now how much this affected Niklaus. He didn't even once ask about the cure, which previously had been his obsession.
They dare even say he no longer cared about the cure at this point. Machae was all he cared about.
But now she was gone. Niklaus was at the tipping point.
They could no longer predicted how much longer he could hold on.
Katerina refused to help the three since she was afraid of what the hybrid might do to her and she didn't want to risk her freedom for Machae. But she heard the rumours about possibly her and did directed them to Atlanta.
When they arrived at the city, they were shocked that the first news they heard was a recent explosion at an abandoned site, followed by a brutal massacre of unrelated people. But they knew better, they were related, after all they were witches.
Not to mention, several homes citizens had been sucked dry and some bodies were found in the middle of the street with similar cause of death.
Some speculated this was the work of a new rising serial killer, since they had never encountered this killing pattern before , nevertheless it still didn't lessen the brutality.
Niklaus had seen the length of how madness she could take when he was tracking Kol. They knew this had to be Machae.
But that wasn't what made them very certain.
The police found bodies lying on the ground – heads with eyes gouged out – mutilated with their body parts scattered forming a sentence.
'C U Soon, C.A'
While dozens of others staked up high with the stick planted firmly on the ground, as if to showcase the work was worth for the world to see, an exact replica of the famous act of Vlad the Impaler.
The siblings were left speechless. Now, Niklaus was no longer sure of what Machae was becoming.
He knew this was a message from her to whoever C.A was, a very strong message indeed. And he knew this C.A had something to do with her disappearance.
She had escape. And Niklaus knew there was only one place she would go.
Her home.
• • •
Machae had just arrived at the airport where she scanned the place for her check in place as well as scanned the crowd for Damon Salvatore.
Locket G9. Found it.
She made her way towards it as she looked around discreetly for the older Salvatore. She was pleased when she found him sitting by the bench near the locket.
Perfect.
Earlier...
It was a normal night in the suburban area in Atlanta. No one suspected anything bad to happen tonight, but the three vampires from the neighbouring town.
Stefan, Damon and Elena got out of the car and headed to the bar as they planned. After Damon got the text, he told Stefan about what happened and they decided the three of them were going to pay Machae – if she was even real – a visit.
Machae who was obviously expecting this kind of move from Damon was sitting on the rooftop cass watching them below her as they headed to the mentioned bar.
Hence why she had prepared her own plan to separate Damon and ambush the other two. As predicted, Stefan and Elena went hidden at the side line at the more secluded area.
Her compelled vampires wasted no time to snap their necks and drew their blood while Damon walked straight into their supposed meeting place.
Compulsion. Another trick she discovered while she was endeavouring her long-due meal spree earlier. Strange, no doubt. The concept of it were all foreign and unexpected – mind blowing one.
With the dark magic flowing through her, she penetrated the victim's mind as they writhed in pain – since it's a non-supernatural-friendly magic. Through her subconscious vision, her magic dominated the tangled knot of memories and dived straight at the core to find the current one. The particular string glowed red as it was shown in the victim's eyes and there she put a new memory of what she was compelling. The same could be done when she pulled other mind games; worst nightmare or fake reality.
Though it had a whole different concept, it was quite powerful mind trick, like vampire compulsion but stronger.
The two unconscious vampires were then dragged outside to an empty alley and left alone. The compelled vampires handed Machae their blood and left. Free of one of her compulsion.
And killed themselves. To cover tracks of Machae since she found out whenever she used compulsion to a vampire, they would remember it after they were released.
Machae walked inside the empty room with only Damon inside.
"Hello, Damon." She greeted.
Damon turned around and was shocked to see Machae standing there. Very much alive. Although, looking not so good. Her skin was paler than usual. She lost a lot of weight. Her body language suggested she was more exhausted than she let on.
"Machae?" Damon breathed.
"Aren't you supposed to be...dead?" Damon looked unsure.
"I did. No thanks to you. Especially her." She confirmed and tilting her head towards the door to 'Elena'.
He glanced to the door and Machae noticed this. "Don't even think about it." She hissed.
"I could take my revenge on you. And them" Machae said as she circled Damon like a predator to its prey. "I could end you people like you end him." Machae seethed in anger glaring menacingly at Damon. But she took a deep breath reminded herself of why she was there. "I could destroy your lives without even blinking." She continued still with underlying anger.
"But you're not. You're not gonna kill me. That's not why you're here." Damon stated daringly.
Machae nodded her head confirming the man's statement. "I'm not. I already did." Indirect revenge by the hands of Katerina of course, but it was still revenge nonetheless, which Damon had no knowledge of. Noticeably, making Damon more confused.
Before he could question her further, she continued. "However, you brought company." She looked at him in distaste.
"You defy my order." She stated boldly.
Machae continued as she calmly paced in front of him. "But I suspected as much."
Damon just stood there stiffly, wary of what the back-from-the-dead vampire was going to do.
"Yea, you don't really expect me to walk in here with doing exactly what a message from a supposedly dead vampire told me to, do you?" He reasoned.
"Which is why I have taken precaution." She smirked, pulling out the blood vials from her coat pocket.
"This is Stefan's and Elena's blood." Answering the wordless question.
"Run all they want, they can't hide from me. No cloaking spell can defeat the power of blood." She stared at Damon seriously making sure she got her point crossed. "Or who knows what I'm going to do with these? Boil them from the inside perhaps?"
Damon glared at Machae but didn't say anything. Machae saw this as a sign for her to continue.
"I'm here to collect your debt, Damon." She stated finally getting to her business, putting the blood vials back safely inside her coat pocket.
"Shall we begin?"
Machae continued her way to the locket check in. She glanced briefly at Damon to see him already looking at her and sent him an unnoticeable nod.
Glad to have him following her plan.
But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the last person she wanted to see right now. Niklaus Mikaelson.
"I'm here to collect your debt, Damon." She stated, putting the blood vials back safely inside her coat pocket.
"Shall we begin?"
The drive of Damon and Machae was silent until Machae spoke up. The blood vials were secured where Damon didn't know.
"I only ask for 3 days top. One, if you do your job really well." She began.
"You will have no harm by my hands. I give you my word. However, I do not hold responsible if your action might get you killed by other parties." She explained further.
Damon looked at her in surprise in mixture with curiosity.
"I need you to find everything about Colin Abernathy and his clan. A witch, the Abernathy's coven in my land. Find everything about him, his strength, his weakness, everything." Machae said with such coldness in her tone, glaring daggers at the road before her as her grip on the wheels tightened.
"Who's he?" he asked.
"A dangerous intruder in my kingdom. The cause of the raging war my people are facing right now." Her eyes went dark as she kept her stare to the road before her. "A mean I intend to end."
The atmosphere grew dark in an instant. Machae appeared to be calm, but even a blind man could feel her fury radiating off her. She was known for her blunt words, sure, but this...this Machae driving beside Damon was not the same one he met months ago. She was colder, much colder. And dare he said...broken.
Her tone might implied her temper to the said witch, but if you listened closely there was an unmistakeably a well-concealed desperation in it. As he recognized the same in him years ago.
"Okay." Was all he said.
He tried to look unbothered by the information she just dropped on him – or more like demand – not to mention his own curiosity as to why was she even here. How was she still alive?
"Let it out." Without glancing in his direction, she sighed. "I know you're itching to ask me questions."
Damon didn't bother deny the statement or hide his curiosity at her invitation to ask. "How are you still alive?"
Machae suspected as much this was his first question. "I am alive only because of my hereditary power I just recently discovered myself."
"What kind of pow-"
"That is all I'm willing to share on this subject." Machae absolutely had no desire to share this newfound fact about herself to stranger – or to anyone actually. She didn't trust Damon or anybody at the moment. Who knew what they could do with this dangerous information. She could only relied on herself, at least for the time being.
"But are you still a vampire?"
"Yes." she said nonchalantly.
"I don't understand. We killed Kol. Caroline saw your corpse." Machae flinched involuntarily at the mention of it, though Damon noticed he kept going. "Did you...actually die?"
She was silent for a good few seconds. It was as if Damon just punched her gut. She wanted so bad to be mad at what he just said, to feel the anger. Instead she just felt a gaping hole in her heart. To sum up, tired.
"I did." she eventually answered. Flashes of that horrible night unintentionally burnt in her mind. Kol's scream. Kol on fire. Her own scream. Her last breath. "We both did."
Seeing her response, surprised Damon. He half-expected her to snap at him or even to yell and threw him out of the car. But her quiet answer...the broken tone in her voice. It made him feel remorse instantly, even though he did not kill them directly.
He knew this was the stopping line so he cleared his throat. "What about this whole thing with the witch then? What's the story behind it?"
• • •
As Machae and Niklaus having a stare off, both shocked at the presence of one another. She was not the only one who notice the presence of the hybrid, from the sideline, Damon did too.
And as he anticipate, Elijah and Rebekah was also here, standing not too far from the hybrid himself.
Since Machae was too focus on Niklaus, she hadn't notice the presence of the other two yet. But with his conversation with Machae earlier, Damon suspected as much.
Though it was a short stare off, it was a powerful one. Both of their faces remained passive, but their eyes said it all.
All the horrible things he said to Machae that night screaming through his voice in his head, drowning whatever coherent thought he had prior. The sleepless nights where his thoughts solely about her were most loud, raced to rise to the surface. There he was, he could only stare at her with heavy sorrow, regret and most of all, guilt.
All the atrocious things he said whenever the witches planted nightmare in her mind echoed mockingly in her thoughts. Whatever 'safe zone' she conjured up earlier, crumbled effortlessly without so much a second thought. The memories of their last encounter was still fresh in her mind after being forced to endure it repeatedly. There she was, she could only stare at him, with fear and desperation in her eyes, but most of all, hurt.
They didn't have to speak for through their eyes, they spoke of a thousand words. Though their intense emotions were very much differ, one spoke the loudest for that was what they both expressed: longing.
"What about this whole thing with the witch then? What's the story behind it?"
Machae stiffened involuntarily. Her whole posture become tense instantly. Though not one out of fear, it was out of buried rampage and whether she admit it or not, it was out of desperation as well.
"I will answer that question after you do something for me."
Damon rolled his eyes and groaned. "Okay, what?"
"Call Elena." She demanded.
Damon immediately glared at her. "You said you won't harm them if I come with you."
"And I won't. They are still in the deserted alley my vampires left them, if they haven't move. But I don't need them trailing my tail seeking out for you." She answered calmly.
"Call Elena and tell her it's a false alarm and you met an old friend and went on a road trip for a few days. No big deal."
He complied and took out his phone. "You know they're gonna find out soon enough you're still alive, right?"
"I am aware. They probably will, but not now."
Damon put his phone on his ears. "Damon? Where are you? Are you ok? Someone snapped my neck and Stefan's. We're ok, though." Elena asked worriedly from the other line.
Machae gripped the stirring wheel so tight, the moment she heard Elena's voice, it turned white. Damon didn't miss this but kept it quite since there was nothing he could do anyway.
"Yea, I'm fine, Elena." Damon answered. "Glad to know you're worried about me, Elena. Don't worry your pretty little head, princess."
"I'm sorry I just got carried on, I kinda forgot to tell you." He grimaced while Machae gave him 'what-the-fuck' look, both acknowledging his poor excuse of lying. "Right now, I'm on a road trip with my long-lost buddy. It's been a while since we met and he's thinking about catching up with me." Damon lied smoothly.
"What about Machae?"
"It's a false alarm." Damon said as Machae and Damon looked at each other. Machae in warning, while Damon in surrender. "Don't worry, Elena."
"Damon, do you really think this is a good time to have a little trip? What with Silas and Klaus?"
Damon sighed. "Elena, Klaus hasn't made a move for a month and besides it's 3 days top." Damon said but paused when Machae held a hand '5' to him. "Fine. 5." Damon glared at her.
Damon's glare didn't affect her. Machae was actually surprised at the fact that Niklaus hadn't bothered them for a month. Maybe he did find Katerina and the cure already, she thought.
"But Damon – "
"Listen Elena, it's only 5 days, ok? Not 5 centuries. You're gonna be fine, babe." Elena didn't answer for a moment before sighing. "Ok. Have fun, Damon."
"Thanks, princess." And the line went dead.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Machae glanced at the man.
"You said 3 days." Damon glared at the woman. "Not including transport." Machae shrugged.
"Where are we going anyway?" Damon asked.
"There is no 'we'. We are going there separate ways. Now give me your phone."
"Hell no!" Damon exclaimed. Machae rolled her eyes and pressed the sudden brake making the vampire lost his grip on his phone, only to be snatched by Machae mid-air and she threw the phone out of the window.
"What the hell!" Damon glaring angrily at Machae but she was nonchalant about it as she pulled out a phone and handed it to Damon.
"No contact from home. No one is to know about our association and your mission. Only communicate with me with this phone. Everything you need to know is in here." She said hold up the phone for Damon to take it.
They continued their drive for a few minutes of silence before she sighed starting her story.
"It all started when you people killed Kol." though she said it with no sign of negative tone, she still purposely threw the jab at Damon, indirect link of the Gilbert. And it worked as she saw he flinched. "The moment Kol's sireline followed his death, almost half of my people gone."
"Clueless, this sudden disappearance triggered a group of rally wanting explanations...answers and obviously demand to bring everyone back. Vampires from all over my empire coming to my castle protested, creating a mass chaos."
"Seeing the mess of my kingdom, the witches' leader son, Colin Abernathy, made a deal with the werewolves to kidnap me...torture me" she shivered. "and taking over my domain with spreading moles all over my governance."
She paused for a moment. "...And gaining trust of my inner circle."
"I can kill him easily, of course. He is an amateur compared to his father, whom I locked up as of a few months ago. But if I do that, I can't find out the moles he put in my kingdom. I still have yet to find out how they are able to mask their magic from my vampires. They should be able to sense witches."
"This kid...Colin. He is too smart and too manipulative for his age, unlike his father." Her eyes furrowed in aggravation. "Hence why I must be very careful of my actions."
She sighed and glanced at the silent Damon. "Now you know."
He was still trying to digest all Machae had told him. His mouth opened and closed yet no words come out of it. after a few more seconds, he finally found his voice back. "Wow...that is...that is a lot."
She snorted. 'You think?' she wanted to say.
"Are you...are you ok?" she glanced, surprised at his concern. Then, she stared blankly at the road.
He didn't need to elaborate further to indicate the question stretched beyond physicality-wise, he was also asking how was she on the inside.
Such a simple question, she pondered. But why did she find it hard to answer?
Or rather... hard to admit.
For the first time in 100 years, she admitted. "No. No, I'm not." she whispered truthfully. She gave a sorrow glance at him before her eyes hardening again. "But I must be."
It was the first time Damon really saw her strength. It impressed him, dare he say he admired her. Not many people could give rise to this reaction of Damon.
He didn't need to ask about her kidnapping. It was clear as day that it was as bad as it could be. The woman who beat him multiple times was sitting right next to him with a broken look on her face.
But before she had time to even heal herself properly, she had to push herself aside for her people. Her people came before her.
He knew Machae was still too closed off to allow herself to be comforted by him, especially now after what happened. So the least he could do was to make the pressing matter lighter.
"Lucky you pick me, I hate witches too." At this, Machae glanced at Damon with a ghost smirk on her face.
• • •
Niklaus looking worse than ever. He was still the hottest man Machae had ever laid eyes on, but even she couldn't shake off the exhausted look he had on him.
Machae did not expect the man to be in a bad shape especially after she caught him having the night of his life, but even so she kept her stare blank.
Niklaus along with his two siblings behind him looked at Machae in surprise. They didn't expect Machae looking so unhealthy. She looked...different. Elijah and Rebekah's lips parted as they gasped in surprised.
While Niklaus was still looking at the woman he with a mixture of emotions, he was now furious to whoever dared to harm her.
But that was not the only thing they were surprised of. By just one look of her, they could not miss the cold look she had on her face. They knew she was not the same Machae they met a few months ago.
This was a new Machae emerged.
Their stare off was unfortunately interrupted by the buzzling crowd around them. And just like that, they lost sight of Machae.
Niklaus cursed under his breath but he got another idea. He knew exactly where she was headed, so he was going to wait for her there after...-Damon.
"Lucky you pick me, I hate witches too." At this, Machae glanced at Damon with a ghost smirk on her face.
"Oh and one more thing, as soon as you arrived there. Pick up a package for me at the 5th Nightclub, Royal Mile street." She asked.
"I stalked everything about this guy and courier an item for you." Damon asked wary of Machae's true intention, thinking this was too simple. "That's it?"
"Yes. But do not underestimate the witches. They are as sneaky and sly as they can get, know almost everyone in my empire hence why I need an outsider as an informant." She explained, as she pulled up at the side of the empty road, still not taking her eyes off the road.
Machae might have told Damon the background of her concern, but that definitely did not mean she trust him. He was still in the group of people who rooted this situation after all.
"You may not understand the gravity of the situation but you know this is important, Damon." She said quietly, yet with a firm tone.
Machae turned to Damon, facing him fully. "Don't mess it up and try something against me. I will know. Everything you think you know can be used against me, I will always be five steps ahead. From this moment on, we do not know each other but through this phone." She gestured to the phone in Damon's hand.
"Understood?"
"Yea."
"Good. Now get out, about a mile from here there's a cottage with a red car. Use it and I'll see you at the airport."
His hand reached the door handle but stopped when she called quietly. "Wait."
He glanced back at her. "Damon..." She turned to face him, eyes full of fear and uncertainty. "Are you real?"
After so many experience of the witches meddling with her mind, she could hardly tell the difference between nightmare and reality. Though, it was proven so far this was real, she was just – she was terrified that this was a new level of their hallucination.
She had come this far, she didn't think she could handle being broken down if this was fake.
Not knowing whatever made Machae questioned him that, Damon tried to keep his expression from faltering, as he didn't voice his burning curiosity as he knew the last thing she wanted was to relive the trauma.
The witches really messed up her mind.
He touched her arm gently. "Yes, I am real. Don't worry." He smiled as she nodded.
She expected him to get out of the car and bolted away from her. Instead, he had not move an inch. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as to what was he doing.
"I'm sorry."
Machae choked up, not at all expecting what he said.
2 simple words that she never expected to come out of Damon's mouth towards her. It was also out of the blue. But Machae knew what he was talking about. Killing Kol.
"No. you're not." she said simply.
"I'm not sorry they killed Kol." he confirmed. "But I am sorry that they kill you."
Damon turned his head to fully face her. "I like you, you know."
Machae's eyes casted down, away from his eyes. While she knew, Damon meant it in friend-ly way as she did, she appreciated it no less. But the guilt was eating her alive.
"The night of the Mikaelson ball...that wasn't the first time I've heard of you." She confessed. "Decades ago, when Kol and I were on our revenge rampage, we hunt down everyone involved in that mad experiment that brought us together. I saw your name when I stumbled upon a folder under the name 'Dr. Whitmore, PROJECT AUGUSTINE.'"
Machae saw Damon instantly stiffened, but she kept going. "Kol didn't know. I never told him since I didn't even look twice at it. I...didn't see it relevant at the time."
She might not said it out loud, but it was clear what she meant. She didn't care about it, not when it wasn't her own course of revenge, and that included Damon.
"I am sorry."
She didn't need to say. Damon knew what she meant: If only I looked into it, I could've set you free earlier.
It took a moment for Damon to end his silence and when he did it completely took Machae by surprise.
"I don't blame you." She made no effort to hide her surprise. "You didn't know."
"I would've done the same." He looked down upon his lap with a sad and clear look of guilt. "I...understand."
'I truly did.' a flash of Enzo's face appeared on Damon's mind. 'I did worse.'
For the first time, she gave him a genuine smile as he returned the same. "I like you too, you know."
In that moment, they knew this was only between them two and looked at each other with newfound respect and understanding.
"Damon." Niklaus greeted the Salvatore. "Fancy seeing you here, all alone without Elena." He smiled.
Damon groaned at the presence of the hybrid. "What do you want, Klaus?" He rolled his eyes as he walked away with Niklaus following beside him.
"Well for starters, I want you to tell me why are you here? Conveniently at the same time Machae is?" Niklaus grabbed his arm. A sign of threatening warning. "What are you and your gang planning?" his voice dark.
Damon rolled his eyes and couldn't help but scoffed at the irony of the situation. "You think I want to be here, Klaus? I don't. But I have no damn choice, it was stolen from me the moment Machae decided to use me as her pawn." He smiled sarcastically. "Funny this reminds me of what happened with you and my brother. To think now the role is reversed."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch a plane." Damon ripped his arm out of Niklaus' hold and resumed his walk to the check in locket.
Niklaus walked beside him. Ignoring his comment about Stefan and him, focusing more about what he said about Machae. "What do you mean pawn?" Niklaus pestered.
Damon ignored him as he continued walking. "Why should I tell you? After Machae held their lifelines and she specifically told me no one is to know about what she told me to do." Damon said nonchalantly.
"And guess what? That includes you, buddy." He smiled sarcastically at Niklaus.
"For fuck sake, tell me now Damon or I'll –"
"You know what? Why don't you ask her yourself instead of bothering me?" Damon groaned in annoyance.
Niklaus grew agitated, so he sped in front of Damon stopping him from walking further. "Tell me what she is up to willingly or should I compel it out of you?"
Damon looked at him frustrated. "Did you not hear a word I've been saying, Klaus? She -" He was about to rant more to Niklaus but he paused when he realized something.
"You know I was surprised to see her alive. Let alone looking as...unhealthy as that. Damn! Colder too. Then you showed up demanding me to tell you what is she doing with me when you can easily ask her yourself. That's when I realized this is what you've been doing this past month, isn't it Klaus? It's a damn miracle you left our lives alone to ourselves. Thanks to your behaviour...Now I know whatever it is that caused Machae like that...it has something to do with you."
Damon smirked when he saw his taunting was right jackpot. Niklaus looked enraged as ever, glaring deadly at him. If a glare could kill, he would be six feet under in that second.
So Damon continued to tease him. "Or not? I might be wrong about the whole damn thing." He smiled sarcastically.
"Would you rather me haunting your Mystic Falls gang instead, Damon?" Niklaus retorted back. "I'd gladly do so."
Damon looked torn. He knew whatever he chose would be just as bad. Niklaus noticed this and decided to speak up. "I can handle Machae. Now either you tell me what I want or as I said before, I compelled you. Either way I get my answer."
He sighed, annoyed Niklaus was right. "She wants me as her insight to know about this dude, Colin Abernathy. Say he's a witch she wants to destroy. She mentioned there's this war going on right now. That's all I know."
Damon decided to just gave him part truth since he owed him nothing and he was still annoyed by Niklaus since he made his life a hell.
"Now you have what you wanted. Excuse me, Klaus I need to go to Edinburgh." He smiled sarcastically at Niklaus before walking away.
He didn't chase after Damon, instead he stood still pondering over what he just told him. 'Abernathy?' Niklaus thought. He heard that name before. But where?
'Of course, that witch Machae went off to war against.'
Niklaus quickly was approached by his siblings. He told them what Damon said, they too recognized the name Abernathy. Elijah and Rebekah thought this was beyond their control and the hook up Niklaus had that Rebekah knew led to this was strictly the problem between the two of them she wanted nothing to be a part of. And clearly from the look of it, Machae was also not ready to face the siblings. So, they left.
That left Niklaus to deal with Machae alone.
Niklaus waited at the locket check-in for destination Edinburgh and looked for the sign of Machae, growing more impatient when he found none.
He knew Damon was in line on the que but Machae was no where near him. He frowned in confusion until a thought popped in his head.
'She's not here, but she is here' he thought. 'Clever girl.'
He was right. He found Machae by the more isolated area with one of the airport attendants. From where she was, she could still see what was going on, but not enough for people to glance in her direction. Smart move.
He was about to approach her when he stopped in his track, stunned by what she was doing with the airport officer. Indeed shocked him and amazed him at the same time.
Small red water-like glowing energy flew out of Machae's hand resting on her shoulder to her head. Both of their eyes glow red. Niklaus used his vamp-hearing to know what they were talking about.
"Give me a seat near Damon Salvatore, behind him. But not too close. Delete our names from registration after we had used it for everything we needed and put our names in other planes instead." Machae instructed as she handed her passport. "You will replace the current officer shift when that raven hair man's turn. I do not want anyone to know him and I will be on that plane. Am I clear?"
"Of course, ms." The airport officer smiled, eyes glazed. "But I do need your name for your ticket."
"It's Machae Antonova." She shook her head. "No. It's actually Natalia Petr - ." She cut herself and closed her eyes for a moment. "Just Natalia."
"Thank you." Machae walked away blending in with the crowd again.
'Natalia... she used her birth name.' he thought. 'It's beautiful. Like her.'
From the record he got, he knew Machae was just a code name she was given back when she was still under the Brotherhood. Somehow, it ended up with her unknowingly adopted it to her real name.
Niklaus watched in the shadow, guiltily. It pained him to see his love struggled with her identity. But he pushed that aside as he walked towards the woman.
Machae stiffened when she sensed another's presence was following her. she was even more tense when she recognized who. But she kept walking, casting a wonderful illusion of ignorance.
But not enough to fool him. He knew she sensed him. "Mae..."
Nothing happened. It was like he was talking to the wind. "Mae, please." He called again. "We need to talk."
She wanted to snap right there and then. Who was he to tell her they need to talk? But she kept walking, not even bothering to turn around.
"Go away, Niklaus." Machae spat, using his name she knew he didn't like. Her voice low which she knew only him could heard, without turning around.
Niklaus knew pressing her further would only aggravated her more. So he tried new method.
"It's incredible what you did back there, love. You can compel people now." He complimented. Machae continued walking, not even sparing him a glance.
"Rebekah and Elijah miss you and glad to know you're still alive." Niklaus tried. 'I miss you.' He wanted to add, but refrained himself.
"I can help you. You don't need Damon." He tried again.
But Machae just ignored him. Rolled her eyes instead, 'Of course he talked to Damon.' She thought.
"Please. I just..." Niklaus said equally low. He sighed. "I just want to talk."
"Can't. Too many eyes, too many ears. Above all, I don't want to."
Without a second thought, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her inside a janitor's closet. Too fast for Machae to comprehend and protest.
Before Machae realized, she was in a dark tight confined space pressed up against someone with only light from the line-holes door. She looked up to see Niklaus' face was only inches from hers.
"Did you not hear what I say?" She snapped, glaring at him. "I do not want to talk to you." She ignored the longing feeling being this close up to him like this and both of their increased heartbeats.
He couldn't deny it hurt when she brushed him off like that. but that was not his focus right now.
"Mae, are you ok? What did he do to you?" he looked down to her, checking her, the colour of her skin was not as radiant, feeling her ideal figure getting smaller, but not in a good way, like not healthy. At this, he was fuming. Whatever William did to her must be really bad to have an after effect like this.
But he wasn't the only one fuming, Machae was also furious at the hybrid. How dare he! After what he did, he just showed up and acting all caring like nothing happened. "That's none of your business." She stated coldly, eyes glaring at him.
"Yes, it is." He stared at her fiercely. "I'm worried about you." His voice softened. After looking away for a moment, avoiding his intense gaze, she answered eventually in a short quiet voice. "I'm fine."
Niklaus was aggravated by her response. Clearly she was not fine. even a blind man knew. But he kept his cool, he didn't want to have a bad start with her.
He was not at all convinced and he also noticed she purposely dodging his second question. But he let it slide, he figured she wasn't ready to tell him yet. however, the fury he felt just rise up again before he could stop it. "Just give me a place, love. I'll make sure he suffers."
After day by day being held captive, she had a lot of time to think. She had a lot of time where her own mind further tortured her by its own. One of the concerns, of course, being William.
The reason she was in that mess. She gathered over everything she knew and realized he was just a pawn to whoever was the bastard alpha. The alpha obviously knew of her conncetion to William and decided to use him to maximum purpose.
He was just a pawn.
"You will not go anywhere near him." she took a threatening stance. She eyed Niklaus in defiance, daring him to challenge her.
Niklaus gave her an 'are you serious?' look. "Do you even hear yourself? Have you look in the mirror, Mae? I'm just going to put it bluntly. You look terrible, love not in a matter of beauty-wise, you look sick, Mae. Don't you realize that? He took you for a month and you came out looking as unhealthy as ever. He no longer cares about you. Your best friend is gone. William is gone." He paused, taking in how she'd reacted. To his relief, she didn't look offended. She knew everything he said was true, the appearance part in particular, where she resisted urge to flinch. Knowing was one thing, hearing it out loud...from him was quite a struggle.
She might have told herself frequently, no matter what happened there was still a part of the old William she knew was still in there. But deep down in her heart, she too questioned it herself.
Am I getting mad?
However, in this particular situation, she didn't let that dominate her thoughts. Pushing that aside, she met the intense gaze of Niklaus.
"Look Mae, I'm not saying this because I want to hurt you. But because I want to kill him. So, tell me where he is, I'll avenge you, Mae."
Truth was she didn't feel the slightest offended by Niklaus' words about her body. She bloody knew every single thing what her body went through. In fact, it even surprised her that she recovered this fast. She knew he thought she had no idea and he was just telling the truth to snap her out of it.
But she was angry at was how he just marched up to her telling her William – her best friend – was gone – when she believed deep down he was still inside that man, and now he was threatening to kill William when it was her and William's business. He had no part in this and shouldn't bloody involved himself. He lost that right the moment he broke her heart.
"Who are you to tell me if my best friend is gone? That he no longer cares? After what you did..." she glared fiercely with so much anger at him. "You are in no position of making demands, Klaus."
He looked away uncomfortably, guilty knowing what she said was right. Not a second passed by did he not regretted what happened that night. He wished he could take it all back, searched for her, or at least hear her out before lashing out to another woman, take back all the hurtful words he said to her.
"If you're just here to threaten William, then you're just wasting both of our time." She reached for the door and was about to went out when he stopped her.
"Mae, please just listen, love." He pleaded, touching her arm softly.
"Don't call me that." She snapped, swatted his hand away ignoring the hurt look on his face when she did that.
"I didn't mean what I said that night, Mae. I wasn't thinking straight. It was only a heat of a moment. I was mad at you for kissing William, but I'm over it, love. –"
"I'm not. We both know you did mean what you said."
"Love, I didn't. – "
Her eyes screamed pain and hurt of Niklaus' betrayal. "You know I'm still alive and I stood by my last words to you. Yet you still did it."
He didn't have the answer to that. He knew. There was no strong arguments he could make to justify his betrayal action. Instead, he just said what he wanted her to believe, to have the faith in him.
"I will always choose you, Mae. You are the only one for me." He stared deeply into her eyes. He wanted her to know he meant what he said. He would always be his only one. His hand reached up and caressed her cheek, cupped her face.
Machae wanted so badly to believe him. She really did. But how could she? When she knew a betrayal's nature was to continue its line?
Her eyes looked up to see those sea blue eyes she loved so much. It held so much pain and regret. She wanted badly to just wiped it all away. Being this close after so long, every fibre of her body wanted to just kiss the man she knew she still loved.
But how could she? She hadn't even recovered from the heartbreak he did, all the hurtful things he said in her nightmares. She opened herself up to him. She let him in.
"Then tell me this. Tell me those 3 words and I'm yours."
Niklaus gulped. He knew exactly what she meant. He wanted so badly to scream it out loud, let the world knew of his feelings for her, let her knew. But he couldn't, he knew he couldn't. it would only endangered both of them.
He had many enemies more than he could even remember. If there was even a hint that she was his weakness, he couldn't live with himself for jeopardizing her safety.
Niklaus opened his mouth, blinked several times preparing for what he was about to say. "I...I..I-I..." he stuttered.
Machae looked down. Tears brimming in her eyes. 'He can't say it.' she thought. 'They were right.'
With one last look at Niklaus, she left the closet.