Her demon had been present but had been unable to relay any information about what had happened in the room with Elena and Esther. It wasn’t until Elijah asked Elena about whether or not he should be concerned about his mother, that Myriam’s demon could read Elena’s thoughts and give Myriam the information she needed.
But it was already too late for Myriam to do something about it as the special champagne was already being passed along. “Don’t drink it,” she whispered to Klaus as she was standing next to him and told the demon in Kol to take over and not drink the champagne, either while Esther made her speech.
“Why?”
“Trust me.”
“Myriam.”
“Mon LouLou, I’ll tell you later,” she sighed frustratedly. “Just don’t drink it.”
After the toast, Klaus gently guided Myriam outside where they pretended to look at the horses that were in front of the carriages. “Now, tell me what that was all about.”
“Your mother isn’t here for forgiveness or to be a family with you and the rest of the family, Klaus,” Myriam replied softly as she gently ruffled the horse’s mane. “Elena had willingly parted with some of her blood when she was with your mother so she could perform a spell to bind you all together as one.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
“Bind you as in, if one of you dies, so do all of you, Klaus,” she snarled. “I managed to save you and Kol from that, but to save the rest of your siblings will require some heavy duty magic.”
“That’s preposterous,” Klaus huffed. “Mother said she’d forgiven me. And—”
“And here we go again,” Myriam rolled her eyes.
“Alright, even if you were right…”
“I am!”
“Who’s willing to die so eagerly?”
“Who do you think?” Myriam retorted. “It’s not Elijah, not Rebekah and not Kol!”
“Finn. Of course,” he growled. “What you’re saying is that they’re still linked together and risk of dying? Why would mother want to do this?”
“For the same reason she created your Father the way that he was; she still finds that turning you was a mistake, a blight, and she wants to set things straight. Make things right again,” she looked at him. “She hasn’t changed, Klaus. She never will. Like Mikael, she wants you, and your siblings, dead.”
“I’m going to kill her!” Klaus growled. “Again!”
“Can’t you at least wait until we’ve found a witch powerful enough to undo this so you can safely get rid of Finn, too?” Myriam asked as she pulled him back to her. “Granted, I don’t like Elijah much, but you do need a dose of him in your life every once in a while. And Rebekah is fun to hang around with too when she’s not being bitchy.”
“And are you suggesting not to tell anyone either?”
“I think you should tell Elijah, Kol and Rebekah, but not Finn. And definitely not that I saved the both of you from being linked in that spell because then they’ll start asking why they weren’t saved. But not tonight. Tomorrow,” she said as she softly kissed his lips. “And, speaking of leaving me out of things, I think it’s best if I move back behind you, instead of right next to you.”
Klaus blinked at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m afraid of your mother, Klaus. It’s either me running away, which I’m not going to do, or take a few steps back and let you handle this shit. The chances of you surviving this is bigger than me surviving it.”
He sighed and nodded. “But then I don’t want to hear you yell at me for doing things differently.”
“I won’t, I’ll be doing normal wifey stuff. Apart from cleaning. I might do some cooking when I feel like it,” she smiled at him. “Because my husband will fix what his mother is doing to her children and will keep his wife safe from his mother, yes?”
“But you’re not running?”
“No,” she kissed him again. “I’m staying. I’m not able to do much against your mother, but you’re less afraid of her than you were of Mikael. So, I’m staying. With you.”
There was some commotion on the balcony above them, and it was Kol breaking Matt’s hand. And then it was Kol flying off the balcony and Damon jumping after him. As Kol was lying on the ground, Myriam yelled for Damon to leave Kol alone, and Damon broke Kol’s neck. Stefan came running out, and shortly everyone at the ball came outside too.
While everyone was just standing there and looked at Damon’s retreating back, she pulled off her stiletto shoes and launched both of them at his back with such a speed that they got lodged into his back. “Asshole! You really had to go and spoil this evening, didn’t you?”
“Oh no, this evening was long spoiled when Stefan snapped my neck so that Elena could go and talk with your mother-in-law, so yeah, don’t mind me for taking my revenge!”
“On my best friend!”
“He was hurting Matt!”
“Who the fuck cares about the quarterback?!”
“Elena does!”
“Fuck Elena!”
“I’d love to!”
Myriam started to laugh then and pulled her shoes out of his back. “Don’t you ever hurt my best friend out of frustration ever again, hear me?”
“He’ll live,” Damon muttered.
Her eyebrow arched as she dropped her arms to her side. “Perhaps. But will you, if you piss off the wrong person? Watch yourself, Damon. I can only protect you so far from my family, and I don’t want to protect your brother at all. I want to kill him myself.”
“Yeah well, feel free. Then maybe, maybe, the world will regain some common sense.”
“So I can go and kill him right now?” She smiled widely. “Really? I can?”
“No! Of course not!” Damon countered annoyed. “This is just a spat between siblings, stay out of it.”
“But nobody will stop me, you know. If I turn back and kill him… nobody will bat an eye except for maybe Elena and the blondie… oh, wait… I can kill her too!”
“Myriam!”
“What!”
“Since when are you so vengeful and ready to kill everyone?”
She sighed. “I always have been, Damon, I was merely careful about it and biting my tongue all the times I’ve been to Mystic Falls. If someone wrongs me, they usually end up dead. Not you, though. But I’ve always hated your brother for doing what he did. Forcing you to turn… Killing Zak… And Zach…”
“Zach was me, but Stefan set Zach up for that by locking me up and stuff. I had no reason to kill Zach, although he hated me. Loooooved Stefan because Stefan is the good one from both of us.”
“Yeah right.”
“You’re not killing Stefan.”
“We’ll see,” Myriam shrugged as she put her shoes back on and walked back to the party.
~o.O.o~
The next day Kol managed to drag Klaus away from the house to go and have some fun. Myriam still kept her demons on them, just in case, but she tried to relax and found that she couldn’t do that in her own home because of Esther and Finn. Instead, she drove to Richmond and treated herself to some retail therapy and a mani and pedi. Because why not? She said she’d be more the wife instead of the protector, and this is what a wife did.
She didn’t interfere in anything for days, not even when Meredith Fell drove a stake through Elijah’s heart and causing nearly everyone to pass out. Almost everyone, because Klaus and Kol weren’t linked to their siblings. She didn’t complain when Klaus sent Kol away to Denver, Colorado to make friends with Jeremy and she didn’t mind. Jeremy was harmless, and she knew that Klaus needed leverage over Elena and the Scoobies at some point. Kol was the right person to do so.
At least Kol would be still alive and not boxed.
She was happily sipping a glass of wine while she was reading a book on the porch of her home. With Esther and Finn in the wind, her home felt like a home again, and she’d done an immediate cleansing of the house after they had failed to return. Myriam hadn’t missed the sound of a car stopping in the driveway and two people getting out. “The Doppelganger and the Witch…” she said as she didn’t look up from her book. “What can I do for you?”
“We need your help.”
Myriam looked up then, in surprise. “My help? For what?”
“We’re having a problem with… Alaric. Bonnie isn’t confident that she can help him and the herbs that Meredith Fell gave him to suppress… don’t work,” Elena replied. “Alaric’s in trouble.”
“And I should care, why?”
“He’s killing all the council members!”
“And?”
“It’s Ric. We want Ric back.”
Myriam sighed. “And why should I help you? I know that you’re still planning on killing my family, one way or another.”
“Because,” Bonnie said simply. “With Alaric insane and on the loose, he’ll be a danger to Elena as she’s from the founding families. He’ll also be a danger to you because your name is on that list too. Despite it being a fake name, he knows it’s you.”
“Again, Elena isn’t my problem. And let him come. He’s human. I’m a vampire. I’ll kill him first,” she replied. “Problem solved.”
“You don’t get it. Alaric is a vampire hunter. And now he’s possessed by a killer. You won’t hear him coming.”
“When the fuck did that happen?” Myriam blinked. Insane was one thing, possessed another. “Who’s possessing him?”
“We don’t know. It’s the darkness, likely from being killed too much and wearing the Gilbert ring,” Elena said as she handed Myriam an old Gilbert journal. “It happened in 1912 too.”
Myriam quickly read the diary and hummed. “Well, Samantha was just plain crazy from what I can tell, it wasn’t the ring,” she replied as she downed her glass and got to her feet. “Very well, take me to the patient. I’ll see what I can find out about what’s going on with him.”
They brought her to the Salvatore house where Alaric was sitting on the sofa, a big flask of some herbal mixture sitting right next to him. “Right, Bonnie, thank you. You can go. Elena can stay if she so wishes.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep Elena and Alaric alive, that’s a promise,” Myriam smiled sweetly. “I believe you have a mother to attend to?”
Bonnie grumbled something before walking out. Myriam sat down next to Alaric on the couch and slapped his knee. “So, I hear you’re being a dick, and they’ve been trying to fix you.”
“I can’t believe they thought you can help me,” Alaric sighed as he relaxed into the couch. “I’m not in the mood for any jokes, Myriam.”
“I might be your only chance, Ric,” she said as she took his hand and took off the ring for her to fiddle with, for her demons and spirits to check it over. “So, how does this ring work? You die, you come back to life?”
“But every time you die, you end up further away from your body, so it takes a while to come back. And after you do, you don’t remember what you’ve seen or experienced on the other side,” Ric replied.
“So… for all you know someone’s been messing with your soul on the other side, and you wouldn’t know?”
“No, I— what? Is that even possible?”
Myriam shrugged. “A lot is possible with magic. It’s how Esther came back, wasn’t it? These rings were spelt by a Bennett witch to bring you back to life. Magic requires balance. Magic needs balance. Getting back to life after death could piss off the entire witch population on the other side.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that.”
“Nobody likely thought about that,” Myriam muttered as she started to get images from her demons about the ring, about Ric’s state of mind, about everything concerning him. And Esther. Every time Ric died, Esther found him. And spoke about her hatred towards her children, vampires, and about killing them. That she had plans for him. The rest was the effect of the ring itself, but she had been polluting his soul. “Yeah, I can fix you,” she eventually said with a nod. “Might take a few sessions, but I can fix you. I need to get a few things from my home, and then we can start, what do you say?”
“You’re not a witch.”
“No, but I am a Voodoo priestess, and I have more tricks on my sleeve, I don’t need magic to fix you,” she ruffled his hair as she looked at Elena. “I’m keeping the ring and don’t you dare to refuse me.”
“I’m not!” Elena said quickly. “You can have it, just please, fix him.”
“Call your friend Caroline to keep an eye on him, I don’t want you to be alone with Alaric for long, but I’ll be back shortly, and then we can start,” Myriam said as she got to her feet and pocketed the ring. She was a little bit rusty on her rituals and would need to call Isabella for some help in preparation.
Myriam didn’t care for Alaric, but after realising that Esther was behind it, she was more than happy to one-up the bitch. And it wasn’t as if she was busying herself with Klaus’ affairs, this was a little project of her own, and it didn’t have anything to do with the spell most of his siblings were affected by.
She returned an hour later, after having spoken to Isabella and gathered all the things she needed for the ritual she was going to perform on Alaric and cleared one of the rooms upstairs for her to do her work in. She drew some symbols on the floor and asked Alaric to lay down in the middle of it. Both Elena and Caroline were standing in the doorway, both having apprehensive looks on their faces.
“Oh don’t worry, everything will be alright,” Myriam assured them as she used her demons to keep Alaric pinned down to the floor and directed some demons inside of him while she chanted.
Everyone believed that possession was done by spirits or evil entities, and in a way, people were right. Some possessions were done by ghosts, but there were multiple layers of existence in the world. Different planes where demons and other creatures live. Alaric wasn’t possessed. His subconscious had been manipulated on a different plane; the Other Side, and to fix that, she needed to draw strength from her demons to mend his soul back into one piece, and not fragmented and heightened as it was now.
While she was chanting, she smeared some oil over his body, burned a few herbs and walked around him, intensely watching how Alaric responded to her demons dealing with his fractured psyche. Her demons kept him on the ground, but he was screaming and trying to break free. Both Elena and Caroline were horrified by what they were seeing.
After thirty minutes, Alaric passed out, and Myriam kept going for another fifteen until she decided to take a small break. “Good news is, I think that it’s working. Bad news? I’ll have to continue in about an hour after a feed and some rest. Do you want me to continue this all night long or do you want me to come back a few times?”
“Whatever you feel is necessary, Myriam,” Elena replied. “Is he okay?” she wanted to approach him, but Myriam stopped her.
“It’s not a good thing to touch him now. Leave him be. He’s alright, I promise,” she said as she guided Elena and Caroline away from the door. “Go get some food, this is going to be a loooong night.”
~o.O.o~
By morning, Stefan rushed in. “You need to stop what you’re doing right now!”
“I’m almost done, relax,” Myriam said with a shrug. “If I stop now, I’ll have to do it all over again because his soul will fracture again, and trust me, I do not want to go through this again.”
“You need to stop,” Stefan grabbed her by her shoulders to make her look at him. “His evil alter ego is the only one who knows where he hid the White Oak Stake.”
“Whi— what?” Myriam blinked. “What the hell have you guys been up to? Planning on killing some Originals? Where the fuck did you find White Oak? Didn’t Rebekah burn it all?”
“She forgot the sign,” Stefan shrugged. “But we need that stake so we can kill Klaus.”
“No, you don’t need that stake. Let it be lost forever for all I care. You’re not going to kill Klaus! Finn died, I know that much. How is the rest of his line doing? Sage? Troy? They’re dead, aren’t they? Guess what happens when you kill my husband? You kill me, and I don’t want to die, thank you very much.”
“Tough. We handed over all of our stakes because Damon was being held by Rebekah.”
“I don’t care, I’m not stopping this ritual,” Myriam angrily said as she broke Stefan’s neck and threw him out of the room. Oh, she knew where Dark!Alaric had hidden the stake, and as soon as she was done, she was going to get it with the help of a compelled human and burn it. She had received the news from one of her demons that Finn was dead and her heart had rejoiced. To know that there was more White Oak around, though, was a problem.
She had finished the ritual by breakfast and made sure that her ‘glue’ was steadily in place. Alaric was going to be back to his usual self quite quickly, but he was going to have a hell of a hangover. And Myriam needed sleep.
However, when she arrived home, she was greeted by an anxiously pacing hybrid. “What’s gotten your tail all in a twist?”
“Where have you been!”
“Dealing with another victim of your mother’s, thank you very much.”
“What?”
“Alaric,” she told him. “You know… the vampire hunter with a dark side? Your mother manipulated his soul whenever he died and ended up on the Other Side. I fixed that. Can’t have a crazy human walking around like that.”
Klaus’ face fell for a moment, disappointment etched on his face before the rage took over. “He has the one remaining White Oak Stake!”
“Well, Alaric won’t know where he hid it,” Myriam countered as a matter of factly. “His dark self did, and I know where he hid it, so why are you acting like someone pissed in your cereal?”
“You know where it is?”
“Yes.”
“Get it. Now, and take Rebekah with you.”
“But…”
“Love, please. You know I can’t rest until all the weapons that can kill us are destroyed.”
She sighed and nodded. “I know that mon Loulou, but the stake is safe. No vampire can get to it.”
“But you can.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You have your trinkets to appear human.”
“Yeah, but it didn’t fool those witches in that house where the coffins were, how do you expect it to work in the cave system?!”
“You’ll find a way. I trust you, and only you, to handle this.”
“I can’t rest up first? I’ve had a terribly long day and night.”
“Please.”
“Fine,” Myriam sighed. “But you bet your ass that I’ll be jetting off to a tropical destination after this!” She headed to her room where she had her trinkets and dark objects. It was going to require some serious mojo for her to fool the witches this time. And sure, she could compel a human to get it for her, but Klaus was right; he could only trust himself or her with this weapon.
After she had gathered what she wanted, she called for Rebekah, and they set off to the caves. “You know, it never seizes to amaze me what you do for my brother,” Rebekah said as they got out of the car. “For the family.”
“Yeah well, someone has to make sure you’re not making things worse for yourselves,” Myriam muttered. “Klaus is my husband. It’s my duty to be his wife and protect him. And thus, protect all of you. Besides, I’m the only one Kol truly listens to.”
Rebekah chuckled. “Kol listens just fine when threatened.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been telling you this for the last 300 years, you don’t get far with instilling fear, it’ll only cause them to hate you more,” Myriam said as she descended the stairs. “Anyway, once I’m done with getting the stake, would you like to come with me to the Maldives or something? Just to get away from it all?”
“Can’t, I have the school dance coming up, and I’m having far too much fun with the Salvatore boys.”
“Just don’t kill Damon.”
“Oh, you didn’t hear? I had him in my possession for a few days, torturing him. Oh, he’s so wonderful when he bleeds and squirms.”
“Well, at least you didn’t kill him.”
Rebekah sighed. “If it weren’t for Klaus demanding to get all the stakes… he’d still be hanging from the ceiling.”
Myriam shrugged as she continued to move down the cave system to where Esther’s empty coffin was standing. “Alright, here goes nothing,” she muttered as she ordered her demons, her tired demons, to create some distraction for the witches and she managed to get through the barrier after some time.
“Wow,” Rebekah said in awe. “I’ve never really seen you at work like that. That’s amazing!”
She let out a dark chuckle. “I live with you guys, I have to be able to protect myself one way or another.”
“Do you ever wish to kill one of us?”
“Just like you, Rebekah, I wish that I could kill Elijah every single day, but even with a white oak stake, I couldn’t do it. His skewed sense of morality is what Klaus needs from time to time to realise that Elijah is a fucking asshole,” Myriam replied. “And thank fuck Finn is dead.”
“But Nik is a monster.”
“He’s my husband. He’s not a monster, that’s what everyone else says,” Myriam replied angrily. “He’s a product of his upbringing, the bully of a father. I didn’t have to be there to know this. I learned enough through your stories and his to hate both of your parents and Elijah for what they had done to him. He’s a scared little boy, deep down who just wants to be accepted for who he is and what he is. And I’m the only one who does that. I don’t fear him. I love him, and I’d do anything to make sure that nothing happened to him.”
“You’re not our mother.”
“Thank fuck I’m not,” Myriam huffed as she pulled the stake out of the wall. “I understand that she believes she made a mistake by turning her children into vampires. That she hadn’t foreseen the bloodlust. But any mother would do what she’d done and love their children regardless. Just with humans, there are bad vampires, but apart from Elijah, you all merely want to live a happy life. It’s just sad that your mother doesn’t feel that way.”
“You’d think that a mother wants what’s best for her children.”
“And she did, but why think of it as a mistake? Instead, so many people got their lives enriched, including my own. I’ve travelled the world without having to worry about getting sick or tired. I’ve started a business, at first to protect the prostitutes, but it has now grown into a shelter for humans who are victims of the supernatural. I make charitable donations to charities, and I help where I can. If it hadn’t been for Kol or Klaus, I’d still be that orphan from Nice, and I would have likely ended up dead before I could actually do something with my life.”
“Are you going to use that stake?”
“On who? Elijah? Oh, I wish!” Myriam chuckled as she twirled the stake. “No, I’m going to hand it over to Klaus so he can burn it.”
“But what if I don’t want you to?” Rebekah said out of the blue. “What if I want all of the Originals to die?” She then stepped into the cave without any problems.
“Reb— Ohh, you’re not Rebekah.” Myriam sighed with resignation. Klaus was going to be pissed – again.
Myriam came to in a crypt on the Cemetery, and she was shackled to the wall. “Ah, good, you’re awake,” Esther greeted her. “Please, do try to command your demons to free you, but I can assure you, it won’t work.”
“What do you want, Esther?”
“Truthfully, hearing you talk so lovingly about my children made me waver for just a little, but I also know that I have to stay the course. Bring balance back to nature.”
Myriam let out a snort. “Oh, witches. You are so fickle. Believe me, I was one before your son turned me. By creating the vampires over a thousand years ago, you did at that point imbalance nature. But it’s been so long, Esther, the balance has returned. Take the vampires out of the equation, and it’ll cause a dangerous imbalance.”
“And that, too, shall right itself.”
“But why disrupt the balance again? Why?”
“Because I have to. And you’re going to help me do it,” Esther said as she held the ring that she had confiscated from Myriam, and the White Oak Stake. “Niklaus was very insistent I’d come with you for support, knowing that you were weakened and possibly wouldn’t be able to get the stake. But you surprised me, Myriam. You and your demons surprised me, and I think that I can help you become my best vampire hunter yet.”
“Why? I don’t hate them.”
Esther smiled then. “But you hate at least one Original. And at least two ordinary vampires. Now, that hate is something I can use. Together with your demons, I shall turn you into a magnificent vampire killer, and you can’t do anything about it to stop me,” Esther said as she snapped Myriam’s neck with magic and started to do the spell to make the stake invincible.
~o.O.o~
Myriam awoke again when she smelled blood. Oh, she was hungry. Her vampire face bleeding out, she grabbed the bowl and drank all of it to shake the cobwebs out of her mind. It was only then that she’d realised what she’d been drinking and that Elena and Esther were with her in the tomb. “What did you do?”
Esther didn’t answer, and instead, snapped Myriam’s neck again.
~o.O.o~
She was alone when she woke up again, completely alone, not even her demons were around, and that was somewhat troublesome. Myriam didn’t feel different, so she wasn’t sure if what Esther had done to her had worked.
Still chained up, Myriam didn’t have anywhere to go to but to sit and wait. Closing her eyes she tried to find her demons, make contact, but there were none. She couldn’t make the connection anymore, and that frightened her. “Esther, you bitch!” Myriam called out.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” Esther said chipper as she entered the tomb with the stake in hand. “How are you feeling?”
“You took away my demons? Why?”
She smiled then. “Well, that was certainly not what I expected, but I suppose I’m glad for that side effect,” Esther replied as she undid Myriam’s shackles.
Myriam immediately got to her feet and pushed Esther against the wall, hard, before ripping out her heart. Whatever Esther did to her, didn’t matter. The bitch needed to die. She took a bite out of Esther’s heart and chewed on it as she found her phone that had been on silent. There were a lot of missed call messages from Klaus, and she called his number.
“Where are you!”
“Your bitch of a mother took me,” Myriam replied as she sucked the blood out of Esther’s heart. “She made the last White Oak Stake so that it’s invincible, but don’t worry, it’s in my possession.”
“Are you alright?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“She did something to me, but I don’t know what. I need the Bennett bitch to check me over.”
“That can be arranged. Come home. You’ve been gone for days.”
“What about Esther’s body?”
“I’ll have someone collect her at nightfall. Come home, Myriam.”
She disconnected the call and kicked against Esther’s lifeless body for good measure before heading outside the tomb. On her way home, she quickly fed on a pickpocketer and walked into her home. “Can we please leave Mystic Falls after all this shit? You guys owe me a tropical vacation!” Myriam announced. “I think I want to go to Indonesia! I haven’t been there yet!”
“Anything you wish, love,” Klaus said as he started to look her over. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from my mother… If I had known…”
“I told you so,” she scowled at him. “And I can’t reach my demons. Where the hell is that Bennett bitch?”
“I’m here,” Bonnie replied, her arms crossed over her chest. “And I’m here willingly because you were so gracious to help out with Alaric. He says hi, by the way.”
“Yes I did, and because of that I was weakened, and Esther took me by surprise, so Ric is going to be extra nice to me the next time I see him. Now, tell me what the fuck she did to me.”
“Calm down, love,” Klaus said sweetly as he gently took her hand and led her to the sofa. “Have a seat, have something to drink, and Bonnie will check you over. There’s no need for panic.”
“Yet. I swear, if that bitch took away my access to the demons, I’ll revive her and kill her all over again. How the fuck am I supposed to protect myself? Or make sure you’re protected? I’m still a fucking normal, fragile vampire!” She then growled as she pulled the Stake out of her pants leg. “Here. You can’t destroy this one, so you’d better hide it well. I don’t want to die.”
Bonnie sat down next to her with a small smile on her face.
“What?”
“Stop being so aggravated,” Bonnie said reassuringly.
“But my fucking demons!”
“I know, but you need to calm down because I’m a very fragile mortal being and I don’t want you to rip my head off,” Bonnie replied, causing Myriam to roll her eyes. “I mean it, Myriam. I’m here because of you, not because Klaus asked. Because you were right all along. Just because you hang out with someone we don’t like, doesn’t mean we don’t have to like you.”
“Oh, and now you see the light. Well, whoopty doo.”
Bonnie took Myriam’s hand and squeezed it, hard. “Calm down. Close your eyes and breathe.”
“This is stupid,” Myriam muttered but did as she was told. It was her who had wanted Bonnie to check her over anyway, and she was being a terrible patient. But she was scared. So scared. What if Esther had done something irreversible and that would mean that her time with Klaus was limited?
Bonnie was quiet for a moment as she tried to piece things together. “I need to call Jeremy. We need his help.”
“What? Why?” Myriam said panicked. “Is there something wrong? Bonnie? Am I going to die? But I can’t die, Bonnie, I have a husband to please and a business to run. I’m far too young to—-”
Bonnie put her hand over Myriam’s mouth and smiled. “I need Jeremy because of the lack of demons you mentioned. He can contact the Other Side. Maybe he can find a friendly dead witch of your choosing to inform us what Esther has done to you.”
“I don’t know any friendly witches. I hate witches and witches hated me, even when I was one before I turned,” she mumbled against her hand.
“That is true,” Klaus verified as he watched silently, trying to be as supportive as he could.
“Okay… so… a friendly dead vampire then?”
Myriam merely rolled her eyes at the girl.
“Fine, we’ll try one of our friendlies. But I’m going to need Jeremy.”
Jeremy arrived with a vampire escort in the guise of Damon 15 minutes later. “We didn’t ask for you,” Myriam said as she saw Damon.
“No, but there was no way in hell we were going to send Jeremy into the Mikaelson lair by himself, and I’m the one you tolerate most so here I am,” Damon shrugged as he leaned against the doorpost. “You want him, you have to have me around.”
“It’s fine,” Bonnie said as she took Jeremy’s hand and had him sit down close to her and Myriam. “Myriam had an encounter with Esther. Myriam can’t reach her demons anymore.”
“Demons?”
“Like spirits, but controllable. She had them do everything, apparently. And she can’t reach them anymore. I think the answer lies on the Other Side,” Bonnie explained.
Jeremy nodded. “I think you’re right,” he said as he looked around. “There are a lot of angry dead witches around her, and they’re not talking.”
Myriam glared around the room at no one and nothing in particular. “Yeah, well, I didn’t do a damn thing to them to be pissed at me. If they have a bone to pick at anyone, tell them to take it up with Klaus’ bitch of a mother. I only ripped her two-faced heart out of her chest.”
“Actually, this is a whole line of witches, and they’re connected to you,” Jeremy said, a smile on his face. “Someone’s finally talking. Uh… Giovanna d’Medici, she says she’s called.”
She turned and glared at the boy, but shut her mouth herself. “Oh. Well, then I have nothing to say. They got their due diligence, and they know why,” she muttered and sat back on the couch, crossing her arms petulantly.
We aren’t happy with Myriam, she cursed our entire family after finding out that she was the bastard child of one of our ancestors. We understand her anger, her rage because she was rejected and didn’t get to enjoy the safety and comfort that our family name holds. Or held. Jeremy relayed that message and saw Damon smacking his face. “What?”
“I’ll tell you later,” he said with a painful expression on his face.
They don’t wish to help Myriam, but I understand her pain. She must have led such an awful life, and I’m happy that she has found happiness, true happiness, with a family that adores her. She has done her penance.
The one you call Esther tried to make Myriam into a vampire hunter. A killer, to make sure that the vampires would cease to exist. Esther had tapped into the rage and hatred she felt towards certain individuals but hadn’t thought about Myriam’s love for her husband. Nor had she taken into account Myriam’s demonology side. Her demons.
Her demons amplified her love for Niklaus and created a barrier so that the hunting aspect of the spell didn’t hit. Myriam got what she wanted. She now is an Original vampire, like her husband, and she can’t be killed unless it’s with the White Oak Stake. Unfortunately, she had to give up on her demons, because Nature requires balance and an Original vampire is a being much more powerful than she’s ever been.
“What?” Myriam said flabbergasted. “Is she lying?”
“No, she confirms what I already believed, but I know you wanted to hear about your demons,” Bonnie replied. “So… congratulations, you’re an Original Vampire now.”
Klaus came around the couch and sat down on the opposite side of Myriam, taking her hand. “Are you serious? I mean, are you sure? That is not a simple task to be done. And you need specific components that are not readily available. I don’t want this to be reversed for her if someone were to find out.”
“She used a modified spell, but it’s very similar to the spell Esther used for you. For all intents and purposes, Myriam is an Original. She’s one of you. She’s still the Myriam you got to know and love. More sturdy and durable, that’s all.”
And perhaps a little extra dose of rage, but let’s keep that to ourselves, Jeremy. You can inform your friends later. Jeremy shook his head. “Can I go now?”
Nodding his appreciation, Klaus smiled at him. “Thank you,” he murmured. “If there is anything I can do for you for what you have done tonight, please let me know.”
“You could leave my sister alone.”
“Anything but that, young Gilbert.”
“If there’s anything else…” Bonnie said before the previously motionless Myriam took her hand without warning.
“You’re not lying to me, are you?”
“I could have, but what’s the point? You’re truly one of them now, Myriam, and I do hope your personality won’t change along with it because you’re actually pretty normal compared to them.”
“Bonnie.”
“Myriam,” she smiled at her. “I’m not lying. I have no reason to.”
“We could always prove that Bonnie’s right by driving a stake through your heart,” Damon shrugged from his spot by the door.
“No!”
“Esther has given us all a headache, but at least now something good has come out of it. And that’s a lot of thanks to your demons,” Bonnie assured Myriam. “I don’t know if you had any in play, but you may want to find an exorcist to remove them.”
“That’s not necessary, I can do that myself, thank you,” Myriam replied, still shocked by what she had heard. She had always wanted to be stronger and more durable than an ordinary vampire, mainly because she was with Klaus and Kol, and now she had gotten her wish. Myriam took a deep breath and smiled at Bonnie before hugging her. “Thank you, Bonnie.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll be going too then.”
Damon almost hurried Jeremy and Bonnie out of the house and straight into the car. “Call Stefan, Elena and Alaric and tell them to meet us at the house,” Damon said as he started the car. “ASAP.”
“Why?”
“Because Myriam has been right all along. Klaus is not the one we should fear. I’ll explain when we’re back home. Call them. Now.”
~o.O.o~
As soon as they were all gathered in the Salvatore sitting room, Damon poured himself a big glass of bourbon. “So, time for a history lesson. Who has heard of the Medici Family?” He wasn’t surprised to see the blank stares on most of the faces. “Alaric, history teacher, what do you know of them?”
“Ah, they’re part of European history. It’s not something taught in schools because, in light of everything, they were only a small smidge of history. World War Two is something that basically drowned out all the other European History taught,” Alaric replied. “I think their roots are in Italy or France?”
“European history or not, it is of importance,” Damon sighed as he walked over to the bookcase. “Jeremy! Who did you speak to on the other side?”
“Giovanna d’Medici– wait, you mean the same Medici as you’re asking about?” Jeremy said surprised.
“Ding ding! Go on.”
“She said that Myriam cursed her entire family after finding out that Myriam was a bastard child— Myriam is Italian?”
“French,” Damon replied as he grabbed the book he looked for and tossed it to Elena. “Before Myriam was turned, she was a witch and hung out with Kol Mikaelson. Now, we all know that Myriam always had something up her sleeve, and that were her demons.”
“But she lost them now,” Bonnie piped up.
“Sure, but I doubt that was all that Myriam was able to do. You don’t need magic for Voodoo, for example. Anyway, the Medici family was an Italian banking family in Italy with a love for politics. Big family. Dad always said that our family lived close to some Medici family members, but I never believed him. Just because we’re Italian doesn’t mean we’ve ever brushed elbows with near royalty,” Damon took a swig of his alcohol. “Their bank grew out to be the biggest of Europe in the 15th century, and it helped them bankroll some politicians of their own in Florence.”
“Wait, is this the family of Catherine d’Medici who married King Henry II?” Alaric piped up.
“The one and only, Ric.”
“Yeah, if you look closely into the European royal family trees, you see a lot of Medici’s. Dukes. Regents. Hell, there are even popes.”
“Fascinating history and all, but what does it have to do with me – us?” Elena said as she closed the book. “What happened over at Klaus’ anyway?”
“We’ll get to that in a bit, Elena. Now, Ric, tell me, what happened to the Medici family? Do you remember?” Damon was glad to have jogged his friend’s memory.
“Truthfully? I think history happened and like most important European families, forgotten.”
Damon took another sip of his drink. “Not quite. They had so many family members, and around the end of the 1690’s there was only a handful left.”
“How do you know? That was long before you were even born.”
“I like to read, sue me,” Damon shrugged. “Stefan should know all this because he’s spent more time in Europe than I have, but oh well. In any case, it always fascinated me. The Medici mystery. What happened to them to cause such a rapid decline in family members?”
“Myriam?” Jeremy asked, unsure of himself.
“Yep,” Damon said, popping his p. “Myriam was alive and human at the end of the 1600’s and running with Kol Mikaelson. I never knew her true story, but she has told me that she was a daughter of a whore and a nobleman.”
“It makes sense, in that time you had courtesans and servants who were more than willing to please their masters,” Alaric replied.
“So, what if Myriam’s mother got knocked up by one of the Medici’s and was then forgotten about? What if Myriam had never known who her father was until Kol Mikaelson came along and found something in her mother’s belongings or something? He’s a fucking curious asshole so I would see him rummaging through her things.”
“Wait a second,” Elena said with half a chuckle. “You mean that Myriam is the reason why that family’s member count rapidly declined? No way, she may be a bitch and Klaus’ wife, but she’d never do that.”
“Just like Stefan wouldn’t go nuts on human blood?” Bonnie asked, a smile on her face.
“That’s different!”
“Is it?”
“Myriam hates Stefan!”
Stefan sighed as he reached for the bottle of alcohol. “Myriam hates me because I forced Damon to turn. Because I killed someone she cared about. She hates me, because she knows what I am capable of, just like Klaus does. Klaus loves me as a Ripper because that means I don’t have to do his dirty work. Myriam hates it because I don’t have any remorse or respect for my kills when I do. So yeah, Myriam’s hatred towards me is well founded, and I don’t blame her for it.” He then let out a sigh. “If it hadn’t been for Damon or me keeping you alive, Elena, I would have been dead already.”
“Myriam was the one who compelled Caroline to jump off the belltower when she had vampire blood in her system,” Damon pointed out. “Caroline never shared it because I asked her not to. Myriam made sure that everything was in place for her husband to break his curse. That included planning everything out with him. The backups. The red herrings. Everything.” He took another sip of his drink. “And the worst part? She says that under her influence the Mikaelsons have mellowed out, grew up. I’m afraid that they’re the ones who are keeping her grounded and under control.”
“She no longer has magic, and she’s an original. Bonnie can desiccate her if needed and —”
“I’m not going to do that,” Bonnie shook her head. “We all turned our backs on Myriam the moment we learned that she was on Team Klaus. I think that we should try to make amends with her and hope that she won’t level this entire town when she throws a tantrum.” She then looked at Jeremy with a smile. “What does Giovanna say?”
“How did you—”
“The look on your face.”
Jeremy sighed. “Without her demons, Myriam will be off balance for awhile. She has always relied on her pets to scope things out. To eavesdrop. To be one step ahead of everyone and everything. Now she doesn’t have that anymore. She’ll need some time to get used to that, but Giovanna doesn’t believe that Myriam will be a threat to us. Not as long as we treat her right. Myriam might actually be a good influence on Klaus for having him stop creating hybrids.”
“I doubt that,” Damon huffed. “Although I did overhear them fight when we were at their ball. Maybe she’s right. Okay, how long?”
“She doesn’t know, sorry,” Jeremy shrugged.
“Well,” Alaric sighed. “I guess Klaus was the least of our worries.”
~o.O.o~
“We’re not going to Indonesia?”
“Perhaps later,” Klaus softly kissed her. “But I had something else in mind. It’s also a tropical destination, and it’ll be just you and me. Sun. Beach. A forest. Peace and quiet.”
“Hmm… that sounds good. What about Kol?”
“What about him?”
“Is he coming with?”
“Sweetheart, I want it to be just us. Husband and wife. You and me. Kol can join us later in Indonesia if he so wishes, but I want to take you on this trip alone.”
“What about Caroline? Elena?”
“What about them?”
“Don’t you want to create more hybrids?”
“Of course, but first, you and I need to spend some quality time together. I’ve been neglecting you, and I want to make it right.”
Myriam sighed as she rolled into him as they were still in bed. “You just want to get me out of here before I do something I might regret because you think I’m out of balance without my demons.”
“And you know that I’m right about that. You may not show it, but I can smell your anxiety, love. You’ve relied on your pets for so long that it’ll take you some time to get used to it. And I’m taking you away to do just that and to spend quality time with you. Without anyone else around.”
“And then Indonesia?”
“And then we’ll go to Indonesia, and we’ll ask Kol to join us. I promise.”
She let out a squeal of delight. “We’re finally going to have our honeymoon!”
~o.O.o~
The deserted island they were on near Indonesia was heavenly. Just her and Klaus, and her grief. Oh, she didn’t like it that she had to miss her demons, but she got what she had wished for for so long; true immortality, and she knew that losing her demons was a worthy sacrifice. And it wasn’t as if they had let her down, either. They had worked hard for her, as she had respect for them and cared for them as if they were family members.
And that, ultimately, had saved her from the brunt of Esther’s spell.
And Klaus reminded her that she still had her Voodoo. She couldn’t do as much as she could have done with her demons, but she could still practise her religion. And that was something she liked.
Even though he was reluctant to make good on his promise of inviting Kol to join them in Indonesia, he did anyway because he knew it made Myriam happy and Kol deserved some fun as well; surprisingly enough his brother hadn’t been a pain in the ass since he was undaggered and had been helpful instead.
Plus, Klaus had to admit that Myriam was right about this, with the right kind of attention and acceptance, Kol was a great sibling.
Until, of course, he should do something that was terribly out of line and Klaus would need to dagger him again. Although, he’d never dagger Myriam for transgressions against him because she was his wife. His family. Kol was family. Maybe he needed to stop doing that.
They were enjoying a nice meal consisting of some typical Indonesian cuisine and the taste of their servers while the sun was setting. It was perfect and just the three of them. This was the right time to do what he had wanted to do for so long. There was finally peace and quiet, and that new ring he had made for her was burning a hole in his pants.
“Does it ever annoy you that I’ve never properly asked you to marry me, Myriam?” Klaus asked as he looked over at his wife. “That you never had a real wedding? Just a signed paper?”
“Maybe in the beginning, but then again, you didn’t touch me for 25 years, so it didn’t feel like we were married anyway,” Myriam shrugged. “I’ve resigned to the fact that that time of our lives wasn’t the right one to have a wedding, and that fast was better as you were so willing to get rid of me.”
“To get you to safety.”
“It felt like abandonment for a very long time,” she huffed. “And I felt that exact feeling for a while after you came to Mystic Falls.”
“I just wished we had a good old-fashioned ball to celebrate your union after we came to New Orleans,” Kol added. “You know, with me out of the box?”
Myriam chuckled. “Yes. You would have been my maid of honour, Kol.”
“What!”
Klaus couldn’t help but crack a smile then. Oh, he was so ready for doing it right now. “Well,” he said as he reached into his pocket and produced a new wedding ring, one that was more elegant and of this time, less clunky but also adorned with diamonds and a beautiful lapis lazuli in the middle. Spelt, of course. “Myriam Envie Mikaelson d’Medici, would you do me the extraordinary honour to marry me? Again? Properly this time?”
