◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖎𝖝: ❛ original sin ❜ ◢

✧

SOMEHOW, ALONG THE WAY, KATERINA HAD CONVINCED MARISOL TO HAVE DINNER WITH THE MIKAELSON FAMILY. The girl wasn't there for the night that she went, having taken up the task of watching over Magnus and making an excuse to Niklaus that she wasn't feeling well that night, giving Marisol the opportunity and trapping her into having no reason to refuse.

          So, there she was, not in a fancy gown but her usual clothing, inside the Mikaelson manor feeling utterly out of place. It was easy to pretend that she belonged when she looked like the others, maybe even wearing a more expensive gown than some, and no one knew her to doubt her admittance to the balls. She looked exactly like them so there was no reason to suspect that she did not traditionally belong with them, so she was allowed and accepted, the only jealously coming from her having grabbed the attention of one of the Mikaelson brothers.

          But now she wasn't wearing a fancy gown that cost more than any money she had ever made in her life, and she wasn't covered by Elijah's affections towards her. She was alone and stood up among the grandeur of the place and it made her want to run away at yet another reason as to why she could never truly belong to Elijah even though her heart wished for her to marry him.

          Elijah was the perfect person to marry. He seemed so perfect, was handsome, had enough wealth to where she would never have to work again, cared about her opinions and sometimes listened to her; it was better than Nathan Bridges could ever be, anyway. But there were too many problems in the way. She was a hideous beast, she had a child and he would think her impure and unfit to marry, and she didn't belong in this grandeur. She came from the lowest of lows now.

          "Marisol," Elijah said, a smile on his face as he approached her. She felt herself relax more in his presence as he went and kissed her hand, making her heart skip a beat. "I'm glad that you could make it."

          "Thank Katerina for practically forcing me out the door," Marisol joked before clearing her throat, "Thank you for inviting me."

          "It's my pleasure, really," Elijah shook her off, locking their arms together and leading her further into the house, "Come, the table is almost set. Rebekah is so excited to meet you."

          Marisol nodded at the information, not saying in return about it because she wasn't sure how she felt about meeting Elijah's other siblings. She knew enough about Niklaus and had met him more than once, heard about him countless times from Katerina, but she knew almost nothing about Kol or Rebekah.

          And even more than that, she didn't want to meet them because that meant more commitment towards Elijah and it would be harder to break away from him when the time became necessary. She had lived in England for a long time, had made a home there, but now with Elijah...there was only so much time she had left in the country before she would have to leave and start over. Start over and forget about him and the way he made her feel.

          He led her into the dining room, where Niklaus was already sitting at the head of the table, Kol and Rebekah taking up one side leaving two seats for them. Immediately, the blonde sister stood up with a smile and ran to embrace her.

          "Ugh, I've been waiting forever to meet you," Rebekah gushed as Marisol placed her arms around the woman so it wouldn't be so awkward. Eventually, though, Rebekah did pull away and said, "Elijah hasn't been able to stop talking about you since the day he met you, and every party I'm always caught up with someone else so I do apologize that I haven't met you before."

          "It's fine," Marisol assured her, looking at the standing Mikaelson family staring at her and wishing she would just sink into the ground. This was already shaping out to be a huge mistake; she was better just lying and locking herself in her apartment to where Katerina couldn't get her and drag her to the manor. "I understand."

          "Well, it's nice to finally have a face for the name," Kol said, raising his glass, "To finally meeting who has captured Elijah's affections."

          Marisol blushed and looked down, more guilt pooling inside her. Elijah himself looked a bit bashful. "Alright, lay off."

          "Oh, don't be embarrassed, Elijah," Rebekah moved to her brother, "We're just welcoming Marisol here. Come, sit down, dinner's about to begin."

          Rebekah moved back to where she was sitting beside Kol and Elijah brought her to the other side of the table, pulling out her chair so that she could sit down. As she did, and as he pushed it back in, she thanked him to which he waved off her gratitude. Rebekah giggled at the interaction.

          "Marisol, it's nice that we finally have the chance to talk, usually Katerina is with you and, well, I'm always caught up with her," Niklaus said.

          "I don't mind," Marisol told him, "Katerina likes you very much, she's constantly talking about you."

          "Is she?" Niklaus raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. Marisol didn't notice the tension that was beginning to form between the family, all knowing something she didn't. "Well, wonderful. And it seems you're very taken with my brother."

          "Niklaus," Elijah said but the man waved off his brother.

          "I don't know how Marisol could not be taken with him after all the praises Elijah lists about her," Rebekah said before looking at Marisol, "I'm not kidding when I say he has a journal dedicated to everything he's noticed about you."

          "Really?" Marisol raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly as her eyes went to Elijah who ducked his head. It was very kind of him and flattering, but it just made her feel so much worse about her intentions. He was obviously looking for a forever where she wasn't – couldn't.

          Rebekah nodded in confirmation, "Of course. It makes me wonder why he hasn't begun properly courting you yet."

          "Rebekah," Elijah said, an edge in his tone that made Rebekah look ashamed for bringing that up.

          Marisol cleared her throat, feeling ashamed herself for her intentions and her everything, "Well, it's actually my choice that he hasn't courted me yet."

          "Oh, really? Do tell," Kol sat up, staring at her interest.

          Niklaus grabbed his brother's arm and stared at him. "Kol, calm yourself," he warned.

          "Come on, Nik, you can't tell me that you aren't interested yourself," Kol defended herself. Marisol squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

          "I'm not. I apologize, Marisol, but Katerina has already told me," he said to her.

          "It's not your fault that she decided to open her mouth about it," Marisol said before frowning, "That's rude, I'm sorry. It's just, well, I don't want to be courted."

          "Who doesn't want to be courted?" Rebekah asked in genuine curiosity, before gasping, "Were you being courted before?"

          Marisol hesitated. There was no real harm in telling them about Nathan, was there? "Yes," she admitted, "Once, when I was younger. It was more arranged than anything else, before I left my village and came here."

          "You don't have to say anything else if you don't want to," Elijah assured her and she smiled at him.

          "It's alright," she told him before looking back at his siblings, "We didn't really know each other, there was no love between us, and it's part of the reason why I left."

          Well, technically maybe, because if she hadn't seen Nathan talking to another girl and flirting she wouldn't have gone to the meadow with the merchant and, well, killed him. But she couldn't blame that on Nathan, it was her own fault. She was the killer, not him.

          "I'm sorry," Rebekah immediately said after she explained herself, "I didn't mean to sound insensitive, and I don't now by asking this, but is that why you refuse to allow Elijah to court you?"

          No, not really. She never thought of Nathan anymore, it had been years since she had last seen him, and it wasn't like they had spent much time together before she had fled. He might have been an important figure in her life before, but he was not a present one. Still, she couldn't tell them the real reasons, the change from a servant of balance with a gift of magic to a hideous beast or the child she cared for as her own, so she nodded.

          "Maybe it's a silly fear, but it's mine," Marisol smiled, "Although, if I had to choose anyone to court me, I would choose Elijah."

          She added that, not to give him hope that wasn't there (even though it seemed to happen anyway), but to appease his siblings. Still, some glimmer of hope went through Elijah's eyes. She would pray to God or give food to a starving child to make up for her sin.

          "Well, dinner's here," Niklaus announced and Marisol looked at the doorway from where she entered with Elijah and saw the feast arriving before them.

✧

          AFTER DINNER, NIKLAUS brought them into the living room where Marisol sat on a couch with Elijah. Kol sat on his own chair, Rebekah the same, as Niklaus stood and paced. He looked around the room, grabbing at a stone he on the fireplace before looking back at Marisol.

          "Do you want to hear a story?" he asked her and she blinked in surprise. The last thing she expected from him was a story.

          "Oh, come on, Niklaus, she's not a child at bedtime," Rebekah rolled her eyes.

          "You tell the worst stories," Kol commented and Niklaus glared at him.

          "Now, that's untrue. I tell the best stories, and I have a fantastic one to share if Marisol would like to hear it," they all looked at her expectantly.

          Marisol looked around at them before turning back to Niklaus. "Go ahead, I don't see the harm in one story," she said, even thinking about how she might be able to use it for Magnus tomorrow night with some adjustments.

          Niklaus smirked at her, pleased with her decision. "Wonderful," he said before asking, "Have you ever heard of vampires?"

          Elijah stiffened beside her but she didn't take it in account. Marisol shrugged. "Of course, but it was more used as a nightmare from my mother," she admitted to them, "If I wasn't a good little girl, she would have one take me away and turn me, but it was just a myth."

          She added the last part to cover herself, hoping that it would be more believable that she did not actually use to fear vampires. After all, they were death and she was a protector of life; a witch with the balance of light and darkness whereas vampires were complete darkness. Here, she was a human, just like them.

          Niklaus smiled at her, "Of course it's just a story, but every story needs an origin. Like, how did vampires come to be?"

          "Niklaus, really, this one?" Rebekah complained, though she seemed jittery.

          "Calm down, sister, I know what I'm doing," he assured her but she still looked displeased. He then turned back to Marisol, "Well, how do you think vampires came into existence?"

          Marisol shrugged, not knowing the answer. She had just assumed that they had existed forever, much like witches and werewolves. No real point of origin. "I don't know."

          "Well, it's told that there was an original family from where the vampire lines began. More powerful than the rest, with control over everyone else," Niklaus regaled them, "Created by a very powerful witch, who sought to protect them, they were turned into creatures of the night."

          At the mention of the witch, the family looked down and Marisol felt a heaviness in her own heart. She was once a witch, she was once pure and good. She once had the world before her, and now she was trapped, a beast inside her for eternity that yearned to escape, only allowed to on a full moon where in return her humanity was trapped for a night and she did unspeakable actions.

          "One of them, was said to be a hybrid of sorts. Separate from his other siblings, not from their father but from another. And when he took his first kill, a beast unleashed inside him," Marisol's heart pounded as Niklaus continued, knowing what he was going to say next, "He wasn't just a vampire, but a werewolf."

          When Marisol closed her eyes, she thought of the merchant. She thought of the dream she had the night before, of the blood coating her hands, of the power that surged through her before it was taken again, and of the beast it unleashed inside herself.

          "Of course, when the witch found out, she locked that side of him away, making it so that he could never become a wolf again," Niklaus continued, and Marisol could only think that the hybrid in the story was lucky. Anything was better than being a werewolf, "He was cursed, with a vengeance inside him that burned to let the werewolf part of himself roam free.

          "He would need four things to break the curse placed upon him; the moon stone which bound his wolf, a vampire, a werewolf, and a doppelganger."

          Marisol frowned, not focusing on the werewolf bit, "A doppelganger?"

          Niklaus nodded. "A clone of the woman whose blood bound the curse placed upon him, and it's said that he searched for the doppelganger for centuries, but never able to find her again and break the curse," Niklaus concluded.

          The place was silence once he finished, Marisol blinking before saying, "That was a...daunting story."

          "You think so?" Niklaus asked her, a sinister smile on his face.

          "Certainly entertaining enough," Marisol complimented him, "Where did you hear it?"

          "Oh, it's been passed around our family for centuries," Niklaus waved off her question, "I'm glad you've enjoyed it."

          "It's getting rather late," Elijah broke into the conversation, looking out the window at the waning moon.

          Marisol blinked, she was surprised about how much time she had spent at the manor since originally she had been planning of spending as little time there as possible before claiming that she felt sick herself. "It is late, I didn't realize," she agreed, standing up, "Thank you for dinner, it was wonderful, but I must be going now."

          "Oh, that's too bad," Rebekah frowned.

          Elijah stood up as well, "I'll walk you outside."

          Marisol nodded and let him lead the way out the door since he knew the layout of the house better than her. Once they were out of the room and far away from them, he said, "I hope Niklaus' story didn't dampen the mood."

          "Not at all," she shook her head, "It's certainly not what I thought he was going to tell me, but it's not the worst thing I've heard."

          "I'll see you at the party this Friday?" he asked her as they reached the front of the house.

          She smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she promised him and he seemed delighted at her answer.

          He stepped close to her, close enough that she could feel his breath on her and it was almost as though he was going to kiss her before he whispered, "Get home safely," and pulled away.

          Part of her felt disappointed that he didn't make a move, wanting to feel his lips against her own, but another felt relieved, knowing that it was for the best that he didn't. "I will," she told him, "I'll see you Friday."

          Then, she turned away from him and began to walk back to Magnus and to the guilt she felt for ever entering the manor that night in the first place.