Chapter Text
Nova Bennett leans against the bar, her elbows resting on the counter behind her as she sips from her glass, eyes on Rebekah Mikaelson taunting Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert at their table.
Nova's been stuck in town all day, avoiding her mother that had come back to help for a spell and never left. Bonnie seems to like her, even with all her excuses. Nova, however, hates the bitch. So the oldest sister has been spending time with her and Nova has been avoiding.
Nova sighs, looking down at her phone to see Jeremy sending her a picture of his new school, Jenna standing in front of it with her thumbs up, a wide smile on her face.
Elena made Damon Salvatore, one of her boy toys, compel her little brother to be sent off to a different school, away from Mystic Falls and all that comes with it, and had even made him compel Jenna, Amara's mother, without her permission.
Amara's getting back to warming up to her, even after all she did, but Nova still holds a grudge. She doesn't deserve forgiveness. No matter how much Bonnie wants her to.
A man walks in the restaurant, going straight for Rebekah Mikaelson and whispering something to her with an expression she can't decipher on his face.
Caroline and Elena watch them, though. They're suspicious.
When the man looks around the bar and lays his eyes on her, tracing them up to her own, she hisses in pain, looking down at her wrist.
An infinity mark sits there, glowing a faint red as it cools down. The same mark on Aisling Saltzman, Amara Sommers, and Mia Salvatore's wrists. The one tying them to their soulmate.
And if Nova's correct, the boy would be a Mikaelson sibling, an Original. And that mark tells her he is her soulmate.
"Oh, fucking hell." She picks up her phone, typing a message to her boyfriend. There's no way she's telling him their relationship is doomed to fail. No. Because she's going to find a way to break the connection between soulmates.
When she looks up, she finds Rebekah and the boy standing in front of her, smiles on their faces.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know where Aisling is?" Rebekah asks.
"No idea. Probably avoiding you like she's done the whole time you've been here. Last I heard she was with Amara, Mia, and Evelyn shopping. Mia's paying for it all. I guess Zach had money saved up or something."
Rebekah snatches her phone from her.
"Hey!" She tries to grab it back. "I swear to god, I will snap your neck, Rebekah."
"Oh, shush. Ooh, Jeremy Gilbert? Elena's little brother?" She zooms in on the picture. "Is that Amara's mother?" Then scrolls up on the text messages, brows raising. "Oh, you're dating. Well, won't be for long."
Nova waves her hand, mumbling a small spell under her breath, her phone flying back into her hand. "Yes, it will. I didn't bring him back from the dead for no reason. The witches already cut me off." She turns off her phone, putting it in her pocket, and glaring. "What do you want, Rebekah? Don't you have a party tonight? Aisling to go bother?"
Rebekah huffs. "Well, you're rude. Amara was right. You have an attitude."
"Yeah, and I wouldn't piss a witch off."
"This is my brother Kol." She introduces with a smile.
"I really don't care." Her fist clenches as the burn in her wrist slowly dulls. "I don't care whatever it is, you can leave me alone while I figure out how to break it."
"Nik has tried for centuries." Kol speaks up. "He never succeeded. I doubt you will."
She sneers at him. "I'm a witch who has a need to get rid of the vampires plaguing my town. I think I'll make do."
He smiles. "I like you." He holds out an envelope. "Come to my family's ball tonight. Your friends are going."
She wrinkles up her nose. "Pass." She turns and walks to the door.
"Nova!" Abby Bennett smiles at her. "We were just looking for you."
Nova's face turns down. "For what?"
"I want to spend time with you and Bonnie. Will you come with us?"
Her eyes flick to her sister, scoffing. "No."
"Nova, you don't have anything else to do." Bonnie says. "You can spend a day with us."
"I do have something to do." She objects.
She raises a brow. "Like what?"
Nova opens her mouth then snaps it shut, glancing around the Grill, eyes landing on Rebekah and Kol at the bar, chatting.
She sighs, turning back to her sister, jaw gritting. "I'm going to the ball tonight."
***
Nova throws the Bennett spellbook their grandmother had left the two sisters before she passed into the passenger seat before stepping out and smoothing down her dress.
The Mikaelson ball. Invited by Kol Mikaelson, a vampire, which Nova Bennett hates and would stab a knife into her throat to avoid a kiss from a vampire, let alone being the soulmate of one.
Nova fixes her coat, covering her arms from the biting cold as she walks up the path to the newly built house at the edge of town. The one Klaus Mikaelson had built for his family.
When she got home from the Grill, she had found a small box on her doorstep with her name in neat handwriting on the top. Inside it was a bracelet just like Aisling's, Mia's, and Amara's. Whatever the Mikaelsons put in it stops the burning of the soulmate symbol. And Nova was forced to wear it so her wrist wouldn't burn all night.
The doors to the mansion open for her, letting her step inside.
A girl beside her smiles. "I'll take that." She helps her take off her coat and walks off with it.
Nova sighs, stamping her heeled shoes on the marble floor before taking a step and immediately stopping at a shout.
Aisling Saltzman stands with Rebekah Mikaelson in the ballroom, staring at the witch across the room.
Nova freezes.
Rebekah told her.
Nova didn't tell anyone about Kol Mikaelson.
And her best friend had to find out about it hours later by her soulmate and not her friend.
When Aisling turns back to the blonde, Nova quickly rushes into a different room, out of sight from the ginger.
Nova stops at the entrance, taking a breath, eyes wide.
"Well, hello. I didn't expect to see you here."
Her head turns, face turning down at the sight before her. "Kol Mikaelson."
His lips twitch up. "Nova Bennett. You made it quite clear you wouldn't have anything to do with me or my family. And yet, here you are. At my family's ball."
Her teeth grit. "I needed an excuse. And all of my excuses are here."
"What are you trying to get out of?"
"None of your business. You stay out of my business, I stay out of yours. And by the time I figure out how to break whatever this is, we won't be attached to each other. Got it?"
"You can't break the spell, darling. Niklaus has tried for a thousand years. Says he didn't want a weakness. And now look at him." He nods behind her.
She turns to find a smile on the evil hybrid's face as he stands in front of Amara Sommers.
"A puppy for his soulmate."
She huffs, rolling her eyes as she starts to walk through the crowd. "That will never be us. If we're lucky, I can find the spell with only a couple sleepless nights."
"That's not good for the human body, you know." Kol says as he chases after her. "It could get you sleep deprived. Could even upset your magic."
Nova spins on him, narrowing her eyes. "Why are you so obsessed with this? You're a thousand year old vampire, for christ's sake. You don't need a pathetic human getting in the way of your killing."
He shakes his head with a fond smile. "You should know the story before you judge. You can't judge a book by its cover. Witches' spellbooks are sometimes ugly, right? And inside are powerful spells beyond belief. If you judge a book by its ugly cover, you'll never know what's inside. And if you look, it might become your favorite, even with all its flaws."
Nova's brows raise. "Where are you going with this, exactly?"
"That you should give me a chance, darling. I'm not all that you may think I am."
She scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Right. And I'm not the witch who wants to kill your whole family."
He smiles at her. "Fiesty. I like you."
She rolls her eyes.
"You know, we were never quite certain where the origin of the soulmates came from. Even after a thousand years, we never found out. But we know it comes from nature. And a witch is nature's servant." He chuckles. "Oh, how nature has been kind to me."
"How is that?" She asks.
"Well, you're nature's servant, darling. A witch. A Bennett witch, at that. Nature has been too kind, choosing you as my soulmate."
"Yeah, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Being tied to a person for the rest of your life is torture."
"Isn't being a soulmate the same as marriage? Tying yourself to another person?"
"That's willingly. And even then, it's not forever. You can get divorced."
"And Jeremy Gilbert, was it? You think he's going to be your forever? Your husband? The father of your children?"
She sighs. "No. Only so few people end up with their first love. I don't think that's us. But I'm willing to try. I'd love to be with him for the rest of my high school years. And not have that squashed by an original dick."
His lips twitch up. "I can show you my original dick."
She scoffs, rolling her eyes and turning. "And that's the end of this." She walks away from him, her hand up, using her magic to stop him from following her.
"I saw you blush, darling!" He calls after her.
"It's cold out!" Then she slams her hand down, his body jerking into a wall as she makes towards the bathroom, leaving him standing alone.
***
Nova now stands alone in the ballroom after she had left Aisling with Rebekah, a champagne glass in her hand as she sips from it.
Then the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Her hand shoots up, magic flowing from her fingertips.
"Easy, darling." Kol Mikaelson lowers her hand. "I'm not going to hurt you."
She scoffs, spinning around to him. "I find that hard to believe. I hurt you."
"I heal easy." He shrugs. "Didn't hurt one bit."
"Really? Cause I felt the pain." She shows her wrist to him. "Soulmate bond, dumbass."
His lips curl up. "So you admit it. We're destined for each other."
"No. We're soulmates. Besides, I'll figure out how to break it. I'm dating someone."
He steps towards her, a wicked smirk decorating his face. "But do you love him?"
She takes a step back. "What?"
"Do you love your boyfriend? The one who you think you should spend the rest of your life with."
She scoffs. "I'll find others. He's not my last love. He's my first. I'm not settling for him. But I'm not even gonna try with you."
"You haven't answered my question, darling."
"Yes, I have!"
"No, you answered my statement. Not my question." Step. "Do you love him?"
She gulps, spinning and downing the glass in her hand. "I should go find my sister."
Kol grabs her hand, spinning her back around. "Your sister is not here, darling."
"Quit calling me that!"
"Only if you dance with me." His lips curl. "Darling."
She huffs, slamming her glass down on the table beside her. "Make me."
He drags her. Of course he does. He's too determined.
"Just shut up." She snaps, avoiding eye contact with him as they dance.
Kol chuckles. "You look beautiful, love."
"What did I say-"
"You said 'darling' not 'love'."
"My name is Nova. The name my father gave me. The only name I want to be called by. So stop it."
"Of course, darling." Then he spins her.
She huffs, glaring at him as she dances with the next person. "Asshole."
***
She had spent the whole night avoiding Kol as best as possible, even calling her sister to avoid him. It of course didn't work out very well, but good enough.
Now she walks behind Matt to get downstairs to leave, stopping when Matt turns ahead of her, looking out of the balcony beside him.
"Matt? What's wrong?" Nova asks, standing at the doorway.
He shakes his head, turning to her. "I thought I heard someone."
She chuckles. "Maybe you're seeing ghosts like Jeremy. Are you going crazy, Matty?"
He lets out a small, nervous chuckle. "Maybe."
She smiles. "Come on. Let's go. I want to call Jeremy tonight."
"Good evening." Kol appears, making them turn to the balcony. "You're Nova's friend. We haven't met."
"Kol," Nova says carefully, eyes flicking between them.
Matt steps forward, holding out his hand. "Matt Donovan."
"Kol Mikaelson." He tightens his grip on Matt's hand, making him groan.
"Kol!" Nova shoots out her hand, breaking them apart.
Damon races forward from behind, pushing Kol to the ground below, Nova rushing to Matt to check him out as he jumps over.
Nova puts her hands on Matt's head. "Matt? Matty?" She looks over his hand. "Oh, god."
Matt groans. "Is it bad?"
"I think it's broken." She makes a face, looking up at him. "Are you hurt? I can ease the pain. But I don't know how to fix it."
Matt shakes his head, letting out a groan. "I think I just need to get to the hospital. I'll be okay."
She holds in a wince as she feels Kol's neck being snapped, worrying about her friend instead. "I'll drive you! Car keys?"
"In my pocket."
Nova adjusts so she's beside him, reaching into his left pocket.
"Right."
She reaches across, digging into his other one and coming out with his keys.
"What is that?"
Nova follows his gaze to her hand, finding that the long-sleeved dress that she had worn had slipped up when she had stretched over, revealing the infinity mark on her wrist. "What's what?"
Matt takes her hand, pointing at the mark. "This."
Uh oh.