Author's Note: This story has been begging to be done for awhile now. That said, I suspect some people might be upset with this one. There is character death ahead that I think may make some people angry with me. Ah well. It was in my head and so here it is. Hopefully it's enjoyable though!

Disclaimer: The Originals and The Walking Dead are not mine. I own a very large nothing.

And The Blood Flows

Kol Mikaelson sighed as the human girl held her bleeding wrist over his goblet. His eyes tracked the rising level of blood. "That'll do, love," he said after a moment and he couldn't help the bite of impatience in his voice.

The girl nodded and, holding her still bleeding wrist, hurried away.

Kol sighed. He should have given her some of his blood to heal her up. He would no doubt hear about the fact that he hadn't later from Elijah.

'We must treat the humans in our care with respect and dignity. They are our responsibility and we must not let them suffer unduly. Having them here benefits us just as much as them.'

Kol rolled his eyes as Elijah's tiring spiel of goodwill to the remaining humans went through his head. He raised his goblet to his lips and swallowed, grimacing in distaste.

It got cold so quickly.

Drinking from a goblet would never be as satisfying as drinking directly from the vein, hearing their heartbeat slow, feeling their life draining -

Tilting the goblet back Kol finished it in three wholly unsatisfying swallows and placed it back on the table with what was probably more force than necessary. It wasn't like he thought Elijah was wrong exactly. He wasn't stupid, he understood the need to preserve what human life there was left. Understood that without them his and his family's source of sustenance would be gone. The corpses that staggered around and mindlessly ate the living offered no nourishment to vampires and so human life was precious.

It was just... he was so bored.

Distantly, in a small corner of his brain, he was aware that Davina would be ashamed of him.

Even that ache though, was fading with time. Oh, he still missed Davina. Missing Davina was an unending agony but the hard truth was she was gone and Kol had never been one to think much about what the dead thought. That hadn't changed even after his own various stints of being dead.

And so now here he was going stir crazy and dreaming of a human's life fading to nothing in his arms.

The truth was, he was itching to kill something. Excepting the years he was daggered or dead (or a witch) he had never gone so long without taking a human life. He had always killed recklessly and often. Without abandon.

He never had learned the control of his brothers or even Rebekah. That wasn't to say Nik hadn't gone on killing sprees with him from time to time but generally speaking Klaus had manipulations and plots behind his killing. Kol had always done it for the hell of it. To keep the blood flowing.

And he itched to kill now.

Perhaps it was time for a hunt... Just one kill would hardly hurt anything, right?

It didn't have to be one of Elijah and Nik's precious pet humans. In fact, getting out of the compound and going on a proper hunt was probably precisely what he needed. It wasn't like it would be the first time either. In the few years since the world had gone to hell he had gotten like this once before and while Kol didn't think his siblings had exactly approved he had kept his activities far from the New Orleans and they hadn't objected.

Thinking of it Kol felt a rush of anticipation and he grinned.

A road trip was definitely in order.

Mind made up Kol wasted no time. He could hear Nik and Elijah in the sitting room reading through a Shakespeare play with Hope (Julius Caesar, he noted idly) and with a burst of speed was suddenly leaning casually in the doorway.

"Uncle Kol!" Hope exclaimed, pleased with the distraction. "Have you come to rescue me?" she asked eagerly and Kol grinned ruefully.

"Not this time, love. I'm sorry. I came to say bye, actually. I'm going to be gone for a few days."

"Where are you going?" Hope asked as Nik and Elijah exchanged glances. "Can I come?"

"Haven't made up my mind yet and I don't think your parents would like it very much if you went with me," Kol told the ten year old apologetically.

"That's right, Littlest Wolf. We would miss you too much," Nik said then, winking at his daughter.

"Daaaaaaaaaad," Hope groaned. "I never get to go anywhere."

"There is something of an apocalypse beyond these walls," Elijah chimed in, casting a reproving glance at Kol.

"Uncle Kol would keep me safe! Besides , he and Aunt Freya have taught me tons of spells," Hope said enthusiastically.

"Hope. You're not going. End of discussion," Nik said, glaring at Kol.

Kol grinned unrepentantly while Hope sulked. "Apologies. Didn't mean to get her riled up," he said. "Just thought you might want to know I was leaving."

"Do try to restrain yourself, brother," Elijah admonished, looking every inch the disapproving older brother but he didn't try to stop Kol and the younger rather suspected Elijah knew he needed a release.

Kol smirked. "Don't wait up for me."

With the compound in his rearview mirror Kol felt almost instantly better. He felt like he could breathe and anticipation thrummed through him.

Soon.

First he had to drive, he had to put sufficient distance between himself and New Orleans. Elijah's tolerance of his hunts would only last so long as they were relatively infrequent and kept well away from his and Nik's beloved Crescent City.

Both terms were more or less acceptable to Kol. It had taken the birth of a miracle niece, the death of the love of his life, and the proverbial end of the world as they knew it but Kol felt more like a member of his own family now than he had in... centuries. Maybe more than he ever had. As such, keeping his natural recklessness in check... it wasn't actually as hard as he would have assumed. Usually. Restlessness and boredom did from time to time rear their ugly heads but this was only his second road trip in the three years since the world had all but ended and Kol figured he was doing fairly well.

He drove at a relatively leisurely pace, feeling no need to rush now that he was actually out, for a couple of days before he decided he was far enough.

Pulling into the parking lot of what had once been a diner in a hick town in the middle of nowhere Kol wrinkled his nose in distaste. That people had actually chosen to live here of their own free will...

No matter though. All that was important now was whether or not anybody currently lived here. Anybody living, that was.

With a slight grimace Kol watched one of the walking dead amble lifelessly by. It was a female wearing the remains of what Kol thought had probably been a dress at one time. Her stomach was torn wide open and had clearly been feasted on.

She paid Kol no attention. None of the walkers ever did. Kol knew if he made some sort of sound she would become more alert but the most she would do would be to snap at the air in front of him before wandering away. Kol could only assume there was something about the scent of vampire flesh that didn't appeal to them.

The Original was in the process of idly wondering if the walker woman had been alive when other walkers had started eating her stomach or if she had died first of something else when an arrow suddenly pierced her skull and she crumpled ten feet or so away from Kol.

"You're welcome," a voice with a southern accent announced and a filthy muscular man, unkempt hair falling into his eyes, stepped out from where he had evidentially been crouched behind an abandoned car.

Kol allowed himself a moment of grudging admiration. He had been completely unaware of the man's presence. A feat he liked to flatter himself was rather difficult.

"We're you just going to let it eat you?" the crossbow wielding man demanded, staring warily at Kol.

"Oh, I doubt it would have eaten me," Kol told him, his bloodlust suddenly a growling and very much alive thing now that he was face to face with a walking, breathing human that he knew he could feed from. No Elijah to preach control here.

"Why's that?" the hillbilly asked skeptically, eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Let's just say... I'm higher on the food chain," Kol said, smirking and with a burst of speed he was suddenly right in front of the stranger and yanking the crossbow from him. "Nice," he said approvingly, giving it a quick once over before tossing it to the side and, abandoning what remained of his inhibitions, burying his teeth in the neck of his would be rescuer.

The man struggled in his grasp and made choked, gurgling noises of pain. Kol, lost in the blood and pleasure, bloodlust now fully in control, hardly noticed. A few blissful moments passed.

"Daryl!" a voice yelled, breaking him out of his haze, and suddenly there was a burning pain in his shoulder.

With a snarl Kol dropped the man, now dead, at his feet and, allowing his instincts to take over, attacked.

When the second human was dead too Kol dropped the body, only then noticing that it was a woman. Her hair was very short and she had a generally plain appearance.

There was also a gun on the ground beside her. She had shot him, Kol realized, remembering the burning pain in his shoulder and with a grimace he dug the bullet out and flicked it to the ground, feeling the wound already healing.

Now what? Kol glanced around, considering. In truth he had thought finding humans to feed on would be a little more difficult, certainly more time consuming, but these two had all but fallen into his lap. Would it be worth looking for more?

In truth the immediate hunger, as well as the restless need for violence, had been largely sated.

Still, he didn't entirely want to just head home so soon.

He was still debating when his vampire hearing picked up the sound of voices. Tilting his head he listened curiously, determining that there were three of them, two men and a woman, and that they were nearby. By their conversation Kol knew they had a large group that they were scavenging for. Currently though, they were heading to a rendezvous with the few members that had gone on this run with them. Members that Kol strongly suspected he had killed. How many separate groups were likely to be wandering out here in the middle of nowhere, after all?

Speaking of... Kol cast a contemplative glance at the bodies... that crossbow really was nice. And it wasn't as though the man with the southern accent and wary eyes had much use for it now...

Shrugging, Kol loaded it into his trunk. The three other humans were getting closer now. Kol leaned against his Porsche and waited.

The woman came into view first. "Daryl!" she screamed, instantly spotting the body of the large filthy man and running forward. "Carol!" she gasped, spotting the woman next before rounding on Kol. "Who are you?" she demanded, brandishing a gun at him. Kol only just restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He really didn't want to get shot again.

"Maggie!" an Asian man yelled, rounding the corner just behind a bearded man and rushing toward the woman. "Oh my God," he breathed, spotting the dead bodies.

"No, no, no!" the bearded man yelled, turning on Kol angrily, his eyes wild with grief. "Did you do this?" he demanded harshly.

"Right. Listen up," Kol said, managing to get them all looking into his eyes by the simple act of stepping forward. "Calm down. You're not going to feel grief just yet. I found these two already dead," he said, lying easily and lacing his words with heavy compulsion. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a group of emotionally distraught people. "I fought off their killers but they still got away. It's not safe here anymore but you can trust me."

He could still feed on them, of course, but an idea was forming in his head and besides that Kol found himself surprisingly satisfied and relaxed. Whether it was the two he had already fed from or just the couple days away and on his own, Kol didn't know but he felt like himself again. There was no real need to over indulge. The thought was a strange one for Kol but for once it seemed to ring true.

Mind made up, Kol grinned. "Which one of you is in charge?" he asked.

"I am," the bearded man said, speaking up with undeniable authority.

"What's your name?" Kol asked.

"Rick Grimes," the bearded man answered promptly.

"Rick Grimes. I'm Kol Mikaelson," Kol said, still grinning. "This is the beginning of a beautiful working relationship, Rick. You are going to get the rest of your group and I'm going to take you all somewhere safe."

Elijah was constantly worrying about their source of blood and the dwindling population of humans. Bringing more of them into the safety of the Mikaelson compound did mean more work but Kol knew it was the quickest way to back into Elijah's good graces. A peace offering, as it were, to spare himself any lingering disapproval Elijah may be feeling about him going off on this little hunt.

Kol suspected the fact that he had killed two of them would hardly matter in light of the ones he would be bringing back unharmed.

Kol grinned again, feeling refreshed and very pleased with his plan.

All in all it was an extremely successful outing.

-End.

A/N: Yes, I killed Daryl. And I didn't even let the characters grieve. Or make that big of a deal over it. Believe it or not Daryl is a huge favorite of mine too. I just... I have to write what's in my head.

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