Renaissance
By: Darkest Ember
Chapter 6: Kiss of Death
Caroline glared out the window as she stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Liz glanced up from the newspaper and sighed, wishing her daughter wouldn't question her parental authority for once in her life.
"Are you seriously going to stand there all night?" Liz asked.
A few moments of silence passed before Caroline spun around with a huff. "This is so unfair!" she shrieked. "I'm 18 years old. I don't need a curfew, especially on a Friday night!"
"Have you forgotten that murderous monsters roam the streets now?" Upon noticing that Caroline didn't even flinch at the mention of vampires, Liz pushed a little deeper. "What about Elena? She was kidnapped just two days ago. She…she could be dead for all we know."
This earned the slightest crinkled brow before Caroline's stubborn mask returned, albeit less resolute than before. "I can take care of myself," she muttered, slouching on the couch. "Come on, mom. There's this really awesome party at –."
"The answer is no, Caroline," Liz replied firmly. "Maybe you should tell your friends to start partying during the day."
"Stupid vampires," she grumbled, admitting temporary defeat. One way or another, she would find a way out tonight. No vampire was going to steal her social life. It was all she had left.
As the hours dragged by, and the sound of the TV on at maximum volume continued to come from Caroline's bedroom, Liz decided to call it a night. She performed her nightly ritual of checking to make sure that all the doors and windows were locked before heading to her own bedroom. While walking down the dark hallway, she bitterly laughed to herself. I must have the only daughter who doesn't take this vampire threat seriously.
Stefan watched silently as Damon paced in front of the fireplace. They had the moonstone in their possession, they had an endless supply of vampire candidates, and Mason Lockwood would surely have wolf brethren coming to look for him in a short time. This only left the matter of re-obtaining the doppelganger, a task that Stefan was truly loathing. It was already bad enough that he had a sinking feeling that Damon was planning on killing Katherine in the ritual as well.
Yet there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
"Elena could literally be anywhere right now, if Elijah was involved," Stefan stated.
"Don't you think I already know that, brother?" Damon shot back. He broke stride and walked over to the mini bar for a blood bag. He tore the cap off and guzzled down the blood. Once he finished, he discarded the shriveled plastic and remained still, deep in thought. "If she could be anywhere," he said slowly. "Then we need to have a witch do a locator spell."
Stefan's thoughts returned to Bonnie, how she so easily left him to die in that Vervain-laced trap. Stefan knew that she wouldn't willingly help a vampire again. "You really think Bonnie will do that for you?" he snorted.
"Let's…go pay her a friendly visit. If words won't work, I'll resort to actions," he grinned.
Despite the trepidation building in the back of Stefan's mind, he agreed to go along with Damon, if only to make sure things don't get too out of hand.
It was a risk to leave the mansion unguarded at night, but Damon didn't have a choice. Beating Klaus to the sacrifice was all that mattered in the end. As such, they sped over to the Bennett residence at breakneck speed. Damon was marching straight to the front door, but Stefan lunged for him and dragged him into the bushes. Upon receiving an angered and confused look from Damon, Stefan motioned to his ear and then pointed to a bedroom window on the second floor.
"Are you even listening to me, Caroline?" Bonnie all but shrieked. "If that well hadn't been filled with Vervain, I never would've escaped!"
"I think you're being a little dramatic, Bon. If they wanted you so badly, they wouldn't have let you get away. Now, are you going to join me or not?"
Bonnie fell onto her bed and heaved an exasperated sigh. "No, I'm not leaving this house. And if you were smart, you'd do the same. These vampires have Elena! No one has heard from her since she disappeared, which means she could be dead."
"I know, I know," Caroline growled, frustrated that people don't find her to be compassionate toward Elena's misfortune. "But, Elena would want us to continue living and having a good time!"
"The answer is no, Caroline."
Damon gave Stefan a downright devilish grin. "I think I figured out how to lure the witch out of her safe haven."
Kol couldn't help but laugh at Elena's disposition. Not only had he guessed her weakness with undisputable precision, but he also had complete control over all these humans' lives – and all Elena could do is cry, as if her tears would do anything for her. Although it pained him to admit it, deep down inside, Kol felt sympathy toward Elena. Her fate was sealed the moment she was born the Petrova doppelganger.
However, in the extended amount of time Kol took to torment Elena's emotions, Jeremy had been fueled by just the right mixture of fear and rage to undo the rope tied around his wrists and step out of the noose. He grabbed one of the stakes Kol had taken from him and Alaric and charged toward the Original.
"Stay away from her, you creep!" he snarled, fully intending to jam the stake in a painful point somewhere near Kol's spinal column.
Naturally, Kol could hear the attack, though was admittedly surprised at first. He spun around and gripped Jeremy's arm mid-attack. "On second thought," he said, voice alit with amusement, "I think you'd make a much better snack than your Aunt Jenna."
"Stop it!" Elena screamed. "Stop hiding behind this pathetic game of yours and take what you really want. Me."
Kol laughed, wrapping an arm securely around Jeremy's neck as he turned both of them around to face Elena. "Maybe you're too stupid to realize this, darling, but I am taking what I want from you. I'm simply going about it in a more sophisticated manner – by using your pathetic human emotions and familial bonds against you. It makes for a far more entertaining encounter."
She did not share in his laughter, nor did she care for his explanation. Instead, Elena took three bold steps toward him, all while keeping her face locked in an expression of pure spite. "When your brother, Elijah, first took me away from Damon, I couldn't have been happier. But I know that Damon is looking for me, and as soon as he finds me, I will practically run into his arms. Once I'm dead, no one will have any more reasons to hurt my family or friends."
Kol loosened his grip on Jeremy's neck as he closed the space between him and Elena. "If you just hand yourself over like that, like suicide, I swear on my eternal life, I will kill every person you've ever loved."
This caused Elena's anger to show cracks of confusion. "Why do you care what happens to me? In the end, it's either going to be Damon or Klaus who will kill me."
"Are you really that stupid?" he asked, groaning. "Of course there's another way out. Become a vampire!"
"Are you really that stupid?" she mocked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I would never want to become a monster like you, even if my life depended on it."
Kol lowered his head and smirked. "Oh, sweet Elena. Don't say things you don't mean." When he lifted his head to look back at her, he smiled with fangs fully extended and eyes the darkest shade of black.
Caroline glanced at her reflection once more before opening the window and stepping outside. It was times like these that made her happy to have a simplistic one-story house – she'd never have to worry about climbing up and down trees when sneaking out at night.
How many times had Elena fallen out of that massive tree outside her window when she'd sneak out freshmen year of high school? Caroline paused, leaning against the house and staring up at the sky. I'd give anything to have things go back to normal, she thought. Hell, just to have Elena back home with her family…
She wiped the tears from her eyes before the moisture could ruin her carefully applied makeup.
"Scared to be out at night alone?" a seductive voice asked from the shadowy corner of her yard. Any sorrow she had felt quickly morphed to fear, though she didn't dare show it.
Caroline scoffed. "Of course not. If I were afraid, I wouldn't be out here, dumbass."
"Right, because standing a whole foot from your how is so brave."
For a moment, she considered scrambling back inside as she stole glances over her shoulder at the safety of her bedroom. As if reading her mind, the man – or vampire in this case – lunged out of the shadows and wrapped a hand around her neck. Caroline struggled to make out his face in the dim lighting.
"Why don't we go pay a visit to your dear friend Bonnie," he said in a taunting voice. Before she could choke out a response, he slammed her head against her house until her body fell limp in his arms.
Stefan, fearing that Damon was taking things too far, retreated from his hiding spot and approached the pair. "Couldn't you just compel her to follow us?" he sighed.
Damon rolled his eyes and haphazardly tossed her into Stefan's arms. "She was asking for it."
"Can we…can we just get this over with. Remember, we still don't know where Elena is. She could be anywhere…"
Damon knew that he had a good point, so together they returned to Bonnie's house. Damon motioned for Stefan to wait in the front yard while he walked up to the front door. It took three knocks before someone answered. As soon as Bonnie saw his face, she screamed and slammed the door shut. Damon chuckled lowly before kicking the door open, leaving it just barely hanging on its hinges. Bonnie had backed up just far enough to miss being hit by any of the debris.
Once the initial shock and fear of seeing Damon on her porch faded, she smirked and leaned against the wall with relaxed confidence. "What are you going to do now? You're not invited in."
Disliking her change in attitude, Damon was quick to give her a reason to fear him. "That's why you'll come out here," he said, grinning as she scoffed at him. Damon gave a subtle nod to Stefan, who, with Caroline in his arms, had been hiding behind the porch. He obliged and dragged her body to where Bonnie could see her.
"What have you done to her?" she cried, acting before thinking as she stepped past the house's threshold.
"Nothing compared to what we're going to do to you," Damon whispered in her ear before wrapping an arm around her neck and vanishing into the night.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, Finn awoke with a foreign feeling of happiness. For the first time since the vampires took over, he had a reason to smile. He would be the one to help their mother finally put an end to this madness.
"Fantastic morning, isn't it sister?" he asked.
Rebekah, who had been mixing blood into her coffee, froze and turned to face him with a suspicious expression. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" she deadpanned.
Finn tried not to take offense to the fact that evidently it was so wrong for him to be cheerful. "It's still me, don't you worry. Let's just say that I had a really peaceful rest last night."
"That's good to hear," Klaus said, entering the kitchen, "because you're going to need all your strength."
"For what?" Rebekah asked. "What's going on, Nik?"
"Kol has compromised the plan. He stole the doppelganger from Elijah, and I haven't heard from Kol or Elijah since."
"Clearly, you know what we have to do," Finn declared. When his siblings responded with that same confused stare, he said, "We have to go to America and get the girl ourselves."
Klaus smirked. "I don't know how I feel about your sudden optimism, but you, my brother, make an excellent point."
Rebekah pouted. "Why is that when I suggested that, you shot me down?"
"Because you're still going to be staying here, sister. Someone has to guard the castle while we're gone."
She slammed the mug down on the counter, which caused thick globs of bloody coffee to seep from the cracks. "No, I refuse to sit here while you lot get to have all the fun!"
Klaus took two steps toward her and retrieved one of the portable white oak daggers from his back pocket. "Either you stay here and do as I ask or I will not hesitate to shove this dagger straight through your heart to silence your incessant whining. Do you understand?"
Knowing how awful life as a daggered vampire was, Rebekah had no choice but to back down – at least for now. Besides, Klaus was unwise to think that she wouldn't leave the moment they reached the airport.
Caroline had gained a small amount of consciousness during the ordeal at Bonnie's house, but she didn't fully come to until they had all returned to the Salvatore mansion.
"What the hell…happened?" she murmured as her eyes adjusted to the surprisingly lavish surroundings.
"We needed your err help to get Bonnie Bennett out of the house," Stefan answered, cautiously approaching her.
"Finally, someone who agrees with me. That girl needs to get out!" When she turned around and came face to face with Stefan, her look of excitement quickly transformed to that of dread. "Oh my god, my mom was right," she whispered.
Stefan held his hands up defensively, hoping she'd calm down. "No, don't worry, Caroline. Everything's going to be fine. Damon and I, we just need Bonnie to do a spell so that we can find Elena."
"Why do you need to find her?"
"So that she can be sacrificed on an altar of blood, thus making me the ruler of all vampires," Damon sneered, sneaking up and standing directly behind her.
Caroline let out a shattering scream as she dropped to her knees and all but curled into a fetal position. Elena was going to die. So would her and Bonnie, most likely.
"Don't listen to him, Caroline," Bonnie said calmly. "He's failed two times already in just a couple days."
"Would you just stop your jabbering and do the damn spell," Damon said, shooting her a deadly warning gaze.
Despite the tension present in the room, Bonnie closed her eyes and focused on the spell. She didn't have much to work with – just some strands of Elena's clothes and tattered bits of her bloody clothes from the struggle with the werewolf. Even so, the spell was working. A glowing dot formed on the map of Virginia and stopped at an all too familiar location.
"That can't be right," Bonnie said, staring at the dot.
"Where does it place her?" Stefan asked.
"According to the map, Elena's at her own house."
Elena's thoughts were dashing all over the place. She couldn't look away from the monstrous vampire currently holding her brother in a chokehold, yet she was also trying to figure out a way to get Alaric and Jenna free, somehow before Kol would kill Jeremy. Kol could tell that he was losing Elena's attention, so he decided to regain it.
"Since I get the feeling you'll be joining the legion of the undead soon enough, I think it would be best for you to acclimate to the wonderful taste of human blood."
Before Elena could protest or question what he meant, Kol had bitten into Jeremy's neck with relentless and unnecessary force. He only drew enough blood to get a mouthful before tossing Jeremy's semi-unconscious body to the ground and turning to face Elena, who gasped at the sight of his bloody, evil face.
Using his inhuman speed, Kol reached Elena and pulled her into a tight embrace. She could hardly breathe, both from the crushing force he was using to keep her in place and from the horror of seeing Jeremy's blood leaking from Kol's mouth. Elena's heart all but stopped when she realized he was pulling her in for a kiss. She tried to fight him, but it was as if she was pushing her back up against a wall – she simply couldn't move it. His lips brushed across hers, and, naturally, she refused to open them. His words resonated in her mind and she was quick to realize he only wanted to get the blood into her mouth.
One sharp tug of her hair caused Elena to accidently open her mouth to groan in pain. Kol seized his opportunity and let Jeremy's blood, albeit watered down by now, flow into Elena's mouth. He got momentarily caught up in the moment, though, closing his eyes…cupping her face in his hands…sliding his tongue around her mouth. Realizing what he was doing, he pulled away suddenly. Disgust was easily replaced with amusement as he watched Elena gag on the taste and the experience.
He bent down so that he was eye level with her. "Trust me, darling. Once you transition, you won't be able to get enough of it."
Elena used the back of her hand to wipe away the blood and spit. "Go to hell," she snarled.
Elijah, the eldest sibling in the Original family, could have easily chased after Kol and retrieved Elena, could have sneaked up behind him, snapped his neck and tore Elena from his temporarily dead brother's hands. But he chose not to. When he called Klaus to let him know of his failure to secure Elena, Klaus commented on the uncharacteristic amount of stupidity Elijah demonstrated, but he could care less.
Deep down, he knew this plan was doomed to fail. He, like many other vampires, seemed to be plagued with weakness when it came to the Petrova doppelganger. As the night began to fade into morning, Elijah decided it would be best to track down Kol, if only to keep him from killing Elena. Kol's intentions were surely far from pure.
However, before he could begin his trek through the woods, his phone rang endlessly, despite his attempts to silence the device. "What is it now, Niklaus?" he barked.
"There's been a change of plans, brother. After a strangely optimistic input from Finn, I've decided to journey to Mystic Falls and perform the ritual there, right in front of Damon's face."
Elijah nearly dropped the phone. Nothing was making sense any more. Finn contributing to their quest for the completion of the sacrifice; Klaus willing to leave his own empire behind to come here and do the ritual. Why didn't he simply do that in the first place, instead of allowing this foolish chase to come to be?
"Are you sure that's such a good idea? You realize Damon will have the – what's the phrase – home field advantage."
"Elijah, this isn't some sort of sporting match. It makes perfect sense to perform the ritual there. Damon already has everything – the werewolf, the vampire, the moonstone. He just can't seem to catch a break with our crafty little Petrova doppelganger."
"How soon will you be here?"
"Tomorrow."
Then it was decided. Elijah needed to find Elena and get her to safety.
Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie, upon finding Elena's surprisingly safe location, decided to go to her house and find out what exactly was going on. Stefan didn't say it aloud, but he was starting to think that maybe Kol was different from the rest of the Mikaelson family. Maybe he truly wanted to save Elena from her fate.
Bonnie, who had been driving, parked the car a couple houses down from the Gilbert residence. While everyone else seemed eager to see Elena again, Bonnie couldn't help but feel skeptical, like something wasn't quite right here.
Once they all got out of the car, Damon took the lead and crept over to the house. The first thing he noticed was the focus of illumination in the backyard. Something was definitely going on here, he decided. They all walked to the fence, but were unable to get a good view.
"Now what are we supposed to do?" Caroline whispered.
"Get what we came here for," Damon replied, unlatching the gate and storming into the yard.
Despite their attempts at subtlety, Kol heard them from the moment they pulled onto the street. Kol had expected an interruption from either his brother or the supposedly all-powerful vampire lord, but was surprised at how long it had taken someone to find them.
Elena had gone to her brother's side, cradling his head in her lap as he bleed out onto her jeans.
"It would appear that we have some visitors," Kol said, smirking as Elena's head snapped up to look around.
"So you're going to turn me over to Klaus, after all?" she said softly.
Kol frowned, wondering why she would think that when he'd told her he was no longer on the same team as his half-brother. "Don't you understand that I'm trying to help you escape his foolish plans?"
"Becoming a vampire isn't the answer. Doing this," she paused, gesturing to her family, "isn't the answer. All you've done is hurt me."
He crouched down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, all while masking his face with a look of sympathy. "Why don't you let me start by healing your brother?"
That seemed to change her attitude as she turned toward him with pleading eyes. He bit into his wrist and reached for Jeremy. But as the intruding footsteps got closer, he decided to give them a bit of a welcoming surprise.
Kol grabbed Elena's head and shoved his wrist up against her mouth. As she struggled against his grip, he whispered, "I'm going to make sure that Damon kills you. Then no one will be able to hurt you again."
Does Kol really care about Elena or is this all another part of his game? What will Damon do when he sees that Kol has fed his blood to Elena? Can Elijah beat Klaus to finding her? All these questions and more will be answered in the next chapter!
Please review! My biggest concerns are focusing too much on these Kolena interactions. Trust me, now that Damon's found Elena the focus will return to Delena, but I have really enjoyed writing these scenes ;)
And as always, thank you for reading!
XoXo Amber