In which Kol and Davina meet and my inner Kolvina shipper comes out to play.


"Please tell me someone has an answer." Klaus growled.

No one answered him, heads around the room turning to Caroline. She sighed, turning the page of the newspaper. "Please tell him someone has an answer."

Adrian rolled his eyes. "We don't. Tyler says none of the other hybrids have left Mystic Falls, which doesn't surprise me. They just wanted out altogether. It could be a regular wolf cursed to have werewolf venom …"

"Davina says it's not that." Josh interrupted. "She sensed a lot of magic last night, thanks to Caroline giving them the all clear, but that kind of spell would be powerful enough to override all of it."

"She volunteered this information?" Klaus asked, distracted momentarily.

"She likes Caroline." Josh said.

"Okay, so if it wasn't a wolf and it wasn't a werewolf and it wasn't a hybrid, what was it?" Caroline asked. "Because that was definitely werewolf venom. I thought you said the bayou was empty," she added to Adrian.

"I thought it was." He said. "We searched, and found no sign of anyone, just the remnants of the camp of the pack that Marcel drove out of town."

Caroline sighed. "Take another look. Did you have any luck last night?"

"No." Jeanette admitted. "None of us got a good enough trace of his scent, he lost us after about a mile."

"If he is a werewolf, he'll be smart enough not to come back." James added.

"Yes, but if he is a werewolf, how is he turning when it's not the full moon?" Caroline asked, getting up from her chair as someone began hammering at the door. "Honestly, are they trying to wake the dead?"

"Too late!" James and Jeanette chorused.

Caroline sniggered, and even Klaus cracked a smile as she went to answer the door.

Of all the people she had considered - Camille, maybe, or even Sophie - Kol was not one of them.

"You're keen." Caroline remarked by way of greeting. "I haven't even set a date yet." No sooner had the words left her lips, however, than she realised something was very, very wrong.

Kol was leaning heavily against the door frame, his face pale and his breathing heavy. His fangs seemed to flicker in and out of sight, the veins on his face darkening and then disappearing just as quickly.

"Kol?" Caroline asked quietly. "What happened?"

Kol gave her an approximation of his usual charming smirk. "Long story short, I pissed off a witch in Baton Rouge a century ago and her granddaughter got me back for it." He tried to stand up, but staggered forwards.

Caroline hastily caught him, situating herself under his arm. "Klaus!"

Klaus was at her side in a second, taking Kol's other arm and helping her half-carry him into the living room, setting him down on the couch, where he settled with a pained groan. "Sorry." He muttered, almost under his breath. "This place was closest."

Caroline didn't answer, speeding to the kitchen for a handful of blood bags and a damp cloth. She might be willing to help Klaus with New Orleans, but she knew better than to get in the middle of Mikaelson family drama.

And those girls' nights with Rebekah had been enough for her to realise that there was a certain amount of tension between Kol and his siblings.

Once she'd handed Kol the blood bags and settled the cloth on his forehead in an attempt to bring down the fever that prickled over his skin, she hurried upstairs, coming to a stop outside Davina's open door and knocking.

"Come in." Davina said, glancing over at her. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." Caroline said, fidgeting with her daylight ring. "Davina, I hate to ask you for help, when I promised I wouldn't."

"You didn't." Davina said, setting her paintbrush down. "You said that you couldn't promise that no one would ask for help."

Caroline shook her head. "I didn't think I'd be the one doing it."

"I can't find the wolf." Davina told her. "I'd need its blood and we don't have it."

"It's … not me." Caroline admitted quietly. "It's Klaus's brother … Kol. He was cursed in Baton Rouge and we were the closest. I don't think it'll kill him, because he's an Original, but I wouldn't want to stake his sire-line's lives on it. I mean, I can call Bonnie, but she's in Virginia, it'll take a while, and I just thought …"

"I'll take a look." Davina interrupted. "But I can't make any promises."

Caroline nodded. "Of course. Thank you." She led Davina back downstairs to where Klaus was pacing, watching Kol with thinly-veiled concern, which should be anyone's first clue that something was wrong.

Kol's vampire visage seemed to have been settled by the blood, which made Caroline feel a lot better about bringing Davina in.

"I'm going to need an empty room." Davina told her quietly. "Just me and him."

Caroline nodded, pre-empting Klaus's reaction with a sharp glare. "Yell if you need us."

The door closed behind them with a click and Davina took a deep breath, slowly approaching the half-conscious vampire. "Kol? My name's Davina."

"Davina Claire," he said, almost caressing her name. "The Harvest Girl who told the coven where to shove it. You can come closer, darling. I'm not going to bite you."

A smile threatened to break and she dropped her gaze. "You don't scare me. I can drop a vampire if I need to."

"Good." Kol said unexpectedly, his words slurring a little. "Because most of us are idiots."

Davina allowed herself her smile, pulling a footstool over to sit beside him. "Are you including yourself in that?"

"Oh, darling, I'm the biggest idiot of the lot sometimes." Kol admitted, coughing harshly. "You sure you want to help me?"

"I'm not sure I can." Davina admitted softly. "I've never learned to channel my magic, I don't really know any spells. My magic is instinctive, it comes from my emotions. I want to help you, but I just need some time to get my magic to realise that. So talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?" Kol asked.

"Anything." Davina answered. "As long as my magic believes you."

Kol managed a smile. "I had magic once, you know. I was the only one of my siblings that picked it up. I think Mother was hoping Rebekah would – her little girl following in her footsteps – but Beks was always more interested in watching Nik and Elijah's sword play than practising magic with us."

"So you were a witch?" Davina asked, her hands hovering over his chest, trying to find the place the spell had made contact.

"I was." Kol confirmed, taking her hands and guiding them to a spot just under his heart. "I never did forgive Mother for taking that away from me. I tried for years to try and get that rush back, but it never worked."

"What did you do then?" Davina asked.

Kol hesitated. "Nothing pleasant, love." He grimaced, doubling over in pain, veins popping beneath his eyes.

Davina hastily grabbed another blood bag from the side table and handed it to him, watching in morbid fascination as he tore it open and drained it. Once he seemed to have settled again, she pushed gently against his shoulder, forcing him to lie back so she could lay her hands on the cursed spot once more. "Keep talking."

"Don't know what you want me to say." Kol said wearily. "There's nothing about me that pure magic would find worth saving. I know how it works."

"Then lie." Davina suggested, but Kol was already shaking his head.

"My family have their faults, Davina, and so do I." He said. "I have no problem with lying in general, but lying my arse of to a pretty girl to get her to save me … Well, it doesn't sit right."

Davina blushed a little. "I won't be offended – I'm asking you to lie to me."

"You're blushing." Kol observed. "Surely you're used to people calling you pretty."

"No." Davina admitted, examining his unmarked shirt. "I … I need to see where it hit you."

Kol smirked, unbuttoning his shirt. "All you had to do was ask."

Davina rolled her eyes, regaining some of her composure, gently prodding the ugly burn on his skin. "Shouldn't this have healed?"

"It should, and it does." Kol answered. "And then it opens up again. Are you telling me, darling, that no one has ever told you you're pretty?"

"… Yes?" Davina said hesitantly. "Why would they?"

Kol tutted. "What is wrong with boys in this century? When I was alive, it would have been considered nothing less than a crime for a beautiful girl like you to be unaware of that fact."

"Well, nowadays, people don't really appreciate random compliments." Davina said.

"Oh, I don't mean morons on the street." Kol said dismissively. "Those aren't compliments. You must have had friends before the Harvest. They should have said something."

Davina flexed her fingers, trying to will her magic to respond to her.

"You need a teacher." Kol said, watching her work. "I can try, if you like. I can't demonstrate anything, but I'll do my best."

Davina looked up sharply. "You promise?"

Something crossed his face, a kind of raw understanding. "You're scared." He whispered. "Aren't you?"

"I don't get scared anymore." Davina said firmly.

"Yes you do." Kol said gently. "You're scared they'll take you back. And if they try, you'll need to fight." He covered the hand that rested on her chest. "I promise you, Davina Claire, I will do everything in my power to help you learn how to channel your magic properly. And if I can't, then I promise you that anyone coming for you, darling, will have to go through me first."

"I'm not scared." Davina repeated.

"Yes you are." Kol said, lifting her hand. The skin was unblemished, not even a scar to show for the curse. "Because the symptoms are gone. That promise got through to your magic – and I didn't even have to lie."


Kol was as good as his word, something that could not often be said about him. The day after Davina broke the curse, he showed up at her door with an ancient handwritten journal.

"It's a grimoire." He explained, when she just stared at it. "Not your family grimoire, admittedly, but it'll do."

"I've never tried an actual spell." Davina admitted. "Aside from a locator spell, but anyone with a trace of magic can do that, as long as what they're tracking isn't cloaked."

"Which reminds me." Kol said, frowning. "You're cloaked, aren't you?"

"No, but the witches know where Klaus is." Davina said, leafing through the book with care. "They're just not stupid enough to cross him."

"Uh huh." Kol said, not sounding convinced. "In any case, the first step to channelling magic is making it do what you want and not what it wants."

"But the ancestors won't let me, will they?" Davina asked.

"The bigger spells you do need to tap in to a higher power." Kol admitted. "But we're going to start small." He tossed her a pillow. "We're starting with that."

"A pillow?" Davina asked sceptically.

"I started with feathers that had just been plucked." Kol said. "But we're fresh out of chickens, so we're going to use that."

Davina sighed and handed it back. "Some of us don't have vampire strength."

Kol shrugged and, with a flick of his wrist, the pillow had been torn in half, sending feathers all over the floor. "Do you mind if I close this door?"

Davina raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Don't look so surprised, love." Kol said, pushing it shut. "I do like to ask permission before I shut myself in with a pretty girl." He checked the window as well, just to make sure there were no draughts in the room. "Now this will work better if you're comfortable, so sit down and make sure that you're relaxed."

"That's easier said than done when you're being watched." Davina muttered, dropping to sit among the feathers. She closed her eyes, trying to make her muscles unwind from the tense balls of stress they seemed to have formed.

His steps were loud and obvious – intentionally so (another show of consideration she had not expected) – so when she felt him sit behind her, close enough for his chest to brush against her back, she only started a little.

"Relax." He whispered, his hands on her shoulders. "Breathe with me."

That wasn't easy either. The intimacy of the situation seemed to have done a number on Davina's heartbeat – something she was surprised Kol didn't comment on – but finally she managed to match her breaths to his, feeling his chest rise and fall against her.

"Good." He murmured into her hair. "Now find the place magic resides within you. Mine was always somewhere near my stomach. Find it, and let it flow with your breaths. Let it find one of the feathers – just one – and make it float."

"Why just one?" Davina asked.

"Because floating all of them is channelling." Kol answered. "Floating just one is control. Now focus."

Davina nodded, leaning back against him a little for balance (and also because it had been a really long time since she had just had contact with another person, Josh's hugs not withstanding). Her magic washed out of her with her next breath and she tried to focus it on just one feather.

Kol's chuckle vibrated through her skin. "Not bad, darling."

She opened her eyes to see most of the feathers lying on the ground and just one on the ceiling.

"But I did say float," he continued, "not catapult. So we'll try again."


The date for the party was set as December 10th, and Caroline soon had a deadline racing towards her. She wasn't concerned – all the planning had been done and all that remained were the last-minute preparations.

Preparations that involved making up rooms for Elijah and Rebekah when they arrived on December 9th, along with a few others Caroline had invited and would need to stay the night.

Agnes, on behalf of the witches and by way of Sophie, had declined the invitation, more politely than Caroline had expected, but had expressed her appreciation of the offer.

How much of it was genuine and how much was courtesy, Caroline didn't know – and didn't much care either.

Camille was coming, as Marcel's date, something that made Caroline a little nervous. Between the two of them, they had agreed that they should tell Marcel that they met when Caroline arrived in New Orleans (not completely untrue) and that Cami had given her a tour of the city (again, not untrue).

It was better than Camille trying to pretend she didn't know Caroline and Marcel figuring out that something was going on. He wasn't compelling Cami – not that it would work now – but Caroline knew better than most what happened when vampires decided their human companions were more trouble than they were worth.

Sometimes, late at night, she could still feel Damon sinking his teeth into her throat, the vervain in her blood her only saviour.

The rest of Marcel's crew had her a little on edge, but Klaus assured her that they would behave – defend Marcel, yes, but as no one was planning on launching an attack, that shouldn't be necessary.

Most of their houseguests arrived mid-morning on the ninth, a convoy of rental cars that bypassed the Quarter entirely and pulled up the long gravel drive outside the plantation house.

Rebekah got out first, acknowledging Caroline with a wave and a smile.

"No Matt?" Caroline asked, not bothering to raise her voice.

"Thought about it." Rebekah said, retrieving her bag from the backseat. "But I don't really want him to get caught up in it."

Caroline was relieved despite herself. Hopefully there would be time in the future for Matt to visit her new home, but for now Rebekah was right – if Marcel suddenly decided he wanted Rebekah back, she didn't want Matt to become collateral damage.

Stefan and Elena were next, the latter blurring over to hug Caroline, leaving her husband to collect the bags.

"Well, hello Mrs Salvatore." Caroline teased. "How's married life treating you?"

Elena gave her a wide smile. "Very well. Jeremy and Hayley send their best wishes, but he's got school and Hayley reckons adding a werewolf to the mix won't go well."

Caroline grimaced. "No, it wouldn't."

"Tyler's here though." Elena added unnecessarily as the man himself appeared. "And Bonnie's with him."

Caroline nodded, crossing the drive to hug her other best friend. "Hey, Bon."

"Hey, how's Davina?" Bonnie asked.

"She's doing okay." Caroline assured her. "Kol's been … surprisingly helpful."

"I heard that." He retorted from somewhere inside.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Come on inside." She said to the group as a whole. "Elijah?"

"Following on." Rebekah said. "He wasn't in Mystic Falls, so he told us to go on ahead."

Caroline frowned. There was something in Rebekah's voice that worried her – a slight tremor that spoke of fear. "Are you alright, Beks?"

"I'm fine." Rebekah said, managing a passable smile. "Are you going to introduce us?"

Belatedly, Caroline realised that the sitting room she'd led them in to was occupied – Kol and Davina were working on another focus exercise, and Josh was watching them.

At least they had been and he had been before Caroline had interrupted.

"Bekah!" Kol said, jumping to his feet. "All alone for once?"

Rebekah rolled her eyes, embracing her brother. "Trying to keep him safe, actually."

Caroline laughed. "Davina, Josh, these are my friends from Mystic Falls. This is Rebekah, Klaus and Kol's sister, and this is Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and Tyler. I'm guessing," she added, turning to Stefan, "that Damon and Katherine declined because Katherine still has issues with Elijah?"

"Something like that." Stefan agreed, hugging her now he had two hands with which to do so.

"So," Josh said with a nervous laugh, "at the risk of sounding rude, who's what?"

Elena laughed, stepping forward to shake his hand. "Stefan and I are vampires, Beks is an Original vampire, Tyler's a hybrid and Bonnie's a witch."

"Thanks for the cloaking spell." Davina said shyly.

"Not at all." Bonnie said with a smile. "You want to show me where you are? I'll see if I can help as well, while I'm here."

Rebekah tugged on Kol's sleeve. "Can you leave them to it?" She asked in an undertone. "I need to talk to you and Nik."

Kol frowned. "Yeah, of course. Family business?"

'Family Business' for Originals rarely meant 'Family Business' – just a conversation that should be kept between the siblings and nobody else.

"Yes." Rebekah hesitated. "But I guess Caroline might be a good idea."

Hearing her name, Caroline looked over and caught their eyes. Heaving a sigh, she excused herself from Stefan and Tyler and approached them. "What's happened?"

"I need to talk to Nik." Rebekah said. "And I want you two there when I do."

"Alright." Caroline said, glancing at Kol – but he seemed as in the dark as she did. "He's in the study, I think."

She led them up a flight of stairs and along a corridor to a closed door, which she knocked upon before pushing it open.

Klaus barely glanced up at her entrance. "Yes?"

"Rebekah's here." Caroline said.

Now he looked up, a rare smile crossing his face. "Little sister."

"Hello Nik." Rebekah greeted quietly.

Klaus frowned. "Something's wrong."

Caroline pushed the door closed behind them, shutting herself in with the three siblings. "Rebekah, what's going on?"

Rebekah took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on Klaus. "When we fled New Orleans, when Mikael came here, you blamed Kol."

Yellow flashed in Klaus's eyes even as Kol groaned. "For the thousandth time, I was being discrete. Certainly no less discrete than Nik himself …"

"It wasn't Kol that lured Mikael here." Rebekah interrupted, her words hurried. "It was me."