Jeremy and Adriana watched in horror as Kol continued to burn Sherriff Forbes. He finally sighed.
"This isn't even fun anymore, maybe I should just end your pathetic little life and find a more suited person to torture…like maybe your daughter." He flashed his most arrogant smile and walked towards the cellar door.
"You can't torture it out of Caroline. Klaus would kill you." Kol chuckled darkly.
"He'd be mad at me love, but that would be all. Klaus can threaten and threaten all he wants, but we're family. The worst he would do is dagger me for another ninety years." Liz sighed, a sob softly escaping her lips.
"Fine…I'll tell you." Kol's grin widened.
"About bloody time. How do you resurrect people from the dead?" She sighed.
"You'll need a human drained of blood to symbolize vampirism, something of the persons to symbolize their essence, and the tears of someone who mourned for them to symbolize humanity." Kol clenched his jaw together.
"That's to bring a vampire to life, I need to bring back a witch." Jeremy gasped.
"Please tell me you aren't bringing back Esther…" Kol almost looked offended.
"My mum? Why would I bring back the witch that tried to kill my entire family? I'm not an idiot, Gilbert. No, I have a better plan in mind, something that would even benefit your little girlfriend over there." Kol looked pleased with himself, thinking for a moment about what to do next.
"Niklaus is not going to be happy with me for this…but let's consider it payback for tugging me around for over half a century in a box." He bit down on his wrist and forced his blood into Liz's mouth. Jeremy screamed no and tried to tug Kol's arm away.
"Let go of me before I hurt you. Just be glad I'm not killing her forever. This way we all win, if she's a vampire she won't be so willing to shoot Salvatore down with that special gun of hers, Caroline will never lose her mother, it's full proof."
"She will lose her mother, Liz would never complete the transition! And you never fully answered me, why are you going to such lengths to protect Damon? With her as a vampire you're hurting Damon's chances of winning a fight against her, not protecting him!" Kol shrugged.
"Liz will complete the transition if I compel her too. Only reason I haven't so far is that I was having way to much fun torturing the living hell out of her.
She will never be a bother to the Salvatore family so long as I'm still alive to keep the compulsion going. To answer your question, I told you before, someone I fancy very much cares deeply for Elena, and therefore Damon by extension. She's lost enough, she doesn't need to lose them." Kol's words were so human in that moment that it completely caught Jeremy off guard. Neither him nor Adriana really knew what to think.
"Who in the word do you care that much about?" Kol smiled fondly.
"I think you'll find out soon enough."
Back at the boarding house, Damon, Elena, and Alaric, were just getting home. Elena happily hung the sonogram they'd been given on the refrigerator and Damon pulled out his phone to text Jeremy.
"Where are you?" Jeremy's response was vague.
"With Kol. Tell you about it later." Damon nearly dropped his phone, calling Elena over and letting her read the message.
"Why the hell are Jeremy and Adriana with Kol. Don't they know that he's dangerous?!" Damon shot her a reassuring smile.
"I'm sure there okay, if they weren't Jere would have told me." Elena took a deep breath and nodded.
"I guess your right." Damon gave her the smolder eyes and gently brushed her hair out of her face.
"Of course I am, I'm me. Now come on, let's take Ian out. I'm sure Katherine is tired of having to play cops and robbers with him. He's made her sit in the laundry basket, which is supposed to be jail, about nine times now." Elena smiled and took Damon's hand, calling for Ian. He ran up to the couple and Damon picked him up with his free arm, letting Ian wrap his legs around him and hold on to his neck.
"Where are we going, Daddy?"
"For ice cream." Ian wrinkled his nose.
"But I'm hungry…do they sell blood at the ice cream store?" Damon chuckled.
"People don't sell blood, son. We're a predatory species, we have to hunt for it. But for now this will do." He said as he grabbed Ian's sippy-cup off the counter, pouring in a blood bag and sealing the lid back on.
"Better?" Ian nodded happily.
"Now can we have ice cream?" Damon kissed his temple and hugged him closer to him.
"Of course we can." Ian tried his hardest to contort his facial muscles into Damon's signature smirk, failing miserably but looking adorable all the same. Elena giggled.
"He wants to be like you so bad." Damon didn't answer but squeezed Elena's hand and sported a large, happy, radiant smile. They walked slowly to the ice cream parlor at human speed, enjoying the autumn leaves and the cool Virginia breeze. Ian was jabbering on excitedly about seeing a vampire on Sesame Street, who had taught him the number four that morning. Damon and Elena were happy he'd found a children's show he related too. They were careful with what they let Ian watch, not wanting him to feel like a minority. To Ian, everybody was a vampire, and the people on TV that weren't ones were very strange to him. He only really watched Sesame Street, Adventure Time, and movies like The Little Vampire. It was kind of their way of getting him to keep their secret, if he thought everyone was the same as him he was less likely to go around bragging to other children about not being human.
When they reached the ice cream parlor, Ian decided he wanted chocolate. That was the one human food that both he and Scarlett were both absolutely addicted too. Elena mumbled something to Damon about how cute that was and started to pay for the small cone when Ian started squealing.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Damon raised his eyebrow in amusement at his son, who was bouncing up and down eagerly.
"There is a pet store!" He yelled, pointing a little finger across the street. He looked up at him from underneath his eyelashes with his baby blue eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.
"Can I have a bunny?" Damon sighed and ruffled his hair.
"Sebastian, your Uncle Stefan would eat it within a week." Ian pouted.
"But Daaaaaddy….Uncle Stefan is gone on vacation with that blond lady, we can get one now!" Damon's lips twitched into a small smile he'd been trying to hold back.
"But when he comes back it'll be the first thing he sucks dry." Elena glared at him.
"Damon, there are better ways to phrase certain…" Damon cut her off, wondering what she'd have said if she'd been present for the "if you accidentally kill people" speech he'd given Ian the day they were taken by Klaus.
"How about a kitten instead?" Ian's entire face lit up.
"Really?! You mean it?" Damon gave him his sincerest smile.
"Let's go pick one out." Elena handed Ian his ice cream and walked with them to the pet store. She grinned lovingly at her husband and whispered "I thought you hated cats." He leaned over and kissed her cheek gently while whispering "I hate anything that will piss on my Persian rug, but I love my boy more." She tugged him back a little bit, kissing him thoroughly while they were still walking.
"I love you." She released him and he shot her her favorite lopsided grin.
"I love you too, Princess."
Meanwhile, Kol had long turned Liz and compelled her to not only transition, but to never bother the Salvatore's again. Now he had left the Forbes cellar and was headed to the only place in Mystic Falls where he wanted to be…the place he could find what he'd left behind. He knocked on the door several times, starting to fear she wasn't home. He waited a little bit and then sighed, turning to leave. Suddenly the door creaked open and he swung around in excitement. There she was, completely wet and in nothing but a towel.
"I'm so sorry I was in the shower when I heard you knocking and I know this isn't decent but…" She stopped cold when she noticed exactly who was standing on her porch. He smirked, his eyes alight with mischief and a hint of adoration.
"Good evening, Bonnie."