The wheels are in motion on their latest plot. Rebekah managed to get Matt to take some of her blood and now it's up to Kol to finish the job.
"No backing down this time sis," Kol says gently, "we've both had our moments of weakness and this time we can't afford them."
"I know," she says with reluctant acceptance. Kol feels for her. Their shared dilemma has resulted in a surprising closeness between them.
As he approaches Matt, Kol knows he should be enjoying this a lot more than he is, the prospect of killing has always excited him. Plus he's been given permission to kill his sister's boyfriend, what brother wouldn't be happy about that? But killing Matt is just Kol going through the motions, his hearts not in it, because his thoughts are turned towards Jeremy and the knowledge that he'll have to do the same to him soon.
Kol grabs Matt's head and twists until he hears a snap. It's all over in the blink of an eye and Matt crumples to the floor. Matt didn't even see it coming. Rebekah walks in then and she's crying. Crying isn't something she does often, she's more likely to get angry than upset. She sinks to the ground beside Matt and lifts his head onto her lap. Her tears continue their steady flow and Kol pities her.
"Want me to stay?" Kol asks.
"Just for a little while," Rebekah says, reaching for him. Kol takes a seat on the floor beside her, leaning in close to comfort her.
"I've made the wrong choice," she sobs, "I thought I was still in love with Stefan, I did this to protect him, but Matt didn't deserve this."
Kol puts his arm around her and tells her it'll be alright, because what else can he say?
Kol suggests they move Matt somewhere more comfortable. Rebekah agrees so Kol carries Matt to the bedroom and lays him on the bed. Rebekah perches on the bed beside Matt and she seems calmer. Kol's got to go, he's having an attack of conscience of his own.
"You'll be ok now?" Kol asks Rebekah.
"Yes," she replies softly, not taking her eyes off Matt.
"I'll see you soon," Kol says and then he's gone.
xxx
Seeing Rebekah's conflict has made Kol realise he can't go through with this. She put Stefan above Matt and already she regrets it. At least she sacrificed Matt's mortality for someone else, not herself. Kol has always put survival first, they all have, they wouldn't still be here after a thousand years if they hadn't. But somewhere along the way Kol's priorities have shifted and his own survival isn't top of the list anymore, Jeremy's wellbeing is. Kol's sickened at how close he came to using Jeremy to save himself. It's a strange, new feeling putting someone else ahead of himself. It's wonderful and terrible at the same time. To care about someone enough to put their life before your own is completely uplifting, but it also means you have so much more to lose, that much further to fall, and that's frightening. Having something worth protecting means you need to actually work at protecting it. And if that means Kol has to go against his family's wishes for Jeremy's sake then that's what he'll do. Nick will understand that...hopefully.