Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story with enthusiasm and joy. :)
Music
Tessalate - (Baseball)
Under the Waves - Pete Droge (Kol Talks about E/H)
Claire De Lune - Debussy (Klaus)
"No, wait stop!" Avery shrieked before Kol threw the baseball. "I'm scared. You're going to throw it really hard. I know it." She giggled as he shook his head at her ridiculousness. But she didn't grasp how adorable he also found her.
Rebekah was setting up for the party in the mansion and yelled at everyone to get out. Apparently, they were all getting in the way. And somehow Kol convinced Avery to play baseball. Meanwhile, Elijah and Hayley stood nearby and observed. She was laughing hysterically at how terrified Avery was of hitting a baseball. Elijah looked equally amused but it seemed to be more from Hayley's uncontrollable laughter than Avery's fear. He was trying not to offend Avery.
"Avery, stop being a pansy and hit the damn baseball!" Hayley yelled.
"Okay, okay!" Avery shouted back. Kol once again got ready to throw the ball. "If you hit me, I will beat you with this bat, Kol Mikaelson." She commented before his arm extended. He threw it at a normal, human speed. And Avery swung at it so hard that she spun after completely missing it. She immediately heard Hayley's laughter and then looked up to see Kol trying to contain his own. He was being very patient with her. Avery never played baseball or softball. Her whole life, all she did was swim either competitively or recreationally.
"You swung too soon." Kol pointed out.
"She also needs a better pitcher." Hayley chimed in as she picked up the ball. "Baseball is America's past time." She explained. "And last time I checked, you were British. Isn't that right old chap?" Hayley asked in a fake British accent. Avery let out a laugh and glanced at Kol who was now at her side. He rolled his eyes at Hayley's abuses. But then he stood close behind Avery. His chest was pressed against her back as his hands were covering her own. He put his mouth close to her ear.
"Now…keep your eye on the ball. And don't tense up." Kol instructed quietly. Avery nodded at his directions. She smirked at how cleverly he found a way to be intimate while playing a sport. Hayley knew they were ready and threw the ball as softly as possible without it being underhand. Kol gave Avery the cue when to swing and barely put in any of his own strength. The bat made contact and had a perfect lob in the air. It flew behind Hayley who clapped with delight at Avery's success.
Hayley moved in a blur through Avery's eyes as she went to fetch the ball. It had landed in the forest that surrounded the estate. Avery then caught a glance of Elijah. He took his hands out of his pockets and his face turned serious as he watched Hayley emerge from the forest. Avery followed his gaze and saw that all sense of fun had disappeared from her.
"Someone has been in the forest." Hayley stated. "A human, I could smell it." Elijah was at her side in a second. But he remained calm as he glanced around the perimeter of the yard. "Get inside the house, Hayley." He instructed calmly.
"They're gone. No one's been there for at least a day." She argued. Avery could tell she wasn't good at following orders. Kol had said she was quite stubborn. Avery looked up to see Kol had stepped closer to her with his gaze dangerous.
"Are you sure it wasn't Avery?" Kol asked Hayley.
But she immediately shook her head. "No, I know her scent. It wasn't anyone we know." Elijah and Kol seemed to take her word for it.
"We should never have allowed Rebekah to have her fun." Elijah said darkly. Kol didn't want to agree with his defensive brother. But he was right. Their sister had invited almost half the town to her celebration. There was no way the hunters hadn't heard of it. "We've given them a perfect opportunity." Elijah added.
"But how can they do anything drastic while there will be so many people here tomorrow night?" Avery questioned. But Elijah and Hayley were no longer listening to her. They seemed to be having a heated discussion a few yards away. She turned to look at Kol.
"It will only make it slightly more difficult to be discrete. We will expect them to stoop low. They won't have any boundaries." Kol noted calmly. "Clearly they don't if they were meddling around our own home."
"How do you know?" Avery wondered.
"Because we would do the same."
They both looked over to see Hayley rush back into the mansion. She looked annoyed and Elijah appeared frustrated. Avery didn't want to ask what was going on. And then a few seconds later, Elijah eventually went after her.
"He's trying to get her to go back to Chicago." Kol seemed to have waited for them to get far enough away to tell Avery, already knowing she would ask.
"Hayley seems perfectly capable of taking care of herself." Avery said confidently. Although, the young vampire always seemed playful and in control, Avery knew that she would be menacing when motivated.
Kol sighed and looked over her shoulder at the mansion. "Our family has brought horrible things onto her." Avery became confused by what he meant. He'd only told her the raw basics of Hayley becoming a vampire. He hadn't even told Avery about Elijah's relationship with her. Kol never really believed it was his story to tell. But neither Hayley nor Elijah would probably talk about it.
"Hayley was killed because I brought her back to Mystic Falls after Elijah made me promise I would keep her in Chicago. She came back and was killed by my mother's creation. If I hadn't made her drink my blood, she would've truly died." He glanced at Avery's horrified expression. "Elijah has always been protective of her. He went through extreme measures to keep her safe years before I was even awoken."
"What do you mean by extreme measures?" Avery asked. She wondered what that even entailed. Her mind couldn't think of anything drastic enough to make even Kol believe it was.
Kol continued to flip the bat in his hand as he spoke. "He compelled her to forget him. Hayley couldn't even recall meeting him. And she wasn't released of the compulsion until two years later, when my brother recognized what an overprotective fool he'd been." He threw the baseball in the air, hitting it with an inhuman strength. Avery's eyes glazed over in tears. It was the most tragic thing she had ever heard. She was absolutely speechless, never knowing the whole story between his older brother and Hayley.
After a minute or two of silence, Avery suddenly thought of something. "Have you ever compelled me?" Kol had mentioned compulsion only a few times. It was enough for her to understand it. But it wasn't until now that she'd wondered if he had ever used it on her.
Kol put down the bat, focusing only on her as his eyes locked with hers. "Not once. And I never will. Especially after knowing about them." His seriousness disappeared in a split second. He smirked then. "And your dear aunt has snuck vervain into just about everything you own. So I couldn't even if I wanted to." Kol added. Avery had a sad smile. Only he could still make her sadness momentarily disappear. Kol stepped closer and tilted his head down to her as he cupped her face in his hands. "It's going to be fine. None of that will happen to us. I won't let it." He kissed the top of her head. "I promise you."
"What the bloody hell are you two doing out here? In almost 24 hours, there will be an exquisite party taking place. But if I receive no assistance, it will only be a party." Rebekah snapped from the patio. Kol sighed and stepped away from Avery.
"I'm sure the party will be awful no matter what you do, dear sister." She glared at him and turned her attention to Avery, waiting for her response.
"We'll be there in a second, Rebekah." Avery said kindly. Rebekah seemed satisfied with that and marched back inside the mansion.
Kol sighed dramatically and grabbed Avery's wrist as she tried to walk toward the house. "Honestly, Avery, sometimes I wish you weren't so nice and polite." He pulled her into his hold, trapping her from moving any further.
Avery smiled at how her kindness could actually annoy. But it could only be Kol. "Will you please just cooperate and help out your sister?" She begged him. When she saw that her pleading was doing nothing, Avery kissed him slowly. "For me?" He still was not persuaded. She kissed even deeper. "What if I told you we have my house to ourselves since Meredith's at work tonight? Would you behave then?"
"Remind me never to underestimate you again, darling." Kol muttered. He couldn't deny how impressed he was with her tactics. She was quiet but lethal, knowing exactly how to get her way with him. Avery gave him a satisfied smile and quickly pecked him on the cheek before dragging him back toward the mansion.
Avery opened the door leading from the patio back inside. She gasped and let her jaw drop as she saw how much had changed. Gold and ivory hangings were draped from the second floor catwalk down to the marble floor of the great hall. Chandeliers filled with candles instead of light bulbs were hanging everywhere. Gold candelabras of every size were scattered about the place. All the furniture was rearranged so there was room to dance and socialize but still places to lounge. The mansion always looked beautiful and classic but now it had become royal.
"Rebekah…this looks…absolutely amazing." Avery stuttered, still stunned by the elegance that now surrounded her.
There were servants bustling about. Rebekah had a clipboard in her hand. Even parties meant business to her. "This?" She asked casually. "I'm hardly even half way there." The vampire sighed. Somehow she was yet to be impressed by her own work. "It's a masquerade ball. I'm already aware that Mystic Falls has attempted it once before. But I'm sure they made an absolute mess of it. Unlike them, we were actually present when the fad was originated. I added a little flair by making the dress code black and white only."
Kol looked around, unmoved. He had been to lavish parties for a millennium. It took a lot for him to be impressed by his sister's attempts at showing other's how to throw a ball. "A little dramatic isn't it, Bekah. Black and white, is that supposed to be good versus evil or some nonsense?" He asked his sister.
Rebekah smiled, proving he was spot on. "It wasn't my idea, it was all Nik. You know very well that he loves his theatrics." Of course the hybrid was keen on the idea of having a ball. To the shut down the idea would only show that he was worried about the hunters attempting to destroy their race.
Avery couldn't help but wonder. Out of the two families, which one was technically good and which was evil? In her eyes, the good was Kol. How could it not be? But she was unable to stop her mind from wondering who was really the good. Would others see it the same way as her?
"Avery, would you be sweetheart and go fetch Hayley? I need her artistic opinion." Rebekah asked quite nicely which caused Avery to hesitate before leaving the great hall. She moved through the hallways without any direction, unaware of where Hayley could be. But, as she reached a quieter area of the mansion, she saw a pool of light escaping a room. She'd never been in this part of the house before. Carefully, Avery walked toward it and soon heard quiet voices.
Avery stood in the doorway to find Klaus glancing at photo negatives and Hayley was next to him, waiting to hear his opinion. But Elijah was nowhere to be found. Apparently, they still needed space. Hayley glanced up at Avery's company and tried giving her a welcoming smile. "Hey, you can come in. Klaus promises not to bite." Her sarcastic comment earned her a glared from the hybrid.
"Um… Rebekah asked me to find you. She said she needed your artistic opinion." Avery laughed uncomfortably.
Hayley barely looked at Klaus before walking quickly to the door. "I better go find her before she kills one of the helping hands from her annoyance." She commented before leaving the room.
It was now only Klaus and Avery. She couldn't decide if it would be ruder to stay or go. They'd never had a civil or casual conversation and she doubted it would happen now. But Avery pushed herself to at least put an effort into finding the true Klaus and not just the monster she saw him as. She hadn't moved out of the doorway, standing awkwardly between the hallway and the art room.
"Did you do all of these?" Avery asked nervously as she dared to take a step further in. There were paintings and sketches everywhere. And on the table, where Klaus stood, was a pile of photographs.
"Or they're stolen." He said without looking up. "The photos are Hayley's."
"You stole a Monet and a Picasso?" She whispered in awe. Her amazement overshadowed her fear of Klaus for just a moment.
The comment caused Klaus to finally look at her. "You know art?" He questioned, trying not to show any admiration for her knowledge.
"Just a little. These pieces are famous for being stolen. Who knew it was an original vampire who took them?" Avery laughed lightly. She cautiously walked over to table where he stood; stopping at the pile of photographs that Klaus said belonged to Hayley. "Do you mind?" She asked nicely. He shrugged his shoulders and then gestured with his hand to go ahead.
Avery slowly flipped through the photos, becoming more impressed with each one. "These are amazing. I had no idea." She muttered more to herself.
"She's quite talented, isn't she? Don't tell her I let you see them. She's very private about it. My brother is the only one she shows her work to." Klaus explained.
"She shows it to you." Avery smirked as she pointed it out. She neatly put the photos back down when a painting caught her attention. The canvas was still wet with paint. Avery guessed he had just been working on the piece. It was a portrait of a girl with blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. Avery took a step toward it while Klaus watched her closely. "She's very beautiful." Avery whispered. Klaus seemed to appreciate the comment, but didn't show it enough for Avery to notice.
"Avery." She whipped around to see Kol standing in the doorway with Elijah. For some reason, she felt like she'd been caught doing something bad. She looked over at Klaus who watched her and ignored his brothers. "Rebekah and Hayley are in need of your help." Kol lied. But Avery still walked slowly out of the room. Her cheeks burned as she felt all three of the brothers' eyes on her.
As soon as she was out of sight, Kol turned his attention back to his brother. "What are you playing at?" He hissed at Klaus.
The hybrid smirked at the accusation. "What ever do you mean, love?" Klaus wasn't playing any game. He was trying to do what Hayley had advised: stop the threats and actually be a brother to his family. But it was easier said than done. And Klaus couldn't resist making his younger brother angry and paranoid about something that wasn't actually happening.
Kol advanced into the room until his face was only a centimeter away from Klaus'. "Stay away from her." He threatened. Klaus didn't take well to threats. He roughly grabbed the collar of Kol's shirt, ready to throw him into the wall. But their eldest brother interrupted before a full fight broke out.
"Enough!" Elijah's voice was calm but there was a sternness that caused both Klaus and Kol to look at him. "How pathetic is our family if we cannot protect ourselves because we are too busy fighting amongst each other?" He asked. Kol shoved Klaus off of him, only giving him one last glare before walking past Elijah to leave the room. Elijah watched Klaus closely, making sure he wouldn't do anything stupid. When he was sure Kol was out of listening range, he regarded Klaus. "I overheard what Hayley said to you. We both know what she stated was true. It's now up to you to do what is needed."
A) I updated within 24 hours
B) I wrote this in a day
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