Handsome Devil
Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries or its characters. I only own my plot and my OCs.
Sorry for errors.
KOL POV:
"Are you really drinking that neat?" A random human blurted after he finished moving a chair. The burly man crinkled his nose. "I can't stomach the stuff without water and ice."
Surely he can't actually think I care?
"You're not here to give me opinions and waste time." I reply coldly. "Get back to work."
He lowered his gaze and nodded. "Right away, sir."
"What are you making them perform?" Rebekah inquired, barging into my suite without knocking first. She wasn't bothered by the compelled humans walking all over the place. They were setting things up and getting dressed in garb long since out of style.
"The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe." I replied easily, pouring myself another glass of single malt scotch. This play was first performed in 1592 and, truth be told, is one of my favorites. I always did like Kit - as he preferred to be called - better than Shakespeare. "Either sit down, shut up, and enjoy or bugger off."
"Elijah's going to be livid." Rebekah remarked as she made her way to sit beside me on the couch. I can tell she just returned from the spa a few floors down. "He never did like this particular habit of yours."
My way of watching plays is much better than the traditional. The humans genuinely get wounded or even slaughtered depending on the fate of their character.
I shrug uncaringly. "He never likes anything I do, yet somehow he always manages to find a way to survive. I'm sure this time will be no different."
My suite had a spacious living area - where I was currently lounging - along with a mini-refrigerator, microwave, an in-room safe, and a king sided bed. The bed is where the costumes and accessories are currently at. My bathroom had combed cotton terry linens and deluxe bath products.
"Oi!" I snap my fingers at a human with a scowl on my face.
He turns and blinks confusedly. "Yes, sir? Is something wrong?"
"Yes somethings damn well wrong." I sneer in disbelief. "That's the wig you choose for Faustus? How on earth do you think it suits him? Did you even listen to anything I said?"
"Sorry, sir. I don't know what I was thinking. I'll change." The human becomes anxious and leaves the living area hurriedly to get another wig.
"Sometimes I honestly believe every human on earth shares a single brain." I scoff before tossing back another glass of liquor. "Idiots, the lot of them."
Rebekah snatched the bottle from me and commanded a human to get her glass. Before the woman returned I ripped the bottle out of her clutches.
My eyes squint ever so slightly in my ire. "Get bent."
This was my single malt scotch and I wasn't in the sharing mood. She's perfectly capable of getting her own.
"Don't be greedy." Rebekah bristled. "There's plenty more. It won't kill you to spare a glass."
The liquid swirled around my cup as I poured myself another. "Probably not, but why risk it?"
"We're ready, sir." The man who'll play Mephistophilis announced.
"Finally." I reply, interest sparked in my dark chocolate orbs. "You certainly took your sweet time."
"I'm sorry, sir."
I wave him off with a roll of my eyes. "Yes, yes. I'm sure you are. Let's get this ball rolling, shall we?"
A woman begins to speak, playing the chorus. A character who stands outside the story, providing narration and commentary. I ignored the long rambling introduction. It was only when Faustus appeared that my attention was recaptured. He was supposed to be in his study.
I listened to his musings about his dissatisfaction with his studies of medicine, law, logic and theology. He has his servant Wagner summon Valdes and Cornelius, two German experts in magic. Faustus tells them that he has decided to experiment in necromancy and needs them to teach him some of the fundamentals.
When he is alone in his study once more, Faustus begins experimenting with magical incantations and suddenly Mephistophilis appears, in the form of an ugly devil. Faustus sends him away, telling him to reappear in the form of a friar. Faustus discovers that it is not his conjuring which brings forth Mephistophilis but, instead, that when anyone curses the trinity, devils automatically appear.
Faustus sends Mephistophilis back to hell with the bargain that if Faustus is given twenty-four years of absolute power, he will then sell his soul to Lucifer. Later, when Faustus begins to despair, a good angel and a bad angel appear to him.
Good Angel, a human dressed in white, speaks. "Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art."
"Contrition, prayer, repentance - what of them?" Faustus questioned.
Good Angel is quick to answer and reassure. "O, they are means to bring thee unto heaven!"
Bad Angel scoffs at the one dressed white robes. "Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy." There was a pause here. A look of concentration furrowed his brow as he tried to remember how to continue his line. My jaw ticks in annoyance. I nearly threw my glass at his face.
Luckily he regained his momentum before it came to that. "That make men foolish that do trust them most."
"Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things." Good Angel tried to persuade sweetly.
"No, Faustus; think of honor and of wealth." Bad Angel disagrees silkily.
"The good angel is a weak ninny." I cut in, sipping my drink, letting myself get sucked into the play. "Don't listen to her Faustus."
Rebekah gave me a condescending look out of the corner of her eye. Mocking me without words. I ignored her. She smirked while she poured a glass of liquor a human fetched after I refused to let her have mine.
"Of wealth!" Faustus sighed wistfully. "Why, the signiory of Embden shall be mine. When Mepistophilis shall stand by me. What god can hurt thee, Faustus? Thou art safe: Cast no more doubts. Come, Mephistophilis, and bring glad tidings from great Lucifer; Is't not midnight? Come, Mephistophilis."
I lift my glass in a toast. "Fantastic choice, good on you mate."
The adventure continued and the plot thickened. Except for a few blunders the play was going really well, better than I expected. Of course Elijah would come during the climax of the story and ruin the moment. I raised my hand to indicate the humans should stop when he walked in. The speaking and movement halted as quickly as if I pressed pause on a remote-control.
"Now isn't the time for your juvenile tricks, Kol." Holier-than-thou Elijah reprimanded. He made his way further into my suite, weaving between clusters of humans to get to the living area.
"Pray tell, brother. What would you suggest I do while we wait for the witches to grace us with their presence?" My upper lip curled and I gazed at him with a hard look in my eyes. "Knit a jumper?"
"Zorra would appreciate that." Rebekah butted in unwelcomingly.
My gaze cuts to her harshly. "No who's being juvenile?"
Can I not go three seconds without her throwing Zorra in my face?
"We need to keep a low profile, you know this and yet you do the opposite." Elijah continued like we never spoke.
"Despite what you may think, I'm not an idiot." I took a quick gulp of smooth liquid to help calm my temper. It didn't work. Despite the way the smoky and sea salt air flavor warmed my insides, I was still equally incensed. "Your constant lack of faith in my intellect pisses me off. None of these people are from the hotel. They're not even from around the general vicinity. I made sure to procure maggots of society nobody will miss, so get off my back."
How quickly he forgets my plan is the reason we found their location as fast as we did. I know how to keep a low profile and still amuse myself in the process. I just don't usually bother to cover my tracks if there is no reason for the effort.
"We can't have deaths pilling up." Elijah told me. "Put them back where you found them."
I nearly continued to justify my actions and tell him about the preparations I had in place to ensure nobody will be suspicious, but a thought stopped me. Why am I explaining myself to him? I owe Elijah nothing.
Defiance steeled my brown eyes further. A taunting grin tugged at the corner of my lips. "After they finish. Besides, they won't all die. You're familiar with Dr. Faustus's story, yes? Then you know as well as I how many live and die."
Exasperation flickered across his face, an expression I was all too familiar with. "Kol-"
"Blame Kit, brother." I cut him off to say, grin growing just to irritate him. "The way he wrote the play is hardly my fault."
"I take it you encouraged this?" Elijah asked Rebekah.
She jerked a thumb in my direction. "How do you expect me to control him? You know he's a lunatic. There's no reasoning with crazy, Elijah."
Very creative insult Bex. I've never heard that one before.
"What are you even doing here?" I wondered, checking my watch and ignoring my sister. "It's only 7:00."
He still has a couple hours left before he's supposed to come back for the night. We've been taking turns patrolling around the witches' cloaked building for three days. Nobody has come in or out of it during that time.
"They had a few warlocks come out and scope the area with their magic." Elijah tugged at his left cufflink for a brief moment. He has a habit of smoothing and straightening out his clothing even when it's not necessary. "So I made myself scarce."
"Fascinating." I deadpan, bored with the explanation midway through. The first time someone leaves the protected building and it was for that. Ugh. I was hoping he'd have something of actual importance to report. "Now that we're all caught up with each other, I'm going to tell you what I told Rebekah. Either sit down, shut up, and enjoy or bugger off."
"Every human best be back where you found them before the nights up." Elijah warned. "Unharmed."
"If I agree will you leave me be?" I was ready to lie if that will make him go away. More will survive than not. Why can't that be enough? Before he can respond I wave my hand at the humans to tell them to continue.
I watch Faustus begin to repent as the voice of the Good Angel continues to urge him to do so. To divert Faustus, Mephistophilis and Lucifer both appear and parade the seven deadly sins before him. After this, Mephistophilis takes Faustus to 'Rome' and leads him into the pope's private chambers. Where the two become invisible and play pranks on the pope and some unsuspecting friars.
"This can't get any more pathetic." Rebekah snorts in derision.
I roll my eyes at her. "We're in a hotel suite not a fancy theater. They're doing the best they can with what they have. Shut up and use your imagination."
She'd realize that if she wasn't so incredibly high maintenance. How exactly does she expect some of these things to be portrayed better with such limited space and resources? The fact that I was the one people constantly questioned the wits of baffled me.
"One would think you'd be better at choreographing these things by now." She retorted. I ignored her in favor of focusing on the play. If I'm lucky she'll leave soon.
More examples of Faustus using his new powers include making a pair of horns appear on one of the knights who was skeptical of Faustus' powers, selling a horse to a man but not long after that the creature turned to a bundle of hay in the middle of a pond, bringing forth fresh grapes in the dead of winter, and conjuring the apparition of Helen of Troy at the request of his fellow scholars.
"My God, my God, look not so fierce on me! Adders and serpents, let me breathe a while! Ugly hell, gape not! Come not, Lucifer! I'll burn my books! Ah, Mephistophilis!" Faustus says now, finishing his long rant of fretting. His time was up. Seconds later the devils come and take him to hell.
The chorus speaks in conclusion. "Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight and burned is Apollo's laurel-bough. That sometime grew within this learned man. Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall, whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise. Only to wonder at unlawful things, whose deepness doth entice such forward wits. To practice more than heavenly power permits."
"I thought that was never going to end." Rebekah sighed in relief.
"You could have left at any time. I certainly wouldn't have stopped you." I tell her seriously. It would've made my evening.
"Don't be an arse." She snaps, getting to her feet with an empty bottle in one hand and a glass in the other. "And don't even think about asking me to help clean this mess up."
"Wouldn't dream of it, princess." I taunted her. "You might break a nail."
She threw her glass at me and I quickly dodged. Shards went everywhere when it came in contact with the wall instead of my face. I laughed at how easy it was to ruffle her feathers. Rebekah tosses her hair back and struts toward the door. It slams behind her.
"Come here, darling." I made a come-hither motion with my pointer finger. A human woman obediently made her way to me. There was nothing extraordinary about her physical appearance but that was perfectly fine with me. It wasn't her body I was interested in.
"Yes, sir?" She questioned.
I tapped my lap. "Would you sit here a moment?"
"Sir?" She hesitated.
I narrow my eyes and all politeness vanishes. "Now."
She sat quickly at the tone. I brushed her hair over one shoulder and ran my nose up the column of her neck. The aroma was that of an intoxicatingly sweet pheromone laced flower. My sharp incisors smoothly slid out of my gums and into her tan flesh. I ignored the way she flinched. A rush of euphoria flooded my body. The thick liquid was sweet and tangy with a hint of a fruity aftertaste. I sipped at it like one would fine wine, savoring the flavor and sensations.
"Much obliged, darling." I murmured huskily in her ear when I eventually pulled back.
Her head lolled lifelessly. A groan escaping her was the only reply I received. "Ugh."
I tutted and shook my head. "Now, that won't do. You humans are such fragile things. Here you go, love. Drink up."
I bit my wrist and put it to her lips. My other hand massaged her throat so she'd swallow. As she comes to I capture her gaze and push my will into her. After the other humans finish rearranging the suite back, I do the same to them. Then I buried the corpses with the costumes and accessories. One was the man who played Faustus. I had the 'devils' kill him after dragging him to 'hell'. The survivors were returned to where I plucked them from. My compulsion had a strong hold to avoid suspicion and panic.
Elijah was in the hotel's lounge reading a book when I got back. The room was decorated in browns and beige. I stride confidently over to him and wrench the book out of his grasp. Elijah looks up at me calmly, unruffled by my behavior.
His hands drop to rest in his lap. "Is there something you needed?"
After a quick glance around the room to make sure I wasn't being watched, I ripped the book clean in half and threw both pieces on his lap.
"You've been treating me like a mentally retarded child and I'm sick of it." I seethed. "Stop micromanaging every decision I make. Stop looking at me with patronizing condescension. Bloody stop it Elijah. Just because I don't have a stick shoved up my arse like you doesn't make me any less of a grown man. If it wasn't for me you'd STILL have no clue where they have Nik and Zorra hidden. More respect and a lot less pretentious bullshit would be fantastic."
He's been looking down on me more than usual these last few days and it's driving me mad. I can't help but think it's more of that my feelings are clouding my judgement shite. If he doesn't cut it the hell out he'll see just how hazardous my feelings can be.
"Of course, Kol." Elijah replied evenly, his gaze never strayed from mine. "Coming across as such wasn't my intention. My sincerest apologies. I'm simply concerned for you, that's all."
My face twists sourly. "Take your fake remorse and choke on it."
I said all I needed to say and had no desire to linger. When I got back to my room I got another bottle of liquor and opened it. Without bothering to get a cup I lift it to my lips and take a large gulp. I shut off the lights and strip. Which was a little difficult to accomplish holding a bottle without ripping the fabric but I managed. All I wanted was the sweet oblivion of sleep, even if I only slumbered lightly.
Alcohol buzzes in my veins. As I lay here my body starts to relax. The silk sheets felt heavenly against my bare skin. The pillow was just the right amount of soft and firm. However a feeling crept into my stomach, twisting and clenching my insides simultaneously. The whole day was filled with distractions. Physical and mental alike.
Now there was nothing stopping the thoughts from sneaking in that I've been fighting all day. I loathe being useless. I've done all I can do and now I have to wait for the witches to report back. Wait while they're doing lord knows what to Zorra. She can be dead by now for all I know or in the process of being tortured to insanity to hurt Nik. I don't know which thought was worse.
"Dammit." I grumbled to myself, throwing the bottle across the room. It shatters against the wall. "Stop it. What good will fretting do? Relax and enjoy yourself until there's some news."
Despite my attempt at a pep talk, the feeling in my stomach didn't abate. I knew it wouldn't without a distraction. I nearly got up and redressed. Unfortunately I felt drowsy enough that I didn't want to move but my thoughts still kept me from drifting off. I don't know how long I laid there until sleep claimed me.
Dream:
"Kol?" A feminine southern twang inquired hoarsely.
My head shot up. The blinding light that greeted me caused me to wince. "Zorra?"
"That doesn't look comfortable." She commented, green eyes half lidded. "How long have you been laying there like that?"
I straightened my spine and heard several cracks when I did so. "You're awake."
I almost couldn't believe it. My eyes drank in her lovely face. How wonderful it was to see her awake! I moved from my chair to sit on the edge of the bed.
"So are you." She deadpanned, eyes drinking me in just as much as mine did her. My lips tilted in a crooked smile at her quip.
"Don't be a smart-arse." I pinch her side and she yelps.
"That hurt you douche." She laughs before her beautiful lips pull into a pout. "You should be nicer to me, ya know. I am wounded."
My warm smile shifts to a sultrier one. "That you are, my love. I'd be a horrid beau indeed if I didn't do everything in my power to make you feel better."
"Beau?" She repeats, eyebrows raising incredulously. "Who says that?"
"I do and you're ruining the moment."
She laughs and tries pitifully to fix her expression into a somber one. "Right, my bad. Continue."
"I don't think so." I turn my body away. "My feelings are far too hurt."
"You have feelings?" She gasps in dramatic surprise.
"Rude slattern."
Her laugh rings in the room a third time. "There you go again. Your age is showing."
When I refuse to budge she tries to be apologetic and coax a response out of me. I still didn't move.
"Come on, don't pout." I hear the rustling of the sheets as she moved. "I'm sorry."
I remain unchanged, fighting the mischievous gleam that wanted to appear in my eyes. Instead my face remained 'hurt'.
"Kol." Her breath fanned against my ear. "I know you're not upset. Stop being childish."
Still no response from me.
"I can make you stop ignoring me, you realized that right?" Her lips pressed against my neck softly and I stiffened. "See? A response already."
I tried to remain stiff but when her lips moved up and down my neck repeatedly, I couldn't help but tilt my head to give her better access. She nipped behind my ear and it sent an electric jolt down my spine. Suddenly winning this little game didn't seem nearly as important. Her smell and touch invaded my senses and I wanted to taste her as well.
I turn back around on the bed and brush my lips against hers. Her hands tangle in my hair and I groan when her nails scratch my scalp. One hand lifted to caress her cheek and the other moved to the small of her back. I pull her as close as I possibly can. Her full breasts against me was my undoing.
The kiss deepened. I pressed my tongue to the seam of her lips and, at her grant of access, delved inside her mouth. My brain lit on fire and warmth traveled all over my body. My jeans grew uncomfortably tight.
She eventually had to pull away to get oxygen. Her breath came out raggedly. "I missed you. I missed you so much."
My heart clenched and I couldn't admit out loud that I missed her as well. That I was worried beyond belief the whole time she was gone. So I pressed hot kisses down her neck and was determined to show her instead.