"See you in the dark,
All eyes on you, my magician.
All eyes on us.
You make everyone disappear, and
Cut me into pieces.
Gold cage, hostage to my feelings.
Back against the wall,
Trippin', trip-trippin' when you're gone.

'Cause we break down a little,
But when you get me alone, it's so simple.
'Cause baby, I know what you know.
We can feel it.

And all our pieces fall
Right into place.
Get caught up in a moment,
Lipstick on your face.
So it goes…
I'm yours to keep,
And I'm yours to lose.
You know I'm not a bad girl, but I
Do bad things with you."

So It Goes . . . : Taylor Swift

Kol had a way of getting to me, so much that while he finished getting changed into something more suited for a date—I didn't even realize he had brought "proper" clothes with him to New Orleans—I just kinda stood there. He noticed, and he wore a smirk that only made things worse.

It wasn't until he held my jacket up for me to slide into that I snapped out of it, and I slipped into it effortlessly.

His hands lingered on my shoulders, with his head ducking closer to take in the scent of me. "You didn't have to make it so hard to let you out of the room."

"This is our last night in New Orleans," I reminded him, and I spun in his arms to face him, to wrap my arms around him. "We're breaking all the rules, despite your familial bond."

"Yes, well, at least it will be worth it." His smile widened, and he reached out to put a hand on my face. "I would give anything to see you smile."

"You don't have to go stomping on your brothers' rules for that," I assured him. "You make me smile effortlessly."

He smirked. "Alright, I am dying for a bit of fun. Since you've gotten back, all we've done is run, or hide, and I would like to spend a night without worrying about any of that. I would like to show you a proper Valentine's Day."

"Oh, and I'm not gonna get some lecture about the true horrors of the origins of Valentine's Day?" I asked, but I stepped away from him, throwing my hair into a simple but elegant ponytail, using hair to wrap it up and hold it in place.

He was in front of me in a second, holding me close to him, and his eyes scanned over my body, taking in every piece that he could see. "This is not a holiday I would dare ruin for either of us, love."

I was suddenly released from his grip, only so he could slide into his own peacoat and open the door to our hotel room. It was a few down from Elijah and Klaus', and I kinda figured that was an intentional thing that they did.

While we were in New Orleans . . . if there was anywhere to find out about some kind of privacy spell, this would be the place. I hadn't thought to ask Shea or Prisca, or Bonnie for that matter, but what could I say? "Oh, hey guys. Yeah, I wanna know a privacy spell. What for? You know . . . things."

Actually, yes. I could do just that.

I was surprised when we passed by Elijah and then Klaus' door to see Kol knock on each softly, loudly enough to get their attention however.

Elijah was the first to come out, and his eyebrows rose. "Going somewhere?"

"Yes, we are." Kol turned to Klaus' door as it opened. "Don't wait up."

Elijah folded his arms over his chest and leaned into the door. "Are you sure that's wise, brother?"

"Oh come now, Elijah, we won't be long," Kol assured him. "There's no harm in going out to grab a bite to eat, is there?"

"Yes, well, that's what room service is for, brother," Klaus said, though I watched him smirk. "Oh, that's right. You don't know what that is."

Kol's eyes darkened for a moment, but he smirked back at his brother just as brightly. "Joke's on you, Nik. I happen to know what that is because I did spend time living out of a hotel, you know, killing your hybrids and whatnot."

"Yes, well, I think it would be in everyone's best interests if you two stayed in." Klaus glanced at me now, and he shifted his weight a bit. "Are you sure you're ready to get out there, little witch? There is a werewolf curse lying dormant."

"Believe me, I know." I shrugged my shoulders a bit. "Kinda won't leave me alone, but how will I ever know if I can handle it without trying?"

Elijah took a deep breath, ripping both of our attention from Klaus. "I suppose we should let them have their evening, Niklaus. After all, it is a . . . special day for them both."

"Special day?" Klaus almost groaned, but he immediately pointed at me, his eyebrows pulled up. "I blame you for this entirely. One year, Kol and I went around feasting on lovers. Their blood was somehow sweeter."

"Yes, well, that was horrible of us and all, but I would like to take her to dinner." Kol reached out to place a hand on my back, and he smiled at his brother. "In remembrance of those poor lovers we slaughtered."

"Um, no." I held a hand up, and Kol's eyes snapped to me in an instant. "I am not letting your bad juju ruin my Valentine's Day."

That was enough to get Klaus laughing, hard enough that he had no more to say and simply went back into his room. Elijah reminded us to be careful and did the same.

"Bad juju?"

I folded my arms over my chest. "Those poor people. They just wanted to celebrate being in love."

"Yes, well, at the time, I thought love was meaningless and trivial," he reminded me, but his brow furrowed, his eyes going to a distant place. "Now, I do feel quite bad about that. Poor lot. I had actually forgotten about it, to be honest. It was here that we did that, the very year that Nik daggered me."

I reached out to grab onto the lining of his jacket, pulling him towards me without any resistance on his part. "Well, here's to those poor, poor lovers who had their Valentine's Days ruined for the rest of their lives. Now, I am a bit spoiled, and I blame that entirely on you—"

His smile began to grow the moment I said the word spoiled. "I will proudly take responsibility for that."

"But I want this night for me." I caught his gaze with mine, and it was as if I had put him into a trance, forced him to look at me somehow. "I say for me, but by me, I really mean us."

He placed a hand on my cheek, the touch mirroring the softness in his eyes or draped across his smile. "And we will have your night, you spoiled little princess."

"No!"

He burst into a loud laughter, the kind that only could come from someone who was truly happy, but he reached out to grab onto my hand anyways. "You've done it now, Darcy Gilbert."

With my free hand, I tried to cover my face, but my hands weren't big enough to do that alone. I didn't know if anyone's hands were big enough to cover them fully with just one, but what did I know?

"Fuck."

"We'll get to that bit soon enough." He began pulling me towards the elevator. I heard him press the button, and with one hand in mine, he was able to spin me into his arms flawlessly. Though there was a small fire in his eyes, his smile was soft. "First, I think I'm overdue for a proper Valentine's Day."

"You are," I agreed, and I stepped towards the elevator the moment I heard it ding, heard the heavy doors slide open. "You're overdue for a lot of things."

"Am I now?" He stepped into the elevator with me, and as the doors began to shut behind him, I found myself pressed back into the metal walls, with nothing but his body holding me there. "Why don't you—?"

The sound of the doors stopping, of a hand reaching out to keep them from closing all the way, cut him off. A man stood there, attached to the hand, and his eyes were wide when he stepped on and noticed how close Kol and me were.

I could see Kol's eyes darken in the reflection of the mirror, the reflection of the doors actually closing back this time, but I didn't expect him to reach out and actually grab ahold of the man.

He did, though, grabbed him by the shoulders and looked right into his eyes. "I want you to ignore us. I want you to forget that you even saw us."

Compulsion was a weird thing, and there was a time in my life where I was completely against it being used at all. If I thought too much into it, of course I would realize that it was wrong to fuck with people's minds, but right now, I was too turned on to care how horrible it was in the long run. This was relatively harmless, just forcing a man to forget the couple he saw making the elevator rather steamy.

Kol was in front of me in an instant, his smirk back and proud. "Vampires are so easy to compel. They think they're so safe."

My head turned to the side, towards the reflection in the doors, and I saw that this man was, in fact, standing there, completely oblivious to the fact that we were even there. It was like he couldn't even see us.

I watched Kol's hands roam down, and he didn't hesitate to move one beneath my skirt. He managed to do so without completely exposing me, even if the man couldn't see me.

His eyes tightened when he found the fabric of the tights beneath, but he adjusted, instead rubbing me through the fabric. Tights and lace panties were thin, thin enough that I could feel him pressing against me, feel him moving his finger in just the right way to make my toes curl, despite being scrunched into the shoes Rebekah had gotten for me.

"Tell me, love. What am I overdue for?"

It was over the moment he breathed the words into my ear, and maybe I should've expected that. The elevator had reached the ground floor, after all, and it had shaken ever so slightly to prove that.

By the time the doors slid open, Kol had moved enough away from me that it didn't look odd, or overly intimate. He stood in front of me, staring down at me with eyes that burnt the building down around us, but his smile was soft.

"Are you ready to go to dinner, my love?"

The two of us left the hotel with our hands intertwined, intimate enough that there was no mistaking that we were together but separate enough that we could take our own steps without tripping over one another. I didn't know if Kol actually knew where we would end up tonight, but he didn't seem to have a place in mind. We simply explored the night culture of New Orleans, stepping through some of the more lively streets filled with people exploring it the way that we were.

We were careful to avoid the supernatural, with everything going on. The witches of New Orleans knew about our kids, so we had to ensure that we remained amongst the living, the normal human life.

Eventually, we passed one that seemed interesting enough. It wasn't an Italian restaurant, so that was a new positive change.

My brow scrunched as the two of us approached the black metal doors of the restaurant, with intricate but beautiful designs. "It just occurred to me that we've been on a total of two dates, unless you count those two movies we randomly went to see."

"Hmm, and we already have children. I think we skipped at least two or three proper protocols for that."

"To be fair, that came from the first one," I informed him, though my mind wandered back to try and remember if I had actually mentioned that to him before. He probably guessed it as easily as I had, but I couldn't remember if I had said it out-loud before.

His lips pursed, his eyes traveling to distant memories that weren't as distant as they seemed. "Mmm. That was a good night." He glanced back at me before pulling the door open, holding it open for me like the proper gentleman he wasn't. "Well, in honor of our third date, why don't we do something completely different?"

The music on the inside had been muffled by the walls and the doors, but I could hear it. It didn't compare to how crisp and melodic each sound from the live instruments was, the lively jazz that sang through the air. It was upbeat, and when we stepped inside, I saw why. People were dancing, those who weren't sitting around at a table eating, and it was definitely nothing that we had done before.

There was a table in the back, set for two, and that's where we went. It was low key, but there were still waitresses that came to your table once you sat down. The woman was in much more casual attire than the last two places we had been, and it just helped give the entire atmosphere a more relaxed aura, which I was definitely on board with.

"What can I get you two tonight?"

"A round of beers, and my girlfriend has been dying to try some gumbo since we got to New Orleans." His eyes darted over to me, watching my smile grow. "What do you recommend?"

I held a finger up. "Actually, I'm not just looking for gumbo. I want to try some Cajun gumbo, maybe with shrimp."

Kol grinned madly the moment I had said the word Cajun, and his eyes lit up brighter than the room around us. "Yes, well, she likes things hot."

"I can see that."

I buried my face in my hands and let out a groan, at the same time Kol began to laugh. It wasn't as full as his laugh earlier had been, but he was not gonna protest anyone telling him how good looking he was.

"I like you." Though his eyes darted to her for a moment, they didn't remain there long, instead moving back to me and locking in place. "Do you have any gumbos that are . . . sweeter? I'm dying to taste something sweet on my tongue."

"Uh—I, um, y-yeah." One glance at the waitress was all it took to notice that her cheeks were flushed, her thoughts slurred. Kol had really done a number on her within a minute of sitting down, and I felt like that was a record or something. "I know just the thing."

She turned away briskly and left us there, and I was grateful for that moment to contain myself. Still new to this Original thing, the vampire thing in general, I hadn't quite coped to just how much differently emotions hit me. The lust, the reminder that the very best feeling as a human was only heightened and made infinitely better as a vampire, burned through me so quickly, so powerfully, that I had to actually shed my jacket.

It didn't help that he knew what he was doing either, that his smirk widened in perfect timing with his eyes melting back to the same liquid they had been inside our bedroom.

I had to take a deep breath, leaning forward to prop arms on the side of the table. "You shouldn't do that to people."

"Why?" he asked, his words breathy whispers. "It's so much fun, especially when I can get you all worked up and ready to go when doing it."

"Sweetheart, you can get me worked up by breathing, so you don't have to torment poor waitresses along the way," I informed him. "It's mean."

"I'm not a nice person, Darcy." He leaned closer, closing half the space between us so that not even a foot remained. "Have you not learned that by now?"

"You're the worst," I corrected. "Not just 'not a nice person.' You're the absolute worst, Kol Mikaelson."

He wiggled his eyebrows a bit, winking along with it, and holy fuck was that a mistake. The last thing my body needed right now was more reason to jump the table. It was already a thought burning in the back of my mind, and when you add in the fact that I could compel everyone to look away or cloak us while we had our fun, it was almost impossible to keep myself seated.

It was like he could read my thoughts, like he was taunting me, because as the thought of jumping him right there kept trying to resurface, he flicked his bottom lip between his teeth. "Mmm. Remind me that tonight."

Fuck.

The only reason I didn't jump him and do just that was because our waitress came back with our beers, promising that our sweet and spicy gumbos would be up soon. She still seemed a bit flushed at the sight of Kol, but he didn't even notice anymore, with his eyes removing all the clothes on my body so obviously.

It didn't get better either. Throughout the entire dinner, he would do things that just stir the pot further. Licking his lips when some of the sweet gumbo touched them, focusing on nothing but my lips for an entire piece of a conversation . . . I didn't know if he had anything more planned for today, but it was my day. We were going back to the hotel.

Unless I turned it around. I had power over Kol, enough power that I could get to him as easily as he got to me. The only difference was, he had a thousand years to adjust to these heightened emotions and desires. I hadn't even been a vampire for a week at this point, and most of my time had been spent controlling other things, such as my werewolf curse beneath my skin, or trying to hide the fact that I had become a vampire with a sire bond. Then there was the random realization that the Gemini had found us in Phoenix, so most of my time wasn't spent controlling my emotions, especially the desire to push Kol against the wall and have my dirty way with him.

I didn't do that, however, because the Darcy that I had always been was still there, even if she was buried beneath all the longing that Kol brought out in me.

We barely made it out the door before I stopped in front of him, turning to press my hands against his chest in the way he loved. He loved it when I touched him, felt every piece of him and took in the handsome marvel that he was. I liked to joke that it was his arrogance showing, but it was more than that.

He had gone his entire life without love, without someone who truly saw him, and whenever I showed him that I did . . . he struggled to contain himself.

It was as if he expected this kind of reaction because he just grabbed onto my hands and shook his head, placing them back down by my side and clicking his tongue.

"Now, Darcy Gilbert, your thoughts are not proper for our current setting," he playfully scolded, though his eyes told me that we were on the same page. "Why don't you try and behave yourself just a little longer?"

"It would be indecent for anyone else to see what I have underneath this dress," I agreed.

The reminder of the lingerie I wore had his mind trailing somewhere hot, towards the place I wanted him to go for all the torment he was inflicting upon me, but it was brief. Despite this being a new feeling for Kol—the love aspect of it anyways—he got control of himself with ease.

"I don't imagine anyone around would mind that being the last thing they ever saw," he breathed just moments before his hand dropped down my side, lingering across the silk of the dress I wore. I wondered if he was trying to feel what was underneath, or if he was just tormenting me some more.

If I had to guess, probably the latter.

With his fingers touching along my side, it took a few seconds for that to register, that Kol was implying he would murder all of the people around us if they happened to catch a glimpse of the more private skin.

"Why does it matter if they see too much?" I snorted. "It's not like they'll probably even remember. Most of these people are happily drunk."

I was ripped close to him, his arms gripping me so tightly that it actually hurt a bit. I didn't mind the bit of pain, however, especially when his lips nestled in closer.

"Every inch of your beautiful skin is mine to enjoy for eternity, and mine alone," he growled, the warm breaths tickling the skin of my ear.

I could feel it resonating through me, the hunger, the craving for him. It was powerful, bringing each and every nerve inside of my body to life, and I could feel my knees buckling, the blood beneath my skin boiling.

My eyes squeezed shut, and I dug my fingers into the thick fabric of his coat. "Kol." I hated that I said his name like a whimper, like a lost puppy, but I couldn't help it.

His arms tightened around me for a moment before he let out a soft sigh, releasing me just enough that I could get a glimpse of his softened features, though the smirk still remained.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't do this to you right now, not while you're still so new." He brought my hands to his mouth and kissed them both. "You know, the only reason I haven't killed Damon is because you care about him."

"He told you?" I asked, but the cold air burned against my wide open eyes. I had to blink a few times to get rid of any tears that might've started forming with the change of the air.

I watched his jaw tighten, watched his eyes begin studying all of my features, and that was discombobulating. "To be fair, he was under compulsion."

I sucked in a gulp of air. "You asked him that?"

"No," he disagreed. "I asked him to tell me something Elena didn't know that would make her hate him if she did. That's what he told me, and I impaled him."

"Kol!"

He exhaled sharply, his tightened eyes darting away briefly before finding me again and softening. "I know. It was horrible and all, but it's in the past. It's all said and done, so let's focus on now." He reached out to pull me back against him, close enough he could nuzzle his face next to my ear. "Besides, I'm the only one who has seen your perfect body exactly as it is."

I smirked. "Oh, you mean since I got fat?"

A low growl ripped through him, and his movements were stiff as he ripped himself back from me, to give me a stern glare, or at least the best one he could give me. We could get mad at one another, but not really, not like we could other people.

His glares were softer when sent my way, and now was no different. "Darcy—"

"I know, I know." I grabbed onto his hands and took a step back, away from the doorway we had barely moved out of. "I 'filled out,' as you call it. Come on. Let's get out of here. Take me to the busiest street in town."

Both eyebrows pulled up on his head, and his tightened eyes rounded. "Where is this coming from? Where is my girlfriend who has been very adamant about avoiding people?"

"Um, I was just inside a fairly crowded bar and did just fine," I reminded him. "I think I can handle walking through the streets."

He sighed. "I don't know, Darcy. There was loud music to drown out the sound of their heartbeats."

"And there's music just about everywhere you go in New Orleans," I insisted, and I began pouting. "Please let me do this. If you think for a second that I can't handle it, we'll leave and go straight back to our hotel room. I just . . . I'm tired of locking myself away. How will I ever learn control if I don't try?"

He let go of one of my hands so he could curl his fingers beneath my chin, to force me to look at him, and the soft smile was so beautiful, made my heart race in my chest. "Would you like to walk between people or actually start learning control?"

"What do you mean?"

He dropped his hand from my face and started the walk forward, and I started with him, moving almost in sync as we stepped away from the place we had just stopped to eat. He took an immediate right, heading towards a completely different road, but there was music in the distance, loud music. It seemed to be another busy street in the night.

"You haven't had anything to eat since we left the house," he said. "Would you like to change that?"

It was hard not to freeze, to stop walking towards the next block over, but I followed along with him. I didn't worry so much about everything going on around me, as Kol wasn't going to let anything happen to me, but instead allowed myself to get lost in thought, in the idea of what he was implying.

Did I want to try drinking from the vein? I wasn't a week old yet, but I had only ever drank directly from Kol. That had been hard enough to stop, so would it be the same for a human?

Could I even do this?

As we turned the block, arriving on a much livelier street filled with younger couples, couples that looked more our age—though I wasn't sure how many of them were still alive and how many were undead—Kol suddenly stopped, turning to touch the skin of my cheeks softly.

"I swear to you, Darcy. I won't let you kill anyone."

I nodded stiffly, finding comfort in his words, and I took in a brisk breath. "Okay. Let's do this."

His eyes were shining when he glanced back at me, but he did just that. With his hand still in mine, the two of us walked further into the busy street, moving past the couples we passed until we found the part of the Valentine's Day scene that took over just about any town, big or small—the people celebrating SAD. That was what I thought Caroline had called it.

Yeah, Single's Awareness Day. It was basically people's way of giving the finger to Valentine's Day simply because they didn't have anyone, and good on them.

Those were the people I was seeking out, however. It wasn't that I planned to kill anyone, but I didn't want to ruin someone's Valentine's Day by, you know, eating their Valentine.

He let go of my hand to use both hands to reach out, to gesture to the streets full of people dancing to the music and walking along the streets drinking. I didn't understand how that was even legal, but from what I understood about this town, there was a lot that went down that the people turned a blind-eye to, like the vampire who seemed to be running it all.

"What would you like, princess?" he asked.

Despite the knots inside my stomach, the tightness stiffening every muscle in my body, I managed to actually smile at him. "Careful. That's gonna become endearing."

"Oh, I do hope so."

I didn't let myself get lost in the idea of that, in my new nickname being princess, because I was surrounded by heartbeats, by people who I was supposed to be choosing to eat from. It was terrifying, for so many reasons.

"How does this work?" I mumbled. "Do I just . . . do I just pick one?"

He nodded. "Don't think too much into it either. I don't care either way, but I happen to know that you will. Don't ask questions. Don't look into anything about who they are. Pick someone, and we'll go from there, okay?"

I didn't like the fact that he didn't plan to go with me, at least not to pick someone. Being in a street crowded with singles, we would look a bit odd walking around together as a couple I guess, but who named this Singles Street anyways?

My eyes scanned each person, and I realized I couldn't actually do this. Drinking from someone when the chance came up was one thing, but picking someone to drink from?

That was until I saw a guy pinning a girl into the wall, just across the street just outside of what looked to be a bar. She looked uncomfortable, and when I tried focusing on their conversation, I could hear it, as if I was standing right there.

"Come on, baby. Let me show you a good time."

"No, I'd rather just hang out here alone. Thanks."

Scum bag number one, check.

I didn't even look at Kol, just headed towards the people. I imagined he was probably following, but I didn't actually check. If I was gonna do this, maybe it was best to pick the person out alone, to make this choice on my own.

Who was I kidding? Why did I need to do any of it alone?

Still, I stepped onto the sidewalk where the guy stood, and my mind was racing, thinking of a million different ways to do this. A direct attack would attract too much attention, and I couldn't just drag him away.

Ugh, would I have to play along? Pretend things might go wherever he clearly wanted to go?

First things first, he needed to get away from the woman who was clearly cornered by him, and I decided to provide the distraction. Bumping my shoulder into him, lightly enough that it seemed like an accident but hard enough that it knocked him over a bit, I pretended as if I planned to keep walking.

The guy's attention shifted alright, and he had his hand around my throat in a second, pinning me into the wall the same way he had that woman. She let out a soft scream and ran off, leaving me to whatever fate this man planned for me.

I saw the darkness around his eyes, the veins underneath his eyes filling with blood, and the fangs poked from his lips. "You're new in town. We're not supposed to feed off anyone who isn't stamped, but you look too damn tasty to pass up on."

He didn't even get to get anywhere close to me before Kol had him against the wall, his own vampire face coming out in an instant with his hand actually crushing the man's neck. The bones were breaking, but it wasn't so hard that he actually blacked out. It was just inflicting pain, breaking the little bones that didn't matter all that much.

"What did you just say?"

The man glanced at me for a moment before looking back to Kol, his eyes wide. "I just said she looked tasty. I didn't-I didn't know."

"That's not what I meant." The words were like venom as they fell through Kol's lips. "I know damn well how delicious this woman really is. What did you say about feeding on those stamped?"

"It's-It's Marcel's rules, man," he said, but he was struggling to do so with Kol's ever tightening grip on his throat. "Only feed on the tourists, never locals. And you can't kill vampires."

Kol rolled his eyes and dropped the man. "You're not even worth the effort."

My eyebrows rose, but I didn't say anything. Even though the guy was trying to get away, he was clearly a vampire, and I didn't want him hearing something that I didn't need to say. I didn't know what exactly might be going through Kol's mind, what might've made him just drop him instead of actually killing him.

Where was the jealous and protective Kol?

"We need to get back to the hotel room, now." He reached out to grab onto my hand. "And you're not allowed to pick who we eat anymore."

That was just what I needed, something else to get wrong as a vampire. I was an Original vampire who couldn't even spot a vampire from a human, so how was I supposed to properly protect my kids?

I wasn't alone. That was how I was supposed to properly protect them. By doing things with others, by not trying to take any steps by myself, I was going to protect my kids.

I wasn't alone.