Chapter 18

For a few minutes, Kamil said nothing. Even after he let go of Nora's hand, his stare remained on the empty space between them. His brow furrowed and his mouth a fine line, he spread out his hand then closed it.

"Once again," he finally whispered, his voice barely audible, "magic opens the path in a rather odd way, yet the truth indubitably lies with magic."

"A dark omen," Kol commented, his expression not right while Nora was watching the witch before them worriedly. "Am I to understand that you cannot give me the answers I seek?"

Kamil's hesitation was obvious, his eyes flickering between Nora and Kol with a mix of curiosity and uncertainty. His hands shaking, he went to turn over a lone card. However, on its face, there was nothing but a light spot in an ocean of darkness.

"I have never felt such magic before," he quietly admitted. "There is no doubt that if someone were to attempt to harness this magic, they would wind up being burned alive and reduced to ashes. To think that a young woman like the Lady is the embodiment of this scorching magic is…simply incredible, if not slightly unbelievable. However…"

His voice trailed off. At this point, the length of the answer was starting to annoy Kol. What Kamil had just said, Kol already knew it and thus had no need to hear it. Kamil was known to have one foot in the past, the other in the present and his heart in the future. It was said the young man had pushed his capacity to read the future so far that even the Universe had for secret to him. The rest of his magic though, was truly limited.

"Time." Kamil's voice interrupted Kol's train of thought and Nora audibly squeaked when she heard the witch use this particular word. "I need more time."

Kol was immediately suspicious. "How much?"

"A whole lifetime to seek the answer you are looking for."

Kol's stare became icy and his smile mirthless. "Only that?" he mocked, the contempt obvious. "Or are you trying to run away?"

"Kol," Nora cut him off sternly, "I think we should trust him."

"We? Nora, darling, you do not know a single thing about witches… How could I rely on your judgment?" he replied as kindly as possible while brushing his fingers against her cheek.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Yet, words were like spilled water. Once out, it was impossible to take them back. As such, he kept his fingers on her skin as if everything was perfect in the world while inwardly, he dreaded her reaction.

"Are you saying that I cannot make a good decision honey?" Nora said in a low, sensual voice, void of anger, her lips stretched in a peaceful smile even though her eyes glowered at him.

He immediately tensed and coughed before stating, "now darling, that's not what I said."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow. "So… is my hearing bad then?"

"Definitely not. It's perfect, just like you." Groveling was definitely the way to solve this slip of his tongue.

Her smile almost blinded him as it made her eyes sparkle. With a laugh, she flicked his forehead, unaware that she was the was the only one in the world who could do that and still breathe afterwards - beside his siblings, obviously.

She then grabbed his hand and brought it to her mouth without caring about the outraged eyes on them. She blew on his hand as if to warm his body that had been dead for more than thirty years.

"I did not know a lot about vampires, yet I chose to trust you. Was it not very clever of me?" she stated proudly.

"Quite the contrary darling, I am hardly an innocent."

"Maybe," she grinned, "but I still chose to trust you and so far, I feel like it has been the best decision I could ever take." Her eyes flickered to Kamil. "Besides, it isn't what you think. I know nothing of Kamil, how could I trust him? However, I do trust you very much."

"You lost me here Darling," he said, unsure about what she meant.

She patted his chest, each of her touch leaving behind only lightness in his heart.

"Easy! You have let him touch my hand. So even if you don't admit it, a part of you, even though a tiny one, trusts him. As for me, I trust your judgment…." She trailed off and narrowed her eyes. "Something that definitely should be reciprocated. So, if he said he needs time, we are going to wait for as long as he need. And yes, I said 'we'. After all, it is MY magic, so I will have a say, whether you want it or not. Alright, my handsome creepy stalker?"

After that, Kol could only sighed, "yes, yes Darling, I understand."

He turned to Kamil. "You heard the Lady, you can have as much time as you need." He took off a necklace he found a few years ago and handed it to the man before them. "Use this to send me a message when you find the answer I…we are looking for."

"Yes my lord… I won't fail you."

Of course he wasn't going to fail him. Otherwise he would not be left alive. Still, he refrained from voicing his thoughts and carelessly said, "Good, then we are done here. Nora -"

"Wait," she stopped him. "There is something that keeps bothering me…" She squeezed his hand. "Kamil… you are a clairvoyant. For Kol to come to you, you must be a very good one. Is it alright to assume that you already knew we were looking for you? See, it is a bit of a joke, where I am from. Fortune teller are supposed to know what we want before we call them."

Kamil looked one last time his card before his eyes settled on the redhead. "Yes, it would be alright to make such an assumption."

"Not only our visit then," Kol added, understanding more or less where Nora was going, "but also our request, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then," Nora hesitated before saying, "That card of yours, the one that was away from the others… You already knew what it was."

The witch nodded with a bitter smile.

"It symbolizes your end," Nora realized and gasped, horror carved in every inch of her face.

"Most women find this card romantic and see that bright spot as the light casting away the dark and illuminating their life."

"Romantic?" the redhead scoffed with disgust, "This card in my eyes is merely a well of loneliness. As for you, it is the light at the end of you path."

Kamil weighed his words before he replied, his face suddenly looking far older than a second ago.

"I have always had an affinity with the future, maybe even more than with the past. When I decided to sharpen my skills, I was only at the very beginning of my life as a servant of Nature. The boy of that time was someone far too curious for his own good, yet not enough audacious. Knowing the future can quickly become a burden, a disadvantage even. After all, once you know that you will succeed, why would you put some efforts into something? If you think you will fail, why would you even try? My Lady, you are right to think this card stands for my death. However, I have long since learned to accept things as they are. Even though this card means the end of the path for me, I still have many years left before I die, and I intend to live them the way I desire. Nothing and no one forced me to accept the Lord Kol's request. I could have ignored it and still leave this place alive thank to your presence."

"I…see," Nora said softly after mulling his words, "thanks for your answer, Kamil. I hope your life will be filled with happiness."

Once again, she surprised the witch and Kol couldn't help but watch her with endless fondness. She had truly grown into a wonderful woman within the few months she spent here. Not that she wasn't already, but he couldn't help but see her as a little bird ready to fly away.

As they stood up, he drew her into his chest to kiss her forehead. Her only reaction was to wrap her arms around his waist for a few seconds. She then released him and stepped back, a gentle smile on her lips. Moments like this one made him wish it could last forever. No father trying to kill Niklaus, no disgust and annoyance in his siblings' stare, no loneliness and no painful memories. Nothing but Nora and him, with happiness at every step.

Catching her hand in his own, he began to step forward towards a jewel-selling stall she had been looking at before when the witch stopped them.

"My Lord, there is something I feel I must tell you."

"What is it?" Kol said abruptly, his frustration and impatience very obvious in his voice and face. The longer he stayed here, the more Kamil was looking like a good lunch.

"When I touched the Lady's hand, I felt something else besides her magic. An incomplete bond linking your soul with hers. It surprised me, and still does to be honest, as I have never heard about such a magic that could bond souls together, let alone survive such magic. Moreover, behind that bond, there was something else…"

"What?" Kol asked, worry filling him before the witch's stare.

"An odd echo, linking the Lady to your soul."

Once this was said, Kol let them go. Yet, the desire to admire and buy some jewels had left Nora. Silent and anxious, she walked by his side, her nails scratching the hollow of her neck every once in a while. A wrinkle was forming a wave on her forehead and her teeth had no mercy for her red lips. Was it too late to go back and kill that damn witch?

When he couldn't take the silence anymore, Kol dragged her into a deserted alley and placed himself in front of her, hands on her shoulders. His eyes darted around her face looking for any sign of anxiety, desiring nothing more than to take all her worries away and comfort her.

"What is it Darling?"

" 'An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of time cannot be purchased for an inch of gold.'(1)" she murmured wistfully after a beat with her head turned in the direction of the main street. "What is this strange world where we can ask someone to devote one's life to us? All that time lost to find some answers, Kamil will never get it back. And all for what?"

Her voice was suddenly filled with anger as she stared back at him and pushed him away. Being a vampire, it was always hard for a human to make him move. Maybe it was because she caught him off guard or maybe it was because he was always more relaxed around her, but he was forced to step back away from her and could only watch with helplessness as tears filled her eyes as she continued to speak.

"To understand what's happening to me?" she said, her voice breaking, "To help me live without fear? But I am scared! I'm always scared! It's always in the back of my mind that I can disappear at any time and be once again alone in a word I don't understand! Understanding this will not change my reality! I don't want of a life built on others' bones."

"Nora…" he began to say but she shook her head, as if she was refusing to hear even his voice.

"Leave me alone!"

He tried to get closer but she put her hands between them and put them on his chest to push him away once again. Unlike the first time, he didn't move but felt his skin burning and hissed half in pain half in surprise.

The fire disappeared from her hands as quickly as it had appeared and she stared at him, appalled.

"I hurt you," she stammered, her face ashen.

"You didn't want to," he said kindly even though his heart was pounding at the idea that she could burst into flames right now and disappear before his very eyes.

But there was no smell of fear or fire anymore, only dismay. She stumbled back and hit the wall behind her before staring at her hands.

"I hurt you."

"Nora," he tried again.

She shook her head again, completely hysterical, and screamed, "I told you to leave me alone!" Once the words were said, she took advantage of the space between them to leave and get back to the main street.

He could have stopped her in a heartbeat. Yet the memory of her eyes widening with horror petrified him for a few seconds. When he got to the main street, he could only stare at her back as she ran away from the town, bumping into people while doing so.

The basket of an old woman on whom time had carved deep lines on her face was knocked over and Nora didn't even glance back, all her thoughts on leaving that place. She ran and ran, as if the very Devil was behind her. But no matter how far she ran, she couldn't escape her own shadow.

With a sigh, Kol decided to help the old woman, aware that Nora would blame herself later. Once done, he followed her scent to outside the town. She hadn't actually run very far and was sitting in a clearing, her back against a trunk. Her pants of effort and pounding heart sounded like a thunderstorm to his ears.

As she wanted to be alone, he removed his coat and outside tunic and leaned against a tree, placing himself so that he couldn't be seen. An hour passed with only her sobs filling the silence. When the sun began its descent, he decided that he had been more than patient. Enough was enough.

"This day didn't go the way I wanted," he said once he reached her and grabbed her hand to get her up.

Her palm felt hot against his finger and a lump appeared in his throat.

She let him do as he wanted and fell listlessly on his chest, her face buried in his neck. He embraced her and dropped his chin on the top of her head, eyes tuned to the boundless sky above them.

"Do you know the air we breathe is filled with the dust and ashes of the dead?" he suddenly asked in a soothing voice. "The green grass underneath our feet hide the corpses from long ago. We stamp on the dead and brush past countless ghost our eyes cannot see at every step we take."

"Kol," she croaked, "I -"

"Don't you see?" he cut her off. "Our world is already built on thousands of thousands of bones. If you do not want to step on them, it's alright. I will carry you. If you do not want to see them, I will cover your eyes. And when you find the strength to face this world filled with ashes, I will be by your sides so don't ask me ever again to leave you alone."

He took a deep breath before continuing, "don't blame yourself for Kamil. He told you, didn't he? He already knew what awaited him before coming to this town. Yet he still came. He could also have refused us and left this place alive. Coming here, looking for the secret of your magic, it is as much his choice than ours."

He kissed her hair, ignoring the heat coming from her body, and whispered, "let's go home."

She stilled and refused, "No, I am not going back home with you today."

Oh darling, he already knew, but he was also very good at turning a blind eye to the obvious.

"Hn. Is that so?"

"Yes," she replied, her finger gripping his arm, her nail biting harshly into his skin. She then raised her head, stood on her toes and brushed his chin with her lips. His heart shook and he tightened his grip. "I -"

"Don't say anything, please," he urged her.

"I am going to leave Kol, no matter what you do. You know it too, don't you?"

"Nora," he shook his head, unwilling to admit the truth.

"That echo Kamil spoke about, bounding my soul to yours, he wasn't speaking about me, isn't it?"

"Of course he was speaking about you Nora. Older or younger, it is still you. It will always be you. I won't let you go."

With a slight hesitation, she moved her fingers to his chest, the thin limbs trembling.

"But it is not true Kol," she smiled sadly. "The one you want before you is the older me. You have questions to ask her. Questions that only she knows the answers. I think she will soon be here. There cannot be two of us at the same time. There has been something crawling under my skin ever since I woke up this morning. Today, I'm leaving. Kamil's words only confirmed this."

She briefly closed her eyes and when she opened them again, there was a new determination shining inside them. "I am going to leave," she repeated, more for herself than for him, "and it scared me so much but… I really wanted to spend the day with you."

She leaned her ear against his chest and his beating heart. "At the end, I ruined everything and ran away. I didn't stay by your side and made you worry. I'm sorry."

"I wasn't very far," he admitted quietly.

But then again, regarding her matters, he was never far away.

"I know. Even if I'm scared, I also have faith because I know that no matter the time I will be in, no matter whether you can get to me or not, I know you will still exist under the same sky and I will have a place into your heart. I might not be the one to whom you want to say these words, but this last five months have been the best I have lived ever since my death a thousand years in the future. And although it is not yet true complete devotion, I did fell in love with you Kol. I wanted you to know this before I left, even though this mushy speech sounds like the offspring of the puke of a unicorn and a rainbow.

He hide his face in her hair, his tears lost in the blood red curls. His mask was cracking, breaking apart and falling into dust before his very eyes. Nora, Nora, how could she be so cruel? How could she not see the truth? He had never cared about getting those answers from her older self, at least not so soon. He had so much time and could easily wait a decade or two, hell even a whole lifetime. Five months with the woman in his arms were simply not enough.

"I'm scared Kol."

"I know sweetheart," he replied in a hoarse voice, "I am here."

"You need to let me go," she said as she tried to extricate herself from his arms. "I don't want the flames to hurt you."

He only tightened his hold on her a bit more.

"I am an immortal vampire without any desire to harness your power, your magic won't kill me. I will be there until the very end Nora, this I promise you."

She said nothing for several minutes while her body was getting hotter.

"Thank you Kol."

He gave her no reply. When the fire licked his skin, he continued to hold her and clenched his teeth. There, under the golden sky and the dying sun, he realized that this very moment would soon become another bitter memory. Yet, he couldn't find the will to regret it.

When there was nothing left but ashes and his skin had finished to mend itself, he clothed himself with his tunic and coat and rode the horse with a dark face back to the castle. The lord was already compelled to protect the witches on his lands. There was nothing left for him here. Once he was done retrieving his meager possessions, he would leave in the night with only the moon as his witness.

When the Nora whose soul was already bonded to his came to this time, he was going to bring her to a sunny and warm place. Far away from the cold and the memories left by that silly innocent woman, still naïve despite the harsh trials life had sent to her. A young woman who had gotten to know him and still grew to love him despite his status as a creature of the night who had killed before her eyes.

End of chapter 18 !

(1) Chinese proverb

Very sorry for the long wait. I was rather busy and also not satisfied with this chapter. Finally, even though I'm still not completely satisfied with it, I decided to update. Hope you liked it.

In two chapters, some famous siblings will make their great come back for a certain event I've aching to write since the very chapter of this fic! Can anyone guess which one?