Chapter 23
"Are you sure he invited me?" I ask Kol for what seems to be the hundredth time, causing him to groan in annoyance, but I am more annoyed at the moment. "I'm horrible at this, Kol. You knew this and you still accepted my invitation for me without checking with me first."
The sun is high and bright. There are very few clouds in the bright blue sky. Kol and I are currently getting out of the car at some place where Jeremy invited us to come and have some fun at the batting cages, which is not fun for me. I also notice the ice cream stand that is near the entrance of the batting cages, but not too close since I doubt there is food allowed in the inner areas of the place.
"He asked if you wanted to come and I said that you'd love to," he says as we walk out of the parking lot of some park with many areas to play different sports. "Besides, he said we'd swing a few before we leave to do something else since they'll be closing soon enough. I am also going to need you to restrain me if he continues to shame baseball or Nik won't have any more leverage."
"It's only a game," I mutter and he scoffs.
"Do I need to express my feelings about that thing you consider a sport?" he threatens with a smirk on his face, referring to soccer and I glare at him, to which he laughs.
"Going back to topic," I say and he smirks victoriously. "Won't he suspect something when he sees the similarities between my 'alleged' costume and my regular clothes?" I ask him, motioning at my usual clothes as we stop before arriving to the batting cages.
"I don't think he'll notice," Kol says with pursed lips while looking me up and down, and I tilt my head at him in annoyance. "Humans don't usually pay much attention to those things."
I sigh in frustration, rubbing my temples with my index fingers to calm myself. "Fine," I exhale and he grins at me in victory. "But I'm getting an ice cream before suffering in there and we better leave quickly."
"Fine," he says with an air of victory, taking his wallet out and giving me more than enough money to buy ice cream. "Enjoy your cold delicacy."
"I will," I say after I snatch the money from his hand with my lips in a thin line; I only really want some time alone before going in there to fail miserably at baseball and suffer Kol's teasing. "I'll meet you inside."
"Good," he says before he places a quick and chaste kiss on my cheek before he goes over to the batting cages; Kol going to meet up with Jeremy while I am to go to the ice cream stand. I stand frozen, feeling my cheek heat up from where he placed his lips on my skin. I reach up and touch the area with my fingertips, smiling and probably looking like a lovesick teenager.
We haven't actually spoken about last night and the kiss we shared, which is something that fell into a silent agreement that we made to talk about it when the right moment comes and it has not, which has let me thinking about what we are to one another. This has caused great turmoil and frustration within me, which is currently stressing me out. I really do feel grateful we haven't talked about it since I don't feel like I am ready for it, especially if there is rejection involved. I take in air and release it into a deep sigh, turning away from such thoughts for the moment.
I approach the dark-skinned man that is wearing a white and yellow uniform with a white hat on his head; he appears to be in his thirties. "Hello," I greet as I stand in front of the ice cream stand, looking down at the three containers where the ice cream is.
"Hello, miss," he greets with a polite smile that I return. "What can I do for you?"
"Do you have coco?" I ask and he nods.
"Yes, we do," he says. "Will that be what you want?"
"Yes," I say. "I'll have it in a cone."
"All right," he says and he prepares my ice cream. He hands it to me and I give him the twenty dollar bill that Kol gave me. He accepts and begins counting money to give me change.
"Keep the change," I tell him and he smiles gratefully while nodding.
"Thank you, miss," he says and I smile at him before turning to walk to the batting cages while licking my ice cream. I go to round the corner to enter the batting cages, but I stop in my tracks when I get a glimpse of familiar faces.
I take a step back behind the corner and stay silent. My breath catches when Damon passes me while holding Elena close to his side and Jeremy follows behind them, looking quite shaken. I sigh when they round another corner, leaving my line of sight and frown, wondering where Kol is. This time, I round the corner and enter the area where the batting cages are, dropping my ice cream when I see Kol lying on the floor facedown with a stake through his middle.
I run over to him and kneel beside his limp form. I go to touch him, but I hesitate, not knowing how to help him. Calm down, Gwen, I tell myself. First things first, remove the stake.
I grab his shoulders and roll him to his side, making sure he stays that way. I scrunch up my nose at Kol's blood, disliking having to touch it. I grab the half of the makeshift stake that is in his back, pushing it in without really looking at it since I dislike even touching the makeshift stake. After pushing it a bit more, I stand up and go around him, pulling it out with a grunt and falling back on my bottom. I take deep breaths and drop the broken bat that was used as a stake next to me, seeing the blood on my hands begin to disappear from my skin, disappearing like a mist would.
I look around and I'm glad no one's around since it must be closing time or something and it gives Kol time to wake up and think of a plan. I honestly did not see Elena and Damon coming to Denver to see Jeremy. Damon must've caught Kol by surprise since he managed to take down an Original. Surprise or no, Kol is sure to get back at Damon sooner or later; I find that people are never lucky after they manage to one-up an Original.
I worry that Kol is taking too long to wake up and that Elena, Damon and Jeremy might be quite far by now, which is not going to be good news for Klaus. I honestly don't know what possesses me to even think about this, but I follow my instinct, knowing that it'll be all right; I think it will be. I crawl over to Kol's head and lay him on his back, placing his head on my lap. I look down at his gray skin with his veins pronounced on his skin, appearing to be dead like any other vampire would be in a situation like this, but that is not the case.
I stroke his cheek, his face upside-down to my perspective as I trace his grayed skin with my fingertips. I reach over to the broken, wooden bat and take a deep breath. I hesitate as I place the sharp tip on my wrist. I hold my breath before looking away as I make a cut on my wrist, sighing loudly and dropping the broken bat. I grab Kol under his armpits and pull him up a bit to have him leaning on me, his head tucked under my chin.
"Here you go, Kol," I whisper as I place my open wrist to his lips, my skin getting warm as it comes in contact with his lips, but I push those feelings away. I manage to open his mouth so it closes around the wound on my wrist, which causes me to feel warm all over. I wait for a bit and then I feel my blood being sucked on. "Kol?" I stroke his hair with my free hand, noticing his skin getting its color back.
His hands come up to my arm and keep my wrist to his mouth. I feel a sharp pain and whimper into his hair as his teeth break my skin, feeding on my blood. I stop stroking his hair, but keep my hand in it, placing my chin on top of his head, waiting for him to finish as I take in his intoxicating scent.
"Kol?" I say, beginning to feel dizzy and he detaches his fangs from my skin with a sigh of relief, or maybe of pleasure. I pant softly as he sits up with a groan before turning to me while I watch as my wrist begins to heal.
"Gwen?" he asks and I look up at his confused eyes with a small smile.
"Feeling better?" I ask him and he shakes his head, getting rid of whatever seems to be bothering him.
"I'm surprised at my control," he says with a grin and I roll my eyes at him. His eyes then turn serious, looking around the area; most likely looking for Damon, Elena and Jeremy.
"They're gone," I answer the question in his eyes and he turns to me with a frown. "I saw them leaving and came in to find you staked."
"That Salvatore's dead," he growls as he stands up, picking up the broken bat and the aluminum bat in one hand, to which I frown but decide not to question. "Let's go," he says as he offers me a hand and I take it, needing him pull me up to my feet and I almost lose balance in my dizziness from the loss of blood. "You all right, darling?" I nod as I lean on his side.
"Yeah, I just need to wait for my body to replenish the blood that you drank," I say and he nods, keeping an arm around my waist for support while keeping me tucked against his side before we exit the place.
"Call, Nik. Tell him that Salvatore and Petrova took Jeremy and left," Kol says as he gives me his phone when we get into our hotel room and he drops the bats on the kitchen counter. He takes his jacket and shirt off before going to the bathroom.
I ignore Kol's bare torso and concentrate on dialing Klaus. I put the phone to my ear and wait for Klaus to pick up. "Little brother," I hear Klaus greet after the third ring.
"Hey, Mouse," I greet, sitting on the couch as I hear the shower going, which means Kol's taking a shower.
"Hello, Cat," he greets and I smile at his voice.
"We ran into a bit of a problem," I say, knowing that he will not be pleased with the news I have for him.
"What do you mean? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, but Elena and Damon appeared out of nowhere and took Jeremy with them."
I hear him sigh. "They must be using the boy to figure out which bloodline they belong to."
I frown. "Bloodline?"
"It's the line of vampires and those by whom they have been sired. Every vampire belongs to a bloodline; my siblings and I are the originators of our own respective bloodlines. So when an Original dies..."
"Then every vampire that descends from the Original dies along with them," I say, understanding the whole bloodline business, not having expected that.
"Exactly," he says. "Damon is trying to find out from which line he is descended from to know which Original to kill, which is the same one that Caroline, Stefan and Katerina belong to."
"It's yours without a doubt," I say and he chuckles. "It's very tragic if they hope that they won't belong to your bloodline."
"Better keep it a secret, Cat."
"Obviously," I say with a roll of my eyes, feeling a bit insulted by his joke. "I'm not a snitch."
"What do you want us to do about it, Nik?" Kol asks as he enters the living room in fresh clothes, sitting down next to me. "If they find out that they belong to your bloodline that leaves me, Rebekah and Elijah as targets."
"Which is why I am going to tell you where they are going to try and seek out this information, but you are to silence it before they get it," says Klaus. "They are surely using the Gilbert boy to talk to a vampire named Rose and she is going to tell them who sired her."
"Who sired her?" I ask.
"She was sired by Mary Porter," says Klaus.
Kol chuckles and I frown at him. "Naughty Mary," Kol says as he continues to chuckle.
"Yes, that one," says Klaus, chuckling a bit. "Kill her and stop her before she divulges the information to the idiot that is Damon Salvatore."
"With pleasure," Kol says with a smirk. "It's been quite a while since I last saw Mary. She was always following us and worshiping the ground we walked on."
"I don't even want to know," I say, ignoring the smirk that Kol must be giving me. "Where is she, Nik?"
"I'll text you the address," he says, not surprised that he knows where she is since he keep his eyes on people that deserve to take up his time. "Don't kill Elena Gilbert and I am warning both of you. I don't need to express the clever ways to make you both suffer if she dies."
"Yes, Nik," Kol and I say in unison, our voices filled with irritation.
"I really don't know why you insist on making hybrids," I say, not elaborating since Kol's here and I am not talking about Klaus' insecurities in front of him. "I find them pointless, even though you save the werewolves from the unimaginable pain they go through once a month."
"That's your opinion and I am not even going to take it under consideration," Klaus says and I huff.
The phone is snatched out of my hands and Kol puts it to my ear. "Send us Mary's address and we'll handle everything over here." He hangs up and we both recline back on the couch.
"What now?" I ask.
"We wait for the address," Kol says and I nod. "You let me feed from you," he says and I turn my head to find him frowning at me. "Why?"
"Because you needed it," I say. "I didn't want you to stay dead in the middle of some batting cages. I also knew it would heal you faster and less painful."
He nods and I know he's telling me he's grateful in his own way. His phone rings a short tune, which must be the one for messages since it is very short. He looks down at it and opens the message, reading the contents that most surely contain the address to Mary's location that Klaus must've sent to us. I am not surprised at how fast Klaus got it.
"Is that the address?" I ask and he nods.
"Time to go hunting," he says with a lopsided grin.
"This is it?" I ask as I stare at the two-story house with wary eyes while I hug myself, disliking the gloomy atmosphere it has.
I now wear my usual clothes, except that my cardigan is now a cream, twist-front sweater with three-quarter sleeves. Kol has the aluminum bat in one hand and the broken, wooden one in the other, probably to cause some damage. We are currently in Kansas, where Mary Porter is supposed to be living in this dark and gloomy house.
"It is," Kol says as he stands next to me, staring at the dark house that hides behind a few trees.
"Who is she?" I ask since I've never heard of her before.
"I never really knew her in the personal way," he says as he suggestively wiggles his eyebrows at me.
"Of course," I mutter with a small smile.
"She's very shallow in my opinion, always wanting to be a part of everything I or any of my siblings did and she was a bit incoherent," he says as he starts walking towards the house and I follow him. "She jumped between me and my brothers, even Rebekah."
My eyes widen at this revelation. "Really?"
"Oh, yeah," he says with a smirk. "But I wouldn't recommend her for any type of relationship, but I would if you wanted a wild girl by your side."
"She was that bad?" I ask as we stand on the doorstep.
"You have no idea, my darling," he says and he opens the front door, which was not locked, causing me to raise my eyebrows in surprise at the lack of security this woman has. "She wasn't that bright either." He steps into the dark house and I follow behind him. "Let's split up. Holler when you find her."
I nod at him before he goes through a hallway on silent feet while I go straight, walking carefully as I look around at the hoarded items, which varied from papers, books to many old portraits. The whole house seems to be lacking a lot of house cleaning and in need of being emptied of all these research that she has lying around the place, for it is cluttered and too dark for my liking.
I stop in front of a door and go through it, appearing to be in a bedroom, but it also has many papers and books scattered around. I perk up when I feel a presence behind me. I turn around and I am—once again—pinned to the wall by my neck. I manage to see who it is as my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room.
The woman has ginger-blonde, medium length, wavy hair that contrasted with her pale skin from lack of sunlight. I don't see a daylight ring, so I assume she can't go out in the daylight, which explains the darkness of the house. She appears to be an inch taller than me and her eyes are a shade of light blue. She wears a white, long nightgown as she glared at me.
"Who the hell are you?" she snarls at me and I notice she has a mixed accent. The only reason I am not doing anything is because I need Kol to handle her, I'd rather not take part in her death. "What are you doing in my house?"
She's suddenly pushed off of me by Kol. "Hands off, Mary," he tells her with a smirk as he stands in front of me before going to lean on the doorway of the room and placing the aluminum bat against the wall. He keeps his eyes on Mary, keeping track of her movements while I sigh.
Mary's eyes widen as she stares at Kol while I stand against the wall. "Kol Mikaelson," she greets with a seductive air about her, to which I glare at her. "It's been quite a while."
"Yes, it has," he says, smirking.
"What are you doing here?" she asks him, leaning on the opposite side of the doorway to Kol's.
"Can't I come and visit an old flame? I was un-daggered just recently," he tells her and I roll my eyes at their banter and sit on the edge of the bed in the room, which is also cluttered with items.
"Of course," Mary says and glances at me before frowning at her. "Who's she?"
Kol glances at me, still smirking and turns back to her with his head cocked. "You may say she's a companion and Niklaus' closest friend."
She snorts. "Klaus has a friend?"
"Yes, he does," I tell her through clenched teeth, not being able to hold my tongue with that comment.
"That's a surprise," she says, her eyes still on Kol, not even sparing me a glance.
"It is quite surprising," says Kol.
"I still don't understand why she's with you," Mary says as she eyes me, to which I scrunch up my nose in annoyance. "She's not human, which makes her a vampire and you don't seem to be in any creative activities under the sheets, which is what we used to take part in," she says as she stands closer to Kol and I sigh in frustration.
"She's only a companion," Kol insists, his words stinging a bit, but I know that he's doing to cover up whatever sentiment he has for me and I know that he has some. His pose never wavers as he and Mary have their faces inches away from one another, but not touching.
"Has the infamous Kol Mikaelson lost his touch? You do seem protective of her," she asks, grinning. "Where is that young Mikaelson that ravaged towns and enjoyed a good and bloody night out?" I fidget a bit uncomfortably at their conversation, wringing my wrists.
"I'm still the same, Mary," he says, his tone betraying how her words got to him, which I do notice by the slight furrowing of his brows.
"Then why are you infatuated with this girl?" she asks and I frown while he narrows his eyes at her. "I can see it in your eyes, Kol. She means something to you. You care about her and—as I last recall our last night together—you don't care about any type of sentiment."
"Why do you suddenly care about my personal life?" he asks her and I could see the anger building up in his face. "I didn't come here to share my opinions on my own life with you."
"Unlike your siblings, you were hard to read, but your eyes said everything," says Mary. "I like the murderous Kol; I just don't want you to lose your touch because of some girl. Feeling isn't supposed to be in a vampire's nature."
He smirks at her before grabbing her by her neck and slamming her on the wall that is opposite to the bed, raising her high above him while she struggles to get out of his grip. I widen my eyes in surprise, not getting used to Kol's outburst whenever he decides to be unpredictable and Mary seems to also be surprised by this.
"Kol," I say as I stand up, not really knowing what to do or say.
"You don't get to either objectify me or pretend to know me, Mary," Kol says as he talks calmly, but his tone is furious. "I am still the Kol Mikaelson that ravaged lands far and wide. The one that made others fear the very name of my family. Granted, my brothers also took part in it, but I am the one that even Niklaus can't control, not even with his putrid little daggers."
"I didn't mean offense, Kol," she chokes out and I perk up at the presence of others near the house. "You just seem so different, especially when you protected her from me. You've never done that before and I was just surprised." I can tell that she's really concerned by Kol's image, which strikes me odd, but Kol did say that she isn't someone that is quite coherent.
"What I do with my time and with whom I spend it with is my business," he snarls at her lowly.
"How can I make amends, my dear?" she asks, fear evident in her eyes as she looks down at Kol. "I'll do anything."
I frown at the sound of a door opening and I close the door to this bedroom, turning back to stand near a chair in the corner of the room while Kol still holds Mary up against the wall, his eyes furious and unrelenting, which frighten me a bit. Mary's words seem to have had some effect on him and I didn't know how.
"And you shall," he says as he takes the broken, wooden back from his jacket and rams it into her chest, eliciting a crashing sound. This causes her to gasp for air while her skin turns gray and veins protrude all over her skin while I took a sharp intake of breath at the small sting in my chest where Mary was staked, feeling the familiar cold hand of death on my spine.
Kol steps back as Mary's body falls limp, the bat in her chest holding her up against the wall in his anger, not even appearing to fall off the wall with her weight since Kol drove it pretty hard into her that it stuck to the wall. I stare worriedly at Kol's change in demeanor as he grabs the aluminum bat and sits down on a chair in the corner of the room, glaring at Mary's corpse while resting his bat on his shoulder.
The door to the room is opened and light shines around the room from an object since the light is small. The light manages to avoid shining on me or Kol. I see Damon enter first before Elena follows behind him. The light of Elena's phone lands on Mary's corpse as they both stand in front of her and I hear a gasp coming from Elena.
"Mary," Damon whispers.
"Quite contrary," Kol says before turning on a lamp, causing Damon and Elena to turn to us, their eyes saying they didn't expect us to be here.
"Hello, Elena," I greet her without much enthusiasm after what happened with Mary, knowing that Kol is quite angry, which is not good.
"Gwen," Damon greets me with a smirk as Kol stands up.
"Damon," I greet with my lips in a thin line as Kol walks around them to stand between them and where Mary is against the wall with the bat in her chest, but Damon and Elena follow him with their eyes with Damon standing in front of Elena, ready to protect her from any danger.
"Shame about Mary," Kol says as he faces Damon and Elena while the latter give me their backs. "She used to be a blast. I don't quite know what happened." He smirks at Damon and Elena. "I fear all the time she spent with my family might have ruined her." He glances at Mary's corpse before turning back to Damon and Elena. "She was a bit of an Original groupie."
"And were you her favorite?" Elena asks, not being so good at being subtle.
"You mean, if he turned her?" I ask and Elena glances at me with wary eyes. "I seem to have forgotten."
"I think I did," Kol says mockingly and Elena turns back to him. "But no, wait, maybe it was Rebekah. There was also a Klaus period. Let's not forget the Elijah affair. I spoke to my brother," he says, turning serious for a second before his smirk returns. "I know you're trying to find out who you descended from." He raises the aluminum bat as he stands in front of Damon. "Now you never will. So…" he says as he hits the tip of the bat on the floor as if preparing to swing a ball, "where did we leave off?"
Suddenly, Kol uses his supernatural strength and speed to hit Damon's leg, causing the latter to grunt in pain before falling on the floor while Elena and I flinch when we hear bone breaking. Kol does it again and hits Damon's hand that he was using to keep off the ground, making it bend unnaturally and causing Damon to fall flat on his face. He hit Damon again on his back rather hard and I heard the sound of bone breaking once more.
"Elena," Damon says, struggling to get the air into his lungs to use his voice, "get out of here."
Elena runs to the door, but Kol blurs in front her with a glare. "According to my brother, you're off limits. Please don't test me." He grabs Elena's head and pushes her on the bed, causing her to groan as she hits the headboard with her head with a small wound on her forehead.
Damon manages to blur on his feet and grab Kol by his neck with a menacing look. "Don't touch her," Damon warns, but Kol only headbutts him, and Damon falls all the way to lie on his stomach below Mary's corpse.
"Oh, dear," Kol says as he approaches Damon. "I've hit a nerve." He chuckles while I stare at him warily, knowing that he isn't in a good mood and I'll have to deal with it back in the hotel room. "Relax, darling. I just want us to be even. You snapped my neck. You killed my brother. And then you humiliated me." Kol's voice turns darker as he lists off the wrongs Damon did to him before Kol slams the bat hard on Damon's back three times, causing Damon to grunt in pain while Elena and I flinch at every hit; one for each wrong. "There. Now we're even."
Kol turns away from Damon and leaves the room, not even glancing at me or Elena. I leave the room and follow behind him, his steps long and hurried so I have to hurry mine to keep up with him.
Due to Kol's driving, which was a bit too fast for my liking, we arrived at the hotel in hours with the air tense between us. We enter our room and Kol drops the car keys on the kitchen counter before removing his jacket and throwing it on the back of the couch. He goes to the fridge and takes out a bottle of whiskey while I wring my wrist, knowing that I had to say something.
"Kol?" I say and he only takes a swig from the bottle before leaning on the counter, looking at the bottle. "Kol."
"What?" he snaps before taking another swig of the bottle.
"Are you okay?" I ask him and he chuckles mirthlessly.
"I really don't understand why you ask such a thing," he says as he leaves the bottle on the counter. "Why do you even care?" His gaze meets mine, empty of emotion and I know he's wearing the mask that vampires wear when they want to be devoid of emotion.
"Because we're-"
"What? Friends? Lovers?" he says with a dark smirk that I didn't like at all. "We're not, dear Gwen. And we're most surely not sweethearts, if you think the kiss meant anything at all." I sigh at that pet name since he used it when he didn't seem to like me very much, ignoring how his words sting.
"Don't do that," I plead with him. "Don't shut me or your emotions out."
He laughs darkly. "You believe I actually let you in, or that I even had any semblance of emotions while being with you?"
"Yes," I say confidently, not tearing my gaze from his dark one. "You let Mary's words affect you and you want to prove to yourself that she was wrong, but this isn't the way."
"She was wrong," he says. "I haven't changed."
"What does that mean?" I ask.
"I only brought you with me because I wanted to annoy Nik; a little vengeance for him daggering me for over a bloody century," he says and I frown at how hurtful his words really are as he approaches me with a smirk. "You served your purpose and even helped me adapt to this century, foolishly believing I was being your friend or anything remotely close to the word."
Suddenly, I'm brought back to my younger years in school; to a time when I was alone and only wanted friendship, even though I sound like a hypocrite. I only wanted one that was worthwhile because I believe that those are the ones that really mean something; a friendship that would last and not just pass. Now, Kol's gestures and kind actions were thrown at my face, revealing a man who only wanted to hurt me, and I hate the fact that he succeeded.
"You just brought me along to get a rise out of Nik?" I ask him as I feel my eyes water a bit, not wanting to believe his words. "I don't believe that. I don't believe you pretended everything that we shared."
"You didn't think I would actually be interested in you, did you?" he asks and I don't find it in me to answer since he practically threw my feelings in my face, to which he laughs. "You're either too naïve or too dumb to have believed everything that happened between us." His face was now inches from mine and it showed the dark mirth in his features. "I could never be interested in a woman who wears the face of the whore that caused me too much problems to last me an eternity."
"I'm not her," I ground out in anger as I hold back my tears.
"It's only a matter of time before history repeats itself, I'm just not going to be the recipient of it," he says and I release a breath I was holding when he pulls back, but remains standing in front of me while my chest tightens painfully. "You were just a means to an end. And I did want to kill you the moment we left Mystic Falls, but I wanted to see how long this little experiment would last. Now, I find it better to just tell you the ugly truth; well, ugly to you."
"You're lying," I choke out through the tears that want to escape me at this raw pain in my chest as he turns around to grab the bottle of whiskey. I just need to get through to him. "I know that you felt something when you asked me to come with you. I do feel something for you, Kol, even after everything. You're just not used to feeling and it frightens you that I mean something to you after not feeling for so long."
"You mean nothing to me, dear Gwen. You mean less to me than Jen ever did," he says and I couldn't help but let the tears fall from my eyes at these words, these words did the trick. "You're no more than a-" I disappear from the room before he can even finish his sentence as I pant, appearing outside of the hotel, invisible to the few humans walking around me while tears stream down my cheeks.
I hold my stomach—my feelings having crashed down in it and it wouldn't stop turning in pain—with one hand over it while covering my mouth to muffle my sobs with the other, not wanting to believe everything that Kol said. I notice many light posts' light flicker, knowing that my emotions are the cause of it, which are causing my powers to be erratic, but I keep a hold on it. I sniff as I take a deep breath to calm down, but I only sob more.
I look around and find a phone booth on the other side of the street, the area almost empty because of the time. I appear in front of the phone booth and enter it, closing the door behind me. I pick up the phone and make my hand go through where the quarters are to be inserted, grabbing one from inside and taking it out before inserting it. I take a deep and calming breath before dialing Klaus' number, hoping that he'll pick up.
"Whoever you are, you better have a bloody good reason to be calling at this hour," he answers after the fifth ring, his voice sounding groggy from sleep and I sigh in relief that he picked up.
"Mouse?" I say, my voice cracking a bit but I keep it in check.
"Gwen?" he asks and his tone is more alert and concerned.
"It's me. Can you find a way to get me back to Mystic Falls?" I ask, not wanting to explain anything.
"What happened, Gwen?" he asks and I almost sob, but I hold it in.
"Please, Nik. I just want to go back," I plead.
"What did my idiot for a brother do?" he growls.
"Can we just talk when I get back?" I ask. "I'll tell you everything you want to know."
He didn't respond, but I could still hear him breathing, contemplating what he should do. "Fine. Go to an airport and call from there, I'll make the arrangements."
"Okay," I say, sniffing. "I'll see you soon." I sigh as I hang up, releasing a sob before managing to compose myself.
I exit the phone booth and stand on the edge of the walkway, making sure I'm visible as I flank a cab, but it passes by me, causing me to frown. I look down at my hands and gasp as I watch them begin to disappear.
"What's happening?" I ask myself as I turn around and stand in front of a display window, seeing my reflection. "Oh, no. No, no, no."
I look all over myself and see myself disappearing into nothing, looking like smoke as it disperses. I panic as I continue to disappear, fearing that it's my time and not wanting it to be, not like this. I sob as almost my entire body is gone from view, not feeling the parts that have disappeared.
I panic. I look around, not knowing what to do or what is even happening to me as I am almost gone. I take one more breath before darkness consumes my vision.