Chapter 24
I groan with my eyes shut, my muscles are tense and everything else is sore. I could feel my throat burning like my eyes, even though they're closed. The stinging on my skin grows worse as if acid was being sprayed on my skin. I manage to open my eyes and fight through the grogginess that hangs over my body. I then remember what happened with Kol, which only makes my chest tighten in pain. I am only glad that it is sunny outside by the way light streams into the place I'm in, but it only serves to make me panic.
I frown when I notice I'm in some old mausoleum, which means that I must be in a cemetery, but I don't know where. I use the stone wall to carefully stand on my weak and shaky feet, looking around the place and noticing a stone-carved table in the middle of the room with a metal bowl and a stake on it. I also feel weak and heavy, to which I frown as I cough a bit since my throat continues to be sore and burning; the burning more intense than the soreness. I clear my throat, trying to push away the burning but it does the opposite.
I turn my head when I hear the door of the room open, to which I freeze perfectly still when I see Esther enter with a human man behind her, the same human that had daggered Kol in the Mystic Grill on the night I left Mystic Falls. While Esther gives me a smile, the human man has a cold and collected face as he closes the door behind him.
"Good, you're awake," Esther says as she looks at me from the other side of the stone-carved table.
I frown. "Esther? You're here?" Where is here?
"Yes, I have returned to finish my work," she says as she rounds the table, standing next to me while I stare at her with wary eyes.
"How am I here?" I ask, wanting some answers before I disappear from this place to find Nik.
"I brought you here," she answers, to which I frown since she seems to be implying that she used magic.
"It cannot have been through magic," I say. "Magic doesn't work on me."
"Technically, I used magic on my children to bring you here. I used Niklaus' feelings for you as he slept and also from Rebekah's to find you and bring you here," she explains. "It wasn't easy. The spell was tricky, your presence fought to stay where you were." I glance at the human man and Esther notices my questioning look towards him. "This is Alaric; he'll be assisting me with my work."
I frown at her. "The vampire hunter?"
"Correct," she says and I look down at the items on the table, not liking the stake that is on it. "He'll be helping me with the destruction of my children."
I snap my head back to her. "No."
"You have no choice in the matter," she says. "You're powers are nullified by the salt I placed around this place and the portion I burned, which you bring into your system with every breath you take, not to mention the amount of iron around the area."
"You can't do this," I tell her and she gives me a small lopsided smile that reminds me a bit of Kol, causing me to remember when we were having dinner, but I shake off those memories.
"Yes, I can," she says and I glare at her.
"What is she doing here?" Alaric asks Esther, the latter turning to him as I feel my body weaken at the amount of salt around and in me, which explains why I was so sore and groggy earlier and I still am. It also explains why my skin seems to be on fire while my eyes and throat burn.
"Her ancestor's blood brought me back to life after my son killed me on this very ground we're standing on," she says and I frown at her. "It's the same blood that runs through her veins and the same one that I used to give my children life to complete their change into vampires. Her blood is priceless and beyond powerful, which is why I'll be in need of it. I need it to bind an object to the white oak to make it indestructible and for me to use to aid you."
Alaric's eyes turn to me. "Are you going to kill her too?"
I frown in fright at that. "No. I have found that no type of magic can kill her, not even the link she had with my children would have killed her if one of them died," Esther says and I frown at her since she intended for me to die when she linked me with her children. "She's protected from magic and me with power that I cannot fight, which I assume it has to do with her necklace but I am not sure. I do know that her heart is her weak point, but she needs to die after I am done perfecting you; her blood doesn't work if she's actually dead."
"Perfecting him?" I ask. "Perfecting him into what?"
"I'll need your ring," Esther says as she turns from me and faces Alaric with the items between them while I turn to watch them, groaning in pain as my vision blurs a bit.
"Now, why would I give you the one thing that protects me from death?" Alaric counters.
"I will give you all the protection you need," Esther explains. "However, the stake will burn up in the body of its first victim."
I frown at the stake. "Nik destroyed all the white oak stakes."
"Except for one," Esther tells me before turning back to Alaric. "If you are to kill all of my children, I will need to bind the protective magic in your ring to the stake, thus rendering the white oak indestructible." She extends her hand for Alaric to give her the ring.
Alaric takes the ring off and hesitates before he gives it to Esther. I frown and ask, "That's the ring?"
"The Gilbert ring; designed to cheat death when the bearer dies a supernatural death, but the bearer must be mortal and human for it to work," Esther explains before dropping the ring in the bowl. Esther closes her eyes, ready to use magic.
"Only a human can wear it," I mumble to myself.
"Vescaram Anta Intacurum, Vescalis Dissendis Divinitum! Ex Tutum Tatum, Dimentum Talos!" Esther grabs my hand harshly and takes a knife from her coat. I hiss when she makes a cut in my palm, leaving the knife on the table and keeping my wound over the cup for the blood to taint the ring. I take my hand back when her grip loosens and the cup catches on fire. I look down at my healing palm and then look into the cup, my eyes widening as the ring melts with my blood and turns into a silver liquid in the bowl. "Dox Toxem, Dox Malum! Dox Divinitum!" The moment Esther stops her chant, the fire is extinguished.
Esther picks up the stake around the pointy area, placing the other end in the bowl, swirling it around the silver liquid. I stare blankly and with wide eyes as all of the liquid attaches itself on the white oak stake. Esther presents it to Alaric as the silver liquid spreads all over the stake in the form of veins, but the silver is more prominent around the handle.
"The ultimate weapon for the ultimate hunter," Esther says as Alaric stares at the white oak stake with his face betraying no emotion, looking like a vampire with their emotions shut off. "Now," Esther says as she places the stake on the table, "I will retrieve the last ingredient to make you the ultimate hunter. Stay here, not that you have any other choice in the matter," Esther says as she looks to me before leaving the mausoleum.
I sigh and walk over to the stone wall, sliding down against it to sit on the ground with my back to the wall. I can't even think straight or come up with a plan, not that I can do much with the amount of salt in this place. I notice my clothes had changed to their usual style, to the ones I died in. Alaric inspects the items on the table and his eyes finally fall on me, but I do not strike any conversation with him.
"You're the ghost that everyone's talking about, huh?" he asks and I shrug.
"I wouldn't know," I say. "I didn't know I was that famous around here."
"What are you exactly?" he asks, clearly curious as to what I am as the light begins to leave the room, which means dusk isn't far away. Come on, Nik, I think to myself. What's taking you so long to figure things out? You must know by now.
"Witches will tell you I'm…an abomination, even though…I didn't ask for this. They say I am to be wiped out of the face of the Earth because…I am between the living plane and the Other Side, which is…where I am supposed to be, or so I hear," I say, struggling between my panting. "Vampires will tell you I am a rare delicacy and humans don't even see me unless I allow it, but I'd rather be invisible. My blood does seem to attract them as well."
"What do you think?" he asks and I shrug.
"I think I have been given a chance to do something since there must be a reason for me to still be here, and I doubt it's for this," I say as I motion to the items on the table with my hand. "It's why I know that Esther will fail."
"I have no reason to kill you," he says and I chuckle at his words since Esther will only make him kill me. "My only targets are the vampires."
"That may be," I say as I lean my head back against the wall, trying to move as little as possible. "But Esther will have you kill me, even when you have no reason for it."
"You're just accepting your fate?" he asks with narrowed eyes.
"I have no power with the salt, it nullifies my powers and I find it's pointless to fight against it, my body grows weaker with the amount of salt, so it's best not to tire myself out even further by pointlessly using my powers. And the iron can also be used to hurt me," I say before meeting his eyes. "Still, Esther still has to deal with a hybrid that has temper problems, which is one of your targets, apart from the other members of his dysfunctional family." That seems to have shut him up, his eyes portraying only anger before he exits the mausoleum.
I stand near the table, but I keep my distance from it, not liking to be anywhere that is near it with the darkness that looms over it, which means that Esther had to have used Dark magic to perform this spell. It surprises me how the spirits continue to be on her side, even after she uses Dark magic, which is supposed to be something they don't tolerate. I perk up and look to the closed doors of the mausoleum when I feel the presence of others outside.
The doors open and Esther enters with Alaric and Elena following behind her. I frown at the costume Elena's wearing, which looks like a flapper dress from the 1920s. They were years that Klaus loved and talked to me about with great passion that dripped from his voice. Thinking about him makes me feel useless since I can't stop Esther and he might die.
"Gwen?" Elena asks with a frown as she looks to me and I sigh.
"I'm not here voluntarily, Petrova," I say as Esther begins to light candles that are scattered around the mausoleum. "It appears we share a purpose in this spell of Esther's."
"Ric, this isn't what you want," Elena says as she and Alaric come to stand on opposite sides of the stone table. She meets Alaric's eyes as I come to stand between them. "It's not who you are." Her eyes look at Alaric, pleading him to listen.
"You don't know who I am, Elena," Alaric retorts. "You only know the weakest parts of me, the man who lost his way, befriending vampires instead of killing them."
"You don't mean that," Elena says, sounding like me when I was trying to get through Kol's mask of indifference.
"They're all monsters. The blood of their victims is on my hands," says Alaric. "Jenna's blood is on my hands."
"Can't you stop them?" Elena asks me and I shake my head.
"There's too much salt in and around me, my body only grows weaker with it around me," I tell her as Esther comes to stand next to Elena while I lean on the table a bit out of exhaustion.
"When you are ready," Esther tells Alaric as she reaches her hands out for him to take.
"No, Ric, please, don't," Elena begs him. "Don't do this." Alaric ignores her pleas as he takes Esther's hands and Esther appears to be mentally performing the spell. "I won't help you. I'm not gonna give you my blood. You're gonna have to kill me." I roll my eyes at her stupidity.
Esther turns to Elena with a calm look about her. "That won't be necessary."
Esther releases one of Alaric's hands and fists it in front of Elena, causing the latter to groan in pain as she holds her right hand to her chest. Elena looks at her hand in confusion and gasps in pain when she sees blood coming out of an incision. Esther grabs her wounded hand harshly and pours some of Elena's blood in the bowl before releasing her and Alaric's hands. Elena holds her hand close to her chest while glaring at Esther and she comes to stand next to me.
"Very brave or stupid of you to deny Esther of this," I whisper to her and she glares at me before turning back to Esther and Alaric, not liking the weak joke I made.
"Drink," Esther orders Alaric, referring to the blood in the bowl. "And let it be done." Alaric picks up the bowl. "You'll have to drink Gwen Pierson's blood after this to complete your transition."
"No, Ric, please, don't," Elena pleads once more, but Alaric drinks from the bowl. "No," Elena sighs as Alaric finishes drinking and puts the bowl back on the table while I stare at him warily.
"Is it finished?" he asks Esther as she quietly grabs the white oak stake. "Do I have to drink Gwen's blood?"
"Not just yet. After this," Esther says before staking him in the heart, causing him and Elena to gasp. I wince when I feel the small sting in my chest. We watch Alaric fall on the floor, dead. "Now, Miss Pierson, I will ask for you to cooperate."
I sigh and walk over to her, giving her my hand as she grabs the knife she used before. She makes a cut in my palm and I wince, letting my blood fill the bowl, enough for Alaric to drink after he awakens to finish his transition into the apparent perfect hunter that Esther wants him to be to kill her children.
"There," I say after retrieving my hand harshly from hers as my body feels weary; the scent of the salt is not helping me at all. "I hope you burn for the rest of your pathetic life." Esther seems shaken at my words, but ignores me.
While Elena removes the stake from Alaric's chest with a gasp with his head on her lap, I slide down the stone wall, groaning a bit in my weakened state as I manage to sit down. I can barely breathe right and I feel sore and singed while Esther stands near Elena and Alaric, looking down at them with little emotion in her eyes.
"He'll wake soon," Esther tells her and Elena looks up at her. "When he does, he may, for a time, be his old self. If so, you can say your goodbyes before his transition is complete." Esther gives Elena a napkin for her wounded palm while mine has already healed. Elena snatches it from Esther's hand with a glare directed at the witch.
"You said you wanted to undo the evil that you created, but this…" Elena says, her voice cracking, close to tears. "This is just as evil."
"Alaric will never be what my children became," Esther retorts and I chuckle, knowing that she prefers to believe she's doing right. "I have granted him enough power to complete his task. Then, when the time is right, he will die."
"How?" Elena asks while I frown since Esther created Alaric to be indestructible. "If he's immortal-"
"All you need to know is when this is over, we will have rid the Earth of vampires once and for all," says Esther.
"What about the souls of those that remain pure, even after becoming vampires?" I ask as Elena stands after gingerly placing Alaric's head on the floor.
"You'd be killing the good along with the bad," Elena says, adding to my argument.
"You'd be even worse than your children, even though it wasn't ever their fault that they became like this," I say as I take deep and shallow breaths. "In the end, their actions were human actions, not because they were monster from the beginning. You're the one at fault and I hope I'll be there when you get what you deserve after the suffering you've caused."
"Am I at fault?" Esther argues as she stands between me and Elena, glancing at us both but settling her gaze on Elena. "I desire a world where you and your loved ones will not suffer at the hands of vampires, like your aunt Jenna did." Esther then turns to me. "You will also cease to exist; dying like you should have to be at peace." I huff at her with a small shake of my head since her words are poison.
"Don't you dare use Jenna as an excuse for what you've done," Elena says and Esther turns to her.
"You may draw comfort knowing that your aunt is not in the place that I was," says Esther. "She doesn't know the torment of the other side. Though made a vampire, she remained pure. And she knows peace. Which is all any of us can hope for."
A twig breaks outside, grabbing the attention of the three of us and Esther turns to the entrance of the mausoleum. I only hope that it's Klaus as Esther exits the mausoleum. I frown, not being able to sense the presence that may be outside because of my weakened state. Elena walks over to me and kneels beside me.
"Can't you stop her?" she asks me and I chuckle. "There must be something you can do."
"Like I said, there's too much salt in this place," I tell her and she sighs in defeat. "I have no power. And even if I use it, it won't do much. She's already done what she wanted to do. We can only hope that she fails." I hear voices and Elena stands up, going outside as I hear the cocking of a gun.
I sigh in pain and see Alaric gasp for air, waking up to his undead life, being in transition. He frowns as he looks around, his eyes settling on me. I sigh in relief when I see they are not the cold ones from before, they are more human. I can also see the confusion and fear in them as he seems to panic.
"The stake," I tell him as I look at the stake next to him. He follows my eyes to the stake and picks it up. "They're in trouble outside." He nods at me before he stands up and goes outside with the stake in his hand. I take one more deep and burning breath before resting my eyes for a bit.
"Cat?" I open my eyes and scrunch up my nose at how blurry it is. I blink a few times and my vision adjusts, smiling when I see Klaus kneeling next to me. He's also wearing a white suit of the 1920s, to which I chuckle.
"Nice suit," I croak since my throat still burns and he smiles at me before stroking my hair out of my face, eliciting a hiss from me when he touched my stinging skin.
"We've been looking for you since last night," he says and I lean on his hand that is on my cheek, ignoring how it slightly burns.
"Esther channeled power and teleported me here," I say as I take deep and shallow breaths. "Where is here?" I frown as I look around the mausoleum.
"You're in the old cemetery of Mystic Falls," he says and I nod.
"Is she dead?" I ask him and he nods.
"I am so glad you're all right," he breaths, to which I smile. "I don't know what I would do without you."
"Die of boredom, most likely," I say and he chuckles. "Can we go?"
"Of course," he says as he places a hand under my knees and behind my back, picking me up and holding me close to his chest as he stands up while I wrap an arm around his neck, the other on my stomach and I lean my head on his left shoulder.
He goes to exit the mausoleum. "There's salt," I warn him since I won't be able to leave if the area is surrounded by salt.
"I took care of it," he says and I nod before I suddenly feel the wind hit my skin as I close my eyes in relief, knowing that Klaus is using his supernatural speed. I only enjoy how the wind disperses the burning feeling on my skin as if pouring cold water over me.
I open my eyes when I no longer feel the pressure of the wind against my skin and see that we're in front of his mansion. I smile at the sight, craving for a bed to rest on since I still feel too weak and sore from all the salt and iron around me. I sigh and lean my head on his shoulder
"Home, sweet home," I mumble and he chuckles before going up the steps as I hear the sound of a door opening, causing Klaus to stop in his tracks.
I frown at this and look to the front door of the mansion, my breath catching at what I am seeing. Standing there with crazed eyes filled with worry is Kol, to which I couldn't help but feel relieved as I stare at him with wide eyes in surprise.
"Kol?" I whisper and he grins softly at me.
"There's my Darling Lass," he says and I give him a small smile, knowing that it's him and not the emotionless vampire he pretended to be when he pushed me away in Denver.
"You didn't take long to arrive," Klaus says as he stares at Kol.
"I thought I'd help look for her," Kol says as he meets Klaus' hard eyes. "You did threaten to dagger me and I wasn't going to risk that happening any time soon. I'll take her." Kol approaches Klaus to grab me, but Klaus pulls back with a glare.
"It's your fault that our mother captured her," Klaus growls at Kol. "I don't trust you with her any more than I trust our mother with her." I saw the flash of hurt in Kol's eyes, but he manages to hide it and I know I have to intervene now before anything escalates.
"Nik," I say and he looks down at me. "It's okay."
"No, it's not," he argues and I sigh wearily.
"You need to get Esther's body before it gets up and runs again," I say and he seems to be debating this, knowing that I am right. "I'll be fine, I just need to rest."
"Fine," Klaus grumbles before handing me over to Kol and I wrap my arms around Kol's neck, feeling safe in his arms as they gingerly tighten around me, keeping me close to his chest. "Look after her while I'm gone."
"You don't need to order it of me, Nik," Kol says before turning and walking into the house, kicking the door closed behind us.
He begins to walk up the staircase and I can't help but curl further into him, for I never thought I'd see him again after last night. I take in and enjoy these moments in his arms, grateful that he's not using his supernatural speed. He reaches the top of the stairs and goes into a hallway where the bedrooms were. He comes to a stop in front of a door.
"Do you mind getting it?" he asks and I sigh with a smile, knowing that he can't get the doorknob with me occupying his arms and I turn the doorknob before he pushes it open with his foot as I lean my head on his shoulder.
I frown as I look around at the room with dark furniture and a small fireplace that is lit. "Is this your room?" I look around, noticing the bed, desk and bookshelves in the room. There's also another door that must be his bathroom.
"Yes, it is," he says as he stands in front of the huge bed with dark crimson sheets and brown comforter. He lays me on the middle of the bed and I sigh in relief at how comfy it is before he tucks me in.
I frown when he turns to leave. "Kol?"
He turns back to me, a small smile on his lips. "Yes, darling?"
"Where are you going?" I ask, not wanting him to leave.
"I'm leaving," he says, turning to leave once more without even locking eyes with me.
I frown and groan as I push myself to stand, catching up to him out in the hallway while leaning against the wall for support, ignoring the burning in my body from moving so much with the amount of salt that is still in my body. "Why?"
"Why shouldn't I?" he asks as he stops, not turning to look at me. "I hurt you. I saw it in your eyes and I dislike the fact that I actually care that you were hurt."
"Do you really want to leave?" I ask him and I hear him sigh as his shoulders slump.
"Yes. It drives me insane how you made me care for you without much effort," he exhales as I continue to stare at his back. "Also, you were right."
I frown. "About what?" I ask as he slowly turns to face me, his eyes locking with mine.
"That what Mary said did make an impact on me. And I let them make an impact on me because I thought she was right," he says. "I listened to a mad vampire." He chuckles humorlessly. "And my emotions overwhelmed me like they never had before because I bordered on emotions I have long since buried; emotions that you slowly bring out of me and I don't like it. I have embraced what I am and I have never needed to feel in a thousand years; I've never found reason to."
"Why don't you want to feel?" I ask as I lean a bit more on the wall. "It's normal to do so."
"Because feeling can only ever bring pain," he sighs and I sigh with him, looking down at the floor, not liking the thought of Kol shutting off his emotions.
"Pain always comes in the package," I say. "But that is not the only thing."
"I also said things that I didn't mean," he says, to which I meet his eyes once more and they are filled with many emotions that are causing some strain in him, for I see it in how tense his body is. "You asked me why I took you with me."
"Yes and you asked me the same," I answer in a whisper, not really knowing where this conversation is headed, but I do hope it doesn't end with him leaving me. "What about it?"
"I asked you to come with me because I did feel something. I didn't understand it and I wanted to figure it out because it wouldn't have gone away if I left alone; it would have driven me mad."
"What did you figure out?"
"That you are there in my mind every time I blink, every time I sleep, every time I don't have you with me. You're there during my every waking moment," he says and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the intensity in his eyes that are penetrating right through me.
"I thought you hated the face I wear because I look like her," I say, wanting to know how he really feels about me.
"I don't," he says and I frown as he approaches me, standing a few inches away from me.
I raise my eyebrows in question as he slowly takes my hand in his without ever breaking eye contact. "You don't?"
He nods. "And you don't look exactly like her."
"I don't?" I ask with furrowed eyebrows.
"Your hair is like gold while Jen's was like coal," he says as he strokes my hair with his free hand, keeping a grip on my hand with his other hand. "Your eyes are like the forest while Jen's were the darkest brown I'd ever seen." His thumb ghosts under my eyes. "Your skin is light while hers was tanned and hardened." He strokes my cheek, causing me to sigh at the feeling he was eliciting from me, something so foreign and alive. "Your voice is yours, unique and different, while Jen's was too perfect and delicate." His hand goes to my throat, stroking it, leaving a hot trail on my skin while I try to keep my heart from breaking through my ribcage.
"What are we doing, Kol?" I ask as I look down from his gaze, not really knowing what to do. "I like you, but you don't like me. I look like Jen, who you hate. What am I to you?"
I feel my head being moved by my chin, seeing it is Kol as he makes me look his smiling face. "We are two broken beings that found one another, which we cannot take for granted; I don't." He pauses. "You are Gwen Pierson. You are a very unique ghost with a body that won't quit." I chuckle as his hand falls from my chin.
"I thought you could never be interested in me," I whisper as he leans closer to my face, inches away from mine as he keeps a hold of my hand and my neck.
He rests his forehead against mine with our eyes locked while I gulp down nervously at our extremely close proximity as our breaths collide with one another. Once more I feel how intense he is, how powerful his aura is and how much it affects me, knowing that it can make me do his every whim, but I am not going to tell him that any time soon. Our eyes are locked; jade-green and dark brown meet, forest and ground. His eyes are so brown and just his that I can't help but be lost in them. Mary was right about one thing: Kol's eyes say more than his mouth could ever say with words.
His eyes dart to my lips before meeting my eyes once more and I do the same, taking in his thin lips, to which I blush before meeting his eyes once more, which are filled with mirth, meaning that he noticed me glancing at his lips and I know that my cheeks must be as red as apples.
"I lied," he breathes into my face before his lips gently meet mine, causing me to sigh against his lips, which catches me off guard as my eyes widen while his are closed.
As our lips remain connected in this sweet and gentle kiss, I place my free hand over the one he has on my neck, kissing him back as my eyes fall close. I can feel my stomach exploding. His lips are warm and soft against mine. It surprises me by being this gentle, but I know he's holding back. It's quite different from the awkward one we shared at the Halloween party, which was improvised and sloppy. He pulls away, resting his forehead against mine before a grin slowly grows on his lips and I smile at him as he strokes my cheek.
"How was that?" I ask him, worried that he might not have felt something since I'm a ghost and I'm only slightly corporeal.
"The kiss?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "It was better than the first, which was not my best moment."
"Yes," I say while chuckling. "Well, I'm a ghost; I don't think you can feel much."
"That's not true," he says with a small grin. "The kiss was refreshing, a comfy cold as if you had just come inside from a snowy night."
"Good," I say.
"You're not bad for a woman that hasn't been in a romantic relationship," he says with a grin and I smack his arm, to which he laughs at this. "I was only joking, darling." He pulls back from my forehead, staring at me and I smile.
"What now?" I ask as he takes both of my hands in his.
"Now, you rest," he says as he leads me back into his room, careful not to be too hurried. "We don't want Nik to dagger me." I lie down on the bed and he lies down next to me with his arm around me, pulling me against his side while I lean my head on his shoulder with a smile; the feeling of peace overwhelming me at this very moment.
"You're not leaving?" I ask, feeling edgy as I wait for him to answer.
"You mean if I am leaving without you, right?" he asks as he grins at me, to which I blush a bit.
"Are you?" I ask.
"I'll drag you with me if you aren't coming with me, even if you're kicking and screaming," he says with a smirk, to which I roll my eyes at before smiling at him. "I'm not done with you, my darling."
"Where are we going?" I ask since I want to know if we're staying in Mystic Falls or leaving it behind; I'd prefer the latter.
"Wherever you want, my Darling Lass," he says and I giggle at his nickname, looking up to see him grinning down at me.
"Wherever I want?" I ask and he chuckles.
"Wherever you want," he repeats and I hum with my cheek on his shoulder.
"I haven't been anywhere, Kol," I whisper and he grins at me.
"I'll just have to show you the world," he says and I smile at him. "Besides, you promised me dance lessons."
I chuckle. "I did." I frown when he turns to the door with furrowed eyebrows. "What's wrong?"
"Nik's back," he says and raises an eyebrow. "He's yelling at mother's corpse."
"Well," I begin. "Let him vent for a while. It's been a long night."
"You're right," he says and I lay my head on his chest as he strokes my hair with one hand while grabbing my hand and laying them on his stomach.
"As always," I tease and I know he's grinning.
"Don't push it, darling," he says and I chuckle. "My temper's worse than Nik's."
"Well, good thing I have experience," I say and he chuckles, feeling it vibrate through his chest.
"Rest, darling," he whispers into the top of my hair and I nod.
I snuggle into his chest, feeling happy with his arms around me in a protective embrace, ignoring the past and what the future might hold. I take in Kol's scent and warmth, sighing in relief before letting my eyes drop and focus on the now.