Chapter 71: A View To A Kill
It's been a week since the group decided to try and kill Kol Mikaelson, and they've been doing their damndest to make sure Matt was ready to take on an original, even with help. It wasn't easy to prepare for, with Hayley still living in the Gilbert house. If she'd heard or seen anything, she'd surely tell Phoebe, and then it was all over.
With the stake in Kol's possession, they could only assume that he would be as paranoid as the rest of his siblings, and keep it with him at all times; which meant that he would be the one to bring it to the fight.
Their plan was ready, all they needed was for Phoebe and Hayley to be distracted, so they wouldn't find out what they were up to. But what? The school's 80s Decade Dance would be the most ideal, but then Phoebe would surely notice the others missing. Then again, it wouldn't be suspicious of Jenna not to be there, Matt could easily claim to have to work that night; and Stefan could claim he needs to keep watch over Damon, to make sure he doesn't break out and try to kill Matt again.
Their plan just might work.
"I need you to get me a dagger from Rebekah or Elijah," said Klaus.
"Good morning to you, too," said Phoebe. She'd been trying to enjoy her coffee mixed with blood – her latest experiment in implementing her vampire food with human food.
Phoebe put down her cup and looked him in the eye. "Not gonna happen."
"Have you forgotten that my paranoid brother Kol is out there running around with the white oak stake and homicide on the brain?"
"Nope."
"Need I also remind you that Damon has been compelled to kill Matt, and that daggering Kol will undo said compulsion?"
"Nope," she answered again.
Klaus threw his hands up in frustration. "Phoebe, I've tried talking to Rebekah, but she won't budge."
"And neither will I," said Phoebe. "Klaus, they need those daggers more than you do."
"How do you figure?"
"What if Kol decides to go to Elijah, and threaten him with the white oak stake to use his sirebond over me to make me thwart everyone's attempts at finding a cure and Silas?"
"A bit vain of you to think that you alone could do that," said Klaus.
Phoebe gave him a look. "I'm the brains of this town, and you know it."
Klaus couldn't help but crack a smile.
"If he does that, then Elijah will need his dagger to defend himself against Kol," Phoebe went on. "And the same goes for Rebekah. If Kol comes for her for some reason, or shows up here where she can see him, she'll need that dagger to use on him."
"And what about me? Am I to remain vulnerable?"
"But you're not vulnerable, you're the Big Bad Wolf."
Klaus looked at her curiously, but said nothing.
"Why do you think your siblings are so afraid of you? Why do you think your older brother is afraid of his little brother? It isn't because of those daggers, it's because you're stronger and smarter than they are, and they know it. Your werewolf half makes you stronger than them, and your ability to think at least three steps ahead of everyone makes you smarter than them."
Klaus didn't know what to say. A part of him felt she might be spinning a web of crap to keep him from seeking those daggers, but a larger part of him believed what she said.
"You don't need those daggers to protect yourself, Klaus, but they do. So I'm not gonna help you take their only defense from them," said Phoebe.
Klaus stood there contemplating her words, as she returned to the kitchen with her coffee. A few moments later, he heard her scream. In a flash, he was at her side.
Phoebe stared at the running water in the sink, cradling her hand.
"What happened?" Klaus asked.
"The water. It burned, like…" Phoebe looked at Klaus. "Someone's put vervain in the water."
The mayor threw a huge wrench into the plan to kill Kol, when he decided to reinstate the town curfew. The curfew meant there was no decade dance, which meant there was no distraction for Phoebe, Hayley, and Rebekah. But Stefan had a better idea. An idea that would mean they didn't need to come up with excuses for why certain people weren't there.
"I don't get it, if we're not going to a dance, then why do we need to dress up?" Hayley held up a top lined with too much shoulder padding, and made a face.
Phoebe laughed. "Because if we dress up, we can get more immersed; otherwise it's just a movie night."
Phoebe had been excited to take Rebekah to the decade dance, because the 80s were one of her favorite decades – musicwise, at least. And because Rebekah had been daggered through the entire decade. Since she'd missed them, Phoebe was looking forward to introducing her to what she'd missed. They were both bummed about it being cancelled, until Stefan suggested that they have an 80s night at Rebekah's.
"But we're also going to be listening to music, and giving her trivia," Hayley argued. She desperately did not want to have to wear anything they were finding in the Salvatore attic.
"She's right," Stefan agreed, entering the attic. "The 80s fashion was pretty bad."
"Says the guy who literally only has to change his jacket with each new decade," Phoebe shot back, playfully.
Stefan gave a slight smirk.
"Alright, fine. We won't wear the outfits," Phoebe relented.
Hayley breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."
"Now begs the question, which band shirt do I wear? Duran Duran, Devo, Depeche Mode…"
"Bon Jovi?" Stefan suggested.
Phoebe crinkled her nose in disgust.
Stefan laughed. "Well, which ever you choose, you should wear this with it."
Stefan pulled a small box out of his pocket, and opened it to reveal a tiny Koala.
"What's that?" Hayley asked.
"This is a Koala corsage," said Stefan, pinning it on Phoebe. "They were all the rage in the 80s."
Phoebe marveled at the corsage for a moment, before addressing Stefan. "Are you sure you don't wanna join us? It was your idea, afterall."
Stefan shook his head. "I can't. I spent most of that decade with Lexi, and…"
Phoebe took his hand in hers to let him know it was okay. She understood that it was hard for him to try immersing himself in a decade that would only remind him of the friend he'd lost.
"You three have fun tonight," said Stefan.
Once the two had left the boarding house, he called Klaus. The others were going to need Stefan tonight, but he couldn't risk leaving Damon unattended, so they would kill two birds with one stone. They would keep Klaus occupied, while also having someone to babysit Damon, while Stefan was helping to kill Kol tonight.
When Klaus asked why Stefan needed his help, he lied and told him that he would be helping Phoebe with 80s night for Rebekah. Stefan knew he wasn't going to call and check up on him, so it was the perfect lie.
Things were looking up.
The day had begun in such a disappointing way, with their plans for Kol being derailed. But now, things were looking much brighter. Their plan was better than it had been before, and they were all certain that it would work. Their only problem would be the aftermath.
Once Klaus, Rebekah, and Phoebe found out what they'd done, there was going to be trouble. Phoebe could be calmed, eventually; Rebekah could be daggered, or killed; and Bonnie could put Klaus down, the way her mother had put Mikael down. What could go wrong?
The first unexpected twist in their plan came about, when Kol came knocking on the Gilbert House door. Jenna had hardly been on the phone a minute, claiming she wanted a truce, when he decided to stop on by.
Kol gave Jenna his signature wicked grin, as she opened the door. "You think being alive for over a thousand years would teach me some manners. But I couldn't resist stopping by."
"If we let you in, Jeremy and Elena go free," said Stefan.
"Fair enough," Kol agreed.
Stefan never took his eyes off Kol, but Jenna looked back to her niece and nephew.
"You can come in," said Elena.
Jeremy and Elena backed out of the back door, and took off. While Kol was watching them leave, Stefan noticed the stake inside of Kol's jacket. He'd brought it with him. Good.
"So," Kol sighed, stepping inside. "This is the part where you offer me a drink, so we can have a proper chat."
So it began.
Since he was to babysit Damon all night, Klaus decided to take advantage of the time he had alone with Damon. But how to approach the subject he wanted, without directly blurting it out?
Klaus began with discussing Matt, and Damon's failed attempt to train him. He then mentioned how Damon had helped get Matt his conscience back, which made him more reluctant to kill vampires.
"Well, we couldn't have him staking Phoebe every time he saw her," Damon argued.
"Ah, for the love of Phoebe." Now he was there. He had successfully transitioned to the topic he'd wanted to bring up: Phoebe. "How is it she manages to overlook every horrific thing you've ever done?"
"What makes her overlook the horrible things you've done?" Damon countered.
"Come on, there must be a secret," Klaus pressed. He became more serious. "What is you say to her?"
Damon stopped tossing a rock into the air to catch, and sat up on his cot. He eyed Klaus suspiciously. "Are you asking me to help you win over the girl that I hope to get back someday?"
"She isn't an object for you to obtain. And I very much doubt that she'd ever want you back."
Damon forced a smirk. "I think you killed Carol Lockwood, I think you know Phoebe knows, and I think you're worried she's going to reach her limit on forgiving you."
It was well known that Phoebe didn't hold a special place in her heart for Tyler, but he was special to Matt and Caroline, and they were important to Phoebe.
"You've done worse," Klaus accused.
"Debatable," Damon argued. "See, I don't mind being the bad guy, because somebody has to fill that role and get things done. You do bad things for no reason. You do them to be a dick."
"Debatable."
Klaus thought about the things he had done, since arriving in Mystic Falls. He thought of all the good times they'd had together, every smile, every laugh. He also thought about when she'd told him that she'd loved him.
If she hadn't forgiven him for those things, she never would have enjoyed his company as much as she did, and she certainly never would have fallen in love with him. So what was he really worried about this time?
Damon looked pleased with himself. He'd gotten under Klaus' skin and made him question whether or not he was worth Phoebe's forgiveness. Had she ever really forgiven him?
Klaus noticed this, and decided to squash it. "You disappoint me, Damon. You're not trying very hard to get out of here. I expected more the daring escape artist, less the cell potato."
"Well, I am compelled to kill Matt, so I figure it's better to sit in here and chitchat with you than try to bust out of here like the Hulk."
"How do you think Phoebe felt about that, by the way?"
Damon gave him a look. What was he getting at? Of course she wouldn't like someone being compelled to kill her best friend. What kind of question was that? He didn't have to wonder long, before Klaus elaborated for him.
"Your inability to overcome Kol's compulsion or a single moment, even though it meant killing one of the people she loves most in the world?" Klaus gave a smug grin.
"She's met me," said Damon. "She knows impulse control isn't my strong suit."
"Still, must be hard trying to live up to Stefan."
Now Damon was annoyed. But Klaus didn't stop there.
"I remember when I compelled Stefan to turn off his humanity…He fought so hard, he actually managed to resist." Klaus beamed at his victory. "Now that's love."
Damon wanted to retort with something like 'What do you know about love?' but he was deprived of the chance by an incoming call for Klaus. It was Kol.
When the Gilbert siblings were far enough away from the house, they split up to retrieve the other members of the team. Elena went to get their witch, while Jeremy went to get their hunter.
It took some work to get Bonnie – her parents weren't letting her leave. It hadn't mattered that she was more powerful than they were, because they were her parents. And even though she was a vampire now, Bonnie's mother still knew how to use herbs to put her daughter to sleep.
Matt, on the other hand, was pretty easy. He was at home, sharpening stakes and getting geared up for whatever he needed tonight. Jeremy had to stay behind at Matt's while he went out to slay and original, which Jeremy hated; but Phoebe was the only vampire who had been invited into his house, so Jeremy would be safe there.
Meanwhile, Stefan and Jenna did their best to keep Kol occupied with drinks and talk. They asked him about Silas and how he knew about him; they tried negotiating a truce, claiming they'd leave the cure alone, if it meant Kol would leave Matt alone. But short of showing their hand and attacking him, there was no keeping Kol any longer. He left before Matt could arrive.
"I'm sorry, he left," said Jenna.
"We tried to stall as long as we could, but-"
Stefan was cut off by a knock on the door.
"That must be Bonnie." Jenna opened the door to find Kol standing there.
Everyone's eyes widened, and their bodies tensed. This couldn't be good.
"I've considered your request for a truce." Kol's face changed from kind to murderous. "Request denied."
Jenna slammed the door on his face, and the three ran for cover. The door wouldn't stop, especially since he'd been invited in, but it would buy them time to hide and prepare for a fight.
"So, what do you think, so far?" Phoebe asked. They'd just finished watching Say Anything.
"I think the 80s were full of romantic fools," said Rebekah.
Hayley laughed.
"And you would have fit right in," said Phoebe.
Rebekah tried to deny it, but even Hayley knew better than to believe her.
"We all want somebody to love, Rebekah, and for them to love us in return," said Phoebe.
"As long as he isn't standing outside of my window, holding a boombox over his head," said Hayley.
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's weird, and kinda creepy," said Hayley.
"She's right, it is a bit weird," Rebekah agreed.
Phoebe opened her mouth to argue, but closed it in defeat. It was the Dobler/Dahmer effect. Depending on how you felt about a person, things they did to impress you could either be Dobler romantic, or Jeffrey Dahmer creepy.
"Fine, we'll break from the romance, and watch a comedy," said Phoebe. She started looking through the DVDs she brought over, but couldn't find the one she was searching for. "Crap…I must've left it at home…"
"What?"
"Clue," Phoebe answered. "I'll just run over and grab it. Won't take me long."
"Okay."
"Just keep drinking, and try some more music," said Phoebe on her way out.
"Will do!"
Kol had hardly broken inside the Gilbert House, when he called his older brother. He walked around half-heartedly searching for one of them, as he accused his brother of being a part of this plan to kill him.
Stefan appeared at the top of the stairs, and shot an arrow into Kol's leg. When Kol looked up, he was gone. Now he was pissed.
Jenna and Stefan did their best to fend off Kol, while making sure his attention was on them, and not looking for Matt. Their best option now was keeping his focus away from Matt, so he could surprise him. They also needed to get the stake off of Kol and get it to Matt.
Matt, of course, couldn't stay out of the fight forever, given his hunter instincts and dislike of Kol. He shot a couple of stakes at him through a double barrel, sawed-off shotgun. Kol caught them both mid-air.
Stefan filled Kol with wooden bullets, as he shouted for Matt and Jenna to run.
Kol threw one of the stakes he'd caught into Stefan's leg, and the other into his shoulder. His momentary lapse of pain, allowed Kol to escape his sight, and make a run for Jenna and Matt.
Kol tossed Jenna out of the way like a ragdoll, then threw Matt down the stairs. He may have a supernatural edge from being a hunter, but he wasn't as durable as a vampire, and it still hurt.
Jenna jumped onto Kol's back, and tried to break his neck, but Kol was stronger and faster. He knocked Jenna off of him, broke a piece or railing from the stairs, and pinned her to the wall with it; all in the time it took her to pick herself back up.
Stefan came charging out of the room, and managed to drive a stake into Kol's back. The two fought for a few minutes more, and there was a moment when it looked like Stefan might win. But Kol won in the end.
Kol had reclaimed the gun Stefan used earlier, and shot the remaining wooden bullets into Stefan. None of them hit his heart directly, but they would reach his heart eventually, and kill him.
Jenna tried to pull the piece of stair banister out of her side, as she watched Kol take Matt away, but it was stuck in the wall good. Her only option was to push herself away from the wall, and let it pass through her.
It hurt like nothing she'd ever felt before, but it had to be done. Now came her next obstacle. Did she go downstairs and help Matt, or did she save Stefan? She looked at Stefan on the ground, trying to pull the bullets out himself. If she helped him, they could both go help Matt. So that's what she did, despite Stefan's protests.
"Now, like I said, I don't fancy the Hunter's Curse, so I'm just gonna chop off your arm. But don't worry, I'll heal you right up with a bit of blood after." Kol looked between Matt's two arms, as he struggled to get free of his bindings.
"Now, which, which arm is it? Is it left or right?" Kol gave a shrug as if it were nothing. "I'll just chop off both to be safe."
Kol raised the cleaver in the air, but before he could bring it down on Matt's arm, he was pinned to a kitchen cupboard.
"Keep your hands off of him!" Phoebe shouted at him.
Kol shoved her back, and smiled wickedly. "I was wondering when you'd show up. I'm surprised you weren't the one here trying to distract me until he showed up to kill me."
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Don't play dumb, love, your too smart for that." Kol was circling her, trying to get his back out of a corner.
In a flash, Stefan was on Kol once more, and Jenna was trying to free Matt. Phoebe was so confused on what was happening, she didn't know what to do. She wanted to break up the fight with Stefan and Kol, but she wanted to get Matt out of there, too.
"Stop!" Phoebe shouted, but no one listened.
She grabbed the faucet extension from the sink, turned on the water, and sprayed the vervain water at Stefan and Kol. It burned them both, and they went stumbling further into the living room – out of her range.
Now free of his binds, Matt noticed that Kol had dropped the stake on the kitchen floor at some point. He made a run for it, but Phoebe was faster.
The look she gave Matt and Jenna sent chills down their spines. She'd never looked at them that way, and they weren't sure they wanted to continue to fight. But they'd started something and needed to finish it now more than ever – there was no way Kol was just going to forgive and forget this.
Phoebe could see they weren't going to back down, and she couldn't fight them all. Klaus and Elijah had always fended off her loved ones for her sake, but Kol wouldn't be so kind, which meant she had to fight off the three trying to kill Kol and stop Kol from killing them.
She stared down Matt, making it seem as though she were targeting him first. As he and Jenna were bracing for this, Phoebe flitted over to Jenna and snapped her neck.
Matt took advantage of her attention being elsewhere and made a move to do the same to her. Unfortunately, Phoebe was too smart and too fast. Her brain had been put into a gear of hyperawareness in order to be able to take on an original, and three people she loved.
Phoebe turned around in time to deflect his attack, before he could do the same to her that she'd done to Jenna.
Fighting her best friend was hard. She needed him down so he couldn't keep trying to stop her from saving Kol, but she also didn't want to hurt him. Matt felt the same way. At the same time, neither had the time to continue a fight to keep the other distracted – Stefan wasn't going to be able to survive Kol forever.
The two exchanged a few minor blows, and remarks of not wanting to harm the other. But eventually, Matt had an upper hand. He'd managed to get his hands around Phoebe's head, and was trying to fight threw his feelings for her to snap her neck.
Phoebe wanted to break his arm and free herself, but this was Matt. As angry as she was, she didn't want to do that. So, instead, she focused hard on an old trick she hadn't used since before she was a vampire. It took longer than it used to, but in less than a minute, Matt fell to the floor unconscious.
Phoebe raced to the living room. It was so badly torn up, you could hardly recognize it as a living room.
Kol plunged his hand into Stefan's chest and wrapped his fingers around Stefan's heart. Before he could pull, he felt something sharp press against his backside.
"Let him go, or I drive this stake straight into your heart," said Phoebe.
Kol released Stefan, but quickly turned around to face Phoebe. He knocked the stake out of her hand, and grabbed her by the throat. He hadn't cared much about the stake, because they needed their hunter to kill him, and Matt was in no position to do anything.
"You know, I think I have a better punishment for Nik. I'll wait for him to show up, and then I'll kill you right in front of him," said Kol.
Stefan looked at the stake on the ground. Ideally it have been better for Matt to have killed Kol, but if it meant saving Phoebe and themselves, he had to do whatever needed to be done. He made a run for the stake, but he never reached it.
"NO!" Phoebe shouted. As she did, lights all around them exploded, and Stefan went flying backwards.
Kol looked around the room and behind him at Stefan. He turned back to Phoebe. "Seems you still have some juice left in you after all. That could be a problem. You see, I can't risk you getting free and killing me, while we wait for Nik to arrive."
"Kol!"
"Or maybe we won't have to wait," Kol grinned. His hand never left Phoebe's neck, as he dragged her to the front door. "Nik! How nice of you to join us."
"Let her go," Klaus commanded.
"Or what? You can't stop me, you can't even cross the threshold," said Kol.
It was true. He'd never been invited in, so he was unable to enter. But he didn't need to.
"I can," came a voice from behind.
Kol turned to see who it was, but he only caught a glimpse of his sister before his eyes were once again blinded by vervain. He released Phoebe to cradle his own face in pain.
Phoebe reached into his jacket and grabbed the other weapon that he'd brought with him that night. She tossed it to Rebekah.
Rebekah hated doing it, this had always been Klaus' thing, but he was unable to do it right now. So, before his sight could be restored, Rebekah thrust the silver dagger into Kol's heart. The three of them watched as Kol's body desiccated and fell to the floor.
"What did you do?" said Klaus.
Phoebe and Rebekah's eyes turned towards Stefan, who was now out of the living room.
"We didn't have a choice," said Stefan. "He was going to cut off Matt's arm."
"Lies! He never would have gotten inside, if you hadn't set a trap for him," Klaus accused.
"You said you were going to put him down, too," Stefan argued.
"With a dagger, not the white oak stake!"
"You were trying to finish Matt's tattoo, so you could find that damn cure." Phoebe gave a bitter smile, as she shook her head disapprovingly. "Did you give any thought to the countless vampires descended from his line? Or were they just numbers that you needed to get what you want?"
"He won't kill a bar full of strangers, but he's okay with wiping out an entire line of vampires?" Rebekah questioned rhetorically.
Stefan didn't answer. He was angry, too. Angry that Phoebe had showed up and stopped them. Angry that Bonnie hadn't come to help. Angry that they'd made this perfect plan, and it had failed epically.
"That's it. From now on, I'm not sitting on the sidelines anymore. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to help find people for Matt to kill – bad people we can turn into vampires for him to stake." Phoebe looked at Klaus. "It's going to take time, but at least this way, everyone can be happy."
Everyone still conscious seemed to silently agree to this plan.
"Good," said Phoebe. "Why don't you two get Kol out of here, before Matt and Jenna wake up."
"What about the stake?" Klaus asked.
"I'll take care of it," said Phoebe.
Klaus would have felt better having it in his own hands, but he trusted Phoebe.
By the time Matt and Jenna woke up, Klaus and Rebekah were long gone. Hayley, who had heard Klaus' phone call to Rebekah earlier, had made it home to see what was going on. Phoebe had given her the stake and sent her out to hide it, while she helped clean up a little bit.
Stefan and Phoebe told them the new deal, and that Phoebe had hidden the stake from both them and the originals. She wasn't going to let them continue to fight over that thing or constantly try to kill the only other two originals that they could kill.
Their plan hadn't gone exactly the way they'd hoped, but they had still achieved something good. Damon was now free of Kol's compulsion to kill Matt, so he was now free to leave the basement holding cell. And now they had Phoebe helping them. Before, she'd just been sitting back letting everyone else do all the work. With her help now, they would have that cure in no time.
I'm sorry for late post, guys. I had the chapter already written and ready to upload, but I had such a busy weekend that I forgot. Anyways, how did you guys like the plot twist of not killing Kol? How is that gonna effect his story arc in the Originals? Well, don't worry, I have that figured out.
I normally hate giving you guys spoilers, but it's a widespread concern whether or not I'll have Elijah hook up with Katherine, and I want to address that. Katherine will still have called him for help, and he will have gone to see her. BUT he will not have hooked up with her. It's purely him trying to help the woman he once cared for, and nothing more.
Well, the next chapter is going to be their trip to the island. I decided to combine the two episodes into one, because I honestly didn't see a need for them to be their own entities. So the next chapter will be a fairly long one.
As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I look forward to reading your comments!
