"Susette, would you draw me a bath, please?" Mary Alice asked her maid when she finally got home.
She felt dazed a bit. She knew she got into a bit of trouble with Kol and Mother wasn't none too pleased. She remembered staring at the floor over Mother's knee, was Kol in the room? Surely not? Her hands went to rub her backside, but she felt nothing. Was that a dream? She remembered Kol kissing her neck and biting her, did he not also take a hairbrush to her while?...She blushed with pleasure and confusion. Then, she recalled trying to use the bracelet of obedience on Mother at Astrids'? One minute she was trying to control her mother with the bracelet and now she was home, waiting? She would have to tell Kol she lost the bracelet, he would be angry.
Mother had said to prepare herself for a spanking. Mary Alice found herself stripping off her dress, she saw little specks of blood on the collar. Hers or Kol's? She wasn't sure, but if she got spanked wouldn't she still feel some after effects. Had she drank Kol's blood?
She stripped from the corset and stocking that had so enticed her man, yes, he was her man for now. She knew she had to get ready, but for what, she wasn't sure of. She sunk into the hot water and felt her neck with a jolt. She stood up nude and stepped out to look in her hand mirror. Holding her hair out of the way, she saw two small fang marks. She had been fed on. The thought made her whole body flush. She was a witch and it was taboo to fall in love with a vampire, but maybe she could still hide this affair?
Mrs. Claire came home shortly after. She still wore the bracelet of obedience, itching to take the filthy thing off. She ruled the coven of the witches of New Orleans, she did not need it. Yet, it could come in handy with these vampires. But she didn't need a bracelet to get the truth out of her daughter. She just needed her hairbrush.
The tall, proud woman entered her daughter's room to find her standing in the corner with her night gown pinned up above her smooth bottom.
"Well, I see that the vampire blood did indeed heal you. We will have to remedy that, hmm," Mrs. Claire said firmly. No daughter of her was going to run around with those abominations.
Mary Claire knew better than to turn around or answer. She was 18, but still felt like a child in this position, ready to be spanked yet again.
Mrs. Claire pulled out the chair to Mary Alice's vanity and turned it around.
"Come here, girl," she snapped.
Mary Alice walked over quickly. Delaying did no good.
Mrs. Claire quickly had her pinned down over her lap and paused.
"You know, I do all this to protect you? Mary Alice, you have to do exactly what I say, or we will all be doomed. Do you understand?" Mrs. Claire said, bringing her palm down hard.
Smack!
"Yes, Mother," Mary Alice said, thinking she needed no protection from Kol.
"You will come home and write down everything you do with that boy in your diary each night," Mrs. Claire said now spanking the girl faster.
She was starting to see a blush on the once pale cheeks.
"Stop tensing," Mrs. Claire said, picking up the hairbrush.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Now Mary Alice couldn't help kicking vigorously. Her mother whacked the same spots multiple times until she got a reaction.
Mary Alice knew to keep her hands on the rungs of the chair during the paddling. Tears were streaming out of her eyes and onto the wood floor below. She was sure her maid would be ready to come in after and smooth cold cream into her stinging behind. The young maids on the staff also feel the harsh sting of the brush on their backsides due to Mrs. Claire's wrath.
The hair brushing went on until Mrs. Claire's arm tired and Mary Alice's backside was a solid shade of red. The girl was worn out from kicking and crying over the old witch's knees.
Mrs. Claire felt a moment of pity for her daughter. She truly didn't understand how dangerous "that boy" was. He didn't care about her daughter, just his own selfish desires. A witch at full power was a match for most vampires. Yet this Kol had much knowledge of witchcraft. She saw the way he looked at her daughter and his brother Niklaus when he embraced his son Marcel yesterday. All she could feel was danger. Yes, she must let the vampires take each other out.
She put the hairbrush down and finished the spanking by hand. This girl had to learn to do exactly as she was told.
"You will help Kol and Astrid make the dark objects. Yet, if he started the dagger, tell me imediately," she ordered with a final crack.
"Yes, Mother," Mary Alice sobbed.
"And you will forget what we talked about, only tell Kol that you got a spanking for your earlier misbehavior, drinking his blood," Mrs. Claire said standing the girl up. She wanted to hug her, comfort her, but spoiling the girl further was futile. She put Mary Alice in bed and arranged her porcelain doll beside her. Yes, this plan had to work.
The next day, Kol slipped out to see Astrid. His backside stung from Nik's hard hand the night before. With his healing slowed, he was now feeling vulnerable. He had to be a bit more careful when crossing the street. He wasn't sure how long the spell that Mrs. Claire did would last. Knowing that old bat, it would be weeks.
Knocking softly at Astrid's door, he whispered, "Let me in, Love. It's me, Kol." Astrid came to the door in her night clothes looking disoriented.
"Kol, come in," Astrid said in a daze.
"Pardon my French, Love, but what the hell happened to you?" Kol asked with concern. He had never seen Astrid look so...off.
"I don't know, mon cheri, I feel sore," Astrid said, unconsciously rubbing her behind.
"Forgive me, Astrid, but let me see," Kol said concerned, gently turning her. She let him left her gown and pull it up.
"It looks like ya got the cane. Your behind is welted. Did Mrs. Claire do this?" Kol said disgusted. That woman was a beast and a bully. This girl did nothing except what he had asked her to do.
"Kol, it is fuzzy. Mary Alice was here and then I don't recall what happened," Astrid admitted. She was frightened. Her coven mistress was tough and demanding. She felt like her best friend Mary Alice was in trouble.
"Something is wrong here, Love. Maybe I should get forget about the dagger? Maybe my brother has changed? I don't know what to do here. We made such progress yesterday, but it may be too dangerous," Kol confessed.
He went to sit down at a chair at Astrid's table and popped back up quickly. Damn, that smarted. Was he to be spanked like a little boy for the next 900 years of his life? Maybe he deserved a bit of a lecture for bringing the girl to the house, but two trips over Nik's knee? Nik did apologize for smacking him in front of his girl. But would the shame ever go away? No, he needed that magical dagger as leverage. He didn't have to use it, but he did not know when he'd have two such powerful witches available to help him again. This was a once in a lifetime chance for a bit of freedom. He had to take it, despite the guilt he would feel at lying to his family.
Astrid looked at Kol in surprise.
"Yeah, eh, had a rough night myself. I'll be fine," Kol smiled.
Astrid said, "Do you want me to send for Mary Alice? We could try to make a few more objects today?"
"Indeed, I'll get some more objects to practice on" Kol said with a smile.
An hour later, Kol came back to find the girls working on more objects. Mary Alice was happy to see him. Like Astrid, she was confused about the day before also, yet happy to get to work.
When Astrid was making tea, he asked Mary Alice, "Was your mum hard on ya, last night, love?"
Her pale and lovely face immediately colored, "Oh Kol, she paddled the dickens out of me with that dreaded brush. She said if I ever have a drop of your blood again, I won't sit for a month."
Kol was angry. He knew the discomfort he was in from a simple hand spanking from his brother, now of course the bastard had hybrid strength, but this girl didn't deserve that for loving him.
"I'm sorry, Love. I promise you that I will free you from your mother as soon as I can. We will be together some day," Kol promised sincerely.
Mary Alice kissed him and rested her head against him.
"Thank you," she whispered.
By the end of the day, they had made the rosary that could drive a mad to madness, shackles that could halt a witch's power, and even a blade that could create a thousand cuts with one blow. The only one they could test was the shackles, but Kol was confident that the other two were potent. He planned to find some evil doers to experiment on, as soon as he could.
Kol thanked the girls and went to meet another contact of his next. If the girls were to use Kemiya to enchant one of Nik's daggers, he needed a paragon diamond, a strong one. Rumor was that the wealthy Dowager Fauline had a slew of gems, one of them a paragon diamond, perhaps the strongest one in the New World.
Little did Kol know that he wasn't alone, Marcel was trailing him the whole day. Klaus needed to know what his little brother was up to.