Part 11
Jewel opened her eyes and regretted it immediately. A bright light blinded her, she felt that her head was about to explode.
"Shit," she murmured and quickly closed her eyes before covering them with her hands.
"Jewel?" a male voice said. "Are you okay?"
"The light…" she managed to say. "Turn it off."
"Oh… Just a second."
"Lord…" she murmured. "How much did I drink?"
"Okay, you can open your eyes now," the male voice continued.
She really didn't want to, but she was damn thirsty.
"Griffin, could you please give me a glass of water?"
A pause.
"No, it's me, Kol."
"What…"
Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. The room was dark, but somehow, she could still see every little detail. She was laying on a huge bed that certainly wasn't hers. As she turned her head, she saw someone standing beside the bed. It took a moment before she recognized him.
"Dracula?"
His tense expression turned into a smile.
"Yes. How are you feeling?"
"Not great," she sighed. "Did we at least have fun?"
His smile vanished.
"Do you remember what happened?" he asked.
"No. What happened?"
He pressed his lips together and looked away.
"Come on," she huffed. "It can't be that bad." She paused as something crossed her mind. "Wait… Did we have sex? Don't worry about it, we were both drunk and…"
"No," he cut in. "We didn't have sex."
"What then?"
She sat up when he didn't reply.
"Woah…" she murmured as she looked around. Everything looked somehow strange. Different. She could see everything much clearer than before.
"We didn't do drugs, did we?" she murmured.
"No. We were dancing when my brother Klaus walked in. Can you remember that?"
"Turn the music off right now!"
"I think so. What a bore."
"Yeah. Can you remember what happened next?"
She tried, but she really couldn't. Then she realized that they weren't in Kol's room.
"Did we leave?"
"Yes, but…"
"Where are we?" she asked when he didn't finish his sentence.
"This is a safe place," he replied. "I own this house."
"Uh huh. Good for you."
She licked her lips as she remembered how thirsty she was.
"Do you have anything to drink?" she asked. "Water is fine."
"Yeah, about that…"
"What?"
He sighed and finally looked at her.
"I don't know any nice way to say this… Klaus, a bastard as always, killed you."
Jewel's eyes widened.
"What?"
"He broke your neck."
"Very funny," she snorted. "Then how come I'm sitting here, talking to you?"
Kol bit his bottom lip.
"We had sex in that tool shed. You remember that?"
She rolled her eyes.
Yeah, I don't have an amnesia. What does that have to do with anything?"
"You bit me."
"Honestly?" she snorted. "You're going to whine about that now?"
"No. You had my blood in your system when you died." He paused and moved closer to the bed. "When a human dies with a vampire's blood in their system… They become a vampire."
Jewel froze. No… No, this couldn't be happening. This was just a nightmare.
"Jewel…"
"You're kidding, right? This is a joke?"
Kol shook his head.
"No. I'm sorry."
"This is a joke," she repeated stubbornly. "Right?"
"I'm sorry."
She stared in front of her for a moment before bursting into a hysterical giggle.
"My life is a joke," she giggled. "This was a pretty good punchline."
He didn't say anything as she laughed and laughed until her laughing turned into sobbing. After a moment of hesitation, he sat beside her and wrapped his arms around her.
"Fuck," she murmured. "I've never cried on anyone's shoulder."
"Your emotions are heightened right now," he replied. "It's normal for a baby vampire."
"A baby vampire?" she snapped.
"I meant a newborn vampire," he corrected quickly.
"That doesn't sound much better," she murmured. "How…" She paused and pulled away. "Did you know the whole time?" she asked sharply. "That this would happen when I die?"
"No," he replied. "When Klaus broke your neck, I thought that you were dead. I was furious. I wanted to kill him."
"Why?" she asked. "Sure, we had some fun together, but you barely know me."
He shrugged.
"I don't know. I just… didn't want you to die."
She stared at him disbelievingly.
"You promised to kill me yourself."
"I know," he sighed. "Please don't ask me to explain this. I really can't."
"I hear you," she murmured. "Things weren't supposed to go like this."
They were both quiet for a moment before she continued.
"So, what happened after I died?"
"I attacked Klaus. Elijah managed to separate us. I left with your body."
"Right… No offence, but I have to ask… What exactly were you planning to do with my body?"
Kol frowned.
"What?"
She grinned.
"That was a joke, Dracula. At least I hope so."
"Hilarious," he snorted. "I just didn't want to leave your body there. Then I noticed that you were in transition, and I remembered the whole thing in the tool shed."
"Huh… Well, this suck. No pun intended."
"I can teach you, if you let me."
"Thanks, Dracula, I appreciate that, but… I'm not sure what to do."
He pressed his lips together.
"You still want to die?"
She shook her head
"I don't know. Yeah, technically I'm dead now, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind. My life's still a mess…"
"That was your old life. You have a new life now."
She was quiet for a moment before replying.
"I'm going to be honest here. I don't want to kill people. I mean sure, some people deserve to die, but… I'm not trying to say that I'm a good person, I'm not, but…"
"I understand," he assured. "I'm not going to force you into anything."
"What if I ask you to end my life?"
"Then I would ask you to wait," he replied. "There are worse things than being a vampire."
She rolled her eyes.
"That's a great sales pitch. Does it usually work?"
He shrugged.
"I wouldn't know, I've never tried it before."
"Hmm. Am I still the bug you want to examine?"
"Maybe."
His tone of voice was strangely soft. And he was smiling at her. She wasn't sure how to react to that.
