I do not own TVD of TO.
"I'm not sure that distance was the right idea," Elena held her cardigan closed. She wrinkled her nose against the brisk smell of brine that blew off the water. "I haven't run from anyone since I was human."
"Don't think of it as running," Kol pulled their bags from the boot of the cab, "think of it as regrouping."
She tipped the cab driver and went to take her suitcase. Kol snatched it up.
She scowled but followed all the same.
"I don't need to regroup," she stormed through the door he held open. "I can handle Klaus."
"Darling," he shut the door and led her into the bedroom, "don't take this the wrong way, but no you can't."
"I put him down once," she pouted, dropping to sit on the bed. The white comforter was as soft as a cloud and jet leg beckoned her to sink into it.
He put the bags down on the dresser and joined her. His knee nudged her leg.
"You had the element of surprise on your side," he turned her chin toward him with one hand. "He failed to see the trick coming, but he won't underestimate you again. If he even thinks you have the dagger then you won't get within striking distance, and he has nine-hundred years on you so you can't begin to match him in a physical altercation; neither can I for that matter. I couldn't before, and I definitely can't now."
"We have magic on our side," she rolled her eyes.
"How much offensive magic have you learned?" He traced her jaw with his thumb. "How much black magic do you know? Fighting with Nik would require it."
Elena smoothed her hand over his jaw and down his chest, catching his open jacket between her fingers.
"I don't like black magic," she rubbed a metal button with her thumb.
"Neither do I," he tucked her hair behind her ear, "but it does have its uses, however, if you prefer we can stick to offensive magic. I might be immune to the daggers now, but I don't want to be anywhere near Nik until I can hold my own in a fight."
"I wouldn't mind avoiding Klaus for the rest of eternity," she closed her eyes. Her spine chose that moment to check out and she fell, boneless, against the bed.
"I wouldn't mind that either," he chuckled, leaning back on his elbow. He hovered over her and traced the length of her nose with his finger. He could sense her nearing sleep. "However since Nik has taken up residence in the city where the girl you are so desperate to help lives I don't think that is an option. It's also the place that your son calls home."
She peeked through her lashes and saw the line between his brows. She reached up and cradled the back of his neck.
"He loved you, you know?" Her fingers slipped into his hair. "For weeks after I couldn't get him to sleep, not until I found the record you used to play in the nursery at night. Honestly, I think that's what inspired his love of jazz."
"He didn't know me long enough," he shook his head. A part of him had been excited at the prospect of raising that little boy. "It's probably just as well; I would have ruined him. I'd have made a terrible parent."
"You'd have been a wonderful father," she met his eyes.
"Does that mean you'd be open to trying again?" He chuckled.
"What?" Her brows shot up. "You mean another baby?"
"We'd bring this one in through less nefarious means, but yeah," he admitted, surprising himself with his honesty. "Maybe one day..."
"When the chaos dies down?" She tilted her head. "I might get grief from Thierry for waiting so long to give him a sibling, but... but that sounds nice."
"Yeah?" He listened to the crashing waves and her steady heart.
"Yeah," she smiled, "although, most people date longer than a month before discussing kids."
"We had the first one before we started 'dating'," he smirked, tasting the word on his tongue. "Its not the term I would use to describe us."
"How would you describe us?" She mumbled; sleep was beckoning. "How would you introduce me to someone?"
"Ask me a hard question," he teased.
"I'm serious," she shoved his chest playfully.
"Hello," he pretended to address an unseen associate, "have you met the light of my life: Elena?"
She blushed.
"Light of my life?" She blinked.
"That accurately describes you," he bent, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Light," he drew her hand to her heart and then moved it to his, "dark."
"They say opposites attract," she chewed her bottom lip. "Light of my life," she mused, "I like that."
"How would you describe me?"
"I don't know; boyfriend doesn't sound right."
"You can never go wrong with lover," his eyes twinkled.
"Alright," she giggled. "So tell me, lover, why'd you choose Santorini?"
"I thought you'd never ask," he grinned.
He jumped to his feet and pulled her with him, laughing when she protested. "You can sleep later," he promised.
Elena sighed, but allowed him to drag her through the front room and out into the blinding sunlight.
"Santorini is known around the world for many things." he walked backward with his hands on her waist, "the caldera, lava pebble beaches, and witches who practice ancestral magic, but the reason I brought you here was so I could show you this."
He spun her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, smiling when he heard her breath hitch.
Elena stared up the length of the cliff at the buildings that glowed golden in the setting sun.
"It's beautiful..."
"Pales next to you," he murmured into her hair.
"Flatterer," she turned with him and felt her heart skip again as she watched the dazzling display. Vibrant orange and pink filled the sky and reflected off the Aegean as far as the eye could see.
"That's definitely more beautiful than me," she whispered.
"Nothing is as beautiful as you."
Music thumped from the interior as the door swung open to allow a couple of tourists stumbled out; they were well on their way to inebriation.
"Ya know," she twirled to stand in front of him, "I'm not really a club kind of girl."
"Do you think I'd waste time on such an inane activity when a young girl's life is on the line?" He covered his heart, eyes sparkling in the night.
"Alright," she snickered. "If you didn't bring me here to dance to outdated, repetitive music, then why did you choose this place?" She gestured over her shoulder.
"Look there," he nodded toward the building.
Elena gave him a curious look, but did as instructed, approaching the concrete wall and running her fingers over the weathered stone until her nail caught in a groove concealed beneath ivy; she pushed it aside and bent her knees.
Kol came up behind her as she studied the symbol.
"It's…"
"Hecate's wheel," Elena murmured. She traced the labyrinth within the circle and then ran her nail around the central spiral. "Rebirth and divine thought," she glanced sideways, laughing at the awe which had slackened his jaw. "What? Did you think I spent ninety-seven years pining?"
"I hope not," he found his voice, "that would have been horrible…"
He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.
"Not even a little?"
"There may have been some pining," she teased, "but I am an excellent multi tasker, and you left a lot of books."
She didn't realize she was gravitating toward him until the heat from his body penetrated her dress. "What's the significance of the wheel?"
"It's the symbol of the local coven, and the paint was recently touched up, so it's safe to say they are operating inside."
"So we are going clubbing," she smirked, glancing down at her oversized sweater. "I don't think I dressed right."
"You could always leave it at the coat check," he suggested, pulling the open front down and barring her shoulders.
"Uh-huh," she shivered. His hands slipped the sweater from her arms with only the briefest instance of skin on skin contact. "Did you forget to tell me so you could undress me in public?"
"Madam," he feigned outrage, "what exactly do you take me for?"
"A sly fox," she shrugged before skirting around him. She glanced over her shoulder to see him holding her sweater and watching her. "Coming?"
He grinned, following her inside, but by the time he checked her sweater she had disappeared. There was too much noise and too many overlapping scents for his supernatural senses to sort through; any trail she had left vanished under a heavy layer of body spray.
He melted into the crowd to search.
On the other side of the room hearts worked double time in every body and Elena resisted the urge to slap away masculine hands. She hadn't fed since the previous evening and she was hungry.
She turned around slowly, allowing the lingering touch, though it sickened her. She smiled up at the young man and crooked a finger. Utilizing the head tilt and sultry eyes she had perfected in the seventies Elena led him through the crowd until they were hidden in a corner; from there she compelled.
"Relax," her pupils dilated in the gloom, "and don't scream."
She heard his heart slow. He wasn't as tall as Kol – closer to Stefan's height actually – so she lowered her head and inhaled, running her nose over the veins. One could never be too careful; there was a reason she didn't like clubs. One accidental high and she and Marcel had spent a week cleaning the mess.
She didn't smell anything so she cradled the side of his neck.
"What are you doing?" He shuddered when she traced the vein with her tongue.
"Sh," she covered his lips with her thumb. There was a familiar sting in her gums, and then her teeth sank into his throat. She heard the gurgle, but he didn't fight or scream. She pulled back before he lost too much and compelled him to leave, drink some orange juice and forget what had happened.
"There is nothing quite as arousing as the sight of a beautiful woman post feed."
The voice came from over her shoulder, the accent unfamiliar, but the scent ingrained in her subconscious: vampire.
She left the blood on her chin and spun around. He appeared a few years older than her with dark hair, even darker eyes, and a charming smile; if she were seeking a model for Eros he would have been a perfect choice.
He was too perfect.
"I'm with someone," she licked her lower lip.
"You can do better than someone who would leave you alone," he walked her backward, placing his hands on either side of her body, dangerously close to her waist.
"That's a bad idea," she warned. "He didn't leave me alone."
Kol made his way toward the bar and was rewarded with another symbol carved into a wooden door in the corner, but no sign of Elena. At least there was no sign of her until someone bumped his shoulder.
He frowned at the man as he leaned over the counter. A moment later a glass of bright orange liquid was handed to him. He downed the juice and Kol spotted twin puncture marks on his throat. Standing so close he could smell her all over the man.
He knew it was just about food, but he couldn't stop the growl when he pictured Elena pressed against another guy with her lips on his neck.
To keep from killing the human she had left alive he turned away and started searching the corners. He found her in the third, trapped in place by a Casanova wannabe.
He slipped through the crush of people. Halfway there he saw the man's face and felt his blood pressure rise. He supposed that answered one of Elena's questions; she had succeeded in suspending his sire line because he knew that face. He knew that face well. The last time he had seen it had been after Rebekah came to him in tears.
He made it to the corner when Elena slapped her hand against his chest. Her tone sent rage flowing through his blood.
"Back off," her eyes narrowed.
Kol reigned in his rage and tapped the younger man on the shoulder, just a little harder than necessary; he had the audacity to sigh.
"I'm busy at the moment," he didn't bother turning.
"No you're not," Elena scoffed.
Kol tapped a little harder.
"Take a hint, fíle," he growled.
"Take your own advice," annoyance flashed in Elena's eyes.
The third time Kol didn't bother tapping. He grabbed his arm and spun him into the wall a few inches to Elena's left. He waited a split second, just long enough for his anger to morph into terror, before he struck; cartilage cracked under the force of his punch, and blood poured from his nose.
"Stavros," he pinned the man by his throat, squeezing when he opened his mouth. "No, no; I talk, you listen, understand?"
Elena tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Do you see this beautiful woman?" He saw Elena blush from the corner of his eye. "If you ever come near her again, without her express permission, I will make what I did in 1427 look like child's play. Have I made myself clear?"
Stavros nodded.
"Good," Kol dropped him, "now get out of my sight before my merciful mood passes."
Elena watched him flash away and then turned to Kol; the question burned in her eyes.
He slid his hand from her shoulder to her elbow as he leaned down and licked the line of blood, dragging his tongue from her chin up to her mouth and inside tasting the remnants of her meal in the sensual kiss.
"He wasn't even that good," he murmured, straightening up.
"I was hungry," she hummed. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"
He took her hand and led her through the crowd.
"Kol?"
He pushed open the door and led her into blissful silence.
"Kol?" She pulled his hand at the bottom of a set of stairs. "Who was that guy? What did you do to him? He looked terrified? Or should I be asking what he did?"
Something flashed in his eyes.
"Come on," she moved in close, running her hands up to his shoulders, "don't start keeping things from me now."
"It doesn't paint me in the best light, darling."
"I'm pretty sure I've seen you in bad lighting," she rolled her eyes. "Why don't you start with his name?"
"Stavros Kouris," he sighed, lowering his eyes.
"Now we're getting somewhere," she teased, using the tip of her finger to lift his chin. "Why do you hate him? It goes a lot deeper than coming onto me."
"He courted Rebekah in the fifteenth century," he met her eyes. "As a favour to her I turned him."
"Why didn't she do it?" Elena's brows drew together.
"It's a very bad idea to turn someone who has genuine romantic feelings for you, darling; it leads to a sire bond. Rebekah wanted to save him that, but it turned out to be unnecessary. He didn't love Rebekah; all he wanted was immortality."
Elena swallowed. "What did you do to him?"
"You'll remember me mentioning Viking Origins?" He cleared his throat when she nodded. "Are you familiar with the blood eagle?"
Her eyes widened; an image flickered in her mind: a man with his back cut open, ribs broken and spread, lungs outside the body. She remembered reading that the victims rarely made it to the last part; as a vampire Stavros would have felt it all.
"I'll take your silence as a yes, and now you see the monster," he pulled away.
She tightened her grip and pushed him into the wall.
"I see a good brother, who happens to be a brute," she tilted her head, ducking to meet his eyes.
"I can honestly say I wouldn't have done that to someone who hurt a person I love, but that's only because I wouldn't have thought up a torture technique from a thousand years ago."
"You wouldn't have," he shook his head.
"Part of me never wants to figure out which of us is right," she laughed. "Now, let's go see these witches."
They were halfway down the hall when her mouth watered.
She gave a dainty sniff.
"Do you smell that?"
"Blood," he nodded. He moved ahead, pushing open the only door; light spilled out into the hall, but the wood caught on the body of a girl no more than sixteen.
He spared a heartbeat to check for hers before carefully moving the girl to the hall in complete silence. He prepared to heal her but stopped when Elena dropped to her knees; she had her wrist in the kid's mouth before he moved back inside.
There was a second girl dropped over a mahogany table in the corner, and a third sprawled in a pool of her own blood: both dead.
His ears led him to a second door, engraved in ancient symbols sacred to the coven. Inside a human heart fluttered, clinging to life, but he couldn't cross the threshold.
He cleared his throat to gain the woman's attention.
"Witch blood is amongst the sweetest, but four classifies as over-indulging." His breath caught when she spun around and he saw the face her jet black bob framed. Her sweeping lashes fanned out around eyes the colour of ice and just as warm.
"Kol Mikaelson," she purred, running her eyes over his form. "Are my eyes deceiving me, or have you finally returned to me?"
He felt Elena stiffen behind the outer door.
"Would you believe neither, your presence was not expected," he heard the clicks of Elena's boots and glanced sideways when she stopped.
"Running into me is always a surprise," her eyes flickered to Elena, "but a pleasant one. I'm afraid you've come late to the party," she twisted the limp girl around in her arms, "but we might be able to split her three ways; there's little more than a taste left."
"These are children," Elena spat, disgust dripping from her tongue. She tried to enter the room, but was stopped by a threshold.
"It's a sacred space," the woman nodded to Elena's feet, "and these children were some of the most powerful witches in the coven, and," she licked her lips, "delicious."
"Let the girl go, Ariadne," Kol shook his head.
Something shifted in the woman's eyes and she smiled a slow smile.
"Very well," she pulled her hands back, "but it's a true waste of a rare delicacy."
Elena watched the teen slump against the wall, too weak to move further away; without attention soon she would die.
"Now how about healing her," Elena crossed her arms.
Ariadne left the young witch on the floor and sauntered toward the threshold. She tilted her head and blinked up at him through her lashes.
"Friend of yours?" Elena leaned back to examine the symbols for some way in.
"Lover, actually," Ariadne glanced at her.
"Former," Kol shifted on his heels. "It's no use, darling; the only way through this door is with an amulet." His eyes dropped to the metal between Ariadne's breasts.
"Would you like a taste?" She caught a drop of blood with her finger.
"Are you insane?" Elena checked the dead girls, but came up empty.
"He loves witch blood," she smirked, but made sure to stay behind the barrier. "Do you remember the first time we shared? We drained an entire coven and then reveled in the blood."
"You need to stop talking," he gritted his teeth.
"Are you not in the mood to reminisce?" She lifted her hand, reaching for his jacket across the threshold. She gasped in pain.
"He said stop talking," Elena squeezed the wrist until she heard bones creak, "and I'm saying take a hike."
She yanked hard enough to dislocate Ariadne's shoulder and tore the amulet from her throat.
Ariadne cursed. She moved to attack, but her path was blocked.
"Leave," Kol pushed her away, "now." He was mildly surprised when she listened and a second later he was alone with Elena. "She's already gone, love."
He turned around to see her closing the unseeing eyes.
"Fifteen…" she murmured, swallowing a lump in her throat, "maybe sixteen." She swiped away a tear and took a deep breath before carrying the dead girl into the other room.
Kol reached to take her.
"I've got her," she cradled the girl before gently laying her on the floor. "Exquisite taste you've got there," she grumbled, casting her eyes to the door.
"She was different back then," he wanted to reach out, but doubted she would appreciate it at the moment.
"Back when you slaughtered an entire coven," she deadpanned.
Before he could formulate a response three older women and two men raced into the room. They were followed by a teenage girl with blood on her throat.
"That's her," her copper hair gleamed in the light. "That's the vampire that saved me."
"Though we were too late for the others," Kol frowned.
"What are you doing here?" The shorter man asked. "Vampires are not welcome here."
"We were looking for a witch who might help us to understand a ritual known as the harvest," Elena squared her shoulders. "Like if it really works. Do the sacrifices come back? Can you reverse it once it's begun?"
A woman lifted her voice and it rang through the room with authority.
"That knowledge is confidential and sacred, but," she held out her hand, "perhaps we could come to an arrangement."
They exchanged a look, and Kol placed a hand on her hip.
"What sort of arrangement?"
"Agatha," the taller man hissed. "They are vampires."
"Perhaps it has escaped your notice Constantine," Agatha lifted her chin, "but we have a vampire problem. Three of our brightest are dead, and I am willing to exchange information for service."
When nobody objected Elena leaned into Kol's hand and met Agatha's eyes. She thought of Davina Claire, soon to be dead.
"What do you want?"
Agatha glanced down to the dead and back to them.
"I assume you've met Ariadne."