I do not own TVD or TO.
Little note: Kol was still spying on Davina during this story but the background romance didn't happen. They became kind of friends after the fiasco with Mikael and the wrecked spell.
"You would think after a thousand years you would have learned how to take blood painlessly," Alenka winced when the needle penetrated the tender skin of her inner arm.
"Can't stand a little pinprick?" Hayley sneered. "I would have thought you were used to being pierced."
Something about the tone of the hybrid's voice made her skin crawl. Alenka had been on a high for nearly twenty-four hours; she had been almost deliriously happy and could've sworn the smooth floorboards beneath her feet were made of air. She had even gone so far as to wish Elijah a good bye when he had departed the previous evening.
There was just something about Hayley. She taken the bubble that was Alenka's good mood and stuck it with the IV needle; her happiness trickled out in time with her blood in the bag.
She watched the slowly filling bag and narrowed her eyes. "Is there something you want to say to me, Hayley?"
She'd had it with the other woman's attitude; normally Alenka could take a lot, but she felt like she had been buried under a mountain the size of Olympus and the only way out was to fight back… to take a spade and physically throw the sodden earth from her body.
Klaus might have moved to stop the brewing argument if he had not been so surprised by her sudden growth of a backbone.
"Did I see you leaving Elijah's room the other morning?" Hayley's mouth twisted with the counter question.
Klaus could smell the combination of anger and jealousy as it came off Hayley in thick waves; he would not have been surprised to see her eyes flash green with envy. He too had seen Elena emerge and had smelt the evidence of her midnight rendezvous; had she made a habit of it he would have objected, but not for the reasons Hayley was. Part of the deal was for Elena to have children; is she wanted an affair here and there with a vampire he wouldn't stop her.
Her reply to Hayley seemed to echo his own thoughts.
"That's none of your business."
He could practically see the smoke rising from Hayley's ears. He would not have chosen her if he had been given the chance. If he had been given the choice over who would be the mother of his child he would have definitely gone with someone else; Caroline Forbes would have been his first choice, but Elena would have been second. At least she had compassion, and if she was ever jealous of anyone it had been quietly handled.
"It damn well is my business," Hayley snapped, "especially if you were just using him."
"No Hayley," Alenka's eyes flashed with anger as guilt prickled her spine, "it is nobody's business but mine. Who I choose to spend my nights with is my business."
Alenka glared when Klaus cleared his throat and cocked his head. The fire crackled loudly and sputtered in the hearth.
"No," she waved the arm that wasn't attached to the IV. "You don't get a say in my bedmates. I agreed to have children, but I," she poked her chest, "am the only one who picks the father." Twinkling eyes flashed in her mind's eye.
"What's your problem with me, Hayley?" Alenka inhaled and narrowed her eyes. "You've been hostile since I arrived."
"My problem is that you're a manipulative bitch," Hayley glared. "I don't know what your end game is Elena, but I know you'll take off the moment you get what you want. That's what you doppelganger's do: you take what you want no matter who gets hurt in the process. You wrap people around your little finger and toss them aside when you're done."
"That's enough, Hayley," Klaus snapped when he saw the hurt in Elena's eyes.
Alenka's breath caught in her throat. She knew she had used Elijah; the knowledge of that had been what kept her all but confined to her room for three days. She turned to stare at the bag that was now half way full and wished fervently for the process to be done; she wanted to sit in the garden surrounded by flowers, or find Kol and enjoy the calm that came with his presence.
Had she really only been hooked up to the wire for a minute?
Luckily a better distraction than Hayley came running through the door. Unluckily for her the news that fell from Rebekah's lips made her blood run cold.
"You need to come now," Rebekah gasped when she saw Klaus, "its Kol," her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, "he's dying."
"You know I think I actually preferred this go-around," Kol gasped, "being a witch, no heightened emotion, and no bloodlust. It was just me." His laugh was bitter before he doubled over in a coughing fit.
"Are you okay?" Davina's head snapped up from the spell she was working on. She found herself wishing he had told her earlier; that he had told someone earlier. Maybe then she could have helped him.
"Yeah," he grimaced, "I think I want to be alone for this bit." He turned away from Davina and stumbled towards one of the tombs. He paused with his hand on the cold stone when he heard the voice behind him.
"I'm afraid that's not an option," Klaus came to a stop and released Rebekah's arm.
"Always and forever is not something you get to weasel out of, Kol," Rebekah smiled weakly.
"No," Alenka tore the IV from her arm. The word repeated like a mantra in her mind when she moved to run from the empty room.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Hayley spun in the courtyard and crossed her arms.
Alenka ignored her and tried to go around. Her stomach launched into her throat when her arms were grabbed forcibly and she was pushed into the wall; plaster rained down from behind her back.
"You are not leaving until that bag is full," Hayley's eyes blazed.
Alenka's head swam. It was a combination of the knowledge that Kol must have known because he had been hexed, and the blood she had given moments before.
She was going to kill him, but she first she needed to save him.
All of her rage seemed to bubble up and over; she didn't stop to think about how she had managed to throw Hayley across the room. She ran. She ran full tilt through the streets of the Quarter and only stopped when she reached the cemetery and her vision fractured.
Her fingers wrapped tightly around the Iron Gate as she drew in deep breaths of the cold night air.
She took as little time as she dared before running through the rows of tombs until she reached the playhouse. She screamed internally when she stumbled into the room and found it empty save for her sweater she had forgotten the previous day.
Davina sat several feet away from the siblings and whispered a spell over a necklace in a last ditch attempt to save his life.
Candlelight flickered over Kol's drawn features and illuminated the blood dripping from his nose and mouth. He hunched over in another coughing fit and felt Rebekah and Klaus rubbing his back.
"Did you call Elijah?" Klaus murmured.
"I tried," Rebekah blinked back tears, "but he's with… he can't come back with her… not yet."
"Just as well," Kol leaned back and groaned. He was certain he'd regret the attitude once he reached the other side again but at the moment he was still a little jealous; his mind wanted to focus on anything else than what was happening in his body.
Davina finished her spell and crawled over to Kol. She held out the necklace. "I tried a different spell."
"It's okay," he shook his head, "I'm not scared." He closed his eyes and heard the gentle strains of the voice he wanted to hear more than anything; a voice he doubted he would ever hear again.
She kicked over a table covered in fresh herbs and flowers in her frustration. He wasn't in the playhouse. She had been certain this was where he would be; she'd been positive.
She blinked back her tears and struggled to think while bending and picking up a sprig of heather. She froze when the purple flower was between her fingers and the voice whispered in the back of her mind: physical healing, protection, and ancestral connection.
She hadn't heard that voice since waking up; she hadn't heard her subconscious since Elias had last placed a flower in her hands.
Her hand lifted to cover her mouth when her eyes zeroed in on the daybed. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut she focused all of her energy and felt a tether pull around her waist.
She followed it; her feet moved faster and faster as the link seemed to fade away. It was all but gone when she ran into the candlelit tomb and skidded to a stop on her knees.
"Kol?" Her eyes flickered over his face. She saw the unspoken apology in his eyes when he forced a weak smile onto his lips.
"Hello, darling," the smile fell when the light bled from his eyes.
She knew he was gone when the tears streaked down Klaus' cheek. She fell back on her heels and grasped his cold hands; it took less than a moment to know he was gone. Everything came to a screeching halt before starting up again on autopilot. Her heart pumped blood through her veins. Her lungs drew in quick shallow breaths.
Her mind stopped.
She climbed to her feet in a trance when Klaus pulled her up. He might have asked why she had grown so quiet, or he might have thought her memories had trickled back and she was merely feeling guilt over watching his brother die another time. He might not have said anything; she wasn't really sure because time seemed to skip.
The next thing she knew the morning light was streaming down on her face where she stood on her balcony. She tipped her head down slowly and stared at the tiny half-moon marks she had somehow left in her palms. Her fingers came up to wipe at her wet cheeks.
He was gone.
He had been hers. He had been her other half; he might have even been her husband reincarnated, and he was gone. She had just gotten him back; she had just fallen in love again, and he was gone. He had been the one to break her curse; she'd never had a chance to tell him, and he was gone.
He was gone and she was left. She wasn't used to being the last one standing.
A sudden surge of anger ran through her when she tiptoed back into her bedroom; he was supposed to wait. He was supposed to stay alive until she got there and found a way to save him.
"You should have told me," her hand grabbed the first thing she could reach and threw it across the room. The green journal thudded against the wall and sent the contents streaming over her floor.
You should have told me, she brought her heel down on a few pictures and kicked the thick paper that was Elijah's letter.
You should have… Her thought trailed off when she dropped to the floor and saw a bright flower that had fallen from the green journal.
Alenka tilted her head and ran her fingers over the red and yellow flower.
"I don't know how I didn't see this sooner," the voice was a puff of wind in the suddenly still room, "but you've got a bit of a temper, darling."
"Who…" she twisted on her knees in time to see a blurred shape flickering behind her. She pinched a petal between her thumb and forefinger and heard the voice once more before it disappeared entirely.
"I'm sorry, Ellie."
So...
How many of you hate me right now?
...
and how many of you have been paying attention?