-Sorry about the mess. Ugh, it was a little crowded when I arrived, and I prefer more intimate gatherings-
The ball is dreadfully boring, filled with unknown people just there for the pride and tradition. None of Rebekah's new friends are there, no one who aren't in any way important to the going ons of the town. Purely political and Kol would rather be anywhere but standing awkwardly among guests who stare.
But mother has instructed them all to go greet Mayor Lockwood, so he goes, playing the dutiful son and finds the mayor talking with the Salvatore brother Damien. They're talking about his family, about peace that won't last past Esther's schemes.
"Mayor Lockwood," he says as he approaches to gain her attention, "We haven't met yet, Kol Mikaelson," he introduces and shakes her hand. "I hope your town will embrace my family, just as they plan on embracing it."
Damien slips a hand out besides the mayor. "Damon Salvatore," he says- It was Damon, not Damien- and squints at Kol just for a second, "Have we met?"
"You mean besides when Elijah undaggered us? No, I don't believe so," Kol answers and keeps his face carefully pleasant and blank- because Damon hadn't been there the last time they'd been woken up, but he was this time. And yet, he'd asked the same particular question the last time. How stange. "Mayor Lockwood, I hope you'll take no offense, but I don't plan on staying in your town more than a few days. Then again I suppose you'd be happier and less stressed to have one less vampire wandering your streets."
"Oh I don't mind, as long as no innocents get hurt," Lockwood deflects, casting a glance at Damon. "But if you must leave, I wish you the bests of times in our town."
"Well, with the easy access to blood bags this new century has-thus removing the necessity to even bite a person and risk their lives, I expect any future blood baths to be kept to a minimum." Kol says, it's always been so for him, he's has an issue stopping once he'd started. He's gotten better at it- depending on his hungry he is. Really, it's amazing vampires hasn't been exposed yet with all the rouge vampires killing people, especially in the new century with surveillance and a camera to record evidence on every phone.
"I…" she hesitates. "Certainly hope so."
Kol smiles pleasantly and dips his head, "If you'll excuse me." he says and leaves, just as the scent of Klaus' blood bag reaches him and his strides lengthens. He finds he really dislikes her.
-:-
Kol sits on the stairs, watching the crowd through the light decorated railing as Elijah speaks of their family, and mothers love for dances. He rolls his eyes, embarrassed to be on the stairs with his siblings, overlooking a crowd that does not know them or fear them. Really, Kol likes attention, but none of the guests are actually interested in their family and Kol feels like an animal being observed by humans visiting a zoo.
Once Elijah stops speaking, asking everyone to join in on a dance, mother stops over besides him on the step he's sitting on. "I'd like to speak with you in private Kol, I haven't had the time because of all the planning, but will you speak with me later?"
Kol grunts, "Sure," Curious for why she'd want to talk privately, she hadn't done that the last time. "After your party then?"
"Thank you son."
-:-
The dance is repetitive, boring, and having to look at Klaus' blood bag as she dances past is bloody maddening. He's asked the same woman as last time to dance with him, she's good, but he'd rather she was his darling Davina. Though in her absence he has imagine her face over the unimportant woman so he doesn't look like he'd rather sit and sulk alone than dance with her.
As they finally shift partners, Kol takes a step to the left, and as Caroline goes to dance with the boy Rebekah has a crush on, he intercepts his sister and grabs the older Salvatore's hand before he can come near Rebekah and cause her heartbreak with his manipulations. He'd rather she be with the human.
Damon's face contorts, his smirk dropping when he notices the lack of long blonde hair on his dancing partner. He looks almost disgusted, Kol thinks and smirks wide and predatory, remembering the feeling of smashing a bat into the young vampires head.
"Well you look spectacularly mopey Damien," Kol comments as they move with the dance, Damon's eyes keep being drawn to where the doppelganger dances with his younger brother. "Is it because you'd hoped to lure my sister with those pretty eyes or is this dreary mood because of Nik's doppelganger?"
Damon twitches annoyance crossing his face. "My name is Damon, not Damien." He protests.
"Ah, I must have heard wrong then," Kol apologises insincerely, "My hearing isn't quite what it used to be, my age seems to be catching up with me."
Damon's eyes roll, "Must be it." he agrees sarcastically.
"Really darling, you don't need to worry about her, as long as she's perfectly human Nik will take care of her. It's really not that bad, I honestly do not understand your little groups insistence on killing Klaus. Your lives are all guaranteed to be happy and safe if the doppelganger just goes and donate blood a few times. It's not that atrocious, humans does it all the time these days. That's where we get our blood bags from- and they get paid for it! Does your girl need some money and a pack or orange juice to be happy about it like all the rest?"
Damon makes a face, like he's been slapped. "I can tell by your facial expression that Nik hasn't thought that far ahead. Really, blood lasts forty days in those nifty bags, plenty of time for vacations and road trips too. Talk to him about it the next time you're having a tense and threatening meeting."
"Do you even know your own brother? There's no way he would ever let Elena leave Mystic Falls."
Kol rolls his eyes. "Then talk to Elijah, he seems to have gotten a brilliantly big sweet spot for yet another doppelganger."
"Why don't you just talk with him since it's your brilliant idea?" Damon returns sarcastically with a glare.
"I've been in a box for almost a hundred years, I don't desire a one way ticket back."
"Maybe you should talk with him then." Damon snips back, his gaze shifting over to the doppelganger as his expression turns more pained.
Kol glances over at the girl and Damon growls. "Pinning much?" he asks with a roll of his eyes, watching as the doppelganger leaves with the younger Salvatore, "Really mate, it's not that complicated. If you both fancy each other, why not go at it? Who care if she still pines for your brother, he clearly doesn't care for her anymore. So it's really only a matter of time before she gives up on him and then you're the only one left. Of course you two can just share, it's not for everybody but she seemed quite pleased, walking in with a boyfriend on each arm. What is it they say these days? Sharing is caring?"
"You're disgusting." Damon resorts
Kol grunts as if considering it and sees his sister make a face at him from the crowd before retreating, disappearing. "…Hm, and you're a remarkably good dancer Damien."
"I already told you my name isn't-"
"But it seems like my baby sister is pinning for my attention, I'll take a raincheck on our dance, darling."
Damon's face twists hilariously, "Like hell you will- where did Elena go?" he suddenly asks, serious.
"Left with your brother a little while ago, isn't it scandalous." Kol grins as Damon flee to find her
-If you are in the market for a gentleman, Mary-Alice Claire, I'm afraid you have the wrong Mikaelson brother-
"Kol," Bekah says as she walks up to him. "I am hoping you will help your baby sister out with something?" she asks without need.
"You know that depends on what it is dear sister," Kol comments absentmindedly as he watches his mother leave to have her secret meeting with the doppelganger. "So when are we doing this? I'm feeling spectacularly parched."
"Give me fifteen minutes, I'll lure Matt outside."
What had he said last time? Oh right-"Outside? Why not here on the stairs, make a bloody show of it."
"You sound like an idiot, Kol," Rebekah snaps. "Mother would kill you if you ruined her party."
"You think me afraid of Mother?" He kind of wants to ruin Esther's party now that Bekah mentioned it- he'd just have to find the right person.
Rebekah glares with distrain, "I'll see you outside."
Kol watches as Rebekah lures the human outside walking through the gathered cars. Matt is the only human of the little gang of Klaus' enemies that Kol finds he likes. The boy is very kind to Rebekah despite his fear, he treats her as a person- and while he hadn't cared in the past, just wanting to create some chaos and kill the boy to sedate his blood lust- now he sees Rebekah's expression as the boy pulls a jacket over her shoulders and decides that the human Matt Donavan is worth preserving.
If he doesn't stand against them in the future.
Kol watches them go, Rebekah hurrying as she leads Matt inside and away from Kol who blinks. Thinking about his previous desire to kill the boy has made him hungry.
Stalking back into the mansion he makes a b-line for the kitchen, dodging guests and flings open the door to the kitchen. He ignores the waiters and other humans his brother had hired as they go about their business, pouring champagne into giant bowls in preparation for Esther's spell. One human comments on the strangeness of it, but continues emptying bottles. Kol walks over to the private fridge and grabs of of the metallic looking plastic bottles filled with unseen blood. He puts it in the microwave for a brief moment before wandering over past the unopened bottles of champagne and snipping one as he goes. Unscrewing the cap on the flask of blood, he sips, feeling faintly hungry as he leaves with a champagne bottle badly hidden under his jacket. A few humans looks over and smiles secretly, indulging, looking at him like they would a young man snatching some more alcohol to get plastered at their own parents party.
Sometimes his young appearance is an advantage, especially in the new century where it seems the bar for being seen as a worthy adult keeps raising. It does cause some problems, Davina in particularly had a few comments thrown at her about him as she aged and he kept looking like someone in their mid twenties at the latest.
Grabbing a glass from one of the waiters he pours the wine into a plant and flees to a corner, replacing it with new unaltered champagne. He places the glass and bottle behind the plant and wanders around, sipping at his blood, making no dent in the flask's contents as he watches people until a familiar face comes up to him.
"Hello Kolby Claire, what a surprise, seeing you here at your family's creepy ball." Caroline says as she walks up to him, he spots Nik behind her, watching them suspiciously.
"Well I did say I'd see you didn't I darling?" Kol replies with a grin. "I see you're wearing the dress Nik bought, tell me, has he charmed you yet?"
"I'm spoken for already."
Kol hums, "The hybrid boy… the mayor's son if I remember correctly."
Caroline blinks, her lip twitching. "So does everyone in your family know about my personal issues? Do you talk about me during dinner?"
Kol huffs, amused. "All the time, Nik won't shut up about you," at her scandalized expression he quickly smiles. "He doesn't, but I like to know about anything that can lead to my being daggered. Seeing as Nik actually likes you, you're high on the list." Kol admits to liking her too. He'd met her in San Francisco before, a few months after he'd gotten a piece of the hollow. Why she and her little family was there, he can't quite remember, but her and Davina had gotten along like a house on fire. A few months later Davina had packed a bag and was driving to Mystic Falls to hold a lesson on magic in Caroline's School. Davina had been delighted to meet up with Hayley and see Hope again for the first time since she was a baby.
Kol had been home alone and binged six Netflix series in the two weeks Davina was gone, face chatting with her and Hope everyday.
"Well I don't like him." Caroline huffs temperamentally, her cheeks puffing.
"That's probably for the best darling, Nik isn't too kind to those he loves if they disappoint him."
"Like you, every time he's daggered you?" she asks immediately and rears back a small bit, like she'd gotten the attention of a poisonous snake.
He gives her a sardonic smile and swirls the bottle of blood in his hands. "Yes." he says honestly-that was always Nik's problem, feeling abandoned- and takes a sip of his blood. Caroline watches the bottle with wide eyes.
"Is that blood?" she asks quite astonished as she watches him screw the cap back on, he stops half way and unscrews it.
"Hungry?" He asks and holds it out to her. "It's AB positive, I've found I like that one the best since my undaggering. It's certainly neat not to have a taste lottery with every neck you bite. But I suppose blood-types aren't as neat for you? you've lived with the knowledge of them your whole life, they were still a new novel concept the last time I was awake."
She accepts the bottle. "Oh hey, it's warm- My favourite blood-type is B positive." she says and goes at it, downing half the bottle at once.
"I get it- Be positive!" Kol laughs and Caroline smiles as she finally returns the flask to him. It's almost empty. "Well you were hungry, sure you don't want to just devour the rest instead of leaving me with pitiful leftovers?"
"Ah," she says and pauses, not saying anything more for a while. "Sorry, I guess I was more hungry than I thought."
"I'll just get another," he says and finally sees his mother return to the party, slowly nearing the stairs with a glass in her hands. "Well then, thank you for the opportunity to escape this boring party for a while. But I'm afraid I should probably leave before Nik rips my head off and I have to spend the night regenerating."
He flees before she can reply and sees the waiters begin to mingle with the guests, handing out glasses of champagne. Picking up the glass he'd hidden he feins past a waiter like he'd picked up a glass and looks up, watching as mother ascends the stairs from the corner of his eye.
Finn walks up to him, standing besides him as mother stops and clicks her glass, gathering the attention of her guests. She gives the same boring and odd speech as last time, describing her joy at having her family reunited to guests who doesn't know them and doesn't care. Still, they do the polite thing and toasts with her. Kol doesn't, just to be defiant as he watches his mother frown at him, but Finn elbows him.
"Toast you fool," he says, glaring judgmentally. "Mother has done all this for us, stop being an ungrateful brat."
With a roll of his eyes he downs the whole glass and turns to stare at Finn, "Happy now?" he says and and thrusts his glass at Finn, leaving before his general hatred of Finn causes him to lose his temper.
He wanders the rooms and encounters a group of teenagers who all turn to him at once. They're all huddled together in one of the unused guestrooms, just besides the one Kol had claimed last time. He hasn't used any of the rooms yet, having instead slept one of Klaus' couches and in one of the doorways to the entryway. Despite having been given one.
"Hey dude-" one of them say, a boy with blonde hair who's clearly drunk. "You're Kol right? Know if your family got some alcohol stashed somewhere?"
If he had been Hope, Kol would've told him he was drunk enough, that it's all about attitude and not how dunk she is, but he isn't Hope. Kol smiles wide and closes in on their group, joining their whispering voices as he springs a plan with them for Nik's personal collection, how to get in without getting caught, with three exit plans that are sure to be tossed out immediately. Young drunk people have never been ones for following plans.
He sees them off by the intersection to Nik's room and they all wave and giggle with silly smiles and stumbles as they head to Klaus' room like a drunk pack of wolves.
He watches their backs with a wide smile, remembering them from the last time, they'd caused a lot of chaos in their endeavor to find alcohol, only to be caught by Klaus and causing a commotion as they'd tried to flee and one had fallen off the stairs. He hadn't witnessed it himself, having had a broken neck, but he wished he had. Apparently watching Klaus retrain himself as he chased them at human speed had been amusing.
"Kol," Rebekah says as she nears him. "About Matt, I changed my mind, I don't want you to kill him and ruin mother's night."
"But you seemed so excited about the prospect before!" he says, his face curling into a smirk. "Don't tell me you like the boy."
"Sod off jerk, just leave him be okay?" Rebekah snaps.
He noods and gives a salute- "Will do, Bekah."
"I mean it Kol," Rebekah echos. "Don't hurt him."
"Do you really think so lowly of me baby sister? That I would hurt your little crush?" he feins heartache and gives her a tight and vicious smile as he grinds his teeth together, almost grimacing at the expression she makes.
She does.
Before she can turn and leave, he grabs her shoulders and attempts to give her his most ernest face, "I will not hurt him Bekah, for you." he promises
-we're, uh... we're kindred souls-
He finds Matt Donovan at the front balcony and strides right up, thrusting his hand out, "Hello mate, Kol Mikaelson," he says and Matt takes his hand suspiciously, introducing himself, "what are your intentions with my sister?"
"I- Uh." Matt says, freezing in place.
"Don't worry mate, just don't break her heart and you'll be fine," Kol reassures and leans into Matt's personal space, "I've heard it's customary to give a "shovel talk" to your siblings potential partners, so if you break her heart, you won't just have Bekah to fear." A lie, Kol knows it will end in heartbreak, Rebekah is incapable of accepting love without running away when it gets too serious.
Matt opens his mouth to reply and startles when Damon comes out from behind, pushing him away from Kol and grabbing the original, slamming him back and pushing him towards the balcony. The image of falling off and getting his neck broken flashes in his mind.
Again? Kol thinks annoyed as he pushes Damon's hand off him and shoves the young vampire away- I didn't even try to kill the boy this time! Damon growls, his true face peeking beneath the surface of his eyes as he glares with misplaced hatred. He attacks, speeding up and ramming his shoulder into Kol's gut, it takes all he has not to fall as the guardrail creeks behind him.
"Calm the hell down mate." Kol says and pushes against damon, grabbing his wrists in tight holds and squeezes. Maybe a little pain will snap the younger vampire out of whatever funk he's in. There's a snap and Damon howls and his wrists are crushed under Kol's hand. Kol releases him as he stumbles back and pauses, his face twisting as he snarls and disappears.
Kol sighs and turns to Matt, who stare at him with wide eyes. "You don't reckon-" he grunts in pain when something is suddenly stabs into his left lung and a body slams into him. Matt shouts as Kol stumbles against the balcony railing and looks down as blood pools in his mouth, there's a bottle shoved into him, he can feel small prices disconnecting from the bottle as he attempts to rip it out. He'll rip off Damon's hands this time, clearly crushed wrists aren't enough to get the picture if he heals them that quickly. Damon slams into him again and grabs at his chest, putting pressure on the bottle and digging it deeper into his lung. Kol chokes, he might be a slight on nature, but he breathes air- not liquid- just as the humans do. Damon uses the distraction, and Kol is thrown off his feet through the railing which breaks and onto the ground below. He does not fall-he's thrown down with all the strength of a hundred or so old vampire behind it.
He hits the tiles with a wet and painful crunch, Kol hisses as he feels a few particularly sharp prices of metal embed themselves into his body, a small one will have to be removed manually by someone else later, having exactly dug in where he can't reach on his back. Another feels like it's pierced his other lung through his back. A few of his bones snap upon impact and twists around, snapping into place to heal as Damon drops onto him and grabs his head to break his neck.
Kol growls through the blood, coming out more like a gurgle, his vampyric face surging forth as he pulls his steadily healing leg up and slams it into Damon with enough force to snap his fractured bone and send Damon crashing into the car parked closest to them. Something snaps, bones, Kol thinks with satisfaction. The car tilts dangerously, almost falling over on its side before slamming down, back on its wheels. He hears Damon groan as he slides down on bent legs, straightening up to the best of his abilities with all the bones Kol broke in his body.
"Damon!" the younger Salvatore brother shouts as he comes rushing out the front doors, followed by guests and his siblings who must have heard the commotion, above he can see Matt and Rebekah peering down at him from over the ledge of Klaus' broken railing. Someone screams loudly in the gathered group but is quickly shushed, just a moment too late as more guests hear the scream above the music his mother is playing throughout the mansion.
Kol pushes himself to his feet, standing mostly on one leg as he watches Damon. With his other leg useless, the idiot will have to come to him. Or-
Kol chucks quarter of a cracked tile at the vampire with his good arm and flops down in a heap as the momentum carries his arm around. The tile slams into Damon and he hears him screech. He lands on his side and rolls over, smiling wide and vicious up at the stars as metal digs into his back.
There's another scream among the crowd, and it doesn't take long for more to join it.
"Damon!" Kol hears over the chaos as he lies, not bothering to rip the flask or metal out. "What the hell were you thinking? Are you crazy?" it's the brother.
"Maybe a little." Damon's voice groans bitterness tight, "far be it for me to cause a problem." Kol is fairly sure the steps he hears is the vampire staggering off pitifully, not all that victorious.
Then Elijah is bend over him, his eyes roaming Kol's body for injuries, only finding the bottle in his lung despite the amount of blood pooling around him. He'd tell him they're mostly on his back, but he's steadily being choked on blood seeping into his lungs. "Why are you smiling brother." Elijah asks and picks him up, he winces at the blood staining his suit but continues on- not letting Kol have any retribution for the treatment.
So he protests, flailing in his brother's arms as Nik shouts for the unaware guests to be compelled- well he doesn't word it like that, far too clever to accidentally cause more of a panic. "Be still Kol." Elijah commands.
"You really took a beating there brother." Niklaus comments, turning from the guest he's compelling to snark at him.
Kol points his middle finger at him, fuck off, and looks up at Elijah as he's carried into the dining room and carefully deposited onto the edge of the table with his back facing the empty space to the middle of it, "Mother will take care of you," His brother says with a hand on Kol's shoulder, withdrawing himself as their mother comes in, fake worry edged in her face. Elijah nods to Esther, "I'll go help with the guests" he leaves, completely missing the fuck you, Kol sends at him.
"Put that vulgar hand down," Mother says softly as she approaches him and almost hesitantly lays a hand over Kol's arm. "I'm going to pull the flask out okay?" she says and grips it's neck, pulling it out in a swift move that has blood splattering over her dress. Kol gasps, chokes on blood and coughs.
"It's okay," his mother soothes, soothes. If Kol could laugh he would have. "Come let's turn you around so I can get to your back."
Kol rolls his eyes and sits up, wincing when his back stretches painfully, and folds his legs under him, carefully moving his ruined leg into the right position as he turns his back on his mother. Letting her help.
"Oh," Mother says behind him and tugs at his clothes, "We need to get your suit off."
They get his top clothes off with some difficulty from the many places the pieces were nailed to his body by pieces of metal and rock. Mother thankfully rips out the piece stuck in his lung first, letting them heal up as she continues on smaller bits and pieces. She runs for a piece of cloth and cleans off the blood from his skin and he hacks up the remaining blood in his healed air system all over the table.
"There's some stuck here." he says wetly, bending his arm back to tab at where she'd ripped out a rod and left something inside. The skin and flesh has healed over, but he can feel its invasion, that among other smaller ones that's going to make their way into organs unless he gets them out. Sometimes he'd wish their bodies rejected objects.
He slips off the table, shirtless and stalks through the doors to the abandoned kitchen, grabbing a thin but sharp knife from one of the walls and holding it out to Esther, handle first.
"What?" she asks, paling as if the thought of cutting into him is worse than killing her own children.
"I can do it myself." He offered, he'd prefer that. But she'd said she wanted to help and he's curious by nature.
Mother thins her lips in determination, taking the knife from him and holding like it's a live snake, "No- I'll do it."
Kol juts an eyebrow up, and shrugs- he kinda wants to see her squirm through it if just the thought is making her uneasy- before opening a drawer, the fourth on the left, middle one, plucking out a marker. He carefully dots around his skin everywhere Esther left a piece inside him, as he goes to the already ruined dining table. Five in total. "Well then mother, better get to cutting me open." he grins wide pulling himself up onto the table.
Mother takes a breath, breathing out on his back and hovers the knife over his skin for a few hesitant seconds before pushing down. Kol screams, and mother jumps, screeching, the knife falling from her hands and Finn appears as the door smashes into the wall it hangs off.
"Mother!" Finn says worriedly, his eyes flashing around for danger and Kol doubles over, laughing loudly.
"Ohh!" he says between laughing, the pieces inside him jumbles, but he's quite used to pain, squeezing his reaction down into a small wince. A bit of blood pools on his tongue, vampire blood, tastes weird, "You should have- heard yourself mother! And you Finn! Coming in to- rescue her from your abhorrent brother! Really? Do you think so little of me?"
"Kol!" Mother scolds, "I really thought I'd hurt you! Was it all to scare me?"
"That is what Kol does, mother," Finn, the prick says. "You shouldn't trust him."
"Oh come off your high horse Finn!" Kol resorts, "You've only known me for one tenth of my entire life! And even before Mother and Father murdered us, you never knew me."
Finn twitches, "I've seen enough."
Kol rolls his eyes and slips down to pick the knife back up. What did he expect from the man who killed him? "Of course you have. Regardless, I was serious mother." he says, holding it out for Esther.
She picks it from him and Finn scoffs. "You truly believe him, mother?"
"This is the second time you've mentioned what your father and I did to you." Mother says to Kol instead of responding to Finn.
"Well," Kol says, "It's only the worst thing to happen since Silas." and finds its the truth, vampires have bred so many problems in the last thousand years. Really, the only saving grace is that because of it, he lived long enough to meet Davina, and even that will never be the the same as it once was.
Mother stares at him, silent.
"Well?" Kol says, and gestures to the two dots he'd drawn over his chest- and he really doesn't look forward to having his lung cut open for glass, but it must be done. "Are you going to take them out or not?"
"Mother you truly don't-" Finn protests.
Ester interrupts, "Finn, be quiet while I help your brother." she says and hesitates again, before stabbing Kol in the chest, he gags against the blood rushing to his mouth and sees Finn shift his frown to a satisfied smirk.
Sadistic bastard.
Esther's face is deadly pale as her fingers searches the incision, pushing horribly at his flesh and lung until they retract and his body closes up, this time without the uncomfortable and painful feeling of glass stuck inside him. She disgards the bloody piece of glass on a napkin.
"Looks like Kol was actually telling the truth." Finn snides off to the side where he watches them.
The next pieces comes out quicker than the first, mother less hesitant about stabbing him. One in his back takes her a few minutes of constant stabbing, his body healing around her fingers and locking her hand in place before she can find the shard.
"Well that was fun!" Kol cheers, jumping off the table as he grabs his ruined shirt, turning it in his hands a few times before shrugging it on. Better than flashing before Finn and his mother more than necessary. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a lot of blood to replace."
"Kol," Esther says, stopping him. "You promised to talk."
"After the party," Kol reminds her. "And I'd rather not be in the same room as Finn for more than a few seconds."
"The feeling is mutual brother." Finn says.
Mother injects, "I think my dance is quite ruined as it is, what even happened with that young vampire?"
"He attacked me."
Fin snorts, "What mother means is, what did you do to make him attack you."
"No," Mother denies gently. "I mean why would he attack you?"
"I... Have no bloody idea," Kol admits, "heartache? The doppelganger did go meet with you against his wishes."
"About that-" Mother starts and Finn cuts in-
"Mother!"
"I'd like to speak with you about her Kol, please come with me so we can talk somewhere more private." Mother steps to the side, her arm out to guide him- and is she?
Is she trusting him? Has his emotional (ugh) outbursts really been enough for her to trust him this time around? But why would that change how she saw him? He knows she's seen and felt it every time he killed some random sod, that she respects him the least of her children.
Curious about what she's planning, he follows her up the stairs, Finn protests along the way but is unable to change his mother's decision. Not that it's a surprise. He walks over, peering down at some burning sage laying abandoned on the table as Finn close the door behind them, standing silent for a beat, measuring.
And then she tells him. Tells him of her plan to kill her children, the linking spell, skirting past the sire bond Finn knows nothing off and the effects it'll have. She finishes, kind and empathic, using every bit of piece of information about his dislike for his own vampirism he'd accidentally revealed to her.
"Do you think I want to die?" Kol asks, not directly opposing her, "Do you think any of my siblings will just let you kill them? Why not just leave us be once we're human? I know I'd prefer that." he would, if that was her plan. He doesn't know if he'd have it in him to stop her. He'd probably hold his brothers down while she did the spell. Rebekah would too.
"It doesn't work like that, you've all lived long enough lives already, longer than any of us were supposed to. Nature wants this Kol."
"Nature?" He says dubiously. It is because mother doesn't want to feel their victims torment anymore, and has nothing to do with nature. Sure nature wants them dead, he can still feel the part of him that was a witch scream at what he's become- but that's not why mother wants them dead. Esther always was selfish, she'd been warned that nature would push back but hadn't listened, now she thinks nature will forgive her if she kills them. He could laugh.
"You were a witch once Kol," Esther says and takes his hands. "I remember when you first turned, you told me you felt wrong, you begged me to kill you. That should have been my only warning about what I'd created, but I didn't listen then. I have now."
Kol… doesn't remember that, then again, she might not be lying as the only thing he remembers from those first few weeks is the whiplash of going from uncontrollable anger and rage, to uncontrollable despair, and then back again on a repeat of newly enhanced emotions. Eventually he'd settled on anger and blood.
"Kol wanting to die? Now I've heard it all." Finn scoffs.
Kol returns his expression, exaggerating it to mock him. "Well, you never used your magic either, you big loaf of moldy bread," not the best comeback judging on the confusion flashing on Finn's face. "And what about you mother? Will you kill yourself once we're dead?"
"I will kill myself, all of us were not supposed to exist in this century."
"Really? I can go get the knife right now, would only take one poke, you did seem remarkably into stabbing after a while. Poke then rummage around in my insides, did you miss the shard on purpose mother? All to stab me more?"
"Of course not, Kol," Mother scolds. "I never enjoy hurting my children."
Kol grins, "Didn't feel like that to me. You were quite vicious, made it hurt a lot more than it usually would have."
Esther goes green around the edges.
"Well if that's your reaction to just thinking about stabbing me, do you really think you can finish this?"
Esther's mouth flattens out with determination, "When the time comes I won't hesitate."
Kol laughs at Esther, he fathom how her mind works her. "Really mother? You hesitate- you pale at the thought of stabbing me- but killing us all is just fine!?" his voice accidentally goes high at the end, squeaky with disbelief. "And you!" he whirls on Finn, "You're just going to kill Sage who's spend nine hundred bloody years waiting on you! Just like that!"
"What!?" Finn says.
"Mother, you've been naughty," Kol smiles, vicious with gleaming teeth. "You haven't told him about the sirelines, really, using your own son's suicidal nature against him and those he loves. Such a kind mother-" his head whips to the side, breaking with a loud snap.
-You don't deserve another chance, Kol-
He wakes on the table in the dining room, shirtless, Mother and Finn stands over him, watching him. He blinks dowsily. "What the hell happened?" Mother had been having problems with a shard-
"You passed out brother," Finn says, helping him sit up. He thrusts an open blood bag under his nose. "Here you must be hungry."
Kol takes it and sucks, the blood is cold but he almost doesn't notice as the hunger coursing through his body eases up. He's so hungry. Finn hands him another that he almost takes but rejects with a small wave in the end.
Kol slips off the table and staggers on his feet, feeling weak and tired. He should go sleep. He wants to go sleep.
Mother squeezes his shoulder and rubs a pattern into his skin, "Why don't we get you to bed?" she says and drapes his shirt over his shoulders, and lightly pushes him through the mansion and into a room on the far end. Nudging him at the bed sitting in the middle of the far off wall, he lies over the bed, feeling groggy. "Sleep son."
Her hands disappear, as he blinks against the dark. Before he falls out of consciousness, he hears her and Finn's voices from behind the door.
"Are you sure this is safe mother?"
"Don't worry, he won't remember anything, I've made sure of it. Though I'll admit I'm baffled Finn, has Kol ever mentioned these sirelines before?"
A scoff. "I told you that he and his lies couldn't be trusted."