HAHAHAHAH For the past two months I was working 6 days a week so I really didn't have time and I'm sorry. Not to mention how devastated I was when I found out Kol died, again. Seriously? How dare they made us sit through Kol's death for the second time? If they didn't bring him back I don't know what to say. Enjoy the chapter, my darlings! xx

A/N: I don't own TVD and the characters, I only own my OCs.

Chapter 30: Black Swan

"Vanessa! Nessie, wake up!"

My eyes flew opened at the sound of Jeremy's panic voice and the banging on the door. I flashed to the door and opened it in a second, expecting Jeremy bleeding and losing a limb but instead he looked fine, no he was actually perfectly fine.

"You're okay," I said in huge relief and Jeremy gave me a weird look.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He questioned and I just shook my head. I know Kol and his impulsive action and the fact that he didn't go after us after what our sister did to his brother, it made me more worried. "Do you know where they keep the car keys? I need to go to school," Jeremy asked me.

"How did you get to school before?" I asked as I led him to the drawers.

"Kol picked me up. But today he said he had a family emergency. Something happened to one of his brothers," Jeremy said and I bit my lower lip, feeling guilty all over again.

"Oh," was all that I managed to say. "I think I should drive you," I said, slightly worried. Kol or Klaus could've compelled another hybrid to ram Jeremy with a truck again.

"Wait, what?" he asked and I raised an eyebrow. "You don't know how to drive," he stated bluntly and I glared at him. Jeremy opened his mouth to say something but when I was giving him that look, he could never speak. So he just grinned sheepishly. "Who said I don't know how to drive?" I asked my brother challengingly.

"You never drive a car back home and you died before you get your license," Jeremy said smartly and I made a face.

"Well, I learnt how to drive recently," I said, flashing to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face.

"Kol taught you?" Jeremy asked when I walked out of the bathroom and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"How did you know?" I wondered. Jeremy gave me a smirk.

"I'm not blind," he said with a smile. "You two spent a lot of time together," he said and I ignored the look he gave me.

"Don't give me that look," I said, growing annoyed.

"You like him? Like in love?" he asked excitedly and teasingly. "It's written all over your face when you're with him," Jeremy said and I hit the back of his head, not too powerfully to damage his brain though.

"Shut up," I said, getting into the car and sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway. Not anymore."

"So the right pedal is the gas-"

"I know which pedal is which!" I snapped and Kol refrained himself from laughing. "Does anyone ever tell you that you're cute when you're angry?" he asked as I stepped on the gas pedal slowly, my hands gripping the wheel tightly.

"Nah, they'll be too dead to talk," I remarked and he laughed. I had decided that I really like the sound of his laughter. When he laughed at something I said or did, not in a mocking way but in a I'm-enjoying-my-time-with-you way. It kind of warmed my heart.

"Does it scare you?" he asked suddenly.

"What?" I asked after a while, a little bit distracted to reply immediately. I started getting the hang of it and drove faster now. It wasn't that hard, especially with the help of my vampire reflex.

"How similar we are?" he asked and I glanced at him. My heart skipped a beat as I stared into his brown eyes. I quickly looked away, afraid that he would hear my heartbeat, how my heart skipped a beat whenever our eyes met, whenever I got lost into those brown eyes.

"Why should I?" I asked him, confused.

"Because darling, you might turn out just like me," he said.

"You're not that bad." I shrugged and glanced at him with a smile. Upon seeing the serious look on his face, I sighed. "Last night you wanted to see my darkest side. Today you wanted me to be an angel?" I asked. "There's nothing wrong with you, Kol. Sure, you're a psycopath but so am I. We're killers, predators, monsters. But that doesn't mean we are truly evil and rotten to the core. Just because we do bad things it doesn't mean we aren't capable of kindness."

"Just because we do good deeds doesn't mean we are saints," Kol countered.

"I never said that. But just to be clear, I know what you think of humanity. You think having humanity is weak, it's a proof that you are just the same as humans," I stepped on the brake as the light turned red. "I think, having humanity after all those monstrous things we had done, coming back to who we are at the end of the night, haunted by nightmares and those we had killed, plagued by our past lives and demons...I think it shows how strong we are," I told him softly.

Our eyes met and for a while, we just stared into each other's eyes. There was something serene inside me whenever I got lost into his eyes. I couldn't remember how it felt like with Elijah before, but with Kol it was different. It's ironic to say I felt serene when I was with him because Kol was the God of chaos. Being by his side however, I felt at peace.

The car behind us honked, startling us and breaking our eye contact. I glanced at the rear mirror, seeing a man who was furiously honking and giving me the finger and I glanced at Kol. Just one glance and we smirked, as if we read each other's mind. I stepped on the pedal before changing the gear into reverse and slammed the car as hard as I could. Laughing out loud, I started to drive away with Kol laughing next to me. Glancing at the vampire next to me, I couldn't help but smiled to myself.

After I sent Jeremy to school, I drove home as fast as I could. I rang my neighbour's bell; Kol's fake house and nobody answered. I leaned my ear against the door, trying to pick up a sound. Then I broke the lock and entered the house uninvited.

The humans were dead.

The thought crossed my mind before I smelled the dried blood and bodies decomposing. I suppressed a groan and headed to the smell. I found the couple's bodies, the wife was lying on the kitchen's floor, blood was all over her body and the oven. There was also the smell of something burnt coming from the oven. The wife was making something for her family before she was brutally murdered by her 'son'. The husband's face was unrecognizable not with the way half of his face was smashed against the counter. His limbs were bent and broken and I saw the aluminium baseball bat next to him.

Then I heard someone lunging at me in a vampire speed and I managed to dogde just in time and pinned him who turned out to be a woman against the wall. Her vampire face showed and I blinked.

"Who the hell are you?" I hissed, the black veins underneath my eyes appeared, showing my predatory face.

"Lissa! I-I lived here. I-I-please help me. You-you're like him. Like me," she stuttered before starting to sob uncontrollably. I removed my hand from her and stepped back, giving her some space.

"Kol? He turned you?" I asked her.

"I don't know! He-he was so angry. He-he killed them. My dad and my mum! And-and he broke my neck. I woke up feeling so thirsty and-"

"Who did you kill?" I asked her. She started bawling her eyes out at my question.

"Diana...she came by and I...I was so hungry. I don't know what happened," she said.

"Do you know where Kol is?" I asked her patiently.

"No. I don't know. You have to help me," she begged and I nodded.

"I will. There's no need to worry," I told her and she nodded, calming down. I glanced at the brunette, somehow reminded of myself back when I was still a human. So naive. Without a second thought, I plunged my hand into her chest and watched as her green eyes widened as they stared at me, filled with betrayal. I remembered Kol who looked at me just like that, and I shut my eyes, pulling her heart out.

"That was unnecessary," drawled a British accented voice from behind me, as the young vampire dropped to the floor with a thud.

"Really?" I turned around, facing Kol. His brown hair that was usually tousled stylishly was disheveled, his shirt got blood all over them and he seemed drunk. There was this crazy yet hollow look in his eyes. "This," I held out my hand at the couple's bodies, the couple that had been his hosts, "was unnecessary."

"Would you rather I kill Jeremy instead? Or that lovely Anderson couple?" he growled, his eyes searched for mine and I shut them closed.

"Kol, I had nothing to do with Finn's death!" I yelled at him desperately. He let out a roar and trashed the place, kicking the cabinets and throwing plates, shaterring them into pieces as they hit the floor but I remained rooted to where I was standing. My blood drained from my face when he grabbed a cleaver and marched towards me. I'd be lying if I wasn't scared, even Klaus had never lost his temper with me. But this dark side that Kol was showing me was raw. It would be a miracle if he let me live after I witness his breakdown.

"Kol," I pleaded before gasping as he pinned me against the fridge, the mad look in his eyes only worsened. The cleaver was sharp and I had watched Jeremy chopped off a hybrid's head with it just a couple of weeks ago.

"Yes, but your sister does," he countered, running the edge of the blade down my face. "And she will know what it feels like to lose a brother," he said so casually as if we were talking about the weather. "Or a sister," Kol added with a malicious glint in his eyes.

"Please, Kol!" I begged, looking at him pleadingly. "Kol," I said softly, taking a hold of his wrist that was holding the cleaver. "This isn't about your brother."

Then there was a long silence.

"Then what is this about then?" He asked me, as he loosened his grip on my neck and dropped the cleaver. Deep down, he knew it wasn't about Finn. A part of it, yes, but not all of it.

"This is about you thinking that I betrayed you. That I, like your siblings, had betrayed you and your trust, something that you just don't simply give to others. Look, I'm sorry. But even if I apologize a thousand times to you, it wouldn't change a thing. And to be honest, Kol, you can't make me pay for something that my sister did," I said pleadingly. He just stared at me and I bit my lower lip. "I never associate you with the things your brothers did to me and to my family. I'm asking you for the same thing here," I said softly. Kol let out a sigh and turned around, walking to the dining table and sat down.

"I truly am sorry," I told him sincerely, sitting down and taking his hand in mine. "Believe it or not, I consider you as a friend." Kol let out what seemed like a scoff and laughter mixed together before he lifted his dark brown eyes to meet my blue ones. Seeing that he was about to mock me, I quickly opened my mouth. "Frankly darling, you can't feel betrayed by someone you don't consider a friend."

Kol Mikaelson just stared at me, into my eyes and there were thousand of words running in our mind. Words that will never be spoken, words that we were too afraid to say out loud. Then he gave me his infamous smirk and said, "I'm going to need a hand with these bodies."

I laughed, which was inappropriate considering the bodies were my neighbours. But I rose to my feet, pulling Kol up too. My lips curved into a smile when our eyes met. "Well, what are friends for?"

"I need a shower," I muttered grudgingly at Kol who just walked in. Vampire or not, cleaning house was not my favourite past time. Not to mention the blood stain was so hard to come off because it had long dried and the mess that Kol did when he was throwing a tantrum was harder to clean up. Kol had been digging the graves while I had been cleaning up inside the house and we had decided to cover them with flowers to not raise any suspicion. I looked him up and down, wondering how he can still look amazing even when he was covered in dirt unlike me who was covered in sweat. Not the way I wanted to look in front of him ever.

"You can join me if you like," he said with a wink and I looked away, to hide the fact that I was blushing.

"Do you realize your mood swing is more awful than women's?" I asked him.

"I've been told that," he said with a shrug and I grinned.

"By Rebekah?" I guessed cheekily and he laughed. Then he went quiet which made me turned around to look at him. Kol was staring at me with a serious, emotionless, blank look on his face, which made me worried and scared for a second. "What is it?" I asked him softly, sounding way too concerned.

"I'll go take a shower first," he said and headed upstairs silently. Frowning, I flashed in front of him, taking him by surprise.

"What is it?" I asked. We looked into each other's eyes for a moment before he pushed me slightly to the side, to make way. "Hey!" I grabbed his arm, turning him around. "You can't push me away. Not after I spent three hours washing off the bloodstains!"

"No, you don't understand, love. I don't just hand over my trust on a silver platter to anyone. The fact that you managed to manipulate me into letting you in, it showed you're something else," he said darkly and I just stared at him. There were a compliment and an insult in his words.

"What? When the hell did I ever manipulate you?" I protested, fuming.

"In this world I've learnt not to trust anyone, not even my family," Kol said, his dark eyes seemed darker and I gulped. He was standing on a step above me which made him a whole lot taller and intimidating. "But you, darling, you're good. A stranger that I just met who managed to make me talk about my feelings and somehow, you managed to earn my trust. You could have betrayed me, right here and now. You could have had a white oak stake behind you, ready to stake me and I will cease to exist. You and your family-"

"I thought we're over this," I told him, frustrated more than ever. "You know what? You're just scared," I said with a laugh and Kol took a deep breath, his nose flaring and his glare burned me.

"I beg your pardon, love," he said darkly and I met his glare, refused to back down.

"You're just scared and you don't need to. The idea of having someone to trust; a friend, may be foreign to you but believe me when I say it's better than being alone. You've spent a thousand years by yourself and I think it's time for you to have a little change in your life," I said more softly this time, reasoning with him. When he didn't reply I just nodded and stepped back. "You have an eternity, Kol, and you've already wasted a thousand years. As a friend, I'm telling you to stop wasting another minute of your immortal life," I told him and gave him a weak but sincere smile. "If you need anything, I'll be here."

The next day was Saturday and I was about to make some pancakes when I noticed the black box with red ribbon on the table. The card was addressed to me and I felt more suspicious. It couldn't be from Kol, could it? And if it was from him, I didn't smell blood which I take as a good sign. Opening the card, it said; See you tonight, Black Swan. I raised my eyebrow at the card, and opened the box, revealing a black corset-like dress with feathers and beads, a pair of fishnet socks and black flats. And saving the best for the last was a black tiara. I couldn't help but grinned as I read the card again before I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Morning," Jeremy murmured groggily, heading straight to the coffee pot.

"Hey, is there any party tonight?" I asked.

"Duh, you told me you got invited yesterday," Jeremy said.

"No I didn't."

"Whatever. I'm not going," Jeremy said.

"Why not?" I whined.

"That girl the other day tried to kiss me and I rejected her," Jeremy said and I laughed.

"And?"

"It's weird. Anyway you're gonna hang out with Kol either way so I'll let you have your freedom without your little brother getting in the way," he said and I grabbed a box of Kleenex next to me and threw it at him. "It doesn't take a blind person to see how chummy you two are," he said, wiggling his eyebrows, and snickered as my face reddened.

"Oh shut up," I snapped and Jeremy gave me a long, calculating stare.

"You actually like him," he stated seriously.

"No, I don't. And even if I do, I'm not gonna talk about this with you," I said, prompting him to laugh.

"I'd say go for it but it's not like you two are gonna last," Jeremy said, and I blinked my eyes, surprised at his words. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that. But you're not staying here forever and you're a vampire. It's...you know, unless you're serious about him," Jeremy mumbled and shrugged.

"Right," I said, completely forgot that Jeremy had no idea who Kol really was. "But it's nice for a change. Away from all the dramas, not having to stick my neck out for my brat sister-" I stopped when I saw Jeremy was gaping at me. "I said it out loud, oops," I said with a wink and he just shook his head.

"Well, enjoy this normal life as you can. It's not going to last forever," Jeremy reminded and I sighed, staring at the Halloween costume.

Last year, I had spent the Halloween with Katherine, she was Poison Ivy and I was Harley Quinn. I kinda missed her. Where is she though? The last time we saw each other was at Homecoming but we didn't really talk. I was too distracted with Mikael's hand gripping my heart, spouting threats to kill me. Tic Toc by Kesha was blaring through the stereo as I arrived when the invisible barrier stopped me from entering. I groaned and leaned against the wall, pretending not to look like an idiot.

"What's the matter, darling? Can't get inside?" Kol asked from behind me, giving me a heart attack and making me yelped. I hit his arm and he laughed, making me smiled. Seemed like someone was in a good mood. I gave him a once-over and raised an eyebrow, appreciating what I was seeing. Kol was wearing something from the 19th century, a high collared white shirt underneath a dark grey vest and black coat and a dark red cravat around his neck. He looked dashing, I had to say and it was a different feeling to see him in clothes from a different era.

"Did you find those from your old closet?" I asked cheekily and he rolled his eyes, before his lips formed a smirk when his eyes met mine.

"But you have to admit darling, I look handsome," he said, making me laughed.

"You narcissistic bastard," I said while laughing and Kol pretended to be hurt.

"Come on darling, admit it," he said and I laughed, blushing furiously and refused to meet his eyes. Perhaps it was true that I like him. Kol made me feel many things and bring out sides of me that I'd forgotten.

"You look good," I told him and he blinked his eyes at me, speechless. I laughed at his face reaction. "Can you be a sweetheart and fetch the host of this party?" I asked him and he narrowed his eyes at me, displeased.

"And why would I do that for you?" he asked.

"The party would be boring without me," I answered and he rolled his eyes.

"Hmm, let me decide for a moment," he said, tapping his chin pretending to think and I held myself back from rolling my eyes.

"Come on, Kol. Don't be an ass," I complained and he gave me an amused smirk.

"As my lady wishes," he said politely and charmingly which made me rolled my eyes although I was actually blushing. There was just something when he acted like that that made my heart fluttered and Kol knew this. He took my hand and I watched him brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. "I'll be back," he said and winked and I stifled a laugh.

"Why are you acting like this?" I asked, flustered and laughing but Kol just grinned before he disappeared. I waited for a moment before Kol appeared again, a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

"Would you like to come in?" he asked and I looked at him, seeing if he was actually being serious. I stepped inside the treshold without needing an invitation and turned to look at Kol sharply.

"You killed him?" I asked and he looked at me innocently, the exact look I always gave my father when I was a child and did something naughty.

"Why would I kill that poor kid?" he asked me and I rolled my eyes, making my way to the food.

"Aww, don't be a buzzkill, darling." He leaned down to my ear, his hand slipping to my waist. "Do you know that tonight the veil between our world and the underworld is so thin?" he whispered to me and I pushed his chest away, putting some distance between us.

"And?"

"Well, it's a common thing for humans to cross over the thin line easily on this night," he said shrugging and I stared at him.

"Really?" I asked.

"Oh come on!" he groaned. "Don't even attempt to lie to me, Vanessa. You come to this party not to dress up as...whatever you're supposed to be. You're here to play, to become the monsters children are afraid of," he said and I just hummed. Well, that was kind of my intention tonight. Teenagers drinking to the point where we need no compulsion to make them forget, loud music concealing their screams and a buffet laid out in front of us. How could we resist?

"It's a Black Swan by the way," I told him, gesturing to my dress.

"Who?" he asked, confused.

"From the Swan Lake? It's a ballet and there's a movie coming out about them this November," I told him.

"What is it about?" he asked.

"There was this girl who got turned into a swan, fell in love with a prince and her evil twin; the Black Swan stole him or something like that. And then the White Swan killed herself," I shrugged and Kol's lips twitched.

"Is the White Swan supposed to be your sister?" Kol asked. I hesitated to reply but it was him who had brought Elena up first.

"Well, in their eyes I will always be the evil twin," I said and Kol grinnned.

"So why don't you join me tonight? Embrace your darkness," he said, tracing my neck and collarbone with the back of his hand. I grabbed his hand before it went lower and gave him a smirk, looking at Kol square in the eye.

"I've embraced it ever since I was a child," I told him, head held high and his eyes darkened. He seemed to know what it felt like and perhaps that was why it was so easy for us to become close and understand each other.

"Then will you keep me company for tonight?" he asked charmingly and I let out a playful smirk, fixing his cravat.

"If you let me choose the dinner?" I asked and he grinned.

"And I'll find us a quiet place," he said with a wink and disappeared. I watched Kol sauntered off and headed upstairs and shook my head. He wasn't a bad influence to me, really. I was already bad to begin with. When I was with Kol, there was no need to hide my nature. Then I remembered his confusion over my costume and I frowned. So it wasn't Kol who sent the costume? It couldn't be Jeremy. Who else knew I was here? Or perhaps Kol did send it but he just thought the costume looked nice. But then there was the card...

My thoughts were interrupted by a giggle from a redhead, who was donning the infamous red glitter dress with a high slit on her thigh. Jessica Rabbit; a perfect choice for tonight's dinner, I thought with a smirk as I walked towards her. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my neck and my eyelids felt heavy like I was going to fall asleep any moment. My knees buckled under my weight and a single word crossed my mind before my vision went black.

Vervain.

So has anyone ever received a serious, expressionless, blank look from a guy or a crush or a boyfriend? I googled it, LOL, but there were so many answers. If you have, do you know what it means?

And btw, who do you think attack(?) Vanessa?