Caroline tried to stay calm. This had all developed into a full-on nightmare!
She was at her wits end and had never felt so exhausted. Every time they thought they were safe someone found them and pulled them apart again.
It had been three times now! Three times that she had watched Klaus die and it was not getting any easier. Each time she feared that he wouldn't return. And she knew that Klaus felt the same way, for he had seen her die just as many times.
Her body was shaking and there was nothing she could do about it. She knew he would reappear, but she couldn't watch him die one more time! However, this seemed to be the curse they had been thrown into. To watch each other die time again and again.
They needed to find a way out of here quickly!
A small hut appeared not far in front of them and Davina stopped as she felt the power radiating from that small place.
"There. That is the power source I have been looking for." She threw a serious glance at Kol who nodded.
He looked around, but it looked like a normal hut and there was no presence around that he could sense. "All right. Let's get out of here."
"Out of here? I thought we wanted to investigate! Let's have a look."
Kol grabbed her arm. "No!" As she looked at his hand, he quickly let go of her. "Davina, I don't want you to get involved in this! We were to take a look and we did! We are not going in there!" He demanded, but Davina had this stubborn look on her face and he knew she wouldn't budge. He would have to carry her out of here if he wanted her to leave. And he considered it for a second, but he was sure that it wouldn't benefit his already strained relationship with her. He sighed.
"Come on! We'll be careful!" She said and there was a little bit of excitement in her voice.
Kol chewed on this inside of his cheek to restrain himself. "Stay close!" He whispered harshly as he stepped forward. He did not like this at all!
The closer they came to the hut the more Davina felt the energy radiating from this place
As they opened the door they stopped.
The inside was no interior of a hut, but of a cave. The door must function as kind of a portal.
In the middle of the place were runes and markings along with a glowing object.
Suddenly a dark shadow moved towards them.
"Davina, watch out!"
"Ghost boy…" A voice snarled. And then there were two Kol's standing in front of Davina. She gasped at how quickly Silas had been able to imitate Kol. The real Kol snarled and a fight broke out as one pushed the other away. They were at each other's throats and threw one another from one corner to the other. Davina watched helplessly not knowing what to do.
"Darling, take us both down, if you have to!" One of them said.
"Davina, don't listen to him!"
"Save yourself, darling!"
She was frozen for a moment as she tried to spot a difference. But couldn't find any. It was impossible anyway, since they wouldn't stop moving.
However, she had to do something and then Davina had an idea. She put as much magic in her hand as she could muster and made it look as if she was about to attack to take them both down. She raised her hand and in the last second pulled the clef from her hair and threw it with her magic behind her so the real Kol would be tugged along.
It worked and her Kol hurtled past her leaving only Silas in the cave. He stopped and frowned not having seen that coming, but he caught on quickly.
"Clever, witch!" He squinted and assessed her, giving her the creeps. The hairs on her neck raised. "I could need someone with your powers."
"The answer is no! Where is Klaus Mikaelson and his friend?"
Silas laughed. "Don't worry about them. They are safe…for now. Not comfortable, but safe enough."
"What do you want with them?" Davina had a defensive stance and was ready to throw any magic at him that she could gather, should he decide to attack.
Silas laughed. "They're mere ends of a bargain I struck, however, I might not need them anymore, now that I found you." He said and leered at her. Davina tried to keep a poker face, but the way he looked at her as if she was a snack rattled her insides.
"Davina!" Kol yelled from far away. "Davina, don't be stupid and do anything reckless!"
"Your boyfriend is quite the worrisome fellow, isn't he?"
Davina tried to throw him to the ground with her magic then and Silas momentarily lost his balance. "Do not anger me, little witch! You may be stronger for the moment, but I will soon be back for good."
Davina thought quickly and muttered a spell that would keep Silas here for the time being. He tried to approach her, but walked right into a barrier.
"What have you done?" He looked up at the barrier and angrily at Davina.
"Bye!" And she sprinted away as fast as she could.
Kol saw her jogging towards him. "Where's the clef, we need to get out of here. I could trap him in there, but the spell won't hold him for long. It will give us time to go back to the compound and regroup though."
Kol pointed at a spot on the ground and Davina barely stopped to pick it up, before she kept on running to the car. Kol was at her heels and suddenly scooped her up into his arms. Davina yelped startled, but Kol just kept going at vamp speed. He opened the passenger door and pushed her inside. He took the driver's seat and halted for a minute to look her over. "Are you all right?"
She looked shaken, but other than that fine. "Let's get out of here!"
"Nice thinking with the jewellery."
"It was a long shot, I hoped Silas hadn't figured out you are bound to it."
The drive home didn't take them long as Kol pushed the car as fast as it would go.
"We need to spell the compound so Silas won't be able to get in if he decided to follow us." Kol said. "Could you do that while I speak to Elijah?" Davina nodded and handed the treble clef to Elijah who came towards them as they arrived.
"What have you discovered?" He sounded alarmed and knew at once that something had happened as he saw the looks on their faces. Kol ignored him for a moment and told Davina to get going.
"Use all the outer walls as boundaries, maybe put a spelled crystal in every corner. They are in my wardrobe and there is also a spell in there. Call me if you need help." Kol added before she was out of hearing range.
"I got it." Davina called and quickly made her way to Kol's room.
"Kol…" Elijah demanded and Kol filled his brother in on what had happened in the swamps and Elijah listened with a serious face.
"I am not sure yet, but I am afraid that Silas' plan just changed." Kol mused.
"How so?"
"It sounded as if he needed Nik and Carolines' bodies for some bargain that he struck, but he got a good whiff of Davina's powers."
"Do you think he is after her now?" Elijah asked and dread seeped into Kol's bones. His face became ever so serious and he tried to stay calm.
"I seriously hope not, but it seems he needs lots of power to get what he wants. I don't know, Elijah." He mussed through his hair.
"So, since he is a traveller witch, he probably wanted the bodies for someone else? Someone with power?" Elijah asked.
"Power or maybe knowledge. I am not sure, but it is likely." Kol looked glum and was silent for a moment. Elijah watched his brother and tried an educated guess. "You have come to care a great deal for Davina Claire, haven't you? And now, you are afraid that Silas latched himself to her trail?"
Instead of answering the question Kol said: "Davina should be finished by now. Do you mind walking me over? God, that sounds so stupid!"
Elijah nodded and accompanied Kol to the courtyard, where Davina was relaxing in the sun. She had quickly hidden a protection crystal in every corner or the outside walls with the help of Rebekah who had run into her. Then she had placed herself in the middle of the courtyard to utter different spells that would protect them from any intruder.
The sun had shone into her face so she had simply sat down where she was and closed her eyes for only a moment to relax. She felt tired.
Kol grinned as he saw Davina holding her face into the sun with closed eyes and winked at his brother, before he flashed towards Davina.
Davina shrieked as Kol grabbed her shoulder. "You are too easy to sneak up on." He noticed and laughed, but merely a moment later he became serious. "Now, we need to do something about that. I mean, can't be free if you can get kidnapped any time in a matter of seconds, can you?"
Davina frowned. "I guess not."
Elijah handed her the treble clef which she put into her hair. Kol smiled at the warm feeling that filled him. He loved that she was always wearing it in her hair now. He didn't mind at all that it meant he couldn't stray far away from her.
"Darling, we need to train you to defend yourself better." He pulled her up from the chair and placed her in the middle of the courtyard. "And we are starting now."
"Do we have to?" Davina complained a bit, but Kol was relentless.
"Yes, this is not open for discussion. Close your eyes. Come on. Good. Now you will give me a migraine."
Kol flashed in vamp speed from side to side, but before Davina could feel where he was and throw a migraine at the spot, he was already gone again.
He grabbed her by the neck teeth poised at her throat. "Chr."
Davina yelped.
"You're dead!" He let go of her. "Again. Darling concentrate. We will go slow for now." He reduced his tempo and though Davina was still too slow, she always turned into the correct direction.
"Concentrate, darling. Imagine, there is a net around you. A very fine spidery web of magic. Can you feel the web? Feel each string of it. Very good." He moved again and Davina's target got better. "Feel the disruption."
After some time, Davina got a few shots and Kol crumbled to the ground. "You're getting the hang of this." He said rubbing his temples.
Elijah smiled, secretly watching the training session from a balcony above. He was shaking his head. Kol trusted that girl and went through pain for her, he had never seen him do anything this selfless. Rebekah came to stand next to him. "What is he doing there?" She whispered.
"He is training Miss Claire in self-defence against vampires."
Rebekah widened her eyes. "He is what?" She watched Kol crumble to the ground under a migraine.
"He really likes that girl, doesn't he?"
"I believe so. And I pray to you Rebekah, leave them be for now. I haven't seen Kol like this since…"
"Since we were human." Rebekah finished. "He was always this selfless funny guy whom everybody loved." She smiled. "Broke my heart when he changed to the opposite."
"Mine too. He asked me to protect the girl."
Rebekah smiled. "Elijah…do you think…do you think she could bring him back and that we could be a family again?"
"Don't keep your hopes up, Rebekah. We are at war and it is not over yet." She knew Elijah was right, but as she watched Kol giving Davina more advice on "how to train your vampire slayer" she hoped none the less. She didn't want to lose her brother again.
"Let's go to the library and figure out a way to find Niklaus and Caroline, shall we? Maybe call Sophie Deveraux." Elijah suggested and Rebekah followed him.
"I am tired, Kol." Davina admitted after a while.
"Okay, let's call it a day." A second later he had his teeth at her throat once more. "Dead again, darling. We definitely need to resume this." Davina shoved him away. "You're a scoundrel!" And Kol laughed.
"And you have a lecherous heart, Davina Claire!"
They made their way towards the building as a voice suddenly called loud and clear.
"Davina!" They turned around and saw Marcel walking right into the compound.
Kol stepped protectively in front of Davina and Marcel scowled.
"It really is you! I heard you died."
"Funny, I thought the same about you!" Kol said with a menacing smile.
"Step away from Davina!"
"Or what?" Kol yelled.
"Kol." Elijah tried to intervene, but they ignored him.
"I will not let you use her again!" Kol told Marcel.
"You tell me that you are not using her?"
"She is here because she wants to be! You kept her hidden in a church doing your bidding for over a year!"
"The witches will kill her if they find her! I am protecting her!" Marcel argues.
"They will kill her, because you told her to rat them out!"
"Oh, stop yelling, would you!" Rebekah said. "This is ridiculous! Davina, you are free to leave with Marcel if you want to." She told her.
Davina looked at Kol who took a deep breath and nodded waving at the exit behind Marcel. He stepped away from her, but not that far that Marcel could get a free shot. "If that is what you wish, darling." And he chuckled. "It is funny though, really, because with your powers no one should be able to make you do anything you don't want to do."
"Stop messing with her, she is just a kid!" Marcel told him. "D, come on, let's get out of here!" He held out a hand towards her.
"You know that she is the most powerful witch around! She can protect herself and take us all down if she wanted to!" Kol went on keeping his eyes on Davina whose cheeks had the most endearing blush in them he had ever seen.
Rebekah and even Elijah had to hide their smiles at that statement thinking about what had transpired earlier right where Marcel was standing now.
"Davina…" Marcel tried again, but Davina already replied:
"I am staying!" She said and Marcel looked pissed. Then as he decided to charge at her to simply grab her, it was as if Davina had read his mind. The second he had wanted to charge and Kol had already been ready to throw himself between them Davina had already trapped Marcel in a migraine. In pain he knelt to the ground. "And I don't want to argue about it!" She added, before she released her hold on him and walked away without looking twice and as much as Kol had wanted to threaten Marcel some more, he had to follow Davina. He grinned as smugly as anyone ever could as he passed his siblings. Rebekah had a hard time trying not to laugh out loud.
"Kol, leave her alone!" Marcel yelled.
Kol laughed. "I wish I could!" He joked and heard Marcel growl.
She went straight to her room and Kol noticed that she was wringing her hands nervously.
"Darling, are you okay?"
"I don't know. For a long time, he was everything I had, besides Josh." She sighed frustrated. "This is so confusing." She paced to calm down. "Thank you for standing up for me." She told him and came to a halt in front of him. Kol put his hands onto her shoulders.
"Of course. However, you were pretty brilliant down there." He grinned. "I must be the best teacher ever!" Davina laughed which sounded like music to his ears.
"Get some rest." Kol told her.
"Will you stay with me?" She asked.
"Only if you want me to." Davina nodded. "You do know that I meant it, right? You could leave if you wanted to and if you make up your mind about it, no one could keep you anyway. You are that powerful, Davina Claire!" She swallowed and nodded.
"I had no idea to be honest. I never knew I was powerful."
Kol smiled. "Aren't you lucky to have met me!" He brushed invisible dust from his shoulders. "Come on off to bed with you who knows what you will discover tomorrow about yourself."
She laughed and was really grateful how Kol cheered her up and took her mind of Marcel. At night she unconsciously slid closer to him and he was comfortable sleeping close to her, feeling her body heat and folding himself around her small body.
They did resume their training the next day, but Kol was very quiet and pensive. Davina didn't comment, but she noticed it almost immediately. Maybe he was still pensive about what had happened yesterday with Marcel. Davina herself felt liberated if only a bit, but it was certain now that she didn't have to go back to the attic anymore and she revelled in that feeling.
There training session went well. Kol was a good teacher and she quickly got the hang of it. She started noticing the smallest disruptions around her and Kol was sure that she would be fine.
"Let's call it a day." He told her. Davina nodded.
"Now, we should do some more research. We neglected the spell we need to finish long enough now! Has your brother gotten our notes and grimoires?" Davina asked, after they had stopped in the kitchen for coffee and a muffin.
"Yes, I believe it is all in the library." He pointed to the right and motioned for her to go first. As she opened a big door she was stunned. "Kol! Why haven't you shown this to me earlier? I am sure we will find something here!" There were so many books! Everywhere she looked there were rows and rows of books! "This collection is amazing!" She couldn't stop admiring the room, this really was a library.
"Davina." Kol said, but Davina just went on.
"You start over there, while I will…"
"Davina, darling." He grabbed her arm. "Wait for a moment, please." His voice was soft.
She looked at his serious face and immediately caught on to his mood. "Kol, what's going on?"
He breathed heavily as if to find courage and Davina hadn't expected that this serious Kol could scare her more than the angry one. "I need to show you something and you will probably freak out." He looked at her and she asked quietly: "What's going on?"
He slowly rolled up his sleeve and Davina gasped. The arm she saw in front of her was no arm anymore, it was translucent up to his wrist.
"Kol!"
"I am vanishing."
"When did it start? And why haven't you told me!?"
"It started days ago and I am afraid I will be gone in a matter of hours." He admitted. He had noticed it that morning, but had dreaded to tell Davina. He didn't want to go and was afraid of how she would take it.
Anger boiled up inside of her. "Why on earth haven't you told me!" She grabbed his shirt and yanked it up and usually Kol would have made a stupid leering joke about it, but not this time. Davina shrieked as she saw what was left of his body. "Oh my God, why didn't you tell me!? We wasted so much time! God, Kol!" She surely was about to freak out.
"Listen Davina!" He held her by her shoulders. "We did not waste time! I spend every second of the time I had with what I wanted to do! I spend it with you and that is what matters!"
"But we should have looked for the missing ingredient! I am so mad at you, why didn't you tell me!"
"Because I didn't want you to worry!" He yelled back at her. "I am scared as hell and I didn't want you to feel the same! You will be safe here and you know how to defend yourself against vampires now."
She gasped. "You planned all of this."
Kol looked torn. "I want you to be safe and I didn't want you to say goodbye to me."
"But…you are vanishing. You will be gone, soon!" Suddenly there were tears welling up in her eyes as she thought about what would happen. "I will be alone again."
"You will be fine, Davina Claire." He cradled her face in his hands. "You are so brilliant! You will be just fine. Remember that I only wanted to use you to stay alive? Well, seems like the tables turned slightly. You can be free, Davina Claire and you should be! Over the last few weeks, I've learned that that is more important than me staying." He gulped. "Seems like I can't be my selfish old me with you."
He looked at her beautiful face and he couldn't resist the urge any longer.
Slowly he closed the gap between them waiting for Davina to allow him to come even closer. She took the last step and a second later her lips were on his. The kiss was sweet and it went through Kol like an electric shock. He was sure that he had never tasted anything as sweet as her. He pulled her closer and he never wanted to be apart from her again. Davina ran her hand through his hair and she had goosebumps all over her. She kissed his lips and felt complete. As they finally let go of each other they smiled and laughed almost a bit shy. Then they put their foreheads against each other.
"I hate dying."
Davina closed her eyes and gathered her courage. "Kol, you… you really do care about me, don't you?"
He tilted her head up and looked at her. "I do and I know that everyone tells you not to trust me, but what do you believe is true?"
Davina looked into his beautiful eyes that looked at her with so much care. He extended his arms. "You can see for yourself. Go on, have at it and you will see the truth for yourself."
She shook her head, she wouldn't invade his mind. "I will resurrect you, I promise!" She whispered pushing his arms away.
"I don't doubt you, Davina Claire." Kol brushed his thumb against her cheek and caught one or two tears. "But, please, stay away from Silas! Do not get involved in that mess any further! I need you to stay away from that!"
Davina nodded.
"I do care about you, Davina Claire. And one day you will believe me. Now, will you sit with be for a bit?"
Davina nodded. "Of course."
They made themselves comfortable on a couch and sat as close to each other as they could. Now and then, Kol couldn't resist and gave Davina a loving kiss which she welcomed with all the tingling feelings that danced around in her guts. She sighed contented and tried to not think about their impending good bye.
Rebekah suddenly appeared from the reading room next door and Elijah was close by.
"Let me talk to Davina for a moment, please." Rebekah asked.
"Rebekah…"
"Kol, it's fine." Davina said and already handed Elijah the treble clef. Kol only reluctantly left her alone with his sister.
But he left with Elijah finally and as they had closed the door behind them Rebekah sighed: "Do you really like my brother?"
"I think I do." Davina shook her head, looked like everyone had their own trust issues to overcome here. "He makes me laugh, he protects me and he helped me so much with my magic, showed me so much." She shook her head again. "Who is Kol, Rebekah?" Davina asked out of curiosity, because to her he was the opposite of the tales people were telling about him.
Rebekah smiled. "Kol is many things. As a vampire he is ruthless, he is impatient and impulsive, he doesn't think, but as a human? He was the opposite." Rebekah smiled at the memories. "He was loveable and funny. His willingness to help knew no boundaries and he was very patient with his magic."
Davina shook her head. "I feel like everyone is telling me to stay away from him, but I cannot fathom why."
"You have never suffered from his brutal mood swings, because you bring out his humanity!"
"Oh, I have seen his mood swings."
"No, you haven't. Not the blood lusting vampire. I am really glad that he met you. I believe you help him reconnecting to his witch side. I cannot understand how it feels to lose that part, but I think that was why he went overboard."
"The power is like a third arm." Davina tried to explain while looking at her fingertips and igniting a small flame. "It is like a body part that can feel and taste the air surrounding you."
"I wished you guys had more time."
"I am going to resurrect him." Davina told her confidently.
"Do you really think you can bring him back?"
"That's what we have been working on over the last few weeks." Davina swallowed. "I promised to resurrect him."
"Good." Rebekah nodded. "And I will help you in any way I can." Suddenly she hugged the witch. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"All I wanted was my family back. You could give me that chance."