Previously on Taste: '…they would keep forward through the night.'

January 14, 2011

Kol walked in at the worst possible time, in Katherine's opinion. She and Elijah were just getting to the good part—the part where clothes were shredded and littering the floor, and Elijah did that thing he knew she loved and the really fun part began—when an indignant and not-entirely-manly shriek came from the doorway. She pulled away from Elijah, grumbling. How dare someone interrupt her post-research sex?

"My eyes!" Kol wailed, presumably dramatically, judging by how Elijah was reacting. She had not actually had much contact with this Original, but from what she had heard, he was already her second favorite. Then again, that did not take much…

"Cut the theatrics, Kol." Elijah rolled his eyes before he flashed upstairs, and was back down a few seconds later, this time with a shirt on. He handed Katherine one of her flimsy robes to cover slightly more than what she had on—which was lingerie—and she donned it, ignoring Kol's leering eyes. "What are you even doing here?"

"Not that I don't appreciate the free show," He winked at Katherine, "but really, brother, I'm hurt. And scarred. I came to visit my favorite sibling for a short time before I finally agree to Nik's summons to our dreadful little hometown, and what do I find?" Kol paused, a glimmer in his eye. "You, my dear brother, fucking the bane of our family's existence."

"I'm pretty sure I'm just Klaus's bane, not anyone else's, but thanks for the compliment." Katherine shot back, before sashaying to one of the couches in the room. Elijah took a seat beside her, while Kol sat opposite.

"We all know Rebekah is your favorite, Kol." Elijah sighed. "What are you really doing here? You do have your own house in London, after all."

"My house that you speak of is now a brothel." Kol deadpanned, and Katherine could barely contain her laughter.

"I was unaware it was not already, due to the amount of women you paraded through there." Elijah raised an eyebrow, internally smirking. Oh yes, he was thoroughly pleased with himself. This was better than the Beeswax Incident of 1804.

"No, Elijah. My house is a legitimate brothel. With cheap whores and rancid perfume, and this heinous Madame with a shrill voice and a miserable demeanor. I cannot reside in that place. It is one thing to stay there when the place is kept…up to standards. This, however, is ridiculous." Kol said, apparently mortally offended. "I want to find who did this and slay them!"

"That may be very difficult brother, considering I set the place up, and I believe Niklaus has the daggers." Elijah said, as calmly as one might describe what they had for breakfast that morning, while he toyed with one of Katherine's curls. With that, Katherine could not help but laugh, and Kol seemed to become even more offended than ever. "Well, the place was just sitting there. It needed to generate revenue in some way, and I was getting annoyed by the former tenants."

"That was my favorite house!" Kol complained.

"Your favorite house is the one in Polynesia or wherever that island is located. You hate England."

The younger brother sighed. "I do. Too much rain. But that doesn't mean you get to transform my property whenever you wish. Or eat my tenants, for that matter." He turned his attention to Katherine. "Now, enough about me. What exactly are you doing with the fiery doppelganger?"

"I would think you figured that out already." Katherine smiled sweetly. "And don't compare me to the other ones."

"That was a compliment, darling." Kol laughed. "The first one of you was a raging whore that no one with any sense liked" Here he shot his brother a pointed look, "and the latest is just…not my type. You're easily my favorite, if only because prior to when I was daggered in the 1850's, you managed to piss Nik off on a daily basis. It was very amusing."

"And now I can die a happy woman, for I have been complimented by the great and mighty Kol." Katherine swooned. "Elijah, I want a dress made of pink rose petals, and for everyone to sing Kumbaya around my coffin before I am set to the sea." She gave him an entirely sappy look, draping herself across his lap and looking up at him, one hand resting on her forehead as if taking a temperature. "Do not delay the plans, my darling, for now that my life's mission has been fulfilled, I fear it may not be long before I go."

Elijah looked between his brother and his lover, before sighing and rolling his eyes. It would be a miracle if he made it through Kol's visit. The two of them together were going to drive him insane.

-0-0-0-0-0-

June 18, 1759

Katherine walked through the woods surrounding her cabin, enjoying the stillness her remote location provided. She was just outside the settlement of Montreal, and with a few carefully placed compulsions, the natives—and other villagers, for that matter—kept her location a secret. Not to mention the soldiers… This damn war was getting irritating. She had been unfortunate enough to run into one of the vampires set upon chasing her the last time she had been in the colonies—the vampire population in Boston was quite large—and had more or less retreated up north to hide out until the news of her alleged sighting had died out. She did not spend nearly two centuries without a daylight ring to be captured by Klaus now; no, that would simply not do.

As wild as her current living space may be, living deep in the woods allowed Katherine to hear anything and anyone coming her way. Unfortunately, the only blood available to consume was of the animal variety, however distasteful it may be. Sadly, the only people who had happened to pass through her area were patrols of soldiers or natives, all of which were too large to eat or take out without drawing attention, so, animal blood it was.

However, other than the safety benefits which came with her location, Katherine enjoyed the stillness. It was quiet. Peaceful. She could breathe—metaphorically—for the first time in a very long time.

Hearing the crackle of leaves behind her, the branches snapping as someone made their presence known, Katherine froze. She could tell by the scent and lack of heartbeat that a vampire was behind her… This was no animal, and that seer who had babbled on and on about werewolves the previous fall was consumed with insanity. Werewolves did not exist—at least, that she had found any evidence of. That left a vampire, but how had they snuck up on her? She was very vigilant; this would have to be a much older vampire, which was not exactly something to be excited about. Old vampires tended to be fond of Klaus, and therefore not of her.

Very carefully, Katherine turned around to face her follower.

Later that evening, Katherine woke back up in her own bed, the darkness having fallen around her. It had been pleasant to take a walk in the woods that afternoon. The breeze had been perfect, and the summer this far north was always lovely. It had been especially nice to speak with her compan— No, she was just dreaming. She must have dreamed his addition to her walk that afternoon; her mind must have wished for it, no matter how stupid entertaining thoughts like that were. That familiar face had certainly not been in the Canadian woods this morning. If he had been, she would be dead by now.

No, he was just a dream, like always. Just a faint memory, whisked away on the wind.

-0-0-0-0-0-

January 16, 2011

"It's not that I don't approve of your incessant fucking all over the place," Kol sighed, as he walked into yet another room, after yet another meeting, with yet another witch, where his brother and Katherine were screwing each other...yet again. "I would just rather not see that much of my brother. No matter what they say, incest is not best." He said somewhat seriously. "However, you, Katherine, are more than welcome to stay naked." He gave her a saucy wink.

"We really need to get better at locking the door." Katherine remarked, pulling the sheet over her chest. "Though…this is your bedroom. Maybe we should just teach him to knock. Think they have obedience classes for bloodthirsty millennia-old vampires?"

"We could just kick him out." Elijah commented dryly. "Besides, he has nothing to stand on. Remember 1778, brother?" He gave Kol a look.

Kol made a face. "Mmm… Wonderful year."

"Not from what I remember of it." The elder brother deadpanned.

"Oh, yes, there was that. Well, I suppose I can give the two of you a free pass in memoriam of that weekend." The jokester of the family shrugged.

Katherine looked between the two brothers, very aware that she had missed something. However, it was likely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. "Did your witchy friend have any information on the Bennett ancestor?" At least Kol caught them actually in the bedroom this time, as she could just hide under the covers. She had taken to stashing a robe in all of her and Elijah's normal areas of the house, simply because… Well, too many Originals (certainly Elijah, and sadly Klaus, had seen Tatia naked, and women most likely bathed together in those times, so that added Rebekah to the list as well) had seen some variation of her nude body. She was not about to add another to that tally.

"As a matter of fact, Kitty Kat," Kol smirked, shooting his brother a smug smile. "I believe we may have a lead." It had been Elijah's decision to keep their true intentions in the search for the cure from his brother—it was quite fortunate they were both very good liars. They had him convinced they were attempting to stop the cure from being taken by Klaus and Rebekah—which they sort of were, even if they just wanted to take it themselves—and this was very well, for Kol was very vocal about what he believed to be his siblings' folly in waking Silas for a bloody cure. To be honest, the idea of waking such a powerful immortal being as Silas was rumored to be did freak Katherine out a bit, but what must be done will be done. She needed this cure, and nothing would stand in her way.

AN: Ahhh, how I love Kol. He's such a fun character to write, and I love the dynamic between him and Katherine and Elijah. It's just a lot of fun. So how did you all like it? We're getting closer and closer to the angsty-part of canon; Kol's going back to Mystic Falls after the weekend in this story, and we all know what happens there. :'(

I had one guest reviewer as me if I was going to diverge things from canon, and to answer that for everyone: this story will be canon-compliant, as you all will see in a few chapters. However, the AU portion of Katherine and Elijah's story has already been written in A Tree Called Life, of which this story serves as a working prequel for. I'm actually in the process of doing some major edits to that story, even if they have not yet been published.

Anyways, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! I'd love to hear your thoughts about the story thus far, and next chapter holds what is pretty much my favorite scene to ever write, and that's saying a lot.

-Abi