Chapter Seven : A Blessing and A Curse

Someone was banging on her door, but Caroline couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. Whatever it was, it could wait till morning. She could almost sense the sunlight trying to come in through her curtains, but that was still no reason to get out of bed. She had nothing to do that day, save for working on making the house more up to her standards.

The door flew open and Caroline jerked up in the bed, holding the blanket up to her naked form. Stefan was standing there, his vampire fangs dropped, and anger written across his face. "Why did I just get a phone call from Finn Mikaelson saying that Kol is in TRANSITION?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and laid back down. She could practically smell the anger wafting off her friend from where she lay. Seriously, that was why she was being woken up? Over the youngest Mikaelson brat? "I told you they were going to be punished for their decision to attack me, Stefan. I thought you understood that."

"So you force fed him your blood and killed him?" Caroline wanted to sit back up so Stefan could see her roll her eyes. Honestly, Stefan believed she would waste her valuable time just to turn some child? She had far better things to do.

"Actually, he had a terrible car accident, and his eldest brother chose to gave him blood - my blood - and then he somehow died while in the hospital. I had nothing to do with it. I believe you can blame Anna for that."

"Oh Caroline, how could you?" Bonnie had come to join Stefan in the doorway and Caroline sat up, growling slightly. Clearly, she wasn't going to be allowed to get any more sleep. She pushed the blankets down and hopped out of the bed. Stefan groaned and turned away from her but Bonnie just rolled her eyes and sat down on Caroline's bed.

Caroline had walked into her closet and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. She pulled them on and coughed slightly towards Stefan, who turned around to see she was dressed. He, of course, was wearing a suit, minus the jacket, and had his sleeves rolled up. Bonnie was wearing one of the long loose dresses that she had always favored, and Caroline went back to sit on her bed.

"Please tell me one of you at least brought me a cup of tea, or better yet, breakfast."

Bonnie shook her head and Stefan glared at her. "Caroline, we are not in the middle of London. You cannot just turn people as you choose, nor do we have a house full of servants."

Caroline scoffed and muttered under her breath, "What a bloody terrible place that I don't even get to have someone making me my morning tea..."

"I am being serious with you here, Caroline. No more turning people."

"I told them the consequences of messing with me! Kol Mikaelson was not compelled to sneak out of his house, nor was he compelled to want to see Anna. I did not compel the Doctor to give his little brother my blood. They made their own choices, and now they have to live with them."

"They already lost one brother, Caroline. And now, they have lost another."

"Only if their hatred for our kind is greater than their love for their brother." Caroline was ready to start yelling at Stefan if he pushed this any further, but a silence then settled over the group. After a few moments, Bonnie finally spoke up.

"You have to fix this, Caroline."

Caroline looked to Bonnie and studied her for a moment. "I will help him with his new life, if they ask for it."

Stefan cross his arms and raised his eyebrow at her and Caroline groaned. "I'm not going to just offer to help him. It wasn't like we had any help."

"No, Caroline, but we did have each other."

Caroline's body stilled and her eyes went from looking down at her hands to looking up at Stefan. Her eyes thinned, and Stefan stepped back, almost as if he realized his mistake. Her eye twitched a little as she tried to control her anger, but the werewolf inside of her was demanding she rip out his throat for his statement.

"'We', Stefan? 'WE'? No, YOU all had each other. I was turned a full day before the rest of you. I drank first, and then I died. You were all ready to bury me. As if I didn't matter. You were all still too upset over Tatia being near death to even care about me. And then, when I came back to life, you all drank her blood as well and died. And for a full day, I was locked inside of the house, starving, trapped with the bodies of my dead friends around me."

"Caroline, I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh, you didn't Stefan? I spent the whole day starving and being sick any time I tried to eat or drink. I was DYING because I hadn't completed a transition I didn't know existed, and the first person that came to my door was drained dry because of my confusion and hunger. And when all of you awoke, I hid her dead body and brought you all someone to drink and helped you all stop in time."

Bonnie was trying to soothe Caroline, but she was too far gone now. If she could shift, she would have done so now. Her body was shaking from the anger that filled it. "And then, when you were all worried about each other, I realized I had activated my curse as well, and a few nights later I was forced to shift. So yes, Stefan, we all had each other. We all had each other as I screamed in the middle of my home, alone, and destroyed it while my body transformed. We all had each other when I saw the destruction I had caused. We all had each other when I buried my mother's dead body, alone. Now get out."

Stefan bowed his head slightly, then left the room. Caroline got off the bed and picked up the nearest thing, a vase, and threw it against the door that he had just shut. It shattered on to the floor. Caroline fell to her knees, gripping the beaded necklace that she had worn for a thousand years. The tears were aching to fall down her cheeks but she instead just shook, letting rage overtake her instead. She always told anyone that asked it had been from her first kill. She never actually admitted out loud that it was her mother.

.:| The Charming Newborn |:.

Opening up his eyes, the first thing Kol Mikaelson realized was that his room was bright. The curtains should still be drawn and there should be some sort of noise going on downstairs. Why hadn' Bekah woken him up for breakfast? And why did the room smell of cleaner.

His eyes focused on the ceiling and he realized that he wasn't in his own room. A glance down told him he also wasn't wearing his clothes. He was in a hospital gown - in a hospital bed - presumably in a hospital. He groaned and sat up, trying to figure out what happened.

A quick pull back of the blanket and a glance at his body told him nothing was physically wrong with him. He didn't hurt at all, anywhere. The only thing that he really felt was hunger. He was absolutely starving, and it was time to get out of here. He knew better than to eat hospital food.

Kol pushed himself out of the bed and walked towards the mirror, wanting to check that nothing was wrong with his beautiful face. For some odd reason, he felt as though something had happened to his nose. He approached the mirror and suddenly felt a little disoriented.
What was wrong with him all of a sudden? It had to be the bright sunlight. Maybe he hit his head too hard. Had he drank too much the night before? Was that why his head hurt? He tried to ignore the pain and looked in the mirror to see a piece of medical tape over his nose. He ripped it off and didn't even see a mark. Weird.

The hunger was starting to spread through him and he looked around, trying to see if his phone was anywhere. He wasn't quite sure where his vehicle was, but he figured it wasn't here. There had to be some way to get back home. He couldn't find his things, then assumed that Finn would know.

He opened his door and looked around, then realized he wasn't in the normal area of the hospital. He was in the ICU. Why the hell was he in the ICU? There was clearly nothing wrong with him. He wished he was at least wearing pants, but he had to make do with what he had. He approached a nurse at the nearby desk and ask for his brother. Her eyes were wide but he shrugged it off. Wow, she smelled good. Not his normal type of woman, but she still smelled amazing.

He went back towards his room and glanced in at another patient. He was hungry and for some reason, the man looked appetizing. Wait, what? A man? Kol had no idea what was going on now and ran back to his room. He shut the door and realized that his gums were starting to hurt. The pain in his head was becoming unimaginable and his hunger was screaming for sustenance. He had been perfectly fine a few minutes before and now he was in agony.

He heard the door open behind him and he knew it was Finn rushing to his side. His brother smelled good as well and Kol flinched away from him. Something was wrong. He put his hand over his mouth, not understanding why his teeth hurt so badly. Finn was standing in the doorway behind him and Kol tried to hide himself.

"I, I don't understand. You should have been fully healed."

Kol jerked his head up at him in shock and yelled "What did you do to me?"

Their eyes locked and Kol saw his brother's eyes go wide, and then the door was slammed shut. Finn rushed forward to him and grabbed his face in his hands. Kol jerked away, confused, but Finn grabbed his face again. They stared at each other, and suddenly Finn's entire demeanor changed.

Finn was backing away slowly, then started yelling, "Fuck. FUCK! Oh Fuck, Kol, Fuck."

Finn looked to be freaking out and Kol stayed where he was, confused. Nothing ever made his oldest brother panic, yet here he was, freaking out. "What's wrong, Finn?"

"You're a... shit, Kol."

"I'm a what?" he asked, and pushed himself off the floor to look in the mirror. There, he saw fangs.

"FUCK!" Kol yelled, and sat back on the floor, not wanting to look back in the mirror. There were fangs where his normal beautiful teeth should be. His eyes were darker and there were veins spidering from his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Finn was trying to say. His words came out in a gasp. "I'm a Vampire!"

"I have to call Stefan." Finn had his phone out and wasdialing while Kol continued to stare in the mirror. He reached one of his fingers up to touch the pointed fang and gasped a little when it drew blood. He looked down at his finger and licked at it, wondering the taste. Oddly enough, he actually liked it. He could get used to this whole vampire thing.

"Stefan? It's Finn Mikaelson. We have a problem."

It was easy for Kol to overhear what was being said on the phone. "What is wrong?"

"My brother, Kol. He got in to a car accident last night and I gave him some of the blood. He just woke up and is now in transition."

The line was silent for a moment. Kol almost thought that perhaps the man had hung up. He then heard the sound of banging on a door. "Bonnie, open up. We have a problem."

There was a girl that answered the sound with what sounded like a groan, and Finn and Kol continued to wait. Kol was now turned around facing Finn, who's eyes were still wide.

"Thank you for informing me."

Finn's jaw dropped open, as if he was shocked. "Informing you? I'm calling to ask you what to do!"

The line was silent again, and then he heard, "Either feed him human blood, or let him die."

The phone beeped, signaling the end of the call, and Kol shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's it then. Have any blood on hand?"

He had meant it as a joke, but Finn just stared at him. The grin that was across Kol's face began to slide when he realized that Finn hadn't decided whether or not to give him blood.

"Finn? Finn, why are you looking at me like that? I'm still me. I'm still your little brother."

Finn just stared at him, then turned and walked out of the room. He shut the door behind him and Kol heard it lock. Kol stared at the door for a moment and sat down on the bed, hard. What just happened?

.:| The Lone Pup |:.

Klaus had been on his way out of the Sheriff's station to go look for Kol when the call came in. He hadn't recognized the voice on the other end of the line, but he had recognized how emotionless it was. The drive over to Kol's wrecked car had given him enough time to realize that all of this was probably connected back to the Originals. He just prayed that Kol was still alive.

He had stayed at his bedside, watching Finn give him Vampire blood. He wouldn't have died with surgery, and yet Finn still used it. His brother didn't see what Klaus saw. His injuries were not sustained in the accident. Someone had purposely beaten up their little brother.

Once Kol was on the mend, Klaus had gone home. Finn was working a night shift, Elijah was staying with Katherine, and Rebekah was still home alone. He had thought to ask her to go over to Katherine's or just come to the hospital, but he knew Rebekah would hate both. Kol would likely be fine, and Finn had promised to not leave him alone.

But Klaus should have known better. He was once again driving down the road as fast as he could, once again to Kol. Finn had just called and told him what had happened, and said he didn't know what to do. Klaus hadn't answered him, because he was too disgusted that the answer wasn't apparent. They had to feed Kol human blood. They couldn't just let their little brother die, even if he was a Vampire. Rebekah was a witch, and Klaus had werewolf blood. Nothing changed just because Kol was technically dead.

He opened up the door to Finn's office to see his brother sitting behind the desk, looking empty. Klaus shut the door behind himself and waited for Finn to say something. His patience was gone after about five seconds. "Kol still in his room?"

"Yes."

Klaus nodded his head and started thinking. He needed to get Kol some blood and to the house as fast as possible. This was going to take all of them working together. "Alright, well I need you to go get blood bags-"

"I locked him in there, Niklaus."

Klaus felt his blood run cold, and growled out "Why the fuck would you do that? He's done nothing wrong! Now, we need to get our brother home."

Finn stood up then, and said, "He is no longer our brother."

Klaus shook his head, disgusted at the words he had just heard his eldest brother say. "After the stunt you and Elijah pulled the other night, we are lucky. It is a blessing he is still with us."

Finn just shook his head again, and Klaus had had enough. One good knock out punch to the face and Finn had shut up.

Now Klaus was running down the hallway, trying to figure out where the blood bank was. He had Finn's keys in hand and found the cooler eventually, and opened up the dufflebag he had brought with him. He filled it as fast as he could, hoping that this would be okay. The entire family had now drank vervain so that wasn't an option in having Kol drink from any of them, and there was no way they could convince someone else to let him drink.

From there, Klaus went to his brother's room. He opened it to find Kol starring in the mirror at his fangs. Klaus immediately locked the door behind him and began stripping the bed, while Kol turned around towards him. "Nik! Finn has kept me locked in here all day. Please tell me you're not going to let me die."

Klaus shook his head and began wrapping the blankets around his brother. "Bundle yourself up. The grimoire says that the sun won't kill you, but it will weaken you, as long as you haven't fed yet. Have you fed?"

Kol shook his head no, and Klaus lifted up the bag. "You can drink once we are home, but until then, the sun is still out. We have to get you out of here before Finn wakes up."

Klaus was ready to drag his brother from the room when Kol stopped. "Finn isn't in on this?"

The voice sounded like that of a scared child, and Klaus shook his head no. He wasn't going to bring up Elijah either. Elijah had been too stricken with grief to answer, and Klaus had told him to not worry about it, and he would take care of it. It had to be hard on Elijah, for his youngest brother to become the thing he now spent his life hunting. "He is still in shock, so I made the decision for him. Now come on; let's get you home."

Kol followed, almost like a zombie, but Klaus dragged him down to the car. A few people tried to stop them and ask questions, but Klaus offered no explanations. His brother crawled into the back seat, where the windows were tinted more, and hid himself under the blankets. Klaus could tell that his brother was hungry from the groaning and the veins starting to grow under his eyes, but they had to wait till they were back to the house.

He was going to fix this. He wished that there was someone else he could go to or some other way to get help, but he really only had one option. He was the one making the decision to help Kol out, and somehow, they would all get through this.

Caroline Forbes had a lot of questions to answer.

.:| The Charming Newborn |:.

They were almost home when Kol saw his car on the side of the road. An image flashed before his mind, and he remembered the car wreck. He had been sneaking out to go see the new girl and had wrecked his vehicle. She had come to his aid and he remembered seeing her slightly, just before she stomped on his -

"Anna." The name slipped off his tongue before he could stop himself.

"What?"

"The new girl at school. I was sneaking out last night to see her. She was the one that injured me. Anna Grayson."

The car slammed to a stop and Kol looked up in shock at Klaus. Klaus' eyes were full of anger looking down at his little brother, while Kol looked up at him in shock. He almost wanted to demand why the fuck he did that, but he could tell that Klaus was furious and decided to not push it.

"Are you a fucking idiot, Kol? Did you listen to nothing that the grimoire said?"

Kol pulled his head back slightly and raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Grayson! As in Elena and Jeremy Grayson. As in the Originals!"

"Yeah, so? I thought Elena and Katherine were supposed to look alike, and Anna looks nothing like Katherine." Kol was really confused. Why would the girl use the same last name but a different first name. She really looked nothing like Kat.

"A new girl comes to school with the same last name as some of the Originals?! Use your fucking head, Kol! How often do we get new people in town?"

Kol thought about it for a moment then groaned. The girl hadn't even let him kiss her and yet he had been ready to dash off at her every whim. What was it with these Vampires that had his head so lopsided. "Alright, I fucked up. Can we go home now please?"

Klaus started driving again and Kol covered himself again with the blankets. The sun was starting to hurt his eyes and his head was throbbing more. He was absolutely starving at this point and he was unable to keep his fangs hidden. Klaus smelled... different, and he was glad there was a row of seats between them. How had the Originals been able to stand around in the middle of the Mystic Grill without going wild?

They finally pulled up and Kol ran inside as fast as he could. Klaus came up behind him with the bag full of blood, and Kol was ready to snatch one out when he was attacked by flying blonde hair. Rebekah was clinging to him in a hug and he hugged her back.

As he held his sister tight, he could smell her blood. It was too much. There was a vein right there in her neck, so close to him. It called out to him, for him to pierce it and drink freely. His arms tightened around her waist and Rebekah was now trying to pull away, but Kol's eyes were locked on the flowing vein. He could vaguely hear Klaus behind him, telling him to get away from Rebekah, but he couldn't stop himself.

Kol felt the fangs drop and he bit down into the Rebekah's neck. She screamed, and when the blood hit his mouth, he flew back, the burning going through his body. He fell to the ground, holding his head, and the sun coming in through the window began to burn his skin. He had a headache, unable to function. Something was wrong. He had to get out.

But outside had him burning more. He covered himself with the blankets when he heard Klaus yelling at him to get inside. He rushed to the doorway but couldn't get in. Something was blocking him.

"An invite! Kol, come inside. You're invited in! Come inside!"

He could vaguely hear Rebekah yelling that and he ran inside and straight to the basement. His skin was burning and his head still ached from the pain of being inside of the house. His pace was faster than any he could have ever imagined. Suddenly, everything was in overdrive.

He ripped the door off it's hinges and ran towards the darkness. Both Rebekah and Klaus were following him, but Kol kept going further into the basement. He had to get away from his sister. He had bit his own sister! He had actually harmed Rebekah. His mouth still burned from what he could only guess was the vervain, and it was a painful reminder that he had harmed her. Through thick and thin and all the arguments, he had never wanted to hurt her.

At the very back of the basement was the wine cellar. He opened up the door and went inside, shutting it behind himself. He withdrew to the back corner of it and opened up a bottle of wine. He started drinking it, trying to wash out the taste of his sister's blood. It wasn't enough. He could hear Rebekah and Klaus arguing, with Klaus trying to tell her to go back upstairs and Rebekah saying she was fine. He could still taste her blood on his lips, no matter how much of the bottle he was drinking. The scent of her blood was fresh in the air. His body was calling out for more, and it disgusted him.

Klaus was approaching the cellar door now and Kol used all of his speed and strength to throw himself against it. He was glad that it didn't break down, but he did hear a creak. Klaus had stopped on the other side of the door, and was trying to open it. Kol wouldn't budge.

"Kol, we know you didn't mean to do it. It's okay. Just let me in. I've got blood."

Kol's voice was hoarse as he called out, "Just leave it there. And barricade the basement door. Sorry for ripping it off it's hinges."

There was a silence for a moment, then Klaus said, "I'll leave the blood out here , but I won't barricade the door. We'll be here when you're ready to come out."

He heard the bag drop and Klaus walked away. After a few moments, the basement door shut as well, and Kol was left downstairs alone. He couldn't hear anyone else nearby, although he did recognize Rebekah upstairs, begging to see him, but it was safe to open the door. He opened it and saw the duffle bag from earlier, full of blood bags.

He dragged the bag inside and shut the door behind him, then moved back to where he had been sitting earlier. He picked up the open bottle of wine and took a swig from it, then glanced at the blood bags. His gums were hurting again and he knew he had to drink. The thought both excited and scared him. Was it supposed to be like this?

He ripped off the top of the first blood bag and it spilled over his hands. He couldn't stop himself from licking it off, then reaching for another. This one he bit his fangs into and started drinking. He kept going, bag after bag, drinking, never feeling completely satisfied. He could still remember Rebekah's blood and craved it, even with the vervain.

He reached into the duffle bag to pull out another blood bag and his hand hit air. He had drank them all? How had he managed to drink them all? Kol was filled with anger that he was out and ripped the bag into two. It then hit him how full of anger he was, and simply because a bag was empty.

He fell back against the wall, clinging to the half drank bottle of wine, and tipped it back. He was trying to drink away the memory of fresh blood. It wasn't enough. All of those bags and the alcohol... nothing was enough. He was a vampire, and he was scared.

.:| The Lone Pup |:.

Klaus was sitting in his room, glaring at the clock. He had told himself that he would wait a total of twenty-four hours before going downstairs to drag his brother from the basement. He understood that occasionally, you needed some time alone, and he was likely scared, but any more than twenty-four hours was going on absurd. Kol needed to face the future, not hide from it.

He could hear the front door to the house open and walked downstairs. Elijah was setting down a cooler that Klaus knew was filled with blood bags. They had already arranged to get a chest cooler for downstairs so that Kol could have blood bags in the house, but they had to actually get some. Finn had feared taking anymore from the hospital in town, so Elijah had stolen some from Lynchburg. Klaus was half tempted to go off vervain so his brother could just drink from him, but the idea was a rather scary one.

Finn came in from the living room where he had been working with Rebekah. She had been trying to get her magic to work, but no matter what she tried, nothing happened. They had attempted using fire and air, but it just wasn't happening. She claimed that she felt something calling to her, but nothing was produced from her efforts.

"I think we should call Stefan again. Maybe they can do something to help us. None of us know how to take care of a Vampire." Finn seemed to so strongly believe that Stefan would help them.

"I don't want any more of their so called help," Elijah spat, then lowered his voice slightly, as if Kol likely couldn't still hear them with his now supernatural hearing. "We have to take care of this ourselves. Alaric will be here tomorrow. He will have some ideas on what to do."

"We aren't staking him," Klaus said, and the other two boys nodded. Good, at least they were in agreement on that. "I'll try to get him out of the basement, even if only for a few hours. He can't stay down there forever."

Rebekah had come to join their group now, and looked up at Klaus with sad eyes. "Can I go down there with you? I want him to know that I am not upset with him. Please, Nik. Let me go with you."

Elijah's eyes locked with his and they silently agreed that it wasn't a good time for that. Klaus stepped forward and touched his sister's hand, shaking his head no. There was still a piece of gauze taped to her neck, covering the bite mark that Kol's teeth had left. "Kol's emotions are heightened, Rebekah. You know that. We don't want to upset him too much right now by bringing it up, but I'll tell him that you're fine."

Rebekah nodded her head slightly and pulled away from them. She was already turned around before she started complaining about how her brothers were too controlling. Klaus could tell that she was trying to be the strong demanding brat that she always was, but the pain of all that happened was getting to her. It was getting to all of them.

Klaus grabbed two blood bags from the cooler and walked over to the basement door. The rest he would leave upstairs, for now, hopefully as a way to draw Kol out and bring him upstairs. It was the only real plan he had, so he was going to go with it. He couldn't hear anything coming from the wine cellar, and as he approached the door, he tried to make his steps loud. He had no idea how sensitive Vampire hearing was.

He touched the door slightly and pushed it open. The room was dark and he flicked on the light. Sitting in the back corner, surrounded by empty blood bags and wine bottles, was Kol. He was staring down at his hands, and Klaus stood in the doorway. He had no idea what was going through his little brother's head at that moment, or if anything was.

"Hey, Kol. I've got a couple of blood bags with me, and we have more upstairs. You want to come up and join us?"

Kol said nothing in response, so Klaus took a few steps in. He left the door open behind him, even though he knew that if Kol wanted out, he could easily rush out whether or not the door was open. Klaus just didn't want Kol to feel blocked in.

He approached his brother and was only a few paces away when Kol finally looked up at him. The veins were once again apparant on the normally smooth face, and Klaus cooled his expressions to not react. Whereas he had been intrigued and excited by Caroline's vampire fangs, he was terrified of his brother's. He didn't know if the reason was because of the lack of control that Kol had or that the power that came off of Caroline attracted him, but the fact that he was actually scared of his little brother was horrifying.

"I can smell your blood." The voice sounded like a mixture between a groan and a gasp, and it didn't match the young boy that had existed only a few weeks before. A few weeks before their youngest brother had died. Before the Originals had shown up. Before he had become a Vampire. "I can see you in the darkness. I can hear your heart racing. I can taste the remnants of Rebekah's blood. And if I wanted to, I could kill you now if I wanted to."

Klaus gulped, and stood still, waiting to see if Kol moved. He kept telling himself that Kol was still his little brother and wouldn't harm him. Regardless, Elijah had said that if he snapped Kol's neck, that Kol would wake up in a few hours fine.

"I know that, Kol, but you won't. Even though you can hurt me, I know you don't want to. Now, come upstairs so we can talk about it."

In a flash, Kol was gone from the room, but before Klaus could yell out to his other siblings, Kol was already back with the cooler from upstairs in hand. There was a quirky grin on his face, almost like the old Kol.

"Pretty cool, isn't it? I'm faster than you can see. Pretty strong, too. I can only imagine how much the ladies will love this."

Kol was chuckling now and Klaus stood still, just watching. The grimoire had mentioned something about emotions being heightened, but it was odd to watch Kol shift from being threatening to so... carefree.

"I'm sure they'll love it. Do you want to stay down here for a little while then?"

The grin that was on Kol's face washed away, and he looked back up at Klaus. His eyes were drained of emptiness, and the boy nodded once. "Yeah, I think that would be best, brother. Maybe tomorrow?"

Klaus nodded and set down the blood bags he had in hand. He turned around to leave the room, hoping that Kol wouldn't attack him, but then he heard the sound of plastic ripping and knew that his brother was drinking from the bags now. His feet carried him upstairs to see his other siblings standing around waiting.

"Tomorrow," he said softly, shaking his head. It was killing him to leave his little brother down in the basement, alone."We'll try again tomorrow."

.:| The Baby Witch |:.

Rebekah knew that going downstairs against her brothers' wishes would likely end up with her in trouble, but she was tired of sitting around waiting. Alaric had finally arrived, and with it a whole new set of arguments erupted. At least no one was talking about staking Kol anymore. That was certainly not an option.

She had seen Alaric come in with a cooler full of blood bags, and once the cooler was left in the entryway, she sat at the top of the stairs, waiting. She knew that soon enough, the yelling would get to the point that no one would notice her. It didn't take long at all. Alaric began yelling about how Kol would lose control on them and then Klaus was yelling about trust. Finn was, like always, silent, while Elijah tried to keep the peace. She adored Klaus for sticking up for their brother.

She grabbed the entire cooler and walked over to the basement door. It creaked a little on occasion, and when she heard her brother throw something, she opened up the door quickly. Her steps were light as she stepped down the stairs and she counted them, not wanting to flick on the light. Why Kol was sitting in the darkness was beyond her.

She pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and flipped it on, so that the light left a little glow. Her steps were hurried as she went to the very back and reached the wine cellar door. Her hand was sitting over the door handle when the door rushed open and Kol was picking her up in a hug.

"Bekah! I missed you! Come in! It's so good to see you!"

Of all the reactions she had expected, this wasn't it. She followed Kol into the room and saw that half of the wine was gone and there was a pile of empty blood bags in the back corner. She hoped that what had been brought would be enough. Kol was sitting back down on the floor and beckoned to her. She approached him slowly and put down the cooler, then sat beside Kol.

"Hey, Kol. How are you feeling?"

Kol shrugged, then ripped the top off of one of the blood bags. She glanced away as he started drinking, telling herself it was only wine. Only wine... not blood. "Hungry, but you know, I'm a growing boy."

Kol then stopped in his movements and Rebekah waited to see his reaction. Kol's eyes drifted down to his hands, and he shrugged again. "Well, I'm dead, so I guess I'm actually not growing anymore, but whatever."

She let out an internal sigh of relief that he was okay, and then shut the lid of the cooler slightly. Kol made no motion that he noticed or cared, and she put her hand on his shoulder. "Kol, do you want to come upstairs now? We put heavy curtains over all of the windows and Klaus put boards over your bedroom window. It's been two days, and you kind of need a shower."

Kol didn't respond, just lifted up the cooler lid, even with Rebekah's arms over it. She had put a lot of weight behind it, but she shouldn't be surprised. He was always stronger than her, and now with his vampire abilities... "Naw, I think I'm going to hang out down here. I have a lot more wine to drink."

Rebekah nodded her head and sat back, knowing she couldn't stop him from drinking the rest of the blood bags even if she tried. She had seen him rush up the day before to take the cooler Elijah had brought. She decided instead to change subjects.

"So, Finn and I have been working on my witching abilities. He says that nothing is changing, but I swear that the candles flicker a little when I concentrate hard enough."

Kol nodded and was still drinking, but he seemed calm again. The cooler opened once more and another bag was ripped open, so Rebekah kept talking. "Also, they got you a new car. I'm stuck with the one you messed up. The windows are nice and tinted so the sun won't hurt you."

Kol looked up this time and let out a cheeky grin. "Excellent! I'm sure the ladies will love making out in the backseat."

Rebekah forgot in that moment that Kol was a vampire. He was still the same brother that he had always been, teasing and making jokes. She punched him light heartedly and they shared a smile, but then he was opening up the cooler again. He was going through them at a rapid pace, and it was starting to worry her. How much blood did a Vampire actually need each day? And what would happen when he ran out?

"Kol, maybe you should slow down a little..."

Kol's face, which had held a grin, suddenly went dark. Her breath caught as she realized he was angry. How could one little statement make him so angry? She pulled away slightly, bracing herself, knowing the vervain in her blood would protect him from drinking from her... but it wouldn't protect her from a broken neck.

And then Kol pulled away from her, horror written all over his face. "You need to leave, Bekah."

She shook her head, trying to be brave. "No, it's fine. I know you won't hurt me. Let's just go back to talking."

"Get out of here, REBEKAH!" he yelled this time, and she could hear feet coming towards the basement. Klaus appeared at the doorway, followed by the others, and Rebekah shook her head, tears going down her cheeks. Her brother couldn't even stand to be in the same room as her. She looked up to see Klaus was pulling her up and she locked her eyes with Kol's. They looked so sad, even with the darkness taking them over.

Elijah and Alaric were both standing in the doorway, stakes in hand. She jerked away from Klaus and turned back to Kol, who was standing watching them. Her arms wrapped around her brother, hugging him tight. She started yelling out, "You can't kill him! You can't hurt Kol! He's our brother! We can't lose another one!"

Kol wasn't wrapping his arms around her, and she turned away from him, still blocking him from the others. She knew that Kol could easily kill her like this, but she had already lost one brother. She wasn't going to allow another death, and especially not by their own hands. Henrik had been an accident. This would be murder.

Klaus had come and joined her, so that Kol was blocked in the corner from Alaric and Elijah. Elijah put down his stake and shook his head. "I wasn't going to kill him, Rebekah. I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

Alaric still held on to the dagger, and she felt Kol push her out of the way slightly. "Do you want to kill me then, Alaric? You can do it, if you want."

Kol walked towards him, their eyes locked, and Kol had stopped in front of the Vampire hunter. Rebekah tried to go to him, to stop him, but Klaus had grabbed her arm and held her back. "Kol, don't do this. We're not going to kill you! Just come back upstairs and we can discuss this!"

"Alaric, put the stake down," Klaus was saying, and she was glad someone else was on her side. What was so wrong with Elijah and Finn?

"Come on, Alaric. Stake me. I'm a Vampire now. I'm constantly hungry and I have no control over my emotions! I'm just locking myself down in a basement so I don't hurt anyone! Go ahead and kill me!"

He was yelling at this point and Klaus held tighter to her. She was crying harder, wishing this would all end. She had been the one to discover that Henrik was dead. She had screamed, awakening the whole house, and held her brother's dead body. She had chosen the clothes he was buried in. She had become the baby once more. She had lost her baby brother. She couldn't lose the brother that was practically her twin.

Alaric finally put down the stake, and Kol walked back towards her and Klaus. He nodded at Klaus and touched her arm, then sat down beside his half empty cooler. "Just leave me down here. I'll be fine in the darkness. I can't hurt anyone down here."

Klaus was pushing her towards the door and Rebekah let him. Alaric and Elijah had both picked up their stakes and waited for them to leave. Elijah shut the door, and they went up stairs. Finn was standing at the top of the basement with vervain bottles in each hand. Once the basement door was shut, she turned around to stare at the men that had almost harmed Kol.

"I'm disgusted with you three. Kol is still our brother, no matter what species he is. At least Nik has some common sense and family loyalty left, so that should show how far you lot have fallen."

She shook her head and marched up to her room, praying that her grimoire would have some sort of idea on what to do now.

.:| The Charming Newborn |:.

Three days. He had been sitting in the basement for three days. He had wrecked his vehicle Friday night and awoken in the hospital the next morning, and his watch told him it was now Tuesday afternoon. No one had tried to come down again, and he was glad for the silence. It was lonely, but he couldn't hurt anyone when he was alone.

His gums were starting to hurt again and he pulled out the last blood bag. He had began to slow down on his drinking after his family had left, and now that he only had one, he knew that he had to move. He hadn't heard any discussion of getting more blood bags upstairs.

He bit into the bag and began to drink, careful about catching each drop. The bag drained easily, and then he picked up his current bottle of wine. The alcohol seemed to help keep the edge off, somewhat, but it still wasn't truly enough.

His ears picked up the sound of Rebekah coming downstairs with Klaus. He already knew that Alaric and Elijah were sitting in the front room, discussing Caroline Forbes and protecting Katherine. He was oddly enough glad that the discussion wasn't on him again. He was tired of being talked about as if he didn't have an opinion that mattered.

Finn was in the kitchen making something to eat and had now joined the rest of them in the sitting room. They were quietly discussing what in all to tell Katherine. All she knew at this point was Vampires were in town and she had to drink vervain. He almost wondered why they weren't protecting Katherine in their house, but then he remembered that he was a Vampire. Of course they wouldn't want the strumpet in danger.

The bottle was empty of wine and he dropped it to the ground. He could just clean it all up later. He approached the wine cellar door and opened it, surprised it wasn't locked. He then walked up the basement stairs and saw that they had replaced the door he had earlier ripped off. He hadn't even heard that being done.

A glance around the front hallway told him that Rebekah had spoken true. Everywhere, the curtains were pulled tight. All of the lights were on and candles were lit, creating the light that they all needed to see. He walked towards the sitting room and saw that everyone was facing away from him.

Klaus seemed to notice him first. Rebekah was next, and soon enough everyone had turned around to face him. He attempted a smirk, then let his face fall. He nodded his head slightly, feeling awkward with the attention on himself. Well, that was new. He wasn't normally one to shy away.

"How are you feeling, Kol?" Elijah asked, and Kol looked up at his brother.

He shrugged again, then said, "Alright. A little hungry. I kind of need a shower. All in all, though, I'm alright."

Everyone seemed to nod, and Kol nodded with them. A silence settled, and then Kol shook his head. He wasn't alright. Nothing was alright. Nothing would ever again be alright. "Actually, no. No, I am definitely not alright. Things are not alright."

Rebekah looked on the verge of tears and he looked away, not able to bear seeing the sadness on his baby sister. He almost wanted to return to the basement, but he knew that avoiding things wouldn't make it alright. It would just prolong it all, and make the situation worse.

"I need help." He looked up at Klaus, knowing that he was the best bet in getting the help he needed, even if she was the one that caused it. "I'm going to need her help."

AN

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Betas : livingdeadblondegirl, a-little-blonde-distraction

The next update will be Wednesday. Look for it then. Until that point in time, brace yourselves for a long week, and just remember, Klefaroline on Thursday.

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