Disclaimer: I don't TVD, no matter how much I wish I did. Any recognizable characters, plots and dialogue belong to the L.J. Smith and the CW.
A/N: All my love to all you wonderful readers. I am happy to know how much you're enjoying this labor of love. Nothing more to say, and onto the next chapter. I hope you enjoy some more of Kol's snarkiness!
Kol
"Whichever is a better motivator," Kol said after he stepped over the threshold. He walked right past Bonnie and her "bodyguard" - as if a lanky teen boy could do anything to stop him if he wanted to do anything to Bonnie. To prove that point, he knocked shoulders with the boy as he passed. All he got in response was an aggravated grumble and a scowl.
Walking down the hallway, he saw a sitting room to the left. Despite the bright morning light, the burgundy curtains were still pulled almost completely across the picture window. It left the room bathed in dim, rusty light that Kol found appropriate for the ominous discussion bound to follow.
"Sure," Bonnie mumbled as she followed behind him with the boy, "just make yourself at home."
"Will do, darling," Kol said. He sat himself on the plush white couch, right in the beam of light coming through the curtains. The feel of the sun on his back was pleasant, and it would make it harder for the other two to read his face. But theirs would be clear to him, an advantage he was happy to take advantage of.
He watched the them take the matched set of overstuffed maroon armchairs as he stretched his arms out along the back of the couch. Matching his movement, the boy spread his legs wider and spread his hands over the ends of the armrests. He was not-so-subtly trying to make himself look bigger while Bonnie chose a different approach. She sat on the very edge of her seat, closest to Kol, but ready to move if anything should happen. Fight versus flight personified.
"I told you not to call me that," Bonnie said. "Either use my name or don't, but I am not your 'darling.'"
"Such a feisty little witch," Kol said. He wore his arrogant smirk unabashedly. "I like it."
The boy growled and Kol had to resist the urge to laugh. It was funny that the boy thought he might be considered threatening.
"Jeremy," Bonnie warned as she glanced at her companion. "Don't."
"Ah, you're the Gilbert boy," Kol said. He watched the boy's minute flinch of surprise. "Yes, I've heard about you. My siblings have quite a lot to say about all of you. You're 'loyal to a fault and very protective,' particularly of your sister, but I see it's not just the doppelgänger you're protective of." He watched the boy glance at Bonnie. One look full of care, guilt, and worry. "Let me guess, former lovers?" He pointed from Bonnie to Jeremy and raised his eyebrows.
A brief look passed between Bonnie and Jeremy, but both looked away so quickly he was surprised neither suffered whiplash from the movement.
"That's a yes," Kol said. "And it ended recently." He turned to face Jeremy fully. "Maybe you shouldn't be here. You might throw my witch off her game."
Both of them began to protest at the same time.
"I am NOT your-" Bonnie exclaimed, but she was interrupted by the ferocity of Jeremy's outburst.
"She's not your anything!"
Kol's grin grew, and he opened his mouth to taunt them some more, but Bonnie stopped him before he could say anything.
"I didn't invite you in so you could harass me and Jeremy. Either share what you know or get out," she hissed.
Kol arched a brow. "Are you going to make me? What will happen to Caroline and Elena?"
She scowled, and he had a fraction of a second of warning before searing pain ripped through his head. It felt like someone was shattering his skull with a sledgehammer. He was surprised at the force of her spell, but he and his family had been the target of this trick many times over the centuries, and unlike younger vampires, this wouldn't hold him down for long.
After a moment, he was able to sit up and lean in toward Bonnie until they were nose-to-nose. He rubbed a couple fingers against his temple, but otherwise, there was no sign of the pain that still reigned in his head. He growled and a hint of his true visage slipped through his tenuous control.
"Careful, little witch," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
Kol couldn't explain why the comment made Jeremy snicker, but it was enough to make him look away from the witch for a second. The pain also slipped away as she glanced over at Jeremy as well, fighting a smile.
"I can't believe I just heard someone say that unironically," Jeremy said. "Never thought I'd hear that."
"Jeremy, this isn't the time," Bonnie admonished.
"Sorry, sorry," Jeremy said, though he didn't sound at all apologetic. "But you gotta admit, it's pretty funny. I mean, I guess an Original and the Hulk do have some things in common - incredible strength, anger issues-"
"Jeremy…" Bonnie sighed.
Kol was lost, looking between the two. He didn't appreciate being mocked, but he felt like he wasn't the butt of this joke - though he didn't know.
Jeremy caught sight of Kol's face and snickered again. "Being stuck in a box sure means you miss out on pop culture. Okay, I'm gonna show you something so you can see what's so funny. Cool?"
Kol shrugged. He wasn't sure how he felt about what Klaus had done to him being brought up in so cavalier a manner, but if it meant not being in the dark, he was interested.
Jeremy pulled a small device out of his pocket. In the brief time his siblings had tried to catch him up, he thought they had called it a smartphone. Jeremy tapped the screen a few times before turning it around so Kol could see. He watched as a mundane man said the same words Kol himself had just used, but a few seconds later, the man transformed into a hulking green creature. The creature flipped a car with ease as a voice talked about the "Incredible Hulk" and the man who became him.
When that video ended, small pictures popped up, and Kol tapped one before Jeremy had a chance to take his phone back. This time, a more realistic, but even larger, green man filled the screen. He was shown scaling a tall building and smashing opponents as he went.
"What is this?" he asked. Both his anger and his deal with Bonnie were forgotten in favor of these moving images and the never-ending links to new videos. Jeremy turned the screen a little so he could see, and he chuckled.
"The first one was from an old show - The Incredible Hulk. But this is a trailer for a movie that due to come out in a few weeks. The character's the same, but redone. I can't wait to go see it. You could come with," Jeremy said, hesitating a little. "You know, if you haven't turned on us and killed me."
"And if he's still alive," Bonnie snapped. "Remember the whole reason I broke this house's no vampire rule? Because if he's not alive, neither is Caroline, and Elena may as well be dead too."
Jeremy had the decency to look abashed, and muttered an apology under his breath. Kol was less apologetic. There was still so much to learn now that he was awake again, but he had to be alive to do so. He turned to look at Bonnie because she was taking charge now, and he was willing to listen. For now.
"First, I need a way to know you're telling the truth when you translate your mother's curse for me," Bonnie said as she waved the pages he had given her. "You could tell me anything to make it look like you're holding up your end of the deal, and I've been burned before."
"You are a clever witch," Kol said. "Of course, coming from Ayana's line, I'd expect nothing less. I know a few truth spells, but I don't personally want any of them cast on me - nasty things, you know. But, I do have one other trick up my sleeve if you're interested?"
Bonnie cocked her head to the side, reading him. She nodded slowly.
"Fantastic! It's a cool trick I picked up in Africa. It's a spell the temporarily allows you read another language, as long as it's the mother tongue of the witch you're channeling."
"That's great," Bonnie said sarcastically. "But I don't know any witches whose mother tongue is Norse."
"You're looking at one."
"You're not a witch," Bonnie said, confidence colored her tone. "You can't be a witch and a vampire. Not even an Original."
Kol nodded. "True, but this is a spell of my mother's doing, which should tell you the power that runs through my family. And I was the only one of us to tap into my powers before she turned us, so if it's going to work, I'm your best bet. And if it helps, I've been used for this spell before, by witches with less raw power than you. This will work."
Bonnie still looked unsure, but before she could ask another question, her phone rang. Even without looking, she said, "That's Elena. One sec."
She answered the phone under the full attention of the room. Jeremy looked concerned and leaned toward Bonnie. Without effort, Kol could hear both sides of the conversation. Bonnie wasn't able to say much through Elena's ceaseless words, though. She told Bonnie about her meeting with Esther, a bowl of blood, spelled champagne, Damon sleeping with Rebekah - which Kol was definitely going to use against his sister later - and not being able to find Elijah.
Even with enhanced senses, Kol could barely keep up with the flow of Elena's words. Bonnie just looked lost. There was a pause on the other end, probably so the doppelgänger could gasp for breath, and Bonnie took advantage.
"Breathe, Elena," she said. "Have you called Caroline?"
"She's already here."
"Okay. Make some tea. I'll be over soon."
Elena agreed, and the phone line went dead. Jeremy offered to drive her before Bonnie could lower the phone.
"I'm coming too," Kol said.
"Not a good idea," Jeremy said. "Elena won't want you near after you hurt Matt."
"But you're not concerned?" Kol asked with a raised eyebrow.
Jeremy shrugged. "Nah. I mean, I don't trust you or anything, but I know what you're after, and killing us or Elena isn't going to get it for you. But Elena's gonna trust you even less."
"I agree. You can stay here," Bonnie said.
"Nope," Kol said. He popped the p and hopped up. "I'm not letting you get away from me. What if something happened to the only person who can help me? Consider me your shadow."
Bonnie looked over at Jeremy, who held his hands up at her. "Hey, there are worse things than an Original watching your back. Even if it is only for selfish reasons. It worked pretty well when Elijah was watching out for us for Elena."
Bonnie scowled. "Yeah, for everyone but Elena."
"This is different."
She relented, and that was how Kol found himself invited into the Gilbert house and learning how to play video games downstairs with Jeremy while Bonnie was upstairs futilely trying to replicate his mother's privacy spell. He was glad she was struggling with it since that gave him the chance to half-listen to their conversation while he quickly picked up killing massive numbers of digital people.
"This is great," he told Jeremy, but he kept his voice down because they had snuck him into the house to avoid the Elena issue for as long as possible.
He was about to stop listening to the girls' conversation, which was squarely focused on Damon - if Kol didn't know Elena was meant for his brother, he would think she was Damon's. She sounded positively jealous of finding Rebekah with him that morning. But then, he heard his name come up. Bonnie was talking about Esther's visit the night before, and Kol was interested in Elena's seemingly genuine concern of what Esther was going to do to his siblings - though most of her concern centered on Elijah. But then, Bonnie mentioned Kol.
"There have been a couple of odd visitors at my house lately," she said. "Esther last night and Kol this morning."
"Kol?" Elena asked. "What did he want? After he hurt Matt, I wouldn't trust him anywhere near me. I think he might even be crazier than Klaus."
Kol smirked. That was something at least. There was a perfect moment of silence upstairs, and then he heard Bonnie mumble, "He might be downstairs with Jeremy playing-"
The rest of her sentence was cut off by Elena exclaiming, "WHAT?!" The door to her bedroom was yanked open and slammed into a wall before three sets of footsteps raced for the stairs. He took the moment before they appeared to pause the game - "Hey!" Jeremy exclaimed, but he turned at the sound of the footsteps as well. Kol turned around to watch the stairs and donned his most charming smile.
Which had no effect on Elena's racing heart. At the bottom of the staircase, she froze, staring at Kol and how close he was to Jeremy. When Bonnie and Caroline joined her, she turned to glare at Bonnie, who just said, "Hey, I'm not the one who invited him in. I don't have that ability."
Elena turned her glare on Jeremy, who stood and moved to lean on the back of the couch. "I know," he said, "but he's going to help us figure out what's wrong with you." Kol noticed he left out that they knew what was happening with Elena.
"Me?" Elena said. "Nothing's wrong with me! What has he told you to make you think that?"
"You're acting-"
"It's more to do with who you can't find," Kol said as he joined Jeremy. He wondered how vague he needed to be to work around his mother's curse.
"Elijah?" Elena asked. Well, apparently that question was vague enough. "What have you done to him?" The fear was starting to seep out of her posture, replaced by a fierceness he hadn't expected.
"I didn't do anything to my brother," Kol said.
A frown flickered across her face. Okay, so that was too specific. Interesting limits his mother had set. Kol would need to see what could be done with that.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. After a moment, Elena went to answer it.
"Miss Gilbert," the newcomer said. "My mother has sent me to collect you, and I'm afraid you don't have a choice."
"Finn?" Kol asked.
"Brother," Finn said. He nodded his head in Kol's direction. "This complicates matters a little, but I'm sure Mother's magic will work still."
Kol noticed that none of the others were moving. Maybe they didn't recognize the threat here. However, when he tried to move, he found he was unable. Ah, yes, Mother's magic…
"And what makes you think I'll go with you?" Elena asked. She had her hands on her hips as she stared his eldest brother down. Kol could see why Elijah was interested. The girl's heart was racing. She was unmistakably petrified, but still, there was steel in her voice. There was more to this girl than there appeared. Kol wished he could do something to aid her.
"Mother had hoped you would be more cooperative today," Finn said, "but she made preparations just in case." He blew a pinch of powder in her face. Elena shook her head before meeting Finn's eyes again. His tone sank into the soothing tone used for compulsion. "You will come with me, and you will do so without complaint or resistance."
"Without complaint or resistance," Elena echoed, and her voice now lacked all the personality it had had a moment ago. She followed Finn outside and down the porch steps, where he picked her up and the pair disappeared in a flash.
As soon as they were gone, Kol found he could move again, and he raced for the door. Only to slam into a barrier. He pressed his hand against the still open doorway, and found that for the first time, he was trapped on the inside of a threshold. When the others tried to leave, they were met with the same result.
"What is Mother up to now?" Kol asked no one in particular.