November, 1911
Kol hadn't had to bring it up. It was actually Bea who had turned to him one morning and said, "I think I'd be alright with you trying my blood."
He had sputtered and the coffee he'd been drinking wound up on the front of his shirt. It was rare that Kol was caught off guard or looked foolish on accident, so Bea had committed the image in front of her to memory as she tried to smother her laughing.
But now that it was actually happening she was decidedly less carefree.
"You know you don't have to do this, right? I'm not going to hold you to anything, darling."
Bea nodded though, nervous but sure. The more she had thought about it, the more the idea intrigued her. He had told her all about the feeding process, as well as the healing quality of his own blood and its ability to turn others into vampires. She'd begun to find the idea sort of heady – a part of her being inside of him, sustaining him. Being together on such a primal, physical level.
"I know. I want to."
He gently tilted her chin up to meet his eyes, trying to make sure that she wasn't lying to him. He'd gotten pretty good at reading her, but eye contact always made him absolutely sure it seemed when it came to calling her out on her bullshit.
"Alright then. How do you want to do this? It's all up to you."
Bea steeled herself, feeling a little more confidant as she explained the vague plan she'd began forming in her mind last week when the idea had occurred to her for the first time.
"Well I think I'd like to do it on my bed. Sitting down. And I want to use a knife or razor – they won't hurt as much as your teeth, they're much blunter."
Kol looked like he was agreeing with everything she'd said so far, and the question he asked next was one she had been sort of hoping he would, "And would you like some of my blood after to heal you?"
God, it was weird what made her embarrassed or shy. He had seen all of her, and he'd taught her ways that she could bring him the same pleasure he gave her with her own hands and mouth – something she loved doing now, but the idea of drinking some of his blood had her ducking her head to avoid his gaze.
"If you don't mind, oui."
His laughing was loud and bright, mood obviously upbeat with what was going to happen this afternoon. Though he hadn't asked Bea had been fairly sure that tasting her blood was something he really wanted to do, but wasn't going to ask for fear of her throwing a fit.
There wasn't much fanfare around it. They simply walked into her bedroom and kneeled on her comforter while facing one another. Swiftly she removed the bracelet filled with vervain that he had given her a month ago from her left wrist, deciding that it was the location she was most comfortable with him drinking from. She was the one to drag the razor across her wrist, wincing and letting out a whimper while she tried to stifle her response. Kol kissed the spot just beside the deep slit gently before moving an inch to the right and covering the wound with his mouth.
His shift into his vampire face was instantaneous and for the first time Bea saw perfectly clearly in the light what happened when he changed. The whites of his eyes darkened to a deep red, nearly as dark as the brown of his irises and the black veins that spread out beneath them looked like the roots of a tree to her. She could feel his fangs on her wrist, pressing against but not shredding her skin.
After a minute she began to feel the slightest bit lightheaded, though it might have just been a reaction to the bizarre pulling sensation that the suction of his mouth made rather than blood loss. Regardless, when she opened her mouth to ask him to pull away he seemed to anticipate her words and did just that. The blood continued to flow from the cut but it was much more sluggish than the initial river of red.
Immediately he lifted his own wrist to his fangs and bit down, holding it out to her in an offer that was almost surreal when she thought about it. She was about to ingest one thousand year old vampire blood.
On second thought, she should probably do her best to avoid thinking about it.
Bea met his eyes when she first licked against his skin, and Kol's expression was predatory. Not in the hungry way he looked at those he fed on, but the look he gave her when she trailed her fingers across his skin in a slow tease.
Instead of feeling like prey, however, it only made a hunger of her own rise inside of her. She gripped his forearm tightly in a manner that clearly told him she wanted him to stay put, and covered the bite mark he had left with her own teeth. When she sunk her own dull human teeth into the bloody indents no doubt causing a small burst of pain, Kol let out an absolutely improper groan.
Her eyes closed against her will and she took a mouthful of his blood before quickly swallowing it down. She'd tasted blood before from biting her own tongue and on one occasion splitting her lip, but his was different. It was slightly colder, for one thing, and just a touch sweeter than the salty iron she'd been expecting.
After another mouthful Bea made herself open her eyes and pull away. She felt the extra blood smeared across her face and looked in wonder to her wrist where her wound had sealed itself shut, understanding truly that vampirism was something magical. When Kol's eyes met hers, she almost startled. She'd never seen him wear the expression he had on now.
A combination of love, excitement, and pride was splayed across his face. His next words however, made it incredibly clear why he wore that look.
"You're perfect, love. You are going to be a magnificent vampire."
Sitting back on her knees, Bea tossed her hair back and let out a haughty sound of agreement. Without a moment's pause she responded to his compliment with the words that to the both of them seemed like the obvious and inevitable answer to a question that never had to be spoken aloud.
"I really am, aren't I?"
Present Day
Neither woman spoke as they looked up at the burning apartment complex from where they stood in the parking lot. They had packed up anything of value or sentiment as quickly as they could and had already compelled the landlord to believe that they had moved out weeks ago - there was no more to be done before they left. Packing had taken only minutes; the majority of their belongings remained year-round in the house they owned in North Carolina.
But Bea could tell that Rigby was already growing anxious based on the way she had yet to stop fidgeting. Bea had given her only the most basic description of the five years she had been compelled to forget by her fucking brother-in-law before insisting that they proceed with the necessary act of arson immediately.
In continued silence Bea unlocked their car and loaded the suitcases into the trunk, quickly moving around the side before sliding into the driver's seat.
Rigby approached the passenger door slowly, in a way that Bea would categorize as cautious, before gingerly settling in her own seat and propping her feet on the dashboard.
"So what's the plan?"
Bea turned the key and backed out of the parking lot, waiting until the pulled onto the road to answer her best friend.
"We have to reach out to Slater. If we can't get a hold of him, then contact whoever the hell we know that is anywhere near that connected in the supernatural world."
Rigby let out a considering hum in response and reached into the pocket of her jeans to pull out her phone, scrolling through the contacts.
"I still have Slater's number but its from a few years ago - the paranoid fucker changes his contact info way too often. We might as well try it anyway. If he doesn't pull through we can visit Juliette in New York, she has friends in high places. Mind telling me why we're digging through old connections?"
Bea let a slow, sarcastic grin cover her face before reaching to turn on the radio to a horrid, chart topping pop song.
"We have to find out the last place the Originals were seen, and what they have been up to the last few decades."
As soon as Bea had finished speaking the other woman immediately whipped her head to stare at her with a mixture of amusement and bafflement.
"Our scavenger hunt ends with confronting the oldest goddamn vampires in the world?"
"Mhm. We have to find them and by extension find my husband, Kol, who is being carted around with them while neutralized in a coffin."
Rigby let out a low whistle and laughed when she said, "Unexpectedly cliché moves from the multi-millennials."
Bea found herself laughing along, genuine mirth covering up the storm of extreme emotions that had been plaguing her non stop for the last few hours.
Bea turned to her best friend, and a surge of extreme gratefulness and appreciation overtook her. She could never, ever regret turning Rigby. "No time to lose, doll face. We have blood to spill and chaos to spread."
Rigby smirked and let out a low laugh before she responded lightly, "Well it is what we do best. The big, bad Originals won't know what hit them."