"Nice…very nice…" Kol mused, the TV remote posed in hand as he cocked his head and studied the Italian cookware a tall blonde with perfectly manicured hands was promoting on the screen.
"What's nice?" Misha chuckled, imitating the original's voice as he walked into the front parlor
"Ruffoni copper cookware," Kol replied with a smirk, not taking his eyes off the screen as Misha plopped down next to him on the couch, "Apparently, the Salvatore brothers have been holding out on us. The Home Shopping Network is at the top of their favorited channels list."
"No…" Misha smiled amusingly
"Oh, true story!" Kol chuckled, hitting a button on the remote and bringing up the Favorited Channels on the screen, "Look."
"Well, vampires don't always sleep," Misha replied with a shrug, studying the list of channels, "Just like about ten percent of the human population…and the Home Shopping Network is the only thing on 24/7…"
"You never run out of excuses for people, do you?" Kol smirked then pointed toward the screen again, "Oh! Just look at those sauce pans!Those alone are works of art…perfect for alfredo, marinara, pesto, béchamel—"
"Whoa…whoa!" Misha laughed, holding up his hands and turning to the original, "Back the sauce train up! How do you know about Italian sauce pans?"
"We lived in Italy at least three times over the last thousand years, I may or may not have learned how to cook Italiano…" Kol answered with a sly smile
"Do you think you can remember some of it?" a familiar voice sounded from the doorway
Kol's smile immediately vanished as he turned off the television and he and Misha both turned their gaze immediately to Damon Salvatore standing, albiet disheveled, in the threshold.
"Uh…I think so. Are—are you hungry?" Kol asked Damon, raising a curious eyebrow as he watched Misha stand and make his way over to the older Salvatore brother.
"Famished," Damon said softly, his eyes heavy and still brimming with tears as he looked down to the blood bag resting in his hand, "But, I'm just not into the red stuff right now…it makes me think of—"
"We understand," Misha soothed, taking the blood bag from Damon's hand and studying him with sad eyes
"So no red sauce, then, huh?," Kol quipped as he stood from the couch and made his way across the room, moving past Misha and putting a hand on Damon's shoulder as he guided him out into the hall and started leading him toward the kitchen, "Well, there are other options—"
"Bolognese?" Damon suddenly interjected in a soft, tired voice before raising his eyes to Kol, "It was… our favorite—Stefan and me—my father used to make it for us."
Kol studied Damon for a moment then gave a sympathetic smile, bringing two fingers up to tap on the side of his temple, "I think I can pull that one from the old noggin."
# # # # #
After he watched Damon and Kol disappear into the kitchen, Misha climbed the front staircase in search of Rebekah, looking around as he reached the top landing.
"Rebekah?" he called softly
"We're here," Klaus' voice sounded nearby
Misha turned his gaze immediately in the direction of the original's voice, a small smile crossing his face as he took in the sight of the siblings lounging on the window seat at the end of the hallway, Rebekah sleeping against Klaus' chest, his arm securely around her as he lovingly looked down into her face, watching her.
"How is she?" Misha asked walking toward them
"She's stopped crying for now…" Klaus smirked sadly, brushing a lock of hair out of Rebekah's eyes
"I know Stefan's death has been hard for her and for you—"
"You know what the hardest part about all this has been for me?" Klaus suddenly interjected, his voice breaking as looked up to the warlock, the emotion clear in his eyes, "Well, besides the part that a vampire who was once my friend and comrade was staked through the heart before I could take back the last few terrible things I said to him, is the part where my baby sister comes to me and wraps her arms around me like she used to when she was little and ask me, sobbing her eyes out, when we are going to stop paying for our sins."
Klaus closed his eyes, the tears falling down his cheeks.
There was a moment's pause, before Misha took another step closer.
"And what did you tell her?" he asked softly, his eyes sympathetic as he studied Klaus
"That I don't know," Klaus whispered, opening his eyes again an wiping under them with his free hand as he shook his head, "I'm supposed to be the 'evil badass' in this town, but tonight I had to look my little sister in the eyes and tell her that it isn't up to us to decide when the debt is paid. We have fate and… a spell your mother cast a thousand years ago to thank for that."
# # # # # #
"Where is Elena?" Elijah asked, studying Katherine
"You know what I love most about you Elijah?" Katherine replied, biting her lip as she studied Elijah, "That you were always so much more than a handsome face. Ugh! It always seemed to take the Salvatore brothers ages to figure out when I was playing the part of sweet, innocent, Elena. Not that I minded, of course, but—"
"I asked you a question," Elijah said, leaning closer to her face, his eyes flashing with anger
Katherine rolled her eyes as she struggled in the originals grasp, but he held firm and she relented.
"Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch! Elena is fine, she's upstairs in bed where you left her last night...she's naked, obviously," she said, raising an eyebrow, "because yours truly borrowed her dress…but fine."
Elijah's nostrils flared, looking her over for a moment, deciding if she was telling the truth, before releasing her neck and stepping back as she pushed herself off the wall.
"How did you get past the protection spell on the house?" he asked, still eying her curiously as she rubbed her neck and circled him, making her way toward the refrigerator.
"You think that you are the only one with witch friends?" Katherine scoffed over her shoulder as she opened the door, "Please… the spell Vivienne cast on this place was child's play."
"So, why are you here, Katerina? What do you want?" Elijah continued, folding his arms across his chest
Katherine retrieved a bottle of fruit juice from the fridge and closed the door, narrowing her eyes at the original as she screwed off the top.
"What do I want?" she asked in a bitter tone, "Wow…what is with your attitude? You disappoint me. I thought that after our last encounter, that we were finally on the path to becoming friends, you know, healing old wounds…especially since Misha has been having me do your spying for you."
Elijah sighed, walking around the counter to face her, tapping his fingers on the counter top as he watched Katherine take a swig from the bottle, his anger fading at her words.
She was right. Things between them had changed since she had returned his ring and they had taken their own road trip together.
"Then why the charade?" he inquired, his eyes softening, "And the kiss?"
Katherine straightened, taking a measured breath as she screwed the lid back on and walked over to the refrigerator, opening the door and placing the bottle back inside before closing the door and turning back to face the original.
"I guess old habits die hard…" she shrugged, "I would say 'I'm sorry', but honestly, I think that after five hundred years, I'm mentally and physically incapable of doing that."
Elijah couldn't help but chuckle her comment and Katherine herself smiled at his reaction, leaning forward on the counter, their eyes meeting.
"So tell me why you're here?" Elijah asked in a kinder tone
Katherine nodded
"As I mentioned before, and as you probably remember, since I left you at Misha's house, I've been using my elusive hiding skills to keep an eye on everything in Mystic Falls…" she pointed out, "that's how I knew that you and Elena had left town and where to find you."
The original straightened, his eyes narrowing, "So what exactly did you see that compelled you to come here?"
"It's not what as much as who," Katherine replied, giving Elijah a knowing glance
Elijah cocked his head, intrigued as Katherine took a deep breath before she spoke again, dropping her bombshell
"There is a vampire hunter in Mystic Falls, Elijah."
Elijah processed what she said for a moment then stepped back from the counter, shaking his head.
"That's impossible, I haven't seen a hunter in well over—"
"Two hundred years?" Katherine interjected, completing his sentence, "I know. Neither have I—not since your father—and definitely not a human one since the days of the Order of St. Sebastian."
"Klaus killed the surviving members of the order in the 1870s and, unless there were decedents we didn't know about, I don't see how—"
"My gut tells me that this hunter isn't like any other we've faced, Elijah," Katherine added, and Elijah noted a hint of fear in her eyes
"What do you mean?" Elijah inquired, his own eyes turning worried
"I—I saw him," Katherine said in a low, nervous tone, adverting her eyes as she stood, raising herself from the counter, "And I…well…I recognized him."
Elijah's face fell ashen, "What?"
"I couldn't remember exactly where at first," Katherine said softly, "But then I thought about when you first took me to Misha's house, back when we were looking for answers about Esther, and I saw all those pictures on the wall of him through the centuries…So, I went back there and sure enough..."
Elijah watched as Katherine reached into the front of her dress and pulled out what looked like a folded piece of parchment.
She unfolded it slowly, laying it on the counter and sliding it across to the original as he leaned forward and looked down at the portrait sketch of Misha's family-Ayanna in the center, with smaller portraits of her six children surrounding her that Katherine had taken from the warlock's home.
"It was him, Elijah," Katherine finally said, pointing to the image of a teenage boy in the lower right hand corner of the sketch, beneath Misha's own portrait, "I'm sure of it."
Elijah eyes widened and he took in a trembled breath, rubbing his hand nervously over his upper lip as he looked down into the eyes of his old apprentice.
"So, my gut was right then, that this isn't any ordinary hunter... not if you're afraid of him..." Katherine whispered, judging the original's reaction
Elijah lowered his hand slowly from his mouth
"Mother always said, 'There must be a balance'..." he whispered, as if in a trance, his eyes still locked on the portrait of the young man in front of him
Katherine's own eyes widened as she cocked her head, trying to meet the original's gaze.
"This isn't the first time he's been in Mystic Falls, is it, Elijah?"
# # # # # #