I have no clue why this chapter took me so long to write. Absolutely none… It's not even that good. Didn't check for spell/textual mistakes - sorry in advance.
Sleep overtakes me and when my eyes open again it's to the strange tingling at the back of my neck that verges on throbbing. I try to focus on the feeling to take my mind off the disturbing rush of dreamt memories that plagued my sleep. It doesn't work too well and I keep seeing vestiges of images flashing behind my eyes.
I'd like to believe that most what I'd dreamt was just that – a dream, or nightmare if you will – but I know as clear as I was alive that they were memories. Painful memories that reminded me why only a short while ago I decided my life was void. They claw at my mind, whispering torment into my prone body.
The most prominent memory, from no further back than that very morning, from no one other than my soulmate… My thoughts seem to circle around his parting words, prodding at it as if a viper would sling itself at me in any moment. It seems the centre of my self-initiated torture and it appears to be somewhat fitting – especially as Klaus was right, and his words defined my life thus far.
Still they haunt me and leave a well of shame in their wake.
My rational side wants to disregard his words and pretend he had never said them. By the less-rational, darker part of my mind (the side that likes to whisper disarming words and make me look like a fool) curls up tight and refuses to be budged. It's this that keeps replaying Klaus' words, which reminds me over and over that I'm pathetic and that I'm weak.
Out the corner of my eye the world seems lighter and I wonder through my dull, depressing haze whether the sun is shining through the window and painting my prone body warm. I can't feel it, but the mere idea of caressing light glowing over me makes the annoying tightness behind my eyes lessen.
Seconds tick away and I watch the world around me turn brighter, waking up as my neck prickles annoyingly and I recognise the dryness of my throat. It's probably a little too soon to hope or believe, yet I feel a giddy sense of excitement that I might regain feeling in my body.
Seconds turn into minutes and possibly even into hours, I'm not too sure about the time. All I know is that the room is fully lit now and the thirsty ache is now a vicious clawing with every breath I take. I can't imagine that Klaus or Hayley would be here, they tended to leave the house during the day, but I'm desperate and in dire need of liquid.
I clear my throat ever so slightly and mentally cringe at the sharp pain. "Hayley?" my words are no more than a whisper and I press my lips closed, trying to gather some moister in the dry cavern so I could somewhat wet my parched throat. After a moment and a deep agonising swallow I try again. "Klaus?"
The sound comes out slightly louder, yet just as croaky, I can only wish that if either were here that they have heard me. For some time I wallow in my lonesome before I hear the soft pattering of feet outside the room. I don't necessarily want to see or speak to Klaus at the moment, yet I still hope it is him with a fierceness that scares me.
"Hello, darling," comes the soft greeting.
If my stomach could clench it probably would, maybe my toes would curl too. A frown mars my brow and I breathe out an exasperated sigh. Not Klaus, not Hayley, not even Damon…but familiar enough for me to remember facial expressions and flirtatious remarks. "I didn't know Klaus would let you in here, Kol."
The vampire chuckles, it's a rough, humming sound that might have been seductive in another life – I don't care too much for it, not nearly as warm as it should be. "He didn't, not that I need his permission though. It's technically the family house,"
"Minor details," I grumble drily and a spark of irritation makes my lips twitch, I'm just so sick of this position. "Why are you here?"
"Minor details," he replies and I remember why I liked him the barest amount. Kol was as volatile as Klaus.
A reluctant smile makes its way over my face. "Of course,"
He makes this hum-like sound that suspiciously resembles of a cat's purr – or thunder in the distance, either really. "Never mind that. You seemed to have had a run in with Hayley and Klaus. Nothing too serious I hope?"
"Not serious at all," I say as lightly as I can, although my tone is rather dry. "Shoulders and neck are just a little stiff from exercise."
Again with that humming sound, louder now, "I heard you calling. Do you require my assistance?"
I purse my lips considering if I should tell him what he could do with his assistance. Yet my throat is in pain and I'm having trouble taking breaths as each grates along my trachea. "Well if you are bound to waste my time and energy you might as well fetch me some water."
"Delighted," he murmurs and I hear his footsteps. I hadn't thought he'd do it, especially after the unnecessary insult, but it didn't hurt that he was willing. Kol returns much too quickly and I don't have the time I needed to overcome the gratefulness that surely shows on my face.
The only saving grace, which I soon discover is actually a damn problem, is that I still have my back turned to him.
"Your water, dearie," Kol informs me and for a long time I wonder at the sheer absurdity of this situation. I could pretend to be asleep, but he'd surely know – he's a bloody vampire for goodness sake! I also dabble on the possibility of asking him to help me. While neither seems ideal or appealing, it's merely a case of whether my thirst is bigger than my ego.
Suck it up, Clearwater.
In fact, I do, quite literally too. I breathe long and deep, ignoring the burn of my throat. It takes me another quick pang of dread before I convince myself to seek assistance. "Ah," Damn, "Could you maybe…" I clear my throat and cringe, "Could you turn me over?"
I receive no reply, but moments later the world is turning and I get a face full of Kol's smug mug. He grins genially at me for a long moment before shuffling me some more so that I'm sitting with my head resting against the wall. "Seems like the bone's already healed," His eyes flash in amusement as my brows furrow.
"You knew," I accuse.
"I know a great many things, Leah." Kol chuckles lightly and winks.
Miffed, I crease my brows further, refusing to be drawn in by his stupid humour. My cheeks are probably mutating into a terrible splotchy red. "You knew and still you waited for me to ask for your help." It probably wouldn't have been a big deal had the situation been any different, but my ego felt bruised and all I really wanted was to scoff and turn my back on the vampire.
"Guilty as charged," his smirk doesn't falter for a moment, if anything he seems to enjoy my accusing him. Kol settles down on the edge of the bed and rests a hand on my still numb knee. "You're fun to tease. Most people – and by this I mean Klaus and my darling siblings – get all angry and aggressive. You on the other hand seem to almost…pout? Possibly. Oh, no, don't pull such a face," he laughs.
I can't deny that I felt rather pouty, but I damn well didn't like the idea. Pouting was for petulant children and bad selfies. Independent, female, wolf shape-shifters did not pout – or at least that's what I attempted to convey in a down right ferocious scowl. The vampire merely continued to chuckle at my expense, making me want to bite my inner cheek in annoyance. After defiantly glaring for several minutes, I managed to ease into a troubled sigh. "Water please," I uttered lacklustre, this day wasn't going all too well.
Thankfully Kol places no resistance on this and proceeds to lift a frosted glass – complete with straw – up to my lips. Gratefully I sip the water, allowing my gaze to wander around the room, mostly to avoid the amusement still glimmering in Kol's eyes. I take in the spill of sunlight across the end of my bed as cool liquid soothes my throat.
Once the glass empties Kol retracts it and places it down on the side table.
I turn to him. "What time is it?"
He blinks and cocks his head to the side, "Almost noon."
My lips tremble and I groan, "I'll probably not make it to work tonight." Kol offers no reply and I sigh anew. "I can't believe I'm going to do this," Lord only knows when Klaus and Hayley will return. I grumble and my gaze finds the Original's curiously blank face. "I need you to call the Grill for me and tell them I won't be in tonight."
"What will I receive in return?"
My jaw drops, "Excuse me?"
One of the vampire's brows hikes up and that amused glint reappears. "Just as I said."
A deafening moment ensues and I spend it glaring cautiously at the man. He's Klaus' brother, nothing good can come from this; he's probably going to ask for the last drop of blood in my dying body or something. Not that he really needs to ask, I can't fight him off at the moment. Shit, my frowning deepens but Kol remains impassive. I lick my lips nervously; do I really need to let someone know I won't be at work?
Don't be stupid, Clearwater, I can hear Klaus scoff in that masterful condescending tone of his. It's going to be my first day – technically – so missing it is tantamount to throwing this opportunity out the window. I chew at the top lip in consideration. Finally, "What do you want, bloodsucker?"
He pretends to think over my words, his eyes dancing over my face and Kol's lips quirk into a leer. "Many, many things, Leah Clearwater, much of which you cannot grant me."
I stiffen, or at least I try to, but my nerves are still severed and my body refuses to accept my demand. "What the hell does that mean?" I snap and glower. Is he purposely making this difficult? Does he want to piss me off?
"Yet if I were to ask something of you, something your mortal self is capable of, mind you-"
"I'm not human-mortal, bloodsucker," I snarl, not necessarily eloquent, but he should understand anyway.
He rolls his eyes dramatically, "I'd have to ask you for a dance."
Kol's words give me pause and I stare at him, befuddled, what now? The vampire – a bloodsucking Original with a maniacal family – was asking me, of all people, for, of all things, a dance? Was this some kind of joke amongst the Michaelson's? Did they make a habit of fooling around with people's sanity? Klaus was clearly adept at it; Kol was proving to be not far behind his elder brother.
"A…dance?" I repeat, just to make absolutely, positively, incredibly sure that I had heard him right. You never know, he might have said anything along the lines of 'a chance' to 'endurance'. It was possible. I kid you not.
"Yes, a dance of my choosing, at a time of my choosing, at a place of my choosing." He confirms and I can't help but think he looks unbearably proud of himself. What does he know that I don't?
My lips twitch, "I refuse to do anything naked." I state firmly and as an afterthought add: "And no spilling of blood,"
Kol chuckles and shakes his head, "And here I was planning a bloody orgy." At the look on my face his laughter dies down the tiniest. "Very well, your additions to our deal have been noted."
I nod and sigh, it seemed harmless enough, yet I still didn't trust him completely. Kol was mad and enigmatic enough to be Klaus' brother, but his mischievous, asshole-ness made me wonder if he had any relation to Damon.
"Is it only the spilling of your blood that's prohibited or may another bleed for you?" He asks with a sardonic smile and if I could I'd throw a pillow at him. He chuckles and pats my knee, "Answer recalled,"
After Kol leaves, the day becomes a blur of boredom. I'm tempted to let my mind recall the past but it seems a dangerous path to follow so I drabble on petty things…like the scratches on the back of the door or the indent in the wall. Somehow they manage to capture my attention long enough that sleep reclaims me and when it splutters me from its dreamless depths it's to see the room shrouded in darkness.
My body is now lying down instead of sitting up with my back against the wall and a blanket covers me from the neck down. For a moment I wonder who moved me, who bothered to draw the blanket to my chin and protect my prone limbs from the chill that's biting at my cheeks and chin. The wonder doesn't last long as my nose picks up the scent of Klaus; it could have been from earlier, from that morning. Yet I know, somehow I just do, that my soulmate had wasted a moment to make me comfortable.
Hours, perhaps minutes, later Hayley arrives and proceeds to hold the phone to my ear. At first I'm confused as to who could be looking for me, but when I hear Matt's concerned voice – slightly electronic now – asking just how sick I was and if he needed to bring me anything, I just about die from how incredibly sweet he is. After I assure him that 'yes' I'm resting and 'no' he doesn't need to come make sure of it, I spend a moment to express my gratitude for his care. Even through the phone line I can imagine his dimpled grin and the way his eye lashes flutter when he tells me to look after myself. I'm not too sure when his dimples or eyelashes became so endearing, but I feel the motherly urge to reassure him.
Once the phone call has ended and Hayley has given me a long scathing look that very well screamed 'why are you being so soft suddenly', I am mercifully straightened and fed – mercilessly – a lacking meal of undercooked potatoes and canned beef. I don't dare complain, lest Hayley refuses to feed me anything at all.
Somehow the night comes and goes, I hear Klaus speaking at some point, yet I'm not graced with his presence. I feel hollow and oddly hurt from being ignored. A few times I call out to him and leave a hanging remark filled with venom in the air. He doesn't answer.
Three days go by and finally the throbbing in the back of my head has subsided. My fingers twitch as I wake, my legs cramp and ache as they struggle between the need to stretch and the threatening stab of pins and needles. I groan into the pillow, curiously aware that that was not the position I had been in when I fell asleep the night before.
Once again, as like most other times I've awaken, I scent Klaus, but he has clearly left long ago. I allow myself to wonder whether Klaus would shove me into this position – one leg curled and the other straight, my face shoved into a pillow and my arms entwined in sheets. I come to the conclusion that, no, Klaus wouldn't have this much creative energy to spare and that I could actually feel my body completely. If not reluctantly.
I manage to roll to the side and whimper as my body explodes with sensory overload. The sheets feel like wax ripping off my first layer of skin and each movement sent sparks of over sensitised threats through the rest of my body.
A minute passes where all I do is groan and whimper pathetically. The way my nerves tingle and pain unnecessarily makes me feel like when I accidentally sleep on my arm and wake up with the limb numb. The thousands of needles prickling my skin seem oddly remnant of those horrible mornings. All I can do is wait it out, movement only worsens it and I'm really not in the mood to be masochistic.
It must be an hour or two that my body takes to re-visit every inch of skin and probe itself with pins from the inside out. I'm glad that in this time period neither Hayley nor Klaus decide to visit me. I must look as tragic as I feel and that's saying a lot considering the absurd amount of emotional and physical wrangling I've gotten into at Mystic Falls.
Vaguely I think back on Damon and Elena, no sooner to shut out the thought than it had appeared. I remind myself firmly that I was not going to get involved, even if only from a distance. They were vampires, they could handle this mess themselves; they certainly didn't need a meddling wolf in the mix.
I manage to roll to the edge of the bed, still as annoyingly vocal about the physical movement. But I somehow succeed in struggling into a sitting position. It feels down right amazing to move my head from side to side – even if the world does spin a little. I take in the room from my new vantage point; nothing's changed in the last three days but I still feel a rush of relief and happiness mingled in with the queasy, contradicting opinions of my head and stomach.
Shuffling clumsily, I scoot off the edge and as soon as my feet hit the ground I sway. Nervously, I clutch at the bed sheets, vainly hoping they'd help me remain upright. It takes me nearly ten minutes to travel the short distance from the bed to the door. Yet I'm determined and struggle on, snarling at the walk the props me every so often.
Because a girl who hasn't been to the toilet for three days can be terrifying if she needs to be…
Shorter than usual, apologies! It was turning into filler at the end anyway. Until next chapter!