The sea's evaporating, though it comes as no surprise
These clouds we're seeing, they're explosions in the sky
It seems its written, but we can't read between the lines

Hush, its okay, dry your eyes, dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes, dry your eyes
Soulmate dry your eyes, 'cause soulmates never die

Placebo – Soulmates Never Die

Chapter 27

It's a beautiful day

It took few seconds before Kol's drunken mind was able to comprehend the fact that Eva's small lips were on his, doing something that was probably meant as a kiss. It was clumsy and insecure; obviously she had no idea what she was doing. His first thought was that a little child was kissing him. What the hell? He jumped to his feet and stared at her disbelievingly, he couldn't understand what was going on here. She was a child, his midget.

"What…" he muttered.

She looked almost shocked; her hands were shaking when she got into a sitting position.

"I-I…" she stuttered.

"What the hell?" he snapped before he managed to stop himself. "What was that?"

"I…I thought…"

Her blue eyes were looking at him pleadingly, begging him to understand something. He didn't, he was too upset.

"You said…you love me," she said so quietly that he could barely hear her.

For some reason that made him even more upset.

"Yes, in a normal way," he snapped. "I do not touch children; that is disgusting!"

He regretted those words as soon as he let them out, but it was too late to take them back. The pain in her eyes was something he had never seen before; he could practically see her heart being torn in pieces. Shit…

"No, no, I did not mean…"

"What is going on here…" Klaus muttered and opened his eyes.

Eva stood up; her eyes were filling with tears.

"Eva…" Kol said tensely. She zoomed out before he managed to say anything else. "Eva!"

He went after her, but lost her, she had always been damn fast.

"Eva!"

The next thing Kol realized was that he was being thrown against the wall.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Klaus shouted angrily. "Did you hurt her?"

Kol glared at him icily.

"She kissed me."

Klaus' eyes widened.

"What?"

Kol didn't say anything else, he needed to find her. He still couldn't fully understand what had happened, why had she kissed him? That look in her eyes… He had seen it many times before in the eyes of the women who had felled for him. Oh shit, this couldn't be happening. She, his little midget, was in love with him. How the hell had that happened and how had he missed it? Well, to be honest the thought of her even being capable of having that kind of feelings had never crossed his mind; she was a child for heaven's sake. That was the thing, she really wasn't a child, she had been a vampire for…what, 30 years? Unfortunately he had been too blind to see that despite of her tiny frame she was very much an adult.

"That was her dream," Klaus muttered. "To have her first kiss. I am guessing that you were not very sensitive?"

Kol pressed his lips together; he truly wanted to kick himself.

"She caught me off guard, but I didn't mean to… I need to find her."

"I should kick your ass," Klaus snarled. "But I will do that after we find her."

I had never run so fast, all I wanted was to outrun my pain.

"Disgusting…disgusting…disgusting…disgusting…"

He had been right, I was disgusting. How had I ever thought that he would want to kiss me? He might have as well just rip my heart out, I was sure that would have been less painful than this. How I could ever face Kol again, he had probably already told everyone how I had made a fool of myself. The thought made me run even faster, I didn't stop before I reached the river. Tears were coursing down my cheeks; I looked up and saw the full moon. My whole body started to tremble; I fell on my knees and cried harder than ever before.

There weren't enough tears in the world to ease my pain, but still I cried for hours. I lied down on the ground and curled up in a fetal position, this pain was burning me from inside out. If I would have had enough strength left, I might have mocked myself for the self-pity, I had brought this on myself. I had known how this would end, I had known that I couldn't have him and yet I had been stupid enough to practically attack him with that pathetic kiss. He had been repulsed and why wouldn't he have been, who would want a disgusting freak to kiss them. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

"Yes, in a normal way…disgusting…disgusting…disgusting…"

I lied there until the first sunrays touched my face; time seemed to have lost all meaning. My tears were dried up; there was nothing left except the black hole which has used to be my heart. It had been wrong to hope, to have a dream, but I would never make the same mistake again. I heard a sound of a horse cantering, but I didn't pay any attention to that.

"Oh no!" a woman's voice said in Tuscan, she had dismounted and was running towards me. "Child?"

She kneeled next to me and touched my face.

"Child? Are you hurt?"

It took a moment before I managed to move; slowly I looked up and saw her. She was beautiful, in her early twenties. She had black hair, tanned skin and hazel eyes, her fingers felt warm on my cheek.

"You are so cold…" she muttered. "It's alright, I will take you to my father, he will help you."

Judging by her gown she wasn't a peasant, but I didn't care about that, a thought was forming in my mind. I could be her. I wanted to be her.

"It's alright," she repeated and wrapped her arms around me, planning to lift me up, but I grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes.

"For now on you will do whatever I say," I stated callously. "Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Yes."

"Good. Are you here by yourself?"

"Yes."

I stood up and ordered her to walk with me to her horse. She mounted first and helped me sit in front of her. I was more determined than ever before, I would have that one day or die trying. The thought almost made me giggle; maybe I had lost my mind. Who cared, I wasn't going to back down. What was I supposed to do, go back home and see the disgust on Kol's face, confusion on Rebekah's face and the pity on papa's face? Maybe Klaus would pity me as well or be repulsed, I really wasn't sure. The ride to the village seemed to last forever, fortunately I had told my loan body to stay quiet, I didn't want to know anything about her. We were drawing a lot of attention when we reached the village square; people were openly staring at us.

"Excuse me," I said to a young man who was carrying skinned rabbits. "Where can we find Agata?"

The man wasn't really looking at me, he was staring at my companion, obviously he liked what he was seeing.

"Excuse me," I repeated, I started to get annoyed.

"What? Yes, madam Agata. She lives in a cottage outside the village."

I asked him for more detailed instructions, which he finally gave after asking few times would my loan body like him to escort us. No, we definitely didn't need a third wheel. Thankfully Agata's cottage wasn't far from the village, she had a small garden and I saw few gooses strutting freely on the yard.

"Wait here," I said to my loan body and jumped on the ground. Determinedly I marched to the door and knocked.

"Come in, young demon," Agata's voice said.

I was surprised, but I opened the door and entered the cottage. It was small and modest; she only had a bed, a small table, a chair and a shelf full of jars and bottles. There was a big cauldron above the fireplace; Agata was standing in front of it.

"You knew it was me?" I said cautiously.

"Yes, I knew you were coming," she replied calmly, she didn't turn to look at me. "You want the spell."

"Yes, I do."

I tried my best to sound confident, she sighed and turned around.

"So be it. You brought yourself a body?"

I nodded and went to the door.

"Come here!"

My loan body dismounted and came inside, Agata glanced at her carelessly.

"Good choice, young and healthy."

I looked at my loan body and told her that everything was fine; she didn't have to worry about anything.

"How does this work?" I asked. "You said my mind will be in her body?"

"Yes."

"What…what about her mind?"

"It will be there as well, but you will control her body, it will be like your own. Her mind will be asleep; she won't know that you are there and she won't remember it afterwards."

"So…you have done this before?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Yes, once."

"What about those risks you mentioned?"

Agata crossed her arms and looked at me callously.

"As I said, young demon, this is a very powerful spell, not some prestidigitation. There are always risks of separating a mind from a body and it will be painful, there is nothing I can do about that."

"Can I die?"

Her expression didn't change.

"That is a possibility, yes, but if you follow my instructions precisely, the risk should be quite small."

I didn't stop and think about that, I couldn't back down now.

"Let's do this."

For a brief moment I thought that she looked almost amused, she motioned me to come closer. I took my loan body's hand and moved in front of Agata, she instructed us to kneel in the middle of a circle which was drawn on the floor. It seemed that she had really known that I was coming; she had made all the arrangements for the spell beforehand. She placed candles around the circle and lit them up with a wave of her hand.

"Do not let go of her hand," she said. "And as I said, this will hurt."

She closed her eyes and started to chant, I held my loan body's hand tighter. It took few seconds before the pain started. Agata hadn't been kidding, it hurt like hell. I felt like hundreds of hot needles would have been sank into my head at once, I screamed and screamed, but didn't let go of my loan body's hand. For a moment I thought that the pain would never end, but then it suddenly did. I had never felt so nauseous and my vision was so blurred that I could barely see at all, clumsily I stumbled outside and threw up in front of the door.

For a moment I was unable to move, I lied on my stomach and tried to catch my breath. Wait, what? I didn't breathe… Very slowly I got up; my legs were shaking so much that they could barely hold me. I was tall… After a moment of hesitation I placed my hands on my waist and slid them up towards my chest. I had breasts, I was a woman. My eyes watered up, I turned around and walked back inside. I still had some trouble to control my new body, I almost fell down few times, but I didn't care. I stopped when I saw my own body lying on the floor; Agata was standing next to it.

"How are you feeling, young demon?" she asked calmly.

"I…better," I muttered with a strange voice.

"Good. I am assuming you do not want to spend your day here?"

For a moment I was confused, then I remembered that the spell only lasted for a day.

"What…"

"I will keep your body safe, you have my word. Remember that you must return here before dawn, otherwise you will kill yourself and the body you are in now."

I felt very strange and I wanted to ask few questions, but then I saw my reflection in a small dirty mirror hanging on the wall. Cautiously I touched my face and smiled, I was beautiful.

"Enjoy your day," Agata stated carelessly.

"Thank you," I managed to say and walked outside. I didn't think that the world had ever looked so beautiful, I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. I wanted to make this a perfect day.