Part 3

"Thank you," a calm voice stated.

Nadine was surprised for hearing those words; she certainly didn't hear them very often. She looked at the beast called Finn and nodded. She had just helped him to wear the tunic of Lord de Quise's brother and brushed his hair. First she had of course helped Rebekah; she was now standing next to the carriage talking with Lucien who was explaining her some basic etiquette. Elijah and Niklaus were getting rid of the bodies and Kol had made himself comfortable in the carriage, he was observing Finn and Nadine. So far it seemed that the beasts were going to let Nadine and Lucien live. She wasn't afraid for her own life, not really, but she was willing to do whatever she needed to do to keep Lucien safe.

"My turn," Kol announced when Nadine was finished brushing Finn's hair.

Lucien looked at Kol tensely; he still had blood on his face.

"With all due respect, my lord, perhaps you should clean yourself up a little first."

"That is exactly what I am planning to do," Kol replied and stood up, he didn't bother to even look at Lucien. Kol grinned and picked up the tunic of Lord de Quise's nephew before marching over to Nadine.

"Come, darling, I believe I will need a hand."

"I will be more than happy to assist you, my lord," Lucien said quickly.

"No," Kol replied, keeping his eyes on Nadine. "She will do that. Will you not, darling?"

Nadine looked at him coolly and nodded. She didn't feel any fear, although she knew that he was probably planning to hurt her. Maybe that would have concerned her if she would have cared about her life. The truth was that she didn't care; she had hated herself for the last two years. A coward like her didn't deserve to live when she had simply watched her family's suffering without even trying to save them. Her poor brothers had cried out for her when the soldiers had dragged them outside after brutally killing their parents and she had done nothing. She had just let those innocent children to die. Perhaps this was finally her punishment.

"My lord, please…" Lucien started.

"Kol," Finn huffed. "Leave the girl alone, you just fed. And you need to honor the agreement we made with her brother."

Kol rolled his eyes before glancing at Finn.

"I am not planning to feed on her; I simply want her to help me like she just helped you. I need to look like a nobleman, don't I?"

"Yes, but…"

"Good, we are going to the river then, I need to wash up." He paused briefly and looked at Nadine. "Come."

Reluctantly she followed him; she had the hairbrush with her. The river wasn't far; he didn't say anything before they reached it.

"Well," he started grinning and took his tunic off. "Serve me then."

Her face was callous when she took the tunic from him and walked over to the riverbank. He didn't say anything when she soaked the piece of clothing in the water and returned to him. Calmly she started to clean his face with the wet tunic.

"You have a nice touch, darling," he stated after a moment of silence. "What I cannot understand is why you are not afraid of me. Any smart person would be."

She concentrated on her task, ignoring his words. When she was finished, she helped him to wear the new tunic and moved behind him. She had to push up on her toes in order to brush his hair, he was a tall man.

"I could get used to this," he hummed. "I have sometimes considered of getting myself a human slave…"

Before she managed to stop herself, she pulled his hair quite roughly with the brush. No more than a second later he had turned around and grabbed her arms.

"Not very smart, darling," he snarled. "Perhaps you are foolish enough for not being afraid of me, but I think your brother is going to be more than afraid when I skin him."

Now Nadine was definitely afraid, if anything would happen to Lucien because of her… She shook her head pleadingly and quickly kneeled in front of Kol, praying that he would accept her apology. It made now difference how she needed to humiliate herself; she would do it without hesitation.

"Well, well," he purred after a brief silence. "You really love your brother. I bet you would do anything for him."

She pressed her lips together and nodded. He offered her his hand and helped her to her feet.

"Now, here's the problem. Normally when someone hurts me, I simply…well, kill them. Why should I not do that now?"

She looked into his eyes and bowed her head. Hopefully he would name his price.

"Perhaps I can forgive you this one time, but you will have to give me something in return."

She gritted her teeth and nodded, although she felt sick to her stomach. The thought of letting a monster to deflower her was horrible, but it didn't really matter in the end. He didn't really need her consent anyway.

"A kiss."

She looked up, surely she had misheard him. He smirked and touched her hair.

"You see, darling, my siblings and I have been traveling for a while now, I have spent every boring moment with them because my brother insists that we must stay together. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy traveling and killing, but it has been a while since I have had a chance to properly taste a woman." He paused and touched her cheek. "Fortunately for you, I happen to like feisty little things like you, so… Give me a kiss that pleases me and we are even. Your brother can keep his miserable life."

She really wasn't sure if he was serious or not, but she thought that giving him what he wanted would be the smartest thing to do at the moment, although it was very unlikely that he would settle for a kiss. She stepped in front of him, raised her head, closed her eyes and pouted her lips.

"You expect me to do all the work?" he stated, a note of amusement clear in his voice.

She opened her eyes and looked at him cautiously. He was still smirking when he ran his thumb up to the corner of her mouth and moistened it between her lips.

"You haven't done this before, have you?"

She kept her head proudly up, thrusting out her chin, but she had to struggle to hold still when he leaned towards her.

"Allow me to show you, darling," he purred.

She tensed when he wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her tight against him. Softly his lips tasted hers, she felt him brushing his tongue over her lips. When she got over her confusion, her first thought was that this didn't feel so bad. She knew that she should have been nothing but repulsed, she had just washed off the blood of the man he had killed. He was a monster; he had wanted to kill Lucien. Yet some very small foolish part of her wasn't repulsed. That made her nothing but disgusted with herself.

The kiss was almost gentle at first; he kept the tempo slow, like he would have wanted her to enjoy it. Soon his mouth became more dominant and demanding, his tongue penetrated deep into her mouth. She didn't like that; her heart was pounding fast when her hands went to his chest, feeling the need to push him away. Somehow she managed to stop herself from doing that; she needed to do this for Lucien. She was panting when he finally pulled away, looking utterly pleased with himself.

"I knew I could speed your heartbeat up," he hummed and touched her blushed cheek.

"Kol?" Niklaus' voice said before Nadine managed to recover enough to react. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Kol replied innocently and winked at Nadine before turning to look at his brother. Niklaus hadn't got changed yet, he had the new tunic with him. "She's all yours, brother," Kol stated cheerily and marched away. Nadine felt too embarrassed and exposed to look at Niklaus, she was sure that he could see what had happened. Slowly he walked over to her, but he didn't touch her.

"Did my brother hurt you?" he asked.

Somehow she managed to shake her head.

"Alright… Listen…Nadine, was it?"

She nodded.

"If my brother bothers you, I want you to come to me; I will make sure that he behaves."

Nadine looked up; she honestly couldn't understand why he would do something like that. He gave her a tense smile and a nod.

"I think I need to get ready."

His tunic was bloody because he had carried the bodies; Nadine helped him to take it off and went to soak it. He looked surprised when she started to clean his face.

"You don't have to do that," he muttered.

She pointed at herself and bowed briefly.

"Yes, I know you are a servant, but… I have never had any servants."

Still he let her finish and raised his arms when she dressed him. She had got used to this with Lord Tristan. Lastly she brushed Niklaus' hair.

"Thank you, Nadine," he said. "How do I look?"

She nodded and briefly touched his arm, earning a more relaxed smile from him.

"Good."

Maybe this man was a beast like the others, but he had also saved Lucien's life. That was something Nadine would never forget.