-Chapter Six-

Kol is weaving his way through a very crowded Jackson Square. Humans cover every inch of the open space, and the sound of a thousand conversations happening all at once overwhelms the jazz music that is flowing through the Square at the fingertips of the locals. He is trying to enjoy the sights and the sounds of his home, but it is rather difficult when human behavior is distracting. Like now when movement captures his eye, and he turns to watch a teenage girl who is looking at her phone as she walks him and straight into a lamp post which causes her to fall back onto her ass.

Kol chuckles to himself as people surround the girl, who is wearing a dazed look on her face, to help her to her feet. Bored with the scene, Kol sinks his hands into his pocket and continues walking, enjoying a moment to himself. He takes in deep breath, loving the way the fresh salty air chases away the lingering scent of his coffin. It's a constant reminder of him being daggered and that easily angers him so he tries his best to forget it all together.

There is a group of people in front of him that are gathered together to get their picture taken and he slouches as he hurries behind them and away from them just as his vampire hearing hears the click of the camera. Kol lets out a sigh of relief as he doesn't want to risk his siblings finding out where he is. Because that could ruin everything for him. And Davina. He rounds the corner barely missing a man who had his nose stuck in a map. All these people scream "tourists" to him, but none of them look appealing enough to eat.

The locals have several tables spread about the Square, offering services to make themselves a nice living. Two men are standing by the fence playing music on a trumpet and a saxophone with a case in front of them for people to drop money into it. Kol is impressed by their skills so he tosses a five dollar bill into the pile of quarters. The man playing the saxophone nodded at him to thank him. Several of the tables housed paintings and jewelry for sale. He saw several necklaces that he knew Rebekah would love, but he isn't wasting his money on his wench of a sister.

Coffee shops, restaurants, and steamboat companies also had tables offering packages for cruises and different samples of foods and drinks. Kol notices a few tables that represent the different covens of New Orleans and this makes Kol smile, seeing the different cultures blending together to become one. The Covens usually stick to their own kind unless they had a common goal, and would often fight for their territory to keep their word of law pure within their coven. Seeing the different covens in the same space is a sign of progress in the making.

Kol has always believed that witches should be able to come together despite their differences in their beliefs and magical practices. Numbers can offer witches strength when threatened and witches tend to always be at war, trying to win the battle of good vs. evil. Unless such witches have evil intentions or are just plain hungry for more power. Power has often been the criminal behind a witch's turn against the community or delving deep into Black Magic that often requires a bit of power and strength, but there is a great deed of punishment that comes with using such magic. This is why many covens are so hesitant to work together in case the other has anything less than pure intentions.

Kol is pulled from his thoughts when his eyes land on a woman who has her dark curly hand in a head wrap, dark brown feather earrings dangling from her ears, three necklaces around her neck, and rosaries on both wrists. Kol can feel her power; strong and bright. She is sitting at a table with a large glass ball in the middle and an open chair, inviting the next person to come sit for a reading. He gathers from her clothing that she is proud to be a witch and isn't afraid to show it. Kol matches her face to one that was present in Davina's memory, connecting her to be the woman leading the girls out to their brutal deaths. He struggles with the urge to go over and plant his ass into that chair just to see the reaction on her face, but decides against it, not wanting to draw any more unwanted attention to himself because the word would really spread to the ears in Mystic Falls.

His phone vibrates in his pocket to remind him that it's still there, but it only buzzes twice and he sighs in relief because he is not in the mood to deal with any of his family members, not when a young woman with long brown hair takes a seat in the chair across from the older woman. She looks around before leaning in to say something to the older woman. Kol turns his head, filtering through the many voices until he finds the soft feminine voice of the brunette.

"Agnes, the locator spell didn't work," the woman whispers sullenly to this 'Agnes'. "Now what do we do?"

"Sabine is great at what she does, Jane-Anne," Agnes murmurs soothingly, laying a comforting hand on the younger woman's wrist. "Just relax."

"Relax?" Jane-Anne hisses, glaring at Agnes. "How can you expect me to relax when my daughter's life is on the line?"

Agnes smiles at Jane-Anne. "Your daughter is just fine, Jane. You know that she is in a state of Limbo and is spending time learning from our Ancestors. Take pride that your daughter is getting an education that will guide her to be a great presence to our coven and to future generations to come." Agnes hands a few cards to a few people that stop to check out her table and waits until they leave to return her attention to the other witch.

Jane-Anne sits back in her seat. "This ritual has never been performed in the history of our coven, so there is no evidence that it will be successful. So how can we trust Sabine's word that she will come back?" she demands. "How do you know that my daughter is safe?"

"I know that the waiting period is hard," Agnes says gently rubbing the brunette's wrist. "But you have to hold on to your faith as tightly as you can or they will have died in vain. Trust in our coven that the Harvest will be completed."

"How can it be completed when we can't find Davina?"

"Sabine is working nonstop to find a locator spell that will lead us to the girl" Agnes assures Jane-Anne. "Until then, we will continue on with the plan and prepare so that we are ready for when Sabine finds her. It's only a matter of time. The Hops and Cane are done drying and ready for the next step."

Next step? Next step for what? Kol grits his fangs as he forces himself to march away from the women before he does something horrendous in the middle of the day landing the city of New Orleans on every new station across the world. He heard enough from the conversation to know that the witches are planning something. But planning what? And the Ritual… The Ritual is something new which means that there isn't anything in his mother's books that could guide him. So basically, he is looking at a blank page that he needs to fill himself.

Kol feels useless and he hates feeling useless. There has to be information about this ritual somewhere, he just needs to locate it. He figures looking into Sacrificial Magic would be a good place to start searching for loopholes, but the literature is well hidden and for good reason. He could always pick his mother's brain about this matter, but it would lead to his death so he is tossing that option out the window until he no longer sees it. And his siblings would only want something in return if he asked them for their help, so that means he is completely on his own. The first thing he needs to figure out is if this ritual can be reversed once started.

Something in his gut tells Kol that it will have to be completed, but it doesn't mean he can't find a way to reverse it. If it can be reversed. He needs to get started right away because he doesn't know how much time he has to research this ritual before it has to be completed and Nik will be expecting him to be in Denver very soon. So that means that he has to get to work. Now.

Kol feels his blasted pocket buzz again, and he decides that he despises his phone. It makes him feel like a dog on a leash only to be jerked back to his owner when he takes a step too far. And he hates that feeling. He wants to throw it into the Mississippi River and never see it again, but he ignores what he is feeling and pulls the damn thing out anyway. He sees a text message from Elijah which is weird because Elijah's preferred method of communication is always a phone call. However, Kol doesn't have any interest in what his brother has to say so it happily ignores it. He would delete it if he knew how, but the new technology of today is still very new to him. Kol moves on to the next text message and it's from Marcel and opens it.

-I'm finishing up some business at the docks, I'll meet you at Rousseau's when I'm done.

Kol's throat is starting to feel sore as it does when his system is in the need of fresh blood, and he feels the urge to sink his teeth into those two witches and tear them to shreds, so Rousseau's might not be a bad idea, plus he'll be able to tell Marcel everything he has learned in the last five minutes. It doesn't take him long to walk through the Quarter to his destination. The bar is much quieter than the night before with a few customers here and there. It allows him to have any seat he likes, and he chooses a seat at the counter. Kol scans the place for Marcel, but doesn't see him so he assumes that he is the first one to arrive. There isn't anyone tending to the bar, but sounds of dishes being moved around coming through the small door on the left tell him that someone is in the kitchen working. That's fine, Kol doesn't mind waiting for them to finish whatever it is they're doing back there. A folded up newspaper catches his eye and reaches for it.

On the front page in large black bold letters is: Twelve Seminary Students Killed by Fellow Seminary Student. Kol goes on to read that the student responsible for the murders also killed himself. According to the article, the mass murder took place three months ago in the sanctuary of St. Anne's Church. Holy shit… Just three hours ago, he was sitting in a room where thirteen humans violently lost their lives according to the pattern of the blood spray covering the walls and the reason why the rotten coppery smell is as fresh as if it had happened yesterday.

Kol couldn't really judge the poor soul for the mass murder considering he's been the mastermind behind many mass murders in the past. But they are different…Sort of… He's always had reasons for his mass murders though and the article doesn't mention anything about a motive surrounding this horrendous act of slaughters. Now, he understands why Marcel thought it would be a good idea to hide Davina in the attic. With the church closed to the public due to an ongoing investigation, no one is going to enter the church to discover the new occupant living inside those cursed walls. It's kind of a win-win situation for Davina and a genius moved on Marcel's part. Maybe the bloody bastard has a brain after all.

Speaking of Davina… The Harvest.

Kol searches the article until he finds the date and starts mentally calculating the time between the Harvest and the Seminary Massacre. The answer has him raising his eyebrows as the dates of both events are very close together which can be a cause of concern. If the Harvest had been completed, it would have been the second mass killing in two weeks. He wonders if the two events are somehow related because he knows certain numbers have meaning in certain sects of magical practices. He adds the number of dead on his fingers, wincing when he reaches sixteen.

Sixteen.

Only one number away from seventeen, a number that can unlock a series of unfortunate events. Now, he really needs to find out if these two events are connected to each other. But how? When? Kol scans the article again wanting to make sure that he has read every detail that article has to offer or a detail that he could use as a lead. He wishes that he had a notebook so he could jot down his thoughts so they wouldn't get lost in his head.

The sound of glass rattling has Kol looking up to see the blonde bartender from the night before, pushing her way through the door and struggling to carry a stack of bins full of dishes. Kol hurries out of his stool and around the counter to grab the top bin before it has a chance to fall to the floor.

The woman sags against the door frame. "Thanks," she says, letting out a long sigh of relief and shifts her bin around to rest on her hip. "Bring it over here if you don't mind," she tells him, walking over and setting the heavy bin on an open space near the rack of alcohol. "You just saved me a bunch of money."

"Always happy to help," Kol quips charmingly, setting the bin down where she requested. "This place is nice and quiet at the moment," he adds, walking back around to the customer side of the counter, "thought I'd help keep the peace a little while longer." He sits down and picks up the paper to fall back into the world of words.

The woman chuckles. "We need all the help we can get with that one," she says, wiping her hands on the apron tied around her waist. "Can I get you a glass of what you had last night or would you like to try something new?" she asks.

Kol turns his attention to her. "Why would I risk a perfectly good glass of bourbon by trying something good, Darling?" he questions, smirking. "Now that you have asked, I would love a repeat of that perfectly good bourbon, if you don't mind," he says, taking the time to read her name tag. "Camille, is it? What a lovely name."

She rolls her eyes. "Lovely name my ass," she says snarkily, stepping away to grab a bottle from the top shelf. "Camille is a name that is meant for a grandmother who has hordes of grandchildren, so you can just call me Cami," she adds, pours the deep amber liquid in to a frosted glass and sets it on the coast in front of him before walking over to the bins to put the dishes away.

"Noted," Kol mutters, scanning the article one last time. He has read the piece from top to bottom several times now, but he knows that he is missing out on crucial information because that kind of information will not be present in a public newspaper. Kol knows that he could get his hands on that case file, and he would have to locate that file, but New Orleans isn't a small town like Mystic Falls. "It's a shame this Seminary Massacre…"

"I see you are reading up on our town's latest horror," Cami says sarcastically, wiping a glass dry, "It happened in my own backyard, and I still can't believe it happened."

Kol sets the paper down. "What can you tell me about it?" he asks, clasping his hands together. Maybe asking a local is the way to go, to give him a clue on where to start.

Cami pauses her task, turning around to look at him. "What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Everything," Kol answers honestly, lifting his glass to his lips to take a sip of his drink. "I find it very interesting," he confessed.

"Why?" Cami questions, walking over to the fridge and grabs a bottle of beer before walking around the counter. "Are you one of those people who are obsessed with true crime?" she asks, sitting down in the empty stool beside him.

Kol runs the tip of his pointer finger around the rim of the glass. "I guess you can call me that," he says, reaching for the newspaper once more. "After reading this article, I have a lot of questions that I would like to know the answers to."

Cami pulls the newspaper from Kol's fingers, looking down at the article with a flash of sadness in her green eyes.

Why does she look so sad all of sudden? And why should he concern himself with a random person's problems?

Cami lets out a heavy sigh and places the paper on the counter. "Honestly, I don't know much about it myself because it happened while I was still at school. I have been looking for my own answers, but I haven't had any luck in finding any." Cami points to the paper. "This is the only article I have been able to find."

"Really?"

Cami nods slowly. "I even went to the authorities, but they are being very tight lipped about it," she adds. "It's almost like they are trying to sweep it under the rug."

Kol shakes his head as he is not liking what he is hearing. "Well fuck…" he sighs, realizing that getting the information that he is needing is going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"That's New Orleans for ya," Cami spat, taking a swig of her beer, "those greedy bastards will do whatever is necessary to protect the city's image to keep the tourism cash flowing into their pockets."

"Greed is the world's greatest sin if you ask me," Kol tells her. "I have seen some of the greatest civilizations burned to rubble many times throughout my lifetime and there are still many scars visible to the naked eye if you know where to look for them."

"Well, that confirms my suspicion about you being a vampire," Cami says, taking another swig of her beer.

Kol smirks at her as he twists in his seat. "What led you to that suspicion?" he asks her.

Cami nods her head at the front door. "The bell only rings when a human walks into the bar, and the reason why I didn't hear anyone come through the door when I was in the back," she says.

Kol looks to the door to see an item he recognizes. "Ahhh, the Bell of Heartbeats," he smiles, " one of my favorites."

Cami blinks in surprise. "How do you know that?" she asks, appearing to be taken back by his answer."

"I designed it," Kol answers proudly, "The bell was once made of pure silver, but the silver was turned into copper. The copper is what detects the electricity of a human heart and that is what makes it ring."

"Really? That is so cool."

Kol turns back around and reaches for his glass. "The bloody bell was a pain in the ass to make. So, I assume that means you know about the supernatural world?"

"Yes," Cami says, picking at the paper label wrapped around the glass bottle. "My uncle is in charge of the human faction of the city and thought it was best that I knew how to protect myself when I moved back after finishing my degree."

"What were you studying?" he asked.

Cami narrows her eyes at him. "You are not allowed to judge me," she says, "Psychology."

Kol grins at her. "I could never judge someone for choosing to study human behavior," he says. "The human mind is something that needs to be studied to the darkest depths. There are a lot of loony people in this world. I would know because my family is full of them. Maybe you could help them sort out their issues."

Cami laughs. "I have a long way to go before I can help anyone," she says, draining the rest of her beer. "Are you an only child?"

Kol shakes his head. "My siblings make me wish that I was an only child," he says, "my life would be so much easier because there would be less drama."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Four," Kol answers. "Three very annoying older brothers and one very spoiled baby sister. What about you?"

Cami opened her mouth to answer but the words never left her lips as the bell rang and a large group of people entered the bar. "Sorry, but it looks like we'll have to finish this conversation some other time," she says, getting out of the stool.

Kol nods at her, understanding that she has a job to do. "I look forward to it," he says, watching as she grabs her empty beer bottle as she hurries around the counter and over to the line forming to start taking their orders, but frowns as a strange feeling washes over him to settle in his stomach, a feeling that he can only describe as dread. Kol looks over both shoulders to scan the bar to see what has changed, but finds nothing new. He feels as if the walls are closing in on him to the point where he feels the need to leave and he listens to what his gut is telling him to do.

Kol downs the rest of his drink, not wanting it to go to waste and sticks enough money under the glass to pay for the drink and a nice tip for Cami and leaves the bar. The sun is losing its brightness as it begins to lower, letting the world know that daytime is ending. The dark feeling spurs him to push through the large crowd of people beginning to fill the street to the brim looking forward to a long night of fun. He decides to go back to the place he is staying for the night because the feeling is quite unsettling which could end with a trail of bodies in the French Quarter and he doesn't want to draw any more eyes in his direction.

He is almost back to the tiny hotel when the feeling finally subsides, making him stop in his tracks. Kol looks to his left and he notices that he is standing outside St. Anne's Church and sees the front gate gaping open as if someone had used force to open. He turns and walks up the pathway leading to front steps and sees that there is no vampire standing guard and that the front doors are gone. He enters the church to find the double wooden doors laying on the ground in the entrance hall with hinges missing.

He moves down the aisle to the front of the sanctuary and it's completely empty. Remembering Davina, Kol flashes up the stairs to the attic to find the room free of the blue eyed beauty. He walks around the room checking the corners to make sure she isn't hiding anywhere, but even those are empty. He crouches down to look under the bed frame, and sees only large dust bunnies crowding space.

Kol goes back down to the sanctuary and something catches his eye. It's one of the front pews. The bench appears to be broken and it had been pushed back into the one behind it. He notices a few other things. Several candles littered the floor, thankfully, unlit. A bag of chips on the floor with its contents scattered everywhere. A vase shattered to pieces.

'What the hell has happened here,' he thinks to himself but the thought is chased away when his phone's ringtone pierces the silent air. He pulls it out and groans at the sight of his brother's name flashing on the screen, but he answers it anyway.

"Twice in one day, Brother," he says, looking around the sanctuary for anything else that is concerning. "I believe this may be some sort of a record. Oh wait… there were no such things as cell phones the night you daggered me."

"Don't make me regret letting you out of your coffin so soon," Nik drawls slowly, "I'm calling with some bad news I'm afraid."

Kol frowns as he picks up on the seriousness in his brother's tone, but is surprised that he also hears a bit of sadness as well, which is very rare for Nike. "Tell me already," he says, feeling a bit apprehensive of what he is about to hear.

"Finn's dead."

Well, that isn't something he was expecting to hear and he doesn't know if he completely believes it either. "What do you mean he's dead?" he asks his older brother, needing some clarification.

Kol hears the sound of flesh slamming into something before Nik answers. "I mean they killed him!" he growls into the phone that sends a chill down his spine chasing away the doubt at once.

Kol hears glass break violently, wincing a bit at his brother's justified anger. "How?" he asks.

"A white oak stake to the heart."

Kol curses as those words create a deep ache in the center of his chest. He was not close to Finn by any means. He could hardly share a room with the bloody coward without feeling the need to punch him in his face and feel his nose snap, but that didn't stop them from being brothers. He feels like a match has caught on fiery as that deep ache turns into a burning rage. Kol doesn't need to ask who killed Finn because he already knows who is responsible because he has looked into every one's face the night of the ball. He starts to see a blinding red.

"Do you need me to come back?" he asks, imagining the task of painting that little town in drops of blood from every human being that lives there. "I will be there by the morning sun to help with his avenge."

The red begins to fade and the church comes back into view and he spots something on the other side of the sanctuary. Something that looks very much like a body. He walks over to check it out and it's the body of a boy who looks very much like a teenager and there is a broken broomstick protruding from his stomach.

"No,"Nik says quickly. "Stay where you are. All of the white oak is here so it will be much safer out there until we find all the pieces and destroy it. How is Denver?"

Kol notices the fingers on the lad's right hand twitching, telling him that the boy is still very much alive. "Hit a bit of a snag actually," he says, knowing that he needs to get off the phone before the kid wakes up.

"What kind of snag?"

"Just an old enemy of mine," Kol lies. "I want to sort it out before I reach Denver. I don't want anyone following me there."

"Do you need any help?"

"No," Kol says, feeling a little surprised at his brother's words. "I can take care of it myself."

"Just say the word, Brother, and I will be there," Nik promises. "I…" he trails off, apparently trying to find the right words to say, but Kol says nothing as the phone call turns awkward between the two brothers. The large wedge between the two is still holding strong, making it hard for the two of them to open up to each other.

Kol grits his teeth together. "I really must be going now," he says, wanting nothing more than to get away from the awkward silence as he doesn't do well with them. "Give Bekah a kiss for me," he adds, yanking the phone from his ear and tapping the end button.

He lets out a long breath, welcoming the calming presence of the church and the feel of magic flowing within the walls. Magic is something that Kol always seeks when he is in need of some comfort. It will wrap warm arms around him like a family member welcoming him home after a long time away which is something he learned about magic when his mother began teaching him as a small boy.

"Davina!"

The gasp breaks his moment of peace, reminding Kol that he isn't alone and follows the cry of Davina's name to the floor. Kol crouches to the teen's level, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Easy mate," he tells him.

The teen looks around, appearing to be a little stunned. "Davina? Where is she?!" he asks urgently, sounding more worried about the missing witch than his own injuries, wincing as he reaches for the broomstick in his abdomen only to flinch when his fingers touch the wood. "Ow!" he hisses, yanking his hand away and shaking his hand like he had been burned.

Kol connects the dots mentally as he realizes that the boy is also a vampire and judging by the boy's behavior that there is something on the wood that is burning him, so he reaches for the broomstick himself to see what it is and he too yanks hand away and turns its palm side up to see blisters on his fingers. "Vervain," he says to himself thinking for a moment and looks around the room until his eyes land on the cloth on the table in front of the pastor's post.

He snatches it off the table and walks back over to the young vampire wrapping the cloth around the broomstick to protect his hand. "This is gonna hurt," he warns the poor lad, counting in his mind and when he reaches three he pulls the broomstick out of the boy's middle section, ignoring the cry of pain echoing within the church.

"What the hell is going on here?"

The new voice has Kol turning to see Marcel standing in the middle aisle, holding a white plastic bag in one hand and a drink in the other. Of course, the bloody bastard would show when he is standing over a baby vampire with a broken broomstick in his hand. In fact, any asshole walking through that door would indeed be asking him the same question.

Why did he get himself in these sticky situations?

-Chapter Seven-