✔ The Way We Burn || Kol Mikaelson (Complete)

Chapter 40

New Orleans, 1901.

Kol was floating in a boundless sea of darkness. There was nothing around him. No sound, no scent, no colors. There was not even his own body. All he had was his own thoughts to keep him company. And what a bad company they were!

At first, sorrow and confusion overwhelmed him when he awoke in the dark. The last moments in the tavern were carved into his mind and they were all he could think about. Nora's screams as she tried to help him, the sounds of her bones breaking when Niklaus threw her into the counter... He wanted to cry and scream every time the memories hit him.

Then his pain left place to a wave of blazing anger. He wanted to destroy everything his siblings had ever held dear. To make them beg for mercy. To see them on their knees, kneeling in front of Nora and asking for forgiveness.

Kol wasn't without blame in the whole debacle. No matter how much he wanted to defend himself, what he did in Cadiz was wrong. However, Niklaus and Elijah didn't have the right to deprive him of his choices. It wasn't their place to judge him and kill Nora when all she did was to try to save him. He could bear the former, albeit reluctantly. But the latter... They would pay for it. And the price would be high enough that they would never dare to look at his wife ever again.

After what seemed to be an eternity, something changed and he began to feel his tired, heavy and rigid body. A fire was burning in his parched throat, threatening to swallow up his mind. The only thing stopping him from killing the two other people in the room was the presence of his wife. Although not here with him, she was close enough to be in the same town.

The air around him smelled of dust, anxiety and rose perfume. It tingled his nose that unconsciously scrunched up. Where the hell had his siblings left him this time?

He jumped out of the coffin in a blink and cast a disgusted glance at his dirty clothes. No matter what Niklaus seemed to think, clothes didn't wash themselves in a coffin. The dry blood from who knew how many years ago had left brown stains on the clothes which felt stickier than toad slime and the smell coming from them was almost strong enough to make him throw up.

The only positive thing was that his wedding ring was still hanging on a string around his neck, hidden under his shirt.

"Kol," Rebekah greeted him in a warm voice, unease briefly flashing in her gaze.

The only answer he gave her was a cold glance before Kol walked to the compelled man who was standing in a corner of the room. Without a sound, his fangs sank in the fleshy part of the man's neck and he quickly took a mouthful of blood. Then another. And another. His body soon started to hum with power, his veins swelling up as the precious red liquid finally filled them after such a long time.

He dropped the dead body once he was done and turned to his sister whose smile was now strained.

"Rebekah. Did you ask to play the mediator or did our dear brothers forced you to be here?"

"Of course I wanted to be here! Do you even know how difficult it was to convince Nik to pull off the dagger?"

He snorted, a smile dripping with disdain appearing on his lips. "How nice it would be if you could do the same for Finn."

Rebekah froze in place but he ignored her and walked out of the dusty room. Being beheaded once had traumatized Niklaus deeply. As a result, the house was currently empty. His brothers were probably hiding from him. How clever of them.

Kol sneered when he reached the luxurious living room. His siblings sure knew how to live well when he was lying in a coffin. Aside from the room he woke up in, every part of the house displayed the wealth of the Mikaelson family. Huge paintings were hanging on the walls and even a single wood chair would be enough to feed a modest family of six for at least ten years.