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

Chapter 56

Warning: Torture and insanity. Mention of child abuse.

***

Esther's scream of pain rang out in the house when a harsh slap busted her lips open and bruised her right cheek. Her head snapped to the left, her broken teeth visible through the gap between her lips. Blood trickled down her chin once more leaving behind red trails, not unlike those already staining the side of her face and neck.

Kol sneered and washed his hand in a bowl of warm water to get rid of the woman's blood and stench clinging to his skin after the brief touch. Although her body was very much alive thanks to magic, the smell emanating from her reminded him strongly of a rotting corpse.

"You didn't have to dirty your hands, hon," Nora pointed out with a lilt to her voice from the couch where she was sitting, playing with the revolver in her hands. "That's what the guns are for, you know."

Kol shrugged and said flatly, "She tried to curse you."

"Tried - as in totally failed. Her magic is locked away, Kol, there isn't much she can do to us right now." The lovely sound of her voice had yet to die away when she aimed the gun in her hand at the now useless witch's head and shot. The deafening bang was almost too loud for Kol's sensitive ears but oh did he love the fearful scream that left his mother's mouth as the bullet brushed against her cheek and past her blond shoulder-length hair, and hit the wall behind her. Blood poured out the new gash and Esther whimpered in fright and pain. A smirk took its place on Nora's face. "See? Nothing to worry about, Kol."

She patted the empty spot on the couch, eyebrows raised in his direction. Kol quickly joined her and plopped himself down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her closer. He took the shiny revolver out of her hand and caressed the cold surface with his thumb.

"Darling, just because she can't do something doesn't mean she's allowed to try," Kol told her offhandedly as he lifted the revolver and brought it in front of his half-open eye, trying to aim at the disheveled witch who had been bound to a chair by Abbir upon their arrival. Only the Gods themselves knew how long it had been since he used something like a bow. And this was definitely not a bow. "Throwing knives seems funnier."

Nora wordlessly got up and went around the couch to stand behind him. She bent down and leaned over his shoulder to adjust his hold on the firearm. Her arms and warmth engulfed him in a comforting embrace.

"Practice makes everything better," she said in a low voice and Kol distinctly heard the smile in it. She made him lower the gun towards his mother's legs and her deft, long fingers ran alongside his hands to join his own fingers on the trigger. "Now, just take a deep breath and -"

Esther's eyes widened and she started screaming, "Don't you dare -"

Nora's forefinger pressed on his to pull the trigger and the shot fired. The bullet lodged itself firmly on his mother's foot.

"Bloody hell!" Kol threw his head back and looked at his wife with a cheeky grin, "That was so hot, Nora. Let's do it again."

Still smiling like a happy fool, he motioned for one of the vampires standing still in a corner of the room to go retrieve the bullet, ignoring the anguish wails leaving Esther as they did so.

"You realize you can't use that bullet anymore?" Nora asked through a laugh, eyes crinkling.

"Of course I do," he chuckled darkly, using one hand to softly pinch the tip of her nose. "But she glared at you."

His reply earned him an eye roll. Nora hopped over the back of the couch to sit back next to him. One arm looped around his neck, his face was suddenly pulled right into her chest as she made a show of ruffling his hair. "Stop using me as an excuse every time you want to hurt the dam woman, Kol Mikaelson!"