Lights Flicker And Fade : Kol Mikaelson [3]

276: It's Been A Hell Of A Ride

MAY 2017

"Any time Kol's supposedly in The States, I'm tracking him," Ric explained, "Or, well, I track him as best you can track an insane person."

The group were sat in car park, by a drive-thru, watching fire trucks and police race towards what would now be dubbed a drug ring gone wrong.

"And, I keep tabs on anywhere with ties to Floare magic, or people experimenting with resurrection," He glanced up, "Funnily enough, I've met most of them."

Caroline's shoulders shifted down.

"In the past week and a half, this area's had about fifty missing person's reports," He summarised, "Then, I woke up, and you claimed to be going on a spa weekend."

Caroline crossed her arms, "Did you track me?"

"We share our phone locations, Caroline," He reminded her, "You weren't hard to find."

"And you just assumed Kol had made a vampire nest?" Bonnie called out, "Or, was the bomb for fun?"

"'Sorry' for being the only person to take Kol seriously," Ric put his hands out, "I've dealt with enough no-humanity hijinks to know that if history's biggest serial killer is about to start pulling – "

"We're his friends," Sam defended, "We're MJ's – "

"And he, just, did, that," Ric scolded, "When the switch is off, friendship doesn't matter."

Mystic Falls knew that far better than New Orleans.

"I mean, this is Kol Mikaelson!" Ric stressed, "If you read through any of MJ's history documents, he's capable of that and worse while the switch is on."

Much like MJ, fully rigging a High School corridor, Ric had come prepared.

"If you wanna force it on?" He assumed, "Or, whatever you thought you could achieve today?"

Finally get him in a room.

"He'll be willing to kill you."

Sam was shaking his head, tongue pressed into his cheek.

"You all have people who love you."

Cami stared at the racing cars, the slight smoke of the explosion lingering in the sky, as headlights acted like a morbid campfire around them. Jeremy and Ty sat on the hood of his truck with burgers and shakes, first given vampire blood, then, a few bandages for the injuries taking slightly longer to heal.

"People who need you," He spoke pointedly, "Don't set them up to lose you."

Caroline swallowed, finally meeting his look.

Those police sirens just kept coming.

"How did he even do that?" Cami's voice was quiet.

"MJ said there were stories about Floare blood," Bonnie tried, "Vampires would target them for the bonus magic in their blood, thinking they'd gain new abilities."

She was resting against the hood of Caroline's car, focused on the stars, hands stuffed into her jacket like warmth might stop them trembling.

"Bird manipulation sounds like a Floare thing."

"Not necessarily," Caroline glanced at Sam, "Not always."

Cami tugged on her coat, raising an eyebrow.

"Damon," She admitted, "He's done that before."

Ric's shoulders pushed back slightly in surprise.

"When he first came to Mystic Falls," She clarified, "He was compelling me, then he tried to kill me, and MJ and Stefan stopped him...but, a few days later, we were at this car wash..."