Whittling

Chapter 4

"Care for a drink?" Kol asks annoyingly.

"He's underage and I don't like you, so let's just cut to it," Damon says, wishing Kol would just go away.

"My brother bragged about his plan to complete Jeremy's hunters mark, it was easy enough to track this lot down, they were all hiding in the shadows. Now killing young vampires is easy..." Kol rants but Damon just doesn't give a shit, though Kol's rambling monologue is buying them some time, "...or old ones for that matter." Ugh, why would Kol want to kill him anyway? Surely they're even by now? Damon can't even remember where they're up to in their you-broke-my-neck-so-I'll-beat-you-with-a-baseball-bat war. Unless, Kol does want to be Klaus' number one evil minion? Damn.

"Why? What's it to you either way?" It's a long shot, assuming he'll get a sane answer from Kol, but Damon might get lucky and gain some insight.

"Because you fools in your zeal to find the cure you risk waking someone very dangerous." Ok, that was unexpected. Kol doesn't want them to raise Silas. What possible reason could he have? It seems a strange thing for him to care about.

"Oh, you must be talking about Silas." Damon says, hoping for more information. And if he's honest, for entertainment as well. Seeing Kol stirred up is amusing and you've gotta take your fun where you can find it.

"What do you know of him?" Kol asks with uncharacteristic seriousness, maybe this is something Damon can use against him.

"Nothing, don't want to, not our problem," Damon says, unable to help himself from stirring Kol up a bit more.

"Isn't it?"

"Uh-uh," Damon says, trying to be as infuriating as possible.

"A few hundred years back I came across a group that worshipped Silas. His followers told me that he would rise again and when he did he would trigger the end of all time. Being an immortal you can see why I'm opposed to times ending. So I murdered all of them," Kol says that last bit wistfully and Damon must admit it makes him a touch envious. "And now here you are willing to risk raising him in your search for the cure. I can't exactly sit back and let that happen, can I?" Jeez, Kol's all over the shop, maybe he really has gone off the deep end this time. But still, that won't stop Damon from insulting him.

"Well we're not gonna back off the cure because you were told one too many scary bedtime stories you idiot," Damon says condescendingly. Kol's unhinged and Damon's got no time for his shit at the moment.

"Jeremy we were mates in Colorado, you're a smart lad, why don't you call off this imbecilic treasure hunt." Wow, now Kol's appealing to Jeremy with reason, he really has lost the plot.

"I'm not calling anything off, mate." Oo, feisty.

"Well I could kill you, but then I have to deal with the hunters curse and I don't particularly feel like being haunted for the next century. Better idea, I'll just rip off your arms." Crap, they need those arms to find the cure. Damon attacks Kol, he just needs to buy Jeremy enough time to get away.

"Jeremy, run!" He gets a few hits in on Kol but somehow the maniac gets the better of him and he ends up in a headlock. God-fucking-damnit! This is not how he planned his day to go…

xxx

"A bit ironic, you coming to me for help. Weren't your friends just trying to bury me in a cement tomb?" Klaus says to Elena. These people really are insufferable. They act all high and mighty but when it comes down to it they are just as morally disgusting as he is. Worse maybe, because they pretend like they aren't.

"This is your fault. You started this when you forced Jeremy to kill those vampires." Of course it's his fault, everything's always his fault.

"And now my little brat of a brother has gone and made things worse. Well he never did like Damon. I suppose I should do something, shouldn't I?" There's only one reason he's going to step in and stop Kol's fun. And it's got nothing to do with Elena or Jeremy or the cure funnily enough...

"Call him off Klaus." God, who does she think she is? As if he takes orders from anyone. Just because everyone in this town's obsessed with Saint Elena, it doesn't mean the rest of the world is.

"You're in no position to make demands love. Whilst I'd like to cure you to make more hybrids, I do have other reasons for finding the cure, not the least of which is destroying it so you lot can't use it against me." Hopefully she'll get the message that she's just not that important. It's a long shot though.

"Whatever our differences, we want the same thing. Please, Klaus I'm begging you." That's better, a little humility. Klaus gives in and makes the call. But not for the reasons Elena thinks. It's more a case of not wanting Kol to break his pretty new toy.

"Little brother, just two days home and I'm told you've already gone and made a mess."

xxx

Damon's first thought had been that at least Kol didn't have a baseball bat this time. But he'd been wrong, this stake hurt way more. And Damon was having a hard time seeing a way out of this one. But then Kol's phone rings.

"Come on Nik, I was only having some fun." It's Klaus. Damon's first reaction is relief but then it occurs to him that now Klaus knows Kol got the better of him. It puts Kol one up in their evil-minion-off. Thanks to the awesomeness of vampiric hearing Damon can easily keep up with Klaus' end of the conversation as well.

"Those vampires were for my hunter," Klaus chides.

"Well make some more," Kol suggests, "no shortage of people."

"Where's Damon Salvatore?" If Damon didn't have a stake jammed in his chest he'd probably be happy about Klaus asking after him. As it is, it's kinda hard to think about anything but the pain. Kol smiles.

"I gave him a good and proper beating, just for old time sake."

"Yes well you've had your fun, now let him go and come home. Avoid any more trouble or you'll find yourself back in a box."

"Hey, hey, hey. No need to be nasty about it."

"On the contrary, I find nastiness to be essential whenever my siblings try to sabotage me." Damon can sympathise; little brothers are a handful.

"Listen closely Kol, stay away from the Gilbert boy. You understand."

"Fine. I won't touch him. You have my word," Kol says though he obviously doesn't mean it. He hangs up. Will Klaus buy it? "Very good darling. Now stab yourself a little bit further." Damon tries to fight it, not wanting to gives Kol the satisfaction of feeding his sick pleasures. But the wayward Original is persuasive.

"If you're gonna kill me, do it like a man," Damon taunts, even as he's forced towards suicide. He can't help it, getting on peoples nerves is a deep-seeded habit.

"I don't want to kill you," Kol frowns, explaining his motives as though they are the most obvious thing in the world. Well maybe to a madman they are. "I just want to make sure you can be compelled."

"I'm gonna rip out your spleen."

"You ought to be thanking me, you don't really want the cure found. You fancy Elena, even more now that she's a vampire, admit it. Last vestige of her humanity is her annoying little brother Jeremy and deep, deep down I bet you want him dead, don't you?"

"Nope," Damon answers. He won't give Kol the satisfaction of admitting he's right. Anyway, Kol's only half right, it's not because of Elena that Damon would like to kill Jeremy, it's because Jeremy's just really, really annoying.

"You're lying. I bet you'd love to rip his head right off. And I'm gonna give you your wish." Damon doesn't look at Kol because he's sure his face will betray how tempting that thought is. He won't give Kol the pleasure. But Kol gets right up in his face. "You're not going to remember what I say. You're going to find Jeremy Gilbert and when you do you're going to kill him."

A/N: Hey guys. So this is chapter 4. Was wondering if you guys had any ideas for the rest of the story.