(CHAPTER ONE :
BAD BLOOD)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

ONE WEEK LATER

KOL AND I HAD been on a tour of Europe since abandoning Amsterdam, a trail of bodies behind us. From Verona, Italy to Cádiz, Spain, we travelled together with the intent of causing havoc and having a good time. Every two days, our location alternated and we moved on. Often, we focused on being near the night life or known danger zones to help with our cover. The downside of this was that our victims' blood was usually contaminated by booze, drugs or adrenaline. However, I soon learnt that the rapture was in the kill rather than the blood.

"Do you remember the rules?" I questioned, unconsciously leaning closer to my companion. Upon his recommendation, we were in Budapest for a few days. He lead to me a popular tourist strip of bars, shops and restaurants to hold our daily competition. Our competition was based around our expertise in murder — bonus points were awarded for originality and gore.

"Of course I remember the rules." Kol insisted, pretending to be insulted by the insinuation. There was a beat of silence, then sweet surrender. "But, that doesn't mean I'll follow them." He declared with a suffocating sense of pride.

With a heart-hearted eye roll, I noted how he was intently trailing a woman with lustful eyes. She was weaving her way through the compact crowd, an air of vulnerability clinging to her like static. "Ladies first." I took a mocking step back and urged for him to take the lead.

Edging his lips into a snarl, he disappeared  after the woman. If it was any other night, he would have accepted the challenge and made an equally cruel remark. However, he was much too concerned with the task at hand. He invented torturing, no name could strike fear into the hearts of the supernatural like Kol Mikaelson and he wanted to prove that no dagger could inhibit his bad habits. Personally, I thought it was his ego complex and family-abandonment issues was what lead to his insistent need to uphold his reputation. Yet, I received a snap of the neck in return for such comments. Now, I learnt to keep my lips sealed and watch the performances with twisted amusement.

"It isn't safe for pretty girls to be alone at night." Kol hummed, blocking the potential escape route of the amber-eyed woman.

Lurking in the shadows, I rested my chin on my hand, ecstatic at the idea of being entertained. Kol Mikaelson was extremely innovative with his kills, even more so since we made it a bloodsport — not that I would ever praise him to his already smug face. In the last city, he literally turned one man inside out and I was stupefied. Apparently, I had a lot to learn after two decades of playing the moral monster and Kol was the perfect example of a thriving vampire.

"I'll be fine." Her bottom lip quivered, her heartbeat erratic. "My hotel is only about a mile from here. And . . .  I'm a good runner, track star in ninth grade and all that." Even his victim didn't sound convinced of her words, attempting to brush past the Original with faux nonchalance.

"Running away from a man is not good for his ego, darling." Kol rebutted, easily catching her shoulder. "What's your name?" He asked, spinning the woman around to face him. Their faces were in close proximity and Kol reached out to stroke her cheek — I didn't like it.

"Angel." She sniffled.

For once, I felt nauseous by my companion's techniques. Unable to watch his failed attempt at flirting with Angel, I stepped out of the shadows. "Angel, meet Devil." I spat, stealing the brunette from the Original. I locked her into a vice-like grip, compressing her windpipe with my forearm. "Easy on the eyes and just about everywhere else." I ridiculed, intending to make a jab at the comment he made in back in Amsterdam.

"She was mine!" Kol protested, repressing a growl as he sped over to me. If Angel wasn't acting as a human barrier, our chests would have been pressed against each other.

I shrugged my shoulders, careless. "Well, you shouldn't have took so long." I retorted, if not a little lamely. "Why are you even bothered? She's just food." I continued without missing a beat, noting the distinctive glint of insanity in the man's oak eyes. "Although, I am relieved you moved on from that blonde fetish. That was shameful. I'd rather you play with your food than play a tiny violin." I provoked further. Angel was his first brunette meal since we started our European tour — the rest were blondes. Albeit, their hair tended to end the night with a more reddish tint to it.

Daring me to proceed, Kol raised an eyebrow. Despite our well-established partnership, he didn't often spare me his wrath. He had no qualms about snapping my neck or — only last week — impaling me with a lamp post. Contrary to belief, Kol Mikaelson didn't even show pity for his Achilles' Heel, rather, he diluted his rage. Not many received that courtesy.

In surrender, I hurled the tourist away from me, laughing as she gasped for breath. "I'm only having a little fun, Kol." I defended, matching his movements as the two of us began to circle his victim like vultures. "Pretty girl is such a cliché. I thought I would spice the game up. Come on, don't you have any better pick-up lines?" I questioned, critiquing his approach to the girl. Truthfully, I expected better than 'pretty girl' from him. 

"You tell me." He responded, abandoning his predatory position to stand behind me. "If I said you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" Kol flirted, his arms snaked around my waist and his breath was hot — like burning metal — against my neck. I refused to provide him with the satisfaction of flinching under his touch and remained focused on my surroundings. In the corner of my vacant eyes, I clocked the captive human trying to escape. If I wasn't concentrating on controlling my inhibitions, I would have chased her. Yet, I couldn't find reason to prioritise the human when the mere presence of my ex had my mind going haywire. Rather, I needed to prove my strength and restraint to a certain Kol Mikaelson before murdering the brat for attempting to run.

Unwinding the man's arms, I spun out of the flesh confines. "Depends." I counted my breaths — one, two, three — to limit the reaction he would receive. "If said you have a nice ass, would you turn around walk away?" I snapped, angling my body away from him.

"You think I have a nice ass?" Standing behind me, Kol leaned forward and whispered down my ear. His presence was smothering.

"Let's ask our Angel." I suggested, creating distance between our bodies as I charged towards the woman. She was about to dash from our clutches — her intellect, apparently, was beyond what we anticipated, she didn't scream but rather bided her time and welcomed the distraction of an argument. Enraged by her nerve, I diverted the attention from my mistaken comment about Kol's ass and grabbed Angel by her neck. "Oh, we can't. She's just a little . . . dead." My fangs ripped through her porcelain skin like it was crepe paper and her body thrashed as I dangled her human body in the air. At last, she submitted to screaming, but it was too late. I crushed her windpipe and relished in the taste of her blood — it tasted of fear and was intoxicating.

"Don't forget to share now, darling." Kol reminded me, although he never shared with me. Starved, he stepped forward to have a bite, but didn't even enjoy a drop before he was forced to support my collapsing weight.

There was a lump in my throat, it felt about the size of a marble and was irritating me. Releasing the half-dead Angel from my grip, I pressed my hand against the brick wall, holding myself upright as I vomited. One perk of being a vampire was we didn't get ill, so the black liquid that streamed out of my open mouth was not a good sign. It was thick, gloopy and dark, but was the same consistency of blood. Eventually, Kol came over to hold back my hair and wrapped his arm around my waist because my knees were wobbling, threatening the collapse of my body at any second.

I struggled to push him away, too weak to fight against his hold. "I'm fine." I insisted before he could interrogate me. And I was fine. It had been happening for about a week now, but it only lasted a few minutes and was nothing I couldn't handle — or rather cared enough to handle. "Let me go, it's over. It was a blip in my vam — —" I abruptly stopped myself, my body starting to convulse. He tightened his grasp, stroking my hair as I extended my hands in front of me, completely blind. "I can't see, Kol! Why can't I see?" I screamed with agitation in my tone. Blindness had never happened before.

"Look at me." The Original demanded, twisting my head towards him. "Your eyes . . . they're white." He breathed, gazing into my two milky white voids with uncertainty.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

After my incident, Kol crushed Angel's skull. It counted towards his quota of violence for the day — which he claimed was a stress reliever — and was a quick finish to the girl. Once he knew she couldn't be a loose end, he escorted me to the car we rented. Hours into the journey, my eyesight returned and that was when I noticed how Kol would look over his shoulder every few minutes, waiting for my next breakdown.

"Talk." He finally shattered the silence, his impatience shining through. "And, don't even think about a snarky comment, Charlotte. There's something wrong with you and I want to know what." Kol was firm with his words, closing his brows together to convey the gravity of the situation. Perhaps what was most unnerving was how rare it was for the vampire to be serious. 

Audibly, I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me." I assured him dramatically. "But, there is with you. I didn't think being daggered would turn you into Elijah." I claimed, relaxing into the passenger seat.

"Charlotte." There was an authority to his voice that was unusual, but undeniably attractive.

"I've been throwing up blood for about a week now — my body keeps rejecting it." I surrendered, knowing it would be more convenient for me if I didn't have to hide the problem from him. "I've never been blinded before, that was the first time. It's probably just my body acting up, I'm not all too familiar with vampire biology." I injected a healthy dose of sarcasm into my words, in denial of the surfacing fear in my bones. "I need to adjust. I never consumed that much blood when I had my emotions on." I lied, suspecting the cogs in his mind were turning. Kol Mikaelson was one of the first vampires, but even he didn't know what was wrong with me, so I was coerced into making excuses. In fact, I consumed masses more blood than this in twentieth century New York and I never experienced this.

Suddenly, the car jerked. Whether it was his bad driving or his anger, I didn't know. "You'll desiccate without blood for a week." Kol exploded. "I knew you were bloody stupid, but I didn't think you had a death wish too." He raged, needing to vent. He couldn't help but wonder why I didn't confront him sooner.

For the first time on our trip, I was at a lost for words. "I didn't thin — —" I stuttered, unable to end the sentence.

"You never do." Kol scolded. "I do rash things because I won't die. I'm an Original. You do rash things that will make me live without you and I don't want to live without you." He was being harsh, but honest. "We're seeing a witch and then you're turning your emotions on, one way or another." He revealed, being selfless for a change. If I turned my emotions on, he knew he would lose me, he knew we wouldn't have the killer relationship we did now. However, he was prepared to let the bloodthirsty, unforgiving me go just to breathe the same oxygen as I for a little longer.

"Careful, I almost thought you cared about me." I commented dryly.

Biting his tongue, he continued to drive.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

A.N: And so it begins! I'm so excited to finally develop the relationship and attraction between Kol & Lottie more whilst including my own plot drama.

Any Netflix recommendations? I just watched 13 Reasons Why Season Two and now I'm looking for something else.