(CHAPTER FOURTEEN :
OUT OF THE WOODS)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

"CAROLINE . . . SCREAM . . . WOODS . . . FUCK." I strung out, hunched over near a tree so I could regain my breath. "I left the three of you alone for three, four minutes and the next thing you know, I heard her scream and I'm speeding back to an abandoned Boarding House." After a long pause, I managed to squeeze out a coherent sentence to the girl on the other line of the call. In my panic, I spent most of the night searching for the young Forbes, calling the group relentlessly. Hours later, Elena finally decided to return my calls.

Slamming and shuffling was audible from her side. "She's fine, Lottie. All of us are." She cemented to soothe my paranoia. "Klaus' hybrids kidnapped her to hurt Tyler. Don't worry, he dealt with it and right now, I bet she's in full Caroline Forbes freak out mode at the Winter Wonderland event." The brunette comforted, filling me on what I'd missed.

Initially, I was relieved by the news they were all safe, then I realised that I was stumbling around in the early morning mist, in search of a friend that was unharmed. "I've been out in the woods since last night." I complained, having chose to scour the woods after being unable to find the girls. At the time, it seemed logical because all suspicious things occurred in the woods. "Is it a Gilbert trait to be incredibly bad at answering your phones? Jeremy used to leave me on read all the time, and it took me seventeen phone calls to reach you — of which involved me tripped over many tree roots to find signal." I wrinkled my nose as I noticed some mud had tangled itself in my hair. Truthfully, I was annoyed that nobody thought to inform me of what happened. For a matter of fact, I hadn't even slept yet because I spent the entire night searching for Caroline, feeling guilty that I left the trio unprotected. I didn't doubt their combined abilities, but I was older and couldn't help but wonder if the hostage situation could have been prevented.

"It was a hectic night, I'm sorry." Elena apologised. "After the argument got so heated . . . I didn't think you would care." She wrongly assumed.

I scoffed, amazed at how little the Gilbert expected of me. "Then you don't know me all that well, Elena." I said on impulse. "I don't care that I argued with her because friends do that sometimes. No, I don't regret how I reacted since some of her comments were cruel, but I regret not staying to talk it out." I admitted to the vampire, thinking to how I've been known to run away from my problems too often. "I haven't always been the most social vampire over the centuries, so having friends now means a lot to me. No matter how out of hand the argument got, I would never abandon a friend like that. Friends stand by each other, they don't let them get hurt and if I was there, I could have fought of the hybrids, we'd all have been safe." I expressed the liability that weighed down on my conscious. Despite knowing the hybrids were stronger than me, I spewed an 'if' scenario that was useless to get caught up on

"Care doesn't think you abandoned her and none of us blame you." She huffed. "We were outnumbered and the hybrids were stronger, if you stayed, you'd have only been caught in the crossfire too." Elena continued to clarify, concerned I was taking too much accountability for the events. "Please, call Caroline. She'll tell you the exact same thing, if it helps hearing it from her." The girl advised, her tone pleading.

I hesitated, unsure if it would be too soon to call her. "I will — once I'm out these damned woods." I affirmed, my ears pricking up a familiar voice in the background. "Wait, are you with Damon?" I questioned sharply.

Silence trapped the two of us, Elena taking a few minutes to collect herself. "Yes." Her eventual answer was soft and quiet, as if I exposed what was meant to be secret.

"You know I don't care if you're with him. But, I should call you back when you're not . . . occupied." I decided, shaking my head to get the image of the couple away. "Bye Elena, bye Damon." I dragged out the words in a teasing manner, swiftly ending the call soon thereafter.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA [1914]

Portland was a dead end. Klaus had chased his lead on the moonstone for a three months before realising that the rumours of a certain 'Gemini Coven' hiding the binding agent held little weight. As a result, he forced his family to pack their bags and return to New Orleans, a place he grew fond of upon their first visit. However, some of his siblings were more resistant, leaving him to dagger them into obedience. Due to such cruel punishments, Kol — the black sheep — sought revenge on his half-brother. Although the most reckless Mikaelson had been undaggered for a few years, it wasn't until 1914 when he forged a connection with two witches that he found the means to enact said revenge.

Contrary to his family's belief, Kol never did forget about Charlotte Hatton. Rather, he used her as a driving force to escape his family's nefarious clutches and empty vow of 'always and forever.' By now, she would be twenty-three and married to that wretched Thomas Fairclough, so Kol distracted himself with sex and blood. He never thought to check in on her — the second person he ever found himself to love — because he knew she would have moved on. If it hurt him, he never showed it, instead he used his own misfortune to fuel his passion towards creating a gold dagger. The gold dagger would be able to not only inhibit the almighty Klaus Mikaelson, it would also prevent him from ever intervening with Kol's life again. Since Kol believed he would never get third chance at romance, hate consumed the Original — the opposite of love, directed towards the bastard child of his family.

"Astrid, Mary-Alice," Kol collected the pair's attention. "Be ready tonight. Tonight is the night Klaus' reign of terror comes to an end." He informed them in a non-negotiable manner, putting on his coat and hat to retrieve the final items for the creation of the gold dagger.

Astrid shook her head in refusal. "It's Christmas, Sir." She stated, having plans with her loved ones.

Kol froze, his body stiffening. "I don't care, it will be forged tonight." He declared. "You can either be there at the party or in a body bag, it's your choice." The Original addressed her with such disscontempt that it was almost oozing. Whilst Mary-Alice Clare was lovesick and would do anything for the vampire, Astrid was more defiant, which he didn't appreciate.

Mary-Alice's eyes widened at the threat, she rushed to the man to rub soothing circles into his arm. "Calm down, shhh." She failed to soothe him, Kol holding no attachments towards the Claire other than a supernatural respect. "What's so important about tonight? The dagger can still be made tomorrow." Mary-Alice insisted, wanting to please both her love and the friend she roped into her vampire drama.

"Because it was her favourite holiday!" Kol bellowed, causing the girl to jump back at his raised voice. "She talked about Christmas in the March, for God's sake. I was never one to celebrate, but she loved the damned thing and it would have been the first time in four hundred years since I had someone again." His movements were erratic, his voice was irrational. Although he didn't care for Christmas, she did and seeing her so excited about being with him, in turn, made the vampire happy. It was a new tragedy in itself the couple never saw their holiday plans through.

Mary-Alice frowned. "What girl?" She wondered, swallowing the jealous lump in her throat. Kol Mikaelson was not capable of caring about anybody other than himself.

Kol blanked the question. "Tonight." With that abrupt reminder, he stormed out of the Claire's magical hideaway.

Astrid counted one, two, three beats, wanting to be certain the Original had left before speaking out of line. "I fear his motives, Mary-Alice." She whispered, shuffling closer to her fellow witch. From the start, Astrid objected to being a vampire's right hand woman. "More so if he knows she's alive . . . The Ancestors spoke to me about the girl, warned me about how dangerous she would make him if they were to reunite." In confidence, Astrid relayed the information she had received from their Ancestors.

"And I fear hers." Mary-Alice rebutted in reference to Charlotte, deciding that the mystery girl was threat to Kol. She would make him weak. "Pass me the dagger, dear Astrid. If he is to ever find out she is alive — God forbid — I want him to be protected." Not even blinking, the curly haired blonde cut her palm with the dagger, a vital crimson liquid dripping onto the stone floor. "La mort vient à ceux qui prennent le sang, la mort vient à ceux qui prennent le sang, la mort vient à ceux qui prennent le sang." Mary-Alice chanted, binding a spell of protection with sacred Claire blood. It would curse anybody who dared use Kol Mikaelson's blood — which held value in the supernatural community — for their gain. Although her magic wasn't strong enough to overrule the White Ash dagger's nature, it at least could manage to keep her favourite Original safe from an evil bigger than his brother — Charlotte Hatton.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

No doubt I knew these woods like the back of my hand and as I was navigating my way out, I halted, punching the nearest tree. All the trees started to look the same to me. I wasn't lost — just unfocused and mindlessly wandering. One of the reasons I wasn't putting much effort into finding my way out of the woods was because I didn't want to attend Caroline's Winter Wonderland, the other being my mind was going haywire thinking about Kol's meeting with the witch. Every part of me ached to hear his voice, to be reassured everything would be okay in the end, so I succumbed to my desires and called him.

"Hi." I breathed, surprised he answered on the second ring.

"Give me a moment." Kol requested, covering the phone speaker with one hand and using the other to choke a witch to death. Faintly, I could hear a female scream from the other line, but didn't even blink as I tapped my foot in impatience. "Sorry about that, darling. Saskia was being rather uncooperative so I thought to return the favour." He revealed, rummaging through the deceased's mobile phone whilst he spoke to me.

"You killed her, didn't you?" I asked rhetorically. "At least tell me you found out something useful." I squashed the hope in my voice the minute it appeared, not wanting to be disappointed or present myself as desperate.

From Kol's end, I recognised the familiar swiping and sliding tone of an iPhone, followed by a groan. "Unfortunately not. Not to talk bad about the dead, but Saskia was more uptight than her ancestor." He drawled in annoyance, cursing out Astrid, Saskia and the Malchance family in his head. "You know, prejudice towards vampires is worse than I remember. Witches these days h — —" The Original ranted, causing me to cut him off.

"Take it up with Obama." I snapped. "Now tell me that you didn't kill the lead, the only lead." No response. "Oh God, I'm such an idiot. You looked me in the eyes and begged me to put my faith in you, and I did, but you couldn't control yourself yet again. Once more, the only person Kol Mikaelson looked out for was himself!" Immediately, my anger flared and I refused to hold back on him because Saskia was the one shot we had at contacting a Claire witch.

Just as Kol was about to defend his actions, a ringing interrupted him. "I told you I'll fix this and I meant it." In equal measure, he returned my hostility but a smile creeped onto his face as he stared down at Saskia's ringing phone. "I've got one better than a lead, I've got a name — Davina, Davina Claire. And she's in New Orleans, ringing Saskia this very second." He recognised the NOLA area code, relief flooding over him in waves. Kol was never one to think before a kill, so he hated that his rash murder of Saskia almost meant I was closer to death than before. "How do you think I should break the news about Saskia?" He inquired nonchalantly, kicking Saskia's corpse with his foot — she was definitely dead.

I came to a standstill. "Don't answer it." I ordered, running my fingers through my blonde locks with anxiety. "Look, I didn't mean to freak on you like that, but listen to me this time when I tell you to do nothing. I'll talk to Bonnie tonight and we can leave for New Orleans tomorrow — together. We'll find Davina an——" As I was lecturing him, a yelp bubbled out of my throat after I lost my footing and fell into a shallow hole. Of course there's an ominous hole in the ground in the middle of Mystic Falls' woods.

Saskia's phone clattered against the floor. "Lottie?" He shouted, panic edging into his tone.

Grunting, I tried to manoeuvre my body upwards to no avail. "I fell in a hole." I deadpanned. "I . . . can't move. I think it's one the side effects, it's been a few days since the last one, but it should pass soon." I anticipated a million questions, including where I was and I didn't want to explain the events of the night prior. "Talk to me, Kol. Not about the Curse, talk to me about you until I regain feeling in my legs." I laughed, wanting a distraction whilst I waited.

"You know most things already." He claimed, not trying to hide the overwhelming amusement in his tone. To him, it was hilarious I fell in a hole. "Okay, okay, let me tell about you the time I tried to overthrow the English Monarchy. It was the Summer of 1535 and . . ." Kol described the events of that year, engaging me in the tale from his past.

I repressed a grin. "Thank you." I mumbled.

✧࿐ ཾ✧

A.N: Cue Out Of The Woods by Taylor Swift playing this entire chapter. I don't know I feel about this chapter because phone calls are awkward to write but it was important. They now know about Davina, let's hope they find her in time . . . Next two chapters are my favourites in the book.

Who's your favourite cast member from TVD/TO or even Legacies?