(CHAPTER EIGHT :
SOMETHING WICKED)

✧࿐ ཾ✧

IF I WERE TO create a list of people that knew about my true identity — it would be a short one. Alex, Davina, Esther, Finn, Klaus and Kol, to be exact. Now if narrowed that list down to people that would want to expose my lack of loyalty to the Original Witch and had sufficient proof, the list would consist of one name. Klaus Mikaelson. He was the only other person around the compound when Kol and I made plans to regain my original body.

With interlocked fingers, I was lead through the bustling streets of New Orleans by Kol. I suspected he was merely half-listening to my anger fuelled ramblings, but I didn't let that deter me. "I bet it was that no good, heartless bastard that told Esther about our plan." Knowingly, I accused the hybrid that had  prioritised making my life miserable since before we had even met. Since Rosalie Windsor entered the picture an hour ago, an unusual silence had blanketed the two of us and I was desperate to break it, even if it meant our conversations were about his wretched brother. "Clearly, he's still clinging onto that pathetic grudge of his. Yesterday he almost ripped my heart out!" I exclaimed, bursting with pride because I had figured it all out. "So, I plotted his death once . . . maybe twice . . . back in Mystic Falls, but I never did anything to him when I was human and he still tried to kill me then. By telling Esther about our plan, she would be responsible for my death and that way you couldn't blame him if I died." I supported my deduction with evidence, the small smile on my lips fading when I realised that Kol wasn't even looking in my direction.

Neglecting all eye contact, Kol focused on our destination — the Mikaelson Compound — and hid his grimace. "Even he wouldn't stoop that low." The Original defended his half-sibling, which was a rare occurrence for him. "In fact, he hates our mother more than anyone, more than he hates you. What makes you think he would willingly help her?" He sounded bored, as if he was making the argument for argument's sake.

"Does it look like I'm some almighty Klaus Mikaelson whisperer?" I remarked, sarcasm wrapped around each syllable. "I hate to admit it, but he's smart, Kol. He let us go without a fight last time, he wouldn't have done that if he didn't have a Plan B. It has to be him, Davina is the only other person, minus us two, that knows everything." I elaborated, my heart swelling with a certain confidence in Davina Claire. Regardless of the fact I hadn't know her long, I could tell she had a good heart and wanted the best for me.

Kol repressed a snort upon being reminded of my attachment to the teenager. Although he had been endeared by the fiery brunette at one point, it was during their ephemeral romance that he experienced first hand the extent of her rage after an explosive disagreement. "Don't rule Davina out quite yet." In warning me this, he chose to disregard that this was the same girl that had agreed to do us a favour. She was going to cast the spell that would allow me to return to my old body and it seemed counteractive of her to be playing both teams when both sides had so much influence in New Orleans. "Ignoring Klaus' past grievances, there's nothing that points to him having overheard us. We can't go in there and outright accuse him of anything, Charlotte." His condescending tone didn't sit well with me. Not at all. "When we go inside, don't talk. I'll ask him about Rosie and you can . . . smile." Kol ordered and if I hadn't been consumed with melancholy, I would have found it ironic how our roles had reversed so I was the forest fire for once.

Hurt by his demands, I stumbled back a few steps from entrance to the Mikaelson Compound and disconnected our hands. "You sound like my mother." I whispered, those five words acting like harsh slap across the face for the man in front of me. He knew how sincere I was in saying he sounded like her and he knew how much of an insult it was. "Smile. Compliment. Only speak when spoken to. Be polite. Accept loving gestures. Be quiet." I echoed what had been drilled into my brain from a young age — better known as the Hatton family guidelines on how to be a proper lady.

"Ch—" I cut him off.

"Is that what I should do, Kol? Do you want me to smile whilst I stare into the eyes of the man that had tormented me for a century? Better yet, do you want me to compliment how he attempted to murder half of Mystic Falls less than year ago — most of which consisted of my friends?" In pure disbelief, I fired question after question at him as a tsunami of emotions clawed at my insides. My self-pity apparently wanted to stage a jail break, but I couldn't let it. I couldn't show such weakness in front of the man that didn't see my as a forest fire at all, but a porcelain doll. Earlier, I was wrong. Kol didn't view me as his equal, someone that was strong and destructive, instead, he thought I was fragile. From the strange look in Kol's brown eyes, it was apparent to me that he thought I would shatter into tiny fragments if he applied enough pressure.

Not wanting to dig himself into a hole, Kol controlled his own spiralling emotions as best he could. "I didn't mean it like that. I need to talk to Nik about Rosie and if you're being all melodramatic —" He began, exhausted from the mayhem that New Orleans had ignited for him. When he was in a box, at least he had none of this trouble.

"Yes, Kol, I'm being melodramatic by not being comfortable in being civil with someone who wants me dead and is capable of such, considering they've killed me before!" I yelled at him, hot tears rolling down my cheeks already. In all honesty, maybe I was being melodramatic, but it was the first time since Rosalie — or Rosie as he called her — arrived that I had the Original's undivided attention.

Unexpectedly, Kol shot his fist into the brick exterior of the Mikaelson Compound in search of a semi-productive way to release his frustrations. To him, the gaping hole in the wall served as his contribution towards the renovation of his family home, ergo it was semi-productive. "Bloody hell, that was a century ago. Will you ever let that go?" He boomed, his voice thundering and far louder than mine had been. It didn't take a lot for me to piece together that our conversation had morphed into shouting match. Neither of us were going to be victorious in it, that much I was certain.

"You loved me a century ago. Will you ever let me go?" Somehow, I plucked up the courage to boomerang the vampire's reasoning back at him. However, all it did was spark an odd sense of vulnerability inside me as it dawned on me that I might not be his first choice anymore. Kol loved Rosalie first, I couldn't match that.

Unclenching his fist, he revealed the bloodied indents his nails had created and became overly interested in how they magically healed up within seconds. "That's different." He claimed, glowering at his hands. "I couldn't let you go even if I wanted to because you're magnetic, Charlotte Hatton. Every time I think we're done or I screwed up for the last time, you pull me back in. Granted, certain things should remain in the past — we are not one of them." Looking up, he planted the palms of his hands on either side of my face and drew my lips in closer. Somewhere along the line, the edge in his voice had shifted from that of annoyance to ardency. "I won't always be the man you deserve, the one that brings you flowers each day or remembers to tell you how breathtakingly beautiful you are — and you are, in case you were wondering," Kol hesitated. "But, I am very good at being selfish and that means I don't want to share you with anyone else. You're mine, always and forever." He earnestly declared, sealing his promise by crashing his lips against my own with a primal desire.

Regrettably, I broke away from the kiss before escalated into something more. "I want you, Kol. I've always wanted you." I murmured, taking a step back and running my fingers through my windswept hair. "Do you want me still? And I mean, would you still love me 'always and forever' if I end up stuck in this body? More importantly, what does it mean for us with Rosalie back?" I vented, having had all these questions swirling like a hurricane in the back of my mind. That little voice in my head was growing louder and left me wondering about the foundation of my relationship with Kol. Whilst I was happy with how we were, it was a far bigger change for him to see me as a totally new person with a new look and a new voice and new commitments.

Kol was taken aback by how I moved away from him, the flicker of hurt being gone from his face in a blink. "In seven days, Rosie will be dead again." He echoed the blonde's words, but failed to soothe my fears about his feelings for her.

I sneered. "Unless I die." I amended. "She was your first love, right? You were going to marry her." Through the heartbreak, I laughed. All I could do was laugh because if I didn'tI would cry in remembering how much he hated marriage because of her and how it took him four centuries to move on.

"And you're my second love." Kol deadpanned.

"Exactly." There was a frown etched onto my face. "I'm your second love. She has a special place in your heart and will always come before me because she was first." I presumed, not actually knowing how important second loves were in comparison to one's first. Kol Mikaelson was my first and only love. Thomas was a forced arrangement and Jeremy was somebody I wanted to love, but couldn't. Of course I had a few sexual relationships in between too, but it was exclusively Kol that I had been in love with.

"Now, I'm not all too familiar with matters of the heart," he started to joke, which was a stark difference from the man that had been screaming and punching walls. "But I do know that if my first love was that special, there wouldn't have been a second love. Considering I haven't had a third love yet, it's safe to say that my second love comes first." The brunette gathered, having gained some wisdom after being alive for a millennium.

The ghost of a smile passed me by. "What if you haven't found your third love yet because I've been at your side since you were first undaggered?" I suggested, praying that wasn't the case. We had barely been apart since he was undaggered — my death being our first division in the modern world. Then, we reunited and I scared away Davina when she could have been his third love. Fears of being too clingy creeped over me and my self-destructive tendencies kicked in, begging for me to push him away before I ruined what was a good thing.

"Stop worrying. It doesn't suit you." Kol scrunched his face together in thought, not understand why competing for his attention had me so worked up. "I love you, darling. As pathetic or frivolous as I view love to be, I somehow feel it around you. Whether that be you as a human girl in the twentieth century or a vampire without your humanity or a witch in New Orleans." Like many others, he didn't know about my extracurricular activities as a huntress. He didn't care if I killed humans, but would he love me if he knew that Esther was sending me to kill his own? It was embarrassing to admit that I still longed for the thrill of the kill and didn't mind when the witch had me doing her dirty work. So, I simply nodded for him to continue his speech. "I still feel it. If wasn't madly in love with you, I wouldn't do stupid things as often as I do — I wouldn't be satisfied by how awfully jealous you are about Rosie and I wouldn't have strangled that Alex bloke in an alleyway bec—" The Original's raised voice fell flat suddenly and turned quiet when his brain finally caught up to his mouth.

I replayed his words in my mind and soon discovered I wasn't the only one keeping secrets. Except, he lied whilst it was just never the right time for me to bring up my shady side work. "Alex. You killed him?" In my heart, I knew the man was better off dead than being a constant threat to me, but it stung to know Kol lied and had insisted he compelled the boy.

"He was hardly an innocent. Hell, I watched him suffocate you." The vampire scoffed out in order to defend his actions, not that he felt obliged to defend himself in the slightest. He wasn't exactly plagued by guilt over that particular murder.

Groaning, I allowed my shoulders to slump from exhaustion. "I never said he was, but you lied to me." I told him, shaking my head. "I stole a girl's body and I've been a psycho bitch's errand girl for weeks, I'm going to have new enemies. You can't kill them all, but if you do, I think I deserve to know. You're a Mikaelson, I thought you'd know better than anyone how important is to keep your enemies closer than your friends — but, here I am, not even knowing if my enemies are dead or alive!" I chastised, throwing my hands about wildly to emphasise my point. "You don't lie to the people you love." I finalised, raising an eyebrow as if daring him to correct me.

"That's rich coming from you. Did you forget the time you lied to me about the fact you were dying?" He reminded me how I covered the black veins on my arms from everyone when I was cursed.

I narrowed my eyes at his low blow. "That's not the same. I've only ever lied to protect you whilst your lie was putting me in more danger!" I rebuffed, all too aware of how hypocritical I was sounding. What was wrong with me? It was as if there was grey cloud looming over my mind and it stirred up all this self-doubt and negativity in my brain.

Kol's eyes were something I've always loved about him, but I hated how when they darkened to a charcoal colour, it was like I was falling into a bottomless pit. "I'm not going to apologise. You know who I am, what I am and it's time you stop acting surprised by it." An unexplainable darkness was stirring inside his bones, but it was something far more sinister than my inner anxieties. "I'm a monster!" He roared, his vampire veins protruding forward as he gnashed his fangs at me.

If he was trying to scare me, it didn't work. "You aren't a monster." I denied. "You're a vampire, but not a monster. You're capable of love and that doesn't sound like a monster to me." I defended, hoping to diffuse the situation before something was said that couldn't be taken back.

"You thought I was incapable of love two minutes ago because you don't lie to the people you love." The Original mocked, spitting the words from his tongue like they were acid. "I mean, you only expect the worst of me lately, it's only right of me to deliver that." His humanity switch was teetering between on and off, an enigmatic black energy was rattling his rib cage and festering inside of him. "You haven't seen me at my worst though. Up until now, what you've witnessed has been child's play. It's time I remind the world why the name Kol Mikaelson should be feared." On that note, he flashed away from the scene. Without further explanation, without me.

Abandoned by Kol and puzzled by what evoked his drastic attitude change, I was left standing alone in the dusty trail leading up to the Mikaelson Compound entrance. Kol was the type to run hot and cold, but I had never saw him flip between personalities so quick. The two of us never even made it inside to talk to Klaus about Rosalie's return or how my life was bound to hers. Unwilling to have that conversation alone, I turned around to leave and hopefully find that Kol had calmed down. In the process, I bumped into the chest of the very man I didn't want to speak with alone — Klaus.

Klaus stared down at me, steadying me after our collision. "You're a fool, do you even realise what you have awakened?" The blonde bellowed, he had been slinking around the compound whilst my fight with Kol unfolded.

For once, I separated my ill feelings and followed after the hybrid when he entered the family complex. I couldn't be sure, but I swore I saw a glint of regret in the almighty immortal's eyes when he spoke to me. "Enlighten me then, Klaus." I humoured him, ensuring there was an authoritative air surrounding me. No avoidance tactics or excuses, I wanted the truth.

"Something wicked."

✧࿐ ཾ✧

A.N: I hate making my babies fight, but this was such an important chapter to be in Lottie's head. Now that she's got the guy, she's almost wants to ruin it before anything else gets the chance because she doesn't believe the universe will ever allow her to be happy. Even reading it for me, she seems a little crazy but she's jealous and she's in a very unstable mental place right now, so she's grasping at straws and making excuses before she's in too deep again. As for Kol, he doesn't understand how much death affected her or how hard it is for her to be Adelina every day and he's becoming a little unhinged since his attempts at being more affectionate and loving weren't being received well.

I feel Lottie needs some comfort right now. So, the question this time is, what's your favourite comfort food?