"What happened?" Mark hurries over to us from where he stands next to Erik and his car.

I look down at my jeans. Great, now they're even more of a mess. I guess I can say goodbye to these clothes.

Mark stops when he sees Kol and the two guns. Worriedly, Erik stands up straighter from where he is leaning against the vehicle.

"Who are you?" Erik barks, his voice dangerously low.

"Relax." Kol disregards the warning tone and throws a gun towards Mark, who catches it with one hand.

"See?" Kol says, throwing the other towards Erik. "I just need to talk to you."

Erik catches and observes the gun. "A nine millimetre Ruger P89. You got this from the assassins?" An almost surprised look turns into immediate suspicion. "What is your name, boy?"

"Kol Adamson. My father knew Michael Litt."

I stare at Kol. "You knew my father?"

He shrugs. "I knew of him. My mother and father were the ones who knew him."

I continue to gaze at Kol in disbelief. I glance at Justine, Mark and Erik who look at Kol sceptically.

"That's not possible. Michael would have told me if he met another family of thieves." Erik shakes his head.

"And what makes you think I'm a thief?" Kol says, clearly amused.

"You're an intelligencer?" Erik says, his expression unreadable. "Thieves and intelligencers don't work together. I was the only exception for Michael because I happen to have some family that were thieves."

I perk up, not wanting to miss a single word. This is the most I've ever heard Erik speak about himself.

"True," Kol resumes his faces of boredom once more. "But I guess what he didn't tell you was that he needed another intelligencer that wasn't you."

"Michael trusted me completely," Erik says pridefully. "What are you on about?"

"Michael needed an intelligencer that wasn't already known by the assassins," Kol explains. "Someone who could get on the inside."

Erik's eyes widen, and he nods understandingly. "So he hired your parents to send information to him. To play double agents. That's how he managed to escape them for so long."

Kol smiles. "Of course, then Michael died about a year ago. My parents only discovered the plan to kill Michael a few minutes too late."

My stomach lurches. He had a chance of surviving...

"They weren't able to get a hold of the information in time and tell him so..."

"He died in the car crash," I finish softly. Kol glances at me, a look on his face I can't quite place.

After a moment, he continues. "After that, my parents weren't able to get out of the organisation that easily."

Erik nods. "They would be suspicious. If they left as soon as Michael died, it would be obvious why they were there. Plus, I don't suppose the organisation would be all that happy with your parents leaving when they already knew so much."

Kol sighs, "Yep. So, are we done now?"

"Not quite." Erik takes a step towards him. "If this is true, then why have I not heard from your parents? Surely they would have known about me from Michael, and tried to contact me, at least."

"Because they're dead," he answers bluntly.

I glance at him sympathetically, but he simply shrugs and continues. "Both died a few months after your dad did." Kol glimpses at me before turning his eyes towards Erik again. "Satisfied yet?"

"Almost," Erik responds, his face blank.

Does he even feel sorry for Kol or is he just putting on a really good straight face?

Kol shoves his hands in his jeans pocket, seemingly annoyed. "What?"

"Why are you here now?"

"I need somewhere to stay," Kol admits. "For months I've been surviving on my own. My parents told me that if anything ever happened to me, I was to stay with you. Michael trusted you, and if Michael trusted you then so did my parents."

"How did you learn so much about the assassins? Did your parents tell you? How did you survive this long on your own and why didn't you come to me earlier?" Erik fires out questions one after the other mercilessly, and I wonder if he means for Kol to answer them all that quickly.

Kol laughs. "What is this, an interrogation? How I survived and what I know is none of your business. I have secrets, as I'm sure you do."

Erik looks at Kol for a long time before a small smile makes his way across his face. "Fair enough. You sound like an intelligencer to me, even if you are an amateur."

Kol flashes a winning grin. "Amateur? You have no idea."

Erik walks over and slaps the teenager on the back. "You realise I still don't trust you, I hope?"

Kol nods. "Of course."

"Good."

Mark looks between the two, a scowl on his face. "We're not seriously going to let him stay with us?"

Erik gives Mark a warning glance. "I know what I am doing Mark. I may be old, but I'm not so old that I need others to make decisions for me. I still have a sense of caution."

Mark shakes his head and walks towards the car without a second glance back. Justine crosses her arms, a small frown on her face. Erik seems almost comfortable with the situation, but anyone would be able to see those watchful hound-like eyes on Kol.

Kol turns to face me, a smirk on his face. "Looks like I'll be staying a while then."

Seeing as I'm the only one willing to talk to him, and Erik is already on his way back to the car, I answer, "Yeah, I guess so."

I cast a glimpse into his twinkling eyes, indecisive on whether I liked the aura of mischief about him.

"Oh no!" Justine clasps a hand to her mouth. Mark and Erik both turn to face Justine with alarm whilst Kol raises a questioning eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" I bite my lip nervously and glance around. Please, not another assassin...

"We left our clothes at the store!"

I can't help but burst out into laughter as relief washes over me. Of all the things to worry about!

Erik shakes his head and I notice Mark trying to hide a smile. Kol simply looks at Justine with an almost amused expression.

"I suppose we'll head back to the boutique then," Erik says with a sigh.

"I could use some new clothes actually," Kol confesses. "I had to leave mine behind."

I raise an eyebrow at him and he shrugs in return. "I ran into a few assassins a couple hours before. Wouldn't exactly be safe to head back to where I'm staying."

"How did you know we'd be here?" Mark narrows his eyes from where he stands beside the car door.

"I told you." Kol grins. "I'm an intelligencer."

There's a brief, awkward moment of silence that's swiftly broken by Justine.

"Well, I call shotgun!" Justine runs towards the car, her suspicions of Kol seemingly vanished into thin air.

How does she do it? I wonder. How can she worry about something one minute, and the next, look like she doesn't have a care in the world? It's one of the reasons why we're best friends, I realise. She's the one that has always told me to loosen up a little, to let go.

A sudden emptiness fills me as the realisation finally dawns on me. She was just trying to protect me. Even if it wasn't her right to do so, she was still trying, and all I've done is treat her like... crap.

"I'm such an idiot," I mutter to myself.

Kol, still next to me, glances sideways. "Aw, don't be so hard on yourself. When you're busy running from assassins, your first thought isn't always to grab your shopping bags."

I smile, shaking my head. "Very funny. That's not what I was thinking, though."

Kol takes a step towards me and on instinct, I tense up.

"And what's a pretty girl like you got to worry about?" Kol smirks.

I wrack my brains for a response, but nothing comes to mind. Pretty? Is he flirting with me? Luckily, Mark interrupts us from where he's still leaning beside Erik's car, arms crossed, his cautious gaze upon the two of us.

"You two ready to go?"

I note there's a new seriousness to Mark's voice that I'm not sure I like.

"Yeah, coming," I mumble, walking towards the car. I can still feel Kol's eyes trained on my back, and I resist the temptation to look back.

What's up with him anyway?

This time, Mark doesn't wait for me. He slides into the far side of the car, a scowl set on his face once again. I sit in the middle seat and Kol finally joins us in the cramped little car. I'm thigh to thigh with the two boys, and I know that the ride is not going to be too comfortable. Not with Mark glaring at Kol every so often.

And what's his problem anyway? Mark's usually really nice.

"We'll head to the store Justine and Audrey were at last, then we'll go to another store to pick up some clothes and anything else you need." Erik turns his head from the driver's seat to speak to Kol.

"So, someone mind explaining what happened with the assassins?" Erik asks as he begins to drive.

I notice that Erik has slid the gun into his jacket pocket. Mark still holds onto the other. Justine starts to rattle on about the life-threatening event for a good few minutes until Erik stops the car.

"Is that the boutique you were talking about?" Erik asks, pointing across the road at the boutique where we had encountered Kol.

"Yeah, that's where we left the bags. I'll go grab them!" Justine exclaims, unbuckling her seatbelt. "I hope they're still there," I hear her mutter, as she exits the car and crosses the road.

"So what else happened?" Mark inquires.

"Well, Audrey dodged a bullet, didn't you?" Kol gives a small half-smile.

Mark scans me over. "You didn't get hurt?"

I shake my head. "A little bruised is all. Kol saved me, actually."

I had hoped that remark might help the situation between the two boys, but for some reason, it only seems to make Mark dislike him even more.

"Did he now?" Mark looks over Kol, his face unreadable. Mark's glares didn't seem to bother Kol, however. In fact, Kol seems to be enjoying himself all the more. He flashes Mark a grin. I look at Erik for help, wanting to get away from the awkward tension growing, but Erik seems to be watching all this with an interested amusement.

"Back!" Justine opens the door to the passenger seat. "The shopkeeper noticed the bags and put them behind the counter! Isn't that nice?" Justine closes the door and buckles her seatbelt. She rummages through a few of the bags before noticing the odd silence.

"Um, are we going to drive?" she glimpses at Erik, who smiles and turns the key in the ignition.

She looks back at the three of us, Mark glaring, Kol grinning, and me... well probably looking beet-red.

"Okay..." Justine looks between the three of us before shaking her head absent-mindedly. "Here you go." She hands my shopping bag over to me and I silently thank Justine for coming in when she did.

She eyes each one of us once more.

"What happened to you three?" She raises an eyebrow towards Mark in particular, who turns to face the window. Justine shrugs and turns back towards the front. I let out a small sigh. Honestly, I don't even know.

| Dedicated to DiedBlonde |

Another amazing supporter who added "The Darker Knight" to her reading list and keeps up to date with "Deception". Amazing Xx

Wow! Can you believe that you're already three-quarters of the way through "Deception" already? A big thank you to everyone who has helped me reach 4K! <3

So this is the competition I said Mark would have in chapter 21... Please remember to vote/comment any thoughts on this apparent love-triangle that seems to be happening between Mark, Kol and Audrey!

EDITED ✔