19 | The Beauty and The Monster

     "𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐔𝐌." Mary whispered under her breath.

Her car trunk was already filled with her stuff. She was seated in the driver's seat with the seatbelt situated across her upper body, securing her safety—not that she was even capable of dying since Cordelia's protection spell on her was still intact.

Mary's brown eyes trailed over to the rear view mirror and adjusted to have a good look of the road behind her. It was empty. She couldn't believe that for such a small town crawling with supernatural entities, it still managed to become this quiet.

She turned the keys and the car engine roared to life. Cars fascinated her the first time she first used one. Horses were a delight, don't get her wrong. But saddles could be quite uncomfortable for the former queen. Not only can Mary lean back and maintain her pristine posture, the ride was also smooth in contrast to when riding a horse.

The former queen, with no regard to the road signs that came and passed in this small town, sped toward the entrance slash exit of Mystic Falls. She could already see the town sign approaching as she sped when her phone that she left on the passenger's seat started ringing.

Mary ripped her gaze away from the road and looked at her phone, seeing the screen flash Kol's name. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering how desperate could Kol be to call her after the confrontation they just had the night before. Her eyes went back to the road and before reaching the town sign, a man stood in the middle of the road, waiting to be roadkill.

Instead of being alarmed, Mary let out an irritated mumble under her breath, seeing as the man who was about to be hit by her car was none other than Kol Mikaelson. He was staring her down while holding a phone against his ear, as if waiting for her to hit the brakes.

Mary exhaled sharply, extremely frustrated. "You have got to be kidding me."

The redhead slammed the breaks and the tires screeched against the cemented road, smoke trailing behind her car as it was forced to come to a halt. Mary watched as her car stopped just mere inches before she could hit Kol. And to be honest, a part of her actually wanted that to happen.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kol questioned her after hanging up the call, not moving away from the front of her car.

Mary glared at the original vampire as she unclasped her seatbelt and opened the car door to step out. She didn't miss out the chance to slam the door shut to reflect her exasperation toward the situation.

"Home. Where else?" She merely answered.

Kol arched an eyebrow at her. "Scotland?"

"Or hell." Mary replied, the next thing they knew, their conversation suddenly turned into an exchange of nonsensical banters.

"Much more fitting."

"I'll be seeing you there, then."

"Don't wait up, darling."

Not even one minute in each other's presence and they were already getting in the other's nerves. Mary joined the original vampire to the front of her car, tilting her head up a bit as he towered over her.

"What mess have you lot gotten into now that you resorted to calling me?" Mary asked.

Mary, despite her broken mind, was still smart enough to pick up on the hints in this situation. Something was wrong and they needed her to make things right—whatever their definition of right was.

"The history teacher is not dead." Kol said, earning an arch of an eyebrow from Mary while she was hearing him out. "Mother dearest's spell turned him into the ultimate vampire hunter with an indestructible white oak stake. He's stuck at the high school. Klaus and the Salvatores are on their way there."

"I'm failing to see how that's any of my problem." The former queen responded.

Kol rolled his eyes at the woman while he tucked his hands halfway into the pockets of his jeans. "If Klaus dies, so does Caroline."

Mary fought the urge to give so much as a mere reaction to the vampire's words. He was looking at her carefully, searching for some kind of slip up to prove that Mary actually cared for the blonde vampire.

"And?" Mary asked, keeping her facade intact.

A smirk curled on the vampire's lips as if accepting some challenge.

"If Klaus dies, Alaric will then come after Rebekah, then Elijah...then me." Kol said, expecting a reaction to finally befall on her sweet yet fierce face. But instead, he was met with a stern one.

"What makes you think I even care about what happens to any of you?" She questioned, still leading with a serious expression.

Kol's smirk turned into a smile, a charming one, something that he hoped would work on the woman. "Because you care about me."

Mary scoffed at his words.

"I don't care about you." She answered.

"I can hear your heartbeat skip when you lie, Mary." He replied, taking a few steps further toward her and not taking his eyes off of her nor letting the smile on his face falter. The gap between them was only mere inches. Mary murdered the butterflies in her stomach before it got any worse.

The former queen narrowed her suspicious brown eyes at the original vampire smiling at her. "Are you seducing me?"

"Why, is it working?" He asked, his charming smile turning into a smug one.

Mary could not be more confused about the deal between her and Kol. There was intimacy between them, admiration, passion, lust. But there was also madness, animosity, and bitterness. Such things mixed together usually resulted in the destruction of a lot of things—not that it happened a lot.

"I despise you." Mary pointed out, as if Kol didn't already know that.

Kol raised both of his eyebrows in amusement. "I didn't say you don't."

Mary rolled her brown eyes at the vampire before turning away from him and made her way back to the driver's side of the car. "I hate you." she said while she did.

"And I you." Kol replied without any hesitation but still with the entertained smile on his face.

"Get in the fucking car." Mary simply told him while she climbed in the driver's seat.

Kol finally obeyed the former queen and approached the passenger's side of the car and opened the door. Mary was not going to let Kol in with that teasing smile still plastered across his face. So she intended to remove it before he stepped foot inside her car.

Upon opening the door, Mary used whatever magic's left inside her from her latest siphon and muttered an incantation under her breath, shutting the door close—the handle slipping from Kol's fingers as it did.

"Seriously?" Kol said, not bothering to bend down and look at the redhead through the window.

"Just get in." she said.

Kol exhaled sharply in irritation before trying to open the car door once again. Not even two seconds later, the door was once again pulled close, earning an annoyed groan to escape the man's lips. Kol placed his hands on the top of the car and leaned over to look at Mary through the open window.

"This is just petty." Kol commented.

Mary shrugged innocently. "I have a right to be petty."

She held out an arm toward him and the car door forcefully opened, hitting his body which gained another irritated grunt to leave the vampire's throat. He took a step back and straightened his posture, sighing deeply in frustration before grabbing the car door and opening it further so he could finally hop in the passenger's seat.

When Kol succeeded in getting in at last, he slammed the car door shut and turned toward the redhead with a scowl on his face—exactly what Mary was aiming for.

"That's more like it." Mary simply said before starting the car and driving back to go to the high school.

Kol watched the former queen in her seat as she drove. Mary was starting to feel uncomfortable knowing that his gaze was fixated on her with no reason whatsoever. Everytime she would look toward his direction, she would always catch him staring at her—observing her. He didn't even blink.

"What do you want?" Mary finally asked, not handling anymore of his stares without knowing the explanation behind them.

"How did you get out of the prison world?" He questioned.

Mary laughed, though with the absence of amusement. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"That's why I'm asking, aren't I?" Kol pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

The former Scottish queen sighed deeply and kept her eyes on the road before placing the last puzzle piece down to complete the big picture that was the untold history of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

"There was no mode of transportation for me in the prison world because there were no horses. It took me...so long to completely explore the world by foot." Mary began. She remembered her first few days in the prison world, dragging her dress as she walked from town to town.

Kol could only imagine the number of miles Mary had to walk in order to get to certain places. And for a human, that was extremely tiring.

"Like I said, the first century was me trying to find a way to escape the god awful place. I found the Queen's Crown right where I left it. Might've used it too many times to get me out of there to the point that I've gone completely numb against the pain that came with the magic." She explained.

The original vampire hummed as realization hit him upon Mary's story. "That's why when I tested it on you back at the ball, nothing happened. You were able to control it."

"Yeah." Mary simply said in response to his words before continuing the story. "I only got to explore the entire European continent for something that could help me escape before my desire to...rest exceeded my need for survival."

Instead of saying something, Kol remained silent. She already told him that the first time, and he was still just as speechless about it.

"When I found the motivation to keep going again, I continued my expedition toward the spell that could get me out of there. I found it and the ascendant in the third century." Mary said. Then a bitter smile stretched on her lips at the reminder of how angry she was the next couple of years. "Then I proceeded to destroy half of North America in frustration after finding out that I needed the blood of a Bennett for the stupid spell to work."

The two of them finally arrived at the high school and they pulled over right at the front of it. But before they climbed out of the car, Kol asked his final question.

"Where did you find Bennett blood?" he asked.

Mary unbuckled her seatbelt and answered without even sparing the man so much as a glance. "The dress Cordelia died in."

That was all she said before she got out of the car. Kol sat in the passenger's seat a lot longer than he should be, now just finding out that the witch of the French Court was actually a Bennett witch. Not to mention he was also stunned by the way Mary just delivered her answer. Like she was apathetic about the fact. Like she didn't become best friends with the witch. Like she wasn't the person she trusted her life with.

But at this point, Kol pretty much knew most of her. When she's trying to look emotionless, that just meant that there were a lot of emotions going on inside her.

"Hic sum." Mary muttered under her breath.

The original vampire snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of her voice and stepped out of the car, slamming it shut.

"Did you say something?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

"What?" she asked back, genuinely curious.

Kol tilted his head to the side slightly before nodding toward her. "You said hic sum."

"No, I didn't." Mary replied, genuinely oblivious.

"Yes, you did." Kol insisted. He knew what he heard. He didn't know if Mary was just trying to get away from that fact or she just didn't know what he was talking about. But he swore he heard her say those two words.

"Will you stop messing with me, Kol, and just find out where they are?" Mary told him.

Hesitantly, Kol let whatever that was slide and faced the front doors of the high school as he used his enhanced hearing to track where Alaric was as well as Klaus and the Salvatore Brothers. Kol picked up on the sound of heavy breathing, Klaus's and Alaric's.

"This way." Kol said as he entered the school and Mary followed.

Meanwhile, Damon and Stefan Salvatore were already unconscious on the hallway floor. Alaric took both of them down without even breaking a sweat. Klaus, on the other hand, was able to dig his fingers into the man's chest, making contact with his heart. However, it didn't take long before Alaric took him down too.

Alaric grabbed a hold of the original hybrid's hand that was shoved into his chest and twisted it, taking it out and earning a loud scream to erupt from Klaus's throat before Alaric's hold on him became even more firm and threw him down the hall. The ruthless vampire hunter marched toward Klaus and grabbed him again only to toss him against the lockers, the sound resonating throughout the corridor, so was Klaus's grunts.

Alaric turned Klaus around who was on the floor and aimed the white oak stake to his heart. The stake was about to be driven toward the original hybrid's chest until he was suddenly thrown in the air, away from Klaus. The original hybrid lifted his head to see who it was that came and saw Mary approaching with Kol behind her.

"Dakota." Alaric growled.

Mary pushed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. "Not really. Ossox."

It was now Alaric's groans and yells that bounced on the walls, echoing in the high school corridor as Mary broke the bone in his left leg, then his right. Kol rushed to his sibling, making sure that he was all right.

"Haven't you heard?" Mary said, not stopping her tracks—not until she reached Alaric. "I'm the fucking Queen."

Mary brought her right boot to his chin, kicking him in the face hard enough to send him back down on the ground. As a woman of revenge, this one was long overdue.

"A knife to the stomach? That hurt." Mary reminded him before proceeding with another spell. "Le specto tre colo ves bestia."

Alaric's eyes widened when he suddenly felt the inside of his chest turn dangerously tight. He could feel the way his heart was being crushed like it was in someone's hand, mercilessly squeezing it. Mary was holding out her hand, her fingers closing into her palms as if she really had Alaric's heart in her hand and callously squashing it in her hand. She wished she could feel that in her hands. She wished she could feel the blood seep through her fingers and trickle down her arms.

The vampire hunter's eyes turned toward the redhead and the pained expression on his face was roughly replaced with a resentful one before forcing himself to move, reaching forward and wrapping his hand around Mary's throat tightly.

The sudden move caused Mary to break her concentration, allowing Alaric more strength to hurl her toward the lockers opposite to Klaus. The contact of Mary's body against the cold hard metal of the lockers before landing on the ground caused whimpers to escape the redhead's lips. She groaned as she remained on the ground. She could already feel the bruises forming on her back, her arms, and her legs—basically everywhere.

Kol growled in anger before he was blinded with rage and sped toward the hunter, using all of his strength to shove him away, sending him toppling across the hallway. He then bent down beside Mary and turned her around to face him.

"Come here, darling." Kol muttered as he pushed the strands of auburn hair that was covering her face. He found a cut on her forehead from how her head hit the lockers. He felt his own throat run dry at the sight, like suddenly he was in need of blood when he was just doing perfectly fine. And being reminded of the taste of Mary's blood was definitely not helping.

Mary blinked a couple of times to recover from her blurry vision, and once her sight was clear again, the first thing she saw was Alaric marching down toward them, coming for more. Mary was ready to cast another spell when someone from behind them spoke.

"Stop!" Elena demanded.

Everyone's eyes turned to Elena, seeing her hold a small knife to her own throat. Mary took her a few seconds before she was able to turn and look, given her head was pounding and Kol wasn't letting her move too much.

"Let them go or I'll kill myself." she threatened.

Mary furrowed her eyebrows, not knowing where this was going. How someone with obviously no humanity left could care about what he liked to call a vampire sympathizer.

Alaric glowered before setting his eyes upon Klaus, preparing to take him down again next.

"Put it down, Elena." Alaric told her as he approached the original hybrid.

Klaus frowned at the hunter himself, growling in anger as he also readied to fight against him.

"Why? Because you still need me alive?" Elena said.

Alaric stopped in his tracks at Elena's words, but his eyes were still set upon Klaus.

"There's a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn't there?" Elena guessed. From what Mary was hearing, she was probably guessing right. "She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one. Mine."

Mary's hand reached for Kol's arm, causing him to avert his gaze from what was happening and toward Mary. His eyes shifting from anger to pure worry was so instant, it was so noticeable.

"What's wrong?" Kol asked.

The redhead signaled for him to move closer, to give him his ear for her to whisper in. Kol did as such, leaning closer which made it even harder for him to resist her blood.

"Elena's easier to kill." Mary noted.

Kol moved away slowly and locked gazes with Mary. Her eyes were already telling him what they should do. And he was more than willing to do it.

"So when I die, you die too. That's it. It has to be." Elena proceeded with the knife still against her throat.

"You're wrong." Alaric snarled.

"Am I?" She taunted.

Alaric didn't say anything. So, Elena dug the small blade of the knife into her skin and cut it open as blood seeped out.

"Stop!" Alaric suddenly yelled out but Elena kept going. "Stop! Stop! Stop!"

The hunter's defenses were down and Klaus took it upon himself to shove him away from any of them before grabbing Elena and speeding out of there. Kol cursed under his breath when his brother ran off with Elena before he could even snap the girl's neck. Instead, Kol placed his arms on Mary's back and under his knees before picking her up swiftly and speeding out of the high school, not letting the hunter get near them.

—

Mary was in her old room in the Mikaelson Mansion. Though, instead of being tucked in bed like Kol specifically told her, she was readying herself to leave again. After refusing to drink vampire blood to heal the cut on her forehead, Kol angrily walked out of the room to find a first aid kit.

"You really have a thing for fleeing without saying goodbye." Kol said when he caught Mary about to sneak out the front door. "This is the third time."

The redhead exhaled deeply before turning around to find the original vampire standing there with a first aid kit in hand. This made the former queen furrow her eyebrows.

"You were serious about getting a first aid kit?" Mary pointed to the kit in his hand.

"I really can't let you walk around with a bleeding forehead now, can I?" Kol responded as he approached her and gently grabbed the woman's arm and led her toward the living room, sitting her down at the couch.

"Says the vampire who fed on me to the point of killing." Mary reminded him. The scar on her neck was still there to prove it.

Kol opened the first aid kit and began cleaning the cut on her head. He was reluctant at first, being that close to her blood again. It took everything in him not to lunge forward and bite her again. Even his touch was controlled to a fault.

"That was before I knew of my feelings for you." He answered, not faltering his gaze on the wound despite noticing how Mary had started staring at him.

Mary leaned away from his touch at what he said, stopping him from cleaning her wound and then stared at him, causing the man to stare back at her but in anticipation. Like he was waiting for her to react to what he just said. Then a spiteful laugh left Mary's lips.

"What?" He asked, baffled by her reaction—which he shouldn't be.

"You have feelings for the woman whom you've tormented for a long time?" She said. No matter how many times Kol had already told her this, she was still in shock. As if the very idea of it was laughable, impossible.

"I understand it can be quite confusing—"

"Quite?"

Kol rolled his eyes at the woman when she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Fine. It's very confusing and very complicated." He rephrased. "Well, what about you? You have feelings for your tormentor."

"No, I do not." She denied.

"Heartbeat, Mary." He said, jogging her memory.

It was Mary's turn to roll her eyes, though it didn't fail to tug a small smile on her lips. He was starting to get to her, she wasn't going to lie. But she also couldn't deny how fucked up all this was.

"This is the most fucked up case of Beauty and the Beast." Mary commented, remembering how she first reacted to that story when she read it after she got out of the prison world. She wondered how Belle could fall in love with someone who imprisoned her.

Now she was in a somewhat similar position. Only, she wasn't imprisoned by him. He kind of did things much worse than that.

"Do not ever call yourself a beast." Kol responded to her remark.

Mary glared at the man as a grimace formed on her face. "I'm the beauty."

Kol matched the grimace that appeared on her face before he replied. "How am I the beast?"

"Is that really a question?" Mary asked.

Kol opened his mouth to say something when their conversation was interrupted by the original vampire's older brother entering the room and making his presence known.

"Mary!" Klaus merrily called.

When Mary turned to look at Klaus, he had an amused grin on his face with his hands clasped behind his back, looking like a proud, behaved child.

"Niklaus." Mary simply answered.

"Oh, please. My very close friends can call me Nik." Klaus stated as he approached the redhead with his hands still behind him, as if trying to look as polite as possible.

Mary creased her forehead. "I'm a very close friend?"

"Well, you did save my life and my family's life. Not to mention we both plotted the daggering of my little brother here together." Klaus said, momentarily pointing to his little brother.

"I don't see how that's something you should be proud of." Kol interfered, pushing himself up from the couch to stand in front of Klaus while Mary remained sitting.

"No need to harbor hard feelings, brother..." Klaus said, though a teasing smile tugged on his lips when he thought of a jest that he thought would be fitting for everyone else to know. "...unless hard feelings are exactly what you feel for her—"

"Oh, bloody hell, go away." Kol placed his left hand on his hip and ran his right palm down his eyes as he groaned, the sound of Klaus's entertained laughter annoying him even more while Mary became flustered.

"All right, all right." Klaus said, throwing his hands halfway into the air as a soft chuckle erupted from his throat. "I just want to tell Mary to not leave Mystic Falls just yet."

"And why not?" she questioned.

"There is still a semi-immortal vampire hunter on the loose with an indestructible white oak stake and quite frankly, I am in no mood to be on the run again for the next 60 something years." Klaus said. "Siphon the man to desiccation. That way he's asleep and cannot harm any of us and Elena remains alive to continue supplying blood for my hybrid army. Win-win."

Mary stood up from the couch and folded her arms against her chest. "How is that a win for me?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Klaus replied with his eyebrows raising before looking toward his little brother.

The former queen could see through her peripheral vision how Kol looked at her at the statement. But she refused to look at him and instead fixated her gaze on Klaus who was now grinning from ear to ear, as if being in this room was the most entertaining experience. The moment Mary sighed, that was when they all knew she had agreed.

"Hic sum." she whispered under her breath.

—

I love writing playful banter scenes, I think it's already obvious because basically all of my books have a lot of banters between the couples (especially Once in a Blue Moon and Loved In 1994). Anyway, I hope this chapter was okay!