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"When the pain cuts you deep, and the night keeps you from sleeping. Just look and you will see, that I will be your remedy."

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THERE'S A DEFINITE change between the energy flowing between James and I, as the whole ride to Elena's is filled with comfortable silence, both of our minds consumed with the emotions and feelings felt moments earlier.

I'm the happiest I've ever been in a long time, and I don't want this feeling to end. I would go back and skate again no matter how much I fear it, just to have more time with James. We were by ourselves, in our own world, solving our own problems and finding our own way until reality dragged us back into the circle of hell.

I should be nervous walking up to Elena's doorstep knowing we're about to face an original, but I find myself to be anything but so. James and I exchange a glance, sending each other a reassuring smile before opening her door.

To our surprise, Kol is already inside waiting, Elena trapped in his grasp with a wooden stake in one hand, her phone in the other as he wraps his arm around her neck to hold her in place.

"Surprise! I found out you were coming thanks to this handy dandy device," Kol teases, throwing Elena's phone to the floor, the glass shattering immediately. "Well isn't this cute. I'm a little jealous to be honest, I would've thought I'd be your type darling," Kol says, glancing down at mine and James's entwined hands. I hadn't even noticed we had grasped each other's hands. 

Angered, I go to take a step forwards releasing my hand from James's only to have him hold me back before I can do anything to make this situation worse.

"Kol, why don't you release Elena so we can talk. There's no reason to be holding hostages," James says calmly, stepping in front of me. The way he speaks to Kol is unnerving, as if he's walking on eggshells around him. I know he's known Kol for a thousand years, and I can only wonder how unpredictable Kol is. 

"You know, I think this particular situation requires a hostage so that you all will listen to me. I cannot let you all find the cure, or you risk raising Silas!" Kol yells angrily.

I have no idea who Silas is, or how he even came about in this quest for the cure. It appears this professor Shane hasn't been completely truthful to everyone as this is the first I've heard of someone else involved with the cure. However, the serious look on James's face at the mention of Silas causes him to take a step back. "What do you mean?" James questions.

"Oh you didn't know?" Kol teases.

"Who is Silas?" I ask, irritated that no one is explaining anything.

"He, love, is the worlds first immortal being. Some say he's nothing but a fantasy tale, but centuries back I met a group that worshipped Silas, saying that one day he would bring the world to an end by releasing the vail to the other side," Kol explains. "And by being immortal, you can see how the world ending doesn't particularly enthuse me."

"I've met that group too Kol, centuries ago. They were nothing but a bunch of brainwashed freaks. We're only interested in the cure, not Silas," James says, trying to reassure Kol, but he doesn't seem pleased.

"You don't get it. That professor Shane only wants to raise Silas who is buried with the cure. You can't get one or the other. If you dig up the cure, you dig up Silas too," Kol shouts angrily, holding Elena tighter as his rage amplifies.

As Kol continues to plead his case, arguing his side of the story, Jeremy appears from behind him with a cross bow in hand, loaded with the magical stake Esther made, and it's aimed directly at Kol.

My eyes go wide as James moves to stop Jeremy in an attempt to save Kol whose death will only cause more problems in the situation we are already in, but it's too late.

"Jeremy no!" James yells, but he already pulled the trigger, the stake lodging itself into Kol's back and straight into his heart.

I gasp as Kol's body ignites in flames, screams of pain and panic coming from him as he burns alive, the magical stake killing him slowly before he falls to the ground, the flame diminishing leaving nothing but his body covered in grey veins.

"Oh my god," I say, staring at Kol's lifeless body.

"Why did you do that? Do you know how this is going to play out? You have no idea what the hell you've just started!" James yells angrily, staring at his friend's brother who lies dead on the ground. Kol may have been an instigator and a troublemaker, but he was Elijah's brother, not to mention Klaus's who will no doubt be enraged.

"Think about it, he's an original meaning all the vampires in his sire will die too! It will complete his hunter's mark!" Elena explains.

"The hunters mark will be the least of your concerns once Klaus finds out what you've done," James warns.  

"Once I find out what?" a voice sounds from behind us. We don't have to turn to see who it is. The voice belongs to the devil himself.

We all turn to see Klaus standing just outside the open door, his eyes immediately landing on his deceased brother laying on the ground. "What did you do?" he growls, his eyes sparkling with tears.

"I did what I needed to. He was going to kill my sister," Jeremy says confidently, taking the blame. Frankly, if he wasn't going to take the blame I was going to rat him out anyways. There was no way in hell I was going to suffer the wrath of Klaus just for the sake of the Gilbert siblings, not that I would ever admit it aloud.

"You speak of lies!" Klaus yells, pounding his fist against the invisible barrier of the door since he hasn't been invited in. He locks eyes with me, looking for understanding but I can't give him any. James and I didn't kill Kol, we've just found ourselves caught up in the middle of it all once again. 

"What's to say I won't kill you little Gilbert like I did Carol Lockwood?" Klaus says. 

"Klaus-," I begin, but I'm cut off as suddenly Klaus falls to the ground, clutching his head in agony as if from a pain infliction spell.

As expected, Bonnie rounds the corner, instructing Jeremy to invite Klaus inside. Once he does so, Bonnie forces Klaus inside and into the living room with an invisible force, making us all stand back while Klaus stands in the room by himself.

The pain infliction spell lifts as Klaus gets up, marching towards Bonnie when suddenly he goes flying back as if he's hit an invisible wall. Out of anger, he charges the wall again only to be trapped on all sides, confined in an invisible box.

"You best let me out of here witch!" Klaus bellows, his body practically shaking with rage. 

Bonnie nods her head towards the door, singling for us to leave. I hesitate, staring at Klaus as he stands helpless inside the Gilbert living room. He locks eyes with me but I know I can't do anything. He's stuck here, staring at the corpse of his brother. I can't help but feel somewhat sorry for him, despite everything he's done. 

James grabs my wrist and breaks my stare from Klaus. I look away and keep my head down as we go outside, walking towards our cars. I stop and turn to Bonnie just as I reach James's truck. 

"Bonnie, why did you do that?" I ask.

"All of us are playing on teams for this cure, yet he seems to be playing solo, for himself. He doesn't want the cure, he wants to destroy it so no one can use it on him," she says. "He's in there so everyone else can do what we need to do to get this cure without him causing trouble. However, it'll only hold him for a few days, long enough for us to get the cure," Bonnie explains.

I sigh and nod, understanding why Bonnie trapped Klaus. Once again she's helping protect everyone else. And once again Elena is the reason for all this fuss. We're all working our asses to get this cure for her, so my brothers can be happy and guilt free for bringing her into their lives. 

I turn to Elena before she gets into Bonnie's car. "Just for your information Elena, my brothers are going head over heels for you just to get this cure, so if anyone gets hurt, it's on you," I say, before climbing into the passenger seat of James's truck.

"Well that was one way to ruin date night," I mutter as James drives away from Elena's house, that now holds captive a furious Klaus.

James laughs lowly, putting one hand over mine. "It's not over, you know. There will be a part two to this date." 

I raise a brow. "Oh really? We're going to have to throw ourselves off the grid if we're ever going to get some peace and quiet." 

James sighs, a look of disappointment on his face. "What's wrong?" I ask. 

"I like helping your brothers and everything as they're my friends, but the lengths they go to in order to keep Elena safe have impacted my life more than I'd like," he says quietly. 

"Is this about Kol?" I ask, the image of his burning body replaying in my mind. 

"Yes, and Finn. Sure they've done terrible things but we all have. Damon has and Elijah has but we can come back from that. I know I have," he says. "I just don't know how much more of myself or even you can put out on the line just for the sake of Elena. I mean, did your brothers ever ask you if you wanted the cure?" 

I open my mouth to speak but I don't know what to say. No, my brothers never asked me if I wanted the cure, but I also never really thought twice about it. 

"I've never really thought about it," I say honestly. "Being human to me made me feel powerless, not suited for this world. I know I was young - and still am given the length of time I spent in the tomb- but I think I am capable of doing more as a vampire than I ever would be as a human." 

James nods, and I have a hard time reading what he might be thinking. "Would you take it if given the chance?" I ask. 

"There were things I wanted as a human that I know I will never get now. I wanted to see my siblings grow up. I wanted a family to take care of, children to watch grow older. I had all of that taken away from me when Klaus forced me and my siblings into becoming vampires," he says. "But, I am a believer that everything happens for a reason, meaning if I never became a vampire I would never have met you." 

I look down at my hands and smile, feeling warmth flood my body. I look over at him and smile. "You didn't answer my question, though," I say. "If given the chance, would you take the cure?" 

He looks at me hesitantly before looking back at the road. "Yes," he says. 

For some reason I become sad, almost feeling like he will never be happy as long as he's a vampire. One thousand years is a long time, so I would understand the desire to actually live a human life and leave this world peacefully, the way we are meant to. 

James notices this and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze. "I never said I wasn't happy as a vampire," he adds. "I'm happy as long as I get to be with you." 

I smile and squeeze his hand back, resting my head against the car seat. I still can't shake the feeling that I owe him something more than what I'm giving him. I mean, I don't even remember what we use to be and I can't imagine how hard that must be for him. 

"Let's just hope they hurry up with this cure thing before more people get hurt," he says. 

I purse my lips and nod, not saying anything more as we pull into the driveway of the boarding house. Everyone else is already inside, surrounding Jeremy as they wait for his tattoo to grow.

"Anything?" I ask in aggravation.

Before anyone can respond, Jeremy screams in pain, ripping off his shirt to reveal a black mark beginning to grow from his hand, an unusual design spreading up his arm and to his chest. It's visible to all of us now, not just a hunter. All of the vampires from Kol's sire line must have died, thus completing his mark.

"Oh my god," Elena gasps.

"Here we go," Damon smirks.

∆ ∆ ∆

After discussing the plan to leave for Nova Scotia in the morning, everyone goes to sleep. Joel, James and I all agree to stay home, partly to watch Theo seeing as we haven't found a nanny yet and partly because we want to watch over Klaus. Caroline and Tyler decide to stay too, giving us more support here at home.

I don't have a clue what time it is at the moment, as I've spent the last hour with Theo who won't stop crying. Maybe it's because his teeth are coming in, or maybe it's because he just wants to walk, but I don't know what else to do to keep him from crying as I know basically nothing when it comes to babies. Usually he stops crying when I hold him, but tonight it just isn't working out.

"Come on buddy, please stop crying. You're going to wake everyone up," I beg, bouncing lightly on my feet.

I hear footsteps behind me forcing me to turn around only to calm down once I realize it's James. "Sorry, did he wake you?" I ask.

James purses his lips sympathetically, holding his arms out whilst reaching for Theo. "Let me take him," he suggests.

I don't argue, passing Theo off to James. To much of my surprise, he stops crying the moment he's in James's arms making me feel incredibly shocked. "Are you kidding? Why? What didn't I do?" I ask, shaking my head.

James laughs as he cradles Theo, swinging him in his arms as Theo gazes up at his eyes. "Maybe it's a man thing," James jokes, as Theo closes his eyes.

I scoff and lean against the crib, watching the two in front of me. The two people who make me feel complete and happy. These two people, they're my family, aside from my blood relatives. 

"Hey James, I had a great time tonight, I really did. I- I like where this is going," I admit sincerely.

James lifts his head up from Theo to me, smiling as I say the words. "I did too. You don't know how long I've waited for that moment," he says, placing Theo in his crib.

He turns to me after putting Theo to sleep, standing inches away. "So you want to take this friendship further?" he asks me, just to make sure this is what I want.

"Yes," I whisper.

That's all I need to say as James leans in again, kissing me gently on the lips. The way my whole body feels right now is as if I'm a magnet, drawing myself to James. Every part of my body is pushing me closer to him, my lips pressing harder to his.

"You know what I can't stop thinking about?" Joel suddenly asks, standing in the doorway.

James and I break apart at the sound of his voice, still close together as we turn to Joel. "Are you kidding me right now?" James asks, chastising his little brother.

"Please do share you nighttime thoughts with us at two in the morning," I sigh, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Tyler said Klaus killed all his hybrids right? Right before he killed Tyler's mom?" Joel asks, holding his hand under his chin in a thinking stance as if he's trying to solve something, but frankly I don't know what he's trying to get at.

"Joel, are you sleep walking?" James asks, waving a hand across his brother's face.

Joel glares at James, violently smacking his brother's waving hand away from his face in annoyance. "No, I'm not bloody sleep walking, thank you very much," he sasses.

"So what? Klaus killed twelve of his stupid hybrids. They betrayed him, what did they think was going to happen?" I ask curiously.

"Twelve he killed right? And how many people died in the fire caused by Pastor Young?" Joel asks.

"Twelve," James says, clicking in.

"Two mass killings of the same number, all within the same area with different kinds of people. One group of humans, one group of hybrids. What does it all mean?" I question.

We stand there for a few long seconds before James suddenly snaps his fingers. "They were sacrifices. Two sacrifices. I'm willing to bet Professor Shane had every piece to do with it too," James says.

"Sacrifices for what? And only two? I'm not a witch but don't things usually include several events, like pieces to a puzzle?" I ask.                   

"There's going to be a third sacrifice," Joel says, saying out thoughts aloud.

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[completed & edited: 09/07/2021]