Kol smirked as Juniper walked into the apartment, him already arriving after leaving the dance twenty minutes before.

She was covered in blood from head to toe, no doubt scaring the neighbours if they had the chance to see her. Small dots of blood coated the side of her face, dripping down her neck and seeping into the neckline of a shirt she had stolen from Klaus' closest.

"You had fun, I take it," He mused, his smirk never falling as she moved further inside the apartment, locking the door behind her.

Juniper glanced down at her bloodied clothes before meeting his eyes with a smile, "Sure does look like it."

A chuckle left his lips as he stood up, moving to stand before her as his hand came down to wipe a drop of blood away from her nose. "I got you something."

"Why? You just got me that dress and the shoes."

"I can get you more than two things, darling." He moved away slightly, opening the fridge and pulling out a small box.

"Kol, if that is a bejewelled blood bag like the last time I will hit you."

He grinned, "I promise it's not... That's in the cooler in the other room. This though," He pulled off the top of the box, "This is for you. Happy birthday, Junebug."

She glanced down at the cake with the words 'congratulations on your abortion' written on it with red icing.

She glanced back at him confused, "I didn't have an abortion, Kol."

"It was the only cake they had. I tried scraping it off but it only made it worse and it started smearing everywhere and it looked like I killed someone and spilled their blood all over it and–"

She smiled, "It's perfect. Thank you, baby."

His face flushed as she stood up to kiss his cheek. She grinned as she felt his heart race from her touch.

Juniper looked up at him, eyes filled with an emotion he couldn't fully understand before he felt her place her gloves in his hands. "I'm gonna go shower. I'll be back in a minute."

His mind seemed to come back to him as she turned to leave and he quickly grasped her wrist and spun her back around to face him. "Want me to come with you?" He asked, smirking.

The Heartrender chuckled, "I think I can do it myself."

"I could supervise," He suggested, his smirk never falling.

"Go sit on the couch and wait for me, yeah?"

"Okay... You sure you don't need me to supervise? I'm very good at it, I'm sure."

She gently pushed his shoulders so that he would sit down, "Stay." He stared up at her with doe eyes, hands moving to hold her hips. "Fine. Don't get mad at me if your cake suddenly disappears."

"Eat my cake and I'll cut off your fingers."

"Even my lucky ones?" He asked, a devilish smirk on his lips as he held up his middle and ring finger.

She grinned, leaning down to his ear, "I'll leave those ones for me."

— — —

When she came out of the washroom in only a towel, her wet hair dripping down her back she noticed he hadn't moved an inch. She smiled softly as she moved back to his side, tightening her towel as she did so. "You can breathe, you know?"

He gasped, taking in a deep breath, "Oh, thank god. I think I was starting to turn blue."

"Just a little purple," She teased, her finger moving to his cheek, softly rubbing the smooth skin beneath it.

Kol glanced down at her hand, leaning into the warm touch as his own hand left his side. His fingers trailed along her bare thigh, moving from her knee to her hip, teasing her before his finger moved back to her knee.

"Kol," She warned, the warning earning a smirk as his fingers moved back up, "Yes, my darling?"

His finger moved further up, his skin rubbing against her soft towel until he reached the small tie at the top. His eyes met hers, silently asking her for permission and once he earned a small nod, the tie came loose.

His eyes swept over her bare skin, sucking in a harsh breath as his hands slowly moved along her skin. "What'd I do to deserve you, Juniper?"

She bit her lip between her teeth, holding in a soft moan as his fingers pinched her nipple. Instead of continuing his movements though, he quickly stopped. "No."

Juniper stared at him, "Sorry?"

He chuckled softly at the innocence in her voice as his thumb came up to her lip, "Don't bite your lip, darling. I wanna hear how good I make you feel."

In a matter of seconds, he had whisked her away from the couch and onto their shared bed. Knelt between her thighs, chest pressed against hers, their lips collided in a fit of passion.

She couldn't help the smile that pulled at the edges of her mouth as she heard a small moan leave his lips as her hips rolled against his.

Juniper's hands slipped along his chest, undoing every button on his shirt before dropping it to the floor beside them.

"You're so beautiful," He murmured into her skin, cupping her breast in his hand, palming at it then gently squeezing her nipple between his fingers. Kol grinned as he watched her lips parted, small sounds of pleasure leaving her.

"That feel good, darling?" He asked rhetorically, pushing her further into the mattress as he pulled her legs to wrap around his waist. Her fingers weaved between them, fiddling with his belt buckle, the act causing a deep chuckle to emit from his throat. "Having trouble?"

Juniper's dark eyes met his, "Another word and I punch you."

"So angry," He mused, an amused smirk on his lips as he leant down to kiss along her cheek, "I like it."

She finally pulled his belt undone and slipped his pants down his legs before she flipped them over. Sitting on his lap, she smiled as she placed her hands on his bare chest. Her hips slowly moved against his as she leaned down to trail kisses along his skin.

"Please," He begged, his hands holding her hips in a bruising grip as he guided her against him.

"Not so confident now, are you?" She teased earning a soft moan in return, "Stop teasing me, darling."

"Stop?" Juniper grinned, leaning down to take his lips in her own, "I'm just getting started."

— — —

"Well, well, well, there's our girl!" Kol teased as Rebekah walked into the mansion, still wearing her dress from the night before. He left Juniper's side to stand in front of his sister, blocking her from moving around him.

"Get out of my way, Kol."

He only smirked at her obvious anger. "Out all night. What a scandal! I trust you did better than that commoner. Matt, was it?"

"If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth."

On the other side of the room, Klaus smirked from his easel as he dipped his brush into the bucket of blood Juniper had promised him.

Rebekah glared at him, "Don't start, Nik!"

"I didn't say anything," He defended as Kol moved to sit back on the couch, laying his head on Juniper's lap after meeting her eyes for permission. "I'm bored. Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun. I need entertainment."

"What are you waiting for? You have your wife right there. Go on, have at it."

Kol rolled his eyes at his brother's indecency. "Juniper's leaving soon. She's got a meeting. And it's not fun to go alone. Join me, Nik! It's the least you can do after sticking a dagger in my heart."

The hybrid stared at his brother for a moment before he eventually nodded. "Okay. Why not? I didn't have nearly enough to drink last night, what with Juniper killing a man with her fists and ruining the champagne."

Juniper's lip twitched into a small smirk. "You said I could do whatever I want as long as I funnelled his blood into a bucket and I did, so you don't get to complain."

Rebekah slumped beside Juniper, keeping a three-foot distance between them as she spoke, "Yes, please go, this house has enough men rolling around in it."

Kol grinned as he stood up, pulling Juniper with him. "Just like you, Bekah." His comment earned a shoe getting thrown at his head but he quickly ran into the other room, holding Juniper's waist to block the shoe.

"Good riddance, both of you!"

Klaus walked ahead of the couple, not wanting to be involved in their usually murderous conversations. Doing this, he didn't see the way Juniper's hand grasped Kol's, or the way she stood on her toes to softly kiss his lips before she disappeared into what seemed like thin air.

When Klaus looked back, opening his car door, his eyes only found Kol. "Where'd she go?"

"Back to the apartment. She's gotta call Inej and I think Jesper and Matthias needed to speak with her."

He nodded. "Where are we going then?"

— — —

After many hours of speaking to the Crows, Juniper had finally set her phone back onto her desk. She glanced at the clock which hung on the wall across from her and her eyes widened slightly. It was nearing ten pm and Kol had yet to come home.

She quickly stood up, grabbing her phone once more as she dialled his number, grabbing a few knives as she swiftly walked out.

The phone rang seven more times before it stopped. Kol hadn't picked up.

"Shit," She muttered under her breath as she quickly exited the apartment building, jumping out of a window and softly landing on the ground between her building and the one next to it.

She called him again as she ran across the empty street before walking through the shadows. When he didn't answer, she called Rebekah, then Klaus, then Elijah.

She was filled with a sense of deja-vu as she ran as fast as she could through the streets of Mystic Falls, searching for his heartbeat. She remembered doing the same many years before, medicine for Firepox in her hand as she ran to the docks and saw her brother's bodies floating in the ocean.

It took everything in her to keep upright as she felt water move up to her thighs, slowly reaching her waist.

Her heart was beating rapidly, so loud she could hardly hear anything else. And then she felt it. The soft thumping of his heart just slightly raised than normal than its normal steadiness.

He was still alive. She wasn't going to be too late this time.

She ran through the forest, jumping over broken branches and knocked down trees from the latest storm until she reached the treeline. There was a large circle of fire in the centre of a field with two people standing inside it. Across from it, three men stood, one being Kol.

Juniper hid behind a tree, only seeing the backs of the woman and man who stood in the circle. She recognized their heartbeats. Esther and Finn.

From the sounds of the three brothers' heartbeats, something had clearly happened while she was away. Her eyes swept across the field until they met his.

Kol shook his head slowly, silently telling her not to leave her safe hideout. But the woman in the circle of fire noticed his slight movement and smirked.

"Come on out, Juniper," She spoke, her voice harsh and airy.

The Heartrenders jaw clenched when she heard her name, eyes meeting Kol's once more before she left her spot behind the trees.

Before Kol could move to stand next to her, he and his brothers were surrounded in a ring of fire matching their mothers.

Juniper glanced at the fire before her eyes met Esther's. "Now, my family has been dead for a long time, but I don't remember this being on the regime for our family game nights."

"Silence!"

She stared at the woman for a moment. "No. You can't tell me what to fucking do. Now, let them go, take a trip to Florida or something, drink a few mojitos and calm the fuck down."

The witch glared at her, but Juniper's stare never faltered. She glanced down at the fire for a moment, "So, is this like an annual type of thing? You know, trying to kill your children? Seasonal even?"

"What would your brothers think of what you've become?"

"Well, I mean Kaz and I used to jump people and alleys, steal their clothes, throw them in the harbour and then run so... I mean they'd probably be quite proud."

Across from her, Elijah sighed, placing his hands on his hips as he stared at the sarcastic Heartrender.

"You've killed so many innocents. You made your first kill before you even reached sixteen."

"Stalker," Juniper muttered, "And he deserved it."

"He derived to have his eyes torn out with your bare hands before he was burned alive in a fire pit?"

"Yeah. He was an asshole. I don't feel remorseful for the lives that I have taken because all of them were terrible people. The world is a better place without them–"

"And your brothers? Is the world a better place without them? You were the one to kill them."

Her jaw ticked, teeth grinding against each other as she bit her tongue, stopping herself from speaking.

"It was your fault, Juniper. You should never have left that alley. You knew Wylan was going to die any minute. You should've run faster. Should've jumped into the water quicker. You used your brother's body as a float to take yourself back to shore. You are a monster, Juniper Rietveld."

Kol could see her chin tremble ever so slightly before it stopped.

"And Kaz. You could have stopped that, too. If only you would have handed yourself over to the Grisha hunters, he would have lived to see twenty. Their blood is on your hands, Juniper, whether you like it or not."

Her eyes were glistening in the light of the fire.

"You killed your mother. You killed your father. You killed Wylan. You killed–"

Juniper quickly lifted her hand which held a small knife and threw it. Esther moved but the speed of the knife was too fast. It stabbed through the woman's chest, just missing her heart.

She went to throw another, but by the time the knife reached the circle, Esther and Finn had disappeared into the night.

As the fire dissipated around the brothers, Kol moved to find Juniper only to see she had already left.

"Fuck," He whispered under his breath, the word causing Klaus and Elijah to stare at him.

Elijah sighed, placing a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder. "Go find her. We'll be at the house. I'll let you know if we get any updates."

For a while, Kol roamed through the forest, searching for any sign of her. After an hour, he moved through the town, searching every alley, every shop window, he even looked inside some houses which met glares from some very angry old women.

It wasn't until he reached the quarry that he found her. She was sitting atop of a rock, flipping a knife between her fingers, the silver end glinting in the moonlight. He breathed out, glancing up at her before slowly climbing up the rock and sitting beside her.

"You alright, my darling?" He asked softly, his hand inching towards hers before it stopped only a centimetre away.

Juniper nodded, "I'm fine."

"She was wrong. None of it is your fault."

"I know. I know... She was the one who sent the letter. She must've been trying to mess with me. I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I should've stopped her hear–"

Kol shook his head quickly, "No. No, you are not sacrificing your progress for me. The last times you have tried to use your science you've needed more parem. I can't let you do that for me."

"But I could help–"

His hand grasped hers, his other moving to her cheek, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Juniper, I love you too much to let you do that to yourself. You're finally getting better." He smiled, "Besides, I think you did pretty good with that knife."

The corner of her lip twitched up slightly, the small act causing him to grin. "There it is," he pulled her hand to his lips, softly kissing her knuckles before he stood before her, "Home?"

She let him pull her to her feet before she nodded, "Home." 

A/N

There was going to be smut in this but it just felt forced and I kinda hated it so I cut it off. Also sorry this took so long, chapters are going to be slower from now on since I'm getting really busy with work and school.