wants it, and needs Jeremy for it. That reminds me, the last vestige of her humanity is annoying little Jeremy, and deep, deep down, I bet you want him dead, don't you?" He asked, using the stake to push Damon's chin upwards.

"Nope."

Kol could only laugh, and leaned down to look straight into his eyes. "You're lying. I bet you'd love to rip his head right off..." He grinned yet again, sadistically. "And I'm gonna give you your wish."

"What—" Damon began to thrash as he saw Kol's pupils dilate.

"You're not gonna remember what I say, but you're going to find Jeremy Gilbert, and when you do, you're going to kill him."

"WELL," STEFAN BEGAN TO STATE WHAT SEEMED like the obvious. "Headstone's not here." Aurelia let out an annoyed sigh, tilting her head in all directions to stretch her neck, feeling like it was stuck after hours of searching for the mythical object.

"I need a damn break from this." She said. "We've been looking for this stupid thing for at least—" Taking a quick look at her watch only made her groan. "It's been some four hours, and we've combed through his entire office."

"A simple locator spell would speed up the process, I've been telling you..." Rebekah spoke in a sing-songy voice that only irritated Aurelia further.

"And I've been telling you, I need something related to the stone in order to perform a locator spell on it." She mocked the Original. "I don't remember those bigger, more annoying spells that find things without needing a related artifact."

"And you're a lesser witch for it."

"Shut up, please—" Aurelia quickly stopped speaking herself, and everyone fell silent at the sound of footsteps echoing through the hallway, headed straight for where they were. "Is that the Professor?"

"No, I made sure he wouldn't be a problem for us." Rebekah replied, eyes fixed on the door, just as it opened slowly and quietly. Aurelia quickly seemed to evaporate into thin air, and reappear once more in front of the two vampires, who had to blink because she seemed to turn into a glitch suddenly. "Hide!" Rebekah hissed, and Aurelia waved a hand at her.

"We're fine." She said coolly. "Just don't get too loud."

"What did you do?" Stefan asked.

"I cloaked us." She replied, her nonchalance remaining intact, eyes focused on the man that had just crept into the office wordlessly. "I don't recognize him."

"Neither do I." Stefan tilted his head in confusion, before moving out of his way quickly. All three supernatural beings followed the man with their eyes, curious as to what he was doing, and why he seemed to be hiding. Clearly not supposed to be where he was, he irked Aurelia's interest, making her wonder if he was looking for the same thing they were.

And only minutes later, he knocked on a part of the wall in the shadow cast by one of the shelves, causing it to open up and reveal a grey, coarse stone that absolutely did not resemble her idea of a tombstone. But she'd recognized it vaguely, from pictures she'd seen ages and ages ago.

With a triumphant smile, she walked straight to the man, ignoring Rebekah's protests, and wrapped her arm around his throat before he could react, making him gasp and thrash for air. "Oh, goodie, you're mortal." She said, and he turned however much he could to get a look at his kidnapper.

"You found it." Rebekah stated, understanding that the spell cloaking them had disappeared. "Good job. Now, who are you?" Exchanging a quick look with Aurelia and Stefan, she took a step towards the man. "And why are you looking for this priceless object?"

"We could do this," Aurelia paused as the man's strength and resistance grew more intense. "Or we could compel him."

"There could be a chance he's on vervain." At Stefan's words, Aurelia only shot him a quick smile before she allowed the sound of his pumping veins to be all she could hear, engaging her bloodlust. "Aurelia—"

"You have a point." She acknowledged, before looking towards the man she had pinned so effortlessly. "Let's see if you're going to make our work harder or not." And as soon as she felt her fangs poke at her tongue, she parted her lips to pierce through his neck, aiming roughly for his artery.

As soon as she pulled back with a look of disgust, teeth gritted and hissing, she spat his blood out on the floor. "Damn it, Stefan's right." Rebekah said, pulling the man to the nearest seat. "Help me tie him down." As soon as Aurelia loosened her grip, the victim quickly tried to force himself upwards and out of the seat, only to be pushed down with the violent creaking of the wooden seat.

"Ah, ah," Aurelia teasingly spoke as she heard him groan from the pressure on his shoulders. "Stefan, a little bit of help?"

And soon enough, he was bound to the chair, nonverbal, but not closed to the screams and grunts he let out as Rebekah cut down his arms with a switchblade she'd seen lying on the table. "All you have to do to make it stop is tell me who sent you." She was playful in the manner she spoke with, but she glared at him, slowly feeling her patience wear down.

"We should take him home, wait till the vervain is out of his system, and then compel him and get whatever information we want." Stefan suggested, leaning on the table in front of him, arms folded and eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"As time-consuming as that may be, it's likely our only choice—" Aurelia was cut off as she watched him scream in a muffled manner, lips stuck together before blood dripped down from his mouth. "What the hell?" And as he began to choke and shake, he hunched forward and spat out all the blood that seemed to have pooled up in his mouth, along with another surprise for his captors.

"Oh my god," Rebekah's eyes refused to leave the pool of blood surrounding a small piece of flesh. "He just bit off his tongue."

"Well, we know he was compelled before he ingested the vervain." Aurelia commented, unfazed by what he'd done. "At least whomever did it was smart—but who was it? It couldn't have been Shane and Bonnie. We're literally in his office. Could it have been Klaus?"

"The bastard." Rebekah growled, annoyed at the turn of events.

"Maybe," Stefan pondered. "It's option number three. There's someone else looking for the cure." Rebekah quickly picked up what would've been quite the weighty stone for a human from the table they'd sat it upon.

"Let's ponder about that a little bit later." She dismissed, holding up the artifact in front of Aurelia. "Care to verify if it's of any use, dearest?" With wide eyes that horribly mimicked those of a puppy's, Aurelia rolled her own at the elder vampire. "Come on, we needed you for this, too. Help a girl out. But don't siphon too long. I need that magic to save your life." Unsure on whether or not to be unsettled by Rebekah's near certainty that the Heretic's life was at risk, Aurelia narrowed her eyes into slits at her sister figure.

But she place a hand on the stone regardless, allowing her hands, which had always felt like magnets she needed to suppress, to attract whatever magic they came in contact with.

And much to Rebekah's delight, the familiar orange glow outlining Aurelia's dainty fingers appeared almost immediately; Aurelia, herself, was surprised at how the soft touch quickly picked up considerable magic, which meant that the stone was, in fact, true to its legend.

To interrupt the moment, her phone rang once again that day, making her hiss slightly in irritation as she checked who was calling.

However, when she saw the caller ID, she was nothing but confused. "Elena?"

"Aurelia! I'm so glad you picked up." Elena's voice was panicked, rushed, hurried—there was obviously something very wrong. "I know this is weird—just—there's a huge problem." Aurelia simply looked at Stefan, eyebrows knitted together as she wondered if he knew anything about it.

As he shrugged, she spoke. "I'm not doing you any favors, Elena."

"No! Just—It's Kol," That had her attention. "I'm not sure what he did—but he found Damon and Jeremy earlier today, and attacked them. He's killed several people that Jeremy was supposed to kill to grow his mark b—but he's after my brother now!"

"He's trying to stop you from finding the cure. Because of Silas." Aurelia looked down at the floor, puzzled at why her tone was so urgent.

"No—I know that, he's done more than just attack them. He—He's compelled Damon, I think! Damon's been trying to kill Jeremy. He's chasing him down the tunnels now, and—and I think Kol compelled him to do it, and then made him forget he did it—"

"Shit." Aurelia muttered. "Why does he have to kill them—okay, fine, thank you for letting me know."

"Please do something, Aurelia. I know we're not on the best of terms, but it's my brother—"

"It's fine, Elena. I'll figure it out." As she cut the call, she looked back at Stefan. "Okay, I can't believe I have to do this. I can handle Kol, but someone else needs to handle Damon. Can you take care of that? I'll meet you later."

"Alright." And she, much to her dismay, dialed Kol's number.

"Where are you?"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE ELENA GILBERT, OF ALL PEOPLE," Aurelia was much less than pleased, it was safe to say, with the situation she'd been put in. "Called me to 'handle' this issue—" As she saw Kol in a clearing, she ran straight towards him. "Kol!" At the call of his name, he turned around to face her, his hardened expression dissolving into that of gentleness. "Kol, what's going on? Why are you trying to kill Jeremy Gilbert?"

"I told you," Kol answered as if he was stating the obvious. "I needed to stop the other so-called teams from trying to find the cure. Once you've recovered the tombstone, I'll find a way to leverage it from Rebekah." The look on Aurelia's face was one of disbelief. "What?" Kol immediately became concerned, not expecting her reaction to come out as such.

"I didn't know you meant get rid of the other parties!" She hissed. "You're going to wage a war between the supernaturals of this town and yourself, not to mention the very likely possibility that Klaus will put you back in a box for much longer than before!"

"Don't you worry, darling." Kol only smiled. "I'll be out of town by then. I wasn't planning on staying."

"And go on the run like Katherine Pierce?!" Aurelia felt her frustration at his lack of consideration for a peaceful life grow. "Kol, I have no problem with your ideals and morals—but getting yourself in trouble with your brother has gotten you daggered time and time again. Not to mention the consequences of this reach far and wide for you."

"Aurelia," Kol breathed out, beginning to feel irritation charge up in his nerves, like an electrifying spark. "I know you care, but I know what I'm getting myself into."

"You're going to have a target on your back if you go through with this." The younger couldn't help but worry much more than she'd need to—considering he was an Original Vampire, and possessed the only means to kill him. Despite everything, she felt as though something could go terribly wrong. The entire situation seemed incredibly off, and she wasn't keen on thinking of what effects would come hurtling at him soon. "This is a dangerous game you're playing, Kol. I may not care about whether or not the cure is found, but I have people I care about here right now, including yourself. Seeing a war between all of you is going to result in someone dying, and I can't have that."

And then it hit her—the sheer fragility and vulnerability of the position she was in. She'd always known she was in a morally grey area, pushed right on the no man's land between two fighting sides. Any conflict, she'd realized, would result in a disastrous consequence for either side. But she hadn't considered the sheer magnitude of what that meant. Not until this point.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." She could only say, unable to decide what her stance truly was—she'd only ever sided with the Mikaelsons, for her entire life. Upon coming back to Mystic Falls, however, that had changed; she'd found herself neither here, nor there, but at the same time, everywhere all at once.

"You're worrying unnecessarily." Kol, himself, was unable to understand what had suddenly overcome the woman in front of him. As much as he'd respected her—the things he'd heard about the infamous Silas were too great of a risk for him to compromise on his intentions. It put him in a less than ideal place, too—going against the wishes of someone he'd cared so deeply about. But granting her wishes would go against his own beliefs. He couldn't do that. Not for this. "You have no control over me anymore." As soon as the words left his mouth, the look of utter confusion and disbelief on her pretty visage only made him regret them.

"I—I never had any control over you in the first place." She clarified, incredulous and in doubt that she'd correctly heard what he said. "I don't expect you to listen to my every word and want. I was just hoping we could all compromise to keep everyone here safe before someone gets killed." Unable to process that Kol had said what he said with a hint of spite, she couldn't get the image of his narrow, skeptical eyes out of her mind. Did he suddenly think of her as in his way? "You're losing your mind over a man who we don't know exists. You're putting yourself at risk, as well as your family."

"He exists, Aurelia." He insisted, eyes glaring down at her smaller form. "I've told you the stories."

"And have you considered that that's all they were," She asked, becoming increasingly exasperated. Why couldn't he understand the kind of danger he was putting himself in, with Klaus, with Damon, with everyone? "Stories?!"

"I'm not under any obligation to listen to you!" Kol finally burst, much to her panic as she quickly inferred that he was misunderstanding her. "You're wrong to think that I'm going to mindlessly listen to your every command just because of—what? —" He began to laugh in a manner that did everything but put her at ease. "My feelings for you?" Her eyes only grew wider with every word he said, not expecting the poison lacing his tone, like a dagger that only struck her more and more.

"That's not..." She tried to formulate words in her head. "What this is about. I never said or implied anything of the sort. I'm only trying to look out for your safety."

Kol knew that she was correct—she was doing what she did best, look out for him. He was well aware that his feelings were not what she was trying to get at.

And yet, he could only feel his spite grow, his anger boil, and his rage coil its spine, ready to strike at any moment like a snake. He was never good at controlling his temper—infamous for lashing out quickly. His fury was manipulative, ready to take over his every thought and action as soon as it grew powerful enough. Such was the consequence of his personality.

So, not knowing how else to counter said growing fury, he only spat out his next words. "I'm sick of your incessant need to try to correct my wrongdoings." Aurelia, still wide-eyed, only parted her lips in a slight gape—Kol, in his anger, knew what he was saying was rubbish. She'd been supportive of him, and only kept him in check in order to ensure his safety. Yet, he was unable to stop himself from allowing his anger to speak for him. "You've never understood me."

Aurelia, eyebrows furrowed, scoffed exasperatedly, unable to understand what was going through his head. She'd never seen him like this—so volatile, so venomous, so... angry with her. "Kol..." She couldn't comprehend what he was saying—it was his obsession talking, clearly, and yet, it felt as though he was speaking honestly to her for the first time.

"I'm sick of you right now. You need to leave me alone."

"Kol..." She was practically speechless. "Do you mean that...?" Just that morning, she felt so optimistic—so grateful for the seeming fact that their relationship was finally headed towards something healthy for the both of them. "You don't mean that." She felt herself reaching towards the part of him she knew so well, finding it too painful to believe that he'd lied to her about the fact that they were fine. That he hadn't told her about his true feelings. She felt pain in her chest to think that he'd simply told her all those sweet words last night to comfort her—that she'd truly hurt him, and he didn't trust her enough to tell her first. "Do you?" She needed him to tell her that he was just speaking in anger—that the unreliable emotion had simply warped his perception to use as a knife against her, to push her away so that his obsession could take full control of him.

Kol could feel his heart shatter like shards of fragile glass at the look of betrayal and desperation on her face. He knew this was what she'd feared for centuries with him—the idea of losing him because of love. But he could also feel his own desperation, his own pursuit, grow and nurture his rage.

I didn't mean any of it, he wanted to say.

"I meant it all." Left his lips. His obsession—Aurelia had turned out to be right, it was an obsession—had won. Against his feelings for her.

And in his regret, he wanted to take it all back, but the look of utter despair in her eyes, reflections of light trembling as tears welled up, making them glisten—he realized he was too late. That he'd done the damage. Now, he didn't know what to do to reverse it.

He'd fix it soon. When he knew how to.

For now, he'd walk away and satiate his obsession—he thought it would be the only way to make it all go away, and it would be the only way to prevent the insanity from hurting Aurelia again.

And he did exactly that, leaving her to stand there in her grief.

"HEY, YOU'RE BACK." STEFAN SMILED FONDLY AS HE made a beeline for the blonde woman sitting on the rooftop. It gave him déjà vu, to the last time they'd sat together and bonded on the roof—a time that felt like it came and went eons ago. This was their second time, really, but he'd recalled the times Aurelia would pull him up to the rooftop of the Veritas Estate to admire the stars. Perhaps rooftops were just their thing. Their spot. "Want some bourbon? I can pop in and grab a bottle real—"

He froze as he heard a soft sniffle emit from her hunched over form, worry washing over his features.

"Au...relia?" He was hesitant suddenly, in the manner he spoke, in the manner he thought, in the manner he moved, afraid that the smallest sound, the wrong movement would set her off running.

When he took a seat next to her, she didn't acknowledge him, head hung between her knees, arms resting on them, her closed posture feeling much like a parallel to the chance that he wouldn't get to know anything about what seemed to be aching so much for her.

"Hey," He slowly placed a hand on her shoulder, careful not to startle her. She'd kill him if he ever said this aloud, but at times, Aurelia felt much like a small bunny emotionally—a trigger for those emotions she concealed so well would cause her to run, recoil away, hide from anyone she could open up to. "What's going on?"

He didn't receive an answer for the first few moments, but didn't attribute it to her ambiguousness this time; he'd understood that something was terribly wrong,