Breathing ∞ Kol Mikaelson [1]

[49]

Emma stared at Kol with dubious eyes. They'd taken some time, came up with a plan, but there was one thing that Emma continued to question. One kink she remained unsure about.

"It's a simple locator spell, darling. It was one of the first things I learned when I was starting." Kol reassured her as he spread out a map of Mystic Falls on the table, using her cup of tea and his cup of coffee (finally past the 'disgrace' of not having bourbon in the house) to keep the corners from rolling back up.

"I'm not worried about the difficulty." Emma pointed out, hesitant to jump into more of the details of how her magic, or better said lack of it, worked. She remembered some of the words her mother used when first describing it. Unnatural, dangerous, wrong...

Kol had been a witch. And once he turned into a vampire he surrounded himself with other, powerful and talented witches. And her mother had indirectly made it clear that what they were, siphoners, it isn't what it's supposed to be like. And Emma wasn't sure how he'd react to that.

"Did you know some witches would consider cloaking harder than locator spells?" Kol questioned, not really giving Emma a chance to respond before he continued. "That's what you did today. And I'll be here to guide you through it. I'm quite the teacher, you know?"

"I don't have my own magic." Emma finally blurted it out once she realized he wasn't giving up on the idea. And she knew it was a good idea. She reminded herself this wasn't about her and her worries about how he might react. This was about helping Rebekah.

"But you...?" For a moment Kol was confused.

"I'm not just a normal witch. It's different." She started to explain, staring down at her own fiddling fingers. "I can do magic, but I need a source, something to get power from, like a vampire. Right now, for example, I'm just normal. I can say the spell, and I can nail it, but nothing would happen."

"A siphoner." Kol mumbled in a knowing tone, the word making her glance up at him in surprise. She wondered whether he'd met one before, whether he could know things her mother didn't want to tell her. "I've heard stories, but I never met one. It sounded more like legends and scary fairy tales told to witch children."

"Yeah." Emma gave out a humourless chuckle. She was meant to be a scary story, great. "Kind of a witch with a glitch type of situation. Sorry to disappoint." She didn't notice the change in Kol's expression as he listened to her talk, only then realizing his word choices may not have been the best.

She looked back at him only once she heard his feet move, tearing her eyes away from the map on the table and turning them towards him as she watched him walk around it to come and stand by her side. For a moment, he observed her face, brushing away a stray piece of hair.

Kol had always wanted to meet a siphoner, ever since he heard his first stories about their existence. He always thought he'd get along with them based on the descriptions. Evil psychotic maniacs, the witches would call siphoners, along with many other colourful adjectives. And yet, here one stood before him. She surrounded herself with evil psychotic maniacs, and she fit in well with them, but she was more than that.

"Every time I learn something new about you, Emma Park, I realize how exceptional you are." Kol spoke finally, not stepping back or letting go. "Of course, you of all people, won't just be some boring ol' witch." She couldn't help but laugh as she shook her head at him, hands coming to rest on his chest for a moment.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Kol Mikaelson." She said, gently pushing him away as she carefully moved the map, turning it so that it would face her now. The smile on her face, paired with the new-found determination in her eyes, made it clear she was simply teasing, not refusing to help.