Izzy reluctantly agreed to leave with Kol, and Jeremy, but she told Kol she wasn’t going anywhere without her truck, so they used that one to travel. Kol thought it was surprisingly comfortable. He was also happy that they left before Klaus would return with Elijah – mainly because Myriam was itching to have sex with her husband and Kol wasn’t sure if he could endure another round of that.
They didn’t travel that far out, yet. There was an old mining town that Kol thought would be fun to camp out in. These days there was a small inn just outside the town because there were many ghost hunters trampling over the place so they wouldn’t have to spend the night in the car.
While he had Izzy drive to the former mining town, he did his research on his phone without telling her anything. Just that they were going to a mining town from around the turn of the previous century. When she drove into town, he let out a groan upon seeing a mass of spirits in the street and Izzy was just driving right through them.
“Okay, hand me the statue.”
“What statue?” Izzy asked as she sheepishly looked at him.
“Myriam’s statue that blocks your gift, I need it,” he said anxiously as he held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
Izzy parked the car at the inn and looked at him with a dumbfounded look on her face. “I don’t have it.”
“Don’t say that.”
“But I don’t,” Izzy said as she undid her seatbelt. “Myriam asked for it so I handed it to her this morning, didn’t she give it to you?” she asked impishly.
“No!” Kol said angrily. “She bloody didn’t! That bitch! Okay, turn around, we’re going to get it now!”
“Like I wasn’t allowed to call my dad to send mine over? Or to drive back to Texas for it?”
“I’ve done it without for fifty years! I earned mine!”
‘Hey, Izzy, maybe it’s a good idea if you’re out of the car, it’s a bit safer for you,’ Jeremy’s voice sounded. ‘Kol, calm down.’
“Calm down?!” Kol hit his fist on the dashboard, denting it, causing Izzy to pull out a knife from next to her seat and pushed it through his leg without even blinking. “What the bloody hell!”
“Get out of my truck! You hurt her, I hurt you! Get the fuck out of my truck and go vent your anger outside!”
He pulled the knife out of his leg and wanted to lunge for her, but she didn’t even flinch.
“Get the fuck out of my truck. It’s not my problem you don’t have your statue on me and my truck doesn’t have anything to do with it. Walk it off,” she said as she reached over him and opened the door. “Out!”
When Kol did as he was told, Izzy let out a breath of relief. ‘That could have gone horribly wrong,’ Jeremy stated. ‘You’re lucky he likes you that much.’
Izzy rolled her eyes at the disembodied voice. “He likes me, sure. But that’s only because he connects me to his old girlfriend.”
‘Maybe at first, but what I get off of him is that it’s genuine and not because of his old girlfriend,’ Jeremy replied. ‘But again, that could have gone horribly wrong.’
“But it didn’t. Nobody touches my truck and gets away with it and if his dent hurt my baby then he’ll pay.”
‘He has money enough.’
“No, he’ll pay,” Izzy said evenly as she got out of the truck and closed the door before looking at Kol, the wound already healed. “You okay?”
“You stabbed me with a knife! Of course, I’m not okay! Not to mention, you left the statue at home!”
Izzy looked at him and nodded to his leg. “It’s healed already and we already had this conversation; it wasn’t my fault. So, what’s next?”
“Teaching you not to dive head first in danger!” he blurted at her. “I’m a vampire! I could have hurt you! Just like Nik could have eaten you when you hit him in the head when he was a wolf! Are you absolutely insane? You need to recognize danger, Izzy, or you will be killed!” She wanted to reach for her gun but Kol used his speed to get it off of her and threw it as far away as possible into the desert around them before his vampire face bled out and he pushed her against her truck. “Those trinkets don’t against me, and I told you to leave that thing in Texas!”
‘Kol.’
“Stay out of this, Jeremy,” he snarled before looking back at Izzy. “You’ve seen what I can do when possessed, what I’m capable of. Trust me, darling, I can be far worse than that.”
Izzy had to admit that Kol was scaring her right now, but she just couldn’t back down. “So I’m just supposed to allow you to rage at me? Make a dent in my truck? Tolerate your behavior? Hell no!”
Stupefied, Kol’s normal face returned and he blinked at her. He let go of her and stumbled backward as he kept looking at her, confused, and maybe a little turned on. No, not a little. A lot. “Jer, look after her, I need to sort myself out,” he mumbled before speeding away.
“Jackass,” Izzy muttered as she turned to her truck and took a few deep breaths to compose herself and got their bags out of the truck before heading into the inn. Kol had called ahead for two separate rooms and there hadn’t been an issue on the phone, but when she checked in, there was only one room available as the other had a faulty bathroom that they had just discovered. And being the only inn in a 100 mile radius, there wasn’t much of a choice but to accept it.
‘Well, that happened,’ Jeremy deadpanned and Izzy was unsure if he was surprised or not. ‘Congratulations, I think you’re the first human to survive Kol after standing up to him.’
“Does he really expect me to roll over so he can rub my belly?”
‘Pretty much.’
“Well tough,” Izzy said as she found their room and threw their bags on the two separate beds. “I’m not going to allow someone to dictate my life. Not anymore. Not after Jim.”
She heard Jeremy sigh. ‘Okay, so don’t take this the wrong way, but you and Bella are more alike than you might think and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.’
“I am not-”
‘Let me finish!’ Jeremy said harshly. ‘Before you start saying that you’re not Bella and shit, we know. We know this very well and you don’t have to remind us all the damn time even though I’ve just been around you for less than a day, we know you’re not her. It’s you who keeps on making the connection between you and her and keep reminding us that you’re not her. So stop it. You’re Izzy. Kol’s doing his mourning, same as Myriam and they are vampires. It will take a while but they are trying, which is spectacular seeing as they’re Mikaelsons and their version of mourning is a mass massacre to make themselves feel better,’ Jeremy said angrily. ‘We know you’re not Bella, we’re not comparing you, that’s what you’re doing. You. Yourself. On your own.’
Izzy scowled as she grabbed her sketchbook and her pencils and made herself comfortable on one of the beds. “Am not.”
‘Are too.’
“Am not!”
‘Yes, you are! Stop it and listen to me while I tell you why I think you and her are more alike than you think. She found Kol after a very dark time in her life. And he helped her heal and move on. Which is what you’re going to have to do if you want to learn how to control your gifts and open up more,’ he said as he sat down next to her to watch her sketch, not that she was seeing him. ‘And, on top of that, you came to him in his dark period. He needs your help to get better.’
“You really sound like an old man,” Izzy rolled her eyes.
‘Because I am.’
“Okay, so what do I do when he gets back then, huh? We’re sharing a room!”
Jeremy sucked in a breath. ‘Well, he’s either going to be hungry or horny. Likely both because there aren’t many living souls in these parts.’
Izzy put her pencil down. “What?”
‘You haven’t looked at Kol that way? You’ve never wondered what it’d be like to have some fun with Kol between the sheets? Like ever? Nor wondered what his naked body would look like? His dick, maybe?’
“Oh my God, you need to stop!” Izzy said blushing. “Of course not!”
‘Are you sure?’
“Yes!”
Jeremy laughed. ‘Absolutely sure?’
“Yes!”
‘Because I happen to know that you think differently. And the evidence is in that little notebook you keep at the bottom of your bag. Maybe I should tell Kol about it… although might I suggest removing that drawing you did of you and Klaus? He’s taken and Myriam made it very clear that he’s his.’
“Oh my God, those are private!” Izzy said as she dug into her bag and grabbed her notebook to do at least what Jeremy told her to do, to get rid of the image she drew of her and Klaus. She took it to the bathroom and burnt it in the sink before rinsing it out of the sink and opening a window. “You are not going to tell him!”
“Tell me what?” Kol’s voice sounded from within the bedroom. “What were you burning, darling?”
“Nothing!” Izzy said as she quickly made her way out of the bathroom to put her not so safe for work sketchpad away but it was too late. He already had it in his hands. “Give me that.”
“Your sketches? I’ve always seen them. I wanna see what you came up with tonight,” he tiredly shrugged, slipping his thumb under the cover as he eyed her. “You okay there Darling? You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I didn’t sketch tonight!” she said as she tried to reach for her sketchbook. “And that sketchbook is not for public viewing, thank you very much!”
He stepped back with it, eyes narrowing on her sudden defensiveness. “Why? Is there something in here you don’t want me to see? Let me guess? You drew some inappropriate images of my brother that Myriam might not be so pleased about? Hm?”
“No…”
“Jeremy? Is she lying?” Kol questioned.
‘Nope.’
“Now I know you are,” he growled, glancing between the ghost and Izzy. “Alright then. I’ll leave you two to your secrets. I’ll stay in the truck tonight.” He threw the book down with a look of disappointment and zipped out without a second look.
“Idiot,” Izzy hissed as she quickly grabbed her book and stuffed it back into her bag. “Couldn’t you have given me like a heads-up that he was coming back?”
‘You do realize what just happened there, right?’
“Yeah! He wanted to read my private thoughts!”
‘Uh, no. He’s jealous that you were interested in the great Klaus and not him. Like every other girl that he’s come across before Bella.’
“I didn’t say that!”
‘You didn’t exactly try to convince him he was wrong either,’ Jeremy sighed.
“And I can’t do that without showing him the pictures!”
‘How about, Kol, I like you! Let’s have a date and try to get to know each other better?’ That generally works in the human world. It still does in the supernatural.’
“No.”
‘You’re worse than my sister,’ Jeremy scoffed and he was ready to go join Kol because he was getting annoyed by her stubbornness.
Izzy rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, out of the inn and straight to the truck where Kol was standing at the door.
“What do you want? I’ll let you go back to Texas,” he sighed, running a hand over his face.
She held up her keys. “Can’t sleep in the truck without the keys and I’m not giving them to you. Come back inside.”
He didn’t move from where he laid on the hood for a long minute before turning his head to look at her. “I’m fine. Just go back inside. We’ll head back in the morning.”
Izzy sighed and hopped on the hood where there was still space for her to sit. “You wanted to read my diary.”
His face scrunched up. “It was a sketchbook?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “When I draw for information or just for shits and giggles I use the one you’ve looked at. The other one… is more personal drawings, like a diary. Just me and a pencil.”
“Then why didn’t you just say that? I mean, if you have something of Nik in it, that’s fine. Myriam and I suspected you have a thing for him but lots of girls do. That’s why she gave you her warning instead of flat out clawing your eyes out.”
She sighed again. “I had one drawing. One. The one I drew after I saw him for the first time. And I destroyed it.”
He continued to stare up at the stars, debating the choices that led him to that spot. “Alright. As long as that’s the only member of my family you have in that book, we’re good. Oh and no Jeremy.”
“I drew Jeremy twice in the public sketchbook and you both saw them, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Not the diary I mean.”
“Well, that’s going to be difficult seeing as it’s mostly sketches of uh… you… and me,” she felt her face turn beet red.
Kol’s body went rigid and his brow furrowed. He replayed her words before his face smoothed slowly. “I see. And what exactly am I doing in these sketches? With you, you say?” He asked, his voice hiding his true emotions on the subject.
“That’s not important, just know that there are no other family members but you in that one and it’s nothing but positive,” she said as she sighed again. “And I don’t want to go home. I told you we’d try this, but if you’re sick of me, then sure. I’ll go home.”
He sat up and let his head hang between his legs, interlacing his fingers behind his neck. His voice was muffled as he replied. “I’d never be sick of you Izzy but what do you expect here? Help me out!”
“We said we’d try to become friends,” she said as she looked at him. “Which is what I’m trying to do and not share other things with you because that would ruin our friendship.”
“Yeah, so am I, Darling. So am I,” he repeated with a humorless laugh. “I don’t know. Maybe Myriam was right that this was a bad idea.”
“To be honest, this kinda sucks,” she sighed. “If you’d ask my dad or my mom about my recent behavior they’d say that it’s not like me at all. Maybe sometimes, but not all the time. I think that in trying to be friends with you and not more I might be pushing you away and I’m sorry,” she replied as she looked at her hands. “I’m scared.”
“Yeah, yeah. And you aren’t interested and I get it. Don’t need to soften the blow,” Kol finally turned to smile at her. “You’re a gorgeous girl. And you’ll always have my family’s protection. So how about we get some sleep and start training you up in the morning for yourself, hm?”
“You’re not listening,” Izzy said as she hopped off the hood of the truck and opened the truck before making the bed in the truck in the back.
Kol followed her with a sigh. “What are you doing? Go upstairs.”
“Not by myself. And seeing as you’re planning on sleeping in the truck, I best get us something comfortable.”
“You do realize I can run you upstairs and drop you on that bed quicker than you can blink?”
“Yeah, you’ve shown me what you can do plenty,” she replied as she spread out her sleeping bag. “Except to listen.”
“I think I listened well enough. You made yourself clear that my attempts aren’t going anywhere.”
“What attempts?”
He smirked as he rested his arms on the side of the truck and stared at her. “Now if I have to list every little thing I’ve done to try to prove and impress you, then you aren’t seeing and listening,” he murmured, glancing at her spread. “There aren’t any bad sorts around so if you still want to camp out here, you are free to do so, but I’ll be going for a walk to clear my head.”
“Well,” she said as she hopped out of the truck and looked up at him. “As I said before because I’m trying so hard to be friends with you, I might have ended up pushing you away and ignored all of that.”
‘Will you two stop arguing and just fuck each other already?! You’re giving the dead here a headache!’
Ignoring Jeremy, Izzy sighed as she closed her truck. “Come on, I have to show you something,” she said to Kol as she motioned for him to follow her. “And you stay away, Jeremy.”
‘Suuure… Baby make your booty go da na da na
Girl I know you wanna show da na da na
That thong th thong thong thong…’ he sang.
“I’m gonna have Nik resurrect you just so that I can rip your neck out with my teeth,” Kol growled.
“Come on,” Izzy said as she took Kol’s hand and started to drag him along back to the inn. “I have some sage in my bag to keep him out.”
“It only lasts so long. What do you want to show me?” He asked, tired again but willingly followed her like a moth to the flame.
“My secrets. Something I don’t dare to say because I’m scared,” she said in barely a whisper as she lead him back into their room. “And frankly, it’s embarrassing.”
He followed her into the room and stopped inside the door once it closed. Confused, he stared at her. “Embarrassing? Why would anything be embarrassing?”
She rummaged through her bag to find the sage stick and lit it before leaving it on a plate near the door. “Because, I refuse to talk about certain things, but my drawings will show you…”
Kol was growing antsy. “Izzy… whatever it is… if it bothers you that much,” he started, giving her that door to get out of what she was doing.
“No,” she shook her head. “Going with the flow,” she said as she pulled out her sketchbook that he was previously holding.
“Not if it makes you this damn uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s alright. Maybe this will make me relax a bit,” she smiled bravely and handed it to him. “You can take a look at every single drawing in there.”
Kol hesitated to take the book from her, even more at the expression on her face before carefully opening it. He wasn’t sure what he’d find, but what he did see… he blinked and stared at the first page he’d come across of himself. Then the next. After a few similar drawings, he closed it and moved to set the book on her bag and avoided looking at her as he tried to process his feelings. Or decide how to react. It was certainly the last thing he thought she’d show him.
“So yeah,” she said softly as she leaned against the wall. “That’s why I am trying so hard to push you away… that shouldn’t uh… well, that’s how I feel, deep down and can’t really talk about because we were supposed to try to be friends.”
He nodded, acknowledging that he heard her. “Yet you still think that I see you as someone else, which is why I been trying to take you out and show you around. Izzy, as much as I’d very much like those drawings to come to life, did you ever really consciously give me a chance?” He asked as he turned to face her.
“Yeah,” she slowly nodded. “And I am sorry for keep wanting to defend myself whenever… I know I was wrong about that but that was a part of me pushing you away because…” she pointed at her drawings. “I’m scared, Kol. I’m scared to feel. I mean… my ex-boyfriend turned out to be… and I thought… I just…” She let out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
He’d slowly approached her as she spoke until he was right in front of her. “I’m not one of them, Darling.”
“I know…”
He was hesitant himself as he ran his hand up her chin and through her hair, pushing it away from her face. “I never want to see you hurt and I’ve tried so hard to keep you from being hurt by myself and from my family. This thing with Elijah – I had no idea.”
“Can we just stop and just be?” she asked as she looked up at him. “Forget about everyone else? About what they might think or about our own insecurities and just be?”
Kol’s hand cupped her face and his thumb traced her lip as he very much wanted to agree with her. “One more question. If we were to just be, now, I need to know about after. What then? Because I cannot if this is just a passing fancy.”
“I don’t do things halfway, it’s either all or nothing.”
“Good,” he breathed as he dove in to press his lips to hers, his body to hers, pushing all himself to her against the wall, trapping her under his form.
