"You're a great dancer, Kol," Kallidika whispered.

Kol gently took Kallidika by the hand and spun her around, pulling her towards him. As he held her close, she couldn't help but burst into laughter, feeling the warmth of his embrace. "So, I've been told," he grinned. "I can say the same for you."

"I've had years worth of experience," she said. "Say Bonnie and I are in a dance contest. Who are you betting your money on?"

Kol knew Bonnie wasn't as good as a dancer as Kallidika, but when it came down to it, he'd bet his money on Bonnie any day. But, of course, he had to lie. "You."

Kallidika hummed at that. "That's no surprise. I'm just better than Bonnie. Better dancer. Better date. Better looking..."

She thought she could sneak in those little insults, but Kol heard them clearly. Better dancer? Maybe. Better date? He wouldn't say so. Now, better looking? Both of his hands were on deck for Bonnie! "You're both amazing people," he said. "Bonnie's better, though," he coughed.

"Hm?"

"Nothing," he said. "There is no need for shade to be thrown."

"I mean, I love Bonnie. She's amazing and all, but I'm amazing-er."

Kol couldn't help but roll his eyes. He was annoyed by Kallidika's trash-talking of Bonnie, considering that Bonnie had always been kind to her. And her doing so made him disgusted to even have her in his arms.

The previously lively and upbeat melody had gradually shifted into a smoother and more laid-back tempo, permeating the atmosphere with an intimate and romantic vibe. The notes flowed effortlessly, creating a sense of tranquility and ease that circled the surroundings.

As Kol watched Bonnie rest her head on Joshua's chest, he wished it was him with her instead. A surge of anger he hadn't felt in a while weighed heavily on his chest. Bonnie wasn't just a crush; she was the love of his life.

Kallidika stopped dancing and turned around to look at where Kol's eyes were. "Are you dancing with her, or are you dancing with me?" Her eyes blazed in fury.

Kol let go of her. "Uh, I-"

Kallidika raised her hand high enough to shut him up. "Save it," she said.

Bonnie smiled, watching as Kallidika stormed away from a distance. But then it hit her. This isn't me. I'm not heartless. I care about Kallidika; she's my client. So why am I finding amusement in watching her be hurt? Her smile faded into a frown.

She felt Joshua's touch release off her body. Unbeknownst to her, Joshua had been observing her.

His lips twitched. "So this is what you've been doing all night, using me to make your ex jealous?"

"No, I wasn't using you-" Bonnie realized that she was becoming someone she didn't like, and she acknowledged that being dishonest with him wouldn't improve her self-image. "Yeah. I was using you to make Kol jealous."

Joshua tried to walk away, but Bonnie grabbed his wrist, despite his impatience and foot-tapping. "Joshua, wait, let me explain."

"Bonnie, there's nothing that needs explaining. I'm disappointed that you would do this to me," Joshua said.

Bonnie's face returned to its frowning expression. "I'm sorry."

Joshua was too confused to hear her apology. He started talking to himself out loud. "I'm not sure how I missed it, but you've been flirting and getting touchy all night. It's not like you to act that way," he said.

"I'm a crappy person. I get it. But I did not do this to hurt you, Josh. If anything, I was trying to hurt him."

"You weren't trying to hurt me, but you did," he said. "I really thought you were different, Bonnie. But then again, it's my fault. I always get blinded by a woman's beauty and kindness that I don't even realize when I am being used. Thanks for making me feel like shit. I'm leaving."

"Josh!" Bonnie knew that there was no point in running after him.

As Joshua departed from the room, a sense of emptiness enveloped Bonnie. Suddenly, her eyes locked with Kol's, and nostalgia washed over her. Memories of their love came flooding back, reigniting the flame of their past relationship. At that moment, their shared gaze conveyed an unspoken agreement to let go of each other and move on with their lives, sparing themselves and those around them from further pain.

Bonnie's eyes filled with tears, and her lips quivered as she struggled to hold them back. She gave Kol a half-shrug, and that meant a lot. It was her way of saying; I still love you and know you love me too, but what can we do?

Kol couldn't handle the tension from all the eye contact they'd been sharing, so he walked away.

Bonnie sat on the barstool, and put her face in her hands. 

Damon returned. "I am mad at you, Bonnie. Why didn't you warn me about how crazy Davina is?" He kept talking for a while until Bonnie suddenly turned around. He noticed a tear rolling down her cheek and immediately stopped talking. "What's wrong?"

Bonnie took a deep breath and swallowed nervously. "I messed up, Damon."

Damon sighed. He pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head.

If it were anybody else, Damon would have said something like; your problem, not mine, but because it was Bonnie Bennett, his best friend, he just could not bring himself to say it.

He pulled away and sat on the stool next to her. "Being single forever doesn't always suck. Not when you have a cool friend like me," he said. 

That seemed to stop Bonnie's tears, and she found herself smiling. "And what about Caroline, Elena, Tyler, Matt, Stefan-"

"I'm still the coolest of them all," Damon said and Bonnie laughed. 

Suddenly, the crowd erupted into fear, with loud screams and shouts. 

Bonnie and Damon stood up and pushed through the crowd to find out what was happening. There was a dead girl with a broken neck.

"They need to leave. Everyone needs to leave," Hayley pressed.

Damon instructed everyone to evacuate the loft.

"I didn't expect the killer to make their move so soon," Bonnie said. "The party just started an hour ago."

"What worries me more is that we have no face nor a name to identify this menace," Elijah said.

Klaus and Caroline came running up to them.

Bonnie examined them. Half of Klaus's shirt wasn't buttoned, and Caroline's lipstick was smudged. Her mind could only go to dirty places of what they've been doing all this while.

Caroline caught Bonnie staring, and Bonnie looked away as quick as you put on a light switch. "What are we going to do?" She asked.

Damon returned. "Split up and find this asshole," he said.

Rebekah's brows furrowed as she realized someone was missing from the mix. "Uh, guys? Where's Marcel?"

***

Even though Marcel was still mad at Davina, he quickly agreed to talk to her when she reached out. He couldn't deny that he missed her.

They met up in a dark alley just outside of the apartment.

"So, I've heard you've been staying at Bonnie's place," he said.

"Yeah, I have. I kind of got bored of being homeless," Davina joked. "Plus, unlike some people, she doesn't dictate my every move."

Marcel chuckled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what that means," she said. "Anyways, I called you to talk because I want us to make amends. I'm not fond of going the rest of my life without speaking to you."

"Feeling is mutual," he said. "I have been dying to talk to you-"

"Give Landon his memory back," Davina demanded. "Make him remember everything."

Marcel's expression softened when he heard the unexpected words from her. "Come on, Dee. You know I can't do that," he said.

"You can't, or you won't?"

"I-"

Davina cut him off. "You compelled him to forget his entire life." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He doesn't even know who he is!"

"I did what I did to protect you, Davina," Marcel spat.

"How often must I tell you I don't need your protection, Marcel? I can protect myself," she stated.

"Were you able to protect yourself the day of the harvest? No, you weren't. You would've been dead if I hadn't shown up when I did."

Davina squinted her eyes. "Do you want a cookie for doing the right thing?"

"It's not about that, Davina. It's about saying you can protect yourself, yet you always need saving," he gritted through a clenched jaw. "You go out on dates with bad men..." He chuckled out of frustration rather than humor this time. "Are you so dense that you can't even see the grave you're digging for yourself?"

"Landon isn't bad," Davina said slowly.

"His sister is," Marcel shrugged.

"What are you talking about?"

"During the donation on Christmas Eve, Bonnie's friend, Nora, knocked Landon out after she got a bad vibe from him. She and Bonnie brought her to me. I kept him locked up in the plantation for a couple of days, then brought him back to my place and did some interrogation. Turns out, he's a swordsmith. He made the sword we found that was used to kill one of my men. He made it for his sister," Marcel explained.

"And who's his sister?"

"We don't know, and that is what we are trying to figure out. And because we don't know who this woman is, I gotta make sure you don't become her next victim. His sister finds out you're seeing him and that you're a witch, she will kill you," he said.

Davina potentially dying went totally over her head. Her main focus was that fact that she confided in Bonnie about her troubled relationship with Marcel but felt betrayed, knowing that Bonnie kept the truth about Landon from her, causing her to question their friendship. "So, Bonnie knew about this and didn't tell me? I really can't trust anyone," she said.

"She was only trying to protect you, and so am I." Marcel's voice had become noticeably calmer than it was previously.

"So, I'm hearing that Landon isn't the killer?" She questioned. Marcel nodded. "Then give him his memory back."

Marcel gently rested his hands on Davina's shoulders, his touch conveying a sense of reassurance. "If something bad were to ever happen to you, something bad that I knew I could've prevented from happening, I would never forgive myself, Davina. I am doing this because I love you."

Davina loved him, too, but to her, love wasn't blocking someone from happiness, even if it meant you were trying to protect them. "If you loved me, you wouldn't hurt me like you do. If you loved me, you would give Landon his memory back." Her eyes started to fill with tears, hating what she was about to do.

Marcel had a look of displeasure on his face. "I'm sorry, Dee, but I'm not doing that."

"Okay," Davina said with a shrug. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

Marcel held his hands in front of his pelvis and cocked a brow. "Wait, what do you mean?"

Davina didn't provide a response but instead showed him. She raised her hand, giving him an aneurysm.

Marcel fell to his knees in pain, holding onto the sides of his head and shouting. "Davina, stop!"

"Not until you give Landon his memory back."

***

The atmosphere in the French Quarter was eerily quiet, with an unusual scent of cigar ashes lingering in the air. The darkness of the night only added to the uneasiness of the situation, casting shadows as if it were a ghost town.

Kol relentlessly chased after Kallidika, causing her to quicken her stride in an attempt to get away from him. "Kallidika, wait. I'm sorry."

Kallidika abruptly halted and spun around. "You're not sorry, Kol."

He let out a breath and shut his eyes. "Yes, I am."

Kallidika seemed to struggle to let the following few words fall out of her mouth. "You still love her, don't you?" She had a glimmer of hope that he would decline.

"I-" How do I lie and say no to loving Bonnie? Not only would I be lying to Kallidika, but I'd also be lying to myself. I know I don't hate Bonnie. I don't even dislike her. And, as hard as I try to erase that witch from my head, I can't. Everything from her touch to her scent, her laugh. It's hard to treat these things as if they never existed, like the love we shared or share doesn't exist. Bonnie, what are you doing to me? "Yes. I still love Bonnie."

Kallidika lowered her head. Her mind was frantic at the idea of Kol loving anybody but her. Kol wasn't even sure if he liked Kallidika. Let alone love her. They had just started talking three weeks ago.

Kol scoffed. "Do you expect me to hate her? Our breakup is still fresh, but that doesn't mean that I don't like you, Kallidika." He genuinely felt for her, but not as much as he once did after what she said about Bonnie.

"Oh, fuck that! You don't hurt someone you love. Jesus, Kol! You don't even hurt someone you like. She wouldn't have ended things with you if she loved you as much as you loved her."

Kol knew Bonnie didn't tell Kallidika anything because Kallidika was her client, not her friend. "Wait, how do you know about that? I never told you about anything concerning our breakup."

"Oh, I know a lot of things, Kol." As she walked closer, Kol took steps back. "I know so much about you. And I've tried to be lenient, y'know. I've tried to be cordial." She slapped her palms together, and the sound echoed in the street. "Damn it! I've tried to be a nice person. But, sometimes, you have to be a little mean to get what you want."

Kol couldn't seem to wrap his head around what she was saying. "What are you talking about?"

She pointed to her head, twirling her finger as she said, "Don't you get it, Kol? I love you, and you love me." She stopped walking, and a weak smile crept onto her face. "I'm here, Kol. It's me, Kallidika. Tell me you remember me."

"I don't understand. You and I just met in the bar a couple of weeks ago. Now, you're begging me to remember you as if you're some long-lost friend of mine." In distress, Kol ran a hand through his hair and put his hands on his hips. "Bloody hell, Kallidika. Just tell me exactly what you are trying to say."

Kallidika put a hand on her chest. "I was your first love, Kol. Not Bonnie."

Kol scoffed. She has officially lost it, he thought. At this moment, he regretted ever pursuing anything with her. She was sick in the head, calling herself his first love? "What..."

Kallidika looked over Kol's shoulder and saw Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah running toward him from a distance.

"Kol!" Klaus called. "You have to come with us."

"We have no time to explain, but something terrible has just transpired," Elijah added.

Kol, rubbing his forehead, didn't even turn around to face his siblings. "I'm kind of in the middle of something," he said.

Rebekah's chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. "Surely, your date can give you just a few minutes to chat with us." She looked at Kallidika for permission to let Kol go. "It will be brief."

"Yeah, no," Kallidika said. She pulled off her mask, and everyone but Kol took a sharp breath; their eyes widened. A smirk grew on her face. "Missed me?"

-

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