Chapter 74: The Sibling Decision - Kol and Finn
POV: Sam Barton
The debate about waking Kol and Finn happens at Klaus's warehouse with the kind of family tension that comes from a thousand years of betrayal, love, and daggers to the heart.
Klaus stands with his arms crossed, glaring at the two remaining coffins like they're personal insults. "Kol stays daggered. He's chaos incarnate—brilliant but utterly uncontrollable, obsessed with forbidden magic that got him killed more than once."
"He's family, Nik," Rebekah argues, her hand resting on Kol's coffin with surprising gentleness. "You can't keep him imprisoned forever. He deserves a chance."
"A chance to burn down the town?" Klaus counters. "To slaughter innocents in pursuit of some dark grimoire? Kol doesn't do restraint."
Elijah, playing mediator as usual, proposes compromise. "What if we wake him with conditions? Magical binding, supervision, consequences for breaking established rules?"
That's where I step in, because apparently I'm now the voice of reason for Original vampire family politics.
"Bonnie can create a binding spell," I suggest. "Similar to what we'd discussed for Klaus initially—prevents him from harming Mystic Falls citizens directly. He gets freedom to pursue his interests, but within boundaries that keep innocents safe."
Klaus turns his predatory focus on me. "You'd trust Kol bound by mere witch magic? He's studied dark arts for centuries. He could probably break Bennett spells in his sleep."
"Not Bennett ancestral magic," Bonnie corrects, manifesting beside my Magic Absorption clone who's been observing the family dynamics. "I channel a hundred witches simultaneously now. Kol's brilliant, but he's not stronger than an entire magical lineage working in coordination."
Kol's coffin sits silent, but I swear I can feel potential energy radiating from it—like opening that coffin will release concentrated chaos into the world.
"What about Finn?" Caroline asks, approaching the second coffin carefully. "Rebekah said he begged to be daggered. What if he doesn't want to wake up?"
Rebekah's expression clouds with grief. "Finn hates what we are. He despises immortality, mourns humanity we lost, prays for death that won't come. Waking him risks suicide by white oak or worse—him helping Mother kill us all."
"Or," I counter, "waking him gives him purpose beyond self-hatred. The world's changed dramatically since whenever Klaus daggered him. There might be reasons to live he hasn't considered."
Elijah studies me with calculating interest. "You're proposing rehabilitation. Using Caroline's optimism and organizational skills to give Finn something worth living for."
"I—what?" Caroline stammers.
"You helped Rebekah adapt to modern times," I point out. "You're good at finding meaning in chaos, at making connections that matter. Finn needs someone who genuinely believes life's worth living."
Caroline's processing this with visible trepidation, but she nods slowly. "I can try. But Sam, he's a thousand-year-old vampire who wants to die. That's not exactly my usual wheelhouse."
"Your usual wheelhouse is making the impossible seem manageable," I reply. "This is just another impossible task."
Klaus laughs—sharp and surprised. "You're either the most optimistic tactician I've ever met or the most delusional. Fine. Wake them both. But when Kol burns down half the town or Finn stakes himself, remember I warned you."
We wake Kol first because apparently we're doing this in ascending order of difficulty.
Elijah removes the white oak ash dagger while Bonnie channels Bennett ancestors, the binding spell ready to activate the moment Kol's conscious.
Kol's eyes snap open—dark and wild and immediately laughing.
"A thousand years!" he gasps, sitting up with manic energy. "Which one of you daggered me this time? Nik? Was it you again? It's always you."
Then he notices my clones.
Kol blurs out of the coffin faster than I can track, circling my six shadowy figures with fascination that borders on obsessive. "Oh, this is fascinating! Shadow magic, but not witch-born. Not vampire compulsion. Not werewolf pack bonds. What are you?"
Before Kol can reach out to touch—or more likely, dissect—one of my clones, Bonnie activates the binding.
Purple-black energy wraps around Kol like chains made of ancestral magic, settling into his supernatural essence with the weight of a hundred Bennett witches enforcing compliance.
"You will not harm citizens of Mystic Falls," Bonnie declares, her voice carrying harmonics of her ancestors. "You will not pursue magic that endangers innocents. You will honor the alliance Sam Barton has built. This binding is permanent until I release it."
Kol snarls, testing the magical constraints, but the binding holds. "Well, that's annoying. Also unprecedented. Who taught you to channel that many ancestors simultaneously?"
"I did," I reply. "Through magical synergy training that amplifies her natural abilities."
Kol's manic expression shifts to genuine intellectual curiosity. "You can teach magical enhancement to witches? And you command shadow entities? Sam Barton, you've just become my favorite human."
"That's concerning," Damon mutters from his observation position near the exit.
Klaus approaches his younger brother warily. "Kol. If you can't behave under Bonnie's binding, I'll dagger you again. Permanently this time."
"Nik! Brother!" Kol embraces Klaus with enthusiasm that seems genuine despite centuries of family dysfunction. "Still so paranoid. I'll behave. Mostly. I want to study modern magic, examine these fascinating shadow clones, and possibly burn a few grimoires that deserve burning."
"The last one's concerning," I point out.
"Only the evil ones," Kol clarifies with a grin that suggests his definition of "evil" is extremely flexible.
[KOL MIKAELSON: AWAKENED]
[MAGICAL BINDING: SUCCESSFUL]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: +900]
[LEVEL 33: 2,100/4,600 TO LEVEL 34]
[MAGIC ABSORPTION MASTERY: 52%]
[KOL RELATIONSHIP: CHAOTIC NEUTRAL]
That evening, Kol corners me at my estate with the kind of intensity that suggests he's been thinking about my clones for hours.
"Your shadow magic," he says, practically vibrating with curiosity. "I must study it. Let me examine your clones, understand their composition, possibly dissect one to see how they're constructed."
My Mind Shield clone interposes immediately. "No dissection. But I'll answer questions if you promise not to harm my allies."
Kol's grin is wicked and delighted. "Deal! This will be so much fun. Do they have independent consciousness? Can they operate at range? What's the magical theory underlying their manifestation?"
Caroline finds me later being interrogated by an Original vampire about supernatural physics I barely understand myself.
"You just made friends with the most dangerous Original after Klaus," she observes.
"I collect dangerous friends," I reply. "It's becoming a pattern."
"A terrifying pattern," Caroline corrects, but she's smiling.
To supporting Me in Pateron .
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