Kol was stressed. That much had been evident for awhile now. Everything with Crowley and Heaven and Hell and Purgatory, it was wearing on him. But that hadn't stopped him for spending the last five days pouring over every source he could get his hands on. The books Caroline and Nik had grabbed from the Vatican were interesting, and he'd made some notes on certain things, but he wasn't sure anything he had found would be useful. He was debating talking to the magic users, surely there was something they could do, some sort of protections that wouldn't interefere with the absorbing of the souls.
And then Gabriel had shown up, and right behind him, Elena. Oh, Saint Gilbert. Everyone rushed to her defense so quickly, while ignoring everything she'd done, ignoring the hypocracy of it all. Everyone judged him for his threat to her when, really, it was tame compared to the things he'd thought up over bored nights, in the event she showed up in Lawrence again.
Caroline had disappeared to Australia and Kol had been so involved in his own crap, he hadn't even noticed. He felt bad for that. And for her being stuck in the middle of everything between the family and Elena. He hated it, hated it for her, hated that he was basically the reason for it. But there was no changing his opinion on all this. So, there was a conflict, one he hadn't wanted to face and had hoped he wouldn't need to.
Everything was piling on top of him and Kol was quickly hurdling towards a breaking point. Not that he'd admit it. Bekah's offer to meet up and do something, anything to get away from all of this, was a tiny piece of salvation, even if it would only last a short time. He got her text and pulled a cap over his head as he walked out to meet his sister at the tree she stood by. "Hey," he muttered softly.