It was quiet, the air thick with an unspoken history. Kol laid Jacob down on a couch, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest before turning back to Lisa's father.
The man had already taken a seat at the table, arms crossed, waiting.
Kol exhaled sharply. "Why are you helping me?"
The response was immediate. "I'm not helping you. I'm helping my daughter."
Kol stiffened. He should have expected that answer. But it wasn't the whole truth—he could feel it.
Lisa's father leaned forward, studying him. "Don't mistake this for mercy. There are more hunters than you think who still want your head. But they won't act."
Kol narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
For a long moment, Lisa's father didn't speak. His gaze was distant, as if caught between the present and a memory long buried.
Then, he exhaled.
"Because of your sister."
Kol felt his heart slam against his ribs. Elizabeth.
Lisa's father's voice was steady, but there was something dark beneath it. "Over two hundred years ago, I was given orders to hunt you down. To kill you before you became a greater threat. I was younger then, still rising through the ranks of the hunters. And I hated you. I hated everything you were."
Kol said nothing, but he could feel the weight of the words pressing down on him.
Lisa's father continued. "We tracked you for months. Followed your movements, studied your weaknesses. You were reckless, exhausted. The moment we saw an opening, we took it."
His fingers tapped against the wooden table.
"We surrounded you on a battlefield. You were half-dead already, standing among the corpses of demons, witches, and hunters alike. You didn't even fight back at first. It would've been easy. A quick kill. A clean execution."
His jaw tightened.
"But then she came."
Kol's breath caught in his throat.
Elizabeth.
Lisa's father's voice dropped lower. "She didn't just stop us. She slaughtered us."
Kol's pulse pounded in his ears.
"She was unlike anything I had ever seen. The moment she arrived, the air itself became heavier. Hunters—some of the strongest I had ever known—died in an instant. Their bodies turned to dust before they could even draw their weapons. Others were crushed under the weight of her power. I had never seen my kind so powerless before. I had never seen fear in the eyes of my elders—until that night."
Kol swallowed hard, the memories of his sister flashing through his mind. The power she held, the way she had always been stronger, faster, more disciplined than the rest of them. But this…
He hadn't known.
Lisa's father's fingers curled into a fist. "I should have died that night. But she didn't kill me."
Kol frowned. "Why?"
Lisa's father exhaled. "Because she wanted me to remember."
A chill ran down Kol's spine.
"She placed her fingers against my forehead, and suddenly I saw everything. I saw you as a child, struggling, fighting for something better. I saw you kneeling before the witches, desperate for power. I saw you standing in the Demon King's palace, believing you were doing what was right. I saw your brother die by your own hands. I saw your parents executed. I saw your siblings betray you."
His voice hardened.
"And I saw Lisa die."
Kol's throat tightened.
"I saw you give her the reincarnation spell. I saw you reach for her, only to be held back by your own brothers. I saw Dain tear her apart right in front of you."
Kol could barely breathe.
"When she let me go," Lisa's father continued, "I collapsed. And she said one thing to me before she left."
Kol's hands clenched. "What did she say?"
Lisa's father met his gaze.
"She told me that when I was strong enough, I would come for her and also if kol will die, it will be by her hands."
Silence fell between them.
Kol could barely process the weight of those words.
For over two centuries, Lisa's father had held onto that moment. Had trained. Had prepared for the day he would be able to face Elizabeth again. And yet…
"When I finally reached that point," Lisa's father admitted, "I realized that she had never been my enemy to begin with."
Kol exhaled sharply.
Everything he had believed about the hunters, about their pursuit of him—it had all been a lie.
It had never been that they had grown tired of chasing him. It had never been that they had simply moved on.
It had been Elizabeth.
She had protected him.
Even after everything, she had never turned her back on him.
Lisa's father stood, placing his hands on the table.
"You're still a demon," he said. "And I don't trust you. But my daughter does."
Kol met his gaze.
"Stay the night," Lisa's father said. "But when morning comes, you and Jacob leave."
Kol didn't argue.
Lisa reached for his hand, her fingers lacing with his.
The past had finally revealed itself.
But the future was still uncertain.