It begins with Finn's POV, but Caroline comes into it soon.
I do not own the vampire diaries, it belongs to L.J Smith and the CW.
The sky was pitch black, it seemed as though it were devoid of stars. The only source of light was the circle of flames that Esther and Finn stood inside. Protected by the witch's strong magic, that prevented the three men and one woman on the outside of the ring from entering.
The spell was complete, the circle was impenetrable, and Finn was weakened, he could feel it in his limbs, his chest and in his mind, he was tired, all he wanted was to sink down to the floor and sleep.
Not much longer to wait now. He reminded himself, he had to remain strong for these last few moments, then it would all be over, he could finally move to the other side, his siblings would accompany him, and their mother would follow soon after. They would see Mikael, Aaron and Henrich again, their family would be back together.
He had despised the beast that he was the second he drank the first tantalising drop of human blood. He felt it in his bones, he was different now, monstrous, he was a predator, he fed of the innocent, the defenceless.
He begged for his mother to turn him back, to allow him to be granted his humanity back, she had cried, desperate miserable sobs and explained that if she could then she would without a second thought, but it was too late, they were all dead, but not dead. Still walking, still feeling, thirsting, murdering.
H pleaded with her to end his suffering, to allow him to die, she told him that his father, Elijah and Niklaus had burned the white oak tree, the only thing that could have put him out of his misery, to the ground, and there were no more. He was trapped this way, forever.
But it was not so, another tree had grown only three hundred years after the demise of the first, there was hope for him. Esther had carved a single stake out of the white oak ash and when the time was right she would plunge it into his heart, killing him with ease. As his soul left his body, as would those of his siblings through their link.
He almost laughed to think that he could have ended this seven hundred years ago when the second tree grew, well, he could have done if Niklaus had not neutralised him and left him sleeping in a coffin for nine hundred years. He supposed that he should despise his hybrid brother, but found that he could not. Niklaus had ended his suffering for a long time. If Niklaus had not done it, and he had not discovered the second white oak tree then he would have had to live out those thousand years. A thousand years of killing, of mourning the world he had grown up in and of resenting every human around him for the gift that they did not even know they possessed. It would have driven him insane.
He could feel the end so close that he was almost giddy, an emotion he was certain he had never before tonight experienced. He wanted to laugh, to smile, to sing with joy.
He did not, he was tempted to lie to himself, and say that he could not because it was not appropriate for the situation, but this was the end, if he was not honest with himself now then he never would be.
He could not be truly light hearted because beneath his euphoria, he felt sick. He had betrayed his family, all of his brothers and his sister, the people he was supposed to protect. He was fully aware that his treachery was worse than Niklaus'. At least his younger brother had always intended to bring them back and reunite the family, he had, in his own twisted way, been trying to do the right thing. Although nobody approved of his methods, they all knew deep down that that was the truth and no matter how furious with him they were, they would forgive him.
He would not be granted such a mercy.
Elijah might forgive him for his own death, but never for that of the others.
Niklaus would never forgive him and would certainly never trust him again, not that he trusted anybody much anyway.
Kol was spiteful and was extremely talented at grudge holding, if he ever had the opportunity for revenge, he would seize it with both hands.
As for Rebekah, she would be furious, she would hate him, for a time, but she would not stop loving him, however she would never put her faith in him again.
He thought over all of this with regret.
"It's time." Esther whispered, he sighed in relief, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the others tense.
He prepared himself for his torturous death, he could not hold back his gasp as his mother shoved the stake into his chest, he felt it, it was worse than he had ever imagined, he felt the sharp pain of his skin tearing, the agonising heat of the fire beginning to smoulder in his chest.
He finally turned his gaze to his siblings, they were all staring at him with varying expressions.
Elijah in resignation, Rebekah in horror and grief, Kol in a bitter satisfaction, even if he had to die along with him, he was pleased to watch the betrayer burn before he himself did.
Finn did not realise that anything was amiss until he saw the look on Niklaus' face, there was sadness, grudging acceptance, and pity.
In that second, Finn saw exactly what his brother had done and almost chuckled, he should have guessed.
Niklaus had always been clever, he may have been foolish, impulsive and immature, but he had always been quick witted and devious.
He allowed his eyes to fall to Esther and as he knew there would be, there was a gaping hole in her chest, over her heart, as he burned, she bled. Niklaus had somehow found a witch to break the ties between he and his siblings, and linked him to Esther.
So now the two of them were dying, and the rest of the family would live.
He was surprised at his own calmness, even for him, this was new levels of stoicism.
Esther cried out, "no, no, no." Her voice was thick with horror, he wanted to comfort her, to make it better, but he could not, he could not speak, it was too late.
Two days later the Salvatore brothers, Elena, Alaric, Caroline and Bonnie, were all gathered at the Salvatore boarding house to discuss the surprising invitations they had all received in the mail earlier that day.
The invitations had been similar to those inviting them to the Mikaelson family ball, made of the same thick cream card and addressed in the same fancy black script.
They possessed a huge difference however, in that these invitations were for the joint funeral of Esther and Finn Mikaelson.
"So I guess this means Esther lost and Klaus won." Elena stated the obvious.
"What is it?" Damon asked suddenly, turning towards Caroline and Bonnie, who had both shifted guiltily.
"Guys?" Elena looked to her best friends.
"It's because of me that Klaus won." Bonnie announced. When nobody spoke the girl continued, "they took Caroline and told me that if I didn't do what they wanted then they'd kill her."
"They took you hostage?" Elena demanded, gazing at the blonde vampire in horror.
Caroline grimaced, "We'll get to that." Bonnie told her. "Klaus asked me to break the bond between them and Finn, and to do a spell to forge a bond between Finn and Esther." She did not need to continue, the others understood.
"So when Mummy killed Finn, she killed herself too and left the others still standing." Damon muttered, impressed despite himself, he hated most of the originals, but damn they were smart.
"But Care, how did they capture you? Did they hurt you? Are you okay?" She fretted.
"Well, it turns out Klaus tricked us yet again." Caroline spoke with irritation and a slight hurt.
"He invited me to the mansion, he told me he had information for me that I might find useful. I was suspicious because last time I saw him, I used his attraction to me against him while Rick stabbed his little brother. I told him no way in hell was I going to his creepy house."
"So what happened? He came to get you and dragged you there?"
"No, he pointed out that if he was trying to kill me he could do it in the comfort of my home and save himself having to clean up the mess in his own if he were to do it there. So I, like an idiot, agreed.
When I got there, he acted like it was some kind of date, he made dinner, we drank wine, he was all… charming and British."
"Wait, so Klaus tricked you into going on a date with him, all the while conning witchie here into believing he'd kidnapped you and was possibly torturing you, and blackmailed her into helping save him, his brothers and his psycho sister, while defeating their only remaining enemy who stands a chance of doing them any harm?" Damon asked incredulously. "You know, if Klaus was less of a dick, I think we'd be great friends."
"Okay we get it, we were idiots, but can we discuss the matter at hand now and mock us later?" Caroline suggested, not wanting to think about her own stupidity. She could not believe she had fallen for it, all his allure, his sweet smile, his jokes and fascinating stories. She had actually thought that he had invited her around because he was interested in her, but no, he was just using her, like everybody else.
Enough with the self pity Caroline! She commanded herself.
"So what should we do?" Stefan asked the group, taking pity on Caroline and removing the spotlight from her.
"Throw on our best black clothes and get ready for a shindig, what else?" Damon replied with an amused smirk.
The group met again back at the boarding house the following day.
Despite their dislike for the Mikaelsons all were wearing black, for the most part because it felt disrespectful somehow to act as though they were not attending a funeral, no matter their feelings about the deceased. On Damon's part it was simply because he did not own many clothes in any other colour, and he would have preferred to keep his organs on the inside of his body.
Elijah greeted them at the door, his expression sombre, but he managed to produce a polite smile.
"Welcome, I am glad you could all attend today's… service."
They all stood outside in the large garden of the mansion, towards the back. Under a light covering of trees, there were two pale grey ,unmarked headstones that the party gathered by.
One of the siblings had compelled two men, who were now digging two deep holes in the earth where Esther and Finn would lie for their eternal rest.
There were two urns of ashes, Finn's and Esther's, the latter being much smaller than the former.
At Elena's askance glance, Bonnie explained in a whisper, "they took half of Esther's ashes and Klaus' hybrids are scattering them in different locations, and they're burying this half, so that she can never be brought back again." Apparently her whispers had not been as quiet as she had hoped, as Rebekah glared angrily at both of them and turned back to her remaining family.
The siblings stood together, Elijah had one hand on Klaus' shoulder, who had his arm around a crying Rebekah, who was holding Kol's hand tightly in hers.
In that moment Caroline forgot that these were thousand year old vampires, killers responsible for so much heartache. In that moment they were just people, a family who had lost their mother and brother on the same day.
Caroline could not muster up the resentment she wanted to feel for the dimpled hybrid, she only felt sympathy for him and a strange and dangerous desire to comfort him, she pushed that to the back of her mind.
Once the service was over, everybody present retired to the main sitting room of the house.
"So Klaus, lets cut to the chase, shall we, why are we really here?" Damon asked insensitively.
Klaus held his gaze for a few seconds, until he knew that the vampire was fully aware how easy it would be for him to tear his throat out, before responding.
"We wanted to talk about how we can all live together in this town peaceably."
Damon raised an eyebrow sceptically but it was Stefan who spoke. "You'll have to forgive us for not believing that."
Klaus continued as though he had not spoken. "Esther and Finn are dead, as is Mikael, there are no threats left to us. For the first time in a thousand years, none of us have anybody to run from. We want to get on with our lives, this was our home and we would like to stay here. While we are here, we will agree to refrain from harming any of you, as long as you agree not to attempt to harm any of us."
"What about Elena?" Bonnie asked suspiciously, not trusting the hybrid. She knew that he would most likely keep his word, however she searched for a loophole, a way out of his agreement.
"Elena and I could make a deal." He agreed amiably.
"What kind of deal? I'll be your blood bag and in return you won't slaughter my friends?" She had picked up her habit of sarcasm from Damon.
"Not quite. How does this sound, you give me one pint of blood every month, think of it as donating blood, until you are thirty five, then I'll ask for no more from you. I would appreciate that you produce some children so your line will continue, but I will leave them to you to raise, I will not interfere."
Everybody remained perfectly silent as Elena contemplated this deal, considering the pros and cons of dealing with Klaus, the devil himself.
"I have a few conditions." She announced after a lengthy pause.
Klaus gestured for her to continue.
"Nobody is ever to feed directly from me, I will not be bitten by you, or anybody else, if you want my blood then it'll have to be done like a proper blood donation."
"Done."
"There's more. I will give one pint a month until I'm thirty five and no more?"
"Absolutely."
"I want your oath that you will not kill any of my descendants and that they will be given the same deal you've given me."
"Agreed. Is there more?"
She nodded, "you have absolutely no say in who the father of my children is, where I live, what my living arrangements are or in my life in general."
"I can do that."
"Elijah, I'd like your word that you will keep Klaus faithful to this agreement." She glanced at the older vampire, who nodded once.
"Of course."
"What? Is my word not good enough?" Klaus inquired with mock hurt.
"I'd like a guarantee." She answered coolly.
They did not stay long after that, there was nothing left to say, they had agreed upon the terms of living arrangements in Mystic Falls and, while they had all at one time or another hoped to kill Klaus, they were relieved that they could stop worrying about what to do about him.
Caroline was on her way outside, following behind her friends, when she heard a voice behind her calling her name. She groaned to herself, it was impossible not to recognise his voice, she ignored the chills that ran through her at the sound of her name on his lips.
She faced him reluctantly, the idea of pretending that she had not heard him was tempting, but he would just follow her anyway, so she decided to converse as long as necessary and make her escape.
"What?"
"I thought we could talk." He smiled at her warmly.
She hated the effect this had on her, she wanted to stay with him, talk to him, laugh with him, but no, she was not that stupid. She would not be his puppet.
"What's there to talk about? You invited me here, tried to charm me and pretended that you had kidnapped me to trick my friend into helping you."
"Tried to charm you, are you implying that it didn't work?" He gave a cheeky grin.
"That was not the point I was making, but no, it did not work." She threw back.
"Liar, " he beamed, as though delighted with her.
"Did you actually want something or are you only holding me up for your personal entertainment?" Her voice was like acid, a lesser man would have been terrified.
"I wanted to talk to you, to ask you to stay for a while."
"That's a bit distasteful don't you think, it's your mother and brother's funeral and you're hitting on me?"
"I'm not… hitting on you" he spoke, unsure of the American phrase, "I only wanted you to stay, but if you'd prefer to leave then, go ahead."
She was not sure what did it, whether it was his uncertainty when saying "hitting on", his disappointment at her choosing to leave, or the rare vulnerability she had seen in him when he asked her to stay, but she sighed and took her coat off again.
They sat on one of the sofas in the living room, his siblings were at various locations throughout the enormous house.
They were drinking wine again, it was just as delicious as it had been the last time she was here, whatever else could be said about the original, he had good taste, when she said as much he came back with,
"Of course I do, I fancy you don't I?"
She laughed, "You are so cheesy sometimes."
He smirked almost shyly and pointed out, "it works."
She guffawed, "on who?"
"Women throughout the ages." He winked.
She rolled her eyes at him.
An hour or so later they sat in comfortable silence, when Caroline spotted a sketch pad out of he corner of her eye, her curiosity peaked as she remembered the beautiful drawing he had delivered to her house, of her at the ball.
"May I?" She reached for the book and held it carefully on her lap, it looked expensive, the last thing she wanted was to ruin it.
He nodded.
She flipped through the pages, she was unaware of the soft smile that graced her face as she took in all of his pictures, they were stunning.
The first few were landscapes, she was certain that one was of Mystic Falls as he had first known it, a thousand years ago, she planned to ask him endless questions about it, but then she flipped to the next page, it was a drawing of a little girl, of about seven. She was wearing a simple green dress, her blonde hair was platted and her blue eyes sparkled, she did not recognise her for a couple of seconds.
"Is this Rebekah?" The innocent and genuine laugh on the little girl's mouth did not fit with her view of Rebekah, the blood slut.
"Yes, back in the old days, before mini skirts and hair curlers."
"My God, how long have you had this?"
He laughed lightly, "I drew it from memory. I assure you, they did not sell sketch pads in Mystic Falls a thousand years ago."
"What did you draw on?"
"Cave's mostly, or in the dirt."
"Ah, the good old days."
"It wasn't so bad, there were benefits, for example people actually spoke to each other, they had nothing better to do, there was no TV or computers."
She inclined her head in agreement, she could not live without her cell phone, or computer but she could see his logic, people actually spent time together and spoke, it was personal and there would be an atmosphere of closeness and companionship that it was hard to replicate over facebook or by text.
As they sat together Klaus flirted with her, complimented her and told her stories, instead of having the cheering effect he wanted it to have, it infuriated her. It reminded her that he had used her, as he was probably using her right now.
She was frustrated with herself for allowing him to make her laugh and enchant her.
Klaus sensed her anger, he attempted to make it right but everything he said just annoyed her more.
"This is my brother Henrich", he showed her the drawing of his little brother, it was not difficult to remember his face, even after all these years. He was laughing as he endeavoured to wield a dagger properly.
Caroline did not know why she said it, it was cruel and vindictive and she regretted it as soon as it spilled out of her mouth. "What did you kill him too?"
She opened her mouth to apologise instantly, but the expression on his face froze her completely.
He was shocked, that much was obvious, but there was also a hurt, a hurt deep enough that he could not hide it from her, and a well of anguish.
His mouth gaped for a moment before he stood and walked towards the fire, refusing to face her.
"I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." She babbled.
"Yes you did." He had to fight to keep his voice controlled.
"No, I didn't. Ignore me, that was horrible of me, I sometimes say things I don't mean, I'm really sorry." She apologised desperately, Klaus may have been a bad guy but that was a low blow and she knew it.
"Don't be. It's the truth."
She paused, "what?"
"I killed Henrich, or I may as well have done." He amended, his tone was laced with guilt.
"What do you mean?"
"As humans we lived here, in a small village, the majority of the people there were ordinary humans, but some of the occupants were werewolves. Every full moon, the humans would hide out in the caves while the men turned. One full moon I thought it would be a fun idea to go and watch the men transform, I decided to ask Henrich to come with me. He was fourteen, of course he agreed, we snuck out and hid in the forest." His tone was bitter and regretful.
Caroline's eyes were wide with horror, she knew what would happen next, he did not need to tell her, but he continued, almost as though he had forgotten that she was there.
"They smelled us, they were hunting. They did not attack me, I found out why later on, I tried to protect him, I had my sword and I tried to kill them, but there were so many, they knocked me aside, I got up again. I kept fighting, but they were so fast, so strong. I managed to pick him up and run, but it was too late. He died in my arms." By the time he finished speaking, his words were breaths and Caroline had to strain to hear them.
She stepped towards him, and laid a hand on his shoulder, "it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what would have happened."
"I should have done." He insisted, turning to face her, his face stricken with pain. "He was a child, I was an adult, I should have known better than to go, than to take him with me."
"We all do stupid things, things we wish we could change." She reminded him.
"Maybe so, but most people's stupid decisions don't result in a body count."
"I killed a guy." She admitted, with no small amount of shame.
He glanced up at her in surprise.
"On the first day I turned, I'd been in a car accident, there was internal bleeding, they thought I was going to die, so Damon gave me his blood as a favour to Elena. That night Katherine came to the hospital and killed me." She took a deep breath to keep her voice from shaking, and to try and control the stinging in her eyes.
"How?" He asked gently. A lot of humans might have thought that the method did not make a difference, but it did, your death was your last memory of human life.
"She smothered me with a pillow. You?"
"My father stabbed me in the heart."
"Okay, you win."
He laughed grimly. "What happened next?" He asked, becoming enthralled by her tale.
"I woke up that night and I was starving, the nurse just told me to go back to bed, but I could smell something… something…amazing. I drank from a blood bag and that was it, I was a vampire.
I was so confused, all of these memories kept flooding back to me, the compulsions Damon had put on me were slipping away. I remembered the existence of vampires, and that he was one. I knew what I was."
"How did you know that Damon Salvatore was a vampire? Why was he compelling you?" Klaus had his suspicions, but God help Damon Salvatore if they were correct.
"That's a story for another time." And by another time, she meant never. While she was not Damon's biggest fan, and she was uncertain of Klaus' feelings for her, she did not want to risk finding out what the older Salvatore would look like after having every layer of his skin peeled off.
"If you don't tell me, I'll just have to assume the worst." He threatened.
"You know what they say when you assume, "but she sighed in defeat. "When Damon and I first met, we slept together and he fed off me. Then he compelled me to ignore the fact that he was a vampire. He fed off me, called me names, generally used me." She endeavoured to make her words sound light, meaningless, but failed.
"Did the two of you still…?" He trailed off with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." She muttered, flushing with embarrassment at discussing these unfortunate memories with Klaus.
"Isn't that…?" Again he trailed off with a meaningful eyebrow raise.
"I don't know! There are no laws about sex under compulsion."
"I'll murder him for you." He promised, his voice coldly furious on her behalf.
"No, I assure you there's no need, I can beat the crap out of that asshole any day."
She re-gathered her thoughts and got back into her story. "I was arranging the school carnival and I just knew that Elena, great friend as she is, would mess things up, I had to be there." she ignored Klaus' chuckle." I fed off a nurse and compelled her to tell anybody who asked that… that her husband liked to get kinky, "this time she was ignoring Klaus' snort. "Then I got her to discharge me."
"So you had been a vampire for less than twenty four hours, yet decided that the most important thing on your agenda was to go to a school carnival?" He asked with amused disbelief.
"Yes, I had been planning it for months, what else was I supposed to do?"
He could not believe the young vampire. She had been turned into a monster, yet her first thought was to not let it ruin her life. To get on with it as though everything were normal.
He wished that when he told her the full story of his transformation that he could tell her of such strength and bravery.
She answered her own question, "turns out I should have gone to Stefan or…. Well actually probably just Stefan and stayed away from large groups of people instead of deciding that I could handle it on my own. I'd seen Damon, I told him that I remembered everything, he was confused, that was until I threw him down a corridor."
Klaus smirked happily at that.
"I was wandering around by myself when I saw this guy, he was so nice, he asked me if I was okay and… I killed him. I started feeding and then I just couldn't stop." The devastation in her voice was plain.
"That was when Damon found me, tried to stake me, he thought it was the best thing to do, but Stefan stopped him and then Elena threw herself in his way. Bonnie was horrified by the sight of me. Stefan was so kind to me, he took me to the toilet, helped clean me up and told me it would all be alright."
"Quiet a difference from the ripper."
She wanted to send him a glare at the reminder of what he had done to her friend, but after their heart to heart she found she could only look at him.
"In know what you're thinking. You're right, I caused him to become a ripper again, and the murders he committed were my fault. However, I know you're not naïve enough to think that if it wasn't for me then it never would have happened. In fact it very nearly happened not so long ago, the day you became miss mystic falls."
"Just because it would have eventually happened anyway, doesn't make it okay that you manipulated him into killing again and forced him to leave town with you." She argued.
"The first part, I accept. The second part however, may I point out that I did not force Stefan to do anything he did not agree to. We made a deal, I would give him my blood for his brother, so long as he agreed to drink human blood again, leave town with me and do whatever I said."
She stared at him.
"I did not say it was marvellous deal, but it was a deal non the less, I told him my terms, he accepted them. I kept my side of the bargain."
"He was only trying to save his brother, you could have helped him for nothing."
"Caroline love, I'm not a charity!" He cried.
She knew that she shouldn't but she could not help it, she began to giggle uncontrollably. Her mind was filled with the sudden image of Klaus working at a charity shop or soup kitchen, or cuddling puppies or something. "No, no you're definitely not!"
He looked very awkward for a brief moment, he opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. "I wanted you to know that, what happened last week, when I invited you here, it was real. I know that I tricked your friend, but I genuinely wanted you here, I invited you because I enjoy your company, you make me laugh… I was never going to hurt you to get to Bonnie, no matter what happened. I just wanted you to know that. I had fun with you and I would very much like it if you and I might get together again." He coughed once self-consciously.
"I suppose I wouldn't mind as long as you have more of this wine." She teased.
She grinned and met his eyes, they were so beautiful, she had never noticed before, they had this infectious light in them.
As he beamed back she was struck by a sudden fear, she liked Klaus, she found him funny and interesting and he treated her with respect, she had actually been chosen first by somebody, and evil hybrid or not, she loved it.
The end.
This was not intended to be Klaroline romance but my imagination took over and this is what it became. This is the first time I have ever written serious romance so if it's terrible I apologise.
Finn mentioned an Aaron at the beginning, some people think that this was the name of the unnamed dead son of Esther and Mikael's because the name Aaron was written on the cave wall next to Elijah's.
Please review.