In the core of her being she knew this was wrong. To knowingly allow Elijah to compel her best friend, was a betrayal on her part. If the roles were reversed, she knew it'd be hard for her to forgive. She was only doing this to protect her, she kept telling herself. After losing her grams, and her mom being turned into a vampire, she wasn't willing to lose Caroline. Somehow, over the past few months she replaced Elena's role in her life. Stefan and Damon would always be Elena's main concern, and even though their friendship was still strained – she understood. Love tromped friendship, as much as people liked to fool themselves, that it wasn't that way. It was. While most people could find a balance between the two, Elena wasn't in a normal situation trapped between two men, who happen to be brothers. After everything, she still loved her childhood friend and always would. However, they could never go back to being the way the were, but perhaps, after sometime they'd find a good new balance. As she drifted away from Elena, Caroline proved herself to be a strong reliable and constant person in her life. At the moment, she was so scared of losing her, she willingly went along with Klaus' plan. She felt if anyone could forgive it was Caroline. She hoped that still held true when all of this was over. Because the moment Esther was no longer a threat, she had every intention of giving Caroline her memories back, she had the spell to do it.
So far, the car ride to Caroline's house was silent. She peeked over to Elijah and wondered if he was annoyed at having to be in a car, when he could have gotten there faster by running. She was hesitant to trust him seeing as he had betrayed them in the past. She was going to make sure she kept an eye on him just as she would keep Caroline close to her.
Elijah caught her quick looks and didn't miss the furrow of her brow. She was obviously conflicted – not that he could blame her. He truly did feel bad for his part of her misery, and though he knew she'd never believe it. He would've found another way if he had the time. It was always the witches that suffered the most when they involved themselves with vampires. The only way to escape such fate was to release their powers, which most refused to do.
He suddenly felt the need to break the silence and attempt to put her at ease. " I can feel your unease, and it's understandable. You should know that before you took Klaus's memories I promised him to protect Caroline."
Bonnie turned to him and gave him a withering look. "Caroline can take care of herself; she is a vampire. Plus, she'll have me to help her."
Elijah didn't want to laugh at her comments but what chance did they have against an original vampire and the original witch. "Well, then I guess I will have to protect both of you. I made a promise to my brother, one I intend on keeping."
Bonnie wished he was susceptible to mind aneurisms, but for some reason, he along with Klaus was unaffected. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about finding your mother and brother? You should dedicate yourself to finding them and let Caroline, and I take care of ourselves."
"Klaus will be searching for them, and I'm assuming he'd take Kol with him. So you see my only concern is you ladies."
If he wasn't a vampire and an old one at that, she'd almost find him charming. "What about Elena? She's gonna need protection. She is after all the Doppelganger. She is the key to Klaus's hybrids. Without her, he can't continue to build his new race."
Elijah held Elena in high esteem, but found it disappointing that she was following in the same steps as the two before her. Perhaps that was fate, for the Doppelganger to always be torn between two men to the point of destruction. "Elena is well protected with Stefan, Damon, and recently Rebekah protecting her. Anyhow, don't you think it's time people start thinking of the survival of someone other than Elena. How about your survival, Caroline's, or Matt's? Are your lives less valuable?" He didn't know where the question came from, but now he was truly curious. Why was everyone so willing to protect this one girl at the risk of their own lives? He understood Damon and Stefan's standpoint, but not the others. Tatia and Katerina didn't have anyone willing to die for them.
Bonnie never thought of it. They protected Elena cause, they loved her. She was like family. But it was true, to save her time and time again the sacrifices became more and more heartbreaking. "You protect those you love. I think you of all people should understand that."
"I do. I protect those I love, but I don't ignore my own existence while doing it. I protect myself along with my loved ones. That's where your group gets it wrong. Even after a thousand years there are still things I have yet to experience and see, and the beautiful thing about it… there will always be something new to learn and experience. So even when protecting my own, I make sure my life is secure. There is nothing wrong with self-preservation." He said, sensing that he may have overstepped a bit with her. They were not friends, after all.
Bonnie wanted to just brush off his words, but they made sense to her on some level. She had yet to really experience anything, other than things that have to do with the supernatural world which usually led to death. Sometimes she wondered if she'd be alive long enough to graduate. His comments made her aware of the flaws in her decisions and that made her uncomfortable. He was a vampire. His insight shouldn't have any effect on her. She was glad when she pulled up to Caroline's house, the conversation made her feel trapped and confused. She just wanted to be done with all this.
"We're here," she said, grabbing her handbag on the floor by his feet. She missed his smile at her obvious discomfort.
The front door opened before they reached it. Caroline stood in the entry way looking confused. "Did I forget you guys were coming over?"
Her friend seemed to be in good spirits, but that wasn't odd for Caroline. She always managed to make the best out of even the most desperate situations. "No this is an impromptu visit," she said walking right into the house. She heard Elijah clear his throat behind her. "Hey Care, can you…" she was interrupted by Caroline inviting Elijah in.
Of all the originals Elijah was the most formidable, in Caroline's opinion. "I hope when this is all over you don't take advantage of the invitation and try to kill me."
"Don't worry our days of war are long over. I bear no ill will towards you or any of your friends. Except, perhaps, Damon at times." He added the last part hoping she'd take it as a joke.
"Oh don't I know it! Sometimes I want to kill Damon. I can't believe I ever dated him." She said off handedly.
Her comment took Elijah by surprise. "You dated Damon?" He asked not masking his distaste.
Caroline laughed at his disgusted expression. "Yeah, but I was human, and he compelled me for most of our relationship, if you can call it that."
"He compelled you to date him or to allow him to feed from you?"
"Both. At first, I was totally into him, cause he's hot. But when I woke up with a bloody neck, I freaked out and tried to run away from him. After that he basically compelled me to trust him, let him feed from me, and to give him information." She said nonchalantly.
Elijah wondered if she had forgiven Damon for his transgression, or if she just tried to forget it. He didn't like Damon and wanted to condemn him, but as a vampire himself, he also relied on compulsion many times. The only difference was he never had to compel a woman to be in his company. "Now that you're a vampire, he can no longer control you."
"Oh, I know. Anyhow, I kicked his ass a couple of times, and that felt pretty good."
"I'm sure it did." He said, smiling. He could see why Klaus was drawn to her, there seemed to be an aura of positivity around her. He noticed that Bonnie didn't contribute to the conversation, and he knew she was feeling guilty. He decided to take the seat beside her trying to show solidarity.
Caroline looked between her best friend and Elijah. It was odd that they were here together. She'd been waiting for the ball to drop since they arrived. She wasn't sure how but she knew this had to do with Klaus, and the possibilities made her nervous. He wasn't dead cause Elijah was still walking around. "So… do you guys want to tell me what's going on?" She asked them.
Bonnie hadn't been able to look her friend in the eyes since getting here. She felt so awful for what she was about to do.
Elijah waited for Bonnie to explain things to her friend. It was what they agreed on, and he would allow her the time to do so.
"Care, Klaus came to see me today because Esther has found a way of getting into his head." She started, noticing Caroline seemed confused. "You see; she wants to find out what Klaus cares for, so she can destroy it. By doing that she feels she'll be successful in killing the rest of the originals leaving Klaus alone. At that point, he'd have nothing to live for."
"Why would she need to get into his head for that? It's obviously Rebekah, no offense Elijah." She added hoping there'd be no jealousy.
He smirked at her comment, "none taken."
"It's not Rebekah. She has every intention of killing all her children, but as we know Klaus won't die. He'll just become a regular vampire, the only vampire. Their suspicions were right, by wiping out the originals the rest of the vampires will die too."
Caroline was tired of Esther. She wanted her dead and soon. "So we need to get her soon before she finds more witches to get rid of her kids. I'm not ready to go yet. I'm not leaving my mom behind or you, Matt, or Elena. Not yet."
"Yes, well it'll take Esther time to find a new witch with a mother-daughter connection since she's in hiding. In the meantime, Klaus has taken some measures to prevent her from using certain people besides his family to hurt him."
"Bon, just tell me what you're trying to say. You've been dancing around the issue here."
"Okay. It's you, Care. Klaus has come to care for you and if Esther was to find that out, she'd use you to get to him."
Caroline was shaking her head. "No you're wrong. Klaus doesn't care about me, sure he had a little crush, but he doesn't even talk to me anymore. He doesn't have any feelings for me."
"Right, just like you don't care for him?" Bonnie asked.
"I don't. I mean come on he's caused us a lot of pain. Sure, he's charming and all, but he's like a million years old, after all that time he'd better be charming." She said clearly agitated. She thought she did a good job hiding her little crush on the hybrid, but apparently Bonnie picked up on it. "Is this really a conversation to be having in front of his brother?" She asked Bonnie, feeling a little embarrassed hoping Elijah wasn't a gossip.
"You can count on my discretion." Elijah offered
"Care, calm down and listen," she said standing up and walking over to her friend. "Klaus did care about you, so much that he asked me to do a spell and remove you from his memories so you'd be safe."
"What? You erased me from his memories? What is everyone going to think when he can't remember me? This will never work, Bonnie."
"I'm going to tell them that when I was reading the witches' minds the other night, something went wrong and you and Klaus lost your memories of each other."
"Come on Bonnie, you know I'm a horrible liar!" She said, noticing Bonnie's guilt-ridden expression for the first time. She had a feeling she knew what was next, but she was no match for either of them.
"You won't be lying because you won't remember him." She heard Bonnie say quietly, her voice cracking and her eyes welling up with tears.
"No. I hated being compelled when I was human. Don't make me go through that again, please." She begged, holding back her tears not wanting to cry in front of the person who was about to compel her.
"I'm so so sorry. I hope when this is over you can forgive me."
"No! You can't! You're taking away my choices my free will. You can't do this you're supposed to be my friend." She yelled, no longer fighting her tears.
"I'm just trying to keep you safe. I'm sorry." She said walking away, not wanting to be present when Elijah compelled her.
Elijah was in front of Caroline before she could turn around to run. He grabbed her arms to keep her from running. "I'm sorry Caroline." Was all he said before his pupils started to dilate.
He found her sitting on the porch steps. "I placed her in her bed. When she wakes up she won't remember Klaus, or that she's angry with you."
Bonnie looked up at Elijah and couldn't help the swirling anger she felt. The anger wasn't directed at him. He, like her, had no choice. Her anger was towards Esther and how her quest to destroy her own children, had destroyed the people Bonnie loved most. "I want to kill your mother."
"So do I. Come, I'll accompany you home. Tomorrow will be a big day of explanations to the rest of your friends and my family." Bonnie got up and followed him to her car. She was glad he wasn't trying to comfort her. She didn't want comfort.
Caroline woke up the next morning she couldn't remember falling asleep the night before. She must have been exhausted since she was still wearing the jeans and top she had on yesterday. She started getting her clothing together to shower when her cell phone chimed. It was a text message from Bonnie telling her there was a meeting at the boarding house at noon. Maybe they had some new intel on Esther, cause as far as she could remember they weren't supposed to meet today. She sped to her shower she only had an hour before the meeting.
Elena asked Bonnie to explain to her again why Klaus and Caroline couldn't remember each other.
"I don't know, Elena. I think it may have been the witches. One of them were probably trying to erase what I was seeing and somehow it bounced off me and only affected Klaus and Caroline. I'm looking for a spell to reverse it, but for the time being, we need to pretend like they've never met before. If they find out their memories have been altered it could be dangerous for them both." She said, with an air of conviction so no one would questioned her further.
"Klaus is stronger than what you give him credit for. It's not as if telling him he's lost his memories is going to drive him mad." Rebekah added from her spot on the couch. Not bothering to look up from the nail she was filing.
"We are aware of that, Rebekah, but Caroline is a new vampire. The news may affect her negatively. Furthermore, do you really want Klaus worrying about his memories, instead of focusing on finding mother?" Elijah asked his sister.
Looking up from her nails, she shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you're right. He would obsess. But after we find mother if Bonnie hasn't found a reversal spell I'm telling."
"When that time comes I'll tell him myself." Elijah said.
Stefan didn't doubt Bonnie's accounting of what happened, but he wasn't sure how things would play out. "So how do we explain one to the other?" He asked.
Bonnie still didn't feel part of the group like she used to before Damon killed her mother, but she was trying to work through it. "It's simple. Care and Klaus were told to be here at noon, once they arrive we're going to introduce them to each other."
"Just one second, witchy." Damon interrupted, "you're saying we're all gonna be like, Blondie; this is the killer hybrid Klaus; who you don't know, but we're working together. Klaus, this is vampire barbie Caroline, she's Elena and Bonnie's best friend. You haven't met each other cause you're both conveniently doing something else when the other is around?"
"Will there ever be a moment when you take anything seriously? Or are you so completely in-love with your own voice that you have to spew out garbage just to listen to yourself?" Elijah asked, no longer able to hide his agitation with the elder Salvatore.
Damon seemed pensive for a moment and right when he was opening his mouth, Stefan cut in. "Enough you two. I know Damon's a pain in the ass, but he did have a point. How are we going to explain them to each other? They're going to be suspicious."
"Bonnie and I have that worked out. I will explain to Klaus that Caroline has been mentioned to him in passing, but that she had been dealing with the loss of her father and just returned. Bonnie will tell Caroline that Klaus has been tracking Esther and just got back. With everything going on Klaus won't be asking questions. Survival is his only concern." He explained, looking at Bonnie for confirmation.
"Elijah is right. Care has so much going on at home and with Tyler, she's not gonna care about Klaus. Anyhow, she does remember he killed Jenna, and he's a hybrid. Just as far as she knows she's never met him." She added.
"This has disaster written all over it. Come on you guys, you know those excuses are weak." Elena added, was she the only one who had a problem with her friend's memory being erased. "How do we know this isn't Esther's doing? We all know Klaus had a thing for Caroline. What if she's done this to hurt us? Have you even given that possibility a thought?" She asked genuinely concerned.
Elena was much smarter than people gave her credit for. If she only knew how close, but far she was from the truth, Elijah and Bonnie both thought.
"We're just going to have to make it work. Our main objective is finding Esther before she annihilates the vampire population. It won't matter what Caroline and Klaus remember if Esther succeeds." Bonnie said in hopes that Elena would drop it.
"I suggest we move on to other things, If I know my brother, then he'll be early." Elijah said looking around the room for where Damon keeps the alcohol.
"Knowing Caroline, she'll be late." Elena added. Bonnie smiled at her comment. Caroline was always late. The minutes felt like hours, everyone was a bit on edge. This threw a wrench in their plans, just another obstacle holding them back.
"My, my, well isn't this the most somber group of people I've ever seen." Klaus's voice broke everyone away from their thoughts. Klaus took a moment to absorb the scene in front of him. Rebekah was on one side of the couch filing her nails; Damon was sitting between her and Elena. Stefan was pacing behind them. Kol was leaning against the wall reading a magazine, and Bonnie and Elijah were seated next to each other in chairs facing the couch. Alric was in the back of the room busy sharpening his tools. It was odd this new union they had. Everyone together in one room and there was no blood on the walls. How boring.
"Well the meeting cannot commence until everyone has arrived." Elijah said dryly from his seat.
"I happen to be five minutes early. It's not quite noon yet."
"Yes, well the rest of us managed to get here much quicker." Klaus was not in the mood to spare with Elijah. In fact, he wasn't in the mood for a bloody meeting. He woke this morning feeling odd, like something was missing.
Klaus walked over to Elijah and grabbed the drink out of his hand. "Well I have arrived, let the meeting commence." He said downing his brothers drink.
"Not yet Klausy, we're waiting on one more person to arrive." Damon said, looking smug at knowing something the hybrid didn't.
Klaus looked around one more time counting everyone. "Everyone I know of is here, who else are we waiting for?" He asked not liking to be left out of anything.
"Nik, remember when you were doing the ritual to break the curse?" Rebekah asked.
"Of course I remember, how could I forget a night so fruitful."
"Well remember how you said you had a vampire and werewolf, but Damon freed them?"
"Good god Rebekah, get to the point already."
"The vampire you were going to originally sacrifice, she's the one we're waiting for." She said, looking to see if that information would jog his memory. But his face remained blank.
Looking to Damon and Stefan, "why haven't we met her before? Why is she being involved now?"
Stefan knew Klaus was quick to temper, and they didn't need any more setbacks. "She had been going through a lot and her father recently died. We've been keeping her informed, and she's been helping as much as possible without being here. Now she's ready to come back. Besides Rebekah and Kol have met her, they all go to school together. Elijah met her the first time he came to town, so she's not a stranger."
This felt suspicious, something wasn't right. "I don't think I like the idea of involving someone new in our plans. I don't care who knows her."
"She's not new. She's just been absent." Elijah said, hoping his brother would stop asking questions.
"Besides, she's one more vampire to help us find Esther." Bonnie said.
Klaus let out a petulant breath, "fine. Have it your way. Well, what is her name?"
The sound of the front door closing ceased all conversations. Klaus watched as a young blonde vampire zoomed into the room. Giving everyone a guilty smile, "sorry I'm late guys. I woke up this morning feeling weird."
Damon's eyebrows raised, "new day, new excuse for always being late, Caroline."
"Oh shut up Da – who are you?" She asked the man standing next to Elijah.
Klaus gave her an insolent smile, perhaps things wouldn't be so bad. After all there was someone new to torture, and she was quite beautiful. "I'm Klaus, love, and we would have met before if Damon hadn't freed you. I'm glad he did. You are far too pretty to die so young."
Caroline eyed the hybrid in front of her. He wasn't what she was expecting at all. She assumed he'd be older and meaner looking, not young and attractive.
"You're Klaus," she asked eyeing him up and down. "Disappointing, somehow I expected more." She said almost sweetly.
Klaus gave her an evil grin. It seemed his boredom had come to an end.
I know there hasn't been much Klaroline, but we're getting there. By the next chapter, they will have plenty of interactions. Also, Bonnie and Elijah will also be featured a lot throughout.
