Hey people of the Klaroline ship (also known as the Titanic, which crashed against iceberg Plec)
So, I'm not really sure if anybody is interested in this story anymore. I kinda gave up on it a few months ago because I had a serious loss of hope for our OTP because all of the TO-bullsh*it (Caroline 2.0 ... I mean Cami) and the Steroline nonsense. Anyway, I'll try to continue this story (without the month-long wait hopefully) and I'm curious if you like it since I have a lot of ideas planned out ... I just have to form them into chapters.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics/quotes I use at the beginning of my chapters. My informations about Rome (and probably about most of the other cities Caroline and Elena will visit) are from Wikipedia and the rest of the internet. And forgive me my poor Italian skills, I had it only for two years in high school and I sucked at it. :)
Three hearts in the fountain
Each heart longing for its home
There they lie in the fountain
Somewhere in the heart of Rome
Caroline stared up at the impressive building in awe. The Colosseum was always one of her antique must-sees. She was fascinated how people in ancient times were able to build something like that. But on the other hand – who knows? Maybe they had some witches or vampires or else help them? It's not like there haven't been supernatural beings around at that time.
"Caroline, shouldn't we follow the tour?" Her thoughts were interrupted by her friend and she looked around. The other tourists were already entering the building. "Yeah, let's head inside." It was interesting to listen to Giulia talk about the history of the old building. Giulia was their guide for the following week since Elena and Caroline decided to take a guided tour through Rome.
Actually, it was Caroline who decided they needed that tour. Elena insisted that they were capable of seeing the interesting things of the city by themselves but Caroline being Caroline thought it was better to have an organized tour and be able to see as much as they could and also learn some things. The Colosseum was their first stop and their tour would continue until Thursday. After that, Caroline and Elena would travel to the beach to enjoy a little bit of Italy's sun before heading to Austria. Caroline's original plan for the journey was to travel to Rome, Paris and Tokyo. But since they were already in Europe and they were immortal and had all the time in the world, they would visit other destinations as well.
"And now you can see very clearly the hypogeum. It consisted once of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began." Giulia explained and the tourists looked down at the cleared construction. Caroline took a quick look but then returned her gaze at Giulia. Something was off about that woman. She felt it when she first entered their tour bus but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. Maybe she was a vampire? No, she counted the heartbeats for the second time and although there were other tourist groups around, she could differentiate the ones from their group and Giulia definitely had a strong heartbeat.
"Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvial terrain, to collapse." Caroline fixed her eyes on Giulia. There had to be something that would give away what was wrong with her! She nudged Elena in the side. "Hey, is it just me or is there something weird about Giulia?" Elena looked surprised at her and then observed the woman in question. "I'm not sure what you mean. She seems quite normal to me" "I don't know. It's just … something is off." Elena shrugged and followed the group which was heading outside again. Caroline couldn't believe that one hour had passed already.
They returned to their bus and Giulia handed all of them some bottles of water and announced that they would next visit the Fontana di Trevi which would be their last destination for the day. Caroline attempted to drink from her bottle but shortly before the liquid reached her mouth she discerned a very familiar scent. "Elena … open the bottle and tell me what's odd about it" Elena rolled her eyes. "Care, if you're going to be paranoid the whole trip we should just return to Mystic Falls. I thought we were here to stop the constant worrying!" "Just open it already!" Elena sighed but did as she was told. First she was still nonchalant but suddenly she sniffed at the bottle and gasped. "Vervain!" "Exactly! I told you something was off about Giulia. Why should she hand out water mixed with vervain? Do you think they have problems with vampires around here?" Elena looked alarmed. "It wouldn't be surprising. Rome is a very old city, why shouldn't there be some vampires around?" Caroline looked at Giulia who was sitting in the front seat, giving anecdotes about her former tours which made the people laugh. Caroline took a closer look at her and saw the silver necklace with a cross shaped pendant on it. But even from her position Caroline could tell that it was big enough to put something inside of it. "I think Giulia is wearing a vervain necklace as well. They definitely want to figure out if vampires are taking the tour. The question is why?" "No idea. But we should be careful. I don't want to be staked by the pope or something. Great idea to take a guided tour" Elena said, half joking. The blonde sighed … was it that difficult to get away from problems? They were vampires goddammit! Their lives were supposed to be fun and careless and without concern to be staked at the next corner.
When they arrived at the Trevi Fountain, Caroline and Elena discreetly poured away some of their vervain water to make it seem as if they had been drinking from it. They didn't want to raise any suspicions.
They eyed Giulia carefully who went ahead to the famous fountain and waited for the group to gather. "Ladies and Gentlemen, as you might already know there is a famous legend about the Fontana di Trevi. It is said to bring good luck if you throw a coin over your right shoulder. If you throw just a single coin it is certain that you will return to Rome one day. Throw two coins into the fountain and you'll fall in love with an Italian person and if you decide to throw a third coin into the water you'll marry your partner one day. So, now feel free to throw your coins but choose wisely! You might just fall in love within the next few minutes" The petite brunette smiled when most of the group laughed at her comments. Other smiled up at their significant others with a look full of love. Caroline sighed. At least she didn't have to throw away three coins for nothing. "Care, stop worrying about Giulia. The vervain is probably just a means for protection. We'll finish this tour and then we'll leave the country and forget about this. Come on, let's throw some coins. Who knows, maybe the fountain was spelled by a witch" Elena winked at her and threw three coins into the fountain. Caroline rolled her eyes. If Elena ever decided to marry Damon she would stake herself. Or plan the greatest wedding this world has ever seen. Screw you, Kate and William, nothing could top a wedding feast for two vampires organized by Caroline Forbes. She smiled and took out one coin. She would opt for the first legend – returning to Rome one day. And then she would definitely not take a guided tour led by Buffy the vampire slayer. After a while of picture taking and throwing coins into water Giulia assembled the group once again. "Now it's time to end our tour for today. We'll stop at the city centre because some people voiced the desire to go to a restaurant for dinner. The rest will be brought back to their hotels. The bus will pick you up tomorrow at 9 o'clock, starting at the hotel "Romulus" just like today. Any questions?" The people shook their heads simultaneously and headed back to the bus. "Should we stay at the city as well? I'd rather stroll around there and find a nice restaurant then go back to the hotel immediately" Caroline asked and Elena agreed. "Maybe we find some cool place to go out. We haven't had time to party for a while" Elena grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. Caroline laughed at her friend's antics and agreed. They definitely needed to go out again.
"Soo… what now?" Caroline looked at her friend expectantly. They had a nice dinner at a cosy restaurant, went back to their hotel to change and now really wanted to hit the floor. The problem was they didn't know where to find a good club. Their hotel was in a beautiful part of the city – small cafés, amazing restaurants and boutiques and tourist attractions everywhere – but they couldn't find a place to go out. "Well, maybe we should just look for a tourist information place or something. I don't think people in Rome never go out" Caroline nodded at Elena's idea and they took in their surroundings. But before they could decide where to go a guy came walking towards them. "Buona sera le mie belle signore" Caroline and Elena smiled at the guy. "Ehm, buon giorno" Caroline tried her best to not sound too bad. That was one of the ten times since their journey started that she wished that she had taken Italian in high school instead of Spanish. "Ah, le ragazze are not from here?" Caroline sighed relieved. The guy spoke English. "Yes, we're from the US. Just visiting your beautiful city" The guy smiled at her. He was definitely cute. "Would you like to go to a cool club? It just opened and tonight is Ladies Night" He handed them a flyer which advertised said Ladies Night in a club called "Mezzanotte". "Sure, sounds interesting" Caroline agreed and Elena looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Uhm, yeah … Care, can I talk to you for a sec?" They smiled at the guy and went a few steps away to have some privacy. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean we don't know this guy or where he's taking us" Caroline rolled her eyes. "Elena, relax. As you said, we're here to have fun get away from Mystic Fall's drama. And I doubt that we couldn't handle ourselves if the guy would start being inappropriate" Elena sighed. "You're right. I guess the decade long facing enemies and fighting for our lives made me a little paranoid" They returned to the guy who introduced himself as Fabio and started walking to the club.
After fifteen minutes of walking through Rome's streets (thank God they were vampires, otherwise the heels they were wearing would be unbearable) they turned left into a dark side street. "Uhm, are you sure we're right here? Seems pretty abandoned to me" Caroline had an uneasy feeling. Maybe Elena was right and Fabio had bad intentions. But then again he was indeed human since she checked on his heartbeat regularly. "Si, it is the right place for you two" Fabio grinned mischievously and before they could react they heard something dropping in front of them and the sudden pain of breathing in too much vervain started clouding their minds. Caroline was losing her balance and tried to look at Elena who already dropped to her knees, coughing badly. Suddenly she felt a sting at her neck and the burning pain from highly-concentrated vervain knocked her out entirely. Before she lost consciousness she saw two men appearing behind Fabio but then everything went black.
CLIFFHANGER! Yes, I'm an ass. Be prepared to see a familiar (or maybe not that familiar anymore) face in the next chapter. And a familiar and very beloved one in one of the next three chapters.
