3. I quite enjoy my obsessions
Caroline is reeling from all the information when the witch leaves. He was secretive and biased enough that she's pretty sure she still got a limited version of recent events. The drama in this city is so immense; she could never have pictured it.
She doesn't even know if it's the things that he told her or just the fact that she isn't up to date on them. She is always informed on what's happening in people's lives and that all of this just went right past her – okay, when they left she had no reason to keep track – is shocking.
At least the news of a goddamn baby should have made the rounds as far as Mystic Falls. As though Klaus is capable of raising a child.
She's barely absorbed the fact that there's an ongoing war between vampires and Originals, vampires and werewolves, vampires and witches – basically it's everyone against everyone amongst the species here and she's not even surprised.
It's more information than she bargained for but that doesn't matter. In fact, it makes her all the more confident in her ability to get the hybrid riled up, if he's already dealing with all of this chaos.
She watches the sun colour the sky as it rises behind the buildings. There's her first all-nighter in New Orleans. She was going to head to the apartment and change into something more appropriate for inconspicuous movement but now she's too eager to start.
She's wasted no time in finding out the human's address yesterday and the internet was all too helpful. It was easy enough to get the location and as it turns out there are numerous articles on how the blonde's twin brother went on a crazy killing spree. If that isn't an ironic touch, since she is fraternizing with the biggest killer that Caroline knows.
The witch didn't know anything about the bartender but by now she's convinced this woman has some connection to the Original family and so she's certain it'll work out fine. Getting off the bench, she starts walking back towards the Quarter.
She doesn't even need to ring the bell; one of the tenants is leaving the building just as she arrives. A quick glance at the names on the mailbox tells her she's in the right place.
Caroline gives the man a winning smile before catching the door. One flight of stairs and she's in front of the apartment she's been looking for. Time to test how far she can get here.
Not bothering to knock, she breaks right through the lock as quietly as she can and nudges the door open. Look at that, the human even fastened it with the chain. Someone's paranoid. Not that this kind of security works against her kind.
She rips the feeble metal apart and takes a step forward, finding herself crossing the threshold with no resistance. Oh wow, this is actually too easy. It seems whoever rents out this apartment is either conveniently dead or a vampire.
She wouldn't put it past Klaus to make sure his human lackeys live in places he owns, just in case. She smirks and strides across the carpet.
It's quite early for the human to be up and unless she's got another early shift day job Caroline doesn't know about, she should be asleep. She's pleased to find her guess proven correct when she reaches the bedroom and finds a limp form under the covers.
She slips out of her shoes – no need to be waking her up earlier than necessary with those heels against the hardwood.
Duct tape is easily located because thankfully this is a normal household that has everything one could need for hostage holding. She would have asked the neighbours but this just saves her time. Then she's carrying a kitchen chair into the bedroom, placing it in front of the bed.
She's also stumbled across a snack in the fridge and helps herself to the red velvet cake. Topped with cream cheese, how extravagant. Perching on the chair, she watches the human in her unconscious state for a bit, licking the crumbs off her fingers.
It's a cute place, small but much nicer than the one she's compelled herself. Maybe she'll move in here once she's done with Camille O'Connell. Speaking of - the alarm clock on the bedside table indicates 06:50 and starts blearing radio tunes.
There's a twitching of eyelids and an automatic movement to shut off the sound. It takes another full minute before the bartender manages to roll over and actually open her eyes. Only to let out a sharp gasp when she sees the intruder.
Caroline smiles back at her, rising from her seat as the human scrambles for a weapon in the drawer of her bedside table. She's got her wrists clamped in her hands before the woman can even get near her with any wooden objects.
"I was expecting more of a: good morning, can I offer you breakfast?" she chides, dragging her over to the chair, "Don't worry, I helped myself."
The blonde is just starting to scream for help when Caroline slaps a piece of duct tape across her mouth, one hand pressed against her shoulder to keep her on the seat.
There's violent kicking from the human that might have caused some damage if she weren't so quick to heal. Vampire speed comes in handy when trying to fix someone to a chair while also preventing the person from running away.
She's used up half the roll of tape when the struggling is finally minimized to straining against the bonds.
"There we go," she steps back to take a look at her handiwork. That's another possible career right there - professional gift-wrapping. "So, since you can't talk right now, I'll explain what's happening here."
She walks around the gagged blonde into the kitchen only to return with a knife. Blue eyes go wide and she enjoys the expression for a moment before setting the record straight.
"I'm not going to stab you to death, relax. I'll just need to bleed you out enough so I can compel you to do something for me. I'd ask you the normal way but it's not the kind of thing you'd say yes to if you're sane."
She leans in, dragging the blade down the immobile wrist and watching the gash burst with red. That's almost got her hungry but she contains it. If she feeds, she might kill her after all and she wants this to go just the way she planned.
The blood collects on the floor and she's fascinated, watching the frustration on her captive's face as she fights between struggling against her bonds and relaxing enough to minimize the blood loss. She yelling something but the tape is stiff enough to block it, muffling the volume.
When the puddle has reached a decent size, Caroline locates the cell phone on the bedside table and rings an ambulance.
She would have done the blood transfusion herself but then there's all that hassle of finding clean needles and blood bags and she would have had to get her non-existent doctor skills on. She trusts the hospital to be competent enough.
Camille is slacking, breathing shallow now. She checks her watch. It's been a few minutes and at this time of day, medical services are bound to make good time on the roads. So she starts removing the tape and lets the paling woman slide to the floor so she can put the chair back in the kitchen. It will have to look somewhat convincing after all.
She'll fabricate some story of Camille wanting to chop something up for breakfast and slipping, trying to make her way to the bedroom to ring help, all of that. She presses a hand against the wound, drawing a strangled cry from the bartender. It stems the flow enough to make it seem convincing that she is trying to save her life.
There are one or two attempts to call for help again but Caroline simply clamps a hand over her mouth, effectively blocking any efforts. She's weakening quickly and seems to register that she needs to stop trying if she doesn't want to pass out.
Two minutes tick by and she's just getting a little concerned about the colour of the bartender's face when she hears the medics burst into the building and they're in the room seconds later. Oh right, she left the door open when she ripped off the lock.
She's instantly wearing her most concerned human expression and frantically yells at them, tears pricking at her eyes. The frightened, overwhelmed friend routine that she doesn't even have to fake because she's been in these situations far too often and knows exactly how her emotional version acts.
There's blood on her hands and she makes sure to keep them away from her face as someone pulls her off the limp body. One of them is putting pressure on the wrist, the other two hoisting the human onto a gurney.
Camille's eyes are already closed but she's breathing and Caroline knows if she regains consciousness anytime now, she might just manage to talk. So she convinces the medic that she needs to ride in the ambulance with her, there's no way she can stay here.
Under the influence of her mind control, he doesn't think to decline and so she grabs her things and sits in the back with an unconscious Camille who is already getting a makeshift transfusion as they speed towards the emergency room.
It's only when she sits beside the blonde's hospital bed, her own skin finally clean and with a surprisingly not crappy hot chocolate in her hands that she focuses back on her plan.
She's already compelled the doctor do deal with the paperwork and make sure the story falls in line with the injury.
There's a drip beside the bed, the human has gotten the wound stitched and most importantly, there are several litres of new blood running through her body. What would have been easiest is some vampire blood to heal her but that would just hinder what she's got planned for the blonde.
She needs to be a purely compellable human for the next step.
She supposes anyone off the street would also have done the job but since she's convinced this human has a more personal connection with Klaus, it'll be more effective. He should have protected her better if she's important. Until then, she's stuck here playing babysitter to make sure nobody gets in her way.
It's almost noon when the blonde finally opens her eyes again and Caroline has practically zero battery left from playing games on her phone. Plus, she's read practically every magazine this hospital owns and they're all outdated.
"Good, you're up," she proclaims, leaping up to stand at the edge of the bed with a most concerned smile, "How are you feeling?"
The exhausted and furious look she gets is all the answer she needs. The human's voice is scratchy when she asks, "Why are you doing this?"
She considers that. "Mainly because it's fun but I also want to prove a point. You're just part of the plan because you happen to have a connection to a certain person and it would be a waste not to use that against him."
"I know who you are," the blonde fixes worried eyes on her, "Klaus told me."
She laughs at that, even though the statement is already irritating her. This person has no idea who she is and even if the hybrid has briefed her, she has no idea what Caroline's motivations are. So far, neither does he.
"Good, that saves me more introductions."
"He also told me that you would never hurt anyone if you could avoid it," she continues.
Caroline gives her a look that tells her just how deeply mistaken she is. He'll find that out soon enough too.
From what she's hearing, it seems that he hasn't been brought up to speed that she is on an emotionless timeout. She wonders what the Mystic Falls gang is so busy with that they didn't think to get in touch with him.
"Well, he'll just have to see how wrong he is about that," she sits down on the mattress, focusing on the bartender's eyes, "And now you're going to tell me exactly what connection you have to that family."
She wants to cheer when the answer she gets is instant and honest. Her control is working and she's already one step closer to making this pretty human the messenger.
"I met Klaus at Rousseau's when they first arrived in the city. He used me to write his memoires, spy on a friend, help in his plans and give him access to my uncle's arsenal of magic devices. Through him I met his siblings and they've asked me to play a part in their schemes against the other vampires, the witches and the werewolf packs a number of times. He also helped me find out what happened to my brother. Since then we've become… "
"Yeah, great that's enough," Caroline waves her off, "So basically they know you well enough that you can come and go in their place whenever you want?"
"Yes."
"What about this baby? How did he manage that?"
"She's called Hope, she's a really special child. He got Hayley pregnant before they moved here and the witch covens attempted to sacrifice her to…"
She stops her there. "Did you just say Hayley?"
She can't believe what she's hearing. This is getting more disturbing by the minute and if she was actually in touch with her humanity, she would probably go knock her head against a wall right now.
Klaus has a child with the backstabbing werewolf that wreaked havoc back in Mystic Falls? She doesn't even want to begin theorizing how that happened. That's a whole new low.
"Yes. She married another werewolf from an important pack recently for a magic ritual. They're out in the bayou at the moment, something about a curse keeping them in wolf form, I'm not sure how it works. The baby is at the compound with Klaus."
Hayley and Klaus' baby. She really needs to get that image out of her head because it's mildly disgusting to think about it. Talk about dropping standards. Maybe it makes some twisted kind of sense, with them both being wolves but honestly, just the thought of them parenting is absurd.
The thought of them even touching in the first place would be just as bad if she still had it in her to care. She tries to focus back on the conversation at hand.
"You're very informed," she remarks, catching the blonde's gaze again, "So they trust you with a lot?"
"I think I'm the one person they know that has no archenemies and that makes me useful," Camille looks a bit sheepish, "And I'm honest with them about what I think of what they do. Really, I would recommend that they all get therapists to get through the issues they have."
She's heard enough. It just proves that her suspicions about this woman are true.
"I knew you were the best candidate. You'll stay right here and sleep it off until I come back, you won't try to take any vervain or tell anyone about me or what I did to you, got that?" she grins at the nod she gets before moving away and slipping into her heels, "I'm going to take care of that mess at your place."
She's out the door before the human can say anything and quickly compels a nurse not to let anybody into the room without notifying her first.
Then she's heading back to the apartment to remove any evidence that could have somebody discovering Camille O'Connell before she is done with her.
/
She's really running a lucky streak here. Even though the door wasn't closed after the fiasco, nobody seems to have been curious enough to check why. Then again, she supposes the people living here all have a job and are out of the building by now. She steps inside the apartment and starts searching for a bucket and mop.
Minions would really be convenient for things like this but she's always been convinced that when something needs to be done properly, she'll have to do it herself.
At least she's restricted the damage to the bedroom and Camille has done a good job of soaking up most of the blood with her clothes when she was lying on the floor.
She is just emptying the water in the bucket for a third time when her phone rings. Stefan, again. Stefan, the person who maybe hasn't given Klaus a heads up on her humanity being flipped off after all.
He probably would have taken some measures to find her otherwise. She'll have to ask the bartender about that. Maybe the Salvatore is still worth her time. She contemplates the pros and cons for a bit before picking up.
"I'm busy," she says and hears the audible sigh of relief on the other end of the line.
"Caroline," he sounds just a little surprised that she's accepted the call before his tone changes, "You need to come home."
She has to laugh at that. "Are you kidding? Not even a how are you, where have you been, good to hear you're alive? Really Stefan, I thought the whole point of having your feelings back is to care about others."
"Don't think I've stopped wondering about what you might be doing. You haven't answered in over a week – of course I'm worried about you. But something's happened. You should come back."
She rolls her eyes at the ceiling at the tone. Sure, she can appreciate that's he's not trying to pretend. If he had his humanity off, he wouldn't have called her twelve times in the past week or left her at least that many messages.
There he is, the self-torturing, brooding guy that her emotional side seems to care for and he's already making her think twice about continuing to listen to him. Unless something happened that can trump the plans she's made for tomorrow.
"So you guys can continue your little mind games on me. I'm not an idiot. I'm having a great time over here, thanks," she tosses the mop back into the water. Not a spot on the floor, just like nothing ever happened.
A pause on the other side of the line before he explains, "It's Elena. She, well, she's human again. She took the cure that Bonnie brought back and now she's in a coma thanks to Kai. It's a spell that ties two people together so … she won't wake up again as long as Bonnie lives."
She supposes that news should hit her hard somewhere around the heart, trigger some feelings about her best friends. All it does is elicit the logical reaction that would make the most sense if they want to solve the problem.
"So one of you is going to kill Bonnie, right?"
He stays silent for far too long until she figures that it's probably not the way they are planning to deal with it. Right, their agenda is a different one – caring, friends, avoiding deaths and all that. They're obviously not on track with using the easiest way out.
Unusual actually because all of them know that it's always about Elena and that she will be put first by everyone. Especially Damon. If Stefan's deluding himself that he will sacrifice a lifetime with her for Bonnie's sake, then she's curious how long he can keep that charade up.
Vampire or not, nobody is that patient. Especially not his big brother. But Stefan almost sounds defensive when he objects to her question.
"We're keeping Elena with us and Bonnie will live her life just as she would want her to. Everyone is trying to find a way to break the magic but there's not always a loophole. I just wanted to tell you that we're holding a wake tomorrow and…"
"You want me to come to say something nice to sleeping Elena?" she finishes his sentence as she dumps the last of the water, "Sweet of you but I can't. I'm in the middle of something."
"Care…" he starts but she cuts right across him.
"I told you guys I want one year. If you're keeping Elena around I will see her then, it's not like she'll notice while she's in a coma," she makes sure to emphasize the last part just to picture Stefan's face, "Got to go, there's lunch waiting outside."
With that she hangs up and throws the phone onto the bed. Wow, she's forgotten what a buzz kill he can be. Fine, it's a messed up story but what is he even upset about?
Everyone is alive or at least semi-alive and he can be sure that he and Damon will still be around when Elena wakes up. It's the classic sleeping beauty story. With all the stuff they've dealt with before, it's really just another bump in the road.
She replaces the cleaning utensils and quickly wipes down the spot with a dry cloth. It's practically gleaming again and the smell of bleach isn't all that bad either. The knife she used is spotless and the duct tape at the bottom of the trash.
No witnesses, no evidence. She's getting good at this.
She takes another moment to rummage through the drawers of the human's desk, locating some paper, an envelope and a pen that actually works. What is it with people keeping pens even though there is no more ink left?
She folds the paper into the envelope and slips it into her bag. She'll have time for that later.
She's about to head back to the hospital when she notices the closet at the back of the room. Considering that hers is a fancy enough outfit to be noticed out on the street, this is probably the best time to get out of it. It's a little too tight to be comfortable for the whole day and she isn't bothered to head across town to get her own stuff.
The bartender's style isn't all that terrible, especially when it comes to prints. She's got a different size in jeans so Caroline picks out a flowy piece of silk and changes into the summer dress.
She likes it, all warm shades of peach and red and it shows just enough leg to work with her heels. Satisfied, she pulls her hair into a ponytail and makes sure to shut the door as much as possible as she leaves.
She passes someone as she heads outside, brushing against a girl who is trying to catch the main door before it closes.
"Hey!" the shorter girl stumbles slightly at the impact, eyes glinting at the blonde with irritation. Caroline pauses briefly in her motions to take a look at the irritation. She's a pretty one but with a proud expression that tells her she's probably got some sass.
She's also wearing a pendant that looks suspiciously like the one her witch informant from last night wore too. She goes out on a hunch that this girl is dabbling in magic or at least associated with witches and refrains from digging her fangs in.
The brunette disappears inside the building with a shake of her head and she pushes her from her mind, filed as irrelevant.
She's glad that she changed; the weather today is just short of hot and the breezy material feels great against her skin. She craves some proper nutrition though and the notion of hospital blood bags is not all that appealing, so she detours onto Bourbon Street.
She's improving in her routine every day and manages to convince a tourist couple asking for directions that she can show them just the place for great food. Several minutes later she steps out of some restaurant's restroom and flashes one of the waiters a wink as she goes.
Two at once and they both tasted damn good, she couldn't have decided whom she liked more. Lucky thing the woman had band-aids with her because she wasn't particularly careful with the wrists.
She hums a tune as she weaves through the people back towards the hospital. She feels more lively already. It's early afternoon and her soon-to-be puppet should be recovered enough to deal with now.
It's relatively quiet in the entrance area as she heads into the building and even smiles at the receptionist. Her mood is exceptionally good when she returns to the room and finds her captive still passed out.
There's a plate of food beside her bed. Apparently she didn't even take a break from her sleep for lunch.
She mentally thanks compulsion for being so effective before nudging the human awake. The young woman looks better, a little more colour in the cheeks.
"Have some food," she instructs, putting the tray on the blonde's lap as she sits up groggily.
There's sleepy confusion in the woman's voice that clears up when she registers where she is, "Wait … what happened? Did I sleep the whole time?"
"Yeah," Caroline flops into a chair, "I compelled you to so you did."
The blonde takes a hesitant bite of the meal, which looks very much like ravioli straight from the tin. Then she focuses back on the vampire, creasing her brow as something catches her attention.
"Is that my dress?"
"Uh huh," she crosses her legs and leans back into the chair, giving the woman a look that just dares her to say something else about it. Camille definitely seems like she wants to retort but manages to drop her gaze back to the food before saying the wrong thing.
There's silence, broken only by chewing until she looks up again and notices the clock behind Caroline's head. She indicates it with her spoon; "I was supposed to meet someone half an hour ago."
"Too bad," she's browsing through her phone, searching for a free game app that isn't entirely boring. She can't play Tetris anymore; she's at the point where it frustrates her.
"You don't think that at least one person noticed me heading to the hospital?"
She shrugs, not concerned enough to care. "Even if anyone did, would this someone know who to ask? I'm a complete stranger, nobody would suspect me and your phone is in the apartment so nobody can call either. I'd say problem solved. "
"She's resourceful," the bartender notes and Caroline deigns her with attention because there's an undertone to that statement she doesn't like, "She could track me."
"Whatever, it won't matter," she tosses her phone aside, "Because I'm making sure they discharge you tonight and then you can call her and make some excuse."
That gains her a sceptical look. "You're not going to keep me prisoner? Use me as leverage?"
"And have to watch over you a whole night? No," she scoffs at the suggestion, "I'd be missing out on the parties in this city. It's Friday, you know."
"Then why did you…?" Camille starts but instantly falls quiet when a hand is held up to silence her.
She walks back to the bed, perching on the side.
"Because I'm not going to just walk into the home of the most powerful vampires out there to insult them. That wouldn't be smart and I'm sure you'll do a great job at getting the message across without me there."
"You said it's not the kind of thing I'd agree to if I was in my right mind," she human begins and hesitates as a smile starts spreading on the other girl's face.
She was planning to do this later but if the bartender is so curious, she'll let her in on the plan. Caroline slowly reaches over and places a hand against her neck, keeping her close enough for her to focus on her eyes and drawing her into mind control.
"Because what you're going to do tomorrow morning is find Klaus, give him the letter I'm going to write in a minute and when he's finished reading it," she lets the kitchen knife dangle in front of her, "you'll stab yourself in the heart with this. Nice and deep, so there's no chance that he can heal you quick enough. It's not personal, I just figure that it can hit home a bit harder when it's someone he knows and trusts, don't you think?"
The woman's breath hitches; she can hear the heartbeat shoot up as realization sets in.
"What?" she manages to gasp.
"Hey, relax," she orders before the blonde starts hyperventilating, "You're going to be completely calm while you do this. You're not going to give him any indication of what you're going to do. Or try and warn anybody that could prevent you from doing it, break the compulsion or any of that. Got it?"
Camille nods again, eyes still huge but considerably less tense. That's the beauty of it, this ability to intercept that conflict of mind and feelings. The human won't want to do it but her body will betray her.
"Right," Caroline leans back, pleased. She retrieves the pen and paper from her bag and sits on the end of the bed, taking the tray and putting it on her legs to spread the paper on it, "You're good with words right? What's the best way to say that I don't appreciate being stalked and treated like property?"
/
The sounds of an ambulance arriving cut through the air when they leave the hospital. It's sirens that have such a penetrating noise, Caroline wants to rip them right out of the vehicle. She turns around to Camille, who is back in her pyjamas that the hospital was vigilant enough to clean, and walking gingerly across the pavement.
"God, you look like you just had chemotherapy or something," she rolls her eyes, "Cheer up"
"When you signed my death sentence and I can't do anything about it? I can barely contain myself," the blonde responds listlessly, not looking at her.
"Minor detail. Remember, you're acting like everything is normal. No cryptic I-feel-like-I'm-going-to-die-soon hints or any of that," she shrugs it off as she hails a cab for the woman, "By the way, I broke your lock so you might want to check if anything got stolen. Not that it'll matter much longer."
"You broke…" the human is cut off mid-protest when a taxi pulls over and Caroline shoves some bills into her hand.
"Keep that arm covered and give them a convincing lie if someone asks," is her last command before the blonde ducks into the car. She watches until she's sure they're out of sight before she saunters off in the general direction of Gravier Street.
So this is what being bad is like. Having evil plans to ruin someone else's day just for the hell of it. Well, primarily for her own pleasure but those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
She's finding this quite entertaining. She's really tempted to go watch the spectacle herself but she'll probably hear of its effect soon enough.
She wonders how the touch with the letter is going to go over. He always sent her everything by letter – invitations, drawings and apologies. It's only fair she communicates the way he'll understand it best.
Caroline knows it isn't wise to stick around long with that little stunt on the way so she decides she'll continue her trip tomorrow. Texas isn't too far off and she figures with one more night of exploring, she'll have seen enough for now. She can always drop by on her way back someday.
Until then she will spend another night in the lair of the dragon without him knowing exactly where, taking what she wants and maybe leaving another body for good measure.
One last night for the pretty bartender to live and one more night without any consequences for her.
