Random Note: If you want a picture of what I imagined Caroline's dinner dress to look like, here's a link that you can use: /clothing/marchesa-fall-2009-black-lace-dress
Woo! I'm excited about this chapter. It'll be the first real jump into plot that I've done so far. I also hope it serves as an adequate apology for everyone who's been waiting for a chapter for a while, because I know how much I hate waiting myself! As you know, I do not own the Vampire Diaries.
Soundtrack: Tigerlily by La Roux, on repeat
Caroline woke the next morning with a splitting headache and aching gums.
Those were the symptoms that she suffered when she went too long without drinking blood. She supposed it was like a caffeine addiction or something.
She checked the alarm clock next to her and saw that it extremely early, only six in the morning. Her mouth was bothering her, and she really couldn't wait for relief.
She remembered Klaus telling her that they kept some refrigerated blood in a cooler in the pantry. It was human blood, and she doubted that it was from a completely willing donor… but would a sip really hurt? She sped downstairs and hoped that no one was awake yet.
In her haste, she didn't even contemplate putting on pants underneath her sleeping shirt. She didn't realize this until it was too late, and she was rummaging through the cooler when a amused voice came from behind her.
She stood erect, hoping to cover her underwear with the shirt. But she knew that whoever had entered the pantry had seen.
She clutched the blood bag harder when she saw that it was Kol.
"And what a lovely morning this has turned out to be." He smirked, not hiding his gaze as it ran over her. She suppressed a shiver. Kol had a way of just making her feel slimy.
"I felt the same way… before you showed up, that is." She flashed him a smile… beautiful, but thoroughly insincere.
"So the kitten has her tongue even this early in the day!"
Caroline glared at him, taking a sip of the blood.
"Don't be shy, love, drink as much as you want. There's no need to be so polite… we are monsters, after all. Let me guess… Type B? You seem like a Type B kind of girl."
"Type A." She mumbled. She couldn't find any harm in telling him that. Maybe if she made somewhat pleasant conversation, Kol would leave her alone.
"I'm an o negative fan, myself. But that's much harder to come by."
Caroline remained tight-lipped, not wanting to move.
"You look a little stiff, love. Has my brother not been taking proper care of you?" He said, stepping closer to her. She froze as Kol's hands fell on her shoulders, his fingers ghosting over his neck. His mouth was close to his ear as he said,
"Maybe I should have a word with him. He always has had trouble keeping women in his life satisfied."
"And you think that you could do any better?" Caroline managed to get out a breathy whisper.
"Now that we're family, perhaps you will find out, love." Kol said, his thumbs digging into her shoulders, though not in a painful way. But his mouth was still far too close to her neck for her taste.
"Don't call me "love"." She said. She then bolted for the stairs with her vampire speed, praying that the vampire wouldn't follow her.
Caroline did everything in her power to get out of the house after that. She even resorted to asking Rebekah to go to a salon with her, because she knew that Klaus was still afraid that she would flee. She was that desperate to stay away from the creepy young original. She would even try to put up with Rebekah's bitchiness for a few hours, at least until Klaus came back from his business at the town hall.
As long as she and Rebekah didn't talk too much, and tried to keep the glaring to a minimal, they could stand each other's presence during their pampering.
Caroline had even stopped herself from telling the other vampire that her red manicure made her look skanky. That was progress.
Caroline waited in her room that night with a magazine, feeling a headache coming back on. When Klaus knocked on her door, she told him to come in almost immediately.
A smile appeared on the original's face as soon as he entered.
"You're quite the sight for sore eyes, love." He said. Caroline blushed.
"Quit it with the one-liners, Klaus." She mumbled in embarrassment.
"You know you like them," He laughed, "And I brought you a gift."
He tossed her a wrapped box, which she opened. It was another silver charm, this time a C.
"For your bracelet," He explained.
She gaped at him. "Tyler's bracelet?"
"I know that it is not easy to forget those who we have loved before. I wouldn't expect you to expel him from your heart so quickly. I just wanted you to know that. And I'd hoped that with a charm from me, you would have room for the both of us in your heart."
Caroline was utterly speechless. She could never in a million years have dreamed that Klaus would do something so thoughtful and understanding.
She made a split decision as he continued to stand by the door, observing her reaction.
"Come here," She said.
He raised an eyebrow.
She patted the space on the large bed beside her. "Come here, before I change my mind. I guess I can spare a little space. But we're just talking. Nothing else."
Klaus chuckled. "I wouldn't have expected anything else."
Caroline set down her magazine and the charm on her bedside table and inched so that there was more difference between she and Klaus. She was painfully aware of his body next to hers, though there was space between them. She avoided looking anywhere besides his face or her lap, because it had been a very long time since she'd been this close to a man.
"I went to get my nails done today," Caroline told him, waving her hand in his direction, which now had awesomely tacky cheetah print polish with pink tips.
"And the lady would not shut up about how I was making a huge mistake with my life. How she got knocked up and married way to young, and how she never regretted anything as much as she regrets getting married."
Not the most delicate way to start a conversation, Klaus thought. He was going to nag her about going to see her friends, but decided to drop it for a day.
"But you, my dear, are no in any way knocked up." He pointed out.
"That's not the point. People see me as that girl. The one who probably is knocked up, because why else would she get married while she's still in high school? And I'm living in alleged sin!"
Klaus thought for a moment, than said, "What is it that you teenagers say these days? "Haters going to hate"?"
Caroline burst out laughing. His English accent made the slang completely absurd. And he hadn't even said it right. She didn't stop for a good half a minute, collapsing onto the bed in a final fit of giggles. "You're revealing your age, grandpa." She said when she'd finally gathered herself enough to speak.
Klaus rolled his eyes at her, but remained cheerful. He hadn't seen her laugh like that in a long time, and it was like music to his ears. It was the first time that she didn't seem totally guarded around him, and he felt a little jolt go through him as she regarded him from beneath her lashes, still sprawled on her bed in her sleeping shorts and t-shirt.
She doesn't realize what she does to me. He groaned inwardly.
"Why do you want me so badly, anyway?" She had noticed the lustful way that he was looking at her now. But Caroline couldn't shake the feelings that she was just a new novelty toy for him to add to his collection- she wondered what he would do with her when he got bored.
"When you find something so special for the first time after living hundreds of years, you don't let it go."
"That's kind of sad. Being alone for that long." Caroline said honestly.
"I'm hoping that you'll remedy that."
"Don't count on it, Klaus." She said stubbornly, but without malice. Her strength of will was part of what Klaus loved about her. Though he firmly believed that she could only resist him for so long.
HOUSEOFORIGINALSIN.
Matt was taking an order from a group at a table in the Grill when he noticed another patron watching him.
It was Rebekah Mikaelson. She was smiling at him from a corner booth. Even as he thought about how cute she looked in her denim day-dress, he scolded himself. She was a cold-blooded vampire, not someone to be taken lightly.
He averted his eyes, but he could still feels her watching him. He finished with the orders, took them back to the kitchen, then walked as calmly as he could to stand over the vampire.
"What are you doing?"
"Sit down, Matt. I want to ask you something." She said, ignoring him.
"No," He said firmly, "You need to leave, Rebekah. I'm busy, and you shouldn't be here."
He turned to go, but her accented voice stopped him.
"Sit, or that girl dies."
It took Matt a moment to realize what the blonde had just said, as matter-of-factly as speaking of the weather. His eyes flashed to the girl sitting behind Rebekah, obliviously talking to her friend across from her. He released a stressed breath and sat across from Rebekah. He knew how little time it would take for her to reach behind her and snap the neck of the innocent girl. She probably wouldn't even be seen.
He put down his empty tray on the table between them.
"You can't keep doing this." Matt told her.
"You know, most men would be thrilled to have beautiful lady request their attention day after day."
"I won't say that I'm not flattered… but it's just weird for me, okay? We're not friend, Rebekah."
She scoffed. This human was so naïve. She didn't want something so mundane as friendship. "I never said that I wanted to be your friend."
"That what do you want?" He asked.
"I like you, Matt. I can't say why, but I want to get to know you. I don't feel that way about many humans." She said, like she expected him to be grateful.
"I don't even know what to do with you, Rebekah." He sighed.
"You can take me out to that movie again. The one with the superheroes. I enjoyed that last time."
"First of all, we've seen that movie three times. And second of all, I actually have to work. I don't have decades of money or compulsion to get me through school. I don't have time to keep sneaking away with you all the time. Third, I still don't really get why you keep asking me out."
"In the grande scheme of things, that stuff doesn't matter, anyway." She waved a hand dismissively.
Matt snorted. He waited for Rebekah to get to the point.
"And I guess it's because I'm bored." She said, though that made little sense, considering Matt wasn't the most exciting choice for a companion.
"If you're bored, you should get a hobby."
She laughed. "But you are my new hobby, Matt. It's you that I want to spend my time with. Do you not enjoy our time together?"
Matt wanted to be able to say no, but he wasn't the best liar. Especially when he was itching to tuck Rebekah's blonde hair behind her ear.
He'd had fun sitting on the mountain top with her and watching the stars. Seeing the Avengers multiple times had been entertaining, since Rebekah always shed a tear when a certain agent died. And she laughed at all the same jokes, even though she knew that they were coming.
He didn't know why, but somewhere along the way, he seemed to have started dating Rebekah Mikaelson.
"If you don't want to see a movie… you could come over to my house?" She said without any snark for once. She said this almost shyly, which was a strange thing for Matt to witness. For a moment, Matt could have sworn that the original vampire had looked as vulnerable as any other teenage girl.
"No offense Rebekah… but the last time I ran into your brothers, I came close to death. And one tried to break me hand. They're the last people that I want to run into right now."
"If I recall, you actually started that fight," she said, "Don't take me wrong, it was hilarious… but barging into a house full of vampires and then punching on of them doesn't seem like a smart move. Not if you want to keep your appendages intact. At least Kol left you with the most important one."
He'd been angry because Klaus had taken Caroline, and he'd taken it out on Kol. Big mistake.
"What if I tell you that my brothers will be out of the house?" She said.
"Then I'll be there." He said stiffly.
"Good. Tomorrow night, after you get off of work. I'll be leaving, then. And don't forget about our plans, okay? Or I'll be very upset." Rebekah smiled dazzlingly. His mutinous heart gave a little leap. He had to stop himself from watching her leave.
Matt swore he was sweating. He'd never been that nervous in his life. He'd never had to lie to a woman like that before. Not one who could snap his neck, anyway.
A few minutes later, Damon Salvatore walked out of the men's bathroom. He nodded grimly at the high school boy.
"You did well. Now just don't keep it up, and Rebekah will be putty in your hands." He said. "I told you that she isn't so difficult to manipulate. She's always been a hopeless romantic for as long as I've known her. She really is not different from a normal girl when it comes to her heart. Don't screw this up, Donavan."
"Matt, get back to work!" His boss yelled at him from the kitchen. He stood, sick to his stomach. Damon just grinned widely at him.
"What a good little heartbreaker you turned out to be, Donavan."
HOUSEOFORIGINALSIN.
Tyler rolled his bruised shoulders and winced. Not a single muscle wasn't in pain. But that was something that he'd gotten used to over the past few weeks. Sure, he'd been transforming and working with Caroline's father, but that hadn't been all. Tyler hadn't been bluffing when he'd told Elena that he intended to rip Klaus's head from his body. Even if they didn't have a plan, he would figure something out.
As he drove his car past the Welcome to Mystic Falls sign, his spirits lifted. Sure, he was heading back to a nightmare of a town, but at least there was one light residing there.
He would see Caroline again soon.
He would remind himself why subjecting his body to a nerve-crushing and agonizing transformation was beyond worth it.
HOUSEOFORIGINALSIN.
Liz Forbes sat across from Elena Gilbert in the girl's living room. She'd arrived about a half an hour ago, but they were just now getting past small talk. It was a difficult subject to breach, after all.
"I'm angry, Elena. But my hands are tied. Klaus has the entire town in the palm of his hand." Liz said with frustration.
"What if I told you that I have a way to loosen his grip?" Elena said. She thought that she owed Liz some amount of hope, even though she generally tried to keep information about the supernatural to herself. The mother, who looked like she hadn't slept a proper amount of hours in weeks, deserved that at least.
Liz stared hard at the teenager.
"What do you know? What can you do, Elena?"
"It's not me who can do something. It's someone else. Someone very powerful…"
"The Salvatores?" The older woman seemed to deflate a bit.
"No, not Damon or Stefan. I can only think of one person who has the knowledge and power to kill Klaus, and that's his mother."
"Esther?" Liz said in surprise. "She looked like she loved her children. Why would she help us kill one of them?"
"Looks can be deceiving." Elena muttered before explaining, "Esther thinks that her children are abominations. She wants to fix her mistake of turning them into vampire in the first place."
Liz let out a humorless laugh. "You really can't trust anyone in this town. Not even your mother."
Elena wondered if she was really only talking about Esther.
"Do you think that working with Esther will help Caroline?"
"Yes." Elena said firmly. "I just need an excuse to talk to her alone. I can't exactly walk up to her front door right now."
"Well… she's going to the town's council meeting in a few days…"
"But so is Klaus."
"Klaus can be distracted. Maybe you can put those brothers to good use by creating a disturbance of some kind. If there's one thing the Salvatore's are good at, it's making a scene."
"Sometimes I think that's all they're good for." Elena rolled her eyes, and Liz laughed along with her. She sobered for a moment to say,
"This could get really messy, Liz. You're in a dangerous position because of me. The whole town is in danger. I'm sorry that I've asked you to get involved in all this." Elena said regretfully.
"He took my baby girl, Elena. I'll do anything."
Liz left after drinking another cup of tea, though she surely needed something far stronger to calm her nerves. She was glad that she hadn't had to deal with Damon, because he had been like a caged animal lately. Liz had now been imbued with a new hope—Elena and her friends would help Caroline. She wouldn't remain a prisoner of that monster forever. She just had to continue believing it.
Elena watched her leave with a suffering sigh. She couldn't help but feel that this was all her fault. If she hadn't been the Doppelganger, none of this would have happened. Klaus probably wouldn't have even made Mystic Falls his base of operations. Her family and friends wouldn't have to suffer because some Hybrid wanted her blood.
If she hadn't been the Doppelganger, she probably never would have met Stefan. He wouldn't have given her a second look. She would have been just another human that he met during the course of his immortality…
She glanced out the window to see a male figure hurrying towards her door. As he came closer, she could see that it was Tyler. His expression was twisted with stress.
She opened the door to meet him.
"Elena, where's Caroline?"
She ignored his question and asked one of her own. "Where have you been?"
"I've been on a camping trip," Tyler said a little evasively. "Now will you tell me where Caroline is? I went to her house yesterday, but her mom wouldn't give me a straight answer. Is she okay? She isn't hurt, is she?"
He stepped closer to Elena, sounding almost frantic. She tried to calm him down, but there was really no way around the truth.
"Klaus took her."
"Then why the hell aren't you figuring out a way to save her?" Tyler asked, his nostrils flaring.
"It isn't that simple—"
"How long?" He interrupted her.
"What?" Elena asked, not understanding.
"How. Long. Has she been gone?" Tyler said slowly and fiercely.
Elena hesitated. "More than a month."
Tyler swore. Elena was such a fucking hypocrite. She'd judged him from her high horse, self-righteously telling him that he was hurting Caroline. Making him feel like he didn't love her enough, just because he'd made a few mistakes. He was trying hard to make up for what he'd done, tried to be better for Caroline. She deserved better. She deserved friends who would fight tooth and nail to bring her back home.
"It is that simple! I should have known that things would turn out like this. Nobody gives a damn if it isn't you who need saving!"
Elena flinched. "That—that isn't true."
"You know it is. If you and Caroline switched places, Damon and Stefan would be busting down doors to get you back. Because you're not expendable." He hissed. He clenched his fists until he could feel his nails diffing into his palms.
"I've never thought of Caroline like that!"
"Maybe you haven't… but don't try and tell me that if it came down to you or Caroline, both of the Salvatore's wouldn't choose the same thing. And it sure as hell wouldn't be Caroline. She's not the goddamn Doppelganger!"
Elena wanted to yell, wanted to argue with him, but the sting she felt from his words was just too raw. So she just let him rant on her doorstep.
"There's nothing we can do right now. But I didn't say that I don't have a plan." She said.
Tyler looked down on her with disgust. "I don't trust any of you to get the job done, Elena. If you really had Caroline's best interest at heart, you would be spending ever single moment trying to find a way to get her back. You would be putting your life on the line for hers. No, I'll save Caroline myself."
He whirled away from her, leaving her stunned and her heart aching.
"How are your camping trips going!" Elena yelled at him as an afterthought. She knew what the werewolf meant—that he was out in the forest, forcing himself to change over and over again. She wondered if he'd broken Klaus's control yet.
"I'm doing just fine, Elena." He said, than walked stiffly out the door. But she could plainly see that he was far from fine.
HOUSEOFORIGINALSINHOUSEOFORI GINALSIN.
"Where is your precious little fiancée today, brother?" Kol's sarcastic tones broke Klaus out of his reverie. He had been lost in thought on the couch in the living room. Until he was interrupted, that is.
"I believe that Finn took her grocery shopping. She was getting stir-crazy."
Kol snorted. "How positively domestic. We don't even need to eat. Things were more lively when we were locked in coffins."
"A repeat of that is seeming more and more tempting." Klaus sighed. "You and Bekah are driving me crazy."
"I would have thought that Caroline was a suitable distraction for you. Is she not enough?"
"She still resists me." Klaus said stiffly. He didn't particularly care for discussing his relationship problems with his annoying brother.
"Why don't you just make her yours, Brother? You're being far too lenient with the pet of yours. You're a powerful Hybrid, are you not? Why aren't you taking what you deserve?"
"It isn't as easy as that," He growled, "She is fragile, and I do not wish to push her away, though you may not understand that. You haven't had a woman of your own in centuries."
Kol bristled, but pushed his anger back down, "That may be the case, but I know that I would be much more successful that you, if our situations were reversed."
Klaus jumped to his feet and rushed at his brother, gripping his throat.
"If you value your life, you won't speak like that to me again."
Seeing the dark tint of his brother's eyes, Kol gave a strained nod. Klaus released him and stalked out of the room.
"You'd better hurry up and claim her, brother, or I will." Kol said softly to himself when Klaus was out of earshot. The hybrid may not have heard, but Klaus wasn't the only Original sibling in the house…
Klaus tracked down his mother in her room on the upper floor. She was arranging a few herbs and ancient items on her table. Esther remained seated, but inclined her head towards her son.
"There's something that I need to talk to you about, Mother." Klaus said.
"What is it, my dear son?" Esther said in her usual calm voice, examining a few stick of incense.
"Where is Elijah?"
Oooh, a cliffie! Hmm, where is Elijah? Any guesses? One awesome reader reminded me that I haven't even mentioned Elijah yet! Shame on me! On a side note, I love writing Rebekah… because deep down, I really think she's a vindictive little girl. Like, she doesn't know how to deal with her emotions, so she lashes out. Like I think she's pretty insecure, really, especially when it comes to Matt. Also, it's hurting my heart to do what I'm doing to Kol. But I feels like it does fit his characters, messing with Klaus's head like this. What do you guys think?