THANKS FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS, GUYS! I'M TRYING TO STAY TRUE TO THE CHARACTERS, SO BE PATIENT FOR IT ALL TO WORK OUT, WHICH IS OF COURSE WILL IN TIME
The brush slipped into the deep purple paint and gently withdrew, but it hovered uncertainly over the canvas, hesitation that was an unwelcome discovery. With an irritated growl, the artist sent the brush flying, a purple smudge marring the wall where it hit. He upturned the blank canvas on its wooden easel, reaching for the paints next.
"Nik?" Rebecca appeared in the doorway, already dressed as if she expected they'd have to leave again at a moment's notice. "Nik, what's wrong?"
"How dare she interfere?" Klaus yelled, she meaning none other than their murderous mother. "I am indestructible! She cannot bring me low!"
"We are still alive, still together." His sister reminded him quietly, watching him throw pained eyes. "She has yet to win."
"But will she never quit torturing us for the sin she has laid upon us?"
"Shall we run then? Run somewhere where even her creation cannot chase us?"
"I am the Original Hybrid!" He boomed then lowered his voice to a husky rasp. "I have nothing to fear, no one to run from!" With a flick of his wrist, red paint smashed into the wall, dripping down like the blood they desperately needed to survive.
"You will be killed, and me along with you." She gasped, falling back a step in her high-heeled boots, knowing from experience how volatile he was when in a rage. Last time, she had ended up locker up in a coffin, a dagger trapped in her chest for decades.
"Don't be reckless, brother." A new voice spoke quietly but firmly from the doorway to the foreclosed mansion they had temporarily taken as their home in a town located miles and miles away from Mystic Falls.
"Elijah." Klaus' voice was deceptively calm and soft. "Do not make the mistake thinking that you hold any sway over me."
"Of course not. We all know that you are the strongest of us all." He leaned against a wall, his voice completely sincere despite the scold to it. "But it seems we all have the same problem trying to hunt us down."
"Our mother is getting creative. And dangerous." Rebecca observed.
"She is dead. Let her try and come back now." Klaus cast a hateful glance towards the coffin, tucked into the corner of his room where he could keep an eye on it at all times despite the fact that he knew there was no coming back from death this time.
"Best we not tempt her." Elijah replied all the same.
Esther's creation no longer required her guidance, however. Alaric hunted by his own rage, by his own will. Whatever her purpose had been, she had been successful before dying. In his pursuit of the ultimate revenge, or justice as he would like to believe, any pain was tolerable, any feat do-able. It was this searing faith that had him scorching in an afternoon sun, at last a mile from the Grill, Caroline Forbes quickly out distancing him.
Her blonde curls whipping behind her, legs pumping so quickly beneath her that even her high heels made no sound upon the pavement, she stopped at the first house that popped into her mind. "Elena!" She hollered, swinging open the front door and letting herself in without awaiting a response. "Are you home?" Not knowing whether Alaric would brave the sun this far, but not wanting to risk it, she slowly backed away from the closed door, trembling the slightest bit.
"Caroline?" Elena called from the top of the stairs, her clothes covered in green paint. "What's wrong?"
"It's Alaric! He's back, Elena!" She rushed up the stairs to her friend to embrace her, not caring if she got paint on her clothes.
"Call Stefan." She replied, pulling out her phone and hitting speed dial. "He's on his way." She told her after a garbled conversation that Caroline had been too distracted to bother listening to. Something jolted into the front door, causing both of them to jump and nearly tumble down the stairs in each others' arms.
"Caroline!" Stefan threw open the door, revealing a very sunny and Alaric-free porch. "Did he hurt you?" Caroline heaved a sigh, letting both of them check her over for wounds.
"No, no I'm fine. I just…I just saw him and ran. Matt!" She suddenly exclaimed. "I just left him. How could I do that?" She moved as if to go back for the boy, but was restrained by Stefan.
"He's fine. He just called me, worried about you." Her legs gave out, forcing her to sit down hard on the steps. She took quick shaky breaths.
"Elena, how am I ever going to get passed this?" She asked, although she didn't seem to expect an answer. School had continued as normal over the past week, the mass of students flocking into the classrooms completely unaware of the bloody, live altering experiences that had occurred there just over the weekend. Caroline had yet to return, unable to force herself through the front doors no matter the number of times she marched herself up to them. Quite often, she found herself sitting dejectedly outside on the grass, glaring at the metal doors as if they were barring her from entering. Her friends always came out, walking and laughing as if nothing had changed in that eternally haunting building, carrying her homework for the day. She would go back, she convinced herself daily, but always found an excuse to postpone her return for a little while later.
"So," Damon strolled in through the open door, his hand in the pockets of his leather jacket, "I heard that Alaric-the-Ripper is back in town." He came to sit beside Caroline on the stairs, giving her a curious look as she slouched against the wall. "What's with you, Blondie?" she just shot him an angry glare, though the effect was rather pitiful. "Anyway," he continued, turning away, "I am wondering what he was doing this whole week if not trying to kill off our entire blood line?"