A/N: Thank you for those who took the time to review, I really appreciated them. :)
A/N2: I haven't seen every episode of TVD and haven't watched TO at all, so I'm not sure if this has been addressed in either show, but for the purposes of this fic I'm assuming that werewolves would not be able to tell hybrids apart from regular werewolves just by smell, the way some of them can tell if a person is a vampire by just sniffing them.
Love is a vampire's greatest weakness.
Rebekah remembered the often repeated words as she watched Klaus struggle to force his temper down after Caroline ended their call without a word.
If only Elijah could see him now, he would not question whether or not their brother had any emotions left in him.
Rebekah still wasn't sure if whatever Klaus felt for the baby vampire was actually love, or merely infatuation, but she did get a small thrill at witnessing him twisting in the throes of the one emotion he'd always scoffed at her for feeling.
Much as she disliked the other girl, and the attention Klaus afforded to her, Rebekah still half wished Caroline would keep her dear brother twisting in uncertain agony for some time to come.
Rebekah's musings were interrupted by Klaus' phone ringing.
"Talk," Klaus ordered tersely, seeing the call came from Danny, the hybrid he had following Flynn.
"They're near the old Lockwood's Well. They've started a little campfire so, I think this is where they're gonna stay," Danny whispered.
"And the Sheriff?"
"Alive. They've tied her up but it seems like they're mostly ignoring her, for now at least."
"Good. Stay there, and call me if anything changes."
Finishing the call, Klaus revved the engine, he needed to get there as fast as possible. Knowing Caroline, she might not wait to do something rash to save her mother.
-
Doing her best to keep her fear in check, Caroline forced her voice to sound chipper as she answered the call. "Hi, mom."
"Afraid not," a smooth, even voice came in reply. "I'm Geraint Flynn. I believe you've heard of me, Miss Forbes?"
"What are you doing with my mom's phone? Where's my mom?" Caroline demanded, dropping the chipperness.
"Ah, I'll take that as a yes." There was definitely a pleased smile in Flynn's voice. "The Sheriff is... unavailable, at the moment. But, if you'll come to the Lockwood's Well, I believe this place is called, you can see her for yourself."
Snorting, Caroline resisted the urge to hurl her phone against the wall. "I'm not going anywhere until I hear my mother."
Sighing, Flynn shook his head in mock exasperation. Moving closer to the tied up Sheriff, he gestured for Tony to remove the cloth gagging her mouth and then motioned for her to talk to her daughter.
"Caroline, don't come here. They're wer..."
Tony gagged Liz before she could finish her warning.
"I trust that was enough to prove to you that she's actually here?" Flynn asked Caroline.
Squeezing her eyes shut in a futile effort not to picture what was happening to her mother, Caroline wanted to tear Flynn apart, limb from limb. "I'll be there," she ground out before ending the call.
For a full second after Caroline finished the call everything was silent, and then her friends were upon her with their questions. Stefan and Damon were, of course, fully up to speed already, but Elena wanted to know exactly what was going on.
Explaining the situation to them as quickly and briefly as she could, Caroline picked up her jacket and slipped it on.
"Whoa, where do you think you're going, Blondie?" Damon stopped her.
"Where do you think?" The 'duh!' was clearly implied.
"Not by yourself, you're not." Stefan stepped closer, for once in complete agreement with his brother.
"I won't be on my own, Klaus is on his way there."
"So, you're going to wait for him, then?" Stefan arched his brow knowingly.
"Right." Damon smirked. "We're going with you."
"I'm coming, too," Elena declared.
Smiling a little wobbly, Caroline hugged Elena in gratitude. "You don't know how much I appreciate the offer but, you can't." As Elena started to protest, Caroline interrupted her, "They're werewolves, and if you haven't noticed yet, tonight's a full moon."
"But, I want to help." Realistically, Elena knew there wasn't much she could do, but damn it, everybody was always putting themselves in danger to save her butt, and she wanted to be able to return the favour, for once.
"Caroline's right," Stefan said. "It's too dangerous for you."
Before Elena had a chance to protest any further, Damon interrupted them. "Doesn't it strike anyone else as odd that Klaus knew about this before Caroline got the call from Flynn?"
"Not really." Caroline shrugged unconcerned. "After the last time, Klaus mentioned something about checking Flynn out. Guess he did just that. Honestly, I don't really care right now. Look, we're wasting time, I gotta go."
"And I said you're not going there alone." Damon grabbed her by the arm.
Yanking her arm free, Caroline gave him a stare that would've frozen a lesser being. "Then you better start moving, because I'm leaving."
Damon figured he'd bought Klaus at least some time to get his ass to the Lockwood's Well, or close enough. Damon had been bitten by werewolves enough times to not want to go through it again, if he could help it. But, if it did happen again, he wanted to have Klaus close enough for a small, healing donation.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
-
The night had fallen by the time Caroline and the Salvatores met up with Danny. And, just a few moments later, Klaus and Rebekah arrived with Mindy and Nate, the other two hybrids, in tow.
Klaus looked Caroline over quickly, glad to see that she was clearly on top of her game. She was angry and itching for a fight, understandably, but definitely in control.
"Do we have a plan?" Mindy asked Klaus in hushed tones.
Before Klaus had a chance to answer her, Damon whispered as if it was obvious without asking, "Yeah, we go there, get Liz and kick ass."
"So glad we have Mr. Strategist on our side." Rebekah rolled her eyes at Damon.
Klaus ignored their bickering. "Caroline, you'll get your mother. Damon and Stefan, you make sure they get out of here in one piece, and the rest of us will take care of the pack."
Without waiting for anyone's response, Klaus marched forward, leaving them no other option but to follow him.
-
Flynn could hear the pack approaching them before he saw them. They weren't trying to be stealthy, but they did move in silence. And when they appeared from the forest, fanned out in a wide formation, Flynn had no problem identifying the alpha.
Noticing that the arrivals all appeared to be fairly young, he briefly wondered how they managed to resist the full moon's demand when three of his own pack had already had to shift in to their wolf forms, and a fourth would not be able to fight it for much longer.
Narrowing his eyes, Flynn shifted his attention to Caroline Forbes for a moment. He'd hoped that she would've been a lone vampire in Mystic Falls, but he had prepared for her to show here with back up. Of course, that some of her reinforcements were wolves, was a somewhat troubling surprise.
"I was unaware there was a wolf pack in Mystic Falls," Flynn addressed Klaus. It wasn't considered polite to trespass on another pack's territory. Unless of course, one pack was about to overtake the other's territory, which wasn't the case here. "I'm Geraint Flynn. But then, you're already aware of that." He glanced briefly at Caroline who, after a quick look towards her mother to make sure she was unharmed, had kept her eyes trained on Flynn.
"Klaus." The obvious lack of recognition at his introduction made Klaus sigh inwardly. It would've been so much more... inspiring to get a reaction, but then surprising one's adversary could also prove satisfying.
Watching the small group, Flynn made a show of sniffing the air. "Your choice of company is... curious, shall we say."
Smiling, Klaus shrugged nonchalantly. "Keeps us all on our toes."
"The stench doesn't bother you? Or are you just too young to be able to sniff them out, yet?" Flynn asked, making a not so subtle point of who was the more senior alpha.
Klaus' smile grew wider as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Careful there, mate. You're so used to being the big fish in your tiny pond, you forget the world is full of bigger monsters than yourself."
"And I take it, you're one of them?" The condescension dripped off Flynn's words.
"Oh, I'm the biggest monster there is." Klaus dropped his faux-smile. "I'm going to put this in terms even you're able to understand, mate. They are all part of my pack."
Flynn looked like he was about to gag at such blasphemy.
"And so's the Sheriff. So, I'll have her back now. Sister, I believe it's time for your fun."
"That abomination is your sister?!" Flynn growled, outraged.
While Flynn was still frothing at the mouth, Rebekah had flashed forward and ripped out the heart of the man guarding Liz Forbes.
It seemed like a deafening silence filled the forest for a small eternity after Rebekah dropped the wolf's heart to the ground. In reality, it wasn't even a second later when all pandemonium broke loose.
Flynn and Tony simultaneously pulled out and fired their guns at Rebekah, expecting her to be immediately incapacitated by the vervain drenched wooden bullets. Much to their horror, the bullets didn't do much to slow her, despite her obvious discomfort. But, there was no time to ponder how the vampire was able to still function.
Rebekah was attacked by two members of the pack already in wolf form, while Flynn and Tony turned their attention to Caroline who was busy freeing her mother.
Just as Caroline was getting the gag off Liz, she saw Tony raise his gun. Quickly shifting her position so she was shielding her mother, Caroline screamed when the bullets entered her back. Caroline's scream was mingled with Tony's grunts of pain as he quickly shifted into his wolf form.
"Stefan! Get her out of here." Caroline's pain filled eyes found her friend in the middle of the melee.
Stefan had seen what had happened and was already on his way to help Caroline and Liz to get away, when a third wolf came at him.
Seeing his brother under attack made Damon change course to help him. Tearing the wolf off Stefan before it had a change to bite him, Damon threw the wolf as far as he could manage, crashing it against a tree. Not wasting any time the brothers flashed to Caroline.
"Stefan, take Liz and get the hell out of here," Damon ordered almost shoving the Sheriff at Stefan. "I'll get Caroline."
Lifting Liz in a fireman's carry Stefan flashed away as fast as he was able to, trusting Damon to follow with Caroline. Stefan pushed himself to go even faster when he heard the unmistakable growl of a wolf nearing them. He knew he could not outrun the wolf, especially while carrying Liz, and briefly considered climbing them both up a tree, when he heard the sounds of someone tackling the wolf behind them. Hazarding a quick glance to check the situation, Stefan saw Danny wrestling with a sandy colored wolf. He did not see Damon or Caroline. After a second's indecision, Stefan continued running forward. He had to get Liz to safety before he could go back.
Before Damon was able to get Caroline, the wolf he'd thrown was back with a vengeance. Growling and snapping it's teeth the beast attacked, pushing Damon to the ground. Crawling closer to help him, Caroline was suddenly pushed aside as Mindy jumped at the wolf, tearing it away from Damon.
Flynn looked wildly around himself, not appreciating how his pack was taking a beating, despite the full moon. As Flynn could feel himself transforming, at last surrendering to the moon, he still wondered how the other pack could hold on to their human forms. Then, all that was left was his instinct to tear the enemy apart.
-
Klaus flashed to pull one of the wolves off his sister. Plunging his hand through the creature's back, he pulled off its heart. Trusting Rebekah to handle the other wolf he turned around just in time to see Caroline get shot.
Enraged, Klaus charged at Tony's wolf. Grabbing the wolf by the throat, Klaus considered simply ripping it's heart out, but that would be too quick, and tonight Klaus didn't feel particularly merciful. Instead, he sank his teeth into the wolf's neck and tore at it, careful to inflict pain but not to kill just yet. Tossing the beast away he then allowed it to charge at him again, and again, the beast getting close but never quite allowed to reach Klaus with its teeth.
From the corner of his eye Klaus observed Nate struggling with Flynn's wolf, trying to keep it from getting to Caroline as Mindy was dragging an evidently wounded Damon out of the way. Briefly wondering where Rebekah was, Klaus saw her appear behind the wolf he was toying with and grab it in her steely grip.
"Having trouble putting down the dog, Nik?"
Growling at her for interrupting his game, Klaus was about to answer when he saw Flynn's wolf take down Nate and leap at Caroline. Without another thought, Klaus streaked after Flynn, leaving Tony to Rebekah's tender care.
With a feral smile, Rebekah released the fiercely struggling wolf from her grip. Quicker than a blink of an eye the wolf whipped around to face her and jumped at her with its teeth bared, aiming for her throat. Still smiling, Rebekah revealed her own set of teeth and sank them into the wolf. Relishing in the blood despite the mouthful of fur, she ripped into the beast with her teeth, and finally tore at its artery, spraying the warm blood around.
Caroline struggled to get up on her knees as she saw a reddish-grey wolf rush at her. Bearing her teeth, she knew she had no chance of actually fighting the wolf off. The wooden bullets in her back were excruciating and she was afraid to move too much since it felt as if at least one of them was frighteningly close to her heart. Still, it would be better to go down fighting than to simply lie down and wait for the inevitable.
The wolf got almost close enough to try to take a bite off her before it was suddenly yanked away. Surprised, Caroline's dark eyes met Klaus' glowing gaze for a brief moment before he faced the ferocious wolf.
It was time to end the game.
Flynn, even in wolf form, was no match for the Original Hybrid. Klaus wanted to draw out the wolf's suffering but that would've meant drawing out Caroline's suffering, as well, so he made the end as brutal as he could with the short amount of time he allowed himself for it.
Taking a look around the small clearing, Klaus smiled grimly at the carnage. Flynn's end had been far too quick and easy to fully satisfy Klaus, but at least the Savannah pack, the part of it that had arrived to Mystic Falls, was finished.
His side had fared much better, but they had not escaped unscathed. Danny and Mindy had sustained several injuries but were already on the mend, while Nate was temporarily out for the count since Flynn had broken his neck. Rebekah had already healed from what ever minor injuries she'd endured, as she'd managed to dig out the wooden bullets from her arm. Klaus himself wasn't even out of breath from the events. So, it appeared the ones most severely hurt were Damon and Caroline.
Ignoring whatever was wrong with Damon, Klaus hurried to Caroline's slumped down form. Propping her carefully against his arm, Klaus took in her wounds. The smell of her blood filled the air, as it still flowed down her back.
Cursing silently as Caroline whimpered in pain, Klaus smoothed down her hair, trying to soothe her. "It'll be all right, sweetheart. We'll get the bullets out and you'll be fine. I promise."
Caroline swallowed with difficulty, and tried to blink away her tears. "It hurts pretty bad. I... I think one of them might be close to my heart."
Klaus really wanted to get her to the mansion where he'd have better equipment at hand to handle this, but he didn't dare to move her around too much, especially if the bullet was anywhere near her much too fragile heart.
"Would anyone happen to have a knife, or any kind of blade, with them?" he asked, looking up from Caroline.
"Here." Danny pulled out a Swiss Army knife from his jacket pocket, and tossed it to Klaus. He'd gotten the knife from his father when he'd turned ten years old, and his father had told him about his wolf heritage. He'd carried the knife with him ever since.
Selecting the blade, Klaus looked back at Caroline. "Are you on vervain, love?"
Realising why he was asking, Caroline almost wished she could say no. It was going to hurt, but considering everything she'd been through since she'd become a vampire, she'd probably survived much worse.
Meeting his eyes steadily, Caroline nodded. "Just do it."
Helping her to lean forward, Klaus removed her jacket and lifted her shirt to expose the bullet holes.
"I'll be as quick as I can," he promised softly. Then, glancing up, he spotted his sister. "Rebekah. Come and hold her still."
As soon as Rebekah got Caroline in a bruising grip, Klaus got to work. The first bullet was out in a matter of seconds since it hadn't gone very deep. But the second one, that was indeed embedded close to Caroline's heart. Closing his ears against Caroline's muffled cries of pain, Klaus cut deeper, probing the wound. Being careful not to push the bullet any deeper, it seemed to take ages before he was able to dig it out of her. Throwing the bullet away, he gestured for Rebekah to release her hold and offered Caroline his wrist.
"Have at it, sweetheart."
With a sigh of relief, Caroline grabbed his arm and sank in her teeth. His blood tasted so good, and she noticed its effects almost immediately. The pain left her and she could feel her strength return. Closing her eyes Caroline relished the effects of blood, and the undeniable feeling of safety that enveloped her.
Finally, Caroline slowed down, and removed her fangs gingerly. She felt sated, warm, and just a little bit drowsy, in a good way.
"Thank you." She smiled up at Klaus who still had her in his arms.
"My pleasure, love."
Caroline almost blushed at the intimate tone of his voice. Licking at her lips, she averted her eyes, and was only then reminded that they were not, in fact, alone.
"Right. Now that you two got the foreplay out of the way, I could use a little drink, too, buddy," Damon quipped wearily, obviously in pain.
"Damon!" Caroline pushed herself up and hurried to check on him. "Did you get bitten?"
"Just a little." Damon tried to give her his cocky grin but it failed miserably. "Nothing a little drink from the right source won't fix."
Ordering Danny, Mindy and the reawakened Nate to begin the clean up process to get rid of the bodies, Klaus ambled over to Damon and Caroline.
Looking Damon up and down with a critical eye, Klaus hauled him up. "Sorry, mate, got to refuel a bit before donating again so soon. But you'll live until we get back to town."
Giving Klaus a murderous look, Damon swayed a little on his feet. "And here I thought I was part of your pack. Mate."
"Where's your sense of drama, Damon? Even you have got to agree that it was a nice touch, at the time." Smiling benevolently, Klaus clapped Damon on his back, almost toppling him over.
Caroline would've preferred Klaus to help Damon right away, but she didn't want to waste time with them arguing about it. She wanted to get to her mother to make sure that she was unharmed, and as sickly as Damon appeared, she knew he wasn't in immediate danger, either.
Helping to steady Damon, Caroline decided to put an end to their meaningless posturing. "Okay guys, enough male bonding for one evening. The sooner we get back, the sooner you can take care of Damon."
-
They had called ahead, and let Stefan know that they were on their way back. Arriving to the boarding house, Caroline hurried straight to her mother.
"Caroline! Are you all right?" Liz took the time to inspect her daughter for any injuries before hugging her as tightly as her sore ribs allowed. She'd seen Caroline get shot but evidently she'd already completely healed. This wasn't the first time Liz was glad of vampire healing properties.
Relieved beyond belief that her mother appeared to be unharmed, Caroline hugged her back as fiercely as she dared. "I think that's my question, mom. They didn't hurt you, right?"
"No, I'm fine," Liz assured, finally releasing her. "They nabbed me while I was returning from the grocery store so, I lost the groceries but other than that..."
"Mom, I'll raid someone's fridge if it'll make you feel better. Just as long as you really are all right." Caroline laughed, glad that this time hadn't been a repeat of the warehouse incident.
"Damon!" Elena hurried to help settle him down on the couch. "What happened?"
"What do you think happened?" Rebekah asked snidely. Honestly, they'd gone to kill werewolves so, how hard was it to deduce what had happened to him?
Sending a glare at Rebekah, Elena then gently brushed a sweaty strand of hair off Damon's forehead. "I meant, why aren't you healed, yet?"
"Because I felt the need to refuel, first," Klaus explained, pouring himself a drink.
Looking between the two men, Elena knew there had to be more to this story. Or maybe Klaus was just being himself. She only hoped that Damon hadn't put his foot into his mouth again, and that Klaus wouldn't wait for much longer to give Damon his blood.
Throwing back his drink, Klaus then bit into his wrist and let a small amount of his blood to fall into the now empty glass.
"Here you go, mate." He offered the glass to Damon with a satisfied smile.
Damon really wished he could afford to throw the glass back at Klaus' smug face, but beggars couldn't be choosers so, he took it.
"Bottoms up."
As Elena helped Damon settle down to rest, Stefan walked over to Klaus. There were still a few lose ends that needed to be addressed. "Is it finished?"
Klaus knew exactly what Stefan was referring to. "Yes."
"What about the bodies? They can't be found anywhere near Mystic Falls."
Klaus clapped his one time friend on the shoulder. "There won't be anything left to find. Don't worry, rippah. I know how to make bodies disappear."
"What about the rest of his pack?" Caroline asked, frowning a little in thought. "He was the alpha, won't they come looking for him?"
Klaus turned to Caroline, smiling. "There are ways to make fake trails for them to follow. A few text messages from their phones, credit card purchases away from Mystic Falls, and we'll make sure to dump their cars somewhere far enough from here. It'll look as if they merely passed through here."
Listening to Klaus' explanation, Liz nodded in agreement. With judiciously applied complusion thrown in for good measure, it all sounded simple enough, and more importantly, plausible. She just hoped they'd seen the last of the Savannah pack.
"And what if they come here anyway?" Caroline asked, biting her lip.
"Then we'll take care of it," Klaus promised.
-
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The next day found Caroline knocking rather more politely at the door of the Mikaelson Mansion. And, as luck would have it, Rebekah was once more the one opening the door.
"You again. And what brings you here this time?" Rebekah asked with a fake smile, before muttering to herself, "As if I don't know."
Just as Caroline opened her mouth to answer her, Rebekah rolled her eyes, and motioned for her to step in. "He's upstairs in his studio."
"Thanks." Caroline gave her a quick smile and headed towards the staircase.
Before she reached the first step, however, Caroline suddenly swirled around. "Wait!"
Pausing, Rebekah turned face her. "What is it, now?"
"I just wanted to thank you," Caroline said seriously. "I realized that I never got around to it for last night or, you know, for before. You had no reason to help save my mom, but you did anyway so, thank you, Rebekah."
Rebekah studied Caroline's face, looking for any kind of deception, but found only sincerity. Finally, she shrugged casually. "I was bored, and had nothing better to do."
Smiling, Caroline saw right through her. "Well, thanks just the same."
Continuing her way upstairs, Caroline missed the slow smile spreading on Rebekah's face. Turning around to make her way to the study, Rebekah flipped her long hair, feeling... lighter, somehow. Then she snorted and ordered herself to get a grip. Perhaps today was a good time to marathon Vikings and laugh at all the inaccuracies, or something.
-
Caroline knew Klaus had already heard her coming along the corridor, but she still rapped lightly on the door frame to announce herself before entering his studio.
"Hope I'm not disturbing?" she asked, looking around curiously. She'd never been to his studio before.
"Of course not, sweetheart." Klaus turned to her, smiling, and set down his brush. "What can I do for you?"
A little embarrassed by his question, Caroline suddenly realized that she usually DID come to him only when she needed something from him.
Blushing a little, Caroline shook her head slightly. "Nothing. I mean, I didn't come here to..." Pausing, she took a calming breath before continuing, "I came here to thank you. For saving my mom. Twice."
"You're welcome, sweetheart." Klaus' blue eyes gazed at her warmly, pleased that she'd come, even if it wasn't necessary.
"I know just saying 'thank you' isn't really enough so, if there's something I..."
Shaking his head a little ruefully, Klaus interrupted her. "I hope you know me better than that, love. I didn't help you so I could get something from you. You owe me nothing, Caroline, you or your mother."
And that, right there, was what gave Caroline pause. Again. This hadn't been some cheap ploy to get her to flirt with him, or to get her to 'take a chance'. She knew he meant every word, that he truly didn't expect anything in return. He'd done it all simply... for her.
Meeting his eyes in understanding, Caroline gave a small nod. "Thank you."
After a brief pause, Klaus turned back to his canvas, fully expecting Caroline to leave now that her business here had been concluded. So, he was somewhat surprised when, instead of heading to the door, she stepped closer to peer past his shoulder.
"What are you working on?" Caroline asked softly, and a little nervously, looking at the charming landscape he'd created.
"It's a villa in Florence."
"That place really exists?" Caroline asked surprised.
Amused, Klaus glanced at her awestruck expression. "It's actually one of Elijah's properties. It's been a few decades since the last time I visited, but this is how I remember it."
"It's beautiful." Caroline's voice was a little wistful.
"Perhaps one day you'll have a chance to see it for yourself."
Klaus wasn't sure why she'd chosen to stay and spend more time with him, willingly, but wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Glancing at him, Caroline got caught on the look in his blue eyes. She was suddenly reminded of his speech about the wonders of the world she'd yet to see, the beauty of the world waiting to be discovered.
"Perhaps."
With a soft smile, Caroline turned her eyes back to the painting. "Tell me more about the villa."
The End