I start laughing and so does everyone else.
"I'm impressed."
"Why thank you sweetheart." He chuckles and I giggle along with him. Then I compose myself.
"But I'm still not falling at your feet" I smirk and sip my drink.
"oooohhhh" I hear Kol and Marcel say in unison.
"I must say that was very well played Caroline, I commend you on the effort."
I snort, "the effort! Honey I blew you out of the water? You just got lucky with your lines!" I scoff.
"Well let me make it up to you by showing you around the city love."
I'm about to reply when my phone starts ringing, I check and see that its Bonnie calling.
"I'm sorry, I've got to take this" I say and rush out of the bar.
"Hello, Bonnie?"
"Care, I need you…help…?" her hoarse voice whispers into my ear.
"Bonnie, whats wrong! What happened?!" I whisper frantically glancing around to make sure no one was paying any attention to me.
"Jeremy, he… he…."
"Bon, what did Jeremy do?"
"He… he got drunk and we had a fight…I ran away and when I came home he was waiting for me… Care he… he hit me!" Bonnie says as she starts sobbing through the phone. My rage spiked, and I gripped the lamppost near me and squeezed the metal bending it causing the light to shift to an angle.
"Bonnie, where are you right now?" I say not caring if anyone heard.
"I'm in a hotel, I grabbed some of my clothes and started driving. I don't know what to do Care, I need your help, please." She begs me.
"Bonnie, come to New Orleans?" I reveal whilst closing my eyes, hoping that this was the right decision to make, but she's my friend and she needs my help and I don't let my friends down, ever.
"New Orleans? Care, I thought you were in Atlanta? Why are you there?" She starts questioning me as I take in a deep breath and look around again.
"Bon, I can't tell you over the phone, Just come down to New Orleans, the French Quarter. I'll explain everything once you get here, I promise."
"Ok, I'll be there tomorrow morning, then I want you explaining everything to me… thank you Caroline."
"I will, meet me at 261 Bourbon Street, you're my best friend Bon, I won't let you down, I'll always be there when you need."
"See you soon Care, bye, love you" she says into the phone.
"K, bye Bon, love you too" I whisper and lean my head against the cool metal of the lamppost. The phone clicks off and I stand staring at my surroundings for a couple of seconds before breathing in deeply and clearing my head of the pressure that seems to be building up as more situations arise. I turn back into the bar and make my way to Sophie who is ordering a drink and talking to Elijah.
"Hey, Soph, sorry bout that…um… my friend is going to be joining me from out of town for a couple of days." I say as Elijah turns towards me.
"Miss Forbes, a friend you say, vampire?"
"Umm… no… she's a witch." His face remains emotionless but as I look past him I see Marcel's shoulders tense back.
No witches are allowed to do magic. Or I kill them. I remember Marcel warning me when I first arrived. I'm going to have to ask Sophie about that.
"Well I hope that your friend enjoys the Quarter and finds her stay very welcoming. It was lovely to meet you Miss Forbes, if you'll excuse me I have some business to attend." He says in a formal tone. He starts to walk past me when I call him back.
"Elijah, please call me Caroline." I say with a smile as his lips lift and he nods.
"Of course, it was a pleasure to meet you Caroline." He leaves and I turn back to Sophie who is signalling with her eyes that we should leave. I give a small sharp nod and we start to make our way towards the door.
"Oh, Cherie leaving already?" Marcel's voice comes in as he, Klaus and Kol approach us.
"Well, there is only so much time that I can spend with any of you before I want to stake myself. So I'm actually doing you a favour by preventing my blood spilled everywhere and a clean-up crew being needed." I say with a false smile as Marcel looks me up and down and I stop myself vomiting.
"I must say it's been a pleasure being in your company tonight Caroline, I hope to see you soon. Don't miss me too much" he says with a huge grin.
"Like a stake through the heart." I say as I roll my eyes and turn away. I hear Klaus and Kol chuckle behind me as Sophie and me walk away back to her house. Once we get inside Sophie looks at me with a puzzled expression on my face.
"What?" I say as I scrunch my eyebrows mirroring her puzzled look. She shakes her head and smile.
"Your just like Josephine, incredibly brave and doesn't stand for any bull-shit." She laughs and I smile along with her.
"Your friend, the one coming to town who is she, you said she was a witch?"
"Yeah she is, her name's Bonnie Bennett an-" I get cut off by her gasp.
"Bennett?" she whispers. I nod my head.
"As in Sheila Bennett?"
"How did you know about Grams?" I ask curiously
"She helped me control my magic and Bonnie appears to be my goddaughter."
"Wow, well you learn a new thing every day." I yawn and blink sleepily.
"Tired?" she says with a small giggle and I nod.
"Yeah, I should be going." Sophie starts shaking her head.
"Of course not Caroline, you'll be staying here with me, we're family." She says and drags me up the stairs to a guest room. "Here you can wear this and we'll get your stuff tomorrow morning." She says as she hands me a tank top and pyjama shorts.
"Thanks Soph." I smile and she hugs me tight as I hug her back.
"I'm so glad that you found me, that our family is coming together. Oh what time is Bonnie arriving?"
"She'll be here in the morning, I told her to come to your house. What time are my parents arriving?"
"They'll be here by 3" I take a deep breath in as I absorb the information. I'm going to meet my birth parents, the people who protected me from day 1. Sophie gently holds my hands in hers as she makes contact with my eyes.
"It's ok to be nervous Caroline, your parents are as well. Your life is changing but know that we will all be here every step of the way. I promise." She squeezes my hands and says goodnight, I smile back as she turns and walks out of the room leaving the door slightly ajar. I look out of the window and realise it's a full moon tonight. God I feel so tired, I change into my clothes, climb into the bed and fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Knock Knock! Knock Knock!
My eyes flash open as I hear the thudding on the door, I get out of bed and make my way downstairs. I listen and hear Sophie's light snores telling me that she's still asleep. I make my way to the door and open it to see a figure standing with his back to me
"Klaus" he turns and smirks whilst running his eyes over me.
"Good morning, love, you wouldn't happen to know where Sophie is would you?"
"She's still asleep, do you need anything?" He shakes his head.
"Well I needed to talk to her but seeing as she is still asleep would you mind if I wait in the house till she wakes?" On one hand I want to say no, I have no idea if Sophie would approve, but on the other this might be about something important. I nod my head and turn and walk away from the door. I didn't invite him inside which means that he can only enter if Sophie has allowed him in before.
The floorboard creaks as he steps inside and gives me a smirk as I raise my head minutely to not be condescended upon.
"I'll go wake Sophie up, but don't touch anything!" I say as I point a finger at him. He approaches me and as much as I want to retreat by the dangerous look in his eyes, I stay firmly rooted to the spot. He stops and raises his hand to my finger which is pointing at him, he gently grasps my hand and raises the back of it to his lips all the while keeping his eyes staring into mine.
"Of course I won't sweetheart, and may I say you look ravishing this morning." He murmurs as he gives me a wolfish grin. I blush as I realise that I'm standing in a thin cotton tank top and a pair of small shorts. I compose myself and scoff as I roll my eyes. I make my way up to Sophie's room.
"Hey, Soph…Sophie."
"Just one more minute Jo" She groans whilst referring to me as my mother.
"Sophie, Sophie, wake up. Klaus is here to talk to you." I gasp as she suddenly raises herself up in less than a second with a wild look in her eyes. She grabs her robe and descends down the stairs to where Klaus is standing.
"Why the hell are you here?!" She half shouts as I stand to watch the scene play out.
"Well you called didn't you?" He says through clenched teeth.
"No, I told Elijah to come here, not you!"
"He'll be here any moment" Just then there is a knock on the door and I open it to see Elijah, he swiftly strides in to Sophie.
"I apologize for the delay, I hope Niklaus has been behaving himself" he says as if he's the father of Klaus. I can't help but giggle uncontrollably. They all look at me with raised eyebrows.
"I'm sorry… it's just… it's as if Klaus is a little boy and you're his dad who's been called into school because his son had just started a riot!" I laugh louder as Klaus chuckles along with me.
"Riot, love, you know me so well" he says as our laughter dies down whilst Sophie and Elijah just continue to look at us with their eyebrows raised. I cough and recompose myself when I hear another knock on the door. Sophie opens it and I see Bonnie standing there.
"Bonnie!" II rush towards her smiling as she does the same to me.
"Ahem!" I turn to see Elijah looking at me as if I was acting like a rowdy teenager.
"Oh, Bonnie, meet Elijah and Klaus Mikaelson and Sophie Devereux, Sophie, Elijah, Klaus meet my best friend Bonnie" I say with a huge smile.
"It's lovely to meet you Bonnie, but if you could just excuse us three for a moment." Sophie says and leads Klaus and Elijah away. I turn back to Bonnie.
"Oh, I'm so happy you're here, New Orleans is amazing. Come on I'll show you your room."
"Care, you said that you'll explain everything" Her eyes convey her judgement. I raise my fingers to my lips and then tap my ear to sign that vampires can hear us. Her eyes widen and then she nods. I lead her up to her room.
"So Bonnie tell me everything that happened and then I'll kick Jeremy's ass and you know I can do it." I say with a small smile as she sighs. I sit her down on the bed and wrap my arms around her as she starts to speak.
"I already told you everything that happened Care and all I want to do now is forget about him." Her energy picks up "So tell me what's New Orleans like?" She says with renewed energy. My hearing picks up the front door closing and a few seconds later Sophie enters the room. She gives me a subtle nod to tell me that Elijah and Klaus have left.
"Yeah, about that, you know how I said I'd explain everything, well sit back and grab some popcorn cause this is a long story…"