Chapter 7: Chapter 6
AN: A lot shorter than the other chapters, but full of emotional stuff. (Yeah, I'm having a bad week so it's affecting my writing.) I'll try and update on Thursdays, since that's my day off from college. If not, I apologise, but I'm having a hard time at the moment. Leave a review and tell me what you think.
Caroline walks down the halls to a lesson when she's grabbed by the arm and thrown out through a fire escape. Her forehead smacks on the wall and everything begins to fade. "Shit, you weren't meant to hurt her!" A girl hisses at someone who simply grunts in response. She presses the call button on her phone just before a large hand grabs her arm again and pulls her along.
Klaus presses the accept button and is about to speak when he hears the mumblings and loud wind through the phone. "Marcel is going to pissed that you made her hit her head," a female voice hisses. "Oh shut up, witch. Just put the barrier back up when we're out of here," the man growls back. "Wait. What's that?" The girl gasps before there's a loud growling rumbling through the phone. "Relax, princess. It's only a dog. The mutt's on our side. OW! Bitch, don't scratch me. If you bite me, Boss will kill you!" The man reminds the wolf who snarls and bounds away from the phone. "Is Marcel meeting him today after we give him the girl?" she asks the man. "Yeah, we drop her off at the top of the cliff and he jumps off in to the depths off hell to meet the devil himself," the man chuckles.
The door opens and Klaus flashes over, covering Kol's big mouth with his hand whilst gesturing to the phone. They both silently listen in to the conversation that turns to idle chatter for a while, followed by silence. "Which cliff again?" She asks as he sighs heavily. "The one west of the lake. I thought witches were smart or something?" He scoffs, grunting when she uses her powers to hurt him. "Smart, powerful... vengeful. If you fuck up, I'll kill you."
With the location, the brothers set off to save Caroline and gather the others
Caroline wakes back up when she's tossed to the ground harshly. She groans and brings a hand to her head, feeling the blood on her fingertips. "You hurt her," a man states cruelly from above her. "Not my fault she's still weak," another responds uncaring. "You're lucky the boss man likes you, otherwise I'd rip out your tongue as a warning," the first spits out. "Can we please get out of here? They'll notice she's gone by now," the girl frets, feet stumbling around as she paces. "Of course we can, baby doll," the first man purrs.
Caroline looks up to see him walk over and wrap an arm around the frightened girl. "Your services are no longer required," he tells her, dark face breaking out in to a charming smile before he swipes a hand across her throat. His long, talon-like nails drip with blood and Caroline's fearful eyes widen in horror as the girl drops to her knees and holds her bleeding throat in a weak attempt to save herself.
Caroline scurries back until her hand misses the ground and she shrieks, almost falling over the edge of the cliff. The men turn to her and she sits up. A ring of fire surrounds her, white hot and deadly as it rises high above their tall frames. "That bitch!" The dark skinned man roars, grabbing the girl's body and launching her in to the forest. "She didn't bind the powers!" The pale man with brilliant blue eyes smirks. "She did. But then you killed her so the spell wore off, Marcel," he informs smugly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why didn't you tell me, Damon?" Marcel roars, flashing in front of the raven-like man. "Because the boss doesn't like you," Damon shrugs before grabbing the man and leaving Caroline in her ring of flickering fire alone in the forest as she falls unconscious.
Klaus grabs her before she falls over the cliff and brings her close to his chest. "Caroline?" He breathes, looking at the blonde. "CAROLINE!" He screams, shaking her limp body. She doesn't respond an he rips in to his flesh, shoving his wrist to her mouth. "Come on, love. Drink it. Please," he begs, continuously tearing open his wrist and feeding her his blood. "Nik," Kol whispers, tears coming down his cheeks from his broken hazel eyes. "Nik, it's too late!" He shouts, grabbing Klaus' wrist as blood drops above Caroline's unbeating heart. "No, I promised her she'd be okay. I- I love her. She- She can't be gone," Klaus sobs, curling over Caroline's body and muffling his screams in to her neck.
Damon throws Marcel at the man's feet proudly, but falters when he sees that the boss isn't happy. "Wh-What is it, Mikael?" He asks in a weary whisper. "She's dead," Mikael deadpans. "She is dead and now Niklaus has nothing to hold him back from killing us all. Do you know why she is dead?" Damon shakes his head, brows pulled together confused. "No, she was fine when I left her. Klaus was right behind us," Damon stresses desperately. "She died because you made her hit her head and then she used the last of her energy making that fire ring," Mikael speaks calmly as he walks up to Damon. He brings his lips to Damon's ear and hisses sinisterly, "If I didn't have a use for you two idiots, I'd rip you apart, limb by limb, until you begged for death."
His footsteps echo as he walks away to the door. He stops by the dirty brown wolf and grimaces. "You're disgusting. Go wash and then do your part, mutt," he orders as the wolf sneers at him. "Damn dogs," he mutters before kicking her side and launching her body so that she slams in to Damon and crushes the vampires beneath her. She whimpers but the vampires pay no mind to her as they throw her off and all disappear whilst she heals herself, wondering why she joined them when she could get her revenge on her own.
Klaus lies Caroline's body on her bed before leaving the room, a blank look on his face as he passes by his distraught family. Stefan's pained cries, Rebekah's sobbing, Elijah's sniffling, even Katherine's choked sobs in to Elijah's chest were destroying him. But he was already pushed over the edge because she's gone. She's dead and he wasn't there to help her.
Rebekah grabs on to Stefan's shirt and screams in to his chest as they stand beside Caroline's bed. She looks almost like she's sleeping, save for the paled skin and cracked skull just under her fringe. Bonnie and Elena fall in to the room and look at her body, but what scares them the most is Bonnie's relieved smile. "Why are smiling?" Kol hisses at her. "Because it's working," Bonnie whispers, taking Caroline's hand and chanting. He flashes towards her, ready to kill her, but simply bounces off her and ends up smashing through a wall to Caroline's wardrobe.
"What are you doing, Bonnie?" Katherine screams, but the witch's white eyes are too focused on Caroline and her ears blocking out everything but the occasional faint blip of a heartbeat in Caroline's body.
The manky brown wolf trots through the forest until she comes across a run down house in the forest. The wolf changes back to human form and walks over to Tyler as he looks at her naked body. "Hayley," he greets with a smirk as she pulls on her robe and sits on his lap. "Tyler," she purrs. He stands up and sits her on the desk hands running up her bare thighs. "What did you find out?" He asks, stepping between her parted legs and kissing her neck. "Mikael is going to kill Marcel and Damon once this is done..." she whispers as he unbuttons his jeans. "And?" He prompts, nipping at her collar bone. "And... I'm pregnant," she breathes, watching his face light up before he picks her up and holds her tightly. She smiles and for once feels at home, with a family - her family.
Klaus sits at the desk, tears dripping from his eyes. Photos and artwork of her haunt him as he looks every image from the first day she arrived to yesterday when he sketched her reading in her library. Memories suffocate him and his heart feels like it's ripping apart. He stands up and roars as the desk flips over, shattering and sending everything in it flying out.
He flashes to Caroline's library and he lets it all out. He picks up the box from her shelf and his fingers linger on the lid. These are my memories, all on this wall. The box with your name on it, has everything that means something to me that links me to you. It's the biggest one. Then, there's Stefan, Rebekah, Elijah and Kol, Finn... Mom and Dad. You're not allowed to look in it unless I let you. Also, you might find the white oak stake on that shelf. Just saying.
He opens the box and inside, sure enough, is the stake that could kill him. He holds it in one hand as he grabs the box with his name on it.
Sitting in her chair, he looks through all the souvenirs and random crap she kept from their days together. Piles of tickets from fairs, zoo trips, school trips, theatre and all that are in one pile. Receipts from restaurants, diners and so on next to them. Shells of all sizes with dates and little sentences from every beach visit. Ribbons from when he'd put them in her hair (though they'd never tell anyone that he's the one that put them in her blonde pigtails). The last pages from every book he's read to her. Little statues of every landmark he gave to her when he'd tell her stories. Jewellery he bought her but she grew out of. Sketches that had to be laminated to keep safe from aging and everyone else's grubby hands. Photographs, thousands of them, from when she was a baby to a week before he left - all or him or with him or both of them with Stefan.
He takes in a shaky breath and holds the last picture of him. The day he took her up to see the sunrise, she took a picture of the two of them together. Placing the box beside him on the table, he places the tip of the stake to his chest. Her eyes are lit in the photo, with the sun reflected in them. She looks stunning, perfect... Alive. He closes his eyes, holding on to every memory of her laugh and smile and light. A sad smile creeps up on his lips as he presses the stake in to skin. He barely feels it splitting in to his skin slowly but he feels it being ripped away.
He roars and grabs the person by the throat, but a familiar fire burning his skin makes him release them. "Don't be so bloody dramatic, Niklaus!" She shouts, shoving him back a step. He feels more tears streaming down his face as he looks at her, stood before him in her favourite pair of jeans and new shirt. Her head is n longer caved in and her eyes are burning with a red tint rather than a green one. "H-How?" He asks, tumbling backwards as she smiles at him brokenly. "Did you really think I'd leave you?" She whispers softly, tilting her head. He chokes out a sob and she flashes over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying in to his shoulder silently. He grabs her so tightly that she almost whimpers, but she keeps silent as he falls to his knees with her and bawls in to her neck.
She strokes his hair and kisses the crook of his neck, calming him down enough to talk to him. "Bonnie helped me, with the ritual. I told her that I knew something would happen and I... I couldn't leave you," she whispers, rocking him side to side gently to soothe him. "I didn't tell you because... I didn't know if it'd work and I didn't want to give you false hope or something. Then... you weren't there when I woke up and I just- I could feel what you were about to do and I came here."
He pulls away and swallows thickly, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry," he breathes, holding her face and pressing his lips to hers desperately. Her hands cup his neck as she deepens the kiss, knowing that he needs this to make sure she's really here. He flashes them so they're stood up, her back pressed against the door as he pulls her body flush against his. She moans, tugging his hair when she feels her teeth grow to try and stop him. His fangs scrape over her lip and he looks at her with gold eyes as hers turns a burning red-orange. "I still, erm, need to feed," she pants, chest heaving against his. "Yeah," he nods, keeping her against him as they leave the library, the stake burning when she turns back to it. The pile of ash blows off the table in to the bin and she smiles as she drops her head on his shoulder, his arms around her.
Mikael pulls away from the fog that shows him his son and the blonde. Roaring, he swipes his hand through it and turns to the witch. "Now we'll never kill her!" He screams, gripping her by the throat. "The stake has been burnt, the girl transitioned and the boy will soon enough! How did this happen? You said the Bennett witch was weak!" He screams in her face as she cries fearfully. "I- I don't know. she deceived us. We thought she was weak but-" She cuts off when Mikael bites in to his wrist and forces her to drink his blood. She begs him not to do it but he snaps her neck and smirks at the other witch who shakes in the corner behind Marcel's guard. "Let this be a lesson to you. Find a way to kill that bastard and his mate, or I'll turn every witch in to a vampire and sire them to me until I have an army large enough to destroy this world," Mikael warns the young girl who shrinks behind Marcel and clutches his hand.
Mikael leaves and Marcel turns to her with worried eyes. "I'm scared," she whispers, hugging his waist tightly. "I know, baby girl, we all are," he whispers, soothing her. "We made a mistake," she cries weakly against his chest as he rests his chin on top of her head. "Yes, we did," he says with a heavy sigh. "We did," Damon agrees before leaving after Mikael.
