Author's Note: It turns out, I didn't die. But I did lose inspiration due to certain storylines and the almost complete lack of Klaroline in both shows. Still, thanks to some prodding from a few amazing people I managed to write this, and I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Show me how to lie
You're getting better all the time
And turning all against the one
Is an art that's hard to teach
Another clever word
Sets off an unsuspecting herd
And as you step back into line
A mob jumps to their feet
I kissed Klaus.
The mantra played in her head, over and over and over like a broken record, IkissedKlausIkissedKlausIkissedKlaus. Or, did he kiss her? Was there a difference?
She'd stopped him. She hadn't wanted to.
But then she'd run and now she wasn't sure what she was more guilty over, the kiss or running away. Caroline owed him so much more than this cowardice, she knew that, she knew that at the very least, she should have stayed and talked to him. But that was sane, rational thinking, and right now, Caroline wasn't sure she could conjure the energy to think straight.
After wandering down random streets for ten minutes, she finally mustered up the presence of mind to recognize that roaming around New Orleans by herself was almost certainly a stupid idea. She changed course to double back to her apartment, and despite the broad daylight she shivered, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Over years of being involved in supernatural power struggles, this was a feeling she'd become familiar with.
The feeling of being followed.
Her hand dived for the phone in her pocket immediately and she was five seconds into finding his number that she realized she couldn't possibly call Klaus for help, not after what happened. Kol was next, but she had left him with Enzo and the last thing she needed was to deal with both of them interrogating her.
Her heartbeat pounded in her ears but she didn't call for help, forcing her pace to remain steady, apartment in sight. If she could just make it home –
When had this tiny apartment in a strange city become home?
That didn't matter, she couldn't let herself spiral into self-pity, it was pointless and so far, it had only caused her to make the wrong decisions. She just had to make it home.
Steps away from the building's entrance, Caroline half-sprinted inside, heaving a sigh of relief when no one grabbed her back or tried to attack. Was it possible she'd imagined that feeling?
God, now she doubted her own instincts.
For the past year, every little part of herself that she'd fought so hard to hold onto had slipped through her fingers one by one until she wasn't even sure that the Caroline Forbes of Mystic Falls was still in her.
Screw that. She was still Miss Mystic Falls, still the girl who loved her friends and had control and tried so hard to be the one. And in times of crisis, that girl always knew how to come out on top.
First thing's first. She needed a list.
Ten minutes later and she had all of two things written down:
1) Call Stefan
2) Apologize to Klaus
It was debatable on which one was harder. She could've made a full pros and cons list on the repercussions of both, but that was stalling and Caroline had spent enough time doing that. Besides, only one of those things had been put off for an entire year.
Her breaths turned shallow as the number rang, fighting the monumental urge to throw the phone as far away as possible. But she held on for seconds that dragged on like hours until finally, someone picked up.
"Caroline?!"
"Hi Stefan." Her own voice sounded tiny and far away like she was hearing it through a long tube.
"Are you okay?! Where have you been, we've been trying to find you but we had no leads, we didn't know where to look…"
Stefan trailed off but his desperation was palpable, and Caroline choked back a sob, tampering down her shame so that she didn't hang up the call just to avoid facing this head on.
"I'm sorry, Stefan," she finally managed to say. "I'm so sorry."
"Caroline, are you alright?" His voice was steadier but Caroline didn't know how to begin her answer.
"I'm managing," she said carefully. "Things have been difficult but I've gotten a lot better."
"That's…that's good. That's really good."
They fell into an awkward silence but Caroline felt herself smiling softly, not realizing how much she'd missed Stefan's reassurance. He'd taught her to be strong when she'd first turned, whenever she lost control now, it was like she was letting him down every time.
"How is everything?" she asked, unsure if she even wanted the answer.
"We're good. You should know, something happened with Elena and Katherine-"
"I know, Enzo told me."
"Enzo found you?!"
"Just yesterday."
"He didn't say anything," Stefan muttered and Caroline was reminded that in the short time she'd been there, Stefan and Enzo had barely gotten along.
"I made him promise not to call you, and he made me promise that I would."
Stefan let out a ragged sigh on the other end of the line, and Caroline could sense him trying to form words. "Caroline, if you want to know – we buried your mom. She's next to your grandparents. They dedicated a bench in the town square to her. I don't know if that's what you wanted –"
"It's perfect Stefan," Caroline said quietly, blinking back tears. "Thank you for everything."
"You can see it for yourself when you come home."
The penny dropped, and she steeled herself for what she had to tell him. "Stefan, I know this doesn't make any sense, and I owe you so much, but I'm not coming home."
"Caroline, you were tortured and hurt, what happened was not your fault –"
"I know, Stefan," she interrupted. It had been drilled into her over the past few days, and it was something else she had Klaus to thank for. "It's just really complicated. There are a lot of things going on, I can't come home."
"Caroline, you've been gone an entire year and we've had no clue where you were or if you were even alive. Please, just come home, be with the people who care about you?"
"Is that Caroline?!"
She barely had time to register the other voice in the background before Stefan was protesting loudly and another familiar voice greeted her.
"Blondie, where the fuck have you been?"
"Hi Damon," Caroline replied with a wince. This was one reunion she hadn't thought about too much, except to hope she could put it off as long as possible. "How are you?"
"Screw you Barbie, do you know the hell we've been through cleaning up your mess?!"
"Damon, you're not helping!"
"Just let me yell at her a little Stefan!" Damon snapped and there were sounds of a scuffle before he continued. "Do you have any idea what your stunt has been doing to us? Elena's been out of her mind because of you!"
Elena, Elena, Elena, Caroline missed her friend and wanted nothing more than to apologize for everything, but she couldn't help but roll her eyes over how transparent Damon was. It was always about Elena. It made her angry again, defensive.
"Damon, you don't understand what's been going on, I couldn't come home!"
"Oh yeah? Maybe I should get Donovan on the phone. You know how much he blames himself for everything that happened? Not to mention you did a number on him, and we all know how he feels about taking vampire blood."
The blood in Caroline's veins ran cold and the thought of sweet, innocent Matt enduring pain and injury was like taking a stake to the chest. "How is he?"
"Do you care?"
"Damon!"
There was a loud crashing sound on the other line, and after much muttered cursing, she heard Stefan again.
"Matt's fine, Care. It was touch and go, and he didn't want blood but his injuries were – they were really bad. Elena and Bonnie managed to convince him it was a good idea. He's doing a lot better now."
"Why did Damon say he blames himself?" Caroline asked hollowly.
Stefan gulped audibly, searching for the words. "He thinks he should've been able to talk you down. We've told him about Augustine and how you had no control…"
"There's nothing he could've done to stop me. Not unless he wanted to die too."
They dropped into another awkward silence, neither sure what to say. After spending so much time in self-imposed exile, her mind raced with everything she'd learnt about her friends and her home. It seemed like so long ago, like she'd been gone for a decade instead of just a year.
"I'm not ready to go back, Stef," she said quietly. "I'm sorry, I have to stay in New Orleans."
The slip was out just as she realized what she'd done. "You're in New Orleans?" Stefan asked, cautiously.
"She's been living it up in New Orleans while we've been dealing with her shit over here?!"
"Damon, shut up. Caroline, what are you doing there?"
"It's really complicated Stefan," she said, sounding pathetic even to herself.
"Caroline…if you're near the French Quarter…"
The implication hung in the air and there was no way to ignore it. After a year of running, this was one truth she could at least give them. "The Mikaelsons are here. And I guess I'm…helping them."
"So you ran to the Big Bad Wolf. Nice, Blondie, real nice."
"Get out, Damon!" Stefan's order finally landed and she could hear Damon's swearing in the background slowly get fainter. "Caroline, what is going on that we can't help you too?"
It was a long story but she could give it to them if she wanted to, if she was brave enough. But the thought of them falling victim to a war between crazy vampires or a doomsday cult wasn't something she could have on her conscience, and there was no decision to make.
"I can't tell you Stefan, but I want you to tell everyone how much I love them…and tell them how sorry I am. I'm going to come home. But not for a while."
"Caroline, please-"
"Bye Stefan." She ended the call, shaking slightly. Her breaths were ragged, slowly turning into harsh sobs, and she flung her phone to the farthest corner of the bedroom. Self-pity had taken up too much of her time, but right now, she just wanted to wallow in solitude, if only for a little while.
Action would come later. There was still one more item on the list.
REDDING, CALIFORNIA
JULY 2014
Caroline woke up with a jolt. She wasn't sure what it was, but the edges of a nightmare slipped away from her, something involving her mother's voice. She took a breath, trying to forget and swung her legs over the bed, pushing herself up and making her way over to the bathroom.
Her hands searched the far wall, finally finding the light switches, and she flicked one on, wincing when she missed the bathroom's and accidentally turned on the harsh overhead lighting. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, waiting for Kol's complaining, but surprisingly nothing came. That was weird, Kol had made it very clear what happened to anyone who interrupted his 'beauty sleep', and she had the memories of some wicked bruises to prove it.
A vampire couldn't die in his sleep, right?
Caroline was fully awake then, remembering all those times Kol had passed out and she wondered if whatever dark magic the Silas cult used had finally caught up with him.
In the few seconds it took to put all of this together, Caroline flashed over to the side of the motel room's second bed, realizing that she had been entirely wrong.
Kol hadn't woken up because Kol wasn't there at all.
Dammit, if that asshole was gone in the middle of the night that meant somebody out there was probably being drained of blood at this very moment, and she couldn't resist the nagging urge to do something.
On went her most comfortable pair of jeans and a sweatshirt from a tourist trap back in Oregon, and she stepped outside of the motel room, listening carefully for any signs of a struggle. There were nothing but crickets in the distance and the faint buzz of the vacancy sign. She knew that they were supposed to be lying low, but she had to talk to Kol about staying at decent accommodations. Three stars at least.
Speaking of the Original, he was nowhere to be found. And neither was the car.
Caroline would've been a lot more worried if it wasn't for the fact that she'd loaded a tracking app on her phone ages ago. The little red flag on the map told her that he was just on the edge of the city limits, but how to get there?
"Hey babe, you lookin' for a good time?"
Ugh. The motel attendant who wouldn't stop staring at her chest when checking them in was apparently not very good at his job if the bottle of beer in his hand was anything to go by.
"Did you see the guy I was staying with leave?" she asked, annoyed.
"Yeah, he took off about half an hour ago. He leave you all alone?"
It was late and Caroline didn't have the patience necessary to deal with this shit. "Give me your car keys and go back to work," she said steadily, compulsion taking hold.
Ten minutes later (too long in a car that smelled like the underpass of a bridge), she pulled up in front of a large, darkened building. Her phone told her it was some kind of sports facility, the broken glass and busted open front door told her Kol was definitely here.
Glass crunching underfoot, Caroline walked around the building, listening carefully. She could hear a rhythmic 'thwack' coming from somewhere and she followed the sound around the back, finding a row of batting cages. She faintly remembered Elena mentioning Kol had a thing for baseball bats – honestly, she couldn't really blame anyone wanting to take a bat to Damon's head.
Kol was there in one of the cages but he didn't bother acknowledging her. Caroline sighed and walked forward before the faint smell of blood alerted her to the security guard who was slumped against the wall. Cursing, she flashed over, checking for a pulse and finding a very weak one. Ripping into her wrist, she made sure some blood got down the guy's throat before leaving him there and making her way over to Kol.
"You left this one alive, sure you're not going soft?" she called out, twining her fingers through the chainlink and leaning against the cage.
"Perhaps I was saving some for later," he said finally, still not bothering to look at her. He was completely focused and Caroline knew that not killing this victim wasn't some act of kindness; he just couldn't care either way. He'd been stressed lately, less carefree and more like his older brother, prone to broodiness. He'd probably snap her neck if she said it out loud though.
"Are you coming back anytime soon?" she asked, and his response was to hit another ball, sending it soaring through the air until she couldn't see it anymore.
Caroline didn't know if he was venting or what, but it was the middle of the night and he wasn't the only one feeling the stress of getting nowhere and wanting answers.
Kol hit another ball and was about to swing again before a small hand caught the bat and he realized Caroline was right beside him. "What, you think you're the only one who's got problems?" she asked, daring him to challenge her.
Raising an eyebrow skeptically (he didn't think manicures went well with sports), he handed over the bat and stepped back. Caroline didn't hesitate, taking a stance and when the ball came at her, she swung perfectly.
The sound of metal hitting ball was satisfying and Caroline couldn't help but smile widely as she landed another hit, and then another and another. Kol whooped behind her, clapping slowly in admiration when the balls finally stopped and she lowered the bat, flushed, and grinning widely. Kol may have been the one brooding but Caroline hadn't realized how much she needed this, to vent out the stress, to take out her frustrations and just hit something.
"You know, I think you're onto something." Caroline turned to face Kol who looked like like he'd finally managed to snap back to his old self.
"Obviously, darling. I'm much more than a pretty face."
Caroline snorted, "So can we please go back so that I can actually get some sleep?"
"Sure you don't want a snack?" he asked, nodding to where the still-unconscious guard lay. Narrowed eyes were all the answer he got and he just laughed in her face. "Fine goody-two shoes, how about we see how good you are against an actual pitcher?"
"It's a tragedy, isn't it mate? The fleeting, fickle nature of romance?"
Klaus knocked back some more liquor, watching the young man sitting in the booth with him fidget nervously. The underground club he'd chosen was loud, dark, and growing even more crowded by the minute as the night dragged on, and he looked forward to a larger pool of victims, a bigger audience to the havoc he was itching to cause.
For now though, his focus was on the young couple he'd compelled to join him in one of the booths tucked away along the back wall. They'd wandered in earlier, obviously smitten with each other, and too wrapped up in the throes of love to notice the monster who decided he loathed them on sight.
"Tell me, do you see a future here? A marriage, a life, every moment spent side by side?"
They were compelled to stay still, but their fear was palpable. "Please don't hurt us," the girl whispered.
Klaus wagged a finger at her like he was scolding a child, "Now love, that didn't answer the question."
She gulped, but nodded slowly. "We're getting married in five months."
Klaus threw back his head and laughed like he'd heard the funniest joke in the world, letting his victims' discomfort grow until it was almost tangible. When he finally stopped, still chuckling lightly, he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and faced the couple, his smirk curling into something sharp and feral.
"Such deluded fools. Tell you what though," he leaned closer to them, capturing their gazes. "I'll make it easier on you. Save you from the inevitable fallout as you both eventually come to despise each other – because that's how it always goes, doesn't it?"
"Look man, just let us go, there are people watching," the man pleaded, and Klaus would have admired his bravery more if the fear didn't roll off him in waves.
"Don't worry about them, they'll have their turn. Now, why don't you both save yourselves a lifetime of misery and see who can strangle the other first?"
The compulsion took hold and Klaus tuned out the sounds of their struggle, choosing instead to drown himself in drink and fight down the memory of the blonde vampire who was the cause of this little episode.
You shouldn't have done that.
Her words played on a torturous loop in his head, taunting him with what he'd had a taste of before it was so hastily ripped away. Caroline was fighting no shortage of demons but he wondered if it wasn't time to let her deal with them on her own, since that was what she was so clearly asking for.
Pitiful blubbering drew his attention and he turned to see the young bride-to-be sobbing over the body of her now dead fiancé, his body limp next to hers, large bruises on his neck. Klaus rolled his eyes at the display, "Don't worry sweetheart, in time, you would have appreciated the good I've done you."
Through her grief, the girl managed to pick up on the Klaus' words. "Would have?"
Klaus smiled dryly, giving no warning before he lunged forward and his teeth were embedded in her neck, drinking and draining without caring about finesse or seduction. His anger demanded to be unleashed and these two wouldn't be the first, nor the last.
Once the girl was drained and dead, he pushed her away, letting her slide to the floor of the booth, her boyfriend following. The staff would take care of them – or not, he couldn't be too bothered.
Nor was he going to be too bothered about his big brother standing over the table.
"Can I get you a drink, Elijah?"
Elijah's sigh was so weary it was almost comical. "You might at least thank me for cleaning up your messes." Again, he muttered so quietly that it might not have been said at all.
Klaus just waved him off, taking another swig. "I'm not in the mood," he muttered darkly.
Elijah opened his mouth to argue but apparently thought better of it. Instead, he sat down, letting his brother stew in silence as he waved over a trio of lackeys who had been standing at attention. They wordlessly attended to the corpses, another flitted through the crowd, compelling every human to ignore what they saw. Any vampires there would hardly need encouragement to keep their mouths shut.
The two Originals remained quiet, Klaus stuck in his own head, Elijah keeping one ear open to the conversations buzzing around them. They were out of sight from most, but it would have been impossible for any supernatural to ignore what had happened, and the gossip flew freely. His brother's mood was too black for him to notice, but Elijah knew well enough that kingdoms weren't sustained on ignorance of scandal.
The vampire in charge of compulsion was waved over, Elijah composing a perfect poker face. "What are they saying?"
"Only that Klaus is in a bad mood…they think something's gone wrong with his weapon."
At the last word, Klaus's head snapped up, eyes narrowing on the messenger, "What weapon?"
"Th-the girl. The one who kills other vampires."
"Thank you, that will be all. Keep near the entrance, take care of any newcomers." Elijah waved him off before Klaus could kill the poor boy on impulse, turning over the information in his head. How this story of Caroline Forbes being his brother's weapon had started, he had no clue, nor how anyone could believe it to be true. Five minutes around the two and it was clear Klaus had next to no control over the girl, even as young as she was. It was becoming a grave nuisance.
"As if I would need weapons," Klaus muttered petulantly. "Such idiots."
"Yes, well, they need some way to explain your current state," Elijah muttered disparagingly. He made no secret of his distaste for how Klaus let himself be so distracted by one girl that he ignored the now tenuous hold their family had on the city, a hold that had been perfectly strong until Caroline and Kol had marched into the city with tales of a cults and doom.
"I take it you had a spat with Ms. Forbes then?"
A low growl was all the answer he got.
"Lost her forever have we?"
"I never had her!" Klaus spat, flinging the bottle in front of him across the room, barely noticing the scattered screams as it shattered against a wall.
"Well that was a waste," Elijah responded dryly, waving over a waitress for another bottle.
Klaus ignored his brother's obvious scorn, fixated on going over every interaction he and Caroline had shared over the past week. He had thought, sometimes…but he'd been wrong. Wrong and foolish and he almost hoped that she'd come to him for help simply so that he could laugh in her face.
Was it petty; was it cruel, given what she'd faced? Possibly. Still, she had no shortage of people who she'd rather tell her problems to, so perhaps it was time to step back.
"Niklaus, have you been listening to a word?"
Truthfully he hadn't, but Klaus knew that Elijah would only get more insufferable as the night wore on. "One more time, if you please, Elijah?"
Elijah refrained from rolling his eyes in a very Rebekah-like fashion. "I was suggesting that now might be the correct time to revisit our former plan concerning Kol."
Now he had his brother's attention, Klaus focused through the haze of rejection and alcohol to properly understand what Elijah was suggesting. "You want to dagger him?"
To his credit, there was the briefest flicker of guilt on Elijah's face before he masked it expertly. "He's done nothing but attract havoc. Whatever magic has brought him back, whatever 'mission' he seems to think is so important, it is not this city's problem."
Klaus mulled over the words. "The witches are being used."
"The witches can take care of themselves. And recently, we're giving them enough reasons to turn against us on their own." There's the barest hint of blame in Elijah's tone, but Klaus knows his brother well enough to understand what he's trying to say. His duties had fallen to the wayside and while he couldn't bring himself to care too much, he knew Elijah would be antsy, wanting everything in perfect order.
Putting down their loose cannon brother would be the first step to putting things back to normal.
Watching his brother think over the proposal carefully, Elijah debated mentioning the next part of his plan, but held off. Putting down Kol was something Klaus was perfectly willing to do on his own whenever the two bickered, but clearly his relationship with Caroline was something more complicated. He'd never seen his brother so unhinged, and in this state, he was no good to anyone. Rumors of the Mikaelsons would only warp and grow until every vampire, werewolf, witch and human who had reason to hate his family saw this as the final straw and pre-emptively attacked.
To Elijah, the course of action was simple. There were two choices ahead: either use Caroline Forbes, or run her out of town.
If Caroline could be persuaded to remind Klaus where his responsibilities were, then he had no problem with the girl staying, provided she and Klaus came to some sort of civil understanding. But if she stood by her and Kol's fruitless mission then she'd have to leave and he only hoped Klaus was smart enough not to follow.
Klaus was still drowning his sorrows in tense silence when Elijah's phone chimed with a text.
Found something in the bayou.
"It's from Hayley," Elijah said, frowning to himself. "They've found something out in the bayou, we should take a look."
"By all means," Klaus said, waving him off, hoping he could go back to slaughtering in peace.
Elijah gave another long suffering sigh. "Get up brother; this is still your concern."
Any fight he put up would be petulant, and as much as Klaus hated being ordered around by his big brother, this was something that needed his attention and could help him forget about Caroline.
With any luck, there'd be something out there he could destroy.
"You seriously bashed in Damon Salvatore's head with a baseball bat?"
Kol didn't even bother hiding how smug he was, simply downing his glass with a self-satisfied smile. "One of the few good memories I took from that one-pony town," he said fondly. "If I concentrate I can still hear the sound of his head being hit."
Enzo raised his own glass in toast but paused just before it touched his lips. "Just to be clear, was this before or after they managed to kill you?"
The glare he got in return could have frozen hell but alcohol and fond memories of violence were enough to keep Kol from taking his heart. "Careful mate, I was just starting to think you were halfway decent."
"Be still my heart," Enzo sighed dramatically, one hand over his chest for show. It earned him a bottle tossed at his head but he dodged it easily, leaving it to shatter next to some startled tourists.
Drawn by a few shrieks and the sound of breaking glass, Camille hurried out of the back, assessing the damage and the two vampires responsible. "Oh my god, how much longer are you two going to be here?!"
She continued her lecture but was thoroughly ignored, the conversation turning towards another blonde with a whole host of problems. "So tell me," Enzo started, pouring them both another round. "Just what is the situation with Goldilocks and your temperamental brother?"
"Hell if I know," Kol snorted. "I thought they'd be fucking each other as soon as she got here but apparently they're making this difficult. Well, she is, he'd probably lock her up in his room if he got half a chance."
"Perhaps we should do that for them – lock them up somewhere, leave them to have it out."
"Regular sex would do wonders for Nik's mood," Kol said thoughtfully. "Might have to resort to that after we sort out this business with Silas."
"You two are insane," Camille muttered as she walked behind them with a tray of broken glass.
Enzo rolled his eyes after her, "She could probably stand to loosen up too."
"Yes, well, no one said Nik's protégé was a rousing success at anything, including keeping women satisfied."
"Ah, and this would be…Marcel?"
Kol nodded, his mood souring at the memory of the boy who'd slipped into his family. "It's been complicated. He got a little too big for his boots. Still is, if you ask me, but my dear brother seems to think he's got everything under control."
Enzo raised a skeptical eyebrow, "You don't agree?"
Kol smirked but his eyes were dark and there was none of his usual humor. "Listen carefully."
He nodded vaguely in the direction of the other vampires scattered around the bar, and Enzo realized that over the day the Original had attracted more than a few groupies, all gossiping amongst themselves.
"They're planning something huge; Marcel says he wants to take them down."
"I heard there was another massacre."
"I heard they have a weapon to kill anyone who gets in their way."
The last speaker had the misfortune to be just a little too close to the bar, close enough that when she snuck a glance at them, she was met with Kol's hard stare. "Come over here, won't you darling?"
The young vampire stuttered, looking back at her two friends but they were suddenly much more interested in their drinks. Taking a breath, she stepped closer, close enough for Kol to have her under compulsion. "Stop spreading nonsense and remind any vampire who questions the Mikaelsons that we're more than happy to make our own messes and kill anyone we need to."
The vampire stumbled off, eyes dazed, while Kol grinned, entirely self-satisfied.
"So you can compel other vampires," Enzo said, clearly impressed no matter how much he tried to hide it.
Kol winked and took another shot, "Original vampire perk."
A dark thought occurred to Enzo and he observed his drinking companion carefully. "I don't suppose you had to use that little trick on Caroline, did you?"
Kol just scoffed, "As if the little hellcat needed any extra incentive to rip people apart."
"Fair enough. There may be a development on that front, however."
Kol raised an eyebrow in question, and Enzo leant forward. "When we were searching for her, we found some of their old hideouts. Most of them were torched, but there was one lab where a doctor's research notes survived. It was in scraps, but they might have been working on a serum. Something to keep their creations in line in the event that they could no longer control them." Enzo smiled bitterly then, downing the rest of his glass. "I suspect they finally picked that up after what happened with me."
Kol kept his face impassive, mulling over the implications of what Enzo had told him. "A cure," he said finally, "Well, she'll want it. And if she wants it, Nik will want it for her."
"It might be a wild goose chase."
"Or it might be real. Either way, hold off on telling her."
Enzo frowned, "And why would I do that?"
"Little Ripper Caroline is useful," Kol explained, overly-patient as if trying to talk to a child. "You have to admit, it would be a shame to waste such talent."
Enzo couldn't hide his disapproval, but wisely kept his mouth shut, Kol's little display of talent fresh in his memory. Before they had a chance to do anything about their difference of opinion, Kol's phone chimed with a text.
"It's from Bekah," Kol said, surprised that his sister would be texting him.
Something in the bayou. Come or don't. Try not to fuck things up.
His attention was caught and he looked up at Enzo with a grin. "By any chance, have you gotten a chance to visit the bayous?"
If nothing else, at least the family was together.
Granted they had their share of strife over the centuries, but whenever Klaus was faced with a threat, there was something undeniably comforting about knowing that his siblings were by his side. Not that he'd ever admit to such sentiment, of course. At least, not to their faces.
They flanked him now, Elijah having forsaken his usual formal-wear for clothes more suited to the dark marsh, Rebekah shooting him suspicious glances. In between muttering how her boots were being ruined, Klaus knew his sister was bursting to ask what had happened to his mood; Elijah had already filled her in that he was acting out. Thankfully she kept her questions to herself, but he doubted he'd have peace for much longer.
After much trudging they finally met the fourth member of their little party; Hayley shifted nervously as they came up in front of her. Klaus had always been of the opinion that Hayley was nowhere near as intimidated by him as she would've been if she was actually smart, but he couldn't help but notice how she didn't meet his stare. Tales of his recent behavior had clearly spread past the French Quarter. He'd be a lot more concerned, but being feared by the masses tended to be so very convenient.
"Was there a good reason we couldn't do this in the morning when it's actually light?" Rebekah huffed, picking a leaf off her designer jacket.
"Hey, you guys are the ones who asked for a search for anything suspicious and we found suspicious," Hayley replied with a bored shrug. "Do you want to see it or not?"
Elijah held up a placating hand to stop whatever his sister's sharp reply was going to be. "We'll investigate now; we're in no position to waste time."
"Sure," Hayley muttered, "Not like you're going on killing sprees or anything."
"Careful," Klaus snapped, already tired of this whole escapade. "It would be easy enough to get rid of you out here."
His threat earned him an eye roll, but Klaus couldn't help but notice the werewolf was still avoiding his stare as much as possible. It eased his temper as he followed her lead, going even deeper into the woods.
"Bloody hell, we couldn't have done this during the day?"
Klaus stiffened at the intruding voice, hoping against all odds that it didn't mean –
"Is this what your family usually does for fun?"
Kol and Enzo strode up to the little group, identical smirks on their faces. Klaus knew his brother well enough to know that Kol was clearly relishing in how much their presence would rile him up, and was tempted to give him the satisfaction in the form of a couple of hybrid bites.
"Kol, why are you here – and who is this?" asked Elijah, anticipating a fight already.
"Name's Enzo, pleasure to meet you."
"He's a new friend," said Kol smoothly, grinning like a child when Klaus' eye twitched, just a little. "And I don't know why you're so surprised, I was invited."
Narrowing his eyes, Klaus turned to Hayley, but the werewolf just shook her head quickly, staring at the newcomers warily. Which only left one other culprit…
"Don't look at me like that!" Rebekah snapped defensively. "You're the one who's gone and pissed off half the population of this city in one week over a girl, pardon me for wanting as much backup as possible in case this turns out to be an ambush!"
"Bekah, I'm touched," Kol said, false gratitude dripping off his words. His sister just sneered in his direction, shifting uncomfortably as she tried to avoid Klaus' glare.
"Well you're here, we might as well continue," Elijah finally said with a long suffering sigh. Reluctantly, everyone marched forward, shooting suspicious glances at each other, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.
Out of the corner of his eye, Klaus watched Enzo, wondering darkly if Caroline had sought him out, wanting to vent the obvious disdain she had for him. For a moment, he entertained the thought of just killing the bastard then and there, hiding the body in the bayou and calling it a day. It would certainly solve his problems, and getting the others to lie for him couldn't be that difficult. One dagger in Kol would shut him up and that was two birds with one stone.
Klaus was so busy entertaining murder fantasies that he barely realized where they'd finally stopped, somewhere dark and remote with barely a hint of civilization for miles. It seemed almost too secluded, as if there wasn't a bustling city nearby, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was some magic at play. Their destination was marked by a small, dilapidated wooden shack, looking as if it didn't have many days left. Rotting steps led to a door that hung off rusty hinges, and it was clear that it had been abandoned.
"This is what I ruined my boots for?" Rebekah asked skeptically. She wasn't the only one who looked less than impressed at what they'd found.
"Some of my guys found this yesterday, and they swear it just 'appeared' out of nowhere," explained Hayley.
"Werewolves aren't generally known for being the sharpest tools," Enzo remarked, ignoring Hayley's glare. "How could it just show up one day?"
"It could if a cloaking spell stopped working." Kol's earlier humour disappeared and he strode forward, stepping up one rotted wooden step to trace a small etching on the shack's doorframe. A small, backwards 'Z'.
"This was the cult's. They ran in a hurry and the spell wore off, that's why no one ever knew it was here." Kol spoke with absolute certainty, his voice low and serious, and it was enough to set the others on edge, as if Silas himself was going to appear out of thin air.
Elijah finally broke the tense silence. "Well, we're not going to find anything out here. Shall we?"
Kol nodded and led the way in, finding the interior of the shack just as run down as the outside. It was just one large room, scattered with minimal, faded furniture, rotted floorboards creaking underfoot. Even in its best state, it couldn't possibly house anyone for a length of time, much less a coven.
"This is pointless," Rebekah muttered as she poked around the sad excuse for a kitchen. It consisted of a countertop and a rusted, dripping sink, the steady drops of water serving as the only sound as they all silently meandered around the shack.
"Shut up Rebekah," Klaus snapped, suddenly alert. He strained his hearing, picking up the sound of footsteps in the distance, heavy breathing, and a fast heartbeat. "Someone's coming."
In an instant they straightened, ready to face whatever was coming from them, and after a few long seconds, the steps creaked and the door was pushed open.
Between a genocidal coven and Caroline Forbes, Klaus would have preferred the coven.
Caroline stood in the doorway, staring dumbly at the people already there. There was a silver baseball bat in her hands ready to attack, but when no one moved, she lowered it sheepishly and struggled to find words, mouth opening and closely silently for a few moments, briefly meeting Klaus' gaze but unable to look him in the eye for very long. Eventually, she settled for his younger brother.
"Seriously, Kol?! You told me people were dying!"
Kol shrugged, entirely unashamed. "I needed to get you here, it was the fastest way."
The awkwardness increased as Caroline dawdled in the doorway, purposefully avoiding looking anywhere near a certain hybrid. Eventually she stepped inside, but stayed close to the exit, mentally mapping out the fastest route to sprint back into the city if this got any worse.
"At what point do we call this a complete waste of time?" asked Rebekah, flipping the rusty tap with disdain.
"This doesn't make sense," said Elijah. "Surely there has to be something of note here. Otherwise why hide it?"
No one had any answers to give, but Caroline had spent too long chasing smoke to go home with nothing. She tapped the rotting floorboards with her foot, concentrating carefully.
Her patience was rewarded.
"Kol, do you remember the house in Tennessee?"
He was at her side in a second, quickly catching on to what she meant. Bending down, Kol traced the floorboard, finding the edge and practically ripping it out, and it came with little resistance. The wood in his hand looked half destroyed but underneath was a smooth metal surface, and as Enzo joined them, pulling away at the floorboards that hid a false bottom it turned into a metal hatch. The others gathered around, staring at the trapdoor apprehensively.
"What did I tell you?" asked Kol, grinning widely "Always a secret room."
"Well done, can we get on with it?" Klaus was more on edge than usual, and having Caroline in close proximity didn't help.
Kol obliged his brother, digging into the handle of the hatch and pulling it hard, breaking the lock easily. A narrow, concrete staircase led downwards; too dark for them to see what was there. "Ladies first?"
"Uh, no thank you."
Kol smirked, and started down the staircase, Caroline behind him. It was dank and disgusting and impossible to see and she faltered slightly when she reached the bottom, tripping over a step that wasn't there. A hand curled around her elbow from the back, righting her quickly and she wished she didn't know immediately that Klaus was right there behind her.
"Thanks," she whispered turning her head slowly. Despite how dark it was, she swore she could still feel his stare on her. He said nothing and it didn't help their awkwardness, dimly registering an 'aha'from Kol, who had found the chain of a naked lightbulb.
Light flooded the space and Caroline was suddenly face to face with Klaus who was staring down at her, expression unreadable. For a second she felt trapped by the intensity of how he looked at her, and she stepped back, forcing herself to take in her surroundings.
Her blood ran as cold as ice.
There were no words for the way Caroline's stomach turned, for the feeling of intense violation as she stared at the walls. Every inch of the small underground room was covered in pictures. Pictures of her and Kol, to be exact, all of them from their year on the road. They had been watched. Watched and stalked the entire time, and here was the proof of it.
"What is this?" Klaus asked. His voice was deadly quiet, an underlying fury that threatened to break free but Caroline didn't have anything to answer him with. She stepped closer to a section of wall covered in close up shots of her, wearing a red gown, standing in a hotel ballroom not three months ago. Kol was beside her and if she thought back carefully, she could remember the exact moment in the photo, taste the champagne on her tongue and hear the steady hum of conversation throughout the crowd.
It made her sick.
"This was California," Kol said from somewhere on her left. She looked over and saw a blurry photo of two of them standing outside a motel. Unconsciously, her grip on her bat tightened.
"Where the hell was this?" asked Rebekah, pointing towards a picture of Kol lying unconscious at a gas station. She looked between the picture and Kol with a growing wariness, like she was just now realizing the scope of everything that had happened the past year. Caroline realized that for the first time, the youngest Original looked at her brother with something close to fear.
Kol ignored her question, staring at the walls with growing agitation. Without warning, he raised a fist and slammed it into the wall, letting out a roar of frustration and repeating the action, again and again and again until his fist was bloody and his oldest brother was pulling him back, trying futilely to calm him down.
"Kol- Kol! You're not helping matters!"
Kol fought off Elijah but was met with Klaus and he reluctantly settled enough to keep his anger from destroying the place. Instead, he found Caroline's wide, panicked gaze.
"I was wrong," Kol spat. He laughed the sound harsh and bitter. "I was fucking wrong. They were watching us the entire time."
Caroline nodded quietly, not trusting herself to talk without throwing up.
A deafening silence followed, and Caroline waited for Kol's next outburst, expecting more destruction, but before it came, footsteps thudded down the narrow staircase.
While the others had come underground, Hayley had stayed upstairs and stopped short now at the sight of the covered walls but shook off her surprise. "I can hear people coming- a lot of people."
Kol was itching for violence, and grinned darkly as he flashed upstairs, his siblings right behind him. The shack was empty but one step outside showed just how many they were up against.
At least a dozen coven members spread themselves out in front of them, faces obscured by the darkness but intent very clear. They didn't waste any time and all four Originals felt the stabbing pains of aneurysms, but they gritted their teeth and kept themselves upright.
(Barely.)
"Consider this," Klaus shouted out, "either we kill you now or you give us answers and we provide the mercy of not decimating every living relative any of you have!"
The witches didn't answer and the vampires didn't bother to wait.
By the time Caroline and Enzo ran outside there was chaos surrounding them, wind howling as the coven channeled their power to defend against the four very old, very angry siblings hell-bent on tearing them apart. Rebekah and Elijah double-teamed a handful while Klaus and Kol went straight for hearts, and it was almost a quick fight – almost.
"Bloody hell," Enzo muttered, watching the trees. "There's more."
Caroline froze in horror as she realized that there was in fact at least twenty more coming through the clearing but snapped herself out of it when the crossbows came out and stakes shot through the air. Enzo flashed away from her to join the melee. She had nothing on the others' speed or strength but the thought of that room below set her blood boiling and her white knuckled grip on her bat tightened even more.
At least three of the witches managed to surround Klaus, even as he held one of their own by the neck, and that was when she noticed the fourth raise a crossbow right for his head.
Her vision tinged red.
"Look out!' She flashed forward and there was an immensely satisfying soundas she swung her bat and the witch went sailing through the air.
"Oh nice swing, darling!" Kol called out, grinning like a lunatic. Blood spattered across his face as he ripped off the head of the witch Enzo was holding in place. "I taught her that, you know."
Caroline panted heavily but didn't have much time to recover before a migraine nearly forced her to her knees, and she swore it was only the Augustine conditioning that kept her from completely passing out. A hand gripped her arm and kept her up and she barely had time to look at Klaus before they were back to back, fending off anyone who came at them.
She tried to block out the pain in her head and concentrate on the person who was right next to her.
Caroline kept her bat up and either one minute or ten passed but at some point, she realized that they were obviously winning. The pressing pain in her head cleared and she nearly cried in relief, and with sudden clarity she realized that there were six vampires and a lot of dead witches.
But also, one living one.
The poor, unfortunate soul squirmed under Kol's hold as he resisted answering any of the questions the latter spat out.
"Where-are-you-gathering?!" Kol asked through gritted teeth, pressing the witch further into the ground.
"He's not going to talk," said Elijah grimly. "We'll see if he's more amenable after some persuasion."
Kol grimaced but conceded his brother's point, pulling the witch to his feet, hand still on his neck. "Well, at least the fun's not over."
Whatever pain the man had endured wasn't enough to exhaust him completely and Kol faltered, feeling one more aneurysm take hold. He was still fast enough to see the man reach into a holster, and reached to disarm him, but he didn't aim at any one of them.
In a second, the man pulled the trigger against his own head.
The body crumpled and they stood in exhausted silence. Eventually, Kol broke it.
"Well fuck."
It summed up everyone's feelings.
"It was no coincidence that the cloaking spell dropped," Elijah said, running a hand over his face. "This was an ambush."
"Must you state the obvious?" Klaus growled out.
Elijah didn't bother replying, turning to find Hayley who had hung back from the mess. "Find some wolves to watch this place, we need to investigate further. But…not tonight," he added, looking around at his blood spattered siblings.
The wolf girl nodded and went off, Elijah turned to the others. "Shall we get some rest?"
"Please," snapped a very grumpy Rebekah who was digging a wooden bullet out of her collarbone. "This is why I hate coming out here." With a flip of her hair, she turned and marched towards the city, Elijah close behind.
"I don't know, I think I could use a nightcap," said Kol, regaining some good humour. "What do you say, post-slaughter drinks?" The question was general but he directed it at Enzo along with a not-so-subtle nod towards his brother.
"Well we spent enough time at that bar today, might as well see if we can close the place down," Enzo replied cheerfully. "Night, all."
With a mock salute the two were off, leaving Klaus and Caroline alone with nothing but a pile of dead bodies for company. The tension ratcheted up tenfold and they remained silent, neither sure where to start.
Caroline knew this was point two on her list, an apology she had to give. Still, it was obvious that Klaus wasn't going make this easy on her. And he was definitely going to make her be the first one to talk.
"I'm sorry," she said finally. Silence was the only response she got, and she tried not to be irritated at him. After everything, Klaus probably deserved more than that.
"I shouldn't have…reacted like that. I mean, I shouldn't have run away."
Klaus tensed his jaw, but after a moment of staring her down, he nodded, stiffly. "It was impulsive," he said finally, voice low and hard. "I didn't plan on kissing you – at least, not like that."
Caroline swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. He probably hadn't thought about kissing her, but she'd thought about it plenty, all day in fact. The feelings of guilt and confusion weren't going to go away but in between her phone call to her friends and the message from Kol, she'd had hours to replay that kiss again, and again, and again.
But chances were, there wouldn't be anything like that happening again anytime soon.
"I was a mess, you were trying to help," Caroline said softly. "Maybe it wasn't really the 'best' way, but you were trying. And…I should've told you about Mystic Falls myself. You would've understood everything better."
Klaus jerked his head into another stiff nod. "You won't hear any argument from me."
They lapsed into another silence but it wasn't as stifling, which Caroline appreciated. She fiddled with her bat, letting it poke one of the dead bodies, and Klaus watched her carefully.
"Why did you warn me about that witch?" he asked suddenly. "You have to know that nothing they could've done would've seriously hurt me, least of all a normal wooden stake."
"I guess…I just reacted," Caroline admitted sheepishly. "I saw the guy and I needed to do something."
"I sympathize," he replied, the faintest trace of a smirk on his lips. "Acting out of instinct is a powerful thing." She returned his hesitant smile but he turned serious again.
"Whatever this is Caroline, you have to know I won't back down gracefully," he said, stepping closer. He kept his hands by his side but he might as well have been holding her in place for all that she could move right then. "I don't accept failure, and if you run again…I'll follow."
He would, Caroline knew that in her bones. He wouldn't take a 'no' until he'd fought to the death. And wasn't it strange – she wasn't nearly as upset as she thought she should be.
"I know," was all the answer she could give him.
Klaus sighed, the time and location catching up with them. "We should head back," Klaus said, scanning the area. "But there might be more of them out there waiting for you."
"They've done enough of that," Caroline muttered bitterly, remembering the pictures.
Klaus knew what she was thinking of, and pressed his lips into a hard line, feeling a fresh wave of anger. "Might I walk you home then?" he asked.
Caroline stared up at him, amazed that he would offer, after everything. "Yeah, I'd like that," she replied finally and with small smiles, they fell into step, side by side.
It wasn't exactly tearing each other's clothes off in Mystic Falls, but it was something good. They didn't say anything until Klaus spoke.
"Just out of curiosity love, where did you get that baseball bat?"
"Oh, this? You know, it's actually a funny story…"
Thunk
Thunk
Thunk
Caroline cracked an eye, wincing against the bright light flooding the room and trying to identify where that weird noise was coming from. Somewhere over her head? It sounded like somebody was banging the wall, like something was hitting it repeatedly…
"For God's sake, wake up!"
As it turns out, it was an Original vampire playing with a baseball.
"Don't make me throw this at your head Forbes."
Caroline knew he'd do it, just for a laugh, so she lifted her head with great reluctance and snarled at him, baring her fangs in his direction, but he just lobbed the ball at her. Thank god for vampire reflexes.
Twenty minutes later when they were packed and ready to go, Caroline swore she could feel the dark circles under her eyes growing larger. "You could let me sleep more you know," she yawned as they rounded their car, bags in hand.
"Sleep when you're dead. Dead-dead, I suppose."
"Whatever, you're driving first and I'm taking a nap." Caroline popped the trunk, ready to put her bag in but stopped when she saw two aluminum baseball bats sitting there.
"Did you steal these?" she asked Kol, half-exasperated, mostly tired.
Kol grinned like a kid. "I did indeed."
"One wasn't enough?"
"Well, one's for me. The other…"
Caroline blinked owlishly, not sure if she understood. "Is this like…a gift, or something?"
"Consider it a token. Don't read into it."
He had the sentimentality of a twelve-year-old, but Caroline was a polite southern girl and she couldn't ignore that this was his way of showing something close to appreciation.
"Well, thank you Kol. I love it."
His grin widened and they loaded their bags, closing the trunk when they noticed the skeezy motel attendant from last night watching them from a distance. Or, watching Caroline's legs more like.
Kol leant over, practically bouncing on his toes. "Just putting this out there, you'd feel a lot more refreshed if you had some sustenance for the road."
He was definitely rubbing off on her, because instead of immediately shutting him down, she found herself considering his suggestion. "You know, that may not be the worst idea."
"Tell you what darling; you could even use the bat."
And now you steal away
Take him out today
Nice work you did
You're gonna go far, kid
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think, (or yell about the wait, I'd understand.)
Chapter title and song lyrics from 'You're Gonna Go Far, Kid' by The Offspring