Klaus leaned back against the headrest and studied Caroline as she feigned sleep. Her damp hair had dried into its natural curls, creating a halo around her smooth face, and the marks left on her body by Gilbert's stake had already faded, thanks to his blood. Little Caroline Forbes, survivor, already plotting her next move.
On any other day, he would probably find Caroline's attempt to deceive him amusing, perhaps even a charming attempt to manipulate the situation in her favour, but now it was merely another obstacle to his goal. As long as Caroline believed her mother's life was more important than her own, she was a liability. He recognised that look in John's Gilbert's eyes, it was the fervour of a believer, and it was pulling Liz Forbes in its tow.
He felt the tension in Caroline's shoulders ease as she slowly drifted into a genuine slumber. She sighed softly, leaving a huff of breath trail against his skin as he lifted her arm and extricated himself. He stilled as her nose wrinkled in irritation, and waited for her breathing to slow again before he lifted his weight from the mattress.
Klaus dressed swiftly. He had let his...affection for Caroline cloud his judgement. He should have immediately removed the vervein from the Sheriff's house the moment he realised Caroline has reintroduced it into her diet. As a result, his plan probably was already irrevocably compromised. That could never happen again.
And yet he couldn't seem rid himself of her. He knew he should have disposed of her when she killed Greta, but there was something about they way she looked at him, chin up as she blatantly lied to him, that made him want to draw her close and into his bed instead. How Rebekah would mock him. How does it feel, Nik, to care for someone, even when you know they're going to betray you.
But enough of that. Turning his back on the bed, Klaus padded out of the room and descended the stairs, raising an eyebrow at Maddox, who stood at the bottom.
"The Bennett witch is strong but inexperienced," Maddox murmured softly. "And Stefan Salvatore has signed the deeds to the boarding house over to the doppelgänger."
"Of course he did," Klaus said, reluctantly admitting to himself that it was a good move. Stefan had always been clever; it was one of the things Klaus liked so much about him. For a moment, his mind lingered on those heady days, not so long ago, when he and Stefan were friends. Did Caroline know what Stefan was capable of? He doubted it. She may know the facts but he doubted understood what the word actually meant. You had to see it in order to truly understand.
Ripper.
Klaus lips curved up into a cold smile as Maddox to held up his coat. He shrugged into it. Was this not the perfect moment to catch up with an old friend? This might actually be fun and perhaps he could kill a few birds with one stone. If Caroline was reluctant to cut ties with her old life, then he had no choice but to dismantle that life for her. After all, it was for her own good.
Caroline's eyes blinked open the moment Klaus stepped out of the room. and she rolled onto her back. It would be so easy to give up, to let him have his own way. To stay curled up in the warmth of his bed and sleep this awful day away as he moved his pieces into play...
She shook her head. Giving up had never really been option, she wouldn't be able to live with herself afterwards.
She let her feet fall softly onto the floor, and she grabbed her phone as she dressed. Fooling Klaus into believing she's been asleep had been surprisingly easy but, then again, Caroline had always been a good actress.
The full moon was tonight and she didn't have enough time to come up with a plan C. She needed to find a weak spot in Klaus's plan and unravel it somehow. What she wouldn't do for some cue cards a few coloured markers and maybe a whiteboard right now...
Get a grip, Caroline, now is not the time spiral.
She took a deep breath. Perhaps she could still use some of her original plan. Feeding Katherine her Mom's vervein still seemed like a good idea. One, took the vampire needed for the ritual out of the equation and, two, her disappearance would lead Klaus to believe that Katherine was behind the scuttling of the ritual. Never let it be said that Caroline didn't know how to hold a grudge and she still hadn't forgiven Katherine for kidnapping Matt and using him to blackmail her.
The smile on Caroline's lips died as her mind fell on the one obvious flaw in her plan. She had lost access to her house and thus to her Mom's vervein supply. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if it had turned into vampire slayer central. Once again she was back at square one, and once again she had to choose a target – a moonstone, a doppelganger, a werewolf, or a vampire.
A vampire or a werewolf would be too easy to replace, so she had to either find the moonstone or hide Elena. She'd overheard enough of Klaus's conversation with Maddox to know she was with Stefan, but Caroline wasn't feeling suicidal to go toe to tow with Stefan and Bonnie.
And that only left the Moonstone. Where the hell would he hide it?
She stilled as the answer formed in her mind - of course, he would put it with all the other precious things he didn't want her anyone to know about. The same place he kept the special daggers, the same place he stashed his...brother. Would she be able to find it in time? Caroline scowled. A few days ago she would have been able to say yes. Her Mom used Caroline's birthday for every password she had. All she would have needed to do was stroll into the Sheriff's office, and submit a phone records request for Maddox's cellphone under her name.
But that ship had sailed. Caroline considered herself an optimist but she doubted her mother hadn't verveined everyone in the Sheriff's office the moment she learned there were vampires in town. She needed an ally, someone who had experience dealing with Klaus, and was clever and conniving, and had connections in the underworld and – dammit – she needed Katherine Pierce.
But without vervein as a bargaining chip, Caroline knew she may as well serve herself up on a platter at the ritual and be done with it. She needed an angle, something that Katherine wanted but only she could provide. An idea slowly creeped into her mind, causing her to shudder. Katherine was about as trustworthy as a snake, but if there was one thing Caroline was sure about, is that Katherine wanted to live – she just wished she didn't have to stake her life on the fact.
"I can't believe this is my life,"Caroline thought, as she took a steadying breath and stalked towards the basement.
All things considered, Klaus was little bit disappointed at how easily Stefan Salvatore was to manipulate. He somehow remembered him being somewhat smarter than this. It was almost amusing how earnest he was in his attack. Forehead lowered, stake clutched in hand. He had been right, this was just what the doctor had ordered. He neatly sidestepped as Stefan lunged, giving him a shove as he spun by and adding to his momentum. It landed him neatly on the bonnet of the vintage corvette in the driveway, leaving a sizeable dent.
"Now, now, Ripper, no cause for that. I'm just here to talk." Stefan pried himself upright and snarled at him, the veins around his eyes darkening, and Klaus tutted, allowing a smirk to form on his lips. So far, this little interlude was going perfectly. He bent down to pick up the stake Stefan had dropped and tapped it against the palm of his hand.
"Nice stake, perfectly sharpened, but unfortunately for you also rather useless. I'm no ordinary vampire, Ripper, I can't be killed with this." With a flick of the wrist, Klaus sent the stake flying through the air, his grin widening as it embedded itself a mere fraction from Stefan's heart. He didn't want to kill the boy after all. He was rather entertaining when he wasn't wearing his heart on his sleeve...and there was also the small matter of a dead Salvatore not being as good a lure as a live one.
He could hear the doppelgänger and with squabbling in the hallway over who had the better reason to martyr themselves. It seemed that the Bennett witch was winning the argument, not that it mattered, he's already rigged the outcome.
"He needs me alive," Elena argued. "I can bargain with him."
"Have you seen that monster move?" Bonnie hissed. "He'd have you bundled in his trunk before you even had a moment to open your mouth. Leave this to me, I can buy a few moments for Stefan to escape."
"What have you done with my brother?" Stefan spat out, as he pulled the stake loose and staggered to his feet."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Stefan, Stefan, have you still not figured it out? What would I kill your brother?"
Stefan stilled. "Kill?"
Klaus's smile became sharklike. "Oh, I'm sorry, you actually thought he was still alive? I'd have thought the Bennet witch would have found his remains by now."
And that was when the witch hit.
The smell of old blood still pervaded the basement, despite the liberal use of chlorine Klaus's lackeys used to clean it up. The scents blended into a stomach churning acrid stink. The grey light of early morning barely lit the room through the high basement windows and Caroline halted at the bottom step. She had seen what a cornered Katherine was capable was of, she didn't want to accidentally set off Klaus's compulsion. She snapped on the light, more for comfort than need. It didn't really improve the vista.
Tyler looked a mess. He was slouched forward in his chains, his head slumped on his chest. He was clearly unconscious. She turned to look at Katherine, who was watching her through slitted eyes. Her skin was desiccating again, her lips grey, the colour of her skin pallid. "Your lover boy had been busy," she croaked, noting Caroline's quirked eyebrow.
"He's not my lov-" Caroline mouth snapped closed when she realised that wasn't technically true. Just because Caroline didn't view Klaus that way didn't erase the reality of her situation.
Katherine's lips curled up. "Don't feel bad," she said. "He's an original. They're kind of difficult to shake loose."
"I didn't come here to talk about Klaus, I came here to discuss stopping him."
Katherine resettled herself in her chains. "You have the vervein," she said. "I hope you brought blood too. I'm too weak to drink it neat."
"Uh, yeah, about that," Caroline muttered. "The whole vervein and blood combo? Not really going to be an issue."
Apparently, Katherine could even sigh cynically. "Oh. Do tell."
Caroline bit her lip and arched her throat. For a moment, Katherine looked blankly at her, and then realisation hit.
Her broken laughter pealed through the house.
If there was one thing you could say about Bennett witches, it was that they never pulled their punches. He hadn't felt a sting this pointed in at least a couple of centuries.. He let out a low laugh of appreciation as he fell to his knees. It was too late to reel this one in, her loyalties clearly lay elsewhere, but he'd keep an eye on her line. In a few generations, her descendants will have dropped their guard and he'll swoop in to pluck a harvest.
"Stefan, get in the house," the witch said, through gritted teeth, but then predictably ignored her.
"Where is my brother?"
Klaus rolled his eyes towards the witch. "Why are you asking me? He wore a Bennett ring, did he not, ask the Bennett witch."
Stefan's head swerved. "Bonnie?"
"Stefan, not now, get inside."
And once again, Stefan ignored her. Klaus almost felt sorry for the witch. It must be a real hardship to keep someone so painfully self involved alive. He watched Stefan stagger towards him, the stake in his hand.
"Tell me where my brother is," he repeated, as he kicked Klaus's shoulder, sending him onto his back. "Or I will kill you."
Klaus eyed the stake and contemplated fighting though the witch's spell. Stefan could kill him, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. But the point was never to win this fight, the point was to draw them away from his prey, and they had obliged perfectly,
"Oh Stefan, Stefan, you were never very good at seeing what was before your eyes," he drawled. "I think it may be due to – what is the current phrase – too much naval gazing?"
"Stefan." The witch's voice held a warning note now, and Klaus's head turned to see her nose bleed. The vulnerability of a witch without a coven, they couldn't perform larger spells over longer periods of time. The pain in his head eased and Klaus sprung to his feet, crushing Stefan's hand around the stake before sending him flying back into the witch.
It was hard to suppress the feeling of glee as he spotted Maddox waiting for him in SUV He jumped into the passenger seat, and looked over his shoulder. The doppelgänger slept peacefully in the back seat.
The last straw were the tears of laughter shining in Katherine's eyes as she crowed with laughter.
"Stop it, we don't have time for this," she said, barely resisting the urge to stomp her feet. What was it about Katherine that always left her feeling like a child?
"I'm sorry," Katherine said. "It's just that I never knew felt like that about me."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Can we not? I don' know where Klaus is gone but I can guarantee he'll be back soon.. As I'm sure Tyler here can tell you, tonight is the night of the full moon."
Katherine's face sobered, but there was still a glint of humour in her eye. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Caroline rolled her eyes. "Do tell."
"Well, you're over there and I'm over here, and last time I checked there needed to be actual bodily contact for me to feed on you."
A feeling of unease sank heavily in Caroline's gut. "Just remember, for this to work, Klaus needs to not find my exsanguinated corpse on the floor when he gets back.
"But of course," Katherine purred, in a tone that didn't make Caroline feel in anyway safer. Sighing, he mentally put on her big girls panties and stepped down into the basement, slowly crossing the floor. She hesitated as she reached the point of no return, the reach of Katherine's chains, and then took another step forward.
The older vampire sped forward, grasping her tightly as she sank her fangs into her neck. She shuddered for a moment, in a way that Caroline felt was uncomfortably intimate, and then began to feed in earnest. They sank to the floor together, Caroline feeling the loss of blood in the heavy weight of her bones. Her vision began to blur and she realised she was about to lose consciousness.
"Katherine, stop..."
Katherine' pulled her head back, her eyes gleaming. "And what will you do if I didn't stop? What if I drained you dry and then ripped your heart out,"
"Then Klaus will find my corpse here when he arrives and you will die horribly, sacrificed to a ritual you've been trying to outrun for five centuries," Caroline gasped out.
For a breath, and then another, Katherine's grip just tightened and Caroline wondered if she'd made a terrible, terrible mistake and she was going to be ripped apart like Katherine's other victims. Desiccation can bring out the worst in a vampire – combine it with the side effects of vervein, and Katherine might not be thinking too clearly.
Katherine let out a low, hoarse laugh, her eyes gleaming wickedly as her her grip eased. She let Caroline roll away from her. "You really should learn to school your face," she said. "I can almost taste your fear. Run along, little girl, I doubt we'll meet again. We both know you're going to get yourself killed tonight."
Blinking back tears, Caroline staggered to her feet and raised her chin. "You'd better hope not, because if I die, so do you. You're not the only one who made contingencies."
Katherine quirked an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
Caroline felt her hands ball into fists, resisting the urge to just kill the bitch and be done with it. It wasn't as if she didn't deserve it...with a shiver, she tamped the temptation down. She had lost a lot of blood and was hungry, it always made her a bit tetchy. "Klaus has Elijah stashed away nearby where would he be?"
A glimmer of interest glowed in Katherine's eyes but swiftly dimmed. "Don't let the tailoring fool you, Caroline, Elijah is just as dangerous as Klaus, and equally as treacherous."
"I'm not looking for an alliance, I'm looking to buy some time. Klaus and Elijah obviously have some weird family feud going on. If I let him loose, Klaus might back down and wait for another full moon," Caroline said, exasperated.
"As I said, you're going to get yourself killed," Katherine said. "But as it seems I cannot dissuade you from this foolishness... I may know where he keeps him hidden.
Caroline smiled widely and whipped out her phone. "Address?"