.
My Aphrodisiac
.
Starting Over
.
"No!" Caroline shrieked. "Please don't! What are you doing?" She took several gulps of oxygen, nearing hysteria. "Leave him alone!" Her face was streaked with tears. "GET OFF ME!" Something sharp pierced her forearm.
The world faded away.
.
.
Caroline's eyes flew open. She was lying in a bed. Her bed. Someone must have moved her body. She sat up, eyes urgently scanning the room for Klaus.
"Hi Caroline."
Her gaze snapped to Tyler. "Where's Klaus?" She growled.
"Dead."
"W-what?"
"Our plan succeeded. He won't bother you again, Care."
Pain hit Caroline like a tidal wave, drowning her in its agony. "I don't believe you." She whispered, clutching her chest.
He laughed. "Want to come look at his body?"
Caroline took several deep breaths, wrenching her hands through her hair. Klaus was dead. Gone. She'd never see him again. Never travel the world with him. Never tell him she . . . she thought she might love him. Caroline's right hand flew to her mouth and her left clutched the sheets next to her. "No. No, you're lying." She muttered.
"No I'm not, Care. He's gone. Now we can get on with our lives."
Caroline's stomach filled with nausea. Desperation, fury, anguish wracked her body. She clutched herself around the stomach, letting out a low, animalistic wine. "No." She whimpered. "No, no, no, no, no," a sob shook her body, "no, no, no..."
.
.
"She hasn't left the room in a week. I don't get it. She hated Klaus."
"I can't bear to see her like this." Elena sighed. "I don't know why you won't let me tell her the truth, Tyler."
"What, that he escaped?" Tyler snorted. "No way."
"What if he comes back?"
"He won't. Even Klaus isn't that dumb. Now that he's mortal, I could finish him off in a heartbeat."
Elena rose from her seat. "I'm going to take her something to drink." She walked across the kitchen, pulling open the fridge door. Inside were an assortment of blood bags. She pulled one out at random, slamming the door shut and making her way to the stairs.
.
.
The pain was unbearable, all encompassing and so very heavy. It sat on her chest, weighing her down, crushing her heart. There was only one thing she was sure of - she couldn't live with this agony.
So don't, something inside of her replied.
"But my friends need me." She whispered.
What friends? Friends that lock you in a cell, lie to you, torture and ...kill someone you care about? Those friends?
Caroline's resolve weakened. She had no living relatives, no friends, no Klaus, no one. She felt nothing for Tyler but fury. She had nothing left to hold onto.
And so she turned it off.
All of the pain instantly evaporated, replaced by an empty, cool indifference.
Elena chose that moment to open Caroline's bedroom door, offering a bag of blood and a weak smile. "How are you?" She spoke softly, almost as if she feared a too hard word would break her friend in two. Elena moved across the room. She placed the blood bag onto the pillow next to Caroline, and sat down on the wooden chair beside her bed, straightening the hem of her skirt. She glanced across at Caroline.
Caroline didn't reply, simply offering Elena an icy glare.
"I'll leave you to morn." Elena broke the silence, obviously uncomfortable. She stood up.
"No, you won't." Caroline's voice was flat and careful. "You'll stay right there."
Elena paused in her stride. She turned around slowly, features hesitant.
Caroline stood up. She moved across the room calmly. Elena watched her movements warily, frozen. Caroline pushed past her, reaching the bedroom door. She closed it gently, making sure to switch the bolt into place. She then turned around, a cold smile playing about her rosy lips.
"Wha-what are you doing?" Elena whispered, backing away from her friend. Her back hit the wall beside Caroline's bed.
"Exacting revenge." Caroline replied, taking a step toward the brunette. "You betrayed my trust, Elena." She sighed, taking a step, "you snuck around behind my back, you plotted, you schemed, you locked me in a cell, you shot me with vervain." She moved forwards, eyes glassy, "and worst of all? You murdered him." Without that pesky humanity to cloud her emotions, Caroline could see everything so very clearly. There was only one thing she could do. "I'm going to have to kill you."
.
.
Rebekah stared at her brother's sleeping figure unblinkingly. His breathing was raspy, slow, harsh. He murmured something in his sleep, clutching his pillow. Rebekah sighed, brow furrowed. She straightened his duvet, pausing to stroke his blond curls. A very human warmth simmered around him, shifting with every beat of his heart.
The Originals had left Mystic Falls upon saving a severely weakened Klaus, and could now be found in a seventeenth century family manor of theirs in North Carolina. They had cashed in favours owed to them from several respected witches, who were working together to weave the strongest protection spells around the ancient building. They could, however, do nothing to reverse what those bloody fools had done to Klaus. But Rebekah would not rest, she swore it, until she saw her beloved brother restored to his past glorious self.
"Rebekah." Elijah whispered from the doorway.
The blonde reluctantly dragged her watery gaze from her slumbering brother, fixing it upon Elijah. "We have to make them pay for this, Elijah." She spoke thickly, wiping at the tears that stained her cheeks.
"We will, sister." Elijah replied, moving across the room. "This is not the first assassination attempt we have faced, though, admittedly, none before have come so close." He sat carefully on the edge of Klaus' bed, beside Rebekah. The gentle shifting of pressure upon the mattress pulled Klaus from his slumber. He held his breath, though, eyes pinched in an imitation of unconsciousness. "We always pull through, together. This time shall be no different. They shall face justice," he swore. "Firstly, though, I have some news." Elijah spoke quickly, leaning in close to Rebekah. "The cure may have stripped Niklaus of his Vampirism, but one of the lovely witches downstairs, Mariana, her name is, had informed me that our brother very likely remains a Werewolf."
Rebekah's eyes widened. "What does this mean?"
"Well. Firstly, the full moon is next week." Elijah spoke, worry glimmering in the depths of his eyes, "and I fear Klaus is not yet strong enough to cope with the transformation."
.
.
Caroline's eyes fluttered open. The world was tipped sideways from her position on the floor.
The blonde sat up, grimacing. Her body pounded with adrenaline. In her left hand, she clutched a wooden chair leg, the end of which was coated in thick red blood. She swung her head around, disoriented. The chair beside her bed was decapitated, lying on its side. "What?" She whispered, spinning around.
A body fell into her line of sight - cold, bloody, dead.
Elena.