A/N: Hello, all. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, favoriting, following, etc. Thanks so much to my amazing beta, Miranda (livingdeadblondequeen), and I hope you enjoy this next part.
Updates might be not as weekly until the first week of June as its the last three weeks of school and I've got tiny pre-k graduation to plan and stuff but then I have three glorious months off and plan on a lot of pool time and writing. So they'll pick up again after that!
Happy reading.
Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness.
Katherine Henson
Klaus heard Caroline's slight gasp when she saw the sketch he had left for her. There was no sound of tearing afterward, no muttering under her breath, all he heard was the sound of her getting into bed and the light that shown under her doorway going out. He didn't know what to make of that, partly pleased that she hadn't destroyed his drawing but also annoyed with himself for even having drawn it for her. It was his way of apologizing for what had nearly happened, for Kol having almost ruined the entire experience he was trying to carve out for Caroline so that she could see and experience what she had become.
There should have been no reason for him to draw it though, no reason for him to seek her forgiveness for merely trying to open her eyes. And yet he wanted it, he craved it, as well as the fact that he wanted Caroline to see the beauty that she held as a vampire. She was still working to see herself as not a monster, clinging to her human existence that would be gone in only a matter of years, probably sooner than she wished considering the dangers her friends and family faced on a daily basis. Such a loss could break a vampire, could cause them to lose their mind and seek out death, others might end up flipping the switch.
Klaus wanted neither outcome for her and while he knew she was strong—hadn't she endured torture by her father and Alaric and come out stronger from both instances—he had every intention of working with her to see her true potential, to continue to broaden the characteristics of hers that he was already so taken by. Even if he didn't like the weakness she brought out in him, the stirring of feelings he knew were a vampire's downfall.
He'd seen how they brought down Rebekah, causing fits of madness, of thinking it was better to leave her own family for someone not worthy, of not realizing she was bringing enemies into their midst. Finn falling so easily and quickly for Sage and Klaus wondering who was truly sire bound to who, watching her twist his attention away from his family and only toward the her. Or with Elijah and how history seemed to repeat itself as he fell for the Petrova doppelganger and allowed her to manipulate him time and again. It was sickening and Klaus could not afford such a weakness in his life and yet the thought of Caroline not being in it was one he could not fathom either.
It had become much more than wanting to seduce her, to get her into his bed and scratch that itch, and Klaus wasn't quite sure when it had intensified as much as it had, when she had become so much more than an interesting distraction from everything else happening in Mystic Falls. He enjoyed her wit, her ability to be honest with him and not show any fear even when most would, the way she gave just as good as she got in regards to him. He desired to have that loyalty she so steadfastly doled out to her friends even when they didn't deserve it, to have her care for him the way she did them, for her to realize that Tyler was never going to be enough for her.
Why was it so damn difficult to make happen? He was the most powerful creature on earth and yet her words could cut him to the quick faster than anything else, just as her smile could cheer him up in a second. It was maddening, frustrating, and yet he couldn't seem to let it go.
He glared at her doorway, clenching his fists at his side as he turned away and headed downstairs in search of something to drink. Though when he heard Stefan and Rebekah in the kitchen quietly speaking to one another in hushed tones all thoughts of drinking quickly disappeared.
After one thousand years together Klaus knew his baby sister's tells like the back of his hand and right then she was displaying a number that showed she hadn't expected to see him just yet, that she was hiding something. That flicker of worry in her eyes before she covered it up quickly with annoyance at him, trying to flounce past and head up to her room.
At one point, Klaus might have thought it was because she had been out gallivanting around with Stefan, and while he didn't doubt for a second that Rebekah would enjoy sparking up that particular relationship all over again, she wasn't trying to shield the other vampire from him. Something she did with all of her lovers that she was afraid he might dispose of and usually that fear was justifiable. So either they hadn't been out enjoying the city together or she didn't particularly fear he would end Stefan's life.
"And what did the two of you do to occupy yourselves this evening?" Klaus asked, watching Rebekah shrug as she headed to leave the room. "Considering you're wearing the same outfit as before and neither of you look disheveled, I'd wager that there was no reconciling of any kind between you and Stefan. Pity. Though I suppose it's better than you chasing deluded dreams thinking he'll want you more than the doppelganger he's so hung up on."
If looks could kill Rebekah's would have done so a thousand times over and even Stefan looked unamused by his comments. Tough room.
"We were at the library," Stefan replied, and from Rebekah's hiss Klaus had a feeling she hadn't expected the boy to be truthful. "A paranoid Klaus is the last thing we need, Rebekah." The Salvatore did have a point. It never ended well for anyone if his paranoia was allowed to spike.
"Out with it," Klaus ordered and Rebekah headed back into the room, glaring at both of them. There had to be a reason they had gone to the library and he would not let either of them rest until he knew it.
"I don't trust everything the witches have to say so we went to look at some of the older texts. See what we could find about Silas, the Brotherhood, all of it." Rebekah clucked her teeth, crossing her arms as she regarded him. "Much of it's the same nonsense that we've been told, but one of the Aramaic texts seems to have a bit more to it."
Stefan held up the old text. "We took it for some further reading."
"You were never all that good at Aramaic," Klaus reminded Rebekah, unsurprised when she seethed at that. Even if it was true.
"Good enough to read the text and get the information I want from it," she pointed out, moving to take it from Stefan.
Klaus snatched it though, smiling at her anger. "I'll hand it over once I'm done reading it then."
"When will you get it through your head that you can't order me around? That I am not a child. I've lived as long as you have, Nik," Rebekah shook her head, and he waved her off. "I've brought down just as many cities as you have."
"Do get to the point, Bekah," Klaus urged, turning the book over in his hands.
"What's the use? You won't listen and I'm done trying to get it through your head. I'm your sister and while I will always love you that does not mean I will always like you or want to be with you," Rebekah continued, and Klaus snorted at that.
"Something you've made abundantly clear more than once by looking for a new suitor every century or so," Klaus reminded, his expression hardening as he looked at her.
"You deal with him, Stefan, I've met my Klaus quota for the evening," Rebekah informed them before she headed up the stairs, slamming the door once she got to her room.
Klaus looked over at Stefan, watching the vampire shake his head at the situation. It nearly reminded Klaus of Chicago, of having Rebekah flounce off annoyed at the two of them for a moment, his sister heading to the bar for another drink, while he and Stefan laughed at whatever mess they had just engaged in. The smile on Stefan's face that disappeared when he looked over at Klaus only sealed that thought in the Hybrid's head.
"What did you do to Caroline?" Stefan asked, and Klaus offered up a grim smile at that, sensing that protectiveness in the other man in regards to the sleeping vampire.
"I didn't do a thing, mate," Klaus replied, turning on his heel to get that drink. It'd go well with the text he now had to read. "Though, I must say your training of her habits has been nothing but a disservice to that girl. Bunny eating and blood bags are a poor substitute for the real thing and while you may not wish to indulge in your basic instincts, you never should have allowed her to squander hers."
Stefan snorted at that, following after Klaus, which caused the Hybrid to smile, knowing that the Ripper would do so. "Caroline has her own reasons for not drinking from the vein. She needed alternatives and I provided them," Stefan murmured, and Klaus headed to pour two glasses of bourbon, offering over one. "She doesn't do the animal thing anymore. Hasn't in a long time. She doesn't like fur in her teeth."
"Not many do," Klaus pointed out, amused by Stefan's shrug. Klaus doubted that Stefan enjoyed that aspect of his diet either. "And what reasons might those be?"
The hesitance in Stefan's answer caused Klaus to narrow his eyes; interest peeked in regards to the question. "She needs to answer that one, not me," the boy murmured, downing the glass. "It's not my tale to tell."
Klaus sat down on one of the couches, arching an eyebrow at the answer and wondering what her reasons could be. It was obviously more than her own moral standard, in wanting her human friends and mother to look at her and not see a monster, though Klaus had a feeling that was part of her reasoning. He would need to have a conversation with her about it at some point, when his focus didn't need to be on trying to keep another immortal locked away.
"What do you want with her anyway, Klaus?" Stefan asked, and while Klaus could smell the fear rippling through the room as the Salvatore brother asked the question, none of that worry showed in the vampire's features. He was staring down at him, glass already discarded on the table, and taking up the stance Klaus had seen Elijah use on so many of Rebekah's suitors. "She's not a ripper. Even if she did drink from the vein, Caroline has enough control that she won't become some mindless killing machine for you. That bloodlust won't control her."
Setting his drink down on the table, Klaus leaned back against the couch; arms stretched out alongside the top as he listened to Stefan speak. "Has it ever occurred to you that I might actually enjoy her company?"
It was more than that, so much more, but Klaus wasn't about to discuss it with Stefan. Not when he couldn't even give name to his feelings for Caroline, not when he refused to admit just how much of a weakness she had become to him. Usually he destroyed those quickly and thoroughly, but that wasn't an option this time and he was out of his depth, trying to stay afloat as he worked out what to do about all of it while trying in his own way to court her.
"For how long?" Stefan asked, shaking his head at the question. "And what happens when you stop? You can't dagger her like you do your siblings. A dagger through the heart will kill her. For good."
"I have no intention of daggering Caroline, Stefan," Klaus replied, waving his hand at the absurd idea. "Nor do I intend to allow her to waste away her life in that sad, little town with the lot of you. I will not see her die sacrificing herself for Elena. There are at least a thousand other citizens in Mystic Falls who can have that privilege."
"I think it's up to Caroline for what she wants to do with her life," Stefan countered, and Klaus simply shrugged.
"And I think once she sees what her life could truly be, once she sees that the world does not revolve around that tiny town, nor is she trapped by such human conventions that she'll want so much more," Klaus stated, picking up the drink again and taking a sip. "As for how long, let's suffice it to say that I have no intention of ever giving her up."
Once something was his then it was to be his forever. Even when he was angry with his siblings, when he disowned them as he did Rebekah, he still wanted to know where they were located. He carted them around in coffins, unable to give them up even with Mikael close on his heels, entirely too close for comfort. Even Esther, who he had killed a thousand years ago, hadn't been left behind. She was his mother and he had been unable to give her up. The witches that he chose to employ for a spell here and there never stopped belonging to him, even if they thought they did, their service never really ending until he killed them.
"She's not a toy," Stefan bit out, and Klaus looked at him again, seeing the worry and anger mixed in the vampire's expression.
"No, she's not." Not that Klaus was ready to define exactly what Caroline meant to him in that moment, but Stefan was right, she was not a toy and he would not treat her as one.
Whatever Stefan's reply might have been it was swallowed whole as they both glanced toward the ceiling, picking up on the small whimpers coming from Caroline's room. Klaus was out of his seat in seconds, flashing up toward the bedroom. Fear was coming off of her in waves and he tore open the door, heading to the bed and finding her curled up on it, clutching the pillow in her hands as she endured whatever was happening in her mind.
He tried to get into her head; to help her fight off whatever was happening, but the spell on the ring she wore kept him locked out. If it could do that though, why wasn't it protecting her from the witches attack? Klaus sat down on the bed, trying to figure out how to fix this, to pull her out of the dream she was in when he slowly began to note a few things.
This wasn't like in New Orleans. While she was scared, it wasn't to the degree she had been in the hotel room, the terror of that night had chilled him to the bone and her skin had been cold and clammy.
"She's okay," Stefan murmured from the doorway, trying to right the door he had torn off the hedges. "It's just a nightmare. We all get them."
Klaus wondered what she was thinking about, what had such a hold over her mind to cause this type of reaction. His own nightmares had been of his father and his fists when he was far younger, but those had ceased as his power had grown, replaced by others that he didn't care to think of. Was she thinking about her own father torturing her or perhaps Alaric, a man she had once trusted? Both scenarios would have made sense and Klaus was ready to believe either until Caroline spoke again, her voice barely audible as her face contorted in pain.
"Damon, no."
He didn't even have to turn around to sense Stefan's tension spike, hearing the hard swallow as the vampire righted the door. Klaus tucked the covers around Caroline's body, knowing there was little more he could do for her and then turned to look at Stefan. "I believe you and I need to have a long chat."
"Like I said before, it's not my tale to tell," Stefan muttered, looking past Klaus at Caroline. The conflict on his face might have meant something if Klaus hadn't slowly begun to piece things together, remembering Stefan's earlier utterance of that same phrase in regards to why Caroline didn't like to feed from the vein.
Klaus was across the room before Stefan could blink, hand wrapped around his throat and shoving him into the wall, a loud crack occurring as he hit it. "It wasn't a request."
To his credit, Stefan didn't try and pull his hands away. He simply kept his gaze on Caroline. "Only she knows all the details and if you meant anything that you said downstairs you'll let her be the one to tell you."
Klaus let him go at that, scenarios already playing out in his mind for what might have happened. He left the room and headed back downstairs, picking up his glass again and flung it against the wall. Damon Salvatore had done something to Caroline and Klaus could only imagine what vile things that boy might have done and he had every intention of making the older brother pay, no matter Klaus' relationship with Stefan. Nor would the fact that Klaus would like to someday have that camaraderie again with the Ripper lessen the need to cause Damon pain. It would be a justifiable sacrifice.
It might not happen soon, his focus needing to remain elsewhere for the moment, but all that did was allow Klaus to think up some rather fitting punishments, and he'd know precisely how long to make the whelp suffer depending on what all Caroline told him in the morning. Because he was not about to let this go, he would get answers and figure out how precisely to deal with Damon Salvatore when they crossed paths again.
Caroline's voicemail had never been full. She checked her messages as soon as she saw them, maybe she would save some of them, but the inbox never got to the point where someone couldn't leave a message. Which was worrying Tyler because once again he wasn't able to leave one. Nor was she responding to any texts. His number wasn't the same, but she would know the coded words he used and reply. Something must have been stopping her from doing so and he worried that the something was the psychotic Hybrid that had forced him out of town.
The fact that he couldn't get hold of Matt or Jeremy either was also causing him to silently panic. He couldn't exactly run back to Mystic Falls to figure out what was happening though, couldn't just walk away from the growing number of werewolves that were joining him on his growing mission for revenge. He wasn't the only one who wanted Klaus to pay, that was more than obvious, and the fact wolves were seeking him out to try and help only cemented the notion in Tyler's head that Klaus Mikaelson wouldn't get away with everything he had done much longer.
The hybrids he had killed or who had died for him all had someone out there and many of them had joined up with Tyler, wanting revenge. And then there were those who had been friends or family to the packs Klaus had killed while trying to figure out how to create hybrids. Or those who didn't want the monster to have a chance to use them or their family to make more somehow.
Tyler couldn't' walk away from them, from what they needed to do, but he worried for Caroline. She was a vampire though. Surely that would help keep her safe, even if Klaus did have his sights on her. And that he couldn't fix until Klaus was eliminated from the equation.
He spotted Mason and Jules in the distance, motioning for him to come out further into the forest with him. "Gonna go for a walk," Tyler informed one of the men sitting beside him who nodded before turning his attention back to the campfire and conversation.
Tyler followed the other two out further into the woods, not entirely certain that the others could not see them, nor wanting them to think he was hearing voices. That would probably not go over all that well.
"You're doing well," Mason told him, offering up a smile and Tyler could feel pride stirring inside of him at those words, even if they had never really known one another all that well.
"Being that leader you were born to be," Jules commented, and Tyler grinned, remembering his mother say something similar before she had died. Telling him that he was like his father.
"It'll take some more time but I'm getting that army you wanted together. I don't know how big it'll be, but this is what is needed right?" Tyler asked needing to make sure he was doing as they had asked. It all tied into the end game and he would do pretty much anything to make sure Klaus Mikaelson paid for his crimes.
"It's perfect, Tyler," Mason assured, looking back at the group of werewolves around the fire. Tyler could hear the lot of them talking, their conversations ranging from amusing to plotting how best to hurt Klaus.
"You're going to need to get the cure once the army has grown a little more. And you're going to need to take it, Tyler," Jules started, and Tyler looked back at her. That hadn't been part of the original plan. "Or you'll be dying with him because desiccating Klaus, throwing him into an ocean isn't enough. Does it really make him pay?"
No. It didn't even come close to making the Hybrid suffer for his crimes. "Killing him will kill all the vampires in his line." It'd kill Caroline and that wasn't something Tyler was ready to let happen.
"Get it to those you don't want to go down with him, Tyler, but this is your chance to do some real good," Jules continued, and coldness seemed to permeate all the way to his very core with her words, something he hadn't truly felt since he was untriggered, before he had been turned. But even then this cold felt different than when he'd been freezing during a particularly brutal Virginian winter. "Vampires are a plague on this earth and were never meant to exist. You'll be righting a wrong that happened centuries ago."
Tyler raked a hand through his hair, trying to grasp all that they wanted from him. Hurting Klaus was one thing, but taking down who even knew how many others with him… "They're not people, Tyler," Mason added, and Tyler looked over at his uncle. "They kill to survive. They feed from innocent people to survive, they compel whoever they want. They take, they destroy. They don't belong in this world."
"Caroline doesn't do that," Tyler countered. And Elena…well, she was still learning, wasn't she? Damon, though, yeah, he fit that description.
"She hasn't been one long enough for it to taint her, Tyler," Jules replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. It still startled him that she was able to do that. "But it will with time. Especially if Klaus has his way. Do you really think he'll simply give up on her?"
No. Tyler didn't think the Hybrid would which worried him the most. A hundred years could go by and he wasn't sure that Klaus still wouldn't be in pursuit of Caroline, unless he'd finally killed her by then. Something Tyler was not about to let happen. "It'll change you too," Mason told him, and Tyler looked up at that, swallowing hard.
He also couldn't let that happen.
"I have to get back to the group," Tyler grumbled, purposefully leaving the two behind. He glanced back once, noting that they were gone before he stopped a little ways away from the others, dialing Caroline's number one more time.
The message about her full inbox did nothing to alleviate his fears and he nearly crushed the phone from annoyance before heading back to the others. He grabbed one of the bottles of tequila being passed around and nearly down the whole thing, his mind a chaotic mess even as he listened to the other wolves carry on, unsure if he could handle the slight change in plans. The warmth of the tequila doing little against the coldness in his body that began to spread, working its way toward his heart and his mind, as he shook off the feeling that someone was watching him and the others.
A quick look around showed no one else in the area, his heightened senses confirming that they were the only ones around for miles to go, but Tyler couldn't seem to shake the feeling that there was someone else there watching and waiting. He couldn't do anything about it so he focused on the others, trying to forget what Jules and Mason had said for a bit, not ready to have that huge a decision on his shoulders again.
There was that brief moment as she woke up where Caroline wasn't quite sure where she was, not having gotten used to the room in Amsterdam just yet, wondering why she wasn't clutching her teddy bear close to her chest and why she couldn't hear her mother breathing in the next room. The confusion evaporated quickly, memories of what had happened in the past few weeks bombarding her, the night before feeling like a sucker punch to the gut.
If Klaus hadn't gotten there Caroline didn't doubt for a minute that she would have given in and drank from the woman Kol had presented her. The need for blood had been overwhelming after not feeding since the plane ride. She could swear that she could still taste Klaus' blood in her mouth but she knew that wasn't possible. She'd brushed her teeth like five times and while his blood was gliding through her veins, he was most certainly not seared onto her lips.
Caroline senses another's presence in the room and turned toward it, ready to unleash hell if Klaus was in her room, but she doubted it was him. It didn't feel like him and he probably would have made some kind of comment as soon as she'd woken. She arched a brow at Stefan sitting at the vanity, watching him stare up at the ceiling.
She really didn't like his troubled expression.
Was it because of the drawing on the nightstand? "Is there a reason you're doing your Tuesday brooding face when it's Friday? Because I'm pretty sure that's against the rules," Caroline broke the silence, trying to go for lighthearted. She wasn't sure if it would work or not.
Stefan looked over at her and she was thankful for the smile he directed at her, reciprocating one of her own as he moved from the chair to sit down on the edge of the bed. She shifted, scooting so that she was sitting up and could face him better. "No, but really, what has you looking all constipated which I've learned is your 'I am having serious thoughts now' face."
He shook his head at her as he leaned back against the headboard. "I'm going to take a wild leap here and guess that your time at the club that caters to vampires didn't go all that well," Stefan started and she mirrored his position.
"It kinda sucked and that is not me making a joke or implying that I had any blood—well. I did have blood but not from anyone there." Caroline shrugged, unable to look at him for a moment. "Klaus tried to make some points, offered up blood in drinks—which I turned down because I'm stubborn. Like Elena and I totally haven't made Bloody Marys using blood bags. But then Kol tried to be sneaky and offer me up a live person when I stomped out of the club and I…"
She was grateful for Stefan's hand on hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I was really close to giving in. I was so hungry. Klaus got to me before I could though and gave me some of his instead." She couldn't help licking her lips as she remembered the blood sliding down her throat, the sound of his heartbeat as she drank, his body pressed against her back, wrist held tightly by her own hands as she took her fill. The way his hand had brushed her hair as he held onto her. It had been entirely too intimate.
"Out of the goodness of his heart, I'm sure," Stefan muttered and Caroline sighed, scooting over so she could lean against him. "You were having a nightmare last night, Caroline."
"Huh?" She didn't remember having any. "The ring didn't work?" Surely she would have remembered having someone in her dreams again trying to manipulate her body and mind. The possibility of not remembering really didn't sit well with her.
"Not like how you said it was when you were attacked," Stefan continued, and she looked up at him, watching worry lines form around his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. "Just a regular old nightmare…" She really didn't like that he paused. "About Damon."
Caroline stiffened at that. She hadn't had one of those particular ones in a long time. Damon didn't have any hold over her any longer, she'd been able to hold her own against him that he didn't have the power that he'd had when she'd been human. She could see how being in that bar and watching Kol with that woman could spark up those kinds of dreams again.
What was she supposed to say to that though? She couldn't exactly stop the dreams from happening. What Damon had done to her had scarred her soul a bit and it was going to take a while to fully heal, no matter how strong she had become since he'd used and abused her. She also didn't want to talk about what had happened with Stefan, not with Damon being his brother. There were just some things they couldn't discuss, no matter how close they had become.
"I didn't know you were still having ones about him," Stefan murmured, and Caroline was grateful for the one armed hug he gave, holding her closer as she leaned against him.
"I don't really have many of him anymore," she told him, staring out at the wall. "They crop up from time to time. Kind of like the ones about my dad or the wolves or the hybrids or even Alaric. Events just kind of trigger them. It's fine, Stefan, water under the bridge, don't worry about it."
It wasn't his fault that his brother was an asshole who was never going to apologize for what he'd done. Not his fault that her best friend had been a complete bitch about Damon's past behavior after she'd been sire bound to him. Caroline moved away, getting off the bed. She really didn't want to be anywhere near it for their current conversation. Hated that she hesitated as she put her foot down on the ground, old fears sparking in her head as she remembered what had happened in her bedroom all those months back.
"Should it be though? I don't know if we did right with that," Stefan told her and she shrugged, unable to look at him, not really wanting to talk about that event.
"He's you're brother." And that would always be the reason why she couldn't wish Damon dead, no matter how she might despise him at times. He was Stefan's brother and Stefan loved him, would be devastated if he were to die.
Silence spread through the room for a few moments and Caroline wasn't sure what to say or do to break it, almost grateful when Stefan did that job for her. "There's more," he started and she looked over at him, not liking his frown. "Klaus heard your nightmare and heard you say Damon's name. I'm pretty sure he's coming up with his own scenarios in his head for what happened."
Caroline pressed her tongue to the top of her mouth, trying to calm down at the idea of Klaus knowing about that part of her past. That couldn't be good. "He wants to know what happened, Caroline, and I wouldn't tell him," Stefan continued and she sighed, not sure if she was grateful or not that she would be the one that would need to do so.
"That's my secret to tell," she murmured, not wanting to have that conversation at all. "It shouldn't even matter for him. It's in the past." Why did she have to dredge up old hurts to satisfy the hybrid? How was that fair? "It's none of his damn business anyway."
Stefan nodded at that, seeming like he had more to say but he paused again, reworking his words in his head. "I thought you might like a warning that he might be extra pushy on the subject."
"Thanks." She guessed that it was better to be prepared than blindsided. Stefan rounded the bed so that he was standing in front of her and Caroline sighed, letting her shoulders sag slightly as she looked at him. "I guess I'll put on my own brand battle armor and go deal with the annoying Hybrid. Better to do it sooner rather than later."
The longer Klaus had to think up his own ideas for what had happened the worse off it would probably be for Damon. Which, honestly, maybe that was a good thing. Part of her wanted the older Salvatore to pay for what he'd done, but just a look at the younger one told her that she'd feel guilty if he lost his brother.
It was so unfair.
"I know I've told this to you before but you need to be careful," Stefan told her, clasping his hands on her shoulders. "This isn't you being the distraction, Care, something I'm pretty sure we really shouldn't have had you do."
"Can't change the past," she muttered, trying to smile through it. "Besides, he hasn't killed me yet."
"There are fates worse than death," Stefan pointed out and she stepped back, blowing out air as she headed to pick out clothes for the day.
"Way to make everything seriously depressing, Stefan." That wouldn't do at all. "Look, I know he's infatuated with me, that I'm his latest obsession, like breaking the curse or chasing Katherine or whatever, but I am not letting that dictate how I live my life. I can handle Klaus and right now I need another shower and to get ready so that I can go make sure he doesn't get the idea to torture your brother to death stuck in his head."
She offered up another smile and headed into the bathroom before Stefan could reply, needing the space, unable to hear another talk about how she needed to be careful with Klaus. It wasn't simple infatuation, she had realized that, and maybe she was an obsession of his but she'd also come to know that it was more than that. Caroline knew she had to figure out how to handle the weight of it all and how to traverse through the newly turned landscape or she'd get swallowed whole and that was something she wasn't ever allowing to happen again.
Boys weren't allowed to play with her mind, to screw with her plans and dreams anymore. She was a fierce, strong, vampire and she was not about to let anyone try and control her again. Not even a thousand year old hybrid that could break her like a twig if he wanted. Which she knew he didn't, but it was the principle of the thing and Caroline would be damned if she allowed him to hold any power over her. Especially since she knew she had power over him, she just had to go back to using it.
It had started out as a normal evening. They had stopped for dinner in a small town bar, needing the break from driving. The plan had been to get to the next big city as soon as possible and for Eddie to find some vampires and kill them. Simple enough and it'd help his mark grow until they had the full map.
Maybe it wasn't exactly the best moral decision, since it did involve more killing, but it was just vampires and Bonnie couldn't bring herself to care about their fate. It wasn't exactly a secret that she wasn't a fan of vampires; the only ones she really did care for at all were her mom and her friends. The rest of them she didn't owe any loyalty to and she had seen what working with vampires could do to a witch, how it could corrupt them.
Glimpsed it with her cousin Lucy. Saw it fully corrupt Greta. Even been forced into doing more than she wanted by Damon and Stefan, usually to protect Elena, and while she loved her friend, she hadn't ever wanted to lose her touch with magic like she had. Or see her mother get turned. For Caroline to be turned. Or Elena.
So letting Eddie kill a few vampires didn't seem like that big a deal to Bonnie. It'd help the mark grow and help bring back balance. How could that possibly be a bad thing?
"You know someone who had the same mark as me?" Eddie asked as he slid onto the booth beside Bonnie, and she nodded, heart skipping a beat at the thought of Jeremy.
"Yeah. I did. Two actually. I didn't actually know Connor but I knew Jeremy since he was a kid." And she thought she had loved him, at least she had cared deeply for him.
"Did?" Eddie slumped forward a little. "That doesn't sound promising."
"They're dead. But you're not going to die," Bonnie told him, trying to offer up a reassuring smile. She couldn't blame him for not believing that and picking at the fries that were placed on their table instead.
"You can't promise that," Eddie told her as he picked up the ketchup, slathering it all over the fries. It reminded her of Caroline for a moment. French fries had always been a comfort food for her friend, plus something that helped stave off her cravings for blood.
"No, I guess not." Her bringing people back to life skills seemed to be kaput.
"How did they die anyway?" Eddie asked, and Bonnie sighed, snagging a fry.
"Does it really matter?" Knowing it wouldn't really help him out any and Bonnie didn't want to talk about Jeremy being dead.
Eddie picked at the paper under the fries, avoiding eye contact as he shrugged. "Probably not."
Silence passed between them, growing increasingly awkward by the second. Bonnie watched as Valerie walked over to the bar, waving over one of the other witches to join her. Seemed like they might be staying for a little while. "So where are you from?" she asked, needing to break up the tension that had slowly been building.
"California." Eddie was tearing the napkin into tiny pieces, dropping them onto the table in front of him. "You?"
"Virginia. Tiny town that's not really near anything." Though she did like Mystic Falls. Or well, she had, before everything had changed.
"Cool," Eddie replied, still ripping up the napkin. Small talk was definitely not her forte at the moment, the two of them once again having nothing to say to the other.
Bonnie looked back out at the others, watching the witches hand off drinks to everyone, Valerie loudly exclaiming that she'd bought the round. Sarah passed by their booth on the way to another and Eddie reached over to get one. Bonnie couldn't blame him; she wouldn't mind having one either.
Sarah smacked it out of his hand though, causing the glass to clatter onto the table, spilling the drink all over. "That's not for you."
Bonnie reached over, grabbing napkins from the end of the table and handed some off to Eddie so they could at least try and clean up the mess. Even the fries were wet. "I don't like her at all," Eddie muttered, glaring daggers in Sarah's direction before he helped Bonnie wipe the table down.
"Me either." Sarah had definitely not enamored herself to Bonnie in any way. "I'll see if I can get a rag or someone to actually clean this up." Otherwise they were going to have a very sticky booth to sit at.
She never got the chance though because as Bonnie rose, one by one the locals fell off their stools, slumped in their booths, or simply fell to the floor from where they stood. Those who had fallen began to convulse on the floor, white foam escaping their mouth as their eyes rolled into the back of their heads before they simply stopped moving.
"Oh my god," Eddie muttered, moving to try and help one, Bonnie moving to try and feel for the pulse on another.
"She's dead," she gasped, wondering what the hell had happened. Bonnie looked up to see the witches all still sitting at the table, none of them having moved. Nor did any of them seem to find what had happened to be all that alarming, all of them looking entirely too calm for comfort.
"What happened?" Bonnie demanded, knowing something strange was going on. That many people didn't just drop dead randomly.
"Come with me for a moment, Bonnie," Valerie suggested, already walking toward the exit.
Bonnie stared at her for a moment, not sure if she wanted to do that, but none of the others were even looking at her, almost like they were avoiding her gaze. Eddie just looked frantic, falling back a little and raking his hands through his hair as he shook his head. Valerie was eerily calm, holding open the door to the outside, and Bonnie rose, following her.
She needed answers and she was going to get them.
"What the hell is going on?" Bonnie asked, stumbling as she exited the bar, a rush of energy seeming to push into her. It felt like when she had killed the construction workers, every nerve ending seeming to be on fire, trying to pull her under and devour her, but she pushed through it, regaining control over her senses.
"We need that mark to become whole. That map to grow to its completion," Valerie informed her, and Bonnie blanched at the ideas beginning to form in her head. "Trying to find vampires would take precious time that we do not have to waste. This is for the best."
"How is this for the best? Those people had families, they had lives, and you just took it from them." Bonnie shook her head, staring in horror at the doorway, hoping what she thought Valerie was implying wasn't true. "Tell me there was no vampire blood in those drinks you bought."
"I find honesty to be the best policy so I can't do that," Valerie replied, and Bonnie took a step back. "You can't help them, Bonnie. They're already dead. And they will transition into vampires."
"This is not protecting the balance. This is not helping the world." If anything it was destroying a little more of it. "And what was with that rush of power?"
"Your body is absorbing the sacrifice of the others, just as Shane was training it to do," Valerie told her, and Bonnie shook her head.
"No. He was teaching me how to tap into my magic again. Not whatever the hell that was. That isn't magic. That is death. That is chaos." And magic was meant to bring harmony, not feed into all of the havoc currently swirling around her.
"Should we leave then and allow this newly awakening vampire population to wreak havoc on their town? To drain everyone dry before they possibly burn up in the sun? Or maybe they'll survive and go on to the next town and the next," Valerie suggested, and Bonnie didn't like the woman's smile. It was almost as if the older witch found that idea to be amusing. "Or should we allow Eddie to do what he needs to do, what he wants to do?"
Valerie waved her hand and the bar door flew open, revealing Eddie standing and looking down at the slowly waking bodies. One of the other witches sliced open a blood bag, pouring some of it into one of the empty glasses. It didn't even take a full minute before one of those newly wakened gobbled it down, the scent of blood calling to them.
Eddie clenched his fists and Bonnie was reminded of when Jeremy had tried to attack Elena, his Hunter instincts taking over. The newly turned vampire never stood a chance and Bonnie couldn't see it but she had a feeling the mark was growing on his arm as the vampire fell to the ground, dead all over again.
"This is wrong," she muttered, clenching her own fists, power vibrating around her.
"It's what must be," Valerie told her, grinning as Eddie moved to kill another. "They're only vampires, Bonnie. And when Silas is woken they'll be brought back and you can give them the cure and all of this will be a bad dream."
Maybe it sounded justified in Valerie's head, but for Bonnie that all sounded like a gigantic mess, one that she wasn't able to buy any longer. She'd let a few oddities go during her grief—too busy mourning Jeremy, Matt, and even Shane to pay too much attention to certain details. She had wanted so much to believe in what Valerie had told her that she seemed to have missed out on certain parts of it.
This—what was happening right now was not how to go about fixing anything. Deliberately sacrificing innocent people just because they would come back was not something she was willing to do. She didn't think it was something Eddie would willingly do either if he wasn't being controlled by his basic instincts.
Bonnie lashed out with some of her energy, sending Valerie flying through the air while trapping the other witches against the booth they were still in. "Eddie!" she screamed, getting his attention. "Let's get the hell out of here."
None of the others who were waking had touched the blood yet so there wasn't anyone he was being pulled to kill again, and he nodded as he pulled himself out of his daze, looking around with wide eyes. "Oh my god," he sobbed, clearly ready for a breakdown.
"Get Geoff's keys!" Bonnie urged, not sure how much longer she could hold the others back. She could feel them straining against her power, could see more of the dead starting to wake.
They needed to get as far away from Valerie and the others as they could. Eddie scrambled to find the keys before meeting her outside, hands shaking as he handed them to her. Clearly he wasn't going to be able to drive.
"You can't run, Bonnie," Valerie warned even as she was pinned to the ground. "We'll find you wherever you are. You need us. That power you have will burn you out in days without us to help you carry it."
"I'm willing to take that chance," Bonnie replied, as she closed the car door and put the keys into the ignition, peeling out of the parking lot as quickly as she could.
She strained to keep her power up, to keep the other witches locked down for as long as she could, knowing they'd need to deal with the newly wakened dead before coming after them. "What the hell do we do now?" Eddie asked, staring down at his hands. "It's bigger. How the hell did it get bigger?"
"You killed another vampire. Every time you do it grows, remember?" she murmured, checking out gas gauge to see how long they had until it got to empty.
"This is so screwed up," Eddie muttered, rubbing at his wrist like he was trying to make the mark go away. "This isn't supposed to be happening. Vampires aren't real. You're not real. I'm not real. I want to go back before all of this began. Back to normal."
"So do I," Bonnie murmured, staring out at the road ahead, trying to keep her focus on driving.
"They killed them, didn't they? All those people." She could feel him looking at her and all Bonnie could do was nod. "Killed them for me to kill to make this stupid thing grow." He held up his wrist, glaring at it. "What the hell do we do now?"
"I have no idea," Bonnie told him. It was the truth even if neither of them wanted to hear it. "All I know is we are getting as far away from here and them as we possibly can tonight."
Maybe her mom would have an idea. Bonnie had a feeling Abby might know some witches that they could actually trust, that would have some insight into what to do next. They just needed to get a chance to talk to her mom, wherever she might be. She hadn't exactly gotten her phone number when her mother had skipped town. Maybe she could find her with a locator spell. Anything was better than going back to listening to Valerie and her lot.
Bonnie wouldn't make that same mistake again.
He hadn't intentionally eavesdropped on the entire conversation between Caroline and Stefan. It was hardly Klaus' fault that his Hybrid hearing meant it was easy to focus in on conversations happening two floors above him. He'd tried at first to keep his attention on the text he'd been reading, trying to gleam something new from the book he'd taken off Stefan's hands, but it had been a futile endeavor as soon as Stefan mentioned Damon.
Klaus had wanted to know what Caroline's reaction would be, wanted to hear the inflection in her tone, pick up any gasps, and while it would be better if he could also see her to notice any of her telltale habits with her hands or even her facial expressions, listening in would do for the time being.
The silent pause between Stefan saying his brother's name and then continuing was enough for Klaus to know that Caroline hadn't been expecting her friend to bring that particular subject up. The way she deflected away from whatever had happened, mentioning that Damon was Stefan's brother, linking it to the torture she had experienced—some he knew about, others he hadn't—coupled with trying to brush it off, calling it water under the bride, didn't sit well with Klaus. It only fueled his own theories about what had happened between the two, caused his anger to spike, seeming to burn in his veins.
Caroline's words about needing to put on her own battle armor, the defensiveness she had taken up because he wanted to know more, forced Klaus to calm down a bit. He knew she would be coming down already on the defensive, most likely ready to put up even more walls than she already had fastened around her, pushing him even further away than he already was from her.
He needed to try and remain calm, to make her feel safe as he pried the information out of her. It'd be for her own benefit. He would make Damon pay for his crimes, get Caroline the revenge she didn't seem quite able to take for herself. No doubt she was too hung up on how the others would feel, though funny how it seemed none of her so-called friends seemed to care how she felt about being around the elder Salvatore day in and day out.
Klaus wasn't a fool. Whatever Damon had done had obviously left its mark, perhaps was the reason Caroline was so steadfastly against drinking from the vein, and he would make sure to leave just as deep a mark if not worse on the Salvatore.
He turned his attention back to the text as he heard Caroline's door open, rereading a page as she descended the stairs. Kol was still asleep; Rebekah and Stefan had left not long after Stefan's chat with Caroline. Klaus doubted that Kol would wake anytime soon since his brother hadn't returned home until the early hours of the morning and had crashed soon after doing so. Apparently sleep had finally caught up to him.
"I hear we need to talk," Caroline started as she breezed into the room, letting the door swing shut behind her.
He glanced up at her, taking note of the way her hands shook slightly before she purposefully smoother down her skirt, needing to distract them. "I don't exactly know why we need to talk because it's none of your damn business," she continued, walking past him and toward the tumbler of bourbon. "I don't even get why you freaking care. So what if Damon used and abused me while I was human? Like you haven't done that to countless others in your thousand freaking years."
Klaus watched her pour herself a glass, fingers grasping it tightly to try and stop from trembling as she brought it to her lips, downing it. "Isn't that the vampire way or whatever?" she continued, pouring more.
Klaus didn't reply, waiting her out. He had a feeling she hadn't spoken of what had happened in a long time, wondered if she had ever truly talked about it with anyone. Considering her earlier conversation with Stefan, he knew she hadn't divulged much to the younger Salvatore.
"We were together when he first came to Mystic Falls. For like a split second. Not even worth mentioning really. I had this whole insecurity complex, always feeling inferior to Elena—since like kindergarten, you'd think it'd have gone away by now, but nope, that'll be following me until the end of freaking time. I thought I was one upping her with Damon but turned out he was pretty much just using me to eventually get into her pants. So technically she's now dating my ex which is better than my constant track record of dating or wanting her exes." Caroline clinked the glass against the tumbler. "So score one for me."
She looked back at him then, sliding down onto the chair nearest the alcohol before looking away, her focus on some spot behind him. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest," she continued, waving a hand in his direction, not really wanting to go into the compulsion and everything else. That'd only add fuel to the fire.
"Perhaps. But I want to hear it from you," Klaus informed her, not surprised when she glared at him, lips pressed together in a hardline.
"Why? We're not friends, Klaus. We are not lovers. We are barely acquaintances half of the time. Why the hell does it matter to you?" she demanded, glass set down on the table next to her, fingers digging into the material on her knees.
"Is that what you truly want to ask me, Caroline? Or is it why am I the one wondering, why am I the one asking and no doubt wanting to make that pathetic excuse for a vampire pay for what he did, instead of your so-called friends?" Klaus asked, placing the book down beside him. He watched her mouth twitch, nails biting deeper into the fabric of her skirt, could hear the tearing of the material before she looked away, picking up the glass again.
"You can't kill Damon," she muttered, swirling the liquid around in the cup as she swallowed. "You can't do anything to him."
"Why precisely?" Klaus asked, leaning forward as he watched her stare at the wall, seeing the slight tears in her skirt from her fingernails. "Because it'll cause our dear Ripper some pain? He'll get over it once he realizes he doesn't have to clean up his brother's messes ever again. Or perhaps it's because Elena will cry. Don't worry, that will simply push her back into Stefan's arms and isn't that where you'd rather her be?"
Caroline looked back at him then, eyes narrowing as she set the glass back down and rose to her feet. "You do not get to decide to right past wrongs for me. You do not get to decide how I should deal with the horrors that I've experienced. That's on me. I get to make that decision. If I want Damon to pay for anything then it'll be by my hands and not yours." He opened his mouth to counter that but Caroline shook her head. "No. You do not get to take that power from me. He took enough already and I built myself back up and I became who I am now and you do not get to take it. It's mine."
Klaus leaned back, watching her shake with emotion, her chest rising and falling as she stared down at him. "So you don't fantasize about what it would be like to make him feel as helpless as he made you?"
"Maybe I do," Caroline replied, holding her head high. "And maybe I relish in those dreams sometimes, wondering all that I could do to him, but it's my choice. Not yours. Not Stefan's. Not Elena's. Not Damon's even. It's mine and like hell you get to rip that from me to make yourself feel better, to make yourself think that you're helping. It won't fix it; it won't make me feel better."
Klaus rose at that, deliberately stepping into her personal space. "No? It won't bring you any delight to know he's waking up in fear, listening to every creek of the stairs, every car that drives by, just wondering when I'll be there to end his life, or perhaps torture him for a few more days. Leave him a broken heap that he'd have to rebuild over and over again through centuries. Tell me that wouldn't make you feel better, Caroline. Tell me the thought of that doesn't take your breath away."
He grinned as she realized she had indeed stopped breathing for a moment at the idea, eyes widening with all he was saying before she clenched her fists at her side. "If you do anything to him without my permission, because of what he did to me, then you're no better than he is," she snapped, stepping around him. "You're stripping me of who I am just like he did and making me feel helpless when I finally feel like I have some real power."
Caroline stopped at the doorway, hand on the frame as she swallowed, carefully choosing her next words. "So you do what you want, but I guess you should know that I never thought you'd do that to me. I thought you were better than that."
Klaus could feel his temper rising at her words, at what she was insinuating. In some ways he was far more a monster than Damon would ever be, he reveled in what he had done, in the pain he had caused, the lives he had ruined through the centuries. Cutting Caroline down to the very core, stripping her of power like she was insinuating was not something he ever meant to do, even when he did wish to cause her pain like she was so easily able to do to him with her words. But to make her helpless, powerless was never his intention; the opposite was in fact true. He wanted to build her up, to show her that her power was limitless.
"Very well, Caroline," he told her, watching her hesitate going through the door, glancing back at him. "I'll do nothing without your permission." He stepped toward her, motioning with one hand as he walked. "But don't think for a moment that I won't wait for that eventuality because it will come, sweetheart. When you see him ready to do to another what he did to you, when Elena finally tires of him as she returns to pursuing his brother—I'm fairly certain it's a doppelganger trait to do so—you'll want him to pay, you'll want him begging for mercy, begging for an end, and I'll happily guide you on how best to make him scream."
"You don't know me at all," she replied, crossing her arms as she shook her head. "I can manage having a whole bunch of fantasies without ever acting on them. It's healthier that way."
Klaus arched a brow at that, wondering what else she might be having fantasies about. "I'm quite sure the professionals would disagree with you on that one. Bottling up your feelings and desires never ends all that well for anyone." He stopped in front of her again, though not as close as before, smirking at her. "Eventually they demand release. Though it's quite something once that happens. All of that pent up frustration finally set free. "
"So not having this conversation with you." Caroline rolled her eyes at him. "And I'm hungry so you're going to show me where to get some damn blood bags in this city because I think you figured out the vein thing won't be happening."
"My arm is always available, love." Klaus even held one up, watching her glance down at it, noting that she unconsciously licked her lips at the idea.
"You're not funny," she snapped, forcing herself to look him in the eye. "So are you going to actually show me a little more of the city or was that a one-time thing?"
Klaus smiled at that, motioning for her to proceed through the doorway.
The conversation might not have gone at all how he had wanted or perceived it would, but he couldn't discount that he was quite pleased with the current outcome. Even if he couldn't quite be certain that she wasn't playing the role of distraction at the moment, perhaps for Rebekah and Stefan for wherever they had gone. He simply couldn't bring himself to care, content knowing she'd asked to spend some time with him, and wasn't that a giant leap forward in itself?