Every time he screamed it was a bit of his dignity that was chipped away from him but keeping a strong poise meant very little when Thierry felt his organs disintegrating every time he coughed.
The last gush of blood tainted his shirt and after a few minutes staring at the ceiling he decided that at least a bit of decency was expected now.
It wasn't an elegant exit of his bed, it was more like a dead weight rolling over and ending on the ground but he successfully stood and stumbled over to the closet, he latched on to the first shirt that he saw, holding on to that was easy but removing the one that he was wearing was another issue.
Aisha found him kneeling like this, struggling to open his shirt and barely managing a breath, his hoarse inhalation was painful to hear and she knelt in front of him breaking down when he lifted his eyes to look at her.
"You didn't leave." he said barely audible and adding a tiny smile at the end.
Aisha caressed his cheek. "I did but only to get this for you." she lowered her voice and showed him what she was hiding in her hand.
"Am I hallucinating?" he looked at her stunned.
She shook her head. "Marcel may be ready to lose you but I'm not."
"If I was hallucinating…" Thierry smiled. "That's exactly what you would say in my delusion."
Aisha leaned over for a soft kiss on his lips. "We can talk about that after you drink Klaus' blood."
He needed her help to drink and he almost ruined the precious cure by coughing but once the cold started replacing the unbearable fever he confronted her. "What did you negotiate in exchange for this?"
Aisha had no regrets about her decision, any deal was acceptable at this stage. "We owe someone the truth."
Caroline couldn't hold still, she crossed her arms only to sigh and unfold them right after, she paced in front of the car choosing next to lean against it and closely to Klaus.
He was dividing his attention between his phone and her agitation. "He will be here shortly, I'm sure."
"Good, I want to hear what he has to say…" she steered her look at Klaus. "I think." she frowned in doubt.
Klaus interrupted his flow of messages with Tyler to put away his phone. "You can only decide if the information is good or bad after you know of all the truth."
"What if I took too long with my badass routine and Thierry died before Aisha went back to him with your blood?"
"Then it was worth it just to see you so empowered." Klaus smirked.
"Aisha was also pretty hardcore with her bold move… wasn't she?" Caroline smiled a bit in awe.
"Marcel has all the wrong soldiers in the right ranks of his house."
Caroline's smile reeled in laziness. "You wouldn't do the same mistake, would you?"
"I'm only as strong as the ones I keep beside me."
Standing right next to him, she playfully kept a slow dance between their eyes pending on his reaction but the sound of a car approaching put an end to the easy flirt.
When he left the car Thierry still looked weak but his wounded look was truly caused by the talk ahead of him.
"Are you feeling better?" Caroline quietly asked Thierry.
He knew that it wasn't a way to break the ice and that she was genuinely concerned about him. "Klaus' blood is working fast, not as fast as his poison but it's slowly giving color back to my cheeks."
She smiled at him, they had chosen the Bayou to meet and they now were taking a small walk while Aisha and Klaus waited near the cars.
"Aisha said that you had a lot of questions." Thierry closed his leather jacket, finding refuge for his hands inside of his pockets.
She faced him with a nod. "Marcel won't tell me what he knows but I won't rest until I know who I am and how my parents died."
"There's not much that I can tell you Caroline but I can start with the first time I heard about you." Thierry kept his eyes honest and his words fluid. "Shortly after I joined the crew there was a group of Travellers who visited New Orleans during their journey, back then Marcel already had the host syndrome and invited them to a party. They were stout men, warriors in their tribe who liked to drink and during a very long night one of them shared a tale with us, at first we thought that he was just drunk but the further he spoke about a legend that existed among his people the more we wanted to know about it."
"What were they called?" Caroline wasn't letting anything slip from her attention.
"Rom people have two names, one that they use for the world outside and one that they use among themselves. The group that we hosted that night was known as the Youngs, they were very loud and I remember that at the time Marcel said that they reminded him of the Vikings."
Caroline only nodded silently, she wanted Thierry to carry on.
And so he did. "Gallius was the man with the stories and he told us about the clans that are made of half-bloods. Basically it's…"
"I know what a half-blood is." Caroline interrupted him.
"Ok." Thierry sprung a hand across his flat hat. "Well, he told us about that and about the hierarchy… like Rom people have royals who rule them…"
"Stop stalling Thierry." she interrupted him again.
"Your father and your mother both came from royal half-bloods who arranged for their marriage while they were still babies. When you were born your clan rejoiced because your parents came from a royal line which meant that now you were the first Royal pure-blood after a tainted period."
"And?" Caroline asked impatient.
"All that Gallius said that night was that you were special."
"You're hiding something from me."
Thierry looked away from her for the first time.
"Tell me what you know." she demanded loudly.
"The Youngs were like a Royal Guard thing and they were called in to keep the princess safe. Their only task was to protect you but one night you disappeared along with your parents and they were cast out, considered failures. Now they travel the world without a purpose."
Caroline grimaced, this was far from what she expected. "I cursed a bunch of people, great…"
Thierry softly smiled. "I don't think that they were too upset about that."
"Why did Marcel go after me?" she could hardly expect being called special reason enough for a quest.
Again Thierry vacillated but Caroline left him little choice when she glared at him. "Fine. When Marcel compelled Gallius for more information he said that the special girl was born with a gift, whenever she would touch an ill person she would heal them."
"Did Marcel kill my parents?"
Surprisingly that was the one question that Thierry could answer easily. "I don't know."
"What do you mean that you don't know?" she raged. "Lord help me Thierry, if you don't give me a proper answer I'm going to turn your head into a burning match."
"We went to Bulgaria together but he went into that village alone and he came back with you so I really don't know what happened in there."
"Like you don't know about the wolves lined up for slaughter just a few feet away from here?"
"We don't ask questions." Thierry raised his voice for the first time.
Caroline knew that and she crossed her arms hating that she had to agree with him.
Thierry calmed down but maybe because Aisha arrived to their side and took his hand.
"We do what Marcel tells us to do." Aisha told Caroline.
"Marcel is obsessed with power, he collects it like it's all part of a giant puzzle but you know that already." Thierry had a small sigh. "We all hoped that you would keep him grounded and that things wouldn't get out of hand."
"I trapped 25 werewolves in a meadow across that bridge and I don't even know how he manipulated me into doing that." Caroline pointed at the bridge before she rubbed her forehead.
"Not many of us at the house know what you can do Caroline but the few that knew about it were forbidden from the start to use it and that protection expanded with time to everything else regarding you."
Caroline eyed him worried.
Aisha encouraged him to go on. "She deserves to know Thierry."
"There was always someone watching you at all times, either it was me or Diego or Max, even Aisha followed you at some point." he noticed how horror-struck she was. "When you were with Tyler, someone overheard a conversation where he said that it was amazing how you somehow made him feel better the morning after shifting just by touching him… Marcel was worried that Tyler might find out about your gift and he declared war on the werewolves."
"And this crazy idea of killing them to harvest their powers?"
"That was all Marcel." Thierry stated.
"Caroline, all of this that I'm telling you makes Marcel look like a monster but that man loves you like he never loved anyone in his life."
"Are you still willing to follow him without asking questions?" she simply asked.
"No." Thierry dropped his voice.
"Neither am I." Caroline confessed with an emphatic tone while turning away.
Thierry exchanged a look with Aisha before he pulled her closer and circled an arm around her, things looked really unhinged right now.
Caroline closed the door of her car overwrought. "Did you listen to everything?"
"Yes." Klaus partially expected her to loose it now.
"I was raised in a web of deceit." she kept her eyes in front of her.
"What's a half-blood?" he hadn't understood that specific passage.
"A child who is born from a pure Romani and a Gadje." she slowly looked at him. "That's someone who isn't related at all to the Romani people, the gypsies believe that when someone of pure blood mates with a Gadje only their third generation will be considered a pure-blood."
"That alone would make you special." Klaus started the car.
"I didn't ask to be a Mary Sue and I won't start acting like one now. Don't ever treat me like I'm some magic perfect fairy." she harshly said.
"It's going to be incredibly hard finding a flaw but I promise that I will try." he teased her.
"Here's a flaw for you, I like you." she scorned.
He laughed knowing that it wasn't a fault.
The ride was short but made in silence and although Klaus felt her troubled he wasn't sure how to address her disquiet. "With a clan name it would be easier to track down your origins." he suggested taking action.
Caroline left the car with a small smile. "Thierry only had the name of that guy and his clan so that's like an inch more than what we had before." she went inside of his house trying not to sound too disheartened. "I have to start working on your counter-spell."
Klaus stayed behind at first, it was merely for a few minutes but it was enough to give her time to fill the table with things that she needed for the spells. "Caroline, it's been a long night."
"If you are going to say that I'm not going to be productive because I'm tired, don't." she warned him.
"You've already said it for me." Klaus dropped the cue.
She tapped the bag of sea salt before turning to look at him, there were fresh tears threatening to roll down her eyes. "Yes, you're right, I'm exhausted."
"There's a stuffed animal on my bed waiting for you." slowly he smiled at her.
"I can't sleep." she didn't mean to shout but she did and after that her breakdown finally came. "How can I sleep when I don't know who I am? When the image I had of Marcel disintegrates with every day?" she whipped her angry tears away. "Everything is unbalanced right now but there is one thing that I know for sure about myself, I'm a witch and I'm going to work on a way to break your curse." she didn't wait for an answer and turned to the table.
She heard him leave the room and sniffled cleaning her wet face, she stared at the stuff scattered over the table but honestly there wasn't a conduct that she could narrow down to start any spell, her mind was turbulent.
Caroline slowly turned when he came back into the room and her sniffle was slowed down by confusion, he was holding a warm coat that she left once at his house and a scarf that she didn't recognize. "What are you doing?" she complained when he laced the scarf around her neck.
"I'm committed to find your traction back and you are coming with me for the ride." he pulled her hand.
"Nik…" she tried in vain holding him back but instead of a stop to talk he halted only to kiss her.
It was a strong kiss but he parted her lips with care, he hauled her to him and kept her locked inside of his arms while he tried to show her with the kiss what he couldn't express in words.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked him in a murmur once he broke away from her lips.
He fixed the coat around her shoulders and gripped the lapels to haul her just a tiny inch closer to him. "Somewhere cold."
"You are really going to do this for me instead of pushing me to work on your curse?"
"I have no usage for an unbalanced witch." he smirked.
She eased out a chuckle. "I think that you're crazy."
"Resolute sounds so much more appealing." he corrected her before kissing her lips again.
It smelled like food and for some reason Matt expected to find Bonnie in the kitchen preparing one of her deluxe breakfast treats, the shock was therefore a hundred times bigger when he found Vicki running around trying to avoid burning the eggs and the bacon while making sure that the coffee was ready. "Morning…" Matt sat at the kitchen table in a daze.
Vicki turned around with a smile. "Good morning Matty…"
He responded to the smile with the same stun as he reacted to the rest of the family portrait. "You made food?"
Vicki nodded leaving the eggs on a plate in front of him, she fixed the table like he was 7 years-old and poured coffee for him. "You need to eat, like… it's something that you usually do in the morning." she tried a silly approach to her clumsy way of reconnecting to him.
He smiled. "I can't remember the last time I had eggs for breakfast…" he frowned a bit. "For some reason I stopped eating that at some point and started eating cereal instead."
The comment was a bit random but Vicki remembered well that it was something that he used to prepare all the time for her, although she was the older sister it had always been Matt who tried to be the parent. "I'm sure that they totally suck." she said discouraged.
Matt watched her as she poured coffee into another mug, Vicki was such a beautiful girl but she did everything to ruin that, when she wasn't damaging her body with drugs and alcohol she was hiding it all like she did this morning.
And it wasn't the lack of makeup to hide the big black pools under her eyes or the messy hair that she trapped in a bun or any of the casual look that she had this morning that did the trick, it was the ever diminishing attitude that she had going all the time.
"You still don't know how to use the salt." Matt said with a neutral tone but when she looked at him he smiled. "But you can make me breakfast every day if you want to."
Vicki smiled widely. "Don't get used to it."
For a second she felt compelled to reach out and ruffle his hair like she used to do when they were kids, somewhat reading her mind he went back to those happy times as well.
When their toxic mother finally left Vicki's inability to take responsibility took over and that ruined things between them but some days like this morning whenever she looked at Matt all that she could see was a kid with an appetite as big as his heart.
The family moment came to an end when there was a knock on the door and she took her thoughts with her on the way to open it.
"I smell food." Kol said as soon as she opened the door.
Vicki stepped aside so that he could come inside. "Your weird-looking friend is here." she told Matt before heading to her room.
"The everlasting charm of sisters." Kol joked as he entered the kitchen.
"Hey, there's still some coffee left." Matt invited him to sit down at the table with him.
"You had vampire blood." Kol grabbed a mug noticing how healed Matt looked.
"Yeah… it's not hard to get some in the black market." he disguised the origin of his cure.
"I hadn't thought about that." Kol enjoyed his coffee. "But the bruised look is an instant success with the girls." he shamelessly smirked.
Matt chuckled pushing his empty plate away. "Dude, it's me. You can stop with the illusion, I know why you're doing this so you can stop."
"I shall stop." Kol said amused, these conversations were confusing but utterly fascinating.
"Kaleb, come on..." Matt left the table taking the dirty dishes with him. "I still remember how drunk we got the night that Bonnie told you that she didn't agree with sex before marriage."
Immediately Kol turned on his chair.
Matt leaned against the sink. "You were convinced that you could change her mind."
"Which I failed to do." Kol wanted to know so much more about this.
"I knew that that would happen, I've known Bonnie since we were toddlers and it's easier to stop Mardi Gras from happening than to force Bonnie into doing something that she doesn't want to do."
Kol inwardly sighed, this was the girl keeping the Ascendant and the key. "I obviously realized that already."
"You got tired and decided to leave, I still think that it was a really stupid move but I sort of understand why you did it but what I don't really get is why you think that I wouldn't know that seeing Bonnie so close to Marcel is eating you alive."
"You believe that I'm acting on spite." Kol graciously refrained from laughing.
"You're jealous of Marcel so you decided to become Louisiana's new manwhore."
Kol wasn't sure if he wanted to refute the nickname. "I think that you are telling me all of this for a reason."
Matt quickly came back to the table excited. "I know that you still love Bonnie, that's a given." he was beyond converted to that fact. "And I rather have a sexually frustrated Kaleb around Bonnie than Marcel and his crafty paws."
"You don't approve of Marcel." Kol could tell by Matt's voice that this wasn't even related to what happened to Vicki.
"He's not a good man." Matt knew of that in his heart.
"I wouldn't mind doing it just to irritate Marcel but Bonnie is far from accepting me back." Doing it solely to piss off Marcel was satisfying enough to make Kol excited as well.
"Keep it in your pants Kaleb and be nice to Bonnie, I'm not talking about turning this into a game but it would be nice if you gave us a reason to accept you back." Matt took Kol's mug.
He watched the human performing something as mundane as washing a dirty mug with an intrigued expression, this coven business was truly unique.
Bonnie waited in line for her turn, the new library policy didn't leave her much choice and now she was behind a huge line of students praying that the books that she needed would still be there when her turn arrived.
She received a new message and it definitely was weird to read that Caroline was going out of town for a day but surely she had a good basis for it.
Bonnie was excited when the student in front of her finally cleared the row for her and she went straight to the books that she wanted. "No…" she grumbled finding the empty spaces alerting to the missing books.
"Are you going to be long?" Another girl asked.
Bonnie gave her a deadly look but seriously, what was the point?
Law was one of the most popular courses and she knew how hard it was to access the books during normal hours.
A huff and another grumble accompanied Bonnie as she left that section in the library but her determined strut was cut off by Marcel.
He was waiting for her in the staircase of the library and Bonnie stopped a few steps away from him.
"I meant to come by earlier but I had some important things to handle." he apologized.
Bonnie looked down on the list of books that she was holding. "I don't think that we should be friends Marcel. What you did…" she looked up at him. "I wasn't expecting that from you."
"You've all forgotten who I am." he brusquely replied.
"No we haven't." she assured him. "But I think that you forgot who helped you maintain the status that you have."
"I've conquered it all by myself."
Bonnie kept a wayward lock behind her ear. "How many spells did we do for you Marcel?"
"A good leader uses the resources that he has at hand."
"Vicki got hurt last night because of you." Bonnie accused him harshly as well.
"And I'm going to allow Matt to live although he attacked my vampires, so really… this is one of those half empty and half full glass situations. While a few will see me as a tyrant, others will see me as benevolent."
"You're an unappreciative man." Bonnie started going down the stairs.
He stopped her with a hand around her arm. "I'm sorry… I… there's a lot happening right now and I'm starting to lash out against all the wrong people."
She kept her eyes on the ground. "If you wanted to teach us all a lesson you did a great job, we all learned that nothing happens in this city without the consent of the King but I love my coven and I will find comfort in them, I don't care what you will throw at us next, I'm sure that we will survive it together."
"Bonnie…" he bowed his head a bit so that he could create some intimacy between them. "I would never hurt you… you know that." he made her look at him by cupping her chin and turning her head to him. "I have all the books that you need at my house." he moved his head like he was about to kiss her.
Bonnie pulled her head back to get away from his touch. "I don't sell myself so short Marcel." She honestly felt dirty now.
"I am not having a good week…" he tried to sound reasonable. "But if I'm offering you protection, you should take it."
"I will suffer along with my coven whatever the consequences that you're planning for them." she bravely said.
Marcel wasn't happy, his body expression was tense and he looked about to say or do something really stupid.
"Matt is looking for you Bonnie." Kol's voice erupted from the bottom of the stairs.
Bonnie and Marcel looked at him at the same time.
"Thanks." Bonnie smiled at him and sprinted down the stairs as soon as Marcel let go of her arm.
Kol waited for him without moving.
"What's the angle this time?" Marcel asked him as he came down the stairs with brass swag.
"Whatever it is, it's not as abhorrent as yours." Kol smiled at Marcel. "Sending her boyfriend away just so that you could sleep with her? A bit vile but a courageous move nonetheless, now trying to coerce her with fear? That's a line that I've never crossed myself."
"I know you Kol, so the good routine is wasted on me." Marcel shut down the patronizing show. "I'm done trying to kill you so I'm going for the alternative."
Kol cautiously looked at Marcel as the other pulled him into a quieter corner.
"I have a spell that requires a good warlock and Original blood, if you do this for me I will have your original body back by tonight."
"I like the different approach." Kol mused.
"Take that body and disappear from our lives." Marcel snarled. "Meet me at Our Lady of Guadalupe church."
"You always had a taste for the unnatural." Kol knew the haunted location well.
Caroline hadn't slept, she practically spent the entire flight with her face glued to the window, she found the sea of white clouds fascinating but it was the view as the clouds dissipated that made her gasp. "Nik…" she rested her hand against the small window in the private plane. "Where are we? It's so beautiful."
"Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer." Klaus answered without having to look.
"We're at the South of France?" she asked him incredulous.
"The small town is named after the three saints who are believed to be the first witnesses to the empty tomb at the resurrection of Jesus. Their relics are the focus of the devotions of many pilgrims, among them is the Romani people who gather every year for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah, a local woman who welcomed the three witnesses upon their arrival to the town in a boat."
"Bob Dylan wrote a song inspired on the ritual bath." her eyes truly sparkled in excitement.
Klaus leaned over in his seat. "There are many Romani living in here but I've managed to track down a Rom girl who is a scholar and belongs to the Department of Religious Studies in the local university."
Quickly she planted a big kiss on his lips. "Thank you for being occasionally really sweet."
"I will not be sauntering that side of me any further today." he said sternly.
She laughed unable to believe him and steered her attention back to the window.
"We are the really old ones yet Marcel is the one using all the clichés to collapse?" Rebekah cocked her eyebrow very high as they walked by the gates of Saint Louie cemetery, it was considered the most haunted spot in the world and it was quite the shady location for a meeting if anyone asked her.
"He's convinced that we're here for the tourist ticket, do you want to burst his bubble or should I?" Kol asked as they crossed the street headed to the historical church.
"You know how much I'm afraid of a powerful gale." she joked counting 7 the number of vampires that were with Marcel.
"I'm not wholly quacking at his sight." Kol guaranteed.
"I might be slightly humming since I can't help but like a man with muscles." she noticed the particular tight shirt that Marcel was wearing today.
"Boundaries Bekah." Kol winced.
She rolled her eyes, it sucked being the only woman in this family since none of them ever wanted to hear about her sexual flings.
"Do you need a few extra minutes to catch up?" Marcel asked the duo.
"We've been siblings prior to the existence of this place." Rebekah set the mood to the summit at once. "I don't need to talk to my brother, if he wants me to kill all of you all he has to do is look at me with batty eyes."
As the vampires glanced at each other, the smile appeared on Kol's lips. "Good old fluency is something innate to our Bekah."
"It will be night soon if we keep discussing Rebekah's attributes." Marcel looked for a way to end the preamble.
She purred loudly. "You know that I don't like a party that has more than two, so stop flirting with me."
Marcel tossed something at Kol in a very snappy mood.
"Why was I called to hold a rock?" Kol's mood took a bad toll as well.
"That's the moonstone, it's a really old talisman and it was the energy that Caroline used to trap a group of werewolves in the Bayou." Marcel kicked off the action. "And I need you to use it to create a link between my crew and myself."
"Why me?" Kol asked inspecting the white rock closely.
"There's a bigger spell coming but I do not trust everything with one witch." Marcel wasn't that foolish.
"And my blood is for what, exactly?" Rebekah had her doubts upfront.
"I have a backup plan." Marcel smiled darkly. "That needs to be kept a secret so your blood will make an unbreakable cloaking spell."
Rebekah looked at Kol. "What's the catch?"
Kol shrugged a little, he couldn't tell yet.
"I know what you need." Marcel turned to his posse. "Bring the in the inspiration."
One of the vampires came forward and handed a piece of cloth to Marcel, as he unfolded the piece Kol unconsciously stepped forward.
"I always knew where Klaus kept your remains." Marcel showed Kol his family ring. "Klaus placed your ashes inside of Finn's tomb, so you've been walking around like a dizzy fox, your remains were resting in La Fayette from the start."
Kol caught the ring as Marcel tossed it to him, it felt good to finally touch something that was truly his. "What did you do with the rest?"
"It's kept for caution." Marcel coldly said. "Now it's time for my two friends to help out in my time of need." he headed for the church. "We will be performing the spells inside."
"But of course." Kol and Rebekah said at the same time.
"Professor Cassandra Lovel." Caroline read the name on the door.
They drove to the university as soon as they landed and although Klaus' on point French was a big bonus, the enchanting melody wasn't enough to ease Caroline.
She was nervous, this was harder to do than confronting Thierry because that one was like family, this however was dissimilar, she was in another country about to meet someone she never met before and possibly with vital clues that could lead to her history.
"She will see us now." Klaus translated the small talk he just had with the lady at the desk.
Caroline's deep breath was loud and she took the hand of the man standing next to her, when he motioned to speak she fiercely looked at him. "I know that you have like a billion years and that holding the hand of a girl under her 20's is something really silly for you but can you please, please do this for me? I'm freaking out and I really need some sort of safety and I know that it's screwed up that I find that security in a giddy homicide hybrid but work with me, it helps a lot when I feel your essence around me."
"I was going to say that you have really soft hands." he simply said.
Caroline broke into a silly smile and bumped her shoulder against his, she regained some seriousness when the door opened.
It revealed a tall beautiful dark-skinned woman, she had astounding dark eyes and a smile that resembled Bonnie's warm smile and that made Caroline relax.
"Hi, I'm Cassie, please come inside." she politely invited the couple inside of her office.
There were too many books and study papers for Caroline to keep track and she sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk with her eyes glued on the woman. "You're really beautiful."
Cassie laughed softly. "That's very kind of you…" she briefly looked at Klaus, he was invested in the books scattered around her desk and she returned her focus to the girl displaying a giant smile. "The Dean spoke to me about your interest in my religion and nature."
Caroline nodded with an uneasy shift in her chair. "I recently found out about my own Romani origins and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about our history."
"Is there anything in particular that you would like to know? Anything that you've read so far and that has interested you?"
Caroline eyed the woman with big expressive eyes. "I heard of a legend about a missing girl, she was last seen in a village in Bulgaria."
Cassie leaned back on her chair with an astute smile. "You came all the way to France to learn more about the Lost Princess?"
Caroline glanced at Klaus, he reacted to the expression as well and looked at her inquisitive.
Cassie left her desk. "It's natural, everyone loves a good Princess story." she removed a book from a shelf close by and handed it to Caroline. "There are many versions and many different opinions about the veracity of this precise legend but our people believes that everything happens for a reason."
Caroline opened the book, it was written in Romani which wasn't unfamiliar to her but she was pulled to the pictures instead, she touched them floored, how was it possible that she lived for so long without any knowledge of this…
There was a drawing of a familiar man and a woman holding a baby in their arms, it was a family picture like the one that Klaus gave her but on this one the couple had simple crowns on their heads.
Cassie was back in her desk. "When the Zakono, our ancient law was created, a specific clan was held as the highest. The Lumina were wise, amiable and generous but their biggest quality was their ability to be just and whenever there would be a problem between the tribes many would come to them for advice. Time passed and clans began to spread out across the world, Travellers would go from one end of the world to the other but they respected the Lumina and if they encountered one on their way they would bow in respect and many times invite them to stay in their lands, it was seen as a great honor to give shelter to a Lumina."
Caroline had started skimming through a passage while listening to Cassie.
She watched Caroline with a smile. "The Lumina lived in luxurious properties and big ceremonies were held whenever there was a wedding or a birth."
Caroline looked up at Cassie. "They wore crowns." she artlessly said.
Cassie chuckled. "It wasn't without controversy, many started disagreeing with the big life style that was so despair from the rest of the Rom and then the unthinkable happened. During one of his journeys a Lumina king fell in love with a Gadje and to everyone's shock he married her, from that union a boy named Bavel was born. In an attempt to bring peace to all the hosts he was promised to marry a girl from another clan who was herself the sinful fruit of a half-blood marriage."
"Dooriya..." Caroline found the name of her mother.
"It was an arranged marriage but they easily fell in love with one another and it is said that their love was as beautiful as Dooriya was."
Caroline closed the book and faced Cassie. "What happened to them?"
Cassie held a smile. "One month after the wedding took place the land was struck by a harsh winter and everything was covered in snow, during one of her walks in the garden Dooriya found a yellow rose who survived the harsh weather, struck by its beauty and strength the Lumina queen vouched to call her first child Tsura, which stands for light of dawn, and she foreshadowed that she would be striking and steadfast as the adamant rose that she found that day. Nine months later the princess was born, a baby with golden hair, skin as white as the snow and blue eyes like yours."
Caroline looked down from Cassie wondering if a disguise wouldn't have been a good idea.
"And the part where the princess is lost?" Klaus chose the right opportunity to speak up.
"Not much is known about that." Cassie was concise.
"What do you mean? She was abducted or something…" Caroline tried not to tell too much.
"After the princess was born many came to visit her, the journeys were long and tiring but as soon as the princess would touch the Travellers they would feel better, soon after that rumors spread out that the princess had a special touch. This is where the legend becomes messy and unclear… some say that she was taken, others that she still leaves among the Travellers but the only thing that our Romani history knows is that one day the Lumina royal family went out for a horse ride and that they were never seen again."
Caroline sulked unhappy with the prologue. "I need to know more."
Cassie enjoyed her enthusiasm. "I am only an expert in the part of the tale that my Grandmother used to tell us at night, anything beyond what I told you today are fables and stories that pass from generation to generation. But you are new to our community and obviously interested so I'm sure that you will find other stories appealing."
"I guess…" Caroline tried to smile.
Klaus was the first one to stand up, it was obvious that they weren't getting anything else today. "Thank you for your time and for your disposition."
"It was a pleasure…" still Cassie didn't like the way that Caroline looked so grim. "But maybe before you go…"
Caroline reacted with hope. "Yes?"
"Would you like to go to a party?" Cassie asked with a big smile.
Caroline looked at Klaus mystified.
Marcel dropped his blood on top of the paper with the names, the blood drops went from name to name uniting them and he closed his hand smiling at Kol. "It's not often that you impress me."
"Don't be a liar, I'm a daily surprise." Kol was toying with his ring, it was idiotic how much he missed the ugly thing.
"What about the other spell?" Marcel looked at Rebekah.
She was holding her hand above the flickering flame of a candle and ignored Marcel and the men entirely.
"First you tell me where my ashes are." Kol demanded.
"Kept in safety." Marcel repeated.
A long and lasting look was held between the two men, there wasn't much love between Kol and Marcel but now things were tenser than ever.
Rebekah wasn't here to endure a ridiculous testosterone contest and approached Kol. "Can't you just do the spell so that I can go?"
He handed her a knife without taking his eyes from Marcel.
She cut her hand and dropped blood on top of a candle, Marcel handed Kol a map with a location and he dropped the red wax on top of the map.
"Whatever it is that you want to be kept a secret, can't be found now." Kol caught the name of a street before Marcel burned the map to ashes.
"I want my moonstone back." Marcel reached for the stone.
"It's all yours." Kol gallantly said and handed the talisman back to the other man.
When Marcel accepted it the stone made him gasp, Kol had done something to it but it was too late to act in response, he chocked and dropped to this knees with all of his men mimicking his painful gesture.
"Look at that, you're a real witch." Rebekah looked at Kol proud.
He smirked from his casual walk on top of a bench. "I am, aren't I? I would be extremely in love with myself if I wasn't straight."
Rebekah laughed looking around the unconscious group.
The big property had a big country-like house but the really fascinating aspect for Caroline was the agitation that she found around back.
There were so many people here that she found New Orleans suddenly ridiculously tiny, she had a hard time getting what they were saying but she paid more attention to everything else anyway.
A big number of tents were scattered around the vast land, they took her back to her childhood instantly and the big fire triggered a flash, despite the fact that around the bonfire there were men singing and playing a Spanish guitar she only saw a little girl dancing and twirling happily around the fire.
Klaus touched her back and she returned to reality and to him. "I like it here."
He brushed her cheek with a smile. "They find you massively pretty."
She noticed a few intrigued eyes on her and some subtle whispers. "What are they saying?"
"Things that are not leaving me happy."
She cutely smiled at him. "Are you jealous Nik?"
He grumbled in response.
"The old people want to meet you." Cassie returned to their side only to take Caroline away.
She smiled at Klaus before going away and he started thinking of the ways he would kill the two boys assessing Caroline's body like she was a horse.
"Marcellus?"
He groggily responded to the voice calling him and turned on his back, he was somewhere dark and apparently somewhere he didn't know well.
"Marcellus?"
He jumped from the ground looking for the origin of the voice. "I'm going to kill you." he promised to himself, after a small walk he came to the only source of light coming into the dark space and found Kol crouching on top of a well.
"What happened to the alternative?" Kol asked him through an iron grid. "By the way, do you know where you are already?"
"Where is my crew?" Marcel asked remaining in the unshed part of the cave.
"They used to call this place The Garden, I was thoroughly enchanted by the methods they used on all the prisoners they held in here." Kol enthusiastically shared the name of his chosen place to have fun with Marcel. "Now it's all turned to ruins but at least the well still works."
For Marcel it wasn't easy to swallow the harsh reality, this used to be a prison first for slaves and then later on for criminals of horrendous crimes, they were literally thrown into a pit and left there to die.
Also the abandoned facility was now consumed by the wild life in the Bayou so literally he was surrounded by the swamp and stuck in a hole where the only way out was up the well.
"Hello?" Kol tapped the iron with the moonstone. "Marcellus… are you paying attention?"
"How dare you betray me?" Marcel raged and showed his vamped face but backed away as soon as the sun hit him on the face.
While Marcel screamed Kol looked at the daylight ring that he stole from him. "Where is my body Marcel?"
"You will never see it again, I will make sure that you are forever stuck in that teenager mortal body." Marcel yelled from his dark prison.
Kol tilted his head. "I feared that you would say that but I could get used to the blue eyes…" he easily smiled. "Can you get used to desiccating in a dark hole unable to stand under your precious sun?"
"I'm going to get out of here Kol and the first thing that I'm going to do is bleed you out." Marcel voiced the threat as an avowal.
"If I had a penny for every time that you've said that." Kol left while placing his cool shades on.
Rebekah waited for him by the car. "Do you really take pleasure in being such a sadist?"
Kol chuckled loudly.
She followed him with her eyes as he reached the other side of the car. "If you were planning this from the start, why did you do the spells anyway?"
"Oh, I only decided to take him down when he asked for the moonstone back." He admired the stone with glee. "I really like magic talismans."
Rebekah's chin fell a little. "You are such an unstable little prick."
He waited for her inside of the car looking adorably innocent. "I know." he smiled while she took the driver's seat.
She was enchanted with the people, they were all so nice and lively, they liked to party and they liked to laugh, Caroline was well received and she enjoyed being here but in a way her stare kept drifting to the man standing on the other side of the campsite.
Klaus was having a drink, always set apart from everything and everyone but his eyes would search for her every now and then.
Caroline caught him in one of those moments and she smiled at him, they were surrounded by this big commotion and there was a huge fire distancing them, there were dancing girls around Caroline and joyful children running around but still she never felt as close to him as she did today.
"He is very handsome." Cassie said next to Caroline.
She broke away from Klaus and smiled at Cassie. "Yeah, he's something else…" she genuinely hoped that he wouldn't listen to them.
"He's your Cama."
"What's that?" Caroline cringed a bit in reservation.
"It means that he is your lover." Cassie had to raise her voice as the singing became a group thing.
Caroline wasn't happy, now he heard it for sure. "If you want to put it in that blunt way."
"He has an important place in your life because he has a privilege that no one else has. He has the honor of not only touching your body but also your life and your soul."
Caroline blushed, slowly lifting her eyes to meet Klaus'. "Is that what a Cama is?"
"It's so much more than that..." Cassie pulled a shawl over her shoulders. "He's a warrior that one but a Gadje nonetheless."
Now Caroline was cornered into a speechless moment.
"You've been invited to spend the night in one of the tents, will you accept it?" Cassie sweetly asked.
"We would love to." Caroline returned the kind way in which she was welcomed.
Cassie was satisfied with that. "Enjoy the party a little longer and tomorrow before you leave, we will talk some more."
Caroline nodded with a smile on her lips.
Now that she was alone she drifted back to Klaus like she had been craving to do all night and without a word he welcomed her with a strong circle of his arms around her body, softly Caroline hid her face in the crook of his shoulder.
"Are you finally reeling down?" he was sure that she was pushing every human limit in her.
"I feel like Alice in Wonderland when she's thrown into this magical world where nothing seems real." she looked up at him.
He kissed her.
"Is this real?" she asked him quietly.
He kissed her again.
When his lips backed away from hers she narrowed her eyes at him. "I found your tell, when you don't know what to tell me you kiss me."
"You don't like my accomplished words." he hid his hands in her hair.
Caroline laughed. "That's not true, I love pretty words… sometimes I even love dirty words." she naughtily melted against him. "Do you want to talk dirty to me Nik?"
His thumbs stroked the back of her neck. "If those two boys playing the violin don't stop gawking at you, I'm going to dismember them."
"Ugh…" Caroline complained with a groan. "Wrong kind of dirty Nik." she heaved him closer to her with a hand around his neck and showed him what she had in mind with a kiss.
"Let me guess, you want a shot of that really expensive stuff?" Vicki asked the arriving couple.
"Yes and she's paying for it." Kol excitedly leaned his head towards Rebekah.
She scoffed him but sadly it was a wasted scoff because Kol didn't take the stool next to her and instead walked over to the other end of the counter.
Bonnie had the most miserable look on her face, she was staring at a pad and had a glass of something that Kol guessed was there for hours now.
"I've seen Poltergeists with less grumpy attires."
She slowly looked at him. "I have an accusation essay to do and I have no inspiration whatsoever to write, I couldn't get a decent book to read today and I just can't get anything on paper."
Kol neared the pad closer to him and scribbled something, he pushed his doings back to her when he was done and Bonnie burst into this loud laughter.
She kept on laughing which drew attention to Matt who approached them with a smile, it was nice seeing Bonnie laugh around Kaleb again.
Bonnie showed him a drawing of a hangman. "He's guilty."
Matt didn't get the joke but he was distracted anyway. "Where have you been all day?" he asked his buddy.
Kol pouted. "Darling, don't be too upset but I like my freedom."
Matt dryly laughed. "Everyone decided to have a life today… it wasn't just Caroline who decided to take the day off, Kat hasn't answered any of my calls today either."
"You have dependency issues." Kol notified him.
"No one asked you anything." he left trying Katherine's number again.
"You can stay here tonight." Some girl showed them their tent and handed Klaus an oil lamp. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight and thank you." Caroline awkwardly smiled at the girl knowing why they were politely given the tent with more privacy.
It could be because they were guests but Caroline had a feeling that her heated kisses with Klaus weren't exactly discrete.
Maybe it had to do with the music, the outgoing culture or just being here with Klaus and experiencing all this with him but truthfully Caroline couldn't get her hands off him and they had been kissing ever since Cassie left her side.
Klaus held the entry of the tent for her and she went inside with a smile that grew, it looked cozy with a big rug on the ground on top of a thin mattress, there were two pillows for them and the quilt looked warm as well.
She sat down loving the memories that it all brought back to her. "I remember sleeping in a tent like this when I lived with my parents." she ran her hand over the smooth fur of the rug.
Klaus laid down on their bed for tonight. "It's not entirely that different from our accommodations in my era either but we didn't have the artificial fire and the mattress." he was staring at the top of the tent and smiled when she nested her head on his chest and her body closely to his.
"I'm never going to forget how amazing today was." she shared her thoughts with him.
Klaus toyed with a lock of her hair carelessly. "We can return here whenever you want to."
"I'm a Lumina…" she repeated out loud the word circling in her mind.
"How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn…" Klaus recited.
Caroline lifted her head not sure what he was saying.
He poked her nose entertained with the confused expression on her face. "They used to call Lucifer the light-bringer."
She pondered about her reply. "He was a fallen angel."
"I wonder if it was another angel who made him fall from the heights of heaven, deep into the pits of hell and death…"
Caroline touched his face in a soft pattern, she stroked his unshaven cheek and the strong features that she admired so much. "I hope not, it would be sad if a love story ended like that. With an angel in heaven and another in hell."
With a soaring strength and speed he flipped them around and looked at her now in reverse positions. "I would steal you and take you down with me to the dark pits of my lonely cage where I would keep you forever."
"Mythology aside, I'm already living in sin." she played with the dangling pendant from his necklace. "It's forbidden for a pure-blood to be with a Gadje, especially because my birth cleansed a tainted line."
Klaus tensed his jaw. "Would you still mate with a Gadje for life?"
Caroline's air decided not to flow naturally and she felt the blood rushing through her with such speed that her cheeks were burning in heat. "I don't know… don't wolves have the same dilemma?"
"We aren't given a choice." he felt his breath change.
Caroline moved her hand to his neck. "If you ask me, it's all a bunch of myths and legends that don't apply anymore."
"It's all turned into vulgar folklore now." he started pulling her scarf.
"That's what I was thinking." her murmur came before she pressed his lips for a kiss.
Sweetly she engaged him for a deeper kiss while her hands lowered from his neck to remove his jacket and his shirt was out of his body before he started taking her coat off.
He was well aware of what Caroline wanted from him for the last hour, the way she kissed him and the way she touched him were telling but if he had restrained from flashing with her to the nearest tent before, now he had his chance to do what they both wanted.
"Don't ruin my clothes, I don't have anything else to wear." she asked him while his hands roamed down her body and his lips kissed her neck.
On her request her top was saved and his usual impatience to have her naked was replaced with a softness that left Caroline impaired.
Skillfully he unhooked her bra and slowly trailed his hand over a smooth naked back while the other hand focused on removing the pink piece of underwear out of his way so that he could kiss her breasts.
Caroline threw her head back with a deep moan, her fingers knotted with his curls while his lips savored her and his hands caressed her.
Klaus kissed down her rib cage, covered her white complexion with moist passionate kisses that pleased her and for Klaus there was no greater sound than the tiny whimpers that she would release every time he did something that she really liked.
With Caroline it was all about touching her the right way and kissing the right sensitive spots, she liked being pleased and Klaus loved giving her pleasure.
He opened her Jeans and kissed the matching pink item shielding a throbbing desire for him already, Klaus took her boots off and pulled her denim jeans down her legs but left her panties on.
When he rested back on top of her Caroline knew that his torture would be slow today and she kissed him eager for it, they shared a number of kisses that although unhurried were hot.
Next his mouth trailed her skin until he found her left breast and while he closed his lips around her nipple one of his hands lowered between them, at first he only teased her as his index peeked inside of her panties but when his tongue started toying with her beautiful round nipple he pushed the game along and circled his finger lower.
A cove of bliss parted Caroline's lips and she clasped her eyes shut, his hand disappeared under her panties while he cupped her heat, accessing just how much she wanted him and all that wetness increased when he pushed a finger inside of her.
Cruel, that's what he was because he only did that to play with her limits, he removed his finger and instead of pushing it back inside he only rubbed over that little extra responsive nub.
Once, twice and then in a continuous stroking rhythm that instigated a wave of fire, starting there and then covering Caroline entirely.
Klaus closed his teeth without force around her nipple while between her legs two of his fingers parted her folds for his index, he hid his finger entirely inside of her loving how much she reacted to that.
Caroline's hips contracted, she wanted to close her legs around his hand, to keep him and his doings there and when Klaus noticed that he left her chest to kiss her lips.
She answered with a raw kiss that he enjoyed immensely, she moved her leg wrapping herself around him and ran her nails down his back, he was still wearing his pants which was unacceptable and Caroline wanted to do something about that.
She bit his lower lip when his finger curled inside of her, he watched her all the while and added a second finger inside of her in awe of how beautiful she looked when she came.
He kissed her with an enamored feeling between them and his hands were now caressing all of her body, Caroline mapped his back and demanded something that took him a while to really assimilate.
"I want to give you pleasure as well." she said in a low but confident voice.
Klaus licked his lips and didn't move at first but she rested her hands on his chest urging him to lie down on his back, as her body moved he finally moved as well but he actually looked doubtful at her.
Caroline softly kissed his lips. "Trust me." she toyed with his favorite expression when it concerned her.
He didn't smile, he was still caught up with how different everything was with Caroline.
She kissed him again, then she had a feast with his chest, she left tiny kisses in that entire wonderland and her warm palms heated him like no one before her.
Caroline opened the buttons on his Jeans and pulled them down, she got rid of his shoes and everything that was keeping her away from her mission.
She was as rapt by his beauty as she had been when she first saw him, she looked at him with a smile and leaned over for another kiss, although he wanted to keep her for a longer kiss Caroline had other mischievous plans.
She created a single line of kisses that went from his chin down to his navel, Caroline curled her tongue there briefly and while a hand remained on his chest caressing him another wrapped around his hard member.
"Caroline…" he let out in a husky bay.
He closed his eyes for he had never known such torture as the one Caroline inflicted on him with her mouth and her hand.
She was slow and caring for his pleasure but when she felt him close she stopped, it was a mean move and she actually giggled in all of her sweet evilness, Klaus was having an epic fight with his breath and he opened his eyes to face the perky blonde sitting up and straddling him.
Her panties were gone now and he felt her wet and ready against his throbbing erection, Caroline's hair was falling around her features so perfectly that she looked like a Goddess to him, she swayed her hips forward without taking him in and Klaus wasn't a fan of that, he gripped her waist wanting to pull her to him and to burry himself inside of her.
Aware of her power over him Caroline touched her lips while slightly rocking her body over his lap, always provoking but without letting him in.
He gritted his teeth frustrated, he was aching to have her.
Caroline leaned over to brush his lips with hers. "Do you want me Nik?"
He squinted at her whispered mean play.
She nudged his lips with the tip of her tongue. "What do you want me to do Nik?"
He growled aroused by her complete control. "I want you to take me, I want to be inside of you."
She moaned against his lips, only to mess with him more and took his hands from around her waist, she rested them over his head and knotted her fingers with his before she swayed her body forward to envelop him completely.
Caroline kissed him again before moving and this time around she took him in deeper but she needed more and the position didn't help, she had to sit up so that she could ride him hard.
She swayed her hips against him fast, he was so lodged inside that every time she plunged her body forward he would hit a sweet throbbing place inside of her.
They were so close that it surprised her that Klaus moved, she was on the ground under him now and he was kissing her lips without delay.
He stroked her ass while she adjusted her body under his, she locked her ankles around him and Klaus redrew out of her tight core only to establish a slow pace, he thrusted with intent in and out of her, every time he redrew he pushed harder back in.
Caroline bit her lip because he made it all so painfully good, he pushed again hard and swallowed her groan with a deep kiss, his tongue devoured the next deep sound that she made and the fire that she was giving him.
Caroline lowered her hand, she pressed his lower back wanting him to merge into her skin.
Klaus searched for her free hand and his fingers were locked in with hers while he pushed into her, he nibbled on her lower lip when the pushes took him closer to her.
Their fingers tightened entangled as they were with each other and they kept their eyes locked as well as this wonderfully strong high came forward as the orgasm arrived for both at the same time.
They kissed tired and out of breath but ever so sure that something so perfect was taking over their feelings.
Klaus held her close, she was sleeping peacefully now and with a smile residing on her lips, he was brushing his fingertips along the lines of her face and feeling consumed by the lore that he let out in a loud voice. "It is said that every wolf is a lonely creature until the day he finds his pack, still then and although not alone anymore he is forever cursed to feel incomplete until the day he finds his other half. When the two find each other there will be an unspoken understanding of one another and they will feel unified." Klaus smiled. "They will lie with each other in unity and will know no greater joy than knowing that they are mates."
Soundtrack:
No good in goodbye – The Script
Useless – Isaura
A flash junk mind – Milky Chance
For Nancy ('Cos it already is) - Pete Yorn
One reason – Gun
A sky full of stars – Boyce Avenue
Say you love me – Jessie Ware