"It was supposed to be a one-time thing, a mistake. But, when you're a vampire, life is blood and blood binds."
Caroline groans as she comes to, feeling extremely disoriented for a moment, before the dull, already fading ache at the sides of her neck reminds her of just what has happened–
–Damon snapped her neck.
"That–"
"Welcome back; to be fair, it took you a lot less than I expected."
Her head immediately swirls to the side, following the direction that the sudden but familiar voice has just come from. She cringes slightly, her eyes closed, as the pain in her neck resurfaces for a moment at the brusque action, another groan leaving her lips.
"Katherine?" she frowns, but her surprise lasts only for a brief second.
Her eyes do a quick survey, and the small room eventually becomes less dark and less blurry around her, as she finally realizes where it is that she is.
"I can't believe that they have locked me in here! The cellar—with you?"
The doppelgänger shrugs, sighing.
"I guess that means that they have found out about you and the Big Bad?" the brunette gives her a somewhat smug grin.
However, as the two girls share a look, Caroline notices how defeated Katherine actually appears to be–
–she was her only chance, she supposes.
The blonde lowers her gaze, her eyes, void and unsure, trained on her fidgeting hands as her fingers play together nervously.
"Yeah. Yeah, they have," she eventually answers, even if there was no real need for her to actually confirm what the other girl already knew.
She presses her lips and teeth together, still looking down to her lap, and half snorts.
"It didn't go too well," she tries to joke, but her tone is a mixture of bitterness and sadness, laced with a hint of disappointment and the betrayal that she feels at the fact that her supposed friends have actually gone as far as to snap her neck.
After a moment, she clears her throat, looks around again; then, her blue orbs settle on Katherine, sitting against the opposite wall.
"How long was I out for?" she asks.
"Not even twenty minutes. Consider me impressed," the brunette attempts a smile.
Caroline takes in the information, making a face.
"It must be the bond," she muses quietly, pensive, almost as if only talking to herself. She averts her gaze again, her brows furrowing together as her mind races with the various different scenarios and possibilities.
But—vampire hearing or not anymore—Katherine has heard her, and her eyes widen just slightly, her lips parting just so.
"Bond?" she repeats, as a question; but she doesn't really give Caroline the chance to answer as she adds—"Oh, God. You are bonded to Klaus."
Caroline's eyes immediately snap back up, big and apprehensive.
"How did you–"
"After the conversation that we had yesterday?" Katherine arches up an eyebrow, knowingly. "I doubt it could be anyone else."
It hits Caroline then, like a punch to the stomach, that it was only yesterday. So much has happened since then, that it actually feels like an eternity ago that her and the human doppelgänger were talking love and morality.
Not–not that that (love) is what she feels for Klaus. Because that would be too fast; and way too crazy, right? She knows that she wants to be with him, that she cannot even fathom the alternative right now, but it's been such a recent decision that, no matter how firmly she believes in it and how much she is sure of it, it just can't even begin to resemble love.
Her heart thumps harder and faster beneath her ribcage for a few seconds, blood rushing through her veins like a sea in high tide. It almost feels as if her own body is trying to contradict her thoughts, and it makes her a tiny bit sick with anxiety.
But she definitely doesn't have time to spare right now, so she pushes her doubts back to the far end of her mind and swallows.
"Right," she breathes out, letting out a small chuckle that comes out more like a choking sound than an actual laughter.
Katherine eyes her attentively for a moment, almost studying her and causing her to feel somewhat uncomfortable.
It probably takes her longer than it should have to remember that she is the one with the upper hand here, this time. She's a vampire, while Katherine is now merely a human.
"What?" she croaks out, eventually, hating how weird her voice sounds and trying to clear her throat.
The brunette in front of her exhales quite heavily through her nose before answering.
"I was just thinking. It seems like you can do a lot more now that you are linked to an Original, so maybe you could actually get out of here."
Caroline's eyes immediately lighten up in realization, widening. She wastes no time in standing up from the dusty, rocky floor, already feeling much more positive about her current situation.
"You're right! I've already managed to hear through the spelled door, and my neck has healed a lot faster than usual," she nods once, before suddenly pausing, her shoulders slumping slightly as she remembers, "But I've already attempted to force the lock the other day, and I couldn't do it."
"Trying again won't hurt."
"You're right; again," she lets out a small laugh, feeling pleasantly surprised when Katherine reciprocates with a tight smile.
"Can you stand?" she suddenly asks after a brief pause. "I can give you some of my blood if you're injured."
For a moment, Katherine looks slightly taken aback by her offer—by her niceness—but as the feeling is gone, she shakes her head in answer.
"I'm alright. But I can't."
Caroline frowns, checking over the brunette's extremely thin body, propped up against one of the walls.
"Are you chained to something?"
The doppelgänger shakes her head again, laughing tiredly. "No. I literally can't leave."
Caroline's eyes widen again then, her lips parting slightly as she finally understands what the other girl is saying.
"You're compelled," she breathes out.
Katherine nods, averting her gaze and moving her head to the side so that Caroline can't really see her. She almost seems ashamed.
But Caroline has been there already—too many times, with Damon—and she has learned, by now, that it is never your fault if somebody else decides to obliterate your freewill. Being used by a monster doesn't make you a monster, too.
So she tries—"Kath–"
"I have daggered Elijah."
Caroline gasps quietly, and the revelation hangs in the silence around them for a few moments.
"They made me," Katherine adds, feeling the need to explain. "I was compelled, and I couldn't–" she feels a sudden lump in her throat, and stops, shaking her head.
Caroline remains silent for a few more seconds, before hesitantly wetting her lips to ask, "Is he–is he dead?"
"No, he would be of no use to them dead. It wasn't a white oak stake, just one of those special daggers that Klaus always carries around for when he needs to dispose of his siblings."
"How did they even get their hands on one?"
Katherine shrugs, still not looking at her.
The blonde sighs, closing her eyes for a moment and cursing her bad luck.
"I really need to find a way to get both you and him out of here too, then."
At that, the doppelgänger finally turns towards Caroline again, looking at her like she is being ridiculous.
"You don't have the time to worry about that now; just go and warn Klaus."
Caroline immediately frowns, bringing her hands up in front of her. "Okay, first—you say that as if it's super easy, but I don't even know if I'm actually gonna be able to get this door open," she briefly points behind her, before crossing her arms over her chest, "And second—like hell I'm not gonna worry about that! If they go ahead with their plan, Klaus is going to die; not sure how useful warning him would be, then."
Katherine shakes her head once again, and Caroline is getting really close to losing her patience this time. It feels like the doppelgänger is having fun contradicting every single thing that she says or even just thinks, and ugh, couldn't she just be clearer altogether?
"They need to practice the spell on a particular date for it to work fully, so you still have around a month," she finally says.
"A month," Caroline repeats quietly, weighing down her options. It certainly sounds better than having to constantly look behind their backs for a possible attack, but she still doesn't feel completely at peace.
"Are you sure? How do you know?"
"They were talking about it when they brought you down here,"—when she notices the other girl's questioningly raised eyebrows, the brunette smirks—"I pretended to be sleeping. Their heightened senses seem to be kind of lacking, let me tell you."
Caroline rolls her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips before she becomes serious again.
"Did they say or do anything else that could be important?"
Katherine hesitates for a moment, taking a deep breath. "They took some of your blood," she eventually answers.
Caroline's eyes immediately widen, shock, confusion and a hint of fear dancing together around her blue orbs.
What could her friends (but are they still?) possibly need her blood for? Are they planning something against her, too? Do they consider her an enemy, now?
A myriad of frantic thoughts swirl around her mind, but she's only looking for answers that she has no way of finding right now.
"Ho–why?" she asks, her gaze helplessly meeting Katherine's.
The other girl's features soften slightly, but all she can do is shrug.
"I don't know. But I do know that they have taken some of Elijah's, as well."
Caroline nods, but it's almost absentmindedly.
"It must have something to do with the spell. And, I mean, Elijah's—I get it; but mine–" she gasps, finally putting everything together. "It's the bond, again! Bonnie said Esther told her–"
"Esther?" Katherine scowls, loathing clear in her tone and evident on her aggravated expression. "I can't believe that bitch can still be annoying from the other side."
The blonde laughs, although not sounding really amused. "Well, that makes two of us," she shakes her head, starting to nervously pace around the small space.
Suddenly, after a few minutes, she comes to a halt in the middle of the room, her eyes once again widening in realization as she replays Katherine's words in her mind.
"Wait. You're right."
The brunette raises her eyebrows, meeting the other girl's eyes somewhat expectantly. "Yeah, we have already established that I'm on a roll today. But what about, this time?"
"Esther is on the other side. And that witch—Darlene, she said that mine and Klaus' bond was being intercepted or whatever by someone from guess where?" Caroline's eyebrows quirk up, a proud, smug smirk now curving up the corners of her lips.
Katherine scoffs. "Seems like that original bitch-witch has everything figured out."
"Yeah, well, now so do we. And we have a month on her."
"Don't get too ahead of yourself. Yes, we might have made some progress but, not only are we currently locked up inside of a filthy cellar, but we don't really have their whole plan either."
Caroline frowns, looking a little affronted as she focuses her gaze on the human girl and huffs in annoyance.
"Baby steps, okay?"
Katherine laughs at that answer, shaking her head to herself.
"I really hope to survive this, because I need to see you and Klaus together for myself."
The blonde's frown deepens then, as she brings her hands up on her hips.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Caroline—you are so... you,"—is Katherine's simple reply, but it just confuses her even further, putting her on the defensive.
"And that's a bad thing?"
The brunette smiles, softly, and it contrasts so very much with the image that Caroline has always had of this particular doppelgänger that it makes her almost nervous.
"That's not what I meant. But you're nice, and genuine, and," she sighs, pausing for a moment, "Klaus just isn't. I've been running from him for over five hundred years, and he has never really had... whatever it is that you are to him."
Caroline shrugs a bit, moving a shoulder up and down slowly. She looks around the dark room for a moment, worrying her bottom lip with the grip of her persistent, human teeth.
"You and Elijah aren't exactly alike, either," she eventually points out, refocusing her gaze on Katherine.
The brunette laughs, a bit breathlessly. "I suppose you're right."
Neither of the two girls say anything else then, letting the heavy silence of the room engulf them both. It doesn't feel uncomfortable, more like there are different, more important things on their minds right now, things that they can't—that they are unwilling—to share with the other for the moment.
Eventually, it's Katherine who breaks the silence again, clearing her throat somewhat awkwardly but looking as unfazed as ever.
"So," she quickly gets Caroline's full attention, "About that door?"
:
:
The first one to hear the strange noise coming from outside, almost threatening on its own in the current, eerie silence of the Boarding House living room, is Damon, but it's already too late to react as the large, brass door flies open, revealing a dangerous Klaus shadowing on its edge.
Elena gasps, eyes wide in both fear and surprise, her left hand immediately going to clutch at Damon's arm for some kind of support–
–emotional, most likely, as it's doubtful that there is any stopping the hybrid this time.
It passes through her mind, then, a thought that disappears as quickly as it arrives—they have had Elijah for almost two days now, but all it took was a few hours of silence from Caroline to seriously alert him. She cannot decide yet, if him truly caring so much about their friend is going to eventually play in their favor or not. She supposes not, that she will never really find out; they are planning to kill him, after all.
And it's what is putting them on the spot in this very second, anyway. They knew that this moment would have come, but they were not expecting it to happen so soon, and they haven't thought of how to respond to it yet; they are finding themselves at a loss, right now.
They could have perhaps explained the daggering of Elijah somehow, they could have lied and played on Klaus' innate mistrust when it comes to his siblings. But the ugly truth is looking at them right in the eyes now, the Original's yellow orbs ablaze with an anger unlike any that they have ever witnessed before—he knows.
Not all, that is impossible; but he knows what Caroline does, and he knows that they have her.
It's not even shaky ground that they are teetering on, no–
–the floor beneath them has already gone and collapsed.
What are they supposed to do now? Is there even anything that they can do? There has to be, right? They are the good ones—aren't they–
–Elena repeats, pleads and begs in her mind–
–and the good ones always win, somehow.
The silence around them is so deafening that it hurts to breathe. The positive part is that none of them actually needs to, but the negative one is that it all feels too much like the calm before the storm.
It makes Elena suddenly feel very glad that Bonnie has left to go back to her own house for the evening, claiming that she needed some time to herself after having finally told them the whole truth. And she can feel her heart aching, thinking about her friend right now; thinking about the fact that she could very possibly die again if Esther's plan to kill the Originals were to fail.
No matter the outcome, she is going to lose one of her two best friends this time. But—she keeps reassuring herself—even if hurting, Caroline would still be alive, and she would come around eventually. She has to believe in that, because it's all that she has right now; because it's the only thing currently keeping her somewhat sane despite the giant, disastrous mess that they are in.
"Klaus–" Stefan tries; and it's like the younger Salvatore's voice finally breaks something inside the hybrid, something in the atmosphere, something that was just begging to be snapped.
In an instant, far too quickly for everybody else to see no matter their heightened vampire sight, he's past the threshold and right in front of Damon. He's smirking, but his grin is almost void, empty in the most terrifying of ways.
He is not there to listen, he is there to act; to take and know whatever he wants and needs to, whoever gets in his way be damned.
And it's all Elena can do to gasp again at the sudden movement, gripping her boyfriend's arm tighter and pulling him towards her, almost forcing him to take a step back.
But it's to no avail, because Damon never stood a chance.
Strong, angry hands come up to each side of his neck in less than a second, twisting the bones and the nerves there in a resounding, unnatural way.
Elena doesn't even have the time to react to her boyfriend's temporary death that her back is already being forcefully pushed up against the wall a few feet behind her, dangerous and unforgiving fingers squeezing around her pumping heart.
Her eyes open wide as she tries to breathe in some air but fails miserably, feeling powerless and too panic-stricken to attempt doing anything else. She coughs, almost involuntarily, and her throat constricts, its sides scarping against each other at the motion, skin tearing.
Uselessly, she kicks her feet, but there is no ground to support her beneath them. She feels very much like a fish out of water right now, fighting for life against time.
But if Klaus really cares for Caroline as much as he seems to, he wouldn't actually kill her—would he? And that is the only thought currently giving her some hope, even if it's really becoming too hard to even think at this point.
She lazily blinks her eyes a few times, her vision blurring as she feels like her whole body is just about to explode.
Why isn't Stefan saying—doing—anything?
Finally, it's Klaus himself who speaks.
"Where is she?" he growls, punctuating each word as his hand tightens viciously around Elena's heart; the organ, underneath his steely grip, is still beating frantically out of fear.
The doppelgänger uselessly gasps for some air, unable to answer, and so Klaus focuses his attention on Stefan instead.
He turns his neck to the side and finds the young Salvatore, his already angry, blazing eyes hardening even more at the thought of what the younger vampire has dared doing to Rebekah. He is going to need some answers about that, as well.
But Caroline is his priority right now–
–always–
–so his other revenge is going to have to wait a little bit longer.
He arches one eyebrow, looking almost amused by the situation, but Stefan is not stupid enough to believe that. And even if it actually were the case, an amused Klaus isn't any less dangerous; quite the opposite, if anything.
"So?" the hybrid prompts him, thrusting his hand even deeper into Elena's chest cavity as some sort of twisted encouragement. He smirks deviously, noticing the brunette finally passing out from the pain and the struggling out of the corner of his right eye.
Stefan's gaze flickers to the now fully incapacitated Elena for a brief moment, before he sighs in defeat and meets Klaus' questioning look once again.
He is just about to answer when he suddenly feels the air moving around him.
He doesn't have enough time to turn around though, he simply feels the heat of somebody else's presence right behind him before soft hands cradle his neck and wring it to the left, effectively killing him for at least half an hour.
His body immediately falls to the ground with a loud thump, and the same happens to Elena's as soon as the person standing behind the currently dead Salvatore is revealed.
"Love–"
But he doesn't have a chance to finish his sentence; he doesn't even get a chance to finish his thought–
–and isn't that something, for someone who has hardly ever let anybody live for interrupting him as he breathed?
But he was so worried, and she is standing right in front of him right now, looking alright, and—
Once again, he cannot finish his line of thought, because Caroline is already throwing her arms around his neck, her soft body colliding into his own. And oh—it hasn't even been a whole day, but he was already missing her.
Part of him hates that he feels that way, but he loves the feeling of her against him so much more.
She nuzzles her face into the crook between his neck and his shoulder and sighs, glad to have him so close again. He tightens his arms around her waist in response, and tenderly kisses the side of her hair.
"You were right," she admits after a few, silent moments.
Those are words that usually bring him an incredible amount of joy and satisfaction, but the hurt and defeat that he can clearly detect in her tone only fuel the rage that he is already currently harboring towards the Salvatores, and make him feel somewhat powerless. He has never really comforted anyone before, not in the last ten hundreds years of his immortal existence anyway, but all that he wants to be able to do right now is make the blonde beauty in his arms feel better somehow.
So, he does the only thing that he is capable of doing—he holds her tighter against him, hoping that is presence can somehow be enough for her.
They remain like that for what feels like an eternity, safe and comfortable into each other's arms. But they both know that time is not on their side at the moment, so Caroline eventually draws back, placing her hands on her hips with a tired sigh.
"We need to go get Katherine from the basement," she announces, with a slight slump of her shoulders, as if it were the most normal, casual thing to say.
Klaus frowns, eyebrows furrowing together.
Before he can retort anything, she's already explaining.
"They had me locked down there with her," she shrugs, as if it doesn't matter.
But he notices the way her bottom lip and her chin tremble as the words leave her mouth; he hates the way she averts her eyes from his as she speaks. And all he wishes is that he could go back and torture the two Salvatores and their pathetic, little doppelgänger just a bit longer. He wishes that he could make them truly pay for how they have dared treating her.
He doesn't even realize that his hands are now clenched so firmly at his sides that the knuckles have turned white, until her fingers delicately brush against one of his wrists, immediately calming him down somewhat.
"It's okay; I took care of it," she grants him a smile, small but still proud.
She loves Stefan—God, if she does—but snapping his neck still managed to make her feel slightly better, somewhat vindicated for the time being.
She doesn't want to lose her friends, of course she doesn't; but she is done feeling sorry or guilty for the way that she feels, when they have never paid her the same courtesy before.
"Well, the Ripper had it coming," Klaus chuckles lowly, and of course Caroline rolls her eyes at him, turns on her heels and then starts towards the door that gives to the stairs for the basement.
He follows behind her–
–and isn't that the very metaphor of their whole relationship, anyway?–
–and, as they round Stefan's momentarily dead body, he says—"You know, I had told Rebekah you didn't need me to come and save you; seems like I was right."
And his voice is so full of pride and affection that Caroline's heart just about bursts.
To everybody else, she has always been nothing but a burden, one more liability in the grand scheme of protecting Elena from everything and everyone. If she ever got hurt, or kidnapped, or tortured, it always was because she hadn't been strong enough to fend for herself, and whenever Stefan, Damon, or Tyler came to rescue her, they had this way about them that always managed to make her feel really small and extremely useless. She hated that, hated them for it.
But Klaus.
She knows that he would be willing to move mountains and destroy cities for her; she knows that he will always fight for her, to keep her safe and happy by his side. But to have the confirmation that he sees so much more than just a mindless companion in her means more than any words could ever be able to convey.
She doubts he would ever actually feel comfortable with the notion of her being in potential danger, but to know that he still believes that she could handle it by herself is what really matters to her. It's what really tells her how much he genuinely understands her. As crazy as that thought would have sounded to her just a few weeks ago.
And it scares her. That she is actually thinking about a future together with him right now, that she can actually see it; that she is already imagining their inevitable fights over her safety, and the way that they would inevitably compromise at the end.
It all seems so normal–
–so right–
–in her mind. But she knows that there is still too much that they need to overcome before they can even entertain such ideas.
They finally reach the bottom of the stairs, and Caroline turns around to block Klaus' path before they can move any further down the dark hallway.
"We are taking her with us; no killing," she warns him, seriously.
Klaus' jaw hardens in annoyance for a moment, and he silently clicks the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth before replying.
"You know that killing her would mean putting an end to all of this, don't you? No doppelgänger to drain, no spell, sweetheart."
Caroline huffs, because—of course she knows.
"I do. But she told me earlier that we still have a month before everything can be ready for Bonnie's spell; so let's just keep that as our last resort, alright?" she almost pleads.
He still doesn't look thoroughly convinced, but nods nonetheless, knowing that there is no point in arguing over it right now; he can persuade her to take that route later, if the need arises.
He doesn't want to dwell too much on why exactly he is so ready to put his own life in jeopardy instead of taking the easier way out, only because Caroline believes that is what is right. He has already come to terms with the fact that, to him, she means more than anything else ever could, even his own existence–
–(because he just cannot even fathom one without her, anymore)–
–and he is going to try anything that he can to make sure that she is safe and happy for the rest of forever. The real forever, that only vampires—that only they—can have.
"Whatever you say, love," he eventually concedes, however begrudgingly.
He moves to pass her, but a soft yet firm hand on his chest stops him once again.
"There's one more thing that you need to know first," Caroline admits, worrying her bottom lip somewhat nervously.
He's immediately back on edge, his mind working furiously and agitatedly: has she lied about something? Perhaps she had been in on her friends' plan, after all–
–perhaps she still is, the meanest recess of his mind taunts him with malice–
–and she is now trying to come clean to him about it?
The mere thought is enough to make him ill.
But then he notices. Her eyes are not wavering away from his in fear or guilt, and although slightly worried they look neither apologetic nor pitiful.
Maybe—
"What is it?" he finally asks, his jaw clenched as he tries to disguise his own nerves with impatience.
Caroline sighs, and her hand lowers a few inches on his chest, spreading warmth on his rigid skin through the thin material of his Henley. The gesture relaxes him somewhat, and he is not sure if he loves or hates the kind of power that she sometimes almost unconsciously holds over him.
(Is it a blessing, is it a curse?)
The baby vampire takes a deep breath and finally answers.
"While she was compelled, Katherine daggered Elijah."
Klaus' eyes immediately widen, suspicions that he already had due to his brother's sudden disappearance finally falling into place.
"He has not been returning my calls for a couple of days now," he muses, looking down at her, "I thought–"
"You thought that he had taken Katherine with him and left?" Caroline's eyes soften, recognizing all too well the old wounds of betrayal as they resurface on his stoic, hardened features.
He doesn't say a word, just looks away and forcefully presses his teeth together.
It's enough to let her know that she is right.
Bringing her other hand up to his chest as well, she cradles his face and softly coaxes him to look at her again. She knows that, even with the added strength that their bond currently provides her with, she would have never been able to force him to move hadn't he allowed it, and that is already a small win in her book.
Fixing her gaze into his, she makes sure that he is listening (as if he doesn't hang off her every word whenever she speaks, already) and starts.
"I told you, Klaus, you need to start trusting people. I made a decision, and I'm not going to betray you. Neither will your brother."
He scoffs, averting his gaze for a moment, the hurt that he thought long buried coming back to haunt him.
"He did before."
"He had his reasons and you know it; reasons that you might not agree with or understand, but reasons nonetheless. And what matters is that he never actually went through with it, did he?"
"Only because I always had something to hold over his head. The doppelgänger, our family–"
"But that is exactly why he was going against you, in the first place. Because you always had something to threaten him with, because you were always hiding something from him."
Anger starts to ripple within Klaus at those words, his hands clenching painfully at his sides, his nails digging into the already rapidly healing skin of his palms.
"He has probably been hiding Katerina from me for months now," he counters.
"Because he knows you hate her!" Caroline eventually lets go of him, widening her arms at her sides as if it could help her prove her point somehow.
"Damn well I do, sweetheart. If she hadn't escaped me–"
"You were trying to kill her!"
"If she hadn't escaped me," he repeats, ignoring her argument and the near fury appearing in her eyes, "I would have been able to unlock my werewolf side hundreds of years ago."
"Yes, and you wouldn't have met me," she replies, as if it's the most normal thing to answer to that right now; and when she catches herself, catches her mistake–
–but was it?–
–it's already too late.
"I mean–that's not–" she shakes her head, almost confused, her eyes slipping close for a brief moment. "That's not what I wanted to say."
Her eyes meet his again, and they look—he looks—so gentle and loving right now that it takes her breath away.
It's not like he has never looked at her that way before, Lord knows how intense he is whenever he's around her, but still—something feels different this time. Like–like he gets it, at last. That she means it: she is not going anywhere.
But she doesn't have any more time to analyze his features or the many emotions swiftly passing over them, because his lips are suddenly crushing down onto hers, his arm latching around her waist to fully and forcefully press their bodies together.
She gasps in surprise, and Klaus doesn't waste any seconds as his tongue hungrily pushes through her parted lips, quickly finding her own and demandingly twirling around it, sucking and pulling. His mouth slashes tighter over hers, possessing it and leaving her no reprieve as it goes.
It's becoming harder for her to reciprocate, as he selfishly takes, takes and takes. It's like he is trying to imprint himself on her, and she is gladly going to let him.
So, she curls her fingers around the V-neck of his shirt and opens her mouth wider, allowing him free rein. He tightens his hold on her in response, one of his hands trailing the length of her spine to burrow inside the blonde mane of her hair, tilting her head to the side as his tongue plunges in even deeper and harder.
She feels his thumb caressing the line of his bite mark on the skin of her neck, sending an excited thrill throughout her whole body and making her pant into his mouth. She tries to breathe through her nose, somehow, because she is Caroline dammit and she's still used to do it all the time; but she fails miserably, so she decides to bring him down closer instead.
She whimpers pathetically against his lips, his tongue mercilessly toying with hers and searching every inch of her mouth one last time before he eventually, slowly draws back.
He doesn't go too far though, softly resting his forehead against hers, an action made even more tender if compared to the ferocious way in which he was kissing her just a few moments ago.
But Caroline is too captivated by his gaze firmly set into hers to even think about it. There's a gleam of something there, that shines at the corners of his intense blue orbs for a second before it disappears altogether. It's something that she cannot quite name yet—that she is afraid to name for now—but, still, she has caught it, and she is going to cherish it, lock it into a far drawer of her mind until the waters have calmed down and the moment to finally talk about it arrives.
She told him she is ready, but—
"Let's go, now," he whispers after what feels like an eternity–
–and she better get used to it, to those; eternities–
–of silence, his voice hoarse.
She nods, and they start to walk again until they reach the old, dusty door.
It's been used, touched, opened and closed definitely a high amount of times in the past few days, but the dirty, gray layer survives on its rusty surface, giving it an air of danger somehow.
Klaus forces its lock with no problems; and, as the door creaks open, Katherine rushes to the cold, dirty corner of the miserable room that she has been imprisoned in.
She hates herself for it, for the weakness and for the fear; but she is human now (a survivor, still), and there is too little that she can do on her own.
Nonetheless, as the two figures in front of her become clearer, she smirks and goes—"Oh, look what the cat dragged in."
"Katerina," he growls.
Caroline clears her throat, and swiftly puts herself between the two.
"Behave," her eyebrows quirk at Klaus, before she turns around to give Katherine a pointed look. "Both of you."
The doppelgänger rolls her eyes, a small, amused grin curving a corner of her chapped lips. She never thought she would see this day: the big, bad hybrid—whipped.
But she does have some sense of self preservation in her, so she keeps quiet. She doesn't move one inch–
–doesn't tremble, doesn't cower–
–as Klaus easily overrides Damon's compulsion with his own and sets her free.
She snorts in her mind–
–Klaus Mikaelson setting her free; that's another thing that she thought she would never see.
"I hope you happen to know where they are keeping Elijah," he asks—demands, really—with anger coloring his tone, once they are already moving back up the stairs to the main room. Caroline has an arm around her waist, helping her up, and it's one of the first times in Katherine Pierce's life that she actually feels genuine gratitude towards someone else.
"You better make yourself useful for something," he warns, and, simultaneously, Caroline sighs.
Through the pain of freely moving around again for the first time in days, Katherine grins again.
"I know he's not here," she quips. "Obviously, they didn't want to keep all of their important assets in one same place."
The hybrid grumbles something unintelligible underneath his breath, annoyed by her answer (by her very own presence, possibly), and then he sighs heavily.
"Somebody made a bit of a mess," the brunette comments with a hint of mischief, as she notices the still incapacitated bodies of Elena and the Salvatore brothers lying on the floor of the otherwise pristine living room.
Klaus ignores her, but suddenly stops and kneels down next to Stefan, crouching on the balls of his feet and looking deep in thought.
"This one is coming with us," he says, looking up at Caroline.
The blonde frowns. "Stefan? Why?"
"He paid Rebekah a visit a couple of weeks ago. I need to know why."
"So, we are kidnapping him? Damon will come for him."
He chuckles, darkly. "Let him try, love. Plus, I doubt the elder Salvatore will find us by the time he wakes up."
Caroline's eyebrows furrow together even further at that, and she shares an almost unconscious look with Katherine.
"Why? What do you mean?"
"I–we need some answers, Caroline. And there is only one place where we can get them now."
"What place?" she asks, almost hesitantly, feeling like she already knows what his reply will be.
Their eyes meet, converse wordlessly, and the determination there is enough to convince them both that that one is the right decision at this point. They need more—more power, more knowledge; more help.
He sighs quietly and finally says the words out loud—
—"New Orleans, love. We are going to New Orleans."