All right, folks, there was some confusion about why Elena and Caroline didn't recognize each other last chapter (Mystic Falls being so small and such). I will explain more later why this is, but Elena was taken from Mystic Falls after she was born. The story behind that will reveal itself in the next chapte. I just want you to know that most of this is actually about Katherine's plans.
Also, Elena is not a vampire! That is important, too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.
Chapter Fourteen
Even angels have their wicked schemes,
and you take that to new extremes.
It was as if they were standing between two country's leaders that were currently locked in a cold war. Caroline stood behind the four Original brothers with Rebekah and Sage on either side of her, trying to get a clear look at the four people coming into the room from the other side. Of course, it had taken quite a bit of feminine wiles for her to be even allowed in the room, and Klaus had made her swear to stay close to him—which meant behind him in his mind—just in case their guests were liars.
She was a little surprised to see Damon from the bar standing there, imposing and smirking, knowing exactly who was hidden behind the Originals. There was another man, who she assumed was his brother as they were called the Salvatores, with light brown hair who had his arms crossed and a brooding expression on his face. Elena was forced behind them—just as Caroline herself was—with a dark-skinned woman next to her. The blonde vampire stiffened in distrust at the heavy weight of magic throughout the room the second the new woman came through.
"Stefan!" Klaus greeted loudly, a daring smile on his face as he gestured widely in welcome. "It has been too long, my friend. I had begun to think that you might have forgotten your old friend Nik." Those razor-sharp canines came into view as he shifted to better block Caroline from view, smirking dangerously. "But I suppose you only remember my friendship when you need something from me; isn't that right?"
Stefan—the brown-haired brother—stiffened briefly at the implication as Damon held Elena behind them easily, keeping her quiet. "I live in the States, Klaus," the other vampire replied coolly, regaining his composure. "I can't go around visiting everyone all over the world when I have school."
That sounded so incredibly…young, yet old coming from his mouth and Caroline could hardly contain a giggle, despite the circumstances. She had heard in her not-quite-a-year of vampirism that many vampires tried to acclimate to the times by acting the age that they had been changed at. But it would never cease to amaze her that someone well over a century old would go to high school decade after decade.
That sounded more like hell to her.
Taking a step forward, Elijah politely gestured for them to come further in the room. "We have much to discuss, I believe," he said diplomatically, his relaxed demeanor doing nothing for the tension emanating throughout the room. It felt as though there were a gas leak and they all waved open flames at each other. "Right this way."
As the Salvatore brothers moved forward, they stopped the following women with an arm thrust behind them, Damon's eyes catching the dark-skinned girl. "Stay here until I tell you guys to come in. Bonnie, you're in charge of keeping Elena safe from whomever else comes in here," he said with a certain charming smirk in his voice. "Stefan and I will go talk to the big boys and bring you in if they decide to"—his gaze went back to the Originals—"play nice."
Klaus and Kol lifted their lips in an obvious snarl, Rebekah and Sage stiffened beside Caroline, and Elijah and Finn just stood there, imposing in their silence. The blonde baby vampire couldn't help feeling a lot more uncomfortable as the violence became even more powerful throughout the room. It was practically suffocating her as it hung heavily in the air, threatening the silent truce between the two parties.
As the Salvatores moved past them—the Originals surrounding Caroline as her personal bodyguards—Bonnie held Elena back on the other side of the room, making it obvious that the witch didn't trust them in the least.
When Finn and Elijah followed the brothers inside, Caroline moved to go after them but found herself stopped by Klaus, who didn't even spare her a glance, just spoke softly. "You will stay out here with the other women until I've decided how safe it is for you inside. Rebekah and Sage will make sure the witch doesn't try anything funny."
Caroline was taken aback at the order, but found herself pulled away from him as the men disappeared behind the other door. Despite the anger that rose within her at the thought that she would most likely be left out of the decision, she couldn't stop Rebekah and Sage from seating her at the same side table as Elena was at as they glared at the witch furiously.
"Can I help you?" Bonnie snapped, returning their looks with a fierce one of her own. Magic made the air spark around her, as if she were setting the dust particles in air on fire for brief moments at a time. There seemed to be power swirling in her eyes, making even the Original sister's hair stand on the back of her neck.
But Rebekah's discomfort didn't last long. Her vampire face came out, fangs and all, the black veins beneath her eyes pulsing as she took a threatening step towards the witch. "I don't know who you think you are, but this is my home and I am an Original! You will show me respect no matter whose witch bloodline you come from!" the vampire hissed. Though they needed Bonnie for their plan to come to fruition, it didn't stop Rebekah from so obviously hating the powerful young witch.
But Bonnie wasn't backing down either and she stood her ground even as her hands clenched at her sides. "I didn't come here because I felt I owed you anything. Elena needs to be protected and she's my friend; I'm helping her, not you." She turned to her friend, giving her a bland look that didn't let any of her feelings show through. "I don't know why you are going to them for help; I'm sure I could make Katherine immobile long enough for Damon and Stefan to take her down themselves."
"Bonnie," Elena said, almost pleadingly as all attention turned on her, "you know that she's got that…vampire hunter with her. And we don't know if you're strong enough to stop them both without hurting yourself. If we get the Originals on our side, you can focus on the vampire hunter and Katherine will be easy for them." She glanced uncomfortably at the older women in the room, eyes wide in what might have been fear.
Because Rebekah and Sage had gone white at the mention of a vampire hunter. It was as if all the blood had drained from their faces at the mere mention of such a man.
"Mikael might not be—"
In the span of time it took to blink, Rebekah had Bonnie slammed against the wall with her hand wrapped around the dark-skinned girl's throat. As Bonnie choked, Rebekah shook her like a ragdoll, snarling, "What the hell does that mean? Mikael? Is that the vampire hunter?" She dropped the shocked Bonnie to the ground, turning with fangs flashing on Elena. "If you led Mikael to us, you little bitch, I swear I'll—ah!" She broke off, holding her temples as if in terrible pain as she dropped to her knees on the pristine floor.
Bonnie was standing behind her, a furious look in her eyes as she chanted quietly under her breath. Her gaze was mad, going insane, as she stared down at the prone Original.
"Bonnie, stop!" Elena cried, rushing towards her friend with her arms out, looking her head into her shoulder to break the line of sight as Sage dropped down beside her quickly recovering sister-in-law. The brunette stroked the witch's head comfortingly, whispering soothingly in her ear, "Close off the voices, Bonnie. We can't hurt them. We have to explain this to them; it's obvious they might know something more about Mikael than we do."
Caroline stood, moving to rub Bonnie's back in comfort, as well. "How about something to drink? We'll just discuss what's going on and talk it out. How's that sound?"
Glancing up at her, brown eyes that grew lighter each moment caught sympathetic green ones. A small nod had Caroline smiling softly and leading the witch as if she were frail to the table. With a silent warning to keep Rebekah off Bonnie sent to Sage, Caroline disappeared and quickly came back with some lemonade from the fridge, as well as some glasses.
Pouring a cup for Bonnie first, Caroline let Elena sit before taking a seat herself; she couldn't deny her Miss Mystic Falls training years before. Etiquette could cover even the tensest situations, as long as it was genuine and had no ulterior motive. That was what she believed, at least.
"So, Bonnie, Elena," she said diplomatically, drawing upon her inner Elijah to be kind and polite, "can you tell Rebekah and Sage what you know about Mikael? I think it might be pretty important if that was their reaction to it."
The pair glanced at each other, but it was the doppelganger that spoke. "I…well, it's a long story. Katherine apparently met up with an ancient vampire hunter—we heard that he might even be as old as the Originals—because she's trying to get rid of them—you."
Rebekah's eyes were fiery even as Sage's filled with tears of fear. It was the redhead that stood, however, breathing, "He is an Original. He's their father." She glanced down at her sister-in-law, sniffling. "He was hunting us until he was locked away by several of our witches. He…he wants every vampire dead, including himself, in the end."
Caroline didn't let the silence hang for long as the information sank in. Instead, she said, "But that still doesn't explain what part in this I have or Elena. She told Nik and I that it was to get rid of Nik's precious doppelganger, but I don't think she would have thrown me into the mix if that were the case. Something is definitely going on."
"Too bad the boys aren't paying any intention to us, just having their macho wars in the other room," Rebekah added, though her voice wasn't as strong as it had been. "Otherwise we could all work out a plan of action."
"We don't need the boys for that," Caroline interjected, a devious smile crossing over her features. "They probably won't work anyways; when do they ever? We'll come up with something that we think will work and they'll follow our lead for once." She looked to Bonnie, reaching out a hand to take hers. Squeezing it, she said softly, "I've heard that magic—especially powerful magic—is incredibly hard on the body. But do you think that you could save some up to make it easier? If we're talking about taking down the Original Daddy and the Slut Doppelganger, we might need a lot of juice from this outlet."
Bonnie nodded. "If I keep up my health and don't use as much magic, I should be able to hold them so that someone can take them down. It won't be more than a few minutes no matter how much I 'charge up' but it should be enough."
Smiling, the baby vampire turned to Sage. "We're going to need a little distraction to get the boys to help out the right way. It's going to be you and Elena, I'm afraid. But we're going to need a bit of magic from Bonnie, unfortunately."
The women openly stared at her, but she just gave them a toothy smile. "I promise, this is going to work. We just need to get to Katherine and Mikael—with the boys close behind. If they're pissed, that'll be even better."
-.-.-.-.-
"That's quite enough, Kol," Elijah interjected, moving quickly to stand between his youngest brother and the eldest Salvatore. "We want their help, not their anger. They know more about Katerina than we do."
Klaus sat in his chair, feet crossed on top of the table as his arms did the same over his chest. He hated this planning. After everything Katherine had done to Caroline, he wanted her dead. He wanted her to die painfully and at his hands. He wanted Caroline to get her revenge for the hurt deep within her at the knowledge that she wasn't necessary, that she was expendable. The fact that Katherine had thrown that in was enough for Klaus to want her dead.
After everything, he just wanted to find a cozy cottage in the country and settle there with Caroline, where nothing and no one could bother them. He couldn't get a moment alone with her and that would need to change soon. He was sick of the drama, sick of the worry and the constant looking over their shoulders for someone after her. He wanted to see her dancing in a field, smiling without any shadows behind her eyes. Her beautiful hair shining in the sunlight, eyes glittering with mirth.
Was that too much to ask?
A sudden crash in the other room—Jesus, they'd left the women in there for over an hour and a half!—had them all standing and flying out the door, finding….
Katherine.
She stood over Sage's shuddering form, smirking darkly at them. Though a part of the hybrid noted that her eyes weren't right, her voice purred out to them. "Catch me if you can, boys; I'll just take your women with me for now." She disappeared before any of them could move, escaping through the door.
That was when the men realized that all of the women had been taken. There were blood stains on the floor and it reeked of vampire, human, and witch.
"She…she took them…even Rebekah. Mikael…helped," Sage breathed as she clutched her stomach. Finn dropped to his knees beside her, opening his wrist for her to drink heartily.
Just as the first time she'd disappeared, Klaus's heart stopped. He'd lost her.
And this time he might not get her back.
This isn't my best chapter. But there's more to come! And, because of the wait, this chapter is longer, so please forgive me!