I have to apologise for making it take so long to update. I've had the worst summer of my life. In June I found out I was pregnant and we were both excited about it. We moved to a bigger apartment and while dealing with that I also worked full-time.

However, in August I went to the hospital just to make sure everything was alright and they found out that the baby wasn't growing properly.

We went home, both defeated with grief and returned to the hospital a week later. We were told it was a Missed Abortion and a few days later I miscarried.

It would've been our first child and I'm still grieving, so I hope you understand why this took so long.

I began writing this chapter in June and I finished it in late August.

Lyrics might be wrong, let me know if they are, because I couldn't find them online and had to write down what I heard, but anyways it's Men who die by Ghost of the Robot.

Here's chapter 21.

...

Faded fates

Hopes of great

You never knew what it takes

To make them care

To keep the stares of everyone alone

Who's searching for another day, this is what they say.

Some may freeze

I will burn

What you've lost

What you learn

That keeps us here a mist of fear of everyone alive

Who's searching for another day, this is what they say

Go, let go

You don't know

Just let go

...

Caroline frowned in her sleep. Something she hadn't felt in a long while was creeping up in her and she tossed and turned.

In her mind she saw a siluette of a woman surrounded by white smoke. Long, twisted hair was floating around her head and a dress was blowing around the legs, but she couldn't make out the woman's face.

"This shouldn't be." The woman wheezed. Her voice was almost mechanical and echoing in a disturbing, threatening manner. Caroline looked closer, squinting her eyes and a gasp escaped her as two blue, glowing eyes shot open on the woman's face. "Filth. Such filth!"

Caroline shook her head.

"No."

It came out barely a whisper and she was shaking with fear before this woman of power. The figure laughed menacingly.

"I curse you, vampire!"

Caroline shook her head, her skin clammy with cold sweat.

"Who are you?!" Caroline yelled and suddenly the figure came at her, like a swirl of black smoke it shot at her, laughing with such evil it made Caroline close her eyes in terror as a shock wave hit her, slamming her back against an invisible wall as a foul, rotten smell surrounded her.

"Stupid girl!" The black smoke swirled around her, making her unable to breathe. "The spirits may have taken my life but I will not accept this fate."

Caroline was choking and the woman let out a roar of hysterical laughter.

"What do you want with me?" Caroline managed to ask, attempting to breathe, but failing. She was getting dizzy.

Long, slim fingers that to the naked eye would seem to be nothing but clouds of ash through the air, wrapped around her neck hard and lifted her from the ground. She had felt this before, unable to breathe, the panic of knowing she would die as she suffocated.

"The world will want you gone! You will live in terror of being hunted down and caged like the animal you are for an eternity to come!"

Caroline shot up in bed with a gasp, as if she had been under water for several minutes and finally had reached the surface.

For a moment, she was sure she saw a dark shadow slither away from her, but surely it was just the aftermath of her nightmare.

Her eyes suddenly focused on a glow and a sound of surprise escaped her. Klaus sat up groggily as Caroline slid out of bed and approached the window.

The sky was dark with smoke and the horizon glowing, but not with sunlight.

"Fire." She said. It came out a whisper as she stared out the window. "There's a fire."

Klaus was behind her within a second. Slowly, he let his palms slide from her shoulders down her arms.

"There is." He said and placed his lips against the bare skin of her neck. She felt herself relax against him. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

She nodded.

"Maybe I sensed it and the dream turned so much worse because of it." She said with a sigh. She felt his stubble against her cheek and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Must've been a really bad dream, love." Klaus said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Caroline shrugged. It was just a dream, afterall. Not a big deal.

"Nah, I'm ok." She said and turned to face him with a smile, before her attention turned back out the window. "I wonder what's burning."

The hybrid's features bathed in the flickering, golden light as he too stared out the window. In the distance they could hear sirens as the fire trucks sped through the city.

"It would seem it's nearby the Lafayette cemetary." He said. "Probably one of Marcel's outbursts, we did anger him off quite a bit."

Caroline giggled at this and let her head rest at the crook of his neck.

"Still, there's a different feeling in the air." she mumbled. "Don't you feel it?"

Klaus let out a deep sigh. He felt it alright, the static through the air, the itch beneath his skin that told him things were about to get dark and messy. That there was a war coming, bigger than they probably realised, but he wouldn't want to worry her, in fear that she would lose her light and joyful spirit.

"You must still be a bit shaken after your dream, love."

His voice was soft and confident as he spoke and Caroline nodded.

"You're probably right. We should go back to bed."

She turned around and he grabbed her fingers gently as he led her back to the comfortable haven of their bed. He kissed her good night yet again and she soon fell asleep, feeling calm, and yet somehow different than before.

...

Bonnie shot up in bed with a gasp, just like she had done almost every night the past week. There was a disturbance in the air that she hadn't felt in a long while, not since the spirits had abandoned her. It reminded her of that night not too long ago, when she had woken up like this, right before dawn.

Something was different. She could feel it in the earth as her feet touched the floor. A knock on the front door startled her and she gazed through the darkness before she got up from her bed. Slowly she left her room and descended the stairs to the first floor.

It knocked again and the witch let out a shaky breath to calm her nerves before she opened it. To her surprise, it was Katherine.

"You're one heavy sleeper, aren't you." The doppelganger said with a smirk. Bonnie shook her head.

"I'm not inviting you inside."

Katherine shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine."

She reached out towards the Bennett witch and opened up her closed hand. There was a vial inside, filled with what seemed to be blood.

"Is that...?"

Katherine nodded.

"The cure. Here, take it."

Bonnie was confused and hesitated before she grabbed the small vial from her hand. She held it up towards the light from the porch lamp and studied it.

"Why?"

The witch curled her fingers around it and gave the doppelganger a suspicious look. Katherine sighed.

"I figured you'd need it more than me. I mean I've been on the run for five hundred years and I'd really like to live my life for at least that many more without having Klaus breathing down my neck."

Bonnie quirked an eyebrow.

"You think I'm going to use it on Klaus as a plan B?"

Katherine shook her head and kneeled to pick up something from the floor. When she came back up she was holding a large rock.

"Take this while I'm in my give-peace-a-chance mood."

Bonnie stared at the rock in her hands. It was Silas' headstone. Katarina Petrova was just offering her everything she'd need to drop the veil, just like that.

"What's the catch?" Bonnie asked before she made a move to accept her offer. Again, Katherine sighed with annoyance.

"It's what frenemies do, isn't it?" she asked and recieved a frown from the witch. "We both want Klaus dead and Silas gone. It's a win-win situation, though it might be hurting my image a little bit. Just don't tell anyone I was being nice for once."

She reached out, holding the headstone over as close as she could to the barrier and Bonnie took it, not letting her eyes leave the brunette as she still found it hard to trust her.

"What if Elijah finds out that you've given it to me?" the witch asked. "Once the veil is dropped his parents will return and I have a feeling it won't be one big, happy reuinon."

Katherine laughed.

"Elijah can take care of himself. Actually, he was the one who wanted me to give these to you."

Bonnie frowned suspiciously.

"Elijah asked you?" Katherine nodded. "Why would he do that? When?"

"It doesn't matter. Just do what you have to do. The full moon is in two weeks and I really need that time to plan what I want to do with my freedom."

And with that she was gone, leaving a stunned Bonnie at her door, holding both the cure and Silas' headstone in her grasp. It had been too easy. Something was up.

She was shaken from her haze as she heard her phone and stared at it on the nightstand for a moment before reaching for it. It was a text message from Kol.

Bonnie groaned. This was not her night. It felt as if she was surrounded by annoying, evil people all at once and the fact that she had woken up with a bad feeling in her stomach wasn't exactly the start of the day she had wanted, and yes, it was close to dawn, according to the time on her phone.

She opened the message and read it.

Miss me, darling?

As promised I am giving you the details of our little meeting and I felt it was best that we meet here. Yep, that's right, you're going to New Orleans.

I have ordered your tickets and at the bottom of your message you find the code you'll need to get them at the airport.

I will see you at Cafe du Monde at 3PM this Friday. Don't be late.

Bonnie's jaw dropped as she stared at the message. Who did he think he was? Making her go to New Orleans for their meeting? Sure, she never thought of him as a gentleman, but still?

With a heavy sigh and angrily mumbling to herself, she replied to him.

Fine, I'll be there, but you better be alone.

"Jerk..."

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She was still tired and would really like a couple of more hours of sleep before the rest of this hell began attacking her again. Her phone beeped and she looked down at it.

Sounds kinky ;)

She didn't bother writing back and put her phone back on the nightstand, before she pulled the covers over her head and tried to go back to sleep, but with everything swirling around in her head, it wasn't going to be easy.

...

Rebekah couldn't sleep throughout the night, and while it might have seemed as if Stefan lay peacefully asleep beside her that was not the case. He could feel it too, the dark energy that was slowly approaching felt as if they were in the midst of an electro magnetic field.

As the first rays of sunlight spread out at the horizon, Rebekah got out of bed and headed for the shower in silence.

The carpet was soft against her barefeet as she entered the hallway outside the bedroom. It was still dark there and Rebekah felt silly for finding it eerie and discomforting to be there alone.

She hurried inside to the bathroom and locked the door. Feeling safe within the four walls of pale tiles and the light scent of clean cotton, she let out a deep breath.

"Oh, for pity's sake, you're an original vampire, Bekah, keep yourself together." She said to herself and stripped from her lavender nightgown.

...

When Caroline finally woke up she found herself to be alone in the room. The sun stood high in the sky outside the window and the familiar sounds of nature made her smile. One more day of calm bliss, she gathered.

She stretched her limbs like a gracious feline before she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Her blonde locks fell around her shoulders and after blinking a few times her eyes scanned out the window in an attempt to access the damage the fire had caused, but she saw nothing. Still, she could smell the wet ashes from far away as it hung heavy in the air.

Caroline quickly got dressed and put her messy curls up in a loose bun before she headed downstairs. She had expected the group to be serious and cold now when times were getting rougher, but she found them to be quite the opposite. Someone apparently had good news and that someone happened to be Kol.

"Mornin' darling." he greeted her with a grin. "We were waiting for you, sleepyhead."

Caroline gave him a silent glare as she headed straight for the steaming pot of coffee.

"Well," she began as she reached for a mug. "I can't be the only one affected by this apocalyptic thingy going on."

Klaus approached her and offered her a bloodbag, which she gladly accepted with a soft smile.

"Elijah and I were actually discussing it this morning." He explained to her and leaned against the counter. "We've know enough witches throughout the years to know when one's affecting the balance of nature."

Caroline frowned.

"Witches? I thought Marcel had forbidden the use of magic."

Klaus smirked as his eyes glistened with cunning.

"Exactly. All but one."

Caroline's eyes widened as she realised what he was saying.

"Katonda." She whispered. Klaus nodded.

"Elijah recieved a tip from an old friend who might know of Katonda's whereabouts."

Caroline scanned the surroundings with her blue eyes.

"Speaking of Elijah, where is he?" she asked.

Klaus leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"We will meet him in town whenever you're done."

Kol cleared his throat and took a few steps closer to the baby vampire.

"In the meantime it seems the Bennett witch has agreed on meeting me in a few days. I wouldn't worry about who's going to win this thing. They'll be nothing without their witch."

...

At the Salvatore estate things were getting grim, as Damon had Elena tied to a chair in front of the grande windows in the living room. Her daylight ring lay safely in his pocket.

The doppelganger was laughing at him and his attempts to torture her by with sunlight. He was running out of ideas and hope to help her get her emotions back on, but what wouldn't a man do for his one, true love?

"You're wasting your time." She said with a sigh. "It's only pain, it won't kill me."

He shook his head.

"Well, Elena... Believe it or not, I'm doing this because I care about you."

It made her laugh mockingly at him.

"Oh, how sweet poor Damon has become. If I'd feel anything right now, it would be sick."

They were interrupted by the clicking of heels against the floor. Damon turned his head and found Katherine in the room with an amused look on her face.

"Here you are torturing an emotionless vampire and I wasn't invited? Shame..."

The Salvatore brother let out an annoyed sigh.

"What do you want, Katherine?"

The brunette took a few steps closer, sliding her fingers along the back of the sofa as she walked.

"I have found out some interesting news." She said in a sing-song voice. Damon frowned, his ice blue eyes piercing right through her.

"What kind of news would that be?"

Katherine was now standing right before him. Her dark eyes, identical to the ones belonging to the woman he loved were looking straight into his.

"A little birdie told me that Klaus will soon be visiting Nashville, Tennessee in the hope of finding a certain white oak tree."

Damon tilted his head and his facial expression turned into suspicion.

"Really? When would that be?"

Katherine smirked and bit her lower lip.

"Soon. Very soon."

With a quick pull the curtains flew apart and Elena was searing in her chair. A loud, painful scream escaped her and Damon quickly pushed Katherine away from the window, causing the heavy drapes to fall back down and cover the window completely.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he yelled and Katherine just snickered.

"Don't act all that surprised, Damon. Save the anger for Klaus, you're gonna need it."

And with a flash she was gone.

...