Hey you all! :D
Thank you for leaving me so much love; NoseInANovel, Cassie, AspiredWriterr, Fashionista-princess, Beverlie4055, ALostHeart, Clara, DGfleetfox, UndeniableSapphire, WindSpirt, Purple Dawn, 452max452, Girl96xoxo, Cinn Knight, Damonsexybeast, Jackie0212, Shiver4Klaus, Jivago, Authenticheart, Polia and PsychVamp! I know I've mentioned it before, but you guys are so many different kinds of awesome. :)
Okay… Today's general announcements:
- I predicted that this story was going to be about 30 chapters. That's never going to cover it. I'm going to need at least 35 chapters to wrap it up.
- There's still a chance that it may take a little longer than usual until the next update, because I'm still working overtime. Again, just a warning.
- And last but not least; Happy birthday Joseph Morgan!
So, who's up for a new chapter? Didn't take me quite as long as I thought it would to update. :) Have fun, and don't be afraid to share your thoughts!
Every time it rains, I listen to the sky
And wonder what's so great about sunshine
So everybody lives, and everybody dies
And no one's gonna love you like I do
When it was getting dark
I didn't need a match
I never needed light to see you
You thought I disappeared
But I was always here
I could never get that far from you
Though I misunderstand
And been misunderstood
So love me 'cause you can
And not because you should
Charlotte Martin - Every Time It Rains - From the album 'On Your Shore'
What Matters The Most
Her stare made my blood turn into ice. That awkward moment when you realized that your potential mother-in-law was a bitter old hag who planned to use you as a tool for one of her sinister plans, the final outcome probably being that she killed her own son.
I shortly glanced at Stefan, who was looking everything but comfortable. I turned back to Esther, throwing the witch a look that was panicked yet slightly angry. Because honestly, who did this despicable woman think she was? Claiming that she wanted to set things right, pretending that she was doing all of this to restore the balance of nature. To undo the evil that she had created. This woman had to be the biggest hypocrite to ever walk the face of earth. After all, who was it turning her children into vampires in the first place? Who was it sleeping with another man, and giving birth to a son whom she could never genuinely love because he reminded her of the mistake that she herself had made?
If anyone deserved an award for most-rotten-mother-of-the-century, it had to be the Original witch.
"Why… Why would you need me as leverage?" I asked once I could form a coherent sentence.
"That is none of your concern. Come with me, Caroline." She summoned, her tone a tad too calm.
I raised my eyebrows at her, still glaring, but not moving an inch. "Not a chance." I snapped; The adrenaline made that I sounded a lot braver than I felt.
"I won't allow you to take her." Stefan backed me up, matching Esther's collected tone and threateningly taking a step forward.
She laughed coldly. "Don't be a fool. She will come with me, one way or another."
She took a few more strides in our direction, which made that she was only several feet away now. A low rumbling sound erupted from Stefan's throat, the veins beneath his eyes turning darker. I put my hand on his arm, holding him back by giving him a meaningful look. If he attacked her, she was never going to spare him.
"Please, don't, Stefan. Let me try…" I whispered at him.
"I'm afraid that this is your last chance, Caroline. Come with me, and I promise that I will not harm you. If my son cooperates, that is…" Esther called, beckoning for me to come to her.
"Sorry, but no deal. You see, it's not me I'm worried about." My scowl didn't fade as I rejected her inferior offer.
She shook her head at me, and the stare she gave me indicated that she thought that I belonged in an asylum. "You're an intelligent young lady, Caroline. I trust that you can see that this is for the best..."
"Then I guess that means that I'm not as clever as you give me credit for, because I fail to see how you killing the man that I love is in my best interest. Or his." Was my blunt reply.
"Don't let his charms deceive you, you silly girl." She hissed impatiently. "Niklaus is not capable of love."
I couldn't refrain from smiling smugly, since I easily detected her lie. "Now that's one thing I don't believe. And I'm willing to bet that you don't believe that either."
"I know my son, I've observed him for centuries." She sharply returned, lifting her chin, her eyes piercing right into mine.
"That may be so... But you see, if you were truly convinced that your son doesn't love me, you wouldn't be here. In fact, what would be the point in using me to get to him, if you are so sure that he doesn't care for me?" I answered confidently, defying her penetrating stare.
As my words were sinking in, her eyes reflected nothing but fury. Caroline: 1 – Esther: 0. Take that, you old shrew!
"But you see, that's the problem, isn't it? He doesn't know how to love because no one has ever properly taught him how it's done! How can you expect him to understand anything about love, when the only example he's had is you! As far as I can see, he ended up filled with hatred and rage because you didn't love him enough!" I had no idea where all of this was coming from, or why I was even defending him to this deranged woman, but a voice in the back of my head told me that I had to.
"Enough!" She spat, aggravated, seeing as an eighteen year old blonde was criticizing her.
I didn't regret it one bit though. If she was determined to take me, she would do it anyway, and I felt so much better after getting this off of my chest.
She ascended the porch steps, and Stefan pulled himself free from my light grasp, growling as he was about to lunge at her.
"Leave her out of this." He cautioned.
She smiled stiffly. "Very well. Have it your way."
I gasped for breath as I watched Stefan fall to his knees, his hands pressed against his temples. She was doing that creepy thing that Bonnie often did to vampires with bad intentions when they happened to cross her path.
"Stop hurting him! Leave him alone!" I was all but shrieking at her.
My cried pleas didn't faze her; She acted like I wasn't even making a sound. "Come with me now, or I'll make you." She rudely commanded, her boney fingers clasping around my wrist.
"No!" I whimpered, instinctively defending myself by using all my strength to try and pull myself free, but finding that I was unable to move. I wasn't sure what she was doing to me, but suddenly all of my muscles were weakening.
Her blazing eyes were fixed on me, lips trembling as she murmured some kind of incantation that was clearly controlling my ability to fight her. She was too strong. She pulled me down the steps, dragging me along through the front yard. We reached the edge of the forest, and my last shred of hope of getting away from her had left me… And then something made her stop. All of the sudden she stood still, choking out a stifled scream. She let go of me, her hands flying to her throat. I unthinkingly distanced myself from her, unable to tear my eyes away as I perplexedly witnessed how she appeared to be suffocating due to some unseen force.
I shuddered as I scanned my surroundings, and then my eyes were drawn to a familiar figure. She was standing near the old well, mumbling a spell of her own as she regarded Esther with a certain determination.
"Bonnie!" I exclaimed, rushing to her side as Esther collapsed.
At the same time, Stefan got up from the floor, gaping at Bonnie as she gave the most powerful witch of them all a taste of her own medicine. What the hell was going on here? Esther glowered at Bonnie, her hands no longer holding her throat. Instead she fell to the dirty forest floor, sitting on her knees as she tried to breathe.
"You should leave my friends alone." Was all Bonnie said when she freed the Original witch from the impressive spell that she'd used on her.
Esther disbelievingly gazed up at her, panting heavily. "What do you think you're doing… You of all should know that it is not right to interfere with nature… And to side with vampires. You will not get away with this…" She rasped viciously.
I gulped, totally shocked as the evil witch crawled to her feet and fled into the forest, disappearing into the green maze of trees.
"Oh my god…" I uttered, my wide eyes resting on Bonnie. "Did you just out-witch the Original witch?"
Stefan joined us, his face displaying the very amazement that I was currently feeling. "How did you…" He started, gawking at Bonnie.
"Don't get too excited, that wasn't just me... I think I had some help." Bonnie revealed, nodding at the old house.
"Those witches are siding with you?" I asked, not getting it at all. It was no secret that witches were not too fond of vampires, and Bonnie had done this to save her vampire-friends.
"Yes, for some reason that is beyond me, they are. Actually, I woke up because I had a vision about everything that happened just now. That's why I came here, to put my own mind at ease… They wanted me here, otherwise I would've never gotten here in time." Bonnie's eyes darted to the deserted house as she spoke.
"That's plain weird." I said, also peeking at the old mansion. "Not that I'm not grateful."
"Don't mention it..." Bonnie smiled briefly. "But that's not all… A witch can channel another witch's energy… And I could feel that Esther's energy is fading. She's getting weaker with every moment that passes."
"That makes sense…" Stefan mused. "It would be unnatural for her to stay here permanently, let's not forget that she was brought back from the dead. If anything goes against nature, it's her resurrection."
"So… That means that she's running out of time…" I added thoughtfully.
"And getting desperate, because she didn't think this through at all." Bonnie completed our hypothesis. "Even if I hadn't been here in time to stop her from capturing you, I doubt if she ever could've killed Klaus, even with him willingly handing himself over to her. Although we can't tell for sure what her plan was…"
"Splendid. This isn't the last we've seen of her, that's for sure. She's not the type to give up." I groaned dejectedly. "I should go, I have to give Nik the heads up."
"Do you want me to take you, in case she's still out there somewhere?" Stefan offered.
"I don't think that's necessary, she didn't look too good when Bonnie was done with her." I grinned at my witchy friend as I said this. "Besides, it just occurred to me that there is a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed… You guys need to check on Elena."
"Elena?" Stefan's mouth twisted into an anguished line, the way it usually did whenever Elena's safety was brought up.
"What about her?" Bonnie asked, confused.
"Think about it! Esther's common sense must be slipping away along with her powers, because it was pretty stupid of her to choose me as her bargaining chip! It would've been a million times more effective if she had gone after the most important thing to him ever… The doppelganger." I explained hastily.
There was a silence as Stefan and Bonnie exchanged a peculiar look that they were unsuccessfully trying to hide from me.
"What?" I asked briskly, eyes swerving from one to the other.
Bonnie sighed. "Esther had to wait a thousand years to get her revenge, she wouldn't make a mistake like that. As much as I hate to admit this, it could be that Klaus' priorities have changed..."
A hollow laugh left my mouth. "Not likely. I mean, he cares for me, but Elena's blood will forever be his number one concern."
Stefan cleared his throat. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Caroline… You know, Bonnie's right… Esther may be on the brink of losing it, but she did watch her son for nearly a thousand years… I think she has a fairly good idea as to what he considers the most important thing to him at this point of his life."
I threw up my hands, not feeling like taking this conversation any further. "You two are both nuts. I'm out of here… Nik needs to know that his wacky mother is back in town. And please do make sure that Esther didn't switch to plan B by going after Elena."
"Don't worry." Stefan assured. "I'm going over there right now."
"And we should all be careful." Bonnie said earnestly. "It's unlikely that Esther has already had enough time to recover, but let's not take any risks…"
-xxx-
In my hurry I didn't bother with using the front door, and I skipped the part where I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer like a polite person would have. My target was the backdoor, and when it wasn't locked I let myself in. I hesitated as I strolled the giant hallway, my hair and clothes dripping from the rain.
"Nik? Rebekah?" I called tentatively. "Anybody home?"
No response. I passed a lot of doors, but I didn't pay any attention to them, seeing as my first destination was the living room. I came to a stop when my phone beeped. A text from Stefan, telling me that Elena was fine. I swiftly texted him back, before resuming my search. When reaching the door that I was looking for, I saw that it wasn't entirely closed. My head was so full, my brain too preoccupied with the news that I had to break to him, and so I failed to make out the voices behind said door.
"Nik?" I called again, poking my head around the doorpost. "Nik, I think we have a… Problem…"
I lost my voice. My mouth refused to spill out any more words, and I held on to the door handle for support as I casted my eyes around the room. Klaus was there alright, but he was not alone. Near the fireplace I met the curious stares of his siblings, Elijah and Kol. And it didn't end there, because the three brothers were forming a circle around a fourth Original who was lying on the floor, a dagger plunged through his heart. His skin was a sickly tone of grey, black veins covering his arms and face. Finn. This was family business. Not something that you wanted to share with your chipper, blonde girlfriend.
"Oh god… Sorry. I can see that I'm interrupting something." I stuttered, staggering backwards.
There were four Mikaelsons in one room. Even with one of them passed out, that was a lot of Originals. Other than that, I could only imagine that Klaus didn't want me around for this… But to my astonishment, he acted like nothing special was going on.
"Don't be shy, sweetheart. Do come in." He smiled welcomingly, gesturing for me to come to him. "Our idiotic brother is grounded for now, nothing to worry about. We had to stop him before he gets himself -and therefore all of us- killed."
Despite his questionable effort to make me feel more at ease, my feet were glued to the doorstep. I now understood why Esther had needed leverage... She wanted to get back what her children had taken from her. Something she desperately needed. Someone who was willing to die at any given time when she came up with another one of her fatal spells. With her getting weaker, she would've never been able to take four uncooperative Originals down… But she knew that with a willing participant like Finn, she would still have a chance, seeing as the five of them were still linked.
"Ah, Caroline. The young woman who has managed to unfreeze my brother's undead hart. Pleasure seeing you here." Elijah's voice brought me back to reality. He nodded at me, his eyes not unfriendly, his tone casual.
"Elijah… Hello." I timidly returned his greeting, probably giving away that I found him more than a little intimidating.
Kol was less subtle about it, discourteously looking me up and down, his lips twisting into a smirk.
"Caroline, is it? I can see the appeal, brother. Tell me, would you mind sharing her?" His boyish grin was misleading, as was his youthful face; I knew that there was nothing innocent about Klaus' younger brother.
"Mind your tongue, Kol." Klaus growled at him.
Kol rolled his dark eyes, feigning irritation. "No need to get all territorial."
"Please ignore him, love. Kol's manners are rather… Nonexistent." Klaus said gruffly, his focus shifting back to me.
He was still holding his hand out to me, and by now I had mustered up the courage to comply. I slowly closed the gap between us, wisely keeping my eyes away from the daggered Original on the floor. As soon as I was within Klaus' reach, his hand wrapped around mine, his thumb soothingly rubbing the back of my hand.
"Now, tell me about that problem that you mentioned before you got… Distracted." He requested calmly.
Oh my, he was right. I had been distracted, very much so. For a good three minutes, I had forgotten all about the actual reason behind my visit. Unfortunately, the knot in my stomach reappeared in all heaviness when my run-in with his mother came back to mind.
Both Elijah and Kol were merely showing a remote interest, but that changed quickly enough when I formulated the problem in question.
"Your mother… She's here, Nik. She's here, and she tried to kidnap me!" I agitatedly enlightened them. "She may be less powerful now than she was a few weeks ago, but if Bonnie hadn't been there in time to save me…"
"Marvelous. She already knows." Elijah said matter-of-factly before Klaus even had a chance to bring in a word. "She's aware that we have Finn. She knows that she has lost the single small advantage that she had on us, and she must've thought that you would've been willing to make a trade." He slyly looked at Klaus.
Klaus' hand was nearly crushing mine, his eyes showing that alarming tone of yellow that occasionally came out to play when he was outrageously upset. "That was a grand mistake on her part." He barked. "I'm going after her."
"And get yourself killed? We can't be certain that she has nothing left up her sleeve." Elijah reasoned with his brother. "Don't let your emotions lead you, you never have."
"He's right, big brother. Don't get mad, get even." Kol said darkly. "How are we supposed to get back at her if you do something reckless and put your life in her hands?"
"I'm no planning to wait around for her to figure out how she can get rid of us! Someone needs to stop that old crone." He answered bleakly.
"Someone should… But they're right, you know… You should think this through before you do something rash." I instantly regretted speaking in this room packed with Originals, because my voice sounded feeble, even to me.
Nevertheless, I immediately had his attention. The way he looked at me, I might as well have yelled the words at him. Like my opinion was what truly counted. Never mind that inside, I was an average, insecure eighteen year old girl who was still clinging to her humanity. This was bizarre, and that would be a mild term to describe his behavior towards me. Yes, I had made a deal with him, but I didn't recall brainwashing him.
Elijah coughed an unnecessary cough. "First things first, we should store away Finn's body." He nodded at Kol, obviously detecting the rather intimate moment between me and Klaus.
Kol shrugged impassively but didn't object, and I watched warily as they carried Finn out of the living room with graceful ease.
"She tried to take you from me!" Klaus wasted no time picking up the argument when we were alone, but his tone had softened up. There was nothing left of the raging tone that he had used when addressing his siblings, and that was mere seconds ago.
"But she didn't." I replied firmly. "Besides, you're lucky that she didn't go after Elena instead. She could have… I don't know, killed her, or turned her into a vampire. There are only too many things she could've come up with to make her useless to you."
"Lucky?" He sputtered.
He was frowning at me, looking surprised and… Offended? His eyes were back to blue, flecks of yellow and orange evaporated. His hands were on my face in no time, and he trapped my head between them by gently placing them on my cheeks, making sure that I couldn't escape his gaze. He tenderly brushed a strand of wet hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear.
"I think that it is time that you and I have a very serious talk, love." He murmured, hypnotizing me by throwing in both his blue orbs and his mesmerizing vocal cords.
"About what?" I wondered, brow puckered.
"About what matters the most to me, sweetheart." His cool breath stunned me further, his whisper hanging in the air between us. "You told me that it was time for me to sort out my priorities, and I have..."
Thank you for reading, and see you soon! :)
