Dangerous Light Ch. 29 It's Kind of Been a Strange Night…and Day.

Disclaimer-not mine


"Have you seen this?" Elena's voice was incredulous. She sat her oversized handbag on the bar counter at the Grill and sat down a crisp and beautiful invitation on top of the bag so the group could see it. There was a collective groan. "I don't know what happens now because it arrived before Finn died."

"No," was the only thing Damon had to say about the matter.

"Even I have to agree," Elijah put in. "The last time mother had one of her balls she tried to kill all of us. Adding father in the mix only brings more death into the situation."

"I heard that everybody got an invitation," Bonnie sat next to her friend. "It's a little welcome to the neighborhood Cinderella ball."

"They're neighbors from hell," Damon muttered.

"You shouldn't have killed Finn," Elena looked at Damon. "We could have used him in a trade or something."

Damon snorted while taking a sip of his liquor causing it to skew everywhere. He lifted his head to talk. "Caroline may have given Finn to me to do what I please but I still doubt she would have found the idea of letting him go free as a reassuring one. The moment that dagger lifted his only thought was to kill Caroline."

"She's the only one besides Klaus to ever dagger him," Rebekah looked into her drink.

"She really wanted him dead didn't she," Tyler rolled the thought around. Sweet Caroline as a killer just wasn't imaginable to him. Not after all the kindness he had seen from her. There was obvious beef between the two vampires.

"Pretty self-righteous of her isn't it," Bonnie ordered a drink from Matt. "She always wanted to come off as the goody goody."

Damon put his drink down and looked over at Bonnie while his mind swirled in thought. "Huh," he spoke slowly in his low voice. "Never thought I'd say it but I think I actually prefer the cheerleader to the bitchy witch."

"Bite me," Bonnie sneered.

Damon took his glass up again and stood up from his chair. On the way to the juke box he leaned low into her ear. "She has sweeter blood than you do."

"Just ignore him," Elena breathed over to Bon. She looked at Elijah asking if he was alright. He just shrugged and let a ghost of a smile or maybe a smirk tug at his lips. He had never imagined this to be his life as a young boy.

Kol snatched the white envelope. "I'm thinking we shouldn't RSVP to this shin dig."

"Don't say shin dig," his sister was downing drink after drink. In the back of her mind she thought about calling Milo. He really was such a sweet person. And hot. Shit, she thought. She shouldn't be thinking that. She looked at the liquor in the glass and leaned her head back letting it slide down her throat. She snapped back up. "What the hell, this isn't straight up like I asked."

"Nope," Matt shrugged not ashamed. "In fact it's nonalcoholic beer. You've been cut off."

Kol snickered beside her. "Becks, your old boy toy just told you no again."

"Shut up," she was glaring at the quarterback while speaking to her brother. She leaned over the bar and snagged a bottle and directed her next comment to Matt. "Mind your elders."

Matt raised an eyebrow but let it slide. She was right. She'd had a thousand years to prefect a drunken stumble home after a night of drinking. She was a grown up.

"Why do I feel so sad all of a sudden?" Elena rubbed her shoulder with one hand.

"You're always sad," her brother came up from behind after a few rounds of pool. "You've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Hardly," Rebekah smirked into her drink. She couldn't believe how these people still danced around and bent at every beck and call of this stupid girl. She wasn't even important anymore. Bekah's mind drifted to the pack. She had been staying with Caroline and Cora the past few days. There was this easiness in Mystic Heights. They didn't take things too seriously or make anything overly complicated. And it was like everybody actually liked one another.

Rebekah looked around the Grill. Supposedly the super natural gang had started off all as friends. Personally though she couldn't remember a time when they weren't all scheming behind each other's backs and coming up with some stupid plan that always got them into more trouble. Why was it that the pack got along better? What was their secret? In her hand she traced the bottom edge of the green bottle. It was Caroline. She got them to groove together. It wasn't like she was in charge by any means. No the sole responsibility of being in charge fell on Milo's shoulders. Milo. She thought about him. His house next door. He had a business in town. He loved his brothers. He missed Chase. He adored Care. Milo she thought again. He only had a human life. He was only in his twenties. It had taken Klaus centuries to have the commanding power that he had now. And the years to hone in on that skill. Milo wasn't offered that time. Yet he handled it all so well.

Rebekah let go of the bottle and pushed herself up.

"Where are you going?" Kol asked her as she made to leave. Everybody looked at her. She was doing some type of wobbly drunk walk. "I thought we were going to give Finny the proper send off?" he raised his glass.

Bekah took a few steps back to the group. She held out her hands and her eyes were open like she had just discovered something. She addressed the group. "I just," she started off. Her speech was clear but it was obvious she was wasted. "I just, I don't know why I didn't say it before now. I've known my feelings regarding this place and the people in it."

"Are you going to enlighten us?" Kol edged her on. His eyes shone bright with laughter.

"Yeah," she raised her voice. "This place sucks."

Everybody stared at her. Even Damon came back closer to the group. Matt looked down at the counter and used the towel on his shoulder to wipe the counter even though nothing was there.

Rebekah stood up straighter. Yeah so she was drunk but that doesn't mean she didn't really feel this way. She started to speak more with sureness in her voice. "You people are idiots. All you do is stand around trying to protect one another but you know what? You all suck at that. Seriously can't you all just for once come up with one good plan and all go by it? No of course not. Because that would just be entirely too easy for you bunch of shit heads."

She waved her hands as she spoke. "And you know something else? I just decided something."

"What's that?" Elijah looked weary.

"I'm moving!" she pointed her finger at them all. "Yep, I'm gonna make it official. I am no longer with you guys."

"Oh dear lord," Kol put his head in his hand and groaned. She was being serious.

"I'm a Mystic Heights girl now," she proudly declared. She looked right at Matt. "Any hey blonde guy, you suck. You keep going back to a girl who has clearly got you by the balls. And sweetheart she's never gonna suck them or do anything for you."

Matt looked fed up. "Really why don't you bitch out the only friends you've ever had or will have."

"Screw you asshole," Cora's voice broke in. Everybody looked down at the bar where they had forgotten she was. "She has friends. It's called the pack. And for you information she doesn't need you as her love interest anymore."

"Oh really?" Bonnie defended Matt.

"Really," Cora didn't blink at the witch's rude stare down. "Cause she's in with the leader of the pack. Guess you weren't man enough for her."

"Becks," Kol snapped up to look at his sister. "Please tell me you aren't starting something with a guy who could be our enemy."

"Oh so what?" she shrugged her shoulders. "Everybody around here makes bad dating decisions."

Elijah shook his head. This had been a long day. He picked up the invitation. What would they do now with this? What was his parent's ultimate plan?

Rebekah ended up sitting after Kol dragged her back to her seat and things cooled down for a moment. A ringing cell phone brought Elijah up from his thoughts. He wasn't really paying attention but he looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of Cora listening to her phone. Her face caused him alarm as it was pure terror. She snapped the phone flushed a bill on the bar to pay her tab and using her vampire speed she fled the Grill.

"Uh," Jeremy looked after her. "What was that?"

"Did anybody catch anything on the phone?" Tyler asked. It was rude to say they all listened in with their superhuman ears but it happened. They all shook their heads though. Each had been too caught up in their own thoughts.

"I did," Elena said. She was looking straight ahead and Elijah saw the same scared look on her face that Cora had been wearing. "It was Jesse."

"Elena," Damon tried to gently comfort her discomfort.

She shrugged out of his reach. "Caroline's dying from the bite."

The group remained silent. All night it had felt weird. This was just another thing to add to it.

"Elena, wait up," Damon called after her. Bonnie was walking with him as well as many of their friends. They fed off of drama and this was all something they wanted to see.

Elena was rushing off to the Forbes house. "I thought she was immune to bites."

"Me too," Tyler said. He didn't want to be the reason she didn't live.

"Don't jump to conclusion," Bonnie chided her. "Klaus would never see her die."

They made it to the Forbes house and they all paused. They had attended birthday parties here and had sleepovers. Now though many of them couldn't enter the house because they hadn't been invited in.

"Call Stefan," Elena ordered somebody. She knew he was with Klaus.

"Elijah took Rebekah home," Jeremy told her. "I'm sure he'll inform his brother about it."

Elena stepped onto the porch. The door was wide open and the only sounds heard were from crickets in the early night. They all collectively tilted their heads to listen in.

Liz's voice was heard first.

"Milo you told me that she could get through this," the sound came in clear in their ears. They didn't need their supernatural ears to hear. People inside were arguing.

"She can," another voice stepped forward. Through the door they could see Jesse. He looked up and saw there was an audience. He cussed under his breath.

"Why'd you call him," Jesse looked red in anger.

Elena jumped when Klaus swept past her. He stood in the doorframe waiting to be invited in. Electricity jumped through the air. The air always changed when Klaus was around. His eyes were dark and serious.

"May I?" he asked politely looking straight at the sheriff.

"Liz, don't," Jesse pleaded.

"J, honey," Jess his wife took him by the arm. Her voice was soft and gentle. "Maybe just this once she needs the help. She's never been bitten by another wolf."

"No," Cora was also in the house. She came close to Milo. "She'll never forgive you if you let this happen. She made Chase bite her a hundred times so she wouldn't need his blood."

"She needs it now," Milo was sure of it.

"She can fight this," Something came out of Jesse's voice. He was desperate to get through to his brother. "She has gotten through this."

"She shouldn't be like this," Milo said.

"You know what she needs," steel cut through the air.

Elena gulped wishing that they would stop speaking about things she didn't understand.

"Just let him in Liz," Milo strode forward to the door.

"No," Jesse blocked his older brother and knocked him back. If he was angry before then it didn't compare to now. His voice grew and his body became hard muscle. He pointed to where Caroline's bedroom was. "She needs you. And I'm not going to let you give up on her like you did in Germany."

"The more you argue the worse she gets," Klaus's hard voice interrupted them.

Jesse ignored him and moved one step closer to his brother. "You thought she was going to die in Germany and she didn't."

Milo looked down at his shoes. "So did you."

"Yeah," Jesse nodded. "I did. But you know who never gave up? Who stood by her bed always believing that she was going to pull through even when we were trying to figure out how we were going to get rid of her body."

"Leave Chase out of this," Milo grew furious.

"It's all about Chase isn't it?" Jesse.

"J," Jess warned again.

"116," Jesse stated all the while taking steps closer to his brother. "What kind of vampire gets a 116 fever? She puked her guts out and she was dying right in front of him but he never left her side. He never gave up on her and you can't either. Not now."

"Milo," Cora tried to talk to him but he iced her out only staring at his brother.

Jesse kept talking. "This isn't about the bite. That's not what's making her sick."

"What is it then?" Elena couldn't keep quiet anymore. She was shouting into the house from the front porch. She was only asking what everybody was thinking.

Jesse ignored her but he directed the answer to Milo. "She needs Millie. You know she does."

"No," Milo shook his head violently. "She is not going there. It's because she's been going to Millie that she's acting like she is."

"Milo," Cora cut in again. "She needs you to give her the encouragement that your brother did."

It was a turning point in the conversation. Milo almost looked defeated.

"Chase took her there for a reason," Jesse was talking about when Chase took her to meet Millie in Germany for the first time. "He knew that she could help her figure things out. You know he always knew things. That was his gift from Mom's side of the family."

"There's nothing to figure out," Milo was adamant. "We love her and we want her to be healthy. His blood can help her."

"Damn it," the anger flared up again. "This is not about his blood. She is immune to bites. She is immune to the sunlight. She is the first vampire none the less anybody who knows about the pack. She's different Milo. We've always known that from the moment Chase bit her in a forest in Germany. Millie can help her understand what she's meant to do."

"It's Millie and them that are making her go crazy!" He screamed.

"If we don't accept that she's been sent here for a purpose then we're just as bad as them." Jesse waved his arm at everybody outside that was from Mystic Falls. "She needs you as a friend. Don't you see that she needs you? Milo she's scared that you won't accept her as she is. Do you even know that she could find love again? There's a guy outside in fact who would love her for eternity. Chase would want her to be happy but she's so scared that you won't love her as a best friend anymore. She needs to be able to save the world. And she needs your support for that."

Jesse let out a breath. "You're the leader. More than that you're my older brother. So if you just think she needs his blood and she'll be fine then fine. But what if she just needs you to tell her it's okay to spread her wings and be the leader she should be."

The room was silent. The people outside heads were spinning. The brother's inside knew more about Caroline and in a different way. The gang asked themselves who Millie was and how could she help Caroline. They had never met anyone by that name.

A scream interrupted them all. It was a distinctive female pitched siren coming from Caroline's room.

"Liz let me in," Klaus fought to get inside even though he of all people knew he wouldn't be able to get in.

The sheriff looked around her living room. Milo and Jesse were still having a staring contest.

"No," Milo held up one hand. He turned on his heel and went into the bedroom. Just one minute later he was back in the living room.

Caroline hung in his hands. She was clothed only in underwear and a tank top. Sweat dripped off her body. Mad curls matted to her face. Moans and gibberish came from her mouth.

Not paying attention to anything Milo swept out of the house and moved past Klaus and the Scooby gang. Frozen at the sight of Caroline in his arms they all stared at him as he walked down the street. Where was he going?

"Don't," a voice brought them back to reality. Jesse was speaking to them. "Don't bother to follow them." Then he shut the door blocking their view into the house.


He placed her in the middle of the room. Standing back up he looked around. The Darter house would always give him the creeps. That would never change. He looked around and then left the house. He waited across the street.

She thrashed around. She rolled around on the hard wood floor she had been placed on. The heat left her body and her temperature went back to its dead coolness. She banged her head on the floor as dreams and visions filled her mind.

"Hey," a voice cried out at her. "Dad is hiding!" it was a comical voice. Caroline was in a bathroom. She could see herself in the mirror. She looked down. A little girl was standing beside her. The face of the girl was blurred but it was like she knew this child. A dimpled hand tugged at hers.

Hurry," it was so bizarre and scary not being able to clearly see the face of the young girl. She was racing through a hallway. It wasn't the house she lived in now but it was her home. She called behind her. A little boy's voice replied.

The vision changed. She wasn't as happy as she was in the last dream. The city was being burned. She was standing on a paved road. She looked left. Mystic Falls. She looked right. Mystic Heights.

She was dragged backwards. In real life her head hit the floor again. Her voice was called out. People had been saying her name for hours now but her eyes just couldn't open.

"Caroline," the voice came again. She didn't know who it was.

She rolled and her hands felt the grooves between each wood slate. Her eyes squinted just a bit. It became easier to control her body and her eyelids didn't feel so heavy anymore. She opened them.

"Caroline," the woman looked like Millie. But it wasn't her. It was Cicilia.

They were knowing eyes. Soft and gentle. Framed by the longest, curliest lashes Caroline had ever seen.

"Thank you," the ghost's first words hit Caroline. She spoke softly as well. Cicilia crouched down beside her, sitting on her knees. The skirts of her dress were tucked under her. She was the prettiest angel ever seen.

Caroline felt like she was in a fog. Everything around her came into focus better as she sat up. Sweat left grime all over her body and her hair was matted. The oak floor became clear and she looked around the room. It was one of the many rooms in the huge mansion.

"For what?" Caroline couldn't wrap what was going on around her head. The last thing she remembered was an array of a dagger in her and a wolf bite. The note from Chase was being repeated in her head. All in his voice. Talking to Cicilia just topped her strange day off.

The older ghost was solemn and quiet just studying her. She finally opened her mouth to have a heart to heart with Caroline. "I cursed my family."

The room was still. No creaking of wood or outside sound was to be heard. Cicilia just looked so sad.

She licked her lips and a tear fell out of her eyes. Cicilia had had a long time to spend in the house with her actions making her guilty. "I never knew my father."

She started her story and kept going.

"When I was a young girl my mother passed away so I was stuck in the Old World without anyone. Plague was taking hold everywhere and I don't know how or why I was fated to come to the New World but one day a local business man, paid for my passage on a boat. His daughter who was my age had been killed from the disease so it's always been my belief that that's why he extended his kindness to get me to safe keeping."

Caroline waited patiently to hear more information.

"Did you know I sailed on the same boat the Mikaelson's did? I always thought Mikael was a brute of a man. I helped Raynerious transform without the moon and that day changed the world."

"Why did you thank me?" Caroline asked.

"I'm nineteen," Cicilia wavered. "After the Mikaelson's left Mystic Falls I bounced between the wolves and the town. The wolves were right to keep their secrets tight. The original Bennett witch had sensed trouble coming as well and left. I was burned at the stake. At nineteen."

Care took a sharp intake of air. "But,"

Cicilia shook her head. "I know it sounds so ridiculous. Like it could only happen in Salem but there were years when Falls was not a haven to the supernatural. I was young and ignorant. Ray couldn't help me and I was bound to a piece of wood burning. Looking up I swore that they would never get rid of me. It was my own stupid folly that bound the woman of the Darter house to this piece of land. Eventually the house went up and the ghosts had a real home to spend their death in. You broke the curse though."

"I didn't do anything," she reasoned.

Cicilia stared long and unblinking at the girl. "You are the light that breaks into the strange unknown world. You will unite the New World. The Earth we live on now is changing. It doesn't want to be held onto by witches and it does not want to soak up anymore blood caused by fighting amongst humans and nonhumans."

"Millie died by fire," Caroline's breath was ragged. Cicilia had died by fire. Millie had been killed by fire. It was a bizarre circle.

Cicilia nodded unhappily. She was so somber. "When you came into our lives you freed us. But it is still my fault that she had to die like that. I never once imagined that when I stopped Finnick from turning his lover Sage into a creature like him he would hold such a grudge."

"I don't understand how I can be the one to unite everybody. They hate me in Falls and I don't know if the Rivers like me anymore."

Cicilia reached forward and grabbed her hand. It felt solid. A piece of her hair fell forward with the movement. "Nobody could see it. I've felt it in my bones for all these centuries but nobody ever saw that it was coming. We cannot ignore that this world is littered by abnormal people. Esther has decayed the true meaning of magic warping it into something. Other witches think that her magic is pure but it is not. For the past thousand years her sin against the world has hurt all magic used by witches today. She and Mikael hate the choices they made all those years ago and now mean to kill everybody nonhuman."

"That would mean they're ready to die as well." Caroline pointed out.

"They are. As long as they're children die with them," Cicilia leaned inward some more. "But the pendent of the world is too far forward on the supernatural side. If they kill every being that is not a human nothing will be left."

"The world is going to end?" Caroline felt like she was going to throw up. Wasn't 2012 just a myth?

"Klaus, Rebekah, Kol and Elijah have only ever run away from their parents." Cicilia tenderly touched Caroline's face. "But you must fight them. You will find that you already have the right army if you look around."

"You do understand what you're telling me?" Caroline deadpanned. It was the first comment were she felt more like herself. "You're telling me that I'm going to lead an army up against a witch and a vampire who are really just shit parents and the world hangs in the balance?"

The room was once again silent. Cicilia stood up. "Thank you for saving my family from the curse I brought upon them."


When Caroline came out of the house it was like déjà vu. Milo was waiting for her outside with his arms crossed over his chest. His body was rigid but he did hand her a pair of pants which she took gladly. She waited for a lecture.

"Do you want to go somewhere with me?" he asked sincerely.

"Where are we?" Caroline asked fifteen minutes after he had asked her to come with him.

They were trekking through the woods going up and up a mountain. He didn't say anything and after five minutes of more walking they came to a clearing.

"Where are we?" she asked again. It wasn't just any clearing. When the tree line stopped there was only about ten feet between it and the edge of the mountain.

"Cliff Mountain," Milo said impressively.

"Cliff Mountain," she repeated the ridiculous name.

"Yeah," he turned back to admire the view which Care had to admit was the prettiest she'd ever seen. "Chase found it years ago. And of course named it."

Caroline stepped closer to the edge. A water lake was below her.

Milo stepped up to the edge. "Chase loved it here. If something ever happened he would come and lay it all out here. And then jump. Used to say that when he left the water he left it all behind. Started over. We thought it was stupid. Always gave him crap for how much he believed in this place but I think I get it now."

Caroline stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"I've been a really shit friend lately haven't I?"

"So have I," Caroline admitted. "I've been a nervous wreck these past few weeks all because people that make me feel like my old self have come back into my life again. I'm sorry."

"No I'm sorry," Milo jumped in to take the blame. "I never wanted you to feel like you had to be loyal to the pack or to our family."

"I am loyal to both the pack and your family. You're my family." Caroline said strongly.

"But that doesn't mean you're not your own person." Milo said back. "You don't have to stress about what you can or can't do because you're afraid of disappointing any of us."

Caroline didn't know what to say back. She was at a loss for words.

"I never knew you felt about Klaus like that," Milo was quieter.

"I," she broke off. Waving her arms slightly she could only shrug. "I don't know how I feel about him. But everybody keeps making it into this big deal and I hate it. Even Chase thought I should be with him but I don't know him. And he doesn't know me. So why does everybody make it out like we're soul mates or whatever?"

"Have you looked in the mirror?"

Caroline gave him a confused glance.

Milo shrugged and smiled. "My mom used to tell us that. Sometimes you just need to look in a mirror to see all of you. Or to see all of what's going on."

"Well thanks," Caroline looked at the ground. "It's nice knowing I don't have to hide that I was once with him."

The air blew the trees around them and her hair was picked up by the wind. It was peaceful here.

"Milo," she started. "I think we have to kill Klaus's parents." She looked up at her dear friend.

He thought about it for a minute before nodding sadly. "I think so too."

She looked sideways at him. Taking his hand in hers she felt calm for the first time all day. She knew what she had to do.

"So when I jump it's like I get to start all over?" she looked over the edge. It wasn't that high. And the water would cushion her fall.

"Exactly," he nodded.


She knew exactly where to find him. It was moving into dusk and if he wasn't at the Grill sipping bourbon he was in the graveyard with a bottle of it. She moved lightly respecting the dead buried below her.

Sinking down on the stone bench beside him he made no sign that he noticed her at all. Staring distantly at the grave in front of him he took a huge swig.

"I always liked Mr. Saltzman," Caroline turned her head to look at Damon. He was loyal to come out here most nights to visit his old companion.

"Everybody thinks you're dead," he took another huge gulp. "Again."

"Yeah, well," Caroline started. "Almost dying has kind of gotten to be my thing."

"Why are you here blondie?" Damon finally looked over at her.

"You've been to one of these balls held by the Originals before right?"

Damon snorted. "Do you think you're invited?"

"Everybody's invited." She told him. "Because they want to kill everybody."

"Yeah, well," he sounded like her. "What are you going to do about it?"

"That's why I need your help," Caroline took the bottle out of his hand.

"You need my help," Damon rolled his eyes and took his liquor back. "And how do you think I can help you?"

Caroline looked up at the brilliant sky above them and then back at Damon. "I need your help starting a war. Interested?"


Thank you to everybody who is still taking the time to read this or leave a nice comment. I can only hope you know how much I appreciate you taking the time to do so.