OH MY GOODNESS. I'm so so so sorry this is many days late! I've had so many internet issues since i'm on vacation. Pleaseee forgive me! Anyways, there's one final chapter to go after this one (unless you all want an epilogue of Caroline's vision of her future children). This is very bittersweet posting this chapter. What should I do after this one is over? Should I write another one? Oh well, I'm sorry again. I hope I didn't let you guys down! Let me know what you think :)
Caroline sat down on the couch with Henrik, just staring at the floor, as everyone discussed what to do around her. Mikael had taken Klaus; she knew he was strong, but Mikael had a white oak stake and that scared her.
"How exactly did Mikael get in, Bonnie?" Rebekah asked angrily.
"Your mother's magic is stronger than I thought. I figured my protection spells would be enough," Bonnie admitted in defeat.
"Don't forget darling, there's other strong witches helping her," Kol said reassuringly.
"We can take them out together." Davina said walking in the Compound with her coven. "Genevieve was once part of our coven; it's our job to put her down."
"Davina, do you think you would be able to assist Bonnie with her locator spell? My parents seem a bit difficult to locate." Elijah asked while staring intently at the map in front of him.
The girls began chanting as Elijah's blood danced across the paper. Caroline stood up with Henrik and walked over to the table to watch. The wind whooshed violently around them and suddenly stopped leaving two sections of blood sitting very close together on the map.
"The warehouses on the dock," Marcel groaned. "How could we have missed this? We have vampires patrolling that whole area."
"I wouldn't beat yourself up about it too much Marcellus, as we've seen, these witches are quite powerful," Elijah started. "We're going to have to split up in two groups; we don't know which of these locations my mother or Mikael is at. Bonnie, do you have the enchanted blade we are going to use on Mikael?" Bonnie reached into the black bag she had draped across her body and pulled out an old blade, placing it carefully into Elijah's hand. "When we find my father, I'll stab him, tying his soul to the dagger and then we'll have to kill him," Elijah said putting the blade inside of his suit jacket.
"Who should be in what group?" Bonnie asked.
"You'll be with me," Kol said sternly and no one bothered to argue with him.
"I will come with Bonnie and I'll bring Sophie along too. If Luke, Liv and Genevieve are with Esther, they will need help." Davina said and went to stand by Bonnie.
"Remember we must get out of them where Tyler is located before we kill them all," Elijah said nonchalantly. Caroline cringed at the thought at all of the death that would occur today and held Henrik closer to her, she wanted to shield him from this horror. "Marcel and Jackson will stay here with their groups since the hybrids are coming. What shall we do about the children? Caroline, are you and Hayley taking them somewhere?" Caroline hadn't given any thought to leaving, but she did know who she wanted to take care of the children.
"I'm not going anywhere," She said defiantly and everyone stared at her. "I'm coming with you and I'm getting Klaus." Elijah sighed.
"I don't think my brother will feel comfortable with you coming along; I think he would much rather you stay with the children." Rebekah argued knowing how Klaus would react if anything happened to Caroline on their watch.
"Well, he's not here right now," Rebekah rolled her eyes at her. "Look, I can't just sit around while I know he's out there, probably d-y-i-n-g." Caroline spelled out through her teeth because she knew Hope was listening. "I think Hayley and Ansel should take them." Ansel walked up to Caroline.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked.
"I've never been surer about anything. I know you both will keep them safe. I think you should take Matt and Camille with you too." Hayley nodded in approval and Matt got on the phone with Camille. They couldn't have humans hanging around while a supernatural war was taking place.
"I promise I'll do everything I can to keep them safe," Ansel said with his hands on Caroline's shoulders. Caroline looked down at Henrik and hoped it wouldn't be the last time she did. She kissed him on the forehead, rubbing his hair and told him she loved him before reluctantly handing him over to Ansel. She also gave a chaste goodbye to Hope, not wanting her to see the tears in Caroline's eyes. Hayley, Ansel and Matt left quickly with Camille and the children to an unknown destination, leaving everyone else to discuss more of the plan.
"I think Stefan, Rebekah and I should go after Tyler when you find him," Enzo started. "I don't think Rebekah would be too fond of killing mommy dearest." Rebekah scoffed, but Elijah knew he was right.
"Caroline will be with me and Delilah then," Elijah said. "I originally planned on facing Mikael alone, but I cannot let her out of my sight." Just then everyone stopped what they were doing. Caroline heard rustling coming from outside and she knew the hybrids were here. "Do not panic." Elijah whispered and the windows shattered around them. Dozens of men and women with blazing, yellow eyes poured into the Compound ready to attack the group. Jackson and Klaus' packs followed behind them along with Marcel's army and began to fight.
Elijah grabbed Caroline and Rebekah by the arms and began to run towards the door with the rest of the group. A hybrid had his eye set on Bonnie, pulling out a long, sharpened branch out of his pocket. Bonnie gasped as the branch was about to impale her, but found Kol suddenly standing in front of her with the branch sticking out of his stomach. Kol looked down at the branch, chuckled and slowly pulled it out in front of the hybrid.
"Is that the best you can do, mate?" Kol shoved the branch into the hybrid's heart. "No one touches my girl." Kol said in his ear and watched the limp body fall to the floor. He grabbed a surprised Bonnie and darted out of the Compound with her.
As Caroline ran with Elijah, she couldn't help but worry about Henrik and Hope. Did they get away in time? They must have. The hybrids wouldn't have attacked if they got the children. She thought to herself. Caroline then turned her attention to Elijah who looked confident as ever and guilt crept up on her. Elijah had a solid plan, but Caroline had one of her own. Caroline was angry. Klaus was taken from her and so were her children; all of those responsible would feel her wrath.
It seemed as if they all ran for hours as they finally approached the dock. Elijah silently communicated with the group, pointing to the warehouses they were headed too. Stefan and Enzo took it upon themselves to look for and take out any guards roaming around, as the rest of them went to find Esther.
To their surprise, the warehouse door was wide open. They cautiously walked inside and saw it was completely empty.
"Are you sure this is right brother?" Kol asked.
"Oh yes, I believe mother is just being a bit dramatic." Elijah said.
"You've always known me so well, my son." The group turned and saw Esther standing on a balcony on the other side of the warehouse.
"Just for once, can we end this foolishness before it gets violent?" Elijah asked.
"I was going to say the same. All you have to do is give up your immortal lives. Think about it 'Lijah, we were all so happy before this. You lived long enough." Esther pleaded.
"It's too late for that mother; you've tried this before, many times, and it's never worked."
"I'll never stop." Esther said as Genevieve, Luke and Liv appeared on the ground underneath the balcony. The witches began to chant, causing the original vampires to writhe in pain on the ground. Bonnie wasn't having it; she locked hands with Davina and Sophie, beginning to chant their counter spells. It relieved some of the vampires' pain and Elijah tried to stand. Delilah flashed in front of Luke, who looked frightened.
"Esther, why isn't it working on them?" Luke and Liv asked panicked as they stared at Lilah.
"Because, little witches, we're Lumen Deas," Delilah started as she maliciously circled the twins. "Now, you and your sister have harmed my family, do you know what that means? It means I'm going to kill you." Liv knew it probably wouldn't do much, but decided to punch Lilah as hard in the face as she could. Lilah's head jerked to the side with the blow, but it didn't faze her. Lilah's hands lit up a deep red and forcefully put her hands on the sides of Liv's face. Luke watched as the life drained from his sister's eyes and she collapsed on the floor.
Genevieve and Esther linked hands, chanting frantically trying to fight off the other witches in the room. Blood was dripping from Bonnie's nose as the Mikaelson siblings slowly regained their strength. Caroline flashed over to Luke and grabbed him by the throat.
"Where's Tyler?" She asked in a threatening murmur. Luke's face was turning purple but managed to choke out an answer.
"He's…in a warehouse…on the other side of the docks. Esther thought this was the best place to hide." Luke said hoping it would spare his life. Caroline smiled her Miss Mystic Falls smile at him.
"Thank you, Luke," she said sweetly then immediately snapped his neck causing Genevieve to jump back and break her concentration. Elijah got on his feet and removed the blade from his suit jacket, heading towards his mother.
Genevieve tried running to the door, but Caroline jumped in front of her, knocking her to the ground. Genevieve clawed backwards as Caroline crept forward with her fangs out.
"P-please, I just wanted to be with Klaus…I just wanted a family," Genevieve pleaded.
"Well, you tried to take my family." Caroline hissed.
"You'll never be good enough for him. He'll leave you as soon as he gets bored," Genevieve taunted. Caroline growled and reached into Genevieve's chest with her left hand.
"At least I won't be dead," Caroline said and ripped out Genevieve's heart, dropping the useless organ to the ground.
Meanwhile, Elijah lunged at his mother who was easily thwarting his movements. Kol snuck up behind her and held her in place as Elijah walked up to her.
"You would really do this to your own mother?" She asked.
"You know we do not enjoy this," Elijah said solemnly. Elijah quickly stabbed Esther with the spelled dagger and Kol ripped out her heart. Before they could remove the dagger, Caroline flashed in front of them, removing it and fled the warehouse.
Caroline ran as fast as she could to the next warehouse on the map, not wanting the others to follow her. She wanted to face Mikael herself; she knew she was being crazy, but wanted someone to be alive to raise her children. Plus, she was angrier than ever. Mikael was the cause of all of Klaus' endless torment and here he was again. Caroline had to end him for good.
She hid behind a large oil drum and saw two vampires walking around outside of the door she needed to get to. She groaned and thought about what to do; Stefan and Enzo were supposed to take care of the guards, but she guessed they didn't get over here yet. Caroline flashed behind the two men.
"Hello boys," She said smiling with her fangs. They turned around and immediately lunged for her. One wrapped his arm around Caroline's neck trying to suffocate her, as the other approached. Caroline wrapped her legs around his throat, suspending her in midair and snapped his neck with her knees. She spun around in the other guard's arms, reaching into his chest and ripping out his heart. Caroline decided she would have to rip the other one's heart out too, even though she didn't want to. Caroline quickly reached her hand into his chest and ripped his heart out.
She looked down at her hands and noticed she was covered in blood up to her elbows. Genevieve's dried blood was cracking on her left and the fresh blood of the guards dripped down her right. She hoped this made her look a little threatening. She wanted to seem confident; she wanted to be feared, but really, she was afraid. Caroline hoped she wasn't too late; she didn't know what she would do if she found Klaus' lifeless, grey body lying on the warehouse floor.
That's when she noticed the warehouse down was half open. Caroline crept quietly along the wall, listening for movement and heard someone pacing inside. Then she heard the shallow breaths of another person. She carefully looked under the door and had to hold in her gasp at what she saw. To the right of the warehouse looked like some kind of bewitched tree coming out of the ground and impaling its branches into a person; weaving its twigs painfully into their muscles. She could see the bark under the surface of his skin. Tears welled up in her eyes when she noticed it was Klaus. He looked so defeated and pale from the blood loss. Caroline was angry before, but now she was furious.
Caroline threw open the rest of the door and strutted into the warehouse. Mikael was standing to the left, as she expected, and flashed a smile at him.
"Hmm, were those your guards outside?" Caroline asked examining the blood on her hand. She stuck out her tongue and licked the blood off her middle finger. "They certainly were delicious." Mikael tried not to smirk at her. Klaus recognized her immediately and panicked. He didn't know how he was going to help her, but he knew he would die to protect her from Mikael.
"You're wasting your time child; Niklaus is going to die one way or the other. I don't really care if you die too." He said twirling the white oak stake in his hand.
"Luckily, I don't really care if I die either," She replied and slammed the warehouse door shut, making sure to break it so Elijah would have a hard time getting in.
"I did promise to peel your flesh off in front of him," Mikael said looking at Klaus. Klaus lifted his head, gritting his teeth as his eyes flashed yellow. Klaus tried to say something, anything but a tree branch was carving its way into his throat. He thought he would try something else he read about long ago.
Caroline, I want you to leave. He said in his thoughts. He was thankful they drank each other's blood. He hoped it would help them communicate. Caroline heard Klaus' voice in her head; she thought she was hearing things, but saw the tortured look on his face.
Never. She said and Klaus shut his eyes in frustration. Suddenly, Mikael darted in front of Caroline.
"Shall we begin?" He asked smirking. Before Caroline could act, Mikael grabbed Caroline by the shoulders and threw her into the concrete wall on the other side of the warehouse. Everyone could hear her spine shatter and she groaned as blood dripped down her head. She stood up quickly, ignoring the pain radiating throughout her body.
Klaus began to shift amongst the branches, slowly letting the tree rip apart his body so he could be free. He wanted to help, but the pain was excruciating.
"Don't try to escape Niklaus, you are too weak. Just sit back and watch your mate die. You weren't good enough for her anyway," Mikael taunted and the veins formed under Caroline's eyes. Caroline ran at him and latched onto his back, catching him by surprise. Mikael clawed at her to try and rip her off, but Caroline dug her fangs deep into his throat causing him to yell out. Mikael grabbed Caroline by the back of the head and flipped her over onto the ground. The floor shattered below her and Caroline felt blood pouring out of her mouth. She heard Klaus growl behind her and she didn't want him hurting himself.
It's okay, I can do this. She said as she began to get on her feet.
"I don't understand why you're willing to die for such a pathetic creature. They say he's the most powerful creature in the world, but look at him," Mikael walked over to Klaus and grabbed his jaw in his hand. "He's weak. He always has been."
"No," Caroline said and they both looked at her. "Klaus is stronger than you'll ever be."
"I highly disagree."
"Where are your children right now? They're coming to kill you because you couldn't show them or their brother love. Klaus has a family that loves him and has followed him for a thousand years. No one will ever follow you and no one will ever love you. I'm willing to die for him because I love him more than anyone I've ever met." Caroline said and noticed Klaus was looking at her with sad eyes.
"You're just a little fool then. I will end your suffering shortly." Mikael scowled and ran at Caroline. Caroline ran at him in return, reaching for the blade that was hidden in her back pocket. She slammed him to the ground with her knee shoved forcefully in his chest, thanking cheerleading for making her so flexible. Caroline held the blade high above her head and stabbed him in the chest. Mikael yelled out in pain as Caroline dug it deeper into his flesh. Mikael began laughing as blood split out of his mouth.
"Knives can't kill me girl," Caroline forgot to see where he put the white oak stake. Her eyes frantically searched the warehouse and saw the stake lying across the warehouse. She groaned and knew Mikael was getting his strength back as she slid over to the stake. Caroline finally grabbed it, but felt Mikael's hand on hers fighting her for it. She heard something in the background that sounded like ripping flesh as Mikael hovered above her, trying to impale her. She tried burning Mikael with her Lumen Dea powers, but nothing was working.
Caroline knew she was going to die as the stake began to touch her skin. She thought about the first time she met Elena and Bonnie when she was little and her first memory of the Salvatores. She remembered what it felt like when she first turned into a vampire and loving the feeling of being strong. She thought back to the death of her parents and the deaths of everyone since she became a vampire. Then she remembered when Tyler bit her on her birthday and Klaus walked into her bedroom, telling her about everything the world had to offer. She clung to the memory and regained her strength.
Caroline opened her eyes to see the stake piercing her skin. She put all of her strength behind burning his hands as Mikael screamed; the seared flesh beginning to fall off his bones. Caroline pushed him forward and onto his back.
"Knives can't kill you, but I can." Caroline said and stabbed Mikael into the heart. She watched in relief as his skin turned grey and veined. She began crying and laughing all at once and heard that same noise behind her.
"Caroline…" his voice croaked. She rushed over to Klaus whose body was now mangled amongst the branches from trying to get free. There was a puddle of blood at his feet. "I need you to break the branches," he said and Caroline quickly got to work, ripping the trees to shreds. Klaus groaned as she gently pulling them out from under his skin. He fell forward when he was free and Caroline propped him up. She moved her hair to one side, exposing her neck to him. Klaus reluctantly drew his fangs and drank from her.
Caroline noticed his wounds were healing and his skin was returning to its normal color. Klaus pulled back and just stared at her. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her close to him; she could see the hurt in his eyes.
"Why would you do that to me?" He asked and she looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you let yourself die for me?" Klaus asked sadly. Caroline wrapped her arms around him and wiped some blood off his face.
"Because I love you," Caroline said seriously.
"But what about Henrik and Hope?"
"Elijah and Rebekah would've taken care of them. I wouldn't be able to live in a world without you," Caroline said putting her hand on his cheek. Klaus smirked at her and crashed his lips to hers. Caroline smiled into the fierceness of the kiss, tangling her fingers into his hair. He pushed her against the warehouse wall and bruised her lips with his. Klaus began to ravish her neck when Elijah ripped the door off the hinges. He stormed over to Caroline.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?!" He asked noticing now that Mikael was dead.
"I-I'm sorry…" Caroline said scared. Elijah pulled her into a tight hug.
"Don't ever do that again," Elijah threatened and saw Klaus was alive, pulling him into a similar, strangling hug.
"Now, let's go and find Tyler," Elijah grinned and the group headed for the last warehouse.
Klaus held Caroline's hand and stood protectively in front of her as they approached the warehouse.
"It sounds like there are only two people in there," Rebekah stated. The group of them walked in and stumbled upon a startled Tyler and the Beta that once led the attack against Caroline. The two hybrids looked panicked.
"You're not so tough without your minions are ya?" Lilah teased him. Tyler held out his hands pleading.
"Okay…you guys won…just let me go far away from here and I'll never bother you again," Tyler said with his Beta cowering behind him like a scared puppy. Klaus broke his contact with Caroline and walked up to him.
"I believed you promised me that once before; look where that's gotten you," Klaus began. "I'm afraid you fate lies with my lady." Klaus said looking to Caroline. Tyler got on his knees, looking at his former lover with pleading eyes.
"Please, Caroline, it's me—Tyler. I don't want to hurt you." He said.
"Yeah, well, you did. When you threw our truck over and tried to hurt my son; my family," Caroline said angry and thought to herself for a moment. "Someone….kill him please, but I can't watch." She said and walked out of the warehouse with Bonnie following close behind. Caroline sat on the ground as Bonnie rubbed soothing circles on her back, as they listened to the screaming. The group walked outside and Caroline looked to Klaus, thinking he was the one to kill him.
"I did it," Enzo said proudly. "I knew you'd never look at the hybrid the same if he did it." Caroline wrapped her arms around Enzo, whispering a weak thank you in his ear.
The group eventually returned to the Compound, seeing the courtyard littered with bodies. Marcel was propped up against the fountain with several bites appearing on his skin; Klaus rushed over to heal him. Caroline looked down at the blood stained floor and walked around, noticing all of the hybrids were dead, but was happy when she saw Josh was still alive. Jackson emerged holding his wounded shoulder.
"Are the bastards dead?" He asked and Caroline nodded. "I'll go call Ansel for you."
"Thank you, Jackson." Klaus snuck up behind Caroline and wrapped his arms around her.
"You're amazing, you know," he started and Caroline went to protest, but Klaus kept whispering in her ear. "Not only do I not deserve you, but you're the most loving, beautiful woman on Earth. I was wondering if you would object to being my wife as soon as possible?" Caroline spun around in his arms and placed a sweet kiss on his lips.
"When can we start planning?"She asked and a wide smirk spread across his face.
