"Are you entirely certain?" Elijah was still digesting a powerful shock.
Klaus nodded. "The witch said that she would take my heart and I was staring at Caroline just now unable to feel a thing, there was not love nor sympathy but there wasn't dislike for her either, just this vacant sensation because I know what I'm supposed to be feeling… just that I'm unable to."
"Whatever this is, there has to be a way to go around it." Elijah was quick to step into that role of supporter and pillar that Klaus needed.
With a simple nod Klaus started to walk with his brother but the girl clasping her hands and covering her mouth stopped them from going far, the blood that Caroline was carrying before she heard the talk was now on the floor and she stared at Klaus in disbelief.
Klaus looked at Elijah, the later silently did what was expected and went away in order to give the couple some privacy but instead of answering Caroline or even looking at her, Klaus appeared eager to leave the house as well.
"How bad is this?" she almost regretted the question as soon as it came out loud because she could barely recognize the way that he was looking at her.
"I've been cursed by Genevieve, she hexed me to stop feeling…" he kept his eyes on her but Lord help him because he never felt so disconnected to her as he did right this instant.
The novelty was harsh on Caroline as well and she saw it right on those features that were never before today hard or truly callous to her, throughout everything between them there had always existed a connection between them, sometimes feeble and about to break and other times stronger than steel but it still was there all along, until today.
Klaus lowered his eyes from hers and went around her so that he could leave.
"Wait!" she pulled his arm and quickly took his face into her hands. "What happens to us now?" He took her soft touch away with a detached reaction that quavered her very foundations.
"Elijah is waiting for me, I have to go Caroline."
The simplicity again shook her to her core, there was something looming about his tone and she battled a few stinging tears as he left her standing alone on the hallway.
"This is beyond creepy." Bonnie said with a low pace while she gave a small spin around the master bedroom.
"There are groupies and then…" Kol moved the big bed exposing a red circle on the floor, inside of it was a Norse name written in the same red substance. "… there are groupies."
Bonnie gave him a dubious look. "If that's Klaus' name, I might freak out."
"Will there be yelling and shrieking?" he defiantly smiled. "You can hide in my protective arms if so."
"I'm serious." Though she hardly came across as such because she was smiling.
"That's his name and I'm not only assuming that's blood, I'm also ready to further make this journey haunting." he told her very confidant of what he was about to find inside of the closet.
Bonnie lowered her shoulders and came near him with a mopping expression. "How come every witch we encounter is an expert in dark rituals and really sinister stuff? I thought levitating feathers from a pillow was really cool." she deeply grumbled as she gazed into a skilled shrine made with bones, blood and a necklace that she guessed belonged to Klaus.
Kol held back a loud laughter. "Pillow feathers?"
She bumped her shoulder against his. "Don't make fun of me, my Grams used to go on and on about our family going all the way back to Salem and I never believed her until I made fire out of water."
Kol closed the closet looking at Bonnie. "How much do you really know about your family Bonnie?"
"I know what my Grams said before she lost her battle with Scotch every night and what Shane said but he was just feeding the information he needed to keep me motivated so… to answer your question without stalling, not much." She pursed her lips.
"Knowing your birthright is important little one and I happen to own part of the most exquisite library in the world."
He sounded just ready to dazzle her and Bonnie's eyebrow lifted questioning him. "We need to learn more about Genevieve, remember why we came all the way to Laplace?"
"Genevieve is crazy." Kol simply said.
"I drove four hours straight for that? We didn't even stop to sleep" she asked discouraged.
He answered as he walked out of the room without waiting for her. "She has an unhealthy infatuation with my brother and she got her mad hands on one of his necklaces, that's how she has tracked him down along the years." Kol opened the door of another room covering his nose with an arm. "The little place of pilgrimage in his former bedroom is somewhat kinky but a perfect example of black magic so that has to be her main source of power and although I'm holding back on all the gory details, I can add that she's into sacrifices that one."
Bonnie came to the door in silence but the nauseating smell hit her as well so she covered her mouth, shock would have done that itself when Kol turned the lights on. "Oh God, I was hoping you didn't mean that literally." she whispered while looking at a group of dead girls.
Kol squatted checking the bodies closer and it intrigued him that they all seemed to have their necks broken, all with the exception of this girl who couldn't be more than 16 years old, she had a slit throat unlike the others. "She's crazy." he reinforced his first conclusion guessing that the dead group was a coven that Genevieve killed, he picked up the necklace from the girl with an open throat and yanked it from her neck.
Bonnie couldn't look at the blood-soaked painting any longer and stepped away from the door, she tried to come across as someone in control of a weak stomach when he returned to her side.
"I don't know how she's controlling all of these covens, Travelers are rogue and volatile, they are very hard to keep under control yet Genevieve appears in charge of different covens and regardless of their own fate, they seem to obey her." he spoke while keeping the necklace with the familiar medallion inside of his pocket.
Bonnie ventured a nervous smile. "Do you know how cool feathers look like when they are being held magically by a hand? The way it all looks so pretty and magical?"
He smiled endeared by how cute she looked. "I lived here for a few months before I heard that Nik and the others were headed this way, before I left I made a secret stash of alcohol and books. Perhaps it still remains untouched."
Bonnie could only pray. "If it's not and we only find water, you need to make me believe that it's the strongest Scotch I ever tasted." she still asked him.
Kol laughed amused with her sudden desperate craving for alcohol.
"I swear to you Klaus… I did everything that I could." the witches' voice came out shaky because her entire body was shaking with terror.
Klaus snarled picking up a knife and cutting himself, he closed his hand making the blood drop over the mirror, the black salt and the sage. "Do it again."
It wasn't the first time she helped Klaus and knowing his temper well she was terrified to tell him no again. "I've done it three times now Klaus…"
Before she carried on with an annoying display of how impotent she was to help him, Klaus flashed his hand across the small round table and crooked her neck to the side, killing her in the process.
Elijah lowered his head as Klaus went by him.
"You need to take me to another witch." he callously demanded.
Elijah looked at the dead girl, she was just the first drop in a trail of death that Klaus would start without a shred of emotion about it.
"Last drink Books, if you don't start paying for them, I will have to cut you off." The bartender warned him severely.
He fondled with the last bill he had in his pocket but it still wasn't enough to pay for another drink, he already felt sorrow for the wasted afternoon he was about to miss when miraculously a couple of shiny bills hit the counter, he looked up gulping down with the beauty smiling at him.
With a sleek move he straightened his greasy hair. "Hello bombshell." he rested his eyes on the cleavage embraced by a strapless Denim corset.
"That was subtle." Caroline sat on the stool next to him without fixing the short leather jacket that would cover her a little more.
"Can I buy you a drink?" he brashly took her money from the counter.
"I have a friend who told me that you could help me find someone connected to your field of immeasurable qualities." she played along with the long speech she grew used to listening from Klaus.
Books looked at her a bit lost, either it was the usage of fancy words or the curiosity of who gave her his name.
Caroline decided to help him with both. "Kol told me that you could help me, so…" she dropped her fangs and pushed his head down on the counter, she pinned him by the cheek and hissed with red eyes. "Where can I find Genevieve?"
Klaus held the warlock in front of him, the man dangled his feet in agony for the air Klaus was retreating from him by closing a hand around his throat. "That was not the answer I was counting to hear." he coldheartedly said before using his thumb to crush the only bone keeping the man still alive.
"We need to make progress, or at least establish if this is an actual plan or a diversion for today." Elijah quietly begged him before he nodded to the other witch present in the alley to run away.
Klaus grumbled in reply and flashed catching the woman as she tried to escape the alley unharmed, he roughly bit her and drained her quickly, as he dropped the woman to the ground he licked the corner of his mouth appreciating the blood. "That will keep me going for another hour." he walked by Elijah with a sneer. "That's part of my demented plan if you must know."
Elijah reprimanded him by loosening up his tie, this was draining to say the least. "You have to stop killing every witch who tells you the same, it's evident that that's the only valid information they have for you at the moment."
"Then I will kill every last one of them until my hybrids find Genevieve and if they fail at that, then I will kill them all as well." Klaus merely smiled with all the darkness he could pull off.
"You look like a mad man Niklaus and I'm beginning to worry."
"That's because you are not used to his cheerful temper." the young blonde from the family showed up at the alley. "Do you mind telling me why you look like a hybrid with his emotions off?" Rebekah asked unsure of what she was witnessing.
"Stick me with a fork Rebekah and see how much I will still bleed…" Klaus leaned towards the wall and rested a hand there.
Rebekah looked at Elijah alarmed. "And he is doing tragic poetry…."
"Niklaus has been hexed by Genevieve and we are trying to find a way to break that incantation." Elijah informed their sister.
"I truly miss the days when we were above all these witchy things, those were the days... when the world perceived us as truly invincible and untouchable." she crossed her arms bothered.
As she did so, her long golden necklace sparkled with the movement, as the light hit it in that precise angle something triggered inside of Klaus' mind, he narrowed his eyes trying as well to narrow down a glimpse of a thought that played elusively in his mind.
"Nik?" Rebekah recognized the thoughtful expression.
"The necklace that belonged to mother…"
"What about it Niklaus?" Elijah asked.
"Genevieve asked me about it." Klaus looked at his siblings. "In her spell, she asked me if Caroline would be wearing it."
"What did you tell her?" Rebekah unfolded her arms.
"That you left it inside of a cave, back in Mystic Falls." he owned up.
Immediately Rebekah turned away from him with a rushed strut. "Of all the times to lie Nik..."
"Perhaps if she had popped the question within the first hours of torture I would have used my charm to sweet my way out of it." Klaus scolded her without practical effect as she raced away in her Jaguar.
"That necklace still holds an essence of our mother's magic in it, if it falls into the wrong hands it could be used as a very powerful tool against us."
Klaus couldn't stand still and decided to leave the alley. "Gen the tool, already has a weapon that belonged to a voodoo papa and a blade that belonged to a dark mama." he snapped with flair at Elijah while reaching inside of his pocket for the phone. "We are already in trouble."
"Welcome back old times, I have not missed you. At all." Elijah tucked the knot of his tie back to where it was supposed to be.
Klaus ignored the joke altogether as he waited for Kol to take his call.
Bonnie coughed gravely when the strong whiskey reached her throat, it wasn't imaginary and it was the strongest thing she ever tasted. "I've lost my voice." she murmured fighting the heat that just reached her lungs.
Kol laughed sitting next to her but when he tasted his bottle he inevitably coughed as well which made Bonnie laugh and it was natural that he was drawn to that sight like a doomed moth to all that light.
She became aware of how he was gazing at her and her laugh diminished a little although she kept a perfect smile. "Do you do these things just to piss them off?" she asked pointing at the hollow stair beneath them.
Kol took the books he hid inside of the secret place in the staircase of the library. "Everyone is so serious all the time, it's tiring so I push their buttons just to see how far I can go before they lose their raison d'être." he cackled just like a little rebel kid.
"Is that why Klaus daggered you? Was it because you pushed him too far?" Bonnie had a smaller sip from her bottle this time.
Kol shook his head. "He daggered me because I killed Marcel. It was all set up to be this grand moment, there was going to be an epic emotional speech and Nik would offer Marcel everything that the immortal world had to give and in exchange Marcel would give up on his last smear of human goodness. I got bored during act one and twisted Marcel's neck when Nik wasn't looking." Kol looked at Bonnie and winked. "He had to chase me for half of a century before he caught up with me."
"Why don't you like Marcel?" she tilted her head a little to the side wondering about it.
"Haven't you noticed that no one really likes Marcel? Nik decided one day to take in an orphan and make him part of the family…" Kol's old grudge for the man just surfaced as he skimmed through the books he took from the hiding place. "Marcel was Henrik's age when Nik found him." Kol stopped his random movements and stared at the books.
"You were hurt that he chose Marcel when he already had a younger brother ready to follow his footsteps… something that you did anyway hoping that he would notice how much you loved your older brother."
Kol's stare was jolted towards her, after the first uncomfortable seconds of lowered fortifications he smiled looking away from her. "That's some very burly alcohol that you have there, it's making you sound wise when in reality you are plainly being crass."
"For once I might have to agree with you because you look really hot when you are all ineptly human and we are surrounded by books which would be erotic if it wasn't for the dead girls upstairs, but still, all I can think about is kissing you." she sprinted the words out glancing at him in fear once her valor faded slightly.
Kol dropped the books and took her face with a strong hand, he kissed her as eagerly as she kissed him back and she dropped the bottle so that she could hide her fingers in his hair, she parted her lips for him and silently moaned when his tongue swiftly caressed hers just before he started a sweet game of pushing forward and withdrawing perfectly on cue and with a skill that left her yearning for more of him.
She leaned back a little and his body crushed hers with this amazing pressure and warmth, Bonnie managed to keep the kiss going effortlessly although his fit body was extremely distracting.
The air between them was thick and lacking in stability when they broke the long kiss but only their lips were apart, her body puzzled under his perfectly and suddenly all those dreams that she kept having of him were surfacing, just to avoid getting lost in them Bonnie took the lead and kissed him again.
This time the kiss was slower, with time to really savor it and they focused on how their lips moved against each other, with smaller kisses that came with furtive smiles and a growing easiness with one another.
Kol's phone decided to disturb them and he hauled a bit away from her so that he could take the unwanted but prevailing call. "What now?" he snapped displeased.
He closed his eyes contemplating turning his brother down but he knew Klaus would find a way to keep disturbing him so he decided to move away from Bonnie and to focus on the drama back in New Orleans, he was all but left in a good mood when Bonnie stood up from her seat next to him.
She needed to catch her breath and cool down for a bit, her eyes crossed with his and she smiled at Kol, she could tell how upset he was but they still had the rest of their journey ahead of them and she was getting comfortable with the idea that things were about to move along in a glorious way between them.
Kol squinted catching that spark in her eyes and had to ask Klaus to repeat what was that he was saying.
"My brother has the best taste." Rebekah brazenly opened the door that gave way to Enzo's bedroom. "This is such a beautiful house."
There was a scream from the girl straddling him and she wheezed jumping off him and trying to cover her naked chest.
"You have good taste as well." Rebekah checked the girl who was still wearing a pair of skinny jeans, obviously she interrupted things as they were merely about to heat up.
Enzo recovered from the surprise with a blatant smirk. "Do you want to join us?"
The other girl shrieked offended but Rebekah moaned considering it.
"It sounds like a good way to spend a few hours but we have another date Lourenzo." Rebekah picked up a bra and held it for the girl. "You need to leave."
The girl huffed offended and looked at Enzo.
"I have your number somewhere Lara." he dismissed her as well.
"It's Jessica." she said crossed while leaving the room.
Rebekah chuckled as the other girl left but she kept looking at Enzo who was looking for a clean shirt.
"Do I get details on our date?" he turned to her before pushing the T-shirt down his torso.
Rebekah languorously drifted her eyes from his toned chest to his eyes. "It's more of a blind date occasion."
"Which on of us is going in blinded? And will I need a safety word?" he flirted with her taking the conversation exactly to where he wanted.
"Here's a word for you, Damon." she rolled the name deliciously with her accent.
It didn't make him lose the smile altogether but it still made a dent. "Do you have a location as well?"
Instead of answering him, she turned away from him on her high pumps and walked away with a flowing blouse and dark tight leggings that trapped his eyes, enjoying immensely all the curves that she was showing.
It was a common house in New Orleans, there was nothing special about it and Elijah could read in Klaus' expression that he truly suspected that Kol had set him up for a bad joke.
"Kol wouldn't have sent us here on a useless chore, he is the one with the biggest knowledge on witches." Elijah said confident.
Klaus went up the stairs of the porch without a word and he didn't see a reason to be polite enough to knock, he would have barged inside of the house if it wasn't for the small obstacle that he hadn't been invited inside.
An old lady with white-snow hair and sweet features came into sight, she supported her fragile body on a wooden cane and smiled at the two Originals standing on her doorstep. "I was not expecting guests today, what a cheerful way to spend my day after all." she said with sweetness.
"Our brother Kol has given us your name." Elijah made the small introduction.
"Miss Florence knows who you are." the old woman said with a wave of her cane. "Come inside, the tea is almost ready."
Elijah exchanged a look with Klaus, pleading him to behave, of course that Klaus ignored him completely and went inside of the kitchen convinced that the old woman was a fraud.
She finished preparing the tea and it was unsettling that she had three cups waiting at the table already, at least for Elijah who looked cautious about the woman instead of Klaus who oozed impatience with every rushed breath that he took.
"Sugar?" she asked holding the pot in her hands.
There was a vulnerability about the woman that ticked off Klaus. "Do you know how to undo an hex?" he demanded a straight answer to his low tolerance.
"An incantation used with malevolent purposes is only reversible by those who perform it." she left the pot in the table with an innocent smile. "But Kol must have said that to you already." she focused on Klaus. "He is such a sweet boy that one, I like him very much, he always visits when he is in the country and his vampires used to do a few chores for me, that is before they were all sadly killed. It was such a shame, he had the prettiest lineage." she poured tea into two cups.
"You already know why we are here, is there anything you can do to help my brother?" Elijah was calmer and respectful of something that he couldn't yet fully understand.
"The older brother always placing his life on hold in trade for the needs of his lost cub." she turned one of the cups upside down anticipating Klaus' move.
He rudely turned his back on her finding it all a waste of time but he didn't go far as she raised her cane and threw Klaus against a wall, when Elijah came for her neck she swung the cane so hard that when she hit him across the face, she snapped his neck.
Klaus was already by her side and ready to kill her but she only had to touch him with the cane to make him kneel in pain.
"Do you know why Kol is so deeply connected to the history of witchcraft in this community? He learned how to respect what he didn't know and he is smart enough to fear a 680 year-old sorceress." she said with black eyes.
Klaus was still recovering from the attack but he wouldn't need much longer to gain full capacity over his powers, she smiled while her eyes returned to normal and rested the cane on the ground, Miss Florence took a steady minute to look at Klaus like she was reading him.
"It can't be easy for a powerful creature like yourself to be stripped off his powers like that but the fact that you are here willingly is very impressive. What you are trying to get back must have great meaning to you."
Klaus didn't answer her but he calmed down although he was still guarded about her ability to help him at all.
Miss Florence walked back to the table and took a small plate that she offered him. "Cookies? I made them today."
Klaus gritted his teeth countering her warm wise smile but then his eyes changed and she wavered a bit, with a single powerful motion he took the cane from her and before her horrified eyes he broke it by using his knee to sever it in half.
As he tossed the broken item to the side he walked to the old witch with a menacing swag. "Perhaps I should have started this charming visit by introducing myself, my name is Klaus Mikaelson and I know my witchcraft enough to know about magical talismans."
Miss Florence jittery smiled, the calm ways were gone. "Kol respects witches, do you stand by the same?"
"You are still breathing." Klaus lowered his chin, the grin that came after that was a perfect devil's smile. "It's more than I have offered the others today."
She bumped into the table as she was backing away slowly from him and had to stop, without her cane she only had a few migraines to spare but those were useless against Klaus. "It can't be reversed because she called upon Madame Leveau and everything you ever did to others is being used against you now. You've left the seed of pain everywhere you went, so now it will all return to you twice as much and the love that you've deprived others from having will be denied to you until you experience your greatest loss yet."
Elijah slowly came to his senses, just in time to catch Klaus killing the woman out of frustration.
She made sure that the intricate way her hair was caught up today was still immaculate as she reached her car, she lingered a few moments by the car window and smiled satisfied with her look, when she was about to reach for the handle she was harshly tackled against the door and looked for her attacker in stun.
Caroline had a smile to greet her with.
"I see…" Genevieve beamed with joy. "So my little spell worked and you are here to grovel."
"I'm here to kill you." Caroline said determined.
"Now that I have the time and that I don't have that fine piece of man to distract me, I actually see how beautiful you are… there's this unique light about you." Genevieve squinted thoughtful.
"I'm spoken for and so is that fine piece of man, the one you tortured for fun." Caroline's eyes turned raging with wrath. "The one you decided to curse and turn against me."
Genevieve smiled with a wicked twist. "This is what it's all about, I do love a good woman to woman talk. Men don't understand us, we have too many emotions and we are such slaves to love that they see it as a weakness but you and I know how it's impossible to be any other way. That's what makes us the true soldiers in any war."
"I knew that it wasn't all in my head, I saw you in that restaurant and you had your witches there, you were all spying on us, waiting for the right timing to strike like snakes."
"I am a princess among my snakes but I do admit that I was envious of your luck, that is until I fixed it."
"Undo what you did to him." Caroline demanded.
"I am a crazy lam." Genevieve laughed demented. "There's not a single sane bone in my body but I was on to something. Without a heart he would be back on full control again, the days when nothing or anyone could actually harm him would return." she took a streak of Caroline's hair between two fingers. "This is painful for you because you can still feel everything but unlike you, this is something he is not used to, the pain is new and unwelcome and if he didn't have to care about you so much, it would all easily go away. That's what I did for Klaus, I made him better."
Caroline snarled furious with the proud smile of the other woman and took Genevieve's hand twisting her wrist backwards and snapping those bones without blinking. "Fix him back."
The witch winced holding on to her broken wrist. "He will go on with his days without feeling anything for you, much like it happens now. Every time that he will look at you, he will feel nothing. No love, no hate, no despise or desire. Nothing but a big void and that memory of what he once felt for you until I took it all away will fade away as well, he has lived longer than the rest of his family so he knows that time takes everything away like the cruel sea covering the sand. There will be nothing left of what you once had with him and I will be here to comfort Klaus… because he will come around to my bed when those urges need to be fed and I will be right there all longing and willing."
Caroline pulled back her anger and the fury boiling her blood and opened her hands stepping away from the woman with a high chin. "Woman to woman? I'm not a vampire now and you are not a witch, we are just two women standing in a parking lot and fighting for the same man." she said with a slow lick of her lips.
Genevieve agreed amused and excited with the new twist.
Out of nowhere Caroline punched Genevieve so hard that the other screamed as her cheekbone throbbed in extreme pain, she staggered before facing Caroline who was waiting fearlessly for a comeback that wasn't coming.
"I will rot in hell before I let another woman take Klaus away from me, I will seduce and conquer the hell out of him, I will make him fall in love with me all over again and you are free to watch it. Thank you." she turned on her heels royally and walked away.
"Ti si dobre doshal." Genevieve said with a crazy smirk before she licked her finger smeared with her own blood.
"Caroline found out something big." Bonnie stormed into the living room while Kol was throwing whiskey at the curtains. "She found out that Gen-wench is Bulgarian and that she is some sort of princess, she went online and found an actual family tree that goes back to Bulgarian royalty."
Kol was mystified. "So far Nik has only accomplished to send the good witches of the Big Easy on a good riddance journey."
"My friend rocks." Bonnie beamed with pride.
Kol lifted the bottle that he was holding and pointed it at Bonnie. "She most definitely does and she has my vote for Queen of the Damned." he narrowed his eyes as one realization hit him abruptly.
"You look struck by the magic lamp." she joked with his serious face.
"It makes sense that the Travelers would obey Gen-wench if she is royalty, they need some sort of guidance among their natural disorder and Supremes are not properly popping up in every corner so that's common sense, do you know what else is commonsensical?"
"No, but you are going to tell me." Bonnie frowned.
Kol parted his arms. "I'll give you a hint, I'm a doppelgänger who has a thing for brothers but I'm the sexy one who loves to wreck havoc."
Bonnie's chin fell.
Kol set the curtain on fire by dropping a candle there. "We need to go back home and regroup, there are too many things happening and I bet that all of it is connected."
She nodded slowly as he neared her. "It's your turn to drive, I'm too shocked to do it."
"Then our next stop is a motel." he informed her neutrally.
Bonnie went after him with a racing heart, damn, she could have used a little more alcohol to loosen up.
Caroline rushed up the staircase happy that his car was in the driveway, it meant that he was home but her bliss disappeared when he showed up holding a duffle bag, she halted on the middle of the stairway. "How did it go?" she asked already with awareness for the answer.
"I couldn't find any witch who was able to reverse it."
Caroline could not get used to the clean way he talked to her, it was so emotion-free and unresponsive that it literally froze her blood. "How is it like for you to look at me right now?" she had a silly sadist need to know.
"The hex is completely overpowering my subconscious and will." he explained without removing all those steps between them.
Extraordinary how she missed something now that she used to hate, still Caroline wasn't one to let go so easily she was the one shortening the space between them, she only stopped when there was a single step keeping them apart. "Is it like being compelled?" she tried establishing a connection to something she was familiar with.
"It works somewhat like that, I know that I don't want to do this and my brain knows it but I still can't stop myself and my bewitched mind is in charge of everything this instant, therefore there is only a blank wall as I look at you."
"We can fight this, you can fight this." She resisted the motion that would make her palm cross his cheek.
He silently looked down from her hopeful eyes. "I will be staying in another house, I need to focus on a way to successfully kill Genevieve and I also need to find Marcel and uncover what they want with my mother's magic talisman. Staying here is distracting for the worst reasons."
She hated being left out more than anything and he knew that, she kept repeating it in her mind, regardless of what happened to him, he knew her. "One lousy witch spews a spell and you give up on us so easily Klaus?"
"I was on my way out Caroline." he reminded her as he started going down the stairs.
She flashed to cut him off and without a word but with rush instead she crashed her lips against his, she moved them so knowingly like it happened so many times between them, he didn't answer her but that didn't bother her now. "I love you and I know that you still feel something for me, a love like ours can't be erased by a stupid spell, don't tell me that it can because I refuse to believe you, I refuse to give up." she framed his neck powerfully between her hands. "If I learned anything from you is to never give up, when we truly want something."
When he dropped the bag, she was hit with a wave of optimism but he easily crushed her conviction by taking her wrists and removing her hands from his face, after a grave inhale he finally spoke in a tone she knew well.
"I can't stay here and look at you because it reminds me of everything we were and that my heart is telling me to let go and to never crave for it again." he was hurt and that was the only thing about him that was transparent, then he took the bag and his expression was hard as steel.
Caroline slumped against the rail wishing she could stop the tears that were coming. "Don't go too far Nik, this is your home…" she spoke in a low voice just as he was about to leave the house. "And you have a girl waiting for you at home."
Klaus looked back but she was going up the stairs and headed for the master bedroom.
"Are you sure that there's nothing I can do to help Klaus?" Bonnie asked as they went up the stairs, she was trying to focus on one problem so that she wouldn't freak out about the other concern consuming her.
"I'm convinced that it's a hard concept to accept but you are not meant to solve every problem that comes along." Kol said stopping in front of the door of the room they were occupying for the night.
Bonnie fought with a smile. "Your family doesn't ask much." her legs were wobbly as they went inside of the motel room.
Kol took his jacket off happy to see a bed, being human meant that sadly he needed sleep and rest like every other trivial man so it was with a happy sigh that he dropped the two small bags they had with clothes and went to check on the bathroom, praying that it was a decent one.
It was only after he returned to the place where the bed was that he realized that Bonnie was still waiting for an answer. "Whatever it is that we can do to help Nik, we won't be doing it tonight and while we are in Laplace. Things just got a tad complex if Genevieve really comes from the original Travelers not to mention the small glitch that she could be tied up to Katherine."
Bonnie agreed with him but mostly because she was too tired to fight with him not to forget as well that she was anxious about the way their night was about to unfold.
Kol took his bag to the bathroom and only came back to leave his phone and keys, Bonnie forgot what she was doing because he was shirtless and she was rapt by the live show.
Unconsciously she checked for drool as he went back to the bathroom unaware of her reaction, Bonnie numbly answered her vibrating phone. "What?" she asked confused.
"You called me." Rebekah answered her.
Bonnie woke from her contemplation. "Yes I did. Where are you?"
Rebekah glanced over to the passenger seat, she also had a very perplexed guest with her. "I just arrived to Mystic Falls."
"That means that Caroline is alone in New Orleans." Bonnie shook her head. "She needs us Bekah, if this story with Klaus turns out impossible to solve we have to be there for her."
"I'm only picking up a few items I left forgotten in here, then I will return to take our blond warrior on a drinking vengeful occasion, for now we have to divide and conquer, unfortunately Gen-wench is working on all sorts of plans at the same time and Nik's little scorned curse is the least of our problems."
"You are scaring me now." Bonnie sat on the bed grimly.
"Timing is everything and while Nik and Elijah try to find a heal for his tight spot, I have to retrieve a necklace that I left in Mystic Falls… how about you?" Rebekah turned the car headed for The Grill.
"I'm returning first thing in the morning but for now, we had to stop for the night." she tried so hard to sound all casual about it.
Rebekah laughed dryly. "You could have mentioned in the beginning of this call that you are planning on having sex with my brother before you rush back to New Orleans to hug Caroline."
"Are you in the woods already? Because I can't hear you properly." Bonnie poorly pretended.
Rebekah didn't even bother reacting as the call brutally ended, she dropped the phone on her lap and smirked hearing the quiet grunt coming from Enzo. "Don't be so grudgy Lourenzo, I wanted the company and I've already established that you don't want to find Damon, so instead of uselessly enjoying the house my brother rented for you, I've decided to give you purpose."
"A dog would have been as charming and efficient." he coldly said.
She laughed. "There is one but long journeys are not good for Klausy besides you are too sexy to be considered a pet Lourenzo."
"No one calls me that Rebekah, so call me Enzo." he was looking around uninterested.
"Someone important used to call you that, she died and that's why you don't like when others use that name." she only needed a few seconds to conclude.
"She was my wife and she was the only one who ever called me by my given name."
Rebekah parked the car and looked at him with sympathy. "How did she die?"
"I killed her after I found her in bed with Damon, I took her heart out while Damon fled out of the continent." Enzo said with a sad smile.
It troubled Rebekah more than the truth radar giving him reason. "Why is Damon still alive?"
Enzo stopped their little walk to the pub and looked at her with honesty. "We can live forever, if I kill him now, what will I do with the rest of my years?"
"What kind of an idiotic revenge plan is that?" Rebekah confronted him with a narrow of her lips.
"Damon is a master ruining his own life. He makes so many mistakes that it became entertaining watching him destroy his life without any help."
She was still not convinced but he had a weak point there. "Are you at least pondering any sort of move against him? He handed you over to my brother without blinking."
"Contrary to Damon, good things just keep on happening to me. I don't even have to do anything and life just keeps on giving. I was leading a lull life in Scotland and now I'm standing in Damon's little town with a gorgeous Original trying to seduce me."
Rebekah settled it right by shaking a finger at him. "It was all a design just to find out if you were lying when you told the story of your life to my brother, the flirt was a plot."
"Don't be so pragmatic Rebekah, I like the sassy face." he coolly took his sunglasses off, going into the bar ahead of her.
Naturally it made her smile and she checked his back as they went inside of the pub, there was no intention of being serious with him, that was a given.
Bonnie stared at the PJ's that she brought for the short trip, she honestly wanted to hurt herself for picking up the boring flannel baggy type and she dropped them on top of the bag refusing to go out of this division looking like a Grandma instead of a sexy kitten ready to have sex.
She stared at the mirror and moved her wet hair from one side to the other, right, if only she was a sexy kitten, on her best days she was a clumsy tiger with a trigger to hurt people with her magic.
"You can do this…" she whispered tucking the towel closer to her chest. "It's not that hard to begin with, on the other side of that door is the hottest guy you ever kissed…" she mumbled searching for anything else to wear.
After much deliberation she finally decided to wear only the top half of her PJ's over the semi-steamy underwear and with bravery she left the bathroom only to halt in astonishment because Kol was sleeping.
Bonnie opened her hands in distress, had she taken too long deciding what to wear?
There was nothing but an unexpected sulk as she neared the bed but soon that turned into a warm smile because Kol looked so adorable when he was sleeping and if Bonnie went back to it in her mind, the last time he actually slept was the night before she was taken by the witches, he had to be exhausted and she had to be nuts because she brushed the side of his face slowly with the back of her hand.
It shouldn't feel as good as it felt but this was better than any of those wild dreams that she had with him, it felt good to actually feel his skin for real and Bonnie went into bed wanting to feel his warmth as well, she snuggled a little closer to him under a sheet that only covered her and just laid there watching him resting on his back and with the most steady and soothing breathing.
She turned her back on him nesting her head on the pillow with a silly smile, he was right, she had to learn how to relax and it was with that thought that she closed her eyes ready to sleep as well but her peace would not come without a disquieting moment.
Kol turned on his side and suddenly she had his arm around her, the weight was something that she wasn't used to and the way he hid his face in the crook of her neck was something that took her breath away but after the first wavering seconds everything fell into place, their hands were touching and he cropped her body closer to him.
It wasn't sex but it still was the most intimate she had ever been with him, with anyone at this point and that was enough to make her blush although she still had the biggest smile as she fell asleep in his arms.
"Dude, what do you mean by pregnant?" Matt asked Jeremy with a loud and appalled reprimand.
Jeremy scolded him and pulled him to a corner behind the counter. "April is not sure yet and I don't really have to explain how it happened, do I?"
"Elena will explain you to exhaustion how it shouldn't have happened." Matt warned him.
Jeremy ran his fingers through his hair. "And I might be expel from school as well, I got into a fight with this guy who was hitting on April."
"I'm calling Elena and we are having a big family meeting tonight." Matt said assertive.
"Wow, back off, dad." Jeremy scorned Matt trying to leave the safe spot at once.
Matt grabbed his shoulder before he did it. "I'm not kidding around Jer, the slacking needs to end because we can't keep forgiving every time you mess up just because you were dead last year."
"I told you about April because you are my friend, if I wanted the guy who is banging my sister to act as a father, I would call Damon." Jeremy hissed.
Matt closed his fist but backed away at the last second because his sense of right and wrong was still somewhat working.
"Uh… the tension is so gripping…" Rebekah smoothly took a stool making them both turn to her. "But I'm with the young Gilbert child on this one plus you should make that call Jeremy, I've got a hottie traveling with me that wants to speak to Damon."
Enzo raised a hand at the two kids. "You have to love small towns, they have the kind of drama that writers only dream about."
"Why are you back here Rebekah?" Matt asked her vulnerable to see her again.
"I need a human for an errand." she easily answered with an honest smile.
Elijah took the bottle away as Klaus prepared to carry on with his heavy drinking. "As much as I empathize with you, I won't be indulgent with this."
Klaus pushed him by plainly laughing. "Have a seat my uptight brother, you seem in need of a drink and a good brawl."
Elijah refused the drink and took Klaus' shoulder with affection. "My brother with the million plans will settle for this apathy?"
Klaus looked up from his glass. "Well I am in a pub full of fresh guiltless souls, I could just drain them." he looked at Elijah carelessly. "How does that sound?"
"Like you need to get your crap together." Elijah shot back fast.
Klaus mockingly gasped. "Elijah! Where are your manners?"
"Where is the determination I saw this morning when you were chasing the witches?"
"On the very bottom of this." Klaus waved his empty glass.
"You went after those witches because you were holding on to something, a memory of what you felt for Caroline, find that will to remember again and latch on to that." Elijah demanded.
Klaus gritted his teeth and tried to stand up but Elijah forced him to stay by gripping his arms tightly and pushing him down on his seat.
"Let go of me Elijah." Klaus asked of him with an intimidating voice.
"Never." The other reminded him.
Klaus quietly growled but Elijah was keeping him motionless.
"Find that one moment you felt truly blessed and honored to have Caroline in your life and we will center our attention around that." Elijah felt him relax in his arms slowly. "I'm not going anywhere Niklaus." he whispered taking the other by stun when he gently messed with Klaus' hair like he used to do when they were humans.
Caroline was stroking Klausy's fur, the little dog was sleeping and she was lying on the huge bed clutching her necklace, the one she inherited from him after one of their passionate nights.
At the time he stated somewhat jokingly that she had earned it, so after fixing the chain he gave her the necklace, it seemed now like it was the only thing she could cling to as the events kept on unbalancing her.
"Honey?" Liz knocked softly on the door.
Caroline turned on the bed surprised to see her. "What are you doing here mom? Have you found Father Kieran yet?"
Liz closed the door behind her and came to the bed. "Kieran is an experienced fighter, he can handle himself. Stefan is still out there looking for him and for Damon but my daughter needs me."
Caroline pressed her lips ready to cry, she fought it with bravery but it all came crumbling down when Liz hugged her. "My heart is breaking mom… I love Klaus so much and I don't know how to help him because he always looked at me like I was…" she pulled away to make a few hand gestures. "Like I was made of gold and precious satin and now I see him fighting to look at me like that but he can't do it… and he is in pain and I can't stand to see him like that."
Liz stroked Caroline's face and cleaned the desperate tears that came down her cheeks, she wanted to quiet the sniffles and ease the pain of her daughter but everyone was standing on quick-sand when it came to something unprecedented like this.
Caroline clasped her hands closed and punched the mattress angry. "Ugh, I hate him! Stupid English Muffin, why did I have to fall in love with the hot bad guy? Why did he have to make me so happy mom?" she fell apart again and started crying. "Why did I take it all for granted mom?"
Liz smiled pulling Caroline to her. "I don't know sweetie but you don't have to go through this alone, I'm here this time." she assured her while she stroked her hair as Caroline laid her head on her lap.
Caroline curled up into a ball and cried with her head nested on a lap she only knew when she was still a little kid but tonight it was the only thing keeping her from disintegrating completely.
Elijah took the tie and opened the fist button of his shirt, the house they were in now was big but dark and visibly abandoned so he understood Klaus' choice of location.
"Are you ready?" Klaus asked him from the other side of the space.
"As I will ever be." Elijah confessed his ill-at ease feeling towards the entire situation but they were here with a task and it was important that for once Klaus had listened to him.
Klaus pulled the Henley up his back and then over his head, he tossed it to the side and then locked the large chains around his wrists tight, yanking them once to make sure that they would hold him down as he knelt.
"It's been 10 centuries with nothing remotely similar so I'm still perplexed that you took my words so factually this time Niklaus." Elijah wished that he had a bottle of something sturdy within his reach.
"Two days ago I was trying to persuade Caroline to move in to his house, I can't feel any of the things I felt when she spoke about being my one true mate at the time, but I remember it Elijah. I remember how I stood on that balcony wondering why I never looked at Caroline that way when it's the only thing that could ever explain why I have reacted so much to Caroline since I've met her."
Elijah eyed his brother, Klaus was ready to do something that would have crossed Elijah's mind as unthinkable. "It possibly explains the illogical jealousy and need to set a turf around her." he really needed that bottle, maybe that would stop him from making silly jokes.
"Lockwood broke his sire bond by shifting countless times on a mountain, once he got hold of that side of him, he was able to go around the sire duty. If I can make that side prevail over the rest I might be able to take back control over my side connected to the feelings I have latent for Caroline."
Elijah was apprehensive. "I know that the only reason you haven't shifted once since the day you broke your curse it's because you couldn't stand the pain of it. Shifting into a wolf requires breaking every single bone in your body and that pain brings too much resemblance to what father did repeatedly to you over the years, that's why you have stayed away from your wolf form although you pursued it for so long."
"I wouldn't expect any less from you Elijah." Klaus felt at peace that Elijah saw him as a worn-out book now.
It was a mist of pride and commendable thoughts that took over Elijah when the first yells erupted from Klaus as his back began to contort and then his face and hands but it was also the beginning of an agonizing night as he had to watch Klaus voluntarily break every bone in his body to complete the transition to a wolf.
And then watch him do it all over again.
Soundtrack:
Stolen dance - Milky Chance
Play with fire - Vance Joy
Spotlight- Mutemath
Peace - O.A.R
Latch - Diogo Piçarra & Cláudio Martins cover
Switchfoot - Yet