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So, not much time to talk today, because I'm already running late for work as it is. xD Anyway, new chapter, with a lot of drama… So bring on your pitchforks, torches, etcetera. I can handle it! :p

I can withstand on my own, I've got control,
But it's nice to have another hand to hold…

Krista Nicole - Dreams

Undoing The Evil

I hastened to the front door, hoping that I was in time to let Bonnie in. That way, I could put her at ease before she would be faced with no less than four Originals. Inconveniently enough, when I reached the door I found out that someone else was already welcoming her in… That someone else being Kol.

"Well hello there, please tell me that you're here to see me." He drawled, looking Bonnie up and down as he royally gestured for her to come in.

I rolled my eyes when I witnessed his lame attempt at flirting with my friend. "She's here to save your ass, but I'm fairly sure that it ends there." I cut in, not giving Bonnie a chance to react to Klaus' annoying younger brother.

His head snapped in my direction, and he feigned a pout. "Pity." He curtly said, shrugging as he departed, leaving me in the gigantic hallway with Bonnie.

"Hey… Thanks for coming." I said, smiling tentatively at her.

"I said I would be here…" She answered quietly.

"Now where have I heard that before?" I muttered sarcastically, reminding her that she had said something very similar earlier today.

"You have to trust me, Caroline." She responded calmly. "I promised no tricks, and I meant it."

"I sure hope you do. I'd rather not find out what it feels like to be tricked by your best friend twice in one day." I bluntly blurted out, unable to help myself.

I noticed how Bonnie's eyes were suddenly growing wider, but I soon grasped that it had little to do with my blunt comment, seeing as I heard his appealing voice echoing down the hallway.

"Bonnie Bennett. How nice of you to come. Hopefully I won't regret letting you into my house." He said briskly as he came to stand at my side, resting his hand on my lower back while his eyes pierced into Bonnie's.

"I made Caroline a promise, I'm not going to break it." She coldly answered, not letting his hostility get to her.

"Let's hope you won't, for my sake and yours." Klaus retorted. "Shall we get to business?"

Bonnie's dark brown eyes searched mine, our gazes connecting for the briefest moment before she refocused on Klaus. "Yes. Let's get it over with…"

-xxx-

Five candles placed in a circle on a small wooden table, a few drops of blood from each of the Mikaelson children in the center of the circle, and an ancient spell book; Everything was set up in Klaus' study. Bonnie was studying the grimoire, and she was being watched by the impatient eyes of four Originals while doing so.

"How long do you suppose this will take?" Rebekah questioned, disdainfully pursing her lips at Bonnie.

Bonnie looked up from the grimoire to fire a scowl at the blonde she-devil, but no vocal reply came with her death glare.

"Patience, Rebekah. I imagine that this will be a lot easier for her if we offer her a chance to concentrate." Elijah was the one reproaching his sister.

"Or we could simply threaten her loved ones. That ought to motivate her." Kol added slickly.

Klaus' forehead was puckered, and he absentmindedly rubbed his temples as he glanced at his bickering siblings.

"As lovely as that sounds, Kol, I suggest we save that for in case she's trying to frame us." His words were aimed at his brother, but his penetrating stare was now directed at Bonnie.

Up until now I had wisely stayed out of the discussion at hand, silently surveying how Bonnie prepared herself to break the spell while being under the watchful eye of four bad-tempered Original vampires… But I knew my friend well enough to sense that the pressure that they were putting on her wasn't helping. At all. They were making it pretty much impossible for her to even focus on the grimoire for longer than two minutes.

"It would help if we gave her some space." I hinted in general from where I was leaning against the smashed mahogany desk that Klaus hadn't yet bothered to move out of the room.

Bonnie said nothing, but shot me a thankful smile. As opposed to Klaus, who sent me a look that was highly skeptical.

Again it was Elijah coming to my rescue; I was slowly starting to understand why Elena had a soft spot for him.

"Precisely. She needs to concentrate. She won't be able to do that with us breathing down her neck. We should give her some room, otherwise this isn't going to work." He stated unyieldingly.

"Fine with me." Rebekah snapped.

She had been standing right in front of Bonnie the whole time, her arms crossed in front of her chest. It was a miracle that she had succeeded at keeping herself from restlessly tapping her foot against the floor while she waited for the magic to happen.

"This is starting to bore me anyway." She muttered, turning on her heels and flicking her long hair over her shoulder as she stalked out of the room.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'd like to see how she works her magic." Kol said, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows, smirking down at Bonnie who was altogether ignoring him.

"Kol." Klaus barked his brother's name, tone irritated. "Leave, please."

Kol narrowed his eyes at him. "Always so set on ruining my fun, aren't you, Nik?"

Klaus didn't even respond to that, at which Kol rolled his eyes in defeat, grouchily rushing after his sister.

Elijah hesitantly moved to the door, tilting his head at Klaus. "Are you coming, Niklaus? I'm sure Caroline doesn't mind staying with her friend…"

"Tempting, but no. I'll leave this room when hell freezes over. Quite frankly, I'd prefer for you to stay around as well." Klaus told his brother.

"I won't be far." Elijah ensured him.

They exchanged a short glimpse, soundlessly communicating something, after which Elijah left the room.

"Nik…" I began cautiously.

"Oh no, not a chance, sweetheart. You can't honestly blame me for wanting to keep an eye on her after she tried to plan my demise." He cut me off in a final tone.

"It's fine." Bonnie called unexpectedly, interrupting our little argument. "Some silence would be very much appreciated though." She added, brow furrowed as she went over the complicated incantation.

"Of course." I agreed right away, slumping back against the desk.

Klaus never stopped pacing the study, but he did refrain from spitting out any more spiteful remarks. Bonnie was still engrossed in the pages of the grimoire, one of her fingers gliding over the old parchment as she tried to make sense of the unlinking spell.

"Alright…" She finally muttered. "I think I'm ready to try…"

Klaus' head flew up at her announcement, and he halted in the middle of the room, his eyes suspiciously monitoring Bonnie.

Her body was slightly shaking as she slowly breathed in and out. A shiver ran up my spine; Somehow the air always seemed to be charged with a strange sort of electricity whenever magic was involved. Bonnie's eyes fluttered closed, and an endless string of foreign words started to fall from her mouth.

"Phasmatos Ex Solves, Exis Pa Unas Animotos. Phasmatos Di Conjunctos, Sol Facto Dos Male…"

Klaus watched her closely as she chanted. I shrugged away from the desk, standing up, nervously wrapping my arms around myself as I too, followed her every move. The light that was projected by the candles glowed brighter now, illuminating the dimly lit study.

"Phasmatos Ex Solves, Exis Pa Unas Animotos, Di Conjuncto…"

She pronounced more unfamiliar words, and I was praying to god that she was using those words to do what we needed her to do, for I had no clue what they meant…

And then my ears registered the muffled noise that was coming from the door that led to the hallway. It opened with a soft 'click'. I half expected Kol to barge in, going against his brother's wishes, but I didn't even get an opportunity to check it out...

Only a second passed as Klaus' face twisted into a mask of horror, but it seemed like an age. Bonnie's chanting faded out as she turned to me as well, her features freezing. It was then that I felt a couple of icy fingers clasp around my upper arm. Not much later, a wooden stake was pressed against my chest, right over the place where my undead heart was supposed to be.

"I suggest you stop whatever it is you're doing, witch… I want you to listen closely to what I have to say. And I recommend for you to do the same, Niklaus."

Esther. The sound of her voice beside my ear raised goose bumps on my skin. Her hold on me tightened, and the wooden object in her hand was scraping against the silk material of the blue dress that her son had bought me. For the second time in one week, I was confronted with that frustrating feeling of not being able to move.

"Mother…" Klaus growled through clenched teeth. "Let her go."

We were all distracted when the door burst open a second time, revealing Elijah and Kol. Rebekah was right behind her brothers. I tried to take advantage of Esther's temporary state of distraction and struggled against her, but I was weakened by that darn spell that she was using on me.

"Mother?" Rebekah uttered in shock.

"Stay right there!" Esther warned her children.

Elijah froze in the doorway, instinctively holding up his arm to keep his younger siblings behind him as he weighed the situation.

"Do not make one wrong move, or I will be forced to kill the girl." She spoke with menace, holding up the stake to empower her threat.

"Leave her out of this! You let her go now, and that's not a request." Klaus was practically snarling at his mother now.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Niklaus." She said stiffly. "Furthermore, I'm not here to negotiate with you."

"Then what is it you want?" He snapped, his blazing blue orbs glaring ferociously at her.

She didn't answer him. Instead she looked to Bonnie, whose eyes were narrowing as the Original witch addressed her. "Bonnie Bennett… Again we cross paths. However you'll find that this time, you will be considerably more willing to work with me, instead of against me."

Esther touched the stake to my chest again, causing Klaus to produce a low growl.

Bonnie swallowed visibly, her lips curving into a grimace.

"You see, I do admire you. You're quite the powerful witch." Esther proceeded. "If only you would use that power for a good cause, instead of messing with nature's balance by siding with evil."

"I'm not siding with anyone." Bonnie corrected surprisingly firm, jutting out her chin.

Esther made a mocking sound. "Well you do now. You will be siding with me, for obvious reasons."

Her chokehold on me became even more suffocating as she said this, causing me to yelp.

Bonnie helplessly looked at me for a long moment, before she reluctantly surrendered. "Fine. What do you want from me?" She asked spikily.

"That's better... You are proving yourself to be a very useful hostage, Caroline Forbes." I heard Esther mumble right next to my ear.

There were over a million snide retorts that I would've loved to hurl at this despicable woman, but I knew that it would only make things worse. Klaus, on the other hand, had more trouble containing his rage.

"I swear if you hurt her, you won't live to tell the tale! I killed you once, I'll gladly do it again!" He hissed at her.

"Save it, Niklaus. You and I both know that you are in no position to threaten me." She tauntingly pointed out.

"Let's all take a moment to think this through, shall we? There are other ways..." Elijah's calm voice held a certain authority, the way it usually did, but it was wasted on Esther.

"I think not, Elijah." She responded dismissively as her eyes went back to Bonnie, who was motionlessly standing beside the grimoire.

Klaus was still determined to have the last word, even though it was pointless. "You will be so very sorry, mother."

She ignored him as she took a step towards Bonnie, roughly pulling me with her. "Now, Bonnie… I've done my research, and I believe that within now and one hour, we will be provided with a white oak stake…"

Bonnie glowered at her. "Damon's coming over here because we plan to call a truce, not start a war."

"Irrelevant. We will be sticking to my plan now... But before Mr. Salvatore arrives with the weapon I need, we will have to ensure that it won't be too difficult for us to put that stake right where it belongs." She briefly glanced back at Klaus.

I could see the struggle behind his cold eyes. He was giving it his all to keep himself from doing something reckless. Like pouncing on his mother.

"The two of us may not be strong enough to eliminate my children, but together, we can put them into a temporary sleep. And once the Salvatores get here, we will make sure that this temporary sleep turns into an eternal one. After all, you didn't manage to break the linking spell yet… It only takes one stake." Esther elaborated, using a tone like she was talking to a five year old as she explained to Bonnie what she was about to do.

"No! You can't do this, mother!" Rebekah exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

"No one should be allowed to live for a thousand years, Rebekah." Esther simply replied, ruefully smiling at her daughter.

I didn't miss the tears that were forming in Rebekah's wide blue eyes. Rebekah, who usually was so tough… But her mother's betrayal was hurting her, immensely so.

"Then perhaps, you should've considered that before you turned us into vampires." Kol spat, resting his hand on his sister's shoulder in a comforting way.

There was a short silence, and I gratefully used it to plead with my friend.

"Don't do it, Bonnie." I choked out, begging her with my eyes. "Don't… Let him die."

"How can you even defend him? How can you defend a creature this evil?" Esther scornfully huffed at me. "I've been watching you, Caroline. You're one to represent the good, not the bad…" She added, seeming genuinely confused.

I groaned as the stake poked through the thin fabric of my dress, scratching my skin. "You of all people have no right to criticize him… You failed to be a decent mother, and you have stopped caring for this so-called evil that is your son a long time ago! As far as I'm concerned, this 'evil' is my responsibility now! And you should just… Step back." I made sure that she could hear the quotation marks as I used the word 'evil'.

Klaus was staring at me, awestruck, his eyes lighting up for everyone to see. And then he did something incredibly stupid. He strode forward, set on attacking the witch that was his mother. She acted immediately… I screamed as the point of the stake broke into my skin. Blood started to drip from the cut, coloring the blue dress a disturbing shade of purple. I gulped as the pain caught up with me.

"No!" He rasped.

"Then step back, Niklaus." Esther commanded.

He bared his fangs at her, but did comply, aversively taking a step backwards. Esther pretended that nothing had happened, her eyes finding Bonnie again.

"Now Bonnie… In order to put an end to all this, we will need a small amount of blood from each of my children… Which conveniently enough, is already taken care of." She said, a hint of smugness lacing her tone. "All we need now, is the right spell."

She nodded at the grimoire, and the pages started flipping without her even touching the book. When it ended, the book was showing a dusty, yellow page filled with words that were rather blurry.

"Read the incantation, Bonnie. I will join you…" Esther instructed. "The power of two witches will suffice to perform the spell."

"No…" I heard myself sputter, the ache in my chest making it hard to think straight, seeing as she was still holding the stake directly against the wound.

My eyes were seeking out his eyes, and they stared back at me in utter terror. The normally sparkling blue was dull and lifeless. My heart nearly broke at the sight. In fact, my aching heart was competing with the ache that the stake was currently causing in my chest. I averted my head, unable to look him in the eye any longer.

"Now, Bonnie!" Esther urged.

Bonnie's lower lip was trembling as she bent over the grimoire. I whimpered as she started chanting.

"Caroline…" Klaus called my name, ignoring how his mother began to replicate the words that Bonnie was humming. "Look at me, sweetheart. I need you to do something for me… I need you to be brave… Can you do that for me?"

My head swayed to one side when I tried to shake it. "No, Nik… Don't say that…" I whispered.

I lazily gazed up into his eyes as the stinging pain in my chest tried to pull me under. The candles were lighting up again, bathing the room in a bright orange. I could hear Bonnie, still chanting. I could hear Esther, chanting with her while still maintaining her steady grasp on me. There were the petrified faces of Elijah, Kol and Rebekah, the three of them frozen at the entrance of the study….

But in the end, all I could do was look at him. His desperate eyes were overflowing with guilt and remorse as they held mine. The candles were flickering violently now, and the chanting grew louder…

The last sight that was effectively etched into my mind before a radiant flash of light blinded me, was the hollow look in Klaus' eyes... And then there was nothing but brightness, shutting out every dreadful aspect of the scenario that I was currently taking part in. Shutting out him. I clenched my jaw, rigidly closing my eyes as tears started to pour out…

Thank you for reading, and don't be afraid to let me know what you think! Hope to see you at the next chapter!