live2write123: *comes out of hiding with her hands in a surrendering stance* h-h-hey ya'll. How's it been? Everyone good? Okay, well VERY long time update, I can't even begin to say how surprised I am to see people still favouriting this story and anything else. I honestly can't understand why but overall I'm very grateful for all of you :) so thank you very much. I love each and every one of you.
Ps. This chapter happens in New York but the next chapter will start off with a few finishing New York scenes before Klaus and Caroline return to Mystic Falls to face off with Papa Original, which is waaay more complicated than anything else. I realize I'm making this turn out to be more of a soap opera than anything else.
Pss. Thanks again for all of the patience and support! I hope this chapter was worth the wait :) but anyway, please review, alert, favourite, comment, and most of all, enjoy this chapter! :D
Chapter Thirty-Six: Win Some, Lose Some
Present Day (Manhattan, New York)
Caroline's mouth dropped open but refused to let out a remotely believable reason to clarify her reasoning to why she was in Ulysses' private office with a suspicious file grasped in between her hand. But Caroline couldn't mistake this voice for another's; she just didn't know where to begin or what words she could use to try to explain herself.
"Acacia." Caroline said, evenly and calmly. "Before you jump to conclusions, allow me to explain myself."
The girl tapped her foot impatiently and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's nothing to explain. I just knew you worked for somebody the minute you walked in. Is it Klaus? It's him, isn't it? I never wanted to believe you would betray my brother after all of the generosity he's shown and given you. Now, we'll get to see you executed the old-fashioned way at dawn for your crimes." She smiled, almost wickedly. "You're no better than him, you know? You'll betray and deceive anyone you want, regardless of their kindness and loyalty towards you. However, I do wonder how your precious Niklaus will be after he witnesses a wooden stake through your cold, dead heart."
Before Caroline could let Acacia twist around on her heel to scurry off and reveal Caroline's disloyalty to Ulysses, Klaus stood in the beautiful ebony-haired woman's way and stood tall to intimidate the baby vampire compared this Original. For the first time, Caroline felt almost relieved to see him here at this party, just in time to save her from her predicted fate. The worst part is he and Caroline both knew alike that she would willingly give her life over to them.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart; I have failed to hear your words specifically. What is it that you wonder from me, Acacia?" His deadly quiet voice asked calmly.
"L-Lord Niklaus, I did not hear you come." She stuttered. "With all due respect, this does not concern you."
"Hmm, I could have sworn that wasn't the question I asked. I am in need of simple and short clarity. But if anyone is going to die tonight, it shall be you." Klaus's hand shot up from his side and it wrapped around Acacia's throat before she could escape from his threatening promise and threatened to use the other hand to rip out her heart. "Now, Caroline. Should I return the favour of pushing a wooden stake through her heart in front an audience, including her beloved brother? Or can you construct with another equally poetic technique of execution? Or perhaps an old-fashioned approach by tying her to a post while the flames of Hell burn at her feet, slowly rising until there are nothing left but ash."
Caroline's eyes widened at the familiar and dangerous glare in his cold eyes as she stepped out of the darkness of the office to interfere. "No, Niklaus! She doesn't deserve to die. She was just simply protecting her brother. I should've been more careful."
"How could you say that? How dare you just let this vile woman, and frankly a waste of vampire space, seal the deal of your death. Caroline, surely you are aware of the fact that she is an old vampire but not as old as you. Physically, as an older vampire that you are, you could have overpowered easily with one hand and fled this place without a superhuman eye to catch you."
"How many times must I repeat myself? I'm not like you. I don't intimidate others younger than me or weaker than me through physical power and age. I'd rather be labeled as a traitor and killed for my betrayal than an executioner for something I shamefully did and got caught in the act of doing."
"Then you are no better than Stefan Salvatore himself. Well, I should say the former Stefan Salvatore, the weak and foolish Stefan. Your guilt and humanity will truly stop you from being as great as your potential. I thought I would have taught you better than that by now." Klaus sighed, impatiently as he turned his attention towards the gasping vampire at his clutch. "I should have seen this coming tonight. She's always felt as though another vampire was her competition, and maybe after she saw you and I dancing earlier tonight, she knew who her competition was and decided to eliminate it, whether or not she had caught you betraying Ulysses. You see, her obsession to have me as her only committed lover has always been and will forever is her downfall."
"Please, just don't kill her. I have the file and I left everything the way it is in his office. Can you please just compel her to forget this conversation so we can leave and go to your precious werewolves already?"
"Will compelling her and sparing her life make you happy?"
Caroline was baffled that he asked her, that it was actually her verdict to whether Acacia lives or not. She nodded quickly. "Yes, very much so."
Klaus nodded once, looking deep into Acacia's wide-eyes and compelling her memory to forget everything that had just happened right now with his soothing accented-voice, telling her to close her eyes and after she opened them, to tell her brother that Klaus had blackmailed Caroline into leaving and returning to the hotel with him. And by the time Acacia confusedly opened her eyes, Klaus and Caroline were already out of the building.
After the two stepped into their hotel room, Caroline angrily removed her expensive heels and dropped them to the floor with a loud clunk before marching her way further into the living room. "Is that how you wanted to make me leave with you? Manipulation? Intimidation? I really shouldn't be surprised anymore, furthermore I should always predict the worst out of you."
He sighed. "Easy, love. How you easily forget that it was you who had prearranged and proposed this new agreement to me."
"It was a win-win situation for the both of us: you get your hybrids either way and I've saved Felix's family from their unforeseen doom. Of course I would propose a substitution."
"Precisely, now if you will hand over this file of yours and allow me to read over the alternative werewolf pack that you have up your sleeve."
She outstretched her hand holding the file towards him and he took it, opening it and began to read it. Caroline watched him walk blindly around her, the fabric of his coat brushing past her shoulder on the way to the couch.
"Help yourself. I'm gonna take a bath and hopefully, forget this night ever happened." She announced, picking up her high-heels on the way to her bedroom and closing the door behind, remembering to lock her bathroom door closed as well. Caroline started to fill the soaker tub with hotel-provided lavender bubble bath and bath salts, lit a few scented candles in the room before she removed the pins from her curly hair until it all showered over her bare shoulders, gently removed her gown, hung it up on a hook on the back of the door, and stepping into the warm and almost-overflowing foamy water. She pampered herself over a bottle of champagne, drinking it directly from the bottle until she felt a vaguely familiar thrill of the expensive alcohol burning deep inside her stomach. Before she got carried away, pitifully drowning herself in her sorrows, and after an hour or so had past, Caroline got out of the tub, drained the water out of it,
She found herself nervously pacing her bedroom floor in front of her bed, dressed in a purple tank-top and matching plaid pajama pants, and unable to fall asleep even after her usual routine to help her to get to sleep. Caroline could easily hear him behind these thin walls; he was in his room next to hers now and was planning a new diabolical ambush on this new Latino but equally innocent werewolf pack. She wanted to help; now after briefly reading on the way to the hotel of the family's suspicion of accused criminal activities that the interdependent family had exhibited over the years of a dangerously illegal agreements and overall dominant organization. They all have innocent blood on their hands, blood from those who were closely watched and murdered for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and Caroline knew all too well that the assassinations delivered from fiercely devoted members of this society weren't all guilty. There was a manipulator, a puppet master pulling the strings behind the curtain so that his skin was always left unsoiled and his reputation with the police had always been left clean. She remembered clans and gangs such as these from her past; rebellious and deceitful and merciless humans that strive off of power and respect and intimidation from those who fear them, She had seen too many criminals narrowly escape from the laws enforced over the years; but not now. Caroline was determined to make sure the people who were tortured, blackmailed and ultimately killed after risking and sacrificing their lives to keep their loved ones safe and alive from murderous killers due to a non-negotiable loyalty and alliance, which their deaths would never be in vain.
Caroline finally summoned the courage to open her bedroom door, to stand in front Klaus's closed ones, take a deep breath before sheepishly knocking on the door until he responded. "Enter." He muttered, absentmindedly and throatily.
She obeyed, opening one of the double doors to see Klaus sitting at the top of his king-sized white canopy bed with documents, pictures, and information scattered out in front of him. He didn't even bother to look up at her from his fixated gaze on what's spread out before him to acknowledge her presence. "How can help you, love? I thought you would have been out of this hotel by now."
"I meant what I said, Niklaus. I told you my determination overpowers my standards once I am fully involved into someone else's business and I plan on executing this desire tomorrow night."
This time, his burning but detached eyes found hers. "How can I be so sure? How can I trust you will be there to pledge your loyalty and participation?"
"You should know this of me by now, Niklaus. When you had attempted to change Ray Sutton's pack into hybrids, I stood by your side because I know how much this means to you and how long you've waited for this day to come true. I stayed with you, despite my judgements and morals towards killing innocent people for another's personal gain."
"A lot has changed since that night, Caroline. Remember that I simply changed my sights on the Dawson family to this pack because we have finally come to a compromise. Without the Santiago family and their crimes in East Harlem, hopefully peace will return to that city and the rest of innocents, which is what you have always persistently desire to provide. I could care less of the humans and the danger they live around."
"For the reason that unlike you, I have an unavoidable moral compass: it is what I have developed since the day I was born. I was taught wrong from right; and I learnt good from evil. Some vampires are born with a consciously human empathetic mind and they fiercely follow their inner thoughts, others have grown to accept their humanity while most defy it and ignore it complete, mistaking it as a weakness. I can never change you, Niklaus. We agree on that much. As easier it would be to do so, it would never be fair. From what you have always told me, you would never try to change me, compel me to be loyal to you and docile. Even during the course of my endless disloyalty and disappointment towards you, you have always forgiven me."
His eyebrows creased together out of confusion to her nervous rambling, but refused to look up at her. "What are you trying to say to me, Caroline?"
Caroline cupped her elbows and dropped her gaze to her bare feet. "In all honesty, I never once gave myself the chance or reason to even try to forget you completely on my own; to somehow move on entirely from the past and to finally start living after nine-hundred-years as a bitter and obsessive ghost."
He stood up from his bed and stood in front of her, gazing severely into her eyes. "Perchance you can begin forgiving yourself before you attempt to forgive anyone else, love. I know you have never forgiven yourself for the way your family had perished; you have always felt as though if only you had never even considered your happiness for the first time in your young life over their plans for an arranged marriage to their only daughter, they would live and survive to the end of their natural deaths. The moment you stepped out of your restricted and programmed lifestyle and future, you have always regretted being selfish to get have you want and putting yourself before anyone else is now unacceptable for you to contemplate. You turned into a vampire to prevent an experience of a miserably empty and typical life and so you have grown to put the safety and happiness of others before your own. It became a habit and now it has become your life."
Caroline took one step back and that was it all took to have her back was pressed against door behind her before regretfully placing her hand in the middle of his broad chest to prevent him from invading anymore personal space. "How could you possibly understand this, Niklaus, more than I could ever recognize about myself? I am to partially blame your attendance in my life for their deaths. Without your siblings and your participation in my human village, a vengeful and ruthless Papa Original wouldn't have terrorized and destroyed what was left of my human life. I wanted to fake my human death in a carriage accident while I was off to ride into the sunset with my arranged husband so that my family and friends could live the rest of their normal lives into retirement and then into their natural deaths. But it was just another pipe dream, wasn't it? To believe that a vampire life could possibly answer all of my problems when it made everything worse."
"No, dear, you have every right to be happy and carefree. Even as a human, you always had that privilege to enjoy freedom and happiness over your own life, Caroline but you were never given the opportunity. Never entirely."
She scoffed while she rolled her eyes. "You're wrong. By your guidelines, I can never be happy unless I am happy with you. You made sure of this tonight. That I can never have a life out of sight of your watchful and overprotective view."
"Let us not argue about this again, love. It's a limitless quarrel neither of us will and can ever win. Currently, I have an ambush to plan and execute tomorrow night that needs my undivided attention."
"Surprisingly, Niklaus, I didn't originally come here to argue with you. I wanted to offer my assistance, if I can be in any help towards your plan."
His eyes only narrowed suspiciously while he released a scoff of air. "Now why should I jeopardize everything just so you can feel good about involving yourself into my plans to kill over twenty werewolves?"
"For once, believe me when I saw these words to you. Instead of trying to tell you what to do or how to come up with a compromise to somehow satisfy the both of us, I'm going to agree and obey with your every rule to accomplish this plan. I will be your loyal accomplice, rather than my normally disloyal and indifferent self. If you do not believe me, compel the truth out of me. You are fully aware of this drill, and yet you have never used this drastic measure."
Klaus sighed, almost defeated as turned away and returned to sit on his bed. "Fine, however if we are going to do this, all I want you to do is to listen to every word I tell you and do what I say and you're only response will be yes or the city of East Harlem will be painted in red. Is that understood?"
Caroline nodded, slowly walking to the end of the bed. "Crystal clear, Niklaus." He looked up at her hesitantly and unsure of how to explain his ambush, but he had to at least try to trust her on this. He already could see a familiar determination and passion in her eyes, the same determination and passion he felt every day when a new opportunity of more successful and loyal hybrids. He just had to trust her… or there wouldn't have been a point in forcing her against her will to come here with him in the first place.
The following morning, Klaus was patiently waiting outside the change room of a small gothic store down the street from their hotel as Caroline changed into the outfit the clerk picked out for her to wear. Basically, tonight she was to go to the Santiago bar around three this afternoon to distract the pack of werewolves while Klaus would have a nice little chat with their alpha, the owner of the bar and the Santiago empire, in the backroom to come up with a compromise.
"Are you almost done, Caroline? We still have a hair and makeup bookings to be present at in less than an hour."
"Yes, Niklaus, I'm almost dressed. But just promise me you won't laugh."
Klaus rolled his eyes and stifled a laugh at the thought of Caroline's confessing her inner insecurities as if she actually cared what he thought. "No, I give you my word that I will not, under any circumstances laugh at—
Just as he was about to finish his sentence, she pushed aside the curtain and stepped out into the opening. She wore a pair of thigh-high red leather platinum boots, a pair of skin-tight studded high-waist black denim shorts with black fishnet stockings underneath and a strapless red corset top with a sweetheart neckline and black lace trim tucked into the shorts. He was practically undressing her with his eyes, watching her under his lustful and widened dark eyes. She blushed, feeling insecure as she wrapped her arms over her cleavage line and bust before her top completely fell off.
"Um, you wouldn't mind tying up the laces, would you?"
He visibly slightly shook his head out of his trance and cleared his throat. "Why? Do you think I am an expert with past experiences in this particular task, love?" Her eyes widened up at him and before he could catch a blush slowly reddening her face, she looked down at their feet. "Turn around." Klaus whispered and she did, feeling her top tighten around her upper body as he took his time tugging the laces together and eventually tying it into a bow at the top. His hands cupped her bare shoulders while he closed the space in between them and his nose nuzzled into her hair until his lips were next into her ear. "Sorry, love, if the results do not suit your fancy. I'm truly an expert in undressing a woman."
"Never mind, Niklaus, will this outfit please and distract your rabid dogs in the meantime?"
"Ah, yes. I will not linger this discussion with the alpha once he and I are out of sight. And during so, his pack will drool over how ravishing you look and I refuse to allow not even one of these werewolves to lay one hand on you. I give you my word."
She shrugged, brushing off his sincerity and taking her possible death rather lightly. "And if you cannot keep your promise, I will most certainly die tonight a slow and painful death by the lethal werewolf bites."
"Do you truly believe I would allow that to happen to you? And even if you were to be bitten, I would heal you instantly before you were to ever hallucinate and suffer."
"Let's face it, Niklaus. You're obsession for a hybrid army is a desperate and urgent attempt to protect yourself from your vengefully raging father. Not even my safety could come between you and having your way, a dream that has existed long before I ever did."
"This will be different, love. This was your idea to become involved with my plan, even after I had released you from my imprisonment. But that is simply who you have always been, determined and selfless. Heed my words carefully, Caroline. No harm will ever come to you tonight."
Caroline eventually nodded, capturing the honesty and promise in his eyes.
He smiled as his dimples in his cheeks surfaced while doing so. "Now, if you please change out of those clothes before we are indeed late for your other appointments." Klaus cocked an eyebrow, seducing features crossing his face. "Do you wish for me to reveal my expertise in undressing, sweetheart?"
She gasped while her entire face quickly inflamed as bright as her new red boots, stomping into her dressing room and yanking the curtain closed. "Go to hell, Nik!" Caroline yelled, causing him to erupt into a throaty fit of rumbling laughter.
By the time they were finished with her separate appointments, it was already mid-afternoon and Caroline was fully dressed into her outfit of the night. A makeup artist across the street from the salon had shaded her eyeshadow to a dark and smoky color with a hint of a maroon hue to bring out her green eyes while her lips were as red as blood and her thin-layer of foundation makeup on her face gave her a certain glow. Caroline barely recognized herself now staring back at her, apart from her erotic dancer days and lessons with Katerina way back when. Just as she ran her fingertips over the smooth material of her outfit, a soft knock on her door interrupted her silent observation of herself.
"Caroline, if we don't leave now, we'll be too late." He murmured, persistently.
She rolled her eyes, thanking to someone higher above that a door was blocking him from catching her annoyed expression. "I'm coming." Caroline muttered, opening the door to see Klaus standing directly in the doorway as if his entire body was pressed up against the door when it was closed. She instinctively took a tiny step backwards, already dreading the close but brief proximity between the two of them.
Catching her breath, she licked her dried lips and looked him in the eyes while his took their time slowly observing her outfit and appearance all over again. "Okay, if your eyes would be so kind and return to their sockets, can we go and get this over with before I regret it more than I already do?"
He smirked his signature Cheshire smile and stepped aside, graciously and politely extended his hand out sideways in a 'you first' gesture. "But of course. Let us be off."
She sighed, walking around him before walking to the door, listening to her heels clack against the floor on the way and Klaus closely followed her out of the hotel building and into his Lincoln Navigator for an agonizingly extensive car ride to their location.
"You still have time to withdraw yourself from this plan." His voice silenced out the murmuring music from the radio, almost halfway to their location.
"I already told you numerous times, Niklaus. I cannot. If I can be of any service to the cause, then I accept. And besides, I need to make sure from my own eyes that you only turn these werewolves into your next group of loyal soldiers. Not another East Harlem human will suffer another terrorizing threat and death from the hands of evil."
"Does this make me evil?"
Caroline turned to look at him, the silence settling around them as she took this time to find an answer. "No, I don't think you're an evil individual. Not entirely. I just know you are fully capable of doing evil things, unforgivable and terrible things that can never be truly forgotten."
"That is… quite the accurate description."
"You're not the only one that knows someone from the inside out. I know more about you more than you think I do."
"Believe me, love, I'm completely aware of that fact. It's unavoidable and undeniable at this point, is it not? After centuries, should we not admit the denied and avoided evident truth?"
"I truly wish it was that simple, Niklaus. But it's not, it never was. Sure, it could have been years before you and I ever crossed paths, however now is different and I cannot ignore the fact that it's different now. Neither of us can change the past, the decisions and actions we made on our own can never be forgotten. For what it's worth, I am sorry."
He gave her a smile, the most genuinely nonchalant and Caroline would have believed it with complete reassurance if only it met his eyes. But it didn't. "As am I." He murmured before turning his head back to face the road.
After they had parked the car across the street from the bar, Caroline's eyes were focussed in on the vague, shady and unsafe building where there were very high possibilities that any woman her age, if she were human, bad things could happen to her. And in this moment, she knew it was too late to back out but what startled her the most was that she didn't want to. She wanted to help him, beyond the point of assisting Klaus to remove a gang of lowlife drug dealers from this earth. Caroline knew she wanted to be here, helping and working side by side with who she used to look at as her one true love.
During her observation of the bar and while she was deep in thought, Klaus watched her every facial expression, expecting her to call her involvement in this off and demand to stay in the car while he fulfilled his persistent dream by inflicting fear and collecting fellow werewolves as hostages. It was either his way or death – nothing else could be negotiated.
"Are you sure you wish to go through with this, love?"
"Yes, and if you keep asking me, I'll lie and back out."
"Fine, I will not try to stop you from this point on. Are you ready?"
"It's now or never."
"Okay, I'll give you twenty minutes before I walk in. Work your magic and stay safe."
"I will. I've made this far into this life, haven't I?" She threw him a smile, a comforting smile that told him that she was a big girl and she can hold her own head on her shoulders. Caroline stepped out of his car, strutted her way across the street and disappeared into the bar. Stepping inside, her first impression and instincts only worsened. In this moment, she honestly felt as though she was as innocent and vulnerable and reckless as a typical human her age because she knew the most crucial part she had to execute was to appear as though she's a normal human, looking for an easy and quick way to get a job by showing off her… most visibly appealing features.
Caroline knew the attention she received the minute she stepped inside, everyone dressed in dark clothes and even though it was just past dinnertime, almost everyone here were already halfway to getting intoxicated while sexed-lyric songs filled in the background. She walked to the bar, casually leaning her elbows against the bar and pushing her bottom out for the whoevers were standing behind her to capture their attention and lust after her more. Caroline ordered herself the most expensive martini concoction and waited, she licked her lips voluntarily and her eyes slowly scanned the crowd around her.
Someone stood out to her the most than anyone else for some undiscovered reason, which had appeared to be the most sober, normal and civil. He was tall with a stocky build, broad-shoulders, defined bone structure, and a clean shaven face. He had to be in his late twenties to early thirties, with short black hair that was styled professionally and from where Caroline stood, his eyes were a brilliant ice blue. The man wearing a dark grey dress shirt that had been unbuttoned by the first three buttons of his shirt, a pair of black trousers and shiny dress shoes. He had a leather briefcase and his matching black blazer to his pants positioned in the bar seat next to him.
She decided to continue to stare at him until he would notice her. Caroline was confused, he appeared to be a successful business man who had finished another tiring 9-5 shift at his office and now was catching a quick beer before going home for the night. But why was a man this out of place in a dump like this? Caroline's original plan worked, after taking another gulp of beer his eyes found hers. His eyebrow twitch slightly, suddenly intrigued and he stared her curvaceously revealing body before signalling her to join him with a slight jerk of his head. She gladly finished the rest of her grey goose martini, paid for it and made her way to where the man was.
"Hello." She said, pleasantly.
"Hey there."
"Buy me a beer?"
"I will if you tell me your name."
"Carrie. My name is Carrie Foster. And yours?"
"Alec Davis." He offered her his hand and due to the untainted intentions in his eyes, she shook it before he had turned to the bartender and ordered another round for beer. "So tell me, Carrie, what brings you here on this evening?"
"A job application, actually. I was hired the other day to be this place's next bar singer."
"It's not my intention to offend you, Carrie. But I'd say you are selling yourself short regarding your next job. How old are you?" He said, opening the cold beer for her and giving it to her.
She smirked mischievously, taking a sip of the beer. "You first."
"I'm thirty-one."
"Twenty-five."
He took in a gulp. "See? Shouldn't you be aiming to strive for a more stable job opposed to an unpredictable occupation as a bartender here?"
"Considering I'm on my own now after I had dropped out of college, I'd say I'm aiming higher than I ever thought I would be. At least I'm not prostituting myself as a cheap and desperate alternative to get food and have a roof over my head."
He appeared slightly embarrassed and shocked at the same time. "Oh… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to pry; I just didn't think you were living on your own completely."
Caroline shrugged. "My parents essentially disowned me when they discovered I didn't want to go to school to be a lawyer. I want follow my own path and make my mistakes. And they didn't accept it so I moved out four years ago and started living on my own. No, it's not a walk in the park but at least I'm on my own two feet and I'll get to where I want to be soon enough, it'll just take time and hard work."
"I admire you for your mindset, Carrie. I know how you feel, the loneliness and fear you feel constantly. Never knowing whether or not you had made the right decision and the risk of dishonoring your parents in the process of gaining your freedom. I left my strict and demanding family in order to escape their high expectations of me. Unfortunately, during the choice of moving away and out of my family's household, I left behind family members I never wanted to desert. Due to my decisions I made all those years ago, I don't regret anything – but I still hope for a relationship with my siblings. One day."
"Hope is good, it gives us a reason to fight another day of agony and solitude and regret to expect and wish for everything to finally fall into place again, for everything to be complete as a whole once again."
He smiled a white-toothy grin. "Exactly my point."
Suddenly the booming, seductive music was turned down and the bartender had stepped onto the bar counter with a microphone in his hand. "Hey guys, I'm looking for a new employee starting her first night here. Is there a Carrie?"
Caroline finished the rest of her beer, chugging down its cheap contents while her eyes were locked with Alec's. She raised her hand, allowing the bartender to hoist her up next to him before she whispered the song she'd be singing into his ear. He nodded, handing her the microphone and hopping off the bar counter.
"How's it going everyone? Enjoy yourselves tonight, I sure am." Caroline said, watching the lights dimming and listening to the beginning of "What the hell?" by: Avril Lavigne began to play in the background. Throughout the song, slowly pacing the counter back and forth she watched Klaus enter the bar unnoticed from the corner of her eye before slipping into the backroom that was only supposed for the employees to use. By the time she had finished her song, the crowd roared and wolf-whistled her performance.
After she was seated again in her chair, Caroline was given another drink and an approving smirk from her new drinking buddy. She almost regretted what was about to going on behind the 'Employees Only' door and the catastrophe that was about to happen. But she knew she couldn't back out now.
"Wow," Alec said admiringly, "a woman of many talents."
Caroline through her head back, laughing. "Please, I just went to too many Karaoke bars over the years."
He nodded. "Either way, I like what I see."
Suddenly, five minutes had past and she didn't need to look over her shoulder to see that Klaus had re-entered the bar from the back. She could feel him, his presence, his fragrance from this distance, his domineering stance. But the music was turned off immediately and everyone's attention was turned towards him.
Now Caroline met his eyes, he stood holding the bar owner by clutching onto the back of his neck, a freshly bleeding and open bite-mark on the side of his throat while the corners of Klaus's mouth had traces of his blood before he tossed the man to his knees. "Good evening everyone, you may have heard of me. My reputation and quest has become quite the gossip. My name is Niklaus Mikaelson."
The crowd murmured amongst each other, a few worried gasps as everyone's eyes were widened and their postures were stiff with tension, already expecting the worst. "It's the Hybrid." Caroline heard someone muttered, frantically.
"Correct. I am the Hybrid. And bearing in mind that you all know who I am, you all must be aware of what I'm here for. I demand to make more of me. You see, the owner of this bar was courteous enough to given me the authorization to follow through with my plan. Now, whoever is lycanthrope, I ask you to step forward, before this needs to get anymore bloodier."
After no one had stepped forward, frozen in fear of the almighty hybrid standing in front of them, he shook his head disappointedly. "I would rather not resort to drastic measures, everyone. No one has to get hurt by my hands as long as you remain obedient and loyal to me. Imagine a werewolf life, the curse you have been slaved to the moon on a night once a month, without the pain and suffering of every bone in your body to shift into an uncontrollable, rabid wolf. As a Hybrid, I have the power and control the shifting whether or not I wish to turn. I will grant you freedom from this curse, all you have to do is hand yourself willingly over to me."
To Caroline surprise, Alec stepped forward. He walked through the crowd, gently pushing people aside to stand in front.
"Excellent, we have a volunteer. What's your name?"
"Alec Davis."
"You're lying. I can hear your heart race. If you are to pledge your loyalty to me, you must be honest and present the truth."
"I didn't step forward to hand myself and my fate over to you. I'd rather die than become one of you, apart your personal army of slaves. I have family and friends to live for and I'd rather break every bone in my body repeatedly than to kneel at your feet, constantly under your dictatorship."
"Considering I cannot kill you, which normally I do not hesitate to accomplish, but your kind is very rare to come by nowadays and I've come a long way to fulfil my operation." Klaus turned towards the man kneeling next to him. "Now, I wanted to attempt to do this the civil and humane way but as always, it never turns out that way. You're the Alpha, the leader, the king correct? We all know you hold the power over this pack, but unfortunately, I want that power to hold over these werewolves. I need all of you to submit to me."
Before her eyes and everyone else's, the man who held power and control and authority over the werewolves mixed into crowd of a few humans, had Klaus's hand plunged into his chest before his heart was slowly squeezed until it popped like a balloon. It was torn from his chest, what was left of it and the pieces were spattered against the bar floor.
"Now, I'm going to ask again. Who would like to be the first volunteer?" Klaus asked, licking the blood off of his hands before turning to Alec. "How about you, Spartacus? I can assure you that immortality has its perks."
As the hours passed, Caroline sat on the bar counter and watched ahead after her assistance was no longer needed. She chugged back an old bottle of tequila, enjoying the stinging burn she received with every gulp. Caroline couldn't deny it, she hated what she was watching but she knew she had to grasp the fact that in the first place, she had volunteered her assistance and was determined to remain helpful and loyal with this plan, even after he gave her opportunities to escape. While the werewolves were dead on the floor with the blood of the human doppelganger in their systems, Caroline made sure the ten humans were quiet and at peace from what was going to come next.
Klaus laughed victoriously, throwing his head back while blood spilt from the corner of his lips and his beautifully terrifying golden hybrid eyes glowing as the last werewolf dropped dead with Elena's blood in her system. His eyes returned to normal by the time they found Caroline and he strutted proudly towards her.
"My father will never know what hit him." He chuckled. "I have my army, Caroline. Father will never touch me. I will be safe."
She offered him a smile, but it almost appeared sorrowful to Klaus's perception. "I'm glad everything's turning out the way you wanted it to, Niklaus."
"Do you regret helping me, love? I understand if you do, many casualties have suffered this night."
"No, even for your own gain, you're giving them a life without the pain of breaking every bone in their body to shift into a werewolf. I suppose it is a win-win."
"I must ask you a question, Caroline. When we return to Mystic Falls, I need to know what side you will be standing on. Mine or theirs. You cannot stand on both sides anymore, one foot in and the other out. It is not fair to your friends and it's not fair to me."
"I know, I know I do. It's all I've been thinking about these past few days. What I fear the most is if I chose one, I'll lose the other and I don't know how I can handle any of the concluding result. But rest assured, I will make my decision by the time we return."
"Good and I promise I will not persuade or resent your final decision. After you chose your friends and I terminate my father, I will leave Mystic Falls as you've always wished. Perhaps gather more blood from the doppelganger before I depart."
"What makes you think I'm going to pick my friends, Niklaus?"
"Let's face it, love. I never stood a chance against them. I've seen you choose your friends, your close-knit family, over me. Nonetheless I never could blame you for doing so every time, I destroy everything I hold close and I push away the one person I never wanted to intimidate or oppose to. But as you said, it is too late to try anew with us and I accept that fact now. Isn't that what you always wanted?"
Her eyes became sad at the revelation of the sad truth in his eyes. "Klaus…"
"No, none of that, for this evening is an utter success. There is no room for despair. And I have you to thank for this triumph."
Caroline barely smiled. "You're welcome."
The sound of the newly transformed werewolves waking up tore the former lovers from their discussion and Klaus's elatedly grin from ear to ear appeared again, his dimples surfacing as well as Caroline's smile grew and she watched him walk to Alec, who was the first to reawaken. He knelt down next to the gasping and coughing hybrid.
"Ah, there you are mate. How do you feel?" Klaus asked.
"What'd you think? I feel like I just came back from the dead." Alec snapped.
He nodded. "Good, that's normal in this situation. But to prove to me that you possess the useful sire bond, I want you to tell me the ultimate truth. What is your actual name? It appears to me that you've been running away from a past you never wish to revisit."
"Now why would I tell you anything you ask from me?"
"Simply because I would rather not force this information out of you."
"Fine, if you must know, my birth name is Adam Dawson."
Caroline gasped heavily, the smile off her face no longer there as her memory travelled back to a time where she heard the same name before.
"If you don't mind me asking, what does it say on your necklace? I've been trying to figure it out for a while now."
Felix looked down at his necklace and fingered the dog tags before looking back up at her. "Well, since I didn't follow my family's rules, I had myself emancipated after I graduated high school and began living on my own. I wanted to be as far away from them as possible, but I couldn't leave my little sister behind, so I still continue to visit her regularly. As for the necklaces, I had an older brother, Adam, who joined the military to escape from my controlling parents. He was eighteen when he signed up for it, and I was sixteen at the time, but he was killed in action by the time he was twenty-five. I have his name engraved on it with the year he was born in and the year he died…"
No… it couldn't be happening. This couldn't be Felix's dead, 'not-so-dead', older brother. It just wasn't possible.
live2write123: DUN DUN DUHHHHH! :O what an amazingly terrible way to return to this story. ANOTHER damn cliffhanger?! Sorry guys, but hopefully it won't takes me as long as to update as it has in the past few months. So yeah, Caroline participated in turning a bunch of werewolves into hybrids, little did she know that Felix's brother was alive all this time and now is a hybrid, the one thing Felix detests. I wonder how he's gonna react when they get back to the Mystic Falls ^.- :P anyway, once again, VERY sorry for the delay but I'm looking forward to updating the next chapter! :)
ps. "Alec Davis" aka Adam Dawson is portrayed by Tom Welling because him and Adam Gregory (the actor that portrays Felix's character) both have black hair and blue eyes :) which happen to be Dawson trait marks.