Chapter 4
Bonnie and Caroline walked into the Mystic Grill after saying their goodbyes to their friends, deciding to grab a bite to eat away from the rowdiness that was a small-town high school party. They left before anyone in the woods had heard Vicky Donovan scream or when Jeremy Gilbert found her before she passed out. The two friends, unknowing of the chaos that happened after they left, took their seats in a booth, quickly ordering their usuals.
"I can't believe you didn't tell Elena or I about the Mikaelson's," Bonnie admonished her friend with a teasing smile. "Are you and Kol?"
The mix of laughter and alcohol that Caroline burst out hit Bonnie in the face as the blonde leaned over, gasping for air. Bonnie watched as her friend's blue eyes twinkled in amusement; Bonnie wiped the tiny bit of spit away from her face with a smile.
"So Kol is not your pen-pal," Bonnie guessed.
"What makes you think my pen-pal and I are anything more than friends?" Caroline asked curiously, for once feeling a happy lightheartedness as she talked with Bonnie. It had been forever since she really hung out with either of her best friends. Elena living with her did not count, for Elena barely looked up from her journal the entire time.
"Oh please," Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Don't think I haven't noticed how secretive you've been over this guy. I take it he is an older sibling?"
"He's the middle siblings of the whole lot," Caroline admitted. "We only recently even began dating. The whole long-distance thing was a turn-off."
"You spent an entire year writing to a guy you met while visiting your dad" Bonnie shook her head. "I can't believe your parents allowed that."
"Dad is begrudgingly accepting." What Caroline didn't mention was that she was almost a hundred percent sure that her father knew about vampires. Nik must have said something to him because Bill Forbes did not ground her or try to keep her away from him. In fact, Bill Forbes simply told Caroline that until she was sure that perhaps it would be best if Liz continued thinking they were just pen-pals. Caroline decided that since she had never seen her father hurt in any way that whatever tool Nik chose to convince her father was his business.
"Care, you are dating an older guy!" Bonnie laughed. " I can't believe you kept this a secret for so long! You would have sniffed this out of me ages ago. Spill Caroline!"
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything!"
"His name is Nik" Caroline decided to shorten his name, knowing that he was known by Klaus in the supernatural world. "We met at the Art Gallery that Stephan got me to practically run. They were absolutely horrible at it. Do they not host events in big cities? I thought that was the real draw to them!"
"Caroline," Bonnie called back, reminding her of the conversation. Smiling sheepishly, Caroline started regaling her dear friend with the story of how they went. Unknowingly a dark-haired young gentleman stepped into the Mystic Grill, walking up to the bar ordering a drink with a wave, glancing over at the various occupants searching for his next prey.
"Right! Where was I?" Caroline babbled on all of her attention on her childhood friend. Bonne leaned in as the blonde described her first date with this Nik. Bonnie laughed as Caroline told the way he single-handedly complimented her at the same time dismissing the waitress after the two left the art exhibit.
"He sounds a lot like you," Bonnie remarked with a grin. "A strong-willed person capable of biting remarks that leave most people unsure of what just happened."
"Bonnie!" Caroline shrieked, blushing. "I do not do that!"
Bonnie snorts as the Mystic Grill's door opened to two familiar faces searching the bar looking relieved at spotting Caroline nestled next to Bonnie. The male of the pair gently took the blonde's arm leading his sister to the bar, whispering, "Let them be. We can use this time to get more information that Caroline is less likely to share with us."
The blonde hummed in agreement nodding towards the bartender, her eyes flashing as the man forgot to ask for identification. They watched as Caroline share her past two summers in somewhat surprising detail. Except for any mentions of their brother in the bedroom, to which Kol was eternally grateful.
"Caroline doesn't look like the one for any tact," Rebekah smirked over at her brother as Caroline glossed over how she met the two of them. "She reeked of him. Our dearest brother was ravenous with her. I can't believe he managed to stay celibate for so long."
Kol shushed Rebekah, "Do you really want to discuss our brothers' sexual adventures?"
Rebekah shivered, "God no. It's just amusing watching Caroline dance around the fact she was sleeping with our brother minutes before she found us." From the corner of her eye, the blonde watched as a dark-haired man, clearly a vampire based on the large ring on his finger with a familiar stone.
"Kol," Rebekah hissed, slapping her brother on the arm.
Damon watched the young blonde talking with Emily's descendent; he could tell a Bennett witch a mile away. She looked up as she was talking and blushed when he smirked at her, then she turned her gaze away with a frown. This made Damon scowl taking a sip of his bourbon; who did she think she was? She was blushing first! All he did was smile at her; Damon scoffed perhaps she was more of a goodie-goodie than he initially sniffed out.
Once the Bennett descendent left, Damon decided to strike, walking up the blonde. "Hey there," He greeted with a shit-eating grin. Intent on his prey, the vampire, didn't notice the glint in the eyes of a pair of siblings.
XXX
Caroline looked across the table from Niklaus at the ice cream shop downtown. She had just found out the truth about his family- what they were the night previously. After a dressing down in front of his siblings and a promise that she would meet him here the next afternoon, Klaus let her go. She wore green shorts and a white tank top with a long-sleeved light, thin jacket on top, looking down at her vanilla ice cream, avoiding his gaze.
"Sweetheart," Klaus's voice rumbled low in his throat. "I would appreciate it if you would look at me when we talked." Recalling with perfect memory how once Caroline was safely outside of the home, his siblings had raged at him. As always acting as the meditator, Elijah, the man of reason despite throwing his irritating I-told-you-so, glances over at his younger brother.
"Do we have anything to talk about? You lied to me for a year. AN ENTIRE YEAR!" Her blue eyes turned glacier looking him straight in the eye. Caroline's fury caused Klaus to subtly readjust himself, the thought of her fury doing delightful things to him. How he wished he could pull her closer to him and show her just what her anger did to him.
Yet those icy blue eyes would not be denied, "I wanted to protect you from what I was. What we were for as long as possible. Why destroy your world unless it was necessary?" She would have never felt safe in the world again. Caroline Forbes was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary world. He feared what knowledge of the supernatural would do to her spark.
"Destroy my world?" Caroline asked skeptically.
Klaus chuckled, "now, is that the first question you want to ask? Darling, have you felt safe since finding out about what I am? That sense of safety, I wanted to preserve it. I never wanted you to have to live in fear."
"Instead, you lied," Caroline frowned. "You didn't trust me to keep your secret safe."
"In my defense, the first chance you got. You did unleash my siblings who, by all accounts, have multiple reasons to hate me," Klaus said sarcastically.
"Attacking your siblings is rude!" Caroline slammed her hand against the table, glowering at the man before her. "Fighting with your siblings should not mean stabbing them in the heart literally."
"Differences in our upbringing, Sweetheart" Klaus shrugged his shoulders, crossing his arms. His eyes darkened as Klaus looked her over, trying to gauge how well she would be able to handle the truth. She knew about vampires, that his vampire were vampires and that a stake in the heart could not kill his siblings.
"Tell me about your upbringing," Caroline demanded, leaning forward in a whisper her vanilla ice cream long forgotten. "Help me understand."
Klaus stayed quiet for a moment, knowing that now that she had some knowledge that Caroline would at the very least need to know a little bit more. For example, how to harm lesser vampires, what to look out for at the very least give her an edge even if she refused contact with them after this. Klaus felt his heart clench at the thought of Caroline walking away from him now; he spent a year working on her trust, her confidence building her up to be the queen he saw.
"Our family's story started over a thousand years ago, love," He whispered low enough that only Caroline could hear. Leaning into her, gently grasping for her hand, grinning when the blonde didn't immediately pull away. "It starts in your little hometown."
Caroline gasped, "Mystic Falls?"
"The lands had no name at the time. The world only was beginning to find new lands to explore at the time. We were of Scandinavian descent, and you'd had been taught to think of us as-"Klaus was interrupted by Caroline.
"Vikings," She whispered.
Klaus grinned, kissing her palm, "Yes, Vikings. My father was a fierce warrior, and my mother was once a part of a village he had raided. My father's tribe took the survivors in as servants, wives, almost anything in truth, but my mother held a secret. She could practice magic."
"A witch?" Caroline mumbled, "Like Bonnie's grams?"
Klaus chuckled, "If they come from a long line of witches possibly. They are rather secretive out of necessity." To be truthful, he had one of his many minions do some research on the inhabitants of her little town. The powerful Bennett line was still around, leaving Klaus to believe his little love had befriended a powerful witch in the making.
"You were once human then?" Caroline asked, looking him in the eyes, subconsciously licking her lower lip. It took all of his self-control not to lean in and take a bite.
"Yes. My mother and father had multiple children survive infancy. There was Finn the oldest, Elijah, Myself, Kol, Rebekah then finally the youngest Henrik."
Caroline didn't respond, knowing that she had not met or heard about Henrik until now. Knowing about the era in which he was human, Caroline could only guess what happened to Henrik.
"My parents had known loss before, and we had an elder sister Freya; her death was what encourage our family to move to the new world where my younger siblings and I were born" Klaus let out a sigh pressing his lips against her hand once more. "We lived in a rather peaceful village, but we had a neighboring tribe that turned into wolves on the full time."
"You mean werewolves exist?" Caroline's voice went up an octave, earning a low, darkly chuckle from her boyfriend, lover, friend? Ulgh Caroline hated the fact she couldn't define what they were at this exact moment. From the way he never let go of her hand, Caroline suspected that he wouldn't relinquish the title of boyfriend so easily.
Did she want him to?
Shaking her head Caroline turned back into his story, "The wolves were peaceful; you must understand at the time magic was something to be believed, not skeptical of. It was an ability that brought fear to people, even my father, who urged her to hide her magic despite marrying a powerful witch. When it was apparent that Kol had the gift, not Rebekah, our father scolded her for attempting to teach him."
"So not only was magic something to be fearful of, only women were allowed to do it?" Caroline sniffed, thinking about the young man who she had met last night. She recalled the way Bonnie's grandmother talked about magic, how reverent she was. Did Kol feel the same way? While the boy was grandiose and full of confidence, it also felt like he was in pain, as if he kept moving so quickly as if he was in search of something he lost.
"The Vikings were many things, Sweetheart. In many ways, they could be seen as progressive, but our father was decidedly not in this. He feared what being capable of magic could do to his children. He reluctantly allowed our mother to make a friendship with a known witch, Ayana."
"Your father deserves a punch in his groin," Caroline muttered, smiling slightly at the shit-eating grin that appeared on Niklaus's face.
"It was on a full moon that Henrik had begged me to take him to see the wolves. We were so young; we thought we could handle it. So I helped Henrik to sneak out from our family's hideout during full moons to climb up into the trees to watch them."
Caroline felt her heart plummet, "What happened?"
"Henrik had lost his balance, I went to grab him pull him into the woods somewhere they wouldn't spot us, but it was too late. I had fought them off the best I could…" Klaus's voice lowered as he took a breath. "Henrik was mortally wounded from the fall or from a wolf bite, I am unsure. All I know is that one wolf, in particular, had howled at the swarm of them, and suddenly they left us alone, allowing me to take my brother home."
"But he was hurt," Caroline said so quietly it was only Klaus's supernatural reflexes that allowed him to hear her words.
"Bitten during the swarm, his arm had been injured in the fall, and I couldn't get down to him in time," Klaus seethed. "I brought him there. Henrik was my responsibility."
Caroline immediately brought his clenched hands to hers, pressing her lips against his calloused fingers. "You couldn't have known what would happen. You've snuck out before, didn't you?"
Klaus gave her a sad but dark look, "Yes."
"Then it wasn't your fault. It was a horrible accident; you couldn't have been much younger than you are now physically, I mean," Caroline stuttered at the end because technically, he was over a thousand years old now.
"I was a young man, Twenty-Three years old. Like most men that age very arrogant."
"It was not all your fault," Caroline insisted. "Henrik's death was not your fault. It was an accident; you had been safe all that time. Of course, you thought it was safe!"
"You are much more forgiving than my father. After… our parents were distraught and tried to find a way to protect their remaining children. That was when our father bid our mother to save us with her magic. When she turned to Ayana, the witch warned our mother about the consequences. Magic always comes at a price."
"Our mother used the blood of a girl in our village, one with a magical bloodline other than Ayana's. The girl was someone Elijah and I cared about deeply."
"You were both in love with her and were in constant sibling rivalry over her," Caroline read between the lines with a sigh. "Of course you did."
"I didn't love her" Klaus shook his head. "I thought that she was pretty, but I much more enjoyed antagonizing my brother. I wanted him to fight for something for once."
"Did your mother kill her?" Caroline asked hesitantly. Someone capable of using magic whose children were now vampires. It was hard not to imagine that their powerful witch of a mother made such a sacrifice. It would also explain their need to drink blood.
Klaus shook his head, "No. She only asked for some drops of blood. They had called us in after our mother completed the spell. Before we knew it, our father had us all take a zip of her blood before he stabbed his sword through all of us."
"Your father killed you?" Caroline gasped, unable to look away from the man she thought she knew enough of.
"When we woke up, they forced us to drink the blood of another to finish the transformation. However, they had no idea what they had unleashed with such a powerful spell."
"The vampire myths? Sunlight? Blood? Coffins?" Caroline named off, looking at Klaus questioningly. She only spotted coffins with his siblings in them. It made her doubt they slept in them nightly.
"Exaggerations of the truth or completely made up. The coffins I confess was the work of Kol" Klaus shook his head. "He has a need for elaborate jokes."
"So what is the truth?"
"When we woke, my siblings and I were trapped in our home. It was only when Ayana gifted us pieces of blessed jewelry with a lapis jewel that we were capable of stepping into sunlight without harm."
"Alright, so the sunlight rule is real, but there is a loophole," Caroline whispered to herself.
"We were unable to touch vervain that grew near the old tree that our mother used in her spell. It poisoned us, but with time we could become immune."
"Like constant training. Give yourself a little to develop a tolerance" Caroline nodded to herself.
"Exactly" He smiled. "We need blood to survive, of course, and for us, the only wood that can harm us is the white oak from which helped give us life."
"So wooden daggers are sort of true."
"For younger vampires, the ones that were turned by us or those who they sired can be harmed with a wooden dagger. We and those we sired were all gifted with special abilities such as the ability to make someone do our bidding; we call it compulsion. It's a sort of mind trick."
"Compulsion?"
"I've never used it on you," Klaus reassured. "I have, however, stepped into your mind and given you some memorable dreams, even a few daydreams." Caroline's blush only deepened his smirk.
"Moving on," Caroline stuttered.
Klaus chuckled, "To keep it simple, my siblings and I have abilities those we sired, and their own protegee do not. In general, the older a vampire becomes, the stronger they are. To be an original, obviously, we are the oldest, but our powers work on other vampires without fail. Younger vampires with enough practice, but it takes much more effort. An original can only be killed by the white oak stake, while others can be staked with anything. All vampires are vulnerable to vervain, but with enough knowledge, we can mute the damage. Still, if a human were to ingest it, they would be protected from a vampire's compulsion, and if a non- muted vampire drank from them, it would injure the vampire."
XXX
"Hey," Caroline greeted the stranger, reluctantly noticing the way he was eying her very much with a predator-like zeal. Her eyes landed on his hand where she spotted his ring; it took everything she had not to gasp outwardly. Licking her lips nervously, Caroline forced herself not to shudder when his eyes flashed, taking her actions as positive rather than fear.
"What's your name?" Damon purred, taking Bonnie's former place. Luckily that was when Rebekah slid into next to Caroline, wrapping an arm around her.
"Care! There you were, Kol and I were looking everywhere for you," Rebekah glanced over at Damon raised her brow, "Who the hell are you?"
Damon looked irritated, "Damon Salvatore. My brother and I just moved back into town."
"Your Stefan's brother?" Caroline asked, tilting her head to the side, glancing over at Rebekah, who looked just about ready to murder the man before her. The blonde was acting strangely around Stefan all day; now they meet his brother? Who had a daylight ring.
"My younger brother," Damon smirked, "You've met him already, I see."
Rebekah's nose twitched as her grip on Caroline's arm tightened even as Kol made his way over, sliding onto Caroline's other side, sandwiching her in between the two originals. "Only briefly," The female original lied, knowing his brother had not been in contact with Stefan during their time together in the 1920's.
"I showed your brother around the high school," Caroline explained. "Rebekah and her brother are also new to town."
"I see my two favorite ladies have been busy," Kol drawled, glancing over at the elder Salvatore. He came up just as Caroline had begun talking. Kol glanced over at Damon's dark hair falling into his eyes, aristocratic facial features, leather jacket, and smirk. The brunet snorted at the younger vampire, "Not trying to pick up underage girls at a restaurant, are you? I mean, technically, it has a bar, but this is a rather small town you must know it is not exactly safe to assume they are of age."
Caroline crossed her arms, leaning into Rebekah's embrace as she watched Damon's eyes narrow on the necklace around her neck and the stones both Rebekah and Kol wore. The blonde almost snorted when his eyes glance towards his hand. Caroline and Rebekah shared a look as Damon leaned back, "I see your friends have arrived and will keep you in good company. Have a good night, Caroline."
Damon was nearly outside when he heard Caroline mutter, "He only heard you call me Care. How the hell did he know what my name was?"
"Vampire, darling," Kol muttered, "this fucking town is full of them."
"Now he knows about the both of you," Caroline whispered worryingly. Rebekah patted her arm softly. "Many vampires pass through this town. It's not exactly unheard of. The important part is from his lack of reaction; he has no idea who we are."
XXX
Klaus glowered as he lowered his phone as it dimmed on the light against Caroline's text, informing him that yes, she was safe and would see him tomorrow. His eyes glowed yellow as he spotted Finn carrying a small suitcase, "Just where do you think you're going, brother?"
"To find Sage. After all, we have nine hundred years to catch up on," Finn's monotone voice drilled into his head.
"Where? She could be anywhere. I highly doubt she is waiting for you" Klaus laughed, only to groan as Finn's hand clenched around his throat. Klaus grabbed his brother's hand, using his strength to pull it away with effort.
A flip of a magazine, Klaus idly wondered when Caroline managed to bring any of those into his home. Rebekah flipped through a page, "if you have a human teenager under your protection, then why can't Finn have his precious Sage? No matter how awful we find her."
Kol snickered from his spot next to his sister as their eldest brother glanced in their direction to glower at them; the two were lounging on a couch, the females' legs against her brothers. "Sorry, brother. Your Sage is hardly the most wonderful company; it's not as if she likes us any better than we have ever liked her."
Klaus coughed as Finn let him go stretching out his hand. The two siblings stared at each other for several seconds; Rebekah rolled her eyes, "Boys…you think you'd get tired of dick measuring contests after a few hundred years."
"Excuse me, sister, some of us have been asleep for last nine hundred; excuse me for not being as civilized as the rest of you," Finn droned softly.
"It's not like our brother has a habit of daggering his siblings for a minimum of decades at a time," Kol scoffed. "Consider yourself lucky that you only been daggered once!"
"Yes, some might consider that a kindness," Elijah drawled, entering the foyer glancing over at his youngest siblings with exasperation. Kol smirked up at the most restrained of his siblings while Rebekah stuck her tongue out. "Unfortunately for Klaus, having seen so many of my siblings daggered repeatedly has significantly lowered my consideration of his kindness."
"Come to save the day, Elijah," Klaus murmured, rubbing his neck as he looked onward towards Finn with something akin to respect.
"I came bearing gifts for our reawakened sibling. I should have expected to walk into another drama," Elijah raised a brow as each sibling caught a cell phone.
"What the hell is this?" Rebekah picked up the phone by its edges. Kol rolled his around in his hands as Finn looked at it with a strange fascination.
"That would be a cell phone. It's the latest version of the telephone. Only now it can be brought with you," Elijah explained to both Kol and Rebekah. "Finn, this is a device that allows you to get into contact with others from long distances. I've preprogrammed everyone's number onto your phones. Klaus, hand me yours, and I can add their numbers for you."
Uncaringly, Klaus tossed his phone into Elijah's hands, "Finn, just how do you plan on finding your former lover? Sage would never be where we are."
"He doesn't need too" Elijah snorted, tapping his fingers, quickly inputting his siblings' numbers into the phone tossing it back, "I have her number."
"Why the hell would you do that?" Rebekah shrieked, pulling her feet underneath her body using her hands to hold herself up. "It's bloody Sage!"
"Why wouldn't I be able to contact one of the oldest vampire's in existence? The one we should be concerned about is Aurora," Elijah glanced over towards Klaus and Rebekah, who let out a long sigh almost in unison.
"Crazy bitch that one turned out to be," Rebekah whispered. Kol shuddered, glancing over at Niklaus, "How do you know Caroline won't turn out to be just as nutty as that one?"
Several hands slapped Kol across his body, "Ow.! We only just met the teenager! It's a valid question."
"Caroline, while certainly is controlling," Elijah ignored the amused looked his youngest siblings sent Klaus, "Miss. Forbes obtains straight A's at her high school, participates in a few extra-circular activities. She is Kol would put it a control-freak; however, she shows normal development patterns in emotional maturity if on the low end at times when it comes to self-esteem. She is by far from what Aurora was as a human."
Kol shrugged, "she certainly knows how to entertain."
Rebekah laughed, "you only say that because she taught you about Finding Nemo."
"I think she was rather put out about the lack of people are not food support groups in the vampire world, " Kol mused.
"You were the one who kept telling her that she was indeed food," Rebekah smacked him on the head. "You had just been fed!"
"I was daggered for a bloody century," Kol snapped. "I couldn't help it if I was hungry. Besides, Klaus's stench was all over her. I wasn't that stupid."
XXX
The next day Caroline kept playing with her necklace, the one Nik had given her with his family crest filled with vervain. She waited by her locker before school, waiting for both Elena and Bonnie to show up. Her mother had sat her down before school, explaining that a classmate had been attacked.
Poor Matt, Caroline bit her lip, worrying about how her sweet friend would handle having his sister in the hospital and his mom on another bender. Liz Forbes alerted her daughter to the fact animal attacks were increasing and that another one of her deputies had to collect Mrs. Donovan from the Mystic Grill early in the morning. The Sherrif wanted Caroline to check in on her friend in case he needed anything.
"Caroline!" Bonnie greeted cheerfully, walking beside Elena as the duo stopped at Caroline's locker.
"Did you hear about last night?" Bonnie asked, glancing over at Caroline; as the sole daughter of the sheriff, Caroline had first-hand knowledge of most things that went on in her mom's department no matter how hard Liz tried to keep her out of it. Anything to do with law-breaking in the rumor mill Caroline knew the truth of in a heartbeat.
"Weird, right? Poor Vicky," Caroline frowned, looking over at her two friends. "Elena, you look upset; what's wrong?"
"Jeremy was the one who found her," Elena sighed. "We got into a fight about him hanging around with Vicky the night before. Now he's found her attacked; I'm worried about him."
"Well, his parents did die last year," Caroline spoke, speaking softly, trying to refrain from sounding harsh, "no one expects you to be completely like how you used to be. This is how Jeremy is dealing with it."
"He's turning into the school stoner. That's not okay," Elena hissed, glancing around to make sure no one could overhear.
"Says the walking zombie," Caroline finally snapping.
"Caroline!" Bonnie hissed, looking worriedly over at Elena, who looked like she swallowed a melon.
"I'm trying, Care," Elena whispered.
"Elena," Caroline bites her lip. "Look. I'm sorry okay? How you deal with it is totally up to you, but that goes for Jeremy too. Maybe give him a little more credit before you think he is slipping into permanent juvenile lane."
"Your right," Elena offered her a small smile. "I guess I'm just going into overprotective sister mode."
"He's your brother, Elena," Bonnie said soothingly, looking over at Caroline and shooting her a look that screamed to try again.
"This is Jeremy. He cares about Vicky; that's a good thing, isn't? It shows he is not cutting off any emotions," Caroline pointed out, smiling, unaware of just how different she sounded than even just the recent past.
"Since when did you get so wise, Care?" Elena laughed, wiping a stray tear.
"Since she's been hiding an older boyfriend from us, I assume," Bonnie teased, laughing as Elena's eyes widened.
"Older boyfriend?" The brunette gasped.
"Dear lord. Please tell me you are not gossiping about Nik," Came the obnoxious voice of Rebekah Mikaelson leaning against a neighboring locker. The older blonde smirked over at Caroline, "I understand you and my brother have a thing, but please do it somewhere out of my hearing range. There are some things I clearly don't need to know."
Caroline snorted, "I've met your family. Privacy does not exist."
Elena and Bonnie shared an amused look as their childhood friend crossed her arms and eye-rolled the newcomer. Elena couldn't help but stare at the newcomer. Something about her left her uneasy, very similar to how Stefan had talked to her last night. It was as if the newbies all shared this social awkwardness. As if they were trying very hard not to move too quickly, despite only having talked to Stefan a handful of times other than finding him strikingly handsome if not a little strange was that he understood.
Rebekah Mikaelson made her feel wary, as if her entire body screamed to stay far away. Shaking her head Elena offered her a strained smile, "Caroline's dating your brother?"
Rebekah smiled, eager for the doppelganger to be at ease. It would be far easier to keep her away from possible enemies if the girl liked her. After all, who wouldn't like Rebekah? She was gorgeous, intelligent and if needed be, she would use the good looks of her brothers to lure in the young woman. Rebekah wanted to be liked. This was the first time since New Orleans that her family was being given a chance to really settle. The first time since her turning that she could be human.
Deep down, she doubted that the doppelganger was much different than her ancestors. Tatia was a flirt who enjoyed having the village men lusting after her, not genuinely interested in settling down. Katherine was a young girl who, Rebekah reluctantly admitted, was tricked by Klaus, but she soon learned how to be devious and conniving.
XXX
Towards the outskirts of town, on lands that used to belong to some Mystic Falls founding family without current descendants, Klaus and Elijah surveyed the land. Elijah let out a disgruntled sigh, "Remind me why you are so interested in owning a home in the lovely small town of Mystic Falls?"
Klaus held his sketch pad in his hands, formations for what in a few hours would be a blueprint for a grand house. The dirty blonde gazed up from his sketch, "I have my reasons. Some of the reasons I imagine you would approve of."
"And the ones I won't approve of?" Elijah asked, stuffing his hands into his suit pants.
"I've learned that if I want something done, then I better do it myself. I cannot trust the verification of a doppelganger on minions, nor can I trust her safety once our hunch is verified," Elijah found the tone his brother used to be vexing at best. The two continued to walk around the grounds that the Mikaelsons had just bought and placed into Caroline Forbes name.
"Have you even asked her permission?" Elijah muttered.
"I was under the impression she would be thrilled to have me around more often," Klaus smirked.
"Would she be thrilled that you put a giant plot of land in her name? That you plan to place our future living quarters also in her name?" His questions landed precisely as he intended, with Klaus's jaw clenching.
His drawing pencil broke.
"If it means she will be safe in our home, then yes," Klaus's voice was low enough even Elijah had to strain to hear.
"You are worried about our enemies. You've taken great lengths to avoid being known on sight; few people know the Originals are more than just a myth," Elijah said softly, falling next to Niklaus, his eyes attempting to observe any sign of trouble.
"She's taken our story in stride, readily agreed to using \some precautions such as the necklace. I take those as signs she means to stay for a while, and I have no intentions of letting her go for the foreseeable future."
"Caroline is safe in our presence Niklaus. You even have Rebekah and Kol guarding her along with the doppelganger. Do you really think either of them will come to harm's way with our siblings at their sides?" Elijah questioned softly.
Klaus scoffed, "you and I both know they would choose to save Caroline over the doppelganger simply to end any feelings of debt."
Elijah smirked, "True, but you have to admit Rebekah and Kol have come to enjoy your human's company in the past few weeks."
Klaus groaned, "She taught them all about her generational favorites. Kol has not stopped shouting that idiotic saying, "Fish are friends, not food," without laughing like a hyena."
"Here, I thought it was rather poetic after all she did unwittingly undaggered two starving vampires and survived."
"Elijah, " Klaus gritted his teeth. "Can we not reminisce about Caroline almost being sucked dry by our siblings."
"You care for her," Elijah stated.
"Obliviously, she is an amusing human even by your boring standards, "Klaus smirked. "But she is human and will turn to dust after than I can blink."
"Unless you turn her."
"You make it sound like I want her around forever," Klaus shook his head. "She is a distraction, perhaps one for the entire family by how amused you all are by her."
Elijah hid a smile before letting out an audible sigh, "You are not going to build a palace, are you?" He avoided mentioning Caroline any further, knowing that his brother would snap with anger. Niklaus might be in denial about the depth of his feelings, but Elijah knew what a distraction of Klaus's looked like.
Series of one-night stands, plots against those who made moves against their family, even a friendly tryst with a temporary ally. He has seen it all. As Rebekah liked to put it, their brother could warm any woman's bed he wanted, but he never let them in. Elijah could count the number of women his brother had genuinely cared for on any level on one hand. They might amuse him, last as a bed mate for a few nights, one rather memorable one lasted six months. She was a witch who used Klaus as much as he used her. Theirs was a companionship, a friendship made out of necessity.
Klaus had never given his heart away. When Elijah heard about the rumors of his brother prolonging his stay in Atlanta, the original never stayed in a city longer than necessary. Finding out about Caroline was a surprise. At first, he thought Klaus was just playing with the girl, but when he returned a year later to the same city, that was when Elijah knew that Caroline Forbes was not what she appeared to be.