THE GHOSTS OF OUR PAST

"This isn't normal," I muttered as I followed a far too chirpy Caroline after school and over to her cheer training.

Everything had looked too perfect. I had to wonder who cleaned up after prank night last night. There wasn't a sign at all that any pranks had gone on.

And where had Dana and Chad's bodies gone?

"Live a little, Effie, we're alive and Tyler's transition into a hybrid was successful."

"Who are you and what have you done with Caroline?" I asked, grabbing hold of her arm and spinning her to face me. "Carrie, you were the one that didn't even want Ty to transform last night and now you're acting as if it was the best fucking thing in the world. Yes, I'm happy that my brother gets to live but he never wanted to be a hybrid."

"I've had time to think it over and I think it's for the best," she said, shrugging her shoulders and dragging me over to her cheer group.

I was surprised to see Bonnie doing some stretching along with the other girls. I thought she was too busy to continue with normality when she had to be at Elena's beck and call every ten seconds.

"It gives you and mini Caroline a higher protection rate with him being a hybrid."

I almost rolled my eyes at her. She was crazy if she thought I was naming my baby after her. That was something I hadn't even thought about yet. It was also something I needed to talk to Klaus about.

"Just chill and don't worry about any of those details. Keep an eye on my front and tell me if anyone's slacking," she added as she nudged me to sit on the bleachers and watch her cheer practice. "Hey!" All the girls turned to give Caroline their attention. "Has anyone seen Dana?"

Oh shit. How had I forgotten to mention them to Caroline? I was literally thinking about them two seconds ago.

It seemed no one knew where Dana was and I could see Caroline's frustration grow. Before anyone could say anything another blonde joined the group further irritating my best friend.

"Sounds like you have an opening on the squad." Rebekah said as she came over in yoga pants and shirt and started stretching.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked her but Rebekah chose to ignore the younger peppier blonde. "Hey, hey. You can't just come in here and infiltrate our lives."

"I'm only interested in yours," Rebekah said before her eyes flicked over to me and rested on my stomach. "And hers." Rebekah gave her a smirk and only continued to wind her up. "Your spunk. Your popularity. Maybe even your boyfriend."

Luckily before it could get too heated between the two, Rebekah walked over to a couple of the girls and started chatting to them.

"What is she doing here?" Caroline demanded to know, turning her back to Rebekah as she glared at me.

"Maybe she generally wants to be part of the high school cheerleader experience, Care. She has been boxed up for ninety-odd years, she's missed out on a lot."

"Why are you sticking up for her!"

"If you can preach for Klaus, the one that got us into this mess, why not give his sister the benefit of the doubt?"

I could tell she wanted to argue, but before she could, she turned in Tyler's direction, a frown on her face before marching over to him.

This all seemed like too much drama and I needed a little space.

Sending Jenna a text, I rose from the bleachers, grabbed my bag and headed for my car.

"Hey, Bonnie, tell Caroline I've gone home," I called to the girl as she gave me a curious look.

I thought it was going to be harder to sneak away from Stefan and Elena but apparently the ripper that was my uncle was obsessed with the doppelbitch, I mean doppelganger and had only eyes for her.

It came as no surprise that we all snuck away to Alaric's apartment to have our secret meeting.

"So, it was Stefan's idea to bring Mikael to hunt me down?" my lovely husband drawled down the phone, causing goosebumps to pimple over my arms and neck. How did he manage to make his voice so alluring?

"Katherine said it was his big plan," I muttered, going over the text she sent me.

"What's our plan then?" Damon asked, his shoulder brushing against mine as his eyes flickered down to my more pronounced baby bump and then to the phone we had rested on Ric's table. "If he's coming here for you, what's to stop him from killing you and then my daughter and granddaughter?"

"I am well aware of the danger Mikael processes towards my wife and daughter!" Klaus snapped and I had the feeling that if he was here, he'd have Damon pinned against the wall, threatening to take his heart out.

"We could use his own plan against him," Jenna supplied, her eyes looking between Caroline and Tyler as they seemed to be trying to work out a plan for tonight. I knew Elena had begged them all to help capture Stefan and try to get him out of his ripper stage and to turn his humanity back on.

Of course, she had no idea about our plan to betray her and Stefan and their evil plan to kill Klaus.

"Isn't the only way to kill one of you Originals with a white oak stake?" I asked, having heard Elijah saying something of the sort. "If Mikael intends to kill you, he must have one?"

"And we can use that against him," Klaus finished off, sounding happy to have us all in agreement.

"Do we need a witch?" Jeremy asked, no doubt thinking about Bonnie.

"Hello, fully functioning witch over here, that can help," I said, annoyed that they all often forgot that I was a witch. And I liked to think I was a stronger, more qualified witch than Bonnie. No offence.

"Is it safe?" Tyler asked, in that annoying way older siblings bothered you.

"Mikael coming here isn't safe either way. He wants to kill Klaus which will end in my death whether I help or not. The least you could all let me do is help. It's my daughter's life on the line too."

"Maybe Ethel has a point," Jenna said.

This is why I loved Jenna. I think because I was the one to open her eyes to the supernatural world she was closer to me than anyone else and often saw my point of view and agreed with my opinion.

"I am not putting my wife in the line of fire."

"It's not your decision, Klaus. We'll call you later," I said, cutting him off before he could say anything and pocketing my phone. I still found it strange when he called me his wife. "So know that he's gone, we need to figure out how you'll deal with Stefan tonight."

"Rebekah's going to be following him around, she's still got a thing for him," Tyler said, having become quite close to Rebekah within the last day. Had it really been a day since she arrived here? It felt like she'd been a pain in my arse for years.

"Get her in on the plan. She doesn't want Mikael here either so using her on our side will benefit us. It will also keep Elena out of our business if you all seem agreeable to her plan," I muttered before setting my eyes on Tyler. "Hey, do you feel a great fondness towards Klaus? Like maybe you're grateful for him taking away your pain during the full moon?"

"Why are you asking that?" Why did he seem so offended by my question?

"I just get this vibe off you, you feel all fluffy up here." I pointed at my head and then his head hoping he'd understand that our bond felt a little strange. "I've read that sometimes when a vampire creates another vampire and there's a strong relationship between them they create a bond."

"A sire bond," Damon input, his eyes focused off to the distance as if he was remembering something. "It's not very common in vampires but maybe because you're a werewolf it's a common occurrence."

"Elena's not going to want Tyler in on her plan once she finds out," Caroline added, knowing exactly what Elena was like. If she thought there was any chance of Klaus finding out her plan then she'd be pissed.

"I think she needs to find out before you all decide to not include him," Jeremy said as he thought about his sister. "She won't want him part of the plan but she needs to know about this 'bond' between him and Klaus."

"Jer's right, she'll think it's funny if we exclude Tyler," Damon agreed, nodding along as he came up with his own plan. "You're not against getting fake knocked out right?"

"As long as it's fake, knocked out." Damon gave Tyler a smug smile but nodded all the same. I could imagine that Tyler wasn't keen on the idea of having vervain and wolfsbane injected into him.

"And we can all agree that I'm not going to the stupid bonfire, right?" I wasn't the biggest fan of parties, especially after what happened the last time I was at one. "I think I'm going to spend sometime at home, chilling with Wolf and doing some online shopping."

"I for one, think I'm going to join you," Jenna said, coming over to my side and wriggling her eyebrows at me. "How about we order from the grill and make a night of it?"

"You know what," Jeremy said, rubbing his hands on his jeans. "I think I might stay home tonight too. Something doesn't feel right."

Jeremy had been quiet, too quiet.

Since seeing ghosts, he'd always be heard talking under his breath, usually to whatever ghost was bothering him at the time. But tonight, while he sat with us watching so stupid romance film Jenna put on, he was silent.

Was this what he was talking about earlier? About something not feeling right?

I had that same feeling. Something similar to when Klaus appeared on prank night.

"What about Jasmine?" Jenna called out as she flipped through a name book, mainly picking out names shared with flowers.

It was a common theme in my family, to name our daughters after a flower. Not that we had any names picked out for a son as there had never been a male born from our bloodline.

"I'm not really a fan of that name." It also might have had something to do with a cousin I didn't like.

"Daisy? Lavender? Clover? Rosemary? I've got sixty different girls' names all associated with flowers. Surely there's one you like?" Jenna asked, huffing as I got up and gave a small shrug as I went over to the sink.

I wasn't even sure I wanted to name our daughter after a flower. My mother broke tradition with me and I feel like I should also break tradition with my daughter. Maybe call her something like Chloe or Beatrix or even Aisling.

"Those names all mean hope," a soft voice said, startling me from my thoughts.

I turned to face the boy in my kitchen, his dark hair reaching his shoulders and his dark eyes reminding me of someone.

"Oh, hello?" I said, just as softly. I had no idea who he was but I could only assume it had something to do with the supernatural.

Besides the fact that not many knew where I lived and because he appeared out of thin air.

"Those names you were thinking of," he said as if we had been discussing something as if he hadn't just appeared out of thin air. "They all mean hope. Which is befitting considering no one thought Niklaus could have children."

"You're Henrik, aren't you?" I asked, knowing I was right as I took in his light blue tunic and the brown breeches he was wearing. He looked like the definition of a viking. "Klaus' brother."

"I am Niklaus' brother, yes," he muttered, his head tilted to the side as looked at me in concern. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, why would you…" I trailed off as my vision began to blur, feeling my hand slide across the island as I started to fall towards the floor. I was very aware of Henrik's hand as it caught my arm and it felt like a shot of ice ran through my body, shocking me and awakening me from the dizziness that threatened to overtake me. "Oh."

"Perhaps you should sit down."

"Why are you here, Henrik? How are you here?" I thought it was time to just cut to the chase. Henrik couldn't be here unless there was a reason otherwise he would communicate with his family all the time.

"Your friend Bonnie opened up a gateway to the otherside. Mystic Falls is a beacon for the dead until the gateway closes."

"When did this happen?" The last thing we needed now was ghosts able to interact with us.

"Your friend Bonnie cast a spell to prevent Vicki from killing the doppleganger."

"Who's Vicki?"

"Matt's sister," Jeremy said as he came into the room, his eyebrows furrowing as he looked between Henrik and myself. "She was able to talk to me because I could see her ghost."

"Damon killed her."

I didn't know who said that, whether it was Jeremy or Henrik, or both of them.

"Look, it doesn't matter who killed her, what matters is why Vicki was trying to kill Elena. No that doesn't even matter," I muttered, shaking my head as I tried to clear up all the confusion. "Why are you here?"

"I've come to warn you about my father, Mikael."

"We already know that Stefan plans to use him to kill Klaus," I told him, leading him into the living area where Jenna was looking slightly confused at the new person in the house.

"He's not just come from Klaus," Henrik said, giving Jenna a polite nod before setting his eyes on me again. "He's also come for her."

I didn't need to be watching him to know he was talking about my daughter.

"How does he even know about her?" Hadn't the man been 'asleep' for a very long time.

"The same way Mason Lockwood knows about our family cave."

"Mason Lockwood?" I asked.

"Is he back too?" Jeremy asked, a guilty look on his face.

"Oh god." I've got a bad feeling about this. "Damon killed him too, didn't he?