"I'm pretty sure vampires, or in your case, hybrids, aren't supposed to be throwing up."
"Keep your voice down," Caroline snapped at Hayley as she straightened and used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth after, yes, having thrown up. And obviously, Hayley was right, she was a freaking immortal for crying out loud, throwing up was not normal.
"Caroline, this is the second day in a row."
Again, Hayley was not wrong. Sighing, Caroline grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her towards the woods, away from the main houses where about two dozen werewolves with supernatural hearing was currently roaming around.
Once they'd gotten far enough away, she let Hayley's arm go and whirled to face her.
"I know this isn't normal, Hayley. Obviously, something's wrong."
"Okay, well, we need to figure out what's going on."
"How?" Caroline demanded, having a bad feeling about everything.
"Well, I'm guessing you don't want our new friends to know about this, so how about you give your friend Bonnie a call and have her do some research?"
If anyone could figure out what was wrong with her, it was Bonnie, but she wasn't sure she wanted to dump yet another one of her problems onto her best friend. Bonnie was dealing with a lot already, and every time they talked she was putting Bonnie at even more risk with the Originals. Caroline wouldn't put it past Klaus and his family to torture Bonnie to get what they wanted, but...
"Don't you know a witch or something?"
"Well, there's a coven back in New Orleans, I can reach out, see if they might know of something."
"Do that." Caroline decided. Better some witches she didn't know get tortured by the Originals, than her best friend. Besides, New Orleans was far enough away from Mystic Falls that it was unlikely any of the Originals would get word that a coven of witches were investigating why a supposed-to-be-impossible hybrid was throwing up every day, and no longer had a craving for blood. That too, was not normal. Klaus was supposed to be the king of hybrids, and she was pretty sure he needed blood to, at least he'd had plenty of it that night in London they spent together.
"Fine, but I might have to tell them about you, about what you are. Are you sure you want anyone else to know?"
That was a very good question.
"Before you make your decision, you should know that the Originals have history with the city of New Orleans, and not all of it good. The witches I know are good people, but there are bad seeds everywhere, and like it or not, you're a potential weapon, Care. You need to be sure you're willing to risk the wrong people getting the information."
Okay, well that... that complicated things. And honestly, she'd barely come to terms with the fact she was an honest-to-God hybrid, and the last thing she needed on top of everything else that was her crazy life, was a bunch of vindictive witches looking to use her for their own personal motivations. Sighing, she tipped her head back and looked up at the cloudy sky above her head.
"Fine, I'll call, Bonnie. See if she has some insight."
"That's probably smart," Hayley agreed quietly, watching her carefully. And Caroline was so sick of that, being watched, studied, it was never-ending.
They'd been with the Norwegian wolf pack for two days, and they'd remained tight-lipped about why they were so keen to have her there. All they'd say was that she'd find out "when the time was right", and she'd been seriously tempted to leave more than once, but for some reason a part of her was telling her she was right where she was supposed to be.
"I think I need a nap or something, all of this is giving me a headache." She muttered miserably to Haley, and the werewolf responded with a crooked grin.
"You do that, I'll go see if I can find Jonas or Anna. Something's up, the last day has been packed with activity, and I don't want to be blindsided with whatever's about to happen next."
"Fine, whatever. No one will talk to me anyway. All they do is stare at me, and I don't think I can take much more of that before I rip someone's head off."
"Probably not a good idea at this current situation," Haley drawled in response to her last comment and Caroline rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, go. Be productive. I'm taking that nap and pretending my life isn't entirely screwed up for a few hours."
They parted ways once they made it back to the settlement, and Caroline did as she'd told Haley she was going to. Haley went off in search of the pack's alpha, Jonas, and his wife, Anna. Who Caroline had realized upon actually meeting her and not just seeing her vaguely through the windshield of a car - was the same girl that had been working the diner where she'd had that particularly tasty cheeseburger.
Crawling into bed, Caroline wrapped herself up in warm blankets and covers, buried her head in her mountain of pillows and drifted to sleep in no time at all. If only she'd known the hell that would break loose when she woke up...
"I don't see why I can't accompany you to Norway," Rebekah snapped, glaring at her brother, and Elijah tried for patience. They'd had this conversation multiple times over the past two days, and he was growing tired of constantly having to explain the same things over and over again.
"Because we need New Orleans prepared for our return, dear sister. Your best suited for the task given the complication that is Marcel Gerard, and your previous history with the man."
"Nik has just as much history with Marcel as I do, Elijah." She argued, what was undoubtably the truth, but besides the point.
"Yes, but it was not your presence Kol demanded, Rebekah, it was Niklaus. Also, your history with Marcel is much preferable to Nik's, considering you once loved him and if memory serves me, he felt the same for you. Whether or not those feelings remain are not of my concern, but I do trust you to take advantage if that is the case. I trust you to handle this, Rebekah, am I wrong to do so?"
And that, he knew, would tip his sister to make the decision he wanted from her. Rebekah hated it when they underestimated her or kept her out of things in order to protect her. By trusting her with such an important assignment by herself, he was giving her precisely the opportunity she needed to prove all of them wrong in her assumptions about her.
"Fine, I'll see to it, but I don't like it, Elijah. The three of you off on some adventure in Norway, having been summoned there by a community of ancient and all-powerful witches. What if it's a trap, big brother? You do realize these witches Kol has been spending his time with are descendents of our mother's bloodline. Someone made mother what she was, whose to say they aren't the same?"
He wouldn't pretend that Rebekah's worry was misplaced, because in all truth, he had no idea what exactly they'd be walking into when they reached their final destination. However, given the very interesting - and extraordinary - information that Kol had discovered and then shared with him, it was a necessary risk to be had.
"We'll be fine, Rebekah. And if we're not, I'll trust you to either rescue us, or avenge us, if it comes to that. You're formidable when you wish to be, Rebekah, I have always known that. Should something happen to the rest of us, I have full faith in your ability to make things right on our behalf."
His sister stared at him for long moments, took a deep breath, and then looked away right after he'd caught sight of tears in her eyes. She was worried, and she appreciated his words, but as driven by emotion as his sister was, it was rare she ever allowed any of her brothers a glimpse into what she perceived as weaknesses. Elijah, however, had always admired Rebekahs ability to hang onto so much of her humanity for the past ten centuries as she had. And his heart bled for his baby sister, because he knew the only thing Rebekah had really wanted was to be human. To be able to fall in love and settle down, get married and have children of her own. That would never happen for her, but if he had one wish, it was that Rebekah would eventually find her semblance of a happy ending, no matter that came about.
"If we're done, dear sister, I have a meeting with the Sheriff to get to and a trip to arrange. Do me a favor and keep an eye on our brother in my absence, I don't trust his current mood, and it would be bad form to leave the town with a carnage to clean because he has a temper tantrum."
After Elijah's departure, Rebekah went in search of her other brother, and was unsurprised to find him in his study - which he'd turned into an art-studio - and even less surprised to find him sitting in front of a canvass, his back to the door, head cocked to the side as he studied the process of his most current piece.
It was rare, for Nik, to leave the door open while he was working, or at all really. Her brother was an exceptionally talented artist, he always had been, even when they were young, but he was also very private about his work. Rebekah had a theory about this, mostly because of something Nik himself had told her long ago, in a rare moment of vulnerability, and he'd told her then that art was a way for him to process his emotions - his inner thoughts.
Now, however, it appeared her brother was less focused on his own feelings, and more attuned to his obsession toward the baby hybrid (if she even was one) he had them all chasing after. His piece was far from done, but already she recognized the face of the spirited girl she'd met in London nearly four months ago.
"Did you need something, Bekah?"
Of course he was aware of her presence. Walking into the room, she stopped at his side and studied the unfinished painting more closely. The look on Caroline's face mimicked precisely the one she'd worn when she'd been "banned to her room" in London, but her hair, however, was not the red she'd had when Rebekah met her. It was golden, and her eyes were practically shooting daggers. It was a miracle how realistic it was, as if she was seeing a photo of that very day, and yet it wasn't finished.
"It's the last time you saw her," Rebekah noted carefully and glanced at her brother who was already looking at her.
"Yes," he confirmed, not divulging any further.
"Who is she to you, Nik?" She asked, turning to fully face him, carefully taking note of her big brother that she adored most of the time, but sometimes hated with a vengeance. As for now, she'd forgiven him for daggering her for sixty years, and compelling Stefan to forget all about her, but undoubtedly he'd do something else to piss her off soon enough.
"I don't know, Bekah." He sighed and that she didn't understand.
"You've been on edge for months, Niklaus. Kol's been practically everywhere looking for her, you've had me parading as a high school student to keep an eye on her friends, and Elijah's been running around making deals and interacting with the girls mother. And by the end of the evening, both you and Elijah will be off, joining Kol in Norway of all places, because she's turned up there. And for the past two days, since Kol called with the news, you've been practically serene. You've changed brother, and I'm not sure if it's for better or worse. So, I'll ask again, who is this girl to you?"
Klaus was quiet for long moments, his eyes focused on his painting, and she had the strange impression he was actually considering his words very carefully. And that, was not the Niklaus she knew. Her brother said what he wanted, to whom he wanted, no remorse, no regard for anyone or anything. After some time, he finally found the words, and when he did, he nearly broke her heart.
"Her existence, little sister, means that perhaps I wasn't a mistake of nature after all. That's what our parents tought me to believe a thousand years ago, and for the first time in a millennia, I'm no longer an abomination."
Rebekah had always known the toll it had taken on her brother to discover the truth behind his true heritage, and Mikael's continuos disdain and abuse of him as a child. But never, in her thousand years, had she truly understood the depth of it - until that very moment. And in that moment she also understood something else, something the part of her that loved so easily had understood the moment she'd seen her brother interact with Caroline Forbes in London. Her brother was in love. It was entirely possible he hadn't realized it, or conciously accepted it himself yet, but it was nevertheless the truth.
And for that reason, Rebekah Mikaelson hoped with everything she was, that the existence of Caroline and what she was, meant her brother finally had a chance of not only redemption, but a truly happy ending.