The Wolf II

by yokan87

The Guerreras' threat still looms over the Mikaelson house as Caroline tries to adapt to life as a vampire, away from her daughter. But an unexpected family reunion makes everything worse, taking away the little peace Klaus, Caroline and Elijah managed to find after the war that nearly broke them. [It's TO S2, but Caroline was a witch, had Klaus' baby and now she's a vampire]

17. S02E17: Exquisite Corpse

A/N: This chapter is NSFW, folks. This is not a drill.

Writing smut is definitely out of my comfort zone. This might be the first full smut scene I posted as a part of a chapter. Needless to say, I am ANXIOUS. So, please, be kind!

As i've been mentioning, I don't get many comments, and yet somehow I still get criticism. So just to make this clear once more: I was very open about how the whole idea here was to keep this close to canon. I *wanted* it to be TO, following canon plot lines as though this was the actual show, but there are considerable modifications, and I just when people don't seem to notice. Like. What am I even doing?

Also, because I was asked: yes, this story will be tied to TVD S6. I think it was mentioned before at some point, but just to clarify. TO S2 is 22 episodes/chapters, and this story will have 31. The last 11 chapters are what I call the Mystic Falls arc, where Caroline goes home and we kind of slip into TVD canon. If you remember TVD S6, you know what happens in that season. 😬 I think it's a very important moment for her as a character and I wanted to make use of it in this context. Obviously, lots will be different for obvious reasons. But anyway. We'll get there when we get there.

Thank you so much to all the kind people reading and reviewing this. You are the sweetest and your support is very much appreciated!

---

My past has tasted bitter, for years now
So I wield an iron fist
Grace is just weakness, or so I've been told
I've been cold, I've been merciless
But the blood on my hands scares me to death
Maybe I'm waking up today

---

Klaus contemplates going out, contemplates a long cold shower, contemplates growing the nerve to attempt a reconciliation by knocking on Caroline's door, but ends up contemplating his own glass, nursing a lone drink in his bedroom.

Caroline hasn't spoken to him since their argument the night before. Despite Elijah's objections to how he is conducting the situation, Klaus doesn't think he's entirely in the wrong. Somebody has to keep this family sheltered against their own soft-hearted tendencies and, as usual, the dirty work falls to the big bad wolf. He's used to being the bad guy, getting all of the angry glares and none of the appreciation. Except this time, he's just trying to keep their family safe.

Klaus' impulsive ways means he gets awfully carried away when pulled into that kind of argument. His reason is perfect, it's just his exposition that needs a little consideration, perhaps. He's gracious enough to concede that the way he delivers his message could use some polishing.

Now Caroline is angry and he doesn't know how to apologize without actually apologizing. He's not sorry for what he said, just... Well, he's sorry she's upset, truth be told. Something tells him that is not going to be much of a compelling claim to her.

The whole world seems to be out to get him lately and Klaus is reacting as best as he can. He cannot let his guard down at such a critical time; any tiny slips could be fatal. But that comes at a cost, and a high one at that: his peace of mind, his humor and, most of all, the harmony of his domestic life. He does miss Caroline, terribly so... She's locked her door on him weeks ago and he hasn't found his way back into her good graces yet. Just as they seemed to have found the perfect point of balance, when they had - what is it that young people say? Gone steady.

Such an odd expression. He assumes that's what they were doing, steadiness, although it was never openly discussed. Klaus wouldn't have a name for what they are, although he hardly thinks it's necessary. Once you've lived for as long as he has, things such as labels become so meaningless and empty. Just words. Some things, he's come to learn, elude even as vast a vocabulary as his.

Tyler was Caroline's boyfriend. He's not that, nor would he ever want to be. It's too small a title, with too prosaic a meaning. It sounds juvenile and ephemeral. Just as Caroline is not his girlfriend. To call her that would be to reduce her to a position, a modest place in the everlasting span of his life, which would be so terribly inaccurate. She is his whole world. It's impossible to equate what she is to him to what she was to that dimwit Tyler Lockwood.

"Get away from her!" Caroline's fierce command knifes through Klaus' idle musings, his defense instincts kicking in at once.

He puts down his glass and cuts the short distance between his room and hers in a flash. He gets there in time to see Rebekah in Eve's room with her hands out, sending Caroline flying across her bedroom, crashing against the bedside table.

"Rebekah!" he growls as he advances towards his sister. "What are you doing?!"

She turns on him then, giving him a mind-splitting stroke, his sight vanishing in a blinding explosion as he tumbles to the floor. He grunts painfully, clutching at his head, and then he senses the pain easing away slightly as Rebekah focuses her attention back on Caroline, who'd just lunged at her again. She sinks to her knees beside him, clawing at her own throat, her eyes bulging and desperate as Rebekah steals the air from her lungs.

Grinding his teeth and taking full advantage of her momentary distraction, Klaus charges at his sister, a single clawed finger slashing at her, viciously. Rebekah groans loudly and then immobilizes him once more, but it lasts but a second, just long enough for her to flee through the window.

As soon as she's gone, both him and Caroline spring up to their feet, hunching over the crib. He releases an audible breath as he sees his daughter, clutching a little wolf plushie and staring at her parents with big eyes, not a clue of the danger she was just in.

He turns to Caroline, who looks frantic and shaken, but otherwise fine. She locks eyes with him, a shadow crossing her features.

"That's not your sister anymore."

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"I don't know why I keep packing these away. There's always someone in need of a good shackling," Klaus says as he retrieves the enchanted magic-binding manacles from a wooden box.

Caroline gives him the stink eye. Those might as well be the same manacles that were used on her the day she gave birth to Eve. Seeing that thing still makes her stomach tie up in nauseating knots. Klaus has the decency to look guilty when he catches her eye, averting her gaze as he puts the manacles in Marcel's hands.

"Find Rebekah, or Eva, or whoever the bloody hell that was. Use these to stop her from doing magic, and don't hurt her," he admonishes. "The non-psychopathic bits are still my sister."

"I won't be the only one looking for her," Marcel says. "She killed witch kids. The 24-hour hold Elijah got the covens to agree to ended at midnight. Every witch in the city is gonna be gunning for her."

"I suggest you start with Vincent Griffith. He knew Eva Sinclair, he might know one or two of her secret lairs." Klaus then turns to Caroline. "You should go to Elijah. Get him to charm his elderly witch into calling off the hunt."

"And leave Eve? Don't you think I should stay here?"

"Jackson has been working night and day, surrounding this place with his werewolf army, as you remind me ever so often," he says in a placating tone, which prompts Caroline to raise an eyebrow at him. So they have an attempted murder attack on their daughter and suddenly Klaus' faith in Jackson's leadership and the werewolves' protection has been renewed? "Not to mention," he adds after a beat. "I will be here. And I know the best way to guarantee our child's immediate safety is to get Rebekah out of that serial killer's body and back into the original model."

Caroline treats him to a suspicious look; she has the distinct impression that he's trying to keep her away from the compound. "And what will you be doing while we go out to do the dirty work?"

Klaus lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Attending to the even dirtier work... As usual."

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Caroline clamps her mouth shut, trying - and mostly failing - to bite back on a grin as she bounces on the soles of her feet. The awkwardness in the air is so thick you can cut through it. Her eyes travel from Elijah to Gia, who have been deliberately avoiding looking at each other, both of them as silent as the grave since they left Elijah's place.

Caroline isn't entirely sure why Gia is here, but she's not complaining. She was a little testy about being sent out on this mission when she'd much rather stay back and watch Eve in case Rebekah - or Eva - decided to go back, but her levels of excitement spiked considerably when she got to Elijah's loft and found the other baby vampire already there.

The two of them looked quite the pair, with Elijah in his customary fine-cut suit and her in a killer cocktail dress. Caroline felt awfully underdressed next to them for whatever the occasion was; nobody told her there was a dress code to this Josephine Larue's place. But what really caught her attention was the glow Gia had about her. It made Caroline want to giggle like a schoolgirl. She bit back on that too, though; despite her irrational giddiness over what she has been inwardly referring to as Elijah's girlfriend situation, she didn't want to make it any more uncomfortable than it already was.

But God, she's just itching to say something.

In the car, on the way to Miss Larue's mansion, Gia just slid into the backseat with her violin case and didn't say a word. All Caroline and Elijah spoke about was Rebekah. He asked her to recount the events of the previous night once more, in details, like he expected to have an epiphany or something. What else is there to understand? If Rebekah hasn't gotten in touch with them until now, it means she's lost the battle of wills against Eva and the witch is now in full control of her body, ergo she needs to be stopped. She's been attacking children all over town and tried to take Eve. The reason for that is what they expect to grill out of Josephine. She never got into details on why Eva ended up at the Fauline cottage, only told Elijah that she was sadistic. Well, now's the time for full disclosure. A sadistic witch attacking children on the loose is not good news to anyone, least of all to Rebekah, who's powerless and getting weaker by the minute.

This kind of magic is not something Caroline's at all familiar with, but she knows enough to understand that Eva can get rid of Rebekah for good, and it seems like she's both determined and powerful enough to do it. The clock is ticking, fast.

Still, as they wait for Josephine to come out and greet them, there isn't much else to do but notice how desperate Elijah and Gia are to disguise the strong last-night vibes radiating off of them. If this is what Gia was wearing, they must've had a hot date. She looks foxy.

How Caroline misses having hot dates... It's been weeks since she last had sex, which explains a lot about her moodiness of late. It's hard to keep cockblocking Klaus and his puppy eyes when she's so hungry for that ridiculous mouth of his to work its magic, but she refuses to give in without a proper apology and an admission of guilt. All his mouth does lately is snarl and spit atrocity after atrocity and not even those dimples can save his grace. He can light her up like no one else, but he can also turn her off just as fast. Lately it's been all angry glares, frosty silences and very little sex.

God, she really, really needs to have sex and unwind some of that stress. Maybe if Klaus concentrated more on the positive ways to work out his frustrations than on lashing out at everyone, he wouldn't be so goddamn moody all the goddamn time.

"So," Gia speaks after an awkward-long silence with a strained smile on her face. "I'm gonna go see if I can find Josephine."

As she disappears into the house, Caroline turns to Elijah with big eyes, brows up to her hairline. He faces away, pretending to be interested in some books.

"Please, tell me she came with us because she spent the night," Caroline sing-songs.

"Josephine Larue can be rather recalcitrant. She is, however, enamored with Gia's musical prowess and candor."

"Hmmm... So aside from having that great rack, she's also good at music and candid? That's a lot of qualities."

Elijah shakes his head, but a tiny grin dances just on the edge of his mouth. "Caroline..."

"What? With that dress she's wearing, it's hard not to notice. But I'm not judging. I would flaunt it too if I had it. I'm just saying. She's hot. And talented. And candid." She bats her eyelids innocently at him. "I'm sure Josephine is not the only one enamored."

Elijah looks at her, mildly amused. She's pretty certain that the only reason he isn't blushing right now is because he's physically incapable of doing so. But the smile they exchange says it all. He is happy. For the first time in a long time, there's something in his life that brings him real joy, and it's all his.

Elijah walks through life with a poker face, exercising restraint at all times, sacrificing his own needs for the sake of others - mostly Klaus', sometimes Rebekah's and, lately, also Caroline's. He gives and gives and gives and people just keep on taking. If there's anyone who deserves to enjoy himself and live a little, it's Elijah. If he's happy, Caroline's happy, and all should be right with the world.

"Mr. Mikaelson," comes that same cold voice she heard the other day. Caroline turns to see Josephine, with those electric blue eyes of hers that remind her of Damon's, if his were icy like a glacier instead of alight with malice.

"Madame Larue," Elijah says affably, giving her a kiss on each cheek.

Caroline cocks an involuntary eyebrow. Since when has he started kissing people like this? He is probably the least warm-greetings person she's ever met, even more so than Klaus, and Klaus literally barks at people.

Gia catches her befuddlement and grins knowingly at her.

"Have you come to impress me once more with young Gia's talents?" Josephine asks as she takes a seat. An angry-looking witch with tattoos creeping up his neck, at least two heads taller than Caroline, stands a few feet away with a hard line between his eyebrows and his hands clasped together in front of his body. Magical and physical intimidation. This Josephine lady is not joking around.

When her eyes set on Caroline, it sends a chill up her spine. "What, pray tell, does this one do?"

Elijah looks at her, his expression softening just a bit. "This one's family, madame. And we have come to ask a favor."

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Rebekah was such a handsome young woman.

Is, Klaus corrects himself. Her body hasn't been destroyed, and soon enough she'll be back in it. As pretty as Eva Sinclair may be, he could do without the murderous psyche. This family can only tolerate one person with occasional impulsive psychotic behavior and he's not about to get kicked off his perch.

He is trying to think of what his life was like back when he had the portraits hanging on the ballroom wall commissioned. He can't remember if it was in the late 1800s or early 1900s. All three of them posed for days for the artist. If memory doesn't fail him, Rebekah did a little bit more than that. It was a talented young painter who was getting a decent amount of attention in New Orleans back then, but after Klaus learned of his involvement with his sister, he had him compelled to leave and never come back. His impressive talent was the only reason he was spared of being served as main course.

Klaus' own portrait is quite flattering. He's rather picky with the artists he sponsors, it was hard to find one with such a fine eye for human complexion. The young man had a way with the nuance of light, something Klaus has always particularly struggled with. He's had many mentors over the years, including Degas himself, but never quite grasped the fine intricacies of it, especially when painting a human subject. This painter, though fresh, already had a good technique. Klaus was so jealous.

The siblings he portrayed were kings and queen among men. The whole world at their feet. Constantly inebriated by their own power, flaunting their influence through their riches and the most outrageously lavish parties. They could have anything and anyone they wanted and the truth is they wanted it all. Nothing and no one could ever sate their greed - for lust, for blood, for ambition, for all of it put together and served to them on a silver tray. Eternity had felt like a true blessing back then.

Klaus thinks he was happy. Or a kind of happy, anyway. Back then he probably used to think that that was the only one way to go; now he knows he was wrong. There's more to life than extravagant soirees and an endless parade of pretty faces and generous bosoms in and out of his quarters every other night. There's even more than putting an entire city down on its knees before you.

He sees now that the only reason he felt truly happy back then was because he had his family with him, witnessing and sharing it all, basking in the same fountain of pleasure as him. Elijah, Rebekah, Marcel and even Kol. If they hadn't been there, none of that would've mattered. Klaus doubts he would've gotten as far as he did, with how terribly impulsive he was. Even more so than now. Would've likely just fed his way through the city and moved on before New Orleans ever had the chance to sink its roots inside of him.

When he lists the things that make his heart beat now with the same fervor and purpose as it did back in the time of those portraits, he thinks of Caroline's lazy sunshine smile when she wakes up. He thinks of the constellation of freckles peppered across her shoulders when she sleeps with her naked back turned to him. He thinks of the first time he held his daughter and the instant jolt of affection unlike anything else he'd ever felt before, like there'd be nothing on this earth he wouldn't do for that little one. He thinks of Rebekah's earnest excitement with having them all crammed together into a polaroid picture, as a family. So much significance in such a simple thing.

That's the bottom line of it all, Klaus thinks: the biggest difference between who he was then and who he is now is that the 1800s Klaus only found pleasure in the exaggeration, in the extravagance, in things that were greater, louder, bigger. He was a man of excesses. Now, he's finally learned how to appreciate the small things, to see the beauty of intimacy, of secret, stolen moments that are just his and no one else's. The way Caroline looks at him when she's happy. How his daughter's eyes go wide with curiosity when she distracts herself wrapping her tiny fingers around his necklaces.

Whether that change has come for better or for worse, it varies with the day. Sometimes, Klaus wishes he'd remained as reckless and fickle as he'd always been. It was enough to have his siblings to worry about. He was fine not caring about much of anything else. Stay away from the ones you love too much, he once read in a book. Those are the ones who will kill you.

These words have never resonated more with him than now.

He wonders what that young painter would make of him if he were to have his portrait painted today. If he'd see the same man, or if he'd be able to tell the difference.

The sound of heeled footsteps pulls Klaus out of his musings.

"Our sister was quite the beauty," Freya speaks from behind him.

"You said you could put Rebekah back in her original body," he says sharply, not bothering with amenities. "Do it."

"So you've come to your senses."

"My senses have not faltered. They still demand that you are not to be trusted. However, circumstances dictate otherwise." He turns around to face her at last. "For now."

"What 's changed?"

"Eva Sinclair has resumed control of her body, leaving Rebekah trapped and powerless. So make with your spells and enchantments and put my sister back in her true body."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple."

Klaus' teeth click together in annoyance, his patience quickly fraying. This is why he didn't want anyone at home when he met with Freya. He knew, after their last conversation, that it was possible things might take on an unpleasant turn for the violent. Last thing he needs is Caroline having even more reason to cast judgmental eyes at him.

"More stalling. Very well. I know I can't kill you, but I shall have a fine time trying," he smiles, all teeth and threat. "Tell me, have you ever been skinned alive?"

"The problem is Rebekah's condition has worsened," Freya retorts angrily, a hint of accusation in her eyes. "When I offered to help, she was in control of Eva's body. If she's lost inside Eva, I don't have a spell that can breach Eva's mind and find her."

"Ah, I was hoping you would say that. Fortunately for you, I know someone well versed in such spells."

Klaus walks over to a table on the corner of the room and, with his back turned to Freya, retrieves an identical pair of magic-binding manacles as the one he gave Marcel this morning. In a blur, he's on his sister, slapping it onto her wrists. Freya takes a step back, fruitlessly trying to free herself of the spelled objects.

"Now we're all set, let's go meet her, shall we?"

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"Eva Sinclair was a wild beauty, practicing wild magic," Josephine recounts under the intense and expectant stares of Gia, Elijah and Caroline. "She and Vincent were so happy together we let them be, despite our reservations. They'd been together since they were sixteen, married not long thereafter. He was highly esteemed in the Treme, one of the most talented young witches among us. We thought... If anyone can curb some of her most dangerous instincts, it was him."

"And then the children began to disappear," Elijah says, not as a question, already predicting - horribly - where this story will go. He's seen many like it over the long course of his life. Nothing corrupts a soul, mortal or not, quite like the taste of great power.

"The first was a little girl named Amelie Dupres, from Algiers," Josephine continues. "Then LuAnn Hughes, from the Ninth, followed by Nicole Asace, from the Treme. All young kids, all witch prodigies. All vanished into thin air. Vincent put together a search group with men from each of the covens, but the killer cloaked the children so quickly their locator spells were useless. But because of Vincent's tenacity, she was caught. He was able to slap a locator spell on one of the kids right after he got snatched, and he finally got a visual of who the kidnapper was. His own wife. He confronted her and realized the truth, that she was behind everything from the beginning. She kept pleading with him, just three more, just three more..."

"Why three?" Caroline asks.

"To complete the rite of Nines."

"Rite of Nines?" Gia frowns. "What is that?"

"Eva thought that if she sacrificed a witch from each of the nine covens, it would create a new witch order in New Orleans. She would've been more powerful than any elder, any Harvest girl... More powerful than anyone."

"But why did it have to be children?" Gia asks.

"Because their magic is untapped," Caroline supplies, eyes flashing dark. "It's the purest form of magic."

"Indeed," Josephine agrees. "And they're far easier to subdue."

Caroline's expression tightens. "That's why she went after my baby."

"She would've killed your daughter, channeled her powers, as she did those other poor children," Josephine says. "We never found any of them. They died unconsecrated, unable to be with our ancestors, used as a source for Eva's magic."

Elijah leans forward on his chair. "So let us find her, before she takes more lives, including my sister's. Help us stop her."

"We agree she must be stopped. No more of our youth will die." Josephine stands to her feet and the tattooed witch comes to stand beside her, staring none too pleasantly at them. "That is why, Mr. Mikaelson, I will not extend your 24 hours. Eva Sinclair now has a bounty on her head."

Elijah springs up. "You would condemn my sister to her death."

"I dislike the term collateral damage, but there it is. If one or two must fall in order to take Eva down for good... So be it."

"Let me assure you, madame Larue, we will defend your witches with fearsome vigilance," he insists, sensing he's losing her. Not even Gia playing a complete private jazz concert here would fix this. The last thing he wants is to be on opposing sides to the witches again. It did not end well for anyone before. The coven has more resources and knowledge to locate Eva; if the witches get to her before they do...

"You have a wonderful way with words, really," Josephine says, an empty grin on her lips. "Your cadence is pleasant. Normally, I could listen to it all day long, but I grow tired of this. My mind remains unchanged."

"Seriously?" Caroline snaps, indignation firing behind her voice as she stands to her feet. "She puts on a talent show for you, he has every vampire in the Quarter kissing your ass, and your final answer is screw you? He's practically begging."

"Caroline -" Gia tries to intercede, but Caroline cuts her off by putting a hand out.

"No. I'm right."

"We came here to honor the alliance between us," Elijah says, hardening his tone. "If this is something you wish to rescind, so be it."

Josephine takes a step forward, her blank expression tightening with an emotion. "Don't you dare walk into my house and threaten me. I am not the one that needs you, Elijah Mikaelson. It is you who needs us, or you will soon enough." She then turns to Caroline, grabbing her wrists and leveling her with a piercing look. Caroline's body goes stiff, her lips pressed into a firm line. "There's a storm coming, cherie," Josephine tells her, her voice carrying a somber timer that makes even Elijah shiver. "And your darkest demons ride upon it. I do not know its name, but when I peer into your future, there is a blackness... That should terrify you."

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Klaus guides Freya to the tomb in Lafayette Cemetery that has become the derelict home of once former great Esther Mikaelson. Ever since she was released from Finn's control, she's been staying there, hiding in the shadows like a sewer rat, waiting for Klaus to come and feed her every once in a while.

He could put her out of her misery, of course, but death would be too swift a punishment for all the harm she has caused. Although she certainly does fear it, seeing as she hasn't killed herself yet. It wouldn't be pretty, but there are ways. Like the little hole in the ceiling that allows for daylight to seep in. Without a daylight ring, she'd catch fire in a second. A painful way to go, but rather simple. Still, Esther resists the temptation as the coward that she is, too scared to stand up to her own preaching, too scared to end her own suffering.

If he were a pious son, he might let her leave, pick herself up, go figure out how to live out there as a vampire so she'll know exactly what she put her children through. No doubt her journey would be a bumpy one, colored by tons of innocent blood spilled in the process. It would teach Esther a thing or two about monsters and how they are made. She always seemed to think it was a choice they made to be hungry merciless beasts, when, in truth, they were only ever trying to survive. Then again, it's probably his mother's fault he hasn't got a pious bone nor a merciful one in his body.

So, instead, he keeps her on the edge of life, consumed by hunger, but not weak enough to desiccate, and trapped in a tomb that's been spelled to keep her from escaping. Completely at the mercy of his generosity (or lack thereof). Nothing short of the monstrosity she always expected of him. Klaus does so hate to disappoint.

Now, however, for the first time, she has the chance to prove herself useful.

"I don't see the need for these," Freya grits out, no doubt uncomfortable in those shackles. "I'm not your enemy. I would've come with you willingly."

"Oh, they're not to protect me, love. They're to protect her. The one who knows all about mind invasion and body jumping than all of us put together."

Klaus throws his mother two blood bags, and watches as her desperate little hands grab onto the bags like one would to life itself. She sucks the bags dry in a blink. He doubts that's enough to make her strong, considering how long she's been there, but it's sufficient for what they need.

Freya turns to him with a question in her eyes. Klaus simply smiles at his sister. It takes her another beat to understand what she is looking at. And when she does, her face contorts with a blend of contempt and fear.

"No. No!" she spits out with despair, trying to step away, but he holds her in place.

"Mother," he says, pointing a hand at her as Esther peeks from behind a statue. "Freya. Freya, mother."

"It can't be..." Esther speaks weakly, her ashen complexion creasing into disbelief.

"You won't trust me, yet you would trust her?!" Freya hisses at him, trying to shove him off.

"I trust my mother about as much as I would a stuck snake. Fortunately, she is now a vampire, and as such, vulnerable to my compulsion."

Klaus walks up to Esther, still on the ground, and grabs her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. "You will answer me truthfully." He pulls her up none too gently then, dragging her closer to Freya. "Now at least everything that comes out of her wretched mouth will be honest. Let's raid mommy dearest's mind for spells, shall we?"

Esther pulls away from Klaus, eyes wide as she studies Freya. "My beautiful girl..." she speaks after a moment, her voice rich with affection. "My first child..."

She reaches out to touch her daughter, but Freya takes an abrupt step back, baring her teeth at their mother. "Touch me and I will use these chains to strangle you!"

"No violence until she's finished with the spell, please," he steps in between the two of them. "Honestly, it's all temper and no timing with this one. I for one am glad you gave her away so that I could be born. You should think of me as an upgrade." He smiles pleasantly at Esther, her lips twisting in anger at him. "Well, now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, let's begin, shall we? It appears your delightful sister Dahlia is on her way to New Orleans and hell-bent on stealing my daughter. I need Rebekah back in her original body so she can help me destroy her."

Esther frowns. "Your... Your daughter?"

"Ah, yes. I suppose it is difficult keeping up on current events whilst rotting inside a tomb. The short version, then. My daughter is alive, Dahlia has risen and, according to Freya, is on her way to us, but it so happens that the previous tenant of Rebekah's body has decided to cause us trouble by seizing control and isn't keen on giving it up. Young Freya here, although powerful, lacks the spell to put Rebekah back, and here's where you come in."

Klaus holds her face again, his eyes burning into hers. "I need you to be a dear and dig deep in that ex-witch mind of yours. Give me the spell that puts Rebekah back."

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They meet back with Marcel at the compound, and it seems like he didn't fare much better on his end. In fact, he might've done worse.

He employed Vincent's help and the two of them did manage to locate Eva. As it turned out, he knew just where his ex-wife would've gone. They managed to contain her with the manacles and were in the process of grilling her for the location of the kids she's captured.

But Eva, even locked up and bound, is a tough one to break. She knew they wouldn't do anything to her, and wouldn't try to get Rebekah out either, while she didn't give them what they wanted to know. She'd cloaked the location of her victims, and the only way to get access to the information would be to negotiate with her. Not that Marcel wasn't willing to use raw strength and see how it'd go.

Vincent asked for a moment to speak to her in private and, believing his intentions to be good, Marcel allowed it. Whatever she said to him, it changed Vincent's mind. He turned on Marcel and knocked him out. When he woke up, the two of them were gone - and the manacles were left behind, uselessly discarded on the ground.

"Great," Caroline huffs out, irritated, as she rocks Eve in her arms. "So Eva is still in the win and now she has a sidekick."

"The charming Vincent Griffith," Elijah speaks with a distasteful twist of his lips.

"It gets worse..." Marcel says. "Eva said she has Davina and I can't contact her. If that's true, then she has eight of the witches she needs to finish the ritual. She just needs one more."

Caroline bites back on a curse. "What the hell are we supposed to do if she comes for Eve? I can't let her take my daughter, Rebekah or no Rebekah."

"Fortify the house," Elijah says, getting on battle mode. "When they do come, kill him, capture her."

"How am I going to capture her? She kicked my ass this morning."

"I will not abandon my sister."

"And I don't want to abandon Rebekah either, I'm just saying -"

"Caroline," he cuts her off with a sharp look. "Gather what wolves you have at your disposal. With Vincent by her side, she will strike with considerable force. Marcel and I will try to intercept them before they get here. Shall we?"

Before Caroline can offer any objections, Elijah is already out the door. Marcel arches his eyebrows apologetically at her and then follows.

And where the freaking hell is Klaus? He said he'd stay with the baby, but he left her with an army stationed outside her door and Camille watching her. No one knows where the hell he went. Now would be a good freaking time for hybrid daddy to be home.

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"This place smells like werewolf," Gia notes as she picks up some toys from the floor.

When Elijah left with Marcel, she volunteered to stay back and help out, in case Eva came back for Eve. Caroline has placed all the wolves she could gather downstairs, blocking all the entrances, and has entrenched herself in her bedroom with the baby. This way, if they come, they'll hear it and have some time to prepare. Or... something. She doesn't really have a plan. Hope for the best doesn't sound very solid, but it's all she's got at the moment.

"Well, this is a baby wolf," she says, placing a kiss on top of her daughter's head while she plays with a plush toy on Caroline's lap. "There is a daddy half-wolf and an entire platoon of them stationed outside. It would be weird if it didn't." She looks up at Gia then. She was confused before on why she'd joined them on their mission to Josephine Larue's mansion, and she's confused now on why she decided to stay behind. "You don't really have to stay here, Gia. You can go."

"Elijah says you and your kid have more than one enemy," she offers easily. "If someone manages to make it through the dog show outside, you and the baby run, I stay and stall them."

Caroline blinks at her. That sort of gratuitous kindness isn't something you come upon every day around New Orleans. Usually, it prompts a lot of suspicion, but Caroline doesn't think Elijah would shack up with a skeevy person. He doesn't have Klaus' self-destructive tendencies, not if the threat could affect other people, anyway. He's been hanging out with Gia for a long time; if there was anything weird about her, he would know, and he would've been the first to keep her out. The fact he trusts her enough to leave her here with Eve speaks volumes. Caroline is touched, but also genuinely surprised.

"You don't even know me," she says. "Why would you put yourself in harm's way for us?"

"I don't have to know you. I know Elijah. And... I know what you mean to him. What this baby means to him."

Caroline feels an awkward flush, and then she looks down at Eve. "He talks about me with you?"

Gia huffs out a laugh. "Not really. But I'm not blind. It's pretty obvious you had the guy all bent out of shape."

"Look, Elijah and I... We never -"

"I know," Gia cuts her off gently. "That much he told me. We started hanging out after your ceremony thing with that werewolf guy, and Elijah was just so... Wound up. Like he needed an outlet. Something that wasn't about his family. About Klaus. Or you."

Caroline nods her head once. "It's no picnic spending a thousand years being the shoulder everyone leans on."

"No joke..."

She shifts a little in her seat, enough so she's facing Gia. "I know we don't know each other, but... I think it's great that you're with -"

"We're not together," Gia corrects her with a certain urgency, like she doesn't want to presume.

Caroline smiles, rolling her eyes. "That you're hanging out, then. If that's how we're going to call it now." Gia chuckles as she relaxes a little. "I think... A lot of what Elijah feels for me has to do with this little troublemaker here. The things she represents. That I used to represent before... Well." She shrugs. "He needs to step outside. Breathe some air that doesn't smell like werewolf. He's never going to be completely apart from his family, and at this point, I don't even think it would be healthy for any of them to go their own way. They need each other. But I agree with you, Elijah deserves to live his life for himself for once. And I am just really glad that he's not alone."

Gia smiles softly. She rubs Caroline as a very private person, not unlike Elijah, but when she smiles openly, her eyes just light up. "You really are nice."

"I'm great. Why ever would you think that I'm not?"

When Gia starts laughing, Caroline can't help but crack up as well, but their little enjoyment is cut short when they hear a fight breaking out on the first floor. Caroline springs up to her feet and steps outside on the walkway to see what's going on. Two werewolves are sent flying across the courtyard, crashing against the wall before dropping unconscious. Vincent walks in right after, which means Eva must be right behind.

"Crap. They're here," she curses under her breath, going back inside the room and pacing around anxiously with her heart pounding in her skull. Think, Caroline. Think. She locks eyes with Gia, and suddenly she knows exactly what she needs to do.

Caroline wraps a blanket around Eve, grabs the travel bag she'd prepared and puts it on Gia's shoulder.

"What? What are you -"

"Take the baby," she says, pushing Eve into the other woman's arms. Her daughter looks up at her with big eyes, her lips pursed as though she might cry. It breaks Caroline's heart, but she keeps her steadfast resolve.

"What are you doing? I told you, I'll hold them off -"

"Gia, you saw what they just did to those men outside. They're practically hybrids. You're a baby vamp, you won't last a second. Take my daughter and run as fast as you can. I'll hold them off."

Gia looks stricken with doubt, holding Eve as though the baby is a bomb ready to explode. "You're a baby vamp, too," she counters weakly.

"I'm the next best thing under the sun after a hybrid. I'll take my chances. If anything, at least I'll stall them longer. Now go. And don't stop until you're certain that you're safe. Then call Elijah, tell him where you are."

"He's going to kill me -"

"Gia, if you don't take my baby away from here right now, I'm going to kill you," she says in a crisp, furious tone. By the look Gia gives her, she imagines her eyes must be wild and flashing in gold. "Go!"

"Goddamnit," she curses, fixing the bag on her shoulder and holding tight onto Eve. "Don't die." Another second later and she's blurred out of there.

Caroline inhales deeply as she turns back to the door, waiting, her heart painfully tight in her chest. She balls her hands into fists then, setting her face to determination, channeling her inner Klaus. She can do this. Witches have taken her daughter from her once; she's not gonna let them do it again.

"Come and get me, fuckers."

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Elijah enters the compound with his heart beating manically in his throat and a sickness festering in the pit of his stomach. Please, please, please, he keeps repeating in his mind like a mantra, words to push away the ghost of last year. This sour tang in his mouth is only too familiar. He almost doesn't want to go in, afraid of what he'll find.

When he got the call from Gia, saying that she was in his loft, in Algiers, with Eve, that Vincent and Eva had come for them but they'd escaped in safety, Elijah let out a breath of relief - and then it hit him that she was missing someone. "Caroline?"

Gia hesitates for excruciatingly long seconds. "She stayed behind to slow them down. I tried to stop her, Elijah, I told her to run, but she pushed the baby into my arms and said she'd kill me if I didn't take her. She thought she'd have a better chance, give me more time to escape. I didn't know what to do."

A wave of panic washed over him then. Caroline… She shouldn't have. She couldn't have. The three of them should've run together. Stupid, brave Caroline.

In a second, Elijah was on his way to the compound, all the while knowing that, whatever had happened, for better or for worse, he would be too late.

But what if you're too late? You don't have to worry that I will never forgive you, Elijah, because you will never forgive yourself.

Niklaus' voice reverberates, dark and ominous, in his mind. His brother wasn't wrong. He told Caroline to stay put and left. Again. If anything happened to her... He might as well allow Niklaus to unleash all the might of his wrath upon him. He'll deserve it.

In the courtyard, all he sees are four werewolves stretched out on the floor. He doesn't have time to check if they are alive, though. "Search the first floor," he tells Marcel as he flies up the stairs.

Elijah combs through every room, but aside from signs of struggle in her bedroom, he can't find her anywhere. Not a single drop of blood. This doesn't make sense. If she'd managed to outrun them, then she would've gotten in touch with Gia already, obviously concerned for her child. If she hasn't -

Marcel enters the room a moment later shaking his head solemnly letting him know he had no better luck.

"She's not here," Elijah says, standing to his feet from where he was crouched next to a broken music box on the floor. "They took her. Why would they do that? She's of not use to them."

Marcel's phone rings and his face twists up angrily when he sees the caller. "When I find you, I'm gonna rip your head from your neck," he hisses.

"You might wanna hold off on that decapitation," Vincent Griffith speaks on the other end. "I found them all. Davina's alive. They're all alive. Sorry I attacked you, man, but I had to make it look convincing. If you were in on the plan, Eva would've known."

"Ask him about Caroline," Elijah demands.

"What did you do to Caroline?"

"She's here, too."

"Why did you take her?"

"Eva wanted the child, but when she realized she wasn't there, she got angry, decided she wasn't gonna leave empty-handed. So she put the mother down instead, to channel her in order to have enough power to go after the second option for the ninth witch."

"Who?"

"Josephine Larue."

Elijah shuts his eyes for a second, scrubbing a hand across his hair. "Is she all right? Marcel, ask him -"

Marcel gesticulates for him to wait. "Is Caroline ok?"

"Yeah. Well... She's alive. But she's down, like the rest of them."

"What did you do?"

"I stopped her from completing the rite of Nines."

"What are you waiting for, then? Just wake them all up."

"See, it's not that simple. We got a problem. These kids... They're all linked to Eva. If she dies, they will all die with her."

"So keep her down. We'll find a witch to unlink them."

"Yeah... If you wanna save Rebekah, we're gonna need somebody with some serious power to undo this."

Marcel exchanges a meaningful look with Elijah.

They need Freya.

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"I can't do this!" Freya snarls in fury, slamming her hand down as she analyzes the spell Esther wrote down for her. "This spell requires an enormous amount of power!"

"Which I was led to believe you have in heaps," Klaus points out tartly.

"The power needs to be anchored or I'll be lost inside Eva's mind, along with Rebekah." She casts her manic eyes upon Esther, hatred flashing through them. "Unlike your magic, mine isn't anchored to any one place. Because of you, I have no home."

"Perhaps. But there is no other spell," Esther replies with a dismissive shrug. The woman comes face to face with the daughter she thought she'd lost a thousand years ago, her emotions all heightened from transitioning into a vampire, and, after a brief theatrical show of surprise, she acts with such nonchalance. She truly is colder than anyone ever gave her credit for. Klaus can honestly say that there is someone who is far crueler than him, after all. He cannot fathom ever feeling this sort of detachment towards his own daughter.

Freya clenches her teeth, staring hard at the spell, until her face smooths into an epiphany. She lifts her eyes to him. "You," she breathes out. "I can use you as my anchor. I'll channel your power while I breach Eva's mind, and it'll keep me from getting lost."

"Oh, there it is," Esther says with a tut. "Just like her mentor, she'll offer to help you. For a price. If she channels you, Niklaus, she'll have access to your mind, past and present. She will know everything about you."

Klaus narrows his eyes at his sister, tilting his head to the side. "All my strategies... All my secrets, laid bare to give to Dahlia. You must think I'm a fool."

"Unless it's not a trick," says Elijah as he enters the tomb in hurried steps. His eyes cut to Freya, a flare of urgency behind them when he says, "I'll be the anchor."

"I think not, brother," Klaus counters heatedly.

Elijah turns to him with a dark expression. "They have Caroline."

Klaus' heart grinds and then lurches violently in his chest. His expression smoothing out in cold disbelief before it crumples up with black rage as he flashes over to his brother, shoving him harshly up against the wall. "How did that happen?!"

Elijah pushes him off. "She was defending your daughter. We got word that Eva had tried a different witch, so Marcel and I went to find her, but it was a distraction."

"She took my daughter as well?!"

"No. Gia fled with her, but Caroline stayed back to fight them off."

A vicious roar rips out of Klaus' mouth as he shoves Elijah against the wall once more. "Gia escaped with my child while her mother perished?!"

"She's not dead!" He wraps his hands painfully around Klaus' wrists until he lets go. "We can save her and Rebekah. But we need Freya."

Klaus snarls, spitting fire, trying to wrest away the worst of his anger for the time being so he can keep his mind sharp. He casts a warning look at Freya, and then turns back to Elijah. "Lead the way."

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Freya barks out commands as she outlines a salt circle on the ground, already free of her manacles. She didn't even need anyone to remove them for her. Niklaus slapped them onto her wrists and she allowed him to believe that he had her at an advantage, but the truth is she could've gotten rid of them whenever she pleased - which she did, as soon as they left Esther's tomb.

Vincent led them to a set of abandoned warehouses further away up the river, the place where Eva had been keeping her victims cloaked for years. They're there, in a separate room: the children, Davina, Josephine and Caroline. All peacefully asleep, with a bloody mark carved onto their foreheads. Caroline's mark is different from the others, and she's desiccated, as though she were dead. Niklaus almost had a stroke when he set eyes on her, but Vincent assured them that it was a channeling spell, and she wasn't gone.

"If she were dead, it would defeat the purpose. There would be no magic to draw from. She looks like this because Eva's taking up all of her vitality, but if we manage to put her down and cut the connection, she should be fine. They all should be."

The use of the word should didn't satisfy Elijah in the least, but they had no time to dwell on Vincent's lack of assurance. For now, they need to concentrate on what they can do.

Eva has grown massively more powerful by channeling Caroline, which means it'll be harder still to get Rebekah back. The longer they take, the weaker their sister grows, and then the only way to stop the witch will be to kill her - and if she dies, everyone she's linked to dies with her.

"Lay her inside the salt and you two lie on either side of her," Freya tells Marcel and Vincent. "Each of you take her hand. I will act as a bridge to take the two of you into her mind, but I'm trusting you to anchor me, brother," she says, turning to Elijah.

"We both will," Klaus cuts in. He looks sullen and in complete agony, but for Caroline he won't even think twice.

"Do what you need to do," Elijah assures her.

She nods at them. "This will be hard. Rebekah's buried deep. Eva will not give her up without a fight."

"Then she gets a fight."

"Be careful," she warns Marcel and Vincent. "You're entering Eva's territory. If she kills you in there, you won't come back. And if you kill her before you free Rebekah, then Rebekah will be gone forever. Once you have Rebekah, then and only then, can Eva be dealt with."

"We got it," Vincent says, closing his eyes.

"What happens to the people linked to her?" Niklaus asks.

"Once Eva's gone and Rebekah is free, I'll sever the link. They should all be fine, assuming Eva doesn't win."

He sees in his brother's face that the recurrent use of the word should bothers him just as much.

Freya puts her hands out for the two of them to take. Elijah holds on to her first, and then Niklaus, after a second's hesitation, does too. "We're not finished, you and I," he tells their sister. "But for right now... Save my sister, and get Caroline back."

Freya closes her eyes and begins chanting under her breath. Instantly, Elijah feels as though he's been hit by an electric discharge. A violent gust of wind blows into the warehouse; it's hard to even hold their stance. There's a force, palpable, strong, trying to pull them apart, but Elijah takes his brother's hand and the two of them clench their teeth and hold on with all their might.

As Freya's chanting picks up, her voice rising to a near shout, they sense the energy coursing through them getting stronger, hotter, uncomfortable even. He can feel his sister inside of him, her essence pulling at his strings, commanding all his life force. This is how she must get access to their thoughts and memories, he thinks. When he looks at Niklaus, he finds his brother has scrunched his eyes shut, deep in concentration, likely trying to keep her away from the most sensitive parts as much as he can.

Something is certainly happening, but there's no way to know what, if the spell is working as it should, or if Marcel and Vincent are being successful. Freya tightens her grip on their arms and screams her incantation from the top of her lungs. All of a sudden, they are pulled apart. The wind stops blowing, Freya stops chanting, throwing her head back as she catches her breath. Marcel and Vincent both sit up with a gasp, but Eva remains down.

"Did it work?" Niklaus asks.

They hear voices coming from the back room where the children are, one of them sounds like Davina. In a blur, the two of them and Marcel are rushing towards them. All of the kids, Davina and Josephine, are stirring awake in varying degrees of disgruntlement. Marcel kneels down next to the little witch and wraps his arms tightly around her.

He and Niklaus, however, are frozen on their spot.

Unlike everyone else, Caroline remains down, grey, her veins darkened and brittle under her skin.

Niklaus walks slowly up to her, his steps hesitating and fearful, crouching down and pulling her into his arms. All color has drained from his face, his eyes overbright with an emotion Elijah cannot even describe. Again he is stricken by that terrible feeling of deja vu, of having seen all of this before. He feels sick with dread.

Klaus touches Caroline's face gently. "Wake up, sweetheart," he coos. "Come on." He bites on the inside of his wrist and forces his blood into her mouth. It takes too long a heartbeat, but slowly, the color begins to creep back into her cheeks. The mark on her forehead fades away, healing. A moment later, she startles awake as well, quivering in Niklaus' arms.

Elijah shuts his eyes in gratefulness.

"What happened?" Caroline enquiries, looking up at Klaus and then around the room, her voice coarse and tight.

"Freya severed the links," Klaus offers.

"Eve?"

"She's safe."

"What about Rebekah?"

He and his brother exchange an anxious look, until they hear a Bloody hell cutting through the unnerving quietness. Niklaus smiles as Caroline exhales heavily in relief, pulling him into a firm hug.

A quake passes through Elijah, the release of terror so overwhelming he fears, for a moment, he might collapse. He breathes in gratitude as he exhales the worst of his worry, although he knows it'll never fully go away. Sometimes it's as though there's no way to ever be completely safe in this world of theirs.

It makes him think of Gia, and how very nearly caught in all this she was. She's not a hybrid, not an honorary werewolf. She's not even a part of the problem. She would've served Eva no purpose. The witch would've probably killed her in anger at not finding his niece. Instead, they could've lost Caroline. It's a cruel, cruel world, and one made all the darker just by being close to him, to them, to his cursed family. Sometimes he wonders whether the right thing to do wouldn't be to set them all free, keep them all at a distance.

For now, however, he's just going to content himself with the fact that everyone got out of this alive, and that Eva is no longer an issue.

Elijah smiles shortly at Caroline when their eyes meet, and then he whirls around and goes to check on Rebekah.

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That chin really does not look right.

It's not at all as delicate as Rebekah remembers her own face. But now she's kind of scared of peeking into the coffin where her body has been stored only to find out that her chin has been like that all along and she just couldn't see it with her arrogant original thousand-year-old eyes. Is this really how other people had been seeing her all this time?

Rebekah sighs. She does miss her old body. The power, the strength, that sensation of utter invulnerability. It's such a strange thing to live in fright. Even though she's no longer a vampire, she doesn't think she's ever felt things more acutely than now. Her heart beats faster. Food tastes different. Pain hurts more. Fear can be overwhelming. It puts everything under perspective. Perhaps they've spent all this time thinking that their vampirical emotions were an exaggeration in order to justify the way they behave, but, in truth, it's been the other way around all along. Ephemerality makes everything more real, and oh so... Human.

Isn't this what she'd been desperately chasing, after all? True humanity.

Nik traipses into the ballroom, a bottle of bourbon already firmly in his hands.

"What?" Rebekah asks when he stops by the entrance, eyeing her while he takes a swig from his bottle. Even the looks Nik gives her are fiercer as a human. "You're not fishing for a thank you, I hope."

"I'd find myself freezing in hell before I got one from you," he snorts humorously as he approaches her. "Well, come on, then. Let's get you back in your proper body. Though I'll likely have to torture Freya and Esther to do so - which actually might be quite fun. I could use some fun right now."

Rebekah sighs, looking away from her brother and back to her portrait. She never really saw it before, but they do kind of look alike, don't they? The chin... God, does she have Nik's chin?

"No, Nik," she says softly. "I'm staying put. Eva's gone for good, but her body - this body - is still linked to Davina and those children. I can feel it." A harsh line appears between his eyebrows, and she already knows what's going through his mind. "Not Caroline. She was a different sort of connection, that's been definitively broken. I can't feel her anymore. But I know if I leave this body, then it will die and Davina and the others will die with it."

Nik clicks his tongue. "So bloody what?"

"I happen to like Davina. I'm not about to let her die." He rolls his eyes, taking the bottle up to his lips once more. "Besides, do you really want the wrath of every New Orleans witch upon us just as Dahlia arrives? We need them on our side or at the very least not siding against us." Rebekah pauses. She really doesn't want Davina to die, and it is sound not to annoy creatures that can cause them trouble in a time of crisis, but - the reason that weighs the heaviest on her right now is a different one. "There's also the matter of Kol. I vowed to bring him back. I can't even attempt to do that if I'm not a witch anymore."

Rebekah still has no idea how to go about it. She may be a witch, and Eva, apparently, was a rather powerful one, but she has no idea how to tap into that power or even where to start with her search. All she knows is, if there is a chance at all, then she'll only find it in Eva's body. She won't break her promise to her brother. Not if she can help it.

"I don't like the idea of any of you occupying vulnerable, mortal bodies," Nik grumbles, his expression darkening. "Especially since Freya's been inside my head. She knows all my secrets."

Rebekah snorts. "So she knows you drink a lot and go very far, for very few. So bloody what? Niklaus... For one second, can we just be what we need to be, a family united?"

Klaus cups her cheek, his face softening into a grin. "For now," he says. "For you." He touches his forehead to hers and then places a gentle kiss there. Rebekah lets out a contented sigh. Nothing quite like near permanent death to get Nik to show a little affection.

The way he's been acting lately, and how paranoid he is, it mustn't have been an easy decision for him to allow Freya into his head. Rebekah would like to flatter herself thinking that it was all for her, but she knows Caroline being in danger obviously played a heavy part in it. Still, she knows Nik would fight for her as well. As crazy as he is, as insufferable and irrational as he can get, no one fights more viciously for their family.

Besides, Rebekah is not jealous of losing her spot as his only favorite girl. She'll gladly split it in three. Having real feelings can never be a bad thing for Nik. Or so she hopes. As long as Caroline is around to curb the worst of his outbursts and force him to behave... It's good to see him flailing about as he tries to walk the line for her. He'll learn. Eventually. Baby steps for her millennium-old brother.

"Nik?" she calls as he traipses away with his bottle. "Thank you."

Klaus stops, turns around and smiles at her. His chin doesn't look half bad when he's smiling.

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Eve's chubby stomach is just too tempting not to be tickled. Caroline's changed her diaper and every time she does a little scratch on her daughter's tummy, she screeches and kicks her little legs, erupting into merry laughter - and Caroline, obviously, laughs with her. It's just too adorable.

It's amazing how silly, simply things are suddenly the most extraordinary wonders in the world, such as tickling a little baby and watching it burst into laughter like it's the greatest invention since the wheels. Caroline could do this for freaking ever and never get tired. One minute she's lying desiccated on the floor of an old warehouse on the brink of death, the next she's enjoying herself thoroughly just by listening to the sweet sound of her baby's laughter. Life in New Orleans is so weird.

Where the hell did she leave her phone? She should be making videos of this for posterity. Rebekah sent her tons and tons of photos and videos she recorded from the months they were away and Caroline spends most of her nights now watching those nonstop. Maybe if she watches those videos enough times, she'll eventually be able to not cry when she thinks of all the firsts she wasn't there to see. Or at least not ugly cry. That would be something already.

There's a soft knock, and she turns mid-laughter to see Elijah hovering by the door.

"Hey, uncle Elijah! Come in! There's baby deliciousness for all!" Caroline pretends to bite on her tiny feet, and Eve can barely hold herself from so much laughter, writhing on the bed.

Elijah sits down next to them, and when Caroline looks up at him, her own smile wanes. "What is it?"

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine."

"Rebekah says she can still feel the children linked to her body."

"Yeah, but not me. I was a different case; it was a classic channeling spell. A dark and nasty one, but it broke completely when her spirit died. I'm 100% free. Don't worry," she says in an upbeat tune.

"Easier said than done," Elijah offers around an exhale. He's quiet for a moment longer, watching as Eve tries to catch his fingers as he waves them in front of her face, particularly distracted by his daylight ring. "You told Gia to run."

"And she did an amazing job."

"You knew they'd kill her, so you risked your life to save hers."

"You say that like I was looking forward to dying myself." Elijah gives her a pointed look. "I just figured I had a better shot against them than she did, both at fighting and at escaping. The plan was to distract them long enough for her to get away and then get out myself. I wasn't counting on Eva wanting to draw power from me. But I guess that was still better than the alternative."

"What you did... It was reckless, irresponsible and completely insane, Caroline," he scolds, his voice harsh but restrained. "You could've left your daughter without a mother. This family - our family - cannot cope without you. Niklaus cannot cope without you. And I -" He stutters, clamps his mouth shut, swallowing. "I could never forgive myself if anything had happened to you."

"Elijah -"

"Having said that," he interrupts, locking eyes with her, his dark ones filled with deep gratitude. "What you did was incredibly generous and brave and I cannot thank you enough for saving her life."

Caroline smiles warmly, putting a hand on top of his. "We're family, right? One of the first things you said to me when I arrived here and I barely knew you was that family fights for each other - and the ones we care for. I haven't done anything you haven't done for me." Elijah lifts her hand to his mouth and places a soft kiss on her knuckles. Then he stands up and kisses the top of her head.

Eve wasn't the only good thing Klaus has brought to Caroline's life. She's also very grateful for the attached siblings. Most of them, anyway.

Speaking of Klaus...

Caroline hasn't seen him since they parted ways, still at the warehouse. She went with Elijah to his place to get Eve while Klaus drove home with Rebekah. All the time she's been here, he hasn't shown his face. She heard his voice once or twice, which is how she knows he's home, but other than that...

Being with this little bundle of joy actually got her mind off of it, but now that she thinks about him, the concern is back full force. It had been hammering at the back of her mind almost since she woke up in that place. It was a happy ending, everything turned out well, and still Klaus had those storm clouds hovering above his head. If she had to guess, she'd say he's been crawling from room to room, emptying bottle after bottle ever since. That's his cure for everything these days.

"Elijah," she calls him back before he leaves. "I'm worried about him. He was spiraling before this, now..." Caroline trails off, a dejected sigh escaping her lips.

"He is tormented by last year's trauma."

"I know. And I've tried to reason with him, but... I can't reach him. He's not willing to listen to anyone. Not even me," Caroline says, looking at Elijah in sheer helplessness. Klaus' lack of reason is impossible to deal with, which means trying to talk about it invariably leads to a fight, and she simply doesn't know what else to do. "Should I start punching him?"

Elijah smiles tenderly, but the look in his eyes says she's not alone in her preoccupation.

"We'll just have to handle him as we go and hope for the best. Perhaps if we get rid of aunt Dahlia hastily enough, there might not be much cause for drastic measures, such as throwing punches. Not that he doesn't constantly ask for it."

Caroline purses her lips, not too convinced, and looks back at Eve.

"Yeah... Get rid of aunt Dahlia... Piece of cake, huh?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It's in times like this, when he finds himself wallowing in his own misery with a bourbon, that Klaus misses Elijah the most. For all his faults, his brother was a good drinking mate, one who knew the value of retiring into the depths of a bottle in times of great distress.

While Klaus sits here on his own, however, knocking back glass after glass without finding an inch of solace, Elijah is probably frolicking about with his new vampire lady friend. Klaus twists his lips at the thought. He's not exactly one to judge, considering what one of his most recent affairs ended up causing, but that's not to say he won't judge anyway. Especially when Elijah's affair has already put Caroline's life in danger.

It's entirely possible he's also jealous. Klaus is not fond of sharing his family's attention. First Elijah moves out, then he gets himself a sweetheart. What's next? A baby?

It reminds him… He should check on his. He trusts Caroline has been fussing over her since she picked her up from Elijah's and brought her home, but after the monumental security failure of today, he needs to make sure that those useless werewolves are going to do their jobs. There's one reason and one reason only why Klaus tolerates their sodden presence under his roof and around his family and it's because they're supposed to protect them. What's their bloody point if they can't even do that?

He's made a point of trying not to drink in front of the baby, for whatever reason. It's not like she understands what she's seeing, but... It just seems like the polite thing to do. Plus, Caroline's taken to glaring at him whenever she sees him with a glass - which is almost always.

Klaus hardly ever gets drunk. It takes true backbreaking effort for a vampire to become inebriated, harder still for an Original one. Eventually, though, when he's in the right (awful) mood and the circumstances beg for it, if he drinks too much, too fast, then he might get there. It never lasts long enough, though. Sadly. What alcohol offers is this sense of mitigation, a distraction from the afflictions of his soul. It might make him reckless or bold or sometimes, in rare occasions, mildly chipper.

Tonight, he almost made it to the drunk line and it did absolutely nothing to quench the turbulence inside his skull. If anything, it made him testier, which is precisely why he decided to stay away from other living beings. With the exception of Rebekah, with whom he interacted briefly shortly after their return to the compound. It was downhill from then on.

He can make an exception for his child, though. For one, she doesn't judge her old father the way the rest of the family does. Her pure, innocent eyes are a relief.

Klaus makes his way to the baby's room and finds two wolves stationed outside her door. "If you let anything happen to this girl, you better hope whoever attacks you finishes you both before I get my hands on you," he hisses dangerously at them.

"We don't answer to you," one of them has the audacity to retort.

"Clearly, or else today wouldn't have been as disgraceful as it was. Your group's lack of leadership shows." The man opens his mouth to counter him again, but Klaus raises his tone above his. "I would not, if I were you. Trust me, mate, you don't want to try me right now. Step out of my way."

The two men exchange a look before they allow him to pass, shooting daggers as he does. He's so shaking in his boots at their ugly glares.

Watching Eve sleep has been one of the few merciful reprieves to Klaus' mind in these tempestuous times. He's found himself here, in her room, almost every night, just standing by her crib, his own heart beating in tandem with her little one. It brings him some much needed clarity, even if it adds to the weight of his responsibility. Everything he does, it's to ensure that she will have nights like this for the rest of her life. Calm and quiet, populated with nothing but sweet dreams, under the cover of safety.

He may not be the most skilled of parents, has never really known how to act around children, especially the small ones. It's unlikely that he'll ever get any Father of the Year awards, but when it comes to protecting the ones he loves, Klaus is unrivaled. He's not likely to be singing Eve any lullabies, but he will guard her with everything he's got, and maybe that's enough. So long as she still has her mother, that is.

The door leading directly to Caroline's room is ajar, and Klaus sees her standing there, close to her bed, watching him with a blank expression. He feels himself sink into the fresh depth of despair that took over him this afternoon, when he marched into that storage to see her desiccated body on the ground. He gets a sharp prick of anger - at her, at this Gia person, at Elijah and at himself, even - but mostly, at least for now, he is cold with a fear he cannot quantify.

This is where want and need, non-threatening in the idle comfort of the morning when he wakes up with her lying next to him, turns terrifying. All through tonight he's had that terrible nightmare raw and hot at the forefront of his mind, as though he'd just risen from it, every detail as clear as it was then. The tranquility on Caroline's face as she lay pale and dead inside a coffin, a hole carved in her chest where her heart should be.

Klaus' hands clench tightly beside him as he wills the thoughts away, eyes fixed on her. She stares at him as though he's something that requires deep examination, or perhaps intensive care. He doesn't know which is worse. That's not what he would want to see in her eyes when she looks at him.

He doesn't wait for a proper invitation to enter her room, leaving the door to Eve's nursery just a crack open.

For long seconds, they just stare at each other - Caroline's eyes glittering in the low light with something he can't quite read.

"Hi," she finally says into the lasting silence.

Klaus prowls toward her. "What you did today, Caroline..." he starts, voice pitched low and strained. "Putting our daughter in the hands of a nobody. Throwing yourself in harm's way. You have no idea how furious you've made me." He's not even done talking and an objection has already risen to Caroline's lips, her shoulders setting in a defensive posture. "Shhhh. Don't talk back."

Her face crumples into an indignant grimace. "Don't shush me."

"If you talk, we will quarrel. And I do not wish to quarrel with you tonight."

"Oh, so you just want me to stand here quietly while I get scolded?" she asks, a sneer in her voice.

Klaus stops a hair's breadth away from her. Caroline flinches, her breath hitching just barely. Need thrums through Klaus' veins, licking him up on the inside like wildfire. He's all too aware of his embarrassingly thunderous heartbeats, but he doesn't mind.

"Right now, I just want to..." he trails off, cupping her face with a hand so gently, the other running smoothly down her arm. Caroline's throat moves as she swallows, her eyes lowering from his, to his mouth.

Both her hands come to rest on his neck, tingles rushing down his spine as her fingertips dance along his jaw. She is the one who cuts the final, agonizing distance between them, pressing her lips to his in a feather-light kiss. Klaus' hand slides down the side of her body, to the small of her back, his palm pushing her closer into him, and Caroline yields.

When he parts his lips to deepen the kiss, Caroline allows him, tilting her head to the side to grant him access, one of her legs pressing between his as she pushes herself flush against him. Klaus can feel her heart beating madly against his chest, her hands smoothing down his body until her fingers are deftly digging under the hem of his shirt, touching his skin. He groans lowly in complaint when she moves away slightly, just enough to pull his shirt over his head. He immediately dives back in, ready to slide his hands under her thighs and hitch her up, but she puts a hand out to stop him.

"Wait," she whispers.

Caroline walks back to Eve's room and peeks inside, checking that everything's fine before she shuts the door closed and turns back to him, a wolfish curve on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes that sends a twitch down Klaus' body. "We can't wake the baby," she says, undoing the knot on her silky robe and letting it slide down her shoulders. Her nightgown goes next, pooling easily around her feet as she pushes the straps off her shoulders, nothing but colorful panties underneath.

He opens his mouth as his eyes rake down the curves of her body, her breasts, the swell of her nipples, with a greedy kind of hunger. In a blur, Klaus has his arms around her, his arousal pressing insistently against the tightness of his jeans. Caroline moans sinfully into the kiss, fingers combing into his hair, her thigh rubbing mercilessly against his crotch. Every hair on his body stands to attention at the friction of her hardened nipples against his chest, ripping a groan from his mouth as his muscles flex.

He picks her up again, grabbing a handful of ass in the process, nuzzling his face into the hollow of her throat as he carries her to the bed, depositing her down onto the mattress. Klaus presses down on top of her, her thighs clenching on his sides as their kiss grows hungrier, an avid expression of the need burning inside of him.

He doesn't even know how long it's been since they were last together like this - a week, two, forever. Every day he goes by without touching Caroline feels like an eternity. There's a void inside of him created by her distance, and it's only beginning to fill now, fed by the heat of her mouth and the scrape of her teeth on his lips. He sees something vast and undecipherable in her eyes, a dozen different feelings fleeting through - warmth and lust and desperate, wanton need. That's how she should look at him. Like she loves him and could never let him go, like she needs him as much as her next breath, like she knows no one will ever want her the way he does, love her the way he does, pleasure her the way he does. Like he'll always be her end all, from here to the end of times.

Like she is mine, a sharp voice whispers in the back of his head.

He buries his face into her neck, biting her, hard enough that it would leave a bruise if she didn't heal fast. Caroline sinks her nails into his shoulders, dragging them up, making Klaus hiss against her skin. He wishes he would mark, that his body would bear witness to what that woman does to him, just as he wishes he could brand her. He would leave his mark just above her collarbone, where he sucks intently, so everyone would see. He would then mark her breast, right next to her nipple, which he takes in his mouth, sucking on it with the barest scrape of his teeth to worry on the sensitive part while he tugs on the other one. Caroline exhales loudly, her fingers pulling at his hair.

His tongue leaves a wet trail down her stomach, around her navel, all the way to the hem of her underwear. Klaus stretches her legs further apart, his mouth latching onto the smooth skin on the inside her thigh, while his finger drags teasingly against the crotch of her panties. Caroline writhes, biting back on a curse under her breath, pushing down onto his fingers. He stretches the fabric into a string, rubbing it against her clit. She lets out a louder moan, and he smirks against her skin, biting her yet again. "Shhhh," he speaks gently. "There's people sleeping in the next room," he teases. "There's people standing right outside."

Caroline jerks her head up, freezing in shock with her lips parted as though only now realizing it. "Oh, fuck," she breathes out. "The wolves."

"Do you want me to stop?" he asks, pulling away.

Her fingers clutch tightly on his hair as she guides his head back between her thighs. "Don't even think about it. I'll be quiet."

Klaus smiles, taking that as a challenge.

He rips the last piece of clothing off of her and is treated to a mild frown only, which immediately vanishes as one finger slowly touches her, just circling her slit, not penetrating her, not yet, just teasing the wet mess of her arousal. Caroline's expression smooths into bliss as she throws her head back, biting on her lip. She attempts to coax him into doing more, and he keeps evading her demands as she grows pushier and more impatient.

"Klaus..." she breathes out. "Can you just... For the love of God, just -"

"Shhhh..."

"Stop shushing me!" she grinds out, lifting her head in annoyance.

A smirk curves at his lips, thoroughly amused to see her protest morph into a strangled Oh fuck as he lets one finger slide in, hooking it inside of her. She hums, her thighs clenching, and he inserts a second digit then. Caroline rolls her hips down unabashed. He leaves a trail of kisses on the innermost part of her thighs before he finally reaches her core, his lips touching the wet mess of her. Klaus' tongue darts out in gentle, teasing caresses, relishing the feeling of her body tensing each time he does it, before finally attacking her most sensitive parts until Caroline has completely forgotten about the wolves stationed outside, the unflattering noises coming out of her only too easy to capture. Klaus is not at all shy about these things, has never minded an audience, but he knows Caroline is not so free with her intimacy. She's young still, there's much for her to live and learn. But if he cannot mark her, then he can at least make them listen so they will know she is his.

The cage of his jeans has become painful by now, but Klaus resists the urge to relieve himself, or to rut down on the bed. He enjoys the pain. Tonight is not about gratification, it's not playful or light like so many of the nights he's spent with her over the last year or so. Tonight is about reassurance, about release. About making Caroline need him the way he needs her. As though her whole body might explode if she doesn't have him. As though his touch is the only thing that will ever make her sound again. That line between madness and soundness, pleasure and pain, is a rather fine one.

Klaus feels the climax building in her and doesn't stop, attacking her clit more savagely until she comes undone around his fingers with a gasp, her back arching over the bed before she relaxes completely. He lifts his head, licking his swollen lips, his eyes devouring as he takes in her state - flushed, spent and glowing, staring at him from under her eyelashes. Caroline hoists herself up enough to hook a hand around his neck and pull him down into a plundering kiss, tasting herself on his tongue. She moans again when she feels his bulge rubbing against her middle, the rough material of his clothes swiping mercilessly on her sensitive clit. It isn't long before she is reaching between their bodies, fingers deftly undoing his belt and opening his trousers to free his cock without ever breaking apart. Klaus exhales loudly against her mouth at the relief, rock hard and begging for attention.

Caroline wraps her fingers around his length, giving him a few pumps. He's so slick he can easily fuck her dry hand. But that's not what he wants.

Disentangling himself from her is almost physically painful, but he does it as quickly as he can manage, kicking out of his clothes before he lies back on top of her. Caroline welcomes him with a kiss and a nibble, sucking his lower lip into her mouth. She spreads her legs further apart to accommodate him, but he tests her limits once more by teasing her folds with his cock, rocking his hips against her and pushing the head just a little bit. Caroline's breath hitches, fingers digging into his back.

Klaus buries his face into the curve of her neck, teeth closing around the point where her pulse is stronger. Goosebumps travel across his body as he breathes her in, that formidable smell of arousal and sweat and him, deep-seated all over her body. It makes him growl, his beast roaring inside of him as he grinds against her harder. When he finally slides into her, he does it all once, quickly, going deep. Caroline clamps around him, whimpering, her teeth closing around his shoulder hard, with a hint of fangs grazing his skin. Klaus grunts loudly, a feral sound that tears out of his chest as he begins to pound into her. With each thrust, Caroline squirms, her noises escalating as they lose themselves into the mad rhythm.

"Klaus..." she moans, his name, her breathless voice like music to his feverish ears.

"Klaus..." she goes again.

"Klaus."

It's only when she puts a hand to his chest to gently push him back that he realizes she'd been calling to him, not moaning his name in pleasure. He stops moving, buried inside of her, a sudden urgency taking over him.

"Am I hurting you?"

Caroline touches his face. "You're hurting yourself."

In one fluid movement, she rolls around so that he's lying on his back and she's the one on top, careful as to not break the full contact. She exhales sharply as she settles down onto him with a light roll of her hips, his cock going deeper still inside of her. But then she freezes, leaning down, placing a soft kiss on his lips. He tastes a bit of blood in her mouth, and realizes she must've sunk her fangs deeper than he realized. He barely felt it, so lost in his own mind as he was.

"You're too tense," she whispers gently, peppering his face with kisses. First on his cheeks, then his eyelids, then his jaw, kissing away the hard lines on his expression. "You're in here..." She kisses his temple. "You're always in here now. I can't reach you there, and I don't like that. I want you here..." She takes his hand to her mouth, kissing each of his fingertips and then his palm. "With me."

"I am," he counters weakly, knowing very well that she is right.

Caroline shakes her head again. "I want to see you when I look into your eyes. And I want you to see me."

She straightens up, the beautiful line of her back arching as she splays her palms on his chest for support and begins to move. She starts riding him, pulling up and then moving down with a roll of her hips, picking up the rhythm as she goes. Her lips part as she gasps, eyes glinting with delight every time he gets buried to the hilt. It's as though the whole world stops moving, just the two of them locked in the moment. All he sees is Caroline, perfect in all of her glory, bouncing on top of him with intent in her eyes locked onto his, her sounds rattling off the walls and echoing deep inside his chest. He puts a hand on her ass, helping to guide her movement. His free hand finds her clit, making her shudder with each stroke.

She can't resist throwing her head back anymore, lifting a hand to tug on her own nipple. Klaus bucks up against her, teeth clenched with each grinding movement. It gets hungrier, faster, a loud slapping sound each time they meet. Klaus' hands tighten on her as he slams deep with a grunt, spilling inside of her. Caroline clenches deliciously around him, rocking her hips to push him on. "Keep going," she commands. "Don't stop now."

Klaus does as she asks and rides out his orgasm for her, swiping his fingers against her clit. Her orgasm comes not long after, with a whimper and a tighter clench that steals his breath away. Caroline collapses on top of him, and Klaus wraps his arms around her, brushing the hair off the side of her face. She looks absolutely glorious... Skin sleek and glistening with sweat against his, her cheekbones pink with feverish exertion.

He shuts his eyes, focusing on the mad pounding of her heart against his own as his breath slows down. She stays like that, so quiet, for a long time, and he starts to think she might have fallen asleep with him still inside her when she finally rolls off to lie on her back beside him.

"That was..." Caroline finishes her sentence with a contended breath and a smile.

"Pleasure is all mine, love."

"Oh, it's definitely not."

She cuddles into him, one leg thrown over his, and Klaus opens his arm to fit her comfortably on the curve of his shoulder. She places a kiss on his chest and then settles her head there, draping an arm over him. "Will you stay here?"

"Do you want me to?"

"I always want you to stay."

"Not lately, you don't."

"That's because you've been acting crazy and annoying the hell out of me. It doesn't mean I don't miss you."

"Caroline -"

"Klaus," she cuts him off, lifting her head to look him in the eye. "Shhhh. Not now."

He smiles softly as she nuzzles her face into the crook of his neck.

Klaus throws one of the covers on top of them, keeping his eyes firmly on the ceiling while Caroline falls asleep. The mayhem in his head hasn't subsided in the least, but still Klaus finds peace. For now, anyway.

Slowly, sleep begins to pull at him, his eyelids heavy. In the warm comfort of Caroline's embrace, with her body pinning him down onto the bed and her easy breath and steady heartbeats to lull him, he finally finds it in himself to give in to an exhaustion that's kept him awake for so many nights in the last few weeks. If only he could always keep her like this...

TBC

---

WELL. lol

We continue on with Klaus' downward spiral and if you've watched TO, you'll know there were quite a number of changes in this chapter compared to the episode. Things are escalating fast.

I have a song in my head as soundtrack for THAT scene, you know which one, if you'd like some background music. It's I'll Be Good, by Jaymes Young. As the incredible lyrics at the top suggests, this is the most KLAUS song I have ever heard, so I highly recommend it.

Thanks for reading!