Chapter Sixteen
The next day, Caroline tried to help Elena get the moonstone, and deal with everything. It had been an eventful week, but Caroline knew that if she didn't get it together than she wouldn't be ready for when her uncle showed up. So she pulled herself together again, put on makeup, did her hair and put on the perfect smile and became the Caroline everyone was expecting again. It had ended with her lowering Elena down into a well to save Stefan and to find a stone, and then finally back at the Salvatore house sitting with Elizabeth Forbes, telling her what she had done that day, trying her best not to focus on what had happened the previous night;
"... So I pulled Stefan out of this well, and he's all vervained and just rotted. But, Bonnie wasn't mean to me once, and I just, I really think it's progress, you know? I just… What?" Caroline asked, noticing the look on her adoptive mother's face. She paused before she realized what it meant, "I'm freaking you out."
"It's just that you've become this person…"
"Don't. Don't. I. I'm just starting to get along."
"This strong, this confident person." Liz Forbes, finished.
"Oh, thank you."
"You don't have to take my memories away. I'll keep your secret, I won't ruin anything. Look, if you're worried about them, just say you compelled me. I'll never do anything to hurt you."
"We never talk like this. Not since before he came back into my life. I know I can trust you with this, but it will never be the same. You can't say that you will never hurt me, because you did hurt me, that can't be undone by one nice conversation. I will let you out, I will let you remember who I am, but I moved all my belongings to the village and will be staying there. Dad is removing you from the paperwork and placing another two humans on it. You will still be my legal guardian to everyone in this town, but you won't be to me anymore. I am sorry, but I can't do it anymore. I can't live pretending like everything is okay, not with someone that I share a house with." Caroline explained, her voice sad and her heart aching. After making sure that Liz was okay, she grabbed her purse and went back to the village, she had homework, and she wanted to get away from everything.
The next day she skipped the Masquerade ball, she knew that the group had a plan to take down Kathrine, but she didn't much care to play a part. Her phone woke her up though, ringing nonstop.
"Hello?"
"Caroline, where are you?"
"Bonnie, I'm at the Village, what's going on?"
"Elena has gone missing, we think she was kidnapped." Bonnie explained on the other end of the phone call.
"What do you know?" Caroline asked, quickly getting out of her bed.
"Nothing. Jeremy found her room empty and untouched this morning, and nobody has seen her. Do you think that's him?"
"I don't know. If it is though, we need to let my dad handle it, he has a plan in place." Caroline replied.
"I know."
"I'll get ready and meet you at school, hopefully we can figure this out. Keep me posted if something happens before that."
"Will do." Bonnie hung up the phone and Caroline moved to get ready for the day.
Elijah was walking to his normal café when the phone rang, he knew who it was before he answered, it was the call he had been waiting on.
"Hello."
"Boss. Rose says she has a human doppelgänger"
"It's not possible for there to be a human." Elijah replied, acting the perfect response.
"Well, they assured me they have one. She is willing to give her to you if you let them have their freedom."
"Where are they?"
"I'm sending you the address now. It shouldn't be too far from your current location." After the man had finished speaking, Elijah hung up the phone. Now it was time for the greatest acting job of his life.
Elijah placed the ring that messed with his looks just enough to make sure that Elena wouldn't recognize him on his finger, calmly getting out of the car. He knew that this was life or death for his daughter and her friend. Yet, he also trusted his plan. He opened the door calmly, before checking the barrier and stepping inside, Rose was coming down the stairs.
"Rose-Marie, is there somewhere we can talk?"
"Yes. In here. You have to forgive the house." Rose replied, her words choppy from her nerves.
"Oh, no. What's a little dirt? I completely understand." He replied with a smile, closing the door behind him, before continuing. "So tell me, what is it that gives you the courage to call me?"
"I wanted my freedom. I'm tired of running. Are you in a position to grant me that?"
"I have complete authority to grant pardon to you and your little pet. What is his name these days? Trevor. If I so see fit."
"Katerina Petrova?" Rose simply asked. Anger rushed through Elijah at the name, but outwardly he stayed perfectly calm, simply turning to face the other vampire,
"I'm listening."
"She didn't burn in the church in 1864."
"Continue." Elijah replied, sitting in a chair nearby.
"She survived."
"Where is she?"
"You don't seem surprised by this."
"Oh, when you called and invited me into this armpit of civilization, which is a mere three hours from the town we know as Mystic Falls, I surmised it had everything to do with Katerina. Do you have her in your possession?"
"No. I have better. I have her doppelgänger."
"That's impossible. Her family line ended with her. I know that for a fact."
"The facts are wrong." Rose replied, a small smile graced her face, and it almost made Elijah chuckle, the fact that she thought she was so ahead of the game made him want to tell her just how much information he already had before she even threatened to dial his contact's phone number.
"Well, show her to me."
"Elijah, you're a man of honor. You're to be trusted, but I want to hear you say it again."
"You have my word that I will pardon you."
"Follow me."
Caroline was busy trying to help Tyler figure out his life, but when she got the text from Bonnie saying they had found where Elena was and that she had sent Damon and Stefan after her, she knew that she was needed elsewhere. When she entered the room where Bonnie was, the candles were still burning.
"Bonnie, are you still doing the spell?"
"No, I was waiting on you. I know this might be risky, but what if we try to use your blood to track and see if your dad is near her?"
"I wish." Caroline chuckled.
"Why can't we?"
"Klaus keeps dad under a close radar, any signal of magical tracking and we're toast. Dad told me to keep a low profile, so I plan to do just that. If he wants me to know that the plan has started than he will tell me, if not I just have to trust him."
"And do you?"
"Do I what?" Caroline asked, her fingers running over the map near where it said Elena was.
"Do you trust him?"
"More than anyone I have ever met before in my life. He will succeeded at his plan, I know he will."
"What if he doesn't?"
"He has to."
"Why?"
"Because if he fails, Klaus will kill him."
"Caroline, Klaus has always just wanted his family to be there, I really don't think that he would kill him." Bonnie countered.
"Well, he would kill me."
Elijah followed Rose through the darkened house into a lit hall that opened up into a room. Elena was on the opposite side of the room and when she heard them she turned around, fear clearly written on her face. Elijah paused for a moment at the top of the stairs that led into the room before flashing in front of her and smelling her blood. He had to act as if he had no clue that she was human, and he also had to remind everyone in the room just exactly who he was.
"Human. It's impossible." Elijah stated, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before looking down at the tear filled eyes in front of him, "Hello there." There was no response from anyone in the room, and in the silence Elijah's trained senses heard the car doors slam outside, just as he had hoped the Salvatore's had shown up. So he continued his performance;
"Well, we have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going."
"Please, don't let him take me." Elena begged to Rose, causing the vampire to look away.
"One last piece of business. Then we're done." Elijah continued, turning to walk towards the two vampires at the other side of the room.
"I've waited so long for this day, Elijah. I'm truly very sorry." Trevor spoke.
"Oh, no, your apologies not necessary."
"Yes. Yes, it is. You trusted me with Katerina…" Trevor paused just long enough to give time for Elijah's blood to boil over in anger. He hated the man before him, if he had done what he had needed to do five hundred years ago, Elijah would not be standing in this room putting on an act, he would be with his daughter.
"...and I failed you." Trevor finished, his eyes focused on the ground.
"Oh, yes, you are the guilty one, and Rose aided you because she was loyal to you. That, I honor. Where was your loyalty?" Elijah asked, his anger deepening his voice.
"I beg your forgiveness."
"So granted." Elijah said, a slight smile gracing his face before he slammed his hand into Trevor's neck, removing his head from his body. Rose yelled in pain, as if she had been the one to take the hit, Elena gasped in the background.
"You…" Rose began, taking a step down the stairs.
"Don't, Rose… Now that you are free." Elijah paused, straightening his suit before turning once again to Elena, "Come."
"No, what about the moonstone?" Elena blabbed, trying her best to delay the inevitable.
"What do you know about the moonstone?"
"I know that you need it, and I know where it is."
"Yes."
"I can help you get it." Elena had fear in her eyes with every word, and it reminded Elijah of whom he had been for the last millennium before he got Caroline back, this monster that would take heads at the slightest turn was who he was without Regina, without Caroline.
"Tell me where it is." He beckoned.
"It doesn't work that way." Elena replied, Elijah physically a bit back his anger,
"Are you negotiating with me?" Elijah asked, with slight humor in his voice, before turning to look at Rose,
"It's the first I've heard of it." Rose promised. Elijah turned his attention back to Elena, he could smell the Vervain as well as he could smell the human in her blood, he knew that the Salvatore's would not be long now, so he stopped messing around with the fake negotiating,
"What is this vervain doing around your neck?" He asked before ripping it off and forcing her to look at him, "Tell me where the moonstone is."
"In the tomb underneath the church ruins."
"What is it doing there?"
"It's with Katherine."
"Interesting. What is that?" Elijah asked, stepping back as he heard glass shatter. He knew who it was, but he was also never going to let anyone know that.
"I don't know." Rose replied.
"Who else is in this house?"
"I don't know." at Rose's response, Elijah grabbed Elena by the back of the neck, shoving her towards Rose and the exit, "Move!" It was at the door that he stopped. He knew what was about to go down. He held Elena near him by her arm until one of the brothers flashed by, he then threw her to Rose to gain his bearings. He knew his goal, he didn't like it, but he knew it.
"Rose."
"I don't know who it is." She assured him.
"Up here." Stefan Salvatore's voice floated down from the staircase. Elijah moved halfway up them to get a better look.
"Down here." Damon's voice echoed from the hallway. He turned to receive a wooden stake through the hand, that he calmly pulled out. Rose and Elena having disappeared down the hall, Elijah threw the stick to the other side of the room.
"Excuse me. To whom it may concern, you're making a great mistake if you think that you can beat me. You can't. You hear that? I repeat, you cannot beat me." He finished ripping the wooden coat stand-off of it's base before continuing. "So I want the girl on the count of three, or heads will roll. Do we understand each other?"
"I'll come with you." Elena's voice answered from behind him. He knew it was a trick, he had listened to Stefan explain it all to Elena while he spoke. He turned around as she continued, "Just please don't hurt my friends. They just wanted to help me out."
"What game are you playing with me?" Elijah asked before Elena threw a vervain grenade in his face. He was then met with Stefan firing wooden bullets at him as he climbed the stairs, not one of them slowing him down. Once Stefan realized it he tackled Elijah, the two of them rolling down the stairs. Elijah couldn't exactly recall what happened next, all he knew was that he ended up exactly where he wanted to be, a wooden pole through his chest and the Salvatore's thinking him dead.
Caroline stood in the bathroom of the cabin in the village she was waiting on a phone call, staring herself down in the mirror. She was searching for a glimpse of him. Any sign that she was the daughter of Elijah. She wanted to be like him, and yet recently she felt like she had only been a broken mess. When the door opened, and she heard Bonnie enter she didn't move, when Bonnie appeared at the entrance of the bathroom, Caroline glanced up in the mirror to look at her.
"Is Elena okay?" Caroline asked, her voice steady and calm.
"Yeah, she is back at home, a little bruised but she's okay."
"I'm glad."
"Caroline."
"Yeah, Bonnie, what's up?" Caroline was still only looking at her friend through the mirror, not yet turning to look at her friend.
"Elena said that your dad was there. She didn't know that, of course, but Elijah was who the captors called. He was trying to take her, Stefan and Damon fought him, he was winning, but Damon caught him off guard…" Bonnie paused, her voice catching in her throat. She had seen her friend two nights ago, broken and destroyed that she couldn't be with her father, how on earth was she going to tell her that she would never see him again.
"Damon caught him off guard… and…" Caroline prompted.
"They. Caroline. They killed him. Elijah. Your dad. He's gone." Bonnie searched her friend's face for a sign of her response. Caroline froze for a moment, glanced back to search her own face. There were no tears, she felt numb for the first time. Her eyes went hard, her face strong.
"Caroline?" Bonnie asked, stepping towards her friend.
"Thanks for telling me."
"Are you okay?"
"Fine."
"Caroline, are you sure?" Bonnie continued.
"I'm fine Bonnie. Go check on Elena, you need to make sure she is okay, truly okay." Caroline insisted. Bonnie only nodded, a small smile on her face in support of her friend. When she walked towards the door though, she paused to look back, and that was when she saw it. Caroline was a Mikaelson now, she wasn't the friend who always put others first, even when it killed those she loved and her. She wasn't the girl who sat broken anymore. She was a Mikaelson, strong, hard, loyal, controlled, dangerous. Bonnie realized that they had lost more than Elijah today, Caroline Forbes was gone too. All that was left was Caroline Mikaelson, and Bonnie knew At that moment that her friend would die trying to finish what her father started, and there would be no stopping her.