Disclaimer: I don't own it, I swear!
"Poison and Wine" by the Civil Wars - Your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
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"What do you mean you're ditching my clean up committee?" Caroline asked lightly as she eyed the streamers that lay limply through the corridor. The tattered remains of the dance were all that could be shown for that crazy night. Esther was gone, the biggest threat to the very existence of vampires wiped out. But it came at a price - didn't it always? Mr Saltzman, the strength and adult reassurance that the rag-tag group of teens desperately relied upon was gone.
"Klaus called" Tyler sighed wearily, "I'm at his mansion"
Caroline paused in her tracks. The thought of her semi-boyfriend and her semi-problem being in the same place was not a welcome one, "What? Why?"
"He's leaving town and he wants me to pack up his house" Tyler muttered, the sounds of objects clunking around, signalling he was in the middle of his task.
Caroline's heart gave a nervous flutter. It was true. He did come to say goodbye, "Seriously? Being sired equals mover slave?"
"He's probably just pissy because you shot him down last night"
Caroline bit her lip guiltily. Tyler had, of course, been brimming with questions the moment the dance was over. Caroline had told the truth, to an extent. Klaus' promises, and her refusal. The tale of the romantic dance wasn't really necessary, "He's being petty"
"And he still thinks I'm sired to him. It's fine. I'll keep up the act, and it'll be over soon. He'll be out of our lives. And then we can start from where we left off"
Caroline stood in the empty hallway, grinning widely. It hurt her cheeks, but it felt right. It felt like how she should behave. It's what she had always wanted, after all, "I'm sorry he's being such an ass to you"
"Don't worry about it Care" Tyler replied warmly, "Will you manage the clear up without me?"
"Matt should be here to help" Caroline murmured, suddenly relishing the thought of cleaning and organisation. Something to keep her busy, to stop her mind, "It'll get done. I'll see you soon?"
"I'll see you soon"
Pocketing her mobile, she carried on into the dining room. Clearly using the trashcan as a source of frustration, given the large dent in the side, Rebekah continued to hurl piece after piece of party merchandise in the innocent receptical.
Given all that had passed with Klaus, and the fact Caroline hadn't forgiven her for her less than subtle comments at the dress shop, the thought of spending the next four hours with the blonde Original dampened Caroline's desire for distraction. Knowing full well he wasn't there, Caroline half-heartedly hoped he'd pop up from behind a pillar,"Where's Matt?"
"He bailed. Got called into work at the last minute" Rebekah muttered, continuing her anger management on the trashcan.
Caroline couldn't help but groan as her fears were confirmed, "Seriously? It's just the two of us?"
"Yes and you're late. Clean up commitee started at eight" Rebekah continued, the frostiness in her voice echoing the scowl etched on her features.
"It's like eight oh two" Caroline justified, waving her phone as proof. Two minutes. Two minutes did not count.
"Exactly, I managed to turn up on time, and I didn't even get to attend the dance that I organised" Rebekah finally turned to face Caroline directly, her shoulders slumped, her voice attempting to be icily nonchalant. It didn't work.
It was strange, feeling sympathy for the Original, and yet Caroline felt a deep ache in her chest for her. Try as she might to persuade them otherwise, Rebekah was just a girl. A lonely little girl who had been abandoned and let down, "I'm sorry about your Mom... I mean, I know you like, hated her and everything, but still, I'm sorry"
Rebekah placed the trashcan back on the ground, a soft smile warming her face at Caroline's hesitant sympathy, "I'm sorry about your teacher. He seemed like a nice guy"
"Yeah, he was" Caroline smiled fondly, her eyes misting ever so slightly. It was hard to believe he was gone. Alaric had always been such a strong constant ever since the supernatural storm had blown into their lives.
Clearing her throat awkwardly at the mutual moment of companionship, Rebekah announced loudly, "I'm going to get started on the gym"
Caroline began to gather together the rubbish. It was oddly soothing, wiping away all the mess of the night before. If only real life were that simple. Try as she might, she couldn't stop thinking about him. The dance. The promise. And the sense of loss that she just couldn't shake.
A loud crash snapped her from her thoughts. She'd been involved in enough vampire showdowns to know that sound well enough - someone had been thrown into a locker. Without thinking it through, Caroline hurtled to the source of the commotion - a shocked Rebekah, pinned by an undead Alaric, with the White Oak stake inches from her heart.
Caroline threw herself at him, using the element of surprise to slam him off balance. Rebekah wrenched the stake from his hand, the bones cracking sickeningly in an otherwise silent exchange. Leaning heavily, both girls put their full weight on the wood, driving it fully Alaric's chest. He paused, only for a moment, before reaching up to pry the implement out.
Rebekah was a few paces in front, a thousand years of speed on her just had to get her keys. Her ever so human clutziness took over, her fingers freezing and her mind going blank. The smell of sizzling flesh, the fear, the panic, Alaric's face, and an unbearable pressure on her neck were the last things Caroline saw before the world went black.
Her body was sore, her head heavy, her arms weighed down. She opened her eyes, knowing full well what she would see. Alaric's maniacal smile filled her with dread, as he deftly twirled a pencil between his fingers. She pulled at the ropes that bound her to the chair, trying to silence the noise of relief as they began to twist and fray.
"Now Caroline" Alaric tutted, using the pencil to stir the contents of the beaker, "Did you really think I'd just tie you down with ropes? Really?" He dropped to her level, his lips inches from her ear as he muttered lowly, "I wanted you to be awake for the main event"
Her blood curdling scream echoed through the deserted halls, bouncing off the lockers. Her hand was on fire, the vervain eating into her skin that was desperately trying to knit itself back together. Blinding pain overtook her again as Alaric slammed the other pencil into her other hand, securing her to the desk.
She begged, she pleaded, she sobbed and Alaric simply chuckled as he secured the vervain soaked rag to her mouth. Each breath was fiery, the cruelest burn that she had ever known. Her throat was raw, the blood trickling down to her melted lungs. Each tear, mixed with vervain, traced a scorching path down her pale skin.
It felt like hours as she drifted in and out of consciousness, as Alaric carved patterns along her arm with a scalpel. A crimson river flooded the desk, as he carved every inch of flesh, muttering about all the sick, evil things she'd done as a vampire. She thought of her mother's face, hugging her as she recovered from her father's torture. She thought of Tyler, as he carried her weakened body back to her house. She thought of Klaus, and his gentle touches the night they met, the night he saved her.
She snapped back into the present the moment she saw Elena's doe eyes staring at her tenderly, her fingers hesitantly reaching out to the bloody mess in front of her. Her flesh began to rip as the pencil was withdrawn, only to be rammed down once again. Caroline couldn't help but scream, her inward breath inhaling more of the fiery vervain.
Releif came when Alaric removed the rag, as she frantically inhaled the clean air. She begged, she pleaded as he doused it even more vervain. She hovered at the edge of reality as she heard the heated exchange between Elena and Alaric,
"If you don't side with the humans, you're just as bad as them. Now, kill her, or I'll do it for you. And I'll make it hurt"
When the stake hovered over heart, Elena's tear stained eyes begging for forgiveness, she wanted nothing more than to grant it. She didn't welcome death, but she wasn't afraid. All she wanted was peace.
But Elena had no intention of that.
"I thought I taught you better than that"
"You did"
One smashed beaker later and the girls made their escape. Her hands began to knit together the moment she flew out the classroom, Elena not far behind. And yet Caroline was alone in the darkened corridor. Steeling herself for what was inevitable, Caroline prepared to barrel back to her best friend's aide.
An arm wrapped around her waist, a hand silencing her cries. She struggled in vain against the strong grip, the arms wrapping round her like bands of steel, as a strong, commanding voice soothed her, "Shhh, it's okay, it's me. It's okay. You're safe"
Instantly relaxing, Caroline drew a ragged breath, leaning heavily against Klaus' chest, his arm remaining around her waist, supporting her. His palm ached dully, his rage increasing. He knew what had caused that. His fingers were lost in her golden curls in a feeble, desperate bid to comfort her.
His warm breath danced along her neck as he whispered, "We'll save Elena, you go straight home. You stay inside. Do you understand?"
He whipped her around to face him, his fingers wrapped around her arms roughly, but desperately protective, "Do you understand me?"
She nodded weakly, her eyes locked with his. She could see it, the golden embers of anger as he scanned her burnt body and bloodied clothes. A clatter had the hunter in him poised to attack, his eyes trained on the shadows, ready to protect her from the monsters.
She couldn't do anything but stare at him. Each new cut made her mind wander to that night, when they met. When he saved her.
And there he was. Saving her all over again. It was hard to believe, given that less than twenty four hours ago they had danced their supposed final waltz. The ache of vervain still held her lungs, blistered her skin, permeated her clothes. It could all be a dream, an illusion, created by her mind to cope with the relentless torture. He had saved her before. It was easy enough to assume that this was all a little dream
She raised an unsteady hand, the hesitation almost stopping her path. She just needed to feel him, make sure he was real. Her fingertips grazed the underside of his jaw, dancing along his stubble as he turned to face her once more.
He was there.
He was most definitely there.
His eyes were wide, filled completely with soft concern as he watched her closely. Her cheeks were slowly losing their fiery red burns, ghosting back to the delicate ivory. He was angry. So, so angry. It was like a fire in his chest, the rage that was slowly swelling, his dark desire to rip Alaric's head off pulsing through his veins.
And then, whispering the two most unfamiliar words he had ever known, she wiped his mind, "Thank you"
She didn't think, she didn't rationalise, she didn't do anything that was oh so Caroline Forbes. She just did what felt right. Placing both hands on his shoulders as leverage, she slowly leaned into him, gently placing her lips on his.
He kept completely still, like a rock, waiting to see her pull away, to scold herself. But she didn't. She bestowed one, two, three, delicate innocent kisses. They rained down, like butterfly wings, expressing everything she couldn't put into words - her thanks, the relief she felt, the fact she felt completely and utterly safe in his arms.
It took all the strength he had to stay still. She was like a beautiful animal - wild, independent, but afraid. One wrong move and she would spook, and he would regret it for eternity. She hummed gently, her lips finding his for one last, lingering kiss. It was instinct as he leaned in. He couldn't let her leave. Not yet.
He gently kissed her back, sucking her bottom lip, a low growl eminating from his chest. He knew that taste - coppery, metallic and hot. Vervain. The contact had done more than just swell his heart. It had reminded him of his purpose here. To save her. To avenge her.
It was funny. That one, chaste kiss had her heart clenching, her stomach twirling, the pain and misery forgotten. But they couldn't stay like this forever, no matter how much she wished they could. She pulled back to see his dark eyes, which were fixed solely on her. There was the faintest rim of gold that was radiating, and burning brighter. With that one kiss, she had set a fire that would blaze forever. They both knew it.
She didn't regret it.
Klaus needed to rip Alaric limb from limb. Ruin his mother's plan, and make him pay for every bruise, every cut that riddled Caroline's skin. And yet he couldn't. Not yet. Not until he knew she was safe, "Go home. Be safe"
She nodded slowly, her mind buzzing. He waited for a moment more, gently tracing her cheek with his index finger, as though to immortalise her face in his mind. And then he was gone.
Her home was supposed to be a sanctuary, to mean safety, and yet she felt nothing but fear. The kind of fear that shrunk her heart, seeped into every pore and filled her stomach with lead.
She hadn't felt an ounce of fear the moment Klaus saved her. Yes, of course it was partially to do with the fact that he was a physical match for Alaric, but it was more to do with the reality that it was Klaus. It defied all reason, but she wanted him to save her. She wanted Klaus.
Tyler's brilliant smile as he came to find her as darkness fell warmed her in an instant, and she flew into his arms. She longed for contact following her moment with Klaus, she needed something that was natural and good. Tyler. Tyler was the epitome of good. She needed that after the realisation that her heart yearned for the darkness of the Original Hybrid.
"Is it done?" she mumbled, her face buried into his shoulder.
Tyler pulled her head up, with eyes sparkling and deliriously happy, "Not exactly, but he's out of our lives. We dessicated him, Caroline"
She didn't need him to say it, she knew. She just knew that 'him' wasn't the monster of today, but her saviour. Hesitantly, praying she was wrong, she titlted her head, "Alaric?"
"Klaus"
Klaus.
Klaus.
Klaus was dessicated.
"He's really gone?" Caroline questioned. Tyler missed every drop of bitterness and melancholy that laced her words as he nodded enthusiatically.
It was twisted. Caroline felt sick as she returned his grin, throwing her arms around his neck, declaring they should celebrate. Because, wasn't this how it was supposed to go? The Good Team celebrate the victory over the Bad?
She kept the wide grin plastered to her face all night. It ached, but she welcomed the pain. It felt right. It was the only thing that felt even remotely okay. The Good Team laughed and joked, buoyed by their victory. Choosing to forget that the man who quite literally ripped their friend apart only a few hours ago lay in wait, ready to wreak vengeance on them all with the rising of the sun. Instead, they chose to celebrate the death of their one time ally.
The man who had rescued Caroline in too many ways to name.
The irony of it all? She was so disgusted, she became the life of the party. She laughed, she clapped, she joked. It was all she could do stop from breaking down. She should be happy. She should revel in Tyler's touch and kisses. She should be happy.
She shouldn't feel her heart break as she thought about Klaus' lips molding with hers.
She shouldn't feel her stomach turn at the thought of him, cold and grey, dumped unceremoniously on the ground.
Throwing back a shot of tequila, she allowed the tears that had threated to fall for hours spill across her cheeks. It didn't help. Nothing could help her now. She'd fallen for him.
And he wasn't there to catch her.
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Hi!
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