Takk kærlega! (Had to google this one, too, so bear with me, Iceland! :))

Thanks everyone, as always, for reading, reviewing etc etc. Apologies for continuosly repeating myself, but I'm just plain grateful for all your amazing support of this fic!

Happy weekend, guys! :)

xx

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

KNOW THY SELF, KNOW THY ENEMY

Early the next morning, Klaus stood outside his brother's door, hesitating.

"Niklaus. Do come in," Elijah's voice sounded from inside after a while.

"Brother," he nodded as he stepped into the room, spotting his older sibling on the couch, a cup of coffee in one hand and what looked like the local newspaper in the other.

"Would you care to join me, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, pointing towards the coffee table.

"No tea?" Klaus demanded, furrowing his brows.

"Oh please. This is France, mon cher frère," Elijah chuckled, "are you so keen on poisoning yourself?"

"Good point," Klaus grinned as he strolled over and poured himself a cup of coffee. "I never quite understood how one is unable to find some decently prepared tea outside of Britain, Asia and perhaps some isolated places in Germany. Well, I suppose that in light of their exquisite cuisine, we should be inclined to forgive the French." He took a seat opposite his brother, sipping the coffee. After a moment of amicable silence, he spoke again.

"When did you return last night?"

Elijah gave him a small smile, setting the newspaper aside. "You did not hear? That is a first indeed. But then you were otherwise engaged, were you not?" At Klaus' frown, he just nodded. "Late enough. Do not fret, I heard nothing of your conversation." His smile grew wider, and Klaus noticed the genuine joy on his brother's face. "However, I did return just in time to hear the lovely Caroline say something very particular to you."

Klaus couldn't help the smile spreading on his own face. "She did indeed."

Elijah gave his brother an affectionate glance before he asked, "So, always and forever, is it?"

In a rare display of self-consciousness, tugging on the lapel of his shirt, Klaus just nodded. Centuries of living together with his sharp-eared siblings had made him become very used to the lack of privacy their enhanced senses entailed, and it had never given him any headaches that his brothers and sister could actually hear him having sex. He had had to listen to them just as often. But this… this was different. This was about intimacy, and he was not prepared to share any of it. Had it been anyone other than Elijah, he would probably fly into a fit now.

Instead, he gave another quick nod, not quite able to suppress his embarrassment. "I believe the modern juvenile term would be 'endgame'."

"Then tell her."

"I assume she already knows."

Elijah shook his head and tsked. "Do not repeat my mistakes, Niklaus. Do not assume. You have to tell her. She needs to hear you say it, do not leave her guessing. Even in the midst of the most arduous fights, or whatever the circumstances, she must never have reason to doubt your feelings."

Klaus looked out of the window thoughtfully. Neither of them were experts when it came to genuine feelings, but he knew his brother was right. She deserved the truth. Gods, she deserved everything and more.

"By the by, they will all be here in about an hour. Rebekah sent me a text not ten minutes ago. I was just about to wake you."

With a sly grin, Klaus replied, "That will give you just enough time."

Elijah looked at him, puzzled. "For?"

"'My first reaction would be to go to the nearest church and apologize to the Gods for ever doubting their existence.' Ring a bell, brother?"

The older Original laughed out loud as he remembered their conversation in the Norwegian wilderness. "Right. By Odin and all the old Gods, who would have thought I would actually arrive at this point?" He grinned and jerked his head towards the connecting door. "Go wake your girl."

"Good morning, Sleeping Venus," a dark, sinfully British voice was whispering at her ear. Caroline smiled, eyes still closed, and turned around to snuggle into his arms. Then she felt it. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Disastrously wrong! With a jolt, she was wide awake.

"Hey! You're wearing clothes!"

Klaus snickered. "My brother would probably not quite faint from seeing me without them, my love, but one should adhere to conventions from time to time, for appearances' sake. Apart from that, I am not quite certain either of the Salvatores would appreciate my greeting them stark naked, especially not with the doppelganger getting an eyeful."

Caroline gave him a playful shove and giggled. "Don't even think about it. Your stark nakedness is private property."

"I am glad to hear it. So, much as every fiber of my being screams at me not to say this, my darling, do get out of that bed. They'll be here in little under an hour."

Her eyes sparkled. "Still so much time to kill? Hm. I don't know what to do with myself."

"How about a shower and some breakfast?"

With one quick move, she threw the sheets off her naked body, delighting in his sharp intake of breath and the helpless desire igniting in his eyes. "How about I skip breakfast and you give me a valid reason for a shower?"

Caroline had never seen a man get out of his clothes so fast.

"Care, where are you?" a female voice sounded from next door. Caroline had just finished dressing and was hurriedly brushing her hair.

"Be right there, Lena!" she called, turning around to Klaus. Her eyes softened at the sight of his annoyed face. She didn't want to leave the room either, but she was really looking forward to seeing her friends again. Placing a soft, tender kiss on his still swollen lips, she gave him an enticing smile and mouthed 'Later'. He rolled his eyes, kissing her back and silently replying 'I want you again now.'

Suppressing a giggle and trying in vain to hide her absolute delight at how his desire for her seemed to simmer under the surface twenty four seven, Caroline bit her lip and let her hand run over his crotch, feeling a shudder go through her at sensing him harden immediately. Completely forgetting about everyone and everything, she rubbed his twitching cock through the fabric of his denims. Klaus' eyes narrowed and she saw a flicker of mischief in them before his hand swiftly slipped beneath her pants and panties in one fluid motion. Oh! She felt his fingers play with her clit, and her mouth opened in a silent groan. Crap. Why did I start this? How am I going to resist you now, you freaking sexy beast? But you are so… oh…not winning… ohh… With her last bit of willpower, she pulled his hand out of her jeans, wickedly intensified her ministrations on his cock for a moment and mouthed, 'We have to go!'Klaus bit his lip, grabbed her hand and mouthed 'You'll pay for this!' She put a hand over her heart and, with mock despair on her face, asked silently, "When?" Shaking his head, he just grinned and rolled his eyes at her, making her chuckle.

Caroline was beyond happy, but she was also in an emotional turmoil. Admitting to herself – and to him – that she loved him had lifted a giant burden off her heart. It seemed like a miracle to her that he had finally opened up about what had been haunting him for so long, and it was plain that the burden lifted from his heart made hers look like a little snowflake. But she didn't lend herself to illusions. Talking about the events and seeing that his fear of scaring her off was unsubstantiated had helped him enormously. But he was far from even beginning to truly heal, and he had a long way ahead of him. Caroline knew that he could never come to terms with himself if he didn't talk to Elijah. He had to tell his brother about Henrik, or he would never be completely free of the fear that his siblings might hate him for what had happened. The thought was so absurd that Caroline seriously asked herself how it could ever have crossed his brilliant mind in the first place. Then again, hadn't she believed for years that she was inferior to Elena? Didn't she still have her moments? Klaus would probably think that to be just as absurd. They were all irrational at times, and Klaus had never spoken of his fear in six hundred years, so there had been no one to disabuse him of his irrationality. Still, he had been so easy in his skin during these past few hours that she couldn't help but fall in love with playful Klaus a little more with each passing moment. Well, she didn't delude herself into believing that he would suddenly turn into a baggage-free, pure-hearted little angel. God forbid! She wanted him the way he was, Big Bad Hybrid included, and she had not a single doubt that badass Klaus would make an appearance as soon as Damon came into sight.

Kissing him quickly, she made her way to the room next door, hoping against her better judgment that he might sneak out and enter from the other side to give her some time to explain the new situation, at the very least to Elena. But he was Klaus after all. He did not sneak. He followed on her heels, his hand possessively on the small of her back, a smug smirk on his face. Caroline sighed. Let's get this over with.

Elena's head turned around like an owl's when they entered the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of them, telling Caroline that it was more than blatantly obvious what was going on between Klaus and herself. Stefan, Damon and Kol were standing next to the window, drinks in hand – what was it with vampires and liquor? It was ten in the morning! Rebekah was busying herself with the coffee, her face splitting into a huge grin at the sight of them so close to each other, and Silv was sitting on the couch next to Elijah, who was looking at her with concern in his eyes. She did look worn, Caroline noticed, before Elena flew across the room, pulled her away from Klaus and into a bear hug.

"How are you, Care? Everything okay with you?" she asked, drawing Stefan's and Damon's attention to her.

"Hey, Care," Stefan smiled warmly, a hint of concern in his voice as he was looking at her, "quite a way to drag us all over the world. How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks Stefan. And thank you for coming. All of you!"

"As if we would ever miss out on anything involving white oaks, heaps of polar snow, our beloved Originals and scorching hot witches," Damon snickered, winking at Silv who just shook her head in exasperation.

"It's only been a couple of days and he is already getting on my nerves. Is he always like this?" she asked Caroline, a faint smile on her lovely face. "Pretty much," Caroline replied, taking a closer look at Silv. "How are you, Silv?"

"I'm fine," the witch replied, but her eyes betrayed her. Silv wasn't fine at all, and judging by the anxiety on Elijah's face, he was well aware of it. What was going on?

"So," Damon said, looking at Klaus, "what's the deal, Blofeld? We got the stakes, the pile of oak wood, the ashes, we burned the tree – all the while you were dawdling about, playing hooky with Blondie here. I do hope you finally got laid though. Might ease some of your world domination fantasies."

"Damon!" Elena hissed. Caroline eyed Klaus warily, but the Original just gave Damon a sardonic smile.

"And yourself, mate?" he asked pleasantly, shooting a pointed glance at Elena, then at Stefan and back at Damon. "Calluses much?"

Now it was Caroline who hissed. "Klaus!"

Damon chuckled. "Stalemate?" he suggested, earning an arrogant grin from Klaus. "You wish."

"Boys," Elijah's calm voice came from the couch, "could you postpone the banter? We need to get everyone on the same page and discuss how to proceed. Ladies – won't you sit down?"

Once everyone was seated, Klaus immediately took over. "This is the situation. Mikael has been resuscitated with the help of a warlock called Prelati, who in turn has been resuscitated by your dear friend Miss Bennett, now an accomplished practitioner of the blackest of magic."

Elena's incredulous gaze found Caroline's, and she mouthed 'Bonnie?' Caroline nodded grimly, gripped by a moment of deep sadness. With everything going on, she hadn't really had the time to think about what happened to her friend the way she probably should have. She still could not fathom how Bonnie had succumbed to black magic and how she could ever have brought herself to help a sick madman like Prelati, let alone Mikael. They would need to find out what happened to her eventually. She focused her attention back on Klaus.

"I have met Prelati many centuries ago, and it was not under the most pleasant of circumstances. He served a nobleman called Gilles de Rais, who gained notoriety as one of the first known serial killers in history. Not too charming a fellow, either. We are only a few miles away from de Rais' former residence, the Château Tiffauges. However, this is essentially about Mikael, everything else is a sideshow. Mikael will want Kol and Bekah dead, with that also extinguishing their vampire lines."

Rebekah closed her eyes for an instant, gripping her coffee cup tighter, while Kol just scoffed. "Nil novum sub solem," he sneered, but it was plain to see that he was a little uncomfortable. They had all been ever since Silv had broken the news to them back in Tromsø.

"Translation for the ones who haven't been rowing on Quintus Arius's galley?" Caroline demanded, pulling a delighted chuckle from Klaus.

"'Nothing new under the sun', sweetheart." She smiled at him. "Thanks."

"You said Mikael wants Kol and me dead, Nik. What about you and Elijah?" Rebekah asked with a frown.

"He needs Elijah for his blood, as he will want to extend his stay on this side to enjoy the fruit of his work for a while. Eventually though, before he finally returns to the other side after completing his life's other mission, namely the extinction of all vampires, werewolves and Hybrids, he will also want to kill Elijah. As for me, that is a different story – he will want me completely and utterly destroyed. His plan is to kill me eventually, but not before he sees me succumb to despair and insanity for a long while."

"Too late," Damon interjected, earning a scowl from Caroline.

"Be that as it may," Klaus continued, only slightly annoyed, "Mikael and Prelati assume that the only way to really get to me is through Caroline." He paused to look at her, his gaze turning soft. "And they are right." Caroline's heart did a double take. Well, it probably would have, had it still been beating. Klaus locked his eyes with hers, making her sink into him until everything around her disappeared. Without taking his gaze off her, he spoke again.

"Whoever lays so much as a finger on Caroline is a dead man walking, which I believe is a widely known fact. There is no length I will not go to to keep her safe. And that includes my own death."

Everyone except Elijah stared at Klaus in utter amazement. Caroline didn't notice. She was in complete shock. He would die for her? She couldn't stop staring at him, unable to say or do anything. He would die for me. She saw the truth in his eyes. He would die for me.

As usual, Damon was first to recover. "Well, I suppose that means that the 'blonde distraction' tactics are not an option this time?"

Without looking away from Caroline, Klaus said pleasantly, "Kol, would you mind handing me a stake?"

Kol chuckled. "And there I thought you were having a moment, Nik. Should I do the honours?"

"Be my guest."

"Niklaus. Kol." Elijah's voice had a hint of impatience to it now, but he still managed to calm down his brothers. Klaus finally tore his gaze from Caroline who was in a daze. She turned her head slowly to look at Elena. The brunette rose her eyebrows questioningly, and Caroline looked at her for a long while. Then she gave an imperceptible nod, making Elena gasp in surprise. Oh gosh, they really needed to have some girl time later!

"Now that everyone seems to have recovered from my scandalous announcement, can we continue? Good. I originally planned to do this alone, but with everyone so keen on putting themselves in harm's way, we now have the element of surprise at our hands. Mikael is not going to expect any of my siblings to stand by my side, and even less is he going to expect a witch and the two of you." He gestured towards Stefan and Damon. "Silv, can you put a spell on the ruins that will alert you of Prelati's and Mikael's presence?"

Silv's voice was tired, but she nodded determinedly. "I will need either Kol's, Bekah's or Elijah's blood for Mikael. It has to be the blood of a relative, similar to the resuscitation spell." Elijah looked at her and assented. "You will use mine."

"What about Prelati?" Stefan asked. "If a relative's blood is needed, how is it going to work with him?"

"I will use my own. Prelati is of my bloodline."

"Yeah, one can't really pick one's family, isn't that right?" Damon teased and winked at Stefan, but he gave Silv a genuine smile. Caroline could tell he liked her – who wouldn't? – and she could also tell that both Elijah and Elena were far from happy about that. She sighed as Klaus continued.

"Silv, Elijah will drive you over to the ruins as soon as we are finished here. All right, once we know they are at the castle, I will hand myself over to them."

What?

"Have you fed on someone in delirium tremens, Klaus?" Caroline snapped in incredulous outrage. "You are most definitely not going to do anything of the sort!" Had he gone crazy? After everything he had told her last night, how could he even consider putting himself in the hands of his worst enemies? The ones who had made him and his baby brother go through hell?

"Caroline," he said evenly, "it is the only way to get them off your track. Once they have me, they won't need you. And unlike me, you can actually be killed rather quickly."

"Okay, you apparently didn't feed on someone in delirium tremens, you are in delirium tremens. Do you seriously think I will allow you to do that? Think again!"

Damon's chuckle interrupted her. "This beats the hell out of Desperate Housewives."

"Shut up, Damon!" Caroline, Klaus and Elena snapped at once. Damon stared at them and burst into a laughing fit.

"Stefan," Klaus gritted between clenched teeth. The younger Salvatore grabbed Damon's arm before Klaus decided to rip his head off and pulled his hooting sibling towards the mini bar.

"Come on, brother, time for your eleven o'clock Scotch!"

"But I haven't even finished the ten o'clock one!"

"Then consider this your lucky day."

Caroline saw Klaus' lips twitch for a millisecond before he sobered under her piercing stare. He gave a sigh and said, "It is not up for discussion, Caroline."

"Like hell it isn't! Apart from everything else, they have white oak stakes, too, so you can actually be killed pretty quickly! I can't even begin to tell you just how out of the question this is!" She was so furious she could have slapped him.

"As I told you before, it is not Mikael's aim to kill me right now but to drive me out of my mind."

"And when he sees he can't do that, he will want to kill you after all," Caroline snapped.

"Which is exactly why he will need to believe he has succeeded."

She stared at Klaus. "What does that mean?" she whispered, not quite trusting her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elijah tense as well.

Klaus' gaze softened, but she could see the cold-blooded determination in his face. With a calm, almost relaxed voice, he explained.

"It means that I will face Mikael and Prelati alone. However, we will need to stage a certain amount of drama and bloodshed beforehand, as there is no need to put any of you at any more risk than absolutely necessary. Damon excluded."

The elder Salvatore gave a light chuckle. Bromance after all?

"So here is the drift. The four of you," he pointed at Caroline, Elijah, Rebekah and Kol, "have dragged me to Tiffauges to face my past as I refused to reveal more about its influence on the current events involving Prelati. Mikael knows from the warlock that I have not let Caroline leave my side for any length of time ever since things started, so he won't be surprised at her being here. In fact, he is counting on finding her wherever I am. At some point, Rebekah and Caroline will be getting into a severe fight over my cowardice, at the end of which Rebekah will stake Caroline." A flicker of something crossed his face but he had himself under control again immediately. "Missing her heart by a mere inch, of course." He looked at Silv.

"Silv will be spelling the stake in question in order to make Caroline appear to be desiccating for real." The witch nodded in agreement. "That is simple."

Klaus stared at Rebekah now. "This will have to look very convincing, sister, and you need to be utterly precise." Rebekah nodded, her eyes bright at seeing her brother plot again. She had always admired him for his elaborate plans.

"Seeing Caroline dead," he continued, "will send me into a headless fury, making me threaten to kill each and every one of you. As Elijah and Kol will side with Rebekah, I will be daggering all three of you in order to keep you with me until I find a method to kill you off for good. Once I am finished, I will be completely devastated at how everyone has left me, so I won't be putting up any resistance when Mikael appears."

He stood up and walked over to the mini bar, taking the Scotch from Damon and downing it all at once, ignoring the elder Salvatore's protest. Then he turned to face the group again.

"I will go through whatever Mikael has planned for me. I am going to give him a stellar performance of being broken and having lost the will to live. In the meantime, Stefan and Damon will undagger everyone, which is why it is of vital importance for the whole staking and daggering scene to unfold outside of the dungeon. Mikael and Prelati must never be alerted of your presence. Silv – the minute they have me inside the cell, you will need to spell the hallway so that no sound can be heard inside the cell. Can that be done very quickly?"

"Yes," Silv replied with another nod, "of course it can."

"Silv," Elijah started to protest, but she interrupted him immediately. "Not now." He silently searched her face, giving her a very worried look, but did not say anything further.

"Once undaggered, Elijah, Rebekah and Kol will make certain that Caroline leaves the castle immediately and stays away. Elena will be waiting with a car about half a mile out, and the two of you will make sure no one is following you. Once you are positive, you will be going straight back to the hotel and stay put." He paused. "As the cell will be spelled, I won't be able to hear anything from the hallway. However, my hearing is far more keen than Mikael's, so I will need Rebekah, Kol, Silv and Stefan to approach the cell through the tunnel – we will show it to you – and give a hiss once you are behind the door to the cell so I know you are ready. That will be my sign to end the charade and kill them." He cleared his throat. "Silv. Should need arise, could you do any counterspells from the tunnel, through a closed door?"

"What do you think I am, a novice?" Silv asked impatiently. "I can do it from a hammock under a palm tree, if need be."

Klaus chuckled. "My apologies, it was not my intention to belittle your abilities."

She just huffed. "I cannot predict what kind of spell Prelati might be using on you, Klaus. So I will need to improvise based on what I hear."

"I believe I know what he will be using. I will, however, try to convince them both that I am so broken and have so completely lost my will to live as a consequence of Caroline's death that they don't deem it necessary to spell me. It might not work out that way, however, so prepare yourself to counter anything related to pain magnification and the like."

Klaus ignored Silv's stricken face and continued. "Elijah and Damon will be coming in from the hallway, the rest of you, as indicated, from the tunnel. Silv, you will stay inside the tunnel, there is no need for you to face Prelati. Stefan, Damon, you should try to stay out of Mikael's reach if you can. Every one of you will be carrying one oak stake, just in case, but I will be the one to take Mikael down." He looked at his older brother intently. Caroline saw Elijah raise an eyebrow, but the Original didn't show any other reaction.

"We will hide the stack of oak wood in the tunnel. In case Prelati and Mikael will be using the tunnel at some point, which I highly doubt, the pile will need to be placed under an invisibility spell. Once the two of them are defeated, Prelati has to burn over white oak, just as Mikael has to be staked with it."

There was a deafening silence in the room. She saw Elijah look at Klaus, and another round of wordless conversation passed between them. This time, she didn't like it, for she had the distinct feeling that Elijah had heard something between the lines of Klaus' plan that everyone else had missed.

"Unforeseeable surprises?" he simply asked after a while.

"The Bennett witch, hunters, other vampires, although I doubt any of that. A werewolf, which is why I will hand every one of you a flask of my blood prior to the big showdown. However, this is purely about me, therefore I do not believe Mikael will deem it necessary to call on reinforcement troops. Prelati might try to give me visions, just for sheer amusement, although it will not work. Or they will subject me to physical torture. Whatever it is, I will face it. But I need to be able to rely on all of you. Can I?" he asked, his usual suspicion evident in his voice.

"When did you come up with all of this?" Caroline finally managed to whisper.

"While you were taking a shower," he grinned smugly, then he sobered. "Elijah, would you mind taking everyone to Tiffauges and showing them the grounds? Caroline and I will need to have a little conversation, I believe. Later this afternoon, I will have the rumour spread that my siblings, Caroline and I are on our way to Tiffauges and will be here soon. We can expect Mikael and Prelati within a few days, I would suspect."

Elijah nodded, getting up and holding out his hand to Silv. "May I have a word later today, Niklaus?"

"Of course. Questions, anyone?" Klaus asked, sounding – and looking – like a commandeering general.

"What makes you so sure about the specific cell they will put you in?" Stefan asked.

"Let's just say that historical events led me to know."

"Sounds like a plan to me, Centurion," Damon said, looking at his brother. "Stef?"

Stefan looked at Klaus, then at Caroline and back at Klaus. "I agree. Let's go see the grounds and get a clearer picture." Caroline saw a moment of silent understanding pass between the Original and the younger Salvatore. Maybe it was time for them to start mending, too?

"I had such hopes that you finally got over your daggering issues, Nik," Kol snickered, but then he nodded. "I'm in. I'm sick and tired of that wannabe father of ours looming over my head."

Rebekah didn't say anything at first. In a few big steps, she crossed the room and stood before her older brother. Looking up at him, she just nodded and murmured, "Count me in." Klaus gave a brief nod himself, the corners of his mouth lifting fractionally, and just said, "Good." She gave him a radiant smile and followed everyone out of the room. Elena mouthed, 'We have to talk!', to which Caroline just nodded, blowing her a kiss.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours, Niklaus," Elijah said quietly before he, too, left.