Wow has it been long since last...
The thing is, I lost inspiration as well as time and energy when uni started up again in September and I've been trying to just survive during this time away. But since I still really enjoy writing, my mind kept coming up with new fics and arcs and all kinds of stuff and I found myself uploading a new story; Save me in a year. In case you haven't read it yet, it can be found both on my page here as well as at AO3 by the same title. It's an AU story with Humanity-free Caroline taking place from S6 of TVD and S2 of TO. Check it out if it sounds like something for you!
I really want to thank the people having left comments/reviews because they saved my creativity and made me finally work through awful and soul-wrenching writer's block I suddenly fell into this fall. With that said, this is a two-part chapter but I really wanted to upload something now that I've gotten started again, so this is part 1 at least and the second will come as soon as possible. I also beat my own record in longest chapter, so that's fun hehe… Oh, and I know I'm new to the whole fanfic world but apparently the KC awards are starting on Tumblr and if you feel like showing your favorite writers some extra love, nominate them!
Anyways! Thank you for waiting, I hope you like this - if you do, let me know, it means the world. xx.
Chapter 33: In the woods somewhere, part 1
How are monsters made? Slowly, repeatedly, unrelentingly…
Five years ago
Somewhere outside of New Orleans
Julian concluded that he must have lost his mind, because he chose to go against the warning bells ringing in his ears and follow the woman into an old cabin by the countryside. The survival instincts battling with his need to know; what did she mean by 'mother'?
"We'll be safe here, for now." the woman assured him with a nod as she brought in a bag from the car. Emptying its contents in the tiny kitchen mindfully, he found that he recognized some of them.
"Are those-?" he began.
"Dark objects? Yes." she interjected, surprising him as he wondered how he hadn't found these himself.
"Where did you acquire them?" Julian pressed as the lady brought up a thin and sleek metal rod, holding it in her hands shortly before snapping it straight through the middle. Little specks of light spread from the action, confusing him as he wondered whether to ask about the objects some more – or to move onto his planned interrogation instead.
"You have questions." she promptly said, smirking mildly as she looked up at him. "Let me start by explaining this." she began, nodding to the broken metal. "It is a beacon. One, when broken, summons the most recent owner of these objects, granting them a clear location of where we are."
"Why do you want to lead them here?"
"Initially I didn't." she sighed. "I had planned to keep myself hidden for a while longer before revealing to him that I had taken these with me during my escape."
"Him?" Julian echoed as she stowed the bag away and walked over to the cupboards, searching them momentarily until finding a bottle of spirits.
"It is fortunate that whiskey does not easily go bad." she snickered, grabbing some glasses from a shelf, and nodding for him to join her on the sofa in the middle of the living area. "May I ask you a question before I resume clearing up some of yours?" she asked leisurely while he hesitated to sit by her side.
"Depends on the question." he scoffed, grabbing a wooden stool and taking a seat across from her instead. Deciding to keep some distance between them for now.
She eyed his move with some hints of a frown flickering across her face before she had returned to her polite demeanor again. "When did you leave the Phoenix Stone?"
"Just short of eighty days ago." he replied flatly, not particularly excited to be reminded of the atrocious experience.
The response seemed to displease her as she watched him with solemn eyes. "You were in that hell for all those years?" she pressed, hints of a sympathetic crack to her voice which only worked to further bother him. "For over a century…"
"How do you know me?" he countered, deciding to move on then.
Clearing her throat, she straightened her back and faced him with a serious nod. "I was in Louisiana in 1857; when you first crossed paths with the hunter Vicente Cruz."
"That's not possible." he scoffed, but she quickly dismissed his protest and continued.
"My people had been working on securing the state after receiving rumors of a significant werewolf population taking root in the south." she relayed with a dark set of eyes, as if she was reliving it again. "I went against my leader and brought you on the mission. Just as you, I paid dearly for it."
"What leader? What are you talking about?" he retorted with a shaking head, standing up and looming over her threateningly as he began to lose his patience. "Do you truly expect me to believe that you have been a part of my life without me knowing it? That we are- family." he bit out venomously, rejecting the words as he uttered it.
"I don't expect anything from you, Julian." she countered with a calm shrug. "However, for the time being I am the one keeping you alive and secure from vastly superior adversaries at the expense of my own safety. So, I suggest you allow me to finish retelling our history before I decide to rid myself of your company."
The firm tone was chilling as she looked up at him with such an intimidating glare then that he saw the writing on the wall; if she wanted to, this woman could kill him in the blink of an eye. Her age and strength clearly outweighed his, and his survival instincts forced him to step back in the face of it. Reluctantly, he sat back down and waited for her to continue.
"Thank you." she said, leisure and calm once more. The shift between her emotions ensuring him even further that she was a person who demanded respect – and especially from those below her on the totem pole. "Now, as I was saying…" she began with a drawl before diving right back into the story again. "I brought you with me to hunt down the werewolf packs of Louisiana. However, we were the ones who ended up being hunted instead as the rumors proved false… It had been a tactic set up by the Brotherhood to lure us to our own slaughter. We were about to make our escape when you happened upon the village of the hunter."
The details began to piece themselves together as he listened, he remembered finding Vicente Cruz and the village of humans he had slaughtered while in Louisiana back then… but something heavy hit him when he thought back to her version of it, when he tried to see if perhaps she had been part of his memories all along. It was no longer clear to him that she was mistaken, that she was lying, because it was not clear whether he remembered it right after all. His mind seemed to get jumbled with the two sides of the story as he fought to understand which was the correct one.
"You are starting to remember it." she noted, seemingly having read his mind and bringing a thought to occur to him then.
He let out a long snicker of exasperation as he couldn't believe how he had missed her attempts to enter his head. Understanding then that the strange parts of his memories were coming from her.
"Please, do not shut me out. I only aim to help you." she told him gently.
"You aim to confuse me with inaccurate memories! Y-you are planting lies in my mind." he accused her with a sneer, receiving a sigh as she shook her head in disappointment.
"Am I?" she countered with challenging eyes. "Do these memories not seem familiar to you? Do you not see how they fit together?"
"If these truly are my memories, then why do you have them?"
She smiled shortly at that, seeming to accept his question as a small victory on her part. "That was our punishment." she explained. "I was to solely remember our past whilst being unable to act on it. You were to forget so that you would not attempt to come after me."
He leaned back as he studied her closer then, realizing that she still had not told him anything about her. Not even her own name. "Who are you?" he asked, receiving a warm smile in reply.
"I am Aya Al-Rashid, the third leader of the Strix."
"The Strix…" he repeated, mulling it over as he couldn't figure out why it sounded so familiar.
"An organization founded by the sire of the line which every member was to originate from; Elijah Mikaelson." she added. "I would not be surprised if that name means nothing to you, only the elders know of the organization's origin since they were there to experience it themselves."
"So, if you were the third leader and assuming that this Mikaelson was the first; who was the second?" he asked, the apprehension in his body gradually calming.
"Tristan De Martel." she replied. "He was the man responsible for you losing your memory, as well as your being captured inside the Phoenix Stone."
"What?" he breathed out in chock, shaking his head as he stared at her incredulously. "How is that possible?"
"Well, the sum of it is that up until the late 1800s the Strix had managed to remain unbeknownst to the Brotherhood for a very long time. We were more of a myth than anything else and it allowed for us to stay hidden – and alive." she shared with a grim frown. "However, that all changed with the death of the hunter."
The flash of memory hit Julian then as he thought back to the moment when he compelled Rayna Cruz to kill her own father. Thus, sparing him the torment of the Hunter's curse. It was then that she became the Huntress, and it was from then on that she began to chase him to the ends of the earth… subsequently causing an entirely different torment when binding him to the Phoenix Stone years later.
"What happened next?" he asked lowly, ready to hear the rest then as he wished to understand the events leading up to his demise.
"I found you when you were about to kill Vicente and stopped you from going through with it." she began again. "I warned you of the Hunter's curse, prompting you to bring Rayna to take her father's life in your place. However, Tristan had followed me and saw what you had done… The implications being far more dire than you could have ever imagined."
"Rayna succeeding her father." he said, earning a nod in confirmation.
"And when seeking revenge, Rayna turned to an ancient group of Native American shamans… and, as you know; they bestowed upon her the Phoenix Stone, binding it to her father's sword. All of this resulting in Rayna Cruz becoming the most powerful of all other Hunters before her, as well as the most dangerous weapon to vampires everywhere." she continued, her voice turning thick as she seemed pained when she spoke again. "Tristan was enraged by this realization, fearing that you would come to lead Rayna to the organization and cause the deaths of every vampire within it – or more prominently; his. That was when he decided to erase your memory of everything having to do with the Strix. Including your memories of me."
Something flickered behind his eyelids as he started hearing voices. A scene appearing before him of a strange place with even stranger people. He was tied up in ropes which caused his skin to burn, and a man was holding a sword to his throat.
"You have doomed us all!" the man scolded him, his eyes wildly animated by fury and fear.
"He could not have known what the Huntress chose to do!" a woman said from somewhere, her face appearing then as he identified her as Aya.
"He was not supposed to be in Louisiana in the first place!" the man, presumably Tristan, roared out as he plunged a stake into her chest. The sight bringing Julian to cry out loudly in protest, prompting Tristan to take the stake out and turn to him once more.
"I have spent far too long dealing with your petulant outbursts and unnecessary bloodshed, Julian." he bit out firmly. "Each and every one of your past misdeeds could have been enough for me to kill you… but this?" he laughed wickedly, a dark look on his face as he grinned at the younger vampire. "No, I cannot kill you for this, dear child. It would be far too merciful a fate."
"Tristan, please!" Aya called out, straining against the restraints holding her back. "I beg of you; do what you wish to me, but please… please, let him go."
Tristan seemed to mull it over shortly, an idea springing to life as it flickered across his eyes. "No." Julian breathed out in alarm as the man directed his wicked smile to her instead. "No, don't! Don't hurt her!" he called desperately.
If Aya was scared, she did not show it. Her face was firm and her eyes blank as she stared down the threatening man. "Go on." she told him, causing Julian to scream out pleads until his voice turned hoarse.
"Quiet!" Tristan growled at him, focusing on Aya as he tilted his head in thought. "I believe you shall take on the punishment for the both of you, my dear." he crooned softly, gripping her jaw with his hand as he leaned in close to her in a whisper. "You have loved him like your own blood for ages." he said with a shaking head of disbelief. "So then, what crueler a fate is there than for you to continue to do so until his very end?"
Julian watched as Tristan met her eyes steadily, a firm tone as he spoke on. "Aya, you will remember how I spared his life, and you will be forever grateful towards me. You will not rebel, you will not complain, you will be my most loyal subject. Even when his hard-headedness leads him to his inevitable death, you shall not defy me."
Then he turned to the man in question, bringing Julian to gulp as he tried to back away in fear, the ropes holding him in place and stinging his skin. "Now you, Julian…" the man purred darkly. "You will forget everything about your time with the Strix."
"What?" Aya gasped out.
"You will not remember what we have taught you, how we have cared for you, nor who we are." Tristan continued. "And you will run. Run from the Huntress and from anyone who wishes you harm. You will fight to stay alive for as long as absolutely possible."
The command stirred inside Julian's mind, erasing parts of his life one-by-one as the vampire went on. "For as long as you live, you will not remember any of this. You will even forget the woman whom you consider to be your mother."
"Tristan!" she had cried in result, the final part of his compulsion etching into every cell of Julian's body. The words echoed in his head while the scene blurred before him…
"You will forget it all."
He looked up to meet Aya's sad eyes, his heart breaking for her in that moment as he could see how deeply she had cared for him. He had in turn thought of her as his family, his blood, his home… and he had lost all of it that day.
"How did he-?" he croaked out, clearing his throat as his voice had turned rough from the tightening in his chest. "How could he compel me?"
"It is a trick he learned centuries prior by a… special witch." she explained with a grim tone.
"He said that you had known me for centuries… how far back does our history go?" he pressed, bringing a tiny smile to cover her lips as she spoke.
"I first met you in 1643, in London."
1643, he thought in surprise as he did the math quickly in his mind. He would have been twenty-five years old by then. "I had barely been a vampire for longer than a year." he concluded.
"Yes." she confirmed, causing him to lean closer against his knees as he nodded for her to continue.
"Tell me." he asked her, repeating his plea with determination. "Tell me everything."
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
The loud drumming caused him to stir as he left the daze of his mind and tried to identify the sound. The tempo strange and racing, growing louder until he concluded that it was a heartbeat.
Stretching out his arms and legs, he realized he wasn't alone. Someone was there. It brought him to quickly open his eyes and scan the figure in the bed next to him. The apprehension dropped immediately as he saw her sleeping form, golden waves splayed over the pillow below and her chest rising slowly with deep breaths.
Caroline.
Understanding that the heartbeat was hers, he sighed in content and moved closer. Bringing an arm around her waist as he nestled into her neck, smiling against her skin as he breathed her in. Her body leaned closer in her sleep, pressing back to his chest and causing him to smirk wider as he laid a soft kiss to her exposed shoulder. Drawing lines over her arm as he closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off to sleep once more, listening as her heart raced faster then.
Furrowing his brows, he glanced up and noted a tense frown crossing over her features. Her hands balled into tight fists and her jaw clenched shut as she gritted her teeth. A nightmare, he thought and frowned in empathy. He reached up and stroked her cheek gently, attempting to soothe her with his touch but finding that she was too caught up in her dream to make notice. Finally, he held her tighter and focused with closed eyes as he glimpsed into her mind.
The cold environment was unfamiliar to him as he stood surrounded by the shadows of tall trees. He looked around as he heard whispers flowing by, bringing his focus to blonde hair as it ran past the trees. Noting the sight of her shape from afar and immediately flashing after her.
"No, don't. Please, I don't have it." her desperate sobs gripped his heart and threatened to crush it as he followed her. Preparing to find her and pull her out of the dream, he soon caught her as she stood with her back turned to him. She was bent forward, her shoulders shrugging slightly as she stood in silence.
Circling her slowly, he drew a sharp breath when he saw her bloody hands. Pressing against her chest as she held onto a deep wound. The sight brought a dreadful memory as he thought back to his nightmare of her, of her heart being ripped out. Of her dying as she blamed him…
"You ruined me."
Losing focus for a moment, the vision shifted to his own mind and made him struggle to push the image out of both their heads before it materialized in her dream. Another shape suddenly blocked her from his view as he heard her pleading voice whisper again.
"I don't know where it is. I don't, I swear."
He saw the shadow lunge towards her threateningly, prompting him to flash over as he hurried to get to her first. Grabbing her arms as he shoved her back and faced her attacker then. But he froze in his steps as he identified the pale being before him, dark blood covering her skin as her red eyes glared at him in rage.
"Caroline?" he breathed out in shock as he scanned the woman attacking the young vampire; herself. "Why are you doing this?" he asked as he shook his head in disbelief.
"Because you deserve it." she gritted out darkly as her eyes remained directed at the blonde on the ground beside him, not seeming to notice their added company. "Tell me where it is."
"I don't have it, I swear." she sobbed in response. "I don't know where it is, please."
He didn't care for the vision at all, moving between them as he scowled at the dark shadow of the blonde. "What do you want?" he growled, barely keeping her back by her shoulders as her strength matched with his. "What are you looking for?"
"She has it." the dark voice replied, meeting him with a cold and wicked grin. "She knows where it is."
"What!?" he pressed.
The red eyes narrowed as she watched him with a tilted head. Her face changing slowly until it no longer looked like Caroline. Instead, she had dark, short hair and lines over her skin that didn't quite fit with the young vampire's age.
"Who are you?" he asked firmly.
"Ask her." the stranger replied with a nod to the frightened blonde. "She knows me."
He felt Caroline's panic and anxiety heighten as she looked up at the new face, the dread wrapping around them like a fog. Working to suffocate him as it nearly brought him to his knees in result. Acting quickly, he jumped the ghost and flung her far away before turning to the blonde again. Swiftly reaching to grab her arm, pulling her out of the dark woods and into his own mind instead.
In the blink of an eye, they were suddenly standing in front of large windows. Studying the sun rising over the waters as he held her to his chest and pressed kisses to her skin.
"It's breath-taking." she whispered, her gaze taking in the vibrant colors before them in awe.
"I couldn't have said it better myself." he hummed as he studied her glowing face in equal amazement.
She seemed disoriented, shaking her head shortly before turning to him with a dazed confusion covering her features. "How did we get here?" she asked him.
"I brought you here." he explained softly as he cupped her cheek with his hand.
"I was having a nightmare." she concluded, bringing him to nod in confirmation. "You brought me here." she repeated as her wide eyes ran over him quickly.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rested her forehead against his in a blissful smile. "What do we do now?" she chimed, a sultry color filling her ocean irises.
"Whatever we want." he crooned, enjoying the bright look on her face in response while she leaned in and kissed him. He smirked against her lips, circling her waist and kissing her back.
"I realized something." she murmured, bringing him to meet her gaze as she continued. "In this moment, on the yacht."
"What, sweetheart?" he asked curiously as he brushed his lips against hers lightly.
She reciprocated with an airy kiss before answering. "I'm going to protect you, Klaus."
"Protect me?" he echoed into the kiss, sighing in content as she returned it with more heat.
"From anything." she whispered. "Anyone."
He walked forward and moved them through the room, pinning her against the window as he examined her face shortly. "Are you worried about me?" he asked, genuinely trying to understand.
"Yes." she replied before tugging at the sheet covering her body and letting it fall in a pool around her feet. "I don't want you to get hurt." she added, kissing him deeply as he hoisted her up to circle her legs around him. Pressing into her body as he tilted her jaw and trailed kisses over her neck.
"They're not going to use that dagger on you." she promised in a breathy voice. "I'm not going to let you be the magic fuel for some half-assed spell."
"Then what will I be, Caroline?" he countered with a smirk as he caught her gaze.
A warm smile spread over her features as she watched him, running her hands through his hair. "You'll be mine." she responded before leaving a searing kiss against his lips.
"I already am." he noted, eliciting a light giggle from her then.
"I mean it." she whispered.
"So do I." he replied as his hands roamed over her skin. "I am yours. Just as you are equally and infinitely mine."
She smiled in agreement. "Yours." she chimed.
He hummed in response, rubbing against her as he reveled in her delectable curves. "I need you to wake up now, Caroline." he murmured as she snickered in return.
"You're done with this dream already?" she challenged.
"No." he concluded as he slowly began to leave her mind. "I simply want you awake for this." he said, his voice echoing as he opened his eyes and found himself back in the hotel room again.
However, the presence of her body was no longer there.
He sat up and looked around the room, wondering how she had managed to leave his embrace without him noticing it. Hearing water running, he got up and walked towards the bathroom in search for her. A thought passing his mind as he again found it all strange, as if something was not quite right…
Thick steam hit him when he entered, the heat prompting his hair to glue to his face and the clothes to stick to his body in uncomfortable ways as he struggled to see anything before him.
"Caroline, love?" he called, reaching for the handle to the glass divider of the shower and opening it slowly.
Empty.
Something dark crawled inside his chest as he stepped back and turned away. The room suddenly changing in color, in shapes… Everything morphing and falling apart.
"Caroline!" he called as he felt the urgent need to find her before she was hurt. Before the world ended around them.
The walls tearing down and the ground shaking beneath him, he rushed away from the chaos and tried not to get caught in it. Suddenly spying a silhouette from afar and focusing on it, he continued forward until he identified her face. A breath slipping past his lips at the sight but the relief was short-lived as he saw the fear filling her eyes.
She ran towards him and gripped his arms tightly, screaming something at him – but no sound was coming out.
"Caroline? What's wrong?" he stammered as she shook her head in a panting breath, his ears ringing as her voice began to reach him. Sounding warped and far off, like some strange echo through water as she yelled.
"You have to wake up!" she cried out, baffling him as he watched her shake his shoulders and call on him again. "Klaus! Wake up! Open your eyes! Klaus!"
With a hard and startled breath, his eyes sprung open and revealed a ceiling. The molding and fixtures familiar as he slowly reached the conclusion that he was in his bedroom. His body carried a heavy ache that kept him still as he blinked away the strange mix of memories. The bits and pieces not quite adding up as he felt the confusion gradually wash off him. He knew that some of it had happened, some of it was real… But what did it mean?
He turned to the side in search for some clearance, finding Elijah standing in silence by the windows across the room. His back was turned to him as he seemed deep in thought. He swallowed hard, further memories starting to come back to him in painful waves. Flashes of Aya attacking him, the weapon glistening against the light as it buried into his chest, Caroline's pale face as she ran to him right before the darkness gripped him. Her voice slowly disappearing as she told him to hang on, to stay alive…
Had he died?
"What happened?" he croaked, bringing his brother to face him as he moved to sit up.
Elijah raised a hand to stop him just as his own body protested his movements, prompting him to lie back against the headboard with a groan. "You were experiencing some… side-effects." the older Mikaelson explained with a stoic expression. "Freya is working on answering what other ways you may have been affected by the weapon."
Memories filled his head again as he remembered waking up to faces all around him, faces of Caroline's supposed friends… Yet, there had been no sign of her anywhere.
"Where is she?" Klaus repeated breathily then.
"Downstairs, reading though some grimoire on sensing spells and-" his brother began in reply, causing him to grunt and cut him off.
"Elijah." he pressed firmly, silencing the older man as he nodded mutely in result. Clearly understanding whom the hybrid was really asking about.
"We don't know." he finally said as he read the question on the his face. The answer somehow more frustrating than his formerly feigned ignorance. "She was with Kol and Freya."
Kol, Klaus smirked shortly. Understanding that he hadn't dreamt that part.
Focusing on his brother again, he noted a strange frown covering his features. "In their own words…" Elijah continued, the story seemingly paining him as he spoke. "She did something which caused us all to lose consciousness. And once we awoke, she was gone."
Looking over his body then, Klaus remembered the way the dagger had felt as it was plunged into his chest. It hadn't been quite as painful as it was draining. The weapon was powerful enough to take him down entirely, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to figure that it had somehow affected the others inside the building as well.
"You believe she took it." he guessed in a low voice, barely able to meet the vampire's eyes as he looked around the room. Noticing everything that was missing, piece by piece. Her belongings which had been scattered over his furniture, her scent which had filled the room. Her presence, her memory… every trace of her ever having been there - it was all gone.
"It is the only conclusion we have been able to reach so far." Elijah said as he met his glance, nodding grimly. "This brings several eerie questions to arise, Niklaus. The most troubling being the impossible scenario in which she survived the act of undaggering you in the first place. Next, the distressing idea that she took it with her when she left."
"Don't." he hissed, a cold wave washing over him like a shiver at the sound. The darkest parts of his mind whispering the very same accusations… "You cannot know that for sure." he bit out, mostly to calm his own insecurities than anything else as they threatened to eat away at him.
Avoiding Elijah's unconvinced expression, he moved to carefully sit on the edge of the bed with a sigh. His body weak and stiff with a heavy fatigue. Running a hand across his face, he took a deep breath to gather some sense of clarity. Of understanding. "She could have been taken." he murmured to himself. "Either that or she made some sort of deal…"
"With whom?" his brother pressed. "Lucien?"
"Aya." Klaus explained hoarsely as he stood up from the bed, steadying himself against the wall as it took a moment for him to find his balance. "I-I remember her being here." he stammered, a twinge of desperation starting to creep into his heart. "She was in my head… Talking to Caroline. She must have done something to her. Or maybe offered her something…"
"Brother... All of her belongings, her clothes and bags, they are all gone." Elijah pointed out cautiously. "We should consider the possibility-"
"She did not leave." he interjected firmly, the sentence quickly becoming a mantra for the hybrid as he walked over to the dresser across the room and searched its drawers. "She couldn't have." he whispered. "Not of her own free will."
"We have already searched the room, Niklaus." the Original sighed. "What are you hoping to find?"
"I don't know. Something. Anything…" he muttered, shaking his head incredulously as he straightened up and frowned in defeat. Meeting his reflection in the mirror before him and noting the dark circles of exasperation under his eyes.
He rested his hands on the top of the dresser, taking another breath as he tried to maneuver his way through the second-guessing and cynical thoughts which filled his mind. It was then that he realized that something else was missing; his necklace. The one with her mother's ring. The one which could lead him to her.
Bringing a hand to press against the empty spot, he turned to look over the room in search. "My rosary." he said, looking at Elijah with furrowed brows. "Where is it?"
"We found a few stray beads on the floor by the bed but nothing more." he replied with a shrug.
"There was a ring attached to it. Have you seen it?"
"A ring?" his brother echoed, bringing a flash of anger to fill the hybrid in result.
"Yes, Elijah! A ring! A thin bloody band of gold!" he bit out. "Have you seen it!?"
"What difference does it make?" the vampire sighed out incredulously. "She left."
"Stop saying that!" he roared back as his body moved on its own. He flashed forward, his hand wrapped around Elijah's neck in a tight squeeze as he pushed him against the wall. "Caroline would make sure to leave behind some sort of clue. Some hint as to where she was being taken." he thought aloud, trying to reason with himself as he shook his head in a sigh.
Letting go of his brother, he turned away and resumed his search. Now with a more precise goal in sight. "If she was forced to take the ring with her, she would have made sure we had a different way of locating them." he explained as he checked the other furniture within the room. "We just have to find it."
Fear, dread… betrayal. So many emotions caused his chest to constrict as he examined his closet as well as some side tables by the balcony, tearing every drawer out and turning them upside down. "Where did she hide it?" he gritted out as panic slowly wrapped around his heart. His hands taking the various books and drawing pads from atop his nightstand, shaking them with the purpose of seeing if anything would fall out. Something that did not belong. "Where, Caroline?" he muttered while turning to the bed.
As he lifted the duvet and pulled at the sheets with wild eyes, a paper fell to the floor. He felt his body relax in a deep exhale as he found it, hurrying to unfold it. Smiling to himself at the thought of his clever love and her ability to outsmart everyone in her path. At times even him.
However, his face immediately fell as he began reading the letter he had unearthed. A part of him breaking as he wished he hadn't found it after all.
Klaus,
If I had known what the future would hold, I would have stayed in Chicago. I would have ignored Damon and Enzo when they came knocking on my door all those weeks ago. I would have never come to New Orleans, and I definitely wouldn't have let myself start caring for you like this. Not if I knew that I would end up leaving you behind in the end. Not if I knew that the only thing to come out of this would be pain. Not if I knew that I'd be forced to watch another person I love suffer without being able to do anything about it… Because I would have known that I couldn't go through it again.
I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most. That I wasn't strong enough, like you expected me to. I'm sorry that, after everything that has happened, you are going to wake up to find me gone. Since I know that no explanation would ever be enough, and that nothing I say could get you to forgive me, I thought I should simply ask you to forget about me instead. To let me live without that pain. To let me live without you.
So, if you still care about me…
Let me go.
- Caroline
He read it once, twice, skimmed through it a third time with as many conflicting thoughts as the first. Lost and crestfallen, he sat down on the floor with his back against the bed frame. The paper still in his hands as he stared into the empty air. Feeling like everything had suddenly been broken all around him, as well as within.
That darkness from before reared its ugly head once more as it taunted him with the now undeniable truth; Caroline left.
It didn't make any sense as images of his previous dream still flashed in his mind. Memories replaying behind his closed eyes; of them, of her. Her smile, laugh, her eyes sparkling like stars when she expressed her feelings for him for the first time… Her touch, her voice, her nervous giggle that night after the ball… And he couldn't push a specific part of it from his thoughts as he replayed her promise to him over and over. When they had been in that very room…
"I'm not going anywhere until that thing is destroyed." she proclaimed. "Or melted into a gold bracelet, whatever. As long as it's gone for good."
He laughed warmly and grinned at that, taking her in with a deep breath as he admired the firm look on her face. "I won't let anything happen to you, Caroline." he promised.
"I know." she said. "But I'm not letting anything happen to you either."
The words had surprised him, bringing something to flicker in his chest before he squashed it away and replied. "I understand that you are worried about the effects of that dreadful weapon..." he sighed out before she cut him off.
"I'm not worried about what will happen to me." she clarified then. "I care about what it could do to you."
"Odds are it won't kill me."
"I'm not going to let you get tucked away in some coffin for the rest of time either." she added straightly. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened... I might as well die along with the rest of your line instead."
He watched her in silence, his lips parted as he tried to think of a reply. Wondering if perhaps this was it, if this was her way of admitting just how she felt about him. And if it was all he was getting. But that tiny little voice of hope whispered in his mind again, bringing him to push the subject further.
"You feel that strongly about my fate?" he asked. "About me?"
"Of course." she insisted, smirking a little as she chimed on. "Have you not been paying attention lately or is your old-man memory starting to get to you?" she teased.
Her hands cupped his cheeks and prompted his eyelids to flutter lightly, wanting to push the world away and simply stay in this moment as long as he possibly could. The expression on her face returning to the former one, more genuine and serious as she continued.
"I think the world of you, Klaus Mikaelson." she professed. "How can you not know that?"
He closed his eyes in a sigh, clenching his teeth as he struggled with himself shortly. Feeling blown-away by her praise and partly wishing she would remain distant from him instead. Worried of the outcome if she did not.
"Careful, Caroline. It is dangerous to say such things to an immortal being like myself. I may just come to think of you as mine forever." he whispered when he met her gaze again. Taking a breath before continuing. "It would annihilate me to be forced to let you go after that." he murmured truthfully. "Whatever suffering the dagger could possibly bring is far more preferable to such cruel a fate."
"Niklaus?"
The hybrid blinked away a subtle tear at the sound of his brother's voice. Clearing his throat, he glanced up at the man shortly. Trying to find some words to share with him, some explanation as to what he had found. But he had none, because he could still not understand how she had possibly chosen to do this. To pack up and leave. To save him, only to then disappear.
Another memory occurred to him then as he studied the crumbled paper in his hands. That of one of her nightmares at the hotel, that which had blended with some of his own.
"I'm going to protect you, Klaus." she had sworn. "From anything. Anyone."
He noticed the darkened hue to the letter and recognized the pad it likely originated from. Getting up from the floor then as he reached for the various notebooks within the nightstand. He took them out one-by-one, shaking them in the air and grabbing for another when his search yielded no result.
Straightening up in a sigh, he was about to move to the other side of the bed instead when he stilled. A thought occurring to him as he glanced back at the nightstand again, he reached for the drawing pad one more time. Flipping through it as he imagined she could have scribbled down something of importance when writing that dreadful letter of deceit and pain…
He found the page where she had ripped the piece of paper from and turned to a half-done drawing. Gulping hard as he watched the face meeting him from the sketched-out lines. His fingertips brushed over it with his throat tightening, his heart stilling. The fear beginning to take him over.
Then he flipped the paper again and froze as he did. A sharp breath escaping him as he found the words on the back of the drawing. A message.
He closed his eyes shortly, steeling himself up before turning to Elijah then and pointing to the page. "A hint." he concluded, pushing the pad into his brother's hands as he walked out and down the hall with rushed steps.
The mix of relief and validation bringing him new focus, new determination. Because he would be damned if he didn't do just as her message had asked. No matter in which far-off corner of the Earth she was being hidden away, he was going to find her.
Present day
Somewhere outside of New Orleans
There was not much that compared to the feeling of the sun warming your face, the cool breeze flowing through your hair and the sand between your toes… The rhythmic squawking of seagulls, the ebb and flow of the waves, the bubbly laughter of glee from children playing by the water.
A volleyball came to a stop by her feet, bringing her to smile as she picked it up in time for a young girl to come running towards her. "Is this yours?" she asked softly, earning an eager nod from the small child. Her blonde hair in braids and her cheeks rosy. "Here." she said as she offered her the ball back.
"Who are you?" the voice came from a second girl as she joined the other with curious eyes and dark hair.
She replied with her name friendlily, the answer bringing the girls to glance over at each other with something amusing on their pretty faces. "What?" she chuckled lightly as the dark-haired one shrugged in response.
"We just know someone with the same name." she explained, making her blink shortly, looking up and noticing a figure waving towards them from across the beach.
"Lizzie! Josie! Time for dinner!" a woman called out, prompting the children to rush off happily towards a timid house near the waters.
It made her watch in awe for a moment, how the woman opened her arms up and brought the girls in for a big hug. How her light hair matched that of one of them. How her smile seemed familiar, but strange at the same time. As if she might have seen her once before in passing, or perhaps she was simply reminding her of someone she used to know?
The children ran into the house, bringing the sweet giggles and gleeful squeals with them. But the woman stayed behind. She looked out through the distance with something solemn on her face. The fair skin and slim form making her determine the lady's age to be in the early thirties.
Then the woman's clear blue eyes seemed to fully catch hers, and she had to hold her breath as she studied her back. Feeling something eerie within her stomach, as if she was looking into a funhouse mirror.
"What is this?" she whispered to herself as the woman turned away and walked into the house.
"Everything you lost." the reply sounded so close to her that she had to turn to her side and look for its source. Noticing a shadow standing by some trees a few yards inland, the figure turned away and disappeared into the woods. Prompting her to hurry after it, feeling like she was missing something and that the answer would be granted to her if she did.
The greenery was deeper than expected, twigs ripped at her clothes as she trudged on. The shadow moving further away and bringing her to chase behind it.
"What if you could have it?" the voice whispered through the wind as it hit the space right beside her then. "All of it?"
Confused by the question, she continued to make her way past the trees and bushes, ignoring the way they had begun to cut through her skin as they stung her. She was undoubtedly bleeding, perhaps even burning with strange rashes in result, but she couldn't stop.
"A human life. An epic love… Even children." the voice pressed, bringing her to shake her head.
"Why are you-? What are you talking about?" she asked. "It isn't even possible."
"What if it was?" the answer rippled through the air and hit her chest firmly. "What if you could stay here and live the life you've always dreamt of? What if you could be happy? What if you could be free from all the pain and heartache?"
"That…" she stammered and gulped hard. "That's not how it works."
"What if it did?"
The shadow's persistence was getting on her nerves as she remembered her abilities then and used her vamp speed to run through the woods. The palm trees turned into pines and the bright sun was replaced by a moon. The changed scenery baffling her as she looked up into the dark sky, studying the stars with amazed eyes.
She jumped in surprise as she heard a loud sound echo past her. A howl.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose up as she sensed a presence behind her, a low breathing filling her with dread as she slowly turned around. Standing face-to-face with a large wolf, its fangs bared and eyes glowing of a deep amber.
She stood frozen for a moment, watching as the animal clawed at the ground beneath it. As if revving up for an attack. The thought sprung her into action as she quickly turned and took off in the opposite direction. She could hear it following her, growling and panting as it remained hot on her heel.
Her survival instincts took over as she ran, turning her sight onto a focused and straight path. Running so fast that she swore her feet were barely keeping up. But just as she thought she had escaped the creature hunting her, she tripped over a protruding branch and fell to the ground.
Sitting up quickly, she grabbed her throbbing ankle and kept back a loud cry. The pain making her eyes burn as she clenched her teeth firmly to keep quiet. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm her racing heart, she soon noticed that she could no longer hear the wolf.
She glanced around as she staggered onto her feet, steadying herself against a tree as she tried to figure out if it was still after her. Her answer came when she suddenly felt a searing pain in her arm, causing her to scream loudly as she fought to move away from the creature. Its jaws digging deeply into her flesh as it growled and jerked her closer. Refusing to drop its hold even as she kicked and shook to try and break free.
"No! Get off me!" she called out, catching sight of a few rocks on the ground and grabbing the biggest one before bringing it straight across the wolf's head. It let out a high and pained noise as it dropped her right away, moving back from her with something frightened in its features then.
Her arm was bleeding, she looked down at the wound and groaned as she realized tears were running over her cheeks. "God…" she hissed out as she sat back against the trunk of the tree and glared at the animal from the short distance between them.
It cowered in response, bowing its head and sniffling as if genuinely apologetic about its actions. That was when she noticed its eyes changing, the color turning from gold to a blue-green hue. One she had seen many times before.
"Klaus?" she breathed out in shock, horror creating a pit in her stomach as she stared back at the bite again. Realizing the implications of her wound then.
She was dying.
Klaus had killed her.
If she didn't know better, Caroline would be convinced that she felt her heart physically break. Her breathing strangled as she gasped out in pain, forcing her eyes to open up and reveal that the forest was long gone. There was no wolf watching her with cold eyes, and there was no bite on her arm.
Instead of the ground by the trunk of the tree, she was sitting in the back of a car. Her head shooting up from its former place pressed against the window as she stared in confusion at her surroundings.
Voices reached her from outside of the vehicle, informing her that Aya and Aurora had stepped away while she slept. How she'd managed to do so was beyond the young vampire, but she supposed it wouldn't be too far-fetched to suspect the women of drugging her.
She moved in her seat and stretched her neck out to look for them. Seeing them stand with the two men from before as they dug with shovels into the loose dirt beneath their feet.
Digging their own graves? she thought, not putting it past Aurora to have compelled them into doing so. Probably just as she had made her fall asleep.
There wasn't much else there for her to see, the four were standing by a clearing amongst some trees but Caroline couldn't figure out where they were. The smell of sage told her that they had put some kind of spell on the car to keep her from better hearing their conversation. And, as she learned by unsuccessfully fidgeting with the door handle, keeping her locked inside.
A sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat, trying to come up with some kind of strategy for her escape. Even if she did manage to break the window without the sound alarming her capturers; she wouldn't even know where to run in the first place. And she knew she had no chance of eluding them on her own, considering their much older age and the added strength it included.
Her eyes opened as she thought of something then, something to give her the upper hand. The dagger.
She looked around in the backseat, checking the cracks of the leather seats and scanning the floors. But it seemed the weapon was nowhere to be found.
It's probably for the best, she thought to herself with a defeated frown. Concluding that whatever powers the dagger held with the Candle was nothing to play with anyway. She would likely be safer with it gone and out of sight. Where it couldn't hurt anyone.
Where she couldn't hurt anyone.
She remembered the way it had felt to hold it. The magic flowing through her. The power, the strength… It had been incredible. Intoxicating. Terrifying.
The memory of her dream hit her then and made a shiver rush down her spine as she couldn't get that strange voice out of her head. The sound of it still ringing in her ears, antagonizing her with questions she didn't dare think about. One resonating inside as it refused to leave her mind.
What if you could be free from all the pain and heartache?
What if?
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
Freya was quick to begin trying every locator spell she could think of in search for Caroline Forbes. Placing a map on the table before her as she scried for the missing vampire by using the beads from Klaus' rosary. He had collected anything he could get his hands on as he ransacked every furniture in the building. Hoping that something would lead them to Caroline.
Meanwhile, Elijah had forced him to drink some blood as he had become weak and tired once more. It was seemingly coming and going in waves, and his previous high was short-lived as all of his energy had been spent on searching for any possible lead they could use to find her. He could barely keep his eyes open as he sat in an armchair and felt his head turn heavy. Nodding and sighing as he fought to stay focused.
"If Aya did in fact take her, then we can only assume that Lucien was here. He must have compelled her to leave." Elijah mused as he turned to Kol. All of them idly waiting for Freya to get some kind of result from her spell.
"Or Aurora." Klaus muttered, looking up at his brothers with a frown. "Lucien could've told her about Caroline."
"Making her the new target." Hayley agreed with a nod. "Cami was safe downstairs, so she couldn't possibly take her. But Caroline on the other hand…"
"Was out in the open." Kol finished, scoffing as he nodded over at Klaus. "Great tactic there, brother. Hide away your past love and keep your current one free for anyone to take!" His voice was light and humored, but his words hit the hybrid a little too close to heart.
"Considering I was, until barely an hour ago, daggered and incapacitated by a cursed object - I would much rather look to the few of you who were awake and able to keep Caroline safe." he retorted coldly. "Tell me again, how exactly is it that Aya, Lucien and possibly Aurora came into this home and left without anyone being the wiser about it?" Klaus' eyes moved from Caroline's supposed friends and finally to his brothers.
"Well, don't look at me… I'm human now." Kol protested and glanced at Elijah, whose face darkened at the accusation.
"Clearly, there was something shielding them from us." the elder brother concluded. "Not to mention that we certainly could have used some warning of the weapon having been successfully forged in the first place." he added and glanced at Davina pointedly.
"Do not blame her!" Kol was quick to interject, standing by his girlfriend's side with a hard glare. "She is not responsible for the girl being taken by Nik's psychotic lover and your former henchman. What exactly do you propose she should have done? Exchange Caroline for another? For Hayley? For Hope?"
Hope.
The arguments continued around him, but Klaus wasn't listening anymore. He stood up and forced himself to flash through the hall and to Hope's room. Where she sat with a sketching pad in her hands, as she often did nowadays. Having clearly taken after her father on that.
He fell to his knees as the quick action made him breathless for a moment. Panting as a pair of hands came to steady him on his feet again, the scent was familiar to him and made him scoff venomously in result.
"I see we have begun letting all of our traitors run free." he bit out.
Letting out a small chuckle, Marcel helped him sit on a chair in the hall so he could compose himself away from Hope's eyes. "Hey, you were down. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation." he chimed as the hybrid narrowed his eyes in reply.
"I assumed Hayley had left one of the servants to watch over Hope."
"Well, we both know I am far more capable of keeping her safe than any human, werewolf or day-walker to date." Marcel sneered. "And besides, she's my family too. I would rather die than let her get hurt, you know that."
"I want to see her." the Original grunted, trying to stand up but wincing painfully as Marcel's hands held him back.
"Not like this, Klaus."
"I have to make sure that she is safe." he gritted out, glaring up at his protégée with amber-specked eyes.
"She is. I won't let anything happen to her."
"My trust in you hasn't given me much else but misery these days, Marcellus." he scoffed, making the younger vampire scowl.
"Everything I did, I did for Davina." he countered seriously. "She is my family... She-..." he said as he struggled to find the words shortly. "If anyone could ever understand doing questionable things for the people you love - it would be you."
He's right.
The words felt like they came straight from Caroline's lips, as if she was standing beside him right then. It felt so real that he had to glance back and see for himself, sighing when being met with nothing but air next to him.
"I recognize what is happening to me." he admitted as he slowly turned to look up at the face of the man he once called his own son. "I feel weak, sick... It varies at the strangest times. Some moments it all seems normal. Then I do something like run to check in on my child, only to be rendered incapable of catching my breath."
"Well, the Candle was used to drain magic... Maybe you need some time to heal before you start to feel normal again."
"We both know better than that, Marcel." he sighed out as his stomach started turning again. "There is something far worse happening here… Despite being out of my body and far away from me, the dagger continues to affect me. And it is not getting better. I am not getting better."
Marcel studied him for a long moment before nodding to himself. "Ok. Come on." he said and held his arm out as the hybrid struggled to stand up. They walked over to the door again, Klaus pushing at Marcel to let him walk alone the rest of the way as they moved further into the room.
His daughter noticed him then, grinning widely as she stood up and ran to wrap her arms around her father's knees with a bubbly laugh. "Daddy! You're awake!" she exclaimed, oblivious to the wince the hybrid made as she ran into him.
Carefully kneeling to her level, he watched her with a try at a smile. "And so are you, it seems. Is it not bedtime right about now, love?"
"Marcel told me I could stay up as long as I promised to play in my room." she explained with a shrug before pulling at his hand softly. "Come see my drawings!"
"Hope, your dad is a little tired right now." the vampire by the door said, but the father in question only glanced back at him with the shake of his head.
"That's alright, Hope. Go ahead. I'd love to see your most recent projects." he smirked as he followed her to the couch where she eagerly showed him her pad.
"This is a sunset." she explained as she pointed at one of the pages with a smile. "I made that one to Caroline. She told me she likes sunsets."
A deep smile hit him as he met her hopeful eyes while she spoke again. "Do you think she'll like it?" she asked tenderly, the sight bringing him to shake his head in awe.
"Of course, how could she not?" he assured her, wrapping an arm around the sweet child and pulling her into his side as he leaned back in a sigh. "Show me the others too, Hope. I see you have finally tried the new aquarelles I got you for Christmas."
"I tried to use water to smudge it, like you told me to, but it's hard..." she whined as she showed some pages with more colors than actual shapes. "I like the chalk more."
"That happens to be my preferred choice too." he smiled, earning a grin from her in return.
"I like Caroline, dad. She's nice." she mused. "Is she going to live with us now?" her words caused a chuckle to escape him before he froze up in dread. Realizing he genuinely did not know the answer to that question as of then.
"Oh, I am certain that if anyone could sway her into staying, it would be you." he crooned, leaving a kiss to the top of her head.
"I'm gonna draw her another picture." the young girl decided with a little nod as she turned to the sketching pad again.
A serene breath filled him as he watched her hand move across the paper, her focused pout as she erased and then redid some tougher features. She was truly precious, this little part of him with the whole world at her feet. The very best aspects of him molded into a beautiful being… He wasn't sure what he would do if something, anything, happened to her. And the idea that such a depth of affection now had been extended to a second person as well? It was becoming too much for him to handle.
How would he survive his love for not only Hope, but Caroline as well?
Pressing a kiss to his daughter's temple, he pulled back and slowly got on his feet again. "I will return shortly, sweetheart." he promised, receiving a nod as she remained focused on her drawing. With one final smile in the small girl's direction, he passed Marcel and flashed down the hall. Reaching the study where the Claire witch was burying herself in spells and legends.
Her eyes shot up in surprise when she saw him, apprehension radiating from her as she backed away from his proximity.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." he promised with a raised hand, sitting down on a chaise opposite her desk with a groan. "I doubt that I could even if I wanted to." he muttered.
"I haven't been able to crack the tracking spell yet, if that's what you're wondering." she said with a firm face, her voice giving away only the tiniest of a stutter.
"I wanted to speak with you about something else." he sighed with a shaking head. "Let's make it quick, I wish to spend as much time with my daughter as possible."
"Okay." she drawled in suspicion. "What do you want?"
He smiled at her wickedly, the plan forming in his mind as he leaned forward on his knees. Avoiding the protests in his body from the movement, the shudder in his veins from the exhaustion that threatened to take him over. "I need to ask for some discretion from your end, love." he crooned. "Surely, I am not wrong to assume that you can keep a secret or two?"
She sneered at him, scoffing before giving him a conceding nod. "Okay." she said flatly. "Start talking."
Five years ago
Somewhere outside of New Orleans
The vampires both jumped up from their seats as footsteps were heard nearing the cabin. Their company slowly pushed the door open, bringing Julian to study Aya's face as she quickly recognized the man on the other side.
"Would you believe my good fortune? In one trip I managed to locate my missing weapons, learned that Aya Al-Rashid was responsible for taking them…" the stranger chimed, waving his hand leisurely in the air as he stepped inside the cabin. "… and last but not least; I come across the one person I set out to find mere days ago." he snickered smugly before nodding over at Julian. "It is a pleasure seeing you again, old friend."
Raising his eyebrows at that, Julian glanced over at Aya with a questioning look. Earning a soft smile from her as she spoke up. "This is Lucien Castle." she explained. "The first person to ever be turned a vampire."
That sparked something within him, prompting him turn to Lucien again with widened eyes. Receiving a curious gaze in response as the older vampire seized him up and down momentarily. "Do you not remember me, Julian?" he asked in a slow drawl. Causing the man in question to glance at Aya once more before responding.
"Did you turn me?" he pressed, noticing something strange flash over the man's face in result.
"No, that I did not." he replied, nodding to the female vampire pointedly. "In fact, your sire was an old friend of ours."
"Was?" Julian echoed.
"Yes, she is no longer with us." Lucien explained, causing frustration to rise inside the younger man's chest.
"Why can't I remember any of this?" he gritted, looking at Aya as she wore a sympathetic face. "Was that also Tristan's doing?"
"Tristan?" Lucien repeated with a raised brow, seeming entertained but quickly turning expressionless upon meeting Aya's intense eyes.
"You are keeping something from me." Julian concluded, moving closer to her with a set frown as he pleaded for more. "You said you would remain transparent with everything I seemed to have forgotten."
"And I will." she nodded in reply. "I am simply exercising some caution out of fear for the pending consequences we will face by pushing your memory any further than necessary."
"What is that supposed to mean?" he scoffed in anger, not enjoying being kept in the dark and certainly not fancying having strangers hold more information about him than he himself.
"Tristan's compulsion was likely lifted upon your death." Aya relayed then. "However, I am not entirely sure what else he may have taken from me and you alike."
"You mean he could have erased some of your memories as well?"
"Yes." she nodded grimly before turning to their guest. "Which is why I hope Lucien here will help us regain such memories once and for all."
"Did you say 'death'?" Lucien quipped in question, glancing between the two with a shaking head. "You were killed? When?"
Julian felt unsure of himself at that, looking shortly at the woman by his side as she seemed to read his mind in some peculiar way. "That is a long story." she replied in his place.
"And how were you resurrected?" Lucien pressed, earning yet another reply from Aya instead.
"That is yet another long story."
"Ah, I see." he snickered out incredulously in response. Shaking a finger in the air at the two as he watched them with a dark smile on his face. "You expect cooperation from me but do not intend on granting me the same in return." he concluded in a scoff. "That does not sound particularly fair, if you ask me… So, why don't I just take my weapons back and leave you lot to your secrets and lost memories, hm?"
"Lucien." Aya sighed out, imploring him with sad eyes as she watched him closely. "I brought you here because you are the only vampire currently walking the earth with the ability to compel others - aside from the Mikaelson's."
"Yes, and why, pray tell, are you not inquiring for their help instead?" he pushed with a smug grin. "Could it perhaps have something to do with your eminently failed attempt at breaking the sire-lines?"
Julian snapped his eyes back to her in surprise at that, questions filling his mind as he wished to push her on the subject further. However, the other male vampire cut him off by continuing his monologue.
"Is it possible that you went against my advice and teamed up with the most wretched of the De Martel's? And all for the hopes of enacting some deluded kind of revenge against Elijah Mikaelson…" Lucien sighed unceremoniously as he dragged a finger over some dust on a windowsill to his right. Rubbing the tips of fingers thoughtfully as he looked back at them over his shoulder. "Did you per chance forget how I warned you of this plan's minute chances of success? Implored you even to keep patient as my own plan remained in process… Oh, simply for everything to blow up in all of our faces!"
"What do you want me to say?" she bit back. "That I followed the lesser leader? Trusted the wrong people? I cannot change the past, Lucien."
"Yet, you assume me willing to change yours." he pointed out, nodding to the pair with a shrug. Anger glistening in his dark eyes as he sneered in resentment. "Everything I had worked for was ruined the moment you used the Strix to go rogue." he said venomously. "I have needed to go to extreme lengths to simply keep Niklaus from ripping my head off in retaliation."
"You are returning to their side once more?" she scoffed in surprise. "I cannot believe how quickly your loyalties change, Lucien."
"Yes, well. What you call disloyalty, I call self-preservation." he shrugged leisurely. "Not to mention that I rarely set out with one sole plan in mind."
Aya's face molded in recognition as she seemed to catch something which Julian could not. "You are going after them again, aren't you?" she asked, receiving a wicked grin from the man in response.
"That is nothing for you to concern your little head about, love." he jeered cheekily. "As the matter of fact, I have a proposition for you." he said then with another wide smile. "I will help your dearest Julian regain his memories once more, allow you to leave with me collection of weapons and I shall even withhold the information regarding your present whereabouts to the Mikaelson's."
"And what do you wish for in return?" she asked with a low voice.
"The Sisters." he smirked. "You will leave them to my allegiance in your absence."
She shook her head profusely at that. "I cannot do that, Lucien."
"Oh, I believe you can." he snickered darkly, raising a phone up and waving it in the air. "Or I make a call to the people currently hunting your treacherous behind and reap the rewards of your capture."
Julian could sense her hesitation as she pressed her lips into a firm line. Closing her eyes in a long breath as she forced herself to reach a decision. One which he still failed to see in what way it may come to affect him. She looked like she was struggling with herself as she opened her mouth to speak, shaking her head shortly before she was able to get a word out.
"Help Julian." she began with a desperate tone to her voice. "Afterwards, if you let us leave here - with the weapons – as well as promise to refrain from tipping the Mikaelson's off… Then I will give you whatever you want."
Lucien's responding smirk brought a cold shiver to Julian's spine as the man nodded with a pleased expression on his face. "Excellent." he agreed, rubbing his hands together as he spoke again. "Now; let us begin."
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
It was getting worse, Kol thought as he hurried to throw away the bloodstained tissues. The headaches were more painful with each time, and it was becoming difficult to hide the evidence of it. He leaned against the basin and studied his reflection in the mirror as he breathed deeply.
You have to tell her, something said in the back of his mind. He knew it was true, he knew time was running out and that the small opening where they could actually do something about it was closing.
How long would he be able to hide blood from a family of vampires? How long could he keep his scattered mind and worried thoughts from Davina?
He washed up and splashed some water on his face, deciding to wait until they at least had a way of locating Aya. Perhaps she could explain why they had allowed Davina to bring him back in the first place. Perhaps she or even Lucien would reveal their motives once and for all.
Or perhaps he could learn just why his body was deteriorating all on his own.
As he glanced over at the door to Freya's study, he realized there was one person who could help. However, he wasn't sure how much he could reveal to her.
His head began to ache again, making him clench his jaw as he walked over to the bar in the sitting room closest to him. Pouring himself a stiff drink and raising the glass to his lips, only to falter in hesitation.
A long sigh escaped him as he tightened his hold on the glass before putting it back on the bar with a hard thud. Concluding that his human state was already weakened, and that alcohol would likely not aid in that whatsoever.
Shaking his head in a scoff, he pinched the bridge of his nose and pressed his lips together in a scowl. Finding it harder than expected to acclimate to his mortal life when his formerly immortal body still held the same old tendencies in its muscle memory as it'd had for centuries prior.
"How are you holding up?" his sister surprised him as she stepped into the room and walked towards him.
"Splendidly." he quipped, putting on a smirk as he turned to face her with a shrug. "Just wishing that my former tolerance to alcohol had withstood my miraculous rebirth."
Freya smiled at that, crossing her arms over her chest as she closed the distance between them with a tilted head. "Well, I could always lend you some herbal remedies that may help with the pending hangover?" she offered with a wink, bringing him to snicker lightly. "So, you haven't experienced anything… strange, since returning to life?" she pressed, surprising him as he cocked a brow in humor.
"Are you concerned about me?" he chimed. "Don't you think that would be taking the whole long-lost older sister role a tad too far a little too soon?"
"We have history, Kol. History which predates the others." she sighed out. "I'd like to think that means something in the grand scheme of things."
"Yes, well, your true identity was not actually revealed to me until about a century later." he scoffed.
"Nevertheless, you trusted me once before." she pointed out with a slow nod. "I hope you feel you can do so now as well."
He squinted his eyes in suspicion, moving closer as he scanned her intently. "What exactly are you hinting at, love?" he drawled.
Her dark eyes mirrored his apprehension before she breathed out a silent chant and brought every pair of doors to the room to shut. Watching him closely for another moment before she spoke. "Magic always has consequences and we both know that resurrection spells in particular never come without a prize." she pointed out. "Seldom one not paid with in blood."
Shaking his head in a scoff he turned away and begun walking, freezing mid-step as Freya whispered another chant. He grunted as he fought against the magic placed on him, trying to move away as she circled him and raised a palm to his face.
"What are you doing?" he pushed in a strained voice.
"Shh." she whispered before pressing her hand to his forehead. The touch causing him to fight back a scream as agony filled him in result, his face tensing as he felt blood beginning to drip from his eyes.
He groaned through clenched teeth, closing his eyes as he focused on his powers then. Enough to push her off him and make her fall to the floor with a chocked face. He gasped in relief as the spell on his body dropped and he could move again.
"Way to earn my trust back, dear sister." he spat out. Rage flickering inside his chest as he grabbed her throat and pulled her up to her feet forcibly.
"You know, I cannot help but wonder if perhaps this family is a little crowded already." he quipped threateningly, glaring at her as he held her close. "You'd likely be better off finding a healthier one to abuse." he purred while tightening his grip on her neck.
"Y-your face." she croaked out, bringing him to falter and turn to the large mirror above the fireplace next to them.
He dropped her immediately at the sight, having expected blood to have covered his face once more… but this time, his eyes were red, dark lines crawled over his cheeks and his gums itched in an all too familiar way…. It lasted only for a second before his features quickly returned to normal again.
Scowling at his reflection, he glanced back at Freya as she massaged her throat with dread-filled eyes. "I suppose that was our first glimpse at those consequences…" she mused with a pointed nod. Bringing him to press his lips together firmly, afraid he had gotten the answer to his question after all. Glaring at her in silence as he gulped, glancing back at the mirror again as it seemed to have settled for now… But he knew what it meant; he just didn't know how to stop it.
"What is happening to you?" she asked, bringing him to meet her weary eyes with a frown.
He shook his head in bitterness, wondering how this could be happening amidst everything else. "My body is having some problem fighting off my former nature." he said in a mutter.
She gaped at him as she slowly got to her feet, scanning him from head to toe as she realized what he meant. "You are turning back into a vampire."
November 18th, 1642
Novgorod, Russia
Julian had always had a problem with the cold, ever since he was a child and the electricity went out one winter night - leaving him and his mother to nearly freeze to death in the tiny cottage. She used to tell him that it was ironic, since his father had been of Swedish ascent, she likely expected him to have a higher tolerance to it. However, the only characteristics Julian ended up inheriting from the late militant had been his ice blue eyes and fair hair. Or so everyone always told him, and they certainly enjoyed telling stories of the past in the small city of Novgorod. The most interesting thing to have happened there in centuries was when those Swedish troops stormed the border and temporarily took power of the region during the war.
Or rather; one of them. Julian found early-on that it was difficult following the timeline of some of the historic battles between the dear homeland and Scandinavia and he rarely engaged when such topics emerged in conversations. This was yet another occasion when the patrons of the town pub gathered and spoke of the war heroes and the gruesome bloodbaths, and Julian had trouble choosing which he detested more… The snowfall outside that brought a crisp cold to the air and made his cheeks and hands stiffen, or the monotonous debate of how many allies they had lost in the battles against the Swedes.
His old friend, Jakobi, nudged his shoulder with a bright grin as he gestured for Julian pointedly. As if it had been he himself who took the town over all those decades ago - not merely his biological father who had meant nothing to him throughout his entire life. All the man had been was a reminder of his mother's suffering. Of her severe poverty and the desperation that had overcome her at the young age of sixteen, when her father threw her out of the house for taking too long to marry. Completely apathetic to his own daughter's survival as he felt he had already done his due of keeping her alive, fed and healthy. She had managed to get a job at one of the smaller butcher shops out in the village where she'd grown up, only to unfavorably fall for the charms of the young soldier right before he was shipped back to Sweden.
Julian had been born soon after that, prompting his mother to accept the proposal of her employer in the hopes of allowing them both a good life. Although, as Julian himself concluded time and time again; they would have been better off without the cruel man who later took the role of his father. The farmer who harassed his workers and abused his new wife. The man who constantly put Julian through his fair share of malevolence, having enough of that darkness in him to go around.
Throwing some money in the middle of the table where the gentlemen had gathered, Julian decided he had had enough for the night and left the loud costumers to their own amusement. Wincing as soon as he took his first step out of the pub, turning the collar of his coat high in attempt to shield himself from the cold. He had a long walk ahead of him since he couldn't afford a horse of his own and none would think to share theirs with him out of the mere kindness of their hearts.
No, it was especially nights like these when the young man was reminded of the cruel world they lived in. One where the strong feasted on the weak, one that left no place for friends and far too much for foes. Even when surrounded by people, even when at home with his mother, Julian was always alone.
He held his hands up and breathed into his palms, hoping to warm himself before the ales of the evening wore off and his body regained its sensibility to the winter winds. For now, it wasn't quite that bad and he imagined he could reach his home before the chills truly started to hit. However, a rustling in some bushes by the back of the tavern drew his attention.
First, he thought he'd imagined it. Blamed it on the very same drinks which currently kept him from dying of hyperthermia. But then he heard it again, causing him to furrow his eyebrows as he made his way over in the dark.
"Privet?" he called out in apprehension. "Kto tam?"
The rustling replied, revealing some shadow that seemed to blend into the darkness of the night. Something in the way the strange silhouette held itself brought Julian to gulp and step back. Unsure whether it was wise to waste time talking to whatever deer or rodent had found some garbage to sustain themselves with. He had a mother to go home to after all, and he certainly couldn't help make sure that she went to bed with a sated stomach if his father withheld dinner from her yet again.
A hissing made him turn back to the shadow, certain now that there was someone there… Someone aware, human… Someone watching him. "Ya by ne sovetoval teve zlit' menya segodna vecherom, priyatel'." he threatened with a low voice, already out of patience for the hiding stranger.
He clenched his fists as he stepped further into the shadows, prepared to teach the lurker a lesson or two. However, he was abruptly stopped in his tracks when a pale face suddenly appeared before him. One twisted into a horrific scowl, dark marks crawling around their blood-red eyes.
"Chto za chert!?" he hissed, gaping at the thin, female being as her features turned monstrous in a second. Sharp teeth glistening from her mouth as she jumped at Julian then. He tried to fight her off, but the girl was surprisingly strong for her clearly young age.
"Ostanovit' seychas!" he spat at the stranger. "Ne zastavlyay menya delat' tebe bol'no!"
The cold grin that met Julian then would come to haunt him for ages, as the red eyes were swiftly the only thing he could see before he fell to the snow-covered gravel with a shriek. The night seeming to take over his sight then as all he saw was darkness. All he felt was pain… A smell informing him that he had been severely injured as he recognized it from the numerous altercations he'd had in the past. Blood.
When Julian awoke again, he was unsure of how long he had been unconscious on the ground, the only clue being the sunlight as it covered his face. His whole body ached, his muscles were stiff and cold, and his head was filled with a strange ringing. As he stumbled up on his feet, he shook snow off his clothes and grimaced at the wet fabric. Knowing he'd likely be getting ill as effect, he rubbed his hands across his arms in an attempt to regain some heat and thanked the morning for bringing some light and warmth.
He examined the ground and found nothing to explain the bizarre events from his memories, bringing him to question whether they were real or mere hallucinations brought on by a lack of sleep and an excess of alcohol. Forcing his legs to move, he managed to walk back the short distance to the tavern again. Finding that it was empty and likely closed at this hour, he leaned against the doorway in the hopes of regaining some strength. At least enough to get him through the journey home that awaited him.
"Julian?" a voice called, causing him to jump back in surprise before finding one of the servants standing by the door.
He blinked shortly as he watched the red-haired woman, meeting her scanning eyes with a polite nod. "Vera…" he mumbled silently, resenting his headache as he struggled to remember the little English he'd learned growing up. Knowing that the young woman spoke not a single word of Russian herself.
"What are you doing? Are you hurt?" she asked him. Receiving a shaking head in response, she nodded and opened the door wide. "Come." she told him with a kind smile. "I shall wait with you until someone passes by with a carriage for you to borrow."
He studied her in silence for a moment, not understanding her wanting to help a cold and drunk mess like him… "Thank you." he finally said, accepting the offer as she brought him into the pub. The fireplace lit in the far end of the saloon, he hurried over and sat by the flames eagerly. Soaking in as much of the warmth as he possibly could as he closed his eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.
His eyes wandered off to the young girl as she went about fixing him some tea, studying the half-braided curls as they swept over her shoulders with every move. He tried to remember what his friends had told him about her. Seeing as she was fairly new to the area, he hadn't gotten the opportunity to have a profound conversation with her yet.
So his knowledge began with her name, the fact that she was from the west somewhere and that her uncle had given her the job at the tavern - and ended with her refusal to speak the local tongue. Of why, he was not sure. However, he imagined her home country held the same animosity towards Russia as the rest of Europe really. It was therefore likely that her familiar ties to their small town was not enough for her to truly embrace her new life… Whatever that did entail for the woman.
She cut his thoughts off as she appeared before him, kneeling by his side as she offered him the steaming cup. He sat back against the wooden bench and reached for it quickly. Wrapping his hands around the drink and ignoring the stinging contact as he welcomed the heat. "Are you feeling ill?" she asked him as she kept her gaze on his features.
He shook his head at that, breathing in the flowery vapor as he identified the tea to be chamomile. Her fair and slender hand rested on his arm, bringing his attention to her jade eyes and tender smile.
"Did you spend the night outside?" she pressed on softly, prompting his head to hurt once more as if triggered by her words. The memory cloudy and strange as he gritted his teeth in response.
"I am not sure." he admitted. "I don't remember venturing home from the tavern… All I know is that I woke up in the snow just now."
Something seemed to flash before Vera's eyes at his explanation, her head nodding as she pulled her hand away from him and averted his gaze. "How strange." she murmured, causing Julian to scoff in reply. "Is it possible that you had one too many last night?" she suggested leisurely while grabbing the iron poker as she adjusted the burning coal methodically.
"It surely would not be the first time." he agreed between slow sips of the tea.
She turned to him with a sympathetic smile, standing and walking over to take a seat next to him on the bench. "I do not make it a habit of mine to listen to the stories which are told in the late hours of the day in this poor excuse for an establishment…" she began with the hints of an apologetic grimace playing over her plum lips. "However, I cannot help but hear some of them and… And I have noticed that most are about you and your family. Or more specifically; your father… and step-father."
He only hummed in response as his attention focused on the liquid before him. Allowing him to take a moment to appreciate another breath of the steam.
Vera likely sensed his apprehension to the current topic as she cleared her throat and straightened her back. "Well, I only wish to make it known that if you were to ever be in need of a… recluse of some kind… then you can always come here." she told him, surprising him as he blinked at her slowly. "My uncle won't mind." she added with a smile.
"I-" he began with a short chuckle, shaking his head as he suddenly became awfully aware that they were alone. "I am not sure that would be appropriate." he drawled, nodding pointedly at her as he hoped she wouldn't be offended by his declination.
She watched him for a silent moment before a wondrous laughter broke from her lips, her hair flying as she shook her head and raised a hand to her mouth. "I apologize, I can see where you may have misunderstood my intentions…" she chuckled. "But let me assure you, I did not mean anything untoward."
He furrowed his eyebrows at that. "Untoward?" he echoed, not familiar with the expression.
"Improper." she said, earning a nod of understanding from him. "No, love, I was only offering you a place to stay for the night during the occasions when you may feel resistant to adjourn home."
Julian nodded at that, amusement trailing his lips as he smirked in reply. "Thank you for the offer." he said genuinely. "I suppose we are a little more formal here in Novgorod than you may be accustomed to in your native land."
She shrugged, the glimmer in her eyes striking him as he wondered shortly if he actually wouldn't mind her companionship in other ways as well… "My brother urges me to watch my tongue, however I am not resigned to the notion that women should watch their 'anythings' in this world." she chimed. "I believe we deserve to be as free and comfortable as the men I come across everywhere... Even more so, if I am to be completely honest."
"That is an interesting point of view." he snickered softly. "I can't say I have given it much thought myself."
"Of course you haven't, Julian, for you are not a woman." she pointed out, the words sounding sharp but the look in her eyes seemed to smooth it all over with honey and caramel and all that was sweet. "I rarely spend time questioning the lesser rights or freedoms of men myself. It is always easier to want better for people like you than it is to have sympathy for others - is it not?"
He shrugged in reply to that. "I suppose." he said, taking the last sip of his tea and frowning when it felt much too cold for his taste. He put the cup away on a side-table and watched the flames in front of them silently, mulling it all over as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Curious of this strange lady and her outward views and outspoken mind… "You have a brother." he noted, stating it as a question as she nodded in response. "I do not believe I have seen him, does he live with your uncle too?"
"No, he spends his time in England." she replied with a sad sigh.
"England, is that where you are from?" he asked, wondering if that explained her advanced dictionary and proper language.
"No." she told him, silence falling over them as she made it clear that she had no intention of carrying the conversation on any further.
"And your uncle?" he tried, studying her closely as she frowned by his side. "I think none of us have seen him since he bought this pub from the previous owner… What is he like?"
"Truth be told… I imagine he is much like your father." she whispered, so quietly that he wasn't sure he heard her correctly. However, when he attempted to ask her to clarify he was interrupted by a hard knocking on the door.
The sound brought them both to stand in surprise, him feeling conflicted as he watched her dark eyes. Wondering if perhaps she felt uneasy being found alone with a man at such a strange hour of the day.
Before he could make himself scarce, she walked across the salon in confident strides and swiftly opened the door. Her shoulders visibly stiffening from what he could see, the shadow before her clearly not a welcome presence.
"Hello, love." a man drawled, his accent sounding a lot like hers.
"Hello..." she addressed the customer with a slight stutter to her voice. "I-I wasn't made aware of your visit beforehand."
"Well, you know how your brother feels about looping you in on his plans…" the man chuckled, his back straightened as he stretched his neck and studied Julian from over her shoulder. A cheeky smile on his face, the dark eyes flashing with mirth and danger as they took Julian in slowly.
"Oh, I can see that you have company…" he snickered amusedly. Taking a long breath of inhale while his eyes closed in a strange grin, the sound and looks of it all not sitting well with the man inside the pub. "And a rather formidable one at that… Why don't you let me inside and let us share a bite?"
"Is everything alright?" Julian asked then, stepping forward as he sensed something malevolent about the visitor.
"Yes, Julian. Everything is fine." Vera sighed out as she nodded to the man joining her side. "In fact, my friend here will gladly ride with you to your home. Seeing as he is on his way out of the city already."
"Am I now?" the man chuckled in challenge, receiving an intense glare from her at that. "Actually, I would concur. I believe we have much to catch up on, sweetheart." he grinned, looking to Julian with a pointed nod. "And I could always simply lend you my carriage for the day."
Julian hesitated as he felt a coiling of his stomach at the predatory look in the stranger's eyes. "I don't think…" he began stammering, the man suddenly covering his view as his hard gaze locked on his.
"Take my carriage and leave for your home." he told him firmly, the words so authoritarian as they left no room for protests nor questions. "Bring it back with you this evening and we shall have a drink together right here before I leave."
Suddenly, Julian felt very secure in leaving Vera alone after all. Nodding as he barely gave her a glance before hurrying out to the awaiting carriage. The rider calling out in question to him as he asked where they were headed, the horses quickly pulling them away from the tavern upon his reply.
The closer Julian got to his house, the more bizarre the meeting felt. But he couldn't find it in him to doubt the stranger any further, especially since Vera seemed perfectly capable of dealing with her friend all on her own.
At least that was what Julian kept repeating to himself as he entered his home in silence, actively ignoring the feeling in his gut as it tried to warn him of something. But it would have to wait until tonight, when he could face the stranger once more.
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
Hayley tapped on Davina's shoulder to gain her attention, meeting her tired eyes with a pointed glance to the cup of coffee in her hands. "Figured you needed a moment to rest." she told her softly, earning a tiny smile as the witch accepted the drink and sat back in her chair with a sigh.
The hybrid threw a glance across the grimoires and journals on the desk before the young girl, shaking her head as she sat on the wood with a frown. "I'm guessing Marcel's lead on tracking Lucien's objects isn't working?" she asked.
"No." Davina agreed with a cold scoff. "And you know what the worst part is? Everyone is already looking at me like this is my fault, but now when I can't even find one stupid spell that might actually get us somewhere…" she shook her head sadly. "I just… I feel like a failure of a witch."
"Don't say that." Hayley sighed, reaching for her hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "Believe me, every single person in this building knows why you did what you did. No one is holding it against you."
"Well, you blaming Marcel isn't any better." she countered with a frown, causing the older girl to nod in response.
"I know." she murmured. "It's just that… I still don't understand what he was doing with that dagger for all those years. He could have hurt Klaus, Davina. Maybe even killed him… And that would have left Hope without a father." she took a deep breath to calm down as her werewolf temper started to tug at her senses. "I am trying so hard but… I don't know how to talk to him or even how to look at him without seeing someone who put my family in danger."
The witch blinked silently as she squeezed her hand back nodding in understanding. "Marcel would rather die than let Hope get hurt." she told her firmly. "I know that because it's the same way he feels about me. And that is why he helped me with Kol… Because he wanted to see me happy. You get, that don't you?"
Hayley attempted a smile before turning away. "I'm going to check on Freya, maybe she's found something." she announced, ignoring the question as she left the study in silence. She felt no desire to lie to the young witch. Because yes, she understood why Marcel would help Davina. But she knew there was something more to the story, and it was starting to really eat away at her.
She walked through the hall as she listened for the Mikaelson's voice, determining that she was in a sitting room with Kol. Walking in their direction, she was stopped in her steps as she heard something else. Someone having entered through a door as they spoke, allowing for her to hear their hushed voices briefly.
"I told you we can't trust him."
"Caroline trusts him."
"Oh, right. Of course, she does. Because she knows he won't let her get hurt!"
Not liking where the conversation was going, she flashed up the stairs and found the room where Damon Salvatore, Alaric Saltzman and Enzo St. John stood arguing. Standing by for a moment as she tried to assess their motives, she used her hybrid-hearing to catch the rest of the discussion through the closed door.
"All I'm saying is that I don't think Klaus is considering every possible factor in this hastily brought-together rescue mission of his…" Damon hissed, earning a quick response.
"As opposed to yours?"
"Come on, Ric! You can't honestly tell me that you think the Big Bad wolf gives a crap about what happens to Bonnie."
"Why would you assume that he doesn't? He knows what Bonnie means to Caroline, do you really think he'd risk her hating him for the rest of eternity by letting her best friend die?" Alaric countered.
"Are you kidding? Of course!"
"How can you be so sure?" Enzo chimed in with a scoff.
"Because it is what I would do!" Damon bit out sharply. "If this was about Elena, if her life was hanging on by a thread while I had the choice of either saving her or someone else - it wouldn't even be an option."
A short beat of silence filled the room as Hayley held her breath, making sure not to be caught as she waited for the others to protest. To say something…
"Sorry to have to tell you this, Damon…" Alaric's voice finally quipped. "But you are not Klaus Mikaelson. And this plan to get Caroline back isn't necessarily futile just because you weren't the one to think of it."
"Hey-" the man began in protest but was silenced as Alaric went on.
"I have to say, it really isn't a surprise to me that you would come here and immediately start dismissing Caroline like this. After all, you've been doing it ever since you first came into our lives."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Enzo spat out in surprise.
"That is in the past." Damon said, ignoring the man's question. "Caroline forgave me and we moved on from all of that a long time ago."
"Did she?" Alaric pushed. "Or did you just assume that she did so that you could go on with your life like nothing ever happened?"
The words made the hybrid furrow her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what they were referring to as she had no recognition of any animosity between Damon and Caroline. At least not more than the usual amount that came with the Salvatore's behavior and smug attitude… But it seemed there was something more going on, and that could compromise everything.
Just as she was about to storm in and confront the men, Damon broke the quiet with a low mutter.
"What's your point, Ric?"
"My point?" the man echoed. "I'm just noticing a pattern here, that's all. You know; me, Sheriff Forbes… You just can't help yourself from breaking the children of your supposed friends. Yet you expect me to believe that Klaus is the most untrustworthy person in this building?"
Couldn't have said it better myself, she scoffed internally before deciding that the discussion was over. Opening the door and entering with a nonchalant look as she feigned ignorance, glancing over at the three men with a raised eyebrow. "What's going on?" she asked in a slow drawl.
Enzo seemed ready to reply but was cut off by Damon as he quickly smiled at the hybrid. "We're just trying to figure out how best to help keep operations steady." he taunted with a shrug.
She squinted her eyes at him, making it clear that she wasn't buying any of it. "Right, well, we're still waiting for a location. But when we have one, we're going to need some extra manpower."
They all nodded in unison at that, something reaching her before the vampires as she heard Marcel pull Klaus away from Hope. Telling him they may have something. "Seems like we just struck oil." she told the men with a pointed nod as she gestured for them to follow her, walking out and meeting Marcel down in the courtyard where he held an unsteady Klaus up by an arm around his shoulders.
"What do you have?" she asked as she hurried down the steps, scanning the Original hybrid's weak stance with a worried frown before Marcel spoke up to clue the rest of them in.
"Two women were spotted with a couple of vampires, burying bags in the woods near the Alabama border." he answered. "The Strix has connections at a private part of the regional airport in Mobile. I think it's safe to say that's where they're headed."
Klaus and Hayley both nodded in agreement, knowing he and Elijah had used those services themselves in the past when searching for the missing Strix members. "Two women." Klaus repeated, earning a furrowed look from the vampire in turn.
"You were right. Aya's with her. Possibly even Aurora." Marcel confirmed before looking at Hayley then. "You should send out orders to the nearest pack members to go after them."
"Will do." she agreed quickly, taking her phone out and swiftly typing the information to one of her Betas who would have the easiest access.
"I say we call in a bomb threat if necessary to keep the runway closed until we can reach them… and have a couple of cars ready for Kol, Davina and anyone else to follow." Marcel mused as Klaus pushed off his friend's shoulders and straightened his back.
"Good." he sighed out, tilting his neck with a crack. "They'll need it, I won't."
Marcel stopped abruptly at that, staring back at him with disbelief across his face. "You can't seriously be considering-"
"I'm fine."
"You are not fine!" he protested in a sharp hiss, shaking his head furiously. "Is she worth dying over? Is she worth leaving Hope father-less?"
"Watch it." Hayley bit out firmly, not having the patience to deal with the irony in Marcel's words. "I'll go with him." she decided, meeting Elijah's face as he joined them then.
"I will have a car prepared soon, I suggest you gentlemen join me." he told the guys behind her as he quickly got with the program.
"Alright. We'll start packing right away." Damon said with a nod as the three scattered, bringing Hayley to shake her head shortly as she turned to her husband with a clear gaze.
"Brother, you should stay here and rest." Kol's voice chimed in as he entered the courtyard and turned to the hybrid.
"I agree with him." Elijah added.
"I'm going." Klaus bit out, his eyes already sparkling with amber-gold as he collected all of his strength to begin his transition.
Marcel pulled further away from him, scowling between the two hybrids with a clenched jaw. "Turning in this condition could kill you, Klaus."
"It won't." Klaus growled as his body began to vibrate.
"Nik. Don't. You are too weak." Kol pleaded.
"I'll be stronger as a wolf." he insisted, scowling back at them with his fangs bared as the other vampires finally accepted defeat.
Elijah touched Hayley's hand as he appeared by her side, reaching up to stroke her cheek as he offered her a trusting smile. "Stay close to each other." he murmured softly. "Whatever you may need - shift back and call us, we will find you."
She nodded and smiled back, leaning up to kiss him tenderly before stepping out of his hold. Her glowing eyes found Marcel as she began to let her body change. "You - stay with Hope. Keep her safe." she ordered before turning to Klaus with a challenging smile. "Come on, I'll race you." she teased, bending forward in a cry as her spine broke and twisted beneath her skin.
Klaus grinned at her before nodding to the others. "You better leave now, before we tear you apart." he quipped as his arms twitched and turned.
"You guys are fucking insane." Marcel bit out, but quickly heeded his advice and disappeared to check on Hope.
"Good luck." Kol muttered and turned to leave. Elijah in tow as he threw one final glance over at Hayley. They shared a nod before he too flashed away.
Klaus turned to the female hybrid again with a smirk. "Let's see what you can do, little wolf." he chuckled as the both of them broke down in another pair of growls and screams.
Swiftly, they had finished turning and their canine shapes flew out the mansion in a gust of wind. A loud howling left in their wake, the sound echoing as it stretched out over the dark streets of the Quarter. Looking like shadows in the night to any who happened to catch a glimpse of the running wolves.
November 19th, 1642
Novgorod, Russia
Julian had managed to stay out of his step-father's view for the whole day. His mother had left for the market soon after he came home, so he made sure to busy himself as well. And to stay invisible from the older man of the property for as long as possible.
Having spent hours shoveling their gravel path free from the night's heavy snowfall, he was both freezing and sweating when his mother caught up with him on his way back inside.
"Tebe udalos' nemnogo otdokhnut', syn moy?" she asked as he took the groceries from her arms and led her into the kitchen.
"Ya v poryadke, mama." he assured her, smiling at her concerned frown as she nodded in response. He stowed away her purchases - goat's milk, oats and some vegetables - and made sure to give her some space as she began preparing supper.
Heading for the sitting room next door, he lit the fireplace and waited for the warmth to fill the small house. So focused on poking at the coal and wood, he didn't notice the heavy steps coming down the stairs until the man responsible for them stood behind him.
"Gde ty byl, mal'chik?" the hoarse voice quickly brought Julian's back to stiffen as he stood up and faced his step-father with a short nod.
"Tol'ko v gorode, ser." he muttered in reply, avoiding his eyes as he attempted not to accidentally provoke the seemingly calm man.
"Pochemu vy ne soobshchili nam o svoikh planakh?" his step-father pressed on as Julian slowly looked up to meet his gaze, watching his swift moves as he worked on the buttons of his shirt.
"Eto bylo v poslednyuyu minutu, ser." he explained silently, receiving narrowed eyes in result.
The sharp words were already expected before they were spoken, as the gray-haired man scoffed to himself in displeasure while walking towards the kitchen. "Kak i vse chto vy delayete, konechno. Ty nikogda ni o chem ne dumayesh', ne tak li?"
A long breath escaped Julian as the man was finally out of sight, his fists still clenched tightly in defense as he listened to the conversation in the other room. It sounded relaxed for now, allowing him to feel comfortable to leave the elders alone as he returned to his chores. Not eager for his step-father to catch onto how behind he was on them for the day.
It wasn't until he had finished hammering the loose boards at the outside walls of the house that he was interrupted with his step-father's voice once more. A shout, the tone angered as he glared at him from the entrance while he headed inside.
"Ch'ya povozka i loshad' snaruzhi?" the old man pressed, his arms folded over his chest and matching his scowl and dark eyes.
"Eto bylo odolzheno mne na den', ser." Julian explained, hoping that was the end of the conversation. But as his step-father blocked his way through the door, he realized the quiet of the day had passed. He was in a mood now.
"Odolzhil tebe kem?" he pushed on.
Julian resisted the long sigh that threatened to leave him in irritation as he began to relay that the owner of the tavern had taken pity on him last night. Not wanting him to freeze to death on his way home at such a late hour. However, it was soon clear that his lie was not bought.
"Malen'kaya zmeya ... Chto ty poobeshchal yemu vzamen na takoy lyubeznyy zhest?" his step-father sneered.
Resenting the implication, Julian shook his head and gritted his teeth. "Nichego, ser." he began firmly. "Ya polagayu, chto nekotoryye lyudi prosto tak velikodushny, chto ne zhelayut zla drugim."
"O, ty v eto verish'?" his step-father snickered venomously.
"Da." he replied firmly, passing by the older man with a sharp hit to his shoulder as he decided he was done talking. He ignored the shouts as the man tried to trigger him, to provoke a bigger reaction or some fight as he called him names and told him ugly things.
Deciding he was not only done with talking, but with being sober now as well, Julian hurried out to the carriage where the driver had left it. Getting on and urging the horses to gallop him out of there, thankful to his mother for having taught him how to ride as a child. He rushed through the crisp cold air as the skies turned dark, they did so early at this time of year, enjoying the silence… The solitude.
When he arrived at the tavern, it was already filled with loud and happy patrons. The various horses and carriages outside alerting him to this being a particularly popular night and causing him to regret coming here after all. But as he climbed off the carriage and tied the horses to a nearby tree, he was met by familiar faces at once. Smiling friends and cheering acquaintances as everyone seemed genuinely happy to see him, which was rare for Julian. And it was the main reason he spent so much time at the tiny pub in the first place; the people there were his family.
It was funny, he thought. How he rarely felt as at home as he did while away from home.
He quickly spotted Vera as she maneuvered through the room with a heavy tray in her hands, moving so graciously that you could be fooled into believing that she was carrying nothing at all. His eyes followed her as she served her customers, passing table by table with an easy smile on her face. He was led to the bar to order when a man blocked his sight from the enchanting waitress, a churning quickly filling Julian's stomach as he recognized the stranger at once.
"Hello again, mate." he chimed happily. "I trust you have taken good care of my ride?"
"Yes, it is outside." he told the man curtly.
"Excellent." he smiled in reply, reaching his hand out then as his grin widened. "I am Lucien. Lucien Castle."
Hesitant at first, he accepted the hand and nodded back. "Julian." he introduced himself. "Meknikov."
"Meknikov?" Mr. Castle repeated with amusement. "Ever considered changing it?"
"To what?" Julian scoffed as they broke apart and a couple of beers appeared before them.
"Anything you'd like, friend." Lucien shrugged. "I never did understand the Old World's need for naming people after their occupations or their father's names… Forcing young men like yourself to walk in the same footsteps as your forefathers did, the path set in stone before you have taken your first breath." he shook his head in disagreement. "I believe the time has come for us all to take our lives back, choose our names ourselves and therefore allow for the path to be whatever we wish for it to be."
"That is… a nice thought." Julian replied with a nod. "I see how you and Vera are friends, you have such similar views of the world."
"Vera?" Lucien echoed, looking lost shortly which confused Julian then.
"Vera." he repeated pointedly, nodding to the waitress from across the salon. "You are friends, yes?"
Lucien followed his gaze and chuckled, looking back at him with another curious smile. "Ah, yes. Of course. The lovely Vera." he drawled. "Yes, she and I have known each other for what feels like… centuries really."
Julian smiled shortly at that, nodding as he sipped his drink. "Does that mean that you came up together in the same place?" he asked.
"Yes and no." Lucien replied with a playful wink, chuckling as he continued. "Yes, we were born in the same region - but we lived in very different worlds."
"I don't understand." he replied with a frown, receiving another chuckle as Lucien went on.
"It is a long and awfully uninteresting story, mate."
Understanding that he wouldn't get any further explanation than that, Julian merely nodded before straightening up and turning away. "Well, I will return to my friends now." he told him, the smirk on Lucien's face only growing as he quickly spoke up.
"Ah, yes, thank you! I would love to join!" he proclaimed happily, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as he followed him towards the table. Acting as if they had been the closest of friends for the longest of time. Lucien grinning as they walked together while Julian barely kept an uncomfortable frown at bay. "It will be a pleasure to get to know Vera's nearest and dearest patrons." Lucien announced just before they joined the others and began their introductions.
Julian was prepared to act translator for the rest of the night, since it seemed Lucien had no plans on leaving his side now, but he was surprised to find that the strange man actually spoke Russian flawlessly. It brought questions to fill Julian's head as he wondered just who this curious person was… Or rather, it made him wonder who Vera really was.
Her smiling face soon appeared by their group, her eyes flickering with sparks as she saw Lucien's presence with the others. "What will you have tonight, gentlemen?" she asked sweetly, earning responses in all kinds of broken English as they all made their orders.
She then turned to Julian, nodding pointedly as she gestured for him to join her away from the table. He noted that Lucien was caught up in the retelling of some story from his travels in southern Europe and decided he wouldn't notice his absence for now. Sneaking away, he walked over to the bar where Vera stood cleaning some glasses as she gave him a grim look.
"How did your return home go?" she asked him. "I take it your father was not pleased about your late-night ventures?"
"No, it was fine." he said with a shrug. "I have certainly experienced much worse in the past."
A short frown covered her face as she nodded in response, leaning closer to him as she kept her voice low. "Remember, my offer still stands." she told him softly.
He smiled at that. "Thank you, I will remember it." he said with a nod, watching her as she straightened up and started pouring some drinks. Realizing then that she never did explain why she had made her offer in the first place, he decided to ask while they had a moment alone. "Vera, why are you helping me this way?" he inquired gently. "I mean why… why do you care?"
She reached over and held his hand in hers at that, a wide and brilliant smile spreading over her features as she nodded at him pointedly. "I just do." she said with a shrug. "Do you mind it awfully?"
"No, not at all." he chuckled, shaking his head as he fought back a flush to his face at her warm skin on his. He pulled back and cleared his throat, glancing around quickly to ensure no one had seen the exchange. "I will let you work in peace now." he decided politely, smiling as he turned away and joined his friends again.
He sat in his chair just as the group erupted in deep laughter, reacting to something Lucien had said and patting Julian's shoulder firmly. Asking him where he had been hiding this strange man from the others until now, causing him to barely resist answering that he wasn't even sure how he had found him… Nor how to get rid of him, quite frankly.
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
"You have to tell them, Kol." Freya pleaded as she hovered over her youngest brother. He was packing up and preparing to leave for Alabama when she repeated the words yet again to him.
"I will be fine." he insisted. Zipping his duffle bag swiftly and throwing it over his shoulder, sighing as she blocked his path then. "You agreed that all I have to do is stay alive." he pointed out with a shrug. "I have never been one for sacrificing myself for others anyway, so I am certain that won't become a problem."
"Yeah? Then what do you call putting your mortality on the line by helping Niklaus?" she retorted, bringing him to roll his eyes.
"I'm not going to do anything that may compromise my newfound humanity, Freya." he assured her firmly. "Think of this as me standing by the threshold of transitioning. Meaning I should be able to force the door to immortality shut for good, merely by allowing enough time to pass."
"It is not that simple, and you know it." she protested grimly. "The magic that brought you back is unreliable at best. You cannot be sure of what may trigger the transition back into your former self; perhaps it isn't dying after all… Perhaps all you have to do is feed into those old instincts of yours just enough to tip you over?" she mused, tilting her head in a scoff as she spoke on. "Like choking your long-lost sister in a fit of fury, for example."
"Well, that solves it then since you won't be accompanying me." he quipped, raising his brows in a playful smirk as he pushed her aside and exited the room then.
"Kol…" she sighed as she followed him through the halls. "Don't do this."
"Do I need to remind you that I survived over a thousand years without your advice? I'm sure I will be perfectly fine without it for another day or two." he chimed without glancing back at her.
"Yes, continue down this path and you will undoubtedly have multiple centuries to put that theory to the test." she scoffed back prompting him to stop and turn to her with a sigh.
"Our best shot at stopping Aya and Lucien is to make sure that we do not play into their hands." he said, earning a furrowed look from her.
"What makes you think this wasn't part of their plan?"
"The fact that they have yet to show up here to use me for whatever spell they had in mind." he replied with an impatient snicker. "They failed at draining Nik of magic just as they failed at bringing me into their schemes… Which means they will need someone to fill that void, that is possibly why they opted for Caroline in the first place. They must have understood what we all have as well; something is not right with her."
"And they need to channel someone powerful." she thought aloud. "Having lost their shot at both you and Niklaus… perhaps Caroline is not where this all ends."
He nodded cheekily at that and waved his hand to urge her on. "So, tell me, who else could they possibly attempt to use next?"
She blinked slowly as she caught onto his train of thought. "Hope." she breathed out.
"Which is why I intend to have their heads before they even consider harming one single hair on my niece's." he quipped before turning away and continuing down the halls again.
"So, what do you suggest I do? Hide her away and pray they won't find her? Bind her powers as some precaution?" she sighed exasperatedly, bringing him to stop again as he turned around slowly with a pointed look.
"You bring in Vincent." he said with a sigh.
"Vincent?" she echoed.
"Yes, he should be able to aid in protecting Hope until we can neutralize the threat that has become our first-born descendants." he explained in a nod. "Drag Camille out of that basement and have her call her paramour while we still have time."
"Cami does not wish to be involved." Freya pointed out.
"And I do not wish to become a vampire again!" he called out coldly. "We all have our problems; you don't see me hiding under some rock or burying my head in the sand because of it."
"That is unfair, Kol. You were not here when Aurora used her in her latest plans to overthrow this family."
"I do not care." he chuckled with raised hands. "As long as none of you are set on doing whatever you can to protect this so-called family, all of my advice will continue to fall on deaf ears. So go on, love. Find some other way of taking on that evil little trio of first-born vampires." he scoffed out bitterly before turning away then and heading out the front door.
"I am going to follow the one good lead we actually have." he called over his shoulder, walking to where Davina was waiting in one of the cars.
"You okay?" she asked as he got into the passenger seat with a sigh, tossing his bag over to the backseat and turning to her with a smile.
"Simply tired of the constant stupidity exhibited by my siblings." he snickered. "But aside from that, I am perfectly fine." he grinned, causing her to shake her head in a scoff. "Well? Ready? he asked and nodded for her to start the car.
"Seat-belt." she ordered, earning another grunt from him in response as he fastened himself in. "You sure you don't want Elijah riding with us?" she pressed on then.
"Yes. Fairly certain actually." he sighed out in determination.
The sounds of howling made the both of them jump slightly and stare out the car window. Imagining the two wolves flashing through the city and frightening tourist all along the way.
"I hope they'll get there in time." Davina mumbled silently, making Kol reach for her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"Stop blaming yourself, darling. You are definitely not the first one to do ethically questionable things for others in this family, and I am certain you will not be the last."
"Well, I'd feel better about it if Klaus hadn't suddenly started throwing up blood everywhere." she muttered.
"That was probably more of a reaction to my sudden return rather than the dagger," he said teasingly. "Don't you think?"
Davina chuckled lightly at his words, glancing back at him with a smile that made his heart swell. "I'm glad you're back, Kol."
"I am too, darling." he smiled softly, leaning in to peck her lips in a chaste kiss. "As soon as this is all over, I am going to take you to any and all places you wish to go. Then we shall celebrate your triumphant strength in every single way I can possibly imagine - and in the most luxurious hotels the world has to offer."
"Yeah? That's quite a promise." she giggled, making him chuckle lightly too.
"Well, I may no longer have the ability of compulsion at my disposal, but I sure do have others to offer you, Davina."
She grinned widely at him and kissed him once more, sighing as she pulled back from him. "Let's go save your family then, so the vacation can finally begin."
He smiled at her as the engine roared alive and they drove out of the shaded carport. The city that Kol used to once call home gradually disappearing in the rearview mirror, bringing him to the conclusion that anywhere could be home – as long as the young woman in the seat next to him remained by his side.
"I love you, darling. You do know that, right?" he said then, making her bite her lower-lip as she smiled on.
"Well, yeah, you better." she snickered. "Since I brought you back to life and all."
Laughing wholeheartedly then, he leaned back and beamed with joy as he was already looking forward to this entire mess being solved as soon as possible. Shaking off the remnants of fear brought on by his and Freya's findings regarding his physical state. Prepared to see himself to the finish line, no matter what.
November 20th, 1642
Novgorod, Russia
His lungs hurt from the sharp breath he took, opening his eyes to stare at the darkness in fear. Heart drumming so hard in his chest that he felt it in his ribs, his ears ringing and throat scratching like sandpaper.
What had happened?
Where was he?
He pushed his hands forward, finding the dark surroundings to be soil. Frozen solid, acidic, frightening.
He was buried.
Jumping up straight, he dug himself out of the shallow grave and wheezed in the crisp winter air. He glanced around with so many questions on his mind, flashes of images filling his head as he identified the woods he was in. There was a hint of a thin path leading towards a clearing further away, the sight of it bringing him to gulp in recognition. It was the small patch of forest belonging to their land, but how had he gotten there?
He slowly got on his knees as his stiff limbs protested the movements, thin streams of the afternoon sun breaking through the trees and burning his eyes. Causing him to blink rapidly before he could focus his sight again. His heart skipped as he noted his clothes stained with blood and dirt, a hand coming to the back of his head and finding more dried blood there. Seemingly having come from an injury of some kind, but what?
The swift flashes in his mind brought memories with them, visions of his friends while he shared drinks with them at the tavern. Flickers of Vera and Lucien and the strange looks they gave each other when they thought no one was watching… His step-father's face when he arrived home not long before sunrise.
They had fought, he remembered now. He had found his mother concealing soft sobs in the kitchen, her face dark with bruises and her back hunched in pain. It had been such a long time since he saw her like that last, and the sight brought his blood to boil. Prompting him to storm into the house despite his mother's protesting cries. Hurrying through the rooms until he found the bastard sipping tea - as comfortable as could be.
No hints of guilt in his demeanor, no signs of what had occurred. Were it not for the physical proofs on his mother's skin, he would have never guessed what had transpired. But there were little cuts of blood on his step-father's knuckles, and that was enough to set Julian off then.
He had pushed him out of his chair, pulled him up by his collar as his fist crossed his face over and over… and over again. The older man had retaliated, grabbing something ceramic and hitting it on his son's head. Bringing him down on the floor and wrapping his throat in the tight grip of his hands, squeezing as the world began to blur and dots appeared before Julian's eyes.
His mother had appeared then. He could see her now, with the tea pot in her hands, her eyes furious and filled with a protective fire as she struck her husband hard. Forcing him off Julian in time for him to fill his lungs with air once more and grab his step-father's ankle. Dragging him closer as he headed to return the favor done to his sore throat, only for the elder to grab one of the iron tools by the fire place and pushing it into Julian's stomach. The screams made his head hurt as he met the horror on his mother's face, the last thing he saw before the world was veiled with a coal-like blackness.
Mother.
He turned to search the ground for her, finding traces of footsteps still evident in the thin layer of snow leading to his grave… as well as another. His knees buckled as he immediately began to claw at the soil, hurrying to reach for the body beneath as he prayed she would be blessed with the same miraculous recovery as him.
"Mama…" he whispered as he unveiled a pale and unmistakably female hand. He continued his movements, his fingers hurting from the icy and hard surface. The pain dissipated when he uncovered her face, carefully brushing off the dirt from her throat and chest as he bent down to listen for her breathing.
She was lying so still. Her skin was blue and withered…
"Matushka?" he gritted through his teeth, resting his head on her shoulder as his heart broke. Hot tears burning down his cheeks as his lips shuddered in a mixture of denial, grief as well as in reaction to the cold.
He shook his head and sobbed in despair, cupping her face and tracing her hair with pleading whispers. "Pozhaluysta, mama…" he breathed out, begging for it not to be true.
Grabbing one of her hands, he held it tightly in both of his as he pressed kisses to her knuckles. Muttering against her skin in further pleas as he couldn't bring himself to stop.
A sound from down the path made him stiffen and turn around with wide eyes, spying the carriage passing their land. The horses strutting on, the traveler oblivious to what was going on mere meters away from them. It caused him to shake himself out of the shock and rise to his feet, grabbing a rock from the ground by his feet and studying it shortly before throwing it in the horse's direction. It brought the animals to a stop, the people in the carriage calling out in surprise as the cavalier patted the horses in a calming matter. Calling back to their employer as he assured them that nothing was wrong.
Julian disagreed. He was convinced in fact that nothing would ever be right in the world again. Not for as long as he lived.
Nor for as long as his step-father did.
The flickers of anger began to tug at his insides, but he couldn't give into it yet. He had to take care of his mother first, since he refused to leave her like some euthanized animal who had turned rabid and insane. It was lacking respect, care, dignity. And she deserved so much more than that.
So, as the traveler's moved on, he decided not to call out to them for help after all. To handle it on his own instead. He unveiled her fully and picked her up, holding her by the backs of her knees and under her arms. Cradling her close to his chest, he carried the corpse back to the farm. Walking slowly as his mind raced with so many emotions, questions… Strange memories, the origin of which he could not decipher.
As Julian reached the house, he first listened for the monster residing within it. Walked inside with cautious steps and an apprehensive gulp as he determined the building to be empty.
Where the hell was he? He asked internally, wondering if perhaps it was fortunate that he was not forced to face the man so soon. Fearful of what he would do if he did. His gaze fell on his mother once more, the sharp pain in his heart awful as he tried to breathe through it. To calm himself just enough to finish what he came to do.
Finding a plaid and laying it down on the floor, he carefully put her down onto it and enveloped her body. Placing a kiss to her forehead before covering her face as well. He then continued to grab some rope, cutting it with a knife as he tied them around her, keeping her tucked in with each. One for her feet, one for her torso, one for above her head.
She looked so small and meek like that, so still, so cold…
Eventually, Julian gathered enough strength to walk out to the opposite patch of land, the one where they used to have horses ages ago. But they had since then been slaughtered and eaten, the stables had been turned into an outhouse and the land was rarely utilized by any of them. Except his mother, she adored going there to watch the sunset. Every day, she came and sat on the little bench and closed her eyes. Breathing deeply for a moment of serenity, of peace and warmth, just before the darkness fell and night came.
He'd asked her once, as a child, what she thought about when she went out there. Did she remember the horses? Did she dream of his late father? She had told him that it was always different, but that most times she would think of nothing at all. And even at such a young age, Julian had understood that this had been his mother's safe haven. Her own little piece of solitude. A place that was all hers. A moment that was everything she needed. A rest which strengthened her, aided her as she went back to the house with a new sense of determination and peace.
And he found it the only possible place fit for her last rest as well.
It took a while to dig a proper grave for her, the soil still so stiff and uncooperative. But eventually, he carried her back out to her favorite spot and laid her down on the dirt. The sun coming to slowly darken as it neared the end of the day, just like every other time that she had been to the very same scene. Experienced the very same visage of red and golden hues as they spread over the skies, slowly being swallowed by the night.
He finished burying his mother with a heavy heart, with sorrow and anger battling his stomach as every movement of the shovel covered her with another patch of frozen soil. Convinced that he knew what this would mean, what would follow.
The first of which promptly arrived about an hour after he had returned inside the house. He listened to the footsteps against the gravel as the man slowly walked up to the porch, clearly not prepared for anyone to be inside the home - as the family it belonged to was now dead.
All of them, but one.
Julian was quick to meet the man's eyes as he stepped into the sitting room with a pale face, his expression filled with confusion and denial. But once again, his appearance was completely lacking guilt. The son had pondered what to do, what to say, when his father came back. But with that, it had been decided for the both of them.
And so, Julian stood up from the chair, holding the iron spear which was still stained with his very own blood. He walked over to the man as he raised his hands with a stuttering voice, sprouting some insincere apology as he claimed innocence. When that did not work, the man had the stomach to try a different approach. Calling him names, saying that he was too much of a coward to go through with it. That he was too afraid of becoming a monster - just like him.
He was wrong.
The death was swift. The man barely got the chance to turn away and run before the spear pierced his chest in one single motion. His face a mask of disbelief and shock as he stared up at the son he'd never respected. He'd never cared for. Never loved.
"Eto dlya neye." Julian whispered in his step-father's ear. Twisting the weapon as the man let out one final cough of pain.
As the body fell to the floor with a thud, Julian closed his eyes in a breath. Accepting what he had done, for he believed it was righteous. Deserved. He would never come to regret that moment for the rest of his existence, because he knew it was what had needed to be done.
What he was not prepared for, however, was the sensation that followed when he studied the bloodied weapon in his hands.
His gums aching, his face itching, his insides clenching as a strange call ran through him. A need, a hunger, causing his mind to go completely blank. All he could see, all he could smell, was the blood. It consumed him, struck him with something powerful and dark as it forced him to bring the red liquid smeared on his skin towards his lips.
The first taste was like lightning, like a fire burning his veins and spreading venom through his body. His muscles seemed to come alive, his bones vibrating, his skin tingling… He groaned deeply as the discomfort in his gums became unbearable, prompting him to hurry towards the window as he inspected his mouth in fright. His eyes widening with a sharp gasp as he stared at the reflection before him.
The dark lines crawling underneath his cheeks, the redness in his eyes, the sharp teeth stretching…
He truly had become a monster. He could sense the strength coursing through him, the power in his limbs, the rush of adrenaline… He felt glorious, and that scared him beyond anything else.
Staring down at the body behind him, he decided he could no longer stay in this house, in this village… In this country. People would discover the man and woman missing, they would put it all together… They would come for him and pin him to the cross like the beast he was.
So, he hurried to cover up his tracks. Dragging the last body outside and digging a far less respectable grave for the man's corpse. Spitting at the soil as it hit his face, his body humming as he moved. Not quite grasping how fast it all went until he stopped to take in his work. Holding the rock in one hand and piece of steel in the other as he studied the grass and hay he had spread through the house.
Striking the pieces in his hands, he soon set off a spark that fell to the dried material. The dried straws quickly caught on fire and it coursed forward so fast, giving him hope that the snow and wind outside would not be enough to stop the destruction. The inside of the house was covered in high flames in no time, most of the construction being of woods after all.
Julian gave the house one last glance as he watched the smoke come through the roof right before it collapsed, smiling as he turned away and rushed down the trail to the town. The world moving so quickly beside him that he felt convinced that he was flying. Reaching the tavern with a hurried knock to the door, he calmed his breathing as he waited for someone to open.
A sigh of relief escaped him when Vera appeared, her eyes wide as she ushered him inside.
"What happened?" she gasped as she studied the blood and soot covering his body.
"You told me I could come to you for help…" he began cautiously. "Did you mean it?"
She hesitated shortly before giving him a nod. "Yes, of course."
"Good." he nodded back, smiling with something cold and bitter inside as he spoke. "I need you to help me disappear."
Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana
"I really am sorry to do this, Camille." Freya sighed as she offered another blood-bag to the young vampire where she sat resting in her study.
"I know you are." the younger blonde said with a friendly smile. "But, hey, if there was ever any reason for me to step up and help the rest of you out – keeping Hope safe is just about it."
The witch felt relief fill her as she nodded at that, glancing over at the group of men across the courtyard as they stood preparing weapons for the drive. Kol and Davina had already left to follow Klaus and Hayley, but she worried they would be too late despite their efforts… "How fast do you think he could get here?" she asked as she looked over at Cami again, receiving a shrug from the other blonde.
"I don't know, but I'll make sure that he hurries." she promised kindly. "Is there anything I can do in the meantime?"
"No, you are already doing more than enough by still being here." Freya insisted, turning to the mountain of books and papers on the desk behind her that both she and Davina had failed to work through. "Now I just need to find some answers…" she murmured silently.
"What answers?" Cami asked, standing up and joining her side as she picked up a few stray pages and examined them swiftly.
Freya let out a sigh and directed a grimoire to her in response, opening it to the section she had been going over and over all day.
"Dark curses?" Camille read aloud in surprise. "Is this about the Candle?"
The witch nodded at that. "Kol said something that brought me to believe that Caroline may not be the only one necessary for whatever plan Aya has concocted up here." she explained in a sigh. "And it certainly doesn't help that I still fail to see Caroline's role in all of this in the first place."
"What do you mean?"
"She was the only one capable of entering Niklaus' mind. And if that isn't strange enough, add to the fact that she somehow survived going head-to-head with Lucien all on her own..."
Shaking her head profusely, Freya sighed out before speaking again. "And now Aya has taken her for some reason which does not make sense. It would have been no surprise if she chose to kill her right away. But instead, she took her... Which begs the question: why would Aya have the slightest interest in a young vampire like Caroline Forbes?"
"So, she has a few talents and a likeable personality…" a voice teased, bringing them both to turn around and meet Marcel's smirk as he entered the study with a light shrug.
Freya studied him with a short scowl, shaking her head again as she spoke. "Right before she disappeared, I was struck by this dizziness. It was as if I suddenly lost my strength, out of nowhere. I couldn't piece it together before but the more I go over it in my mind, the more I remember..." she relayed in thought. "I was sitting next to her while she entered Niklaus' mind. Caroline was starting to lose the connection and so I decided to do a focusing chant… and then she was suddenly gone, along with the dagger…"
"Wait… You really think that Caroline took the dagger?" he pressed incredulously, glancing over at Cami swiftly before looking at Freya again. "That doesn't make any sense, I mean she had already tried to take the dagger out before and failed. They all had. Why do you think she could be capable of something like that?"
"I first felt it when we used that locator spell on her ring, and then again as we tried to contact the Bennett witch through her... I haven't been able to figure it all out quite yet. But I believe that somehow, at some point in Caroline's life; she was hit with a powerful magical force. One that resembles what the Candle seeks in order to function. And if that is the case, then Lucien may not have ever been looking for this weapon at all. Whether he knew it or not, what he needed was her."
"You're saying…" Cami drawled, glancing down at the book in her hands once more. "That Caroline is cursed?" she pressed, scanning the witch's face as she fell silent.
Something came to Freya then as she looked over at them. "Suppressed memories." she murmured silently, quickly stepping away and stalking down the hall with determined steps. Walking towards Alaric Saltzman just as he was about to leave the house with the rest of them.
"What happened?" he asked nervously, bringing Damon to turn to her with a solemn frown as well.
"That is my question exactly." Freya said then with her hands crossed over her chest. "What happened to Caroline?"
"What do you mean?" Enzo pressed as he joined them with a worried frown.
"Why would Aya want a young vampire as her in this plan of theirs? What can she offer them that no one else can? Why was she the only one able to enter Klaus' mind? How did she fight against several thousand-year-old vampires with such resilience?" Freya said as she walked closer to Alaric with a serious expression. "What happened to Caroline?"
"I don't know... I..." he stuttered, prompting her to sigh in frustration.
"Just tell me the truth! You know what this is all about, don't you?"
"I don't." he insisted, glancing over at Marcel and Camille as he shook his head. Seemingly hoping they could explain the witch's outburst as he remained confused about her questions. "If I had any information whatsoever that could help, I would give it to you in a heart-beat. So, what exactly is it that you think I know?"
Freya narrowed her eyes as she studied him intently, determining that he was telling the truth. She nodded at him then in gesture. "Stay here and we will work to figure it out." she requested, causing Alaric to gulp slowly as he studied her with an unsure face.
He looked to Damon and Enzo with a slow nod, seemingly sharing some kind of understanding with them before turning to her again. "Okay." he said in determination, dropping his bag of weapons pointedly. "Do what you have to."
Present day
Somewhere outside of Grand Bay, Alabama
When Klaus and Hayley reached the airport, they were met with the group of werewolves Hayley had sent there on their behalf. "I assume you were waiting for us." Klaus said as he had turned back to human form first, Hayley standing beside him as she started to twist in pain while doing the same. One of the men threw some clothes over to him, prompting him to begin getting dressed. "Well? Lead the way." he ordered with a nod.
The men shared a few glances before turning to him again, one of them stepped forward with a scowl on his face. "We were told to ground all planes from taking off. We did." he told him, the sound of his voice informing the hybrid that something was wrong.
"And?" Klaus asked as he finished getting dressed, looking over at Hayley as her skin slowly showed itself within the final parts of transition. Another member of the pack walked over to her carefully and laid some clothes by her head. "What are we standing around here for?" the Original pressed then, his patience already running thin as he stared back at the man again.
"They've... barricaded themselves inside one of the jets. We think they're using some kind of magic. None of us have been able to either get in or get them out."
"Good thing back-up is here then." Klaus scoffed. "Show me to it."
The man nodded and gestured for the others to walk back to the private runway, Klaus stayed behind a moment and kneeled down to Hayley's now fully-human form. "I'll call Elijah." she grunted as she reached for the clothes near her. "You go, see what you can do until Davina gets here."
He nodded at her with somber eyes. "Thank you, Hayley." he said then, causing her to look back up at him in a moment of confusion. "For helping me, for being here. You didn't have to be." he clarified.
"Of course." she assured him.
The reply made him smile warmly as he reached out to squeeze her shoulder before standing up to leave. "Tell my brother I survived." he teased back to her as he followed the retreating pack to the runway.
He turned to the man he'd spoken with earlier, nodding over to the vehicle in sight with a pointed look. "How long have they been in there?" he queried.
"It's been about an hour now." the wolf explained. "We tried everything but dynamite to open the doors… none of it has worked."
"At what time did you see them enter the plane?" Klaus pressed as he scanned the jet with narrowed eyes.
"Well, we don't know... We didn't see them go in but we assume-"
The hybrid stopped in his steps at that, glaring back at the idiot by his side as he scoffed in disbelief. "You mean they may not even be in there!?" he bit out through his teeth.
"Of course they are, no other planes have tried to take off ever since we came. Not to mention that it's the only one being sealed off by magic..."
Reaching for his collar, Klaus pulled him closer as he clenched his jaw with a sigh. "Can you tell me if anyone is actually inside that plane or not?" he asked in a slow drawl, his voice level and calm but his eyes shining with danger.
"N-no." the wolf stuttered, making the Original drop the man quickly as he looked over at the plane again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the wind flow past him and the asphalt crack lightly beneath the other's feet. Then he focused and listened inside the jet, trying to find heartbeats or any other sounds signaling somebody being in there.
He heard nothing, but the wolf was right, it was sealed by some magic. He could feel it as he walked up to the vehicle, sensing an invisible force pushing at him to not enter. His hands rested on the door a moment as he weighed his options shortly, then he gripped the handle and threw it back behind him.
Flashing inside, he found no one there. Only a crystal on one of the seats, that and the scents… Caroline had been there, and so had Aurora.
Footsteps behind him informed him that the wolf had followed inside. "You are certain they could not have taken any other jet?" Klaus asked slowly, not looking back at him as the risk of him tearing the pup apart was already too great.
"Well..." the man muttered, causing the Mikaelson to turn around in fury as he scowled.
"Well, what!?" he growled as the man stammered in response.
"Th-there was one plane that took off just before we got here... W-we didn't think..."
"Where was it headed!?"
The man reached for the file in one of the other wolves' hands and began to flip through pages quickly, yet not quick enough for Klaus' preference. "The flight log states... Virginia." he finally said, bringing a sigh out of the hybrid as he closed his eyes in a scowl.
"For hell's sake..." he spat before walking out of the jet and hurrying over to where Hayley stood with a phone to her ear. She lowered it as she met his eyes and gave him a questioning look. "We'll need another plane. It appears I have torn this particular one apart for no reason."
"Where are we going?" she asked making him chuckle coldly in return.
"Mystic Falls, of course." he replied and nodded to the phone. "How far away are you now?"
"Just short of thirty minutes." Elijah relayed through the speaker as Klaus gulped hard.
"Make that ten or we leave without you." he countered firmly and turned away to give orders to the werewolves once more. "Get us that plane, now!"
Present day
Somewhere outside of New Orleans
The headache woke her up. It made her body feel heavy and sore as she slowly opened her eyes to the light hitting her face. A flashlight. Someone was watching her.
She moved to study the shadow closer as the light worked to keep her blind, but something was holding her back. A metal chain locked around her ankle, it was connected to the wall and the length didn't allow for much wiggle room.
Her head protested as she sat up a little too fast, reaching for the chain with both hands and pulling at it with all her strength. Two, three… ten times, and nothing. It wouldn't move an inch. She grunted out a sigh and leaned back against the cold wall, remembering the person with the light again.
"Who are you?" she asked as she squinted at the silhouette through the steady bars. It seemed like a cell in some cave or tunnel, the smell was sour and damp and reminded her of a basement. Except for the musty scent of mold, it seemed out of place and off to her. "Where am I?" she pressed with a hoarse voice.
The bright light went out swiftly, causing specks and shapes to cover her sight as she tried to spot the person in the dark. A whisper passed in the wind, the echo hitting the stone walls and filling her with an eerie feeling.
"Who are you?" she asked again, her firm voice barely covering the hints of panic in her tone.
She heard the slow steps from their shoes as they walked closer, sounding like they were wearing heavy boots as it crunched against some gravel. Her attention was redirected when she heard a howl coming from the distance, making her glance up to a small slot in the ceiling as the moon covered it.
She took advantage of the new light spreading into the cave and turned to the person on the other side of the cell. Her heart froze as she saw the steely features on the familiar face. "Klaus?" she breathed out, kicking at the chain again as she tried to move closer to him. "What happened?"
His silence made her gulp as she studied his profile shortly. "Klaus?" she pressed, wincing when he turned an angry scowl at her then.
"It's all your fault." he muttered. "You are the reason for this happening."
"What?" she breathed out, shaking her head but hissing at the pain it caused. Leaning back again, she held a hand to her temple and glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
"You put my family in danger." he gritted, his eyes glowing with amber as he glared at her. "You put me in danger."
She blinked quickly, the thick fog in her mind making it difficult for her to catch up. "What are you talking about, Klaus?" she stuttered out as his cold gaze elicited a harsh shiver through her spine.
He moved closer to her, his chin raised and his jaw clenched as he scowled at her. "You should have stayed away, Caroline." he said, his voice dripping with venom and hate.
Gulping as she found it difficult to meet his gaze, she averted her eyes with a shake of her head. "I don't know what you mean…" she whispered.
Catching her off-guard, he reached through the barrier between them and gripped her throat tightly. She coughed and stared in chock at his apathetic expression, her nails scratching at his hand in an attempt to push him off.
"Don't you see what you have done!?" he spat in fury, veins crawling over his cheeks and around his eyes as the monster broke through his human facade. "You have brought nothing but misery and pain into this city since the moment you stepped foot in it. And now, everyone I love is going to die… All because of your displaced loyalty towards them."
She struggled against his hold as she tried to respond, whimpering lightly when he squeezed her throat tighter in result. "You-" she managed to hiss out. "You're not Klaus."
The former scowl was replaced by a wide and manic grin in reply. "Is that right?" he crooned malevolently.
He eased his hold slightly, bringing his other hand to stroke the side of her face as he stepped closer. Walking past the metal bars to her cell and bringing her to widen her eyes in confusion. "Are you so certain that you know me, love? Truly know me?" he asked, tilting his head as he closed the short distance between them and pinned her to the cave wall.
"Or do you merely know of what I choose to reveal?" he pressed on, turning her stomach in fear as he pushed against her body. "What have you seen of me but the few attributes which I have carefully opted to show you?"
"What do you want?" she bit back, swallowing hard as she steeled herself. Refusing to shy away from the monster before her, since it so clearly seemed to be his intention all along. "Are you trying to get to him through me?" she asked in a scoff. "Do you really think I would tell you anything?"
"I have lived for over a thousand years, Caroline." he chimed with a smirk, brushing his knuckles across her skin and bringing a conflicting pulse to hit her in effect. "There is nothing you can tell me which I have not heard before. Nothing you could do which I have not done myself in the past." he murmured, his proximity confusing her since he seemed so… real.
The implications made her unsettled as she tried to turn away, only for him to grip her chin and force her to watch him again. "You're in my head." she concluded, catching a subtle flash of surprise in his eyes which confirmed her suspicion. "Why?" she asked. "What are you looking for?"
"Why do you assume that I am looking for anything at all?" he shrugged, moving some of her hair back from her face. The familiar motion prompting her to close her eyes in a deep gulp as his touch sent a warmth over her cheek.
"Do you know what name I was given the last time I felt earnestly threatened by another being?" he quipped, leaning in to whisper in her ear as he continued. "There were many versions, several interpretations depending on the language…" he hummed, his breath heated against her skin as she fought to pull away.
"'Klaus le Fou', 'Klaus le Dement', 'Niklaus der Morder…'" he mused. "I myself preferred the simple; 'Klaus the Mad'."
He turned to catch her eyes again, something truly wicked glimmering in the green irises. The ones which used to bring her comfort but brought only cold dread to her now. "Europe was a riot, Caroline." he crooned. "I believe I caused more deaths there during a mere century, than I have all other years of my life combined."
"Why are you telling me this?" she croaked, sensing that he was trying to make her fear him and stubbornly deciding not to comply.
"Perhaps I am testing you." he smirked. "Pushing those boundaries you so strongly put on yourself in order to cling to your humanity..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she pressed, her eyes narrowed as she studied him.
"Simply that I find it pathetic how you still cherish the fantasy of being good… even as your nature implies the direct opposite." he sighed casually. "I am curious, how exactly do you justify your feelings for me whilst so amply aware of who I am? How does your moral compass manage to overlook your decision to be with me?"
Her lips formed a tin line as she watched him in silence, trying to read where he was going with all of this but finding no clue. He seemed to enjoy her reaction nonetheless, grinning as he angled her head and brushed his lips against hers tauntingly.
"We are all monsters, Caroline." he breathed out with hooded eyes that threatened to draw her in. "What makes you so sure that you would be exempt from the rest of us?"
She gritted her teeth and met his gaze with determination. "Loving you doesn't make me evil." she retorted, causing him to raise an eyebrow skeptically.
"Would you still love me if I killed Bonnie Bennett?" he pushed, making her falter as she blinked in dread. Staring at him in disbelief as she shook her head against his hold.
"You wouldn't." she whispered.
"How can you know for sure?"
"I-I… I just do. I know you." she stammered, turning unwary as he merely grinned in response.
"Would you be willing to bet your friend's life on that?" he challenged. "Would you be willing to bet yours?"
Before she could reply, he plunged his hand into her chest and wrapped his fingers around her heart. Causing a mute scream of agony to get stuck somewhere deep down her throat as she gaped at him in chock.
"Well, love?" he quipped, his grip tightening and drawing a meek sound of protest to fall off her lips. "How certain are you that you can trust me?" he sneered grimly, hot tears rolling down her cheeks as she struggled to remain calm despite his threatening hold. "Is your faith in me wavering yet, or would you like me to truly put it to the test?"
"Don't…" she breathed out, receiving a sinister grin from him as his face turned into the frightening features of golden eyes and sharp fangs. He let out a nefarious growl as he gripped her heart tightly and pulled it from her body in a swift move.
She woke up with a sharp gasp, coughing as she pressed a hand to her chest in panic. Her eyes darting over her surroundings as she found him gone, nothing but darkness accompanying her now.
The room was pitch-black, and it took a moment for her sleepy eyes to identify the different shapes around her. Including one body. She knew because the face was turned towards her and a pair of round eyes stared back in the darkness.
"Bonnie?" she whispered, receiving a snicker in response.
"Oh, brilliant… out of all the people in the world to be locked away with." the face said, making Caroline wince slightly as she recognized the voice.
"Rebekah?"
The Original vampire shook her head and scoffed in reply, looking to the younger blonde with an annoyed smile. "In the flesh."
... See you soon. xx.
