Chapter 20: Part 5 — Sly of the Tiger
Author's note: Thank you for all of your comments about my last chapter — I really appreciate you taking the time to review! And I was flattered when someone told me that they googled some of the things I wrote about — my writing cause spontaneous googling! There's a t-shirt slogan in there somewhere...
A lot of you had more questions about the story, which I tried to respond to individually, and for those of you that reviewed as guests, feel free to send me a PM and I'll be happy to answer your questions.
For this latest chapter, I received a lot of requests to revisit this universe I've created in this series, so we're returning to the world of supernatural Klaroline with rival business empires (see Chapters 2, 6, 9, and 14 in this series for a refresher.) Caroline has landed in a bit of trouble and an unlikely group of rescuers has assembled to demand Klaus do something about it. I hope you enjoy this latest installment; I'd love to hear from you!
Warning: Going to get a bit violent in this one.
"A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up."
― Mae West
"Stole sunshine!" This angry declaration was followed by long, scaly fingers slamming on top of the smoky glass of Klaus' conference table, making it vibrate.
Klaus considered the dozen or so ghouls that had unexpectedly barged into his meeting with Elijah. They were a fearsome lot with their rotted, gray skin and rows of sharp teeth that they kept gnashing in anger. Several had broken off into smaller groups to speak in guttural tones of obvious agitation and they kept glancing over their skeletal shoulders to glare vehemently at both Originals.
Elijah cleared his throat unnecessarily, trying to call to order the chaos that had erupted in the boardroom. He caught several pairs of black eyes glittering with malice and increased the volume of his voice while speaking slowly, stretching out the vowels and consonants of each word in a parody of his normal speech patterns. "Why have you come here? What do you want from us?"
"Bollocks, Elijah! Do you honestly think that speaking louder and slower is somehow going to magically imbue these ghouls with the ability to speak English," Klaus asked his brother impatiently. He raised a questioning eyebrow as a thought suddenly struck him. "Come to think of it, why can't we understand them? We both speak ghoulese fluently."
Elijah glanced warily at the ghoul nearest to them, who kept baring his teeth menacingly. He replied, "Ghouls have multiple dialects, and this is unfortunately one we cannot understand. If I'm not mistaken, these ghouls appear to be a part of the Mesopotamian clan, the oldest known faction." He sighed, rubbing his forehead as he added, "That likely means their dialect originated with Akkadian, Babylonian or Sumerian languages — none of which we speak."
Another ghoul joined the first still standing at the conference table in between the two Originals and banged his scaly fists upon the mirrored surface until it nearly cracked under the force of his furious movements. "Stole sunshine," he bellowed, echoing the other ghoul's baffling sentiment.
A group near the back of the large meeting room had been gesticulating wildly as they spoke in low, angry grunts in their native tongue. They turned their rotted gray heads toward the confused Originals and amended their brethren's statement, bellowing, "Our sunshine! Stole our sunshine!"
Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose, weighing the political consequences of slaughtering the lot of them versus the irritation he would experience in the aftermath when Elijah would inevitably feel the need to lecture him about poor impulse control.
Before he could decide, the double doors banged open once more, sending the heavy maple panels crashing into the sheetrock. Kol came bouncing into the boardroom, merrily shouting, "Sorry I'm late, brothers! You know how it goes — so many bead-adorned tasty things, so little time to convince them you're an official bead inspector/professional parade enthusiast!" Their younger brother came to a sudden halt when he observed the conference room full of ghouls and he let out an unearthly screech that sounded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Several of the ghouls stopped furiously ranting in their native tongue to smile widely at Kol, displaying unsettling rows of sharp teeth, which they began clicking enthusiastically, as though savoring his fear. A few wiggled their long fingers at him in a cheeky little wave that caused the boisterous Original to gulp loudly.
"Bloody hell!" Kol exclaimed somewhat fearfully as he carefully made his way beside his brothers, "What the devil do you think you're playing at, meeting with Caroline's ghouls?"
Klaus snapped to attention and snarled at his brother, "These are Caroline's ghouls? How do you know that?"
Kol shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant as he settled into a chair beside his brothers, refusing to look directly at the creepy ghouls. "Well, first of all, I still vividly recall being kidnapped by these little grave-munchers from that tiny misunderstanding with the side-betting nonsense at Caroline's Fang Fights. Secondly, ghouls should stink like death and decay, but this lot smells like they bathed in vanilla and cinnamon before crashing your meeting. Plus, I remember when they grabbed me, I thought they were Keebler Elves on a meth bender."
Elijah nodded as he added, "Miss Forbes once told us that she compensates her ghouls with cinnamon-cardamom snickerdoodles."
Klaus immediately stood up in agitation, realizing belatedly what the ghouls' broken English ravings meant. Our sunshine. His sunshine. He bellowed at the ghouls, "You're here because something's happened to Caroline?! Where is she?!"
The large group of ghouls nodded enthusiastically at Klaus' angry words, waving scaly fists in the air as they snarled, "Stole sunshine! Stole our sunshine!"
Before the brothers could uselessly question the ghouls further, Bonnie suddenly raced into the room, breathing harshly. "I told you guys...wait...for me," she gasped, wheezing as she hunched over to catch her breath. Once she was more steady, she straightened her shoulders and began confidently speaking to the assembled ghouls in their native language, appearing to be simultaneously chastising them and soothing their rage.
The ghouls swarmed her eagerly, and at first, Klaus thought that their movements signaled violent intentions, and he started toward the group to stop them from harming Caroline's friend, when he realized that their actions were actually an enthusiastic greeting. They waved and smiled at her, still displaying alarming rows of sharp teeth, but their black eyes seemed more lively somehow, and while not necessarily filled with warmth, they did seem pleased with her arrival.
Smiling indulgently at the ghouls, the green-eyed girl reached out and patted the tops of their rotting heads, giggling when they began preening under her attention. Several of them called out to her in halting English, "Boo! Our Boo!"
Elijah cleared his throat uncertainly, clearly uncomfortable with the ghouls' oddly friendly behavior. "Forgive my surprise, Miss Bennet, but you speak their ancient language quite well for one so young. Also, they refer to you as 'Boo'? However did this come about?"
Bonnie shrugged and answered, "Once Caroline learned their language, she taught it to all of us. She's big on respecting the heritage of all—" One of the ghouls interrupted her, tugging on the sleeve of her purple tunic and impatiently peppering her with questions in his native language. Running her fingers through her shiny bob, she said in irritation, "No! No cookies! No cookies until we go get Caroline!"
The ghouls' disappointed faces would have been more humorous if it hadn't been for all of the rotted skin. Several of them heaved heavy sighs while others returned to looking surly and threw glares at the brothers as though it was somehow their fault for the sudden void of cookies in their lives.
Klaus angrily banged his fist on the glass table until it finally cracked. "Enough! Where's Caroline?!"
Klaus' outburst rallied the ghouls who raised their scaly fists in the air once more to yell, "Sunshine! Stole our sunshine!"
Kol tentatively inched behind Elijah who had somehow managed to remain calmly sitting at the table during the boardroom's chaos. "Stop arsing about, Nik," he urgently stage-whispered, "Don't rile up the little grave-munchers."
Bonnie's green eyes flashed dangerously as she snarled at Kol, "Don't ever call them that in my presence again."
Several of the ghouls noted her harsh tone and stood protectively in front of Bonnie while hissing at Kol, "Sweet meat!" Their unsettling black eyes glittered as they clicked their teeth at him, clearly enjoying the way the Original paled under their harsh glares.
Gritting his teeth, Klaus asked again, "What happened to Caroline?"
Sighing, Bonnie replied, "Damon Salvatore happened to Caroline. She never returned from her meeting with that greasy jackass. They're in the process of expanding a joint venture for daylight microchips and Damon's been whining about his cut again."
"Miss Forbes is behind that ingenious technology that allows vampires to be implanted with microchips imbued with the daylight ring spell? Impressive," Elijah commented with a raised brow.
Irritated, Klaus waved off his brother's statement and in a demanding tone asked, "How can you be sure that Damon is responsible for Caroline's disappearance? She's a powerful woman with many enemies." Despite his concern for Caroline's whereabouts, the pride in his voice at her accomplishments was apparent.
The witch favored the angry hybrid with an unimpressed look. "Caroline maintains extensive background files on all of her associates, from their enemies to their enemies' enemies. She also has mathematically plotted the likelihood of betrayal and potential revenge scenarios that each of her associates may pursue. Trust me, according to Caroline's calculations, Damon has kidnapped her."
"Salvatore," Klaus growled, "I will tear him limb from limb! He will rue the day he dared to take what is mine!"
His war cry spurred on another round of "Sunshine! Stole our sunshine!" from the ghouls, who began stomping their feet impatiently, the graveyard dirt trapped between their long toes scattering across the polished travertine.
Elijah, attempting to divert the group's attention in a productive manner, straightened his pinstripe tie as he stood from the ruined conference table. "Very well. Miss Bennet, we will need access to Caroline's file on Damon Salvatore. We will assemble our witches and they should be able to conjure her location."
Rolling her eyes at Elijah's imperious tone, Bonnie said, "No need. Caroline already predicted where Damon would take her. He's not particularly imaginative, and there's this property over in Bywater that he and his idiot brother have been passing back and forth for decades. Now follow me and let's go rescue Caroline," she commanded, not bothering to look over her shoulder as she exited the boardroom, her army of ghouls in tow who chattered excitedly now that the rescue mission was underway.
Once they arrived at Milton Reid Road, the Originals looked confusedly at the rundown RV park that Bonnie and the ghouls had led them to. Spying the rotted wood deck perched precariously atop a swampy stream, Klaus asked in disbelief, "This is the property the Salvatores have been arguing over?"
Chiming in, Kol said, "It's a curiously bland bit of uselessness, isn't it," he asked, pointing to a cabin's sunken roof with torn shingles near the property's edge.
Bonnie shrugged. "I don't get it either. They fight each other tooth and nail over this boring stretch of property, each feverishly claiming ownership. At first, it was amusing to watch, but now it's become a bit predictable and sad." Grinning, she gestured toward the rundown cabin. "Caroline should be in there."
Without another word, Klaus flashed inside the dilapidated cabin, the rest of the rescue party racing after him. He found Caroline slamming a razor-sharp stiletto into the exposed throat of a beefy vampire who was writhing in pain on the cracked concrete floor while gripping what appeared to be a broken leg.
From the doorway, Bonnie wryly said, "This is why we can't have nice things," nodding at the gore-streaked heels of the mangled Valentinos on Caroline's feet.
Klaus rushed forward, hugging Caroline to his body, squeezing her tightly against him as though trying to reassure himself that she was real. "Love, are you alright," he implored, breaking away to begin hurriedly patting down her body to check for injuries.
Caroline smiled, quickly pecking him on both dimples as she nodded. "I'm always alright." She glanced down in distaste at her ruined studded footwear. "The shoes, not so much." She winked at Bonnie and said, "Elena's going to be insufferable when she finds out all those extra yoga classes she forced me to take with her actually paid off. I was hanging upside down and it was embarrassingly easy to contort my arms and legs to use the metal studs on my heels to saw through the ropes."
A groan from the crumpled body near Klaus and Caroline interrupted them, and just as the vampire was coming to, Klaus reached down and brutally ripped out his heart, tossing it several feet away from the corpse.
Blue eyes twinkling in amusement, Caroline asked him, "Do you feel better now?"
"Yes," the hybrid grudgingly admitted, hugging her tightly once more.
Elijah walked near the back of the cabin where he noted two other desiccated vampires with their hearts messily removed. Arching an eyebrow, his tone was impressed as he said, "It appears our rescue was unwarranted, Miss Forbes. Well done."
Squeezing Klaus' hand, she whispered in his ear, "Nonsense, I'm always happy for an assist."
Kol loudly protested, "Can you hold off on the rescue sex until after we've left the premises? Besides, your minion army is anxious to see you," he added, eyes darting warily toward the dozen or so fiendish ghouls who raced into the cabin and surrounded Caroline, rudely pushing Klaus out of the way. The hybrid growled lowly in displeasure, but his protests were largely ignored as the ghouls' unsettling squeals of happiness echoed in the small cabin. Caroline beamed brightly at them all, squeezing their scaly hands and patting the tops of their rotted gray heads, giggling when three eagerly swooped in to hug her. "I promise I'm ok," she said gently, adding additional words in their guttural native language, causing the ghouls to grin even more broadly with their sharp teeth.
Several of the ghouls crooned, "Sunshine! Brought Boo and your Ass-Weasel!" They happily pointed at Bonnie and Klaus, while hopping joyously around Caroline, basking under her attention.
Kol began giggling hysterically as the surly hybrid scowled. "Ass-Weasel?! That's classic, Nik!"
Frowning slightly, Caroline spoke lowly to the ghouls in an admonishing tone, while some crossed their arms stubbornly and muttered "Ass-Weasel" under their breath as they shot Klaus covert glares when Caroline's head was turned.
With an embarrassed smile, Caroline tucked a few flyaway blonde strands behind one ear with her blood-smeared fingers and said to Klaus, "Sorry about that. They might have overheard me complaining about you a few times, back when we didn't really know each other that well. Or you know, last week when you went behind my back and tried to convince my marketing team that I had signed off on your logo alterations to Friday's Were-Wrestling Wars. Apparently, 'Ass-Weasel' is easier for them to say than 'asshat or dimpled weasel'."
Grumbling, Klaus glanced around the room, noted the dead vampire captors once more and felt an odd thrill of pride go through him as he viewed his lover's handiwork. He asked curiously, "Where's Salvatore, then? Was the bastard too lazy to do his own dirty work?"
Rolling her eyes, Caroline answered, "He stayed long enough to watch his cronies string me up, then flashed out of here to go set up a paper-thin alibi in a pathetic attempt at plausible deniability for when someone found my corpse." She ground her still-dripping black stiletto into one of the open eyes of the desiccated vampire closest to her. "Amateur," she spat disdainfully.
At the sickening pop under Caroline's determined heel, Bonnie woozily said, "Hey! Some of us are still human and get freaked out by your icky torture porn fetish!"
Perking up considerably, Kol stepped toward Caroline and leered, "Darling, why didn't you say so? You've been sporting with the wrong brother all this time!" He quickly backed off at Klaus' possessive growl, though, and muttered some hasty excuse about being late for a previous engagement and then flashed away, with Elijah following more sedately behind him.
Fists clenched, Klaus seethed, "Salvatore left you to die? He hasn't begun to understand the meaning of death. But rest assured, when I find him, he will learn." He clasped her face with both of his hands, staring deeply into her eyes as he swore, "I vow to you, he will never hurt you again."
At first, Caroline seemed to bristle under Klaus' implication that she needed his protection, but then her expression cleared and she curled her bloody hands over Klaus' and said, "Thank you. But don't worry — he won't get far." Her ghouls suddenly flashed disturbing smiles, chattering once more in their native tongue.
With an enigmatic smile, she asked, "Would you mind taking me to my office? There's something I need to pick up."
As she walked past Bonnie, the witch said solemnly, "It will be ready by the time you arrive."
"Good," Caroline replied with a nod, leading a confused Klaus past her ghouls and through the open door.
Soon, Klaus realized that Caroline's bravado back in the rundown cabin had been an act. She clearly hadn't been comfortable showing weakness in front of the group. However, once she was alone with Klaus, she seemed to let down her guard somewhat. It was disquieting to the hybrid to see her vulnerability, but he also felt a surge of happiness at the realization that he had earned her trust. She had been unusually quiet on the way to her pastry shop, Sweet Caroline, which served as a clever smokescreen for her real business, the underground supernatural fight club called Fang Fights. Obviously concerned, Klaus tried to initiate a discussion with her several times, only to receive one-word answers or too-tight smiles that were almost painful to behold. He understood that she was retreating into herself, and he needed to tread carefully and make her feel safe once more.
They took her private elevator decorated with antique mirrors down to the cavernous fighting arena. He tried not to let his thoughts wander to the multiple pleasurable occasions they'd shared in that elevator. Interrupting his sensual memories, she huffed in aggravation and said, "By the way, don't think I've forgotten about that shady stunt you tried to pull with the logo changes. Rest assured, we will be addressing that when I am feeling more...myself."
He felt his lips curl into a relieved grin. "Of course, sweetheart. Perhaps that would be an appropriate time to discuss how you managed to amend our sporting events contract to 25% of the proceeds going to you and 15% going to your ghouls. As I recall, those weren't quite the terms we negotiated."
She shook her head, lips twitching into an almost-smile. As they exited the elevator, they passed by a tall, stunning redhead who called out to Caroline, "Your package just arrived. I set it on your desk."
Caroline nodded and replied, "Thank you, Aurora. That will be all." She led Klaus down the hall to her office and once the door was shut, he felt the need to reassure her once more.
"Damon Salvatore will never touch you again, sweetheart," he promised, his steel gray gaze tinged with angry gold. "I personally will hunt him to the ends of the earth if need be."
She smiled faintly, walking over to her ornately carved Victorian desk, where a pretty pink and cream box sat, the logo from her bakery emblazoned across one side in girlish letters. "You haven't invited me to join your hunt, Klaus," she said, her blood-flecked finger lightly skimming the large pink bow perched on top of the box.
He shifted uncomfortably, running his fingers through his messy blonde curls as he noted the slight edge to her voice. It was an old battle between them — while he recognized her power, he still feared for her safety and the possessive wolf within him couldn't let go of the notion that she needed his protection. Caroline didn't appreciate being made to feel weak, and today, that loathsome Salvatore had tried to do just that. Klaus likely hadn't helped matters by loudly discussing his plans to go after the pathetic vampire alone, as though Caroline was helpless. "I would be honored if you and I could hunt Salvatore together, love. I didn't mean to imply otherwise," he amended.
She nodded dismissively, still staring at the pastry box upon her desk. "Today, someone tried to take away my power. But I took it back." She slowly pulled apart the pink bow that held the lid in place. In a casual voice, she explained, "I've been in this business long enough to have learned a few things. Bonnie likely told you about some of my safeguards I've put in place over the years. For instance, when I attend a business meeting, but fail to check in with the proper password after a specific timeframe, certain security measures are activated."
She finally looked up from the pastry box to ensnare him with her piercing blue gaze. It held her familiar warmth, and he felt the tension slowly leave his body. His Caroline would be fine. He returned her smile, pleased to see that she seemed to be coming back to herself. He already started making plans for how they could begin their hunt for the worthless Salvatore. She was a glorious, passionate creature and he couldn't wait to see her ruthlessness firsthand. He watched with interest as she flipped open the lid and a wicked grin spread across her lovely face. "What are you looking at, sweetheart?"
"Damon Salvatore's heart."
