Author's note: Thank you so much for all of the support you've given my stories! I appreciate all of the reviews and kudos and asks you've sent me. These should be the last of the Klarosummer Bingo prompts I'm writing for the event; be sure to let me know if there's any you'd like me to add to my sequels list.
Klarosummer Bingo prompt: "Of course I'm right — I watched Shark Week."
Also — this one got a bit dark.
The ocean was pouring into their boat, courtesy of the enormous hole Kol managed to rip into the hull when he crashed into a reef. "I think we can agree our wild weekend is off to a smashing start," Kol cheekily told her, stuffing the rest of the beer into a cooler.
"Seriously?! That's all you have to say? Not 'Hey Caroline, sorry I wrecked our boat because I was driving like an irresponsible man child?' Do you even hear yourself right now?!" Caroline shook her head angrily, not bothering to pick up her floppy hat when the breeze blew it off of her head. What was the point? They were sinking into the ocean and would have to swim for the small island in the distance. She assumed that Kol's Original strength would mean he'd be an exponentially better swimmer, but she still planned to drown him if she could catch him by surprise.
Jackass — this was all his fault anyway — she'd been perfectly content to continue her 'losing herself while globetrotting' sabbatical alone when he suddenly showed up in the middle of her elephant-riding lesson, begging her to go on an adventure with him. They'd been friends for so long, she couldn't turn him down, especially since she felt guilty about cutting off all ties with the Originals after...what happened.
"Yes, I hear you, pet. And more importantly, it seems they can hear you too," he answered, a nervousness in his tone that had her following his gaze to multiple dark-tipped fins that had begun circling the sinking boat.
She took a deep, albeit completely unnecessary breath, assessing the scene. "Okay, we need to relax as soon as we slip into the water. Those are bull sharks, the most aggressive of the species along with the strongest bite."
Despite the hint of fear on his face, he scoffed, "And you're suddenly an expert? Sounds like bollocks to me."
"Of course I'm right — I watched Shark Week."
Kol snorted, shaking his head as he observed quietly, "There's the Caroline I've been missing."
That stung. She and Kol had been surprisingly good friends while she'd been dating Klaus, but after she ended things, it was important for her own sanity to cut off everyone that had any connection to Klaus.
As the water lapped at her ankles, she closed her eyes, feeling a bit faint. What an awful year it had been. Several of her students had gone missing — they seemed to have vanished without a trace from her boarding school. They were all orphaned supernaturals, so the police were less than useless. Caroline had done everything to find them, even asking Bonnie to try multiple location spells — but they never found the children. And then Bonnie was murdered.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a boat speeding toward them, pulling her from her dark thoughts. She opened her eyes to study it, surprised as Kol had told her the island was deserted. She grew increasingly suspicious when she saw the sun glinting off very familiar dirty blonde curls.
Noting her anger, Kol quickly said, "Ah. That. So, I should probably explain. When I told you we were headed to a deserted island, it is deserted...except for Nik, who owns it, of course."
"Are you fucking kidding me," she seethed with rage, "Klaus killed Bonnie! I will never forgive him!"
Caroline thought she'd seen Kol angry before, but it was nothing compared to the barely-controlled fury she saw cross his boyish face now. "You need to talk to him, pet. Listen to what he has to say. I'll make you listen if I have to."
She wrenched her eyes away from Klaus, who'd slowed the boat down as he approached them. Raising her voice unnecessarily, she announced, "There's nothing Klaus can tell me that I don't already know. He's evil. The end."
There was a certain amount of pleasure to be had in watching how Klaus' carefully controlled expression fell at her words, a flash of hurt apparent before he quickly masked it. His hoarse whisper carried over the waves — and hit her straight in the heart. "Because you know everything, isn't that right, love? Like the fact that Bonnie was practicing expression magic again in an attempt to raise Silas? Or, how that particularly deplorable magic required very special, very supernatural ingredients?"
Caroline felt her breath catch as an ugly, snarling thing settled in her soul. Bonnie's location spells never worked because she already knew what happened to the missing children.
Klarosummer Bingo prompt: Backpacking in Europe
This is a much-requested sequel to my Klaroween Bingo prompt: "Goblin" (found in Chapter 56 of A Beautiful Symmetry.)
She'd never be able to look upon her homeland without remembering the fear. From her hiding place in the dense forest of eastern Slovakia, Caroline could see the Vihorlat Mountains, but she'd never felt so far away from her home. She was still reeling from Klaus' violent attack, the smell of her blood turning her stomach. Placing a hand to the torn green flesh of her neck, she was relieved to realize she'd stopped bleeding.
Eyeing the golden dagger that Kol continued to twirl in his hand, she finally answered, "You asked how handy I am in a knife fight — I've never needed a knife; my kind prefer teeth and claws." She didn't bother flexing her long, clawed fingers or flashing her razor-sharp teeth; Klaus' brother clearly could smell the blood she'd spilled while fighting the hybrid. He was not challenging her power.
"Calm down, little vicious parrot," he replied, "I'm just trying to come up with the best plan to put my brother down so we can fix this bloody mess."
Despite the mischievous glint in his brown eyes, he couldn't mask his obvious worry from Caroline. She still didn't understand what happened — one moment she and Klaus were in the middle of some bone-jarringly spectacular sex that led to blood-sharing for the first time, and the next moment, he'd become a feral beast, tearing into her flesh and stalking her through the forest.
At first, she'd assumed her blood had changed him somehow; to her knowledge, goblins had never blood-shared with any creature, so it was impossible to predict what might happen. But then, Kol suddenly appeared, telling her that it was likely a vindictive coven that was responsible.
"Well, what's the plan then?"
He snorted, dryly observing, "Impressive how you manage to be impatient yet intimidating and bordering on terrifying without a stitch of clothing. Bravo."
Clearly noticing the furious glow of her blue eyes, he hastily added, "I told Nik I was backpacking in Europe...which may have been a slight exaggeration. I'd actually tagged along with this charming little bird I'd been spending time with and then another little bird came along, and then another...and it was my poor luck that they all happened to belong to the same coven, but I didn't realize it until we'd already made it to Bratislava."
Klaus had mentioned some of his younger brother's wild exploits, at times impressing her with the level of debauchery, but most of the time irritating her with the idiotic fallout that Klaus often found himself having to step in to resolve on Kol's behalf. Despite the fact that she'd weakened herself using too much magic trying to heal, she had no problem summoning enough raw energy to choke him with a slight clenching of her bony fingers. "Klaus' pain is caused by your selfishness," she hissed, giving considerable thought to eating his skin.
He gurgled, a flare of anger in his eyes as he seemed to use more Original strength than he anticipated to break free of her depleted magic's hold. "Which is why I'm fixing it! Bloody hell, were you even listening?!" He thrust the dagger into her hand, explaining, "Nik's wolf is hunting your blood now; you need to pretend to be passed out and when he gets close enough, you stab him with this." At her look of alarm, he added, "It's spelled to desiccate, not kill."
Caroline was unimpressed. "Seriously?! You're over a thousand years old and the best strategy you can come up with is me playing possum? And while I'm risking my life doing all the work, what are you doing? Failing to seduce another vindictive witch?"
"I didn't fail — that's how we got into this mess," he muttered, squinting at a thick beech limb in the distance. "I'll be watching from over there and step in if needed. Nik's wolf is single-minded in its pursuit now, and shouldn't sense me if I'm that far away."
"How reassuring."
She didn't bother watching him flash away before she collapsed to the ground, strategically sliding the blade underneath her thigh. It wasn't difficult pretending to be unconscious — a goblin's breathing patterns were far too shallow to sense, and her physiology was designed to mimic atrophy while waiting for prey.
The crisp, clean scent of the forest was tinged with worry, and she could sense the continued darkening of Klaus' soul as he approached. It was a subtle shift, she amended, one that she longed to ignore so that she could go back to that time when she reveled in the fear he could evoke in his enemies. But now she was his enemy.
The moment she felt his hot breath flavored by her blood, she curled her fingers around the handle of the blade, fervently hoping that this wouldn't be another of Kol's epic fuckups as she prepared to stab Klaus.
Vindictive witches would be the least of Kol's worries if she had to travel to the underworld to fetch her lover.
Klarosummer Bingo prompt: Temple ruins of Wat Phou
The flames scorched a searing trail across the top of her arm, but she stubbornly refused to cry out. Wasn't the Phaya Naga supposed to be a benign deity? Caroline quickly ducked behind a crumbling stone wall, trying to catch her breath. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to go back for the rest of the dragon's hoard, but once she paid off Enzo's gambling debts with that pearlescent moonstone she snatched from her first raid, she couldn't resist the temptation.
There was just so much gold. Shiny, gorgeous and practically begging for her to take it. She'd been a scared little kid out on the streets when Enzo found her. She owed him a life debt, which is how she found herself halfway around the world playing hide and seek in the temple ruins of Wat Phou with a Laotian dragon god.
The rough scrape of scales along the elaborately carved pillars made her shudder. "This is just a big misunderstanding," she shouted, hoping the echo of her voice down the narrow hallway would confuse the dragon enough for her to escape. "I got separated from my tour group!" She gasped as its powerful tail landed just inches from her head, shattering half of the wall she hid behind. She quickly leapt to the side, tucking her small body into a tight ball as she rolled away from the dragon's heavy coils as it tried to crush her.
"Aren't you a nimble little thing," an accented voice teased behind her.
Caroline whirled around, completely unprepared for the attractive stranger before her. Her eyes narrowed at the smirk, temper flaring when she realized he was making fun of her. She stubbornly remained silent, assessing the situation as she came up with possible escape plans. The dragon had been the most formidable creature she'd come across in her travels with Enzo, but there was a power radiating off of the stranger that gave her pause. He was dangerous.
She could see the Mekong River over his shoulder, and she wondered if she could somehow get the dragon to chase him while she raced back to the tiny cove where she'd hidden her three-plank canoe.
"You'd never make it," he replied, a devious glint in his eye as he studied the furtive glances she'd taken at the river.
"I'll take those odds," she acidly replied, surprising the stranger when she climbed on top of the small brick tower he stood next to, waving her arms as she shouted at the dragon, "Hey, over here! Smug Accent Guy is trying to steal your treasure!" The moment she heard the fierce roar of the dragon that signaled another burst of flames, she rapidly scaled the sharp edges of the seven terraces, relieved when she caught sight of her boat.
Her canvas shoes sank in the soft sand as she pushed the end of the canoe back into the water, wading into the cold river until the water was up to her knees. She quickly hopped into the boat, shivering slightly as the wet fabric of her long skirt clung to her legs. A tiny sliver of panic shot through her as she patted down the rough floorboard, realizing it was empty. Damn it — where was that oar?
A sharp whistle caught her attention and she warily raised her eyes to the shore. Smug Accent Guy cheerfully waved to her using her long oar, a cheeky grin on his face. "Missing something, sweetheart?"
"Yeah, a dragon's hoard," she muttered, irritated that the stranger was most definitely not reduced to ash and still inconveniently attractive.
"That was impressive — can one assume that sort of situation is an ongoing occurrence in your life?"
While she knew better than to give away too much power to a stranger, she couldn't resist the urge to brag a bit about her exploits with Enzo. "I let a hungry mwanga track me for days." She absentmindedly ran a finger along the thin scars that crisscrossed her calf. That giant cat's claws had been a bit longer than she realized.
His gray eyes widened at that, and she instantly was intrigued — few supernaturals knew of the supposedly mythical beast that stalked the Ivory Coast. Well-traveled AND good-looking? Definitely trouble. "Why on earth would you do that?"
"Boredom," she said breezily, purposely leaving out the part where Enzo had gone missing and she found out through whispers in the marketplace that local gunrunners had left him in the dense rainforest as a tribute for the creature.
Caroline realized she needed to make a decision about Smug Accent Guy. Fight or flight? With the powerful lines of his body, both options seemed better than floating oarless in the shallows, waiting for his move.
The calculating expression on his handsome face made it clear that he assumed more about her than she cared to reveal. "You appear to possess certain skillsets of which I have need. I'd like to hire you for some...freelance work."
"Seriously?! I just tried to feed you to a dragon. What makes you think I'd ever work for you?"
There was a dangerous glitter in his gaze that Caroline had no business finding so appealing. "Because you're already indebted to me as you've stolen a certain moonstone I require."
Klarosummer Bingo Prompt: "Newsflash — seashell bras give me hives!"
Apparently, The Little Mermaid was a bigger fetish than she realized. Caroline straightened the ridiculously long red waves, glad she spent the extra money on a quality wig that didn't itch underneath the sweltering stage lights. She discreetly slid an impressive wad of tips into the hidden pocket of her sequined tail, popping several giant bubbles that had formed a cloud around her bare shoulders.
She blew kisses to the packed club, her signal for the stage hands to have the hidden levers raise her enormous clamshell backstage. Once the curtain fell, she felt like she could breathe a bit, not expected to be 'on' at the moment while she repaired the makeup she'd managed to sweat off underneath the lights. Unfortunately, it also meant she'd removed herself from a prime location to spy on the Salvatores.
Adding a fresh layer of foundation and a few more swipes of mascara, she inwardly cursed her friend for getting her into this mess. Bonnie had lousy taste in men. But when Bonnie came crying to her about that loser boyfriend owing money to some drug dealers, she somehow found herself agreeing to this idiotic plan.
"Newsflash — seashell bras give me hives!" It was the first thing she'd blurted to Bonnie after hearing her plan, but it didn't stop her from getting a job at Salvatore Sirens, the mermaid-themed burlesque club run by Damon and Stefan.
Unzipping the slit in her blue-green tail so she could walk, she slid on a pair of strappy stilettos and descended to stairs to mingle with the customers on the main floor. She was careful to keep her arms from blocking the ostentatious seashell bra, a tiny camera hidden among the pearls. She'd been working there for a month, but still hadn't seen evidence of the Salvatores' drug operation.
It was frustrating — but not as frustrating as Klaus. He was the 'new money' business that she overheard Damon practically salivating over and had assumed he was a skeevy old man. And then she saw him and nearly fell out of her clamshell in the middle of a song. From the way those gray eyes darkened, it seemed she wasn't the only one affected. He'd beckoned to her with a curling smirk topped unexpectedly by dimples, and Damon had all but served her on a silver platter in his haste to court his new business partner.
At first, Caroline had put on her best customer service personality around him, wanting to ingratiate herself to learn whatever she could about the Salvatores' drug business, but he'd been so charming that she lowered her walls more than she meant to. In between shows, he always led her back to his VIP booth where he'd spoil her with expensive champagne.
"You realize that buying my time isn't the same as buying me," she'd told him, feeling the need to set some ground rules after he'd snarled possessively when one of the other patrons had clumsily approached her.
The affronted look on his face had been almost comical, but then the steel in his gaze softened and he replied, "Of course, love. You aren't an object and I apologize if I've made you feel otherwise. I value the time we've spent together." His tone grew hesitant as he told her, "But I don't want you to feel obligated to continue to sit with me every night if you're uncomfortable."
And that was the moment she knew she was in trouble. Because Klaus looked at her differently than the other customers and while she always felt his admiring gaze, it never weighed her down. Instead, she felt free — laughing with him made her forget her mission. A dangerous habit. She found herself wondering about his own business — was he a drug lord like the Salvatores or something even more dangerous? Underneath those expensive suits that fit him like a glove, she sensed he had secrets, but it was hard to get a read on him.
Stefan suddenly appeared at her side, placing his hand on her bare back to guide her toward the back lounge. She forced herself to relax, her skin crawling from his touch. While Damon was at least open about his skeevy intentions, Stefan's quiet creepiness was inherently more disquieting. "What's going on," she murmured in what she hoped was a casual tone.
"There's an important business meeting and we need our new partner's favorite party favor there to bring us luck."
Caroline quickly tucked away the scowl that crossed her face, realizing that this was the moment she'd been waiting for — she was about to get a front row seat to the Salvatores' illegal activities and finally get the evidence she needed to turn them over to the cops. With a pang in her heart, she realized it meant turning over Klaus too. Maybe there was a way to keep him out of it?
She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't register something was wrong until Stefan roughly pushed her through the doors, causing her to stumble on her heels as she ran into a coffee table. Confusion gave way to shock as she registered that Klaus was tied up on a couch, his face bruised and bloody.
The first blow to the back of her head left her dazed, and she fuzzily stared at a shiny gold object tossed on top of the coffee table. Was that a badge?
It was the last thought she had before she lost consciousness.
