"Terror made me cruel."

―Emily Bronte


"What is the devil's mark?"

"So you aren't a witch encyclopedia after all," Brianna snorted and Kol's face twisted into an ugly mask of impatience and anger. Terrifying anger.

"I am not in the mood for jokes witch!"

Brianna flinched but maintained her composure.

"The devil's mark is a psychic brand. Of those that are marked by the devil. At least that's how the old ones called it," she clarified and watched carefully as Kol narrowed his eyes indicating at her to go on.

"In truth, it is a residual vibration of primordial energy," she explained, "every vampire emits darkness. You know that. Witches can sense it upon touch but when I touched your friend it was-" Brianna paused with a shudder as she conjured back the memory before she continued, "if the sensation we witches get when we touch vampires, even the Originals, is similar to an acid raindrop when I touched Caroline let us say it was like...the Niagara waterfalls...as if I was touching hell itself," the witch whispered as if that confession alone would bring forth the aforementioned hell she was so afraid of.

Kol frowned and ran his hand over his jaw contemplatively.

"Purgatory," he mumbled realizing what was happening. It had to be Purgatory.

"Can all witches feel it?" he asked Brianna that immediately nodded.

"Yes. The strongest of us even beyond touch," she admitted, "Just Caroline's presence should be enough to alert the matriarchs of her darkness."

Kol started pacing back and forth.

"Esther must have felt it too," he realized, "Maybe this is why-"

Kol abruptly stopped and frowned. His gaze turned inquisitive.

"Did you feel it when you touched me?"

Brianna shook her head.

"No."

Kol blinked before he regained an impassive stance.

How was this even possible? It had to be residual energy from Purgatory but if it was why didn't he have it? Unless this was not related to Purgatory but then what?

Kol's insides froze when he realized that this could be related to-

No. This couldn't happen!

"Can you cloak it?" he demanded trying to mask his worry into a steady tone.

"It does not work that way. Besides that kind of darkness…on that scale..it is-"

Kol raised his hand in the air swiftly shutting her down.

"Make it work."


Hayley withdrew her fangs from the dead witch's bleeding neck. She threw her head back relishing at the rejuvenating feel of the fresh kill and licked her blooded lips only to stare at the grey colors of the sky as the sun was setting in the bayou.

She carelessly threw the corpse away to the dirt and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

The full moon was rising in the sky making the calling stronger. As it has been for the last months ever since she turned. If things were different right now she would still be a pure wolf and she would be chained away as she transitioned to a werewolf. She would feel the freedom and she would hunt and would become one with nature.

She heard the howling in the distance. Her kind was turning tonight and she was not part of the pack. Because it wasn't her kind anymore. Not truly. She didn't belong with them. She had searched for her family for so long only to become a lone wolf again because she couldn't be where she truly belonged.

She touched her belly feeling an ache so deep that she had no name for it. Her baby used to kick inside her and now she should be in her arms. Only she wasn't.

Hayley shivered and closed her eyes willing the tears not to fall.

She felt the need to run, to change, to turn. Claws came out of her fingers but she halted the change. She didn't deserve to turn anymore. As she didn't deserve to be a mother any longer. She was a monster and her sharp hearing tried to focus on the howling on the distance but instead, she heard the echo of her baby crying and she felt as if she was trapped inside her body unable to go to her baby girl now that she needed her the most.

"Heartache and woe…Deep, deep woe."

Hayley whirled around and frantically tried to listen. She flashed to different directions trying to hear from where the sound was coming from.

She blinked.

She could swear she heard a sweet voice singing a lullaby above the pained cries of a baby that refused to settle down and fussed as it felt in its bones the full moon. As it felt the absence of its mother.

"What's happening?" Hayley cried feeling disoriented, gripped the sides of her head and pulled her hair.

The pull intensified more and more.

She covered her ears. Her eyes flashed gold.

Before she knew it Hayley was running. She was running at the border of the city. Running further and further away as her senses focused on the cries of the baby that called for her.

She was losing her mind and the more the sound of that echoing cries intensified the more she felt the need to kill so to just make it finally stop.


Caroline pressed her back against the bricks behind the bar trying to calm her thundering heart. Her shoulders slumped down and she let the bags fall from her hands. She clenched her eyes and tried to block the onslaught of noise that pounded in her ears like a constant drum. The music in the background faded but the human heartbeats stayed with her despite the distance.

What was worse was that even though it was impossible she could smell sulfur. She tried to rationalize this reaction of hers. It was not possible. She was not in Purgatory anymore. This was just trauma. She would be fine. She could fight this.

But she was losing.

She was hyperventilating. She knew what was happening to her but she couldn't stop it. Control was slipping away and she kept hearing Stefan's voice from the past telling her to breathe. Telling her she would be okay.

She inhaled and exhaled, again and again, until her breathing eased down and the fangs didn't tickle her gums anymore before they receded back.

"Busy nights do not help with the bloodlust, do they?"

Caroline's eyes shot open.

Klaus' frame was half immersed in the shadows but she didn't need to see his face. She would recognize his whisper in the clatter of thousand screams. It was soothing and lethal wrapped in honey and metal. It clang to her skin until shivers sang up and down her spine. Hot and soft. Hard and burning.

His voice that was pure menace and seduction, comfort and danger, silenced every other noise that tormented her during her night shift.

Caroline didn't need her vampiric abilities to distinguish the blue sheen that accompanied his voice. His eyes somehow seemed bright in the darkness of the alley. She stared at him as he slowly sauntered closer, his face coming out in the dim trembling lights from the old lamb at the back door of Rousseau's.

Klaus was probably one of the few people that could still sneak up on her. She straightened up and regained her composure.

She hadn't seen him for some time now. More precicely she hasn't seen him ever since she moved out from the compound and she hated that he now saw her like this. Anger flashed inside her like lightning.

"Stalker much?" she angrily bit out.

Klaus' lips curled into a soft hint of a smile and she turned her back on him.

"Go away," she mumbled and picked up the trash bags again and went to throw them to the dumpster.

"I cannot not offer you an apology if you keep avoiding me," Klaus said, "how can I acquit myself," he offered in a playful apologetic tone that made Caroline throw her head back as a bitter laugh babbled inside her but didn't manage to get out.

"Here we go," she snorted and shook her head as she dusted her hands.

"I did not mean to hurt you, Caroline," Klaus began.

She twirled around and glared at him but he didn't give a chance to respond as he approached her with solemn determination looking at her seriously.

"I did not mean to cage you either," he said, his voice honest and full of regret but she remained unresponsive. Their last conversation as she left his house hang between them like a ghost. Haunting them and turning the atmosphere colder.

Klaus waited for her to say something but she only eyed him with a hard gaze that didn't seem to falter as the minutes passed by.

Klaus' eyes filled with longing and frustration as if he wanted to reach out to her but didn't know how. His usual smugness and confidence dissolving in the thick air between them.

"Caroline-"

"I am working here," she coldly dismissed him and then turned around to go back into Rousseau's.

She felt Klaus' eyes boring holes on her back as she walked up the stairs and opened the back door to get into the bar. The buzzing sounds from the inside filled the alley louder but were not loud enough to cover Klaus' deafening sigh.

"Pretending it does not hurt won't make it hurt any less."

She stopped dead in her tracks. The knob twisted in her palm, the metal changing shape caving under her power. Her arm fell down. The door closed slowly. The sounds becoming an echo again except from her ragged breath and the beating of her heart that now echoed like a drum of war.

She furiously turned around and it in the blink of an eye she was standing inches away from Klaus. Everything around them faded to nothing except the electricity that charged whatever pull existed between them.

The world became smaller. So small. It only had them in the center as opposite poles.

"Is this what you want me to say?" she hissed, "That it hurts?"

Klaus said nothing. He only watched her with that piercing gaze that made her feel as if she was lost and found. It made her angry. So angry.

For so many reasons. She felt out of sync all the time but with Klaus, she was managing to focus again and the emotion was so overwhelming to the point where she couldn't handle her mind, her heart, her very soul. And it made her so angry.

"Or maybe that you hurt me?" she whispered in an acidic sound that made Klaus tense.

"I won't give you that satisfaction Klaus," she seethed and his eyes widened in bewildered frustration.

He stepped further into her personal space and if she was any less of a woman she may have cowered back in fear but instead of running away in terror she felt drawn to the darkness that fed her own more.

"I am not your enemy Caroline!" Klaus grit out, the words coming out with difficulty under his clenched teeth, "It is not satisfying to see you in pain!"

"Right," she mocked in unconvinced irony.

"Damn it, Caroline!" Klaus cursed grabbing her by her upper arms and bringing her closer, "What do you want?"

She yanked her hands away breaking their stand off by pushing him back angrily.

"Right now? I really want to kick your ass!" she lashed out ready to let it all out. Klaus seized her up and down before he took a step back and extended his arms in the air.

"If it makes you feel any better," he easily surrendered with a shrug and she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"Don't! Don't do that!" Caroline exploded feeling the need to start kicking and screaming.

"Do what?" Klaus asked her genuinely confused.

"You know what!" she yelled gesturing wildly with her hands, "Stop patronizing me, stop being so freaking selfless with me as if I am an invalid!" she ranted, "as if I can't take care of myself!" she muttered bitterly and Klaus tilted his head in the kind of understanding that seemed so much like pity to her that twisted the knife further into her heart breaking her even more. And she was already disintegrating in pieces. She couldn't break anymore.

"I never believed that. Not for one moment," Klaus assured her with a soft voice, "but I care for you! I worry for you Caroline," he admitted.

"Well don't!" she ordered him defiantly and the growl that emerged from deep in his throat made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"You do not get to decide what I feel," he snapped drawing the line and Caroline jerked her chin up facing him with the same pent-up energy that reflected in his eyes too.

"And you do not get to decide what I feel" she threw his words back at him using the same tone.

"What do you feel?" he pressed and Caroline felt as if she was about to combust. It was too much. He kept pushing and pushing and she couldn't pull anymore.

"I am angry! So angry!" she shouted flying off the handle, "All the time! With you!"

Klaus gulped down miserably.

"Why?" he pled with her, desperate and hurt, and Caroline felt the anger thawing away leaving so much pain behind in its wake melting right into the open wounds of her heart like salt.

"Because you are right!" she bitterly admitted, agony lacing every painful word that twisted her insides more, "It hurts," she whimpered feeling the hotness of tears warming her eyes, "Because you hurt me…because you disappointed me!"

Klaus stumbled back as if he had taken a physical blow to the gut but Caroline couldn't stop now. She couldn't keep it in anymore. It hurt. Everything hurt. So much that she was struggling to not turn it off.

"With your stupid declarations and your stupid shrine room," she panted fiercely, "and you just do not even get it!" Caroline let out a bitter laugh that did not resemble at all any sound of amusement or happiness.

"When you first came to Mystic Falls you charged in all doom and gloom. It took me so much time just to see you as anything than an enemy. But I did. I did!" she whispered almost shamefully and at her confession, Klaus' eyes lit up as if stars were glittering in them, "despite all the horrible things you've done. All the horrible things you still do," she breathlessly raved on, " and out of everyone, everyone that loved me and cared for me you were the one that challenged me!" she remembered feeling so much yearning, "you gave me a voice. You gave me options. You never took away my choice or my freedom. Not where it truly mattered. You wanted me to be all I could be and not just…safe," she spat out the last word as if it was a curse. Because it was. Because the safety she wanted was not the one Klaus was now offering. What he offered now was another kind of prison. It was reminding her that she was weak.

And she wasn't weak. She couldn't be. Because she felt weak; but if Klaus treated her as such and if she believed even for a second that he saw her as a broken little thing he needed to take care of because she was unable to do it herself then getting out from Purgatory would not be a victory. She would be defeated. That place would have won. It would have taken the best parts of her. Those that were worth it. Those that a long time ago Klaus used to admire and those that he made her see more in herself despite her insecurities. He had called her strong and fearless once. And she needed him to see her like that again. Now more than ever. Now that when she was looking in the mirror she saw only weakness and fear.

She pushed her nails into her palms, her hands turning to fists, as she rose her gaze and faced Klaus with no more covers and masks.

"You had been a manipulating ass," she accused him but then stared him searching for the truth in his eyes, "but you were honest with what you wanted and you never tried to force anything on me. What the hell changed?" she demanded an answer, her tone a mixture of anguish and crushed hope.

Caroline watched as the light in Klaus' eyes dimmed out. All stars gave away their shine to darkness.

He opened his mouth to say something. To probably tell her what she wanted to hear. But his lips trembled.

She felt her knees giving out. Out of everything, the only thing she wouldn't bear from him would be pity. That would be the one thing she would never forgive him for.

"Klaus!" she insisted and it was as if her voice broke the dam that kept all his anger and pain in.

"You died!" he bellowed, "that is what changed! You died!" he roared and it was her turn to step back as if his words were a physical blow.

Her eyes grew bigger when Klaus punch broke the brick wall of the alley. Plaster and broken bricks fell down as if they were nothing but dust and foam.

Caroline's breath hitched. Klaus watched her now with so much agony and rage as if he wanted to not just cage her in where no one would ever be able to hurt her but as if he wanted to destroy her himself and deny the chance of anyone else to do it. As if he was accusing her of all his pain. As if he was pleading her to understand. It was manic. It was dangerous.

It was so human.

Caroline stared at his fist. It was bleeding. It was covered with pieces of mortar and old cement. He ran that hand through his hair.

All his effortless elegance was now gone. He was a mess. And she was a mess. And it was all a mess.

"You died," he hollered and Caroline flinched. He looked at her as if dying was her fault. As if she had let him down.

As if he had let her down. As if it was his fault.

"And this little game we have going on between us left me nowhere," Klaus exhaled as if with the last remnants of his anger he was throwing away dreams and emotions. The dreams he had made for them. The nightmares that tormented him when she died. The same dreams and nightmares she carried with her in Purgatory.

Caroline watched the tear that fell on Klaus's cheek; the smile that bloomed on his face was not sane. It was that of a broken man. It was chaos. It was defeat.

"I could not mourn you," he confessed, "I could not even come to your grave," he told her and Caroline closed her eyes as she realized what she had left behind. She remembered coming out from the grave but not daring to look back at the tombstone as she ran away to come to New Orleans.

She hadn't stopped running ever since despite being trapped in this city.

Caroline realized that she had overlooked everything and everyone. She had left her innocence behind and she had kept the darkness. She had chosen to do that. She had chosen to ignore all the rest. But this was not just only about her. The world went on without her. It was not just what she had lived in that hell hole beyond this life. It was the future she didn't have. It was the people she had left behind. Her friends. Her mother.

Klaus.

Klaus that acted as if her death was his story too. And in a way, it had been. Because this had been her life but the game of hearts they played affected his life too. Because her life had touched the lives of others. Others that mourned and grieved for her. And she was forcing them to continue doing it.

Caroline felt her mind screaming. Klaus was still in mourning. Because she was not back yet. Because she was still acting as if she was not alive. Because she was still walking between life and Purgatory. Because she had died and she had left a piece of her to rot in the grave he couldn't visit.

This had changed she realized. It was a change they couldn't pretend it hadn't happened. It happened and it changed her. And it changed Klaus too.

It was a change she was not allowing herself to duel on because the pain would break her more. Because she was selfish. Because Klaus was as selfish as her. Because they were the same. And because it wasn't easy. And still, Klaus was here. A blooded mess like her. Still wanting her. Still tearing down her walls. Making her feel alive. In moments like these. In moments where he was letting her in. Wounds and scars and all.

"This is what changed," he whispered, "you died and I was not there," he broke down, "you died!" he muttered as if could still not believe it. As if he had refused to believe it for endless nights. As if it wasn't true.

But it was. And there was no bigger picture there. No genuine beauty. No faith to hold on and believe to. They were immortals but her immortality wasn't forever. Klaus was an Original. Cursed to live heartbreak over and over again but it wasn't meant to be her. She was meant to survive. For eternity. For however long it takes.

She wanted to go to him. To tell him that she was there now. She had made it. She was alive. But she couldn't. She couldn't move.

So he took the step she couldn't make. And when her eyes met his the world became whole again. Bigger instead of small. Brighter somehow.

When his fingers touched her face she realized that her cheeks were wet. Klaus' fingers wiped her cheeks gently but somehow she didn't feel weak. She felt strong.

She felt.

She didn't feel only anger anymore. She didn't feel nothing. Or numbness. She felt something. She felt an ache so strong that she wouldn't have been able to feel if she wasn't alive.

Klaus was inches away from her face; his lips were almost touching hers, his breath was breathing desire into her. All her anger, all the bloodlust, everything melted away at this proximity. So much that she started feeling like her old self again. She craved more. She wanted to smile. She wanted to see beyond the broken pieces and persevere.

She had died. But she wasn't dead anymore.

"I am here," she whispered in a soothing tone and her hands wrapped around his wrists. She anchored herself to him and Klaus smiled. A melancholic smile that sent away his monster and let the man stand so close to her. Relishing in her touch. Finally feeling her warmth and basking in her light.

But it wasn't enough.

His forehead touched hers. She lost herself in his eyes.

He urged her to finally say it. To finally admit out loud what happened to her. To face the truth.

He wanted her to say it and realize what it meant. What was won. What was lost.

"I died," she breathed out and Klaus closed his eyes in pain and…relief. He held on to her. As if he wanted to make sure it was real. That she was real. That she was not a ghost. That she was back.

And maybe she was. One step at a time.

She had died. It was true. And now she had to live.

"I died," she said again letting the words wash over her. The words carried an ocean. An ocean she was drowning in for so long. It would seem there were no easy miracles. It was either swim or sink. It was a burden and a privilege. She had fought so hard to come back to life and she hadn't been living for so long. Because she had died. And she had been buried. And gone.

"And I won't stand here and let it happen again," Klaus vowed.

It sounded like an unholy vow but as his lips barely touched hers all that was unholy became a promise. "Never again," Klaus swore and Caroline understood why he spoke his oath with so much fear and solemnity. It wasn't because he believed she was weak. It was because she was his weakness. And it was eternal.

His lips hovered close to hers in an almost kiss but as Klaus whooshed away leaving her breathless staring at the empty backstreet she realized that he didn't want the first time they would kiss again to be tainted by death.

Caroline touched her lips. And smiled.

She was alive. And there would be a next time.


Far away from New Orleans

"…Wolves asleep amidst the trees…Bats all a swaying in the breeze…"

The house was finally silent. After hours and hours of rocking back and forth and trying to calm down the restless baby, Rebekah Mikaelson could hear the stillness of the night beyond the windows as she breathed in Hope's warmth.

"…But one soul lies anxious wide awake…Fearing all manner of ghouls, hags and wraiths…"

She rocked back and forth in the chair not daring to stop singing song after song and fairytale after fairytale.

"…Don't dare let her tremble alone…For the witcher, heartless, cold…Paid in coin of gold…"

Somehow it was always the creepy and scariest of lullabies that seemed to do the trick.

'Like father like daughter, it would seem,' Rebekah thought with a pang of pride and nostalgia as she carefully got up and walked towards the cradle.

"He'll chop and slice you…Cut and dice you…Eat you up whole…Eat you whole."

Rebekah Mikaelson smiled at her niece as she gently tucked her in her crib. The light toy that hang above the small bed cast its dim glow over the chubby cheeks of Nik's daughter and Rebekah lightly caressed the top Hope's head as the baby instinctually leaned closer to the wooden knight her father had carved a thousand years ago.

Rebekah hummed the tune and her fingers traced the knight that now protected her niece and soothed her fears as it once had done for her. This was the only toy that seemed to sooth Nik's and Hayley's daughter despite everything else Rebekah had got for her.

"Sleep has flown…Don't dare let her tremble alone…But heartache and woe…Deep, deep woe…Birds are silent for the night…"

The baby cooed at the sound of her lullaby. Rebekah sang it in a hushing tone trying to calm Hope down.

Nights like these when the moon was full in the sky were the hardest.

"My dear dolly Polly shut your eyes…Lie still, lie silent, utter no cries…"

Hope had exhausted herself without end. She always cried and wailed as if she could feel the change in the wind and the night when the full moon called to her. She had werewolf blood after all. And nothing and no one calmed her down and Rebekah wondered if she was calling for her mother when nothing else could still her cries.

"Fear not little one. I am here. You are safe," Rebekah whispered at the sleeping baby.


Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The sun was filtered through the stained windows as Kol Mikaelson played with the chain of the necklace he had clasped around Renée's neck last night. The sheet pooled around his hips as he leaned over and pressed his lips under her ear. His mouth lingered on her neck sensually and Renée threw her head back enjoying the sensation as her fingers played with the delicate diamond pendant that rested over the curve of her exposed breasts.

Renée held back a moan when Kol's lips started tracing the hard edges of the bones of her spine under her heated skin.

"You think you can buy me off like this?" she wondered amused, keeping her eyes closed in pleasure.

Kol laughed, pushed her hair to the side and bit her neck with blunt human teeth.

"Can't blame a bloke for trying," he laughed.

Renée craned her head to the side and looked at him with narrowed eyes before she wrapped the wrinkled sheet around her body and got up from the bed.

Kol pushed his hands behind his head and sat back against the massive wooden bed frame.

"My people come first," Renée declared. She threaded her hair with her hand before she strode to her vanity and admired the diamonds that adorned her neck. Kol watched her bemused and licked his lips slowly. He still felt her blood in his mouth and her body pliant underneath his.

"It brings out the color of your eyes," he complimented and Renée rolled her eyes.

"Of course it does," she mocked.

Kol chuckled and got up too. He pulled his pants up just as Renée Mardoin watched him with caution.

"Marcel Gerard wants Davina Claire to become the next Regent," she said as she watched Kol buttoning his shirt. It was something she knew he knew, "If this happens-"

"You lot will be screwed," Kol finished for her before he walked towards her and ran his finger over the puncture wounds on her neck, "maybe I could help if you wanted me to," he tempted her with a teasing voice as she pushed his hand back and healed her neck with a wave of her fingers.

Kol arched a brow at her display of power before he massaged her shoulders with light movements, "My offer to your people still stands. Make sure they take it and we'll take it from there."

Renée stared at him through the mirror and they challenged each other before Kol's hands started dipping lower and tracing patterns on her arms tugging at the sheet.

"Marcellus is conniving but Davina Claire is nothing but a child," Kol purred but Renée tensed.

"She is a harvest girl and has proven to be resilient," she told him.

"Such a young and terrifying troublemaker. Sounds like an interesting challenge. If only I had an incentive to play," Kol teased.

"Don't you like a challenge?" Renée tried to pull his strings and he smirked.

"Obviously," he played along and bit her shoulder sensually, his eyes never leaving the reflection of hers in the mirror.

Renée smiled provocatively at him and he smirked when she moved closer to him only for them to get interrupted when his phone rang.

Renée Mardoin sighed annoyed when Kol answered his phone and his smirk grew wider when the witch cast him a glare at the sound of Brianna's name falling from his lips.

Witches and their rivalry was always quite amusing to him but his mood soured quickly and his expression turned murderous.

He ended the call and put his phone back to his pocket. Without saying anything else he went and retrieved his jacket from the couch and Renée watched him with a guarded expression before her phone started ringing too.

Candles lit up in her room and their black smoke filled the bedroom with a heavy scent. A call of death.

"That necklace," Kol told Renée as she went to pick up her phone, "will also look great in black. Which you are about to wear soon enough."

"What happened?" Renée demanded to whoever called her and Kol gave her a small bow before he walked out of her room noticing how Renée's features turned into a mask of pain.

A Mardoin witch was found dead in the bayou.


Caroline plopped down on the couch next to Cami and stared at their work. The soft wind coming in through the open window carried away some of the intense paint fumes. It wasn't much but give it a few hours and she would be able to breathe better.

Cami didn't seem to mind that much but Caroline's heightened senses were filtering the scent of the paint differently and it was suffocating. Of course, the fact that Cami also smelled like lunch, with her blood warm and her heart beating like a drum didn't help either.

Caroline had already drunk two blood bags beforehand knowing that she didn't want to lose control but the bloodlust was always there. Still, she knew she wouldn't hurt Camille.

She peered at the blonde as she opened the beer can and eagerly unpacked the pizza box.

It felt good being around a normal person. Cami knew about vampires but somehow didn't seem to fear them. Which meant she didn't fear her. It was refreshing to be able to be near someone normal where she didn't have to hide who she really was. Interacting with Camille O'Connell kept her sane and in touch with human normalcy.

Like her mother used to do long ago. At the thought of Liz Forbes Caroline felt the constant ache in her heart but instead, she focused on the freshly painted walls. Even though Cami knew all about magic Caroline had already covered the runes, Kol's witch had marked on her walls, with a layer of paint before Camille came to help her paint.

Caroline was actually surprised when Cami had offered to help her when she saw her buying paint a few days ago at a store in the market and even though Caroline initially considered declining she realized that Elijah Mikaelson had been right. She needed friends.

Truth was that she had seen Klaus' connection with Cami and for some reason, at first she had felt weird being around the blonde bartender but as they worked together at Rousseau's the ice seemed to break. And Cami was so normal. So human. She actually reminded her Elena a lot and it wouldn't hurt to start socializing again.

Painting her apartment together had been fun. It wasn't the most sophisticated work and Caroline had the nagging feeling she would repaint because …some things never changed. If you wanted something right you had to do it yourself.

But for now the color pattern and the fresh paint actually did wonders to the living room and the kitchen in comparison with how it was before and she had settled on the yellow color she liked.

Cami and she had been working on the walls for the better part of the afternoon during which Caroline realized Cami had a great sense of humor and also a very nice taste in jazz music. Dancing while painting and gossiping had been fun. Opening up to Camille had been easy…well easier than she believed it would be… and Caroline actually felt more like herself than she had felt ever since she first came to New Orleans.

"Come on they can't be that bad," Cami laughed as she watched Caroline's critical eyes inspecting the walls.

Caroline laughed back and shrugged.

"Sorry! Did I forget to mention I am a compulsive control freak?" Caroline joked and Cami took a bite of her pizza slice.

"You could always hire someone to paint them for you," Cami offered and Caroline's nose twitched.

"I think my paycheck is already stretching thin as it is," she easily admitted and Cami gave a knowing hum.

"No compulsion then?" Cami tried carefully and Caroline saw how she tensed a bit. Either it was because she felt she was pushing the limits with an actual vampire or because this was a sore subject for her she didn't know.

"For painting walls? Come on that's like cheating!" Caroline joked as she took a slice of the pizza and munched on it.

Camille laughed and leaned back on the couch checking out the walls with the same expression Caroline had.

"Admittedly my degree didn't cover the art of painting," she observed with mirth and Caroline chewed with a smile.

"I used to be better at this," Caroline recalled as she examined the result with distaste and wondered what Klaus, the smarty pants artist, would actually say for butchering the art of painting walls like this. She pushed that thought back internally cursing herself for constantly inventing ways to think of him.

She then let her mind drift back at better days remembering how she used to excel at event planning in Mystic Falls, "and by better I mean perfect," Caroline bragged, "at least when I was bothering with handling a paint brush for the high school events when it was required…but admittedly I believed those chores were beneath me back then," she mumbled feeling as this had been another life.

"Let me guess? You liked being in charge?"

"Of everything," Caroline finished for her, "except this obviously," she pointed at the walls.

"Well practice makes perfect," Cami said and Caroline drank her beer wishing for the alcohol and the junk food to help with her blood cravings more.

"It better be. I still have two more rooms to paint," Caroline shrugged and Cami gave her a look.

"Fine! Two more rooms to paint and these to repaint," she relented and Camille laughed but then watched her curiously and Caroline tilted her head to the side.

"What?" she asked.

"I just…most vampires I have met, and granted it is still a relatively new experience for me, would indeed compel humans to do such chores," Cami noted with a small voice.

"Omg!" Caroline blurted out, "you have been dealing with the snob villains haven't you?" she realized and saw how Cami's eyes widened a bit, "Oh come on! You have! Admit it! Villain to do lists and all," she giggled.

Cami pressed her lips in amusement, her eyes lighting with humor.

"We evil villains usually use minions to pick up our dry cleaning and that sort of thing," Caroline imitated Klaus' voice and accent from when he had told her that same thing years ago.

Cami burst out laughing and so did Caroline.

"Totally," Cami confessed when their laughter toned down and Caroline gave her hand to her for a new handshake.

"Well let me introduce myself again. My name is Caroline Forbes and I am one of the good vampires!"

Cami shook her hand with her playfully.

"Nice to meet you Caroline," she played along and Caroline winked.

"Yeah. So no," Caroline jested, "I don't compel people unless they annoy me," she smirked and Cami arched a brow.

"I never said I'm perfect!" Caroline quirked her eyebrow, "well…I've been told I can occasionally be a bitch but I am working on it," Caroline said.

"Josh doesn't seem to believe that," Cami offered and Caroline smiled.

"He likes the badass moves I am teaching him," Caroline chuckled, "but I bet Marcel has a different opinion than Josh," Caroline blatantly told Cami, "I know you date him and all-"

"Not anymore," Cami shrugged.

"Sorry?" Caroline tried but her support was not that convincing since her voice was dripping with her dislike for Marcel Gerard and Cami laughed.

"Marcel is not as he seems. He is a decent guy," Cami assured her but Caroline's brows rose in challenge and Cami pushed her ankles underneath her knees and fell back on the pillows.

"Deep down. Underneath it all," Cami conceded.

"Far far deep underneath," Caroline snorted not caring at all for sounding so much of a bitch or making her dislike for Marcel so obvious even to his ex that seemed to actually like him and consider him a decent guy. Decent guy her ass! That megalomaniac ass was a Klaus in the making! Without half the charisma is you asked her!

"Most vampires usually are like that," Cami considered, "present company excluded," she said but Caroline saw where she was getting at.

"By most vampires you mean Klaus right?" Caroline flatly translated her words and Cami stiffened.

So this was the elephant in the room wasn't it? God, when had her life turned to a soap ecntering on a man?

"Klaus too," Camille relented under Caroline's intense gaze.

Caroline hummed and weighed her options.

She knew she should play it safe. Never trust anyone was one of Kol's first lessons when it came to survival. It had become second nature to her.

But a part of hers didn't want to lose the moral compass she was struggling so hard to fix. She wasn't in Purgatory anymore. What was the right direction there was the wrong one here.

Caroline knew what was right and she knew what wrong. She had just stopped trusting her instincts and people somewhere in the way but she had to remind herself that she wasn't in Purgatory anymore. She couldn't hide even from her shadow anymore. Monsters didn't lurk in every creature that existed except her and Kol.

She had to start somewhere. To trust again. And for that, she had to be honest and begin anew. Even if it meant opening her cards and not fearing the shot in the dark.

Camille O'Connell could be a stepping stone for her. Something like a test drive.

She looked at Cami seriously and even though she felt as if she was about to cross a line she took the step forward and brought back the old Caroline that never cowered away from telling what she thought even if it was the most inappropriate thing.

"Whatever you may feel make no mistake Cami. Klaus has many layers. Not all of them good. And those at the surface can hurt people. He is dangerous," Caroline warned her and Cami gulped down.

"I thought you and him were friends," the blonde sitting opposite to her chose the same approach and didn't hide behind her finger either.

"It's complicated but yes we are friends," Caroline agreed, "This is why I know this all too well. I assume you do too," she figured, "Klaus speaks of you with a lot of respect. It is actually one of the few things I can agree with him," she deadpanned.

"It took time but we grew to have an understanding. It wasn't always like that," Cami revealed and Caroline nodded.

"I know," Caroline intoned the words and twirled her daylight ring around her index finger, "So…Let me guess. Klaus Mikaelson came to New Orleans and with him gore, death and darkness followed and somehow you got swept right into it?"

"I did. Everyone here did," Cami exhaled.

"It sounds familiar," Caroline sighed, "that's how he came to my hometown a long time ago too."

Cami gave her an inquisitive look but Caroline shook her head.

"That's a long story for another time," she deflected, "I guess your story is a long one too. But here's the thing," Caroline stated bitterly, "Good vampires. Bad vampires. We are still vampires. You already know we exist. You are befriending some of us. You have been dating one."

'One of the worst,' Caroline thought but didn't voice that. Instead, she pushed her locks behind her ears and reminded herself who she was. What she was.

"We may have the best intentions but we always bring darkness everywhere we go," Caroline simply said, "Especially to those we care for the most. We bring darkness and we draw darkness in. And Klaus has a thousand years of it. His darkness may seem seductive and I am not going to lie…it is. But it is also lethal. So just…be careful," she advised her, "Be careful. Vervain is not always enough. I may be over the line here but I like you Cami. You gave me a chance. A job. You helped me rent this place. You have been helping me ever since I came to New Orleans," Caroline thanked her softly before she quietly added, "Just be safe."

Camille didn't say anything for some time but her expression had turned grave.

"Your hometown. The way you said it," Cami started tentatively, "It sounds like Klaus coming there-"

Caroline slanted her head to the side, her eyes darkening and Cami bit her lip.

"Yes," Caroline coldly said not feeding Cami any delusions about who Klaus was and she could already see that Camille was connecting the pieces.

She had heard Hayley and Elijah referring to Cami as Klaus' therapist and no matter how ridiculous that had sounded to her from the looks of it was true. Klaus must have given her his life's story. He had probably bragged about his 'glory days' of carnage, gloom and doom in Mystic Falls too. He could have probably spoken to Cami about her too which irked her in so many different ways but Caroline pushed those thoughts down and focused on Cami as she went down memory lane.

"Before Klaus life used to be simpler," Caroline remembered sunny days of no worries and blood, "when he eventually came to where I lived I was already a vampire but even that had been a consequence of the Originals entering our lives. The Mikaelsons are like a force of nature and our lives, our choices are many times defined by them," Caroline had come to terms with it a long time ago but the frustration was still there and she watched with a sense of familiarity the way Cami's shoulders fell slightly.

Caroline had no delusions. The Originals have played this game a thousand times in a thousand different lives. Cami may have thought she was the first and her story was unique but it wasn't. As hers hasn't been either. This was a song on repeat with different faces and different names for the Originals. For Klaus. For Kol. For all of them. Some surely stood out but most were nothing but disposable. In a way even those that stood out were collateral damage too.

"When the Originals stepped in war came along," Caroline continued, "It changed everyone I knew. It changed me. I don't deny it made me strong and despite everything, I like being a vampire but this hasn't been a fairytale. Many people became collateral damage and others…well some of us became satellites orbiting Klaus and his siblings. Sometimes it feels magnetic. Sometimes it is destructive. In the end, it doesn't come without a cost."

"You seem very close to them now though," Cami observed and even though it was contradictory with what she was saying Caroline smiled fondly.

"As I have said I changed," she reflected with a shrug, "and once you do there is no turning back. And some ties, when you make them, can't break."

Cami's gaze dropped.

"My uncle used to deal with the vampires and the supernatural community of New Orleans. I didn't even know until it was too late," Cami opened up quietly her eyes watering.

Caroline understood that pain all too well. That grief.

"You lost him?"

"He died," Cami whispered, "He was hexed."

"I am sorry."

"Klaus was there for me," Cami told her as if she was reliving those moments, "but it was too late. Kieran didn't want to become a vampire. He wasn't going to go through the transition but in the end it didn't even matter. The magic that took him was too strong. Klaus had to stake him."

Caroline felt a knot in her throat but she couldn't prevent the small chuckle that escaped her lips. It felt like acid running in her tongue and Cami glanced at her confused.

"My father died with vampire blood in his system too," Caroline explained, "he knew about vampires all his life despite keeping me in the dark. He hated my kind so much he didn't complete the transition. He didn't want to become a monster…like me."

Cami's eyes filled with compassion.

"Caroline that's not-"

"Witches were involved with my father's death too." Caroline interrupted her feeling bile rising in her mouth as she remembered Esther Mikaelson again and how she had been responsible for the death of her father after what she had done to Alaric.

Caroline's anger turned to rage again and she forced herself to breathe and not allow all that madness to come to the surface. She swallowed down hard and despite the prickle of fangs against soft gums she locked her monster back to its cage.

She looked at Cami with a contemplative look and realized that their lives had been paralleling each other in so many ways and wondered if Klaus saw it too and it was why he felt drawn to them both.

"Anyway," she huffed, "sob stories aside, what I am trying to say is that wherever the Originals are war comes next. And in every war there are casualties."

Caroline watched her walls again and this time it was as if she could see the protection runes that pulsated their magic beneath the layers of magic. A gift from Kol himself because he knew what was coming. What had already started.

"Magic is part of this war," she emphasized, "And New Orleans is filled to the brim with it. Witches, vampires, wolves. This city already feels like a battlefield and now with Kol here it is about to explode. So take safety precautions and be careful of the nutcases. Certified or not," Caroline's irony was sharp and Cami let out a hollow laugh.

"That's not in my job description," Cami grunted and Caroline laughed.

"Well, a long time ago I was planning to go for drama major so I wouldn't know."

"You are actually more perceptive with others than you think," Cami praised.

"Part of the control freakiness," Caroline sassed, "I tend to pay attention to the details. But seriously…I don't mean to intrude or anything and as usual, I don't have much of a brain to mouth filter but you can consider me a friend. Even therapists need to talk to others no?" she chirped.

"Definitely!" Cami smiled, "although with fewer paint fumes in the way."

Caroline laughed.

"Tell me about it," she moaned and as the lightness between them returned Caroline realized why Klaus liked Cami so much.

Camille was open to difference and despite everyone's complexity and darkness she chose to focus on the good parts and believe in them the most. Caroline needed this now. She didn't believe it to be realistic but maybe some faith wouldn't hurt.

The soft knock on her door took her out of her thoughts and she scrunched up her nose. She wasn't expecting anyone.

She got up and opened the door only to find a young man staring at her with an uneasy smile.

"Miss Caroline Forbes?" he asked and Caroline nodded cautiously. Brianna's protection amulets were not alerting her to any magical danger but the man was a vampire. There was a distinct difference between the sound of a human heartbeat and a vampire one. And she had already seen Marcel's men and those Klaus had put around her apartment and he wasn't one of them.

"Yes?"

"I have a delivery for you. From Klaus Mikaelson" the unknown man said with a trembling voice and Caroline's frowned when he offered her a wine box.

"Please take it," the man practically begged and Caroline watched him incredulously but before she could answer her phone beeped.

She took it out from her back pocket and saw Klaus' name. He had sent her a message.

"I'd hate to leave things on an uncertain note between us sweetheart."

Caroline gripped her device as she remembered how their last encounter had gone. She felt her lips warming up and a shiver passed through her as she kept reading.

"So just in case I haven't acquitted myself consider this my heartfelt apology and a chance to start anew. Should you accept my gift I'll know I am forgiven. And for Aaron's sake, I sure hope you do."

"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed as she read the message and lifted her gaze to see that Aaron was waiting for her answer with his features stretched to a fearful mask.

"What did he tell you do?" Caroline grimaced.

"His exact words were not to leave the premises of this neighborhood unless you have accepted his gift. I'd hate to stay here and count every brick…forever," the man mumbled fearfully, stammering the last word with dread, and Caroline could see he was compelled and she rolled her eyes.

Of course Klaus would do this. She could already imagine his smug face.

"Jackass," she muttered under her breath.

"That's what you meant by minions and villain to do lists," Cami called out from the couch and Caroline grumbled.

She took the personalized engraved box from the vampire in front of her along with the card he gave her.

"So you accept?" Aaron questioned her again speaking lethargically. His dazed gaze was full of fear and Caroline scoffed.

"I accept," she snapped mockingly and saw how the guy in front of her trembled and bowed.

"Thank you!" he gratefully sighed with relief and Caroline shook her head as the vampire dashed away and she closed her door.

"Unbelievable," Caroline hissed.

Cami had an amused and incredulous expression on her face and Caroline groaned.

"If I wasn't sorry for the poor guy I'd tell Klaus exactly where to shove his apology," Caroline groused but couldn't help but smile as she realized that Klaus has sent her a very expensive champagne as a housewarming gift.

It was his insane way of respecting her decision to move out and have her own space. She checked the card and her smile grew bigger.

.

"Maybe one day you can invite me over and offer me a glass.

P.s: I still hope this to be our thing.

Yours Klaus."

.

Caroline didn't know if she should be flattered or annoyed by this. But admittedly she felt a warm sensation in her stomach. Like a flattering of butterfly wings.

"Is everything okay?" Cami asked and Caroline put the champagne box and the card aside and went and sat back on the couch. She gave Cami a side glance before she deflated and fell back on her fluffy pillow.

"I – don't know to be honest," she admitted.

"Well, talk to me. That's what friends are for," Cami threw her words back to her and Caroline hesitated. Cami seemed to understand why and she sighed knowingly.

"Don't worry Caroline. Klaus and I are friends. Confidants," she persisted, "But that doesn't mean you and I can't be too."

Caroline cleared her throat still not sure about how this could work out. Speaking with Cami in general and being her friend was one thing. Telling her to be careful was as far as she felt she could go. Because there was sharing and then there was oversharing. Especially considering how close Cami and Klaus seemed to be. She wasn't blind and talking to Cami about Klaus in that way seemed weird. The last thing she wanted was to get involved in a dysfunctional love triangle as if her life wasn't already ridiculously messed up.

But on the other hand, Cami looked honest and Caroline was sure that if she had anything to say she would be blunt about it. And she had never had a friend she could talk about Klaus before. Given what Klaus had done to her friends she had never been able to speak to Elena and Bonnie openly about him. Still, this felt awkward.

"You don't have to be all alone here," Cami told her sensing her doubts, "I know because I haven't had any friends here either for a long time and sometimes you just need to have someone to hear you. So have at it! Forget that I even know Klaus. What would you say to a friend?"

"Friend? So no charge?" Caroline playfully joked.

"No no. No therapy. Just pizza, beer and paint," Cami chuckled.

Caroline shifted on the couch and crossed her legs under her thighs facing Cami before she sighed dramatically making Cami's gaze light up with amusement.

"Okay so…this has nothing to do with love drama or anything," she quickly shut down the possibility even though a very loud voice inside her told her she was lying but this was what she would go with. She would go down with this if she had to. Because she wasn't ready for anything else. Lust and being attracted to someone that happened to have hot dimples and was able to get under her skin more than he shouldn't didn't really mean anything. It was just an inch she had to scratch and it would be over.

Because Klaus was…Klaus. Love and Klaus couldn't go together. So what if his voice in her mind had no mercy and filled her with warmth as it echoed his words from the past.

'He was your first …love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes.'

Caroline shook her head flustered and stubbornly ignored Cami's expression of mild disbelief and continued gesturing anxiously.

"It isn't! It so isn't!" she insisted, "so we are meant to be friends. Which is not easy because we used to be mortal enemies and whatnot but that changed. And then I went through so many things that I am still dealing with and cherry on top I found myself in New Orleans and in this city Klaus functions so differently. So here I am facing another side of him I never met before and I feel so out of my depth. It is driving me crazy! He is driving me crazy! And whenever we hit an impasse he gets all charming on me which shouldn't work you know! It's so not fair!" Caroline complained aggravated.

"I know. It's that crooked smile," Cami guessed.

"Yeah! But it is distracting me and I practically invented distraction 101" Caroline ranted, "I don't even know…I am confused…we had a fight the other night, one of many," Caroline fumed, "That wasn't a fight but was kind of a fight!"

Cami tried to keep up and Caroline hit one of the pillows frustrated.

"And you know we are meant to be friends now but he makes it so hard!"

"Why?" Cami probed.

"He is a controlling ass that's why!" Caroline bit out.

"Sounds accurate," Cami confirmed but then she eyed Caroline solemnly, "So the fight? He didn't hurt you did he?" Cami asked worriedly "you said it yourself. The Originals are dangerous and Klaus usually-"

"Leaves corpses behind him when he fights?" Caroline finished her sentence.

"Well…yeah."

"He wouldn't hurt me," Caroline confided and saw how Cami seemed to regard her with curiosity, "well he would…but not physically," Caroline paused and took in a deep breath.

She knew who Klaus was and what he was capable of but she also knew that the last thing he would ever want to do to her was hurt her again. Intentionally anyway. But hurting someone was not only physical abuse. It had more ugly sides and Klaus was capable of that too. As she also was.

"It's a mess," Caroline rattled on thinking of everything that connected her with Klaus and everything that divided her and him "and we had been getting into those fights lately …but…we came to an understanding in the end…kind of…and then he goes and pulls stunts like compelling people to do his bidding like he did with Aaron just to force my hand. It's not right" she scowled.

"It isn't but are you sure that's what troubles you? Klaus' behavior is problematic but you already said you have come to an understanding. Are you sure your problem with him isn't something deeper than his usual shenanigans?" Cami pushed for more and Caroline's fingers starting fidgeting with the hem of her blouse.

"That's the thing! It is not just shenanigans. It is becoming a habit and not just for him. Coming to an understanding doesn't change that he was wrong…it doesn't change that what he is doing is wrong…and seeing where he comes from doesn't excuse his behavior…There is forgiving someone and then there is justifying their crap and I ain't going down that road with Klaus Mikaelson…not any time soon…meaning not ever!" Caroline concluded and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Cami smiled at her incoherent babbling.

"So here's what I don't get. If you know he is wrong. And you know where you stand. Why are you confused?" Camille pressed her more and Caroline glowered at her annoyed by her persistence. She blew her hair away from her face angrily before she gave up and deflated.

"He was wrong," she said again holding on to that for dear life but then she paused and wrinkled her nose, "…but so was I."

"I see. And was the fight bad?"

"It started like that…as usual," Caroline quipped and rolled her eyes, "we keep clashing heads all the time. We may be more alike that I would like to admit but it feels like I am hitting obstacle after obstacle with him. He…is a terrible person and maybe so am I but-"

"But?"

"But I don't want to be," Caroline whispered uncomfortably as she gave voice to her fears, "And if I let him in. If I act as if he is any less terrible won't that make me just as terrible and even worse just a sucker for punishment? More so when he is so set on controlling me. Me, the world, everyone!"

"Can you be controlled?"

Caroline gave her and what do you think look and Cami laughed.

"So basically you feel this is a toxic relationship."

"Yes and no. I guess."

"What's the no part?" Cami asked.

"There is an honesty there I never had with anyone else before," Caroline replied feeling able to say things she would never say to her friends in Mystic Falls. Despite any awkwardness, Cami was not judging her. Here she was able, to be honest with herself in a way she would never have been able to be when she was at Mystic Falls. Because back there Klaus was public enemy number one and even hinting at this out loud would be as if she was betraying her friends. Her family. Herself. But the lines had blurred. Time had passed. She had died and she had been brought to life and she was stuck in New Orleans seeing another side of Klaus.

He was here for her. Always. Sheltering her. Helping her. Even suffocating her too. But he was also caring and patient even if it was going against every fiber of his being. There were many things Klaus was for her but being an enemy wasn't one of them anymore. And if she was honest she had stopped seeing him as one long before she even died. Long before he had left Mystic Falls and here she was finally able to say this out loud without being racked with guilt. A part of hers still felt shame but it was a fleeting reflex she mostly used as a defense mechanism in order to push away what she truly felt for Klaus.

And maybe Cami wasn't the best person to confess this but she had no other and just maybe she was who she needed.

In that moment.

"Klaus has a way of making me raise my walls but he keeps on breaking so many others. And in a way he makes me see parts of myself that are both dark and good. Parts that make me feel…that challenge me," Caroline came clean.

"As long as you are not pretending when it comes to who he is and who you are," Cami stated, "I guess it all comes down to one question. Do the wrong parts outweigh the right?"

Caroline said nothing to that. She wiggled her hands in her front feeling the need to fidget.

"Is he a person you want to keep in your life?" Cami softly asked her.

"Yes," she responded with no hesitation.

"Aside of his wrongs…what about you? If as you said you know you were wrong what is stopping you from apologizing?"

Caroline shrugged at that.

"I'd like to think you are more evolved than Klaus," Cami jested, "relationships are not a competition of wrongdoings where the one that does the worst gets to lose. It is a give and take from both sides. Your character and how you act when you are doing something you don't feel is right should not be defined by the way Klaus responds to his mistakes. More so if as you said it is honesty you appreciate the most" Camille countered gently and Caroline pouted.

"It is an ego thing isn't?" Cami read her like an open book.

"Well his does not need any more feeding," Caroline mumbled through clenched teeth but at the gaze Cami gave her she pinched her lips, "yeah it is," she admitted begrudgingly.

"Here you go," Cami said and Caroline lay back on the couch.

She hated when others cornered her like this especially when they were right. It made her feel immature, shallow and childish but deep down it also made her feel secure in the knowledge that she could count on people that had her back. Still all this logic and level-headed reasoning were buggering her. It reminded her some of her mom's, Bonnie's and Stefan's lectures.

These people cared for her and Cami was trying to make her take the high road but despite their best intentions, they could never get it. In the end, it was a competition. And being the better person didn't always pay off when it came to survival and emotional peace of mind. Especially when it came to her mind. And that was the part Klaus always got when it came to how her mind worked and that was in the end what annoyed her the most! And why did her traitorous mind always had to return back to Klaus anyway?

"Well, this sucks!" Caroline complained and earned a chuckle from Cami.

Caroline sat back properly and faced Cami.

"I am sorry if I put you in an awkward position by dumping all this on you," she apologized and Cami gave her a reassuring smile.

"You didn't."

Caroline fixed her a look.

"I am not going to lie," Camille began giving her a kind of a shy look, "there was a time when I felt conflicting things for Klaus. Maybe a part of me still does," Cami admitted openly and Caroline felt a knot forming on her stomach.

She and Klaus were not together. She had no say in his life but why did she feel like that? This couldn't be jealousy, could it?

Hell no!

"But you were right when you spoke of choices," Cami accepted with grace, "being with Marcel and being around all this death made me realize that what I feel for Klaus, for Marcel, for this world is not healthy. I don't even know what keeps me in New Orleans anymore," Cami pondered, "a long time ago I knew for sure that the bad boys, the toxic men and the destructive and dysfunctional relationships were things I didn't want in my life."

Cami wiped her hands with a napkin and tapped her foot on the floor.

"And I was not wrong," she flatly said, "but somewhere along the way the lines did blur for me too. I feel like my logic and my emotion have separated completely and whatever choice I make leads me to the wrong path."

"It happens to everyone though doesn't it?" Caroline wondered, "Sometimes logic says one thing…what we feel says another."

Cami smiled sadly.

"It depends. Because sometimes logic can make the difference between life and death. My brother and my uncle died. I spend years searching for answers and when I found them I lost what defined me as a person," Cami lamented and Caroline felt something more than just sympathy for the girl. She could empathize with her because she knew exactly how that felt.

"It feels that the one feeling I feel more acutely these days is indecision. And it affects my judgment," Cami acknowledged, "I find myself making excuses where I shouldn't and doing things I never believed I would."

"What is it that you want to do?" Caroline asked and Cami's gaze hardened somehow.

"I always wanted to help people. To listen to them. Not to bury them and turn deaf to everyone but their killers."

The air changed between them and it was eventually Caroline that broke the silence.

"Klaus. Marcel. Me. Even Josh. We are all killers Cami."

Camille accepted the gravity of her words with a nod that carried the weight of the world in its simple gesture.

"I know."


Hayley sat at the edge of the rocking chair and closed her eyes. Next to her on the arm of the chair was the baby rattle she had bought for Hope a long time ago when she was still pregnant and kept having dreams about holding her baby girl and singing lullabies to her. She let her fingers slid over the rattle and tried to somehow take out of her mind the faint echo of the baby's crying.

It had become constant. She kept hearing Hope crying. At first, it was in her dreams and in her nightmares. Now it was even in her waking hours. Her baby needed her. Cried for her. And she was not there to even hold her.

Elijah had told her her emotions were heightened due to her transition but she should have calmed down by now. Instead, everything was becoming worse and worse.

The air shifted in the room somehow and when Hayley opened her eyes she realized she wasn't alone in the nursery.

"Get out," she growled aggressively but Kol Mikaelson only smirked at her.

He glanced around and then pointed at the door that led to the adjoining room. Her bedroom.

"You know this had been my room right?" Kol chuckled and Hayley gritted her teeth.

Kol stepped into the nursery and the hair on the back of Hayley's neck rose. It wasn't right for him to be in here.

Kol pointed at the rattle in her hand.

"Aren't you a bit old to play with such toys darling?" he provoked her mercilessly and Hayley forgot her Hybrid strength and gripped the baby toy so hard it broke.

Kol pouted in mock sympathy as tears brimmed in her eyes at the damage she had caused. She looked at the broken pieces in her hand as if they were the remnants of a grenade that had blown up in her palm.

Hayley shook her head and glared at Kol that only smiled. She got up from the rocking chair and faced him.

"What do you want this time?"

Kol went towards Hope's crib but Hayley blocked his way. He smirked and gave her a sweet look.

"I am not known to give chances or warnings even and yet a few nights ago I tried to warn you have I not?" he asked her with a deep smooth voice and Hayley tensed as she remembered how exactly Kol had warned her.

Klaus had warned her too but she knew where this was heading at. She hadn't listened. And she didn't plan to. She was done with having others pulling her strings. Professor Shane, Sophie Deveraux, the New Orleans witches, the Mikaelsons, her pack. They all wanted to control her and she had lost her baby because she had allowed herself to be controlled.

No more.

"And you do you repay my kindness?" Kol wondered and cornered her against the crib, "You keep targeting my witches," he clicked his tongue, "Bad move."

"Should I care?" Hayley bit back with a sullen look as she tried to hold on to her bravado but Kol only smirked.

"You really should," Kol said, his tone gentle.

Hayley observed him with caution as he approached her and she cringed when he brushed a strand of her hair away from her face with his knuckle.

"You see I tried to turn over a new leaf but it doesn't work for me," he sighed, "what does work for me is freedom. I am sure you can relate can't you?"

Hayley narrowed her eyes and Kol beamed. He allowed her to step away and they started circling each other.

"Wolves are such wild things," Kol acknowledged with awe and Hayley subtly started peering at the possible exits of the room. They were alone in the house. Klaus and Elijah were out.

"They never trade their freedom. I always admired that. The freedom of allowing yourself to take pride in what you are. Something Nik always wanted. To be honest, so did I. There is something very liberating in accepting who one truly is and thus doing what he wants," Kol confessed and gave her a challenging look as she tried to step towards the windows that led to the balcony and from there out to the crisp night of New Orleans. Hayley knew that she wasn't a match for his speed. She had already gone against him and lost.

"What's stopping you?" she asked trying to buy some time and Kol ran his tongue over his bottom lip. Looking her like a cat that was playing with his food.

"Nothing," he admitted and Hayley dashed away but before she could reach the door Kol had thrown her over the wall. The painting Klaus had made for their daughter fell down and Hayley quickly jumped up.

Both of them became blurry shadowy figures in the nursery. But when Kol stabbed her with a piece of wood from the broken painting Hayley hollered and staggered back.

Her feet stopped touching the ground when Kol's fingers wrapped around her neck and lifted her up in the air effortlessly.

With a swift motion he twisted her head in an unnatural angle and Hayley for a moment thought he would either snap her neck or tear it out of her shoulders but instead, she felt a shocking sensation passing from the back of her neck right down her spine and her whole body went numb.

There was no more nonchalance in Kol's features any longer. His face had twisted in a mask of madness and menace. Hayley wanted to push back his arm but she couldn't move her arms. She coughed feeling like a ragdoll in his arms and she realized how much strength an Original truly possessed. Elijah and Klaus always treated her with soft gloves but Kol was out to truly get her.

"I wanted to make my brothers pay. To hurt them where it hurts the most. And then I realized why not kill two birds with one stone," he chuckled, honey dripping from his words but his nails clawed inside her throat and Hayley splattered helplessly. She couldn't move. At all. But she felt pain. So much pain.

"You know my brothers never really cared for me. They barely mourned my demise. And yet here you are," Kol scoffed and pushed her back until the impact her back made with the wall broke bones in her body. She grunted, tears of pain brimming in her eyes. She tried to kick and fight but Kol's grip had paralyzed her. She felt trapped inside her body.

Kol had known which nerves to damage at the back of her neck. She was completely helpless and she knew that if she wasn't a hybrid he would have paralyzed her for life.

"The mother of Nik's deceased child and yet he still keeps you around as a replacement for Bekah," Kol snorted and his wrist twisted until Hayley first heard her bones cracking and turning to dust under her skin before she felt the pain rushing in her body without mercy. She whimpered but when she opened her mouth to scream only blood poured out.

"And Elijah," Kol continued with utter distaste as he studied the bluish shade of her face with a mocking gaze, "I have not seen him giving the heart eyes to a woman like this ever since Katerina Petrova."

Hayley's eyes glazed over and Kol threw her on the floor and prowled around her broken body watching her from above with cold eyes.

He was savoring the moment. He crouched down and locked his gaze with hers.

"So killing you does send a nice message don't you think?" he pondered. Looking at her as if he was actually interested in her opinion. She tried to tell him to go to hell but she couldn't speak. She felt a tingling sensation returning to her legs and she tried to crawl away.

Kol watched her bemused as she coughed out blood and tried to slide her body over the floor. She looked at the crib desperately and closed her eyes hearing Hope's cries again. It was that sound that woke up the wolf inside her and whatever damage Kol had inflicted on her body started to heal. Hayley felt her body restoring itself much faster than her Hybrid blood would allow for it to actually heal. It felt like magic.

She got startled when her phone rang. It had fallen out of her pocket when she fought with Kol. From the distance, she saw Elijah's name in the bright vibrating screen. Kol saw the hope in her eyes and threw his head back and laughed.

"It must be true love," he taunted her and elegantly got up and casually walked at the ringing phone and stepped on it until it broke under his heal.

Hayley took the chance and tried to run realizing that she had regained control of her body. Her Hybrid speed barely got her out of the room and she managed to throw one of the chairs behind her to block Kol's way.

She rubbed her neck and her body hit the corridors. She tried to not fall down and make it out the house. Plaster fell over her. She didn't have complete control of her abilities just yet.

"Oh, are you trying to outrun me, darling?" Kol shouted at her, "that's just lovely. I love a good chase," he sang sadistically and Hayley pressed her lips.

She almost made it to the stairs when Kol grabbed her from her hair but she managed to elbow him. He chuckled as if he enjoyed her struggle and she grabbed the lamp from the small table at her left side and smashed it over his head.

"Really?" Kol mumbled giving her an exasperated look and pushed her towards the banister with a flick of his wrist and as if she was nothing but an insect she flew back from the force of Kol's hit.

Her reflexes and coordination were back and she held on to the rail and jumped down.

She landed at the compound's yard and made a run for it only for Kol to speed in front of her and throw her back.

Hayley's eyes turned gold and she attacked him. Furniture broke and in their savage brawl Hayley's teeth lunged on Kol's arm. The Original grunted and Hayley chewed a piece out of his flesh poisoning him with loads of wolf venom. Her strain of venom was far more effective after she turned to a Hybrid. It worked faster and it was far more lethal and painful.

"A puppy bite?" Kol laughed when he pushed her back. Hayley took a defensive stance and growled at him.

"Ain't that cute!" Kol sassed, "I am afraid your poison will not kick in for a few hours. You don't have that much time."

This was not about the witches Hayley realized. This was personal. Kol was obsessed. He wanted to hurt Elijah and Klaus and he had put a target on her back. The witches were an excuse. He probably planned this ever since he was resurrected.

"If you want to hurt Klaus with what hurts the most then I am afraid you found the wrong person," Hayley croaked, her voice coming back in whispery tones.

Kol gave her a feral grin but Hayley tilted her neck to the side finally feeling as her body was completely healed. Everything felt raw and still hurt, however.

"Maybe you should try killing Caroline," she faced him head on trying to at least buy some time, "Or is it that you have a thing for her too?" she sneered.

Kol threw his head back and laughed.

"You are amusing I'll give you that…but this was such a juvenile try."

Before Hayley could even see him move Kol had grabbed her by the neck and hit her head on one of the walls. Hayley stumbled back and tried to kick him. Blood poured over her eyes from the new cut on her head momentarily blinding her and Kol hit her again.

She fell backward and jumped away. Claws went out of her nails and for a few seconds, she was able to avoid Kol's attack until his hand went into her chest and broke through bone and muscle far enough to squeeze her heart.

Hayley's eyes popped open and she went unnaturally still. Her lips quivered realizing that Kol literally held her life in the palm of his hand.

Kol had stuffed his hand in her body. She lowered her gaze and saw the blood that dribbled down his wrist.

Kol Mikaelson's fingers wrapped around her beating heart and Hayley grunted in agony when his nails grazed the pumping muscle and more blood licked out from her chest. One flick of his wrist and Kol would tear out her heart.

She tried to breathe but there was no air reaching her lungs and everything burned. Blood roared in her ears and Kol gripped her heart harder until she whimpered in anguish and trembled like a fish. She hunched over and stiffened feeling life ebbing away from her body.

Blood came out of her mouth and she choked on it. Kol gave her a look of faux sympathy and pushed his hand deeper into her chest wiggling inside her guts.

"Maybe you are right about Klaus but your death will truly hurt Elijah I am afraid," Kol acknowledged ready to push his hand out of her chest.

He tugged.

Hayley stared at him in horror. She felt him pulling her heart. Coldness and pain spread inside her veins. She wanted to cry out for him to spare her. She wanted to tell him that her daughter needed her. Hope's baby cries echoed in her mind louder than ever and her last thought was of her when everything went black.


A/N:

- Rebekah's lullaby is Karliene's Lullaby of Woe.

- This chapter was originally longer but it became too long so I broke it in two parts.