Danse Macabre — Part III — Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
"I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me."
― Sylvia Plath
Their dance, all that was said and was left unsaid during those moments, along the promise of a chance between them had left both Klaus and Caroline with an awkward feeling that was combating a magnetic pull. It was more than nostalgia and the sensation of being at the brink of something new that was about to begin between them.
It was a feeling that couldn't easily be described with words. It felt like the ardent longing of something none of them could explain and Caroline knew she had felt it before.
A long time ago. Long before Purgatory.
It had existed between them before and it was sad. In their farewell in the woods. In what Klaus had called a confession. What she had tried so hard to forget and act as if it had never happened.
Only it had happened.
When they had given themselves to each other only for a few hours knowing that at the end of those moments of passion it would be over. They had wanted to give an outlet to all the repressed feelings they have had for each other through sex and then they had hoped that whatever had existed between them would be finally out of their systems and they would be able to move on without looking back or being haunted by this complicated connection that would just not dissipate.
It hadn't dissipated. It hadn't ended there.
Caroline even now remembered how it had felt being in Klaus' arms. How his touch had felt. The way he had smiled, the way he had held her, looked at her. The way he had cherished her as if she was his sun. The way he had kissed her hard and gentle. The way he had made her ask herself if this was love.
She didn't know if it had been. She didn't know if it ever was or would be but she knew that those moments had been ecstatic. Being with Klaus had given her indescribable pleasure tainted with the feeling of upcoming loss. Grief for something that would soon be lost.
When she danced with Klaus tonight she felt something similar and she knew he had felt it too. It was in the look they shared. In the promise their words held. In the need that was always there. It felt as if it had the potential of forever but it also felt fleeting. It was too deep and too thin at once. Profound but delicate. It was set to initiate everything between them but it was also holding them back.
None of them wanted to hold back and none of them wanted to let go. It was confusing and Caroline could feel it in the way Klaus was holding her hand as he led her to his study.
When he let her go she felt the absence of his touch and she hated the emptiness she felt. She had followed him silently once their dance ended. It was as if she had been under his spell but as he now closed the door behind them Caroline felt weariness.
She hated how Klaus had locked her in earlier. And she hated how she was giving in to him like this now. What she hated the most was how he was capable of the best and the worst at the same moment.
He danced with her and helped through her panic attack. He locked her in the bedroom and pushed her to her breaking point. He wanted a chance. He wanted to ruin every chance he had with her by threatening the people she loved.
Caroline smelled the sage that locked the rest of the world outside Klaus' study and allowed them privacy.
The room was softly lit by candles and the flames in the fireplace. There was a lamp on Klaus's office that also cast a pale glow.
Klaus didn't bother turning on the lights. Instead, Caroline watched him as he strode to one of the walls and pushed a painting to the side. The gold frame slid easily and behind it, Caroline saw a safe box embedded in the wall.
She watched Klaus as he punched in the code and with a soft click the door was unlocked and Klaus retrieved a box.
Caroline's eyes followed him closely and she saw the flicker of brilliance in his fingers.
The diamonds reflected the soft lights of the room. Each crystal trapping the luminosity in only to cast a shimmering sparkle in the dark.
"What is this?" Caroline asked carefully even though she knew what it was.
Klaus smiled at her and his smile captured something in her heart.
"Me taking a chance," he told her.
She had challenged him to take a chance and he had told her that maybe he should. His eyes had promised her that he would.
She just hadn't expected him to do it so soon.
And here he was. Holding the infinity bracelet he had once gifted her. The same bracelet she had thrown back at him.
Caroline knew he had kept it. When she had resurrected Kol, Klaus had shown that diamond bracelet to Esther when she posed as Synnove Julien just so to ensure that she was truly the Caroline he once knew and not a trick.
And here he was again. Offering her the same diamond bracelet.
Here he was taking a chance.
"If you let me," Klaus added and waited for a moment before he gave her the bracelet.
He hadn't tried to clasp it around her wrist. No. What he did was throw the ball in her court and now Caroline watched the bracelet she held as if it was a grenade. She couldn't take her eyes off the magnificent jewelry.
She felt Klaus' scrutiny on her and with trembling legs she went and sat to the sofa near the fireplace.
She wrapped her fingers around the diamonds and closed her eyes.
"I know I have been such a bitch to you but you make me so angry," she confessed with a sigh.
She had told him that before. In anger. In provocation. Only this time she was vulnerable. Soft.
Klaus didn't hesitate. He went and sat on the armrest of the sofa. So close to her.
His fingers touched the underside of her chin and pushed her head back. She opened her eyes and faced his. He was determined.
"Why?"
She inhaled sharply and the diamond stones dug into the flesh of her palm as her hold over them tightened.
She didn't avert her eyes though. She stared into the blue abyss that stared at her back. Klaus' eyes were like a beacon in the dark. They shone with anticipation.
"Because you make me feel things," she whispered, "Because I-"
She stopped and pushed her head away from his touch. She needed to focus. But she was frazzled. Klaus' gaze and all that it promised was like the key that threatened to unlock the cage in which she held everything in.
Something fierce captured her heart. How could she make him understand?
"God," she shuddered unable to control the frantic beat of her heart, "I don't want you to string you along," she blurted out unable to hold back, "I don't want to hurt you like this. I never did," her voice was soft and she tried to make him understand. Klaus' seemed to be holding on to her every word and every breath. His eyes were seeing right through her. Deep inside behind her walls. He saw everything. And it hurt. "All this hostility…at first…when we had first met…it was my defense and then it was my cover," she divulged, "For the connection, I kept denying we had but it was always there."
Klaus seemed to be as breathless as she was at that moment. And just as vulnerable.
"Was?"
There was worry in his question. Fear.
She stared straight into his eyes.
"Is," she admitted, this time without shame. She saw his tentative smile of relief but she couldn't stop the next words she spoke, "And I hate it."
"Why?" Klaus asked her, his expression pained.
"I fear you, Klaus."
She said it and she opened up herself to him without holding back. She let him see her fear. Her terror and Klaus' eyes truly widened. Despite whatever that had transpired between them, despite all that he had done and all that they knew he was capable of doing he looked absolutely crushed by her confession. He stared back at her shocked and hurt.
He opened his mouth to say something but she didn't let him.
"Ever since I came back from Purgatory it has been a struggle to not turn off my humanity," she revealed to him. Her shoulders slumped down and she couldn't watch the compassion in Klaus' eyes. She couldn't take it, "and the more I feel the more it hurts and the more it hurts the more…I want…I just," she couldn't find the words and she hugged herself frustrated. Breathing now felt like pain. "There are things I don't want to feel and you…you are so…you," she repeated what she had told him before with a sad smile, "and it hurts," she stopped only to add with a voice impossibly low, "it makes me remember."
Of course, Klaus heard her though. Every sense of his was attuned to her.
"Remember what?" he gently asked her. He looked as if he was afraid of speaking any louder. As if he was afraid she would bolt.
Caroline rested her palm on her lap. Opened her fingers slowly and eyed the bracelet.
"Who I used to be," she told him and allowed him to see her. Wounds and damage and all.
Recognition filled Klaus' eyes but there was no pity. He didn't watch her as if she was something broken. But he did see her as something that was hurt and was bleeding. There was understanding in his eyes. A kindred spirit reaching out to her.
"It hurts so much and I don't know if I can survive this," she finally admitted what was her worse fear, "if I can survive you."
'What you make me feel' was what she left unsaid but she knew that Klaus had heard that too even though she hadn't given voice to the words.
Silence followed her confession and Caroline wanted to run away. Maybe she shouldn't have opened up like this. Maybe she shouldn't have been so honest. Maybe she shouldn't have-
"If you feel you need me to stay away," Klaus started and Caroline could tell that he could barely get the words out, "if this is the only way for you to heal," Klaus' voice trailed off with grave acceptance, "…then I will."
Caroline stilled. She didn't know what she had expected to hear but this wasn't it.
He had expected many things from Klaus Mikaelson but the noble thing to do was not something she could have predicted from him.
There was finality in what he said and for some reason, every muscle in Caroline's body coiled. As if this wasn't what she wanted. It should be what she should want. But it felt as if what Klaus was ready to give to her if this was what she truly needed was…unimaginable. And yet it should be what she should want. What a reasonable person should want. It was the safer option. The sensible thing. But if he did…if he could…
Caroline drew in a steadying breath.
"Could you?" she asked him hating the weakness in her tone and the unguarded insecurity she just couldn't hide, "stay away?"
Klaus held her gaze.
"For you, I could."
Caroline gave him the bracelet and his shoulders fell. He looked defeated but he accepted the bracelet.
Before he could rise from the armrest Caroline stopped him by gently reaching for his upper arm.
Klaus' eyes narrowed in confusion but then Caroline offered him her hand expectantly and arched her brow in anticipation.
The sensible thing would be to have let him go.
But she was never sensible. If she was she would have never been drawn to Klaus Mikaelson in the first place.
It took Klaus a few seconds to realize that Caroline was waiting for him to put the bracelet on her wrist but when he did he beamed. It was a smile so beautiful, boyish and wide that Caroline could swear that it created butterflies in her stomach and all of them, thousands of them, fluttered their wings at once.
She couldn't help but smile back at Klaus that now had a besotted expression as he gently took her hand in his.
"Don't read too much into this," she bantered back with a smile as she pointed at the bracelet that Klaus was wrapping around her wrist, "it just goes really well with the dress."
"Of course not sweetheart," Klaus teased in mischief that compared with hers while his smile let his dimples show.
He clasped the bracelet and Caroline felt its weight. Yet she felt lighter for it.
Her smile slowly vanished and she locked her gaze with Klaus'.
"For me, you could," she repeated his words and Klaus nodded seriously.
And then there was a flash of something in Klaus' eyes that gave her pause. It was as if a part of him had hoped that she would have asked him exactly that. That somehow this would be a blessing for him despite the agony. He wanted to keep her away as much as he wanted to keep her close.
Why?
"What if I want more?" she dared and didn't miss the way Klaus stiffened.
The air changed. It electrified. It somehow became darker.
Klaus' armor was back on. She had been so focused on keeping her armor in check that she had almost missed the way he wore his.
"What do you want Caroline?"
'All the things you can't give she thought. All of you. The best of you. The you that won't dagger Kol. The you that will open up to me.'
She didn't dare speak the words.
How could she expect that of him when she couldn't open up to him completely? She had opened up to him tonight yes. She was still reeling from it. But she still held back things she couldn't give him. She knew it and Klaus knew it too.
Only she wanted that from him. She wanted everything when she couldn't give him the same. So how could she want that? She didn't know. Maybe she was just as selfish as he was. But she wanted it and she couldn't get it because she could see that for all the walls she erected Klaus put up more and his walls were higher and denser.
Yes, Klaus wanted her. Yes, he could do for her what he couldn't do for others but it wasn't enough. She could see it in his eyes. He blocked her out where it truly mattered and she couldn't have less of him than what he could truly give her. Especially since he expected from her to do what he couldn't do. He wanted to tear down her walls and he wanted her to give herself to him completely. To surrender. To give him a real chance.
But what about him?
Would he give her a real chance? Without holding back? Without forcing her hand to defend those he would hurt? When it would mean that he would hurt her first? Something he knew all too well. And it wasn't enough to stop him.
Why?
Why?
"If this is you taking a chance…at least make it an honest one Klaus."
He looked at her. Startled and then his age showed in his eyes. A thousand years of conflict. Nothing to compare with all that would now follow. It was in his eyes. It was raging.
She had seen the same drive in Kol's eyes when he fought to get them out that hellhole. Now she saw that look in Klaus' eyes. It was multiplied by a thousand and she didn't know what he was fighting for. All she knew was that it was something that transcended everything and Klaus was ready to move hell and heaven for it.
"This ball has a purpose and it's not peace," Caroline discerned as she tried to figure out Klaus' motives, "and you called me here for a reason."
He wanted to lie to her. She saw it and it hurt her that his first instinct was that.
However, he didn't.
"I did."
Klaus drew back and then got up. He walked, turned his back at her, and stood in front of the fireplace. The orange glow of the flames licked his face and the emotional distance between them widened.
"I wanted you to stand by my side tonight an equal, a partner…a Queen," he said, his gaze lost in the flames, "I knew you wouldn't take me up on that offer," he revealed, and then there was acceptance and finality in his voice, "You didn't."
Caroline bored holes into his back. Tension was building up and even though she couldn't see Klaus' face she could feel the conflict in him.
"I guess…You wouldn't be who you are if you had which is the reason why I wanted you to be by my side in the first place," he owned up to her and finally turned around and faced her. "Contradictory ain't it?" he smirked but despite the brave front Caroline saw how he seemed to be in mourning as he took his emotional distance and spoke about their relationship as if it didn't hurt him. As if he wasn't part of it. "A vicious cycle one would call a paradox; one you and I are doomed to repeat it over and over again. Where I pull you push and when you push I pull. Tonight is the perfect example of our compatibility and antithesis. Perfectly balanced. Disastrously imbalanced."
Caroline rose and closed the distance between. She stood in front of him and their gazes interlocked.
"Which leaves us where?"
Klaus smiled. He lifted her hand and examined the gift of his she wore.
"It leaves us with my bracelet in your wrist," he simply said and then brought her hand to his mouth. The diamonds slid down her arm as Klaus kissed her knuckles. His lips brushed over her skin sending jolts of heat over her body and without taking his eyes from hers he whispered, "and with my heart in your hands."
Caroline's breath hitched and Klaus' lips applied more pressure to her knuckles before he let her hand go.
"But my heart is a wretched thing," he truthfully acknowledged, "it has been dead for a long time Caroline."
"That's not true."
Klaus gave her a condescending smile that this time showed how young he found her. It showed how old he was. How much time had shaped them differently.
"It is," he shrugged. His voice deep was sending vibrations that oscillated between them, "It's wasted and it rarely has any use. It only beats for-"
Klaus stopped abruptly and withdrew his gaze from her. He turned his head to the side and his eyes fixated on the fire again. He was battling with ghosts and Caroline wanted to reach for him but she knew it wouldn't be wise. Not now that his hands turned into fists and his eyes shone into gold.
Caroline felt as if those fists pummeled her for some reason.
'Not for me,' Caroline realized, 'his heart still beats but not for me.'
'For who then? What are you not telling me, Klaus?'
Klaus's eyes turned to blue and he pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. He quickly regained his composure but it wasn't quick enough. This wasn't the man that she had met in Mystic Falls. He had changed. New Orleans had changed him. Everything he lost changed him and Caroline's heart broke for him. He was miserable. She could see that. And Klaus didn't do miserable well. He would unleash his wrath to the world.
"I don't want to lie to you, Caroline. It's the last thing I want."
And this time Caroline saw the pity beneath the compassionate veneer and it felt like a punch in the gut.
"Omission is lying too," she pointed out and Klaus gave her a lopsided grin.
This was the man that couldn't love. This was the man that had shackled her in chains to sacrifice her in the ritual he prepared for a thousand years. The monster that had killed Elena and Jenna in that ritual.
Caroline felt the danger emitting from him. It turned everything around them into a shadowy world.
"Is it?" he challenged her and her resolve hardened. The vampire inside her could acknowledge the danger Klaus posed. It could not be denied; the shadow of darkness Klaus cast was potent and brought terror but she was used to terror now. Purgatory had honed her into a shade of danger too.
She challenged Klaus equally.
"It is."
The steel into Klaus' gaze had a razor edge now.
"You should know," he taunted her and Caroline felt the blow but braced herself for the impact. This was a delaying tactic. Klaus' manipulation at its finest. When things became tough he lashed out. He detached. He deflected. He wanted to hurt others so to mislead them.
She knew he was trying to turn this on her. To make her lose focus.
She rolled her eyes at him.
"I mastered in the game of distraction Klaus," she threw back at him, "turning this around on me won't work."
Klaus grinned at her.
"No I guess it won't," he noticed with amused pride, and then he gave her a smoldering look, "a better man would give you what you want or would let you go but I am not a better man. I am not even a semblance of what a barely good man is. I am a selfish bastard. I want you. I won't stop in my endeavor to win your heart even if I can't give you all that you deserve."
Caroline pushed aside the effect his words had on her and she scowled at him.
"What are you hiding from me?"
"I could tell you," Klaus drawled and Caroline tensed because his smile reminded her of a shark that had smelled blood and was about to devour its lunch, "but then I'd have to compel you to forget and I'd rather not."
She froze. One look at him and she knew he meant it.
Of course, she was taking vervain. She would never come anywhere near the Originals without taking precautions and that included both Kol and Klaus too but she could see that Klaus was serious about this. He would do it. He would actually compel her and if he had to he would either lock her away in that bedroom again until the vervain would be out of her system or he would bleed her dry of it.
Klaus was ready to declare war on New Orleans and…on her.
Her hands turned to fists before she uncurled her fingers. She knew that if she asked him again the outcome would be an answer and then he would compel the truth out of her mind or would compel something far worse.
That alone told her that she shouldn't cross this line with him.
Her eyes zoomed on the glittering shine of the diamonds on her wrist. She should have known better. After all, she remembered when and how Klaus had first given her this bracelet. The morning after her birthday when he had held the power of life and death over her.
"I see," Caroline mumbled and gave him a shaky smile. She twisted the bracelet around her wrist slowly as she came to the conclusion none of them could avoid. "Trust was never our thing was it?"
They both knew that was true and it went both ways. And yet she had opened her heart to him tonight. She had shown him one of her worst fears and he repaid her like this.
It hurt.
She turned around to leave but Klaus' fingers wrapped around her upper arm. He pulled her to him, his entire disposition mellowing down.
"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered, keeping her close," if anything I want to protect you," he tried to make her understand, "I want to ensure your eternity and if you and I were the last souls to walk upon this earth I would be a happy man. In another life, I would give you everything you asked of me." He let her go and Caroline almost stumbled back.
"But you are right Caroline. In everything you see in me. You deserve more than I can give. But what I can give I am willing to give it as freely as I can," he promised her and she shook her head resigned.
"Not as freely it would seem. There are strings attached."
Strings that could wrap around her neck and strangle her.
Because she knew that what she wanted Klaus couldn't truly give. For some reason, he couldn't. He wouldn't spare Kol. He wouldn't spare her feelings. Or even her if he had to.
Klaus examined her in a way that told her that he could read her thoughts. And she stared back at him in the same way.
"A millennia and I'd never expect someone so young to see right through me as easily as you do," he sighed, "and here you are."
"Here I am," she accepted wistfully and Klaus gave her a lugubrious smile.
"Come with me love. Let me show you something."
Klaus took her to the balcony of the upper floor of the Abattoir under an archway where they could watch the commotion downstairs but remain unseen. Caroline suspected Klaus had a witch spell this corner for others to not see or hear them while they could watch everything.
He pushed her towards the railing and trapped her there. His body was a wall behind her and his hands rested on the horizontal bar on each side of hers until she was pressed against the railing, her back colliding with his solid chest.
She looked down below and Klaus' hands moved on her waist.
Klaus was like a dark shadow looming over her. His fingers rested on her hips, burning her skin through the fabric of the beautiful gown sending shivers all over her body. She tried to ignore her senses and all that Klaus' touch provoked in her. Her whole body was thrumming and she could feel heat bursting from his fingertips straight into the marrow of her bones tempting both the woman and the vampire inside her.
His lips hovered over her ear, his head leaning over the hollow of her neck and shoulder, the stubble of his unshaven face tingling the skin it teased and she had to put conscious effort to not close her eyes, lean back against him and moan.
"What do you see?" he asked her, his voice a soft drawl that both tempted and played with her but there was an undercurrent of seriousness in his question that was edging on both danger and excitement. A deadly combination that brought out the darkest desires she had and her most menacing energy. Things she had honed in Purgatory. Parts of her that could now embrace everything Klaus had once represented in her life. The bad, the ugly, the beauty, the dark. Death and eternity.
Caroline steadied herself. She couldn't go down that road. She couldn't and yet she was spiraling down but instead of falling she felt as if she was about to soar.
"People trying to suck up to you and your family?" she teased trying to sound blasé about it and to lighten the mood.
"While they plan to stab us in the back and destroy us," Klaus agreed with what she said, and then his one hand left her waist and she almost protested at the loss of warmth.
He gestured at the crowd below.
"This," he pointed out at the celebration that unfolded beneath them "is War."
He pronounced the word with eagerness. Every letter, all its meaning, it was a song in Klaus' lips and the hot breath that wafted over her skin made every inch of her tense in anticipation.
Klaus' hand rested back on the curve of her waist again, lingered, and then trailed a bit downward.
"The most dangerous side of it," he warned but the slightest move of his fingers and the threat of what was to come turned into seduction and twisted as it was Caroline took in Klaus' warning as something to long for.
"Only the strongest of us can participate in it without facing defeat," Klaus stated and Caroline understood what he said. Defeat meant death. It meant a fast ticket back to Purgatory and at the same time, it also meant losing far more than your life. It meant losing your heart, your mind, your very soul. It meant diving somewhere deep without end and losing yourself forever in the abyss. Turning weak, lost…defeated.
And yet it was the threat of all this loss, all this destruction that made life more exciting. It was the chance to hold one's defeat in your hands. To be not the defeated. To win. To live. To taste blood and relish in it. The stakes were high and they were not the victims of history. They were vampires. Hunters to everyone's prey.
"The rest will be-"
"Collateral damage," Caroline completed his phrase for him and tasted bitterness at the reminder of how she could be that herself. One wrong turn and she'd be no different than the rest.
Only Klaus wanted her to be above the rest. Right now he kept her above them and gave her the heads up.
A choice.
An offer.
And she hated both the jolts of pleasure and dread that flowed inside her. To hold life and death in your hands. To decide who would be collateral damage and who would not. That was what Klaus was offering and she was tempted by it. There was a part of her vampirism that would always crave sadism. The chase. War. Death.
But there was humanity inside her too. No matter how much it hurt. No matter how much she had tried to extinguish it so to survive. The survivor inside her was born out of her will to live and not hand out death even if she had to learn how to become deadly to achieve her desire to live. Only she had died and Purgatory had been the greatest hunter of them all and she knew how it was to become the ultimate prey. To lose. To fall.
Knowing that it was such hubris to want to hold life and death in her hands but she couldn't deny her nature either. Klaus couldn't either.
"And all is fair in love and war," Klaus' husky voice had power over her. This time she closed her eyes and her back found comfort against Klaus' chest that now became all that held her up as her knees were like candles that melted in the hottest flames, "or unfair, depending on where you stand."
He sounded confident. He sounded like the whisperer that could pull her strings to his direction. That could lure her into his web and trap her there forever.
This was a devil's bargain she realized.
His fingers grazed her hips, her waist until they settled on her belly and the ache inside her thrummed to life. The slightest graze of his fingertips and she felt wetness pooling between her legs. Potent traitorous arousal that Klaus' could smell.
Then her hands covered his and he stilled. She held the same power over him as he did over her and that alone made everything far more intense. Far more dangerous.
Klaus' lowered his head further into the crook of her neck. He inhaled her in. His nose trailed the column of her throat and she knew that if she felt her fangs urging to break through her gums then Klaus right about now was driven mad with the need to sink his canines deep into her flesh and drink her in and she wanted him too. She wanted her blood to sing in his veins. She wanted to be inside him. To flow in his bloodstream.
Klaus' hands tightened and she felt his body shake. She felt the way his muscles flexed and clenched. His body was marble. Was honey. Was everything in between. He was breaking apart in the seams and she was not far behind.
"In war, we must always choose sides, Caroline."
There it was. There was the catch. The strings attached.
It felt like a betrayal to her and it did because she knew that it felt like a betrayal to him. This was Klaus retaliating. Caroline realized he was doing this especially now because she had defended Kol. Because she stood against him and accepted Kol in ways she wouldn't accept him. Because Kol had her devotion and loyalty. Because she was ready to put her life on the line for Kol Mikaelson. That alone was enough for Klaus to treat her as if she was capable of betraying him and put her on the opposite side. It was urgent for him now to make it clear that she was either with him or with his brother. Either on his side or…not.
Klaus had judged her and found her guilty and now he was giving her a choice. One that would cost her no matter what she would choose.
It was loyalty or nothing for Klaus. It was compliance. Obedience. It was her becoming less by choosing a side because it meant submission. If she accepted what Klaus offered her she would still have to fall under his rule. He may put her higher than most but when it came down to it she would still be his subject because he didn't fully trust her. Maybe he cared for enough to treat her better but that screamed 'trophy' to her and not an equal. If she accepted what Klaus offered and all the power that came within she would have to accept that the power he gave came with restrictions. It would mean sacrificing what was important to her so for Klaus to not sacrifice what was important to him. Whatever that was.
And it wasn't her.
She understood that whatever Klaus valued the most was enough for him to equate her with everyone else and that felt like betrayal to her indeed. She didn't know why. They were not together. She shouldn't feel that way but he had been the man that promised her to be her last love. The man that once upon a time put her first and now that man was gone.
And yet what he still offered was something that she could accept. It would be easy in a certain way. It could give her protection, pleasure, oblivion even.
Caroline wanted to finally give up. To rest and let Klaus handle everything. She was tired of fighting. Of looking over her shoulder. Of falling into Purgatory every time she closed her eyes. Klaus could take all that way and she wanted to give in to him.
But she couldn't. She wouldn't.
Not to this cheap version of life. It was less than what Klaus had once said he intended to give her and she knew that whatever it was that he hid from her was important enough for Klaus to sacrifice that vow to her. She envied that secret of his whatever it was. She felt sorry for him; knowing that he had to make such sacrifices. And she hated that he sacrificed her and what he felt for her like this. She hated that she cared. She hated that she couldn't accept this. Because she couldn't. She would be damned if she would and she believed that deep down Klaus knew it.
All she could do now was hold on to all her strength to detach herself from him.
The possessive growl that Klaus couldn't stop erupting from his lips at the loss of their proximity made her own obsession rise. She wasn't hiding behind her finger anymore. She wasn't the Mystic Falls girl that believed she was better than Klaus Mikaelson, less of a monster and morally superior to him to the point where wanting him meant tainting her morality and soul. Now she knew better. She knew all the reasons as to why it was wrong for her to want Klaus but it had nothing to do with good or evil. Purgatory had changed her or better yet had taught her things that revealed to her parts of herself that couldn't condemn Klaus or anyone for that matter. She was not better or worse than every other monster. Motives aside she had done terrible things, horrible things long before she died and was sent to hell. The only difference between Klaus and her was that he had lived longer and had a longer list of crime to show. The only difference was that she had more support than he had at a certain part of her life and was enough for her to be able to judge him from a pedestal.
She wasn't fooling herself like this anymore. That façade was long gone. Dead and left in Purgatory to rot.
She now knew that wanting Klaus Mikaelson was still wrong but for very different reasons. It had nothing to do with misguided principles. It had everything to do with the power he had over her. With the power to break her. To make her lose control.
But she wanted him. To the point that she was physically hurting for him. To the point where a dance and a promise were enough to make lose focus. To make her lose sight.
And she couldn't afford that. Not here. Not now. Not with him.
Not if she wanted to survive and become something more than just collateral damage or Klaus' plaything even if he cared for her enough to value her a bit more. Enough to hold her in a gilded cage to protect her and to stop her from causing him any more problems. She couldn't give into Klaus like this. Not if she wanted to protect herself and those that still mattered to her. And she knew that Klaus Mikaelson had warmed his way into the list of the people that mattered the most and that hurt the most because she couldn't just accept it without breaking apart. She wasn't brave enough to do that. To feel again. To love-
Love?
She tried to regain her equilibrium. To put some distance between herself and Klaus but all this back and forth was insane even to her. She was giving him mixed signals she knew that. She was hot and cold and she was miserable for it. She wanted him to take a chance. She has basically told him so in their dance and then she wanted to flee away because she could not dare take him upon that chance. She was too much of a coward.
But he was the same. He wouldn't allow him to manipulate her into believing that he wasn't doing the same. He was giving her mixed signals too.
In the end, he was bad for her. Toxic.
Because Klaus no matter what he wanted, no matter how much he wanted her she knew that he was still the same warrior she had known back in Mystic Falls. The same destroyer. A conqueror. He was set on war. On power. It was his priority and he was now clearing the sides. He wanted to seduce her into his side especially after how she had stood against him when he locked her in the bedroom and forced the answers she hadn't wanted to give.
She darted her eyes at him, his face covered half in light half in shadow. This was who he was. A glimpse of humanity balanced with darkness unbound.
His gaze was intense, his words still echoed in her ears.
"In war we must always choose sides."
Caroline rested her body against the rail, her back turned to the world as she faced him straight on.
She straightened, pushed her desire back to the crypt she always locked it but the key was gone and the gates were wide open. She couldn't contain it but she had to force herself to meet Klaus at least half way and that meant she had to stand up for herself. She couldn't let him manipulate her into something they would both regret. Because if she accepted his offer she wouldn't be the woman he wanted to begin with.
Her hands itched to run over his shirt and bring him closer to her until she could either kiss him or bite him. Either way, they would both enjoy both. She gripped the metal edge of the banister with her hands.
"Are you afraid I am not going to choose your side?"
It was provocation. It was challenge. And a dare.
Her voice had just the barest hint of danger, enough to taunt but not enough to hide her need for Klaus to open to her. A dangerous game. Klaus had told her so. The most dangerous of them all and everything was fair and unfair in love and…war.
War, this was still war. It would always be. Along with everything else. Everything else that burned as much as the fires of this war. Everything else that would bring far more ruin to them.
Something flickered in Klaus' eyes but it was too fast.
Ruin.
He had shared his fair share of ruin and it was why he was still fighting. Why he was starting to play with the drums of war. Why? Why so much? Why like that?
What was he hiding from her?
If only things were different. Maybe she would have been able to help him. To be by his side. But things were not different and Klaus knew it.
In another life as he had said maybe things would have been different for them. Maybe she could have given him everything he wanted to. She would have liked to.
But in this life, she wanted to protect her life. Her sanity. Her heart. And Kol. Because Kol was now family. As much as Elena and Bonnie and her mom were.
If there was something that Purgatory hadn't taken from her was this. Her loyalty. Her belief that you would go to war for family. For those, you'd love.
Who was Klaus ready to go to war for?
"Yes."
His curt answer dipped in honest and solemnity put a halt to her thoughts.
Yes, he had said. He was afraid he wouldn't choose his side. He was afraid he would have to treat her like everyone else. He was afraid because he knew he would do exactly that.
In the end, he wanted from her what he couldn't give her. He wanted her to put him first.
He was afraid she wouldn't choose him and just like that he disarmed her. Just like that her weapons lost their edge against him because Klaus' brutal honesty was a blade that cut the deepest. Because his honesty still hid secrets. Because his honesty didn't mean trust. Didn't mean the truth. And he still put her in a vulnerable position. One where she would have to defend herself from his intentions.
She almost flinched but she masked her reaction and remained detached to his plea.
Because it was a plea. His eyes were practically screaming to her to choose him. Because he would hate the alternative. And he would still choose the alternative if he had to.
"Because this time," he said and approached her until he pressed her against the rail with his body, "with everything that is at stake," his voice carried on making her narrow her eyes questioningly at him for a moment until his palm cupped her cheek softly, "I won't have the luxury of treating my enemies with soft gloves and…neither will you."
Caroline swallowed down slowly. His touch, his scent, his voice. Everything lured her in. She tilted her head into his palm that framed half her face. What his touch meant was just as needed as was the constant need she had for blood. It overwhelmed her long enough to put her bloodlust at bay only to make it come back with a vengeance but this time she wanted his blood. In her mouth, in her tongue, in her throat. She burned.
"This is not like the small town you grew up in, love," Klaus reminded her, and Caroline watched almost mesmerized when his tongue darted out to moisten his lips. His eyes had zoomed in to her mouth too. "To stand in this city you must be ready to let it swallow you, Caroline. Down to the marrow. It will be the only way to survive this war."
Just a breath away from a kiss but it wasn't the time or the place. Klaus stepped back and Caroline felt better and worse at the same moment. She could think again but she missed the connection.
Klaus exhaled slowly, obviously trying to poise himself too and then his eyes glanced at the ball downstairs.
"And I would be more inclined to have you as an ally than an enemy sweetheart."
Caroline's lips thinned. Here he was again.
Klaus Mikaelson. The Original Hybrid. The King without a crown. The nightmare of all nightmares.
The message was clear. The threat was there. The malice was not absent either.
She knew that look of his. She had seen back in Mystic Falls too. When he had bitten her and almost left her to die. When he had wanted Elena's blood. When he wanted to sacrifice the world for what he deemed the most important of his goals. His life's purpose. To break his curse. To create his army of hybrids. To not be alone.
But he had put all that behind him and now he was back into a position of threatening the world with war and ruin only to gain…what?
She was at a loss with him. After her resurrection, she had been so closed off from the world that she had missed something. Something she could not pinpoint. She had lived in his house. She knew the Originals hid something. Something big. But what?
Caroline couldn't get Klaus' motives. What was it that set him on course? It couldn't be only vengeance. His dead child could be a motivator for revenge but something was off. Why was he so desperate to come on top now? Why not bide his time? What was his endgame? This wasn't just a game of power. It was never that simple with Klaus Mikaelson.
What the hell are you hiding from me, Klaus?
She didn't voice her question after his threat of compulsion but it burned her mind because she felt as if she had the answer. As if it was on the edge of her mind but she couldn't really see what was in front of her eyes.
Klaus' eyes darkened. It was as if he could sense her inquiry and his walls got built up again.
Secrets. So many secrets. Enough to ensure that Klaus' allies would be nothing but pawns in his games. And here he was asking her to be just that.
"Have you considered that just maybe you would be more inclined to gain more 'allies' without veiled or direct threats?" she snapped without wavering but still she had to control the fury that threatened to burst. Whatever it was that motivated Klaus was more important than whatever it was they shared and she didn't know why but that hurt her.
It hurt like hell and she should know because she had been in hell.
She turned her back at him and looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. A mockery.
Then she looked at the dance. At the hidden games of secrecy and betrayal.
She stared at the faces she knew. The factions. The witches. The vampires. The werewolves. She let her eyes travel at Elijah. At Marcel.
At Hayley that now somehow was Klaus' family, it ways Caroline couldn't understand. In ways that made Hayley Klaus' priority and his confidant. Yes, Hayley was the mother of Klaus' child but the baby was gone and Hayley was still tied to Klaus in ways that defied logic. She tried to contain her irrational jealousy over this nonsense. Why did she care after all?
Her eyes fell at Cami and Kol.
Kol was her family now in ways that defied logic too.
Klaus was right. She wouldn't have the luxury of treating her enemies with soft gloves either. And for doing so she would have to unleash the creature Purgatory had made out of her.
All her fears would come to life. All her darkness would come undone. Unbound. Not even Klaus Mikaelson would be able to compete with the monster Purgatory had made out of her.
And Klaus wouldn't hold back either. It would get bloody. Nothing would be left standing. If it came down to it one of them would have to fall.
It felt as if she was digging her own grave.
Klaus would ensure her physical survival, yes but then he would condemn her in a fate worse than death if he had too and she would strike in the same way.
Killing him was an option she didn't have either. As abhorrent as the idea of him dying was she also had to rationalize what his death would truly mean. She belonged in his lineage after all. Stefan, Elena, Damon. They all did. He was immortal but given the bloodlines of the Originals, she wouldn't try to kill him since it would mean her own death too. The death of her friends also. So what was left? To destroy him differently. To disarm him with a fate worse than death. That would be the only way to truly defeat Klaus Mikaelson.
And for that, she would have to find out what he hid from her. To find his weakness and use it against him.
It may come down to this in the end.
And if it did come down to that then Klaus would never forgive her. They would become enemies until the end of time.
Caroline cringed at the thought.
She had to find a way out of New Orleans before that. But how? How when Esther had trapped her here and Caroline still didn't know why? What did that witch want from her?
The worst was yet to come. New Orleans was in the brink of war. Esther was coming after her. Klaus was about to unleash hell even if he had to step all over her in the process. Marcel Gerard was another wild card. Elijah was as dangerous as Klaus if not more since he didn't give a damn for her. Not to mention Hayley Marshall. Her thought alone brought bile in her throat. She hadn't forgotten or forgiven what Hayley had done in Mystic Falls and here she was rewarded. It made her sick and angry as hell.
She had to find a way out but even if she was free would she be able to leave? To leave Cami in this mess that would probably get her killed in the foreseeable future? To leave Kol behind daggered in a coffin for centuries if not eternity?
To leave Klaus behind?
God, she hated this!
She gripped the railing harder almost twisting it.
"The only thing I ask from you is to not make me your enemy," Klaus almost pled. He stood behind her and she could feel the urgency in what he asked.
She turned around slowly and raised her chin at him. This wasn't just about them anymore. Klaus had his own ambitions and secrets. He didn't truly trust her. He wasn't completely honest with her. And his secrets could potentially endanger her own endgame here which she had to keep remembering. Because her goal was to set herself free from New Orleans. To survive. To not return to Purgatory.
The ties she had created here had to be broken.
If she got tangled into Klaus' game she may as well kiss all her plans goodbye. It would be an one-way street back into hell because no one survived the Originals and she wouldn't allow Klaus to turn her to collateral damage when he wasn't even telling her the reason as to why he was ready to sacrifice even her in this war.
Klaus protected his family and Caroline realized that in New Orleans she lived in a world where Hayley Marshall for some reason was more of a family to Klaus than Kol was. In a world where she held no influence or a sane support system. She was a bystander and a loner. She was trapped in the between waiting for the shots to be fired. Shots that Klaus could direct even against her if she stood in his way.
Once again she was the second choice and this time Klaus was not even telling her why she was becoming one more expendable pawn.
"I am not looking for making enemies Klaus," she stated coldly telling him what she had told Hayley too. The irony didn't evade her, "but that does not mean that if I do make them," she paused giving him a knowing look that put him on edge, "I won't stand up to them," she let her eyes travel up and down his imposing stance, "no matter who they might be."
Something shuttered in Klaus' gaze but she didn't wait to see what it was. She couldn't. Because something was breaking inside her. She had danced with him. She had told him that he should have taken a chance and he told her that maybe he should have but as always Klaus' chances came with a steep price to pay. With him, it would always be one step forward and ten steps back.
And she couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep letting people setting her up for failure and making her lose her way when in this case she didn't even know what way was up and what way was down.
She had believed once that Klaus had been different. Back in Mystic Falls, even her friends had acted as if she was an afterthought. She hadn't complained but it had hurt and she had believed that maybe Klaus would have been different.
It turns out he wasn't.
New Orleans was a battlefield and she had no purpose. No compass. No true North.
Whatever motivated Klaus, whatever gave him meaning and something to fight for was enough to give him direction and whatever it was it had nothing to do with her and she hated how that made her feel. She knew he cared for her. Enough to warn her. Enough to offer her an alternative. Enough to want to protect her but just not…enough.
Nothing seemed to be enough. Because nothing was enough for her either. She, unlike Klaus Mikaelson, had no direction in her life. She was left once more hanging by a thread without anyone to help her but herself. She had no safety nets, no stability, no place to call home.
Only Kol cared and but he was just as lost as she was if not more. And in the end, he too cared more for his feud with his family than her. But at least he still had a family to call his own and a purpose.
She had none. Not here.
If only she had the same drive as Klaus. If only she had a purpose but ever since she got out from Purgatory she was left stranded in a new dead end.
She knew only one thing though. One thing that pushed her forward.
She was not deathless as the Originals were but she had defeated death once and that was a lesson she would never forget.
One that had taught her one thing.
She would never become second to anyone. If no one put her first then she would put herself first.
She would not bow and she would not break. Never again.
She would survive. She would do more than persevere. She would thrive.
Even if she had to face Klaus Mikaelson head on. She had done it in the past and that used to be what Klaus had once admired the most about her but that was also what could now prove to be the reason as to why they'd end on different sides.
Enemies he had said.
It was a possibility.
And she knew that Klaus was one of the few people that knew how not to underestimate her. For that alone, he could become a formidable enemy. One that as he said would no longer use soft gloves. Even when it came to her.
But that wasn't what made him dangerous to her. No. The problem wasn't Klaus' cruelty or his ability to lash out to his enemies without mercy.
The problem was deeper within. It began and ended to the kind of power that he still held over her. The kind of power that had more to do with love and less with war.
All was fair in love and war after all and Klaus had been right. In the end, it was unfair. In the end, this was a vicious cycle and they couldn't break free from it.
"Don't step up," Caroline muttered voicelessly, her palms turning to fists. Her eyes remained glued to the sight in front of her while she stood among everyone else, mingling with the crowd. She was observing somberly and was barely holding back from stepping up herself and pulling Cami back.
Instead, she stood her ground and hoped beyond hope that even in the last moment Cami would do the sensible thing. She had warned her. She had tried to make her see reason.
"Don't step up!" she hissed, her lips barely moving, trying to remain undetected by most of the guests that viewed the ceremony of oath unfolding. "Damn it!" Caroline sighed breathlessly closing her eyes.
It was just not meant to be.
Klaus Mikaelson offered his hand to Camille O'Connell that took it with grace and stepped up in the elevated dais around the cauldron of fire as the new representative of the human faction.
It was official. Cami had taken her uncle's place in front of everyone. She now had a target on her back.
Cami was surrounded by the Originals, Hayley, Marcel Gerard, the witches, and the wolves. There, standing between them all, next to Klaus and Marcel, like a lamb to the slaughter.
She had just put herself in the spotlight. Irrevocably.
Caroline felt as if something coiled inside her. Cami had just, idiotically signed her death warrant. She was in a free fall and Caroline was afraid she would not be able to stop her collision once she'd reach the bottom of the abyss she had thrown herself into. The plunge was uncontrollable and Caroline knew that both Cami were disposable. They would eventually break with no one left to pick up the pieces and Camille was just a human. One everyone wanted to take advantage of. To use. To ruin.
Caroline wanted to march up the dais and start shaking Cami. She at least had her fair share of darkness. She was a vampire. She belonged to the dark as much as every other monster here did.
Only Cami shouldn't be here. What was compassion doing in a gathering of monsters Caroline wondered and couldn't help but remember Elena and her compassion. Elena just like Camille embraced all the lost souls that roamed in the night and Caroline couldn't help but feel melancholic and bitter about it. Look where all that compassion got them. It was dangerous to tread such waters filled with serpents with fangs and venom in their lips and claws when all one had for armor was a good heart. Those hearts always broke and more monsters leaped to the carnage.
Caroline almost turned around to leave but Klaus found her gaze through the crowd and held her captive.
She saw his challenge and halted. Caroline clenched her teeth when Klaus wrapped his hand around Cami's waist.
Bastard.
Caroline felt the need to shed blood. His.
She was tempted to remove the bracelet he had clasped around her wrist and stomp on it. Instinctively she reached for it and slowly twirled it around her skin feeling as if it was a manacle.
Klaus' eyes glittered dangerously through the distance.
Caroline saw Cami flinching and she realized Klaus grip must have turned painful on her skin. The girl stared at him curiously and Klaus whispered something in her ear that soothed her much to Marcel's dismay that observed the scene closely.
So closely that he didn't miss her either.
Caroline noticed how Marcel inclined his head at her and she arched a brow at that.
Klaus narrowed his eyes for only a second before he seemingly relaxed and turned his attention back to Cami. He stood by her side, declaring himself her ally and protector.
No one could translate his gaze if they didn't know what it meant. He looked content. But Caroline was not fooled. She knew better.
She had foolishly revealed to Klaus that she had come for Cami and he was now taking advantage of the knowledge she had given him. He was using Cami for more than one purpose tonight. Holding her like his trophy in a clear message that her protection now was in his hands and Caroline had to side with him if he wanted to protect Cami too.
More than that he made it obvious that what she had denied him tonight Cami had accepted and she now reaped the benefits. Cami was rewarded while she was stranded with everyone else that was deemed to be beneath them. Literally and figuratively.
Damn him.
Damn him and Kol that now watched her curiously too. He stood by the Mardoin witch in the circle of representatives taking his place as the protector of the witches.
It was a surreal sight. All of it.
This was meant to be a blood oath. They would all swear to uphold the peace and guard the city. To live together in harmony and unity.
Lies. All lies and probably the only one that believed them to be true was Cami that smiled hopefully. She wanted this to be a new start and she trusted Klaus, Marcel, and Elijah to help her build a better future for New Orleans when they all stood there lying through their teeth, taking advantage of her kindness and good heart. She was ready to fight for the humans and her city but they had stripped her of all true power and she was left without any weapons in this fight. She was nothing more than a pawn in Klaus' hands despite how she was now standing by his side like his Queen.
Fuck it all to hell. She should turn around and just go. It was not as if she could help Cami.
Cami believed after all that she had all the help she needed. And even if Cami wanted to be all suicidal what was it to her? She had warned her. It was not her fault Cami didn't listen. It was not her fault she let her feelings for Klaus cloud her judgment.
Not that she could relate of course.
Caroline's fangs threatened to come out. Klaus' smirk taunted her and she knew she was being as stupid as Cami. Klaus Mikaelson was playing her too. She was using Cami as a weakness against her. And not just Cami. Everything. He could twist everything inside her. He had warned her after all. This could very well become a war between them. Should she make him her enemy.
He was just giving her the first taste now. Caroline's eyes fell on Hayley as she now spoke on behalf of the wolves and exchanged a meaningful gaze with Klaus that supported her publicly.
Caroline squared her shoulders feeling something inside her starting to shimmer. Burning. She was burning. And if she had any hope for her heart to cool down she knew she had to go. Leave this mess behind. Follow the advice she had given Cami and not get caught in the middle of this war. Not to become one more victim. More collateral damage.
She shouldn't have been here in the first place. She should have left after her last quarrel with Klaus.
It would have been the wise thing to do and yet she was still here. She was still here because now more than ever it was of paramount importance to keep her guard up and to memorize every face, every detail, every potential threat, and enemy.
This was what it was all about in the end.
Good intentions aside she had to face reality. Kol's teachings were still instilled inside her. If she wanted peace she had to prepare for war. If she wanted survival she had to fight tooth and nail for it and be smart about it. Especially if she wanted to come out of this unscathed. Even more so if she hoped to help Cami along the way too.
If Klaus wanted to treat her like a potential enemy she should at least be vigilant. She should keep an eye out for his real enemies, for his allies, for those that could be both or still were undecided. Information that could be useful and she could read people well. She could read their body language and feel their motives. Most people here pretended. They were not content and as Klaus had told her himself most were ready to stab him in the back so she had to take mental notes and as her eyes scanned the crowd she did exactly that.
She also had to keep a more alert eye out for Cami now. To make sure Kol wouldn't do anything stupid now that he viewed her as one more pawn he could use against Klaus.
Caroline had so many reasons and none of those included the fact that deep down maybe she still stayed for Klaus Mikaelson.
Nope. She wouldn't think that.
She would keep her distance. She would stay here until the agreement took place and then she would leave and go and hit her head over a wall or something because this night had been a disaster.
Caroline's breath hitched when she felt something on her back. It made the hair at the back of her head stand.
It was like the whisper of wind and she turned around to see what it was. Only there was nothing. She blinked and almost stumbled feeling as if everyone else had disappeared and she was left alone in an abandoned room with a clock ticking backward. It was a disorienting feeling.
Caroline shook her head letting the night's noise ground her into reality. Every sense of hers was alert but she realized her mind was playing tricks on her. For a second there she felt as if she was being hexed but Kol had taught her what magic truly felt and she knew she would have felt differently if someone tried to pull that kind of bullshit against her. Besides, the protection spells in the Abattoir tonight made this impossible.
Still, she felt danger. She couldn't explain why but she trusted her gut.
Her eyes turned sharp and she examined everyone and the premises but was grasping at straws.
She carefully moved among the guests making sure to go closer to the spot where she deemed made the most sense strategically. From there she could see all exits while she could still get the most protection from an upcoming attack. But with all the people here it was still a risky bet. Damn it, she was a sitting duck here tonight.
When she turned her attention back on the ceremony she realized both Klaus and Kol had seen her reaction and despite her worry, she tried to make it seem as if nothing was happening because, in reality, it would appear as if nothing was happening. She was probably paranoid since this night had worn her out.
Out of spite, however, she ignored Klaus' worry and she smiled reassuringly only to Kol. The youngest Mikaelson didn't seem convinced at first but she mouthed the words "false alarm" and he nodded turning his attention back to the oath as Elijah used a blade to draw a line over his palm and let a few drops of his blood drip in the fires while he swore to uphold the peace. Smoke rose and the flames hissed and it was Hayley's turn.
Caroline stubbornly ignored Klaus' gaze and watched with dull eyes as the representatives of the factions of New Orleans came forth one by one. She tried not to snort when Hayley swore to uphold the peace. That was a phony oath if she had ever seen one.
Caroline grit her teeth when Cami flinched when her palm was cut and she hated how she could smell the girl's blood even from a distance. She knew almost every wolf and vampire could and that made Cami even more vulnerable. Especially since she had just shown pain and vulnerability at the cut while everyone else acted as if the caress of the blade was not felt at all.
Klaus gently kissed Cami's knuckles offering her his handkerchief and Caroline almost rolled her eyes.
But when Klaus eventually took his oath his penetrating gaze was intent only on her as he cut his hand and this time Caroline didn't look away.
Kol's witch blessed the flames for good fortune and the undercurrent of her magic was felt by everyone. A reminder that this pact was bound by blood and magic, therefore, was unbreakable and everyone daring to oppose it would face the consequences in blood and magic too.
Caroline now watched with boredom as the leaders gathered to acknowledge and sign the pre-agreement for the treaty they would soon sign officially on papers. That would happen another day far away from prying eyes of course and not here. That future meeting was meant only for those of true power and of course those that now watched the ceremony would not be included in that inner circle.
Today it was all for show and for those that knew better it was also the pretext the Mikaelsons wanted. This was an oath of honor. One the Mikaelsons would treat as a binding contract that would be far more legit and irrevocable than any other treaty that would be signed on neutral ground.
Because this pact here today happened in the domain of the Mikaelsons. It acknowledged them as the rule of New Orleans even if Marcel Gerard was meant to be the King. Something that Marcel obviously hated but had no choice than to accept. Caroline could see the simmering rage underneath Marcel's civility as he too accepted the blade and took his oath over the fire that was lit in the center of the ballroom.
More glasses of fine champagne were given to everyone that would raise their glasses in celebration.
Caroline watched the waiter that gave her the crystal glass with keen eyes. Her eyes followed him as he walked around with his tray handing more glasses to the guests.
Her mouth salivated and Caroline brought the glass on her lips and drank her eyes never missing her target.
She blinked uncomfortably and licked her lips trying to concentrate on the bubbly taste that tingled her tongue.
People rose their glasses and applauded as the representatives shook hands.
It was done. Elijah's oath was cemented.
She looked around.
The night had progressed and some guests had filed out. Caroline took note of who they were. They would definitely be of use to her in the future. Those didn't believe in the treaty and had been here only to prove that by leaving. They probably also wanted to tread the waters and see how far they were allowed to swim without drowning.
It didn't matter for now.
Tonight the Mikaelsons had achieved what they wanted.
Every faction had bowed and every representative was sworn to uphold the peace. Marcel spoke for the vampires, Hayley for the wolves, Rene Mardoin for the witches and Cami for the humans, and yet the Mikaelsons stood there as if the stood above every other representative. Each Mikaelson a ruler of every side. Klaus was talking about order and about a new era while Elijah spoke about the losses they have all suffered and how they must leave those behind. To grieve. To move on. A clean slate.
And yet every Mikaelson agreed on one thing.
No slight against their family would go unpunished.
To that, even Kol stood by his brothers because in the end Kol was still a Mikaelson and in the end, the Mikaelsons would stick together to the end. Always and forever.
Caroline averted her eyes from the Mikaelsons. She tried to focus on something else. Maybe on Cami that now accepted a glass of champagne from Klaus and smiled at him.
No. This wasn't helping.
Nothing was helping.
She couldn't focus.
She should go. She should leave.
Air. She needed to breathe some air instead of inhaling all this magic and all this nonsense.
Caroline tapped her heel on the floor. Rhythmically. Each tap the beating of a heart.
She was growing restless and that scent…that hint of blood that lingered in the glasses meant for the vampires it was definitely not helping. It put her on edge.
She had tried to dull her rising bloodlust with alcohol all night and even with more blood cocktails but it wasn't dissipating.
This scent, so tantalizing and insistent, made her fidgety.
She was battling freaking withdrawal symptoms ever since she got out from Purgatory and ever since she ripped apart those people in the alley.
She looked back at the waiter guy that still served people.
He was human and his heart was beating so loudly.
Caroline's eyes widened as she made a dreadful realization.
Had she actually considered him her target?
What the actual fuck?
Her eyes followed the guy with dread as he came closer to her and she tried to hold on to her control as the sound of his heartbeats became louder and louder.
Thump…thump….thump.
He spoke at her. His lips were moving.
Thump…thump…thump….thump.
Caroline could see only the pumping vein in his throat.
"Miss?"
Thump…thump.
Caroline slowly came out of her daze and faced the server.
"I am sorry?"
Thump…thump...thump.
The guy was cute and smiled at her but all Caroline could see was the thin skin of his neck and the blue veins underneath.
"Would you like me to refill your glass?"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Uhm?"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Caroline looked down at her empty glass startled and exhaled slowly.
"No thanks," she gulped. "I am good."
Thump. Thump.
It only takes but a moment.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Caroline gave to the human the empty glass which the waiter accepted and with a small bow he walked away while Caroline could not take her eyes away from him.
Her mouth salivated.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
When her tongue was cut against the fangs that she had not realized that had pricked her gums Caroline almost moaned. She tasted her blood that stoked her bloodlust and she realized her eyes were starting to fill with blood.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She discretely covered her mouth and breathed in and out slowly trying to force her vampire features to disappear.
Terror would not relinquish its hold on her as she now kept thinking that maybe she had turned into a ripper. Had she?
Was she a ripper?
She dreamed of tearing into that human's neck.
Her need for blood was worse than when she had first transitioned. More demanding. More erratic. It felt like rage, like fury. Her bloodlust was becoming worse. An unrelenting throb. She couldn't imagine living the rest of her eternity like that. How the hell Stefan did it?
That thought gave her pause. Remembering Stefan made her still. She sighed, and tried to breathe and shut down every thought of what could have been.
Memories assaulted her. She remembered how her heart used to beat for him. It seemed as if this had happened to another woman. In another life so long ago.
She had been falling for Stefan before she died and yet that now felt like a flicker in a thunderstorm. It was swept away. The emptiness was going on and what she had felt for Stefan couldn't fill it.
Had she truly been in love with him shouldn't have that love endured? Shouldn't have it led her back to Mystic Falls to him?
Why didn't she have that need?
She stared at Klaus in the distance and her stomach clenched. He was smiling at Cami and Caroline felt more things about that image than what she had ever felt for Stefan Salvatore in her memory.
Klaus Mikaelson for sure wasn't a flicker. Sometimes she could believe he was the fucking thunderstorm. What was wrong with her?
She had to leave. She had to get a grip. Control was her middle name next to blonde distraction and poster child for perseverance. If anyone could OCD their way into conditioning their selves to balancing their instincts and put them on a leash that was her. And while she was at it she should do the same for her feelings and the stupid thing she had for Klaus Mikaelson. It would not end well.
Seriously what the hell was wrong with her?
She threw Klaus Mikaelson one more glance and before she could be swept away by the storm she saw rising in his eyes she finally did the right thing.
She turned around and left.
Sparkle, shine, and glitter. All to cover the blood, the death, and the horror.
Davina's eyes roamed the Abattoir taking in the buzzing crowd. As much as she hated the Mikaelsons and more so Klaus she couldn't help but feel as if she had entered a fairytale setting. The railings on the grand staircases and the balconies were lined with beautiful white lights. Beautiful but cold. A pattern that was repeated elegantly on the walls and the plants. Balls of light shimmered everywhere and Davina watched along with the crowd as the Mikaelsons took a pledge of peace along with the leaders of the factions again. Marcel was on the circle too.
Davina's lips curled with distaste. It wasn't the first time the Mikaelson threw a party to convince people they were after peace and not war but this time was different than the rest. Elijah Mikaelson had sent more invitations than she could have imagined and the whole place brimmed with magic.
Davina remembered when Tim died in this place and now the courtyard of the slaughterhouse had been turned to a ballroom. Glasses were clanking in toast, idle conversation of political and military nature was carrying on, and yet she couldn't pretend as if she didn't want to burn this whole place to the ground.
She eyed the amulets the Mikaelsons had strung up. Meant to prevent magic. To protect each side. As if they cared. As if Hayley Marshall wasn't savaging and killing every witch in her path while now stood as benevolent as the Mikaelson and promised peace.
Fury burned inside her, potent and untamable. She knew how bleak the other side was as she had died and found herself in that hell and now more and more witches were ending there because Hayley Marshall couldn't contain herself. She destroyed innocents as if that would bring her daughter back and despite how much Davina understood up to a point how grief could do this to a person she couldn't stand by and allow more innocent witches to die and to live in terror. This had to stop. She'd make it stop. If things went according to plan then Marcel would be able to finally take down Klaus Mikaelson and with him every other member of his insane family including Hayley Marshall. Only then New Orleans would find peace again.
She felt her magic bound. Not by the binding and protection wards of the Mikaelsons but by the spell she was casting for the last months. It was draining her slowly but she couldn't stop now. She was so close.
Just as close as she was now that she was following Hayley that was walking away from the crowd and entering the shadows of the backyard.
Davina could see Hayley hated this treaty and she could barely withstand the presence of witches and if she was acting like this tonight then she had no intention of following the promise of peace she gave. Witches would keep on dying by her hand and she wouldn't allow this to continue.
"It won't bring her back."
Hayley froze at her words and turned slowly to face her. They were now alone, far away from prying eyes and curious ears.
"Davina?"
"Killing every witch you stumble upon won't bring your daughter back."
Hayley's eyes flashed gold but Davina stood her ground.
"Shut up," Hayley hissed and took a threatening step forward. Davina's eyes narrowed. She didn't give a crap if this was meant to be a peace treaty either. She'd use every last ounce of her magic to bind Hayley into a wolf permanently if she had to. If that was the only way to save potential victims of hers then so be it. She would do it tonight, the hell with the consequences.
She invoked her magic and felt faint for a second.
Hayley took a step back as if she realized what she was about to do.
"Step away from me Davina. I don't want to hurt you." Hayley warned her.
"Why not? I am a witch. It is witches you kill left and right so why not one more?" Davina provoked her and Hayley growled.
Davina's rolled her eyes and then she looked at Hayley as if she had tasted something bitter.
"You have no intention to keep your oath."
"You have no idea what you are talking about."
"Don't I?" Davina insisted and Hayley looked down at her.
"You are just a child. You couldn't possibly understand."
"Even a child can see how you are lying through your teeth," Davina shot back, "do your wolves believe you to be honest, or are they with you on this?"
"Go back to the party Davina," Hayley warned her again.
"Or else what?"
Hayley was about to pounce on her. Davina prepared her body and her magic for the impact but it never came. A hand had reached out and wrapped around her waist pulling her back before she could use her magic against Hayley Marshall and alert everyone in the Abattoir that someone had already broken the peace treaty against the rules. It would be punishable by death by the Mikaelsons and now a Mikaelson had stepped between her and Hayley blocking her reaction and Hayley's attack.
Davina blinked when she realized that Kol Mikaelson had pushed her behind him and shielded her with his body.
"On your way now darling," Kol's silky tone was directed at Hayley Marshall that watched him with so much loathing that made even Davina uncomfortable.
Davina tried to step away from Kol's protection but he kept her firmly by his side. He cast her a striking gaze that made the hair at the back of her neck stand on attention. He stood by Rene Mardoin tonight. An ally to witches supposedly. What a load of crap!
Davina tried to pull her hand away but Kol taunted her with a feral smirk before he laced his fingers around her wrist. Davina's breath caught in her throat when her bracelet was caught in his firm grip.
"Playing against the rules already?"
Davina almost opened her mouth to retort when she realized that Kol's sinister tone was addressing Hayley that looked at him with a look that could freeze hell itself. And yet despite Hayley's bravado, Davina could detect the undercurrent of fear in her.
And if she could sense Hayley's fear then so could Kol Mikaelson that now watched the female hybrid with a feral grin.
"Do you want me to remind you what happens when you do?"
The gold in Hayley's eyes became more prominent but before she could do something incredibly stupid Elijah Mikaelson stood between Kol and Hayley.
Hayley's eyes became human again and she shook her head as if she was coming out of a stupor.
"What's happening here?" Elijah inquired but Hayley watched them all with cold eyes before she turned around and left.
"Your darling is set on destroying your treaty a second after she signed it," Kol informed Elijah that frowned, "poor form really."
Elijah's gaze moved from the direction Hayley had gone to them holding hands and then to her.
"What were you doing with Hayley, Davina?" Elijah asked, his tone authoritative.
Davina's lips pressed to a thin line and she yanked her hand away from Kol that now let her with an amused look. She stepped closer to Elijah Mikaelson.
"She's a threat to every witch in New Orleans. I don't care if you sign a thousand false treaties. The next time I see her I'll put an end to it."
Elijah's eyes darkened and Davina tensed by jutted her chin out insolently.
Kol chuckled appreciatively and then smoothly moved in front of her and angled them so he would stand between her and Elijah. Protectively.
What the hell?
"Remember your treaty brother. You gave your word to do no unwarranted harm," Kol advised Elijah and Davina's brow furrowed at the mockery of his tone while not missing the underlined warning, "not to mention the girl has a point," Kol commented earning Davina's surprise, "your pretty wolf is about to go to a murder bender."
Kol and Elijah stared each other down and the air became thick before Elijah Mikaelson became the man of reason and stepped back.
Davina felt Elijah's threat in the way he looked at her before he even opened his mouth.
"There will be peace Davina Claire. I'll ensure it. That applies to you as well as to everyone else in the city."
Kol snorted earning a glare from his older brother.
"Remind Hayley that," Davina dryly grated at Elijah Mikaelson that inclined his head at her.
"I will."
Elijah turned around and left and Kol pushed his hands into his pockets and regarded her with mischief.
She gave him a frosty look.
"I didn't need your help."
"I am aware."
"I can look after myself. Even against Hayley," Davina argued believing Kol's response to be mocking her but Kol Mikaelson only smirked.
"No doubt about that. She is like a poodle with fangs, no?"
Davina tried not to smile. Kol's eyes became sharp.
"Not much of a fan of treaties are you Davina, darling?"
Davina pressed her lips tightly at the way he called her by her name. Not to mention that being Kol's darling was one of the worst insults she could imagine. She had seen how he kept collecting witches as his groupies and she couldn't be more disgusted by it.
"All this time and we haven't properly introduced," Kol started but she glowered at him making him beam at her with delight.
"I know who you are," she spat with revulsion not allowing his charm to work at her despite how feverish she was starting to feel.
She had to get away from him. And from this house.
"No you don't," Kol drawled, "you may have heard my reputation and you know who my last name implies I am. Or who Marcellus has told you I am."
"And he's wrong?"
Kol prowled closer and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"How about you be the judge of that?"
Davina eyed him as if he was the devil incarnate. Did he really believe she would fall for his tricks?
"Is this how you charm witches?" she muttered in disbelief unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
Kol's lips curled to a crooked smile and he leaned closer.
"Are you charmed, darling?"
Davina scoffed but she didn't move away. Instead, she threw him her most scathing glare.
"Why were you speaking for the witches tonight?"
"Someone has to," Kol shrugged and Davina felt the need to punch him.
"Why you?"
He smiled at her. A provocation that made her see red.
"Why not me?"
"You are a vampire," she threw at him hatefully and Kol clacked his tongue playfully.
"Pride and prejudice work better in literature Miss Claire, it doesn't suit you."
"You don't know what suits me or any witch for that matter," she hissed feeling cold sweet rolling down her spine.
"A bed would suit you just fine right about now," Kol proposed and the innuendo in his voice would have her kicking him at the balls if she didn't feel as if the ground was moving underneath her feet.
She almost fell but Kol steadied her. Davina tried to push his hand away but he wrapped it around her middle and gave her the support she needed.
Everything started turning.
"You should get some rest," his voice was soft, his scrutiny invasive. "And advise for the wise darling. Don't try to take down hybrids when you have bound your magic to another spell."
Davina's eyes widened, her heart missing a beat.
"How-"
Kol arched a brow at her and pointed at her bracelet. She had heard the rumors. Kol Mikaelson knew everything there was to know about magic. She realized that when he grabbed her wrist earlier it wasn't to save her from Hayley. He wanted to feel her bracelet. The dark object she used to bind herself to the spell she was working on.
God, she was such an idiot.
She pulled back from him and pushed her head back and away from his knowing eyes.
"I don't know what you mean," she mumbled. She had to get away. She had to find Marcel.
Kol Mikaelson's gaze became intent. He became so serious that Davina felt as if everything around her turned darker. He approached her and she stood her ground.
His hand pressed on her forehead and she breathed in deeply hating herself for how weak she felt. His touch was so cool and she almost sighed. The world started turning again and Kol wrapped his arm around her waist. Her forehead fell on his chest. She breathed him in and for some reason she didn't breathe in death. Only darkness and it was now embracing her. It felt soothing.
"Break the spell," Kol whispered, "whatever it is it's not worth your life."
She looked up at him. There was concern in his eyes and it felt so honest-
She was pulled violently away from Kol Mikaelson.
"What's happening here," Marcel grumbled and pushed her behind him, "get away from her!"
Kol rolled his eyes at Marcel Gerard looking unimpressed.
"Your protégé is burning."
Marcel gave her a curious look and then when she stumbled back he was quick to catch her and support her. Her head rolled back and Marcel picked her up.
"Marcellus you've been holding back from us, haven't you?"
Kol's threatening sarcasm was now so cruel and dangerous that it turned Davina's stomach. It wasn't concern she had seen in his eyes. It was manipulation. That was how he was luring in the witches.
She barely heard what Marcel said but for some reason, she couldn't block Kol's voice out.
"Whatever spell you are using her for is massive and it is draining her. You are killing the girl mate."
Davina's eyes start blurring and she saw Kol's back as he walked away.
"D?"
Marcel's worried voice was the last thing she heard before she succumbed to darkness.
Caroline felt as if she was swept away by a drift that now became her only direction. She had tried to leave knowing that no matter where she'd go she would still be trapped inside the city and in Klaus' thrall but she had managed to take only a few steps before her body took over. The gates of the Abattoir were further away from her reach as she blended with the shadows underneath the grand staircase.
It only takes but one moment.
She couldn't choose her destination. She felt the pull like she had never felt it before. The bloodlust she had fought so hard to control now controlled her. It was a whisper, unrelenting, driving her away from the festivities.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Like that night when she was drawn closer to that alley. To those human heartbeats. To that rush of blood underneath the skin luring her in. Closer and closer to that voice in her head, a spell she couldn't break.
She should have recognized the signs but it was all too late for her now.
Deep inside her mind, deep down to the part that still struggled and fought she felt the last remnants of her resistance like when she was dancing with Klaus and almost fell to a panic attack; only Klaus wasn't by her side anymore. The thought darkened everything more.
She was lost in the black. She craved the red.
She gave into this dark pull only now it was savage and didn't call to her crippled human heart but to the broken vampire inside her.
It takes only but one moment…a moment…
Her eyes honed to her target.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Among everyone else tonight human guests and human waiters roamed the premises.
Caroline tilted her head, her body itching for the strike. She singled out one heartbeat. Young. Pumping blood like a symphony.
She closed her eyes and breathed. Breathed in the scent. Her body prepared for the kill. Her instincts locked on the prey.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She vaguely heard voices. Like a chant in her head. Tearing down her walls. Invading her senses. Driving her forward. Her thoughts vanished and only need prevailed. Ancient. Calling for blood. That need now burned her throat. Her heart was bound and was wandering off towards a dark path that consumed every part of her identity and control because the thoughts vanished and all that was left was something primal that hooked her and led her.
Thump... Thump.
Such a lulling sound. The human heartbeat. A smile was forged in her face like a marble that took shape.
Thump. Thump. Thump!
Her pulse rate started spiking. It became a symphony of booming drumming in her ears that turned to static noise and then…silence.
Only it wasn't silent. There was an undertone. The undercurrent of a whisper. An echo. A calling. It magnetized her very being and pulled. Pulled her forward. Closer. It pulled. It pushed. It nudged and then pushed harder. Delicately. Brutally. She was a puppet on strings. She was caught in a spell. It mesmerized her. It dazed her. It provoked and taunted her.
Caroline didn't think, she only felt. She didn't feel, she only acted. Her footsteps didn't echo anymore. They were light. Lost in the night as was she.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She surrounded her victim slowly. He was young. Pretty. A nice thing to bite.
He was far away from prying eyes. Good.
He was prey, innocent, kind, and oblivious, and the monster that always lurked underneath her skin came out to play. To chase and taste the blood.
That was the only thing that mattered. Blood. Hot. Sticky. Running down her throat.
The remedy to all. The purpose of all. The holy grail. She needed it. She wanted it.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her vision became a black tunnel. Focused. Sharp. Veins pumped under her eyes. Fangs descended, sharp, deadly, ready to bite, to drink, to savage. She moved on clouds, footballs soft barely touching the ground. She was stealth and shadow.
No. Not her.
It.
The vampire, the monster that lurked inside and now was unleashed and wanted. It wanted control. It wanted blood.
She crept towards the man.
Man? No, he was barely a boy.
Thump.
Good. He'd taste better.
Thump. Thump.
Young blood always tasted better. Sweeter.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
By the time the human turned around to realize what was happening she had snatched him away. Deeper into the dark.
It only takes but a moment.
She pushed him to the ground and his cry was drowned in a silent scream as Caroline's fangs dipped into his throat and bit hard.
Blood filled her mouth, poured down her throat, warm and so so sweet.
It only takes but a moment.
She was finally home.
TBC
