"For the heart is an organ of fire."

― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient


Mystic Falls, some years ago

The night of the Carnival

"She will die. It's only a matter of time."

Damon Salvatore's smug voice sounded so certain that the feeling of death inside her blossomed into something terrifying. She felt it sing into her bones. Into those bones that felt different. Deep into her marrow death had settled.

Wasn't she dead already? Wasn't death she felt inside her, hollow and dark and like tasting blood?

Blood.

The blood in her mouth still felt warm. The man on the back of the truck was dead.

She had killed him, she had torn him apart. What was she? What had she done?

Everything was wrong. So wrong. Everything felt wrong. This wasn't right.

She wasn't right. She was all…wrong. Something was so wrong with her.

Wrong. Different.

She was something different. She had changed to something else.

She had turned into-

She felt Elena's hands trying to soothe her but she couldn't make sense of anything. Elena killed her only…only she wasn't Elena they had said…Elena wouldn't hurt her. But it was Elena that pushed the pillow against her face suffocating her, not letting her breathe…killing her.

God! She was dead and all she felt was…she was so hungry. She still smelled the blood. Sweet rich blood. What was wrong with her? She was a freak!

And Damon's taunting voice, the memories she had from him felt so real.

He had tried to kill her before, hadn't he?

He had bitten her. He had done more things to her. Things she thought she had liked when her mind had been screaming inside her and when his captivating eyes had made it stop fighting until she could think of nothing. Until she would undress in front of him until she would not resist when he would kiss her, touch her, push her on the bed.

No.

She couldn't think that.

It couldn't be true. Those dreadful things couldn't be memories. What he did…it couldn't have happened to her for real, could it?

She couldn't tell what was real and what was not.

She felt as if she was in a stupor.

What was happening?

Stefan Salvatore was coming for her, his hand already reaching out towards her. Just like Elena, he offered help but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at his brother.

"Yeah… maybe so," Stefan replied to his brother as his fingers intertwined with hers but she could barely move.

Everything felt so strange. She felt lost. Everything felt out of sync. The sounds, the air she breathed, Stefan's touch. It was as if she was having an out of her body experience and the blood on her face felt like a grotesque mask. Stefan's voice felt both deafening and as if it was coming from far away as he stood up against his brother in her defense, "but it's not going to happen tonight."

Stefan tried to pull her with him and she felt as if her body was pulled by the wind and waves. She could only follow the current but there was a weird energy in the air as Damon's eyes flared with something that made her body shiver.

"Oh yeah it is," he simply said, and with more speed, than she could comprehend he had picked up the piece of wood from the ground, the same he had tried to stab her with in the back when he had hugged her, and came at her. Her eyes followed his movements but he was fast. So fast. Like a blur of bleak colors in the night, he was coming at her.

She was going to die. She couldn't react.

But Elena could. Remarkably fast. For a human anyway.

Human?

If Elena was human what was she?

Stefan pushed her back and she gasped terrified but Elena had slipped between her and Damon making her body a shield.

Damon froze, his arm raised in mid-movement. He was holding a stake. One he planned to shove into her chest only he couldn't because now he would have to go through Elena and he would never do that.

Would he?

God, she couldn't die like this! Not like this! Not tonight!

She didn't want to die!

Elena's body was so close to her and she could smell it. She could smell the blood that ran in her veins but Stefan was holding her and Elena was saving her.

"Damon she is my friend," Elena's soft voice implored, trying to make the older Salvatore understand. Trying to make him spare her life.

Damon gripped the wood in his hand and pressed his lips in frustration.

He looked at her before he glanced back at Elena and his brother and Caroline knew that he was considering if it was worth it. If it was worth killing her.

Elena wouldn't move.

Damon's grip at the stake loosened and he took a small step back, his attention now solely on Elena.

"Whatever happens, it's on you," he warned her and Caroline realized he was warning her about her. As if she was the threat.

Damon walked a few steps away but she still couldn't breathe. She could barely hold it together.

Stefan turned her around. She could no longer face Damon. Or the man she had killed. She could no longer stand so close to Elena. Elena that had saved her now but it was Elena's face she had seen suffocating her in the hospital.

Caroline could barely stop the sobs from escaping her mouth.

She trembled in relief and fear as Stefan protectively wrapped his forearm around her neck securing her in place, not letting her fall apart.

She was falling apart though. Everything was falling apart.

The carnival was still coming alive in the close distance.

Stefan held her from the waist and then took her hand in his. He was trying to get her inside, far away from anyone that could see, far away from Damon. Far away from the humans, she smelled. Stefan didn't smell like them though. And neither did she.

Elena was heaving and her heart was racing so hard. Caroline could hear it. That sound drove her mad. She shook so much and tried to focus her hearing on something else. She heard some of Elena's words telling her that she had to get cleaned up.

She looked up and froze.

Bonnie was standing just a few feet away.

"Caroline?"

Bonnie's surprised voice cut through the blur of her emotions.

She barely heard what Elena was telling.

"It's okay," Stefan was telling her softly, trying to guide her away gently "come on."

Only she couldn't move. She couldn't take her eyes away from Bonnie's horrified face.

Bonnie's eyes reflected dread as she was taking a good look at her. She was looking at her face. At her blood-stained face. At her clothes that were soaked with blood. At her hair that was dripping with blood.

"No," Bonnie breathed out with difficulty and Caroline lowered her eyes to the ground. She couldn't look at her but she risked a glance at her anyway and what she saw made her heart ache in shame.

Bonnie's wide eyes seemed to be glowing with disbelief but most of all pain.

"You are not," Bonnie was shaking her head unable to believe what she was seeing, "you can't…you can't be…"

Caroline didn't understand what Bonnie meant. She didn't understand what any of this meant.

Bonnie strode at her with determination and Caroline gave her a pleading look.

For what she didn't know. All she knew what that she couldn't take the way Bonnie was looking at her. She couldn't handle the pain and the judgment she was seeing in her friend's eyes. She was breaking at the seams and only a few feet away was the mangled body of the man she had eaten. The man she had killed. Bonnie would see. Her best friend would see. She would never forgive her. How would she be able to look at Bonnie again when she knew that Bonnie would not want to see her again after this.

Bonnie gripped her arm, hard. Caroline didn't resist. She felt lost. She didn't know what was happening. Why Bonnie was doing this? Why wasn't she telling her anything? Why she felt that weird surge of energy at Bonnie's touch that felt almost desperate.

She looked at Bonnie's hand and then looked at Stefan hoping he would tell her what was going on.

Whatever answers Bonnie was looking for it would seem she had found them somehow.

Stefan stared back at her solemnly but Bonnie was looking at her with devastation as her hand dropped and reality settled into her features. Into her eyes that shone with tears.

It looked as if Bonnie couldn't bear to touch her. As if the touch alone contaminated her and proven her worst nightmare to have come true.

Bonnie looked as if she was seeing…a monster.

She was looking at her.

"Bonnie?" Caroline pled with her not knowing what to say but Bonnie shook her head and it felt like condemnation and Caroline knew that if Bonnie saw the man on the truck she would never forgive her. It was only a matter of time and she would never forgive her.

Just like that Bonnie's gaze moved past her shoulder and Caroline tried to somehow explain but she couldn't find the words.

She opened her mouth again and again.

"I-" her lips formed the one-letter word but no sound was coming out.

"God!" her friend exclaimed mortified but no matter the shock there was also something so hard in her voice.

Bonnie ran past her, towards the man Caroline had killed and her breath caught as she froze in front of the dead body her eyes transfixed on the gruesome sight.

Caroline's eyes followed her. Bonnie kept her back turned away from her. She was standing in shock in front of the man she had killed.

Bonnie would not look at her.

"Bonnie!" Caroline begged her, her voice breaking.


Caroline touched her arm absentmindedly.

At the same place, Bonnie's fingers had wrapped around it like a vice all those years ago. The night she had transitioned into a vampire. The first night she had killed.

There were times she still felt that ghost of a touch. Times she still felt Bonnie.

Caroline refused to duel on those thoughts and instead she watched the words she had written on a napkin during her shift in Rousseau's. It was risky to do that when she felt eyes following her every move but those words kept coming back in her mind over and over again.

She folded that napkin and now that was in the privacy of her own home she couldn't take her eyes from the words she had written.

The Devil's mark.

The witch's accusation still echoed in her ears.

The only vague references she had found about it was in a book she had gotten from an old herbal store from Saint Claude's street when she was searching about the Shamans.

According to that book in the old days, there were creatures of the night that roamed free and drank blood. Creatures that hell had spat out and were marked by the devil. Creatures of the night was the catch phrase written over and over again and then there was the description about said creatures that roamed the earth with black in their undead hearts and stains of blood in their eyes.

Creatures that could not be invited in because they were banished from the grace of God and so they could not step into the homes of good people.

Caroline had rolled her eyes at the dramatic description vampires were getting in those old books.

She assumed somehow it made sense for people to create these kinds of myths and legends for things they did not understand. Things that brought death in their doorsteps and thrived in blood and carnage.

In any case, these superstitions were not completely unfounded because according to another book she had read witches could sense vampires by touch. And all that because supposedly the devil had touched them first and marked them for all witches to recognize the demons that wore human faces. Although according to that book witches were the Devil's brides that fornicated with Satan every full moon so she didn't know how to take anything that book wrote seriously.

Caroline flattened her fingers over the napkin.

Bonnie had touched her to feel her. To get the vibe out of her and that alone was enough for her friend to know she was a vampire. Although it wasn't as if she couldn't tell by all the blood that had splashed over her mouth and face and the bleeding body she had left behind.

Witches could sense vampires. That much she already knew.

She had also heard witches in New Orleans call vampires to be the devil's spawns but that didn't surprise her either as she recalled something Kol had told her a long time ago in Purgatory.


Purgatory

"Nik had created that whole sun and moon bullshit and I remember thinking…what a great idea!"

Caroline narrowed her eyes watching Kol with suspicion. His mischief seemed to be lighting up his face.

"What did you do?"

Kol gave her a sharp serpentine-like smile and then leaned closer as if he wanted to tell her a secret.

"Let's say some witchy legends around the world believe vampires to be… children of the Devil."

Caroline watched him curiously…Was he kidding?

He wouldn't-

Fuck! He so did!

"Imagine how that worked during the middle ages!"

Caroline sighed and Kol laughed and she threw her arms up in the air and then he went on and on telling her how he used to also make priests and Catholics believe their neighbors were vampires and how he was corrupting the most pious ones to turn only to give them away to the witch and vampire hunts.

To burn.


Kol's wicked laughter seemed to be echoing in her ears.

Caroline let out a frustrated huff and without thinking it twice she reached for the lighter she kept at one of the kitchen drawers and she burned the napkin letting the flamed material fall into the sink.

It was stupid to ink the words into life. She felt eyes following her every move. Maybe it was her imagination but this feeling had intensified in the last days.

Fire licked the napkin and Caroline's eyes were drawn in the flames and the smoke before she turned on the tap. The water flow battled the weak flames that hissed under the pressure. Nothing was left from the napkin and the wet soot went down the drain.

She held on to the kitchen sink and her gaze became unfocused.

Being marked by the Devil was nonsense alright but that witch seemed to be calling her out in particular. She told her she carried the Devil's mark and something about rang true to her ears.

She touched her arm in the same place Bonnie had all those years ago.

The Devil's mark.

What did that even mean?


Torture, slow agonizing torture.

Strong hands, expert fingers slid over her body and she arched her back inviting the touch lower.

She kept her eyes closed and allowed herself to be swept over by the sensation. Languid feelings took her over and the heat of his skin warmed her and made her ache. She pressed her upper body to his and a shiver rippled down her spine, her body heating up when his necklaces grazed her naked skin.

His hands on her hips and her nipples pebbled against corded muscle. She wrapped her fingers around the chains and the leather cords he had wrapped around his neck and she used them to pull him closer to her.

His chuckle rang in her ears but she didn't dare open her eyes. She didn't want for this to be over so soon. She felt the smile of his lips against her throat, his fangs grazed the skin, her heartbeat pulsed in the vein he teased.

So much restrained power but she wanted him to lose control.

She wanted to feel his teeth inside her flesh, she wanted her blood to pour into his mouth almost as much as she wanted to taste his.

He parted her legs and settled between them. She felt as if her body turned to jelly. Wet, she was so wet.

"Look at me."

His whisper tempted her. Haunted her. Burned her. His touch brought only fire.

She didn't want to open her eyes. She felt tears gathering under her closed eyelids. It had been so long.

So long.

She craved him. She wanted him. She didn't want this to be over so soon.

He would disappear if she opened her eyes.

She breathlessly panted when his erection poked her sensitive wet skin and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

His palm wrapped around her neck and squeezed.

"Look at me."

His voice was commanding. It was compelling her.

But it was the word 'love' that fell from his lips that made her unable to resist.

She opened her eyes slowly.

Only to meet flecks of gold staring down at her. She gasped at the sight and the grip around her neck became tighter. Depriving her from oxygen, from life, stealing every breath from her lungs. She couldn't breathe. She didn't need to.

"The abyss is calling you home," he told her, his voice vicious, terrifying.

Caroline frowned and Klaus squeezed her neck harder.

"Don't go. Stay with me."

His voice was a command but she couldn't speak. She felt a pull she couldn't explain.

"Stay with me."

This time it wasn't a demand. This time his voice broke. This time he was begging.

"With you," she whispered.

Her nails grazed his back. The gold of his eyes turned to bright blue.

So much blue and the darkness evaporated. Blue like light that hit her eyes.

The world span in those eyes and the yearning intensified. She longed for the way he looked at her still. After so much time. With so much want and such longing. With fondness and adoration and it made her heart splinter.

And she feared she felt the same. She feared her eyes mirrored the way he looked at her.

His name escaped her lips. Softly. So softly and with so much need.

"Klaus."

His forehead rested against hers and his kiss turned her world upside down. She breathed him in and she was left breathless. Dizzy.

A moan escaped her and all thoughts vanished. The nightmares, the harsh words, the lies, and the anger evaporated. The abyss melted away. The all consuming need was all that was left as he devoured her mouth.

Her skin burned, her core pulsed and when a low rough groan left his mouth and reverberated in their kiss she kissed him back harder. Pressure was starting to coil inside her begging to snap.

She felt him move.

Her fingers clang on the hard muscles of his shoulders.

Closer.

Her heart a beating rhythm.

He was so close so why did she miss him?

She missed him. She missed him and she wanted to stay.

Her nails dag into his shoulders, her legs gripping his waist like a vice. She felt him. So hard. So close.

His hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, possessively, demandingly. He was slowly sinking inside her. Keeping her close. Not letting her go. Not letting the abyss claim her. Close. He kept her close.

Closer and she missed him.

Her hands slid up and gripped fistfuls of his hair. Their kiss deepening, blood mixing with stolen breaths.

His touch a feverish trail on her body. She needed him to move. More. She strained against him and his movements drove her to the edge of insanity.

Closer.

Her heart was burning.

Closer.

The pressure was building, coiling tighter.

Closer and she was so close.

One thrust and she would-


Caroline jumped up startled, bringing her hand over her heaving chest, feeling the wild beat of her heart. She was covered in sweat and her whole body tingled. It throbbed and begged for release.

Caroline looked around at the shadows of the night confused.

There was the sound of a knock and it wasn't her erratic heartbeat.

She blinked and sat up. She had fallen asleep on the couch. Alone. Klaus wasn't there with her.

It was a dream. Just a dream. A sex dream like those she kept having lately given how horny she was due to her stupid vampire hormones that were in overdrive but that was nothing new. She hadn't screwed anyone since she came back from Purgatory and abstinence was biting her in the ass. A no-go for vampires alright!

She looked up realizing there was a reason she got out of her dream and just as she was getting to the good part of it. Someone was knocking at her door and the knock was insistent.

The remnants of her dream were chased away by the sound as she got up and grudgingly went towards the door.

She breathed through her nose inhaling deeply in and she realized she knew the scent that was coming through the door.

Great timing, she thought ruefully.

She sighed, rubbed her eyes, and fixed her hair with her fingers as she walked towards the door.


Kol Mikaelson was leaning against the door frame when she opened her door.

He had cleaned up since she last saw him. He looked good. He could have fooled her if not for the shadows that danced in his eyes.

He glanced at the casing of the door with sharp eyes. Caroline knew he felt the barrier.

A smile formed on his lips.

"You wrote the deed to a human," he noticed and pointed at the invisible invitation barrier between them.

"What do you want Kol?" Caroline asked irritated and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

She was still peeved about her dream and she hated that she kept dreaming of Klaus like this. It kept happening lately but now after the way they had ended things this was ever more frustrating.

The last thing she wanted right now was to have to deal with Kol on top of that but it would seem she would have to as she watched Kol warily taking something out of his jacket's pocket and then he extended his hand at her offering her a bracelet.

He couldn't get through her door so he waited and she reached out and got the bracelet and noticed that it was actually a charm. On the thin silver threads that were intertwined, between them, a small coin was attached.

Caroline ran her thumb over the sign of the constellation that was engraved on it.

Andromeda.

The heat inside her cooled, the anger became silent.

"What's this?" she whispered without taking her eyes from the coin. It looked so similar to the Thanatos Kerma except for the design of Andromeda in the middle that made her heart ache. It also made her angry because of course Kol would use something like this.

Kol's throat constricted harshly.

"You can always reach me that way," he told her and Caroline gave him a scathing look.

"I don't need you to tag me Kol."

Kol showed her his wrist. He wore a leather cord with the same coin attached to it.

"Goes both ways," he mumbled showing her his bracelet. "It's more like a beacon. And once you wear it only you can see it. Well, I will be able to see it too since I wear its other half that you can see now as you are holding your half."

Caroline held the charm but said nothing. Kol lowered his hand and pushed the sleeve of his jacket down.

"You should have told me what happened at once," Kol said looked almost ashamed.

"You were busy having your psychotic break," she reminded him, "You know the one before the one you are going to have next and just after that other one you had before, before that other one, and that other one," she mocked him and he shook his head.

"This is not a joke Caroline."

Her expression didn't change. She remained cold as ice.

"I never said it was."

Kol looked down at his shoes for a moment before he faced her again. His gaze was worried.

"Nik is right," he began softly, "you need to return to the compound."

"No."

Her tone was resolute and Kol straightened when she stepped out of her threshold.

"You want to help?" she mused and stood right in front of him with no magic separating them, "instead of bringing me your magic toys," she scoffed with a sneer, "find me a magical solution for the barrier your mother placed. I may not want to leave New Orleans anymore but that barrier is there for a reason and the more it stays the more danger I am in."

Kol ran a hand through his hair.

That wasn't good. If he couldn't break it no one could. And she had to believe he had tried. She had to believe that he was honest with her on this at least.

"It is old magic," he told her gloomily, "the covens can't break it and the artifacts I have stored can't negate it."

She gave him a dead stare and Kol pressed his lips in frustration.

"I am trying Caroline."

She pushed the bracelet he gave her against his chest.

"Try harder," she coldly said and the charm fell from her hand but Kol caught it before it would fall to the ground. He looked at it sadly and gripped it but his gaze turned vacant as he nodded. So defeated and empty.

He turned around to leave but before she could even think Caroline grabbed his elbow stopping him. Kol watched her surprised.

"I don't mean just for the barrier," she pointed out, trying to make him understand. No matter how angry she was with him she didn't want this for him. He had to fight to get better. He had to leave Purgatory behind. Somehow they both had to but both could not, each in their own way. But she had to believe they could. She had to believe he could. Kol was a thousand years old. If he couldn't do it how could she? And even if she could, how could she when he could not? They got out together. They survived together. They had to do this together too.

Kol said nothing and her fingers dug into his sleeve more.

"You need to try harder Kol," she pressed, the ice thawing away from her tone but Kol would not commit to it.

She threw herself at him and hugged him. She held him close.

"Please try," she whispered so quietly, her voice barely coming out.

Kol remained stiff in her embrace.

It seemed that he couldn't hug her back but when he pushed his face against her shoulder she knew this was hurting him more than it was hurting her.


Days later and Elijah still looked at the wine collection lamenting the loss of one of his favorite bottles.

"Juvenile and uncivilized all of you," he muttered under his breath letting his dismay show, "between you, Kol, and Miss Forbes I really need to invest in a private collection."

"As if you don't have that," Klaus said as he sipped his bourbon, his body heavy on the armchair. He felt as if nothing could move him as he was reclining half-drunk on the velvet.

"Fine. To restock our collection then," the older Mikaelson responded bitterly, "it seems pointless though. Somehow you all find your way to wasting the best," he breathed out shaking his head in disappointment, "such a pity."

Elijah turned away from the wine rack and faced Klaus.

"I'd appreciate if you'd take your next confrontation with Miss Forbes to another room," he advised, "somehow contain the damage."

"No need to worry for that," Klaus assured him watching his glass as if he could find treasure in it. His eyes were hard in their search. "she won't step foot in here again."

"Nonsense," Elijah replied as he fixed himself a drink too, "she will come back soon enough."

Something in his tone alerted Klaus that looked at Elijah quizzically.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing you wouldn't do," Elijah told him smoothly, "but in comparison to you my ways are less brash and more effective."

Emotional manipulation it was then.

Klaus rolled his eyes.

"Debatable," Klaus responded biting the words but Elijah didn't seem bothered at all as he inhaled the rich aroma of his wine and twirled a bit more inside the crystal holding the delicate stem of glass before he brought the rim at his mouth and swallowed delicately.

"The problem is what you did brother," Elijah pointed out without reacting to his irony and enjoyed the first taste of his wine as if he had no worries. Eventually, Elijah looked back at Klaus that had straightened on his seat.

"Niklaus," Elijah addressed his name with a long-drawn sigh, "Nyx?"

Elijah's disappointment was sounding a lot like an accusation.

"I did what I had to," Klaus bit out feeling a muscle in his jaw tick. He could not hide from Elijah. Not as much as he would like to anyway but he hoped that his poker face worked better with Bonnett. That fool would probably believe that he did the bargain out of love. It would be better for Raphael to focus on his weakness and not on Caroline's importance aside from her connection to him and Kol.

Elijah however was not like Raphael. He could read between the lines.

And so he did as he shook his head in exasperation.

"Of all the things," Elijah paused as if he was searching for the right words before he finally gave up, "you keep adding to the list all those she won't forgive if she ever finds out, and make no mistake brother she will find out," Elijah said and smiled knowingly, "she is perceptive and capable of it."

"She is more than just that," Klaus agreed almost hatefully and the glass cracked in his hand.

Elijah arched a brow at him and finished his glass slowly before he went and sat at the chair opposite to him.

"It seems to me you are at a crossroads now and if you are not careful and you take the wrong turn this time your ego may lead you astray," Elijah warned him, "beware brother for I am afraid if this happens there won't be any coming back."

"You think so?" Klaus sarcastically drawled as he took out the shards from his bleeding palm.

Elijah crossed his legs and sat comfortably in his chair.

"You need to stop dwelling on where you are wronged Niklaus," his brother pointed out and Klaus couldn't help but glare at him.

Elijah was not deterred.

"Think of what you are hiding from her brother."

Klaus kept his stoic expression but his insides were turning to knots. How did it come to this? With Forbes' death, the danger should have passed. He made sure as he had eliminated all living relatives of Caroline's except of her mother. Relatives she didn't even know existed. He had compelled her father's lover too but since he had no blood connection he had left him alive because he hadn't wanted Caroline to feel any more grief. He had kept tabs on him. He hadn't posed any danger.

How could he have missed Forbin especially after the hunters' eradication he and Elijah had enforced centuries ago? It would seem Caroline's roots were deep and as Elijah's words washed over him he shuddered at the thought of Caroline ever finding out where she was coming from.

Her lineage was as old as his if not older. And the fact that out of everyone she was turned to a vampire in the same lands he was turned, in the same lands the story of not only his but also her family's unfolded centuries ago was enough for him to become a believer of fate.

"Should she ever find out," Elijah kept talking but Klaus could barely keep up, "you she will hate the most. And maybe in the past the girl you met was incapable of hate but are you sure that is still the case?"

Klaus' lips curled in a twisted smile.

For someone not able of hating Caroline sure knew how to hate him long before he gave her a good enough reason for her to do so. Back in Mystic Falls he had not been as deluded as Caroline had believed him to be. He knew he had been an enemy to her eyes. He had after all targeted those to whom she was loyal to and Caroline's loyalty knew no bounds. She had almost been sacrificed to his ritual but in the end, no matter what he had done to those she had loved it had never been personal. She knew that too.

And when things became personal between them she had known she had captured his heart. She knew all the mercy he had been able to show to others was because of her. Should she had not been in Mystic Falls after Kol's death and with the whole mess with the cure, he would have left no one alive. He would have burned Mystic Falls to the ground and the fact that it was still standing and these people still drew breath was because of her. It was all because of her even if she couldn't comprehend it.

Even after her death he had respected her memory and hadn't destroyed that damn town to forget the pain it had caused him ever since he was born to it. She had been buried in that cursed place and he hadn't leveled it because of her. Because of her memory. Because he wanted her to have a place to rest.

Only she didn't rest. Did she?

She didn't and she learned death and with death, she learned what real hate felt like too. Sometimes it seemed as if she was forged in it. And the weapon that forge crafted was targeted against him.

"She will blame you the most brother," Elijah repeated, "she will believe this is the reason you approached her in the first place."

Klaus tensed and he pinched his eyes shut.

"It didn't happen like that," he whispered.

It really hadn't.

Although he had been tempted.

The night he had gained her mother's invitation to their house he walked in with a thousand plans in his head but then he met her.

He had seen her before and he knew more about her past than she did but no matter what he had known he wasn't prepared for all that Caroline Forbes truly was.

Despite all reason she had enchanted him and instead of taking her as he would have any other in her place he had let her go. He had set her free and kept her legacy hidden only to keep her safe. A legacy he could have used. A legacy he could still use. Even for his daughter but somehow he couldn't. He wouldn't. It belonged to Caroline and it could put her in danger. He could not do that.

He forced his eyes opened and saw the way Elijah was watching him with an arched brow as if he didn't believe him.

If Elijah didn't believe him what chance did he have for Caroline to ever believe him?

"Maybe at first," Klaus admitted testily to his brother, "when Katherine had chosen her for the sacrifice I had considered it."

"Considered killing her?" Elijah wondered and hearing it out loud brought a visceral reaction to Klaus. Back then death had not been out of the cards for Caroline but he was always many steps ahead and he had rejected the idea. He had other plans for her. He owned to Damon Salvatore that he had saved Caroline that night but he had set the whole board for him to easily find her and save her. Back then he had even pondered the idea of taking her with him when he had made the deal with Stefan to follow him in exchange for his brother's life but he had opted against it. Back then he had believed it would have been better for him to first build his army before sinking his claws into her. Mikael had been alive back then and he didn't want added complications and Caroline could have turned to become a complication.

Ironically she had because what he felt for her was a complication indeed. Complicated enough to drive him mad.

The idea of her death now was destroying him but even back then his plans had been more nefarious than killing her.

"No," Klaus swallowed, "not killing her."

Elijah sat back looking unimpressed.

"Using her then," Elijah noticed.

Of course, he would get it.

Klaus pushed the shame deep down.

"I couldn't do it," he confessed and his voice softened, "I never did Elijah."

"Maybe not," Elijah accepted, "but will she believe your intentions have been benign? Your track record does not help when it comes to convincing others of your good intentions," his brother pointed out, "and if you don't fix your relationship with her now it may be too late when she finds out."

Klaus' mouth turned to a thin line.

"She already believes the worst of me."

You gave her many reasons to do so," Elijah told him not sugarcoating anything for him, "maybe this time try to prove her wrong and atone."

"I won't grovel at her feet, Elijah!"

Elijah's gaze turned heavenwards.

"Would you rather stand and face her wrath then?" his older brother challenged him, "her look of dejection? To stand and face the pain you will have caused? Every moment you have shared with her will become ugly in her mind. She will believe it to be a lie."

Klaus got up and felt his wolf tagging at his skin. He wanted to break free.

"She won't find out," he insisted and Elijah's sigh seemed to ignite his temper more.

"Secrets have a way of unearthing Niklaus," Elijah reminded him. Not that he could ever forget. "Bury them deep and they will quake the earth to rise. When she finds out, even centuries from now if you are lucky, it will be better if she is with you by your side; otherwise, her anger for you will be more potent and unforgiving."

Klaus felt everything inside him still at the idea and every part of him rebelled. Panic was surging to the surface.

Elijah got up and approached him. His expression was careful.

"There is a connection between you two. It can't be ignored," Elijah acknowledged and it almost made him flinch. It could not be ignored. Not by him, not by others which made Caroline to his most fatal weakness yet, "but that only means that what you do or what you don't do," Elijah emphasized," she will judge far more harshly than she would with anyone else because what you do matters. It matters to her. Even if she would rather it didn't."

Klaus let out a hollow laugh at Elijah's conclusion. Of course, Caroline would rather it didn't matter. She would rather she had never met him probably.

"In the end maybe it doesn't matter."

"It matters Niklaus," Elijah pressed on with an uncompromising expression.

"She already thinks the worst of me," Klaus said again like a broken record, feeling empty.

"You do have the innate talent to make people feel that way" Elijah observed earning another glare from Klaus. In response, the older Mikaelson smiled.

"However you also have a remarkable ability to be able to seduce even the devil," he acknowledged and something like amused pride coated his tone, "use that to your advantage."

"She is too smart to be seduced," Klaus muttered with a hint of a smile coming to the surface just as the memory came too. Those memories seemed to be from another life but they were not. Those memories were his. Not even Caroline's condemnation could not take those away from him. The memories he had from her. The way he dreamed of those memories. The way he dreamed of her every night ever since they had bloodshared.

He hated to admit that he had been dreaming of her long before that. And it hurt to know this wasn't reciprocated. Knowing he wasn't part of her dreams. Even worse knowing that one day he would probably star in her nightmares when he had only wanted her to dream of him the way he dreamed of her. Every night.

"I have noticed," Elijah mused at Caroline's cynical resistance to be swayed by charming words and games of seduction and manipulation, "she kind of reminds me of you actually. You share many talents but she is young and her heart still has room for joy and hope even if she believes or feels differently due to her traumatic experience."

Klaus said nothing to that but shadows entered his eyes. It was too soon for Caroline to have become this jaded. But she was.

"The girl is already hurt," Elijah told him softly before he turned his tone into an admonishing one. "Stop hurting her more. Unless you want to cripple her so you will be the one left to carry her."

Acid filled Klaus' mouth and his lips turned to a bitter line.

"I see she is not the only one who believes the worst about me."

"And the last time I thought similarly you bit me and left me in the bayou to hallucinate," Elijah calmly reminded him. He stood without fear in front of him now. Acting as if he had made peace with those memories. Acting as if he had forgiven him. "Am I going to feel the edge of your teeth again brother?"

Klaus scoffed.

"Is this what you want?" Elijah kept pushing him, "to cripple her into loving you?"

Klaus didn't answer but his answer was obvious. Never that. He could never do that and he knew that Elijah could see it in his eyes despite the harsh set of his features.

And this was why his brother smiled contently.

"And that is why you are not Mikael," Elijah expertly found the bleeding wound, "even though-"

Klaus stilled.

"Even though?" he asked, fearing of what Elijah would tell him now. Fearing that his words would mirror Caroline's.

"Even though there have been times we all thought you as such," Elijah admitted sadly and Klaus almost stumbled back.

He couldn't stop the hurt that flowed everywhere in his mind, soul, and body. It hurt. And it made him angry. It made him furious. So much that he was tempted to actually bite Elijah again and leave him to rot.

His hands balled into fists.

"Don't give me that look," Elijah dismissed his emotional turmoil, "you have certainly seen Mikael in the mirror too many times I am sure. It's your greatest fear. One Miss Forbes exploited marvelously if I may add," he cynically said.

Klaus turned his back at Elijah and let the visceral emotions tore at him. Caroline did exploit his fear, his pain, his anger. She stepped all over him and he had let her. He had let her and she had gotten what she wanted and he still could not get her out of his mind.

"Miss O'Connell is not the only one who has studied psychology Niklaus," Elijah conversed as if he spoke about the weather, "you know very well it is a field I have thoroughly examined over the years."

"I wonder why," Klaus mocked him without restraining his sarcasm. Elijah's constant need to psychoanalyze him over the years in the hopes of 'healing' him was one of his most annoying vices so of course when the humans invented that field he had been the first one to join them in his endeavor to understand one's psyche so to understand himself and their family.

"However I wouldn't need to do that to know a simple truth," Elijah continued.

"Which is?" Klaus pretended to care, "Come on! Indulge me, I am dying to know," he ridiculed his brother but Elijah didn't take the bait.

Instead, his brother locked his gaze with his.

"Many times the victims become their abusers."

Klaus felt as if his brother had just punched him in the gut.

"And like it or not you have your moments brother and I used to believe those moments were becoming your character," Elijah revealed to him, "it was what I was trying to prevent you from becoming. Even when I had lost faith."

Klaus said nothing but he felt as if he was swallowing fire.

Elijah walked towards him. His eyes were bright. So bright as they used to be when they were human. Klaus hated that look. He absolutely loathed it. It was the look of pity and hope. Of humanity. Only Elijah watched him like this and whatever it was that his brother saw in him it cut deep. Every single time.

This time was no different.

"Because I was there when you were born," Elijah smiled, "because I was there when you were growing up and I know who you used to be and who you could still be," he said fervently, "because I didn't protect you," he apologized desperately, "because I know your anger and your suffering and I know if you became what you hate the most there would be no worst punishment for you," he whispered and Klaus felt his stomach knotting up, "turning into our father would destroy you and I would never wish for you to suffer so as I would not wish for all those around you to suffer from that suffering," Elijah continued and he didn't allow him to leave. He stepped in front of him foolishly not caring if his words would earn him a bite or a dagger in his heart, "because this kind of violence, this kind of hate once it cements in is hard to break and you had a thousand years of it."

"A thousand years of it," Klaus echoed Elijah's words derisively, "so I am hopeless. Is that what you are saying?" he cruelly smirked and Elijah shook his head.

"No this is not what I am saying."

"What are you saying then?" Klaus challenged him feeling as if he was teetering on the precipice of an abyss and what it contained beyond the fall was only darkness. The darkness Caroline saw in him. The darkness he hated the most about him. The same darkness everyone loathed and feared. The darkness that defined him and turned him into his father.

"I saw you with Hope," Elijah said resolutely and Klaus cast him a warning gaze but his brother wouldn't stop talking, "I saw you with Camille. With Caroline," he emphasized, "so no brother this is not what I am saying because I don't believe you to be like Mikael."

"You don't believe it anymore," Klaus drawled hatefully and Elijah sighed.

"Listen to what I am telling you and not what you fear Niklaus," Elijah chastised him sternly, "you are a man Mikael could never be. You are a good father," Elijah spoke the words with confidence and without any doubt and Klaus hadn't realized how much he had needed to hear this.

"A good parent," Elijah repeated again, "something Mikael and Esther could never be. You are someone capable of care and sacrifice."

Caroline's words echoed in Klaus' ears. Not those that condemned him but from another time.

"Anyone capable of love is capable of being saved."

Something seemed to break inside him. In pieces. Pieces that could not mend. Jagged pieces that tore him apart.

He gave Elijah a disapproving frown.

"Do not sugarcoat this for me, Elijah."

"I am not. You can accuse me of many things but I never hid neither my admiration for your good parts nor my rejection for your crimes."

"And you believe the good parts weight more?" Klaus disbelievingly snorted.

"I do," Elijah vowed but then his brows pulled together, "but I always believed there is a schism inside you brother. And you are being pulled by the duality of your emotions in opposite directions. Towards the shadow, Mikael cast upon you and towards…Hope."

Klaus' voice was caught in his throat.

"You need to let the better side of yourself come out more," Elijah almost pled with him, "it is not a weakness."

"Elijah," Klaus tiredly said but his brother was not done.

"Caroline means something to you," Elijah stated and Klaus hated that he was so transparent when it came to her because despite what Elijah believed this was a weakness.

"Make your actions mean something equal to that," Elijah urged him, "if you can't open up to her when it comes to your secrets then at least do it emotionally."

Klaus frowned at that.

"Give her…something," Elijah persisted trying to push him in the right direction, "a truth. A compromise."

Klaus was about to reject what Elijah was saying but he didn't get the opportunity.

"You can't demand everything from her without giving anything in return," Elijah tried to make him see reason and Klaus exhaled harshly.

"Is this what you think I've been doing?"

"Haven't you?" Elijah challenged him and Klaus' mouth thinned.

Elijah smiled at his petulant silence.

"The girl can see your darkness as much as she can see your glimpses of humanity. More so she harbors the same darkness as she is one of us and she has walked on dark paths as we have too," Elijah carried on trying to nudge him closer to that truth, "You can't hide and pretend with her Niklaus."

Elijah's eyes lingered on him but now there was something not just hopeful but also calculating in them.

His brother was using Caroline to move him like a pawn in the direction he wanted. Into that damn salvation, he always dreamed for him. He was using Caroline and he was using his feeling for her.

"Give her something substantial," Elijah encouraged him, "something that matters to you. Share a part of yourself with her even if you can't share everything. It doesn't have to be all or nothing," he wisely told him, "sometimes a step towards the right direction can be a start and who knows, you might be surprised with her reaction even to the barest minimum of your honesty or willingness to connect," Elijah mused, "she may even allow you to keep your secrets."

"To unveil them herself," Klaus countered peeved. It was what he would do after all.

"That too yes," Elijah smirked, "but beyond that, I firmly believe that if you are honest with her about keeping secrets in the first place, as long as you don't hide that from her," he pressed on, "she will be more willing to give you a chance."

Elijah approached him again.

"Don't lie about that brother," Elijah persisted and Klaus realized that Elijah might have just found him a loophole. He was always cunning when it came to being dishonest by being supposedly honest, "just admit that for now, you can't tell her the truth."

"So basically you are telling me to buy time," Klaus translated Elijah's long-winded way of offering advice on manipulation.

"What I am telling you is to give yourself and her breathing room. If you can't open the door crack the window open. Enough to let oxygen in," Elijah argued, "Miss Forbes may trust your reasons to keep these truths from her if she believes your intentions to be coming from a good place," Elijah countered, "if you are dead set on controlling her she will be uncontrollable and any bridge between you too will burn. So try to build for once," he warned him, "show her that besides your selfishness you are also capable of selflessness as rare as it may be," Elijah concluded sardonically.

"What if I do that and she shuts me down?" Klaus bit out, "Again?"

How he hated the weakness he was now allowing his brother to see but he couldn't help it. He knew that despite his current ire and his need to punish her in time he'd do anything to get back into Caroline's good graces again. His eyes would never stray from that goal. His heart would never sway from the promise of the ultimate prize. He hated to admit it but he knew given the time he would be ready to grovel and use any trick in the book. He couldn't lose her even if right now he knew it would be best if he kept his distance because if he didn't he would probably hurt her and they wouldn't be able to return from that. It would set them back decades if not centuries.

Something that Caroline seemed to want lately. She kept pushing and pushing him away as if she was trying to see what it would take for him to let her go. For her to see that what he felt for her was not genuine. As if she wanted to prove this both to him and her. Sometimes he felt as if she was testing him. Setting him to fail in every turn.

And damn her he was failing.

"Then you would have at least tried which she will also see," Elijah stated, "and if you fail then try again and again. Not with force but with patience."

Klaus took a step back and actually considered this.

Patience.

Caroline had the unique ability to test his patience like no one else could.

"You have waited a thousand years to break your curse," Elijah reasoned, "you never allowed failure to stop you from trying. Even your own failures hadn't gotten in the way because you acknowledged them and learned from them. You were patient and driven," Elijah reminded him, "don't the people you care for deserve the same dedication?" his brother asked him almost desperately.

Klaus saw Elijah's need to make him understand so he went towards him and placed his hand over his shoulder.

"You really are persistent as a matchmaker Elijah," he told him faking empathy and emotional gratitude.

Elijah shook his head annoyed and something shuttered in his eyes but Klaus turned his back at him just as he was about to nag him again. His crusade when it came to making him see the light was always relentless.

Klaus wore his leather jacket in a swift move.

"I have to go," he informed Elijah, "I have an important date."

Elijah narrowed his eyes in question.

"A date?"

Klaus' smirk was wicked which alarmed Elijah.

"An exclusive one. With Kol."

Elijah sobered immediately but Klaus flashed away proving to him he was indeed unwelcome to whatever it was they had planned.

Elijah stared at the empty room before he gave up and went and fixed himself another drink.

"It is like I am talking to a wall," he muttered trying to subdue the feelings of heartbreak and worry with alcohol.

He was sure he had reached a part of his brother that still existed but Klaus insisted on pretending as if it didn't.

Caroline was the key and he would keep turning it until the lock his brother had crafted around his heart would finally unlock. He would break that damn lock even if he had to keep turning that key a thousand times over for a thousand years if he had to.

But for now, the lock still stood, maybe not as firmly latched on as it used to, but it was still sealed and there were more pressing matters.

If Klaus had a date with Kol there was a good chance New Orleans would not survive to see the dawn.

It mattered not. He still had to order another addition for their wine collection. It was a pity he couldn't travel to Italy to visit some of his favorite vineyards. He had missed the wine tasting experience.

Not that he had any hope that whatever he would procure would survive his siblings. Or the newest additions of their family.

He primly straightened his tie.

"I am dealing with savage primitives," he muttered with distaste.


Hayley was sitting by the stream watching the calm water when Jackson approached her and sat by her side.

"What are you thinking?"

What was she thinking? Many things. Her daughter was always in her thoughts. Her anger at the witches always present and now her frustration was building up. She craved her blood as much as she craved her baby and she was all alone stranded in New Orleans because once she was searching for her family and now her family, her daughter, was gone.

And where was she?

Why hadn't she faked her death to go with her daughter?

At first, she had said to herself she didn't do that because she was newly turned and she could hurt her. Then she said she wanted to make this place safe for Hope to return. But she was afraid it was the promise of power that tipped the scales and if that was true what kind of a mother was she?

No. She stayed because she wanted to create a home for her baby because she deserved one. The one she never had. She didn't want Hope to end up becoming a drifter like her. Hope being a Mikaelson meant she had enemies and once she would grow up she would need to be raised in a safe place that would keep those enemies at bay.

Hayley was meant to be building a home for her kid to return to but everything was upside down and it was not safe for Hope to return yet. Maybe it would never be safe and then what?

Where in the world would it be safe for her?

Where was the place magic ended? Klaus was Hope's father. She carried his sins like a mark and with his blood in her veins and his name as her legacy, she would always be hunted.

And Klaus?

He was so caught up with that blonde cheerleader he had forgotten all about their daughter and about her. He had made all these promises about power and control and he had left her to fend for herself.

Ever since the ball, everything was falling apart and all that because Caroline Forbes opened her fat mouth and now her people, her pack watched her as a traitor who turned on her own.

She needed to become part of their unity again.

But how?

"Hayley?"

Jackson's voice grounded her and she pushed her thoughts back.

"I was thinking about the attack against the vampires," she deflected and Jackson nodded.

"Our scouts couldn't find anything except that it was orchestrated by some renegade witches. Everyone is tight-lipped but rumor has it was a biff between Marcel and some old witches he had subjugated."

Hayley tried to control her temper. Every time she thought of the witches she was feeling a wave of fire rush into her bloodstream and all she wanted was to spat it out only to burn every damn witch that would cross her path.

"It does not matter," she bit out even though she was willing to bet that Marcel had covered his tracks and whatever happened between his side and the witches would not become known. She could ask Elijah or Klaus but somehow she doubted they would tell her the truth either. This is what it all came down to. She was not one of them no matter how much she had deluded herself in the past, "whatever the reasons were this is just one more proof. Not that we needed any," she bitterly added, "the treaty won't stand and we need to be ready for when it all falls apart."

Jackson studied her carefully.

"The last time the Mikaelsons wanted peace you stood by their side," he noted, "you fought for it."

"And where did that leave me, Jack? Look at me," she seethed trying to swallow her anger and grief for what she had become. For all that she had lost. "they took everything from me," she whispered and Jackson's expression softened.

"Not everything. You still have us," he insisted and then added gently, "me."

She looked at him trying to figure out how much pity his honesty was hiding. She saw none.

"Do I?"

Jackson reached for her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"You do."

Hayley withdrew her hand from his.

"Even like this?" she asked him letting her disgust show. Her nature had changed. Everything that had been pure and connected to nature was now twisted and warped.

Jackson gave her an understanding smile.

"I won't pretend I know what you are going through," he told her, "there is bad blood between us and vampires, yes, but I know you, Hayley. No prejudice can change this."

Hayley said nothing. She only stared ahead. Jackson's fingers slid under her chin and turned her head towards him again.

"We shed our skin every month Hayley. I am not afraid of change," he promised her, "and I don't believe your heart has changed. You are still the girl that helped us break our curse. The one who fought for us. Any mistakes you may have done in the past can't change this."

Hayley lowered her gaze.

"I wish I could believe that as much as you do."

"You will. You just need time."

Hayley sighed and this time when she looked at Jackson's hopeful eyes she found the strength she was missing.

Jackson was a wolf. He was loyal. An ally and a friend.

He was nothing like the Originals.

Where Klaus lied, where Elijah failed, where every Original betrayed, Jackson stood true.

The anger at the Originals, at the witches, at the world returned but it was the certainty at the belief that Jackson was part of the family that she had once searched for was what remained.

Jackson was everything she had once hoped she could have become and he could be the one to help her build a better future for her daughter.

"Time is running out," she told him, "war is coming."

Jackson's gaze was both stoic and determined.

"Then we fight."

"It won't be this simple Jackson. This peace will not last and when it ends we will need to be united to stand against what will come. How can we be united when we are torn apart by doubt?" she questioned him, "we have infighting in our ranks, and on the other side new enemies keep adding up. How do we face that?"

"By embracing the old ways."

This time when Jackson covered her hand with his she didn't break the connection.


The screams ricocheted against the stone walls. Deep beneath Nyx's prestigious rooms of pleasure, straight into the earth that resembled a grave, the torture chambers reeked of blood and death.

The sixth witch fell from Kol's hand as Klaus Mikaelson leaned against the wall next to a lit-up torch that cast dim glimmers of trembling light in the darkness making the shadows dance all around them.

Raphael had kept his word and had delivered the witches that sought his protection to them in a silver platter.

This night was retribution and would send a message. Kol would make sure of it since it was his witchlings that needed to be put in their place. He had started days ago and tonight he would finish it.

No matter how much Klaus yearned to rip those witches apart Kol was still the only one not bound by Nyx's rules and since Klaus had drawn a contract with Bonnett he had to humor him. For now. So he kept his hands crossed in front of his chest and watched expressionlessly as his little brother walked among the mutilated bodies splashing blood at every step he took. The yellow of his eyes turned his gaze luminous in the dark when Kol crouched close to the woman he had impaled on the floor.

With a look of absolute boredom Kol knocked off the half ripped head of the witch's sister that was lying beside the half dying woman while relishing in the agonized whimper of the dying witch.

Kol crouched down more comfortably and pushed the mated with blood hair away from the woman's face that cringed at his touch. Her magic just as her life was ebbing away.

"You should have given peace a chance," Kol cooed, his voice velvety and soft as he twisted the blade inside her chest slowly.

Klaus' lips turned to a smirk. He had to admit that his little shit of a brother at least knew how to make this entertaining.

The witch coughed blood. Every breath was coming out in a rattle that spread only agony in her body.

"Rot in hell," she stammered and Kol and Klaus exchanged an amused look.

"Do you want to rot eternally with me?" Kol spoke in a husky tone in a way only a lover would, "see my brother right there?" he pointed at Klaus that raised a brow at him, "I think I am going to borrow a page from his book," Kol jibbed with delight and Klaus shook his head at his shenanigans.

"No Originality," Klaus sighed, his pun making Kol chortle, "none whatsoever."

"You are my big brother!" Kol nagged offended, "I look up to you."

"You don't say," Klaus snorted sarcastically.

Kol turned his attention back to the witch.

"See!" he exclaimed patting her hair making her gasp in pain, "I follow in his footsteps and he still gives me no credit. Families should support each other don't you think?" he mocked the witch that was fading away..

"Anyway," Kol clasped his hands under his chin, "you seem to be dying so I won't keep you wondering. Nik realized a few centuries ago that killing a witch was really no punishment at all. So he came and asked me what I believed a witch's greatest desire was. I got excited really because there I thought he had become interested in witches and we could share a hobby for once but nah. He had other plans. Nefarious as always," he said to the witch in a hush hush tone and Klaus placed his hand over his heart as if he was deeply offended.

"Really Nik, I dreamed of threesomes and you had to go and ruin it!"

"You know I can multitask," Klaus shrugged giving him a knowing look.

Kol rolled his eyes at the witch.

"Meet my brother," Kol tsked at the witch, "Vlad the Impaler to my Marquis de Sade."

Klaus gave him a ludicrous look and pointed at the blade sticking out from the witch.

"I am not the one who impaled the lady here."

"Semantics," Kol waved dismissively.

"Kol."

"Yes, Nik?"

"How about you get your point across before she bleeds out?"

"Oh right!" Kol's eyes widened and he patted at the girl's shoulder that watched him with mortified eyes, "Sorry. I get distracted easily. I think I may have a hyperactivity disorder! As a child even, and-"

"Kol!" Klaus sighed impatiently.

"Anyhow," Kol cleared his throat, "Nik comes to chat asking to know what witch's greatest desire is and," Kol clapped his hands startling the witch making her hiss in pain from the movement, "when I turned down his guesses about power and wealth and what not and gave him the real answer he knew how to take that desire away," Kol told her using a scheming tone.

"What had I answered Nik?" Kol turned his attention back to Klaus, "Do you remember?"

Klaus lips curled.

"Their connection with nature."

"Their connection with nature," Kol repeated, "and how do you think my brother took away that desire and turned it into punishment? Over and over again, a thousand years, a thousand witches," he asked the witch that watched him with a heaving chest. Impaled as she was every breath was shallow and the only thing that was holding the witch together was the same thing that was killing her. The sword.

"A few drops of my blood will do the trick," Kol promised making the witch blanch.

"All this prologue for this," Klaus muttered watching at his nails and Kol narrowed his eyes at him for ruining his intimidation games.

"And you know the best part of it?" Kol taunted her, ignoring Klaus that mumbled 'anticlimactic pay off' all to annoy him, "Compulsion will ensure you'll fight to survive forever. Far away from your calling and nature. Rotting in hell," he threw her words back at her and gave the witch a wicked smirk, Everlasting misery," he promised her and her eyes widened in terror as Kol bit his wrist and brought it close to her mouth.

"No, please," she implored him, her voice whizzing out. She obviously feared the possibility of turning into a vampire more than death.

He laughed and smirked at her.

"Who is after mine?" Kol let the question hover between them, a threat posed in a dulcet deathly whisper.

Klaus remained unmoved but his whole body tensed. He hated the way Kol claimed Caroline as his but it was necessary. For now.

"Tell me and I will let you rest," Kol soothed the dying witch with a husky voice and she whimpered when he gripped her by the hair and yanked her head closer to his wrist.

A few drops of blood fell almost into her mouth making the witch pressed her lips shut and cried.

Kol gripped her jaw and forced her mouth open making her whimper.

"You disobeyed me," his voice was low but the promise to make his threat real was loud, "you disobeyed the rule of my brothers," his eyes lingered on her terrified eyes that seemed to beg for mercy, "who do you fear more than us?"

"Her," she croaked.

Kol stilled and Klaus moved an inch forward.

"Her who?" Kol demanded, this time the madness and the threat in his eyes was giving away their place for eagerness.

"The undead," the witch coughed blood and her eyes rolled back.

"Esther?" Klaus asked, now stepping forward and standing above the witch and Kol.

The witch shook her head.

"Your mother," she croaked, "wants her alive," she stammered and the rest of her words were barely spoken, "this is why we can't let her live."

Kol tightened his hold around the witch's neck.

"Why does she want her alive?" the youngest Mikaelson demanded.

"She bears the mark of darkness."

Kol gripped her neck harder and he and Klaus exchanged a look.

"Your Caroline must die," the witch heaved and Klaus and Kol looked at each other worriedly as the witch started laughing.

"The abyss is calling her back."

Klaus almost stumbled back, his whole body coiling as if he was bitten by a viper. The shaman he had burned came to mind, her words echoing in his head.

"The abyss is calling her back."

The witch let out her last breath just as Kol ripped off her head.


Finn Mikaelson watched as his mother was conducting one more of her complicated spells and he was in awe. While he was feeling deep-seated exhaustion that was bringing him to the brink of collapse his mother was filled with energy. She tiredly worked her magic while he could barely match a fraction of her strength despite how he was now possessing a brand new witch.

He couldn't believe how only a drop of energy from Caroline Forbes could sustain his mother like that. Ever since the night of the ball, his mother was not deteriorating while he had to possess different bodies that burned out fast leaving him with a soul-deep ache that was just as painful as the coma-induced death Klaus had subjected him for centuries.

He watched as his mother walked away from the cauldron and approached the rose bushes she kept tending for the last weeks. She had infused them with dark magic. He could feel it.

If this was what a drop of what Caroline's energy could do what could all of it do?

"It won't be easy to bring her here mother," Finn informed his mother feeling restless. Even his mother had failed retrieving the girl and now Caroline Forbes was even more protected. Shadows followed her every step. He couldn't see them but he could feel them.

His mother had to act he knew that. The witches had been after the girl and would have killed her if she hadn't intervened and Caroline Forbes was no good to them dead right now. And yet the girl's mental resistance was impressive because his mother had failed to lure her in. It had been a great opportunity and his mother's magic was at its highest and even like that Caroline's mind had been a fortress.

How would they manage to get what they wanted from her if they couldn't get into her mind? It would seem Caroline Forbes had instinctively raised her mental shields ever since the ball. The small opening he had taken advantage of that night had been locked shut and mentally fortified. He had tried again from a distance and he couldn't breach her mind. The girl must have instinctively sensed and branded his magic and has prepared for a future incident without even understanding it. She even kept her bloodlust on a tight leash no matter how much he had been trying to enhance it. Her control was solid. And whatever dreams she was dreaming at night were strong enough to strengthen her resolve to keep him out of her mind too. He had tried to slip into her dream world but there were walls high enough to keep him out and Caroline seemed to not want to wake up or allow anything to ruin whatever it was that she was dreaming of. Whatever she dreamed of was something she longed for and was finding refuge in it.

She kept him out even when she was dreaming.

How could she subconsciously do that? Kol had taught her well it would seem but the fact that she could resist even his mother was an unspeakable fit.

"She is surrounded by vampires. Marcel Gerard has taken her under his wing and he protects his own. Elijah is always close in his search for us," Finn counted their obstacles, "The shadow Klaus has cast in New Orleans is bleak. Everyone is dreading him and will not act against him out of fear." Finn bit out with disgust and then his gaze turned darker still, "the worst part is that we can barely use magic since Kol will detect us and not to mention he has eliminated every opening we had to the witches. Those that would be willing to join us are dead, those that would have considered it are terrified, and the rest rely on him for power."

"Kol always had a way with witches. It is pity to think he would have made a great one if I hadn't turned you into this blight upon the world," Esther lamented as she cut one of the roses from the bush.

Finn rubbed his thumb against his lips still feeling awkward in this new body.

"He found a way to compensate the loss of magic," he noted with a frown. He still couldn't figure out how he did it. His dark objects were toys. Kol was not a witch and yet his skill and dexterity, when it came to witchcraft, rivaled even that of their mother, "I don't know how he did it but he has recollected every dark object in New Orleans. While everyone was looking elsewhere he was hunting the dark objects that had been…relocated during his death," Finn said confused, "I don't know how he had managed to do this so fast."

Esther smiled as she started plucking the rose's leaves and throwing them into the steaming water in the cauldron.

"He has had them marked."

Finn's brow rose.

"How?"

Esther's smile vanished.

"Upon his soul."

Finn Mikaelson stilled. It was the kind of preternatural stillness that caused cold sweat to break out on his entire body and the shiver felt as if it ricocheted to his own soul.

"That's," he paused unable to find the words to describe what he felt, "that's madness," he whispered and this time he could name the feeling that enveloped him. It was dread. Pure mind shuttering dread.

"Yes, it is," Esther agreed calmly as she purposely pricked her finger on one of the thorns and let her blood run down the stem of the rose before she broke it and threw it into the cauldron's water that sizzled and turned into liquid fire, "why do you think your brother's sanity has been failing much faster than his brothers'?" she asked him with an eerie serenity, her eyes reflecting the flames. "Every time I saw what he was doing from the other side my heart broke," Esther remembered grimly and Finn could tell that in the flames she was remembering their crimes as she had seen and felt them from the other side. Even though his monstrous acts could not compare with those of his siblings he was deeply ashamed for them and even more so now that he knew how much agony they had caused his mother.

"He has been giving away pieces of his soul and mind for leverage," Esther continued and Finn's blood was turning to colder shards of ice in his blood as he finally realized what his brother had done.

He had no attachments with the monster Kol turned out to be and even when they were human they were never close. Kol was a wild thing, uncouth and brazen always running after Niklaus and he could not stand his uncouth behavior. He could not comprehend why even Elijah embraced Kol's playfulness but he did along with Niklaus that had taken Kol under his wing in the same way Elijah had been protecting Klaus. And all three of them were looking after Rebekah that fawned over them and especially Klaus.

All of them a unit and he was nothing more than an outsider despite being the first son they should all respect. However, Elijah and even Klaus were working hard while Kol preferred to run away climb on trees and watch the stars. They were trying to survive, keep warm and feed themselves and Kol only wanted to play with magic while Niklaus encouraged his tendencies if only to spite their father despite the repercussions.

Yet even that distance he had with Kol from back then and even now could not stop Finn from pitying him. He would not wish such fate even to his worst enemies which as it happened it was his siblings that had become exactly that.

"Unfortunately he has concealed his objects from my magic and I can't locate them either," Esther's tone was now flat but Finn could detect the simmering anger underneath. If they were anyone that could frustrate their mother with his antics it was Kol only these time his antics were on another hellish level. "But he can," she exhaled tensely, "the marks he has created re-ignited once he was resurrected. He had made sure not even death would break them and this is probably why he was able to return to the living in the first place. He has created a connection between his dark objects that allowed him to be pulled back into this dimension. Like a magnet," Esther explained and Finn blanched as he finally understood what his mother actually meant.

He opened his mouth to speak but no voice would come out.

What had Kol done?

"We are talking about hundreds of dark objects mother," Finn finally stammered with horror and Esther's nodded with a stony expression.

"If not thousands," she argued with a low tone, and Finn had to mentally compose himself from stumbling back as if he was hit. If that was the case then Kol had not only damned his soul but the dark power that lurked in the darkest corners of his soul was unspeakable. It was sacrilege.

Finn gulped down and flinched when his mother touched the scalding metal of the cauldron with bare hands. He smelled the burning flesh but his mother did not seem to be in any pain.

But he knew better.

The pain was there but Esther Mikaelson just like him had been an old acquaintance with pain. She embraced the feeling now. It empowered her. It reminded her why they were here. What they had to do.

"This is why Kol is the most difficult to destroy Finn," Esther told him, her expression this time carefully veiled, "he can die a thousand times and a thousand times he will find a way to return," her voice held finality and Finn felt it in his bones, "killing him is not easy but keeping him dead may be close to impossible," his mother whispered, "he found a way to cheat death. Permanent death. And he has not shared it with his brothers."

"This is blasphemy," Finn cursed in a brittle tone. His expression turned to revulsion, "worse than what we are."

Esther hummed and magic shimmered. The flames rose higher and when she removed her hands away from the cauldron there was only steam inside the depths of the metallic pot. The water had evaporated along with the rose.

"This is why I cannot allow this to continue," she declared and her tone held something irrevocable in its depths, "my children have lost their way, and every time they went deeper into the darkness my soul bled on the other side. They," she stopped and looked at him, "you tortured me too."

Finn gave her a pitying gaze filled with desperation.

"Mother-"

"It matters not now," Esther dismissed his need for forgiveness as easily as she made sure he would get to feel it, "Caroline can restore me to life and through her, my power will multiply. And from there I can fix my mistakes."

Finn collected himself again and straightened his shoulders watching his mother as a soldier would his general.

"It won't be easy. Kol will stay close to her now," he halted not sure if what he was about to add was even true but something irked him, "And-"

Esther narrowed her eyes at him in question.

"And?"

"There are rumors in the Underworld," Finn said uncertainly, "Whispers. In the dark."

"And what do those whispers sing in the dark, son?"

"Klaus is amassing massive forces to surround her. From every faction across the world. This has never happened before," Finn mused, his features becoming a troubled mask.

"It is true," Esther verified coldly, "the whispers you've heard speak louder if you know how to listen."

It always amazed him how his mother could always be many steps ahead and know before him things that she shouldn't know at all.

But it was something else he couldn't understand.

"He would do this for this girl and not for his child?" Finn wondered befuddled, "does he know? What Caroline's potential truly is?"

"He is probably suspecting but I doubt that's why he is doing this."

"Why then?" Finn asked baffled.

Esther smiled wistfully. In a way, it reminded him of how she used to smile when she sang lullabies to them when they were kids.

"Love."

Finn blinked at the soft tone of his mother but then he scoffed.

"Niklaus is incapable of it mother."

Esther's smile stretched more into an even softer line on her face.

"Is he?"

Finn said nothing. His disbelief however still gleamed in his eyes. Esther walked towards him and cupped his cheek gently.

"Niklaus was never incapable of love Finn. Out of all my children he loved the most," she confessed to him before her gaze became haunted, tormented, "he loved me the most out all of you. Yes even you," she told him before he could object, "your brother felt everything more acutely than the rest of you including love and the pain that came along. My Niklaus loved the strongest, the hardest, and that's why he learned to hate with the same intensity."

Esther's hand fell from his face.

"And you think he now loves again?" Finn questioned her hating the emotion he saw reflecting in his mother's face for his half-brother. Their mother loved them all even though they didn't deserve it and his siblings never appreciated it. Especially that ungrateful bastard Klaus.

"Unfortunately," Esther sighed, "For his love now reflects the darkness all his hate taught him."

"If it's true then I am afraid we are running out of time," Finn warned her and Esther inclined her head seriously.

"This is why we need to focus on an alternative to sustain us until I manage to convince the girl to give up herself to me."

Finn understood that his mother had seen how she could not break into Caroline's mind by force and so she needed to trick her or convince the girl to open her mind willingly. The places Esther wanted to reach inside Caroline's soul could not be taken after all. They had to be given.

Finn doubted there would ever come a day where Caroline Forbes would ever be convinced to join his mother but he didn't say it.

"What alternative?" he asked.

Esther reached into the cauldron and Finn realized she had materialized an object.

He blinked. It was a rune of Odin.

To search for the unknowable.

The rune cast a dark glow in Esther's palms that had magically healed as Caroline's energy was still feeding his mother's soul allowing her to perform the darkest of magic.

Esther Mikaelson was staring at the rune transfixed.

"We need to find your father."


Silence had settled, heavy, between the corpses and them.

The only reason Klaus' whole body hadn't succumbed to convulsive trembling was experience. Centuries of terror had taught him how to respond to extreme horrors without showing his inner turmoil but it was there. It was spreading like cancer. Like rot and it infected him.

The abyss is calling her back.

The bone-chilling terror, that awful fear would not end. How would he save Caroline? How could he stop death from claiming her?

He was losing his fucking mind and Kol was useless. They were both useless. They could give a thousand oaths and it would be for nothing. He could feel it. He could feel the road they were on and the destination it was leading at and he couldn't stop it.

It was a free fall. And they were standing on the brink of the abyss.

That abyss that was calling her back.

"The contract with Raphael is a risky play," Kol casually said as he checked out the bodies of the witches for any magical objects he could hoard as keepsakes. Kol hadn't commented on what the witch said. As if he was afraid to voice it because if he did he would make it real. Only ignoring the problem would not make it go away. Neither would his fixation with his toys.

So far his obsession with dark objects did them no good where Caroline was concerned now did it? He couldn't even destroy Esther's barrier.

And something told him it was their mother that would shove Caroline into the abyss that wanted to claim her back.

Fate was already set in motion and he could only watch as a bystander and create contracts.

"I wouldn't have to get myself into the shit you created if you hadn't failed," Klaus whispered, irate and still feeling the dread sloshing through his veins.

If Kol had kept a tight leash on his witches Caroline wouldn't have been so close to dying. He wouldn't have fought with her. He wouldn't have lost her.

Red blinding his vision, his head was spinning and the constant rage he felt ever since he had the fallout with Caroline turned to wrath.

It turned to the solid anchor he needed.

Fury never failed him. He could always rely on it, trust it, unfailingly so.

Klaus abruptly turned around and let the madness and the frenzy guide him.

The darkness shifted around him and the gasp that fell from his brother's lips was a heavenly sound.

Kol looked down and Klaus smirked. He had pushed his little brother against the wall and had shoved his hand into Kol's chest.

He squeezed his heart wanting nothing more than to tear it out. It would grow again. That was the problem.

"We gave an oath you and I and you barely lasted days," Klaus seethed, "How can I trust you when I know you can barely function?"

"I barely lasted?" Kol choked a laugh, blood dripping out of his mouth, "You are the one with your hand in my chest brother."

Kol's enjoyment and his twisted smile made Klaus wish he had brought a dagger with him.

Soon.

"Such a useless organ," Klaus spat and gripped the muscle harder making Kol chuckle.

Klaus twisted his heart making Kol groan.

"For centuries I stood by your side as you failed me again and again and the only thing I did was send you for a nap when this useless organ of yours turned against me over and over again," Klaus reminded him, "and through it all, I never meant to keep you under," he said not paying attention at Kol's obvious distrust, "I always wanted you back because what you did it didn't matter. Now it matters."

Kol inhaled sharply, guiltily, and Klaus knew he had his full attention now.

"You didn't fail me this time brother. You failed Caroline and if your heart has a beat right now and not a dagger stuck in it you owe it to her," Klaus cursed, "fail her again and see what happens for this time there won't be a dagger and this heart of yours might just return to Purgatory."

Kol raised his eyes at Klaus and time froze.

It was at that moment that it happened.

Both Klaus and Kol felt the snap.

The last thread that brought them together wrapped around them and strangled the last of their brotherly bond.

Klaus locked his eyes with Kol's and the void he saw there was fathomless. No beginning, no end. Only darkness and in that darkness he gave his promise of ending him because he knew something of darkness too. Because he would rather he kill himself and Kol rather than watching Caroline die.

Kol had never mourned her. He didn't know how it felt.

He didn't know how it was when he was mourning both Caroline and him.

He uncurled his fingers from Kol's heart and removed his hand slowly from Kol's chest casting a last glance of anger at his brother before he turned around and left.

Kol didn't follow. He was left standing back among the corpses and when he uncurled his fist the bracelet he had meant to give Caroline was glinting in his palm. He watched the Andromeda coin as the echo of his mending heart pierced his eardrums. He wished he could end the sound. Once and for all.

Nik was right. Purgatory was where he truly belonged. Stranded alone in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere. Always.

He laughed, spitting blood.

His manic laugh shook his body.

He laughed until he couldn't laugh anymore.


Caroline marched into Marcel's loft not bothering to wait for him to even close the door.

"I need your help," she said without preamble.

Marcel Gerard laughed.

"What can I help you with?" he asked her with mirth and she turned around and searched his face for a moment.

"I did not like you," she declared and he snorted.

"Shocking news to me."

Caroline didn't respond to Marcel's sarcasm. Instead, she kept talking as if he hadn't spoken.

"But you stood up to Klaus to help me and," she paused gathering her courage, "I am trying to somehow change my initial judgment over you."

"Which was that bad?" Marcel challenged her as he went to fix himself a drink.

"No offense but you are like a mini Klaus."

Marcel sobered immediately, the bottle in his hands titled over the glass without pouring any alcohol in it.

"Offense taken," he deadpanned.

Caroline gave him a shrug and Marcel poured the whiskey into the tumbler while shaking his head.

He inclined his head offering her too a drink but she refused with a shake of her head.

"You claim that you want the best for this city and you are the head of the vampire community here," she started knowing that she had to take a leap of faith with Gerard. Trust was not an easy thing for her these days but just maybe she should take a page from the book of her old self and reach out to people rather than close herself into the paranoia Kol taught her.

"Go on," Marcel encouraged her while slowly drinking his whiskey.

"We are working together for some time now," Caroline stalled a bit, "Training vampires and…and you saved me after the explosion," she felt mouth drying, "And then with Klaus."

Marcel searched her face for a long moment.

"You are helping my people Caroline and we were negotiating a truce before the explosion happened. A team-up even, if I got your drift right."

She nodded and Marcel mimicked her reaction.

"Then consider this a…. give and take," he said and Caroline hummed.

She knew how this game was played. You had to give something to gain something. Marcel knew how to play the game but so did she. She just had to trust her instincts and play her cards right and just maybe give a chance to herself to trust others again and make allies here.

After what happened with Klaus she desperately needed to create more connections with other people here and Marcel had power and at least she could respect some things about him. He wanted the respect of his people and she could relate to that. She could understand it.

Besides she used to know that in order to connect with people you had to open up parts of yourself. To take a risk.

She had to remember that again because she couldn't do this on her own.

"I am trying to adjust to this crazy city and to become a part of this community and since you are leading the vampires here and you claim that you want to gain their trust as I vampire I need to know that I can trust you," Caroline opened up, her tone resolute and that caused Marcel's eyes to shine with interest.

"I am going, to be honest with you," she told him with a wary expression, "You cannot use me against the Originals. Do not even try it," she fervently shut him down on that, "but I can give you my word that I won't double-cross you in return. As long as it does not involve any plots and hurting others you can come to me. And I want to know that if I have a problem I can come to you."

Marcel looked as if he was thinking about it but she could see that he also had his demons that caused him trust issues. To that, they could relate. After all, she half-joking when she told him he was like a younger Klaus. Klaus Mikaelson didn't trust anyone and he had obviously passed that on to his son.

"And I should trust you on this?" Marcel asked her, doubt and challenge ringing in his tone, and Caroline smiled knowingly.

"Let us say that we should try to trust each other," she offered and went and stood next to Marcel by the window.

He looked at the night beyond it and the beautiful view but focused on her reflection on the glass.

She placed her hand over her chest feeling the metal beneath, hanging from the thin chain.

"Here is me making the first step," she mumbled and faced Marcel, "do not make me regret this," she warned him as she reached for the pendant's chain and pulled it outside her shirt.

"Do you remember when I first came to New Orleans? You and Cami found me and brought me to Klaus."

"Yes. You looked like death warmed over."

Caroline smiled bitterly at his choice of words.

"You couldn't be more right Marcel," she sighed and locked her gaze with his, "More than a year ago I was killed in the middle of the street. It was night and some hunters had put a target on my back. They shoved a stake into my chest."

Marcel stilled.

Caroline gulped down harshly, her fingers gripping the medallion hard.

"Dying was not easy," she confessed, "what followed was by far worse."

"You are saying-"

"Yes. I came back from the dead. Literally," she muttered, "I won't give you the gruesome details but the afterlife is not all brimstone and hellish fire. It is way worse and I and Kol Mikaelson clawed ourselves out of it."

Caroline pushed back the images her mind conjured up. She focused on telling Marcel her story. At least some of it.

"I knew the Originals from Mystic Falls. There I met Klaus and the rest of his siblings," she remembered, "but I barely knew Kol Mikaelson personally before he died. Then I died," she smirked sourly, "the night I came to New Orleans was just after my resurrection. Kol came back that night too."

Marcel watched her with keen eyes.

"This is an unbelievable story, Caroline."

"Is it?" she flatly asked, "you live in the city of dark magic Marcel. I am sure you have seen more unbelievable stories come to life before."

Marcel could not deny that.

"I am not a ripper," she reassured him once again. She knew he had seen her control while she trained the vampires but she also knew first impressions were hard to forget, "but adjusting back has been a struggle and lately it has been far more challenging."

Caroline watched outside the window again. The night lights were glittering in the distance.

"I do not know why Esther Mikaelson trapped me in the city or why she keeps tampering with my bloodlust," she scoffed because she was starting to connect the pieces, "I imagine I won't get to like the answer and it might send me straight back to hell," she grit her teeth, "And there is more."

"Like what?"

"The hunter who killed me. He was here in New Orleans. The night the Mikaelsons threw the ball for the treaty he was there."

Marcel narrowed his eyes.

"A hunter?"

Caroline hummed.

"Are you sure?"

Caroline gave him a pointed look and he looked intrigued.

"He should be registered."

"Registered?"

"If there is one thing every faction has ever agreed on was to not allow hunters to roam freely and operate in our territory, Caroline. It's a pattern the Originals started centuries ago and it continues. The hunters that do come to New Orleans are connected with the human faction and we have them marked. A hunter wouldn't be allowed to step into the ball. Not with all the factions present."

"And yet he was there," Caroline pointed out, "Among you."

Marcel fixed her a wary look.

"Who is he?"

"Was," Caroline corrected him and Marcel didn't seem surprised by the fact that he was now dead. He probably assumed she had killed him, "Jared Forbin."

Marcel furrowed his brow.

"That name," he trailed off and Caroline felt as if every nerve in her body got on edge.

"You know him?"

"No. But the name sounds familiar somehow," he explained and he looked as if he was trying to remember something.

"Supposedly he belonged to the city's elite," she said but Marcel shook his head.

"No. Not that. Something about the name," he mumbled, "I can't place it but I have heard it before," he mused almost absentmindedly, "you killed him?"

"No," Caroline testily said, "Klaus caught him and then Forbin cast a suicide hex and offed himself before I could get the answers I wanted from him."

"What kind of answers?"

"Why he had killed me. It seemed somehow," she paused and then took a deep breath and let her thoughts out knowing they would become real once she would speak them, "orchestrated."

Marcel's brows pulled together but then his face became expressionless.

"Let me guess. The Originals were there while you were trying to get your answers and you ended up not getting any."

Caroline pressed her lips in frustration.

"Supposedly they didn't know who he was."

"Of course they didn't." Marcel snorted.

"Are you sure you don't?" she insisted giving him a hard look letting him know she had her doubts about him too.

"We do need to work on our trust issues Caroline," Marcel stated.

Caroline sighed and her answer to what he said was showing him Forbin's pendant. She pulled it off her neck and presented it to Marcel that gave her a questioning look.

"It belonged to Forbin," she explained feeling as if the pendant was burning in her palm, "Kol tried to snatch it before I could get my hands on it," she told him but kept the part about how her dad owned the same pendant to herself.

Marcel watched the shine of the silver in her hand with renewed interest and then looked at her with mirth.

"You beat Kol Mikaelson to the punch then fast-hands?" he asked with an impressed whistle giving her a new nickname.

"Have you seen this before?" Caroline insisted and Marcel frowned.

"May I?"

Caroline watched Marcel's open palm and she reluctantly gave him the pendant watching him as he examined it with sharp eyes.

"This design in particular no," Marcel answered as he inspected the silver circle with the engraved book in its center. His eyes focused on the intricate design of the key in the book's cover, "but it does seem similar to another insignia I have seen some years ago," he informed her and gave her back the necklace, "well at least the craftsmanship does."

"Where?" Caroline demanded breathlessly, "where have you seen it?"

"There was one cult that used similar pendants. Not exactly the same but close. They had tried to set their foot in New Orleans a few decades ago but I made sure they wouldn't get the chance," Marcel's voice was low and lethal now, "It would not bode well for our kind if they had."

"Who Marcel?" she whispered feeling as if the air was sucked out of the room. Her whole body tensed and her heart started pounding fast, "Who were they?"

"The Augustine Society."