"First sign of madness, talking to your own head."
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
'Welcome to the end of eras….Ice has melted back to life…done my time and served my sentence…dress me up and watch me die…'
The night was brimming with danger. Lethal, beautiful and so very cold despite the uprising body heat. Ice-chilled roses drenched in blood and champagne were beautifully placed everywhere with the insignia of the Fleur-De-Lis in metal design around their thorns. Rose petals were falling in between hanging ribbons, strung-up lights, and crystals. Purple and gold along with black and the color of ice enhanced every corner of the prestigious club that was booked for this night.
Contortionists were performing on long stripes of silk hanging from the ceiling. Their bodies twisted and their extreme flexibility was alluring to the eye along with their dangerous tricks that could bring death to everyone that danced around their fangs and blades.
'Snatch your chain and mace your eyes…If it feels good, tastes good…It must be mine
…Heroes always get remembered…But you know legends never die…'
Klaus Mikaelson sauntered through the crowd, his eyes glittering dangerously as the vampire party was in full mode.
Like a King, he walked into another man's Kingdom knowing it was the Queen that would take the crown but he was not one to bow and leave conquering to others. His presence was required, in mockery he knew, but he wanted to see the…Queen.
'…Oh yeah the crown…so close I can tasted it…
I see what's mine and take it…'
And through the night's allure, he could see her hair like a crown of gold shining in the distance.
High heels, tight jeans, microphone at hand.
Her voice was angelic, in her eyes, hell was brewing. Enchanted he followed her melody. Anyone getting in his way he would tear apart. He twisted his body between the obstacles of other bodies and moved forward like a predator having set its eyes on prey.
His eyes darkened when he saw the man that was on stage twirl her around and then snatch her body back, pressing it to his own as he sang along with her, and then the man's palm was stretched over her stomach as she swayed her hips to the music, lost in their song.
Her eyes found him in the distance and she almost lost her smile but then a hint of a smirk emerged on her lips and along with it so did her confidence and defiance.
'…Mortal kings are ruling castles…Welcome to my world of fun….'
Seductively she let the lyrics spill from her lips as she stomped her heels on the stage in sync with the rhythm. Mesmerized Klaus followed her every move.
'….Finders keepers, losers weepers…'
The constant rhythmic beat of the music was pounding. He walked through the mist and the smoke and the flickering bright lights that bounced on the crystals and the mirrors on the ceilings, the floors, and the walls. Flashes of light were battling the darkness and the whole place was packed with people who were drinking, singing, and dancing. The thrall of music and danger lingered in the air and did the scent of blood that was rising with every passing minute.
'…Double, double, double down…
And if you don't know now you know…I'm taking back the crown…I'm all dressed up and naked…'
Tonight vampires and humans alike were there to lose themselves to the night. Witches and wolves were not invited. It was a private affair. From the corner of his eyes, Klaus noticed known faces from Nyx withdrawn in the shadows.
Everyone danced with closed eyes as if they were high and most were. Either by drugs, booze, or blood. His pulse picked up at the scent of blood mixed with whiskey and cocaine.
There was noise everywhere and so much energy buzzing.
It was the talk of the city. The vampire society was having a grand party like those Marcellus used to throw when his reign in the city was absolute. Tonight of all nights as Hayley Marshall was marrying in the bayou and then her wedding parade would lead her through the streets of the French Quarter.
'…Sycophants on velvet sofas…Lavish mansions, vintage wine….'
Marcellus and Caroline had decided to keep the vampires occupied and away from the werewolves that would run in the city's streets tonight and what better way to do it than throw a party. Klaus had found out that this night was also a cause of celebration.
In the last weeks, Marcel and Caroline had made it their purpose to find everyone that had a part in the explosion at their park and they sought retribution. It became bloody, savage, it sent a message and now it was time for everyone to dance in the ashes.
Caroline had let her rage loom over the city and the traitors. A trait he had never expected from her but was not surprised by it. She knew very well how to torture, how to maim, and to cripple. She knew what hurt the most and she knew when to use poison and blades and when seduction and honey. And after the last time they met, she shed all pretenses and showed the world who she was.
He hadn't seen her for days and she had turned to Marcel, giving in to the vampire community, rising slowly to become one of Marcellus' most efficient and feared vampires.
And she took charge. Any witch that would be tempted to ally with his mother against Caroline Forbes would have to think twice especially since Kol's standing order about Caroline being off-limits to the witches of New Orleans still stood.
Only Caroline didn't rely on the Mikaelsons anymore.
'…I am so much more than royal…'
There had been a subtle change. He had noticed how witches and even wolves had started to warily look out for her but also respect her to be a diplomatic connection to Marcel that for those who aimed to truly maintain peace and show her respect she would also show understanding, mercy, and humanity.
What was most important however was that the vampires of New Orleans were starting to show her the same loyalty and respect they showed Marcel Gerard. Klaus didn't know what kind of deal Caroline had struck with Marcel but they were or at least presented a united front.
Marcel was the King but Caroline was the one who trained the new vampires and taught them control. She was sparring with Marcel on equal ground which impressed even the older vampires that now followed her lead and wanted to learn tricks from her. Tricks she had learned from Kol obviously. Caroline was becoming well-liked between the vampires that now viewed her as one of theirs which put her right under Marcel's wing.
The dynamics were changing and it was starting to create the sense of a new brotherhood. Many female vampires aspired to learn from Caroline and every newly turned vampire was turning both to Marcel and Caroline that both showed to everyone what it seemed to relish in your nature. Caroline showed to everyone that they didn't have to be monsters but she and Marcel were not shying away from monstrous acts should it would be deemed necessary for the protection of the vampire community.
Marcel played his cards just right. Given how Caroline was a new member of the vampire community he showed that once you are in his team you would find support, your enemies would be his enemies and if you showed devotion and loyalty you would be rewarded and you would have a chance to rise in his ranks if you were capable enough and Caroline showed how new blood was necessary to revive New Orleans and the vampire faction. She also had a daylight ring and she fought for the right of all vampires to have one which made her quite popular to every vampire around.
Marcel and Caroline made quite a team much to his dismay and quite an effective one much to Elijah's dismay.
'…Dynasty decapitated…you just might see a ghost tonight…'
In their quest for retribution through Davina Claire, and Kol's absence there had been witches that openly took Gerard's side all in the name of the peace they had agreed upon the night of the ball. Klaus and Elijah couldn't stop just vengeance if they wanted to present a united front and a sense of justice. Marcel and Caroline went by their rules and even though everyone between them knew that the real instigator of the attacks had not been dealt with every faction in New Orleans learned that the vampires were not to be trifled with and that the peace would stand by all and if anyone broke it there would be a price to pay.
He could see Marcel's plan but also Caroline's strategy. The Originals had imposed peace but if they showed how fragile it was it would eventually lead to negotiations which in turn put the power of the Originals in question. The Originals had to play along if they wanted to maintain their status quo while keeping the city peaceful which was what they originally aimed for. However the tables kept changing and while Klaus would gladly eradicate them all, with few exceptions of course like the girl who sang on stage, he also knew that this was not a game that could be won by raw power alone. If he chose that road he would have to keep fighting power-hungry enemies that would just keep multiplying and New Orleans would never be safe.
'…Finders keepers…losers weepers….Oh yeah…'
He had taught Marcellus well and right now he also had Caroline by his side to help him work his strategy and he could see her influence tonight. She had organized this club party along with Marcel Gerard and he could see his flair and her elegance mixed together. Her signature was everywhere and everyone knew it especially given the show Marcel and Caroline were giving for the audience right now.
Both of them were on the stage above the dance floor dancing and… singing their own covers of popular songs.
Both had the spark, the talent, and the adrenaline to get up to the stage and own it. It reminded him of the day he had returned back to New Orleans and had seen Marcel again after so many years when he was singing on his own and relishing in his power and right now Caroline was joining him.
'…oh yeah…'
Limelight was cast on Marcel and Caroline as they challenged each other vocally and as they were enjoying themselves on the stage as if the world would end tonight and they would dance before the devil as they entered hell.
The orchestra was live, the bass of the sound system crisp and powerful as they held their microphones and stood against each other singing with voices that made everyone ecstatic.
Klaus felt his anger turning to slow fury and he had to collect himself before he started ripping out the heads of everyone.
'Oh…Oooh…Finders keepers, losers weepers….Double, double, double down…'
Caroline's eyes gleamed and so did Marcel's. Their bodies locked in the right tempo, both of them in sync, each one knowing when to take up the stage and the other when to escort their partner by slowing down their voices and accompanying the other's performance. Back and forth. Like a magnetic surge of energy back and forth. Completely balanced.
Everyone as if they could sense Klaus' presence parted and he walked with his eyes locked with Caroline's. Her smile was provocative and sultry. She winked at Marcel and pointed in Klaus' direction with her head and Marcel flashed him a smile full of white teeth from afar.
Caroline locked her gaze with Klaus' and sang almost sinfully as Marcel stepped back leaving room for her voice to rise and spread like venom, ready to spike Klaus' blood and heart with poison.
'….Liars settle into sockets….Flip the switch and watch them…
…run…'
Marcel threw his head back and laughed at the way she sang-whispered the last word that echoed around them like a vibration.
"…Run."
The crowd was singing along with them.
Marcellus aimed his gaze to Klaus now as Caroline hummed slowly while he took the lead and sang enjoying himself and the message he was giving.
'Oh yeah the crown…So close I can taste it…
I see what's mine and take it…I'm taking back back…Taking back back the crown…'
Klaus smirked at that but when Caroline ran her fingers down Marcel's arm pulling him closer as she stepped back and sang with her beautiful voice. Her glare laced with amused delight was directed at Klaus and he wanted to destroy the world.
'Done my time and served my sentence…I'm all dressed up and naked…I see what's mine and take it…Heroes always get remembered…
…But you know legends never die…
…Never …die…'
Caroline kept repeating the never die part as Marcel sang along. Klaus envied their chemistry. Their interacting energy. They looked carefree, young and they both loved the attention and the singing. It was running in their blood and Klaus felt his own blood like pouring lava in his veins. Hateful, scornful and so very vindictive. He hated seeing them together like this.
Their voices rose as one, rising higher and higher, their smiles beaming as they finished their song, their voices fading out among everyone in the club clapping for them.
'Oh yeah, the crown
Finders keepers, losers weepers
Double, double, double down'
Marcel gave her a theatrical bow and Caroline threw her head back and laughed. As if she had no worry in the world. As if no ghosts were haunting her and as if she was carefree enjoying the night but the way her eyes shone in the dark told him another story.
He stopped and everyone created a circle around him. Music stopped. Humming sounds rose and when Marcel lifted his hand silence spread.
Klaus gritted his teeth when Caroline took a step back behind Marcel.
Marcel brought the microphone close to his lips and enthusiastically pointed at him.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" he exclaimed, "It looks like we have honored company tonight! Everyone welcome my sire and best friend! Klaus Mikaelson!" Marcel welcomed him, his gaze mocking, and then when he snapped his fingers the drummer used his sticks to give him an introduction piece.
"To peace!" Marcel declared and smirked, "Let's give him a night to remember."
For a few moments, no one said anything. Klaus and Marcel had their own staring contact before he glanced at Caroline behind Marcel's shoulder that was watching him cold eyes. Klaus then turned his attention back to Marcellus and gave him a nod.
Everyone clapped and blood was offered to him in a glass of champagne.
Klaus drank slowly, and chatter was starting again and he watched with narrowed eyes as Caroline whispered something in Marcel's ear. His protégé chuckled and gave her a nod.
Klaus watched as Caroline went to the orchestra while Marcel went and took a guitar.
Everyone yelled excitedly and bounced when Caroline stepped forth and used her microphone.
"Special occasions, special guests," she whispered, but her tone was echoing temptingly to the music that was starting to hum, "To the upheld peace, everyone!" she echoed Marcel's words, and everyone cheered.
Caroline masterfully slid the microphone in the slot of the boom stand and adjusted the height of it while Marcel dragged a chair and sat at her side making himself comfortable and testing the chords of his guitar.
The lights lowered until they illuminated only Caroline on stage.
Notes started playing and she smiled.
"Speaking of the Devil," she mocked and Klaus assumed the song she was about to sing would compliment those words somehow as she directed them to him, "So I think I have one more in me!" she said to her audience, "you want it?" she beamed and panic rose around.
Like a siren, she enchanted them all. He could see the bloodstains in her clothes and hair. Her eyes glinted green.
"What do you say?" she asked again, playing with everyone, spreading her arms theatrically. Everyone cheered for her to sing. Klaus's lips became tainted red by the blood he was drinking.
Caroline hummed and closed her eyes and somehow that was enough for everyone to stop even breathing.
Klaus was just as mesmerized.
The music notes died and Caroline's voice resonated. A slow humming that transformed into silk and velvet. Graceful, melodic, and heartbreaking.
'…Regrets collect like old friends…Here to relive your darkest moments…'
Klaus' breath hitched at the song choice and the introduction lyrics when Caroline slowly opened her eyes and locked her intense gaze with his.
'I can see no way, I can see no way.'
Caroline breathed out, a soft exhale before she let a singing whisper.
'And all of the ghouls come out to play'
Marcel started gliding his fingers over his musical instrument and some low notes from the orchestra started playing. But nothing could surpass Caroline's magical voice.
His memory took him back to the time he confessed to her he had been in Purgatory.
'And every demon wants his pound of flesh…But I like to keep some things to myself'
Flashback
His memories…the deepest fear he couldn't confess…Purgatory…
He had been in Purgatory.
Klaus Mikaelson had been in Purgatory.
Caroline stumbled back unable to comprehend what he had shown her. Those memories woke parts of her she wanted to forget. Terror and panic blended together and the nightmare awoke anew.
She looked at him with eyes wide, glistening with tears and absolute dread.
She shook her head and tried to breathe. To move. To do anything.
The words Klaus and Purgatory kept turning and turning in her head and with them so did the world underneath her feet.
She didn't know what was happening but Klaus' memories triggered something inside her. Something ingrained deep inside that had been trying to claw its way out for a long time now.
It was a snap. She felt it. It ran in her nature, in her blood. It almost took over.
...Set me free...
She almost lost her footing but before Klaus could reach out for her, her hand had punched the wall and she used it as support. To stand. To control herself. To find something to anchor herself onto.
She raised her eyes feeling as if chaos had swallowed her whole once more. Klaus' memories were so painful. Like her own. She was reliving her own because his memories triggered hers. Hers and…something else.
She couldn't do this.
He had been in Purgatory.
"What?" she managed to stammer, "How?"
Klaus watched hopelessly.
"The curse of the five," he told her softly as if he was afraid she would break apart in front of him, "I spend 50 years under the influence of the curse and in the end, it took my mind …there."
Caroline's gaze became unfocused.
"There," she echoed his words quietly.
Klaus had been there.
…Here…
In Purgatory.
The words of the song, beautiful lyrics, escaped Caroline's lips softly uttered. Klaus could see how her whole body was engaged in the moment. She was slowly swaying, the veins of her throat were pulsing as she mastered the art of singing as beautifully as he could master his pencil over paper and sketch. This was Caroline's art.
He knew it but he had never experienced it himself.
For all the pride he took when it came to painting he felt his heart ache by the gift that was given to Caroline.
Her beautiful voice.
It was art.
And as an artist, he could only appreciate it and get lost in it. Respect it. Bow down to its glory as he always did whenever he faced true talent and truly talented gifted artists.
And this was what Caroline Forbes was even if she hadn't cultivated her gift to its full potential…yet.
Klaus watched her sing with eyes alight with awe. Her voice was a caress.
A long time ago before he had gone to Mystic Falls for the ritual he had wanted to be one step ahead of everyone so he had everyone in Elena Gilbert's circle followed. He had wanted to know everything about his doppelganger. He didn't want anything to get between him and breaking his curse.
His reports revealed more things to him than he could have ever hoped especially concerning Caroline's line and legacy. It had been a surprise but he assumed fate was playing with him as both a Bennett witch and someone of Caroline's bloodline was around the doppelganger.
Back then his primary goal was to break his curse and Caroline's father was still alive. Everything he could get from Caroline's legacy he could get it from her father and he could have used her as leverage. That plan had been long forgotten the night he entered her room after he had manipulated his sirebond with Tyler Forwood in order for the boy to bite her.
When he first heard of her from the people he had sent to Mystic Falls before his arrival he had crafted in his mind a completely different image of who Caroline Forbes truly was. She had already been turned into a vampire and for a moment there he had believed it would be poetic to sacrifice her too in the ritual as Katerina Petrova had intended when she had turned her.
But he knew how to reconstruct his plans for the best outcome so he had let Damon free Caroline and Tyler and used his failsafe cards for the ritual. He had half a mind back then to strategize for the future and consider using Caroline against her father as leverage and for that, he had made sure he would find out everything about her so he had made a thorough research as he had done for Elena Gilbert.
Caroline Forbes hadn't been a priority but he had read every investigation report about her character carefully and quickly he had dismissed her as a nuisance. Overall as a person, she had seemed insignificant. A naïve child.
A beautiful girl who was surprisingly good with math and had a tendency to learn classic Latin and also… had a pretty singing voice.
She was quick to fall in love and stupid enough to let that weakness guide her. Having her followed back then made him notice a few things he had rejected too. She reminded him of Rebekah's spoiled nature and her foolishness when it came to love but where his sister was wicked that girl seemed weak. She had adapted to vampirism well but she still clung to her humanity and her shallow ways.
Only that report had been wrong. He still remembered how he had read her file and how he had rolled his eyes believing her to be frivolous and superficial. She had seemed to him a lovesick girl who sang on a stage to profess her love to a pitiful human and it would take him getting to truly know her to start dreaming that one day maybe she would sing for him.
For the girl he had met all those years ago in Mystic Falls had destroyed his expectations and had turned him into a lovesick infatuated fool. She was nothing like his minions had described her.
Caroline Forbes was a beautiful creature. Unique.
She was strong, beautiful, full of light.
She was a force of nature that could bend him to her will simply by being…her.
He hadn't missed the irony.
The girl he had dismissed at first sight on paper was a bright woman that had faced the same demons he had with far more grace and strength than he could ever imagine and now as she sang, he could only imagine she was singing for him and in a way she was but in all his dreams he had never dreamed she would sing for him like this.
Not like this.
'I like to keep my issues strong….It's always darkest before the dawn'
Flashback
She felt as if she was underwater and his voice was coming to her ears distorted and almost muted.
Klaus had shared his memories with visions in her mind and now he was sharing them by telling her his story. In every detail. As if the images were not enough. As if he knew his words were needed to prove what she had just seen and lived through their mental connection.
"I spent some years tormented in madness before I undaggered my siblings and despite their hate for what I had done they stayed by my side," he told her, his voice soothing which was contrasting the horror of his tale, "I don't know if they feared the most for me or of me ruining the world should I be left loose. Mikael was on our trail and I was uncontrollable."
He was speaking but his words were not making any sense. How could any of this make any sense?
Her heart sped up and darkness surrounded her. She almost transcended somewhere else.
'…Hear him, he always had such a lovely voice…don't just hear…listen…listen… and …set me free…let me out…'
That voice.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it in her dreams, in her nightmares. It was a calling. It was the abyss calling her home… a voice…it sounded like her voice but wasn't.
'…Come in…let me out…'
The voice broke through Klaus' voice and felt like a burning brand inside her mind.
It turned her blood into ice.
She almost blinked but couldn't.
The voice burned in the noise of her mind when she only wished for silence.
She willed it so and silence finally came. The voice disappeared and Klaus' voice became a constant that magnetized her attention again but Caroline's focus was broken and she felt as if she had an out of a body experience. Her mind was levitating, soaring far away, unable to grasp the enormity of what Klaus was telling her. She was becoming numb.
'I am going into shock.' she thought absentmindedly and watched Klaus passively.
…Not yet…
That voice again.
"Being an Original meant I couldn't die and I had tried," Klaus kept saying and she watched him as if he was her lifeline to sanity only what he was telling her was insane.
"Madness came and I couldn't be daggered like my siblings, " Klaus said, his eyes filled with pain and power, "Elijah had to lock me away but my lucid moments became far in between the constant agony of insanity. I couldn't be contained and a snapped neck could only last….for so long. Chains couldn't hold me, my body soon adapted to vervain and the last resort was a witch's spell."
Klaus smiled wryly as if those memories were not his. As if he hadn't been through all that.
"They tried to cleanse my mind but it didn't work. Everything clashed with the hunter's curse and my condition kept deteriorating. I had killed all five hunters not just one as Elena Gilbert had."
Elena's name brought Caroline only anguish.
"And you remember what that meant for her," Klaus said seeking her gaze with piercing eyes, "where it drove her."
"And I've been a fool and I've been blind…I can never leave the past behind…I can see no way, I can see no way…"
Even if the world moved beneath Klaus' feet he would remain rooted on the same spot.
Caroline's voice was mystical and ethereal. It rose and filled the stage, the dance floor, the world. She was breathing out music, with each breath that went deeper than inside her lungs and under her skin. It was soul-deep, it was singing in her darkness and her light, deep in the marrow of her bones.
None of them could ever forget. Hundreds of people around them but they were alone in the memories they shared. Memories of the past that brought them together and tore them apart. Just like Caroline's gaze right now that was holding him as he was searching in her own for something to tell him he wasn't alone. But he was. She was right there on the stage but he was alone. Darkness was closing in and it had the sound of her voice. It felt like condemnation.
Caroline Forbes could be dying on her knees and could be rising from her ashes and she would still have a heart of steel and the voice of a siren, and that voice was carrying an ocean that wanted to swallow him in its cold embrace.
Flashback
Caroline wanted to close her eyes and vanish. To go to sleep and never wake up again. The feeling rose inside her and she felt as if her humanity switch was a tangible thing. She could reach it. She could touch it. She could turn it.
But she and Kol had taken an oath to never turn it off. Purgatory would not get even that from them but that promise now seemed broken. Like everything else.
She looked at Klaus with a keen look.
Klaus and Kol. Them and her. They were all broken. Damaged.
"Everything became worse and worse until Rebekah and Elijah forced me inside a magical barrier," Klaus' voice carried on, "much like the one my mother has you in now. It was meant to keep me inside. The chances of Mikael finding me and ending me in that time were higher."
Klaus watched her with eyes that glowed with silent despair. It was palpable in the air around them.
"I couldn't get out. I couldn't die," he confessed and she closed her eyes because she knew what that meant all too well, "I was constantly tormented and eventually the curse took a life of its own. It was like an entity that realized it couldn't destroy my body to claim my soul as it had my mind."
An entity Caroline realized horrified.
An entity of its own. With a mind of its own.
With a voice of its own.
And she could hear it. Even now.
"Elijah learned that the daggers wouldn't work on me but there was another way for my body to give out."
Caroline met his gaze and realization dawned on her.
"The left you to desiccate."
Caroline wrapped her fingers around the microphone and brought her body closer to it. She closed her eyes and sang. Klaus saw how her body was both relaxed as if this was a fickle moment and he saw how she was bursting with energy giving the song her all.
"I'm always dragging that horse around."
She opened her eyes and locked her meaningful gaze with his. Everything became electric.
"Our love is pastured such a mournful sound."
Her voice twisted in a musical sigh that was a mournful sound but just as determined as a grave was when it was stealing a life.
Klaus saw death in Caroline's eyes. He clenched his jaw, he almost felt his teeth crack under the pressure.
The finality in her lit-up gaze that was accompanied by the perfect high-pitched melody made his heart's beat lose its tempo.
"Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground."
Flashback
Caroline watched him silently. Everything he was telling her she now remembered it clearly. She had seen his memories and could connect the pieces of his memory with his feelings. The past and the present clashed and she was stuck in between taking the hit.
"Eventually I became catatonic," Klaus continued with his tale without batting an eyelash, "A starving corpse shrunk into bone and decay. The agony was just as haunting as were the nightmares and then in the stillness, the nightmares became prolonged and then… they became real."
Real… Caroline kept repeating to herself. All this was real. It was not a nightmare. She wouldn't wake up at any moment. She was really living this.
Blood kept rushing into her ears with so much force that it was almost deafening.
"However I was an Original still," Klaus shrugged and this time she didn't hear the pride at being indestructible. This time she heard the weakness in that fact.
"Desiccation works a bit different on us. We can be mummified and our brains still remain alert, revived inside our rotting bodies over and over again. We need blood to sustain us but we are indestructible," he explained, "Desiccation didn't end my suffering, it only added to it."
The emotions his words stirred inside her…there were no words to explain them despite feeling them so acutely.
"Eventually my mind drifted and the Hunter's curse claimed my soul and locked it away."
Caroline swallowed harshly, her eyes transfixed on him.
"My body remained on earth but I was transported somewhere else. Somewhere where time ran differently. It didn't run. It was still."
Tears prickled her eyes. Her eyelashes became wet but that salt refused to run down her face.
"And yet it multiplied more and more."
She knew that. She had lived that. For more than a hundred years she was dead there when only a year had passed here. Klaus's curse lasted for more than five earthly decades. Even if he had experienced Purgatory in one decade of earthly time here that would mean…
Caroline's pulse throbbed in her temples.
He must have stayed more. Thousand of years. If not more.
"There was no air to breathe, no light, only monsters lurking in the shadows and the abyss and I was turning to one of them," Klaus told her and Caroline felt the need to throw up.
She remembered those horrific creatures in Purgatory. Those mindless things she had destroyed. She remembered her fear of staying in that hell long enough that in the end, she would turn into one of them.
"Slowly as the days became years, decades, centuries. I lost count and yet I counted every single moment," Klaus said with a barely recognizable voice. "Back then we didn't know how the hunter's curse was to be broken but half a century later every potential for the last of the hunters I had killed awoke and when the hunters were five once more, the echoes of the ghosts of the hunters I had killed died and along with them so did their curse."
For some reason, the only word that stuck in Caroline's mind was one.
Awakening.
That's how curses worked.
Something slept. And then something awoke.
'So I like to keep my issues strong…But it's always darkest before the dawn"
Caroline manipulated each syllable magnificently. Shadows and light, music and silence, surrounded her and every breath she took was letting out magic. None of which any witch could ever produce.
Caroline watched him and her eyes glazed with fire. With determination.
"Shake it out, shake it out…Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa
And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back…"
Flashback
"I snapped back, forcefully back into my body with such force that I was awakened even into my desiccated state and it was as if the curse had never happened. The agony stopped. I was lucid and eventually, Elijah realized I was back and fed me blood," Klaus concluded but Caroline could see how hard this was for him.
Because she knew that escaping from that place didn't mean that you were free. It meant that you jumped from one prison to another. A mental one. A worse one.
"By that time they had moved me to England," Klaus spoke about what the rest of the Originals had done during his absence, "In better conditions than a cave," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "I woke in a bed, sun half illuminating the room," his eyes were both hard and soft as he kept telling her the story, "Rebekah was by my side mumbling stories and lullabies at me from when we had been children. And this time her presence was not interrupted by ghosts or hallucinations."
Caroline could practically hear Rebekah's voice in her mind now. Her voice was so attached to Klaus' haunting memories that he carried it with him in his dreams and nightmares till this day. He would never forget.
"My sister always had the uncanny ability to see into one's truth and she was the first one to notice not only that I had returned but that the curse had run its course," he smiled bitterly, "she was the first to realize my sanity, or what sanity looks like to me," he scoffed, "had returned."
Caroline watched his glossy eyes.
"I was again myself only…I was not," he whispered and the knot in her stomach grew tighter, "That curse…that place had changed me forever."
Her fists curled.
"It had given me a new point of view of life" Klaus simply said, a hint of sadism and madness lacing his words and she could see his path very clearly as if it was her own. He had endeavored on a dark path like no other. In strides, "of what survival meant and deep down in the darkest part of my heart I knew that this place was not a dream. It was real," he insisted and Caroline tasted blood on her tongue. She bit the inside of her mouth so harshly that she also tasted more than the metallic scent. She tasted rage, "it had to be, and if Mikael ever found us and killed us this was the place we would eventually end."
Dread seemed to radiate from every part of Klaus' body.
"I used to believe Mikael hunting me had taught me what true fear was but that place taught me, real terror," he told her with glowing eyes, "which only added to the paranoia and panic I felt every time Mikael was getting closer. If he killed us… if he killed me," he paused and released his breath with difficulty, "if there was even a chance to return to that hell. The idea alone haunted me and turned my blood to ice and I swore I would never allow this to happen."
Klaus' conviction was sharp. Forged in the hottest fire. She knew that determination and that fear all too well. She knew how it was to be driven by that fear. By the possibility of that ending alone. She knew it. She felt it every day.
"After Rebekah's treason with the hunter, after the knowledge of the cure and the nightmares of that place," Klaus stopped and shook his head, "knowing how those daggers were created to subdue my family… I swore nothing and no one would ever make me bow and would never get a hold of me. If nightmares were after me I would-"
"Became the worse nightmare of them all," she finished for him and Klaus gave her a bitter smile.
Caroline held the microphone as she put her hand over her chest. She closed her eyes.
Up on that stage, she had transformed into something else. Something untamed and mythical. Something made of mist and whispers.
She was confident and broken on that stage but most of all she was honest.
She was honest as she gave a promise with a song.
'Cause I am done with my graceless heart…So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart'
Flashback
"The nightmare even nightmares were afraid of," Caroline mumbled and watched him almost with pity now. He returned the same look at her and gave her a small bow.
"That I did," he accepted and his eyes glinted with satisfaction and regret. And Caroline knew that this regret was not born out of guilt. It was born out of the certainty that if he had to do it all over again he would not change a thing. He would still go down that path. He was still on that villainous path, "I stopped causing screams of fear in others. Year after year I became the nightmare to be whispered in the night and the shadows. A creature no one believed existed."
His smile was feral.
"And if I didn't exist I couldn't possibly die, now could I?" he smirked at her, "I protected my family, I turned us to legends, and eventually after the failed ritual with Katerina, after losing even New Orleans, after living betrayal after betrayal and being haunted by the memory of that place and what would mean to return there I became a recluse."
Yes, she remembered. She remembered Rose's and Elijah's stories when they had first come to Mystic Falls. She remembered how Klaus was a dangerous shadow hiding in shadows. Back then that added to the terror his name inspired. He had isolated himself from the world and made the world fear him even more because of that. It was paranoia but it was also ingenuity.
He could afford that, however. She had nowhere to hide as she was trapped in New Orleans.
"I had to become truly indestructible," Klaus' eyes latched on to her and she finally understood his obsession with becoming the Original Hybrid better, "It was the only way I knew how to survive," Klaus said, "I knew that breaking my curse would be one more way to free myself from the bindings that kept me imprisoned ever since I turned to an Original. The bindings that made it possible for me to be defeated," his voice dropped an octave dangerously, "As the Original Hybrid I would be a true immortal and I would be able to create my own army to defend myself from my enemies."
Caroline snorted at that.
"Sired slaves don't constitute an army."
Klaus grimaced.
"They were not meant to constitute a threat either," he got out angrily, "they were meant to be like me. A chance to-"
"Not be alone. As you were in that place," she realized.
Klaus Mikaelson's fears of being alone run deeper than anyone thought. It was not just the idea of rejection from his family and the feeling of not being loved.
It was…Purgatory.
'And it's hard to dance with the devil on your back …It's always darkest before the dawn'
"You must understand that more now," Klaus whispered scanning her face, hoping that this would be indeed the case, "In that place I was all alone Caroline," he pressed, fear and pain lacing his accent, "It felt real. Physically real as if I was there… and I was," he swore.
Caroline averted her eyes and her palm covered her mouth in frustration. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she wanted to scream or not. She didn't know if she wanted to cover her ears or not.
Her hand reached her hair and she almost felt the need to pull them instead of threading it with her fingers angrily.
"My soul had somehow ended there before it jumped back into my body. I felt that too. In a different way yours did but everything had been so terrifying that I never uttered a word of that nightmare to anyone," he revealed, "Not my brothers, not Rebekah. I couldn't look weak," he tried to make her see before his shoulders slumped, "and they would simply believe it was nothing but an illusion of the curse and the insanity that it brought."
He was correct in his assessment. She could understand better now. Not just him. But also what he did. And what he didn't do.
Resentment flickered in her eyes.
"But you knew better."
Caroline smiled. A solemn smile. A smile of sarcasm and pain that was covered by the music she was making. Only he saw it.
'And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't…So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road…'
Flashback
"I knew," Klaus affirmed with a weak voice, "There were doubts given the existence of the other side but then the other side fell and my fears became bigger because I knew," he repeated dreadfully, "I felt that that place was what laid ahead at the ruins of the other side. And if I was correct then my brother…and you," he added with a pained expression, "would be stranded there. I hoped I was wrong. That there was peace beyond to the afterlife, to the place all of us one day will drift because even eternity is not without end," he acknowledged, "but my hopes died when you returned and then… you entered my mind."
Caroline pressed her lips. She had shown him. She had shown him Purgatory and he had remained silent. Even then he hadn't told her the truth.
"I didn't know what that place was," he vowed passionately, "I didn't have a name for it, but once you and Kol returned I suspected. You called it Purgatory," he exhaled sharply, "and just the word brought the terror back into my skin but I refused to believe it. In the centuries that passed after the curse I knew of the other side but none of the stories came near that terror and there had been scriptures and religions spouting nonsense about perdition, purgatory, hell of brimstone and fire," he waved, "but even that seemed like fairytales in front of what my mind had conjured up. Only as it turns out… it hadn't," he sighed. "Somehow deep down I knew that place to be real. I had walked in that hell and I had fought to survive. It took parts of me it never returned."
Caroline stared blankly at him.
She felt the void of those missing parts too.
"And then every memory returned. Only it wasn't mine. It was yours," he told her, "it wasn't until the morning after the ball when you have me some of your memories from that hell…and then I knew," he gravelly affirmed, "Every piece came together."
'And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope…It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat
'Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me…'
"This hadn't been a dream nor a nightmare. It hadn't been the fairytale or the boogeyman parents tell their children to put them to sleep," Klaus kept saying with that tempting voice of his, and something all she heard was a screeching sound.
She wanted him to stop but she couldn't speak.
"Now I know that new hunters had to be awakened to restore the balance for those I killed for me to gain back my sanity but no matter how insane I became that place was the only real thing to that madness."
…Awakened...
'Looking for heaven, found the devil in me…But what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me…'
Caroline's voice rose, took over every whisper, every scream, if there was heaven it reached their gates, if there was hell it burned through brimstone. Her voice was an abyss calling everyone home, her high-pitched melody was a sound shuttering the ruins Purgatory had left in their hearts and Klaus knew she was letting out some of its darkness in the despair of her voice as she let it all out.
"Meeee…Aahhhh…whoa…aaaaaa..."
Caroline was not just a great singer he realized. She was a truly great vocalist and she had great control over the high note she let stretch out in a long powerful exhale but while she mastered control over her voice he could see the struggle inside her that was battling for control.
Control she craved and wanted and still chased.
If she wasn't careful, she just like him, would be chased by their demons forever and the chase for control would become eternal.
Flashback
"Purgatory was not a figment of my imagination and in the end, it claimed you" Klaus mourned but Caroline could only see the fatalistic irony. It would have made her laugh if she wasn't feeling so hallow.
"The one it should never have," Klaus lamented, "and my brother," he quietly added, "and so the fairytale I had believed I had conquered didn't have a happy ending."
He gave her a tentative smile.
"Until you returned."
She said nothing for a long time. So long she could count eternity in it.
She met his eyes.
"You knew," Caroline's voice wavered, "You knew all along where I was."
Something bounced and echoed between them. It had the kind of force that created curses and broke them.
Marcel played the guitar complimenting Caroline's tempo and she let her passion out as she almost spoke and not sang the next words.
She was looking straight at him, eyes gleaming as if every light of night had found refuge in those green pupils.
'And given half the chance would I take any of it back?'
She wondered singing and shrugged at him, letting her shoulders fall as his turned rigid.
'It's a fine romance but it's left me so undone…'
Flashback
They stood against each other.
Night embraced them but they didn't move until Caroline turned around, slowly unlocked her door, went into her apartment, and closed the door behind her leaving Klaus alone in the dark. Her absence stronger than ever.
He reached for the door and rested his head against the wood.
'Forgive me' Klaus thought.
Behind the door, Caroline's body had slid down on the floor. Her head rested back on the door, as she stared at the void.
'….And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back… ….So shake him off, oh whoa…'
Caroline could hear Klaus' heartbeat. One door between. One eternity away. She hid her face against her knees until she finally heard his footsteps moving away.
She wanted to stop him from leaving as much as she wanted to make him leave faster.
She had many things she wanted to say and so much more she could never say.
Tears burned.
This had never been a fairytale. This had never been a happy ending.
.
.
In that moment something irrevocably broke inside her. Something broke and something finally…started clawing out.
Their eye contact never broke. It was a channel where everything flowed between them. A dynamic connection, a painful confession.
Everything Caroline couldn't tell him, she was tonight telling him with a song. The message was clear.
They were lost in the darkness now. The dawn was far, far away.
'Shake it out, shake it out
…It's always darkest before the dawn.'
Caroline's voice faded out and she lowered her head for the last time, closing her eyes and shutting out all emotion in them before she slowly raised her head.
She gave Klaus Mikaelson a slight nod.
She was shaking him out.
Caroline was heaving as if she had run miles and miles on vampire speed and was all out of steam but then her breath stilled.
Her eyes went cold and harsh as everyone cheered and clapped for her performance.
Everyone but him.
Caroline passed the microphone to Marcel and gracefully moved to the stage's edge and jumped down. Straight into the crowd that kept applauding as she walked between the masses of vampires and humans, past the dancers and the dancing couples, and headed straight to one of the red velvet sofas that were encased in a private circular alcove with golden trimmed curtains.
She was purposely ignoring him as she strode away from him. She took a glass of champagne from a waiter without looking at him and drained the glass before going and sitting down at the pillows with ease. She didn't pay any attention to the vampires next to her that were giving away to their lust for blood and sex.
She sat at the center of the sofa, her frame half emerged in light and shadow.
Klaus followed her, keeping his pace slow, and watched as a man came at her begging her to bite him. The idiot literally fell to his knees in front of her.
Klaus knew no one was compelled to be here tonight. Most humans were here for the thrill and any compulsion was given to ensure confidentiality.
Klaus felt the muscle at his chin tick as Caroline didn't hesitate to bite the man. She held the human from the nape of the neck, tilted his head to the side, and sank her fangs deep into his jugular vein.
Caroline's attention was not on the man she was biting, however. It was solely devoted to him. Her vampiric eyes were holding him hostage as she kept feeding.
It made his own blood roar.
He closed the distance and peered down at her as she kept feeding.
"Caroline," he uttered her name softly and her eyes closed. She moaned as she gave in to her bloodlust making his own spike before she lifted her eyes to look at him.
She moved back, let go of the human that watched her enchanted and she licked her lips. Thick blood coated them and painted her tongue and teeth red.
"More," the human begged and Klaus could smell how intoxicated the human was. Worse he could smell how intoxicated Caroline was.
Caroline sighed and sat back crossing her legs.
"Go away," Caroline dismissed the human, as fresh blood poured down his throat. She hadn't taken care to bite him softly. She had sunk in violently.
"Please," the man beseeched and Klaus gritted his teeth when he saw how the human dared to reach for Caroline's legs. Before he could reach her thigh however Caroline had grabbed his wrist and twisted it making him yell in pain.
She leaned forward, her vampire face a thing of lethal beauty.
"Run," she hissed with gleaming blood-coated fangs at the man that fell down on his ass once she released his hand and scrambled away from her terrified making other vampires around them laugh.
Only Klaus couldn't laugh. He was thrown off because it felt as if he was facing a stranger and not Caroline. It was as if something had possessed her and would not let go of her.
Klaus didn't know how to respond to this Caroline. He had once tempted her with darkness, with the potential of vampirism but this was not her. Not like this.
And yet it was her. His eyes roamed over her body. She wore tight black leather jeans, a red silk crop top, and red high stiletto heels. Long earrings adorned her ears. Forbin's bloody pendant was hanging from her neck and she had straightened her hair to perfection. Her eyelashes were long, her skin seemed as if it glowed. Her makeup was dark with black and red glittering shades.
Long gone was the girl he had met in Mystic Falls. The innocent beauty in the blue gown he had gifted her. The beautiful elegance in the pageant when they had gone out on their first official date. The royal appearance at the ball he hosted in the Abattoir was long gone too.
The woman in front of him was something else. And just as every other version of hers he had seen this one also enchanted him. He wanted her.
Klaus had never felt so indecisive in his whole life. This woman had turned him into a simpering moron.
Around them the upbeat music rose higher and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized Marcel was signing the show must go on song. Since when did his son had become so melodramatic he thought and fleetingly glanced at the stage while rolling his eyes.
"You are an honored guest you should mingle," Caroline's voice gained his attention. It had a glacial edge. She made herself comfortable and stretched her arms over the back of the sofa. "Try the buffet," she proposed and pointed both at the food and the humans.
"I think you have had enough fun for tonight, love," Klaus remarked and Caroline arched her perfect eyebrows at him.
"Who's to say that?"
Josh came close to Klaus looking between him and Caroline cautiously.
Caroline waved him away with a warning glance but the stupid boy was there to do damage control and look after Caroline. As if she would ever need him.
Idiots always provided good opportunities though. Which Caroline also knew from the looks of it. Josh didn't seem to take the hint.
Klaus smirked and saw how Caroline's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe it would be best if you moved this somewhere more privately?" Josh offered awkwardly.
Klaus didn't take his eyes from Caroline. Neither did she.
"Do you want me to make a scene, sweetheart? It may turn bloody," he warned her.
Klaus could see Caroline's fierceness and he realized that she was ready to play hard ball. She was fond of the boy but something had shifted in her moral compass. The old Caroline would withdraw, aiming to distract him differently because she knew what was to follow. This new one however truly was a piece of work.
Kol's handiwork.
"Go ahead," Caroline laughed, responding to his challenge, but he didn't give her the pleasure of backing down. Instead, he reached for Josh, grabbed him by the neck, and bit him ruthlessly infecting him with wolf venom.
He let him fall to the ground in front of him and Klaus arched his brow at Caroline in challenge. Around them, people were hissing and leaving the booth.
Commotion was starting to grow around them and Josh on the floor was touching his neck with horror. He knew what it meant to be bitten by a Hybrid.
"The buffet could be less stale," Klaus commented snobbishly as he wiped the drip of blood from the edge of his lips with his thumb and licked his finger, his eyes on Caroline.
On the outside, he looked satisfied but on the inside, he was seeing red. Since when Caroline allowed him to hurt her friends like this?
The conflict inside her should have turned her in the other direction and while he saw how her chest rose and fell with anger just for a moment, the moment was not enough to break the ice. She only rolled her eyes.
Josh staggered up looking at Caroline helplessly but she gave him a reassuring smile before she huffed tiredly.
"So much for the infamous Mikaelson peace treaty," she snorted, loudly enough to be heard all around, and pouted her lips with indignation, "Go backstage and wait for Marcel," Caroline said to Josh, and the vampire left looking stunned. Caroline did know too how Marcel had a stock of his blood so from the looks of it she wasn't affected by Klaus' show.
"So dramatic," she mumbled and got up, "don't ruin my event," she dismissed Klaus and tried to walk away from him, probably to go and coddle Josh, but he didn't let her.
He blocked her way. Their bodies almost crashed together.
Her lips thinned and she grabbed him by the arm and pushed him behind the curtains deeper into the shadows.
Klaus could see more vampires hiding in the shadows, engaging in orgies and blood.
"Your tactics are getting old," she indignantly drawled.
"Do you think your precious Josh feels that way?"
Caroline looked unaffected which worried him. He knew she had taken the boy under her wing. She had been training him and she considered him a friend. And just as he tried to use him to bring a reaction out of her she was also using him to show him that when it came down to it she wasn't playing games. She was ready to use people for leverage. He had to make sure that behavior of hers would not reach beneath the surface and become a permanent feature of hers. He knew she could be strategic and lethal but he also knew of her empathy and her morality when it came to the people she cared for.
"He'll deal," she said callously and Klaus matched her tone, not wanting her to see how much her act was bothering him.
"Old tactics," he tsked pretending to be offended, "I prefer calling them classics if I am being honest. Maybe next time I should just rip out his heart."
Caroline gave him a look.
"Yeah, you do that," she mocked him and his eyes turned to slits.
This was the problem. She knew all too well that he wouldn't hurt her. That gave her the advantage. She chose new friends but she also knew that he wanted her to keep her in touch with her humanity and killing her friends would negate his purpose. What was most unfortunate was that she was also trying not to bond deeply with people and she may have just used him to prove that to herself even if it wasn't true.
It was a delayed realization but he came to understand that even if he started their power game tonight she finished it. He played straight into her game he realized and fear gripped him tight. Fuck the peace treaty and the way she manipulated him given how Josh was loved in the vampire community. Caroline used him to prove to herself that she was something she was not.
This wasn't Caroline. She protected people like Josh. She didn't use her people like this.
Giving her his memories seemed to have tipped her over the edge. Kol's influence on her showed now more than ever.
Purgatory's influence he corrected himself.
Caroline took his silence as an excuse to leave but he blocked her way by resting his palm against the wall, effectively stopping her from returning back to the party.
"What do you want?" Caroline sighed not bothering to spare him a glance.
"To talk."
"As you can see I am busy," she said as she took one glass from one of the vampires closer to them and gulped it down. The said vampire didn't even protest only took his empty glass back when she gave it back to him. He only bowed to her and left taking his group of friends with him once Caroline gave him a signal with her eyes. She had risen rank in Marcel's army for sure.
"I am done talking Klaus."
The lines in his face tightened.
"I am not."
Caroline looked unimpressed and nodded between them.
"I am bored with this."
Their shadows mingled in the dim lights behind them as he came closer to her with features set up in stone.
"You are spiraling," he barked and she gave him a taunting smile.
"Am I?" she feigned shock, "Right yeah…we are the same…you know me so well," she mocked him, her eyes empty of all emotion, and Klaus grabbed her by the arms ignoring the frosty look she sent him.
"Don't you dare," he threatened her and she stared at him without acknowledging his order.
They both heard what he was telling her even though he didn't speak the actual words. 'Don't turn it off'.
His gaze was both angry and imploring.
Caroline leaned closer making his brow pucker in surprise.
"Why don't you compel me then?" she provoked him with a droll even though he could smell the vervain in his system.
"Don't tempt me."
Caroline smiled dryly just as she pushed him back and stormed away.
He stalked towards her and let out an almost inaudible growl when another human, an emo-looking girl this time, stumbled drunk in her way and offered her, her wrist, and Caroline simply bit into it.
Savagely.
Klaus watched her carefully.
Good news, Caroline was lashing out.
Bad news, Caroline was lashing out.
He saw it in Caroline's eyes as she looked up at him. He heard it in the human girl's heartbeat that was slowing down and he was not going to let it happen.
He wouldn't let Caroline do this. Not like this.
Klaus swiftly snapped the girl's head making screams of terror and laughter rise all around them. The classic tactics did work better after all.
Vampires were compelling and chased humans once more. Even Marcel laughed on the stage before he kept singing.
"Seriously?" Caroline exclaimed and the ferocious rage that his action created in her almost made him sigh with relief.
There she was.
He wouldn't let her turn off her humanity and he knew there were more ways to do that than just turning off a switch. Actions could also kill someone's humanity. Could snuff out their light and he wouldn't let Caroline self-destruct like this.
Caroline stared at the dead girl at their feet before she glowered at him and strode away.
Marcel gave him a vicious grin as he glared at him before Klaus headed towards Caroline.
'Show must go on.'
The clatter of her high heels on the pavement was covered by the silent steps that followed her like a shadow. People had filled the streets and as always it was a night of frenzy partying, music, and booze in the streets of New Orleans.
"Why are you following me?" she said and kept walking without turning around to see him. What she knew for sure was that she did not want to spend the night with Klaus Mikaelson at her tail, "I am not in the mood to play your distraction tonight," she dismissed him coldly.
"Why is that?" Klaus drawled from behind her, his tone emitting the same coldness as hers just as he laced his words with velvet, "Did I distract you more than you believed I could?"
Caroline halted. Klaus' footsteps came to a stop.
She wet her lips and turned around. There was movement around them, people walked, danced, drank. Jazz music was flowing in the air. Street lamps were casting light and their shadows became larger on the ground.
Their gazes clashed.
Caroline approached him as Klaus scanned her movements.
"So what?" she asked, using a sultry tone, "now that you showed me those memories you believe that we share something in common?" she mocked him acting as if she was deeply touched but her body language and her gaze spoke of how her heart was incased in ice.
"Don't we?" Klaus asked her and Caroline snorted.
"Oh, believe me, we do not," she emphasized but then her indignant attitude changed into something challenging. "But since you are in such a sharing mood. What did the Shaman you burned say?"
She had taken him by surprise because this was not what he was expecting her to ask.
He pressed his lips and she smiled. She reached for his necklaces and chose one. One in particular. She intertwined her fingers around the necklace and Klaus' gaze darkened when he realized which one she had chosen.
"Well you did enter my mind and when one door opens one can walk both ways," she quipped making Klaus's body tense. He hid secrets. There were those he was willing to share and those he didn't and he had to be wondering right now how deep she had dag in too, "Just a glimpse was enough for me to see your pyromaniac tendencies and feel them burn."
Flashback
Klaus slowly and so very painfully choked the life out of the shaman witch with Gloria's necklace. He had no intentions to let the witch live but now he would not grand her a merciful death. Too bad that this witch was not powerful enough to predict her own death.
Klaus didn't stop twisting the necklace around the witch's throat until it dag into the skin and sliced her head off. Then his temper got the best out of him and destroyed everything at sight letting the steam of his rage ignite into savage destruction.
Whatever that thing inside the witch was it should fear him.
He tore the witch's body apart feeling the same agonizing rage he had felt centuries ago when Esther cursed him and when Mikael was hunting him down threatening to turn him and his world to ash but there would be no hiding for those that aimed to take away from him what he kept close to his heart. No God or Hell, Fire or Gate, Retribution or Purgatory would hide them from him. He would tear them apart and would let their wretched souls rot in never ending anguish for all eternity.
When he stepped out of the burning hut, covered in blood and magic, he wrapped the bloody necklace back to his neck. It did not have any more mystical power but it would make a nice keepsake and a reminder of what happened to those that wanted to destroy him.
Smoke rose and the flames reflected in his eyes.
This was war.
"It was about me wasn't it?" Caroline flatly realized and let go of his necklace, "one plus one after all and since the timing, everything happened is not a coincidence don't even try to pretend otherwise," she sighed as Klaus tucked the necklace back into his shirt, "so what did she say?"
"A prophecy," Klaus answered without evading her question, "And it was about you, yes."
Something flashed in Caroline's eyes but she was quick to hide it. Too quick for anyone else to have seen but Klaus saw it.
"Right," she grunted, "We've got those now," she exasperated, "And?"
Klaus grimaced as if he had tasted something sour.
"And this," he gestured wildly trying to tame his anger, "is why I can't have you running around with a suicidal wish straight into danger unprotected!"
Caroline wasn't moved by his outburst.
"How protective of you," she snorted, "What did she say?"
Klaus closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. When he reopened them there was something ferocious in them.
"Her last words were "The abyss is calling her back…the shadows are in her now…they are calling her back …" Calling you…back to al-A'raf."
Purgatory.
Caroline's breath hitched. She couldn't stop the feeling of absolute dread that consumed her whole. It ruined her. It obliterated her.
"I didn't want you to live in constant fear, this was why I kept this from you. It won't happen. I won't let it happen," he swore.
Caroline watched him without responding at all but then she threw her head back and laughed.
"Home sweet home," she sang almost longingly, "Must have missed me. Must have missed you too," he tossed back at Klaus sweetly. Her eyes burning.
She then pouted and scratched the side of her head as if she was in deep thought.
She pointed a long finger at Klaus and mockingly widened her eyes as if she had a sudden epiphany.
"Maybe this is what we share actually," she blurted out faking shock, "Deep down we both know we are not free, are we? That place is calling us, is pulling us back. Me, your brother…you," she sadistically added him in the list and saw the way Klaus now shivered with unbridled fury, "Thank you for telling me though. I assume I must be grateful and ignore all the rest you do not," she sarcastically thanked him and Klaus took a threatening step closer.
Her eyes followed the length of his body from toe to head and she arched her brow at him expecting another outburst from him.
"There are some things I can't tell you right now," he insisted, an ounce of regret lingering in his words that made her tilt her head at him feigning sympathy.
"Or ever," she argued with mirth.
Klaus looked as if he was so done with her bitchiness. Pity. She had spades to spare tonight.
"For your own protection!" he seethed.
Caroline's lips became a straight line and she looked as if she was going to choke from the effort to not laugh but in the end, she gave in and her laughter, indignant, unrepentant, burst out of her.
"Right," she laughed wholeheartedly, "Me the damsel in distress. You, my knight in shining armor," she taunted him with a swooning voice, "how many knights do I have actually?" she wondered and pointed as she started looking around at every roof, at every corner, at every shadow, "how many did your Grace have at my beck and call?" Caroline confronted Klaus for having her followed, "Can I call them? I mean I feel them slithering in the shadows when you are not around, they could at least be useful, get some chores done," she bantered and looked at him with condescension, "then again here you are so now they have bowed and left. Wouldn't have wanted them to hear what you had to say right?" she sassed, "They are only to pry to my life. Yours is above all else's. Everyone else's," she ended, her words thrown at him like the sting of a whip.
Klaus opened his mouth to argue but then he closed it.
"I get this was a shock for you," he tried coaxing her, "Maybe I shouldn't have-"
"There are a lot of things you shouldn't have done and much more you should have done Klaus," she interrupted him curtly.
"What are you accusing me of Caroline?" he tersely confronted her and she shook her head. He truly was a marvel.
"But it is such a long list," she nastily replied, "Do you have time? Wait. wait," she exclaimed placing both of her hands over her heart in a romantic gesture, "I know! You do! However long it takes!"
Klaus' face contorted with resentment.
"You are drunk," he spat and Caroline gave him a 'duh' look.
"Yeah, you kinda ruined that for me too," she childishly spat back, "I was actually having fun and was about to get really drunk and you got in there and…ah you are no fun," she waved him off, "Stealing a girl's thunder! Even Purgatory!" she spread her hands wide showing her annoyance, "I mean it was meant to be a special experience…me and Kol shared something unique," she ironically ridiculed the whole thing, "how is he going to feel now I wonder?" she challenged Klaus because they both knew that should Kol find out the wedge between the Originals would grow bigger, "you beat him even to that," Caroline chortled, "can't have something done if Klaus asshat Mikaelson hasn't done it first! Bummer," she twistingly lamented.
Klaus looked as if his patience was running out but then his eyes searched her carefully as if he was searching to find something that would put him at ease but instead what he found alerted him further.
She could see the worry in his eyes and she rolled her eyes.
"Caroline-"
She gave him a dismissing overlook.
"You are overestimating your worth Klaus," she cut his phrase before he could say anything stupid, "you are not that important to me to make me turn it off," she told him, showing to him she could read him, "if this is what you are worried about you should relax and leave me…alone," she intoned gravelly.
She believed this would be the end of it for tonight at least but Klaus had other plans because he grabbed her from her upper arm and yanked further into a dark alley away from the prying eyes and ears of humans.
She tried to jerk away from his hold but he gripped her arm harder and pushed her against the brick wall.
"Not going to happen," he stated.
"For real?" she retaliated and tried to push him away but his body was a prison she couldn't escape. A wall made from granite.
"You want to shake me out sweetheart, is that it?" Klaus confronted her with a low voice, "I am the devil you carry on your back?"
Caroline regarded him with a dark smile. She allowed her body to relax as Klaus rested his hands against every side of her body caging her in with.
"Jeez, it was just a song, Klaus," she taunted him more, "I've told you before, the world does not turn around you."
"I knew telling you about Purgatory would hurt you," he admitted, his voice soft as a flash of pain appeared in his eyes but then it was buried under sheer force of will, "so I gave you time. To take it all in expecting you to let it out but… you didn't," she scowled, "You can't keep burying everything inside acting out like someone you are not. The woman that uses her friends like this and was ready to kill a human in cold blood in the club like that is not you," he chastised her.
She gave him a dirty look. This was rich coming from him!
"The human you killed? After you bit Josh for show?" she huffed exasperatedly.
"And it means nothing. For me. But sweetheart you protect those you love, you are loyal to them and you always shield them stupidly so," he reminded her, "and you are still feeling guilty for the people you ripped apart in that alley those months ago," he told her and saw how her eyes shuttered at the memory. She couldn't hide what she felt so effortlessly as she believed she could, "going on a bender won't fix anything. It will make things worse."
"You'd know," she cynically mumbled.
"It is time to come to terms with something," he said as if he hadn't heard her.
"Which is?" she asked him with a bored voice.
"If it has to come down it to my world will turn around you," he warned her and she narrowed her eyes at him angrily, "I told you I won't let you die on me again and I didn't only mean physically," he clarified, "If you think I will let you self destruct in front of my eyes and do nothing about it you are in for quite a surprise!"
"Aren't you full of surprises," she retorted and Klaus wrapped his hand around her neck.
"Enough," he snarled using his alpha voice and Caroline couldn't help being affected by it. The power that ran into his veins was unlike anything else she had ever felt before and she wanted to feel it, his aura was burning bright and she felt his energy heating her body, wrapping around her like an exploding star but she was too far into a black hole for him to reach her and yet he was there. Defying her defenses, hammering down her walls, "do you remember Katerina, Caroline? Same face with your darling Elena, smothered you with a pillow. Killed you," he reminded her with a drawl and she frowned at him feeling the need to wrap her own hands around his neck and squeeze.
Klaus massaged her throat. A warning for her to not push him further.
"She had it easy," he told her, his lips almost brushed hers making her body tingle, "Half a millennia and I never really bothered hunting her while she ran. You on the other hand will have nowhere to run because guess what," he pressed his thumb against her pulsing vein, his gaze holding hers hostage as he controlled her blood flow and her breath, "this devil will haunt you. Everywhere you go I will follow. You turn your back and I will be there. You are free but I won't let you run. Not from this."
She panted against his fingers as he removed them from her neck slowly. One by one.
"My mother's barrier means nothing," he smirked and cupped her cheek, "what I say or do means nothing," he declared and freed her from his hold taking a step back.
She remained glued on the spot leaning against the wall watching him.
"What you are keeping inside is what you can't run from. I won't let you do that," he gave her a fair warning, "I won't let you make the same mistakes I did."
She said nothing. She only stared at him. For how long she didn't know. Until she felt the first crack. It echoed in her head.
"Deep down you knew this place was real," she whispered and her gaze turned to a cruel accusation, "You knew."
Klaus gulped down harshly.
"I couldn't be sure," he mumbled, and whatever vulnerability she had allowed to show she squashed it.
"Oh please," she shot back and straightened finally coming back to her senses.
She took a few steps and this time Klaus stayed back but her face morphed to something resembling hurt and anger before she whirled around and faced him.
"Do you know what?" she hissed and she felt the need to shed blood. To get back into the club and let herself drown in the bloodlust and let her monster relish in mindless killing. Something that she knew it would be a line that once she would cross like that there would be no turning back. She was holding by a thread. It was either confronting Klaus Mikaelson or losing parts of her she had tried to keep so hard and for so long.
She stormed at him not giving a shit about Klaus' pained expression.
"You got into Purgatory in the way you did and you got out. So you knew there was a way," she blamed him, "If there's one thing you coming to Mystic Falls taught me. If there was one thing your brother taught me. Is that to every single magic, curse, whatever the hell there is out there to make monsters and nightmares out of us and for us.., there is always a loophole!" she sneered fiercely and then clapped at him applauding him for his success, "And you have found yours. Congrats!" she praised him making him wince, "you knew there was a way but you were too coward and scared to search more for that. And I get it. The more you dig the more danger you are in. You get too close you may get pulled back in," she understood and ran her hands through her hair wanting to vent somehow, "this is why you don't like me digging for the truths you want to hide. To protect me supposedly…but it is more about protecting yourself because the fear is crippling you," she spat with disgust and Klaus flinched but didn't try to defend himself.
"I get it," she continued, "I get that fear. I do."
She sobered completely as she stood against him squaring her shoulders.
"But here's what I don't get," she whispered looking not just furious but also disappointed. By everything. By everyone. By him, "You knew the Other Side had fallen. You knew deep in your gut that place was real," she held him responsible for that and Klaus gave her a pleading look.
"And guess what," she waved her hands mockingly, "all you had to do to prove that theory was ask a …shaman! Simple as that," she snickered.
After all, this was what Klaus had done in the end and it had not taken him any considerable effort to get the answers he wanted, "They told you Purgatory is calling me back right? So they could have told you for centuries that your nightmares were real. Nightmares you escaped from."
She jabbed her finger against his chest.
"You burned that Shaman because of what? Did you want to burn the truth? To protect me? To burn your guilt?" she challenged him pushing more into his guilt.
Klaus stepped back. It was as if her touch was burning him to hell.
"It's not like that."
"Your brother was there," she exploded, "you knew that place existed, you knew where he was and left him there to rot!"
Klaus lowered his head shaking it right and left. He couldn't rebuke her accusations but he couldn't hear them either.
If it was anyone else she would understand. But this was Klaus Mikaelson. He had the power to search and rescue Kol even from Hell and he chose not to.
She watched Klaus now and for the first time, she didn't see the power. She saw the weakness. She saw something Klaus had managed to hide from everyone for a thousand years. She saw his failure, his powerlessness. She saw the cowardly boy Mikael always accused him of being. She saw the simpering mortal under the monster. Klaus had regressed back to that and she wanted to wipe that image from her head but she could barely keep it together as the realization of what he had actually done was sinking deeper and deeper every day.
Klaus had abandoned Kol. And not just Kol.
If she was meant to be loyal to those she loved what did that make him?
Her fingers gripped his chin and she forced him to look at her.
"Did you try to get him back?" she demanded but Klaus remained speechless. His eyes looked like burning coals but he wouldn't answer.
"Did you try?" she insisted, each word a heavy weight placed on Klaus' shoulders. She would not allow him to lie or evade the truth or omit it. There was no escaping this question.
"No."
She let go of him and watched him with revulsion and laughed.
"Of course, you didn't," she chuckled knowingly, "Kol knew you wouldn't. Not because it was impossible. Nothing in our world is, or at least in the Mikaelson world of yours it isn't, and how much more escaping a trap you yourself had escaped even by accident. You left him there and then kept your mouth shut about it," she condemned him.
The frailty from his posture was gone and Klaus watched her with…pity.
She imagined this was how she was watching him right now too.
"This is what you are angry about?" he asked, his voice soft. But the softness felt like a blade. It slashed her open.
She swallowed down harshly but refused to give in to the pain she felt.
"Come on I am not angry I am just drunk right?" she clipped with biting words that didn't come out as the nonchalant rebuttal she had aimed for.
She was shaking. Her whole body was shaking. Her hands had turned to fists.
"Or is it that I left you there that tempts your fury?" Klaus whispered digging straight into her open wound throwing salt in it.
His image blurred but she would not allow the tears to burn their path against her cheeks.
Klaus Mikaelson had no obligation to save her from anything and she had no right to demand anything from him.
He hadn't abandoned her. He hadn't left her there.
She had to keep repeating this over and over in her head. She wasn't his choice. He didn't have to care. To care enough.
"Me?" she managed to keep her voice leveled, "I got out Klaus. On my own," she declared pushing her index finger over her chest, "I didn't wait to be rescued by fate or accident or coincidence. I actually fought my way out," she reminded him, "And I carried your brother along for the ride. I found my way out and in the end I could have left him there," she revealed to him, feeling the burn in her eyes intensify. It wasn't pain. It was anger. She wasn't hurting. She was angry. This was the only thing she would allow herself to admit. She burned with anger. She vibrated with fury, "And I didn't. I brought him back. I brought him back to you."
Because she had done it for him too. She hadn't done it only for Kol. She had done it for Klaus too. Because her loyalty was stupid as Klaus had said. Because she had wanted to give him his brother back because she remembered how much pain he had been in when they had locked him in Elena's house with Kol's burned corpse. Klaus had seen Kol die and he had been devastated, or so he had looked back then. And she had foolishly wanted to bring his family back. Even in Purgatory, she had thought of him.
Because she was a fool. Because she always cared. More than she should. For the wrong people. That wasn't loyalty. That was turning to plain stupidity.
"And this is the thanks I get," she laughed bitterly, "you will not let me run. Your mother locks me in a barrier. Being thrown from one prison to another simply because I got tangled along with you and your family. This must be a delight for you!" she sneered and Klaus' eyes lit up with gold.
"You and your friends had locked me inside a house with my brother's dead body!" he growled matching her anger, "Don't play high and mighty with me when you had been there to mock me!"
Blood filled her eyes and it ate away the tears as veins formed in her cheeks and throbbed. Her fangs glittered in the dark.
"You almost killed me that night. Want to have a go at it again?" she provoked him slanting her head to the side exposing her neck to him.
"Come on. Josh was just the warm up you can do better!" she kindled the animosity between them, "and I promise you I won't even go search for your blood. I won't ask you to cure me either. Have at it!"
Klaus' hybrid features retreated and so did he. He took a step back as if her offer was tempting him to bite into her flesh and drink her blood. Drink her in.
"Or is it more fun playing with me like this. Keeping me in the dark? Throwing me crumbs of truth here and there to keep me under control. What is this? Punishment?" she fumed but she pushed her vampire back into its cage too. She wouldn't lose control. It was the last thing she had left and she wouldn't waste it for Klaus Mikaelson.
"There are things you don't know," Klaus said, once more shutting her out.
"Oh, I know you keep things from me," she smoothly responded, breathing calmly now despite the fire that scorched under her skin, "As you kept this too. Because you knew this place was real. You knew. You knew where Kol was, where I was," she whispered with contempt and tried to leave only for Klaus to pull her back.
She remained lifeless in his hands.
"I would have come for you if things had been different. I would have," he vowed, "And eventually I would have."
'Eventually,' she thought ruefully.
She pulled back from him. She had to put some distance between them.
"But you didn't."
"I couldn't," Klaus' voice broke.
"I get it," she shrugged.
"No," he said quietly, "you don't."
"You had to deal with your daughter I get it," she acknowledged.
Klaus blinked at that.
"And then with her death. I get that too. And I am so sorry for that. More than words can say," she said and she truly meant it.
Klaus stared at her hopelessly and she shook her head.
"I get not being your priority," she told him, lifting her shoulders as if it didn't matter, "I don't expect to be. But just like your daughter, Kol is your family too," she told him feeling resigned and feeling her heart bleed out both for Kol Mikaelson and Klaus. "And you left him to rot long before you knew of Hayley's pregnancy," she pointed out and Klaus' face paled, "So I guess I shouldn't expect a better treatment," she gave up and then leveled her gaze with his, "what I don't get is how you can look me in the eye and keep lying to me."
"I am not lying to you."
"He said as he lied straight to her face," she snorted.
"I wouldn't have told you about the curse of the five and what it meant to me if my intention was to lie to you," he reasoned with her, "I haven't told anyone Caroline," his voice dipped, his voice barely coming out. His eyes were melancholic but most of all he seemed desperate to make her understand, "Almost 900 years and no one knows."
Her gaze focused on him and Klaus saw this as an opportunity to try to convince her for his intentions.
"And the fact that I can't tell you everything right now is not because I don't want to," he swore, "It is because for once in my life I am trying to be something, someone, better than who I have been. Than the person that came charging in your life those years go," he viciously brought back the images of their first encounters. "I am trying to be the man you once believed me to be. The one capable of being saved," he breathed out, "Capable of love."
It was as if those words of hers from the past had been haunting him, had been guiding him, and had been hurting him. And as she saw him now trying so desperately to hold on to what those words of hers had promised him once she didn't know how to console him.
She knew him for his violence and she knew him for his darkness but she didn't know him like this. Like the man who tried to become something better and she didn't know how to trust this version of his when his actions kept proving him wrong.
"You weren't here Caroline," Klaus' expression twisted into something dark and pained and she realized that if there was a part of hers deep inside that accused him for not being there for her there must have been a part of him that was accusing her of the same thing. Ever since she had been trapped in the city she had seen more sides of Klaus Mikaelson and she had realized that Klaus was driven to achieve something he struggled for but at the same time it was as if he was without a compass too. "And I tried and I failed to be that man," he admitted, his eyes showing his self-hatred and his wariness, "and for that reason, there are things I wish to one day be able to share with you if you let me," he hoped and then shook his head and sighed, "But I need time Caroline. That's the only thing I ask you. To give me the benefit of the doubt, to give me some time."
She said nothing. She remained quiet.
"You dying, you being there is the one thing I will forever regret and the one thing I will never allow to happen again," he solemnly took that oath for her. His eyes were begging her to trust at least that. "If you don't believe anything else then at least believe that."
She kept staring at him and Klaus' shoulders sagged.
"I have lived a thousand years. A thousand very small years," he underlined letting his age show. It had left scars and exhaustion in him. It had killed parts of his soul, "and it took me knowing you to be able to do things I never dreamed possible," he softly smiled, "And every day I wished you would have been here. Next to me. By my side. Maybe I wouldn't have done the mistakes I did," he murmured, "The mistakes I keep doing," he accepted, "but when it comes to you I am trying. Can't you see that? Can't you see at least that?" he whispered but she could see the brutal intensity in his eyes. The fierce need for her to understand, to forgive, to give him a chance. There was unspoken hope in his gaze. Something that pulled her closer.
She looked intently at him and then turned around and started walking away. Klaus' shoulders fell. She could feel the devastation he emitted and his waves reached her shore.
She stopped and turned her head slightly to the side.
"Maybe I can," she murmured, "But not tonight."
She started walking again leaving him behind speechless.
Time. Maybe both of them needed exactly that.
Her phone vibrated and she took it out from her jean pocket and checked the flashing screen.
Then again she knew time was running out and tonight she had other things to do.
Flashback
"I have to marry Jackson," Hayley said and tried to gauge Elijah's expression but she could not. He was stoically looking down.
"I know there's been a distance between us recently," Hayley acknowledged with some regret painting her words, "and I know I am to blame for most of it but…this isn't about this. This is about Hope," she emphasized, "I have to make this place safe for her. So she can return to us."
She walked towards Elijah that kept his silence and she carefully reached for his arm. Her touch was gentle and she could feel how tense he was.
"But I…I don't love him, Jackson," she muttered and her hand fell, "but if I am to marry him," she paused and took in a deep breath, "I can't do that and still be involved with you and most of all your family."
Hayley swallowed down when Elijah didn't respond. Her hand rose again as if she wanted to touch him but she couldn't and it dropped down again. She felt her eyes burn and she just wished he would give one last look. She wished he would say something, anything. She wished he would even get mad or try to change her mind. She didn't know what she truly wished but this silent detachment that reminded rejection wasn't it.
"I should just," she mumbled but couldn't finish her sentence. She turned around to leave but before she could Elijah had wrapped his fingers around her upper arm and pulled her back.
She stumbled onto him and placed her hands on his chest to stop the fall.
"Marry him."
Elijah's deep voice hit her like a sledgehammer.
"What?"
She hated the way her voice trembled. She couldn't look away from his eyes that now were not empty or shocked like before. So much raw emotion sang in them and like a siren's song it called her closer.
Every emotion was intensified ever since she turned and so was everything she had felt for Elijah.
Elijah rested his forehead against hers and she inhaled him. She closed her eyes and let his warmth and strength envelop her. When she re-opened them she saw his affection and his hurt.
"Listen to me," he told her in a steady voice that didn't betray the emotions that raged inside him, "The only way for this city to be safe for Hope's return is if you have unified your people and I have unified my own. I promise you we will find a way to balance the power of the witches either through Davina or even my brother Kol. Whatever they both may be they are not enemies to your child."
Elijah's gaze held hers.
"Do what you need to bring your daughter home," he emboldened her in her quest and gave her a curt nod before he stepped back.
Elijah Mikaelson remained in the shadows keeping his distance as Hayley's wedding parade was marching down the streets of New Orleans. Hayley Marshal Kenner was surrounded by her pack. By her side, Jackson, her husband, was smiling and she was dancing and twirling a white umbrella. She looked beautiful and happy as she was starting her new life.
Renée's prophecy echoed in his mind.
"You know you'll have the chance to save her and…you won't. You'll stand and watch as she falls into despair and you'll stand and watch as she takes her last breath in this world. You'll take her life. You will lose what you love the most in this world… Once the city burns her fate will be sealed. And when the time comes you will be the one to drive the stake into her heart…All it will take will be a kiss."
The sound from the band was rising, people were joining them forming long lines behind them.
As the witch's words kept repeating in his mind and the wedding parade was following the brass band Elijah's mind couldn't help but remember his last kiss with Hayley.
Flashback
Hayley couldn't move. Her chest was falling up and down as she tried to swallow tears that she knew if she let them fall they would drown her. Pain had turned to agony. Loss into devastation and if she walked out of this house now she would lose Elijah forever.
Maybe she never had him. Maybe this had been doomed from the start but this house was just one more dream. One more lost dream.
They could have been together here and she and her daughter would have been happy.
And now she would have to marry Jackson and leave this dream behind to gain another.
"This has always been my hope for you," Elijah whispered, "for your daughter to find her way to us. For you to find your way."
Hayley closed the distance and reached out for him.
Her hand cupped his face and she knew this would be their farewell.
Elijah's gaze grew hungry just as she felt her blood starting to burn inside her veins.
They stood facing each other and after so long the undercurrent that always pulled them together pushed them over the edge.
Their lips met in a frantic kiss and they started removing each other's clothes without taking their eyes off each other. Passion, pain, and desire mixed, and when Elijah lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist time started to move fast and slow.
There would be no tomorrow but tonight they could have that one last dream. Together.
Elijah kept his distance, his eyes never leaving the bride as she walked far away from him followed by her people and her husband. She looked happy.
"Your last kiss with her will be her death."
Images of Tatia, Celeste, and Katerina passed through his eyes. Haunting him. Reminding him how his love had a steep price. A long line of death.
He had lived a thousand years and he could not imagine surviving another thousand with Hayley's memory haunting him from the grave.
At that moment Elijah Mikaelson gave a solemn oath to himself. For eternity.
Fate be damned he would not see history repeat itself. This girl would not follow the same path. She would not be one more ghost for him to mourn.
Hayley was the one. The one he had to save.
He promised their last kiss he committed to memory would be their last. No other would come in the future.
He straightened his jacket and picked the white oak dagger from his inner pocket, stared at it before he pushed it back in. He buttoned his jacket and his eyes filled with determination. He would lock himself in a coffin for all eternity if he had to.
If he had to he would sacrifice his life for Hayley's. There was nothing he wouldn't do to ensure she would stay safe.
This prophecy would not come to be.
The wedding parade marched on but he walked away in the opposite direction.
From now on this would be his curse.
Wherever life led Hayley he would run in the opposite direction far away from her. Far away from their…last kiss.
Now that she could see past dimensions Caroline could see Esther's barrier clearly. She could feel its dark energy. It was a veil made from black and green shadow and had crackling electricity running through the mist that resembled thorns and spikes. Every time she stepped closer the electricity burst out of the smoke and was far more charged.
No one else could see it. It was invisible to the eye but when she adjusted her attention to it she could see the wall the Mikaelson witch had created to keep her in. She kept some distance from it just as Kol's car emerged from the shadows and the electric currents running straight towards her.
The wheels screeched on the pavement as Kol swerved the car in front of her barely missing her before he killed the engine.
She didn't move an inch.
He opened the driver's door and got out.
He gave her a grin in the dark while her expression remained indifferent.
"Here I am darling," he sarcastically greeted her, giving her a theatrical bow with a wave of his hand, "At your beck and call always."
Flashback
Caroline watched from afar and waited for Kol's witch to finally return to her house. She knew her schedule. It was time for her grocery shopping which included her buying both groceries and magic ingredients for her spells.
Despite her protective magic, Brianna hadn't felt her and before she could turn the key in the lock Caroline appeared next to her, her speed causing the wind to blow the girl's hair.
Just as Kol's witch turned around she almost collided with Caroline Forbes that had materialized seemingly out of thin air.
Brianna stepped back immediately. Far away from the energy, this vampire was emitting.
Caroline smirked at her reaction and reached down for the apple that had fallen from the paper bag and rolled to her feet.
Brianna watched her with wary eyes as Caroline reached for the fruit without taking her eyes away from her.
"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find Kol Mikaelson now would you?" Caroline asked her politely offering Brianna the apple, "since he is not answering my calls."
Brianna gulped and looked at the red apple as if it was a bomb ready to detonate. Caroline waited patiently.
"He does not inform me of where he goes," Brianna gulped down harshly and quickly snatched the apple from her hand making sure not to have contact with her skin.
Caroline arched a brow at her as Brianna threw the apple back in the bag and fidgeted with the key on the door.
"And yet he requests you to shield him from locator spells," Caroline commented and helped Brianna turn the key.
The girl hissed and yanked her head away. Caroline smiled.
"You don't like me touching you do you?" Caroline noted casually and stepped into the witch's personal space making her feel uncomfortable, "how does it feel?"
Kol's witch visually flinched.
Caroline was sure that if she was not working for Kol, if the peace treaty was not a thing and if she hadn't heard of what she and Marcel had been doing to renegade witches lately she would either run away or try to defend herself by using her magic. Magic Caroline could see sparkling in her green aura. Kol had multiplied her energy with dark objects and if she wanted to Caroline could dissolve that power boost very easily.
"So," Caroline asked again when the girl didn't answer. "how does it feel?"
"Like death," Brianna replied and Caroline gave her a nod.
"I imagine the feeling to be very unpleasant then. It was for me," she said, hinting at her death.
Brianna took in a deep breath and straightened her spine.
"What do you want?"
Caroline's face became stern.
"You will give him a call and tell him to not do anything stupid for should he do," Caroline warned her, "I will arrange a meeting with his mother face to face. I am sure Kol wouldn't want to give her that advantage."
Brianna stared at her shocked. After all, it was her that had warded her against Esther Mikaelson.
"You wouldn't do that. She is your enemy!"
"That she is," Caroline agreed and took a step back to allow the witch to relax. Their close proximity was making her feel uncomfortable even if she was not touching but her message was conveyed.
"You call your master back into the city. Should he not come," Caroline paused and glanced at the young witch, "I will reach the barrier and throw myself at it until Esther Mikaelson knows exactly where to find and… bind me."
Brianna watched her as if she was insane.
"Are you suicidal?"
"Lately I am finding myself to be more on the homicidal side if I am being honest," Caroline shrugged and then beamed at Brianna, "I guess it's just a phase."
Caroline crossed her arms in front of her chest and sent Kol a look filled with disdain.
"Where have you been?"
Kol gave her a grin.
"Missed me?"
Caroline's arms fell to the side and she marched at him.
"Cut the crap Kol."
Kol lifted his shoulders carelessly. His eyes were gleaming with mischief.
"Searching for my little sister of course," he innocently said.
Caroline threw him a dirty look.
"Really?" she challenged him with disbelief.
"Weren't you the one insisting to go to her?" Kol mimicked her irony.
Caroline gritted her teeth.
"Seriously cut the crap Kol! What did you do?" she hissed.
"What do you think?" he asked her, his smirk a sharp line on his face, "I mean you got me back by blackmailing me after all. You surely must have some thoughts."
Kol started circling her. Slowly. Caroline didn't turn her head to follow his movement.
"If only you could get out of this city," he drawled, "Your searches are limited given how you can't do it yourself, aren't they, Caroline?"
"What did you do?" she asked him again, barely containing her anger.
Kol took something out of his pocket.
It shone in the dark and Caroline couldn't take her eyes away from it.
It was a pendant. An exact replica of the one she was wearing. The exact same pendant Forbin had.
"I got myself some insurance," Kol told her gleefully as he moved the chain back and forth between his fingers making the necklace swing like a pendulum.
She took a threatening step towards Kol but she stilled before she would lose control.
"Did I scare you this much Kol?" she played along, inclining her head at him.
Kol dangled the pendant in front of her.
"Am I scaring you this much now, darling?"
She stepped in front of him as he put the pendant back into his pocket before she could snatch it from his hand as she had done with Forbin's.
"If you've hurt him-"
"You care?" Kol taunted her, "What happened to the whole "I care for nothing and no one anymore" because if you care this much for someone so insignificant then you should remember how Mystic Falls is teeming with far more important people than your father's lover."
Caroline saw red and pushed him hard but Kol had anticipated her reaction and grabbed her hand and twisted it behind her back.
He turned her around and pressed her back to his front immobilizing her.
"Consider him my insurance," he whispered in her ear and Caroline's features twisted with rage before she hit his face with the back of her head freeing herself from his hold.
It didn't take long for this to turn into a full-blown fight between them. Each one aiming to hurt the other where it would hurt the most until Kol got the upper hand and threw Caroline against the barrier.
She fell down only for Kol to grab her by the neck and thrust her back against the wall of invisible magic.
It electrocuted her.
It felt like a thousand whips cracked her skin as every bit of electricity hit her at once. The barrier was invisible to Kol but it was like a solid wall against her back and he slammed her body against it holding her by the neck.
Caroline could hear thunder and a booming noise as Kol pushed her against the magic of the barrier making her bleed as the barrier pushed her forward not allowing her to leave the city past its line.
The black and green smoke Caroline had seen how suffocated her, engulfed her, and choked her. The electricity was like a wire that had wrapped all around her causing her excruciating pain.
Caroline's body convulsed and she gripped Kol's hand trying to pry it away from her throat and make him move. Move him enough for her to get away or at least for him to release her. Only he was an Original and her strength didn't compare to his.
Kol laughed at her attempts.
"If you want my mother to find you past the wardings I had Brianne made for you let me make it easier for you," he mocked her viciously and slammed her body against the barrier over and over again until she felt as if she was a bug colliding to the windshield of a speeding car.
The pain overwhelmed her and took her back to the days when she was being torn apart in Purgatory. She screamed as the memories became one with the pain and that voice returned to her head. The pain unlocked it.
"Let me out, I can handle him for you. I could have before if you had only let me."
It sounded like her voice but it wasn't.
Caroline knew if she let whatever was crawling inside her loose not only she would defeat Kol Mikaelson but she would also kill him. She would be able to kill an Original with a blink of an eye. She didn't know how she knew it but she did.
Kol must have known too this was why he was so terrified and furious with her.
She almost let go but she didn't want his death on her hands. Not his.
Caroline pushed the voice back and focused on Kol Mikaelson.
Blood spilled from her mouth and sputtered on his face.
"You shouldn't be playing these games with me, Forbes," Kol chuckled menacingly and Caroline breathed through the pain. She didn't let it guide her to the wrong path. Pain was only pain. Pain always passed and she was used to it by now.
She smirked through the pain and let the power inside her flow. She let it flow but controlled it completely. The flow disrupted the barrier that seemed to vibe in sync with her power and unravel around her for a fraction of less than a second.
But it was enough. Caroline's legs wrapped around Kol's neck and she swirled her body around him twisting the grip he had on her neck until her body propelled them backward.
They fell to the ground and she landed on him. Before he could react she straddled him and reached out and touched his chest.
She closed her eyes and followed the path of the dark energy he had branded his veins and immortality with.
She reached deep into the darkness and Kol's eyes grew wide as hers turned black.
Kol yelled and despite the mind-blowing pain he felt he threw them both against the barrier again. His body moved through sheer force of will despite how her touch was crippling him. He kept pushing her against the barrier, clenching his jaw, resisting her power. His aura, pitch-black exploded at her touch and the purple of hers like mist entered his body. She forced herself to ignore the punishing pain of the barrier against her back and tightened her legs around his torso hearing the break of his bones.
Kol despite the grunt he let out he savagely hit her against the barrier but Caroline did not let go of her hold of him. As if her fingers were glued on him. The veins of his neck popped out of his skin and she could see past the flesh. Ink started running inside his veins, and a faint purple glow in it, burning his bones reaching for his soul. For the fortified part of his soul.
And then…she felt the snap. He felt it too.
Kol howled and let her go.
She fell on her knees licking the blood from her lips. Kol was hissing in pain on the pavement lying down with his hand on his heaving chest.
The energy she had snuffed from him was enough to heal her faster. She took in deep breaths letting the darkest power she stole from him rejuvenate her.
She pushed herself up until gravity didn't pull her down. She stumbled back and forth before she found her balance. Behind her, the barrier was wrapping and unwrapping inside itself trying to compensate and rebuild itself up. She could feel Esther's magic feeding into it.
Esther was on her way here.
Caroline stared at Kol on the ground. He threw his head back and cursed in pain.
She walked closer to him and watched him from above with cold eyes. He had taught well after all.
"I saved your soul from perdition," she reminded him with derision.
She sat on her haunches and rested her hands over her thighs. She leaned forward closer to Kol's face.
"I can as very easily burn it," she threatened him, seeing true fear in his eyes for the first time, "Every seal," she intoned, "even if I have to burn your soul."
She patted his chest and got up.
"But for now this will do," she said.
Kol crawled back in pain but she knew it wasn't pain. It was shock.
"What did you do?" he groaned, his hand still holding his chest.
"What do you think?" she taunted him and his eyes turned vengeful.
She had taken something very precious from him. He lost a dark object connected to his soul. But which one? He couldn't tell. The broken connection disoriented him enough for Caroline to land a kick at him and send him flying at the hood of his car. The windshield broke sending exploding pieces of glass everywhere. The sound was like an explosion in the silence.
"It's one of your handy death objects that are meant to safeguard your soul should it return to Purgatory I think," Caroline pondered using her most snobbish tone, "You have so much more of course but one less must suck right about now," she chuckled as Kol slid down on the pavement. He punched the road with so much fury he opened a crate on it and roared. Then he flashed at her furious. His was a breath away before she used the dark energy of the power she stole from him against him. With a flick of her hand, she sent him flying back.
He landed on his knees.
"I will kill him," Kol snarled, "Slowly."
"You do that," Caroline replied smoothly and gave him one of her most twisted smiles. One of those she had seen him use, "I will kill you quickly."
And she could do it. She could kill him. She could kill an Original. She felt it deep in her bones.
Kol narrowed his eyes and got up slowly. His body was tense and he looked like he would strike at her at any moment.
She sauntered close to him without any hint of fear. Her heels made a clicking sound as she elegantly walked to him.
"I think this will be a much more needed incentive for you to actually find a way to break the barrier this time," she smiled, "It would best if you and I are not close since we both know you won't leave New Orleans with everything going on with your family drama."
Kol ran his tongue against the inside of his cheek showing his irritation as the muscle on his jaw ticked.
"Even if I break the barrier you won't leave either now. My family drama has sucked you in," he commented amiably, dusting the glass and the dirt from his jacket. He looked calm as if they hadn't just fought just a second before.
Caroline smiled.
"It would seem we are on an impasse then."
Kol shook his head, wiped the blood from his face, and chuckled.
"You are getting on my bad side," he warned her with a light tone.
"You don't have a good one," she sassed back.
He stepped into her personal space and locked his eyes with hers. His mood darkened.
"You keep those hands to yourself from now on Caroline."
"Stephen stays alive and safe."
"As long as you don't do anything stupid."
"He can't be compelled can he?" Caroline asked the obvious and Kol rolled his eyes.
"The rest of the town and his progeny could," he said.
Caroline's eyes darkened.
"We will settle this between us Kol. No one else gets in the way."
He gave her a serious nod. He would keep a secret and whatever scores they had to settle they would do it when the time was right and no one would intervene.
"You should get out of here before my mother or her puppets come," he advised her and she snorted.
She took a step to leave but stopped.
Instead, she stared at him. Intently.
She didn't want to do what she was about to do but despite Kol's promises, she knew that he and Klaus must have made a deal when it came to Forbin and keeping her in the dark. She had to break their alliance somehow. If she did, Kol would be in more danger to be daggered but it was a risk she had to take and she would have to find a way to prevent Klaus from daggering him.
"Nice to know you still care," she mocked him for his advice for her to leave before Esther would come, "Let me return the favor."
She examined his face closely Kol tilted his head in question when instead of leaving she approached him once more.
"Do you still believe in fairytales Kol?" she asked him using her sweet voice.
His eyes narrowed as he remembered what he had told her in Purgatory.
"I have a tale to share," she whispered, her eyes shining in the dark, "But it is not mine."
Kol's brow furrowed. He could read her intentions and he treaded carefully now.
"What are you talking about?"
She gave him a grave look. A sad look.
"It will hurt," she warned him and waited.
Kol's eyes turned to slits. She averted her eyes. She looked up. A crow was flying closer. Esther was near. She had to decide. To make a choice and fast.
She swallowed harshly and watched Kol with pity.
'Now and always,' echoed in her mind and the rest was silence.
"Remember," she started softly, "that story you had told me a long time ago? About that fucker that paved the way for us to end up in Purgatory? The one who got out?"
Kol's eyes shone.
"You should go talk to Klaus about that," he told him with a meaningful look and she could see the exact moment the pieces started to connect in Kol's mind. His hand touched his heart again at the place she had broken one of his magic seals. His fingers twitched and she fortified her heart against the pain, "He has a very interesting story to tell you about Purgatory."
Kol's hand fell down, his gaze becoming haunted before it turned lethal. Caroline turned herself into steel. She couldn't be moved. Feelings couldn't bend or break her.
She faced Kol with the same ferocity he had. Her friend who betrayed her. It was time to start repaying him for that betrayal.
"I'd say to try not to take it too personally," she shrugged, "but I imagine that will be one of those games you shouldn't be playing either," she tossed his words back at him, "Family drama and all."
She looked at Kol's dark eyes and at the flying crow above them before she flashed away in the dark leaving both behind.
Caroline entered her apartment and closed her eyes. She felt tired. She felt exhausted.
She went straight to the kitchen and got from one of the cabinets a bottle of vodka. She opened the lid and didn't bother with a glass. She drank straight from the bottle letting the burn tease her throat.
She closed her eyes. She felt the need to cry but didn't know why. She had made her choice. She had to find out the truth about her past. She had to find out everything that led to her death and the secrets the Originals kept from her. She couldn't back down now.
She gulped down more of the clear liquid before she slowly stepped into the connected living room.
She carefully knelt in front of the small table and set the bottle down.
On the table was the folder Klaus had given her. The folder about Mystic Falls.
She had read it. Multiple times.
She had felt the need to cry and yet she hadn't. Ever since the night Klaus told her about him being in Purgatory something had broken inside her.
The voices had started that night and haven't stopped since.
She was certain she was losing her mind.
It wasn't Esther's magic. It wasn't like anything she had felt before.
She knew that voice somehow. She hadn't felt that feeling that voice created inside her ever since Purgatory.
Klaus' words now rang in her ears.
"Her last words were "The abyss is calling her back…the shadows are in her now…they are calling her back …" Calling you…back to al-A'raf."
She drank the rest of the bottle. The shadows were inside her. They were calling her back.
She clenched her eyes shut.
"If you want me, come and get me," she whispered to the empty room. She wasn't going anywhere. She had no one.
Her face twisted painfully.
She looked at the open folder. Her fingers hovered above the papers. Above one name.
Bonnie was dead. Bonnie was gone.
"I am right here, come and get me," she mumbled and almost wished she could cry but she couldn't.
She didn't know to whom she was talking but she knew she was heard.
She felt numb. Her humanity switch was turned on but she didn't feel much. She felt cold.
She inhaled sharply and got up. She marched with angry steps at the antique closet she had bought a few weeks ago.
She opened the doors of the armoire open but inside there was nothing else but a whiteboard she had installed.
She took the marker and wrote down the prophecy.
She took a step back and looked at the board. Every clue was there but something was missing.
There was a link she was missing.
Her eyes roamed over some of the words she had written.
Purgatory.
The Five.
The Hunters.
The Hunter's Curse.
Forbin. Forbes. Uncle Jared. Bill Forbes. No compulsion. The pendant.
Mystic Falls. The council.
Elena's ritual. Doppelganger. Bonnie. Bennett line. Ayanna.
The Salvatores.
Augustine society.
New Orleans' factions. Human, vampire, witch, werewolf.
The Originals.
Marcel Gerard.
Hayley Marshall.
Esther Mikaelson.
Mikael.
Legacy-bloodlines-sirelines.
Somehow the puzzle would not connect into one piece. She read the rest of the things she had written but she could not place them in the right order. She kept connecting names with lines and kept erasing the lines before the web became too convoluted. She was missing the beginning and important pieces to solving this mystery.
She underlined with red marker the date of the night they had attacked her.
Her death.
How was all of this connected?
"What am I missing?" she muttered as she wrote Stephen's name next to her father's and Jared Forbin's.
She closed the doors of the closet feeling frustrated and upset.
She went into the bathroom and looked her face in the mirror. Her eyes looked hollow. Empty.
She had hurt Klaus tonight. She had hurt Kol.
She had allowed Josh to be hurt.
She had hurt herself.
She lowered her head and held the sink from each side.
She splashed some water on her face not caring about her makeup or how her mascara was running down her cheeks. She smudged the black color on her cheeks with the back of her wet hand.
Steam rose but when she raised her head and looked at the mirror she gasped.
It was her reflection only she knew she wasn't looking at herself.
She was looking at someone else. It was her image with black eyes. The blackness had taken over all the white of her eyes and the pupils leaving no color. No life.
Her face didn't look different. It was her she was watching in the mirror. Only…it wasn't.
She swept the fog from the mirror leaving traces of droplets that distorted the face with the black eyes that were looking her back from the glass.
Caroline blinked. The glass of the mirror seemed to be moving. As the water of a lake would move. In ripples.
But the idol didn't move.
"Who are you?" she mumbled scared but the lips of the reflection didn't move.
She swallowed down hard.
"You know. Deep down you know," the image in the reflection answered and Caroline's hand flew to her mouth. The reflection didn't change.
"You need to let me in. You need to let me out. Come home," her reflection implored her but there was dominance in that voice. It was an invitation. It was an order.
Caroline stumbled back terrified. She was losing her mind.
All she could see now was purple. Deep purple. It was surrounding her. It was everywhere. The image in the mirror seemed to come closer. To reach out to her.
Caroline closed her eyes and whispered over and over to herself that this wasn't real.
But the voice in her head was the voice from the mirror.
"Come home, Caroline."
The lights in the room flickered before the light bulbs of the bathroom mirror exploded.
She had run like a bat out of hell. She had blended with the shadows and had wanted to run straight into the barrier and throw herself at it over and over again but instead, she followed another direction.
Caroline didn't know where her steps led her. She was lost. Confused.
She didn't know from where to hold on. She only knew she had to keep moving. So she moved until she couldn't move anymore. It felt like running away. Away from her demons, herself, everything that haunted her, and yet she had nowhere to go because everything that hunted her was not chasing her from the outside, they were eating her alive from the inside.
She reached her destination.
A door.
She shouldn't be here. She didn't know what compelled her to come here. Or what made her lightly knock on the door.
She moved back a step and tried to breathe. Her whole body was shaking.
She had to get out of here but her body was not obeying.
The door opened slowly revealing light from within.
"Caroline?"
Cami's voice was filled with surprise and warmth.
Caroline looked at her almost shocked. She didn't know what possessed her to come here.
"Hey, what's going on?" Cami asked her and moved closer to the doorframe but Caroline stepped back as if electricity had jolted her back.
"I don't know why I am here," Caroline stammered, "I don't- I just-"
Veins puffed in her face. They throbbed under her eyes. Black rivers creating cracked pathways in her skin for the vampire to crawl out.
She tried to breathe. To control herself. Her bloodlust. The burn she felt at the edge of her throat. At the tip of her fangs.
Cami searched her eyes for a moment and took in her appearance. Caroline could hear her heartbeat.
"Come in."
Caroline blinked and then her eyes widened in terror at the gentle invitation.
The shock was so big that her features turned human again.
She had never been to Cami's apartment before. She was not invited in and Camille now just gave her free entrance to her house. Why would she do that when she saw her like this?
"No," Caroline shook her head, "No!" she repeated mortified, and gave Cami a terrified look, "this is not safe."
Camille O'Connell stepped outside the safety of her home and stood in front of Caroline with determination.
Caroline didn't know if Camille O'Connell was brave, kind, or just stupid. How could she take such a risk?
This wasn't right. She shouldn't have come here. If she lost control…
"You won't hurt me," Cami said confidently and Caroline let out a shuddering breath.
"How do you know that?" Caroline whispered and Cami smiled.
"I know you," the girl said steadily without showing any doubt or fear, "You don't hurt friends. Come in," Cami invited her again.
Caroline shook her head again but Cami gently reached for her hand. Caroline lowered her head and locked her eyes at the slim fingers that had tenderly wrapped around her hand.
Cami gently pulled her in and Caroline found herself yearning to follow her.
Slowly Camille helped her get inside her apartment and closed the door behind them. Caroline tried to breathe feeling locked in and wanted to get out again. Cami's heartbeat was growing louder in her ears.
She yanked her hand from Cami's hold rubbed her eyes with the back of her palm.
Cami watched her with a concerned frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked her with worry.
"I don't know," Caroline muttered and rubbed her eyes harder. She wouldn't lose control.
"I better leave," she sighed with a trembling voice.
"Look at me."
Cami's voice was calm and yet powerful. Caroline responded to that calm strength and looked at the young woman.
"Now, tell me," Cami told her, her patience and persistence a soothing balm to her erratic feelings.
Caroline bit her lip to stop it from trembling and hugged herself.
"I…needed a friend tonight," she finally let out, feeling tears gathering in her eyes, "and I…didn't know where else to go."
She had nowhere else to go.
Because Cami was wrong. She did hurt her friends. She had hurt Josh. She had hurt Kol. She had hurt Klaus.
Cami watched her with caring eyes and nodded.
"You came to the right place," she assured her, and before Caroline could say or do anything Cami had pulled her in a hug.
Caroline stilled. Human warmth enveloped her and the flow of warm blood was beating closely but the scent of it was not what overwhelmed her the most. It was the familiarity of the hug that shook her to the core and erased every black thought, every madness, and the bloodlust and despair she felt ever since she had escaped Purgatory.
Caroline remained frozen but Cami wouldn't let her go. She was whispering soothing words, she was caressing her back and her hair, and was holding her tight as Bonnie and Elena used to do in the past.
She had missed Bonnie and Elena so much. She had missed her mom. She had missed being held and loved.
Caroline leaned closer, her taut body melting slowly in Cami's hands. She cautiously hugged her back and then held on to her for dear life.
She hid her face in Cami's neck and felt something wet. It was not blood. It was her tears that were falling from her eyes.
She was crying.
"I can't make it stop," Caroline sobbed, feeling unable to breathe, "It hurts."
She finally let it all out. Sobs racked her body. Shivers made her feel weak.
"I know," Cami only whispered and Caroline cried harder.
Everything hurt. She felt everything. She just couldn't stop. She tasted her tears and for the first time ever since she had died she felt everything that was human in her wake from its slumber and the pain and the fear was unfathomable.
Everything she had kept under control rushed out, the dam broke, and even though she was far stronger than the human that held her she felt more protected and safer than she had in over a hundred years.
She allowed herself to feel again. She allowed herself to be vulnerable.
Davina came out of Cami's living room to see Caroline crying and breaking down in Cami's arms. She looked shocked but Caroline couldn't see her.
Caroline felt her knees giving out and her body falling. Cami held her, there on her apartment floor, as she finally gave in to the pain in her friend's arms.
Songs referenced in this chapter:
- Emperor's New Clothes by Panic! At the disco.
- Shake It Out (acoustic version) by Florence and the Machine
- Show Must Go On by Queen
