Part Two: Chapter Twenty
"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss." — Ransom Riggs
He liked Haiti. The heat was never oppressive and the food kept him full. And the witches! Their brands of magic was strong and unhindered like many of the witches found on the continent. The witches here were relaxed and comfortable in their power and didn't follow the rules of that the other witches did. The world would always right itself, they said, so it mattered little what they did because nothing was new under the sun. And maybe that was why, Kol always found himself wandering back to the Caribbean. It was his safe haven and frankly he liked that his family rarely ever settled in the Caribbean.
It was in these brief moments that he would forget himself. He could forget the machinations of his family and simply live. Breathe the air and enjoy the sand under his feet. And what better time to enjoy life than now, when Niklaus was touring and had gone silent for months. There were moments when the family would scatter and each Original would do their own thing. Usually it was for necessary, but with Mikael dead they had their run of the world. They were all still under the thumb of their hybrid brother. Kol grinned.
Nik wasn't a hybrid.
That was right, the girl had escaped. Trevor, the love sodden fool had turned her and she ran. It was all so glorious. Kol was smart enough to hide the grin when he heard the news, but he knew that Caroline caught his smile. The girl had stood resolutely by Niklaus' side and looked at him with the purest expression. Kol wanted to rip her to shreds for it.
But what's done is done. Time had passed and all wounds were healed. Besides dwelling about unpleasant things on pleasant sands did nothing but ruin the country for himself.
Sipping, from his glass, Kol sunk deeper into the sand. The sun beat a steady rhythm and a breeze caressed him. All he could hear were the sounds of birds chirping and waves meeting the shore. Yes, he really did like Haiti.
There was a white picket fence and a glossy green lawn. A man and a woman kissed goodbye and the man walked to the car. The woman looked at him besotted. His vision turned and he was inside the house.
Hardwood floors were underneath his feet, and something tugged him forward, yanking on his shirt. Kol stumbled and fell. Behind him a giggle sounded and he saw Katherine behind him. She was sitting the way proper ladies did back in the 13th century, shoulders back and hands resting in her lap. The dress was a deep mauve that displayed the richness of her curls and the olive tone of her skin. She smiled at him and did nothing to hide the girl that burst from her chest.
"Oh, Kol you were always so funny. And so handsome too," she sighed. Her eyes looked over his form. He was only in his swimming trunks and some flip-flops so of course she would say something like that. A roguish smirk graced his face.
"If only you hadn't been so caught up in Elijah. Maybe then you would have noticed me," he said. She rolled her eyes.
"Just because I did not flirt with you does not mean I never noticed." She rose from the couch, and he noticed just how out of place she was in this setting. A relic in the modern age, it was what vampires were. "Get up. I want to show you something."
She walked to the mantle and clasped a picture frame in her hands. Kol rose and walked towards her. Katerina hugged the photo to her chest, her smile glowing on her face. He had never seen her so happy, never in all the time that she had been with them or spent time with Caroline had she been so happy.
She turned to show the photo to him. "That's me!" In the photo was a family. The man and woman that she had seen outside, another droll looking boy, and Katerina. Her hair was pin straight and her clothes were modern, but that was the only things that was different. Kol frowned as he looked at the photo.
"That's me! You should come a visit. It'll be so much fun!"
"You're here?" He gestured around the room. "Darling, visiting you would send you to your death. My brother despises you."
Katerina frowned, a small divot appeared between her brows. "Aw, then what if I wasn't Katerina? What if I was someone else? Someone useful?" Her expression brightened and a smile appeared on her face. "I'll tell the Bennetts you'll be happy to see them!"
"Bennetts? Darling—"
The world twisted underneath his feet. Everything became a hazy blur and Kol just witnessed it all. Flashes of green and gold ran by, chased by a blank blackness at the end of the tunnel. It yawned larger and larger until it consumed all his vision and that was all he saw. A bleak black void of nothing.
"Hello?" Kol shouted. He inched forward, head swishing from left to right trying to find something, anything. "Katerina?"
"Who're you?"
Kol turned to see a dark skinned girl standing behind him. She was smaller than him with brown ringlets and sharp green eyes. She was pretty.
"The question is less who I am and more where are we?"
"We're in Mystic Falls. Mystic Falls, Virginia. Don't you see the sign?" She pointed somewhere to her left, a sign formed. It was a wooden sign, with chipping baby blue and white paint. Kol looked at it in awe.
"Mystic Falls?"
"Yes. Now, who are you?"
"Kol."
"Oh… I'm Bonnie."
Kol spit the salt water out of his mouth. High tide had rolled in and he slept through most of the day. The setting sun was kissing the horizon, beaming light straight into his eyes and making his umbrella useless.
He was no stranger to dreams. Being hit dark magic leaves something of a stain on one's soul. He just went from dream walking to being precognitive. Go figure. He sighed. And he really liked Haiti too. Not bothering to grab his towel, Kol meandered his way off the beach and back to his home.
Birds chirruped high from their nests and and the leaves' gentle hush turned into a quiet roar when the wind whipped through them. Underneath the iron stench of blood was the subtle sweetness of forestry and life. And the sky was a fantastic blue, clear with no clouds.
Caroline sighed and rolled over on the grass. The blood was cooling and she could feel the drying rivulets staining her skin. His hand reached out to wrap around her and Klaus pressed a kiss to her lips. She sighed into it. The world was aflame when she was with him, nothing brighter than the passion between the two of them. She never dared to call it love because love could not explain what they shared. Love was for humans. They were something more.
The kiss ended and Caroline could not help but laugh. Her life was perfect. Everything was perfect. The sun and stars were all in align, whatever explained the perfection.
"Can I hear the joke, love?" Klaus asked. He pulled her close, chest to chest and Caroline knew her heart would flutter if it still beat.
"How are we going to leave now?" she laughed. Her hand ran down his chest, wiping the blood and dirt from his skin. "We're so dirty. And there is no way that people aren't going to ask questions."
Klaus smiled. And Caroline loved it, the way those full lips pulled up into a grin warmed her to her core. She had to laugh again and wanted to feel his lips on her again. She indulged herself. This kiss was long and languid where the first was sweet. The one held teeth and a violence to it that bordered between passion and obsession. But that was what made them so good, dancing on the edge of extremism, toeing the line.
He pulled away and Caroline saw a peek of his fangs before he sunk them into her neck. The sigh was almost blissful and the pain was almost painful. Toeing the line was fun but crossing the Rubicon was even better. She gripped his head, urging him to suck deeper, suck harder. It felt like he was going to swallow all that she and that when he pulled away. Caroline did not wait for permission and bit back.
One time she watched the Chronicles of Narnia and saw Edmund sell his family for turkish delight. And where others misunderstood, Caroline sympathized because when one had found their ambrosia it was pointless arguing with them otherwise. Klaus' blood was her turkish delight. With Caroline having taken her fill, the two shared another searing kiss before Klaus spoke again, his eyes darkened and lips swollen and red.
"Compulsion as we always do. That's what makes this fun no matter what madness we get into we never get caught," Klaus murmured. Caroline giggled. Compulsion was fun but acting was better. There was no better fun than putting on theatrics making them believe something entirely false. She liked acting and Klaus liked theatrics. It was a perfect fit.
The shrill ring of a cell phone is what pulled them apart. It was jarring to the tranquility of the forest to have something so loud and artificial drown out the sound of birds. Klaus left to pick it up and Caroline followed him to their discarded clothing. Klaus rifled through his pants for a moment before finding his phone and taking the call.
"What do I owe the call Kol. I doubt this is a social call," Klaus said.
She slowed as she put on her pants. Kol. Kol. The name rolled through her mind and she held back a cringe. History was an odd thing, that made the present even odder. She was indebted and everything he had done for her. But he wanted something more, a plan that she never wanted to take part of.
"You know I never call just to talk. How is the ever so lovely Caroline?" She could hear the jovial tones of Kol's voice. The inflection never changed, but she could feel the contempt.
"I'm fine!" Caroline answered for herself. She fastened the buttons of her ripped blouse. She was not too concerned about the skin she would show. She had worn less.
"Ah! Pleasure to hear that darling. Klaus I have some information that you might want to know."
"Out with it Kol," Klaus all but growled out. His eyes were glued to her form. Caroline could not hide the grin. She twirled around, moving to a rhythm only she could hear. Klaus gave her a smile, all teeth, no man.
"I've had a vision brother. Something about Mystic Falls and Katerina. It seems that your doppelganger is there."
Caroline froze. His eyes were no longer on her as they stared out into the distance. Klaus was glaring at something, someone, that was far and away. Something that he hated. Katerina.
It had been so long since she had seen her friend. Sisters, they had promised to be like sisters until the very end and yet. She was here with the man that wanted to kill her and at one point Caroline wanted nothing more, but to end the girl. Be the one to put her in the dirt.
Caroline had never told a soul about the plan that the two of them had hatched with Rose and Trevor. No there was no point in that now. She was happy she got to have Klaus and live a life of absolute freedom. With him, Caroline was free to be everything that she was, a monster, a demon, a vampire. The truth ruined everything.
Doppelganger. The word slithered through her coiled around her and she could feel a pit in her stomach yawning open, a pit that she thought filled. Her hands went to her hair, adjusting and fixing it, brushing away the bits of foliage and leaves that got caught in their romp. The girl with the face of Katerina, that girl that Klaus wanted first. What was it about Katerina's face that she would always be searching for it? What magic did she possess? How could she compete with magic?
"So Katerina is hiding in Mystic Falls? Our ancestral home?"
"Ancestral? What ancestors? We were the first to settle there. No, not Katerina, something even better. A human doppelganger."
For a moment Carolien see nothing but the brightness on Klaus' face. She saw it so rarely. His smile was like the sun breaking through a stubborn bit of clouds. He shuttered the look quickly and turned away from her to growl into the phone. Assurance after assurance dragged out of Kol as Klaus' body vibrated with all the power of the sun.
Caroline thought to Katerina when they first met. The broken girl who had only wanted her daughter. Had only wanted the man she had fancied. Could she do that? Kill some unnamed daughter of her once best and closest friend? She could kill a girl with that face?
Kill. Maim. Keep what is yours.
She looked to Klaus. He belonged to her yet he glowed at the thought of some stupid doppelganger. Some stupid girl that never once did anything of note to him other than breathe air. It was insulting, it was infuriating.
For a moment her lips twisted and Caroline wished she could main Klaus. Make him feel the pain that he made her suffer when he waxed poetic about Petrovas. It would hurt her, hurting him, but it would have made her feel slightly better. She sighed and turned away from him.
Klaus hung up and rushed to her. A kiss ready and she did not delay her response. And as his eyes closed so did her, but she caught the sight of a cooling witch body. She had enjoyed this trip of theirs. The next would be less pleasant.
"Fuck you Nik! I don't want to go to some stupid town in nowhere Virginia!"
"Rebekah, darling, don't be a brat. I want all of us there. Together. Is it too much to ask that we all spend some time together like a family?"
He never listened to her. He never, ever, fucking listened to her. She stomped her foot. "No! Anytime we get together it is like some Shakespearean tragedy! People die and it's either me or Kol that get the dagger!"
"Spare the rod. Spoil the child. Besides Rebekah you know Shakespeare's tragedies were nothing compared to the havoc that we wrought when we first turned. Stop being dramatic you are coming to Virginia. Don't make me send 'Lijah."
"I am no child!"
"Then stop acting like one. You want to be treated like an adult Rebekah? Then act like an adult. When an important matter comes up, family supports one another. Only children only think of themselves."
"Oh, look at you. Did 'Lijah finally manage to stick that righteous stick up your arse? This isn't about family. This is about you. This has always been about you! You don't want me there out of some altruistic need for family. You want me as another piece on the drawing board. Some fucking pawn to move to you machinations."
"Listen well Rebekah," his voice had lowered in timbre and Rebekah could already see the way he would lower his brow to accompany the shift. Dark and foreboding was her brother and yet women swarmed around him like flies to honey. Caroline stuck by his side regardless of all the darkness and brooding. God what did the women see in this monster that was her brother? What did Rebekah see in her brother that made her stay?
"You will get on that plane. You will join me, in putting a united front and you will cease acting like the world revolves around you. You either do this willingly or you can get the dagger you seem to hate so much." His voice was a low growl, no not a growl even with his sibling Klaus never liked to be so blatantly confrontational. His voice was a soft purr something that only slightly hints and the burning storm that he was harboring. Rebekah felt her lip wobble and her heart tighten in her throat.
First Mikael and now this. God, she never got to choose, she never gets to have just one say in what happens to her life. She was always stuck with someone in control. She sucked in a deep breath and ended the call. She threw her phone against the wall and then marched back to her room.
"You should be nicer to your sister."
Her hands were still warm from her bath when they wrapped around him. Klaus signed into her embrace, his eyes closing as she pressed her chest to his back. Her hands traveled up and down his chest. The irritation and coldness that he felt was traded for the warmth of her hands, the softness of her voice in his ear. Was there anything better than this? The warmth and light that encompassed his heart and mind so utterly? Nothing could have been better than his Caroline. Nothing, nothing.
"My sister is just being bratty. She'll come," he whispered. Caroline hummed deep in her throat. All was quiet. Only the sound of their breathing and the feeling of her warmth was all that Klaus focused on. To be so soft and lightweight, it was moments like these that he craved more than the sex and the blood, just being with her in a way that was tender and soft. It reflected nothing of the world that they lived in, the hard and harshness of it all.
Caroline pressed a kiss to his temple and Klaus kept his eyes closed. If her opened them, then for sure the moment would be over and the rigid edges of life would ruin everything. Caroline chuckled beside him.
"Open your eyes Klaus. We have planning to do."
"Sweetheart I love you but you ruined a truly beautiful moment." He could imagine them immortalize in oils. Her in a soft creme colored towel and him in his dark clothing, wrapped together on the creme and gold chemise with golden light swirling around them. He would hang it in his office when he finished the painting. Something to lighten the space when he inevitably chooses dark colors for his office.
"I know darling, but we are planning to break your curse and I want to make sure that everything goes as planned." Caroline moved away from him then and he missed her immediately. His body was thrumming with energy. He could almost taste the blood of the doppelganger on his lips. He closed his eyes and felt the thick ichor of the curse breaking blood trickle down his throat. The face and struggling gasp that escaped the dying doppelganger was ringing in his ears. In his mind's eyes he could not decide which doppelganger it was; this new one or the wretch Katerina.
Author's Note: One and done.