Chapter 13 - We All Go a little Mad Sometimes Part I
Last time...
In the year 972 A.D., Manning draws from life the portrait of Klaus and Caroline that is found by Stefan and Damon in the future. During this voyage to the New World, Manning reminisces about his first meeting with the current captain of ship, the Flame haired Assassin of the High Seas and his former teacher named V. Manning confronts her about their past together and her feelings regarding him sleeping with Esther and the child they have together named Niklaus. When V gives nothing away, Klaus and Manning have a heart to heart. When Manning returns to the present day, he comes across Bonnie and the new dark soul to be sacrificed in accordance to some unspoken agreement between Manning and the Dark Mistress: Katherine. Just before Katherine is to be sucked into the void, she confesses that a red head girl with a triangle tattoo forced her to hurt Caroline, making Manning strike a deal with the Dark Mistress for her soul. With Katherine under his charge, he reveals to her that she is to be his replacement as Executioner and in exchange for saving her soul, she is to tell him all she knows about his mate V.
A/N RANT ALERT ON THE ORIGINALS EPISODE 2x7 (if you are uninterested in my rant, you can start reading at the Asterisk (*) section). Omg, omg, Oh. My. GOD! Okay. FYI. I boycotted The Originals, only watching JessK videos on youtube just so I'm current on the fiascoes going on in TVD and The Originals. So imagine my shock when the clip comes on with Klaus and his REAL father Ansel (Manning to those who are reading this fic)! And he looks EXACTLY like Manning... except with shorter hair, facial hair, older looking (My Manning doesn't age past 35 which I'll get into in later chapters) but anyways. Of course I couldn't sleep after watching the Youtube video and wake up first thing in the morning to watch these Ansel/Manning episodes...only to be brutally reminded WHY I do not watch that darn show anymore! Those writers. Why can't they just stay on the right track when they finally get on one? I won't spoil anything for those who are stronger than I and can stay faithful to THAT show (rolls eyes and huffs in frustration).
In my fanon, pre TO Klaus world however, Klaus is NOT a sentimental weakling and neither is his father. Klaus is just too selfish to do what he did in "The Originals is crap," 2x7 episode. If you haven't noticed, I'm pissed. Yes, Klaus may love the baby he made with Hayley, I can overlook that, but the Klaus I know is a greedy bastard for happiness if he lets himself believe he is worthy of it; he would try to have it all - the love of a father, a woman and a daughter. I thought Klaus is a diabolical genius who reigns in making plans A - Z?! What happened to THAT Klaus?! I dunno. Still looking. But these writers, instead of coming up with a way for our Klaus to claim his happiness, they don't. Obviously, it would take too much creative energy and GOD FORBID the writers of the Originals DO THAT! You know. What they are PAID to do!
Okay. Rant over.
*After saying all that, I do have some minimal respect for canon left and I'm tempted to change Manning's name to Ansel since now, inconveniently, Klaus' dad has an official name *sighs.* Furthermore, there are elements of the Originals I may incorporate that, admittedly, are interesting to explore, so you can be on the look out for that.
**IF YOU ARE AGAINST THE NAME CHANGE, LET ME KNOW VIA REVIEW OTHERWISE IN THE NEXT UPDATE, MANNING WILL BE ANSEL :(. There will be no more changes to the story, though, in my head, I have tweaked some things :).
***Fic business: Yeah. Seems like some of you are confused, so I hope this update clears things up! If not, let me know.
If you haven't notice, I am giving you guys the Manning/Ansel backstory as requested. Please let me know if at any point the backstory is too much. I am flexible :).
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Klaus POV
Kol takes the phone from my hands, taking over the conversation with Stefan while I stare blankly at nothing. Numb, but my mind going a mile a minute as things finally start to make sense.
Why Father dearest is going out of his way to ensure my happiness, to protect Caroline and saving me in the process from turning off my humanity.
We had met.
He knew Caroline and I.
More than that, I...We had "saved them."
Them. There is another besides Manning in this.
"You are the only one, save myself, who owes them your life," The drawing had said.
Manning called her his beloved, his assassin, with "flame" hair. He spoke of her in the utmost confidence, charging her with our protection and said he was "forever hers."
A phrase commonly used among lovers, I can't help but notice. Esther didn't have flame hair, and wants us dead so it couldn't be her. Then who was it?
Also, if the drawing isn't fake, Caroline and I somehow managed to go back through time and the only way that could happen is what Kol had immediately surmised himself:
"The metaphysical connection of the Vow."
A bond through the Vow which transcends time itself. Spiritual connection is fine, the physical one, which I feel strengthening especially during yet another make out session Caroline I had just moments ago in this very room, is one I'll never have qualms about.
But this one...This metaphysical bond...Is a problem.
The year 972. I was three at the time. If Caroline and I were really there with Manning and this flame haired assassin of his, then Caroline meeting or learning of my human self is inevitable.
So is learning about my weak, pathetic version of myself that cowered under Mikael's abuse, which had yearned for a father to love him.
I internally grimace. Maybe Bonnie breaking the bond isn't such an atrocious idea after all.
Yet...I pause, realizing something else. It also means that Manning, his life, who he was, would no longer be a mystery. After a thousand years, I would finally know that side of my family tree. Perhaps even know how life would have been if he had claimed me as his own. Did he have other children beyond myself, his own wife, brothers and sisters that would be my aunts and uncles I never knew?
He drew as well, the remembrance of the drawing coming forth in my mind. His technique, based on the picture, was flawless, a clear indication that it was something he did often, much like myself, when I'm not conquering cities and killing.
We had something in common there, and that knowledge makes me wonder what else we share in common against my will. I feel emotions that I rather not have because it's gives me hope, hope to have a connection with a father who may actually care for me...
I internally scoff at the ludicrous thought, mentally chastising myself for being sentimental, when I hear Kol say something which catches my attention: "You've found something else. Out with it," he demands into my phone.
"Whoa..." breathes out Damon in response.
"Okay. This is officially creepy," says Ripper Stefan.
"What is it?" I say, finally recovering from the shock of earlier, coming up next to Kol. At the same time, the door behind us opens, revealing Caroline and Bonnie.
My eyes take in every inch of her before falling on the envelope in her hand. She opens her mouth to speak when Stefan's voice comes through the phone again:
"Klaus. We've found this hidden room with this huge map of where you've been..."
"Among other things," mutters Damon distractedly.
Quicker than I can blink, Caroline grabs the phone from Kol, her eyes lighting up.
"Oh my god! Stefan?!"
"Caroline?!" answers Stefan, echoing her excitement and relief. "He really found you?! You okay?"
"Of course Blondie's okay," scoffs Damon. "Klaus has a thing for her, remember?"
I clench my jaw as Caroline snaps at Damon. I hate how obvious my affection for Caroline is to everyone else, not that I can exactly act indifferent towards her even if I tried. Regardless, must the lot of them throw it at my face in a moment's notice? It's a weakness. One that is not even worth having when the object of said affection wants nothing to do with me because of an idiotic one night stand resulting in a child that will be part of my life whether I like it or not.
"Shut up Damon," she hisses.
"If we can get back to the exceedingly more interesting conversation about what you lot found in the bloody Chamber of secrets you're in, that would be fantastic," I interject quickly, breaking up the useless argument that is about to ensue over the phone.
We hear the Ripper sigh, walking about. "...England, Italy, Rome, Paris, Tokyo and," he says, before a shuffling of papers takes place. "Wow. This woman is serious," he muses to himself, obviously engrossed in the things he's going through. "She's been following you for..." I hear a flip of a paper page. "A loooooog time."
I frown, Kol, Caroline and Bonnie glancing at me with eyebrows arched up in curiosity.
" 'The year 1156, Italy. I found him,' " Damon's reading voice comes in through the phone. " 'My divine mark hid him well, protected him. But none of that matters. I had found him and I, not Mikael, will kill him."
Wait. What?
"That doesn't sound right," says Kol, equally confused.
"Somebody trying to kill Klaus?" says Bonnie with a laugh. "Oh yes it does."
"Yeah. It's really not that shocking," adds Caroline in agreement. "Who are we even talking about?" she asks Bonnie.
"Thank you, the both of you, for your kind words," I say sarcastically to them, looking disapprovingly at Caroline who shrugs unapologetically.
But, Kol, surprisingly drags us back on track. "No. You don't understand darling," he says to Bonnie. "Earlier, The Salvatores' found a drawing of Caroline and Klaus from Klaus' father back in 972 A.D that charged this flame haired assassin in protecting them both."
I mentally choke Kol, already anticipating Caroline's reaction. I instead stare angrily at him right when Caroline's head snaps in my direction, her eyes wide.
"How is that even possible?" she gasps at me.
I turn to her, repressing the urge to wrap my arms around her in response to the fear I see in her eyes. A foreign reaction for me, a killer but for Caroline, I suppose I am whatever she needs to me to be...
I hear her voice from earlier telling me to be honest for how can she be with me if I hide things from her. Now, reading her expression, I see how unfair I was being to her. That I wasn't protecting her by omitting information, keeping her in the dark. I was only hurting her. Yes. You would think I would of learned that when I failed to tell her about Hayley and the baby, but it didn't make sense till now, making me finally tell her what I know.
"It's the Eternal Vow love," I say softly. "The metaphysical connection is one of the three layers of it. The other being the physical and spiritual. Apparently, our metaphysical version of the Vow allows us to transcend time and meet my father."
I swallow deeply at the last part, looking down before I feel her come next to me. "Not Mikael. But your real dad?" she asks.
I turn from her, staring out a nearby window when I hear the understanding and tenderness in her tone. It takes me aback, making me feel things I don't want to feel. "Yes," I say evenly.
"How?"
"I don't know."
Her hand touches my shoulder and I stiffen, waiting for the Vow to make my ongoing physical need for her to go haywire, but this time, her touch emits a warmth that soothes and comforts. I close my eyes as her hand glides over my shoulder down my arm, and finally, wraps around my hand.
My head snaps up to look at her in surprise, and she gives me a smile of reassurance that commands my heart to skip a beat. My eyes are unable to leave hers, the link there strong. How is she able to look at me in such a way? Like I have feelings? How is she able to see past the Original Hybrid that everyone else sees? How is that Klaus secondary to the human Niklaus I fought for centuries to bury? How is she so easily able to find him?
Damon's voice comes through my phone that is still in Caroline's hand, breaking our moment. I wait for her to pull away, but she increases the pressure of our joined hands making me smile when she looks at the phone to avoid my gaze as Damon reads from what sounds like the Assassin's journal:
" '...It took even myself centuries to find him. Unfortunately, it was the massacre of two whole villages that led me to him. Luckily, I was in Europe at the time...' "
I drop Caroline's hand, the identity of Manning's flame haired assassin descending on me like a ton of bricks.
I feel Caroline grabbing my hand again but I am gone. My mind connecting the dots that for centuries nearly drove me mad with curiosity.
I see V as clear as the day I first met her in 1156, under the haze of hallucinations, endless pain and suffering from that accursed Hunter's curse. An unfortunate, curious couple had wandered into the abandoned castle my siblings kept me in. I had broken out of one of the dungeon with fresh blood in my veins, baser instincts taking over, but I needed more. I had allowed my siblings to nearly desiccated me, deprived me of blood in hopes of relieving me of my mental torture.
I hadn't helped. It had simply left me immobile in my madness so when the blood touched my lips, all I wanted to do was lash out.
I had went on a rampage when I escaped, two, nearby villages at the mercy of my unbelievable thirsty.
Then I had met V, the red head devil I met then that I thought was another hallucination trying to kill me...
1156 A.D. Italy
Fire. Screams. Blood.
It is everywhere and everything. The blood of my 110th victim is thrumming through my veins, making me feel alive again with every step I take.
"Is alive truly something you want to be Nik?"
I stop walking, my breath coming out fast in recognizing my little brother's voice.
I shake, clenching my fists. "You're not real. Leave me!"
I flash the opposite direction, but he's before me, his throat open, his flesh in ribbons exposing where the wolves clawed at him and ended his innocent life.
"You said you'd come for me Brother," says Henrik his eyes pleading with me. "That you'd protect me."
I step back, genuinely fearful, shaking my head.
"I cannot!" I cry brokenly. "I cannot join you in death Brother! This..." I let my vampiric features come forth. "This is what I am! And it cannot be killed!"
"Oh yes it can."
I whirl around at the strangely accented voice, finding a red head woman perched on a tree branch in a beautifully adorned, intricately embroidered, form-fitting bliaut. Its flowing skirt covers the branch, giving the lady upon it the persona of some Greek, mythological, nymph and it's a wonder she was able to climb despite the dress until I notice the wide rip in the silk cloth.
It exposes her leg that she raises to the tree branch she sits on, letting the covered one dangle lazily.
Finally, I take in the sword she holds in her hand, its blade glimmering under the sunlight as she uses it as a prop to stand up on the tree branch she once sat on.
I look on amused. "Now love, whatever do you plan on doing with that?" I ask with chuckle, nodding at the sword.
She smiles back at me warmly, her admittedly stunning hazel green eyes flexed in amber, gazing at me.
"Why. To sever your head from your body of course," she says without missing a beat, giving me a winning smile.
I laugh loudly at her boldness, the serious, nonchalant tenor of her tone. "Very cute sweetheart."
"I'm glad you find this so amusing Niklaus."
My smile leaves my face. "How do you know my name?" I ask coldly.
She stops smiling as well. Her eyes cold as death. "You will not be living long enough for it to matter. The innocent souls you have slaughtered," her gaze glancing over the dead bodies on the ground and then back at me, "call for your blood."
"And what are you? An avenging angel?"
She shrugs. "Of a sort." She sighs, looking at the dead again in disapproval. "Your father would be so disappointed."
My anger sparks at the mention of Mikael. How dare this wench and her condescending tone! "Let me let you in on a little secret," I say with malice. "Keep your little judgements to yourself if you want to live. You have no idea what I am love. Best be walking off if you do not wish to end up like the rest of the villagers here."
"I am sure I do indeed know who and what you are. You are Niklaus, son of Esther and a 'I wish I was a son of Mikael...' " she says in air quotes with her free hand in a mocking tone and a roll of her eyes
I growl in response, letting my fangs drop.
"...and simply an Original Vampire. Not the Original Hybrid you were born to be."
I am ready to rip her throat out, now realizing what's happening.
"You're a damn hallucination," I hiss. "No one knows any of that except my siblings. Just another trick of the Hunter's curse."
"Believe what you want my Allvaldr," I do not have time to react to why she would give me such a title because her face changes and I look on in amazement when a double set of fangs show up and her eyes turn gold, not the usual vampire black. "Rejoice!" she shouts in mock happiness. "For the death you have so long begged for has finally come," she ends in a freezing tone that admittedly was saturated with the promise of pain.
With that, she is upon me, barely giving me time to grab a nearby sword to stop her for slashing me in two.
I am stunned at her speed and strength. How real this hallucination feels!
It never leaves me, this recent rendition of the Hunter's curse. Nightfall comes and the red head hallucination is relentless, predicting nearly 90% of my moves. Her agility and battle style confounds me, leaving me to silently applaud the Hunter's curse in creating a demon that can match me blow by blow and not tire.
Her dress is now in tatters, her red gold hair sticking to the injuries I was able to inflict upon her. But she is not frightened, her eyes are wild, clearly enjoying our battle.
And admittedly, I was as well.
In between us catching our breath, I manage to speak.
"Give it up love. You..." I wince, grabbing my side in which she just stabbed me in moments ago before I threw her off. "You won't win."
"Niklaus," She takes a deep breath, straightening up. "I've already won."
I try to laugh at her assessment, but stumble to my knees, the wound on my side burning.
Then, I realize.
"Why is it not healing?" I ask say to myself, more than to her.
I watch her come up to me, sword in hand. Her wounds were not healed either, but mine...I could bleed out if the wound does not close.
"You still think this to be a hallucination? No hallucination can mimic the hands of death grasping to claim your soul."
And I felt it. My body getting weaker...
"What sorcery is this?" I growl at her. This couldn't be. She had no White Oak, but I feel the cold, much like my last moments after Mikael impaled me with his sword before I became vampire.
"You are my Allvaldr. My Sovereign," she whispers, collapsing to her knees suddenly in front of me, weak as well. I do not look at her as she speaks, too immersed in trying to decipher what was going on. "You are the only one on this plane that can kill me and I am the only one who can kill you. True...immortality. Not even the White Oak Stake that you fear so can touch you. So is the power of my divine mark."
I shake my head, ruing again the day I killed those five Hunters. They were doing a number with their latest trick this time. Immunity from the White Oak Stake? Dying from a stab wound from a woman? These wounds felt real enough but still. It was laughable! Were they so desperate to have me die that they had to resort to such tactics?
Yet, there is a voice that wondered if this was possibly real. Did this red headed demon best me and was killing me at this moment?
She comes closer, grasping the back of my head.
"Requiescat in pace*, my Allvaldr," she whispers in my ear in Latin. I see her raise her sword to finish me, and I wonder how real will this final blow feel.
I become faint, and I'm barely able to raise my head and look into the eyes of my opponent who visibly flinches when our eyes meet, a breath apart.
"What are you waiting for?" I rasp.
Her eyes take on a stricken quality, her eyes glossing over. "You have his eyes," she breathes.
I stare at her in confusion as she shakes her head.
Suddenly, she slams me to the ground forcefully, a gust of air leaving my lips on impact, her sword at my throat. I feel the beads of blood trickling at where the point of the sword is breaking skin but I'm watching on in apt interest at the now crazy woman above me.
"No!" she shouts. "NO! You DO NOT get to look at me that way! I will avenge him! He is dead because of you and YOU DO NOT GET TO LIVE! No longer!"
"Avenge...Who?" I manage.
"ENOUGH! Enough of your games! Enough of you pretending you do not know who I am! You were NOT from the future! You both knew he was going to die and you let him! You let me protect you both and not him! I trusted you! WE trusted you!"
She's gone mad, I surmise in disappointment.
"Just tell the hunters to get on with it love if you can and put us both out of our misery. I tire of this," I say with a near yawn, letting my head fall back. When was this hallucination over?
I watch all the fight go out of her then, seeing my disinterest. "You...You really have no memory of me," she realizes. "Of anything. Not even your father. Your family. Caroline."
My eyes widen at last part. This is new. I had learned by now that the Hunter's curse was only so effective in its torture with its way of warping the truth, but here it is bringing up a random girl's name through the lips of a woman I had never met.
Why?
Unless...
Unless this is somehow real.
She must of seen the change in me, for she gets up, with effort, speaking more to herself than me. "By my Creator...You two weren't lying. You truly were linked by the Eternal Vow."
I try to get up, but I'm too weak.
She comes up next to me immediately and slices her wrist open without so much as a wince. Her threshold for pain is to be applauded. If what she said was true about us being only able to kill each other, she had to be suffering from multiple areas of internal bleeding (I had not been gentle in my tussle with her after all). Her rich blood flows into my mouth.
"I am sorry," she whispers regretfully. "Forgive me. I did not believe. I suppose your father would be disappointed in the both of us with my breaking my promise to him. A good thing he did not live," she ends quietly, swallowing deeply at her admittance.
It is then I realize she was not talking of Mikael at all.
When I have enough strength from her blood, I sit up and without hesitation, her slender throat is in my grasp.
"I see you believe me to be real now," she gasps, unsurprised.
I tighten my grip, turning her beet red. "Tell me all you know," I compel.
Her eyes do not go blank as they should but she answers me willingly. "As my Allvaldr, and a descendent of the Original werewolf line, I am sired to you, like all werewolves. You needn't use compulsion with me. Furthermore, I am immune to it."
My eyes widen. "Immune?"
"Yes. For I..." she gasps. "I'm not of this world."
I release my grip a bit for her to speak, but I do not let her go. "And what are you?"
A small smile cracks on her lips. "A hybrid."
I let her go completely at that and almost go back to saying to myself she is a hallucination again, but I had seen the double fangs, the werewolf yellow eyes. Excitement surges through me before I can stop myself.
"And how is like love?" I ask with a smirk.
She returns it. "Nothing short of incredible. I owe you much."
Hell. This might be a mixture of truth and fantasy at this point, learning after 52 years of suffering from that curse it can be cruel in this way, but...
"I turned you?"
"Indeed. At least your future self did."
My smile grows. So I do break the curse. "And you are meant to follow me?"
She rolls her eyes, sitting down now and dropping her sword. "Yes. It is my sentence."
I arch my eyebrow at her. "Sentence?"
"Yes. I am a slave to your family line."
" 'To my family line...? You mean on my father's side?"
She looks thoroughly disgusted with the suggestion that at any point she would beholden to Esther. "Of course yes! The day I serve Esther Mikaelson in any form is the day I slit my throat."
Her retort brings about the first genuine smile I've had in 52 years...perhaps even longer than that.
"Well. It won't be coming to that love," I say, taking my sword to slit my wrist, but she stops me.
"You have forgotten. Since you are no longer near death..." she reveals her healed wounds. "Neither am I."
My mouth opens slightly at her confession, reading into what she had not said aloud. "You were going to kill me...knowing you would die as well?" I ask in astonishment.
"You have your curse and I have mine being stuck here in service to your family. If I am to ever strike down my Allvaldr, I will cease to exist."
"And yet you still came here to kill me?" I ask incredulously. And were nearly successful. I fail to add. Not really.
Her face creases with emotion at my question and with reverence, she says her next words. "For him, I'd risk Oblivion itself if it meant doing right by him."
Her loyalty to my Father is evident and a curious thing to watch. "And killing me would be?"
"No. Not anymore. Now that I know you and Caroline were from the future at that time, you cannot be held accountable for your non action. As hard as it is for me to say, you did well in not altering anything."
Again with this Caroline and this future talk. Before I can open my mouth and ask, she presses a finger to my lips.
"Do not ask me. Due to the sire bond, I'll be forced to tell you and you truly shouldn't know. No one should know their future."
I yank her finger away by pulling on her wrist, nearly breaking it. "I will be the one to decide what I should or shouldn't know," I growl. "Now..." I say with a sinister grin, about to ask her about this mysterious girl.
She cuts me off with a sweet smile. "Fine. I answer all your questions about Caroline and your future. Then, you will suffer with Hunter's curse for eternity."
My grin is gone as hers grows and I knew this is a common practice for her, finding ways for her Allvaldr to not have complete control over her.
Smart girl.
"You know how to break it." It wasn't a question.
"I know many things. I have been here since the beginning after all."
Again, she stops me with another finger to my lips. I growl in annoyance.
"If you want me to help you, you'll respect when I do not wish to tell you things. Have her name and be satisfied."
"What is she to me?"
"Important."
"That tells me nothing."
"I know. Ask more questions or Hunter's curse for eternity?"
"Nik?!"
My eyes widen. Rebekah.
"He must be near. I can smell nothing but corpses and blood," mutters Elijah in his constant disapproving tone.
She waits for my command, getting up.
I hear Elijah and Rebekah getting closer, making my decision.
"Very well. You have my word. I will not inquire about this girl or the future," I say in a harsh whisper. "Now relieve me of this curse."
"Not before you also agree not to coerce me to do anything I do not wish to do as well," she adds with mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Would hate to have to come up with other things to convince you. I am soooo good at that. Eons of practice you know."
Another innuendo to her true nature. She was clearly more than just a hybrid and I don't even bother to ask when I see her finger go up to her lips.
I can smell Rebekah now, they were getting close.
Which means it is now or never.
"We have an agreement. Go."
Her face turns serious, her demeanor changing to one on a mission. "Consider it done, my Allvaldr."
I feel a displacement of air at my side. She is gone, right before I am tackled by Elijah who pins me down as Rebekah pours vervain down my throat so much so that I eventually black out...
*Translation: Rest in peace
Perth, Australia - Present Day
I feel Caroline drop my hand this time and with one look at her face, I can see that knew. That she had somehow seen my memory as I relived it in my mind.
The spiritual connection of the Vow.
"You knew of me before you came to Mystic Falls," she says in an awed tone.
"What was that Blondie?"cuts in Damon from the phone. Caroline steps away from me, seeing the answer in my eyes.
I answer Damon for her. "Nothing. You and Stefan take everything in that shop and bring it to my home in New Orleans," I order them.
Besides the random visits from her once a century, and a gift on my birthday (except this year, I realize. Which was strange but...), I haven't had much contact with her after she successfully broke the Hunter's curse for me 4 months after we had met.
The simple letter she had sent had me smiling from ear to ear:
"Enjoy having an empty mind again my Allvaldr. Not that it was filled with much to begin with - V."
I had looked for her for centuries, but it became clear that she kept her distance, not wanting to risk me breaking my promise regarding my asking about taboo subjects no doubt.
And here, the idiot Salvatore brothers were the closest in finding her than I had ever been.
"Excuse me. Stefan?" chimes in Damon from the phone sarcastically, jarring me from my thoughts. "I didn't know we were starring in a game of PaperBoy. If Hybrid Ken wants this stuff, he can get one of his personal compelled slaves to do it because I sure as hell didn't sign up for the job. Like I said, we still need to find Elena."
"Which you two imbeciles have been utterly failing at for the past several months," I snap, losing patience. "We do not know when Caroline will meet her demise and I want that Doppelganger in my hands before it's too late."
"Yes Brother," agrees Kol. "I think it's time for the adults to take over from here. Leave the finding of Elena to us. Niklaus does have a Ph.D in hunting dopplegangers with his former addiction of breaking his hybrid curse and I do have some witchy connections..."
"Yeah. Real smart," sneers Damon. "As if I'd let you be within a 1 mile radius around Elena like you don't have a secret hard on for killing her in 20 different ways for helping to kill you."
"Well, try more like 25 but..." answers Kol without an ounce of apology.
"My brother won't be killing your precious Elena. Consider you lot bringing the merchandise to me at the quarter as insurance of the fact. Unless..." I let a dramatic pause linger in the air before I continue, "...You want me to get Katerina's blood instead of Elena, rendering sweet Elena's survival unessential to me," I trail off with a knowing smirk in Kol's direction while pretending to actually consider what I just said as option. Kol smiles at my manipulation as well while Bonnie shakes her head and Caroline doesn't even register what is going on, too immersed in what my mories revealed to her no doubt.
I needed human doppleganger blood to turn Caroline into an Original, making Elena's blood really the only option, but...
The Salvaltores don't need to know that, I think slyly.
"Caroline won't let you," Stefan retorts.
"But accidents happen," I say in mock concern. "Surely I cannot be to blame if precious Elena is bitten by a random werewolf..."
"...Or staked by random vampire," adds Kol.
We smirk at each other deviously, waiting for a response. Kol is always such bloody fun when it comes to these things and admittedly, I've missed that. Elijah was too much of a bore and Rebekah was too busy chasing after unsuitable suitors lately to be interesting.
When I hear nothing but silence on the other line, I take it as submission. "I'll be expecting you both at the Quarter," I demand, "Now that we've found Caroline, we can focus all our resources on finding Elena instead of Katerina. You have my w-"
"What is that sound?" asks Stefan abruptly.
Caroline's head snaps up at the concerned tenor of the Ripper's voice.
Then we all hear it.
A ticking sound.
Right when Damon moves something aside and all we hear is-
"Oh..." utters Damon
Then there is an explosion, along with Caroline's scream.
And then the line goes dead.
The phone drops out of her hand and her eyes well with tears.
"Oh my God. Stefan..." she murmurs brokenly.
Before I can make a move towards her, Bonnie grabs her, biting down her own lip to hold her own tears at bay.
Kol and I share a concerned look when Nancy Sinatra's Bang, Bang starts to play and brings Caroline's sobs to a halt:
Bang, Bang. He shot me down, bang, bang.
I hit the ground, bang bang.
That awful sound, bang, bang.
My baby shot me down.
I walk towards the sound in the room, my eye catching the light of what looks to be a cell phone in the white envelope Caroline came in with earlier that she must of set down on the nearby counter when she came to me by the window.
On the face of the envelope, I read the ominous message on the face of it:
Open me Niklaus.
The horrid song keeps playing before I reach it...
Now he's gone, I don't know why.
Until this day, I sometimes cry
He didn't even say goodbye
He didn't even take the time to lie
Bang, Bang
And pick it up. Half expecting the voice I hear on the other end.
"It has been awhile my Allvaldr."
I turn to face the group, Caroline's eyes growing wide in recognition as she hears her on the other line from where she is in Bonnie's arms.
"Indeed it has, V."
*Next part will be up no later than Sunday. I'm trying to update all my stories before the New Year is out. Well. There was a lot this chapter and there will be a lot next chapter too. V is probably enemy number 1 right now. You can cuss me out via review or say: How dare you have this OC heifer kill people we care about?! When are we going to find out what happened to Elijah and Katherine? What the hell does Klaus' Dad have to say about his chick going postal on people? And is anybody going to do something about Esther? She is so going to do something. And it's been waaaaay too quiet in New Orleans...You know. Stuff like that ;)
Till this weekend!
