Disclaimer: Not mine, alas. Title belongs to Explosions in the Sky.
A/N: As always, AU/AH. Fair warning—a little bit more dramatic cussing from here on out. Also, if you can spot the Veronica Mars reference, you get a cookie! BTW, quick rant—why are there no Southern accents on TVD? They're in Virginia. As a native of the Southern US (though admittedly not Virginia), I object to this. They should drop the occasional 'y'all' at the very least. Like I'm about to.
Totally Irrelevant Sidebar: Y'ALL. I just started watching Teen Wolf on MTV and if you like TVD, you should definitely give this show a chance (especially because it's summer and there's not much else to do, amiright?). I cringed my way through the first episode (it's a necessary evil, much like the first few episodes of TVD) then promptly watched the entire first season (it's only 13 episodes) in one night. Every episode has some kind of tense OMG IT'S RIGHT BEHIND YOU scene and genuinely horrific imagery. It takes a lot of inspiration from TVD (they play Mystic Falls in lacrosse at one point—it's super covert and is this total blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment but it made me giggle) and the Mayors Lockwood (!) are both in it (now if only cousin Tyler would make an appearance…).
/end of Public Service Announcement.
Anyway—thank you, as always, to all reviewers, alert-ers, and favorite-ers. If you haven't reviewed yet, please do so! And for those of you have, thank you and please don't stop reviewing! :) Enjoy, and let me know what you think. xo
the birth and death of the day
5.
"Fucking great," Damon snarls and Caroline winces at the venom in his voice because he's staring right at her, icy blue eyes drilling holes into her own. For a brief, tense moment Dean and Sam both move as though they're about to launch themselves at him, but Elena beats them both to the punch.
"Shut up, Damon," she snaps, one arm wrapped protectively around Caroline's shoulders and he obeys, but not before shooting one last sneer in her direction. "Did he—it—say its name?" Elena prods her gently.
"No," Caroline says softly, looking down at the floor and focusing on how the knees of her jeans are covered in mud from where, in her dual shock and desperation to flee, she had tripped over one of Kelly Donovan's tacky-ass garden gnomes and landed hard on all fours. "He just said that I'm a fool," and at that, Damon mutters something under his breath that has three sets of eyes glaring daggers at him while Caroline sticks to staring at her feet, "and that there's no way we're going to win." She brings a tired hand up to rub her forehead. "I didn't exactly stick around for introductions and niceties."
That's putting it lightly—once all of the instincts that millenniums of human evolution combined with all her heightened vampires senses had kicked in, Caroline had bolted and her second attempt at escape worked out far better than the first.
The door to the Salvatore boarding house swings open ferociously and Stefan storms in, Bonnie and Tyler following close behind him.
"How the hell did this happen?" Tyler demands as soon as the door shuts and Caroline keeps her eyes on the floor because if this isn't all her fault, it's definitely at least mostly her fault. How could she have just . . . forgotten to clue Matt in on everything? Because if Caroline is truly honest with herself, she has to admit that Matt is the overwhelming favorite to get mind-jacked by a servant of Heaven—he's the only one of them who still believes the best in everything. There's no way that Matt, when confronted with angels and left in the dark about their motivations, would ever consider the possibility that they were the nefarious party.
"Look," Dean says shortly. "It doesn't matter how it happened—it's done and Cas is working on figuring out who's pulling Matt's strings. And crap like this is gonna keep happening, and it's gonna start happening faster. They're gearing up, and it's way freaking past time we did too."
Elena runs a nervous hand through her hair. "But what about everyone else? We can't just let them stay here to die—we have to do something!"
"Yeah, but there's no spell to get everyone out of town," Bonnie tells her unhappily, brows furrowing. "I looked through all of Emily's grimoires and no dice. We have to figure something else out."
When Damon pipes up, Caroline thinks savagely that he can't seem to resist hearing the sound of his own stupid voice. "Gas leak? Forest fire?"
They all stare blankly at him and he rolls his eyes back at them before Stefan says slowly, almost in disbelief, "Actually, that could work." Damon flashes him a self-satisfied smirk and says breezily, "Thank you."
"You can't be serious," Bonnie says incredulously and something like inspiration dawns on Tyler's face as he considers Stefan and Damon.
"It totally could," Tyler says contemplatively, and Caroline tears herself away from the fascinating sight of her shoes to turn and look at him. He gestures to her. "Our moms would make everyone evacuate if a forest fire got big enough."
"Uh, are you forgetting the part where we have to actually start a fire and that we would have no control over it after that? Come on," Dean says irritably and Sam stands and starts to pace.
"Could you control it, Bonnie?" he asks interestedly and Bonnie's brow furrows before she says doubtfully, "Yeah . . . but I don't know for how long. It would buy us some time, but your mom would have to keep the charade going for a while." This last sentence she directs at Tyler and he nods in fervent agreement.
"Whoa," Dean interjects dubiously, eyebrows slashing together. "Slow down, Smokey the Barely Legal. You really think the best option is razing the town?"
"I'm with Dean. You can't seriously be considering this," Elena adds in protest, mouth tugging downwards as she stares at them. "We could burn the entire town to the ground by trying to save it!"
Damon flashes her a too-bright grin. "That would be just a little too ironic, even for Mystic Falls. And in the meantime," he points at her, Bonnie and Caroline, "you three better make like Charlie's Angels and figure out just who exactly crawled into our QB." As silence falls, he claps his hands dramatically. "Meeting adjourned! Now everyone get out and don't let the door hit you." He pauses and adds, before heading to his liquor cabinet, "Or, ya know, do. Whatever." Bonnie scoffs at him before she, Tyler, and Sam huddle together to plan how best to burn down the entire forest without destroying Mystic Falls; Caroline feels slightly ill. Dean scowls at all of them as Damon offers him a glass of whiskey; the scowl deepens and he mutters, "Dick," before taking it.
Stefan pulls Caroline aside as she stands up and when Elena sends her a do you need me to handle this look, she shakes her head and allows herself to be tugged into the narrow hallway by the door.
He doesn't say anything, just raises his eyebrows knowingly at her and she says defensively, "I'm fine, Stefan." His eyebrows climb silently higher and she holds her ground for a few more seconds before caving. "Okay, I'm freaking out."
"Understandable," he says reassuringly, hands coming to rest on her shoulders and jostling her gently. "Feel free to sit this one out, Caroline."
She shakes her head emphatically. "It's my fault this happened to Matt, Stefan. If he had known about the war, about the angels not being on our side—"
He rolls his eyes at her, cutting her off. "And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Stop beating yourself up."
Caroline blinks at him in confusion. "That saying must be way old because I don't know what it means," she informs him matter-of-factly and he waves that off with an amused expression. "Don't worry about it. Just . . . go easy on yourself, Care. We've all been running around like chickens with their heads cut off."
Damon appears at his elbow before Caroline can reply. "Speaking of cutting heads off," he says cheerfully, tipping his glass at her, "Gotta warn the Originals 'bout this new little bump in the road."
"So tell them yourself. And how the hell did beheading lead you to that?" Caroline demands and Damon replies easily, "Because that's what Barbie Klaus wants to do to you." At Stefan's withering look, he says with a slight pout, "What? Just passing along a warning." He pinches Caroline's cheek with faux affection and when she smacks his hand away with a snarl, he leers mockingly at her. "Sassy. Bet Klaus likes that." Stefan jumps in between them because she's literally inches away from clawing Damon's eyes out when Sam calls warningly from the door, "You can kill him after the Apocalypse, Care."
Sending one last murderous glare Damon's way, she follows Sam and Dean out to the Impala.
"I don't like it," Dean announces as soon as they're all three in the privacy of the car. "It's a sucky, shitty plan."
"Do you have any better ideas?" Sam asks pointedly and when Dean glares at him but doesn't say anything, Sam gives him a yeah, that's what I thought smirk.
"Drop me off at my dad's," Caroline instructs, leaning forward so that her face occupies the space between Dean and Sam's arms. "I have to get him out of here, and I'm not waiting around for a raging wildfire that may not even happen. Besides, I don't want to run the risk of him refusing to leave or coming back early."
"And how are you gonna do that?" Dean wants to know, shooting her freely hanging seatbelt a pointedly disapproving look. "You've been sneaking vervain into Bill and Steven's coffee for months, so compulsion's out."
"Truth might work," Sam says and Dean and Caroline snort at the same time; Dean turns slightly to grin at her before pointing to the seatbelt she isn't using. "Put that on, Caroline. I'm not getting a ticket because of your weird aversion to safety."
"Like Mom would give you a ticket," she mutters rebelliously, giving the seatbelt a nice, hard yank for good measure. "Easy!" Dean objects, wincing as though she's pulling on one of his internal organs.
She ignores him. "How about this—what if I said I entered them into some radio contest for a tropical vacation and they won? I could compel a hotel in the Bahamas to go along with it . . ."
"That—" Dean stops and exchanges a glance with Sam as he turns onto Bill Forbes's street. "—could actually work. But you're crazy if you think I'm dropping you off with freaking vengeful angels on the prowl."
... ... ...
Sam leans against Caroline's doorway as she scribbles down math formulas and counts on her fingers; he says casually, "There's someone at the door for you."
Her pencil pauses mid-scratch and she looks up. "Describe this someone."
He shrugs and wanders into her room, squinting at a framed photo of her, Bonnie, and Elena as twelve-year-old middle school cheerleaders. "Tall. Dark hair, dark eyes. Kind of a beefcake. Wearing this expression. " He looks over his shoulder and makes exaggeratedly sad, puppy dog eyes at her.
"Tyler," she says, exhaling heavily through her nose; Sam nods solemnly but despite herself, Caroline giggles. "And did you just use the word beefcake?"
Hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, he says idly, "I call it like I see it. And I left him alone with Dean, so you should probably go intervene before he makes Tyler cry."
"Oh God," she mumbles, tossing her pencil and notebook aside and scooting off her bed. When she gets to the front porch, Tyler visibly relaxes and Dean's wolfishly amused smirk fades (slightly). "You can go," she tells Dean, who rolls his eyes and says to Tyler, "Keep it brief, Romeo," as he goes inside. She scowls at his back before turning around to face Tyler.
"Hey," he says uncertainly, betraying his discomfort by shifting his weight from foot to foot. "I just wanted to see how you're holding up."
She sits down in one of the wicker chairs and gestures for him to do the same. "I'm okay," she says honestly, looking down at her hands. "Really, I am."
He looks like he doesn't believe her, his elbows resting on his knees and his serious face on. "We'll get Matt back, okay? We'll get him back and we're gonna stop this thing."
She half-smiles at him. "How do you know?"
Tyler grins back at her and it tugs at her heartstrings. He leans in as though about to reveal a big secret and whispers dramatically, "I read the back of the book. Spoiler alert: the good guys win." She laughs outright at that, and reaches over to take one of his hands in hers.
"I miss hanging out with you," she tells him sincerely. "It's weird not being your friend."
His bright smile dims a little and he says haltingly, "Care, I—" He pauses and seems to switch tracks. "I really am sorry about Homecoming. I just . . . you know, freaked out after the whole . . . thing you went through with Jules. I was trying to make up for not protecting you, I guess, and I went totally overboard."
She bites her lip and nods slowly. "I get it. But . . ."
"But we're still broken up," he finishes for her and she lowers her eyes, offering hesitantly, "Maybe someday, we can try again." His face is resigned and he stands to leave when she stands as well and tugs back on his hand. "You can stay if you want. Castiel should be coming back soon and he might have found out who zapped Matt."
Tyler considers her before shaking his head. "Nah, I need to go home and tell my mom what's going on. Maybe another time." She bobs her head in a nod because she totally gets not wanting to be around an ex after a fresh breakup (or, you know, not ever again—hello, she dated Damon). But before he steps off her front porch, Tyler surprises by pressing a sweet, chaste kiss on her lips and saying, "I'm holding you to that someday thing."
She smiles a little to herself and says, "Deal," as he bounds off the front steps and towards his car.
"Don't think I didn't see that," Dean calls from the kitchen when she walks back inside.
"Don't think you're not super creepy," she replies without missing a beat.
... ... ...
Elena and Caroline sit cross-legged on Bonnie's bed, watching with interest as she murmurs to a flame in Latin; it slowly spreads, but as soon as it becomes the size of a baseball, Bonnie's nose starts to bleed profusely and she swears angrily.
"We have to figure something else out," Elena says firmly and Caroline nods in agreement. Bonnie shakes her head and wipes irritably at her nose.
"There is nothing else," she insists, ignoring the concerned look that passes between Elena and Caroline and closing her eyes to try again.
"Okay, but at least take a break," Caroline barters hopefully, pulling the Bennett family Bible onto her lap and flipping gingerly to the final book.
"Have you heard from Castiel?" Elena asks, reaching for a bag of chips and offering some to both Bonnie and Caroline. Caroline accepts with gusto but Bonnie just shakes her head again, frowning down at the box of matches resting on her lap.
"Come on, Bon," Caroline coaxes, and Elena waves the bag enticingly in front of Bonnie. "If you're gonna do this to yourself, you have to keep your strength up."
Bonnie rolls her eyes and finally caves; Elena and Caroline exchange a look of triumph.
"Any word from Castiel?" Bonnie asks through a mouthful of chips and Caroline's face falls.
"None," she says quietly, forehead creasing. "Dean says he does this sometimes, but I keep thinking maybe something's wrong. Like maybe he got caught and he's in, like, some angel jail."
"Do you think angels have jail?" Elena asks curiously and Caroline scowls because that's so not the point. "Who knows? It's just freaking me out."
"You don't think that Anna girl—" Bonnie stops herself when she sees the anxious look that crosses Caroline's face.
"Believe me," she says darkly, "I've thought about it. She hasn't been around either."
The mechanic beeping of Elena's cell phone interrupts them; "Hey, Jer," she says, sliding off of Bonnie's bed and disappearing out into the hallway.
"How are things going with the Horsemen?" Bonnie asks, scooting over so that she's next to Caroline, peering down at the Bible.
Caroline shrugs. "I haven't heard anything. The Originals are supposed to be pulling strings left and right, and they did find a Killing Sword, so maybe they'll be better allies than we thought."
Bonnie grimaces, leaning back so that her weight rests on the palms of her hands. "Here's hoping."
"Guys," Elena says from the doorway, her phone sliding from her ear. "Jeremy says Matt quit from the Grill today."
"What?" Bonnie demands and Caroline's eyes fall shut.
"Whoever is in him has bigger fish to fry," she says forlornly. "This is bad, y'all. They're putting everything in to place."
"Keep trying Castiel," Bonnie says firmly, turning back to her flame-ball; and Caroline sighs because literally every other thought in her head is a quick shout-out to Cas that any time he feels like enlightening them, it would be nice. They're kind of treading water and she's sick of it.
Her phone dings once, indicating the arrival of a text and Sam's name appears next to the tiny envelope icon.
Get home now.
... ... ...
"What?" she demands fearfully, whirling into her living room. "What's going on? Did something—" Caroline stops short.
"It's about your friend," Castiel tells her grimly and her heart stops as she sinks bonelessly into a nearby chair. Anna is nowhere to be seen.
"Who is it?" she asks uneasily and before she can stop herself, questions start pouring out of her mouth. "Who's in him? How do we get him back? Where have you been? What's—"
"Care," Dean says quietly, and her heart plummets to the floor at how soothing his tone is.
"Who is it?" she repeats, her voice barely more than a whisper.
Castiel sighs and says, "It's Michael. Michael is in your friend."
And everything stops—her breathing, her blood, even the ticking of the clock.
Her eerie stillness, combined with her silence, prompts Sam into coming to squat by her chair. "Care," he says gently, one hand brushing a layered piece of hair out of her face. "We'll fix it. We always do."
She surprises herself by responding—she can barely find her voice, much less put a clear, cognitive sentence together; yet somehow, salutatorian Caroline has taken over and looks right at Dean. "He took Matt to force you to say yes, didn't he."
Dean won't meet her eyes. "Yes," Castiel says bluntly and when Sam shoots him a dirty look, he shifts uncomfortably. "But we'll . . . we'll fix him," he adds, entirely unconvincingly.
Her mind is jumping miles ahead of this conversation. "We can't tell anyone. Not Elena, not Bonnie—no one. They'll—they won't understand and they'll want you to give in and I—we can't—" She swallows the tumble of words and the look Castiel gives her is so sympathetic, it is nearly her undoing.
"Okay," Sam agrees, eyes still roaming her face as though she'll shatter at any moment. "We won't tell anyone."
"Until we have to," Dean clarifies, and this time he's on the receiving end of Sam's bitch-face. "What? They can't just not know. Archangels are different—more powerful, tougher, and downright meaner. What if one of your friends got zapped?"
"But they won't get it!" Caroline cries passionately, jumping to her feet. "I—I love Matt, I do; but I love you more and they won't understand, Dean!"
"I'm not gonna let an eighteen year old kid bite the bullet for me, and I can fight him. I know I can," Dean tells her with an air of finality. When her expression crumbles, his eyes soften and he says gently, "We'll look for a way to get Michael out of Matt, but you need to understand Caroline—Matt wasn't built to house an archangel. It'll take a pretty bad toll on him and it won't take long for that to start showing. We've got about three weeks—a month if Matt's tough—to come up with a plan, but after that . . ." he shrugs, a little helplessly. "After that, it's either I say yes or Matt dies a slow, deteriorating death. And it won't be pretty."
Caroline turns to Castiel in desperation. "Do you know of anything that can help? Anything?"
Castiel shakes his head despondently, looking genuinely distressed at the scene playing out in front of him. "Angelic possession is nothing like demonic, and most of the rules don't apply to archangel possession—most notably, Angel Killing Swords don't work on archangels. Possessing your friend—or any vessel that is not meant for him—only hurts the vessel. When his body wears out, Michael will move on, until Dean . . ." he trails off.
"So what can kill an archangel? " Sam demands. "And why didn't you mention this before, Cas?"
Castiel sighs and looks down at the floor, avoiding the latter part of the question. "Very few things can kill an archangel, and even fewer can kill Michael. The Banishing Sigil does not affect him and the fire from Holy Oil will only banish him instead of killing him."
The only sound that echoes through the living room is the sound of their collective breathing.
"If nothing can kill him," Sam says slowly, "then it doesn't matter if you can fight his control, Dean. You won't be able to die and he'll win out eventually because you can't fight forever."
"There are rumors of weapons that may be useful," Castiel offers tentatively, still not looking at any of them. "Anna is investigating them. But I would advise against getting your hopes up."
"We're not going to win," Caroline says dully. "There's no way. This—this is a losing battle and we're just going to get ourselves killed."
"Don't say that," Sam scolds her, but his heart clearly isn't in it and she just shakes her head.
"Look," Dean says resignedly, "just go ahead and tell your friends what's going on. The more people we have looking for answers, the better." Seeing the look on Caroline's face, he adds quickly, "I'm not gonna go looking for Michael, Care, so don't look at me like that."
Sam nudges her comfortingly. "We'll figure it out. Promise."
She manages a watery smile, but she doesn't believe him at all.
... ... ...
Caroline muscles Dean into taking her shooting instead of going to school and she thinks he must be more distraught by the possibility of becoming Michael's personal pawn than he's been letting on because he only makes one griping comment about her mounting absences. She tries not to read too much into it.
After she nails her third beer can smack in the middle between the Bud and Light, Dean notes wirily, "Something on your mind?"
She shakes her head silently and despite not looking at all convinced, Dean puts another can on top of the fallen tree trunk he's sitting on. Hesitating for just a moment, she hoists the shotgun up and takes aim. The can flies off of the tree trunk and Dean says with false brightness (at least, she thinks it's false), "You must've had a really good teacher!" He flashes her a smug grin. "Who was that, again?"
Ignoring the rhetorical question, she lets the gun dangle at her side and says, "I'm not telling them about Michael. You might be perfectly fine signing your own death warrant, but I want no part of it. I'm not helping you commit suicide by angel."
Dean's head falls back in exasperation and he says frustratedly, "Cas and Anna are looking for a way around it, Care."
"There is no way around it," she reminds him bitterly. "Everything that works on regular angels doesn't work on archangels and everything that works on archangels doesn't work on Michael."
He shrugs and says lightly, "I can't help it that I attracted the prettiest girl at the dance."
Frustration wells up inside of her and she cries, "This isn't a joke, Dean! This—if you do this, you'll die. Period, the end, case closed. Y-you won't come back from this one, Dean, and even if we win, which we won't, Sam and I lose regardless."
Dean sighs and he walks over to her, both hands coming to rest on her shoulders. "I know," he says quietly. "It's all I think about, Care, and I don't want it any more than you do. But the only thing I want to do more than tell Michael exactly where he can shove it is to keep you and Sammy safe."
Caroline snorts. "Because you think you can fight off the strongest creature in creation using just your willpower? Dean, I love you and I've seen you do amazing things, but you're still only human. And if you did manage to take over, you'd, what, fall on your sword like a hero? Except there is no sword!" She bites her lip before continuing. "If Matt isn't supposed to be able to hold Michael, doesn't that make him weak? Easier to take out? Maybe something that wouldn't work on Michael at full strength could work with M—while he's down for the count."
Dean eyes her sharply. "Don't talk about your friend like that."
"What, you'd rather me talk like that about you?" She shakes her head furiously at him, hair flying around her face. "Matt's my friend, but you're my family. If it were me Michael wanted instead of you, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."
"Yeah, well all of this happens to be completely moot because we don't even know what can kill Michael, if anything can," Dean points out, glossing over her point and turning back to the fallen tree to pick up a crumpled can. "You're forgetting to pull your elbows in."
"Stop changing the subject."
"Fine," he says easily. "I'm telling everyone tonight."
Her shot goes wide left.
... ... ...
Dean makes a deal with her—if she tells Elena and Bonnie as soon as school lets out then she doesn't have to be there when the Salvatores find out. Caroline particularly doesn't want to be present when Damon is made aware of what's going on. He may have no lost love for Matt, but he has even less so for her and she can barely stomach his reaction that exists only in her imagination. There's no way she wants to see the real thing.
She doesn't cry when she tells her best friends and she's proud of herself for it. She's cried far too much for her taste in the past few weeks (months) and she decides it's way past time she channeled her inner Buffy.
"We're don't negotiate with terrorists," Elena says firmly, and when Bonnie nods emphatically, Caroline manages a weak smile.
"I'm not sure Dean—or Damon—will agree," she tells them and Elena shakes her head.
"If we were talking about Stefan, Damon would have no problem telling all of us to go to hell," she says practically. "He has no right to demand from other people what he would never do himself."
"Have you met Damon?" Bonnie wants to know, one eyebrow arching and even though all three of them know that that's slightly unfair, none of them protest her point.
"Look," Elena says, taking both of Caroline's hands in hers and looking firmly into her eyes, "We'll find a way around it. There's always a loophole, right?"
"It's practically a law of nature," Bonnie adds. "Everything has a fail-safe."
"I'll take care of Damon and Stefan," Elena promises her and for the first time in hours, Caroline finally feels like she's getting enough air.
It doesn't last very long.
Ten minutes after leaving Elena's, her headlights hit something dark and unmoving in the middle of the road, and as she eases down on her brakes, she realizes with a jolt that there's a person lying there.
"Hey! Are you okay?" she calls out anxiously, hopping out of her car without a second thought (because, hello, vampire) and jogging up to the—
Damon pins her to the hood of her car, his hands wrapping tightly around her arms. "So when were you planning on sharing, Barbie? Didn't you go to summer camp? Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless you tell everyone."
She scoffs at him and tries to shove him off of her but he has a century and a half on her and doesn't budge. "Considering I just found out—"
He lets go of her with a noise of disgust. "Let me drop some knowledge on you, Caroline. If sacrificing your brother means saving the world, you do it. For God's sake, he's even willing!"
"Right, because you and Stefan totally have that kind of relationship," she retorts sarcastically, glancing down bitterly at the finger-shaped bruises forming on her arms.
"Stefan's the hero, not me," he snaps and before he can continue, she bites off, "Believe me, we're all well aware of that."
His eyes flash at her. "If he thinks he can fight Michael off—"
"That's the point, Damon!" she cries exasperatedly. "He can't!"
"Yeah, well, it's our best shot," he says, turning away from her. "If he can, and he—"
"And he what? Kills himself in the thirty second window he'll have?"
"If that's what it takes," Damon says coldly and absolute loathing seethes through her veins.
"Okay, so with what?" she challenges, crossing her arms and glaring at his back. "In case you forgot, Michael kind of can't be killed. He'll just heal Dean and laugh in all of our faces before wiping us off the map." She feels a surge of triumph when Damon doesn't have an answer to that at the ready. Point to Caroline. "The best thing to do is wait, Damon. We have to find a weapon before we even consider anything else."
She doesn't tell him that there won't actually be any considering of other options.
... ... ...
Caroline shows up at the Mikaelson mansion mainly because she has nowhere else to go, really. Sam and Dean would have no problem killing Damon on sight, and as much as she wouldn't mind that, it would destroy Stefan and—if she's honest with herself—Elena too. Anyway, she totally owes him, even if she tries not to think about it. He's saved her life twice now: first, from Klaus's fiery death circle and then from Tyler, and Caroline fancies herself at least as good as the Lannisters—she always pays her debts. And while she has no doubt Bonnie and Elena would gladly let her cry on their shoulders, she doesn't want to unload on them any more than she already has.
Plus, she's kind of holding out hope that Klaus might be in her corner on this. God knows she needs the support and more so than anyone, she thinks he should be completely with her on this. Even if she's discounting whatever he feels for her, he's the one who kept his family basically dead for centuries to keep them safe. Yeah, she's fairly certain he'll get where she's coming from.
She doesn't even have to knock; the door is already swinging open as she approaches.
"You look bloody awful," Rebekah tells her helpfully, looking immaculate—albeit casual—herself.
Caroline ignores the jab completely. "Is Klaus here?"
Rebekah gives her a cool once-over and says idly, "You know, I have no idea what he sees in you. Nothing about you is particularly special." Before Caroline can lunge for her throat (or burst into tears, because she's been forcing them back all night despite her best Buffy imitation), Rebekah says, her voice bored and utterly unhurried as she examines her manicure, "Nik, you have a visitor. A common one."
Before Caroline can send a biting retort Rebekah's way, Klaus is shoulder-to-shoulder with his sister and Caroline says to Rebekah, a bit nastier than she means to, "Do you mind?"
Rebekah's eyes narrow and her mouth is open to say something that will probably make Caroline want to pull the other girl's hair out; but Klaus gives Rebekah a look that Caroline has seen on Dean's face a million times. "Fine," she growls, sending a final glare in Caroline's direction for good measure before storming away.
When Klaus turns to her with raised eyebrows, she stalls. "Can we not do this in your front hallway?"
His eyebrows climb even higher and he's wearing the same amused expression he always seems to have with her. It's oddly comforting in its continuity. "Of course," he says easily, fingers wrapping around her wrist and leading her to his art room—the room with no door and the Degas on the wall. He turns to her expectantly, leaning against a table and not saying anything.
"Something's happened," she begins hesitantly, and then it occurs to her that this maybe wasn't her best idea ever, despite how she built it up in her head. There's no way whatever passing crush Klaus has on her will win out over stopping the freaking Apocalypse, and the best-case scenario is he tries to kill Matt, which is definitely not an okay solution. You're an absolute idiot, Caroline.
So she starts over. "If—if I tell you something, do you promise—on like, your honor or whatever, that you won't," she holds up one finger, "(a) react in any way or," she holds up a second, "(b) tell anyone? And when I say in any way, I mean you can't do anything. Nothing. At all."
He doesn't even blink. "I promise," he says lightly, crossing his arms and regarding her curiously. "What's happened?" His eyes flicker down to the only just now fading marks on her arms. "Who did that to you?"
But still she hedges because this is just too important and she has to make him understand that. "Klaus, I'm not kidding. You—no ripping out anyone's heart, no threatening anyone, nothing."
"I'm well aware of the meaning of 'nothing,'" he tells her and he seems to be holding back a laugh. That won't last long, she thinks unhappily.
"It's Matt," she says and she's right because everything about him changes: the slight smile disappears, his arms and jaw tense and he looks decidedly more Klaus-like. She barrels on, forcing herself to ignore the sudden crackle in the air.
She avoids his eyes as the words tumble out unbidden. "Michael—an archangel is possessing Matt and it'll kill him because archangels have to possess specific people and for Michael that means Dean but if he possess Dean, then that means Dean has to die to stop the Apocalypse but Dean thinks he can fight the possession once Michael's got him. But—but it doesn't even matter because there's nothing that can kill Michael even if Dean managed to take over." She thinks vaguely that it's a good thing she doesn't need to breathe anymore because she has hardly paused in her diatribe. She risks a glance over at him and is both comforted and surprised at the totally un-Klaus like softness of his face.
"Why are you telling me this?" he asks quietly, his thousand-yard stare boring holes into her. She swallows hard before confessing, a hint of shame creeping into her voice, "I just—I thought you would be on my side with this." She turns wide, pleading eyes on him, not noticing how his hands have clenched into fists under his crossed arms. "I mean you—you kept your family in boxes for centuries to keep them safe! You of all people should understand—"
"The Apocalypse has to be stopped, Caroline," he says, no longer looking at her and her blood flames white-hot before turning cold. Stupid, she berates herself. How could she have forgotten that Klaus is ultimately a selfish creature—the Original selfish creature, perhaps even more so than Katherine? Of course whatever infatuation he has with her isn't enough to overcome a millennium of self-preservation. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"Right," she says flatly, taking a step back; and now she's the one not looking at him. "So everyone else is allowed to protect their family, but I have to sacrifice mine. Got it." She turns to leave but he takes her arm and if she couldn't fight off Damon, then there's no point in trying to escape Klaus.
"I'll send some hybrids to look for weapons," he says, his hand just tight enough to keep her from walking out. "And Elijah and Finn are both searching for your rings." She doesn't answer and he says her name quietly, "Caroline . . ."
"Screw you," she snaps frostily, not even bothering to turn her head towards his. "Don't do me any favors."
He lets her go.
It takes her twenty minutes longer than usual to drive home because she has to keep pulling over, convinced that she's seconds away from throwing up. When she does finally walk through her front door, Dean and Sam are in a deep conversation with Castiel and Anna, who must have turned up after Caroline had left. She gives them all a weak smile before disappearing into the kitchen and pulling Klaus's sketch off of the refrigerator. She roots around determinedly in her mother's junk drawer for a matchbook.
Caroline burns the stupid sketch and dumps the ashes down the garbage disposal.
... ... ...
"I haven't read this one," Sam tells her, handing her a yellowing leather-bound book. "See if you can find anything."
After five minutes of dejectedly flipping through it, she realizes that it's written completely in Latin and that she's been staring at something that might as well be in gibberish for all she can understand it. "I can't read this," she says dejectedly, giving back to him and holding her hand out for another. He glances at it and chuckles a little, saying, "Trade me."
Bonnie leans back in her seat, hand rubbing her forehead. "This sucks," she announces and she gets a round of sympathetic looks. "I can't make it bigger than a volleyball."
"The witches might help," Elena offers, scribbling down notes from her own decrepit book. "Since it'll be to save innocent people."
"Maybe," Bonnie says doubtfully and she jumps when Castiel says from behind her chair, "It is possible that I could help." He motions to the tiny flame levitating over the table. "You seem to be having difficulties with the size."
Caroline sees at least seven sarcastic remarks about size and difficulties forming on the tip of Dean's tongue so she intervenes before Cas finds out way too much about the type of conversations that take place in the guys' locker room. "That's a good idea," she says quickly, shooting Dean a look that he returns with a half-pout, half-smirk. "We need all the help we can get."
The doorbell rings and Caroline gives Dean a last, pointed look before she scrapes her chair backwards to answer it.
"Afternoon," Kol says brightly. "Elijah has something for you."
She frowns at him. "Could he not just bring it here?"
Kol shrugs and offers her his arm. "Apparently he wants to talk to you."
Caroline rolls her eyes at him and calls into the house, "Be right back!"
... ... ...
"You're a little liar," she accuses crossly, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at him; Kol looks entirely unruffled. She refuses to look at Klaus.
"I do what I must," he says with a cheeky grin and she grumbles spitefully under her breath, "You do what you're told."
"When it suits me," he agrees, and Klaus says impatiently, "Go away, Kol." Kol gives her a small, mocking bow before he swaggers off, whistling lowly and Caroline doesn't know if she's amused or terrified by how cavalier he is. It's probably some combination of the two, because nothing is ever straightforward with the Originals.
"I have something for you," Klaus tells her and she openly rolls her eyes, deliberately paying more attention to his cold fireplace than to him.
"Unless it's an apology followed by a change of heart, I'm not interested."
He's quiet, and she takes a moment to wallow in the unique mix of disappointment and frustration that she never fails to feel with him.
She forgets that sometimes he surprises her.
"Fair play," he concedes quietly and for a moment, she doesn't move a muscle, sure that she heard incorrectly.
"Seriously?" She turns around suspiciously because Klaus is so not known for his one-eighties.
He studies her disbelieving face before responding, "My reaction yesterday was the definition of hypocritical and I'm sorry."
Okay, what? She blinks at him as though she's never actually seen him before. "Holy crap, it really is the end of the world," she breathes in astonishment, and she's only half-joking.
Klaus looks almost—uncertain, if she didn't know better and he holds something out to her. It glints in the sunlight pouring in from the windows and she takes it cautiously.
"Elijah found it buried in the ruins of a Mesopotamian temple," he tells her and she stares down at the silver ring in her hand, chills running down her back. "Most likely Babylonian, from the markings."
"Which one does it belong to?" she whispers, careful not to let the ring slip down onto her finger. Her eyes are wide as she stares at it, entranced.
"There was no indication."
The ring lays flat in the palm of her hand and it seems to almost hum with power. She shakes herself out of her daze and makes to hand it back to him. "I—you have to hold it. It's too . . . I don't know. Too something. Where's Elijah now?"
It happens within the span of a mere millisecond, but his face darkens slightly. "Somewhere around here. Resting, I'm sure. He and Finn only came back this morning."
Caroline tears her eyes away from the ring in his hand and pulls out her phone to call Sam because this is all way over her head.
"Hey," she says when he answers, sounding irritated. "Get everyone to the Salvatore house. Something's happened."
…
Caroline can practically see the tension in the room as it crackles. Dean growls something about seeking out danger and being an idiot at her, while simultaneously trying to win an intense staring contest with Klaus, who is flanked by Elijah and Finn. Elena is casting nervous glances between the Salvatores and Klaus, while Bonnie just glares at all of them.
"Give it to me," Caroline says, holding her hand out to Klaus, who smirks at a scowling Dean as he drops the ring in her hand. She gives it to Sam. "Whose is that?"
Sam frowns down at it, turning it over inside his fingertips. "I don't know for sure, but if I had to make an educated guess . . ." He studies it intently for a few seconds. "I'd say Death."
Elena jumps, face paling. "Why—why would you say Death? Why Death, Sam?" Damon eyes her warily and mumbles, "Calm down, antsy."
Sam sends her a soothing glance. "The white stone doesn't really bring to mind War, Famine or Pestilence. But it is still just a guess, Elena."
"I would say it's a fairly good one," Elijah says quietly from the other side of the room and Caroline narrows her eyes at Klaus. "No indication, huh?" she says to him lowly and he offers her a shrug in response.
"It was buried in a tomb," Finn informs them tonelessly and Caroline does a small double take; she's pretty sure she's never heard him speak before.
"Could Castiel confirm if it's Death's ring?" Stefan asks warily from his spot on the wall and Sam shakes his head doubtfully.
"I don't think he would have any idea. I don't think he's ever seen the Horsemen," he says, and he turns towards Bonnie. "We have to summon him—we have to summon Death."
She stares at him for a moment before his words sink in. "You mean I have to summon him."
"It's been the plan all along," Dean confirms cautiously and Bonnie's fingers dig into the arms of the chair she's sitting in.
"Great," she mutters and Caroline jumps in comfortingly, "We'll all be there with you, Bon. You're not doing this in a vacuum." Elena nods shakily in tentative agreement.
"Speak for yourself, Barbie," Damon says dismissively and all three girls glare at him.
"Remember what I said about weapons?" Caroline grits through her teeth and Damon glowers at her. "Besides, we need at least one Horseman on our side, and I'd say Death isn't too shabby a catch."
"Ever the optimist," he retorts and they glare at each other until Elijah clears his throat.
"If that's all . . ." he says, raising a languid eyebrow and Sam looks up from his intense observations of the ring.
"Yeah," he says agreeably, "Thanks. This . . . this could be a game-changer, so thank you." Elijah looks slightly taken aback at the acknowledgement while Finn simply nods gravely before they both vanish soundlessly. Elena puts an arm around Bonnie's shoulder as she takes in deep, steadying breaths.
"You should leave too," Stefan says coolly to Klaus, who turns mock hurt eyes on him.
"Now, Stefan. I'm just as invested in the continued existence of the world as anyone else."
Caroline grabs Klaus by the arm and drags him outside before things turn nasty—and if she knows Dean, his expression says Klaus is wearing on his last nerve. "You should go."
The remnants of angry bravado linger in his face and he says derisively, "Fine. You're welcome for all my help."
She snorts. "You didn't do anything, Elijah and Finn did. And you sound like a five-year-old, by the way."
Thunder crosses his face, but it disappears as soon as it had arrived. "Caroline."
"These mood swings have got to stop," she informs him bluntly, eyes narrowing. "You want to be a temperamental, tortured artist, that's fine. Whatever. But it's giving me whiplash, so dial it down a notch."
"You know," Klaus says thoughtfully, dark blue eyes raking over her and causing her to suppress a (not totally for the right reasons) shiver. "You could be nicer to me."
"Seriously?" she demands incredulously, hands going to her hips. "You could have not killed a bunch of people I care about. If we're keeping score here, you're definitely losing, buddy."
He takes a step towards her, but there's no threat to it so she stands her ground. One hand comes up and he takes a curl of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. "It would appear that I am most definitely losing," he agrees, eyes hot on her face, and she forces herself not to swallow.
Her voice is barely audible and when did the air go from being tense and argumentative to snapping with electricity? "You—my brothers are inside."
"Hmm," he hums, and he's so close to her she feels the vibrations reverberating through his chest. "Let me know what Death is like, then."
In the time that it takes her to inhale a ragged breath, he's gone.
... ... ...
"What if he's pissed?" Bonnie asks anxiously, her fingers drumming a nervous rhythm on her knee.
"Then he'll be pissed at all of us," Sam reassures her, flipping through a book. "You're not alone, Bonnie." Caroline takes her hand and squeezes for emphasis.
"S-shouldn't Castiel be here?" Bonnie presses on, and Dean says, "He's—"
"I'm here," Castiel announces and Dean scowls. "You've got to stop doing that, man."
Castiel blinks at him in confusion but doesn't ask for elaboration. "Anna and I will explain the situation to Death. If…if he does not take it well, we will get you out."
"So comforting," Elena whispers to Caroline and she nods in shaky agreement.
Bonnie gulps and takes a deep breath before releasing Caroline's hand and clenching her own into fists. "Here goes nothing," she says resolutely and Caroline braces herself.
... ... ...
tbc.
A/N: I really like cliffhangers, what can I say? Please review!