The next story in the series was supposed to be Transgressions, which followed Hope as a teenager. However as that story unfolded, I realised that I would need far too many flashbacks to make that work.
So the next story is being written and will be an immediate sequel to this one.
HOWEVER there are still two more chapters after this, so hang tight :)
Caroline closed her eyes and buried her face in Klaus's shoulder, taking a few moments to regain her composure.
Finally, she lifted her head to survey the room.
Unsurprisingly, Rebekah and Kol were knelt beside Matt and Davina, and unsurprisingly, Freya was still slumped in the broken magic circle next to …
Caroline blinked. Esther appeared to have turned to ash again, but this time Dahlia had turned with her, and rather than exploding, they were frozen in an immortalised embrace, like some gothic sculpture.
Elijah was leaning against one of the pillars, staring at them, clearly as taken aback as she was, but their fate was the least of her concern.
Leaving Klaus and Elijah to look after Freya, she headed for the front door, stepping out into the night to find a veritable army waiting on the streets.
"What happened?" Thierry demanded. "We can't get past this barrier."
"Dahlia's dead, so it's probably gone now," Caroline said, sitting down on her front step beside Felicia. Her eyes were still open and Caroline sighed, reaching over to close them gently. "I'm so sorry that so many of you got sucked into all this."
She felt rather than heard them all move closer, but didn't look up from the body beside her. She was beginning to appreciate how Elena felt during the whole sacrifice debacle, people dying around her, and having to deal with both the grief and the guilt at the same time.
"Do you ever get tired of apologising for things that aren't your fault?" Jackson asked.
Caroline finally looked up with a weak smile. "Unlike some people, I haven't lived for a thousand years. It's not something I'm used to. And I don't want to ever get used to it." With a heavy sigh, she got to her feet. "Jeanette?"
"I should have gone with them," Jeanette said, guilt lining her face. "Klaus sent me to the plantation house to keep an eye on Josh and Aiden; I should have stayed."
"No offence, but you wouldn't have made a difference," Caroline said. "Adrian walked Cami home; can you let him know what's happened. Thierry, can you please do me a favour?"
"Anything," Thierry said immediately.
"There's a cabin in the bayou," Caroline said. "I left Sophie and Maddi there, unconscious - can you please go and check on them and make sure they get home safely. Diego," she added, as Thierry disappeared. "I'm so sorry."
Diego approached slowly, looking at Felicia's body instead of her. "It's not your fault."
"Doesn't stop me from being sorry," Caroline said heavily. "If you need anything …"
"We know," Diego said, giving her a brief smile. "I'll take care of everything. You need to be with your family."
Caroline nodded, turning to return inside. To her surprise, she found Freya still unconscious where she left her, and Klaus hovering over Elijah, who was sat at the bottom of the staircase, his head in his hands.
"Okay, what have I missed?" Caroline asked, striding over to them. "I figured that you were the two I wouldn't need to look after."
Elijah managed a small smile. "I see you are well and truly in mother-mode."
Caroline blushed a little, but did not deny the description. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Elijah said, getting to his feet and brushing down his suit. "I think we're all a little shaken. Nothing a good meal and a night's rest won't fix."
Caroline watched him ascend the stairs with concern, turning to Klaus to see the exact same expression on his face.
"I don't know," Klaus said before she could ask.
Caroline glanced back at Freya. "Which one do you want?"
Klaus followed her gaze. "Elijah has been propping me up for a thousand years. I'm probably well overdue to return the favour."
Caroline nodded, brushing a kiss against his cheek, and moved to Freya's side, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Freya? Freya, can you hear me?"
Blue eyes flickered open and met hers, and Caroline gave her what she hoped was a friendly smile. "Hi Freya. I'm Caroline, Nik's …" she trailed off - girlfriend never sounded quite right to her. "I'm Hope's mother."
Freya's face lit up in a smile. "Hope? That's her name?"
Caroline nodded, helping her to her feet. "Thank you for being the aunt I was hoping you'd be."
As the words left her, they sounded a bit ridiculous, but Freya just nodded, as though she had expected it. "You're welcome. They're … They're dead, aren't they?"
Caroline nodded, trying not to look at the statue Freya was staring at. "I'm afraid so. I'm sorry you never got a chance to speak to your mother."
"I don't know what I would have said," Freya murmured, allowing Caroline to lead her away towards the stairs. "It was probably for the best."
"How are you feeling?" Caroline asked. "I know that Maddi said they weren't sure if killing Dahlia would have any effect on you."
Freya was silent as they made their way upstairs, taking deep breaths in a way that sounded like she didn't necessarily need to, but was reassuring herself that she could still do so. "I'm not sure. I don't think it had any effect on me," she added. "But I'm not sure how I feel. I've been running from her for so long … I don't know how to handle this now."
Caroline nodded, stopping outside one of the empty rooms and opening the door. "Well, no offence, but you look beat to hell. So a hot bath will probably do you a world of good. Would you like a first aid kit?"
Freya shook her head, her eyes running over the neatly made bed, stocked bookshelves, and family pictures. "I can sort myself out, thank you. Will they mind me borrowing their room?"
Caroline smiled. "It's your room. We set it up in the hopes that you'd be able to use it one day, if you wanted it."
Freya faltered, turning to look at her. "Sorry?"
"None of us do particularly well with not being able to do anything," Caroline said. "When Kol and Davina came home and told us that you were back, and staying with Maddi because it wasn't safe … Well, we couldn't do anything. We couldn't fix it; we couldn't make it safe. All we could do was make sure that you could come home when it was safe. Everyone donated a favourite book - figured you probably haven't had much time to catch up on things. I thought you'd appreciate this as well." She plucked one of the photo frames from off the dresser and handed it to Freya, who sank onto the mattress, staring at it.
"I think it's the only photograph of all five of them," Caroline said softly, sitting beside her. "I'm sure Kol's told you about the daggers. 2010 - they were all awake and together for the first time since the 11th century. They threw a ball to convince us that they weren't any kind of threat. I think it was Elijah that insisted on the photograph."
It was all the more impressive for the fact that all five siblings were smiling, despite their mutual mistrust of each other at the time.
Freya sniffed, touching Finn's face with one trembling finger. "I never got a chance to see him as an adult. He grew up so handsome."
"I'm so sorry," Caroline whispered.
"It's not your fault," Freya said flatly. "Kol told me what happened. I couldn't condemn you and your family for protecting yourselves, any more than I could condemn my family for protecting themselves." She gave Caroline a watery smile. "Especially not when those two groups have joined as one."
Caroline returned the smile. "I'll give you a bit of privacy to sort yourself out. Maddi gave us your measurements, so you do have something to change into if you like. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?"
Freya started to shake her head, but seemed to think better of it. "You're a mother."
"I am," Caroline confirmed.
"And you're clearly a better mother than mine was," Freya continued.
Caroline smiled. "Thank you, but the bar is pretty low there."
"True," Freya conceded. "How are you with mother hugs?"
Caroline opened her arms in response and Freya melted into them, just as the tears began to fall, finally allowing herself to grieve for the life she should have had, the mothers that Esther and Dahlia could have been, and the long passage of time that had taken so much away from her.
The last thing Matt remembered was seeing Davina crumple to the floor, overwhelmed by magic, before Dahlia strode in and waved her hand.
A sharp pain in his neck, then … nothing.
The first thing he saw was Rebekah's eyes, wet with tears. "Who died?" He managed to croak out.
Rebekah made a strange noise that sounded as though she had tried to laugh, but had too many tears stored up to make it work properly. "You did! And I'll thank you not to scare me like that again."
Matt blinked a few times, trying to make sense of everything.
He could hear murmured voices, footsteps, and a strange thumping sound.
"Who's drumming?"
Now Rebekah laughed, wiping away the rest of her tears, and lifted his hand to her chest. "No one."
The thumping was in time with her heart-beat - slower than a human's, but still there all the same.
Matt struggled to sit up and she tucked a pillow behind him. Now he could see the rest of their bedroom, he realised that they were alone, which meant the voices and footsteps had to be coming from the rest of the house.
And there was a mug on the bedside table.
It smelled amazing.
"I'm in transition," he said flatly. "Aren't I?"
Rebekah nodded, her mirth slowly fading. "Are you okay?"
"Well, I still say you draining me after a night of amazing sex would have been better," Matt said, finally smiling at her.
"I told you," Rebekah said, rolling her eyes, "that's a really slow way to die. I would have snapped your neck. Although I am glad I didn't have to."
"Don't say that," Matt said. "I really don't want to owe your Aunt Dahlia a favour."
Rebekah snorted. "Calling her that makes her sound like she's jut a really annoying maiden aunt who turns up every now and then and judges everyone for the life choices she never had the guts to make."
Matt laughed. "I'd prefer it if that's what she was. I'm guessing she's dead, then? Otherwise you wouldn't be nearly so calm." He reached for the mug. "I just drink this, right?"
Rebekah nodded. "We'll head out to the plantation house tomorrow. Caroline wants us to have a family dinner tonight, since Freya's here now."
Matt stared into the mug at the blood glinting up at him. "Is it a good idea for me to be around humans when I've just turned?"
"It's for one evening," Rebekah said gently. "We'll make sure you've fed, so you won't be hungry. And do you honestly think that we'd let you kill someone? Okay," she added hastily, before he could answer. "Kol probably would, but not any of the people in this house."
"Fair enough," Matt said. "Okay, here goes."
Rebekah watched him drain the mug, watched the dark veins skitter across his face, and felt her own veins heat in response.
Setting the mug to one side, Matt reached for her, his eyes still dark with blood, and she went willingly, sinking into his arms.
Caroline tapped on the open door, causing Kol to glance up. "How is she?"
"Unfortunately, not awake enough to put any kind of silencing spell on Bekah's room," Kol grumbled.
Caroline pulled a face. She had been trying not to listen, but now Kol had brought it up, her ears tuned in again. "Why didn't she burn any sage?"
"God knows," Kol said.
Sophie appeared in the doorway. "Caroline."
Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God. Maddi?"
"Thierry's walking her home," Sophie said, giving her a hug. "I did invite her for dinner, but she says she wants a hot bath, some ice cream and a sitcom marathon."
Caroline smiled weakly. "I could go for that myself."
"Sophie," Kol interrupted. "Can you please do me a favour and silence Rebekah's room?"
"Rebekah's …" Sophie turned red. "Oh." She murmured a few words under her breath and the noises stopped.
"Thank you," Kol said earnestly.
"No problem," Sophie said, stepping closer. "Is she okay?"
"I'm fine," Davina murmured, not opening her eyes. "Just exhausted. I used a lot of magic trying to keep Dahlia out and then she overwhelmed it."
"Do you have enough in you for one more spell?" Caroline asked. "A teeny tiny one?"
Davina smirked. "Already done. Katherine knows. Hope's coming home."