Hello, my lovely readers. There's going to be a bit of a shake-up to with the past lives of some of the characters but it will not affect whoever is endgame in this fic. On with the show…
Chapter 36: Past Lives
Damon laid on Caroline's bed, and Caroline, Rebekah and Hayley stood over him. "What are you waiting for?" Rebekah snapped, looking at Caroline, waiting for her to use this opportunity to get into his head. "It's time to dig his secrets out and find out what he knows about us that he's withholding."
Hayley nodded. "We have a right to know what he knows about us." She kicked the bed. "I can't believe he's been right here the whole time and said nothing to us."
Caroline hesitated. Damon had been out for the last ten minutes and she had no idea when he'd wake up. Enzo had left to get more vervain and she'd called Liv; telling her to get her witchy behind over there. Klaus, Elijah, Kol, Bonnie and Marcel could show up at any moment. Even Stefan might come, looking for his brother. She needed to jump in but she was afraid of what she would see.
"Come on, Caroline," Hayley took her hands, placing them on Damon's temples. "I want to know what he knows yesterday."
"We should all see what he knows," Caroline told Hayley and Rebekah. "Place your hands over mine," she ordered them.
"Really? You think that will work. You've only just started doing this," Rebekah snapped but placed her right hand over Caroline's left. Hayley placed her left hand over Caroline's right.
"I'm trusting my instincts," Caroline said, closing her eyes and concentrating.
"What in hell are you three trying to do to me?" Damon snapped, batting their hands off his head. "First, you have Enzo send me to La La Land; now you're trying to do some kind of freaky mind shit to me. I'm gone."
"No, you're not," Rebekah retorted. She snapped her fingers. Damon's head snapped to the side, bones in his neck breaking and he slumped onto the bed.
"Remind me not to piss you off," Hayley said, shaking her head and staring at Rebekah.
Rebekah shrugged, brushing her hair over her shoulders. "Shall we?" she asked, looking at Caroline.
Placing her hands back on Damon's head, Caroline felt the pressure of Rebekah's and Hayley's hands on hers. "Okay. Here goes nothing," she whispered.
Gasping, Caroline felt like she was falling, falling, falling into blackness.
Caroline's eyes snapped open and she noted that she stood in a field. No houses stood nearby. No roads were built, and Damon stood, leaning against a tree, his posture relaxed as he watched something in the open field. Her mouth opened when a blonde girl turned, laughing, grabbing up her skirts and running across the field. Her hair was wild and her dress something from the Middle Ages. "Run, Hayley!" she shouted.
Hayley came running behind the first girl who looked like Rebekah—flowers in her hands—falling into the field of grass as she ran, stumbled, fell again, got back up and continued to run. Then Caroline saw herself emerge from the top of a hill. "I'll always find you!" she shouted, laughing as she ran after Hayley and Rebekah.
"Ah!" Rebekah shouted as the other Caroline caught her, knocking her over.
"Damon, save me!" Hayley shouted and Damon shook his head, watching Hayley dart backward and forward from Caroline. Suddenly, Hayley opened her mouth, blew on the flower and sent Caroline flying backward.
"Cheat!" Caroline shouted.
"It's not cheating! It's magic!" Hayley shouted, dancing around and then running over to Damon. She offered him her last flower with a smile that looked flirty to Caroline and then ran off.
A knock sounded and Caroline felt her concentration breaking. "Caroline, are you in there?" Liv's voice forced Caroline out of Damon's head.
Caroline pulled away from Damon and Rebekah looked at her while Hayley took a seat beside Damon. Hayley looked confused as she stared at Damon, her lips parted, but nothing coming out yet. That would need to be dealt with later. Caroline headed over to the door and opened it. "Liv, hey! Thanks for coming," she said.
Liv nodded and then she looked at Damon. "Holy shit!" she muttered. "Okay. Now, I am seriously getting the hell out of here." Liv's hands went up and she backed toward the door as Enzo came into the room, shutting it behind him. "Let me out of here or you are in for some serious pain!" Liv snarled, holding up her hands.
"Wait!" Caroline called. "You said that your family knows stuff about us." She waved her hand in a circle to encompass Rebekah, Hayley and Damon. "Where are they and will they help us?"
"Yeah. I guess they might. My brother is in charge and is kind of a fan. But he's also kind of crazy; so good luck with that." Liv moved toward the door. "Can I go now? It was bad enough being stuck with the three of you but when you add him," Liv pointed at Damon, "into the mix, that's just adding fuel to your flame."
"So he is this Protector chap?" Enzo asked, nodding at Damon.
"Yes," Liv said. She opened the door to leave when Caroline sped over; grabbing her hand. "I'll text you my address," the witch said like she could read Caroline's mind. Maybe she could.
"Thanks," Caroline replied with a smile. Liv did not smile back and left the room in a hurry.
Damon grunted, sitting up on the bed when Hayley shoved him back down. "What else are you keeping from us, Damon?" she snapped, her eyes glowing yellow and Damon rolled his eyes.
"Been in my head lately?" Damon snapped, moving to sit up when Hayley knocked him down again.
"Yes. Didn't find much. Yet," Rebekah told him, smirking. "But that was our first trip. There will be more if you do not tell us what we want to know and I will make it hurt next time."
"By all means," Damon snapped. "You get bitchier every time you come back, Bex." Rolling his eyes, Damon rested his head on his folded arms. "Knock yourselves out."
Caroline's phone let out a beep and she pulled it out. "Change of plans. We're going to Portland," she told the group.
"To see the Space Needle?" Damon inquired, his sarcasm making Caroline want to throw her phone in his face.
"No, to see the leader of an important coven. Maybe they'll torture you," Rebekah said, grinning at Damon.
Damon smirked back at her. "Foreplay."
"Ew," Rebekah groaned, turning away.
Another knock on the door made Caroline's head turn. "Hayley?" Elijah cried, knocking again. "Answer me?" Hayley got up from Caroline's bed. She opened the door and threw her arms around Elijah while Klaus moved around them to get to Caroline.
"You got out," Klaus said, walking over and lifting Caroline off her feet. He kissed her on the lips and she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
"Get a room, kids," Damon called and Caroline pulled back to look into Klaus' eyes.
"I have to go to Portland," Caroline told Klaus.
Klaus looked back at her. "Fine. I'll go home and pack a bag."
"No, Klaus, I have to go to Portland. Well, me, Bekah and Hayley have to go…and Damon." Caroline watched Klaus' expression darken as he set her on her feet.
"Caroline, we're in the middle of the bloody crisis with sire bonds and a maniac trying to kill you; you can't go on a bloody road trip to Portland. You're not going without me by your side, love." Klaus held her face between his hands, his eyes burning into hers. "I love you, Caroline and I feel like I'm always on the verge of losing you."
"Klaus, I will always come back to you. If I have to dig myself out from the middle of the earth or swim the Pacific Ocean; I will come back to you. Always. No one and nothing can separate us," Caroline promised, pressing her forehead against Klaus'.
Turning around, Caroline saw that Hayley was in the same argument with Elijah who looked drained. He needed to rest. Walking over to the other couple, Caroline placed a hand on Elijah's arm. "Elijah, I will make sure that they both come back home, in one piece." She watched Elijah look from her to Hayley. Hayley's expression was set. She could be stubborn and she obviously intended to go with Caroline.
"Be careful with our precious cargo," Elijah said, kissing Hayley's bump and then pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.
"I will," Hayley told him, kissing him before walking over to Rebekah.
"I texted Marcel. He's going to bloody well kill me. We should go," Rebekah wiped away a tear before looking around. "Is this going to be a day trip?" she asked.
"That's the plan," Caroline said.
"Right then. Just grab a bag and be off," Rebekah seemed to be talking to herself as she pulled out a bag. She yanked out some things from her closet and dresser. Caroline and Hayley did the same and Damon watched them. For once the vampire had little to say.
They walked out of the room with the Mikaelson brothers to find Kol and Bonnie in the hallway. "Can I help?" Bonnie asked them, looking hopeful.
"This is witch business, so yes," Rebekah said. "Pack a bag for a day trip, and, quickly, please, we need to go soon."
Bonnie went into her room while Kol turned on his sister. "What is going on here? Where are you taking my bird off to?"
"Portland. She'll love it and find a better suitor than you." Rebekah smirked, hugging her brother. "We'll be back soon enough, Kol."
"I miss you already, Bekah," Kol retorted, messing up her hair while Rebekah snarled and kicked him in the shin.
"I'm ready," Bonnie announced and they walked down the hall and out of the building as a group.
ACBD
Damon ended up driving them to the airport. All the way there, he tried to talk them out of going to Portland. "This is a bad idea. You don't even know Livy that well. She could be a bad witch from a long, long line of kooky, evil witches. They might want to cook us and eat us."
"That is such a prejudice comment," Bonnie snapped at Damon.
Damon scoffed. "Well, I am sorry if your kind and my kind tend to…I don't know…kill each other!" he yelled, widening his eyes at her and returning to staring at the road in front of them.
"Damon does have a point, we don't know these people. What if they're working with this guy who's after us?" Hayley added.
"See, Hayley agrees with me," Damon waved at Hayley who sat on Caroline's right.
Hayley rolled her eyes. "I'm not taking your side, Damon." She gave him a look and he turned to look back at her. Caroline got a weird sense of déjà vu but chalked it up to recent discoveries playing with her head.
ACBD
"I am never riding on a plane with you again!" Hayley yelled at Damon, punching him on the shoulder.
"It's not my fault you drool, Wolf-y," Damon retorted, turning her around and forcing her to follow Caroline.
Glancing back at her quarreling friends; Caroline shook her head. Rebekah took the opportunity to snatch her phone away. "Yes, this is it. My God, did they build this house when the country was founded and do they understand the concept of keeping up appearances?"
Caroline examined the house. Less a house and more of an estate. It looked like you could fit two of the Salvatore's homes in it. "Wow," she sighed. The question was: Did anyone really still live there? Had Liv given her the wrong directions? This house looked like no one had come to it in years. Weeds choked the lawn. Dead bushes surrounded it—almost like they were guarding the house—or keeping something inside. Caroline felt creeped out.
"Maybe we should go home," Hayley said, stopping, and Damon ran into her.
"Scared on an old house?" Damon quipped, resting his hands on her shoulders. "The Hayley I knew wasn't afraid of anything or anyone." His words seemed to spark something inside of Hayley because she took the lead—stepping around and in front of Caroline—to knock on the door.
They stood for five minutes, waiting for someone to open the door. "Maybe no one's there," Bonnie said.
Caroline trained her ears to any sign of activity from inside the house. When she heard the sound of footsteps on the fourth floor; she walked up to the door and twisted the knob. The door opened, the hinges squeaking and Caroline stepped inside, followed by Hayley, Damon, Rebekah and Bonnie. "Hello?" Caroline shouted. "Is there anyone here? Your sister told us to come here? We need your help!" she shouted.
Nothing and no one replied. "It's like a museum in here," Bonnie whispered to them.
"Yeah. A museum for the mentally deranged and criminally insane," Damon quipped, his hand resting on Hayley's shoulder, and he held out the other, beckoning Rebekah closer to him. For once Rebekah did not argue and she took Damon's hand. "Let's keep together, like people who know that when you split up, that's when the guy with the hook for a hand slits your throat."
"Guy with a hook? I love that movie!" a voice enthused, appearing in front of Bonnie but looking at Damon. "And you! You're awesome! Supernatural history in the flesh! Got to thank Liv for sending you my way." The voice was attached to a tall man in his early twenties. He grinned at each of them in turn. "Where are my manners? I'm Kai, Kai Parker!"
"I'm—" Caroline began when Kai held up a hand.
"Caroline. Queen in the North," Kai said before looking at Rebekah. "Rebekah, Queen of the South. And that means, you're Hayley, Queen of the East." He chuckled. "This is the greatest day ever!" Clapping his hands together, he turned to Damon. "And you, you are my hero, really, Damon, The Protector. You died so many times. Pretty brutal and not just for your oath, but for love, man, those stories really pull at the old heart strings."
"Love?" Caroline looked at Damon whose mouth opened and then closed.
Kai ignored them. "And who are you?" he asked, staring at Bonnie.
"This is our friend, Bonnie," Caroline said. "She's a witch."
"I can tell. She's got this whole aura thing going on and it is making me want to hang with her, a lot," Kai said, leaning closer to Bonnie.
"I have a boyfriend," Bonnie practically shouted.
Kai held up his hands. "Message received. Where were we? Oh, yes, tour time," he started grinning again.
"We're here for information, not a blasted tour of this—heap," Rebekah snapped, waving around the house.
The inside of the house didn't really match the outside. Inside everything seemed to be pretty well-maintained. Caroline's grandmother would be proud and she was picky about many, many things. Not a speck of dust hung anywhere. The tables were polished to gleam and the paintings stood like they could be here for another five hundred years.
"You want the tour, trust me," Kai reassured Rebekah. "Then we can have dinner before I show you to your rooms for the night. After I get done with you, trust me, you'll need to sleep before your plane ride back to Mystic Falls."
"How did you know we're going back tomorrow?" Hayley asked.
"I'm psychic," Kai told her.
Caroline frowned. "Seriously?"
"No. I'm kidding. But I do have ways of finding things out," Kai told them mysteriously. Wiggling a finger, he led them to a staircase. He looped an arm around an irritable Rebekah's shoulders. "Are you seeing anyone?" he asked.
"Yes," Rebekah snapped, shrugging him off.
Caroline hoped that her friends did not piss this guy off. She had no idea what fighting him would entail and she did want an entire coven coming after them. They had enough problems.
Kai led them down a hallway. "And here is something you might all be interested in," he called to them, turning around to face them and pointing at a series of portraits. "These are some of my grand-dads' favorites."
Looking up, Caroline felt her mouth go dry as she recognized herself standing in an Elizabethan dress. Rebekah's portrait stood beside hers. Hayley directly to Rebekah's right. Damon's to Hayley's right. It was same time period. They continued onward, looking at various portraits throughout the ages. Stopping at the end of the hall; Kai pointed at one. "This is my favorite."
Caroline looked at Rebekah and Hayley. They glanced at her and then the painting. It came from the same time they had seen when Caroline entered Damon's mind. Rebekah stood with a hand over her hip. Caroline was laughing and looking at whoever was painting them and Hayley… Hayley was sitting on Damon's lap between her friends. Damon sat in the grass, his arms around Hayley and their lips were pressed together in a passionate kiss.
"Oh, my God!" Hayley cried, backing away from the painting. "Oh, my God!" she cried out again before she took off.
"I knew this was a bad idea," Damon groaned, moving to follow Hayley when Rebekah grabbed him by the arm, wrenching him backward and into the wall behind him.
"Hey, hey! Watch the artwork!" Kai yelled, grabbing the painting above Damon's head.
Damon glared at Rebekah, his game face appearing and he shoved her away from him. He moved to follow Hayley when Rebekah's eyes turned yellow and she leapt on him. Caroline grabbed Rebekah, easily pulling her off of Damon. "I'll go find Hayley. Bonnie, help Rebekah. Damon, you stay here. Kai, disappear for a minute," Caroline snapped.
"Natural born leader," Kai cooed at Caroline before disappearing.
Damon got to his feet, dusted himself off and headed for the stairs. Caroline moved in front of him. "Get out of my way, Caroline!" Damon snarled, baring his fangs at her.
Caroline did not back down. "Try me, Damon!" she snarled back, revealing her own fangs.
Damon glared at her. "Caroline, this is not the time to piss me off. Hayley needs me. So get the hell out of my way." He tried to get past her but Caroline wouldn't let him. "Do you think I won't hit you?" he demanded.
"I know you will," Caroline yelled at him. She remembered how he'd reacted when he thought he lost Elena. "You moved on from whatever was in that painting. You're with Elena. Remember your girlfriend?"
Running his hand through his hair, Damon sucked in a ragged breath. "Yes, I remember Elena. But you don't get it and you won't until you remember everything that we were."
"And what was that?" Caroline snapped. "Level with me, Damon, we've been friends for awhile and I trust you. Now, trust me."
Shaking his head, Damon looked at Caroline. "It's more of a showing, not a telling thing," he told her.
"Fine. Show me," Caroline retorted.
Damon reached out and grabbed Caroline by the arms and she gasped as she felt him enter her mind. Again, they fell, fell, fell, and then they were in that field again. "Get off," the other Caroline yelled at Rebekah, laughing, shoving her friend into the grass.
Damon placed a hand on Caroline's shoulder, pointing back to Hayley and Damon from centuries ago. They laid under the tree. He was kissing her, her legs were wrapped around him and Damon led Caroline closer so they could hear the two speaking to each other. "If I lose you again, I'll lose my mind," Damon swore, stroking Hayley's wild locks away from her face.
"We won't. Not this time. We'll win. Oh!" Hayley cried out, laughing.
Damon propped himself up on his elbows. "What?" he asked.
"He kicked me!" Hayley cried, pressing his hand to her middle.
"Already?" Damon asked, laughing, and pressing his ear to her middle. "Yes, he's strong! That's my boy!"
"Or it's a girl!" other Caroline told them, coming to drop a flower on top of Damon's chest.
"Or yours is a girl," Hayley teased, rolling off of Damon and pressing her hands to Caroline's small bump. "Oh, is Rodrick happy?"
"He's pleased with himself," Caroline replied with a smile, rubbing her bump.
Rebekah came over. "I shall have three girls," she told them, patting her own middle. "Christian is a knight. I believe he put a whole village inside me as I grow larger by the day."
"Oh, Lady Rebekah, you just need to stop eating as you do," Damon teased her in a mocking tone, his accent mimicking Rebekah's.
"You!" Rebekah dropped to her knees and pummeled Damon.
"Off! He's mine to kill and whatever else I like," Hayley cried, placing herself between Damon and the other girls.
Caroline's eyes snapped open and she looked at Damon. "How long were you together?" she asked him.
"Every time I came back, as far back as I remember. I came back—looking for her. And then I became a vampire but she kept dying. So this time, I decided to stay away but she found her way into my life." Damon slumped against the wall behind him.
"What are you going to do?" Caroline asked him.
"Talk to her," Damon sighed. "We'll figure it out from there."
Caroline watched Damon walk away and she sighed. She had hoped that this would answer their questions; not ruin her friends' lives. They did not need another complication and their past lives seemed to be nothing but a further complication.
Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.
Answer to guest reviews:
Mihaela Tudorica: You're welcome, Mihaela! I can tell you that the fic will end on a happy-ish note, depending on whether there is a sequel because things might get upended in a new story.
Peace,
Jessica