The pain and their voices brought me out of the dark. A gentle hand touched my face.
"Caroline," he whispered, only it was so different from the way he whispered my name earlier. Now my name was etched in desperation.
"Get her inside," Klaus demanded of someone.
Gentle hands lifted me up, someone on each side of me. It hurt to walk, my back was blooming with pain, and I cried out with each step.
"Can't we pick her up?" Haley's voice came from one side.
The next thing I knew I was being lifted from the ground, thrown over someone's shoulder to protect my back. It still hurt but since I didn't have to move now, the pain was a little less.
"Bring them to me!" I heard Klaus yell, his voice filled with rage.
I was carried into the house and then gently lowered until my feet touched the ground.
"Wooden bullets." It had been Rebekah who had carried me into the house, into the dining room. Her fingers gently traced my back. "Laced with Vervain."
"Caroline," Rebekah's voice was gentle and she kept an arm around my waist as she pulled a wooden chair away from the table. "I'm going to help you into the chair. Sit so that your chest is against the back of it."
With Rebekah and Haley's help, I was able to straddle the chair slowly and do just that. Each movement created more pain and I grabbed the back of the ornate wooden chair, dropping my head and closing my eyes. I'd give anything for the pain to go away. The last time I'd felt anything so horrible was torture at the hands of my own father when he discovered I was a vampire. Only this was worse. With his torture, he'd given me moments in between before the pain resumed. There was no relief now and I helplessly cried, tried to stay still.
"We have to get those out," Haley told Rebekah. "There are so many of them. How are we going to do that?"
"Tweezers?" Rebekah asked. "The bullets are small and I think the tweezers would hurt less than using pliers. I'll get both just in case."
The thought of either being used to pull who knew how many bullets out of my back made me cringe.
I felt a breeze as Rebekah used her preternatural speed to go to her room. A minute couldn't have passed until she was back.
"Got them," Rebekah said, sounding nervous. I felt her tug at the hem of my ruined shirt, gently pulling it up and ripping the fabric at both arms so I wouldn't have to move my arms for her to remove it. She threw what was left of it in the floor at my feet, leaving me in my bra and jeans.
"Should I do it?" Haley offered. "Because of the Vervain?"
"No," I managed to moan.
"Caroline, Haley only wants to help you," Rebekah explained, still being very kind.
"The baby," I muttered, swallowing hard. "She shouldn't."
"She's right," Rebekah said. "We can't take that risk."
Rebekah's sigh filled the room. "Caroline, I'm sorry. This is going to hurt."
"I know," I told her, choking on a sob. "Just please… get them out."
A warm hand clasped mine. I knew from the scent it was Haley, standing next to me. I held on to her hand as Rebekah went to extract the first bullet. Searing pain flared as she began to work it free. They'd gone so deep into my back and my arms. I bit my lip trying not to scream. I wasn't entirely successful.
The door to the mansion slammed open and I tried to focus on the sound as a distraction from Rebekah's work. Heavy footsteps approaching us.
"Let's follow the sounds of screams, shall we?" Klaus' tone was menacing. "Ah, here we are."
Rebekah ceased in her task of pulling out the bullets and I forced my eyes open to see Klaus dragging two people along with him. The young man was wincing, no doubt because of the unbreakable grip Klaus had on his neck. With his other hand, Klaus drug a young woman by the arm. It dangled in an unnatural way at her side. It made me feel a little squeamish.
"Good idea, Rebekah." Klaus marched into dining room only feet from my chair. Elijah was behind them, his expression closed. Klaus released his hold on their captives. "So much easier to clean up the mess in here."
Klaus' gaze finally landed on me. He was furious. Approaching me, he cupped my chin in his hand only to pull it back wet with my tears.
"So, we'll make this easy," Klaus began, "just one simple question really. Why did you deliberately harm this beautiful girl?"
The young man said nothing and he looked terrified, particularly when Elijah moved a little closer to him. The girl didn't have a lot to say either, holding on to her arm that looked like it was healing.
"I've seen them," Rebekah said. "They're Marcel's."
Vampires.
"For every second I have to wait for an answer," Klaus explained with deceptive calm, "your suffering will be extended."
"You can't do anything to us," the young woman said bitterly, squaring her shoulders, even though the look in her dark eyes said that she was afraid. "We are Marcel's and he'll make you pay for this."
Klaus laughed then.
"Don't you know who they are?" the male asked. "They're the original family."
That took some of the wind out of her sails as she regarded Klaus with growing fear.
"Oh, good. Now that we have introductions out of the way – you know who we are and we don't care who you are – answer my question. Why did you target her?" Klaus ended by pointing at me.
The male vampire looked at his companion, silently pleading for her to answer. She stared at Klaus hard, fear and anger at war on her face.
"Well, that's a shame. I thought surely one of you could handle one simple question." Taking a step closer to the female vampire, he glared her down. "Elijah."
Faster than I could blink, I watched the male vampire slump lifelessly to the floor, leaving Elijah standing there holding his heart. He tossed it to the ground as the female vampire began to scream.
"Robbie, no!" Dropping to the floor, she crawled to her dead companion's body, sobbing now. "He's my brother."
"Well, he was your brother," Klaus corrected. "Now, he is, in fact, dead."
The pain in my back throbbed on as I watched everything playing out before me. If she hadn't tried to seriously maim me, I would have felt sorry for woman. I knew how dark and violent Klaus could be.
Klaus grabbed a handful of her dark hair, roughly pulling her to her feet while she cried out at what I'm sure was a punishing grip.
"Why did you target her?!" he shouted.
Her face crumbled then, her gaze finding me. "I don't know who she is," she explained, pointing weakly at me. "I thought it was the other blonde that we shot."
Klaus shot a scary glare over his shoulder in his sister's direction, before returning his attention to the captive girl he dangled like a broken puppet in his grip.
"And why did you come for my sister?" Klaus was in her face, his voice deceptively calm. "Surely Marcel didn't order you to come to the house of his sire, his best friend in the world to inflict injury on his sister. Am I right?"
The woman struggled. Klaus finally released her and Elijah grabbed her arms at that point. She struggled in vain against her new captor, her eyes wild.
"She killed my Luke!" the female screamed. "My fiancé. For no reason. She just came in to our hangout last night and killed seven of us, including him. They were all I had."
Reduced to a sobbing mess now, the woman dropped her head in what looked like resignation. She knew Klaus was going to kill her. Even though I was in so much pain thanks to her handiwork, I didn't want her to suffer more. Nothing would prevent him from doing it, I just wanted him to do it quickly, mercifully.
Klaus glanced in my direction, fury shining in his eyes. Mercy was like a foreign concept to him. I knew as well as anyone here that he enjoyed tormenting and torturing those who crossed him in any way. I didn't know what he saw in my face, aside from the pain I was in, but he nodded, seeming to make some decision.
Turning, he ripped the female vampire's heart out, throwing it down as Elijah let the body slip from his grasp. Three of the vampire guys who'd been carrying in my things into the mansion came in for the bodies at this point.
Klaus went straight for Rebekah.
"What did you do?" he growled.
They were behind me, and Rebekah was making choking sounds. Elijah rushed forward. I couldn't see anything.
"Niklaus," Elijah said in warning.
I looked up to see Haley watching them intently.
"Answer me," Klaus' voice was dangerous and low. "Look at what they did to Caroline."
"Help me," I whispered to Haley.
Nodding her understanding, she helped me to stand. I winced in pain, I could feel trickles of blood running down my back.
"I went to see Marcel," Rebekah said indignantly as I slowly turned in their direction with Haley's help. "He pissed me off."
Elijah had placed himself between his siblings. Despite her tough talk, Rebekah looked scared. Klaus' entire body was tensed, I could feel the rage coming off him.
"Did he reject your advances, Rebekah?" he demanded. "Did you carelessly try to sabotage my efforts here in New Orleans to feed your pitiful ego?"
"I once loved him, Nik," Rebekah bit out, tears shining in her eyes. "I spent fifty-two years in a box because of you made him choose."
"He didn't choose you, now did he, sister?" Klaus asked.
"Why did he have to choose?" Rebekah's voice started to break. "He could have been with me and been a vampire. He could have had both. You didn't have to make him choose, Nik. Why did you do it? Because you were so scared of being alone? Or because if you couldn't be happy, you'd make sure the rest of us weren't either?"
Klaus lunged at her, Elijah blocking his attack and stepping between them.
"And then there was Stefan!" she cried out behind the shield of Elijah, who was keeping Klaus at bay and not without difficulty. "I fell in love with him, I was leaving with him, and you daggered me then too! And you liked Stefan. Why did you take them away from me? You knew I loved them and they loved me! How could you, Nik?"
Stefan had been in love with Rebekah back in the day? That was new information that I'd tuck away for when the back half of my body didn't feel like it was on fire.
"I'm here to take back what was ours, ours Rebekah, and you deliberately provoke Marcel. Killing his people. He's over you, Rebekah. I assure you, he's moved on." Klaus' fists were clenched as he took a step back from his brother. "If you've so much as caused the slightest set back to my plans, you'll never get out of your coffin this time, I promise you."
"Niklaus!" Elijah growled angrily.
"Maybe it would be better to stay in my coffin than to live with you and suffer while you snatch every piece of happiness I will ever find away," she shouted at him.
"Klaus," I managed, wobbling on my feet by the chair. Haley had her hand gently on my shoulder, trying to keep me steady. "Please…"
Klaus' gaze moved over me, his jaw tightened as he stared. "You'll pay for this, Rebekah."
"No," I growled at him as I collapsed. Klaus caught me before I could hit the floor, in a flash he was sitting in the chair and had me situated on his lap. I took the opportunity to glare at him, well as best I could under the circumstances. "If you dagger her for this, I'll… never speak to you again."
Klaus narrowed his eyes at me. Just when I thought he would say something to that, he blew out an exhale, his gaze dropping. I felt his hand delicately moving over the ruin of my back.
"I mean it, Klaus," I told him.
He didn't nod or even acknowledge I said anything.
"I'm sorry Caroline," Rebekah muttered before she left the room using her vamp speed.
"Haley, why don't you go get some rest," Elijah's voice was steady. "We'll take care of Caroline."
Haley cast me a concerned look before she left.
I heard water running, Elijah washing his hands I was guessing. I felt him walk up behind me, getting ready to pick up where Rebekah had left off.
"Caroline," Elijah bid me, "try and relax. I'll do this as quickly as I can."
I searched for Klaus' hand and found it, clasping it in mine as Elijah went to dig one of the bullets out. Klaus met my gaze, his anger battling with concern.
"You're going to be all right, Caroline," his voice was low.
"I know." I nodded, trying to block out the pain. Elijah was efficient. He'd already removed three of tiny wooden pieces. Still, the tears threatened to break free. "I've been tortured before. Jules and her werewolf pack tortured me for hours until the Salvatores and that warlock who was working with Elijah showed up."
Klaus gently squeezed my hand.
"And then there was my father. When he found out I was a vampire," my voice was starting to break. "He tried to condition me. He wanted me to associate pain… with human blood. So see? I've been through this and…"
Elijah had removed half a dozen of the bullets now. I had no idea how many more and I wasn't sure I could endure it. Despite myself, I started to cry. It wasn't just the pain of the bullets and the sting of the Vervain. Some it was self-pity. Why was it always me who got hurt? Why was I always collateral damage? I just wanted to black out, to escape the pain somehow.
"Caroline." Klaus used a finger to tip my head up. "Look at me."
I turned my head so I was looking into his eyes, yelling when Elijah had a difficult time pulling out a bullet that felt as if it had lodged in my lung.
"I'm sorry," Elijah whispered.
Klaus caught my chin in his hand, keeping my gaze on him and his pupils contracted.
"You will feel no pain until you are completely healed from this attack," he commanded.
And then it was all gone. I slumped against Klaus in relief, my head on his shoulder as my eyes slid closed. I just concentrated on breathing as Elijah continued his work. I could feel the tugs on my skin or the sensation of the metal he was using when it met bone, but I felt nothing. It was bliss.
In a very short period of time, Elijah had removed all of the bullets. I felt weak but there was no pain now so I could deal with that.
I sat up on Klaus' lap but he prevented me from rising with an arm around my waist. Carefully as he could, he removed the black jacket he wore over a dark shirt, covering me with it. I watched as he bit into his own wrist, offering it to me. I looked at him questioningly.
As if he could read my mind, he brought his wrist to my lips. "My blood will heal you faster," he explained. And I drank from him, enjoying the taste. It was the third time I'd drank from him and just like the first two times, it amazed me how his blood made me feel. It was warming, healing. I could almost feel it work its magic on my torn body.
When he pulled his wrist away, Elijah stood before me with a blood bag and it was warm. "Drink this," he ordered.
I nodded, grabbing the bag and its straw, taking small sips at first.
The vampire helpers came back to start cleaning up all the blood. I watched Elijah walk casually forward, bending to retrieve something that had been left in the floor. It looked like a piece of jewelry but he'd moved so quickly, I wasn't entirely sure.
When one of the helpers picked up the bloody, ripped mess of my shirt, I had to smile.
"Guess it's a good thing I have my stuff now." I was hoping to lighten the mood. "Otherwise, that was my only shirt."
Klaus lowered his forehead to my shoulder. His body was almost vibrating, like it was having a hard time containing all the emotions he'd displayed in the last hour: anger, fear, relief…
I didn't know what to say so we enjoyed a comfortable silence.