A gathering of friends
So far nothing. The spirits remain quiet, and the possible, but to her certain, threat has yet to show itself. The experiments with Kol and Bonnie haven't led to anything of use, instinctually she can get her powers to work but trying to focus on something specific gets her nothing. It's starting to wear on her.
Lately, she hasn't dared to leave the mansion with Kaiden, only moving around close to it so that she will always be near some sort of safety and another member of the family. She would love it if they had a good way to keep the threat out, but when they know next to nothing about it, they have no idea of where to start. But she is quite certain that feeling more paranoid than Klaus isn't a good sign.
At least the family have gathered, Elijah having returned a while ago, and the siblings are trying to agree on some sort of plan. The ones they had reached out to, to ask about the women had given them nothing. Even Marcel who like the siblings could have encountered the younger one a hundred years ago didn't remember her nor had he seen anyone fitting the description lately.
Just as annoying as having no information is that her worry is affecting Kaiden, who's often crying and fussing in her presence. It's just hard to relax, so she will just have to be glad that he is more his usually happy self with the rest of the family. And right now, it appears better since he is calmly moving around the living room and playing with his toys.
She's also able to find some joy in watching him crawl around and doing his best in standing up whenever he has something close enough to hold on to. This is what life should have been right now, peaceful, and just letting Kaiden grow up without the dangers of the supernatural world. Whatever he has ahead of him, the weight that is laying on his shoulder, he should have been given more time before the threats to him appeared.
Hearing the front door open and steps coming her way, she tenses and picks Kaiden up from the floor, the sounds he gives off showing that he isn't pleased. When the people the steps belong to show themself, she breathes a sigh of relief.
"What are you doing here?" she asks Bonnie and Elena who are caring a box each.
Her friends give her big smiles. "It's Thanksgiving and we understand that you wouldn't accept an invitation so we figured that we could invite ourselves to you." Bonnie explains.
Elena puts her box down. "And it's been a while since we got to hang out with the little guy." She comes over and since Kaiden is holding out his arm towards Elena, Caroline hands him over smiling at the indiscernible sounds he makes, she would guess that some of them are him trying to say Elena since her friends have almost universally started trying to teach him their names.
But she was supposed to have an opinion about Thanksgiving. "Let me ask the Mikaelsons if they are okay with it." Maybe it could be good to think about anything else. "Be nice to Elena and Bonnie." She says to Kaiden. "And you two, scream if anything happens." She makes clear before leaving them.
Trying to figure out where the siblings disappeared isn't the easiest. The Mansion has too many rooms when one doesn't have the supernatural hearing of a vampire, nor does her powers of locating things or people work as normal, probably because of the absence of the spirit. Having looked through several rooms she finally finds them in the study.
"So, question." She says as she enters. "What do we think about Thanksgiving?"
They are looking slightly questioning back at her. "Why do you ask, luv?" Klaus asks instead of answering.
"Because Bonnie and Elena just arrived and invited themselves." She informs them.
Rebekah is at least looking happy about it. "I think it's a great idea. We need something else to do than worrying about these two women."
"I'm with Bex, right now we're only driving ourselves mad." Kol chimes in.
While the two younger siblings agree the older ones don't appear sold on the idea. "You do remember that the threat is towards our nephew, we shouldn't get distracted." Elijah tries to remind his siblings.
"And it doesn't sound safe inviting a lot of people at this moment." Klaus adds.
"I'm not going to try to convince anyone either way, but the 'a lot of people' would most likely be Elena and Bonnie, the Salvatore brothers, Enzo," which seems to please Rebekah. "Maybe Bonnie has invited Live and Luke and my mom and Matt if they aren't working." It's her friends and family, she would never accept having a big party for the whole town.
"Come on, Nik, Elijah, we need to relax and if anything happens, we will all be here to help out." Rebekah pleads.
"Fine." Klaus gives in. "As long as everyone understands that we could be attacked at any time." She would be surprised if her friends had forgotten that the Mikaelsons and peaceful times don't go hand in hand.
They had decorated the dining room for the dinner that the witch and vampire already had invited everyone to, now only informing them that it will be at the Mansion instead of the boarding house.
Caroline's mom needed to work, while the rest of the friends had decided to come. She has really missed this, even if their thousand years on this earth have been filled with danger and always looking over their shoulders, they used to take the time to celebrate holidays and birthdays. It's something she would love for their family to pick up again, she would also like to believe that it could be a good normality for Kaiden growing up.
When the guest starts to show up, her two most reluctant brothers have found their way downstairs as well. It's not that she doesn't understand their worry, they are all tense and hate the feeling of powerlessness, it's just that she has decided to not let it take over her life.
"Where do you want the stuffing?" She hears Liv asks as she comes in with the dish in hand.
Kol meets the witch taking the stuffing from her. "Your brother not with you?" he wonders.
"Still in the car, he's trying out some filters on his phone," Liv answers. "He's doing this stupid retrospective video for our birthday. Twenty-two. Go us." Something is telling her that Liv isn't looking forward to her birthday.
The friends had divided the food among themselves, the Salvatores are bringing the turkey and a lot of alcohol, which seems slightly unnecessary considering the supply her family is sitting on, they definitely won't run out of it.
"You are a weird group of friends." Enzo's voice can be heard, and when she turns towards him, she is offered a glass of wine.
She laughs lightly and takes the glass. "Well, we have tried to kill each other a few times." She points out. "Succeeded momentarily some of them." It is a slight miracle that so few of them have died since her family settled down in Mystic Falls. "But with all the supernatural drama, I think we need this."
"And the current drama is these two women you guys want us to keep an eye out for?"
A sigh leaves her. "Caroline is convinced that they're after Kaiden." And they're not about to take any chances when it comes to their nephew.
Kaiden is one of the best things to ever happen to their family. The smile she can see on Klaus as he is holding his son is one that dimmed and almost disappeared during their long life. To once again be able to truly see the caring brother is something of a dream.
At the same time it saddens her to think that maybe for the first time since they became vampires, and maybe even before that, her brother genuinely feels at home, that before now he's never felt like he belongs.
Looking around the room, realising that everyone has gathered she smiles, they have a life here, smaller than the one they had in New Orleans, but similar in many ways. She can also see how their ever-growing group are somewhat in sync because when footsteps can be heard they're all turning towards them, no one else should be arriving at this time.
The tension is running high and when the blonde woman steps into the room everyone is preparing for the worst. "Isn't this nice." The woman says with a smile.
"You, you're the from my dreams." Caroline is moving slightly closer to the stranger. "You asked for my help. Why?"
Not wanting to let Caroline get closer, Rebekah places herself in front of her friend, at the same time she can see Klaus taking a more secure grip on Kaiden. "Who are you?" she asks the stranger.
The woman ignores her, instead speaking to Caroline. "Of everyone here, you might be the only one that Dahlia can't stop."
"Dahlia?" Klaus asks. "Is that the woman that was with you?"
The stranger nods. "We have a common enemy." She says and looks around at the Mikaelson siblings. "If you are willing to listen, maybe you can let your older sister offer you a deal."
"Our older sister?" Elijah speaks. "You're saying that you are the sibling we lost to the plague?"
Once more the stranger, or possibly their sister nods. "But it wasn't the plague that took me. Our mother destroyed me as she destroyed you." The woman has turned towards Klaus. "As she destroys everything she touches." As the woman speaks, Rebekah keeps an eye on Caroline, who has started massaging her temples.
"Don't speak like you would know us," Klaus growls. "We know nothing of you, and you come here with lies about being family."
As an answer, the woman holds out her hands and images are being played through their minds. In a snow-covered forest, two women and two children can be seen. "I can't give up my child! No Dahlia, please!" one of the women is yelling, the one that does remind Rebekah of Esther. At the same time, the little girl that the woman called Dahlia picks up is screaming for her mother.
"Do you still believe me a liar?" so that was supposed to be the woman's memory.
"It proves nothing but your ability to conjure illusions." Klaus throws back at the woman.
"Before you deny me, you should know this, if I have woken from my sleep so has Dahlia. When she feels your child's magic, she will come for him."
"As she was promised." Comes weakly from Caroline. "She was promised the firstborns."
The woman is looking sadly at them. "It was what our mother promised her sister, her firstborn and everyone that would follow. Dahlia has the power to kill everyone that stands in her way… if we don't kill her first."
"If you were taken by her, how are you here?" She asks her possible sister. "How can we trust that you don't work with Dahlia?"
She wants to believe the woman, but she isn't about to risk anything when it comes to Kaiden. And still, this might be their biggest chance if they want to get any answers to what the threat actually is.
With a slightly frustrated tone, the woman answers. "You have no idea what it took to escape her! Or what I lost in my attempts to do so. But I managed to get away and now I'm here in front of you when you are all gathered, I stand at a disadvantage." Her eyes move to Klaus and Kaiden. "I want him no harm, Dahlia is the one that is after him, and Esther is the one that put him in that put your son in that danger, like I said, everything she touches."
"And you know how we stop her?" there is some sympathy in Elijah's voice.
"With the right material, yes. We…"
"I don't feel so good." Caroline's voice can be heard, and Rebekah just manages to catch her before she falls to the floor.
Kol is soon by their side, trying to see if he can figure out what happened, something Klaus is eager to know. "Cyrena never described anything like what is happening now." Kol answers. "I think you should leave." He then asks the woman. "Let us discuss what we want to do."
The woman nods, though slightly reluctantly. "You should tell her." She then says to Kol. "Before someone plans on using her powers to take down Dahlia." She then turns to the rest of them. "I will be back, hopefully, we can all help each other."
"Your name?" she calls after the woman as she leaves.
"Freya." She gets back and as Freya disappears, they are all turned to an unconscious Caroline.