He was packing a bag. The closet full of weapons was open and he paused in front of each one, considering which would be best for the job.
Four men, all trained killers, all loyal friends of Mikael, all knew what he looked like. Picking them off one by one sniper style seemed like the best approach, although they might hole up after the first one drops, and then he would have to move in closer.
Emily's voice kept coming from the laptop. It seemed she kept calling him with more details, but she didn't show her face on the screen. Caroline wondered if they had ever... No, she sounded a bit older, and the way she nagged at him and worried about him made it sound like she was more of a mother figure, plus his boss.
Emily had decided to go with him, meeting him at the place the four men would be at. The five of them had hunted as a pack, working as mercenaries for various criminal outfits. Mikael had been a bit of a leader with them, so it was impossible to tell what the current dynamic of the four remaining men was. They weren't as expensive or sleek as Emily's men, and they never bothered to cover up their crime scenes, but for more brutal organizations, they got the job done.
There were a lot of people that valued the services that the pack of five men provided, but none of them loved them enough to go after someone for picking them off. In fact, it would be expected that someone like Emily might get rid of them for pure business reasons. Without them, she had more customers coming to her. She had never lost a job to the pack of five, but she might gain a few of their repeat customers once they were gone. The types of clients that both of them attracted wouldn't be disturbed if they found out about this, they'd be impressed.
He kept popping out of the little bomb shelter, going above ground to practice with various guns. He hadn't practiced his sniper shots in well over a week because he was off on the Lockwood job, so he needed to make sure everything was perfect before going out to pick off the men that Mikael considered his brothers, his pack.
He was running around the room with the laptop volume turned up so he could talk to her without sitting right in front of it. Caroline had stormed off to the bathroom again. She took way more showers than necessary, and he had the distinct impression that she was just using it as an excuse to not have to look at him for a while. Unless she wanted to sit in the gun closet, the bathroom was the only place she could go to avoid the sight of him.
Why had he pulled that stupid stunt yesterday, pushing himself on her like that? It had been a shitty thing to do to her, but it was who he was. She was right to not want anything to do with him. He would always be a hunter. He could try and catch her by being who she wanted him to be, but eventually little glimpses of his real self would show, and she would be repelled by it.
He had been so sure she was going to give in. She kept trying to get away, but she wasn't trying as hard as she could have. Her eyes were begging him not to stop at the same time her hands were pushing him away. Or had he read her wrong? He thought he knew what he was doing, but if she really wanted him, would she have ran straight to the bathroom to hide as soon as he loosed his grip? She was right, he was a monster. He had cornered a scared little girl who was trapped in the middle of nowhere with him. It wasn't a fair fight. No wonder she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She was probably as disgusted with him as he was with himself.
The voice coming from the laptop distracted him from his self loathing and snapped him back into the impending job.
"Ok, Emily, the spot we discussed. I should be able to get there by ten am tomorrow."
"The girl?"
"In the shower right now."
"How much does she know?"
"Relax, Emily, she's harmless. You should know that, you did the checks before the Lockwood job."
"Harmless means she could go to the police. She's seen your face, Nik."
"But not yours, so calm down. She won't go to the police. She's been involved with the Salvatore drug cartel for a year now. The stuff they run is the most powerful on the market, the feds have been after them for years. There's no way she'd risk stepping foot in a police station."
"So your plan is what? Just pat her on the head and send her back to the Salvatores? Thanks for keeping me company while I killed all these people, now be a dear and don't tell anyone?"
"Emily, can we not talk about the girl when we should be focused on the pack we're about to take out."
"No, Nik, I want this all straightened out now. You're never distracted by anything, but this girl isn't helping your focus. I want it all on the table before we're in the field."
"Fine. I don't want to just bring her back to the Salvatores, but what choice do I have? I can't force her to stay with me, she hates me. And now Becca's with one of them, pulling some shit about love and garbage like that. She didn't even care that I wouldn't approve of it. She's forcing me to be cordial with them when I'd like to rip Stefan Salvatore's liver out for the way he was groping my baby sister."
"Your sister will be fine, Nik. No one who knows who you are is going to mess with her. That Salvatore is probably scared shitless of you, he'll treat Becca like a Queen to avoid your wrath."
"I shouldn't find that comforting, but I do."
"Now lets get back to your little Stockholm Syndrome love story."
"Not funny, Emily."
"Come on, Nik. The same supplies were at the house with Becca. You didn't need to take this girl somewhere separate from the rest. And you wouldn't separate yourself from Becca unless being alone with this girl was your plan."
"There wasn't time to get everyone together, I didn't want to risk.."
"Bullshit. You would always find time to get to Becca. You wanted to get her alone so you could work your charms on her. Obviously, you thought if you brought her to the same place as her friends she would hide behind them and you wouldn't have a chance with her."
"Don't be ridiculous"
"I taught you everything, don't pretend I can't see right through you."
"Fine."
"So how's it going?"
"Bloody awful. She liked me just fine before, but now she's acting like she doesn't know me."
"And what do you plan to do about it?"
"Well I was about to do something about it yesterday, but you interrupted."
"Excuses, Nik."
"Timing, Emily. You taught me that."
"Nik, you're my best employee, and you're like family to me. The last thing I want is to lose you because you're too busy running around with some girl to do jobs for me. But you need to straighten this shit out. Either be with her or don't."
"Like it's that simple, be with her or don't, I can't just.."
"You can't just what? Make up your mind?"
"No"
"So which is it?"
"I want to be with her, but.."
"No but. Nik, I've sent you on the hardest jobs I've ever gotten, and you've never failed me. You get what you set out to get. This is no different.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
Meanwhile, back in the Caribbean...
"Mr, Lockwood, are you sure?"
Mason Lockwood looked down at the grayed, waterlogged body before him. It was in the early stages of decomposition, but he knew his nephew when he saw him.
"Yes. That's Tyler."
The medical worker pulled the sheet back over his head and slid the table away to store it back in the freezers.
The forensic scientist motioned for him to sit down in the office. He hesitantly looked back at Jules and Vicki in the waiting room. They seemed to be fine for now, so he sat down.
"Well everything seems to line up with the story the police gave us. There were no traces of toxins in his system except alcohol and cocaine, but the amounts were very small, not nearly enough to cause serious impairment or death. There was blunt force trauma to the head, it is consistent with the probable suggestion that he slipped and hit his head on the boat. His cause of death is drowning, and again, the story matches up with the evidence in the body."
"Do you have any possible signs of foul play?" Mason asked.
"None."
Mason wasn't so convinced. He had told Tyler to stay put and keep at it until the Salvatores gave him their recipe. He needed that before he could come back to the family and work for them, making an identical product that would run the Salvatores out of business. The plan was for Tyler to email the list of secret products to Mason that next week. He was getting closer to them letting him see. After that, it was all ratios and measurements. There's no way Tyler would pack all his things and leave them. Not when he had nowhere to run to.
"He was here with his friends, two guys, did they come in to view the body?"
"No, I've been told the police contacted their room several times. They're still checked in, but they haven't come down here yet."
Mason nodded. They were behind this. He was going to have to pay the Salvatore brothers a visit.
Caroline watched him get everything organized. He was packing weapons, bottles of water, a few power bars, extra shoes.
They still hadn't talked about what happened the day before. He just acted like nothing happened, like he didn't corner her and feel her up, totally without permission. She tried to push the memory of it out of her mind. It made her feel weak to admit that she liked it.
Ok, so he kills people for a living. That's not the worst thing in the world, right? Tyler got people high for a living, and some people probably o.d.'ed from stuff he moved, right? Not the same, Caroline. Nik ripped Mikael's throat out right in front of you. He dug in and caused pain with his own hands. He killed a family member like it was nothing. No, not Nik, he was Klaus. But he saved you, isn't that a little bit romantic? And it's not like you're so squeaky clean either. You were practically giddy when you found out Tyler was dead, what does that make you?
She snapped out of her thoughts when he sat down on the bed next to her.
"Are you leaving now?"
He nodded. He should have used the moment to give her the speech he had been planning in his head, but he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to take that risk, she would probably tell him she'd never be interested. He needed that little bit of hope, the chance of coming back to something, to get him through this job.
"I set up the skype on the computer to connect to the one in the safe house, that way you can talk to your friends, so you're not so alone in here while I'm gone. You'll be sealed in here, so no one except me would be able to get in. You'll be safe, just stay put and don't touch any of the guns."
"Oh. Thank you."
He felt awkward. Just tell her just tell her.
She felt the awkward silence surround them as they sat next to each other without touching or looking over to the other.
"How long will you be gone?"
"It'll take about 15 hours to get to where they are. The same to get back here. Other than that, it depends on how things go. It could be a few minutes or a few days."
She searched his face for some kind of emotion, some clue to how he was feeling. "Are you afraid?"
"Of what?"
"Of something going wrong, of you..."
"Dying? No. I'm not worried. It'll be fine."
"How can you be so sure? There's more of them than you, and they must know that you'll be after them."
"Careful, sweetheart, you might make me think you actually care."
"I just... I don't want you to die."
The simple sentiment from her made his heart soar.
"I won't. I'll come back."
He got up and picked up the bag. He started to climb up the ladder to leave, but he stopped, put the bag down and turned around. She stood up, confused. Maybe he forgot to pack something?
He was walking back towards her.
"If I don't come back...There would only be one thing I would regret."
He was getting closer to her, too close. She took a step back, unsure of what he was going to do.
"Just let me do this." He was only inches away, looking down at her with pleading eyes.
He pulled her into him and kissed her, She felt a shockwave run down from her lips to where his hand rested on her lower back. She kissed back, forgetting all the stubborn reminders of why she shouldn't want to be kissing him. Her hands caressed the side of his face, trying to keep him there as long as possible. She was pushing her body against him as he slid his tongue into her mouth, teasing her, tracing the inside of her lips. She felt a heat wash over her and all she could think of was how much she wanted him, she didn't want him to go up that ladder out into the world. She wanted to keep him right here.
He broke away from the kiss and gently pulled her hands away from him, holding on to them a moment before breaking away. In that moment, she saw Nik again.
He was back up the ladder and then he was gone.