Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.
This story is NOT beta-read, so forgive me if there are any errors! Enjoy!
"Wait? He won't make it to the full moon," Devin said as he paced back and forth.
Miranda let out a breath. "Garnet needs him to stay alive. It's the only leverage we have against Caroline and Klaus."
The man sighed. "Niklaus is smarter than this. He would never follow someone else's plans for a hostage."
"Perhaps this is all a part of Garnet's plan," Miranda said. "Kidnapping Bill Forbes is to get to Caroline. Once we have Caroline, Klaus will surely fall through."
"And how can you be so sure of that? I've watched my son throughout the centuries from the Otherside. I've never seen him become vulnerable for a girl. Not even enough for his own family," Devin stated.
"There are certain things a witch is certain about," Miranda said. "And the way I see it, Klaus already cares about this girl."
He was sure this was a dream by the way the clouds overcasted the forest. Just the forest. But through his years of experience, he knew not to break the links.
Someone was trying to send him a message.
"Niklaus."
He turned, his stare becoming cold as his mother materialized before him.
"Esther," he said dryly.
The blonde witch stepped forward, causing him to go straight into defense-mode.
"There's no need to fear me, my son. I'm here to help you."
"Yes because that turned out so well the first couple of times," he spat out.
She sighed. "Although I admit that my efforts were reckless, understand that none of this was my intention."
"Which part?" Klaus asked. "The endless mass killings I've done or just me in general?"
"Neither of those, Niklaus. I am here to help. Let me help you," she responded.
He laughed cynically. It was brief enough to show his bitter side. "And why should I trust you?"
"Because I know of your feelings for the girl."
His smirk evaporated.
"You cannot fool me, you know. Aside from the endless observations I have done of you since I died, I also have my motherly intuitions. Believe me when I say that you care for her."
"She possesses a capability I need- she's an asset to ending Garnet."
Esther shook her head. "No; you love her."
He opened his mouth to respond but she shushed him.
"You only show so much, my son. That's my doing and I am sorry for it. But this girl- I can see that she makes you question your intentions," she moved forward again. "And your two greatest fears are losing her and having her not feel the same way you do. Am I correct?"
When he stayed silent, she continued.
"Tonight marks the third quarter before the solstice. I'm certain Garnet plans to murder Bill Forbes in the woods near the cemetery."
"That's awfully specific," he muttered.
"Witches talk, Klaus. I know for a fact that this is a sacrifice that will plague Caroline until the night of the ritual. If you let him die, you just might lose her before getting to have her."
Klaus clenched his fists. "Why should I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?"
"Because I am your mother. You are my son. Whether you believe me or not, I love you."
"I don't believe you," Klaus stated.
"Then go to the woods and see for yourself," she said. The dream flickered. "Do it before you lose her."
Bonnie sighed as she followed Kol to the receptionist desk. They had asked a few local witches to no avail. None of them had seen the witch named Miranda.
"This is hopeless," she whispered as Kol paid the clerk. Once he received the room key, he responded with a vague answer.
"When they reached the room, Bonnie halted. "One room?"
Kol raised his eyebrows. "I just figured that this would make both of our lives easier. What if a masked murderer entered your room late at night?"
She slapped his arm. "Shut up. You're lucky that I'm so tired- otherwise I might put up a big fight."
"Please. Like you could take me."
She gave him a look and he shut his mouth.
"That's what I thought," she said, plucking the key out of his hand and swiping it. Just as she'd suspected, there was only one bed.
If she didn't know any better, she assumed he was trying to sleep with her- in more ways than one.
"I get the bed, you get the floor."
"What?" Kol exclaimed. "No way, we share or no one gets the bed."
"You're acting like a child!" Bonnie said.
"I am not sleeping on this floor."
"Should've thought of that before you bought a room with only one bed!"
They glared at each other, neither backing down. She suppressed a yawn.
Oh, what wrong could it do to share? Bonnie thought.
Um... A lot. A lot of things could go wrong.
After a few more seconds of debating, she broke.
"Fine. We share. But I'm putting a pillow between us so you don't try something funny."
Kol smirked. His actions were getting the exact reaction he wanted from her. "Yes ma'am."
Pale moonlight adorned the scenery as Caroline walked slowly throughout the woods, a hand never leaving the nearby tree trunks. The last thing she needed was to get lost.
She realized this was probably one of the stupidest things she had ever done. Not to mention her dreams were growing more frequent and violent. But she had to do whatever she could to save her father.
The woman in her dreams had said this was the only way to do it- she had to try.
In the distance, a howl echoed causing Caroline to stop short.
Bet you didn't think that you would have a run-in with wolves?
For a moment, she hesitated moving forward. Would it be wise to put herself in danger over one dream? Curiosity killed the cat and that was a concept she wasn't rather fond with.
If you don't go he'll die, her inner voice said.
Giving in, she continued walking until she reached the outskirts of the local cemetery. The place had always given her the creeps. It definitely wasn't her scene- this place was reserved for potheads like Vicki Donovan.
There was a pang of guilt at that thought. Vicki had died and here she was; talking about her like she had never known her- like she had never found her lifeless corpse.
"Caroline?"
Her eyes shifted, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Klaus said, stepping forward.
"Someone told me to be here, Klaus."
His posture was rigid as he moved in her direction. Their eyes never wavered as he stopped right in front of her- close enough where Caroline could feel his body heat emanating.
"It's possible that my mother played us both," he said.
"Her eyebrows crinkled. "Your mother?"
"Blonde. Cold stare. A raging bitch. I take it she's the one that visited you in your dreams?"
Her silence confirmed his suspicions as another wolf howled in the distance.
Taking one look around he let out a breath. "We have to get out of these woods. It's not safe for you."
When he made the move to grab a hold of her arm she side-stepped, shaking her head.
"Stop. You don't own me," she said. "I can take care of myself. I've been training with Bonnie in Witch 101 for defense."
"Caroline, I've been alive for a thousand years. That's long enough to see that one lone witch isn't powerful enough to take on a pack of anything."
"He's right. One witch isn't enough."
Both heads turned in the direction in which the voice had come from.
The raven haired woman came forward. "But a coven of witches- that's enough to take on an entire pack of wolves or vampires."
As if on signal, more witches stepped out from the shadows, surrounding Caroline and Klaus.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" Klaus asked, moving away from Caroline.
"You're Klaus. The hybrid," the woman said. "You don't scare me, though."
Her eyes flickered to Caroline. "We're not here to try to kill you. We can't. But her- her we can kill."
Caroline's eyes widened. "Why?"
"You're a threat to the balance of nature. After what happened with the Original Witch, we can't risk another imbalance."
"We know what Garnet plans to do," another said.
Caroline gulped. "I just want my father back."
"Your father is far from saving."
There was a crackle and then the world bursted in flames around Caroline.
Her heart raced from the heat. Out of panic she flailed her hand, trying to find a connection- anything to stop the engulfing flames from reaching her body.
She saw Klaus' eyes shift, his irises becoming a golden color, veins popping out as his teeth shifted as well.
She lost all hope of peace the moment he flashed to the raven haired witch and bit roughly into her neck. The woman's piercing scream was all it took for Caroline to stop trying and actually do something.
The ring of fire that surrounded her dispersed in all directions. By the sound of multiple screams, she could tell some of the witches had caught fire.
Klaus moved fast, snapping necks without thinking or without remorse. It was a defense mechanism he'd learned to work with since his first massacre. But the more he killed, the more witches that seemed to appear.
The fire had died out and Caroline let her guard down to assess the damage done. Through the remaining smoke she really couldn't make out anything. Suddenly, another witch grabbed a hold of Caroline's hair, moving her back then shoving her forward.
Caroline hit the ground harshly, the wind getting knocked out of her further as the witch kicked her ribs. She groaned but acted quickly. As the woman went for another blow, Caroline grabbed her ankle, pulling her down to the ground.
Scrambling to get up, Caroline watched as the woman rolled to grab a hold of her again. Out of instinct,, Caroline let her fist launch into the woman's face.
Holy crap, Caroline thought giddily. I just punched someone...
Groaning, the woman lashed out, her nails coming in contact with Caroline's forehead.
Caroline yelped, her eyes shutting in pain as she felt hands grab her shoulders and pull her back. This time, she heard a male's voice talking to the other witch and she struggled to get away from him, twisting to loosen his grip. Once she was loose, she blindly grabbed a handful of soil, dispersing it in all directions.
One of them hissed as the other reached for her again. Something inside of her built up and she shouted, letting her powers take over. Her two offenders screamed and yelled as they were thrown back against the tree trunks, their bodies impaled by the branches.
Caroline shook her head, closing her eyes once again at the bloody sight. Her hands shook immensely.
As the last body dropped, Klaus turned to Caroline. She didn't say anything as they both stared at the bodies lying on the ground.
At the realization of what she had done, Caroline's body began to tremble.
I killed somebody, she assessed in panic. I'm a murderer.
Klaus saw her eyes get watery as her posture shook.
"Caroline?" he was gentle as he grabbed her shoulders. He could see that she was so close to breaking down completely but what could he say? He'd never been the type to comfort people. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to make this better.
"Caroline?" he repeated.
"I just killed people."
He swallowed. "They would've killed you- there wasn't any other choice-"
She shook her head, her eyes meeting his. There was something unreadable about them. "There's always a choice."
Shrugging out of his grasp, she put her hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing.
The remorse was suffocating. Despite the truth in Klaus' words, it didn't soften the guilt or the fact that she had actually killed a handful of people.
She shut her eyes. After a moment she felt warm arms embrace her.
Opening her eyes she realized that it was Klaus who was holding her tightly. Although she was pretty sure that he had never comforted anyone before, she accepted it; finding a strange solace of peace in his grasp.
"What have I done?"
The guilt in her voice only angered him. He hadn't wanted her to be this way- to be a killer the way he was.
Klaus had hoped to keep her untainted by the demons that plagued him. It seemed like that had all gone down the drain.
"You were just defending yourself. It isn't like you purposely wanted them dead, Caroline."
"That doesn't make me feel any better," she whispered, shrugging out of his grasp, composing herself.
Taking one look around, she wiped her tears away.
"Who could have sent them?" Caroline asked, examining the various dead bodies that were scattered across the vicinity.
Klaus shrugged. "Whoever it was had to be another witch. A coven this big must've listened to a trustee."
"Yeah but who?" she said, tugging on her sleeve and placing it gently on her forehead. The contact of cloth to the open cut made her wince.
"Ouch."
"Caroline. Let me heal you-"
"I'm fine," she croaked a bit too quickly. She stared at him and sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just..I'm not comfortable with the whole vampire blood solution."
His lips twitched. "I'm not trying to get you to turn, love. I just don't want to see you in pain."
"Why do you care so much?"
There was a beat as he assessed her question. Things were still painfully awkward between them and he didn't exactly know how to break down the fourth wall.
"Because you're important to me," Klaus confessed.
"You mean to say, because I'm needed in order to take down Bloody Mary."
"No; because you're important to me," he reiterated.
Caroline swallowed. The tension in the air was suffocating. Panicking, she cleared her throat.
"We should go before anybody else tries to kill me."
She bit her lip.
"Us."
Klaus pursed his lips, nodding. As much as he'd like to confess to her the entire truth of the situation and of his feelings, the timing wasn't right. Everything was so delicate and he had to keep reminding himself that Caroline was still just a girl.
She wasn't ready to deal with his one-sided affection. He was uncertain if she even felt the things he felt.
"They're dead," Miranda exasperated as she paced back and forth.
Beside her Bill Forbes was taking his last breaths. He could go at any moment.
"The girl?" a male witch asked.
"No, you idiot. The coven- Klaus slaughtered them."
Bill shifted, coughing up crimson liquid. "Caroline..." he murmured.
Miranda's eyes blinked. "If he... If he dies before we get what we need-"
"Garnet will find out about your little plan, Miranda." Devin stated. "You want to kill Caroline when my sister specifically said she was off-limits."
"I am a witch," Miranda rebounded. "A servant of nature. For a thousand years nature has found a way to cope with the vampires. I don't want to mess with that balance, Lord Devin."
"I know," he said.
"Garnet- she has other intentions. I know what she said but her actions... She's planning something bigger, I know she is."
"We will find a way to halt it," Devin said again. He'd played the double-agent role well. Making sure that his sister believed he had her back.
Truthfully, Devin just wanted to move on- to die and pass on. To not remain in exile within the Otherside.
He wanted peace.
Unfortunately, he and Garnet were two halves of a whole. She could not resurrect herself without him, much to both of their dismay.
"How? You can't shift into a werewolf. And now we have to go through with the ritual. There- There won't be another chance to kill her-"
"Calm down," Devin said. "We will figure this out before the ritual."
Miranda's soft eyes glistened. She was frustrated with the way she had been roped into it. She had never wanted any of this mess.
It seemed that the past really could come back to haunt you.
"I hope so," she spoke, her gaze shifting to the man on the bed, feeling his life force grow weaker by the minute.
"Mom?" Caroline called, shutting her front door behind her. When there was no answer, she assumed her mom had taken the night shift.
Sighing, she made her way to the bathroom, making a face of disgust at her reflection. Her clothes and face were covered in soot and smeared with blood. The cut on her forehead had ceased to bleed but was still red.
"Disgusting," she mumbled, peeling off her jacket and tossing it aside. She swallowed thickly, her appearance serving as a reminder of what she had done. Of whom she had practically slaughtered.
It was self-defense, her reasoning side said.
No, it was slaughter, her conscience countered.
After showing and changing into fresh clothes, she made her way downstairs and to the kitchen in search of comfort food. She took a tub of ice cream from the freezer and frowned. The container was sticky from past servings. She sighed, placing on the counter and moving to wash her hands.
Her forehead stung like crazy but she didn't want to see how bad it must've been puckering. She moved to grab a hand towel but paused, looking at the palm of her hand.
Almost like a fading scar, there was a symbol etched on her skin. Her heart beat rapidly as she took a closer look at it.
There on her palm was the faint tracing of a pentagram.
"What?" she mumbled, closing and opening her hand repeatedly, hoping it was just a hallucination. Hoping that her killing wasn't permanently branded on her for remembrance.
"Congratulations."
Caroline whisked around, coming in contact with the woman who had sent her to the woods in the first place.
"What do you want?" Caroline questioned.
Esther ignored her questions. Instead, she kept staring at Caroline's hand.
"I see you earned your mark."
"What does it mean? What is it?"
"When a witch kills twelve of her own, she is marked- a part of her becomes darker. More lenient to her desires. More keen on dark magic."
Caroline swallowed. "I didn't kill them all."
"Nevertheless, you are something special. An angel."
"So?" Caroline still didn't exactly comprehend the whole angel thing. It was all too confusing.
"I must warn you, even angels can be drawn to the darkness."
"I'm not going to do that," Caroline stated. "I'm not like that."
"You don't find the darkness even the least bit intriguing?"
Caroline remained silent.
"What more could a fallen angel want other than freedom and power? To have no rules- nothing binding you... I assume the feeling is liberating."
"Haven't you ever felt the least bit misunderstood, dearest Caroline? Confound? Silenced? Tamed?"
The woman's image flickered and something inside of Caroline stirred.
No, she thought slowly.
"I know what you're trying to do and it's not going to work," Caroline rasped.
Well, I might. She thought silently. Her will could only endure so much and what the woman was saying was true. Most of her life had been a cautionary tale because of her dad's sickness.
A part of Caroline yearned to be free, to belong to herself and no one else.
"Isn't it? It's what Miranda said before she gave in to Expressionism long ago."
"Who?" Caroline asked, confused.
The woman stared at her. "Miranda was the one to send the coven tonight. I can assure you that she isn't the only one that wants you dead."
"But why?"
"Because your very presence has the potential to upset the balance of nature. Most witches and other supernatural creatures will come after you, Caroline. if you knew what was good for you, you would lend yourself to your powers- to the dark side where they aren't controlled."
Esther's body began to fade and Caroline neglected every word.
"Wait-"
"It's your choice," Esther said before fading completely.
The feeling in Caroline's stomach returned. It was a stirring, a yearning to be free. Everything the woman had said was true no matter how much she wanted to deny it. From her reasoning, she knew she couldn't allow herself to feel those things. She knew that she had a responsibility to uphold. She had to save her father. She had to end what she had stupidly started because-
Because she had been weak.
That was the only reason Garnet was alive. She had played Caroline like a violin because she was a stupid naive little girl who hadn't known any better.
You know the solution to being weak, a voice in her head said.
Caroline bit her lip. No. I won't do it. I won't cave in anymore. I can't.
And that concludes chapter 11. Confused yet? Review and let me know! The next chapter should be up sometime next week. Bear with me, guys. There's some major romance coming up... Guess who it involves ;)
-Fanatic4Fiction