Hi! Thanks for the new follows and favorites, I hope this chapter is up to snuff :)
It is not a heck of a lot of plot, but I felt like I needed to develop the characters and their relationships a bit more, considering they don't have the same backstory as TVD canon. Also holy crap do i love writing spellcasting. Like, who knew, it's so much fun to come up with different spell rituals.
A note - I think TO lets vampires cast spells? Or something? Not here, magic is lost when you become a supernatural creature.
At the end I wanted to contrast two scenes happening at the same time. Hopefully that is clear and not confusing to you, I tried to use lines and italics to separate but it is, by nature, a bit jumpy.
Also, the Bollywood movie they are watching is a slightly time-altered version of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which was simultaneously the stupidest and most enjoyable thing ever. Bless that overacting, it's wonderful. Oh! also the Mughal emperor playing pachisi on a life-size board is one of those historical urban legends attributed to Emperor Akbar. It just seemed like something Klaus would be involved in so I had to borrow it.
As always, thank you so much for reading.
Caroline's skin still tingled from Bonnie's binding spell hours earlier, the gooseflesh raised on her arms. Magic would never cease to amaze her, but she thought she might go on a spell moratorium after all this was said and done. Not being in control over your own body was seriously mentally taxing.
"Wow, the spell on this is impressive." Bonnie was leaning against the chaise's back cushion, studying Abhi's cloaking ring.
"Yeah, Myrna's pretty amazing," Caroline said with a smile. "Will it be hard to recreate?"
Bonnie turned the ring over, feeling tendrils of the witch's energy twist about the jewelry, the magic's signature as unique as a fingerprint. "It shouldn't be a problem. I just think it's awesome how she used a binding spell to contain the magic -"
"so it doesn't harm the wearer if they choose to wear it long-term." Rebekah finished, bending over to examine the ring in Bonnie's palm. She looked up to catch the surprise flitting across Bonnie's face and raised her brows in answer. "I was a witch before I became a vampire. My mother taught me." Rebekah glanced back down at the ring, leaving only Caroline to see Klaus' face softening at his sister's words. In turn, he caught Caroline's gaze and held it, a moment passing between them, a paused heartbeat of time that would make her catch her breath in remembrance later.
"Also, the way your witch did this, it can't be stolen or removed." Rebekah raised her head to nod at Caroline who broke Klaus' gaze with a guilty start. She knew she had been caught when Rebekah continued with a note of amusement in her tone. "It's a secondary binding spell, it really is rather brilliant."
The three women glanced up as Klaus made a choking sound and stood, walking over to the bar to pour another drink and downing it in a single gulp. "Forgive me. It's not often that my sister lavishes compliments, consider me taken aback."
Rebekah eyed Klaus thoughtfully. "You've simply done very little to impress me, dear brother. Although I may reconsider." Cocking her head, Rebekah rose gracefully from her crouch. "Is that chai I smell?" Rebekah left the room, trailing shock in her wake as her heels clicked across the foyer tiles on the way to the kitchen.
"Does she always get the last word?" Caroline asked, slanting her eyes sideways at Klaus. "Because that was kind of amazing."
Klaus appeared to consider the question for a moment before shaking his head no, the grin splitting across his face a contrast.
A crinkling noise caught Caroline's attention as Bonnie rummaged in a plastic bag at her side. She watched Bonnie pull out a gold watch and a necklace, setting them down on the coffee table, the chain of the pendant pooling around a triangular-shaped stone. Noting Caroline's interest, Bonnie nodded at the jewelry. "I didn't want to worry about having to size a ring so I just got stuff everyone could wear." Caroline's gaze flickered up to the necklaces peeking out from Klaus' henley and pictured the pendant resting against his skin. Her cheeks warmed and she tore her gaze away to watch Bonnie who now knelt in front of the coffee table.
Bonnie drew a deep breath and exhaled, placing Abhi's ring to rest as the point of the triangle. "It will be less draining to use the ring as a focus. Think of it like a magical blueprint." Caroline nodded her understanding and looked up at Klaus, who had drawn closer to the action. He pulled up his jeans to crouch down and the gesture was so human Caroline drew her head back at the unexpectedness of it.
Klaus gazed at her quizzically over the rising current of Bonnie's voice and Caroline used the distraction to mouth a question at him. Latin? He nodded and Caroline turned back to Bonnie, feeling the weight of his gaze linger, as it often did.
The spell stole everyone's attention as Bonnie lifted her hands and Abhi's ring raised off of the glass of the table, spinning slowly in the air. The candles flared for a moment, flames raising to an impossible height before settling. The shadows darkened on Bonnie's face, the dimming light hiding the strain on her features, but the stutter in her voice revealed the truth as her chanting continued.
"ne- nemo qui exercitum duce- ducerent ad hanc magiam potest indicare"
Caroline tore her gaze away from the table, watching Bonnie's chest rising and falling in the struggle to draw breath. Caroline smelled the blood before she saw it - a nosebleed snaking a bloody track towards Bonnie's upper lip - and for a moment Caroline hated herself as she felt the hunger rise. Standing up, she rushed over to Bonnie, looking back at Klaus with alarm.
"It's part of spell-casting, Caroline."
The calmness in his voice only served to irritate her. "This didn't happen to Myrna? And Bonnie can barely breathe!"
"S'ok," Bonnie managed to whisper just before her back curled in a cat's arch, head pulling down so that her chin almost touched her chest, hands stretched forward with thumbs together and fingers splayed. Rebekah popped her head back in the doorway, watching silently, and time seemed to stretch out and collapse in on itself at the same time, as if minutes were being pulled from a single second and then snapped back into their rightful place. Caroline grabbed Bonnie's shoulders and let go immediately from the shock of the energy that then took visible form, streaming from Bonnie's outstretched fingers and imbuing the objects before her with an icy glow.
Silence descended as the spell finished and Bonnie drew a ragged breath before collapsing into unconsciousness, Caroline catching her with vampire reflexes. She shot an 'I-told-you-so' glare at Klaus and shouldered past Rebekah who made an irritated noise before moving aside. Caroline ignored her and walked Bonnie upstairs to the bedrooms, making a guess at Bonnie's room and laying her down gently, watching the rise and fall of her chest. The steady heartbeat assured Caroline that Bonnie would be ok, but she pulled up a chair next to the bed and hunkered down for a long afternoon of waiting.
Voices rose and fell from downstairs and she heard the slow tread of Abhi's footsteps, followed by the stop-start stutter of Josh's feet impatiently caught behind the older man. Josh somehow managed to burst into the room first, worry etched on his features, easing as he caught the same signs Caroline had a moment ago. Abhi cleared the doorway and stood in it, observing quietly.
"I'm so sorry, I was trying to convince Abhi to grow a mustache and didn't know you guys were casting another spell. She ok?"
Caroline gave a tired laugh, waving her hand at Abhi to enter the room. "Yeah, seems like she'll be fine. She's pretty stubborn when it comes to pushing herself, but I think she just needs rest at this point. What were you guys talking about besides mustaches?" Caroline looked at Abhi curiously.
Abhi leaned in, Caroline reflexively mirroring the gesture. With a conspiratorial grin and a cupped hand to direct the whisper, he spoke. "Josh was telling me about his man troubles."
Josh ducked his head embarrassed. "That's not how it started, I swear! I don't even know how we got to that topic."
"For what an old man's opinion is worth, I think you just need to find the right person." Abhi patted Josh's shoulder and gave it a squeeze and Josh reached up to cover Abhi's hand with his own.
"You should totally have a talk show. Like Dr. Phil, but actually useful and good."
Caroline smiled. She really was glad that some of the darkness had lifted from Abhi's face, and that Josh was the one to remove it. The young vampire was pretty adorable. The darkness still lingered in the lines of Abhi's face, and she still needed to find out why, but for now it was simply nice to see his eyes dancing with humor.
Abhi had just left claiming he needed to get work done, Caroline escorting him to the door and giving him a searching look that Abhi answered with a small shake of his head. Later. Caroline narrowed her eyes at him, making her feelings clear on the avoidance, before shutting the door and heading back upstairs.
Bonnie was awake and propped up in her bed amongst a pile of pillows, clicking frustratedly on the touchpad of a worn laptop.
"I saw a scene from this movie on a local channel and I'm trying to find it with English subtitles but it says my region is blocked?"
"Oh, you just need to watch it via a proxy." Josh made grabby hands at Bonnie's computer and she passed it over, Josh tilting the screen back before his fingers settled at the keyboard.
Caroline shrugged at Bonnie and used the door jamb to arch into a deep stretch. "I'm gonna go get us some snacks." Caroline pushed back from the door, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. "Abhi has shown me some awesome street food. Have you guys had golgappa yet? Or oh my god that cream thing?"
"You sure it's safe to go out?" Josh looked up from the laptop, the glow lending his face a haunted look.
"Yeah, thanks to Bonnie almost killing herself they shouldn't be able to see us." Caroline glared at Bonnie who tilted her head and rolled her eyes upwards in response. "Also, even if I was found, the pishachas can't do the dementor thing to me, so... " Caroline shrugged.
Bonnie gave a nod and winced, grabbing her head with both hands. "Can you pick me up some Advil while you're out? This headache is kicking my ass."
The air displaced in a rush and Caroline called out from the bottom of the stairs in answer. "You got it, babe! Don't start the movie without me!"
"Fancy some company, love?" Klaus' mouth hardened when Caroline avoided his gaze. "Well, my apologies for disturbing you, but it's not safe out there, pendant or no, so you going alone isn't an option." He opened the door with a mocking flourish. "After you."
Caroline scoffed and pushed past him, shooting a "fine!" over her shoulder and marveling at how, in a bajillion years, Klaus somehow hadn't learned a good poker face. He was an open book, but she was still struggling to understand why he was so interested in her. Seriously, it's not like she was Elena. The singular attention was confusing to say the least, and she found herself having to push back the stirring of feelings in spite of what she'd seen and the horror stories Bonnie had told. Regardless, she wasn't here to figure out her feelings for a monster with a boy's heart. She needed to stop getting distracted.
Glancing back and seeing his jaw still tight, she sighed and gave him a small smile. It was a pretty major thing for him to uproot his life to come here, and while she knew his motivations weren't entirely on the up-and-up, the bottom line was he was here to help her and that counted for a lot.
The streets were lit up in a neon blaze that seemed almost old-fashioned compared to the computerized LED lights she had seen in videos of Tokyo and Times Square. She tilted her head up for a moment to watch the amber glow of naked light bulbs slung over the narrow street wink on and off. Klaus watched her silently, tracking her as she ducked into a shop to buy Advil and rushed to a cart to buy three servings of daulat ki chaat, balancing a cardboard box the vendor handed her while she pulled rupees out of a small coinpurse. Klaus barely kept up when she made a sudden but determined beeline to the pani puri cart on the next block. The streets were crowded but parted in front of her, the men eyeing her almost aggressively until they caught Klaus' clenched-jaw glare spearing them from a few steps behind.
Caroline was excitedly approaching the cart when Klaus placed a hand at the small of her back, brushing aside a tendril of blond and whispering a warning in her ear. Vampire. Caroline ignored the shiver at that accent so close and pirouetted away towards the cart, smiling at the vendor Klaus just outed before pointing at a vat where puris were frying, the shells growing crisp in the bubbling oil. "Can I get some to go?"
"Yes yes Miss. Of course! Sanjay makes the finest pani puri in Delhi!" Sanjay smiled at Caroline, a flicker of recognition flitting across his features. Caroline saw his hand move in an unconscious gesture to his belt.
Klaus shouldered his way closer to the vendor. "I'm surprised we've never met before, Sanjay. Kol always had a thing for golgoppa. I'm Klaus. Perhaps you've heard of me." Klaus' tone was innocuous, but the air still seemed to expand with a weighted menace.
Sanjay blanched and began backing towards the wall behind him. "Kol? Klaus? As in the Mikaelsons?" At Klaus' self-satisfied nod, Sanjay continued. "I want no part of your family. Kol killed one of my sirelings with the handle of a cricket bat."
Caroline was confused. "Wait, there's MORE of you? Oh my god."
Klaus glanced at her with amusement before responding to Sanjay. "Yes, but to be fair, I believe that was because your sired friend broke Kol's cricket bat in the first place."
"It broke when Kol smashed it over Aman's skull..." Sanjay lifted his palms up in indignant confusion.
"Exactly," Klaus replied calmly and Caroline almost laughed.
Sanjay seemed to relax at the lack of imminent threat. "Look, just - how long will you be in Delhi. The media attention is becoming uncomfortable, especially after that clip they aired. I assume that was you."
Klaus put his hands in his pockets, the spelled watch catching and reflecting the light from overhead as he casually replied. "This is Delhi. There are a million stories that circle around, all more ludicrous than the next. This will just be the one true rumor amongst them all." Sanjay warily tracked Klaus' movements as he began pacing in a semi-circle around the cart, the space somehow cleared of customers, as if they had fled the tension. "Speaking of fantastical stories, what do you know of the demons in agrasen ki baoli?"
Sanjay's brow furrowed and he glanced down, using a wide wire spatula to pull out the puris, bouncing the utensil to drain the excess oil. "They are very active now."
"What do you mean by active?" Caroline asked.
"They've been around as long as I've been turned, but it has just been... I do not know how to explain." Sanjay paused to consider, picking up the now-cooling fried shells and wrapping them in what looked like paper from a math textbook. "They are part of the fabric of Delhi. Like you said," a nod to Klaus, "another fantastical story. Always in the background, only coming out on occasion to feed, mumbling their nonsense about their queen."
Sanjay shook his head and shrugged. "We have never had much of a problem with them, although they are opportunistic feeders. They cannot actually kill a vampire, so we are like rechargeable food to them." He shuddered, then glanced at Caroline with an apologetic look as he spooned potatoes in yet another plastic bag. "The golgoppa will be soggy if I put the filling in now."
Klaus made an impatient noise. Caroline glared at him and turned back to Sanjay, giving him an encouraging smile.
"For the past month and a half we've been having to compel more people, hide more bodies, although apparently some of that's been from you." Sanjay waved an arm at Klaus. "And the demons have been trying to recruit vampires and werewolves into searching," Sanjay paused a moment, glancing up at Caroline through his lashes with a disturbingly calculated look, "for you, young miss. You're a very popular person in supernatural Delhi right now."
Klaus' arm shot out, grabbing Sanjay by the throat. "Let me make things clear. There are far worse things than death by cricket bat should you even make an attempt to hurt her."
"Hctthh" Sanjay's eyes bulged. Caroline touched Klaus' arm and he set down Sanjay with an unceremonious thump, the Indian vampire taking a few moments to gather breath. "Yes, yes of course not. I was simply informing Miss of the danger." Sanjay hurriedly handed the bags of food to Caroline. "I will not tell a soul. You can trust me!"
Klaus rolled his eyes and drew Sanjay close once again by his kurta collar, their faces inches apart. He appeared satisfied by what he saw in the other man's eyes and pulled away, nodding at Caroline. "Time to head back, love." He waited for the expected eyeroll and was surprised when she simply followed.
The vibrancy of the Delhi night had lost some of its charm in the wake of the conversation with Sanjay, and Caroline mulled over the events of the day with her head cast down, kicking aside trash with a curled lip. After a few blocks she seemed to finish processing and looked up at Klaus.
"What I don't understand is why our cloaking magic didn't work if he actually meant me harm." Caroline moved one of the bags to the other arm and handed over a cardboard box laden with food to Klaus who took it bemusedly.
"Well, they would work now, but not upon first meeting. The magic doesn't know intentions until they're revealed. Plus, he didn't mean any direct harm, but those he reports to most likely would."
They walked a few more minutes in silence as Caroline considered his words. "I didn't even think about other vampires being here." She gave a short laugh. "Kind of stupid of me after all the crap that went on in Mystic Falls." Klaus looked up in surprise.
"Mystic Falls? Now that's a town I'm very familiar with. Please tell me Damon Salvatore doesn't exist in your world. Now that would be a true crime."
Caroline shuddered giving Klaus all the answer he needed. There was a story there, and he filed that knowledge away to dig into another time.
"It looks like a weird texture, like whipped yogurt or something. I don't think I want any."
"Ok Bonnie, our new friendship might be on the line here. You need to at least try it. Please?"
Bonnie's frown deepened and she crossed her arms, sulking. "Fine. One bite."
Josh, Caroline and Bonnie dug into their daulat ki chaat as one and a collective moan of ecstasy followed.
"Oh my gooooooooooooooooooooodddddd this is ridiculous."
"Abhi thinks the saffron really sets it off and I have to agree." Caroline took another bite, her groan of appreciation cut off by a voice outside the door.
"Perhaps you could restrict your orgies to when I'm not in the house?" Rebekah's irritated voice filtered through the door.
Josh, Caroline and Bonnie looked at each other and listened in amazement as Rebekah managed to convey annoyance with a pair of shoes, her heels stabbing down the stairs. They waited until the front door opened and closed before they burst into laughter and Bonnie pressed the spacebar on her computer, the room filling with the sound of sung Hindi.
"Oh my god that little kid in the turban is adorable."
"Right? Totally why I wanted to watch this, also the ludicrous 90s castoffs meets Super Mario Brothers wardrobe. It's amazing." Bonnie adjusted the volume and settled back into the blanket fort Josh had made earlier out of boredom, finishing off the daulat as the story unfolded onscreen.
Rebekah's heel ground against Sanjay's chest, his blubbering causing Klaus to scowl in annoyance.
"Did you think I would let you go knowing you'd just sell the information to the highest bidder? Come now, Sanjay, you must not know my family as well as you think." Klaus reached down, pulling Sanjay to standing and throwing him against the weathered sandstone of the alleyway.
Caroline grinned at Bonnie and fluffed up her own pillow, recrossing her legs and scooching until her back rested against the wall. She held out a hand and smiled to herself when Josh caught the movement and passed a golgoppa over his shoulder without a word.
Groaningly full after several rounds of golgoppas, they piled on the bed, pulling the blankets from the fort to watch the rest of the movie; Josh falling asleep and Bonnie elbowing him repeatedly until he rolled over and stopped snoring. Caroline shot upright so comically you could almost see the light bulb appear over her head and she reached into her purse, pulling out a Sharpie.
"You should stop playing with him, Nik. He's soiled himself and I need to wash the stench off."
"Very well." Klaus turned back to Sanjay who was a mess of tears, blood and other bodily fluids; looking deep into his eyes, the pupils constricting as he willed the compulsion.
"Should you wish to share the details of meeting Caroline, myself, or Rebekah with others, you will instead find the nearest sharp implement, stab yourself in the stomach, and pull out your own entrails out before eating them." Rebekah gave an amused sniff as Klaus continued. "If you hear anything about any of my party, you will leave a message at this number." Klaus handed him a slip of paper which Sanjay instinctively took, his eyes still caught in Klaus' gaze. Klaus patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "There's a mate. You have a wonderful evening."
"Well that will be an interesting news article," Rebekah mused.
Bonnie took the marker with a cackle and drew a fancy mustache over Josh's now drooling mouth. They both descended into heaving laughter that had Bonnie clenching at her stomach and Caroline gulping air like she still needed to breathe. They tried to settle on the bed, but still burst into giggles every few minutes, setting each other off until the laughter finally reached its half-life.
Caroline hadn't realized how much she missed just doing stupid stuff with friends, thinking about Elena back home and realizing it had been a long time since they had been in a place to just enjoy each other's company. Tonight was just what I needed, Bonnie and Josh too she thought sleepily, her eyes straining and failing to stay open as the movie's credits rolled.
Waking up in the middle of the night with the feeling that someone is in your room is quite the adrenaline rush. Caroline fought the urge to open her eyes fully, instead slitting them a millimeter wide as her mind tried to focus on the threat. The door closed with a gentle tap against the jamb and Caroline rolled over, staring at the door unblinkingly, willing it to share its secrets. When no answer was forthcoming, she got up and padded out of the room to discover them for herself.
A light flickered amber in the living room, illuminating Klaus' face. He glanced up as Caroline descended, guilt flitting momentarily across his features.
"I'm sorry if I -?"
"Creepy much?" Caroline interrupted grumpily, feet slapping the foyer tiles as she approached. "Do we need to have the boundaries talk?"
Klaus' mouth twitched, "I apologize. Truth be told, I needed… to make sure you were still here."
Caroline softened. "Bonnie's spell definitely worked. But now I'm up. So let me kick your ass at Pachisi so I can go back to bed and lock the door with a sense of accomplishment." she motioned towards the board painted on the side table Klaus' scotch rested upon.
'You play? Color me impressed with your cultural diversity," Klaus' amused expression turned thoughtful as Caroline sat down, pulling out the table so that it rested between them. "I played with a Mughal emperor once...we used his servants as game pieces..." He pulled a drawer on the side of the table and took out a small cloth bag, setting it down with a rattle on the table.
"No, you do not get to oldman one-up me tonight, I'm too tired for it," Caroline mumbled to Klaus' incredulous face. "I did a report on Indian board games for culture studies freshman year. Matt got sick of losing though so I haven't played in forever. You're still going down." The last word came out as more of a yawn as Caroline tilted the bag and shook out several cowrie shells in her palm.
"Far be it from me to 'oldman one-up you.' I'll refrain from history lessons for the evening. After you." Klaus gestured expansively at the board, not even trying to hold back his amusement.
Caroline glared at him and placed her pieces in the middle of the cross-shaped board, still maintaining eye contact in an angry stare as she shook the cowrie shells out onto the table. "Oh gee! Perfect roll! Looks like I go first!"
The game became heated, both of them clearly competitive and each unwilling to give an inch. Caroline caught how Klaus' brow furrowed when he rolled poorly and Klaus noted that Caroline laughed like a supervillain when she gained the upper hand.
"So...did you eat him when you lost?" Caroline asked after Klaus finished a turn.
"Eat who?"
"The Mughal emperor! Geez how many people have you - never mind."
"I'll have you know I didn't lose, Caroline."
"Well you're not very good at this, so he must have been awful. Oooh! you're so dead!" Caroline cackled gleefully, moving her piece to land on Klaus' and making explosion noises as she dramatically removed his piece from the gameboard.
Caroline looked up past Klaus' stretched-wide grin, stuttered on his dimples for a moment, moved on to meet his eyes as he responded.
"I ate him because he was a sore loser, actually."
Caroline's eyes widened.
"I'm kidding." Klaus paused for a beat, watching the shock drain from Caroline's features. "He was too well known in the human world. I just threatened to eat him until he acquiesced to my demands. Klaus waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Oh I compelled him of course. It's just so much fun to see the fear first."
He paused at Caroline's stony glare, and continued, "You still think like a human, Caroline. Give it a few hundred years." He was beyond irritated at the note of defensiveness that had crept into his tone.
"If thinking like a human means not being a total ass, then I have no plans to change anytime this millennium." Caroline smiled sweetly, putting the cowrie shells back in their ornamental bag and snapping the drawer closed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've kicked your ass, so it's time for bed."
Klaus blew out a frustrated huff, clearly wanting to continue the conversation, but Caroline had already turned to head up the stairs, so he stayed silent while his eyes spoke volumes as they followed her up the steps.