A/N- Here we go, I know it's been a while and I apologize but this is an intense story with a lot of different threads that I've got to keep hold of.
"I'm not sure about this, dearest lady." Giacomo tries again as Katerina eases herself down onto the couch and begins the lengthy process of easing her bandaged foot into her boot.
In the next room, the beauticians were packing up their tools, as utterly silent now as they had been when Katerina had showed them her bruised face and asked them to fix it for her.
And Giacomo had watched as the women hadn't floundered for even a second, just reaching into their case and drawing out numerous creams, masks and gels, taking their turns applying them to Katerina's face as they wrote down instructions for how best to hide her injuries from the world.
He suspects that this isn't the first such house call they had made.
They had done their job successfully enough however, Katerina's face had been a hideous mess of multi-coloured bruising and now, the swelling had gone down and only green now marred her beautiful features.
"That's because you are a good person," Katerina tells him with a flirtatious wink,
"Unlike the rest of us."
He opens his mouth to deny this but before he can she sighs and stands up to look into the mirror, turning her back to him,
"Elijah and I are many things to many people, Jack," she sighs,
"But neither of us could ever be called good unless we're being compared to monsters."
She begins applying her mascara, leaning into the mirror and opening her mouth in the bizarre way that women did when applying eye make-up,
"If nothing else, we're survivors, and I am going to survive this the only way I know how- by raising hell."
He helps her into her jacket but hesitates as she waits for him to open the door, and sighing, she looks back over her shoulder to him,
"If I don't show my face today I might never be able to again," she says quietly,
"And New Orleans was the first place I'd made my home in centuries, I can't lose that."
Giacomo wants to argue that home can be wherever one rests their head at night, that it doesn't have to be an entire city or even a neighborhood but four interchangeable walls in any place in the world. Yet how could he say such a thing to a woman who had run for her lie for five hundred years?
A woman he suspects had idealized the notion of home to almost unreachable proportions, equating it with a happiness and safety that she would never truly find.
So he escorts her to Arnaud's, where a table in the very centre of the restaurant was awaiting them. The beautiful dining area was filled with a mixture of human and supernatural creatures but all of them seemed to recognise Katherine Pierce and to know what had happened to her.
The humdrum noise of merry conversations and laughter that had greeted them upon their arrival now gave way to the buzzing sound of people whispering the scandal to each other frantically over their shrimp appetizers. As if by lowering their voices they could trick the intelligent woman into thinking that they were discussing anything else but her downfall.
Katerina never even blinked, she only strode across the room with the confidence of the young and beautiful that the Original family had never been able to beat out of her.
The chef came out personally to greet her as Giacomo pulled out her seat for her and the two converse flirtatiously in French, exchanging the daily specials and opinions as though they were witty jokes or innuendos. Katerina is glowing with sexual attractiveness and charm, tossing her hair and resting her chin on her hand as though she has no concern, no troubles at all but to be happy and enjoy the day.
And her façade was so impressive that Giacomo almost believed her.
Until the witch Sabine found them.
The woman sashayed into the restaurant as though she owned it, her nose in the air and dressed in a regal purple suit. Katherine had her back to the woman but she stilled as she approached before visibly forcing herself to relax and to sip her cocktail,
"I don't recall meeting you," she says, not even bothering to turn in her seat, clearly shocking Sabine who must have been hoping for the element of surprise,
"I assume you know who I am."
Giacomo watches with interest as the woman's hands clench into fists before she glances around the restaurant, at the tables filled with their avid audience and he wants to take his butter knife in hand and jam it into the woman's throat.
If she wants so badly to make a spectacle, there were ways to achieve that goal without the humiliation of his dear friend.
But he hesitates a moment too long and the woman clears her throat and speaks,
"I'm here on behalf of a friend," she announces loudly, "Elijah Mikaelson."
Katerina's grip on her glass tightens infinitesimally but she maintains her composure, "Funny, I know all of Elijah's friends and he's never mentioned you."
She twists in her seat and runs her eyes over the woman, from her hair down to her shoes and gives a derisive sniff,
"Are you sure the word you're looking for isn't 'Thirsty'?"
Someone in the corner twitters in amusement but the rest of their audience remains deathly quiet, determined to hear every single word spoken between the two women.
Sabine glowers at her but doesn't back down, "Elijah Mikaelson wants you out of New Orleans by this evening."
What?!
Giacomo's eyes fly to Katerina, his hand reaches for her, to steady her and to comfort her yet she doesn't appear to need either. Instead, there's a savage look of triumph on her face.
Placing her finger flat on the edge of the table, she stands and pivots with extreme grace to face the woman, offering several prolonged seconds of silence before she lifts one shoulder in a delicate shrug,
"If Elijah wants me to leave town then I shall leave town," she declares in a nonchalant voice,
"But," she adds in a tone of feigned naïveté,
"He'll have to remove the compulsion he placed on me first."
One or two audience members remember to give a theatrical scandalized gasp but the rest are dumbstruck by the news and Giacomo can understand why.
Elijah had never denied having fallen in love with Katerina all those centuries ago and their passionate reunion had been the striking of two lightning bolts, bright in the stormy sky and blinding to all foolish enough to look upon them.
No-one had suspected for even a second that the man whose eyes followed Katerina around the room with such adoration and who spoke of her with such passion could have compelled her into his arms.
Giacomo waits expectantly for her to elaborate, to explain that Elijah's compulsion had only been to confine her within the city, to ensure her loyalty to the Original family, that he hadn't forced her to couple with him against her will.
Yet, Katerina remains silent and he realises that she's lashing out at her fiancée. He had publicly humiliated her so she would return the favour tenfold.
Katerina's smile is all Katherine Pierce, "Do give him my regards and tell him to give me a call when he wants to remove the compulsion."
She waves her hand at the woman in a dismissive gesture and spins around to sink back into her seat just in time for the entrees to be brought out.
Katherine ignores Sabine as she raises her hands, giving an exaggerated moan of delight as she bites into the crab cake. Giacomo plays along, delving into his pork tenderloin robichaux but keeping one eye on the witch.
If she attacks Katherine here, in the French Quarter, it would surely be an act of war. Thrown out of the Mikaelson house she might be, but Katherine is still Elijah's fiancée in name at least and therefore, protected by the vampires of New Orleans.
Sabine obviously comes to the same realization as he because she storms out and Katherine is smiling viciously as she licks her fork with more tongue than strictly necessary.
"You've made an enemy there, my dear lady." he comments quietly as they eat but she only shrugs, two shouldered and less gracefully this time,
"As far as anyone knows, Elijah's single again, which means every woman in town is going to be after him, some of the men too. But first, they're going to want to take me out of the equation, as long as I'm around I'm a threat to their future happiness."
She sarcastically toasts him, "But if they think that I'm going to make it easy for them, they're very wrong."
Caroline couldn't concentrate.
She kept looking to her phone, to her social media pages, hell even to her email to see if she'd received any messages.
From Klaus, from Katherine, heck- she'd even take an update from Rebekah at this point.
She was a Type-A personality; she couldn't handle not knowing what was going on.
It was driving her crazy.
She knew that she was the one who'd clearly wanted to get away from the chaos of the French Quarter, but there was being geographically removed and there was having no idea what the state of the place was.
And if the last few years had taught her anything, it was that being out of the loop could be a fatal mistake.
Besides, Katherine was kind of her friend, well her frenemy anyway, she wanted to make sure that she was okay.
Sue her, she had a heart.
And there had been something weird about that night, something that she couldn't put a finger on.
Other than Elijah turning out to be an a-grade asshole obviously.
She is so caught up in her worrying that she doesn't see the flashing on her phone, alerting her to her new email for a solid five minutes but she jumps on it when she does.
And her heart stops.
Because the message isn't from Klaus or Katherine, Rebekah, Elijah or anyone in or around New Orleans but from Salem.
From Bonnie.
Bonnie Bennett.
The girl she hadn't spoken to since the day that she and every other vampire had had to flee Mystic Falls, with Matt and Jeremy in tow.
The girl whose father had led the hunt against them.
The girl who had sided against them.
The girl that Caroline still loved and missed.
She had made one mistake, and Caroline had made ten times that amount in one afternoon, in the forest with Klaus.
She deserved to be forgiven, especially considering everything she'd gone through.
Caroline opens the email and begins reading,
'Care,
I'm writing to say that I miss you, that Salem sucks and that trying to make it through every day is getting harder and harder.
I was pregnant but I miscarried, and as much as everyone tells me that it wasn't because of my magic, I haven't been able to do a successful spell since…well…before then, since I came back from the Other Side.
I have no excuse for my actions, only that I was hurt, tired and so, so cold but I'm going to make it up to you, I promise.
Come meet me in Salem, we'll do all the silly tourist things together, we'll visit all the 'spell' shops and see if we can freak some vacationing family out.
Loving and missing you,
Bonnie'
Salem.
Without really thinking, Caroline got on her phone and checked the distance between New Orleans and Salem.
Twelve hours plus change by car.
Three hours by plane.
But what did it matter anyway.
She wasn't going to Salem.
She couldn't.
Could she?
Salem may have once been the centre of witch persecution in America but since the early twentieth century it had been steadily repopulated by witches, not because of there being any natural power source for them there but out of sheer stubbornness and vindictiveness towards their enemies.
'We are the granddaughters of the witches that you couldn't burn'
Bonnie had loved that phrase and, had she ever considered life beyond Mystic Falls, beyond college, Caroline suspects that she might have wanted to settle down there.
But there was a huge difference between willingly settling in a place and being exiled there out of fear of the Original family and their vengeance.
And now, she was asking Caroline to visit her. To help her recover from her heartbreak, her miscarriage, to save her…
Or was Caroline just foolishly walking into another trap?
She couldn't blindly trust in her friends. Those days were done, she needed to talk this over with someone but with who?
Oh who was she kidding?! There was only one person in town she could trust not to read this and send a hitman against her best friend as a preventative measure.
With a sigh, she finds the number in her phone,
"You've reached Katherine Pierce," the bored voice answers,
"Obviously I don't feel like talking to you right now but leave a message and I might decide to get back to you later."
"Katherine, it's me," Caroline announces firmly as she grabs her handbag,
"I know you've got lots of problems at the moment but I need to talk to someone, so you need to tell me where you are stat!"
Giacomo's bookstore wasn't a financial necessity for him but rather, one he ran out of love for literature and as a means of giving supernaturals a quiet place to trade information. He had closed it for the morning but in the afternoon, after he and Katerina had returned from lunch, she had claimed her favourite seat by the window, opening a history book while he manned the till.
It was quiet and she was exhausted, and, warmed by the sun, she was beginning to doze when the last of the customers cleared out of the store.
She gave the handsome young man a flirtatious smile but he didn't meet her eyes, looking away guiltily and she frowned.
Her bruises must have been worse than she thought.
"I'm going upstairs," she tells Giacomo, "Run myself a bath."
He nods encouragingly and she leaves him perusing over his stands as she climbs the outside stairs, pausing with her hand on the wooden rail as her vision suddenly swims.
Water.
She wanted water.
Lots and lots of it.
A bathtub full. A swimming pool full. An ocean full.
Her head was spinning and her hand was burning hot.
She spins around with a gasp, looking down into the back courtyard and catches a glimpse of a woman before an explosion knocks her off her feet.
She lands against the wooden railing, her eyes instinctively shutting and her arms flying up to protect her face as the glass flies from the windows. In the moments afterwards, she waits anxiously for her hearing to return before she realizes that the roaring in her ears isn't caused by damage, but by fire.
The hungry roar of fire feeding on wood, on paper, the smoke that's already beginning to billow from the building.
Nadia.
Where was her daughter?
Frantically she looked back to the apartment but the fire is somehow already on the second floor and far too dangerous for her, she's pushed backwards and backwards by the wall of heat, landing on the concrete and looking around hopelessly. There's fire in front of her and three insurmountable brick walls surrounding her. The smoke is now blocking the sun in the sky and filling the air around her, choking her as her skin burns. She staggers to the wall on her left and begins examining the bricks, trying to find a gap between them that she could climb or any kind of escape.
Otherwise, she would suffocate.
She had swum in a fountain of youth but she doubted that she could survive immolation.
Either way, she'd rather not find out.
"Mother!"
She looks up and sees her daughter on the edge of the brick wall, she jumps down and wraps her arms around her, leaping back up and then into the alleyway. Katherine's legs give out and Nadia sits her down quickly against the wall,
"We should not stay here." She warns her, running her hands over her to check for any sign of injury, her eyes filled with fear.
"No," Katherine struggles to speak, her lungs full of smoke, "You can't be seen with me,"
"Go," she orders, Quick now, before someone sees you."
Her daughter's face is filled with pain at the rejection but Katherine doesn't have time to be a good mother, whomever did this could still be there.
She waits until Nadia is gone before pushing herself to her feet and staggering into the street where a crowd has gathered, someone points to her and people rush forward, she reels back but the hands that lay on her are gentle and she's guided towards paramedics who begin treating her. The firetruck speeds into the street with the sirens blazing and she watches dumbly as the team begin tackling the blaze while one of the men seeks her out,
"Miss," he bends down to her level, "I'm told you were inside at the time of the fire?"
She nods, her neck aching and a blanket is placed over her shoulders, "Was there anyone else in the building?"
Oh God.
How could she answer? If Jack had been inside, his body would have been burnt to ash, vampires didn't survive fires, but if he had somehow managed to survive, they might still be able to save him…
"A man named Giacomo Farnese," she answers determinedly, "He was downstairs, in the shop, please save him."
He jogs back to his men and begins issuing orders and Katherine shakes off the paramedics and refuses hospital treatment, standing up, she allows herself to be led to the street corner, to the closest position deemed safe by the firemen and she waits.
And waits.
She waits as the building collapses under the weight of the flames. She waits as the firemen struggle to contain the burning. She waits as the sky turns grey and the rain begins pouring down, aiding the fight against the fire. She waits as the smoke pollutes everything. She waits as the paramedics try to argue with her once again for hospital treatment and then leave. She waits as the police arrive and the firemen finish their duty. She waits even as a kind man explains to her that they couldn't find anyone in the building and found no evidence of a body so perhaps she was mistaken?
No, Giacomo would never abandon her.
So she continues waiting, and waiting, until the sun sets on the ruined day, casting the street in tones of orange and red, making the asphalt shine and being met with the glare of the streetlamps. She's shivering with the cold and the shock, she's soaking wet and water from her hair is dripping down her back. But still she waits.
Until two hands land on her shoulders, startling her and she tenses, seeing the man in front of her and for a moment, only recognizing her enemy.
He had come for her.
His blue eyes bore into hers and he scans every inch of her,
"Are you alright?" he demands, his red lips giving vibrant life to the words but she can't comprehend them.
He shrugs off his leather jacket and drapes it over her shoulders, "Come on," he puts a hand on her back, "Let's go home, hmm?"
"No."
Her breath is the smoke of the fire and her voice is the ash and the dying embers,
"I don't have a home," she explains, "Not anymore. Perhaps never again."
Klaus grimaces, "A few drinks, a bath and…"
"Go to hell," Katherine snaps, anger fueling her, "Klaus, a man is dead because of me. He was killed because he protected me against Elijah. He was killed because he stood between me and…"
Sabine.
She draws a sharp breath and falls silent. If she told Klaus her suspicions, if she explained to him that a witch had killed one of his vampires, he would retaliate, he would kill Sabine and hang her body up as an example.
But his execution would be too merciful.
Sabine had murdered Giacomo and Katherine wasn't sure how she would avenge her friend's death yet, she only knew that when she did, her actions would live in infamy for a hundred years.
After this, no witch in the Quarter would dare cross her again.
She straightens her shoulders and pulls Klaus' jacket tighter around her body,
"I'm going to need a house in Algiers Point," she tells him, "On Morgan Street and I'm going to need it tonight."
He's not used to being given orders and opens his mouth to argue but she silences him with a look.
"Anything else?" he demands sulkily and she shrugs, stepping around him, "If you could get Caroline to pack up all my things, that'd be great."
"Where you going?" he asks as she walks away from him, strutting into the night,
"To get that drink." She calls, not looking back.
When Rebekah and Ollie walked into Rousseau's, they were waved down by Father Kieran.
"I take it you two have heard about the fire." He offers by way of greeting.
And even though Rebekah had spent the day helping Ollie move into Francesca's house, caught up in the fun of deciding where his possessions would go and how she would redecorate the room to make it theirs, she had heard what had happened. Francesca had called them into her office where it had been all over the news.
The bookstore had been burnt to the ground.
Giacomo Farnese was dead.
Six hundred years of life, of knowledge, of experience- gone in an instant.
Rebekah shivers and reaches for Ollie's hand,
"We did," she informs him in a haughty tone, "It was unfortunate."
Kieran snorts and sips at his bourbon, "It was deliberate, I've already spoken to the chief of police who told me that if he hadn't been aware of the existence of magic that he'd have suggested a bomb had gone off."
Ollie raises his eyebrows, "Huh, well, a six-hundred-year old vampire, I'm sure he had his enemies."
Kieran gives him a withering glance, "Listen, I don't know what's going on between your family and the witches or the vampires or whatever and I don't particularly care, honestly, keeping track of who's pissed off who at any given moment requires more flowcharts than I have time to make, but if there's going to be a war I'd appreciate a heads up so I can protect the human faction."
Rebekah sat down at the bar and flagged down the waitress, ordering herself a hurricane,
"You assume that this was an act of war but perhaps it was just an act of violence against Katherine Pierce?" she shrugs, "Who knows but I promise to keep you updated."
He nods in acknowledgement and throws down money on the bar, waving to his niece as she bussed drinks.
"Poor guy," Ollie sighs, sitting down next to her, his hand on her thigh, "The vamp I mean, to be killed that way."
"It was Katherine that killed him," Rebekah retorted, "That bitch is so poisonous that if a snake fought her, her venom would kill it instantly."
Cami heard her comment as she brought over the hurricane and clearly didn't take it well,
"I'd watch what you're saying," she told her under her breath, "Because she just walked in."
Rebekah spun in her seat to see that Katherine had indeed just walked into the bar.
She reeked of smoke and clearly just given herself the most basic of clean-ups, her hair was a mess of natural curls and her eyes were bloodshot, but she still strutted around the crowded tables as if she owned the place and walked straight to the bar, smacking her hand down on the wood in an exertive manner, ignoring Rebekah and Ollie.
"Absinthe please," she tells Cami, "Don't bother diluting it."
"Are you okay?" Cami asks, her voice thick with concern as she pours the shot.
"Full glass," Katherine interrupts, "There's only one way I plan to end this night and it isn't sober."
Still, she takes the shot and puts her heel on the stool, raising herself and turning to face the crowd,
"Some of you here know that we lost a good man today, Giacomo Farnese," she glances down and swallows,
"He was kind, generous, he held up chivalry as a standard for all to aspire to. He offered friendship and love to all who asked for it and some who probably didn't deserve it," she smirks ruefully, "He will be mourned and missed. To Giacomo!"
The supernaturals in the bar raised their glasses and echoed her toast, she threw down the shot and turned back to Cami, reaching over the bar for the full glass, "Cheers."
Only then did she look over to Rebekah, "What?" she challenged sarcastically,
"Not going to ask how I'm doing? And to think that we would have been sisters!"
Rebekah snorted, "I always knew my brother would come to his senses and kick you out, but I'm sorry your lover had to die."
"He wasn't my lover," Katherine hissed, "He was my friend and he didn't have to die! He was murdered in cold blood and trust me, when I'm done, everyone involved is going to wish they'd burned with him."
Including you. Her tone seems to imply and Rebekah wonders if the bitch has gone insane,
"You think I had something to do with his death?" she fumes,
"You're mad, why would I kill him when I could just wait? After all, has any man ever survived loving you?"
Katherine laughs and shrugs, "More than survived loving you."
She throws her head back and drinks deep from the glass, draining it of absinthe in one go and behind her, Rebekah hears Ollie inhale sharply at the display,
"And more than will survive my revenge," Katherine adds as she slams the glass down onto the counter,
"So, if you were looking for a reason to drink yourself to death, Merry-fucking- Christmas in July."
She stands and shoulders her way past Rebekah, knocking her with all the strength in her weak human body,
"I really hope for your sake that you had nothing to do with Elijah kicking me out or Giacomo's death," she hisses,
"Because if you did then you took everything from me and made me the most dangerous person in this town because now, I have nothing left to lose"
Elijah Mikaelson raised his head as he heard the rather disturbing sound of footsteps above his head, in his bedroom.
This made no sense as there was no-one with permission to enter the apartment at Le Coeur Jardin. When he and Katerina had bought the house for the family, they had chosen the self-contained apartment on the top floor as their home, their space, where they could retreat from the rest of the world and find comfort in one another.
No-one, not even Erik had ever intruded upon their territory.
But now, there were footsteps above his head, where the walk-in wardrobe was.
If Katherine had come home, he would have to throw her out again.
His throat is tight at the thought and he can't breathe.
Snapping his book shut and tossing it across the room, he storms out of the second floor parlour and up the stairs, bursting into the apartment to see a suitcase on the bed and a flash of blonde hair darting back into the wardrobe.
"Miss Forbes," he growled, "Is there a reason you're in here without my permission?"
"Huh?" Caroline emerged with armfuls of lingerie which she dumped onto the bed before she began folding and packing carefully,
"Oh, uh, Katherine asked Klaus to ask me to bring her stuff to her new place, since…you know."
He quirked an eyebrow and leaned against the doorjamb, "What do I know?"
Caroline released a ragged sigh, "Seriously?! You want me to say it out loud? Fine, you're being a dick, Elijah. Katherine didn't cheat on you and she didn't deserve what you did to her and now, she's going through hell. Did you even know that she nearly died today?!"
Somewhere in his body, his blood ran cold, only a tiny part of him, the part that was foolish but still remained near his heart froze, "What?!"
Caroline nodded as she made her way back to the wardrobe, "Yeah, uh she was staying with Giacomo Farnese and the bookstore caught fire, she made it out but…he wasn't so lucky"
He hears the clunking of her gathering Katherine's shoe boxes as he tries to process what she had said.
"So Katerina's lover is dead?" he smirks with pleasure at the thought,
"Poor man, a few moments in heaven exchanged for a lifetime in hell, tell me, to where should I send the flowers?"
The withering look Caroline gives him is truly one for the stage, she conveys all her contempt and opinion about his level of intelligence in one expression.
"They weren't sleeping together; he was just the friend that looked after her after you kicked her out of the house in the pouring rain with nothing but the nightgown she was wearing!"
"So you don't know where she's relocated to?" he asks and she slams the suitcase shut,
"No, I do know, I'm just not telling you in case that place mysteriously burns down too."
She drops the suitcase to the floor, grabs the handle and begins moving towards him, obviously assuming that he would step aside for her, instead he continues to block her path,
"I could always make you tell me." He points out, letting his tone drop and the danger seep through his voice but she doesn't even flinch,
"And I could always scream for your brother and then watch as he daggers you for a hundred years," She counters, "Excuse you."
She clatters down the stairs with more noise than strictly necessary and he surrenders for the moment, suddenly exhausted as he walks through the apartment.
Miss Forbes had not come close to packing up all of Katerina's possessions, her shoe collection alone would take a solid seven hours to move, a fact he had discovered firsthand. Her ball gowns remained as did some of her racier nightgowns and lingerie.
Still, there was something missing from the apartment, a sense of warmth, the sound of her heartbeat and just the comfort of her presence.
Elijah frowned and opened the doors to the rooftop terrace, letting the night air fill the room, breeze through his hair and his clothes and fill his lungs so that he could breathe.
Klaus had worked his magic and by two in the morning, Katherine found herself standing the living room of a two storey house on Morgan Street Algiers Point. She could see the river from the second floor and the house backed onto acres of grassy lawn. She closed her eyes and exhaled.
She made the mistake of relaxing so she nearly jumped out of her skin when the front door opened,
"I'm here!"
Caroline Forbes brought energy and enthusiasm into the house, "Oh my god, this place is so pretty!" she gushed as she placed Katherine suitcase in the unfurnished living room and began exploring, "Okay, so we just need some furniture and some new drapes, ooh…do you have any themes or colours in mind yet?"
Considering that she hadn't even got the stench of smoke from her hair yet, she did not have any colour schemes in mind, no.
Still, she perches on her suitcase and manages a weary smile as Caroline bustles around,
"What's wrong?" she asks before the blonde launches into a spiel about the pros and cons of leather furniture.
"What?" Caroline feigns ignorance but Katherine fixes her with a pointed look,
"Okay, fine," she sighs, "So…I got an email from Bonnie today, telling me that she's sorry, that she misses me and wants me to visit Sal-"
"Trap," Katherine determines before she's even finished speaking, "Definitely a trap."
Caroline sighs, "That's what I thought, I mean…I was hoping that I was wrong and that…"
"You weren't," Katherine interrupts rudely, "She meant to trap you or to draw you out of New Orleans."
Caroline wrings her hands and faces her, her heartache and fear written across her face,
"Do you think that Klaus is in danger?"
Katherine really hadn't given Klaus' current level of safety a single thought. She was having a hard enough time trying to survive herself without worrying about her former enemy turned future brother-in-law.
"I don't know," she admits, "But if someone wants you and me out of town, I'm going to guess yes."
Caroline groans and runs her hands through her hair, "I hate this, I hate that my best friend called me asking for help and that my first thought was 'Trap', I hate that they're forcing me to choose Klaus and make a stand. I hate what happened to you!"
Giacomo.
Katherine's eyes keep flickering to the door, expecting him to sweep in and take her hands,
"My sweet lady, forgive me for frightening you. Of course I survived the fire, but are you unharmed?"
She'd never hear his voice again.
She'd never catch him watching her, his eyes filled with love and adoration.
In that moment, she actually wishes that she had slept with him, last night, or this afternoon, he'd loved her so selflessly, she should have let him have her at least once.
She crosses her arms and crosses her ankles, "I'll be fine Caroline, I always am."
Caroline opened her mouth but Katherine shook her head, "I know, I know that I'm still in danger and I know the risks every time I make a move but I have to do it anyway because the only other option is to lay down and die"
She stood up and jerked her head to the front door, walking Caroline out to the porch where the light shone dimly, they both adjusted their clothes against the cold out of sheer habit and looked down the road.
"You should stay away for a little while," she warned the girl quietly, "At least until Klaus says that it's safe for you to come back."
Caroline's brow creased into a little frown and Katherine took a moment to marvel in her. This creature of her own making, this woman who'd taken to vampirism with a skill rarely seen and flourish in the undead life. This woman who held the heart of the most powerful creature in the world and never even once considered the control that gave her over everyone and everything.
This woman who could forgive her enemies with more grace than Katherine would ever be capable of showing.
"Please," Katherine mumbled, hating herself for sounding weak, "I've lost enough already, I don't want to lost what few female friends I have left."
Caroline's eyes go wide and nearly sparkle, it's clear that she wants to make this a bff moment but Katherine's pride won't stand for it, so she spins on her heel and goes back inside, shutting the door firmly.
She's exhausted, but she supposes that if today taught her anything it was that she was under threat, so now at least she could act like a Princess of the Quarter, which wasn't unlike a Queen on the Chess Board. She'd get rid of all her enemies with any means necessary.
A/N- Long chapter but hopefully that made up for the hiatus.