Caroline smiled at him, while stroking his face and then she kissed him.
Klaus moved his hands down her smooth back and watched in awe as she pulled away from him to sit up, her hair was falling in cascades across her naked chest and her eyes were of a stunning blue.
She was straddling him, and she caressed his chest while he waited for her to make a move and to ride them both to that sweet unravel of raw emotions and love.
She rested her palm over his chest. "Do you love me, Klaus?"
"You know that I do, sweetheart." He whispered enamored.
Caroline playfully tilted her head. "I don't love you."
"Why are you saying that?"
Her smile was dark. "It was all a game, they used me to get to you and to find a way to kill you."
Klaus frowned, as she became serious.
"I never loved you." She rammed a white oak stake right into his heart.
Klaus screamed as the flames started to consume him but suddenly, he wasn't in a bed making love to his wife anymore, and he shook his head aware now, that he was still trapped and under torture.
He gulped down and concentrated, it was all in his mind. She wasn't real, she wasn't hurting him, and he tried to pull the chains that held him tightly.
"Give him more poison." Tunde told the human doctor.
She was shaking as she took equal measures of wolfsbane and vervain, the screams were starting to get to her.
She faced Klaus who slowly came to himself, the poison didn't last long in his system because he healed so fast.
"Hurry up." The shaman was indifferent to the screams that came from Klaus, they had been at this for hours, but the hybrid was strong and resisting the spell.
He crushed a red herb with black salt inside of a bowl until he had a viscous substance and spread that over Klaus's heart, where there was still a small cut left from his blade.
The white weapon was used to absorb the power of those he killed with it or to draw from that power to render them unconscious, and in a state of constant agony, but so far Klaus was unprecedentedly fighting the incantation.
With a raspy breath, Klaus glanced over to his stretched arm and to the strong dosage of venom being injected, his chest was on fire and that red started to invade all of his senses slowly.
Caroline was in front of him again and she was wearing the flawless blue gown that she had the night she attended the grand ball at his house, her smile was innocent, and her voice was sweet.
"Your father never loved you. It had to be hard growing up like that, knowing how much of a mistake you were and that no one wanted you, that you were a disappointment to everyone. You don't belong to that family, Klaus, they are all related by blood and love and then there's you… Always trying to prove yourself. Hurting everyone whoever affronted you and making them hate you even more. Kol, Elijah, Rebekah… they will never love you like you deserve, like a king should be."
Klaus looked down on the floor, he couldn't bear the sight of her, saying all of these things to him.
"Tell me where that sword is Klaus and I'll be the queen you wish for." She was wearing immaculate white gloves and placed a finger under his chin to bring his eyes up to her. "I'll be that obedient queen that lives in your dreams and I'll do anything that you want me to."
Klaus smiled. "Now, I know that you're a hallucination…"
She took back her hand harshly.
He closed his eyes as her image started to fade into a blur.
"Give him more venom." Tunde shouted with tension in his voice.
That tiny detail made Klaus smile even more, he was starting to gain resistance to the venom.
As the doctor administered another strong dosage, Caroline showed up again.
This time, she was wearing the same summer dress as the day they flew to Florence, her flawless wavy blond hair was caught in a braid and her lips were as red as the devil's color.
"Is this what you wanted to show me so badly? With you, I'm never safe… there's always someone lurking in the dark and I'm always in danger because I chose you. I should've picked Tyler. If I did that, none of my friends would have died and I would have a safe and happy life. I wish I had never met you, Klaus."
Klaus closed his eyes, this pain was greater than any venom or blade, she was giving voice to every single fear that was buried inside of him.
Their class was over, and Rebekah started gathering her things in a hurry.
"Home isn't going anywhere." Bonnie teased her.
"Don't even go there, Bonnie. I'm not going to stay home locked for eternity like a princess in a fine tower." She grabbed her leather jacket last.
"No one mentioned eternity, but you should wait to go back to your routine, at least until Kol and Damon find this Eric guy, or whoever he sent here." Bonnie whispered as they stepped into a really hectic hallway.
Rebekah shook her head determined. "I'm not going to hide, afraid of some bloke… it's not who I am and the only reason I'm not on a plane right now, on my way to rescue Nik, is because Elijah promised me that he would bring him back in less than 24 hours."
Bonnie stopped Rebekah's strut by cutting her way. "And if he doesn't?"
Rebekah smiled. "Out of us, I was the one who stood by Nik, so I will go there and bring him back myself and there's not a bloody thing any of you can do about it."
"You have to trust us…"
"The only person who understands exactly how I feel is Caroline, and she's trying to keep it together. I talked to her yesterday and she's…" Rebekah looked down on the ground.
"Bekah… we all want them back here."
Rebekah faced Bonnie. "I can't even breathe straight if I start imagining what he is going through and that I'm here, stuck in Mystic Falls with a target on my head."
"Kol was really hurt when you pushed him away, saying that you wanted Nik instead…"
"He's Kol…" Rebekah shrugged. "He doesn't care much for emotional displays."
"All of you are changing, and you should keep that in mind the next time you lash out."
"Look who remembered all of a sudden that Kol has feelings." Rebekah sneered.
"Thanks for reminding me of that, once again, but I'm not the only one he loves." Bonnie took off angry, leaving a sulking Rebekah behind.
There was no point in going after Bonnie, so Rebekah headed for the field to meet with the other girls.
Outside, she found no one, which probably meant that practice was canceled, and Kensi forgot to tell her on purpose.
Huffing, Rebekah unlocked her phone ready to rant as soon as the other girl picked up her call, but roughly she dropped her phone on the ground, there was a piercing gush of pain hurting her as a knife was shoved into her liver.
"That was gratifying." Hayley smiled at Rebekah.
Rebekah knew that her wound was deadly, but she had to at least try and focus enough to use her magic.
She lifted her hand, but someone punched her so hard that she lost consciousness.
"Do you think that they're still out there looking for your mysterious accomplice?" Hayley asked Eric.
He smiled as he picked Rebekah up. "I surely hope so."
"Can I help you with anything else?" Hayley asked, ready to volunteer.
"I can handle it from here." Eric assured her as he walked away smiling.
She flirted a bit with him while she rested her hands behind her back, he was so handsome that even the wolf tattoo that she had on her thigh was burning.
"Anything for my pack…" She murmured with a sigh.
"How can I ever pay you back, for not keeping yet another promise that I've made to you?"
"Stay here with me for a little longer."
Klaus leaned his face against her cheek and closed his eyes, breathing her in.
"Hold me close to you and never let me go."
Klaus circled his arms tighter around her. "I promise…"
The memory of that day in Brazil was coming back to haunt him, he failed her again, not only that, but he also left her in an empty bed, back in New York, after making love to her.
He could feel the knife cutting through his flesh, but the pain wasn't coming from there, it was coming from the woman in front of him, listing all the reasons he was wrong for her.
"Your mother was right, you're the reason she killed me."
He shook his head, fighting her words and wrapping his fingers around the chains that held him down. "You aren't real." He slowly said. "She doesn't call me Klaus..." He dropped his head in massive pain.
"But this is real." She wrapped her hand around the wedding ring dangling from one of his necklaces.
Klaus pressed his teeth in anger and looked past the hallucination, this time he saw the witch clearly. "Don't touch that ring."
"They call me Papa Tunde, and I'm the leader of the biggest coven in New Orleans." He introduced himself proudly.
"You're a dead man." Klaus corrected his status.
"I'm not afraid of death. I do believe that our magic grows as spirits." He read the name that he sensed from Klaus. "Caroline…"
Klaus growled.
"Your resistance to our methods is impressive and although I know you by reputation, you know nothing about me…" He yanked the necklace from his neck. "We share a great quality, Klaus, we don't stop until we get what we want."
"Inspirational last words." Klaus snarled.
"Give him more venom." The shaman yelled at the doctor.
She took a little longer to react than usual, and he looked behind to inquire about the delay.
Out of nowhere, she plunged a syringe with a different content into his neck and quickly launched a dosage of witch-venom into his veins, as the man started falling to his knees, she stepped back nervously.
Papa Tunde lifted his hand, choking on blood and looked at her with blood filling his eyes.
She stumbled away from him, and neared Klaus, offering her wrist to him. "We don't have much time."
Wasting none of it, he bit her wrist to drink fresh blood. With the warm elixir, his body started reacting strongly and he pulled the chains restraining him.
"My name is Justine, and your brother Elijah is a very old friend of mine." The doctor told Klaus, while wrapping a cloth around her wrist.
Klaus freed his other arm and walked over to the crawling shaman, he ended his life quickly by choking him with one of the chains and retrieved the necklace and the ring from the dead man.
With a sigh, Klaus returned his ring to where it rightfully belonged.
The commotion didn't go unnoticed by the men waiting outside in the corridor, and they barged into the room with guns.
Klaus easily flashed out of reach, but the bullets took down Justine.
The four men were no threat to Klaus, he broke their necks in a matter of seconds and made his way to the hallway, aware that he had very little time before the rest of Ansel's men arrived for backup.
Klaus stopped as five of them showed up with crossbows, he was exhausted, but focused on the brave one who took charge of the assault.
He had his hands around the man's neck when another one shot him. He pulled the spear with a growl from his ribs and used it to kill the man in front of him.
The others hesitated but pointed at Klaus ready to keep the fight going, he was in pain but ready to battle them when a sharp sound of steel echoed in the corridor.
Before Klaus could identify it as a sword striking air, four heads rolled over and Elijah showed up behind the men.
He was serious as he watched his brother with so many wounds and cuts, there was dry blood all over his chest and red marks of a spell.
"I'm sorry for the delay, Niklaus…" He said with deep regret.
Klaus lowered his head with a deep breath, then he quickly paced to Elijah and hugged his brother.
Elijah took him into this tight and strong embrace, the young free spirit and artist might be a tortured soul, but he would always be his little brother, that he had to protect and shield from all the harm in the world, especially from himself.
Klaus let his guards down for that one second, nothing in the world was more important than family and no matter what dark thoughts and doubts lived inside of him, this brave and noble man was his family, and his father, when no one else wanted the job.
Elijah tamed his emotions at how Klaus was vulnerable right now and he pulled away with a smile. "Come on, we need to leave, before Caroline sweeps in here with a Ninja attitude. It was hard enough to convince her to stay in the car, as it is."
Klaus smiled but he was beaten from all that he endured, he nodded and followed Elijah who had left a trail of blood and decapitated bodies across the house.
Klaus stopped near the office and pushed the door open, but the office was empty.
"It was the first room I visited but I'm sure he fled, the second I crossed the front gate."
Nearing the desk, Klaus forced the drawer open, he took that old drawing that Ansel kept of him as a baby and held it above a flaming lighter that he found in the drawer.
He then dropped the paper on top of the desk and walked away from his burning past, resolute on finding Ansel to terminate his life painfully.
Caroline tapped the wheel nervously and glanced at the gate again, she made a relieved sound when she finally saw them.
When Klaus took the seat next to her, she quickly hugged him.
That familiar perfume of hers, soothed him instantly and he hauled away enough to cradle her face, he kissed her on the lips wanting to erase all the words that her fake illusion spat at him.
"Let's go home." He asked her in a low voice.
She started the car looking at Elijah briefly, by his stern expression, she guessed that Ansel got away.
Upset, Caroline started to drive away and when two men showed up late for the party, she clasped her lips and ran over them without giving them a second look.
Klaus rested his head against the seat and closed his eyes, he smiled when her hand found his and their fingers were locked together.
Kol touched the little pool of blood, disturbed.
"How did you lose Rebekah?" Damon yelled furiously at Bonnie.
"I didn't. I came here right when I found out that Kensi moved the cheerleader practice to her house but all that I found was Rebekah's phone and that blood."
"I can't believe this. I want to rip your heart out and shove it down your incompetent throat." Damon angrily closed the space between them.
"You had one job and that was to find Eric…" Bonnie hissed back at Damon. "So, don't call me incompetent."
"She was hurt and taken from right under your witch and vampire nose."
"Piss off, Damon." She grumbled.
"You're useless." Damon replied.
"Just like you." She pointed out with a smile.
"I'm going to hurt you, and I don't care if your baseball-lover kicks my ass later for it."
"I don't need Kol to defend me, I can take you down myself, just like I did so many times in the past."
"Kol? We need to go search for your sister before I kill your girlfriend."
Bonnie waited for the snarky comment but when it didn't arrive, she frowned and looked for Kol, but he was gone.
Caroline picked a few fresh clothes for Klaus and met with him in the bathroom, she rested the clothes on the vanity and smiled at him. "Elijah is out, looking for Ansel…"
"What about the sword?" He asked quietly.
He was wearing a shirt that he stole from one of the guards and he was hesitant to remove it now that she was here, he knew that he was healing slower, due to all the venom that was still in his system.
"We have it. Elijah found it, buried among the roots of a white tree." Caroline explained while she was turning the water on in the shower.
There was an instant small fog from the hot stream filling the room and Klaus started unbuttoning his shirt.
Caroline kept her calm, although he was covered in wounds and blood under the black fabric, she helped him by opening the buttons on the wrists and as he removed the shirt she moved her hands to his chest, her fingertips touched the scars that were finally healing.
He covered her hand with his. "Caroline…"
She looked up at him, meeting his eyes with tears dancing in them. "I was so scared of losing you."
Klaus held her close to him, and she rested against his chest, shutting her eyes when his warmth embraced her and she cried, because she didn't know what else to do.
The school-pool was closed and empty at this hour, but Kol expected to find Rebekah in here, the blood trail had led him here and possibly it was all planned this way, yet Kol was eager to see an end to this.
There was a man waiting for him with a smile.
"The brother, I presume?"
"The soon to be dead, Eric?" Kol countered, looking to where the trail of blood led.
He gulped down when he saw Rebekah's body under water.
"Sadly, for your beautiful sister, Elijah decided to save the wrong sibling." He dropped Rebekah's ring on the floor.
The sound echoed in the hollow space bathed in blue by the water in the pool and Kol clenched his lips as the water around Rebekah became red while her body floated to the surface, lifeless.