"I'm not going to do it, Klaus." Marcel said, somewhat heatedly. "I'm not going to put Dee in your mother's line of fire."
Klaus had been quite cross with Marcel when he learned that he'd refuse to send Davina to Josephine with Bonnie. Klaus looked at Marcel with undiluted rage, his eyes glowing momentarily gold.
"We need her." He said.
"Yeah, yeah, to keep Caroline safe." Marcel said, flippantly. "I get it, Klaus, I really do. This girl's got you all twisted up. But I'm not about to put Dee in danger just so you can impress the girl."
"I'm not trying to impress her, I'm trying to save her." Klaus spat.
"Yeah, well if she needs saving then getting involved is dangerous. I'm not asking that of Davina. She's just a kid, friend."
"And Caroline's pregnant. With twins." Klaus reminded him.
"I know," Marcel frowned, because this was a no win situation. Either way he would have a hand in kids getting hurt, the one thing he'd always tried his damnedest not to do.
"No, you don't know." Klaus said, vehemently. "Marcellus⦠The twins are mine."
Caroline felt pretty ridiculous with the entourage that accompanied her to meet with the powerful witch who was supposed to help Bonnie block Esther from taking over Caroline's mind again. Apparently Marcel had refused to send his witch to Josephine, but agree to permit them to come to him and the witch. Of course Stefan and Elijah came to keep her safe and Bonnie and Josephine were needed for the spell. Then Hayley came out of loyalty and Kol came because of Hayley. They all followed close behind Caroline as she walked into the courtyard.
She felt Klaus's eyes on her almost immediately, even though she didn't see him right away. She looked up and her gaze met his as he watched her from the balcony. His face was set in a hard frown, but his eyes were soft, a softness that she knew was reserved for her. She pursed her lips and with some effort she tore her gaze from his. She saw Marcel and with him a girl, judging by the conversation passing between her and Bonnie, she was the witch, but she was obviously quite young.
Caroline felt a sudden, maternal feeling toward the girl, and could totally understand why the vampire Marcel wanted to keep her out of this. She was too young. She was barely more than a kid and she shouldn't be pulled into this mess. Caroline shouldn't have been pulled into this mess either, but she didn't have a choice. She'd stopped being a kid a year and a half ago when Katherine Pierce killed her to make her a useful little messenger.
She felt a small twinge of sadness as she had to move closer to the witches to hear the conversation passing between them. The super hearing was one of the many perks of being a vampire that she missed.
"And you think that will work?" Bonnie asked the young girl, but she looked at Josephine for confirmation, differing to the aged witch for wisdom.
Josephine nodded, "I do believe that will work." She looked up at Klaus who without Caroline noticing had come down from the upper level to join them. "The magic used to create the Original's is very powerful. If makes you impervious to most spells, likely mind control would be one of those it protects against."
"So she must be mentally linked to one of us?" Elijah surmised, gesturing to himself, Kol, and Klaus.
"Yes." Josephine confirmed.
"What would be the side effects of something like that?" Caroline asked. She didn't want to sound ungrateful, but she didn't really want to get a good look at the inside of Kol Mikaelson's head.
"There will be a degree of separation." Josephine said. "For the most part your thoughts will be private unless you choose to share them, but things definitely leak across the barrier. Strong emotions and powerful thoughts, perhaps dreams, may slip through without you choosing to share them with each other."
Caroline frowned, because she really didn't like the sound of that. She wanted her thoughts and feelings to remain her own. Even Elijah, who she trusted to respect her privacy as much as possible, would be an intruder, seeing things not meant for anyone else to see.
"I'll do it."
Caroline felt a surged of dread and relief as she looked up and her eyes met Klaus's. She was relieved because she knew her thoughts were safe with him, but she was afraid, because she had no doubt that the emotions she'd tried so hard to keep in check would no doubt slip through the cracks. She frowned a little, but gave a small nod.
A pleased smirk crossed Klaus's face.
Katherine lounged on the threadbare couch. As a woman used to compelling herself the finer things in life, Esther's accommodations left much to be desired. The loft looked more like a dilapidated greenhouse than like a residence fit for habitation. Not that Esther seemed to notice or care.
The mother of the Originals spent all of her time with her nose buried in her musty grimoires. Plotting and planning, or whatever it was that she was doing.
Katherine found the whole thing rather tedious, but since her alternative was to remain stuck on the Other Side, she was willing to endure it.
She thought of the Other Side. She was used to being on her own, but the Other Side brought with it a different kind of loneliness.
She'd lived with the loneliness of being on her own, on the run. For five hundred years she'd been on the run, never truly letting herself get attached to another person after Elijah.
The Other Side had been different. There was no reason to run anymore. She was just alone. Alone with herself and her regrets and it was a surprisingly painful experience. Elijah, the only man she had ever really loved, had ripped her heart out. And why?
To save Caroline Forbes.
At first she had been enraged, but it was difficult to maintain a white hot resentment in total isolation. Then her anger dissolved into feelings of betrayal. Eventually even that dissipated, leaving her feeling sort of empty and hollowed out, and the emptiness left space for something else to crawl in. Much to her surprise, she found herself filled with an acceptance. She knew Elijah. He was a good and honorable man, it what was why she loved him. It was also how her actions had left him no choice but to kill her.
Caroline had been comparatively innocent. She hadn't deserved to pay the price for Klaus's actions, and Elijah who had spent his entire life rectifying his brother's wrongs could not stand by and allow the injustice, no matter what it cost him. She hated what he had done⦠but no matter how hard she tried, she could not make herself hate him.
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