A/N: This one isn't as long as the others because it kinda needed to stop where it ends this chapter. And that's all I'll be saying about that. But I hope you all enjoy Liz's interactions with a few people that need to be talked to.
Thanks so much for reading :)
There is a sacredness in tears….They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.-Washington Irving
"Were you ever going to fill me in on what's been happening?" Liz asked, unable to hold back the questions any longer. She knew Klaus and anyone else in the house could overhear her conversation with her daughter, but there was little she could do against that. They needed to have this talk, for her to be filled in on the exact extent of what had been transpiring under her nose.
A large dose of guilt ran through her, worry that she'd simply not seen the signs, that she hadn't been paying close enough attention to her daughter to know that the homicidal 'big bad' was apparently obsessed with her. Liz had thought he'd been that way with Tyler, with the whole hybrid thing that had happened. That's what Carol had believed as well before she'd ended up face down in a fountain.
Liz had invited the monster into their house, something she regretted and yet couldn't quite do that. It had been the only way to save her baby girl and she'd do anything to protect Caroline. But had opening that door to Klaus, giving him the invitation sparked something she couldn't protect her little girl from?
"I…" Caroline shrugged, teeth brushing against her bottom lip, a sure sign in Liz' book that her daughter was trying to come up with the correct answer, though that didn't necessarily mean it was the truth. "It wasn't anything and then it just…kind of became everything." Little half smile offered up next and Liz knew her daughter was about to try some humor on her. "Guess I should have paid more attention to those Lifetime movies."
Liz didn't laugh, eyebrow arched in disapproval. What troubled her the most was how easily Caroline's mood shifted from worry to fine-tuned control, none of the fear from moments ago seeping through... "Its fine, mom. I have it under control."
"Caroline," Liz started, not sure how her daughter could have any type of control over the situation she was currently in. She wasn't even entirely certain the extent of all that had happened or was currently going on. "He could snap at any moment and you'd be dead. Gone forever." Look at what had happened to Carol, to Klaus' hybrids out in the woods. How much pushing could Caroline do before she met her end at his hands?
"I know," Caroline murmured, though she wasn't looking at her mother any longer. Her gaze was far away, lost in thought, and Liz wondered what was going on inside her daughter's head.
"How did this even happen?" Because Liz couldn't figure that out. Klaus hadn't seemed to take much of an interest in her daughter when he'd first arrived in Mystic Falls and the whole blood saving part on Caroline's birthday had been to gain her loyalty…hadn't it? Though now she couldn't help but wonder if it hadn't been for that.
"I honestly have no idea," Caroline told her, shrugging as she looked back at her mom. "I didn't really think it was anything at first. I thought maybe he was trying to manipulate me, thought that I'd be an easy target and fall at his knees with his pretty jewelry and…things. But I didn't. I threw them back in his face."
Liz frowned at the knowledge that there had been gifts. How had she not noticed gifts? She had thought she'd been doing better with Caroline, been more involved in her daughter's life in the last year, but it seemed she was still missing out on pivotal events.
"And then we kept needing me to kind of be the distraction, to like get him to not notice things. So I kept playing that part because, well." Caroline sighed, fingers smoothing down her hair, tucking it behind her ear. A clear sign that she was uncomfortable with the conversation. "Apparently he enjoys my company and…I don't know. He keeps saying…" Caroline looked away again, frowning for a moment, before she looked back at her mother. "It doesn't matter what he says. It's all just different ways of getting me to try and see him, to give him a chance, but like that's going to happen when he goes and kills or gets people to kill my friends and then thinks that showing me around Amsterdam is going to—and so maybe he's made sure I'm alive."
Liz didn't like at all how lost Caroline looked in that moment, though the verbal vomit coming from her daughter wasn't anything new, but that worry in her eyes, in the way she kept playing with the ends of the blanket had Liz wondering all that was going on between her daughter and Klaus. "But I think it got bigger than the whole fancying me thing but I don't even really know any more," Caroline continued with a shrug.
"Considering his brother kidnapped you to get his attention I think it's a little bigger than just that," Liz pointed out, though her head was still trying to wrap around the fact that Caroline and her friends had deliberately put Caroline into Klaus' path more than once. That she'd willingly been put into situations where Klaus could have easily hurt her, killed her, or worse was something that Liz was still coming to terms with.
"Well, he was obsessed with breaking a curse and killing his dad for like one thousand years, so maybe I'm the new obsession. I don't know," Caroline snapped, and then shut her eyes, taking a deep breath before she looked at her mom. "I'm sorry. I didn't…"
Liz reached over and picked up Caroline's hands, gently squeezing them. "I know," she assured, and Caroline nodded.
"I am okay though, mom. Not like great or anything, but I'm holding my own," Caroline told her, and it was Liz' turn to nod.
This wasn't at all what she wanted for her daughter. Being taken by crazy men, embroiled in a world of chaos and death. She had wanted to keep Caroline out of everything supernatural and when she had learned her daughter had turned, once she'd accepted and saw that Caroline was still her daughter, that all she'd been taught about vampires wasn't quite right, she'd wanted something close to normal for her. Had been pleased to see that Caroline was still cheerleading, still chair of entirely too many committees, doing things as she'd done as a human. Liz had thought her daughter might have something resembling a normal life.
But how was that possible if Klaus was a constant in Caroline's life? If he was always there, even if on the sidelines, waiting. It worried her that Caroline might have to deal with the Hybrid for centuries and while she knew her daughter was strong, Liz didn't want that craziness for her, but she wasn't quite sure how to stop it from happening. In a matter of years she would be dead and her daughter would be out there alone. Liz had thought that the others in their little supernatural community would be there for her daughter, but apparently they were more than happy to through her little girl into the lion's den, letting the obsession grow.
"I'll be okay," Caroline tried again, offering up a smile. Liz knew that one, the 'trying not to show how bad things were' smile. She hated that one, wanted to somehow replace it with a genuine one, but wasn't exactly sure how to go about that just yet. "Okay, enough depressing talk. Let's get into how you even got here and I'll tell you about some of the neat places to go in Amsterdam."
The first part wouldn't exactly brighten the mood, but Liz knew she needed to answer it. "I went looking for you when I realized that no one else would be," Liz told her, hating that she hadn't gone looking as soon as she realized Caroline was missing. Maybe she could have gotten her daughter away from Klaus already. "I went to Steven for help. He told me about what happened, hinted at what Lucy filled me in on. I'm sure that you can fill in the rest."
"Is he…okay?" Caroline asked, and Liz didn't like the haunted look in her eyes. "He wasn't exactly happy with how things went. He…is very intent on believing what he was told about vampires. Not that Klaus or Kol really helped dispel what he knew."
"Some prejudices run deep," Liz told her and Caroline simply nodded, but Liz could see how much that troubled her daughter. There was enough strife in their lives at the moment that Liz didn't want Caroline focusing on the bad, didn't want her to think about how a man who had once treated her as a daughter now wanted her dead. "Why don't you tell me about Amsterdam now?"
And there it was that genuine smile that Liz wanted to see broadening on Caroline's face. She listened to Caroline talk about various buildings she had seen, happily carrying on as they settled back against the headrest of the bed, Caroline curling into her body like she had when she was little. Liz brushed her hair, smiling as Caroline filled her in on the littlest things, tried to focus on what was being said to her. She couldn't quite help her mind drifting though to plans on how to make sure Caroline's friends never used her again to be a distraction as well as tried to figure out what exactly to do about Klaus.
She was her mother and Liz Forbes would do whatever she needed to protect her daughter. She hadn't been able to do anything when Caroline had been smothered to death with a pillow in her hospital bed, but Liz would be damned if anyone would hurt her daughter like that ever again.
Perhaps contacting his siblings first before accompanying Katherine back to Mystic Falls should have taken precedence, but Elijah couldn't' discount the validity of her plan. Getting the cure first to use as a bargaining chip for her freedom would benefit both of them greatly and if he went with her, if he was part of the negotiation then there would be less chance of any harm coming to her or his siblings. Though he did want to learn more about Rebekah's apparent daggering but the fact he had unanswered voicemails from his sister at least did allow him to know that she was roaming around freely. Hearing the details could wait until later.
He had never met the girl the two of them were currently questioning. Truthfully he didn't know many of the citizens in Mystic Falls, having kept his stays in the town to a minimum, aside from the part where he'd been daggered. His first stay had been to ensure Elena's survival and his next had been to help Niklaus end their mother's schemes. Getting to know the others in town not associated with the little Mystic Falls group hadn't seemed prudent and truthfully, he didn't even know all of the Mystic Falls gang all that well. Could pick them all out of a crowd, but he'd mostly associated himself with Elena and the Salvatore brothers.
He watched Katherine talk to the girl—April—and wondered exactly how long ago she had compelled the child. "Did you find out when exactly everyone left?" Katherine inquired, smiling when the girl nodded.
"Caroline was the first. She didn't make cheer practice and then I think Klaus was gone shortly after that. But I can't be certain because there isn't anything that I know he was supposed to attend. Bonnie, Stefan, and Elena didn't show up for school. Neither did Jeremy or Matt that Monday. And the Salvatore house has been empty since then as well," April replied, setting down the calendar in front of her. "So two weeks ago. I woke up Rebekah after hearing Caroline saying something in the bathroom around then. And the other brother Rebekah told me about, Kol, isn't in town but she talked to him on the phone. She wasn't happy and she left too."
"And where was my sister?" Elijah asked but the girl didn't respond. Clearly Katherine's compulsion only included her for who the girl needed to answer. He pointedly looked at Katherine, wanting the answer, and she nodded for April to answer.
"In a coffin. She said her brother and Stefan put her there," April continued, looking frightened for a moment before the same blankness was back to her features. "She's a vampire."
"Yes, but you'll forget that little tidbit of information when we're done here," Katherine murmured. "Had they been doing anything different than normal…hmm, not that you might know considering you'd just arrived back in town." She tapped her fingers on the table, trying to come up with a more appropriate question. "Who had they been hanging around recently?"
April listed off a great number of people, none of them of any interest—ranging from the dead hybrids to cheerleaders to other students before finally mentioning Atticus Shane. "He's a professor at the college. Bonnie was helping him with an exhibit on ancient stories. Something about a Silas?"
Elijah tensed for a moment at the name and Katherine looked over at him, wondering who in the world that could be. She'd never heard mention of the name. "He's part of an old tale, older than I," Elijah informed her. "Though he apparently had a following some time back. Kol killed the lot of them." Or so his brother had told him on one of their reconciliatory meetings. Elijah believed him though. Kol might exaggerate some of his kills but he never lied about them, always taking pride in what he'd done.
Katherine nodded, clearly wanting him to expand on what he knew. "It's a tale of love and betrayal. He tricked a powerful witch into granting him immortality. She thought he loved her but he loved another. The witch locked him away for eternity and killed his beloved, leaving him cursed and unable to ever see her again."
"His tombstone is at the school. It's part of the exhibit," April told them, and Katherine smiled, waving for her to continue. "That's when I remembered that he knew my dad. They taught at the college for a bit. Well, Shane permanently but my dad did for a little bit."
"Get to the point, April," Katherine hissed. The girl tended to ramble on and that got to be a bit headache inducing.
"He said there was a myth that Silas wants to rise again and that it would be wreak havoc on the world. There's a whole lot about it at the school," April finished.
"What of my siblings? Do you know what they know of the cure?" Elijah asked and again Katherine nodded for April to answer.
The girl shook her head. "I don't know anything that they're doing. Rebekah didn't tell me much after she left. Just to stay safe and watch the exhibit. That she would return when she could and that I had been a good friend."
Katherine leaned forward then, knowing they wouldn't get much more out of the girl. "You'll forget we were here and what all we discussed. Continue to keep watch on the town and let me know if any of that little group return," Katherine compelled and rose from her seat. "I want that tombstone."
"It's nothing but a myth, Katherine. A tale to warn men off betraying a woman with another," Elijah replied, finding the idea of retrieving the artifact absurd.
"We're myths, Elijah," she pointed out, already heading toward the door. "Can it truly hurt to look into it a little more? Maybe we can use it to trade for information on the map that we still need to locate to obtain the cure." She stopped at the door, pressing her body against his as she slid up to him. "We're still going to try and find that, correct? Obtain my freedom and finally stop hiding in the shadows, only getting a few moments here and there through the centuries."
"I think it would be better use of our time to head to the witch I know that might have actual answers," Elijah pointed out, though he smiled down at her, placing his hand on her cheek for a moment. He did not see the point in delaying now that April hadn't been able to reveal much to them.
"The Bennett witch was hanging out with this Shane fellow. She helped him with the exhibit and the tombstone belongs to a tale of an old immortal. I want it." Katherine didn't believe in coincidences. There had to be something to the exhibit, to the tombstone and the fact Bonnie had been hanging around the man that it all tied to some tale that Elijah knew. After all, immortals could die so why didn't this Silas simply kill himself and reunite with his lost love? There was more to the story and she meant to find out exactly what they were missing. "It'll take us fifteen minutes, if that to go and retrieve it."
Elijah simply nodded, knowing he'd never hear the end of it if they left the object where it was and it did turn out to be something useful. Better to allow her this small indulgence and then be on their way than have an eternity of what-ifs on his shoulder. "Very well. We'll take the stone and then head down to New Orleans to talk to Zelda. She should be able to fill us in on a few matters." And if he knew Kol at all, his brother most likely had seen the witch and perhaps he could learn what was happening with his siblings. Of course he could always call them, but it seemed that finding out from others seemed to give him more truths than heading to the source. His family had a way of embellishing their accounts to better suit them and Elijah had a feeling there would be a lot of that happening this time.
Klaus had overheard the ongoing conversation between the Forbes' women, not bothering to block out what they were saying until it steered into current events. If anything listening in had only helped to confirm his suspicions that Liz Forbes was going to be quite the obstacle in his pursuit of her daughter. He also didn't like how Caroline considered herself to be his latest obsession, even if he couldn't quite verbalize what it was that he saw happening between them, but knew for certain that she wasn't that.
If she'd merely been an obsession he'd have let the witches do their worst and carted her around as she had so feared back in New Orleans. He wouldn't have been fighting so hard for a smile directed his way, to hear her laugh at something he said, or to garner that loyalty she so easily gave to her friends that didn't deserve it. How precisely to show her that she was more than she feared was beyond him though.
The feelings that she stirred in him were ones that he dared not give name to and while at one point he would have forced them away, destroyed her for daring to pull such intense emotions from inside of him, now he simply wanted them reciprocated, for Caroline Forbes to want him—mind, body and soul of her own volition—just as he did her.
It'd been far easier when he only wanted one of those from another. The tricks to play were child's play at that point, having played the game so many times before with so many people through the ages. But they had always been disposable once their usefulness was over. Some killed, others abandoned, and some turned and allowed to trail along for a few decades before they too were left behind. Each and every single one collateral damage in one way or the other.
How Caroline had started as that and become something far greater to him was beyond Klaus and he had a feeling he'd spend the next thousand years without ever truly knowing what had shifted and had him seeing her in a new light.
"I see we acquired another in our little motley crew," Kol remarked as he entered the room, draping his body along the couch. Klaus didn't bother to look up from his sketch pad, continuing to work on the sketch that wouldn't leave his mind. "Isn't she the Sheriff of that boring little town? And mother to the girl whose pants you keep trying to get into?"
It took all of Klaus' restraint not to snap the pencil in half or throw it at his brother. This was Kol trying to bait him, or really, simply having a conversation. The two seemed to be one in the same most times. "Why ask questions you already know the answer to?"
"Oh don't go that route. Then you'll be no more fun than Elijah and we both already know how much of a bore he is," Kol tsked, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "Besides, I have interesting news about our dear sister."
"She's still looking into the cure," Klaus replied, adding some shading to cast shadows onto the face he was creating. He could practically feel his brother's disappointment at having guessed what Rebekah was up to. "She tried to tell me that she and Stefan were looking into the whole Silas story, wanting more facts than the witches already gave us. I see no reason for her to do that unless she wishes to gain something." It wasn't like Rebekah to double check facts if it wouldn't get her what she desperately wanted. "And we both know what she's wanted since joining up with us."
"The cure," Kol confirmed, leaning his head back against the arm of the sofa. "Actually believes she'd like a go at being human. I'd give her a week before she came begging one of us to turn her back."
"She won't be getting it," Klaus stated. There was simply no way he was allowing his baby sister to take a cure and die because that would be the end result. She'd grow old and eventually die, leaving them all behind, breaking the promise of always and forever, ad Klaus had no intention of ever letting that come to pass.
"We don't even know what side effects there might be to it. If we do retrieve it—which we shouldn't as we want Silas to remain where he is—then I say we give it to the other Salvatore. See what happens before you dole it out to the doppelgangers and continue on with your species making," Kol suggested with a shrug.
"Plan changed. We're destroying not simply entombing him any longer," Klaus informed him, waiting for his brother's reaction to that notion.
"And when were you going to inform all of us exactly what you talked about with the witch? Aside from bringing home your future mother-in-law?" Kol mused and Klaus pressed his lips together, hearing the amusement in his younger brother's voice. He really needed to collect his daggers.
"Rebekah and Stefan are on their way back. As soon as they return we'll have a chat." No point in saying it all twice when he had specific parts for each of them to fulfill.
Klaus looked up at the steady heartbeat nearing the room, easily picking out that it was Liz Forbes making her way toward his study. He could hear the shower starting upstairs and had a feeling Caroline was the one to be using that. Perhaps it would be a good idea not to think about the baby vampire in the shower moments before her mother made her presence known. "Go get a bite to eat or find a way to entertain yourself out of this room—away from Caroline—or I will snap your neck in the next few seconds," Klaus warned, glancing up at Kol.
Kol laughed for a moment before disappearing from the room and out of the house. That worked for the moment, but Klaus was well aware that his brother could easily return at any second to cause chaos. The conversation that was about to happen would be full of enough strife there was no need to add more.
At the knock on the door, Klaus placed his sketch pad down, making sure it was closed. "Come in, Sheriff Forbes." Or should he call her Liz? Perhaps sticking with Sheriff for the moment would be the wisest move.
She hadn't cowered in his presence the night he'd gained an invitation into her home and Klaus was pleased to see she didn't as she walked into the room. It was easy to see where Caroline got some of her fearlessness from as Liz closed the door behind her, entering the room and stopping a few feet from him. He was readying to offer her a drink or a seat but never got the chance.
"I'm not dumb enough to demand that you leave Caroline alone. That you let us walk out of here in the next half hour and we never see your face again. I've already figured out from my conversation with her, with Lucy, and from simple observation that it's not going to happen," Liz Forbes started, staring down at him with a ferociousness he didn't know she had inside of her. He wondered if this was what lioness looked like when another was threatening their cubs. It wouldn't surprise him if that was the case. He had heard she'd threatened her ex-husband after saving Caroline from her father's torture. A true mother's love, Klaus wasn't sure he'd ever been privy to see it before, certainly not from his own. "I'll be having a lengthy conversation with each of her friends—starting with Stefan—about how she's no longer to be used as a pawn in their games with you."
"Quite a good idea," Klaus interrupted, rising from his spot and wasn't sure if he was pleased or not that the woman didn't flinch. "They're becoming rather reckless in sending her my way to distract me from all of their little plans. But I have no plans to harm a hair on your daughter, Sheriff."
He headed over to table and picked up the carafe of scotch, holding it up for her. "Would you like some?" He couldn't help but be slightly amused that she shared a similar glare with her daughter.
"How many enemies do you have?" Liz continued, shaking her head as he started to answer. "Not how many can actually kill you? We both know you can only die from the stake that Damon told me about. My question is how many do you have that would like to exploit the fact that you're drawn to my daughter? She's not as powerful as you and while I don't doubt that she can take care of herself, that being a vampire has made her strong and fast and deadly if she wants to be, she's nowhere as invincible as you. She's far easier to kill."
"I'm aware," Klaus replied, narrowing his eyes as he poured himself some scotch. Hadn't he just saved Caroline weeks ago from having her mind destroyed because witches wanted to send him a message?
"She has eternity to live. Do you really think it's fair for her to live it always looking over her shoulder, waiting for someone who hates you to end her life, to drive her mad because it would hurt you?" Liz asked, and Klaus had to ease up on the grip he had on the glass, not wanting to show the effect her questions had on him. "I think we're done here. I'm going to go spend some more time with my daughter now."
"And what of you?" Klaus asked whirling around before Liz reached the door. "What of your vulnerability and how that will leave a hole inside of her once she loses you? You continue on with a job that could get you killed at any moment, in a town where death seems to be on the rise every year, knowing that you'll leave your daughter an orphan. None of us can tell the future, Liz. I can call you that, can't I?" He quite enjoyed the narrowing of her eyes on that. "As you said, Caroline has an eternity to live and I have every intention of making sure each year of it is a magnificent one."
He set down his glass and leaned back against the table, studying her. "I asked for your support once and we never really did work that out, now did we?"
He took her silence as confirmation that she remembered that promise for the blood he'd given Caroline. "I have no plans to harm you, Liz. Caroline would be most upset if that were to happen. But do not think that you can manipulate me with what-if scenarios that play on my intentions toward your daughter. I have no problem doling out the consequences I would on you to others in your name."
Klaus turned away from her, picking up his glass of scotch again. "Now I do believe we're done here. You might want to freshen up in one of the available rooms. We'll be going out for dinner in an hour. Wouldn't want you to starve."
Klaus picked up his sketch pad and headed out of the room and up the stairs before Liz could say another word to him. He stopped at the top, surprised to find Caroline peeking out of her bedroom, no doubt listening for her mother's heartbeat. "We had a lovely chat and she's fine," Klaus assured, unable to stop his gaze from moving down to her towel clad body. "We'll be going to dinner soon. I expect you both downstairs in an hour."
He headed off to his own quarters before Caroline could respond, needing to take a shower of his own and then perhaps break a few things to quell the rage inside of him at Liz' line of questioning. Had she really thought he hadn't considered those same consequences; that he hadn't gone over how finally having Caroline to himself would put her in a whole new world of danger.
But in a thousand years he hadn't wanted anyone as badly as he wanted her. He hadn't ached to spend time with anyone as he did her, for a glimpse of a smile, to hear a note of a laugh. Perhaps it had been because of his sole focus on survival, getting away from Mikael, of breaking the curse. He'd never had time to contemplate anything else. Love was for all intents and purposes a weakness.
All Klaus knew was that he wanted Caroline, every inch of her, and that he meant to spend the next thousand years showing her the world, showing Caroline her true potential, and nothing was going to stand in his way.
After trying a locator spell three different times and coming up empty, Bonnie had called her father to see if he could shed any light on where her mother might be. Surprisingly he actually had an idea and a phone number for her to try. She hadn't expected anything of it and couldn't help but be a little annoyed when he started trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. What was with the caring parenting routine all of the sudden?
Part of her might have yearned for it, wanted him to see all of the craziness she'd been through the in the last two years, but the rest of her knew she didn't have time for it. There were bigger things at stake—like the world continuing to exist without hell pretty much opening up on Earth—and she'd hung up on him and turned off her phone. She probably should get rid of it, wasn't sure if Valerie and her crew could use that to track her down, but then again, they were all witches and probably could have used a simple locater spell to find her. Even if she couldn't seem to get any of hers to work.
"Hungry?" She glanced over at Eddie who was in the driver's seat. They weren't heading anywhere in particular at the moment, just away from Valerie. "Because I think I can eat now."
"The signs say there are some places at the next exit," he informed her, nodding toward one of the highway signs they were coming up on.
It should be safe enough to stop. They definitely had gotten a head start on Valerie and the others and Bonnie knew there was no point in wearing themselves out when the real danger probably hadn't even started yet. "Your dad was asking you about school," Eddie continued, and Bonnie nodded, pocketing her phone again. "Like…high school?"
"Yeah, I'm a senior. Last year of it." Though considering how many days she'd missed by this point she might have to redo the year.
"How are you younger than me and so much calmer about everything that's going on?" He shook his head, not sure if he should be impressed by that or not.
"I've been dealing with it all for almost two years now." Of course when she'd first learned she was a witch it had actually been exciting. Then everything else had snowballed and exploded to a point where all she could do was keep on going to save her friends. "You get used to it."
Only not really.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Eddie murmured, steering the car toward the off-ramp. Their choices didn't seem to be much more than a few random fast food places but that would do for now. "The dreams. That urge to kill."
"I helped my friend through that once. I'll figure out how to do it with you too," Bonnie assured. Though it'd be harder than it had with Jeremy. No one Eddie cared for was a vampire…or well, a currently living vampire.
Eddie nodded, and then sighed, clearly not wanting to talk about it for a while again. "Want to go in or do the drive through?"
"I don't know about you but I need to stretch my legs." Being in the car for as long as they had been was definitely causing cramps in places she didn't know was possible.
"Same."
Twenty minutes later and they were sitting at a table, munching on a variety of burgers and fries. "My dad gave me a number for my mom. I'm going to see if it works and she can help us find someone who we can work with." To do what exactly she wasn't entirely sure, but it was better than them driving around blind.
Eddie nodded again, mouth full of food, so he raised his cup and pointed toward the machines before leaving the table. Bonnie watched him leave before turning on her phone and dialing. She wasn't sure anyone was going to answer for the longest moment, but then she heard her mother's cautious answer.
"Hi…" Mom. It was on the tip of her tongue to say but she couldn't get it out. "It's Bonnie."
"Bonnie? Where are you? Are you safe?" Abby asked, and Bonnie frowned at the worry she heard in her mother's voice. She hadn't expected it.
"I'm safe." She didn't feel comfortable giving out a location. "For now at least. I kind of got caught up in some stuff, mom, and I'm wondering if there are any witches that you trust. And I mean really trust."
There was a long pause and Bonnie held her breath, waiting to hear a reply, wondering why her mother sounded so frantic. She could hear her saying something to someone else but couldn't really make it out. Too bad she didn't have special hearing like the rest of her friends. "The list has shortened dramatically in the last few days but I have a few that you can go. But I need to know…is Elena there?"
"Elena? No. I haven't seen her in weeks." Not since she'd incapacitated her friend so she could get out of the Salvatore boarding house.
"Don't trust her if you do see her, Bonnie. Something isn't right with her. I'm not exactly sure what but she's not herself," Abby told her, and Bonnie shook her head, wondering what her mother was going on about.
"I know she's a vampire now, mom." That hadn't been the case when Abby had been in town last.
"It's not that. I mean she's dangerous and not because of that change. She's killing witches, Bonnie. Killing them and turning them. Witches that are all related to the Bennett line somehow."
"What? Are you sure it's Elena?" Because that didn't sound like her. That sounded like Katherine. "She has a doppelganger."
"Would Damon go after her doppelganger?" Abby asked, and Bonnie frowned. Maybe? He would have a year or so ago or even now if he wanted to kill Katherine.
"I don't know." It was the truth. She had no idea what Damon would do anymore.
"I'll give you a name. I'm heading there myself with a few others who I managed to help escape from her. We'll meet up there and fill each other in on everything that's happened," Abby told her, before giving some details.
Bonnie scribbled them down, nails biting into her palm as her mother hung up. She had wanted more time to talk, to just hear her voice, but it seemed she'd never get that opportunity. Why she even still held out for it was beyond her.
"You okay?" Eddie asked, coming back to the table with his refilled drink and some more fries.
"Yeah. Ready to go?" Because she wanted to get to the other witches as soon as possible.
"Sure. I'll just eat this in the car."
Bonnie nodded and picked up her half-eaten meal, putting it back in the bag it had come in. She'd finish up in the car as well. No point in wasting time when they finally had a place to go and when she wanted more answers on why Elena would be killing Bennett related witches. It didn't make any sense but she had a feeling it was tied into Silas and Valerie and the others. Which meant everything was at a larger scale than she'd thought and Bonnie had a feeling the mess would only continue to grow until she figured out a way to stop it.
The last thought that should be on her mind was wondering how long she'd be out if she impaled herself with a butter knife. It'd kill her for a bit but because it wasn't wood she'd come back to life. It would just get her out of the awkward dinner that was currently happening. Going out with her mother and Klaus would have been bad enough. Caroline figured she would have needed to try and make small talk to counter the glares that would no doubt be thrown between the two of them—and she was the immature one? Seriously?!
But on leaving the house for the torturous event, Stefan and Rebekah had been returning, and apparently her mother wanted to have a conversation with the youngest Salvatore and so the two of them had been invited along. And then Kol had turned up moments later, inviting himself along, and Caroline just knew it was going to be a very trying evening.
At least they'd been seated in a private room so no one but the staff would have to deal with the craziness that would be their meal. Caroline doubted the Originals knew how to have a civilized meal any longer. Knives and forks thrown at one another seemed to be pretty common place. At least no one had driven a weapon through anyone's hand yet.
"I'd think you'd be happy to finally have us all sitting down for dinner, Nik," Rebekah remarked, smiling as she picked up her glass of wine. "Though perhaps that was before, when you actually worked at using that little spiel of yours about family."
"I think he's rather annoyed that we interrupted his dinner with his future mother-in-law," Kol piped up and Caroline wondered how much trouble she'd be in if she threw her fork at him. "Don't worry, Sheriff Forbes, we'll make a decent vampire out of her yet."
"Caroline has done a superb job of being the exact kind of vampire she wants to be. One that has an inner strength and integrity that you seem to lack," Liz replied, and while Caroline was grateful for the words she was worried about any retaliation Kol might do for them.
Thankfully he laughed, looking at Liz at first before turning his attention to Klaus who glowered at him. "Shall we tell her of Caroline's near slip up the other day?" Kol inquired, gleeful glint to his eyes as he looked back at Liz. "She was near ravenous for the person I offered up. Would've drained her dry if it weren't for Nik ruining it all."
"I have blood bags now so it won't be an issue again," Caroline muttered, offering her mom a reassuring smile. Please don't see me as a monster. She still remembered what it felt like when her mother did. Those few short days of knowing her mother wanted nothing to do with her, of thinking that's all she was and that her little girl was gone. She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when her mother gently squeezed her hand.
"My daughter has her own moral compass and anyone that truly cared for her wouldn't try and change that," Liz stated, releasing Caroline's hand as the food was finally delivered to the table. "Or use her as bait against someone could kill her in seconds."
Oh god. Caroline didn't even try to look at Stefan. She could practically feel the guilt coming off of him. "So why don't we fill everyone in on what Lucy told us now?" Caroline suggested because her appetite was pretty much depleted. The faster they could end this mess of a dinner, the better in her opinion.
"Yes, why are we still working with the witch if she already clued you in on it all?" Rebekah asked, arching a brow at him. "I thought you'd have disposed of her earlier today. Or did you not want to upset dear little Caroline?"
"We still have use for the witch and her Coven," Klaus replied, not bothering with the rare steak in front of him. He filled the others in on everything they had learned, noting that Rebekah sat up a little straighter at the mention that someone would need to return to Mystic Falls. He wondered precisely what she wanted to retrieve from there and would make sure to look into it later. No point in not giving her the task to retrieve the tombstone though. She'd do it on her own and leave any other task he might hand out to the wayside to get her own way.
"Kol will accompany Lucy to retrieve the Bennett witch," Klaus started, going through how he'd broken down the group for the next few tasks.
"The rest of you are awful with witches," Kol conceded, and Rebekah scoffed.
"Because you were doing such a lovely job of schmoozing Lucy onto our side as she nearly made your brain explode," Rebekah murmured, easily catching the fork Kol sent her way.
"Rebekah and Stefan will retrieve the tombstone from Mystic Falls," Klaus continued, watching as Rebekah folded her napkin neatly in her lap before bringing her wine glass to her lips, trying to hide her smile. He knew all of his sister's tells.
"Liz, I thought you could help those from Lucy's Coven who are looking for the rest of the Five," Klaus told her, waiting for a counteroffer. He knew she wouldn't leave Caroline's side without a fight.
"Caroline and I would love to do that task, wouldn't we?" Liz asked, turning to look at her daughter and Caroline simply started to mentally count to ten, waiting for the explosion.
"Caroline will be staying with me," Klaus replied, his voice low, the yellow coming out in his eyes.
"Then so will I," Liz replied, not wavering in her position as she looked at him.
"I think I'd like to join your group, Nik," Kol commented, leaning forward a bit. "Seems like it'll be the most amusing."
Klaus never got to respond, none of them did, and Caroline watched in growing horror as everyone at the table but her began to grab their head. It was her mother's scream that had Caroline moving, trying to figure out what was happening as her mother nearly fell off the chair, Caroline catching her body before she could hit the floor. Blood was seeping out of Liz' noses and Caroline looked helplessly on as her mother tried to fight off whatever was happening.
Caroline could hear Liz' heartbeat spiking, the strain of the organ to keep blood pumping through her body. She looked around at the others, trying to figure out what was happening. Stefan was balled over, hands on his head and she had a feeling it was like the spell Bonnie did to attack vampire's minds, all those little eruptions in their brain. Klaus was on the floor as well, but his hands were on the ground, nails digging into the hardwood floor and she watched as he tried to fight off the change his body was trying to force him to do.
"Find them," he all but growled, hybrid features becoming more pronounced and Caroline knew she'd been right in her earlier assessment. It had to be witches and they were probably nearby in order to be able to hurt all of them to this extent. She wasn't sure why she wasn't being affected. Maybe because of the ring?
She didn't want to leave her mother behind, but knew the fastest way to help her out was to put a stop to the spell that was being performed. Caroline closed her eyes, concentrating on the sounds around them and tried to pick out where the witches might be.
In the distance to the right she could make out chanting and she placed Liz on the ground, noting that her mother's heartbeat was beginning to slow down too much. Caroline flashed out of the restaurant and toward the chanting, not stopping until she got to where the five men and women were in the alleyway, still murmuring their spell. She listened for her mother's heartbeat, heard it slow to almost a standstill, and didn't even think as she flashed over to the group, snapping necks as she moved through the hallway.
She was gone before the last one touched the ground and back at her mother's side, willing her to be okay. Everyone else was already rising, saying things, but Caroline didn't pay any attention to them. "Mom?"
Liz' heartbeat was slowly going back to normal, she was still breathing, but she wasn't opening her eyes. "Mommy?"
She had to be okay. She wasn't ready to lose her mom yet. Not for at least fifty more years. Maybe even longer than that. Caroline tore into her wrist and pressed it against her mother's mouth, willing her to drink, needing her to open her eyes. She could only imagine the damage the spell had done to her mother's body. "Please, mommy, please."
"Caroline," Stefan said, placing a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged him off.
She would not take platitudes from anyone right then and there. She was just going to make sure her mother was okay. That was all that mattered. "Move, sweetheart," Klaus told her, gently pushing her to the side as he tore into his own wrist and filled one of the glasses up with it. He picked Liz up, tilting her head back and poured the liquid down, letting it fall through her throat.
Caroline didn't breathe for a few moments, silently praying that it worked, and then nearly collapsing forward as her mother stirred, coughing. Caroline enveloped Liz into a tight hug, making sure not to injure her with her strength, and was so damn grateful when her mother's arms wrapped around her in return.
Eventually she looked up at Klaus, tears in her eyes. Thank you, she mouthed, vocal chords not quite working.
"Seems like someone might be getting laid," Kol remarked from the sidelines before his body fell to the floor, neck snapped in an awkward position and Klaus standing over him.
"Well, hasn't this been entertaining," Rebekah stated, heading for the door. "I'm going to go get an actual bite and I'll meet you all at home."
"Stefan, help Caroline get her mother back to the house," Klaus ordered as his sister left. "I'll deal with Kol."
"And the bodies," Caroline murmured, staring at the floor. "I…they're in the alley."
Klaus simply nodded. "Go."
Caroline helped her mother to her feet, glancing back at Klaus once before she headed out of the door with her mother and Stefan. She couldn't breakdown yet about what she had done. Not until she was certain her mother was okay, not until she knew that Liz was resting in the bedroom. Only then would she replay all that had happened and let it sink in that she'd just killed five people.
She wasn't sure that she'd regret it though and she knew she'd do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving her mother's life. Caroline just wasn't sure what that said about her and was terrified to find out.