A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews, faves, and follows. I hope you enjoy what happens next :)
"Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness." ― Anne Frank
"This isn't right," Bonnie muttered as she watched Eddie stumble through the growing crowd of vampires. He wasn't ready to fight again yet, not with the sedative that they had running through his body, he was barely managing to stay upright.
It didn't seem to matter to Kol who was trying to egg him on, shouting out pointers coupled with nonsense, nor did it seem to matter to the Coven who was putting up a barrier spell to keep the vampires and Eddie contained. Bonnie had promised to help him that he wouldn't meet the same fate as Jeremy, and she meant to keep that promise.
There would be no more following others' rules, no more being a piece to maneuver on anyone else's chess board. It was time for the board to become hers and for her to start moving around the pieces. "This isn't right," she shouted, her voice finally audible for all to hear.
She wasn't surprised when none of them listened to her. "Someone put these people here. Someone killed them, had convinced them that turning was the best idea, and left them all to die."
The Coven continued on with their chant still ignoring her, but Kol was at her side. "Why look a gift horse in the mouth?" he asked, sweeping his arm out toward the lot of vampires as he placed his other around her shoulders. "We'll be one more step along toward getting that map when he's finished with this lot."
She shrugged him off. "If he finishes with them before getting himself killed," she pointed out, fixing him with a pointed glare. "And he's not the only one whose mark will grow. There should be five Hunters and maybe usually if one dies it takes a significant time before the next one comes into play since most people aren't randomly killing vampires in their day to day lives. But now every circumstance is being manipulated so that Silas can rise and so every Hunter will get that mark revealed at the same time."
Bonnie paused, watching as Kol seemed to comprehend what she was getting at. "We're nowhere near an airport and we have no idea where the map will eventually lead. From what Lucy and you said we need certain ingredients in order to destroy Silas and we don't have them all yet. So if the mark is completed before we do—"
"We're fucked," Kol finished, and Bonnie could hear the tenseness in his voice. He headed toward the barrier but was unable to pass through. "Take it down!"
Bonnie didn't like the frenzy to his voice and movements. Wasn't he supposed to be one of the more volatile siblings? She wouldn't be surprised if he ended up killing a witch or two in order to get inside and that was the last thing they needed to have happen. Not with how many witches had met their demise in the last few weeks.
"Let him in," she called out, focusing on the barrier and trying to disrupt it as she chanted a counter spell that she remembered, not entirely certain it would work.
The brief push against their invisible wall seemed to jolt Lucy out of what she was doing at least and she looked over at the two of them, seeing Bonnie's tense expression and Kol's murderous one. "Let the vampire inside," she ordered as she headed over to Bonnie. "What's going on? We need this. We need him to kill those guys. They're already dead, cuz. There's no turning them back to what they were before we found them in the middle of the road."
Bonnie watched Kol move through the crowd of transitioning vampires, easily disposing of the ones that Eddie hadn't gotten to yet, as she explained her issues with everything to Lucy. Eddie was stumbling still, his eyes glossy, and she kept her gaze on him, needing to make sure he would come out of the situation alive and not just because if they lost him now they would be even more screwed with trying to find Silas's resting place.
It didn't take long for Kol to kill the lot of vampires, the barrier coming down as soon as he'd done so. Bonnie headed straight to Eddie, helping him toward the car, his movements still too sluggish for her liking. She could hear the others bickering back and forth, arguing over what had happened, and let Lucy talk them down at first. She needed to make sure that Eddie was okay.
He rested his head against the headrest and offered up a small, reassuring smile. It was enough for now. She nodded at him and shut the car door before heading back over to the rest of them, watching Kol still in the middle of the dead vampires, searching them for anything that might give answers on who'd set it all up.
"He could have gained so much more of the mark—"
"I told you we shouldn't have trusted that vampire—"
"I don't care what the Spirits say—"
They were all talking over one another, no one really listening, and Bonnie knew they had all dealt with horrible blows in the last few weeks, that they had lost friends and loved ones as well, but she knew that all of the arguing wasn't going to help anyone. If anything it would only create more chaos for them to deal with and there was already enough of that happening.
"There is going to be no more killing of vampires," Bonnie started, sighing when they continued speaking over her.
She took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, to not explode at them like she wanted, but the constant chatter made that difficult to accomplish. She headed back to the car and opened the driver's side door, leaning over to start beeping the horn. It took a few times before the arguing stopped and they were all looking at her.
"Finally," she sighed as she closed the door. "There will be no more killing of vampires until we have all of the pieces that we need. This—" she pointed out to the vampires. "—was orchestrated. Someone out there wanted Eddie to kill them all, to bring the map one step closer to completion and I wouldn't be surprised if there are even more plans like this one in place happening right now to try and get the mark finished. We need it done eventually, but not yet, not until we have what we need."
Bonnie watched the realization pass through each witch, weight lifting off her shoulders at the fact she wouldn't have to explain it further. "We need to get all the pieces and group up with everyone so when the map is complete we'll be ready to do this."
She didn't doubt for a moment that the time for that to happen would come sooner than she liked, especially since she still needed to learn the spell, but it couldn't come to pass before they had all of the ingredients. Otherwise the world was doomed and Bonnie couldn't accept that, not with all they had lost so far. Their deaths deserved to have been for something.
"Not to interrupt the pep talk, darling," Kol called out, and Bonnie turned toward him, wondering what he'd found. "But I believe I've found who they were all working for." He lifted up a torn off arm, and she tried not to gag as he showed them the tattoo. "This would be the mark that the Cult of Silas branded on their bodies a few centuries back. Seems to be all the rage again considering nearly everyone at my feet is sporting one somewhere on their arm." He dropped the arm, wiping his bloody hands on his pants as he headed toward her. "Seems you were right about this being a setup."
She wasn't sure if she should feel good or not about that because it meant someone was upping the game that she still wasn't entirely sure how to play. "We need to move the bodies," Lucy pointed out. It needed to happen for them to cross the road.
"Destroy them," Kol piped up. "Unless you'd like the locals to stumble across a massacre."
So much for heading off right away. Kol was right and leaving the evidence of nearly fifty dead people on the side of the road wasn't a good idea but she wasn't sure they'd have the time to properly deal with all of the bodies. "Put up your barrier spell again and burn them. Should take care of the lot pretty quickly," Kol continued as he headed toward Bonnie.
Lucy nodded to her before ushering the Coven over to do what Kol had suggested. Bonnie tried not to think about how the dead people's families would never know what happened to them. She'd lived with that for so long because of her mother and hated to do that to another kid but she really couldn't see an alternative.
"I think I'll call my brother now and see how he's fairing. Hopefully he's working on getting the bones and not into your friend's pants. Though I suppose it'll all depend on how good the service is out here. It's been atrocious these last few days," Kol continued, and Bonnie narrowed her eyes at that, remembering that Caroline was with Klaus. "You can call Stefan and see how my sister and him are doing with finding that stone. I doubt any of her attempts at his pants are getting anywhere."
"You call your sister. I'll call Caroline," Bonnie snapped. She needed to make sure her friend was okay, needed to hear Caroline's voice.
"I'll need his number and you'll need her new number," Kol replied as he pulled out his phone. "Didn't feel the need for her to have her phone when we set off on our little trip."
"You mean when you kidnapped her," Bonnie muttered, glaring at him.
"I prefer to think of it as a bonding experience," he countered as he handed her his phone and held out his hand for her to hand over her own. "Especially if Nik gets his way and I have to deal with her presence for eternity and considering its Nik, he'll get his way. He's fairly persistent."
"Caroline would never go for a monster like him," Bonnie replied, scoffing at the very idea of it. Klaus didn't fit at all within the parameters that Caroline had wanted in a boyfriend since Junior High. He wasn't Prince Charming, he wasn't even the Beast. He was the wolf that was beaten in the end and sent howling from Granny's house.
"Oh darling," Kol smirked at her, all teeth and full of amusement. "You seem to be forgetting that she's a monster now too. And considering what this Coven has allowed to happen, what they're doing now, I'm not all that sure you should be pointing fingers."
He spun on his heel and headed off to the car, dialing away as she stared at his back, his words ringing in her ears, the truth of them making her body ache. Sighing she turned away only to be met by the scene of the witches chatting away as a bonfire of dead people lay a few feet in front of them. Bonnie closed her eyes, trying to push Kol's words out of her head before finally scrolling down to Caroline's number, hopeful that hearing her friend's voice would help everything make sense again.
She was at a loss for what to do if it didn't.
How Klaus thought she'd actually be able to sleep knowing that there was a Hunter in the house and after all that had happened in the last few hours was beyond Caroline. She wasn't tired. She wanted to be. She wanted to not think about anything for a few hours and simply dream the night away, but her mind seemed to have other plans. It was going a mile a minute, replaying moments one second and then trying to overanalyze others the next. Her body was also a jittery mess of nerves and while she wasn't fidgeting she did feel like it was entirely too awake, just waiting for the next bout of insanity to arise.
And then there was Klaus sitting in the chair not too far from her bed.
Thankfully he wasn't looking at her, no instead his gaze was on the doorway, eyes narrowed, looking entirely too tense, and hands draped over the arms of the chair. Funny how he managed to pull of looking demanding, dangerous and regal all at once. There was always that underlying current of menace with him, like a panther seemingly asleep in a tree but really ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. The charm, the caring, it all was twisted by his need to manipulate and while she didn't doubt his feelings toward her any longer—even if she didn't like admitting what they were out loud and wasn't ready to hear him say it—Caroline couldn't discount that everything Klaus did was to benefit himself in some way.
He saved her, was protective of her because he wanted her to eventually choose him, to be with him for the rest of her eternity, and that was hard to comprehend. Caroline couldn't even imagine twenty years down the road let alone five hundred. Even with her detailed, plotted out plans for the next twenty years she still didn't fully grasp what it all meant. She knew what she couldn't have. Knew the bits and pieces that she'd needed to hack off from her human dreams, what to adjust from those as well. It was the thought of all she could have that was daunting. Some of them were things she was pretty sure she shouldn't want, instead meant to push them down deep, to force them into the back recesses of her mind never to be thought of again.
Case in point the Hybrid who was currently guarding her and the feelings he stirred up inside of her, longings she hadn't even realized she had, desires that she had squashed down so hard back when she'd turned, knowing they were dangerous, that they weren't human.
She wasn't human though, she was a vampire, a fact she'd embraced in some ways, but in others she'd pushed down and away, controlling them so they wouldn't surface, being the good one among her friends. Caroline knew they all thought it came easy to her, all the choices she made day in and day out, but they didn't. Some days were harder than others but she had made the conscious choice to not do what others did.
She wouldn't become Damon, wouldn't use people like he had used her.
She didn't want to become Katherine and kill people to send messages to others, to terrorize because she wasn't getting what she wanted, to be locked in some never ending need to survive while not caring about the welfare of others.
As much as she idolized Stefan she didn't want to become his Ripper side, didn't want the bloodlust to gain control and strip away the value she held for human life.
She didn't want to revel in the kill as Klaus seemed to do so.
Trying to push aside certain parts of her vampirism wasn't helping her either. Blood bags would probably always be her feeding choice if they were available, but she'd seen how difficult it could to be acquire them when she was outside of her hometown, and while animal blood could sustain her, Caroline knew she wouldn't want to sustain herself with it for centuries. Klaus had been right—and oh how the rankled her—she needed to be able to feed from humans.
She had control of everything else. She had managed just fine with the nurse. It was fear that held her back from doing it and not just from remembering how she'd drained the carnival worker. It was the fear of seeing Bonnie look at her like she had right after she'd turned. Or her mother looking at her with that mixture of horror and sadness and terror that Liz had displayed when Caroline had saved Damon and Stefan while terrorizing and killing the deputies. It was fear or losing people she loved because they couldn't handle what she had become.
She'd already lost her father and while the two had reconciled a bit before his death, Caroline knew deep down that he never really would have been okay with her being a vampire, that their relationship had changed too much for them to ever see one another as they had only months before. Change might have been inevitable, something she couldn't stop, but she had eternity now and she had hoped that meant she could slow it down some. Instead it only seemed to charge forth, steamrolling everything she knew to dust.
There would be no waiting fifty years to give into her vampire side. That plan was over, ripped to shreds in front of her eyes, and no amount of tape or glue would ever put it back together. Caroline Forbes had always been a planner, ever since she was a little girl, and she'd gone through many different plans, reworking the ones that had to be disposed of because of alterations out of her control. She would simply reorganize this one as well, though she wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing that at the moment.
She probably couldn't really go about figuring everything out until the whole Silas ordeal ended.
Which meant the only thing to focus on was the here and now and that meant facing some things she wasn't ready to deal with. Case in point the Original sitting on the chair, facing the doorway, ready to pounce on any threat that might dare disturb her.
"Why didn't your wolf try to kill me?"
The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it and she cringed, hating how her vocal chords so often got ahead of her mind, talking before she had time to think things through.
Klaus turned toward her and Caroline hated that she couldn't quite read his expression that she couldn't figure out what was going on in his head in that moment. She didn't like when that happened, despised when the dynamics between them were tipped even more so in his favor, preferring when they were slanted in her direction, when she was able to believe she held some kind of power in their relationship.
Not that they had a relationship.
God, she was in so much trouble.
"It's like hardwired into wolves, isn't it? At least that's what I always heard and being on the receiving end of a few werewolf attacks I'm kind of buying into that," she continued, unable to stop speaking, the words simply spilling from her mouth of their own accord. "And I don't think it's the sun and moon thing that had everyone up in arm—thanks to you—and attacking one another while in their human form." She vividly remembered Brady's intense hatred of her for merely being a vampire. Maybe that was deeply rooted prejudice passed down through the generations but then why did Tyler's wolf or Mason's even seek out the vampires when they were in the woods? That couldn't be prejudice. That was instinct.
Yet, Klaus' wolf hadn't harmed her. He'd tried to offer comfort, seemed worried about her. Though she did remember him snapping once or twice at her through her vervained haze, but had that been the wolf or the witches screwing with his mind? "You tore Vincent apart. Dug into him without a care and you've known him for ages." Whereas Klaus knew her for a few months, not even a full year yet, and he'd tried to help her.
"You know why I didn't attack you, Caroline," Klaus replied and she sighed at that, dropping her gaze while wishing she'd kept her mouth shut. "But you are correct. Wolves are hardwired to kill vampires, to hunt them and end them. Helps that their bite can so easily kill one on the full moon. I'm unsure how that came to be but I wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with the spell Esther used to turn my siblings and I. After all, magic always carries a price."
From every spell Caroline had seen performed she knew that was true about magic so it really wasn't that big a leap to take. "But it doesn't kill you or your siblings. So it's not much of a balance," she pointed out, happy to not need to touch on the first part of his answer.
"No, only those we create to live out a decade or so with us," Klaus countered, and she frowned at that. "Nature didn't seem to realize doing so only gave further incentive for the vampires to slaughter any wolves they came across. Their bite is only deadly on the full moon. Their human teeth won't do much damage to a vampire."
"Plus there was the whole sun and moon curse to spur on the hatred between the sides," Caroline murmured as she sat up, knowing there was little point to keep laying down when sleep wouldn't be coming anytime soon. "I bet you had a lot of fun watching everyone tear each other apart with that one."
Klaus simply shrugged all the while looking entirely too pleased with himself. "It got the job done. You really should sleep, Caroline. I meant it when I said there might not be time to do so again for quite some time and you're young. I doubt you've gone more than a night without sleep yet."
"Shows what you know," she informed him, trying not to grin back when he smiled, obviously amused by her response. "I didn't sleep at all the week before Homecoming." There had been a biology test and a history paper due, plus the fact that Tyler had become a Hybrid and Rebekah hanging around, and everything else that had been happening at that point. "And then I got forced into taking a nap."
"Ah yes, when I pointed out to Tyler that your little group of friends was acting suspicious at my party," Klaus mused, and she narrowed her eyes at his continued amusement.
"I'm so sure that the flooded gym was your fault now. Thanks so much for ruining my amazing party plans. We worked for over a week on those decorations." She would not pout, not in front of Klaus, but Caroline could vividly remember her disappointment over the news that night.
"I always did wonder what you thought of the soiree I planned in its stead." Klaus quirked a brow and she was taken back slightly by the eagerness in his voice before it was quickly masked with a trademark smirk.
"I didn't really get to participate in much. I was kinda knocked out for most of it," she muttered, remembering the needle and waking up hours later, thoroughly annoyed with Tyler. "I do remember being really annoyed with you after I realized it was you who had thrown it and not Tyler. Like how the hell did you go about throwing a better party than me, but you weren't dealing with a high school dance committee budget, so I let that slide."
"I'd also been planning the celebration of Mikael's death for a few more centuries than you had that dance, love," Klaus pointed out, and she had to concede that point as well. "I'm sure you'll surpass what I managed to pull off for some future engagement."
"I do have forever to top you." She couldn't help the teasing smile that accompanied that, wanted to smack her head for the touch of flirtation that had been in her voice.
"I look forward to seeing you do so, Caroline." He was out of the chair then and she swallowed at the predatory look in his eyes, the one that should have made her feel like his prey but was instead tugging at her own instincts, bringing out her predator side as well. She forced it down though, nails biting into the palm of her hand to try and remind her to stay in control. "I also look forward to seeing you do so many things once you allow yourself the experience."
"Uh huh. Things I'm sure you'd be more than happy to help me experience," Caroline murmured, unable to help rolling her eyes. The walls she desperately wanted to start building back up wouldn't cooperate with her though and so she changed tactics. "But actually, I want to work on my feeding." Caroline really didn't expect for her words to further entice him, to draw him to the bed and have Klaus sitting down on it, hand entirely too close to her blanket covered thigh. "Because blood bags aren't always available and I'd like to be able to do it without the whole feeding frenzy and leaving dead bodies in my wake thing. And I know I can do it considering I didn't kill the first person I drank from. It's just sucking it up and doing it at this point and not becoming..." Like Stefan.
"You've excellent control, Caroline," Klaus pointed out. "You don't have the disposition for becoming a Ripper." She wasn't surprised he knew what she feared.
"Maybe not," she conceded. "But I like people. I'm not sure how to rationalize wanting to be friends with some of them and treating others as food. How is that supposed to even work?"
Whatever Klaus's response would have been was interrupted by the ringing of his phone and she exhaled a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding as he fished it out, looking none too pleased. She couldn't help but be thankful that the call had him rising from the bed and away from her for the moment.
"About time, brother," he snapped, and Caroline wondered how Kol and the others were fairing. She hoped he and Lucy had located Bonnie and was able to help her.
Klaus' eyes narrowed for a moment, obviously not liking what he was being told, and Caroline decided to be polite and not listen into the conversation. He was back in front of her in seconds and thrusting the phone into her hands, his expression turning even darker, and she frowned, wondering what had him wound so tight.
"Hello?" She really couldn't see why Kol would need to talk with her or why Klaus would let him. All his brother ever seemed to do was rile the two of them up.
"Caroline?" Hearing Bonnie's voice had Caroline practically leaping out of the bed, no longer able to stay sitting in the confines of the blankets, needing to move.
"Bonnie? Oh my god. Are you okay? What's going on? Where are you?" A million questions asked in succession, no breath in between them, so thankful to finally hear a familiar voice. Bonnie who she'd known since before elementary school, a link to everything she had been yanked far away from, and was still trying to cling to even if Caroline knew the time to stop doing so was fast approaching.
"One question at a time, Care," Bonnie replied, and she heard her friend's laughter and Caroline didn't know if she should laugh or cry at that, all of her emotions rising to the top, wanting to burst forth and consume her.
Klaus was back in the chair, looking murderous, and Caroline turned from him, ignoring the sound of wood being bent as he mangled the arms of the seat while he watched her flutter about the room. "Are you okay? Kol said you're with Klaus," Bonnie continued, and the venom in her friend's voice at Klaus's name had Caroline sputtering to a stop, feet seeming frozen to the floor.
"I'm safe, Bon. You don't have to worry about me," Caroline promised, still purposefully not looking at the Hybrid.
"You can't be safe if you're with him," Bonnie protested, and Caroline shut her eyes at that, listening to her friend list off all the reasons it wasn't safe to be with him.
She heard the wood crack behind her and turned toward Klaus, frowning as she took in the broken chair and sensed the anger coming off of him in waves. "Look, I know you don't trust Klaus and I cannot blame you on that even a bit. I don't trust him with a lot of things," Caroline started, and the amber of Klaus' eyes was more pronounced, but she didn't fear it, didn't fear him. Could he really fault her for not trusting him with everything that had ever happened between them?
Caroline locked her gaze with his before continuing, "But what I do trust is that he will keep me safe. That he will protect me. He won't let anything happen to me. So just let it go, Bonnie." He'd shown that to her on more than one occasion and Caroline didn't doubt that he would continue to do so. Maybe that made her naive but she didn't think so. Not this time.
He'd shown Caroline that he valued her life, something she still didn't quite understand or well, didn't want to understand. Hell, his wolf hadn't harmed her even so Caroline felt she was justified in her belief.
There was a loud crash from outside the room, reminding Caroline of the commotion she had heard when she'd been showering, and her gaze flickered to the door as Klaus moved toward it. "One second, Bonnie," Caroline murmured into the phone as she headed toward it as well.
Klaus had her across the room and pinned to the wall in a second, the phone dropped onto the floor somewhere in all of the commotion. She could hear Bonnie calling out for her through it, could hear the Hunter calling up from wherever they had locked him away, as well as Vincent struggling in the distance.
"Do not leave this room," Klaus told her, his hybrid features in full bloom. "I will compel you, Caroline. Don't think I won't." She opened her mouth to protest that, to remind him that doing so would have her hating him forever. "I have an eternity for you to forgive me for it.
He was out of the room before she could respond and she hissed at that, hating that she was being forced to stay put, and moved to pick up the phone instead. "I'm here, Bonnie. Sorry about that."
"What the hell is going on, Caroline? Are you okay?" her friend demanded, and Caroline tuned her out for a moment, focusing on the conversation between Klaus and Vincent, eyes widening as she took in what they were saying.
"The witches we killed are in transition. They're getting the Hunter," Caroline murmured, wondering how much more was needed before the mark would be completed.
"No, Caroline, you need to stop them," Bonnie urged, and Caroline frowned at that, wondering why Bonnie would want that stopped. Didn't Kol and Lucy fill her in on the plan? "We're not ready yet. We still need a few things in order to destroy Silas. Someone is manipulating this situation and I have a feeling it's not in a way that will help us out. If the Hunter kills enough vampires to complete the mark before we're ready…We only know where two Hunters are now. Who knows if Silas' followers have one of their own at their disposal?"
Caroline's eyes widened as she put everything together. "If the mark is completed then they have the map just like us..." Crap.
"And Silas will rise and the world as we know it will be gone forever," Bonnie finished for her and Caroline let out a long sigh.
"I'll call you back," she murmured, hanging up before Bonnie could answer and dropped the phone onto the nearby chair. Caroline only hoped that Klaus would listen before snapping her neck or compelling her out of harm's way.
Tyler had no idea where the vampires had come from. One moment he'd been listening to stories around one of the campfires and the next the entire campground had been invaded by the monsters. He should have known that sending out scouts to sniff out any local vampires would have consequences. He knew how bad the rivalry between the two supernaturals could be, he'd just thought it might have died down after learning the whole sun and moon curse was fake. Except not everyone seemed to know that little detail. The wolves might have all heard whispers of the Hybrid coming to turn them but that didn't really go hand in hand with the curse that was supposed to relieve them of turning at the full moon. He really needed to get that news out there. Not that it'd matter in the end because wiping vampires off the face of the planet was one of his current goals. There would be no point in worrying about that rivalry once that happened.
He'd never expected the vampires to come out to attack them though. Not even with how Damon had taken out his Uncle. Especially not with how many wolves were all gathered in the area. From what his scouts had said the nearby vampire population wasn't even that big.
Certainly wasn't supposed to contain as many vampires as were coming out of the woodwork, attacking anything that moved. Didn't matter if they were wolf or human, adult or child. They were just trying to rip into throats and bleed everyone dry or rip them apart.
The wolves might have their added strength, even if wasn't quite as strong as they would have been on the full moon, but they didn't have their deadly venom at the moment while in human form.
Tyler did and he spread it as quickly as he could or simply ripping them apart. He tried not to think about another massacre in the woods, tried not to remember his friends' body parts littering the ground. He would not allow that to happen with this pack too. One dead member was too many.
At some point a new player stepped into the chaos followed by the wolves he'd sent out to find the Hunter. He didn't bother to watch the man work, knowing firsthand how good the Hunters were at attacking their intended prey. He did stop killing the vampires though, only subduing them so the Hunter could do his job and have more of his mark grow.
Tyler's focus turned to moving his pack out of the way, on assessing the damage, and making sure the children were somewhere safe. Once the Hunter had entered the game it all ended rather quickly, almost as if the vampires weren't even trying to fight him off. Nor were they attacking the wolves any longer. They were just standing in the middle of everything, being picked off one by one.
Tyler didn't know what to make of it, didn't like the surrender he saw in their eyes before they were killed. Something wasn't right but he couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong. He didn't have much time to contemplate it though as the Hunter whirled around onto him, ready to land a stake into his heart as well.
He might have gotten the chance to kill him if others in the pack hadn't stepped in, shrieking for the man to stop, not moving out of the way. Tyler tried to move so they wouldn't be in harm's way, knowing the Hunters would hurt others if they needed to get to him. He'd seen it all happen before and he wouldn't put his pack at risk again.
His second in command sent off a warning shot right near the Hunter's ear. "Take one more step toward him and I'll put a bullet through your head," Greg called out. "If I don't get you I'm sure one of the other handful of guns pointed your way will. We appreciate your help but you better get the hell away from our Alpha."
"You brought me here to help you deal with your vampire problem," the Hunter reminded, though allowed Tyler to slide out from under him.
"They did that because I asked them to," Tyler informed him, wiping the dirt off his pants and offering reassuring smiles to the worried crowd. "What would you say if I had a plan to eradicate at least one bloodline of the vampire race?" Possibly all of them, but Klaus was his focus. He really didn't care what happened to the rest of the Originals. "Something that can happen with your help."
The Hunter quirked a brow at that, silently assessing him for a moment before he grinned. "You're a different kind of vampire. I can tell that much, but how do I know I can trust you. And really, what the hell do I even need you for?"
"I'm a hybrid. Klaus forced his blood down my throat, killed me, and made me drink doppelganger blood to transition into this. I'm the one who broke the Sire bond and he's gotten killed or personally murdered every other one like me," Tyler started and the Hunter shrugged.
"Sucks to be you, kid, but I'm not seeing how you can help." The Hunter rested his hands on his knees as he continued to watch Tyler. "Spirits are telling me one thing and you're not in their plans."
Tyler kept his expression neutral, not wanting to give away his own doubt over the situation. He had no idea what he was talking about with the Spirits. Was this like Jules and Mason with him? He didn't know and he didn't care. But he needed to give the Hunter a reason to see him as useful.
"Have you ever dealt with Klaus? Do you know his weaknesses? Can you get close enough to kill him? A regular stake won't do it. But I can get what would." Or rather he could get Caroline to do that. If anyone could figure out where Klaus had the last white oak stake it would be her. He didn't really want to put her in that kind of position, didn't want her hanging around the monster any more than necessary, but if it would get Klaus Mikaelson out of their lives forever then it was worth the risk.
"You can keep on killing one vampire at a time for the rest of your life and you'll probably never kill them all. But if you kill one Original their bloodline dies. Every last one. We did it before. My friends and I. Took down an Original." Or well, the others had. "And isn't that what you guys want to do? Eradicate the vampire race?" That's what Tyler had gotten from the information overload Jules and Mason had given him, from the bits he'd heard from Stefan and Caroline when he'd bothered to listen to them, from his own encounter with Connor.
The Hunter's demeanor perked up at that even if he continued to study Tyler, though Tyler was at a loss for what he was looking for. "And what do you get out of this?"
"I just need the cure. To drink and not be this anymore, just be a wolf and not linked to him." Unlink Caroline as well. And Elena. "He killed my pack. He murdered my mom. I just want Klaus dead. I want wolves to be able to roam the world without ever having to worry about vampire attack again. We'll get you vampires to kill so your mark will grow. I'll get what's needed to take Klaus down. Get the cure, fix me, and you can fulfill your destiny."
The Hunter pushed himself off the ground and extended a hand toward Tyler. Guns were still trained on him, every wolf at the ready to take him down if necessary. "You've got yourself a deal."
Tyler took his hand, nodding as they shook on it. "Greg will get you a place to sleep. I need to see who needs to be medical treatment and what we can salvage." And where they could dispose of the vampires, but his pack would be checked over first, and then they'd deal with the dead.
"Klaus!" Caroline shouted, her voice echoing through the house and Klaus could feel his rage boiling over, already having been at the tipping point, as he altered his course from heading toward the Hunter back toward her.
Had he not told her to stay in the room? Did she think he was bluffing, that he wouldn't compel her in order to keep her safe? He didn't want to take that free will from her, to tip the scales in such a way that would have her hating him for who even knew how many centuries, but it was far better option than watching her die and scouring the world for a way to bring her back. She might have been a vampire and had the added strength of one, but she wasn't a match for a Hunter—nor would he want her to deal with the Hunter's Curse if she did manage to accidentally kill the man—and while she could most likely take on some newly turned vampires he wasn't about to take that chance.
Not when the witches priorities had been for Caroline to die only a few hours before. Klaus doubted those priorities had changed much since their deaths. He was curious as to why the witches had drunk vampire blood though, knew it needed to be in their system in order for them to have transitioned. Willingly cutting off their line from magic was something he'd never seen before. He'd forced it upon witches a time or two but actually having witches purposefully transition was something he'd never seen before. It probably had to do with Silas, their belief in some ancient immortal and what he could offer them, and their fanaticism only bolstered his belief that they'd focus on killing Caroline if they saw her.
This was why he didn't love. This weakness that she represented so clearly. This vulnerability that he couldn't seem to carve out of himself and yet someone else could so easily take it from him, rip her from his reality without him being able to do anything but rain down terror and pain on any who touched her. Klaus didn't think he would ever understand how Caroline had managed to bury herself so deeply inside of him, into his veins, etched into his muscles, carved herself into his bones. There was not a layer to him that she hadn't saturated with her presence and he was a selfish man—there was no changing that, not after a thousand years of always eventually getting what he wanted—he would have her, no matter how long it took for her to realize that he was just as deeply etched into every fiber of her being as well.
"You can't let the Hunter kill them. Apparently there was a whole set up with Bonnie and her Hunter as well and they think Silas' followers are manipulating everything because we're not ready yet to—" He grabbed her arms, dragging her toward the nearest doorway. In the distance he could hear Vincent trying to hold off the witches while trying not to harm them, wanting to leave them for the Hunter to slaughter. "Ow! Let go of me!"
"I warned you," Klaus bit out as the door slammed shut behind them, still holding onto her, knowing that his grip was painful, but he couldn't seem to let up. "Stay in the room. Out of sight. Not yelling across this house for me, alerting them to your whereabouts."
"I had to warn you!" she protested, and he despised the fear that ran through her as he locked his gaze with hers. The vervain was all out of her system and it would be so easy to compel, to force her to his will. "Klaus, please." He grasped her chin as she shut her eyes, trying to shake her head, to push him off of her. "You'll be no better than Damon. Than Katherine."
"I never said I was, sweetheart," Klaus pointed out, and her lower lip trembled at that for a moment before that inner strength he so loved took hold of her.
Caroline opened her eyes, glowering at him. "So what? You're going to compel me any time there's trouble? Keep me locked away and hidden from sight? Kinda can't do the whole world traveling thing if that's your plan. I am not one of your siblings. You can't dagger me and then tote me around in some coffin, only bringing me out to play with when it's convenient for you."
Oh but how lovely that would be if it were possible. Stow her away whenever he felt threatened, but he had told her before that he didn't want her to be a doll for him and he had meant that. And if he compelled her then he was heading down the very slippery slope where that would be what she could become.
But the threat of losing her, of someone ripping her from his grasp was eating at him, tearing him apart from the inside and he didn't know how to overcome that, to grapple this fear and destroy it as he had everything else that caused an inkling of terror in his mind. "Train me," she continued, and he was uncertain what she was talking about. "I'm just a baby vampire and obviously you're worried for my welfare or whatever so train me to be able to fight off whatever threats are so going through your head. Not like right now because witches to kill but I figure training to utilize my vampire abilities has to go hand in hand with the whole feeding thing."
Klaus doubted that would be enough to satisfy the insane scenarios happening in his mind but it was a start. And it meant she was willingly spending further time with him, that she was taking another step toward what she was meant to become. He couldn't see any faults with her suggestion. At least not at the moment, especially when it sounded as though Vincent was having some trouble containing the new vampires.
"Very well, but I fail to see how future training helps with the current situation," Klaus pointed out, trying not to grin at her annoyed pout accompanied by a sigh, wondering how she'd gotten the rage he had been feeling to balance out by simply being there. That wasn't good. Or perhaps it was. Only time would tell for that.
"I'll stay in the room," Caroline conceded, and Klaus couldn't quite read her expression, couldn't quite make out what was going in her head. "But don't think that's going to be par for the course in the future, which is why we'll be doing the whole training thing."
"I'll make you magnificent," Klaus murmured, unable to help his predatory gaze as he looked her over, watching her suck in a breath at that.
She'd initiated their last two physical encounters and perhaps he should have continued with that pattern, not wanting to scare her, to set back the developments that had already occurred between them, but Klaus couldn't seem to stop himself, his control snapping as his touch softened, hands moving up to cup her face before kissing her. It was nothing like their previous ones, all softness and ease. She responded right away, her hands no longer held by his own coming up to grip the lapels of his jacket, letting him set the pace and tone.
He pulled away before he could deepen it, enjoying the way her lips trailed after him, seeking more and the delicious tranquility that seemed to have encompassed her. When she opened her eyes, her gaze questioning, he simply drew his fingers down her throat, smirking at her breathy little moan, wondering if she realized just how intoxicating that noise was for him.
Another loud crash in the hallway diverted his attention completely way from her and Klaus flashed out of the room without a word, ready and desperately needing to slaughter some witches.
Apparently killing little Caroline Forbes all those months back had been a good idea in more ways than one. Who knew that the annoying cheerleader who had been a great tool for trying to break up Stefan and Elena would eventually catch Klaus' eye? Katherine had turned her with the idea of having the girl be used in the eventual sacrifice so Klaus would have an option aside from her, but this new development might actually work out in her favor. She just needed to figure out how to use the fact that Klaus seemed to be infatuated with the baby vampire to secure her freedom.
She couldn't threaten the girl. Katherine was certain that would simply equal death and he wouldn't draw it out like he always threatened. No, he'd probably simply rip out her heart and be done with it. Putting out the news to some powerful enemies of his might work out short term, at least offer up a distraction for a few decades, but it would end in the same way as her directly threatening the girl. Klaus would figure out who'd spilled the beans.
Perhaps the key was to play on Caroline's weaknesses, get into that girl's brain and manipulate the baby vampire to be on her side. Unfortunately she had a number of strikes against her already—from having killed the girl, to the whole threatening Matt part, and no doubt the cheerleader would hold everything she'd ever done to the Salvatores and the Gilbert girl against her. It was a puzzle she'd need to put together but she'd managed to do so with far more complicated pieces before if it meant she survived for a few more years.
And that's what it all came down to in the end. Not her happiness, not love, not finding a home. It was all survival, had been for more years than she could count. Katherine couldn't even quite remember what it was like to actually have other dreams, to have other goals outside of not dying, of not being caught. Every time she had nearly reached out for something else, had grasped the idea of friendship or companionship in her hands it was just as quickly snatched away, never hers to begin with.
It'd happened with her daughter, taken from her moments after her birth, never allowed to even really lay eyes on the girl let alone touch her. She only ever had the baby's cries to remember her by. She hadn't even seen the color of her eyes.
Then there was Elijah, who had never really been hers but she had fallen so quickly for him in such a short time. Even as she had believed and clung to the fanciful dreams of marrying Klaus before she'd discovered his true nature and what he'd wanted with her. The last remnants of her innocence had been cast off in the woods as she promised herself that she would live, that she would not be his sacrifice.
Then Stefan and Damon, one fool in love with her while she loved the other. She'd nearly gotten happiness then but like all things in life it was a fleeting moment, one that never quite worked out no matter how many times she tried to force it to happen.
She'd allowed herself to believe one more time in the possibilities when Elijah found her, when he held her close and called her Katerina, when he spoke his promises and they had made a thousand plans. She wanted it more than she'd wanted anything in the past few centuries and yet she wasn't at all surprised to find it crumbling around her again because of his family.
Elijah Mikaelson would always put his family first and she was not his family.
It was a hard truth to accept but one that Katherine knew she needed to come to terms with, no matter how much it tore her apart.
"We leave for the airport in an hour," Elijah started as he walked back into their hotel room. He'd gone to check in on Stefan and Rebekah and Katherine had hated watching him walk out the door, especially because he'd taken the key to the security box where the stone was being held. Any trust she had thought he had in her had been erased in that moment.
"You know I can't go with you," she replied with a shrug. "I'm not about to be anywhere near your brother before I have assurances it won't be my last moment on earth." Surely he couldn't blame her for that. "Besides, I fail to see why you need to be there."
She was up off the chair in moments and walking toward him, all sultry smiles and swaying hips. "Give the stone to your sister and let them save the world while we go enjoy ourselves somewhere a little more exotic."
He caught her hand before it touched his chest and brought it to his lips, brushing them gently against her skin. "My family needs me, Katerina."
"And I don't?" she snapped, yanking her hands from his grasp, not liking how easily he let them go.
"I will find a way for us to be together. For Niklaus to see reason and release you from his revenge," Elijah told her, and she turned away at that, needing a moment to gather herself. Not wanting him to see the cracks in her carefully put together facade. "He has no need for you any longer."
"He never lets so-called wrongs done to him go, Elijah. You know that as well as I do," Katherine murmured. She knew Klaus would always see what she had done that way and never that she'd been simply looking out for her own well-being. He was a selfish ass in that regard. "Not to mention he could still get the cure somehow and shove it down my throat so he can have his never-ending assembly of hybrids."
Elijah was standing in front of her before she even realized he'd moved, fingers brushing her cheek before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I will find you," he promised, and she hated how much it sounded like a goodbye.
Katherine didn't reply; simply let him walk out the door and out of her life all over again. It wasn't until the she heard the door click shut that she started to move, that her brain started to go into overdrive again. She would figure out a way to force Klaus' hand into letting her go, make him suffer for every way he'd managed to ruin her life in the last five hundred years, and if she had to destroy a baby vampire to do so, that would hardly be an issue.