Chapter 19
After Klaus 'asked' Rebekah to help Caroline find the others, they had been searching the house until they finally stopped in front of a room.
"You go check inside. I'm going to check in the other room." Rebekah commented idly and stepped back as Caroline opened the double doors of the room and entered inside. The room was huge, almost empty and very dark. She took a few steps inside, she could barely make out anything in the room even with the help of her vampire sight.
"I can't see a thing…" Caroline announced and turned back to see Rebekah grinning evilly. Caroline frowned and took a step towards the evil original sister carefully, "What's going on Rebekah?" she asked cautiously.
Rebekah didn't reply instead grabbed and the door handles and shut them locking the younger vampire inside. "What the hell! Open the door" Caroline banged and the doors and tried to even break them but they wouldn't open.
"Ughh! Stupid originals. Stupid ball. Stupid everything!" Caroline exclaimed as she tried to look around the room for any other exit. All of a sudden the lights were flicked on. She blinked a few times to adjust to the brightness of the room. When she did, she could make out a figure in the middle of the room.
"Hello?" She asked moving slowly to that figure. It was a person that much she could tell from her position. But when she moved closer she saw that it was someone chained in the middle of the room.
"Car… Caroline?" The person asked in a frail, trembling voice. But she could recognize that voice anywhere very well. It was the person who made her suffer so much that today she refused to be weak, little Caroline anymore.
"Damon?" she asked and hurried towards him. He hummed back in response. "Why the hell are you here? What happened?" She asked and tried to open the chains but a burning sensation coursed through her hands and she let out a scream of unembellished agony.
"Aah! Vervain." She yelped out while she waved her hands in the air desperate to get rid of the pain.
Damon coughed and laughed a little, "Looks like the badass hybrid is little more pissed than I thought." He joked. Caroline turned to him again and took in his present condition. His shirt was ripped open, chest exposed and covered in blood. His face was pretty bashed up too. One could only wonder what Damon did now to upset Klaus.
"Wait. Let me wear my gloves and get you out of this mess" she spoke up as she wore her gloves and began working on the chains. "We have to get out of here and find Stefan and Matt and Jeremy. They're all missing too" she commented as she finally broke the chains from one hand. His free side limped on her form and she caught him.
"Whoa! Steady Damon" she said and broke the other side of the chains easily and helped him stand on his own.
"Wait. You have to know why Klaus is…" he wasn't allowed to complete when the doors flew open and the man of the hour came barging in.
"I see you found Damon" he commented with a false smile. But his smile was most certainly not returned. "So this is why you invited us here? So you could carry out some sick revenge fantasy against us?" she asked sarcastically moving to stand directly in front of Klaus, maintaining eye contact.
He ignored her questions and smiled at her again. "Did you happen to meet the rest of your friends?" he asked. But Caroline's expression gave him the answer very clear. Her face paled visibly and her lips parted trembling only the slightest. Her body went somewhat flaccid and her movements stilled at the thought of the rest of her friends being in danger. Her reaction triggered Klaus' grin to widen.
He carefully came closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders gently whirling her around so her back was firmly pressed against his chest. He moved his mouth closer to her ear. His lips brushed against her earlobe, "Do you have any idea how easy it was to gather your little Scooby gang here?" he asked in a cold voice. He rubbed his rough palms against the soft, smooth, milky skin.
"Cat got your tongue love?" he asked when he received no answer from her. He paused his ministrations on her arms and his hands gripped her upper arms painfully as he rested his chin on her shoulder. His rough stubble rubbing against her soft creamy skin. A feeling he loved and surely he'd never get enough of it.
"Just leave her alone. Fight like a man and stop hiding behind the girl" Damon coughed out from the floor where he'd fallen when Klaus came into view and Caroline stopped supporting him.
Klaus merely chuckled but didn't loosen his grip on Caroline or change his spot, "I'll ask whose hiding behind the girl when Elena comes into view, mate" he said darkly. Damon's eyes widened and he tried to pick himself up but failed miserably and dropped to the floor once again. Klaus and Kol had given Damon a good beating after the Sheriff had so kindly injected Damon with heavy doses of vervain.
"What did you do Klaus?" Caroline asked trying to keep her voice firm and steady but failed miserably. Klaus had done something to her friends and she wasn't sure if she could handle anymore of her friends being in danger. What was even more scaring was the thought of what Klaus wanted to do with them anyways? No one could protect them if they couldn't protect themselves. No! She had to be strong. For the sake of her friends who were in danger. And more importantly at the mercy of Klaus.
Klaus smiled and buried his head in her hair, inhaling her scent of … lavender, lilies and honey. A pure and light mixture of love. He loved her scent and because of this he could smell her anywhere.
"I assure you I didn't do anything… at least not alone. Your mother, your little boyfriend and my siblings of course." He said with a hint of irony and mockery. He watched her reactions carefully. How her eyes widened at the feeling that little pang of hurt deep inside her heart at the realization that her own mother or her own boyfriend could betray her like this. He did not want her to feel any pain at all but this was necessary for her to understand how she hurt him when she constantly resisted him and denied him herself. She was his and there were no opinions about it. Not at least in his view anyways.
Caroline felt like she was gonna throw up. Her insides were on fire and her body was tensing up. She felt like she could not breathe. But one of the perks of being a vampire, she didn't need to breathe. How could her own mother and her boyfriend betray her like this? If they could do this, she wasn't sure who she could trust from now on. No! This must be one of Klaus' tricks she thought to herself. Klaus loved to play such mind games so it was obvious he would've done some manipulation in this situation too.
"No! You're lying. Mom or Tyler would never do any such thing and, that too, to help you. Never!" she hissed at him and moved away from him like if he touched her she would burn.
Klaus' expression turned serious, almost sympathetic, "But it is true. Tyler bit Damon because I asked him to and your mother needed a little less motivation than Tyler I agree. I just told her everything that transpired between you and Damon or shall I say, how he forced you into …" he spoke and with each word spoken, his voice became louder and more venomous.
Tears sprang out of Caroline's eyes, she shook her head and looked desperately towards Damon for any sort of help but he too was already on the floor looking away apologetically. This was all his fault. She hated to have to live through everything again. He was making her live through all the pain again. Klaus was the one who deserved all the hate and anger not Damon, not Tyler, not her mother. It was all his fault.
"No! No! No! Just shut up! You don't know anything and you have no right. So just stay out of it okay!" she practically yelled at him as tears stained her pink cheeks and she could feel her body was on fire. She wanted to scream, shout and yell on him. Who the hell did he think he was?
"I won't stop until you admit how much he hurt you Caroline. How much you wanted to hurt him when he hurt you, bit you and fed from you. Admit it to everyone here" he said harshly. Caroline was so busy controlling her emotions that she didn't realize the audience that had gathered in the room. Stefan, Matt, Jeremy, Bonnie, Elena were thrown in one corner of the room. All of them bruised in some way other than Matt. Even Elena the precious doppelganger had a bruise on her cheek. They all looked exhausted and from the other two original siblings standing in the room grinning, she could only connect that they had making her friends suffer.
"No! I felt nothing" she said quietly hoping this would all just end. She wasn't just a lost little puppy who'd say everything master Klaus would feed her. She was strong and she could fight this. She felt the veins under her eyes starting to pop and her vampire features emerging.
"That's a lie. Your true nature even opposes to your lies Caroline. Just admit it how much you wanted to kill him when he used you only to get to Elena like you weren't important at all" he said. Each and every word stinging like poison and cutting as sharp as a knife. She could hear Elena and Bonnie's protests but all she could do was cry and internally curse herself for being so weak in front of everyone.
"ADMIT IT!" he yelled in her face in anger. Caroline flinched and she didn't realize the words that left her mouth only until after she couldn't take them back.
"OKAY FINE! Yes! Yes I hated him with every fiber in my body. Every time he fed from me I only thought about doing the same to him, every time he used me I only thought of the pleasure of driving a stake through his heart. When we slept together I only dreamt of all the torturous things I would do to him if I had this power over him." She said and let out one last sob and then lowered her gaze.
"Are you happy now? Let us go!" she spoke up after a century of silence. No one even dared to make a move to upset the hush. She looked up to see him, not smiling but, looking content.
"Happy? No. Satisfied? Not yet." He answered and moved towards the rest of her friends while she just looked away again.
"So, who wants to be punished first?" he asked cheerily as he paced in front of the chorus line.
"Punished for what?" Caroline asked suddenly whipping her head up and moving to stand in front of her friends protectively.
Klaus smiled and touched his lips with his index finger as if trying to contain his laughter. "They claim to be such good friends of yours, yet knowing everything none of them made one move towards Damon. A punishment is in order, don't you think Kol?" he asked and looked towards his brother hopefully. Kol always did love torture and such games. One of the many reasons he agreed to help his elder brother. He could care less about avenging some girl, although he was fairly certain that treating a lady in such manners deserved only death.
"I agree. Starting with this little witch here." Kol said moving towards Bonnie, licking his lips and rubbing both his palms together.
Caroline's eyes widened and before she could even move forward, Rebekah came forward and grabbed her, trapping both her arms between their bodies. "Sorry sweets, can't let you do that" Rebekah replied sweetly as Caroline struggled against her.
Within a minute, Stefan flashed in front of Bonnie but it took Klaus only a second to snap his neck along with Damon's as they both tried to intervene.
"You brought be here because I was unconscious but I won't let you treat us like we're all a piece of meat" with that said Bonnie moved her hands up and began chanting. Suddenly Klaus was on the ground on his knees, holding his head, screaming in pain. Kol flashed to Bonnie and placed a hand on her lower spine and the other on the back of her neck.
"Just one twist and I'll have snapped your pretty little neck. I hate killing pretty, little things please don't force my hand" he pleaded sarcastically and passed her a toothy smile. Bonnie just glared him and he, too, fell to the ground with his head in his hands.
"Elena, take Matt, Jeremy and Caroline and go" she said tiredly as she kept all three originals down and a crimson liquid leaked out of her nostril. It was blood. Caroline was out of flash her friends out when she saw Bonnie visibly weaken and stumble a bit. She motioned for Elena to go and take Jeremy and Matt while she stayed with Bonnie.
"Bonnie stop. You're killing yourself" Caroline said shaking her friend by her shoulders. The witch just shook her head as blood kept dripping from her nose and ears and tears stained her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Caroline. Klaus is right. We should've stopped Damon. Or at least he should've paid afterwards but we didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. I'm so sorry Caroline" she said as more blood streamed down her nose, ears and she almost fell into her friend's arms.
Caroline didn't even spare a second glance at the others in the room and flashed Bonnie out of there. She kept running with her friend in her arms and didn't stop even for a second until she reached Elena's house. It was the only place where none of the originals were invited.
When she reached inside and laid her friend on the couch, she heard the sound of a truck pulling up. It must be Matt's she thought. She quickly placed a blanket over her friend and ran outside. It could be the originals but she could care less when her friends were in danger. She was relieved when she saw it was her friends. She quickly embraced Elena while Matt and Jeremy went inside.
"I'm sorry Caroline. I'm sorry I never thought about you…" Elena's sobs were cut off by Caroline's voice.
"Elena stop! It's okay. You did everything you could and besides I've forgiven Damon. I won't be able to forget but I can forgive him and I have. Now let's get inside" she said and the brunette nodded briefly before moving inside the house.
Caroline shut the door after they entered inside and leaning against the door, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least the human population of her friends was alive and well. She took a minute to herself. Everything was just too overwhelming. She went to a ball with a 1000 years old, immortal hybrid where he decided to teach her friends a lesson for her mistakes. Yes, Damon was her mistake. Or so she believed. She was to be blamed equally. She should've never went after Damon. She should never have been this insecure. Her insecurity was the thing that got her killed and turned into a vampire. It was all her mistake. She needed to get Damon and Stefan back.
She quickly gathered herself and moved to living room where everyone was gathered. Upon entering, she caught everyone's attention. Matt opened his mouth to begin his apologies but she cut him off by holding her hand up.
"Look guys please don't do this to yourself. It was a mistake and I was equally to be blamed. There's no need to apologize. Besides I've forgiven Damon and Klaus was just wrong to bring it up again. I would just appreciate if you guys wouldn't ever talk about it again" She spoke and looked at them all pleadingly. "Please" she added persuasively.
They all nodded and smiled to her which she returned sheepishly. After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Caroline realized that they had pissed off three originals and left two of their friends behind at their hands who happened to be vampires but still not nearly powerful enough to even take on one original, let alone three.
"Guys I have to go get Stefan and Damon" Caroline spoke up finally breaking the silence. She got replies full of protests and anger but she shushed them down.
"Someone has to go and get them and after tonight… I think only I can deal with Klaus" she stated dryly.
"But Caroline it's Klaus we're talking about. He won't just let them go" Matt protested.
Caroline sighed, "I know he won't. I'll make some sort of deal with him. And don't worry I'm not gonna leave town with him. Not again. Just stay safe yourself guys and take care of Bonnie" She said and moved towards the door.
"Care you can't just go… Stefan and Damon can find their way back themselves…" Elena started off but Caroline cut her off again.
"That's it everyone. Stay inside. I'm going. I swear I'll call if there's something wrong" she announced and moved out. As soon as she stepped out of the Gilbert household, cold air hit her skin and goose bumps rose all over her skin. The flimsy material of the dress wasn't helping although she didn't feel the cold anymore but all of her senses were heightened. She quickly began walking back towards the Mikaelson Manor, practicing how to beg Klaus for her vampire buddies' lives. Although when she reached the front door, her mouth felt dry and she couldn't understand a thing she could say to convince Klaus.
"Here goes nothing!" she muttered to herself and moved inside the manor.
A/N:
Sorry for another author's note. Thank you for your support and all your reviews, hope you liked it. Okay so I found a beta for my other story which I am going to publish with the next update of this chapter (I promise) I was just wondering if any of you lovely fans would prepare some fan art for my story, 'Deal with the Devil', I have gotten five covers so far and they are all amazing. The best fan art gets to be the cover of this story and gets to add a Klaroline scene of their choice in the story which I will incorporate in the future chapters.
Looking forward to some great stuff. Take care. Don't forget to review my lovelies!