Disclaimer: I don't own any of it or make any money from any of it, all of it belongs to those who created the Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
The first time she became a vampire, she woke to the sound of florescent light busy with electricity overhead, the noise of human voices, the smell of blood. She woke in a hospital, which is by far the very worst place you could wake up while in transition.
Unless you're in a quiet little village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tasty smelling humans and nobody strong enough to stop you because you just so happen to be a brand new baby original vampire.
She is one of the first to wake, gasping for breath, clawing at it with her lungs, reveling in the sweet taste of air. Esther looks up from her place by the fire, her gaze fixed on Caroline's face, "At last…"
Rebekah is next, and then Klaus, and then Kol and Finn and Elijah. Mikael wakes last, a collective silence falling heavy on the little hut as all eyes turn towards him. Esther's voice breaks the silence, standing as she meets their frightened gazes, "I know what I have done to you is frightening…but it must be done to protect you. I have made you strong...stronger than the wolves who seek to destroy you…to destroy our village and our way of life. Henrik's death will not go unanswered—we will defend our home." She turns, wielding a bowl of what Caroline knew had to be blood. "The key to your transformation is this…you must feed or you will die by the days end. Once you do so…you will always have to feed…blood is your life source, it will sustain you."
There was a bizarre difference between being a baby vampire, and being a baby original vampire. She has never in her life felt such a pull for blood, such overpowering hunger she wanted to rip that bowl out of Esther's hands and drink it all. She wanted to rip Esther's throat out and roll in her blood, she wanted to tear this village to pieces….
Apparently, the others had similar ideas.
Esther has no time to react when they all charge at her, Caroline tearing at Kol, Kol tearing at her, Klaus barreling right through both of them as he snatches the bowl from his Mother's hands, drinking greedily before it's knocked from his hands and they all drink it up like animals, off their hands, the floor, ripping at each other, fighting for that last sweet taste of blood before Rebekah catches a whiff of something sweeter and wanders away towards the door while Mikael is too distracted by the scent of blood to stop her. It's when the screaming starts that he notices, and in a flash of movement he's outside looking for her.
Then everybody else goes outside and a massive shit storm descends on that poor little village.
Of course, there are consequences that come with such things, and they would soon learn them. For now, they embraced the hunt, fed voraciously and danced under the stars. It was euphoria and electricity racing through her blood as she fed, and every time she tore into another throat, she felt so high, floated so far up into the stars that she forgot herself, the smell of the river, the wind in the trees, the taste of fresh blood, the scent of the forest…her senses, her reflexes…everything was different.
In the morning, those who went unharmed would call the attack a savage raid made by the wolves. The Mikaelson's secluded themselves indoors during the day, having discovered the burn of the sun every time they went out.
This was not helping matters.
"Niklaus if you can't sit still I will make you sit still," Kol snarls darkly, glowering at his pacing brother.
"Will both of you please shut up?" Elijah snaps irritably, weary of their bickering.
"I wasn't doing anything, Kol was the one-…" he trails off when Caroline smacks him in the arm, giving him a pointed look.
"I'm almost done," Esther announces as she gazes around them room, "you must refrain from fighting until then…you know that your strength is different now, you could easily destroy our home in your anger."
"Boy," Mikael grouses from his place at the table, "sit down."
Klaus glowers defiantly at Mikael but does as he's told, Caroline dropping down onto the floor beside him.
"If you push him any farther he's going to throw you outside," Caroline teases him lightly.
"That's an excellent idea," Mikael chimes in and Caroline winces, forgetting that everyone's hearing is heightened and not just her own.
"Enough, all of you," Esther interrupts sharply, "I need to concentrate."
"We're all going mad cooped up in here Mother," Kol whines aloud, kicking the wall in frustration and wincing when he knocks a hole in it.
"You're going to fix that," Mikael announces without looking up, drinking deeply from a bottle of wine on the table.
Amidst it all, Caroline sits beside Klaus, gazing at the flames, pondering her new immortality. She doesn't see the way Esther watches them, the way Klaus's fingers trail along her hand, itching to hold it or the way Esther notices the connection between them. As Caroline stares into the flames, she begins to see images, strange images dancing in the flames, blinding flashes of light and sound as memory begins to break through.
She gasps sharply….and then she remembers.
Everything.
She looks at Klaus like she's never seen him before, the images of nights and days spent together in his house, a massive sex-a-thon with brief interludes of wine and dancing and conversation.
She didn't just kiss this man, she's slept with him…in just about everywhere she can think of. They drank and they fucked and they slept side by side in the same bed. They showered together, they fed together…she did things she couldn't believe she actually did considering he murdered Carol Lockwood and slaughtered Tyler's whole pack.
The worst part…is there's more.
How many times did he compel her to forget all of this? How many times have they been together, shared love and life…
Sweet fuck did she let him paint her naked?
"Oh my god…" Caroline stares at the fire, a flush of bright red creeping up her neck and she fights very hard not to flinch away from Klaus who sits beside her, totally unaware of what she was currently remembering. In his mind, they'd only ever kissed…he wasn't caught up to speed just yet because he hasn't gotten to that part of the story yet.
She also remembered her life in Mystic Falls….and what Esther did to her.
That bitch.
"Caroline," she blinks as she looks up, Klaus's voice doesn't come from beside her but from across from her, his image as he stands in modern clothes, meeting her gaze, "Caroline listen to me…this is important. By now I'm sure you've recalled out little…rendezvous," he smiles wickedly for a brief moment before continuing, "and you'll be seeing this as well…I left this image in your mind because I knew one day you'd be in a position to retrieve something for me that none of us would be capable of doing…I need you to retrieve something from my Mother and hide it so that we might find it here in the present."
"Forgive me…I know it was wrong to steal these memories from you but it was necessary to protect our family…." Klaus's voice is a distant memory, his eyes were pleading for her to understand even as his image faded and she was left alone in the past with he and his siblings once more.
He wanted her to steal something from his Mother, a pendant of a sparrow, a particularly dear item of value given to her by her sister Dalia.
How was she supposed to do that?
Esther makes daylight rings for all of them, and they try desperately to return to normal life. They fail miserably of course, with Kol ripping into every pretty young thing that crosses his path and Rebekah unable to contain herself for even a split second every time somebody gets a scratch. The last somebody got injured Caroline had to practically sit on her to keep her from tearing through the village in broad daylight for all to see.
Klaus was an entirely different problem.
One nobody anticipated save for Esther, Esther who failed to account for it when she changed them all. It happened on a cold clear day late in the fall, Caroline toiling endlessly to keep up appearances though none of them save Esther needed to eat or hunt or make salves…the only thing they required for survival was the one thing easiest to obtain for something like them. Caroline struggled to be inconspicuous with her efforts, feeding off livestock and wolves she catches unawares in the forest. Kol is to forthcoming with his habits, Mikael is always after him about his behavior because if people discovered what they were….it would be the end of them.
"Elijah—any sign of him?" Caroline calls, trudging over muddy hills towards the elder brother, a basket over one arm.
"I can smell him on the breeze," Elijah says, "I heard him earlier…I think he's changed back by now."
"He's a werewolf," Caroline says aloud, "that means…"
"That means that Mikael is not in fact, his Father…" Elijah trails off faintly, a look of concern on his face, "Thyra we have to find him."
"We will," Caroline reassures him gently, pushing onward into the woods with Elijah at her side.
They find him before long, naked and covered in dirt and blood as he sits on the forest floor, knees pulled tight beneath his chin. "Finally,…" Caroline says, rushing forward only to have Klaus throw out a hand to ward her off.
"Stay back," he says, and she can see the pain in his eyes, the horror of what he's done.
"Nik," Caroline says gently, pushing forward despite his warnings, "It's ok…the moon is gone, you won't change again."
"I can still feel it," he says softly, "I can feel it just beneath my skin, pushing and aching and struggling to be free."
"Six…" Elijah says after a beat, "You killed six villagers Niklaus…this cannot go on."
"What am I brother?" Klaus weeps quietly, clinging to Elijah's arms as he helps him up. Caroline covers him with a blanket, kissing his shoulder gently.
"I have no idea," Elijah says gently, "but Mother will know what to do."
"He's a hybrid," Caroline says quietly as they walk, both brothers stopping to look at her curiously. "A vampire and a werewolf…you're the best of both worlds…but you have both weaknesses."
"She lied to me," Klaus says after hearing her words, "Mother lied to me…Mikael was never my Father."
"No," Elijah says after a beat, "No he isn't."
Dark magic comes with a price.
Even Esther, one of the most powerful witches the world has ever seen could not evade such a consequence when she turned her children into monsters. When she created the spell, adapting it from something she stole from Silas, she hadn't anticipated what it would do to her children. The sun became their enemy, the bark of the white oak their peril, the violet flowers they once loved to lay in became their bane.
But there was a greater price still.
Caroline saw that price paid in blood and death, the night Esther confessed the truth to Mikael, to Niklaus about his true parentage. That night in the flames of a burning village Mikael slaughtered them all in his rage, an Ansel was the first to die. Klaus is his torment went after him, but only found his Father slaughtered like the rest of his pack.
Yet that wasn't even the worst of what was to come.
It began with Tatia.
She would remember the day as clear as a bell, the blood on his hands, the woman in his arms. Elijah loved Tatia with every breath in his body but when he came into the village carrying her broken body, Caroline felt like she'd never seen him before in her life. Elijah Mikaelson, ever the confident gentlemen, ever the rational man of endeavor and responsibility. Never a day came that she saw him fail his family, his unfailing loyalty and love for them drove him on. Yet the night he became a vampire, she saw the monster within crawl free and devour whatever stood in his path.
Even Tatia.
"Save her….please…" he whispers brokenly, blood on his face, his clothes, his hands…Esther looks at Caroline, then at Elijah as she touches his forehead, whispering softly to him, telling him to clean himself up, whispering to forget what he's done….
When he goes, Caroline only stares at the girl who bore such a strong resemblance to Elena she wanted to tear Elijah's eyes out.
"Never tell him," Esther warns Caroline as she turns with Tatia in her arms, "Never tell him the truth—he will not remember this moment and I beg you Thyra…never tell him."
Then she's gone.
She finds Klaus in the woods, he smells like blood. The hunger that burns in her gut, burns in all of them and she can understand the difficulty in restraint. After all she saw, she only longs for comfort and solace in his arms. They have no words between them but it is an unspoken truth they love one another. Caroline couldn't bring herself to say it aloud, and he feared to tell her least she turns her back on him. He didn't know yet of Tatia's demise and she couldn't tell him, so instead she kisses him, lets him lick the blood from her finger tips and drink the taste of it from her lips as she revels in the taste of his.
It is a hurricane of need, two creatures made from darkness on the forest floor, against trees, tearing at clothing, kissing and devouring each other like wild things in the night. He isn't gentle with her but she isn't complaining, neither really understood their own strength yet, but they weren't likely to hurt each other either. It's nothing but skin on skin and his lips on her body, her hands on his, his weight pushing her down into the foliage, claiming and demanding, making her back arch and his name cry from his lips. He was such a demanding lover at times, she has these memories of their lovemaking back in the present, she can taste that same fire in him right now, she loves the way he wants her, the wave he craves her, the way he claims her and owns her in these moments. Her soul and her breath and her heart were his.
Once they start they can't seem to stop, vampire sex was way better than regular sex, and they spend hours roaming the woods, loving each other, lying in the grass as they stare up at the stars. Finally, it is Rebekah who finds them, all but irritated with them because she can't keep them separated for more than a few minutes before they get distracted by each other again.
"Mother wants you in the village," Rebekah tells Klaus, turning to head back.
"Looks like were being called home," he tells Caroline as he offers his arm, the two walking together back towards the village.
They're ambushed the moment they enter the village.
"I'm sorry brother," Elijah says as he and Finn restrain Klaus, dragging him towards the stand in the distance, tying him too it as the moon fills the sky above. Caroline screams but is dragged away, clawing at Mikael with all the rage she can muster, fighting to get away from him until she bites down on his arm with all she has and he roars in pain, throwing her like a ragdoll across the ground, rolling into the garden unmoving.
Klaus roars, his eyes following her form, Esther chants and his siblings stand around him. Caroline can barely manage to crawl towards him, Mikael only knocking her aside whenever she tries to stand.
"Stay down you stupid girl," he snarls, "don't make this any harder than it has to be."
"I'll kill you," Caroline spits venomously up at him, "So help me I will."
Such conviction in her words, such belief….it almost seems to put him off briefly before he bends low and snaps her neck with one sharp yank.
When she wakes…everything is different.
The village was burning.
She walks through a scattering of corpses, blood stains every door and window, the ground beneath her feet. There is terror in her heart when she sees Esther, sprawled lifeless on the ground, a gaping hole in her chest.
"Nik?" Caroline asks nervously, fearfully.
"Thyra!" Rebekah shouts, running towards her, "Your alive…nobody could find you…"
"Where's Nik?" Caroline says urgently, fearful.
"He's fine…well…" Rebekah shifts her gaze around the village, "Completely off his head…but otherwise alright."
"What did he do?" Caroline says in quiet horror, "He did this?"
"Mikael did this," Rebekah says quietly, "he killed Mother after the ritual…."
"This is insane," Caroline says in a panic, taking her by the hand as the two rush to find the others.
They gather as a family, bury their dead and mourn in silence. They know they can't stay, not with a burning village and everyone dead. Not with Mikael still out there, roaming the country side drowning in his rage. Not with Nik as he is, with the vengeance burning in his heart for what his Mother did to him.
"Always and Forever," would be the words they whisper in the early dawn, holding hands as they bury Esther.
Always and Forever.
Present Day
She hears it before she sees it, a sleek black car pulling into the driveway of the Forbes house. Caroline, curled up in the window of her bedroom stares down at the car before casting her diary aside to stand.
Elijah.
She watches him step from the car in one fluid motion, and she is transfixed. She hasn't seen him in decades and he looks exactly the same save for a haircut and a change of clothes. With a blur of movement, she's down the stairs and standing outside on the porch, looking at him looking at her.
"Elijah," Caroline beams, tears burning at her eyes when she darts forward, throwing her arms around his neck, embracing him with joy. Over his shoulder another steps from the car, a woman with a willowy form and golden hair cropped at the chin. Mossy green eyes meet her blue and for a moment Caroline could swear she saw Mikael in her gaze.
"I have missed you sister," Elijah says into her hair, his arms creeping around her shoulders to embrace her back.
"I never thought I'd see you again," Caroline murmurs brokenly, fighting back quiet sobs, "I tried so hard to get back to you…to Nik….Mikael wouldn't let me go…"
"I know," Elijah pats her gently before carefully prying Caroline off of him, nodding towards the woman beside them, "This is Freya."
"Freya?" Caroline freezes, her gaze focused on the other blond, "Your Freya—the Freya? The Freya that was lost to plague?"
"One and the same," Freya smiles wanly, "I wasn't lost to plague however—but that's an entirely different story…maybe I'll tell it to you sometime."
"I'd like that," Caroline says and then beams up at Elijah, "Where's Nik?"
"Preoccupied," Elijah says vaguely, his eyes telling more than words ever could. Nik wasn't preoccupied, he was cautious just as she predicted he would be.
"What's happening to you arm?" Freya's voice cuts in, her worried tone drawing focus to the problem at hand. Caroline glances down, and a strange numbness creeps through her veins. Then it curls higher and higher, and the faster it moves the more crippling the pain becomes as she stumbles away from Elijah, horror in her eyes.
"What's h-h-happening to me?" Caroline chokes out, frightened.
"Your desiccating," Freya says, an analytical gaze following the trail of corruptive magic along Caroline's arm and towards her heart.
"I can't breath," Caroline says, clawing at her throat, stumbling back away from Elijah and Freya. Her legs give out and she collapses, her body like lead.
Then it stops.
She lays there for minutes before a collective sigh of relief is heard from the group. "Is it over?" Caroline says after a beat.
"Caroline, I-…" Elijah pauses as he steps forward, watching his sister in law cry out in pain every time he steps close.
"She's cursed," Freya says pointedly, "Elijah step away from her—I need to figure out what we're dealing with."
In the house they clear off the living room coffee table, Freya raiding the kitchen for anything she can use before meeting the others back in the living room.
"I need a vial of your blood," Freya tells Caroline, "and a few other ingredients I can't find in your kitchen."
"What you need?" Caroline asks, quirking a brow. The first thing she did when she was strong enough was gather herbs and flowers, things she could use in case Mikael came calling.
Freya makes a list, Caroline retrieves them and Freya is left with a weary expression. "How?"
"Just being prepared if Mikael shows up," Caroline says and pauses when Freya flinches.
"Got to you too huh?" Caroline says, dropping down onto the couch to regard her.
"Mikaelson blood is what triggers your desiccation," Freya says, avoiding the question, "except me of course—Mikael didn't account for me when he had you cursed."
"Why have me cursed at all?" Caroline counters and then pauses in thought, pacing the room. In the kitchen, she can hear Elijah making tea, the sound of the neighbors mowing the lawn, the wind in the trees. "Of course—in case I escaped him. He wanted Nik to hurt—taking me was just one way he could inflict pain on him…so he had me cursed in case I escaped, just to make sure I couldn't go back to him."
"Shouldn't be too hard to remove," Freya says thoughtfully, "A little of your blood, a few herbs and a spell…I can cleanse you of the curse and we can all go home."
"Optimistic little witch, isn't she?" Another voice chimes in, Damon Salvatore popping his head around the door frame to flash a charming smile, "Hi."
"Damon," Caroline says with a small sigh, "what?"
"So, I was in the neighborhood and remembered oh yeah—we've got a homicidal blood drinking witch running around…maybe they could help."
"We don't have time for a witch hunt Damon," Elijah adds from the kitchen, "We have our own crisis to deal with."
"Ah," Damon says while pointing at Freya, "Just imagine what he'll do when he finds out she's here."
"We won't be here long enough for him to find out," Elijah says pointedly from his place in the kitchen, idly stirring his tea.
"Yeah—about that," Damon says smiling knowingly.
"That's not Damon," Caroline says, paling considerably.
"Welcome back Original Barbie," Damon-who-is-not-Damon says with a broad smile, "So glad you brought friends."
In seconds, she is on the ground, agony ripping through her head with a scream of pain. Elijah flashes into the room, only to be thrown back into the hallway. Freya stands, ready to fight but never gets the chance, her magic was powerful but it didn't last long against Silas. He's quick as a flash, invisible knives slicing at her shoulder, making her scream out, blood dripping down her shoulder. Her hand clenches at the wound and she stumbles back, Caroline getting to her feet while Silas is distracted by Freya, anger flashing in her eyes.
Man, it was good to be an Original.
Her senses heightened even further, faster than she ever was before, she is a blur of violence that barrels into Silas at full force, teeth ripping into his shoulder savagely.
"Bad girl," Silas scolds lightly, sending her flying back into the far wall, his free hand brushing the already healing wounds at his neck. "No biting." He grins at her agony, his gaze shifting between her and Elijah, "Opps…looks like you two got just a little too close."
"Elijah," Freya cries, "Get away from her—wake up!"
"Now, now," Silas turns to face Freya, twisting Damon's face into an ugly smile, "Play nice little Mikaelson, I only came for what I am due."
"My Mother got the spell from you," Freya coughs, blood seeping from her nose as she stands on shaky feet, "I know…but she paid her dues…leave us alone."
"Not entirely true," Silas tisks lightly, pacing the room, "See—she stole that spell from me and twisted it into something disgusting…I'm only owed something from her in return," he grins, watching her thoughtfully, "I think I'll take you."
"Not gonna happen," Freya says with hand outstretched, focusing all her power on Silas.
"None the less," he smiles wanly, "Your blood will due for now."
She doesn't have time to react, he's on her before she can stop him. She screams out when his hands clench her wound, forcing blood to seep thicker and faster from it into a tiny vial he pulls from his pocket. "Mikaelson blood…one down, two to go."
Then he is gone, and Freya collapses her last sight being Caroline unconscious and desiccated and Elijah, sprawled on the floor in the hallway.
"Caroline," Stefan's voice echoes in her dreams—she's dreamed about Stefan a lot over the years. His voice says her name again and she blinks open her eyes, realizing she wasn't dreaming at all.
"Stefan?" Caroline says, her throat dry and aching, "What happened?"
"Silas happened," Freya moans from her place on the couch, an ice pack held against her forehead.
"Elijah?" Caroline jumps, pulling away from Stefan as she searches for her almost-sibling.
"I'm here," he calls from the porch outside, "I thought it best I stay outside for now—give you an opportunity to recover."
"In the closet," Damon's voice announces as she stumbles into the room, "He snapped my neck and shoved me into a closet—so unclassy."
"Hey," Caroline says as she stands, "You alright?"
"I'm fine," Damon says with a wince as he rubs the back of his neck, "Irritating prick left me in the closet."
It makes sense now.
She wondered why she hadn't noticed she was alone in the house, why nobody was with her, why it was so quiet. Now she understood, Silas got the jump on Damon and had been waiting in the wings for the right moment to strike. "Why didn't I notice?"
"He probably used a spell to distract you," Freya says groaning as she sits up, "He's clever."
"Speaking of spells," Elijah says after a beat, "We need to sort out the one our beloved Father left on Caroline."
"Yes," Freya nods, running a hand through her hair, "We'll get started in a minute but first…coffee."