Caroline and Klaus stopped outside a big red house on Royal Street. Caroline had walked by before and she realised that this was the Mikaelsons' home. It looked old and beautiful but Klaus didn't give her more time to admire it before he dragged her to the door. He let go of her hand and entered through the door, leaving Caroline trapped on the other side.
"I welcome you in." Klaus said with a smile on his lips and bowed. Caroline felt confused as she stepped through the door without hitting the "wall" she had before. How could a vampire invite her into a house? She knew that if a vampire owned the house, any vampire could go in. And if you had to be invited in, it had to be by the owner or anyone in that human person's family.
"Wait… How was that possible?" Caroline asked as she pointed at the closed door with a confused look in her eyes. Klaus smiled at her and stepped close to her, invading her personal space for the hundred time within the last twenty-four hours.
"Have I told you how much I adore your mind?" Klaus said in a seductive voice and a flirting smile on his lips. Caroline smiled at him and rolled her eyes as she took a step around him. She was secretly flattered by his words but wasn't about to show him that. Nobody ever called her clever, except for him.
She turned to face him with her arms crossed after taking a quick look at the large hall. She looked at him with a waiting look and a weird expression crossed Klaus' face.
"It is a spell the witches performed." Klaus said in a flat voice that told her to let it go and then walked past her and through two large doors. Caroline shook her head at his vagueness and followed him into the living room. The large room was bright as light shone in from two large windows turned towards the street. There was a fireplace at the end wall and in front of it two sofas facing each other.
A large armchair was standing in the corner between the fireplace and the windows. The first thing Caroline did was to sit down in the big chair, knowing that it probably was his. Klaus looked at her with raised eyebrows and a wide smile on lips. He moved to the sofa and sat so he could look at her.
"What are we doing here? If you're not going to help me, I really need to go home." Caroline said to break the silence. Truthfully, she wanted to stay. But she could never do that to the others back in Mystic Falls.
Caroline had called them her friends multiple times but she wasn't sure that was the truth. Her relationship with Elena had never become the same after she got her feelings back. And then there was Damon. And Tyler. Caroline felt alone in Mystic Falls without Stefan and Bonnie and she didn't want to go home to that. But she had to.
Klaus didn't answer her question as he turned his eyes towards the ceiling. "Rebekah, love, can I see you down here? And I need you to Elijah." Klaus said without raising his voice. Caroline looked at Klaus with an astonished look as all the Originals suddenly were gathered in the room. How could he know that they would hear him?
"How did you…?" Caroline started before interrupting herself. "No wait. Don't answer that. Let's just get on with this so I can go." she said, waving her hands in the air. She noticed how Klaus smile faded, when she revealed that she wanted to get away as fast as possible. Then she turned to look at Rebekah and Elijah.
Rebekah was looking at her with dull eyes and her arms crossed, clearly showing that she didn't wanted to be there. Elijah surprised Caroline by sending her a small smile before he sat in the sofa across from Klaus.
"Caroline. How nice that you're here. You look rubbish, by the way." Rebekah said and sat down in the sofa beside her Klaus. Caroline saw how Klaus sent his sister a warning look and realised that she probably didn't look too good. She had just spent the last minutes sobbing and crying so her eyes were most likely red and swollen.
"So nice to see you too, Rebekah. How is Matt?" Caroline asked, ignoring Rebekah's insult. She felt too emotionally drained to join Rebekah's bitch fight. At the mention of Matt, Rebekah's face lightened up and she sent Caroline a small smile.
"He is good. Starting his finals for the semester soon." Rebekah replied with a caring voice and Caroline couldn't help but smile to herself. As much as she was against this weird relationship of theirs, it was nice to know that someone was looking after her friend, when he wouldn't let her do it.
"Why did you call us down here, Niklaus?" Elijah said, breaking the weird silence that had followed Caroline and Rebekah's exchange of politeness.
"We all need to hear what Caroline has to say about Silas. And then we'll discuss how we are going to put him back in his grave." Klaus answered while he looked at his siblings. Caroline rose from the armchair as soon as she realised what he had said. They were going to help them. They would help them put down Silas.
"You will help?" Caroline managed to say, not sure if she had understood him correctly. Klaus looked at her and his face was full of emotion. "Yes." was all Klaus said as he smiled at her.
Caroline wanted to throw herself in his arms, right then and there. She wanted to hug them all but knew that they probably wouldn't like it. Well, Rebekah and Elijah probably wouldn't. For a moment Caroline didn't know what to do with herself. In her mind she was already on her way home.
"Thank you." was all Caroline could whisper in the end as she sat down in the chair again and met Klaus' eyes. All the emotions that went through her were mirrored in his eyes and for a long moment, they were alone in the room.
Then Rebekah's voice interrupted them and Caroline turned her attention to the Original bitch. "Nik, for God's sake! Don't we have more important things to take care of here? Besides, why should we help someone who has tried to kill us so many times?"
Rebekah's words woke Caroline up and she felt the irritation spread inside her as it always did when Rebekah was around. "Like you haven't tried to kill us multiple times! Who was it again that made Elena and Matt drive over the bridge? If it had been Damon and not Stefan at that bridge, Matt would be dead now, Rebekah!" Caroline said, trying not to raise her voice.
Rebekah stood up from the sofa and took a step towards Caroline. Her movements made Klaus stand up as well and Caroline saw the hurt in the girl's eyes, when she realised that Klaus wasn't on her side.
"They killed our brothers, Nik." Rebekah said with a pleading voice. Caroline saw how Klaus' body stiffened and Caroline felt the situation take a turn it shouldn't have. She might have forgiven him but she had no idea how he felt about forgiven her friends for what they had done. The chances looked pretty bleak.
Klaus stepped forward so he was standing right in front of his sister. Then he placed a hand on her cheek and said with a low voice: "And now you are dating Finn's killer so let's just leave at that, shall we little sister?"
Caroline tried to hide her relief as the siblings sat down in the sofa again and looked at Elijah's back to give them the privacy they needed to compose themselves. She felt Klaus' eyes on her but she was afraid to meet them.
"Why don't you tell us what happened, Caroline?" Elijah said, breaking the silence once again. Caroline looked away from his back and took a deep breath before she began.
She told them about Bonnie's death and how the spell had broken. She saw how Klaus' jaw clenched when she told them about all the time she had spent with Silas, thinking he was Stefan and how they all looked slightly horrified when she explained who Silas really was.
"How can Silas real form be Stefan?!" Rebekah said with a confused look in her eyes. Before Caroline could answer, Elijah did it for her.
"Because Stefan is Silas' doppelgänger." the Original said and Caroline couldn't help but look at Elijah's back with an amazed look. He certainly wasn't stupid.
"How is that even possible?" Rebekah asked without trying to hide the confounded look in her eyes. Caroline looked at Elijah's back for a moment before answering to see if he had figured that out as well. When he didn't speak, Caroline told them what Silas had explained to her.
"It was Silas himself, and not Qetsiyah, that created the spell to make him immortal. Silas can't die and therefore nature created a version of him that could, a shadow self, a doppelgänger, to balance it out. Silas is Stefan and Damon's ancestor. He is part of the Salvatore bloodline."
Caroline noticed how even Elijah's body seemed to tense at these news. Caroline had had a hard time believing it too but Silas had patiently told her over and over again until she understood. It had been torture.
"Where is Stefan now?" Rebekah asked with a voice full of worry. Caroline knew that despite everything, Rebekah still had feelings for Stefan. She shot a glance at Klaus, who was looking at something in front of him that wasn't there and she could see the worry in his eyes. Klaus had felt betrayed by Stefan but she knew that he still cared for his old friend.
"We don't know. Silas won't tell us what he has done with him. He keeps saying that he either killed him or Stefan just left on his own. But we know that's not true."
"What does he want?" Elijah asked, turning his head to look at her from the corner of his eye.
"He wanted the cure. And then he was going to find another witch, teach her expression and let down the veil again. But we didn't have it so now it's like he just want to create as much chaos as possible. Release hell on earth." Caroline answered with a tired voice.
"I have a feeling that our dear brother Kol warned us about this." Klaus said with a bitter smile on his face. Caroline tried not to look at him but as she glanced at him quickly, he trapped her with his eyes.
"What happened to the cure?" Rebekah asked with a suspicious voice and Klaus released Caroline from his gaze by looking at his sister. Caroline shot a quick glance at Elijah, who had stiffened and realised she had made a mistake by telling about the cure.
"Well… Elena she… she lost it." Caroline hesitated and she could suddenly feel Klaus' eyes burning through her. When she felt his gaze turn, she looked at him to see that he was staring at Elijah with a suspicious look in his eyes. Had he seen her look at Elijah? She doubted that Klaus could actually figure out what had really happened but still she felt nagging fear appear inside her. Her thoughts were cut off by Rebekah's yelling.
"What?! You lost the cure? You can't just lose it, Caroline. Where did you put it?!" Rebekah had stood up and was pointing at Caroline with rage in her eyes. Elijah came to Caroline's rescue.
"Calm down, Rebekah. You cannot be serious about wanting the cure anymore. Have the last few days taught you nothing?" Elijah told her in a firm but calm voice and for some reason it immediately shut her up. Caroline had no idea what they were talking about but she noticed a small smile appear on Klaus' lips.
"And he told you all this?" Elijah continued in an attempt to take the focus away from the cure. Caroline knew that Klaus had noticed what Elijah was doing and she cursed him inside his head. Why did he have to be so damn calculating… and intelligent.
"Well, I've been spending a lot of time with him so when I was about to head off to college, he decided to keep me in town by telling me everything." Caroline said and shrugged her shoulders.
"So Silas has been back for what, two months?" Rebekah asked as she had calmed down after her hissy fit. Caroline nodded, kicked of her ballerinas and pulled her feet up under her. It was weird how she was actually feeling comfortable sitting here with the Originals.
"What changed, love?" Klaus asked, talking for the first time since Caroline had begun her story.
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Why did you suddenly choose to ask of our help two months after Silas' return?" Klaus said and Caroline could see in his eyes that he had figured her out. She felt her heart skip a beat as she thought of the real reason, who was staring at her right this moment.
After Silas had appeared as Klaus, Caroline had had the idea of asking their help. Besides, after her break-up with Tyler she began feeling lonely and the thought of seeing Klaus again had suddenly sounded appealing. But she wasn't going to tell them that. Then he would ask the exact question as Tyler had: "Why did Silas appear to her as Klaus?"
"We've tried everything to take him out but nothing seems to work. I even managed to track down a piece of a white oak and stake him through the heart but he just pulled it out, grinned at me and then… he… he killed my mom." Caroline felt her throat tighten but managed to keep the tears away.
"I'm sorry, Caroline." Rebekah said, making everyone look at her in surprise. Caroline saw how the Original got slightly offended by their looks and she crossed her arms as she murmured: "I'm not that big a bitch."
Caroline couldn't help but smile at the blonde vampire as she thanked her. Caroline could feel Klaus eyes on her but she knew that if she looked at him, she wouldn't be able to keep the tears away so instead she continued talking.
"The worst part is that I think he let me do it. And he looked so betrayed afterwards as if he thought we had actually become friends in the time he posed as Stefan. He'd just kept haunting me ever since. He appears to me all sorts of places and scares the hell out of me every time. I think he's infiltrated my dreams too."
Caroline glanced at Klaus quickly at the mentioning of her dreams, which he kept appearing in. She had thought it might be some trick that Klaus had played on her but she had realised that he wouldn't do that even if he could from so many miles away. It had to be Silas.
Klaus was looking at her too with his fists clenched and a dangerous look in his eyes. Clearly, he was ready to take on the Immortal and there was something about it that made Caroline worried.
I can´t believe I'm worried about Klaus' safety. The big bad hybrid.
"I know how this must seem. Me, coming running here, asking for your help after everything we have done to get rid of you. Trust me; I only came here because I have nothing to lose. This is not plan A or B. This is plan Z."