"You think she'll sleep the whole way?" Caroline asked Stefan as she glanced at Bonnie, who was passed out on the backseats.
Their drunk friend had insisted on coming back with them to New Orleans and had fallen asleep as soon as Stefan had swept her into his arms and carried her out of the bar. Not surprisingly, Elena wasn't coming with them, but Caroline made her promise not to look for Damon until Klaus' had gotten over his vendetta; one way or another.
"Let's hope so, because we don't have time for her getting sick." Stefan answered as he started the car and pulled away from the bar and their friends. They had managed to sober up after drinking some blood that Matt for some reason had stowed away, but Caroline still felt a tiredness overwhelm her.
She felt sad about leaving her friends so soon again, but she had a nagging feeling that she knew who was behind Camille's kidnapping and she needed to get the situation under control as fast as possible. Other than that she felt guilty for not doing more to make Pheodora understand that she meant what she said – if it was her, that is.
"What's wrong?" Stefan asked carefully after almost an hour of silence and Caroline ran her fingers through her blonde curls with a deep sigh.
"I think I know who took Camille." Caroline revealed and Stefan eyes' showed the shock he hid from his face.
"Who?" he asked warily and he glanced between her and the road. He was going well over the speed limit and even though he and Caroline would survive a crash; Bonnie definitely wouldn't.
"Pheodora, the woman I told you about." Caroline said silently and a frown appeared on Stefan's forehead as he looked at her in confusion.
"But didn't you-" Stefan started, but was quickly interrupted by Caroline.
"Yes, but Pheodora has a bad habit of underestimating me and she probably thinks I've left town already. Pheodora has no idea who I really am, so she doesn't know about my past with Klaus or you guys. She doesn't know my name or what I really look like, so as far as she might know I haven't been seen in New Orleans at all. And she is working with someone, who maybe didn't want to just let it go." Caroline explained and her voice picked up speed as she kept talking, making her breathless when she finally stopped.
"Who is she working with?" Stefan asked when he had processed everything Caroline had said.
"I don't know. But he or she is American and apparently have some experience with fighting the Originals. Any ideas?" Caroline tried lamely and Stefan laughed bitterly as he shook his head.
"After a thousand years that could be anybody."
"How do we tell Klaus?" Caroline asked with a small voice and she already feared his reaction.
"We don't. For now." Stefan said to her surprise and she watched him carefully. "First we'll find out if it even is Pheodora who is behind it and then I guess we'll just take it from there."
"Won't this be an 'off-with-their-heads' kind of thing if Klaus finds out that we lied?"
"Maybe." Stefan shrugged casually even though he was everything but and Caroline fell back into her seat with a tired groan.
After a stop for gas, Caroline was driving and she felt herself grow increasingly impatient as she drove even faster than Stefan had done. Bonnie was once again asleep in the backseat after they had made her go the bathroom at the gas station and bought her a large to-go coffee.
"Stefan?" Caroline called silently, when they were only a couple of hours from their destination. Stefan looked like he was sleeping as he rested his head against the window with closed eyes, but he hummed tiredly as to say that he was listening.
"What was that whole Elena/Damon thing?" she asked slowly and suddenly felt his eyes on her.
"What do you mean?"
"When Elena talked about not hating Damon anymore, you seemed kind of… happy, I guess." Caroline told him and met his gaze for a short moment.
"Believe it or not, but I actually managed to move on from Elena." Stefan said as he lifted his head from the window and sat up straight in his seat. "Elena makes Damon better and I think he will desperately need that if he is ever set free from Klaus. But Damon is good for Elena too. He challenges her, makes her embrace herself in a way I never could. I love Elena, but I'm not in love with her anymore."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you might actually be right. I will always be team Stefan, but I guess that doesn't mean Stefan and Elena anymore and rather Damon and Elena. I'm sure there's a nickname in there somewhere." Caroline rambled off and a small smile spread on her friend's lips as he watched her gesture wildly with her hands.
"Like Elefan and Elemon?" Stefan suggested with feign seriousness that made Caroline roll her eyes.
"That sounds like some kind of pokémon." Caroline said and smiled teasingly when an idea popped to mind. "I'm thinking more something like Stelena and Delena."
"I got one too." Stefan said enthusiastically and Caroline narrowed her eyes at the mischievous tone in his voice. "Klaroline."
"Who is tha-" Caroline started confusedly, but became silent as soon as she realized who Stefan was talking about. "Haha, very funny."
"So what is happening between you and Klaus?" Stefan asked after a long moment of silence and Caroline blinked a couple of times in surprise.
"Okay, so I'm not going to pretend I don't know what you're talking about, but I can't really give you an answer either. It's like I keep telling myself it's wrong to feel so attracted to him, but at the same time it just feels…"
"Right?" Stefan suggested with a small smile, when Caroline seemed lost for words.
"Yes and no. Because it's more than just a physical attraction, which is just crazy since I've known him for like a day. Yes, I knew him before and all that, but it still doesn't make any sense to me that I feel this way. It's like it feels unnatural that it feels right. And I think my head is literally going to blow up soon if I keep thinking about it." Caroline said and the frustration was clear in her voice.
"Then why don't you stop thinking about it and just live it out?" Stefan asked in an attempt to be helpful and Caroline couldn't help but laugh at his advice.
"I know it's been like five years, but I'm still helplessly neurotic and a control freak. My mouth might have a life of its own sometimes, but in my head I overthink everything. I become overly obsessed and freak out. Usually I just clean everything I can get my hands on as if that will purge my own mind from every dirty thought; and I don't mean that kind of dirty." Caroline told him pointedly, when she saw the amused gleam in his eyes. "And even though I said I made my problems run from me that isn't always the case."
"I guess we just have to find something for you to clean then." Stefan said attentively and Caroline felt her stomach squirm anxiously at the thought of leaving behind her friends once more.
"I guess so." Caroline agreed and sent him a grateful smile. A long moment of silence ensued and Caroline felt his eyes on her as if he knew there was something else on her mind. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. Wait, we're not still playing that game, are we?" Stefan asked and Caroline quickly shook her head. To her account they had all asked their twenty questions a long time ago.
"You said that you spent some 'unpleasant days' with Klaus and Rebekah, while they tried to turn back on your humanity." Caroline said slowly and Stefan nodded for her to continue. "Why didn't they just compel you like I did with Elena?"
"I actually asked the same when I finally got to my senses." Stefan revealed and Caroline noticed how he suddenly seemed uncomfortable with what he was about to say.
"Nik told me that compelling someone to turn back on their emotions is… unnatural. Meaning that it's like forcing someone to feel something they don't want to. Like Elena's hate for Damon. And that can backfire and make the compelled vampire snap, turning their humanity back off more easily than if they were not compelled.
"It's the same the other way around. When Klaus compelled me turn off my emotions some time ago it should have been much harder for me to get them back. I have spent decades without my humanity and it has sometimes taken years to get it back because I've become so good at fighting it. But this time it was more artificial so it was much easier to break out of."
"So what you're saying is that Elena might suddenly snap and turn back off her emotions because of my compulsion?" Caroline asked worriedly and she suddenly felt sick.
"You did what was right, Caroline. I would have done it too if I could. And Elena is strong and with her brother now, so I think she'll be fine." Stefan assured her and Caroline felt herself calm down a little.
"Promise you'll help me look out for her?" Caroline then asked and sent Stefan a pleading look.
"Promise." he said with every intent of keeping his word and a bright smile spread on Caroline's lips.
"I was wondering; do you live with Klaus?" Caroline asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence and looked at Stefan, who seemed lost in his own thoughts.
"My plan was never to actually keep living in New Orleans, so I didn't think of getting my own place. So I've borrowed a room in the townhouse and I kinda of like it there now. Elijah is rarely home and Kol has his own apartment, so it's usually just Rebekah, Klaus, Henrik and I who lives there." Stefan told her and Caroline noticed the content smile on his lips that made her smile as well.
"Why does Kol have his own apartment? The townhouse seems big enough to hold at least ten persons." Caroline asked and glanced at Bonnie through the mirror, when she thought of what the answer might be.
"He said something about the ladies and children don't mix well, but I'm pretty sure it's so he can be close to Bonnie." Stefan explained and followed Caroline's gaze to the sleeping witch on the backseats.
"How close exactly are we talking about?"
"Neighbors."
"Bonnie Bennett, your little wixen." Caroline gasped and Stefan laughed silently beside her. "So how is it to live with a child?"
"Fear inducing, but great. Henrik is a really smart kid and we spent a lot of time together when Nik is out ruling the city." Stefan told her and Caroline couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at his last words.
"That's right, King of New Orleans. Does he really call himself that?" Caroline asked disbelievingly as she stretched her arms against the wheel in an attempt to loosen up her stiff muscles.
"It depends on the point he is trying to make but yes, sometimes he does." Stefan shrugged and even though he had thought it ridiculous and a little too Klaus-like to begin with, he had gotten used to it.
"I suppose Hayley was his 'queen' then." Caroline commented and she couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.
"I think that spot is reserved for someone else." Stefan told her casually and smirked at her, making Caroline blink in surprise. The meaning of his words was not hard to understand and Caroline had to fight the smile that threatened to break through.
"What are you doing?" Caroline asked curiously, when she saw Stefan text someone just as they passed a sign that told them they were soon in New Orleans.
"I just texted Nik that we would be there soon." he informed her and Caroline forced herself to take a deep breath, when a sudden nervousness crept over her.
"This was nice, you know." she told Stefan with a smile and she noticed the small glimmer of confusion in his eyes.
"The road trip was surprisingly fun, yes." Stefan agreed as he read the answer Klaus had texted back to him.
"Not the road trip. I mean that was fun, but I'm talking about this." Caroline elaborated and pointed between the two of them. "The two of us talking again. Like really talking. I've missed this."
"Me too." Stefan said with a smile and the last twenty minutes of their drive was spent in a relaxed silence that helped Caroline drown some of the nerves that kept appearing. When they were five minutes from their destination, Stefan turned around and reached out to shake Bonnie awake gently.
"I hate you both so much." Bonnie grumbled with her eyes closed, when Stefan finally managed to bring her back to life and Caroline laughed at her friend's grumpiness. At least she had slept the six and a half hour it had taken them to get to New Orleans.
Bonnie fought herself into a sitting position and gladly accepted the water and aspirin that Stefan gave her. Her hair was in disarray and her make-up was ruined as she absentmindedly rubbed her eyes.
"How long till we're there?" Bonnie asked with a yawn, blurring her words so they became almost unrecognizable.
"A couple of minutes." Caroline told her as she concentrated on not running down any tourists as she drove down Royal Street. She was surprised to see that the parking spot from where they had taken the car still was vacant, even though she shouldn't have been.
The front door of the townhouse opened just as Caroline stepped out of the car and both Klaus and Kol exited the house, leaving the door open behind them. The deed to the house was in Henrik's name, so no vampire could enter without an invitation from either the boy or someone of his bloodline. Caroline was an exception, though, but she hadn't yet told anyone that she could enter any house without permission.
Kol was quickly at Bonnie's side as Stefan opened the door for her and Caroline couldn't help but smile a little, when she saw the small glimpse of worry in Kol's eyes. Her own met with Klaus' shortly as he walked over to Stefan in long strides and they exchanged a short smile before Klaus began talking to Stefan in a rushed manner.
Something is wrong.
Caroline did a slow spin around herself as her eyes searched every face that passed by them and even though she didn't find anything suspicious; she had this dreadful feeling in her gut. It took her about five seconds to realize that the vampires Caroline knew had been on watch outside when she first visited the house, no longer were present and she quickly glanced at Klaus, who was walking inside along Stefan, Kol and Bonnie.
None of them had noticed Caroline's hesitation and she wondered if it was just her own nerves getting to her. With a small shake of her head, Caroline began walking towards the house, but the fear that she had just pushed away, returned tenfold when she suddenly saw a five year old boy come running towards her from the house.
"NO!" Caroline screamed, when she heard the recognizable whoosh of air and saw Henrik disappear before her eyes. All air was knocked out of her, when a couple of hard bodies smashed into hers and Caroline registered that she was being carried away by two vampires.
Her decision to not fight back was made instantly and all she did was tense her body in an attempt to hide her deliberate helplessness. She could kill both of them in seconds if she wanted to, but that meant possibly losing any way of tracking Henrik, so all she did was hope the vampires would take her to the same place as the boy. It would be easier to fight her way out than in and this way she could do everything in her power to stop them from hurting him.
Caroline's sight was blocked by a hand over her eyes and her senses were clouded by the worry she felt for Henrik, so it became almost impossible for her to know where they were going. When she was suddenly dropped on a wooden floor, Caroline let out a cry in pain, but was on her feet in seconds.
After a quick spin, she realized that she was in some sort of living room and was very much surrounded. The room fell silent as the vampires awaited Caroline's reaction to being kidnapped, whether it was crying or fighting back, but instead she stayed completely still and a mixture of hope and anger spread inside her, when she heard Henrik's cries from upstairs.
"Henrik! I'm here, sweetie! It's going to be okay. I'll get us out of here." Caroline called out and she heard how his crying stopped momentarily. She then turned her attention back to the vampires and her head snapped to a man, who laughed at her mockingly.
"You shouldn't be giving the boy false hope, doll." the vampire drawled and Caroline took a mental picture of him, remembering who she would kill first. She didn't want all this blood on her hands, but if necessary she would kill every one of them to get Henrik away unharmed.
"And you should be more careful with who you kidnap." Caroline told him with a cold voice and she felt the veins appear under her eyes as her lips curled upwards and into a snarl.
"This one is going to be so much more fun." Caroline then heard a familiar voice muse before she felt a hand on her jaw and Caroline's world became black.
He was terrified. Klaus Mikaelson was absolutely terrified and the realization scared him to the point where he felt paralyzed. Someone had taken his son; the child he never wished for but knew that he could never again live without. All concern he had for Camille was gone and even his fear for Caroline's safety was nothing compared to the horror he felt when he thought of Henrik.
As many hours as he had spent convincing himself that love was not a weakness, it was moments like these that made him absolutely certain that he was right in the first place because no one could possibly find situations like these empowering.
Klaus was standing in his office, leaning his hands on the big wooden desk as he impatiently watched Davina cast yet another locating spell with no results. All she got from them was that Henrik was somewhere in New Orleans, but it wasn't possible for her to narrow it down further.
"Why the bloody hell is it taking so long?" Rebekah growled as she entered the room with long strides, but Klaus didn't move his gaze from the map in front of him that was burning around the edges of his city. The large map of Louisiana had been lit by Davina's magic and burned everything away but New Orleans.
"There's something blocking my magic. I can't get closer to Henrik's location than this." Davina explained, her voice strained with the effort it took her to continuously use her powers. A deep frown was set on the forehead of the twenty-one year old woman and a bead of sweat found its way down from her hairline.
"Try something else then." Rebekah suggested as she stood beside Davina's chair with her arm crossed in front of her. The collected façade she had put up was slowly cracking and Rebekah felt the desperation inside of her spreading.
"I have tried everything." Davina said through her teeth and as she released another wave of energy to finish the spell, she fell back in her chair with a loud sigh. "It's not working."
"Need I remind you who saved you from Marcel's chains?" Rebekah snarled at her and kicked the chair Davina was sitting away from the table so the Original could stand in front of the witch as she hovered over Davina threateningly. "Fail us and I will personally put you right back in them."
"As I recall it Elijah got me out of that place. The two of you would probably just have left me there to use for you own good." Davina replied as she defiantly stared back at Rebekah with her chin lifted.
"Leave, Rebekah." Klaus suddenly spoke with a low voice and the blonde spun around to look at her brother with a worried frown on her forehead. She had never seen her brother in such a state and Rebekah took a moment to contemplate if she should do as he said or stay with him.
"Nik…" she tried carefully but took a step back when she heard the sound of wood being splintered and Rebekah looked down to see Klaus' elongated claws digging into the desk underneath him.
"I said leave." Klaus repeated with a small growl that made his sister glare one last time at Davina before turning on her heels and leaving. Davina pulled herself and the chair back to the table and watched the hybrid with wary eyes.
"Do it again." Klaus told her without looking up at her and Davina opened her mouth to object, but was stopped as Klaus lifted his head and she saw the tint of amber in his otherwise blue eyes. She then nodded once and took a deep breath, preparing to cast another locator spell.
"Nik, you might want to see this!" Kol's voice suddenly rang from the entrance hall and Davina had barely registered the words before Klaus was gone with a whooshing sound.
Kol was coming through the front door with a blonde woman by his side and Klaus rushed forward to grab her as she fell forward to her knees. Her hair was in disarray with spots of blood in it and the burn marks on her wrists weren't healing as they should. Her fingers dug into Klaus' skin as she held onto his shoulders and he looked into her eyes that were filled with fear.
"I know where they are." were her last words before her eyes rolled backwards and she fainted into Klaus' arms.
Caroline's lungs burned as air finally filled them again and a silent scream escaped her when she felt a burning sensation around her wrists. Everything around her was dark for a fraction of a second as she looked around, but soon she realized that she was trapped inside a cell like the one her dad once had kept her in and a pair of green eyes was staring at Caroline from the chair beside her.
"Caroline?" the blonde woman questioned in surprise and Caroline flashed her a quick smile that seemed to confuse the other vampire even more.
"Nice to meet you again, Camille. Even though, I wished it would have been under other circumstances." Caroline said, unable to keep the pain out of her voice as she fought against the vervained ropes that kept her there. "You should think I would get used to this after the freaking tenth time, but it just keeps being annoying."
"What?" Camille said in an exasperated voice and Caroline realized she might had to dial down the sarcasm she didn't even know where came from. Especially since she hadn't been anywhere near Damon Salvatore for the past years.
"How long have I been out?" Caroline then asked as she searched every corner of the room to find something that could help them get away.
"Ten minutes or something. What did they do to you?" Camille asked and Caroline frowned at her odd question. The broken neck should have been a pretty clear sign.
"Snap my neck." Caroline told her and watched Camille with a confused expression on her face.
"Shouldn't it have taken you longer to wake up then?" the bartender asked, looking just as confused as Caroline. "I think it once took Stefan half an hour or so to wake up and he's much older than you."
"Well, all vampires are different." Caroline lied with a shrug of her shoulders and she felt Camille's stare as she looked away. Caroline had no idea who was listening outside, but she wasn't going to give away her secret just so Camille could know why she regenerated so quickly.
"What about Henrik?" she then asked, hoping it would stop Camille from asking more questions.
"Henrik?!" Camille asked with wide eyes and Caroline looked at her with equal surprise. Hadn't she listened in on anything going on in this wretched place?
"They took Henrik. I wouldn't be here otherwise." Caroline told her and she noticed how Camille suddenly looked even more scared than before. "Haven't you tried listening to your surroundings?"
"I've been a little bit occupied." Camille snarled at her and glanced down at the ropes burning her wrists, making Caroline roll her eyes. Great, vampire-Camille got easily irritated; what a hoot. Something then seemed to dimmer in Camille's mind and she looked at Caroline suspiciously. "How do you know that I can listen to anything outside this cell?"
"You're a vampire, Cami and you've been that for what? Five years?" Caroline replied and looked the blonde bartender up and down in a studying manner. Over the years Caroline had become good at reading people and her "super-powers" didn't exactly make it harder.
"Marcel did this to me shortly after you left. Thought it would make Klaus do something irrational out of rage, but he clearly overestimated how much Klaus really cared about me. It wasn't me that made him irrational." Camille told and the anger was clear in her voice. Caroline couldn't help but feel a little guilty as the last part clearly was about her. "But how did you know?"
"Since we have some time on our hands I'm going to explain you a little bit about vampires." Caroline informed her and sighed at the dumbstruck expression on Camille's face.
"First of all," she continued without any confirmation that Camille was listening, "a vampire's heart beat differently than a human one. Hopefully you've noticed that despite being dead your heart is still beating. Fiction always says that because we're dead our hearts stop beating, which is clearly wrong. Because blood is still running in our veins and something needs to keep it running: enter the heart. But it doesn't need to keep us alive, just stop the blood in our veins from clotting, which is why it beats slower. So when in doubt: listen to the heart."
"So you listened to my heart?" Camille asked incredulously and a smile appeared on Caroline's lips as she saw the concentrated look in Camille's eyes.
"And the disgusting sound of skin getting burned every time those vervain ropes dig a little deeper into your wrists." Caroline informed with a small tilt of her head. Camille's eyes widened the slightest when she finally seemed to catch the sound of Caroline's heart and the powerful blonde vampire used Camille's silence to widen her own senses.
Unfamiliar voices filled her ears as she blindly guided herself through the halls above them. She cursed silently when Latin words reached her and she recognized them as some sort of spell, probably used to block every locator spell their friends could think of to cast.
Caroline quickly moved on from there, knowing there was nothing she could do about it now and listened for the voice of a child, afraid of what she was going to hear. When a small whimper caught her ears, her hands tightened around the armrest she was tied to but her concentration didn't falter.
"Didn't I tell you not to touch the boy?!" Caroline heard a woman hiss and anger filled her when she recognized the voice as Pheodora's.
"We just thought-" a man started explaining but was interrupted by Pheodora.
"Your job is not to think, Tomas. He told me to leave the child and just take the girls. Now I'm going to take the punishment for your stupidity."
"What punishment? No more sex?" Caroline heard the vampire called Tomas mutter and a choking sound followed, making Caroline imagine Tomas with Pheodora's hand around his neck.
"What did you say?" Pheodora snarled but all that came from Tomas mouth was almost inaudible sounds that Caroline didn't understand. "I didn't think so either."
"Tell Julio and Hans to come down to the cellars. And bring the venom. I think it's time I had a little talk with the girls." Pheodora continued and Caroline returned her focus to the room she was in with a curse. Camille was looking at her with a confused expression on her face, but Caroline didn't have time to answer the bartender's questions. She had to think fast.
"In a minute or so they are coming down here and they are possibly going to torture us." Caroline informed Camille with a whisper and the bartender's eyes widened in shock. Surprisingly, they hadn't touched her at all since she had been taken and Caroline wondered if Camille was just a way to lure Caroline out since Henrik apparently should have been left alone.
"You're going to let me talk." Caroline told her and was surprised when she saw her compulsion work on the other blonde. Someone had forgotten to take their vervain or maybe she had been compelled to never do it. "And when I tell you to run, you run. You don't stop until you're inside the Mikaelson townhouse and if any vampires get in your way you kill them or snap their necks. And you have to remember the location of this house, understood?"
Camille nodded with a blank look on her face that assured Caroline her compulsion was working. She needed Camille to tell Klaus where they had been taken to if she didn't manage to stop the witch and she couldn't risk Camille getting caught by taking Henrik with her.
"This is gonna hurt like a bitch." Caroline said under her breath as she heard footsteps outside their cell and she raised her chin to meet Pheodora with a defiant stare even though the Greek wouldn't recognize her. Caroline watched Camille open her mouth to say something from the corner of her eye, but her compulsion kicked in and not a word left the blonde's mouth.
"Hello again Camille." Pheodora said with a smirk on her lips as she entered the cell and then raised an eyebrow towards Caroline, surprised to see her back to life already. "And Barbie. That was fast. Let me introduce myself: I'm Pheodora, your host for this evening."
"It's Elizabeth." Caroline snarled at her and received a bored glare from Pheodora. She was surprised to see this side of the otherwise charming Greek woman that she had once thought herself friends with and Caroline wondered whether her people skills were getting rusty.
"Well, hello then Lizzie." Pheodora said as she stepped further into the cell with two other vampires with her, probably Julio and Hans. Caroline concentrated for a short moment and found that only one vampire stood in the hall outside. Not surprisingly, Pheodora had underestimated her once again.
"What do you want with us?" Caroline asked, her words laced with an anger that made Pheodora's smile wider. Caroline shivered when Pheodora moved forward and started twirling one Caroline' blonde curls between her fingers. A pained yelp escaped the blonde when Pheodora suddenly yanked the strand of hair forwards, bringing Caroline closer to Pheodora.
"First we are going to make you suffer a little and we're going to record it." Pheodora told her casually and nodded her head towards one of the vampires, who now stood with a phone in his hand. "Then we're going to cut your pretty little head off and sent in a box along with the video to the residence of the Original hybrid."
"Why?" Caroline asked with a shaking voice, acting more scared than she really felt and was relieved to feel Pheodora let go of her hair. "Making him angry is a very bad idea."
"Oh, we're not going to make him angry. We're going to make him desperate, then comes the anger that will become despair before he even manage to bare his teeth at us. We're going to make him suffer so much that he no longer wants to fight. He's gonna beg us to end his pathetic life when the time comes."
"You must be kidding me." Caroline laughed, stopping only when a burning feeling spread on her cheek from where Pheodora had slapped her. She heard a small gasp come from Camille, but ignored her and looked at Pheodora with a dead stare instead. "You really think that the narcissistic sociopath that is Klaus Mikaelson is just going to let you take him to the grave? How delusional are you people?"
"You think that he's a sociopath and yet you're sleeping with him?" Pheodora asked curiously, not noticing how Camille was shifting uncomfortable in her seat beside them. So that was what they thought of them. Camille and Caroline were the blonde bimbos Klaus took into his bed every once in a while.
"Well, you can't say no to a thousand years of experience, can you? The sex is mind-blowing." Caroline told her with a low voice as if they were just two girls talking about some guy. Caroline couldn't stop herself from winking and a disgusted expression found its way to Pheodora's face.
"You do know that you're just a cheap knock-off, right?" Pheodora asked with a smug smile on her face that was supposed to agitate Caroline.
"Please, don't you think I've heard the story? She's not even real! I mean if she was, wouldn't she like be here? The most powerful creature in the world is in love with you and you decide to just disappear? That doesn't make any sense at all." Caroline said and rolled her eyes. It was weird talking about herself in such a way, but she had a feeling that things would become much worse if Pheodora knew who really was sitting in front of her.
"She's real and we're looking for her right this moment." Pheodora informed her and Caroline frowned in an attempt for keep away any sign of a smile from her face.
You're looking at her, idiot.
"And how do you know what she looks like?" Caroline asked with a small tilt of her head that seemed to irritate Pheodora.
"We know someone who has met her before." Pheodora told her calmly, but there was a hint of jealousy that caught Caroline's attention. So that person was probably the guy she was screwing, the one who was really in charge. Caroline kept her face blank as her mind went through every face she could remember from the last five years, but no one particular sprung to mind.
A weird silence had filled the room and Caroline realized with a smile that Pheodora was waiting for her to speak. Caroline had unconsciously turned the tables and despite being tied to a chair; she had taken charge of the conversation.
"Well, if you're looking for her then why the hell do you need us?" Caroline asked with an irritated voice that made the corner of Pheodora's eye twitch.
"Because your deaths will be a warning to Klaus. A warning that we're looking for his little girlfriend. And when he finds her and brings her back to keep her safe, we're going to snatch her right from his arms and that's where the fun begins." Pheodora told her as she leaned forward with her hands on Caroline's arms, carefully not to touch the vervain ropes.
"Now, enough with the talking. Let's get started, shall we?" Pheodora said as she was given a knife from one of the vampires behind her, who had been completely silent so far.
"I think we should." Caroline agreed with a low voice as Pheodora came nearer with a sadistic smile on her lips. It felt like the ropes were burning through her wrists as Caroline used all of her strength to break them. Caroline's actions made Pheodora hesitate for a short moment and it gave her enough time to get out of the chair and plunge Pheodora's knife into the Greek's stomach before pulling it upwards.
Pheodora fell to the floor as Caroline quickly snapped her neck, withdrew the knife and stabbed one of the other vampires in the neck. Before the cameraman could react Caroline had snapped his neck, but a hiss escaped her when she suddenly felt the knife in her back. Without thinking Caroline spun around, making the vampire freeze in his spot as he felt her hand around his heart.
"Sorry." Caroline mumbled before she pulled it out and she quickly dropped it on the floor before removing the knife from her back and running to Camille. She cut Camille's ropes in seconds and then looked the blonde bartender in the eyes. "Run."
In the same moment the door was opened by the vampire in the hall and Camille was past him before he even could blink. The vampire opened his mouth, but all that was heard was a crack as he fell to the floor with a broken neck. Caroline stepped over him and took a few seconds to listen to the rest of the house. She heard a couple of bodies hit the floor somewhere inside the house and hoped that none of them was Camille.
Caroline listened further and quickly found who she was looking for. Fifteen seconds later she entered the room on the second floor, where a witch sat in deep concentration. She had managed to get past the few vampires in the house unnoticed and the witch didn't seem to register her presence until Caroline cleared her throat.
"Haven't you been told not to interrupt me?" the forty-something year old witch sneered at her. She was clearly not a vampire fan. The witch was sitting behind a wooden table and several candles were lit all around her. Caroline sped in front of the desk, startling the witch slightly and leaned down to look in her eyes.
"I want you to stop." Caroline compelled the witch, knowing it was a long shot. The woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously and then opened her mouth to call for help. She was cut off by Caroline's hand as the blonde was standing right behind her and whispered into the witch's ear.
"I really don't want to kill you, so I'm going to ask you nicely to stop. Just close your book and shut up." Caroline told her with a calm voice, hoping not to scare the witch out of her senses. "There's a little boy here that I need to save. An innocent boy, who never has had any say in his father's actions."
As the witch slowly moved her hands down her sides, Caroline released the hold she had around the woman's neck, but stayed behind her with her mouth close to the witch's ear.
"I know that you have a child as well." Caroline informed her in a non-threatening way, but the woman still tensed at her words.
"How do you know?" she asked with a shaking voice that made Caroline feel bad for the witch. This didn't exactly seem like a cause she committed to and rather one she had been forced to join.
"I'm a little unusual." Caroline said with a small smile, but quickly returned to the seriousness of the situation. "If it was Samira they held captive you would do anything to get her back too. Which why I know you'll understand me when I tell you that I will kill you if don't help me."
"What if the others find out?" the witch asked and Caroline held back a triumphant smile.
"Tell them that you're casting a more powerful spell. Trust me, they're not that bright." Caroline told her with a reassuring smile as she moved to leave the room. She wasn't quite sure what was going on around her as she had focused solely on the witch, but Caroline had to make sure that Camille was gone.
"Thank you for your help. Now I must make my grand escape." Caroline told the witch, who already seemed to be concentrating on finding a new spell to cast, and left the room.
She slowly moved down the empty hall on the second floor as she listened closely to any sounds coming from the first floor. She was standing at the top of the stairs, when she heard the front door open and it was soon followed by a growl and a shocked gasp.
Caroline barely looked at the man as she ran down the stairs and out in a small hallway to remove his grip from Camille's throat. The man was thrown against the opposite wall and was quickly on his feet, but not until Camille had already escaped through the open front door.
"Caroline?" the man asked incredulously and she felt how she froze in her spot as she recognized the voice of her ex-boyfriend.
"Tyler?" Caroline breathed with wide eyes as she spun around to face him. They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes but just as Caroline was about to move, she suddenly felt the jab of a needle piercing the skin of her neck. A searing pain spread through her body as she fell forwards and into Tyler's arms.
A/N: Someone asked in a review if Tyler was going to play a part in this story again and I don't think I ever replied, but here's your answer;) Did anyone see this coming? I did leave a few hints here and there...
I know Caroline might have seen a little OOC in this chapter with the killing and stuff, but lots things have happened to Carebear while she was away and she might not be as forgiving as she used to be. It'll be more apparent later on.
Hope you all had a great new year and 2015 hasn't been too hard on you yet despite the rotten state of the world.
Tell me what you think of the chapter:)