"This is it?" Stefan asked as they stood in front of an ordinary looking two story house in the outskirts of New Orleans. Everything seemed quiet around the house and only a few humans were passing by on the curb outside the house.
Camille looked it over one more time with searching eyes, ignoring Klaus' angry breathing and nodded at Stefan with certainty. This was definitely the place that she had escaped from but the silence seemed strange. Before anyone could react, Klaus was at the front door and he opened it impatiently, not caring about who might be waiting on the other side.
The others watched in surprise as Klaus strode into the house without meeting any barrier and quickly followed him into the empty house. Inside, Klaus was standing in the middle of some sort of living room, but disappeared when he suddenly heard something.
Rebekah was quick to follow him, while Stefan stayed in the room with Kol and his aluminum bat; the rest of the vampires either outside or searching the rest of the house. Stefan frowned when he watched Kol pick something from the floor, but caught it easily when the former Original tossed it to him, surprised to discover that it was a heart.
The question was now who the heart had belonged to and who had torn it out?
Stefan dropped the heart on the floor as the searching vampires came back from looking through the house. They had found two bodies in one of the rooms; one of a vampire without a heart and one of a woman, who was slouched over a book of grimoires with a broken neck.
After reporting to Stefan, they were all sent outside and only a few moments passed before Rebekah entered the room with Henrik on her arm. Both men smiled at the boy, who was almost asleep in his aunt's arms and Stefan felt a wave of relief that disappeared as soon as he thought of Caroline, who still hadn't shown herself.
"Where's Caroline?" Stefan asked worriedly, but with a low voice as to not disturb Henrik.
"Downstairs with Nik." was all Rebekah said, her voice just as low as she looked down at her nephew, who fought to keep his eyes open. She then walked out of the house with Kol on her heels, probably rushing home with an army of vampires at her side.
Stefan quickly detected the whereabouts of his friends and a couple of seconds later he found himself standing in the door to a cell. His eyes widened and worry overwhelmed him when he registered what was happening inside the room.
Klaus was sitting on one of the two chairs in the room with Caroline in his lap and just as Stefan entered, he bit into his own wrist and rested it on the lips of a barely conscious Caroline.
"Come on, love." Klaus whispered into her hair, inhaling sharply when Caroline's fangs suddenly dug into his skin and she started drinking his blood. A small moan escaped the blonde's mouth and Klaus couldn't help but smile in both relief and satisfaction.
"What happened?" Stefan asked with a rather uncomfortable look on his face as he watched the intimate moment between his friends. He felt like he should leave but he needed to know what had happened to his best friend first.
"Werewolf venom." Klaus replied with a low voice and for a moment Stefan was surprised that the hybrid even had heard what he said. Klaus seemed almost lost in Caroline and Stefan had to look away as he noticed how Klaus' fingers were playing with Caroline's filtered curls.
"But it couldn't have been in her system that long." Stefan pointed out and frowned as he suddenly noticed the dark veins that were slowly disappearing from Caroline's upper chest.
"It seems like someone decided to play doctor with our dear Caroline and injected it into her carotid artery. Quite clever since it made the venom spread much faster. Another hour and she would have been gone." Klaus informed him with a calm voice but the anger was unmistakable. Caroline squirmed in his arms when Klaus' fingers gently traced the veins up towards her neck and he immediately removed them with a worried look on his face.
As the veins seemed to disappear entirely, Klaus slowly pulled away his wrist from Caroline's mouth and an adulterated smile grazed his lips when he heard Caroline whimper in protest. He then took a stronger hold of Caroline, whose head was slumped against his shoulder with her lips almost touching the skin of his neck, and stood from the chair to follow Stefan out of there.
"Did you find anything in the house?" Klaus asked as they walked up a small stairway and back towards the living room. Caroline almost seemed to be sleeping and Stefan couldn't help but think what other things they had put her through.
"A dead guy without a heart but I think we found it in the living room. And a woman, who I think was a witch, with a broken neck. But we don't know who killed them." Stefan informed and looked at Klaus curiously when he suddenly halted in the living room to look down at the bloodied heart on the floor.
"Could you take her for a moment, mate." Klaus then said with speculative look on his face and Stefan quickly reached over to take Caroline into his arms. For a moment she seemed to cling onto Klaus and the men shared a quick look that made Klaus smile and Stefan roll his eyes.
Klaus then picked up the heart from the floor and Stefan frowned when he watched the hybrid smell it and then grab one of Caroline's hands. The Salvatore vampire's eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw the smeared-out blood on her hand and he looked down to see more blood on her jeans. Seemingly, Caroline had tried to wipe away the blood from her hand and Stefan concluded that it was most likely because of Henrik.
He watched as Klaus took one of Caroline's finger tips and placed against his tongue for a short moment, making Caroline shiver in Stefan's arms and once again making him feel like a third wheel to their small moments.
"Well, this poor lad was certainly undone by Caroline." Klaus told with an almost amused tone in his voice and Stefan's widened in surprise as he looked down at his sleeping friend. Caroline must have been truly desperate if she had resorted to killing, but on the other hand there was still so much he didn't know about her.
"And the witch?" Stefan inquired, not sure why he thought Klaus would know and as expected the hybrid just shrugged. Stefan was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly noticed Klaus tense up and his eyes quickly searched the room to find what had caught his friend's attention.
When he found nothing out of the ordinary, he looked at Klaus in confusion to see the hybrid inhaling deeply before he disappeared to somewhere inside the house. When Caroline stirred slightly in his arms, Stefan looked down to see her staring back at him, but her eyes closed the moment Klaus stood in front of them again.
With a quick movement Klaus suddenly grabbed a lock of Caroline's hair and sniffed it, making Caroline tense in Stefan's arms. The look in Klaus' eyes was positively murderous and his eyes were fixed on Caroline as some realization seemed to hit him.
"Nik, what-" Stefan started but was cut off by the scowl on Klaus' face, making Stefan lean slightly away from the angry hybrid.
"Tyler." Klaus' then growled and turned his gaze back to Caroline, who was now gripping Stefan's neck tightly while still pretending she was asleep.
"Tyler?" Stefan asked in confusion as his own grip on Caroline got tighter as well; something Klaus clearly seemed to notice.
"I'll never forget his smell and right now, it's everywhere." Klaus snarled and rage blazed through his eyes as they glided over the room. He then went back to glare at Caroline's still body for a moment before looking into Stefan's serious gaze. "Take her back to the house. Now."
The anger in his voice was so evident that Stefan just gave the hybrid a quick nod and walked out of the front door. A roar was heard from inside the house just before he flashed away with Caroline in his arms.
"Are you sure he's okay?" Caroline asked again before returning the blood bag in her hand.
"Yes. He's tired and a little traumatized, but other than that he's fine. And he keeps talking about Disney World." Stefan told her for the third time as he sat down on the sofa beside her.
"I might have promised him a trip there." Caroline admitted with a small smile, glad that the boy was focusing on that instead of the other things that had happened. She placed the empty blood bag on the coffee table in front of and started fiddling with the skirt of the dress that Rebekah had reluctantly lent her.
"He will keep you to that promise, you know." Stefan informed her with a smile of his own, but their small talk didn't seem to ease the nervous tension in the room.
"If Klaus don't kill me first." Caroline laughed humorlessly and a frown appeared on Stefan's face.
"He won't." Stefan assured her with that serious expression on his face that he did so well.
"How do you know? I know that he bit me once to get to Tyler. How is this any different?" Caroline asked with a doubtful voice and watched her friend's eyebrows lift in surprise over her revelation.
"How did you-" Stefan said but was cut off by Caroline who answered with a carefree voice.
"Flashback."
"Are you okay?" Stefan asked worriedly, knowing how much the flashbacks hurt her.
"I've tried worse. Like twenty minutes ago when a deadly venom was spreading towards my heart." Caroline said with shrug, but Stefan noticed the small shiver that went through her body and placed at comforting hand on her knee.
"Caroline, I promise-" Stefan said but was once again interrupted. This time it was by the front door slamming shut in the entrance hall and both their heads turned towards the sound, knowing what was about to happen next.
Both Caroline and Stefan quickly stood up when Klaus strolled into the living room and Stefan took a protective step forward as to shield Caroline, making Klaus smirk maliciously.
"Leave." the Original hybrid told Stefan with a calm and collected voice but the anger was still present in his features. Stefan met Klaus' glare for a long moment before turning his head towards Caroline, who sent him a reassuring look and nodded.
When Stefan turned his eyes to Klaus again, the hybrid wasn't looking at him anymore as he instead was staring at Caroline, who met his gaze with her chin lifted. None of them seemed to cast another glance at Stefan as he left the room and closed the double doors to the entrance hall after him. In front of him stood Bonnie, Kol and Rebekah; all looking just as worried as he felt.
Inside the walls of the living room, the tension was slowly building but Caroline kept quiet as she continued to stare back at Klaus, who was walking towards her with slow steps in a strolling manner.
"Why did you come here? Why did you come to New Orleans?" Klaus asked after what seemed like several minutes of silence and Caroline finally looked away as she crossed her arms in front of her.
"Stefan and Bonnie had nothing to do with this." she told him with an unwavering voice, making sure that no harm would come to her friends. She noticed how Klaus' jaw clenched for a short moment, but otherwise he remained completely still as he had stopped walking towards her.
"But Tyler apparently does." Klaus retorted with ill-hidden anger and Caroline swallowed a defeated sigh.
"I had no idea about Tyler. I haven't seen him since I left Mystic Falls." Caroline tried to explain, hoping that Klaus would see that she wasn't going against him. She was still mad at him for what she had seen in her flashback, but she had to fix one problem at a time and right now she was doing damage control.
"So you had a little reunion. How lovely." Klaus drawled and Caroline frowned in confusion, only to realize what he meant seconds later.
"Seriously?! You think I slept with him?" she exclaimed incredulously, but her harm didn't seem to faze Klaus, who was moving closer once again.
"It's no use lying, Caroline. You reek of him." Klaus sneered back and Caroline couldn't stop herself from swallowing nervously as the hybrid was now standing right in front of her.
"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer." Caroline retorted angrily as she took a step away and turned her back on him.
"Why is Tyler here? Why did he take my son?" Klaus asked; his voice filled with cold fury. Caroline took a few deep breaths before turning back around to look at him but the words got stuck in her throat and she suddenly found herself defending Tyler.
"Henrik wasn't a part of the plan; he never meant to take him."
"Why is Tyler here? Why are you here?!" Klaus roared at her and Caroline shouted back before she even had time to think about what she was saying.
"To end you! To get revenge and to make sure I got to you before you got to me!"
The room filled with an intense silence and Caroline felt her breath hitch in throat when she realized what she had said. Klaus' face was like a mask but his eyes showed both shock, betrayal and rage, making Caroline take another step back.
"The same old, I see." he then laughed humorlessly and Caroline frowned at his careless tone. She felt frozen in place as she watched Klaus move towards a small cabinet and retrieve a bottle of bourbon, which he proceeded to pour into a glass before drinking the whole thing in one gulp and pour himself another drink.
"I know what you did to him. I know that you killed his mother." she said slowly after a long pregnant silence and Caroline was surprised by the coldness her own voice held.
"So the two of you had time for a little chat as well." Klaus retorted as he casually placed himself in a sofa to watch her with a menacing smirk on his lips. Caroline's fists clenched in response to his insinuation and she felt her cheeks flush pink with anger.
"And I know that you bit me to get to him all those years ago. I watched it happen." she continued through her teeth without noticing how deep her nails were digging into the palm of her hand, almost drawing blood.
"Another flashback, I presume." he replied carelessly with a raised eyebrow and Caroline was sure she imagined the quick flash of worry she saw in his eyes. Instead of answering she just kept staring at him and another silence ensued before Klaus decided to speak up again. "And now you seek revenge for something I did over five years ago. I suppose it makes sense. People have held grudges against me for far longer. Just ask your dear Tyler."
"I didn't come here for revenge. I didn't know about what you did to me before an hour ago. I still don't know a fraction of all the shit you've put me and my friends through, but I didn't come here for revenge. I don't even know you." Caroline replied with a cold voice and a stoic expression on her face even though the hybrid's nonchalant behavior was infuriating her.
Klaus was on his feet in a second and Caroline flinched involuntarily. She was momentarily confused by the look in his eyes that was a mix between anger and something else that, if Caroline didn't know better, she would describe as hurt. Her claim about not knowing him seemed to have pushed a few buttons.
"Then why are you so keen on getting rid of me?" he asked with a low voice and Caroline frowned at his use of present tense.
"Because I met someone who convinced me that if I didn't get to you first then someday you would find and kill me. I am stronger than you and arguably more powerful. How long would you ego survive that when you first got word of me? I do what I have to, to survive and getting rid of a greater evil seemed to be to everyone's benefit." Caroline argued with a pointed finger and scoffed at the smile that appeared on Klaus' lips.
"I must say that you played your role well, love. Little Red Riding Hood off to slay the Big Bad Wolf." Klaus mused and downed the rest of his drink before placing the glass on the coffee table by the sofa, making Caroline swallow nervously. His calmness was unnerving.
"All that has happened the last couple of days wasn't an act! I meant every word I said! All of the reasons I had for coming here disappeared the moment I learned about my past with you." Caroline couldn't help but yell at him, but she recoiled when he suddenly stood right in front of her.
"Do not think you have the ability to fool me, Caroline. They took my son and I swear that whoever is responsible will soon meet their demise. Violently." Klaus growled back at her and Caroline's heart beats picked up speed in fear of the hybrid.
"You think I had anything to do with Henrik's kidnapping?" she then asked with disbelieve written all over her face but it didn't seem to affect Klaus the slightest. He was surely giving her acting skills too much credit.
"What else am I supposed to believe, love?" he asked with a low and menacing voice as he glared at her. "You could've killed whoever took you but instead you chose to follow them like a good little girl. Maybe you realized that hurting Henrik wouldn't be in your best interest and decided to stage Camille's escape. You could've compelled her to believe anything. I'm impressed by the self-sacrifice, though; letting yourself get injected with werewolf venom just so I wouldn't suspect you. Tyler's idea, perhaps?"
Caroline froze when Klaus reached out and slowly brushed her hair aside to reveal her neck as his fingers brushed over the point where the needle had pierced her skin. Her eyes were wide with shock over his words and she would have stepped away from his touch, had she not been too afraid to do so.
"If you think I would be capable to do any of those things, then you really don't know me. I would never put an innocent child at risk. Not even if I wanted you dead." Caroline told him with a wavering voice and she cursed herself internally for sounding scared. She was frightened of course, but Klaus didn't have to know that.
Klaus' hand had dropped from her neck but it felt like his touch still lingered on her skin. She noticed the small flicker of hesitation in his eyes as she finished speaking, but it was gone within a second and instead the hybrid leaned forwards, bringing them even closer to each other. She could feel his warm breath against her skin as he stood in front of her, staring down at her with a scrutinizing glare.
"It's been five years, Caroline. I believe I have little idea about what you are capable of." he told her with a cold voice and she didn't miss the accusing tone in his voice; one he until now had managed to hide.
"Five years doesn't change who you are. Maybe it changes your perspective and wishes, but not the person you are." Caroline retorted with an insistent voice and placed a finger on his chest, pushing him away. His accusations were making her mad and as she continued to stare into the blue depths of his eyes, she forgot that she was supposed to be scared.
"And what of the vampire, who no longer is in possession of his heart?" Klaus asked casually as he stepped backwards, seemingly becoming Caroline's wish for more space between them.
"I did what I had to do. I did it to protect your son."
The loaded silence that filled the room stretched on between them as they stared at each other and Caroline felt herself grow frustrated. It seemed like no matter what she said Klaus didn't believe her and after another minute or so, she turned her back on him with a sigh.
"So how are you going to do it?" she asked with a low voice and turned her head to look back at the hybrid, seeing the confused but still cold expression on his face.
"Do what?"
"You clearly think that I had something to do with Henrik's kidnapping and just a few minutes ago you promised a violent death to whoever was behind it." Caroline elaborated with a calm voice as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned to face him again. She knew it was stupid to push him like this but she needed a reaction from him. Anything else than the now emotionless expression on his face.
"So how are you going to kill me? Are you going to bite me and watch me slowly wither away, because that seems to be the way we do things. Or are you going to rip out my heart? Maybe decapitate me so you can have my pretty little head on a stick?" Caroline continued; her voice slowly rising as she went on until she was yelling at him.
The air was knocked out of her momentarily when Klaus suddenly flashed forward, pinning her to the wall behind her with a hand wrapped around her neck. Her heart started beating rapidly as she noticed the amber tint in his eyes and how the veins slowly protruded from under them, but she was surprised by how loose the grip around her neck was, feeling more like a caress than anything else.
She stared at him as he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself, moving his hand to tangle in her curls as his thumb brushed over her cheek. Their foreheads were almost touching and Caroline searched his closed-off face intently, blinking when she met his gaze once more.
"You can't, can you?" Caroline whispered with both relief and astonishment in her voice. "You can't kill me."
Klaus stared back at her without answering and she held her breath when his eyes momentarily dropped to her lips. She exhaled slowly when Klaus suddenly pulled away and returned to his empty glass to fill it once more with the emotionless expression back on his face.
"I know you were in love with me." Caroline said after a long pause and stepped away from the wall as well, watching him intently. It wasn't until now that she actually believed what her friends and Tyler had been saying about the hybrid's feelings for her and she needed him to know that. They needed to be on the same page to make this work.
"Now, who told you that, love?" Klaus asked as he poured himself another drink with an amused smirk on his lips. Caroline was surprised by his sudden change of mood and found herself frowning at his tone.
"Is it true?" she asked instead of answering, quickly understanding what his own question was implying. He filled his glass with the golden liquid once more and drank from it before look at her with empty eyes.
"No."
Caroline couldn't help but feel shocked by his blatant reply, but hid it with a small laugh. She didn't know what she had expected from him, but she was mad at herself for feeling hurt by his words. He might think that she was lying to him, but in truth it was him who had her fooled.
It was so cliché that Caroline felt like laughing even more. She thought that whatever connection they had as deeper than just physical attraction and she had even told herself that maybe the big bad wasn't so bad after all. How big an idiot had she allowed herself to become?
"What now?" she just asked with an unwavering voice, refusing to give him any real reaction.
"You tell me, love." Klaus replied with a cold voice and lifted her glass towards her before drinking from it. Caroline clenched her fists before sighing tiredly. She couldn't take it anymore. She wouldn't.
"I can't do this. Not here, not with you. I need to get far away from here." Caroline informed with a decisive voice and moved past him towards the closed doors, only to be stopped by his hand around her wrist.
"So what now? You're just going to run again? Leave your friends as if they mean nothing to you? Are they that disposable?"
Klaus' head jerked to the side at the impact and his skin flushed red where Caroline's hand had connected with his cheek. Angry tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at the hybrid, but nothing happened as a tense silence filled the room.
"Should somebody check on them?" Stefan asked worriedly as the silence continued on the other side of the doors. They had all heard the slap that was loud enough to even reach Bonnie and Kol's ears, but nothing seemed to happen afterwards and Stefan felt the urge to barge into the room; only being stopped by Rebekah's pointed glare.
"Be my guest, mate. I'm just a fragile human. I'm not walking into that sharknado." Kol said from where he sat on the floor, leaned against the wall that divided them from the living room. The former Original barely noticed how three pairs of confused eyes landed on him as he returned to focus on the on-stretching silence between his brother and the blonde woman he was so enamored with.
"A what?" Bonnie asked incredulously, when Kol didn't elaborate and he immediately turned his attention to the dark-skinned beauty.
"A shark tornado; a sharknado. Do you know how much crap there is in the tele?" Kol asked the witch indignantly as he got up from the floor and walked closer towards her.
"I am aware." Bonnie replied dryly but couldn't help but smile at Kol's complaints.
"How can you create something that brilliant and then completely destroy its purpose to entertain like that?" Kol asked the three of them, but only Bonnie seemed to be listening as a concentrated frown was on the vampires' faces. Bonnie would have laughed at his frustration if she wasn't so worried for her friend.
"Is this something you often think about?" Bonnie mused with a teasing smirk on her lips, but regretted her words as soon as Kol moved closer with a mischievous gleam in his brown eyes.
"I don't have you to keep me occupied, now do I?" he asked seductively as he stared down at the Bennett witch, who blushed and huffed at the same time.
"Oh, for God's sake, Kol! Stop being such a pervert!" Rebekah exclaimed, irritated by her brother's flirting with Bonnie. The game of cat and mouse the two of them kept playing was tiring her and she had half a mind to just snap the witch's neck and get it over it. Stefan wouldn't be very impressed by that, though.
"I am only human, Bekah. Only human." Kol said as he stepped away from Bonnie with his hands in the air in surrender. Bonnie rolled her eyes when he winked down at her, but their banter was interrupted when the double doors to living room opened and Caroline strolled out of there.
"Caroline…" Stefan said as he stepped towards the blonde, seeing her blue eyes clear with unshed tears. She tried to move past him without a word but he grabbed her arm gently to stop her from leaving. Klaus was yet to make his appearance, but no one but his sister seemed to care about him at the moment.
Caroline froze in place for a moment before she finally turned her head towards them, now with a cheerful smile on her lips that was clearly forced. She quickly pulled her arm from Stefan's grip and stepped a few steps back.
"I'm sorry, but I've taken the liberty to banish myself from this almighty kingdom." Caroline announced sarcastically and turned her head to look at Klaus, who was now standing in the doorway to the living room. "Goodbye. And long live the fucking king."
All but Klaus looked in shock as Caroline glared at the hybrid and curtsied for him before spinning around and disappearing through the front door, slamming it after her. An eerie silence spread in the room as no one seemed to know what to say and where to look and with a quick whoosh, Klaus disappeared to somewhere inside the house.
"Now that's entertainment."
Caroline had barely slammed the door behind her, when she walked right into someone and she looked up to meet a pair of confused brown eyes, making her groan irritatingly and the Original frown at her impoliteness.
"Caroline." he stated with his smooth dark voice and turned to follow her as she walked past him and away from the house, or more importantly away from Klaus.
"You must be Elijah." Caroline said with a tired voice as she turned after walking a few steps past him. She felt like all energy had left her and she wanted nothing more than to just leave. She didn't know how much Elijah knew about her and her 'condition', but she was in no mood to talk about it. "I'm sorry, but I really need to go. Please tell your brother he's an ass, when you see him."
With those words Caroline walked away, leaving a befuddled Original behind.
Her eyes that had earlier been filled with tears were now cold and determined as she walked down the street and towards her hotel. It only took her a few minutes to decide and she quickly compelled a phone from some tourist, having lost her own when Henrik and her were kidnapped. She knew the phone number by heart and her call was answered after two rings.
"Hello?" the familiar voice answered and Caroline felt a smile grow on her face.
"Pheodora, sweetie. How are you doing?" Caroline greeted cheerfully as she continued to move down the street.
"Sofia?!"
"The one and only." Caroline laughed and walked through the lobby without sparing Marie a glance.
"What do you want?" Pheodora asked with a wary voice and Caroline resisted the urge to scoff. If she was willing to do the crime then she had to be willing to do the time as well.
"I've changed my mind. I want back in. Klaus Mikaelson needs to disappear from the face of the Earth." she replied calmly and locked herself into her room moments later. With a swift movement she pulled her bag from the top of the closet and started packing her belongings.
"What?! Why?" Pheodora exclaimed and Caroline sighed irritatingly.
"Does it matter?"
"No." the Greek answered after a long pause and a smile spread on Caroline's lips once more.
"Where can I meet you?" Caroline then asked and moved to the balcony as Pheodora seemed to think.
"I'll text you the address to one of our houses. There will be about eight others and I will be there in a couple of hours." Pheodora told her urgently and Caroline was impressed by how fast the Greek was up and running after what Caroline had done to her.
"Perfect." Caroline replied before hanging up and tossing the phone into the room to land on her bed. She spent a couple of minutes standing in the evening sun before stepped back into her room. There was a lot to be done and only so little time.
A/N: So maybe this wasn't what most of you have waited for... Sorry, but if you hadn't realised it already; this is a slow burner. As in very slow. That being said we have come to a sort of turning point in the story and after the next chapter things will start to suck a little less.
I wanted to upload this chapter earlier but the site wouldn't work with me... Instead I'll post the next chapter in a few days. And that is going to be a long and good one. Mostly Caroline focused though. After that we go full on Klaroline;)
On a quick side note I decided not to make Caroline immune to werewolf venom. Just a little more resistent. I hate making characters unbeatable or without weaknesses.
I love reading your reviews so please tell me what you thought of this one!:D
- Till next time!