Prompts: "Can you please try something like Caroline as the lead of the whole story where everyone is just falling for her instead of Elena?"–Kkushi
"There are moments I want to stop. Things I don't want to hear." –Pheobetitanessofthemoon123
"Have you ever thought of a version of persephone and hades, as Caroline and Kol?" –misspureviolet
4K+! And kinda dark this one with some dub-con later so be forewarned.
The summer before her freshman year of high school Caroline's maternal grandmother got sick. So Sheriff Forbes took a week off work (which was a feat for her, workaholic that she was) and the Forbes family went to her grandmother's nursing home in Louisiana.
Caroline spent that week being stuck in a B&B with her parents, visiting her dying grandma every day. She'd only met the old lady like twice before that as her parents were pretty much chained to their offices so she really wasn't that close to her to be honest. That didn't deter her grandma from requesting she sit down beside her every day and tell her stories about the faeries that would visit the woods of Louisiana.
And they were fanciful stories, the kind she would've enjoyed had she been ten years younger and not a bratty teenager who was more worried about making the cheerleading team than what her grandma was trying to tell her.
Caroline would barely listen to her grandma's storytelling until the old lady started to make herself the protagonist of the story. Caroline just looked at her oddly as the old lady retold her supposed love affair with the Faerie King that resulted in Caroline's own mother. And here's the scary part, Caroline was part-faerie too and her royal granddaddy would come for her someday.
You could imagine Caroline's reaction. She got up from the too-soft chair she was sitting on and fibbed some excuse to her grandma before going to look for her mom. A few days later, her grandmother died and Caroline didn't bother telling her parents about the old lady's faerie stories. It would just upset her mom probably to hear her mother had totally lost it during her lost days and dad would probably just laugh at them, calling them 'nonsense'.
Years later, she'd realize that she really shouldn't have left and listened to the rest of the story.
Caroline had her eye on the new boy in school, Stefan Salvatore, who although seemed to typically be making puppy eyes at Elena, had also been eyeing her as well. Though he seemed more conflicted and pained to see her than reverent like he was with Elena which just made her a little confused as well. And when she tried to talk to him as he arrived, he rebuffed her almost to the point of rudeness, looking at her in a hungry way that made her nervous.
"You should stay away from me, Caroline," He muttered out through his teeth before walking away quickly into the woods. Elena looked confused about what happened as well and moved to follow him.
Caroline wondered to herself what just happened before an arm goes around her shoulders and Tyler's alcohol-smelling breath fanned her cheek as he whispered to her, "Wanna see the falls, Care?"
She wrinkled her nose at the thought of getting handsy with Tyler Lockwood and pushed him away. "No, Tyler. Go and bother some gullible first year instead."
"But I want you," He's too close again and he's warm like a furnace. "You have no idea how good you smell."
He breathed in to sniff the column of her neck and she shuddered and less from disgust than she wanted. Ugh, gross.
She stepped away from the athlete and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling weird. Her heart as thumping faster and she's beginning to tingle like a blush all over from her cheeks down to her – ugh, what the fuck was going on?
Tyler's too near again, lips grazing her ear, his arm encircling her waist despite her trying to wiggle away. "Come on, Care. I want you."
His voice was deep and husky with need and when she looked up into his eyes, all she saw was a hunger not too different from the one she saw in Stefan earlier and all she wanted to do was run away. She shrieked and pushed him away as hard as she can, running away like a scared rabbit and into the woods.
He called out to her but she ignored him, running faster and deeper into a fog that seems to come out of nowhere. She stopped and the fear inside her blossomed into terror as the fog seemingly thickened around her, the cry of a crow making her heart nearly burst out of her ribcage. She tried to calm herself and see her way out of the fog but before she could even take a step, she felt someone behind her.
She stiffened, especially when strong arms wrap around her, pulling her back against his chest. A hand swept her blonde hair from her neck, gentle but sure, and soft lips kissed the vein found there. "Mmm, someone smells absolutely delicious."
She trembled but before she could scream, a piercing pain like needles stabbing into her flesh blinded her and her vision blacked out.
Caroline wakes up to her mother's worried gaze. Her mother smiles at her in relief, her fingers brushing Caroline's messy bangs from her forehead. "W-What happened?" Caroline manages to croak out despite her dry throat.
"It was an animal attack," Liz explains, not blinking.
"What animal?" She asks because she felt like every part of her body aches and she wants to find that animal and make it into shoes for doing this to her.
"We don't know yet." Liz tells her. "But we'll find it. I promise you that."
Caroline closes her eyes again and tries to will all the pain away. Maybe it's the blood loss but she smiles and jokes. "Maybe it's the Faerie King. He's finally come for me."
"Who?" Liz tries to ask but her daughter is asleep again.
Elena and Bonnie visit her in the hospital every day, trying to cheer her up. But as the days go by, their visits became sporadic, the two of them acting oddly as they would tell her about events that were happening at school. Coach Tanner is dead and some druggies are found burned in the forest. As a result, Caroline is beginning to get scared to leave the hospital.
Matt once visits her but it's a bit too awkward since they've never really been friends but she appreciates the gesture. Tyler keeps trying to visit her but she always makes some excuse of not being able to see him.
Eventually her doctors deem her ready to go home and back to school. And she's greeted by Bonnie who seemed preoccupied the entirety of the day because Elena didn't go to school.
"She's probably in her love nest with Stefan or something," Caroline tries to reassure her. "Chill, Bon. I doubt she's been kidnapped by some psychopath."
Bonnie's eyes widen at that and she excuses herself to make a phone call. Caroline calls out to her, "Bonnie, it was a joke!"
When Caroline finds a body in the woods a few days later, she nearly has a heart attack. After the fog incident, she has been wary of forests but since her dad is counting on her to be there at Stephen's daughter's birthday, she forces herself to drive through a storm and ends up stranded near the falls as a result. She screams when she found the corpse and is even more horrified when it's later identified as Vicki Donovan.
She imagines Matt's blue eyes, broken and hurt and goes to his house to give him the news with her mom. Matt looks ready to break but she knows she isn't what he wants so she calls Elena instead. She makes tea and hands both Jeremy and Tyler a cup, the latter the most solemn she's ever seen him, and wondering how many more bodies will be found this year.
Stefan is apparently some closet party animal as the normally reserved boy she usually sees twirls Elena on the dance floor and tells off a guy on the dance floor with an attitude worthy of Tyler Lockwood. Caroline watches this all from her corner of the room since Bonnie is spending time at her dad's for the weekend and she's avoiding being alone with Tyler (who just won't leave her alone).
"Hey, Barbie," A handsome man who looks to be in his mid-twenties greets her with a smirk. "You look bored. Want some company?"
Normally, a handsome guy like that would have Caroline inwardly squealing he's talking to her and is obviously hitting on her but something about this one makes her want to run in terror. She doesn't know what it is. Maybe it's that he keeps eyeing her neck and when he isn't his pupils are doing this weird thing.
"How about we ditch this joint and get acquainted better?" He practically purrs, making her shiver and the tingling from that night when Tyler got to close comes back. He reaches up and long fingers wrap around her wine glass, pulling it away from her grasp to take a sip. "Mm, delicious."
And that's when she knows, every nerve ending in her screaming at her to run as fast and as far as she could because they never did catch that animal that attacked her in the woods. Because she has been so sure all along that it hadn't been an animal. And whatever this man is, she has to stay away from him.
She runs past him before he can say anything else, pushing people out of the way in her hurry to find an exit. She bumps into Stefan who steadies her easily, laughing more carelessly than she's ever seen him.
"What's the rush, Caroline?" He grins at her, eyes lingering on her neck like the man earlier and the familiar terror shoots through her again. His eyes do that weird pupil thing before he tells her, "Don't move,"
And bends down to her neck-
"Stefan!"
They both turn to see Elena rushing over. The brunette pushes Stefan away who seems to be struggling to keep himself in check. His gaze switches from Elena to Caroline, looking like a starved animal.
Oh-kay. Caroline meets Matt's wide and confused eyes, a mirror of her own, before turning away and running again.
Elena is 'too busy' to join the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and so it's just Caroline and Bonnie at rehearsals, the other girl helping Caroline practice since Caroline's escort wasn't available for the week. Her escort was Tyler's cousin whom Mrs. Lockwood volunteered after Caroline admitted she doesn't have anyone to ask. Caroline is just grateful Tyler has always been a bit of a mess as a dancer otherwise she'll have to dance the waltz more worried about where his hands are going than dancing.
But when the pageant finally comes and she is crowned, it feels hollow. Everyone that matters to her have some excuse not to be there. Her parents, her friends – all with some more important matters to take care of and Caroline accepts the title with an empty smile.
Days go by and her friends seem to be the busiest people in the world. She is surprised they were even passing their classes as they always seem to be running off to do something 'important' or whatever that means. Caroline is left to plan the Miss Mystic float for the parade, Bonnie helps her here and there but Caroline does most of the work, pulling her other classmates into slave labor and being a general boss herself. But aside from Matt nearly getting crushed by the float and well losing his arm, it all goes smoothly.
Then parade day comes and Caroline is enjoying her moment in the sun, waving and smiling. She can't help but notice Bonnie having a stare-off with that guy from the party a few days ago who she has nicknamed 'Creepy Fog Guy' while Elena and Stefan are eyeing the exchange with suspicion as if ready to jump down at any moment. Everyone around her is beginning to make her feel like an audience in a movie and she doesn't like it.
She's with Bonnie in the square to watch the fireworks display when people around them start collapsing, including Mayor Lockwood. Deputies carry the unconscious people away without a word as everyone watches in confusion. When Caroline turns to Bonnie to ask her what was going on, the other girl was gone. Caroline tries to look for her but again, her friends have left her out of whatever was going on.
She decides to go home instead of thinking about all this madness and just goes in her car when an unfamiliar voice greeted her. "Hello, sweetheart."
She gets a glimpse of a handsome boy, not much older than her, in the rear view mirror before he covers nose and mouth with a handkerchief and everything goes black.
Caroline awakens to the sound of laughter tinkling like bells and the smell of flowers and earth. When her eyelids finally fluttered open, she finds herself lying in the corner of a large room with walls of limestone covered in moss and dirt.
The room is filled of…of people, though she doesn't think they are for they are the most beautiful creatures she's ever seen, hypnotic and dangerous more than a vampire could ever be. Shimmering skin and pointed teeth and perfect faces all laughing as they danced and ate about the room. And to her horror she can see carcases of humans and animals, torn open to reveal blood and flesh.
She feels woozy again, bile threatening to rise up and escape before she chooses consciousness on a man's leather jacket.
She awakens a second time to fingers caressing her cheeks, running through her hair, checking her pulse. She blinks awake and looks straight into a pair of dark eyes with dark eyelashes too long for a boy.
Her eyebrows furrow as she takes in the rest of his features, oval face, thin pink lips and that dimple on his chin. She tries to remember where she's seen him and remembers "Hello, sweetheart" and her fainting.
She tries to move away from him and he lets her, staying still as she gets to her feet and looks wildly around her for an escape. She nearly screams at what she thought was a dream is actually real with the beautiful people dancing with blood on their hands and faces, laughing and laughing as they tore and devoured.
"Caroline," The boy is behind her instantly, keeping her still with his arm around her waist in a firm hold. "Calm down."
"W-Where am I?"
She looks at him to avoid the horrific images and his answer scares her even more.
"Faerie court."
She looks to see the throne in the room, made of bone and wood and stone. And sitting on it is the most beautiful man she's ever seen, blond hair, blue eyes and a smile that chills her to her core. On his head is a crown of bronze, specks of dried blood on the rim and she knows, although he cannot anywhere be that age, not looking any older than the boy she woke up to, that it's the Faerie King.
He turns those cold blue eyes at her, so different and yet alike from hers, beckoning her with his fingers to come closer. "Come, granddaughter."
She feels herself move before she can think dropping to her knees in front of him as she stares up into his face, a twisted mockery of congenial, as he reaches down to cup her face, nails digging almost painfully into her skin. "Lovely Caroline," He tells her. "Welcome to my Court."
Caroline tries to move, tries to make her limbs get up so she can run away but she couldn't break the spell the Faerie King had woven on her, her blood singing at being near him, her brain fuzzy and useless.
His hands drop from her face and he lies back against his throne. "You must speak."
It takes her a moment for clarity to return to her brain as she's allowed to move of her own accord again. "Why…am I here?"
He cocks his head to the side, eyebrow raised. "Didn't Helen tell you I would come for you someday?"
Helen – her grandmother. Of course. She'd tried to tell Caroline these things but Caroline didn't listen and now she is paying for it.
Caroline looks at dismay at the cold, non-human creature before her and feels pure terror. Especially when his chilling smile widens at her like she's a particularly interesting little pet.
"No matter, what's done is done." He gestures the boy at the corner to come forward and Caroline notices the leather jacket he holds, the one she'd been lying on earlier. "Have you at least informed her, Original?"
Of what? Caroline nearly shrieks but finds she cannot speak again.
The boy shakes his head. "I only had time to bring her here. She is constantly surrounded by people."
"As to be expected of one of Faerie blood," The King smiles down at her, fingers lifting her chin to inspect her face. "Even if she is part of human, she is still exquisite."
Caroline trembles when he releases her and she turns to the dark-eyed boy staring down at her, face impassive. She tries to plead with her gaze but he turns away to look at the King.
"Nevertheless, I trust the bargain is still to be upheld?"
"Of course," The King opens his palm as if expecting something. The boy takes something out of the leather jacket, a shimmering silver blade with markings in a language she can't understand engraved on it and gives it to the King who looks pleased. "It is done. She is yours."
Caroline barely comprehended what the King said before the dark-haired boy picks her up and presses her to his side with one arm, like she weighted nothing and dragged her away from the room.
The boy guides her through the dark tunnels with ease, a feat as fireflies seemed to be the only source of light there. He stops at a wall which really just looks like all the other walls around them and she yelps when he throws her forward.
She lands on grass and realizes she's at a cemetery in what she perceives to be the middle of the afternoon. The boy lands beside her on his feet, his boots soundless on the earth.
Caroline looks around and tries to gauge where she is but there isn't really anything that would tell her an exact location. Finally she looks up at boy and asks, "Where are we?"
"Louisiana." He tsks. "Did your grandmother really not tell you anything?"
"She tried to…" Caroline sighs in defeat and at her own stupidity. If only she'd listened, she might not be there at the moment. "I didn't want to listen."
The boy says nothing and offers her his hand to help her up, she accepts despite feeling skittish. She has no idea who he is or why he took her to take her to the Faerie King but she had a feeling she still isn't safe.
The same aura of beauty and danger is with this boy but different from the faeries. Something less whimsical, more vicious. Like Tyler's breath on her neck, Stefan's hungry eyes and Damon's voices saying "delicious".
"Who are you?" She asks him.
He still hasn't released her hand and his fingers trace the bones of her knuckles before answering. "Kol Mikaelson," He bends down and leaves a chaste kiss right where his thumb caressed her. "And I'm your betrothed."
It was an old fashioned term but Caroline was a good student and gave attention during English. She steps back with shaky knees. "Betrothed? But I- I never…how?"
"Your grandfather made a deal with me, long before you were even a thought," Kol explains. "I had something he wanted and he offered one of his future offspring in return.
"You weren't his first offer but when I heard he had a grandchild who was part-human, well, I couldn't resist."
She shivered at his smirk, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to turn her bones to steel. "Why is that?"
"Faeries are as insatiable as werewolves, as vicious as a vampire and as conceited as a witch," He tells her with a shake of his head. "And they are nowhere near as devoted as only a human can be."
"You want somebody to be devoted to you?"
She wants to scoff. How ridiculous. The amount of divorces today with people should clue him in that pure devotion is a rarity and he's asking for something that he can never have, particularly because she refuses to devote herself to him in the first place.
"I think you should've accepted the King's other offers. You might have had better luck."
He smiles at her and it reminds her of the way the King smiled at her, like she's an amusing little puppy. "We'll just have to see then, don't we?"
Caroline tries to escape many times but Kol had taken her to a secluded area surrounded by forests and steep cliffs. The nearest village is miles away and she gets lost in the foliage by the time the sun is gone, forcing her to return to the large cabin where Kol is waiting, not looking worried at all that she could've escaped.
He's on the red, comfy armchair by the fireplace, reading a copy of Poe's works. He doesn't acknowledge her at first and continues reading until she exhales in defeat and turns to go to the kitchen for some water. His voice stops her before she can take another step. "It'd probably be for the better if you stopped trying to leave. It's futile anyway."
She clenches her fists but doesn't turn around, biting her tongue till she tastes blood. She wants to hit him with a fire poker but he would heal too quickly, just some of the things he'd told her about himself. Except how to kill him which is what she really needs to know.
She counts one to ten and walks to the kitchen, Kol's chuckle making her red with anger.
Kol's cabin has no phones, laptops or Wi-Fi. Her phone is missing, along with her car and all her things in it. She figures Kol discarded of them all leaving her completely without a way to contact her family and friends or anyone else that can help her.
He gave her a room of her own in the cabin which is a relief as she does not want to share his with him. The room is frustratingly nice, all decked out in lavender and cream. The closet filled with pretty dresses and shoes all in her size. There's even a vanity table with expensive combs, powders and sweet perfumes.
She spends nights crying in her misery, trying to remain hopeful just brought on more despair.
And even when she tries to fight back in her own way, starving herself at first until he force fed her his blood, threatening to keep doing so to keep her alive.
There was a week she refused to take baths but that didn't work either when she woke up to him dumping her into the tub and promising to join her in there the next time she didn't eat.
She tried to let out all her anger on him, throwing things and destroying whatever else she didn't. But all she got was an annoyed look from him as he could dodge everything she threw and she'd wake up the next to find everything had been cleaned up and replaced.
Her thoughts going at a bleak direction she finds herself staring down the cliffs one day and wanting to jump, to finally escape until Kol arrives and drags her back into the forest, pressing her up against a tree in his anger.
"It's a pity you can't be compelled." He groused. "But it doesn't matter. Cause even if you jump, Caroline, I'll find a way to bring you back and I'll punish you severely for all the trouble."
"Just let me go!" She shouts at him for what may be the hundredth time. "I hate it here! I hate you!"
He shuts her up with a kiss, punishing and painful. Blunt teeth nipping at her lips and forcing them open so he can plunder her mouth. She squirms and tries to push her away but all her faerie blood does is make him want her more, she has no strength or speed to match him and this makes her whimper in helplessness.
All the while she tingles all over, unwanted arousal taking over and her body readying itself for him. Faeries are sexual creatures, Kol had explained to her and she hates herself and her dead grandmother for procreating with that Mad Psycho King who sold her like a prized mare to this bloodsucking lunatic.
She's nearly aching in need and she sobs as Kol bites her neck, sharp but not unbearable pain makes her want to feel more of him instead of assuage her arousal. He licks at the bite before kissing her again, hot and needy. "You taste fantastic."
"Delicious." She mutters back, Damon's voice echoing in her head. Delicious, delicious, delicious.
"Right." He gets impatient and tears at her dress, leaving it in shreds on the forest floor. His dark eyes take her in, all creamy skin and soft curves and it makes him wet his lips. "I want you so much."
Her fingers seem to move of their own accord and move to undo his belt. His lips are at her breast and she shudders when his clever fingers trace the curve of her hip and down to her…
Caroline glows after it all, panting and gasping as her entire being becomes a giant human light bulb. Kol is still inside her, lips tracing her collarbone as she feels something in herself click in place and a wholeness that wasn't there before overcomes her. She can feel Kol in her head like a persistent warmth that can't go away and she knows he can feel her as well.
She opens her eyes and he looks down at her almost reverently. "It's done."
"What is?" She asks quietly, her fingers running through his dark hair.
"We're one now," He kisses the corner of her mouth slowly. "You're my wife."
They leave the cabin years later, maybe decades, when Caroline can no longer remember the faces and names of the people she once knew. Or even the town she was born and lived in for the first seventeen years of her long life.
It's an odd existence. She can die but it cannot be by illness or age. She will look seventeen forever as Kol can never look to be over twenty. And they move from one place to another, sometimes revisiting a few they became fond of. But as time goes by and the world keeps changing she always has Kol with her who smiles at her like she is something beautiful.
She never sees the Faerie King again but for her hundredth birthday he sends her a gift. She found the silver blade Kol traded for her sitting on her vanity table one night. Her hands nearly shake as she picks it up, a dark aura clouding her mind. Dark whispers in her head like the blade itself has a life of its own, tempting her, seducing her.
Kill him. Plunge me into his heart and make him pay. Make him pay, Caroline.
Then plunge me into your heart.
She throws it into the sea.