Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or its characters. If I did, The Originals would never have happened, Kol would be alive and happily causing mayhem somewhere, and Klaus and Caroline would be travelling the world and sexing it up.
As a little boy growing up, he'd never put much stock in stories about vampires and werewolves and witches. His late brother, older and most definitely not wiser, had always loved to terrify him with tales of blood sucking vampires and werewolves that would change at the coming of the full moon, wreaking death and destruction wherever they went.
Regardless of whether or not he'd put much stock in the stories, they'd still served to terrify him. As illogical as they were, as ludicrous as they seemed, he'd still huddled under the blankets, his nightlight bleeding through the fabric, his brother's laughter echoing in his ears. Hoping against hope that a vampire wouldn't come away and carry him into the night, that a werewolf wouldn't corner him on an abandoned road.
Even when he'd grown older, and recognised that his brother had kind of been an asshole about the whole thing, he still got nervous driving by himself at night down an unlit road.
The revelation of supernatural elements in this world was equal parts thrilling and terrifying, and a part of him was glad that his older brother wasn't alive to see the world go to shit.
Because it had, very quickly. The general population, already a very paranoid people, became even more so. It was easy enough for the President to introduce Martial Law, using executive power to do so. Curfews were imposed on every major city, and most of the smaller towns. The police were allowed the use of deadly force, and used it without discrimination.
Friends betrayed friends, neighbours betrayed neighbours. And for awhile, Thomas wasn't quite sure if the government was killing humans, or if they were killing supernaturals.
Most supernaturals, the vampires, the werewolves, were killed on the spot, often in front of humans and in increasingly gruesome ways. It was to send a message Kruschev always insisted, that the humans weren't to be bullied, to be terrorised, that we had ways to fight back if needed. That we needed to fight back, to eliminate every last vampire and werewolf from the planet if necessary.
Other supernaturals simply disappeared. They weren't necessarily killed, but he'd seen a few dragged kicking and screaming through their Chicago headquarters. Where they went he had no idea, and he's not sure that he wants to know. There had been whispers of experimentation on supernaturals among the organisation, and he'd noted this down with a sick feeling in his stomach.
In a perfect world, he would just do his job and bury his head in the sand if it meant that he was going to stay alive. Unfortunately, that was not an option in his case.
When he'd been 23 years old he'd meet Katherine Pierce. He'd had no fucking idea that she'd been a vampire, and he'd been absolutely enamoured. They'd had a relationship for almost two and a half years before Katherine had revealed herself to him, and he'd been both turned on and terrified by her ever since.
Of course, that was after he found out that she was a manipulative bitch along with being a vampire. He hadn't said anything, and he never would. Not while she was still alive, and not while she still had him in her sights.
She liked to drop in periodically. Just to chat she'd claimed, but he knew it was something more than that. She never did hurt him, never even made any sort of threats towards him, never laid a hand on him.
Of course, her motives had become clear as soon as the SRA had been formed. He had no idea if she'd had prior knowledge, but given how old she was, he didn't doubt that she'd made friends in high places, friends that were in the government and weren't necessarily in agreement with Kruschev and The President.
And that was how he found himself working for Katherine Pierce, as a double agent also in the employ of the SRA. It was easy enough to feed her information as he found it out, to keep her ahead of the people that were actively trying to hunt her down, and others that she knew.
"Sanders!" An accented voice barks, jolting him awake as he looks around blearily. The man in front of him sighs, and Thomas rubs at his eyes, looking down at his screen to avoid that steely gaze.
Dimitri Kruschev, the director of the Supernatural Resistance Agency, never calls anyone by their first name if he can avoid it. An odd quirk left over from his time serving in the army perhaps, along with the drill sergeant voice that he employs on a daily basis.
Kruschev rose through the ranks of the Marines, finally reaching the level of a 4 star general, the first non American to do so. Thomas didn't know a whole lot about Kruschev, the other preferring to keep a tight lid on anything to do with his private life, but he did know that Kruschev was born, and for the most part raised in Russia before his parents emigrated to America.
Apart from that, he was in the dark. And he knew that Kruschev liked it that way. Likewise, Thomas had risen through the ranks of the CIA, and his previous position had been as a head analyst before he'd been handed this role (and a nice pay packet), on a silver platter. He hadn't turned it down, but some days he wished he had.
Especially when it came to Katherine Pierce.
Thomas finally turns his gaze to Kruschev, noting the odd look on the older man's face. He'd put Kruschev in his 50's easily, but he didn't doubt that the man was in peak physical condition.
"Are you okay Sanders? You look like shit." Kruschev notes, pulling a file out from where it had been previously tucked beneath his arm.
Thomas leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest.
"Haven't been sleeping as well as I should be. It's not a big deal." He finally settles for replying with, knowing that that was the excuse that would resonate the most with Kruschev, the ex Marine knowing very well how shitty one could feel with minimal amounts of sleep.
"God, I've been there. Come in a bit later tomorrow if you have to okay? I want you at your best." Kruschev remarks, coming around to stand behind him and clapping him on the shoulder.
Thomas refrains from flinching.
"It's fine, really. I'll have to double my coffee tomorrow, but it's Friday, so hopefully it'll be quiet over the weekend. What's in the file?" He asks, even as Kruschev drops it onto his desk.
"I had an approach yesterday from someone claiming that they could help us out with some information. I'd like you to run a background check, see if they're legitimate. I don't want to waste my time if she's just bullshitting us."
Thomas frowns, fingers tapping against the folder. Tip offs and information from the general population were completely normal, and they got hundreds a day. There was even a dedicated team a floor up that was responsible for mining through all of the phone calls and emails, determining what was legitimate and what was just a case of an overly paranoid neighbour.
"You've never asked me to do a background check on a potential informant before. Why now?" He can't help but question, his curious nature winning out over keeping his mouth shut and just doing his job.
Kruschev steps away from his desk, heading for the door.
"Because this one is claiming that she's a witch. And a very powerful one at that. I want to know exactly what we're getting ourselves into before I set up a meeting with her."
Thomas blinks in surprise, still caught off guard by the mention of things that should have stayed in a storybook. Things that shouldn't exist, like witches and magic. He flexes his fingers, tapping at his keyboard to bring the monitor to life. He didn't doubt that he'd be able to run a quick background check on whoever it was Kruschev wanted to meet with.
And the older man wanted this to happen desperately, even he wasn't blind to the fact that their efforts to capture any of The Original Vampires, let alone Caroline Forbes, had always ended in bloodshed and carnage. Two of their best Quads had been obliterated, and Kruschev had been working overtime with the labs downstairs, trying to make them stronger, faster, better.
"What's her name?"
Kruschev pauses at the doorway, looking down at his phone briefly.
"Bonnie Bennett. Find out everything that you can about her. Perhaps she'll be willing to help us locate The Originals."
Caroline blinks away the darkness as Katherine saunters over to the armoire, switching on a lamp. Soft, golden light bathes the room, chasing away the last of the shadows.
"What are you doing here?" Caroline asks, trying to keep her voice steady.
Like Klaus, Katherine had been like a spectre, hovering on the periphery of her dreams and her nightmares, the one person responsible for her vampirism, even if it had been Damon's blood that turned her.
She'd been conditioned to fear Katherine, and she can't help but feel her body responding to the overwhelming presence of the other vampire, who's tucked herself away into the corner of the room, still holding the strange stone in her hand, leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.
"It seems that you've got yourself into a bit of trouble." Katherine replies with a wicked smile, lips curling into something resembling a smirk. She never had been good at reading Katherine, the other vampire far too good at masking her emotions. The first and only time that she'd thought that she'd bested Katherine had been at the masquerade ball, where she'd drawn the other vampire into the room in an attempt to let the Salvatore brothers kill her. In reality, Katherine was already two or three steps ahead.
She didn't doubt that Katherine had lost that particular quality of self preservation over the past few years.
"Cut the bullshit Katherine, whatever suicide mission you've got going, I don't want any part in it." Caroline remarks tiredly, running a hand through her hair. "And you and I both know that if you lay a finger on me Klaus will never stop chasing you."
Katherine tilts her head back and laughs throatily.
"Oh I think we both know that his issues with you aside, Klaus has far more to worry about than chasing after me. He's public enemy number one right now, and as long as he can still draw breath from his lungs, the humans won't stop coming after him. And you by association." Katherine says with a shrug.
"Why do they even want us? The humans? What have we done to them that they would want us all exterminated like animals?" Caroline asks, wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging her knees to her chest.
Katherine just sighs, picking at her fingernails, and Caroline's a little amazed that the stone in Katherine's hand seems to be working, because there's no way that she could have snuck into a compound of sleeping Original vampires otherwise.
At least not with Klaus and Kol ripping her heart from her chest or at the very least busting down the currently locked door of her bedroom. A part of her can't help but wonder just how safe she really is with The Original brothers.
"Whether you want to admit it or not, we're monsters." Katherine says simply. "You, me, Klaus, even precious, innocent Elena. We go against the very nature of what humanity is. We've lived in the shadows, on the fringes of civilisation for so long, but now we're a direct threat to public order. How would you react?" Katherine asks, and Caroline's not quite sure if it's a rhetoric question or not.
"They could at least try and talk to us."
"They fear us because they don't know us." Katherine replies softly. "To them, we're monsters, and we haven't done anything to prove them otherwise. Not with the Originals tearing their way through most of the significant historical events of the past ten centuries."
Caroline blinks at that pronouncement, realising that Katherine was actually right. Klaus and his siblings had never hid the fact that they had shed the blood of humans in the past.
"You still haven't told me why you're here. Stop deflecting." She says directly to Katherine, who gives her an amused smile.
"I'm sure someone has given you the rundown already, but you're incredibly valuable Caroline. The humans don't know about the concept of Marchande Du Mort yet, but they will soon I hope. Believe it or not, there are some of us out there that actually want peace."
Caroline snorts incredulously.
"You seriously expect me to believe that you want peace? You terrorised the citizens of Mystic Falls and my friends for months before we finally put you down. And now you seriously want me to believe that you want to make peace with the humans?"
"Times change Caroline. If compromising with humans means that I get to stay alive for another few decades, I'll take it over a full blown supernatural war."
Caroline scoffs, hardly surprised by Katherine's pronouncement.
"Of course, it's always about self preservation with you, isn't it? What do you even want Katherine?"
"I want you." Katherine replies immediately. "I want you to come with me. I have friends that can help us with negotiations with the humans if needed. You can save us all Caroline."
Caroline climbs to her feet, hands balled into fists at her sides.
"I'm not going anywhere with you. And what the hell is that stone?" She snaps at Katherine, gesturing to the strange black stone that Katherine is still clutching in her hand.
Katherine's lips quirk into a smile.
"It's a witch stone. It means that anything we talk about can't be overheard by anyone else-"
The door to her bedroom is kicked open, and Klaus appears on the threshold, a murderous expression writ across his features.
Even knowing Klaus as well as she does, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Klaus is pissed off. Like, really pissed off.
He moves quickly, too quickly for her to detect, wrapping a hand around Katherine's throat and slamming her up against the wall. The witch stone falls from Katherine's hand, clattering against the wooden floor, filling the room with sound.
Kol strides into the room after Klaus, vampire features evident as he blurs over to her balcony and disappears beyond the glass doors.
Caroline notes the sound of a scuffle, and then Kol is reappearing, slamming another, male vampire onto his back.
"Enzo?" She asks incredulously, even as Enzo uses whatever remaining breath he has to snarl at Kol, who returns the sentiment in kind. "What the hell are you doing here with her? Have you gone insane?"
"Hello gorgeous." Enzo manages to get out, shooting her a reassuring grin despite their current situation.
"You know him Caroline?" Kol glances in her direction as Elijah enters the room calmly, assessing the situation in an instant as he bends down to pick up the witch stone at his feet.
"Katerina. I would be most interested to know how you managed to enter this compound undetected." Elijah begins, tossing the stone up in the air and catching it. His expression is deadly, his tone matching it, and Caroline feels a shiver down her spine.
This was the Elijah that people both respected and feared in equal measures. This was the Elijah that had terrified the Salvatore brothers, that had chased Katherine across the world for over 500 years.
This was a man not to be messed with, and if the expression on Katherine's face was anything to go by, she knew it as well.
Elijah turns towards Kol, who has his boot pressed against Enzo's throat, crushing his windpipe with a sadistic smirk on his face.
"Enough Kol." Elijah pronounces, and Kol steps away from Enzo, allowing him to sit up as his crushed throat begins to heal itself over. The look that Enzo shoots Kol is one of pure hatred, but for the most part Kol looks largely unconcerned, instead choosing to shoot her an amused glance.
Klaus presses his body up against Katherine's, the two almost standing nose to nose as Katherine shakes beneath Klaus' grip around her throat. Katherine was terrified, an emotion she never thought she'd see from the other woman.
"My brother, and your forthcoming explanation is the only thing keeping you alive." Klaus remarks quietly, tone almost conversational as he finally, finally releases his grip, Katherine slumping and clawing at her throat as he steps away from her dismissively.
Klaus doesn't look her way as he comes to settle next to her, but she can practically feel the heat radiating from his body as he seats himself on her bed like he belongs there.
"Perhaps we should move this downstairs to a more suitable location." Elijah finally pronounces, slipping the witch stone into the pocket of his sweatpants.
It's odd, to see Elijah so dressed down, the other Original usually impeccably dressed in a suit and tie.
Klaus' shoulder knocks against hers as Kol manhandles Enzo towards the door and out into the hallway, Elijah following his younger brother with a hand wrapped carefully around Katherine's wrist.
She can't help but glance in Klaus' direction, and while he doesn't smile at her, the expression on his face is one of reassurance, and despite everything she can't help but feel calm in his presence.
For all the horrible things that Klaus had done, he would protect her until his dying breath. The thought terrified her before, when she was younger and more naive, when she thought the friends she had in Mystic Falls were the ones that would be around forever.
But now… now she'd long accepted that Klaus would be in her life in some capacity. She was just trying to figure out in what way.
"I don't understand why the witchstone didn't work." Katherine begins, slumping against the wall closest to the door (read, escape route), and folding her arms over her chest.
Klaus settles onto the leather couch, a smug expression on his face as he glances over at Katherine.
"We took certain precautions with some things when we established ourselves in this residence. Certain elements of magic are impossible to perform within the compound. It would seem that your witchstone falls quite definitively into that category."
"What the hell is she doing here?" A voice sounds from the hallway as Rebekah Mikaelson comes storming into the room, stopping just short of launching herself at Katherine, Kol no doubt having guessed her intentions as he moves to subdue her.
Katherine looks uncomfortable at the appearance of Rebekah, but she might also be able to chalk it up to the fact that Elijah and Enzo excepted, everyone else seemingly has a very good reason for wanting to kill her.
"Calm yourself Rebekah." Elijah reprimands as he hands a drink to Katherine, his fingers brushing against the brunette's.
Katherine gives him a secret smile, and Caroline can't help but note the interaction with interest.
"Is there something between the two of you?" She blurts out before she can stop herself.
Kol looks utterly delighted by her question, Klaus also amused if the expression on his face was anything to go by. Rebekah just glares at Katherine, the other woman responding in kind.
Elijah looks slightly uneasy at her question, but clears his throat as he turns towards her.
"Katerina and I have… history." Elijah replies delicately, not willing to reveal anything else to her.
"Let's return to the matter at hand shall we? Like why you decided to break into a house full of Original vampires." Klaus smoothly steers the conversation away from Elijah, directing his gaze towards Katherine.
Caroline sits close to Klaus, wrapping her arms around her knees as Katherine lets out a wearied sigh.
"Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble or to piss anyone off. But a few years ago, I fell in with a group of vampires living in New York City. The leader of their coven believed that the Marchande Du Mort was somewhere out there, and that we had a duty to help him or her in any capacity that we could." Katherine pauses for breath, glancing around the room as if to gauge their reactions.
"I find it hard to believe that you would be willing to follow someone else so blindly." Kol remarks with a sneer as Katherine shoots him a filthy glare. "You did run from my brothers for almost 500 years, caring about no one but yourself along the way."
"In case you missed the memo, your brothers wanted to kill me." Katherine shoots back, swirling her drink in her hand. "Of course, not that you were overly involved give you were leaving a trail of bodies all over Asia at the time."
"God I'm already bored. Can you just cut to the chase before I do something drastic?" Rebekah almost whines.
For once, Caroline agrees with the blonde Mikaelson.
"Look believe me or not, but I'm in the party that firmly wants to make nice with the humans. I want the head of the SRA dead, and the organisation disbanded, but I don't want to spend the rest of my already miserable experience being scared of people that are below us on the food chain."
"I actually agree with you." Kol remarks, looking surprised at himself as his siblings all turn to stare at him. "About the not being scared of humans." Kol clarifies hastily even as Elijah considers this.
"And you believed that kidnapping Caroline would be the best method to achieve this Katerina?" Elijah asks politely, turning that steely gaze on Katherine, who just shudders and knocks back her drink.
"I forgot how much I hate being in the same room as you guys. You're all so dramatic." Katherine remarks, even as Enzo snorts with silent laughter from where he's leaning up against the back wall.
Caroline had almost forgotten that he was there, and turns to face him.
"What the hell are you even doing here Enzo? I thought you were over in England."
Enzo flashes her a quick smile, teeth white in the darkness. His voice is raspy when he answers, no doubt a side effect of Kol's earlier strangulation during their tussle.
"I ran into Katherine in New York. We had mutual acquaintances there at the time, and when she mentioned that she was coming to see you I had to come along of course, to see if you're alright. Although from what I can see, you seem to be managing just fine. Interesting company you're keeping these days gorgeous."
Klaus stiffens from where he's sitting next to her, his expression thunderous.
"Be careful how you speak to her." Klaus directs towards Enzo, who shrugs nonchalantly.
"Klaus it's fine. He's an old friend from Mystic Falls. Have you heard from the Salvatores at all?" She asks of Enzo, who reluctantly nods, glancing at Klaus uneasily.
"Stefan has taken Damon and Elena north into Alaska until all of this blows over. They'll be fine." Enzo promises her, even as she mulls this plan over in her head.
Alaska was one of the most sparsely populated places in Canada, and also the biggest. While she didn't doubt that Stefan and Damon could take care of themselves and Elena, anyone new arriving would be automatically seen as suspicious. Regardless of where they went, they would have to be careful.
It was a smart plan, but it would have been nice if Stefan could have picked up the phone and called her, even if it was just to check in and see if she was okay.
"So you want me to come with you to New York." Caroline deduces, turning back towards Katherine, who nods silently as a way of reply.
"At least come and meet my coven. We'll be able to start planning from there." Katherine promises, her tone surprisingly sincere.
"And what were your plans after this?" Caroline asks of Elijah, who glances at her in surprise.
"I was going to take you North to Chicago, to meet some friends of mine, decide on a course of action- whether we stay or flee the country."
"Oh trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near Chicago if you can avoid it." Katherine supplies, as the entire room turns back to her.
"And why not?" Rebekah asks, tone unpleasant.
A part of her wonders at the history between Rebekah and Katherine, what could possibly make Rebekah hate the other woman so much.
"Chicago is heavily fortified. I'm talking curfews, concrete walling, extra security and screening. It's where the SRA are headquartered. Chicago is almost a vampire free city now. I highly doubt your friends would be there, if they're even still alive."
"It would seem the decision is up to you then sweetheart. New York or Chicago?" Klaus nudges her gently with an elbow, and she can't help but stare at him for a long moment.
"What would you do?" She whispers, as Klaus' face softens. He reaches out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It's not something that's up to me. Not anymore. Whatever you choose, I'll be with you all the way." Klaus says in a low voice, hand dancing gently over her shoulder.
Caroline turns back to Katherine, noting the raised eyebrows of the other woman, the way that Katherine is looking at Klaus, like she finally understands something.
"Looks like we're going to New York then. But if you're screwing around with me, I will not stop these guys from ripping your heart out." Caroline holds Katherine's gaze, who nods.
"Excellent!" Kol pronounces loudly, clapping his hands together once. "I always do love a good road trip. Come Bekah, lets go and pack some weapons."
Klaus just sighs from next to her, undoubtedly used to his brother's exuberance in moments like this.
And honestly? A part of her has to wonder exactly what she's getting herself into.
A/N: Apologies for the wait on this one guys! If you guys follow me over on Tumblr, you know that I've been struggling big time with writers block lately, and I've just been feeling uninspired by my multi chapters in general.
At this point i'm just going to go with the flow, and write whatever story is inspiring me the most. Apparently this week it was this one.
So I know not a whole lot happens in this one, but I wanted to throw in the POV of Thomas Sanders (seen briefly in email format in the very first chapter) to get a different perspective on the human side of things. Of course, Thomas has some interesting connections to our Scooby gang. Nothing ever is easy in this universe!
Were you guys expecting that reveal with Bonnie?
I actually had planned to have Stefan in this, but it's gotten to the point where I absolutely hate what he's become on the show, and I can't even stomach writing his friendship with Caroline anymore. He's in Alaska until I decide if I want to include him in this!
Katherine wants Caroline to come with her to New York, and Caroline has reluctantly agreed. Only time will tell if Katherine is actually being genuine or if she has ulterior motives. Katherine also has a mission of her own- to kill Dimitri Kruschev, the head of the SRA organisation.
The gang will run into some trouble along the way of course, Originals and Katherine Pierce are never a good combination.
At the moment I'm working on the next chapter of Up All Night Til The Sun, so hopefully i'll be able to update that soon!