BKBKBKBKBKBKBK
There are thirteen missed calls and the same number of voicemails for those attempts to reach him. Twelve of them are from Elijah. Klaus listens, message after message, the self-possessed tone of his brother: Was there a plan beyond resurrecting their former enemy? Would their plan have been better served if he had been included on the details? And should they consider the help of their siblings?
The front lawn is aglow with rich warm light from gas-operated Tiffany lamps, that had existed almost a hundred years ago, in each window and Klaus stands grinning at the facade of the home, excited but not surprised that the burnt-out wood and rot has been traded for gleaming pine and fresh blush paint.
He could still feel the weight of her, spent and folded backward over his arm, hair hanging with bits of ice caught in the dark brown strands and in between the miniscule spaces of her eyelashes.
Contradictory to the spectacle of the fallen witch, skin to skin, magic crackled and sparked, electrifying Klaus, the hair on his arms and head stood straight up, his bones grew denser and his eyes beamed fluorescent.
Pure energy.
At that moment, Bonnie could have fueled a small country.
"I did good." She slurred.
He had carried her up the stairs, past the dark paintings of young men, one blonde and one dark- haired, sitting on ornate replicas of thrones, dead animals with open mouths under their leather boots.
Behind the door of bedroom there was a glorious bath waiting for her.
A copper hammered soaking tub positioned in the middle of the bedroom, a tub that was not there in the houses original incarnation, but a possibility now because of her imagination.
He looks up at the second story where he left her, in the master bedroom, and he recalls a time he had stood outside just as he was doing now, looking up at that window, anticipating a silhouette, longing to see the lone dark shadow behind the curtain only to be pulled apart by the discovery that the shadow wasn't alone.
It had marked the beginning of the end.
He dials Elijah.
"How is she?"
"And I thought all of the urgency was because of our slight issue with Marcel," Klaus says, his voice buoyant and his steps agile and free as he walked bare-chested under the moonlight, "You would not recognize her. She is not the lamb I brought home and I think you will be pleasantly surprised to know that our witch has a penchant for savagery."
"No signs of a memory to kill us all then?"
"She isn't whining about a doppelganger, but she has tried to kill me," He laughs heartily, "But let us be frank, what meaningful bond have I ever had with anyone who didn't at some point try to kill me."
His brother sighs on the other end of the call.
"You had a visitor today, Niklaus. An attorney handling the estate of Therese Guidry came this afternoon, she left a notarized copy of the will that explicitly states you are solely responsible for the cost of her funeral and her list of wishes on how to proceed with her passing.
"It was a small price to pay."
"I enclosed a substantial check with a note of our condolences for the attorney to deliver to the family."
"Thank you," Klaus interjected, walking away from the glow.
"I'm not finished, the attorney also informed that a private meeting is being requested with you and one of Mama T's family members, a great grand-niece by the name of Antoinette Guidry."
"The reason being? I agreed to Mama T's terms and she delivered me Bonnie. Our agreement is fulfilled."
"Well, it seems that this Antoinette Guidry is soon to be the replacement of her familial coven, purely in decoration only as Marcel has forbidden her family from practicing magic, but from what I gathered in my meeting with the attorney they are eager to meet you and who their elder has resurrected."
Klaus snorts, "This funeral will be a coming out for the little witch."
"It does seem that there are those of New Orleans who are on tenterhooks to meet her. You mentioned savagery. What has happened that has led you to believe this of Bonnie?"
"Marcel sent his wolves. They tried to kidnap her but she was not one to go lightly."
"That is good to hear. I would hate to think you paid such a large price for nothing."
Klaus smirks, "Elijah you confound me, one minute you are baiting for her well-being and the next you are flippant over her existence."
"'Always and Forever' would be empty if I wasn't concerned over the very thing you have deemed with the charge of keeping this family and that god-forsaken oath safe."
Looking over his shoulder back at the home, he quiets his voice as if she had his hearing, "She has the juice we need and she's gaining confidence by the hour, but even with her rapid developments we are still at a loss from not knowing the capabilities of our opponent."
"I will dig for information on Davina, and perhaps I will meet with this Antoinette and consider if she could be a potential ally for us.
"Perfect, and to bide us more time, I have a plan," Klaus says, smiling into the phone, "I will need you to come here the day before the funeral."
"Here? " Elijah pauses, " I thought you were across state lines in a motel somewhere, I didn't think you would take her to…
"See you Saturday, Elijah." Klaus says hanging up the call before his brother could question his choice of lodging.
Klaus walks the span of the yard, right up to the brim, the black woods inviting him further and he scrolls through his phone, placing a finger over thirteenth voicemail, the last message marked, 'Caroline." He plays Caroline's voicemail again, and again, and then again, and then once more. HELP! Each time he plays the message, he picks up different tones of her voice, the way it starts shrill and frantic and then bereft. HELP! She isn't in danger; the S.O.S. isn't a scream to fly in and save her. HELP! He can see her now, balled up into her self on her twin bed in the dorm room and the image almost affects him. HELP! There is open pain in her voice, making all of her words unintelligible, but he can make out her plea, her purpose for calling when she never calls, he knew the reason of her heartbreak before she even knew there was going to be something to be heartbroken over.
He decides not to go for a kill in the woods; the darkness between the trees does not hold the same allure it had before Caroline, and he's disappointed, because he is still charged from Bonnie, and he thinks only blood will put his feet back onto Earth.
Deleting the voicemail, he turns his face back to the glow, and begins to craft a tale.
Author's Note
The next couple of chapters are going not going to be lengthy in word count but hopefully it will give you enough of the story to keep you interested. :) Thanks for reading.