A/N: Important message at the end of the chapter. Please be sure to read it. I hope you enjoy this chapter:)
Marcel looked down on his courtyard in the Abattoir, hundreds of his vampires had congregated, forming quite the crowd as they conversed and drank.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Fight Night!" Marcel welcome them with his air of charm and charisma, drawing their full focus. "And, the first rule of Fight Night is: The vampire left standing at the end of the night is one step closer to the inner circle, and one of these" he held on his hand where a daylight rested on his finger. "a daylight ring. If you can impress me with a little ultra-violence, you too can enjoy the warmth of the sun on your face. All you got to do is kick a little ass." He encouraged. "Here we go!"
All the vampires started to form a circle as they waited for the announcement of the fighters, for their name to be called, waiting for the chance, for a shot at their very own daylight ring.
"Our first two contenders: Felicia and Otto!" Marcel announced loudly, his voice ringing out around them.
Felicia and Otto stepped into the circle the group formed and the two vampires went at each other, giving the fight their all, as the rest of the vampires cheered them on.
At one point it appeared that Otto had the upper-hand, but ultimately Felicia won the fight, killing Otto.
"Damn, girl!" Marcel praised impressed. "Not bad!"
Felicia grinned up at Marcel, pride feeling her but then she felt a hand yanking her back her head being pulled roughly to the side, baring her neck not a second later her flesh was being torn, sharp fangs sinking into her neck, a hot fire ripped through her, it felt like she was burning from the inside out. A scream escaped her lips one of pain and agony.
"Niklaus!" Elijah pulled on Klaus, making him release his hold on the girl, she dropped to her knees, hand covering her ripped throat, shaking.
The whole courtyard fell silent and Marcel glared down at Klaus.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded Marcel. "We had a deal. I was under the impression you weren't going to go around killing my people."
"It appears that we've interrupted a collection of filthy amateurs!" Elijah cut in, looking around at the other vampires distastefully. "We've come here for-"
"You took someone from me and I want her back!" Blood dripped down Klaus's chin, his eyes blackened. "You will return her to me or your vampires will start dropping like flies!" he waved his hand at Felicia. She's not dead. Yet. You want to save her life you'll do as I want."
Elijah glared at Klaus for rudely cutting him off. "We just want you to give us the girls. It would be a shame if we had to start killing all of you," He stared up at Marcel. "Starting with you."
"You two got a lot of nerve, coming into my home and making demands." Marcel looked down at them from his balcony, his hands wrapped around the banister.
"Your home, is it?" Klaus repeated, damn near scoffing. It was his home. He built it.
"The girls!" Elijah's voice echoed around them. "I will not ask again."
"I assume you're talking about Hayley and Caroline? Yea high, one has dark hair, bitchy attitude? And the pretty little blonde, she was a whole lot more charming? Who are they, anyway?"
"Their both old friends. You know how sentimental I am about old friends." Klaus stepped forward, wiping the blood from his chin. "However, some friends are worth more than others." Klaus's warning was clear. He really didn't want to have to kill Marcel but if it came down to him and Caroline, he knew what his choice was gonna be. He would always choose Caroline.
"Well, I ain't got them. And before you start whining, I did pay them a little visit earlier tonight. I was feeling nostalgic, so I took a trip out to the plantation where I used to be a slave. And, imagine my surprise when I realized that the Original family of vampires had taken up residence." Marcel informed them, his eyes narrowing. "Your girls, Hayley and Caroline, answered the door, we exchanged hellos, that was it. You don't believe me? Look around. Hell, I'll even help you find them." He leaned forward, gripping the banister more tightly. "But the question that I'd ask is: if Hayley and Caroline aren't here, then where are they?"
Hayley felt the familiar feeling of being inside a moving vehicle, her eyes snapped open, she saw Caroline unconscious across from her near the back. She tried to sit up but she couldn't her wrist tightly bound. She struggled to get her feet toward the window and tried to kick the window out, hoping she could escape somehow.
"Caroline?" She hissed, hoping she could wake her, she sighed in annoyance when the blonde didn't so much as twitch.
The vehicle came to a sudden stop and a moment later the trunk was being open, a pair of arms reaching for her, she immediately started kicking, anything to keep them from touching her, the force in which she kicked had her body sliding closer to Caroline, bumping into her.
"Seriously?" said a male voice.
Hayley knew that voice, it was almost as recognizable as her own. "Tyler?"
"You don't wanna fight me, Hayley. You know you can't beat a hybrid." He used her shock against her and zip tied her ankles, ensuring that she couldn't run away.
"Aahh!" She struggled against him once again realizing what he was doing. "Let me go, you backstabbing half-breed piece of shi-"
"Shut up!" Tyler snapped, cutting her off, he pulled her out of the trunk, throwing her over his shoulder, he cast Caroline's form a quick glance making sure the vervain he injected her with was keeping her down.
He walked away from his vehicle, walking down the road, his hybrid eyes glowing with the anger and frustration coursing through him.
Elijah and Klaus were seated in the backyard of the Abattoir waiting for Marcel.
"Not the most attractive community, are they?" Asked Elijah in mild distaste.
"You do realize they can hear you?" Klaus muttered, wiping the blood from his wrist. He had cured the vampire he had bitten in return Marcel would help them narrow down Hayley and Caroline's location.
"You do realize I don't care?" Elijah responded.
"You know, Elijah, I liked you better in that box," Marcel said approaching them. Followed by some of his vampires and the witch, Sabine.
Elijah only response to that was to stare back at Marcel unapologetic.
Marcel turned to Klaus. "But Klaus, my sire, you I owe the world, and I always show respect to my elders. If your special lady friends are missing, you could benefit from the help of a witch. And, since I control all the witches in this town, I'll grant you one little locator spell. Sabine's the best guide in the Quarter. Need to find someone? I guarantee, she's your girl." he turned on his heel to leave them to their business.
"Where are you going?" Klaus called after him.
Marcel turned back to him. "I hate to cut this short, but the sun's coming up soon. My nightwalkers need to get inside, and I have got a city to run. I leave you to track down your two lost sheep." With those departing words, he left.
"Can you find them?" Elijah asked Sabine, his focus solely on her.
"I can try," Sabine answered.
"There is no try!" Klaus said sharply, leveling her with a heavy glare. "You will get it done!'
Sabine glared but said nothing.
Tyler dropped Hayley on the front stoop of a little shack.
"What is this place?" Hayley looked around.
"The armpit of Louisiana." Tyler pulled a knife out of his pocket.
"What are you gonna do with that?" asked Hayley worriedly.
"Depends on you." He used the knife to cut through the zip ties on her ankles.
"Hey, you attacked me, remember?" Hayley glared angrily. "You ambushed me, in my own backyard."
"It's not your backyard, it's Klaus's! You're shacked up in that mansion with that psycho. A long way from the girl I've met in the Appalachians, helping other werewolves." Tyler snapped. "What Caroline wasn't enough for him he had to have you, too and you go right along with it."
Hayley looked at him apologetically. "Tyler, I'm sorry, but a lot has happened since the last time I saw you."
"You mean that you're pregnant? Two-hybrid babies, yeah, I know all about it. I've been roaming around the bayou, asking questions. Let me tell you what I learned!" He pulled down Hayley's sweater-sleeve baring the birthmark on her shoulder. "This crescent birthmark means you come from a big-shot family. Some kind of royalty for the werewolves of this region. And right here," he gestured around him, "this is all that's left of them."
Hayley looked around and saw more shacks and tents made of blankets. Hayley spotted a woman standing nearby. "Hey!" She called out to her.
The woman jumped startled and turned on her heel, sprinting away, fleeing.
"Help me!" Hayley yelled after her.
"They can't help you!" Tyler snapped at her. "They're in the woods, hiding because they were persecuted for decades by vampires."
"Is that her?" A man asked her, appearing.
"Yeah, Dwayne. Get her inside." Tyler ordered, walking away. He had to go back for Caroline before she regained consciousness and properly bound her so she couldn't complicate matters further.
The man stalked toward her and Hayley called after Tyler's retreating figure. "Tyler? Tyler!"
Sabine waved her hand over a map she had spread out on a table in the courtyard of the Abattoir. A puddle of Klaus' blood traced from their current location to where Hayley was in the bayou.
"Hayley's in the backcountry and if you're lucky Caroline is with her." Sabine looked the location on the map over. "They're Way up, past Houma, deep in the bayou."
"I don't suppose you could be more precise?" Elijah questioned.
"What's the matter, Elijah? You're worried a bit of splashing about in the bog might ruin your expensive shoes?" Klaus challenged.
"As a matter of fact, after my recent confinement, I could use a decent stroll through the countryside." Elijah countered, refusing to rise to his brother's bating taunts.
"There are stories of exiled werewolves, encampments," Sabine informed them. "If Hayley went out that far, chances are she went to find them."
"Clearly, she hopes to make the acquaintance of more like herself. I suppose our company wasn't good enough for her." Klaus groused. "And if she roped Caroline up in this we are going to have a serious problem."
Elijah looked at Sabine worriedly. After Klaus's display in the church, he wasn't sure just how far Niklaus was willing to go for Ms. Forbes.
Josh was seated at a table, drinking and watching a group of vampires play drinking games.
"You could always join them, you know."
Josh looked up to see Marcel approaching him.
"Uh, drinking games? It's not really my thing." Josh shook his head, shooting the suggestion down. "It kind of reminds me of the jocks in my high school. We had a pretty high quota of what you'd call 'douche-nozzles.'"
Marcel smiled. "Bullies, huh?"
"Yeah." Josh nodded.
"Wonder what'd happen if you saw those guys now. I bet you'd tear them apart, right? " Marcel asked archly.
"Ah, yeah, totally. Ha probably go all vamp ninja on them." Josh responded uncomfortably, the thought of killing his old bullies never even cross his mind. He never wanted to hurt people no matter how horrible they might have been.
Marcel laughed. "You're a funny guy, Josh." he narrowed his eyes suddenly. "In fact, I thought it was really funny last night, you know, seeing you at that plantation where Klaus is staying."
Josh quickly stood up, his instincts telling him to run, but he found his path blocked by several other vampires.
"Oh, hoho, hahaha!" Marcel chuckled darkly. "You going somewhere, Josh?"
Josh swallowed nervously in response.
Klaus and Elijah made their way out to the Bayou and were searching near the werewolf encampments for Hayley and Caroline.
"You seem quite determined to find the little wolf," Klaus commented watching as Elijah kept a fast pace.
"If I'm moving too fast for you, Niklaus, you're welcome to wait in the car. Do be certain to leave the windows down." Elijah snarked back at him condescendingly.
"Ah, so I've touched a nerve?" Klaus smirked. "You've begun to admire this girl. Perhaps that's why you've been barking orders since your return, hoping to impress Hayley by assuming the role of family patriarch."
"If you're going to insist on treating her like a walking incubator, then that's your mistake!" Elijah snapped.
"I've made it no secret that she means nothing to me. Her only value is my twins that she carries. Her presence is inconvenient but necessary."
"Her life matters, Niklaus, she is the mother of your children and you should treat her with the same importance you do Ms. Forbes."
"She is not Caroline," Klaus said sharply, sniffing around catching a familiar scent that had his ire rising to the surface. He looked around, eyes narrowing.
"Have you found Hayley or Caroline's scent?" Elijah asked, watching as he clenched his jaw.
"No, but I found someone else's. This vehicle reeks of someone I thought I was rid of...Tyler Lockwood." He sneered the name with disgust and loathing.
"And why would your little hybrid-sidekick from Mystic Falls have any interest in Hayley?"
"He wants revenge because I went after his girl." Klaus spat. Caroline had deserved better than the likes of Tyler Lockwood.
"Miss Forbes?" Elijah said with realization, knowing his brother had tried again and again to win over Caroline affection from the glimpse he had of her mind. Still, he thought there had to be more than Klaus was saying. "Why do I suspect this is the least of your offenses?" Elijah questioned accusingly.
"Back when I had the means to sire hybrids, he was my first, Although, I didn't give him much choice in the matter." Klaus pulled a blanket out of the abandoned car and sniffed at it. "He was loyal in the beginning, but he grew insubordinate, turned my other hybrids against me. I couldn't have that, so I massacred the lot of them. Tyler ran like a coward before I could finish him off."
"Anything else that you would like to share?" asked Elijah exasperated.
"Well, there was this business with his mum." his lips pulled up into a cruel smirk.
Elijah looked at him incredulously. "You killed his mother." his look turned to one of disapproval. "Wonderful," he said dryly.
"He needed to be taught a lesson!" Klaus snapped.
"And is that why you went after Caroline?" Elijah challenge.
Klaus glared at him. "I told you what she means to me and that has nothing to do with Bloody Lockwood. Caroline deserved better than him!"
"None of this would be happening if you didn't have an obsession with this girl," Elijah said accusingly.
Klaus glared. "Do not try and diminish what I feel for Caroline."
Elijah looked exasperated. "If what you say is true, there is a history there with Tyler and Caroline. Perhaps that history will keep him from hurting her but what's stopping him from harming, Hayley?" Elijah stepped forward his eyes hard. "You say Tyler needed to be taught a lesson but what lesson will you be taught, Niklaus, if he retaliates by harming Hayley?"
"So you do care about her. Well, go on, then. Have at it, brother. Save her. Claim what spoils you can." Klaus smirked, tauntingly. "I've sampled what she has to offer and let me tell you, she was lousy, the worst-"
Elijah cut him off, having heard enough of his brother talking ill of Hayley. "Niklaus, so help me…"
"Enough." Klaus cut him off not caring for his brother's chivalrous defense on Haley's behalf. All he cared about was tracking down Caroline. "I'll kill Tyler Lockwood myself." Caroline would just have to forgive him.
Klaus vamp-sped away with the intention of finding Caroline and ridding himself of Tyler Lockwood once and for all.
Marcel enters St. Anne's attic with a large canvas bag thrown over his shoulder.
"Marcel, something is happening," Davina informed him, her tone worried. "There is a witch doing magic in the Quarter."
"Oh, no worries, that one is Marcel-approved!" he waved her concern off. "Besides…" He dropped the large sack on the floor. "Got something else for you to handle!"
Marcel opened the bag to reveal Josh inside.
Josh got his bearings, looking around a little disoriented but when he saw Davina his expression clouded over with one of fear. "Oh, no. Y-you're the super witch."
"Say hi to Josh," Marcel told Davina introducing the young vampire.
"Why would you bring him here?" asked Davina confused.
"Josh has a problem. Klaus compelled him to spy on me." Marcel forced Josh to sit in a chair.
Josh struggled against his strong grip. "Agh!"
Marcel clamped a hand down hard on Josh's shoulder, forcing him to stay seated. "I can't have that. So I thought: 'I'll just kill Josh…'"
"Marcel, please!" Josh pleaded eyes wide with fear. "It's not my fault!"
"...then I thought: 'Killing a vampire, that would be breaking my own rule.' Smart thing to do is to flip Josh, that way, he can tell Klaus whatever I want." Marcel continued as if Josh hadn't spoken at all. "He could even spy for me. All we gotta do is wipe away that compulsion. So, what do you think?"
"I can make him forget what Klaus told him. But, the more Klaus said, the more it is gonna hurt." Davina cautioned.
"Hm, probably gonna hurt a lot." Marcel mused not knowing how far Klaus's compulsion went but guessing it went pretty deep. "Josh?" he asked, looking down at him.
"I-I'll do it, anything, yes," Josh answered quickly. He didn't want to die. What was some pain in comparison to dying, anyway? He paused, considering it. "How much pain are we talking?"
Davina held up a hand, beginning the painful process of removing Josh's compulsion.
His vision started to blur, and his mouth opened on a shout of pain, agony ripping through his skull, unlike anything he had ever felt before.
Caroline let out a groan, her eyes fluttered open and it took her a moment to get her bearings, feeling disoriented. She frowned at the feeling of the hard surface beneath her, rolling onto her back she tried to sit up but found it harder than it should have been, the familiar feeling of vervain coursing through her system.
"Your gonna be weak for a while." Hayley's voice sounded from a few feet away. "You were hit with a large dose of vervain."
"Why vervain?" Caroline managed to pull herself toward a wall and sat up against the wall, since her ankles wrist were bound, the rope burning like it had been soaked in vervain. Looking around, she frowned noticing they were in a rundown shack and that Hayley was zip-tied to a fire stove. "Shouldn't you be able to break free?" she thought werewolves were strong enough to break free of zip-ties.
"If I could don't you think I would have broken free already?!" Hayley snapped.
Caroline rolled her eyes wincing from the vervain ropes around ankles and wrist. "Well, who the hell is behind this?"
Hayley opened her mouth just as Tyler walked in. Caroline stared at him in wide-eyed surprise. "Tyler?"
"Don't even think about moving or I will inject you with enough vervain to even put down an original." Tyler's voice was cold as he glared at her.
"Why are you in New Orleans? Why are doing this?" Caroline demanded.
"I think the better question is what are you doing in New Orleans living with Klaus of all people?!" Tyler countered. "I don't know which of you is worse. You for living in his house or Hayley for being stupid enough to sleep with him and get knocked up? You want to know why I'm doing this? It should be pretty obvious." he sneered.
"This is about your grudge against Klaus?" Caroline asked in disbelief. "Seriously?!"
"Tyler, there's been a wolf watching me lately." Hayley cut in. "Protecting me, like it instinctively knows that I'm part of its pack." She paused, watching him closely. "You're a hybrid, you can turn into a wolf whenever you want. Was it you?"
"No, it wasn't him," Caroline interjected. "I've seen that wolf and I've seen Tyler's wolf. It's someone else." The wolf that had been following Hayley's fur wasn't pitch black. Tyler's wolf was.
"But you're right, only hybrids can control when they change," Tyler told Hayley. "And I'm the only one left, besides Klaus. Which is why we're here."
"Whatever you think you're doing, you know that whole Original family has made some sort of pact, or something, to keep me and my children safe. So, if you hurt me, they'll kill you." Hayley warned.
Caroline raised a brow at her. Hayley was putting a lot of importance on herself when really it was the babies that she carried that were the ones who were important.
"What makes you think I'm afraid to die?" Tyler asked her.
"What are you planning?" Caroline asked warily, she didn't think she could reason with him. She knew how much he hated Klaus and if this all boiled down to Klaus she wasn't sure how far he was willing to take this.
Caroline's gaze snapped up when she heard approaching footsteps. Dwayne had returned walking into the shack, joining them. Caroline frowned at the stranger having never seen him before.
"You ready for this?" Tyler addressed Dwayne.
Dwayne nodded. "Let's do it."
Tyler crouched down digging through a bag at his feet and drew out a large syringe.
Hayley's eyes widened, her breath spiking with fear. "What are you doing?"
"Tyler! Don't! Those babies are innocent!" Caroline shouted at him, she tried to push off the floor but fell back against the hard unforgiving floor and silently cursed the vervain in her system and the damn ropes enabling her.
Dwayne walked over to Hayley and held her down as Tyler crouched down in front of her. "Tyler, please, NO, Tyler!" She screamed panicked. Sophie would only help her with her pack if she helped her and she couldn't do that if she lost their leverage. If she lost Klaus and Caroline's babies she didn't have anything to bargain with, to help her people.
"Klaus destroyed everything good in my life! So, I'm gonna take away something of his!" he glanced back at Caroline who was trying to get up again. "And then I'm going to take what he wants most and leave this city. He'll never see you again!"
"I'm not going anywhere with you." Caroline grounded out. She couldn't believe what Tyler's grudge against Klaus had turned him into.
"NO, PLEASE, TYLER, PLEASE!" Hayley begged when Tyler focused back on her, her tone littered with fear and panic.
Tyler ignored her and jammed the syringe into Hayley's stomach. Hayley screamed out in pain as he drew out a measure of her blood.
When Tyler emoved the syringe from her body, he jammed it into Dwayne's neck, injecting him with the blood and then he snapped his neck, Dwayne dropped to the floor.
Hayley stared at him in horror.
Caroline looked at him in anger, her stomach twisting uncomfortably just looking at him.
Marcel walked through St. Anne's after dropping off Josh with Davina, he headed for the doors to leave but stopped when he noticed another presence.
"I thought you were leaving town!" Marcel called out. "Couldn't stay away, huh?"
He grunted when suddenly his back slamming into the floor, a stiletto heel, pressing against his neck, pinning him to the floor.
"I was half past Louisiana when I found out you invaded our home. What have you done with Hayley and Caroline?" she demanded.
"You're so hot when you're angry," Marcel told her, lips pulling into a smirk.
Rebekah lifted Marcel from the floor and threw him into the nearby wall. He bounced off it and fell into a heap on the floor. "Ahh."
"You used me!" Rebekah accused.
Marcel picked himself back up. "I'm pretty sure that was mutual."
"Beguiled by your charms, I slept with you, like a fool, led you to our home, and then you took Hayley and Caroline!" she accused.
"Whoa, I didn't take anybody!" Marcel protested. "Alright? I already sorted this out with your brothers. But, it begs the question: Why'd you come back?"
Rebekah's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If Klaus learns it's my fault you found your way to the plantation-"
"You really think I'd rat you out?" Marcel interrupted. "Come on!" he reached out, caressing her cheek. "If you think that I'd ever, in a thousand years, do anything to hurt you, you've got me confused with Klaus."
"All your charms and flirtations simply prove that you're every bit the liar and manipulator that Klaus is." Rebekah glared at him and she was tired of falling for it.
Marcel looked at her with a hurt expression. "Is that what you really think?"
"By all means, prove me wrong." she challenged him.
"Fine," Marcel said, surprising her. "Come on, there's something that you need to see." he turned to leave and Rebekah reluctantly followed him.
Tyler lifted Dwayne's dead body up off the floor and dragged him over to the other side of the room. "Don't get all judgy! Dwayne knew what he was getting into. He volunteered!"
"What?" Caroline frowned confused. What the hell did he volunteer for? She doubted it was to die.
"For you to kill him?" Hayley asked, eyes wide.
"Dwayne is a werewolf who died with your blood in his system. The same blood you share with your hybrid babies."
Caroline's eyes widened, thoughts swimming through her head all at once. Tyler believed the babies blood could be used to create hybrids. He hated that Klaus had turned him into a hybrid yet if he was right he just did the same thing. Tyler just turned Dwayne into a hybrid. Or at least into the transitioning process.
"You're trying to turn him into a hybrid!" Hayley realized catching on. "That's impossible!"
"I've been running with wolf packs all over the country. One of them was tight with a witch. She had nightmare visions about your babies and how Klaus could use their blood to make an army of hybrid slaves."
"I am sick of these witches and their premonitions about the babies," Hayley exclaimed. They were just supposed to be a way to get what she wanted but things were just getting more complicated the longer she carried them. "They are just babies!"
But they weren't just babies, Caroline couldn't help but think. They were Klaus's and they would have enemies just like Tyler willing to punish them for their father's crimes.
"Maybe. Maybe not." Said Tyler with a dismissive look. "That's where Dwayne comes in. You see, he was happy to be the test case. If you haven't noticed, these people don't have much to live for! They'd all welcome the chance to become the superior species. Trouble is, all hybrids are sired to Klaus. They follow his every move." He grabbed a knife from his bag and Caroline tensed, wishing the vervain was out of her system and that she didn't vervain ropes binding her so she could get Hayley out of there, protect the babies. She exhaled slowly when Tyler only set it on the table. "No way I let that happen."
"How can you be so sure Klaus knows what the baby's blood will do?" asked Hayley.
"What do you think? Klaus Mikaelson, killer of men, women, and puppies, all of a sudden wants to be a daddy?" Tyler scoffed. "Or he's got an ulterior motive."
"He does care about those babies." Caroline defended, she knew he wanted to be a better father than his own had been. No, Klaus was far from perfect but he at least wanted to take responsibility for his children.
"You're delusional," Tyler snapped at her. "He's got you so turned around that you can no longer see him for the monster that he is."
"Monster?" Caroline glared at him. She knew Klaus could be evil, brutal and downright cruel but there was good in him as well and sometimes you had to accept both sides. The good and the bad. At least he didn't try to be something he wasn't. He knew exactly who he was. And still, while he could be evil to his core he didn't go around threatening unborn children. "Klaus isn't the one terrorizing a pregnant woman."
Tyler walked over to her and yanked her up. "What is wrong with you, Caroline!? How can you defend him after everything he has done?"
Caroline used all the strength she could and shoved him off her, It was made even more difficult by the vervain ropes binding her, still feeling weak from the vervain. She fell to the floor due to the ropes on her ankles. "Look at what you're doing."
Tyler stumbled back from her shoving at him and glared. "I'm proving a point. Hybrids can walk in the sun, their bite is lethal to vampires. You know that better than anyone. You've been bitten twice before. They'll take over New Orleans by the end of the week. And you know what's going to stop Klaus then? Nothing."
As if on cue with Tyler's prediction Dwayne awoke with a gasp, breathing harshly, shifting constantly as if he was erratic.
Tyle looked at Hayley. "You're gonna have to feed on her," he said speaking to Dwayne.
"What?" Hayley's eyes widened.
Tyler moved back to the table picking up the knife and walking toward Hayley.
"No!" Hayley protested.
Tyler ignored and cut across her neck with the blade, deep enough to make her bleed but not deep enough to be anything serious. Still, Hayley cried out. "Ahhhhh!"
"Do it," Tyler ordered Dwayne stepping back.
Dwayne walked over to Hayley and fed on her like he was told. Hayley cried out in pain but Dwayne ignored her.
While Tyler was distracted with Hayley and Dwayne, Caroline used her bound hands, turning in on herself and untangled the vervain ropes from her ankles ignoring her skin burning. Once her ankles were free, she tore at the ropes on her hands with her vampire fangs, fighting back the pain of the vervain, touching her gums and mouth until she was free of the vervain ropes completely.
Caroline fearing for the babies if they drained Hayley dry forced herself to her feet and sped at Dwayne but before she reached him, rough hands grabbed her and threw her back into the wall, she smack into it with a hard thud, feeling her head split open and a small trickle of blood sliding down her skin even as the wound healed.
Caroline groaned, rolling onto her back gasping for breath.
"Stay out of this, Caroline!" Tyler growled.
Finally, Dwayne pulled his mouth away from Hayley his lips wet with her blood and collapsed to the floor in pain.
Tyler pushed him outside, following him out leaving Caroline and Hayley in the shack.
Hayley saw the knife on the floor, reaching for it but her fingers didn't even graze it.
"Caroline, the knife, get the knife." Hayley urged.
Caroline forced herself to move, struggling back to her feet, she moved on unsteady feet grabbing up the knife and stumbled over to Hayley as Hayley grabbed a broken chair leg from the floor.
"Don't kill him." Caroline shook her head, sliding to the floor next to her.
"Which one? Because we need to kill them both if we're going to make it out of here, Caroline!" Hayley snapped
"Tyler did this. Not Dwayne." Caroline couldn't help but think the wolf hadn't truly known what he was doing. He was desperate to escape his circumstances and Tyler took advantage of that. She didn't believe Dwayne deserved to die.
She reached for Hayley's bound hands and started to cut through the zip ties with the knife.
"Look at me!" Tyler shouted as Dwayne convulsed just outside the shack. "Look at me!"
Slowly Dwayne started to calm down, his body going still.
"You're okay?!" Tyler shouted, tense. He had to be. He knew he was right about this.
Dwayne's eyes changed to those of a hybrid, his lips pulling into a smile. "I'm better than okay."
Josh was curled on the floor in the fetal position, screaming out in pain as Davina used her magic to wipe it of Klaus's compulsion.
Davina rolled her eyes, stopping. "I'm sorry, but it's just gonna get worse. Klaus' compulsion runs deep." She knelt down and helped him back into the chair. "You need to think of something else. Take your mind off it." she paused, thinking. "Do you like music?"
"What?" asked Josh, still panting heavily from the pain. "I can't think of music right now."
Davina sighed. "Why?"
"I dunno, maybe because you're giving me a Voodoo lobotomy!" Josh snapped.
Davina shrugged in agreement, his description not far off base. "Do you like jazz?"
Josh sighed in frustration, huffing out a breath.
"So, what then?" asked Davina, hoping to take his mind off the pain.
Josh sighed. "Club stuff." he saw Davina's look and tried to elaborate. "House, trance. You know, 'uhnse uhnse uhnse uhnse'?"
"I'm a witch, I'm not Amish! It's just, I'm only sixteen, I don't go to clubs." Davina told him.
"When I was sixteen, I'd been to, like, a hundred clubs," said Josh, pausing. "God, that was only four years ago. It feels like another life. All I wanted to do is meet boys. Things are so much more complicated. Now, all I want to do is meet boys, feed on people's blood, get one of those daylight rings so I don't burn in the sunlight." he shook his head, adding sarcastically. "All perfectly normal things."
Davina walked over to her table as she listened to Josh talk, she ran her hands along Tim's violin on the table, the same one Elijah had fixed. "I like the classics. Puccini, Bach, Mozart. I took piano, not that it matters, while I'm stuck here."
"Why not?" asked Josh.
"Marcel's worried that someone could hear. It's not his fault, he just wants to keep me safe," answered Davina.
Josh face scrunched up in confusion. "Safe from what?"
"Basically, a coven of psycho witches wants to sacrifice me in a blood ritual." She answered, not sugar coating it.
Josh laughed, dryly not expecting that. "Oh! Wow, okay, uhhh...I'm sorry?"
"Don't be. I'm going to destroy them all. And once they're gone, everything will go back to normal. I'll have my old life back!" she smiled.
Josh smiled sadly at her. She made it sound simple, easy, he had a feeling it would be more complicated than that.
Tyler walked back into the shack, his eyes narrowing on Caroline, noticing she was now next to Hayley.
"If you think you can protect her by sticking closer to her you're wrong," Tyler sneered. "The vervain working through your system has you weakened and even without it your no match for a hybrid."
Caroline scowled up at him from where she slumped against, the wall, her body sluggish. "Shut up," she said through clenched teeth.
"It worked, didn't it?" asked Hayley. "He's a hybrid."
"If Klaus gets ahold of you, if he gets those kids-he wins," Tyler stated. He couldn't let that happen.
"Then help me hide the babies from him!" Hayley exclaimed.
"What?!" Caroline glared at Hayley. "You can't cut Klaus out of their lives. They're just as much his kids as they are yours!"
Tyler frowned, his eyes scanning the floor. "Where's my knife?" his eyes snapped to Caroline. "Give it to me!"
"No." Caroline's voice hardened.
"I'm not messing around, Caroline. I don't want to hurt you but I will do what I have to," he warned, stalking towards her.
Caroline tensed as he yanked her up, twisting the knife from her grasp, and throwing her into the wall head first, her movements to weak, too slow, too sluggish to put up much of a fight.
Hayley winced when Caroline hit the ground with a hard thud, she turned her gaze to Tyler. "Help me run!" she exclaimed, hoping she could reach some rational part of him.
"He'll find you, he'll take your kids away, and he'll make more hybrid monsters." Tyler shook his head, his hand tightening around the knife as he took a step closer to him. "Slaves who do everything he says."
Hayley's eyes widened, terrified of what he was going to do. "Tyler, whatever you're thinking of doing, there has to be another way. You're not like this!"
Caroline gritted her teeth using the wall to hold her weight as she got back to her feet, using Tyler's distraction to her advantage.
Tyler shook his head drawing closer to Hayley and her hand tightened around the broken chair leg and when he was close enough she stabbed him in the stomach with it.
Tyler cried out in pain stumbling back a step, he clenched his jaw his hand wrapping around the makeshift stake and pulled it out. "That was stupid!"
Caroline pushed off the wall toward him but her steps falter and she crashed to her legs, everything spinning. Fuck, how much vervain did he give her?
Tyler started toward Hayley again.
"Get away from her!" Dwayne stormed into the shack.
"What do you care?" Tyler looked at him, his brow furrowing.
"I said get away!" Dwayne growled, edging closer to Hayley.
"You got what you wanted, now get lost!" Tyler snapped at him.
Hayley looked Dwayne, consideringly, she just needed an opportunity to run, Caroline had cut her free but she had kept up the act of being tied up, however, if Tyler was right then Dwayne would have no choice but to do as she said and he could be the opportunity she needed to get away. "Dwayne, he's gonna kill me!" She called out desperately. "And he's gonna kill you, too, he said that hybrids are too dangerous to live! You need to stop him!"
"SHUT UP!" Tyler turned on her shouting
Caroline tried to focus, tried to fight against the effects of the vervain in her system.
Dwayne moved behind Tyler, grabbing him and threw him across the room.
Tyler landed on the floor but he quickly pushed back to his feet. Dwayne rushed him, tackling him.
Tyler dropped the knife and it slid across the floor next to Caroline, she reached for it immediately. "Get out of here!" she yelled to Hayley.
Hayley hesitated briefly, staring at Caroline. If she left her here alone with Tyler and Dwayne there was a chance to die. A dark part of her even wished for it. If Caroline was gone no one would ever have to know the truth.
"Hayley, Go! Now!" Caroline snapped.
Hayley bolted out the door with no more hesitation and didn't look back.
Caroline forced herself back to her feet she turned to see Tyler was now getting the upper hand on Dwayne, she rushed forward tackling Tyler to the floor. "Go," she snapped at Dwayne. "Protect Hayley!"
Tyler growled, his hand wrapping around her throat he rolled them, pinning her to the floor. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He growled. "I'm doing the world a favor."
"I'm not going to let you harmed those kids!" she tightened her hand around the blade.
Tyler gasped as his own knife pierced his chest seconds later just to the left of his heart and he stumbled back
Caroline scrambled back to her feet.
"I told you not to make me do something that both of us would regret. You should have listened." He yanked her forward, sinking his teeth into her neck.
Caroline cried out, a burning fire spreading through her.
Hayley ran as fast as she could through the woods, she stopped, pressing her back behind a tree, trying to catch her breath, she heard someone approaching. She braced herself, her muscles coiling for a fight and turned to attack, swinging her fist but it was just Elijah. He held her hand steady to protect himself.
"Forgive me! I thought you were in danger, it appears I was mistaken." he smiled.
Hayley sighed in relief and dived into Elijah's arms. Elijah wrapped her in his embrace as she clung to him.
Hayley pulled out of his arms a moment later. "You will not believe the crap day I'm having."
"Where's Caroline? Klaus is out there looking for her?" Elijah inquired,
A look of guilt crossed her face. "She helped me escape. She's still out there."
"Klaus will find her. C'mon, I'll take you home." Elijah turned to leave but Hayley stopped him with a hand on her arm.
"Elijah, there's something you need to know about the babies."
Caroline's struggled to pull away from Tyler when suddenly he was being ripped from her and she collapsed to the floor, and Tyler was thrown out the door. Caroline sighed in relief when she saw Klaus.
Klaus looked down at her, concern etched across her features.
Caroline held a hand up to stop him when he took a step toward her. "Don't let him get to Hayley. He wants to kill the babies."
Still, Klaus hesitated. His priority was her.
"Go, I'll be fine." Caroline urged him.
With a growl, Klaus headed out but Tyler was gone with a roll of his eyes and sighed in frustration. He sped away following the stench of Tyler Lockwood.
Tyler ran through the forest searching for Hayley. Counting on the fact that Klaus would be too concerned with helping Caroline to care about anything else.
"HAYLEY!" Tyler shouted. "Don't make this harder than it has to be! Give up now...I'll end it quick."
Klaus caught up with him. Grabbing him by the shoulder and tossing him into a tree. "Quite an offer! Though, not one I'll be extending to you."
Tyler grunted, pushing back to feet and bracing himself to take on the object of his hatred. "Klaus."
"Threatening a pregnant girl in order to exact revenge against me. I never expected you to sink so low!" he'd stalked toward Tyler.
Tyler ducked away from Klaus putting more distance between them. "Used to hang out with you, I guess something must have rubbed off."
"And Caroline? What's your pathetic excuse for bringing her into this?" Klaus demanded.
"Collateral damage." Tyler sneered. "But you know all about that, don't you? She's here in New Orleans because of you? Under some witch's threat because of your twisted obsession with her. She would be better off having never met you. You are the worst thing to ever happen to her!"
Klaus' face went cold and he ran at Tyler tossing him into a tree, the bark splintering with the impact.
"Says the boy who just tore into her! Did it feel good hurting her?!" he demanded. "It's going to be the last time you ever lay a hand on Caroline."
Tyler glared as he quickly got back to his feet and ran.
Klaus smirked, he was going to make this hurt. But he had to make this quick. He needed to heal Caroline. Perhaps he would just snap Tyler's neck, so he could kill him later when he could truly devote his time to punishing him and enjoy every moment of his suffering.
Klaus smiled to himself before giving chase to the coward.
Marcel led Rebekah into the Garden, gesturing at a vampire who stood guard to leave them alone.
Rebekah looked around in confusion and mild horror. "What is this place?"
Marcel gestured all around them. "This is the Garden. It's where I punish vampires who break my rules." he removed a brick in a stoned up wall and pulled out a rolled up parchment from the hole in the wall he created. "But, a long time ago, it used to be something else." he spread out the parchment revealing it to be blueprints, showing them to Rebekah. "Go on, tell me what you see."
"Two stories, Greek columns, wrap-around porch. High ceilings, transem windows. It's lovely." Rebekah responded but she still didn't understand why he was showing this to her. "So what?"
"So, I designed it for you," Marcel told her. "It was going to be ours."
Rebekah looked at him, stunned. "That, this...was supposed to be our happily-ever-after?"
"Yours, and mine." Marcel rolled the blueprints back up, putting them away. "Except you flew the coop with Klaus. I already built the foundation for the place. I halted constructions after you took off. The plan was to wait for you to return. You never did, so, now it's where I bury the people who betray me."
"You could have come after me!" Rebekah exclaimed. If he cared about her enough to plan their future together he should have come after her.
"You were with Klaus! I didn't know where, I didn't know if you still wanted to be with me! All you had to do was come home!" Marcel argued passionately. He had loved her and she just disappeared from his life.
"It was more complicated than that. Not long after we left here, he put a dagger in my heart and stuck me in a box for ninety years. He stole a century from me like it was nothing!" Rebekah said angrily.
"That's what he does, Rebekah!" Marcel said. Wondering what was it going to take for her to realize that. "Klaus will never be happy. He'll be damned if he lets anyone get something that he can't have!"
"I know! I've been dancing to this song for a thousand years!" Rebekah exclaimed, but things were different now. Caroline was here and she didn't think there was anything he wanted more than Caroline's affection, her acceptance, her love. Maybe if he had that he would finally let his family be happy.
"Starting right now, you have a choice, between the brother who takes away your happiness whenever he feels like it, and the man who wants to give you anything you ever wanted." Marcel gave her his ultimatum, he wouldn't be second to Klaus. She either chose him or she chose her brother.
Rebekah stared at him for a long moment, Marcel matched her gaze until finally, Rebekah made her decision. She wanted to be in control of her own immortal life. "He will kill you in front of my eyes out of spite."
Marcel shook his head, "Not if we get rid of him, first."
Rebekah looked at him like he lost his mind, shocked by what he was proposing. Getting rid of Klaus would be no easy feat and there would be no turning back from this. But could she do it? Could she turn on her own brother for Marcel?
Hayley was sitting against a tree as she told Elijah what she had learned from Tyler but trailed off when she heard rapidly approaching footsteps.
Elijah and she both tensed when a large figure appeared, Elijah slammed him into a tree drawing his hand back to put it through his chest.
"Elijah, wait, that's the hybrid that was just created." Hayley stopped him, quickly standing up.
Elijah released him taking a step back, coming to stand beside Hayley protectively.
Dwayne, however, only had eyes for Hayley. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," Hayley said. "Why did you come after me?"
"To keep you safe," Dwayne answered instantly. "I just want to keep you safe."
"See," Hayley turned to Elijah. "He doesn't know me. He has no reason to care about me other than the fact that he's sired to the babies."
Elijah started to pace anxiously as he listened and considered that she could be right.
"Klaus must have known that's the only explanation!" Hayley insisted. "He could care less about the babies, he just wants them to be born so he can use them to make more sired hybrids."
She looked at Elijah, sharing a look with him before Elijah looked away, visibly troubled by what Hayley had told him.
"Although...the way that Dwayne is acting…" she waved a hand at the hybrid in question hovering close to her protectively. "It was more like he was sired to me."
Elijah looked at her, thinking of the implications that entailed. "I should take you home."
"Are you serious? Home to what?" Hayley demanded. If Klaus wanted to use the babies to make hybrids she couldn't do it. Not while she was carrying them.
"Look, regardless of my brother's intentions, mine remains the same. I said that I would protect you, even, if need be, from Klaus himself." Elijah replied, hoping to assure her that as long as she had him she would be safe.
"I can take care of myself. I've done it for a long time." she got up, walking away and Dwayne immediately followed her.
Elijah watched Hayley go for a moment before trailing after her.
Klaus walked the length of the werewolf encampments, checking random tents in search of Tyler. "Is this your idea of revenge, Tyler? A grueling game of hide-and-seek?"
Suddenly there was a change in the breeze and a stake was stabbed into his chest.
Klaus groaned in pain, whirling around and backhanding Tyler away like he was nothing but a fly. Klaus pulled the stake from his chest and threw it, lodging it in Tyler's shoulder just an inch above his heart the same place Caroline had stabbed him. He ran forward driving the stake further in and twisting it viciously.
Tyler cried out in pain, trying to pry his hand off the stake.
"Did you enjoy hurting her?!" Klaus demanded.
Tyler glared at him, face scrunched up in pain. "Which one? Hayley who you knocked up or Caroline who you keep on the side?"
Klaus slammed his other hand into Tyler's abdomen, tearing through flesh, ripping at his intestines from the inside.
Tyler choked on the pain, mouth open on a muted cry.
"Don't insult Caroline. I would never treat her with such disrespect. She deserves more." Klaus growled. "She deserves better than you."
"And you think you deserve her?" Tyler groaned through the pain.
"No, but I would happily spend the rest of eternity trying to be exactly what she needs." Klaus ripped his hand from Tyler's stomach and instead wrapped his bloody hand around his throat. "Look at you. You've grown bloodthirsty. Perhaps it's best your mother didn't live to see you like this," he taunted cruelly, laughing.
Tyler kicked out at him as hard as he could causing Klaus to lose his grip on his neck and stumble back.
Tyler ripped the stake from his chest and ran at Klaus intending to drive it through his heart. Klaus grabbed him and twisted him around till his back was to him, locking his arm hand around him in a lock and used the other to twist Tyler's arm, making him drive the stake into his own chest.
Tyler moaned in pain, weakening in Klaus's grip.
"It's sad, really." Klaus hissed in his ear. "I thought I made you better. Turns out you're quite the disappointment."
Tyler gritted his teeth and reeled back, slamming the back of his skull into Klaus's.
Klaus lost his grip and Tyler put some distance between them, he pulled the stake from his chest and tossed it aside. "I guess I'm another one of your failures. Like how you failed at making hybrids, how you failed your family!" he took a step forward, smirking. "Now it looks like you're going to fail your own kids! What is Caroline going to think of you then?!"
Klaus grabbed Tyler by the throat and pushed him against the tree behind him. "And thus ends your tedious little life. At least it was brief!" he jammed his hand into Tyler's chest, his hand wrapping around Tyler's heart like a vice and squeezing.
Tyler shouted in agony. "Do it! You're never gonna break me! The only thing you can do is kill me, so go on! Go on, get it over with!"
Klaus chuckled darkly, seeing Tyler's desperation. "Ahhh, you want me to end your suffering, don't you, hmm? I did break you! I took everything from you, and now you're begging me to sweep away the shards of your shattered little life." he smirked cruelly.
And Tyler thought this was it, this was the moment Klaus would kill him but to his surprise, Klaus released his grip on his heart and removed his hand from his chest, and wrapped it around throat instead choking him. "Death offers more peace than you deserve. It's better to let you live. And each morning, you will wake knowing your wretched existence continues only by my will. That the girl you love prefers me over you, the man who killed your mother and made you who you are today." he locked eyes with Tyler, allowing his compulsion to take effect. "Now go, and live the rest of your days knowing that you are nothing to me. You are nothing to Caroline. You are nothing to anyone." Klaus released him, vamping away, leaving Tyler in agony.
"Do you know how many fools have tried to vanquish my brother?" Rebekah asked Marcel her tone grave. "If you stand against him, he will kill you, and it will be awful, and bloody, and I will not stand around and watch."
Marcel stopped her when she turned to leave. "You forget, I have a secret weapon. Davina, the most powerful witch in the last couple centuries! What if she can find a way to kill him?"
"You don't know, do you?" asked Rebekah, Marcel didn't know what happened when you kill an original. "You can't kill Klaus! Not without dying yourself. We learned it from the deaths of my brothers Kol and Finn, if an Original dies, every vampire ever made from their line dies with them. Even if you kill Klaus, he'll still win! It's been that way for a thousand years, that's his trick. He always wins."
"There's another way," said Marcel, not ready to give up.
"What would that be?" asked Rebekah doubtful but willing to listen.
"We bury him, down here, forever," Marcel said, after all, that was what the Garden was used for.
"Are you mad? This little chamber of horrors may work for your riff-raff, but do you really think it will hold my brother?" Rebekah demanded.
"Isn't it worth the risk?" Marcel asked imploringly. "You know I'm right! Klaus will never stop trying to control you!"
"And I'm supposed to believe that, after a century, suddenly you're willing to risk death at his hands to be with me?" Rebekah asked full of doubt, not trusting his intentions completely.
"I want to defend my home. I wanna be free." Marcel stated, catching her gaze, wanting her to see that this was not him manipulating her. This was him being honest about what he wanted. "And if that means I get to be with you, all the more reason to bury him. Now, you tell me; what do you want?"
Rebekah stared at him but said nothing, unsure of how to answer him. She knew what she wanted but the harder question was could she deal with the consequences?
LINEBREAK
Caroline breathed heavily as she dragged herself to leaned against the wall. She hoped Hayley had gotten away. That the babies were fine.
She frowned thinking about what Klaus might do to Tyler. She knew Klaus hated Tyler, the only reason why he had shown him any mercy was because she asked him to.
She still couldn't believe Tyler had attacked her, bit her to hurt her. How had he fallen so far to hurt someone he used to love? To try to kill two innocent lives, babies that had yet to even be born."
A part of her, a darker part that she pushed down, that she hated wanted Tyler to pay for attacking her but even more so for going after innocent children who had no say over who their father was.
She coughed feeling the wolf toxin spreading through her system, combined that with the large amount of vervain through her system, it was a miracle she was still conscious but it was only a matter of time before she became delirious with fever.
"Caroline!" She felt Klaus before she saw him, he crouched at her side pulling her into him. "You're going to be alright, Love."
"Hayley, you have to find Hayley." Caroline shook her head. "The babies are in danger. Tyler's trying to kill them."
"I took care of him," Klaus said, pushing her hair back to look at the wound.
Caroline tried to pull back to look at him. "Did you kill him?"
"No. I let him live. It's more than he deserves." Klaus did not mention how he wanted him to suffer. Wanted Tyler to live in true misery.
Caroline nodded. "He made a hybrid. He's sired to Hayley. He followed af-" she cut off on a harsh cough, her breaths rattling around in her chest.
Klaus has been surprised by what she told him but he could care less about that when she had poison circulating through her. "Shh. You can tell me everything later." he wrapped one arm around her and lifted the other to his mouth, tearing into his wrist, ripping it open. "Right now I need you to drink."
Caroline accepted his wrist without question, her lips latching onto his wrist and drinking deeply of his blood. Her eyes slid closed at the feel of his fingers combing through her hair as he pulled her impossibly close, murmuring assurances into her ear.
After several moments she pulled her mouth from his wrist and let his hand drop. "Thanks."
"C'mon, love, let's get you up." Klaus helped her back to her feet, frowning when he noticed she was unsteady.
"Tyler vervained me. I'm pretty sure it was a large dose." Caroline stated.
Klaus scowled. "I should have tortured him before letting him go."
"I'll be fine," Caroline said. "I just need to let it work its way through my system."
"C'mon, Love, I got you." he wrapped an arm around her waist and slip the other beneath her legs, lifting her into his arms.
Caroline gasped in surprise, fisting her hands in his jacket as he started to move.
Klaus stepped out of the shack to see Elijah, Hayley, and Dwayne emerge from the trees.
"There you are!" Klaus knelt down and rested Caroline on the steps, she leaned against it.
Caroline was relieved to see that Hayley was unharmed.
"I see you've found our wandering stray," Klaus said to his brother, his eyes slid to Dwayne, his hybrid eyes were staring back at him. "And you must be the newly turned hybrid Caroline mentioned." his eyes settled on Hayley. "Perhaps you could shed some light on the situation."
"His name's Dwayne," Hayley said.
"I didn't ask his name." Klaus rolled his eyes. How is it possible for him to be a hybrid? I didn't sire him."
Hayley stomped toward him all righteous fury. "As if you didn't know!"
Elijah pulled Hayley back and stepped in front of her as if he was protecting her.
"Ahhh, well, aren't you two fast friends?" Klaus accused. "Oh, come on, then. What kind of horrible accusation have you conspired to levy against me?"
"Tyler Lockwood brought Hayley here to test a theory," Elijah said and Klaus nodded at him to continue. "That the blood of her children could be used to sire hybrids. He claims that you knew that. Furthermore, that you intended to use this knowledge to build an army."
Klaus was instantly hurt and angry, he glanced at Caroline hoping he wouldn't see the same look in her eyes that was in Hayley and Elijah's and to his relief he only saw concern. He turned back to Elijah and Hayley. "And, of course, you assume it's true. I mean, why else would I show interest in my own flesh and blood? A heartbroken little crybaby points his finger at me, and my own brother falls in line, eager to believe it! How quickly you believe the worst, especially when it comes from her." he waved a hand at Hayley, ranting.
"Oh, spare me your indignation. When have you ever demonstrated any kind of concern towards Hayley or her children, beyond your own selfish pursuits?" Elijah demanded. "You care more about Miss Forbes then you do for the mother of your children. And what was it you once said to me?" he changed his voice mockingly. "Every king needs an heir!"
Caroline scoffed as she pushed herself to her feet and Klaus immediately moved to help her, wrapping an arm around her waist, only releasing her once he knew she was steady on her feet. "You don't know what you're talking about." Caroline had talked to Klaus and while it wasn't easy for him to talk about his impending fatherhood. He was determined to be better than his own father. To not make the same mistakes that Mikael did with him.
It was moments like this when Caroline believed she knew him better than his own family did. "Klaus cares about his children just because he doesn't go around declaring it doesn't mean it's not true."
"It's okay, sweetheart." Klaus placed his hand on her shoulder in a show of gratitude, thankful for her not thinking the worst of him or believing it.
Klaus dropped his hand from her shoulder and focused back on his brother. "My big brother, so, you doubt my intentions? Well, I can't say I'm surprised, standing next to the noble Elijah, how can I be anything but the lesser brother? A liar, a manipulator, a bastard." he sneered.
Caroline frowned as Klaus and Elijah stared each other down. The way Klaus spoke about himself reminded her of how she was about her own insecurities. She and Klaus weren't so different after all in more ways than she had first thought.
The idea of Elijah being better than him was laughable. She couldn't stand Klaus's brother. She disliked just being around him.
However, Elijah looking to be reconsidering that maybe he was wrong and his brother had no ulterior motive when it came to the lives of his unborn son and daughter.
"That's all I am to you, isn't it?" demanded Klaus. "And Rebekah. And, judging by the way Hayley hangs on your every word, it's clear she feels the same way!" he glared bitterly and spat. "No doubt my children will as well."
Elijah expression softened. "Brother," he began more kindly. "if-"
"You've said all that needs to be said, Brother." Klaus interrupted, taking a few steps back and held his arms out in defeat. "I'll play the role I've been given." Klaus turned away for just a second before flashing over to Elijah and sinking his fangs into his brother's neck savagely.
Caroline's eyes widened but she felt no sympathy for Elijah, a part of her, a darker part thought he deserved it.
Hayley screamed in horror and rushed to Elijah's side where he had fallen to the ground.
Klaus wiped Elijah's blood from his mouth with his hand. "You two enjoy each other's company. You'll have much to bond over, once the hallucinations and dementia set in. Consider that bite to be my parting gift to you both."
Caroline stepped off the porch of the shack and he was there instantly. "C'mon, Love." He scooped her up back in his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he started walking away, leaving Elijah and Hayley to fend for themselves in the swamp of the Bayou.
Josh was sprawled out on Davina's attic floor, sweat coating his skin that was pale and sickly looking after being subjected to Davina's back all day. He panted, groaning as he pushed himself onto his elbows.
Davina knelt next to him with a bright smile. "That's it. You're free!"
Josh smiled, relieved. "You're right! I can feel it." Davina giggled delightedly. "Before, I was always thinking about what Klaus would want me to do," said Josh, his smile growing. "Now, I'm like, 'Screw that guy!'" he laughed in happiness overjoyed to be free of Klaus's mind control. "Klaus Mikaelson can suck it!"
Davina frowned and Josh's laughter died down, noticing. "What, what's that look for?"
"Marcel wants me to make you forget about me," Davina said with an undertone of sadness.
"Oh, you don't have to do that! I, like, owe you my life!" Josh said, feeling indebted to her. She had nothing to fear from him. When Davina smiled weakly at him, he continued. "I'll keep your secret! Besides, it's kind of nice, just talking to someone normal again."
"You think I'm normal?" asked Davina. "I'm a sixteen-year-old witch, living in an attic like some kind of freak." She was so far from normal it wasn't even funny.
"I'm a gay club kid who died and came back as a vampire. Yeah, normal's kind of relative, you know?" Josh countered causing them both to laugh. Josh extended his pinky to her. "Here, pinky swear on it."
Davina looked at him with a look of appreciation, a smile tugging at her lips.
Hayley and Elijah looked around the abandoned shack, having made their way inside after Klaus and Caroline left.
Hayley had found some old photos and shuffled through them, ignoring Dwayne hovering close to her as if he thought Elijah could be a threat to her.
"You don't have to help." Hayley told Elijah I can dig through the werewolf antique show on my own." she looked at the newly made hybrid. "Or get Dwayne to help. Besides," she looked at his neck wound in concern. "shouldn't you put some kind of ointment, or something, on that?"
"The bite won't kill me," Elijah assured her. "Like Niklaus himself, it's more than a nuisance than anything."
"Good, 'cause I'm eventually going to need a ride home." she smiled at him. "And thanks, by the way, for staying out here. You didn't have to."
"I know," said Elijah. "But, you said the people of this village are the only family you have left. I can relate."
"You're thinking about Klaus," said Hayley knowingly.
Elijah sighed. "Perhaps I was too willing to condemn him. In the thousand years that we have been together, my brother has committed numerous unspeakable acts. But, then again, so has Rebekah. So have I."
"So did I, the last time I was in Cabo," Hayley admitted and Elijah looked at her, confused. "We've all done bad things." But Cabo didn't even come close to the bad things she has done. She betrayed Tyler, she sacrificed 12 hybrids, she had stolen Caroline's unborn children before the blonde even knew of their existence, all in the name of finding her family, her pack.
"It's just, most people die before the list gets embarrassing. But, don't for a second compare yourself to Klaus." Hayley told him, there was no way Elijah was anything like Klaus and she didn't want to hear him implying that he was.
Elijah locked eyes with her, her opinion mattering to him on a level he wasn't prepared for, the stare between them was intense but after a long moment, they both looked away, awkwardness settling around them.
"It's like a freaking hot box in here, I'm gonna get some air," said Hayley, needing a moment to escape what she was feeling for Elijah. She moved to walked out onto the porch but heard Dwayne following her, she turned back around. "Stay here," she told him firmly. "Don't follow me."
Dwayne only nodded, rooted to the spot and watched as she turned back around walking out onto the porch.
Hayley stepped outside onto the porch and a moment later she noticed a Bible laying on the corner of the porch. She picked it up, flipping through the pages.
"Someone left this here," said Hayley when Elijah joined her outside a moment later.
"What is it?" asked Elijah, coming to stand beside her.
"A Bible, with a family history that goes back generations." Answered Hayley. Elijah peered over the Bible pages as she did. There were a lot of names and birthdates, the last entry being 'Andrea Labonair, 6 June 1991'.
Elijah's brow furrowed questioningly. "What are these names? Who is Andrea?"
"I think I am…" Hayley said with a look of shock. "That's the day that I was born."
Klaus stared out the window at the plantation grounds, drinking a tumbler of scotch when he heard someone enter the living room, he didn't need to turn around to know it was his sister. "I thought you were leaving us."
"We both know this family can barely function without me. Where are Caroline, Elijah, and Hayley?"
"Caroline is talking her mother out of coming to New Orleans to make sure her daughter is in one piece and as for our brother and Hayley," his eyes darkened with anger. "I left them in the Bayou."
"Why?" asked Rebekah, confused, taking a seat on the couch.
"Elijah and I had a bit of a row" he gave a forced chuckle. "Hayley's conspired to turn him against me. You know our brother was never one to resist a pretty face! So, one thing led to another, and I bit him, left them both stranded in the swamp." Klaus was unapologetic. If Hayley wasn't pregnant with his children Elijah wouldn't have been the only one to feel his wrath.
"Daggering, biting, deserting," Rebekah said, becoming livid with his excuses for his actions. "Does your wickedness ever end?"
"My "wickedness" is self-preservation! And I wouldn't have to go to such lengths were I not presented on all sides with ignorance and treachery!" Klaus snapped. Caroline was about the only person he could trust. What did that same about his own flesh and blood? The thought had him feeling like the walls were closing in on him. "Now that Elijah's abandoned me, I'll be needing you in my plot against Marcel."
Rebekah glared at him resentfully. She wasn't a tool to be used whenever it benefitted him
"Don't expect to be leaving town anytime soon," Klaus told her while pouring himself another drink.
"Why should I help you, after what you did to Elijah?" Rebekah demanded.
"You're my family. Besides, who better to spy on Marcel than the girl he so clearly loves?" Klaus took a seat on the coffee table in front of Rebekah. "You can tell me all his secrets, like how did he find us here? Huh, any idea about that, little sister?"
"How should I know why Marcel does what he does?" asked Rebekah, refusing to confirm his accusations.
"You think I don't know about your engineered run-ins all over the Quarter? I know you've had private chats with him!" Klaus said with a look of accusation. "Just tell me what secrets he's confided to you. Is he plotting against me?"
Rebekah glared, leaning forward. "My poor brother, so paranoid. Marcel knows nothing! He's not plotting against you, he simply thinks you're in a quarrel in need of making up."
Klaus sighed. "Perhaps we will. After all," he pointed at her, leaning in toward Rebekah aggressively. "You know I'm capable of forgiving those who disappoint me! As soon as they've seen the error of their ways, and suffered for them. You'd do well to remember that." He stood up, walking past her.
"You never let me forget," Rebekah muttered under her breath as he left the room.
"I'm fine, I promise," Caroline assured her mom, she looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Klaus leaning against her open doorway. "Look, I have to go but I miss you, too, mom." Caroline quickly said goodbye and Klaus stepped further into the room.
"Did you manage to talk your mother into staying in Mystic Falls?" he asked, leaning against her dresser.
"Just barely." Caroline tossed her phone on the bed and stood up, her hair was still damp from her shower, she had changed from her blood torn clothes into a pair of blue jeans and a forest green tank top. "She's convinced New Orleans is more dangerous than Mystic Falls."
"She's not entirely wrong," Klaus said pushing off her dresser, closing the distance between them and sweeping her hair aside, his thumb brushed against the healed skin of where Tyler had bitten her.
"Maybe but you're here with me." Caroline countered and Klaus' eyes shot up to hers in surprise. "I want you to know I believe you have the best intentions for your children."
Klaus gave a bitter smile. "You're about the only one." However, it meant a lot to him that she didn't think so low of him.
Caroline took a step closer to him. "Thank you for coming for me."
Klaus's hand on her neck slid down her arm to her hand, wrapping his fingers around it. "I will always come for you."
Caroline nodded, her lips pulling into a slow smile. "Yeah, I'm starting to get that." she murmured, pulling her hand from his she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Klaus was surprised by the feel of the length of her body pressed against his as she hugged him. It was her lips, pressing against his neck that had him reacting, his arms wrapping around her, holding her tightly against him, he buried his face in her neck, breathing her in.
Klaus was reluctant to let her go when she pulled back, he stared into her blue eyes, wanting to pull her back into him to never lose the feeling of having her in his arms.
Caroline stared back at him, his eyes spoke to her, full of longing and want. She leaned in, pressing her lips against his before she could talk herself out of it.
She didn't want to think about what her friends would think of this. She didn't want to care about what they would think about her.
She justed wanted to act on what she felt for once without worrying about someone passing judgment on her.
Klaus' eyes widened at the press of her lips against his. It was unexpected no matter how much he had been craving it. He didn't want to but he pulled away from her. "What are you doing?"
Caroline frowned, her brow furrowing. "I thought that was obvious."
Klaus dropped his hands from her, clenching them into a fist to keep himself from reaching for her. "I don't want you to kiss me just cause you're thankful I healed you."
"That's not why I kiss you." Caroline shook her head. "I mean, of course, I'm grateful you healed me but I kissed you because I wanted to."
Klaus looked doubtful. He wanted to believe her but his day had been crappy at best and he hadn't expected this.
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Caroline asked, looking at him searchingly.
"Because you fought this connection between us at every turn." he challenged. "What change?"
"Because I'm tired of doing what is expected of me. I'm tired of denying what I feel and for once I just want to do what I want." Caroline stated.
"And what do you want, Caroline?" Klaus stepped forward, telling himself to let her make the move, he didn't want her to feel like she made a mistake if he moved first.
Caroline's arm lifted, curling around his neck, pulling him closer. "You." she pressed her mouth to his, capturing his lips.
The feel of her lips against his, had Klaus surging forward one hand wrapping around her back the other tangling in the wet strands of her hair.
Caroline felt his lips moving against hers eagerly, his arms surrounding her and she slid the hand that wasn't curled around his neck, up his arm, gripping it tightly, arching up into him.
Kissing him felt better than she remembered. It felt right in a way she couldn't explain. When his tongue slid across her bottom lip, seeking entrance into her mouth, she opened to him, allowing him to deepen the kiss.
She forgot all the reasons she shouldn't be kissing him and just let herself be in the moment and feel what she wanted. The feel of being in Klaus's arm, the feel of his mouth slanting over hers, kissing her like there was no one else he rather be with.
It felt right in a way that both scared her and excited her. She didn't question whether she would let it happen again with her growing feelings and the way he made her feel, she knew she would want for it to happen again. Damn what everyone else might think about it.
Because at the moment the only opinion that mattered was theirs. Her's and Klaus's.
She knew he wanted her and she was finally letting herself admit that she wanted him too. She wanted to explore whatever it was she felt for him while she was in New Orleans for however long she was there.
Klaus' arm tightened around her, pressing her completely against him and she gasped into his mouth, giving into her want and slid her hand from his arm to his hair, running her fingers through his curls, giving into her feelings, her want for him and letting his kiss consume her.
Klaus' arm slid from her hair, down her body and curled around her thigh, hiking her up his body as he turned, setting her on her dresser.
Caroline wrapped her legs around him, as he pulled his mouth from hers, his lips trailing down her neck, sucking wet open-mouthed kisses into her skin.
Caroline moaned, arching her hips against him, her head falling back at the feel of his mouth on her neck, trusting him completely.
Klaus groaned, his hands gripping her hips and tugging her to the edge as he leaned her further back on the dresser.
The sound of her phone ringing broke through the haze of lust and passion they found themselves being consumed by.
Caroline put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back and he groaned in response as she jumped down from her dresser and grabbed her phone from the bed, checking her ID. She saw Stefan's name flashing across her screen.
"It's Stefan. My mother probably called him because she's worried." she looked at him apologetically.
"Right," said Klaus, feeling a flash of disappointment for being pushed aside because Stefan decided to call. A part of him was afraid she would regret it.
Caroline watched Klaus turn to leave with a dejected look. "Hey," she grabbed his hand, stepping close to him. "What just happened? I don't regret it."
"No?" he asked.
"No." she leaned forward pressing her mouth to his for a kiss, her lips moving slowly over his, only pulling back when she felt him sigh against her like he was letting his guard down. "I should have done that sooner."
Klaus' lips pulled into a slow grin as Caroline's phone continued to ring.
"You wanna make a deal with me, you gotta offer me something. I already know about Hayley, the werewolf girl and Caroline the cute little blonde. What else you got?" Marcel asked, sitting at a table, his vampire guards standing nearby.
"What if I told you that werewolf girl is carrying Klaus' children? Twins to be exact." Tyler sat across from him, eyes hard and calculating.
Marcel leaned in, interested wanting to hear more.
"And, if those babies are born, it'll mean the end of the vampire species."
Marcel nodded at him,
"Oh and the cute little blonde as you call her," Tyler added, jaw clenching. "If you really want to hurt Klaus then you go after her. You get to him through Caroline."
A/N: Reviews are encouraged!
Unfortunately, I will not be updating for a while. Several months at least. Could be longer.
My mother is having surgery this week coming up and she's gonna need care around the clock and with my job, and taking care of her and RL, I just won't have the time to write or work on any of the stories I have going.
I apologize sincerely but I will not be writing and all my stories are going on hiatus.
However, I will get back to them. Eventually.
Again, I just want to apologize for the long wait ahead.
I hope you enjoyed the Klaroline kiss at least:):):)