Curses are a staple in fairy tales. There is always a girl with some sort of curse. But what if the curse was not something to harm her, but to harm others?

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. - Excerpt from Alice in Wonderland

Emmie wandered around. She was moving around the space with all the grace of a jungle cat. A slow prowl that showed that she knew what she was doing. She was ratcheting up Caroline's anxiety and making her antsy. But the words that she had spoken lingered in the back of her mind.

Avenge the fallen. It was something that Caroline understood in the vaguest sense of the words. People died everyday, but what did that have to do with her? Caroline knew that avenging the dead was a useless endeavor; it was not like the dead would be there to see what happened.

Or could they?

Caroline opened her mouth, but Emmie raised a hand at that moment. It halted all the words in Caroline's throat. Emmie pointed to something and there, just off to the side of Caroline, was a mirror.

"You need to see this," Emmie said, her acid green eyes alight with fire. She walked over toward the mirror and tapped on the glass. She turned and waved Caroline over. Her steps were hesitant. There was no telling what she was going to see in that mirror, but she was going to see it all the same.

Caroline walked in front of the mirror and gasped at what she saw inside of it. There in front of her was herself, but it was as though she was staring at someone different. In the mirror was Caroline, but there were large leather like bat wings on her back. Snakes coiled around her body and scales ran down and down her arms as though she was an extension of the snakes that she played with.

This Caroline stood in front of the mirror with a devil may care smile. This Caroline knew who she was and what she was put on this Earth to do. Caroline stared at this reflection of her in the mirror. Without thought she reached out a hand to touch the glass. Her hand pressed against the glass. It was cool to the touch. The glass was solid and present against her hand, but it felt as though at any moment Caroline could reach out and touch their otherworldly version of herself.

"What is this?" Caroline found herself asking. She stared at the visage of her, snakes coiling around her arms and legs, wrapping around her breasts. The sensation of snakes slithering against her skin made Caroline raise her arms around herself. The phantom feeling of their scales against her skin something familiar despite the fact that there were no snakes present.

"You are a creature that used to wander the world. You were the arbiter of justice. You made sure that those who did wrong were punished for their actions. You were beautiful and powerful and I have only just returned you to your most natural state of being," Emmie said. She came up behind Caroline. The years had been long and Caroline was much taller than the witch used to be in the past, but there was something about Emmie that still dominated her. There was something about the witch that had sent her on this adventure in the first place that made her feel so small.

Emmie swiped some hair from her shoulder and placed it in front of Caroline. She looked at the image in the mirror and smiled. "Don't you look just fetching. A world where the wrongdoings of others are punished. Where the wrong burn for their indiscretions and you… Well you my dear are the one torturing them."

Caroline could feel her breath coming out short in her chest. The longer that she stared at the vision before her, the more that all she could think about were the voices that she was hearing. They cried out day and night. Then there was the anger. It never stopped. It never ceased. She was always angry now. Always on the edge of some sort of meltdown.

And now she was supposed to be what? Some avenging angel?

She shook her head and walked away from the vision that was in front of her. She would not. She refused to be a part of this. She would not play Emmie's game.

Caroline shook her head. "I don't want to hear anything else," she said with a raise hand.

"Caroline, think about it you have such wonderful power," Emmie said.

Thinking about what she had seen was the last thing that she wanted to think about. Her thoughts were in a tizzy. All she wanted was to run into the comfort of Ayana or… her mother.

God, it had been so long since she had last thought about her mother. She missed her. They were not the closest, but her mother had been there for her when the moment counted. She wished that she was here right now to tell her that she had not been turned into a monster.

"Is that why I can't do magic except for hurting people? Because I'm some dark angel?" Caroline asked, her voice high with tension.

"Older than the concept of angels darling," Emmie said. She lounged next to the mirror. And then she turned to face it, petting at the image held within. "You are a mythological monster."

The words held no comfort for Caroline. She wanted to be normal. All she had ever wanted to be was a witch. All she wanted to do was make magic and help people like she saw Ayana doing. But that was something that would have never been in the cards for her. She was understanding that now. Caroline was nothing more than a weapon to be wielded. She was nothing more than a cudgel.

"You are…"

Caroline snapped. She turned to Emmie and screamed. Her voice was loud. Drowned out anything that Emmie was attempting to say. She slammed her hands over her ears and cried out. The tears rose in her eyes. She did not want to hear about it. She did not want to know because if she did then, that meant that it was real. If she knew that meant it was an immutable truth and then she would have to deal with it.

Instead, she screamed. It was noiseless and loud and she severed the connection the moment that she could. Caroline shot up from her bed, the duvet on her bed clutched close to her body. Her breath came short out of her mouth and she could hear the sound of Emmie laughing.

Do you think throwing a tantrum will stop the truth of what you are from coming out?

No. She would confront what she was when it was time. But for now she did not want to think about it.

She was still asleep. One thing that Klaus knew about Caroline was that she was never late. Everything that she did was on some kind of time table. When Caroline said that she was going to do something before dinner, she was going to get it done before dinner.

So when Klaus woke up before her, he knew that something was wrong. He climbed the ladder into the small loft where Caroline made her room. Laying there on a bloated mattress was Caroline. Klaus looked around the space. It was decorated with things that clearly spoke Caroline.

There on the bed side table was a book and tapestries hung along the wall. Caroline lay on the mattress bundled up tightly. Klaus lumbered over to her. He was not used to being in a woman's space. Rebekah shared a room with Henrik and even then it was mainly dominated by their younger brother.

But something about being in Caroline's space made him feel as though he was some kind of intruder. He knew that was not the case as he was saying with Caroline, but he had never thought of entering her space. This felt more intimate as though he was breaching some contract between them.

He sat down on the bed and looked at her. The words that he had said the night before rang through his head. Gods above, sometimes he wished that his tongue would tie into a knot in his mouth to prevent him from saying stupid things. He just wanted Caroline to focus her attentions on him and not his brother, but he still found a way to put his foot in his mouth.

But Klaus knew that it was unfair to ask Caroline to do such a thing. She was helping them both out of the goodness of her own heart. And Klaus knew that should the woman in front of him have changed to listen to him, he would not have admired her half as much as he did right now. Caroline had a heart that was big enough to encompass everything and everyone around her. Klaus selfishly wanted those attentions on him and him alone.

Huh… It was the first thing that Klaus had admitted to himself that he admired Caroline. Sitting there in her small space, Klaus knew that he felt admiration and liked the girl in front of him. This was one of the easier things to admit to himself. She had seen so much about him and his family and she did not gawk. She did not cower in front of Mikael despite everything that she had seen.

Digging a hand into his pocket, Klaus pulled out the necklace that Elijah had said came from their mother. It was a simple thing, a leather cord with some beads. Klaus knew that his mother probably sent i way to make amends for her lack of action. His mother was always like that. She was always sending gifts, making his favorite meals, as a way to say that she was sorry for not standing up to his father.

For the life of him, Klaus could not understand why his father disdained him so much. It was something that made no sense to him. Klaus was the middle child between his older brothers and younger siblings. Was there something about him that Mikael did not like? If so, then what was it? Because in the time that he had been with his father, there was not even an inkling as to what it could be.

His gaze turned to Caroline once more. Sitting there on the bed, Caroline was an anomaly to him. His father kpet her close and he had heard whispers of her wealth that Mikael supposedly coveted. It was something that Klaus had not seen evidence of, but there was something about Caroline that left Mikael eating out of the pal of her hands. How did she do it?

Shaking his head, Klaus rose from the bed and walked towards Caroline's head. He knelt down and shook Caroline's shoulder. Caroline roused from sleep with a sigh as though she was simply resting her eyes. Caroline rubbed at her eyes.

"Mmmm… what time is it?: Caroline asked as she rose from the bed. Klaus rose alongside her and watched as Caroline splashed water on her face.

"It is a little after dawn," Klaus said. "I woke you when it became obvious that you would not rouse on your own."

Caroline nodded her head and splashed some water on her face from a bucket. "Okay. You start the fire as I get everything ready for breakfast."

Klaus went down to get started on the fire. Caroline was getting ready and Klaus stopped at the top of the ladder. He turned to look at Caroline as she began to shift out of her clothing. He turned back around, ghis face heating with the sight of her pale skin.

"I… I wanted to apologize. For last night. It was not right of me to tell you how to spend your time," Klaus said.

"No… You were right to worry about your brother," Caroline sighed. "I would be worried about him too if I had Mikael as a father.'

The two of them shared a laugh at that. When the laughter subsided all that could be heard was the shifting of clothing as Caroline dressed and washed for a day. Something about the fact that there was a woman behind him, one that he was not related to dressing behind him made the blood in his body flood south. Down to his… nethers.

Klaus looked down and saw the reaction that his body was having. The mounting pressure making a heat bloom in his groin. Klaus was quick to hunch over with his hands over the offending appendage and close his eyes. He imagined everything and anything disgusting and unpleasant to make the offending pressure lessen.

But this thoughts of Caroline and the tinies sliver of skin that he saw bared to him. He shook his head and climbed down from the loft. He sighed and Caroline called out to him.

"Fine," Klaus said, not hearing what it was that she had said. Without thought, Klaus barreled through the door and slammed in a body sending the person tumbling to the ground. Klaus looked down at the woman and he paused.

There on the ground was a vision of beauty. Her hair was brown waves and she had eyes large and brown like those of a doe. Her hair was braided in a circlet around her head and she had a basket of goods that she had spilled in Klaus's haste to get away from Caroline and that sliver of pale skin.

It felt as though there was some preternatural force that was pulling him closer to this woman. His body moved without him thinking. He leaned down and grabbed the food stuff and herbs that she had dropped when he bumped into her. The girl turned her face to him and smiled. It was bright like the sun breaking through clouds.

"I'm sorry," Klaus found himself saying. "I was not looking where I was going."

"The fault is mine," the girl said. Her voice was as pretty as her face. Her small button nose crinkled as she grabbed the last of her things and placed them in the basket. She looked up to him and then they both paused. Their hands touched, the briefest touch that Klaus has ever experienced but it might have lasted eons.

The girl looked at him and her small pink tongue pushed out of her mouth to lick her lips. And Klaus felt himself swallow.

"Thank you, kind sir," the girl said, rising from the ground and pulling her hand away. That touch burned him. He could still feel her hand, her finger, the slight warmth that it emanated while it touched his own. "I am Tatia. My family has just moved to this town."

Klaus nodded his head. All thoughts eddied out of his mind and all he could think about was the woman in front of him. Tatia… The name was beautiful, it was glorious and it made Klaus want with all his heart.

"May I have your name?" Tatia asked him.

It was then Klaus noticed that he had not given her his name. He had just stared as though that was a good enough answer for who he was. Klaus shook his head.

"I am Niklaus. Niklaus Mikaelson." Her eyes brightened as though she knew the name. Klaus smiled and she nodded her head. "It is a pleasure to meet you Tatia. Did you need something?"

"Yeah, my mother. She is not well. The people said there is a medicine woman that lives in this cottage. Do you think I could speak with her?"

"Of course. Ayana is typically our usual medicine woman, but she has left to deal with something. Her apprentice is here and she is just as good," Klaus said as he ushered her into the small cottage. Tatia nodded her head, but never once took her eyes off of Tatia.

Caroline was climbing down from her loft when she turned and saw Klaus and Tatia standing by the fire.

"Oh. I thought I heard the door open. Who is this, Klaus?" Caroline asked as she neared the fire.

"Tatia," Klaus said the word rolling off his tongue with ease. Gods above, he loved her name. He wanted to shout it from the roof of this cottage. His heart thundered in his chest and he tentatively placed a hand against the small of her back to push Tatia towards Caroline. "She is looking for medicine."

"Oh yes!" Tatia said. "My mother is with child and needs a draught for sickness."

Caroline nodded her head and went about making a draught that could help with the ailment. As she looked, Tatia took a step back. The small of her back was once again right against his hand. And Klaus was not imagining it when she looked up at him through the heavy set of her lashes. Klaus could have crowed with happiness.

Little did he notice the shrewd look Caroline was giving Tatia.

Caroline stood in the center of the forest. She closed her eyes. The sun was setting and today's chores were long since over. All that was left was to prepare dinner. But something drew Caroline out of the comfort of her home.

She knew something was supposed to happen here. Something big. Something that made her insides twist in her torso. Something was brewing but what she did not know. She closed her eyes.

The snakes were her eyes and ears. They told her of everything that was going on in the forest and she watched as more snakes were added into the fold until the whole forest was hissing with her companions. She had eyes everywhere. She could smell everything they did and she would make sure that the people in this village were safe from harm.

Snakes slithered and flickered their tongues out. Tatia and her family were having dinner. The Mikaelsons were having dinner too. Yngvar was drinking his sadness away. Poor guy. Caroline cycled through all the information that was being sent her way. She shifted through the various viewpoints and scenes that were laid before her.

Before her was a path one of her snakes was watching. The natives took this path only when they were the most desperate, but someone was walking that path right this very moment. It was a girl, young and barely off her mother's teat. God, why had they let this child wander by themselves.

The snake slithered closer and scented the air with its tongue. This was a child, but this was also… a witch. A young one at that.

Caroline watched the scene closer urging the snake to come closer to the girl but remain unseen. The girl was hopping from one foot to another without a care in the world. It was as though she did not fear anything but her own safety. She danced around the footpath, singing to herself.

Something crunched in the forest around the girl, but the girl was singing so loudly to herself that she did not notice. Caroline urged the snake to investigate. The snake slid along the ground trying to find the source of the crack. Caroline turned the snake's head right and left.

Ayana was gone and so protecting the village was left up to Caroline. Her magic was suited to fighting off creatures of the night. She was right in making sure there was nothing lingering nearby.

Caroline looked around the space once more with the snake's eyes and then something crushed the head of the snake killing it instantly. Caroline gasped and she jolted where she was standing. Caroline needed to protect that girl.

She turned and went back to her cottage. The girl would be dead if she did nothing. She grabbed the ingredients. She poured her blood into a bowl and then began her spell. Luckily whoever killed her snake would have their blood on them. She could use that to locate and attach this curse to them.

Caroline grabbed the ingredients, pouring one tincture into the bowl after another. She muttered the words of the curse using her blood as the binding agent. She kept sayin g the words, imagining where the girl was. She imagined the spell spilling out of the blood light a net.

A howl went up in the night sky. Caroline paused for a moment but then she continued. She grabbed a piece of wood, dipped the point of her knife into the bowl and began to carve the ruins into the piece of wood. The howling grew louder and louder. Caroline kept saying the spell and uttering the words of the curse.

People exited their home wondering what was going on. Caroline exited the house with the runed stick of wood in her hands. They all turned to her and Caroline stormed past them toward the worn footpath where the girl sat crying.

There on the ground captured in a net of blood and bound was… something that Caroline had never thought she would see. It was a draugr. Its eyes were like cracked ice with the scalera's black out so that all they could see was the darkness of death.

It wore tatters of clothing. It struggled against the bindings of the curse. The runes that Caroline had carved into the stick glowed in the space around the draugr. The girl was sobbing, crawling away from the monster.

"Move," Caroline heard a brusque voice demand behind her. Soon Mikael was by her side standing in front of the draugr too. He gasped when he laid eyes on it. "What in Odin's name?"

"It appears that this witch has learned a bit since the last time we have encountered it," Caroline said to herself. And then to the draugr, "And who do you serve?"

The draugr shifted in its bindings. It dried skin hissing and bones clicking as it tried to find a way out of its bindings. "I serve…" it started but then a wild scream was let loose from the creature as it shifted.

It was warded against speaking against its master. Fine, then. Caroline expected that. "Tell me something you remember from the life you held previously."

"I remember… fire… hot… a stuffed toy…"

"What was your name?" Its blue skin shifted once more.

"I am -"

"Sunniva!"

The crowd of people turned to see Yngvar standing behind the crowd. Tears streamed down his face as he rushed forward and slammed down on his knees in front of the draugr.

"This is my Sunniva Yngvardottir. My poor child, look at what they have done to you."

Something twinged in Caroline's chest and Yngvar's hands moved around Sunniva. His hand never touched her as though they did not know where to start, knowing the moment that they started they would not stop.

Would her own father have mourned her the same way. It has been so long since Caroline had thought of her life before being sent here. She could remember the final moment she spent with her father alone. When he had not looked at her and her world had shattered.

Her parents loved her, but they loved their own lives much more. Caroline looked down at Yngvar and the sobs that wracked through his body at the sight of his daughter. Her father would have spent maybe a tear or two for her before they moved on to other things. Caroline was simply a note in the book of her parents' lives.

Caroline shook her head and took a step forward, placing a hand on Yngvar's shoulder. "I have to destroy the draugr. You know I must."

Yngvar cried harder, fisting his hands in his hair. Draugr brought nothing but misfortune. They all knew this, and yet their hearts all reached out for Yngvar who had to lose his daughter twice.

"No more tears… Papa…" the draugr that was Sunniva whispered. She tilted her head and looked with those blue eyes at Yngvar as though she was remembering something about him.

Caroline did not flinch as she stared at draugr. "Ardeat."

Sunniva set aflame and with a wild screech of pain, her soul was finally sent from this world. Caroline closed her eyes and watched as the body burned. Yngvar's tears wetted her appetite.

Whoever this witch was was cruel. She was using the bodies of her victims to do her dirty work. And that was not something that Caroline was going to abide by. It was one thing to hunger for power and it was another thing to puppet people as though they were nothing more than toys to play with.

Yngvar's sobs were horrible, but it fueled a fire inside of Caroline. She would get justice for these young girls. She would kill whoever was doing this to them and she would make them pay.

Author's Note: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! This chapter came fast! Hope you all enjoy it. Caroline is getting a little blood thirsty but that is all good in this world isn't it. Hope you all love the new chapter!