AN: Two chapters in one day. I am spoiling the lot of you. -Izzy x


Chapter Seventeen – The Originals 3x18

Kai Parker had arrived in New Orleans a couple days later, according to their people, and Klaus payed a visit to Camille first thing in the morning, to ensure that she was still safe considering Kai's arrival and Aurora's return. She was, and he was not invited in to her home. And afterwards, Klaus found himself at a little music festival New Orleans was hosting, with live jazz and big dancing crowds. There was stalls with games and salespeople behind them. But the person he was looking for was in the centre of the dance ground, wearing a loose white tank top and pink shorts, a plastic cup of beer in her hand, and her perfect blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders.

"Hello love," Klaus greeted, pushing through the crowd and resting a hand on her lower back. "Do you think it's safe to be out in such an attention-seeking crowd, with my ex on the loose and very willing to murder you?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "As long as you still like me, I don't think it's safe anywhere," she reasoned, poking him in the chest. "But I would like to have a little fun, followed by our guaranteed destruction. Have a beer, Klaus. Join the party."

"I prefer champagne," he told her. "I, for one, respect our traditions as a couple, sweetheart."

Caroline laughed a little too loud for a completely sober vampire. "Cheeky," she commented, finishing off her beer "You know, Klaus. I really resent the degrading nickna-"

"Sh," he ordered, holding up a finger to silence her. She fell quiet and looked around with him, for the person he's so briefly heard.

In the crowd stood Lucien. He watched Klaus and Caroline with a slight smile, and disappeared when some man passed between them.

Klaus growled and turned back to Caroline. "Wait here," he requested.

"Hah!" Caroline smirked, following him as he walked away.

They followed Lucien into an alleyway and Klaus pulled out a very special weapon from his coat. Papa Tunde's blade. He looked around as he walked, hearing only the slight drizzle of rain that was starting over New Orleans, and the footsteps of Caroline beside him. He turned around and almost jumped, coming within inches of his foe.

He barely had time to raise his hand before Lucien flipped him, throwing him across the alleyway. He landed in a crouch and looked up just in time to see Lucien punch Caroline so hard her neck snapped. Klaus growled and angled the weapon.

"Finally," Lucien mused. "Some privacy. Hello, Nik."

"Not bad," Klaus commented, getting to his feet. "Perhaps I'll return the favour." He ran at Lucien, but every time he thrusted the blade forward, Lucien managed to dodge it. He punched Klaus in the jaw, and the hybrid fell back again. He fell back into a nearby car, smashing the window and spitting up blood.

Lucien jumped onto the hood and growled down at him. "Do you see now?" Lucien asked, almost sadly. "Old friend. I may not have had much of a choice, but I still chose this. I shall still relish in it. You cannot beat me."

"Defeated at the hands of a stable boy," Klaus snarled, sarcastically. "I sincerely doubt it."

Lucien smirked. "I'll have my moment," he promised. "But you still have a role to play in the prophecy I aim to fulfil." He grinned, sadistically. "You're going to help me get Elijah," Lucien claimed.

Klaus flipped Lucien off of the car and jumped him with the weapon. Lucien just grabbed his wrist and held him steady, as if beating his Original Hybrid strength was easy. He raised his other hand and pushed the weapon with all his force. "I'm not going to let you hurt my brother," he informed Lucien.

"Sadly," Lucien mused, "you don't have a choice." He twisted Klaus's wrist around to aim the weapon at himself. The blade sank into his body and he fell to his knees, his bones turning to liquid inside of him.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Klaus woke up to the burning sensation of having Papa Tunde's blade pulled from his ribcage. He screamed in pain and looked around wildly for Caroline. He was chained to a wooden pole, kneeling on Lucien's floor. Aurora observed them from a safe distance, her arms crossed. Caroline was a few feet next to him, her arms held up and chained together, stretching her out and making it so that if she rested tip-toe stance then her arms would pop from their sockets.

"Hey Klaus," she greeted awkwardly as he woke up. "How you doing?"

Klaus banged on his chains, trying to break free to reach her.

"Oh, I doubt you can get past these," Lucien mused, inspecting the metal. "What do you think? Too tight?"

"I think it's perfect," Aurora replied, playfully stepping forward.

Lucien got to his feet and placed the dagger on a nearby table. "These chains and that wood," he told him, "were crafted by the ancient Egyptians. They suppressed so much evil. Nothing supernatural can escape. Not even you."

"Let her go," Klaus ordered, growling. "I'm your enemy. She has nothing to do with this. Let. Her. Go."

Lucien smirked, washing his hands and moving to lean on Klaus's shoulders. "Oh, I think not. She has every part of this. Everything that is her is you, and everything that is you is her." He straightened up and exclaimed brightly: "You're a package deal! And Aurora wants you both."

"Your new upgrade has made you delusional," he claimed. "Almost as bad as her." He gestured to Aurora, who scowled. "At least not you're truly a pair. I'll be sure to scatter both your ashes in the same patch of bog."

Lucien pushed the wood into Klaus's neck and smirked. "Is that a hint of fear in his voice?" He asked Aurora, who nodded. "Usually your threats are so much more convincing. I wish I could grant the same wish to you and Caroline, but I intend to keep you very separate."

"What do you want?" Caroline demanded. "Let's get to the damn point already."

"Ooh, she is bossy," Aurora said, laughing. "I can almost see why Niklaus is so beaten and yet not yet broken, with her cheering him on with her short skirts and pom-poms." She stepped forward and grinned. "But we have not yet started. All I need to do is take this," she held up a vial of Freya's blood, "and I too shall be your better. And you have no idea the torment you'll endure then, for what you did to my brother. And to me." She stepped forward and bent down to hold his chin. "I will take exquisite pleasure from killing you myself. Just after making you watch the painful, slow death of poor, sweet little Caroline."

Klaus leaned forward to bite her, scaring her enough to withdraw her hand.

Lucien grabbed his jacket and headed toward the door. "Clearly you three have a lot to discuss," he mused. "I'll leave you to it. I have another appointment to make." He walked around to Aurora and pulled her up to her feet. They swayed together in a slight dance as he said his goodbyes. "Have your fun with Caroline," he mused. "But keep Nik alive. I would hate to miss his death." He let Aurora go and left the apartment.

She turned from Nik to Caroline and smiled slightly. "I think I'll start with you," she said, pulling out a small wooden stake and lifting it to Caroline's head. Caroline cringed as Aurora poked her eyelid with it, before dragging it along behind her ear, forcing her to bleed into her hair. Caroline felt the burn of vervain in the wood, and held back her screams for as long as possible.

Which wasn't very long.

"How the hell did we get put on baby duty?!" Katherine demanded, as Rebekah stopped for the fourth time to check on Hope in the pram. "We're supposed to be hunting down a psychopath, here!"

"Hayley and Camille are on a rescue mission from even bigger psychopaths," Rebekah reminded her, "Elijah's with Lucien. Finn and Freya are stuck in a trance. I guess we're the safest option for this child today."

Katherine looked down at Hope and blinked. "You have no chance of growing up normal," she claimed.

"Shut up," Rebekah growled. "Don't be a bitch." She straightened up and moved back around to handlebar, pushing her niece forward. "Besides, I can protect her from Kai."

Katherine huffed and followed her through the busy streets of New Orleans, a scowl plastered across her face. "You know, I did save your ass. And I am kind of with your brother, if you know what I mean. You can be a little nicer to me."

"You stole my body and broke my brothers heart!" Rebekah snapped. "He was much happier with Hayley and Gia."

"And yet," Katherine mused, "he keeps coming back to me."

Rebekah glared at her, furiously. "You kno-"

"Cute kid," chimed in a new voice. The two girls stopped bickering and looked up at the newcomer. Young, clean-shaven, smiling brightly and mischievously. Kai bent down to grin at Hope, making the baby laugh. "Babies are so… poetic."

"Don't bother elaborating," Katherine told him. "I'm guessing you're Kai?" She lifted her hand and performed a spell Freya taught her, one that forced his spine to straighten up, so he was not in so close proximity to the baby. "I swear, I'll kill you right now."

Rebekah stepped around the pram and shoved Kai backwards, blocking his view of Hope. "What do you want with Lucien?" She demanded.

Kai paused before laughing. He flicked his hand, shoving Katherine into a nearby building. He flicked his other hand, and Rebekah's neck went with it. The blonde dropped to the floor, and Kai scooped her up.

"Wait, what's happening?" Katherine stepped forward and raised her hands, but Kai easily stopped her magic.

"Lucien took something of mine," he told her, thoughtfully. "My dose of the serum. I want it back before he gives it to someone who doesn't deserve it. Because then Cade can kill me. And I am not going back to hell."

"How does that have anything to do with Rebekah?" Katherine demanded.

"I'm going to take her until you find my serum," he informed her, grinning. "And if you don't, I'll dagger her and throw her into the ocean, your alliance with Klaus will break, and Elijah will hate you forever. Good luck!"


Elijah arrived on an empty dancefloor, the stage against one wall devoid of any musicians. He could vaguely hear the part from outside, but was easily distracted by the arrival of Lucien, who landed before him. "Such a treat being in New Orleans, this time of year," he mused. "But alas, for all of today's talent, nothing quite compares to watching Ella and Louis perform live."

"Yes, what a wonderful world that was," Elijah replied. "Give me my brother before your world becomes significantly less wonderful."

Lucien smirked. "I need something from you, first," Lucien informed him, stepping forward. "A brother for a brother, as it were. You see, I may not have chosen this life for myself, but I do wish to embrace it. With Aurora. Who will refuse until her brother is safe and sound. So, you can tell me how to find him, or I'll kill you."

Elijah narrowed his eyes slightly. "Yes, forgive me if I'm mistaken," he said, stepping forward himself, "but I thought you claimed to, ah, have no choice. As if you wanted to be on our side. Please, Lucy, do explain."

There was a pause before the younger vampire – or weird hybrid thing – pulled up a chair and crossed his legs as he sat down. He rested his hands in his lap and gestured to Elijah to sit. He didn't. And so Lucien ignored him, and began to tell his account.

"I died," he started, surprising Elijah. "1964, I died when one of the Five, came to Bora Bora. And for all my wrongdoings, I wound up in eternal torment."

"And instead of excepting your punishment," Elijah guessed, "you made a deal with the devil? You were a… what is the term these days? A pissbaby?"

Lucien didn't laugh. That worried Elijah. Whenever insulted, Lucien would always feign amusement, thinking so highly of himself that any rudeness would be deemed silly. Instead, however, Lucien just looked lost.

"You honestly don't get it, do you?" He asked, crossing his arms. "Katerina was there, was she not? Did you never sit down with the woman you claim to love so much, and ask her about her experience? Do the two of you ever communicate at all?" He waited for a reply, but Elijah provided none, so he got to his feet. "Torment means torment, Elijah. I understand that the word, along with the words torture and hell, are so commonly used today, that they have lost all meaning. So let me try and explain what I truly mean." He stepped forward and took a deep breath, lost in ever-so-painful memories. "I forgave Tristan, for his torture was sex compared to Hell. I have spent centuries in torture-endurance-training. I can handle regular torture for years. But if Cade was trying to get information out of me, I would have told him in a heartbeat. When I returned, it took me a week to stop shaking, and to remember how to say words. Two weeks for me to remember my own name. Hell isn't easy, Elijah."

Elijah blinked, his face falling. "You wanted out."

"I needed out," Lucien corrected. "I took the exact same deal anybody would make. I would love to see you refuse it, after fifty years of that. All I had to do, was find Katerina and Markos, and I would be free."

Elijah paused and sat down on the stage, straightening his jacket. "Why would the devil grant freedom to two of his subjects in exchange for two more?"

"Markos and Katerina just died," Lucien replied. "I have paid my penance. In fairness, Kai has died recently as well, but I get the feeling Cade just didn't like him. Have you ever spoken to the bloke? Unbearable! But anyway, we worked together to trace them to New Orleans. We lost Markos for a while, when he inhabited Tristan. But Katerina made no effort to hide herself. She just snuggled up in your arms, secure in her protection, with her damn doppelganger blood keeping Klaus at her side. We needed to get you out of the way. To kill the lot of you."

"I-" Elijah attempted, but failed at Lucien's interruption.

"The thing is, now Cade can't kill me," Lucien said, proudly. "This whole immortality business, this was insurance. The promise that I will never end up in his hands again. I told him where Katerina was, and how to kill you. And he gave me the serum. So I don't give a damn about you and your siblings anymore. All I want is Aurora. You're just… collateral damage."


"Get off of her!" Klaus yelled, desperately. His voice was weak and his throat was scratchy, but he needed to defend her with his dying breath. "Stop!"

Aurora paused before removing the weapon from Caroline's throat, turning to face Klaus instead. Caroline ceased in her cries and panted, thankful for the break. "I haven't even started," Aurora told him, before sighing. "How would you like to watch me burn?" She asked, thoughtfully. "That way you can watch me rise from the ashes, like a phoenix."

"It's a lovely image," Klaus replied. "But I think it might ruin Lucien's carpet. Wouldn't you rather get around to torturing me?"

Aurora looked confused. "I am," she answered, simply. "I mean, you may take pain like a pro, but you don't know how to handle emotion. The silly blonde cheerleader's your pressure point." She walked over to Caroline and smirked. "Give me an A," she mused, holding up her stake and slicing it unto Caroline's upstretched arm. "For arm!"

Caroline only gritted her teeth in pain, but refused to cry out. "Stop it!" Klaus demanded, relentlessly. "I said stop."

"Give me a U," Aurora continued, moving the blade south, "for uterus." She stabbed Caroline's abdominal a couple of times, letting the blood soak through her shirt. "Give me an R," she continued. "For rectis capitis!" She reached around Caroline and sliced at her back muscles, making her finally cry out in pain.

"Please!" Klaus begged, furiously.

"Be quiet!" Aurora snapped. "I'm trying to spell my name. Now what body part starts with O?"

"Aurora stop!" Klaus pleaded.

She rolled her eyes. "Or what? You'll kill me? Enact the serum? Turn me into Lucien's equal? Think about all the mean things I can do to Caroline then? Not the wisest strategy for her survival…"

"Is this what you want?" Klaus demanded. "You do realise that becoming like him will only expand on your already-substantial misery? Lucien cannot save you from yourself. Nor could Tristan. Nor could I! You spent centuries trying to cure your madness, and yet, you're still no closer."

"Ovaries!" Aurora decided, grabbing two clean stakes and slamming them into Caroline at once. "A little personal, perhaps, but not many body parts begin with O." Caroline cried out in pain and surprise that time, and Klaus turned away, not wanting to see how red her pretty white shirt had become. "You see what happens when you provoke me, Nik?" Aurora asked, leaving the stakes inside of her and moving away to get another one. "I need another R."

"I'm sorry!" Klaus exclaimed, his strategy shifting in seconds. "I didn't mean that. I meant to say that… Lucien could never do for you, what I could. I could truly help you, Aurora. If you'll let me."

"Mental illness doesn't go away when some pathetic white boy says I love you," Aurora informed him. "Otherwise, I would be cured by now." She glared at him for a second before turning back to Caroline and grinning. "Oh, I know. Ribs!" She buried both hands into Caroline's stomach and reached up. Klaus could hear the sound of Aurora grinding her bones into ash, and it seemed as though Caroline was done with screaming. She was completely winded. He looked to her face for a second, and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, as Aurora played with her.

"Stop it!" Klaus tried again, knowing it was pointless. "Aurora please!"

Aurora retracted her hands and grabbed a nearby kitchen knife, splashing it with a drizzle of vervain and grinning. "Arteries," she mused. She cut open both of Caroline's wrists and watched the blood run down her arms, into her hair and shoulders. "Whoa," Aurora said, retreating, and pulling the stakes out of Caroline's abdomen. "That was fun! I get why cheerleaders always seem so perky."

"Bitch," Caroline whispered, clearly too weak to try to say anything harder.

Aurora just laughed. "What's your favourite chant, Caroline?" She asked, playfully. "Go on, show us! Do it for us!" She growled when Caroline didn't reply. Aurora reached her knife up and dragged it along Caroline's collarbones. "Do I have to spell your name, too? It's quite long, isn't it?"

"G-g-give me an L!" Caroline cheered, weakly. "For legs!"

There was a moment of pause as Aurora's face fell, trying to figure out what Caroline meant. But the cheerleader was pulling her legs up. The chains around her ankles dug into her bone, but Caroline gritted her teeth and pushed through it, freeing her legs. She lifted them up and used them to snap Aurora's neck, before the redhead could even figure out what was happening.

Klaus was very grateful for Caroline's choice of shorts. Now was not the time for an erection, but he couldn't help but admire the flexibility and strength of her long, tan legs. He wondered vaguely, what it would be like to be pinned to the bed, her legs on either side…

"Bloody hell," he said, as Aurora's body dropped to the floor.

"Never make fun of a cheerleader," Caroline advised him, panting with her lack of strength.

Klaus blinked. "I thought these chains were cursed in Ancient Egypt," he reminded her.

"Yours are," Caroline agreed. "But how many magical chains do you think Lucien has lying around? No, they were reserved for you, and I, as a baby vampire, only got stupid vervain ones." She sounded bitter at her status in this world. "But Lucien didn't take into account my six years as a cheerleader and my childhood of ballet."

"Can you get out of the top ones?" Klaus asked, eagerly awaiting her freedom.

As a reply, Caroline curled her body upwards, like a sloth. She linked her healing ankles into particularly large metal hoops to take her weight from her wrists. She twisted her hands around o detangle the chains and fell to the floor, with an undignified huff. Klaus couldn't help but grin widely and proudly.

Caroline ran over to Lucien's fridge and found a wine bottle with human blood in it. She swigged some down herself, and them held the bottle out for Klaus to drink. When he did, she started pulling out draws and looking between couch cushions.

"There's got to be a key or something, to get you out of those," she told him, as she searched.

"No!" Klaus told her. "Go. Leave, before Lucien comes back or Aurora wakes up."

Caroline rolled her eyes and found her bag, pulling out her phone and texting Elijah to stall Lucien. "The serum won't work with a snapped neck," Caroline told him, simply. "Since she's not really dead, you know? And I can take her as normal."

"But Lucien-"

"Is with Elijah," Caroline told him. "And I'm not leaving here without you."


Night began to fall over New Orleans as the rain got heavier and heavier, turning into a small storm. Finn and Freya had not come out of their power trance, Hayley and Camille had not yet returned with Klaus and Caroline, and Elijah was still out with Lucien. Katherine was sat alone in the courtyard, trying to do a locator's spell for the serum using Freya's blood.

She doubted very much it would still be on Lucien. The first thing Katherine had done with the cure was hide it, and great minds thought alike. But there was nothing. "Freya!" Katherine shouted again, up the stairs. "Come on, I need you!"

No reply.

Crap.

Katherine screwed up the map and threw it to the floor, getting angrily to her feet and pacing back and forth. She'd have to tell Kai all she knew, and beg for Rebekah back, praying that her lousy info was good enough.

Which it wouldn't be, because Kai was a supposed psychopath.

Katherine walked past the playmat during her pacing and noticed it's emptiness. "Hope?" She called, rolling her eyes and heading towards the kitchen. The baby always stalked off in there after she got bored, or wanted to walk.

But she wasn't in there, either.

Katherine narrowed her eyes and circled the bar, checking the parlour and under the staircases. "Hope?" She called again as she finished her search.

It was too late that she noticed it; the wide open front gate.

She remembered closing and locking it as soon as she returned back with Hope. Which could only mean one thing.

"Kai," she whispered.

She grabbed a thin black hoodie that belong to Hayley and threw it over her shoulders as she ran out of the compound. "HOPE!" She screamed as she made it out onto the street. The street partyers had all gone home due to the rain, and so the street was cold, dark an empty. It was hard to see in the rain, but Katherine looked around frantically nonetheless.

She saw a dark figure, just turning around the street corner, a bundle of something in their arms. "HOPE!" Katherine called desperately, taking off down the street. Her heels dug into her feet painfully, and she slipped on the wet street, but despite the obstacles in her way, she could not remember ever running so fast.

Even when running from Elijah and Klaus's henchmen, she'd still been slower than she was in the rain in New Orleans that night.

"KAI STOP!" Katherine begged, knowing he could hear her from wherever he was. "KAI!"

She tried to pull the hood up as she ran, to block her already-soaking hair from the rain. She held it down as she ran, as the fabric tried to blow back with the wind.

Her breathing came out more as a sob as the panic started to kick in. She reached the corner and looked around again, calling out. "HOPE!"

It was pointless to call the baby's name, but it seemed right at the time.

"KAI!" She tried. She didn't know where to run when she met the crossroads, so all she could do was hope that this was where Kai wanted to make the exchange. "KAI PLEASE!"

"KAI!" Came a mimicking voice. The witchpire came out of a nearby alleyway, holding the hand of a walking Hope Mikaelson. At least she was wearing her coat and hat in the storm. "HOPE!" Kai continued, laughing. "You sound desperate. Why? She's not your daughter. That one's dead."

They were on opposite sides of the road, and Katherine started crossing, but she stopped in her tracks and fell to her knees when Kai's fangs extracted, and he grinned at Hope's throat.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Katherine demanded. "She's a baby! She has nothing to do with this! Kai, please!"

Kai just smiled, looking at Hope and calling to Katherine. "Just tell me where my serum is," he requested. "And Hope can come home. I'll be sending Rebekah on her way shortly enough. I felt she wasn't motivation enough, you know?"

"Aurora de Martel!" Katherine told him. "Lucien wanted the serum for her. So they can be together. She's probably taken it, but I don't think she's killed herself yet. She's still playing games. If you find her fast, then you can drain her blood, and the serum will be in your veins, like the cure. There's still time, but you need to leave now."

Kai didn't react to this straight away. He just pulled funny faces despite his fangs at Hope. Finally he spoke. "Could I find her at Lucien's place?" He asked, simply.

"Yeah! She's holding Klaus and Caroline there," Katherine told him.

Finally, Kai sighed and let go of Hope. "Go to your auntie Kat," he told her, nudging her in the right direction. Hope started taking tiny steps to reach her, through a small puddle, and Katherine ran towards her, just as a car did – speeding around the corner.

Katherine threw out her hand and the car flipped over, slamming into a nearby shop and breaking through the façade. Katherine sighed in relief at her magic, and scooped Hope up in her arms. She looked up to Kai, but he was gone. Katherine didn't bother to hunt him down. Instead, she just got Hope home as quickly as possible.


Just as Caroline had finished ransacking the living room, she jogged into the kitchen and started pulling out draws and throwing things out of the fridge. "God, knowing my luck today, it's going to be in Lucien's underwear draw, or something," she mused, unhappily. "How much do you want to bet?"

"Caroline, go," Klaus insisted, from his entrapment. "Before she wakes up."

Caroline had the nerve to roll her eyes at him, ignoring his demand and continuing her search. Her head snapped up, however, when she heard the familiar ding of an elevator door. She straightened up and readied one of Aurora's stakes.

"It can't be Lucien," she told Klaus, quietly. "Freya and Finn have done a spell to keep him trapped and torture him." She inched over to the doorway and opened up the big, heavy golden doors, as Camille turned to the threshold, narrowing her eyes at Caroline, who sighed in relief. "Oh, it's you."

"What's going on?" Camille asked, clearly confused that Caroline was up and walking. "Where's Klaus?"

Before Caroline could reply, the elevator opened up again and Hayley ran at her, pouncing on Caroline and knocking her to the floor, growling. She backed up a second and blinked, sitting up. "Caroline?" She asked, still straddling the blonde. "Wait, I think I missed something."

"Yeah," Caroline said. "The fact that I already took Aurora out. She's over there with a snapped neck. Can you, like… get off me now?"

Hayley nodded and got to her feet, helping Caroline up and checking her over once. "Are you okay?" She asked, before turning to Klaus.

"We're fine," Caroline answered. "I snapped Aurora's neck."

"Well, I'll finish the job," Hayley volunteered, dropping her fangs and walking over to the limp, pixie-light red head, grabbing her arm with one hand and pulling her up, digging her hand into her chest.

"Stop!" Klaus ordered from where he was. "She drank the serum."

Before Hayley could reply, there was another trusty ding of an elevator. They looked between each other, clearly unsure of the latest guest.

Hayley and Camille cried out on screams of pain. Hayley dropped Aurora, and she and Cami were lifted off their feet by invisible nooses. They clutched at their throats, and Klaus and Caroline exchanged a worried look.

Kai Parker came around the corner, his hands outstretched as he chanted, quietly. He flicked his wrists and his victim's necks broke. Hayley and Cami dropped to the ground and Kai stormed inside, ignoring the other guests and picking up Aurora. "Hello, Clarice," he said absent-mindedly to Caroline.

"Wait!" Caroline called, but it was pointless. Kai bit into Aurora's neck and drank.

He drained her entire body of blood until she was limp and pale. Then he dropped her to the floor. He turned to Caroline and grinned sadistically. "I worked for this serum," he told her, wiping the blood from around his mouth. "I SUFFERED for this!" He shook his head in disbelief. "No more."

He flashed over to Aurora's display of wooden stakes and picked one up at random, aiming it towards his heart.

"NO!" Caroline yelled. She ran towards him and pounced on him, burying her face in his neck and biting down on his arteries. He tried to get her off, but she was too quick, and before he knew what hit him, his blood was completely drained. He passed out from the blood loss, not really dead, but like his neck was snapped.

"Caroline," Klaus whispered, in a state of shock. "You just…"

"The serum can't go away," Caroline told him, looking bewildered herself. "We can't prevent Aurora and Kai from killing themselves forever. The serum needs to be somewhere, and… Now it's somewhere safe."

"But now, Kai, Aurora, Lucien even," Klaus reminded her, "even maybe Cade, they're all going to be coming after you. I can't protect you from all of them."

"But I could," she remembered, thoughtfully. Clearly lost in her own daydream. "I just need to die."


The compound became surprisingly quiet when everyone returned home. Katherine told them all what happened to Hope, and Klaus and Hayley gushed over their little girl for the next hour, planning Kai's death as they played with her. Finn had gone upstairs with Katherine to try and find Kol, and Elijah and Rebekah retreated to have heart-to-heart on his romantic choices. Caroline went upstairs to wash the blood from her hair, and Cami went home.

Freya walked through the courtyard, considering turning in for the night when she noticed the front gate. Lucien was leaning against it, holding a bottle of whiskey in his hand and swaying slightly. Freya rolled her eyes and walked up to the gate, annoyed by his presence.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, crossing her arms when she reached him. She didn't open the gate; they stood with it in between them. So close, yet, practically on different planets to each other. "If Klaus sees you here-"

"Please," Lucien scoffed, drunkenly. "He couldn't kill me if he tried. But you, your naughty little mix, you really hurt me today. Good for you."

"I'll do it again," she threatened, smirking slightly. "If you don't walk away and get drunk somewhere else."

Lucien studied her for a minute, his eyes softening despite her hard threats. "Aurora never loved me," he told her, matter-of-factly. "She's been faking this whole time. Using me." He took a swig from the glass bottle and looked down.

Freya held back for as long as she could before releasing a pitiful sigh. "I'm sorry, I guess?" She said, awkwardly. "I mean, we all knew she was a crazy bitch from day one. I don't know what you expected."

"Every decision I ever made," Lucien said, "I made for her. For us. I never chose to come back from the damned, Freya. But when I did, I was given the opportunity to build the nicest life with her. For all the sins I committed in a past life, all I wanted was us. I was a fool."

"We're all fools for love," she said, plainly.

"And the worst part," Lucien continued, pointing a finger at her, "is how much I gave up for her. I should have been on the side of the Mikaelsons all along. You and I, we could have had something very special. But I was manipulated into giving that up for her."

Freya scoffed. "Please. All we had was flirtation."

"And chemistry," Lucien added, "and sexual tension. But we had something more than that, and you know it." He hiccoughed slightly and she looked down. Not agreeing with him, but unable to deny it either. "You felt it," Lucien added. "We could have been epic. I'm sorry for ruining that."

"I'll live," she insisted.

He nodded, thoughtfully. "Yeah, you will. I'm going to leave town for a little bit. Tell your family I won't be causing any more trouble for them. Goodbye, Freya Mikaelson."


Camille was just making herself some warm milk before bed, thinking about that day. She'd gone into Lucien's apartment, intent on saving her true love, and she had made no difference. All she did, was get hurt by some witchpire, and watch as Caroline saved the day. Klaus had been so impressed by the cheerleader.

Camille was losing him.

There was a knock on her door, and she walked over to answer it, in no mood for more daily pain, but the man in the hallway was a stranger. "Hello," she greeted, guessing that it was some human ongoing. "What can I do for you?"

"Camille O'Connell," the man mused. "My name is Cade. I don't think we've met."

She blinked, her memory just locating that name. "The devil," she whispered. "The guy who recruited Lucien and Kai in the first place." She took a deep breath. "You can't come in."

"Of course not," Cade replied, simply. "See, I'm a mixture of a lot of things. Witch, psychic, demon. There's some sort of werewolf venom in my bite, but I do have some vampire in me. I will be needing an invite, and since you're a vampire, the lease would be in somebody else's name."

"Don't come back here," Camille told him, going to close the door.

"Of course, it would have to be somebody close by," Cade continued, leaning against the doorframe. "In case a friend popped around for tea. Neighbours are close by." He looked around the other front doors on Camille's apartment floor. It was a small building, with no more than ten tenants. It wouldn't take long for Cade to identify which one. Especially with his psychic abilities, he probably already knew.

"Please don't," Camille whispered. "They're good people. All of them."

There was a pause before the whole building exploded. Windows shattered, walls came crashing down, flames erupted across the façade. Camille jumped at the suddenness of the explosion. Everything fell down in rubble except from her apartment. Everything that belonged to Camille was perfectly intact, and everything else was destroyed.

Cade stepped across the threshold as her ears stopped ringing. Everyone was dead.

Camille ran towards her dark objects, but Cade intercepted her, pulling her arm to his mouth and biting. She screamed out in pain, but he didn't stop.


Klaus stepped into the guest bedroom and looked around. Caroline had thrown her bloody clothes in the trash, and the shower water was running in the adjoining bathroom. He wondered vaguely what she was going to wear when she dried off, but then decided that she was fine the way she was. His blood rushed south when he remembered what all her curves looked like, the perk of her plump breasts and round ass…

He took off his jacket and opened the door to the bathroom, looking at the thick shower curtains and leaning on the doorframe. "Hello, love," he called past the rushing water. "Have you made a decision yet?"

"No," Caroline replied, clearly thoughtful. "It's a big decision. And it's late at night. If I still feel the same way tomorrow, then… I don't know."

"The same way as what?" Klaus asked, crossing his arms. "To which choice are you currently partial towards?" Stay as a vampire, the being she'd struggling with, and became so confident and happy with; or go for an upgrade a risk changing all of that. Going back to square one.

There was a pause before Caroline replied. "If it were your choice," she replied, "what would you have me do?"

Klaus clicked his tongue, thinking it over. Truthfully, he was conflicted as well. On the one hand, he knew in advance that he'd be uncomfortable and paranoid with her being stronger than him, worried about what it would do to her mental health, and threatened by her newfound power, especially given their love-hate relationship. On the other hand, he couldn't object to her having more protection for herself, and more protection for his family, should she keep her old alliances. It was also selfish of him to want to keep her the way she was.

"If it were my choice," Klaus answered, eventually, "I'd want you to be comfortable and safe and happy, whatever form you're in. I do wish I could help you, Caroline, but this isn't my choice to make."

There was another pause before Caroline finally answered his question. "The choice in which I am partial towards," she mused, casually, "is the decision of asking you to join me in this shower."

Klaus raise his eyebrows, interested in the proposal. "As appealing as that sounds, you did earlier mention that it's too late to me making any big decisions."

Caroline laughed lightly as her words were used against her. "Klaus," she mused, fondly. "I didn't make that decision just now. I was thinking about it all day."

Klaus used his enhanced speed to get his clothes off as quickly as possible before jumping into the shower and grabbing her bare, wet hips. She was facing away from him, and he pulled her closer, until his hard length was pushing against her toned ass. He buried his lips into her neck, kissing and sucking her flesh.

She spun around to face him, locking her lips with his and already trying to take control.

But this could well be his last time to dominate her.

He dug his fingers into her hips and slammed her against the wall. She hissed at the cold tiles, be he ignored her, his head ducking straight down to her tits. He sucked on his nipples and bit around the flesh. He reached down and buried his fingers into her wet folds, rubbing and flicking her clit, making her moan as she ran her hands through his hair.

When she reached down to stroke his dick, however, he swatted her hand away and turned her around.

Klaus moved her arms, resting her hands against the tiles and pulled her ass outwards, so she was bent over.

"Think gentle thoughts, sweetheart," he purred as he angled his cock to her heat and slammed into her, making her gasp and moan at the same time. He set a hard, fast pace as he pumped in and out of her. He watched her arms shake with the force and he grinned to himself.

"Oh God!" She moaned as she neared her finish. Klaus had a little more self-control, however, and kept his climax at bay for round two. Her legs trembled as she finally came around him, hitting the wall and twitching with aftershocks.

She fell to her knees and Klaus wondered if he had really fucked her so hard she couldn't stand, but then she faced his dick and he grinned, realising what was happening. She looked up at him with her big bright eyes and her secretive smile before leaning forward and licking the tip of his hard penis.

He ran his hand through her wet hair as she leaned in further to run her tongue up the length of his cock before sucking on the head. He grinned down at her as she bobbed her head down his long length, taking in all of him with apparent ease.

When she backed out again she swirled her tongue around his tip before throwing his member back again.

He groaned as her tight, hot throat pumped around him. She gagged slightly as she picked up the pace, but she didn't stop, clearly determined to get him off.

"Fuck sweetheart," Klaus snarled as he came in her throat. She swallowed the load whole and licked any remnants off of his member before getting to her feet.

He picked her up as soon as she did, and carried her into the other room, throwing her down in the bed, and keeping her there all night long.


AN: Cami's dying, Klaroline's having sex. I loved writing this chapter. Let me know what you think in the reviews! -Izzy x