AN: Again, Caroline's turning is temporary, to try and balance the conflicting reviews. And I hope this clears up that lovesick Katherine thing. -Izzy x
Chapter Twenty – The Originals 3x21
Jazz musicians played solemnly down the street of New Orleans, following the casket that was marched across the Quarter. Crowds of people who knew and loved Camille, and a few who simply respected her, came out to say their farewells.
They walked in two rows of three. Klaus led the way, his hands in his pockets and Caroline at his right side. To his left stood Hayley, her arms crossed. Behind them, Elijah walked with his hand linked through Katherines, and Rebekah stood next to him, trying not to swing her arms as they walked. They all wore black and looked straight ahead, solemnly.
Davina was having a separate memorial, and those closest to her went into the graveyard to say a private goodbye to her. Kol, Marcel, Vincent and Josh. Rebekah waited outside the graveyard for their return, to make sure their youngest brother was okay. The rest of the wake retreated to a nearby coffee shop to try and warm their cold hearts.
"We can't run out of whiskey at an Irish Wake!" Caroline ordered when she heard complaints, retreating to the kitchen to argue with the staff. "It's like the one rule. Okay? God, what am I compelling you all for?!"
"Whiskey is key," Hayley agreed, appearing at Caroline's shoulder and glaring them down. One member of staff ran outside to buy some more, and the two women turned to each other. "Thank you for helping me plan all this, Caroline," Hayley said, gratefully. "I suck at parties, and Camille would have really appreciated it."
Caroline nodded, crossing her arms over her black dress. "I hope so... Will you be honest with me?" She bit her lip as Hayley nodded. "Is it weird that I'm here? Like, disrespectful or something?"
"No," Hayley said, shaking her head, instantly. "No, of course not. You helped Camille when she first became a vampire, and I know she was grateful for that. She never hated you, even though she wanted to. You were her friend, for however brief. You have a right to be here, Caroline."
She sighed before giving a faint smile. "Are you okay, Hayley?"
There was a pause before the hybrid nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Or I will be. It's just… Losing Cami and Davina so quickly. It's a shock, you know?"
Caroline nodded and rubbed Hayley's shoulders comfortingly. "It gets better," she promised. She noticed Klaus on the other side of the bar and nodded towards him. "What about him? Is he… handling it?"
Hayley followed her line of sight as a man, some police officer, walking towards Klaus. "Has he reached out to you, since?" Hayley asked her, turning back to Caroline – who shook her head.
"No," she replied. "I think he's mad at me. I mean, it's not like it's my fault that Cade killed me. He was the devil; how was I supposed to stop him? It's just his crazy paranoia getting the best of him, and I just… I want him to talk to me again."
"He will," the brunette promised. "I think he misses you."
"Here," Finn said, holding the knife over the bowl in the compound. Freya reached out and wrapped her fingers around the blade, squeezing until a few drops of blood spilled from her palm.
Both of their heads snapped up at the sound of footprints and they turned to see Kol. He walked in on them and briefly inspected the scene before hitching up the pants of his suit and sitting himself down. "We didn't think anyone was home," Freya said, turning to face him.
"Did you think I'd be at Camille's wake?" Kol asked, thoughtfully. "Well, as it turns out, I hit my funeral quota for the day. Davina's was this morning. You remember her? Love of my life, condemned to an unknowable hell?"
"She wasn't the love of your damn life, Kol," Finn chimed in, snappily. "You knew her for a few months."
"You knew Sage for a few months before you were bloody daggered," Kol reminded him, surprisingly calm given the insult. "And she waited nine-hundred years for you." The brothers glared at each other and Freya looked between them before deciding not to ask who Sage was. "What's your excuse, Freya?" Kol asked, turning to her. "Were you so repulsed by what you did that you couldn't bring yourself to indulge in whiskey and finger-food?"
Freya coughed and looked down, awkwardly. "Kol," Finn scolded.
"Finn," Freya snapped, not realising the irony of the scold until after she said it.
"Were you just too busy desecrating the dead?" Kol asked, picking up the skull on the table by the bowl. "Is this to be your new hobby now?"
"When Lucien left, he was still positive the prophecy would unfold," she explained, squeezing her hand over the bowl and letting the blood pour. "I need to know if he was right. These are the remains of his oracle, Alexis. Hers was a power I barely understood. But now that my magic has been touched by the ancestors, I can channel her. Forecast as she did. We can find out if Lucien was right, or if we can finally put this nightmare behind us."
Kol paused, looking thoughtful. "I hope the prophecy is true," he mused. "I hope you all rot in hell. I'm just mad I won't be around to see it."
"Where are you going, brother?" Finn asked, as Kol turned away to leave.
"None of your bloody business," he snapped in return. Finn walked forward to stop him, but Kol pushed him back. "There is nothing for me here."
"Kol, you know that isn't true," Freya whispered, sadly. "Your family-"
"Don't you lecture me on my family," Kol said, scowling. "You may have searched for us your entire life, but I never, for a second, wanted you."
He turned to leave again and Freya snapped. "Were we just supposed to let Rebekah die?!" Freya demanded, her arms gesturing wildly for a second. "Would you prefer that? For your sister, perhaps the only one of us you actually care about, to be dead? After she spent months doing everything she could to bring you back? You would rather have her killed?"
"I didn't say that!" Kol exclaimed, turning back around and glaring at her.
"You may as well have!" Freya yelled back, defensively. "There was no other option, Kol. No way out of it. I looked and looked and looked because you are my brother, and I searched for you my entire life. Like you said. And I didn't want to do that to you. And I'm tired of walking around every day feeling shitty about it. So you go and talk to Rebekah. You look her in the eye and tell her that you wish she was dead, and then you can tell me what a horrible person I am."
There was a pause before Kol grabbed her by the neck and shoved her against a nearby wall, ignoring Finn's yell of protest. "How dare you?" Kol growled, leaning forward and snarling at her. "How dare you?" He threw Freya to the floor and stormed out.
Finn ran forward to help her up and she coughed slightly, rubbing her neck. "There's a reason," Finn mused, "why Klaus is afraid of Kol, Freya. You shouldn't have said that."
-0-0-0-0-0-
When they returned home, Katherine went straight upstairs to find Freya, hearing about the spell she'd had planned. "Anything?" She asked, throwing her jacket over a nearby chair and sitting opposite her friend.
Freya shook her head, sadly. "No. Every time I think I'm close to seeing something, it disappears before I can. Nothing's working." Her hands were on either side of Alexis's creepy skull and she was intensely focusing.
Experimentally, Katherine reached out and covered Freya's hands with her own, jumping back as they both saw the same thing. The prophecy. The blood splattering across Elijah's portrait; the destroyed Thanksgiving dining table, and the beast. The growing shadow, that faced them, with glowing red eyes and veins to their chin.
Marcel.
"That's not possible," Katherine whispered, as the vision left and their hands separated. "Caroline took the last serum. Cade, Lucien and Caroline. There were only three. How is this possible?"
"It isn't," Freya replied.
There was a pause before Katherine reached forward again. "Finish it."
Their hands touched and the vision flashed before their eyes once more. This time, Marcel stood on a bridge, staring straight at them. Then there was Elijah, slumped in a chair and looking worn out, some vicious looking bite on his arm. Hayley stood in the corner, watching him with Hope in her arms and blood around her face, looking shocked and sad. Then there was Klaus, held up by a crowd as Marcel stabbed him with the blade of Papa Tunde. One vision was of Marcel and Elijah clinking glasses in a toast, and the next was of Marcel – charging forward and stabbing him in the back. And the last one was of coffins. Five of them, shining slightly in a dark space.
When they returned to reality, the two women just looked at each other in shock and fear of what was left to come.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"It must have been Cade," Freya deducted, as Hayley, Caroline and Rebekah joined them. Elijah and Finn were out looking for Kol, and Klaus was out trying to comfort Marcel. And so, this became the women's problem.
"But Cade activated his serum," Katherine reminded her. "So that's impossible."
"But Caroline's serum is still very active," Freya explained, gesturing to the blonde across from her who raised a hand. "And I called Lucien, who said his was still very active. After Cade's death, a witch must have reverted the serum back to its original form and extracted it from the heart."
"He'd need a witch," Hayley pointed out. "And his witch is kind of dead."
"Vincent," Caroline reminded her. "He's angry about Davina, so he teamed up with Marcel. He wants the Mikaelsons dead because of it, and he's got to be using Marcel to do so.
"Well, that gives us a motive," Rebekah added, with a nod.
"So what do we do?" Hayley asked, crossing her arms. "Klaus won't let us near Marcel right now – he's trying to fix their broken relationship. And he's not answering his phone."
"Relax," Katherine said, holding up a hand. "I already have a plan."
Kol stared into his fractured mirror, drinking heavily from a glass of bourbon and staring at his reflection. He looked angry, but he didn't feel it. Just thoughtful and confused. Davina had appeared in his mirror. She'd come to him. Sort him out. She was trying to talk to him, to see him again. She wanted to say goodbye. And he needed to say goodbye. He finished his drink and went to reach for another one before deciding against it. Perhaps he shouldn't be resorting to alcohol every time something happened.
And also because, he could feel the approaching body behind him. Elijah appearing in the doorway. Kol didn't turn to face his big brother straight away. He didn't want to look Elijah in the eye after what he did. But he did listen when he started talking. "Freya told me of your plans to leave," he said, sadly. Kol heard him take a few steps forward, and still he didn't turn around to greet him. "I beg you to reconsider," Elijah pleaded, sounding desperate. "After centuries, our family is so close to happiness-"
"I HAD HAPPINESS!" Kol yelled. Ah. There was the anger. Buried deep inside of him was a tsunami aimed at three of his least favourite siblings. "You took her from me!" He turned around to stare Elijah down and raised his hand to point at him. "What family does that? We're not a family, Elijah. We're a bundle of strangers who all just happen to share blood. I met Freya a few weeks ago, and I'm expected to trust her? Forgive her? I don't know her. And you… You were supposed to be the good brother. The one I could count on. And you do this? I don't know you either."
"And Rebekah?" Elijah asked, his already-wide eyes widening even further. Kol was not expecting those. This big brown, sad orbs. He'd rarely ever seen Elijah upset before. And he'd never seen him cry. He was always the strong brother. He had to be. He didn't get to be upset now. "Is she your family? The woman who dedicated months of her life, desperately trying to find you. Would you have been the family, the prophecy claimed would bring her downfall? Would you have let her go so easily for Davina?"
"I NEVER SAID THAT!" Kol exclaimed, the glass in his hand smashing as he growled. "I love Rebekah. I would have saved her and Davina. Don't you dare use Rebekah to hurt me!"
"I didn't," Elijah said. "But I promise you Kol, there was no other way. I would do that to you, if there was another way." There was a pause as Kol refused to reply. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the wall, seeing right through it. Elijah just looked sadly at him. "Please try to forgive me, Kol. Losing a brother never gets easier."
He touched his shoulder briefly and Kol didn't push him away.
"Elijah," Rebekah said, arriving in the doorway and peering in at the pair of them. "Go and find Katherine, will you?" Elijah and Rebekah exchanged a knowing look before he left them in peace. Rebekah walked over and took a seat by Kol's side. "Are you," she mused after a full minute of silence, "going to be okay?"
Kol nodded. "Eventually," he said. "And I'll forgive them one day. But I don't need tough love. I don't need them to keep reminding me that they had no choice, defending themselves. I don't want to be forced into thinking about what I would do in that situation. Because I know what I would do. I just don't want to say it."
She nodded. "You don't need tough love," she repeated back to him. "You just need love." She leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He leaned into her and she held him there for a moment, giving him the comfort he'd so craved.
"I saw her, Rebekah," he informed her. "She's reaching out to me."
"Then we'll meet her," Rebekah promised. She took his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Come on."
On the way out, she sent a quick text to Katherine.
Taking care of Kol all day. Will be out of your hair. I hope this kills you. -Rebekah
"What's going on?" Elijah asked, walking into the courtyard just as Katherine was leaving. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him, her eyes gleaming with a new scheme.
"The other girls are keeping Marcel's friends busy while I go and stop him," Katherine told him, beginning to smile slightly at the idea of having something to do. "He's got the serum, Elijah. Vincent must have extracted it from Cade's corpse. But he's still mourning Davina, so we can't let him take it."
Elijah nodded, thoughtfully. "Thank you for informing me," he said. "I'll take care of it from here."
Katherine actually laughed at that. "No you won't," she contradicted. "This is my find, Elijah. I'm going to take care of it."
He blinked, confused by her rebellion. "Marcel is a part of this family," he claimed. "Which makes this my business and not yours. Stay here – where it's safe – and I'll go deal with it."
"Oh, sorry," she said, sarcastically. "I forgot it was still 1492, when the women had to stay home unless the men saw fit." She raised her chin proudly and took a step forward. "It's your family that's making Marcel pissed in the first place. Right now he needs a friend to talk him down, and I'm going to be able to do that a lot less condescendingly than you're going to. So unless you're trying to make the situation worse, I'd stay out of it."
Elijah narrowed his eyes clicked his tongue. "And you, Katherine, will be able to make the situation any better?" He challenged, using her façade name to emphasise her ability to worsen a day. "You have been a family foe for so long. Adding you to the situation is only going to make Marcel inspired, or Niklaus agitated. This is family business. Not your place."
She scoffed, angrily. "Not my place?!" She demanded, crossing her arms. "I've been working for months to earn your trust, and when you claim I have it, and when I'm trying to help you, all you can do is insult me."
"I did not insult you," he claimed, simply.
"Yes you did!" She insisted. "You always do. This is why Marcel is rebelling against you, Elijah. Unless you want me to join him, then I'd back down from this fight pretty quickly."
Elijah took a deep breath before holding his hands up in a surrender and letting Katherine storm out of the compound gate.
Vincent's place was, as usual, trashed. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, and the carpet was in tatters, most of the furniture was broken, and there were runes chalked all over the walls, the remnants of his wife's witchcraft. "Oh," Will – the police officer who Klaus and Camille had once saved from suicide – said as he looked around the place. "A bit of a fixer-upper."
"I can't sell it because everyone thinks it's haunted," Vincent explained as he walked through to the living room. "That's what happens when your ex-wife used to perform ritual sacrifices in your parlour room." There was a pause as Will looked confused, and Vincent laughed. "Hey, you said you wanted to know."
"Geez, Vincent, I thought I was crazy," Will said, shifting on his feet, awkwardly. "You're telling me that evil spirits, voodoo, black magic – all that stuff is real?"
Vincent smirked before nodding. "Those of us who practise witchcraft," he explained, "are supposed to be keepers of the balance. Sometimes that goes wrong. Now, the coven won't come near this place, and even ordinary people walk past here and think 'aw, that place is seven different kinds of wrong' and they're right to be afraid."
He leaned to the side and pushed a chair out of the way. At first, Will thought the thing that insinuated so much fear in the neighbours was the dozens of cockroaches that crawled out from underneath. But then Vincent reached into a hole in the wall and bought out a little case. "What's that?" He asked, as Vincent opened it up.
He pulled out a cold, heavy-looking metal ball, with similar runes engraved into it. "Once upon a time," Vincent mused, "my crazy ex-wife, Eva, tried to siphon the power of our ancestors. And she created this. It's a mystical battery cell. It's capable of storing all kinds of negative mojo."
"How does that affect us?" Will asked, nervously stepping back as he looked at the orb.
"Witches are supposed to be the protectors of New Orleans," Vincent claimed. "Or they were, until our ancestors came along and made a deal with the devil. Literally. Arcadius made Lucien Castle make a deal with the witches. That's what got Cami killed. Arcadius. Now he's gone, but those same ancestors want to start a war with a family. A very old and powerful family called the Mikaelsons. Look, man, it's a long story, but all you got to know is that a whole lot of people are about to get hurt because the ancestors don't care if this whole city becomes a war zone. And the only way we're going to stop the bloodshed is if we do something about it."
"We?" Will asked.
"We're going to put this in the right place," Vincent explained, "we're going to set it off, and we're going to sever the ancestor's connection to the world of the living. Wipe the slate clean."
There was a pause before a new voice joined them, and footsteps approached from the hallway. "That is a really cute plan," Freya Mikaelson said, as she strutted towards them. "But you were right. A whole lot of people are about to get hurt." She raised her hands and both men fell asleep under her spell. She took the metal ball from Vincent and slipped it into her bag, pulling out her phone as she did, texting Katherine.
Vincent's taken care of. I'll stay and watch him. Good luck, Kat. -F
When Katherine tracked Marcel and Klaus to a far-away bridge, she ducked behind a tree and watched them for a few minutes as they talked about the importance of family, and how Marcel would always be one of them. Katherine was almost moved by it. But then she saw Elijah arrive and any emotion she had fell from her face.
She had been trying not to keep secrets from him.
So he would trust her.
And he still didn't let her deal with this on her own.
"Step aside, Niklaus," Elijah said, very calmly as he stared Marcel down. Despite his serenity, he was only ever going to make a bad situation worse.
His younger brother simply mimicked Katherine by rolling his eyes. "This is a private conversation, Elijah," he insisted, stepping forward angrily. "Your concerns can wait."
"It's the same Mikaelson drama," Marcel commentated, gesturing to him and huffing. "One is trying to make peace and the other is eying me like I'm a rabid dog." When he spoke, Katherine's face fell slightly. Like she'd never experienced that. She was in the same boat as Marcel, so why was she on a different side?
"Then tell me my concerns are unfounded, Marcellus," Elijah challenged, his eyebrow raising.
"Now I have to prove myself?" Marcel demanded. "To you?" Elijah stepped forward and opened his mouth to speak, but Marcel interrupted him before he could. "Davina was like a daughter to me, and you condemned her to a fate worse than death. So how is it my job to prove myself to you?"
"Alright, that's enough," Klaus declared, pointing at them in turn. "Both of you."
"You tell me where it is," Elijah ordered, ignoring Klaus, whose eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"What?" Marcel asked, innocently pulling a black vial out of his pocket and holding it up for them all to see. "This?"
Klaus turned to face it and sneered. "What the hell is that?" He demanded.
"That, dear brother," Elijah explained, "is a wicked little gift from our friend Vincent."
Marcel shrugged, before explaining. "He took it from Cade's cold, dead heart. Now it's mine, and I can't help but think… why not take it? Loyalty never got me anywhere, and the only thing you respond to is a show of force. Neither of you are mad at Caroline. I don't see either of you hunting Lucien down. But me? Now there's your problem."
"Marcellus," Klaus growled, warningly. "End this foolishness right now."
"No," Katherine chimed in, finally. She walked to the edge of the bridge, staring all three men down and strutting towards them. "All three of you can knock it off."
"Great, more people," Klaus huffed, scowling.
Katherine ignored him and turned to Elijah. "I told you, I could handle this. But just like Marcel, I can't be trusted. No matter what I do for you, the lengths I will go to, to keep your family safe, I will never be trusted." She turned to Klaus for a second before turning back to Elijah. "When are either of you going to realise that adding another Mikaelson to the situation only increases the problem?! All you ever do is make things worse."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Marcel asked, facing her.
"I did come here to stop you," Katherine explained, turning briefly towards him. "But now that I'm here, I've had a change of heart. Because you're right. If you're not a Mikaelson, you're an object. Or an animal that needs to be tamed. You can't be trusted to handle something alone."
"Katerina-" Elijah tried to interrupt, to assure her that she was not an object, and to forbid her from talking that way again, but she held up a hand to silence him.
"No, Marcel's right," she claimed, nodding slightly. "Elijah, I'll never let him kill you, but maybe you could all use a lesson. Get your ass handed to you for once. Maybe you need to know what it feels like." She turned to Marcel and gestured towards the serum. "Take it."
"Don't," Klaus pleaded.
Marcel narrowed his eyes. "Why not?" He demanded. "I'm family, right? So why would this little serum have to change anything? Other than the fact that I would be your equal. That you couldn't control me as easily." They all watched as Klaus lowered his head. "Nah, you can't have that, can you?"
"You hand that serum over right now," Klaus ordered, "and I will forgive this act of defiance as a momentary fault brought on by your grief."
"That's funny," Marcel told him, nodding. "You came here looking for my forgiveness. But you like it better this way, don't you? Me owing you. And all that little fairy-tale about me being part of the family? That only works if you're in control. Klaus Mikaelson, a benevolent king, showing mercy to all his subjects. But you still have to be the king! Don't you?!"
"All kings fall in the end," Katherine mused, playfully. "Take it, Marcel. Or I will."
"Katerina, don't you dare," Elijah snarled, stepping forward and pointing at her. "You are on our side. I won't ask again."
Katherine raised her head and studied him with narrow eyes. "What's the point, Elijah? You won't trust me, even if I am on your side. When I'm on your side, I'm an animal."
"Katerina-"
"My name is Katherine," she growled. "And you're not going to tell me what to do."
Klaus intervened before their lover's spat took control of the real issue. "I won't allow you the means to destroy my family," Klaus reasoned, holding out a hand.
"Your family," Marcel exclaimed. "Thank you."
"He will betray us," Elijah insisted. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"Betray you?" Marcel demanded, laughing. "I asked you, begged you for your help. You killed Davina! What about Katherine, huh, Elijah? In 1492 you were plotting to kill her, and then somehow, she was in the wrong when she ran away? Because it's always somebody else's fault. But maybe, you were the villains, in her story." He gestured to Katherine when he spoke and she chose not to add anything to it. "I've been dealing with it for three centuries. Kat's been dealing with it for five. If you weren't always in control, we wouldn't need to rebel against you." He scoffed, shaking his head. "That's the Mikaelson way, right? Torment, beat, torture, maim, wound, kill. All in the name of family. Always and forever. I used to admire that vow. It gave me something that had been beaten out of me. Hope." He shook his head as tears slowly began to well up in his eyes. "I was a fool. Always and forever is just an excuse to do whatever the hell you want. Maybe it's time somebody put an end to that."
"You are treading very close to a dangerous decision," Elijah said, looking regretful already as he stepped forward. "I'm asking you to choose wisely."
Marcel lifted the vial to his lips and Klaus charged forward. Katherine extended a hand and controlled the winds into throwing him to the other side of the bridge. "You can't stop him, Klaus," she said, gleaming. "I've been waiting centuries for this. I won't let you stop him."
"You don't get it," Marcel laughed. "Whatever I have to do, Klaus, I will find a way to hurt you. Like you hurt me." Katherine recalled some of the images from the prophecy. Hayley about to cry, Klaus getting stabbed, Elijah with a bite mark. "You will never be safe as long as I'm alive. I am done being your friend. From this day forth, I am nothing less than your worst-"
He was interrupted as a hand reached into his back, and Elijah pulled out his heart.
There was a pause among all three who remained on the bridge, until Marcel fell off of it, landing in the body of water. "NO!" Klaus yelled, looking over the edge to watch the man who was once his son, fall.
Elijah started hyperventilating when he realised what he had done. Klaus turned to him and there was another pause.
"I could have talked him down," Klaus claimed, surprisingly calm and quiet. Empty. "I could have-"
"What?" Elijah asked. "Watched our family's extinction take place at the hands of Marcel Gerard?"
"HE WAS ONE OF US!" Klaus yelled, his temper getting to him. "He was my friend." He shook his head as he spoke. "I loved him." There was a pause as he took a very deep breath. Then he pointed at Katherine. "And you love her."
Before Elijah could react to that, Klaus's hand reached inside of her chest and ripped out her heart, just like Marcel's. And he threw her into the water along with him, ignoring Elijah's screams of agony.
Hayley was quietly watching the fire burn in her room, playing with Hope as she reminisced on how fun it had been to finally let her anger out on something, when she noticed Elijah arrive at her doorframe. He looked broken and defeated, like he had the night he'd tried to kill himself.
Hayley got to her feet, instantly on alert. "Elijah, what happened?" She asked, setting Hope down.
"Forgive me," he whispered, falling to his knees.
"What did you do?" She asked, stepping forward.
Tears began to well up in his red eyes. "I killed Marcel," he admitted. "And Katherine."
Now Hayley's face fell, confused. "You couldn't have killed Katherine. I know you."
"I may as well have," he admitted. "I should have known better." His breathing began to get out of control and Hayley leaped forward, pulling him into an embrace and trying to comfort him, but no comfort was to be found.
A little later on, Caroline walked up to Klaus's turned back as he leaned against one of the many balconies. He looked like he had on the night of Camille's death, but worse. "I assume Elijah told you," he mused.
"Hayley did," she corrected, crossing her arms and standing next to him. "Klaus, Katherine was my friend."
He almost laughed at that. He eased his hand and let the glass he was holding fall to the floor. "Please," he huffed. "Tonight, I have lost my son. Killed, right in front of me. If you want to tell me what a good person Katerina was, then I don't want to hear it. She cursed me to an extra five-hundred-years of dormancy, she broke Elijah's heart time after time, she has killed millions and blamed me for their deaths. She killed you. You lived with her for a few months and went on a brief road trip. And I have been chasing her for five centuries. I was never going to give that up for you."
"She was trying-"
"No, she wasn't, Caroline!" Klaus exclaimed, turning to her. "She stood on that bridge and told my son to kill me. She was only trying to hurt me. That's all she's ever done. I'm not sorry, Caroline."
There was a pause as she took a deep breath. "I am," she whispered. "About Marcel, I mean." There was another pause. "But Elijah's hurting too, Klaus. You got even. You can't keep blaming him."
"If it had been Hope, would you still defend him?" Klaus asked.
Caroline's eyes widened. "Don't use your daughter like that-"
"Marcel was my child, just like her," he claimed.
She took a deep breath and sighed. "Freya showed me the same prophecy Elijah was worried about," she told him. Klaus ignored her and turned to walk away, but she called after him. "Klaus, after every person of his you have killed, everyone you've maimed and tortured and harassed, he has always forgiven you."
"Why are you defending him?" Klaus asked. "You barely know him. And from the conversation you had with Rebekah just the other day, you love me."
She blinked, shocked that he was eavesdropping, but also stunned by the cold, harsh tone in which he said it. "Don't," she pleaded. "Don't use that to hurt me." She shook her head as she continued talking. "I don't expect you to say it back, but yes. I said I loved you, and I meant it, so please don't use that to hurt me."
"Why not?" Klaus asked, crossing his arms. "If you wanted to, you could hurt me. Easily. You could kill anyone in this house right now, and not even bat an eye."
Caroline paused, scoffing at that statement. When she spoke, she sounded regretful and stressed. "You made the same points to Marcel tonight, and look where that got him. Nothing's changed Klaus, except that now, I am your equal! You can't just stab me with a lamp and then bite me when you don't get your way. And that's not a bad thing!"
"I don't want to live in the same house as someone who can kill us all-"
"I can't," she contradicted. "I can't kill you, and I can't kill anyone you love. Because I love you, Klaus! And I'm not ashamed of that. I'm on your side, always and forever. Nothing has changed and that's why you should trust me. Before I end up like Marcel, you better trust me. Because I love you."
There was a slight pause before Klaus leapt forward and kissed her. Hungrily biting her lip and dominating his way into her mouth. She moaned as he shoved her against the balcony, his finger digging into her hips. She reached up and ran her hands through his hair.
They flashed into his bedroom. Klaus lifted her up by her legs and wrapped them around his waist. He sat her on top of her dresser and their lips crashed together again, their arms slinking back around each other. The first touch was like lightning, shooting through her and zapping her every nerve. She felt butterflies come to life in her stomach and her brain starting spinning round and around in excitement.
Klaus nibbled at her bottom lip and Caroline sucked at his top one. They separated for a second so she could lift Klaus's t-shirt above his head, dishevelling his hair just a little as she threw it across the room. She pulled him back to kiss her but her hands went straight to his hard abs, roaming over his hard stomach and admiring every inch.
Her head moved down to kiss his shoulder, biting a little flesh as she felt him push her jacket off. His hands went to the bottom of her t-shirt and she was about to pull away to lift it over her head when she heard a rip. "You're paying for that," she murmured as Klaus took the ruined rags of her shirt and throwing them over his shoulder.
He reached one hand behind her back and expertly flicked open her bra, tossing it over her shoulder and bending his head down. He cups one breast in his left hand, kneading and squeezing, rubbing her nipple between his fingers. His mouth finds her other nipple, flicking it with her tongue and massaging her breasts until she moaned a little.
While Klaus worked, she kicked off her shoes and began trying to pulls down his pants with her feet, being only mildly successful. She saw him kick off his own shoes and he broke away to pull his own trousers off.
Before she could comment on it, she was being picked up again and was laid down on the bed. Klaus reached down to her jeans and prepared to rip them off. "Don't you dare," she growled. "I like these ones." Klaus rolled his eyes and resorted to pulling them off the old-fashioned way, which was, in the case of skinny jeans, a lot of tugging and swearing.
Then, he pulled off her panties, leaving her completely naked before him. He starts at the bottom of her left leg, beginning to kiss his way up. Caroline already felt a strong heat near her core and she was already beginning to get wet, so she didn't particularly need his teasing.
"Can you hurry up please?" she moaned. He did not oblige.
She hooked her toes into his boxers and began to tug them down, seeing the large bulge of his stretching them. He helps her get them off as he continues working his way up, not breaking concentration for even a second. He reached her inner thigh as was a centimetre away from where she needed him to be before he leant back down and started on her other leg.
"Oh my god!" She whined. "Hurry up!"
"Love, I will tie you up and gag you if you don't behave," he threatened, biting her knee before moving onto her thigh.
He finally made his way to her clit and started running his tongue between her folds. Well it took him ages to get going, but once he started there was no stopping him. She moaned and grasped at the sheets as Klaus started flicking her clit with his tongue and her core was burning in pleasure. Her hands ran through his hair, holding his head where it was, needing him to stay exactly there.
Her eyes were closed, her hands digging into her pillows and all she felt was Klaus's tongue on her clit, swirling around and making her sigh – his favourite sound. She looked down at Klaus, wondering if he was looking up at her or at her clit or somewhere else. His own eyes were closed but they flicked open when hers did and they met for a second before he winked at her, his mouth lost in her folds. It was the same wink she fell in love with and the same wink that pushed her over the edge.
Caroline always forgot how good it was until it happened again. She came and Klaus licked up every last drop of her juices. His finger rubbed at her clit, starting the build up for her second one before the first one even finished. He moved his way up her body, beginning to lick and nibble and kiss again until he was sucking the side of her neck, leaving a mark which she, surprisingly, loved.
She reached down his body to gently stroke his member, slowly wrapping her hand around the large, hard length. She moved her hand up and down and he didn't seem to even notice, apart from the growl building up in his chest. They continued to masturbate each other for a minute or two before Caroline placed him as her entrance.
He slipped inside her and gave her a second to adjust to his length. He pulled back, almost all the way out before thrusting in to her again. And again, and again.
He kept rubbing at her clit until he worked up a rhythm, and her nails raked across his chest and shoulder, trying to find a part of him to hold onto until her fingers settled in his hair, pulling and tugging on little strands.
Her core was burning in pleasure, begging Klaus to go harder, faster. But he built up the sensation so perfectly.
They reached their peak together, Klaus's forehead leaning down to rest on hers as they came around each other, letting their moans and groans escape.
"Do," Caroline whispered, breathlessly. "That. Again."
Kai was getting really tired of big, strong beings attacking him in the middle of the street. He had been hot wheeling it down the highway, heading right back to Mystic Falls to make a little trouble there, when someone punched a hole in the hood of his car and flipped it off the road.
Glass shattered all around him and he took a deep, shocked breath before clambering out of it and turning to face his attacker. Elijah Mikaelson, of all people. "Can I help you?" Kai asked, looking around confused.
Elijah grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pinned him against the wreckage of his car. "You've been to hell and back, and have worked in close quarters with Arcadius, so I'm going to assume that you know a thing or two about the death system. Tell me, what happens to a bad person when Hell is destroyed?"
Kai's eyebrows knitted together and he laughed. "Er, well, Hell can never be destroyed, so your question is irrelevant and you just trashed my car for no reason?"
Elijah paused, taking a deep breath and looking angry and confused. "She killed Cade," he reminded Kai. "He created Hell. It vanquished with him."
Kai blinked. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No, no, no. Okay, so Cade was just leading Hell after he created it. Like Klaus, with New Orleans. Then he left, but New Orleans didn't crumble, did it? Marcel took over, and it thrived."
"So Hell is simply under new leadership?" Elijah summarised.
"If Katherine is dead," Kai said, "and that's just a guess based on your attitude, I would fathom that Hell has never been in better hands. And is currently being run by the most qualified person for the job. The myth." He watched as Elijah's face fell in realisation. "The legend." Now Elijah's face turned almost fearful, and Kai guessed that he really pissed his girlfriend off before she died. "The baddest bitch of all."
"She's alive," Elijah summarised.
"And she's probably coming for you," Kai added, cheerfully.
AN: Shout out to canon S8 Katherine there.
Okay, I've made a decision for continuing this story after 'season 3' of the Originals has finished. I will not be replicating Season 4 of the Originals exactly because that child-sacrifice thing is boring and predictable. But I will be continuing this story. The first bit will be replicating S4, but it will drift away very quickly. It's going to take on a few new plotlines in place of Season 4, and I've got so many notes jotted down for it. I'm not sure if I will publish it as a separate story yet, or if I will just continue updating this one. -Izzy x
