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Chapter Text

Prologue: Certain roots run deep

The lying-on-a-dark-road game was Damon's old specialty. He used it to trick good-hearted people into leaving their cars and go over to him to try and help the possibly hurt stranger. Then he would kill them, drain them and drop their bodies in the woods somewhere. Sometimes he would bury them and other times he'd just leave them on the road and expect someone to drive them over and thereby cover his tracks for him.

He caught himself wondering how long it had been since he'd played his game last, but he had no idea. All he could remember was who he used to be, back when he perfected this trick. He imagined that going back to his old habits from before he'd met Elena Gilbert would somehow help him become that man once again.

After all, that man didn't know what it was like to miss her, to hurt and ache over the loss of her... That man may have been pining over Katherine at the moment but he had at least been free to live however he liked. He had been free to be whomever he liked. And now, all Damon wanted was to be anyone but himself.

He thought she would be protected once she wasn't around to be tainted by him anymore. He thought she would be safe in that coffin, far away from his demons, and that one day she'd wake up as beautiful and good as ever to find that he had overcome his darkness. He hoped that a few decades without her would be enough to turn him into the man she deserved, the man she insisted he could be. But he was wrong, and so was she.

Damon could never be the kind of man that she needed. Hell, he probably couldn't even go back to being who he was before for that matter either. Meeting her had erased that man. Sure, she hadn't changed him instantly and completely but she had marked his soul with the memory of her. He could never go back to who he was then because he could never again live a life where he didn't know Elena Gilbert. Not now that he had known her, now that he had loved her and in return been loved by her. And as the icing on the cake, he had changed once again after losing her.

Having felt broken for a while, trying to figure out who he would be without her until he had made up his mind... The new Damon, the post-Elena-in-a-coma-Damon, was someone who'd selflessly store his epic love away in order to protect her as well. As allow him to live out the next decades the way she would've wanted him to.

Now, however, that man was gone too. He'd died when Julian stabbed him in the chest and trapped him inside the Phoenix Stone. Now he was no longer the man who'd known, loved and been loved by Elena Gilbert. Now he was no longer the man who'd selflessly kept his truest love in safety, the man who had been willing to work on himself for her until the day when she finally returned to him again.

Because now, now he was the man who had been so broken and consumed by his darkness that he'd done the most horrible thing he could have ever imagined. He had ruined his only shot at happiness, his only chance at love and his only way to be anything aside from a monster.

He had killed her. The woman that he had been willing to give up an eternity for. She wasn't just sleeping anymore, frozen in time in a coffin until Bonnie lived out the last of her human years. She wasn't waiting for him anymore. And she was most certainly not safe anymore. She wasn't anything because she was gone. Dead. Killed. And he was the reason why. He was the one who had burned her to ashes. It was his fault.

You didn't know! a small voice said in the back of his mind. He punched back the tiny traces of hope and reminded himself that there was none for him anymore.

It doesn't matter, the words stung a little but they were true. It really didn't matter that he'd been hallucinating. It didn't matter that he hadn't known what he was doing until it was too late. None of it mattered. Nothing mattered. Not anymore. Whatever pain and hurt that he would feel from now on was well-earned. He deserved to be punished, to be beaten and torn down. He deserved anything anyone could possibly throw at him.

The sad part, however, was that no one could ever inflict any amount of pain that could even compare to the one he was already experiencing all on his own. No one could torture him the way he was torturing himself. No one could blame him more than he was blaming himself… No one could hate him more than he hated himself.

That gave him a twisted sense of power, some kind of control over his pain and over his emotions. Except he didn't want to control either. He wanted to drown in them. He wanted to be covered in bruises and blood and scars to match how he felt on the inside. There was no point anymore in hiding his darkness, fighting his demons or whatever other metaphor there was for trying to become a better version of himself. There wasn't any point in doing anything to try and gain forgiveness or even redemption… This was it. She was it. The last straw that broke the camel's back. The final seal to his damnation. The last nail in his coffin… There was nothing more to it, to life, to eternity, to whatever.

There was only darkness. And pain. And hunger.

The sound of tracks closing in made him turn off his wallowing for now, he could always return to it later. Which he would. Soon enough.

Showtime, he thought and sat up as a car stopped right beside him and a young man stepped out of it in panic.

"You okay, man?" he asked him and bent down to see if he needed any help.

A sad smile tugged at the corner of Damon's lips as a sarcastic answer crossed his mind. Instead he asked for his hand and the man helped him up from the ground. "What are you doing out here?" the man said.

Damon sighed and tilted his head back in defeat as he tried to think of an answer. "I don't know..." he said honestly. "Thought it would make me feel better."

"Okay... Should I call someone or...?" the young man asked.

Damon stepped closer to him and studied him for a short moment. "What's your name?" he asked him as he suddenly felt the need to buy the poor guy a little more time before he killed him.

"It's Cooper."

He grimaced and grabbed his shoulder. "Cooper." he repeated and nodded at him. "You ever done something so unspeakably horrific you couldn't even look at yourself in the mirror? Like it literally makes you ill to see your own reflection?" he looked closely into his eyes, gripping his shoulder tight so he wouldn't move and pointed a finger at him as he compelled him to answer honestly. Challenging him to tell him anything even remotely comparable to what he'd done himself.

The poor lad immediately spilled about running over his girlfriend's cat and then not telling her about it. Damon cut him off as he was talking about how he'd thrown the cat in a supermarket dumpster… It was only making his sin seem even worse now that he realized that this man couldn't ever comprehend what an awful person he'd stumbled upon in the middle of nowhere.

"I killed the love of my life." he said with a hollow tone as he looked away from the man. "Burned her alive while she was asleep." he continued. "I also beat one of her best friends until he was unconscious and left him for dead, if we're keeping score." He smiled at Cooper for a moment until the boy started mumbling nervously about leaving and tried to walk to his car.

Damon grabbed him before he could get anywhere and held him in place as he struggled against his hold. "Actually, I could use a ride." he told the scared little man and smiled at him again.

Caroline hated hospitals.

Horrible things seemed to always happen each and every time she visited one. Either someone died or got diagnosed with cancer or fell into a coma or a 2000-year-old immortal warlock convinced her to continuously cut her own wrist…

It was safe to say that she had many bad memories of hospitals, and nearly no good ones. Which of course made her somewhat worried about being checked in for whatever the twins were doing to her and her life-force or whatever.

Valerie had reassured her over and over again that it was a simple problem which could be fixed with a simple magical bracelet. But Caroline knew better than to believe that. Or perhaps she was simply too paranoid to believe it… Either way she had a horrible feeling about the whole situation and of course it wasn't helping that Stefan already had his hands full with Damon as it was.

She didn't want to be a burden. She didn't want to intrude on everybody else's lives as the enormously round elephant that she had become. That's why she never mentioned that she had sometimes felt a little dizzy, weak even… Drained. Even as she continuously blamed the pregnancy for it, a voice in the back of her neurotic brain kept nagging at her that it could be something more. And that voice had ended up being right. Apparently.

The irony didn't go unnoticed by her. The babies were feeding off of her magic, her life. They were sucking her dry of her energy much like the way a vampire feeds off of humans… And maybe this was justice for all of the horrible things she had done since becoming a vampire? Especially for the people she'd hurt during the time she had her humanity switched off… Maybe this was her chance to wipe the slate clean, even the scale out, pay back for her sins…?

Maybe this was her chance to do something so selfless that it outweighed the bad. Even if just a little bit… Maybe helping Alaric have the family he's always wanted would be the sacrifice needed to cleanse her soul? Because if she was completely honest with herself, it was getting more and more difficult keeping her morals in check. Especially since she seemed to be living in such a gray world where the right thing continuously came accompanied by lots of wrong things.

Or maybe believing that there was any redemption or salvation even possible for someone like her was simply beyond naïve? She had after all done so many bad things since turning… The latest of which being switching her humanity off and doing all that she did during that time.

It had been a mistake. A very grave, poorly calculated, regretful mistake that she wished she could undo. So when she realized how hard it was becoming to imagine handing the babies over once the pregnancy was over… Well, that's when she thought she'd stricken oil.

Why? Because for the first time, in a long time, the right thing was finally crystal clear.

At first she thought that the sacrifice would be the months she'll spend carrying the babies inside of her. But that voice in the back of her head was nagging at her once more, telling her the pregnancy-part would be nothing in comparison to what came after it… Honestly, how was she supposed to go on with her life without getting to know the small, little creatures that had been kicking her bladder and drinking her magical, vampire blood for months?

How was she supposed to carry them without getting attached or ever showing any feelings for them whatsoever? How was she supposed to treat them like… like nothing… when she saw them as these tiny little innocent and pure-hearted souls? How was she supposed to fight every single fiber of her being and give them up once her very little time with them was over?

How was she supposed to forget about them? To move on from them? To return to her own life without ever thinking about them again?

Seriously, how could anyone expect her to be so stone cold? So heartless…? So…

No. She couldn't think like that. It was never even an option to force herself onto the babies' lives just because she would miss them once they were gone. She couldn't be that selfish. She needed to give them the best chance possible at a normal, and supernatural free world. Aside from being the only remaining members and the future of the Gemini Coven and all…

This was the right thing to do. The babies deserved a chance at happiness far away from the complicated dangers of a vampire's drama-filled life. She needed to do this. She knew she did. It was her last chance at restoring her moral compass, since it had been acting up so goddamn much during the past few years. She knew this was the right thing because of just how unimaginable it was to her.

As soon as her mind started wandering off and thinking of how it would feel to let them go, she simply reminded herself of what she already knew; That with Ric, they would be safe. They would grow up human and normal. They would go to school and make friends and stress over homework and college and fall in love and make their own families. They would be happy.

Maybe she wouldn't be…

But they would. And that was the only thing that mattered.

Yet, a fear was growing inside of her. The fear of not being able to move on with her life, the way she used to before, once they were gone. But then again, maybe the pain she felt about leaving them would in the end help rinse her slate clean. Because after all; pain is what makes us human. Or so she'd heard somewhere. Or read, maybe… she couldn't quite remember…

Then again, she couldn't help but wonder whether or not they would actually be better off without her. And whether or not she would be better off without them.

In the end, was anyone truly better off without a mother? Or someone resembling one, if even just the slightest?

She made a mental note to prepare a list of nannies to interview for Alaric once she got out of the hospital. A question haunting her as she tried to let the subject go from her mind; would that be enough?

Would he be enough for them?

Would a life without the twins, without the very last shot at the human life that was so drastically taken away from her all those years ago… Would that be enough for her?

Damon wasn't sure why he hadn't just killed Cooper as soon as he'd laid eyes on him. That's what he usually did. But now he was stalling, telling him about Elena as the compelled young man drove the car into the night.

"I thought Elena had changed me." Damon confessed. "I thought she made me a better man. But... I was wrong. I was so wrong. It was always gonna end up this way. Me destroying her." he rambled on. "That's what my whole tour of duty in that Phoenix Stone taught me; that I am permanently damaged goods… You ever feel that way, Cooper?" he turned to the man in the driver's seat and remembered once more that the old Damon would have killed him long ago.

Cooper shook his head. "Not really." he said.

"Well, you're lucky." Damon turned to look at the road and sighed to himself.

Enough stalling, he thought. "Coop, I'm gonna kill you now." he finally said matter-of-factly and nodded to himself in agreement.

"Excuse me?" the man stared at him.

"Now, it's nothing personal. I'm hungry, you're food... Think of it as a stop at a drive-through window. You know; you'll be afraid – I won't care... Honestly I can't imagine caring about anyone ever again..." he drifted off momentarily. "Not a single solitary soul..." He shrugged and decided it was time now, time to give into his old, dark ways. So he turned to Cooper and threw himself at his neck.

The boy's screams echoed as Damon quickly fed on him and then pushed him out of the car. He took over the driver's seat and drove away then, leaving poor Cooper behind in the middle of the road.

Damon was disappointed to find that the whole game actually only made him feel worse. It had simply confirmed what he had been dreading; that he couldn't go back to his old ways because he couldn't go back to who he was before.

And if he couldn't be that heartless, non-caring, selfish, manipulative monster again... Then what was there left for him to be?

Chapter 1: Road to redemption

Pain was one thing Damon knew well. He had developed a rather high threshold for it during his 170+ years on this earth. Not to mention the torture he had endured during the time he was captured by the Augustine.

His level of tolerance barely compared to Enzo's though, seeing as he hadn't spent half as much time in there as him. But it still took a lot to cause Damon actual physical pain to the degree where he could no longer shrug it off or bite it back. Not including those godawful tricks that witches always seemed to keep hidden up their sleeves. Those weren't exactly physical, not like when you were fighting an actual person with actual fists that left actual bruises and scars over your face and body.

So when Damon arrived at the Mystic Grill to pick a fight with Julian, he was certain that he would be able to take whatever the Zombie Douche-Brain Boy Toy threw at him. If not – then at the very least he would be able to piss him off enough for him to actually kill him.

Now that's tempting, he thought as he poured himself a drink and turned around to face Julian. The Brit hadn't been all too happy to see him here, but that was of course to be expected. He had after all ripped out the heart of one of his men and now, having taken a page out of Klaus Mikaelson's book, he had decapitated another one with the help of a paper menu in front of his whole squad.

"You have ten seconds left to live. Any last words?" Julian said with a calm, threatening tone.

Damon scoffed and smiled. "Last words?" he echoed and blinked a few times. He hadn't actually thought about that. "Woah… That's a lot of pressure." he muttered and let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I guess if I had to I would phrase it as a question; what's the deal with the X-marks-the-spot postcards?"

Julian gave him a very unamused look and turned away from him for a moment.

Good, he thought as he could just feel the rage vibrate off of the vampire. "Who you're running from Big J?" he asked daringly as Julian turned back around with a pool que in his hand.

"Well, that's not a concern of a dead man." he answered in a way that reminded Damon of the Big Bad Hybrid during the early years. "Perhaps something a little more… poetic?" he suggested. "Two seconds." he said and broke the que in half, throwing one of the pieces away since he didn't need two to stake him.

"It wouldn't happen to be that sword-wielding vixen that sent your ass straight to hell…?" Damon asked and was immediately cut off as Julian whooshed over to him and held his jaw firmly in his hand. "Woo, I hit a nerve!" Damon sang mockingly. He cracked another joke about the possibly hot girl who'd trapped him in the Phoenix Stone and received a chuckle from the man.

Recognition spread across Julian's face as he gave him a nodding smile and used the pool que he had pointed at him to tap his chest. "I get it." he said and laughed lightly. "You're still in a little self-destructive spiral from your not-so-fantastic voyage into the Phoenix Stone."

"You think?" Damon said, clicking his tongue at the last letter.

"Well, Lily was my touchstone. She was the very thing that tethered me to my sanity and when I lost her… Oh, that's when things really went off the rails…" he explained and studied him with narrowed eyes. "So, who did you lose?" he asked curiously. "Not Lily, not Stefan…" he searched his face for a moment, seeming persistent to figure it out. "Who's that epic love in the box?" he whispered.

Damon's eyes shot up at him after having looked away.

"Huh?" Julian pushed. "Helen, o-or Eleanor or-?"

"Elena." Damon cut him off, looking away once more.

"Elena." Julian echoed and chuckled again. "How is darling Elena?" he asked with a suddenly cold face.

"I burned her alive." Damon answered and met his eyes. Feeling a plead behind his words bounce off of him and hopefully reaching the other vampire's undead heart.

Julian looked at the clearly broken and insane young man in front of him, and sighed. Then he dropped the pool que at the bar and let go of his grip on Damon's jaw to help him straighten up and then wrapped an arm around his shoulder and neck. He leaned against him shortly for support before turning them both forward. Then he let out another, deeper sigh.

"See, I can't help but feel somewhat responsible for what's happened." he admitted and looked around the room to meet the eyes of the others. "Now, why don't we have some fun?" he said while turning back to Damon and pulling him towards himself by the hold around his neck.

"Shall we, hm?" Julian asked and clapped Damon's chest. "You know I love games…" he continued, tugging at his shoulder slightly and then raising his hand from his chest to point a finger in the air. "And I think I have just the outlet for the overwhelming pain you must be feeling."

A smile spread over Julian's lips as he led the pained young man away from the bar.

Bonnie had been avoiding Enzo's calls and messages for days now. She really didn't enjoy his accusations towards Matt and decided to ask her childhood friend about all of it herself. And so she was now waiting for him on a park bench in the small town square of Mystic Falls, after having driven out there with Valerie earlier the same day.

Almost everyone had been staying near the hospital in Whitmore for Caroline's sake except for Matt, Stefan and Damon who all had their reasons for having returned to Mystic Falls. Matt – busy keeping tabs on Julian's men. Stefan, he was keeping tabs on Damon – along with Valerie. And Damon…

Well, Bonnie wasn't sure why Damon had come back here, or why he had distanced himself from the rest of them. Or more specifically; from her.

She knew he would have a hard time transitioning back to ordinary life after what he probably went through in the Phoenix Stone. But she had hoped to hear from him by now… I should check up on him, she thought and took her phone out, hoping this time he would pick up her damn call.

"Hey, Bon." Matt's voice interrupted her as she had passed one signal since dialing, making her hang up and put her phone back into her purse.

She looked up at him as he approached her and smiled friendly. He looked so bizarre in his police uniform, which she still hadn't gotten used to seeing him in, making her question if this really was her friend who helped her, Caroline and Elena sneak into a seniors' party that one night in tenth grade… And when they'd gotten caught by Sheriff Forbes, before even stepping over the threshold to the Lockwoods' mansion where the party was being held, Matt had taken the blame and tried to get the rest of them off the hook…

Well, maybe the uniform was fitting after all. Matt had always been pure-hearted, always wanting to be good and do good and take care of everybody. His mom, his sister, his friends… Everyone besides himself. And maybe that was the reason why he was still trying to save Mystic Falls, still trying to do right by his home town and everybody in it. Maybe that was why he insisted on standing up against Julian in any way he could, even if he was just one man cleaning up the streets of an abandoned small town and keeping the vampire residents in line.

"Hi." she said as she stood up to greet him with a hug, which he returned before joining her on the bench.

"How's Caroline?" he asked.

"Better." she said with a relieved breath. "The bracelet Valerie gave her seems to be doing the trick at keeping the twins from siphoning off of her magic."

He nodded towards her and leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together. "That's good." he said and looked at the ground for a moment. "The last thing we need is to keep losing our friends because of this crazy life."

She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at him, it wasn't chocking to see Matt worried and resentful of the supernatural drama that constantly put his and everybody else's well-being at risk… But it seemed like there was more to it. "I wanted to ask you something." she said and sighed, incredulous as to how on earth someone like Enzo had managed to make her second-guess her lifelong friend. "It might sound kind of… ridiculous."

He glanced at her and shrugged. "Hit me with your best shot." he said with an amused smirk.

"You know how Enzo showed up when Nora, Mary-Louise and I found Rayna Cruz?" Bonnie said and took a deep breath, taking a short nod from him as a sign to continue. "Well, when I asked him about where he had been these past few months… He kept talking about how apparently you knew all about it."

Matt straightened up and looked at her with a furrowed frown. "What exactly did he say?"

She shrugged. "Just that you would have the answer to why he was gone. And he mentioned something called The Armory…"

The Police training had taught Matt to perfect his poker face, but Bonnie had known him for far too long to miss the sudden flicker of something in his eyes when she mentioned the organization Enzo had talked about. "Do you know what that is?" she asked, studying him closely as he glanced to his side for a moment.

"I think I've heard some of Julian's men talking about it." he said, looking back at Bonnie with a shrug. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering why Enzo would suggest that you had something to do with this organization that none of us have ever heard of before." she said as she eyed him carefully.

He shrugged again. "Maybe he was just making up excuses to get you to forgive him for having suspiciously been missing for so long?"

She flinched at his words and stared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, Bonnie…" he sighed. "Are you really telling me you haven't noticed how he acts around you?"

"Where's all of this coming from, Matt?" she asked with a shake of her head.

"I'm just saying that maybe you should consider who you're getting your information from before you start doubting someone you've known your entire life." he said defensively and stood up from the bench.

"Woah, Matt…" she said and grabbed his arm. "I'm not accusing you of anything, if that's what you think. I was just asking you if you had anything to do with the Armory, since Enzo suggested that you did."

He pulled his arm out of her hold and shrugged. "And I told you I don't know anything about some Armory!"

She winced at his tone and stood up slowly as she studied his face. "You just told me you thought you heard Julian's men mention it and now you're saying –"

"That's what I meant, okay." Matt interrupted and sighed. "Just leave it be, Bonnie."

"Leave what be, Matt?" she asked as she stared at her friend who was clearly keeping something from her.

"Drop the subject, Bon, or you won't like what you find out." he said and turned away from her.

"What are you talking about?" she called after him as he walked away from her. "Matt!?"

He glanced over his shoulder to give her a sad frown before he continued walking towards his police car and eventually drove away.

Julian and Damon later stepped into an industrial alley filled with cheering vampires. Damon studied the big space and quickly noticed the scene in the middle of the crowd where two men were fighting. He was barely paying attention to Julian as the vampire went on about his plans for the fight club they'd just walked in on, calling it sparring lessons with the new residents of Mystic Falls.

They continued further into the crowd and towards the ring, meeting a dark haired woman dressed head-to-toe (or rather; waist-to-hip) in black leather. She held a tray of drinks in her hand and Julian grabbed one, finishing it quickly while the woman kept her eyes on Damon.

The look in her eye reminded Damon of when he used to care about women like that, how he used to have a different one in his bed every night, without a care. Now, though, her stare only made him fight back an eye-roll and he was relieved when Julian lead him away from her and towards the ring.

"It's been my experience over the centuries that-" Julian said, leaning an arm over Damon's shoulder as they were watching the fight nearly ending in the blood-stained ring in front of them. "- the only true remedy for extreme mental anguish…?"

Damon stepped away from him and walked closer to the fighting men before him with a furrowed look.

"… Is physical brutality!" Julian exclaimed proudly from behind him.

Damon stared at the man in front of him who had just ripped out the other man's heart and was holding it up for everyone to see. As the winning vampire squeezed the heart harshly and then dropped it on the floor, Damon felt a sting of disgust.

"Really wanna feel pain, Damon?" Julian asked, standing beside him once more. Nodding towards the ring, he studied him. "Get in there." he said daringly and smiled, letting out a cheer at the scene before them.

Damon glanced around the crowd as he tried to imagine being a part of something as uncivilized as this group. Maybe this could work though? Maybe this was the way for him to cope with his self-loathing?

Maybe this was the new him?

Caroline had tried texting Stefan several times, but he wasn't answering. She realized he was busy making sure Damon was okay but that didn't mean he couldn't let her know he was alright too!

With a frustrated sigh, she put the phone down on the bed side table next to her and crossed her arms over her chest. A moment passed before she glanced over at the phone and picked it back up again, giving in and dialing Stefan's number.

She counted the signals as she held the phone to her ear and waited for him to pick up. One… Two… Three… Four… Five… And then she was directed to his voicemail.

"Seriously…" she whined and decided to leave a message. "Hey… It's me. I just wanted to check in and see how it's going…" A thought suddenly occurred to her and she bit her lip, adding the question before she could change her mind.

"Is… Is Valerie with you?" she closed her eyes shut and cursed herself as she heard just how that sounded. "I-I asked her to go find you and help you out," she quickly added, taking a deep breath before continuing "And… Well, she hasn't given me an update either so…"

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling in defeat. "Just… Let me know that you're alright." she chuckled nervously for a moment before continuing. "I mean, I'm pregnant and on bedrest and bored out of my mind making my imagination run wild… So, if you could just call and confirm that you're not dying on the side of the road somewhere and that you're not locked in a metal box, trapped at the bottom of a lake…" She winced at her last words, realizing they accompanied a memory that Stefan would not take too lightly…

"Sorry. Bad joke." she muttered and let out a deep sigh. "Just. Call me. Please." She was about to add something more but a signal told her she had run out of time and the call ended automatically.

Looking at the phone as if he would magically call her back right away, she waited until the screen shut off before she gave up and put it back on the table beside her.

Suddenly Caroline felt a searing pain in her leg. She lifted the blanket off of her to check if something was biting her. Because that's what it felt like. Like someone had taken a big chunk out of her leg and left a hole for her to bleed out through uncontrollably.

She wasn't completely wrong…

She hadn't been bitten.

She wasn't bleeding.

She was desiccating.

Again.

Panic arose in her as she stared at the gray veins creeping up on her legs faster than she could blink. She turned in the bed to reach for her phone again, cursing herself for having put it so far away on the table. Her hand suddenly cramped and turned as gray as her legs, falling down to the side of the bed as she couldn't get it to function properly anymore.

Her loud, shallow breaths echoed in her ears as she felt the desiccation spreading faster across her body.

"Help! Anybody!" she called out but realized she had better chances of reaching her phone than of somebody actually being able to rescue her with Valerie gone… She used her other hand that hadn't started desiccating yet and managed to grab the phone and re-dial Stefan before she cramped again. The phone fell out of her gray, stiff hand and hit the floor with a heartbreaking flap.

It was the last sound she heard, then everything suddenly turned black.

The crowd cheered loudly as Damon fought against the survivor from the latest round in the ring. His ears rang after getting another punch over his head, making him grunt and stagger back for a moment to recollect himself.

This was good, though. It helped. Every punch, every kick, every hit he took slowly built up an amount of pain strong enough to compare to how he felt on the inside. And it felt even better to fight back and punch the other man down to the ground.

He felt the adrenaline pumping and jumped a little on his feet as he prepared for his opponent to get up and continue. He finally staggered up to a stand and ran towards him, but Damon immediately plunged his fist through the vampire's chest and ripped his heart out of it.

Deciding to mimic the show the defeated man had expressed when winning earlier, Damon held the heart up in the air and squeezed the remaining blood out of it before tossing it to the ground.

Julian met his eyes with a proud nod. "Feeling better yet?" he asked.

"What else you got?" Damon asked in return with wide eyes and excitement seeping through his slightly out-of-breath voice.

Julian's smile widened as he raised his bottle of beer up to his lips. That's the spirit, he thought.

The next guy was huge and admittedly intimidating, making Damon straighten his back and puff out his chest slightly to try and level himself with his new opponent.

"Sam here, has never lost a fight." Julian said while studying the men facing each other. "Perhaps the pain he inflicts will finally feel like a torment?"

Damon gave Julian a wicked smile but was suddenly met by Sam's fist, punching his jaw so hard his head nearly spun off of his shoulders. He regained his balance and just barely avoided falling to his knees.

Staggering still, he threw a punch in return. It made Sam back away a step or two but aside from that he only seemed angrier, not hurt. He kicked Damon in the stomach and this time he really did fall to the ground. Nearly rolled backwards off of the ring even.

Sam grabbed one of his feet but Damon quickly kicked him away and got back up to prepare himself for the next move. He managed to wrestle the giant down with his back to the ground but was soon pushed away from him once more. Damon fought back though, dodging a hit and managing to punch him straight in the stomach. Unfortunately, it didn't make too much of an impact and Sam soon captured his other flying fist in his hand and grabbed his arm to twist it behind his back. He got Damon down on his knees and held his head in his hands while standing behind him.

Damon suddenly realized that this… This was it. This was when he died. At the hands of this drugged up, jacked, arrogant douchebag. And just then, as Sam was busy waving and smiling at the crowd, before Damon had had time to process his pending death; a stake suddenly appeared in front of him.

Someone had thrown it to the ground next to his right leg, giving him a second chance. Saving him, maybe. Or simply granting him the opportunity to prolong his life so he could go on to fight another day. After all, did he really deserve such an easy out after what he'd done?

He immediately began reaching for the stake, struggling against Sam's tight hold around his neck. But just as he was about to have it snapped, Damon managed to grab the stake and quickly stabbed it in Sam's chest.

Damon panted heavily on his knees as Julian suddenly yelled out to the now silent crowd. "No weapons!" he growled. "Those are the rules!"

At those words Damon caught sight of the woman who he'd seen passing around drinks earlier, understanding she had been the one who'd helped him. She met his eyes for a moment before turning around and walking away.

He then suddenly heard Julian telling him they were done for the night and he immediately felt desperation wash over him.

"No…!" he protested, his voice hoarse from the physical strain it took to speak out loud. He got up on his feet and walked off the ring, towards Julian. "I wanna go again." he breathed.

"I'm afraid I've grown bored of this game." Julian said in a grim tone.

"Who's next?" Damon hissed with a challenging look, ignoring Julian's comment. "Huh?" he turned around to look for any volunteers. "Who's next!?"

"I am." Julian suddenly said, earning a wave of cheers from the crowd.

Damon turned to look at him incredulously. What did he just say?

"You want to fight again?" Julian asked, his voice nearly drowned out by the cheering vampires around them.

Damon nodded at him in response and studied him patiently for a moment before he continued.

"Fight me next." Julian then offered and walked past him over to the ring.

As Damon turned around to follow him he suddenly heard the sound of his name from a familiar voice in the crowd. He turned around and faced his little brother who must've showed up to try and save him.

"What the hell is going on?" Stefan asked as he walked over to him.

"You've made a wrong turn, brother." Damon warned. "This isn't some hell-survivor's support group." he said and patted his shoulder.

"Are you in or out?" Julian asked impatiently.

Damon turned around to walk over to him but Stefan grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Hey." he said. "Have you gone insane?" he exclaimed. "That guy's got 300 years on you, you don't have a chance against him."

"I don't care." Damon breathed with a wicked smile.

"Damon! Do not get into that ring. Leave with me right now. Whatever's going on, we'll figure it out." Stefan tugged at Damon's arm but he only pulled away.

"Are you in?" Julian asked again. "Or are you out?"

Studying his little brother for a moment, Damon could see he had two choices; he could either fight Julian or tell Stefan the reason for his sudden death wish. He narrowed his eyes and made up his mind rather quickly. "I'm in." he said under his breath.

With that, Julian signaled to get Stefan carried out of there, who called for Damon a few more times in desperation. He struggled to cut free from the two vampires that were forcing him out, but failed. His face told a story that Damon already knew by heart, but he was in no mood to deal with his brother's disappointment with him.

He wanted to fight.

They were soon standing face-to-face in the ring, Damon with his fists up in the air and Julian gesturing with his hand for him to make the first move. Then he dodged Damon's punch, kneed him in the stomach and threw his fist across his jaw. Damon staggered back and tried hard to stay standing.

"You know, I never had a brother. No siblings at all, actually." Julian said, buying his opponent some time to regain his composure. "Seems I dodged a bullet there." he mocked.

Damon tried another punch but Julian gallantly escaped it and hit back. However, he hadn't expected Damon to head-butt him and he let out a grunt while staggering back.

"Well, that makes sense." Damon snickered. It was his turn to get a few words in between punches, he went on while turning to face the crowd and then dropping one last comment. "… That's why you need to surround yourself with low-life general bloodsuckers like these…" he said gesturing around the vampires before running towards him to try and punch him again. He missed this time too and was soon hit and thrown over on his back.

"Least I have friends." Julian scoffed as Damon stayed down for a moment, taking a few breaths. He walked around him and stood by his ribcage. "You've driven away every last soul who ever cared for you."

"Then I guess I'll just have to cuddle up next to the fire with all my rage." Damon mocked under his breath with a toothy smile. Then he rolled away, dodging Julian's fist as it flew down to the ground where his head had just been.

Damon punched back as Julian was now close enough to reach but was soon repaid with several punches across his face. As he blinked away the black spots and blurry shapes that had appeared before him, Damon searched the crowd with his eyes for a moment.

Julian noticed and chuckled at him. "You're not really looking for you brother, are you?" he asked amused. "I mean even if Stefan did come back, what do you think he would do when he found out what you did to Elena?"

Damon's eyes focused on the air in front of him. "Go ahead." he rasped as he realized this was the end and that this time he actually felt at ease with it. He had fought, he had suffered… There was no point to keep going anymore. He might as well end it right here, right now. It would probably do a lot of people a huge favor. "Rip my heart out." he hissed.

Julian studied him for a moment and then nodded. "Not that I wouldn't love to do it but…" he said and observed him closely. "Are you sure?"

Damon held his breath for a moment before he answered, making sure he didn't have the time to change his mind. "Do it."

Julian complied and placed his left hand with his fingers pressed against his chest right above his heart. He took a moment to steady himself and then began digging his fingers deep into Damon's skin.

Damon closed his eyes in defeat, prepared to die. But the sight made something occur to Julian. His hand stayed still for a long moment as he studied the man underneath him. The man who had lost the love of his life at the cost of his own actions.

And perhaps it was pity, or sympathy or the fact that Julian clearly shared that pain with him – but he suddenly changed his mind and pulled his hand back. He patted Damon's chest and smiled at him as he threw his eyes open in confusion.

"I lost her too." Julian said with his face suddenly hard and cold. "My reason to live. My light in the darkness… Lily died at my hands."

Damon wrinkled his eyebrows at him. "I set my girlfriend on fire. You weren't even the one driving the stake through the heart of yours." he scoffed.

Julian sighed. "I might as well have." he said and then held his hand up to his face. "Get up."

After a long moment Damon finally accepted his hand and was soon brought back up on his feet.

"I don't get it." he said, shaking his head. "You hate me. You want me dead. Why are you sparing my life?"

Julian frowned. "Perhaps because I know that the punishment of letting you live is far worse than anything I could ever inflict on you myself." He shrugged and then squinted at him before continuing. "Mark my words, Damon Salvatore… If I have to suffer through eternity with my one true love's death on my conscience, then so shall you."

Damon pressed his lips together grimly and prepared to force him to kill him – to end his misery. He was willing to beg if it was necessary. But Julian shook his head and smiled slightly, disrupting his thoughts as he kept talking.

"Don't worry, mate." he said. "I won't be going through it alone and from now on, you won't either." Julian turned to the crowd, spreading his arms out in the air. "You will join us, because you have nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to. We'll wreak havoc together. Hunt, feed, fight and kill. No morals, no right or wrong or good or bad. It'll only be you, me, and them… Let us all be monsters together." He smiled at Damon. "What do you say, Salvatore?"

Damon grimaced nervously as he studied Julian, convinced that he had gone completely insane. But then he noticed something in his eyes that he recognized. A part of him reminded himself of the fact that he would never be able to look Stefan, or Bonnie, in the eye again after what he'd done.

Maybe this is the hell-survivor's support group after all, he thought. Or at least the one for the guys who killed their girlfriends because the good in them had been completely washed away by that hell stone.

Along with any shot at redemption.

So then, if there was no way for Damon to go back to who he used to be and if he couldn't even become who he should've been with Elena by his side; then he'd just need to be someone else. Someone new.

And with that, he had made up his mind about who he was without Elena Gilbert: He was Damon Salvatore, tormented throughout eternity. At this point, what did he have to lose?

"As long as it means more fights in the ring." Damon scoffed, since there was no way he'd suddenly start befriending the low-lives around him – or even Julian for that matter. As long as he could get his nightly dose of physical brutality, he was in.

Julian smiled at him wickedly. "If you're lucky, you may even get a few rounds in with me for practice." he said and patted his shoulder. "Welcome to your new self, mate."

Damon frowned a little at Julian's choice of words, clearly oblivious to just how well he'd spoken. Or perhaps he was fully aware of what Damon was feeling. Perhaps he even shared it. Perhaps this was the only place for Damon to be since Julian might be the only person who could ever understand what he had done.

After all, Damon may live the rest of eternity in agony over what he'd done, but that didn't necessarily mean that he didn't have room for some company…

As Stefan woke up, from apparently having gotten his neck snapped by one of Julian's body guards, he was worried out of his mind. He quickly took his phone out to call Valerie, she was after all the one who'd told him where to find Damon in the first place. Hopefully she'd be willing to help him get his brother out from under Julian's thumb.

Noticing and ignoring the fact that Caroline had tried getting in touch with him, he dialed Valerie's number and waited patiently as the signals went through. Caroline was safe and sound in a hospital after all, Damon was about to get killed by a 470-year-old vampire.

Valerie picked up at the first signal. "Stefan?"

"Hey, you were right about Damon being completely out of his mind... While I was being dragged away by Julian's lackeys, Damon was challenging Julian with a fight to the death." he let out a tired sigh. "Where are you?"

"I'm with Nora, Beau and Mary-Louise. We're trying to find out where Lorenzo took Rayna Cruz…" she began before going silent for a short moment. "But it can wait for now, where should I meet you?"

He took a glance around his environments, recognizing a building not far away from him. "Apparently I'm outside the Mystic Grill. Meet me at Julian's fight club arena in five minutes?"

"I'll be there."

With those words, Stefan hung up and began running towards the industrial site that he'd left Damon at.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Facing reality

When Valerie arrived at the neighborhood where Julian had turned an alleyway into his fight club arena, as Stefan so poetically put it, she realized right away that it was deserted. She raced to search for Stefan and found him standing in front of a white, bloodstained platform. He didn't seem to notice her presence as he stared at the ground in front of him

"Stefan?" she said carefully.

He turned around with such a broken look on his face that she found it hard not to pull him into a firm embrace. But she resisted, reminding herself that Caroline had asked her to help him. Not cuddle up with him.

"They were here barely an hour ago…" he said and shook his head in confusion. He looked over at the platform once more and brought his hands to his head. "How could I let this happen?"

"Listen to me." Valerie said and walked over to put a hand on his shoulder and turn him towards her. "You are not to blame for what has befallen your brother."

He nodded at her with a dark look. "You're right." he said.

She tilted her head back slightly as his words confused her.

"Julian is." Stefan then said with such a cold voice that Valerie wondered if he'd suddenly turned into a completely different person right before her. "He was the one who trapped Damon in that hell stone. He was the one who took our mother away from us. He was the one who…" he looked into her eyes for a moment and clenched his jaw. "Who killed our child." he spat.

His words made her wince and her eyes grew at the look he wore on his face.

"It's all on him." he continued. "We need to stop him before he drags Damon down with him."

Valerie nodded. "I'll try a locator spell." she assured him and squeezed his shoulder. "But first you need to calm down, I don't care for the look in your eyes."

"I don't care for this lunatic taking everything away from me." he spat and pulled away from her. "And when I find him, I will kill him."

"Don't be foolish, Stefan." she scoffed, nearly rolling her eyes. "We both know it will be your funeral."

"I don't care!" he said, echoing his brother's words from earlier. "I'm going to find a way to end him for good."

Valerie studied him for a moment as he was staring out into the air with hatred seeping through his pores. "Let's focus on finding your brother first." she said, attempting to center him.

His phone rang in his pocket then but he dismissed the call without even checking the display. "Do the locator spell." he said with a nod.

"What if that was your brother?" she asked confusedly.

"It wasn't. He dumped his phone days ago. Now, please, do the spell so we can stop him from doing something reckless or dangerous…"

She gave him a nod and they began walking towards her car while she spoke. "I have a map; we'll need it as well as some of your blood. And possibly one of your friends to assist us in this suicide-rescue mission." she muttered, taking the map out and spreading it over the hood of the car.

He bit into his hand and held it up to her, she took it and let his blood drip over the map while she started chanting.

His phone rang again at that moment, making him let out an irritated grunt before answering. "What!?" he hissed.

"Stefan, where the hell are you!?" Alaric's voice growled back in response.

"Ric?" he said stunned at his tone.

Valerie glanced over at Stefan but he nodded at the map, encouraging her to continue the spell.

"You better get to the hospital right now, or I swear to God Stefan…" Alaric threatened.

"Wh-whoa, hold on. Slow down! What's going on?" Stefan stuttered, panic starting to grow in his chest. When he'd left Caroline, she was fine. Could something have changed since then?

Suddenly Bonnie's voice echoed in the background. "I'll try a spell…" she said and began an incantation.

"Spell? What happened!?" Stefan exclaimed, putting two and two together.

Valerie finished her spell then and looked at him. "Whitmore." she said shortly. "They're at Whitmore College."

He looked confusedly at her for a moment. "What are they doing-"

"Stefan!" Alaric yelled out. "Caroline is in trouble and whatever Bonnie's doing doesn't seem to be working!"

"Stefan?" Valerie said carefully, trying to figure out what he wanted to do.

"You go." he told her after a moment's consideration. "Help Bonnie with Caroline. I'll go to Whitmore."

"You can't go after Julian alone!" she protested.

"Fine, I'll get Enzo to go with me. But you have to leave now Valerie, please." he pleaded.

She nodded. "Fine. Get Lorenzo, take the car and… Be careful." Her voice echoed the pleads in his. She locked her eyes on his for a moment before she finally disappeared with a gush of wind.

"Valerie's on her way." Stefan said with the phone still pressed to his ear and stepped into the car with the map in his hand. "I'll get there as soon as I can." He was just about to hang up when Alaric stopped him.

"When you do," he sighed exasperatedly before continuing with a threatening tone "Just hurry, Stefan."

He didn't know what to say to that, hearing the silent accusations and blame in Ric's voice. Hanging up and putting the phone away along with the map, he scolded himself for leaving Caroline alone in the first place. But he needed to get Damon back, and there was nothing he could've done for her anyway. At least Valerie can cast a spell or something to help. Meanwhile he would probably just get in the way.

With that he turned the key, which Valerie had left in the ignition, and accepted his decision. He couldn't help Caroline but he could rescue Damon. And he'd be damned if he didn't get him back now.

Caroline felt cold.

She slowly sensed that she was lying down somewhere, her eyes closed shut and her body completely numb. Her mind was blank. She couldn't remember what she had just been doing nor how she ended up wherever she was now.

Feeling like she was in the middle of a deep slumber that made her completely unable to move, she finally managed to open her eyes and all she saw was a dark sky full of stars.

In the corner of her eyes she saw something else.

Treetops. A whole line of them on each side of her, stretching further than she could see in her current position.

She tried desperately to get her mind to work as it felt just as numb as her body. Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths, she focused on simply analyzing what she knew.

Aside from the cold, she could feel the hard surface underneath her. Considering the sky above her she guessed she was on a road. Somewhere. In the middle of the night… That thought was enough to stir emotions in her stomach, bringing her mind to some kind of clarity as she became even more aware of herself.

She still couldn't remember how she'd gotten there or anything else up until this point. Opening her eyes, she tried to find answers in the stars above her and studied them for a long moment.

There were no crickets, as she'd expect hearing if it really was in the middle of the night. There weren't any sounds, now that she thought about it… Nothing but the wind passing through the trees, making the leaves scramble and shake… She concentrated on that, hoping her hearing would aid in getting her mind to focus on something other than the emptiness around her. The shaking got louder when her vamp-hearing tuned in. It continued growing higher, as if someone was slowly turning the volume up on a radio set on a white noise channel.

Still getting louder, the noise started morphing into something else… Vibrations maybe. Or maybe she was simply focusing her hearing on a new sound. Whatever it was it was getting deafening, echoing in her ears and mind so loudly that she could swear she felt her whole body shake with it.

Then, as if someone suddenly turned the radio off, she remembered that she was lying on a road and the sounds stopped. Her hearing wasn't focused on anything anymore; her mind had instead become fully aware of the vibrations still covering her body. She was shaking. But not from the sounds. From something else.

That's when she caught the new sound; An engine running.

She snapped her head to the side and stared in its direction as she saw lights from a car, driving straight towards her. And it didn't seem like the driver had any intentions of slowing down.

Didn't they see her? Lying there? In the middle of the road?

The car approached quickly, making the vibrations grow stronger... That's it. She'd been sensing the vibrations from the ground made by the car that was driving towards her. The car that would hit her if she didn't move out of the way…

Maybe the driver would dodge her? Go around her? Stop right before hitting her?

No, the car didn't seem to stray from its direction. And it didn't seem to slow down either. It was actually going faster now. Making her suddenly very aware of her panicked breathing and heaving chest.

Maybe they'll stop… she thought and felt tears start to run down her cheeks. She bit her lower lip to try and stop herself from crying but it didn't help.

Focus, Caroline! she demanded herself and felt a surge of adrenaline run through her. She let out a gasp as a tingle suddenly spread over her legs and arms. She stared at the approaching car once more and realized she needed to move within the next few seconds or else…

She let out a loud, pain filled growl, and just like that she suddenly had full sensation of her body again. Right when the car was going to run her over, she rolled over in vamp speed and landed on the opposite lane. Away from the car as it passed by in a violent gush of wind.

She laid limb on the ground for a long moment, panting as her mind caught up with her actions.

I did it, she thought. A wave of relief washed over her, making the tears stop right away as her eyes scanned the road for any other cars. There were none.

Standing up on her feet, she struggled a little to find her balance but soon managed to take a step forward. Expect she realized she didn't know where she should go. She didn't even know where she was.

Tears began to run down her cheeks once more, filling her with frustration as she let out a cold chuckle.

"Enough with the crying, already!" she hissed at herself and ran her hands over her face to dry the tears off. "Just think, Caroline. Think."

That's when a new car suddenly appeared right in front of her, heading straight towards her. She didn't even have time to think as she stared at it while it was approaching, like a deer caught in the headlights. And caught she was because the chock suddenly made her unable to move out of the way.

She raised her arms over her face in an attempt to protect herself somehow and shut her eyes hard. A loud gasp leaving her lips as she heard the car merely a foot away from her. In a heartbeat she realized there was nothing she could do and simply awaited the hit… The crash, the pain.

But it never came.

All she heard was her own shallow, hyperventilating breaths. And all she saw was darkness.

Then she remembered she was covering her face and her eyes were closed, so she slowly opened one of them to find out why the car hadn't run her over yet.

There was no car.

She opened the other eye and lowered her arms to her lap. She wasn't standing in the road anymore; she was sitting down in a passenger seat. The long dark highway in front of her and the trees flashing by her outside of the window.

"Mommy?"

The silent voice made her flinch and she turned around to examine its source when she stopped and stared at the figure to her left.

It was her.

Sitting in the driver's seat. Driving and talking on the phone with someone.

How was this happening? What was this? Before she had the chance to open her mouth and ask what the hell was going on she realized the driving Caroline wasn't reacting to her sitting there next to her. She probably couldn't even see her… Then she remembered having heard something before. She turned to look behind her and froze at the new sight.

Two young girls sat in booster car seats. One of them was asleep while the other sat looking doe-eyed and confused. Caroline could tell in the dark that the sleeping girl was blonde while the other had dark hair, but aside from that she couldn't distinguish much else. Like who they were for example…

"Mommy?" The awake girl spoke just as the driving Caroline hung up her phone.

"Shhhh, don't wake up your sister." she whispered, throwing a glance over to the girls before focusing on the road in front of her.

"Where are we going?" the girl asked.

Caroline turned around to study the driver just as she answered.

"To New Orleans. To visit mommy's friend."

Flinching and nearly dropping her jaw to the car floor, Caroline stared at her driving self in both chock and confusion. Was she talking about… Klaus!?

No, that isn't possible. This isn't possible… None of this makes any sense, she thought to herself and covered her face with her palms. She was still so very confused… How was she here? What was this? And what about the twins in the back–?

The twins, she thought as it suddenly hit her. They were twins…

Her twins.

Before she had a second thought she lowered her hands from her face and was nearly blinded. There was suddenly so much light in front of her that it took her a few seconds before her eyesight adjusted. She was no longer sitting in that car and she was nowhere near that road…

She was standing in a forest, the same-looking treetops she'd seen in the dark earlier were now accompanied by a clear, light blue sky. As she looked above her she couldn't see the sun anywhere. Still, it was light as an early afternoon… But how?

"What's going on!?" she hissed and ran her hands through her hair in desperation. Spinning around she suddenly saw the forest gradually ending in front of her and something non-organic peeking up between the trees.

Walking out of the woods, she ended up stepping out to an empty street with old buildings on both sides. She had never seen this place before, the street reaching far beyond the horizon and seeming to never end.

Then she heard some kind of whispers passing her by like gusts of wind around her. She couldn't decipher what the voices were saying but they appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Then another whisper, or wind, hit her from her left and flew past her. It all seemed to fade out into a specific direction; forward.

She decided to go after it and began following the street. There was another whisper that seemed to confirm that she was headed in the right direction, then it disappeared and silence hung over her.

The buildings didn't just look old, they looked abandoned. There didn't seem to be a single person anywhere and there were signs that there hadn't been people around for a very long time. She got a little caught up in studying her environments that she had unintentionally begun walking further to the left side of the street.

The whispers didn't seem to like that very much. A gust hit her from behind and another from her left; flying past her and to a small opening between two buildings.

An alley? Seriously?

Another, more violent gust of wind and whispers pushed her further into that direction so she decided to follow it. At this point she didn't really see any harm in it…

Crossing the street and turning to walk out to the alleyway, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks when she saw herself standing there.

And she wasn't alone.

Klaus was standing there too, face to face with this other Caroline.

She studied the back of his silhouette for a moment, realizing how different he seemed. His hair was a lot longer than the last time she'd seen him, a little curly even, and he wore a long, grey coat with an upturned collar.

Just then he seemed to be turning around and in panic Caroline took a step to her right to hide behind the building wall.

She heard him hiss something, his voice cold and irritated until it finally grew into a shout.

"Drop the theatrics already and show your true self!"

His words made her flinch as she suddenly wondered whether he was talking about her. She stretched her head to peek at him as he turned around to the other Caroline. That version seemed disoriented too as she opened her mouth to finally speak.

"Why are you here, Klaus?" she asked him.

Caroline frowned as she watched this copy of hers take a step towards Klaus only for him to back away from her.

"I don't understand." she said and shook her head. "What's going on, Klaus?"

Good question…

Klaus didn't seem to know how to answer, standing still for a long moment without saying anything. After what felt like an eternity, he started walking towards the blonde he was facing. Once they were standing close together, his hand reached out and cupped her cheek gently.

The sight made Caroline's own cheek burn slightly as she had a very vivid memory of how his touch affected her skin. She brushed her hand over the side where he was holding the other Caroline, wondering if the blonde felt butterflies in her stomach. Because she knew she would've been if it had been her over there. She always did. Butterflies accompanied by a racing heart and burning skin and shivers running all over her body…

But this time she wasn't the one being touched by Klaus. She was somehow watching as a version or copy or clone or something of hers was. And it made her feel uncomfortable, like she was intruding on a very intimate moment.

"Is this a mirage?" she heard Klaus ask with such a soft voice that it nearly broke her heart.

Maybe it is, she thought before looking away. She leaned back against the building behind her, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. She couldn't watch them anymore; it was too… Bizarre.

After a long moment she opened her eyes and saw the air before her seeming to shimmer. It thickened and suddenly morphed into a figure, a woman with hair a mixed color of blonde and red. Once she was fully materialized in front of her she seemed to focus her eyes on Caroline and began walking towards her.

At that, Caroline recognized her and gasped. "Valerie?" she stuttered.

The red-head didn't answer, instead she kept walking towards her with determined steps and then grabbed onto her arm.

"Wait… no!" Caroline exclaimed when she realized what was happening, but it was too late.

The moment Valerie had taken ahold of her arm; Caroline's vision began blurring out. Everything around her started fading while Valerie stayed in focus. A rush of energy passed through her with such power that it took Caroline's breath away. And once again she found herself closing her eyes and disappearing from wherever she'd been at the moment.

Except this time, she didn't open her eyes again.

Apparently, Valerie had texted Enzo on her way to the hospital because Stefan received a call from him the minute he passed the Mystic Falls' border. She had probably known that Stefan wouldn't waste time calling for back up when he finally knew where Damon was. She had been right, which was irritating and only tempted him to ignore Enzo's call more. But after a moment he gave in and answered.

"In need of some help, mate?" he asked with an arrogantly amused tone.

"That depends on how fast you can get to Whitmore College." Stefan said with nonchalance, refusing to indulge in whatever ego-boost Enzo got out of the situation.

"It so happens that I'm already here."

"Y-you what?" Stefan pushed down the gas pedal further, gritting his teeth at the remaining distance he was facing. "What are you even doing there!?" he asked hurriedly.

"Well, that's a long story. Anyhow, I imagine you would prefer it if I held off on approaching Damon until you arrive?"

"Do you know where he is?"

"I do."

Stefan cursed to himself and realized he was clenching his fists around the steering wheel with such force that it could soon break. He relaxed his hands and let out the breath that he subconsciously had been holding. "It'll take me at least an hour, and that's if I break every speed limit over there."

"I'm not sure that we have an hour, mate. They seem to be preparing to leave." Enzo said with a low voice, as if trying to go unheard by someone.

"What!?" he exclaimed and cursed to himself once more. "Get Damon away from Julian as fast as you can!"

"And how do you suggest I do that?" he mocked and let out a scoff.

"Just do something! Enzo, we can't let him get away. You hear me?"

It was silent for a long moment. Stefan could just barely hear someone moving around on the other end. "Enzo!?" he yelled.

"Shhh!" he hissed back. "Just… Give me a minute to think up a plan, yes?"

"Keep me posted." Stefan demanded and hung up. He realized he had subconsciously decelerated to comply to the speed limit and immediately added far too many miles to the velocity indicator than recommended. But he didn't care. If the car broke down he would simply run the rest of the way.

It could even end up being more effective, he thought and made a left turn out of Mystic Falls.

When Stefan finally arrived at Whitmore College, about 70 minutes later, he parked the car and began dialing Enzo again. He noticed that Valerie had texted and, feeling confused over how he'd missed it, he canceled the call and read her message instead. It said that they had Caroline's condition under control for now and that they called in the other Heretics to help keep her stabilized.

The relief he felt at that mixed with a sting of worry… It was never a good sign when you suddenly needed five witches to keep someone alive and it suggested that Caroline had been far worse off than Stefan had originally thought. Deciding to focus on his own task at hand, he settled for the knowledge that she was finally safe and called Enzo.

"They're in one of the dorms." Enzo's voice said, not bothering with small talks or pleasantries.

"Which one?" Stefan asked, mimicking the straight-to-business attitude.

"Hell if I know!" he scolded and let out a deep sigh. "Somewhere in the east wing."

"You don't have eyes on them!?" Stefan hissed through clenched teeth and hurried out of the car.

"Not really. I'm trying to keep a distance. Wouldn't want to get caught eavesdropping as I'm sure you can imagine."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down before answering. "Fine… where are you?"

"Outside the entrance to the dorm building."

Stefan hung up and sped over to the east side of campus. He found Enzo standing outside like he'd said, but he wasn't alone. There was a tall, Asian man with dark hair and eyes, dressed in head-to-toe black just like Enzo. They were facing each other, seemingly in the middle of a conversation which they abruptly ended when he reached them.

"Who the hell are you?" Stefan asked venomously as he approached the stranger.

"Someone who can be of assistance." Enzo answered nonchalantly before the man had a chance to even open his mouth. "After all; you do wish for your brother back, correct?"

Stefan gave him a grim look and studied the other man for a moment. "Fine. Where are they?" he then said with his eyes on Enzo once more.

Enzo stepped aside and gestured his hand to the door, encouraging him to go first.

Giving the men an incredulous look each, Stefan entered the building with both of them close behind. They walked silently through the hallway, trying to hear which dorm room Damon and Julian were in. The dorms were filled with sleeping students, and some not sleeping, which made it difficult to tell which direction to follow. After a moment of hesitation,

Enzo nodded towards the second floor and Stefan gave him a nod before leading the way up the stairs. It took some time but Stefan eventually caught the sound of Julian's voice and felt anger rush through him like bolts of electricity.

"… I'm not willing to take that risk." Julian's voice was harsh and quiet, almost sounding… scared.

"What makes you think you can outrun her? I mean, where would we even go? Madagascar?" Damon's voice quickly followed. "This isn't what I signed up for when we formed our little Hell-Stone-survivors'-support-group."

There was a silence for a moment, some kind of ruffling or moving around before Julian continued,

"I have my ways of escaping her if the threats of her return end up being genuine."

They were able to point out the dorm which they seemed to be hiding in and stood outside the door. For a moment Stefan was unsure of himself, he hadn't exactly planned anything more elaborate than to simply grab Damon, snap his neck if necessary, throw him in the car and drive back to Mystic Falls before Julian caught up with them. He hadn't had the time to give his strategies a second thought before Julian's voice was heard once more, this time directed towards them.

"Gentlemen, are you unaware that spying is terribly juvenile and rather insulting to a vampire of my age?" he called out with traces of amusement in his voice.

Stefan stared at Enzo in panic. Now what?

"Come on, Stefan, there's no need for denying it. You were hardly being discreet… Step inside and face me, will you?" he said challenging.

For a moment Stefan considered whooshing in and going through with whatever plan he had imagined earlier, but he realized there was no point. Not now that they no longer had the element of surprise on their side. So he decided to open the door and step into the dorm slowly.

Walking reluctantly as the men followed him still, the first thing Stefan noticed was two young men sitting in a couch, staring straight into the air. He could recognize the compelled look on their faces and imagined the dorm belonged to them.

"Welcome." Julian said as he appeared before him with a smug, half-smile smirk and bottle of liquor in his hand.

Stefan acknowledged him with a nod and started looking for Damon, who was standing in the far end of the dorm, turned away and looking out through a window with a bottle of his own. "Hello, brother." he said without turning around, taking a few clunks from the drink at hand.

Stefan studied him for a moment before facing Julian again, Enzo and his companion taking a stand on each side of him.

"Lorenzo." Julian said and glanced over at the third visitor. "I see you've made some new friends during our time apart."

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you why we're here." Stefan kept his back straight and his chin held up high, refusing to let Julian intimidate him in any way.

Julian smiled wickedly in return and lifted the bottle in his hand to point his index finger at him. "Your brother doesn't need to be rescued by you, mate." he snickered. "So I suggest you leave and not bother us again, or I might just feel tempted to end your petty little life once and for all."

Stefan still refused to show any fear and shrugged casually. "Hand over Damon and I won't come after you again."

For a moment Julian seemed genuinely stunned by his words and started to laugh in amusement. "Did you catch that, mate?" Julian chuckled and turned to Damon. "Your brother is willing to put his grudge and resentment towards me aside in the hopes of redeeming you. Ironic, don't you think?"

Now it was Stefan's turn to look stunned. And confused. What was Julian talking about?

Damon turned around with a grim face. He walked over to Julian and shoved his liquor towards his chest. "Hold this, will you?" he said with a slight smirk. "I need to have a conversation with my baby brother."

Julian grabbed the bottle with his free hand and squinted at Damon for a moment before he nodded, granting him his consent. "Make sure to keep it short." he said and glanced over at Stefan. "Wouldn't want to miss our flight later." he smirked and brought his nearly empty bottle up to his lips.

Stefan grabbed Damon's arm and sped out of the dorm. He managed to drag him all the way outside of the building before his brother yanked his arm back.

"We don't have much time, Damon. Let's go!" Stefan said with a low voice as he studied the distraught face his brother was making.

"I'm not going anywhere, Stefan." he said and wobbled a little on his feet as he backed away from him.

Enzo and his lackey showed up beside them in the blink of an eye, looking restless and rushed. "Well?" Enzo asked. "Are we making a run for it or not?"

Stefan looked at Damon. "Listen. Whatever Julian's got on you, it's not worth throwing everything away. It's not worth turning into this person…"

Damon sneered and let out a short, humorless chuckle. "How can you say that when you don't even know what I've done?" he mocked.

"Because I know you, Damon." Stefan said, closing the distance between them to grab his arms and hold him in place. "I've known you for almost two centuries now, which means I know when you are about to go off the rails and lose yourself. And I'm here to make sure that no matter what happens in the nearest future that you are still the same person that Elena fell in love with once she wakes up. She doesn't deserve to come back to find you-"

"What, Stef?" he cut him off with wide eyes and a daring tone. "To find me… having turned into a monster? A killer? A heartless, cold, selfish-"

"Arrogant." Enzo chimed in, making them both turn to glare at him as he continued. "… Smug, sadistic, egotistical maniac of an alcoholic with a flair for the dramatic. Now that we have established all of your many flaws, mate, can we get the bloody hell out of here?"

"Gladly." Stefan said and tried to pull Damon further away from the building but he shrugged out of his hands.

"Trust me, Stefan. You won't want to go anywhere with me after you find out the truth." he said with a clenched jaw.

This was getting ridiculous, Stefan knew Julian must be hearing their escape attempt and it was only a matter of time before he decided to go after them. They didn't have time to argue over Damon's morals or whatever he'd done, they needed to get out of there now. "I don't care, Damon!" he grunted urgently. "Whatever you did or think you've done or are about to do, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to let you-"

"I killed Elena." Damon's voice was hoarse and raspy as he cut him off.

This time Stefan was certain he'd imagined his brother's words. Surely, he didn't say what he thought he'd just said. "What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously.

"I killed her." Damon repeated, not able to meet his eyes and therefore staring into the air next to him instead. "My visions of Henry, they made me think that I… He made me think that I was freeing myself of the hallucinations… I burned her to ashes. I didn't know what I was doing, but it doesn't matter. Not really." He looked into his brother's eyes and gritted his teeth. "Because she's dead, Stefan. It doesn't matter what kind of a person I've become or what I turn into because she won't be there to see any of it. She's gone. And it's my fault."

Enzo had fallen completely silent beside them, the look of disbelief mixed with disappointment on his face echoed Stefan's attempt at denying his brother's words.

She's gone.

The sentence echoed through his mind for a long moment as Damon's confession slowly sunk in. After feeling completely numb for a heartbeat he suddenly felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. His lungs filling with gravel and his stomach turning and twisting as if physically rejecting what his brother was saying.

She's dead.

Only a few seconds passed before Stefan managed to actually respond to the words… With a punch straight across Damon's jaw, hard enough to break it and send him falling to the ground. He held a hand over the side of his face and spit out some blood.

Stefan saw red right then, he realized that the punch wasn't nearly enough to express the rage and pain that had begun consuming him. He wanted to jump at him once more but something made him realize that it wasn't necessary. Damon was already punishing himself for this.

And suddenly he saw everything so clearly. This was the reason Damon had been acting out. Julian wasn't manipulating him or blackmailing him… Damon was choosing to follow Julian because of what he did. Because he thought he couldn't go back to his friends after…

"Stefan…" Damon pleaded, straightening up and looking him deep in the eye.

Stefan had no idea what he was going to say to try and excuse himself, or redeem himself or whatever. Because at that moment, as he thought his compassion for his brother had soothed his anger, he suddenly felt another surge of it hit him and making him punch him once more; this time in the stomach.

He managed to stop at that second punch though, turning around and leaving Damon half-down on the ground.

This was it. He was done. Out of all of the horrendous things Damon had done in the past, this overshadowed everything else. Seeing his face made him physically sick and it appalled him to think of how hard he had been trying to rescue him from Julian… To help him… But he wasn't ever going to do that again. Not after what he'd done. And as far as he was concerned; Damon was exactly where he belonged – alongside a man just as evil as himself.

So he walked away. Leaving his brother behind, as well as the vague sounds of Enzo trying to get his attention and eventually giving up. He kept walking until he was eventually sitting in Valerie's car. And after a long moment it suddenly hit him once more.

And it all came crashing down.

Damon stepped back into the dorm, not too long after Enzo had left to go after his brother with his mysterious friend in tow. He gulped down the guilt from seeing Stefan's expression when he found out the truth about Elena, realizing that telling the others would be just as excruciating… And wondering how on earth he would ever be able to live with himself if he lost everyone else because of what he had done.

"Well?"

Damon snapped his eyes to the window where Julian stood brooding just as the Brit turned around.

"Are you finally ready to cut the strings that are keeping you in Virginia?" he asked and walked over to him slowly. "Are you ready to embrace your new self, Damon? Are you ready to finally set yourself free?" He held a bottle of bourbon for him to take and smirked expectantly.

"By running from your old enemies?" Damon sneered in sarcasm and grabbed the bottle to put it away from the both of them.

Julian chuckled. "No, Damon. By escaping yours."

"What are you talking about?" he snickered and walked around him, glancing over at the compelled students who sat quietly in their assigned seats.

"Ever since you returned from your imprisonment in the Phoenix Stone, the ghosts from the stone have tried to rid you of who you used to be so that you could finally become true to your own nature." Julian said, drawing his attention back to the suddenly philanthropic vampire. "You have been fighting your demons for far too long Damon, while the answer to your problems has been right in front of you the entire time!" he smiled widely and raised his arms in a big gesture.

"You don't need to punish yourself for the sins of your past! The pain, the guilt, the self-loathing; you don't need to cling to any of it. You can let it all go. You can leave it all behind you and run, as far away and as quickly as possible…" Julian shrugged before continuing. "Our flight takes off in two hours." he said and turned away from him, walking towards the door but stopping right in front of it.

He turned his face to the side to glance back at Damon over his shoulder. "Set yourself free, Salvatore." he said matter-of-factly before he exited the dorm.

Damon clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, remembering the look in Stefan's eye earlier… His brother had forgiven him for many things over the decades, but this… This was not something that they would be able to move past. And the thought that he would see the same kind of blame, anger and hate directed at him if he came clean to the rest of Elena's friends… If he came clean to Bonnie… Well, he wasn't sure he would be able to live with himself if he lost them. If he lost Bonnie too after already having lost Elena…

In that moment, he made a judgement call and found Julian's promises of a new identity, of the possibility of freeing himself from his past demons, to be far too tempting to turn down. So he listened after the older vampire, hearing him getting into a car in the parking lot, and chose to run instead.

Away from his past, away from his mistakes and away from his guilt.

He chose to run away from himself, and Julian seemed to be the best candidate to join in that purpose. Whatever it was that the Brit had planned for the two of them next…

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Where all the broken-hearted go

The Big Easy.

The Crescent City.

The City That Care Forgot.

Of course that would be the place that Julian decided to hide in… Damon was just irritated that he hadn't figured it out sooner; When it came to the supernatural world, somehow, every road seemed to always lead to New Orleans.

Or rather; to the Originals.

As Julian, and the five other vampires they'd brought with them, played countless rounds of pool and darts, drank endless amounts of whiskey and tequila and went on with their first official day in the city as if they already belonged – Damon found himself with a little dilemma. He didn't know just what the odds were of them running into the Mikaelson's but with his luck they'd probably be a gazillion more than he'd prefer… So he wasn't sure whether he should give Julian a heads up or not.

On one hand, if the Original vampires decided their little gang was intruding on their home then no number of warnings would be enough to save them from their fates.

On the other, if Julian's intentions for coming here in the first place actually involved pissing the Originals off then Damon would probably be better off not sharing his history with them. After all, he needed to save his own skin first no matter what.

On the third, after having been in town for just short of twelve hours without any run-ins with the thousand-year-old vampires yet, his hopes of avoiding them altogether grew very high. So perhaps it would be unnecessary to tell Julian anything at all?

On the fourth however, if Julian's plan required their help with this weird plan of his then maybe his information would work to move things along? Which would be very much appreciated since Damon couldn't dare enjoy himself in the city with the possibility of the Big Bad Hybrid hiding behind every corner… The sooner they finished their business here, the sooner they could leave for someplace else. One that didn't have the oldest vampires in the world as occupants.

"Why the long face, Salvatore?" Julian whined, clapping Damon's shoulder firmly before sitting down on a bar stool next to him. "Surely, you must be mad to not be enjoying yourself in this splendid city!"

"Well, I'm not really in the mood for partying when we got business to take care of." Damon muttered and threw back his drink with a grimace.

"Now now, mate… Don't be cross. There will be plenty of time for that in the morning." Julian smiled and waved the bartender over. "Two more." he said while pointing at Damon's empty glass.

"Why are we wasting time in this bar, Julian?" Damon sighed as they received their drinks. "I know you have something planned so why not get it over with as soon as possible and leave for Bora Bora or somewhere else far away from Stefan and the author of those little Red Cross postcards, hm?"

Julian drank from his glass with a wicked grin on his lips.

"What's that look for?" Damon scoffed while staring at him incredulously.

"Well, it's just that I find it amusing how you haven't figured it all out yet." he teased.

"Figured what out?"

Julian raised his eyebrows and turned his back against the bar, looking around in the room. "Haven't you noticed, Damon, how every single guest in this bar is a vampire?"

Damon glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "So?"

"So?" Julian laughed. "So…! Why do you think that is? Aren't there any better taverns for these people to visit other than this specific one?"

"Maybe they came for the ambience." Damon said with a smirk and threw his drink back.

"There is a reason that they have all chosen this bar over the others in the city." Julian said with dark eyes and an amused smirk. "Just as there is a reason why your brother hasn't barged in here hours ago with sweet, little Valerie in tow to drag you back to Mystic Falls."

Damon studied his face as the man swallowed his drink with another wild smile. Then he took a look around the bar. It was true, they were all vampires. But why were they here?

After a moment he looked back at Julian with a look of disbelief. "This place is cloaked." he said with a low voice.

Julian grinned. "From all magic and all witches." he confirmed. "It is one of the few places in the world that shields each and every one of its guests from any and all locator spells… No matter the kind of magic nor the power of it." His smile grew as he finished his drink and elbowed Damon in his side. "Here; we are invisible. Even the apartments-turned-hostel upstairs are safely veiled and luckily for us; vacated and available for new tenants."

"So that's what we've been doing?" Damon asked incredulously. "Shaking Stefan off our tails? You really that scared of my baby brother?"

He scoffed and put his glass down on the bar. "I'm merely making sure your darling brother doesn't stand in the way of your freedom, mate. Wouldn't want him to plant any seeds of guilt in that dark soul of yours, now would we?" he asked and poked harshly at Damon's chest.

"No, what you really want is to make sure that Huntress chick doesn't find you and put your 400-years-old ass back into the Phoenix Stone." Damon scoffed, earning an evil-eye from Julian as he turned away from him.

"As a former inmate of that Hell Stone yourself; it is something you should worry about too, Damon." Julian muttered. "Moreover, I may have my suspicions on whether or not the threat of the Huntress returning is real or simply a means to scare me… But I certainly won't risk my life on the possibility of being wrong."

"And how long exactly are we going to play hide-and-go-seek under this rusty old roof?" Damon scoffed and put his drink down.

"Don't worry, mate. It won't be long now." Julian said and clapped his shoulder with a smile as he suddenly relaxed again. "Tonight we enjoy our newfound freedom. And tomorrow we begin our quest in the city."

"And what exactly does that quest involve?" Damon asked as Julian stood up.

"We'll be seeking out a dear friend of mine." Julian said with a shrug and smiled at Damon's raised eyebrows.

"And what's this friend's name?" Damon asked slowly with a half-smirk. "Anyone I know?"

That brought another wicked grin to Julian's face. "I highly doubt it, mate. He's far too old for your acquaintance." he said and winked at him before turning to walk away.

Damon gulped at his words and stared daggers into his back.

It couldn't be… he thought to himself and shook his head, finishing his drink and ordering another one.

Because with his luck, he would probably come to need a hundred more…

- The next morning -

When Caroline woke up she had little to no sense of time or place.

It was dark, she was lying in a bed… In some hospital room… And there was someone sleeping in a small chair beside her, someone human. Their slow and steady pulse echoed in her ears and made veins start to creep around her eyes. Forcing her eyes shut and holding her breath, she tried to gain some control over her hunger by going over what had happened.

Then she remembered; the twins had been feeding off her blood, causing her to desiccate slowly. She remembered feeling better after Valerie gave her that magical object for the twins to siphon instead of her… But then the latest memory hit her; the image of seeing her leg and arm starting to turn grey as she desiccated once again. It made her breathing quicken and her undead heart race. The twins had slowly been draining her of her life and it terrified her. But even more so, she felt lost…

She had no memory of the desiccation having stopped or slowed down. All she remembered was that hollow, draining sensation that made her feel like she was literally rotting away… And then the desperate panic as she realized she couldn't do anything about it. Then everything had gone dark as the desiccation spread and consumed her whole body.

So, how was she awake now?

"Hey…" the human in the room said, making her eyes fly open.

She recognized him as he stood up from the chair and moved closer to her. "Ric?" she croaked and swallowed hard. "Actually, do you mind staying back…" she said warningly as the veins scratched at the skin around her eyes once more.

He then turned a small table lamp on, making his soft face shine up in the light as well as something in his hand. A blood-bag.

She was sure she would have jumped him if he hadn't given it to her right then. Drinking out of it juice-box-style she quickly drained it and glanced over at him with a shy smile on her face. The thirst was nowhere near clenched, it made her a little scared as to how long she'd been out – or rather, how close she'd been to actually dying.

Alaric gave her a soft smile and handed her another bag, reading her expression correctly. At first she drank it just as eagerly as she had the one before, but about halfway through she slowed down as she began feeling a lot better. He raised an eyebrow at her in question and she shook her head.

"I'm good for now. Thanks." she said and breathed deeply as she let herself relish in the wonderful sensation of feeding after being so hungry. "Are you okay?" she asked then while studying his worried look.

He chuckled. "Me? You're the one in a hospital, Caroline."

She frowned. "Yeah, well…" she mumbled and then suddenly remembered. "How was Dallas? Did the job interview go well?" she asked with so much energy in her tone that it was hard to believe she had just recently been on the brink of death.

Ric studied her with wide eyes for a moment and sighed. "Caroline, do you remember what happened?"

"Yes." she scoffed and waved her hand in the air. "But I feel fine now…" she glanced down at her mountain-like stomach and stroked it slightly to check if the babies were alright too. She heard strong heartbeats and felt some movement in there, making her nod in relief. "And so do they." she said and gave Ric a comforting smile.

He looked at her with an unsure expression and then lifted one hand. "Do you mind?" he asked softly.

She took his hand and placed it gently on her stomach. "Here." she said. "They're moving around in their sleep; guess it's starting to get pretty cramped in there."

Alaric let out a breath of relief and closed his eyes. "I'm so glad you're alright." he said and looked at Caroline for a moment. "All three of you." he clarified and sighed. "When Stefan called I-"

"Stefan!" she gasped. "Where is he? Is he alright?"

"I- I think so." Alaric said with an unsure look and pulled his hand back to cross his arms over his chest.

"What do you mean you think so?" she said confusedly and looked over at the bedside table to search for her phone. "Has he called?"

Ric left her for a moment and walked over to the chair where he'd been sleeping just recently. He returned with her phone in his hand. "Here."

She took it and pressed on the screen a few times but it wouldn't turn on. "It's dead." she sighed. "I think I have a charger in my bag, have you seen it somewhere?" she asked him.

He scratched the back of his neck and nodded. "Yeah." he said and walked over to the other side of the room, picking up her handbag from a shelf near the door.

"Who has been moving my stuff around?" she muttered as she received the purse and began going through it. "Ah! There you are." she exclaimed victoriously as she found the charger and gave him the bag back.

He took it and put it on her bedside table as she connected the phone to the charger and then looked around for a plug. His hands wrapped around hers as he took the phone and charger away from her and sat down next to her on the bed. "Caroline." he said with a serious tone. "Just, how much do you remember?"

She shrugged a little. "I was desiccating." she said. "But I'm fine now so I'm guessing it stopped, right?"

"After a while, yes." he said with a nod.

"What do you mean?" she said with a nervous smile. "How long was I… like that?"

"For nearly two days." he said carefully.

She flinched. Well, that explains the hunger, she thought. But then a weird feeling grew inside of her, one that told her there was more to the story but that she probably wouldn't like to know about it.

"When did you get back?" she asked as he let go of her hands to help her charge the phone. Apparently there had been a wall socket right there next to her bed.

"I got the first flight out after Stefan called me." he said. "Which was really lucky otherwise…" his voice died out and he shook his head for a moment. "I got here just in time."

Oh, she thought as she understood what that meant. She gulped hard and shook the thought of what could have happened if he had waited a little longer before flying over. How long would the flight have been? At least five hours, probably six… So then he probably arrived during the night, maybe close to 11 or even midnight…

He drew her attention back to him by resting a hand on her arm, giving her a soft smile.

"And Stefan?" she asked carefully.

"He was here to check in on you after we managed to get you stabilized despite the coma-state… That was yesterday."

"And what…?" she asked with a nervous chuckle as she tried to hide the feeling of abandonment that was growing in her stomach. "He hasn't been here since?"

Alaric shook his head. "No, no he hasn't. I think there was something going on with Damon..."

She nodded. "Right. I forgot about that…" Her voice was nearly a whisper as she couldn't help but wonder what the hell could have been more important than her dying in a hospital bed… She cleared her throat. "Can you call him? Do you have your phone?"

"Yeah, of course." he said and pulled it out from his pocket. He began dialing and handed the phone over to her.

She held it to her ear and bit her lip, feeling a little nervous as she listened to the beeps. A few signals in, he still hadn't answered and she glanced over at Alaric.

"I guess he isn't awake." she said and gave up. As she cancelled the call she caught a glimpse of the time on the display. 5.34 am. She looked at Alaric. "Have you stayed here all night?" she asked bewildered. He must be exhausted... How far back was Dallas again? Just an hour, probably. Maybe it didn't technically count as jetlag when it was such a tiny difference? But it had to be enough to mess with your rhythm still… Right?

She realized he hadn't answered her and studied him closely. That's when she noticed the tired look in his eyes that confirmed her suspicions. "Hey, you should go back to sleep." she said and laid a hand over his as it remained on her arm. "We'll be fine for a few hours."

"Are you sure?" he asked silently. "I'll stay up with you if you want company."

"No, no. I'm good." she reassured him and gave him a smile. "Besides, something tells me you haven't slept in a real bed for a few days." She glanced over at the shelf where he had gotten her bag from and saw a jacket and unfamiliar bag. He'd probably been staying here with her to make sure the babies were alright.

"Caroline." he said and took her hand in both of his. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner."

"This wasn't your fault." she said, shaking her head. "Besides, you apparently got here just when I needed you anyway. So…"

"Yeah, well. Next time I'll make sure to be within an hour's car ride at all times…" he muttered.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled a little.

"Sorry. I was just really worried." he explained.

She nodded. "Well, the babies are fine. Waking up right now actually so there goes any chances of me going back to sleep." Not that she needed it, she already felt groggy and disoriented after having been unconscious for so long.

"And I'm glad." he said with a slow nod of his head. "But I wasn't just talking about the babies… I was worried about you too." he explained, bringing her out of her thoughts.

She gave him a soft smile. "Thank you." she said sincerely. "Now…" She scooted over in the bed. "Get some sleep." she said and clapped her hand on the newfound space beside her.

He studied her confusedly for a moment which made her giggle.

"I'm not unconscious anymore, Ric. I'm not going to let you sleep on that chair. You can either go home to your own bed…"

He gave her a look that told her that was not going to happen and she continued.

"Or… You can take a nap here. I'm fine with it. Just make sure to grab a book or a magazine or something for me to read in the meantime." She began propping her pillows up behind her and getting comfortable.

He turned slightly to look around in the room and then walked over to a side table with magazines. "Vogue or Lifestyle?" he asked with an amused look.

"Both." she said and reached for them, eager to get something to do after having been lying in a bed for – two days, was it? She moved the covers over to her side since he was wearing clothes and probably wouldn't need a blanket.

Ric lied down next to her with his legs stretched out and his hands crossed on his stomach as he made sure to not take up too much space. "I'll just rest for a little bit." he said quietly and closed his eyes.

She looked down at him for a moment and smiled. "Nighty-night." she teased.

He smirked and opened an eye to look at her amusedly. "Goodnight." he said and closed his eye again, twisting a little to get comfortable. "Read your magazines."

Smiling playfully, she chose to open the old issue of Vogue first and began looking through the different trends of spring 2015. It crossed her mind that she would need a wardrobe update after she was done with the maternity clothes. Imagining the different items that she would like to buy helped time pass a little quicker while Alaric snored silently next to her… Just not fast enough though. The next time she glanced over at the wall mounted clock above the door to the room, it said 6.07.

She let out a deep sigh and put the magazines on the bedside table to her right. Now what? She thought and looked down at Alaric as he continued sleeping.

Right on que, Baby A kicked her bladder and reminded her of her human needs. She moved the covers and placed them over Ric before she carefully, and clumsily due to the size of her stomach, got out of bed and walked over to the adjoined bathroom.

When she finished up and walked out to her room again she decided against climbing into bed and possibly waking Alaric up. Instead she chose to take a little walk around the hospital halls. She felt a little chilly – the pregnancy was really messing with her vampire abilities such as not getting cold as easily as humans. So she picked up Ric's jacket from the shelf, since she couldn't see a sweater anywhere and didn't even remember if she'd brought one in the first place.

Then she silently left the room and walked down the hall to the closest vending machine. There was barely anyone around, just a few doctors on their morning rounds and a patient here or there who seemed to have had the same idea as her.

She reached the end of the corridor and looked up at the different candy bars and snacks. Her mouth watered as she pressed the button for a bag of Doritos. Then she sighed.

Stupid pregnancy brain… she thought as she remembered she didn't have any change on her.

She dug her hands into the jacket's pockets and smiled when she found Alaric's wallet inside. Hoping he wouldn't mind, she opened it and started looking for change. Her eyes caught sight of a small, slightly ripped piece of paper sticking out of the black leather. She pulled it out, unfolded it and stared at it for a long moment before she finally understood what it was.

"Neither one of us should be here right now. We've spent our lives dodging fate and beating the odds. But, because we did, I got to meet you; the most beautiful, hilarious and intimidatingly brilliant woman I have ever -"

"Hello, gorgeous."

Caroline quickly folded the paper and hid both it and the wallet inside the pockets. She turned around and sighed as she saw Enzo standing with a smirk. He was, naturally, dressed head-to-toe in black to match his dark hair and suggestive look.

"What are you doing here, Enzo?" she asked with a racing heartbeat as she felt like she had just been caught with her hand down the cookie jar. She glanced over at the vending machine, still feeling a cheesy craving only now accompanied by a sugary one as well.

"Why, I've come to see you of course." he said and took another step towards her. "Does that come as such a surprise to you?"

"Yes." she spat. He had after all been responsible for her getting tortured by the heretics. Sure, that was a while back, but she still wasn't going to just forgive him the moment he decides to show some compassion.

"What are you hiding there, darling?" he asked after a moment and moved closer to her.

She realized her hands were still inside the pockets and pulled them out to wave them in the air. "What are you talking about?" she asked and sighed. "I just thought I'd go for some snacks."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said.

She held her breath as he began closing the distance between them. Standing still and not looking away from his face for a single moment, since it would only make her look even more guilty than she already felt.

He eyed her intently and raised his hand as if to stroke her arm. At the last moment, he pressed a button on the vending machine instead. She turned to stare at the display as he was suddenly holding a credit card and paying for her Doritos.

She sighed and looked at him as he bent down to pick up her snack. "You didn't need to do that." she said exasperatedly.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "It's nothing, really." he snickered and handed her the chips.

"Still…" she said and stuffed it into her pockets along with her hands once more. "Thanks."

"Can I offer you an actual meal instead of those cheesy, crusty, little triangles?" he said with an amused smile.

"You think that will make up for everything?" she scoffed as she refused to be charmed by his looks and accent and over all ways. She had already danced this waltz once or fifty-eleven times before. Enzo had nothing on her past dance partner though… This was barely a challenge at all.

He frowned a little. "It's at the very least a start." he said with such a soft and genuine voice that Caroline felt it tug at her heartstrings.

She weighed back and forth on her feet until a grumbling, turning noise made up her mind for her. Convincing herself that she wasn't giving up, just letting him buy her breakfast, she finally answered him with a question. "Where would we even go?" she sighed, hoping he wouldn't comment on the awkward sound from her stomach that he undoubtedly had heard. "I'm in a hospital, in case you haven't noticed."

"Believe me, I have." he said with a hardened expression. "I'm sure we could manage getting a nurse to spare you an hour or two out of this place. Don't you think?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, well that's assuming anyone would care."

He looked at her with narrowed eyes for a moment. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." she said, shaking her head as she hadn't intended on the thought actually leaving her lips. "Hormones." she lied and grimaced. "Let me just check in on Ric before we go, okay?"

It took a long moment before he actually responded to her words, seeming completely lost in thoughts. "Yes, of course." he finally said and gestured with his hand. "Ladies first." he smirked.

She snickered at his words but led the way back to her room. Ric was still sleeping when they got there, not having moved a single inch since she'd left. She searched the room for a pen and piece of paper and wrote him a note, letting him know where she'd be in case he woke up before she got back. Then she glanced over at her phone as it was still charging next to the bed and decided to leave it. After all, if anyone really needed to reach her then they'd know where to go. Hospital patients aren't exactly prone to being difficult to locate.

At that thought she decided to freshen up quickly and took a look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her hair was a little greasy from not having showered in a while and it was kind of obvious that she had slept in the clothes she was wearing. She ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to look a little perkier. Then she washed her face with some cool water and straightened her clothes out.

Finally, she exited the bathroom with a hand over her stomach as the twins moved around a little, reminding her of their presence. She took a moment, closing her eyes and saying a silent prayer to wish for both the tiny beings to end up alright as well as herself.

"Let's all just get out of this alive and well, okay?" she mumbled and patted her stomach softly.

Her supernatural hearing caught up on Enzo's voice from outside the room as he whispered to her that he cleared everything with the nurse. She took a breath and nodded to herself, then she left the room and met Enzo in the hallway.

He smiled at her and held his arm out. "Shall we?" he asked. She rolled her eyes but decided to take his arm anyway and then let him lead the way out of the hospital.

"Enough!"

The words had no effect as Stefan turned a couch upside-down, swiped a bunch of glasses and books off a table with his arm and then kicked an upholstered chair so hard, it flew across the trashed room.

They had failed. Again.

No matter how hard they tried, or how many spells they cast, there was no way of finding Julian's new hiding place. And with it; Damon.

"Stefan!" Valerie tried once more, grabbing his arms before he could pull a door off its hinges. "Stop this!"

He glared at her with his vamp features visible and his fangs exposed.

She wasn't faced by the sight but she was beginning to feel frightened over the glint in his eyes that seemed to only grow bigger and brighter. "This won't help Damon."

Flinching at his brother's name, he turned away from her enough to get out of her grip. "You didn't see his face, Val." he spat and ran his hands through his hair. "You didn't see how he looked at me when he told me-" He cut himself off and looked at something behind her. Suddenly he whooshed over to a table and grabbed a bottle of scotch, throwing it at a wall across from her.

"When he told you what?" she asked, barely reacting to his outburst. "What did he say, Stefan?" she insisted and walked over to him.

He shook his head and turned away from her, his hands locked behind his head.

"You can't hold this in anymore!" she pleaded. "You need to tell me what happened that night or it's only going to keep eating away at you."

"I never should have left him." His voice was barely audible but Valerie caught the words as he covered his face with his hands. "It's my fault that we lost him again, and now we can't even find him and I just…"

She saw him glance over for something else to throw or trash and grabbed his shoulders. "You have to stop punishing yourself for this." she said with a nod at every word. After a moment's consideration she sighed. "I know this isn't just about Damon and –"

He stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't even try to deny it, Stefan. It is fairly obvious that you have been avoiding Caroline for a specific reason." she snickered and narrowed her eyes at him. "She is in the hospital right now and instead of being by her side to give her comfort, you are obsessing over Julian and your idiotic vendetta against him."

"What do you want me to do, huh?" he spat. "I don't have magic. I don't have a medical degree. I can't do anything to help her!"

"If you think you're doing her any favors by staying away, you're wrong."

"I know Caroline, okay!?" he exclaimed. "I know that she wouldn't want me to just sit around and worry about her. She would want me to do something, anything. And since I can't help her, I have to find something else; like finding my brother and getting him back. So, that's what I'm gonna do! Even if it means dragging him across the world kicking and screaming."

"How can you know what she wants you to do if you refuse to even see her?" she asked with a venomous tone.

"You think this is easy for me?" he threatened with a finger pointed at her. "Hm? You think it's not killing me to know that she's hurting and scared and alone?"

"I think you are abandoning her during her time in need for the sake of your damned brother."

He clenched his jaw and glared at her for a long moment before he spoke again. "How about you focus on getting her fully restored and conscious?" he spat. "In the meantime, I'm not going to sit back and let Julian dig his claws any further into Damon than he already has."

She studied him as he suddenly turned away, grabbed his jacket from a stool and walked towards the exit. "Where are you going!?" she called out.

"To get answers!" he yelled back over his shoulder. "Maybe the new residents of Mystic Falls have some ideas on where their boss has disappeared off to." He stopped halfway through the door and glanced over at her. "Let me know if Caroline's condition changes. Until then… don't bother me unless you have a location on my brother."

The door slammed behind him, making her jump up a little. She had never seen Stefan so cold and calculating and at the same time so consumed by hatred and worry. Irrational behavior may be an appropriate response to having your girlfriend in a hospital, but going after Julian instead of staying by Caroline's side was not.

There has to be more to it, she thought to herself. And she decided to figure out what. She grabbed her jacket and cast a cloaking spell before going after him. If Stefan refused to tell her what was going on, then perhaps he would eventually show her instead.

Just not on purpose, she thought as she walked out of the apartment fully invisible to everyone around her.

It was time to find out the truth; what was eating away at Stefan Salvatore?

Caroline had ordered two plates of waffles and was scraping up the jam and whipped cream from the last of it in less than twenty minutes. She looked down at the empty plates in front of her and had a hard time believing she'd just eaten so much so quickly. It was like she'd blacked out and been completely consumed by her hunger, moving on autopilot while her brain took a vacation.

It was ridiculous and kind of terrifying. Vampires could usually go a lot longer without real food than humans, as long as they had blood. But this pregnancy was clearly amplifying her human needs and cravings much more than she'd care to admit.

She looked up at Enzo, realizing they hadn't said anything since their orders arrived. He was studying her with an amused smirk while only being halfway through his eggs and bacon.

"What?" she asked, feeling embarrassed that she'd acted like a such a pregnant-crazed woman.

"I wasn't judging, gorgeous." he said, reading her tone and expression spot-on. Then he drank from his orange juice before adding: "However, in your defense… you haven't eaten for two days."

She nodded a little in recognition, having temporarily forgotten about that part. "Now that you mention it… Are you going to tell me how I'm not dried up and buried somewhere in the woods?"

He shrugged. "Valerie and Bonnie did a spell to sort of refuel your magic, which slowed down the desiccation. Since then we've been taking turns placing some magical objects near you for the babies to siphon off." He pointed at her neck. "That..."

She looked down at a light and small necklace, not remembering whether she'd put it on herself or not. But she did recognize it, meaning it was probably hers to begin with.

"Bonnie spelled that one yesterday with hopes that you wouldn't need to carry those objects around everywhere you went. Clearly it helped you recharge completely since you're awake now."

"You said 'we', before." she said carefully and looked up at him. "Does that mean you've been… around?"

He rolled his eyes at her and was about to comment but she wasn't in the mood to hear him try to convince her that he really does care about her. She knew it wasn't as true as he insisted it to be. People who care about each other don't hand one another over to psychotic vampire-witches… And then sits back and lets them be tortured.

She immediately continued before he could cut her off. "I didn't even know you were back in town."

"I did manage to acquire a magical object that helped the spell linger on you." he said and leaned on his elbows over the table. "And I assumed Bonnie had already told you about my… errands outside of Mystic Falls…"

"What does Bonnie have to do with it?" she asked as she studied him closely, was there something she was missing?

"We had a run-in." he said with a tone that sounded like he was talking about an old and cherished memory from way back when.

"And what exactly made you decide to show up here again?" she asked with a nonchalant tone.

"It wasn't my choice to leave in the first place." he said through gritted teeth and sighed. "Clearly you haven't spoken to your dear friend Matthew in a while."

"I haven't spoken to anyone in a while." she reminded him, earning a light chuckle from him.

"I suppose that is true." he smiled and then looked down at his phone.

"What now, am I boring you?" she mocked.

He gave her a bright smile before looking down at the phone once more. "Not at all, darling." he said. "It's just that I keep trying to reach Stefan but he isn't responding to my messages… I assumed he would like to know that his girlfriend is up and walking again." he glanced at her just in time to catch a swift frown on her face. "He's most likely still searching for Damon." he explained, having read her mind.

She shook her head roughly to try and shake her sadness off as well. "Right, of course." she said with an attempt at a smile. "I'm sure he'll check in on me once he's free." Her hand waved in the air as if waving the subject away with it.

Enzo took the hint, once again managing to analyze her expression impeccably, and sighed. "On a different note, it's a shame that Bonnie has decided to avoid my calls as well. Considering she probably would have wanted to join us for breakfast."

She raised an eyebrow at his tone and smirked a little. "Did you two have a fight or something?" she asked.

"Or something." he agreed and studied her. "Oh, please. It's not what you think." he snickered, reading her mind once more as she raised her eyebrows at him. "She's merely upset with me because she is under the impression that I went behind her back."

"Well, did you?"

He tilted his head from one side to the other and grimaced. "Yes." he admitted, earning a scoff from her. "But I had my reasons for doing it, alright?" he explained and sighed. "She's just… refusing to accept them."

"What exactly did you do?" she asked with a slight worry in her tone, whatever it was it couldn't be good.

A moment of silence passed as he studied her without answering. After a while he let out a long sigh. "That is a really long story, love." he admitted and averted his eyes to look down at his food.

Love.

A shiver ran down her back as she suddenly felt a memory flash before her. Making her feel like there was something she'd just thought about, something important.

She had just shaken the feeling off and was ready to scold Enzo for keeping whatever he did secret, when his phone rang.

Before she could catch the movement he had picked the phone up to his ear and answered the call. "About time." he muttered and gave her a smirk.

"Is it true? Is she awake?"

Bonnie's voice made Caroline let out a long breath, one she hadn't been aware that she was holding. Her heart sank a little at the revelation that it wasn't Stefan on the other line, but she brushed it off.

"Hello to you as well, darling." Enzo scoffed with a teasing smirk. "And yes. It is true. Caroline is awake. Would you care to join the two of us for breakfast?"

"Wait? She's having breakfast with you?"

Caroline couldn't help but wince at her friend's tone. She wasn't sure whether the hostility in it was directed at Enzo, for whatever thing she was angry at him for, or her for spending time with him. It couldn't very well have been the latter though, he had after all made its way into everybody's lives. It couldn't be that much of a surprise that she'd share a meal with the guy. Back when they were looking for Stefan and helping the travelers with their doppelganger-problem, they would eat together all the time…

Of course, that was before the heretics and the back-stabbing and the torturing and whatever else he'd done since then. Including the thing Bonnie wasn't forgiving him for. Whatever it was…

"You should know that Caroline and I get along pretty well in contrast to the two of us." Enzo teased and smirked when she rolled her eyes at him and took a piece of his bacon into her mouth. "We even share food." he pointed out. "Some might even suggest that we are more than just friends. Best friends that is."

"Yeah, whatever. Just get her back to the hospital."

He opened his mouth to make a remark but was cut off at the sound of her ending the call. Staring at the phone with an amused expression, he dropped his jaw comically wide. "She hung up on me." he said incredulously.

Caroline scoffed. "I wasn't aware that being best friends included getting each other tortured by hybrid witch-vampires."

"Are you still upset about that?" he asked exasperatedly. "I did have a part in saving your life and all, shouldn't it earn me some repentance?"

She rolled her eyes and took his last piece of bacon, him eyeing her with a wide smirk. "What?" she huffed out between bites.

He shrugged. "I was kind of expecting you to forgive me after having saved your life, offered you breakfast and allowed you to eat most of my meal."

"Friendship can't be bought by magical objects or waffles and bacon." she said with a serious tone. "You'll have to earn my trust back and with that my forgiveness."

He gave her a wide smile before crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, I still consider you a friend, love. And I'm glad you're not dried up and buried somewhere in the woods."

She grimaced a little at his repeating of her words from earlier, but it was something else that made her skin crawl.

Love.

There was something missing. Or something she was forgetting. It was at the tip of her tongue… The way he called her that seemed to trigger something in her memory but she was still not sure of what it was. Sure, it's what Klaus used to call her. But she hadn't given the Original a thought in months so what did he have to do with anything?

She mulled it over for a while. Letting the word spin and twist in her mind as she tried to pin down what it was about the nickname that made her feel like… Like she had forgotten the stove on or the house door unlocked or a food bowl empty somewhere or something…

Love.

Stefan had had the displeasure of having someone's hand inside his chest, gripping his heart, several times before. It was a terrible experience, making him feel utterly powerless and small and vulnerable as his life literally rests in another man's hands.

Which is all why he probably should've felt relieved when Valerie suddenly showed up and killed the vampire whose hand was about to rip out Stefan's heart. But instead, Stefan was infuriated.

"I thought I told you not to bother me." he grunted, his breathing heavy and strained as his body hurried to recover from the near-death-experience.

Valerie pushed the man, whom she'd just daggered, away and gave Stefan a disappointed look. "What did you wish to achieve with this encounter?" she scolded and nodded at the grey, lifeless body next to their feet.

Stefan straightened out and cleared his throat. "He was supposed to tell me where to find Julian. Turns out he wasn't in a very sharing mood today." he scoffed and walked past her and out of the alleyway which he'd pulled the other vampire into.

"Stefan!" Valerie hissed and ran after him, turning up to block him. "Can you please, let me help you with whatever it is that is haunting you?" she pleaded. "Because your own coping mechanisms so far do not seem to be helping and will most likely end up signing your death certificate instead."

"Just leave me alone, Valerie." he sighed and whooshed away from her. He just barely reached the town line before she suddenly stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked between clenched teeth.

"What's it to you?" he scoffed and tried to get away from her again but she grabbed his arm and kept him in place.

"It's nothing to me. But I'm sure it would mean a great deal to Caroline." she hissed.

He flinched and glared at her but the look in her eye made his words get lost on their way out of his mouth.

"Tell me what's wrong, Stefan." she pleaded with him. "I can't help you if you don't let me. And if you think you can handle this by yourself then I believe I just proved you wrong by killing a vampire that was about to rip out your heart from your chest." She let out a long sigh and studied his eyes for a moment. "You need to get your priorities in order, Stefan. Caroline certainly won't appreciate waking up and finding out that you died because you picked an unnecessary fight with one of Julian's men."

"That's not what I'm doing." he said honestly.

"Then what are you doing?" she asked and held onto both of his arms. "What is going on?"

He opened his mouth but couldn't even begin to find the words to explain that Damon… "I-I can't." he said with a thick voice as tears began burning his eyes. "I don't know how…"

Valerie nodded at him. "Then show me instead." she said and held her hands up next to his face.

He studied her wide eyes as they searched for his consent, then he nodded and closed his eyes.

Just like that, she cupped his face and opened up his mind and they both saw it together. Valerie saw Damon telling Stefan about Elena. She noted the sting in Stefan's hand after he'd punched him. She heard the torment in his mind as he walked back to the car.

She felt it, the exact moment it crashed upon him and reality rocked his foundation. She felt his agony, his heartbreak, his pain. And she saw him break down in the car, hitting the steering wheel in frustration and growling in grief as tears ran down his cheeks and his chest grew heavy.

With a gasp, Valerie pulled out of his mind and stepped back as if she'd burned herself on the images she'd seen there. Stefan had his eyes closed shut and mouth pressed into a thin line as tears began to cover his face.

"Oh, Stefan…" she breathed out in such raw sympathy that he opened his eyes and looked at her with astonishment. She pulled him into an embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around his torso to give him all and any comfort she could possibly offer.

He stood stiff for a moment before he relaxed into the hug and responded to it, circling his arms around her shoulders and resting his chin on one of his arms as a silent sob escaped his lips.

She stroked his back and held him closer to her. "I'm so sorry, Stefan." she said truthfully as his shoulders shook slightly against her in more silent whimpers. "I'm truly sorry." she whispered.

He couldn't say or do anything else but hold her until the tears stopped. Taking a few deep breaths and nodding to himself. "Me too." he finally whispered in response.

Damon was getting seriously sick of being stuck in their hotel. Julian clearly didn't trust him enough to let him roam outside of the building and kept him where he was safely sealed away from anyone who might be looking for him. He had spent the previous night at Julian's penthouse suite, playing cards with some of the other vampires.

Today however, Damon managed to keep everybody out of the suite so he could be alone. He felt no interest, whatsoever, in spending any more time with Julian's lackeys. All he wanted was to leave this damned city before any of the Mikaelson's found out that he was here… He still hadn't told Julian about knowing the Originals and it was starting to eat him up inside.

To tell or not to tell; that was the question.

The sound of footsteps outside of the suite caught Damon's attention as he was watching TV. He tried to focus on the show before him but realized he had no clue what he had watched for the last few hours. He had been far too buried in his deliberating thoughts to even notice…

"Good day, mate." Julian said cheerfully as he entered and passed him on his way to the pantry behind the sitting area.

Damon kept his eyes on the TV. "Mate?" he scoffed. "More like prisoner."

"Now, don't be like that." Julian whined with amusement as he poured himself a drink and shuffled with something behind Damon's back. "You know full well that we can't let you wonder the streets. Not with your brother's predictable and relentless attempts at locating you."

"And how long am I supposed to stay here, playing housewife, while you bring home the bacon, honey?" he mocked with a half-smirk.

Julian dropped something in Damon's lap as he stood right behind him. "Not for long." he said and grinned.

Damon studied the object, it was a leather bracelet with silver details. "What's this?" he asked teasingly. "You trying to buy me off with jewelry? Don't you know me at all?"

"It's cast with a cloaking spell to help keep you incognito while out and about." Julian explained and sat down on an armchair across from him, a drink in his hand.

"You mean I can go outside if I wear this?" Damon asked in disbelief and lifted the bracelet up to examine it.

"Don't tell me you would have preferred a diamond necklace." he teased him and took a sip from his drink. "Either way, we'll have errands to run this afternoon."

"What kind of errands?"

"Put that bracelet on and I'll show you." Julian winked at him, throwing back the rest of his drink and putting the glass on the coffee table beside him. "Now," he said and grabbed the remote to turn the TV off. "Make sure to be ready in twenty minutes. I'll see to it that no one follows us to our next destination."

"And where would that be?" Damon scoffed and put the bracelet on.

"So many questions…" Julian sighed and walked to exit the suite. "How about some patience, mate? Would be a nice change of pace." he called out over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Tight strings

Caroline had spent the whole day reassuring everyone that she was alright. After her breakfast with Enzo, she had more or less been handed over to Bonnie. She wanted to examine her magically which included her hands hovering above Caroline's head and stomach while she chanted something over and over. It had been difficult for Caroline to keep herself from giggling at the sight and she was relieved once it was over.

Afterwards, having cleansed her aura or whatever and having found everything to be as much in order as possible, considering her current state, Bonnie took out her laptop and they watched a few episodes of a new show on Netflix together. Ric had left the hospital to take a shower and get some food over at his place, when he got back he joined them for a few episodes.

They were about to start the second season when Caroline finally spoke up from having been deep in thought for the last hour. "Bonnie?" she said carefully to the brunette crawled up next to her in the hospital bed.

She blinked at her in confusion. "Yeah, Care? Something wrong?"

"No, nothing. It's just… I got this crazy sweet-tooth and thought I'd go get some snacks from the vending machine but my feet are killing me." she lied with a smile and shook her head. "Could you go get some Skittles or something, if you don't mind?"

"Sure." she said with a soft smile and stood up to leave. She stopped at the doorframe. "Want some coffee, Ric?" she asked him.

He nodded. "That would be great, thanks. If you don't mind?" he grimaced and twisted a little in his chair next to the bed.

Bonnie shook her head. "Not at all, I'll be back in a few minutes." she said and smiled at Caroline once more before leaving.

"I need to tell you something." Caroline said to Ric and started fumbling with her hands nervously.

He looked bewildered for a moment before turning towards her. "What it is, Caroline?" he asked.

She took a deep breath before starting. "I was going down to the vending machine this morning while you were sleeping and I borrowed your jacket…" she said and got up from the bed, walking towards the jacket where she'd hung it next to the door.

"I forgot to bring my wallet so I thought I'd just borrow some money from you and then…" she rummaged through the pockets until she found the paper and held it up for Ric to see. "Then I found this." she said and walked over to him, handing him the paper.

He looked down at it with a frown.

"Those are your vows to Jo, right?" she said carefully. "I don't think I could ever forget that speech because it was kind of the most romantic thing I've ever heard." she smiled nervously. "So I recognized it and… Why are you carrying it in your wallet, Ric?" she asked with a soft voice and sat down on the edge of the bed.

He was silent for a long moment before he answered, not looking up at her. "It probably sounds a little morbid but…" he began and folded the paper properly, since she'd nearly crumpled and ripped it in her hurry to hide it from Enzo.

"To remind myself of that day." he explained and met her patient look. "Of what I lost." His eyes looked sad but a small smile spread across his lips despite it. "Because that way I'll never forget just how lucky I am." he told her and shrugged.

Then he took on of her hands in both of his, having put the paper in his pants pocket. He looked into her eyes with a soft expression. "I am forever grateful and blessed for, against all the odds, still getting these babies." he said with a low voice and nodded at her stomach. "My kids." he said with a wide smile.

She looked at him softly, sensing he had more to say and waiting patiently for him to get it off his chest.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "And I want to start my life over, with them and spend the rest of my days with them and never ever forget just how lucky we all are for being where we are…" he explained and looked thoughtful for a moment before studying her eyes. "You can come with us, if you want to." he said.

She froze. "T-to Dallas?" she stuttered.

"I know we wrote the option off all too quickly without really considering your feelings about it." he said apologetically and squeezed both of her hands in his. "But… You are always welcome to stay with me and the twins. For however long you want."

She looked into his eyes for what felt like forever, completely stunned by his words. "I… I thought you didn't want to raise them near vampires." she said, shaking her head in confusion.

"I think you define the only exception here." he said with an amused smile. "You are giving me my life back, Caroline. Do you realize that? You are giving me the family I wanted, the future I lost and the dreams I gave up on… And I can never repay you for it. But I will try, for the rest of my life. Starting with this; if you want to leave Mystic Falls and start over with us, we'd be lucky to have you."

"I…" she breathed, feeling her heart clench in her chest. Was he really asking her…? Did he mean it? Could this actually work? Could she stay with the twins? Could she live with them instead of trying to find out how to go on without them? "I don't know if I can…" she whispered.

"We can transfer you to the university there and get you moved into a dorm, or you can stay with me and help me once these little kickers show up." he suggested with a smile. "We can do this, together. We can start over, leave all of the pain and heartbreak behind… Jo and your mother…"

She flinched at his mentioning her mom and swallowed hard as it still stung and took her breath away whenever she thought about her.

"You deserve to have at least a fraction of your human life back, Caroline." he told her with a nod. "And if you want it, it's yours. We'll leave the supernatural drama far behind and never look back… And-and Stefan! You can bring Stefan with you if you want too."

Stefan, right. Speaking of him; Where the hell is he!? She thought and felt really nervous all of a sudden, breathing rapidly as her heart raced away.

"Just… Just think about it, okay?" he said and stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs. "I've got a good feeling about that job interview and if I end up getting hired then I'll be able to put a bid on this little house I found that's great with a big yard in this calm neighborhood next to a nice park and… And you can be there, with us."

She snapped her eyes up to study him at the last word. Us. There could be an 'us'. She wouldn't have to forget about the babies or move on from them… She could be a part of their lives… Or could she?

An image suddenly flashed before her eyes. Two small girls in a backseat, one staring up at her with wide eyes.

"Mommy? Where are we going?"

She shivered as the picture passed as quickly as it had appeared, having been enough to rattle her completely and nearly forget that Alaric was technically waiting for an answer.

"I-I have to think about it." she breathed out.

He nodded. "Of course, take all the time you need." he assured her.

"They were out of Skittles –" Bonnie's voice made them flinch and drop each other's hands almost immediately, feeling like they'd been caught doing something wrong. "Is everything ok?" Bonnie asked when she noticed their nervous faces.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Caroline said with a nervous smile. "Um, I'm just going to use the bathroom really quick." she announced and got up from the bed, walking quickly into the adjoined bathroom. Leaving Bonnie confused and Alaric worried in the other room.

As she splashed some water over her face, she leaned against the faucet with a hand and covered her mouth with the other. Feeling tears run down her cheeks as images kept flooding her mind.

"Shhh, don't wake up your sister."

She shivered as she remembered seeing herself in that car… Driving somewhere…

"To visit mommy's friend."

What's happening? she thought to herself, covering her face with both of her hands as she breathed loudly and shallowly. Heart pounding in her chest, trying to break free from her memories poured through her like a waterfall, suddenly drowning her with everything at once.

Flashes.

Images.

Sounds.

The car that almost hit her, sitting in the passenger seat with herself as the driver…

"Where are we going?"

"To visit mommy's friend."

But there was something missing… She felt it… What was it?

She saw trees. Everywhere. Woods. And then buildings.

"To visit mommy's friend."

She was suddenly walking down an empty street. Winds blowing past her. Whispers in the air.

"To visit mommy's friend."

She walked across the street, towards an alleyway. There she saw herself again. With someone else. A man with dirty blonde hair and a long grey coat.

"To New Orleans. To visit Mommy's friend."

The words were suddenly clear as day in her head as she remembered all of it.

As she remembered Klaus being in that place… In that dream…

His words rung in her ears as he talked to the other Caroline, his hand cupping her cheek and sending warmth all the way to the real Caroline's skin.

"Is this a mirage?"

She gasped aloud as she stared at her own reflection in the bathroom mirror. The images were gone but the memories remained. All of them. Leaving an unsettling feeling in her stomach as she tried to figure out what the dream had meant.

What had happened to her? What had happened to him?

She dug into the pockets on her sweater, taking out her phone and quickly dialing Valerie. Unsure of what exactly, but still knowing something was terribly wrong.

Julian and Damon walked the crowded streets in search of a witch's apartment. Julian was studying his phone and looking up every now and then to make sure they were in the right direction. It had been ten minutes of silence and Damon felt bored and annoyed and uncomfortable out of his mind. So he decided to try and get some more information out of Julian instead.

"What's so special about this guy? Don't tell me he's an ex-lover of yours…" Damon teased.

Julian let out a sigh and kept his eyes on the map in his phone. "Are you aware that there exists a way for a vampire to avoid one of the deadliest of threats known to our kind?" he asked. "Hm?" He glanced over at Damon as his gears started turning behind his eyes.

"Werewolf venom." Damon said with uncertainty, wondering where exactly he was going with the subject. His thoughts were soon answered as he stopped in the middle of the street and looked at Damon with narrowed eyes.

"And how would you react if I told you that this friend of mine happens to be possessing the cure for that otherwise lethal bite?" he asked curiously.

Damon studied him closely. "Why would you need the cure? Planning on getting bitten by a werewolf any time soon?" he teased.

Julian snickered and ushered towards an old brownstone building with a large, black wooden door.

Glancing over at Julian, Damon opened the door and stepped inside the building. A long hallway in front of them led to old flights of stairs. It was all ill light and smelled of dust and old wood.

"Well…" Julian said and tucked his phone away, leading the way towards the stairs. "It is merely one of the numerous objects that my dear old mate has collected over the years. Spells, potions, talismans, herbs… all sorts of magic that can be used both as means to protect oneself from attacks and such, as well as –"

"Weapons." Damon said, stopping dead in his tracks.

Julian looked back at him with a smile, pleased to have gotten a reaction out of him.

"It's basically an arsenal…" Damon thought aloud. "And why on earth would you need that?"

"To defend myself, mate." Julian said with a shrug and continued as they'd now reached the stairs and began walking up them.

Damon followed with a frown. "From whom?" he asked.

"From everyone." Julian said, almost sounding amused. "Why do you think I've been gathering so many men under my wing of late? For companionship?" he asked with a glance over his shoulder.

"Well, yeah. Kind of." Damon admitted with a shrug.

Julian shook his head with a sigh and turned his attention forward. "Don't you see? There is a war brewing amongst our kind, Damon. And if we are unlucky we will either end up on the wrong side of it or turn into collateral damage caught in the crossfire. However, there is a way to ensure our survival."

"What, by killing everyone else?" Damon scoffed.

His words made Julian stop at the top of the stairs, turning back to look at Damon as he stood merely two steps behind him. "By making sure we cannot be killed along with the rest." he said grimly and turned away again, continuing past another hallway.

"And what?" Damon hissed, noticing the various apartment doors along the way. "You think your army can keep you safe? Or your buddy's weapons? You seriously think you have an actual fighting chance?" he asked incredulously and nearly walked into Julian as he suddenly stopped again.

"You know, don't you?" he asked, turning his head slightly to the side but not enough to actually reveal his expression.

"Know what?" Damon asked with a hushed tone.

After a short moment, Julian turned around and studied him closely. "The sire-lines." he began. "They are all bound. Whoever the legends of our beings are, if one of them falls so will everyone in their respective bloodline."

Damon noted the fact that Julian seemed oblivious to the Originals, finally putting an end to his speculations on whether their mission here actually involved them or not. "How do you know about that?" he asked, stepping closer to squint at him.

"Well, after my return to the living and breathing I did manage to get in touch with a few old friends – the ones who hadn't perished during my time in the Phoenix Stone that is." he said with a shrug. "They informed me of the change of conditions, so to speak."

"So, while you were running around getting drunk with these new friends of yours; you were not only building yourself an army but also preparing yourself for an actual war?" Damon said incredulously, letting out a nervous chuckle. "You do realize you don't have a chance if the first vampire of your sire-line dies, right?" he hissed. "It doesn't matter how many people you hide behind!"

Something flashed across Julian's face at that, making Damon lean away from him in surprise. "Unless…" Damon said carefully. "Is there something in your friend's arsenal that can somehow keep you excluded from your own bloodline?"

Julian smiled widely at him, pointing an index-finger at him. "I knew there was a reason for my sparing your life." he smirked and turned to keep walking again.

"So that's your plan?" Damon hissed. "To sever the bloodlines?"

"I'm not naïve, Damon." Julian said exasperatedly, walking quickly up the next flight of stairs with Damon in tow. "I'm well aware of the kind of magic that bound the sire-lines in the first place and I know that it is not possible to undo the spell." he sighed. "However, with what I have in mind we won't need to. All we have to do is find this friend of mine and borrow a certain object from his collection."

They'd reached the third level of the building, which seemed to be Julian's final destination as he turned away from the other flight of stairs and instead walked across the hallway. Passing five or so doors before reaching the one right before the end of the hall.

"And you think he's just going to hand it over to you, no strings attached and without demanding anything in return?" Damon asked as Julian knocked on the door in front of him.

"Once we've explained our motives, I wouldn't be surprised if he even offered to help us with the rest of the plan." Julian said and raised his eyebrows playfully.

"Which is what exactly?" Damon hissed.

Julian sighed and knocked at the door again, ignoring his question.

"Right." Damon scoffed as he realized that share-time was over. "You know; I don't get why you're so eager to live anyway. Did you or did you not tell me yourself that you would be spending the rest of your existence suffering for losing Lily? Why would you choose to fight for that? Or have you already moved on from her, huh? Maybe my mommy-dearest didn't mean that much to you after all?"

Julian gripped his throat faster than Damon could even see and had him pushed up against the wall next to the door in matter of heartbeats. "You should know better than to speak ill of your mother in the presence of the man who loved her." he warned with a cold glare.

"Either way, Damon. I may not look forward to an eternity with a broken soul, but I'd take it over death any day. And so should you." he said and put him down on the ground, letting go of his throat just as the door opened next to them.

"Yes?" said a low, raspy voice from the small opening of the door. Through the crack, they could see the woman glaring at them with annoyance. Olive skin and piercing green eyes, the long grey hair made into a braid that draped her left shoulder. "What do you want?" the woman hissed in a thick Louisianan tongue.

Julian straightened up and met the woman's glare with a polite smile. "Good day, ma'am. I was told I would be able to find a Leila Gardiner here. Could that by any chance be true?" he asked friendly, his accent almost sounding a tenfold more emphasized when he was acting all proper and mannerly.

"Depends on who's askin'." she grunted.

"Please." Julian said with a polite nod. "My mate and I are only here to ask for assistance in locating someone. Would you possibly consider helping us with the matter?"

The woman's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as she looked above their heads in silence. Then she met Damon's confused eyes and nodded. "Yes. I'll help ya'. Come on in." she said and fully opened the door, stepping aside to let them in.

Julian nodded at her once more. "Thank you, you're too kind." he said with a smirk and entered the apartment with his hands folded behind his back.

She nodded at him as he passed her and then met Damon's eyes. For a long moment, it looked like she was going to say something to him and Damon fell silent and still as he awaited it. Instead, she gestured for him to enter. "Come on then, already. We ain't got all day."

He gave her a polite smile and crossed the threshold carefully, studying his environments like a hawk. The apartment was fully revealed from his position in the entrance hallway, you could see through opened doors to the other three rooms. A living room, a kitchen and a dark bedroom. His eyes followed Julian as he was studying the living room from outside it's door.

"Step on in to the sitting room." the lady gestured. "Ya'll want some ice tea or lemonade or some' in the meantime?"

They shook their heads in unison and walked to sit on a couch in the living room. The lady sat down on one of the armchairs opposite to them and let out a sigh. "So?" she said with a raised eyebrow as Damon's observing eyes finally met hers. "Did Marcel send you?"

"We've come on our own accord, miss…?" Julian said uncertainly, giving her a questioning look.

"Leila." she corrected. "And you are?"

"Julian." Julian greeted with another polite nod and then gestured a hand towards Damon. "This is Damon." he explained and started digging for something inside his jacket. "We're looking for someone who we believe to be in New Orleans. Surely, his victims couldn't have gone unnoticed."

Leila frowned a little. "How so?"

"Well…" Julian said, pulling out some papers and spreading them on the coffee table between them. "They are rather eccentric."

Damon and Leila both leaned forward a little to study the papers. They were crime scene photographs, and gruesome ones too at best. They were all of white, dark haired young men strung up like marionettes with the corners of their mouths cut up to their ears in what Damon recognized over the years as Glasgow smile scars.

It was bizarre how much alike the men looked, even making Damon doubt for a second that they were in fact not the same person. But of course, the different locations on the photographs confirmed that there were in fact more than one victim. Damon counted six or seven.

"I need a name." Leila said, sounding completely unfazed by the images before her. "Or at the very least something that belongs to him."

"I can't give you his name." Julian sighed and collected the photographs.

Leila furrowed her eyebrows and squinted at him. "Why not?"

"Because he made me forget it." Julian said.

Damon flinched and stared at him. "What!? You mean he compelled you?" Suddenly his theory about this mysterious friend being an Original didn't seem too far-fetched anymore and it made Damon's skin crawl with uneasiness.

Leila spoke before Julian could answer. "No." she said, sounding so sure that Damon glared at her in disbelief. "I can see it now. You've encountered several kinds of dark magic. The one that erased your memories of him was based upon Expression."

That's great, Damon scoffed to himself as he remembered it being the same magic that Bonnie and Silas used to nearly bring hell on earth with. "But I don't get how you know anything about him now if he swiped your mind?" Damon asked incredulously.

Julian shrugged and was about to answer but got cut off by Leila once more.

"Have you been touched by the Huntress Sword?" she asked.

Both men stared at her, making her nod in confirmation.

"And your time in the Phoenix Stone brought some of them memories back to you, didn't it?"

"Only bits and pieces of our encounters, not much else." Julian admitted.

Leila glanced at Damon, once again looking like she was about to tell him something but staying silent. After a long moment, she looked back at Julian just as he glanced between them in suspicion. "I'll help you. But of course it will cost ya."

Julian nodded with a small smile. "Of course." he said.

She shook her head. "And if you kill me, your debt oughta live on with my spirit until ya'll repay the ancestors instead. Trust me, you'd much rather owe me a favor than them."

"Fine." Julian said with a slight grimace. "What is it that you will need as payment for your services?"

Closing her eyes for a moment, she tilted her head back and whispered something into the air that neither of the men could quite catch. Eventually, she straightened up and met their bewildered expressions with a nod. "I see you are about to come across a quite interesting and rare collection of magical objects. One of which I need."

"What is this object?" Julian asked.

"A golden dagger." she explained, glancing at Damon momentarily before continuing. "It should be stored away closely to what you yourselves are looking for. Neither should be too difficult to find nor steal though."

"That shouldn't be a problem then." Julian smiled.

She nodded. "I will show you this friend of yours but it won't be easy. Nor definite."

Julian nodded again. "Whatever you can procure will be appreciated and payed for accordingly."

Leila stood up from her chair and walked to close the blinds to the three different windows in the room. Then she returned to her seat with a slightly flattened bowl in her hands, placing it on the table and pulling out a knife from a drawer on the side of it. "I will need your blood." she explained. "It has to be drawn with this knife to create a spiritual connection to search your mind."

Julian nodded and cut his wrist, filling the bowl up to the middle with his blood. Then Leila dipped her index-fingers into the blood and drew a figure eight in it, chanting as the shape started stirring on its own. She then brought her fingers to smidge the blood on her closed eyelids. Resting her hands in her lap, palms up, and chanting on.

After a long moment, candles all around the room lit up by themselves and Leila stopped her chanting. She sat silent for a long moment before she flinched, jerking her head to her left as if she was hearing something that they weren't.

"Ya' first saw him in London, is that right?" she asked, eyes still closed but the question clearly directed at Julian.

He nodded in response and cleared his throat as he realized she couldn't see him. "Yes. That is correct."

She nodded and turned her face to her right. "Ya'll hunted together." she said and took a few deep breaths. "Fed together. Killed together. All throughout Europe… France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Sweden…"

Her face turned downwards, eyes still shut but looking like she was studying something in her hands. "He searched for something." she whispered. "A weapon."

Damon and Julian exchanged a glance before Leila let out a grunt.

"I see his victims. All rich and fancy…" she tilted her head back to face the ceiling. "There." she gasped. "I see him clearly now."

"Is he in New Orleans?" Julian asked carefully, moving to the edge of the couch.

She jerked her head and started whispering something again, facing her left and right while the candles in the room burned brightly. "He…" she began but flinched a little, turning to her left again. "Yes. He lives in a penthouse apartment in town." she said and then gaped shortly. "Interesting." she breathed.

Suddenly the candles went out all at once, making Damon and Julian glance around the room nervously. When they looked over at Leila again, she was sitting up straight with her eyes open, studying the men before her.

"What's interesting?" Damon asked impatiently as she looked like she wasn't going to explain herself.

She looked at him and then Julian. "You won't be able to enter his home." she said flatly.

"We need an invitation?" Julian said incredulously and glanced at Damon.

Leila suddenly got up and held her hand above the bowl of blood, murmuring a few words until the content suddenly faded away from existence before their eyes.

Damon's eyebrows shut up in surprise as he studied her while she cleaned up the rest of the things and walked over to the windows.

"You will be able to compel a human to acquire the object I seek. Until I've received it, the ancestors won't allow me to help you any further." she said while she opened the blinds, letting the afternoon light into the room.

"All we need is an address." Julian said. "I'm sure we'll be able to find him on our own from there."

She turned around and glared at him. "Get me the dagger and I will lead you to him. Betray our deal and the ancestors will ensure the only way you will leave town is through coffins." she threatened.

Julian stood up and straightened his jacket with such a haste movement that it was clear to be a display of reluctance. "Fine." he said grimly. "I will see to it that you receive that which has been promised to you."

Leila nodded at him. "Good. Because I will need Damon to stay behind."

Damon flinched. "What? Why?"

"You will see soon enough." she said with a shrug, writing something down on a piece of paper and handing it to Julian with a bemused expression. "Now, go get me that dagger and return here before midday tomorrow."

Julian glared at Damon for a moment before giving Leila a nod and taking the note. "Very well then." he said. "Thank you for your time, I will see you tomorrow."

Leila studied him closely as he walked to exit the apartment by himself. Silence fell over her and Damon as she seemed to wait for Julian to be out of earshot, since another moment later she ran over to Damon.

"I have a message from Bonnie Bennett." she said hurriedly and put her hands firmly on each side of his face.

Suddenly a flash of white light filled Damon's view and a burst of energy ran through him like a shudder. He soon adjusted to the light and noticed that he was still standing in Leila's apartment, only it was completely empty.

No furniture. No Leila. Only bright light shining through the windows accompanied him.

"Damon?"

He spun around immediately at the sound and froze in place. "Bonnie?" he said, squinting in disbelief at his friend in front of him.

She smiled at him with relief. "Finally." she breathed out.

"How am I seeing you?" he asked carefully, taking a step towards her as she stood completely still. "What is this place?"

"An astral projection spell." she explained. "And this -" She gestured around the room. "- Is a cosmic plane of wherever the hell you are right now. I found a way to kind of build an energy around you, if you met a witch then they would sense my message and feel obligated to pass it on."

"You ever heard of texting?" he smirked, secretly glad to see her.

She scoffed. "Like that wasn't my first choice? You've gone MIA, I had to retort to more drastic measures."

"So, I'm not really having a conversation with you now?"

"No, you are." she nodded and shrugged. "I'm probably unconscious somewhere as of now actually, so I'll need to get back soon before someone notices."

He frowned a little and studied her as she suddenly grabbed his hands and gave him a serious glare. "Damon. Enzo is up to something and I can't figure out what it is or who's side he's even on in all of this… Stefan's going off the rails… And everything is falling apart. We need you, Damon. Come back." she pleaded and glanced over their surroundings.

"Or at least tell me where you are so I can come help you!" she exclaimed desperately. "Whatever Julian's got on you, we can take him together. Just, don't give up on me. Okay!? I'll find you."

He shook his head in a bitter smile as he knew she wouldn't stop trying to find him even though she should. Not only did he want to disappear, he couldn't ever face her again since he wouldn't know how to begin telling her about Elena. "I'm sorry, Bon. But I can't do that." he said lowly and pulled away from her grip.

"No, wait. Damon!" she exclaimed just as another white flash blinded him.

When his eyesight adjusted, a moment later, he was suddenly back in front of Leila. Her hands were still holding his head but he stepped away from her as her eyes came to focus.

"Who is Elena?" she mumbled to him.

Before he could think, he wrapped his hand tightly around her neck. Holding her high up in the air, her feet not reaching the floor which made her legs dangle a little.

"Where did you get that name?" he asked venomously.

"From your mind." she coughed out, clawing at his hands in an attempt to get him to loosen his grip. "I saw your last thought right before ya were brought out of the vision. One name; Elena."

He dropped her hastily, making her fall to her knees in front of him while stroking her throat and coughing. "Who is she?" she rasped and looked up at him.

"No one." he said grimly. "At least not anymore."

"You killed her." she said, making him flinch and stare at her. "I'm sorry for your loss." she breathed and stood up straight.

"I recommend that you stop talking before I do to you what I did to her." he threatened as the continuous reminder of Elena was like a repeating stab in his chest. He turned and whooshed towards the door but stopped at her next words.

"Wait! There could be a way to bring her back!" she called out.

"What!?" he hissed in disbelief and turned around to stare at her. "No there isn't!"

"There is a spell." she said, nodding furiously. "It can bring back someone lost. But the ingredients are rare and… almost always impossible to collect."

Suddenly the most dangerous thing Damon had ever felt started brewing in his chest; Hope. He whooshed over to her, standing close to her face as he stared at her with wild eyes. "Tell me." he said carefully, as if the chance to save her would break and slip away if he got too eager.

"Do you have her ashes?" she asked.

"No, I… I left her behind…" he stuttered and swallowed hard, already feeling the hope in him turn everything it touched into toxin as it started dying away. "Is there a way of finding out if her remains are still at the same place?"

"No." she admitted. "But… is her remains in someone else's possession?"

"Tyler." he breathed out. "I left him there with her… Can you find out where he is, if he's still alive?"

She nodded. "Yes. But it'll cost."

He gritted his teeth. "How about I spare your life as payment?" he threatened and raised his hand to strangle her again, but suddenly he felt a splitting headache searing through his mind.

Letting out a grunt and bringing his hands to firmly press against his head, he fell down to his knees in pain.

Leila scoffed. "Ya' got the upper-hand on me for a minute, don't be foolish to think you'll get that chance again. I will find this Tyler and in return you'll do me a favor. Afterwards, I might even help with the resurrection spell myself."

"Ok, fine!" he growled. "Just stop!"

At once, the pain subsided and his ears stopped ringing. He took a few deep breaths and studied Leila as he stood up and straightened his back. "What do you want me to do?"

She gave Damon a wicked, cringe-worthy smile before she answered. "Well, I want you to kill Julian of course."

When Caroline finally got ahold of Valerie, she asked her to meet her for a late lunch. Because honestly, Caroline was kind of starving and she had a knack for multitasking.

They sat down at a secluded table in the hospital cafeteria half an hour later.

"So, he's okay?" Caroline asked as Valerie had just filled her in on Stefan's hunt for Damon.

"I think he will be. Eventually." she said and averted her eyes for a moment. Making Caroline furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

Is there something she's not telling me? she wondered but discarded the thought quickly, she had bigger fish to fry after all…

"I just want him to call me back." Caroline murmured while staring down at the tray of food in front of her. She'd grabbed really random plates of dishes due to her swift and confusing cravings: A Caesar salad with bacon and parmesan, a piece of carrot cake, a pear and an egg-sandwich. It all looked pretty bizarre to her now and her hunger had suddenly faded as something unwary filled her stomach.

"I'm sure he will." Valerie assured her, smiling at her softly once she met her eyes.

Caroline nodded and took a deep breath. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, though."

"It's not?" she asked confusedly.

"No, I… I wanted to ask you about just what it was that happened to me when I was…" she hesitated for loss of a word to explain having been unconscious and constantly refueled magically to keep from desiccating due to the witch-twins in her womb unintentionally sucking the life out of her. She let out a sigh and decided on not even trying to frame that within a single word.

"I just…" she sighed again and shook her head, chuckling nervously. "This is probably going to sound crazy and weird and slightly melodramatic…" she grimaced and bit her lower lip.

"I believe we have crossed the lines of crazy, weird and melodramatic long ago." Valerie told her and gave her a small smile. "Surely there is very little you could ask or tell me that would chock me at this point."

Caroline grimaced again. "Yeah… You're probably right." she admitted and bit her lip once more. Then she took a deep breath and decided to just get straight to business. "Okay." she said and nodded. "Anyways, I had this dream. Except I think it was more than that. I can't really explain it without sounding…"

Valerie gave her a kind, encouraging smile. "You can tell me, Caroline."

She nodded and began explaining, the words falling out of her and stumbling over each other quicker than she had the chance to even think beforehand. "Okay. So in this dream, that didn't really feel like a dream, I was in these weird places…" she began pushing her salad around with her plastic fork.

"Like, one minute I'm on some road and I can't move and the next I'm in a forest and thenI'm in some town and… And you were there and you grabbed me and pulled me out. But the thing is, in this dream… I wasn't me. Or I don't know… It was like I was watching myself. Like I was invincible and seeing everything happen from outside my own body… I was sitting in a car at one point and there were these children, these beautiful young girls in the backseat…" She placed a hand over her big stomach at the memory and closed her eyes for a moment, the girls' faces forever carved into the back of her eyelids.

"One of them was awake and she asked me where we were going. Except she wasn't asking me. She wasasking another me. Because there I was, in the driver's seat. Not me-mebecause I was in the passenger seat, but this other version… She told the girl that we-um-they… were going to visit a friend. In New Orleans." She let out a breath before meeting Valerie's confused eyes and continuing on.

"And I have no idea why I would be going there. So this version of me, it can't really have been me. Right?" she laughed nervously, her hands gesticulating wildly in the air."Because, why would I be going to New Orleans? And how would these girls be sitting in the back of that car and calling me 'mommy'!? I mean, this is absolutely insane! Right? This is impossible? I only know one person who lives in New Orleans… Or more specifically I only have one friend who lives there who I-her… that other me, could possibly have meant in that situation so… What does that even mean?" she noticed the speed her ramblings had suddenly picked up and decided to take another breath and slow down.

"Anyways. So this friend I know…" She suddenly tensed up, looking into Valerie's expecting eyes. A thought occurred to her for the first time, scaring her a little.

Could she tell her about Klaus?

What if she decided to advice another witch or something on the whole dream thing and they would end up using it against him? Was this something that could be used against him? Or would it instead come back to bite her in the ass? And what if Valerie mentioned herdreams about Klaus to Stefan?

Suddenly Caroline regretted having brought the topic up in the first place, because now it seemed like a really bad idea to talk about this. She couldn't resist the nagging thought that nothing good could come out of people finding out that she might know where the Bid Bad Hybrid lives.

After all, he must have enemies after those thousand years of existence… And she had people to take care of, not just the twins but her friends as well. She couldn't risk anyone coming after her because they assume she might know anything that they could use as leverage against the Originals.

Worse yet, she couldn't risk anything she said actually being used against Klaus. She couldn't stand him having his hand forced or his siblings threatened… Because of her. He may be immortal and unkillable but the people around him weren't. Was she willing to put so many people in danger all because she had a bad feeling about a dream?

"Caroline?" Valerie reached out to hold her hand but Caroline hid both of them under the table, folding them in her lap. "There's no need to be frightened." Valerie said after studying the blonde for a moment.

Caroline's eyes yanked up to stare at her. Suddenly she realized that her hesitation over telling Valerie about her friend had been misinterpreted. And massively so. She seemed to think that Caroline was scared of talking about him, worried he might come after her or do something to hurt her. If that was what she thought, then she couldn't have been more wrong. Caroline wasn't worried about Klaus hurting her;she was worried about others hurting him.

"I'm not afraid." she said truthfully after her long silence. She still didn't know if it was a good idea to tell her too much about Klaus so she quickly came up with a plan that could work for everyone involved. "It's just that my friend, Nik, he was in my dreams too."

Valerie tilted her head back slightly in incredulity. "He was?"

Caroline resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Great, now she thinks I cheated on my boyfriend with this Nik-guy in my dream, she thought and scoffed to herself.

But then she hesitated. She could understand why Valerie would go there. However, she did feel a little insulted that she seemed so quick to think that she didn't care about Stefan. All just because she had dreamed about someone else. As if she could even control who she dreamed about in the first place!

"Yeah." she finally said, narrowing her eyes at Valerie and crossing her arms over her chest. "He was there. Except I didn't talk to him." she confessed and shrugged her shoulder. "There was another me there too, she talked to him… But they both seemed just as confused as I was at all of us being there. I was invincible in that place too, I think. They didn't seem to notice me anyway."

"And what did they do, this friend of yours with this other version of you?" Valerie asked, leaning forward slightly.

Caroline didn't miss a single beat before answering. "They were both practically asking the other what they were doing there. And then you showed up and we suddenly left-" she sighed and shook her head in confusion "Whatever that place was."

Valerie nodded slightly. "To put it bluntly, you did absorb very high levels of magic as we tried to balance out the effects of the twins… It wouldn't be all too far-fetched to wonder if perhaps you tapped into an alternate, cosmic plane in that 'boosted' state. Or perhaps even glimpsed into some future events…" Her eyes wandered off to the empty air next to her for a thoughtful moment before she continued.

"However… Considering the fact that, beforehand, you were in a car driving to New Orleans… Could it be possible that in this other scenario, that's where you met that friend of yours?" she suggested and studied Caroline with suddenly narrowed eyes. "What was his name again…?"

"Nik." Caroline said with a shake of her head and took a sip of water from the bottle on her tray.

"Nik… Is it short for something?" Valerie asked, her eyes observing the blonde's movements.

"No. Just Nik." Caroline shrugged in an attempt to validate her lie, then a further explanation appeared in her mind. "Nik Matthews."

Valerie rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she propped her elbow up on the table. "And he lives in New Orleans?" she asked, something hiding in her tone that Caroline couldn't quite put a finger on.

"I think so, yeah. We haven't spoken for years though, so I can't be sure." sheexplained and studied her for a moment before continuing. "But I doubt that's where we were in the dream. I've never actually been anywhere outside of Virginia before but that whole place was just…" Her voice wandered off as she remembered the cold, empty feeling that enveloped that abandoned city.

She looked up after a long pause to see that Valerie was waiting for a further explanation. "Dead." she finally said. "It seemed dead." She took another sip of her water and then continued. "It was some kind of old town; empty buildings and this one street that seemed to stretch into oblivion… And no sign of people having lived there for ages. It was a ghost town, really."

The moment she'd uttered the words, Caroline realized just how accurate the description had been. It really had been a ghost town. She couldn't explain it any better. Especially since she had the vague memory of whispers in the wind that guided her towards the alleyway where she found Klaus and that other Caroline talking…

"And seeing into the future sounds kind of weird too." Caroline admitted and sighed. "Maybe it was all just a dream."

Before Valerie had a chance to comment, Caroline's phone vibrated on the table. She quicklypicked up and cleared her throat slightly. "Ric, hi –" she began but was cut off by his panicked voice.

"Caroline, Bonnie's unconscious in the bathroom… I think she collapsed."

"What?" Caroline hissed and shared a terrified look with Valerie, who got up and disappeared right away. "I'll be there in a minute." Caroline promised and hung up.

She stood up and glanced down at her tray, after having gotten her worries about her dream off her chest she now felt hungry again. Biting her lip in unsureness, she grabbed the sandwich, putting it in her mouth and glancing around the room to make sure no one was looking her way before she vamped out of the cafeteria.

Bonnie was leaning against Valerie, walking out of the bathroom, when Caroline arrived. "What happened?" she asked in a panic and handed her half-eaten sandwich over to Ric as he stood next to her in the doorway.

Bonnie gave her a weak smile and rubbed her head. "I astral projected. And hit my head on the sink." she rasped.

"When did you learn to do that!?" Caroline watched as Valerie helped Bonnie sit down on Ric's chair. Or, well, the chair he usually sits on, that is.

"Nora taught me." Bonnie explained. "Anyways. I talked to Damon."

"Did he tell you where he is?" Valerie asked seriously.

Bonnie studied the redhead for a moment before sighing. "No, but I think we can find him now."

"Why's that?" Ric asked in confusion.

She smiled and lifted something up in the air, some piece of leather or something in her hand. "Because I got this."

"What do you think you're doing, mate?" Julian asked with a threatening, calm tone as he walked in to the penthouse suite to find Damon packing. He placed the box filled with the objects he'd collected, including the witch's golden dagger, on the floor next to the pantry.

"I need to go back." he said distractedly as he stuffed some clothes into the duffle bag he'd brought with him.

Julian crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the doorframe to the sitting area. "Don't tell me it's Mystic Falls you speak of." he said with a cold chuckle.

Damon looked up from his task and gave Julian a wild expression. "Tyler's there and he might still have Elena's ashes somewhere." he said shortly and resumed his task. "The witch told me there's a way to bring her back if I can get them."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Julian stifled the little flutter of hope in his stomach as an image of Lily crossed his mind. "That kind of magic sounds highly improbable. And even if this witch is speaking the truth then a spell like that must come at a very high price." he scoffed.

"I don't care." Damon breathed and closed the bag with a loud zing from the zipper. "If there's any chance of getting her back, then I'm taking it. Whatever it takes." he said and started walking past him.

Julian whooshed over to him and snapped his neck before he could even reach the door. He fell down to the ground in a loud thump, his duffle bag following suit.

"Sorry, Salvatore." Julian said with a grimace and shook his head. "But with the knowledge you've now acquired, I cannot afford to let you leave."

He squatted down next to Damon's temporarily lifeless body and furrowed his eyebrows as he studied him closer. Lifting one of his arms to his face, he hummed in curiosity. "Hmm… Now, where did your bracelet go, mate?"

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Loose ends

Valerie and Bonnie managed to trace the magic of the leather bracelet back to the city in which it had been spelled. Caroline gaped at the map spread out on the hospital bed where Bonnie and Valerie stood on either side with their hands connected. There was a hole covering an area far south, close to the Mississippi River.

"New Orleans." Caroline breathed out.

Valerie looked at her then with wide eyes. "New Orleans." she echoed.

Predicating the future, are we? Caroline asked herself with a surprised scoff.

"I'll inform Stefan, right away." Valerie said, breaking a moment of silence in the room. She disappeared into the air with a single whoosh.

The three remaining friends glanced at each other knowingly.

"New Orleans." Ric said with a nod. "That's where –"

"The Originals are." Bonnie finished, folding the map and stowing it away.

"What does that mean? Is Damon hiding with the Mikaelson's?" Ric asked confusedly as he began pacing the room.

Klaus' words began ringing in Caroline's ears.

"Is this a mirage?"

She wondered what it had meant, for him to be in that ghost town with her. Maybe the dream was trying to tell her that Damon had been with him this whole time? Or maybe something else was going on? Maybe Damon wasn't there to get help from the Originals or whatever Ric and Bonnie were speculating about… Their voices as they traded theories blended into white noise to Caroline's ears as her mind ran wild.

Maybe Damon was there to do something entirely else? Something that resulted in Klaus ending up in that… That place?

Caroline stood still and silent for so long that Bonnie seemed to get worried. "Care?" she said slowly.

"Hm?" Caroline snapped her eyes up to Bonnie's. "What? Yeah. New Orleans. Weird, huh?"

"What do you think he's doing there?" Bonnie asked carefully.

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know." she said honestly. "Maybe he wanted to parade down Bourbon Street?" she joked and shrugged. "Anyway, we know where he is now so let's get him back. Shall we?"

"Caroline…" Ric said carefully and nodded at her stomach. "You're too far along to go to New Orleans."

"I didn't say I was." she said just as carefully, crossing her arms across her chest. "But there's no reason to waste time wondering what Damon is doing there when we should be focusing on helping Stefan get him back."

"So, what's the plan?" Bonnie asked, looking at Caroline.

Suddenly, Caroline realized that this might be one of the only times that her friends had ever counted on her to come up with a plan for these sort of things. She blinked for a few moments before she nodded her head, both to them and to herself, as she accepted the leading role. Despite knowing that she was only offered it because neither Damon or Elena were present.

But she was never one to give up the spotlight once it was handed to her and she was never one to crumble under pressure either. So the idea quickly formed in her mind as her own words ran through her head.

"To New Orleans. To visit mommy's friend."

She swallowed her nervousness and met Bonnie's eyes. "Klaus." she said. Flinching a little as she realized that was the first time she'd said his name aloud in… Years… And it felt so familiar and weird and nostalgic that she found herself repeating it;

"Klaus is our plan."

Julian had called a few of his men in Mystic Falls to investigate where Tyler could possibly be keeping Elena Gilbert's remains. They hadn't been able to find them anywhere in the small little town but they did however discover that Tyler had had a few trips to New York over the last couple of months. Julian had then sent two of his vampires there to trace Tyler's past activities to the source of these travels, guessing it would lead them to Elena's final resting grounds.

He planned to use Elena's ashes as leverage to ensure Damon's continuous discretion and loyalty. Surely, Julian realized it would all be easier to simply kill Damon and thereby make sure that he wouldn't get in the way of his plans. But Julian found that he quite enjoyed having a right hand, and Damon proved to be a satisfactory and somewhat capable candidate for that position. If Julian managed to keep his loyalty, Damon had the potential of becoming an ally.

Of course, Julian didn't truly need him and if Damon started causing trouble or making himself excessive to his plan, then rest assured; the Salvatore would need to go. Which was what Julian was pondering as Damon started waking up on his spot on the floor.

Julian had taken his duffle-bag away and stolen his daylight ring to ensure he wouldn't be able to leave without his permission. Aside from that, however, he'd just left him where he'd fallen and then taken a seat on a couch with a drink in his hand.

Julian sat with his back to him but he could hear Damon staggering to his feet with a grunt. "Ugh… Did you seriously snap my neck?" he muttered.

"You were getting on my nerves." Julian said with a shrug and lifted a prepared drink up to his side as he heard Damon approach him. "Hopefully you won't give me a reason to repeat myself."

Damon accepted the drink and walked around the couch to take a seat next to him. "What happened to your bracelet?" Julian asked as he refilled his own glass.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Damon lift his arms and stare at them. "I have no idea." he said surprised and shrugged a moment later. "I guess I must have lost it over at Leila's."

Julian hummed silently, not quite believing the explanation but seeing no reason for him to lie about it. Unless Damon wanted to be found by his friends and brought back to Mystic Falls, where he seemed so eager to return to.

"So… I'm back on house arrest then?" Damon said exasperatedly, wiggling his fingers in front of him to show the loss of his daylight ring.

Julian smirked. "Yes."

"And I'm guessing if I try to as much as walk out that door, Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dumb outside will snap my neck and throw me back in here?"

"Correct." Julian said with a nod as he'd expected Damon to notice the two heartbeats on the other side of the suite door.

"Who you got covering as my prison guards anyway?" Damon asked as he finished his drink with a bitter look.

"Considering your charming nicknames I assumed you already figured that out."

Damon grimaced at that. "Paula and Jacob?"

"Right again!" Julian said with an amused smile. "You seem to be on a roll tonight, mate." he mocked and winked at him before downing the rest of his drink.

"Night?" Damon echoed and looked over to the windows in the suite with a frown. The sun had set over New Orleans but it was not yet fully dark outside. "How long was I out?"

"Longer than expected." Julian admitted, a little surprised at the fact considering Damon's age. "You mustn't have fed in a while."

"Not really." Damon sighed and leaned back in the couch, tilting his head back with another frown.

"Well, we'll have time for that later at the bar." Julian shrugged and got up. "Prior to then, however, you'll be staying indoors until I obtain a new object to keep you cloaked with."

"Where are you off to?" Damon asked as Julian seemed to be heading out.

"I have some business to take care of before we head over to the bar later." Julian said without turning around.

"What about the witch?"

He stopped then, turning around with his arms crossed over his chest and shrugged. "She'll get her precious dagger in the morning. After which I'll be following a few leads of my own to seek out this mystery mate of mine."

"You don't think she'll follow through on the deal?"

"If she knows what's best for her, she will. However, I can't very well put the fate of my plans in her hands, now can I?" Julian smirked.

"Sounds a little paranoid but whatever." Damon said, rolling his eyes and turning away from him.

Julian turned slightly to leave but stopped and glanced over at Damon. "Oh, and Salvatore?" he said, continuing as Damon studied him over his shoulder. "If I hear that you have made an attempt at leaving New Orleans without my consent; I'll have you buried alive in the bottom of the Mexican Gulf before you can even think about contacting that little brother of yours." Julian threatened with his usual calm tone.

Seeing Damon gulp nervously at his words made him grin before leaving the suite. That ought to put an end to any escape plans in the future, he thought to himself.

Damon had noticed Julian's men acting very secretive during the evening. They seemed to end their conversations the moment Damon neared them and whispered in corners where they thought he couldn't hear. But of course, he could. And the fact that they thought they were being discreet at all was only signs of how much they had had to drink already.

He was sitting at the bar and listening in on a hushed conversation in a far booth behind him.

"What do you think it's about?" one of the few females of Julian's vamps asked; Alyssa. She'd made a pass on Damon their first night in the city and her low, raspy voice was easy to identify since then.

"No idea." a man, whom Damon recognized as Nathaniel, said.

"Do you think he wants to go there later?" Alyssa asked.

"And leave New Orleans?" Nathaniel scoffed. "He'd be going alone then. I've never been one for the snobs of New York and I'm not about to change now."

New York? Was that one of Julian's leads?

"Ah, Salvatore!" Julian showed up next to him with a blonde woman in tow.

Damon noticed rather quickly that she was human, the sound of her clear and vital heartbeats and fresh scent made his throat itch a little. "New friend?" Damon scoffed and nodded a little towards the girl with a small smirk.

She smiled at him. "I could be your friend any day, hun." she said with a wink.

Damon was surprised at her blunt response, raising his eyebrows and parting his lips in an amused smile as he let out a short chuckle.

Julian grinned maliciously at him. "Wasn't this considerate of me, mate? I do feel some gratitude is in store."

Damon realized then what the girl's purpose of being here was and rolled his eyes. "Sorry, mate. But I do prefer brunettes." he said with a mocking smirk.

Julian snickered. "Oh, I think we are all painfully aware of what you prefer." He wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulders and smiled reassuringly at her as she seemed to frown a little at Damon's comment. "Crystal here, however, is alive and present. Hence being a far better choice for tonight's entertainment than moping around over that long-lost love of yours. Don't you think, sport?" he squinted at him daringly for a moment.

"I actually happen to like the moping around, thank you very much." Damon mocked with a cold smile before turning back to his drink. In the corner of his eye, he saw Julian turning close to the girl and once he started talking, Damon realized he was compelling her.

"Crystal, sweetheart. Please take a seat in one of the more private booths. Damon here will accompany you in just a few short minutes."

"Really?" Damon said in exasperation, glancing over at Julian just as Crystal skipped off to follow the commands given to her.

Julian shrugged. "You should let loose tonight, Damon. Feed, drink and be merry!" he winked at him. "Just make sure not to bring her back to my suite, I do not care for walking in on you in an indecent state." he said with a frown and patted his shoulder roughly.

"What's with the cheerful attitude?" Damon said, studying him closely.

"I might be closing in on that friend of mine, so this could just end up being our last night here. Let's make sure to enjoy it." he said with a nod towards the booth that Crystal had taken a seat in.

Damon frowned a little but froze when he saw the suddenly dark look in Julian's eyes.

"Remember, mate." he said with a low, calm, threatening tone as he inched close to his face. "You are treading on awfully thin ice and we would all hate for your loyalties to be questioned."

Suddenly, Julian grinned at him and straightened up. "Now, go have yourself a little bite and be sure to compel her thoroughly once you're done." he said cheerfully and patted his shoulder again before walking away.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Damon observed Julian as he left the bar and took the five other vampires in the bar with him. Apparently having more business to attend to.

A few moments later, the itch in his throat reminded Damon of that Crystal-girl waiting in her booth. He glanced over at her with a frown. She was playing with her hair while checking her phone and looking oblivious to what kind of danger she'd gotten herself in by walking into this very bar at this very night.

The itch in his throat refused to go away and worsened when she absently flipped her hair over her shoulder and exposed her neck to him. Without a second thought, Damon was joining her at her booth.

She looked up from her phone in surprise and smiled suggestively. "Hello stranger." she said and moved closer to him when he sat down next to her.

He turned towards her, leaning closer to brush a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "Hello yourself." he smirked with his eyes on her neck. He met her gaze and held it before continuing. "Don't move. Don't scream. This isn't going to hurt one bit." he compelled her before launching at the tempting vein in her neck.

Crystal let out a gasp when his fangs pierced her skin, but other than that she sat perfectly still as he fed on his attention on her heartrate, he drank until it started slowing down just a little too much for one's liking and then pulled away. He pricked the tip of his finger with one of his fangs and ran it over the bite mark until his blood healed her fully.

Then he compelled her to go home for the night and stay in for the rest of the day, since the last thing Damon needed was this girl getting turned by his blood. Especially considering the dangerous city that was New Orleans; beacon of the supernatural and home of the most powerful vampires in history.

As if on cue, a throat cleared itself behind Damon just as Crystal skittered off. He turned around and froze when he saw one of those very same vampires he'd been thinking of standing there… His hands behind his back and a cocked head as he studied him with squinted eyes.

"Damon Salvatore…" he said with an amused smirk and equally entertained tone. "What an unpleasant surprise."

Damon cast a glance on a blonde young woman with hazel eyes and a passive expression accompanying the Original before he looked back at the man again. "Klaus Mikaelson." he smirked. "I was wondering when I'd be running into you."

A few hours earlier…

"Yes?" a quipped voice said, seemingly in a rush. Caroline jerked slightly at the strange response, she had expected something different... She wasn't sure what exactly, but not this.

"Um... Klaus?" she said, as if she needed to make sure it was him... She had of course recognized his voice right away.

The line was silent for a long moment, or perhaps it only felt long to Caroline. When he finally spoke, she realized she had been holding her breath.

"I must say, this is gravely sooner than I imagined."

She let out a breathy chuckle. That's what she had expected. "I really wish I could do the whole small talk thing where you tell me about your daughter, which I already know about, and I tell you about being pregnant, which you probably already know about... But let's just skip that whole thing 'cause this is awkward enough and really kind of tacky considering I haven't spoken to you in years and -"

"What is it that you need, sweetheart?" he interrupted her, a slight amusement in his tone.

She let out a long breath, apparently having been holding another one in. "How did you know I-?" she began but he interrupted her again, with a sigh.

"Because this isn't quite the equivalent of 'showing up at my doorstep' as I may have hoped for." he admitted. "Go on, Caroline. What do you need?"

"Damon." she said before explaining further. "He's kind of gone off the rails and we think he's in New Orleans."

"Do you wish him returned or simply dead? Apparently, I have become everybody's errand boy as of late so I'm certain I could manage both."

Caroline gulped the guilt far down her throat. "I was hoping you could just find him and make sure he leaves for Mystic Falls. We can't exactly help him off his bender with him in a different state."

"Very well. I will personally ensure the Salvatore's safe return home. Anything else?"

She remained silent for a moment, a part of her wanting to ask him if he was okay since the images of her dream still haunted her. At the same time she felt a wave of nostalgia washing over her which made it slightly difficult to simply end the first conversation they've had in years. "I-" she began but he interrupted her.

"Did you say something about being pregnant?"

She smirked. "You mean you didn't…?"

"Keep you under surveillance for the past years? Not exactly." he said with humor in his tone.

"I can't decide whether that is disappointing or a relief." she admitted.

"Honesty, what a nice change of pace, love."

Love.

It echoed in her head, sending a shiver down her back. She shook it off quickly and collected her thoughts. "I thought I owed it to you after all the years of playing the blonde-distraction-act and whatever." She half-joked.

"Actually, I was just about to ask whether or not this was some sort of diversion."he sighed after a short silence."Should I be expecting daggers getting flung against me or spells being cast to imprison me?" he said, amused and clearly joking but it still made her feel bad.

"Actually, I retired when you left." she scoffed, trying to joke about it with the same ease as he seemed to be able to. As well as ignoring the bad feeling she got in her stomach. "Couldn't really find any work once the Big Bad Hybrid villain was gone, you know."

He chuckled at that, spreading a warmth through her and making her feel more relaxed. A smile spread across her face in response and she bit her lower lip in a failed attempt at fighting it.

"I can't imagine there being a shortage of villains for you to distract in my absence, love. Not with that trouble-seeking lot of yours."

She scoffed. "Well, sure. But I do have other tricks, Klaus. You really should remember that."

"Of course!" he insisted amusedly. "I do know better than to underestimate you, Caroline." She smiled for a moment as he spoke again. "Does this pregnancy of yours mean the sweet little doppelganger decided to share the infamous cure with the rest of you?"

Caroline let out a small laugh. "So you have been keeping tabs on Mystic Falls after all?"

"Well, I can't help it if gossip makes its way to the Mississippi, now can I?" he teased.

A short silence fell over the both of them, making Caroline anxiously bite her lip. "No, I'm not human again."

"Are you happy with that decision then?" he asked somberly.

Caroline took a breath before answering. "Yes. Sometimes."

"Caroline… I was truly sorry to hear about your mother." he then said, making her throat close up and her eyelids burn with tears stubbornly making an appearance. "I'm sure she would've loved to see you now, pregnant and happy. Even if it is only for some times."

"Thank you." she said with a small smile on her lips.

"By the way, what is your stance on hand-me-downs? We have a chest that was once owned by Louis XV that's being wasted on my daughter's outgrown onesies… Any interest?"

"I-I don't know I-" she stuttered. "These babies aren't really mine, actually. So I guess I would have to check with Ric first."

"I see…" he said, sounding confused and judging by the small pause afterwards; awaiting an explanation. But Caroline had no idea where to begin so she said nothing for a while, leaving Klaus to once more break the silence. "So…" he said. "Here you are, in college. Making a life for yourself. Plans, a future, things you want… I take it children were not part of those plans."

"No, no they weren't." she admitted, being slightly thrown off-guard by having her own words repeated to her. "Luckily, these aren't mine. They're Ric's."

"So you've mentioned."

She swallowed harshly, not wanting to end the call on a negative note but scrambling to find another subject to bring up. The babies were a sore one, especially now with Ric's new offer on the table. "I don't want to talk about it anymore." she said honestly.

"Very well, love, let me just say this then." he began. "As you know, my family challenges the bounds of my sanity. They drive me to do unspeakable things all the while finding fresh and inventive ways to torture me. But, as it turns out… My family is what makes me truly happy." he said,another one of his stock full of surprisingly genuine speeches.

"Find what makes you happy, Caroline. And never let go of it." he said softly. "The one lesson I wish I could've learned sooner myself…It's not a crime to love what you cannot explain." he added with assurance.

Caroline closed her eyes as an image of her mother flashed before her eyes. She really would have loved to see her now. And she would've known exactly what she should do about the babies… And Dallas… An Ric and Stefan and everything that was suddenly so complicated and difficult.

But she realized she couldn't leave Klaus on the line while she figured all of this out so she decided to steel herself. "I have to go now." she said, not finding the right way to finish their conversation.

"Goodbye, Caroline." Klaus said, his voice so slow and serious and so lacking of humor that it made her chest ache.

Another silence filled her as she took a few breaths before hanging up the phone.

Goodbye, Klaus.

As Klaus heard the sound of the call ending, he squeezed the phone firmly and closed his eyes. Her voice still echoed in his head like a beautiful melody that he hoped would never end.

Caroline.

It was ridiculous, really, how she could affect him while being so far away. How she could make him willing to turn his city upside down in search for the elder Salvatore, all because she asked him to… But he couldn't think about her right now, he already had enough complicated women in his life and Caroline certainly didn't deserve to get lumped in with the lot of them. The sooner he sent Damon Salvatore back to Mystic Falls and did Caroline the favor she'd asked him for; the sooner he could get back to the troubles he was already facing.

After all, both Lucien and Aurora were conspicuously missing, and Elijah was getting suspicious of Aya's intentions, whilst Klaus himself found doubt growing when it came to the question of Davina's loyalties. Not to mention that he hadn't heard from Camille in days…

Sure, he had made sure to keep an eye on her from afar to help keep her safe, but he still missed her. He simply wished things were different. He wished he could give her the reassurance she sought. He wished her life wouldn't be in constant danger if he were to let her back into his world…

He wished she would trust him and not feel the need to steal the only weapon capable to kill him to ensure her own survival. He wished she wouldn't doubt herself, her strength and integrity as a now turned vampire. He wished she wouldn't push him away when all he wanted was to be there for her. Especially during the confusing time of becoming a vampire, since he did relate all too well to that.

But it seemed that every time he tried to help her; he only made things worse. Which was why he had decided to give her some space, some time to think and try to find herself anew now that she was no longer human.

Meanwhile, he had a Salvatore to find and drive out of town… So, he called for Freya and together they left to go seek Damon out.

"And this… This is the backyard. See that treehouse?"

"It's adorable, Ric." Caroline said with a soft smile. Ric had been showing her the listing of the house in Dallas for the last hour and even recommended a few neighborhoods in case she was interested in an apartment of her own that was still nearby. "It does look kind of expensive…"

"Don't worry about it, really. I'm considering putting down an offer as soon as I hear back about that job…" he explained and suddenly looked away for a moment. "If they call back, that is."

"Hey, where did that confidence from earlier go?" Caroline teased. "I thought you said you nailed that interview."

"Yeah, well… Still." he sighed and showed her a map of the neighborhood. "Anyways, if you want to live in a dorm then Dallas University isn't all too far away from the house."

"I think it's better if I stay close to help you with the twins though." Caroline said, biting her lip. "And anyways… Dallas is new and big and scary. We'd have to stick together, us Mystic Fall:ers."

He chuckled and gave her a soft smile, he was about to comment when someone else suddenly chimed in.

"Dallas?"

They turned to look at the figure in the doorway with wide eyes. Caroline sat up straight in the bed with a racing heartbeat. "Stefan." she breathed, unsure of whether to run up and hug him or slap him.

She'd missed him, so crazy much. But she was seriously pissed at him for having been MIA for so long and for apparently only keeping in touch and opening up with Valerie of all people…

"I'll give you two a minute." Ric said, removing the laptop they'd used from its spot on the bed and walked up to the doorway to give Stefan a nod. "Good to see you back." he said with a little edge to his voice.

Stefan smiled politely at him and let him through the doorway, then he closed the door behind him and walked up to Caroline's bed. "Hi." he said with soft smile.

She swallowed hard, feeling sad all of a sudden. He was here, finally. Yet, all she could think about was how it had taken so long for him to come in the first place.

He took the seat next to her bed where Ric had been sitting and took her hand in one of his while cupping her cheek with the other. "How are you feeling?" he asked with such a soft voice that it made her anger blossom all of a sudden… He was acting like he hadn't done anything wrong, like this wasn't the first time they'd seen each other in days.

She studied him for a long moment before she could answer. "Better." she said and cleared her throat. "So, how come you're not halfway to New Orleans by now?"

"I'm leaving in an hour, Val just needed to get some things before we go." he explained nonchalantly, making the blood in her veins boil.

"Oh." she said bitterly and pulled her hand away from his, crossing her arms over her chest. "So, you're not actually here to see me, I'm just a pit-stop on your way to pick up Valerie."

"Hey…" he said and reached for her hand again but she pulled it away once more. He sighed and stroked her arm. "I just need to get Damon back… It has nothing to do with you, with us."

"Maybe that's the problem." she muttered and met his eyes with a cold glare.

He clenched his jaw. "Is that why you're looking at houses in Dallas with Ric?"

She scoffed. "If you'd bothered actually asking me about it then you'd know I've been considering leaving Mystic Falls."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, looking utterly confused.

"Because, Stefan…! In order for me to tell you anything, let alone that I'm considering moving to Dallas, you'd have to actually be here and not chasing Damon halfway around the planet. Not to mention that I've been trying to get in touch with you ever since I woke up and this is the first time you've even come to see me." She took a deep breath, feeling her heart race with anger as she held back a second rant.

He studied her with his lips in a straight line and eyes filled with hurt. "Care…" he sighed and took both of her hands in his, not letting her pull away this time as he looked deep into her eyes. "I'm sorry. I really am." he said, nodding. "I didn't mean for everything to get so…"

"Complicated? Difficult? Painful?" she chimed in venomously.

"Yeah." he agreed with a nod, leaving the chair to sit down next to her on the edge of the bed. After a long moment, he met her eyes again. "I love you." he said softly.

She bit back the snappy comment that was about to roll off her tongue. "I love you too." she said instead and sighed. "Which is why I'm trying, like really desperately trying, to understand why you'd rather go look for Damon – who doesn't even want to be found – instead of picking up your phone when I call you." she admitted and looked down at their joined hands.

"This is just… It's starting to remind me of when Tyler kept leaving with his pack and not letting me know where he was going or even if he was okay… And I can't be reliving old mistakes, Stefan… I just can't." her voice lowered with every word until it was just shy of a whisper, sounding as vulnerable as she felt. As she had felt for a while now.

"What are you saying, Caroline?" he asked, his voice giving away what he thought the answer to that question would be.

She looked up at him then. "I'm saying…" she began but the words got stuck in her throat. It took another long moment before she could finally utter the ultimatum in her mind. "I'm saying that once you find Damon and save him or whatever you plan on doing with him once you get him back… Once all of this is done… I might not be here. I might not be waiting around for you to fix your brother, Stefan. And I don't understand why you would ask that of me in the first place." She bit her lip, feeling tears start to build up behind her eyelids and refusing to cry again today.

"I just hate that you're turning me into this person that makes you choose between your family and your girlfriend. I hate it. I don't want to be that girl. And yet, here I am!" she chuckled sadly, tears now running down her cheeks. "Here I am, asking you to choose me instead of him. To stay here with me instead of chasing after him. To go to Dallas with me instead of dedicating the rest of your life to try and save his soul. Just, don't let him ruin what we have. That's all, Stefan. Really." She bit her lip harder to try and keep a sob back, not wanting to sound as weak and pathetic as she was feeling.

"Just don't choose him over me." she whispered. "Over us."

He brought a hand up to brush her tears away from her cheeks, resting a hand to the side of her face and leaning his forehead against hers.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in his scent and seeking the comfort that it usually brought her. Now, on the other hand, it only made her heart ache. It only reminded her of how he kept letting her down, over and over, even when he was trying not to. Even when he was trying to fix everything and save everyone and make it all better; even then she ended up getting hurt.

"I'm so sorry, Caroline." he said again, his voice a low whisper as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I won't, okay?" he told her and met her surprised eyes with a soft smile. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

She let out a short gasp and pressed her lips to his right away, feeling overjoyed that he was finally choosing her. He kissed her back softly and stroked the sides of her face before pulling away.

They rested their foreheads against each other and looked into the other's eyes with wide smiles. She giggled a little in relief and sniffled as some tears were still halfway down her cheeks.

He brushed his thumbs over them to dry them away. "Now…" he told her softly with a smile. "Tell me about Dallas."

Freya Mikaelson could recognize that her brother was becoming both restless and impatient with the dark-haired man before them. She understood why Niklaus wanted the vampire out of their hair during the fairly complicated threats they were currently facing. However, she couldn't see why this Salvatore's presence was so unnerving to her brother. After all, he didn't seem to pose any threat to the thousand-year-old hybrid and yet Niklaus wanted him to leave New Orleans as soon as possible.

"What's with the blonde?" Klaus asked with a smirk that made Freya scrunch her nose. "Grown tired of Ms. Gilbert already?"

The younger vampire flinched and pressed his lips together firmly as he glared up at the Original in front of him. Something that made Niklaus grin venomously. "And where is my dear and most current doppelganger by the way? Not back in Mystic Falls with Stefan, I hope!"

Suddenly, Damon had jumped out of his seat and stood close to the hybrid with clenched fists and an equally clenched jaw.

"Ah, what's that, mate? Cat got your tongue?" Klaus mocked. "Where are your usual snappy remarks, Damon? Don't tell me age has softened your edge."

Realization dawned upon the vampire's face as his blue eyes grew round. "Stefan called you?" he guessed. "Is this him trying to provoke me into making some stupid move and expose myself so that he can come and save me? And here I thought you were part wolf, Mikaelson. Not lap dog."

Freya predicted her brother's next action before his hand even reached Damon's throat. She was baffled by the young man's stupidity; why would he be so foolish as to insult Niklaus in that way? Did he have a death wish?

"I see your tongue is as sharp as ever then, Salvatore." Klaus spat as he glared at the vampire who was clawing away at the hand that was currently keeping him from both speaking and breathing. "Let's see if it grows back half as quickly as it comes up with those cocky lines of yours, hm? Certainly, it isn't a necessity for survival so I'm sure your brother will be able to find you even if you lose your ability to speak."

"No, wait!" Damon grunted. "You don't understand… I can't leave yet."

"And why is that?" Klaus scoffed.

"Ju -" Damon coughed, struggling against his crushing windpipes. "Julian. If he finds out I left…"

"Julian?" Niklaus raised an eyebrow and dropped his grip on the other man's throat. "You have one minute to explain this situation any further before I make an impetuous decision to push you out of the state border." he said with a bored tone followed by a strict demand; "Now, speak."

Damon held onto his throat as he took a few rasp breaths. "Julian's kind of making me tag along on his… mission. Or whatever… Anyways, he'll kill me if I try to leave without his consent and I can't die before I figure out a way to save Elena."

Freya noticed those words catching her brother's attention, but he still seemed bored as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "And pray tell, what troubles has the Gilbert-girl gotten herself into this time?"

Damon looked down at the floor for a moment before he glanced up at Niklaus again. "She's dead."

"Really?" Klaus said in disbelief as a smile spread across his lips. However, Freya could tell it was accompanied by something other from triumph or joy. He seemed regretful. "Well, that young woman has never managed to stay dead for very long so please do pardon me if I'm not quick to grieve for your loss."

"This time she really is. I was the one who killed her." Damon confessed.

That shut Klaus up as he studied the other man closely for a quiet moment. "You're serious?"

"But I'm going to save her." Damon insisted. "I'll make it right. I know I can, I just… I just need to stay in New Orleans for a little longer…" he ranted on before a somber look overtook his face. "Klaus, please." he said with a low voice. "I have to make this right. For her… For Stefan and Bonnie and Jeremy and… And for Caroline."

"Watch your tongue before I do decide to rip it out of your throat, Salvatore." Klaus hissed, surprising Freya as he had kept an uninterested attitude up until now. Until Damon mentioned that name; Caroline. Who was she?

"Listen," Damon began with raised palms in front of him. "No one knows what I did except for Stefan. That includes her. And none of them ever will if I can just find her ashes and bring her back –"

"I believe your time is up now, mate." Niklaus grunted out and in a second; Damon's body slumped down to the floor as his neck had been snapped by the Original.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Freya asked as she watched him pick the other vampire up, running after him as he began walking.

"I'll need you to do a spell, Freya." he answered as he carried Damon out of the bar. "To find the remains of a doppelganger."

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Holding on and letting go

When Damon woke up he quickly recognized the smell of incense as it stung his nostrils like vervain. He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a couch in the middle of a large room with old wooden furniture and dark interior. A chanting voice caught his attention and he snapped his head up to see the blonde girl Klaus had brought with him to the bar earlier.

"You're awake, good." the girl said without taking her eyes off of the spread-out materials on the table in front of her. "Now we can begin."

"Begin what?" Damon asked, still a little caught off guard by the fact that this woman seemed to be a witch.

"Finding Elena Gilbert." she said with a glance over to him before she grabbed a map and spread it out on the floor next to the table. "I tried to search your mind while you were unconscious since Niklaus preferred to take care of it all before you woke up, but it seems your thoughts are fairly guarded for such a young age."

Damon supposed he had torture sessions with the Augustine to thank for that as well as much else… Along with years of dysfunctional relationships too. "You need something she owned right?" he said as he dug into his jeans pockets before pulling out Elena's daylight ring and walking over to the table with it. "Here." he said as he handed it to the girl.

She nodded at him shortly before putting it in the middle of the map and then starting to mix some ingredients in a small wooden bowl.

"I thought witches couldn't trace ashes?" he said unsurely as he remembered Leila's words to him. "Is it because the remains are dead or something?"

The blonde glanced at him for a moment before returning to her task. "Most witches do not possess the power nor the knowledge of such a spell to trace something dead with the help of magic from the living. I, however, do." she explained with a shrug before she snapped her finger, resulting in the mixed herbs in the bowl to go up in flames.

"I see why Klaus keeps you around." Damon mumbled.

She froze at his words and studied him shortly, looking like she was about to scold him for his comment before seeming to change her mind. "When did she die?" she asked.

He gulped as he knew the amount of days passed since then by heart. "Seventeen days ago."

"Perfect." she said with a nod. "An odd number ending in 'seven', it will make the spell easier."

Damon watched as she blew the fire out and collected the ashes from the bowl in her hands. She crouched down to the floor, kneeling before the map, and spread the ashes out on it in a circle around the lapillus lazuli ring.

"Favilla et cinere." she chanted, the room starting to shake a little and a chandelier above them trembling. "Favilla et cinere."

A wind blew past them as all lights went out, she continued chanting. "Favilla et cinere… Favilla et cinere." she said as she spread the last of the ashes out and held her palms up above the circle. "Favilla et cinere!" she said a little louder before letting out a loud gasp. She was suddenly thrown backwards, away from the map and into a wall.

Damon hurried over to her as the room returned to normal and the lights were back on again. "What happened?" he asked in panic.

She shook her head as he helped her up from the floor. "I don't understand." she said and walked back to the map with wide eyes. "This can't be right…"

"What? What is it? Did you find her? Do you know where she is?" Damon nervously asked as he stared at the witch.

"No." she answered with another shake of her head. "I can't find her ashes anywhere since according to the universe… They don't exist."

Damon's heart fell into his stomach. "Wh-what?" he stuttered. "What does that mean? Did someone destroy them?"

"No." the girl said as she finally met his eyes. "They never existed. Elena Gilbert never had any ashes to find."

Damon stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. And honestly, she might as well have had since he couldn't comprehend a single word she was saying.

"It seems I know my past doppelganger well then." Klaus' voice suddenly appeared from the doorway to the room as he leaned against it with his arms crossed. He met Damon's still confused face with a shrug. "Elena Gilbert doesn't have any ashes because she isn't dead. She never was… Apparently not even you yourself can succeed in killing her, don't take it personally though. Far greater men have tried and failed before you as well."

The disturbing comment flew by unnoticed by Damon as all he could do was stare at the Original with wide eyes as his chest suddenly felt like it was filled with air after having been deprived of it for ages.

"She… she's alive?"

Julian was bewildered. He couldn't figure out why Tyler Lockwood had made so many trips to New York as of late and when some of his men told him what they figured out; he was even more confused.

What was Tyler Lockwood hiding away in that storage facility?

At first, Julian had hoped that Tyler would lead him to Elena's ashes. But surely he wouldn't be storing them in such a large space? So there had to be something else in there… The question being; what?

His men had spent all afternoon trying to break the magical seal put on the storage unit in the western docks of Brooklyn. Either way, whatever the werewolf was keeping locked in there had to be of utter most importance. And considering Damon was suddenly in such a hurry to find the Lockwood-boy, Julian was more than persistent in finding answers before Damon himself did. Especially if those answers uncovered Elena Gilbert's redemption inside a metal box.

Julian was already planning all of the ways that he could manipulate Damon by using such a leverage that his true love's ashes would indicate. Perhaps he'd force Damon to choose between his intended soulmate and his own baby-brother? Maybe he'd make Damon figure out a way to bring Julian's own lost love back as well? His chest tightened at the thought, at the image of Lily returning to life…

The cell phone in his pocket disrupted his nostalgic and dangerously hopeful thoughts. Quinn, one of the men sent to investigate in New York, had sent him a picture. As Julian opened it and stared at the sight on his screen; he was sure his jaw dropped to the floor as a menacing smile suddenly tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Whatever he had expected to find in that storage unit; Elena Gilbert's body still perfectly preserved in her coffin, was not one of them.

"She's alive." he breathed out in triumph as all of his plans started morphing into a splendid new way of manipulating both Damon and Stefan Salvatore to his own will. "Elena Gilbert never died."

Damon had left the Mikaelson compound quicker than he could even take the environments in.

She's alive.

He was running fast, headed towards Leila Gardiner's apartment as Klaus' witch friend had told him to do.

She isn't dead.

According to the blonde brit he needed a witch who already had a connection with Bonnie if he wanted to contact her without using magic on his own.

She's okay.

As he stormed into Leila's living room without any invitation necessary, she sat in the middle of the floor as if expecting him.

"Ya' do realize you could've been halfway to Virginia by now if you'd left when you were supposed to, right?"

"Change of plans. I need to leave a message for Bonnie." he said quickly as she stood up from the floor.

"Alright." she said with a shrug and held her hands up in front of her for him to hold. "Go ahead, then."

He grabbed onto her and immediately felt the flash of light hit him like the first time he'd done this. In a moment, he was transported to an abandoned version of the room he was currently in. He turned around but couldn't see Bonnie anywhere.

"Bon?" he called and began searching the room closer, entering different areas of the apartment. "Bonnie, you here?"

"Damon?" Her voice came out distant and foggy but he located it quickly and flashed towards it, grinning with relief when he found her standing in the kitchen.

"Damon? Are you alright?" she said worriedly as she stalked towards him with determined steps.

"Bon, listen to me. I need you to tell Stefan that I was wrong." he said as he held her arms in a light squeeze.

"Wrong?" she echoed with a confused shake of her head.

"She's alive but she's not safe. I think Julian had his men go to New York because they found her and now he's probably going to use her as leverage against me."

"Damon, slow down. Who are you talking about?"

"Elena." he breathed out. "I thought I killed her."

"You what!?" Bonnie gasped but he quickly continued.

"The visions, Bon-Bon! They made me think I burned her coffin to ashes but I was wrong. She's alive but we need to save her before Julian…" he shook his head as if to shake the thought off and dug into his jeans pocket. "Here. Track her with this." he said as he handed her the daylight ring that he'd gotten back just a few minutes ago.

Bonnie looked confused for a moment as she took the ring.

"I know you grabbed my bracelet, Bonnie, give me some credit." he said with an amused scoff. "So I assume you can bring this with you too, right?"

She nodded. "But Damon… You thought you killed her?"

"We'll have plenty of time for that later, just go back and tell Stefan what I just told you." he insisted with a reassuring smile.

"But what about you?" she asked with squinting eyes as she seemed to already know she wasn't going to like the answer.

"I can't leave Julian's side until I know Elena's coffin is in safe hands and far away from his."

"Wait, so you're going to keep helping him!?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." he smiled and squeezed her arms again. "Besides! Double-agent is always a role I've been dying to try out." he added with a wink and a shrug. "I'll get a burner phone and check in on you as soon as I can, okay?"

She pressed her lips together before finally nodding. "Fine. Just… Be safe." she said silently.

He studied her for a long moment before pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly. "You too, Bennett." he said genuinely and held her close until she began fading away while the connection was ending.

Soon he was snapped back into reality and let go of Leila's hands with a jerk as the surge of energy coursing through him felt like a bolt of electricity.

"Thank you." Damon said earnestly as he looked into Leila's curious eyes. He turned around to leave but she grabbed his arm before he could get anywhere.

"I have the name of Julian's friend." she told him.

He looked over at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You do?"

"Yes. But I can't tell you."

"What? Why?"

"Because…" she said through gritted teeth and grimaced as she looked away. "I saw what he has in store for New Orleans… His plan is ludicrous and will be the death of many witches as a result. He needs to be stopped."

Damon frowned as he studied her. "If you don't tell Julian what you know… He will kill you."

"I'm not afraid of death, Mr. Salvatore." Leila said with a smile that scared Damon a little bit, reminding him of the look of someone hopped up on drugs. "My spirit will join my ancestors. It is nothing to fear nor resent. I'll be glad to go once my time comes."

"I do however hope you'll still hold up your end of our deal, even if mine just became obsolete…" she grimaced before continuing. "I've already constructed the basis for a spell." she explained and walked away to collect some papers from the spot on the floor where she had been sitting earlier.

"A spell?" he echoed in confusion, wondering how exactly she had imagined killing Julian… Not to mention; why.

"Like I said, I saw Julian's plot." she explained and handed the papers to him. "The spells he intends to use and the means he plans to use them for. I also know a way to use his own plan against him."

"How?" Damon said with furrowed eyebrows as he scrolled through the papers in his hands, there were lots of writing on them in languages he couldn't quite decipher.

"Julian wants to bind his friends to himself, to ensure they all remain loyal to him." Leila told him then, making him snap his eyes up from the materials in his hands. "If you can beat him to it, ya'll will be able to use that very same bond to end both him and his army in one strike."

"And he'll die with them?"

"No, ya will need to do a spell on his blood; which is partly what I've been working on since last night. The spell is rushed and incomplete but I don't doubt your friend Bonnie will manage to fill in the gaps. However, you will need a lot of power for the spell."

"And his blood." Damon guessed.

"Yes. That too." she agreed with a nod.

He folded the papers and hid them inside his leather jacket as he studied the witch before him. "Thank you." he told her seriously.

She nodded at him with a short smile. "You can thank me by killing that psychopath and makin' sure his plan doesn't work."

Damon nodded at her, studying her one last time as if expecting her to pull out another trick out of her hat and surprise him once more. She didn't and so he flashed out of the apartment and ran towards the Mikaelson Manor to do what he had avoided doing for far too long; get the Originals' help.

Caroline was feeling content and hopeful and was sleeping in peace with a smile on her face. She and Stefan had made things up between them, cleared the air and had even started talking about a possible move to Dallas together. They discussed living together, getting jobs or going to college and even made plans on helping Ric out with the babies… It all seemed too good to be true.

Which it turned out to be.

She had started waking up when she heard them talking… Bonnie was telling Stefan something about Damon. They were standing outside of Caroline's room so they couldn't blame her for overhearing the conversation… Although, all thoughts of guilt quickly washed away as she heard Bonnie mention Elena's name.

Not because she had anything against her currently comatose friend, but instead because of Stefan's reaction.

"You found her?" Stefan breathed out.

"Got the location just now thanks to Damon, he sent over her daylight ring. Along with photos of some spells that apparently are going to help us get rid of Julian once and for all." Bonnie explained.

"I need an address." Stefan said hurriedly as he started walking away.

"Stefan, wait!" Bonnie hissed, their voices not as clear as they were before when they stood just outside the door. "We still need to figure out what to do with this spell that Damon just suddenly found from out of the blue… We can't just go get Elena without a plan! What about Julian? Or Damon for that matter? … Or Caroline!?"

Caroline was fully awake now, holding her breath as her heart raced anticipatable in her chest. This was it, wasn't it? The defining moment in her and Stefan's relationship. He needed to choose once and for all; who comes first in his life? Caroline? Damon?

Or Elena?

"I'll go to Valerie; she'll know what to do. In the meantime, can you stay with Caroline? I don't want her to wake up alone."

Caroline pressed her lips together, gulping down the disappointment as it surged through her and made her want to throw up…

"Stefan…" Bonnie hissed. Silence signaled that he had already left.

In that moment, despite being an enormously pregnant teenager, Caroline felt smaller than she had in a very long time. And all she wanted was to get away before having to face Bonnie's sympathetic and pitying expression…

And so, just as Bonnie opened the door to the hospital room, Caroline flashed over to hide behind it until Bonnie entered.

"Care?" she said softly right before turning around to look behind her.

But it was too late, Caroline was already gone.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Hope is a luxury none of us can afford

Stefan and Valerie were going through the photos on Bonnie's phone together, Valerie translated some of the writing while Stefan made a list of everything they needed to get for the spell. Or rather; spells.

There was one for binding vampires to one anchor and another one for targeting someone using their blood with the advantage of being able to kill them from afar. They were both tricky and required many complicated ingredients as well as a lot ofmagic… Also, they needed to do the spell during a full moon. The classic cliché made Stefan snort before he returned to writing down everything Valerie needed for preparing the different rituals.

Valerie swiped past the last photo sent from Damon and accidentally opened a picture of Bonnie, Caroline and Elena. She glanced over at Stefan as he sat next to her on the couch in his apartment, he wasn't looking down at his list anymore but was instead concentrated on his right hand. Between his thumb and fingers, he was rolling and turning on a small Lapis Lazuli ring. The one belonging to Elena that would hopefully help them find wherever Julian might have taken her.

Stefan was too engrossed in his analyzing task to notice her staring so she cleared her throat to get his attention and break the momentary silence between them.

"As long as Julian stays in that magical safe haven of his in New Orleans, we won't be able to specify his location well enough to perform the spell to strike at him." she told him as he hurriedly put the ring in his pocket before facing her. "And without his blood, we won't have any means to kill him either." she continued. "Not to mention the fact that these spells separately are far too powerful for me and Bonnie alone…"

"So, how about we let Damon kill Julian while we track down Elena's coffin?" Stefan suggested.

Valerie rolled her eyes at his priority in the matter being to rescue Elena. "If we kill Julian we will only be met by his wrathful lackeys and we will all die as vengeance for their leader's demise." she reminded him and shook her head slightly. "No, we need to rid ourselves of all of them at once, or else we'll spend centuries running away from an army of new enemies… Our best chance is to try and combine the two spells, that ought to help us harness and focus all our strength on one single spell."

Stefan nodded. "Okay, so we get Julian's blood, bind him to his men and kill all of them with one spell during the next full moon… Sounds easy enough." he said with a grimace and shrug of his shoulders.

Valerie fought back a smile at his playful sarcasm and looked down at the list he'd compiled instead. "To bind Julian to his friends, we will need for as many of them as possible to be at the same place at the same time." she explained. "The next full moon is in a week, but if we can harness enough magic then I believe we won't have to wait until then to perform the ritual… However, the best-case scenario would be to lure Julian back to Mystic Falls and round him up with the others."

"And if we can't get the ones in New Orleans to come here?"

"Then Damon would need to procure their blood as well as Julian's."

"What about the men he probably assigned to keep an eye on Elena's coffin?" Stefan asked.

Valerie pursed her lips for a moment. "Perhaps we should send some of us to fetch her coffin at the same time as the spell is being cast? That way we ensure Julian doesn't get the opportunity to use that leverage against us to save himself."

He nodded slowly. "We'll need someone to do the spell, someone to distract Julian's men as well as Julian and also someone to get Elena's coffin?"

Valerie grimaced. "And what's worse; I'm not sure how we are even supposed to gather enough power to complete the spell to –" she cut herself off as a thought suddenly crossed her mind…

She remembered her conversation with Caroline from earlier that day, how she had somehow managed to survive the desiccation brought upon her by the twins… How she had apparently ended up in some spiritual plane… She must've absorbed such a large amount of power by the twins as they attempted to protect themselves when she'd started desiccating… Was that their answer?

"I might have an idea." Valerie said silently, ashamed of herself for what she was about to ask a carrying young girl to do… "I think we need Caroline's help."

Stefan looked at her in confusion. "Caroline?"

She met his eyes with a frown. "The twins." she explained. "We'll harness the twins' magic for the spell."

It had been nearly two years.

Two years since she'd seen Klaus Mikaelson. Two years since their day in the woods. Two years since she graduated from high school and he promised to be her last love…

Two years and not once had Caroline felt as tempted to go and find Klaus in New Orleans as much as she did right now. Especially after their phone call...

She caught herself comparing Stefan's actions to Klaus'… It bothered her that, despite being hundreds of miles away, Klaus managed to find the time to actually listen to her and promise to help her when she asked him to. Meanwhile, Stefan couldn't stay by her side for longer than five minutes before something new came up that he desperately needed to tend to…

It was either chasing Damon or disappearing with Valerie or jumping at the first chance to save Elena. And what about her? Was her nearly dying not urgent enough for him? Was she not important enough to him?

Shaking the thought and lump in her throat off, she kept running far away from the hospital. She wasn't going very fast due to her huge stomach, as well as not so smoothly since she felt both clumsy and disoriented and actually had no idea where to go. All she knew was that she wanted to leave.

Needed to leave.

She needed to get away from Stefan as he continuously pushed her aside for everybody else. She needed to disappear from the reality of being a freaking miraculous surrogate mother to her high school history teacher…

She needed to be someone else. Or perhaps she just needed to be herself again. Either way, the person she was now made her sick. She hated being the girlfriend who was jealous of her boyfriend and his exes. She hated being weak and vulnerable and not even able to run away from her problems without feeling winded and dizzy and needing to take a break every once in a while.

But most of all? She hated feeling like the second choice. Like she wasn't enough. She wasn't the first person Stefan went to or the one he actually valued over everyone else… And she hated that it was him, her best friend and boyfriend, who made her feel that way.

It took her a while before she realized where she was as she stood outside a door in an apartment building…

Ric. She had run to Ric.

She was just about to turn around and leave when she instead found herself raising her hand and knocking on the door. A long few seconds passed, making her hold her breath as she waited for him to open. Finally he did and she was met by Ric's big eyes, first due to confusion and then later due to worry as his expression turned grim.

"Did something happen?" he asked seriously. "Are you okay? Are the girls –"

She shook her head, pressing her lips tightly together as tears ran down her cheeks. "They're fine… We're fine…" she sobbed and shook her head again. "No, I'm not fine." she confessed.

He frowned and brought his arms around her, embracing her firmly. She wrapped her arms around him and rested them on his shoulders, sobbing into his shirt.

"I'm sorry." she murmured against his chest.

"Don't be." he said and stroked her back before he started disengaging himself from her. "Let's go inside and have some coffee." he said softly. "Or… Hot cocoa might be a better idea." he said as he gave a pointed look to her belly.

She looked down at her stomach and sniffled silently before nodding her head. "Okay." she whispered and looked up at him with a weak smile. "Hot cocoa it is." she giggled slightly, finding it so odd to imagine Alaric making hot cocoa. She bit her lip to keep from turning the short chuckle into another sob.

He gave her a warm smile and let her in. "I probably have some whipped cream too actually." he said as he closed the door behind her.

She giggled again. "What do you use whipped cream for?" she mocked and turned around to look at him.

He held up a tissue for her and smiled at her again as she accepted it and blew her nose. "For pancakes and hot cocoa of course!" he said with a wink.

Caroline let out a short laugh, feeling a lot lighter all of a sudden. "I wouldn't mind some pancakes." she said with a shrug.

Chuckling himself, he squeezed her arm and nodded. "Whatever you want." he promised before turning away and heading towards the kitchen. "Make yourself at home in the meanwhile!" he called out.

She bit her lip again and looked uncertainly around the room. "Right…" she whispered to herself as she mulled it over. "Home…"

"Bonnie, calm down…" Enzo tried as he watched the brunette pace the hospital room in a frenzy. "I'm sure Caroline is fine."

"Not if she heard Stefan and me…" she muttered and cursed to herself. "Everybody keeps running off, first Damon and now Caroline…"

Enzo tensed at Damon's name, hoping he wouldn't need to lie to Bonnie. Again.

His phone rang in his pocket as Alaric texted him. He exhaled subtly, relieved to hear that Caroline wasn't hurt or missing. "See… She's at Ric's place." he said with his smug façade in full play as he turned the mobile display towards Bonnie.

She grabbed the phone and stared at it for a moment before closing her eyes in a long breath. "Thank god." she whispered.

He smirked slightly as he watched her trying to cover her emotions up, clearly finding it difficult to express them freely. Which was something he related to.

"What?" she scoffed and pushed his phone against his chest. "Don't think this means we're friends just because we were both worried about Caroline together for five minutes."

He held his hand over hers, keeping it secured against his chest before she could pull it back, his thumb rubbing gently over her knuckle. "Well, darling, you did seek me out once you realized she was missing after all…" he reminded her with a grin.

She tore her hand away and scoffed at him, turning around so he couldn't see her face anymore.

"I'd say that's worth something." he added with a shrug while he put his phone back into his pocket. "Perhaps now you'll actually listen to my explanation for taking Rayna Cruz."

"You don't get it, Enzo." she muttered.

"Get what, Bonnie?" he asked with amusement.

"I don't trust you!" she yelled and looked at him with full red fury in her eyes. "I never know who's side you're on! One minute you're helping us figure out what Lily and the Heretics are up to and the next you freaking join them and help them kidnap Caroline!" she continued, gesturing emotionally with her hands and taking threatening steps towards him as she went on.

"Then you show up from having been MIA the last three months and save me from being choked to death by this old lady who's supposedly the Huntress – but then what? Oh! That's right! You turn around and literally steal her away so we can't ask her any questions, let alone kill her and –"

"She can't be killed!" he burst out, shutting her up immediately.

She stared at him with an open mouth as she had been about to say something more. "What are you talking about!?"

He sighed and looked away from her as he pressed his lips firmly together, he was conflicted on whether or not to tell her the truth. And just how much of it she would actually want to hear.

"Enzo, I swear to God if you don't explain –" she began but he cut her off again.

"She would only return to life stronger and more powerful than before if she did die." he said grimly.

"So what?" she asked slowly. "You're telling me you were trying to do us all a favor or something?" she said in disbelief, making him snap his head back to stare at her.

For a moment, he considered lying and telling her that 'yes, he did do it for her'… But looking into her expecting and doubting eyes he felt the need to be honest, to win her trust back. To win them all back… "No." he confessed. "The Armory wanted Rayna Cruz. I was merely following orders."

"The Armory?" she echoed venomously with raised eyebrows and he swallowed hard as he finally had the chance to come clean once and for all. She was finally listening, finally giving him a chance to prove himself to her. And he had to take it…

"Remember when I told you they were the reason I disappeared?" he said slowly.

She scoffed. "Right, okay. The secret organization that apparently Matt is a part of... Sure." she rolled her eyes and turned away from him, closing herself up again.

"It's the truth, Bonnie." he insisted. "Your friend Matt is highly involved with this 'secret organization' as you so delicately put it… And I know this because they told me." He snuck his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper as well as a pen and held it up to her. "And then, there's this."

She looked over at him with squinting eyes. "So you like to draw?" she said incredulously. "You're right! That does prove everything! I'm so sorry I ever doubted you, Enzo."

He snorted at her sarcasm and pressed the paper against his palm as he took the red pen and drew an 'X' on it. Then he showed it to her. "The postcards?" he said as recognition slowly dawned upon her expression. "I was the one who sent them."

When Damon returned to Julian's suite later that night, he found the Brit looming over a bunch of random and weird looking objects spread out over the side table in the living area.

"Sneaking in past your bedtime?" Julian said teasingly. "I'm guessing you chose to take my advice and enjoy Crystal's company after all?"

Damon gulped. "I don't want to talk about it." he said shortly, earning a side glance from Julian. "Not the kind of guy to kiss and tell." he added with a smirk.

That answer seemed to please Julian as he nodded with an amused expression.

"What are all those?" Damon asked, taking a seat in the armchair diagonally next to him.

Julian looked down at the things in question and shrugged. "Necessary means in case that sword-wielding vixen does seek us out after all." he said and collected them all in a duffle bag. Before Damon could comment on the secrecy as well as him using his own words against him, Julian turned around with a smile.

"So? Did the witch have any information for us?"

Damon gulped again, Julian clearly already knew about his little unscheduled visit to Leila during the night… He raised his wrist into the air to show off the silver chain clasping it that Freya had been nice enough to give to him as a cover. "Decided to take this off your plate." he said and sighed.

"And she did have something; an address." he continued, beginning the lie he had constructed in his mind to match his whereabouts in case he had been followed by Julian's men. "I went to check out whether it was real or not but didn't find any serial killers there." he teased.

It wasn't a total lie; Klaus Mikaelson must have passed the bounds of being called a 'serial killer' centuries ago. Perhaps mass murderer was more accurate now?

"You believe she was conning us?" Julian asked seriously.

Damon shrugged. "When I went back to her place afterwards; she was gone."

Julian sighed and shook his head. "Well that's disappointing."

"So now what?" Damon asked with another shrug. "Are we still going to look around for the mouth-slashing psycho or can we just drop it and go back to Mystic Falls already?"

"In a hurry to return to your judgmental brother, Damon? That doesn't sound much like you at all." Julian teased, turning his back towards him as he walked over to pour himself a drink. "Don't tell me you're still going to attempt resurrecting Elena Gilbert even after having found out that Leila was scamming us from the start for god-knows-what-reason?"

"Well, even if she was lying about being able to bring Elena back it still doesn't mean there isn't another way of doing so." Damon protested. "And I have to figure something out."

"By going to Stefan?"

"By going to Bonnie and your nice little Heretic family back home. Someone has to know something, right?"

Julian shook his head and finished the drink in his hand in one sweep before putting it down on the glass table next to him. "We're not returning to Mystic Falls, Damon."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What, still worried about the postcards? It's not like you could hide away in New Orleans forever…"

"No." he agreed with a short nod before he shrugged. "Only until I find a way to kill the Huntress and protect myself and my men from the war between the sire-lines."

"Oh, that's all then?" Damon said bitterly.

"And you're going to stay by my side to ensure none of the knowledge you now have acquired falls into the wrong hands, incidentally leading Rayna Cruz to me."

"Really?" Damon scoffed.

Julian flashed over to him with a hard face before he suddenly smirked. "Really." he purred and held up his phone in front of him.

Damon stared at the photograph on the display with a clenching heart. Elena. He took the phone from him and bore holes into the screen as he kept staring at her as if it was the first time he'd ever seen her.

"The side-effects from the Phoenix Stone must have made you hallucinate killing her since; here she is." Julian guessed with a shrug. "Fully intact. No need to locate her ashes in an effort to bring her back to life, because you never killed her in the first place."

Julian took the phone away from him with the grim look back on his face. "However, her newfound life-status may easily switch to the former one."

"If you touch her –" Damon began, gritting the words out through his teeth.

"What, mate?" Julian said with a smirk. "What will you do?"

Damon clenched his jaw so hard he could hear his teeth breaking slightly against each other, his fingernails digging into the inside of his palms and drawing blood. He needed to control himself, this was all part of the plan and Julian needed to think he had the upper hand… He couldn't lash out at him. Not yet. Not until Bonnie figures out a way to kill him once and for all…

"Now…" Julian said, turning away from him with a leisure walk. "I suggest you call it a night and get some rest. We'll need to give our dear Leila a visit early in the morning… I've been dying to kill someone ever since we arrived." He sighed contentedly and glanced over at Damon. "You'd be wise not to tempt me into turning my twitching gun in Elena's direction. Might cause you your only chance at happiness after all."

Damon glared at the vicious smirk on Julian's face as he poured himself a second drink and swallowed it all at once. His blood nearly boiling over as he fought against every single fiber of his being that screamed at him to rips the Brit's throat out…

The sooner they got rid of this guy – the better.

Leila made sure to lock her apartment, unlock it and lock it once more before she left – just to be safe… Ironically… Then she hurried out of the building and onto the dark street. It was the middle of the night but there were still quite a few people outside – this was New Orleans after all.

Turning the corner to a more vacant neighborhood, she kept walking until she reached the end of the street and neared the old cemetery on the outside of town.

The dark haired young girl waited for her there.

She could see her standing on the other side of the cemetery gates, her hands clasped together in front of her and a far too serious look on her face – making her appear a lot older than Leila imagined her to actually be.

"Do you have it?" the girl asked as soon as Leila reached the gates, still remaining on her side of the magical barrier between them. The thought passed Leila's mind that this young child would one day find herself in this position again, only in reversed roles; Willing to give up everything she was for them and begging to get it all back again through the only release…

"Yes." she said and dug out the golden dagger from her purse. Handing it over to the girl, she frowned a little as she saw the unpleasant look in her eyes. "Why did you want me to help him? The younger one?" she asked uncertainly. "The Salvatore?"

The young girl shrugged after she tucked the dagger safely on the inside of her black coat. "I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic but… I know what it's like to lose the love of your life." she shrugged again. "I thought he deserved the chance to get his back if it was still possible."

"How did you know he wouldn't realize he was infiltrating the Mikaelson's for us?"

"People become very focused on what they might lose when their happiness is at stake, they sometimes become blind to the consequences that their actions bring." said a voice from behind Leila, startling her and making her skin crawl as she recognized it before she even turned around to see the woman who had suddenly appeared and spoken up.

Aya.

The young witch walked around Leila, exiting the magical barrier that protected her from the old vampire and stalked over to where Aya stood. As she handed the dagger over to her Leila cleared her throat and ducked her head.

"What about Julian?" she asked nervously, knowing what Aya was capable of and fearing the young girl didn't have a single clue. "Won't he cause problems for the witches of New Orleans if his plan –"

"That's not our concern." the dark-skinned, short-haired woman said with a shrug as she studied the dagger with a small smile. "All we needed was the dagger and to put Freya Mikaelson's powers to a test. Thankfully we got everything necessary through the Salvatore… We were lucky Julian picked up on the rumors about your clairvoyance and that he was willing to make a deal with us. Maybe we'll be lucky again and the Bennett witch will manage to bring Julian down before he gets the idea to come after any of us…"

Leila gulped. "Y-you…" she stuttered. "You promised me that… That if I did everything you asked of me… Spying on the Salvatore and procuring the dagger for you… Turning Julian away from the hot trail of the friend he was looking for that… That you would reward me."

Aya tilted her head sideways and studied her for a moment. "Yes." she said and took a step towards her after handing the dagger back to the young witch next to her.

"You've done an excellent job at keeping up your end of our bargain, Leila Gardiner. The Strix thanks you for your compliance." she said, continuing to walk towards her while her black eyes bore into hers and sent shivers over Leila's body.

"You've earned your reward, my dear. Enjoy your freedom." she said just before she jumped at her and dug into her neck with her fangs.

Leila felt the piercing pain shoot through her in waves as she fought hard not to scream. A small smile spread across her lips as Aya pulled away from her flesh and held onto her face with both her hands.

For a moment, Leila found herself hoping that the lie she had told the Salvatore would be true; That she really would return to her ancestors with her death… But that was never the case with a Strix witch. They had cut their connection off from the ones before them long ago, and this… This was their only way out of the eternal torment… The suffering of practicing magic in the dark, of never feeling the connection to the earth the way they once had when they were still true to their nature.

"Thank you." Leila whispered, silently praying to find an end sweeter than the painful existence she had experienced for the last five decades. "For releasing me."

Aya nodded at her before finally snapping her neck and turning everything black.

"Why?"

Bonnie stared at Enzo in utter chock as he held up the piece of paper in front of him, telling her that he was the one who got them to look for the Huntress in the first place. "Why did you do it?

"Because I needed you to lead me to her since I hadn't had any luck in finding her on my own… Not to mention that I had a deadline to work with." he told her.

She shook her head in confusion. "Deadline? What are you talking about?"

"The Armory, they told me they had something of interest to me and were willing to hand it over in exchange for my assistance in capturing Rayna Cruz."

"Something of interest?" she echoed. "What did they have?"

"Information." he said and looked away from her. "About my family."

"Your family?" she repeated, still not being able to wrap her head around it all nor quite understanding how to pin down Enzo's alliance… Did this mean he wasn't on their side anymore?

"If I helped them, if I brought Rayna Cruz to their custody, they would help me find my remaining living relatives." he explained. "However… Julian got too close to breaking my cover since he suddenly showed up just a few miles away from The Armory's headquarters where I was bringing Rayna…"

"Whitmore." Bonnie breathed out as she remembered Enzo conveniently being there just when they needed someone to keep an eye on Julian and Damon.

"Yes." he said with a nod. "They sent me after him to ensure he didn't attempt anything foolish like killing the Huntress… Since, like I said, we can't allow anybody to kill her. She needs to be contained somewhere far away from vampires… Someplace where she can't hurt anyone."

"Alright, so now what?" Bonnie said flatly. "Got a family reunion scheduled for Tuesday or something?"

"No." Enso said with a deflated sigh. "The Armory isn't holding up their end of the deal… Now they want me to keep doing their dirty work."

"Like what?"

Enzo turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest before he faced her again. "They want me to kill Julian since they apparently see him as a threat due to his history with the Huntress." he explained before he grimaced shortly. "But they also want Elena." he confessed, making her tense up. "The sole living doppelganger… As well as the last remaining Bennett witch."

Bonnie mimicked his posture, crossing her arms over her chest before scoffing. "Why are you telling me all of this? So that I'll feel bad enough for you or start trusting you enough that I'll suddenly want to help you? Is that it?"

"No." he gritted out, seemingly livid over her accusation. "I'm telling you this so that you will understand my intentions for going behind your back in regards to Rayna Cruz. So that you will understand that I was trying to protect you, to keep you from making a huge mistake by letting Nora and Mary-Louise kill her."

"Why do you need me to understand your motives, Enzo?" she protested.

He suddenly whooshed over to her, standing just an inch away from her as his breath fanned her face. His eyes studied hers for a long, silent moment before he finally spoke. "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I can't stand to have you hating me over a mere misunderstanding?" he asked her with a low voice. "Or for you to hate me at all, under any circumstances?"

She looked into his dark, expressive eyes for a long moment as she found no snappy line to throw at his words. Her heart raced as she became suddenly nervous with him standing so close to her… Looking at her like that…

Thankfully, his phone rang and broke the tension between them. He sighed before backing away from her and picking it up. "What now?" he muttered.

Bonnie looked down at her feet, catching herself feeling cold from the sudden distance between them and cursing the thought for even taking up residence in her mind in the first place.

"Fine, I'll bring Bonnie and meet you there in a few minutes." Enzo said before ending the call.

She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. "Um, when exactly did you start making decisions regarding my whereabouts?" she mocked.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Stefan is calling an impromptu gang meeting to discuss some plan that he and Valerie have come up with." he said sarcastically.

Bonnie watched him as he neared her once more. "What are you doing?" she asked, cursing herself for her voice slightly breaking at the middle of the sentence.

He smirked at her, obviously having noticed both it and her heart starting to race in her chest at his new proximity once again. "Well, I did promise we'd meet with them very soon and the fastest way to get to Alaric's apartment is to run over there."

She gulped hard. "I'm not going to let you carry out some weird fantasy of me on your back or something while you flash through town."

He grinned and shrugged. "Caroline will be there." he reminded her.

Bonnie felt a sting of guilt in her stomach at that. She needed to check in with her friend after what she must've heard Stefan say earlier… But was it really worth encouraging Enzo and his charms?

Not that she found him charming.

No, God, no.

He was just a flirt, that's all. And she refused to make him think she was responding to any of his advances. Because she wasn't.

Really.

Seriously! She wasn't!

"Fine. Just hurry." she sighed and uncrossed her arms, ready to jump up on his back like she'd joked about before.

He gave her another smirk before he suddenly swept her legs away with one arm, and carried her close to his chest. "Let's go then, darling." he said with another smile as he looked down at her surprised face.

She gulped audibly, making him smirk even wider before he started running so fast that her vision completely blurred out.

"Absolutely not!" Alaric yelled out as he stared at Stefan with clenched fists.

Caroline watched them through the corner of her eye as she tried to focus on the small beings inside of her instead to drown out their ridiculous plan.

"Under no circumstances, whatsoever, are we using my children for some spell that might not even work and that Valerie herself says is too risky for even her and Bonnie to do!" Alaric protested. "Have you lost your damn mind, Stefan!?"

"This is our only chance at stopping Julian." Stefan said, trying to reason with him.

"And what if it doesn't work? What if the twins get hurt or what if he comes after all of us!?" Ric exclaimed.

"If he is going to go after anyone then it will be me and Damon, he won't have a reason to kill you or Caroline. Not if he doesn't know you were involved…" Stefan tried but only earned a shaking head from Ric.

"Listen, I know it isn't an ideal solution –" Alaric scoffed and turned away from him while Stefan continued talking. " – But we don't have any other way of doing the spell. We have to put Julian down before he and his men come after us first."

"You mean before he kills Elena." Caroline muttered, silencing the whole room as she caught everyone's attention. She hadn't said a single word since Stefan and Valerie showed up at Ric's door a few minutes ago with the promise of a new plan to solve their Julian-problem.

"What?" Stefan said making her lift her head up and give him an expressionless look.

"You want to stop Julian before he kills Elena, right?" she reminded him. "That's the only reason you're rushing all of this instead of waiting until the next full moon to do the spell when Valerie and Bonnie can try to manage it on their own."

He stared at her with wide eyes as she looked back with a vile look in hers. She wasn't going to be fooled by Stefan's false heroism anymore, it was clearly only founded and striving upon the will of keeping precious little Elena alive. Even in a coffin she came before Caroline in everybody's eyes. Even in a coma, Elena was getting everyone to bend over backwards to protect her at all and any cost.

Even now, as Caroline was supposed to have Stefan's heart, Elena still managed to keep her claws dug deep into his soul.

Their staring match was interrupted by a knock on the door and Caroline quickly got up to invite Bonnie and Enzo inside. She was however momentarily chocked to see Enzo putting Bonnie down from his arms while Bonnie's cheeks slightly darkened at Caroline catching them.

"Um. Okay." Caroline said with furrowed eyebrows. "We'll talk about this later." She pointed between the two of them, earning a smirk from Enzo and a scoff from Bonnie.

"Come on in and take a seat!" Caroline said as she opened the door wider for them. "Stefan and Valerie have gone completely insane; you're welcome to enjoy the show."

"Caroline…" Stefan sighed.

"No, I agree with her." Ric said as he crossed his arms. "You really are crazy and I have no Idea why we're even discussing this in the first place."

"Um, what exactly is going on?" Bonnie asked carefully, looking around the room to try and find someone to explain the situation to her.

"Caroline induced a lot of power when we were trying to keep her from desiccating." Valerie said, directing her comment towards Bonnie. "… And we believe the twins absorbed it all. They are therefore our safest source to channel for the spell."

"Wait." Bonnie said incredulously. "You want to use the twins!?"

"Caroline…" Valerie pleaded, ignoring Bonnie's question. She walked over to the blonde with a sympathetic look. "I, of all people, understand what it is like to have Julian take a child from you." she told her. "Which means I will do everything within my powers to ensure that doesn't happen to you and Alaric."

Caroline watched her, the sincere look in the red-head's eyes just nearly persuading her before she remembered where the whole plan was coming from and that it had nothing to do with Valerie and Stefan wanting to keep Alaric's children safe. She shook her head. "We're not risking two unborn little girls' lives on a rash decision and risky spell." she said with a cold chuckle.

"There must be something else we can use…" Bonnie muttered, mostly to herself. But no one was paying attention to her.

"How can you be so willing to do this, considering what you're trying to use against me right now!?" Caroline yelled, staring at the Heretic with black eyes.

Valerie glanced over at Stefan for just a brief moment, but long enough for Caroline to catch it. Making Caroline chuckle again. "Oh… I see… You're backing Stefan on this because you hope it'll help bring you two closer." she said before her voice began rising as she found herself getting more upset as she continued.

"You're willing to see two babies possibly hurt all so you can finally have your perfect happy ending with the guy who was supposed to be the father of your child like two hundred years ago!? Seriously!? And you wonder why we're not jumping at the first chance to trust you when you say this will work!?"

Stefan looked over at Ric for a short moment before turning to Caroline again, pulling at her arm so she was no longer facing Valerie. "Can I talk to you alone for a moment?" he asked softly.

Maybe it was because she felt so damn angry and wanted to rip someone, anyone, a new one but in any case, she found herself nodding and following him out of the apartment. They exited the building and began walking down the street in complete silence, the cars driving by in the distant being the only sound as they walked side by side.

After a while, Stefan stopped and looked at her, making Caroline realize he had intendedly walked this far away to make sure none of their friends heard their conversation. "What's going on, Caroline?" he asked softly. "I thought things were settled between us."

"Well, so did I." she scoffed but her attitude weakened as she continued. "But that's before I woke up to your little conversation with Bonnie outside my hospital room. Catching you in the irritatingly repeating act of choosing to run after Damon and Elena instead of staying by my side when I needed you."

"That's not what I'm doing, Caroline." he insisted.

"Really?" she said in disbelief. "Then why are you in such a hurry to kill Julian?"

He pressed his lips together tightly as he studied her for a short moment. "Why do you keep misinterpreting me trying to do the right thing with me choosing everybody else over you?"

"Because that's what you're doing, Stefan!" she burst out, raising her arms in the air. "You're constantly too busy saving everyone else to even spend more than an hour with your own girlfriend, what am I supposed to think about that?"

She grunted in frustration, bringing her hands up to her forehead. "Gosh… I mean, what are we even doing if you keep finding excuses to not be around me anymore? If you keep choosing to take Valerie's side on everything and telling Valerie where you are and what you're doing as if she was the one you supposedly love!?"

"Hey." he said and circled his hands around her wrists, bringing her hands down from her face so he could look into her eyes. "Listen to me, Care. I love you." he said softly.

The words stung, making her eyes water slightly. "Do you?" she asked silently. "Because you're sure not acting like it."

He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked into her eyes for a long moment, then he leaned closer and pulled her into a hard kiss. Caroline second-guessed herself for a short moment before she gave in and started kissing him back.

One of his hands cupped her cheek, holding her in place while the other tangled itself into her hair to pull her closer. She held onto his shoulders and let out a sigh when he slipped his tongue between her lips and intensified the kiss. And she realized that she had missed this. Him. Them.

And for a moment. If even just for a second. Caroline forgot all about the complicated and dramatic and life-threatening factors that came with being who she was, what she was. And for that second she was just a girl in love with her best friend.

But then, as the kiss slowly came to an end, she looked into his eyes and felt a sting of disappointment when she remembered all of those things once again. Because she realized that as of now, the bad was outweighing the good. And the two of them; they were cracking.

She had no idea when it had started or why… And she didn't know what to do to save it from becoming irrevocable either… How did they save what they have before it slipped through their fingers for good?

After everything they'd been through, they had to find a way.

"I love you." she said softly, whishing with all that she had that it would be enough.

He smiled at her and kissed her lips sweetly. "I love you too. Which is why I want to make sure Julian's out of our lives for good as soon as possible... For us."

She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment. "What do you mean?"

He stroked her cheeks and pressed a kiss against her forehead before he let go of her face. "I want to end this for us. So that we can finally leave all of it behind and start over, have the life you should have had and the life that I want to have with you. Together." he explained softly.

"In Dallas?" she asked hopefully.

He smiled. "In Dallas. With Ric and the twins." he promised. "And nothing is going to happen to either of them, or you, if we go through with this spell. Valerie will be there the entire time and she'll make sure to stop the ritual if it seems to be causing the babies any harm. She even thinks she'll be able to get the rest of the Heretics' help to stabilize the spell as much as possible."

"How do you know this will even work?" Caroline sighed.

"We have to try something, anything. And if there's the slightest possibility that this could work then we can't just let the opportunity pass us by."

She pressed her lips together firmly and crossed her arms over her chest, her hands slightly stroking her stomach where the small creatures she now had responsibility of rested peacefully. "I'm scared, Stefan." she admitted.

"You're allowed to be scared." he said with a warm smile. "But you shouldn't let fear control your decisions in life, Caroline. We can't just give up when we're this close to a whole new start... When we can finally be happy for the first time in ages..." he sighed and took her hands into his, squeezing them to focus her eyes on his.

"You wanted me to not choose Damon over you, over us." he reminded her pausing slightly until she nodded for him to continue.

"You asked me to choose you first. Now I'm asking you to do the same, Caroline. Choose us first. Choose your happiness first. Choose our future first... Let's give it our best try, and if it fails then it fails. But if we succeed... Then we can finally have it all. And I believe in you, in us and in these twins… I believe this is our best chance at killing Julian. The question is; do you?"

She studied him for a moment, the control freak in her wanting and needing to at least discuss back-up and escape plans in case anything does go wrong… But she looked into the eyes of the one person she's always trusted throughout the toughest years of her life… And she finally decided to have a little faith in that everything would turn out alright in the end.

Before she had a chance to say anything, Bonnie showed up and interrupted them.

"I think I have an idea." she said, making them look at her eagerly. "We'll do the spell in the barn."

"What barn?" Caroline asked with a sigh.

"The one where Jo and Alaric were getting married in, the one where the whole Gemini Coven died. We'll have you and the babies siphon off the magic from the ground, like you've been doing so far with all the magical objects. And that way they'll be strong enough. We'll be strong enough."

For a moment, Caroline wondered whether she was relieved or scared out of her mind. Because even though this did sound like a much less of a stretch, it did still feel like an impossible plan. But they had done so much more with so much less before. They needed faith, and if Caroline could give that to Ric and help everyone by showing a strong façade… Then that's what she was going to do.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Cross my heart and hope to die

"Tell me again that this will work. Please."

Bonnie was setting up candles all around the empty barn when Ric spoke up. He had been anxious all day as the plan to kill Julian and his men was put into action and Bonnie's continuous and uncertain glances in Enzo's direction didn't help reassure him that they all had this under control.

And it was also made worse by the fact that they were in the exact same spot where he had already lost his family once. Perhaps faith wasn't cruel enough to take it away from him here again? One could only hope.

"Yes." Caroline said as she finally responded to Ric's question. She glanced over at him and took his hand. "Bonnie's got this." she said, partly to convince herself. "And Valerie will be here the entire time."

Ric grimaced and turned his head to watch as Enzo once again shared an off look with the Bennett witch. "You've got this, right?" he asked seriously, making the two of them turn to him with wide eyes.

"Um…" Bonnie cleared her throat and nodded. "We have taken every precaution possible so there's really no reason why this shouldn't work."

"But you didn't answer my question." Ric pointed out.

She cleared her throat and glanced over at Enzo, making Ric's fingers twitch.

"Guys! Please stop with the secret glances and tell me what it is that you're trying not to say in front of me!" he demanded.

Before Ric's accusations were answered, Valerie walked into the barn with another candle, sitting down opposite to Caroline on the floor. "It's time." she said.

"Stefan?" Caroline asked with such a fragile voice that Ric couldn't help but flinch.

Valerie shook her head. "His flight arrives in New Orleans soon, and he won't make any contact once it does. We can't risk alerting Julian to his motives for going there."

"And the rest of the Heretics?" Ric asked. "Will they be able to keep Julian occupied long enough for Stefan and Damon to find and bring back Elena?"

"That is the goal." Valerie said with a breath. "Let's keep up our end of the deal and hope they manage to pull through on theirs."

"I suppose that means part 1 of the plan to exterminate Julian will finally begin?" Enzo smirked, walking up to Valerie with his arms crossed.

She nodded with a small smile. "Are you ready?"

"Oh…" he grinned. "I was born for massacres like these."

Valerie then turned to Caroline once more and gave her a questionable look. "And you? Are you ready for this?"

Caroline nodded and looked at the witch's hands as she held them up to her. "Let's do it."

Valerie took a deep breath and asked her to mimic it. "Try to focus on the twins." she said. "Feel the magic flow through you and into them. Strengthening them. Strengthening you." she guided as Caroline closed her eyes and listened. "Let it fill every cell of your being." Valerie continued, a glow starting to surround Caroline's hands. "Don't let it overtake you, simply allow for parts of it to be absorbed at the time."

A wind flew surrounded them, at the same time as the fire in the candles grew tenfold, making Caroline wince. "It's too much." she whispered.

"Imagine that you are peeling the different layers off the magic, one by one." Valerie tried but Caroline shook her head in protest.

"It's not working, I can't-" she then lost her breath as her face suddenly turned grey. She threw open her eyes and stared at Valerie, not being able to breath.

"What's happening?" Ric said and ran towards them. But he couldn't come closer than three feet without being knocked back again.

"The twins have tapped into the magic." Valerie explained. "Caroline, you need to focus. Don't let them take control." she said as she looked deeply into her eyes, but they were at that moment suddenly turning white.

Bonnie then walked towards them, but Valerie held up a hand to keep her away as well. "Don't interrupt her or the magic will consume her." she said and then grabbed onto Caroline's arms. "Let me help you, Caroline."

Caroline's breathing became frigid as her body was both absorbing the magic and losing it at the same time, not having any handle on what the twins were doing. She yelled out in pain as her body took turns desiccating and healing.

"Caroline." Valerie said and gripped her arms tighter, the candles around them suddenly blowing out and Caroline's eyes closing.

When she opened them again, her eyes were no longer white and the candles were lit once more. She looked at Valerie for a moment before speaking. "I-I think I did it."

Valerie let out a relieved chuckle and everyone around them joined in. "Yes, I reckon you did." She said with a short smile before turning serious. "Now with the easy part over with…"

"I'm on it." Enzo chimed in and nodded towards Caroline. "Stay strong, gorgeous." He said before flashing away.

Ric then looked at Bonnie with a nod. "Your turn." he said.

She squeezed his hand with a soft smile. "Let's begin."

Norah took Mary-Louise's hand with one of hers and squeezed Beau's arm with the other. "Are you ready?" she asked two of the people she had long considered family as they were about to help kill the third.

"This needs to be done." Mary-Louise said with a nod.

Beau nodded in agreement, making Norah gulp.

"Then let's make sure we bring him hell." she said and lifted the cloaking spell, shielding them from everyone in their environment. As soon as the spell was lifted, Damon Salvatore ran towards them as he had spotted them from a distance in the middle of Bourbon St.

"Stefan?" Damon asked, glancing over their shoulders in search for his baby brother.

"Present." the younger Salvatore's voice said as he showed up from behind him with a bag of syringes in his hand.

Damon grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "Let's go get some 400-year old Zombie Douche-Brain Boy Toy blood then." he said and began walking, leading the others to Julian's penthouse suite.

Capture. Draw blood. Kill if necessary. Move onto the next one.

These four steps were what Enzo and Matt had to follown as their part of the mission had already started. They needed blood from Julian's men, whether they donated it willingly or not. Meanwhile, Valerie and Bonnie finished setting up everything for the ritual as they waited for the other Heretics' approval to go ahead with the spell.

Caroline, on the other hand, didn't have any orders or directions to follow. All she needed to do was sit inside a circle of salt with some blood bags nearby for strength. They really had thought of everything, Bonnie and Valerie. Everything except for what Ric was suddenly about to say…

"I don't think this is a good idea after all…" he mumbled and met Caroline's eyes with a strained look. "Maybe we should reconsider…"

"The plan has already been set into motion." Valerie said with a nervous voice. "Almost all of Julian's men are dead or healing from severe injuries. We can't turn back time and undo what has been done."

"Val." Bonnie protested and looked over at Ric. "It's not too late to back out if that's what you want to do."

Ric nodded. "Maybe we should." he said as he paced the floor. "Maybe we should just pack our bags and leave and never look back. Julian isn't our problem."

His last words made Caroline flinch, she knew they were directed at her and shook her head immediately. "Yes, he is." she protested. "He is the reason that Stefan and Damon's mom is dead. He is the reason that Mystic Falls is overrun with vampires. He is the reason that all of this is happening in the first place… He is our problem."

"And that suddenly means my kids need to make the ultimate sacrifice?" Ric argued. "To clean up our messes? To save our skin? To protect a dead-beat town and to mend the Salvatore's broken hearts!?"

Caroline looked at him with an open mouth for a moment before she found her words again. "Ric…" she breathed. "This is the right thing to do."

He shook his head but she didn't stop at that; "We have to make sure we tried everything to take Julian down. Everything." she protested. "And this wouldn't even be an option if Valerie and Bonnie weren't sure they could make it work without hurting the twins. If everything goes smoothly –"

"Come on, Caroline!" he exclaimed, cutting her off. "When has anything ever gone smoothly with any single one of our plans!?"

"This would be the first time." Enzo said, walking into the room with Matt in tow and bags of blood-filled syringes in their hands. "But I say it's worth a shot." he smirked and handed over his half of the collected blood to Valerie before giving Bonnie a look.

"Did everything go okay with you two?" Bonnie asked, glancing between Matt and Enzo.

Matt shrugged. "Let's just get this over with." he said and handed over the last of the blood.

"Actually, I think we should reconsider waiting until the full moon." Ric said.

"We don't have time to spare, Alaric." Valerie sighed.

"Hey." Bonnie hissed at her and turned to Caroline with a soft look. "If you two want to rethink this then take all the time you need. It's a dangerous spell and we can't guarantee that everything will go the way we hope… But we don't have any other options either. And like Enzo said; this is worth a shot."

Ric met Caroline's eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, kneeling down beside her seat on the floor. "We could still drop everything and go. Just… get on a plane to Dallas and start over. It's not too late."

Caroline looked at him in silence for a long moment before she gulped and shook her head. "We can't drop everything. If we can do something, anything, to stop Julian then it's our duty to do so."

"I get that, I do…" he said and grabbed her hand, squeezing it firmly. "But listen, Care… We don't have to save the world right now. We can wait until the full moon. Give you some time to recover from everything… Bonnie and Valerie will be stronger then. The spell won't be as risky as it is now… We could keep an eye on Julian and remain on the down low until it's time to strike… All I'm saying is; that we don't have to do this today."

Ric could see the thoughts running wild across Caroline's eyes. He could sense that she was going to say something but was cut off before she even opened her mouth as Valerie suddenly gasped aloud and clutched her chest.

"Now." Valerie breathed out. "They have Julian but we need to act fast."

Bonnie looked at Caroline and Ric and waited for some kind of reassurance, some kind of sign… Caroline met Ric's eyes and nodded, giving him an answer to his own question as well as Bonnie's.

"Do it." Ric said bitterly as he knew the decision was final and the time for discussion was over. "Do the spell."

Valerie and Bonnie immediately began chanting over a bowl of the blood from Julian's men. Ric couldn't make out what they were saying, all he could focus on was Caroline and her wide round eyes as the two of them both seemed to have the very same thought in that exact moment;

I hope to God this is the right call.

"Who is Caroline?"

Klaus fought hard not to flinch as Freya mentioned the name he'd been trying to keep out of New Orleans ever since he had arrived. He looked away from the blank canvas he was facing, accepting defeat as his momentary surge of creativity had passed for the time being.

"Pardon?" he said, glancing over at his sister as she leaned against the doorframe to his studio with crossed arms over her chest.

Freya shrugged. "Your lack of reaction surprises me since you nearly jumped out of your skin when the Salvatore mentioned her last night."

"Yes, well. You shouldn't misinterpret everything I do, dear sister." he said with a smirk. "Sometimes I act on impulse and with lack of ration, as I'm sure you've noticed by now."

"That's still not an answer, Niklaus." she noted.

He swallowed hard and ducked his head. "She isn't to be mentioned again." he said shortly and turned away from her, pretending to be busy as he grabbed a brush and dipped it in a jar of paint.

"I remember her, vaguely… From when I channeled you and Elijah during my spell to eliminate the threat of Eva Sinclair… I saw some flashes. She is clearly important to you. My question, however, is: is she a threat?" she asked relentlessly. "Is she someone we should be worried about with the prophecy looming upon us?"

"No." he said firmly and glanced over to her. "She is no enemy to this family."

She nodded shortly. "Still, the prophecy didn't exclude friends from your past."

He whooshed over to her with a clenched jaw. "Enough." he threatened coldly. "I don't want to hear you speak of her again in this city, is that understood?"

"Yet, when the Salvatore said her name you were ready to put everything on hold to help him." she pointed out and shrugged. "You had me locate his lost love, make sense of those risky spells he had stumbled upon as well as hand over a bracelet to help us locate him to ensure he doesn't linger in New Orleans for longer than he promised."

Klaus didn't have the chance to threaten Freya again because Hayley suddenly entered the room with Hope in her arms as she looked around in search for something.

"On the windowsill." Klaus said as he remembered having seen Hopes favorite toy laying around in the studio.

Hayley nodded and walked to go fetch it. "Who are we talking about?" she asked curiously when she found it and handed it over to a surprisingly calm Hope. She usually became very upset without her little chess piece, a copy of the one that Klaus had made for Rebekah as a child. The original one had been turned into white oak bullets and placed into Aurora's possession due to the mistrust of Camille and her dear witch friend Vincent…

Klaus gave Freya a grim look but something flickered in her eyes, telling him she wasn't going to keep their conversation to herself. And he did understand her reasoning in the end; his sister had gone a thousand years without her family and she refused to let anyone tear them apart now that they had all finally reunited. Still, he wished she wouldn't push the subject further since it would mean actual danger to the young woman she was so carelessly asking about.

"Someone named Caroline." Freya said, making Klaus close his eyes momentarily. "Do you by any chance know who she might be?"

"Caroline?" Hayley said slowly. "Oh! Right… Yeah, Klaus had a thing for her. Doesn't surprise me that he'd drop everything to be at her beck and call…"

He growled lowly and directed his hybrid eyes at Hayley in warning.

She shrugged at him, apparently, he was losing his touch since neither of the women actually believed he'd act out on his anger… He grunted in frustration and walked back to his canvas to distract himself and take his feelings out on something.

"To what reason is this timid little congregation holding place in here?" Elijah asked as he came to stand beside Freya at the doorway, making Klaus glance over at him with a sigh.

"Well…" Hayley began but Klaus growled again, making her finally hold her tongue. Instead, Freya spoke up…

"I was merely asking Niklaus about this unknown woman that he seems prepared to drop everything for." Freya explained.

Elijah raised his eyebrows and met Klaus' eyes before he looked back at his canvas and began drawing up angry strokes of color onto it.

"I assume you are not discussing his therapist?" Elijah said making Klaus nearly snap the brush in his hand.

"No, not Camille." Freya corrected.

"Caroline." she and Hayley said in comical unison.

"Caroline?" Elijah echoed in confusion, reminding Klaus that his brother may not have officially met the blonde little vampire… They had never had any proper introductions at least…

"Interesting." Freya said. "Not even your brother recognizes the name, yet the mother of your child seems to know all about this Caroline."

"Well, I snapped her neck once. And that pretty much sums up my relationship with her." Hayley muttered, making Klaus throw another glare in her direction. "Anyway, I'll go put Hope to bed now." she announced before leaving the room.

"Niklaus?" Elijah asked expectantly. "Who is this woman?"

He really did break the brush this time and threw the separated parts on the floor. "What, pray tell, do I need to do to make all of you shut up!?"

"Fine." Freya huffed. "Assure me that she isn't a possible threat to this family and I won't bring up her name again."

Klaus glanced over at her and Elijah and shook his head. "She isn't involved in any of this and I wish to keep it that way." he said lowly.

His siblings shared a look before Freya nodded at him and left the room.

"Elijah…" Klaus sighed, knowing a further interrogation was in store.

"Niklaus…" he said with a serious tone and narrowed eyes.

Klaus grunted and headed towards the door. "I will not encourage this discussion any further." he gritted out at his brother as he passed him by and whooshed out of the mansion.

He stopped at a street near the Mississippi and sighed as he sensed Elijah's presence behind him. "Tell me you aren't risking the survival of our family because of some woman you haven't even bothered to mention before." Elijah demanded.

"I assure you, brother, I am doing no such thing." Klaus sneered and faced him with a shrug. "Furthermore, I haven't mentioned her because quite frankly; I hadn't realized she was unbeknownst to you until just now. Rebekah certainly wouldn't ever stop going on about it once anyone brought her up."

"Wait…" Elijah said with a surprised smile. "You don't mean Ms. Forbes? The girl you brought to mother's ball?"

Klaus clenched and unclenched his fists, glancing around them in hopes that no one was overhearing all of these uncalled for details…

"Intriguing." Elijah said and nodded slightly. "I remember Rebekah mentioning the young Donovan-boy having a friend by her name…" he continued thoughtfully. "And apparently Hayley has an acquaintance with her of some sorts… So what exactly is she to you, Niklaus?"

Klaus pressed his lips together firmly, refusing to continue the conversation and ready to tell his brother just that when a flash of red hair made his skin run cold.

"Oh, please…" the feminine chuckle came from behind Elijah, drawing both of their attentions. "Do not tell me that precious Camille is still a current subject of discussion in the Mikaelson household!"

"Aurora." Klaus gritted out. "Would you care to offer me a reason to not rip out your black and withered heart this instance?"

"Because it would be the last thing you do." another voice said from behind Klaus.

"Aya." Elijah said in confusion as he and Klaus stared at the woman holding the weapon with the world's only white oak bullets.

"I am getting so tired of having that vile weapon pointed at me." Klaus hissed.

"May I be so bold as to ask what exactly you two had planned next?" Elijah asked mockingly. "Surely you didn't rely fully on us being unable to outrun a bullet?"

"No. But you certainly won't be able to outrun yourselves." Aya said with a smirk before a searing pain suddenly filled Klaus' head.

He groaned and started falling to the ground, his brother following suit next to him. Like shadows emerging from the dark night, a group of black coats stood around them in a circle, chanting something he couldn't quite catch through the aneurism he was experiencing. "What is this!?" Klaus exclaimed just as Aurora's laughter echoed through the chanting witches.

"Oh, Nik…" she said, appearing before him with a dagger in her hand, it was glistening of a golden color that made Klaus' heart stop with recognition. She grinned and patted the tip of the weapon against her cheek playfully.

"This, my love…" she sighed victoriously as she bent down to his eye level, taking his chin in her hands. "Is justice." she said before snapping his head with one swift move.

Julian was thrown across the room by the Salvatore brothers after quite a long round of punches. Even for a four-hundred-year-old vampire, the two brothers and three heretics were slightly too much to handle. Especially since they had caught him off-guard.

Of course, Julian should have known the little Mystic Falls' gang would come after him once word got out that Elena Gilbert was under his captivity. However, he hadn't expected to see his past friends stand by his enemies.

"Beau…" he coughed up in desperation. "Mary-Louise… We're supposed to be a family."

"Don't try to manipulate them." Norah gritted out before holding her fist in the air in front of her, bringing excruciating pain to Julian's brain.

"You guys got this?" Julian caught one of the Salvatore's ask in the distance as he tried to focus on something aside from the aneurism he was currently experiencing.

"Yes, just go!" Norah yelled out, loosening her touch for a moment. Long enough for Julian to be able to spot a black bag under the living table.

He was just about to reach for it before Mary-Louise threw herself at him and pinned him down on the floor, plunging a syringe into his neck and drawing blood.

Julian grunted out and tried to fight back, but Norah's spell was now being empowered by Beau and its effect thereby multiplied.

"Do it now, Mary-Lou!" Norah yelled out.

Catching something in Mary-Louise's eyes, Julian furrowed his eyebrows as he momentarily expected her to actually let him go. To actually take his side. To actually help him. He saw it, the consideration and the deliberating. The arguments and the protests. But Norah's voice was clearly louder than her own inner ones and she soon got off of him and stood up straight. She stroked her palms against each other with the syringe in between, her eyes closed as she said a few words until the syringe had suddenly disappeared.

No. Julian thought in terror as he realized what they were doing. His blood, his plan… It was all being used against him. That realization brought an anger to him that made the spell on his brain numb just slightly, and just enough for him to grab the bag under the table in the blink of an eye. As the three Heretics began chanting something together, their concentration was wavering and Julian managed to get his hands on a magical object from inside the bag and throw it at them.

The object was a weapon, designed to absorb all magic from a close range. But all it did on the Heretics was make them aware of his suddenly new-found strength and concentration. However, he had more toys in store for them and as he threw a skull-shaped stone at them, he knew he was seeing the last of whom he had once called his family.

The stone broke onto the floor in front of them and a smoke emanated from it, surrounding them and making them cough. They let go of each other, after having held hands for power, and soon they all stumbled down to the ground with their hands hitting their chests in an effort to breathe.

"Sorry, children." Julian said, grabbing the bag and standing up freely now that he was no longer in pain. "But I cannot let you kill me, and I also cannot let you live after you have betrayed me."

"Julian…" Mary-Louise coughed. "Please."

He studied them for a moment as they slowly started desiccating, their magic being sucked out of them by the toxic smoke. And suddenly he felt remorse, a singe of sadness and regret over having written their fates. But this was how it needed to end. They had brought it upon themselves…

Or so he told himself as he flashed out of the penthouse and ran straight towards the graveyard, where he knew he'd find the Salvatore's. Since it was where he had been keeping Elena Gilbert's coffin.

"She's desiccating!" Ric exclaimed in panic as Caroline's skin began to change color. "Why is she desiccating!?" he directed the question towards Valerie but bit his tongue when he saw blood coming out of both hers and Bonnie's noses.

"The connection to the Heretics' magic is gone… We are losing power." Bonnie breathed and lost her balance for a moment.

Enzo caught her and held her up. "Stop the spell!" he commanded.

"No." Valerie grunted out and reached for a candle, throwing it towards Caroline and hitting the salt circle around her. The circle caught fire and flames shielded her from the rest of them as she suddenly collapsed on the floor.

"Stop!" Ric yelled as he stared at the unconscious young woman carrying his children.

"We can do this; we just need to focus!" Valerie protested and grabbed onto Matt's shoulder. "I need blood." she gasped, her face changing.

Matt gave her a terrified look before he reached for a blood bag and gave it to her. She drank it up quickly and let go of him, throwing the empty bag away, instead holding onto Bonnie and nodding.

"Keep chanting." she said and took a deep breath before continuing the spell, pointing a hand in the direction of Caroline as they attempted to continue drawing power from the twins.

Bonnie nodded and followed her lead, except she kept a hand on Enzo's arm and anchored her power from him.

Ric watched as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes without being able to do anything. He couldn't stop the spell. He couldn't help them keep going. He couldn't even go past the high flames surrounding Caroline to ensure she was alright.

Everything was spiraling out of control, and he couldn't do anything about it.

She's alive.

Damon exhaled deeply as he and Stefan finally located Elena's coffin, after four dead vampires and a lot of searching. He rested a hand over the smooth tree and smiled in relief. "I've got you, babe." he said.

"Thanks, sweet-pea."

The brothers jumped at the voice and turned around with wide eyes when they spotted Julian. "How are you not dead?" Damon asked, discreetly positioning himself in front of the coffin to protect Elena.

Julian shrugged. "You all seem to forget a very important detail about me, mate…" he said with a wild grimace. "I am far too resilient to be put down by the lot of you."

He suddenly threw a rope against Stefan, which circled itself around his neck tightly.

"Garh!" Stefan grunted, trying to free himself from the choke-hold of the rope.

"Moreover…" Julian snickered. "Now that I have collected a few of my old friend's magical objects, one might even say that I am untouchable." he said before raising his hand to throw something else but falling to the ground abruptly, his hands pressing against his head.

Showing up behind him was Norah, half-stumbling and half-desiccated with both her fists raised into the air – keeping Julian down. "Go!" she exclaimed. "Get out of here!"

Damon didn't need to be told twice, he took Stefan's arm and slung him over his shoulder while grabbing onto the coffin. "Thank you." he said sincerely to Norah before vamping off.

Norah lost her powers once more and fell to the ground in panting breaths.

Expecting Julian to kill her, she was surprised to see him lying limb with his head turned to the side… His neck had been broken.

Two hands suddenly landed on her shoulders, a familiar scent enveloping her as a smile spread across her lips. "Mary-Lou?" she said, turning around to see the love of her life having come to her rescue.

Mary-Louise grinned with a weak look in her eyes as she nodded towards her. "I've got you, babe." she said, bringing a short laughter out of the two of them.

"Don't start celebrating so soon…" a grumbling voice said, making the two of them snap their heads over to Julian's body as he had already woken up from his temporary death.

"But… How!?" Norah stuttered.

"I picked up a few tricks in New Orleans." he said as he stood up and walked towards them. "And unfortunately…" he said, grimacing before grabbing onto both of their heads at the same time and snapping their necks at once. "I'm not up to sharing them." he said and studied their bodies as they fell down next to each other.

Marcel entered the Mikaelson manor with a grim expression on his face and Josh in tow behind him. They hurried inside and soon found Freya and Hayley standing around an unconscious Lucien.

"Got any information out of him yet?" Marcel asked as he circled the chair Lucien was currently chained to and studied him closely, half expecting him to jump up and kill them all at once.

"He's still weak from having been vervained for so long." Freya explained as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But hopefully he'll wake up soon enough and help us find wherever Aurora took my brothers."

"And you're sure she's the one who took them?" Josh asked as Marcel squatted in front of Lucien.

"Considering our search for Klaus and Elijah lead us to an abandoned warehouse filled with her scent… Yeah, pretty sure." Hayley said and turned her head warily to her side. "Let's wake this son of a bitch up already so we can find the father of my child." she gritted out.

"On it." Marcel said and grabbed Lucien's hand, breaking his wrist with a loud crack.

"Bloody…" Lucien hissed as he flinched at the pain. His eyes shot open and landed on Freya. "Well, this is quite the unorthodox wake-up call." he muttered as he studied the chains holding him to the chair.

Marcel stood up straight, crossing his arms and looking down at him with a grim face. "Tell us everything you know." he ordered. "Where did Aurora take Klaus and Elijah?"

Lucien looked around the room and tilted his head to the side, still weak it seemed. "Apologies, but I don't possess the answer to your question. Aurora didn't involve me in whatever plan of hers this is." he said with a shrug.

Marcel sensed there being more to the story and squinted at him. "She must have told you something. Speak up."

He scoffed in response and shook his head. "Yes. She was quite fond of sharing her little revenge fantasies… However, when she mentioned White Oak bullets and daggering Nik, I realized just how far off the rails she had truly gone and decided to save my own skin by not letting her kill the sire of my bloodline…" he assessed his shackles with a tug of his arm and sighed before looking back up at Marcel again.

"All of which resulted in the love of my life shoving me inside a locker and pumping me full of vervain, so surely you can understand that I'm not quite as updated on her change of endgame as you may have first hoped."

"Wait…" Freya said with a furrow. "She spoke of daggering Niklaus? Did she have any means of doing so?"

"Not exactly." Lucien grimaced.

With an irritated huff, Hayley stalked over to him with a glare. "How about you give us something concrete to go on and we don't let one of those chair legs end up inside your chest?" Hayley threatened. "Or would you prefer my teeth in your neck?"

Lucien chuckled and let out an eased sigh. "Oh, darling. You need to polish up on your seduction tactics, I'm really not into the sort of kinks that include being on the verge of death." he joked with a wink.

His smug expression was immediately wiped off and turned into a pained scowl as Freya chanted a few hexing words.

"Alright!" he grunted out, making her stop as he took a few deep breaths. "There is a weapon." he told them.

"What weapon?" Marcel asked.

"The kind that works the same way as those used to incapacitate the other Originals." he explained. "A golden dagger laced with ashes of the White Oak tree."

Hayley froze at the words, meeting Marcel's eyes as she glanced over at him knowingly.

"Wait…" Josh said carefully. "How is that even possible?"

"It isn't." Freya insisted. "The dagger was destroyed by Dahlia months ago."

"Yes well, no one said anything about it being the only one." Lucien muttered. "Now, would you mind untying me so that we can begin actually searching for Klaus or do you prefer conversing with me for the rest of the night while Aurora does who-knows-what to my sire?"

"How did Aurora procure another golden dagger?" Freya asked, ignoring Lucien's suggestion. "I was under the impression that Kol was the only one capable of creating a weapon of the sorts."

Lucien sighed and tilted his head back in defeat. "She is most likely to have stolen it."

"From whom?" Marcel said impatiently.

"Me." Lucien confessed. "She must have taken it from me."

The room went silent for a long second as his words sunk in.

"What!?" Hayley breathed out as she was the first one to speak.

"So, you're saying…" Marcel shook his head in disbelief. "That you've had a weapon capable of putting Klaus to rest this entire time and you haven't used it already?"

"The same rules still apply as to any ordinary silver dagger." Lucien told him. "Only an Original can use it on Klaus without being affected themselves." He suddenly lifted his head up with wide eyes. "Unless…" he whispered.

"Unless what!?" Freya said restlessly.

"Unless Aya found a way around that little… Hurdle." Lucien thought aloud.

"Aya?" Marcel echoed and looked up at Josh shortly. "How do you know she's involved in all of this?"

"Because Aurora wouldn't have been able to apprehend two Original vampires on her own, even if she brought the gun with White Oak bullets with her." Lucien noted.

"The Strix coven…" Freya sighed, drawing Marcel's attention as he stared at her in confusion. "She must've planned this all along… Her witches were most likely prepared for this and the prophecy could have been fabricated… Only to have us all on enough of an edge to become distracted! That way we would never have seen the attack coming from them."

"That's not true." Marcel protested. "If it were then that means Davina –" his voice died down as he looked at a frowning Freya. "No." he said and looked over at Josh again.

"Davina knew about this." Josh said, finishing his thought for him. "She helped them…" he shook his head in disbelief. "But why?"

"Why do we ever do anything without regard of morals or ethics?" Lucien said dramatically and nodded towards Marcel. "Love."

"Kol." Marcel said with defeat in his voice. "Aya promised to help her bring Kol back, this must've been the price."

"We need to stop her, Marcel." Freya said pleadingly.

He nodded in agreement. "Good news is I know where they are. Bad news; I have a plan." he said with a grimace. "And it's as far from a 'safe bet' as possible."

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Cold hearts

The first thing Klaus noticed as he slowly returned to consciousness was the cold. It was an odd sensation since he was convinced he had lost the human vulnerability of freezing by now, unless it was under extreme measures of course. Which it must have been in this case since he was, for the first time in a thousand years, actually shuddering and chattering his teeth just slightly. It was the first movement he made as his eyes were still closed and his body remained in the paralyzing state that he'd been put in by the witches and…

Aurora.

The thought lit a fiery rage in him, making him move his toes and fingers by determination and aiding in ignoring the freezing sensation that consumed him. His instincts told him that he needed to push through the benumbed state and he immediately began focusing all of his anger on just that.

Sounds began to reach his ears as his mind cleared up from the fog caused by the spell. He could hear a wind passing through leaves and concluded that he must be in a forest somewhere. Soon he gained control over his hands and started clenching and unclenching them to speed up the waking process. He realized he was in a tight place, since his breaths kept ricocheting back to his face each time he took one.

His head still too numb to move, he finally opened his eyes and stared straight into darkness. A strong earthy scent filled him and he assumed he might be buried in a wooden casket somewhere in the woods… Since that seemed to be Aurora's favorite trick nowadays after what she did to Freya.

The question remained whether he was still in New Orleans or not. And if he'd been gone for minutes, hours, or days… Or perhaps even years, decades… Centuries…

A panic spread in his throat, down his chest and filled his stomach. Adrenaline followed and seemed to speed up the process of regaining sensation in his body. He could now lift his head up a little, a tingling shiver running down his neck and spine as he did so. His eyes adjusted to the dark and he looked down to see his theory had been correct; he was in deed in a coffin. Buried. Paralyzed.

Vulnerable.

Alive.

Another bolt of adrenaline rushed through him and he regained feeling in his stomach and arms. His legs were still numb, his feet were however slowly waking up from what felt like an eternal and distressed sleep.

He clenched his jaw and breathed through his teeth as he aimed all of his determination on raising his arms to try and push open the casket's lid. He lifted them to his elbows finally and he flexed his upper arms a few times to gain more power before pushing his hands up against the lid. It opened slightly but was quickly closed again, small amounts of dirt seeping through and hitting his face. He laid his arms back down and took a moment to concentrate. Then he threw his hands, palms first, up against the lid once more with as much force as his numbed state could allow him. It only resulted in more dirt filling up the sides of the casket.

He huffed in frustration, imagining there being some kind of restraint keeping the casket closed and listened as he pushed against the lid once more. There was a metallic rattle that he hadn't noticed before and he cursed as he identified it.

Chains.

Brilliant. Bloody brilliant.

As his abdomen and legs finally began freeing from the paralysis, he gathered the strength of his upper body and prepared himself for a third try. He pressed his hands up against the lid for a second, then he quickly pulled his arms back as far as he could in his small space and pushed upward with all of his force.

The chains tore at the impact and he growled as he tried one last time and finally managed to push open the casket. The lid flew up through the ground, dirt starting to refill the hole that had been created. It took a long moment before he had enough control over his legs to jump from the casket and he nearly flew up to the surface. He collapsed on the ground a few feet away, his body sore and a stabbing pain spreading from the energy-consuming act. Exhaling deeply as he let relief wash over him for a moment. He was free. Awake.

Alive.

Rolling over from his side, onto his hands and knees, he gathered every ounce of energy he could muster up. He took a leap and threw himself forward on his feet, beginning to run. Unsure of where he was going but determined to get far away from the grave behind him. He quickly set a pace that came as close to his hybrid speed as possible in his current state, running faster and faster until he finally felt like normal again.

A proud smile sneaked up on him as he realized he had just redefined what so many athletes would call walking it off. He stopped and focused once again on his surroundings. Clearly, he had been right about the forest. But he had no clue as to where he was. The wind in the trees was all he could hear as he listened closely for his brother. Surely, he had to be somewhere, perhaps even buried like Klaus had been. But there were no signs whatsoever on there being another presence in the woods aside from Klaus himself…

Furthermore, Klaus found it strange to see the sky so light and cloudless since there wasn't a sun anywhere to be found. That was how he realized this place was far less physical than it was spiritual. So there was a possibility that his brother wasn't here with him but in a prison of his own mind instead.

"Elijah!" he called out, his voice echoing through the forest and bouncing between the trees. He was about to call out again when a sharp breeze blew past behind him, making him spin around in search for whatever being might have caused it.

Another gust of wind passed a few trees a distance away, he ran in its direction and began to see that the woods thinned out not far from him.

This wasn't an infinite forest then, good to know.

He continued running until the green landscape began opening up and the trees were soon left behind him. That's when he found himself in a neighborhood with old and abandoned buildings. Standing at the beginning of a long, deserted street. Trees covering the opposite end of the neighborhood in the distant horizon which only his hybrid sight could detect. It all reminded him of some old western movie where the antagonist ordered a stand-off with the protagonist during sunset, whereas the town's habitants would all be hiding in their homes from fear of getting caught in the crossfire. He wondered for a moment whether he, in this particular simile, was the hero or the bandit and began walking further into the street.

"Klaus!"

He turned around and let his eyes search for the familiar voice. His blood turned to ice when he saw Camille emerging from behind a tree in the forest he'd just left. In the forest he'd just dug himself out of a grave from…

How convenient.

With no reason to even think about it, he raced up to her with her throat in a firm grip. "I see you peg me for a fool, Aurora." he spat as he could see his hybrid features reflect in 'Cami's' eyes. "Now, I might consider ending your life with much less torture than originally planned if you answer one single question honestly; What have you done to Elijah?" he asked through gritted teeth and loosened his hold around her throat only the slightest to allow an answer.

"Klaus…" she coughed up. "You're… hurting me."

His jaw clenched as he squeezed her throat even tighter than before, lifting her up from the ground and thereby holding her an arm's length away. He was disgusted that Aurora would stoop to such low depths as to try and trick him this way. Attempting to get him to lower his guard and probably end up back in another wooden casket a few dozen feet deeper into the ground than before…

"Please… Klaus…" she pleaded, gasping and running her hands over his to try and free herself from his hold.

"Enough!" he growled and threw her against the same tree which she had appeared from, making it break underneath her. But suddenly she was on her feet again and she seemed completely unaffected, not having a single scratch on her. That only confirmed what he'd suspected right away; this was not Camille.

Before he could give it a second thought, she had raced up to him and knocked him in the gut so hard that he flew backwards and into a building. A little surprised at the pain shooting up and down his back from the crash, he clenched his teeth to hold back a grunt.

As he was about to get up from the pile of bricks underneath him, he caught sight of her through the hole in the wall he'd flown through and tried to analyze the woman. Not even Aurora should be able to get in such a powerful blow when met with the Original Hybrid. Even if he had just regained his strength after having fought a paralysis spell… The blonde may not be Cami, but perhaps she wasn't Aurora in disguise either then.

"That's no way to treat a lady." she pouted and walked over to him casually and kicking a few pebbles from the ground to her side.

He stepped over the remains of the brick wall and clenched his fists, preparing for a fight. Whomever this creature was, Camille or Aurora, protagonist or antagonist, bandit or hero – he was not going to be beaten by them.

"Don't you recognize this place, Niklaus?" she said in a venomous tone. "Don't you see how lifeless it is? How cold it is? Ghostly even?"

He reacted to the way she had gone from calling him Klaus to Niklaus. That narrowed down the possible identities of the person standing before him. However, he refused to indulge in this bizarre game and glared at her without responding.

"You do, don't you?" she said with narrowed eyes and a wicked smile on her lips. "You know exactly what this place is. What it does. What you, being here, means."

She suddenly let out a cold laugh that made his whole body tense up. "Or are you so naïve that you honestly think getting out of that little pine box meant that you were safe? That you were… Alive?"

A lump formed in his throat at her words but he pushed the small panic aside. Of course he was wondering where the hell he was and what on earth he was doing here but there wasn't any time to dwell on this now. He needed to find and help Elijah, in case he had been buried alive as well, or otherwise incapacitated.

He was prepared to launch himself at her when a shriek from the other, far end of the street made both of them freeze and turn their heads in its direction.

"Nik!"

Klaus recognized his brother Kol's voice and could swear he heard his heart stop at the sound of it. He quickly shook it off though and turned back at 'Camille', taking the opportunity to attack her while she was still turned away in chock as he too had been. As he was about to jump at her he felt a gush of wind beneath him and then she was suddenly gone.

The moment his knuckle touched the pavement instead of her, he rushed up from the ground and turned to look for her. But she was nowhere in sight. Whoever or whatever she had been.

He began running over to the other end of the street, towards where he had heard Kol's call. When he reached the forest on that end, he looked around in confusion when he found no one there. Then the sound repeated itself coming from back where he had just been. On the other side of the street.

Was this a trick as well?

He pushed the thought aside at the memory of how Camille had reacted before at the sound of Kol's voice, as if she hadn't expected it either. If Aurora's own illusions hadn't planned on hearing it, then it must have been real.

With that in mind he began running towards the new direction, determined to find out whether his theory was correct or simply naive. But merely halfway there his eyes caught sight of blonde hair and he stopped dead in his tracks. He turned back and spun around in search for 'Camille', starting to wonder if perhaps she had simply lured him away from Kol's true location – wherever that might be. Irritation began painting his vision red as he ran back and forth and through each and every building in the neighborhood, looking for her. If he could not find his brother then at the very least he would make sure that Aurora, and her hallucinations, suffered for it.

Then a different theory hit him and filled him with sheer panic: What if it was all a trick?

What if Kol was never even there?

What if Aurora was playing him like a fiddle in this ghost town with more illusions yet?

As he walked past an alley he caught a glimpse of golden hair once more in the corner of his eye. He immediately ran towards it, prepared to prove that Aurora's games would not get to him, nor crack his sanity. No matter how many ghosts she threw his way. But he suddenly froze in place when he saw her.

The blonde standing a few feet away with his back turned against him was not the ghost he had been chasing.

Far from it.

He didn't even question her identity for a single second because he had painted her enough times to recognize her silhouette anywhere. And he had both studied and dreamt of her so often that he would always remember her poise, stance and the energy to her presence.

Caroline Forbes.

The strong young vampire; so full of light, fire and potential… Of brilliance.

His undead heart ached and battered in his chest at the sight. For a moment he forgot about his surroundings and the circumstances and simply allowed himself the overwhelming sensation of seeing her again after all this time.

"Caroline?" he breathed out, afraid that if he spoke too loudly that she would disappear into the same thin air which she seemed to have appeared from.

She turned around slowly to face him, her features as soft and beautiful as he remembered. "Klaus…" she said with a tiny smile on her lips and a spark in her eyes.

Warmth spread inside of him and with it an inevitable grin on his face… How poetic it was to see her here, in this deserted world, as if being sent to him like an angel of mercy… His last taste of hope. His last shred of light. His last everything.

That's what this is then, he thought as he figured it out. This is death. It has to be.

But since there was no real afterlife to expect as an Original, this must be something else. Something similar to death or close to it…

The other side may not exist but there most certainly was death. And therefore the souls of the supernatural would need to pass over through some state before facing their fate…

Limbo.

And she must be here to guide the way to his end then… It was all so Shakespearean and morbid, beautiful and tragic… And much too good to be true.

But it had to be… There was no way for Aurora to know –

Caroline's expression changed after a moment and the newfound confusion on her face hit him like a wave as he was suddenly reminded of reality. His awestruck features hardened, his lips pressed firmly into a thin line and his eyes glared with hatred.

"Enough with the illusions, Aurora." he growled and spun around with his hands in the air. "I don't care for this game of yours…" he shouted into the sky with open arms, daring her to stop hiding behind her ghosts. "Drop the theatrics already and show your true self!"

He had turned away from Caroline but still caught her flinching at his tone in the corner of his eye. It made him spin around and stare at her, waiting for her to attack him like the past illusion had done. Or at the very least turn into any other shape so that he may feel even remotely capable of actually fighting back.

Because hurting Caroline, even if it wasn't truly her, was not within his abilities.

"Why are you here, Klaus?" she asked him, looking so lost and confused that he felt the strongest bewilderment consume him.

What is she talking about!? The words ran around in his mind and made him want to shake her in the hopes of getting her to finally give up the act.

She took a step towards him and he immediately stepped back. All of her confusion formed into a wrinkle between her eyebrows at his reaction. "I don't understand." she said and shook her head. "What's going on, Klaus?"

Then she attempted moving closer to him once more, he mirrored every step she took to close the distance between them by enhancing it with his own step backwards.

He waited for the genuineness in her expression to crack or fade in any way, thereby revealing that she was in fact faking all of it. But she only shook her head as if waiting for him to explain it all to her. He, however, was just as confused and expected the very same from her.

Another long moment passed, or well… it felt long to him since every moment where he was so close to her without actually touching her had always felt like an eternity to him. A sting of hope nudged at his heartstrings and he felt the burning desire to go to her, to hold her, to inhale her scent and absorb her warmth…

Before he could stop himself, he had taken a step towards her this time instead of the little dance that had previously taken place between the two of them.

She didn't back away nor make any move in response, so he took another step, observing her intently the whole time. Once there was only a mere foot between them he took a deep breath, letting her scent fill him.

Still afraid she'd disappear if he moved too rashly, he raised a hand and carefully cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. Searching her face for any traces of deceit… but he found none.

Her eyes fluttered close at his touch and she leaned into his hand, making his breath hitch slightly. "Is this a mirage?" he asked as he tried to keep himself from falling for this trick as he had with the one of Kol's calls.

She opened her eyes and met his with a soft smile on her lips. "I could ask you the same thing." she giggled and laid a hand on top of his.

He felt a flutter in his chest at the sound, the most beautiful and blissful sound in the universe. An involuntary smile spread across his lips as he dared hope that this might not be yet another of Aurora's illusions. But then another thought crossed his mind and filled his lungs with gravel.

If this is not a trick than how is she here?

His hand dropped from her face as the worry rooted inside of him. He took a deep breath and looked closely into her eyes. "Did something happen to you, Caroline?" he asked with a serious tone.

She seemed confused for a moment and stared into the air to her side as if trying to remember something. Then she nodded her head and looked down at her stomach. Her hands moved softly over her shirt before looking back up at him with a sad frown tugging at her lips. "How did you know?"

He shut his eyes, a grunt escaping his throat as he could indeed feel the painful verification stab him in the chest… Caroline was hurt. That's why she was here.

And as if having read his thoughts she soon repeated her earlier question. "Why are you here, Klaus?" her voice was merely a whisper, filled with hints of panic as she seemed to understand what he now knew for sure.

He opened his eyes and failed to fight back a wide grin as he met her wide blue ones. "Don't worry, love." he reassured her and took her face in both hands, tilting it slightly so their lips were merely inches apart. "I won't be here for long." he smirked and looked down at her mouth. He had to fight hard not to kiss her senseless now that he was certain it was indeed her.

"So, this is a real place?" she asked, making his eyes return to look into hers for a moment.

"Yes." he said and nodded before looking back at her lips again. His right thumb stroked her lower lip to free it from its sudden captivity between her teeth. "And it is no place for you." he told her as his gaze moved back to her eyes.

He began wondering that if Caroline had somehow ended up in here as well, then perhaps that meant Elijah was nearby after all… He hadn't seen nor heard him whatsoever so it was possible his older brother was absent from this world. Then again… What about Kol?

His thoughts dimmed out when she cleared her throat. She looked at him with so much concern that it made his heart ache. "How do we get out of here?" she asked with a surprisingly determined tone and wrapped her hands around his wrists.

He smiled at her. "Caroline…" he sighed and rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to clear his thoughts.

He wanted to tell her the truth that he was beginning to dread; that there was no way out of here. Not one where they could get out together anyway. It was most likely necessary that an external source bring them out of this state through some kind of spell. Freya would surely be on it as they were speaking.

But he couldn't know whether Caroline had anyone on her end attempting the same.

He promised himself to find her and have Freya rescue her right away, if he ended up leaving this place before she did. Then he pushed the unwariness aside as he just wanted to enjoy her company for a moment. He had missed her so much that he began thinking he would go completely mad if he'd have to wait another year for her to take him up on his ever-lasting offer.

Her racing heartbeat was like music to his ears, clearing his mind on anything other than the earth shattering and mountain moving fact that he was finally seeing her again after all of this time. How come so many centuries had passed him by and yet the last two years had felt like the longest of time?

"I really hope this is just another dream." she whispered after a moment of silence.

It made him open his eyes and tilt his head back a little, studying her with a smirk and a suggestively raised eyebrow. "Another?" he echoed amusedly. "Have you been dreaming an awful lot of me, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes. "Now I know it's not. Thanks for ruining it." she scoffed and took a step back, making his hands fall from her face.

He chuckled and cocked his head slightly to the side. "Well, be that as it may… I do believe we are imprisoned here together so we might as well make the most of it." he said with a wide smirk.

She snickered and crossed her arms over her chest. "We're both stuck in this place and your first thought is sex!?"

Laughing again at the mixed expressions on her face, he shook his head and sighed. "Oh, no. Not at all, love. I was suggesting we catch up on the rather long time we've been apart for or perhaps put our clever heads together and start working towards leaving here." he said, feigning false innocence. "It's you who went straight to that assumption."

She scoffed in disbelief. "Whatever." she muttered and looked up into the sky. "What's going on with the sun by the way?" she asked.

He shrugged and smiled at her. "Come on, sweetheart. I thought I saw a still perfectly stocked-up Gin-joint on the other side of the street that seemed fit enough for a woman of your standards."

She sighed. "We don't have time for small-talk over drinks, Klaus. We've got to find a way out of here!"

He rolled his eyes but couldn't wipe the smile off his face. "Very well. Where do you suggest we start?"

Pursing her lips in thought, she looked down at her stomach again for a moment. The act seemed odd to him and he raised an eyebrow as he was prepared to ask her about that, but she beat him to it. "I feel like I'm forgetting something…" she murmured.

"Like what, Caroline?" he asked softly with furrowed eyebrows.

She looked up at him and shrugged. "Something important... I feel it in my gut… There's something missing that I can't figure out."

He studied her for a moment, wondering if he was remembering everything perfectly himself. Was he forgetting something too? Perhaps something essential to how he was put in this place?

"Hey, you said something weird when you saw me." she commented with a confused look. "You said a name… Aurora, was it?"

The reminder made him tense as he realized Caroline being here might mean she was in far more trouble than he'd originally thought. Especially if Aurora's illusions were still present and lurking in the shadows… If Aurora found out about Caroline –

"So?" Caroline asked impatiently. "Are you going to explain what that whole monologue you had earlier was about? You got girl troubles or something?"

He sighed and looked to his side, as if expecting all of his problems to appear at the mere mention of them.

"Oh…" Caroline said, making him snap his eyes back to her. "Oh!" she said again, stroking her arms with her hands as if she was feeling cold… An uncomfortable look on her face and an off smile on her lips. "I see."

He shook his head. "Caroline –" he said, beginning to clarify everything but she held up a palm to silence him.

"Did you hear that?" she asked and glanced over her shoulder.

"Hear what, love?" he said carefully and took a step closer to her.

She looked back at him with a distracted expression. "I thought I heard Bonnie…" she said and slowly her face morphed before him as realization dawned upon her and her eyes grew wide. "Oh my God…" she gasped and threw her hands to her abdomen, drawing both their attentions to it. "Oh my god! Klaus, I have to get back right now!" she exclaimed as she grabbed his arms.

"Caroline…" he began as he attempted to calm her but she only shook her head.

"You don't understand, Klaus." she said with a panicked chuckle. "They're dying!"

"Who is?" he asked seriously, reaching for her cheek but she only shook her head away from him.

Ignoring his question, she drew her hands up to her forehead in sheer panic. "I can't believe they didn't stop the spell…" she breathed out and turned away from him. "They're going to die and I can't do anything to save them…"

"Caroline, you're not making any sense, love." he said and reached for her arm but she pulled away yet again. "Take a breath." he pleaded.

She stared at him. "You heard her right?" she asked. "You heard Bonnie? It was like she was right here except she wasn't… I swear I heard her, she… She has to –" she stuttered on before freezing up and snapping her head back to her side. "There!" she said and looked at him. "You heard that, right?"

He shook his head in response as she began walking to the wall at the end of alley, holding her hands up over the brick wall.

"Where is she?" she mumbled and spun around to look to him for answers.

He gulped hard, suddenly feeling useless as he can't help her find her way out of here. "Perhaps it was coming from a different direction, sweetheart?" he suggested.

She nodded. "Right. Yeah. You're right. There's probably just bad acoustics in this particular spot… Right? That's it?"

Her eyes were glossy and filled with panic as she looked at him, making his heart clench in pain. He wished he could tell her something, anything to calm her down…

"Wait…" she gasped and looked over his shoulder for a moment, making him glance back to see if there was anyone standing behind him. There was nothing there but before he knew it Caroline was running past him and in that very same direction.

"I think it's coming from here…" she murmured as he walked up to stand beside her on the sidewalk.

He studied her closely as she suddenly gasped.

"There! That's her." she breathed out in relief and looked at him with a teary smile.

He swallowed hard as disappointment filled her stomach because he realized she was leaving… Her face from earlier stuck in his mind as she'd asked him if he had been having 'girl trouble'…

"You don't hear it." she said as her smile faltered at realization. "What does that mea–" she began but he cut her off by pressing his lips to hers and cupping her face firmly.

She was leaving and he'd be damned if he let her go without a proper farewell.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as she kissed him back, making him smile victoriously. She sighed slightly as she held him closer to her and he relished in the sweet taste of her. In the sensation of finally having her in his arms once more. His hands becoming desperate to keep her there for as long as possible.

After a while he sighed as he slowly pulled away, holding her face as he rested his forehead against hers and looked at her intently. She looked so beautiful with her slightly swollen lips, her somewhat darkened eyes, her breathing incoherent and her heart racing like a hummingbird's in his ears. It brought an amazed smile to his lips.

"How come I am constantly saying goodbye to you, Caroline?" he sighed and stroked her cheeks tenderly.

Her face turned distractedly to her side as she seemed to hear something once more. She looked back at him with an uncertain expression, biting her lip nervously.

"It's alright, sweetheart." he said and put a lingering kiss on her temple. Meeting her slightly glossy eyes with a reassuring, soft smile. "I highly doubt this will be the last we see of each other."

She laughed a little at his words, but it was a bittersweet chuckle that hid the tears that seemed determined to form in her beautiful eyes. "Good." she said and sniffled softly. "Because if I wake up to find out that you're dead… Then I will come after you."

He chuckled and pushed a strand of her hair away from her face, feeling so many words build up in his mind that she was not yet ready to hear. Perhaps one day, in a few years, she would be. And then he would be waiting to show her everything in life as enchanting, fascinating and captivating as her. Although very few things seemed to even shine when in comparison to her light.

She jerked her head over her shoulder once more and sighed with frustration. "I have to go." she whispered, still not meeting his eyes. "Goodbye, Klaus."

It stung him but he decided not to overthink it. Instead he let go of her and watched her as she slowly turned away. Taking a slow step after another and seemingly fading into oblivion with each and every one of them. She didn't turn around even once to glance back at him as she left, which made him feel so abandoned that he wished he could turn his back on her as well.

But he didn't.

He couldn't.

All he could do was watch her as she disappeared and then keep staring into the air that had once been her, almost expecting her to reappear before him again. But she didn't. She was gone.

She is safe, the thought made it suddenly a thousand times easier to breathe. He was so very relieved that she had managed to leave. Because that meant she wasn't trapped here, in this limbo ghost town…

That meant she was no longer hurt or in need of help. That meant she was returning to her life and to her friends. To the land of the living.

And him, on the other hand, was not.

And with that he finally allowed himself to explore the thoughts that had been trying to fill his mind ever since he left the casket in the woods.

After having spent a millennia running from his father and at the same time trying his best to enjoy life; he had constantly been caught in the uneven balance of living and existing. At one moment he was experiencing the world fully and wholeheartedly, the next he was fleeing with his siblings to a new country or even a new continent in hopes of staying away from Mikael.

All that time he had struggled to find the pleasures in life that could keep his heart warm as they fled from yet another place that they would've wrongfully believed to be safe…

And now, after finally freeing himself of his father and his mother – even of his aunt and everyone else that had tried to take away his power, freedom or life during the past few years. After all of that, he was now stuck in this place where living was a luxury he could not attain.

This was his hell; he would be forever doomed to merely exist instead of actually living. To breathe and live but to never truly experience life itself. It was a cruel punishment, one that he was glad Caroline was free of.

On the other hand, Caroline had grown to become one of the more expensive luxuries in his life that made his world colorful, animated and vital again. Without her here, he had now sealed his own faith and damned himself to the life-less existence that he was facing.

A place which he would solely inhabit for the rest of eternity if he did not manage to escape.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as he realized they were only making the situation worse. There was enough time to dwell over how he'd gotten where he was and what he'd lost in spite of his lifelong fight to keep said things. Now, though, was the time for action – not reflection. He needed to find a way out of here, and then make sure that Caroline had truly done the same.

Then a thought hit him as he was walking down the street: Caroline had been able to leave because she'd heard Bonnie Bennet's voice.

That could suggest that the sound of Freya's call wasn't a hallucination… That could mean that her voice had caused Aurora's tricks to seize to appear…

He immediately rushed over to the far end of the street from which he had heard his sister's voice the first time. With Caroline's scent fresh in his memory he felt a bigger need than ever to leave this place. He had after all people to protect in the real world. Not only Caroline, but his family. Not to mention the things he had in store for the ones responsible for putting him in here in the first place.

With that he heard a sudden echo from the trees and felt a relieved smile cross his lips. Perhaps the key to staying alive was the same as to actually living; to constantly remind yourself of what you were living for.

The thought circled his mind as he heard another echo in the forest and turned to follow it.

It was time to return to life. Where he had loved ones to keep safe and enemies to bring hell upon.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Cold hands

Alaric felt numb.

He stared at the nurses and doctors as they shook their heads and apologized to him but he couldn't understand how it had happened. All he knew was that Caroline was still unconscious and could be waking up at any time, and when she did she would be alone.

All alone.

As he considered reentering her room, a voice broke through between the different medical terms that was being tossed around in the room as the medical team tried their best to make sense of the odd situation. But they couldn't, they didn't have all of the pieces to the puzzle to understand it. Hell, Ric himself did and he still couldn't believe this was actually happening.

"How is she?" Stefan said as he stared at the doctors before turning to Ric again. "Is she awake?"

The numbness lifted at that question, like a fog having clouded his senses and mind. Now he could finally form thoughts again, however they were fully consumed by blind rage and before he knew it he had attacked the younger Salvatore with his fist.

"Ric! Easy, buddy!" Damon hissed as he showed up to grab onto his friend's shoulder, but Alaric shook him off.

"Look, Ric. I'm sorry about what happened –" Stefan began as he stood up after having fallen to the floor from the spontaneous punch.

"Get. Out." Alaric said through clenched teeth, already feeling his hands wanting to hit him again and again. "Or the next one won't be as easy to recover from."

Stefan exchanged a look with Damon before his older brother pulled at Alaric, turning him away from the man responsible for the death of his unborn children.

"Hey, let's go get wasted like never before in a bar far away from Mystic Falls, hm?" Damon said carefully, with sympathetic eyes. "I'll even give you blood to make sure your human limit won't become a problem, what do you say?"

"I'm not leaving Caroline alone!" Ric protested, offended that his friend would even suggest such a thing.

"Is she awake!?" Bonnie's voice disrupted Damon's response as she and Enzo came up to the three men.

"Not yet." Alaric gritted out, casting a glare at Stefan's direction. "I thought I told you to leave."

"I'm here for Caroline, Ric." Stefan said slowly.

A cold chuckle escaped his lips at that. "Do you seriously think that she will want to see you after what you did?" he asked incredulously as a bitter smile spread across his lips. He took a step towards him with the anger still floating through every vein in his body. "After your decision to save Elena caused the lives of the children she was carrying? After you chose Elena… Over your own girlfriend."

Stefan pressed his lips together firmly as Ric continued moving towards him, keeping silent as he went on.

"You were the one who convinced her to do the spell. She wanted to trust you, to believe in you." Ric said venomously as he poked his chest with his index finger, letting out another cold chuckle. "And so, she went against her better judgment. She had us both go against our better judgments."

His face turned into stone as he watched guilt fill Stefan's eyes. "And all because of your selfish vendetta against Julian." he said with a dangerously low voice.

"So, tell me Stefan…" He leaned in close to whisper the next part even though everyone would most likely hear the next part perfectly. "Was it worth it? Was my children dying worth coming to your brother's girlfriend's rescue yet another time?"

"That's enough, Alaric." Valerie's voice suddenly announced her presence as she stepped to Stefan's side. "As apologetic as I am for your grief…" she said with a shake of her head before she glanced over to Damon. "We don't have time to point accusatory fingers at anyone right now. Julian will soon catch up with us. We need to leave before he does."

"Then leave." Ric told her before looking back at Stefan again. "Julian's beef isn't with me and Caroline. Just you and your brother. You said so yourself."

"That doesn't mean he won't come after you." Enzo protested, making Alaric glance back at him. "Or Valerie, or me, or Bonnie for that matter. We all had a part in this. He will not take too kindly to that. No matter what losses we may have suffered due to our roles in our plan to end him."

"Enzo and Valerie are right." Bonnie said. "Arguing about who did what isn't going to get Julian off any of our backs. We need to leave Mystic Falls, all of us. Including you and Caroline."

"Then I'll go to Dallas with Caroline as soon as she wakes up. But he…" Ric pointed at Stefan with a glare and nod of his head. "Isn't going anywhere near her."

"Ric, I know you're upset but that isn't very fair –" Damon began but Ric cut him off.

"None of this is fair, Damon!" he growled before his chest filled with the drowning reminder of the consequences from having mistakenly been dragged into the supernatural drama and having lost everything once again because of it.

His hands shook as he fought back the tears and heartbreaking grief. "My daughters are dead because of you. Because of all of you." he said, his voice breaking slightly.

"I never should have trusted you or this plan or anything you said. I should have left with Caroline the first chance we had before someone had the crazy idea of using the twins' magic to kill a five-hundred-year old vampire and his whole freaking vampire army!"

He shook his head as he fought hard not to let his emotions overtake him. "And now I can't look at anyone of you without feeling…" he glanced around at the others before grimacing. "Revolted." he said.

Everyone avoided his eyes as they seemed to finally accept their responsibilities in all of this. He waited a long moment for them to say something but when Bonnie finally spoke up he decided he didn't want to hear any of it anyways.

"I'm so sorry…" Bonnie said as she approached him but he turned away from her and left to go to Caroline instead, leaving all of their supposed friends outside in the hall.

As he entered Caroline's room he studied her shortly before having to look away, not finding it in him to look at her as she no longer had the evident reassurance of the twins' presence.

"They're gone." Caroline's raspy voice suddenly made him flinch as he looked at her stirring while still not fully awake, her eyes heavy and clouded with sleep.

He clenched his jaw and gritted his teeth, not sure of what she was referring to. The twins or his only chance at happiness, at finally having a family or the future that had been waiting for the four of them just around the corner... Because it was all gone.

"I'm so sorry. It's my fault…" she whispered with closed eyes as she seemed to slowly doze off again.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he walked over to her and pressed his hand over her forehead, stroking her hair. "It's not." he assured her. "It's not your fault, Caroline."

And he meant it, he didn't blame her whatsoever. He couldn't blame her, because then he would need to also blame himself… Since they were both equally responsible for their decision. But right now it was just a hell of a lot easier to blame the Salvatore's and the supernatural drama that always accompanied them wherever they went.

"Yes, it is." she sniffled silently, a tear running down her cheek. "I was the one who put him there."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, utterly confused to her half-conscious confession. She didn't answer though, having fallen back asleep with the single teardrop frozen at the corner of her mouth.

He gulped and took a seat next to her bed, holding her hand closest to him with both of his as he closed his eyes and tried to imagine where they would go from here.

After all, Caroline had lost just as much as him. They were in this together. And she would probably be the only one capable of understanding what he is going through. All they had was each other now.

Klaus woke up to voices.

It took a long while for him to recognize them and to understand that they were talking about him, but once it all came to focus again he was ripped back into consciousness.

Sitting up in a loud gasp, he stared wide-eyed at the faces around him as everyone seemed to have been silenced by his awoken state.

"Aurora?" he croaked out, panting as he felt completely exhausted as if he had been fighting to stay alive.

"She isn't found yet." Elijah said, walking up to him to help him stand as he had been lying on the hard marble floor next to a fountain filled with blood.

"And Tristan?" Klaus asked as he leaned against his brother for loss of balance.

"Still drowning in the Mississippi River, fortunately." Elijah said as Klaus took in their surroundings. "The bad news being that Aya has vanished as well as the golden dagger that was used on you."

Klaus flinched at the memory of the weapon being plunged into his chest and draining his life. He glanced down at himself and furrowed his eyebrows at his soaked clothes. "What did they do to us?" he asked, looking up and noticing the dead witches spread out around the room.

"Freya has a suggestion." Elijah said. "We can discuss that later however, as of now we need to leave the compound and make sure you heal properly."

Klaus pushed his brother away from him, staggering slightly as he did so. "I will not leave until I have Aurora's heart in my hands and her head buried under cement as well as that godforsaken dagger melted into an accessory to go with her rotting corpse."

"Vivid image." Hayley muttered from behind him, making him spin around in confusion.

"Hope?" he asked as his heart stopped for a moment, he had been so caught up with getting his revenge that he had forgotten just how easily he could still be brought to his knees.

"With Josh at the mansion." Hayley said, answering his worries. "And we should really get out of here to make sure Aya didn't decide to give her a home visit."

Klaus smiled a little with some kind of pride as she had had the same fear as him, but quickly hid it with a cold expression as he once more remembered a red-headed devil that needed to be vanquished. "You two, go. I'll find Aurora; she should be close by if whatever spell used on us required the two of us to be in the same room." he said with a nod towards Elijah.

He disappeared before any of them could protest and started scouring the building for her. Aurora would meet a cruel yet fair fate; Klaus would ensure it.

A knock on the door a few hours later woke Ric up as he had apparently fallen asleep at the chair next to Caroline. For a short moment he forgot about what had happened and managed to temporarily convince himself that the twins weren't gone. But one glance at Caroline was all he needed to be dragged back to the devastating reality and he gulped hard at the reminder…

They're gone.

Another knock pulled him out of his thoughts and he walked over to the door to see if Stefan had returned, his fists already clenching and unclenching at the thought.

But it wasn't Stefan at the door, it was Bonnie with Enzo and Matt standing behind her.

"Can we see her?" Bonnie asked pleadingly.

Ric saw the worried look in her eyes mirrored in the two men as well and nodded. "She's still sleeping." he told them as he opened the door wider to let them in.

Bonnie walked over and sat on the side of the bed, taking Caroline's hand in one of hers while stroking her cheek with her free one. "Hi, Care." she said with a thick voice.

Matt went to stand on the opposite side of the bed, taking Caroline's other hand in both of his with a sad frown on his face. "We're here, Care." he said.

Ric glanced over to Enzo as he stood at the foot of the bed, looking unsure of how to act and what to say or do.

"She woke up earlier." Ric explained, mostly to Enzo as he related to the lost expression that the Brit carried since he himself wondered whether he should give Caroline some time with her childhood friends or stay in case she woke up again and asked about the babies… He shook off the horror of having to replay the events to her and looked at Enzo as he seemed to wait for a further explanation. "She didn't seem very lucid though. Was rambling on about something… I think she was still technically asleep."

Enzo nodded silently before looking over at Caroline. "Whomever said misery enjoyed company, had obviously known the Salvatore's." he muttered before glancing back at Ric. "I am sorry for your loss."

"Yeah." Ric said and decided he needed some air, or rather; some alcohol. He heard Bonnie starting to chant something to help Caroline heal faster before he grabbed his jacket and headed out for the closest bar.

That night, as Ric sat with his third scotch in hands, he began to blame himself for the first time that day. And that caused him to throw another three drinks back, because he wished he didn't feel the all-consuming guilt that he did. The suffocating heartbreak. The overwhelming pain…

He wished this was all a bad dream that he would soon wake up from. He wished the twins were in his arms and that none of this had happened.

He wished he was numb again. And he lost count of the number of drinks that followed in hopes of achieving just that.

The sobs and pleas of Aurora De Martel was still ringing in Klaus' ears hours after he had imprisoned her in the tomb at the Lafayette Cemetery with the help of Freya's magic. He felt a great relief and satisfaction wash over him at the thought of finally having rid himself of his ex-lover. It felt as if he was shedding away parts of his past with her, corners of his soul that he had thankfully forgotten long ago and that had only caused him trouble when stirring up once more.

He was finally free.

It had taken years to recover from the heartbreak that apparently had been brought upon him by Elijah and fabricated through compulsion, but now he could finally put his past to rest in a way that he hadn't before.

Until now, Aurora had still roamed the world. Still existing in his shadows and bringing her way back to his mind at various, albeit very few, times over the centuries. However, from this night forward she would no longer be a ghost from his past that still haunted him during his darkest times and manifested his insecurities of ever finding happiness.

She was finally put away.

Under his control.

And now he was free to finally seek happiness without fear of losing it due to neither the memory of his heart-break from her nor her presence ensuring he would remain miserable throughout eternity by threatening to alienate the people closest to him…

"A representational spirit world." Freya's words brought Klaus out of his thoughts as he, Elijah, Hayley and Lucien sat gathered in the main living area at the mansion.

"That explains how she manages to work around the flaws of daggering you." Lucien said in agreement as he nodded towards the brothers. "She can't desiccate if she isn't actually in her own physical form."

"That still doesn't explain how she managed to get her hands on that golden dagger." Klaus said, cringing at the thought of the weapon still lost to them.

"Well, I never actually invited her to my apartment so she more than likely had someone else take it from me." Lucien said with a shrug, leaning his hands against the back of an empty chair. "I have video surveillance that can show us whom the traitor is."

"Yet you couldn't manage to make sure no one took it in the first place." Hayley scoffed.

"Well, pardon me. But I was quite indisposed or are you forgetting the vervain ropes and the locker Aurora had me shoved into?" he recoiled sarcastically as he straightened up and snickered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Remind me again, what is the point to his presence?" Elijah asked Freya while nodding towards Lucien.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Lucien quipped. "And for your record, Elijah, I'd suggest you do keep me around since I may be of great use in finding Aya as well as the stolen dagger."

"That's it then." Klaus said with a smirk, walking up to Lucien with dark eyes. "We'll use your blood to track the dagger, since it was your possession after all."

Lucien grimaced at that. "Not quite…" he said guiltily, sighing after a moment in relent as he decided it would be best to cooperate. "It belonged to a witch I found in Russia. And after I took it from her, having forced her to create it in the first place, I killed her and her entire lineage."

"That's just great." Hayley muttered as Klaus grunted in frustration.

"We need to find the dagger as well as that vicious gun before our enemies hear of either's existence and come crawling out of their shadows like demons waiting to strike at me!" Klaus exclaimed in desperation, completely struck by the possibility of his life being threatened once more. He looked around the room as he continued. "At all of us!"

He then turned towards Lucien again. "If you can't be of help with locating the weapons then I see no use in keeping you alive, Lucien. So, you better find me whomever took the dagger from you in the first place and in turn use them to seek out Aya. Or else I might find myself with quite a loss of patience for you and your swaying loyalty."

"If you die, so will I!" Lucien protested. "If that's not enough of a reassurance of my loyalty to you nor evidence that you can trust me while this prophecy remains a threat behind every corner, then what will?"

"Klaus?"

Camille's voice made Klaus swallow his next words to Lucien as he turned around to see her entering the building with her lips pressed into a firm line as her curly hair bounced with every step she took. He found himself studying it for a while, feeling like it reminded him of something, before he shook the thought off and left to accompany her away from prying ears.

"You called and practically begged me to come over here and now I am, so what do you want?" she asked with a shrug, her arms crossed over her chest as he approached her.

"I wanted to tell you…" he began and motioned with his hand for them to move into another room. She understood the gesture and followed him to the other side of the mansion. "That…" he continued as he closed the door behind them after they entered one of the studied. "Aurora has been taken care of."

He watched as she first looked at him in chock and then relief, only to turn into incredulity. "How?" she breathed.

He took a step towards her with a soft smile. "She will remain imprisoned behind bricks and dirt, just like she should've been the moment I discovered her arrival in New Orleans."

"What do you mean imprisoned?" Cami said with an unsteady voice.

"She won't hurt you anymore, Camille." he said seriously, seeing that she was searching for some kind of confirmation.

"You didn't kill her?" she breathed out, the disappointment and anger in her eyes at the statement confusing him.

"I promise you, you won't ever need to fear her again." he said and stepped closer to her only to see her step away from him.

"Why didn't you kill her?" she asked, her voice rising.

"I wasn't expecting you to be upset by me, for once, deciding to not follow my darker patterns." he stated with furrowed eyebrows.

"That's just it, Klaus!" she exclaimed. "You kill people all of the time! … But you didn't kill her." He took another step towards her, but she backed further away from him. "Why? Was it because you couldn't? Because you still have feelings for her?"

"No, I do not have any feelings for Aurora." he said honestly. "I merely wished to have her suffer in a way which could not be accomplished if I had simply ended her life." he admitted and closed the distance between them, looking into her eyes intently. "I wanted her to suffer for hurting you."

"And now I have to live an eternity knowing your murdering ex-girlfriend is still alive and capable of coming after me at any time." she said with a shake of her head.

"Camille…" he sighed, unsure of how he could reassure her that he wasn't going to let Aurora hurt her again. "Aurora turned you in the hopes that my affections for you would disappear with your transition. She wanted to hurt me, no matter the cost. Now she won't be able to hurt anyone again."

"Well, did they?" she asked. "Did me turning into a vampire change how you feel about me?"

He cupped her cheek at that. "No." he said and studied her closely for a moment before a fearful thought hit him. "She wanted to come between us, to ruin whatever we had or could have by planting doubt in your mind. Don't tell me she succeeded." he said and gulped hard as he saw something flicker across her face. "Did she?" he asked.

A long silence built between them, her trying to find an answer and him trying to read it off her face before voicing it. "I have to go" she told him and stepped away, his hand staying frozen in the air between them.

"Camille!" Klaus called after her but she only gave him a short, cold glance that told him to stay away.

He had barely managed to swallow Camille's words when something started stirring in his mind like a bell ringing in the distance. A flash of some kind of memory hit him as he thought of how Camille had stepped away from his touch…

And in the image passing before his eyes – he saw Caroline.

"You got girl troubles or something?"

"How come I am constantly saying goodbye to you, Caroline?"

"If I wake up to find out that you're dead… Then I will come after you."

Before he knew what he was doing he had begun searching for his phone, finding it underneath some papers in his studio and feeling his heart stop in his chest as he read a name on his display.

He had a voicemail.

From Caroline.

He weighed listening to it right away against saving it for later and started walking out of further listening range from the others and played the message.

"Hi… Um, it's me… I just wanted to make sure you're okay. And also… I wanted to let you know that I took your advice. I'm going to go look for what makes me happy. I have no idea what it is yet but once I find it…" she let out a small sigh before continuing.

"Um, anyways. I really hope you're alright… I-I think… despite everything I truly believe that we all deserve to not be miserable all of the time… Me, Ric… You… We deserve to live the lives we want, not just the ones we were given."

There was a small pause before she spoke again, her voice sounding slightly thicker suddenly. "Take care, Klaus. Bye."

He smiled as a beep signaled the end of the message. Then he decided to return her call but was met with an automated voice recording that made him furrow his eyebrows in a slightly concerned look. The words rang in his ears as he squeezed his phone in his hands, wondering what this meant. Then he tried calling once more only to receive the same message…

"The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service."

The next time Caroline woke up she saw a man leaning against the door to her room. The sunlight making him into a dark shadow and causing strain on her eyes. She grunted slightly as her head ached, resulting in the shadow walking towards her, and revealing Tyler.

"Hi." she said, slightly surprised at both seeing him and at how happy it made her.

He smiled softly at her, walked up to her bed and laid a hand on her forehead. "Hey." he said.

She closed her eyes and sighed at the warmth from his hand. "When did you get here?" she asked.

"As soon as I heard." he said, the sympathy dripping off his words. "I tried calling you but apparently your phone is out of service or something."

She swallowed hard. "Ric and I are leaving." she told him. "We decided it last night."

Tyler nodded and moved his hand to cup her cheek for a moment before letting go of her face and taking a seat on the chair next to her bed. "Damon told me about how Klaus helped him in New Orleans. I guess you had something to do with that?"

She nodded. "I guess we kind of owe him one now, huh?"

"Julian is still out there." Tyler pointed out.

"That doesn't seem to stop anyone from keeping their hopes up." she scoffed, making him raise an eyebrow. "Bonnie, Enzo and Damon are still going after him."

"How are they supposed to do that?"

"Apparently Enzo has some connections in Europe, they think they can find a way to stop him by getting some kind of information. I didn't really get more details than that. And honestly, I didn't ask. It's safer for all of us if we don't know where everybody's headed."

"What about Stefan?"

She swallowed hard at his name, closing her eyes for a moment to collect herself. "Ric and I… we decided that if I'm well enough to travel tonight, then we're packing everything up and leaving it all behind. We're cutting off all connections to the supernatural. No vampires, no Heretics, no witches, no –"

"No werewolf hybrids?" he quipped.

"No werewolf hybrids." she agreed. "We are going to live human lives."

"Is that really what you want, Care?" he asked slowly. "I mean, I never really thought you'd want to leave Mystic Falls because you were running away from something instead of towards it… And New Orleans is on the way to Dallas after all…"

"I'm going to Dallas." she assured. "It's what I want."

A knock on the door stopped Tyler from commenting. As Damon walked into the room, Caroline tensed up. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about relocating the coffin later." Damon told Tyler, who nodded in response. "Could I have a moment?" he asked with his eyes at Tyler but with a nod towards Caroline.

Tyler looked at her for a moment before nodding. "I'll be right outside." He assured her and squeezed her hand for a moment. As he passed Damon he threw him a stern look and then left the room.

Damon looked at the floor for a silent moment, making Caroline feel restless.

"Are you here to apologize for all the ways you've wronged me because you feel guilty about the twins?" she said with a cold tone.

"No. I'm not here for that. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness for what I did to you. I never will…" he said, surprising her slightly. "I'm here for my brother."

She let out a chuckle as her whole body started shaking with anger. "Oh, you can't be serious." she said. "There's no use, I don't care what you have to say. I will not be pressured into forgiving another Salvatore for their unforgivable sins, simply because it would make everyone's lives easier. I don't care about your guilt or his pain! I'm done with him. For good… And I'm more than done with you."

"Care…" he began but she shook her head.

"Leave, Damon. And don't ever contact me again unless it is to bring me either Julian's or Stefan's obituary."

"I just wanted to explain to you–"

"I don't want to hear it!" she burst out. "You owe me this, Damon. To let me be."

He looked at her with such a pained expression that for once, she actually felt like he was sincerely sorry. And for once he actually respected her wishes and turned towards the door, stopping just before opening it…

"I'm going to fix this, Caroline. If it is the last thing I do…" he promised without turning around, which was a relief to Caroline because a few stubborn tears had started making their way down her cheeks and she didn't want to undermine her determination. She refused to be pushed around any longer, it had already cost her too much.

She held her breath until he walked through the door and closed it behind her. Then the tears started streaming ferociously. Her hands covered her face as she leaned back against the pillows with a pained cry. Her whole body shook as it felt like her whole world was crashing down. She had stayed strong for Ric for long enough, she gave herself one breakdown. Just this once. Because she really, desperately needed it.

"You're here."

Valerie's surprised voice disrupted Stefan's deep thoughts. He didn't mean to sneak up on her, he simply had no other place to go than to her apartment… He looked at her with a devastating look. "I tried to go see her." he said quietly, remembering the pain he had seen and heard from the halls of the hospital.

"Caroline?" she guessed, making him nod.

"I've lost her forever, Valerie. You should've heard the things she said to Damon… I-I don't think I can make up for this. I've ruined everything…"

"That's not true…" she tried to comfort him and brought her arms around him but he only shook her off.

"Alaric lost his kids today. And for what? Julian is still out there somewhere… And now everyone is in danger because of me."

"Stefan, don't do this to yourself." she pleaded.

He turned his back to her and buried his face in his hands. "Wherever I go…" he said, bringing his hands up to grab onto his hair. "I hurt people. I take away other people's happiness. I've considered myself better, better than my brother or Silas or Julian. But truth is, I'm the worst one of them all. Because I think I deserve better. They at least have the decency to understand that they don't."

Valerie's hands rested on his shoulders. "This is the price of immortality, Stefan." she told him, making him turn around again. "You live long enough, you start seeing pain wherever you look. Either amongst others, or inside of you. If you let the guilt hollow you out, then you will indeed be left with nothing."

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked her bitterly.

"Don't let it hollow you out." she explained. "Fill yourself with something else. Anything, just to keep you standing."

"Why?"

"Because I am getting the hell away from here, and from Julian as fast as possible. And I can't do it on my own." she told him, bringing a hand up to his cheek. "Turn that pain into something useful, Stefan. Hate, determination, anger… Whatever you need to keep you going for now… Because we may have a small window of opportunity now, but he will come for each and every one of us. And if you are still beating yourself up like this once he catches up with you, then you'll never be able to defeat him."

He clenched his jaw and looked into her eyes for a silent moment. "What's your plan?"

"We run. We hide. We gather our strengths and we gather more intel, and the next time we try that spell again – we succeed. Even if it takes years, decades…" she looked down at his lips for a short moment before meeting his eyes again, which were now slightly less pained. "After all, we have all the time in the world."

Elijah found his brother out on one of their balconies, leaning against the rail with his hands clasped together and his eyes caught on the street beneath him.

"Did Lucien leave yet?" Klaus asked as he walked towards him, without moving an inch. As if all of his answers were to be found in the gutters of the Quarter, if he only looked closely enough.

"Yes." Elijah said and handed him a glass of bourbon. His eyes searching for whatever it was that his brother was so carefully studying. "We sent him to find the person who stole the weapon from him, perhaps it could lead us back to Aya and the rest of the Strix coven." he told him, just as he saw Camille getting into a cab with the witch Vincent.

The young woman looked up, as if aware of his brother's gaze. As she did, Klaus seemed like he was about to say something, or do something. But their distant exchange passed quickly and the blond soon disappeared along with the car. "Will she return soon?" Elijah asked his brother.

"I'm not sure." he said grimly. "Possibly not."

"Why is that? I assumed with Aurora behind bricks and dust and Aya nowhere to be found that-"

"That what, brother?" Klaus said, stopping in his tracks and turning towards him. "That everything would be forgiven and forgotten?" Gulping down his beverage, he put the glass away and sighed. "It seems I am rather incapable of making the right decisions when it comes to selfless acts and displays of love. I'd blame our parents, but that tale has begun to tire even me out."

"Doesn't make it any less true." Elijah scoffed, gaining a fleeting smile from his brother. "I believe it's best that Camille take her time to cool down before you try your hand at another… gesture."

"I had the same thought actually." he agreed with a somber frown. "She has yet to come to grips with her new state of living, everything must be pure chaos in her mind. I don't blame her for needing to leave to clear it all up."

"Did she say anything to you?" Elijah studied his brother's face closely, seeing something he hadn't recognized in him for a very long time… Selflessness.

"Only that I am not allowed to contact her for a while." he answered, the heavy pain audible in his voice as he spoke again. "Perhaps Mr. Griffith will have better luck of being there for her, of caring for her. Making her feel safe and understood… Considering I myself have only managed to do the opposite these days."

Elijah felt his frown grow as he watched his brother then, trying to think of how to ease his pain when he continued.

"Furthermore, it appears I have nothing left in this city besides my family, which I need to protect at all cost. Therefore, those weapons must be destroyed. And most importantly, Aya shan't remain alive after her betrayal." Klaus said with a determined look.

"What are you planning, Niklaus?"

A small smile grew on his lips then. "An overseas killing spree of course! Will you come with me?"

Elijah squinted at him for a moment before nodding. "As if you need ask, dear brother." he said with a smile.

Lucien hated when his victims ran, foolishly believing he would not catch up with them… He grabbed onto the young man's foot, dragging him back to the alley where he'd first cornered him and squatted next to him on the ground.

"You are going to tell me who you work for or I'm going to show you why I'm the most notorious murderer of New Orleans to date." he said with a wicked grin.

"He will do far worse to me than anything you could ever do." the man spat out.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you…" Lucien chuckled and grabbed onto his throat, gripping tightly. "Now, I need a name. And then I can send you off your merry little way... Who stole my weapons?"

The man fought against his grip and clawed at his hand, making Lucien roll his eyes. But suddenly, something caught his attention. The man's shirt had been ripped during their fight, revealing a mark on his chest which Lucien recognized. He let go of the man's throat and tore his shirt further to look at the mark closer up.

"See?" the man said. "Nothing you do to me can even compare to what I've been through."

Lucien clenched his jaw in irritation. "Well, that's not exactly true…" he said and buried his hand deep into the man's chest, gripping his heart and making him cough in pain. "In the hell you came from, there was no death. But once I'm done with you, you won't be coming back for more." he threatened.

"J-" the man began and grimaced, letting out a grunt. "Julian!" he exclaimed. "His name is Julian."

Lucien smiled. "Really? Well, seems that old friend of mine has been quite busy then."

"Wh-what?"

"Never mind." Lucien said with a sigh. "Enough from you."

With one swift move, Lucien ripped out the man's heart and held it up for him to see. His eyes managed to catch the image before him just as his skin turned gray and he was dead.

Lucien threw the heart away, licking his bloody fingers with a grimace. "Tattletales never taste well." he whined and stood up, kicked the body to behind a dumpster to conceal it.

There was no time for him to go through his usual routine, if he knew Julian well, then the man would already be far away from New Orleans. With his weapons. So there really was no time to spare. "I'll be seeing you soon old friend." Lucien grinned and flashed away, leaving the fresh crime scene behind.

As Caroline helped Ric into the car, she took a deep breath and tried to gather herself. She couldn't fall apart right now. Ric needed her. And she owed it to him to help him through this. To help him start over somewhere far away from all of the horrible memories that filled every corner of Mystic Falls. They were going to survive this, they were going to make this work. They had to, she had to.

With one last look back at the Grill from where she had picked Alaric up, Caroline felt her throat start to close up with sadness. But she fought against it, there was no time to spare. They had already lost the advantage of a head start, they needed to leave immediately. Leave and never look back.

So, she sat down behind the driver's seat. Still having a slight pain in her stomach and feeling clumsy and disoriented now that her body was adjusting to not being pregnant anymore. She had healed already, but the empty void that was left in her hadn't even begun going away yet. And perhaps it never would…

But she couldn't dwell on that for too long. Alaric needed her after all, and at this point he was the only thing she had left to stay strong for.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: The calm

Five years later

Chicago, Illinois

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Caroline grunted at the disturbing sound of the alarm clock. She wiggled a little in the bed and reached over the nightstand to turn it off. Then she rolled onto her back and sighed.

It's time. Wake up, she commanded herself and sat up as she finally opened her eyes. That's when she realized there was still a naked man lying next to her, stirring a little in his sleep. He hadn't left yet, apparently.

She stared at the muscular body that was very exposed due to her monopoly on the bedcovers. The man seemed to sense her awakened state and turned his head to smile at her sleepily. "Morning, sunshine." he said with a husky voice.

She grimaced and wrapped the covers around herself before stepping out of bed. "I need to get ready for work." she told him and started picking up their clothes from the bedroom floor.

"Right. Sure." he murmured, falling back asleep.

We can't have that! Caroline thought and threw his boxers at his naked bottom. "Come on, I don't want to be late."

He sighed and rolled onto his back, revealing more of his nakedness which made Caroline quickly look away as per reflex. "Suddenly shy, are we?" he asked with a chuckle.

She grimaced. "Yeah. Um. Like I said, I need to get ready for work. So, I'll just take a shower. Can you find your way out on your own?"

He stood up and walked over to her, boxers left behind on the bed. "Or... I could join you."

She met his crystal-blue eyes, dazzling smile and dusty-blonde hair and sighed. Glancing over at the alarm clock on the nightstand and seeing that she had an hour to get ready and get to work. She could afford losing a few short minutes, right?

He cupped her cheek and stroked her lips with his thumb. "What do you say?"

She unwrapped the bedsheet around her, letting the cover fall to the floor in a ring around her feet and smiled at him enticingly. "You've got ten minutes. Fifteen at most."

He smiled and pulled her in for a hard kiss. "Let's make the most of it then." he said against her lips and began walking them into the adjoining bathroom while his hands roamed over her body.

Like the planner she is, Caroline was clean and relaxed as she stepped out of her bathroom precisely fifteen minutes later. The man, whom she later remembered was named Asher, got dressed quickly and left the apartment within another five minutes.

Of course, not without the awkward goodbye where neither knew whether to kiss or shake hands or high-five or what. It eventually ended with an "I'll see you around" and a peck on her cheek from the gentleman.

Caroline was glad to sit down in her kitchen, by herself, and eat breakfast in silence… when another man walked into the room.

"Did you seriously just sneak the guy out?"

She sighed and felt her cheeks turn red as Alaric walked over and began preparing a bowl of cereal. "I fell asleep and forgot to kick him out sooner." she breathed out and poked at her oatmeal with her spoon.

"You wouldn't mind giving me some dating advice?" he chuckled and sat down next to her at the kitchen table. "Since you're doing so well here with your twentieth-something guy this month?"

"I'm not the one looking for a new epic love." she reminded him.

He rolled his eyes. "I guess not."

"So...?" she said with wide eyes.

He shrugged. "So... what?"

"Ugh!" she sighed. "Weren't you supposed to be on a date last night with... what's her name...?"

"Cassie."

"Cassie! Right." she winked at him. "And with fear of sounding like a broken record; so...!?"

He rolled his eyes at her again and took a seat across from her as he filled up a bowl of cereal. A moment of silence later, and a drumroll running in Caroline's head, he looked up at her and sighed. "She has kids." he admitted.

"So?"

He chuckled at her repeated question. "That means things will get serious really soon."

"Or..." Caroline sing-songed as she held up a cup of coffee in front of her, taking a long sniff at the favorable smell. "That means she'll want to take things slow. Could be really ideal for you."

He shrugged. "Maybe... Either way, I'm seeing her again tomorrow."

"Mh!" she nearly choked on her coffee and quickly put the cup down as she stared at him. "And you didn't lead with that!?"

He smiled at her and shrugged. "I was stalling until you'd be running late enough for work and suddenly not have the time to get all weirdly encouraging."

Her eyes grew tenfold at that as she jerked her head to the wall-mounted clock on the wall above them and gasped. "Shit!" she hissed and flashed out of the kitchen, brushed her teeth and changed in a minute before returning back to the kitchen to see Ric go through their mail.

Caroline grabbed her purse and patted Ric's shoulder. "Let me know if your lecture stretches out tonight so I don't heat up too much food for dinner once I get back." she reminded him before heading out. "See ya!"

"Bye!" Ric called out just as she closed the door behind her and hurried down to catch a cab.

"Hi, you've reached Cassandra West. Text me and I'll get back to you when I can."

Ric sighed as he heard the voicemail for the second time that morning, putting his phone down on his desk and leaning forward against his palms. A part of him wondered why he was in such a rush to break up with the first woman he'd cared for in nearly seven years... But then the haunting name showed up on his screen again, drawing his attention to his phone with a groan. That's why.

His eyes glanced down to one of the drawers by his side, finding himself painfully aware of the bottle of scotch that hid in there. He had been sober since leaving Dallas, but one day he had received that fine bottle from a faculty member as a gift. And he just couldn't bring himself to throw it out.

Now he wished he had, because the urge to replace the coffee in his mug with the liquor was very strong. His hands shook slightly at the effort he put into keeping them from opening that goddamned drawer...

Why didn't he just throw it out?

A knock on his door helped pull his mind away as the university dean poked her head in with a soft smile. "Professor Richards, I was looking for you."

These days, the new alias was of course familiar to both Ric - who around here was known as Zachary Richards. But he still did get a little disoriented whenever people called him by his new name, causing him to remind himself not to reveal his true identity. He plastered on a polite smile and waved the woman over.

"Come in, please." he said, gesturing for her to sit in the armchair on the other side of his desk. "What can I do for you, dean Thompson?" he asked as he sat back with a straighter posture than earlier, observing the older lady with her white hair that stood out in contrast to her dark skin.

"Well, I was hoping to hear an answer from you by now. And yet, you still haven't told me what you have decided."

He blinked for a mute moment before remembering their latest conversation a week back. Realizing that he had gotten distracted with other things lately, one of which was calling him for the hundred time right now... And so, he hadn't really had the time to actually consider the offer of a tenure position from the dean.

"Excuse me." he said, clearing his throat as he quickly turned the phone on silent and pushed some papers to cover the screen. "I confess that it is a very tempting, not to mention generous, offer." he told her, his face set into a pained grimace as he found himself glancing back at the pile of papers on top of his phone momentarily. "And I assure you, I am deeply honored to be considered for the position. I just don't believe it-"

"Mr. Richards." she cut him off, a raised palm as she gave him a stern look that viewed her displeasure of where he was going. "May I ask you something personal?"

"Certainly." he shrugged, leaning back in his chair as he analyzed her slowly. Trying to figure out how difficult it would be to say no to this woman. Clearly, it wasn't an answer she received too often. She stood up from the chair and walked across the room, examining a bookcase with her hands clasped behind her back.

"I understand that you are unmarried. Have no children. And that you are currently sharing a home with Ms. Cara Williams; one of our very own students." she began, glancing over her shoulder only to confirm her own words by the look of his face before she continued again. "Not to mention that you have a very mysterious past and happen to be quite a private person."

"I'm not sure I follow, Dean Thompson. Are you saying that I should accept your offer simply because I don't share enough personal details with others?" he asked with amusement in his tone as he watched her walk over to another bookcase, her fingers brushing over the wooden shelf slowly. She pouted, examining some dust caught on her skin before brushing it off and meeting his eyes again.

"Not at all, professor." she replied, a tight-lipped and strange smile on her face that seemed to be more out of politeness than anything else. "What I mean to say is, that you are very well liked by your students. Your work has been nothing short of exemplary during the years we've had you here... And in my own opinion, a teacher such as yourself does not come along very often."

The tone of her voice made him question whether she was complimenting or insulting him, but he only chuckled at her words and shrugged. "I can't say that I see any of those as enough reasons to grant me tenure."

"Then you haven't been paying attention." she remarked, earning a furrowed look from him before she shook her head. "I am simply trying to figure out why you do not seem the least bit interested in moving forward with your life."

"Sorry?" he coughed out, leaning forward in a slight frown.

"Well, both your personal and professional lives seem to be at a standstill - and evidently have been for quite some time now. And, if you don't mind me saying so-"

"I'm not sure I can stop you." he chuckled.

"-You are a promising man, Zachary." she added, smiling at him with slightly softer eyes than before. "And it is my job here to find talent such as yourself and help bring them forth into the light." She smoothed her pencil skirt with her hands before sitting back down on the armchair again, crossing her legs and turning a piercing look in his direction. "I am offering you to stay at this school for as long as you may like. To teach any courses you enjoy, to earn quite a lot more than you currently do, to be granted the money for research and expenses and any projects you may want to take on during your time here. I am offering you a stepping-stone to greater and better things. To a future."

He gulped hard, feeling his determination sway lightly under her gaze. "I'm not sure I can stay in Chicago for my remaining life - accepting this position would take away the option of going elsewhere someday."

"Are you planning on leaving?" she asked then, causing him to jerk slightly as he met her eyes again. "Do you want to live somewhere else? Do you want to do something else?"

No. The answer scared him, turning his stomach and twisting it into knots.

"I certainly won't try to convince you that your life here would be better than a life in any other city - or country for that matter... But I pride myself in having sharp instincts, and I sense that you actually like it here." she chimed, shaking her head in a shrug. "Take a few days, consider my offer. It stands until the end of the week. If I don't get an answer from you by then, I will take it as a refusal."

She didn't wait for him to respond as she stood up and walked to the door, ready to leave him with a mind in turmoil. He stuttered lightly as he called for her before she managed to close the door. "Dean Thompson?"

Stopping and turning back to him again, she watched as he dug into a drawer by his desk. Grabbing that bottle of scotch and walked over to her with a deep sigh. "You don't happen to enjoy whiskey, do you?" he asked, earning a confused pout on her face before he continued. "I got this as a gift when I first started here - before the others knew of my sobriety. I was hoping you could accept it instead."

A slow smirk played on her lips as she accepted the bottle and read the label carefully. "Such a nice gift indeed..." she hummed then. "I'm sure I will find good use for it."

He let out a breath, one mixed with both relief and disappointment as she nodded to him and closed the door. A strange sensation filled his chest as he listened to her heels walking down the hall, questions running through his head.

Of course, he wanted to accept the position - what teacher wouldn't love the security of having your career locked in for the rest of your life? Never having to worry again of being cut out due to budget costs or having a difficulty finding a new position anywhere they went... He wanted it. He enjoyed the city, the students - hell, he had even started to like the pizza here.

But staying would mean having to continue lying about who he was. His name, his history... He would be a living fraud - faking his way through the happy life that he still wasn't sure he deserved. And he would be living in constant fear of the truth getting out and having that life abruptly taken from him... Again.

He sat back down behind his desk with a deep sigh, running a hand over his face as he reached for his phone. Several missed calls and messages but not a single one from Cassie. Dialing her number again, he waited as the beeps ran through one by one. Until reaching the same voicemail again. "Hi, you've reached Cassandra West. Text me-" he hung up with a groan as he fought the worry from slithering into his mind.

She's fine. Cassie's fine. Everything is just-

The phone rang in his hands and made him jump as he quickly accepted the call. "Cassie?"

"Hi, Zach! Sorry! The boys used my phone to play some video game and I ran out of battery. And then I left to drop them off at daycare and forgot it at home and then I went to buy groceries and didn't even realize-"

The voice on the other end made him feel like a weight had lifted off his chest. Her ranting brought a wide grin to his face as he shook his head in a chuckle. Shaking off the sour reminder of why he had meant to reach her earlier and deciding to table that for now. He hadn't even realized how much he'd missed her until she let out an exasperated laugh on the other end.

"So, you know - it's just another Wednesday!"

He sighed as he decided he needed her right now, far more than he needed to push her away. "Why don't you come by campus and vent? I'll buy you your favorite - carrot cake with frosting."

"You're too good to me." she sighed happily, stinging him shortly as he thought the opposite for a second before she spoke again. "I'm going to grab my power bank and I can meet you at the café in... an hour?"

"I'll be waiting." he smiled before they hung up. Leaning back with his hands covering his face as he was hit by a wave of guilt.

You're supposed to break up with her, idiot! he reminded himself bitterly before another thought was voiced in his mind at that.

Why?

As Caroline stepped into the high-rise that was her office building, she took a deep breath and smiled all the way to the elevator. She greeted everyone she came across by name, and they greeted her back with wide grins and a 'Good morning Ms. Williams'.

That was the name they knew her by: Cara Williams. She and Ric had chosen their new identities a long time ago to protect themselves. In order to give them some time to find a home, a future. And here she was now, having finally found just that.

She went up to the nineteenth floor and met her assistant, Anna, who handed her a coffee and immediately started updating her on the schedule of the day. As she zoned out for a moment, Caroline thought of how she had finally made it. How she was really happy with her life. For once.

She had started working as a producing assistant at a local news broadcasting tv-network in Chicago a few years back. There, she had slowly worked her way up to her very own executive position and was now working side-by-side with three other co-producers of the show. It wasn't an extravagant or famous network by any means, but it did fit her like a glove.

Her duties varied as the one responsible for directing the broadcasts along with the journalists. She helped decide what news to run, which guests to interview and even what the wardrobe would be before every show. Finally, she had found something that allowed her to strive, something that she enjoyed immensely, with her organizational – and at times; neurotic – skills. She worked hard and was appreciated for it, her colleagues trusted and listened to her.

Nobody questioned whether Caroline Forbes - or rather, Cara Williams - was right for the job, because despite her terribly young age and somewhat lack of former experience in the profession – she was really good at this. She had no problem juggling all kinds of tasks and keeping a finger in all of the different projects. She loved being responsible and having people go to her for guidance and–

"… Salvatore…" the name fell off Anna's tongue, bursting Caroline's bubble and making her stop dead in her tracks.

"What did you just say?" she said and stared at her assistant.

"W-which part?" she stuttered. "The message?"

"What message?"

"From this guy, he said his name was… I-I think Devon or Damien maybe..."

She let out a small sigh, having apparently held her breath. With a hardened smile, she took a sip of coffee and met her assistant's confused gaze. "Delete it. And block any and all future calls from anyone with that surname. If I hear it again I won't be very kind to the messenger, got it?"

Anna nodded quickly and handed her a clipboard. "Here is the rest of your schedule for today, if you need me – I'll be in my cubicle… Deleting some messages."

Caroline squinted at her shortly before nodding. "Thank you, Anna." she said and turned the corner to her office. Sitting down in her chair and getting to work right away. She felt bad for a moment, snapping at her assistant like that… But she couldn't focus on that for too long. Instead, she turned to the schedule in her hands and decided to leave the strange feeling in her gut where it belonged – with the Salvatores, in the past.

Ric sat waiting at the coffeeshop as Cassie seemed to be running late. It wasn't an unusual thing for the mother of two little boys at the ages of five and seven. Even away from her kids, her mind was almost always scattered and sometimes that made for a busy schedule and a difficulty to arrive on time. So, he usually made sure to bring his work along in waiting for her to show up. This time, he was grading papers when the red curls finally popped into view.

"Hi!" she said as she gave him a peck on the cheek and sat down opposite to him. "I'm late, I'm sorry!"

Ric smiled at her big brown eyes and freckled cheeks. "It's no problem. I managed to get some work done while I waited." he said as he put the papers away. "Let me go order for us and I'll be right back."

She smiled at him and nodded as she took her coat off while he stood to take a place in line. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and started to reach for it when someone called his name. "Professor Richards!"

He looked up at two students from his class and smiled. "Hi, guys. I was just grading your papers on the roman empire."

"Really?" the girl said with an impressed smile. "We only sent those in last week, most professors take forever to even read our papers."

"Well, I happened to have some extra time on my hands." Ric chimed, earning a nod from the boy.

"Right, you don't have kids. Guess that must make things a lot easier." he said, making Ric tense up shortly.

"Yeah, yeah. It sure does." Ric said politely, luckily it was his turn in line, so he nodded at them. "See you guys on Monday." he said and turned to the barista with a clenched jaw.

"Ready to order?"

He swallowed hard and focused on the task at hand instead of the lingering words in his head. "Yeah, a piece of carrot cake and a cappuccino with soy milk. And um, one black coffee, please."

As the barista got to work, Ric reached for the phone again to check the missed call. It viewed the same number as it had the past few days, and he decided to ignore it yet again. Putting it away just as he received his order on a tray. "Thank you." he said and handed the barista some money. "Keep the change."

When Ric got back to Cassie, she looked very anxious. Her hands were interlocked on the table and her face was turned towards the window.

"One cappuccino and carrot cake for the lady." Ric said and put the tray down on their table. She gave him a smile, but he frowned when she didn't immediately dig into the pastry as she usually did.

"You okay?" he asked as she kept looking out the window.

She tore her gaze away and met his then. "Sorry. I think I might be a little nervous." she admitted.

"What for?" he asked and took a sip of his coffee.

"I need to know where we stand, Zack. Or more specifically, if me having kids is going to be a problem here."

He blinked a few times at her, not sure of what to say. "Did you get that impression?" he asked to buy himself some more time, he hadn't decided on his stance on the matter yet. Previously he had wanted to end things before their relationship became too serious, especially with children involved. But now, he found himself unsure.

"I didn't get any impression. I told you about my boys and you said 'okay'."

"Well, I don't see how you got anything negative out of an 'okay'." he said with a smile.

"So, this isn't going to be a problem?" she asked.

"Cassie…" he began. "I'm a history professor at college. It would be rather difficult to do my job if I had a problem with kids."

"That's not what I'm asking, Zack. Most people don't have a problem with kids, I'm asking if you are going to have a problem with mine."

He swallowed hard and studied her face for a moment, the beautiful red-head before him had never looked so distressed before. To be fair, they had only known each other for two short months and had been dating only a few weeks. However, she always managed to look somewhat put together and focused, despite her hair often being a mess and her clothes sometimes mismatched. But this time she was tense, stressed and had a protective look in her eyes that only mothers got.

"Did I ever tell you about Jo?" he asked and took another sip of his coffee.

"Your ex-wife?" she said uncertainly.

He nodded. "I don't usually like to discuss this but… We didn't just break up. She died."

Cassie's eyes grew wide and her hands immediately reached for his, holding them tightly. "When?"

"On our wedding day." he said with his eyes slowly starting to focus on the coffee in front of him instead of their hands in front of the cup. "While she was pregnant with our twins."

"Oh, god." Cassie cursed silently, bringing his eyes up to meet with hers.

"We were going to have two girls. They would've been absolutely beautiful, and bright and funny. Just like her, I'm sure of it." he said with a smile on his lips and glossy eyes. "And when I lost them all, I was so… broken. I didn't know where to even begin-" he swallowed hard and took a breath to regain his voice. "I slowly dug myself out of that hole, but there will never be a day that passes by that I don't think of them. That I don't miss them. Ever."

She had started tearing up herself as she studied him. He took a deep breath before he spoke again. "So if anybody can understand baggage, it's me. And you having two beautiful boys, who love you more than anything. Well, that could never be the negative kind."

They smiled at each other for a moment, she stayed silent as if to make sure he said everything he wanted to. "And I think the question here isn't whether I can handle yours. But rather if you can deal with mine." he added honestly.

She brought one of his hands up to her lips and planted a kiss on his knuckles. "I don't mind being here for you, if you want me to."

He looked at her in awe for a moment before he spoke again. "I hope you can forgive me for not telling you about this sooner…"

She shook her head. "That doesn't matter whatsoever." she said with a smile and glittering eyes. "I'm glad you told me now."

Ric cupped her cheek and leaned over to kiss her softly on the lips. A smile spreading on both of their faces as she kissed him back. And that flutter in his stomach that showed up in that moment… It was something Ric hadn't felt in years.

He got so swept up in it that he didn't even notice his phone vibrating on the table between them. In that moment, he didn't care about anything other than keeping the sweet feeling inside of him alive for just a little while longer… Because he was worried about when he would be lucky enough to feel it again.

Caroline found herself working through lunch, again, and tapped her nails over her desk as she read through the latest viewer report. The knock on the door made her finally look up and meet Anna's face as she walked inside her office.

"I have the rest of the reports for you, Ms. Williams." she said as she left a folder on her desk. "Did you need me to order something for you?"

"Hm?" she said, blinking as she studied her. "Oh, right… No, I'm good. Thank you, Anna."

"Is that some new diet or something you got going on?"

Chuckling lightly, she shook her head as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. "No, not really. I just get swept up in the work sometimes, I guess."

"Don't I know it."

The words seemed innocent enough, but they still made the vampire hurry to try and evade any possible suspicion. "Actually, I think I didn't realize how hungry I was. Could you get me a Caesar salad from that cute little bistro down the street?"

"Of course." The young girl said with a smile and a nod before turning to leave. "Oh, and you got another mail from that friend of yours, Beatrice Banks. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but we were really swamped with the new recruitments. Won't happen again."

Her face turned into a wide grin as she heard the name. "Thanks, let me know when the food gets here. And if you see Dylan on the floor, ask him to come by the office with the latest batch of resumes for the intern's position."

"Consider it done." Anna said with another friendly smile over her shoulder before closing the door behind her.

Caroline immediately opened her mail and began to read through her inbox, quickly pressing on the one from 'Beatrice Banks'. Another fake name of course… And as she read through the latest update from Europe, she couldn't help but shake her head in a chuckle. Apparently, the mail had been sent days ago but she hadn't seen it until now. This was their arrangement, she would get an email letting her know that her friend was safe – and in return, Caroline would call the number to a burner phone and leave a voicemail.

It was kind of funny actually, the way they lived double lives and contacted each other in codes… But it was also kind of sad, because while Caroline's updates usually involved the latest gossip in her office – the emails would contain all the travels and adventures that she wished she could have herself. Instead, she was busying herself with hiding in plain sight. Ducking strange calls on her phones and diverting questions about her past. She hurried to call the cryptic number, eager to continue living vicariously through this little routine.

The familiar tone rang through the air before she began to record her message, an act she had gotten used to over the years.

"Hi, Bonnie. It's me."

Ric had just received his lunch when the door opening behind him sent a ringing sound throughout the diner. Turning several heads in the direction of the bell, but he didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The hairs standing up all over the back of his neck was enough confirmation, especially after having dodged calls from him all week. The only question in his mind was how he'd found him.

He soon heard the stool next to him move as the man sat beside him in silence, the waitress cast a glance to the addition by her bar with a raised brow. Probably asking herself who the dark-haired man was and why he was sitting by her most regular costumer.

"How did you know I'd be here?" he finally asked, not bothering to turn to the vampire as he leaned over the countertop beside him.

"I have my sources."

Focusing on the dish with the week's special, Ric watched his hand snake in and grab one of the fries off the plate. It didn't bother him, the man had taken far more from him in the past than some food.

A hell of a lot more.

"Why are you here, Damon?" he muttered, feeling the itch in his fingers to flag the waitress back and as her to pour him a glass of whiskey. Or ten.

"You haven't been answering my calls."

"And that wasn't clear enough a message for you?" he scoffed and sipped his coke - finding himself wishing it burned its way down his throat in the way the other dark liquid would have.

"I wouldn't have come if it wasn't important. You know that."

"That doesn't mean you have the right to be here."

"We need help, Ric."

The words made him shake his head in a cold chuckle before he decided to meet the man's frosty blue eyes. "Of course, you do. Did you guys do a whole divide-and-conquer thing? You're here with me while he's off hounding her?"

Damon seemed to stiffen at his words, causing him to cock an eyebrow and chuckle dryly again. "My brother isn't with me." the Salvatore told him, a strange expression flashing over his face for a moment before he continued. "I haven't exactly spoken to him lately."

"Cry me a river." Ric muttered as he turned back to his food again, digging into his burger before it could get cold.

"When did you start carrying these around again?" Damon asked, drawing his eyes to follow the movements of his hands as he opened his leather jacket up, revealing a wooden dagger and some vials of vervain. His face seemed amused, and it made Ric want to stake him right there and then. If Damon hadn't already confiscated the emergency stash from his car, he probably would have.

"Since your hell forsaken name started showing up on my phone." he answered with a sneer.

The vampire closed his jacket again and laughed at that, turning Ric's stomach into knots as his former friend responded. "Guess you can take the hunter out of Mystic Falls but not the other way around, huh?"

"You realize that I'm fighting every single fiber of my being in an effort to spare your life, right?" he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. His voice was calmer than he had expected, but maybe that was a good thing. The man by his side didn't intimidate him - he hadn't for nearly a decade. And his sudden appearance in the city hadn't fazed him as much as he'd thought it would.

Perhaps he had expected him to show up every single day since they left Virginia, or maybe he just didn't have the strength to continue carrying the hate in his heart any longer. His life was certainly far shorter than the man to his right, after all...

"We have a problem, Ric."

His words made him stiffen as he decided to turn around and really look at him now. The eternally young looks almost seemed to have faded since the last time he'd seen him. The professor could even swear that he saw some new wrinkles by the corners of his eyes as the vampire grimaced before explaining further.

"We need Caroline's help."

"We?" he echoed, unsure of what that meant considering he had just told him that the younger Salvatore wasn't with him - this time.

"Me and Enzo." he explained, leaning forward against his crossed arms with a sigh. And for a moment, the man that Alaric had formerly called his friend looked so broken and tortured that he almost felt bad for him. Almost.

But more than anything, he felt a hollow sense of indifference. And somehow, that upset him even more. He used to hold onto the hatred for the vampire like a life raft, but that had also been a prominent reason for his drinking. And he had no interest whatsoever to indulge in something that would push him down that road ever again.

Damon ran a hand through his hair and over his face, the action looking odd and unfamiliar... He seemed genuinely nervous. As if he really hadn't intended to come here, to return to his life again. And yet he had, and that fact was enough to plant a seed of worry and unease in Alaric's soul. Despite the horrendous and unforgivable sins the vampire had made, he had also been his closest companion once. Ric would have, and had in far too many occasions, trusted him with his life. And seeing him this pained made him concerned, and not only for himself and Caroline. But for Damon as well. What the hell had he gotten himself into now?

"Connie." he said, turning to meet the waitress' dark eyes with a short smile and nod to the man to his right. "Another special, please."

She nodded and leaned back towards the kitchen to place the order just as he glanced back to the Salvatore with a determined look in his eyes.

"Tell me everything."

When Caroline was headed home that later that day, she decided to leave a second message for her absent friend. Her previous one somehow felt inadequate as she didn't have the time to tell her everything she wanted to before her work called for her again. "Bonnie, I wanted to say something."

She had gotten out of her car and began to walk down the street to their two-story townhouse. "I saw the date and realized that your birthday is coming up. I don't really know how I had managed to forget about it until now… But I guess that's what happens when you erase everything from your old life, including your calendar." she chuckled at the last part and searched for her keys, pressing the phone up to her ear with her shoulder.

"I really wished I could see you… But I get that it won't happen. Truth is we probably won't ever see each other again." she cleared her throat as she found herself choking up slightly. "Anyway, I wanted you to know that I'm thinking about you. And that I really hope they do something nice for you since I won't be able to… Well, Enzo might but I don't know if I can trust Damon to come through on that."

"Well, that stung."

The voice made her drop her phone on the floor as the door closed behind her. She froze up and stared at the man leaning against her dining table. His dark hair was longer than she remembered, and his eyes carried something heavy in them… But it was him. And for a moment, she wondered if she had fallen asleep and was dreaming, or if she had been jumped and was now hallucinating…

Because there was just no way in hell that Damon Salvatore could be standing in her kitchen.

Then another thought hit her, and she started to scan the rest of the living area, spotting Enzo as he stood up from a chair and met her eyes with a grim look. Somehow, she knew what the answer would be, yet she couldn't help but ask the question in her mind anyway. "Bonnie?"

"We have a problem, Care-Bear." he said, nodding towards Ric as he came out from his bedroom, carrying his tablet in hand.

"Care…" he said with an equally grim expression on his face as the vampires. "You should probably sit down for a minute..."

"If this means Valerie's on her way-" she began but Enzo interrupted her.

"No. This isn't about her. Nor Stefan."

She swallowed hard, seeing the writing on the wall but wishing deeply that she was wrong. "Tell me." she looked at Ric with a clenched jaw.

"Something's happened to Bonnie." he said softly then, a pained look in his eyes as he confirmed her fear.

"We don't have time to waste, if any one of you would answer your damn phones

then we would already be on our way…" Damon said restlessly.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline said with a panic in her voice.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "The band is getting back together, Barbie. And you better get packing; your flight leaves tonight."

"Flight? To where?" she asked him as he started walking towards her.

He grinned at her, giving her a wink as he finally spoke. "The Big Easy."

Present Day
New Orleans, Louisiana

People seemed to finally have forgotten all the scary things that go bump in the dark in the French Quarter, if the crowds of tourists in Roseau's tonight was any indication.

Either that, or they were all ignorant enough to underestimate the very real dangers of the city's night life. However, reports of missing backpackers or monthly spikes in the murder statistics had stopped keeping people from coming to the city in a thirst for exploring its culture and entertainment. And one special musical act at Rousseau's was partly the reason why tourists were gathering every week for the Thursday night show…

"Welcome, welcome to the Crescent City…" the current barkeeper, Weslin, introduced himself to the audience and began his rehearsed coverage of the city's darker history. "Where the supernatural hides behind every corner, magic swirls in the Mississippi breeze and all responsibilities and reason are left at the other side of the state line. This is the city that care forgot! The city where everyone can feel free to finally be their true selves, no matter how wild, dark or twisted that may be. Because, believe me, we're all just as wild, dark and twisted ourselves. Otherwise none of us would be here in the first place!"

Some cheers and applause spread around the crowd as Marcel made his way to his usual table. Davina was already waiting for him there alongside Josh. "You're late." Davina whined once he reached them.

"Pleased to see you too, D." Marcel smirked and leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek before turning to pat Josh's shoulder. "Glad to see you doing your part of keeping the waiters away from this young lady." Marcel said as he nodded towards the empty table.

Josh glanced over to Davina as Marcel took a seat. "See, I told you he'd have my head if I let you have anything with a higher alcohol percentage than a Diet Coke."

Davina snorted in response. "Do I have to wait until I'm 30 before being allowed to get buzzed in the King's presence? It's not as if either of you actually waited until you were of legal age before drinking."

The men threw each other a side glance before clearing their throats non-discreetly. "Well, I do happen to come from a different time, Davina." Marcel said with a wink.

"Yeah? And what's Josh's excuse?" she challenged with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I came out while I was fifteen in a very old-fashioned and very catholic family, I had issues. Okay?" Josh protested.

"Well, I have issues too."

"Sure you do, princess." Josh sneered and rolled his eyes. "Should we get right to work?"

"Let's." Marcel said with an amused smile. "I hear Hayley's part will be held up by you tonight." He nodded at Josh, who nodded back.

"Well, let's ensure we have our business in order once the Mikaelson's finally decide to grace us with their presences." Marcel scoffed and turned then to Davina. "Update on the witches?"

"The coven has acclimated smoothly and continues to grow stronger." the young brunette relayed with a smile. "These days, there really are no divides left within the faction. We are a united coven, in every sense."

"Did you consider my proposition?" Marcel asked.

Davina looked down at the table. "I don't know if the witches would agree to it."

"To what?" Josh drawled slowly as he raised a brow between them. Earning a sigh from the witch before she turned to him.

"Marcel wants the faction to become members of the Strix."

"Really?" the man said as he shook his head in disbelief. "You do mean the organisation with vampires, right? There's no club or whatever with a similar name that I don't know about?"

Marcel pointed an exasperated look at the younger vampire. "The organistation have had a coven of witches since the beginning, and now that the Sisterhood isn't active anymore, we need a new one."

"I get that, I really do." Davina sighed out. "I'm just not entirely sure it's the best idea right now."

"Just promise you'll consider it?" he pleaded with a frown, eliciting a nod from the girl in response. "Thank you." he smiled before turning to Josh again. "Let's move on; status on the werewolves."

"Well, Hayley and I have been hearing some rumors of stray wolves seeking refuge in the Bayou. So far, no one has been spotted, there's just been some missing supplies and sometimes there are traces of unfamiliar scents around the woods. But there's no actual evidence of outsiders trying to infiltrate the Crescents…"

"Put some night walkers on it to see if those mysterious scents are nothing but thrill-seeking tourists exploring the Bayou and accidentally moving things around." Marcel said, making Josh nod and bring his phone out to make a note of it. "And I'm guessing there are still no news on Lucien?"

"No, he seems gone for now. Although, some of his properties around the country have been shutting down for unknown reasons. I let Elijah know about it yesterday so I'm guessing that's why he and Klaus are prolonging their trip." he said distractedly as he wrote something down.

He put his phone away and grimaced slightly. "Also… Many of the older vamps are starting to request daytime rings; they think you've forgotten about their hard work now that you're spending so much of your focus on the Strix."

"Tell them my focus is spent on establishing a trust inside the organization as well as amongst the several different supernatural groups of this city, which can't be half-assed just because some ladder-climbers are tired of the night shift." Marcel said with enunciation.

He clasped his hands together in a swift change of mood and smiled brightly. "Now, I'd say the business part is over. Are you both staying for the show?" he said, just as a spotlight suddenly pointed at him and the crowd started cheering for the King of New Orleans to join the musicians on the stage.

Lucien let out a long sigh as the dead waitress fell to the cabin floor. "Well, that was fun while it lasted." he chimed as he hid her behind one of the bathroom stalls and cleaned up. Taking a look in the mirror in front of him, he dried off some blood on the side of his face. Wearing a wicked smile before heading out.

He blended in easily with the others at the docks, with his suit and briefcase, rushed steps and determined path. The cruise ship behind him had vacated all other passengers already and the harbor filled as they scrambled to find their next ways of transport. But he was suddenly stopped in his track as he recognized two faces in the crowd. One man with dark brown hair, stiff posture and an expensive suit. The other wore a long, gray cape with dark clothes underneath, chains dangling around his neck.

The Mikaelson's.

Lucien rushed behind a shipment container and hid, watching them from a distance. They were loading off some luggage and compelling one of the employees in customs to not ask too many questions. Then they seemed to be trying to get ahold of a car out of there. Cursing silently as he tried to figure out whether it was more dangerous to wait for them to leave or to try and sneak away before they could spot him.

He then noticed a man and a woman stepping into a cab and decided to join them, rushing to the man and immediately compelled him to let him ride with them. Then he made sure to cover his face with his hand as they passed the brothers.

Safe for now, Lucien thought and looked at the couple from his middle seat. Another wicked smile spread over his lips as a plan formed in his mind. "This will be a nice ride." he grinned.

"Daddy, daddy!"

The happy chant could make even the darkest of hearts grow tenfold as his daughter rushed towards him. Klaus had barely stepped into the mansion when a the seven-year-old wrapped her arms around his legs. He lifted her up in the air and spun her around, making the child giggle and shriek. "Did someone miss me?" he said with a ridiculous smile on his face.

"Yes!" Hope laughed as he kissed her forehead. "Mom said you were coming tomorrow."

"Well, my darling, I decided a father simply shan't be kept away from his daughter for longer than a week at a time." he said and put her down on the ground, kneeling before her. "Guess what, dear?"

"Presents?" she squealed and jumped with excitement.

He laughed. "Well of course, said father shan't return to said daughter without presents! That simply wouldn't do now would it, love?"

"Just don't tell me it's more of that British salt toffee…" Hayley sighed as she stepped into the hall to greet him. "It made her sick the last time."

"Well, of course not." Klaus told her. He and Hope shared a look, he winked at her which induced another giggle from the girl.

Hayley rolled her eyes at that, a content smile playing on her lips. "And Elijah?"

"He needed to drop off some contraband with Marcel on his way over here." Klaus explained as he pulled out a gift from his coat. A small square packaging, the content being quite obviously not candy – this time. "Now, Hope. I brought this for you to share." he explained as he handed it to her.

The child scrunched up her face in confusion as she fumbled to unwrap her present. "What is it?" she asked as she revealed a book.

"It's the Velveteen Rabbit." Klaus said.

Hayley walked up to them and smiled. "Wow, I used to love this book as a child. I never really had anyone to read it to me though…" she said and looked at Klaus with a slightly bewildered face.

"Then I suppose Hope shall read it to you." he said with a soft smile before turning to his daughter again. "Won't you, dear?"

Hope nodded repeatedly. "Yes, mom. I can read it to you!"

Hayley laughed. "Well, let me go make some tea for us and we'll have a nice little reading in the library. What do you say?" Hope nodded again and smiled at her mother.

As Hayley left, Klaus took his daughter's hand and subtly hid a piece of candy in her little palm. Making her giggle some more.

"Ah-ah!" he whispered to her. "Remember what I taught you." he said and raised an index-finger to his lips. She mimicked him and they both hushed together. "It'll be our little secret." he said and gently pecked her nose.

With a big smile, Hope scurried away to join her mother. Klaus was just about to follow as his phone started ringing in his pocket. He picked it up in one swift movement. "Did you manage to drop everything off at Marcel's?" he asked but was only met by silence.

"Elijah?" he said and looked at the phone screen, realizing he hadn't done so before answering the call. The number was unknown.

Finally, a voice started talking on the other end. "U-uh... I..." a man stuttered.

"Who is this?" Klaus said gravely, trying to determine whether it was a threat or prank call. Neither being favorable options for the poor lad who decided to call this number.

"Sir, I… I just…" the voice muttered on.

"Well, spit it out!" Klaus ordered.

"You... Um... You told me to get ahold of you and to interrupt whatever you were doing if-"

"Come on, mate. I don't have all day." he warned.

"She's here, sir."

Klaus blinked a few times, about to ask him who on earth this man was talking about when it hit him. And it hit him hard. All he could do was utter a single word as he felt his body freeze to the spot. "When?" he asked, his voice thick as he desperately tried to control the overwhelming thoughts in his head.

"I saw her exit her plane about half an hour ago... and I've been calling you ever since to inform you." the man continued. "But there's something you should know, sir."

"What?" he croaked out.

"She flew in from Illinois instead, Chicago I think. And... she didn't come alone. There's a man with her."

He nodded to himself, wondering for a moment which one of the male members of that godforsaken gang of Mystic Falls that she had chosen to bring with her. But he couldn't focus on that for longer than a few second before his mind and all his senses were attacked once more by the realization...

She came.

Caroline Forbes is in New Orleans.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12: The storm

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline hadn't been to a fancy restaurant in… She came up short as she tried to recall the last time while she and Enzo stepped into the sophisticated bistro.

Perhaps the most recent occasion was while she dated a young chef named Ryan during the last year of college? Or were there ever a one-time-guy that asked her out for dinner before spending the night with her? She was guessing the name of that one lawyer from New York, who had been in Chicago for a weekend and decided to show off his riches at one of the town's most exclusive bistros during his last night, when Enzo cut her thoughts off:

"I believe that is our man." he said as he took her coat.

She followed his eyes over to one of the smaller tables by the windows in the far end of the restaurant. A man in his early-thirties was reading a menu, seemingly sitting alone.

Will Kinney. It had to be him. He looked just like the photos Damon had dug up online, except for the extra year or two having aged his looks… His hair had small hints of the beginning of some salt-and-pepper in the dark hue while his features remained attractive… Had Caroline met this guy at a bar, she wouldn't have minded sharing a conversation or two with him. Or the night.

"Let me try my luck with him while you get us a table." she suggested to Enzo, earning a nod in response.

"What would you prefer, darling?" he asked with a grin as he handed their coats over to one of the staff. "In the center or closer to the windows?"

She rolled her eyes, not being aware that their charade had already begun. "The center. Please." she said and moved some of her hair back over her shoulder to show off her neck. "Thanks sweetie." she mocked before leaving him with the hostess and walking over to the lonely man's table.

As she sashayed through the couples sharing romantic meals, she realized she was searching for something. Or someone. Not finding anyone familiar, she shook the thought off and tried to concentrate on the task at hand; on the man in front of her rather than the one in her thoughts.

"You seem very focused." she said with an innocent tone, leaning a hand on the back of the empty chair on the other side of his table. "Lots of options to choose from?"

The man looked up at her, his eyes widening and his hands immediately putting the menu down. For a moment, he looked like he had seen a ghost before he shook his head slightly. "Sorry, I thought you were an old friend at first." he grimaced and lowered his gaze to stare at the menu again.

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows for a moment, that sort of a reaction was new. "Well…" she said and took the seat opposite him. "I could be a new one." she smiled playfully.

He looked at her for a moment before raising the menu and continuing to study its content. "Didn't I just see you walk in here with some guy?" he asked nonchalantly. "Husband?"

"You're quite the detective, huh?" she teased and watched his cool façade falter just slightly. Hah, got you! she thought and smiled broadly when he met her eyes again. "I could really use one actually."

"A detective?" he said with a furrow, putting his menu down and shrugging. "Why don't you try making a visit to the local police station?"

"Well…" she grinned. "I hear you're the one to go to. At least with the kind of questions I have."

Raising an eyebrow at her he studied her closely. "And what kind of questions might that be?"

She bit her lower lip and leaned closer to him over the table between them. "The kind that involves vampires."

His face didn't change but his eyes nearly glazed over at the mention. His reaction surprised Caroline… He almost seemed – bored.

"Excuse me?" he said, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

She furrowed her eyebrows and tried again. "I want information on some killings that have occurred in the French Quarter… By vampires."

He didn't seem affected whatsoever, he simply kept looking at her as if expecting something more. Some explanation or something else… But Caroline had no idea what until she connected the look in his eyes with what she'd seen in the past and sighed.

He'd been compelled.

She leaned closer yet and looked deep into his eyes. "You don't need the menu." she told him. "Order seafood, it's the best here."

He nodded slowly at her, her compulsion sinking in and making him raise a hand to call for a waiter immediately. She held it down and kept his eyes locked on hers. Having passed her little test, she then continued her commands; "You are going to forget our conversation and order your meal the moment I walk away from your table. But first I need you to tell me everything you can possibly remember about a case you had a few years back, while you were still working for the New Orleans PD."

He nodded again and awaited further information.

"A streak of dead men, who were bled out and strung up like marionettes all around the French Quarter." she said, repeating the details Damon had cited to her. "The common factor between the victims were that they all looked alike; they were regularly built and Caucasian. All in their late-twenties to early-thirties and with pretty large trust funds… Oh!" she said as she remembered the most important part of the story; "And the corners of their mouths were sliced, you know, like Glasgow-scars."

He shook his head at her. "I don't… I can't… I don't think I know what you're talking about." he stuttered.

"How about the name Lucien Castle? Does that ring a bell?" she asked impatiently but he only shook his head even more aggressively, making her clench her teeth and sigh.

"Fine." she gritted out in defeat. "Nice talking to you." she muttered and stood up, immediately triggering the compulsion on him that would ensure he'd forget ever having met her as she walked away and towards where she spotted Enzo.

He looked expectantly at her as she took a seat at the table he had gotten for them. "Well?" he said, apparently not having kept an ear on her conversation with the ex-detective.

She shook her head. "He's been compelled." she told him. "And not so recently either. My compulsion worked just fine on him now but when I tried to get any information on the murders or when I as much as mentioned the word vampire – it was like his mind went blank and he couldn't even understand what I was saying."

"I suppose that means we won't have such an easy time finding Julian's old serial-killing mate after all then." Enzo muttered and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are we a hundred percent sure that this murderer even is the one who turned Julian?" Caroline asked. "I mean, what if the real person is just running around in … Timbuktu or something; while we waste our time chasing a bunch of loose ends around this Castle-guy?"

"All of our research points in the same direction." Enzo shrugged. "Julian spent the entirety of his newly turned vampire years with the man responsible for these killings, and the main suspect in those investigations was Lucien Castle."

Caroline sighed, noticing a glass of red wine in front of her and immediately taking a large sip of it.

"You are acting very peculiar, gorgeous." Enzo pointed out. "You do want to find Bonnie, correct?"

"Yes, of course I do!" Caroline hissed. "I just don't see why we need to look for Julian's sire when what we should be doing is round up the Heretics and make them help us locate Bonnie instead."

"This man could lead us to Julian and thereby to Bonnie. It is a far better plan than scouring the earth for some witches whom we haven't heard from in years." Enzo protested. "As far as we know; Beau, Norah and Mary-Louise were all killed by Julian when he escaped our spell. Either that or they have been on the run ever since and won't possibly be found unless they come to us first."

She shook her head and finished her glass in one sweep, putting it down on the table and then reaching for Enzo's untouched glass as well.

He grabbed her wrist before she could get ahold of it, drawing her eyes up to his. "Is there another reason why you aren't too keen on this plan taking place in New Orleans?"

Caroline tried to pull her hand away from his grip but failed. "And what would that be?" she scoffed.

"Damon mentioned something." Enzo said slowly and studied her intently. "About there being someone here that might want to see you. An old friend of yours?"

She finally managed to free herself from his hold and stroked her sore wrist while shrugging innocently. "Damon is delusional." she muttered and looked down at the menu before her. "Now, what should we order? Ric said to try the seafood while we're here."

"Caroline." Enzo said, forcing her to meet his eyes again. "Who are you avoiding?"

She shook her head. "No one. Really." she lied and pointed at his menu. "Now hurry up and pick something. I'm starving."

He looked at her for a moment longer before finally giving up and starting to look for the different items on the menu. Caroline knew she might have been able to put the conversation to rest for now, but he was most certainly going to bring it up again.

Question was; should she tell him the truth?

About four years ago

Dallas, Texas

The last few weeks had been rough for the Texans, especially for those living in Dallas without private pools or working air conditioning. A heat-wave had swept through the state and seemed determined to push everyone to the brink of insanity while it crept into its twelfth day of torture. Caroline hadn't experienced anything like it before and quickly found out it wasn't quite to her liking. Everyone were cranky, dazed and sweating, her included.

It only made matters worse that the AC seemed to malfunction on the one day that the library at Dallas Uni was packed to the walls with a long line of students. Aside from the AC, the self-serve desks were out of service too, forcing everyone to wait for one old lady at reception to handle every customer errant for the day.

As Caroline stared up at the clock on the wall above the receptionist's desk, she cursed, swearing up and down that the hands hadn't moved for the past half-hour. She tried to fan herself with one of the thinner books she was holding, wishing she could've returned them days ago.

Today was the deadline and Caroline had promised herself not to try and get ahead by compelling her way through the system anymore. This was her chance to start over after all and she wanted it to work.

Of course, that promise was starting to make less and less sense with every passing minute in the reception area. The air seemed to have completely stopped to a standstill and her skin was covered in sweat, one bead streaming down her back as she realized her tank top must be drenched by now.

"Next!" the old woman called out, making everyone in the line move a step closer. Caroline tried to think of ways to distract herself from her growing impatience, making her listen in on a pair of students further down the line as a name had caught her attention.

"Yeah, I hear Professor Saltzman showed up to American History 201 with sunglasses and the world's worst whiskey-breath ever!"

"Oh my god, he's such a drunk! I totally saw him hiding a flask during my Western Cultures class the other day."

"I had no idea it was that bad, you think the dean knows?"

"If she did, he wouldn't be teaching for much longer. You know how strict she is with that kind of misconduct. Didn't that professor Walker get like life in prison for just flirting with a student that one time?"

"Come on, Amy. People don't get life in prison unless they commit a murder or something."

"Oh, right... Oh my god, maybe professor Walker killed that student! Maybe he rejected her old cougar-flirting and maybe it completely made her, like, lose her mind."

"Oh my god... That would explain so much..."

The sound of a light snap made Caroline realize she had clenched her books too tightly, seeing that one of the hardcovers hade nail-marks and a slight rip embedded into the thick material.

She shook her head to try and slow her heartbeat. Just breathe, Caroline. I know it's been a while since you've fed, and you're really hot and tired and irritated... but a massacre in the school library is so not going to help you fit in here...

"Next!"

As she took another step forward in line, she caught sight of something through the fogged-up windows and immediately froze up.

He may have been covering his face with a phone as he walked down the street, but she would recognize that man anywhere at any time.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was compelling another student in line to return her books for her and rushed out of the library to follow the man. As he turned a corner and studied something in a coffee-shop window, she sped up and stood right behind him in chock.

His eyes met hers in their reflection, making him slowly turn around with his phone lowered from his ear.

"You shouldn't be here." she said coldly, making him push a button on his phone before tucking it away in his shorts pocket. His hair was shorter than she remembered, but his beautiful features and sad blue eyes remained the same after all this time.

"Caroline." he said, barely looking at her face. "I didn't realize you-"

She cut him off by raising the palm of her hand and taking a closer step towards him. " Stefan." she said, his name leaving a poisonous taste in her mouth. "You have exactly one minute to explain why you are here and why I shouldn't kill you right now."

He nodded slowly, seemingly accepting defeat, and looked up at her with guilt in his eyes. "It's going to take more than a minute."

His phone suddenly began ringing, making him hold it up to read the caller ID. The name flashing over his screen made Caroline's heart stop.

"Okay, it's officially 45 seconds now." she told him. "So, I suggest you start with telling me why the hell Elijah Mikaelson is calling you."

Present day

Chicago, Illinois

A smile tugged at Alaric's lips as he read Caroline's message of their safe arrival to New Orleans. But it quickly disappeared when he felt the air shift in the office. His years of training and experience hadn't dulled whatsoever over the inactive years. If anything, he had only become sharper than ever - or rather constantly on edge. But it had its benefits. Especially when the door opened just as he fired his crossbow and hit the intruder in the shoulder. Causing him to stagger on his knees and groan in pain as he wrapped his arms around the wooden spike with a hiss.

"I probably should've known better than to expect that stash in your car to be all of it." he grunted and pulled the piercing wood out, dropping it on the floor as he straightened his clothes.

"You probably should have known better than to try and sneak up on a vampire hunter." Ric scoffed, and a little amused smile played on their lips in unison at that. He quickly shrugged it off and stilled his face again while putting his weapon away. "Don't tell me you're here to squeeze in some college courses, Salvatore. Not to be rude or anything, but you are a few decades too old to be a student, you know."

"Nah, that was way more Stefan's thing." he replied with a strained smirk as he sat on the armchair across his desk and put his feet up in front of him. Crossing his legs as he leaned back with his hands clasped in his lap. "So, my car or yours?"

He glared at the muddy boots that were staining his vintage mahogany desk until the dark-haired man finally sighed and put his feet down on the floor again. "I'm not going, Damon." he stated causally.

"Come on! It'll be just like old times, Ric!" the vampire whined with a playful look in his eyes. "You, me, the open road. Working together. Taking down some douche-bag vampires..."

"I believe I did just that when you walked in here."

The smile of his face was wide and pleased, and it bothered him. It made him feel like he'd played straight into his hands, and he really had no intentions of playing his games.

"You know you're just wasting your time, right?" he said, making his smug face falter enough to ease the irritation in Ric's stomach. "I listened to your story. I even got Caroline to listen too... Hell! She went to New Orleans to get the Mikaelson's help for god's sake! And you're still here, asking for more?"

"I guess I was counting on your stubborn inability to sit idly by when you can actually do something to help." Damon said with a shrug, the accuracy of his claim made him grunt into his palms. Causing him to nearly miss what he said next. "And I wanted to work with you again. I guess. Whatever."

As he lowered his hands slowly, he studied the man in front of him with wide eyes. "So, you want me to drop everything, leave Chicago, drive across the country - and all because you missed me?"

"I never said I missed you alright!" he protested, earning a chuckle in response. "Come on, Ric! I thought maybe you'd be ready to move forward by now."

"Move forward? To what, exactly?"

"To us being friends again!" the vampire exclaimed, standing up and raising his arms in the air in a shrug.

He raised his eyebrows at the temper tantrum and shook his head. "I always knew you were insane, just not how much until now."

"Bonnie is in trouble, alright. If you don't want to do this for me, then at least do it for her. For Elena. Hell, even for Jeremy!"

"Don't." Ric hissed then, glaring at the vampire with bunched up fists. "Don't talk to me about them. Don't try to push your agenda on me, Damon. I'm not falling for it this time."

"Just, listen. Please."

He shook his head before nodding towards him, urging him on. "Talk fast."

"There are some loose ends to take care of that can't be done in New Orleans. And I was really hoping to do all of this in the most effective way possible. Meaning, while Caroline and Enzo are turning to the Originals for help – we have our own roles to play."

"And that would be?"

A smirk showed up on Damon's face then as he gestured to the door behind him. "Your car or mine?"

Ric deliberated silently for a long moment, weighing the pros and cons in his head. He didn't want to fall into more supernatural drama than absolutely necessary… Yet, it seemed the faster he just played his part, the faster they would finally leave him and Caroline alone. They would be free again. With that thought, he nodded and voiced his decision.

"Mine. Let's go."

Present day

New Orleans, Louisiana

The city was beautiful at night, but not very calm. Despite her choosing a hotel across the street from a park, the party crowd still seemed to mark Frenchmen Street as their territory. Caroline had trouble falling asleep already and didn't need the additional loud and drunken singing…

That was the problem with vampirism, you could hear everything happening around you, even when you tried your hardest not to. Which was the main reason why she had fought so hard to get Enzo to agree on them staying in two different hotels.

That's right, they didn't just have separate rooms; they had their own buildings.

But really, it was necessary. Caroline had gotten far too used to living with and around humans that she couldn't imagine having someone hear everything going on in her room from down the hall or even from several floors below her. She needed her privacy, not that she had planned on taking full advantage of it by bringing someone back to her suite… But it was still nice to know that she had the option to do so without the risk of Enzo eavesdropping.

Currently, Caroline had been turning and tossing in her bed for hours without being any closer to sleeping and she had had enough. Back at home, she always used to do some work when she couldn't fall asleep, so she decided to continue the search for answers on her own in the city… Since the sooner that they got what they came here for – the sooner they could leave.

So, she redid her hair and makeup from the dinner with Enzo and took out one of her dresses in her suitcase and followed a group of people outside to some bar with the name Rousseau's.

The different smells of booze and blood blended in the air as Caroline was painfully reminded that it had been quite a while ago since she had fed. Counting the hours in her head, and adding up to nearly two days, she sat down by the bar and ordered two martinis at once.

"Tough day?" the bartender asked, drawing her attention to his very appreciative look on her.

She straightened up and sighed. "Busy day." she whined.

He nodded and added an extra olive to her drink. "I don't believe I've seen you in here before. Tourist?"

"Not exactly... Just trying to find some answers." she admitted, surprised that the hints of a southern accent matched with the calm, green eyes made her open up so easily. Perhaps he got that all the time, being a bartender and a not so-bad-looking one either. That thought made her irritated and Caroline decided she wouldn't feel too bad about playing him right back. "Maybe you could help me out." she said with a smile.

He smiled back, seeming proud of himself. "What would you like to know?" he asked, leaning slightly closer to the bar between them, as if she was telling him a secret that only he could hear.

She played along and leaned closer, a mischievous smile on her lips. "Maybe you could tell me-" she began and moved closer, stretching slightly to whisper close to his ear. "- about the freaky, vampire murderer from the French Quarter."

He flinched and straightened up, staring at her as if she had said something outraging. "Pardon!?"

She raised an eyebrow at his reaction but didn't back down. "You know… The streak of dead men from five years back who were bled out and strung up like marionettes."

The young man stepped back from her and started cleaning a glass, turning his back to her. "What do you know?" he whispered, loud enough for her to just barely hear and therefore telling her he knew a whole lot more about vampires than your regular run-on-the-mill bartender.

"Not much. I'm looking to find out more." she said honestly, studying him closely as he put the clean glass away and finally turned back around to face her.

He wore a grim look before shaking his head. "If you want information about that sort of things… Then you need to ask the King."

The bar seemed to go silent for a short moment before everybody returned to their conversations again. Caroline's breath hitched as she stared at the bartender.

"The King?" she echoed, terrified that she might know what that entailed. Or rather; whom.

"Of New Orleans." he continued. "Marcel Gerard."

Mar-who-now? Caroline thought as she felt a wave of different emotions hit her all at once… Who the hell was Marcel Gerard!? And how on earth could he be "the king" if Klaus –

She suddenly had a thought which she hadn't even considered yet; did that mean Klaus wasn't even in New Orleans anymore?

Realizing the bartender was watching her, she decided to put her mixed emotions and confusing thoughts aside for the time being and pulled herself together. "And how can I find him?"

"You don't, he finds you." he said all-too dramatically, making Caroline raise an incredulous eyebrow. "However…" he then continued. "If you want to catch his attention," he said and nodded over her shoulder. "Go up there."

She followed his look to the other side of the bar, where a stage was set up with instruments and a karaoke machine. Caroline smiled widely at the sight; oh, she was definitely up for that.

"Where do I sign up?" she said with her eyes still locked on the stage.

"Just let me know what you wanna sing and I'll set it up so you can perform as soon as tomorrow." he said.

"Alright." she said and looked over at him. "I know just the song."

Four years ago

Dallas, Texas

Stefan had been in Texas before, several times, but this heat-wave was definitely one for the history books. Although, his companion seemed much more bothered by it than he was.

"Could you explain to me, again, why we are deep into Dante's bloody Southern Inferno in the middle of the hottest time of the year?"

He sighed at Valerie in response, making her shake her head in frustration. "Come on, I know he's here." he told her as he led her through the old warehouse in the industrial parts of Dallas.

"Well, when exactly are you going to tell me who we are meeting in this godforsaken town... Why couldn't we have gone to somewhere cooler... I hear Mars is wonderful in comparison!"

"My friends are the only ones who could possibly track down Julian, so unless you have other ways of finding him..." he waited as she let out a frustrated sigh and nodded in understanding. "That's what I thought."

"We shouldn't be doing this here, Stefan. What if Alaric and Caroline find out-"

Her words get caught in her throat as he suddenly turned to face her with a dark face. "Let me worry about them, you focus on finishing that spell of yours. That was our deal."

"Does that mean you're planning on seeing her?"

He considered it for a moment, studying Valerie as he tried to find the answer. Any answer. "I know she won't meet with me."

"That's not what I asked, and you know it."

He closed his eyes and let out a long exhale. "If despite everything... Caroline still wanted to see me, I'd see her. But I'm not getting my hopes up..."

"Now this is certainly an interesting change of pace, Mr. Salvatore."

The voice made the both of them jump slightly as they turned to a new figure in front of them. "Fret not, Stefan, I have no intention of telling my brother of your new... Endeavors." the man said with a slight smirk as he walked towards them with a hand in his suit jacket.

"Valerie." the Salvatore said as he squared his shoulders and nodded towards their guest. "This is Elijah Mikaelson. From the Original family."

It was clear that she had many questions as she finally met with the man capable of helping them. She stood in silence, seemingly on edge as Elijah spoke again.

"What of your brother, is he here as well?"

"No." Stefan replied.

"Am I right then to assume that you are not in need of my assistance in saving the doppelganger this time?" he asked, glancing over at Valerie as he spoke.

"We're being hunted down by a dangerous vampire." she quickly responded. "We seek protection from him."

"What makes you think I would be able, not to mention willing, to provide you with such a request?" the Original pressed on, making the younger vampire stiffen slightly as he hoped to be able to sway him.

"We have information that could be worthy of a trade."

"Of what sorts?" Elijah asked, his attention directed to his sleeves as he adjusted the cufflinks on them.

Stefan glanced over at Valerie then, nodding to urge her on. Earning a short smile before she spoke. "We know where the Strix are hiding."

The words made the Original still before looking up with a raised eyebrow. "Is that so?" he said with a slow nod, his voice calm and guarded as he walked closer to them again. "Could you tell me then; How have you come across something that I have spent the better part of the year searching for?"

"I know of every coven conjuring any kind of magic on this side of the earth. I ran into them several decades ago and have recently picked up their presence again."

"How?" Elijah said, staring at Valerie with wide eyes. "The Strix is covered by the darkest of powers, only someone of great magic themselves would..." His voice trailed of as he started to recognize something, dread built in Stefan's chest as he watched the Mikaelson put the pieces together.

"You are Valerie Tulle... of the Heretic's Coven." she gulped hard beside him then, fighting not to show any fear as the Original examined her closely. "I thought your kind had been eradicated long ago." Elijah broke the silence, staring at Valerie in awe.

"Formerly yes, but we were all brought back. It's only I and Julian now, however." she explained and looked over at Stefan shortly with a nod. "Julian, he is the man whom we need protection from."

"So…" the younger vampire said then, watching the Mikaelson with narrowed eyes. "Are you interested, or should we turn elsewhere instead?"

Elijah watched them in silence for a moment, taking slow steps as if in deep thought as he turned away slightly. Finally, he stopped and turned fully towards them with a nod. "Let us discuss an agreement."

Present day

New Orleans, Louisiana

"Hi ya'll! How's everyone doin'?"

The crowd of Rousseau's cheered and applauded as the current afternoon's male bartender stood before them at the stage. "I would like to welcome a very special, very beautiful and very new musical guest... The stunning Caroline Forbes." he said and applauded. The people in the bar chimed in politely as Caroline walked over to the mic.

She spotted Enzo in the crowd and grimaced at his sour face. He hadn't been all too happy about her idea to bring attention to herself, but she managed to get him in on the plan so long as he didn't need to sing too. And after having spent all of their second day in New Orleans searching for clues on Lucien Castle – since he most likely was the man they were looking for – and coming up empty… Well, he had started to warm up to the thought of finding Marcel Gerard and possibly having him answer their questions instead.

Caroline thanked the bartender for the introduction and the crowd for the warm welcome and nodded to the band to begin. The song she'd chosen was a new classic, an old Adele song from her last album before she gave up singing back in 2017. 'When We Were Young' – it was a very bold song which had made Caroline anxious, but she figured she had practiced it enough times in the shower back home in Chicago since it was her all-time favorite.

As the music began, Caroline felt the usual butterflies in her stomach trying to make her throw up… But she had learned long ago a good trick for focusing on something else; closing her eyes for a moment and pretending no one was listening to her. This always worked because it made her less anxious about what people might think and more determined to show everyone what she could do.

Caroline decided by the chorus to finally open her eyes. Meeting the crowd as they were dead quiet, everyone watching her intently. But somehow it didn't intimidate her… Because the look on thair faces proved she was doing just fine, and Enzo's stunned expression and wide eyes encouraged her to keep going. As it was soon time for the high notes, the butterflies resurfaced, and she closed her eyes once more and decided to not think and instead just give it all that she had…

For a short second, as the song was finished, the crowd was completely silent. But then they broke out into applause, howls, cheers, whistles and calls. It was absolutely surreal… And even though Caroline was aware she had done well, she still had a hard time swallowing the fact that this reaction was all for her.

"Thank you." she said breathlessly, earning more howls from the audience as they all suddenly stood up for her.

At that point, Caroline suddenly spotted someone in the back of the crowd. A man in-between faces that she could've sworn was… She walked off the stage quickly and begun passing through the still applauding and cheering crowd. Trying to confirm what she'd seen. Enzo suddenly covered her sight though, grabbing her by the arm and grinning widely,

"That was incredible!" he cheered as she still leaned over his shoulder to catch the face once more. But the spot where she first thought she had seen him was now empty. No Hybrid in sight.

Her heart raced, drowning out the sounds from the audience, Enzo's lips moving in front of her but she couldn't concentrate on his words. Everything began to spin. Was he here? Did he see her? Did he know that she was here? Was he waiting for her to show up at his door? Was he hiding from her? Where did he go?

Before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed Enzo's arm tightly and pulled him behind her as she ran out of the bar.

"Caroline, where are we going?" Enzo asked.

She stopped then and looked at him with a hard expression. "I need blood." she breathed out and continued pulling him down the street.

"You were brilliant, Caroline. Absolutely spectacular…" he said as she led them to her hotel. "I cannot believe you've kept this talent of yours hidden for so long…"

"I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" she said before rounding a corner and finally arriving. "Thank god." she sighed and sped them up the stairs to her suite.

"Gorgeous..." Enzo said uncertainly as she began looking for the key in her purse. "Are you feeling well?"

She didn't answer him, instead she unlocked the door the second she got ahold of the key and then blurred inside. Rushing over to the mini-fridge where she had stored a few bags away, she took out all three of them and began digging into one.

"You sure did succeed in your mission to draw attention to yourself." Enzo said and took a seat on the bed as she finished the first bag and started on the next.

"How long has it been?" he asked as she got halfway through.

She froze for a moment before turning around to face him. "Since the last time I sang or since the last time I fed?" she asked.

He only looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Long enough." she mumbled, answering for both. Then she returned to her blood while walking over to the tall French balcony and studied the dark street outside.

"You think it worked?" Caroline asked silently.

"Certainly." Enzo answered.

She nodded. "Good. The important part is that we find answers and get Bonnie back." she said and closed her eyes for a moment. "That's all that matters."

Chapter Text

Chapter 13: Through the looking glass

Caroline and Enzo had gotten seriously tired of searching for answers and only finding more questions. They had tried talking to every single member of every police station in the city and aside from compelling their way to a copy of the investigation file – they hadn't found anything useful whatsoever. Everyone they spoke to either didn't know or didn't remember what they knew. About the murders and about Lucien Castle... Since he also seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth, their only choice seemed to be Marcel.

At least the only choice Caroline was comfortable with.

She wore a mini blue sundress with thin spaghetti straps and an open back – which had helped them gain a few names from one of the policemen in the most current station. Names connected to Lucien's business, which apparently constituted restoring and selling real estate and other properties. Which seemed like a bizarre job for a serial-killing maniac. But, hey, who was she to judge?

As Enzo had stepped away to try and get in touch with the last name on the list, she decided to order some food at a restaurant nearby and told him to meet her there. Sitting down at a little table outside, she brought a notepad out and tried to draw the connections between the very little information they had. Reading through her mind-maps and notes as she tried to make sense of it all.

There really was so much that didn't make any sense. Why would a guy, who was so clearly not bothered by people finding his murder victims, willing to go through so much trouble of compelling seemingly everyone in the city to not talk about it? How could a story like this be kept from the press? How did no one seem to mind that people regularly went missing in the city during night? How did the police not know about anything supernatural when Caroline herself had already sniffed out several weres and vamps just during the two days since their arrival?

Eight victims… And no one seemed to know anything about it.

She drummed her pen against the pad restlessly, as she also remembered that the victims all looked alike. That they were all males in their late 20s to early-30s, dark hair and light skin with medium built bodies. Yet, they didn't seem to have a single connection between them – except for all of them having ended up hanging from strings around the Quarter like marionette dolls.

"Curiouser and curiouser." she murmured as she found herself wanting to give up. Dropping the pen on the pad and looking up in time to meet someone's gaze.

"A blonde in blue finding herself in a world of wonder. Isn't that quite fitting?"

The voice came from a man carrying her food. His eyes were brown and matched with his dark red shirt, tucked into his black jeans. His face was square and clean-shaven, with a playful look that made Caroline squint her eyes slightly.

"Excuse me?" she asked while studying him closer.

He looked ordinary, a little mysterious and exciting with the British accent and all, sure, but still… ordinary. And yet there was something in his tilted smile and glistening eyes that gave Caroline warning signals. Something wasn't right about this guy.

He placed her order in front of her. "Alice in Wonderland." he said, realizing it wasn't clearing her confusion up at all. "You were quoting it?"

"Right!" she said and chuckled shortly. "Yeah, it was my favorite growing up."

"Mine too." he chimed and smiled a wicked grin that made Caroline slightly uncomfortable before he continued. "Most people would consider it bizarre, but I really enjoyed the thought of discovering a completely upside-down world with strange creatures and magical beings... I find it thrilling." he said, adding a wink at the last word.

Caroline gave him a polite smile. "I get that." she chided, hoping he would leave her be and stop trolling for tips.

"So..." the man drawled out then and grabbed the seat across from her. "What else do you like, except for salads and Alice in Wonderland, that is?" He motioned to the plate in front of her and then locked his hands under his chin.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked, smiling apologetically.

"Well, not yet. But I do wish for that to change soon. Since word on the street is you've asked to see me and now having caught my attention…" He flashed her a half-smile as she remained unsure of his identity. "Lucien." he finally introduced himself, extending his hand to her.

Caroline's eyes flickered wide. "Lucien Castle." she stuttered in recognition and shook his hand. She then closed her notepad carefully, so he wouldn't see her rather extensive notes and comments about… well, him. "Caroline Forbes. Or just Caroline if we're going to be friends." she added, biting the inside of her cheek slightly in an effort to keep the pageant smile in place despite panicking internally.

Where the hell was Enzo when you needed him?

"I would actually prefer calling you Alice, now that I know such a personal detail about your childhood." he teased and grinned at her, another one of those wicked smirks.

It threw her slightly off-guard, but she quickly regained an innocent smile on her face. "Well, how about you tell me something about you, equally personal, and we'll be even?"

He chuckled a little and nodded. "Sounds fair enough. What do you suggest I tell you?"

She dug out the case files from her bag and put them on the table between them. "How about you tell me about the person responsible for these?" Caroline said, showing him the crime scene photos of the murders in the French Quarter, a relaxed smile never leaving her lips.

His smirk grew wide at her words as he merely glanced down at the file before looking back up at her face again. "Now, why would that classify as personal information?"

"You tell me." she said and took a bite out of the salad she'd ordered, half-wondering if there was a possibility that he could've poisoned it. "Was it you?"

He closed the file and pushed it closer to her, leaning back in his chair as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Not even five minutes into our first meeting, and you are already accusing me of murder?" he chuckled with a steady tone, the wicked smile still on his lips. "I might just end up liking you after all, Alice."

"Well, I'm not really one to tip-toe around things." she admitted, trying to keep her poker-face on as she studied him closely. "Well? Do you know who it was?" Caroline asked nonchalantly, as if they were talking about the weather and not eight brutally murdered men…

"Are you a detective?" he asked amusedly.

"No." she replied truthfully, taking the file and putting it away. "Just trying to get to the bottom of this story. Your name was brought up a lot in the investigation. Naturally, I got curious as to why you were suspected."

"Naturally." he echoed just as nonchalantly as her.

"So why did they? Suspect you?" she pressed on, folding her hands under her chin and studying him with squinted eyes. "You don't look like a serial killer to me."

"And what do you know about serial killers, dear?" he challenged her while examining her from head to toe.

She swallowed hard as another warning signal went off in her head, there really was something about him... "I've come across a couple of them over the years."

"And what did they look like?"

"Lost. Angry. Confused. Psychotic. Name your pick." she shrugged and went back to eating her salad.

"I have a feeling you know a lot more about these murders than I do, Alice. So please don't tell me your only reason for harassing my friendly police officers, along with many of my employees, is simply to throw silly accusations in my face. Because that would be rather..." he pouted his lips while searching for the right word. "Anticlimactic." he purred then.

Caroline looked up at him from the salad and decided not to back down, she had faced far scarier monsters in the past after all. Even if Lucien did turn out to be the one they were currently hunting, he wouldn't even make top ten on the list. "Would it make you feel a little more at ease if we instead had a drink while discussing this, say… tonight?"

"Well, you certainly are a straight-shooter, darling." he chuckled. "Very well, maybe that would make this slightly more interesting. What did you have in mind exactly?"

"There's this bar I just stumbled upon the other night, Rousseau's. Meet me there around 10?"

"I admit, you do intrigue me, and I am certainly curious of your reasons for trying to find me." he said teasingly. "But I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one; your boyfriend might disapprove." he quipped and nodded up as Enzo suddenly stood by her side. "Hello, mate. Lovely weather we're having today, don't you agree?"

"Who is this?" Enzo asked as he glanced over at Caroline with a furrowed look.

"Enzo, this is Mr. Castle." Caroline said, stunning her friend shortly as he then shook hands with the man opposite her. "Lucien Castle, this is Enzo St. John – not my boyfriend."

"You don't say." he chimed and grinned at the man widely then. "Good meeting you, Mr. St. John."

"I must admit I didn't expect you to simply…"

"Show up in the middle of your search for me?" Lucien finished his sentence and chuckled. "I thought it best to introduce myself to the two newest additions to the vampire population in the Quarter. You know, before you succeed in utterly tarnishing my reputation with your nonsense accusations." Lucien said with a dark look that made even Enzo gulp down his nerves.

"We were simply asking questions." Enzo said, nodding to Caroline. "We don't want to cause any trouble, Mr. Castle. But we would greatly appreciate if you do decide to help us."

"Yes, well…" he said and stood up, clasping his hands together. "Perhaps you will get the chance to do so, tonight. At Rosseau's. At 10." He winked at Caroline and grinned shortly. "Please, do make sure to wear another pretty dress like that one, Alice."

She furrowed her eyebrows and studied him closely. "You will be there, then? Tonight?" she asked, steering her focus away from the condescending comment.

He shrugged nonchalantly at that. "We'll see. In the meantime-" he chimed, giving Enzo a dismissing nod before turning away from them. "-I hope you two both enjoy your stay in Wonderland." he called over his shoulder, before disappearing and leaving them both to exchange nervous looks in silence.

Present day
Chicago, Illinois

"I don't understand. Why exactly do you need to leave?"

Ric gulped hard as he sat in Cassie's living room with a forlorn face and a heavy feeling in his chest. Rubbing his temple as he wracked his brain for something useful, an excuse - an explanation... Anything. "I know that it sounds strange but... I have to help some friends out."

"By going to Oklahoma?" she echoed his previous words as she watched him with disbelieving eyes.

"Yes. My friends, they're in trouble. And they think that there's someone in Stillwater that can help."

"What does that mean? What kind of trouble?"

"It's complicated I-"

"No, Zach. It really isn't." she scoffed and stood up abruptly, her hands running through her hair as she turned away with a shake of her head. "You said you could handle this, us and the boys. And now... You're bailing."

"Cassie, that's not what I'm doing. I swear." he insisted as he reached for her hand, squeezing it softly and drawing her eyes to his again. "Remember, I told you that I have some... History. I had hoped to tell you about it all when the time was right. I never expected it to come barging in on my life out of the blue..." he sighed, frowning up at her disappointed expression. "I really wish I could explain it to you, but it's just... Difficult. And I have to leave as soon as possible."

"And what, you want me to just sit on my hands and wait while you're away? Is that it?"

"No, I'm not asking for anything from you. Only that you try to understand that I have to go."

"When will you be back?" she asked, earning another sigh from him then.

"I don't know."

"What will you be doing when you get there?"

"I don't know..."

"Then how exactly do you expect me to be okay with this!?" she scoffed, pulling her hand away from his and crossing her arms over her chest. "Just tell me the truth, Zach. Tell me what's really going on, don't I at least deserve that much?"

"You do." he admitted with a sad smile. "If you want... I can make sure that you go on with your life without me in it."

"What?"

"If you want to move on and let me go, I can help you do just that. You wouldn't even remember me."

She stared at him with a deep scowl. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Just, trust me. Please." he asked her, standing up and reaching for her again. Holding her shoulders softly and meeting her bewildered eyes as he decided to be the bigger man. To give her more. To let her go. "You don't have to wait for me, you won't even know that I was here. I'll just be an acquaintance that faded away in the background. If that is what you really want."

"Are you saying that... you're not ever coming back?"

Pressing his lips into a thin line, gritting his teeth as he fought to stand his ground. "It depends... If... If things go wrong, then I won't be able to return to Chicago again. It wouldn't be safe for you and the boys... I would have to stay away."

"So, you'll just cut me out? I'd never see you again?"

"No." he admitted, nodding slowly. "But at least you won't miss me, you won't even think about me. Not the way that I will be thinking of you."

"Is that what you want? To leave me? To just... give up?"

"Honestly?" he chuckled coldly, the truth stinging his heart as he watched the beautiful and kind woman before him. But he knew that she didn't deserve any of this - that was why he had to leave her behind. "It doesn't matter what I want, I won't put you in danger. I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you or your family, Cassie."

"So, this is it? This is goodbye?" she whispered, her voice breaking as her glossy eyes took him in.

He wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, closing his eyes to fight the tears that were building up. She hugged him back and sniffled softly into his shoulder, causing his heart to break. He came here to try and live a new life, and now he had to leave it due to his old one... It really wasn't fair. Any of it. And it made his chest fill with anger and resentment, because all he wanted was to stay with the wonderful person in his arms and never let her go.

"Thank you for everything, Cassandra West." he whispered to her and placed a kiss to her temple before pulling back.

"Bye, Zach." she said, her hands wiping at her cheeks quickly to hide the tears streaming down them. "Good luck."

Another sad smile formed his lips before he gestured to the door behind him. "Could I show you one last thing before I go?"

She nodded and followed him slowly towards the exit as he stepped out with her in tow. "Damon." he called then, making her jump as the vampire suddenly appeared by her side. He watched Ric for a second, seeking confirmation before he leaned closer to the red head.

"Don't be afraid." he told her, his eyes capturing hers in the compulsion. "You won't remember the time you've spent with him. What you remember is that you went on one date together, it was nice but there wasn't really a connection between you. And so you said your farewells and went your separate ways." Damon looked over at Ric again with a frown before he added the last - and most important - part. "You won't think of him again, you will live your life and move on. Zach will be a faded memory. And you will find someone new instead, someone who will care for you deeply and who will treat you well."

He took one last breath before speaking up again. "When we leave, you won't remember either of us ever having been here." he told her, earning a slow nod from the woman as his words sunk in. As he let go of her and turned to Ric again, she kept her gaze low and absent. Like she was waiting to become aware again.

"You ready?" Damon asked then, earning a short nod from him.

"Yeah. Let's go." Ric said, his eyes glued to the redhead as they slowly walked away and out of sight. The heavy feeling slowly lifted as he reminded himself that she would be happy without him. Happier even. And so they stepped into his car, where they had packed some clothes and other important belongings for the road. Damon watched him carefully as Ric turned the key and ignited the engine.

"You did the right thing." he said.

"I know." Ric muttered before driving off. It was true, but it didn't make it any easier. And he found himself still frowning as he headed down the road and away from the only happiness he had felt in the past five years. Leaving it behind with a heavy heart and letting it disappear in the rearview mirror along with the city of Chicago.

Present day

New Orleans, Louisiana

After their encounter with Lucien, Caroline found herself unable to remember all of the reasons she had for not involving Klaus. Because suddenly she was all for letting someone else take care of everything and deal with creepy murder suspects like Lucien Castle in her place. She even caught herself scrolling through her phone in search for his number. But of course, when she'd left Mystic Falls she'd gotten a new phone which had resulted in losing all former contacts.

It was probably for the best though… She shouldn't call Klaus just because she felt uncomfortable or scared or overwhelmed over her own drama. He had no obligations to comfort her or do anything for her. She was in no position to ask him for anything. Not to mention, she and Enzo had a plan. A good one too.

"What if he doesn't show?" Enzo asked, dragging her out of her thoughts as he sat down on the chaise in her hotel room.

"Then we'll just try again with the Marcel-lead." she said and shrugged, continuing to finish up her eyeliner.

"What about your friend? You don't think they could be of help in the matter?"

"No." she said firmly as she met his eyes in the mirror in front of her, continuing with her makeup after a silent moment.

"Then this better work out, gorgeous. Or I might just have to force you to pull your own connections in this town, no matter how uncomfortable it may make you."

"It will work, Enzo. I'm sure of it. If Lucien doesn't have the answers; then the King of the City will."

"And what means are you prepared to use to extort such information, if I dare ask?" he said slowly, studying her rather revealing outfit as she wore a dark slim dress with high heels and shiny nylon tights.

"Any necessary." she answered, chuckling when she saw the reaction on his face. "What?"

"I'm just surprised." he admitted with a shrug. "I didn't expect the years to have roughed you up to such extent."

"That's not what this is." she protested with a shake of her head. "I'm just not willing to let Bonnie die if I can do something about it. If that means I'll have to flirt with the man, then so be it."

"Well then, for your sake, I hope Marcel Gerard isn't half as menacing as the Lucien-fellow."

She glared at him and shut him up by hitting him in the shoulder with her fist. Surprisingly, he actually winced at the blow. "Lucky punch." he muttered, making her roll her eyes at him in response.

"Whatever. Are we doing this or not?" she asked exasperatedly. "My hairspray and makeup won't hold forever so we really should get going." He chuckled their way out of the hotel, making her throw another punch at his arm but with far less of an affect.

Caroline only bit her nails when she was really, really, nervous. And this was one of those times. She had left Enzo at the bar so that she could have a moment to herself. Since, despite what she might have convinced Enzo, she didn't feel quite as confident about the evening's plan as she had hoped… Knowing that your friend's life hung in the balance of whether or not you could get information out of a man, did make you somewhat uncertain of your own capabilities after all. Also, there was that little British detail… The origin of her blonde-distraction act. She couldn't help but wonder if she was being paranoid, finding his silhouette in crowds and thinking she saw his face around every corner in town… He was clearly nowhere to be found, otherwise he would've showed up by now. Right?

Taking a few last calming breaths, she slowly turned and walked towards the entrance – only to bump right into a tall man. He stopped dead in his tracks and gave her a quick double take. Then he put on a smirk and raised a hand to gesture to the door. "Please, ladies first." he said with a smooth voice. That accompanied by the charming smile on his dark face made something stir inside of her.

Even though she didn't have time for that kind of night right now, what with other priorities on her mind and etcetera… She couldn't help but flash him a seductive smirk before she stepped into the bar and began walking out of reach from him. Sure, he wasn't bad looking… Skin a chocolate color and dark eyes as sparkling as the pearly white smile on his face. But she was on a mission after all. No time for handsome strangers tonight.

At least that was what she reminded herself as she sat back down at the bar, Enzo in her peripheral vision as he remained on stand-by. Even the bartender threw her an appreciative look before getting started on preparing her the regular Vodka Soda. And in Caroline's experience, bartenders were always the hardest ones to impressive. Since they'd literally seen and heard every single pick-up tactic known to mankind.

She still had no intention on flirting with anyone that night, but she considered making an exception for the freckled, tanned, blonde in front of her. "Actually, could you make that a Whiskey Sour, please?" she said and gave him a brilliant smile.

"Sure thing, sugar." he said in an Australian accent and with a gaze that made her cheeks burn slightly. What? She had a thing for accents. Who didn't!?

"How long have you been working here?" she asked him as she glanced around the room. Her eyes caught sight of the small stage and quickly looked away before she got tempted to do a re-run of the show from last night.

"A few months." he responded as he served her the drink. "You're new to the city?"

She nodded and slowly brought the glass to her lips, sipping it as her eyes stayed on him. "Third night here." she corrected then, putting her cocktail down again.

His smile widened for a moment. "You're Caroline, right? From yesterday?"

"Yeah… I take it you saw my performance…" she grimaced, really blushing this time.

"I was working back in the kitchen, but I did manage to catch some of it. You have a wonderful voice."

"Thanks." she murmured, biting her lower lip and staring down at her drink.

"Will you be offering us another show tonight?" he pressed on, observing her as she refused to meet his eyes suddenly.

"I don't think so." she giggled in nervousness, or shyness. She wasn't sure… Possibly both.

"I must admire your modesty." he chuckled then, making her look up at him before he continued. "Only a few days into your first time in New Orleans and you've already taken the citizens by storm. Yet you seem unable to accept a compliment. After all, it was a rather bold choice… Very few people are willing to try a song by Adele."

"Well, I don't know if it was brave or just plain stubborn. It was kind of a bet I made with my friend." she lied.

"Oh, really? What was the bet?" he chuckled, making her grin.

"If I could still remember all the lyrics to an Adele song while being incredibly drunk."

"Well, you clearly won." he told her and leaned forward slightly. "What else can you do while in such an intoxicated state, eh?"

"Work." she grimaced as she spun the lie further, putting the flirting on ice for now. "I have a deadline early in the morning."

"What about?"

She cleared her throat and decided to try this another way. "The murders in the French Quarter from a few years back." she said slowly, glancing down at his mouth for a moment just in time to catch his smile faltering and fading away. "You don't happen to know anything about who the killer might be? Since that could really help me out with my assignment…" she asked, looking up at him from her eyelids, trying to keep him reeled in just in case he might have some information to share.

For a moment, he seemed to struggle with himself and opened his mouth as if to say something but was interrupted by a voice coming from behind her instead.

"Now, why would a girl like you care about some murders from that long ago?" The source of the voice made the bartender suddenly straighten up and take a large step away from her. When Caroline turned around to meet the interrupter, she was met by the charming man from before.

Clearly the guy had some kind of influence on the bartender, that along with the confidence he was exuding made it easy for her to put two and two together. A slow smile spread over her lips as she started to realize just who she might've had the fortunate pleasure of meeting. "That depends on who's asking." she purred, earning her another pearly white smile like the one he'd flashed her outside at the entrance.

He chuckled and looked over at the bartender. "Bourbon." he ordered and then looked down at her once more, his hand gesturing to the stool next to her. "May I?" he asked.

She shrugged and ran her fingers through her hair in order to subtly give Enzo a glance from across the room. "I don't see why not."

Keeping the smile on his face he sat down and then turned his whole body towards her. "I'm Marcel." he said and extended his hand in the small space between them.

She looked down at the hand for a moment and fought to keep her smile innocent as he had just confirmed what she'd already suspected. "Marcel, huh?" she said and shook his hand. "I've heard about you."

"And I of you, Caroline." he said, her name rolling off his tongue in a seductive way. He let go of her hand to accept his drink and then nodded at the bartender, which turned out to be a signal for him to leave. She studied the poor man as he quickly scurried of and left them alone.

"Apparently you've been asking around about some of my friends. Whenever you're not stealing my stage and overshadowing my rock star status, that is."

"Yeah, well…" she chuckled and met Marcel's observing eyes with an amused look. "It was only for a night. I hoped you wouldn't mind."

He licked his lower lip while picking up his drink. "I heard you were spectacular. Sorry I missed the show." he said and sipped his bourbon.

Since it was so clearly meant for me, Caroline could almost hear the thought finishing his sentence and quickly realized it was preferable to not have him suspicious about her or her intentions with the performance quite yet.

"You could always make it up to me by answering the question I asked the bartender." she chimed before sipping her own drink. "You know, the guy you scared away the moment he tried to give me any information." she added with pouted lips.

He laughed and gave her a charismatic smile, seeming to have a lot of those in store. "I'm a businessman, Caroline. You'll need to offer me something in return."

"Unfortunately, I don't believe I have anything of interest to you." she sighed, shrugging shortly before letting her eyes travel over his well-built physique. Once her gaze returned to his, she knew he'd received her paraphrased message loud and clear. She smirked at him and nursed her drink in her hand. "I'm curious; how come the bartender seemed so scared of you?"

"Well, he is simply very well aware of my position in this town." he smirked over at her as he drank his bourbon. His eyes taking her in the way she'd just done to him.

"And what kind of position might that be?"

He caught onto her innuendo and chuckled shortly before he seemed to remember something. "Shouldn't I be the one asking the questions here?" he asked with an entertained tone, although she could sense that there was more behind the words.

"I mean, after all…" he said, lifting his glass in the air to gesture around the bar dramatically. "You're the one who showed up in my city from out of nowhere and, in only a few short days, have succeeded in making quite the name for yourself."

She studied him as his charming exterior began cracking just slightly, revealing his suspicions about her. Not to mention that the way he had phrased New Orleans as his city didn't go unnoticed by her. But she refused to show any reaction to that part since something told her this man was in no need of an ego boost.

"So, tell me…" he said after having taken one last gulp from his drink and putting the empty glass down between them. "Caroline…" he said and looked up at her, leaning an arm against the bar. "What brings you to New Orleans?"

She looked into his dark eyes for a moment before turning to finish her drink. "Do you interrogate all of your tourists or is it just the blondes?" she asked and raised an eyebrow at him.

Her words made a grin spread across his entire face, both amusement and admiration flashing over his eyes. He grabbed onto her wrist as she put her drink down, softly caressing her hand as he moved closer to her. "Only the ones who seem determined to get my attention." he quipped.

"I should feel flattered, then?" she challenged as his fingers lightly traced her underarm back and forth.

He shrugged with a smirk. "Should I?"

She leaned in closer to him, leaving a hand on his knee. "Look." she said quietly with a dangerous smile on her lips. "I've heard that you might be able to… assist me, in figuring some things out."

He leaned in closer to her, leaving only a mere inch between their faces. "Is that so?" he teased. "What sort of things?"

"Well, mostly just some urban myths and other mysteries that seem to surround this part of town…" she said vaguely and moved back in her chair to gain some space. "But I believe you have a sense of what it is I'm looking for."

Suddenly, his face hardened as he pulled her hand off his lap and gripped it tightly. "Do you honestly believe that you could just waltz in here, bat your eyelashes and extort information out of me? Who exactly do you think you are, Ms. Forbes?" he whispered harshly, making her fight to keep her poker-face up.

"I was actually wondering the same about you, Gerard." she quipped in a similar tone. "How come you feel free to walk around calling yourself king, with the kind of people in this town... People who could pose a far bigger threat to you than I could ever be."

"Bright, beautiful and bold." he said with a slight smirk as he let go of her hand, and his tough exterior. "Whom exactly are you referring to, Caroline?"

She shrugged. "If you need to ask, then maybe you really don't know."

"Does that mean you won't even try to exchange my highly valuable information with anything in return?"

"Well, I'm sure we could figure something out." she said with a wink, making him chuckle shortly. "Maybe you'll even discover that I have some valuable information as well."

"Why don't you start by sharing yours then, and I will follow up with mine in return?"

"I'm a businesswoman, Marcel. I'm not going to just show you my cards before the game has even begun." she teased.

He grinned brightly and nodded. "Fair enough. How about we discuss this further at a more private locale then?" He stood up and took out his wallet to pay for their drinks. She straightened out her dress and threw another meaningful look over to her friend by one of the booths. Just barely catching a nod in response, Marcel took her hand and directed them out of the bar.

"Shall we?" he said with a smile as she smirked back.

"After you."

Present day
Kansas City, Missouri

After nearly eight hours on the road, Alaric and Damon decided to check into a motel and rest for the night. A little inn near North Kansas City Hospital, perfect for a short stop in order to stock up on blood bags for the rest of their travel. Ric waited by the car while the vampire ran his errand, his eyes jolting up when he saw him exit with his bag in his hands.

"Let me know if she makes any progress." Damon said, his phone up as he spoke to someone on the other line. "Or, actually. Don't. Probably wouldn't want to know about it."

Ric turned a cocked brow in his direction, being met by a slight grimace in return. "Our Care-Bear found someone to help." he explained then, his words still not easing the bewildered expression on his face. "And apparently she left with him. Just now."

"Ah, got it." Ric chuckled with a nod as Damon turned to the phone again.

"Just, keep an eye on her. Alright? There are far bigger and badder things out there than some guy at a bar." he said before ending the call and opening the trunk, storing his duffle bag away. "So, this is Vampire Barbie 2.0, huh?" he asked then, squinting at Ric as he walked around the car to stand beside him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she had turned her humanity off or something."

"She's fine, Damon." Ric chimed with the shake of his head. "Besides, you're the last person to judge anyone for their indiscretions."

"Yeah, sure. But this is Caroline. Sweet little head cheerleader who always stumbles over trouble wherever she goes…"

"If you really believe all of that, then you probably don't know her as good as you thought."

Damon nodded to himself, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, this isn't some overcorrection because of Stefan?"

"The thought did cross my mind once or twice… But I think it stopped being about him a long time ago." he said, letting out a deep breath as he glanced over at the vampire again. "Believe it or not, Damon. But me and Caroline? We moved on."

"Did you?" he challenged, squinting as he studied him closely.

Alaric glanced over at him before pushing off the side of the car, opening the driver's door and nodded over at him to follow suit. "I'm done catching up, let's go."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

When they reached his apartment, Caroline felt her head protest her body. Marcel had sped them all through town so quickly that she barely even knew where they were. And as soon as they'd stopped, he'd put his lips on hers and made the world spin a little further.

Maybe it was the warmth he emanated, despite being a very dead and immortal vampire. Maybe it was his expert hands traveling over her body, clearly filled with years and years of experience… Perhaps even centuries worth. Or maybe it was just the fact that Caroline nowadays had grown accustomed to the casual one-time-flings, a familiar feeling coming over her as he drew her in close to his muscular body. Maybe the comforting sensation of somebody's warm lips against hers made her forget about just whom those belonged to…

Whatever the reason, she found herself responding to the kiss, getting swept up in it for now. Her hands traveled over his chest and up to hold onto his broad shoulders. He smirked a little as result and moved one hand to fist it into her hair, getting a firm grip so he could angle her head and intensify the kiss.

She managed to forget all about the actual reason as to why she was doing this. Why she had followed him here. Until the rattle of his keys broke through her cloudy mind and woke her up. He pulled her inside the apartment as she leaned away from his lips momentarily. "I thought we were supposed to share information." she breathed.

A wide, charming smile covered his face. "Of course." he insisted as he closed the door behind her. "I'm just making sure we have a deal beforehand."

If you promise to walk away, like you said, and never come back –

The words ran through her heads as a flash of memory followed it, triggered by Marcel's phrasing. She shrugged it off quickly and focused on the man in front of her. "Of course." she chimed. "Then what are the terms?"

He unbuttoned the dark shirt he wore, revealing the most glorious muscles she'd seen in a long time, his dark skin glistening lightly under the fluorescent lights. "I will answer your questions about the person you're looking for." he said as his shirt dropped to the floor.

"And what do you want in return?" she asked, trying to keep her jaw up at the sight before her.

"The truth." he smiled.

I just want you to be honest with me –

His hands spun her around as he moved his lips across her neck, unzipping her dress at the same time as she struggles to shut her thoughts off. "What truth?" she breathed out, pushing the memories out of her head.

"About your intentions for finding them." he murmured against her skin. "Perhaps it'll become clear that our interests are aligned."

Her dress fell to the floor as she backed into his chest for a moment, feeling the warmth from his skin radiate against her back. His hands traveled the curves of her body and turned her in a spin to face him. "Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?" she said with a smile as he studied her body shortly.

"A win-win as the kids call it." he grinned and grabbed onto her hips, quickly lifting her up to circle her legs around his pelvis. "But first…" he whispered against her lips. "What do you say to some pleasure, before business?"

She bit her lower lip and nodded before kissing him again, his weight suddenly on top of her as he'd dropped her on a bed. Marveling in his rugged muscles and sharp shoulders, she let out a soft moan and continued to explore his firm back with her fingernails.

He squeezed her thighs as he drew a line across her jaw with his tongue. "You taste like honey, Caroline." he muttered against her skin. His rough voice drew a shiver through her body as she met his smirk with a smile of her own.

But then something showed up in her head again as he continued to kiss her throat and pulled the remainder of her clothes off her body. Something that lingered behind her eyelids as he pushed his hips towards hers. Something that made her gulp hard and push at his chest. "Marcel, wait." she said as she tried to get out of his grip. "Hold on."

He leaned back and froze up. "What's wrong?" he asked with deep confusion on his face.

"I just… I-I remembered…" she stuttered. "I need to use the bathroom."

"The bathroom?" he echoed.

"The bathroom." she insisted and turned underneath him, escaping his arms. "Wait just one minute, ok?"

He stared at her as she disappeared off in a hurry, her hair a complete mess and her bra ripped at the side. She quickly locked the door behind her and leaned over one of the sinks, trying to stifle her breathing as she recognized the feeling in her chest. She was having an anxiety attack.

Her thoughts ran rapid, it felt like her whole body couldn't possibly move fast enough to escape. Feeling trapped and as if she'd die if she didn't get out of her own skin, her breathing turned hitched and strangled as she forced her mind to calm down. She wanted to scratch her heart out as it wouldn't stop drumming a menacing beat.

Meeting her eyes in the mirror, she tried to remember what she had learned a few years back. Citing the alphabet backwards, "square-breathing", trying to find one still point to focus on…

But it had been a long, long time since she had had to deal with a reaction like this before. And she couldn't manage to focus on a single one of the different methods she used to rely on in the past.

Suddenly she noticed something beside the bathtub, a razorblade. She grabbed it and looked in the mirror again as she took a deep breath through her nose. Blood dripped as she drew a line across her sternum. She focused on the deep red color, slowly making its way down her chest and over her stomach. Then she repeated the same act across her inner thigh, starting close to the knee and drawing a line up until the pain pierced through her hyperventilation. Finally, she began to feel like she had control of her breathing again, letting out a long sigh as she started to calm down.

She dropped the blade in the sink and sat down on the cool marble floor, her back against the cabinet behind her and her eyes closed. In…. and out… she demanded as she slowly steadied her breath.

"Caroline?" Marcel's voice broke her concentration as he suddenly stood on the other side of the door. "I smell blood, are you hurt?"

Groaning silently, she realized what an utter mess she must look like in this state. She got up and hid the razorblade under a towel, cleaning off the remains of blood from her healed wounds and straightened out her hair. "Sorry, I'll be right out." she called and nodded to herself as she tried not to lose focus on her breathing, the worst might have begun to pass but that didn't mean she was fine quite yet.

Once she opened the door, she met Marcel's worried eyes with a try at a smile. "I'm fine. I just, felt dizzy for a moment." she lied, noticing his gaze on her blood-spackled bra. "I need to go." she said quickly before he could comment on it and rushed to gather her things.

"Wait, slow down…" he pleaded as she got dressed and walked towards the door. "You can't just leave like this, can I at least give you some blood or scotch or something to help calm you down?" he asked, trying to grab her hand, but she flinched at his touch and therefore scared him off from attempting it again.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or feel pressured…" he said with his palms raised as he blocked her from exiting the apartment.

"No, no… You didn't… I just- I have to go." she stuttered without meeting his eyes and then managed to run past him and down the stairs.

Tears started covering her eyes as her breathing acted up again, she tried to calm herself by slowing down. Which was when she bumped into a shoulder.

"Sorry…" she quickly said, as she suddenly stared up at a tall, fair-skinned man with eyes equally as black as his long hair.

"You're gon' have to do better than that, hun." he slurred with a venomous grin and grabbed her arm.

"Seriously, don't." she hissed but he didn't drop his grip. She pushed at his shoulder and tried to slip away. "Get off of me!" she growled as he grabbed both her arms to keep her in place. Anger pulsated through her veins as she fought the sudden urge to rip his head off.

"I don't think so. You owe me a sincere apology, darlin'." he said, his liquored breath covering her face.

She coughed at the smell and pressed her lips together. "You're drunk. Let me go and leave before you do something you'll regret." she warned.

His hands squeezed her arms tightly, making her dangerously aware of the fact that he was a vampire too. The city seemed to be crawling with them.

"I will hardly regret the things I'm about to do to you." the man whispered and leaned in closer to her, snapping her attention away from her irregular heartbeat and straight into the dangerous situation she'd suddenly found herself in.

She saw red right then. Her vamp-features splayed across her face as she pulled her arms out of his grip and threw him into a wall beside them. He coughed a few times, turning it into a chuckle as he smiled at her.

"Feisty. I like it." he said and ran towards her.

She kicked him right in the stomach with her heel, so hard that he was flying into the wall once more. But she didn't stop there. Instead, she threw herself at him and pulled him up by his collar. Then she kneed him between his legs and let her fist fly over his jaw. He grunted and cursed at her. But she wouldn't let him get a single punch in or any move whatsoever to defend himself as she harshly sank her fangs into his neck. She didn't feed on him, only wanting to cause him pain and not actually swallow any of his scumbag-blood.

She then immediately pushed him away from her. He landed on the floor in fear-filled chock, seeming unsure of what to do. His eyes glaring at her, completely unable to believe that he'd just lost a fight to a girl. Surely.

Marcel showed up then, staring at her and the man on the floor. His eyes returned to hers while he took a few steps towards her with a raised hand, as if to comfort her. "You okay?" he asked worriedly.

She spat out any blood that she'd accidentally ingested and ran her hand over her mouth to wipe off all traces from the bite. "I'm fine." she muttered without taking her eyes off of the man she'd just beaten up. "He'll live."

Without giving Marcel a single look, she turned her back on them both and walked out of the building. She caught the sound of Marcel lecturing the man on harassing young women in his city but didn't glance back. Her focus was completely on getting far, far away. Right now.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Caroline's nails drummed against the table as Stefan sat opposite to her with a deep frown. "So that's why you're here? Still going after Julian, despite everything?"

"Caroline... I know you hate me and that you don't want anything to do with me... I swear to you, I didn't come here to stir up trouble for you or Ric."

"You really don't understand, do you?" she sighed, pushing back the pain that has blossomed up in her chest. "You being here is... It's a death sentence to both me and Ric. So please, tell me: why would you come here when it meant risking all our lives?"

His eyes dropped to the table, staring down into the glass of lemonade in front of him as if it would swallow him up and help him escape her.

"You didn't care." she said then, answering her own question in a low tone as the realization dawned on her. "You don't care."

"That's not-" he began in protest, but she raised her palm to cut him off.

"Does this mean all the Originals are here? In Dallas?"

He studied her for a quick second, scanning her face closely. "No, Klaus isn't here."

"That's not what I asked." she said making him chuckle coldly.

"Yes, Caroline. It was."

She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "Okay, fine. I have my reasons for wanting to know, doesn't mean you get to judge me for it."

He seemed like he had more to add but nodded instead in silence.

"Take your business in another state, and I may just consider not mentioning any of this to Alaric."

"Caroline you don't understand..." he said but she quickly cut him off again by standing up so suddenly that the whole table rattled in response.

"No, Stefan. You don't understand." she said, throwing her handbag over her shoulder before giving him a dark glare. "If you ever cared about me, you will pack up your things and all your baggage and leave. Don't make me tell you again."

With that she left him behind and exited the café in quick strides, not looking back once.

Valerie and Elijah were reading through some grimoires when Stefan returned to the motel room in a wind of panic.

"Pack up everything, we're leaving."

"What?" Valerie shrieked as Elijah remained calm, watching him closely. "You can't be serious. What happened?"

"We need to go." Stefan repeated, making Valerie stare at her before turning to Stefan again as he brought out a couple of bags.

"Did Caroline tell you to leave?" Valerie asked, noticing how he winced slightly at the sound of her name.

"It's too big of a risk, anyway." he said, shaking his head as he gathered some clothes and books in a hurry. "So many of us, being in the same place like this..."

"You needn't worry of that any longer, I believe I have found the spell." Elijah interjected, making them both turn towards him as he gave Valerie the book in his hands.

"What, already?" Stefan said, quickly standing by her and reading through the marked page over her shoulder.

"I have witches at my disposal who can help with the rest of the spell. I only need to make a call and they shall be here within the hour."

"So, what do we need?" Stefan asked as Elijah brought his phone out and began dialing.

"We already have most of the ingredients, except for the bones of a holy man and-" Valerie responded, before looking over at him with a scowl. "The heart of a doppelganger."

"Yes, always with the doppelgangers." Elijah mused then, shrugging as he stowed his phone away and nodded towards them. "It happens to be a rather important source of power for this spell to work."

"That's no problem." Valerie comforted him Stefan then, squeezing his shoulder softly.

"They're dead, Val. All of them… Except for me, and Elena."

"That's not entirely true." she explained, closing the book and putting it away before turning to him again. "There is one more."

"What? How? I thought the travelers-"

"I happen to know that one more doppelganger exists, he was shielded a long time ago. It is of no surprise to me that they failed to find him." she said with a shrug. "I can use your blood to locate another of yours."

"So, you don't have an issue with cutting out the heart of a human being for this?" he said, sounding as repulsed as he looked as he flinched away from her.

"Stefan, this is far more important than the life of one person." Valerie insisted, making him cringe in response. "Unless you're rather worried of what Caroline will think instead?"

"She won't be an issue." Elijah chimed in, making Stefan stiffen and turn narrowed eyes to him.

"What does that mean?" Stefan said cautiously. "What did you do?"

There must have been something in the look on the older vampire's eyes, because without another beat, Stefan flew out the motel. Leaving Valerie to stare at the Original with bewildered eyes. "What did you do to her?" she pressed on, making him smirk slightly in response.

"It is no worry, Ms. Tulle." he told her, gesturing towards the table with ingredients and spell books with a pointed look. "Let us focus on our work. Caroline will be perfectly safe."

She watched him carefully before choosing to follow his words, hoping Stefan would be able to keep an eye on their friend if it were to be necessary. "Let's."

Chapter Text

Chapter 14: Smile like you mean it

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

When Caroline woke up the next morning, she felt empty. Drained.

She got up and dressed into a white, lacey top and navy silk shorts. Putting her hair up in a ponytail and washing her face, she tried not to think too much about the previous night. Or at all, really. Instead, she finished getting ready and doing a casual makeup. After which she headed towards the mini-fridge in her room but found herself cursing aloud at the lack of blood bags in it.

"Just great." she muttered to herself right before her phone started ringing from the bedside table. Speeding over to pick up the call, she frowned a little when answering. "You forgot to restock my fridge." she said accusatorily after seeing the caller ID.

"Hello, gorgeous. I'm great, thank you. Did you sleep well?"

She snickered at his mocking tone. "Actually, I slept horribly. And now I'm hungry."

"Well, it's a good thing we will be having breakfast soon then."

"That's not the kind of hungry I was referring to." she sighed and flinched when suddenly hearing something outside of her suite.

"Let me in and I'll find a way to clench your thirst." he teased, his voice now coming from the other side of her door.

She rolled her eyes and ended the call, leaving the phone on the bed and then opening the door. Having had a witty remark prepared and ready to be said, she bit her tongue and held it back once she saw that Enzo was holding up a paper bag.

"Don't say I never gave you anything." he said with a smirk and walked past her into the hotel room.

While she closed the door he sat down on the desk chair next to the French balcony with the paper bag on his lap. She stood and waited as he dug out the contents and threw her one of the two blood bags in his hands. "Thanks." she mumbled when she caught it.

Instead of taking the other blood bag for himself, he stored it in the fridge underneath the desk. He cast her a glance and told her: "for later." which she rolled her eyes at, but not without a small, grateful smile on her lips. Then he discarded the paper bag in the trash bin before settling in on the chair, resting one leg over his knee. "Now, what's this I'm hearing about you not sleeping well? Was Marcel not as satisfactory as hoped?" he smirked.

"You could say that." she shrugged; her eyes averted to the floor while she began drinking the blood. "I ran out on him and got attacked by some drunk scum." she said and averted his gaze.

"What the bloody hell? Why didn't you call me?"

"I was kind of busy trying to run back to my hotel room." she scoffed.

"Caroline, this isn't something to take lightly to. You could've gotten seriously hurt! You should've at least waited to get some back-up."

"Well, I'm fine, Enzo. No need to feel over-protective." she pointed out. "Besides, the guy was drunk and rude. I tried to tell him to back off, but it didn't really end well. So, I took him down." she felt the guilt turn her face sour at the last words and looked away once Enzo started taking it all in.

"By yourself? What about Marcel?" he asked with a surprisingly calm voice, almost sounding curious even…

"It happened really fast, ok? And what matters is that I made it out of there." she said truthfully with a small nod.

"As impressive as I'm inclined to admit that is, I suppose it would be best if I no longer let you run off on your own then."

She snapped her head up to glare at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she huffed as he stood up from the chair.

"It means," he drawled and nodded at the blood bag in her hands. "That you'll need to finish that off and come with me. We're going for breakfast, remember? And after that I'm not leaving your side for the rest of our stay here."

"That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can, gorgeous, but that doesn't mean that you should." he smirked at her and began walking towards the door. "Now let's go! I found this formidable little patisserie that serves homemade beignets, which is incidentally very close to where the witch Damon mentioned may or may not be living."

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"If Freud was so damn good at his job and so potent to the history of psychology, tell me: why has almost all of his theories been debunked?"

"Trust me Care, if I knew the answer to that I wouldn't need a study group."

"Speaking of which, where were you earlier today? I thought we were going to meet up in B-house and go through those notes from the journalistic writing lecture?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was stuck at the library."

She was still as wondrous as ever... He thought as he listened in on the conversation between a group of students in a lecture hall.

Hearing her voice for the first time in so long, he could practically see her expressions and faces if he closed his eyes. And with it, he imagined the way her blonde hair bounced over her shoulders when she shook her head. How her nose crinkled when she disagreed with something or that spark in her blue eyes when she smiled.

But he was forced to drag his attention away as a familiar presence appeared nearby. He didn't need to look over to know that it was Stefan Salvatore. "Hello, old friend." he chimed with a smirk.

"Klaus." he said in response, standing next to him with his arms crossed over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I've heard that Dallas U has an excellent finance program, and the students sure seem... Prosperous."

"Don't you have a kid now, Klaus? Do you really not have anything better to do than stalking her?"

A chuckle escaped the hybrid's lips as he shook his head lightly. "Don't worry, Stefan. I haven't come to lure your girlfriend away from you."

"Elijah told you?" Stefan said with a sigh.

"I don't blame you." Klaus continued, shrugging lightly. "Only a blind fool would be able to keep from falling for her."

Stefan nodded shortly. "Well, we're not together anymore. Haven't been for a year or so."

"Which makes you the biggest fool of all." Klaus murmured and leaned against a tree as he frowned at him. "I am not here to intrude on Caroline's life. And neither, my friend, are you."

"What, are you her bodyguard now?"

"Aren't you one to talk?" Klaus chirped in response. "Were there really no other corners of the earth for you to go? You just had to end up in her city, and according to my brother: with dangerous enemies following in tow."

"So, you're here to chase me out? Is that it?"

Klaus grinned silently before speaking up again. "Why don't I buy you a stiff drink in a cool bar? I can't be the only one dying to get away from this heat."

"Let's not, Klaus." Stefan grunted, letting out a deep breath. "We don't have to go through this rouse, alright?"

"And what rouse would that be?"

"The whole 'pretending we're still friends' bit you keep insisting on doing."

"Ah, I see..." Klaus muttered, turning away with a sigh.

"Listen, I really didn't mean to cause any trouble when I asked Elijah for help." Stefan continued, earning a nod from the hybrid.

"And yet..." he said, raising his arms in the air to gesture his response. "So, let's cut to the chase then. What do you want?"

"A protection spell."

Klaus snickered, pursing his lips as he shook his head. "Let's try again... Shall we?" he said and walked up to him in slow steps, enunciating every word. "What do you want?"

"I want you to kill someone. A vampire."

"And why do you want this lad dead?"

"He took everything, everyone, from me."

"Ah... That's more like it." Klaus grinned. "And why should I kill him for you?"

"Because I'm asking you to." Stefan responded, earning a deep chuckle from Klaus.

"Oh, do you now?" Klaus said, laughing on. "And why, pray tell, would I ever listen to you?"

Stefan watched him with a frown before turning to look over at the campus, in the same direction that Klaus had been listening to earlier. "Because he isn't just a threat to me."

Klaus shook his head slowly, feeling disappointed in himself as he couldn't help but take the bait... He focused his hearing again in Caroline's direction, catching her loud and clear as she sat down in a shaded park, eating lunch with fellow students. She said her goodbyes to them, seemingly done with her break and in need to go move onto her next lecture. Klaus had to fight the urge to follow her, seeing her, talking to her...

"Very well." Klaus finally said. "Once Elijah and his witches have finished the spell you need to cloak yourselves, and my friends are done checking up on the leads your sweet Valerie gave us on the missing Strix witches... I will find the location of this vampire of yours. And I will kill him."

"You will?" Stefan said, sounding incredulous and relived at the same time.

"Yes. But in return, you will do something for me."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"She is nowhere to be found." Enzo said bitterly as he was talking to Damon on the phone.

Caroline rolled her eyes at him and sipped her smoothie, they were having a late, afternoon-lunch in a cute coffee house in an open and wide square. It was green and light and beautiful and a preferable distraction from Enzo's boring conversation as he filled Damon in on their failed missions of the day.

"Not to mention that Lucien Castle never showed up last night. There is a rather good chance that we may have scared him off." Enzo said, glancing over at Caroline.

"How about Freya? Did you go find her yet?" Damon asked.

"Freya?" Enzo repeated and got an equally confused look from Caroline in response.

"Don't tell me Blondie is still avoiding the Big Bad Wolf?" Damon snickered.

"Damon…" Caroline sighed but heard Ric's voice in the background asking for the phone. Enzo in return handed his over to Caroline.

"Hi, Care." Ric said warmly, making Caroline sigh again.

"I'm not going to seek… him out before we have all of the information here." she said, feeling a little guilty as she saw Enzo's exasperated look.

"Really, gorgeous? Have I earned no trust from you by now?" he asked incredulously.

She sighed. "If you guys want Klaus' help then you're going to have to come here and ask for it yourselves." she said.

"Klaus?" Enzo echoed. "Is that the old friend I've been hearing so much about?"

"More like boyfriend." Damon snickered in the background, making Caroline wish she could hit him over the head. An 'ouch' from his end letting her know that Ric covered that part for her.

"According to Damon, Klaus is the only way to get to the witch, Freya." Ric explained. "And if you aren't getting anywhere with this Marcel-lead anyway, then what's the harm?"

"Oh, Caroline is certainly getting somewhere with this Marcel-lead…" Enzo sneered, earning a slap on the arm. "Ouch!" he said in protest, making Caroline shake her head.

"Anyway..." Caroline said. "I think we should just focus on researching Lucien Castle more now that we know for sure that he's the one we're looking for."

"We just left Missouri and are close to entering Texas, apparently he has some properties in Dallas. We thought we'd check them and see what we can find." Ric told her.

"Dallas?" Caroline echoed, a frown covering her face as images flashed through her mind. "Are you going to visit Ginnifer?"

"Um…" Ric said, clearing his throat. "I probably shouldn't, Care."

Caroline swallowed hard as she nodded in agreement, deciding to come clean about the events of last night… "It happened again, Ric."

There was silence for a short moment before he responded. "Really? It's been so long since last time… Did the exercises help?"

"Only if you define help as beating up a drunk and running out of Marcel's apartment last night." she muttered.

"Maybe you should consider taking a break, Caroline. They usually happen when you're feeling stressed..."

"I'm sorry, would you two care to share with the rest of the class?" Damon then chimed in the background, making her groan loudly.

"It's nothing." Caroline said coldly, equally aimed at Damon and Enzo as he watched her with wide eyes and a deep frown. "Let's just drop it and focus on one problem at the time."

"Well, you do know that the only way of solving our problem is if you suck it up and go talk to your boyfriend, right?" Damon said, making Caroline clench her teeth.

"Bye now." she quipped and ended the call before she got a response. Putting the phone down on the table between them, Caroline felt Enzo's eyes at her and sighed. "What!?" she hissed when she met his expecting look.

He shrugged. "I'm simply waiting for you to explain the whole 'boyfriend' bit of that conversation."

She sighed deeply. "Klaus is not my boyfriend. He never was. Damon is just being… Damon."

"Very well…" Enzo said with another shrug as he seemed to let her avoid the other subject this time. "And who is Klaus in that case?"

She bit her lip and glanced around the tables outside, the people passing them by and the kids playing in the park a few feet away… Could she tell him?

Seeing Enzo's impatient frown, she sighed and decided that she might as well come clean, and if anyone around them were to decide to use them to get to Klaus – then she hoped the universe was kind enough to have Klaus find them before anything went south.

"Klaus is… Was…" she began and shrugged. "He is an Original."

"An original what?" Enzo asked.

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly as she realized his years in the Augustine's captivity had clearly kept him from not only the knowledge of the existence of werewolves, but also the fundamentals of vampirism…

Or perhaps she had merely had the privilege of learning these things through living in Mystic Falls, how fortunate she had been, huh! She scoffed to herself and then shook her head. "An Original vampire." she clarified.

He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. "And also…" she said sheepishly. "The Original hybrid." Enzo looked confused for a moment, so she quickly explained. "Part werewolf. Not witch."

He blinked a few times, shaking his head. "And you know him?"

"Well, we not only know him…" Caroline shrugged. "We tried to kill him more times than I can remember, even succeeded with a few of his siblings…" her stomach turned a little at the last detail, since it came off as something she was proud of but really, the reminder made her twitch.

"Siblings?" Enzo echoed. "How many of them are they?"

Caroline pouted her lips as she thought about it for a moment… Not having personally met each and every one of them but coming up with a pretty sure number… "Five, all vampires though. Klaus is the only one with the werewolf gene." she said. "There's only three of them now… Oh, and there were also their parents, but they're dead now."

"So, you've crossed paths with them many times in the past?"

She nodded. "It's complicated, really. They moved to New Orleans just before you popped up. And quite frankly, we haven't really had any reunions planned since then." she said with a nervous giggle.

"Yet, Damon seems to think this Klaus would want to see you, correct?" Enzo said, making Caroline sigh again.

"That's even more complicated." she said with a shake of her head.

"Is there any reason for us to fear him?" Enzo asked.

"I… I don't think so." Caroline said slowly. "I mean… He has his mood swings, and you can always trust him to find someone you love for him to kill or manipulate or turn… But I don't think he would intentionally hurt us without a reason… As long as we don't get on this bad side."

"Would he hurt you?" he asked.

Caroline looked at him in silence for a moment, remembering two sides of Klaus. One which had stabbed her, forced Tyler to bite her and who had nearly sacrificed her in the ritual to break his Hybrid curse… And then the one who had healed her, bought her presents and drawn her pictures, told her stories and promised her the world… "I… No, I don't think so." she said honestly.

"Do you trust him?" Enzo asked then.

"As much as you can trust someone who saved your life a couple of times but who also killed your friends' family members and whom you haven't seen or heard from in years…" she scoffed.

"Why, then, are you so hesitant to contact him now?"

She gulped hard and looked down at her hands in her lap. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"If he can help us find Bonnie then I don't see why you wouldn't call him the moment we landed in Louisiana." Enzo said and shook his head, taking his phone and standing up. "It seems to me you are the one making this far more complicated than it needs to be, Caroline." he said and left her alone at the table.

Caroline swallowed hard and ran a hand through her hair. Was he right? Was she only dragging their rescue mission out further than necessary? Or was it better to try and save Bonnie without the Originals' involvement?

Caroline was at a loss. She stood up and quickly turned away from the restaurant and began walking to somewhere that was becoming familiar to her. "I need a drink." she mumbled to herself as she headed for Rousseau's.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"What is this place?" Stefan asked as Klaus opened the doors to a cold locale next to some offices.

"You'll see." Klaus said, leading him through a hallway and to a pair of double doors. He nodded towards the sign that hung nearby.

"Alcoholics Anonymous." Stefan read aloud.

"There is someone here who needs... Guidance." Klaus continued and opened the doors just slightly so that Stefan could see the people inside. "I believe you know him as Ric?"

And just then, Stefan saw the pale and wrinkled face of his former friend. He was sitting in a circle along with other alcoholics, and as if it had been planned - it was Alaric's turn to share with the group.

"I'm Ric and I'm an alcoholic." he said, followed by a murmur of hellos in response. "I fell off the wagon. Again." he then said, sighing deeply before continuing. "It was the anniversary of their due date the other day... And I guess I thought some whiskey would help me get through it, you know? The reminder of them not being here? Of them not ever having been born?"

Stefan gulped heavily as he listened on, studying Alaric's dark eyes and beaten down demeanor. He looked like a shell, only emptiness and pain inside. The man who had lost everything, again and again.

"My friend, remember I told you about her before? Caroline? She tells me we need to cleanse ourselves of the pain. To become new people, with new lives. That the only way to move on, is to leave the past behind. And for a long time, I agreed with her, but these days... I just don't know what good I am anymore, you know? And still, somehow, here I am. So, yeah. That's all. Thanks."

A round of applause followed as he nodded silently in response. Klaus closed the doors then, leading Stefan away from the group session.

"Did you bring me here to punish me?" Stefan asked, earning a frown from Klaus.

"Not at all. I brought you here to fix things."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"By giving him a reason to go on."

Stefan furrowed his brows as Klaus suddenly nodded in a different direction. A woman was talking on the phone as she hurried past them and through the double doors. "Sorry, I'm late. I know. Didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry. Please continue." she said as she joined the others.

"Her name is Ginnifer Lloyd. She's been sober for ten years this spring. She has a teenage daughter with her former husband, from whom she divorced a while back... I believe she could be useful. " Klaus explained. "Which is why I need you to compel her."

"To do what?" Stefan sighed then, feeling more confused now than before.

"To assist your friend." Klaus said, a serious look in his eye as he studied him closely. "Compel her to help Mr. Saltzman back on his feet."

"Why do you want me to do this?" Stefan asked, but he realized the answer to his question as soon as he'd uttered it. "For Caroline?"

Klaus nodded shortly. "Yes. For Caroline."

"And why don't you just do it yourself?"

"I have my reasons for not getting involved." Klaus responded with a shrug. "So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

Stefan looked down at Klaus' outstretched hand and shook it firmly. "Deal."

Present Day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"Twice in two nights…" an amused voice said from behind Caroline. "It's getting difficult to believe that you're not in fact following me."

She didn't need to turn around to know that it was Marcel, his tone was too big of a give-away; charismatic and confident. Smooth and charming. As if he was used to women lingering on every word and melting at the mere sight of his pearly white smile. But she couldn't even pretend to reciprocate his interest tonight, she was too buried in the weight of how badly her plans were going.

She barely even noticed him taking a seat next to her until he suddenly rested a warm hand between her shoulder-blades. "Are you okay?" he asked as she snapped her eyes over to him. He looked at her with concern, having apparently dropped the smug attitude which seemed to be his signature move.

Looking into his worry-filled eyes for a long moment, she finally nodded in response. The warm hand on her back accompanied by the warmness in his chocolate eyes did bring some comfort to her; whether she'd like to admit it or not.

He gave her a soft, kind smile. It was sympathetic, caring even, instead of the suggestive smirks and grins from last night. His hand stroked her back slowly, spreading warmness over both her shoulder-blades.

"I'm sorry about last night." he said, without looking away from her even though she had dropped her gaze and was currently studying her drink. His hand continued with its movements, massaging her shoulders and neck softly. "Let me assure you that he was not in much better shape after you left."

The thought made her eyes widen in panic as she stared at him. "You didn't kill him, did you?" she breathed, suddenly terrified that she had a part in some drunk dying just because she lost control of her anger for one night.

His eyebrows wrinkled together at her, his hand stopping at the middle of her back as it had been on its way further down. "No." he said and observed her barely auditable breath of relief at his answer.

"Good." she said and looked away from him, closing her eyes as she tried to let go of the guilt that filled her stomach. She still couldn't believe how aggressive she'd gotten. How strong she'd felt as she had flung that man towards the wall like a softball. How powerful she'd felt knowing she'd literally knocked the smug look off his face. The rush of adrenaline as she bit into his neck… The memory sent a shiver down her spine which made Marcel resume stroking her back.

"Hey…" he said, leaning closer to her face and giving her another kind smile once she finally met his eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong." he assured her, shaking his head and massaging his way up to her neck. "He harassed you."

Only meeting his glance a short moment before looking away, she nodded again and took a dep breath. His hand moved over her neck again, his thumb massaging circles against her scalp before moving down her back once more. Until now he had stopped just under the middle of her back, but this time he seemed to aim for lower.

She tensed up under his touch and twisted a little to get his hand away. It worked, except he didn't draw it back as she'd expected but instead he let it rest on the back of her chair. Making sure to lean forward, away from his touch. "I should probably apologize." she murmured, earning a confused expression.

"For what?" he asked with his eyebrows pushed together slightly. "Oh..." he said, answering his own question after studying her face.

She looked away from him then which he seemed to read perfectly fine, bringing his hand away from her chair to rest on his leg. "Then I guess I should be the one apologizing." he scoffed then, disappointment and rejection circling his words.

"I don't know what came over me." she sighed, shaking her head with closed eyes as she hoped the memory of the whole night would just go away.

"Don't worry about it." he told her, giving her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I was actually really impressed with how you handled Wilson." he said, breaking the silence after having ordered a drink and taken a sip from it. He met her confused eyes and began explaining. "The guy from last night; he was one of my day-walkers."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Right. That's why he had no manners; it was night-time." she scoffed.

He laughed softly at her sarcasm but didn't elaborate on the whole day-walker thing. She could guess it's meaning though, so she didn't push the subject. "He's usually well-behaved." he said with a smirk that she read as: – believe it or not.

She was suddenly struck by fascination towards the man next to her. Was he always such an open book? Or was this just a distraction from his actual motives? She knew firsthand the dangers of underestimating someone with a pretty smile, maybe he had the same game tactics as her?

"So, what, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time?" she sneered, still using sarcasm to cover the fear she'd felt for a split second that night. The fear that had tumbled into rage like a snowball in downhill, growing as it rolled faster and faster…

He smiled at her shortly before shaking his head. "Clearly you shouldn't worry about being anywhere at the wrong time. You could more than well take care of yourself." he stated with a shrug before knocking back his bourbon.

Studying him closely, she awaited some comment that she sensed was hiding in his mind. "You seem surprised." she noted.

Meeting her eyes, he turned in his chair to study her. "Well… I wasn't expecting you to be so strong." he admitted. "I'm usually pretty good at estimating a vampire's age. At first, I hardly noticed that you weren't human. Which made me believe you were barely a few years old; still breathing as if you've never stopped. Your heart beating as if it always has been, not having rested for a single moment…"

His gaze roamed her body for a second, as if trying to find some evidence of whether he was correct or not by studying her physique… Was he looking for wrinkles? she thought to herself and held back a smile at her own joke. She only looked back at him without giving anything away, she had a brilliant poker face after all.

"But you showed quite some muscle back there." he said after reaching her eyes and locking her gaze with his. "Making me reevaluate to a much higher number."

"So… You can tell someone's age just by watching them fight?" she asked incredulously.

He smiled at her then. "Usually, yes."

"Then what's your guess on mine?" she asked curiously, realizing with a smile that she'd somehow gotten out of her sulky mood.

"With fear of possibly insulting you…" he said with a smirk before giving in. "About 50."

She gasped at his words, she couldn't help it. It didn't surprise her that the anger she'd felt last night had fueled her strength, but she had never imagined it being able to add decades to her age. "In total or vampire years only?" she asked with wide eyes.

He squinted slightly as he studied her expression. "The latter."

She shook her head in disbelief. Either he was terrible at math or he was overestimating his ability to pin-point a vampire's age… His answer was either way ridiculously off.

"What?" he chuckled and smirked at her. "Too low?"

Visibly flinching at that, she stared at him wildly. "What!? No." she stuttered. "But I do think you've done some miscalculations."

He raised an eyebrow in question before she continued. "Either that or there were simply other factors affecting my strength last night." she suggested, the memory of her anger still fresh in her mind.

"Why is that?" he asked both curious and amused.

"Well, for starters. I'm only 26 years old." she said and looked him straight in the eye. "In total."

His expression switched from surprise to disbelief to confusion. "That's…" he said and shook his head slightly. "Not possible."

She nodded in amusement and shrugged a little, enjoying having been able to stun him. "Like I said. Different factors."

"So, my first instinct about you was right then?" he said with a serious face.

Rolling her eyes at his words with a breathy chuckle. Of course that would be the part he concentrated on. "Yep." she chirped and picked up his glass as it somehow had been refilled without her noticing. She knocked the drink back the way he had before. "I guess anger makes your adrenaline take over, huh?"

He studied her as she put the glass down on the bar, a smirk dressing his lips. When he looked up at her she realized she'd probably just done something inappropriate. Crossing the line between innocent flirting and straight out seducing once again. Suddenly she felt the need to do or say something to make the smirk on his face go away as he looked at her thinking he had her all figured out.

So, she scoffed and shook her head, looking away from him. "Seriously, I think you should look up classes in math over at Tulane." she mocked without meeting his eyes.

He chuckled. "Well, I would actually prefer testing your strength out to try and determine just what it is that makes you so strong."

She looked back at him then as curiosity took over. "What are you suggesting?"

A wide smile spread over his lips. "Don't worry…" he said and licked his lip. "After what I witnessed last night, I'm convinced you'll really enjoy what I have in mind."

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"I'm in college. I'm building a life for myself. I have plans; and a future; and things that I want and none of those things involve you. Okay. None of them."

"I see."

"No you don't. Yes, I do cover our connection with hostility, 'cause yes, I hate myself for the truth. So if you promise to walk away...like you said, and never come back. Then yes...I will be honest with you. I will be honest with you about what I want."

"I will walk away. and I will never come back. I promise."

A phone ringing in the distance woke Caroline up. She shook the dream out of her head and looked over at the time at the display: 01.21 am. Groaning loudly she ignored the call and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling.

Where did that come from? She wondered as she still felt the memory linger on her mind. It had been months since she'd dreamt about Mystic Falls. And even longer since she'd dreamt about... Him.

The phone began ringing again, making her exhale loudly. "What!?" she said as she responded to the call. "Is the world ending or something?"

"Hi, Care."

The voice made her sit up straight. "Tyler?"

"I'm sorry for calling so late but... Can we meet?"

"Meet? Where are you?" Caroline asked, feeling disoriented as she got out of bed.

"Outside your apartment."

She stilled and peeked out a window to confirm it, Tyler Lockwood was indeed standing outside of her building. Waving up at her from the curb.

"Let me get dressed, I'll be right down." she said before hanging up the phone and hurrying to meet up with him downstairs.

Caroline took a deep breath and steeled herself before stepping out of the building. The air was still humid and thick from the heat, but it was far cooler than it had been in days. "Hey." she said as she walked up to her old friend.

He smiled warmly at her and opened his arms, and in a second they were wrapped up in a tight embrace.

"I can't believe how long it's been." she murmured against his shoulder.

Nodding into her hair in response, he let out a deep sigh. "Gosh, I've missed you." He admitted.

The words made her tear up, she buried her face into his jeans jacket and breathed deeply. "I'm really happy to see you."

He hugged her tighter at that, stroking her back lightly as they stood silent for a moment. "You're... you're not human anymore." she whispered, feeling an old scent to his skin which she hadn't been in contact with for a very long time.

"Yeah..." he chuckled low. "A year or so is just not enough time to work on those anger issues, I guess."

She leaned back and studied his face. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Care."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, gripping his shoulders hard to reaffirm herself of his presence.

"Oh, you know... I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by." he said with a warm smile, making her shake her head in a chuckle. "Can we go somewhere, talk?" he asked then.

"Of course." she said and nodded towards the end of the street. "Campus isn't too far from here, how about a walk?"

"Great." he said and gestured to her. "Lead the way."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline struggled to remember just how Marcel had talked her into doing this. Then she glimpsed the smirk on his face, daring her. It only fueled her motivation, or stubbornness. Either way she refused to let anyone underestimate her. Even if it included doing something as crazy and uncivilized as fighting some of Marcel's vampires.

He had taken her to a large church in the heart of the French Quarter, one that for some reason was shut down. It had been cleared out of all furniture a church usually had and turned into a gym. It had a fighting cage in the middle and various training equipment spread around. There were even two different boxing bags hanging in separate corners of the building. It all screamed fight club and Caroline had to resist the impulse to laugh out loud once he opened the doors for her and showed her this place.

There were about ten other vampires training as they entered the church, they were all either caught up in punches or lifting weights, but their attention was immediately turned to their visitors. Caroline didn't enjoy the looks on the men's' faces as they stopped their various activities to walk up to Marcel after he called on them to gather around. They were creeps, clearly. Looking her over as if they were ready to swallow her whole.

"This is Caroline." Marcel said with a hand on her lower back. "I thought it'd be nice to let you guys go up against some real competition."

His words brought a small smile to her face. So, he wasn't underestimating her after all, he was actually expecting her to be better than his own men. Whom were all huge and intimidating and probably way, way older than her. That was, admittedly, rather flattering.

"I thought you had a rule against outsiders training here." one of the men said to Marcel. Caroline quickly located and studied the man as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was one of the bigger ones, looking as muscular as Marcel himself with his big arms and broad shoulders.

Then again, he could be one year younger than her and that would be enough for her to have an advantage on him – despite his form. That brought another, more challenging smile to her lips. She really enjoyed vampirism sometimes, knowing she could go up against scary men like that without fear of getting squashed like a watermelon between his knuckles.

The man caught sight of her expression and snarled at her. "Never mind. I'm going first." he said with a venomous smile.

Marcel chuckled. "Slow down, Connor." he said and stroked her back a little with his hand.

Caroline was about to glare at him for it or pull away from his touch but then she saw the way the others somehow retreated due to it. The gesture seemed kind of territorial; he was letting them know that she was under his protection. The amount of testosterone flying around was ridiculous and brought a scoff to her lips that she couldn't keep away.

"Let's start off small. What do you say, Caroline?" Marcel asked with his eyes studying her face intently.

She pouted her lips as if taking a moment to think about it before she glanced over at him with a shrug. "Yeah… They'll probably need some warm-up anyway."

Marcel could barely keep a laughter back at her remark, grinning at her amusedly as everyone stared at the two of them with wide eyes. "Alright then." he said and looked to the crowd. "Josh?" he called out, not necessarily with any higher volume as before since they could all hear him clearly either way.

Caroline watched as a somewhat tall, skinny young man with dark, curly hair, light skin and brown eyes stepped forward with a pained grimace. "I don't know if I'm up for this, Marcel." he admitted. "I mean, I'm sure you're really strong and all, Caroline. But I kinda have a thing against fighting girls, whether they're vampires or not."

She smiled a little at him, it was adorable of him since he was the only one not willing to show off his almightiness by beating up a young blonde. Not that there was any risk of them actually outmatching her; something told her they were all muscles and no brains. Or age… Whatever. She just had a feeling she could take them, especially since Marcel seemed so sure of her strength.

"Please." Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't think that applies to vampires older than you." she said to Josh, leaving a small smile and friendly wink at the end of her words to take the sting off her tone.

In the corner of her eye, she caught Marcel glancing at her and she realized he actually had the possibility to out her age right there and right then. Except he didn't. Instead he smiled at the young vampire before them.

"Don't insult the lady, Josh." he said, half-teasingly. "And make sure you don't hold back; she can handle anything you throw her way."

Josh frowned a little, his uncertainty covering his grimace as he studied her. "I don't get what you're even doing here. You have some sort of death wish or something?" he asked her.

She couldn't help but smile at his bluntness, knowing she could've taken ill at his words but finding it hard to do so when he sounded like an insecure little teenager. "If it makes you feel better, I highly doubt you'll actually hurt me."

She glanced over at Marcel who nodded at her in agreement and gave her a smile. "Ready then?"

A jolt of excitement hit her, the feeling doing cartwheels in her stomach. She was actually excited about finding out just how strong she was… Even if it meant possibly ending up with some bruises and sore muscles. It would all heal in the end anyway, as well as any of her opponents' would.

So, there was really no harm in indulging some of the left-over rage from last night since they'd all heal and go on with their lives at the end of today. She was only a little scared of not being able to conjure the same amount of strength she'd done when up against- Wilson, was it?

Marcel had explained on the walk over here that the vampire from last night was in fact 39 in vampire years. She'd had a hard time covering her chock over that fact but he reassured her that they'd take it easy while testing her strength. Taking it one step at the time. Starting with someone close to her own age and slowly, gradually, making their way up to a few extra decades.

As she and Josh made their way into the fighting cage, she began biting her lip nervously. She needed to find a way to get as mad as she'd been last night, but it was difficult since Josh seemed like such a sweet little soul. In contrast to the very real threat and douche-bag Wilson.

She was grateful to find out that Josh was about a year younger than herself and that he clearly had been chosen by Marcel as warm-up. Although, he still looked at her with uncertainty as they were about to start. The others stood around the outside of the cage and studied as Marcel let them know they could begin once he put some music on. She'd rolled her eyes at that but realized it could be useful to get into some kind of zone where she could focus on tapping into whatever she'd felt last night.

The music began and Josh didn't move. He was standing right opposite her, his hands raised to his face in fists as she mirrored his position. She caught sight of him raising his eyebrows quickly at her, signaling to her. Taking it as a sign that he was letting her go first, she whooshed over to him and punched him straight in the stomach.

He let out a grunt and backed up into the fence behind him. A mere second passed before he recovered and launched himself at her, his fists flying towards her face.

She dodged his punches with her arms and ducked to hit him in the gut again. Feeling exhilarated, she jumped a little on her feet as he straightened up. Suddenly he grabbed one of her legs, pulling it up so she fell on her back, down on the floor.

Letting out a grunt and sharp breath, she quickly rolled away as he was about to throw a fist aimed at her face. They were soon standing face to face once more, their hands covering themselves as they walked in circles around the cage.

She was realizing that he was focusing a little too much on punches instead of other moves, probably due to some lack of diversity in his training. But the leg-thing had been a sheer impulse, she could tell. It had been drawn from instinct; he saw an opportunity and took it.

Taking that as a tip for herself, she started studying him as she assessed any possible opportunities of her own. She then realized she could use the one thing that everybody always fell for; underestimating her. So, she whooshed towards him in a straight line so he could tell she was aiming at his face the way he had hers. Except as he ducked to try and dodge the hit, she grabbed his shoulders and flung him over her head. He landed behind her on the floor, right on his back the way she had before.

Taking advantage of his momentarily chocked state, she spun around and kicked his side hard enough to have him flying up and forward into the fence. He fell down to the floor next to it breathing heavily.

She smiled as she realized she'd won and looked over at her side to catch Marcel's approving grin.

"Not bad." he smirked and gestured to Josh to leave the cage.

The brunet slowly got up from his spot on the floor and looked up at Caroline in astonishment. "I guess I had that coming for doubting you." he said with a slightly pained smile.

She bit her lip. "You okay?" she asked softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded. "Yeah. Fine. Great. Are your ears ringing too? I think I broke a few ribs…" he rambled which made her giggle slightly – it reminded her so much of… herself.

Soon he'd left the cage and was replaced by the buff guy who'd made a comment before on her training here. She remembered his name being Connor and glared at him as they took their positions.

"Connor isn't very old, but he has some obvious power in his punches… so to speak." Marcel explained from outside the cage. "Might be interesting to see how that affects things."

Caroline kept her eyes on Connor, not putting it past him to take advantage of any single second that she might be distracted just to prove a point. In the back of her mind, she remembered that the rest were all watching and probably taking notes on any strategy that she may seem to have. So, she decided to not give them the satisfaction on thinking they could predict her moves.

No one underestimates Caroline Forbes.

However, Connor wasn't quite the gentleman as Josh had been, deciding he should go first instead. He sped to her and let his fist fly across her jaw, so hard she felt the bones in her face crack. The first punch was quickly followed by a second in her gut, making her fold and fly backwards against the fence much like Josh had been before.

She spat up some blood and coughed as he made his way over to her in human speed – up until now she'd gotten used to the blurry movements that included a vampire fight. But Connor seemed to want to savor the moment, or perhaps give her some time to build up a fear for him.

"Not so smug now, Barbie?" he sneered as he closed the distance between her and grabbed her shoulder to throw her across the ring and against another fence.

She fell down at her knees, coughing. Her ears ringing like Josh had complained about. But his words echoed in her mind, vibrating through her and making her veins burn.

Barbie.

He whooshed over to stand next to her, ready to pick her up once more and probably throw her down to the floor. But she had already started feeling adrenaline pump her up and straightened just in time to catch his hand in the air. She held it in place over her head and kneed him in the stomach, hard.

Grunting, he folded against himself, but she wasn't done yet. As the taste of her own blood still filled her mouth, she gripped his throat by her free hand and squeezed it roughly. His eyes widened with terror, her vamp-features reflecting in the light brown irises. She lifted him up from the ground, still with her hold around his neck, and threw him down on his back.

Bending over him, she leaned in close to his face and let out a growl. As her mind began getting to work on what to do next, Marcel suddenly called out.

"Alright! That's enough."

She jerked her head up and glared at him through the fence, her fangs showing as she almost let out a Tiger-like sound.

Suddenly she learned that her guess on Connor's willingness to use distraction to his advantage, was very much spot-on. He freed the hand she'd grabbed before he could punch her earlier and used it to hit her straight in her side. She flew off him and he whooshed over to pin her down on the ground with both his legs and arms keeping her hands and feet in place.

A wave of terror washed over her as she stared up at the huge man that had her pinned down in this vulnerable state. But when a sly smirk crept onto his lips she soon snapped from her fear and was consumed by rage instead. The effect was like recharging a battery, suddenly she was able to get her legs out from under him and used both to kick him in his stomach. He flew backwards against a fence and grunted as his eyes suddenly shut closed.

She let out a warning growl as she got up on her feet and launched herself at him once more, but then a pair of strong hands suddenly held her back. Keeping a firm grip on her arms from behind. She spun around to attack whomever dared get in her way when she met his face.

Marcel.

He had stepped into the ring and held her from going after Connor yet again. "That's enough, Caroline." he said with such authority in his tone that it made her wonder how she could've ever doubted his status in this town. He was clearly a leader, ruling with an iron fist. It made her face quickly change back from her vampire-features.

She pulled away from his hands roughly. "Fine." she spat out and glanced over her shoulder to see Connor struggling to get up from the ground. "Who's next?" she challenged and Marcel sighed a little.

As she looked back at him to study his apparently amused expression, he shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm not done." she told him seriously, feeling the veins in her face start to reappear.

He smiled at her with a dark look. "Good." he said. "We have all the time in the world after all."

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"It's been a long time since we've been on a football field together." Tyler mused, making Caroline grin as they sat down on a bench together. They stared out into the field in silence as a nostalgia hit them momentarily.

"Yeah... It feels like decades." she agreed before turning to study him closer. "What's going on, Ty? How did you find us? Did Stefan tell you where we were?"

"Actually... I crossed paths with this witch down in Panama... She helped me keep track of you guys."

"So, you're not here with Stefan?"

"I didn't even know he was here." he said honestly and sighed. "You ok?"

She frowned and glanced away at that. "Not really. But I'd much rather talk about you. Why are you here?"

His relaxed smile fell dark, his shoulders slumped forward and he sighed. "I need a favor."

"What kind?" she asked, her tone reserved and suspicious as she studied him closely.

"There's this spell, to help control my transitions during full moons. But there's something I can't get on my own."

"What's that?"

"The blood of someone in agony." he said, nodding slowly.

"Oh." she said, unable to say anything else.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you guys. Really! But for the spell to work properly, I guess it's pretty picky about who's blood it is. It has to be from someone who's felt an immense amount of pain - the emotional equivalent of the physical one during a transition."

"So, you're here to ask Ric for his blood?"

He nodded. "I was hoping that going through you would make it easier on him, I know none of us are his favorite people in the world right now."

"Right..." she said, staring off into the football field for a moment. "Tyler, I'm sorry but I can't ask Ric to do that."

"Care... You, more than anyone, know the kind of torture transitioning is to me."

"Yes, I know." she said. "But I can't bring Ric back into this, Ty. Not for anyone."

"But Care, I'm not just anyone." he protested, the hurt and betrayal clear on his face. "And you know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't important."

"I just, I can't." she whispered, her voice breaking lightly.

"Not even for me?" he asked, the desperation in his voice making her heart break.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I really am." she stood up and turned away, stopping when he suddenly spoke up again.

"Would you do it for Klaus?"

She froze, staring at him with blinking eyes. "What?"

His anger shone through his eyes. "If it was Klaus who showed up here, asking for your help, instead of me. Would you do it?"

"How can you even ask me that?" she said, shaking her head as frustration tightened her chest.

"Come on, Care. I'm not an idiot. I know you had contact last year, when you were supposedly locking everyone out of your life who had anything to do with the supernatural."

"So?"

"So! You still have feelings for him!" he shouted, making her flinch.

"You're crazy." she said and turned away from him again, wanting to storm off. But as a thought instead crossed her mind, she looked over at him with arms crossed. "And you know what? Klaus? He would've never even asked."

"Right." he said, nodding as she started walking away from him then.

But suddenly, she was wrestled into the ground, his fangs digging into her shoulder. She fought to shove him off but feeling too weak from not having fed for days. He stood up, wiping her blood from his mouth with a cold expression. "That's what Klaus would've done." he said, turning away from her then.

She felt the rage and fear mix in her veins as she suddenly leapt towards him and snapped his neck. "Urgh..." she groaned, holding onto her bleeding shoulder in pain. "Now what?" she sighed to herself, before throwing him across her shoulder and speeding off into the distance.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline had fought and won against three more opponents in the next hour. The first one after Connor had been 30 in vamp years only. A tall, middle-aged Scandinavian man named Sebastian. The one after him was a red-haired woman named Felicia, 42 vamp years but not looking a day over 20 human ones. She had been a little more of a challenge since she was so clearly skilled in tactics and strategy, but eventually Caroline had upper handed her as well.

Now she was facing an Eastern-European man, regular built with dark hair and thick eyebrows. He had a look in his brown-borderline-black, eyes that surprised Caroline – as if he was at peace. Or maybe he was just expecting to win.

"Joseph, my friend. Please show Caroline what fighting those gruesome wars in the middle-east has taught you." Marcel said, suspiciously leaving out the man's age after having been quick to announce that information about each and every one of her opponents before him.

She glanced over at Marcel through the corner of her eye but quickly looked back at Joseph as he suddenly disappeared from her view.

He showed up behind her, grabbing her arms and twisting them back with such force that she dislocated both shoulders at once.

Letting out a loud, pained scream, she fell backwards from the affect. He then kneed her in her lower back, making her fly forward and nearly through the fence this time. She pushed her shoulders inwards, relocating them properly as they began healing. Of course, not without the company of a moan as the bones settled in and brought tingles down her arms and fingers.

She didn't have much time to think as he headed towards her once more and she could just barely catch his movements as he aimed for her stomach. In a flash, he was in front of her, and she suddenly flew her wrist up under his chin in an uppercut. His head jerked back at the impact and his body followed, flying back and away from her.

Immediately as he hit the floor underneath him, she sped to throw herself at him, but he was suddenly gone once more. This time she spun around just as his knee went up to hit her back and instead reached her gut. She folded against herself in a loud grunt and he used that opportunity to give her a taste of her own medicine as his fist flew up to her chin. She had to admit, uppercuts were no fun when you were on the receiving end.

She was lighter than him, and he was stronger, so she flew further away from him than he had. However, she managed to land with a straightened back against the fence behind her, preparing her to protect herself as he ran towards her once more. His fists flew from all directions in such speed that she barely saw the movements, but she somehow managed to dodge each and every one of them with her arms. Probably in such contact with her body's own instincts by then that she hardly needed to even think about her next move before she made it.

Using the one disadvantage all men had against a wrathful woman then; she kneed him between his legs hard enough for him to let out a loud grunt and slightly lean forward. He recovered quicker than the ones before him though and straightened his back to throw another punch at her gut. She managed to slide sideways, his fist hitting the fence instead of her. Then she grabbed his wrist and as if taken straight out of some ninja-movie; she kicked her heal down on his leg in just the right angle to break his knee.

He grunted again, a little more painfully this time. Before he could even think about retaliating, she grabbed his other wrist as that fist came flying towards her from the side. Now holding both his arms in her hands, she quickly pushed herself backwards to the fence to gain some balance. Then she used it to run over his chest and shoulders, jumping to land behind him on her feet with his wrists still in her grip. His shoulders couldn't withhold the rotation and cracked loudly in result. A short scream finally escaped his mouth as he accepted defeat and fell to his knees in pain.

Letting go of him then, she spun around to study him as he attempted putting his arms back in place. Suddenly, the result of her acts hit her. She felt her veins run cold as if someone had just turned a bucket of ice water over her head.

What had she done!?

She was actually shaking as she looked down at her hands, which were slightly stained with some dry blood from previous hits. Some of it were signs of her own pain, others were memories of the pain she herself had inflicted.

Once again, she had let her anger take a hold of her and this time she had gone way too far. Feeling the guilt slowly eat away at her stomach she walked up to Joseph and quickly began helping him heal properly.

He flinched a little as he noticed her touch but soon realized she wasn't going to hurt him anymore. Allowing her to rotate his arms back and his shoulders into place, he let out some loud grunts but was soon healing correctly and quickly.

She stood in front of him and laid her hands tenderly on his shoulders. "I'm sorry." she breathed as a plea for forgiveness.

"Don't be!" Marcel chuckled as he stepped into the ring with clapping hands. "That was brilliant! Absolutely magnificent!"

Joseph seemed to wince a little at the man's words and she gave him a soft smile. "You fought well." he told her in his deep, East-European accent.

She frowned a little. "I'm sorry." she whispered once more and stepped back from him.

He got up on his feet and studied her with a confused expression for a moment, but then Marcel laid a hand on his shoulder and patted it harshly. "Wasn't she spectacular, Joe?" he asked with a broad smile.

"Yes." Joseph admitted and turned around to leave the ring.

Caroline looked up to meet Marcel's grin with a gulp. "I went too far." she admitted shamefully.

"Trust me, Caroline. You didn't." he chuckled and walked up to her. "Did I mention Joseph's age?" She shook her head and brought her hands up to stroke her upper-arms. "89." he told her with wild eyes.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. 89!? She felt shivers run through her entire body with fear. Not from Joseph or his age or his obvious strength and what he was capable of due to it… But instead fear of what she was capable of. Her tactic had been to tap into that rage she'd felt last night and feed off of it, but it made her lose control. She clearly didn't know how to give into that kind of anger, fury… hate, without letting it swallow her whole.

"As much as I am enjoying the show, I do believe it would only be fair to call it a night and resume this at another time." Marcel said, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her with admiration in his eyes.

It brought further tremors down her spine knowing that admiration was there because of the violence she'd displayed. Because of something horrible that she'd done. It made her question just how good she thought she actually was.

What made her any different from the bad guys that used to terrorize Mystic Falls?
What made her any different from the evil beings that had tortured her? That had inflicted pain and suffering. That had violently forced their will despite all and any's protests. What made her any better than them?

When she just as easily could be consumed by the same aggression as they could and inflict the same kind of pain and suffering as they would. "I have to go." she muttered silently under her breath and whooshed out of the church quickly.

She didn't get too far; Marcel's hands suddenly grabbed her waist before she managed to turn a corner leading to Bourbon Street. "Hey…" he said carefully as he spun her around to meet his observing eyes. "You keep doing that." he noted with a tiny smirk on his lips.

"I don't know what came over me." she admitted with the shake of her head.

"And you keep saying that." he said, chuckling lightly in an attempt to amuse her probably. But she didn't budge, her mind spiraling down a very dark path as she thought back to the way she'd fought those vampires tonight. And all in the name of fun or some experiment or sick and twisted test set up by Marcel.

"I'm glad you found me losing control so amusing." she sneered venomously and turned away from him.

He quickly whooshed to stand in front of her again. "Whoa! What are you talking about?" he asked running his hands up and down her arms to try and get her to focus on his eyes. "I haven't seen anyone so young fight with that much power before, Caroline. It was impressive to say the least…" he chuckled a little at the last words, but his face fell at her glare. "I'm guessing you didn't enjoy it then."

She looked down at her feet as she felt his last words hit her stomach. "Or perhaps you did?" he guessed correctly, making her unable to meet his gaze again. He let out a deep sigh. "Caroline, listen to me. Whatever you channeled to bring that strength out; it isn't something to be afraid of. It's actually a kind of gift. You just need to learn how to use it to your advantage without it… consuming you."

"And how exactly do I do that?" she whispered with such a flat tone that she barely recognized the voice as her own. When he didn't answer for a long moment, she looked up to see him frowning slightly. "There are different ways, depending on what the source of that strength comes from."

"Anger?" she asked.

"That's an easy one, you learn to turn each pulse of rage into energy." he explained and studied her for a short moment before continuing. "But that is not what your trigger point is, Caroline." he said with his eyebrows raised as if confused that she had thought otherwise.

"How do you know?"

He smiled at her then, the soft and kind smile that she'd received earlier this evening while at the bar. "Because I recognize rage when I see it. You're the opposite of anyone with anger management issues, believe me." he said, sounding amused that she didn't already know this.

"So… How do I know what my trigger point is?" she asked confusedly and pulled away from his hands. She wanted to find out just what all that power came from so that she could consciously avoid ever touching it again.

Shrugging a little, he kept his smile intact and a glimmer of something filled with excitement flashed in his eyes for a moment. "I could help you figure it out."

"How?" she scoffed incredulously.

"By testing out just what it is you react to… Like allergies." He winked at her shortly. "And then you can learn how to control it, instead of having it control you."

"What, more rounds of vampire sparring matches?" she sneered. "I don't think so."

"Had your fill already?" he asked in amusement and chuckled. "Alright. Then I have another idea."

She gave him an encouraging look, waiting for him to go on. "I'll train you." he gleamed with a bright smirk right then.

A feeling crossed her mind that maybe this had been his plan all along and she rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Your solution to less violence is more of it?"

"It wouldn't get to the kind of extremes like back there." he explained with a frown. "That would be too dangerous."

"Why is that?" she asked with a scoff.

He rolled his eyes this time and looked at her exasperatedly. "Because I'm a lot older than you, Caroline. You'd get seriously hurt."

"Just how old are you?" she asked after studying his face for a minute.

His lips tugged into a weird smile at her words. "Guess." he said.

She rolled her eyes again. "How am I supposed to do that?" she sneered.

He didn't say anything, only boring his eyes into hers in silence for a long moment until she gave in. "Okay, fine… Um, 100?" she asked.

He frowned a little at her suggestion making her raise an eyebrow. "150?" she asked.

Pouting his lips and raising his own eyebrows she widened her eyes as she made her final guess. "200?"

The smile that crept up on his lips just then made her shiver. "2-0-6." he corrected her.

She gulped down at his words. "And you expect me to just jump into that ring with you?"

"Like I said, it wouldn't go far enough to actually put you in harm's way."

A thought suddenly occurred to her, making her smile a little as it all played out in her head… If he was 200 years old and had such power over the city with all these vampires under his thumb; he could be a useful ally to keep on their side in whatever war they were entering while going up against Julian.

At first, he'd only been needed to give her information that no one else seemed to have, but now she realized that if they could get him to help them; they probably wouldn't need Klaus.

He could train her, help her become stronger and more capable of defending herself. And then he could most likely even have more information about Lucien that they could use to their advantage…

However, she couldn't let him think she'd just changed her mind on a whim. It would be too conspicuous. "And what exactly can you teach me that no one else can?" she huffed, fighting a broad smile as she found no possible kinks in her new plan whatsoever. This was the answer she'd been looking for. This was their way around involving the Originals. This was going to work.

"Trust me. There are quite a few things I could teach you." he said, his face suddenly just an inch away from hers as he looked into her eyes with fire in his.

She swallowed hard to try and find a way to go on with her plan without all the sexual innuendos and misinterpreted signals. "You promise not to hurt me?" she asked carefully.

His eyes sobered up at her words and for a moment he regarded her with surprise. Then he nodded. "I promise."

She nodded back. "Fine." she said and backed away from him once more, putting a few feet of space between them before she spoke again. "But I have a few conditions."

"Name it." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"First, you'll need to tell me everything you know about Lucien Castle."

He let out a long sigh at her words. "Anything but that." he said.

She flinched. "What!?"

"I'm not letting you get involved with Lucien. He's bad news… on a whole other level."

"You do realize you don't really have a say in this, right?" she scoffed and placed her hands on her hips in annoyance. Who did he think he was, trying to order her around?

"Caroline… Lucien is in bed with very powerful and highly dangerous people. If you get mixed up in their drama, there is literally no way out expect through a coffin… or an urn." he said with a tilt of his head.

She didn't buy the warning whatsoever. After all, she had dealt with far scarier people than he could ever imagine. Silas, Heretics and the Originals to name a few…

"What's your other conditions?" he said opportunistically as he hoped to have put the subject to rest.

He hadn't.

"None of the other conditions matter if you don't live up to that one." she said in frustration and threw her hands in the air. "Whatever, Marcel! I'll just go find someone else who can help me out." she turned around after her words, but he was immediately in front of her once more.

"Fine!" he said through gritted teeth. "Fine."

She studied him for a moment, almost expecting him to spill right there and then.

"We'll schedule five to seven training lessons; after each of which you get to ask me one question about Lucien. Deal?"

She thought it over for a moment before answering. "I can agree to three lessons over one week and I get two questions after each." she demanded.

He smirked at her. "Well, that's not very negotiable of you."

"Either that or I add a second condition." she shrugged.

He raised an eyebrow then. "Which is?" he asked curiously.

"That you don't get to make a single move, say even one pick-up line or as much as look at me flirtatiously. For us to be strictly platonic from here on out."

His jaw dropped at her words momentarily. "This isn't how you negotiate, Caroline." he chuckled lightly and continued. "What's to stop me from simply keeping all information about Lucien to myself and instead book a night for us to pick up where we left it last?"

"Marcel, I'm not going out with you. This is strictly a business arrangement, an exchange of knowledge."

"A fairly uneven one." he scowled and shook his head. "How is it that I'm not getting anything out of this deal, even though I was the one who suggested to help you?"

She thought it over for a few seconds and sighed. "Coffee."

"Coffee?" he said with a smirk. "In Manhattan? Under the stars…"

"I'm not leaving Louisiana for this, Marcel. Coffee, during the day, and in return we can discuss the training further."

"Why do you insist on keeping me at arm's length, Caroline?" he asked as he closed the distance between them, stroking her jaw as he pinned her gaze down. "Are you in such denial of your feelings and needs? First you try to convince me that you did not enjoy the rounds in the ring back there – now you're saying I've imagined this connection between us?"

Resisting the thrill of his touch, she shrugged lightly and sighed. "I just think we can work better as friends, that's all." she said innocently. "I have laid out my terms. Now, what's it gonna be?"

He smiled at her warmly, a spark in his eyes as he brought those charming teeth out. She bit her lower lip as she spotted something mischievous behind his smile. Suddenly, his face slackened as he seemed to look at something over her shoulder. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, turning around to see whatever it was that had caught his eye...

Her heart skipped a long beat at the sight; green eyes and a dimpled smirk…

He looked gorgeous. Breath-taking, earth-stopping and just drop-dead gorgeous. His hair was longer, a curl hanging leisurely above his right eyebrow and his face was oddly clean-shaven in comparison to how she remembered him. He wore a dark jacket with black jeans and just a small evidence of his necklaces, as one of the chains was visible above his low collar.

"Hello, love."

Chapter Text

Chapter 15: We must be killers

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"Hello, love." he said, parted lips and surprised eyes as if he was just as amazed to see her as she was him.

The sound of his voice shook her out of her momentary chock and made her fight to find her voice. "Klaus." she managed to get out as she continued to stare at him from just a few steps away. "What... What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the very same thing, Caroline." he grinned and took a step towards her, his hands behind his back in his most characteristic posture. "Followed by; how come you didn't inform me of your intended visit to New Orleans beforehand? I could've ensured you received a welcome fit for your standards."

"I..." she said and shook her head as Marcel glanced between them. She tried to figure out what to say, to Klaus, to Marcel… But her thoughts weren't cooperating, she had suddenly turned into a teenager, standing in front of that one crush that refused to leave her mind. And before she knew it, she had closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

Time seemed to halt to a stop at that, even the air around them stood still. She felt him return the embrace and let out the hints of a chuckle in her hair. So many thoughts and memories rushed through her head, as if playing everything back. Of course, she hadn't forgotten any of it… Yet, it was all replaying behind her closed eyelids, from start to now.

She wasn't sure how long they stood that way, holding each other tightly. Both trying to make the moment last a little while longer. Her heart did cartwheels inside her ribcage as she breathed in his familiar scent. But as Klaus drew back and cupped her cheeks and met her eyes with a confused look, she was brought back to earth.

Clearing her throat, she backed away from the hybrid as she remembered a third party within their proximity.

"Marcel, this… This is…" she began but was cut off by a grin from Klaus. "What?" she asked, suddenly feeling flushed.

"I assure you love, there is no need for introductions."

"There isn't?" she asked, trying to piece his words together while looking back at Marcel.

"No, we are quite familiar with each other already." Marcel said as he looked her over with a strange look in his eye. As if she had grown an extra head or two, or as if he hadn't actually looked at her until now and suddenly noticed her existence. "Who are you?" he asked then, making her eyes widen.

"Um…" she began, even though she didn't know what he was asking exactly. "What do you mean?"

He didn't seem to hear her, instead following up with a second question. "Why didn't you tell me you knew each other?"

"Wait… You never told me you knew Klaus either." Caroline said with a nervous chuckle. " You can't seriously be upset with me from not mentioning it in-between drinks at the bar or punches in the ring!?"

"What's that now?" Klaus chimed in, sounding slightly less entertained than earlier.

"You're telling me you couldn't find a single opportunity to let me in on your knowledge of the Mikaelson's?" Marcel asked incredulously. "I'd actually recall quite a few such moments which you could have brought it up."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Klaus asked, the flat tone in his voice making them both turn to him.

"Nothing." Caroline quickly responded and turned back to the younger of the two vampires with a frustrated exhale. "Marcel, could you give us a minute? Please."

He frowned at her and then glanced over at Klaus, giving almost a tiny little bow of his head before disappearing into thin air.

This is bizarre.

Watching the Hybrid study her with a cold face made her weary. She didn't know what to do or say or think at the moment, but she did see the need to explain a thing or two before Klaus' mind ran amok…

"Okay, so… There's a very good explanation for everything. I promise." she said, a nervous chuckle escaping her lips. She suddenly felt like she had been caught with her hand inside the cookie-bowl and didn't quite know where to begin. And by the look of it, neither did he.

He lowered his eyes slightly and turned over his palm in a gesture for her to continue.

"Well…" she said and tried to think of where to start. "I didn't let you know that I was coming here because… I was trying to avoid running into you, nothing personal or anything-"

He let out a snarl as he shook his head in disbelief.

"But I guess you found out I was here anyway-"

"From the moment you stepped foot onto Louisianan soil." he interjected.

She grimaced and nodded slowly. "Of course. Nothing gets past the big bad Hybrid, why would this be any different?"

He stood suddenly a mere inch away from her, an intense color in his eyes as he stared into at hers. His silence spoke volumes, he had taken offense to her trying to shrug off her arrival as something unimportant. As if it meant nothing to him, to her. And of course it meant something, but that wasn't why she had come.

"I'm sorry, Klaus. I'm not here for…" she said and sighed. "You."

He closed his eyes for a moment before meeting her look once more. "Of course not." he said with a cold smile that broke her heart. "Then why are you here, Caroline?"

She gulped hard as she tried to find her words. "I'm trying to keep you out of it."

"Well, why not tell me exactly what is going on and then I may consider staying out of it?"

She sighed audibly and turned away from him, running her hands through her hair in frustration.

"Are you in danger, Caroline?" he then asked, making her wrap her arms around her herself in an attempt to remain strong. "Is that why you are covered in the blood of at least three different vampires?"

"No, no that… That's all Marcel." she said and turned to him. "He had this idea that I was surprisingly strong for my age and wanted to test my limits or something..."

He raised an eyebrow at that, looking distrustful when no further explanation followed. "And he believed the best way to do so was through letting you wreak havoc in his fighting cage?"

She pouted her lips momentarily at his accurate guess. "That and private training lessons. Marcel thinks he can teach me a few things–"

His jaw visibly clenched at her words as his eyes narrowed at her. "Does he now? And why exactly do you need to be taught fighting skills, Caroline? Are you being followed by yet another war of the supernatural races? Perhaps you have yet again found ways of risking your life in order to rescue everyone, with the constant exception of yourself…"

"Klaus..." she sighed, having hoped that they would be able to act civil at least. "If you really thought that then why did you even seek me out in the first place?"

A slight flutter across his face made her squint at him with surprise.

"Wait…" she said, realizing why she hadn't run into him until now, even though he apparently had known that she was here all along. "Were you avoiding me?"

He grimaced slightly and shook his head. "Caroline, love–"

"Wow." she interrupted. "Seriously? I mean that… That just really…" – Hurts, she thought but couldn't bring herself to say aloud. "Well, I guess that answers a question I've been asking myself for the past few years." she muttered to herself.

As Klaus seemed to fidget and suddenly turn uncomfortably, she noticed a familiar face on the other side of the street.

"You know what, Klaus? Maybe I had the right idea from the start, let's just not get in each other's way and I will be gone before you know it." she said and began walking away.

A little part of her was expecting him to stop her or run after her, but when she glanced back over her shoulder, she saw that he had already disappeared.

It made her stomach turn slightly, her throat tightening and her eyes burning. But as she caught up with Josh where he stood with some of his friends, she shook it off.

"Hey, Josh." she said.

"Please tell me you're not here for round two." he said with a friendly grin.

"Only if that round includes tequila." she sighed. "Wanna show me a nice place to forget every bad thing that's ever happened to me?"

He chuckled and nodded towards the other men beside him. "Of course." he said and shrugged. "Who are we to deny a tourist a bit of sight-seeing?"

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Caroline didn't sleep a single minute the rest of the night.

Knowing Tyler wouldn't stay dead for long, she had managed to locate a dark and rarely visited boiler room underneath the main building on campus. With some chains and wolfsbane, she'd actually made a pretty good job at detaining the werewolf until he'd awaken again.

But as he began to stir, rattling the chains and throwing himself against the concrete walls of the tiny basement, Caroline started to regret her decision. "Ugh... Ease up, would you? I have a headache." she grunted, earning a wide-eyed stare from Tyler as he noticed her leaning against a pillar.

"Care?" he said and tried to reach for her, flinching as the wolfsbane across the floor burned his bare feet. "Really?"

"Hey, you're the one who bit me!" she exclaimed, making him flinch again.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Care. Really, I swear I wouldn't have done it if I didn't have a choice."

"I think that might actually be the single worst apology I've ever heard."

"Come on, I needed your help. And you're just, what, a two-hour car ride away from a cure? I knew you'd be fine with just a phone call, me on the other hand..."

She glanced over at him, noticing his eyes glued to the chains around his ankles and wrists. "I know." she said. "It's a full moon tomorrow."

"So, awkward seeing him?" he asked, sitting down on the cold floor as he looked over at her.

She only chuckled. "You're just the most wonderful ex-boyfriend a girl could ask for." she said, her voice hoarse as she reached for her phone to ignore another call from Ric. "And I'm late for Econ, so..."

Tyler's chains rattled as he stood up in response to her words. "Wait, you're not leaving me here, are you?"

"I need a moment to think, and you need a time-out." she said with a shrug of her shoulders before opening the heavy door and leaving him behind calling her name.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

The place Josh took Caroline to was very different from the bar she'd met Marcel at. This one had less karaoke and Bourbon – more dancing and colorful cocktails. And she liked it, a lot. She saw a chance to let loose and feel free and forget about all drama for a night, and she was determined to take it.

"Have I told you yet how incredibly grateful I am to you for letting me tag along?" she asked when Josh returned to their booth with two drinks in his hands. Both large and colorful with umbrellas, straws and cherries as garnish.

"Yes, five times already. I think it's time you started showing your gratitude by paying for the drinks instead…" he said with a playful grin before handing her one of the drinks. "Besides, all I did was try and get you on my side, since I'd hate to be your enemy." he shrugged before taking a sip out of his drink.

She giggled at that, finding it ridiculous that anyone would be afraid of making an enemy of her. But on the other hand, she had discovered some kind of power in her that she could use to her advantage. So perhaps he wasn't too far off on that point. "Friends it is, then." she said and winked at him before taking the straw in her mouth.

He chuckled. "You know… my ribs are still sore from that kick."

"Oh, come on! You're definitely all healed up, don't even try to convince me otherwise." she protested and rolled her eyes.

A silent pause fell over them as they exchanged smiles and giggles. It was comfortable, fun and light. Something Caroline hadn't felt in what seemed like a lifetime. After a long moment she started to notice a guy at the bar casting glances over at their table and smiled when she realized what it was about.

"So, the blonde." she said while looking straight at Josh, not giving herself away. "The one in all-black, over at the bar." she explained further before taking another sip at her drink. "He's totally checking you out."

Josh raised his eyebrows. "Is he cute?"

"Hot." she corrected him and wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

He discreetly turned around to look over his shoulder and at the guy she was talking about. After a short moment he turned back around to look at her and sighed. "Okay, yeah. He's hot." he admitted.

"So…?" she said with a giggle.

"So… Are you sure he's not looking at you?" he asked with an unsure smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Do you own a mirror? You're cute, Josh! Why wouldn't he be looking at you?"

"How can you even tell that he'd be interested in me?" he asked with a sigh.

"You mean; how can I tell you're his type?" She pouted for a moment as she thought it over. "I don't know. I've just always had a good sense about these things. You can trust me on this."

He glanced over his shoulder one more time and quickly turned back to her after having accidentally met the blonde guy's gaze. "Shit… He saw me."

"So, go over there already!" Caroline whispered and slapped his arm.

"And leave you? What kind of friend would do that?" he asked with a dramatic tone.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! I can entertain myself long enough for you to get his number."

"You sure? I don't really feel great about leaving a girl all by herself in a place like this, even if you've already proven that you can handle yourself well enough."

"I'll go to the bathroom then, the line itself will give you as much time as you need!" she insisted as she realized her phone was ringing. "And I have to take a call anyways."

He grimaced her shortly but nodded. "Okay. I'll be right back!" he promised and walked away as she took her call.

"Enzo, hi."

"You're not at the hotel room nor at that pub. Where are you?"

Caroline grunted at his tone of voice. "I don't know, some nightclub. I made a new friend; his name is Josh."

"How have you already found a new partner for the evening?" Enzo then scoffed amusedly.

"He's gay, Enzo. Calm down."

"Well, I decided to try and track down Lucien. Does this mean you won't be of any help in the matter?"

"Yep."

"And you won't be left alone by this Josh? He'll keep you protected?"

Caroline almost choked on her drink at his words, her blood starting to boil slightly as she took great offends. "Yeah, 'cause women couldn't possibly take care of themselves…" she scoffed. "Why don't we do our separate things tonight, Enzo? I think I need a break from British accents for at least the next few hours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he huffed, but she got distracted as she saw Josh walk towards her with the blond man by his side.

"Mm, gotta go! Talk tomorrow. Bye!" she quipped and hung up just as she shared a smile with the handsome stranger while Josh introduced them to one another. Deciding that a night out on the town was just what the doctor ordered to cure her sudden woes.

"Another round?" she asked the men, grinning widely as she went to place their orders. A much easier feeling in her chest than before, as she finally managed to push the face of a certain hybrid out of her mind.

Elijah noted his brother's return home by the sound of furniture being torn apart and flung around in one of the grander sitting rooms. As he followed the noises to where Klaus' destructive tantrum was taking place, he sighed and waited for his brother to notice his presence. After a while, Klaus stopped and stood with heaving shoulders as his rage vibrated off of him.

Just as Elijah was about to ask him what this whole ordeal concerned; his brother answered the question beforehand.

"I met Caroline." he said grimly.

Elijah nodded. "Your encounter clearly went well." he said, glancing around at the ruined site before him before Klaus gave him an evil eye. "I suppose you didn't get answers as to why Ms. Forbes has decided to visit New Orleans, then?"

"I wasn't offered the opportunity." Klaus said with a hard look. "Not amidst the revelations of her own little encounters with Marcel."

"Marcel?" Elijah echoed in confusion.

"Yes, apparently they have gotten very familiar with each other."

He studied his brother for a moment, trying to assess his mood and determine whether he would remain a danger to the rest of their belongings in the mansion. "What exactly are you implying, brother?"

With a cold look, Klaus shrugged before he headed to leave, Elijah following behind in bewilderment. "I'm going to visit my former apprentice, if you find him before I do; Do me a favor and dislodge his arms from his body, will you?" he called out before stopping in his steps.

"No need to look for me." Marcel stood by him suddenly, shrugging his shoulders at the fuming look the hybrid was aiming his way.

"So, are you going to tell me about your history with her or should I keep guessing?" Marcel continued then with a teasing look. "I have a few suggestions in mind."

Elijah scoffed softly, sharing the exact same thought himself. But keeping quite as to avoid turning his brother's anger in his direction instead.

"All you need to know is that Caroline Forbes is an old friend of the family. One who shouldn't be bothered by you again." Klaus muttered in response, turning away from the younger vampire as he seemed finished with the conversation for now. However, Marcel was not.

"If you were so close, then how come she never mentioned your name?"

The question made Klaus freeze for a beat, just enough for the older brother to notice. But it flashed quickly by before he glared over at Marcellus again. "How come you didn't let me know once you found out we had new vampires in the Quarter?" he gritted out, turning the tables at him.

"Honestly Klaus, because I didn't feel like it." he responded with a shrug.

"Don't be childish, Marcellus." Klaus scoffed.

"Woah, and now I'm the childish one!? How quickly you forget how you couldn't stand watching me run NOLA my own way, so you had to go running around the world with Elijah on some dead-end missions every other week!"

With that, Klaus was on his feet again and closing the distance with a threatening scowl. "Don't try to change the subject." he hissed. "I sincerely hope that your feelings of negligence aren't the reason you have decided to start keeping secrets from me."

Marcel studied him for a moment before raising a finger to him and squinting his eyes. "Does she know that you're ordering me to stay away from her just so you can have her for yourself? Because that's what this is, right?"

"Marcel." the older Mikaelson muttered, feeling the urge to help spare his life before he took this confrontation a tad too far.

"Come on, Elijah. Don't tell me you aren't dying to hear more about this just as much as I am?"

A glance at his brother was enough to convince him that the subject needed to be put to rest, now. "I believe it is best that you take your leave now, Marcel." he said calmly, as his eyes showed him the gravity of his words.

The vampire looked torn for a moment, perhaps tempted to disobey, but he nodded and made his leave. Disappearing into the night as Klaus grunted something inaudible to himself.

"Niklaus…"

"Goodnight, Elijah." the hybrid chided before walking out, leaving the other Original with new questions of the interesting phenomena that was Caroline Forbes.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Caroline usually had a hard time paying attention during one of Professor Vikram's lectures. But this time the venom in her blood made it feel impossible. The words on the laptop screen seemed to change language as she read them.

"... and when looking at the graph you can see..." the professor's voice echoed around her, the lights hurt to look at and her head pounded like a drum.

She'd been poisoned by werewolf venom before, but this time it seemed to work through her system very slowly. Enough for her to feel every step of it. One by one, her senses began betraying her. And as she tried to refocus on the lecture again, she froze in place.

Because in front of her was no longer Professor Vikram, but instead Julian.

"No." she breathed out, standing so swiftly that her books fell onto the floor around her.

"Yes, Ms. Forbes?"

She closed her eyes tightly for a moment before following the voice back to the lecturer again. Everyone was now staring back at her with amused eyes and snickering whispers. "Did you need to be excused?" the professor asked, pulling her back to him again.

"Yes, please." she said and hurried out of the lecture hall and to the nearest bathroom.

She splashed some water over her face and took a few deep breaths. As she met her own eyes in the mirror, she started to relax. Yes, it was only hallucinations brought on by the venom in her system. But that didn't make them any less… real.

Another deep breath, or forty, later. She felt stable again and returned to the lecture. The rest of the hour passed by with no other incident. But as she was packing her things to leave, someone grabbed her arm.

She turned and stared down at a little girl in blonde pigtails. "Hi." the girl said, a small smile on her face.

"Uhm... Hi." Caroline looked around to see if anyone else was seeing the girl or not, but they were all too occupied with themselves to notice. "Where are your parents?"

The girl giggled then. "Right here, silly." she said and pointed at Caroline. "Don't you recognize me, mommy?"

"What?" Caroline whispered in terror, her breathing getting caught in her throat. She pulled at her arm to try and back away from the girl, but she couldn't get free. "What are you doing?" she said, staring down at the child as her face suddenly became dark and malevolent.

"I'm just showing you." the girl said as Caroline's arm suddenly turned gray and veins crept over her skin.

"What... Showing me what?"

"How it felt to die." the girl said, just as Caroline felt a stab of pain in her gut.

She gripped her stomach with her free hand, a pool of blood suddenly building through her shirt. "No... Stop..." she breathed out as she again pulled at her arm. "Stop... Get away from me!"

Finally managing to spring free, she stumbled backwards and fell down right by the feet of a fellow student. He met her eyes with concern. "Hey, you ok?" he asked, making her fumble to her feet.

Staring back at the girl, Caroline saw nothing. Just her bag on the floor with its contents scattered everywhere. The girl was gone. Or rather, she had never been there in the first place. "Yeah, sorry." she finally managed to say as the young man beside her still waited for an answer. "Just a little dizzy, that's all."

"Maybe you ought to see someone about that." he said, making her nod.

"Yeah, maybe." she said, smiling weakly as he helped her gather her things from the floor. She quickly pushed everything into her bag and hurried out to the hall. Making sure she wasn't being watched or followed as she went to follow his advice.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

As Caroline walked into the fight-club-turned church the next morning, she found Marcel throwing punches at a boxing bag. The movements were skilled, precise and too quick for a human to catch. Even as a vampire herself, she had some trouble following the blur of his arms as his fists hit the bag.

He was bare-chested, and his dark skin glistened in the light that shone through the church's large windows. She cleared her throat after a moment had passed, when he still hadn't acknowledged her being there.

"Hey." she said, guilt creeping into her stomach.

Marcel stopped momentarily to glance over at her, heavy breaths from the workout. With his eyes roaming over her exposed legs for a few passing seconds he stayed quiet, then tore his gaze away from her and resumed boxing again – albeit, a little more aggressively now but not quite as blurry as before.

She bit down on her lip roughly in nervousness and walked slowly past the training equipment alongside the path that led to his corner. Letting her hand run over a weight-stand as she spoke. "You can imagine how awkward it was when I realized I had no way of actually contacting you since I never really got your number. I even considered checking your apartment but since you blurted us over there so quickly, and since I whooshed away just the same, I barely remembered my way to it… And then I thought of trying Rousseau's but I kinda didn't want to have to wait until tonight to clear things up."

He stopped punching and walked to a bench nearby, taking a sip from a water bottle with his eyes studying her. "So, you came here." he noted between sips, the charisma usually heard in his voice was nowhere to be found. He sounded cold, guarded and sarcastic. It brought a nervous shiver down her spine while reminding her of someone else who's mood had a way of changing like the weather…

"You know…" she said, feeling the need to break the silence between them while she also felt uncomfortable looking at him all of a sudden. "I have no idea how I didn't catch the identical characteristics between you two earlier."

"He told you then." he said, less of a question than might have been intended. He turned his back to her to put the water bottle down and dab his face and neck with a towel.

"I made a calculated guess, actually." she huffed and looked up at him just in time to watch him glance over at her with a ghost of an amused smile on his lips. "So, I suppose he turned you? Maybe even trained you to be a vampire and all of that… Hence the scary-similar behaviors you two seem to share."

He looked away from her for a very long moment before turning back around with his arms crossed over his chest. "You said you wanted to clear things up."

She pouted lightly as that seemed to be the end of that subject and shrugged. "Yeah." she nodded and took a few steps over to him, still quite the distance between them. She began rambling as she tried to find a way of explaining what she wanted to convey to him… Even as she remained unsure of just what that was. "I didn't know you knew him… Klaus. And I also didn't know there was the whole history thing between you. And honestly, you really can't stand there and just force all of this guilt on me as if I lied to any of you since I highly doubt Klaus has mentioned me before and he never talked about you so– "

"He did." he suddenly cut her off.

"What?" she asked in pure confusion as his expression was reserved and impersonal, in contrast to the charming affection he seemed to usually have. Mr. Charismatic…

"He did mention you." he said with a slight shrug before turning away once more to grab a blood bag from a cooler next to the water bottle. The sight brought a scratching sensation to her throat and he seemed to notice, giving her an unsure glance and then deciding to put the blood bag away. "Or not you directly but he talked about Mystic Falls in an… odd way. This small little town where nothing really happened… I've known Klaus for a very long time, and I could tell there was something he left behind in that tiny hole in Virginia that he seemed to consciously keep from talking about. Had you bothered mentioning that that was where you came from…"

She cut him off this time, surprised by the sting of insult she felt at the tone he used to describe her hometown. "Well… We weren't exactly swapping childhood stories, now were we?" she scoffed and crossed her arms in a defensive gesture.

With a whoosh he was suddenly standing right in front of her and looked down at her face with spinning wheels behind his eyes. "I suppose we weren't." he said and raised his chin slightly.

"See. That right there! That's something he does too." she sneered and momentarily looked away from his glare.

He raised his eyebrows. "What exactly am I doing?" he asked, a sultry tone sneaking its way into his question as he couldn't seem to be able to fight his charismatic nature for far too long.

She rolled her eyes. "The whole standing-tall thing. Making you seem like there's ten feet of a height difference between us."

"Hmm…" he said with his eyes studying her face for a moment. "Well, he was my mentor after all. I guess one could say I learned almost everything I know from him."

"Almost?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, she couldn't help the curiosity.

A smirk spread across his lips at her newfound attention. "You know, there are some tricks I could teach you that I happen to have learned on my own. If you're still interested…"

"You mean the training?" she asked, feeling like she needed to remind him of their agreement in hopes of cooling off the innuendos in his question. "I thought the deal was off when you decided to disappear the other night."

"You asked for time alone with Klaus Mikaelson. Who am I to deny such a request?" he mocked with a sarcastic chuckle and turned away from her to start walking towards the ring.

She studied him as he walked into the cage and then turned to her with a waiting smile. "So, you still want to train me?" she asked incredulously.

"If you insist on involving yourself with the Mikaelson's, hence gaining all of the new enemies that comes even from simply knowing that family…" he said with an exasperated sigh. "Then you'll need all the strength you can possibly muster up. I could give you some pointers on finding a way to harness that little trigger point of yours, help you control the unusual power you seem to have stumbled upon."

For a moment, she wondered whether or not this was still a good idea. Then she cursed herself for having forgotten to update Enzo on all of it, he would probably be overjoyed at hearing that she finally talked with the Original Hybrid…

She remembered her reasoning for coming up with this deal in the first place and it still felt very relevant. They might need Marcel's help and if he could teach her to get a grip on that scary dark side that she still couldn't explain… Then; win-win.

"Which deal are you agreeing to, by the way?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, making her hair bounce over her shoulder.

"A new one." he smiled at her as she started walking towards the cage. "I train you every other day for an hour and you only get to ask me for whatever information you want during that time." he said with a shrug and smirked widely at her for a moment. "If you can get a word in between punches, that is."

She walked up on the platform with her arms still crossed over her chest. "What about the condition I brought up last night?" she asked.

"Ah, yes… The platonic pledge." he chuckled and finally gave her his real charismatic smile and warm look. "I'm not sure I have a choice in the matter now that Klaus all but marked his territory when it comes to you."

His words made her flinch slightly, enough for him to notice though. "You talked to him?"

He studied her silently for a long moment before nodding. "Yeah. Talked…" he muttered.

She scoffed at that and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, that Original pain-in-the-ass…" she muttered, making him raise a curious eyebrow at her. "Let's just not talk about Klaus anymore." she sighed and clasped her hands together.

"How about this…" Marcel began with a chuckle. "If by the end of all these training sessions you still won't agree to a date with me – then we are even."

"Really?" she asked incredulously. "So, you'll agree to helping me train and give me information about Lucien, what, no strings attached?"

"Of course, Caroline. I'm not the kind of man to run after women with seemingly no interest in my affections. But if there is a chance however that you change your mind simply by giving me some time… Then I will be sure to give Klaus a run for his money."

"I'm telling you… Klaus and I-" she stopped herself with a sigh as she met his exasperated look. "Fine." she then said. "But to be completely fair, I can guarantee that my mind won't be changed just because we throw punches around a few times."

"I'll take my chances." he said with a dark smirk which made her shiver slightly.

"Alright, it's a deal!" she smiled widely, earning a genuine laugh from him.

"Deal." he said and extended his hand to her.

She bit her lip in suspicion for a moment but finally took his hand to shake it.

Only, it was a trap and he used it to pull her closely against himself with a single tug at her arm. She let out a small gasp at suddenly being pressed up against his muscular chest. He bore his eyes into hers for a long moment, an arm tightly wrapped around her waist to keep her in place.

"First lesson," he said with a husky voice and eyes wandering to her lips. The hand that had held onto hers suddenly flashed over her back for a mere blink of an eye. Then he was holding it up to show her that he had successfully taken her phone out of the bag hanging across her shoulder without her noticing.

"Never let your guard down." he said with a smirk and stepped away from her, putting her phone in his back pocket. "Your turn." he challenged with his hands resting on either side of his hips.

She shook her head slightly to focus on the task instead of wondering whether she should scold him for kind of already breaking the platonic pledge. Instead, she settled for putting her purse away and giving this exercise a try.

Then she caught sight of some glimpse in Marcel's eyes as he waited for her move. She smiled deviously and raised her hands to slowly undo the single button on her thin, white lace cardigan. Then she took it off and turned away from him, noticing his sharp breath as she revealed the deep v-cut open back on the short, thin romper she wore. Round spaghetti-straps rested solely on her shoulders and as she turned back around after having put her cardigan away, he drew in another breath at the subtle signs that she wasn't wearing a bra under the halter neck.

She sped up to him to stand merely an inch away from his face. Her eyes studying his very closely, catching every flame that flashed over his dark irises as her hands hovered over his abdomen. But instead of touching him, she sneaked her hands behind him in a blur, getting the phone and pulling it back to her. His hand suddenly caught her wrist before she could store the phone away.

"Impressive." he said with a smooth voice, but his eyes showed that he had been far more affected by her distraction act than he wanted to give away. "But I highly doubt that's a trick you can pull on a werewolf that's determined to rip your throat out with their teeth."

She tugged at her hand and he finally let it go from his grip. "What should I do in that case then?" she asked with a sigh.

He licked his lip shortly and then stepped far away from her, putting as much distance between them as he could manage in the cage. "Jump me and I'll show you." he said, barely holding back his smirk.

She rolled her eyes and decided to stow her phone away next to her cardigan. Turning back around she met his gaze and realized she had unintentionally given him quite the view of her bare back once more. She gulped and tried to think of something short of a cold shower to get him to focus. Deciding to try and simply follow his instructions, she took a step back to gain a take-off before whooshing over to him.

As she'd done what he'd asked and jumped up to attack him, he suddenly caught her waist with his hands while she was still in the air. He then spun around with her until he had her back pinned against the fence. She let out a small grunt at the impact and disorienting spin before looking up to see his wide grin.

"I forget how old you are." she huffed.

His grin widened at that and she saw his thought written all over his eyes; coming from the girl who's friends with a thousand-year-old hybrid.

Letting go of her waist, his hands brushed over her arms for a moment before he backed away from her. Leaving trails of warmth from his body heat across her skin.

"What you should have done is try and catch me off-guard." he began instructing, suddenly all professional. "If you're coming straight at me, I'll be able to see where you're headed and prepare myself to dodge the hit."

"Surprise… Right." she nodded as she took a step away from the fence and towards him, ready to try again.

"If your opponent is too fast for you, well… You seem to be good at reading people, try to foresee their moves instead of actually seeing them."

"Because reading people makes you psychic…" she snickered.

A warm smile spread across his lips as he studied her with his head tilted to the side. "I saw what you can do when you let your instincts take over, Caroline." he reminded her. "Try not to strategize too much. Let it come naturally."

After taking a deep breath, she launched herself at him once more. Except right before she did what he thought she'd do; jump him straight away, she instead ran around him and threw her arms tightly around his neck from behind. Her legs wrapped around his torso and clasped across his pelvis as she held herself to him. "Like that?" she smiled, her lips much too close to his ear than she had intended.

His hands reached down to brush over her legs for a moment, making her stiffen under his touch. "Definitely like that." he purred before suddenly spreading her legs, so he could slip out of her grip. Using her surprise to grab onto her arms and ducking to throw her past his head and down onto the ground before him.

Letting out a loud grunt from the hit, she stayed down on the ground for a long moment. "Did you just steal my move?" she breathed out, remembering having done something similar the night before when faced with his vampires.

He stepped around her to extend a hand. "That's part of lesson number two; be prepared for anything. Including your own moves possibly being used against you."

She took his hand and was helped up on her feet. "So, predicting moves, reading people, catching them off-guard… Always be prepared. Got it." she sighed and put her hands on her hips. "I should learn some new moves then, huh?" she huffed, straightening out her romper with the realization that she wasn't wearing the best outfit for this kind of training session. At least she was wearing flats…

"Don't worry, you can borrow some from me." he smirked slyly at her, reminding her of just how charismatic he could be.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"I knew you'd be back, Care." Tyler said, a relieved grin on his face. "I really am sorry about everything, but I'm so glad you got around to forgiving me."

She stared at him sideways as her head began spinning again. "Care? The chains?" he said, looking at her expectantly.

"You bit me." she said silently.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. But you barely even experienced any side-effects at all. Right?" he said and sighed. "You know you could've at least left my phone here or something..."

Something in her eyes must have tipped him off, because suddenly his face paled in understanding. "You didn't call him." he said. "You're still infected."

"How could you do that, Tyler?" she asked, staring at him with dark eyes.

"I thought you'd call him, I didn't think you'd let yourself get sick like this."

She winced at that, an ugly feeling growing in her stomach as she studied her friend slowly. "You wanted me to call him. That's why you came."

"What?"

"You wanted to bite me. You had to, didn't you? Because you needed to draw him out. You wanted to use me to get him here... Either he'd let me die or he'd help you, right? You never needed Ric's blood. All you needed, was Klaus."

"Caroline, this is the venom talking…"

"Yeah, you needed him for something. What, Tyler?" she asked, pacing back and forth as she thought it over. "You're a werewolf now, you wanted help with the transition..." she stopped as realization dawned on her. "You wanted him to make you a hybrid again."

He stared at her with a cold look, his lips a thin line and his body still. "Care..." he said carefully just as she continued.

"But you know you need Elena to turn, so how can Klaus help?"

"Listen, Caroline..."

"Or, maybe he knows something. Another way around the doppelganger blood thing... Is that why you didn't just go after Damon instead? Or Stefan for that matter?"

Suddenly, a light turned on as she realized something else. "He's in on this too, isn't he?"

"Who?"

"Stefan!" she exclaimed. "You're working together to go after Julian. Oh, I should have seen this coming... You played it so well... Both of you really!"

"Caroline, please. Listen to me." Tyler pleaded, his palms raised as he neared her slowly. "You're sick. You need help. Let me out of here and I will call Klaus myself-"

"In exchange for what, huh!?" she said, chuckling darkly. "Oh, I know… You only want to use me as a piece in this little game of yours. You and Stefan; the exes from hell."

"Caroline, please don't do this."

"Me!? You did this Tyler!" she roared out, glaring over at his face with a venomous smile. "I don't know what I ever saw in you. I should have known the kind of person you really are. Who you always have been; a spoiled little brat who refuses to take responsibility for his actions and blames everyone but himself for all the bad in his life..."

Those words seemed to hit him hard, his face flashed with something painful and long hidden before it hardened again. But she refused to stay and hear his sorry excuses, his half-sincere apologies, and equally half-assed explanations.

"Don't go anywhere." she scoffed before turning away and leaving him again. Not stopping until she reached the infirmary in the other end of the campus.

She broke in, moving swiftly before anyone could see her. Searching the room and smiling as she found the little cooler with blood bags. Digging into them right away and drinking them dry. Sighing as the dropped the last empty bag on the floor, she still felt an aching hunger for more. Luckily, she knew exactly where to sate it.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

After having learned a few new punches from Marcel, Caroline was now trying them out as he also showed how to dodge them. After a while she remembered that their deal had included her having access to any information she wanted. So, between trying the punches and dodging his; she asked questions.

She asked how the murders were so properly covered up and he told her he'd ensured it personally. They had wanted to avoid the locals worrying about their peace with the vampires becoming compromised. This while also making sure tourists wouldn't get scared off; since apparently that would mean no more food for the vamps.

It was a deal that made a lot of sense to her ears; the vampires only fed off of tourists and made sure to not leave bodies behind to scare anyone off. That meant less causalities and clearly some cooperation with the town's people. Which explained how the humans seemed so aware and yet fine with the supernatural beings lurking around in the shadows.

As she was just about to ask him more about Lucien in particular, he cut her off before she'd even opened her mouth.

"Try a spin-kick." he said with a smirk.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What am I, karate kid?"

"Just try it." he chuckled.

"Fine." she said and began trying to estimate just how high she'd need to kick.

"Don't forget to keep your hands up." he reminded her.

"Right." she muttered and raised her fists to her face. Then she spun around her axis, letting her right leg fly up to hit his face. He caught it in the air right before it reached his shoulder, as she'd miscalculated the height.

"Too low." he said, his thumb massaging a circle on her ankle before letting go. She couldn't deny that it had almost elicited a silent moan from her, his hands were skilled after all. "Try again." he told her and made a 'come on' gesture with his hands.

This time she decided to channel her inner athlete. Taking a breath, she then spun around in a blur and her leg flew higher than before. Her foot was about to hit his face this time but he suddenly ducked. The force of the kick made it difficult for her to stop from spinning further around, and her back then turned against him.

He then grabbed her shoulder, one arm wrapping around her waist as he trapped her between the cage fence and his own body.

She let out a short gasp. "That's cheating."

"Well, to be honest. I wasn't expecting you to go so high." he chuckled, and she saw him lick his lips in the corner of her eye. "Gymnastics?" he asked, his gaze traveling down over her bare back.

"Cheerleading." she corrected him with pride and looked straight ahead.

He let out another chuckle. "Now that's a favorable image." he murmured into her hair.

Usually, after he'd gotten her pinned against the fence, he'd let her go and they'd attempt a new move. But this time he didn't let go of her and for a moment they stood like that, their breaths the only sound in the church. She felt a tension slowly wrapping around them and turned her head to the side to study him through the corner of her eye.

She gulped when she realized she was trapped and if he were to actually make a move, she'd be helpless. Pressing her lips together in a straight line she tried to brace herself for whatever could come next, desperately trying to figure out how she could possibly get away from him when they'd already proved that he was much stronger and faster than her.

A panic started rising in her chest, making her heart race, and she realized it was probably giving him the wrong idea. The hand that was still holding her shoulder loosened but his touch remained. His index-finger slowly brushed its way down her back and up her spine, all the way up under her hair and to her neck. She tensed up for a moment which made him immediately stop with his movements. But then a thought crossed her mind and she fell into that old habit of hers; playing the pretty blonde distraction.

She leaned back a little to his chest, which gave her a little more room between herself and the fence. It wasn't enough to slide away from him though, so she leaned back a little more, a hint he read into the way she'd expected.

He lowered his head, moving it closer to the side of her neck so that his lips were almost grazing her skin. As his breath tickled the skin over her collarbone, the thought crossed her mind that he could either kiss her or bite her. And at this point she wasn't sure which one she was more afraid of. But then she leaned back even further and finally she had enough room in front of her to spin her way out of his arm. She managed to surprise him and took the opportunity to switch their position and have him pinned against the fence the way she'd been just now.

Chuckling, he glanced over his shoulder to give her an impressed smile. "Well, aren't you a sneaky one?" he said charmingly.

She bit her lip nervously, hoping he wouldn't decide to prove just how easy it would be for him to change their position again and get the upper hand once more.

Thankfully, the church doors opened, and someone stepped in, disturbing the tension that she fought to keep from thickening.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting view." said a murky accented voice, making Caroline immediately let go of Marcel.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked as she spun around to face Enzo.

He walked towards the cage with a hand brushing some training equipment, mimicking her own movements from earlier. "I thought we'd go for lunch," he began and smirked. "So, I used the fancy little tracing mechanism on your mobile. Led me here to..." he circled his hand in the air to gesture to their environment. "Whatever this is."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "So, what, you're spying on me now?" she huffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Come now, gorgeous… Don't be like that. I'm merely looking out for you." he smirked at her.

"Gorgeous?" Marcel echoed behind her, making her spin around with a grimace.

"Yeah, uhm… You know, the British and their pet names!" she shrugged and waved her hand to discard the suspicion in his voice.

He raised an eyebrow to match the crossed arms over his chest. "Right." he said. "Speaking from experience, then?"

"Enzo is just a friend." she assured him and sighed. "Not that it matters, he's not even my type."

Marcel's interest was suddenly peeked, another eyebrow raised, and an amused smile tugged at his lips. "Oh, really? And what exactly is your type, Caroline?"

"Well…" Enzo chimed in. "I'd say you fit the profile, mate."

Caroline snapped her neck back to glare at him.

"What?" he asked with fake innocence in his voice. "It's the truth! He reminds me an awful lot of Tyler, to be honest…" he said and smirked at her. "Although, I'm guessing he's missing a few crucial traits."

She fought the urge to slap that arrogant smirk off his face and exhaled deeply. "And what would those be, Enzo?" she said, the strain in her voice giving up just how much she despised this conversation topic. "Since you seem to be such an expert on the subject and all." she mocked and showed him a venomous grin.

"We've already been through this, ages ago, sweetheart; Well-traveled, dodgy morals and of course; the infamous accent." he smirked.

She gaped at him in chock for a long moment and he played on fake innocence with a dramatic shrug.

"What? I didn't even mention the werewolf part!" he exclaimed teasingly with a large grin.

"Well, this has been fun and all…" Marcel sighed. "But I better get back to running the city." She studied him as he walked past her and out of the cage.

"Marcel…" she said carefully, unsure of what she wanted to say but aware of the sudden urge to explain herself to him. She dreaded Klaus' reaction if he found out that she hadn't come alone to New Orleans. If he didn't already know …

"Don't bother locking up after yourselves." Marcel said while he picked up his things from the bench near the punching bag he'd used earlier, pulling a duffle bag over his shoulder. Then he looked at Caroline and bit his lower lip shortly. "Until next time, Caroline." he said with a short smirk before heading out the door. Passing Enzo with a reciprocated, acknowledging nod before exiting the church in human speed.

She swallowed hard as the door closed behind him, waiting until she guessed he was out of hearing range before breaking the silence. "You do realize he was possibly our only chance at getting to Lucien. Right?" she hissed at Enzo.

He scoffed at her. "Please… I have an impeccable hearing, Caroline. Don't think I missed what was going on between you two right before I walked in here."

"Nothing was going on!" she sighed in desperation. "He showed me some moves, that's all."

"Oh, I'm sure he did." he said with a raised eyebrow.

She gasped. "Seriously!?"

"Don't try to deny it, sweetheart. You'd just be wasting precious time."

"If you think I'm going to lunch with you while you're being all rude, smug and obnoxious like you are now; then you're insane." she huffed and began collecting her own things.

"Perhaps. But it would also make me practical. We have a plan to enforce, remember?" he said with a grin. "Or did Marcel's charms and physique conveniently wipe that from your memory?"

She stared daggers into his skull at that. "You're such a jerk." she bit out between her teeth. "Remind me of why I let you tag along on this mission in the first place?"

"Because I'm a delightful traveling companion." he teased.

"Right." she snickered and rolled her eyes while putting her cardigan back on.

"I've managed to locate the property which Damon wanted us to scope out." he said while studying her movements.

"So, I'm guessing our lunch date is actually a spying mission then?" she grinned at him sarcastically.

He smirked at her. "Date, gorgeous?" he chuckled.

She let out an irritated grunt and passed him on her way towards the exit. "Let's just go!" she muttered before opening the doors and stepping out to the sunny and crowded square outside of the church. She found the nice weather to lighten her mood slightly, but it didn't quite erase the irritation Enzo had caused.

Either way, she was determined to enjoy the nice day out and held her head high as she followed Enzo's lead.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Caroline had emptied the nearest clinic off all their blood supply in a blur. Running through the city in an attempt to tire herself out as she felt like she was going to explode. Nothing seemed to calm her, not even the blood. And so she raced to a liquor store, swiped the first bottle she found and quickly left for campus again. Finding her way down to the basement once more and to the temporary prison of Tyler Lockwood that was the university's broiler room.

They were still hours away from the sun setting and the full moon rising, and yet she could already hear the subtle cracks and changes in the werewolf's bones from the other side of the room. It took a while before he noticed her, his body stiffened, and his head jerked her way. Revealing hints of the amber behind his eyes.

"Caroline?" his voice was raspy and out of breath as he watched her from his corner of the room. "You're back." he whispered as he tugged at the chains with his wrists and ankles. "These won't hold me, Care. You know that."

"I know." she shrugged, sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor with her knees propped up against her chest. She opened the bottle in her hands and took a long gulp, wincing at the taste lightly. Wishing she had checked the label beforehand, since she now discovered that it was vodka. Not whiskey – which she had aimed for.

"Why haven't you called him yet?" the question brought a cold chuckle from her lips.

She leaned her head back against the concrete wall with a sigh. "I probably should." she admitted quietly, nursing the liquor between her hands. It may not taste very good, but it still helped with dulling the strange ache in her veins.

"What happened to you?" he asked as his eyes took her in, they were pained and filled with remorse. Undoubtedly noticing the wound visible on her shoulder as dark veins crawled down her arm.

"You happened." she replied dryly, the answer interestingly enough working in several ways. "Do you realize how I felt when you left?"

"What?"

"You heard me." she sneered at him then. "You chose your hatred, your revenge, over me. Just like Stefan chose saving his brother over being by my side... Just like everyone I've ever known has chosen Elena instead of me."

The loud sound of glass breaking informed her that she had gripped the bottle too tightly. Liquid spreading over the floor as splinters of glass dug into her palm. She turned her hand over and studied the tiny cuts as they slowly healed around the bits of glass. With her other hand, she pressed the pieces further into her skin and drew more blood. The feeling stung, but somehow it helped clear her mind enough for her to remember what she had been talking about.

"You ruined me, Tyler." she explained, looking up at him with a hard smile. "I would have given anything, done anything, to be with you forever. But I wasn't enough for you. And that… broke my soul."

"Is that why you refuse to call Klaus? You want to punish me?" he asked dryly, drawing out another cold chuckle from her lips.

"No, Tyler. This has actually nothing to do with you, believe it or not." she retorted. "It stopped being about you ages ago."

"Then why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Because…" she began but realized he wouldn't be able to understand. Instead she shook her head again and let out a sigh. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"Caroline, you're dying."

"I know."

"Let me help you, give me your phone and I'll call him myself and-"

"No." she spat out. "You don't get to help me. You don't get to use me for whatever revenge plan you have in mind this time around."

"That's not what-" he began but she silenced him with her raised hand as her phone started ringing in her pocket. When she looked it over, the call had been disconnected.

She waited until a small notification told her of a new voicemail, pressing the button quickly then as she played it. "Hello, Caroline. I'm sorry to call you, but we need your help. Please, meet with me at the Botanical Gardens within an hour. If not, I fear we are all in danger."

Valerie's voice was no pleasant surprise, but Caroline couldn't find it in her to ignore the panic in her tone. "I have to go." she said as she turned to the door but was stopped as Tyler called out to her.

"Wait, Care! You're a danger to everyone around you! You can't wait much longer for the cure, if you don't call him soon you'll-"

"Die." she finished, turning back at him with a shrug.

"Caroline, you can't do this. You can't-"

"Goodbye, Tyler." she said, leaving him with wide eyes and an awful frown. Flashing away before he could protest any further.

"It's time."

Valerie rested a hand on Stefan's shoulder to gain his attention, his eyes finally meeting hers with a short nod.

"Let's get this over with..." he muttered and moved away from her hand, leaning over the table and staring at the ingredients in front of him. "How do we start?"

Sighing internally, she knew Stefan would never forgive himself for sacrificing a human life in order to complete the spell. But now, when everything was in it's place and the risk become more and more urgent: he seemed unable to argue the decision any further.

She glanced over to the Original on the other side of the room, leaning by the door and toying with something in his hand that looked like a pebble. His eyes looked distracted and completely disinterested and it made Valerie uncomfortable… It was clear to her that their safety was of no concern to the vampire, merely a means to and end. But for them, it all hung in the balance of this night. This spell. They only had one shot. If the Original couldn't help them go through with everything tonight, Julian would be just around the corner waiting for them.

"Give me your hand." she instructed Stefan and waited patiently for him to follow. Holding his palm up, she grabbed a knife and carved the symbol of conection into his skin. "Sav Omna Taurus Emanu." she chanted as blood dripped from the wound. Then she pushed his palm against his chest, just above his heart and continued the chant. "Enamuste. Amnis Emundos. Amnis Tarus. Amnis folates."

Stefan let out a groan as the spell began to take effect, his face strained and his eyes lighting up in pain. "Enamuste. Enamuste omnus. Amnis revisa. Amnis tranquela. Amnis fei!"

And just as the chant ended, Valerie saw him. The last doppelganger of Stefan's line. He was riding on a horse, the sun setting behind him. She saw flashes of his surroundings. Buildings. Lakes. And finally, road signs. But just as the vision ended, something else showed up.

It was only for a second, and it passed too quickly for her to understand what she was seeing. But one face was prominent: Caroline.

She dropped Stefan's hand and stepped back for a moment as she pieced it all together. "It worked." she said.

"Where?" Elijah spoke up, finally looking towards them now.

"A ranch outside of Fayetteville, Arkansas."

"Very well, I'll arrange for a flight and we'll return before the moon is at its apex."

"We?" Valerie echoed, watching as the men shared a glance shortly. Studying Stefan with a frown. "You're leaving too?"

"No, I'm certain he will need to remain here for the finishing touches of your spell." Elijah answered in his place. "I'm traveling with my brother."

Valerie met Stefan's frown with wide eyes, realizing he must've known about this all along. "Brother?"

"I thought he'd already left." he said with a strange look in his eyes before turning away from her.

"Yes, well. He didn't go very far." the Original corrected. "There's a full moon tonight after all."

"I'm not sure I follow."

Finally, Stefan looked to Valerie again with a sigh. "Klaus. The Original Hybrid."

Something fell into place in Valerie's mind at the mention of that name... "Nik-laus." she spelled out for herself, realizing this wasn't the first time she'd heard the name. And it only brought her to further worry about the images in her head… Caroline.

"Before I leave here, I would appreciate you standing by your part of the bargain as well." Elijah told her then, bringing her out of her mind at that.

"Right, yes. Of course. As soon as we are covered from Julian's magic we can help locate the Strix witches safely."

"I'm afraid that won't be enough, dear Ms. Tulle." he said then, his voice cool and calm but his eyes threatening with danger. "Give me something as a show of good faith, and I will make sure to retrieve the heart of the last doppelganger for you in return."

"That wasn't the deal…" she began to protest as he snickered in defense.

"I have already done far more for your cause than you have mine."

She gulped slightly, pressing her lips together firmly before nodding in response. Walking over to the table, she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a few addresses. "I know of six Strix witches in hiding, these are the addresses for three of them." she explained, handing the paper to him then. "You will have the rest when the spell is done."

He accepted the short list with a tiny smirk. "Much obliged." he chimed before flashing out of the motel with a gust of wind.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Forever is for the young

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline and Enzo had been walking in the woods for what felt like an hour in the quickly-turned-unbearably-humid weather before they finally reached a large cemetery. "Seriously!?" Caroline hissed. "This is the property Damon wanted us to check out!?"

"According to the witch in Austin; this was the last place Leila Gardiner visited before her death."

"Well, duh! Because she was clearly buried here!"

"C'mon, gorgeous. Don't tell me you're frightened of some lifeless bodies." he teased with a wink before taking a step towards the cemetery.

Caroline grabbed his arm before he could enter. "Wait!" she hissed. "Did you hear something?"

"No, Caroline. I didn't." he scoffed and shook his head before walking ahead.

"Enzo!" she whined and looked around with a racing heartbeat, her skin crawling from the thought of wandering around in a creepy cemetery. But it didn't beat the awful thought of being left alone outside of a creepy cemetery…

So, she hurried after him and stayed close behind, just in case. It did make her want to roll her eyes at herself but damn it; he was like a hundred years older than her anyways so if there was ever a good reason for a girl to look to a guy for safety – it would be right here, right now.

As soon as they stepped closer to the large metal gates, Caroline felt it. The atmosphere felt thicker all of a sudden, as if some force was pulling them back and kept them from entering... "A boundary spell?" she guessed, making Enzo nod.

"Only one way to find out..." he said before stepping closer to the open gates, standing one foot away and raising a hand to test their joined theory.

But before he could neither confirm or deny their hypothesis... A voice made him flinch back. "Good day."

Caroline stared ahead at a tall man in, what seemed to be, a very expensive suit. His hair was dark and styled, his eyes brown and narrowed as he calmly assessed them from the other side of the gates.

"May I help you with something?" the man asked, casually putting a hand inside his pants pocket.

Caroline swallowed hard. "We were just looking around." she said, making him tilt his head slightly as he eyed her.

Suddenly, a smile began to grow on his face. "I believe we haven't had the fortune of meeting yet, Ms. Forbes." he said, making Caroline's heart stop out of fear while Enzo glanced over at her in bewilderment.

"However..." the man continued as he began walking towards them. "I reckon you have a rather complicated relationship with a few of my siblings..."

Caroline stared at him as he stopped just a step away from the invisible boundary between them. She had no idea what or who he was talking about since she was fairly sure she hadn't seen this person in her entire life... But then, the wheels began to turn in her head as she started to recognize some of his characteristics...

He stood straight, spoke properly in a British accent and seemed unmoved whatsoever by the strong magic surrounding the cemetery...

And siblings!? Could he be -?

"You're Elijah." she concluded with a slow voice, as if not believing it quite herself.

He smiled, a very small and polite one as he nodded to her. "It is a pleasure." he chimed and raised his hand to shake hers before he stepped over the boundary and within her reach.

She looked at his hand unsurely for a long moment, trying to remember what Elena had told her about Elijah all those years ago... She remembered how her friend had trusted him to be noble, a gentleman and a man of his word. But was she safe in his presence?

Before she could reach a conclusion, Enzo had launched himself towards him and was immediately flung away like a softball, landing on the ground far behind her. She stared at her friend before turning around to Elijah once more.

"I do not take too kindly to threats nor attacks, Ms. Forbes. Which I'm sure you can understand, knowing my family." he told her while fixing the sleeves on his suit nonchalantly... Coldly... Making her shiver slightly.

"I guess Klaus told you I was here." she remarked, trying to keep a tough exterior. "Did he send you to smooth things over with me?"

"As the matter of fact, Niklaus has no knowledge of this interaction. I took it upon myself to seek out answers to questions he brought home after having encountered you the past evening."

"What questions?" she mused, glancing back at where Enzo was standing up and slowly making his way back over to them. She looked at the Original with a sigh. "Is this about Marcel?"

"No, it is not." Elijah interjected before looking over at Enzo. "Will your friend be attempting something like that again?"

Enzo shook his head mutely while taking a place beside Caroline.

"Very well." Elijah said with a nod. "How about you let me in on whatever reason it is which has brought you here?" He raised a hand in the air to gesture the cemetery.

"Like I said." Caroline shrugged. "We were just looking around."

"In the most infamous Witch Cemetery of all of Louisiana?" he asked with a subtly raised eyebrow. "I'm afraid it sounds far less casual than you make it out to be, Ms. Forbes."

"Well, I don't really feel like having every single detail of my errands for the day reported back to your brother." she quipped, biting her tongue as she saw his semi-friendly smile fading away.

"You are a fascinating woman." he responded with narrowed eyes. "Standing so boldly in my proximity when you know all too well of who I am and what strengths I possess... Surely you are not naive enough to believe your history with Niklaus allows you the benefit of speaking so leisurely to me?"

She swallowed hard, wondering how on earth this guy could be Klaus' brother when he was the exact damn opposite... Sure, Klaus had his scary moments, but at least he could take a joke. And some teasing. Caroline refused to submit though and shrugged. "I'm just hoping it will be enough to keep you from killing both me and my friend."

Elijah looked cold for a moment before his face loosened up and a hint of a smile spread across his lips. He nodded at her. "Perhaps it is." he mused and glanced over at Enzo. "Or perhaps that kind of mercy only extends so far..." he threatened then, so casually that Caroline felt her heart stop again in fear of not being able to predict what he might do to Enzo...

Since Klaus would only care about what happened to her.

"We're not here to stir up any trouble." she stuttered quickly. "And if coming to this place meant stepping over some kind of line... Then I'm sorry." she said and grabbed Enzo's arm. "I guess we'll be leaving."

Elijah nodded at that. "That would probably be best."

"Come on." she said to Enzo, tugging him away from the Original and back into the woods from which they had come.

"Please don't tell me your friend is as terrifying as that guy?" Enzo hissed once they'd gotten far enough to hopefully be out of earshot for Elijah.

"I think that's a family trait actually." Caroline muttered before walking faster. "Let's go get drunk somewhere. We need a break from all of this..."

"Agreed." Enzo said with a nod before glancing over his shoulder to where they'd left Elijah and began walking faster too.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

The wind whipped at her face as she ran through the city. Strange thoughts and whispers filling her head and making her feel on edge.

They're using you...

You're such a fool, they've played you from the beginning...

He's lying to you...

They all are...

Don't trust them, don't trust anyone...

When she reached the botanical gardens, she found a private spot by some trees. Away from prying eyes and far from the children playing and locals having picnics… She paced back and forth, her hands fidgeting and shaking, her skin burning from the sun.

A thought hit her then, causing her to stop in her tracks immediately. The ring, it's cursed.

You're going to die...

Take it off, save yourself...

Sliding the ring off, she began to finally feel a bit of relief. But then the sun crept over her skin and it burned worse than the venom in her veins. She felt like she was boiling from the inside out.

Quickly she put the ring back on again and let out a long breath. "Silence. Finally." she thought as her mind was no longer in a whirlwind. She went through her call log to see if she could call Valerie back and see why she was late...

But there was no longer any history of the missed call. Even the voice mail was gone. It was like it had never even happened.

Magic. They're using it to lure you out. To kill you...

She felt rage built in her chest, and hunger scratching in her throat. All sounds around her amplified, every footstep and laughter and ringtone were bringing her closer to snapping.

Blood. You need blood. Now.

And just like that, she pulled a jogger aside and ripped into his neck fangs first.

If he screamed, she didn't notice. There were no sounds, smells, nothing else but the blood. And her urge to drink it - all of it. Now.

More...

Kill him...

Drink it all...

The whispers returned as the man's body became slack in her arms. Suddenly the blood changed in taste, and just like that Caroline was repulsed by it instead.

She dropped the man in a loud thud and ran before anyone could see her. Ending up leaning over some railings near the White Rock Lake, her head spun as she threw up all of the man's blood. She couldn't stop until there was nothing left inside.

And then she stared down at the mess over her clothes and shoes... and noticed her reflection in the water beneath her. It was the eyes that chilled her, dark and fiery red against her fair skin...

She looked like a monster.

With that, she ran. Unsure of which direction, blind to her surroundings... All she felt was the wind as she ran and ran... Vast deserts turned into deep roadside-woods and the burning sun changed into a dark and starry sky.

Finally, some peace and quiet. Caroline let out a deep sigh as she lay down on the asphalt road and looked up at the darkness above. The hallow inside of her felt as dark as her surroundings, as if she was joined with the rest of the emptiness. As if she was where she belonged, nowhere. And alone.

The bruise from Tyler's bite hadn't healed yet, but the wound didn't hurt anymore. Instead, felt sore, and tired and... Empty. She had been for some time now, she just hadn't been able to name it until now. But as the werewolf venom made her muscles buzz and her throat dry up... She could finally lean into the hollowness and drown in it. The pain. The past. Her mistakes. Her losses. All of it.

A part of her hoped she would see her mother, if only for a short moment. Just long enough for her to hug her one last time. Maybe she'd even see her father, and the twins... Or at least how they would've turned out. She wondered if there would be any traces of her on their young faces, if they looked like she had imagined when pregnant with them. And then, she began to think about the people she would leave behind. And how much better they would all be without her.

A grim smile spread across her face as she felt the ground vibrate underneath her.

It's time.

A car slowly neared her, the couple in it was arguing over something and yelling at each other… It was perfect, they seemed far too invested in their dispute to notice a woman lying in the middle of the road. Once they did, it was too late.

The car's breaks squealed loudly as the driver tried to avoid the body in front of them. Her body wasn't hit, instead the car spun around its axis and rolled off into the ditch. Caroline grinned as she straightened out her arms and legs, getting off the ground and heading towards the wreck.

The crushed engine began smoking as the man noticed the head of blonde hair next to his face. "Help. My wife… She's hurt." he groaned in pain, his face covered in small shards of glass. "Where is she?"

"Why?" Caroline croaked out.

"What?"

"Why do you care?" she asked, her curiosity sounding as genuine as it felt.

"She's my wife." he breathed out, confused of her question.

A cold laugh escaped her lips at that. "Obligation." she stated as an answer to herself. She then grabbed the door separating them and flung it to the other side of the road. "Pity." she listed on and dragged the man out to stand in front of her.

He wobbled on his seemingly broken legs. "But not love." Caroline pointed out as she felt her senses fill with the sound of his heartbeat. She almost didn't catch what he said next.

"Please. She's pregnant."

Caroline's body turned to stone at his words. She stared down at him, her face suddenly slack. "What?"

"Sh-she's pregnant." he repeated.

Then Caroline heard something else. A truck. It was headed towards them. At first, she tried to figure out how to hide the car wreck she had caused from their upcoming audience. But then, she realized that the blood she had felt a deep craving for didn't belong to the man. But someone else.

Turning away and dropping the husband on the side of the road, she quickly spotted the woman as she limped her way up from the other end of the ditch. She seemed to be in chock, trying to walk over to the car without realizing that half of her body was battered and bruised.

Caroline couldn't understand how the woman was standing with the very clear injuries, as if she knew that something was more important. Maybe love. Or self-preservation. Whatever it was, it struck her with awe to see the little human possess such strength and will…

But the chock and adrenaline seemed to confuse the woman when she noticed the truck nearing them. And so, instead of steering out of its way – she tried to run in front of it. Waving her arms over her head and calling for it to stop and help them.

"Wait!" Caroline yelled out and rushed after her. She managed to push the woman out of the way just in time. But then Caroline turned back to the truck and freight took control of her legs, instead of ducking away she stood still. Frozen to the spot. And the strong headlights blinded her just before the crash.

Then, everything turned pitch black.

Half an hour to midnight – and the moon's apex – and they were still waiting for Elijah to return with the last ingredient. Valerie went over the spell for the umpteenth time as Stefan paced back and forth in the motel room.

"We may need some extra dill, just in case." Valerie said, mostly thinking out loud as she tinkered with the ingredients. "Or perhaps we should double the sage to compensate instead..."

"Why aren't they here yet!?" Stefan muttered out in frustration, stopping to lean against the table with a defeated face.

"I'm sure they're on their way." she said, trying to calm him as she continued to study the potion in front of her. "So, if we were to add sage then it will be easier to drink but maybe it compromises the distributions slightly..."

"I have a bad feeling, Val."

Those words made her stop and look over at him. He wore a sad frown which she recognized from the day they left Mystic Falls - after he had been to see Caroline at the hospital just short of a year ago… "Stefan, I wanted to tell you..." she said, thinking back to the flash she'd seen in her vision. "About Caroline-"

His wide eyes studied her with patience, making him look so vulnerable and sad. "-I think she... She will come around. Eventually." she finally said, pushing down the guilt in her gut as she looked away from him.

"Thanks." he said softly to her, a hand resting on hers as he gave a tight-lipped smile. "I really hope that's true."

Something else filled her throat then, maybe jealousy or sadness. But she just felt so inadequate suddenly. As if she would never compare to the bright and beautiful Caroline Forbes. It made her want the earth to swallow her whole right then and there.

As if she had conjured it, a sound came from outside of the motel. A rustling of leaves and a strange presence. "I don't think that's the Mikaelson's..." Stefan said, watching the door as if waiting for it to be broken down at any minute.

"It's not safe." she said, reading his intentions before he even moved. But her words fell short as he quickly opened the door and ran outside to check. "Stefan!" she called after him, feeling torn for a moment before running to catch up with him outside by some woods.

"I guess it was just the wind." Stefan said, making her sigh in relief. "Let's head back, I should call Elijah and see what's taking them so-"

But as they both turned to leave, something appeared in front of them. A dark wolf, glaring at them with golden eyes and bared teeth.

"Is that...?" Valerie breathed, not having seen one before.

"Werewolf, yeah." Stefan said as he raised his palms at the growling canine. "Let's just back away..."

The wolf moved towards them, making them both freeze up. Valerie quickly raised her hands in an attempt to try and keep it at bay. "Emanus Vide." she said firmly, making it kneel in front of them.

It shrieked in response, shaking its head and wrinkling against the ground.

"Stefan, get back to the motel." she said, earning a horrified look from him.

"I'm not leaving you here!"

"Stefan, I won't be able to hold him for long. Go, now!" she commanded, making him wince visibly before shaking his head. With that, he disappeared into the wind and she let out a sigh as she dropped the spell.

Closing her eyes, she prepared herself for the attack as the animal recovered and started at her. But it never reached her, instead it let out a pained howl as it was flung away by something else.

When she looked to her savior and saw the amber in his eyes surrounded by dark veins, she knew she was finally meeting the renowned Klaus Mikaelson.

"I see you have trouble following orders, sweetheart." he said with a crooked grin. "Were you not instructed to stay in the motel until our arrival?"

The wolf drew their attention back to it as he growled and barked at them violently. Valerie raised her hands again as she prepared to try and keep him back - but Klaus grabbed onto her arm to stop her.

"Wait." he said, his eyes locked on the animal. "I know you."

The canine reacted with a loud howl as he threw his head back to aim at the night sky.

"Can you turn him back?"

"What?" Valerie stuttered, staring at the Hybrid in terror. "I-I don't know I..."

"Try!" he growled at her, the traces of the wolf in him on display.

She gulped and nodded quickly. Closing her eyes as she thought of the first transition spell that came to mind. "Vis optorqueo, vis convertat. Vide parei!"

The wolf reacted immediately, throwing himself on the ground in a loud shriek. It's fur seeming to vibrate as his legs broke and bended uncontrollably.

"It's horrendous." Valerie whispered as they watched the transitioning take place.

Klaus glanced at her with a frown, but remained quiet as the wolf wringed in agony at their feet. Finally, the body became more human than canine as a man started to look back at them. His eyes glowing and his face contorted in misery.

"Wait... Tyler?" Valerie gasped, running towards him then. "Tyler, what are you doing here?"

He heaved a deep breath before staring up at Klaus. "Caroline." he grunted out, his transition continuing as the wolf slowly became a man. "I bit her. She's dying."

Valerie looked back at Klaus in chock, but he was no longer there. Instead, Stefan looked at her with Elijah by his side. A scowl on the young vampire's face as he watched Tyler on the ground, covered in sweat and bruises.

"What did you do!?"

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

The vampires had spent a few hours at the nearest bar, drinking their troubles away as their mission seemed to turn more and more hopeless daily. When they were first informed of the witch whom they were looking for was dead, they hadn't viewed it as much of a problem. Especially considering how witches seemed to dance with death rather often and somehow always won. But without permission to visit the graveyard, their hopes of communicating with Leila Gardiner vanished.

It also didn't help that the Mikaelson's seemed adamant in keeping them from getting anywhere with their plan – so long as they were not a part of it, it seemed.

"So, will Elijah tell his brother about today?" Enzo asked, earning a deep sigh from Caroline as she tilted her glass slightly in her hands.

"Definitely." she replied, unsure of whether it was a good thing or not. "I don't know if it helps us though."

"What, him knowing about your comings and goings?" he teased her as she rolled her eyes in response. "What exactly is your relationship with this Klaus?"

She scoffed lightly before turning her eyes at him. "What is your relationship with Bonnie?" she challenged, sighing as he turned away from her with a brooding scowl. "Come on, Enzo! I've been dying to ask ever since I first heard that your extended little trip through Europe turned into something – in Bonnie's words – 'more'."

"She said that?" he quipped, a smirk forming his face.

"Yeah, and nothing else. So come on, tell me. Why are you doing this? Helping us save Bonnie? I mean, did you guys... You know?"

"How about this; I tell you everything there is to know about Bonnie and me. In exchange for the complete story behind you and the hybrid?"

"So, there is something between you two?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Do we have an agreement, gorgeous?"

"Alright." she shrugged. "But you start."

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that. We'll do this fair and square, each answer one question truthfully at the time. Yes?"

"Sure. But I'll go first." she insisted and cleared her throat. "So... did you and Bonnie turn into something?"

"I'm going to need a more specific question than that, Caroline." Enzo scoffed.

"Fine! Did you ever sleep together?"

He looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "No." he said, seemingly honest. "Did you and -?"

She raised her hand to cut him off and grimaced. "Once." she answered, making his eyes grow round and wide. "But I was totally available at the time."

He nodded with an amused smirk. "Very well."

Caroline took a moment to think her next question through before she came up with something she was dying to hear about... "Are you in love with her?"

Enzo had been about to take another shot and his arm froze mid-air. He put the glass down and cleared his throat. "Yes."

Caroline stared at him for a moment, wondering what was going on in his mind when he faced her and turned the tables all of a sudden. "Are you in love with him?"

"What?" she stuttered. "Who... Klaus? Me? No, no I'm not in love with him. No, that's not what – I mean we never… It wasn't like that." Enzo raised his eyebrows at that in disbelief, but it was her turn to ask a question now. "Does she feel the same for you?"

"You'd have to ask her that." he mumbled then, making her feel somewhat bad for the man.

"How long have you had feelings for her?"

"Forever." he scoffed and shrugged lightly. "Pretty much since the day I first met her."

"You can't be serious."

"What?"

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at him. "That's not true, stuff like that… Like, 'love at first sight' - it isn't real."

He studied her silently for a moment, causing her to squirm under his gaze until he looked away. "Whatever you say, gorgeous."

The words made her lean closer with fascination. "How do you know?"

"Know what?"

"That whatever you felt for her was real? That it was actual feelings and not just… I don't know… A crush? An attraction?" she mumbled as he looked over at her again. "How could you be so sure of yourself just like that?"

"Why do you ask?" he retorted. Causing her to shy away with a sigh.

"I don't know, I just… I don't get how people can have such strong feelings like, right off the bat."

"You've never experienced it yourself?"

She mulled over the words in silence, watching the glass in her hands to avoid his gaze. Realizing he was still waiting for an answer, she gritted her teeth slightly before deciding to speak up. "No." she stated, a tone that put an end to the subject as she felt the urge to have the ground open up and swallow her whole.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Klaus had scoured the city. The campus, her apartment, even the hospitals. But she was nowhere to be found.

She was dying.

Caroline was dying.

And he couldn't help her.

The realization was tearing him apart inside. He pounded against a tree in frustration, watching it fly back in a loud crash. In the moment he wondered, after having watched Tyler Lockwood ache and turn in order to deliver the message, which of the men felt more pain: Tyler who had turned forcefully by magic - or Klaus, as he kept searching for a poisoned and dying Caroline with no trace to follow.

I let her down, he thought. Feeling like something inside of him was breaking at the truth behind it. I should've been there.

He listened to his vast surroundings, the wind running through the trees and the cars driving past him. And then, a tiny glimpse of hope arose.

A siren.

He hurried to follow the direction of the ambulance, finding it miles out of town as it sped through deserted roads with flashing lights. The radio informing the paramedics of an accident having occurred on the 37 near Winnsboro. A wreckage of a car crash had resulted in a truck swerving and hitting someone on the road. A young woman. And she had miraculously survived the crash, despite her acute injuries.

It could be possible... he thought as he ran past the ambulance and ahead to the crash site. Maybe she had been delirious, hallucinating... Maybe she had crashed a car and stumbled out onto oncoming traffic. Maybe... Maybe she was still alive.

As he neared the site, he heard voices. Witnesses giving their testimonies to a couple of deputies.

"She was lying in the middle of the road! She made us crash!"

"She came out of nowhere!"

When he arrived, he saw blood everywhere.

A pregnant woman was crying, clearly in shock. A man stood yelling, explaining how the woman had caused their accident and tried to kill them. Telling the police about her face, how it had turned into something else...

The truck stood parked at the side of the road, the driver talking to another deputy as he waved with his hands in gestures. "She saved the lady, but once I saw her it was too late."

And that was when his eyes fell on her. The sirens from the ambulance informed him that it had finally arrived. The paramedics quick to run to her side with a stretcher and bandages. Everything seemed to have slowed to a stop.

Her blonde hair had turned dark from the blood, her body mangled and twisted in all the wrong directions. Her face covered in dark veins, seemingly having spread from her shoulder - where the bite looked to be. Her eyes were open but glazed. And her heart... it wasn't beating.

"She's roadkill, Brad. What can we do?" The words made Klaus spring to action. He grabbed onto the paramedics and compelled them to take her to a hospital. Then he jumped into the back of the rig with her and quickly bit into his wrist.

"Come on, love." he pleaded as he waited for her to feed on his blood. "Drink, Caroline. Come on..."

Finally, she responded, her chest lifting lightly as she began breathing again. The weight lifting off of Klaus' shoulders was the heaviest he had felt in all of a thousand years. This young vampire, her breathing and her heartbeat, had full control over him. He could only compare it to the pull he felt to his daughter, as if he couldn't breathe if she wasn't. "That's it, love." he whispered against her forehead, as he stroked her hair slowly with his free hand.

Her injuries were extensive, he studied her body with a tight throat as he wondered where to even begin. But as she ingested his blood her wounds started to heal slowly. Her bones cracked back into place. However, the bite mark on her shoulder was still evident, the look of it made him want to break Tyler Lockwood into a million pieces.

It would take long for her to heal, at least at a hospital he could ensure they cared for some of her internal injuries. But he knew she would need blood to recover fully. "Brad! Pull the car to the side, I need your assistance." he called out, remembering the name that had been used by one of the paramedics earlier.

He gained a nod from the men as they followed his instructions. They switched drivers as 'Brad' entered the back at the same time as his colleague started back on the course again. Klaus grabbed the paramedic's arm and told him not to scream. Then he bit into it and switched it with his own.

Caroline quickly responded and fed eagerly, making Klaus sigh in relief. "Thanks for lending a hand, Brad." Klaus grinned as he squeezed the man's shoulder. "How far to the nearest hospital?"

"Maybe 15 minutes." the young man answered, his face turning slightly pained as Caroline continued feeding.

"I'll need you to contact her next of kin." the hybrid explained as he stroked her cheek with a soft smile aimed at her. "Alaric Saltzman."

Brad nodded and pulled out a phone in search for the contact information. "Yes, sir." he said, earning another small grin from the Original.

"Hear that, sweetheart? You'll be just fine." he whispered and pressed a soft kiss against her temple.

The phone call had sobered him up entirely, like an ice-cold shower or an electric shock. But when Alaric entered the hospital, nothing the doctor said made sense.

"What do you mean accident? What was she doing out there?" he asked the younger man as they kept him from seeing her.

"Perhaps you would prefer to rest for a moment, sir." the man said, leading him to a waiting area. "Sober up." he continued.

The words brought a jolt of anger to Alaric as he pushed the doctor's guiding hand away. "Don't touch me! I just want to see her, where is she? Is she awake?"

A nurse showed up by the doctor's side with raised palms. "Please, sir. Calm down."

"Calm down?!" Ric echoed. "You don't understand! She is the only family I have left! I need to see her, please just let me go to her room-"

"Ric?"

The light voice cut him off as he recognized the woman suddenly by his side. "Ginnifer?"

"What's happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah... It's just, my friend. Caroline." he said, shaking his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. "She's been in an accident apparently, but they won't let me see her."

"Okay, come on. I'll see what I can find out. Ok?" she said, her soft face making him swallow his anger with a nod.

"Yeah, ok." he said as she led him to a nurse's station. "I just don't understand, I just saw her... She always stays late at the campus library so I didn't think anything of it when she never showed up for dinner… But now..."

She nodded softly and started typing on a computer. "Sarah, could you please get this nice man a cup of tea or some water?" she said to a nurse close to her who quickly left to follow the request.

"I don't understand, Ginnifer... Do you work here?" he said, leaning against the desk between them in a sigh. "I didn't realize you were a-"

"A nurse?" she finished, smiling at him with a shrug. "Well, with all the addiction talk at AA it leaves very little time left for other personal information. And lucky for you that I am, because I am going to help you get in to see your friend."

"Her name's Caroline Forbes." he said then, the worry returning to fill his stomach with gravel. A pair of hands showed up with a cup of tea directed at him. "Thank you." he whispered and accepted it. "And please, apologize to the doctor from me. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that... I just... I don't know."

"You were worried about your friend." Ginnifer said, another soft smile on her face. "No one is better equipped to understand that than hospital workers."

He attempted to smile back, nodding lightly. "Right."

"So, apparently Caroline is being brought in with injuries from a car accident. The paramedics are en route and have informed us that she does not seem to be in need of surgery. Which means she'll probably be fine."

The breath that left Alaric's lips felt as long as ever as the relief washed over him.

Ginnifer picked up a tablet and took his arm. "Come on, let's go wait for her."

"How could you do this to her!?" Valerie watched as the young werewolf had his head nearly chewed off by the Salvatore back at the motel. She hadn't expected such a strong reaction from the vampire, and it irked her deeper than she cared to admit.

"And you!" Suddenly the yelling was aimed at her as she watched Stefan's furious scowl with gravel in her chest. "You knew she was in danger and you didn't say anything!?"

"I didn't know for sure." she protested. "I told you, all I saw was her face. It didn't exactly provide me with any information potent enough to share with you."

"She could've died!"

"But she didn't!"

His eyes widened as he watched her then, looking revolted and shocked at the person before him. "You didn't know that for sure, Val."

"You're right. I didn't." she admitted, ready to speak again when the door suddenly opened and interrupted them.

"My brother informs me that Caroline will be fine." Elijah said, walking over to them with a bag in his hands.

The room let out a collective sigh of relief at that as Valerie reached for the bag containing the last ingredient for their spell. The heart of a doppelganger.

"Not yet." The Original abruptly held the bag from her with a steely face.

"Pardon?" Valerie said, eyes wide and confused. "We don't have much time left."

"First, you will follow your end of the deal."

"What?" Stefan said, his anger suddenly turned to a new target. "You can't be serious, Elijah."

"The way I see it, we have given you the spell, ingredients and all means necessary for you to proceed with your protection ritual. And yet, no progress has been made on our part of the bargain."

"I gave you three locations already." she corrected as the older vampire merely shrugged in response.

"And now, I wish to receive the last three."

"After the spell."

"Now." he demanded, making her gulp and fidget with her hands. "Unless you were never planning on fulfilling your end of the deal."

All eyes turned to Valerie at that as she closed her eyes in a hiss.

"Wait, that's not true. Is it?" Stefan said, his tone empty and flat as he looked back at her with unrecognizable eyes.

"I used to call many of the Strix dear friends once, Stefan. I do not wish them any harm." she confessed.

"What did you think was going to happen here, Val!?"

"You don't understand." Valerie began to plead but it landed flat.

"No, it is you who do not understand, Ms. Tulle." Elijah said, walking towards the half-witch with threatening steps. "You have only a few more minutes before the full moon begins to wane. Which means you either give me what I ask now, or you will have to wait another month for the spell to work."

When Valerie continued to look torn and unconvinced, he spoke again. "And as we all know, you can't afford to wait for another full moon. Considering how you have already risked yourselves by practicing magic so openly. I'm certain that pesky enemy of yours has already tracked you down by now." he mused with a nonchalant shrug. "The question that remains, is whether you would prefer to leave Texas with your lives intact or not."

"Valerie, please." Stefan said as his sad eyes met her then. "Give him what he wants. I beg of you."

Valerie watched him with a beaten-down scowl before sighing and grabbing a piece of paper in a defeated hurry. Scribbling quickly the last of the addresses onto it and handing the paper to the Original. "Here. Now, the heart. Please."

Elijah nodded and made the exchange. As soon as it was done, he had disappeared into the night. The door left ajar in his wake. Valerie quickly turned back to the potion and finished the spell as fast as she could.

"You think you can do it?" Stefan pressed on, earning a quick nod from her as she pulled the heart out of its container.

She grabbed some strings and tied them around the heart, forming a pentagram on both sides of it. Then she dropped it into the potion, chanting silently as it began to boil.

"Emanuste, amnis sangui. Amnis vi praesidium, amnis celo velamentum. Amnus sic erunt." Throwing a final herb in, the potion created a small explosion with white smoke rising from it. She watched it for a silent moment as the liquid stilled and the previous steam evaporated. "It worked." Valerie whispered; the relief evident in her voice as she turned to Stefan with a smile.

He grinned back. "It worked?"

She nodded eagerly and leapt into his arms in triumph. "We did it!" she giggled, overjoyed.

He hugged her back and exhaled deeply. "We did it." he whispered.

"You sure did."

The voice made the two of them freeze. They slowly turned around to find Tyler's body falling to the ground with his neck twisted. And the man standing above him looked over at them with a grin.

"It's about damn time too, I thought you would never finish it!" Julian said as he studied them with dangerous eyes. "Now, how about a sip of that pretty potion you cooked up there, sweet Valerie?"

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Klaus did not enjoy hiding in the shadows. It made him feel like the kind of monster in the dark which Hope sometimes had nightmares of. And if there was anything Klaus didn't want to be, it was a monster. He had worked hard to keep his family safe, both from others and sometimes from themselves. But after a while he started to wonder if perhaps the best thing to do for them would be to protect them from him instead.

Much changed after he unleashed his werewolf side. Things became… clearer. Easier even. He started to understand some of that dark rage which had been pent up for as long as his hybrid-self had been suppressed. On that first night when he'd turned, he felt relief. After having felt like a bastard and the odd man out for over a millennium; he was finally his true self. The person he was supposed to have been from the start. He was finally given what had been his birthright, passed down to him from his biological father… He was finally the Hybrid. The Original Hybrid.

And with that, all the pieces to the puzzle seemed to finally fall into place before him. However, he soon realized that even though much had changed after he broke the curse; some things remained precisely the same…

He still craved a loyal family who would never leave him. One who would love him selflessly, unconditionally and to no end, the way a parent was supposed to love their child. The kind of love he had been deprived of throughout his entire life. This realization maddened him… After everything, he was still that little, helpless, angry boy who was afraid of being alone… Of never being loved.

Of never being able to love in return.

Hope had helped, his precious littlest wolf. She had changed him. For he could not, would not, be the kind of parent he himself had had. He needed to be someone who could love his child, even if he remained unsure of whether he was still capable of such emotion or not.

This, of course, did not mean he wouldn't rip out the hearts of anyone who dared hurt her – with his teeth. However, he supposed that was the closest he could come to loving another being; by protecting them with his life and doing everything in his power to ensure their happiness as well as safety. In the end, wasn't that what Rebekah was always going on about? Wasn't that love?

Or was this love? This horrendous feeling in his stomach as he remained still in the dark with Elijah, awaiting Caroline in her hotel suite, only to hear her with someone else… It was the same feeling he'd had when he saw Caroline standing closely together with Marcel the other night…

Was that love? Feeling so utterly jealous and lost and mad and ruined at the mere thought of Caroline possibly choosing another man – Without even giving him a chance?

Or had it been love when he had used every smidge of self-control collected throughout his existence to stand up from that forest floor that day and leave Caroline behind all those years ago? Even as every fiber of his being screamed and ached and craved to keep her in his arms for the rest of eternity?

Or was it perhaps love when he granted Tyler his freedom as her graduation present, only because all he wanted was for her to be happy? Even if it wasn't with him and even if it included doing something that went against his entire nature… All for her.

Klaus noticed Caroline's presence coming closer to the door, her companion in tow, and considered shutting his hearing off to sulk a little while longer. But her racing heartbeat drew him back in as she opened the door slowly. Only slightly ajar first and then all at once with a push as she seemed ready to attack.

Her companion stood partly in front of her, an arm extended as if to try and protect her. The man's posture remained alarmed, but Caroline visibly relaxed a little when her eyes met Klaus'. For a short moment, he couldn't fight the smile that forced its way on his lips at the sight of her; she was truly enchanting. Her golden waves bouncing over her shoulders, her lips pursed slightly, the dark blue in her eyes intensified as her fair skin shone like porcelain in the faint moonlight.

He wondered then whether she'd be happy to see him. A flare of hop rising in his chest for just a moment. However, he then remembered the strained conversation the last time they spoke. And with that he suddenly felt foolish for expecting her to show any kindness or care after how they'd left things between them. The mere memory made him drop his gaze to stare daggers into the floor.

Elijah broke the silence as Caroline's heartbeat slowly returned to normal. "Ms. Forbes. Pleasure seeing you again." he said with as proper a tone as ever and a polite nod of his head. Turning to the man next to her with the smallest hint of a humored smile on his lips. "Your friend seems calmer this evening."

The man assessed the two dark shadows on in the hotel room, an uncertain look displaying across his face. "Um… Elijah, hi." Caroline responded, straightening her back slightly. "Enzo, it's okay. You can leave."

"What?" the man hissed and stared daggers into her skull as she kept her eyes on Elijah. "I don't think so, gorgeous. We already established that you tend to end reunions like these rather horribly."

Klaus' skin crawled at the lad's endearment for the blonde, bothered by the way this man was still trying to shield Caroline from a non-existent threat. "They're not going to hurt me." she retorted and finally stepped away from Enzo's shadow, only to be stopped by his hand on her waist pulling her back and making Klaus' fingernails dig into his palms.

"Well then I'm sure they won't mind a little extra company." he challenged then and threw a glance over at the brothers. "So, gentlemen, please do explain your hiding in a young woman's room at such a late hour."

Elijah sighed and shook his head, raising a finger into the air. "I suppose you still may need to be taught a lesson then, after all." In the blink of an eye, as soon as his brother had spoken the last syllable of his sentence, Klaus saw the rapid movements of Caroline standing in front of Enzo as Elijah headed towards them both.

And without thinking, Klaus' reaction was to stand in front of her, keeping his brother from breaking the obnoxious man's neck. Despite his shared desire to do so. "Let him stay, brother." he groused at Elijah then.

"If she trusts him enough to be here, he must be of some importance." the hybrid added as he turned to face the young vampires. "However, I do believe an introduction is in order."

Caroline had a slight look in her eye that voiced her thought loudly to Klaus, the words 'do I have to?' ringing in his ears as she sighed and admitted defeat. "Enzo St. John. You've already met Elijah Mikaelson." she said and gestured with her hand. "This is his younger, cockier, way more irritating and far less polite brother, Klaus."

He smiled as she finished her sentence with a cock of her head, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. "Well, love, I do believe you missed a few more charming details. But I will let it pass this once, since we are in somewhat of a rush."

"What's wrong?" she said, the humor suddenly evaporated from her voice.

"Nothing's wrong." Elijah answered with a soft smile, one Klaus recognized as much less of a reassurance and much more of a façade than anything else. "However…" he remarked and took a few steps towards Caroline.

Klaus let out a silent grunt at his brother in a warning as he heard Caroline's heart starting to race again. Her discomfort, perhaps even fear, was apparent, but she seemed to keep a brave face despite it. His brother stopped next to Klaus and began trying to smooth out the tension with his formalities. "We've come with a rather blunt question to ask you, Ms. Forbes. I hope you do not take offends to us calling upon you in the middle of the night."

She nodded at him. "Okay… So, what is it?"

"We need you to explain your intentions for coming here." Elijah finally said.

Caroline was silent as Enzo studied her and the men closely. Other than her heartbeat, she made no sounds. Her face had fallen completely, looking both surprised and… plotting.

Yes, plotting. Klaus was certain he'd seen that expression on her before, she was preparing herself to lie. And it pained him to know that she still couldn't trust him enough to be honest with him. "Caroline." Klaus warned then, as she opened her mouth to answer.

She shut it and looked over at him, blushing slightly as she understood that she'd been caught. He enjoyed the sweet color spreading over her face, befitting of her beautiful face. She quickly cleared her throat and brushed her hair back from her shoulder. From Klaus' experience this wasn't a very good sign either. It looked like she was steeling up, bracing herself for something. Another lie?

"Okay…" she sighed. "Like I told you, Elijah. Me and Enzo aren't looking for any trouble. I'm sure our business here will be resolved within a week, so don't worry about me dragging in any drama into your city or whatever. We just need Marcel's help with some things."

There were so many thoughts whirling around in his mind as he took her words in. She was in business with Marcel. She wasn't going to include him in them, nor give him any information on what it was that she was doing here. She would be gone within a week, rushed due to the impression that he didn't want her here…

"Ms. Forbes," Elijah asserted then. "If me or my brother insinuated that our concerns are based on the theory that you will disturb the peace in our home, then let me assure you that is not the case. We are merely baffled as to why you seem to be tiptoeing around us, sneaking around and hiding away while you tend to this business of yours…"

"I'm not hiding." she immediately chimed in. "And don't take this personally or anything, Elijah, but not everything needs the attention of the Originals."

Enzo drew a sharp breath, clearly realizing how unusual such a retort was to a man like Elijah. Klaus grinned at her then, feeling pride swell in his chest over her boldness. Even more so, he realized just how much he had missed that revolver mouth of hers – firing bullets at all who dared cross her path.

"Very well." Elijah drawled, sounding half-impressed and half-amused himself. "Then I hope you will forgive us for the intrusion, and I do so wish that you would consider accepting our invitation."

"What invitation?" Enzo stuttered then, making Elijah's soft smile turn slightly stiffer.

"To dinner." he shared. "At the mansion. Regard it a welcoming engagement. An opportunity for all of us to get reacquainted, and for some of us to get acquainted with you for the first time."

"Dinner?" Enzo echoed with a lost expression.

Klaus studied Caroline as she remained silent, it was a rare sight for her to act so unsure. But then she seemed to remember something and shook her head. "Yeah... I don't think that's a good idea."

"I don't understand…" Elijah hesitated, as if giving her a chance to change her answer. But Klaus saw it in her eyes; Caroline had made up her mind.

"I do appreciate the gesture and I sincerely hope you won't take this the wrong way but… I'm trying to get through all of this without involving your family. Unless it is absolutely necessary that is." she stammered with an apologetic grimace.

"I see." Elijah said with a slight furrow, he wasn't used to not getting his way. Especially not with a vampire of such a young age. That was Caroline for you, Klaus thought with a smirk.

"Well, in that case… We shan't take up any more of your time, Ms. Forbes." his brother declared. "Do enjoy the rest of your night."

Klaus flinched then. Were they leaving already?

"Thanks, you too." she told him with a suddenly shy smile. "Um, say hi to Rebekah for me… Or don't… It might be a few centuries too soon for her to start liking me yet."

Elijah nodded at her courtly, letting the subject pass with honorable grace. "I do however hope you will reconsider our offer for dinner. We can't very well let you leave New Orleans without a proper welcome and farewell to the city after all." he retorted. That was Elijah for you. Still attempting to get his way even whilst going up against someone as stubborn as Caroline Forbes.

She nodded at him mutely, her eyes glancing over at Klaus once more. He clenched his jaw and looked over at his brother. "Elijah, would you leave us for a moment?" he asked slowly.

Elijah smiled shortly before looking back at Caroline. "Good night, Ms. Forbes." he said and repeated the motion towards the man next to her. "Mr. St. John." he nodded and disappeared within a second.

Caroline turned to Enzo and gave him a pointed look. "I just need a minute. I'm sure you're tired and want to head back to your room anyway, right?"

Enzo looked over at Klaus and smirked. "Yes, of course. I have no desire of being the third wheel." he mocked, winking at Caroline before heading towards the door. "Just don't keep her up too long, will you?" he pressed on, causing Caroline to throw the keys in her hand towards him.

He managed to leave and close the door behind him just before the keys dug into the wall where he had stood. Caroline looked over at him apologetically and turned her eyes to the floor. Silence hung heavily over them while she awaited something from him. However, he was unsure of what to say. The last time they had spoken hadn't exactly gone the way he had imagined…

"Well… I came up here to answer some work mails and then get ready for bed…" she suddenly announced, walking past him and beginning to dig in a suitcase as it laid splayed over the bed. "So, if there was something you wanted to say then you should just get on with it."

He studied her for a moment as she put some garments in a pile and then rested her hands on her hips, looking back at him with an expecting face. "I am sorry about our previous run-in, Caroline." he muttered, a genuine sadness in his eyes as he looked her over. "You know very well what I…" he trailed off with a sigh and looked away shortly. "I simply ask to not go back to acting like enemies. Truthfully, I don't believe I could bear it."

She remained silent for a moment, until he met her eyes once more. Nodding shortly, she turned to sit by the bedside and gestured for him to take a seat next to her. At first, he felt unsure, afraid of crossing a line and upsetting her once more.

All he wanted was to simply be there for her, and she seemed adamant in keeping him away instead. She spoke up once he joined her on the bed. "Honestly, Klaus. I don't know what to think or say or even how to act when you're around." she admitted silently.

He met her eyes with a soft smile before looking down at their hands as the lay rather close on the duvet. "I know what you mean." he uttered softly as he fought off the urge to hold her hand in his. Instead, he reached towards the daylight-ring on her finger and studied it silently for a moment. Turning it lightly while he tried to gather his thoughts and figure out what to say next.

"Why were you at the cemetery today?" he asked, feeling stupid for not coming up with anything better to break the sudden silence with. She only scoffed at him, making him quickly continue speaking before she could get upset. "I was simply asking because –" he began but she cut him off.

"Is this seriously what you want to talk about right now!?" she exclaimed and abruptly stood up with her arms crossed. "Not the fact that you and your scary-ass brother broke into my hotel room and started interrogating me from out of nowhere?"

"What of Elijah's arse?" he probed. She looked at him with wide eyes for a long moment before she suddenly broke into laughter. Beautiful, glorious, and just short of angelic, laughter... Making it impossible for him to resist joining in.

"It's not funny!" she protested, throwing the closest piece of garment within her reach at him. "He really did freak me out!"

He caught it effortlessly, lifting the skirt up to study it. "I assure you, sweetheart. If you wish to school me, throwing your clothes at me may not be the most effective strategy."

Huffing in annoyance, she quickly tore the skirt away from him and put it back on the bed. He smiled at how he had managed to turn her mood around and took a step towards her. "Caroline..." he began as she backed away from him, making him stay put on his spot a few feet away from her. "I do hope you have not fallen under the impression that I wouldn't be willing to help you if you asked for it. No matter what it may regard."

She shrugged. "Well, like I said: I don't need nor want your help. But when I do, I'll be sure to ask for it."

"When?" he echoed with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes at him. "If."

He grinned and shrugged. "Then I best remain nearby, in case you were to change your mind on the matter." he teased.

"Is that your way of trying to get me to hang out with you?" she scoffed, a small smile tugging at her lips.

He chuckled shortly and took a few steps towards her, closing the distance between them. "Well, love..." he said and studied her face for a moment, looking into her wide and observing eyes. "I believe it's safe to say that I would always seek out a reason which included you spending time with me." he murmured softly before raising his hand to run the back of his index-finger over her cheek.

Her skin was as soft as he remembered, and the tiny twitch in her heartbeat made his stomach flip. He moved a strand of her hair away from her face and placed it behind her ear, his thumb brushing over her jaw as the rest of his fingers moved to stroke her scalp near the nape of her neck. The sudden magnetic pull between them made him draw his hand back out of fear of overstepping. But as Caroline cleared her throat and looked away from him, he caught a glance of a slight blush on her face which made him smirk happily.

"I will leave you for now then." he announced and turned away from her. Before he reached the balcony door, from which he and Elijah had entered earlier, she spoke up again.

"Wait." she called out, making him close his eyes as he fought off a wide grin. Slowly, he turned back around and studied her as she took slow steps towards him.

"I…" she stammered, shaking her head as she seemed to regret having spoken in the first place. "I just… I don't…"

For one short second, Klaus was certain she wanted him to kiss her. Something in the way she looked at him, eyes shimmering with untold truths. Her lips parted and her heart beating like a drum in his ear… His breathing stopped as he tried to read her mind, failing, and deciding to leave while they were still on good terms. Instead of doing something that could jeopardize whatever progress they may have made so far. "Goodnight, Caroline." he said softly.

She ran her fingers through her hair and crossed her arms over her chest, nodding as if accepting his words before speaking. "Goodnight, Klaus." she whispered with a sudden shyness that made him smile at her once more before flashing away into the night. A swelling joy warmed his chest, and a growing excitement grew in his stomach as he wondered when he would be able to see her again.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"Do you realize how difficult it is to track down a doppelganger without someone from their lineage, hm?"

Julian walked towards them with a tiny grin, his eyes sparking with anger. Stefan instinctively stood in front of Valerie to shield her from him. "How did you find us?"

"Oh, I never lost you." he quipped, brushing his fingers over the open grimoires and spell books on the table. "San Fransisco, Guadalajara, Caracas... You've really had quite the itinerary planned out."

"Why haven't you-"

"Killed you?" Julian finished Valerie's thought with another wicked grin. "Oh, I have been tempted. Believe me. But there were things to sort out first... And of course, I couldn't kill you before you completed the spell for me."

"What spell?" Valerie stammered, earning a deep chuckle from him.

"Oh, let's not play coy, dear. It doesn't suit you well."

"So, what now? You take the potion and disappear?" Stefan asked.

"Well, not exactly. There happens to be quite a few more steps in my plan than simply that. But why would I tell you any of it, hm?" They watched him as he filled a small vial with the potion and raised it in the air. "Salud." he said and drank it all in one swoop.

"Ugh, never been a fan of dill. But that should certainly do the trick." he muttered as he pulled out a lighter and a flask, unscrewing the cap and pouring the liquid into the potion. He smiled wickedly as he flicked the lighter and dropped it into the bowl.

Valerie tried to jump forward and stop him but it was too late. The potion burned in colorful flames as he watched on with satisfaction. "There. Step one: all done." he crowed before turning towards them. "Now time for step two..."

His face changed as he jumped at them, fangs ready and hands prepared to rip their hearts out. But he was stopped, frozen in place like a statue. Valerie and Stefan both stared on in chock as a woman entered the room with her palm raised.

She studied them for a moment before raising her other hand towards them as well. "Wait!" Tyler exclaimed, having woken up again as his neck was healed. He walked up to the woman with a smile. "You came."

"You didn't answer my calls, I got worried." the woman said in a thick Latin accent, her brown eyes meeting the vampires again. "Them?"

"Friends." he assured her, making her nod. "Mila, meet Stefan and Valerie."

They nodded in greeting towards her, still looking unsure and confused over the frozen Julian before them. "Is he going to stay like that?" Stefan asked.

"Si." she said. "At least for long enough until we are all miles away from here." she turned to Tyler then. "We need to leave immediately. Did you acquire the blood?"

He frowned, earning a confused look from Stefan. "I tried. But it didn't go the way I'd hoped."

"Wait, what blood?" Stefan asked, earning a guilty frown from Tyler.

"The blood of someone in agony." Mila answered instead.

"Ric." Valerie realized and glanced over to Stefan, he scowled in response.

"That's why you came?" he asked. "Why you bit Caroline?"

"We do not need to have this conversation here." Mila insisted. "Come, let's go. I'll cloak us temporarily, but it won't hold for long."

Valerie hurried to pack her spell books and grimoires, and whatever remained of the potion - in hopes of being able to reconstruct it.

"Wait." Stefan called out as he stood looking back at Julian.

"Don't." Valerie said, reading his mind.

"I could kill him right now."

"And he could have an army around the corner just waiting to kill us next."

He visibly struggled with himself before finally nodding. "Let's go."

They all followed then, leaving the frozen Julian behind.

Caroline gained consciousness before her body had fully healed. She felt like she was cut open in half, as if every square inch of her skin and body was covered in open wounds and blood.

Her mind tried to piece everything together as she established that she was in a hospital. But she couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Because if humans had rescued her and brought her here, then they would have noticed her unnatural healing capabilities. And that could mean that she wasn't safe.

As she lay still and slack and defenseless, she noticed a presence in the room with her. A panic began to hit her as she became gravely aware of the danger she was in. She tried to will herself to move, to heal, to get up… But all she could manage to do was slightly flicker her eyes open.

The room was very bright and her vision blurry as a shadow walked towards her. Thoughts raced in her head as she tried to assess her chances of surviving this. Could she scream? Could she attack or run away?

Her body was still refusing to move as the stranger lifted a hand up to her face… But instead of strangling her, as she expected, the person stroked her cheek softly. She realized then that a single tear had traveled down her cheek. The hand seemed to dry it off, as if the person was comforting her.

Alaric, maybe? She couldn't imagine anyone else. She had no one else. After all, even with Ric, she was alone.

And so, if it wasn't him…

"I would deeply appreciate your staying alive, Caroline."

The voice seared through her dizzy thoughts as she tried to focus her eyes on the mysterious man by her bedside.

"However, I am no stranger to feelings of hopelessness." the voice continued. "It is easy to give in to. Only the strongest survive such pain and darkness."

Caroline suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if she was experiencing a very vivid déjà vu, just as the man leaned closer and whispered in her ear.

"There is so much more than what you are feeling right now, love. The only way to experience any of it, is to keep fighting."

She felt a slight shiver run through her as the voice reminded her of something, or someone. But just as she looked up to confirm her suspicion, another voice broke through the silence.

"Care!?"

Now that was Ric's voice for sure.

She blinked a few times as he suddenly stood where the stranger had just a second ago. But now they were gone. Or maybe they were never there in the first place?

"You're awake? Finally, thank god… Are you healing, Care?" Ric asked, pulling her attention away from trying to catch a scent.

Her eyes managed to focus on his as she tried to figure out the answer to his question. Aside from obvious hallucinations and her lack of control of her body's movements… Yes, it seemed like she was healing actually.

"I'm so sorry, Care. I haven't been sensitive to what you are going through. After all, you lost them too." he said softly, squeezing her hand. "But that's all going to change now. I am here, Caroline. Please, don't go and leave me without you. We have no one else but each other."

She agreed silently as she failed to nod her head in response. "I'll get you out of there tonight, before the doctor realizes your… condition." he said and gave her a short smile as he stood up and sat down on her bed. Rolling up one of his sleeves as he continued. "I've been waiting for you to wake up before…" he brought out a thin knife and sliced his wrist. "You need your strength now more than ever."

She realized what he was doing and tried to protest as he held his wrist towards her mouth. "Shh… We need to get out of here right now, Care. This is not the time for moral dilemmas and strict diets, alright? Just drink and heal." he assured her silently.

When the blood hit her tongue, there was no longer a discussion. The hunger took over instead and controlled her body as her hand suddenly flew up to press his wrist closer to her. Quickly, she began to feel the healing process starting as her body tensed up in reaction. And soon she managed to move her limbs normally.

Just in time, as she caught the sound of a doctor walking towards the room to catch them. She grabbed Ric then and flew out of the bed, disappearing into the dark street before anyone could see either of them.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: A life you will soon forget

"Hiya, toots."

The voice made Caroline groan inwardly as she had expected Ric to answer the phone, not Damon. "I didn't call you."

"Sure, you did. My buddy Ric here is spent and needs his beauty sleep. And so, enter; his trusting secretary Salvatore."

"Well, wake him up. Cause I'm not talking to you."

"Come on, Care-Bear! Ric has forgiven me, why can't you?"

"Oh, I highly doubt that." she sneered, resenting the easy tone of his voice. "I need to know if your witch gave you anything new. Now that we can't access Leila Gardiner's grave, I was hoping you had another lead to go on."

"I do."

"And?"

"You already know the answer, Caroline."

Gritting her teeth at that, she took a deep breath and pushed the anger back down. "Aside from asking Klaus."

"Become a witch and find Bonnie all on your own?" he replied cheekily.

"Ugh, why do I even bother?"

"Alright, fine. She did give us something. Apparently, there's someone else in New Orleans who happens to be skilled in contacting deceased witches. And… she also knew Leila before she died."

"Good, send me the address and we'll check it out right away." she said before noticing Marcel's form across the street and hurriedly hung up the phone.

He waved, that charming and charismatic smile ready as ever as he made his way towards her. "Caroline, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"Actually... You." she chimed, watching the flicker in his eyes at her words.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I believe I was promised coffee?"

Grinning widely at her then, he nodded and gestured for her to follow him. "How fortunate then that I happen to know of a cute little coffeeshop just around the corner."

"Lead the way." she said with a smile before following the man down the street, reaching a café named Amelia's. And Caroline was convinced that it was a gift sent from heaven.

The quaint little café was covered in a frame with flowers and ivy over the façade. Charmingly old signs and metal bistro chairs in pastel colors stood outside and was matched with an equally cozy interior. Soft music played through the speakers as they entered the little shop, delicate tilework covered the floors and dozens, and dozens, of lightbulbs hung from the ceiling.

"Bonjour!" the tiny little dark-haired woman in a white apron called out to them and smiled warmly at Marcel. "Mr. Gerard, welcome back!"

"Odétte, I'm glad to see that business is going well." he crooned as he cast an eye over the crowded tables around them.

"What will it be, mon amie?" she asked then, drying her hands off and quickly moving to the display near the counter to await their order.

"The regular for me, s'il vous plaît. And for Caroline here…" he looked over at her pointedly then as he passed the question along.

"Just a latte, please." she told her with a smile, still slightly taken aback by the incredible ambience of the locale.

"Of course, I will prepare it right away. Perhaps you would like to sit in the garden?"

Garden? The word echoed in Caroline's mind as she studied Marcel closely.

"Go ahead and sit wherever you'd like." he murmured to her, a hand on her lower-back shortly before he nodded towards a pair of glass doors. She smiled towards the woman again and followed the directions, opening the doors and nearly gasping at the sight.

Garden was an understatement… it was more like a greenhouse. A wide space opened up and was absolutely filled with light. Plants and flowers of all kinds covering the brick walls and some round tables spread out with tiny chairs. The ceiling was what had surprised her, it was open except for the framework. Further plants in hangers of different sizes and materials reached down from the steel beams along with rustic lights in long strings.

It was like stepping into a new world. The café had looked so tiny and cute from the outside, and even prettier inside – but this was just incredible. Like an oasis in the middle of the busy neighborhood, still and peaceful and full of beauty.

The awe-stricken smile on her face was still on when she felt Marcel's presence beside her. "I never took you for the romantic-flowery-coffeeshop type." she teased lightly, glancing over at him as he smirked in response.

"I have my moments." he quipped before walking over to one of the tables and pulling out a chair for her.

They sat down in silence as the woman from before, Odétte, appeared with a tray in her hands. She placed their order on the table and smiled at them both, a little 'bon appétit' before she scurried away. Caroline recognized Marcel's order as an americano, which she found ironic, along with a croissant which he placed in-between them. Inviting her to share it with him.

"You know, I've never been to France. But if I ever had to guess what it was like… This would be it." she confessed, earning a smile from the vampire then.

"I hope you get to see it for real someday." he mused, causing a flash of memory to rush through her at that.

"I'll take you. Wherever you want to go. Rome, Paris… Tokyo?"

Occupying herself with her coffee, she tried to hide the longing feeling that crept over her at the memory and decided to focus on the present. "I was hoping we could finally clear the air."

He raised an eyebrow at that but nodded for her to go on. "Me and my friend, Enzo. We're not just here to gather information about Lucien." she began, slowly placing the cup down on the table as she took a deep breath and continued. "A close friend of mine, ours really, was taken by someone who we think has connections with him."

"Who would that be?"

"A vampire named Julian."

"Is that like Cher or Beyoncé?" he joked, making her chuckle lightly.

"I have no idea, really." she confessed and sighed again. "Anyway. A few years ago, someone I know came to New Orleans with Julian. While they were here, he talked about some old friend with powerful connections. At first, we thought it might have been the Mikaelson's, but that turned out to be wrong."

"And this person who was with him –"

"Damon."

"He doesn't know who Julian was talking about?"

"No, they went separate ways before he could find out." she explained, wincing slightly as she glossed over the details in her mind. "Damon later thought that, whoever had committed all those murders in the quarter back then, was the person in question. And since Lucien seems to be related to the case – I think it's him."

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he studied her for a moment, a strange and loaded silence growing between them as she waited for him to speak. To say anything really, before she started rambling…

"And here I was beginning to think you were just using Castle as an excuse to spend time with me." he finally said, causing her to blink a few times in confusion.

"What?"

Shrugging his shoulders shortly, he sighed before speaking again. "Why else would you make a trade for information about him, when you clearly have much simpler ways of getting the answers you're looking for?"

And then the ghost haunting her mind reared its Hybrid head once more. "Klaus." she breathed out as she realized what Marcel meant.

"You weren't aware that they knew each other?"

She let out a short, nervous laugh and looked away from him then. "No, but I'm starting to see just how big of a mistake it was to think otherwise." she scoffed. "Clearly everybody in town has some sort of history with Klaus."

He studied her for a moment before commenting. "What is yours?"

"That's a story for another time..." she grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers as she felt a headache coming on. "Wow, I really have been walking around in circles ever since I got here, haven't I?"

"I don't get it, why wouldn't you just go to Klaus from the start? Seems like he wouldn't mind helping you…"

The question made a frustration blossom up in her chest as she scolded herself. "Believe it or not, I wanted to do this without him."

"Great plan." he chuckled, making her groan inwardly.

"Yeah."

His eyes stayed on her for a moment longer before he suddenly stood up and reached for her hand. "Come on, let's go."

"Go?" she stuttered as she took his hand and stood up slowly. "Go where?"

"To see your boyfriend, where else?" he teased on.

She turned mute suddenly as he quickly sped them out of the café before she could blink. He's not my boyfriend… running through her mind as she followed.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"Pack whatever's necessary, leave the rest." Caroline instructed Alaric as they returned to their apartment.

"Wait, Caroline..." he began, feeling confused to her sudden eagerness to leave town.

"There's no time, Ric." she said and began raiding closets and shelves.

"Why? What is happening?"

"Stefan is here, ok!?" she then yelled out, making him flinch and turn white.

"What?" he whispered.

"He's here. With Valerie. And Tyler apparently. And since my previous werewolf bite is now completely healed: so are the Originals." she explained before continuing packing things into the biggest bags she could fin.

"What, why? What are they doing here? How did they find us?"

"I don't know. It's all kind of blurry right now. I can't quite put it all together. But what I do know is that the longer we stay here, the sooner more of them will come."

A phone began ringing, making Caroline jump. "Easy." Ric said as he pulled it out of his pocket. "Oh... It's Ginnie."

"Who?" Caroline called out from her bedroom as she continued ransacking their belongings.

"This lady from AA. She was the nurse that helped me get you out of the hospital."

"Well, we're kind of on the run here so I wouldn't suggest picking it up!"

"I can't ignore it, Care. She agreed to be my sponsor, I have to answer."

"Your what?" she froze and stared back at him. "When... How...?"

"That's a long story… Just, keep packing. I'll get her off our backs. There's probably people looking for you, you know."

"Right… Yeah. Ok, but hurry!" she said before flashing through the apartment to finish the rest.

"Hey, Ginnie. Sorry to run out like that..." Alaric began, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to explain himself.

"What happened, Ric? I came to check on you and then both you and your friend were just gone."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. The thing is... I don't really know how to explain this to you."

"Well, you'll better come up with something. I'm outside your apartment right now."

That, Caroline heard. She stared at him with wide eyes. "Do not let her in." she whispered.

There was knocking on the door, it was too late. "What do you want me to do?" Ric whispered, making her groan.

"Fine. But I'm opening it. Not you." she hissed and quickly went to the door with her hearing alerted. "Who is it?" she asked, not necessarily waiting for an answer but rather trying to hear how many heartbeats were standing on the other side of the door.

"Uhm, Ginnifer. From the hospital."

Caroline opened then. "Hi, Ginnie. Sorry, we're kind of busy right now. Come back later, maybe?"

"Wait... What's going on?" she said and stepped past Caroline. "Ric, are you in trouble?"

"What makes you say that?" he asked, earning a groan from Caroline at the same time as Ginnifer gestured to the trashed apartment around them. "Right..." he muttered.

"If you need help, I can call a friend on the force. He'll put a deputy outside your building day and night."

"That's really not necessary." Caroline said, trying to sound easy and light but feeling rather stressed at the moment.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Listen, Ginnie." Ric said, reaching for her shoulder. "I really appreciate you coming to check on us, but something's happened and we have to leave town… And there really isn't a good way to explain why."

"Ok."

They stared at the woman for a moment before echoing in unison. "Ok?"

"Yeah." she said with a shrug. "I came to help, so tell me how I can."

"We need a car." Caroline announced, hurrying to gather the bags.

"And a place to go, I'm guessing." Ginnie mused, surprising the both of them again. "I have a family house up north, I inherited it from my folks when they passed last year. It's not in great shape but it could help you for the night until you guys know where to go next."

She began writing down the information and handed it to Ric. "Here, that's the address. And my personal number, I don't usually give that out to anyone but I'm thinking you'll still need a sponsor wherever it is ya'll decide to go. So, call me when you've settled and I'll hear around if I know any good ones, yeah?"

"Wait, really?" Ric said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, of course." she chimed, nodding for emphasis. "Like I said, I want to help."

"This is... more than enough. Thank you." he muttered and quickly embraced her in a tight hug.

"I don't want to interrupt..." Caroline began awkwardly, entering the room again with several bags in hand. "But we really should go."

"Right." Ginnie murmured as Ric released her, she then held out her keys before speaking up again. "Here. Take my car. It's the gray sedan around the corner. It's not very luxurious but it'll take you to the house. Leave it there when you move on and I'll pick it up tomorrow night after my shift."

"You're clearly a guardian angel and I really want to thank you properly, but we need to leave now." Caroline chuckled nervously and pulled at Ric's arm.

"Right. Thank you, Ginnifer." Ric chimed, glancing over at her one last time before hurrying to leave Dallas behind.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

It had been eight years. Eight years. She had been so sure that whatever had existed between them would have mellowed or died down by now… It was ridiculous, that's what it was. She couldn't possibly have feelings of any sorts for a man she hadn't seen in forever… Right?

But as Marcel stopped outside a construction site, where Klaus apparently would be, she was worried to consider the thought any further.

"Well, this is a surprise." Turning around slowly, her heart nearly came to a halt as she saw him. Standing with his arms crossed and a little smirk while he studied his visitors.

"I must admit, I don't quite enjoy the fact that you brought Marcel with you. Although, I still consider this little visit a victory on my part."

Caroline stood frozen as she felt Marcel analyzing her reaction to the Hybrid's words. Unsure of what she was worried about, she still felt weird about the three of them standing there together.

"Go on, love. Don't leave me hanging." Klaus crooned then.

"I'm coming clean." she finally managed to say.

"I figured as much." he chuckled and nodded towards Marcel. "Does this mean that you have decided to include Marcel in this business of yours before me?"

"I guess I was just the better listener." Marcel mocked with a grin that turned Klaus' eyes dark. "Hey, give me some credit! I was the one who convinced her to turn to you."

"Eventually." Klaus pointed out.

"Klaus..." Caroline sighed as guilt filled her stomach when his eyes met hers. "I know you're mad at me for not reaching out once I got into town. And for keeping you in the dark ever since. But you should know I had my reasons for all of it... and very good ones too, actually..." she rambled nervously, nodding her head in a frantic state.

She couldn't tell what he was thinking as he studied her silently, and it worried her. Desperate to fill the silence, she spoke up again. "I realize this is really hypocritical of me and that you have no reason for helping me and that I really shouldn't even ask-"

"Caroline." he interrupted her with a palm raised in the air. "There really is no need for all of this." The words felt a little cold, making her wonder if Marcel being there was not such a good idea after all.

The younger vampire met her eyes with a nod. "I guess that's my cue." he muttered and disappeared. Leaving her to turn to the hybrid with an apologetic smile.

"I really hope you're not making a habit of only meeting with me while bringing Marcel with you, Caroline."

"I'm sorry." she whined with a grimace.

"For what, sweetheart?" he asked, a genuine look coloring his eyes.

"I understand if you're mad at me..." she begun, making him chuckle again.

"That is certainly not the case, love. Aside from feeling warily flattered that you are finally turning to me, I am mostly… confused by your actions." he stated and walked up to her slowly. "First you hide from me, then you push me away, and now you need my help."

"Well, for someone who isn't mad at me you sure sound mad." she quipped.

"Caroline..." he sighed and looked away for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "Could we please be honest with each other? Have I not earned as much by now?"

The hurt that flashed across his face pulled at her heart strings. "I'm not going to hide anything else from now on. I promise."

She felt her stomach flip as she suddenly realized that she had closed the small distance between them and grabbed onto his shoulders for reassurance. As if having been burned by his touch, she drew her hands back and looked away from him to hide her flushed cheeks.

"Sorry." she mumbled and looked up at him with a shy smile. "Anyways…" she began then, clearing her throat as she wondered, where was I again? "Like I said, I'm coming clean."

He studied her closely for a minute before he spoke up. "Then let's make a date of it." he announced cheerly, his mood suddenly completely changed.

"What?" she asked, trying to resist his contagious smile as one of her own tried to tug at her lips.

"Tonight, I will pick you up at your hotel at say, eight? We will lay our cards on the table and find out what it is that I could do to aid you in your mission here. What do you say, love?"

"A date?" she echoed, finding it so trivial and odd for the two of them. "Like, a date-date?"

"Well, only if you wish it to be." he crooned with a smirk that made her fight back the urge of rolling her eyes at him.

"No, not a date. Just dinner. Between old friends." she insisted. "And not tonight, I have plans. Tomorrow."

He grinned at her words and nodded. "Very well, dinner tomorrow night then… Friend."

Caroline had to bite her lip to keep a wide smile at bay. "I'll see you then, friend." she beamed and turned away in a rush to try and hide the butterflies that had suddenly surfaced in her stomach.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Tyler and Mila had taken Stefan and Valerie to a small rental home just outside of town. Valerie and Mila had begun trying to reconstruct what was left of the potion as the guys sat in deep discussion in the other room.

"But why bite her?" Stefan pressed on, still not following the werewolf's reasoning with hurting Caroline in such a nearly fatal way.

"Well... Because we needed that." Tyler confessed, pointing at the grimoire that Elijah had given them to complete their protection spell.

"Does that justify it?" Stefan retorted; his tone as grim as he felt.

"You're one to talk." Tyler muttered. "Are we pretending you didn't get the Mikaelson's to slaughter the very last doppelganger just so you could hide from Julian?"

Stefan sighed turning towards him with a frown. "You're right." he admitted. "I guess, sometimes we think that the end justifies the means... But when the dust settles, we're all left to suffer through the guilt of what we did to survive."

"Well, at least you guys may still be able to get your potion to work. I'm kind of screwed." Tyler whispered, staring down at his hands with a fallen face.

"Why did it have to be Alaric's blood?" Stefan asked, making Tyler shrug.

"I guess it didn't have to be, but it was kind of my best shot. You know, get the blood from Ric and the grimoire from Klaus – all in one bite." he flinched at his own words. "Hell, Stefan. What have we become?"

Stefan sighed in agreement. "I ask myself the same all the time..." he gulped. "Take mine."

"What?"

"Take my blood."

"I don't really know if that will work, Stefan..."

"I have over a hundred years of grievances to offer, Tyler. That has to amount to something."

"It could work." Mila said, the women having entered the room again. "But unfortunately, the potion won't."

"We tried." Valerie sighed and shook her head. "But it's completely ruined."

"So, what now?" Stefan asked, shaking off the disappointment with a shrug.

"If you are truly ready to offer your blood to help Tyler, then I may have something to give in return." Mila responded, flipping through a few pages of the book in her hands. "I can't keep Julian from finding you forever, but I could blind him to you both. Keep him from directly tracking you."

"How would that work?" Tyler asked.

"We'd still have to be careful, use aliases and keep out of sight. But if we are, there is no reason for him to find us." Valerie explained, nodding as she read the same page over Mila's shoulder. "You would do that for us?"

"Yes, but as I said... We still need blood from someone in pain, consider this the exchange."

Valerie nodded and glanced over at Stefan then. "Then you will have mine."

"You don't have to, Val." Stefan interjected but she shook her head.

"I have remained in mourning of my own lost child for centuries within the Phoenix Stone. If anybody's pain could even begin to equate the horror I witnessed when Tyler turned... It is mine."

Tyler smiled sadly. "Thank you." he said, earning an equally sad smile from her in return.

"Let's begin." Mila announced then and immediately got to work.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"1255… 1253…" Caroline read aloud as she and Enzo walked down Leonida Street, passing small, run-down houses and young kids riding skateboards back and forth.

"You know, gorgeous, I think we really could use Marcel after all."

"1249… Oh, so now you listen to me?" she scoffed at Enzo. "I thought he was 'too much of a liability' and 'couldn't be trusted'."

"Well, that was when I thought he only wanted to bed you." he shrugged, making Caroline hit him over his arm before she continued reading the street numbers.

He chuckled then. "Sorry, dear. What I mean to say is, maybe he could assist us with reaching Leila Gardiner."

"Isn't this Hannah-May supposed to do that?" Caroline asked then, her face a grimace at the mention of using Marcel.

"Well, there is no guarantee that she will agree to help us."

"I thought that was your job, what with the accent and charms and that whole… thing." she retorted, accentuating the last word by waving her hand around his face.

He grabbed her by the elbow and stopped her in her steps. "Believe me, Caroline. I would pretty much do anything to get to Bonnie at this point. But if it came down to it… Leila Gardiner will not stand in my way."

She gulped loudly as she took in his dark, serious eyes and nodded. "Let's hope we don't need you going on a killing-spree then."

"Well, I would prefer that as well. But if you keep derailing our mission here, gorgeous, I may as well have to cut you loose."

She flinched at that, staring at him for a moment. "I want to find her just as much as you do, why else would I be here in the freaking New Orleans slums!?" she gritted out through clenched teeth. "What happened to us being in this together?"

"That ended the moment you chose to hinder our progress due to some childish love drama." he quipped. "Or have I missed the moment when you finally gave in and reached out to Klaus?"

"Actually, yes. I talked to him earlier today."

Holding her back by her arm, he gaped at her with a disbelieving chuckle. "What?"

"Yeah." she sneered, shrugging out of his grip before continuing. "I'm meeting him for dinner tomorrow night."

"Ah, I see." he muttered darkly as he followed by her side. "You're somehow making time for a date and yet cannot be bothered to do what's necessary to help Bonnie…"

"Hey!" she protested angrily, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "Just because I won't trust Damon when he says that something he possibly needs is to be found somewhere in Baton Rouge – doesn't mean that I'm not doing everything I can to find Bonnie."

He opened his mouth to respond but she quickly cut him off. "Also – if you really thought that hell of a vague lead was anything to go on; then why don't you just run off to follow it yourself!?"

"Then who would be here to babysit you, gorgeous?" he mocked, causing her blood to nearly boil in her veins as she wanted to hit him in his face. His voice cut off her violent thoughts as he nodded to the side. "1233."

She scowled silently for a moment before admitting defeat with a nod. "Let's go." she muttered and headed towards the house with Enzo in tow.

Ignoring the doorbell, Enzo gave the door a determined knock and called out. "Hannah-May Denver?"

Caroline tried to listen for noises inside the house but felt a cloud fill her head, some magic seeming to work hard at keeping strangers from overhearing anything. "Well, it's definitely the right house." she noted quietly to Enzo, who nodded in agreement.

"Please, Ms. Denver. We don't wish you any harm, we only want to talk." Enzo pleaded as he knocked again.

There was still no response, making Caroline restless. "Ms. Denver, please. We need your help contacting someone. We were told you're the only one who can do that."

Finally, a presence neared the door. "Who sent you?" a hoarse voice croaked out from inside.

"Damon Salvatore." Enzo responded.

They both held their breaths as they waited for the woman's reaction. The sound of several locks clicking open drew their attention back to the door again. As it opened, a small old lady looked at them with tired eyes.

"Who you lookin' to contact?" she asked silently, looking straight down on her feet. Perhaps in fear of being compelled.

"A witch named Leila Gardiner." Caroline answered, a soft smile on her face.

"What for?" she asked.

"We believe she can lead us to someone." Enzo replied. "Really, Ms. Denver. Any help you could offer us would be greatly appreciated."

"Come in." she then said, opening the door for them to enter.

They stepped inside cautiously, nodding towards her as she quickly locked the door behind them and gestured them to sit on a dark leather couch. "My name is Caroline Forbes. This is Enzo St. John."

Hannah-May nodded in response. "I'm sorry to say I have nothing to offer you to drink." she said as she took a seat on an old armchair opposite them.

"That's quite alright, Ms. Denver. We don't want to impose." Enzo said with a polite smile.

"Well, go on then. To whom will Leila Gardiner lead y'all?"

"A friend was kidnapped by a dangerous vampire, one who seems heavily cloaked and pretty much impossible to locate. We were told that Ms. Gardiner could assist us because she managed to get into the vampire's head before."

Hannah-May gave them a short nod. "I may be able to help, but it will cost you."

"Anything." Enzo quickly promised, his eyes wide and filled with hope.

She studied them for a moment before turning back, looking at something over her shoulder. "I feel the need to warn you, even for a couple of vampires – this is dangerous business you've gotten yourselves caught up in."

"What do you mean?" Caroline pressed on carefully.

"Leila wasn't a regular witch. She got mixed up with some bad people, dealing with very dark magic…" she explained, caution evident in her tone. "I was there when she was finally freed, it wasn't an easy sight to behold."

"Freed?" Caroline echoed.

Hannah-May cursed to herself at that, seeming to regret her words immediately. "Killed." she said then, correcting herself. "Anyway, I can help you contact Leila."

Enzo nodded aggressively. "Please, that would be highly appreciated."

"But as I mentioned, it will cost you."

"What could we offer you, Ms. Denver?" Caroline asked politely.

After a moment of thought, Hannah-May replied with a sad smile. "There is a necklace that is believed to have healing powers. Witches such as me aren't welcome into the parts of New Orleans where the necklace can be found… Get that for me and I will help you however I can."

Enzo and Caroline shared a look before Enzo turned to her again. "What do you mean by 'healing powers'?"

Hannah-May seemed to understand their confusion and simply let out a light chuckle. "It is the kind of power which vampire blood cannot provide." she explained and reached for a framed photograph on the coffee table, showing it to them. "My daughter, she has cancer."

Caroline froze as she stared at the woman then. "Cancer?" she breathed out in an echo, earning a nod from the woman. The mere word caused her to feel dizzy. Her hands started shaking, her heart drummed within her chest.

Oh no, not now… Not here… she thought to herself as she felt the anxiety attack creep into her skin. "It won't cure her." Caroline spat out, interrupting Hannah-May as she gave directions to a small antique shop in the Garden district.

The lady turned to her then. "I know."

"You do?"

"Of course, hun." she quipped, seeming insulted by the implication. "But it will help her through chemotherapy. It will ease her pain. That is all I can do for her now."

Caroline's breathing began slowing down as the explanation calmed her slightly. "Okay. We'll have it to you tomorrow." Caroline promised then and stood up, pulling Enzo to his feet by his arm. "Thank you for your help."

"Thank me tomorrow." Hannah-May said as she followed them out. "And before you get any ideas, this house is magically sealed; one invitation will not be enough for you to enter again."

"Understood." Enzo chided with a nod. "We will see you tomorrow. Thank you, again."

He had to hurry to catch up with Caroline as she was speeding down the street in a daze. "Caroline, stop." he called out as he grabbed her arms and held her in place. "What happened in there, gorgeous?"

"I just…" she murmured, feeling out-of-breath as she tried to calm her head. "I had a moment. Sorry."

"Thirsty?" he asked as he scanned her thoroughly.

"No. I just… I need to get my heart-rate down."

"By running?"

She clenched her jaw and buried her nails into her palms. Suddenly, she noticed a broken wooden fence near a house and rushed over to it. Grabbing one of the wooden poles, she held a pointy end close to her leg and plunged it into her thigh.

"Woah, Caroline, stop!" Enzo yelled out as he tried to stop her. She pushed him away, managing somehow to knock him out in the process.

As she stabbed her leg once more, she felt her pulse slow down by letting her body focus on the physical wound instead of the mental ones. Throwing the pole away with a huff as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

It helped, she thought to herself as she exhaled in relief. For now.

When she felt stable enough, she turned to Enzo as he remained unconscious on the ground. Pulling at one of his arms, she wrapped it over her shoulders and then sped them away from the open neighborhood. Not stopping until she reached her hotel.

Four years ago
Ardmore, Oklahoma

When Caroline and Ric arrived at the address later that night, a beautiful 1920s Tudor house welcomed them. They quickly moved their bags inside and heated some fast food they'd bought on the road. Ric was serving it up when Caroline entered with a stack of magazines, newspapers and letters in hand.

"I thought the least we could do for Ginnifer is to bring her parent's mail in while we're here." she explained as she dropped them next to the food.

"What's the plan, Care?" Ric asked, making her sigh.

"I don't know." she admitted. "We could always join a carnival. Or rent an RV and take a road trip coast-to-coast?"

"Right." he muttered as he unwrapped his burger and dug in.

She studied him silently, trying to figure out something comforting to say to him. "I'm sorry." she murmured once she came up short.

"For what?"

"For making you drop everything and move, again."

"Caroline, you're the only family I have. Whether you made me or not, I'm not letting you go anywhere on your own."

She smiled softly at that and rested her head on his shoulder. "Sounds good to me."

"So, Oklahoma?" he asked between bites.

"Hmm... Maybe New York? Or California?"

"Or Louisiana?"

She sat up straight and gave him a strange look.

"He healed you, Care." he chided, making her shrug and look away. Avoiding his eyes as she began flipping through a newspaper.

"You mean you're not even the least bit tempted to head east?"

"Why would I be?"

"I don't know, to thank him, maybe? Stop by for a beignet?" he said and shrugged. "It may even be safer for you. He'd protect you."

"And what about what you just said? What about you and me?"

"I could learn to like beignets." he replied with a thoughtful pout, earning a chuckle from her.

"Well, I don't think it's a good idea."

He furrowed his brows as he studied her closely. "Why not?"

"Because I don't know what's waiting for me there." she sighed and dipped some fries in ketchup. " They have problems of their own, and we're supposed to be out… Let's just stay out, instead of going looking for trouble in yet another vampire-filled city..."

Silence fell over them as he mulled her words over, she kept flipping through the mail with a small frown as she finally spoke again. "I called him."

"Klaus?"

"Yeah, right before I threw my phone out the window by the Texas state line."

"What did you say?"

"He didn't pick up."

"Did you leave a message?" he pressed on, studying her intently as she sighed.

"No, I didn't know what to say!" she gritted out in frustration then. "Anyways, it probably doesn't matter. I mean, if he came into town to heal me and then run off immediately afterwards before continuing to never speak to me again – then maybe I should just leave Klaus Mikaelson alone."

"You sure that's what he wants? What you want?"

No, she thought to herself but refused to utter it. Hurrying to change the topic instead. "So, I'm thinking we should go by aliases for now on."

He gave her a short frown before nodding, seemingly accepting the change for now. "Right. So, Bonnie and Clyde?"

She grinned at him and shook her head. "I was thinking something more similar to our real names, it would be easier to remember."

"Well, I guess I could be Richard instead of Alaric."

"Mm, you don't look like a Richard." she said, pouting as she looked over at the magazine in her hand. "How about Tom? Like Tomas."

"Tom?" he repeated, grimacing at the name. "What do you think of Joshua?"

"No, that won't work... Maybe, Zachary?"

"Zachary..." he tried it out, nodding slowly. "Zach Richards."

She smiled at him. "I like that."

"And you?"

"I was thinking something similar enough to still keep 'Care'." she mused and hummed lightly. "And maybe Richards too? We could be cousins?"

He frowned. "And have people think I'm your dad? I know I'm old and all but there's no need to rub it in."

"Ok, ok! Not cousins!" she laughed, making him chime in. "Then Williams, after my dad."

He gave her a warm smile and nodded. "Just Williams then?" he teased, making her chuckle lightly.

"I don't know… Clara? Cassidy?"

"Cara." he suggested then, earning a slow smile from her as she took it in.

"Cara Williams." she concluded then. "So, now that that's settled… What do you think about..." she leaned closer to him then, pointing to a picture in the magazine in her hands with the name 'Second City' in large letters. "Chicago?"

"Chicago." he stated in agreement, smirking as he glanced over at her then. Both feeling pleased with the choice.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

When Enzo finally started to wake up, Caroline had already finished sending some emails to her colleagues back in Chicago and checked in with them in order to approve her prolonged impromptu vacation. "You are starting to really get on my nerves, Forbes." he grunted as he stroked his neck with narrowed eyes.

She stored her laptop away and looked back over at him as he sat up on the bed. "Let's call us even then." she chimed, earning a dark but amused look from the vampire. They fell into an easy chuckle before she took a deep breath and voiced her thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"For snapping my neck?"

"No…" she drawled as she bit her lower-lip and took a steeling breath. "You were right. I was making things more difficult than they needed to be… With coming here, with Klaus… But if you could believe it, I thought I was doing the right thing."

"I'm not sure I follow." he said with a cautious glance before she sighed and explained herself further.

"I thought that I could keep things separate. Klaus would be there, and Bonnie would be there, far away from each other." she held her hands up in demonstration before continuing. "I didn't want my past with Klaus to get in the way of finding Bonnie. Because truth is, things are way too complicated between him and me and opening that pandora's box up would just be… Messy."

Enzo turned his palm in gesture, urging her to continue. "Well, without going into too many details… I kind of omitted some things from our backstory. Truth is… The last time I saw Klaus, we left things unresolved. And I may have led him to believe that if I ever came looking for him, we would try to make things … more resolved."

"So, you left him waiting for you?"

"I mean, not literally. It's not like I ever thought he would take it to heart. I mean, it was just the kind of thing he always said, you know? Doesn't mean that he actually meant it…" she rambled on, sighing as she tried to find the end of her thought. "But I guess I was kind of worried about running into him before… Before –"

"Before you were ready." Enzo finished, bringing a slight blush to her cheeks.

Silence hung over them for a moment as Enzo took it all in. He studied her slowly as she waited for him to say anything, anything at all. When he finally spoke up, it was so quiet she thought she imagined it first. "What?" she asked.

"I said I get it." he murmured softly. "It's fine. Water under the bridge."

"Just like that?" she said incredulously.

He shrugged before speaking again. "Well, you said you've spoken with him now. That was true, yes?"

She nodded in response. "And I assume this was difficult for you? To finally decide to deal with your history, even though you may not have felt ready yet." he pressed on, earning a nod from her again.

"Well…" he said with a deep sigh as he gave her a sympathetic smile. "Then I think you've suffered enough for now. I won't lay any more weight on your shoulders." he said, allowing a silence to hang over them shortly before speaking again. "However, I do hope he has something to bring to the table here. Since I am beginning to find myself at a loss for a working plan."

"Which is where Klaus comes in, I hope. Me and Klaus, we've dealt with things like this before and I truly believe he can help us out."

"Then why did you ever doubt this before?" Enzo pointed out.

Caroline closed her eyes with a deep exhale at that. "Honestly?" she breathed out as she looked over at him before continuing. "I thought Klaus would take matters into his own hands, and I was worried that it would endanger Bonnie's life."

"Because he would prioritize your safety first?"

She nodded with a guilty look on her face. "Like I said, a complicated mess."

"You've certainly earned a good night's sleep, gorgeous." he chuckled at that, making her join with a light laugh.

"Yeah." she whispered. "I thought I could take care of Hannah-May's errand tomorrow morning, but not before letting myself sleep in for once."

He smiled at her in agreement. "You sure you don't want my company?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll just get the necklace for her and meet you at her house afterwards."

"Sounds like a plan." he smirked, earning a smile from her in return. "And about the Baton Rouge subject… I know you don't believe there is anything to find there, but I still think it wouldn't hurt to check it out."

"So, you want to go?"

He grunted as he turned and got off the bed, stretching his arms in a sigh. "I don't think it's any rush. We could see where this lead with the Denver witch leads us, and maybe bring it up again further down the line."

"Sounds good." she agreed with a nod of her head.

"I should head over to my room and get some sleep." he announced as he moved over to the door of her suite then. She followed him with her arms crossed over her chest as he suddenly looked over at her. His eyes lighting up in mischief.

"What?" she chuckled at him, making him shake his head.

"I just realized that I got further with you in a few days than that Marcel fellow has in nearly a week." he mocked, glancing back at her unmade bed as she gaped at him in response.

"Okay, that's it. Get out!" she pushed him through the door and closed it firmly between them, drowning out the deep chuckle as it slowly faded away through the hall. She quickly shook off the irritation at his words and headed to finally get an early night's sleep for once.

Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

Valerie held her breath as they left the temporary home behind. The potion concealing them from Julian should work, but it still worried her to see Stefan so nervous beside her. "We will get another chance." she told him, stroking his shoulder softly. "Julian may be hidden from us now, but that doesn't mean we cannot still get to him."

"With what, Val?" he scoffed, causing her to sigh in defeat.

"I don't know."

They walked together slowly to the street where they had left their car, both carrying heavy doubts and fears in their hearts as they entered the vehicle in silence.

They had failed, and the reality of it was dangerously close to crushing Valerie's soul. For months now, they had one goal in mind: finding a way to be safe from Julian. And after tonight, hope was difficult to hold onto. They needed a new plan, a new goal… Especially in order to keep Stefan from losing his senses, because she knew how easy it would be for him to shut everything off and turn into his Ripper self instead. She had to help him, however she could. And if what he needed was a new goal to work towards – then she would find him one.

He had already driven through the city as she sat deep in thought, the high buildings vaned and were slowly turning into an open road. His face was set in a hard expression, his eyes fully focused ahead. She recognized the look; he was beating himself up again. Blaming himself for everything that had gone wrong. He always carried so much pain and guilt, the fact that it hadn't already flattened him by now surprised her. Ever since they left Mystic Falls, he had done nothing else but repeat his mistakes over and over. And she imagined that it just might pain her more to see it than for him to do so.

"I think it might be time for us to leave North America." she told him softly after another long silence between them. "I have contacts in India, some of whom may have ways of helping us."

He cast a glance over at her before focusing on the road again. His lack of response made her fidget with her hands slightly as she tried to wrack her brain for something – anything – to help bring him out of his dark thoughts. "Mila gave me her number, so I will be able to ask her for some assistance as well." she added. "But I believe she and Tyler will be rather preoccupied with their own safety for now."

When he still didn't show any signs of him actually hearing her, she let out a deep sigh. "Stefan, what's wrong?"

"Everything." he scoffed.

"Well, what is bothering you right now then?"

"We killed someone for a spell that Julian used against us."

She nodded slowly. "Yes, that was a horrible and disastrous outcome… But still, we couldn't have known how tonight would end."

"Maybe not." he shrugged slightly then, glancing over at her shortly. "But Julian is still out there. And we are still running. Why do I feel like we are in the exact same spot as we were yesterday? It is like we aren't even moving forward anymore, Val. All we do is run and hide."

"So, let's not anymore." she chimed, a thought suddenly making her smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's not run anymore." she explained. "Let's fight."

He watched her then with a bewildered face. "What, just turn around and go after him instead of getting as far away as possible?"

"Exactly."

"It's too dangerous."

"Not necessarily." she pointed out. "This is the first time in over a year that we've known exactly where he is and what he is up to. Let us use it to our advantage."

"How?"

She looked over at the road then, thinking it over for a short moment before speaking up again. The plan already forming in her mind as she put it all together. "We follow him. We bide our time, study his patterns, and learn what we can of his plans. And when the moment is right – we kill him."

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Smoke and mirrors

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline carried a bag with the necklace that Hannah-May had requested in her hands as she made her way through the city. She enjoyed the sun on her face and the wind in her hair as she strolled down the street. Taking in the soulful music playing through the different shops and bars, mixed with the voices of tourists reveling in the NOLA experience…

She froze up just as she rounded a corner then, seeing Klaus standing in front of her. His hands behind his back and a soft smile on his face. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but she cut him off with the raise of her hand.

"I'm busy, Klaus." she interjected exasperatedly and walked around him to continue down the street. He followed closely next to her, seemingly undeterred by her dismissal. "I have important things to do, okay?" she sighed without looking back at him. "People to see and answers to find..."

"Ah." he remarked, a nod of his head visible to her peripheral view. "And do any of those include time spent with Marcel?"

She stopped walking with a sigh as he took a stand in front of her. For a moment she studied him, wondering whether she should tell him that she had no interest in Marcel whatsoever. But his smug, dimple displaying grin and sparkling eyes made her press her lips together firmly.

Choosing to bite back the comforting reassurance that had threatened to escape her then. "I'm not doing this with you." she declared with determination and began walking again, passing him by. Where's Josh when you need him?

"Probably minding his own business, far away from here. If he knows what's best for him, that is." Klaus said amusedly, making her freeze up and look at him again in confusion, shaking her head slightly.

She brought a hand up to her eyes and thought about how last night had been the first in a long while where she'd actually fallen asleep early. I must be severely sleep deprived.

"Having trouble sleeping of late?" he asked teasingly, his breath fanning her ear as he leaned in closer to her.

"Seriously!?" she hissed as she threw her hands up in disbelief. "I'm pretty sure that one wasn't out loud!"

He shrugged. "No, but I do pride myself in being able to read your body language, Caroline." he noted while taking a few steps closer to her, making her hold her breath. She tore her eyes away from his intense gaze before she had a chance to completely drown in it and shook her head again as her cheeks burned.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever." she breathed out and turned to keep walking, sighing again when he continued to follow her. "I really am busy, and I don't have time to argue with you."

"Who said anything about arguing?" he protested, making her scoff. His hands circled her wrist and stopped her, turning her slightly around with a soft tug as he searched for her eyes. When she finally looked up from his hand to his face, he smiled sweetly. "How about lunch?"

She raised her eyebrows to her hairline at that. "Lunch?" she echoed. "With you?"

A grin tugged at his lips. "Yes, with me."

Catching herself considering it, she quickly shook the thought off and looked back at him with a frown. "I can't. I'm going to see a witch about something." she admitted.

He dropped his gaze, making her follow it to look down at his hand as it was still holding onto her wrist. His thumb stroked over the skin above her pulse point absentmindedly, making her gulp as her breathing hitched despite her best efforts. As she glanced up at his face, she caught the corners of his lips twitch right before he let go of her then.

"Well, in that case…" he said softly, tucking both of his hands behind his back and straightening up. "Allow me to accompany you."

She bit her lip harshly and looked away, missing the fiery look in his eyes that had resulted in her innocent action by a beat. She knew she couldn't let him come with her because then she would need to introduce him to Hannah-May and risk her breaking their deal...

Shaking her head as she made her decision then. "I think I'll just handle this one on my own, thanks." she quipped with the tilt of her head, causing her hair to fall over her shoulder before turning away from him once more.

"Caroline..." he sighed as he suddenly appeared in front of her again. She was just about protest when something else caught her attention. Something approaching at a high velocity.

Acting on reflex, she grabbed onto Klaus and launched him back to her and away from the road. Just in time to avoid a speeding car as it drove past them. Caroline stared daggers into the hood as the driver rounded a corner and disappeared, completely oblivious to the scene having taken place in its wake. And the accident it had nearly caused.

That's when she let out a long breath, not having realized she even held it in the first place. "You should be more careful." she barked out, staring up at Klaus' analyzing eyes with a panicked scowl.

"As much as I appreciate the gesture, love... You know as well as I, that a car could hardly cause me any harm."

"Right." she whispered under her breath, realizing suddenly that she was holding onto him like both their lives depended on it. Her fingernails were digging into his jacket, and his hands had in turn found their way to her sides. The warmth from his skin burned through the material of her dress, making it hard for her to think.

She cleared her throat and shook her head slightly to collect her thoughts. "Right, I knew that. I was just trying to keep you from either killing the driver in the collision or exposing yourself to the whole block by vamp-speeding away."

Gulping as she glanced back up at Klaus' smirking face where it remained close to hers. The situation reminded her of a very strong memory of him... That time he had found her in the halls of Mystic High, running away from Alaric.

He had kept her from going back for Elena as well as calmed her down. And it had been one of the first times where she saw something in him. Something that made her think he cared. About people and about who got hurt and who lived...

About her.

The grip on her waist eased lightly, but instead of pulling back from her, he stroked her softly across her ribs. Sending shivers through her whole body. As a tiny gasp escaped her lips, she remembered where they were and fought a blush from covering her cheeks.

Clearing her throat again, she let go of him and backed away from his grasp. She cursed herself as she felt embarrassed for her reaction, both by dragging him out of the not-so-dangerous harm's way and by being so clearly affected by his proximity. They stood frozen for a moment as she composed herself and tried to think of a way to break the silence. Although he managed to beat her to it.

"I believe you dropped this." he said while picking up the shopping bag from off the ground.

Averting her eyes from his, she nodded shortly in appreciation. But when she reached for it, he pulled it swiftly away. "Let me join you." he quipped then.

"To the witch?" she asked with a slight studder. He nodded with a sweet smile towards her in response. "Why?"

"Why?" he began with a shrug. "I'd like to spend some time with you, is that so hard to believe?"

"We have a date tonight, Klaus. Isn't that enough bonding time?" she pointed out with a nervous chuckle. Noticing a quick flash of a grin on the hybrid's face, she found herself immediately regretting her use of the word 'date'. For a moment she thought of calling it all off right now, before it was too late and too complicated - but he interrupted her then.

"We do, and honestly it is all too far into the future for my liking."

She rolled her eyes at that, a smile ghosting over her lips despite her best efforts. "Okay, fine." she conceded, suddenly unable to deny him such a simple request. Then she directed a finger towards him, pointing at his chest. "But only if you do this my way."

He raised his palms in retreat. "Of course. Name your conditions."

"No touching. No killing. No threatening or torturing. No neck-snapping or threatening to snap anything… Just, really no villany-ing whatsoever." the last one brought a wide smile to his lips as she sighed. "And no smart-assing. Got it?"

He nodded eagerly, looking like a child who finally convinced its' parents to let him go to Disney World or something. "Oh, and also. Enzo's meeting us there, so you're going to have to play nice." she added, bringing a slightly furrowed grimace from him.

She read his confused eyes and sighed. "Enzo?" she repeated. "Enzo St. John? My friend? You met him the other night."

"Ah, yes." he crooned then, smiling towards her. "Well, considering I will be your escort to Ms. Denver's now, perhaps your companion could leave this to the two of us."

She opened her mouth to aim a jab at the whole 'escorting'-comment but was quickly struck by something else. "Klaus... I never told you the witch's name."

For a short moment he looked like he regretted his words, then he grinned as she began to utter the accusation. "Have you been spying on me?" she asked slowly, taking a step towards him with every word.

"Would you have wanted me to?" he chimed, bringing a frustrated grunt from her.

"Seriously!? That is not ok, Klaus! I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

"We are, love! Why else would you attempt to rescue me from a car just now?" he teased before giving her a genuine smile. "I promise, I have not been spying on you."

"Then where did you get her name?" she demanded, her arms crossed over her chest. "Not even you are that good of a mind-reader."

"To be fair, I never claimed to be telepathic. I am simply… observant."

"That's not an answer, Klaus."

He shrugged leisurely. "Believe what you wish, sweetheart. The truth is that I threw a glance into this bag earlier." He swung the shopping bag with his index-finger and smirked at her. "And I happen to recognize the value of its content, as well as whom would possibly be interested in having you fetch such an item for them."

"Is this your way of saying that you know Hannah-May and are going to help me? Or is it actually going to be a disadvantage?"

"That depends." he said with another shrug.

"On what?"

"On whether or not her memory is fully intact these days."

She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Don't tell me. You threatened someone she loved? Killed her friends? Killed her family? Killed her? Slept with her?"

Bringing a finger under her chin, he lifted her gaze to meets his eyes and grinned. "Is that a slight tinge of jealousy I hear, Caroline?"

"What!?" she squeaked, sounding much less composed than she would have hoped. She cleared her throat and shook out of his grip. "Of course not!"

He studied her eyes for a long moment, drilling into her mind. She held a breath, as if trying to keep him from somehow entering her thoughts. But without the skin contact, that shouldn't be possible, even for an original vampire and their sometimes mind-reading capabilities.

"Well." he drawled, visibly retreating as he handed her the shopping bag with an easy smile. "I won't force my presence upon you. I simply thought I could be of service. And from what I recall, we do happen to be quite the team in these sorts of situations."

Caroline wasn't entirely sure how the little puppy-dog look of his managed to claw at her soul, but suddenly she found herself calling for him. "Wait, Klaus."

He turned around to her, a questioning expression as she took a deep breath. "You can come with, if you want." She whined and turned ahead as they walked through the Garden district together.

"So..." Klaus said after a long moment of silence between them. "This Elliot... Everest? Edgar."

"Enzo." she corrected.

"Yes, Enzo." he mused, bringing a tiny smile from her. "How long have you been... acquainted?"

"Maybe… Seven, eight years."

"I don't remember him from my time in Mystic Falls with you and your..." he seemed at loss for words for a moment before continuing. "Friends."

She ignored the distaste in his tone and simply nodded. "You wouldn't. He showed up after you left."

"Well, isn't that convenient." he chuckled. "I leave and suddenly you find yourself working with another vampire so much older than yourself?"

"How do you know Enzo's older?"

"When aren't they? You seem to have fallen into a rather specific category of type ever since the wolf pup..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she scoffed, making him hold her arm back to stop her from walking.

"I heard of your relationship with Stefan a while back." he noted, making her gulp down a hint of hurt at the mention of his name. "And then you leave town, only to move in with that history-teaching vampire hunter... Alaric - was it? And then, this Ernesto and now Marcel..."

"Enzo." she corrected – again. "And he and I aren't... We never... And Marcel isn't... Why would you even -? I don't have to explain myself to you, Klaus!" she stuttered on, sounding as flustered as she felt in the moment.

He chuckled at that, letting go of her arm as he continued walking down the street. She hurried after and took a stand in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Friends don't interrogate friends on who they choose to spend their time with." she retorted.

"Now I have to disagree with you, sweetheart." he grinned. "Friends certainly do share such information with one another."

"You don't hear me asking you to name every last one of your lady-friends from all this time apart."

"But I would be happy to tell you, Caroline. Go ahead! Ask me." he suddenly stood mere inches away from her then, a challenging smile making his eyes glitter lightly.

"I don't want to hear about that."

"Why not?" he asked, his eyes tracing every last detail of her face. "Are you afraid of the answer?"

"No, I just..." she sighed. "I don't know. We're just not... It isn't –… We don't… I don't want to talk about that with you." For a moment, it seemed like he was going to continue pressing the matter but then he simply walked around her with his hands behind his back.

Feeling frustrated, and kind of mad and confused and wanting to fight back somehow, she blurted out the first thought in her mind. "I don't know what you want from me, Klaus." She heard him stopping at that, slowly turning as she did the same to meet his gaze. "What do you want?" she lifted her hands in the air in an exasperated gesture.

The question circled around in her mind, trying to figure out what to say and what to think. Should she tell him that she moved on with her life? That she fell in love and had other men in her bed and stopped thinking about him?

Or should she tell him the opposite? That every time she felt scared and lost and out of her mind - she considered calling him. That, when she left Mystic Falls behind, she was so close to turning the car to follow the signs for Louisiana... But instead chose to continue heading in the opposite direction.

What exactly did he want to know? That she got her heart broken again and again, and that by the end of the day she simply gave up on the whole fairytale-romance kind of love that she used to wish for when she was a kid...

That she honestly didn't think that he even still thought about her after all these years? Maybe that's what he wanted to hear, that the young blonde naïve little, small-town-girl from Virginia, genuinely never thought he would care about seeing her again?

"What do you want me to say?" she asked, keeping everything else inside out of fear of exposing too much.

"The truth." he replied, the tone of voice breaking her heart.

The words left her mouth of their own accord at that. "I just wanted to stop giving you all the wrong ideas, I guess. That's all."

He stilled at her words; his lips parted in surprise as he analyzed her face closely. "Is that really how you feel, Caroline?"

"It doesn't matter, Klaus." she huffed coldly, making herself flinch at the sound of her voice. The dark storm in his eyes made her voice die out, she stood frozen in place as he inched closer to her and grabbed onto her forearms.

They stood still in silence while their eyes spoke volumes. "Klaus..." she breathed out, reading something on his face that she didn't quite know what to do with. "You're not- I mean… You don't still-" feel something? The words died on her lips as he suddenly leaned even closer and his gaze dropped to her mouth.

A challenge appeared on the hybrid's face then. As if daring her to break away from him and prove him right. What about wasn't clear to her though.

His hands burned on her skin, creating a strong pull between them as she tried to calm her whirlwind mind. She met his eyes suddenly and immediately regretted it. Gulping hard as she fought a shiver in response to the fiery look that they held.

He was calling on her to close the last distance between them. Just that one inch... And indulge. Just this once. Just like she did that one day in the woods... And right then, she couldn't think of a single reason not to.

"Well, aren't you two cozy?" The words broke through the sudden haze in her mind as they both quickly turned to meet the intruder.

"Enzo." Caroline exhaled sharply, realizing that she had stopped breathing the second Klaus had touched her skin. Clearing her throat, she propped her chin up slightly and waited for Klaus to back away from her.

Instead, he stayed in place, only letting go of her but otherwise seeming completely unbothered by the audience. "So..." she drawled while smiling innocently to the younger vampire. "I got the necklace."

"Wonderful." Enzo snickered teasingly at her before nodding towards Klaus. "Will you be joining us?"

"Yes." he replied cheekily, making Caroline fight the strong urge to roll her eyes.

"Ok then!" she quipped and clasped her palms together. "We should get going."

"Actually, love." Klaus said then, holding her back by the elbow. "Change of plans."

"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked then, her tone mimicking the confusion on Enzo's face.

"I'm sorry to say you haven't done your research thoroughly enough this time, Caroline. "

She shook her head lightly. "What?"

"You hope to receive a favor of sorts from Hannah-May, I presume?" he queried, earning nods from the both of them. "Well, you are barking up the wrong tree, as they say… She isn't the one to turn to for anything but herbs and crystals."

Studying him closely, Caroline tried to read his expression as she thought it over. "You're saying she lied? She doesn't have any powers?"

Klaus gave her a smile at the accurate guess. "Not even enough to avoid being compelled by a vampire. Her daughter is the only one in her line with magic left."

"That's just great..." Enzo gritted out in disappointment. "So, what now?"

"Well, you need a Denver-witch with magic. Let's go to the one who actually possesses it."

"But the daughter is sick, right? Or was that a lie too?" Caroline asked, trying to piece it all together in her mind.

"Yes, she is indeed unwell. But that doesn't mean she can't be of use." Klaus shrugged and grabbed the bag from Caroline, handing it to Enzo. "Deliver this to Ms. Denver as requested, and Caroline and I will speak with the young Alice-May."

"And what, you know where she is?" Enzo asked as he accepted the bag.

"I do."

"And you're going to follow him?"

Caroline sighed at the affronted tone in Enzo's voice and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess In am."

Enzo tugged at her arm and led her aside then, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "Are you sure about this, gorgeous?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "Anything to get on with the plan, right?"

"Right." he echoed, analyzing her for a moment. "I know you said we could trust him, but I really don't like this."

"I don't require your approval, sport." Klaus retorted, suddenly standing right beside them. "What?" he smirked as they stared daggers at him. "I don't appreciate being spoken of as if I am not present."

Caroline rolled her eyes at that. "Enzo, please visit Hannah-May and you can meet up with us later - right?" she directed the question to Klaus who smirked in response.

"Afraid of being left alone with me for too long, sweetheart?" he teased.

"Let's just get this all over with, okay?"

"Very well..." Enzo said then, studying Caroline for a moment as if giving her the chance to change her mind. When she didn't, he simply nodded to the both of them and disappeared to follow his orders.

"Now, where were we?" Klaus asked then, his breath hot against her neck and sending light shivers up her spine.

She shook it off with a shrug but refused to meet his eyes. "Alice-May Denver." she noted with a determined nod. "Lead the way."

One month ago
Prague, Czech Republic

Bonnie was sitting at a small café in a square next to one of Prague's many old churches. She studied her surroundings as she waited for her company. A man was painting one of the benches to the coffee shop and said something to a woman sitting opposite to it. The woman nodded as the painter went inside the building and soon returned with a sign to put on the wet furniture.

A group of four friends were sitting at the table closest to Bonnie, they had ordered a bottle of rosé to share and brought their glasses up in a joyful salute. An older man showed up with a large, grey dog and was about to sit down in the wet paint, when the woman from before stopped him and instead invited him to her table.

He then nodded his head and sat down next to her, the dog taking residence under the bench and looking up at Bonnie with a tilted head. She smiled towards it, in awe of how peaceful it was here. Everybody seemed so open and warm, as if they had all found their place in this world. Which stung for Bonnie because she hadn't even begun searching for hers yet...

A dark-haired man suddenly appeared in the seat opposite to her and smiled at the young witch. "Miss me, darling?" he asked.

She scoffed. "Does this mean Damon has finally found his vampire friend?"

"Not exactly..."

"Enzo!" she hissed. "You were supposed to babysit him, not leave him all alone at some motel…"

"Well… It struck me that there was a beautiful young woman sitting at a café all by herself in an incredibly romantic city... And I suppose I got jealous." he said with a shrug, making her chuckle.

"Really?" she said and leaned forward to rest her chin in her hand. "I sincerely hope you didn't follow her out of fear that she might be meeting someone?"

"Ah, rubbish!" he exclaimed. "How could she possibly find someone better than me?"

"You should ask yourself how you could possibly find someone better than her." Bonnie teased, grinning as he reached for her hand and gave her knuckles a sweet kiss.

"Have you spotted them yet?" he asked when he pulled back, making her nod.

"The woman next to the man with the dog." she whispered as he glanced over to study them.

"She came alone?"

"It seems that way."

"And you're certain it's her?"

"She's wearing the necklace, it's her." Bonnie announced and straightened up as the woman suddenly left the bench and began walking away. "Think she sensed you?"

Enzo glanced at the witch and sighed. "I'd bet my life on it." he muttered before they quickly left the table and began following her.

The woman walked past the narrow streets and crossed a small park, she seemed to try and shake them off by hurrying down to a busy marketplace. But Enzo found her quickly and flashed over to stop her in her steps, making her turn around at Bonnie who'd appeared behind her.

"Kdo jsi?" the woman asked making Enzo smile.

"Vaše nejhorší noční můra." he told her and nodded towards Bonnie. "We need to ask you a few questions."

"What makes you think I have the answers?" the woman retorted, her thick accent coloring her words.

"Because you're Kasia Marousek." Bonnie said, making the woman turn around in surprise. "And we're looking for your coven."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

It just had to be a high school. Caroline cursed internally as they passed the soccer court filled with running teens and entered the halls of Thomas Jefferson High.

"What class?" Klaus' voice broke through her mind as he received instructions over the phone. "I'll let you know." A small beep announced the end of the call and he then turned to Caroline, who was still deep in thought. "Feeling nostalgic, love?"

"Not really." she answered with a low voice, her lips pressed into a thin line and her arms crossed over her chest as she studied the students around them.

"Come on, Caroline. Don't you miss being on the cheerleading team? Winning Miss Mystic Falls? There is really no reason for that scowl, love." he jabbered with a playful voice as he nudged her elbow, beckoning her to chime in.

"I just have the wrong shoes for this. That's all." she muttered with a shrug, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Ah, I see." he said then, disappointment clear in his tone. "We've returned to acting like strangers now, have we?"

"No that's not..." she sighed, glancing at him and frowning as she met his eyes. "Sorry. This is just bringing up less than great memories for me."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, it's just... It's funny how you kind of glorify some things in your mind and then once you're faced with them again..." she looked over at him with sad eyes and shrugged. "I just remember thinking that the years at Mystic High would be the best of my life."

"And you feel it doesn't hold up as well as you had hoped?" he guessed, earning a nod from her. "I'm curious to ask, did you ever considered that your best days are yet to be experienced? That the pinnacle of your life is not, and was never intended to be, a time where you blush over the football captain, rush to achieve good grades despite time-consuming teenage dramas and gossip amongst your friends over ridiculously themed decade dances?"

Unsure of what to reply to that, she simply turned ahead and kept on walking. Klaus seemed to accept her silence as an answer and led her to another hall. A young girl, barely 17 years of age, was standing with her friends and smiling until she sensed their presence.

She swiftly turned to meet Klaus' eyes - confirming their suspicion. She may be dying, but the magic within her was still strong. At once, she turned away from her friends and Klaus pulled her aside. "I've already updated Davina on everything I found out about the Strix. I have no more information to give you."

The quick response confused Caroline as she studied the girl, suddenly noticing that her face was covered with a rather excessive layer of make-up. Most likely hiding the graying color of her fatal disease. "That's not what we're here for." Klaus said, dragging Caroling back to the present.

"Then what?" she asked, studying the strange woman next to the Hybrid. "Who are you?"

"I'm Caroline Forbes, we just need to talk to you a moment. If that's alright?" she coated her words with pure honey, attempting to get the girl on her side. "I've spoken to your mom, Hannah-May."

"I heard." she replied grimly. "There's much I can't do anymore, what makes you think I can help you?"

"We need to communicate with someone through you." Caroline explained, feeling the glances from Klaus as she spoke.

"Wanna talk to your dead boyfriend or something?" she asked, surprising her momentarily.

"Let's not pet the lions, dear." Klaus warned with a dark look as he urged Alice-May to collaborate.

"Actually..." Caroline drawled then. "I have a friend in trouble. And we think that Leila Gardiner knows what happened. Which is why we need your help to talk to her. That's it. Nothing else."

"Yeah, right. And as soon as you have gotten yours, you'll return the favor bloody and grisly. Not interested."

Klaus tightened his grip on her arm and kept her in place. "Do not forget what my family has done for yours, sweetheart." The threat was clear on his face as his eyes suddenly shifted to an amber tone.

"Mama told me you have something for us, though your hands are oddly empty as of now." Alice-May pointed out.

"Do you know what she asked from us, Alice-May?" Caroline asked, interrupting the escalating sparring match between the young girl and the hybrid.

She studied her for a long moment before replying with shrug. "No. I guessed it was money or crystals or something. Why?"

Caroline fought a smile as she finally had piqued her interest, resulting in her dropping the tough act. "What stage are you in now?" she asked, gaining a frown of realization as Alice-May understood what they were now talking about.

"Three." she answered after a long silence.

"I'm guessing you're having trouble keeping anything down for longer than a few hours. You've stopped sleeping, not because you're not tired but because the chills are too much to handle nowadays. You've started seeing strange visions yet, hearing things that aren't there?"

"How did you-"

"The radiation will do that to you, mess with your head, make your body weaken gradually... The foundation you're wearing isn't the best hue to hide the hints of gray and green on your cheeks." Caroline said with a sad smile. "She wanted to help you, Alice-May."

"But she can't." she breathed out, shaking her head in sadness. "Why would she go to you when she knows-"

"She knows, sweetie. She's just... being a mom." Caroline replied, a sad smile forming on her face as the strong compassion in the vampire's heart nearly broke it. "The only pain unimaginable enough for a parent to accept, is watching their child suffer. So, she asked us to get her a necklace to ease your pain."

Klaus' eyes burned into her side as Caroline looked the young girl over, her breathing felt heavy as she tried to push her memories away. "Is that what this is?" Alice-May pressed then, a dark look in her eyes. "You're playing with dead things and trying to drag me and my mama into it?"

Thoughts of Caroline's mother in the hospital hit her hard at that. Seeing her weak... Scared, sad, dying... "No." Caroline said firmly. "The person we're looking for isn't dead and we aren't trying to bring anyone back or any of that Expression-crap."

The young witch's eyes widened at that, making Caroline nod. "Yeah, I've been around the block a couple of times. Trust me, this is nothing like that."

"I know a place we can go." the girl said after a while, nodding to a room close to them. "It'll be quiet enough to do a sensing ritual."

'"Thank you." Caroline said softly, her eyes digging into the young girl's to show how deeply she appreciated it.

As Alice-May began walking toward away, Caroline realized that Klaus was stroking her back softly with his hand while she collected herself. She looked over at him with a small smile. "Sorry." she whispered, gaining a confused frown from him in return.

"You have nothing to apologize for, love." he insisted and raised his free hand to cup her cheek warmly. "I wish..." he began but drifted off.

"I know." she said, reading his pained expression with a strained smile of her own.

"Hey, are we doing this or not?" Alice-May called out, breaking them apart. "Unlike you guys I'm not getting any younger."

They exchanged amused looks before following the young witch away from the prying eyes of other students.

One month ago
Prague, Czech Republic

Kasia had led Bonnie and Enzo to her apartment, leaving Enzo outside of it and allowing Bonnie to enter.

"Witches like you are the reason I gave up magic." the woman said as she took off her jacket and switched the lights on.

"I've learned that life isn't as black and white as some witches seem to think." Bonnie said in defense, making the woman shrug.

"Perhaps you are right." she said and gestured for Bonnie to sit down in the living room. "How did you find me?"

"We've been searching for the Myslikova Coven for months. Your choice of accessories led us to you." Bonnie explained and nodded to the amulet around the woman's neck. "If you've given up magic, why are you still wearing the Marousek Amulet?"

Kasia stroked the necklace slowly and took a deep breath. "It's a reminder of how magic can destroy everything you hold dear if you are not cautious enough."

"Those are some harsh words coming from one of the most infamous witches in eastern Europe."

"Well, like I said. I don't practice magic anymore."

"I'm guessing you're still in contact with your coven though."

Kasie shrugged. "A few of the members, yes."

Bonnie smiled softly and dug into her purse, pulling out a grimoire and handing it over to the woman in front of her. "In exchange for information." she explained.

The older witch stared in awe at the book in her hands. "The Grimoire of Alzbeta Marousek… How did you find this?"

"Like I said, we've been looking for you for a long time."

The woman pressed her lips together and gripped the book tightly. "Why are you giving this to me? Don't you know the kind of magic this book holds?"

"I do, but none of it is of any interest to me." Bonnie explained. "I'm looking for something… different."

"What?"

"An object that belonged to your ancestor. I believe you call it vosková svíčka."

Kasia's face turned cold and hard at her response, she shook her head violently. "No, no. I can't help you." she protested and handed the book back to her.

"Kasia, please. Let me explain…"

"You need to leave, now." the woman demanded, standing up with her arms crossed over her chest.

"We've come all this way, could you at the least just hear our story. Please?" Bonnie asked, studying the woman with wide eyes as she pleaded for her to give her a chance at an explanation.

"You have ten minutes." Kasia muttered. "And then I never want to see either of you again."

Bonnie let out a relieved sigh and nodded. "Then let me start at the beginning…"

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Alice-May gathered some candles in a circle before placing her hands in the center. She began chanting, keeping her eyes closed as she started the spell. Caroline had seen this many times before, but it still brought an uneasy feeling to her stomach every time. The cold wind that surrounded them as the witch began reaching out to her ancestors, the strange sensation of being surrounded by things unseen...

Enzo had just joined them, he stood by Caroline's side with a grim look on his face and arms crossed over his chest. "I don't like this, gorgeous."

"I know." Caroline murmured with a nod, ignoring the glare Klaus gave her friend.

"Well, lad. If it makes you uncomfortable, Caroline and I are perfectly capable of dealing with this matter on our own." the hybrid retorted then, turning a dark grin in Enzo's direction. He was more than reluctant to wait for the man's arrival before doing the spell, and he was not shy about showing it either.

"Play nice." she demanded, giving Klaus a pointed look before turning to Enzo again.

"Caroline, I just... Does this not remind you an awful lot of-" the young vampire's words were cut off as Alice-May suddenly made all the candles around them light up, drawing their attention to the witch immediately.

"Give me your hand, Caroline." she instructed and reached out for her across the desk. The blonde took a steadying breath before nodding to herself, then she stepped forward to link hands with the witch.

Stopping as an arm suddenly held her back from where it circled around her waist. "Are you sure about this, love?" Klaus asked softly, his uncertainty radiating off him and making her sigh.

"Not really." she answered honestly, resisting the urge to lean into him. "But let's get it over with."

Klaus slowly let go of her but still stood at the same proximity as Caroline reached for Alice-May's hand. The second they touched, the flames surpassed the candles and raised high above them. A wind flew through the room and made the hairs on Caroline's arms rise in response. Even Klaus seemed to stiffen next to them, either sensing danger or not feeling very comfortable being surrounded by magical spirits.

"What can we do to help?" Enzo asked impatiently.

"You can both step away from her." Alice-May commented then, her eyes still closed as she focused on the contact with Caroline's hands. "Your energies will confuse the spirits."

Klaus nodded and walked to stand by the far side of the room while Enzo followed suit, neither wanting to disturb the ritual. "If anything happens to her..." the hybrid growled with a deep voice, making Alice-May snicker lightly.

"Don't worry, the spirits see your connection with her. They won't do her any harm." That made Caroline freeze up, glancing down on their joined hands with a strange lump in her throat.

"Focus, please. Focus on your friend." the witch urged her, gaining her focus again. "Hopefully, Leila will guide us to her. Help us see where she is, or maybe give us a vision of what happened to her."

"Will I be able to talk to her?" Caroline pressed on.

"I can't be sure. It depends on Leila, and the ancestors and…"

"And what?"

"And you." Alice-May finished. "It depends on you too."

The air around the young women grew thick and heavy, Caroline tried to keep her breathing calm despite her shaking hands. "Stay focused on your friend, whatever happens – whatever you see or hear – don't get distracted." the witch explained as she nodded to her before beginning her chanting.

The command was supposed to be somewhat comforting, but Caroline couldn't help grimacing as her hands flashed gray and turned ice cold. "What's happening?" she hissed, feeling Klaus glare at them in response.

"Focus, Caroline." the witch demanded, her eyes still closed.

Caroline closed her eyes as well, remembering how vampires were beings of magic. And she knew all too well what it felt like to have that magic drained from her body and absorbed by a witch... But before she could ask the witch to stop the spell, the girl spoke up again.

"A Bennet-witch? Of course."

Alice-May seemed to have vanished, her voice was no longer her own and her now open eyes were glazed over and white. "Always getting themselves in the middle of vampire-business..."

Caroline stared at the girl in confusion for a moment before looking back at Klaus with a worried frown. Just then, it seemed that the spirit speaking through Alice-May noticed the other people in the room too. "Hello, Niklaus. Had you already begun missing me so soon?"

"Esther..." he spat out venomously, making Caroline freeze up as she dotted the lines.

Esther... As in Esther Mikaelson. As in Klaus' mom. As in the crazy powerful Original witch that tied the bloodlines together and tried to kill off all her children in one swoop...

Enzo's stare alternated between Klaus and Caroline as he seemed unsure of what to say or do. "Yes, my boy." the witch continued then. "Ah, I remember this one, Miss Forbes. She wore a wonderful blue gown during our ball in Mystic Falls. Ah, it was such long ago now..." Esther continued, letting out a cold chuckle that turned Caroline's veins into ice. "And despite it all, here you are - offering her up to me."

Her hands suddenly gripped tightly onto Caroline's, turning her skin grey as she started to desiccate. She tried to pull her hands away, but the witch's grip was too strong as the magic drained from Caroline in slow and painful strides.

Klaus suddenly appeared close to them then, nearly vibrating with rage as he glared at her. "No. Alice-May, fight her off... or I bloody swear..."

"I'm trying..." the young witch said, peering through momentarily as a pained frown appeared on her face.

"Just stop the spell!" Enzo yelled, he too standing by Caroline's side then.

A cruel laugh spread through the room at that, the flames becoming more aggressive around the women. "Young girl, you should know better. Why have you been dragged into this mess?"

"Do not listen to her, Alice-May. Finish the spell or I will rip-"

"This is too dangerous!" Enzo called out with a glare in Klaus' direction. "We have to stop right now!"

"Yes, stop! Stop doing this!" Caroline bellowed out, fighting against the pain that grew insufferable with every passing second. "I didn't want this! I'm not doing this! Please!"

The witch jumped slightly, twitching and shaking her head as if she was hearing an argument around her. And then, immediately the air in the room changed. The witch closed her eyes again and eased her hold. Words suddenly leaving her lips with a new voice narrating.

"I'm beginning to fall in love with this city."

Now that voice Caroline knew. "Bonnie!?" she gasped, her hands suddenly turning normal and the flames calming down.

Everything shook around her then, the room changing and turning into something dark instead. A street-corner somewhere, Caroline didn't recognize it though. Soon, she noticed a woman standing by a lamppost. Her hair was dark, and her skin pale, but it wasn't anyone Caroline had seen before.

"Leila?" she called out, guessing that she was finally meeting the infamous witch who apparently knew all about Julian's plans.

The woman met her eyes shortly before nodding ahead, urging her to turn her focus elsewhere. Another figure appeared beside them then and Caroline didn't need to think twice before knowing who it was.

Bonnie.

She was walking away from them, seeming busy in a conversation with someone. But whoever she was talking to was invisible to the young vampire as she examined her friend carefully. While she continued down the street, Bonnie pulled the vision along with her. The witch stopped shortly then, glancing over her shoulder with a strange expression on her face.

"Bonnie?" Caroline yelped and held her breath as she thought that maybe she had noticed her… But just as she was about to call her name again, another shadow appeared by Bonnie's side. The presence felt familiar somehow, but it wasn't until she heard his voice that she realized it was Enzo.

"I still don't like this, darling."

If she wasn't already convinced of this being a memory, she would be by now. The vampire wrapped an arm around the witch as his silhouette slowly turned into the male vampire. "Damon hasn't been wrong yet." Bonnie pointed out to him, earning a sigh from him in response.

"It's dangerous enough to contact the Myslikova Coven. Trying to find that candle? I fear we are far out of our depths here."

Caroline listened intently, studying the pair as they walked closely together through the dark town. Struck by how relaxed and at-ease her old friend looked with the vampire's arm around her shoulders. The sight strange to her as she hadn't really been able to picture the two of them together in her mind. And the reality of it wasn't anything like she had expected.

"It's going to be fine, Enzo." she told him, wrapping an arm around his back as she leaned closer into his side. "The magic of the candle is the only thing powerful enough to break through Julian's cloaking spells. If we find it, we find him."

"Frankly, I'm beginning to lose interest in Damon's unrelenting quest..."

"Don't worry so much or you'll get wrinkles." Bonnie teased, earning a squinting look from him which caused her to laugh. The sound was so familiar and sweet, Caroline felt her eyes water slightly. It had been years since she'd seen her friend, and even longer since she'd seen her like this. She looked happy, carefree, content… In love.

"There." Bonnie's voice brought Caroline to shake her sentimental thoughts off as she followed their eyes to a new shadow down the street. It looked like a woman, maybe someone they knew back in Europe. She walked up to them with rushed steps and an alarmed frown on her face.

"My contact has confirmed that Kasia Marousek is here." she told them.

"And you're sure she can get it for us?" Bonnie asked then, earning a nod in response.

"Yes. I am certain. Even if the candle isn't in her possession, Kasia will know where to find it."

"Let's go then." Enzo said, an equally alarmed face on as the strange woman. "We have no time to lose."

"I cannot follow you to her."

"Why not?"

"Our covens have a complicated relationship…" the woman explained, earning a grimace from Bonnie then. "You should know, this object is very powerful. It could be used for evil just as easily as for good."

Caroline rocked on her heels, fidgeting with her hands as she watched the exchange with a deep-seated worry in her chest. "Gosh, Bonnie. What did you get yourself into?" she muttered to herself.

Suddenly, Bonnie's eyes turned and landed directly on the blonde. Shocking Caroline to her core as the witch spoke. "You have to find it."

"Bonnie?" she gasped, feeling frozen solid as she gaped at her friend. "You can see me?"

"Find the candle, Caroline." she repeated again, her eyes dark and serious.

"Why? What's so special about some candle? Can we use it to find you?"

"Find the candle." she echoed again, the world around them starting to shake violently. "Find the Candle of Hades."

"Bonnie?" she called out nervously as the ground beneath her broke apart and opened up into a wide hole. "Bonnie!" she roared out as she suddenly fell into deep and heavy darkness.

And just like that, Caroline was meeting the eyes of a young and terrified witch instead. The previous vision – or memory – was gone. The spell was broken.

"What happened? What did you see?" Alice-May asked, as if Caroline would know the answer…

"I don't understand." she whispered under her breath. "She saw me but she didn't see me… But she wasn't talking to me…" she shook her head as she realized she was panting heavily. "I-I think I need to sit down..."

As her legs suddenly gave up underneath her, warm hands grabbed onto her sides and held her up. Feeling something heavy push at her mind while she slipped out of consciousness and into the abyss.

When Caroline came to, she was startled awake and quickly sat up straight. Staring at her environments in chock as she didn't recognize the room she was in.

"Easy, love." Klaus appeared by her side then, reaching for her shoulders and pushing her softly back on the mattress underneath her again.

"What happened?" she breathed out in panic.

"You collapsed. Alice-May thinks it had something to do with the power the spell consumed from the both of you."

"The spell..." she echoed, nodding slowly as she started to remember. "I saw Bonnie."

"Did you see where she was?" he asked, softly caressing her hair as he pulled her close to his chest.

"No." she whispered with a frown, sighing deeply as she leaned into him. "It was so strange… I think Leila showed me a memory of when Bonnie and Enzo were in Europe. They were looking for something."

"What?"

"I'm not sure, but she kind of broke through the vision and asked me to-" she went silent as she pieced it all together in her mind. A silent moment passed before she spoke again. "Klaus?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Where am I?"

"Well..." he began, making her flash out of the bed and out of his embrace, standing opposite him with a terrified scowl.

"Oh my god... What time is it? How far are we from the hotel?"

"Calm down, Caroline." he tried, only earning a shrug from her as she ranted on and paced around the room.

"He saw us together once already; I can't even imagine what he's imagining now... He'll probably think that I stopped looking for Bonnie to have a nooner with you! God, I'm never going to live this down! "

He stared at her in silence, his eyes wide and his lips a thin line. Suddenly he burst into laughter, making her glare at him. "What's so funny!?" she groaned loudly, her hands finding her hips as she began stomping her foot in impatience.

"Oh, nothing. Just the word 'nooner'." he quipped as he caught his breath and shook his head in amusement. He got up and reached for her with a smile. "Caroline, calm down. You do realize I've done far more damning things than take care of you after some less than fortunate ritualistic experience."

"That sounds dirty." she grimaced and huffed, gaining another chuckle from him. "How did we even get here? Where's Enzo?"

"If I were to guess, I'd say back at his hotel." Klaus shrugged. "To answer the former question; I carried you here to ensure you got some rest. I couldn't have you dropping dead in the street, now could I?"

"So, what, Enzo just let you whisk me off?" she asked incredulously as a small grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"He didn't seem to mind, well at least not in the mere seconds he had to protest before I decided to stop listening."

"What? Wait, how long was I out?"

"A few hours."

She gaped at him then, shaking her head slowly. "Hours!?" she echoed loudly, turning away from him with a sigh. "Okay, listen. I need to get back. I've got a Bennett-witch to find." she said, slowly turning towards him again. Directing a professional nod in his direction. "Now, how do I get out of here?"

He grinned at her for a moment before responding. "Let me see you out."

She narrowed her eyes at him, making him raise his palms in retreat. "Don't worry! I won't even touch you." he promised before a dark smirk spread across his face.

She rolled her eyes and let out a grunt. "Let's go before Enzo sends out a search party for me."

He led her out of the room and towards a flight of stairs, leaving her to silently gawk at the surroundings as she followed behind. Caroline was unsure of what exactly she had expected the home of Klaus Mikaelson to look like... But this was spectacular.

Long hallways with giant paintings placed on the dark walls. An open courtyard in the middle of the building, framed by balconies overlooking the bottom floor from all angles. It opened up the entire house and all of its rooms with lots of natural light. Expensive looking chandeliers hung from the ceilings, accompanied with ivy crawling up the large arches between the rooms. It was silent, but she still felt like she could hear something strange in the wind as they walked down to the first floor.

It was all so... So, Klaus.

"I must admit, I had imagined other circumstances for your first visit to my bedroom." he teased, making her glance at him, slightly lost in the moment.

She rolled her eyes, fighting off a tiny smile as she gave him a pointed look. "Well, we were never much for beds anyway." she shrugged, catching his feigned chock as he grinned at her.

"Now who's talking dirty?" he chuckled, a large smile playing on his lips which brought a twinkle into his eyes. It made her lose her breath for a moment, his dimples and pretty lips being everything she could focus on.

"Ahem, well..." she coughed out, tearing her eyes away from him just as his expression turned darker in response to her stare. "Anyway..." she drawled on as she resumed studying the building and hurried to change the subject. "Where is everyone?"

"Hm?"

"Rebekah, Elijah... Hell, even Hayley. Are they hiding from me or something?"

"They're... away." he replied, the nonchalant tone gaining more curiosity from her.

"And what about your daughter?"

"Hope." he said, glancing over at her with a soft smile that she'd never seen on his face before. "She's with her mother."

"And where's that?"

"You ask an awful lot of questions, love." he grinned.

"I just thought seeing your house would mean that I got to see your family."

"I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for that." he mused suspiciously before stopping in his steps. Having reached the entrance now, huge double-doors with iron gates that felt ironically gothic to her. "Here we are." he announced then, his hands behind his back as he leaned back and forth on his heels.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around, Klaus." she said softly.

"Yes. Tonight."

She turned to stare at him. "What?"

"Do not tell me you have already forgotten about our date?" he asked with a teasing frown.

"First of all-" she retorted, pointing a finger at him with narrowed eyes. "It was dinner, between friends, not a date." His smile grew as she continued. "And I didn't know you still wanted to do that."

She watched as his smile faltered slightly before he shook his head. "What on earth made you believe such a thing?"

"I don't know." she shrugged. "I mean we've already spent all day together. Aren't you tired of me yet?"

He blinked a few times before taking a step towards her, closing the distance between them swiftly. He raised a hand to cup her cheek then, his touch sending tingles across her skin as she fought to resist leaning into him. "When will you stop doubting me, Caroline?"

"I don't know what you mean." she stuttered.

"Yes, you do." he murmured softly and smiled before letting go of her. "I will pick you up at eight."

She opened her mouth to say something but found herself at a loss for words. Simply shaking her head, she chuckled lightly and bit her lip. "Okay." she stammered and turned away from him then, walking out onto the street with a stupid grin on her face. For the first time in years, she felt like her physical age and not her actual one.

Ugh, stop it Caroline! she scolded herself and tried to shake off the lingering feeling of his touch which had brought butterflies to her stomach. This is not a date! she insisted and sighed, not too sure whether she actually believed it or not.

One month ago
Prague, Czech Republic

Enzo was losing his patience. The witches had been alone for over an hour, in total silence due to the privacy spell cast to the witch's flat. And he was going mad with worry. They needed Kasia Marousek to help them, but he hated putting Bonnie's life in danger to achieve it. And yet again, he was now in total loss of control and completely unable to protect her. It tore him up.

He paced the hallway back and forth as he tried to calm his nerves when the door finally opened in front of him. The women shared a nod before Bonnie stepped out to meet him. "Well?" he pressed, not able to read anything off her face.

"She'll take us to the Myslikova Crypt, but she won't do more than that." Bonnie explained somberly, making him nod shortly in response.

"And the candle? It will be there?"

"She says she can't promise anything, but it's the best we've got so far." she shrugged, earning another nod from him as he agreed with her words.

Kasia joined them then, carrying something in a bag. "I only have room for her on my bike, you will need to follow us." she noted to the vampire, smiling softly to the witch beside him. "Let's go."

Enzo shared a glance with Bonnie before following the witch, hurrying down the stairs of the building and out onto the street where Kasia kept her motorbike. An old and scrawny little vehicle which made the vampire wonder if it would be safer to walk instead.

Having noticed his hesitance, Kasia snickered lightly and strapped on a helmet. "Don't worry. Your friend will be safe with me."

He watched as Bonnie put on her helmet and followed Kasia onto the bike, the engine roared into life with a screeching sound. One which did not spring much confidence into Enzo whatsoever. But the Czech witch only glanced back at him with a short smile. "Try to keep up." she called over her shoulder and jumped forward with the vehicle then, driving off onto the street.

Cursing silently for a moment, Enzo pushed off the lamppost which he had been leaning towards and ran after them. Flashing through the city and following the witches out to the countryside. They soon reached a large piece of land, south-east of Prague, where the witch stopped her engine and guided Bonnie off the bike.

Studying the vast landscape ahead, he searched for signs of the coven's crypt. Frowning as he wondered how one could hide something like that out in the open. "Where to now?" he asked as Kasia guided the bike to a bush before turning towards them again.

"We will need to walk the rest of the way." she explained with a pointed look. "This way." she announced as she walked ahead.

They followed her a couple of yards, seemingly in a random direction. But finally, Kasia stopped and knelt on the ground. She pushed away some leaves and dirt, revealing something which Enzo understood to be an underground door. Taking her amulet off, she opened it and procured a small key from the inside.

Placing it in the middle of the circular concrete door, she turned it in a concealed lock and stepped away. They watched then as some gears seemed to move in place, clicking and popping as the door unlocked and opened up. Showing them a dark pathway with stairs made of stone, leading lower through the ground.

"Come along." Kasia said then, glancing over at them both before stepping forward. "Let us get the vosková svíčka so that we can finally part ways."

Bonnie glanced over at him with a solemn expression before following the other witch down the stairs. Stopping shortly and turning to him, reaching for his hand. He found himself second-guessing the whole ordeal yet again, before he took a determined breath and wrapped his hand around hers. Continuing behind the women then in their pursuit.

The road was steep and long as they headed to the bottom of the cellar. The walls around them made of concrete and stone, their surroundings growing darker with each descending step. "Kasia, do you mind?" Bonnie murmured after a while, gesturing with her hands pointedly.

"Yes, of course. I would do it myself but…" she responded, an uncertain smile on her face. Bonnie nodded before whispering a short chant, waving her hands and lighting torches all around them with one swift gesture.

"Much better." the Bennett witch grinned, earning a reciprocating smile from her Kasia.

Soon they reached the bottom of the stairs, torches showing them a long hallway ahead. Kasia moved forward as if by muscle memory, causing Enzo to question just how inactive the witch really was. Especially if she had been spending time in the coven's crypt when they were all supposed to have given up their magic long ago.

"This is where your coven stores your magical objects?" he asked as they continued further.

"Objects, grimoires, journals, materials and ingredients for spells and potions… All things that we have collected over the years are down here." Kasia confirmed. "As a child, I would follow my mother here often."

"Doing what, exactly? Inventory?" he questioned, earning a jab in his ribs from Bonnie as she scowled at him shortly.

"You don't have to answer that." she interjected before turning to Kasia again.

"It's alright." she chuckled then, glancing back at them with a short smile. "There is a reason that I still keep the name of my ancestors after all this time. The Marousek's used to be leaders, teachers… And now, there is only me."

She gave him a sad glance before speaking again. "I'm sure you can understand the need to keep whatever remains of family you have left close to you." she explained. "I am the keeper of this crypt. It is my responsibility to protect it, and all of its contents, until we can find a use for it once again."

Turning a corner then, they reached a large room with bookshelves from floor to ceiling and boxes and bags scattered all around. Something seemed to have caught Bonnie's attention as she abruptly stopped and reached for something on a shelf. "Yes, I expected it to call out to you." Kasia crooned, looking proud as she nodded to her.

"What is it?" he chimed and moved closer to her then. She turned to him and showed a book with the name 'Bennett' written across it.

"I've seen this before, it's one of Emily's grimoires. My ancestor… How do you have this?" she stuttered to the other witch.

"A long time ago, the Myslikova Coven had connections all over the world." Kasia explained. "That grimoire is the reason I decided to help you. I realized it should return to its rightful owner."

Bonnie began to flip through it, an eager look in her eyes as she examined the old book. "Thank you." she whispered softly. The incredible smile on Bonnie's face made Enzo's chest swell in response.

"Of course." Kasia smiled softly before turning away then and began to search through some bags. "I hope you will consider returning what's mine once you're done using it, just as I have done yours."

Enzo noted the flicker of something in the witch's eyes before Bonnie nodded towards her. "I promise." she said, closing the book and stowing it away in her bag. "Okay, so where do we look first?"

"I don't remember seeing it the last time I was here… However, it was nearly a decade ago." Kasia said with a sigh as she moved to search through some other boxes and chests. "But my family is the only one with the key to this crypt, we have been for centuries. Meaning, if the Candle of Hades was ever here in the first place, it still will be."

The vampire nodded then and walked over to an armoire as Bonnie went in the opposite direction and scoured the bookshelves. "Could you give us a description, maybe? So that we know what we are looking for." he mused, glancing over at Kasia as she looked through another chest near her.

"It will be inside a special box, made out of iron with carvings around it."

"Like this?"

Enzo and Kasia both looked over at Bonnie as she held up a box, looking just like what they were searching for. "You found it." he smiled at her but quickly froze up when he noticed the strange look on her face. "What's wrong?"

Bonnie met their worried looks with a firm scowl. "It's not here." she whispered.

"What?" Kasia choked out, rushing to her side then. "It is empty?"

"No." Bonnie corrected grimly, lifting a piece of paper and turning it to Enzo. "But this was the only thing inside."

He moved closer to her then, the paper being a polaroid photograph. He studied it with dread filling in his stomach as he saw the motive. It was him and Bonnie, sitting in the café where they had first met Kasia.

A message scribbled on the backside that made him gulp.

"See you soon.

- J."

Chapter Text

Chapter 19: Something cursed from the start

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"You're sure that's what she said?" Damon's voice boomed through the phone, as Caroline and Enzo finished filling him in on their progress. "She used those words exactly?"

"Yes. Verbatim." she gritted through her teeth. "Now tell me what the hell is going on."

Damon sighed before finally breaking the silence on the line. "It was something we were working on for the past year. A cursed object powerful enough to pierce through all veils of magic. Essentially, it could break any spell for a limited amount of time."

"So, what magic where you going to break with this candle exactly?" Caroline questioned, glancing over at Enzo with raised eyebrows. "What were you planning?"

"We found out that Julian was using a very powerful cloaking spell. One based off doppelganger magic." Enzo decided to chime in as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Okay, you need to tell me right now that this isn't what we're doing here. That you aren't using me to get to Julian – again. That Bonnie wasn't taken because of your crazy revenge plans… Because I am this close to dropping everything and going back to Chicago." she threatened, holding her fingers up in gesture as she felt a familiar rage fill her chest.

"Caroline…" Enzo reached for her shoulder, squeezing it softly with a pleading look. "I swear, that is not why we came here. Nor why we asked you and Alaric to help."

"No, but… It's something I should have thought of sooner." Damon chimed in, making her turn to the phone again. "The candle could be used to find Bonnie."

"Let me guess, by breaking through Julian's cloaking spell. Then what?"

"The candle…" Damon began. "It has a really long history, we researched for months and traveled through all of Eastern Europe for it. I think I still have the notes that Bonnie took of our findings somewhere-"

"I'm not helping you go after Julian, Damon." Caroline interjected, earning a moment of silence from the line.

"We don't care about that, gorgeous." Enzo jumped in then, a reassuring smile on his face as he nodded towards her. "We just want Bonnie back. Nothing more."

She eyed him mutely for a moment, assessing him and determining whether he was being honest or not. Choosing to believe in him, she gave him a nod. "Fine. Then how are we supposed to find the candle when you couldn't?"

"There's a reason why we couldn't find it." Damon informed her then. "Julian had already taken it."

"Julian has it?" she echoed with a cold chuckle. "Wow, this just keeps getting better and better…"

"What if he doesn't?" Enzo countered. "What if he never had it?"

"What?" both Caroline and Damon pressed in disbelief at that. "But you and Bonnie-" the vampire began before Enzo interrupted him.

"Yes, but perhaps it was all a con." he explained. "Maybe he left the message where the candle was supposed to be to intimidate us. The witch Kasia, who guarded the crypt where the candle was, she said so herself. Her family had sole access to it for centuries."

"Okay, so is Julian a witch now?" Caroline retorted.

"No. But she told us that 'if the candle was ever there in the first place, it still would be.'"

Caroline's eyes grew wide at that. "You mean someone took it way, way, before Julian ever could have?"

"It's possible that he got to the crypt and found the box empty, just as we did." he shrugged.

"And what, he just bluffed with that message?"

"That would explain why we couldn't find it in Europe." Damon inquired then. "It was never there."

"So, if the candle has been missing for eons – how exactly are we supposed to know where to find it!?" Caroline yelped as panic began to grow.

"Well, we all do know of someone who likes to collect cursed objects like weapons… Hell, he had a whole armory of them."

"Lucien." Caroline concluded. "If Julian was looking for the candle while you were in Europe – that means he never found it when he went to New Orleans."

"Which means…" Enzo began, a wide and hopeful smile spreading on his face as he watched the blonde then. "Lucien has it, he always had it. The candle is here."

"What are you doing?" The words made Klaus freeze lightly as he found himself caught in the middle of digging through their old trunks and chests in the abattoir attic. He turned around and met Hayley's questioning face with a nonchalant smile and shrug.

"Searching."

"For what?"

He looked over at the suitcases he had just been scouring with a grimace. "Just an object that I may have misplaced."

"Well, that's vague..." she drawled on, wearing an entertained expression as she pushed off the doorframe and walked over to him. "So… Freya told me Lucien might be back."

"'Might' being the keyword in that sentence." he noted, turning away to continue his search again.

"Are we going to pretend that doesn't affect us?"

"Of course not, sweetheart." he sighed, walking over to a vitrine shelf. "I have already arranged for the safehouse to be cleaned. It will be ready for the arrival of you and Hope by tomorrow night."

"Were you going to inform me of this?" she pressed on, irritation evident in her tone.

He turned to her then, an apologetic look in his eyes as he sighed. "I've been occupied with other matters."

"Is moving dust around one of those matters then?"

Chuckling low at that, he shook his head and eyed her across the dark room. "Was there something you needed, Hayley?"

She crossed her arms in front of her then, a scowl on her face as she responded. "No, but Freya does. She could use a break, Klaus. She has exhausted herself with her research for Rebekah and now she has dived into finding Lucien as well."

"I'm aware of the problems at hand, love."

"And what, you don't care?"

He shrugged at her then. "What would you have me do?"

"She could come with us to Arkansas, for one." she suggested.

"I can't spare her." he protested. "She is needed here."

"For what? Can't you deal with Lucien alone?" Lowering his gaze then, he bit the inside of his cheek as he was about to speak up. But she cut him off. "There's something you're not telling me." she concluded, making him wince slightly.

He wondered shortly how a teenage wolf had managed to turn into such an insightful woman… And found it highly inconvenient at the moment. "Yes." he finally admitted, looking over at her with a set jaw. "There is more, but I haven't figured it all out yet."

"Well, then I should stay and help-" she began, making him reach for her shoulders then and silencing her abruptly.

"I need you and Hope safe." he told her wholeheartedly. "As soon as I have the situation here under control, I know that you will be."

"What about Elijah?"

"He will divide his time between the safe house and here until we have enough information to act on."

She watched him intently before nodding in response. "I trust that you will do whatever necessary to protect Hope. However, I worry you won't think to protect yourself."

He let go of her in surprise, blinking silently as he tried to read her face. She studied him for a moment before speaking again. "I saw someone in the city the other day." she began cautiously while her eyes studied his reaction. "Someone I haven't seen in years. And I think that someoneis the reason for this strange behavior of yours."

"Me trying to keep my family safe is strange to you?" he mocked with a short chuckle, turning away to avoid her scrutinizing gaze. "Don't worry, love. I am simply taking some precautions if the rumors of Lucien's return are indeed right."

"Klaus, I don't know everything about your history with her but-"

"Don't." he cut her off as he turned around and raised his palm for her to stop. "Hayley, we… We agreed a long time ago to be partners, you and I." he reminded her with a soft expression then. "I have every intention of living up to it. Which is why I have told you as much as I can, for now."

"When will you tell me the rest of it?"

"Soon." he promised. "Until then… I need you to trust me."

She gave him a reluctant nod, sighing deeply. "Will you at least tell me what it is you're looking for up here?"

He considered it, watching her as she patiently awaited his reply. Wondering if he should keep it to himself for now, as to avoid further questions on the newest arrival to the city. Finally, he chose that she too had earned a little bit of trust from him in return. "Very well." he let out with a sigh before describing the package he was searching for. Hoping she wouldn't continue to press him on the reason behind it. Or rather; the person.

Caroline stared at her reflection in the mirror in silence. It had taken an hour to choose the right dress to wear for tonight, a midi burgundy dress with a boat-line neck and a timid keyhole opening in the back. Then it took about twenty minutes for her to decide that the black pumps in her suitcase did indeed work with the dress. And another hour later, her makeup was done, and her hair was curled...

However, she didn't know what to do with that weird look on her face.

It had been a while since her last dinner date, maybe that was what her expression reflected. Over the years she had grown accustomed to the casual fling, the random one-night-stands, the very short and temporary relationships… It was simple and it worked for her.

In her own sense, Caroline had it all figured out. She had the great two-story townhome in Lincoln Park in the heart of Chicago, with two bedrooms and three baths, a huge kitchen and recently upgraded appliances. She lived with Ric, which allowed her to be herself, and to be social on her own conditions. She didn't need to hold it together all the time. She could break down and cry, or rip apart her room in anger, or dive into a few blood bags in frustration without anybody batting an eye. And when she felt lonely, she could just go to a bar and bring someone back for the night.

It was good. Not great, perhaps, but still... It could've been so much worse. And after everything that had happened recently in her life, she really needed good. She sat down on the hotel bed and closed her eyes as an all-too familiar sensation began filling her chest. Or rather the lack thereof. The emptiness.

When she was working, studying, taking care of Ric or even now, looking for Bonnie - she could push it away. But whenever she had a moment to stop and think, that was when it caught up with her. And usually, that was when she made her way through a bottle of strong spirits while a young man decided to ask her if "anyone had ever told her how pretty her eyes were" for the umpteenth time.

But now she had no escape, and it scared her.

The thought of calling Marcel up to silence her brain for the night crossed her mind, but she didn't feel too excited about it. For a mere second, she allowed herself to think of Klaus. But that only brought a turmoil of feelings which made her head spin in confusion, and so she decided to put him out of her thoughts until it was absolutely inevitable.

Unfortunately, the knock on her door informed her that the time for denying the night's honest intentions had run out. Immediately her stomach twisted into knots as she tried to take a few breaths. She went to open the door with a recurrent mantra going through her head.

It's not a date. It's not a date. It's not a date. It's not -

And then, when she saw him, everything went silent. Dressed in a dark suit and button-up shirt, wearing a dimpled smile on his face to match the twinkle in his eyes as he looked over at her.

It took a moment until she could speak. "Hi." she said, at a loss for words.

"Hi." he echoed, his soft smile widening as he gazed across her silhouette. He shook his head lightly and cleared his throat. "You look absolutely stunning, Caroline."

She had to shake off a shiver as she tried to collect herself under his steamy gaze. "Thank you." she fought against a blush and took a deep breath before speaking up again. "You look... perfect."

Their eyes met as they seemed to remember the same old memory together, one from a different time and place where they too went on a 'non-date'. A soft giggle escaped her as she looked up at him, earning a chuckle from him in return. "Well..." she said then and grabbed her purse. "Ready to go?"

"Not yet." he crooned as he reached into his pockets and took out a rectangular velvet box. She studied it closely as he placed it in her hands, a little satin ribbon tied around it. Something was awfully familiar about it all.

"This isn't…" she shook her head in disbelief as she opened it quickly, confirming her suspicion with a smile. Inside was a diamond bracelet that she had seen a long time ago, it had been his birthday gift to her. But she had thrown it back at him during an argument. One where she thought she had finally broken through to the man behind the beast. Only to find that he was just as manipulative and duplicitous as everyone said… And here he was, giving it to her again. It felt like they were starting over in some ways, because a lot of things had happened between them after that one night at the Mikaelson's ball. Resulting in the knowledge that even if she had struck some truth with her words back then, he still wasn't what she had expected at all.

"Will you keep it on this time?" he teased softly, breaking her little walk through the bittersweet memory lane.

"I think I can do that." she drawled with a pout, biting her lip as a wide grin spread over her face. "Help me with the clasp?"

He mirrored her smile as she put the box away and held the bracelet up for him, allowing him to lock it around her wrist swiftly. "There." he smirked. "As if you were never parted from it."

She fought the fluttering in her chest as she met his eyes then. Clearing her throat and nodding. "Let's go."

He smiled and offered his arm for her to take. "Let's."

One month ago
Prague, Czech Republic

Damon was pacing their motel room with wild eyes upon the news. "How did he find us?" he whispered, staring over at Enzo and Bonnie with horror in his eyes.

"I don't know." Bonnie sighed, shaking her head as she watched the men. "Maybe my magic hasn't been as well hidden as we thought…"

"No, love." Enzo chimed in then, placing a hand over hers to stop them from fidgeting. "It is not your fault, no one thinks it is."

"I kinda do." Damon scoffed bitterly, earning exasperated glares from the both of them. "What!? Something obviously tipped him off!"

"A vampire wouldn't have been able to go anywhere near the crypt without someone from the Myslikova Coven. Kasia thinks he may have used a witch to get him inside." Bonnie explained.

"What witch?"

"I don't know."

"What about Kasia, will she help us look for the candle?" Damon pressed on.

"I don't know…" Bonnie repeated, earning a frustrated groan from the vampire then.

Enzo let out a threatening, low growl. "Damon."

"Fine, fine!" he called out with his hands in the air. "Let's just pack our stuff, cast some spells to throw him off the trail and leave."

"You still want to go?" Bonnie questioned, surprised that he wanted to continue with their plan despite everything. "We don't have the candle, Damon. How can we go on with the plan without it?"

"Yeah, well... My contact in Faro will at least be able to point us in the right direction. That's the best I can think of right now."

Bonnie sighed at that. "Fine. I guess I better get packing then..." she muttered as she got up and began gathering her things.

A phone began ringing, causing Damon to reach for it swiftly. "Yeah?" he said, still occupied with filling up his duffle bag. He suddenly stopped, freezing up and staring back at the door.

"What is it?" Bonnie stuttered, terrified of the sudden change of behavior from the anxious vampire.

He didn't respond, but the same strange expression appeared on Enzo's face as well. Meaning he knew what was going on too, but neither seemed willing to fill her in. Instead, they both walked over to the door of the motel and opened it quickly.

She rushed to look past their shoulders and gasped at the visitors before them. "Stefan? Valerie?" she stammered out, wondering if she was imagining things or if the pair really was standing outside of their motel right now.

Damon sprung to action and wrapped his arms tightly around his brother, confirming his existence for her as she still grappled with the fact.

"What are you doing here?" Enzo stammered out. "How did you find us?"

The brothers broke apart then with matching smiles on their faces, making Bonnie's heart squeeze tightly in her chest. It was Valerie who spoke up first then, interrupting the happy reunion as Bonnie was enveloped by Stefan's arms as well.

"We've been following Julian for the past few years…" she explained with a somber tone. "When we realized why he had come here, we knew what had to be done."

Stefan pulled away from the hug then and turned a grim look to the three of them. "We need to get you all out of Prague. Now."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"You know, since we're being honest…" Caroline said as Klaus helped seat her at their table. "This really isn't what I had expected from you."

He had brought her to an open outdoor restaurant, with twinkle lights and lanterns hanging on strings over the large area. A band was playing some jazzy songs over at a small stage near them, adding to the relaxed and delightful ambiance which surrounded them. Matching the couples and groups of friends laughing and drinking and toasting all around.

"I was told this was the sort of place one friend would take another friend to dinner." he quipped, feigning innocence. "If it is not to your liking then I do have other options, love. Simply say the word."

She rolled her eyes at him and scoffed. "I think I will be keeping score this evening, to finalize just how capable you are of being friends."

"Well, if I am being fully honest, as we said we would be, as much as a challenge like that is hard to resist – I wouldn't mind throwing this incessant friendship ordeal out the window and instead show you what I originally had in store for a night such as this."

She cleared her throat and waved her finger disapprovingly then. "That's at least a thousand negative points!" she exclaimed, making him chuckle and shake his head.

"What exactly are you basing this point-giving system on?"

"The level of eyes you're giving me, what else?" she retorted cheekily and shrugged.

Klaus let out a warm laughter that made Caroline join in for a minute, grinning over at him as his eyes glistened in the light. "Well, what kind of acts will gain me actual points then?" he pressed on.

"Oh, you know, small-talk, friendly conversations… Boring topics would give bonus points. You know, the kind of stories that a man wouldn't normally tell a woman if they weren't in fact friends and nothing else."

"I personally have never been a fan of small-talk. It is one of the several modern conceptions amongst humans that I cannot say I understand…" he snickered then with a shrug of his shoulder. "I've always much more fancied being straight-forward right from the start of a conversation."

She glared at him with wide eyes. "Seriously?"

"What?" he chuckled at that.

"It's just… You're one to talk." she scorned him with an incredulous shake of her head. "Literally all you do is talk in metaphors and hidden meanings! Not to mention that whole switching between passive aggressiveness and smugness thing you do, so quickly sometimes that it gives me whiplash. None of that is very straight-forward if you ask me."

He wore a soft but serious expression as he spoke again. "Well then, Caroline, allow me to say, straight-forwardly; that I am glad to have you in New Orleans."

She was stunned for a moment as she took his kind words in, feeling a flutter in her chest as she met his eyes. "Thank you." she whispered in response, not being able to figure out anything else to say. A waiter showed up then and served two glasses of red wine along with a pair of appetizers. Making Caroline wonder how he had already managed to order when they were yet to even see a menu.

As she studied him, his face molded a slightly hard expression, making the sweet moment between them pass too quick for her taste. "For the sake of our newfound honesty and all… I hope you won't mind me asking; why are you here?" he mused slowly and softly, as if trying his hardest not to upset her.

"Uhm, well..." she took a sip of her wine and inhaled deeply before diving into the story. "Obviously, we're looking for Bonnie."

"Yes, and I reckon that means you are also looking for a certain doppelganger then?" he probed, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"You don't know?"

He blinked at her question, studying her for a short moment before raising his eyebrows in confusion. "You mean… she's dead?"

"Magical curse-coma." she corrected, looking down at her glass to avoid seeing the pending glee on his face. But instead, he reached for her hand and made her meet his eyes, filled with sympathy instead of the gloating smile she had expected.

"I'm sorry to hear that, love."

"Why?" the words left her mouth before she could stop them.

"Because she is your friend." he responded, a frown forming his mouth. "Of course, it may be somewhat of a relief for me to hear she won't be bringing any more trouble onto my doorstep in the nearest future. But that is beside the point."

She couldn't help but chuckle at that, shaking her head slightly. "Right."

"And while on the subject of loss..." he began, causing a heavy weight to press at her chest.

"Yeah..." she whispered, withdrawing her hand and staring into her lap. She had been worried about this coming up – the topic of her mother. "I never did thank you for..."

"That was never necessary, Caroline." he cut her off with a soft voice, making her peer up at him with a frown.

She was brought back in her mind then to the flowers he had sent her on the morning of the funeral. Gorgeous red roses and white lilies in a huge spray, accompanied with a letter – in that general Klaus-style of his:

"Dearest Caroline,

Please accept my deep and sincere condolences on the passing of your mother. The only comfort I can think of to offer you is the advice to grieve in any way you can and for as long as you may need. I hope you will remember the happiness you've shared with her, not solely the grief you feel now that she is gone. Furthermore, I hope you know if there is ever anything I can do for you, you need only ask.

With love,
Klaus."

She had been thankful for the thoughtful gesture, but also bitter. Because she knew all too well how he dealt with loss and pain himself. More often than not bloody. Now however, she wished that she had followed his advice, instead of what she had decided to do: turn her humanity off.

The memories of those dark days flashed before her eyes as a deep pit grew in her stomach... Perhaps she still hadn't quite recovered, not only from the loss of her mother, but from the way she had acted in the face of it as well. Her train of thought was interrupted when a couple of waiters swiftly arrived with entrées.

Again, she wondered how Klaus had coordinated all of this and looked over at him with so many questions. Unsure of which to ask him first. "How did you know about my mom?" she mused once the waiters left.

He gave her a short and soft smile before answering. "Does it matter?"

"I mean... I guess not, I just think it's strange that you knew about that but not about Elena and Julian and everything else."

He propped his elbows on the table, his hands under his chin as he seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Was this not our arrangement, love? I agreed to stay away from your life in Mystic Falls, and I did. I'm confused as to why you act upset over that fact."

"I just, I guess I didn't really think you would-"

"Keep my promise?"

She bit her lip to try and hide the guilt his hurt look brought her. "What about Dallas?" she countered, earning a flash of something else on his face then.

"Ah, you put that together then..." he crooned silently.

"Yes well, I may not remember everything that happened, but I do know that I blacked out after nearly dying from a werewolf bite and woke up completely healed. So, it wasn't exactly a mystery what had transpired." she retorted, earning a slow nod from him before she continued. "So, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you heal me? Why didn't you just… let me die?"

Leaning back in his chair in a sigh, he looked away for a moment before facing her again. "Why didn't you call me?" he countered then, causing her to flinch under his scrutinizing gaze. "Why were you lying in the middle of the road with enough werewolf venom in your system to turn you into a pile of bones… just a few yards away from a car crash which you apparently had caused yourself?"

She hadn't realized that he knew about that. Truthfully, she had hoped it had all just been a hallucination. That she hadn't actually tried to murder a couple in the middle of some woods outside of Dallas. That she hadn't intended to take her own life, to succumb to the werewolf bite and give up – just to get run over by a truck instead. She had wondered just how she survived the accident, but Alaric hadn't known much about it and the details had remained unclear ever since.

However, the possibility that Klaus had somehow found her, healed her and taken her to a hospital seemed absolutely bizarre. Not because he had saved her, but because he then left without saying goodbye. And until today, she thought it was because he had been upset with her. That helping her had been such an inconvenience that he just wanted to feed her his blood and leave. That this time, it would be the last. That he wouldn't ever do something like that again.

Hell, wasn't she already overdue with unpaid favors by now anyway? She certainly wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't want to come to her aid anymore. It wasn't his responsibility, and it sure as hell wasn't normal for the thousand-year-old original hybrid to run after a baby-vampire all over the world at every sign of danger.

"I think..." she began, feeling the words ring true but worrying they wouldn't be well received at all. "I guess I didn't expect you to care."

He wore a sad smile when she finally looked over at him again. Seeing something pained and confused on his face before he turned away from her with the shake of his head. "I see." he muttered quietly and completely out of humor.

She could feel him wanting to press the subject further, question her cold reasoning, but wished and willed him to let it go in her mind. "So, you are searching for Bonnie." he confirmed, a much lighter tone in his voice. It made her let out a long breath of relief.

"Yeah, a vampire - Julian – abducted her." she breathed out.

"And what does this Julian want with the Bennett-witch?"

"I don't know." she admitted, combing through her hair with her fingers as her nerves hadn't quite subsided yet. "But it can't be good, last time he was up to something like this, he kind of... Well, he tried to change the bloodlines."

That made Klaus' stiffen slightly, just enough for her to catch it considering things never really seemed to throw him off-guard. His eyes fluttered in surprised interest as the ends of his mouth twitched to hold back a smirk. "Really? And how exactly had he planned on achieving that?"

"Well, last time he came to New Orleans to find his sire, so we think that was a part of it. But it's not why I'm here." He looked surprised at that, but she hurried on before he could comment on it. "Enzo and Damon may still want to get to Julian and stop him from coming after all of us and whatever… But I don't care about that, I'm only here to find Bonnie."

"And I understand that requires something from Lucien? At least according to the rather limited amount of information which Marcel has decided to divulge with me."

"Yeah, well… Okay, so last time, Julian had this insanely elaborate plan going on. He needed his sire, he needed to know which bloodline he belonged to and he went looking for some special objects that could be used as weapons." she revealed, realizing he probably needed some more details than what she had offered so far. "Damon thinks his sire was Lucien. And he thinks that this collection of weapons that Julian was looking for belonged to him as well. So, all in all; if we get to Lucien, he leads us to Julian and that gets us to Bonnie."

"And what of the vision Alice-May shared with you then?"

"Yeah, that was… Well, weird. Apparently, one of these objects that Lucien may or may not have been collecting was a candle. Or well, not just any candle… It's called the Candle of Hades and according to Damon, it can break any cloaking spell no matter how powerful. So, finding that would help us find Bonnie, hopefully without getting in the middle of whatever plan Julian has this time around."

She had to take a breath as she finished speaking, the words having left her mouth so quickly she wasn't sure he had followed her. He nodded slowly before turning to his food, making her do the same and realizing that her plate was suddenly empty. Had she been that hungry?

After finishing his last bite, two servers showed up as if having been standing by and collected their plates. As their glasses were being refilled, she studied the quiet man in front of her with a racing heart. Fidgeting with the hem on her dress, she tried to sense what he was thinking but came at a loss. He was always quick to react when angry, not as quick when he was sad, and sometimes he would surprise her and act on both emotions at the same time… But now?

"Why?" he asked, cutting off her thoughts with a flat tone and blank face.

"Why what?" she stuttered out, trying to remember what she had said to gain such a cold stance.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

She stared at him in confusion. "You asked?"

"No... Why haven't you brought this problem to me until now?" he corrected, his eyes meeting hers with a dark color. Making her stomach twist as she realized she had been way off on her assessment of his reaction. He wasn't angry, or sad… He was pissed.

"Klaus, listen-"

"Perhaps it hadn't occurred to you that I may have some interest in the matter? What with it involving my siblings and all?" he gritted out through clenched teeth, rolling his fists up until they turned white.

"I didn't-"

"Or perhaps you simply thought I wouldn't care that this Julian is indirectly trying to get to me and my family by altering the bloodlines?"

"Klaus-"

"Or perhaps that kind of decency was too much to ask for? What, as a mere run-off-the-mill one-night stand in the woods, years ago… Is that it?"

The sound of glass breaking made Caroline realize that she had squeezed her drink too hard, blood starting to drip from her palm as she hissed out a long breath. "I didn't want to involve you because no matter how, when or where I brought this up - I knew. I knew you would just choose to hear whatever you wanted to hear so that you could use my words against me. That's why."

He let out a cold chuckle, tilting his head back slightly. "Yes, that must be it!" he said, banging his fist into the table, making the china jump up and glasses fall over. "I am such a cold, heartless monster that I couldn't possibly be reasoned with!"

"Well, you are kind of acting like a petulant child right now, so I think it proves my point." she muttered out, not even the least bit thrown off by his temper tantrum as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"I'm the child?" he chuckled then, a wild and crazy grin on his face. "Not you, who has spent the last few days tip-toeing around me in an attempt to keep me from finding out that - yet again - my family is in danger because of you and your little trouble-seeking lot!"

"Why do you think I didn't tell you!?" she yelled back, a part of her realizing that they were making a scene and that everyone were staring but she couldn't bring herself to care. "Ever since you left, I have been trying to stay out of your life. But apparently, the universe loves torturing me, since it keeps insisting on pushing me in your way any chance it gets. So yeah, I kept this from you, because I actually tried to be the bigger person between the two of us and not drag you into my problems again!"

They were standing now, towering over the table on each sides with fumes most likely coming out through their ears. Her heart was beating so loudly, it was deafening. Until she realized that it wasn't her own pulse she was hearing... It was everybody else's. The realization hitting her then, crawling under her skin and causing her veins to feel dry as sandpaper.

Blood.

She wasn't seeing the man in front of her anymore, all she felt was the hunger calling for it. And it was everywhere. A suffocating feeling filled her throat as the walls seemed to close in on her. Her face itched as she fought against the dark veins crawling below her eyes. Her nails dug through her palms, piercing her skin, but it wasn't enough to distract her from the sudden and all-consuming craving she felt.

In the distance, she could see Klaus' face turning into a concerned frown as his voice called out to her. But she was too busy trying to figure out how to escape without leaving a massacre behind to pay any attention to him.

The second she spotted the closest exit, she flashed out of there and into a dark alley. She leaned against the brick wall and tried to control her breathing. Feeling her face change as she rolled up her knuckles and started digging her fingernails into her palms once more. Needing to feel something else, anything, aside from the raging and consuming hunger that screamed through her body.

Seeing a dumpster near the wall, she leaned over it and dug quickly until she found large chards of glass among some broken bottles. She looked down at her dress and bunched it up slightly over her thigh, then she stabbed herself in the leg. Hissing for a moment before doing it again. And again. Over and over. Like she had done that night at Marcel's.

Suddenly she was pushed up against the wall, her hand still gripping the piece of glass as she stared daggers into the man who had intervened. "Stop!" Klaus growled as he squeezed her arms tightly, keeping her from escaping him.

She panted as she closed her eyes, leaning her head back at the wall behind her with a slight sense of relief as his hands started causing her pain… Enough to drown out the rest. He let go of her arms then, as if realizing what she was thinking, and cupped her face instead. She tried to shake her head away from him, but his grip kept her from doing so.

"It's no big deal, I was just-" she stammered without opening her eyes.

"Don't lie." he growled low before leaning back a bit to study her leg as the blood kept running down from the slowly healing wound. "This is what Marcel is teaching you?" he asked with acid in his tone.

"What?" she quipped and looked at him then. "No, I was just trying to control it."

"When was the last time you fed?" he pressed on and looked deeply into her eyes, as if trying to compel it out of her.

She tried to shake her head again in denial. "I was just angry and-"

"Tell me! Before I grab the nearest pedestrian and serve them to you myself."

"A few days! Okay!?" she exclaimed. "Two maybe three… I don't really know."

He looked at her with a storm in his eyes. "Caroline…" he hissed out in a desperate tone. "How are you supposed to find some magical candle, get Lucien on your side and save Bonnie all the while starving yourself to death?"

"I've been able to manage it so far." she scoffed, her breathing calming down and her thoughts clearing up.

"How long have you been doing this to yourself?"

"I don't have to answer that." she insisted, mostly to herself.

"I'd suggest otherwise." he muttered as his face changed, his eyes glowed and veins covered his cheeks. He then bit into his wrist and held it up close to her face. "Drink." he ordered.

"I don't need -" she began but he interrupted her.

"Unless you want to leave a trail of bodies outside this restaurant, love, I believe this is your best option." he said as his face slowly changed back. "Don't make me force you." he pleaded then with a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth.

She looked down at his wrist and felt her breathing speed up again at the sight of fresh blood from the actual vein. Caroline couldn't even remember the last time she had had that. The warmth drew her in, the smell bringing her face to change entirely at loss for control of it.

Frozen in place, she tried to decide whether she could calm herself without his help or not. But as Klaus rolled up his sleeve and turned his arm slightly, there was a few drops of blood that slowly and tantalizingly ran down his forearm. Her eyes fully locked on it, following the liquid's path as if in a trance. She was holding onto his arm with both her hands before she was even aware of what she was doing, then she bit into the nearly healed wound and began feeding.

Caroline had fed on Klaus' blood several times before in the past, but during those times she had been on the brink of death and hadn't really thought much of it. Nevertheless, it had still been a salvation and the feeling she had gotten from it was like coming up from air after having been drowning. But this time she wasn't dying, and so she could truly feel the rush of it.

She stumbled into his body, barely registering it as he held onto her with his free arm and kept her close. In her ears, Caroline followed his steady heartbeat, making her rapid one slow down and mimic it. She fed so quickly and desperately at first that she needed to release his arm for a moment to catch her breath. Then she bit into it again and grabbed his hand tightly as the blood filled her with warmth and an unadulterated form of euphoria.

Her mind was clouded, engrossed with the hunger inside, and as Klaus stroked her back while burying his face in her hair, she felt her heartbeat speed up again. His touch burned her skin all the way through the thin fabric of her dress. The scent of him surrounded her, the taste of him intoxicated her… She felt intoxicated, and alive and as if she was either going to burst into flames or start flying.

She let go with a soft moan, sucking down the path of some runaway drops down his forearm. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized the intimate position they were in. She felt his silent hiss blowing at her hair, his fingers digging into her side and his hard body pressing closer to her as he reacted to her lips and tongue on his skin. But for the moment, she was far too busy cleaning off his arm and absorbing each and every last bit of his blood that she could get.

The heartbeat she followed in her mind had begun to race again and it echoed her own. Drumming in her ears as she dove further down skin with her panting mouth. One of her hands gripped his collar tightly, partly to keep him in place and partly to steady her balance as she bit into his arm a third time. A low grunt escaped her as she tasted him again, sighing softly as she dug deeper into his skin. Klaus murmured something against her ear… But she couldn't comprehend the words as she was all too occupied with the pleasant shivers running through her as she fed on. The wall hit her side as he pushed closer, pinning her between him and the brickwork.

Something shifted then, a change in his blood as a sensation tinted it with a new kind of sweetness. She realized slowly that it was his longing for her that caused it, and the taste brought the walls down inside her mind. She wanted more, wanted to be closer, wanted to discover more of his flesh... Clawing at his shirt and chest, reaching for a necklace under the fabric and gripping it tight to pull herself closer to his body, just barely resisting the sudden urge to rub herself against him.

It wasn't until a deeper feeling infused the blood that she was chocked away from him abruptly. A word humming in the air between them as she knew in her heart what it was. It may have been several years since she'd last felt it, but she could recognize the feeling anywhere... Love.

Her head still spun as she raised her head from his arm, her body not seeming to listen to her as she tried to back out of his embrace. But instead, she clung to him and sighed deeply, her eyes closed as she felt herself soaring. Their heavy breaths the only sounds she could hear in the moment. Then the reality hit her like a punch in the stomach, making her cower away as guilt and embarrassment flowed through her. Striking her down like lightning and turning her body to stone as she fought to create space between them.

Pushing at his chest so that she could breathe air that wasn't scented with him... But he barely moved from the spot, making her bow her head in shame as she tried to calm the chaos inside. His hands held her face, thumbs gracing over the veins on her cheeks as she fought to make them go away. She finally gained enough control, her face returning to its human form and her eyes looking up at Klaus'.

She had been smart not to look into them sooner, because they were filled with fire. A sharp hiss rushed through her at the sight, the glowing yellow of his werewolf-half just barely hiding behind the green irises. They called out to her, pulled at her soul, wanted to bring her back into the dark and lustful haze again. Beckoning for her to lose herself in him further.

The world slowly came back into focus, their breaths mixing as the proximity between them remained slightly too close for her comfort. Sounds from the streets reached her again, reminding her of her shame. Of her losing control. Of the danger of indulging in the hybrid before her. Somehow, she managed to collect her thoughts just long enough to actually speak up. "Sorry" she whispered, trying to break the intense silence between them.

"For what?" he breathed, his voice so dark and husky that it made a harsh shiver run down her spine.

Blood-sharing is intimate. The thought made her shy away again, remembering how a similar situation had caused Stefan to nearly kill Damon in response... And she understood why. It was the deepest connection she had ever felt with anyone before, and it made her want to crawl into a corner and hide away from it.

"Forgetting." she said, not able to come up with anything else in the moment. She had crossed a line. A very serious one too. Feeding on him had allowed her to tap into his most safely tucked away thoughts and emotions. And knowing Klaus, how closed off and guarded he was, how thick the walls were that he kept around him... It felt like a very dangerous invasion of privacy.

However, it brought a different question to her mind as she studied him carefully. Why had he let her? Klaus was considerably stronger than her, if he wanted to he could have ripped her off him and killed her right on the spot. But he hadn't. He hadn't pulled away. Instead, he had leaned in. He had wrapped his arms around her, steadying her, allowing her to have her fill... He had let her gorge herself on him, as if he was the last body of water in a vast desert which she had traveled for an eternity in search of.

The man who never lets anyone in, who always keeps his guard up... That man had let her break down the door to his very mind and soul.

"Why didn't you stop me?" the words were uttered before she could think them over. Again, she winced at her lack of self-control and cursed her rogue tongue.

A dark smile formed his lips then as he leaned closer. Eyes heavy while he brought a thumb up to brush over her lips. "Do you really need me to answer that, Caroline?" he murmured low to her.

She gulped hard, fighting off the tingles that spread from his touch. Her eyes flicking between his and those tempting lips that were so close to her now. Thoughts raced through her mind as she fought to think of something to say to ease the electric tension around them. "Why do I get the feeling that you got more out of that than I did?" she huffed, attempting to ease the tension with some humor. But his dark smirk did nothing to calm her body down as he spoke up.

He leaned into her, drawing her hair behind her ear as he whispered close and sent tingles over her skin from his hot breath. "Yes, well... You certainly are quite delectable with my blood running through your veins." he purred softly. The possessive tone tugged at something deep inside of her that she quickly willed away. He leaned over her neck, his nose tracing her skin as he breathed her in. It caused her to tug on her lip with such force that blood pricked out from a tiny wound.

His face shot up then, his eyes glued to the red taint that stained her mouth suddenly. With a tug of his fingers, he freed her lip from her teeth and swiped the blood off. His thumb bringing a simple drop with it as he drew it to his mouth and sucked it off softly. A flash of veins spread over his face quickly before he met her eyes again. He shook his head then, his eyes snapping back into reality as he too seemed to catch himself forgetting, but what she was unsure.

He leaned back a little with a secretive smile playing on his lips. Gazing down at her body, making her follow his eyes to find out what it was that had caught his attention. She was surprised to see that not one single drop of his blood had stained her clothes. There were still some traces of her stabbings earlier along her leg, but she could easily wipe that off with a napkin... "Such a tidy vampire." he chuckled lowly, thinking the same thing as her.

She let out a sound that was a cross between a giggle and a snort. "Yeah." she breathed out, not really knowing what else to say. Meeting his eyes as they looked like they were peering into her soul. "I... I should probably-" she stuttered but he quickly cut her off.

"Caroline..." he drawled softly, making her wonder shortly if her was trying to compel her or if he was just pleading with her to listen. To stay. Not to go. She studied him closely and something in his eyes gave his thoughts away. She just knew then what he was trying to say and it caused panic to flare up in her chest.

She flashed around him and put a significant amount of space between them then. Clapping her hands together in an attempt to snap them both out of their thoughts. "So!" she exclaimed, desperate to break the silence, and the moment as he slowly turned back to her. "I'm going to give you one chance to take back what you said earlier."

He began to laugh at her then, his shoulders shaking from the action. And just like that, the mood had turned a thousand times lighter than a second ago. She tilted her chin forward and pouted defiantly. "What's so funny?" she mused breathlessly.

Klaus shook his head at her then. "You, love." he responded with a bright smile. "I just saved you from killing everyone within a mile's radius and you mean I have more to make up for?"

"I wouldn't have let it go that far." she insisted with a shrug as she glanced away.

"Yes well... I certainly couldn't allow you to continue mutilating yourself in the efforts of keeping such a scenario from playing out, now, could I?" he said and crossed his arms over his chest, making her realize that she was doing the same.

She grunted in frustration and dropped her arms to her sides. "When are you going to realize that I don't need your help?"

"When are you going to realize that you do?" he asked, walking towards her with a grin. "Now, I suggest we order some dessert."

"I'm not going back in there with you." she said while shaking her head.

"That's no problem, sweetheart. We aren't having dessert here but at the next destination for the evening."

"I agreed to dinner, that's one meal at one place. Not some freaking culinary tour through New Orleans." she protested.

He chuckled at that. "Caroline, I have planned on what to show you, once you decide to come here, for years. Did you truly think that this restaurant was all of it?" he asked with a smirk and then clasped his hands together. "Moreover, I sure won't let you end this night without having the full New Orleans experience!"

She felt her stomach flip at that, making her scoff in an attempt to push the feeling down. "Oh really?" she said, trying to match the easy tone in his voice.

"Come on, love. Follow me." he chimed, handing over her clutch which he must have taken with him when he followed her out of the restaurant, and then gestured his arm to her.

She was ready to decline his offer but caught something in his eyes that made her feel like she would regret it if she didn't give him a chance. And having an experienced tour guide like the thousand-year-old, and apparently founder of the city itself, wasn't something to miss out on. She convinced herself she would be able to keep some distance between them and the tension at bay. With a sigh and a defeated eyeroll, she took his arm and he led her smilingly out of the alley.

Apparently the thousand-year-old habitants of New Orleans didn't need to pay their bills.

One month ago
Plzeň , Czech Republic

It didn't take long for them to pack everything and leave the motel, filling up the car that Stefan and Valerie had rented and immediately driving off like their lives depended on it... Because, well. It was the truth.

Apparently, Valerie had contacts at an old avian club by the decommissioned airport in the city of Plzeň, just over an hour away. There they were to meet with a licensed pilot and 'borrow' the plane temporarily. It wasn't all totally legal, meaning they had to be careful not to raise any suspicions when reaching the club.

The pilot turned out to be a middle-aged man with a terrible sunburn and even worse breath. But hey, beggars can't be choosers. Right?

"Matyáš will need an hour to fuel the plane, after which you will be free to leave." the Heretic explained to them.

"Well, that gives us plenty of time to catch up!" Damon chimed cheekily, an arm around his brother's shoulders. He seemed more at ease than Bonnie had seen him during all of the past five years on the road. "Matyáš!" he called out then. "We need vodka!"

Matyáš' English wasn't great, but he clearly understood that sentence. He grinned at them and ushered the group inside to the club's bar. Murmuring some things to Valerie, which Bonnie didn't follow at all, and then waved at them happily.

"Užívejte si!" he called out before disappearing. He seemed nice enough for someone who was willing to offer illegally chartered planes to the highest bidder.

"So, tell us of your adventures, brother!" Damon cheered as a waiter placed a huge bottle of vodka along with glasses for the group at their table.

"There's really not much to tell, Damon." Stefan chuckled then, shaking his head at the older Salvatore.

"Oh, come on!" he whined in response, pouring the clear liquor to the table with a generous tilt of hand. "Val, then. What have you been up to?"

"Aside from being chased all over the globe by Julian?" she scoffed slightly. "Not much."

"Well, where have you been running to? Any nice places? I know Stefan here hasn't been able to travel quite as much as myself over the years. It does you good to see the world!"

"Well, we were mainly following a trail of leads down South America and back up to the States again." he replied with a shrug, leaning back in his chair with hints of a content smile. He had clearly missed his brother too; he was just not as obvious about it. That was always Stefan's 'thing' after all; subtlety and brooding.

"Did you see the carnival?" he pressed on, causing his young brother to roll his eyes.

"No, Damon. We didn't manage to find time in our rather tight schedule of running for our lives to go to festivals."

"So, you just switched cities every day then? You didn't ever stay in one place for long enough to actually enjoy it?"

Bonnie glanced over at Enzo with a pointed look, earning a smirk from him in turn. It was clear that Damon was suffering a socializing deficiency, after all these years traveling with the same people day in and day out. The vampire beside her left an arm on the back of her chair then, his hand grazing her shoulder and eliciting a smile from her. It wasn't until Valerie mentioned where they had spent the most amount of time that the conversation broke through the Bennett-witch's mind again.

"Wait." she said, looking over at the pair with disbelieving eyes. "Did you just say you went to Chicago?"

Valerie and Stefan shared a strange glance shortly before Damon chimed in. "Oh, so is that where blondie has been hiding out then?" he crooned, looking over at Bonnie pointedly. "I assume you had your reasons for not telling me."

"It wasn't something for me to tell." she bit back, earning a snicker from the vampire then.

"Did you see her?" Enzo asked, making the witch beside him realize that he hadn't really spoken until now.

"Yes." Stefan replied shortly. The tone and solemn face giving off enough information on how that meeting had gone…

"How is she?" Bonnie couldn't help but ask, a heavy sadness pressing over her chest as she was struck by the magnitude of which she missed her friend. They had created a system for keeping tabs on each other over the years apart, but it wasn't nearly sufficient enough. Not to mention the fact that they couldn't contact each other more than once every other month or so. Meaning they didn't really manage to keep each other caught up on things, and the distance was certainly starting to take its toll on their friendship.

Stefan looked away for a moment as Valerie cleared her throat before responding in his place. Making the younger witch worry about what they weren't saying. "She and Alaric have been going through a rough time, to say the least." she explained cautiously.

"Had something happened?" Enzo pressed on, earning an appreciative smile from Bonnie as he appeared just as concerned about Caroline as her.

"Well…" Valerie began but was interrupted by Stefan's steely glare. "It isn't as if we were the cause of it." she muttered to him then, making him sigh and grimace tightly.

"Cause of what?" Bonnie probed, not at all enjoying the silent looks between the two.

"Tyler bit her." Stefan finally said, causing the entire table to freeze up.

Damon was the one to break the silence first, chuckling deeply as he shook his head in disbelief. "Okay, tell us everything! And please start with just how desperately the Big Bad Hybrid wanted to rip the poor little Lockwood wolf apart."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

It wasn't far from the restaurant to their next stop, Café du Monde. Caroline had of course heard of it and knew that it was quite the tourist sensation. Making her glance over at the hybrid incredulously as he opened the door for her. "Really?" she asked.

He smiled at her without saying a word and she rolled her eyes for the hundred time that night as she entered the bakery. It was extremely crowded, a long line of customers stood impatiently before her as Caroline examined the place. Klaus cut her short by ignoring the others and walking straight towards a table which hadn't been cleaned yet.

"Klaus!" Caroline hissed. Receiving glares from the others, she hurried after him.

He held out a chair for her and she sat down with confusion painted over her face. But as soon as he took a seat across from her, a waitress came and cleaned off all the dishes from the table. Then a colleague of hers came up to them with a notebook just as soon as she had left. "Yes?" he said and looked at Caroline.

She blinked a few times, not having seen the menu yet here either. But her date quickly chimed in before she could ask what this man could possibly expect from her. "Two plates of beignets and the same number of café au laits, please." Klaus said, the waiter nodding and scribbling the order down before disappearing.

Caroline stared at Klaus wide-eyed, making him laugh. "Places like this see hundreds of tourists every day who don't know what to order or where to sit, they often appreciate it when us locals take some initiative." he explained.

"But what if I wanted to order something else? I don't even know what the other options where." she protested.

"Trust me, sweetheart. You won't want to order anything else once you've tried the beignets."

She shook her head at him in disbelief, this night hadn't been anything she'd expect from Klaus Mikaelson. A chuckle escaped her as she tried to imagine him grabbing a quick coffee here on his way to chasing down enemies and killing innocents.

"What's so funny?" he asked as he studied her with an entertained look.

"You." she giggled softly and gestured around the room. "In a place like this."

"What were you expecting, Caroline? I can't spend all of my time in dark dungeons, now can I?" he mocked and made her laugh again.

"I just..." she said and trailed off for a moment as their food suddenly arrived, then continuing her thought. "I just didn't expect you to be so non-evil, I guess." she admitted and quickly averted his gaze by trying out one of the powder-covered pastries in front of her.

She was afraid of the tower of powdered sugar to either get sucked into her nostrils or fall all over her clothes, so she held her breath when she took her first bite. And damn, it was good. "Now this... This is evil." she murmured with wide eyes. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

Klaus laughed at her as she took a sip of her coffee and let out a pleased sigh at the taste. "I was right then?" he teased.

"This time." she said with an index-finger pointed at him before diving right back into her heavenly dessert. She couldn't bring herself to say a single word again until she had finished the whole plate of pastries and could now lean back in her chair and enjoy her café au lait.

Klaus was finishing his last beignet when she broke the silence and brought his eyes to hers. "So… How does it work between you and Marcel?" she asked.

He blotted his napkin over his mouth before speaking. Such a well-behaved hybrid. Caroline teased in her mind. "You must be referring to my protégée so freely calling himself the king of the Quarter." he guessed, making her nod before he continued. "I did have the intention of taking the title for myself when I first returned to New Orleans." he admitted.

"And what, don't tell me you lost the vote?"

"Well, the election was rigged." he mocked with a chuckle, his grin contagious and causing her to join in. "I suppose I realized that I didn't care as much about leading the various groups of supernatural beings as I first thought."

"It kind of sounds like you're retired." she teased. "Which, knowing you, can't possibly be the case."

"Well, without your little bunch of threat magnets – I actually manage to stay out of trouble here. For the most part."

"Somehow, I doubt that." she teased, bringing out a wide smile from him.

"I have given it some thought." he told her with a slightly stiffer tone all of a sudden. "I don't believe you can get close enough to Lucien to get this candle you're looking for. However, I can."

"I told you-" she sighed.

"Caroline." he interrupted and leaned closer to the table. "I can help you. Please, let me."

"But why?" she asked honestly and dumb-founded.

He smiled at her softly. "Don't you know by now, love?" he countered, making her swallow hard. "I will not let anything happen to you."

She stared at him for a moment, trying to understand how he could still care for her. After every time she had ganged up with her friends to try and kill him. After every time she had refused to indulge in her thoughts of him. After all these years... she still meant something to him. Yet, he hardly even knew who she had become after leaving Mystic Falls. "Fine." she conceded with a nod. "What's the plan?"

"It's quite simple, actually. The candle is in Lucien's possession, I will therefore ask Lucien for it and he will hand it over to me." he shrugged.

"Why do I have a feeling that your version of 'asking' for something includes a little more torture and violence than the standard interpretation?"

"I don't reckon I will have to resort to any kind of torture or violence whatsoever. After all, I was the one who turned him into a vampire all those centuries ago."

Caroline could swear her jaw hit the floor right then and there. "What!?" she hissed. "And you couldn't bother mentioning this to me until now!?"

"You never asked." he shrugged, feigning innocence before smirking widely at her. "Now finish your coffee, we have one last stop left on the culinary tour of New Orleans."

Musicians' instruments and groups of couples swaying to jazzy tunes filled the neighborhood as the hybrid led the young vampire past the magical Frenchmen Street. Caroline studied the different people around them in comfortable silence. She was absolutely mystified by her date. Or rather, by how different and yet still so very much the same Klaus was after all this time. He was still the evil villain she'd always known, but maybe that wasn't the whole story… Or maybe, it just wasn't theirs.

She felt a soft smile grow as he suddenly grabbed her hand and spun her around. Her arms acting on reflex as she held onto his shoulders for stability. Catching the playful look in his eyes with a giggle. "Really?" she quipped with an incredulous smile, having lost count of the times she had said so tonight.

"One dance." he smirked. "Humor me a little further?" While he waited for her reply they had already started swaying along to the same music as the rest of the pairs around them. Twinkle lights covered the balconies above the street and an enchanting atmosphere surrounded everybody at the same time.

Caroline grinned brightly as she looked around to see equally delighted smiles on the other's lips, bringing a light, fluttering giggle out of her. When she looked back at Klaus, his face was somber and his eyes wide and soft. It made her gulp hard as an insecurity filled her stomach. She tried to put her finger on the reason for the confusion feeling inside but came up short. To put it all in perspective, they had just had a kind of really great date and her judgment was obviously clouded.

So, she decided to refocus her mind as they danced on… After all, this was supposed to be a friendly dinner, and nothing more. "So..." she drawled slowly as she broke the silence between them. "Is this what you do with the Louisianan belles? Take them to some great spots and make them swoon over your dance moves under the starry sky?" she teased.

He chuckled at that and shook his head. "Quite frankly, sweetheart, I haven't had to spend so much time and effort courting any woman before." he chimed with a wink.

She rolled her eyes at that. "Well, clearly you've figured out the most important thing about me then."

"And what's that?"

"That I'm not just going to fall at your feet by the drop of a hat or handkerchief or whatever else you used to do with women back in the day." she teased, smirking with a proud nod. "I'm not easily charmed, Klaus Mikaelson."

"You don't say." he chided and smiled at her with amusement covering his face.

Caroline held her breath for a moment as she took in his sparkling, somber eyes. They were drilling into her soul, pulling at her heart and causing flutters to flare up in her gut. His blood was still humming in her veins by the proximity, and it didn't help that they were standing in the most romantic scene she'd ever seen...

Don't. A voice told her as she glanced down at his lips, knowing just how easy it would be to lean forward. Memories from years ago flashed through her, reminding her of his taste. The feel of his lips on her skin, the warmth from his hands on her body...

No, don't. Closing her eyes, she steeled herself and pushed all the confusing thoughts out of her head. She was drunk. On alcohol, on original hybrid blood, on the whole NOLA ambience... That's all. She just needed to back away and regain her senses for a moment, then everything would be cleared up again.

But as she pulled back, she struggled to leave his strong grip holding her to him. It caused her to look up again in surprise, making her wonder if maybe all those reasons for her hazy thoughts were getting to him too...

"I should get back. Call it a night." she concluded silently; her voice not quite as steady as she had hoped.

Giving her a small nod, his face flickered with something she couldn't identify. He slowly let go of her and placed his hands behind his back, his gaze scanning their surrounding and avoiding hers. "Of course." he murmured, but it felt like he was replying to something else entirely.

He bowed slightly, a sudden old-fashioned politeness taking over him as he spoke up again. "Allow me to escort you back." he said softly, looking up at her with a pleading look in his eyes that didn't quite match the cordial tone of his voice.

She nodded slowly in response, a stinging in her chest baffled her as she watched him continue down the road slowly. What was that? she thought to herself before deciding to brush it off and hurried to catch up with him.

They walked in silence, next to each other the rest of the way. The distance between them made Caroline feel off... Cold... Sad. She glanced over at him, studying his set jaw and squared shoulders as he stared ahead of them, he seemed lost in thought. The emotions which he usually radiated were completely hidden from her now. It only reminded her of how long they had been apart, how much had changed... How different things were now. How different he was… Maybe she didn't know him after all? Maybe she had expected to find some old version of the Big Bad Hybrid that had wreaked havoc in Mystic Falls ages ago. A version that probably didn't exist anymore. She knew how the years could change a person, she herself had experienced several shifts in her own reflection in the mirror lately.

There were numerous past Caroline's. One who had lived and breathed by each and every glance a boy would throw her way. One who had dived into her neurotic traits, trying to control everything around her in an effort to cling to some normalcy and humanity - despite no longer being human at all. There was even one version of her that may have died in Mystic Falls the same time she left her home behind. That version had known Klaus, cared for him even. Trusted him. But she had died over and over so many times between then and now.

Maybe he was disappointed in finding that she was no longer the girl he'd fallen for? Maybe he himself had changed and turned and shifted and just didn't inhabit any feelings of the same sort towards her anymore? Maybe she was wrong to come here after all? Yes, he had healed her in Dallas. In secret even - something so uncharacteristic of him that it shook her to her core. But maybe it hadn't meant anything to him?

Although, the thought brought an entirely different question to mind; Why hadn't he told her? The Klaus she knew would have loved to stay behind and rub his actions in her face with that irritatingly smug smirk of his. The Klaus she knew would have wanted her to know what he had done, and why. But this man by her side now? What's to stop him from turning away right this moment and go behind her back. Take on Lucien and Julian on his own, not caring how his actions affected her as he focused on his own interests in the matter...

Ages ago she would be sure that Klaus was on her side, that he cared about her and wanted to help her. To save her. But how could she know whether or not to trust him now? Then an echo spread through her body instantly, as if haven been summoned by her train of thought. An emotion she'd felt as she'd fed on his blood... He felt something for her. There was something. She had tasted it. Felt it squeeze her heart inside her chest. Heard it ring through her ears in a delightful tune. He cared, that was clear enough. She just wasn't sure if she could bet her friends' lives on it. Nor her own.

Although, if she was completely honest with herself... Then truth be told: she was far less worried about putting her life in Klaus' hands than she was of doing so with her heart. However, it was hard to hold onto that self-perseverance when he looked at her with those eyes and smiled with those little dimples or reached to touch her with those hands...

She shrugged off the shivers the mere thought sent down her spine and glanced over to realize they had stopped walking. "I hope your friend won't harangue you all too much over your absence tonight." he said, making her blink up at him for a mute moment as she sorted through her mind temporarily.

"Oh, no. Enzo won't mind. I've explained everything between us to him already." she stuttered out, biting her lip in a blush as she noted the little smile on his face then.

"Have you, now?" he chimed, looking so content and pleased with himself that she couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

Her arms defensively crossed over her chest. "Yes. He knows that we're friends. And that he shouldn't worry about you hanging around." she quipped, failing to discourage the smirk from growing further and groaning then. "We had a nice night, Klaus. Don't ruin it now with all your-" she waved her hand furiously across his face with narrowed eyes. "-that!"

He chuckled at her, shaking his head as he looked away for a moment. Allowing her a chance to breathe deeply to cool her face down. "So..." she drawled, stretching the word out until his eyes ventured back to her again with the amusement still very clear in those green orbs. "You're really going to help us?"

"Was there ever any doubt about it, love?"

She lost a fight against the wide grin that tugged on her lips then, darting her eyes down to her fidgeting hands as she tried to think of something to say. Realizing that she didn't really want to part ways just yet...

"It was indeed a nice night, Caroline." he told her then, a soft and genuine expression on his face as she glanced up at him through her lashes. "A great night, with the most… enchanting company."

Bringing her arms around herself, to keep from wrapping them around him instead, she nodded a mute response. It really had been great. Incredible, actually. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to admit that... Especially since her days often were occupied by work and her free time was almost non-existent. Aside from the occasional one-time thing with some guy at a bar, she didn't get to enjoy herself very often. But tonight, she really had.

"Of course, I did prefer some parts of this evening more than others..." he teased, making her scoff and roll her eyes as she read between the lines right away. She hit his chest, hard, feeling a little squirmy and strange from the temporary touch.

"Are you ever not on!?" she groaned as he only chuckled at her further.

"Oh, don't tell me you do not also hold some favorite moments yourself, love! Perhaps one specific… One which I am certain will become quite the fond memory for myself at least." he went on, causing her to punch at him further.

"Don't make me regret saying yes to-" she began but was cut off as Klaus grabbed one of her wrists and abruptly pulled her into him. The words dying on her lips as she stared up at the intense look in his eyes with her heart coming to a standstill.

Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to avoid leaning in and inhaling his familiar scent. The skin under his touch prickled with goosebumps, his hold keeping her frozen in place and completely helpless. He turned her wrist over, bringing his free hand to run the tip of his index-finger slowly over the veins beneath her thin skin... Brushing up and down in deliberate motions, his eyes following the movements closely and the effects they had on her.

Gulping hard and resisting the urge to shiver under his scrutinizing look, she waited for him to say something. To tease her further. To make her wish she hadn't gone on this stupid non-date after all. She waited for the magic of the night to evaporate, and for him to shatter the already cherished memories from their time together. Just do it already, she thought to herself. Suddenly irritated for not having seen this coming earlier.

Why had she let her guard down?

Why had she let him in!?

But the words never came. The look in his eyes was no longer playful, something else coloring them in a serious way she couldn't quite decipher. His lips parted slightly as he slowly reached for her cheek, tracing her skin further across her jawline. Causing her to wrestle with her thoughts as she wondered if he was about to kiss her - and if she really didn't want him to.

"Good night, sweetheart." he whispered softly, finally breaking the silence between them.

"Good night." she breathed back. Her mouth automatically mimicked the tiny smile tugging at his lips. Then he stepped out of her grasp and with a gust of wind, he was gone. Leaving her to stand in his wake, her hand still up in the same position as he had held it. Her skin buzzing from his touch, her body fluttering as she bit her lip hard with a deep exhale.

She brought her hand to her mouth, realizing she was grinning like crazy as she noticed her reflection in the windows of the building. Good night indeed, she thought to herself in an echo. Walking up to her room and falling to her bed with a sigh as she felt it all sweep over her in long waves.

Chapter Text

Chapter 20: Words left out in the cold

Three weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

As the three friends stepped off the small airplane, they were immediately met with the humid Mediterranean air. Hinting the faint smells of salty waters and tropical landscapes. Despite their year-long travels, Bonnie still hadn't made it to the beach once since leaving the States. The thought hit her hard as she looked over at some of the airport employees in shorts and thin shirts, their skin darkened, and their hair lightened by the sun.

The sad lump in her gut followed her even as they got into their car, arrived at their rented apartment and began to unpack. Only interrupted when a voice spoke up just as she stored her suitcase away and waited for Enzo as he went to get them a rental car. "Something on your mind there, Bon?"

She glanced over at Damon with a pout. "Honestly? I'm trying to figure out what it will take to convince you boys to go see the ocean."

"As much as I would absolutely adore seeing Enzo drool all over the sight of you in a two-piece... I think I'd prefer to go looking for a Caetano witch instead." he teased, making her roll her eyes and throw a nearby pillow in his direction. "Hey! Be nice or I won't let you ride shotgun for the rest of the trip!"

"Don't act like having Enzo in control of the music and GPS wouldn't be more of a nightmare for you than me." she scoffed, making him grin at her for a long moment. "So... No, to the beach then?"

He chuckled as he met her pleading pout with the shake of his head. "Maybe later." he winked over at her as she turned to the sofa in the corner and slumped down with a sigh.

"Fine." she whined before tucking her legs under her and resting back against the comfortable velvet cushions. The door opened a moment later as Enzo stepped into the apartment with a pair of keys in his hand.

"Alright, you both better be prepared to worship me at my feet, for I have managed to snag the last convertible in all of Faro." he boasted, a wide smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around Bonnie's shoulders and kissed her temple softly.

"Hope you packed a swimsuit, darling. I even found some information on the nearest beaches; I'm thinking Lagos and then we follow the Amalfi coastline until we either reach the sunset or get bored with gorgeous cave-covered beaches..."

Bonnie couldn't keep the little giggle down as she watched his animated eyes while he spoke. The smile on his face bringing a flutter to her stomach as she took him in for a moment. Then she glanced back at Damon and turned a determined expression to Enzo. "Maybe tomorrow."

He groaned lowly, clearly displeased with the answer. "Very well. Tomorrow it is." he muttered in disappointment before focusing on the other vampire. "Has your friend called yet?"

"Not yet, but she will. So, you know, keep your knickers on." Damon snickered back with a smirk.

Enzo grimaced slightly before taking a seat beside the witch, his hand resting over her knee softly. Drawing a smile from her lips as she glanced back at him with warmth in her eyes. "I could try those spells Kasia showed me to get the ball rolling." she suggested then, turning to Damon with a shrug. "I don't know if they will lead anywhere, but at least it gives us something to show your friend."

"We just landed, sweetheart." Enzo sighed deeply in reply. "Surely, you can take as little as a five minute-break before diving into work?"

"I'll rest when we convince the Ortiga Coven to break the wardings for us." she quipped as she resisted the urge to lean back into his opened chest and take his advice. "You could get me some ingredients though?"

He grinned at her with a nod. "Text me the list and I'll get you whatever you need."

"Stake me now." Damon groaned to himself, letting out a hissing 'ouch' as Enzo responded with throwing a pen his way and piercing his arm.

"What, mate? Was that not to your satisfaction?" the accented vampire teased cheekily, earning a scowl from the Salvatore in return.

Before the scene between the men escalated, a ringing sound cut through the tension and made Damon hurry to answer it. "How's my favorite witch in the entire world?" he chimed with a wide grin, catching Bonnie's scoff and eyeroll with a smirk before continuing. "Ready to meet up?"

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline awoke in the morning with that stupid smile from last night still stuck to her face. She had washed her make up off and discarded her heels halfway into the room, but hadn't bothered to change into something different to sleep in. Which caused her sheets to linger with the scent of Klaus and made it extremely hard to leave her bed. Even her dreams had been infected with him, his smile and his eyes and those stupid dimples and that smooth voice and–

Before her mind wandered further, she chose to finally get up and start the day. Pushing the blanket away and taking her dress off before heading to the shower. The warm water was welcomed against her skin as she closed her eyes and relaxed her body, not realizing until now how much she'd needed to. She hadn't really slept during the night for more than a few hours, but she didn't feel tired. Something else was stirring inside of her and momentarily she wondered if it was some lingering effect of Klaus' blood. She hadn't fed on him quite so much before. Perhaps it was still lingering strongly within her system?

She finished testing the acoustics in the bathroom, singing some song that had gotten stuck on her mind before turning the faucet off. Her gleeful reflection made her shy away from the mirror as she wrapped herself in a tower and blow-dried her hair. Gosh... What was it with that thousand-year-old hybrid that made her feel like she was a kid all over again?

The thought both scared and intrigued her, because it had been a long time since she'd felt something like this for any man. And it was terrifying to think that the man in question was-

"Klaus!" she yelped high as she saw him sitting on her bed suddenly. As if having been summoned by her thoughts or maybe the blood was causing her to hallucinate or… "Did you break in or something?" she said under her breath as she tugged the towel tighter around her body then.

"Nonsense, love. The balcony doors were open." he shrugged, a beautiful smile on his face matching the entertained tone of his voice. But it was the darkness in his eyes that made her lose her nerve and gulp hard. His gaze traveled over her from head to toe, so slowly and warmly that it felt like a caress against her skin.

Right. Naked. Shower. Clothes... The words jumped around in her head incoherently as she tried not to stare at his own figure. He wore dark jeans and a grey Henley shirt, unbuttoned at the collar and just begging to be ripped open all the way. The little curl of his hair – a new detail about him that Caroline was quickly coming to like, a lot – hung by one of his eyebrows and called for her hands to run through his scalp...

Meeting his eyes again, she realized he had noticed her lingering stare. A smug smirk formed on his lips, framed by dimples and twinkling eyes. She groaned inwardly, cursing herself and quickly turning away to rush back into the bathroom again. Hitting the door a little too hard behind her as she hurried to get dressed.

"Was that your singing I heard earlier?" his voice rang through the room, making her blush violently as she reached for her chosen outfit with unsteady hands.

"What? No! I... How long have you been sitting here!?" she stumbled slightly and stubbed her toe against the bathroom counter, hissing deeply at the pain. It didn't linger for long, but the noise of a strangled chuckle from the other side of the door made her groan loudly. "Shut up!" she grunted then. Not at all enjoying how rattled she felt about finding him in her room all of a sudden. Seriously, when did he get here!?

She put on a green satin skirt that flowed down to just below her knees, along with a white blouse in thin chiffon. Tying the bow low beneath the v-cut and pulling at the bottom to make it puff out above the skirt slightly. She took one last look in the mirror and ran her hands through her hair before she walked out of the bathroom again.

Klaus' eyes burned at her, making her all too aware of him as she brushed past him and reached for a pair of strappy sandal heels. She sat down and crossed her legs, circling the thin white straps over her ankles and smiling to herself as she felt him continue to watch her in silence. "Are you going to tell me why you decided to invite yourself in and embarrass me like this or are you too busy gawking?" she asked smugly before hopping up on her feet again and walked through the room with long strides.

"Well, I do admit I may be somewhat partial to the gawking..." he teased back, making her narrow her eyes at him over her shoulder before reaching for her makeup and taking residence in front of the wall-mounted mirror then. "I actually came to invite you and your friend to search Lucien's penthouse together."

She locked eyes with him through her mirror, caught in the motion of applying mascara to her lashes with her lips parted. "Wait, really?" she asked, turning around and watching him then with a tilted head.

He chuckled at that, a bright smile on his face as he stood up from the bed and walked over to her. His hands clasped behind his back in his signature move as he spoke up again. "I did promise to help, did I not?" he chimed. "Or was last night perhaps nothing more than a very vivid dream?"

Rolling her eyes at his comment, she turned again and finished her light make up. Adding some eyeliner and a little highlighter with an easy hand. "I half-expected you to tell me that you had already killed Lucien, found the candle, saved Bonnie and taken Julian out all on your own before you even got here." she mused as she put on some nude lipstick.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you then." he mocked smirkingly as she studied his face in the mirror. "However, I did research the current whereabouts of Lucien, ensuring me that it would be safe to bring you with me."

She quirked an eyebrow at that, wondering shortly why and how he had come across such information. But her focus was quickly switched to a different part of his sentence. "And if you hadn't considered it 'safe'? Would you still have told me about it?" she quipped, earning a knowing grin from the hybrid then.

It made her roll her eyes as she packed the make-up away. She could practically hear his reply based on his face alone, the words ringing in her head; Of course not, Caroline. That would be far too dangerous for a baby vampire such as yourself!

"How are you feeling today, love?" he asked her, the sincere tone throwing her off slightly. She looked up again to see him catching some of her hair between his fingers. Tugging lightly at the wavy lock and studying it as if it was the most fascinating thing he had seen in all of his life.

For a moment, she didn't dare turn away. Wanting to prolong the easy feeling that had swept around them just a little further... She nearly forgot that he had actually asked her a question and was expecting a reply. "Good." she finally quipped, spinning around and giving him a soft smile before moving away and creating some space between them.

"No sudden cravings?" he pressed on, his lips forming a playful smile but his eyes viewing hints of genuine concern. "No flashes of anger? Overwhelming urges to rip out the throats of random tourists on the street?"

The words caused her to freeze up slightly, turning to him with observing eyes as she tilted her head to the side. "Why? Is that some side-effect of your blood or something?"

He walked over to her with his hands behind his back. "Not necessarily, no."

She studied him closely as he stopped just a short step before her, he seemed to be working really hard at hiding something in his tone and on his face. "You do realize I've had your blood before, right? This isn't exactly new to me." she pointed out, turning his lips in a smirk as he gazed over her darkly.

"Yes, I suppose that is true."

There was still something running around in his head, she could see it in the slight fading of his eyes as he tried to keep up a confident façade. What wasn't he saying? "Are you okay?" she asked, earning a surprised chuckle from the hybrid then.

"Are you worried about me dropping dead on the street of delayed blood loss, love?" he teased, making her want to slap his smug smile of his face. But she was just not buying whatever he was trying to convince her.

"Then, what's with the brooding?"

"Brooding?" he echoed amusedly.

"Yes, brooding. Are you upset with me or something? Do you not want me to go search Lucien's apartment with you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, sweetheart. Really." he crooned then, taking another step closer to her with a kind of daring look in his eye. "What reason would I have to be upset?"

She nodded slowly at that, accepting his answer for now and choosing to return to the previous subject instead. "Enzo and I could come with you later in the afternoon. I kind of have a lead to go chase for now."

"A lead?" he echoed curiously.

"Yeah, apparently the same shop that I got the necklace for Hannah-May has something that could help us out."

"And what's that?"

"Some kind of crystal. It's supposed to open up your mind or something and make it easier for magic to reach you." she explained with a shrug as she gathered her purse and continued getting ready. "Basically, if Bonnie is trying to contact us telepathically, it will help get the message through."

"And where did you learn about this crystal?" he pressed on, making her look up at him with a guilty grimace. His face fell as he realized the answer then. Marcel.

"I was supposed to check it out yesterday but I… got distracted with other things." she explained and shied away from his scrutinizing eyes. "Anyway, I thought I would swing by and get some lunch with Enzo afterwards."

"I hope you find what you are looking for then." he said softly, a tiny smile on his lips as she subconsciously caught hers between her teeth.

She had to resist a sudden urge to ask him to go with her, knowing she should probably put some distance between them for a little while. At least until the tension from last night had cooled down and she could think clearly within his proximity again. But there was a beautiful little twinkle in his green eyes and a brilliant smile slowly spreading across his face and before she knew what she was doing–

"You know what?" she said, chuckling nervously and shaking her head in disbelief at the words that were about to come out of her mouth. "I could probably do that later. We should go see the apartment now. If you're free, I mean?

He rewarded her with a wide grin then as he nodded. "I was hoping you would say that." he admitted, causing butterflies to swirl around her stomach suddenly.

In an effort to refocus again and escape the magnetic look he directed at her, she cleared her throat and got her phone out of her purse. "I'll call Enzo and tell him to meet us at Lucien's, what's the address?" she asked, hurrying to busy herself with something – anything – and shake off the ridiculous joy she felt about her plans for the day. She was happy about making progress on the Bonnie-search. That's all.

At least that's what she told herself as they left together then.

Three weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

Damon's contact turned out to be a young woman with ocean blue eyes and caramel colored hair. Her skin was sunkissed, matching the glowing smile on her face as she saw the dark-haired pair walk up to her bench. Bonnie hadn't been surprised when the witch insisted on meeting them in public, however, the location was stunned her with awe. It was an incredible park with water fountains and food trucks spread around the square in the center. Families sat on picnic blankets under the shade of the trees and children danced around the interactive fountain sprinklers in colorful bathing suits.

The scene was so wholesome, sweet, serene… It made Bonnie's heart break a little in her chest as she wished she could be one of those relaxed and happy people, just enjoying life and the wonderful weather with wide content smiles on their tanned faces.

"Bonnie, meet Clara Duarte." Damon's voice interrupted her daydreaming as he made their introductions. "Clara, this is Bonnie Bennett."

"Pleasure to meet you." the Portuguese witch grinned, reaching her hand out to her with friendly eyes. "I've heard so much of the Bennett coven. You are quite the legacy, dear."

Feeling her cheeks flush slightly, Bonnie smiled back at her and shook her hand. "I appreciate that. I hope it means you'll feel inclined to help us, even if it is this idiot who's asking you to."

Damon rolled his eyes at her mocking tone as Clara chuckled in response. "Ah, idiota is a very appropriate name for him indeed." she chimed then, grinning over at the vampire warmly. "But he is as harmless as they come. At least as long as you are on his good graces, that is."

"Yeah, yeah…" he groaned as he glanced between the women. "We done insulting me yet?"

"You can take it." Bonnie teased, nudging his side with her arm and earning a smile from him in return before she took a seat next to Clara then. "We're so thankful that you were willing to meet with us at such short notice." she said to the fellow witch softly.

"It is no trouble." Clara assured them, patting her hand softly. "I felt responsible to help when Damon told me what you are looking for. My coven and I have somewhat of a special relationship with the Caetano's."

"So, what can you tell us?" the vampire pressed on. Standing wide-legged and arms crossed in front of them, all businesslike and serious and not at all fitting the happy image around them.

"The Ortiga Coven is very… elusive, I believe is the word." the witch explained. "There has long been rumors of their witches moving west and some even ending up here in Portugal as well as France and Spain after-" she turned silent suddenly, a darkness passing over her eyes. "After what happened. After a vela."

"We've done research on the legend, but some details were hard to translate…" Bonnie explained as she dug into her purse and pulled out her notes. "I understand the Candle of Hades was forged and cursed by the Myslikova Coven at some time in the 1500s."

"Yes." Clara nodded as she confirmed it. Then the Duarte witch straightened up in her seat, glancing around as if worried about someone overhearing their conversation. "What exactly have you managed to decipher about the legend?"

"Well…" Bonnie began as she skimmed through some papers and notepads before finding the page she was looking for. "We know Alzbeta Marousek created it to pierce through cloaking spells. Apparently, she used it together with her sister, Lana."

A nod from the blue-eyed witch urged Bonnie to continue. Clearing her throat shortly before going through the rest of her rushed scribbles. "Then something happened to Lana and Alzbeta cursed the candle to kill her coven. The amount of magic she gained from the massacre made her unstable and mad with power. So, a Caetano witch from the Ortiga Coven was forced to use it to stop her from killing anyone else. Which was when the Caetano witch infused the candle with blood-spelled wardings, making sure it couldn't be used by anyone but their own descendants again."

There were hints of amusement in Clara's eyes as Bonnie finished retelling her what they had found out over their months of searching for the candle. "Some of that is correct." she mused, earning a furrowed frown from the Bennett witch then. "However, the candle didn't always bear the same name as it does now. It was only named the Candle of Hades because of what it could do after it was cursed. But before that, it was called a Vela para a Percepção. The Candle of Perception."

"Perception?" Damon echoed, studying Bonnie with a panicked frown. "Wait, you mean like seeing things? So, it can't be used to break through spells after all?"

"It can." she confirmed. "When the candle is lit, the smoke is empowered to pierce through any veils of magic. Which is why Alzbeta Marousek used it to contact her sister."

"Why?" Bonnie pressed then. "Was she cloaked from the coven?"

"Yes." Clara said before continuing with a grim look on her face. "The legend have different stories on why, but apparently she was being kept and cloaked by enemies of the coven. Which is why they created the candle, to communicate with her despite this. But when Alzbeta used the candle for the first time, it drained her of her magic. And since Lana was on the receiving end of the spell – she absorbed her sister's powers."

"So, whoever uses the candle loses their magic?" the question left the Bennett witch's lips in a whispered breath, the thought pressing at her chest in fear of what that meant.

"Not necessarily." the other witch countered then. "It wasn't the candle that drained Alzbeta's magic, it was the spell she used on it. But in theory, you could still break any cloaking spell with the help of the candle. It is however pertinent that you find a Marousek witch to give you a proper spell which won't do the same to you."

Bonnie nodded slowly, digging through her papers then and bringing out a note from Kasia. "That, we have. However, the candle…"

"You couldn't find it?" Clara asked in confusion. "I don't understand… If you do not have the candle with you, how do you expect to find this man you are looking for?"

Damon grimaced then, smiling over at the witches with a stiff jaw. "Well…" he drawled with a sigh, scratching at the back of his neck nervously before speaking again. "We have some parts of a plan for that."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Klaus opened the wide double doors to the penthouse apartment, took a step to the side and gestured for Caroline to enter. "Go ahead, love." he chimed, the twinkle in his eyes causing the young vampire to roll hers.

She glanced over at Enzo shortly before stepping into Lucien's foyer with the hybrid close by. His gaze glued on her face as she took in the environments. It was a huge open space with large windows and an amazing view of skyscrapers as well as smaller and older houses within the Quarter. The apartment was in a dark color scheme in contrast to the bright overhead lighting in each area of the open floor plan.

First, she stepped into the living area in the center, seeing a dining area to the left along with a kitchen further away. Another living area appeared to the right of her as well as a corridor that seemed to lead to the bedrooms.

"Um… I believe we have a problem, gorgeous." Enzo muttered behind her, stopping her in her steps. With furrowed brows, she turned to observe her friend as he stood frozen on the other side of the threshold. He held his hands up and touched an invisible wall in front of him, keeping him from walking past the door. But she hadn't needed an invitation to go inside the apartment so then neither should he, right?

"Klaus, what's going on?" she said slowly as she turned to his now smirking face.

He shrugged and pouted a little, the entertainment still clear in his eyes. "It seems as though Enzo isn't part of my bloodline, love. Unfortunately for him, that means he cannot enter this flat." he explained casually, sounding very pleased with himself.

"Seriously?" she groaned at that. "Then invite him in or something!"

"What makes you think I possess the power to do that?" Klaus countered with a wide smile.

"Did you know about this?" she threw back at him accusatorily, facing him with her hands on her hips and an irritated expression on her face.

"How was I to know the lad belongs to a different line? I hardly know anything about him, let alone who his sire is." he scoffed.

"Well he is still right here." Enzo sighed behind them then. "Come on, Caroline, let's go."

Caroline jerked her head back to him at that. "What are you talking about?"

"We're leaving. Let's go call in Damon, he can be here in a few hours to assist you in the search instead." he added and turned to leave, as if that was the end of the conversation.

"I'm not going anywhere." she scoffed in disbelief as she shot him a pointed look.

Enzo turned a glare right back at her then. "I'm not leaving you trapped in an apartment with him. It isn't safe." he gritted out and gestured his hand towards Klaus. "So, let's go already. I'm not going to tell you again."

In a flash, Klaus stood before Enzo with stiff shoulders and clenched hands, blocking him from Caroline's view. "Are you certain you want to use that tone, mate?" he asked with a low voice that made the hair on her arms stand up. Picturing to herself his eyes as he spoke, certain that they were a glowing amber.

"Klaus, come on. Just invite him in. Let's get this over with." she whined, growing tired of the start of the men's pissing contest already.

"No." the response was short and clipped before Klaus turned away and walked further into the apartment.

She stared at him, gaping at his retreating form as he disappeared down the corridor. "No? What do you mean no?" she demanded, leaving Enzo with a raised palm that told him that she would handle it, before hurrying after him. "No, you can't invite him in? No, you don't want to? Klaus, you've gotta give me more than "no"!"

The hybrid spun around and stood right before her in a second, narrowed gaze and his lips pressed into a thin line as he met her eyes. "'No', as in; no, I don't trust him."

"What do you mean!? Enzo's my friend and he's here for the exact same reason that I am."

"So he would have you believe." he muttered, causing her to raise her eyebrows in a pointed glare. He met her eyes with a sigh, retreating from his testosterone-loaded stance then. "Caroline, he isn't part of my blood-line." She only nodded at him, her eyes wider and her arms crossed over her chest. Urging him to explain it further and gaining another sigh from him as he spoke up again.

"Lucien didn't spell this apartment for kicks, love. He came here with serious warnings of wars ensuing between the sire-lines. Now, I may disagree with many of his actions, but one thing that my prodigy and I both see eye-to-eye on is the fact that; the only people you can trust, are the ones who cannot afford to let you die."

She blinked slowly and studied him for a moment as the words sunk in. "Wait, what aren't you telling me, Klaus?" she asked carefully, noting the very real hints of fear in his eyes. "The only thing that can kill you is a white oak stake. And those aren't exactly easy to come by nowadays. Which makes you unkillable." she pointed out.

His eyes strayed from hers then and seemed to suddenly focus on some spot in the floorboards. "Unless there's something I'm missing here." she drawled in question. "But seeing as my life is quite literally tied to yours, I would imagine that you'd divulge such information with me. Right?"

"Right." he echoed, nodding for a moment before continuing down the hall again.

Flashing before him in a hurry, she stared him down with a serious face. "Klaus?"

He let out a long breath before directing a smile at her then. "You're right. There is no other weapon on this earth that can kill me." he assured her, but she didn't fully buy it.

"So, then invite Enzo in." she challenged, stepping closer to him in order to better read his eyes as he watched her intently. "You can't be killed. Meaning you don't have to worry about people trying to hurt you. Meaning that Enzo belonging to a different line doesn't matter to you. Right?"

A slow smile spread over his lips then, a gleam in his eyes that looked like pride as he nodded again to her. "Right." he repeated. "Come on in, Mr. St. John." he called out then in a volume that even human hearing would be able to catch.

Yet, no one appeared. Human or vampire or otherwise.

"Enzo!" Caroline called at him then, glancing over at Klaus as he kept grinning down at her just a few inches away from her face. It was all starting to unnerve her.

She paced down the hall and turned to glare at the vampire outside the door. "Are you coming or not?" she asked, looking him over to try and see what was wrong with him.

"I would if I could." he shrugged, touching the invisible barrier between them again. Pushing with his hand in an effort to break through and failing. "It appears your friend's invitation isn't enough for me to enter this home."

She blinked in surprise, glancing over at Klaus shortly before sighing in defeat. "Oh."

Before either of the men could chime in, Enzo's phone rang and was quickly brought up to his ear. "Your timing is impeccable, mate." he crooned. "We've hit a bit of a snag."

"What kind of snag?" Damon's voice rang through, making the female vampire cross her arms over her chest and lean against a wall with an exasperated sigh.

"Lucien's home appears to be somewhat more exclusive than we first thought."

"What are you talking about? I thought you would be in Baton Rouge by now?"

Enzo glanced over at Caroline with a pointed pout. "Someone had other plans." he quipped, drawing out an eyeroll from the blonde.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised." the other line said in an equally amused tone then. "Don't tell me, Care-Bear somehow found an airtight excuse to spend more time with her boyfriend."

She was quick to rip the phone from Enzo's hand then, fighting back a growl from low within her throat as she replied to the man's accusation. "I was under the impression that you wanted Klaus involved, Damon." she pointed out, turning away to try and get some privacy – despite knowing that it was impossible with two vampires in her proximity. "In fact, I remember you harassing me nearly daily to try and force me to contact the Mikaelson's… And now you have complaints?"

"Could you maybe stop trying to screw him all over town and instead actually look for a way to find Bonnie!?" Damon's hard words shocked her but enraged her even more.

"Okay, if you don't stop getting on my nerves then I will have to cash in my return ticket to Chicago a few days early." she threatened then with a hiss.

"You wouldn't do that."

"Watch me!" she growled and immediately hung up the phone, closing her eyes for a moment as she relished in the new-found silence. She had the urge to call Damon back just so she could hang up on him all over again, because damn had it been satisfying…

As she let out a long sigh and turned over to the men again, she was met with mixed facial reactions. Klaus was eyeing the floor with an amused smirk playing on his lips while Enzo glared at her with the shake of his head. "I'll go." the latter suddenly said, earning a furrowed frown from the blonde before he continued with a shrug. "It appears I cannot be of use here anyhow. I could go to Baton Rouge myself and see if the lead takes me anywhere."

"I'm not letting you go off on your own without back-up." Caroline protested.

"Don't take this the wrong way, darling." he chuckled then. "But I do actually have a better chance of staying out of trouble on my own, than I do with you accompanying me."

That turned her face sour as she closed her eyes in a sigh. She didn't like the idea of splitting up, at all. And she really didn't enjoy the thought of being left alone in New Orleans, knowing it would only prompt Klaus to become glued to her side in an attempt to keep her safe.

She turned to the hybrid in question then, realizing he had been uncharacteristically quiet for a very long time. He looked up and met her studying eyes, a playful flash passing over his face as she studied him. "I'll come with you." she said begrudgingly before tearing her eyes away from the Original.

"You should stay, gorgeous." Enzo sighed out, seeming unhappy with the decision despite it being his own. "Perhaps you will make more progress here in the meanwhile."

She walked over to him slowly with her arms crossed over her chest. "Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes drilling into his to try and read his mind.

He only nodded to her, glancing over at Klaus shortly before meeting her again. "I'll go pack and get going right away. When I arrive, I will call and let you know."

"Okay." she breathed out then.

"Caroline…" he pleaded, looking over at her alarmingly. "Just… Be careful, sweetheart."

She smiled shortly at him before squeezing his shoulder. "I'll talk to you soon." she assured him as he nodded again, seemingly convincing himself that he was doing the right thing. Then he walked over to the elevator and left with a last, long glance before disappearing out of sight.

As the elevator doors closed behind him, she turned around and met the expectant smile of the original hybrid with a determined look on her face. "Alright, let's go find that candle!"

Three weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

Clara Duarte was gaping at the vampire as he explained his plan to her, eyes wide as saucers and her jaw aiming for the floor. She had quickly rushed the friends away from the public park and showed them to her home. An apartment in the heart of the city, at the top of a three-story building from sometime in the 19th century.

She quickly closed the door behind them as they took their seats on a couch. Wearing a serious frown on her face, in contrast to the warm and relaxed one she had worn when Bonnie and Damon first met up with her. "This is far too dangerous!" Clara hissed out as she sat down in a chaise opposite them.

They both squirmed a little in their seats while Bonnie took in the bright and large home. The sun covered the wooden floors and white walls and filled the entire space with warmth and light. "We know there are some risks-" Damon began beside her but was interrupted by a disbelieving scoff.

"Risks!?" Clara echoed and shook her head. "I believe the more proper description would be 'possibly catastrophic consequences'."

"It doesn't have to be, not with your help." Damon insisted, a soft and pleading look on his face as he leaned forward and studied her close. "Clara, this is our only way of finding Julian and getting the candle back."

"You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into." she chuckled coldly, completely without humor. "Not only is your plan dangerous, but what happens if you were to actually succeed? Blood magic is nothing to take lightly, and something as old as the Candle of Hades…"

"Then help us." Bonnie urged her, turning sad eyes over at the other witch and reaching for her hands. Holding them in hers and squeezing them reassuringly. "Tell us more about the legend. Help us understand the candle better and the magic connected with these covens. Help us succeed."

Clara's pained expression passed between the witch and the vampire for a silent moment before she closed her eyes in a long sigh. "Very well. If you insist on going through with this plan, you should at least be as prepared as possible."

Bonnie leaned back then, smiling softly and nodding her head to encourage Clara to go on. She gave the Bennett witch another pained grimace before she spoke again. "After Lana absorbed her sister's magic, the coven blamed her. They thought she had done it on purpose and worried she would become too powerful in result. Which is why they chose to strip her of her magic, a punishment as well as a failsafe. To ensure that she couldn't use her extended powers against them." she explained, standing up and reaching for a book from the windowsill near her before holding it out to the other witch.

"I read up on it a little more after Damon contacted me. The legend always portrayed Alzbeta as the one who cursed the candle – but it was actually Lana herself." she continued then as Bonnie opened the journal and flipped through it carefully. Looking up at Clara as she spoke again. "She stole the candle and spelled it before she was stripped of her powers. Lana melted the candle and dipped a special blade into it, turning it into a weapon with the powers of two Myslikova witches. Sealing it with blood magic so that it could only be wielded by the Marousek's."

"She was going to use it on the coven." Bonnie chimed in as she found the passage in the journal then, reading aloud the sentence that had caught her eye. "And as the Marousek blood cursed the candle; a new weapon was forged. One that could absorb all magic in its path and turn the wielding witch more powerful than any coven or being in the entire world."

Clara smiled a little with pride as she nodded at her then. "Yes, it was supposed to bring her justice for her unfair sentencing. They wanted to rid her of her magic because she had accidentally absorbed too much of it… And so, the candle became a weapon which stole the powers of the victims fallen by her hand." she explained before continuing. "But the coven killed Lana before she could go through with it, afraid that she had become too big of a threat to them and witches everywhere else. What they didn't know then was that Lana had trusted her sister with the weapon. And when she died, Alzbeta became so consumed by grief and anger that she used the weapon to slaughter the entire coven."

Damon nodded by Bonnie's side as they reached the part of the legend that they had already familiarized themselves with by now. "And when she did, she absorbed the magic of her coven and became so powerful that she had to be stopped. Which was when the Caetano witch killed her and sealed the candle with her blood." he added.

"Yes, but did you learn how she was stopped?" Clara countered, earning furrowed looks from the two before she filled them in. "Her name was Palmira Caetano, she was the leader of the Roman Ortiga coven. They had a complicated history with the Myslikova witches, as many others had back then. The spells they used frightened those outside of the Myslikova, and the Ortiga was just one of the many covens who worried about the unpredictable and dangerous magic they practiced."

"Blood magic." Bonnie chimed in, earning a nod from her. "But I read that the Myslikova Coven was made up of witches from many different countries, they weren't all related to each other. So, how could they practice magic bound by blood?"

"Blood magic can be useful for binding certain spells and potions to a specific lineage. However, it doesn't always require for the practitioners to be family and it can be used in many different ways. It was dangerous but also very powerful, something that interested witches who sought to grow their magic. To do things they could never do within the limitations of the natural practice."

"How is this different from Expression?"

Clara frowned at Bonnie's question, seemingly disappointed and sad that she knew what it was. "They are very similar. Expression uses ritualistic sacrifice as fuel for its spells. Blood magic, however, taps into a witch's soul. The more you use it, the more it corrupts you – and the more you let it, the more powerful your magic becomes. A paradox that could tempt far more than frighten a witch desperate enough…"

She reached for the book from Bonnie then, taking it and turning the pages absentmindedly as she spoke again. "The Myslikova was actually a combination of five different covens, the name came from the ancestors who first taught them the magic. Apparently, they had been part of a very exclusive kind of wiccan sisterhood which used all sorts of different dark magic and left it in order to start their own practice. Some of the witches were Albanian, German and even Turkish, despite it being located in the present Czech Republic. I heard once that only those who had endured a deep loss could practice blood magic, and perhaps that was how they drew others into the coven. By feeding off their vulnerable spirits, using their grief against them as a way of connecting the members to each other."

"Convincing them that they could turn their pain into magic." Bonnie concluded, receiving a sad smile from Clara in confirmation.

"Since this kind of practice was one with great risks, Palmira and her coven came to an agreement together. They wanted to eradicate the community of blood magic, and considered this to be their best chance. But in order to take Alzbeta down, they had to use the very same means as her." the Duarte witch continued then. "Palmira had to corrupt her soul to gain the power she needed. And since the Ortiga had never practiced blood magic before themselves, they needed a Myslikova witch to show them."

"But weren't they all killed by Alzbeta?" Damon chimed in with confusion then.

"The practicing witches, yes. But there were others within their lineages. Elders who no longer trusted themselves to use the magic anymore, and children who hadn't yet begun to." she clarified to him. "Palmira managed to convince one of the elders to help her stop Alzbeta. Since she had now gained the power of a whole coven for herself, the only way for Alzbeta to be stopped was for Palmira to sacrifice her own coven. Using the same weapon that had been used on the Myslikovas."

That surprised Bonnie, not having read anything like it in her research. "She used the weapon too?" she echoed with the shake of a head. "Did it corrupt her like it did Alzbeta?"

"Yes." Clara confirmed grimly. "Which was why she asked the Myslikova elders, one of Alzbeta's lineage, to help break down the weapon and remake the candle into its previous form. They then sealed it with blood magic, convinced that no coven could be trusted with sole access to the candle ever again."

"Wait, they warded the candle together?" Bonnie asked then, looking over at Damon with a horrified face. "That means Kasia's spell won't be enough to activate it. The wardings can only be broken by descendants of both a Marousek and an Ortiga witch."

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

As they continued their search through Lucien's home, Klaus and Caroline entered a large bedroom with heavy curtains keeping all light away from the modern interior. She headed towards the windows and drew the smooth textile away and was blinded for a short second. When she turned around, she found Klaus studying her. As if having been caught red-handed, he turned away quickly and began to look through some drawers by the bed.

Even though she didn't have anything to say, silences like these were pure torture for Caroline. They always had been. And she felt the rambling building up inside her, just waiting to explode. In an attempt to keep herself in line, she chose to direct a question towards the hybrid. "So... how well do you know him?" she asked as she browsed a large bookcase by her side. "Lucien, I mean."

Casting a glance his way, she noted a tiny little smirk in response but he remained silent. Spurring on her rant even further. "I don't really see you two as friends." she thought out loud, running her fingers over the backs of some seemingly ancient and expensive books. "Although, he's kind of scary and you're you. So I guess that's one thing you two have in common. And the accent of course. Does that mean he's from the same age as you? Or was he just British when you met? Do all old vampires have accents? You, Elijah, Rebekah... I'm starting to see a pattern there, you know. Although it is kind of strange how you all speak in different variants of English, does that have to do with the amount of time you've spent in different countries or something?"

Her next sentence died in her throat with a choked noise as she turned to find him suddenly standing right beside her. His eyes studying her face as if she was some mystery he was trying to solve. "What?" she stuttered out, all too aware then of how he hadn't said a single word since entering the room. "Right, sorry. I'm rambling. I ramble. Despite all these years, that is still one thing about me that never seems to change. I guess some things just always stay the same, right?"

A breathy chuckle escaped him as he shook his head lightly, seemingly caught between feeling amused and bewildered over her rapid rambles. "Lucien was the first vampire I turned." he finally explained, giving her the impulse to do a victory dance in response. Just barely holding it back and instead grinning triumphantly at him as he spoke on.

"It was during our first years as vampires, actually. We had been running from our father for quite some time already, severed from society as we tried to make sense of our new lives... It wasn't without its adjustments, to say the least." he continued further. "While traveling through the south of France, we discovered Lucien hiding in a carriage beneath the clothes and items of the humans we'd just… well."

He pouted a little as she rolled her eyes in understanding. "Anyway... He offered to aid us, teach us of the social rules and etiquettes in order to better blend in with their community."

"Like, hiding in plain sight?" she guessed, earning a pleased smile from him.

"Precisely." he agreed. "We spent quite some time living in their village, under the roof of a rich lord and his children, amongst humans oblivious to our true nature. We acclimated easily, desperate to belong somewhere I suppose. To not run anymore."

"Is that why you turned him? You wanted to return the favor?"

"Not exactly." he shrugged with a little secretive look in his eyes. She wanted to press him for more, but he managed to interrupt her train of thought with a nod over her shoulder. "Over there, love." he chimed and reached out to the closet by her side. Opening it and pushing clothes away, revealing a hidden door in the back.

She stared as he pushed a few buttons in on a display, unlocking it with a tiny little 'beep'. "Does Lucien know you have the secret code to his own personal Narnia?" she teased.

He winked at her playfully. "Let's keep that between the two of us for now." he smirked before walking past her to open the door, gesturing for her to enter first. Caroline sighed and walked over the threshold to the small, adjoined room. As she entered, lights flickered and lit up their environments, bringing a gasp out of her.

This is it. Walls with glass lockers, filled with daggers made from various types of wood along with crossbows, rifles, guns and other weapons spread around the room. The interior was in a color scheme of white and chrome, giving the room a medical ambience. If it were not for the very deadly weapons inside, she might have thought it was an infirmary.

Her eyes landed on a counter with a cabinet underneath. She walked over to it and was about to open the doors when Klaus suddenly gripped her wrist and held her back. She turned to glare at him, only for her scolding words to get caught in her throat when she saw his serious expression. He held a finger to his ear. "Listen, Caroline."

Nodding, she focused her hearing as she studied the cupboard closely. It took some concentrating but finally she heard it. It was subtle, but it was there. A silent and rhythmic ticking sound. "Bomb?" she asked and glanced over at him.

He nodded. "Vervain-filled splinter bombs would be my guess based on the scent." She wrinkled her nose in disappointment as her new-found super-ninja-strength apparently hadn't increased her smell at all. At least not enough for her to catch the vervain that Klaus seemed able to sniff out. "Possibly some wolfsbane mixed in there as well." he added before walking away from the counter.

She studied him as he opened a few cabinets and drawers on the other side of the room. "What are you looking for?"

"Whatever Lucien's hiding in there is clearly valuable, I imagine he wouldn't want to risk it being destroyed." he explained as he focused on his search.

"Which means there's a way of deactivating the bombs inside the room." Caroline chimed in.

He looked up at her with a smile. "Exactly." he agreed and resumed looking.

She joined in, brushing her hand on the sides of the different flat surfaces in the room, looking for some buttons or a tech-panel of some sort. Remembering how the door to this room had been hidden inside his closet, she started searching the backs of shelves and cupboards until she found something. "Klaus, here." she smiled proudly to herself and glanced over at him before moving the shelf enough to the side to reveal a safe in the wall with a digital display.

It was flat, no handle or anything to grab onto in case they wanted to try and rip it out of its place. "Don't suppose you know the code to this one too?" she asked him as he came to stand next to her.

He shook his head and studied the display. "Unfortunately, not." he admitted.

She ran her hand over the cool, metallic surface around the display. "So, how do we open it?"

Klaus mimicked her and brushed his hand over the metal, reaching for the thin space between the safe and the wall. "Why don't you try your hand at that?" he suggested then with a pointed nod.

Moving to the corner he pointed at, she slipped a fingernail into the gap. She noticed some resistance from the side and pressed onto it harder. A click rewarded her as the cover popped open and revealed a textile wall inside.

Great, another test. She thought as she reached for a little glass square in the middle, she couldn't really move it but it did have a red circle made from some dried liquid on it. Glancing over her shoulder then, she noted Klaus standing closely behind her but tried not to think too much about it. "You don't happen to have any of Lucien's blood laying around, do you?" she teased and tried to ignore the affect his scent and proximity had on her.

He shook his head and smiled at her, his dimples all in their tempting glory making her shudder slightly. "Um…" she cleared her throat and turned back quickly. "Okay, well. You turned him so shouldn't your blood amount for something?"

"Perhaps." he shrugged before his face turned before her. She studied the gray veins started showing over his cheeks as he reached for one of his sharp fangs and pricked his thumb on it. Averting her eyes then, she held her breath as she suddenly realized that she hadn't fed yet today.

His arm went around her, up to the safe before them and he squeezed out a few drops of his blood down on the glass. She studied his finger with a sudden tunnel vision as her mind clouded over. Her ears rang in her head as his steady pulse mixed with her shallow breaths.

Her throat dried up and she felt her gums itch as she fought against her vampiric features. She barely even noticed that he pushed the glass back in or that he actually managed to unlock the safe. The surface slid down and opened up the interior of the safe, but Caroline's eyes were fixated on Klaus' hand. She grabbed it and held it back from exploring the contents before them. Gritting her teeth and feeling her eyes change as she studied it. She fought with herself. Her instincts wanted to take over and take his finger into her mouth, then bite his wrist and…

No, she commanded herself and took a shaky breath. The fog in her head hadn't quite lifted yet when she heard him call out to her softly. She shook her head and dropped his hand quickly as if it had burned her.

"Sorry." she whispered and cleared her throat, hoping he would drop the subject and not press on any further. She turned to the safe instead and focused her attention on the objects inside. There were some papers that looked like legal documents, a stack of credit cards and some passports.

But what caught her eye was a few rectangular boxes, it almost looked like it could be jewelry or something like that. But upon opening one, she found syringes inside instead of diamonds. Running a finger over the vials, she glanced back at Klaus with a question on her face.

"Aaah…" he sang with amusement as he studied the box in her hands. "That must be Lucien's not-so-secret cure for a werewolf bite."

Caroline stared up at him then. "Is it based on your blood or something?"

"I doubt it." he smirked. "Such fascination with my blood, love." he mocked and pulled out another of the identical boxes. "Are there really no other attributes to me that interest you?" he crooned with his eyes boring into hers.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Drop the smugness, Klaus. It isn't as attractive as you think." His smirk grew even more amused at her words before he looked down to examine the second box, confirming they all held the same contents. "I'm just wondering how scientific it is." she explained and lifted one of the syringes to study it. "I doubt he could've created a second cure without your blood."

Klaus shrugged in response as he took it from her hands and placed it back, making Caroline furrow her eyebrows. "Shouldn't we test it or something to figure out how it works?"

He glanced over at her as he closed the safe. "And how would we find such answers?" he quipped as he made sure it all looked the way they'd found it.

"Well... Don't you have some super-secret high-tech military level lab or something for this exact purpose?"

He let out an amused scoff at that. "I think you are confusing me with a Bond-villain, sweetheart." he teased and winked playfully. "Either way, why would I need to waste time on some artificial cure when I have the original one running through my veins?"

She sneered at him as he pushed the shelf back in place and turned to continue his search for a way inside the booby-trapped cabinets. "Now who's obsessing over your blood?" she snickered and glanced over at him in time to find him chuckling in response.

"So…" he drawled as she decided to keep looking herself and kneeled to check under the counter. "Is it my turn to ask you questions now?"

"Um, sure." she responded slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion as she felt unsure of what to expect from him.

He moved some boxes around casually as he spoke again. "What kind of relationship do you and Mr. St. John have? You seem rather... close."

"Well…" she rolled her eyes to herself at his words as she brushed her hand under the cabinets. "It's kind of a long story."

"As all of your stories are." he crooned, earning a short glare from her before she turned to continue her search.

"Okay, well… He showed up, kind of out of the blue, when I'd just started out at Whitmore. And Damon kind of pushed us together, I guess he thought we'd work well together or something. Which, as it turns out, we do." she explained. "We later learned that he was part of these experiments by the Augustine group of scientists at Whitmore. Apparently, they had been doing tests on vampires for decades. Not the nicest nor the most comfortable once either..." she added, catching an understanding nod from Klaus before she continued.

"Anyway, we got into some traveler trouble a while later which Enzo helped deal with and we became friends after that. Ever since, he's kind of alternated between being on our side one minute and the next –" she stopped as she realized she probably shouldn't tell Klaus about how Enzo got her tortured by the Heretics, since he might take it as enough of a reason to take Enzo out of the equation for good.

"And… what?" Klaus asked.

She swallowed hard. "Uhm, you know Klaus… We weren't exactly friends all of the time either, you and I." she said and nodded at him.

He clenched his jaw at that as he seemed to understand what she was hiding. "He hurt you." he murmured slowly, more of a statement than a question.

"Not directly." she corrected, shaking her head and straightening up. "Things happen, you know. And I managed to get free so that's the point to all of it."

"What happened exactly?" he pressed on, suddenly standing in front of her.

She studied him for a moment before deciding to trust that she could tell him without him freaking out over it. "Oh, just the usual kidnap and torture routine, you know. And this one Heretic kind of also cursed my skin to feel like vervain to make sure no vampire could touch me. She wanted to keep me away from the man she apparently still had feelings for at the time. Same old, same old."

"Who?" he asked with such a dangerous glimpse in his eyes that it made her hesitate before answering.

"Just this… witch. Why, what does it matter?" she countered, hurrying to speak up again before receiving an answer. "Like I said, I got free and Enzo helped save my life multiple times after that."

"He has been responsible for torturing you, yet you call him a friend?"

"Yes." she replied with a nod and put her hands on her hips. "Because if I couldn't call him a friend then I very well wouldn't be able to call you one either." He flinched at that, his eyes widening with hurt and making her heart ache with regret. "I didn't mean –" she began but he cut her off.

"The mirror." he cut her off with a grim tone as his eyes pointed past her then. "It's the only place left."

She turned around and studied him as he walked towards the counter. He brushed his finger around the corners of the mirror and stopped on something. Glancing to the side, he gave her a pointed look. "You don't expect me to run and take cover or anything, right?" she snickered in disbelief, crossing her arms over her chest and digging her feet in to make her point.

He frowned a little and turned back to the mirror before pressing on some button. Caroline listened closely and heard the past ticking stop and exhaled in relief. "Thank god…" she breathed, catching his smirk in his reflection.

Klaus bent down then and opened the double-door cabinets, rummaging through inside. She walked up to him slowly. "Well?" she pressed impatiently. "What is it?"

"Lucien shouldn't have these." he mumbled lowly.

"Have what?" she asked and glanced over his shoulder to find out for herself. All she saw were some dark bags with pretty random things inside.

"This is a very rare collection of cursed objects. And it belongs to one Camille O'Connell." he told her as he looked through the contents of the bags.

"Who?"

He turned to study her face then. "Believe it or not, an old friend of mine." he chimed, a smile playing on his lips before his face turned serious again. "However, there doesn't seem to be any candles here – magical or other."

She raised her eyebrows. "Okay. So, is she friends with Lucien too? Did she leave those here? Maybe she kept the candle for herself or-"

"No, Cami can't enter this apartment." he cut her off and closed the cabinets abruptly.

Cami? How did we get from Camille O'Connell to a full-on nickname?

"Well, maybe Lucien hid the candle someplace else…" she began but saw a glimpse of worry on Klaus' face that changed her mind slowly. "You think Lucien stole these from her?" she asked and observed him as he reactivated the bombs again.

"It's possible." he responded as he brought his phone out. "I'll have to get in touch with her to find out about her involvement."

"Okay…?" she drawled out, feeling like there was something else to the story and waited for him to tell her. He probably realized it because, after dialing a number and bringing the phone to his ear, he turned a soft smile to her.

"We'll need Marcel's help with that, unfortunately." he explained. She frowned and opened her mouth to comment when Marcel's voice cut her off.

"You'll need Marcel's help with what?"

Klaus studied her closely as she pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest. "With reaching our dear Ms. O'Connell." he explained.

"Cami? What do you want with her?" Marcel asked incredulously.

Oh, so Marcel knows this Cami too… Caroline noted to herself.

"I have reason to believe that someone has stolen her dark objects." Klaus said casually.

"Well, last I heard she was still in Shreveport. I can ask Davina to contact her."

"Please do." Klaus said and hung up.

Caroline raised her eyebrows at him, expecting a game plan or some further explanation. Because honestly, she felt irritatingly out of the loop right now. He only smiled at her, looking amused and gorgeous and really getting on her nerves. "What!?" she demanded.

He said nothing as he took slow steps towards her. "I find it fascinating –" he murmured and closed the distance between them. "– how you are displaying all of your thoughts in your eyes as of right now. Despite that flawless poker face which you usually wear so eloquently."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His smile faded a little as he studied her face for a long moment. He reached his hand up and brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. "I'm sorry, Caroline." he said softly with that level of sincerity that usually came right before he gave another one of his poetic speeches.

"For what?"

"For having hurt you." he told her, his green eyes locked on her blue ones. "For having brought you pain and misery, even heartbreak at times." he shook his head and sighed. "I really am sorry."

"I believe you." she said with a short nod.

Something cold flickered in his eyes at her words. "But you don't forgive me." he guessed. She opened her mouth to try and answer, but she wasn't sure of what to say. Because as true as it was that he had done so many bad things in the past, it didn't mean that he hadn't also done some good. Just because he was dark and evil, didn't mean he wasn't also worthy of forgiveness…

And as she was about to tell him just that, his phone was suddenly up by his ear again. "Yes?" he muttered, answering a call Caroline hadn't heard come in.

"The spell worked." a female voice said, turning her eyes narrow as she gauged Klaus' reaction. "Lucien is in New Orleans and he seems to be moving."

The words made him nod shortly, a stiff muscle ticking by his jaw. "I'll be back soon." he said before hanging up. He was quick to move everything back into place around them, making sure there were no traces of them ever having been there.

She couldn't help but wonder who the person on the phone was, and why she was looking for Lucien... Was that Cami? Not to mention the weird detail that he had someone tracking Lucien's location, why hadn't he told her about that?

As he ushered her out of the apartment and into the elevator, Caroline's mind was still running on high gear. She fidgeted with her hands, checking the screen on her phone several times without really knowing what she was looking for…

"Something the matter, sweetheart?" he asked as they finally reached the lobby with a little 'ping'. His words made her nod to herself as she tried to focus her thoughts on one thing at the time. And right now, she needed to think of the next step in finding her friend – not Klaus' seemingly endless connections with women... Who was this Cami anyways!?

In a desperate attempt to respond without arousing suspicion, she said the first thing on her mind. "You're spying on Lucien." she stammered out, stopping him in his steps as they were walking out of the building then.

He raised an eyebrow at that as he took her in, nodding slowly after a moment. "Was there a question to that?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" she pressed on, crossing her arms defiantly as she tried to keep her voice level and calm. "And who was that? On the phone just now?"

His face seemed to fight a grin as his eyes raked over her, glancing away with a shaking head shortly. "Would you really like to know?" he asked then, looking up at her again with the most soul-crushing pair of dimples you could ever imagine.

"Well, yeah. That's why I-" she began but was surprised to silence as he reached forward and pulled her into his chest suddenly. "Klaus, what are you-?" she started to ask but his grin cut her off again.

"I'm taking you to meet someone." he smirked on, before holding her tightly and taking off in a blur through the city.

Three weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

Rose water. Lotus flower. Mistletoe. Sea salt. Palo Santo wood.

Bonnie went over the ingredients in her mind as Damon drove them back to their apartment. The spell would be dangerous, but with the right elements it could actually work. Luckily, there was a full moon in two days, and not just any full moon either. It would be a lunar eclipse, perfect for transcending spells used for crossing barriers. And now that they had access to Clara Duarte's journals and spell books, the young witch had a good feeling about it.

Maybe, just maybe, things would actually work out right for them this time.

"Have you told Enzo yet?" Damon's voice broke her confidence as he reminded her of the problem ahead.

"Have you?" she scoffed, glancing over at him as he stared out on the road and clutched the steering wheel tight.

"Yeah right." he sneered in response. "All you have to do is bat your pretty little eyes and he would forgive you for anything. Me? He will skin me alive if I tell him what you're planning to do."

She shook her head and looked over at the old streets and pretty houses outside. Sighing as she realized how difficult it would be for Enzo to understand their point of view. "No, I haven't told him." she murmured then. "And I'm not planning to either."

The vampire flinched at that, making her turn her head to him again as she explained her reasoning further. "He isn't really supportive now that we lost our only chance at the candle, you know."

"For good reason..."

The pained honesty flashed over his face despite his nonchalant tone, she smiled softly as she watched him then. Knowing fully well how little he enjoyed their plan too. Yet here he was. Going through with it, standing by her side, for her.

"You know the drill, Damon." she reminded him carefully, catching the gulp of unease before he glanced over at her with an eye roll.

"Yeah yeah." he whined then, as if he had gone through it a million times already by now. "If you die, I promise to go find Elena and become human and live my happily ever after and grieve you in healthy ways with the love of my life."

"Will you do it?" she challenged him, wondering if he would deny his intentions or actually be honest with her.

He turned to the witch with a sad smile, his eyes shooting her a pointed look. "What do you think?" he scoffed and turned back to focus on the road again as she sighed beside him.

"Damon..." she breathed out in exasperation. "If this goes wrong, you have to honor our deal. Don't try to save me. Don't try to get me back. Just let me go and live your life…" she was ready to go on with her argument but he cut her off with a stern voice.

"Bonnie, I love you. But if you die, I will kill you. So, you better survive this plan because I'm sure as hell not going to tell Elena that she woke up like… fifty years ahead of time because of your unrelenting stubbornness."

The words made a grin tug at her lips as she leaned back in the seat with an affectionate gaze to her friend. "I love you too, Damon." she told him softly. "And you better tell Elena that as well when you see her again."

A cold frown grew on his face as he turned to her shortly while she watched their surroundings instead. "Let's just hope you'll have to wait a little while longer before you do."

Her words rang in the air for a while as a silence spread over them, turning her heart heavy in her chest as she felt like they were saying goodbye. And it killed her. Because she sure as hell wasn't going out because of some risky spell that everyone around her told her not to do… They were just going to have to succeed, it was as simple as that.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline barely had the chance to catch her breath before she swiftly found herself in Klaus' home again. He dropped her to the ground softly before swiftly walking through the hallway with rushed steps. Leaving her to hurry behind him as he entered a study and roamed through drawers quickly.

"What are we doing here, Klaus?" she asked exasperatedly as she leaned against the doorframe with a furrowed look.

"I just need to grab something… It will only take a minute." he told her over his shoulder before resuming his search. She was just about to press him on it further before she was suddenly pushed up against the wall, a force squeezing at her throat tightly.

"Who are you?" a threateningly calm voice asked her from a distance.

Caroline coughed in response before a thud was heard and the force suddenly released her. She fell to the floor immediately and heaved a long breath, staring up in shock as Klaus held a woman back by her forearms.

"Haven't I taught you better than to attack our guests like this, Freya?" Klaus said with a humored tone, only making the blonde vampire even more confused.

"Freya?" she echoed as she stared at her attacker, the lights going off in her mind as she suddenly made the connection. The witch who helped Damon.

"Are you bringing the strays into the house now, Niklaus?" Freya bit out with an acid tone, completely ignoring the vampire as she slowly got up from the floor.

"Excuse you." she hissed, massaging her neck as she felt the pain of being strangled slowly turn into an offended anger instead.

"Now, now! Let's not be unpleasant." Klaus chuckled on amusedly.

Freya only scowled at that, glaring at the hybrid with a pointed look. Seemingly wanting to say something else but was interrupted when another voice chimed in suddenly. "Ah, I see Ms. Forbes decided to accompany us after all." Elijah crooned as he joined them in the hall, practically coming out of the shadows. Again.

Was that how he always made his entrances or something? Caroline thought to herself as Freya turned to meet her blue eyes.

"Forbes?" Freya echoed.

She cleared her throat and straightened out her skirt before reaching her hand out to the other blonde then. "Caroline Forbes."

"Caroline…" the witch repeated it, a grimace on her face as if she was tasting something strange for the first time. They shook hands shortly, but Caroline had a feeling she wasn't really sold on her yet.

"I admit, this was not how I imagined your introductions…" Klaus said before nodding to his sister. "Nevertheless, this is whom I wished for you to meet. Freya Mikaelson, our no longer long-lost older sister."

Caroline stood in silence, the gears visibly turning through her eyes as Klaus watched her putting it all into place. "Older sister?" she echoed, looking over at the hybrid and meeting his smirk shortly before studying the other blonde again.

"Yes, I happen to be the first-born of the Mikaelson's in fact." Freya said, a leisure shrug as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her calculating eyes still taking in the vampire before her. "Forgive me for not having been briefed on your arrival earlier, it seems Niklaus enjoys keeping such information to himself. Despite the risks it may cause regarding our family's safety."

The words made Caroline cock an eyebrow in slight amusement as she started to see the family resemblances. "I didn't mean to barge in like this." she said and gave Klaus a glance.

"Yes, well… Apparently our services are to your fullest advantage. Simply point me in a direction and I shall cast whatever spell you may require." Freya spat out bitterly, turning Caroline's eyes to her again as she blinked in surprise at her sudden hostility.

"Freya..." Klaus growled lowly, throwing a scowl over at her in warning. The siblings shared equally dark glances as Elijah cleared his throat.

"Perhaps we should retire to the courtyard and have a drink? Or two." he suggested with another polite smile at their guest.

However, it did nothing to calm her sudden nerves as she sensed the tension in the room. Looking over at Klaus' stiff shoulders with a slight frown as she tried to read his emotions. "What's going on?" she asked carefully, turning both their gazes to her at once. "Is it dangerous for me to be here or something?"

"No."

"Yes."

The unison answer made Caroline glance down at her feet then. "I see." she murmured and cleared her throat. Realizing that his sister – who apparently already hated her guts – probably would be the more honest of the two. Especially since Klaus generally only told her what he thought she wanted to hear in situations like these.

"I should go then. Thanks for your help today, Klaus. See you around. I guess." she stammered on as she turned away from them, only to stop in her tracks as the hybrid showed up to block her path.

"Caroline, please don't leave." he told her softly, his voice nearly cracking at the vulnerability in his tone. "It isn't… If Lucien is back…" he sighed as his words seemed to fail him. Looking back over at her with sad eyes, he reached for her hands and held them in his. Surprising her when the action both soothed her and made her nervous at the same time.

"Please, stay until we get some answers." he pleaded with her quietly. "Let us figure out where he is and what his intentions are for returning. If not for your own sake, then at least for my peace of mind."

She could only nod in response, worried her voice wouldn't be steady underneath his intense eyes. He smiled a little in relief before letting go of her hands and turning to his siblings. "Do you have it?" he asked and earned a nod from Freya.

"I assume it is what you were looking for." she told him as she walked closer to her brother and held out a wristwatch to him. "You know what you need to do for the spell to be as proficient as possible…"

"Yes." he nodded in response, looking over at Caroline's confused face then with a soft smile. "Let's see what my old mate is doing in New Orleans."

The young vampire followed the siblings to a kind of lounge area then. Studying them closely as Elijah took a seat in an armchair while Freya and Klaus stood on opposite sides of the square coffee table. There was a map laid out between them and Klaus placed the watch on top of it before reaching out his hands with his palms up. Freya held her palms just above his then and gave him a pointed look.

"Ready?" she asked him, making Caroline fidget as she started to worry about what they were going to do exactly.

Klaus nodded and closed his eyes, followed shortly by Freya as she did the same and began chanting. The words she uttered were unfamiliar to the blonde, and the energy that surrounded them was nothing like she'd ever felt before. This was a very powerful magic, that much she could tell. But as blood suddenly formed strange runes on the hybrid's hands, she was starting to wonder just what kind of magic the Mikaelson witch was using. And more importantly, how dangerous was it?

The blood dripped down through Klaus' fingers and hit the wristwatch on the table, covering it as Freya continued her chant. His face turned hardened and strained as he kept his eyes closed, the spell seemingly drawing power from him somehow.

"I see him." Freya whispered suddenly. "He came back several days ago."

"How did this escape our knowledge?" Elijah asked, breaking his silence with a nonchalant expression.

"He holds some kind of magic which managed to shield him from us." she explained. "However, I can't see what exactly it is."

Klaus remained silent as Freya tilted her head slightly, keeping her eyes closed but looking like she was watching it all play out in front of her. "Oh, he has been quite busy since arriving too." she spoke on. "He is… searching."

"For what?" Elijah probed.

"Aya." she concluded grimly.

The name caused both brothers to stiffen in response, informing Caroline that the person in question was a threat to them in some way. "Is she here, Freya?" Klaus asked, his face set into a stone-cold scowl.

"I can't tell… But I see that he hasn't found her yet."

The hybrid looked like he was shaking, something Caroline was sure she hadn't seen before. But she didn't know whether it was out of anger – or fear. His breathing was strained, and his hands slowly turned into a gray color. Freya stopped the spell abruptly at that, as if sensing her brother's pain, and they both dropped their hands on the map with strangled gasps when the magic left them.

Caroline held her breath as she watched Klaus' skin slowly stitch itself up again. The Mikaelson's looked up at each other over the table then as if sharing an understanding of something which the others in the room went unaware of.

"Is there something else?" Elijah pressed on, sensing the same as the young vampire beside him while they both stared over at the blondes with wide eyes.

"No." Freya finally said as Klaus straightened up his back. "We got close to him, but I had to cut the connection before he sensed us."

"How long until you can try again?" the brother asked her, making Caroline turn to him with a horrified look as Klaus still looked like he was recovering from the spell. Confirming her suspicions that Freya's magic was very powerful indeed, and clearly very draining on the hybrid's strength.

"It's getting more and more difficult every time we try." she explained while packing up the map and watch and turning away. "Especially with whatever magic he has shielding him… I don't dare repeat the spell again for a while at least."

Klaus must have sensed the discomfort that Caroline felt, because he turned to her with a soft smile. As if trying to assure her that he was okay. "I imagine you have an abundance of questions for me, love." he said as he walked over to her slowly.

"Something like that, yeah." she scoffed at him and chuckled nervously. "But I need to make a call first… I just hope he doesn't kill me when I tell him."

He raised an eyebrow at that, making her sigh as she met his eyes. "The reason that Enzo was pushing me to go to you from the beginning… It was because Damon knew this powerful witch and he knew we needed to go through you to find her." she explained and nodded to the other woman in the room then. "And I have a feeling neither of them will like how long it took for me to finally get in touch with her."

Chapter Text

Chapter 21: While the water is rising

Two weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

The sun was starting to set as Bonnie prepared the final ingredients for the spell. Her phone ringing again and making her sigh as she reluctantly ignored yet another of Enzo's calls. Having lost count by now of just how many.

"I could only find enough lotus for one of us." Clara told her as she stood before her in the thick forest, markings made up of rocks and herbs on the ground in the form of a pentagram between them.

She met the Portuguese's alarmed eyes with a smile. "That's fine. I'll be doing this part myself."

"You should bring someone with you." she suggested, yet again. Earning a sigh from the Bennett then.

"I've been through the veil before, Clara. Trust me, I'll be fine." she told her with a reassuring squeeze of her hand. "As soon as Damon gets back, we can get started."

Clara nodded at that and focused on plucking the petals of her flowers, placing them under each of the rocks on the ground with a rhythmic chant. Focusing the energy needed to fill the pentagram and complete the spell. The other witch studied her movements and made sure to store them away in her memory. Hoping she wouldn't need to use the same ritual in the future but still preparing for it just in case. "How long will I have?" she asked her as the Duarte witch finished her preparations.

"Not long, unfortunately." Clara sighed before straightening up and looking her over from top to toe. "One hour, maybe two if we're lucky."

"As long as everything works out, I won't need to worry about time management." she mused, much more for her own benefit than anything else. She was starting to feel nervous about the plan, especially when it forced her to keep lying to-

The thought was cut off as her phone rang again, her heart breaking a little at reading his name on the screen. Desperately wanting to hear his voice, since it usually had a way of inciting confidence in lieu of the angst she was feeling as of now. But she knew that picking up his call wouldn't bring her any comfort whatsoever, but only an earful of scolding. Not to mention that he would show up in the blink of an eye and sweep her away to another continent as soon as she told him where she was.

"You're late." Clara's voice interrupted her anxious thoughts as Damon joined them then, wearing a firm expression on his face and carrying a bag in his hands.

"Had to make sure I wasn't followed." he countered and glanced over at Bonnie pointedly. Telling her exactly whom he had been avoiding while getting there.

"Did you get it?" she asked him as the vampire set the bag down and kneeled to open it up. Revealing the contents to her with a nod.

"As many medical kick-starting vials as I could get my hands on."

"No defibrillator?" Clara questioned, making Bonnie grimace at the witch.

"Let's just stick with the adrenaline. I don't really like the thought of getting electrocuted..." she explained while sharing an understanding nod with Damon then.

"Is everything else set up?" he asked them and sighed deeply when they both nodded in response. "Do you really have to do this, Bon?"

She smiled as her friend repeated the question for the umpteenth time that night. His worry clear on his grimacing face as she nodded to him yet again. "Clara says she can give me an hour. Maybe two."

"Will that be enough?"

"Hopefully." she sighed to him before turning to Clara. "Let's begin."

The witch nodded and lit candles around them with the snap of her fingers as Bonnie stepped inside the pentagram. Her legs steady despite her trembling heart and worried mind. Clara closed her eyes and drew her hands out before she began chanting, with her face turned up towards the moonlit sky.

The air quickly shifted around them, clearly unnerving Damon as he studied the Bennett witch with sad eyes. She tried to smile at him but felt the energy close in on her, wrapping around her heart and gripping it tightly. A pained gasp escaped her as she fell to her knees, the winds circling her violently as Clara continued her chants. Lightning hit the ground near them as Bonnie began to see the results before her in the form of a heavy fog. White and thick, it swept around her and drowned out everything else from her vision.

Finally, she felt her heart stop and for a short moment everything went black. Abruptly, she opened her eyes wide as she took in her new surroundings. The opening of a dark cave with a single candle lit on the ground by her feet. It would work as a guide for later, so that she knew where to return when her time was up.

Then she took a steeling breath as she did what she hadn't expected to do again for at least a decade or two… She entered the cave and crossed the veil of the living onto the supernatural 'Other Side'.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

The argument could be heard throughout the entire manor. Despite Caroline and Enzo being on another side of the building and even despite Klaus' efforts to avoid listening in. Their raised voices were just hard to ignore.

Her friend had showed up mere minutes ago upon Caroline's request, bewildered as to why she had interrupted their plan for him to go to Baton Rouge. The confusion quickly turned into outrage as she explained what she had learned in his short absence. Klaus imagined it would have made for an even stronger reaction if Freya had been present to greet the lad herself, something the hybrid couldn't help but regret having missed out on. But fortunately for everyone involved, she and Elijah had quickly made themselves scarce in order to inform Marcel of what little information they had about Lucien's current plans.

He sat in an armchair, nursing a glass of bourbon when his sister returned and joined him. The expression on her face confirming Klaus' suspicions of the yelling being loud enough for human hearing to receive it as well. "Are those your guests screaming the roof off the house, Niklaus?" she asked, watching him carefully as he merely shrugged in response. A loud phrase cutting them both off before he could respond.

"Do you realize that we wasted days running around in circles and chasing our own tails, when all we had to do was go visit your damned boyfriend!?"

Klaus had to fight the smirk that threatened to form on his face at the words. Instead nodding towards Freya with amused eyes. "I believe this may take a while, sister. Why don't you call and get dinner prepared?" he suggested then, smiling shortly as he spoke again. "And please be a dear and make sure that two more seats are added to the table."

She studied him in silence for a long moment before finally nodding and leaving the room then. Forcing him to resist listening in to the arguing pair of vampires yet again as he went to refill his glass. Luckily, the voices were abruptly silenced and replaced by footsteps. Leading through the halls slowly before reaching him and stopping a short distance away. He didn't need to turn around to identify his company, smirking a little to himself as she stood in silence while he filled up a second glass.

"I see you've returned from the battle unscathed and alone." he noted amusedly, earning a sigh as the vampire crossed the room and slumped down in the sofa near him. He handed a glass to her, receiving an exasperated frown before she slowly accepted it. "Should I snap his neck and force him to spend a good half hour cooling off?" he asked, smiling again as she let out a tired scoff in response before he returned to his seat.

"I haven't been yelled at like that since before my mother died." she groaned into her glass with a grimace.

He couldn't resist chuckling a little as he watched her guilt-stricken face. "I can actually say that I have experienced similar lectures myself over the centuries. If not worse."

"Well, unlike you, I'm not really used to being scolded." she snickered back, a little flash of humor coloring her eyes as she looked over at him.

"I sense some blame directed my way over this particular incidence." he mused with a teasing tone.

"For good reason!" she quipped, causing him to chuckle deeply at her flustered face.

"You did say that you wanted to meet the family, love. I am hardly at fault for the evident results of it taking place. As much as I hate to admit it, this was all out of my control." he pointed out, earning a groan from her as she slumped deeper into the couch then.

"Yeah, yeah… I know." she muttered before finishing her drink in one final swoop.

He stood up slowly, taking the empty glass from her and placing it on the table along with his own. "Let me show you something." he chimed, smirking over at her before reaching his hand out. "It might help cheer you up."

She visibly debated with herself for a moment, chewing on her lower lip as she studied his offered hand. Finally coming to a decision, she stood up and held onto him then. He barely gave her a second to reconsider before he flashed them both up the stairs and all the way to his studio.

A soft gasp escaped her as she realized where they were suddenly standing. He let go of her and nodded ahead, urging her to explore the room further. That earned him a bright grin as she walked past him, her eyes taking in the scattered easels amongst numerous tables and desks with stacks of pads and papers.

He fought against the sudden modesty he felt while her delicate fingers picked and browsed over some drawings while silently taking in the labors of his work. It was something he still hadn't quite gotten used to; sharing his art with others. It felt akin to bearing your soul, unsure of whether the receiver would act kindly towards the findings or rip your spirit apart in reaction instead.

However, the sweet smile on her face put him to ease as she picked up one of the sketches and looked over at him. "This is Mystic Falls." she stated, earning a nod from him as she looked back over at the woods he had captured on paper long ago.

"You were always as clever as you were observant." he replied softly while he joined her side. Studying her as she continued to flip through the different pages, her eyes slightly narrowed and lips in a tiny pout as she examined the motives closely.

For a moment, he forgot the reason he had brought her there and instead found himself desperate to draw out the easy moment between them. "These are just the ones I choose to leave out in the open." he told her as he watched her, trying to gage her reaction to both his words and the drawings before her. "I happen to keep some away from prying eyes."

"Yeah?" she snickered playfully. "Don't tell me that means you're hiding away some secret portraits of the history's most interesting royalties or something. I never really took you for an attention-shy man."

He looked up to catch her eyes then, smiling warmly as she shook her head in disbelief. A sound from across the house reached him shortly, turning his smile wider as he nudged her side. "So..." he crooned as she turned some sketches over in her hands. "I couldn't help but notice Enzo's absence after your... spat."

She put the papers down attentively before turning towards him and leaning her hip against the desk beside them. "Yeah, he'll meet up with me later. When he stops hating my guts, that is." she sighed out exasperatedly.

"Hopefully it won't take too long. Dinner will be ready soon." he pointed out nonchalantly.

"Is that your way of kicking me out?" she teased with feigned hurt on her face.

"I would never!" he gasped in mock outrage as he pressed a palm over his heart.

"I should probably go look for Enzo soon and…" she began but stopped when she met his smile. "You already prepared for the both of us to eat with your family tonight, didn't you?"

He only smiled at that, earning a chuckle from her as she returned her attention to the art again. "Caroline..." he spoke carefully, turning to mimic her stance against the desk with crossed arms over his chest. Hoping she would remain at ease long enough for him to get a reply to the question he was dying to ask. "Why exactly did you decide against coming to me from the start?"

"We've already had this conversation, Klaus."

"Have we?" he countered with a raised eyebrow. "I don't remember getting any kind of explanation from you then, and you were unwilling to give one to your friend just now."

She let out a sigh and tapped her fingernails over the wood rhythmically before meeting his eyes again. "I think... Maybe, for the same reason that you felt the need to apologize for our past." she said slowly. "Things have never been easy between us, Klaus. Or even friendly for most of the time that we've known each other."

The words were painfully honest, scratching at the walls around his undead heart as he studied her with a frown. "Does that mean we could never start over? Turn a new page and move forward?" he murmured, feeling uncharacteristically vulnerable suddenly.

"No, we probably could." she shrugged before taking a deep breath. "I just don't think we can achieve that by continuing to go along like we always have and just expecting things to change on their own. And I guess I was trying to keep us from falling back into the same old patterns. Me asking you for something, despite the fact that I don't necessarily deserve to. You helping, even if it may be some scheme from the others that could cause you harm…"

"Does that mean you wish for things to change?" he pressed on, moving closer as he analyzed her blue eyes with bated breath. Unsure which answer he wished for exactly. The seconds until she spoke up pushing his patience to its furthest limit.

"Yes." she finally said. "But it's your turn now."

He chuckled at that, letting out some of the nerves that had gathered momentarily as he watched her determined face. "You're asking a thousand-year-old man to change, love?"

"No, just... To try."

"And how can I do that?"

She looked away from him temporarily, her eyes focusing on the desk and drawing his to do the same. Studying their hands on the desk then as they seemed to have inched closer slowly. "You could start by telling me why you left Dallas without saying goodbye." she suggested softly, causing him to close his eyes in a long inhale as the memory was brought up again and filled his mind. The night he'd thought she would actually die and disappear from his life - forever.

It wasn't something he enjoyed to revisit, and he couldn't understand why she found it potent to do so now. He reached out to her, deciding to try and explain his state of mind back then but unsure of where to begin. His fingers drew lines across the back of her hand while he thought it over, surprising him when she didn't move away in reaction to his touch. Not meeting her gaze as he instead focused on her heartbeat while it raced in his ears.

He knew he may have gone too far. He knew she would pull away from him, both physically and otherwise. But wasn't that how their dance always went? He would push closer until she eventually pulled back, and then he was left to re-estimate the next move before he tried something similar again.

Always one step forward, two steps back. And now was no different.

Except she didn't turn away. He waited, nearly froze in anticipation of it. But her hand was still on the same spot, his fingers dancing over her knuckles freely. A tiny victory, but one nonetheless. His chest swelled for a moment as he enjoyed the closeness between them. Even if it would only last a second longer, it was still such a contrast to how they used to be so long ago. And it gave him some hope, that perhaps she was right. Perhaps they could actually succeed in changing things between them after all this time.

"I was worried." he let himself admit, noticing her eyebrows furrowing in response. He glanced down at their hands again, continuing to venture slightly higher up her wrist and smiling in content at the reaction her skin gave him. Small goosebumps spreading over her arm and tempting him to follow their path. "To quote a very wise young vampire; things have never been easy between us." he chimed, earning a little smirk from her as he spoke. "And I was supposed to stay away, after all."

"But you didn't." she pointed out quietly, making him nod in response.

"Well… I reckoned it would be far preferable than to stand back and watch you die." With that, he looked up at her again. Watching her parted lips and wide eyes as she studied him in return. He tried to name the emotions she expressed on her beautiful face but fell short.

"So, you thought my wellbeing was more important than keeping your promise? Even if it meant that I might hate you for it?"

He didn't need to think before he replied. "Of course." he told her with a determined nod. Sighing as he looked away shortly, trying to rephrase the thoughts in his mind and find the right words to express himself.

"You… you have a habit of putting yourself in the crossfire, love. Especially when it comes to that little lot from your hometown. And more often than not, they never seem to have your best interest at heart." he added, his body moving closer to her as if having been drawn in by an invisible rope. She always did call to him, like a siren pulling him through dark and stormy waters.

"But I always will, Caroline. Of that you can be certain." he stated genuinely, mesmerized by the color of her eyes as he found himself so close to her now.

It surprised him that she still hadn't pulled away. He wanted to stay like this for as long as she would let him, enjoying the feeling of her soft skin under his fingers and the wonderful scent surrounding his senses. And it worried him that any moment now they would break apart and he would be left with the hollow feeling of loneliness and rejection in his chest.

"You know, for once, you're actually right." she said, a light and breathy chuckle escaping her then. The small smile on her lips making him grin in return. "It's something I've come to recognize over the past few years."

"What's that, love?" he asked, holding his breath momentarily as he hoped he hadn't broken the trance by speaking again.

"That..." she begun, her eyes roaming over his face in a way that brought a little flutter to his stomach. "People let you down. And when they do, you have no one else to blame but yourself."

He blinked in surprise at that. It wasn't what he had expected from her and it felt far too cynical a thing for her to say. The bright and courageous woman, who was so filled with strength and hope, it didn't fit her to believe something like that. And he found himself deeply disliking it.

"You once told me that everyone – even someone as irrevocably evil as myself – is capable of being saved." he noted, hoping her heart hadn't hardened too much over the years. Hoping she hadn't been broken, the way that he had been. He would give anything to make sure that never happened.

"I was younger then. Naive. Blue-eyed..." she sighed, shaking her head and causing her curls to spread the smell of lilies and pears further. Making it hard to resist leaning in those final inches... Those few centimeters... Just a little more...

But he remained cautious. He had to. He had been down this road too many times to not be wise enough to hold himself back. One misstep and she would throw those walls up again, pushing him far away and making the travel back tougher each and every time. "I prefer to see you hopeful, Caroline." he whispered instead, drawing her eyes up to focus on him. "It suits you, to believe there is good in all the people around you. And with that ferocity of yours too." he smirked, earning a scoff before he continued with a slightly more serious tone.

"Don't lose your faith in others merely due to past disappointments, love." he said softly, his eyes willing her to let him stay in her proximity despite his demanding words. "I happen to know first-hand how difficult it is to regain such a view of the world once you've closed yourself up for long enough."

"You're not like that now." she told him, making him chuckle lightly in surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"You let me in."

His amusing smile faltered at that, turning him to study her closely again. "Well, you happen to be a rare exception to the rule, sweetheart." he smirked. Feeling a pleasant warmth spread through his chest as she returned with a brilliant smile of her own.

"Am I?" she challenged him, her eyelashes fluttering as she viewed him through them. The look tugging at his heart and making his fingers itch as he felt an overwhelming impulse to recreate it on paper. "You don't have any other baby-vampires hidden away somewhere whom you give expensive jewelry and pretty sketches to?" she teased, making him shake his head in a chuckle.

A flash of memory passed through his mind shortly, and for a moment he wondered if he should bring up Camille. She had reacted so delightfully irritated at the mention of her name earlier. But he wasn't sure if it was all due to some concealed jealousy or if it had been something else entirely. Either way, he felt no need to make her think of Cami as a threat of any kind and didn't feel any hurry to bring it back up.

Even though he still waited for her to pull away, he couldn't stop himself from raising his hand to play lightly with the hem on her blouse. He wanted to hold onto her waist and pull her close but restrained himself. Settling on the fabric as he hoped she wouldn't mind his new focus all too much. The momentary silence was interrupted when she spoke up again.

"Promise me something, Klaus." she murmured, her breath hitting his face and drawing his eyes to her lips. "Promise to trust me, trust that I know what I'm doing. Or at the very least, trust me enough to do things my way. Promise you won't take matters into your own hands or go on with some plan of your own just because you think you know what's best… Trust me."

"That… is a lot to ask of me, Caroline."

"I realize that…" she whispered. "But I'm asking you anyway."

Struggling for a moment, he fought with himself over his answer. Of course, he wanted to trust her, to give her what she needed from him. Hell, he was unable to deny her anything. But he wanted to say yes and mean it, and that was where he stumbled. "I promise to try." he finally said, hoping it would be sufficient for now.

He noted a short sigh of displeasure from her, clearly she had expected more from him. And the reality of that both saddened and pleased him. He was glad she thought of him as more than he was, but at the same time he lived in constant fear of never quite being enough. A smile finally spread over her lips, taking his breath away. She leaned in and surprised him as she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace.

It took a second for him to act in return, but soon he held her close to him in a tight hug. Tilting his face into her hair as she rested her chin against his shoulder. He let out a heavy breath, realizing he had been on edge. Worried about her reaction perhaps, but he wasn't sure. All he knew was that every bit of tension in his body left him immediately, making him feel light and free of troubles as he held her in his arms. Even if his life depended on it, he would not have been able to tell how long they stood like that. It could have been seconds or hours. All he knew was that he desperately wanted to prolong it, to never let her go...

But Klaus knew that his luck wouldn't last for long, it never had. Deciding to get ahead of it, and thereby saving himself some of the dismissal, he pushed her back slowly by her shoulders. Smiling at her as she looked baffled and possibly even regretful of their separation. "Why don't I show you some more of the property before dinner, sweetheart?"

She blinked for a few moments before nodding with a timid smile. "Yeah, yeah sure."

He stepped to the side then, creating more space between them as he gestured for her to walk out first. Receiving a nod before she headed in the given direction, him following close behind with a dazed smile. Wondering just how the earlier moment had occurred - and how he could make a similar one happen again. Soon.

Two weeks ago
The Other Side

The dark tunnel ahead was longer than Bonnie expected, and she felt like she had already lost a lot of time by simply walking through it. But of course, no one ever promised that touring the other side would be an easy trip. Especially for the temporarily dead.

She had been trying to avoid the shadows that lurked in the darkness around her, but the whispers were getting harder and harder to ignore. And when she suddenly recognized one of the voices, she couldn't keep her focus any longer.

"You were supposed to stay out of this business, child."

Her entire body froze up as she heard it. She looked over her shoulder. Trying to determine whether she had time to take a short detour or if she should keep her attention on the road ahead.

But when she was met with the face of her beloved Grams, she had a hard time reminding herself what she was doing and why. "Please, don't try to stop me." she whispered to the ghost before her, her heart aching at the sight as she wanted nothing more than to run into her arms and stay with her for as long as she could.

"I won't." she replied. "I'm here to make sure you do not get stuck alongside me."

"We have a plan, Grams."

The older witch shook her head in disbelief at that. "How is it possible that with each passing year you grow more and more into the mature and strong woman I always knew you would become… And yet, you are just as stubborn and self-sacrificing as ever?"

"Were you hoping that I'd be egotistical and self-absorbed instead?" she teased lightly as her grandmother continued to frown at her with sad eyes. Sighing deeply as she chose to push on for now and look past the obvious disappointment that her past role model directed her way. "Will you help me?"

"I will." she replied begrudgingly. "But I expect you to run right back out of here the second you are finished with what you came to do."

Bonnie couldn't resist the relieved grin that spread over her face at that as she jumped forward and wrapped her arms around the elder woman tightly. "I miss you." she whispered against her shoulder as Grams returned the hug.

"I know, sweet child." she told her softly and leaned back to look her over then. Holding the young witch's face in her hands with a warm smile. "Come on, let's go find that wretched man before your time is up."

Nodding shortly, Bonnie accepted her hand and followed the woman further into the darkness with rushed steps. They were quick to reach the end of the tunnel then, finding themselves in the middle of a wide Czech square. It was dark around them and the streetlights appeared dimmed and flickering. Bonnie couldn't decide if that was just their perspective from within the veil or reality.

They noticed a group of vampires by the end, one of whom she recognized immediately, the others blurring away as she glared at him. Rage vibrating in her entire body at the sight of the man who had been terrorizing her and her friends for the past five years…

"Focus, Bonnie." Grams urged her as she noted that the young witch's emotions had begun to reach out through the veil. Flowers had started to wilt by their feet and a strong wind blew into the open space. "You can't afford to have them notice you."

She gritted her teeth and clenched her knuckles tightly as she fought to regain control of herself. But the smug and wicked smirk on Julian's face made it extremely difficult. "I would give anything to kill him right here and now." she whispered harshly under her breath.

"Then you should be prepared to give your life." she pointed out, reminding her to reel her powers in before the anger took over. "You know the rules, Bonnie. Don't use too much of your magic or they will anchor you to the Other Side."

"I know..." the young woman sighed and shook her head shortly. "Let's just hope he gives us something useful, soon."

Her grandmother nodded towards her approvingly before they both went to follow the vampire as he walked away from the group then. Julian rounded a corner before he stopped and took his phone out, seemingly responding to an incoming call.

"Well? Have you arrived yet?" he said into the phone, the response inaudible to the witches as they studied him while he suddenly lost his temper. "What does that mean!?" he hissed sharply before becoming silent as he listened to the caller.

"Don't you dare return empty-handed, Troy." Julian hissed out before hanging up and dialing another number immediately. His phone up by his ear again in a second.

"Tell me you have made progress with our guests." Another short silence passed before he spoke again. "I don't care. Get answers or kill them!" he snarled out before running a hand over his face and exhaling deeply.

"Who is he talking about?" Bonnie wondered aloud, asking mostly herself but still looking over at the other witch as if she had any answers to give.

"Fine, I'll send someone." he interrupted then before hanging up the phone. Turning away and whistling to the vampires by the square and waving them over. "Micah, Peter! Sam needs an extra pair of hands." The men smirked wickedly before nodding and walking away, most likely headed to join this 'Sam'. Julian stayed behind though, typing something on his phone before entering a building nearby.

It took her grandmother a moment to realize that Bonnie was still standing in the same spot, her eyes scanning the backs of the vampires as they walked down the dark street. A strange feeling in her gut told her to follow them and it fought with the logical part of her then.

"Come on, Bonnie. We're losing him." Grams called out to her, but she shook her head in reply.

"Something's going on." she said before walking in the opposite direction of the man they were supposed to follow - instead hurrying behind the two vampires whom Julian had sent away.

"Bonnie!" the older witch called out to her and ran to catch up, grabbing her arm tightly to stop her. "Don't do this, honey. You can't afford to get distracted by other matters. Focus on the goal ahead."

"I have this feeling, Grams... I have to find out where they're going. Who they're meeting with." she insisted with pleading eyes. "It won't take long, and we'll be right back here with time to spare."

"You can't be sure of that, Bonnie." she protested as the young Bennett pulled out of her grasp.

"You said you weren't going to stand in my way. So please, Grams, don't." she begged her then. The witch watched her with a frown for a long moment before she nodded in defeat.

Bonnie smiled with relief and grabbed her hand. "Come on." she murmured before they sprinted to follow the men. A voice in the back of her head told her it would be risky, it may even take up too much of her already limited time… But the weird turning in her stomach prompted her to continue. She needed to see what was going on, convinced that she wouldn't be able to let it go otherwise.

So, in some ways, even if she couldn't afford to waste time on investigating this further – she also couldn't afford not to.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

The dinner was one of the most extravagant spreads Caroline had ever seen. She had barely had the time to see the whole of the third story before Enzo returned to the mansion and they were all called to be seated. When she saw the turnout, she was torn between surprise and the thought 'what else?' Realizing it wasn't strange for the Mikaelson family to host something so refined and luxurious, but feeling impressed by the result nonetheless. Every kind of Cajun and southern foods one could possibly imagine was present on the decorated table. All spread amongst the various candles and flower arrangements. Servers stood by the far end of the room, patiently awaiting instructions and attempting to blend into the wall until then.

Klaus and Elijah sat at opposite heads of the table, speaking volumes of their positions in the family. Freya sat between them on one side, Caroline and Enzo were placed on the other with Caroline by Klaus' right. Her friend was still a little upset after their argument, but he was considerably calmer now that the Mikaelson's had invited him into his home. Hoping they would be willing to help them find and rescue Bonnie. A part of Caroline wondered if he didn't also secretly wish they would want to assist them in bringing Julian down as well.

She couldn't help but glance at the empty chair by Freya with a frown, once again wondering why she hadn't seen Rebekah yet. Did they have a falling out? Was the Original blonde lying daggered somewhere in the basement? Would she walk past some rooms and suddenly find her in a coffin with her skin grey and cold?

Enzo was too caught up in filling his plate to notice her absent thoughts, but Klaus cast her a glance in acknowledgment. "What's on that brilliant mind of yours, love?" he asked softly, a smirk on his face as she bit her lip to avoid a blush at his flattering words.

"I'm just wondering where my old cheer-rival is." she said with a shrug. "Not hiding from me, I hope."

The question appeared to be a much more loaded one than expected. The Mikaelson's all froze for a moment, throwing eyes at each other before Elijah cleared his throat ceremoniously. "Rebekah isn't available for the time being." he said in a firm tone that forced all follow-up questions back down her throat.

Nodding in response, she made sure to busy herself with her plate instead. Smirking a little at Enzo as she noticed his pleased expression with the wide selection of delicacies before them. She was filling up with rice, fried shrimp and grilled vegetables when a server showed up to fill her glass with a fitting white wine.

"Thanks." she said to the petite, elder woman and smiled at her kindly. She seemed a bit thrown off before giving the vampire a smile in return, quickly disappearing to the back of the room afterwards. Caroline turned towards the table again and froze up as she was met with strange expressions by the others. Freya and Elijah had nearly identical looks of intrigue while Enzo rolled his eyes before smirking over at her.

It was Klaus' face that affected her the most, as he sat with a little secretive smile on his lips while he watched her over the rim of his glass. "What?" she chuckled nervously then, gaining a shake of his head in response. Wondering shortly if the Originals ever actually thanked their own staff, and rolling her eyes as she imagined the answer to that.

The hybrid seemed to understand her thinking and smirked deeply, winking at her before Elijah drew their attention to him. "Now, why don't we all get acquainted with each other?" the older brother suggested politely, gesturing for the table to begin the pleasantries, and ending his glance in Enzo's direction. "Mr. St. John. Tell us, where did you come from?"

"Seemingly out of nowhere." Klaus snarked, making Caroline narrow her eyes at him in response. He seemed unbothered by it and only continued to grin at her amusedly while Enzo spoke up to answer the question.

"I grew up near Southampton, England." he said while sipping his wine. "However, I am unsure of where I was born. Since I had been an orphan with no family to speak of from the start and the hospitals kept no such records at the time." he explained, the story news to Caroline as she studied him as intently as the others.

"My lack of a parental home made for a low status in society, forcing me into a workhouse by the age of four. I stayed there until fourteen, when I finally managed to escape the owner. Of course, the streets ended up being much more difficult a home despite my newfound freedom." he went on, a flicker of dark sadness crossing his face as he seemed to relive it shortly. "For the next few years, I fought to survive. Living off of scraps and taking whatever actions necessary to get by. Until the year of 1903, when I had finally saved enough money for one ticket on a ship towards America. However, since I was dying of consumption at the time, the money didn't matter much. And I was denied passage on the ship."

"That's when Lily saved you." Caroline chimed in, recognizing the story then and remembering what had followed.

"Yes." he confirmed with a short smile. "Lily Salvatore. She helped me board the ship despite my illness. By the time we arrived at Manhattan Harbor, I had been turned into a vampire."

"Lily Salvatore?" Klaus repeated, his eyes moving between Enzo and Caroline slowly. "How did she cross your path exactly? Shouldn't she have been living in America by then?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Enzo replied honestly. "But she disappeared before I ever woke up. Leaving without so much as a goodbye, nor any advice on how to handle my new… condition."

"Caroline mentioned that you had been captured by the Augustine Society." the hybrid mentioned, causing her to curse his tongue when she noticed Enzo flinching at the words. "I am curious to learn of your successful escape from that persistent and sadistic little foundation."

"Yes, last I heard they were keeping a rather low profile." Elijah added with a thoughtful nod. "I assumed they had been eradicated decades ago."

"Nope. Try years." Caroline chipped then with a shrug when Klaus raised an eyebrow at her words. "The last of them are gone now, that's what matters."

"And what of you, Ms. Forbes?" Freya asked with a cold face and no-nonsense voice. The resemblances with Elijah strikingly clear to the female vampire then.

"What about me?" she asked with an uncertain expression.

"What of your story, love?" the witch explained then, making Caroline bite back a chuckle as she echoed Klaus' favorite endearment.

"Well, my parents were William and Elizabeth Forbes. I grew up in Mystic Falls. Was turned before I got the chance to reach eighteen, which sucked..." she grimaced before moving on with a shrug. "And what, ten years later? Here I am. Not at all as interesting as you probably hoped for."

"And how did you end up becoming such close friends with Niklaus?" she pressed on, a strange look in her hazel eyes at the word 'friend' that did not go unnoticed by the other blonde.

"Oh, he tried to sacrifice me when breaking the hybrid curse." she replied then, making Enzo turn to her with a shocked expression. "Did I not mention that?" she chuckled, patting his shoulder lightly. "And when I was freed, he killed my friend's aunt to fulfill the whole 'vampire' part of the ritual. Oh, and then he turned my boyfriend into a hybrid and used the sire-bond to get him to bite me – nearly killing me again. And on my birthday too."

Elijah chuckled shortly, the tiny smile on his face still the biggest Caroline had seen from the vampire until now. He shook his head before turning to Freya. "Yes, you may have missed quite a few interesting mementos over the years before you returned to our family, dear sister."

"And yet she never felt the urge to have her revenge on the man who caused her such pain in the past?" the witch asked, her eyes turned to Caroline despite not addressing her directly.

"Of course, I did." the young vampire scoffed. "We tried to kill him like hundreds of times and alas-!" she waved over at the hybrid in question then. Earning a smirk from him in return, having been uncharacteristically quite during her rundown of their history together.

The female Mikaelson was staring at him with parted lips until he finally let out a deep sigh and turned to her shocked face with a relaxed smile. "I assure you, Freya; it is all water under the bridge now."

"I would say." Freya sneered, earning a frown from the other blonde then.

"Sister." Klaus muttered low, causing her to sigh and lean back in her chair with arms crossed over her chest.

"What, Niklaus? Am I to avoid the red flags glaring up at me from this side of the table?" she nodded over at the blonde with a cold chuckle. "I have but very limited knowledge to compare her information with after all." she scowled then. Her temper clearly another thing that she had earned from the Mikaelson genes.

"What does that mean?" Caroline asked, not appreciating the backhanded comments and snide eye rolls that were directed her way.

"It means that from what I have seen, you are still not someone I would trust the safety of my family with."

"Freya-" Klaus began but was intercepted immediately.

"What are you talking about!? You met me like two minutes ago, how can you possibly dislike me this much already?"

"Caroline-" Klaus tried then but the other blonde cut him off.

"Oh, this is not the first I've seen of you, darling. Although, Niklaus' mind must have grossly romanticized your character after the past years. Considering how I am still nowhere near as impressed by you as my brothers appear to be. Although, they may be somewhat easier to win over in comparison, since I am not quite as perceptible to your charms as Klaus here is."

Caroline felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured over her back while she stared at the woman with a slack jaw. "What?" she breathed before turning to glare at the hybrid in question with wide eyes. "Wait… What am I missing here, Klaus?"

He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers with a sigh. Clearly unable to meet her gaze, but whether it was from embarrassment or guilt, she couldn't decide. "Klaus?" she pressed, a little more force to her voice this time. Growing impatient as she studied the man with narrowed eyes.

"Is it too late to exchange the wine for something stronger?" She heard Enzo ask one of the servers, making her turn to glare at him instead. "What? I'm not going to enjoy this show half as much without some bourbon!" he exclaimed in his defense, causing her to groan shortly in response.

"You're supposed to side with me, Enzo." she pointed out.

"Gorgeous, there are no sides here. Surely you can see that." he shot back with a shrug just as the older brother suddenly spoke up from his side of the table.

"Let's move on." he chimed with a surprisingly civilized tone. "Ms. Forbes, I hear you have been living in Chicago as of–"

"With all due respect, Elijah…" she scoffed out as she held up a palm towards him. "I'm going to need an explanation. I mean, I would drag Klaus out to talk somewhere in private, but you would all probably still hear every word anyway. So…"

She turned to the hybrid slowly and nodded at him with a pointed look. He let out a long sigh before finally meeting her eyes and deciding to answer. "A few years ago, Freya needed a source of magic to anchor herself to during an exceptionally difficult spell. Elijah and I acted as such, and when we did, she was allowed entry into our minds."

Blinking slowly, she watched him as he suddenly dropped her gaze before explaining further. "Our pasts, present. Our thoughts and dreams… Everything."

"What?" she chuckled nervously, turning silent as the words sunk in. Her cheeks threatening to turn crimson red then as she understood what it all meant. "I see." she muttered to herself, suddenly regretting having spoken at all as the tension in the room grew impossibly awkward in the speed of light.

"Right, okay…" she breathed out, clearing her throat and quickly choosing to take Elijah's previous advice after all. "Let's start over!" she announced, her pageant smile already plastered on her face as she looked over at Freya again.

"So, apparently you're distrusting and suspicious. And that's not an insult at all, because I realize that it runs in the family..." she ranted on and shrugged her shoulders.

"But that's not me." she noted, earning a quirked eyebrow from the witch before she continued. "I'm not like you Mikaelson's. I don't do double-meanings or hidden messages or complicated metaphors. And so, I would much rather prefer it if you could let me prove myself to you. Instead of adding more fuel to some passive-aggressive fire that does none of us any good."

The woman blinked a few times, perhaps confused at having her temper received with such a calm and collected tone... Or maybe she was still trying to figure the young vampire out and considered this to be a curveball of some sort. Either way, the irritation visibly washed off of her before she spoke up. "Fair enough." she said with a nod. A much lighter tone of voice than earlier. "I have questions."

"Hit me." Caroline urged on, clasping her hands together on the table as she waited leisurely.

"What do you want from Lucien?"

"We need an object that we believe is in his possession." Caroline explained honestly. "The Candle of Hades."

"What do you need it for?"

"A friend of ours has been taken, and the man holding her is using some really strong and strange magic to conceal them both. We think that the candle can break through his cloaking spell and lead us to her."

Freya furrowed her eyes for a moment, her lips pouting lightly as she seemed to think it over. Assessing whether she believed them or not... The silence drew on a second too long for Caroline's comfort and she found herself speaking again.

"Klaus and I searched Lucien's place and didn't find it there. It's possible that, even though Lucien doesn't have the candle himself, he may at least know where it is. Especially since it turns out that he is hiding a bunch of other cursed objects similar to it..." she explained. Glancing shortly at the hybrid in question as he seemed occupied studying his sister's reaction in turn. "I've been thinking that if we can get Lucien on our side, we could get him to help us find the candle. And maybe even Bonnie."

"And this Bonnie..." Freya said then, leaning forward on her knuckles as she propped her elbows up on the table. "How do you plan to break her free? If there is such powerful magic involved, how do you intend to apprehend this…-"

"Julian." Caroline filled in before Freya continued.

"-Julian. What is your plan to get past him and save your friend?"

"We were going to ask Marcel for help."

"Marcel?" Elijah echoed then; his eyes directed at his younger brother. An analyzing expression on his face as he seemed to try and find the answer ahead of time.

"Yeah, he's the King or whatever." Caroline shrugged as she explained further. "He clearly has a lot of connections and we were hoping that he'd be willing to help us."

"You never thought to ask Niklaus?" Freya pressed on, something playing over her face that struck the younger girl as amusement of some kind.

"No." she confessed with a deep breath. "Our friends wanted us to reach out to your family, but I was trying to avoid that for as long as possible."

"Which begs the question-" Elijah chimed in again, his calculating eyes seemingly scanning Caroline inch by inch. "Why?"

"That's between me and Klaus." she replied curtly, surprising even herself for a moment with the sternness of her tone.

A silence stretched out over the table, Enzo's eyes digged into Caroline's side and made her nervous to meet them. He sighed deeply and waved over one of the servants then. "Seriously, where is that whiskey?" he asked.

"We should focus on the matter at hand." Klaus decided as he quickly redirected the subject and turned to her with a serious face. "You will need a plan to get on Lucien's good side."

"Niklaus is right." Elijah nodded in agreement. "Lucien is not a freely trusting man. Whatever strategy you choose to approach him needs to be thoroughly considered beforehand."

"Not to mention that our family is on odd ends with him already." Freya added, earning a slow nod from Caroline.

"Well, he seems like any other narcissistic sociopath..." she snickered to herself, jumping suddenly at the sound of a bang from her side. She turned and watched Klaus as he took a deep breath, having apparently put his glass down on the table with such force that he nearly broke through the wood.

"You've met with him?" his voice was low and threatening as he continued to stare into his hands.

She opened her mouth, but Enzo's voice came out instead. "Oh, you bet."

All heads turned towards the man at that before the Mikaelson's began to gape at Caroline. Klaus spoke up first, leaning closer to her as he wore a hard scowl. "How could you not mention this to me?"

"I didn't think it mattered. I just ran into him on the street. We talked. He left. End of story."

"He has taken quite a fancy to her." Enzo filled in, hissing sharply as he earned a kick from Caroline under the table. "What? I thought we were putting all cards on the table!"

"Ms. Forbes." Elijah brought her eyes to his as he spoke with that calm and steady voice of his. "Lucien Castle is a very dangerous man. You would do best to not take this lightly."

"It's fine. I've been around far scarier relics than him before." she rolled her eyes and caught a little flash of a smile on Freya's face. "When we met, he acted like he was in complete control of the situation. As if I was talking to him because he had allowed it. Like everything was playing out the way he wanted it to… Lucien Castle thinks I'm some young and lost little lady in distress and that he holds all of the power between us. That is something I plan to use against him."

"How?" Klaus questioned, turning her to face him with a shrug. One which he clearly understood the meaning of immediately. "The blonde-distraction act won't work on him, sweetheart."

"Well, that's not the only move I have." she shot back, causing him to shake his head in response.

"No, you need to sway him to your side. You need to create a situation in which he chooses to aid you of his own accord. Not because you ask him to."

She fidgeted with her napkin as she thought it all over. "Okay..." she nodded to herself. "So... What you're saying is that if I were to - I don't know - get hurt? It would need to be his own decision to help me?"

Klaus' eyes narrowed as he watched her slowly then. Seemingly trying to look ahead and figure out where she was going... But she was too caught up thinking it all through to be bothered by him.

A situation where he could save her. Help her. Bring her in...

A way to convince him that he still has the upper hand. That he can keep her under his thumb. That proves that she is no threat to him whatsoever...

The thoughts ran quickly through her mind as an idea started to form in her head. One she knew wouldn't be popular with the others. One that was dangerous, risky, and as far from a safe bet as she could get.

But it was something she could handle. Something she could do. A way for her to get hurt in which not just any random person would be able to save her… And they had just discovered that Lucien has the means to do so.

Steeling herself, squaring her shoulders and looking over at Klaus with a serious face as she finally shared her conclusion with him. "You need to bite me."

Two weeks ago
The Other Side

Julian's lackeys led the Bennett witches to an industrial warehouse district just outside of Prague. A long line of storage units stretched before them on one side and large craters and containers were spread out on the other.

"Weren't they supposed to meet someone?" Bonnie asked her grandmother as they continued to follow the men while they walked past the units one by one. When she didn't get a response, the young witch thought aloud again. "Maybe Julian's dealing with human trafficking or smuggling goods to sell on the black market." she suggested, only receiving a passive expression from the older woman.

She stopped and nudged her grandmother then. "I know you don't like this, Grams…" she began with a sigh.

"No, Bonnie. I don't." she told her with a clipped tone. "I don't like seeing you roaming through the Other Side like this, with a ticking clock hanging over you and an exceptionally large bullseye on your back."

The men suddenly stopped before them, just by a unit labeled '#341'. Turning both women to watch them as they brought out a key and unlocked it. In silent agreement, they waited for the vampires as they struggled slightly with the garage-like door.

But soon it opened, shocking Bonnie to her core as she saw the contents inside. Stefan Salvatore and Valerie Tulle hung tied up from the ceiling. Their skin sizzling from contact with vervain-soaked ropes and their bodies covered in unhealed wounds. Between them stood a vampire, whom Bonnie assumed was the 'Sam' that had needed assistance by Micah and Peter. He walked up to the other men with a pleased smirk. But she couldn't take in what they were talking about. All she could do was stare and gape at her friends as Julian's vampires gathered by the prisoners together.

It wasn't until they let out pained groans that Bonnie was shaken out of her trance. "Oh my god." she whispered to herself, feeling her grandmother's hand on her shoulder. "He found them."

Sam walked over to a corner and sat in an armchair. His legs crossed over a box before him, and his attention focused solely on the phone in his hands. "Give it a go." he told the others nonchalantly. "Maybe you'll have better luck."

"No." Valerie whispered out in a raspy voice. The sound of it clawed at Bonnie's heart as she watched them in disbelief. One of the men, the one they had identified as Peter, walked over to a table near them. Blood-covered weapons laid spread out across it, as he seemed to try and pick out one to use himself.

"Please don't." the Heretic begged again as Peter grabbed a stake and turned to Stefan slowly, his eyes running over his battered and wounded body as if assessing where he could do the most harm.

"He can't take anymore." Val whined, but she was only met with a wicked set of eyes just as Peter stabbed Stefan in the stomach. Drawing out deep grunts from the man as Valerie continued to whimper out pleads with tear-filled eyes.

"We will stop when you tell us what we want to know." he muttered to her when the pained noises subsided.

"We don't know anything." she gritted out and tugged on the ropes around her wrists with a defeated sigh.

"That's funny… See, the boss-man seems to think you do." the other vampire, Micah, said with a cold chuckle. His arms folded over his chest and his head tilted slightly as he studied her.

"Bonnie." the older witch called for her granddaughter softly. "We need to leave. We still have time to go after Julian."

"What are you talking about!? Look at them!" Bonnie hissed out and stared at her Grams then. "I'm not going anywhere!"

Her grandmother closed her eyes in a grim frown and short nod. "I know this is difficult–"

"No." she protested, cutting her off as she turned back to her friends again. "We need to help them."

"It isn't safe…" she began to protest but was only met with a shaking head.

"We have to try!"

Their arguing was cut off by shrill screams from Valerie as Micah had turned his attention to her now. "Where is she!?" he growled at her in order to be heard above her loud voice.

"I don't know!" she cried out with heavy breaths. "Julian is lying to you. He does that. Trust me, I would know."

"Well, I'm finding that hard to believe. You, with your connections and your powers… You're telling me you have no knowledge of where the witch has disappeared to?" Micah pressed on. The words turned Bonnie's blood into ice as she started to understand what was happening. And why.

"Grams." she whispered hoarsely as it all fell into place. "Julian... He's looking for me."

Two weeks ago
Faro, Portugal

Damon Salvatore could count the number of times that he had truly worried for someone else's safety on one hand. And most of those times the person he was worried about had been someone from his family or more often than not, Elena Gilbert. But he was extremely unhappy to find himself adding a young Bennett witch to the list as well. Especially now that the first hour of the spell had passed and she was still unconscious and stuck somewhere on the Other Side.

"How long now?" he asked as he threw a nervous glance at Clara. She was standing in the same spot she had been since first casting the spell. Her eyes closed and her palms raised up towards the sky above her. Her lack of response informed him that the spell was still active, and as long as Clara managed to continue powering it up - Bonnie would be fine.

But the silent answer still didn't soothe his nerves as he sat by some rocks with his eyes glued to the lifeless body of his young friend. He flinched for the hundred time as another strange snap of twigs and rustling of leaves hit his ear. Sighing as he yet again concluded that there was no one out there, for at least several square miles, but the three of them. He was just far too on edge to calm down, and every passing minute was just another reminder of how Bonnie's life still continued to hang in the balance.

He fidgeted with the vials of adrenaline on the ground beside him, counting and recounting them in an attempt to pass time. Then he looked over at his phone, before remembering that he had turned it off when realizing that Enzo wouldn't stop calling or leaving loads of threatening messages...

"It can't be much time left, right?" he asked in a frustrated sigh, still not getting any verbal reply from the witch.

That's when he heard it again, that strange rustling in the distance. However, this time it seemed closer than before. Much closer. He stood up quickly and steeled himself for whatever threat might be out there, lurking around in the shadows. But when a familiar scent hit him, he felt both relief and guilt at once.

"What... did... you... do?"

The low voice was filled with the anger and despair that the man must have been feeling as his figure finally appeared from behind some trees. His eyes wide and glaring as they shifted between the witches and the vampire.

Damon raised his palm with a nervous grin. "Okay, don't be mad-"

His words were cut off as the other man lunged forward suddenly. He rushed to stop him from disrupting the spell, holding him back by his neck. "Enzo, listen to me-" he began in an attempt to calm the vampire, but Damon was interrupted again when he was swiftly thrown to the ground.

"Stop!" he called out and watched as realization slowly dawned on his old friend then.

"What is this?" Enzo gritted out between clenched teeth and crazy eyes, spinning around to stare at him with a dark scowl.

"A preservation spell." Damon sighed out, still studying him closely in case the man would try to cross the pentagram again. "She will be safe as long as Clara isn't interrupted."

"Safe, from what?"

The answer got stuck in his throat as he didn't quite know how to explain their last-minute plan. Finally deciding to just come clean, he took a slow breath and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "From dying." he told him, earning another ice-cold and rageful glare from Enzo again as he hurried to speak on. "She... Well, she's technically dead. But we're going to bring her back."

"What?" Enzo breathed out, his face white as a sheet as he looked like he was the one dying.

"Clara is kind of slowing it down... Stopping her from fully dying but keeping her within the veil. Just long enough until we get what we need." Damon added and scratched at the back of his neck as he tried to sense the man's mood. "As soon as Clara cuts the spell off, I'll pump her with enough adrenaline to wake a herd of elephants. She'll be fine."

"How long has she been like this?" Enzo hissed out, seemingly trying hard to control himself as he probably understood that it was too late for him to do anything.

"Just, like... Maybe... I mean not even an hour." the stammering answer was met with a dark set of eyes as Enzo walked over to him with slow steps.

"What happens if she doesn't wake up?"

"Well..."

Quick to grip his throat, Damon choked on his answer as he watched the vampiric features take over the man's face then. "You didn't." he gritted out as he stared at the Salvatore then.

"She made me promise not to." he coughed out as he fought against the Brit's hands.

"But you did. Didn't you?"

Damon grimaced as he tried to dodge the answer, but his throat was only gripped tighter when he did. "Yes! I did!" he hissed, gasping hard when Enzo dropped him abruptly.

"What gives you the right?" he asked him with a cold tone.

"I refuse to let her die." Damon responded, earning a harsh sneer in response. "You should be thanking me."

"Thank you!?"

"Yes! She would've never agreed to it on her own, you know that. I was giving her the possibility of a second chance!"

"You signed her death warrant, Damon!" he growled back, making the vampire flinch shortly. "She was always crystal clear on where she stood about taking our blood. This won't change anything! She will still die - just not as a witch."

"Wait..." the other vampire muttered out as he raised a palm in the air. "Did you hear that?"

They both froze up and turned to the side just in time to watch a hand rip through Clara Duarte's stomach. Her body dropped to the ground immediately, revealing her assailant as he stood covered in blood in her former spot.

"Hello, boys." he grinned towards them, springing Damon's body to action as he recognized the man's face.

He lunged forward and quickly reached for his throat, keeping him from stepping within the ritual's markings. "Don't tell me Julian's gone soft, Troy?" he scoffed as the vampire struggled in his grip. "Sending his lap-dogs like this instead of coming after us himself?"

"He was busy." Troy replied with a dark grin, seemingly unbothered by the turn of events. A sweeping wind passed Damon then, explaining the calm stature of the man. A dark-haired woman managed to snap Enzo's neck in a swoop before quickly heading towards the unconscious witch on the ground.

His hands twisted Troy's neck, dislodging his head from his body. Then turning to block the other vampire from reaching Bonnie. "Sorry, this is a private party." he snickered, earning a dark chuckle from the woman.

"I would say." she sneered back with a shrug. "And I think you've just been uninvited."

She barely finished her sentence before another pair of female vampires appeared from the woods then, slowly surrounding him as he struggled to keep them all in his sight. "Come one, three against one? That's never fair." he whined humorously before picking up a branch by his feet and quickly throwing it towards the woman who had arrived first and impaling her right away.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't done." he sneered towards the remaining vampires with a shrug. "What I meant to say is; It isn't fair - to you."

They were fast to snarl at him before sprinting forward. Luckily, they appeared far younger than the Salvatore and he managed to snap one's neck right before turning to the other and ripping out her heart. Swiftly, he ran to grab the syringes from his bag and kneeled by Bonnie's side in a second. Stabbing the needle into her chest and administering the adrenaline into her system.

He pulled the syringe back and held his breath as he tried to hear her heartbeat. "Come on, Bonnie." he whispered out in a plead as he waited. "Time to wake up, Bon. Come on. We don't have all day!"

She remained still despite his efforts, causing him to feel panic and dread creep into his veins. "Come on..." he murmured and moved to perform chest compressions then. "Don't do this, Bonnie Bennett." he hissed out as he continued giving her CPR. "Wake up, right now!"

A sharp pain suddenly struck his neck then as he felt a needle pierce his skin, the contents burning him from the inside. Vervain.

"We'll take it from here." a voice said as the world slowly turned into a blur and a pair of hands pushed him off. He didn't recognize the man who had attacked him, but he noticed two others stepping over Enzo's limp body and turning to lift Bonnie in their arms.

"Don't touch her." he gritted out as he tried to stand up and pull her back to him, but they kicked at his chest and forced him back to the ground then. "If you hurt her, I will tear you limb from limb and serve your bones to a pride of lions." he warned right, before his eyes lost total focus and everything darkened around him.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline probably should have predicted the aftermath of her words, especially considering the way that Klaus usually reacted when being pushed into a corner. She should have known that he would be livid, that Enzo would agree with him, that even Elijah would try to change her mind...

Quickly voicing her thoughts just as they formed in her head, she hurried to speak before the reality kicked in and the others reacted. "Lucien has this artificial cure stashed away in a secret room. If he were to find me lying somewhere, dying from a werewolf bite…" she began as she ranted on, taking a deep breath and shrugging shortly.

"Well, there's a chance that he chooses to save me. Take me in. And by doing that, I can play the loyal and doting subject under his roof and find out more information about his relationship with Julian. I'll have access to his home, have lots of opportunities to get closer to him and maybe I could even convince him to help us. If not, we'll just get him to do so without him realizing it."

A short second of silence passed before both Klaus and Enzo stood up abruptly from their seats. "Absolutely not." they said in unison, nearly knocking chairs and plates over in their movements as they gaped at her in shock.

"You're fucking crazy, Caroline!" Enzo yelled at her pulling at her arm to make her meet his eyes. "You're going to put your life in his hands!?"

Klaus growled as he met the vampire's glare and pointed over at him in fury. "I have half a mind to compel you to go stand in the sun, lad. You'd do best not to tempt my restraint any further."

"Niklaus." Elijah warned but his voice failed to break through to the hybrid as he went on.

"Perhaps you should be the one to try a hand at this game, hm?" he threatened with a crazy grin and fiery eyes. "At least then I won't have to worry about this continuous migraine of mine which has been ever present from the moment you first opened your mouth!"

"If you think I'm going to let you use her like this then-"

"Enough! Both of you!" Caroline called out, standing to separate them with her hands as they had slowly gotten a little too close to each other by now. "First of all; you're not in charge of me, Enzo." she spat out, rage building in her as his possessiveness turned from friendly to controlling in a split second. "And second; this test-run of his cure is the only way to get back into Lucien's apartment so that we can finally figure out where he's hidden the candle."

"Bloody hell it is." Enzo sneered back and grabbed onto her shoulders with a hard grip as he spoke again. "Are you insane, Caroline!? He's not going to let you inside his home just because he stumbles upon you on the brink of death! You'll simply end up succumbing to the venom and fading into oblivion. How is that supposed to help Bonnie!?"

"Not to mention that I will not be biting anyone, much less you." Klaus laughed coldly. "If anything, I might give Lucien a visit and do a test-run of his little homemade cure myself."

"Don't try and convince me you're not worried about Lucien's plans, Klaus." Caroline pointed out. "I'm not oblivious to what's going on around here. It's obvious that you've been keeping track of him because you don't trust him. Which makes you, all of you, the last people to try and gain any information from him."

Freya winced visibly at her words, urging her to go on as she was clearly hitting the truth. "Unless of course, you could just compel him into telling you everything we need to know? But something tells me that if you could, you would've already done so by now. Which clearly means that you can't get to him. But I can."

"And what makes you so sure this would work? That he wouldn't choose to simply let you die on the street?" Klaus growled as he suddenly came to stand just an inch away, his intimidating eyes drilling into hers.

"I can't know that for sure. But even if there's just the tiniest chance of it working then I have to try!"

"And how would sacrificing yourself ever aid in saving your precious Bonnie? Would she want you to bet on your life this way? Dying in your pursuit of saving her and all over a chance!?" Klaus countered with a wicked grin as he pushed just the right buttons. Knowing her well enough to know which would get her to agree with him. Except she refused to cave.

"Bonnie can't want anything if she's dead." she protested.

"No." Freya gritted out then. "We will not risk the safety of our family based on a little girl's quest in killing herself, Niklaus." she said, making her guests silent for a moment. "Compel her if you have to, but this nonsense stops now."

Caroline raised her eyebrows at him then. "Sure. Go ahead. I dare you."

"He can't." Elijah said, having a creepy habit of always popping up from the shadows. "Isn't that right, brother?"

"Can't or won't?" Freya asked then. Klaus glanced between his siblings without answering. She stared back at the blonde in question then as she stood with a shrug. "Very well, then I will help you meet your end myself." she muttered out before raising a fist in the air. But before she could even open her mouth to start whatever chanting that waited on the tip of her tongue; Klaus had flashed over to his sister and held her throat in a tight grip.

"Don't!" he roared at her, causing the woman to freeze up and gape at him in shock.

Suddenly Elijah had rushed over and twisted Enzo's spine in one swift move. The younger vampire cried out in pain while he fell to the floor, his body bent in all the wrong angles. Before neither he or Caroline could protest, Elijah had moved over and grabbed her arm, forcing her to meet his intimidating eyes.

"Freya is right, Niklaus." he crooned calmly. "I may not need to kill you in order to stop you, Caroline, but I am not above using compulsion to assure your allegiance." he warned her, eliciting a dreadful coldness through her body as she found him even more scary while using her first name.

"Elijah." Klaus gritted out in warning.

"I assume you have been using vervain to shield yourself from us, correct?" he asked, completely ignoring the hybrid's voice. His cold eyes making her gulp harshly as he put a hand to circle her throat.

"Brother." Klaus hissed then, sounding dangerous and menacing as he dropped Freya to the ground. He walked slowly to them as the witch sat up and coughed in pain.

"Don't worry, Niklaus. I won't kill her. I will simply lock her up, drain her body of the vervain in her system and then I shall compel her into leaving Louisiana behind. Perhaps a little time apart will help clear both your minds." Elijah suggested with a dark smirk.

"Elijah, don't." Caroline stuttered out, hearing the cracks in her neck as his grip tightened. "Bonnie-"

"The Bennett-witch is of no concern to me." he announced then, such nonchalance in his voice that she started to shake a little against his hold. "I take no joy in this, Caroline. Believe me when I say that this is merely a necessary evil to keep my family safe. Surely you can understand that?"

"No!" Enzo grunted out, still fighting to place his skeleton back in place as he writhed on the floor. "Don't hurt her!"

Caroline's thoughts ran through her head as she tried to figure out what to say or do in case Klaus couldn't get his brother to back down, but the air was quickly getting thinner and the bones in her throat were breaking one by one.

Suddenly, Elijah's hand dropped her abruptly as he fell to the floor. His face slack and his own neck having been snapped instead. Caroline stared at the hybrid as her neck slowly began to heal itself. But before she had a chance to speak, Klaus had rushed over to Enzo and grabbed onto his arm in rage. "Now, what about you mate? Can you still be compelled?" he asked.

Caroline tried to croak out a protest, but her voice hadn't quite returned yet and only a raspy cough left her.

"No." Enzo managed to get out, making Klaus chuckle.

"Then we'll just have to try Caroline's plan on you instead." His eyes turned, dark veins covered his skin and for a second, Caroline's instincts took control.

She managed to surprise Klaus by swiftly pushing Enzo out of the way just in time. Klaus backed away immediately, dodging her shoulder before he bit her instead. Shortly, she remembered her training with Marcel and lunged towards him. Pushing him to the floor and straddling his stomach in a second. But it didn't last long, in a flash he had taken back the advantage. Taking her by the waist and carrying her away in a wind of movement until they were standing in his bedroom.

Klaus closed the door behind them and turned to her bewildered face quickly. "Do you have a death wish!?" he yelled out as his eyes flickered with darkness.

She flinched at the sight and took a step away from him. "What? No! I wasn't trying to-"

"Oh, I believe you do, love." he snarled back, his voice calmer now but his eyes just as wild. He walked towards her, causing her to continue backing away. "You don't feed. You attack other vampires. You socialize with psychopathic ones who hold centuries over you. You get yourself into constant danger… And you are deliberately trying to get me or my family to kill you."

"That's not–" she began to protest but froze up as she hit the wall behind her. Suddenly having no escape and surprising herself as she quickly turned afraid of him. Her heart was trying to escape out of her chest, her breath got caught in her throat and her eyes closed shut in an attempt to will him away.

"Klaus." she pleaded quietly. "I already wasted so much time… I-I can't give up until I've tried everything. I owe Bonnie that much."

"I can't decide whether that makes you utterly mad or just reckless." he muttered hoarsely before stepping back and turning away from her.

She opened her eyes carefully and watched as his shoulders moved up and down in the slow rhythm of his breath. Clearly trying to calm down despite the insane fury overwhelming him. "Tell me again why you think this plan of yours will work." his voice was so quiet that she wondered if she may have accidentally read his thoughts instead.

But he turned around and looked at her with something different in his eyes that confirmed that he had spoken. Caroline recognized it all too well from her reflection in the mirror: pain. "I still have your blood in my system, I can feel it. I honestly don't think a bite would kill me now." she stammered out and shrugged.

"That isn't a chance I feel obliged to take." he shot back.

She let out a long breath and nodded, understanding his fear. Hell, she shared it herself. But she was actually optimistic of this idea, and she realized she needed to convince him that everything would be alright. Thinking quickly, she looked down at her hand where she wore her daylight ring. The golden band next to it was one she had kept close every day for several years. And as she shortly remembered the strange spell Klaus and Freya had used to see and hear what Lucien was doing, she realized that it could be used to find her as well.

Deciding then to take a chance, she took the ring off and held it up for him to see. "It was my mom's." she explained as she walked towards him, taking his hand and placing the ring inside his palm. "If anything goes wrong, you can find me and give me your blood." she told him, closing his hand over the band and holding onto it with both of hers softly.

He watched her with conflicting eyes, making her sigh shortly as she tried to find the right words to soothe him. To get him to believe in her. "Klaus…" she murmured with the shake of her head. "I can't think of anything else to do at this point, and our time is running out."

His eyes were slightly glossy as he looked down at their hands, making her gulp slightly before speaking again. "Try to understand… I-I am actually admitting to you that I need your help here. Finally. So, help me." she said softly as she took in his pained face. "I am counting on you. I need you to help me get to Lucien. I am asking you to help us find the candle. To save Bonnie… And this is how."

"By hurting you?" he scoffed then, shaking his head slowly as he continued to struggle with himself.

"By trusting me." she insisted, staring up into his eyes with a tiny smile. Trying to figure out what else she could possibly say to explain why she needed to do this. But she came up short and shook her head instead. "I'm asking you, please." she whispered just above her breath, hoping her sincere voice would be enough to prove him how serious she was.

He closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her again. "Where?" he muttered shortly, making her blink a few times in surprise before she understood that he was actually going to do it.

"Wh-where would you usually do it?" she stammered out nervously, starting to feel afraid again as she knew what was coming. "It should look like an attack. More realistic, you know."

His hand stroked her cheek before he brushed the hair back from her shoulder and exposing her neck. "I'm not sure if it'll be enough with just one..." he breathed out with sad eyes.

"Good." she murmured, mostly to convince herself than anything else. "It'll be easier to sell. Wolves travel in packs after all." she chuckled nervously. He didn't smile at her words, instead he looked her over as if both determining where to bite her and checking if he could possibly change her mind about this.

Finally, he took a deep breath and tucked her mother's ring into his pocket. His hands traveling up her arms and holding onto her face. "Are you sure?" he asked her, challenging her resolve yet again. She only nodded in response and urged him silently to continue. Holding her breath as he held her chin and tilted her head to the side slightly. Stretching her neck out and exposing it further as he leaned closer. His lips hovering over her skin and left traces of fire behind.

She waited anxiously for the hurtful bite and stinging venom, but instead received a soft kiss against her jawline. It made her confused, not to mention flustered, as a blush crept over her at the sudden intimacy. He moved a hand to travel across her spine and brushed over one vertebra at the time, slowly pressing upwards her body. And then he bit her shoulder, the distractions clearly having worked since the silent gasp that escaped her was accompanied by a tiny smile. It wasn't as painful as she remembered from those other times. It was actually… pleasant.

The feel of his lips on her skin made her shiver slightly, his scent enveloping her and turning their proximity more intense by the second. Feeding only shortly, he soon let go of her neck and looked up at her with slightly parted lips. Blood tinting his mouth and a wild glow of amber filling his eyes.

He looked marvelous, and it took her breath away. The memory of how she had felt when feeding on his blood the other night popped into her head momentarily. She realized that he must be sensing the effect he had on her, the shift in the air or the intense pull between them. Because she certainly had. She'd tasted it in his blood and felt it against his body. It had coursed through her, creeping into her veins and filling her with desire. And in that moment, she hadn't quite known whether that feeling came from him solely or her as well. She felt a gasp deep in her throat as his hand moved to the back of her neck and grabbed onto her hair with a tug. Forcing her face to tilt up and meet his eyes as they burned through hers. The confirmation was evident then; she had been right. He was feeling it, whatever it was. And that realization only made her want to lean into it more.

Her eyes fluttered closed as his free hand drew lines across her shoulder, near the bite mark and further down her arm. Raising her wrist and lifting it to his lips as he pierced her skin again. Suddenly aching to see him, she looked over and was met with the dark look on his face magnifying before her. She gritted her teeth, balancing between pleasure and pain as he leaned in and slowly kissed her arm and up towards her shoulder. He reached her neck then, scraping his teeth lightly against her sensitive veins. His hot breath hitting her skin and causing hers to get stuck somewhere low in her chest.

He finally bit her again, making her inhale sharply through her teeth and grabbing onto his arms. Digging her fingers into his muscles, she arched her back and pressed against his body. Feeling a strong pull to him suddenly and her mind nearly screaming for them to be closer. He spun her in one swift move, quickly biting into her shoulder-blade and leaving another swift nip to her side. Spreading the venom through her ribs and causing her chest to feel heavier with every breath.

Then he turned her shortly and kneeled by her feet. Her hazy mind had trouble focusing on anything other than the feeling of his hands slowly moving her long skirt higher up her legs. Exposing more of her body as his calloused fingers traced the sides of her calf and brushed past her knee. Sending further shivers through her body as she felt completely captured by his intense eyes. His hand pressed against the back of her thigh, he leaned in and dug into her skin again. This time it felt like lightning coursing through her, and she had to grab onto his shoulders to keep steady. A soft sound from the man filled her with sudden confidence, her hands coming to braid into his hair and fist his shirt tightly against his bicep.

Her head was hazy, and her body felt numb and broken down when his mouth left her skin. She met his eyes for a breathless moment, causing her to nearly lose control of her legs as she studied his ruffled hair and golden gaze. Seeing something on his face that looked like a question and frustrating her to death as she had no idea what the answer was.

"Klaus." she barely breathed out the full name before he stood up and pressed his body against hers. Her back hitting the wall behind her and her leg hooked around his waist, held up by his hand as it gripped her firmly. They shared a sultry glance for a short second before their lips met in a fiery kiss. She had no idea who had leaned in first or how it had been initiated, all she knew was the insane longing that rushed through her entire being then.

Her hands roamed over his back and scratched at his shoulder blades. Suddenly condemning the excess of clothes keeping their bodies apart. He held her tightly to him as she slowly began feeling more and more dizzy, and not necessarily because of the venom circling through her system. She clung to him like a life raft in the ocean, their tongues battling for dominance and making her moan against his mouth. His hips pressed to hers and his hands running over her legs and core. A growl escaping him as she rubbed closer and against the enticing hardness in his pants, making her grin into the kiss with a content sigh. She wanted more and it was driving her insane, making her lose control over her body as it seemed to act fully on its own.

The heat only grew between them and she quickly felt furious with herself for not having given into him sooner. As if having been denied water for ages and finally taking her first sip of it again, having forgotten just how good it was until now. It built a dark and heavy feeling in her chest, blurring her sight. Somewhere along the way, the haze transcended from the lust to the effects of his venom.

She started to feel a numbness spreading over her limbs and turning her body stiff and weak. Her lips were abruptly separated from his as she lost the ground beneath her and sunk into his embrace. She could sense that he moved her as her body turned heavy and detached from her thoughts. The world seemingly blurring away and disappearing altogether. Her limbs shaking and clenching as her mind slowly fell into a deep and dark abyss.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22: We never speak of the darkness

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Fire.

Fire everywhere.

Everything was burning. She was burning.

What had they done to her?

Her veins were torching her insides. She jerked to try and get away, to shake the flames off, only to find that it was out of her control. "No..." she managed to get out and gasped when her body jerked again. She threw her head to the side. "No, put it out..." she pleaded and whimpered.

Suddenly she felt hands moving over her arms, adding even more heat to her body. "No!" she exclaimed and tried to get away from it. From the flames. The hands. "You have to put it out!" she whimpered and felt her tears run down her cheeks. "Put it out, please... Please, put it out. Put it out!"

Somewhere distant she heard a voice call on her but the flames surrounding her were far too distracting. "How did this happen?" she sobbed. "What did I do? What did I do?"

"Caroline."

She flinched; she had definitely heard that. Where was it coming from? There was just darkness and flames all around her... Who else was there? Where were they hiding?

"Caroline."

She realized she was closing her eyes. How long had she been doing that? Immediately she forced them open and saw light. So much bright light. It stung a little and she let out a grunt as she tried to keep her eyes open despite it. Then there was suddenly something blocking her view, blocking the light. A face.

It was too blurry to make out who it was but suddenly a pair of hands tried to cup her cheeks. She twisted out of their reach. "No... No more flames. Please." she sobbed and bit her lip as the tears kept on coming. "I can't… just please. No more..." she begged without knowing who she was really begging.

The hands started brushing away her tears, clearing her view and sharpening her focus as she finally recognized the face before her. "Klaus?" she breathed out with a raspy voice. He smiled at her and held her face with both hands, stroking her cheekbones with his thumbs. "Was it you?" she gasped before stuttering on. "Did you do it? Did... Did you start the fire?"

His eyes studied her for a moment before he shook his head. "There is no fire, love. That is the venom."

"Venom?" she echoed. "I was poisoned?"

At her words, his face fell hard and cold. He withdrew his hands from her abruptly as he turned dark eyes towards her. "No, Caroline." he said slowly, sounding pained by the words as he said them. "You were bitten."

"Did you do this!?" she gasped in pure horror. "You did this. You did this to me…"

"Caroline…" he tried to console her, but she flinched at his touch. "Sweetheart..." he tried again but she jumped back from him, kicking at the sheets underneath her and fighting to put as much distance between them as she possibly could.

"Don't touch me! Stay away from me!" she shouted as he tried to reach for her again.

"Calm down, Caroline. Breathe." he pleaded softly.

Shaking her head profusely as her body wouldn't stop shaking despite her efforts. "No, no! You're going to kill me." she hissed then, covering her face with her trembling hands. Shaking her head and trying to push the world away.

"You're going to kill me... You're going to kill me..." she whispered, rocking back and forth on her heels. "You did this. You did this to me. You tried to kill me. You want to kill me... You're killing me..."

Hands suddenly gripped her wrists, drawing a sharp scream of horror escape her and cut off her rant. But it only took a few seconds before she was transported. She froze up in chock as she widened her eyes at the sight.

There were no more flames. No fire. No heat…

Only mountains.

She stared out over the green landscape before her, stretching as far as she could see. Snowy alpine tops surrounding her as she stood in the middle of an open meadow. Turning around and smiling as she finally felt like she could breathe again. Her skin didn't burn anymore. Her body didn't hurt.

All she could feel was a serene and wonderful peace, filling her with a giggle that bubbled up as she spun in circles with her arms out in the air. She sat down and brushed her hands over the flowers by her feet, a wide grin etched on her face as she took in their smells. Nectar and dandelions and forget-me-nots... It tickled her nose and brought another giggle out of her as she admired the vibrant colors. She had never seen any place like this. And the strong contrast made her wonder…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she looked up to see a man standing in the meadow with her. She recognized him immediately and called out.

"Klaus, look!" she said, gesturing over her surroundings and tilting her head back to revel in the sunlight on her face. She looked back at him with worried eyes. "I think… Is this heaven?" she asked cautiously, earning a sweet smile from the man then.

He chuckled softly, the sound echoing through the landscape and confusing her shortly before she was distracted by him again. "Actually, love. It's Switzerland." he told her as he walked forward.

"Switzerland?" she echoed in bewilderment, wondering momentarily how they had gotten to a different country. And why.

He came to sit down beside her, lying back on the grass and flowers with a relaxed sigh. "It's a small village just north of Bern." he explained, his eyes warm and crystal clear and drawing her closer.

She leaned down on his chest and smiled when he wrapped an arm around her. Stroking her back gently while he spoke again. "Nowadays it is often filled with tourists, and it's not nearly as peaceful as it was when I first came across it." he said, sounding like he was dreaming of it all over again. "But in the summers, there are periods of time when the only people present are the locals. And the air is crisp and fresh, there are faint sounds of birds, deer and even alpine marmots lurking around in the woods. And for just a short moment in time, it feels like…"

He seemed at a loss for words as she looked up to study him. "Like heaven." she finished, earning a sweet grin from him.

"Yes. Like heaven."

She drew circles over his chest as he held her close, the peace filling her once more and making it easier to breathe. "Can we stay here?" she asked, looking up at his thoughtful eyes with a hopeful smile.

"As long as you want, Caroline." he promised softly, hugging her tighter as she nuzzled into his neck and sighed in content. Blissfully unaware that outside of this vision, she rested her head on his lap while he brushed her hair gently. The hybrid beside her had a pair of subtle tears rolling down his face, his eyes focused on her as she shook and convulsed under his hands. Her skin dark and bruised, blood spread over her clothes and her hair sticky with sweat.

But she couldn't feel any of it. For her, there was no pain - only peace. And sunlight and flowers. Her body finally relaxed enough for him to pick her up off the bed, carrying her slowly out of the room and down the stairs of the mansion. Eyes followed them as he walked in silence, his face set in a tormented frown while he cradled the vampire closely in his arms.

Her lips formed a smile as the vision played on behind her closed eyelids. In there, they talked about the mountains, and how pure the air tasted at the top of them. How the world would fade out below the apex, making it look as grand and magnificent as ever. And how trekking to it made your body ache and heart beat violently in your chest. How the view far exceeded the expectations from the climb... And how everything, for a single moment, felt like heaven.

The next time she started to come to again, she felt disoriented and sensed a migraine coming. Her eyes noticed different things surrounding her, one by one. She was outside, sitting up against a wall. Her legs were stiff in front of her, and her upper body felt sore and heavy.

"Please..." she croaked out, her throat scratchy and dry. "Please, don't..." she coughed weakly.

It took a long moment before she remembered what had happened. Her plan… Klaus biting her…

She tried to gather some strength to get off the ground and look for someone but couldn't get her body to listen to her. When she pushed to stand up, her legs and arms gave out and she fell down again. Eventually, she noticed a shadow by her side, someone standing in front of her.

Her eyelids became far too heavy to keep open, and she couldn't focus on who it was. But soon a pair of arms picked her up and threw her over a shoulder. A hand against her lower back and another holding onto the back of her knees as air brushed and blew past her.

She realized they were running. She and whoever had picked her up. And shortly she was happy that someone had come after all. But this time she didn't see the mountains or the field. The peaceful bliss had vanished, and Klaus was no longer there.

Instead, all she felt was the wind passing by her, sharp and painful against her skin. All she heard were strange and muffled sounds, not making any sense to her own mind as she tried to follow them. And immediately after that, she was swallowed by the darkness again.

Present day
The Other Side

The fog was lifting again. She could feel it in the air, a coldness sweeping past her and drawing trails of goosebumps over her arms. Perhaps she would be able to get through to them this time, perhaps she could gather enough strength…

Closing her eyes, she whispered the chant again. The same chant she had murmured to herself every day since that night. Every time the fog began to lift, there was a moment where she could reach past the border. When her body felt lighter and her mind freer, as she escaped her shackles and was absorbed by the magic of the veil.

In that short moment, she was dead again. And he couldn't anchor her to the world anymore.

She opened her eyes as she finished the chant, looking out over the dark horizon in an attempt to find her. Where is she? She thought to herself as the usual place turned out empty. It was the first time that she had moved like this, not physically but mentally. As if she had disappeared far, far away from her own body.

Choosing to adjust her target, she focused on him instead. His dark hair and equally dark eyes, the tilted grin and charming accent. She found him almost right away, his brows were furrowed, and his lips set in a pout. He hadn't been sleeping, and she could tell.

A voice called to him just before a tall, blonde woman joined his side. She could tell the girl was a witch but felt unsure of the strange aura that covered her magic. It looked like something ancient and dark… And it made her try to keep her distance, for now.

The woman told him something before beckoning for him to enter another room. She made sure to follow them, wondering if the woman's magic could be perceptive to her message. Or rather, desperately hoping. Because now would be the time for it.

"Hear me. Hear me. Hear me." she pleaded as she studied the blonde closely. "I need help. Please, hear me."

The witch stiffened, seemingly sensing her presence as she fought to focus on the stranger. "Hear me." she murmured again. "My name is Bonnie Bennett and I need help."

If she was given any further reaction, she couldn't see it. The fog began to rise again, her chest felt warm, and her fingers tingled. Quickly, she was expelled from the vision and the veil closed up before her. Shutting her out as she was forced back into her frozen body.

How long had it been now? she wondered shortly. Possibly a week… or two?

The voices returned from the shadows, informing her that she was stuck again. Imprisoned and alone. A dreadful shiver coursed down her spine as she felt him near her. A constant that was somehow both comforting and unnerving at the same time.

Because he was always there. Always watching her. Always guarding. And continuously keeping her from waking up.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Despite the fact that she had been asleep for so long, Caroline felt absolutely exhausted. Deflated. Like she had been to the gym and tired herself out beyond her physical limitations. Her body felt numb, but her bones hurt. Her skin was hot, but she shivered from a mysterious cold. The thought occurred to her that perhaps she had been beaten down and torn apart or thrown around and pounded on…

After a while she managed to open her eyes and took a few seconds to try and identify her surroundings. She was lying in a bed, her clothes were ripped and bloody, and her body seemed intact… So, where was the blood coming from? Was it someone else's? That's when she remembered what had happened, nearly jumping up in chock as she realized where she was. Lucien's bedroom.

First, she was happily surprised that her plan had actually worked. But she was quickly unamused when she realized that it meant Lucien was there. And that she had a role to play… One which she would need to work hard to keep up.

Her hands massaged her sore shoulders and neck, faint signs of the bites remaining on her body. Making it easy for her to pinpoint exactly where they had been. As if she had gained deep scars from them.

"Good evening, Alice." Lucien suddenly entered the room with a tray in his hands and a grin on his lips.

She stared at him as he put the tray down in her lap and lifted the lid off a plate to reveal a bag of heated blood. Caroline didn't need to fake her eagerness to dig into it, she could barely keep herself from ripping the bag apart as she opened the top and quickly started drinking from it.

Her dry and sore veins reacted to the blood as if it was medicine, it softened her aching muscles and smoothed over her skin. When she finished the bag, she looked up to find Lucien having taken a seat next to her on the bed and studying his guest intently. "Thank you." she croaked out.

He nodded at her then. "Let me know if you need some more."

"Where am I?" she asked instead, looking around the room in feigned confusion. Trying not to make it obvious how she searched for the secret lock that opened the secret room full of secret objects…

"Do you remember what happened to you?" he asked her, making her close her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember what her cover-story was supposed to be.

"I was walking, and these men stopped me and started bothering me." she said. "They attacked me, and I tried to fight back and…" Her hand flew up to her neck as she stared down at herself in fright. "I could've sworn…"

"What, dear?" he asked her, his eyes curious as she pretended to try and put the puzzle pieces together.

"They were werewolves." she breathed out sharply. "They bit me."

"Luckily for you, I heard the whole ordeal and swooped in to save you just in time." he said with a joyful smile.

She shook her head in disbelief, again no need to fake that. Remembering suddenly what he'd told her when he entered the room. "Wait… Did you say evening?"

"Yes, I'm afraid you've been asleep for… Well, it's close to thirty hours now."

Blinking in shock, she stared at him with her mouth opening and closing. Unable to form any words. Finally, she looked down at her arms again and was reminded of the next strange thing about the whole ordeal. "Why am I not healing properly?"

"I didn't manage to feed you any blood until now." he told her, walking up to her bed and picking up the tray. "I'll let you rest some more before we start." he determined as he saw her genuinely confused look.

"Start what?" she asked.

"Getting to know each other." he grinned and exited the room.

She tried to keep her breathing steady, searching for her cell phone and gulping hard when she couldn't find it anywhere. Her eyes caught on her purse in the corner of the room, and she struggled out of bed to reach for it. Slowly, she made her way to sit on the floor and searched inside. She didn't find it there and realized that Lucien must have taken it.

As she pushed the bag away and carefully got back up on her feet, she noticed something else was missing... Her daylight-ring. It was an unpleasant surprise, even if she probably should've assumed that he would take it from her. Perhaps in order to gain some leverage or keep an eye on her… And it only proved that she would need to work hard to gain his trust after all.

The most frustrating part was that her plan had worked, she managed to get inside his home, and she could even start turning him to her side… And despite all of that, she couldn't help but wish that she was back at the mansion instead. With Klaus.

Her lips burned at the thought as she was reminded of their fever-kiss, how her head had spun like crazy due to it… It was possible that it had only been a hallucination, brought on by the venom from his bite. But the tingling on her skin felt too real, too strong, for it to have only been in her imagination. She caught her flushed face in the mirror and shied away from her reflection, feeling her stomach churn with worry and unease. Realizing she probably shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have pushed him so far… She shouldn't have kissed him. But she had, and her having been swept up in the moment was just not enough of an excuse for it.

She brushed her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath, gathering courage and steeling herself for what awaited her now. It was time to start the charade, and she was less than excited about it. Deciding to get it all over with, she took another strengthening breath and went to join Lucien in the living area.

He was busy on the phone, walking around and moving some bags and suitcases into the room. He gave her a wave as he noticed her presence and nodded to a sofa for her to sit in. Carefully she moved to follow his request as her body continued to protest her wishes.

Apparently, the cure wasn't quite as effective as Klaus' blood. Good to know.

Lucien hung up the phone then and dropped it on a table next to him. "Gone a few days and the voicemail is already filled with frustrating messages." he whined and picked up a whiskey glass with what seemed to be blood in it. "Does that ever happen to you, Alice?" he asked as he took a sip and sat down in a chaise opposite her.

"In my experience, that's what happens when you have people who care about you. And who are waiting for you to come back home." she thought aloud as she rubbed her shoulder, wondering if Klaus was trying to reach her as well.

His dark eyes studied her closely, making her more and more anxious by the minute. "Are you still feeling sore, dear?"

She nodded at that. "Yeah. A little. It's weird, but I guess that's what happens when you fight with werewolves…" she murmured in an attempt at humor.

He hummed in reply, turning and spinning his glass absentmindedly. "How much knowledge do you have of them?"

"Not much." she lied, shaking her head slightly. "I didn't even know they existed until, I think, a year ago."

"And you are certain these men were werewolves, nothing else?" he asked, something in his eyes made it clear to her that he was testing his new houseguest.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, yeah. I mean, what else would they be?" she muttered and nodded towards him. "You were there, did you get a good look at them?"

He smiled, showing his satisfaction with her answer. "You are probably right. What else would they be?"

"Um, can I ask you something?" she said as he got up to put his glass away.

"Go ahead, love."

The last word gave her a strong shudder, making her sigh with relief as he had turned his back to her. "Did you take my daylight ring?"

"Ah, yes." he replied and returned with another blood bag in his hand, throwing it to her.

She caught in and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Why?"

He grinned at her shortly before nodding. "I decided to keep it close." he shrugged and leaned back in his seat, gesturing towards her with his hand before explaining himself further. "In case you would start… showing symptoms."

"Symptoms?" she echoed as her hand moved to the faded scar on her arm by reflex. Looking down at the skin and realizing she needed to address the obvious marks on her body. "I was bitten."

"Yes." he told her with a shrug. "Several times actually."

"But how…" she sighed and shook her head. "How am I still alive?"

His eyes showed something alarming in them as he pouted shortly. It left her biting the inside of her cheek as she waited for him to tell her what she already knew. "Truth is, Caroline…" he began, the change in his use of that upsetting nickname of his not bringing her much hope. "Under ordinary circumstances, a werewolf bite is lethal to a vampire. However, your case was anything but ordinary."

"What do you mean?"

He got up and crossed the room then, grabbing a suitcase and opening it up as he spoke on. "If anyone else had found you the other night, you would surely have succumbed to the venom by now." he continued as he picked something up and turned towards her. Holding the familiar vial between his thumb and index finger. "This is the reason for your recovery."

"What is it?" she stammered out, fidgeting with her hands as she tried to keep him from seeing through her poker face.

"It is the cure for a werewolf's bite. The only one of its kind. Without it, you would be dead."

She found his phrasing strange, considering the fact that there was an entirely different cure out there in the world as well. The source of which lived in a manor down by the French Quarter. "So, you gave it to me?" she asked, hoping her voice didn't give anything away as she spoke. "You cured me?"

"I did." he nodded before storing the vial away again. Locking the briefcase and moving to join her on the sofa.

"But why?"

He chuckled shortly at that, shaking his head as he gazed away from her before responding. "I suppose I was feeling generous." he told her with a sad look in his eye.

Deciding not to push his motive further, she gave him a short smile and laid a hand over his knee. "Thank you." she whispered. "Really."

His face softened at her words as his eyes fell on her hand. She was just about to pull it back from him when he gripped her wrist and kept her in place. He turned her arm over slowly, his other hand brushing over the scar left there. She gulped as she tried hard not to flinch at his touch, watching him silently instead as she waited for his next move. He traced a finger across the dents on her skin made from Klaus' teeth, the gesture filling her with guilt for some reason. Like he was stepping over some boundary, breaking some rule... Violating something. But she didn't really know what. All she knew was that she absolutely hated having him touch the scar on her arm, and she wanted him to stop.

"Why isn't it healed yet?" she asked, choosing to try and change his focus.

"I'm not entirely sure, dear." he told her with a shrug, sighing as he finally let go of her then. "The elixir is a fairly new invention. It's possible that the reaction varies, depending on the recipient."

"You made this cure yourself?"

He cleared his throat at that, and swiftly got up from his seat. "I had some help." he told her cryptically before taking a blood bag from the side table and holding it out to her. "Why don't you rest, Alice? Maybe it will accelerate the healing process."

She nodded at that, accepting the blood as she tried hard not to stroke her arm, as if wanting to brush off the feeling of him. "Do you mind if I take a shower?" she asked carefully as he headed for the kitchen area.

"Of course not, love!" he called out to her, turning her stomach at the endearment. "There are towels in the armoire, and you can borrow a change of clothes from the closet."

"Thank you." she called back before hurrying to escape his presence, closing the bedroom door behind her, and leaning towards it as she breathed out deeply.

You can do this. You are Caroline Forbes. Come on, you basically invented the blonde-distraction act! You have gone head-to-head with Original vampires, hybrids, travelers and even Silas. You totally got this!

Her pep-talk wasn't as efficient as she had hoped, and she slumped down to the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. Wishing silently that she hadn't insisted on this stupid plan in the first place. And resenting Klaus a little for letting her go through with it... She grunted in frustration, knowing she had no one else to blame but herself. Fidgeting with her hands slightly, her eyes went to the blood bag that she was apparently still holding. Feeling baffled by how she had managed to forget about it.

Two bags in one day felt like an overindulgence and she decided to put it away for now. Standing up and leaving it on top of the dresser before turning to find some towels. She managed to find a pair of sweatpants and a shirt that wouldn't look all too big on her and put them on the bed. As she turned towards the bathroom, she walked past the dresser and her eye caught the bag of blood shortly. It affected her more than she had expected. Her breathing quickened and her hands shook as she suddenly couldn't think about anything else. In the moment, she didn't care about anything but emptying that bag. Right now.

Her hands ripped into it quickly as she all but inhaled the blood, finishing it off so fast that she found herself scouring the room for more. As she looked back over at the bed, she located a mini fridge underneath the nightstand. She was on her knees and digging into the contents within second. Dropping the empty bag in her hands and immediately moving onto the next one without missing a single beat.

One after one, she sucked them all dry.

When she crumbled up the last bag and threw it away, she took a long breath and felt her face itch with her vampire features. Licking some residue blood off her fingers, she stood up and caught her reflection in the mirror. Standing frozen at the view as she couldn't recognize herself. Not only had her face turned, but it refused to turn back. And along with the red liquid dripping from her lips and smudging her cheeks... She really did look like a monster. And it quickly brought her back to another time when she had seen the same look in her eyes before. The last time she had been bitten.

Gulping hard, she shook her head and stared down at her arm again. The scar was still there, albeit still somewhat faded. Yet, she had to convince herself that she was in fact cured. That she wasn't dying. That she was fine. Totally fine...

Because, shortly, she didn't feel like any of that was true.

The tickling of leaves and grass against his cheek woke him up. It caused him to let out a long breath before stretching his limbs out over the forest floor. There was a pleasant soreness throughout his body, and it brought a warm smile on his face. He listened to the soft sounds of the wind passing through the treetops and reached for the woman by his side, as he suddenly needed to pull her closer and hold her tight. Instead, he felt his smile falter as he only found more leaves in her place.

Opening his eyes then, he squinted against the harsh sunlight and glanced over his surroundings. Where is she?

He felt an excited flutter in his chest as he stood up to try and spot her. "Where did you go, love?" he called out, the playfulness clear in his tone as he thought of her hiding somewhere – waiting for him to come find her.

Just like he always would. Forever.

When no answer came, he only chuckled with amusement and shook his head as he began his search. "Come on, sweetheart. At least give me a hint!"

His voice only echoed through the empty forest, the silence around him growing eerie and strange. But just as he was about to call her name, he noticed a shadow pass by some bushes. The smile returned to his face then as he hurried to catch his running beauty. Flashing past the trees and following the sounds of a light, fluttery giggle from afar.

He stopped by a clearing with large rocks, turning slowly to try and determine which way to head next. "You know I won't leave until I find you." he told her, waiting to hear her laughter in response. "And I will find you. However long it takes."

He saw the blonde hair glowing in the distance and grinned before sprinting towards it. Reaching a deep part of the woods, the sun seemingly fading and his surroundings growing dark. But it didn't matter, because there she was. Her beautiful blue eyes twinkled as she wore a brilliant smile on her fair face.

"I told you I would find you." he crooned as he moved towards her slowly. Her face turned strange as he spoke, the smile disappearing and being replaced by a strained frown. "What's wrong, love?" he asked, reaching out to touch her arm just as she jerked away and glared at him.

"You did this." she said, her voice flat and hoarse and filled with anger.

"Did what?" he stammered with wide eyes.

She looked down at her hands as they pressed against her chest, drawing his attention to it then as blood seeped past her fingers and down her arms. His body froze in horror as he watched her slowly move her hands away and reveal a gaping hole where her heart would be. He rushed towards her as she suddenly slumped down to the ground, her eyes rolling back in her head and her skin turning gray.

"No." he breathed out as he held her body in his arms, trying to hold her intact with the sheer force of his will. "No, no…"

"You did this, Klaus." she whispered to him, her words breaking something deep inside of him. "You ruined me. Just like you ruined her."

Shaking his head violently, he looked over her face and stroked her cheek. "No, no, I would never do this to you." he promised as his eyes stung with tears and his hands began to tremble. Her cold skin became covered with veins as she desiccated before him. Her face set into the accusatory scowl and hard eyes that tore him apart inside. "No!" he yelled out as she became heavy in his hold.

"No, no. I didn't. I swear!" he bellowed in agony as he tried to shake her awake. "Caroline." he whispered, his voice breaking at the sound of her name as she remained lifeless and gray. "Caroline… Caroline!"

Caroline.

The sharp cry that escaped him as he sat up in his bed was most likely loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood. He panted heavily and ran a hand over his sweat-covered forehead as the hollow despair still echoed inside his chest. His body ached as the horrible words echoed in his ears…

"You ruined me. Just like you ruined her."

He rushed up and hurried to his studio, immediately reaching for the hidden drawer behind one of the wooden panels in the furthest wall. It took only a second for him to grab onto the leather sketchpad and the set of coal crayons inside. Flipping through the different pages filled with shadowed motives, hasty sketches and dark faces until he found an empty one.

He sat on the floor as his fingers went to work, quickly sweeping across the paper as he extracted the haunting image from his mind. Soon, he saw her displayed before him again, her skin pale and covered in veins and blood as her eyes glared up at him from the drawing. The look in them dark enough to steal one's soul. His breathing started to slow down as he studied it, brushing a finger over her features as he tried to figure out what he had done to deserve the dreadful expression.

"You ruined me. Just like you ruined her."

Her voice rang in his ears again, causing him to shut his eyes and grit his teeth as he felt his entire body hurt at that. His hands moved on their own accord as he looked down at the pad again, flipping quickly until finding a different nightmare. Her face was still and relaxed, it looked like she was sleeping. Except for the line of blood across her slashed throat. It spoke the gruesome truth. Bringing him shortly back to that horrid night when he'd woken up to find Camille dead beside him. It had been so long since he last thought of it, but now the memory was as clear in his head as ever.

"Just like you ruined her."

The words vibrated through him and turned his blood cold as he pieced the dream together then. Covering his face with his hands as he tried to push the images out of his head. Finding her voice etched to his mind as she lied dead on the forest floor.

"You ruined me. Just like you ruined her."

After a relaxing shower and a short nap, Caroline went to join Lucien in the kitchen. Her hair was still damp, so she dried it quickly with a towel.

"I hope you feel better, Alice." he grinned at her as she put the towel away and leaned against the kitchen island to study him. "Dinner will be served soon."

She recognized what he was making as Louisianan étouffée. "I've always wanted to try this." she said honestly as he directed her to peel the crawfish and shrimp.

"It is one of my favorite dishes." he crooned, smiling as he stirred the base sauce and checked on the boiling rice.

"So, this is what old, British vampires like you do? Cook?"

He chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "Every now and then I come across some free time on my hands, why not use that to learn a new recipe?"

"You have a point there." she snickered softly and hummed as she tasted one of the crawfish tails in the bowl in front of her.

"May I ask something, Alice?" he said, making her nod shortly. "Why were you investigating those murders?"

"Oh…" she drawled before clearing her throat. "Well… Because I think the person who killed those people is someone with connections to a man who's been after me and my friends for the last five, six years." she explained. "He took someone close to me and I was hoping they would help me find out where he's keeping her."

He nodded at that. "What's this man's name?"

She studied him for a long moment and suspected this was his way of admitting to being the person she'd been looking for. While at the same time feigning innocence to the murders in question. "Um… Julian." she replied honestly. "I don't know his last name… Just that he's about four or five hundred years old and that he used to run with a family of witches."

Lucien nodded again before he took the bowl of peeled crawfish and shrimp and added it to the sauce. "Would you open that bottle of wine for us, dear?" he chimed then and pointed to the kitchen island.

She noted the change of subject but decided to play ball for now, pouring the red wine and smelling it lightly. "It's... different."

"Taste it." he told her, making her question his motives shortly. If it was a test on his part, she refused to fail it.

Bringing the glass of wine to her lips, she inhaled the scent deeply before taking a large sip. She pouted slightly and stared at her glass, surprised and confused by the added accent to the rich taste. "Blood?" she asked and looked at Lucien with raised eyebrows.

"Yes." he beamed. "Have you had it before?"

"Not really." she confessed before taking another sip. Closing her eyes as she relished in the mixed notes of oak, cedar, red fruits… Finding that the blood actually worked really well with this particular wine. "If you're not careful I might just end up keeping the rest of the bottle for myself." she half-joked.

He chuckled and shook his head in response. "That's alright. This is all part of my plan to win you over, Alice." he teased and winked at her before taking a sip from his glass.

She bit her lip and shrugged shortly. "Well, the food smells delicious. So, I'd say you're doing a great job so far."

The answer seemed to please him greatly, as he smirked and nodded towards her. "Help me serve this up then, hm?" he asked as he handed her a couple of plates and cutlery.

"Of course." she smiled before turning to prepare the table in the dining room.

He came in and filled their plates before sitting down with his wine in hand. "Go on, I'm dying to hear what you think." he urged her as soon as she grabbed a chair.

She nodded at that, not at all disagreeing with the incredible plate of food before her. Mouth even watering at the sight as she eagerly sampled it. The rice was well cooked, not too watery or mashed. The seafood was seasoned to perfection and tickled all the senses. "Mm, perfect amount of heat." she noted and nodded in delight.

"I'm glad." he crooned. "Oh, before I forget. This is for you." he pushed a little paper bag over to her with a grin before turning to his plate.

Opening it, she spotted a velvet box along with her cellphone. However, it was the box's content that eased her mind the most. "My ring." she breathed out in relief.

"I had it polished up for you."

"Thank you." she smiled softly as she put it on, feeling much better now that she had it back. She checked her phone quickly but unsurprisingly it was out of battery. Deciding to deal with that later, she turned towards him again. "Thank you for everything."

"Of course, Alice. What else are friends for?" he chimed and sipped his wine. His eyes studying her carefully across the table.

"What?" she giggled as she noticed his glance.

"Nothing, dear." he smirked. "I'm just glad I found you before it was too late."

Her smile faded away and a frown formed on her lips. "Yeah." she murmured and lifted her glass to her lips. "Me too."

"Do you have anywhere to rest until you feel fully recovered?"

"Yeah, I'm staying at this place near Frenchmen Street."

He nodded and gave her another smirk. "How long were you planning to stay in New Orleans?"

"Not much longer, my work needs me back in a week or so. Why?"

"I was wondering if you would you consider staying here."

The words made her hand freeze in the air, the fork halfway to her lips. "What?"

"Seeing as you still happen to be experiencing some discomfort… I thought it may be best if you had supervision during the next few days."

"Oh, that's really not necessary…"

"It's no bother, dear." he interjected with a smile. "I wouldn't mind having some company. The least of all such a pleasant one as that of yours."

She tried to think of a fast reply that would get him to drop the subject, but it was clear that he had made up his mind. And changing it would not be an easy task. So, she settled on a compromise instead. "What about this?" she began as she straightened up and looked him over with a determined face. "Tonight, I stay at my hotel, get some rest and change into some clothes of my own… And tomorrow we have dinner and drinks together to catch up."

He pouted shortly, tilting his head to the side as he seemed to think it over. "Counteroffer; you return in the morning for brunch. Say, at eleven?" he chimed. "And perhaps you could help me with a small errand afterwards, it won't take much time."

"What kind of errand?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"I would like to bring attention to your accident the other night." he said nonchalantly. "I have been meaning to discuss the issue of our werewolf population for some time now. And I believe this makes for the perfect opportunity."

"You have a problem with werewolves or something?" she pressed with a scoff. "I thought this city was built on the symbiosis between the different supernatural groups or whatever."

The flashing of surprise on his face made her realize that she may have said too much. That glimpse of her real self for him to see, suddenly a bit too revealing. "Trust me, my dearest Alice." he purred as he leaned forward with a dark grin. "I have my reasons for all I do."

Three years ago
New Orleans, Louisiana

Davina was wakened by the knocking on her front door, her head shot up from the pile of books that had acted as her temporary pillow. She straightened out her rumpled clothes shortly, before deciding it was futile and gave up. Kicking over some journals and notepads off the sofa, she got up and hurried to answer the door. Letting out a tired smile when she was met with her guest.

"Morning, Marcel." she murmured with a raspy voice, her eyes stinging slightly from her lack of sleep the past few weeks. Or years.

"It's four in the afternoon, D." he pointed out as he took her in slowly.

She sighed and pushed off the doorframe then, letting him inside as she walked towards the kitchen. Her mind fully set on filling up on caffeine as her friend glanced around.

"It's been two months." he pointed out as she prepared the pot. "How do you still not have a bed?"

"The couch is more practical."

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Well, I wanted to check on you before-"

"Before you leave, again. I know the drill." she muttered before glancing back at his frown with guilt tugging at her heartstrings. "You always do this, Marcel. You say you're going to stick around, but then you find some super-important reason to leave and disappear for another month or two."

He winced shortly before he looked her over with a shrug. "While on the subject of not doing what we said we'd do..." he began with a shaking head. "This was supposed to be your fresh start, Davina. Moving out of the Quarter, taking classes at Tulane..."

She grabbed a mug and put it down on the counter with a sigh. "What's your point?" she asked but froze up when he grabbed her elbow and forced her to meet his serious eyes.

"Josh tells me you barely ever go outside, you're constantly buried in spell-books and journals instead of the assigned course literature... And now you're apparently planning to go see some coven in Scotland?"

"They are known for keeping close connections with the dead. Something about a magical crystal." she explained shortly before pouring the coffee and sipping on it. "Why? You wanna come with?"

"Davina. We had a deal."

"Don't tell me you're gonna go with the whole 'as long as you live under my roof' bit." she snickered back.

"Well... I did pay for it." he shrugged, earning a roll of her eyes. "I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"Are you?"

She looked down into her mug with a frown, not really sure of the answer. It had been nearly three years and she had still not managed to keep her promise of bringing Kol Mikaelson back from the dead. And it just got more and more hopeless and difficult and heartbreaking with every passing day.

Marcel watched her as she remained silent before squeezing her shoulder. "I have an idea. Maybe you need a side project. You know, something to get your mind off things."

"I don't think so." she scoffed out.

"Hear me out. I know Freya is running on fumes and have no leads left to chase by now. Maybe you could help each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if she manages to find Aya and finally stop this whole prophecy threat once and for all, she'll be free to focus on helping you with Kol."

She mulled it over shortly, feeling hesitant of turning to the Original family. Especially since they all seemed to have turned their backs on their brother ages ago. She had in turn given up on expecting any kind of help from them on the matter. But maybe that could change?

"Fine." she told him finally, catching his relieved sigh before speaking again. "But if Freya refuses to help bring Kol back, I'm out. I don't owe that family anything and I refuse to be used by them over and over again."

"You're right." he agrees grimly with a nod. "You don't owe them anything. But that isn't enough of a reason to refuse help to someone in need."

She scoffed at that and shook her head, hating him for knowing her so well. For being an expert on changing her mind... "I'll help her." she concluded softly then, earning a smile from him. "No strings attached."

The young hybrid found Lucien at the same construction site which he had spent all week at. He was ordering the crew around when he noticed her and flashed that creepy grin her way. "Good morning, Hayley." he crooned cheekily before picking up a tablet and looking over some documents on it.

She decided to get to her point right away, not at all appreciating the easy attitude of the man currently tearing his way through the Bayou. "What's this I'm hearing about you going forward with the demolition plans?"

"Well, there happens to be loads of profitable opportunities on the land." he shrugged. "I would be a fool not to invest in it before anyone else does."

"I thought I told you to put this to rest." she pointed out firmly, glaring at him until he finally met her eyes.

He sighed before shrugging again. "I decided to pick it back up."

"You know that land is the only safe haven for my werewolves during the full moon."

"I thought they were all gifted with your little self-control trick now?" he snickered nonchalantly. "What does it matter to them what happens with their little changing spot if the needn't change anymore?"

"The new additions don't have access to the same powers yet, Lucien." she interjected. "The pack is growing, and you are getting in the way."

"I am creating over ten million dollars' worth of real estate, sweetheart. If anything, I am solving the housing crisis and creating hundreds of jobs." he sighed before giving her a determined nod. "Surely, your wolves can appreciate the various new options for a roof over their heads. Or you know, tarp."

Her hand found his throat on pure instinct and gripped it tight. "I don't know what your problem is with the pack and frankly, I don't care. Just stay away from the Bayou or I will bury you under those pretty little condos you're so eager to build."

He grinned at her and wrapped his hand around her wrist, carefully pushing her away. "Don't embarrass yourself, dear. You may be half wolf, but you are still a half-breed. And therefore, no threat to me."

She smiled back shortly before snapping his neck in a swift move, sighing with relief as his body hit the ground by her feet. "Much better." she crooned to herself.

"You were supposed to have a civilized and proper discussion with him." a voice snickered behind her, turning her face into a bright grin as she spun around to face him.

Elijah Mikaelson, looking as polished and flawless as ever. He was dressed in his usual attire, an expensive dark suit to match his sculpted features. His hand in his pocket and a tiny smile on his lips.

Her stomach always flipping at the sight, she felt an added reaction to him now that they had been apart for so long. "Yeah?" she teased, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked towards him slowly. "You mean that wasn't civilized? I thought for sure that I showed the appropriate level of restraint."

He smirked at her as he stepped forward and reached for her face, stroking her cheek softly as his dark eyes took her in. His touch sent tiny shivers across her skin and made her lean closer into him. "My brother proves to be a terrible influence on you." he teased as she chuckled shortly.

"Well, that's what happens when you leave for months at a time." she pointed out as she looked up at him with a daring grin. "My only other source for socializing is a toddler whose current phase is one where she does the exact opposite to whatever I tell her."

"I suppose I will need to bring you along next time then." he shrugged. "Leave Niklaus to care for that little hellraiser of yours on his own."

"Or…" she drawled before standing on her toes and holding onto his collar. Leaning in and kissing him deeply. "We could take some time away on our own." she whispered against his lips.

"What do you suggest?" he murmured as he moved his hand to braid in her hair and keep her face tilted towards his. "A vacation?" he whispered before kissing her back and holding her close to his body, making her see stars when he pulled away. "Or honeymoon?"

She beamed up at him and wrapped her arms around her neck. "Elijah Mikaelson, is that a proposal?" she snickered and nipped at his lips playfully. "Didn't we have an agreement?"

"Ah, yes." he grimaced and raised a brow while nodding towards the unconscious vampire still on the ground. "And since you have already displayed the fashion in which you act towards a breaking of such…" he sighed and backed away from her then, shrugging as he created space between them. "I wouldn't dare attempt to challenge your restraint."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she bit back a chuckle and pressed her hands to her hips. "I never pegged you for a coward."

He chuckled at that and winked over at her. "Rather a conscious coward than a spineless corpse." he retorted, turning away from her then.

She lunged forward and spun him, jumping into his arms and circling her legs around his waist. "I missed you." she said softly as he moved them towards a nearby tree, pressing her against it while his eyes raked over her face.

"Does that mean you will consider my proposal?" he crooned, earning a deep sigh and groan from her as she tilted her head back in frustration.

"Fine, I accept your terms." she responded then, smiling to herself as his lips moved across her jaw. "But I expect a renegotiation at your earliest convenience."

"Excellent." he concluded before leaning down and kissing her vigorously. She responded to his lips and raked her fingers through his hair, grinning inwardly as she imagined him becoming beautifully disheveled in result.

A throat clearing nearby caused them to break apart. They turned to the source of the noise as he carefully dropped her on her feet again but kept his arms around her waist. She groaned silently as she met Klaus' mocking smirk. "What will Freya think of this being the reason for your tardiness, brother?" he asked while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Certain things are simply worth our sister's wrath." he shrugged before leaving a soft kiss on Hayley's head and taking her hand in his.

"Does this mean you've popped the question, then?" the hybrid teased on, earning an eyeroll from her.

"You really need to get a life, Klaus. Instead of living vicariously through others." she snickered as they walked together towards him, Elijah subtlety fixing his ruffled hair with his free hand as she smiled at him softly.

"Why the aggression, little wolf? I simply aim to share in your joyous pre-wedding bliss." the Original hybrid retorted with a wink. "Now, let's go before our sister decides to punish us all for missing supper."

She shook her head as he turned to walk ahead of them, her lips returning to a grin as Elijah raised her hand and kissed it tenderly. "Oh, and just so you know…" she drawled cheekily. "I may not care about the ring, the wedding or the rest of it. But I definitely will hold you to your promise of a honeymoon."

He smiled at her and chuckled softly. "Anything for you, beautiful." he promised as they left for the manor with equally glowing smirks on their faces.

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Several bottles of wine later – and meaningless conversations in attempts to get Lucien on her side – Caroline finally managed to slip out and leave for her hotel. Her head somewhat dizzy, having attempted to fake her drinking with the goal of keeping her poker face intact. But she had discovered that Lucien wasn't very easily fooled, and as it turns out, he was quite persuasive when he wanted to be too.

He had shared stories of his travels over the years, she in turn told him of her job in Chicago and the different celebrities she had met during the different shows. But when she succeeded to convince him that she needed her rest, and solitude, the weight of it all began to hit her hard. And all she wanted was to close her eyes, wrap herself in her duvet and just be. No more charades, lies, poker faces, pageant smiles…

She reached her hotel in about twenty minutes and rushed up to her room, impatient to finally let her walls down. Closing her eyes and whispering a 'thank god' to herself as she unlocked her door. As soon as she entered the room, strong arms quickly wrapped around her in the blink of an eye. Pushing her against the door and closing it shut. She gasped at the sudden movement, the room spinning slightly due to the amount of wine she'd had throughout the night.

Then her eyes focused on her 'attacker' and her heart fluttered wildly in her chest at the sight. He was gorgeous even in the dark, his green eyes studying her intently with his full lips parted. His scent and warmth so comforting and exciting at the same time.

"Hi." she whispered and held his face in her hands, brushing her nails over his stubble and pressing her thumbs against the small dents on his cheeks where his dimples would be.

He exhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a moment while resting his forehead against hers. "Hello, love." he murmured softly with a genuine smile, bringing out the dimples then.

She felt the intense urge to just hold onto him tightly and never let go, but the thought was quickly squashed as she started feeling weird about their intimate proximity. Clearing her throat as she carefully slipped out of his embrace. "I-I didn't expect to find you here."

"Nor I you." he replied, his eyes glancing over the distance she had abruptly put between them.

She raised her eyebrows at that. "Then what exactly are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

He smirked and shook his head slightly before looking back up at her. "I missed you."

The words, the tone and that stupidly sweet look on his face was starting to tear her apart. She snickered and ran a hand through her hair. "And uhm… How did you get in?"

"The balcony." he replied with a shrug, looking as innocent as could be.

She sighed and glanced over her shoulder to look at the glass doors across the room. They stood ajar, letting the wind sneak its way inside, but it seemed highly unlikely that she had left them that way. She decided not to call him out on the lie, because truth be told she was glad to find him there.

Turning to him again, she saw him nearing her carefully. His gaze seemingly scanning her for injuries, and his frown telling her that he found the scars she had hoped to cover up. "You haven't healed yet." he stated with sadness in his voice, making her sigh again as he closed the distance between them and brushed her hair back. Revealing more paled bruises, his fingers traveled over her neck and examined them slowly.

"Yeah, I think Lucien's cure comes with some side-effects... The scars are one thing, but I'm also really tired. And hungry. I had like ten blood-bags and I still want to rip someone apart." she explained quietly. "I guess I'm not doing as well as I had thought." she added with a sigh, regretting her words when she saw his painful expression. "Don't look at me like that, Klaus." she pleaded.

He held onto the back of her head and pushed her forehead against his, closing his eyes as he breathed deeply. "Please, do not ever ask me to do that again." he whispered hoarsely.

"Bite me?" she guessed as she looked up into his sad eyes.

"Leave you hurt and alone." he corrected.

She swallowed hard and nodded lightly, feeling like it was something she could surely get behind. His hand massaged her neck as she took a deep breath, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the silence between them. Finally feeling relaxed, and safe.

"Does he expect you back?" he asked under his breath, seeming just as afraid of breaking the moment as she was.

"Tomorrow." she replied with a short nod, frowning as she found herself pulling away from him and crossing her arms over her chest. Reality becoming just too hard to ignore after all. "He wants me to help with something. I don't know what exactly, he was very vague about the details."

"I should let you sleep, then." he said with a short smile and glanced over at the door before nodding towards her again. "You will need your strength."

She chewed on her lower-lip as he begun to turn away, a panic rising in her chest and taking her over. "Klaus, wait." she called out, stopping him and causing him to look at her with a confused face. "Would… Uhm, would you stay?" she asked, fidgeting with her hands nervously as she heard how weak and pathetic she sounded.

"I mean you don't have to. You can go, I don't know what I was thinking." she stammered on with an anxious chuckle and shook her head. "I just… I don't really want to be alone right now."

Slowly meeting his gaze, worried of how he would react, she instead was surprised to see him smiling warmly at her. "Of course, I'll stay." he said, looking like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Seriously, you really don't have to..." she stuttered out but stopped when he reached for her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.