248I'm back with another chapter. I'm sure there are mistakes. I apologize in advance. I have a lot coming on in RL and its making my head a chaotic place. Anyway, happy reading.
[WARNING FOR SMUT] Feel free to skip it if you want.
Caroline woke up to the feel of a hand rubbing circles into her baby bump.
Her eyes fluttered open.
Her hand covered his. "Hi."
Klaus leaned down and kissed her slowly. "Love."
Klaus deepened the kiss, his desire for more apparent as he moved to cover her body with his hold.
Caroline held a hand to his chest to hold him off. "We need to talk."
"That's never good." Klaus shifted back, sitting up to lean back against the bed.
Caroline followed suit, turning around to face him.
She was still naked and held the sheet up against her body.
"It's not about us. It's about the twins and what happened before you got there." Caroline scooted closer, taking his hand.
Klaus gripped her hand back, sitting up straighter. She had his full attention.
"Exchanging me wasn't just about hurting you. It was about the twins. The prophecy Celeste told us about the twins. One being the witches salvation and the other being their destruction. The witches believe it. They believe it so much, they weren't willing to risk the destruction of their coven. Genevieve was going to inject something inside me to kill one of them. Use magic to determine the one that was their destruction and kill it." Caroline couldn't stop the way her voice shook. "They were going to keep me until I gave birth to the other one and then rip our child away and raise it as their weapon."
Klaus tense, his jaw clenching. He would never allow it, but he didn't think that was what Caroline needed to hear right now. She wasn't done.
"When Genevieve was going to inject me with something. I have never felt such fear. All I could think about," her hands wrapped around her stomach, "Was protecting them. It was something primal. And I can't explain it, but this burst of magic shot out of me and protected us."
"That's what you meant when you said you used magic and what the witch meant when she bargained to teach you to control it," said Klaus.
Caroline nodded, reaching for him again. "I think so."
Klaus grasped her by the hips, hauling her into his lap. "Clearly, in all my years, I've never dealt with something like this, but whatever it is, we'll face it. I won't let anything happen to you or our children."
"Promise me, you will put them first above everything?" Caroline demanded.
"I will. I will always put you and our family first." Klaus swore. He swept her hair back and leaned his forehead against her. "You are the best thing to happen to me, and I refuse to let anything stand in the way of me being with you."
"What if it happens again?" Caroline wondered.
"Then we'll learn to control it. Look, I know your instinct is to worry, but there is nothing you can't do if you set your mind to it."
Caroline smiled. "So, what you're saying is I've got this."
"Exactly."
"I love the belief you have in me,"
Love.
The word echoed through him and he kissed her deeply, letting an emotion he once claimed not to feel wash over him.
Cami didn't want to ask Klaus for help, but she didn't know what else to do.
She walked into the compound. There were men and women walking about, but no one she recognized.
"Can we help you?" A blonde guy with spiky hair asked.
"I'm looking for Klaus," she answered.
"He's busy," the man answered.
"Well, make him un-busy." Cami insisted. "This is important."
The man looked her over. "I don't think it will be to him."
"I'm a friend," Cami insisted. "Look, he'll want to help me. Just tell him Cami needs his help."
"And as I told you, he's preoccupied with someone he deems more important."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Cami demanded.
"It means unless your name is Caroline Forbes, who he is with right now, he will not drop everything to help you out of the goodness of his black heart."
"Zach, I can take it from here."
Cami turned to see a man with brown hair and a strong jawline and green eyes. There was something serious about him.
"Hi, I'm Stefan." he extended his hand.
"Cami," she shook his hand. "I don't want to be rude, but I really need to speak to Klaus."
"I don't think there is anything that is going to pull him away from Caroline right now. It's been a rough couple of days, but maybe I can help."
Cami's eyes narrowed. "Are you a vampire?"
"Yes."
"An old one?" she pressed.
"Over a hundred."
"Are you familiar with witches?"
"I've had my fair share of experiences with them."
Cami sighed, giving up. "I need help with my uncle. A witch cursed him. I need to find a cure or he's going to die in the same way my brother did."
Stefan frowned and took her by the arm. "Explain everything to me, and I'll do my best to help save his life."
Cami wasn't sure if anyone but Klaus could help her, but if Stefan could, she would be forever grateful.
Caroline and Klaus laid together after, limbs tangled, Caroline resting over his chest, his hands smoothing down her side, caressing her skin, like he was mapping out her curves.
"Do you want to talk about it? About Rebekah? She's been avoiding you since we got back." Caroline finger's traces the tattoos on his skin.
"I don't want to talk about my sister when we're both naked in my bed," he said, his hand moving to her thigh.
"I need more time to recover and I will not let you distract me," Caroline cupped his face, bringing his eyes to hers. "Talk to me."
"She's only still here because of you. I hate her," he said, his voice shaking.
"No, you don't. You love her and you're hurt." Caroline said, seeing the pain in his eyes. "What she did, hurt you."
"She has done what no one else has managed to do to me for 1,000 years…" said Klaus pained. "Rip my heart out."
Caroline's fingers flexed against his heart as if she could protect it by covering it with her hands.
"I'd let my guard down and given in to happiness. I was a fool." Klaus said, after explaining how back then he had finally given Rebekah and Marcel his blessing.
Caroline wanted to understand what led to the events that transpired to Rebekah's betrayal and had led to an even more fractured family.
"You were not a fool. You thought you were finally free to live without fear." Caroline disagreed.
Klaus sits up in bed and Caroline follows, turning to face him, not caring that the sheet fell to her waist.
"Turns out, they'd already betrayed me, and brought to town the one thing I'd been running from for centuries...My father." Klaus said.
They talked about this once before, but Caroline wanted Klaus to get it off his chest before it festered.
"She sided with Mikael," said Caroline. "That was her choice, and it was the wrong one."
"Yes," Klaus grabbed her by the hips, pulling her into his lap, wanting her closer.
"But you were wrong to believe you had a say in who she loves." Caroline continued.
Klaus huffed and lay back down. "I was protecting her."
"Maybe that's how you saw it," Caroline argued.
"What's done is done," said Klaus, not wanting to talk about it anymore.
Caroline could only imagine the need for revenge that had to be coursing through him and yet he was here with her, talking about things he wished to never speak of again. He had listened to her.
She mattered more to him than the need to exact vengeance. Her well being would always come first. She loved him a little more for that.
"Thank you for choosing me,"
Klaus lifted her wrist to his mouth, lips skimming across her skin. "I will always choose you."
"I thought he would chase Marcel and I until he found us, until he acted out whatever revenge fantasy was in his head." said Rebekah to Stefan.
"Caroline was more important to him."
"And now?" asked Rebekah. "He's set me free, he's not daggering me. He's not chasing me. He doesn't want me here. He's made that clear. He's ignoring me. His silence is somehow more terrifying than his raging."
"You can't change the past. You can only try to explain your side," Stefan reasoned.
"How do I do that when it's a choice I never should have made?" Rebekah questioned, regretful. "What else is there to say?"
Stefan knew he should help Cami, like he said he would, but he got distracted when he met up with Rebekah.
Monique lies on the ground in the tunnel surrounded by candles chanting in French Creole. At the sound of approaching footsteps, she stops. "When order is restored, your kind won't be allowed in here."
"Well, fortunately, that day has not yet come." Elijah replies. "I need to find Sabine."
Monique sits up, scoffs. "And you thought I'd help you?" she stands up and faces him. "Sabine is one of us, committed to the rise of the witches."
"The only thing Sabine is committed to is the destruction of my family." Elijah declared.
"And that would be a bad thing why?" asked Monique.
"Like your mother, my mother was also a witch, a very powerful witch." Elijah told her. "In fact, because of my family, her power now flows through your veins. Now, once Sabine manipulates those around her, she will do what she has always done. She will jump into another body and disappear, leaving your witches powerless."
"No. She has the faith. She will see our power restored." said Monique.
"There's a way of guaranteeing this. I'll also secure the safety of yourself and your kind. Here." He hands her a spell. "This is from my mother's grimoire. Celeste used a similar spell to body jump. If what Sabine says is true, when she sacrifices herself, all of her power will flow back into the earth. However, if she has lied and tries to take another body, this spell will deliver her to a very different destination. Now, please locate Sabine."
Rebekah, Stefan and Marcel meet with Thierry.
"Papa Tunde is dead. That leaves Sabine, Bastianna, and Genevieve." Rebekah listed off.
"We want to kill them all," Marcel told Thierry.
Thierry pours himself and Marcel a drink.
"Look. We have one shot at this, and I know our chances of success are sweet bugger all, but we've got to do it. So please, Help us." Rebekah pleaded.
"Not many go up against those odds and live to tell the story. Have you?" he hands Marcel a drink.
"I'm still standing here, aren't I?" asked Marcel. "I've gone up against the worst of them all."
"Furthermore, they're a threat to every vampire in the Quarter." Stefan argued. "We have to protect it."
Caroline tipped her head back as Klaus's lips skimmed down her neck, his hands running across her body.
"You can't use sex to run away from your anger forever."
"If I stop, I just might rethink my decision not to kill my sister." Klaus growled.
Caroline pushed him onto his back and quickly straddled him.
"I don't think you will because at the end of the day, she is still your sister, and she has stood by you more than anyone. Even Elijah."
"Are you defending her?" his hands tightened on her hips.
Caroline shook her head. "Not even slightly, but I know how love can stop you from acting out revenge fantasies. You listen to me about not killing her."
"I can't do nothing," Klaus sat up, bringing their chests flushed. "When I see her, all I want to do is rip her heart out like she did mine."
"And I'm not saying don't do nothing, but maybe you shouldn't just write her off. I don't know, think about how you could make her repent or something. At least weigh your options."
Klaus regarded her. "Go on,"
Caroline ran her fingers through his curls. "There are plenty of ways to avenge betrayal without killing someone… or ripping out their hearts."
Klaus' hands caressed Caroline's skin as he listened to her words, letting them run through his mind.
He could always just make Rebekah's life a living hell, but he didn't think that was where Caroline was going with this.
"Opera? Really?" asked Caroline. She curled into Klaus's side, his hands caressing her side.
"I always had a particular soft spot for Le Grand Guignol. I like the story. It was a," Klaus rolled Caroline beneath him. "tale of forbidden love, a "Romeo and Juliet" of sorts. On the day they are to marry, family and long-festering hatred intervene. Thousands are massacred. A father even kills his own child in the final act. I can almost appreciate the irony."
How Caroline got him to talk about the night Mikael showed up, he wasn't sure, he just knew he would do anything she wanted.
The power she held over him was beyond measure.
Sabine sits in a chair, her hands now tied together, but she has managed to mix together some herbs into a mason jar. "Here." Davina takes the jar from Sabine. "It's herbs ground into paste. It'll act as a conduit for the spell. On the next full moon, the Crescent Wolves become human. Feed it to them. The curse will be broken."
"Great way to poison them all at once," said Davina.
"Look. I know you have no reason to trust me, but Davina, I only wanted to free everyone from the control of the Mikaelsons, you included," Sabine told her. "The Mikaelson's only care about themselves. Caroline is one of them now. I see how you're loyal to her. It's a mistake. I was you, caring for Elijah when he cared more for his brother, and I ended up dead. So did a lot of others. This, call it a chance for me to give you what I was too in love to give myself. It's a chance to free yourself from The Originals."
"You believe her?" asked Eve, a wolf growls behind her.
"Whatever she's promised you, it's a lie." Elijah appears in the doorway.
"Elijah, it's okay," said Davina. "I know what I'm doing."
"She cannot be trusted." Elijah told her.
"She's the only one that can help the Crescent pack." Davina insisted. "This is what Caroline wants."
"Do you have any idea what she has done to my family?" asked Elijah.
"I know you want revenge, and come the next full moon. When I'm sure her cure works, she's all yours." Davina told him.
"Are you suggesting that we hold her, her, captive for an entire month?" asked Elijah. "It would take an army."
"And we've got one," said Davina, the wolves howl. "So help me or get out of my way. I promised Caroline I would help her free the wolves and I intend to keep that promise."
Elijah pauses only for a moment and then, at vampire speed, he grabs Sabine and the jar from Davina. She gasps as he and Sabine disappear. Elijah has gotten far enough away from Davina where he and Sabine are alone now in the bayou; he throws her up against a tree; she grunts as he holds the jar of herbs.
"You tricked her," he accused.
"It's no trick." Sabine told him. "You're holding the cure for the Crescent clan in your hand. If the wolves take that elixir, the curse is no more. They're free."
"You condemned the Crescents to decades of agony, and now you just break the curse without so much as a whimper. Why?" he questioned.
"Because it's the best thing I could do for the Quarter. If the witches can't win the war that is brewing, the wolves will. Are better yet, your family will tear itself apart."
"What are you saying?" asked Elijah.
"That, no matter what happens now, you lose," Sabine answered. "If you smash that jar, you kill me. The wolves will despise you for stealing their freedom and they'll attack all of you. But if you hand over the jar, they'll follow Caroline, but she's just a baby vampire. A war she shouldn't have been part of will kill her. It'll destroy Klaus, he'll become the monster we all know him to be, and you'll fail to save him in ways you couldn't have imagined. Then I'll get my revenge. So, you decide. Give the wolves everything they ever wanted and lose them or deny it. See what happens then. Either way, I win."
Thierry sits down with Bastianna and Genevieve at the docks.
"Where's the third one, Sabine?" He questioned. "I asked to meet with all three of you."
"Our meeting you at all is a courtesy for your being a friend to witches in the past, but courtesy has its limits." Genevieve responded. "Now, you said you had information of interest to us."
"Rebekah is back. She and Marcel are free. They believe you are a danger to Davina and Caroline's unborn children. They believe if they kill all three of you, they'll be safe," he informed them. The two witches smile at one another, amused. "Now look. I can lead you straight to them, but there's something I want in return."
"And what's that?" asked Bastiana.
Thierry stands up. "Your life."
He vamps out, baring his teeth at the witches and lunging towards them. Before he can attack, Bastiana uses magic to give him an aneurysm, and he falls to the ground, unconscious. Marcel vamp speeds into the room and slams Bastiana's head against the table. Rebekah follows in behind him and throws Genevieve against the wall. Marcel easily rips Bastiana's head from her body, but as Rebekah attempts to kill Genevieve, she chants at her and gives her an aneurysm as well. Rebekah grabs her head and screams in pain. Stefan appears coming to Rebekah's defense and attempts to attack, but Genevieve stops him by chanting a spell that lights his jacket on fire.
"Follow me, and I'll turn you three into ash," said Genevieve and leaves.
The fire on Stefan's jacket goes out.
Rebekah attempts to follow, but Marcel stops her. "Forget her. We'll get her later."
"As long as she is alive, she is a danger to my family." Rebekah told him. "And Davina."
"I already failed Davina once and Caroline had to save her.." said Marcel. "I won't fail her again."
Klaus is pouring himself a drink.
"That's not gonna help," Caroline walked into the room.
"It might," Klaus countered, grabbing a second glass, biting into his wrist. He filled it with his blood and held it out to her.
Caroline accepted it, taking a slow drink, savoring the taste of his blood. She had quite the craving for it these days. Something Klaus enjoyed. There was something carnal knowing she craved not only him, but his blood as well.
"Drinking and self-pity will fix nothing." Caroline argued. "If Elijah had his way, you be in a vervain coma right now. He's worried about what you're going to do."
"I don't want to talk about Elijah," Klaus told her.
"He's not my favorite topic of discussion either, but he can be more reasonable and he loves you." Caroline said.
"Yes." Klaus agrees. "He does, and he proves it time and again, even when my father enlisted him to kill me."
Elijah's Room, 1919
Elijah is getting ready for the opera. He stands in front of the mirror but turns at the sound of footsteps entering the room. He is absolutely dumbfounded by the one that stands before him.
"" Le Grand Guignol." Saw it in Venice, marvelous production." Mikael praised.
"You-"
"It's all right, son." Mikael cut Elijah off. "I just want to talk."
"You mercilessly hunt us for centuries. You laid waste to half of Europe. Now you simply wish to talk?" asked Elijah.
"It was your bastard brother I hunted, not you, never you." Mikael corrected. "You're my blood, one that I'd be proud to call son. So I came here to give you a chance to help me put down that whelp for good."
Elijah attacks his father in a rage, slamming him against the wall. Mikael throws Elijah across the room. He slams into the opposite wall, wood splinters come crashing down around him as he falls to the floor.
"Do you really not know me?" Elijah gets to his feet. "Do you think I could or would believe in anything that you say? If you honestly believe that I would betray my own brother for you, you're a fool without equal."
"I'll forgive you your sentimental affections for the thing you call brother, but you need to realize, as I did when I learned his mother had lain with a beast to beget him, that Niklaus is an abomination." Mikael responded. "You do not talk to abominations. You do not reason with them or try to change them. You erase them. So, yes, I am asking you to help me kill your brother."
Present Day
"You keep saying kill, but you're immortal. No one can kill you," said Caroline. "Unless, did Mikael have white oak back then?"
"He did. He was the only one with the means to do it." Klaus replied. "A white oak stake fashioned by my father to take from us the very thing he forced upon us all. Our immortality."
Elijah's Room, 1919
Mikael takes out the White Oak Stake; Elijah attacks his father again. Mikael slams Elijah up against the wall and pushes the stake toward Elijah, who desperately uses all his strength to fight him off.
"Stand with me or fall with him." Mikael said, giving him an ultimatum. "Choose, son."
Elijah throws Mikael off of him. "I will ALWAYS...Choose him!"
"Fine." At vampire speed, Mikael grabs a wooden splinter and stabs Elijah in the heart with it.
Present Day
"Elijah has always carried guilt for that night for not stopping our father. I told him not to blame himself. When your father wants to kill you, he wants to kill you, nothing you can do about it," said Klaus, but the more he recalled, the angrier he got at his family's betrayal. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"How did you get your hands on Alaric's white oak stake?" Caroline recalled it had been indestructible.
Klaus takes her glass from her, setting it down, grabbing her hand and pulling her into him. "I have my ways."
He leaned down to capture her mouth in a heated kiss.
Caroline was very aware he had many ways for different things.
She forgot all about her questions about the white oak and focused on the feel of his touch and lips.
Since telling him of her true feelings, she felt insatiable. For him. She was pleased that it was mutual.
"Why did you not want me to kill Rebekah?" Klaus questioned, sitting in his chair with Caroline straddling his lap. "She has betrayed not only me, but you as well."
"And that was her mistake, ones I won't repeat. Tell me, do you want to be just like her? Make the same mistakes or do you want to be better? I know you have done terrible things and I know there is good in you, but if you change your mind about not killing her, are you truly capable of killing Rebekah with your own hands and surviving it?"
Klaus didn't want to hear any of this. He didn't want to think of later, he could only think of the past and now. "I'll tell you what, I almost didn't survive, love...My sister bringing the most vile creature ever to have walked the earth down upon me." Klaus told her.
"Yes, your father, but by killing Rebekah and Marcel, someone who is like a son to you, and terrorizing them the way you yourself were terrorized." Don't let them win. Not now and not later. Don't let Rebekah or Marcel win. And certainly not Mikael. Do not become someone you are not." Caroline argued. "Someone you hate."
"I am a monster, yes, but I could never be my father," said Klaus, jerking back from her words. "Mikael was the monster monsters were afraid of. And I am not him."
Caroline smiled softly, moving to cup his jaw, nails scratching through his stubble. "I know."
Elijah returned Sabine to Davina in the Bayou. She was waiting, sitting in a chair a witch book in hand. Sabine, she is alone with the exception of Dwayne, Zach and Jackson.
"You brought her back," said Davina.
"I did." Elijah told her. "Take it. It will work."
"Eve and I will round up as many of the wolves as we can. Come full moon, I can finally free the Crescent wolves."
"HI wonder if they have any idea how lucky they are to have Caroline and you, fighting for them, for their freedom." Elijah told her.
Davina grinned and leaves with the wolves, Jackson being the only one in wolf form.
"Mmm. That was touching, so trusting," said Sabine. "The Elijah I knew was never so soft."
"Well, the Celeste I knew was never so cruel. What is it you want? What's your end game?" Elijah questioned.
"Oh, this game never ends, Elijah." she replied. "We're both immortal, you know."
"Then what's the point if you can't possibly win?" asked Elijah.
Sabine smirks. "But, I have. You are going to lose everything to the wolves because you were so desperate to save your family. And now, your family lies in ruins."
"My family, despite all that you have done, will heal in time." Said Elijah.
"If you had the time, maybe, but you really think Rebekah ran far and fast from here?" asked Sabine. "I bet she didn't."
"She didn't have to," said Elijah.
"What?"
"You underestimate Caroline," Elijah accused.
"Not even Caroline has that kind of influence over your brother's actions." Sabine said, refusing to believe otherwise. "Not only that, but can't you see? Everyday Caroline is with Klause the more she becomes just like him. He infects everything he touches. Caroline is no different. And neither are their children. Just two new abominations to be molded as the Mikaelsons' weapons."
Elijah grabs Sabine by the neck and vamps out, not wanting to hear anymore.
"Do it." Sabine challenged.
Elijah bites into her neck.
Opera House, 1919
It's a full house tonight as Rebekah and Klaus sit in a private box; Klaus looks at the program. "Well, this is off to a bad start. Your first big date together in public after I gave you my blessing, and he stood you up."
"Something must have delayed him," said Rebekah.
"Or, now that your elicit affair is out in the open, he finds the whole relationship a tad lackluster and has run off to Havana with a showgirl." Klaus countered.
"Don't be such a toerag. I'm going to check the lobby." Rebekah told him.
"See if you can't find our brother while you're there. The curtain is about to go up." Klaus told her.
Rebekah leaves, and Klaus sets the program down. Someone enters the box and sits down behind him.
It's Mikael. He pokes his white oak stake against Klaus' back. "I would advise against trying to flee, boy. I can drive this into your heart before you can even think of getting to your feet, and I don't want you to die yet."
"Father–" he breathes out, shocked.
""Father"?" Mikael laughs. "Ha ha! Still clinging to that word after all these years, a bastard desperate for a daddy? I wonder if your real father would be as embarrassed as I was of you before I discovered you were not mine. Most likely." Angry, Klaus is about to turn around, but Mikael stops him. "Oh, oh. Uh-uh. Easy now, boy. Don't worry. Death will come, but we need to have a little chat before you shuffle off your immortal coil."
"Any words we have for each other have been spoken long ago, but know this. I am no longer the animal begging for scraps of your affection. I will die knowing my hatred for you was just. I will fall proud of all I have achieved here. So, Mikael, if you're going to kill me, then get on with it." Klaus told him.
"Au contraire, Niklaus." Mikael replies. "Some things remain unsaid. For instance, you were right to be proud of your achievement here. As I walked the streets, your name was spoken of in reverent tones by the city's finest. So, after I kill you, I will remain here in New Orleans until every last person who remembers you is dead. The deeds of the mighty Klaus will be remembered by no one. And you, boy, will simply never have existed." Orchestra tuning. "Ah. The grand show." Mikael relaxes, pulling the stake away from Klaus, as the lights go down. "Oh," Mikael leans forward and touches Klaus' shoulder. "I made some alterations in your honor. You'll love it." Baton taps.
And what a show it was.
The curtain goes up to reveal Marcel staked in the hands to a wooden X. He is barely conscious. Lana is dead and is propped up on a swing, her mouth taped shut and a stake through her chest. The audience laughs and applauds.
Mikael compelled the audience to watch it all, applaud as if it were the drollest of comedies, and then to leave, celebrating a terrific night at the opera. I tried to save Marcel.
Klaus is on stage. He tries to pull the stakes from Marcel's hands, but Mikael stops him.
My father had other ideas. Rebekah attempted to intervene.
Applause from the crowd as Mikael pushes Rebekah to the ground and stabs her in the stomach.
All these years, I actually believed she was trying to save me.
Klaus tries to attack again, but Mikael throws Klaus across the stage. "Agh!"
Laughter and applause.
But then big brother swooped in.
"There's no helping Marcel." Elijah pulled at Klaus.
Just when we thought all was lost.
"We must run." Elijah insisted.
Klaus scooped Rebekah up in his arms, and as they leave, Mikael feeds off of Marcel then grabs a lantern from the stage.
And so I ran, beaten like the dog my father believed me to be. And as we fled for our lives, he burnt it all to the ground.
Mikael walks up toward the exit past the audience, which is now silent and staring straight forward, all compelled not to leave. He throws the lantern, and it crashes and catches the Opera House on fire. Mikael leaves.
And with it, we assumed, Marcel.
Present Day
"I lived, but all that we had built died, as did the last shred of me that felt human. That is what my father took from me that night. I promise you, Caroline, I will not become my father. I will not humiliate and torment or dehumanize them."
Caroline tightened her hand on his. "You know, there is more than one way to get revenge," she reached up, cupping his jaw. "Be better than them."
Klaus closed his eyes, her words washing over him.
Be better than Mikael.
Celeste sits against a grave in the LaFayette Cemetery, awakening after Elijah bit her. "Now, you didn't have to bite me to get me here. I don't plan on going nowhere until I see your "Always and Forever" pact come crashing down around you. It's a myth, Elijah, a myth I died for."
"And yet here you stand alive…" said Elijah. "For now."
"Is that a threat?" Celeste challenged. "Oh, there's always another pretty, young body for me to jump into. From now on, every time you feel a connection to a woman, you'll be forced to wonder if it's me." as she talks, she backs away towards the entrance. "You'll trust no one and spend the rest of eternity alone." She crosses the threshold, and when Elijah tries to run after her, he's stopped by an invisible barrier. "Hahaha! Hahaha!" Sabine laughs. "You can't lay another finger on me."
Elijah glared darkly.
Ah, while this body has been a hell of a lot of fun, I do think it's time I find someone else to play in, don't you?"
Celeste bends down and picks up a candle on the ground. She smashes it against a tree and picks up a shard of glass. She stabs it into Sabine's neck; coughing, she falls dead to the ground.
Monique comes out of the shadows, disappointed, as she looks at Sabine's body. "You were right."
Monique points toward the tunnels, revealing to Elijah that she had performed the spell.
Elijah stared at the body covered with a white sheet. Conflicted but determined.
Elijah never wanted it to come to this.
He loved Celeste once.
But she was no longer the woman he loved in the past and now he wasn't sure she was ever the person he thought she was,
Was she always so deceitful, vindictive, cruel or did loving him make her this way?
He never thought he was capable of killing someone he loved. Truly loved.
But he wanted to kill her.
He wanted to put an end to the threat she posed to his family.
But more than that, he wanted to be rid of her and the darkness she cast over his memories of the love they once shared.
He questioned every romantic relationship he ever had after seeing Celeste for who she really was.
Except for one.
Katerina.
Even through all she had done, their complicated history, he still loved her. He was still in love with her.
When she was with him, she could still see the human girl who he fell in love with. Who opened his heart to love when he had closed himself off.
He wanted to get rid of Celeste and save Katerina.
He needed the witches to leave his family alone so Davina could focus on saving Katerina before it was too late.
He didn't want to lose her after finally reconnecting with her.
In a way, he wanted to kill Celeste not only for his family, but for Katerina, too.
Was there no limit to the hold loving someone like Katerina had on a person?
Perhaps he could, on a level, understand his brother's weakness for Caroline because he had something similar with Katerina.
When all said was done, sacrifices had to be made for the sake of his family.
Celeste unfortunately had to be that sacrifice, but at the end of the day, after all she has done, perhaps she deserves this.
In the tunnel, Celeste awakens in her original body, covered by a white sheet, gasping awake. She is shocked and confused as to this sudden turn of events.
"Hello, Celeste." Elijah enters as she gets to her feet and backs away from him.
"How is this possible?" she demanded.
"Monique Deveraux and I had a little wager regarding your ability to keep a promise. It appears I won," said Elijah. "You were so consumed with my downfall that you lost the trust of one of your own."
"Non. Mon cheri, non. Tout est possible." She pleaded. "Ce n'est pas fini. Aah!"
"Désolé." Elijah stabs her in the stomach with Papa Tunde's blade. She screams, then drops to the ground, dead.
Davina sat on the floor surrounded by books. Josh was a few feet away, trying to set the books in order while drinking from a blood bag.
Davina's eyes widened. "I need to find Caroline" she jumped to her feet. "Where is she?"
John quickly got to her feet. "I think she and Klaus are staying in the study with Rebekah and Elijah. They're trying to figure out what it means that Caroline could do magic."
"Right, that shouldn't have been possible." Davina murmured. "Maybe I should be helping with that instead of finding a way to save Katherine."
"Except she is on a time crunch." Josh interjected. "Did you find something?"
Davina grinned. "I did."
Josh followed her as she sprinted from the room.
Davina didn't bother knocking as she reached the study, throwing the doors open. "Caroline!"
Caroline looked up from her place behind Klaus's desk as Elijah, Rebekah, and Klaus argued over how to approach the babies having magic from Caroline's womb.
"Did you need something?" Caroline asked, standing to greet her and Josh.
"I found a spell. A transfer spell. I think it can save Katherine's life." Davina answered.
The room fell silent and Elijah stepped forward. "You mean like what Celeste does? Put Katherine in someone else's body?"
"No," Davina shook her head. "She will remain in her body."
"How does it work?" Caroline questioned.
"Ultimately, I will transfer Katherine's dying nature onto someone else," Davina answered. "I believe for it to work the way we need it to the person needs to a vampire. An old one, possibly."
"And you think it will work?" Caroline asked.
"I think it may be our only shot. She doesn't have much time left."
"Then let it run out," Klaus said in annoyance, earning a harsh glare from his brother.
"Klaus, is right." Rebekah interjected. "Our focus should not be, Katherine. We need to figure out what it means that Caroline can do magic. It shouldn't be possible. She's a vampire."
"Vampires also are not supposed to be able to reproduce, but low and behold," Caroline waved a hand at her growing stomach. "But we can talk about this later. We're on a time crunch with Katherine." Caroline turned to Elijah. "Do you want to tell her the good news?"
Elijah smiled. "It will be my pleasure."
Elijah stepped out of the room.
Caroline turned to Klaus with a grin. "Do you know what this means?"
Klaus wasn't following. "Why don't you enlighten me, love, because I see no upside to saving Katherine's life."
"Once we save Katherine, we will no longer need to keep Sophie around." Caroline said.
Klaus' lips curved up to an evil smirk. "Now you've caught my interest."
"We should've taken care of her long ago." Rebekah interjected. "I, for one, will be more than happy to kill her."
"No one is killing her but me," Caroline cut a cross. "After what she has done to me, I have to be the one to do it."
The thought of almost missing out on her own children because a witch seized an opportunity to work it to her advantage had Caroline seeing red.
She still felt like Sophie and Hayley took something from her. Something she would never get back.
Those first few months with her babies weren't with her. She missed that time and she hoped when they were born; she felt connected to them the way a mother should.
It was her biggest fear that when they got here, she would look into their eyes and only see Hayley.
Klaus wrapped his arm around her and kissed her neck. He could agree to that as long as he got to watch.
Caroline frowned when she reached the room where Sophie was being kept. She looked at Klaus. "Where are the guards?"
Klaus went rigid, his jaw clenching. He breezed past her and wrench the door open.
Three dead wolves lay scattered about the room.
One lay behind the door, his heart ripped from his chest, while someone else lay in a chair with his neck broken, his head thrown back.
And a third had blood covering him, with his throat torn open to a point where even a wolf couldn't heal it.
Caroline stepped inside, anger and hurt filling her.
She felt anger because Sophie had clearly disappeared, and someone had helped her escape, and her accomplice had helped kill members of her pack.
"Who did this?!" Klaus seethed.
"She couldn't have done it alone." Caroline felt a sense of betrayal and she hated it.
It only made something inside her churn violently, rising to the surface.
"No, someone helped her and when I find them, I will make them pay." Klaus turned to look at her and paused at the look on her face.
"Not if I find them first." Caroline seethed.
The furniture in the room, smack into the wall and a strong wind surround Caroline, whipping the blonde strands of her hair around. Caroline's eyes flared luminescent as the black veins on her cheeks came to the surface.
"Caroline, love, calm down," He stepped toward her.
"No, I won't calm down." She snapped. "Whoever did this has to pay."
He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him, and he could practically feel the magic pouring off of her. "And they will, but whatever this is, you have to control it. Don't let it control you."
Caroline closed her eyes, and leaned against him, her lips finding his and letting the comfort she always felt with him to wash over her and dim the anger back to something she could contain.
He was right. She didn't know what this was, and she needed to learn to control it and not let it get the best of her.
For her sake and everyone else's.
Elijah walked into Katherine's room, a charming grin pulling at his lips as hope filled him.
He couldn't wait to see the smile on her face, on the way her eyes would light up with the good news he had to share with her.
He stopped short.
Katherine's bed was empty.
There was no Nadia or Katerina.
There was no evidence of a struggle in the room.
Elijah's heart dropped to his stomach.
Katerina was just gone.