Wicked Schemes

Chapter 17

"Can you do the Coven cards? Put a star or something next to the ones who you think I can actually trust?" she asked, gesturing toward the pile on the table.

"Gonna send the ones who I don't think will trust you home?" Caleb asked, and she glanced over at him. He was trying to act casual about the question, but Caroline heard his heartbeat speed up, saw the tension in his shoulders as he waited for an answer.

"Yeah. I don't want anyone following me because they have to. That only seems to breed discontent and backstabbing. Something I think we really don't need with everything else going on." She shrugged, having seen firsthand how much people would fight for their freedom with the Hybrids and their unsiring. "So they get a choice to either stay or leave and no hard feelings for anyone. I don't really want to do the whole swear allegiance thing. What if someone has to act against me last minute to save someone they love? That'd suck if they burst into flames or whatever is supposed to happen."

The tension Caleb was holding dissipated and he looked over at her, offering a small, genuine smile. "When they see who you really are they won't ever think of betraying you," he told her and Caroline smiled back, but it was forced.

Who she really was? That was a loaded question if she ever heard one. Who was she? Caroline wasn't completely sure she even knew anymore and this faith that Caleb seemed to have in her unnerved her a little. Last thing she wanted to do was disappoint him. And when had that even happened? She remembered when she had been annoyed by him and now, only some weeks later she was desperate to make sure he would be okay, that no matter what Caleb would make it out of all of it okay. Or as okay as he could.

"Can you do the cards?" she asked, steering the conversation back to something she could actually handle at the moment. "I should probably have an idea before I see the Coven again, yeah?" Which wouldn't be that day, but Caroline knew it would need to happen sometime soon.

Caleb nodded and picked up the stack of cards. "I'm going to go see if there's anything edible to eat while I do this," he told her, picking up a few of the markers as well.

"I doubt there is," Klaus commented from the doorway, silently observing the two. She wondered how long he had been there listening to their conversation. "Feel free to order delivery and I'll deal with it when it arrives."

The witch frowned at the wording, but nodded before hurrying from the room. Caroline couldn't really blame him for not wanting to be anywhere near the Hybrid. "I see your skills for planning are more diverse than simple place settings and dance numbers," Klaus commented, sounding entirely too amused and she rolled her eyes before looking over at him. She had been ready to reply in kind but his genuine smile was throwing her for a loop.

"Well, you know I'm just trading who can most easily get the flower arrangements into their correct spot and how best to get the applicants from Point A to Point B with probably vervain bombs and where best to spread out werewolves in relations to vampires in the city," Caroline settled for her answer, her entire demeanor relaxed for the moment. It was just like allocating resources for different Mystic Falls events but instead of stay at home moms and high school kids she was using supernatural creatures. No big deal.

"Your talents were wasted on the trivialities of those events," he told her, arching a brow at the glare she sent his way.

"If I remember, you enjoyed yourself a great deal at one of the events." Just not the winter carnival. That had been a disaster. "You never did explain how you got my application." That had kept her up for nights, trying to figure out how he had gotten it from the office where they were filed away. The fact he had cared enough to research where to even find something so trivial in the first place had thrown her for a bit of a loop back then.