𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
Tyler and Caroline stood by awkwardly after Bonnie and Klaus's departure. Neither dared to face the other, only glancing when they thought the other wasn't looking. Tyler was shuffling, his shoulders hunched in defeat. He was still shirtless and above his sweat she could still smell his earlier indiscretions. Ah the joys of being a vampire! Not!
Finally Caroline had enough. Of the smell, of the guessing. She had to know.
"Did you sleep with Bonnie?" she blurted.
He stiffened but didn't look her in the eye.
"No! No, that never happened."
Yet the guilt was oozing off of him. She crossed her arms under her chest.
"Then what did happened because you sure smell like something did. In fact this place smells like..."
She glanced over in the distance at something only her vampire eyes could see. Further back by the area where they'd originally found the new mates. A peice of clothing that reeked of Tyler and Bonnie and...Damon?
Greta hadn't said anything about Damon when she was in her head but then again the spirit had been too preoccupied with thoughts of Klaus.
"Did you all have some supernatural threesome?" she couldn't believe what she was smelling. Normally she wouldn't have noticed Damon but his scent was so wrapped up on the same material as Tyler's release that she had to wonder.
Tyler was confused.
"Threesome?! What-"
"I'm too undead for you but you let Damon join in your little sexcapade? You just like undead male things?"
Tyler's eyes blew into saucers.
"NO, NO GOD NO! I just used his shirt okay. To...to clean up."
Caroline glared, knowing the word he couldn't say.
"Your cum. Right? Because you and Bonnie were down here cumming together?"
His face was red with shame.
"It wasn't her fault. It was my wolf. I-I just lost control and..."
He cleared his throat.
"And?" she remembered what Greta had said while she was in her head but she needed to hear it from Tyler.
"I didn't give her a choice."
He rubbed the back of his neck, guilty.
"I know it's not an excuse but...it's this wolf thing. I don't know how to stop it. It was like I was compelled but not by a vampire. By this inner-animal. I couldn't think or do anything except follow my instincts."
She knew that much. His heats could make him behave rather primitively.
"And your instincts were to screw Bonnie?"
She remembered his cruel words earlier.
"Not you you undead thing..."
"I-"
"To make her your mate? Like Klaus just did?" she cut him off.
It hurt. For him to want Bonnie. For it to be his natural instinct to want Bonnie. After everything she and Tyler had been through together. She'd been there since his curse was first activated, his first full moon, his first heat.
"That's what you called her. You called her your mate."
"I...I can't explain it but Stefan says it's the wolf that's drawn to the magic. It only happened because of the timing."
"The timing? So you're telling me if Klaus hadn't had better timing and beaten you to it you would be the one mated to Bonnie right now?"
He started.
"No! We wouldn't-she wouldn't-I mean-"
The wolf was flustered. She'd seen that side of him too.
"It's this damn curse! It just took me over and I couldn't... I never asked for this!"
He dared look her way.
"I wasn't in control. I could just smell and act and feel but I couldn't think. Just do. I swear I didn't mean the things I said to you."
"Except you did. On some level, right? Your wolf meant it."
His wolf meant to reject her. For being a vampire. But it didn't reject Bonnie. It chose Bonnie. Over her.
"It was the heat talking-"
"Instincts don't lie, Tyler. You want Bonnie on some subconscious level. Admit it. None of this would have happened if you didn't."
He swallowed, again flustered. Hurt the more, Caroline turned away from him.
"Care I..." but his words failed.
"It was the heat," he repeated weakly.
The heat. The same heat that had given her the opportunity to help him over the past few months. The same heat in which she'd secretly enjoyed indulging in the benefits. Now it had turned him away from her to her best friend.
"It doesn't matter anyway though. Because you're the one I really want."
Had he said those words this morning she would have jumped into his arms. But now, after what he'd said earlier, after the way he behaved in the cellar, that wasn't something she could forget.
"I won't be second place Tyler. Not again."
She crossed her arms under her chest.
"Not to Elena, not to Bonnie. You say it's just your heat talking but what happens next month? And the month after that?"
She already felt him but still managed to flinch when he came closer from behind. His arm came around her as he pulled her back against him.
"You won't be second place. I chose you before any of this happened didn't I? And all of my other heats were fine. I mean, we were just with Bonnie now and all I could think about was you."
She wanted to believe that.
"Yea, because Klaus was here."
"No it wasn't that. I think-I think whatever happened to me is broken. Like I'm still phasing but that drive isn't there anymore. I don't even want to think about it. It's like all I can see is Klaus."
She felt him shudder.
"But you, Caroline I've always thought about you, phasing or not. Screw what my wolf said. I'm the one in control here. And I say I want you."
He turned her around to face him.
"Caroline, I want you."
She shouldn't give in. Not after all he'd said and done today. Letting him off because he was phasing was too easy. The fact remained that he'd still done something with Bonnie. And he'd still insulted her for something she couldn't help being. He couldn't make up for that with a few kind words.
But I really like him.
And was it fair to punish him for his wolf instincts when she knew all too well the power supernatural instincts could have over someone? Was his wolf drive any more different than her vampire thirst?
I killed before. Because I couldn't control it. Maybe Tyler couldn't control his heat either.
Still, her thirst for blood, controlled or not would always be there. It was a part of her. How did she know his heat's reaction to Bonnie wouldn't linger and remain a part of him?
"I want you too Tyler. You know I do. But..." she slowly pulled away from him.
She could see the regret in his eyes as she did so.
"I think I'm going to need some time. Okay?"
He lowered his head, looking defeated.
"Um...yea. Okay."
She put more distance between them then ending their conversation. It should be night in a few hours. She'd be able to leave the cave then. Hopefully Bonnie and Klaus would have dealt with Greta by then. And maybe they could all move on to the next step in their mixed up teenage love-lives.
———-
Research hadn't gone as quickly as she'd hoped. Though there was no shortage on ways to deal with spirits they all seemed to lack permanence. Exorcisms and other spells would send Greta back, but Bonnie wanted to be sure that she would stay there. They couldn't risk her returning to finish the deed.
And Esther's involvement made everything worse. Even after they dealt with Greta what would stop her mentor from finding another avenue for her scheme? Bonnie still wondered how a mother could be so callous to her own son.
"Klaus?"
He was growing impatient as well. With his thousands of years worth of knowledge and memories he was increasingly frustrated that he hadn't come up with a quick solution.
"What?" he was reading over a boundry spell.
"What happened between you and your mother? Why is she going to these lengths to hurt you?"
His body tensed but he didn't look up.
"I told you. She's a hateful bitch."
Bonnie knew there was more to it.
"Klaus?"
She rested a hand on his. He glanced at it before taking a breath.
"I suppose I should tell you, " he sighed.
His body language indicated he'd rather be talking about anything else.
"You already know that she had an affair with a werewolf, the result being me."
Elijah had explained as much. This was why Klaus was the only hybrid to ever exist.
"I won't bore you with the details but I suspect my father sensed on some level that I wasn't like my siblings because he treated me differently. Esther knew because she enabled it. She gave him a reason to single me out. Always coddling me and making me weak."
His jaw clenched at whatever memory was playing in his mind at the moment.
"I never knew what made me so different until my first kill as a vampire. I changed right before everyone's eyes. Then they knew. What I was, what she'd done. So to cover her own indiscretion, the fact that she'd slept with a filthy beast she cursed me by sealing my wolf half. As if that would make up for what she did. So I showed her exactly what I thought of that."
Their eyes met and she could see the anger there. But it was mingled with the raw pain of rejection. Something she also knew. Her mother had abandoned her as a child after all. And her father rejected her magical heritage.
"Klaus. What did you do?"
She had a feeling. Based off his look and pretty much everything she knew about him. But she had to hear it. Her mate clenched his jaw again.
"I killed her, Bonnie. I ended her life and let everyone believe he had done it. Because it's what she deserved. For everything she put me through. For everything she allowed him to do to me. For stealing the only means I had to be stronger!"
His eyes were glowing again, black veins painting his face. She moved on some internal impulse to wrap her arms around him.
What he'd just confessed bothered her. He'd killed his own mother. But given his past misdeeds thus far she shouldn't be surprised. What did surprise her was the unmistakable hurt in his eyes. It was like she could feel it tightening in her own chest. His parents had inflicted wounds so deep within him that even a thousand years time hadn't healed them.
"So this is her revenge for you killing her?"
Klaus's mother was willing to wait centuries and take innocent lives to avenge her own murder? Well the apple didn't fall too far from the tree did it?
"Her reasons don't matter. Only stopping her."
He gave Bonnie a squeeze, indicating he was finished with the subject. As he pulled away to refocus on the grimoire she kept her eyes on him. This wasn't the monster she'd hated when she'd left school today. The monster she'd sought to kill. He was but...he wasn't. He was more complicated.
No it wasn't him that was complicated. It was her feelings for him. Was this why Elena stayed with Stefan, knowing he'd once been a ripper?
No this is different. Elena and Stefan aren't magically bound mates.
Klaus turned the page.
And Stefan is at least remorseful for what he's done.
Which complicated her feelings the more. Because she could never have feelings for someone who cared so little for human life. And yet she was finding that she did.
"This spell here, Banishment?" he interrupted her thoughts.
Bonnie glanced down at the page.
"Have you used it before?"
She shook her head, reading it over. It was a spell to banish spirits from a particular home or dwelling. Witches could use it on haunted homes, churches and poltergeists etc.
"You're thinking I could modify this? Amp it up to banish Greta from the living world altogether?" she picked up.
Klaus sent her an appreciative look.
"I always knew you had a brilliant mind, Love. Your power is already strong but add my blood and no one can stand against us. Not Greta, not my mother. No one."
Bonnie began reading it over in preparation. If she was going to modify it then she had to know what she was doing.
Trust your instincts, she could hear Grams say in the back of her mind.
"You're a Bennett. It's in your blood."
She would do just that, trust in herself and her abilities.
"I don't suppose you have any personal effects of Greta's lying around?" she asked after she finished reading.
To ensure its effectiveness any item having belonged to the spirit would work. The more intimate the better. DNA or ashes was a plus.
Bonnie ignored the part of her that was a little uncomfortable at the thought of Klaus keeping anything of the former flame.
"I suppose she did leave a few spells and tools behind. A spare athame, a chalice, a boline. Normally I'd throw those things out but with the magical capabilities I didn't want to waste them."
He shrugged.
"I have them locked up where I keep my relics. Back at my place."
He glanced over the spell.
"But wouldn't her body be a better use? What did you all do with it after Elijah whisked me away?"
Remembering that night, when in his one moment of weakness she, Stefan and Elijah had almost killed him, their eyes met. Whatever resentment or malice he may have held, however she couldn't find now.
"Stefan and Damon took care of the bodies," Bonnie answered.
The bodies being Greta, Tyler's packmate Jules and Elena's aunt Jenna. The latter two killed by the Original sitting beside her.
"I didn't ask them where and they didn't volunteer the information."
Klaus stood from the bed then, made his way over to the dresser where he picked up a phone. Bonnie knew it wasn't hers. She'd last used it to call Stefan about Matt earlier. It was probably lost somewhere in the cave where Klaus had destroyed her clothes.
"I think it's time we asked, don't you?"
She watched him unlock the phone and suddenly it dawned on her who it belonged to.
"That's Matt's phone!"
The hybrid shrugged as he placed the call.
How does he know the code to unlock it?
Probably compelled it out of him. Bonnie crossed her arms angrily about that. She didn't like anyone compelling and using her friends.
"Stefan, you need to listen," Klaus began, skipping all pleasantries.
Bonnie moved closer so that she could hear. Blue eyes acknowledged her before he placed the call on speaker.
"Klaus, what a pleasant surprise! I was just thinking about you," Stefan drawled on the other end.
He was being awfully nice to have answered a call from his sworn enemy. A little teasing even.
"This isn't a social call. I-"
Stefan snickered on the other end.
"Not a social call? But I thought we were friends. We are friends, aren't we?"
Klaus's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Something wasn't right.
"Oh come on Klaus. With that hybrid hearing I know you heard me. So, answer my question. We are friends? Compadres? Buddies? We do each other favors. I try to kill you, you save my brother's life. You know. Friends."
Bonnie's eyes met with the Original's with the same realization. This wasn't Stefan.
"Greta," his jaw was clenching.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Stefan laughed through the phone.
"If you must know I'm on my way to have a drink with a few friends. Matt and Damon are already here but it's just not a party without a doppleganger and maybe a history teacher-"
At the threat Bonnie was snatching the phone. She'd had enough!
"You touch any of them and I swear to God-"
"Keep talking Bennett and Stefan will meet him soon enough!"
Bonnie started to retort but thought of her friends. After what that psycho had done to Caroline there was no telling what she'd do to the others. She shouldn't provoke her further. The young witch took a deep breath as Klaus took the phone back.
"Greta," he seethed, "Enough games. We both know how I respond to this type of behavior."
Stefan scoffed.
"And we both know how I respond to threats," the Original added.
"You especially know how I respond to betrayal yet you conspire against me-"
"Betrayal?!" Stefan cut in, "Ha! You're one to talk about betrayal! After you turned around and mated with that Bennett Bitch!"
Klaus's veins flared black.
"Call her that again and I will rip your jaw off!"
"You mean Stefan's jaw. Because mine is decomposing no thanks to him and his big brother. Who you healed by the way. Why? Because Stefan asked you to?"
Klaus's lip was curling into a snarl.
"You said it yourself, I know you, Klaus. You would never grant a favor for free, especially not for somebody that keeps acting against you. So what's the deal? Why haven't you killed Stefan?"
The hybrid was losing what little control he had. His temper combined with the heat.
"The gall of you to think I owe you any explanations!"
"Maybe I should do you a favor and kill him for you."
Klaus was growling, eyes glowing, fangs extended and deadly.
"You stupid little girl!"
"Would you mourn him?" Stefan's voice went on.
"Like you mourned me? Would you actually give a shit that he's dead?"
"You impudent little bitch! You're going to wish you stayed that way when I'm finished with you!"
This was going nowhere and the angrier Klaus got the worse things would be for her friends. Matt was already in danger, who knew what she'd done to Damon but Stefan seemed to be the target Greta was focused on at the moment. All it would take was to slip his ring off. Hoping to prevent that, Bonnie rested her hand on the raging hybrid's back. He eyed her sharply, but he seemed to calm a bit as she began running soothing circles.
"Okay Greta, you have our attention," she remarked.
"But like Klaus said, he doesn't play games. So let's get right to it. You want me? Name the place and we'll be there."
A bitter scoff from the speaker was the response.
"You really think I'm that stupid?"
"I really think you want me dead before Klaus's heat is over and his head is straight again."
She ignored his growl at the remark.
"And I really think whatever you have planned you'll want him to witness it, right?"
A pause from the other end.
"Besides, you have Stefan as collateral. Neither Klaus nor I want him hurt."
Though Greta's comments sparked her curiosity about Klaus's reasons now wasn't the time to ponder it.
"We'll agree to play ball."
Another growl. Bonnie gave him a look to shush him. He was not a happy camper right now.
"An exorcism won't cut it this time, Bennett. Just so you know, I'm prepared for your little magic tricks."
We'll see about that.
"Enough with the bravado, just tell us where to be."
She could tell Greta hadn't been expecting a direct approach. When again Stefan's voice paused she decided to push just a little.
"Don't tell me you're scared to face me?"
The remark had the intended effect.
"I'll never be afraid of a lessor witch like you! Meet me at the Salvatore's place. Try anything funny and Tall-Dark-and-Broody gets a sunbath."
Click.
When she hung up, she found golden eyes staring intently at her.
"What?"
"You're beautiful when you take charge like that."
The heat of his gaze, the low rumble of his tone, the unexpected timing of the compliment caused her face to warm.
Yea, she was blushing.
"I...uh..."
Well that was a quick shift in mood!
Klaus, a slight smile at the corner of his lip, reached over to graze a thumb down her cheek. She could feel her face wasn't the only part of her heating up at the gesture.
"When we've disposed of our enemies I'm going to show you exactly how beautiful I think you are Bonnie Bennett."
She swallowed, knowing exactly what he meant. And feeling a tad startled to note that she looked forward to it.
When did I start thinking of Klaus...like that?
Probably after the first orgasm. Or the second. Or the third...
I am so not thinking about that right now!
His nostrils flared as he must be picking up some tattle-tell scent revealing her arousal. Freaking hybrid nose! With his libido already dangerously heightened this was a distraction they really didn't need at the moment. She had to ground him.
"First we deal with Greta" she reminded him, "and we figure out what to do about your mother."
Klaus's eyes darkened and again the vampire veins filled his face.
"I have a few ideas," he growled.
She was sure they involved teeth and tearing which unfortunately was no help against a spirit.
"We need to do the banishment," she decided.
But now that Greta had the only two people who knew the location, how would they retrieve her body?
We'll just have to make due with whatever of hers Klaus has at home.
But with Matt's life in the dead witch's clutches did they really have the time to run to Klaus's place to find them? And would a few of her ritual tools even be enough?
"Okay, so looks like we won't be digging her up any time soon," she remarked.
"But we can still beat her. All we need is to get her out of Stefan's body. Then we stall her long enough to find hers and work the banishment."
But that still left one problem.
"In the meantime we'll need somewhere to stash her where she can't possess anyone else."
She was back on the bed, thumbing through the book for any answer.
"You mean confine her spirit," Klaus came beside her.
Bonnie glanced up at him. That wasn't a bad idea.
"Yea, trap her like-"
Like I tried to trap you
"-like a cursed object," she was surprised to hear him say.
A cursed object? What did that have to do with...Then it clicked. Of course!
She'd encountered an object possessed by a spirit before- the necklace Emily had used to control her briefly to stop Damon from releasing the tomb vampires! Though it wasn't necessarily cursed so much as it was more like a gateway.
"You think I can curse Greta's spirit into an object," she'd never tried that before.
Then again, until today she'd never single-handedly taken down an Original. Or mated one.
"I think you can do anything when you apply your gift, Love."
Another compliment. This time her blush was accompanied by a warm sense of appreciation. Klaus must have noticed as he took her hand to guide her off the bed. She allowed him to draw her close to his chest, allowed his wolf heat to burn against her.
"And with me as your mate you can do even more."
He brushed his nose against her cheek before planting a tender kiss. His arms enveloped her and Bonnie was reminded of their time in the cave once more.
"We'll obliterate our enemies and make it clear. No one, living or dead, spirit or corporeal shall ever stand against us!"
She told herself that his declaration and the conviction behind it didn't turn her on in the least. That she was only responding to the hard mass of flesh now pressing against her lower half as he held her. But the truth was, she wasn't even sure anymore. Today had unveiled quite a few feelings that she hadn't even known existed within her. She'd committed quite a few acts she'd never thought herself capable of. With Tyler, with Klaus...
But more disturbingly, she'd liked those acts.
With Tyler...with Klaus...
More so with Klaus. But how was she supposed to deal with those feelings? Especially as despite their tumultuous history, those feelings seemed to be steadily growing for the hybrid? Bonnie chanced a look up at his face in time for his lips to meet hers. He didn't have to prod for her to open her mouth as she allowed him full reign. She'd already given him access into her mouth, and much earlier into her body. But now she realized the Original was creeping into another area unchartered area. Her heart.
It was impossible but could it be happening? Could she actually be falling in love with Klaus?
————
"Matthew."
Once again he was here. Once again face to face with the older blond woman. Matt rubbed his head, sitting up straight in the grass. There was a tree behind him, comfortable enough to lend him support as he rested his back against it. Though he was still unsure of what to make of things, he knew he'd been here before because he recognized her.
"I know you."
She nodded before sitting down in the grass beside him.
"Greta is making quite the mess in your world."
He recalled the spirit that had invaded his mind. The last time he was here she was with this woman. That alone was reason not to trust her.
"I fear she's already failed at the task I gave her. Her emotions have clouded her judgment."
Matt blinked, trying to peice together his next move. She'd helped Greta jump into his body. Now she was just talking to him like nothing happened?
"I didn't want to actively intervene as the ancestral spirits are watching me. After what I did I suppose I can't blame them. But I'm trying to rectify my mistake, you understand?"
Matt shook his head, still confused.
"No, I don't understand. You're helping Greta go after Bonnie!"
She offered a mildly sad smile in return.
"An unfortunate situation for the Bennett girl yes but necessary nonetheless. Once she chose to mate with my son she sealed her own fate. Like every witch to ever become involved with Niklaus she has forfeited her life away. But I assure you, Matthew, her sacrifice won't be in vain. My son's thousand year reign of terror will finally end. Thanks to her."
It came back to him then, the various thoughts Greta had spoken when she'd occupied him. Of conversations she'd had with the mother of her obsession.
"Esther?" he realized, "you're Klaus's mother."
She nodded somberly.
"Yes I am. And not a day goes by that I don't weep for the boy he once was. You know, my Niklaus wasn't always this way. He was the sweetest child, so loving and kind and gentle-"
Was she talking about Klaus?
"Oh please, save the sob story. You're talking about the monster who killed people close me and my friends. And that was after he tried to sacrifice them. That 'sweet boy' of yours is a homicidal maniac!"
Esther frowned.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of his misdeeds. Over here there's not much to do except lament on the mistakes that brought us to this purgatory or watch over those we left behind. I've watched over all of my children and seen what folly they've done over the centuries. By far Niklaus has been the worst. It pains me to know that it was my spell that caused all of this treachery."
Again with the forlorn expression. No she didn't get to play the sympathy card. Not with what she was trying to do.
"Yet you're still trying to kill an innocent girl," he threw at her.
"Bonnie is a good person. All she's ever done is try to help people and you want her dead."
Esther sighed.
"It's for the greater good."
"Bullshit! How can killing a good person like Bonnie be for the greater good? No, this is for you. Because you unleashed that monster on the world now you think you can clear your conscience. But you can't. Not like this. Not by spilling more blood."
"Our time is short, Matthew," she flat out ignored his argument.
The blond teen glared. The last time she'd said that-
"I'm afraid I must go fix Greta's blunder while the opportunity remains."
He scooted away, putting distance between him and the witch when she suddenly lashed out. Again he felt the pain, the current in his nerves though this time much smoother if that made any sense. Esther was obviously more experienced than Greta was. Matt screamed, frustrated at being violated a second time.
This was why he hated the supernatural. The vampires, the werewolves, now the witches-they all just took and took from unsuspecting humans. Blood, bodies, life-they had no qualms about stealing from the powerless. As long as they got what they wanted out of it. He wished that magic never existed.
Now Matthew, no need to be bitter. I'll return your body shortly. There's a much more capable vessel on it's way to us now.
He didn't like the sound of her last thoughts.
The perfect vessel for what I must do.