You thought I was a little girl
You thought I was a little mouse
You thought you'd take me by surprise
Now I'm here burning down your house
This is not my idea of a good time
They time it perfectly. Not that she expected anything less from Elijah. As soon as Rebekah sends them a text to let them know that Klaus is on his way back, they take their position, her pressed up against the wall, him before her, one hand next to her head, the other resting lightly on her hip, one of his legs nudging hers open. And they wait. When Elijah hears his brother's footsteps nearing the front door, he presses his lips to hers and she opens her mouth to let him in. She even throws in a moan or two – not completely fake either, Elijah is a good kisser, it's just that she isn't really in the mood given what's at stake here – and rests her hands on his shoulders.
This is how Klaus finds them when he enters the house. Even with her eyes closed, she's acutely aware of his presence only a few feet away and of his stare on them. Pushing it to the back of her mind, she fakes ignorance and lets one of her hands travel down Elijah's chest and around his waist to the small of his back, pulling him closer to her. His kiss deepens in response, and this is when Klaus decides to make his presence officially known.
"Don't let me interrupt."
Elijah jumps back as if he's been burnt and her eyes snap open, settling on Klaus and noting the lack of, well, anything on his face. No rage, hurt, betrayal, not even a hint of disgust or amusement. Seriously?
"Niklaus, I..." Elijah starts, attempting to placate him even though it's pretty obvious he doesn't need to.
"Don't bother," Klaus says, cutting him off, his voice even, revealing nothing, before he turns to Caroline. "When you're done with my brother, join me in my room, will you, love?"
She has about one second to get over their failure, analyze all the data at her disposal, and make a decision. As soon as she does, her tongue darts out to lick her lips, catching the lingering taste of Elijah's kiss, and she throws the dark haired original a heated look before focusing on Klaus.
"Sure. Could take a while, though," she warns, her voice intentionally low as she tries to provoke him.
Klaus smirks.
"Have fun."
With that, he walks away, leaving Elijah and Caroline to shake their heads after him as he disappears up the stairs. Once he's out of sight, they look at each other, seeing the same thought reflected in the other's eyes.
Well. There goes that plan.
Then she sees something shift in Elijah, his posture straightening as he seems to recover from his disappointment and quickly settles on a new plan of action.
"I apologize, Miss Forbes. That was highly inappropriate. It won't happen again."
Damage control, she understands instantly. He's making it clear to Klaus – in case he's eavesdropping – that he was the instigator and that she had nothing to do with this apart from getting caught up in the moment, which is understandable seeing as she has no emotion and it's easy to get lost in something physical in these conditions. Elijah is trying to make sure his brother can't blame her, whether he figures out that this was only a ploy to get him to react or not. They need at least one of them to stay on the hybrid's good side, and right now she's the most likely candidate.
"I guess I'll be joining your brother sooner than expected, then."
Elijah nods, his eyes serious as he tries to convey something else to her – a warning, she thinks – but she just frowns at him, having no idea what it could be. He gives a slight shake of his head, signaling that it doesn't matter, and she shrugs in disinterest. Whatever it was, she'll know soon enough.
When she reaches the hybrid's room, she finds him waiting for her, leaning against the wall next to his bed.
"That was quick," he comments, clearly having heard their conversation. "I expected more from Elijah."
"So did I," she quips, taking another step towards him.
She doesn't get any further than that though, because suddenly there's a hand on her shoulder, the grip powerful enough to make her wince. She instinctively reaches behind her to try and push whoever just attacked her off of her, but as soon as she moves, the hold tightens warningly.
"Don't," Elijah's cold voice commands, and she freezes, both because she knows that she can't overpower him and because she just realized what it is he was trying to silently tell her a few minutes ago.
Does my brother love you enough that the prospect of your death will make him feel something?
As his question from a few days ago echoes in her mind, she knows that after their failure downstairs, he's decided to put his other plan in action. He's done waiting it out. He's taking things up another level. Like he told her he would.
With one hand still firmly on her shoulder, Elijah is holding her away from him, and she doesn't have time to react before he plunges his other hand into her body from behind, fingers tearing through skin and tissue and closing around her heart in a motion so smooth and quick that she would probably commend him for it if she wasn't the one on the receiving end. But she is, and all she can do is gasp and fight against her instinctive reaction – trying to move as far away from him as possible – because she knows that she can't with the way he's holding her shoulder, his grip downright cruel. And even if she could step away, all it would accomplish would be that while her body would be free, her heart would stay back in his hand. Not a good idea.
It's a good thing she knew this would happen, or her fear for her life might have been enough to snap emotions back into her.
Blinking back the tears of pain that have gathered in her eyes, Caroline looks at Klaus to see his reaction. He hasn't moved from his spot near the bed and his stance is still relaxed, hands in his pockets, as he waits for Elijah's next move.
"I'm sorry, but you are leaving me no choice. Turn it back on, or I'll tear her heart out of her chest. See how your supposedly emotionless self handles this loss." At his brother's words, Klaus pushes himself off the wall and takes two steps towards them, but he doesn't make a move to stop him or pull him off of her. When he doesn't say anything either, Elijah tries again. "What is it going to be, Niklaus?"
For one wonderful, hopeful, happy second, Elijah feels like his brother is actually torn. But then Klaus gives a small shrug and the eldest original can feel his face falling even before the hybrid gives a casual command.
"Go ahead. Do it."
Elijah frowns. He should know better, yet he had expected another kind of reaction. If the threat of losing Caroline isn't enough to make some shred of humanity appear in his brother, then he fears all hope is lost. Deciding that he needs to try harder, Elijah tightens his grip on her heart and Caroline cries out, her face contorting in agony. But the hybrid's eyes don't even leave the other original's face. He just gives him a feral grin and calmly states, "I'm calling your bluff, brother."
Wait a minute. He's not stopping him, not because he doesn't care, but because he doesn't think he'll do it? Or is it both?
"What makes you so sure I'm going to spare her?"
"You spared Hayley."
"That was different," Elijah counters, because it was.
He had suspected that Hayley's death wouldn't be enough. Caroline's might work.
"Exactly," Klaus says. "This is different. You really think I love this girl, which means you can't kill her. Because you're still holding on to the foolish hope that I'll get my humanity back eventually. If I do and she's dead, who do you think I'll blame?"
Elijah gives a frustrated growl and releases his hold on Caroline, letting her stumble away from him as she tries to catch her breath and bypasses Klaus to go sit down at the edge of the bed. Outsmarting his brother has never been easy, he should have known that he wouldn't fall for this. Should have known that he knew him well enough to see through this attempt. Hell, Niklaus probably saw this coming before Elijah himself thought of it. Always one step ahead. If he didn't know how cunning and smart his brother is, Elijah would suspect that Caroline warned him that this would happen after he told her of his plan a few days ago. As it is, he doesn't think that is the case. She couldn't be sure that he wouldn't actually kill her, she needed to entertain some hope that Niklaus would stop him.
Only he knew that he didn't need to.
To some extent, Elijah had expected it, but he had still... hoped.
Suddenly, and for the first time in centuries, something snaps inside of him, and his frustration gets the better of him. He lunges at Niklaus and throws him to the ground, slamming him down hard on the floor, blood-stained fingers closing around his throat while his knee digs into his chest, holding him down. The hybrid could easily throw him off of him, but he just looks up at him, an almost amused gleam in his eyes. One that Elijah is eager to extinguish.
"Do not make the mistake of believing that I will never do it. I might want to keep her alive right now because I think she's my best option, but I will come to see her death as the only remaining possibility, and when I do, I will kill her and gladly endure the consequences," he warns, unmindful of Caroline's presence in the room and her narrowed eyes as she wonders if he means that.
"But you're not quite there yet, are you?" Klaus taunts. "Especially since you've come to care for her."
Caroline is seriously beginning to wonder if either of them remembers that she's sitting right there... And if what Klaus just said is the truth. Judging by Elijah's expression, it has to be.
Not having expected him to notice it, much less call him out on it, Elijah quickly considers his best course of action, and decides to go with honesty.
"It's not like that," he says softly.
Granted, he did try to make him believe that it was, but since it failed anyway, Elijah needs to make this clear to him, for his own peace of mind. Standing up, he holds out his hand – the one that is not covered in Caroline's blood – and Niklaus lets him help him up as he answers.
"I know. Why do you think your ridiculous ploy to make me jealous didn't work?"
"Are you saying it could have worked had you not suspected that it was nothing but a trick?"
"It certainly didn't help your case," Klaus eludes.
Shaking his head, Elijah glances over at Caroline, taking note of her still labored breathing.
"Are you ok?"
"If I got this right, chances are you're going to end up killing me. You just tried to. What do you think?" she asks drily.
He sighs, his eyes darting from her to his brother and back to the young vampire, unsure how to proceed from here. After a few seconds of tense silence, Klaus motions at the door.
"I think you've overstayed your welcome, brother."
One last hesitation, and Elijah flashes out, leaving them to just look at each other for a beat before Caroline has to ask, "How sure were you that he wouldn't do it?"
"100%," Klaus says without the slightest hint of doubt.
"And if he had?" she asks, expecting him to either brush her question off or make some kind of offhanded comment about how it wouldn't have mattered.
Instead, he motions for her to wait while he listens intently to make sure they're alone in the house and, satisfied that Elijah has left and Rebekah has yet to return, he lets out a resigned, "I honestly don't know."
She stares at him, hardly believing that he just said that, but she recovers quickly.
"Huh, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him that, because if he thinks that there's a chance my death could make you..."
"I won't. I maintain he was bluffing, even during his little outburst, but I'm not about to take that risk. I want my emotions back about as much as you want to die."
"So you believe that seeing me die would actually work."
"It might," he admits with a sigh. "I don't know. Even if I don't feel it anymore, I know I used to love you. I think if anything is going to do the trick, it's going to be this. I don't want to find out."
"Yeah, I'll bet. If it does, it's not just my death you'll have to deal with."
"Exactly." He pauses, and then he asks, "What about you? Have you thought about it? What could make you snap?"
Her indecision in sharing it with him is brief. He just shared what he must see as his deepest secret and his greatest – his only – weakness all rolled into one with her, he deserves the truth from her.
"I think it's just like you said. Nothing specific, no epiphany, just the process of gradually remembering what feeling felt like. Or, you know, compulsion," she grimaces as she reminds him of the threat that is still looming over her head.
As unbelievable as it is, in spite of the pressure his siblings are putting on her to manipulate him, it seems they've come to tentatively realize that in this whole mess, they can rely on each other, trust each other. More so than when they still had their humanity. It's amazing how one common goal – surviving and staying emotionless – can bring two people closer together when they're not distracted by mutual feelings of suspicion and resentment. It's okay for him to admit to her that her death might cause his undoing because he knows without a doubt that this is the one thing she won't use against him, thanks to her survival instincts. And it's okay for her to admit to him that he was right about her because if he was going to use it against her, he would have done it already.
How screwed up is it that this is the most honest and open they've ever been able to be with each other?
Or maybe it's not that screwed up. Maybe this is exactly why the humanity switch is a blessing for vampires who need to shut it all off and just think rationally. Maybe this is exactly what they both needed, what they need.
And maybe, just maybe, if they ever get their emotions back... They can learn from this.
"Did it work?"
Elijah sighs as his sister finds him in the small, shady bar he took refuge in after his double failure. Motioning at the half empty bottle in front of him, the one he told the bartender to leave with him, he shakes his head.
"What happened?" she asks predictably.
As he recounts the events of the afternoon, Elijah can't help but scoff at his own foolishness. He really should have seen this coming. Niklaus knows him too well, but that's not the only reason he failed. It's also because his brother has never been one to succumb to pressure. No matter how much he may love – or have loved – Caroline, bending to anyone's will, even to save her, is just not in his nature.
Once he's done, Rebekah lets out a pensive hum, and Elijah frowns at her.
"I know this look. It never bodes well for anyone. What are you thinking?"
She seems to mull something over for a while before she decides to share it with him.
"I'm not going to say 'I told you so' about the jealousy thing, even if you deserve it. About the threat on her life... It didn't work because Nik knew that you wouldn't go through with it, right? What if her life was in danger and we had nothing to do with it?"
He instantly sees where she's going with this.
"A werewolf bite."
"Either his fear for her life will be strong enough for him to feed her his blood and we'll know there's some humanity left in him, or it won't be and the pain of her loss will do the trick. And if we play this right, he won't be able to blame either of us."
"If it doesn't work, we lose our only asset."
"If it doesn't work, we'll know for sure that nothing ever will," Rebekah points out, her voice unusually soft. "I'm tired of this, Elijah. Either we get him back soon, or we'll have to learn to move on."
She's certainly right about that. Still...
"I'm uncomfortable with the idea of putting Caroline's life at risk."
"I don't give a bloody damn what you're comfortable with! Besides, you just said you told him that you would end up doing it eventually. We can't be all bark and no bite. We need to snap him out of it. I'm doing this, with or without you."
"Rebekah..." She's gone before he can try to reason with her. He debates going after her, but he knows there's nothing he can do to stop her. Staring at his empty glass, he huffs in an uncharacteristic display of helplessness. "Damn it."
As soon as she steps out of the shop, Caroline senses that something is wrong. The street is too quiet, and the constant presence of the men Marcel always sends to follow her every move is stronger than ever.
Now.
This is when he makes his move, when the king of New Orleans decides that he's had enough of her innocent act and that he wants the answers he seeks from her – whatever they are.
It's been a week since Elijah threatened her life to try and get his brother to feel again, about a month since she arrived in New Orleans. She had expected Marcel to act sooner.
She doesn't know how many of Marcel's daywalkers are going to come after her in the next few minutes, but she does know there's no way she's going to be able to run or to fight them all off. It's time to put her plan in motion. Feigning blissful ignorance, she casually digs into the bags containing her new dresses, making it look like she's just going through her new possessions while her other hand discreetly slips into the back pocket of her jeans and gets her cell phone out, making sure that the precious slip of paper is still in there.
She manages to type in the number and gets to hear it ring twice before the phone is snatched out of her hands. She jumps back in fake surprise and lets her shopping bags slip from her grip, focusing on the man who is now throwing her phone to the ground and smashing it to pieces with the heel of his boot.
"Hey!" she protests, though she had expected as much.
"Sorry honey, no cavalry for you," he says as four other guys come out of the shadows.
They waste no time in encircling her, just like she wastes no time in sizing them up. It's always hard to tell with vampires since they don't age but get stronger the older they are, but she would bet money on the fact that the one on her left is the weakest of the group. It's not really his young face or the lack of obvious muscles that has her coming to this conclusion, more the fact that he doesn't exude the same confidence as the others. This could mean one of two things. One, he's not as strong as they are. Or two, he's not completely on board with their mission. Either way, it's something she can use.
She lunges at him, taking all of them by surprise, and snaps his neck before any of them has time to react. When she turns around to face the others, they have recovered and they're ready. The one who destroyed her phone grabs her arm, but she manages to twist his wrist at an unnatural angle and he screams in pain when the bone snaps. She slams the heel of her hand into his nose, feeling the satisfying crack as it explodes under the impact. The vampire stumbles away from her, his face bloodied. She tries to go after him to finish him off, but a pair of arms suddenly encircles her waist, pulling her back, and she focuses on her new attacker instead.
It's one she hasn't seen until now, and with that realization comes another, more startling one.
He's not a vampire.
Her reflexes temporarily dampened by her discovery, she almost doesn't react in time when she sees him bare his teeth from the corner of her eye, aiming for her neck. Thankfully, she manages to throw him over her shoulder before he can bite her. He lands harshly on the pavement, his back hitting it with a thud, and she doesn't give him time to recover before she crushes his throat beneath the sole of her shoe and plunges her hand into his chest, tearing his heart out and throwing it carelessly to the ground.
"Werewolf," one of the vampires murmurs, clearly as lost as to what he was doing here as she is.
They don't have the luxury of trying to figure it out however, as more werewolves suddenly invade the street they're in, and Caroline decides it's time to bolt.
She was expecting the attack from Marcel's men and knew that they didn't want her dead – at least not right away – so she was ready to put on a good show of fighting them before letting them take her, but there's not much she can do against so many enemies at once, especially since most of them now seem to want to kill her.
Which is really weird, since she thought that werewolves were banned from the Quarter, but there's no time to reflect on that either.
Using the general confusion to her advantage, hoping that the vampires and werewolves are going to end up fighting each other and forget about her, she flashes off, putting a good distance between her and her attackers.
She doesn't manage to go far enough. She soon crashes against a hard body and she stumbles backwards, almost falling on her ass with the force of the impact. Once she regains her senses, she sees that two of the vampires are standing before her, and she gets ready to fight once again.
"Feisty," one of them comments with a laugh as she tries – and fails – to sweep his legs from under him.
Damn, he's fast. How old is this guy?
"I can see why Marcel wants her," the other one says, his eyes briefly darting off to the right.
Her reaction to his tell comes too late, and though she does catch a glimpse of the third vampire coming at her from the side, there's nothing she can do about it. A hand grabs her chin while the other one comes to rest at the base of her neck, and with one quick pull, she feels the telltale pain of her neck twisting at an odd angle, and everything goes black.