Caroline woke up with a soft moan, she touched her neck but the wound was gone and there was nothing but the memory of feeding from Klaus.
She moved in bed noticing that he had left her covered in a blanket and she rolled her eyes, how sweet of him, by the corner of her eye she caught a piece of paper lying over her pillow and slowly sat up, Klaus had been drawing her sleeping and although she was impressed with his talent she wasn't as happy with the tiny detail attached to the drawing.
"You are welcome sweetheart." She read out load, he even added a wink at the end of the note. "Son of a..." now she owed him a date.
[XXXXX]
Jules was pacing back and forth in front of the intersection that led to the Lockwood mansion, she was waiting for Brady and when she finally saw him walking out of the woods looking all scruffy she snapped. "Where have you been?"
He looked back smiling, he and April had been loose on the town.
"I asked you not to shift outside of the property." Jules admonished him.
"Don't be so angsty..." he pulled Jules closer. "I just shifted back and I need a little sugar." He tried to kiss her.
Jules shoved him away. "Stop it Brady."
"I'm your boyfriend, not your subordinate." he pulled her to him again. "And you should really start acting like a girlfriend." He moved his two hands to her ass.
April looked away bothered by the horny display.
Hissing at him Jules shoved him harder this time and he landed on his ass in the middle of the road. "I'm Mason's second in command, if you don't want to respect me as your girlfriend at least remember that when I say no."
Brady smiled darkly at her. "You werehis second in command. Mason is dead Jules." He reminded her.
"That makes me next Alpha." She powerfully claimed.
"I seriously doubt that." April frowned.
Jules looked at her mad. "You're taking sides already?"
She tilted her head. "No one is going to let you get away with it. Tyler is the rightful choice."
Jules laughed. "Tyler started shifting less than a year ago, I'm older than he is and I was chosen by Mason so I should be the next Alpha." She walked over to April. "And you shouldn't be rolling around in the mud with my boyfriend."
The other girl smiled as she turned away to leave. "And where would the fun be in behaving?"
Jules hastily looked at her boyfriend. "What did you do?"
Brady looked away annoyed.
"What did you do last night? I knew that you were up to something stupid." She ranted.
Brady didn't answer her, there was a black car racing towards them and it only stopped a few feet away from them.
"Good morning." Klaus stepped outside of his car smiling.
Brady eyed him uneasily.
Klaus smiled wider when he noticed an open cut on Brady's forehead. "Rough night?" he asked the other.
Brady answered with a smug smile. "You know how it is... chasing rabbits, the occasional vampire..."
Jules stared at Brady.
"So I've heard. It appears as if you were having fun with Caroline again last night." Klaus kept the conversation without moving away from his car.
"As if I didn't have enough with Mason's stupid infatuation over that bitch." Brady said disgusted. "I get it, she's a fine piece of ass, I wouldn't mind tapping that if she wasn't a vampire, but really Klaus? You as well?"
Klaus merely looked at Jules with a tilting of his chin. "I think that your boyfriend has his heart somewhere else."
"Whatever he did he wasn't aware of it, he has no control when he turns." She still defended him.
"I doubt that he didn't know exactly what he was doing." Klaus declared.
"Even if he did, what's your interest in this? Is she your girlfriend now?" Jules asked him.
"Small town, small way of thinking." Klaus lifted his hands a bit. "I just came from a meeting with Tyler and so happens that the two of you were standing on my way out, and since I was forced to stop I thought that I would share the good news."
"What good news?" Brady grumbled annoyed.
"I've decided to stay in town and who knows... I might take a seat on the Alpha throne."
Jules dropped her chin surprised and looked at Brady who appeared as stunned as she was.
"Mystic Falls needs a new leader." Klaus mused. "Oh... and better luck next time, young wolf." He winked at Brady.
Jules was livid and she was about to unleash hell on Brady.
"Don't even start Jules." He warned her.
"We're done Brady and I'm telling you that as your girlfriend and pack leader." She left him standing along on the road, she finally had enough.
"Whatever." He told her sourly, he wasn't going to let that affect him, she wasn't much of a girlfriend anyway.
[XXXXX]
Rebekah trapped all of her hair up in a bun before picking up the last diary from the pile.
Watching her Elijah leaned against the door of her room. "When you're being sneaky and reading something that you shouldn't, this should be closed." He tapped the wood of the door.
She smiled not taking her eyes away from the diary. "I'm not afraid of being caught Elijah."
"Brave to the bone." He touched his chest.
"Stefan wrote about everything in his life and I mean... everything." she widened her eyes.
"Some of us feel the need to shed our sins by copiously writing them down."
"Do you keep a journal?" she looked up at Elijah.
"My sins are with me everyday Rebekah, there's no need to write them down."
She stood up. "Stefan talks about Fell's Church in his diary, about something that he and Nik did but he doesn't mention what. Do you know anything about that?"
"No I don't." he thought for a second. "But if Stefan doesn't write about it, it must mean that it was too risky to do so, that it was too much of a secret."
"A secret kept by Stefan and Nik?" she asked him low.
"Do you know the date?"
Rebekah shook her head but read the message out loud for Elijah. "I wish there was something I could do for him. Klaus hasn't spoken about what we had to do in Fell's Church but I know it consumes him."
Elijah really had no idea what Stefan was referring to.
Rebekah felt her phone buzzing and read the incoming text message. "The girls are coming over... with Alaric." she looked at Elijah puzzled.
He wasn't less intrigued than she was.
[XXXXX]
Klaus walked into his family room to find Elijah and Alaric waiting for him. "Did we hire a tutor for Rebekah and I wasn't informed of it?"
Elijah waved a diary at him. "I would like you to have a look at this."
"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Klaus opened the journal, instantly he recognized the handwriting.
"I think that I know why you came back to Mystic Falls." Alaric said.
"I came back because my family asked me to." Klaus dropped the diary on the coffee table.
"I was informed today that you've kept things from us." Elijah calmly told him.
"Of course I did." Klaus affirmed without a hiccup.
Elijah fixed the vase on the bigger table trying to sooth his temper.
Klaus knew him to be about to explode. "What is all this? Why was I reading Stefan's inner thoughts?"
Alaric ventured. "Elena and the girls have investigated on their own, they found something that I totally missed until yesterday when I confronted Elena."
"That's a fascinating demonstration of parenthood Alaric but what do I have to do with that?" Klaus asked him annoyed.
"They found out where Mikael is." he answered serious.
"And where is he?" Klaus parted his arms.
Elijah faced Klaus. "You can stop it now, there's no need to keep the façade in motion."
He parted his arms further. "Unmask me."
"We know that you have him locked inside of a tomb that exists under the ruins of Fell's Church." Alaric said.
"What?" Klaus was genuinely confused.
"There is a symbol that can only be seen in pictures, I missed it but Elena and Caroline didn't and Bonnie found out that it was part of a spell to keep someone trapped inside of that tomb and now with this diary we found out that it was you who locked him in there." Alaric unraveled his theory.
"It's not Mikael." Klaus firmly said.
Elijah exasperated. "We've looked at the facts."
"Here's another fact for you Elijah, it's not Mikael." Klaus stated ticked off. "Where is Rebekah?" he searched for his phone.
"At The Grill with the girls." Alaric replied.
"She's not procrastinating at some pub, I know Rebekah..." he gave up on the phone because she was ignoring his call. "She's at that bloody tomb right now." He glared at the two useless men standing before him. "You gave all of this fabricated information to my impulsive reckless stubborn sister who is now best friend with three other impulsive reckless and stubborn girls who have forged a backup plan in front of your very eyes and you let them out of your sight?"
"I'm new at this parenting thing." Alaric presented his excuse.
"I need to go to those ruins." Klaus turned to leave the room.
"Niklaus, who is trapped inside of that tomb?" Elijah persisted.
"Finn." Klaus said on his way out already.
"Who's Finn?" Alaric was definitely a fish out of water.
But Elijah wasn't in a condition where he could answer Alaric, he was too engrossed with his own alarming thoughts.
[XXXXX]
Rebekah and Caroline were left a bit behind on their excursion, with Elena and Bonnie well on the lead Rebekah took the chance to speak a little to Caroline, she was quieter than usual and that was definitely suspicious. "How did everything work out last night?" Rebekah asked her.
Caroline was wearing a flowing summer dress, it was white but with a pattern of small pink flowers over the bust and she answered with her eyes on the wide white skirt of her dress. "It was ok. I managed to survive."
"Were there any close encounters with Brady and his bunch?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle." she quietly smiled at Rebekah.
"Did Nik go over to your house?" she inquired curious.
"Bekah... are you trying to fix me up with your evil brother?"
Rebekah groaned. "You would be the perfect sister-in-law."
Caroline laughed.
"Imagine the parties that we would organize together." Rebekah said dreamily.
"Imagine the possibilities indeed." Caroline said with a giggle.
"I like this scenario. You're already a vampire so we wouldn't have any silly mortality drama, you have awesome fashion taste, you're fun to have around and you can hold your own in a battle. You're perfect for Nik." Rebekah established.
"Don't quit your day job yet, Cupid." Caroline shook her head.
Bonnie and Elena stopped when they reached the ruins and smiled at the two slow blondes.
"There's nothing like a little Indiana Jones adventure on a Sunday morning." Bonnie smiled.
"I still can't believe that you told Alaric about this." Caroline huffed.
Elena gave her a look. "I couldn't do anything about it... he and Jenna totally had me against the wall."
"At least you didn't tell them everything..." Bonnie took a yellow necklace from her pocket.
"What is that?" Rebekah pointed at the jewelry piece.
"It belonged to Emily, she was the Bennett witch who performed the spell to enclose Mikael down there." she placed the necklace over her family Grimoire.
"Are you trying to wake my father?" Rebekah asked on the fence.
Bonnie looked at her friends.
Rebekah snapped. "Enough with the secrets already, I've earned my place inside of this circle."
"I see that the bad temper runs in the family." Caroline commented smiling.
Rebekah glared at her. "I don't like being used and I don't like being kept in the dark either."
"Rebekah, we already knew that Mikael was in here." Caroline calmed her down. "I went with Bonnie to get the diaries because we were afraid of what this Stefan guy might have written about it."
"Then why did we break into Alaric's, risking that he might find out which he eventually did?" Rebekah couldn't see the point at all.
"To test you." Elena said with a small smile. "And because we've seen enough movies to know about smoke and mirrors."
Rebekah growled without really opening her mouth.
Bonnie appeased her with another smile. "When we found out that he was here, we managed to open the tomb." Bonnie shrugged. "I'm really good at this."
"But... did you get inside of the tomb?"
"We did." Caroline nodded at Rebekah. "When we found out about the spell we just needed to know how to open the tomb and after Mason got his hands on Emily's grimoire we had the chance to use the necklace that's been in Bonnie's family for generations."
"We found a coffin inside." Elena added.
"And what did you do with the coffin?" Rebekah suddenly wished that Klaus was here.
"We moved it." Caroline said.
"You did what?" Rebekah had to call Klaus, he would know what to do.
"We haven't opened it yet because that's the tricky part of it all. Bonnie could open it now but we still have no idea how to kill Mikael." Elena confessed.
"So you basically have everyone focused on phase one while you're already on stage twenty of your super secret and super elaborated plan." Rebekah eyed the girls perplexed.
"Pretty much... yeah..." Bonnie nodded.
Rebekah gave up. "What are we doing now?"
"I'm going to perform a spell to create a supernatural barrier inside of the tomb, it will be a bit like what happens inside of that cave with the drawings, it will gives us time to figure out what to do with the coffin." Bonnie started concentrating on the Grimoire.
Elena smiled at Rebekah warmly. "Now you know everything."
Rebekah found the girls insane but they actually had a good plan. "How can I help?"
[XXXXX]
Bonnie mumbled something that no one else but her understood, she had her eyes closed and repeated the words in the spell that she knew by heart now, she had been working on it for days and didn't really need at this point to use the Grimoire so he handed it to Elena.
The girl joined Rebekah who stood by the entrance of the tomb, she was keeping watch and making sure that no one interrupted the spell, so far everything was going smoothly but the one in charge of keeping an eye on the woods was Caroline.
She was sitting outside of the ruins and using her shoe to move a few tiny rocks on the ground, she was trying to keep her mind here but it kept flying to the night before, she couldn't get the entire scene out of her head, in particular Klaus desperately wanting to go inside of her house to rescue her, this was the hardest part to deal with after all that Rose had said about them, about him.
Caroline had a set in stone image of Klaus, he enjoyed playing mind games, he had a mean and evil side, he tortured his victims psychologically bringing them to their knees before finishing them but none of this made sense when she recalled the way he talked to her or the way he looked at her.
Her thoughts were clouded but not her eyes, she noticed the tiny rocks trembling on the ground and instantly her senses picked up on the footsteps behind her, with a twirl she stood up to face the unwanted guest. "What an expected surprise." she snarled at Brady.
"Why aren't you dead? I'm sure that I followed your scent last night."
"You found me but I kicked you in the head and went home."
Brady started playing with a dart in his hand. "I'm not waiting for the next moon to get rid of you."
Caroline easily smiled at him. "What are you waiting for then?"
Brady jumped over a big log that was nested between the ruins and flung straight at her but Caroline tackled him strongly which made him fall backwards, the impact caused a big fragment on the ground to break in two but when Caroline was ready to kick him Brady grabbed her foot and propelled to the ground.
Caroline crashed hard against a pile of debris but in instinct rolled over to avoid a boot aimed at her face, she was back on her feet fast and ready for Brady and the small knife that he had in his hand.
"Come on Caroline... make a move." He taunted her with a knife in his hand and a dart in the other.
Angrily she flashed using the back of her hand to violently slap him, with her strength it was as good as a punch but Brady fought back with a real one, it hit her right on her cheek bone and Caroline winced in pain, it was satisfying for him to see her hurting but he expected the knife to make more harm.
Caroline hissed when he made a cut in her arm with the knife.
"Vervain..." he smiled launching at a second attack.
Caroline pulled back to avoid a slice right across her stomach but she didn't avoid a dart that he skillfully plunged into the carotid artery in her neck, she stumbled dizzy almost instantly.
"I know my anatomy." He murmured pleased that venom was mixing fast with her blood.
"So do I." Caroline kicked him hard right where she knew that it hurt.
Brady complained with a painful groan and bent down to allure her in, as expected she was ready to kick him again but it was Brady who won the round, Caroline landed on her back with two hands forcefully closing around her neck, he squeezed until she started rasping for air but there was a smell of blood in the air as well and Brady noticed that she hit her head hard against a rock when he toppled her to the ground.
Still Caroline tried to fight him off, she was strong but so was Brady and suddenly his hands weren't around her neck but pinning her wrists and he wasn't pressing her body to keep her on the ground but to actually feel her body.
"No..." Caroline fought harder, that look on his eyes wasn't repulse, it was lust.
"A fine piece of ass..." he whispered salivating.
It was the last thing Caroline heard from him as his head did a full turn and his flaccid corpse was shoved off her.
Shaking Caroline looked at a helping hand held out for her, she took it slowly and she didn't look directly into his eyes until he removed the dart from her neck, it was a sting that she could bear, not the harsh aftermath of what just happened.
"Are you all right?" He asked in a caring low tune.
She lied a bit by nodding.
Slowly Klaus circled his arms around her, it wasn't a overstepping hug but it was the comfort that she needed and Caroline closed her eyes lost in his warm embrace.
"They are downstairs..." she told him lowly after pulling away from his chest.
Klaus brushed her cheek with light fingertips, she was still a bit bruised.
"I still win." She said fueled by a strength that was settling in again. "Out of us both I'm still the one standing and he's the one ready to feed the warms."
He smiled, her bruises could never tarnish that adamant spirit of hers.
Caroline looked back as she heard Rebekah and the girls approaching.
"Caroline, are you ok?" Elena worried that she looked out of a bad fight.
Caroline courageously decided to smile instead of giving in to tears. "I'm fine now."
"I stumbled my way into a fight with Brady and killed him." Klaus informed the girls cooly. "In case anyone trips over his head on the way to the car." he started walking away.
Rebekah followed her brother. "That's one less prick to look at."
Caroline was just behind them and she was feeling hopeful about a future that wouldn't include Brady.
[XXXXXX]
It took Klaus a while to understand everything that Elena, Bonnie and Caroline had been up to, he spent the entire time eyeing Rebekah who was determined to look innocent no matter how implicated she was in all of it.
As the tale and plot thickened Caroline and Bonnie left to speak to the Sheriff while he stayed outside of The Grill with Elena and Rebekah. "Where is the coffin now?" he asked Elena.
Elena shook her head fiercely. "No, that's our leverage so I can't tell you that. Nope!" She shook her head again.
"I can compel you Elena." He simply reminded her of that tiny detail.
Still she looked at him unwavering.
"Vervain is not an obstacle."
Elena's courage only showed a small dent. "My life depends on using that coffin the right way."
"Do you look forward to spend your life without limbs?" He presented the question with a normality that was menacing.
"It's not Mikael inside of that coffin Elena." he tried a different approach.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Right..."
"Tell me where that coffin is Elena or I momentarily forget that you have been nice to my sister and kill you right in front of her."
"I'll make you a deal." Elena suggested. "You don't want your father freed to the world as much as we don't so we'll keep him safe and hidden while you find a way to kill him."
"That coffin is occupied with someone else." Klaus said on a short temper.
Elena smiled. "I'm not stupid Klaus, Mikael is trapped so he couldn't send his vampires after us. Someone is doing it for him and maybe you even know who it is but either way we are all in the same boat here. They want all of us dead, that includes you and your family."
Klaus looked at Rebekah as the other girl left after her final words, she started smiling hugely at him which was always distrustful. "What's with all the glee?"
"You have changed." she beamed.
He guessed where she was headed. "Don't take this any further."
"A week ago you would have killed Elena first and destroyed the town next to look for the coffin."
"I'm embracing new tactics."
Rebekah laughed softly. "Whatever it is Nik, don't stop now... I like this Nik a lot better, he reminds me of Niklaus."
"Niklaus died as a human." he coldly said.
She placed her hand over his heart. "It has always been here, hidden somewhere but he's making a comeback now."
"He's dead Rebekah." he headed to the pub eager for a drink.
As for Rebekah she couldn't be happier.
[XXXXX]
When Klaus came out of The Grill a couple of hours later, he did not expect the vision, Caroline was waiting for him, leaning against the door of his shiny black car. "That's a sight as I've ever seen one."
Caroline smiled and slowly heaved away from his car. "You need to stop saving me."
Klaus showed his dimples as he smiled. "That's an odd request."
"I'm afraid of getting used to it." she answered softly.
"I see how that can be seen as a problem but there are far worse addictions love." he stopped close to her. "And let's be honest love, you're not afraid of anything."
She motioned her shoulders a bit. "I know."
He smiled sold on all of that adorableness.
With another step Caroline stopped inches away from him and looking into his eyes she felt trapped in them, she slowly moved a hand to the back of his neck while the other found his hair, her lips came dangerously close to his but she halted with a smile on her lips, it was a small play.
Klaus breathed against her red lavish lips but he still didn't make a move, his hands didn't seek for her body not even when she stroked his neck and almost kissing him only to pull back at the last second, he couldn't tell what aroused him the most, Caroline being so much in control or the fact that he was willingly allowing her to be in control. "Are you going to let me to kiss you?"
"I should..." she glided her thumb along the line of his chin while her hand was still on his neck. "You left me another drawing and you made the air breathable again by getting rid of Brady."
"I should've killed him the first night I saw him harassing you."
He was serious and blunt and Caroline gulped down affected.
"And I will not impose myself for a kiss when you've already been crassly attacked today." He kept his distance on point with his words.
Caroline was moved, by his personality, his words and then again by the way he looked at her and with softness she neared her lips until she was touching his, sweetly she pressed his lower lip before searching his upper lip and that's when he captured her lips in perfection.
He also touched her for the first time, he placed a hand in the middle of her back and while he tasted the warmth of her lips gently he moved his hand under her shoulder and brought her body closer to his.
Caroline willingly melted against him, they hadn't left the chasteness of lips only tasting lips but they were taking their time being glued to each other and enjoying the simplicity of a kiss that didn't feel wrong.
[XXXXXX]
Soundtrack:
Kiss me - Ed Sheeran