The Way to a Woman's Heart
Title: The Way to a Woman's Heart
Canon: Vampire Diaries
Warnings: spoilers through the end of season 3
Rating: T
Wordcount: 3000+
Characters/Pairings: Caroline/Klaus, Rebekah/Matt, Kol, Elijah, Damon
Notes: Written for a prompt over at softly_me's ficathon.
Prompt: Klaus/Caroline - He doesn't give up trying to win her over.
It starts with a card in her locker. It's pink with a butterfly and a poem about loss and good wishes and someone thinking of her. It's signed "Love" in a hand that's familiar but that she can't place. At first she wants to rip it up, throw it away, take it to Bonnie and have her burn it. Instead she shoves it in her purse and stomps to English.
She leaves during third period. History. The sub seems nice enough but it's just too much to handle with everything else. Caroline waves off Rebekah's concerned look, tells herself the girl's just faking to get back in the loop. Serves her right for killing Elena.
She makes it two miles down the road when the tears make her pull over. She's stronger than this. She is Caroline Forbes, she doesn't cry, she soldiers on. She reaches for her purse, for the emergency supply of tissues she keeps in the side pocket for sad movies, and her fingers brush the card. She pulls it out and this time it seems sweet. There's a small dot of ink on the back of the cover, as if they wanted to write something but weren't sure what, and another at the end of the E, like they were afraid it wasn't enough.
At home she puts the card on her dresser. She doesn't know who sent it. Maybe it was someone who knows the full story, maybe it was just some student who knew how much she liked Alaric and heard Tyler was gone for good this time. It doesn't matter. Someone out there cares, that's all she's ever needed.
-----
The next day she says hi to Rebekah. The girl is flabbergasted but hides it quickly. They're not friends or anything but Caroline's had enough enemies for a few lifetimes already. She doesn't forgive Rebekah for Elena but she understands why.
-----
The next week is the start of state testing. If Alaric were around he'd be making a fuss about how they had to put the supernatural antics on hold and focus on their studies. "I honestly don't care," he'd confessed last year, prompted by a third glass of Damon's best scotch, "but there aren't exactly many jobs out there for a historian turned vampire hunter and Jenna's got this thing about dating losers who can't hold a job." Now Jenna's gone, Alaric's gone, and Caroline can't bring herself to care about filling little bubbles in for three hours.
When she gets to school that Monday there's a purple tulle bag dangling from her locker. Poking out the top are a dozen perfectly sharpened pencils. They're Lisa Frank with unicorns and rainbow shooting stars. Not even the Trig test can wipe the smile off her face.
-----
She spends lunch at the crappy table outside. No one sits there because it's too close to the dumpsters but it's also slightly uphill from the rest of the lawn and she wants a good view of everyone. She's sure the card and the pencils are from the same person and that it's not one of her friends. It has to be someone else, someone on the outside. She hopes this isn't some secret admirer situation but if it is she wants to stop it in its tracks. She just lost Tyler and this whole gift thing rings too much of Klaus who, she'll admit only in the privacy of her own mind, she actually liked when he wasn't trying to kill her friends or trying too hard with her.
She's so busy scanning the crowds of students for who might be she doesn't notice Rebekah sliding onto her bench until she's offering her a drink from her thermos of blood. Caroline declines, she's got her own, and offers to share her third bag of chips. Rebekah takes one and they discuss what foods are best for fighting cravings.
It occurs to Caroline sometime during the Fruit Loops versus Trix discussion that it might be Rebekah. The thought sobers her and she's miraculously saved from explaining when Matt shows up. He's angry. His hands shake and he doesn't just keep his eyes from straying to Rebekah, his whole body is shifted away from her like she isn't there at all. He gives some crap excuse for needing Caroline, who's only too happy to come. She chances a look at Rebekah while she gathers her things and realizes it was most definitely not Rebekah who sent the card. No one who looks at Matt Donovan like that would be signing "love" on a card meant for anyone else.
-----
One of them falls out when she opens her locker. She catches it and sees the other, sparkling atop her Biology notebook, before she realizes what she's holding. They're barrettes. A matching pair. She was admiring them the other day in the second-hand store down on Magnolia. They kind of match her ring and she would have bought them if Damon hadn't come bursting in and dragged her off to help with the current crisis. When she went back later she was sad to find the barrettes gone. It was almost worth it to have an excuse for yelling at Damon a second time. (He should know better than to mess with werewolves by now. Especially since there's no cure anymore if one of them gets bitten cleaning up his mess.)
But the barrettes aren't gone, they're here. Someone must have seen her looking and decided she should have them. Someone who also hadn't been put off by seeing her dragged out of the store by her ex.
Impulsively she drops the barrette next to its twin and grabs the tulle bag from the hook at the top of her locker. She'd filled it with potpourri and now carelessly dumps the petals into a nearby trashcan. She rips a piece of paper from her bag, writes a quick note, stuffs it in the bag, and leaves it hanging from her locker door.
-----
Caroline spends the night with the Originals. She doesn't plan it that way but that way but she and Rebekah are planning the last dance of the school year together and when Elijah comes downstairs at quarter-to-one asking if they're ever planning on going to bed, he also points out that it's not safe for vampires to be out late with the werewolves in town and says he's already called Liz and made up a room for Caroline.
Rebekah says they can't possibly go to bed when the ship's just sunk - watching the lavish entertainments on the Titanic is perfectly legitimate dance research, besides Rebekah's never seen the movie - but that they'll go to bed the second it's over. Caroline thanks Elijah for the bed and he bows out of the room graciously.
Jack dies, Rose dies, the movie ends, Caroline breaks out her emergency tissues, and the girls cry all the way through the credits. They clean up the dance plans, making vague mentions of ideas they haven't gotten to yet.
"I suppose you're going with Matt," Rebekah says in the midst of all this.
Caroline's answering "why?" is so loud it makes a night owl rethink hunting by the Mikaelson house.
Rebekah thought it was obvious. The Salvatores are both very much taken by Elena, Jeremy's with Bonnie, which means the only available male she's close to is Matt. Caroline says no at least a dozen times and explains she's not sure she's even going, that even if she does it probably won't be with anyone. Rebekah shrugs and says goodnight. Caroline considers braving the night and decides against it. Elijah offered and he is the de facto head of the Originals now, she's not about to piss him off just to avoid breakfast with Rebekah.
"I could take you to the dance," Kol says. He was waiting for her to leave the room, probably heard everything. Brat.
She takes it as the joke it is but in bed a few minutes later she goes cold at the idea. A month ago she was being courted - against her will - by his brother. Even if she was up for romance so soon after Tyler, she doesn't think she'll be ready for another Original for at least a hundred years.
-----
There's a book resting against the foot of her locker, one of those teen dramas she used to eat up about a normal girl falling in love with a vampire or a werewolf. There's a note tucked between the pages. Her secret gift-giver - she will not call whoever this is an admirer - side-steps the question about whether he's a stalker and says he just wants to see her happy. She's seemed sad for a long time, especially when she's smiling, and if a few silly gifts can make her days brighter, why shouldn't he give them?
She's reading the book when Matt sits down in her booth. He's on his break and instead of using it to do homework he's using it to talk to her, so this had better be good. Caroline doesn't know how to start so she says everything at once and ends up having to say it all again and slower this time.
Matt has some good arguments and Caroline counters every one with, if she says so herself, exceptional skill.
Rebekah's a thousand years old to his eighteen. It's a hell of an age difference.
Her body's seventeen and what is he, ageist?
They only went out once and he was kind of forced into it.
He had fun, didn't he?
She was planning on killing him.
She didn't.
For fun.
She didn't!
Except then she almost did later and that time she did kill Elena.
Her brother had just died and how clearly could she have been thinking if she tried to kill him too? He's the only one in Mystic Falls she actually likes, and she likes him a lot.
Matt's break ends and nothing's been decided but Caroline knows she's won. She dated Matt herself, after all, she knows when she's worn him down. A smug smile on her face, she goes back to her book.
-----
The next morning she has a note all ready for her secret whoever. She stomps around the school, scaring freshmen and making her friends worry she's been possessed. Rebekah wisely cancels their planning session that night, which only makes Caroline more angry because they both know it's her fault.
It's a long, long night of very little sleep, rereading, and more crying than the night before if that's at all possible.
In the morning there's another book and an apology. He didn't think she'd finish the book so fast. He agrees it's horrible of the book to end with the hero being forced to watch the heroine's death but doesn't it help that there's a preview chapter from the sequel, showing that the heroine survived?
Caroline admits to herself that it helped a little.
If it's any consolation, her secret whoever finishes, he promises that this volume ends happily.
She thinks about flipping to the end, just to check, but decides to trust him.
-----
She makes up for the day before by catching Rebekah when school ends. They go through the motions, feeling each other out, and when Rebekah is finally reassured that Caroline's no longer in a kill-everything-that-moves sort of mood she sighs, thanks a deity Caroline's sure she doesn't actually believe in, and squeals that Matt's asked her to the dance.
Now there are even more important plans to make because Rebekah is going to this dance if it kills everyone in the western hemisphere. Elena and Bonnie go along with Rebekah's presence at all their pre-dance rituals because she's terrifying and Caroline seems to be in some weird grieving phase not mentioned in any of the books. Maybe it's a vampire thing.
Caroline ends up saying yes to Kol, which might be worth it just for the look on his face. She makes it clear she's not actually interested in him, she just wants arm candy and someone's gotta keep him from murdering Matt. Kol agrees on the condition he can flirt with other girls. So long as he doesn't kill them, Caroline doesn't much care.
-----
The dance goes great - until the werewolves show up. Luckily they've all been doing this whole supernatural war thing for what seems like years, so they came prepared. Students are herded out of the way - Caroline and Rebekah spout some B.S. about a prank by a rival school - and the wolves (transformed without the full moon, since when is that happening?) are herded to the football field.
The vampires can't keep their distance, the wolves are here for them after all, so they waste most of their energy dodging teeth and the wooden buckshot and flame-throwers from the werewolves who didn't transform. Matt and Jeremy help as best they can from the sidelines, picking off the wolves and leaving the one who remained human to the vampires.
Damon pulls a wolf off Elena before it can sink its teeth into her neck and tosses it into the stands. He yells for Bonnie. Caroline whirls, worried about her friend, and lands in Kol's arms. He takes the opportunity to cup her ass and whispers in her ear that he saw Bonnie running away. He throws in a few insults when he says it but that's the gist. Caroline can't believe it. Bonnie must have been hurt or going to do a spell from a distance. She hopes it's the latter.
Kol begins pushing her away, giving her a bit of extra momentum to attack the man aiming a gun at Stefan. His hands disappear a second too early and she only manages to knock the man off balance. His shot goes into one of the wolves, causing it to howl in agony. Caroline doesn't savor her success. She turns to look for Kol. He's ten feet from where he was standing and a wolf, bigger than all the rest, is shaking him in its jaws like a naughty pup. Kol's limbs flail about so violently she's sure his bones have all been shaken out of joint. The wolf drops him and turns to her.
She's certain in that moment that she's dead. There is no way she can fight this wolf on her own and no one's coming to her rescue. The wolf leaps - but not at her. It lands atop one of its brothers. Its jaws sink in and in two quick, bloody bites the other wolf is broken in half. Elijah stares at his savior, the horror on his face replaced by a smile. The wolf keeps going, ripping into the others until there's no one left.
Halfway through the bloodbath Damon gets a call. He steps to the side like he's distancing himself from a group at a party.
Bonnie did it. There's more to the message, something about getting Rebekah out of there …. Caroline says she probably means Kol as she goes to check on him. No one hears her. Damon's already hung up and is too busy yelling at Elijah over something.
Caroline's date is still breathing and though the back of his suit is shredded where the wolf held him, there's no sign of a bite. Caroline's thankful, she doesn't think she could handle losing anyone else, even someone she didn't like.
She walks away, waves Matt off when he tries to see if she's okay, tells him to go back to his date. Kol drove her so she walks, enjoying the cool night for the first time since the day Damon dragged her out of that store. In a lot longer than that, if she's honest. She hasn't really enjoyed anything in a while. Except the gifts. Whoever he was, her secret whoever was right. She hasn't been happy since Tyler, maybe even before with all the threats constantly hanging over them.
She's actually glad the dance got ruined. She'd been secretly hoping her admirer (and she secretly hoped that's what he was) would show himself tonight. He might be a perfectly normal guy and she'd be dragging him into all of this. He might be one of those wolves that got ripped to shreds tonight and she definitely doesn't need that drama. Not that it matters anymore. She won't be finding out who her admirer is anyway.
She'll just go home, watch The Notebook, and have herself a good cry. Then tomorrow she'll call Damon. She doesn't want Stefan to do this, he'll just feel bad about it. Damon won't care, he's always wanted to, and he's done this before anyway. She fingers the edge of her dress where it's bloody and ripped. The skin underneath is healed already. It won't be in a few hours though. She's heard about it, how the flesh turns angry and red and opens up. How it spreads over the body like an infection.
It won't be so bad really. She'll see her dad and Tyler, maybe she'll even get to say hi to Alaric and Jenna. Maybe Klaus'll be there, that'll be awkward.
And now she's crying. Perfect. She wipes the tears away furiously. Her dad didn't cry, he didn't feel sorry for himself, and neither will she.
"Why so sad?"
It's not possible. It is absolutely not possible. She's hallucinating. That has to be it. Isn't that one of the symptoms of a werewolf bite? She thought it'd take a few hours at least. Maybe it's going faster because she's so young.
"I'm very real," the mirage-Klaus says. She must have said that out loud. Or maybe he can hear her thoughts, being a figment of her imagination and all. He comes closer, takes her face in his hands and stares at her with the same intensity he did that day he found her in the school, running from Alaric. His hands run down her neck, her arms. His eyes travel down her chest to her stomach. He spins her around to examine her back and stops halfway, eyes on the place she's no longer hurt, the place she will be soon.
"You were bitten." His hands shake as he turns her to face him. "You should never have been out there. You could have died, do you understand that?"
"I am going to die." It's true. She's as good as dead already.
He frowns, confused, and suddenly realizes what she means. He lifts his wrist to his mouth and rips it open with his fangs. He orders her to drink. She pulls away. This hallucination has gone on too long and she doesn't want it tricking her into thinking she's okay. She might kill someone when she starts to really go crazy.
His wrist heals and he bites it again, this time holding the back of her head and forcing her to drink. It tastes just like last time. Different from human blood, but not so different as squirrel or bunny. She swallows, knowing it won't do any good. He makes her drink more than she needs and when he lets go she stumbles back. She hits a tree and leans against it, focusing on soothing her hunger.
Her phone rings while she's still trying to calm herself and she answers on the second ring. It's Damon. Where is she? Klaus is alive. He's the one who saved them and now he's gone missing. Where the hell is she? They're having a meeting and it'd be really nice if the only Klaus-bait they have who he doesn't want to kill or maim was there.
Klaus plucks the phone from her numb fingers, ends the call, and slips it back into her bag. He tucks her hair behind her ear and touches one of her barrettes on the way. "Beautiful," he says.
"I didn't think they'd be your taste," she says weakly. They're cheap and plastic and second hand (and not in the "I got it from a princess" kind of way).
"No, but they're to yours and I like your taste. Did you finish the book?"
Now she really needs the tree for support.
"Told you it had a happy ending, didn't I?"
She takes a deep breath. This is just a little too weird and impossible, even for her life. "I- I have to go."
He stops her from walking away or stops her from falling, she's not sure. Either way he lifts her up in his arms and tells her she's not going to Damon's silly meeting.
-----
She wakes up in the same bed Elijah made for her at the Mikaelson house. Klaus is sitting in a chair by the window, drawing her. He didn't try to take her to his room or get into her bed. He gave her something to change into, turned his back while she did, and kissed her goodnight. On the forehead. Then he started to draw and she fell asleep watching him. He said he's spent weeks stuck in a cave while Bonnie repaired his body without any reference to the original to go off of save his own memory, so she'll have to put up with his artistic quirks for just a little while. Just until he's finished capturing her.
They'll have to get to the hows and the whys and what it all means soon, but it's early and he really is nice when he's not killing anyone. Plus there's a book next to her bed that looks like it might be a sequel to the two he gave her.
"Does this have a happy ending too?" she asks as she flips to the first page.
"You'll have to find out." He smiles at her over his sketchbook. She's moved, ruined all his hard work. He'll have to start over now.
She doesn't mind.
Canon: Vampire Diaries
Warnings: spoilers through the end of season 3
Rating: T
Wordcount: 3000+
Characters/Pairings: Caroline/Klaus, Rebekah/Matt, Kol, Elijah, Damon
Notes: Written for a prompt over at softly_me's ficathon.
Prompt: Klaus/Caroline - He doesn't give up trying to win her over.
It starts with a card in her locker. It's pink with a butterfly and a poem about loss and good wishes and someone thinking of her. It's signed "Love" in a hand that's familiar but that she can't place. At first she wants to rip it up, throw it away, take it to Bonnie and have her burn it. Instead she shoves it in her purse and stomps to English.
She leaves during third period. History. The sub seems nice enough but it's just too much to handle with everything else. Caroline waves off Rebekah's concerned look, tells herself the girl's just faking to get back in the loop. Serves her right for killing Elena.
She makes it two miles down the road when the tears make her pull over. She's stronger than this. She is Caroline Forbes, she doesn't cry, she soldiers on. She reaches for her purse, for the emergency supply of tissues she keeps in the side pocket for sad movies, and her fingers brush the card. She pulls it out and this time it seems sweet. There's a small dot of ink on the back of the cover, as if they wanted to write something but weren't sure what, and another at the end of the E, like they were afraid it wasn't enough.
At home she puts the card on her dresser. She doesn't know who sent it. Maybe it was someone who knows the full story, maybe it was just some student who knew how much she liked Alaric and heard Tyler was gone for good this time. It doesn't matter. Someone out there cares, that's all she's ever needed.
-----
The next day she says hi to Rebekah. The girl is flabbergasted but hides it quickly. They're not friends or anything but Caroline's had enough enemies for a few lifetimes already. She doesn't forgive Rebekah for Elena but she understands why.
-----
The next week is the start of state testing. If Alaric were around he'd be making a fuss about how they had to put the supernatural antics on hold and focus on their studies. "I honestly don't care," he'd confessed last year, prompted by a third glass of Damon's best scotch, "but there aren't exactly many jobs out there for a historian turned vampire hunter and Jenna's got this thing about dating losers who can't hold a job." Now Jenna's gone, Alaric's gone, and Caroline can't bring herself to care about filling little bubbles in for three hours.
When she gets to school that Monday there's a purple tulle bag dangling from her locker. Poking out the top are a dozen perfectly sharpened pencils. They're Lisa Frank with unicorns and rainbow shooting stars. Not even the Trig test can wipe the smile off her face.
-----
She spends lunch at the crappy table outside. No one sits there because it's too close to the dumpsters but it's also slightly uphill from the rest of the lawn and she wants a good view of everyone. She's sure the card and the pencils are from the same person and that it's not one of her friends. It has to be someone else, someone on the outside. She hopes this isn't some secret admirer situation but if it is she wants to stop it in its tracks. She just lost Tyler and this whole gift thing rings too much of Klaus who, she'll admit only in the privacy of her own mind, she actually liked when he wasn't trying to kill her friends or trying too hard with her.
She's so busy scanning the crowds of students for who might be she doesn't notice Rebekah sliding onto her bench until she's offering her a drink from her thermos of blood. Caroline declines, she's got her own, and offers to share her third bag of chips. Rebekah takes one and they discuss what foods are best for fighting cravings.
It occurs to Caroline sometime during the Fruit Loops versus Trix discussion that it might be Rebekah. The thought sobers her and she's miraculously saved from explaining when Matt shows up. He's angry. His hands shake and he doesn't just keep his eyes from straying to Rebekah, his whole body is shifted away from her like she isn't there at all. He gives some crap excuse for needing Caroline, who's only too happy to come. She chances a look at Rebekah while she gathers her things and realizes it was most definitely not Rebekah who sent the card. No one who looks at Matt Donovan like that would be signing "love" on a card meant for anyone else.
-----
One of them falls out when she opens her locker. She catches it and sees the other, sparkling atop her Biology notebook, before she realizes what she's holding. They're barrettes. A matching pair. She was admiring them the other day in the second-hand store down on Magnolia. They kind of match her ring and she would have bought them if Damon hadn't come bursting in and dragged her off to help with the current crisis. When she went back later she was sad to find the barrettes gone. It was almost worth it to have an excuse for yelling at Damon a second time. (He should know better than to mess with werewolves by now. Especially since there's no cure anymore if one of them gets bitten cleaning up his mess.)
But the barrettes aren't gone, they're here. Someone must have seen her looking and decided she should have them. Someone who also hadn't been put off by seeing her dragged out of the store by her ex.
Impulsively she drops the barrette next to its twin and grabs the tulle bag from the hook at the top of her locker. She'd filled it with potpourri and now carelessly dumps the petals into a nearby trashcan. She rips a piece of paper from her bag, writes a quick note, stuffs it in the bag, and leaves it hanging from her locker door.
-----
Caroline spends the night with the Originals. She doesn't plan it that way but that way but she and Rebekah are planning the last dance of the school year together and when Elijah comes downstairs at quarter-to-one asking if they're ever planning on going to bed, he also points out that it's not safe for vampires to be out late with the werewolves in town and says he's already called Liz and made up a room for Caroline.
Rebekah says they can't possibly go to bed when the ship's just sunk - watching the lavish entertainments on the Titanic is perfectly legitimate dance research, besides Rebekah's never seen the movie - but that they'll go to bed the second it's over. Caroline thanks Elijah for the bed and he bows out of the room graciously.
Jack dies, Rose dies, the movie ends, Caroline breaks out her emergency tissues, and the girls cry all the way through the credits. They clean up the dance plans, making vague mentions of ideas they haven't gotten to yet.
"I suppose you're going with Matt," Rebekah says in the midst of all this.
Caroline's answering "why?" is so loud it makes a night owl rethink hunting by the Mikaelson house.
Rebekah thought it was obvious. The Salvatores are both very much taken by Elena, Jeremy's with Bonnie, which means the only available male she's close to is Matt. Caroline says no at least a dozen times and explains she's not sure she's even going, that even if she does it probably won't be with anyone. Rebekah shrugs and says goodnight. Caroline considers braving the night and decides against it. Elijah offered and he is the de facto head of the Originals now, she's not about to piss him off just to avoid breakfast with Rebekah.
"I could take you to the dance," Kol says. He was waiting for her to leave the room, probably heard everything. Brat.
She takes it as the joke it is but in bed a few minutes later she goes cold at the idea. A month ago she was being courted - against her will - by his brother. Even if she was up for romance so soon after Tyler, she doesn't think she'll be ready for another Original for at least a hundred years.
-----
There's a book resting against the foot of her locker, one of those teen dramas she used to eat up about a normal girl falling in love with a vampire or a werewolf. There's a note tucked between the pages. Her secret gift-giver - she will not call whoever this is an admirer - side-steps the question about whether he's a stalker and says he just wants to see her happy. She's seemed sad for a long time, especially when she's smiling, and if a few silly gifts can make her days brighter, why shouldn't he give them?
She's reading the book when Matt sits down in her booth. He's on his break and instead of using it to do homework he's using it to talk to her, so this had better be good. Caroline doesn't know how to start so she says everything at once and ends up having to say it all again and slower this time.
Matt has some good arguments and Caroline counters every one with, if she says so herself, exceptional skill.
Rebekah's a thousand years old to his eighteen. It's a hell of an age difference.
Her body's seventeen and what is he, ageist?
They only went out once and he was kind of forced into it.
He had fun, didn't he?
She was planning on killing him.
She didn't.
For fun.
She didn't!
Except then she almost did later and that time she did kill Elena.
Her brother had just died and how clearly could she have been thinking if she tried to kill him too? He's the only one in Mystic Falls she actually likes, and she likes him a lot.
Matt's break ends and nothing's been decided but Caroline knows she's won. She dated Matt herself, after all, she knows when she's worn him down. A smug smile on her face, she goes back to her book.
-----
The next morning she has a note all ready for her secret whoever. She stomps around the school, scaring freshmen and making her friends worry she's been possessed. Rebekah wisely cancels their planning session that night, which only makes Caroline more angry because they both know it's her fault.
It's a long, long night of very little sleep, rereading, and more crying than the night before if that's at all possible.
In the morning there's another book and an apology. He didn't think she'd finish the book so fast. He agrees it's horrible of the book to end with the hero being forced to watch the heroine's death but doesn't it help that there's a preview chapter from the sequel, showing that the heroine survived?
Caroline admits to herself that it helped a little.
If it's any consolation, her secret whoever finishes, he promises that this volume ends happily.
She thinks about flipping to the end, just to check, but decides to trust him.
-----
She makes up for the day before by catching Rebekah when school ends. They go through the motions, feeling each other out, and when Rebekah is finally reassured that Caroline's no longer in a kill-everything-that-moves sort of mood she sighs, thanks a deity Caroline's sure she doesn't actually believe in, and squeals that Matt's asked her to the dance.
Now there are even more important plans to make because Rebekah is going to this dance if it kills everyone in the western hemisphere. Elena and Bonnie go along with Rebekah's presence at all their pre-dance rituals because she's terrifying and Caroline seems to be in some weird grieving phase not mentioned in any of the books. Maybe it's a vampire thing.
Caroline ends up saying yes to Kol, which might be worth it just for the look on his face. She makes it clear she's not actually interested in him, she just wants arm candy and someone's gotta keep him from murdering Matt. Kol agrees on the condition he can flirt with other girls. So long as he doesn't kill them, Caroline doesn't much care.
-----
The dance goes great - until the werewolves show up. Luckily they've all been doing this whole supernatural war thing for what seems like years, so they came prepared. Students are herded out of the way - Caroline and Rebekah spout some B.S. about a prank by a rival school - and the wolves (transformed without the full moon, since when is that happening?) are herded to the football field.
The vampires can't keep their distance, the wolves are here for them after all, so they waste most of their energy dodging teeth and the wooden buckshot and flame-throwers from the werewolves who didn't transform. Matt and Jeremy help as best they can from the sidelines, picking off the wolves and leaving the one who remained human to the vampires.
Damon pulls a wolf off Elena before it can sink its teeth into her neck and tosses it into the stands. He yells for Bonnie. Caroline whirls, worried about her friend, and lands in Kol's arms. He takes the opportunity to cup her ass and whispers in her ear that he saw Bonnie running away. He throws in a few insults when he says it but that's the gist. Caroline can't believe it. Bonnie must have been hurt or going to do a spell from a distance. She hopes it's the latter.
Kol begins pushing her away, giving her a bit of extra momentum to attack the man aiming a gun at Stefan. His hands disappear a second too early and she only manages to knock the man off balance. His shot goes into one of the wolves, causing it to howl in agony. Caroline doesn't savor her success. She turns to look for Kol. He's ten feet from where he was standing and a wolf, bigger than all the rest, is shaking him in its jaws like a naughty pup. Kol's limbs flail about so violently she's sure his bones have all been shaken out of joint. The wolf drops him and turns to her.
She's certain in that moment that she's dead. There is no way she can fight this wolf on her own and no one's coming to her rescue. The wolf leaps - but not at her. It lands atop one of its brothers. Its jaws sink in and in two quick, bloody bites the other wolf is broken in half. Elijah stares at his savior, the horror on his face replaced by a smile. The wolf keeps going, ripping into the others until there's no one left.
Halfway through the bloodbath Damon gets a call. He steps to the side like he's distancing himself from a group at a party.
Bonnie did it. There's more to the message, something about getting Rebekah out of there …. Caroline says she probably means Kol as she goes to check on him. No one hears her. Damon's already hung up and is too busy yelling at Elijah over something.
Caroline's date is still breathing and though the back of his suit is shredded where the wolf held him, there's no sign of a bite. Caroline's thankful, she doesn't think she could handle losing anyone else, even someone she didn't like.
She walks away, waves Matt off when he tries to see if she's okay, tells him to go back to his date. Kol drove her so she walks, enjoying the cool night for the first time since the day Damon dragged her out of that store. In a lot longer than that, if she's honest. She hasn't really enjoyed anything in a while. Except the gifts. Whoever he was, her secret whoever was right. She hasn't been happy since Tyler, maybe even before with all the threats constantly hanging over them.
She's actually glad the dance got ruined. She'd been secretly hoping her admirer (and she secretly hoped that's what he was) would show himself tonight. He might be a perfectly normal guy and she'd be dragging him into all of this. He might be one of those wolves that got ripped to shreds tonight and she definitely doesn't need that drama. Not that it matters anymore. She won't be finding out who her admirer is anyway.
She'll just go home, watch The Notebook, and have herself a good cry. Then tomorrow she'll call Damon. She doesn't want Stefan to do this, he'll just feel bad about it. Damon won't care, he's always wanted to, and he's done this before anyway. She fingers the edge of her dress where it's bloody and ripped. The skin underneath is healed already. It won't be in a few hours though. She's heard about it, how the flesh turns angry and red and opens up. How it spreads over the body like an infection.
It won't be so bad really. She'll see her dad and Tyler, maybe she'll even get to say hi to Alaric and Jenna. Maybe Klaus'll be there, that'll be awkward.
And now she's crying. Perfect. She wipes the tears away furiously. Her dad didn't cry, he didn't feel sorry for himself, and neither will she.
"Why so sad?"
It's not possible. It is absolutely not possible. She's hallucinating. That has to be it. Isn't that one of the symptoms of a werewolf bite? She thought it'd take a few hours at least. Maybe it's going faster because she's so young.
"I'm very real," the mirage-Klaus says. She must have said that out loud. Or maybe he can hear her thoughts, being a figment of her imagination and all. He comes closer, takes her face in his hands and stares at her with the same intensity he did that day he found her in the school, running from Alaric. His hands run down her neck, her arms. His eyes travel down her chest to her stomach. He spins her around to examine her back and stops halfway, eyes on the place she's no longer hurt, the place she will be soon.
"You were bitten." His hands shake as he turns her to face him. "You should never have been out there. You could have died, do you understand that?"
"I am going to die." It's true. She's as good as dead already.
He frowns, confused, and suddenly realizes what she means. He lifts his wrist to his mouth and rips it open with his fangs. He orders her to drink. She pulls away. This hallucination has gone on too long and she doesn't want it tricking her into thinking she's okay. She might kill someone when she starts to really go crazy.
His wrist heals and he bites it again, this time holding the back of her head and forcing her to drink. It tastes just like last time. Different from human blood, but not so different as squirrel or bunny. She swallows, knowing it won't do any good. He makes her drink more than she needs and when he lets go she stumbles back. She hits a tree and leans against it, focusing on soothing her hunger.
Her phone rings while she's still trying to calm herself and she answers on the second ring. It's Damon. Where is she? Klaus is alive. He's the one who saved them and now he's gone missing. Where the hell is she? They're having a meeting and it'd be really nice if the only Klaus-bait they have who he doesn't want to kill or maim was there.
Klaus plucks the phone from her numb fingers, ends the call, and slips it back into her bag. He tucks her hair behind her ear and touches one of her barrettes on the way. "Beautiful," he says.
"I didn't think they'd be your taste," she says weakly. They're cheap and plastic and second hand (and not in the "I got it from a princess" kind of way).
"No, but they're to yours and I like your taste. Did you finish the book?"
Now she really needs the tree for support.
"Told you it had a happy ending, didn't I?"
She takes a deep breath. This is just a little too weird and impossible, even for her life. "I- I have to go."
He stops her from walking away or stops her from falling, she's not sure. Either way he lifts her up in his arms and tells her she's not going to Damon's silly meeting.
-----
She wakes up in the same bed Elijah made for her at the Mikaelson house. Klaus is sitting in a chair by the window, drawing her. He didn't try to take her to his room or get into her bed. He gave her something to change into, turned his back while she did, and kissed her goodnight. On the forehead. Then he started to draw and she fell asleep watching him. He said he's spent weeks stuck in a cave while Bonnie repaired his body without any reference to the original to go off of save his own memory, so she'll have to put up with his artistic quirks for just a little while. Just until he's finished capturing her.
They'll have to get to the hows and the whys and what it all means soon, but it's early and he really is nice when he's not killing anyone. Plus there's a book next to her bed that looks like it might be a sequel to the two he gave her.
"Does this have a happy ending too?" she asks as she flips to the first page.
"You'll have to find out." He smiles at her over his sketchbook. She's moved, ruined all his hard work. He'll have to start over now.
She doesn't mind.