Chapter Text
Episode 1
"Mr. Forbes, did you see your attacker?" Elena boldly approached her in transition dad.
Bill Forbes shook his head. "I didn't see anything. Tried to sneak out the back exit and someone came up from behind."
Caroline tongued her fangs, heart racing with the desire to scour this tiny town for the person that did this to her father. Taking a breath, Caroline retracted her fangs and turned to her dad.
"Look, we'll figure this out, but in the meantime, we need to get you some blood." She was making her way to the door, heading to the blood bank, but her dad stopped her.
"I'm not going to drink any blood."
Elena stepped in, spouting out the obvious. "You have to. You died with vampire blood in your system. If you don't feed and finish the transition into a vampire, you'll die."
Bill shook his head, and she recognized the Forbes stubbornness. "I understand how it works. And that's what I'm prepared to do." He stood from the hospital bed and walked to the door. "Now, get me out of this hospital, I smell blood everywhere."
Her father walked out. Caroline tried taking a deep breath to calm herself, restraining from hitting something while under the watchful stare of Elena Gilbert. But her dad was right and all she could smell and taste was blood.
"Someone killed my dad, knowing about Damon's blood in his system." It made her sick that it was Damon's blood that brought her dad back. A part of her raged that he still had so much power over her life, but the desire to find the culprit was louder this time.
Elena was weighing Caroline's stability and need for emotional help. Caroline appreciated Elena's attention, it was something she rarely received, but at the moment she needed to use it instead of accepting it.
"Do you mind driving him to my mom's? I'm going to grab some blood bags in case he changes his mind."
"Of course, whatever you need." Caroline managed a grateful nod before she flashed out of the room. Caroline didn't stop at the blood bank.
There weren't many people that knew about her father being in town. Despite their relationship, her first thought had been Tyler. Her boyfriend was the one to call him and the one to put him in the hospital. And now he was missing.
Caroline didn't know what either male was thinking, forcing Tyler to shift with only a human around to help. It had been a new level of stupid pride for both of them.
"How badly do you want your freedom?" her dad had asked Tyler.
And he'd looked at her. She was only eighteen. If supernaturals hadn't uprooted her life their relationship would have had an expiration date synced with graduation. Now everything was heightened, more serious, and Tyler was torturing himself repeatedly so he couldn't be asked to poison her again.
Tyler was a lot of things but despite triggering the werewolf curse, he wasn't a murderer. No, there was just one hybrid that was in this town. The one that had targeted her before needed to be checked off the suspect list.
Without a human landlord, Caroline flashed into the Mikaelson house without issue. Predictably, Klaus was in the living room, probably musing over diabolical plans. He was unprepared for Caroline's arrival.
Managing one surprise attack, Caroline struck Klaus in the chest, pushing him from his drawing board. Caroline tried to shove him again, but Klaus caught her hands, eyes flashing but face remaining deceptively calm.
"Easy, Love, use your words."
"Oh, I have plenty to say to you." Caroline struggled against Klaus, but he didn't release her. "Which of your slaves did you send to do it, huh? Was it Tyler again? Do you get a sick satisfaction out of ordering him to hurt me?"
Klaus furrowed his eyebrow, letting go of her wrists and stepping back. "I haven't seen the Lockwood boy since I last saw you, Love. I've no idea what you are accusing me of."
Caroline glared at Klaus, until she recognized he was telling the truth and the earlier anger dissipated. Sighing, she stepped back and ran a hand through her blonde hair and explained the situation to Klaus. The Original Hybrid listened, guiding Caroline to a couch with a light touch on her elbow. Distracted by her story, Caroline followed his lead and collapsed, ending her story with her earlier realization that the person that had killed her dad may have been one of Klaus's Hybrids.
"I can't fault you for suspecting me, typically that is a safe bet. However, there would be no reason to target your father when Elena still has a living father figure of her own."
Caroline blinked. He was right, targeting Alaric would make much more sense than targeting Caroline's father. In fact, there was a long list of people that Klaus could target to threaten Stefan or Elena with that didn't include either of Caroline's parents.
Caroline rubbed her face. "So, now I have no answers and have to figure out a way to get my dad to drink." Sighing, Caroline picked herself up off the couch. Klaus stood as well, watching her cautiously.
Caroline walked towards the front door, distracting herself with the beautiful art and decorations around her instead of the task ahead. Before she reached the Entrance Hall, Klaus called her name.
"Just because Vampirism suits you, Love, does not mean it is for everyone."
When Caroline had woken up in the hospital in the middle of transition she hadn't been given the choice of whether or not to drink. Because her life long friend hadn't trusted her, no one had told her what to expect. She'd fed and compelled the nurse to forget. Her first bite had been a controlled nibble. It had only been after she saw Damon that she'd attacked someone.
Her father knew what was happening, what his options were. Bill Forbes knew more about vampires than his vampire daughter did. And he hated them. Dying was a better option than becoming what he hated. He would not budge.
"God, how can you hate me so much!"
She was trying. Every day since Katherine killed her, Caroline had done what was demanded of her to keep her daylight ring. No drinking from the vein, little to no compulsion, and listening to her friends, the town's epitomes of morality. And every day, the mask she adorned pressed in tighter and tighter. It was getting harder to breathe but she was trying.
In his last words, his father assured her that she was still his daughter, even as a vampire. That he believed she was good. When he took his last breath Caroline crushed his hand and prayed he was right.
Now, her father was dead, and Caroline couldn't show her mother the blood lust that rose in her heart. His killer was walking the streets of Mystic Falls, and Caroline wanted to drain his veins. Instead, all she was allowed to do was cry.
So, she cried violently. She cried against her mother, she cried into her father's cold shoulder, and she sobbed into a pillow after the coroner arrived and took his body. The tears were steady and manageable enough to hear the buzzing of her phone.
"Still need confirmation, but Klaus has been taken care of."
o0o0o0o0o
Tension in the Mikaelson Mansion was thick enough to bite. Within twelve hours, the empty house had welcomed all of the awoken Mikaelson children and their long dead mother. Finn, predictably, had followed their mother around like a puppy, mostly ignoring Klaus. The others, Kol, and Rebekah in particular, found it difficult not to be bitter towards their half-brother.
"No, he didn't kill Mother, he just daggered all of us for centuries," Rebekah sneered in the middle of Esther's lecture for to forgive and forget.
Eventually, the siblings found an uneasy truce, the same they'd always found after Klaus removed a dagger. Rebekah was still hurt by Klaus's recent actions, but Kol, who'd been daggered the second longest, decided to put the ordeal behind him and learn about this new time period.
"Hybrids?" asked Kol after Rebekah asked where the servants were. "So, you did it then?"
Klaus was about to proudly reveal how he'd broken the sun and moon curse, when Rebekah snidely interjected. "Oh yes, he found another doppelgänger to drain so he could unleash the mutt inside him, but this one has two idiot brothers vying for her attention as well and they managed to save her, with Elijah's bleeding heart's help. Good thing too since her blood is what keeps the Hybrids from dying."
"Yes, yes, the witches and their tricks are endlessly funny."
Kol and Klaus conversed until Finn and Esther had entered, and the tension returned. As well as a general sense of exasperation as Esther revealed her plans for reentering society.
"A ball?" Klaus curled his lip.
"Yes, this is our home, we must meet our new neighbors."
"But they're human," bemoaned Kol
"Yes, and our last ones were Werewolves, you will manage."
Arguing was futile. Their mother had determined they would reclaim their revered position in the neighborhood.
Klaus did what he could to agree with everything he could stomach. All he'd wanted was to be a family again. He'd built the home and now they were there together, but he'd rarely felt more alone. Even Rebekah, who'd always been by his side, scorned his company and chose Finn above him.
Time would heal as it always did, so Klaus sequestered himself in his art room. The only sibling to seek him out in the twelve hours of being together was his brother.
"Elijah," greeted Klaus, grinning at his big brother. Elijah narrowed his eyes at Klaus, ignoring the art surrounding them. Klaus closed his mouth, shutting down the hope that had risen.
"Mother may have forgiven you, but that does not mean I do. You still killed her, and you still daggered my family." Klaus swallowed, closing the sketch book and bracing for the attack. Elijah narrowed his eyes but didn't approach. He knew his words could hurt Niklaus deeper than any wound. "You once said love is weakness, and we are not weak. I didn't realize that meant you were incapable."
o0o0o0o0o0o
A ball was the perfect thing to bury her grief with. And it gave her mom a real argument to convince her to drink blood. It had been easier to numb the pain from desiccation than to drink what had ultimately killed her father.
She was fashionably late, walking into the mansion and gracefully passing the people she'd known her whole life. There were a few she didn't recognize, and it was them Caroline tried to focus on, pretending she was far away surrounded by Lords and Ladies.
"Beautiful dress." A handsome man Caroline didn't recognize approached her. Though gifted by the man that three days ago had tried to kill her and who had driven her boyfriend out of town, Caroline loved the blue dress and smiled at the compliment.
"Thank-"
"It looks just like Princess Catherine of Aragon's from England back in the 14s that my brother and I stole as a prank."
"Your brother?" Caroline suspected she knew the answer. The young male offered his hand and introduced himself.
"Kol Mikaelson."
"Ah." Caroline was looking around the room for any other person to speak with.
"And you are?"
"Leaving." Caroline walked out of the conversation with the Original. She already had one of the Mikaelson interested in her, she didn't need the younger brother's.
"Feisty." Kol kept pace with her. "Not typically Nik's choice. He was always for the sublimation type. Though, I suppose they never lasted longer than it took to drain them."
"Fascinating," deadpanned Caroline.
"Intimately so." Kol's jesting tone dropped, as did his pace beside her.
Caroline looked back at the youngest Mikaelson brother. He watched her walk away with dangerous interest. Caroline hated the knowledge that this male could compel her. If she wasn't on vervain, a few whispered words and she would be locked in her own mind subjected to his desires. Her palms began sweating at the memories she wished she could forget, again. It didn't help that the star of her nightmares was dressed up and talking to her best friend on the across the room.
But Caroline Forbes wasn't that girl anymore and she refused to be again. She narrowed her eyes at Kol Mikaelson then turned her back on him.
His low laughter followed her into the next room.
Shaken, Caroline searched for a comforting face and found Klaus observing her with a half-smile. As his date, she was obligated to talk to him, so she approached with a placid smile.
"Good evening," greeted Klaus.
"Either your Hybrids are bad waiters, or your compulsion is weak on the servants." Caroline looked around, not seeing any one with a drink plate. Turning back to Klaus with a raised eyebrow, she saw how amused her comment made him. "What?"
"Shall I get you a drink?"
"No, I can get it myself." Caroline tipped her chin up and sauntered off. She'd found a table of drinks, only to manage two sips before music started and Klaus was at her elbow, hand extended to guide her to the dance floor.
Caroline made a show of rolling her eyes but took his hand. The Hybrid was a good dancer, and she was thankful for her lessons. She could feel every set of eyes judging her for being in this man's arms.
"I'm glad you came." Klaus drew her attention back to him.
"Well, I figured I owed you after running in here to accuse you of-"
She cut herself off, the wound too raw to bring up with others watching. Understanding, Klaus tightened his hold on her hand, offering discreet comfort.
"You owe me nothing, Caroline." She swallowed and didn't reply. "I'm sorry about your father."
The chasm of grief inside her yawned open, ready to pull her back in.
Klaus's thumb swept along the back of her hand. She managed to whisper, "thank you."
Klaus relaxed his grip, and they continued dancing. Caroline warmed under Klaus' heated stare. She was about to snap at him for it when he smiled.
"You look ravishing, Love."
Caroline looked down at the dress and knew she must not compare to the royal he'd last seen in it. "I didn't have time to go shopping," she deflected.
"And the bracelet I got you, what is your excuse for wearing it?"
Caroline glanced at the beautiful diamond bracelet, remembering the thrill she'd gotten when she found it the morning after her birthday. No one could fault her for loving beautiful things.
"I don't have one. You have good taste." She blushed at his proud grin.
The dance required that they separate, everyone switching partners. Caroline found herself in the familiar arms of Matt. Falling out of the stupor Klaus had given her, Caroline's mask slipped right back into place.
"What are you doing?" She hissed. "Why are you here with Rebekah?" Caroline didn't really have an issue with the other blonde, save for her vendetta against Elena, but pretenses had to be kept.
"What was I supposed to say? No? And why the hell are you here with Klaus, what about Tyler?"
What about Tyler.
"He saved my life, this seemed like an easy enough way to pay him back."
0o0o0o0o
Kol leaned against the wall, idly watching the dance floor.
His mother was the only witch in attendance and yet Natural magic poked at his old senses. Someone had the aurora, and she happened to be his half-brother's date.
"Sulking in the corner, Kol?" Rebekah appeared next to him. "You could have always compelled someone to accompany you."
Kol chuckled. "The sidelines fit me fine tonight, sister. Perfect place to meet our neighbors and my siblings' dates. Such as Nik's."
"Caroline Forbes?" Rebekah scrunched up her nose. Her brother easily picked up on the jealousy. Typical Bekah.
"She's intriguing."
"She's unimportant," retorted Rebekah. Kol hummed but did not agree.
Esther wanted her little girl to take after her, but it was Kol that had an aptitude for magic. When he'd lost his humanity, his magic had been ripped away, leaving behind a hole he'd tried filling with blood and chaos.
Nature took her time accommodating to his mother's creations. She sought balance in everything, however, and eventually a new one was established. It took centuries, but one day Kol woke up and felt the brush of magic again. It was faint, even the strongest, and he'd never be able to bend it to his will again, but he felt it. He appreciated every gentle caress of natural magic in the air.
And Caroline Forbes had Natural magic wrapped around her like the stolen dress twirling around her. But none of his siblings seemed to notice it, and he hadn't decided if it was noteworthy yet.
So, he turned back to his jealous sister with a mischievous grin. "What of your date?"