Work Text:
“I want her eyeballs.”
Klaus sighed as he poured himself a drink. “Now, love,” he said in a placating tone. “I need her to break the curse.”
“And I need her to stop ogling you like you’re something to eat,” Caroline answered snidely. “Maddox is just as capable at performing the spell.”
“Sweetheart, Greta is a means to an end. You know that. This will all be over soon.”
Caroline flashed fang as she swept out of the room. “Sooner than you think,” she muttered.
She knew better than to ruin his plans. Rebekah and Kol were still daggered for their mistakes, and Caroline would be damned if she let Klaus steal her years, too.
So, she turned to tequila.
If the Grill offered her an opportunity for a little reconnaissance, Caroline certainly wouldn’t mind.
Plus, she did so enjoy the almost unnoticeable jolt from Elijah when she walked through the door. “Caroline,” he greeted, a frisson of unease in his voice. Oh, she could relish in her stoic big brother’s unease.
“Hello, ‘Lijah,” she chirped. “I bet you didn’t know I was in town.”
“I didn’t,” he admitted, staring at his glass of red wine. “You rarely put up with Niklaus’s exploits when it involves the witches.”
Caroline’s eyes narrowed. “Though I shouldn’t be surprised to find you within spitting distance of yet another doppelgänger,” she said, shrewdly nodding to dear Elena playing pool in the corner with her own witch friend. “Will you ever stop falling in love with that face?”
Elijah shook his head, ignoring her accusations. “Will you ever stop letting my brother kill for his own gain?”
“I suppose we all have our own cross to bear,” Caroline sighed, raising her shot glass in a toast.
“I’d bear just about anything for those legs.”
Caroline raised an eyebrow at the slimy comment. She turned to find one of the Salvatore brothers leering at her legs, not even bothering to raise his eyes. “Which one are you,” she asked rudely. “The one sleeping with the doppelgänger or pining after her?”
“Which one are you to be hanging around Originals,” he tossed back, waggling his eyebrows. “I’d never heard of them, and suddenly there’s a posse. Though, you’re certainly the prettiest one so far.”
Scoffing, Caroline turned back to the bar. “My husband would likely take offense to that, he so does love being the prettiest.”
“Husband,” the younger vampire chuckled as he reached out to graze her shoulder. “And who the hell is your husband.”
Caroline abruptly smashed the shot glass against the bar, only to shove the jagged glass into Salvatore’s neck. “You’re asking the wrong question,” she said, shrugging as he choked on his own blood. “You should be wondering who the hell I am, and just how much hell I can rain down on your pathetic existence.”
“Damon,” Elena yelled from the edge of the bar, running over to the commotion. “What did you do?” Her brown eyes filled with tears, enraged at the curious blonde standing over her.
“I believe I sent a message,” Caroline answered easily, much to Elijah’s chagrin. “I am not someone you want to mess with, even though my dear brother here is helping you wage a war you have no business fighting.”
“Brother,” Elena asked, breathless in her confusion as she looked to Elijah. “What is she talking about?”
Caroline didn’t bother to hide her glee at Elijah’s uncomfortable shift. “You haven’t told them?”
“I didn’t think it prudent,” Elijah answered evenly. “Elena, may I introduce my brother’s wife, Caroline?”
“So you’re-”
“An Original, yes,” Caroline said. “I’ve watched my dear Niklaus suffer for years at living a half-life, as has ‘Lijah. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Mystic Falls, only to find my favorite big brother plotting my husband’s demise.”
“He killed Rebekah and Kol,” Elijah bit out, making the rare public outburst.
“And you’d kill the only brother you have left, just as he can finally embrace his full self?” Caroline eyes were wide incredulity and betrayal. “Even though he’s being an ass right now, you know he needs us.”
“And I needed them,” Elijah answered softly, leaning in to kiss her cheek before leaving the Grill.
Elena was still crying over Damon’s bloodied body, but Caroline stepped right over them as she made her own exit, rolling her eyes.
She didn’t even say goodbye to Klaus. Elijah would never follow through on his threats against him, and Greta would surely die in the ritual. Her to-do list would be completed without Caroline having to lift a finger.
Rather than stay in Virginia to witness the boys’ testosterone rush, she flew to Chicago. Once she reached the warehouse storing the family coffins, she debated over which sibling to wake first.
“Eeny, meeny, miney,” she whispered to herself before finally choosing. “Kol.”
Flipping open the lid, she found her desiccated brother with the dagger protruding from his chest.
“Niklaus will not be happy with me,” she said cheerfully, pulling the dreaded weapon free. “Who better to celebrate his misery with me?”
Frowning, Caroline scrunched her face in indecision. Shrugging, she flipped open the next coffin, too. Rebekah was daggered in the twenties, and Caroline did so love the finger curls her sister had been able to pull off.
“The more, the merrier! Time for a family reunion, loves.”
Holding both daggers, Caroline made herself comfortable on the floor. All she could do was wait for them to wake up and drink the blood bags she had brought with her.
“This is going to be fun.”