Red Passion

Chapter 16

A few rays of yellow, blinding light make it through the closed curtains, reaching Caroline's still half-sleeping form.

The blonde rolls onto her stomach underneath the champagne pink, silk covers, muttering something unintelligible and bringing her right arm up to cover her eyes, her face now unfortunately directed towards the wide window.

She has no idea what time it is, but, judging by the annoyingly warm and bright sunrays that she can still feel through her closed eyelids, it cannot be too early anymore; too bad she has no intention of waking up as of yet.

After all, after the extremely tiring week that she has just had, she has definitely earned herself a small break.

It's been exactly nine days since she has first set foot in New Orleans with Klaus, and she still is as frustrated as she never thought she could actually ever be, which is definitely saying something because hey, neurotic control freak over here, everybody.

The witches are still working on finding more information about her and Klaus' blood bond and on how to defeat Esther, and to say that the mood under the Mikaelson mansion's roof is tense, with Klaus, Rebekah, Katherine and a kidnapped Stefan all forced to co-exist together, is a huge understatement.

And—of course—with everybody else's attitudes and behaviors constantly clashing together, the role of buffer has somehow been bestowed upon her, and while that's not something that she is completely foreign to, staying in bed is currently looking much more appealing than having to face petty, useless drama all over again for the umpteenth day.

Yes, she definitely does deserve a bit more of rest–

–"Caroline!"–

–or maybe not.

Heaving a huge sigh as she hears the other blonde's voice and her heeled footsteps quickly moving towards her room, Caroline tries to hide her face against the soft pillow underneath her, knowing how futile the attempt is as the door suddenly bursts open behind her.

"Wake up," the Original orders, sounding thoroughly annoyed, and Caroline can just picture her in her all demanding stance with her hands on her hips.

When, after a few moments, the younger vampire still hasn't moved an inch, Rebekah huffs, peeved, bringing her arms up to cross them over her chest.

"I can't stand the doppelbitch on my own anymore, which means that you need to come downstairs and entertain me. I mean, I could always kill her, which would actually do us all a huge favor, but Nik is tripping over his own feet to please you, so she's apparently off-limits."

Squeezing her eyes shut in annoyance and taking a deep breath, Caroline slightly turns around and cranes her neck to look at the other girl.

"I'm not your maid, Rebekah. I don't care if you're bored."

"Oh, God," the accented blonde whines, making a face and feigning a shudder running through her whole body, "You sound just like Nik, already."

Caroline frowns, finally fully sitting up on the bed. "What does that even mean?"

"It means that if you aren't in the living room in the next fifteen minutes, I'm snapping Stefan's neck," Rebekah briefly fakes a sickeningly sweet smile before flashing away, obviously leaving no room for argument between them.

Caroline remains silent for a few more moments, looking at the now empty spot before her with wide eyes and slightly parted lips.

After a moment, her eyebrows furrow together and she can't help but go, "Seriously?"

Sighing for the millionth time, she shakes her head and lets herself fall back down onto the comfortable mattress, soaking into the morning peace for a little while longer, knowing that she doesn't have much time left before inevitably having to get up.