Bound To You

Chapter 12

Caroline didn't know how long she stood there staring at Tatia, probably a solid minute, because next thing she knew Tatia was grabbing Caroline by the wrist and pulling her into the shadows.

"We can't talk here," she whispered, looking around her. "Follow me." She breathed, motioning for Caroline to follow her through a back door.

Caroline paused, trying to collect her thoughts. Tatia was here, the original Petrova doppelganger, and she had been looking for Caroline. How Tatia knew her? She didn't know, but she was curious and had nowhere else to go, so she reluctantly followed her.

"Where are we going?" Caroline asked, as Tatia led her through the city streets. Tatia kept her head down and was moving at such a quick pace Caroline had to run to keep up with her.

"You'll see," Tatia said. She was covered in layers of clothing, so much so that she looked like one large moving blob.

Once they passed all the bars, and brightly lit shops, the streets grew quiet. On this side of town, all of the shops windows were black; their open signs were flipped to closed. The streets were no longer filled with screaming people and cars that blasted their horns. The streets down here were lucky to accompany two cars on such a night.

Then suddenly, Tatia stopped. Caroline looked up at the building they had stopped in front of. It was old, very old. The shutters on the windows were broken, and the roof was beginning to fall apart. The paint on the side of the house was beginning to chip, and the plant life surrounding the house was shriveled and dead. Caroline cringed at all of this, taking a step back, she wasn't sure about this anymore. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up, something wasn't right.

As if she noticed Caroline's discomfort, Tatia turned around and gave Caroline a small smile.

"Don't be afraid," she said. "It's just a place where we can talk without someone listening in."

"Could it have been at a less creepy place?" Caroline asked, giving Tatia a worried look.

Tatia sighed, shaking her head. "Do you want to know why I've been looking for you or not?" She asked. Caroline didn't say anything, so Tatia motioned for Caroline to follow her.

They walked into the house, it creaked under their weight, and the door handle looked as if it were about to fall off. The whole aura of the house gave Caroline the creeps.

Tatia led Caroline up a somewhat steady flight of stairs. Their final destination was in a small room that had no windows; the only furniture in the room was a stool and a small desk that was pushed into a corner.

Caroline watched Tatia walk toward the stool, she peeled off layer-by-layer of her clothing until she was only wearing a long black dress, her hair was black and it barely came past her ears. She then turned to Caroline who had her arms folded across her chest.

"Sorry," She said, shrugging. "I can't have Niklaus knowing I'm alive, which is why I had to bring you here."

Caroline stood there, watching Tatia closely. A million questions were running through her head, questions that demanded answers.

"How do you know who I am?" Caroline asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I'd heard about you," She said, leaning up against the stool. "From towns people, maids, witches, and Rose" She licked her lips, looking at the back of the room. "Rose told me that you told her you were interested in your bloodline, and had asked her who turned her." Caroline listened closely as Tatia continued.

"I was curious about you, why you wanted to know about the bloodlines." she said, she stood then and started pacing the room. "But whenever I made any progress in finding you, you would disappear. No one knew where you went, except for one woman," she said pausing. "In the last town you visited, there was an old Bennett witch named Helen that took up residence in the small town."