Two Lost Souls

The Way Of The World

"He's calling Davina," Caroline states, rather unnecessarily since Stefan is listening to what is happening in the entrance hall just as intently as she is.

"And Elijah's calling the witches," he points out just as needlessly.

"This means it's safe to go downstairs, right?"

It has to be, since the originals wouldn't be moving on to the next phase of their plan unless they were sure the first threat was eliminated.

"I wouldn't do that, Care. I think we'd better stay here for the time being."

Before she can protest or ask for an explanation, she hears Klaus' voice coming from downstairs, clearer than when he was talking on the phone.

"He's right, sweetheart." And then the hybrid is standing before her, his sudden appearance making her jump. "You don't want to see this."

She opens her mouth to object, but then she takes a good look at him, something she didn't take the time to do when he came up while Marcel's vampires were attacking them, and she notices the blood that covers him from head to toe. He looks like he's been bathing in it, clothes and all, and she scrunches her nose as the reality of exactly how many mutilated bodies are downstairs finally hits her. Maybe they're right. Maybe she doesn't want to see it. Just because she knew going in how bad it was going to get doesn't mean that she's ready to actually face this sight.

However, it sort of feels like taking a coward's way out, leaving the dirty work to others and blissfully ignoring the consequences.

Her internal struggle must be written all over her face, because Klaus motions for Stefan to leave them, and once they're alone, he takes a step towards her and raises his hand to stroke her cheek. She feels something sticky on his fingers and can't help but flinch when she realizes what it is. She doesn't have anything against blood – it would be pretty inconvenient considering what she is – but this is different. It's not the blood itself, it's what it means, how many different people it belonged to. She knows that they had to die, that she and Klaus and his family and Stefan would never have been safe otherwise, but that's still a lot of blood.

Her reaction doesn't go unnoticed, and Klaus comments knowingly, "Exactly."

"Yeah, okay," she concedes, taking a deep breath. "I may not be ready for this."

"I know. Don't overthink this, love. You don't owe them anything, and you don't need to prove anything to anyone."

She lets out a strangled laugh, making him raise an eyebrow in question.

"This is going to get really annoying, really fast."

"What is?"

"You reading my mind."

"Is it, really?" he counters, smiling.

Okay, so sometimes, it's kind of nice, but she's not about to tell him that, he's smug enough as it is. Instead, she decides to change the subject and to ask about Davina since she didn't listen to the whole conversation.

"What did Davina say when you told her to come for Marcel?"

"She said she'd be here in a few minutes. But as you know, she's going to be delayed. The witches are about to start, she should start growing weaker any moment now. But she will make her way here eventually."

Caroline nods. They're counting on Davina's devotion to Marcel to help her push through the special brand of torture the witches are going to subject her to.

They know that Davina was the one who felt it whenever someone performed a spell within the city limits and that she always warned Marcel so that he could control the witches, and they've decided to use this power against her. They want to overwhelm her with so many spells coming from different locations that she will be distracted and disoriented at first and, as the number of spells – along with their complexity and intensity – grows, weakened. This way, she will be less dangerous once she gets here for what she will think is her chance to rescue Marcel, but will really be her execution.