Wicked Schemes

Chapter 18

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Like some child possessed
The beast howls in my veins
I want to find you
Tear out all your tenderness
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Caroline glared at the wall of cards. She couldn't seem to shake her annoyance at not only Klaus but Cecile as well for wanting her to stay out of their rescue mission. Not that she even thought that was why Klaus was getting himself involved-no doubt for him this was another way to show Marcel who truly held the power in their constant tug of war over New Orleans-but she should be out there as well, not in the damn house, unable to do a thing.

So they didn't want to showcase who she was just yet and she got that, really she did, but that didn't mean she couldn't be out on the front lines helping as well. She was a vampire. They could use her added strength-and if not hers then certainly Rebekah's-and stakes couldn't kill her any longer, so Caroline figured she could use that to her advantage. She didn't need to use her powers to take down a vampire, to help free the witches. She could use her vampire abilities instead and be just as useful as the next person.

"I am not doing this," Caroline grumbled, pushing herself off of the chair and headed to the wall She looked over the list of Marcel's vampires, memorizing who was in his elite group, remembering who Klaus had managed to spark an interest in dissent in. "This is pretty much my number one pet peeve. Whenever anyone tells me that I can't do something then I do everything in my power to prove just how wrong they were about that."

Like when they had said sophomores couldn't run the cheerleading team she had campaigned her ass off and proven she was more than up for the challenge. Her father had said she'd never be okay again now that she was a vampire and she had finished high school, hadn't she? And she would go to college and she would prove to him that she could be just fine as a vampire.

Rebekah arched a brow at the other girl's annoyance. If there was one thing she did like about Caroline Forbes it was that she wasn't a wilting flower like her doppelganger friend so often seemed to be. "And how are you going to do that?"

"Don't know yet exactly how, but I know it won't happen if I stay cooped up in this house waiting for them to return," Caroline pointed out, flicking one of the cards in annoyance. "Even if we don't go anywhere near where they all are, anywhere near Marcel, we could figure out where the hell the New Orleans witches can go so they can't be exploited so easily by him again. Because this mission is going to be all for nothing if he can just turn around and take them again."

She knew the witches wouldn't leave the city though, even if it was for their safety. They wouldn't allow themselves to be cut off like that, not when they still had some connection to their power. It wasn't as strong as it should have been and there was a lot they were no longer able to do, but they were still tied to the city and to each other.

"I'm going." Caroline turned to look at the Original, steeling herself for a reaction. The only problem was that Rebekah could definitely over power her if she wanted and snap her neck before Caroline would have time to react, but she had to chance this, and she had a feeling Rebekah didn't want to remain in the house any more than she did.

"It would get under Klaus' skin to see you directly defying what he told you to do," Rebekah mused, her lips curving into a smile. And wouldn't that be something to see? Her brother, the Big Bad Hybrid, openly defied by this baby vampire. What would his reaction be to that?