Even before opening her eyes Caroline could tell that she was sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, the smell around her reminded her exactly of where she was when the lights went out and she easily associated the sickness that she was feeling to the blackout.

"Try not to move too soon, they had to give you oxygen because your body completely shut down for a few minutes…" Bonnie was standing next to the bed worried.

"This is sort of backwards…" Caroline moved a finger between them.

Bonnie smiled. "I'm ready to go home but you gave us a scare out of nowhere." She sat on the bed next to Caroline. "The Doctor said that you had an anxiety attack and that you haven't been eating much and that you're physically weak."

"I did a big spell so it was probably that." Caroline sat up with a sigh. "I need to get out of here before Marcel makes a big deal out of this."

Bonnie chuckled. "Tyler already called him."

"Ugh!" Caroline complained. "I feel fine now."

"The doctor says that you can go home but he still wants to talk to you before you leave."

Caroline smiled while placing her hand on top of Bonnie's hand. "I want to talk to you first, are you feeling ok?"

Bonnie nodded. "It's strange because I feel a different energy now, it's like that feeling that you get that someone is about to knock on the door before you actually listen to it."

"Can you control the door?"

"I'm not in pain and everything is slowly starting to go quieter in my head but this is all new to me so I don't really know what to expect next." Bonnie admitted. "It's also a little daunting to think that I'm now part of something bigger in this city."

"You will always be Bon Bon to me." Caroline sweetly grinned.

It melted Bonnie and she coyly blushed. "I ate your jello..."

"Hey!" Caroline looked at the small empty cup distraught.

Bonnie giggled. "Sorry, I was hungry."

"Did you snuggle Mr. Cuddles too hard last night?" Caroline teased her.

Bonnie shook her head with a smile but before she could say anything someone knocked on the door.

The old man wearing all white was happy to see Caroline awake. "I came to release you before Marcel forces me to prescribe all the exams known to medicine."

"I'll call you later." Bonnie easily told Caroline before leaving her alone with the doctor.

The old human was the hospital director and someone that both Caroline and Marcel trusted wholeheartedly, he had been the first one to examine her when she arrived to NOLA at age five and he had remained the family doctor ever since, and she knew him well to understand that he had something delicate to tell her.

He neared the bed with a warm look on his face and a chair on his hand.

Caroline licked her lips anxiously, she was trying to guess the color of the curve ball that was speeding her way.

[XXXXXX]

Kol was waiting for Bonnie in the hallway. "Are you ready to evade this place and to never come back to it?"

"Yes please." She beamed.

The stairs were nearby and they headed there with a soft exchange of looks.

On his way up Tyler was happy to see Bonnie all recovered. "Marcel just parked his car…" he rolled his eyes. "I will probably have five minutes with Caroline before he whooshes up the stairs with his paranoia on full blast…" he lowered his voice with another grunt. "Watch him accuse me of stressing Caroline too much or something."

"Good luck with that." Bonnie started going down the stairs fast.

From the top of the stairwell Tyler smiled, it was good to see the tiny firecracker back on her feet.

"Is it safe to leave them with parent Marcel?" Kol had a small chuckle as she stopped her fast walk to the front door to turn right to where the elevators were just to avoid meeting Marcel face to face.

"Marcel is going to make Tyler leave and Caroline is the only one who can really calm Marcel down."

They were concealed between two large pillars and she was so close to him that Kol couldn't resist brushing her cheek with his hand. "Did he ever lose his temper around you?"

"I lived with them after my grandmother died and I only moved out when college started."

He had a big smile for her. "Full scholarship at Tulane?"

She nodded a bit coyly. "I chose the only single dorm at Campus."

"You didn't answer my question though." He kept the smile but added a doubtful look.

"After I turned 17, it wasn't Marcel's temper that I had to pretend not to notice." She lowered her eyes from his.

That inquietude didn't make him happy at all and he lost the easy smile that usually distinguished him.

[XXXXXX]

"Bonnie is officially hex-free and feeling well." Matt told Katherine as he walked into the office.

Katherine was sitting on top of his desk with her legs crossed and an undivided attention on the laptop resting over her lap.

"Caroline is also going to be ok." Matt added.

Without deviating from her research Katherine reached next to her and handed Matt a sheet of paper. "I think that I've figured it out."

Matt knew that she was really invested on deciphering the Davina riddle so whatever it was it had to do with that. "Is this… information about Davina's childbirth?"

"I broke into the hospital maternity." Katherine looked up from the laptop. "And I found out that not only Davina's father is listed as unknown, she was also abandoned at the hospital by her mother."

"That's probably why she was raised by the nuns at the Old Ursuline Covent."

Katherine looked at Matt for a long minute, he was too informed about this.

"She left the private school when Sophie heard that she was special and she moved into a new home alongside with a group of girls that became her coven." He smiled at Katherine. "I sat down next to her once during lunch and she told me her life story in ten minutes."

"And during that endearing moment did she mention that Claire was the surname that the nuns gave her?"

"No…" Matt grew stiff with worry.

"Claire was her mother's first name but her family name is Young."

"You're kidding." Matt mumbled.

"No." Katherine left the desk with a small jump. "But it gets better, not only was Davina related to Eva, they knew about it. They had a YouTube channel together where they shared every day tips, like how to make a snake braid or your daily love incantation." She pushed play before giving Matt the laptop.

"How did we miss this?" Matt was baffled to find one of the many videos of the girls that called themselves Young blood.

"We don't get along with any other coven in town and basically we are so egocentric that we never cared about anyone outside of this iron circle of ours." Katherine easily explained.

Matt scrolled down the infinity of videos. "Still…" It's not like New Orleans was such a big place where something like this could go unnoticed.

Katherine forcefully closed the laptop on him. "They obviously found out that they shared a lot more than just the knack of making videos but teaming up to end an army of witch hunters is a little too out there."

"Matt?" Vicki called from downstairs. "I have a hoard of witches at the door asking for you." She further shouted.

"I have to concentrate now on the witches who are still alive." He gave Katherine the laptop.

"I hope that you don't mean that letter by letter." She pursed her lips.

He chuckled nervously. "Don't confuse me…"

She winked at him, how could she ever compromise on something that made her so happy?

[XXXXXX]

"Maybe someone else should have a look at those blood exams." Marcel spoke up terribly concentrated.

Caroline closed up the zipper of his jacket. "I'm fine Marcel."

"You blacked out and you weren't breathing for several minutes." He held the door for her.

"I fainted." She stepped outside of the hospital with an embarrassed ego. "And I was only out for like a minute."

"You're fatigued and you're cold." He ranted right on her heels.

She turned her head with a look. "Seriously?"

"You're not well." He let out the words with another heavy tone.

"I just need food and some sleep, that's all." She assured. "Don't turn this into a thing like when I had food poisoning and you closed up a wing of the hospital and had an entire medical staff looking after me."

He chuckled at her protest. "I monopolize because I care and I deal with foodborne illness with the same passion that I deal with a plague." He groaned at the presence that he felt approaching.

Caroline's eyes also drifted to the left and she felt that rasp in her core like never. "Klaus…"

He sauntered a calmness that instantly enervated Marcel. "What do you want?"

"I was speaking to Caroline when she lost consciousness." Klaus spoke while he measured how tired she was, even her body seemed shrunk down by exhaustion as she hid inside of the big jacket that she borrowed from Marcel.

"Your voice is toxic to her." Marcel pressed his hands hard as if he was about to clap. "So now that we have the diagnosis narrowed down we can focus on the cure." He glared at Klaus. "It includes directions out of this galaxy."

Klaus looked at Marcel extremely serious. "I'm not here for you."

"You still have to deal with me." Marcel stepped up with a growl.

"Caroline has a voice of her own." Klaus pushed the confrontation further.

She knew that they would both look at her now so she built up for the strong response. "I don't want to talk to you right now." She looked at Klaus only enough to say the words.

When she turned away Marcel grinned at Klaus and opened his arms, he felt tempt to add a few fueling words but the discontent on Klaus' face was enough to fill up his chest with joy.

Caroline got inside of Marcel's car without lifting her eyes and she left them glued to the dashboard as he drove them away, she didn't dare to look at the man watching as she went away.

[XXXXXX]

Katherine looked up as a different Donovan walked into the office.

"So… this thing that you have going with my brother…" Vicki paved half the path towards the desk with a smile. "… is it serious?"

"Why are you asking?" Katherine pushed back the laptop. "Do you object because you have a secret crush on me?" She leaned back on Matt's chair and rested her feet on top of the desk.

Vicki admired the black boots in front of her. "If I have to be honest, out of the lot you're the one I tolerate the most."

Katherine clicked one boot against the other. "We could make Matt's life easy and get along."

"We don't have to like each other that much but I would love to be included in whatever it is that you're doing to keep him safe from the Rippers."

"So you haven't been sleeping all this time?"

Vicki turned the laptop so that she could see the screen. "I'm the bartender and usually no one notices me but I see and know everything that happens from here to the swamp."

Katherine pointed at the computer. "Do you know anything about the dead duo?"

"Only that Davina was a child outside of a marriage and that when Eva found out that they were sisters they became inseparable." Vicki answered.

"The invisible bartender, huh?" Katherine jumped from the chair. "What else can you tell me about them?"

[XXXXXX]

Caroline had a smile while she was looking at the kids on the carousel, they were so excited to be riding those shiny carved horses that she remembered how she felt every time Marcel brought here.

Curiously that's exactly what he was thinking when he sat down next to her on a bench with a steaming cup of coffee for her. "There used to be a lot of squealing and jittery screams whenever I mentioned Carousel Gardens."

"I loved coming here when I was little." Caroline's smile had a small innocent feel to it.

That perhaps could make her request to come here today strange but Marcel wasn't picky about his slim opportunities to be alone with her.

She looked at him with a more open smile. "And I loved everything that we did together and that you were there every day of my life."

Suspicious Marcel narrowed his eyes a bit. "I'm going back to the hospital to question the doctors."

She was expecting the reaction so she had her coffee with a bigger smile. "You know that they can't be compelled, everyone is on Vervain and I already told you that I'm fine."

"So they have Vervain…" he scoffed. "I have fangs."

"I have a broken rib that was making it hard for me to breathe but I'm on medication and I'm going to be ok."

Boastful Marcel grinned. "You already started making your best decisions to date."

Caroline adjusted a bit on the bench to look straight at him. "There's no other way than to pull the bandaid fast so be ready for it."

He lowered the coffee that had been on the way to his mouth, he was going to detest this.

"Klaus is part of my life." She was clearcut with her tone.

Miffed Marcel twitched on his seat.

"I'm too upset to be alone with him right now but it's inevitable that we will at least sit down and talk about what happened if he stays." She was honest about her intentions. "I don't know where we are as a couple but he's still a part of my life."

"Are you sure that there's nothing I can do or say to change that?" Marcel's hope escaped him fast.

She shook her head softly. "Maybe we won't work things out in the end and I will go on with my life without him in it but I'm not going to pretend that Klaus isn't important to me and that I don't wish that things had been different between us."

"He wanted to turn you, didn't he?"

He couldn't be more straightforward with his question and Caroline knew that she couldn't keep fogging her answers when Marcel was on the other end of an eternal concern for her happiness. "You know that I never wanted to be a vampire, it's just something that I never, never wanted and Klaus couldn't cope with that."

"His contempt for human life wasn't something that I blew out of proportion, yes, I did speak a lot about Klaus while you were growing up and I even had admiration for him but I've hit the nail on the head every time that I said that he didn't care about humans." Marcel leaned forward and rested the cup of coffee on the ground. "If I had known that things would escalate this way I would've ignored Kol's call…"

"You didn't know that he would be transported into the body of a Ripper." Caroline was sure of that.

"But I knocked that first domino piece when I framed Kol for the death of that Romani girl."

Caroline powerfully casted a judging look on Marcel. "Men really need to stop hurting women to get to other men."

"It's not my proudest moment but I knew that Kol was going to kill her anyway because she seduced him to get her hands on the hope diamond and he led her on just to see how far she would take the play."

"And you wanted the diamond yourself…"

"It was going to be so easy, I would get rid of Kaleb and get the diamond in one take but I didn't count on Klaus being cursed or how he would become a curse himself." He sneered annoyed.

"You only counted on getting it on with my friend." Caroline easily said, when he looked at her she pulled a smile made of sarcasm.

"I had a genuine… infatuation." Clearly he lacked a better expression and he showed it by stuttering at the end.

Caroline had a long sip of coffee.

"Why are you dropping shade on my backyard now?" He asked struck.

"Because this is a conversation that we should've had before and since we didn't a lot of stuff has been building up."

He squinted mindful. "A conversation about my interest in Bonnie?"

"And your crazy plan to turn your crew into super vampires."

Baffled he started collecting mouthfuls of air that paced his slow response. "I needed to empower my army."

"And for that you were willing to sacrifice a pack of wolves that I trapped in a muddy field after you pushed me into it."

"You killed most of my crew in one strike." He reminded her heated up.

"They hurt Tyler and they were all stabbing Klaus like he was the turkey invited for Christmas."

"You killed the ones that did make Christmas happen for you."

"They were all traitors waiting for a chance to kill you." She raised her tone.

He hardened his face a little in response. "Not all of them were working with Thierry and I needed to have stronger people around me to fight off enemies like the Rippers."

"The ones that Katherine summoned?" She moved two fingers to connect the dots for him. "Because Gia tortured the life out of her… on your orders?" She hardened her voice as well.

"I wanted Klaus and his venomous family out of here and I thought that Enzo would do a better job and take you out of here."

"So you rather have a total stranger carrying me out of town to God knows where and to do whatever he wanted with me than to have Klaus with me?"

"Yes!" He barely gave her time to finish.

"At least you're being honest." She crumbled her lips along with the comment.

"I turned Enzo, I know how much he wants to protect you and on the other hand I know how much Klaus can hurt you."

"You don't know that." She mumbled her reply again.

"I know Klaus better than you do."

"Really?" She wobbled her head finally enervated with the entire thing. "Did you happen to bump into him one night during Mardi Gras and took him home for a skimpy night of sex?"

He scolded her hard with two stabbing dark eyes.

She wobbled her head again. "I was just wondering." She elevated her sass another notch.

"I grew up next to him so I know him in ways that you will never know."

"You saw the other side as well Marcel." She broke down to an empathetic voice. "You've seen how protective he is of Rebekah or even of Kol… I mean, he exterminated an entire clan because they killed his baby brother." She reached out to touch Marcel's hand. "He took you in as family… you know that he can love but you're just so damn proud and stubborn that you won't admit that Klaus isn't really the problem, you just don't think that any man will ever be worthy of me."

Marcel stared at the ground nurturing his sulk. "I still wish that it wasn't him."

"I wish that a lot of things were different but it is what it is."

There was a sense of defeat when he looked at her. "I can't do a thing about Klaus but I can help you fight Raven."

"I'm counting on that." Caroline shot back with a playfully attire.

He leaned back to rest against the bench and circled an arm around her, with softness she rested her head against his shoulder and silently they ended their coffee watching the kids on the carousel.

[XXXXXX]

Katherine had to tell Matt about her eye-opening conversation with Vicki but she wasn't inclined to talk as much as she was before arriving to the closed courtyard of the house, the witches had flocked here in number and they were all hogging Matt like he was a giant beignet wanting to be devoured.

Unlike Katherine, his sister found the view sweet. "I knew that I shouldn't have made fun of him for being chubby and for having bad teeth when he was little…"

Rebekah was bringing the last round of weapons to the courtyard. "They were all about to go home and pack when he offered to teach them personally so suddenly everyone wanted to learn how to break free from a bear hold."

It showed on Katherine's face exactly how she felt about the line of girls waiting for Matt to have his arms around them. "I don't have to wait for him to finish this." She decided to go on without him. "Whenever there's a party everyone goes over to Mystic…" she paused as Caroline showed up.

"Hey…" she wasn't too effusive and she stopped near the trio of girls with a small smile.

Katherine chose to charge in with the information and to get this done quickly. "So Eva and Davina usually picked up the liquor for the covens and they had really long talks while waiting for Vicki to load the boxes into the van." She looked at the former bartender.

"They used to talk a lot about something called the Ascendent." She said with nothing but easiness.

"What?" Caroline murmured perplexed.

"And I found one of their videos where they talk about immortality and how every girl dreams of remaining young and beautiful forever." Katherine showed them the comments section on her phone. "Someone called E dropped a nice little hint for them.

"All you need is a key and the right person to help you." Caroline read the comment out loud. "That was posted almost three months ago."

"I scrolled through the other videos but I couldn't find any other messages from this mysterious character, which means that they probably started exchanging private messages so I need to go over to their house and get my hands on either Eva's computer or Davina's." She grabbed Vicki's hand. "I'm taking Vicki with me."

As they left Caroline brushed her fingers through her wet curls. "Is it me or did the North Pole just moved in to the Big Easy?"

Rebekah held up two shotguns. "You can help me prepare for the Armageddon while you're here."

Smiling more at ease Caroline walked with Rebekah to the table where she was leaving the guns. "They really are just kids…" she assessed that one of the girls couldn't be more than 13.

"Matt is onto something good here Caroline… if we give these witches a good education they will fight for their lives as hard as they will fight for their home."

Caroline wasn't still completely convinced about this but the steamboat was already halfway down the river.

"What was that about the Ascendant?" Enzo wasn't far from the table and he had picked up on Katherine's words.

"A couple of dead witches were talking about it online and since we've all been involved in a Pretty little liars episode we're trying to uncover who the mysterious E is." Rebekah started sliding bullets into the chamber of one of the guns.

Enzo shook his head. "I don't watch television Rebekah."

"How did you know that I was talking about a tv show?" She closed the chamber with a smirk.

He looked at her extremely serious.

"Who has the Ascendent now?" Caroline tried to make a dotting line but she missed a few dots.

"Kol and Bonnie lost it on the other side but Kol brought it back with him when we fished him out of that gate but since he didn't leave Bonnie's side for a second after he was back he gave it to me for keep safe." Rebekah explained.

"Do you have it on you?" Enzo asked her.

"Are you offering to search?" She turned to him showing off her pronounced lines ornamented by an extra revealing top.

Caroline looked at one and then at the other, they were just staring at each other but while Rebekah was playful he was far from showing playfulness.

"This is the worst timing to have important artifacts out of our sight." He insisted on his stern expression.

"I have it at my house." Rebekah dropped the flirt.

"Where anyone can walk in and search for it?"

She answered his question with a huff. "If it's so important to you I'll go home and bring the talisman here."

"I'll go with you." Caroline started turning away with Rebekah before Enzo spoke up but it still didn't seal his mouth.

"I'm tagging along." He took the lead. "Which is not debatable because you have the tendency of making yourself disappear."

"I can always try again." Caroline grumbled annoyed.

[XXXXX]

Although it hadn't been a long shower it was enough to breathe some new life into Kol and he drove to Matt's house with a pretty good feeling about his current moment in life, he was walking around in his own body, he had a gorgeous girlfriend who was protected by her new powers and he had areal friend, one that he found as the main attraction of a large assemblage of young girls.

Matt was excited to see him arrive as well. "Hey, I'm happy that you're finally here." He wriggled his way out of a dynamic group. "You can help me train the covens."

Kol chuckled with an immediate detour towards the interior of the house. "I wouldn't want to steal your moment of thunder."

"I need them to take this serious but I don't think that I'm being too convincing at that."

Kol looked back at the bubble-headed group, he could be right since they were all just swooning over the intensity of his blue eyes. "At least you have their enthusiasm."

Despite having so many women in his life Matt still lacked the confidence to tackle that and for the immediate moment he was focusing on what Kol was doing, he arrived with a big roll of paper in his hand and now he was restyling one of the biggest walls in the family room. "Why are you messing up my new home, it's the nicest thing I've ever had…"

Kol was sticking the paper to the wall with large black tape and when he was over with that atrocity he pulled out a big black marker. "I'm bringing in my savoir-faire." He popped the cap of the marker and started writing on the paper, he started off with Bonnie's name and then worked his way down to all the witches in town that he knew of, he lastly divided them into covens and then added a few names loosely. "I know that a few covens left and there are a few witches uncounted for but we need a daily headcount until harvest day so this needs to be updated as often as possible."

Now that he knew what Kol was doing Matt grabbed a marker to help him. "I got scared there for a second when I saw Bonnie's name on top of a list."

Kol was happy that he mentioned her name. "It really didn't bother anyone that Bonnie was living with Marcel and that this sort of parental figure that she had all of sudden developed a sexual interest in her?"

"He was never a father to her." Matt frowned.

"He was actively intent on being more than a legal guardian." Kol sneered. "That is a fact."

"And so the girls moved out as soon as high school ended."

Kol released this grave sound of annoyance that he muffled with a snappy step back from the list.

Matt followed him with his eyes. "Dude…" he grinned. "You're so in love."

"I have a big dislike for Marcel." Kol promptly said.

Pointing the marker at him Matt started making these loud beeping sounds.

"What is that?" Kol pulled his head back confounded.

"It's my BS detector." Matt laughed.

"Because I do not stan Marcel?" He asked with a wheeze.

With a wide smile Matt shook his head. "Marcel was never sleazy or offensive to Bonnie but you're so in love with her that you're a second away from turning this into a True Blood moment and kill the uncle that used to touch Sookie when she was growing up."

There was a limit to an emotional straightforward confrontation and Kol easily reached his. "I'm going to teach the witches." He snickered. "And you shouldn't be watching that show, it's too violent and graphic for you."

"Beep… beep… beep." Matt used his detector again.

[XXXXX]

Breaking into Eva's room was easy, so it was to find her computer, what was proving to be challenging was getting around the password. "If this was Davina's it would be so easy." Katherine sighed, she could bet that it would be Donovan or any variation of his name.

"Have you tried Young Blood?" Vicki suggested.

"Yup… I also used the coven's name and everything related to them." She typed down Ascendant. "Nothing!" She leaned back on the chair pensive.

Vicki didn't have much to work with either, there weren't many books around and apparently Eva wasn't a spender on physical stuff, there was nothing on her bedroom that they could use. "Don't you guys all have like a special book with spells and stuff? I found Matt's once when I was looking for money."

"No one really uses it but it's supposed to be this big legacy that we will leave to other generations." Katherine looked around a really plain room. "Where would you hide it?"

"Out of us both you're the witch." Vicki pointed at Katherine with a book in her hand.

Katherine tilted her head caught by the title of the book. "Well… I have my grimoire locked inside of a safe that no one will ever find…"

Vicki moved the book attentive to the attention that Katherine was giving it. "You're a fan?"

It wasn't so much the book in question but The mortal instruments had triggered a recent memory. "When we found the Ascendant, we went to Bonnie's house and in her Grams' grimoire we found a passage about the key…" she typed the word Immortalitas and immediately the cluttering life of Eva was unlocked.

"I hope that we do find something big, it would make everything so much more obscure." Vicki came closer to the small desk to see what secrets they could get their hands on.

"Her Skype account does not need a password and…" Katherine made a pause worthy of a drumroll. "… she has all of her conversations saved."

Vicki understood Katherine's glee now, they could read everything that Eva and Davina wrote back to each other over the last week, it was a big jumble of topics and words cut in half or simply put together by adding all the letters that would form a phrase. "Can you read any of that?" She glanced at Katherine.

"I get most of it but they're still talking about E as E." Katherine scrolled through the conversation and she went as far as the slow engine took her. "This was on the day that she helped Bonnie prepare the bodies for the funeral…"

"Mon didn't have the watch on her." Vicki gave it a try, the emojis that Eva used were helpful this time around.

Katherine nodded. "Bon told me that she took the watch home with her and that it turned out to be the key for the Ascendant."

Vicki skimmed through the conversation until she hit a soft spot, at least one that would be sour for Bonnie, it was a detailed report of how Monique gave away the Ascendant. "Does that K stand for who I'm disgustingly guessing?" She asked in a low voice.

Katherine was burning inside. "Wtf maybe she gave K the key as well." She gulped down her anger as a bunch of sex emojis popped up. "Guess he's as good as Mon bragged." The laughing faces couldn't be farther than what she felt. "Bonnie can't know about this."

"She won't." Vickie promised. "He's dead and she moved on to someone better."

Katherine scrolled up a bit more. "So they knew that Kaleb had the Ascendant and that Monique still had the key with her but how did they found out about the talisman in the first place?" She couldn't see Monique simply telling them that she had such a powerful artifact in her possession.

Vicki stopped her from scrolling any further. "Wait… I think that I saw something different somewhere around here…" she pointed at a part of the conversation that had an email link, it had something to do with the video comments and she gasped when Katherine clicked the link.

"I know who E is!" Katherine and Vicki said at the same time.

"What are you two doing in here?" Suddenly a police officer walked into the room looking very unfriendly.

"IMO… I could ask you the same thing." Vicki added a fake smile for the law enforcer.

[XXXXX]

"This is a weird room." Caroline felt confused because she was staring at a massive hole in the ground where a pool was supposed to exist but instead of water she found a kingsized bed positioned in the middle of the hollow.

"During one of our drunken spurs Kol and I decided that it would be a good idea for him to move here to the pool house since we never use it but he strangely liked the idea." She crouched in front a large cabinet that contained all the talismans that Kol gathered along the years.

"He likes how haunted it feels to sleep in here?" Caroline tried to guess.

Rebekah removed a few boxes from the cabinet. "How separated it feels." She adjusted the facts before finding the Ascendant. "Here, I have the bloody thing, are you happy now?" She faced Enzo.

"A bit." Out of nowhere he shot her with a gun that he had sneaked in under his long leather jacket.

"Enzo!" Caroline yelped. "What are you doing?" She ran to Rebekah who was falling to her knees.

"Why am I bleeding so much?" Rebekah mumbled, her hand was soaked in blood when she touched the wound over her heart.

Caroline pressed her chest with a firm hand and she looked at Enzo with that same determination.

"I reckon that you want me to give you an explanation." Enzo walked closer to the girls as serious as neither had seen him.

"That's pretty much all I've wanted ever since I met you." Caroline glided her hand to the talisman that Rebekah dropped during her fall.

"You can keep it." Enzo squatted in front of Caroline. "It's useless without you and this time… we are leaving the country together."

Caroline squinted. "Right..."

"There's nothing left for you here." He softened up his voice. "This isn't your home Tsura and this isn't your people."

"Stop hiding behind our culture and tell me why you really want me out of here." Caroline pressed with animosity growing.

"It's my duty to…"

"Stop lying to me!" She screamed at him.

Enzo swallowed the repetitive speech.

"You knew about Raven from the start and you didn't tell me about her or how we were sisters, or about the Salvatore brothers or about anything!" She screamed again.

"Every time that you asked I came through Caroline." He calmly responded.

"I needed to know about things before they blew up in my face."

"I didn't come here to sit by the fire and tell you tales."

"You're a poor bodyguard." Rebekah intervened in a hurting voice.

He steadily stared at her.

"All of my friends got hurt while you watched impervious." Caroline accused him again.

"You're the only who matters." He replied coldly.

"Where were you when Mikael was charging in on my face like I was a punching bag? Or yesterday when Raven and her lovers showed up at the park for a little bloodied reunion?" Caroline affronted him.

"You know very well that yesterday you decided to cloak yourself from every prying eye."

His half-smile did little for Caroline and she narrowed her eyes at him suspicious.

Rebekah encouraged her. "Don't trust him, he shot me." She groaned.

"You're not going to die." He told her. "But the bullet was laced with a venom made of witch blood and just a smear of white ash so that wound is not going to close."

"You're an arse…" she gritted her teeth.

"You will defiantly bleed out but your brothers shouldn't have a moral problem with finding fresh blood to restore your desiccated body."

"I have high expectations that they will start off with you." She closed her eyes in pain.

Enzo focused on Caroline. "We need to leave." He grabbed her arm to force her to stand.

"No, you need to leave and to stay out of my life for good." She pushed him away.

He didn't move back an inch but he stopped his immediate motions. "Why would you want to stay here? Raven already drove a wedge between you and your coven, your boyfriend doesn't have the patience to deal with your human quandaries and if you stick around you're going to have to see her destroy everything that you ever cherished."

Resolute she asked him. "For once Enzo, just once, tell me why you're so obsessed with taking me out of here."

"You're the only one who can bring my wife back." He brutally came clean.

She paced back struck.

He insisted. "When I was captive of Raven there was another man imprisoned in the next cell, he was an old shaman who knew about our clans and he told me that the only person able to resurrect my wife was The Healer. That you could do this if you had enough power to overcome your gift."

She eyed him with a squint. "You sound like an insane person, you know that… right?"

"You're becoming stronger and Raven is here to stop you from using all that power, if we take you out of here with something as big as the Ascendant you can charge enough magic to bring someone back from the dead."

"Do you think that if I had the ability to do that I wouldn't have used it to save my parents?"

"You were five years old Caroline, you weren't in touch with your magic yet."

Caroline lifted her hands. "You're crazy Enzo and I can't trust you, you're talking about things that I can't do and you've had this mapped out since the day you kidnapped me. The Royal Guard was an excuse for your demented fantasy…" she narrowed down her thoughts mad. "All of this is a farce, isn't it?"

He wavered to some extend. "The lumina clan is slowly disappearing, there are few who still believe in our ways and even fewer who believe that you're still alive."

"It's for the best Enzo, people are getting killed over this."

"Mary believed in it." He said heartbroken. "And she made me believe in it again…"

"Was she one of your guards?" Caroline quietly asked.

"Most of the people who joins us are here for the wrong reasons, they are doing it either for the chance to travel the world or for the opportunity to be violent without an excuse." He removed his daylight ring. "I was the second after Marcel turned me and I forgot why I was chosen, I only wanted to kill and to be the best at it." He dropped the ring along with a tear. "When I met Mary she brought me back, she was so passionate about the history of our kind that I started remembering who I was."

"I'm sorry…" Caroline could see the change happening, he was about to lose the plot and snap, her death left this colossal damage in him.

He breathed in like a madcap person about to go ballistic. "You don't have to be sorry because you're going to make it up to me."

"I can't bring her back Enzo." She reasoned with him by keeping her voice soothing. "I'm so sorry that you lost her the way that you did but there's nothing I can do about it."

Enzo's fangs peeked from his sealed lips and his eyes changed into a furious crimson red. "It's time to step up to the reputation Tsura."

"My name is Caroline Forbes." She propelled her magic through a palm that she pushed towards him as soon as he flashed to grab her arm.

Enzo flew against the wall behind him, it was a harsh impact that made him shake his head dizzy when he slid to the ground.

Caroline was ready to strike again and she kept her palm directed at him but Enzo lifted his head with a menacing smile, she frowned pushing her hand further but although she felt her energy leaving her it wasn't reaching him and she parted her lips worried when he waved at her, he had replaced his daylight ring with a Ripper one.

"You learn the tricks as you go." He stood up ready to enforce his will.

Caroline glanced back but Rebekah was totally out cold and starting to look parched.

"We have a long journey set out for us Princess so it would be nice for you to play nice."

She faced him defiantly. "It's not like you're going to kill me if I decide to be myself."

He moved his neck to the sides making tiny breaking noises as he released his stress. "During my stay I've learn that you don't heal easily so a good bite should keep you on a leash."

Caroline prepared for his move with buckled knees. "If you can catch me."

He deliciously smiled, she was adorable.

As soon as Enzo flashed she started running but instead of keeping a steady sprint she dropped to the ground on full speed and slid almost without control over the slippery tiles, she kept her eyes on the gun that was lying on the ground and picked it up while she changed direction on her drift so that she could shoot at the blur stopping above her.

The strident sound echoed inside of the large room and she held the fuming gun with shaking hands.

Enzo gushed out a forced mouthful of air and it came accompanied with blood, he stumbled before falling on his back and he blinked as Caroline neared him with the gun still aimed at him.

"Marcel always said that when a vampire is blurring he's fast but he can't see straight." She cocked the gun again.

"You don't have to shoot again, Davina and Eva made the venom and it's deadly for any vampire." Enzo started to choke on a lot of blood.

"How did you get to them?"

"I tracked the talisman all the way here and the sisters were young and impressionable so it wasn't hard to recruit them." He confessed weakly. "I watched you and the coven for weeks… the night Klaus shifted was perfect to take you away but by then we had lost track of who really had the Ascendant and the key."

Caroline pressed her lips upset and the finger around the trigger became itchy. "Did you have anything to do with Davina sending Kol to Kai's prison world?"

"It was meant to be Matt… not Kol. Raven made a deal with Davina, she would spare Matt and send him into one of the gates while the rest of the coven was dispensable."

Caroline wanted to shoot him again. "And you had Stefan to torture while we left Bonnie alone at the house to go save Kol…" she hissed angrily. "She was dispensable."

"Raven hasn't even started her mind games and now that a Harvest is coming it's going to be a clean sweep."

"Did you kill Eva?"

"Damon got to her before I did." He wheezed as the venom started to dry his veins and desiccate his body. "But with all the Gates of Guinee closed the spell that I need from you can't be done in here."

"It can't be done anywhere Enzo." She lowered the gun.

He was starting to become grey and life was withering away rapidly. "I'll be with her…" he closed his eyes.

Caroline concentrated to turn Enzo's body on fire, she would at least respect him by sending his ashes back home but she also had Rebekah to worry about and she rushed to the other blonde, she knelt next to her with a hand above her heart and eyes closed to channel her magic.

The spell was to heal Rebekah but Caroline took it up a notch and instead of blood gushing out of the wound there was a viscous substance oozing out, she was removing the venom out of Rebekah's system and she only stopped when the remains of the bullet popped out as well, it was something that left her drained but Caroline still felt strong enough to take on the three morons that decided to come in looking for Enzo.

Thea's loyalty was all over her face and she was gutted to find her leader dead so Caroline knew that she was going to act on that fury, she was looking for any ring that could block magic but within the next heartbeat Thea and her friends lost their hearts.

Seeing the bodies flaccid and dropping to the ground heartless should affect Caroline more than watching Klaus holding the hearts as they were souvenirs but aside from the dripping objects on his hands there was not a smear of blood on his clothes and his face was immaculate so Caroline only gulped down.

Klaus dropped the organs over Enzo's sooty carcass. "I strongly objected against his existence from day one."

"He wasn't so bad…" Caroline scrunched her lips. "He just went a little wacky out of nowhere."

Klaus crouched in front of the girls with a smile. "We're all walking around in our straitjackets waiting for a chance to break free."

Rebekah gained her consciousness with a moan. "And I seem to have a predestined taste for the mentally strange ones."

"So I've defended over the years." Klaus reminded her with a smile.

"Your girlfriend is one of my favorite persons in the world right now." She smiled back at him.

Klaus looked at Caroline and the moment was held without a single word, their entire relationship was on limbo right now and nothing was clear, not even what they should call each other.

Rebekah sighed. "Help me stand up." She asked Klaus. "I need to change into something more presentable."

He didn't just help her stand, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the room.

When Caroline was left alone she kept the Ascendant in the back pocket of her jeans and came closer to Enzo's remains, he was reduced to a skeleton of coal but her eyes were locked on the black ring in his hand, she reached out for it and the motion of pulling it out made the body fade into a blanket of ashes.

Klaus walked back into the room while Caroline was fixated with the ring in her palm. "Your last experience with that was too revealing."

She closed her hand resolute about the ring. "Enzo was an open book today as well." She noticed that Klaus was emptying Enzo's gun on his palm. "He said that those were bullets laced with witch blood and white ash and I think that they are triggered to work whenever they are in touch with blood."

"I need to find Enzo's lair and his arsenal." Klaus understood that they had a problem if Enzo had collected other harmful mystical artifacts.

"I know one of his addresses." Caroline said with her eyes on the face that she missed seeing and caressing.

He looked up to encounter her eyes, in this environment they were so light that the color almost came off green. "I don't reckon that he has anyone left to carry the torch but I need that address."

Caroline sprinted a few locks behind her ear. "I can take you to the house…"

Klaus parted his lips almost committed to say something about what really mattered to them but Rebekah decided to join them now that she changed and grabbed a blood bag from the fridge.

"We need to have everyone together at Matt's house and get all of our facts accounted for because I feel that we all have different bits of knowledge about what's happening on the battlefield." She stated.

"I agree." Caroline simply said.

Rebekah had one glance at the couple before she picked up her phone. "I will call Matt and we'll organize a meeting with everyone in one hour."

After a small nod Caroline started walking to the door. "That gives me enough time to go home and work on something that can help us during the harvest."

With Caroline exiting fast and Klaus remaining stoic as a statue Rebekah widened her eyes at him. "Are you waiting for divine intervention Nik?"

He looked at her without a word but with a vulnerable tell in his eyes.

She came closer for a warm advice. "Don't let your pride speak the loudest." She kissed him on the cheek lovingly. "You love her and as your favorite sibling I'm asking you to do something about it."

He smiled at her before acting on her words.

Rebekah had a taste of her blood bag but soon felt sick, she needed warm blood not fabricated.

[XXXXXX]

Caroline easily recognized the car that stopped next to her on the sidewalk and it was starting to rain with a fury so she accepted his offer.

He was quiet when she took the seat next to him and he was quiet while driving through a less familiar route that had less traffic, he only spoke when he was already close to her house. "The Doctor at the hospital told me that you have a broken rib."

"It's the same as before, I just didn't heal it properly." She answered with her eyes resting on her lap.

He closed his hand harder around the wheel, the open wounds mounted between them and his pride was driving at the moment despite of what Rebekah asked him.

Caroline looked at her house as he stopped the car, the rain was heavy and it was good that the sound was overtaking the silence.

She hadn't left which was a slap for him to wake up. "Tyler also told me about Raven and the role that she plays in your life."

"Marcel was right all along." She confided. "My past wasn't important, the life he gave me was." She breathed out painfully. "He gave me a life where I could be who I wanted to be, where I had a normal life with friends and people that were like me. I'm not a gypsy with a royal lineage and traditions that were lost in time… I'm a witch from New Orleans and I'm proud of that crest."

"A covert blonde dancing on a Mardi Gras night…" Klaus fell back into a big reminiscent moment and his big smile told a story of its own.

Caroline smiled as well but probably more emotional than he was. "The lost princess died in that campsite with her parents and I was born and raised by Marcellus Gerard in NOLA, this is my home and my coven is my clan."

"What about your Cama?" Klaus got lost in her eyes again, expectant about her answer.

"Well Gadje… I told you once, I run with the wolves." She opened the door to leave without looking back, it was raining so she had to use a fast pace to reach her front door.

"Caroline!"

She froze on her covered small porch and she only turned around after a few shaken intakes.

Klaus was standing under a heavy rain and he was letting go of his pride for her. "I'm staying until the Harvest."

"Before you leave again?" She wished that she had given more strength to her voice.

"The truth is that even if I make it all the way to Iceland I'm still going to think of you…" he licked his lips. "It doesn't matter where I am Caroline, I still love you the same."

It was overwhelming to have Klaus under pouring rain professing his inability to live without her and Caroline could only look at him in silence because she was screaming inside, she knew that they were mates but sometimes it felt as if that wasn't nearly enough to keep them together.

"But if I'm here I'm plagued by this torment… when I can lose you at any moment even though I own the power to keep you with me forever."

"I just want you to know that… I don't want you to go." Her voice broke with the first tears in danger of filling her eyes.

"I won't stay aware that carrying your casket at some point is foreordained."

He wasn't yelling or showing his emotions out of control, his serenity was telling Caroline that whatever her decision, it would be one that would still hurt him. "Can we at least have this conversation over a plate of food and some really nice music?"

He sighed on his way back to the car, only Caroline would squeeze in a dinner date between an impending breakup and a fight for survival. "I shall pick you up tomorrow at nine for a meal induced encounter."

"You can use the word date, you know…" she smiled playfully. "It doesn't make you look less cool if you do."

He only lifted his eyes at her with a teasing scowl but he still closed the door of his car with a stubborn smile catching up to his lips.

[XXXXXX]

Rebekah and Bonnie were in charge of the food for the meting but once at Matt's house the blonde was left alone with the boring task of ordering a huge amount of pizzas and organizing a long pile of snacks, and all because Bonnie hadn't moved past the courtyard where she was still kissing Kol.

It was an activity that was messing with Matt's routine as well as he found himself drifting closer to Rebekah to share the latest news. "Katherine is going to be late for our rally." He tried one of the nachos, they looked too mouthwatering to pass on them.

"On purpose?" Rebekah handed him a cold beer.

He nodded. "Vicki and her were arrested for breaking and entering."

"Why didn't she use compulsion to get out of it?" Rebekah opened a beer for herself.

"Because she wanted to have a criminal record?" Matt shrugged. "I don't even know anymore, Katherine can be heedless about laws and rules like no one I know."

"Do you want me to go over to the police station and break her free?"

Matt shook his head with another sip from his beer. "Let them sit on a cell for another two hours, maybe that will make things slightly more real for them."

She smiled strangely attracted to his personality, he was so normal that it was actually fascinating.

"So… Enzo…" he stabbed the air with an imaginary knife while making the famous Psycho sound.

Rebekah nodded with a soft laugh. "I should've known that something was off because I was attracted to him."

"Something was wrong but with him."

His comment made her stare at him.

"You know… he was… the bad guy… not you, for liking him." Matt awkwardly felt like the ground should open up right now and swallow him so he looked at the courtyard. "Those two have been kissing forever." He desperately shifted the attention and subject.

"For some solid 44 minutes or so." Rebekah replied with a huge smile.

[XXXXXX]

Klaus was invited to the gang's gathering and he was expecting to find Caroline here but he wasn't really counting on seeing her waiting for him outside of Matt's house with a smile as warm as her pretty creme dress.

"Hey…" she met with him half way as he came out of the car.

Only an hour had gone by since their heart to heart in front of her house and already he was finding his promise to leave aloof, she just had a way of capturing him, especially when she was smiling like this.

"I had so many things to tell you and now that you're here I don't know where to begin."

"Perhaps where we left off." He suggested with a smile that wasn't yet on his mouth, just on his voice.

She had her eyes traveling along the line of his collarbone and the open buttons of his blue Henley shirt. "I'll go away with you." She had a series of small steps closer to him. "I love you and if you want to leave I'll go with you." She leaned in to kiss him.

Klaus stopped her by lacing a hand around her neck and pushing her with a slam against his car. "That's an interesting way of introducing yourself, Raven."

She laughed changing her appearance into her real dark hair and sexy tight top. "I could've placed a little more effort into it."

"An inept attempt is as good as any other." Klaus placed distance between them.

Raven languorously touched her neck with a sly smile. "Don't be jealous sis." She turned her head in the direction of the girl arriving without many reasons to smile. "I'm not here for your boyfriend." She started to walk away with a taunting smile. "But I could be."

Caroline looked at Klaus uneasily, she wasn't happy about this, at all.

[ XXXXXX]

Soundtrack:

Perfect world (Acoustic version) – Kodaline

Shine a light – Banners

Beautiful birds – Passenger feat Birdy

Wishes – Rhodes