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ceares: The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena going into Charlie's Angels mode and rescuing the town and the guys. (Not sure I got the full Charlie’s Angels thing going.)
“Talk all you like,” Klaus said, easy and relaxed. “At the end of the night your precious home and all its inhabitants will still be dead.”
Elena didn’t need to feign her reaction. She was used to vampires, but Klaus in his stolen body was an abomination. “You don’t need to do this,” she said, her voice shaking. “You already have Stefan and Damon. You can already hurt me.”
“But it’s that extra cruelty that makes it a deterrent, you see,” Klaus said, like she was in school listening to the chemistry teacher explain a reaction. She had no trouble seeing Klaus and not Tyler. She had no idea how she’d missed the difference even for a minute. “Proportional response has clearly been insufficient to moderate or contain your behavior. So now I’m trying something different. With your vampire suitors held in reserve, of course.”
She didn’t dare look back to see whether they were still conscious. Damon and Stefan, each in their own ways, would have been trying to draw Klaus’s attention if they’d been capable of doing so.
“Don’t look so sad, Elena,” Klaus said, with a jollity that made her hate him just a little bit more. “They’re dying peacefully. If they don’t get to say goodbye to their loved ones, at least they aren’t suffering. Not like you’re going to.”
Elena backed away, until she was against the wall. She could smell the old books, leather and something almost sweet. She wondered who’d collected them—was it Stefan, or Damon? Who’d read them? This whole house, with its groaning weight of history, and here she was trapped with a monster who was going to destroy it all. “I don’t suppose I can bargain with you,” she said.
“That’s where you’re right.” He paused, savoring the moment. “We’ll stay until the town is dead, and then you’ll be travelling with me. Your blood may no longer be of use, but your pain continues to please me.”
“New plan,” Caroline said, appearing in the doorway. “You give my boyfriend back.” She was half covered with mud and straw, and occasional streaks of blood. If Caroline was here, that meant she’d managed to get the ingredients Bonnie had needed for the spell; more specifically, that meant she’d killed some number of Klaus’s minions and ransacked his house for items he’d touched. For a moment, Elena was struck again with the horror Klaus had brought to everyone he came near: making them all murderers, one way or another.
“Caroline,” Klaus said with a parody of concern. There was every chance he thought he was concerned. “You know that I can’t do that. If I die, every vampire in my line—you included—will die. Bonnie was able to work around that only by anchoring me in my hybrid’s body.”
Caroline flinched at the reminder of Bonnie’s betrayal. If she made it to a hundred years old, she still might be wearing every emotion on her face.
Big if.
“Where is the witch?” Klaus asked, almost casually. “Where you two are, I know she can’t be far behind.”
Elena stepped forward. “What do you care? Are you so cruel that you have to see her suffer too, even though you already blackmailed her into helping you?”
Klaus shrugged. “Witches are useful. I’m thinking of taking her along too, though then I’d have to worry about you scheming with her. Might be more trouble than she’s worth. There are always more witches.”
“Doesn’t look like we’re running out of jerks any time soon either,” Caroline snapped, folding her arms.
But Klaus hadn’t lived so long by ignoring his situation. Elena saw it in his eyes: he didn’t know what was going on, but he’d figured out that there was something to know. “What are you--?” he began, and then his head snapped back and he screamed.
Like that, she couldn’t tell him from Tyler any more. Caroline had described Tyler’s agonies during the werewolf transition, and now she could see them herself.
Caroline hurried over to huddle with Elena as Klaus collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. “Please, please,” she was repeating, almost too quietly to hear. Elena held her hand. They’d done their job of distracting him; it was all on Bonnie now.
“If we all die,” Caroline said, meaning too many of the people Elena loved, “it’s worth it. You know that.”
Elena couldn’t nod. Stefan and Damon felt the same way, she knew, or they wouldn’t have joined in Bonnie’s plan. Klaus was just going to keep killing, down through the decades, and even if Elena didn’t know his victims there would be people who loved them as much as Elena loved her friends and family.
Klaus made a high wheezing noise, like the pain was so great it had gone beyond screaming.
‘Like an exorcism,’ Bonnie had said, when they’d worked it out. Klaus’s spirit, transferred to Tyler’s body, was enough to keep Klaus’s bloodline alive. If Bonnie could keep the bloodline recognizing Tyler’s body as its source even without Klaus’s spirit, then no one else needed to die. ‘Like rock climbing,’ Caroline had said, and, when everyone had stared at her: ‘You know, you put a couple of spikes in, and you don’t take the first one out until you’re ready with the next. So you’re always anchored.’
‘That’s … a really good way to think about it,’ Bonnie had said, which in turn had made Caroline roll her eyes and ask why they were all so surprised, which had no good answer. Elena’s heart ached, remembering, as she held Caroline and stroked her hair and waited for Klaus to stop writhing.
With a jerk, Tyler’s body levitated, his arms and legs dangling down as if he were being pulled up by an invisible chain around his waist. There was blood on his face, streaming from his mouth and his nose and even his ears. Blood welled from the beds of his fingernails.
Elena tried to turn Caroline’s head away, but Caroline wouldn’t move. Elena understood: She had to bear witness.
Tyler gave one last, inhuman scream. Every piece of glass in the room shattered, including the glass covering the bookshelves that Elena and Caroline were inches away from, and they instinctively ducked down.
The silence after felt like a shock of its own. Tyler’s body was curled on the floor, a bloody comma. Caroline, ignoring her own small wounds, rushed to him while Elena shook glass out of her hair and watched warily. They were out of ideas. If this didn’t work, then Bonnie would be on her own and the town would almost certainly die.
“Tyler?” Caroline asked, her voice high and thin with hope.
The man on the floor opened his eyes, white inside their rings of blood. “So,” he said, and coughed. “Did I earn the over-nighter yet?”
Caroline started laughing and crying at the same time. Elena closed her eyes and breathed out, once, in relief. Then she went to check on Stefan and Damon. Caroline was alive, which meant that the bloodline was safe, but they didn’t even know enough to know what else could have gone wrong.
Stefan was already struggling to sit upright, while Damon was twitching and groaning theatrically even though there was no way he could know what the danger level was. But that was Damon, and this was Stefan, rising with her aid.
“I take it you came up with a plan,” Stefan said, and Elena smiled at him.
“It was Bonnie’s,” she said. “Caroline and I were the manual labor.”
Damon was standing, somehow, and looking around the room. “And my house was apparently the sacrificial victim,” he complained, but he wasn’t serious.
“Elena?” Bonnie’s voice from the hallway was still worried; she must not have been able to tell what had happened. “Caroline?”
“We’re here,” Caroline said, and if Bonnie hadn’t known before, the joy in Caroline’s voice let her know. Bonnie came into the room already grinning, straightening up as if she no longer had to hide from the burden of the magic she was capable of performing.
“You did it,” Stefan told Elena, like he was testing the words out for their truth, not quite ready to believe.
And Elena corrected him with a smile: “We did it,” she said, and went to hug her friends.
ceares: The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie, Caroline and Elena going into Charlie's Angels mode and rescuing the town and the guys. (Not sure I got the full Charlie’s Angels thing going.)“Talk all you like,” Klaus said, easy and relaxed. “At the end of the night your precious home and all its inhabitants will still be dead.”
Elena didn’t need to feign her reaction. She was used to vampires, but Klaus in his stolen body was an abomination. “You don’t need to do this,” she said, her voice shaking. “You already have Stefan and Damon. You can already hurt me.”
“But it’s that extra cruelty that makes it a deterrent, you see,” Klaus said, like she was in school listening to the chemistry teacher explain a reaction. She had no trouble seeing Klaus and not Tyler. She had no idea how she’d missed the difference even for a minute. “Proportional response has clearly been insufficient to moderate or contain your behavior. So now I’m trying something different. With your vampire suitors held in reserve, of course.”
She didn’t dare look back to see whether they were still conscious. Damon and Stefan, each in their own ways, would have been trying to draw Klaus’s attention if they’d been capable of doing so.
“Don’t look so sad, Elena,” Klaus said, with a jollity that made her hate him just a little bit more. “They’re dying peacefully. If they don’t get to say goodbye to their loved ones, at least they aren’t suffering. Not like you’re going to.”
Elena backed away, until she was against the wall. She could smell the old books, leather and something almost sweet. She wondered who’d collected them—was it Stefan, or Damon? Who’d read them? This whole house, with its groaning weight of history, and here she was trapped with a monster who was going to destroy it all. “I don’t suppose I can bargain with you,” she said.
“That’s where you’re right.” He paused, savoring the moment. “We’ll stay until the town is dead, and then you’ll be travelling with me. Your blood may no longer be of use, but your pain continues to please me.”
“New plan,” Caroline said, appearing in the doorway. “You give my boyfriend back.” She was half covered with mud and straw, and occasional streaks of blood. If Caroline was here, that meant she’d managed to get the ingredients Bonnie had needed for the spell; more specifically, that meant she’d killed some number of Klaus’s minions and ransacked his house for items he’d touched. For a moment, Elena was struck again with the horror Klaus had brought to everyone he came near: making them all murderers, one way or another.
“Caroline,” Klaus said with a parody of concern. There was every chance he thought he was concerned. “You know that I can’t do that. If I die, every vampire in my line—you included—will die. Bonnie was able to work around that only by anchoring me in my hybrid’s body.”
Caroline flinched at the reminder of Bonnie’s betrayal. If she made it to a hundred years old, she still might be wearing every emotion on her face.
Big if.
“Where is the witch?” Klaus asked, almost casually. “Where you two are, I know she can’t be far behind.”
Elena stepped forward. “What do you care? Are you so cruel that you have to see her suffer too, even though you already blackmailed her into helping you?”
Klaus shrugged. “Witches are useful. I’m thinking of taking her along too, though then I’d have to worry about you scheming with her. Might be more trouble than she’s worth. There are always more witches.”
“Doesn’t look like we’re running out of jerks any time soon either,” Caroline snapped, folding her arms.
But Klaus hadn’t lived so long by ignoring his situation. Elena saw it in his eyes: he didn’t know what was going on, but he’d figured out that there was something to know. “What are you--?” he began, and then his head snapped back and he screamed.
Like that, she couldn’t tell him from Tyler any more. Caroline had described Tyler’s agonies during the werewolf transition, and now she could see them herself.
Caroline hurried over to huddle with Elena as Klaus collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain. “Please, please,” she was repeating, almost too quietly to hear. Elena held her hand. They’d done their job of distracting him; it was all on Bonnie now.
“If we all die,” Caroline said, meaning too many of the people Elena loved, “it’s worth it. You know that.”
Elena couldn’t nod. Stefan and Damon felt the same way, she knew, or they wouldn’t have joined in Bonnie’s plan. Klaus was just going to keep killing, down through the decades, and even if Elena didn’t know his victims there would be people who loved them as much as Elena loved her friends and family.
Klaus made a high wheezing noise, like the pain was so great it had gone beyond screaming.
‘Like an exorcism,’ Bonnie had said, when they’d worked it out. Klaus’s spirit, transferred to Tyler’s body, was enough to keep Klaus’s bloodline alive. If Bonnie could keep the bloodline recognizing Tyler’s body as its source even without Klaus’s spirit, then no one else needed to die. ‘Like rock climbing,’ Caroline had said, and, when everyone had stared at her: ‘You know, you put a couple of spikes in, and you don’t take the first one out until you’re ready with the next. So you’re always anchored.’
‘That’s … a really good way to think about it,’ Bonnie had said, which in turn had made Caroline roll her eyes and ask why they were all so surprised, which had no good answer. Elena’s heart ached, remembering, as she held Caroline and stroked her hair and waited for Klaus to stop writhing.
With a jerk, Tyler’s body levitated, his arms and legs dangling down as if he were being pulled up by an invisible chain around his waist. There was blood on his face, streaming from his mouth and his nose and even his ears. Blood welled from the beds of his fingernails.
Elena tried to turn Caroline’s head away, but Caroline wouldn’t move. Elena understood: She had to bear witness.
Tyler gave one last, inhuman scream. Every piece of glass in the room shattered, including the glass covering the bookshelves that Elena and Caroline were inches away from, and they instinctively ducked down.
The silence after felt like a shock of its own. Tyler’s body was curled on the floor, a bloody comma. Caroline, ignoring her own small wounds, rushed to him while Elena shook glass out of her hair and watched warily. They were out of ideas. If this didn’t work, then Bonnie would be on her own and the town would almost certainly die.
“Tyler?” Caroline asked, her voice high and thin with hope.
The man on the floor opened his eyes, white inside their rings of blood. “So,” he said, and coughed. “Did I earn the over-nighter yet?”
Caroline started laughing and crying at the same time. Elena closed her eyes and breathed out, once, in relief. Then she went to check on Stefan and Damon. Caroline was alive, which meant that the bloodline was safe, but they didn’t even know enough to know what else could have gone wrong.
Stefan was already struggling to sit upright, while Damon was twitching and groaning theatrically even though there was no way he could know what the danger level was. But that was Damon, and this was Stefan, rising with her aid.
“I take it you came up with a plan,” Stefan said, and Elena smiled at him.
“It was Bonnie’s,” she said. “Caroline and I were the manual labor.”
Damon was standing, somehow, and looking around the room. “And my house was apparently the sacrificial victim,” he complained, but he wasn’t serious.
“Elena?” Bonnie’s voice from the hallway was still worried; she must not have been able to tell what had happened. “Caroline?”
“We’re here,” Caroline said, and if Bonnie hadn’t known before, the joy in Caroline’s voice let her know. Bonnie came into the room already grinning, straightening up as if she no longer had to hide from the burden of the magic she was capable of performing.
“You did it,” Stefan told Elena, like he was testing the words out for their truth, not quite ready to believe.
And Elena corrected him with a smile: “We did it,” she said, and went to hug her friends.