Work Text:
Caroline skips right over Whitmore and ends up at Tulane.
The New Orleans air feels different. Warmer. Not exactly better, just... not the same. She can breathe it in and not think of familiar faces, familiar streets. Today, she decides, it's a good thing. Today she doesn't want to think about Mystic Falls, about her friends and whether or not they've left more voicemails on her old phone, asking her how she's doing.
The answer would be totally fine, if she ever bothered calling back.
She never does, though. She lets the voicemails pile up, checking for new ones but never listening to them. She'll cave if she does, she knows. Just one second of her friends' voices and she'll end up driving all the way back to Mystic Falls before she can think better of it. And that's not what she wants. She wants to be here, in a place she doesn't know like the back of her hand. She wants to discover what kind of person she can be outside of the supernatural mess her hometown has become.
Somehow, New Orleans ends up being that new place. She'd like to say the decision to come here had nothing to with Klaus, but if she did she'd be lying.
Truth is, for all the new she wants to experience, she's not all that ready to go somewhere completely unknown. New Orleans is far enough away that she doesn't have to worry about bumping into anyone she knows, and conveniently within walking distance of Klaus, who'd be able to bail her out if she ever finds herself in any trouble.
It's a temporary stay, though. Just long enough for her to graduate, before she moves on. Not that Klaus got the memo. As soon as Caroline had arrived, he'd gifted her a big luxurious apartment (to go with her new mini fridge), as if trying to bribe her into staying with the apartment's midcentury style interior and giant walk in closet.
She does end up moving into the apartment, but not because she's admitting anything. It was just convenient. Preferable to dealing with university housing and annoying roommates.
The one down side to having her own place is that it's leased in her name, and seeing as she's a vampire, it doesn't really do anything to prevent other vampires from getting in.
Caroline doesn't even give herself any time to properly look at who's currently lounging on her couch, she immediately drops her bags and breaks a leg off of her pretty, pretty dining table. She winces as she does it, knowing that later she'll have to ask Klaus where he bought it, meaning she'd actually have to talk to him, before she's knocking the intruder off her couch and onto his back.
She has the makeshift stake levelled at his chest, where his heart is, when she blinks, and realises that she recognises him.
"Hello, darling." Kol Mikaelson is grinning up at her, looking entirely at home pinned underneath her.
He should be dead. She'd seen his body. "What the fuck?"
She's so surprised she doesn't react in time when Kol reaches up and bats the stake away with a casual flick of his wrist. She has enough awareness to retaliate at least, gripping his neck with her hands and squeezing, before he can make another move.
"Oh." He struggles to get the sound out, but that infuriating grin is still on his face. "You're not all talk, then. Lovely."
"How are you... no, actually, you know what? I don't want to know. I don't care—"
"—That hurts, sweetheart—"
"—I bet one of your siblings terrorised some poor innocent witch to do some super risky spell that probably involved a creepy human sacrifice to bring you back to life even though I have no idea why because no one even likes you—"
"—Ouch—"
"—And anyway I don't care about the how, I just want to know why the hell you're in my apartment."
She's a little out of breath by the time she's done talking, something that he seems to enjoy, frustratingly enough. Caroline opens her mouth again, acid practically dripping from her tongue, but Kol flips her over before she can say anything more, grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her head.
Caroline groans when the back of her head smacks against the floor, the sound of Kol's laughter grating on her ears.
"I've been back for a while, you see," Kol starts. Caroline thrashes underneath him but he continues as if she's not there, "I'd managed to snatch myself a different body for a while. His face was nowhere near as charming as mine, of course. Then I'd died, again, temporarily. And then someone found a way to bring me back, in all my glory. No human sacrifices needed, unfortunately."
"Glad to know you're still insane—"
"—Don't interrupt, it's rude." He bops her nose. She tries to bite his finger off, but is unsuccessful. "As I was saying, I'd returned to my own body, a vampire once more, but quickly realised things had gotten quite boring while I was away. There's less dysfunction in the family these days. I blame the baby. Harriet. Helen? It's a little funny how everyone's so desperate to play house."
Caroline's stopped fighting at this point, lying still and attempting to catch her breath. "That still doesn't explain why—"
"—Patience, I'm getting there. Where was I? Ah, yes, the miracle baby. My brother was starting to bother me with all his baby talk, all his you're her uncle business. Me, an uncle. Can you imagine? I decided, in the interest of making things more interesting, to snoop through Nik's belongings and take something from him. Imagine my surprise when I discover that he's bought some big expensive apartment in secret, not for my precious niece's mother, but for you."
This is seriously the last thing she needs. "So you thought you'd just come in and what, kidnap me?"
"That's the idea, yes. You're certainly far more entertaining than any of my siblings, including that snotty little niece of mine. I was thinking we take a long, indefinite trip to somewhere sunny. Thoughts?"
"No thanks," Caroline says with a plastic smile.
Kol's smile turns a bit sharp. She jerks her knee up before he can do any real damage, forcing him to loosen his grip on her hands so that he can avoid her leg connecting to anywhere sensitive. With his hold loosened, she yanks her hands free, grabs the sides of his face and headbutts him so hard she sees stars. While he's down momentarily, attempting to regain his bearings, she picks up the hastily made stake he'd tossed aside earlier and sticks it in his chest. Not through his heart, not that it would work anyway, but close enough that it'll make chasing after her pretty hard.
Then she's out the door, flashing off down the hall before he can say another word.
-
Three days later, Caroline shows up for class and Kol is standing at the front of the room.
Everyone else is completely silent. Eyes open, mouth closed. Kim, the girl she usually sits next to, is staring ahead at nothing and smiling eerily. Caroline sighs, and mourns the simple college life she'd been trying so desperately to have.
She stomps over to Kol, placing her hands on her hips once she gets close enough. "Seriously? You compelled the entire room?"
Kol shrugs, smirking. "I've learned some very fascinating things from your classmates. Jack, back there, seems to think you've got a bit of a thing for him. And Kim, oh, poor Kim, thinks the world of you, but gets jealous so easily at the same time. Then there's Charlie, ah, I see you remember him. From what I hear you two got quite intimate in the—"
"—Oh my god!" Caroline zips over, clasping her hand over his mouth before he can finish. "You compelled Charlie to tell you about the time we slept together? That's such an invasion of privacy! I cannot believe—"
He bites down on her hand with his sharp teeth, making her snatch it back with a hiss. "Oh, believe it, darling. Don't worry, I didn't get any of the nasty details out of him, though he seemed more than happy to supply them. I'd like to discover those particular secrets for myself."
"You think we're going to— you think I'd actually sleep with you?" Caroline laughs, like he'd said something particularly funny.
Kol doesn't even get mad, just smiles at her all smug, as if he knows things she doesn't. "We'll be seeing about that, won't we?"
Then he whisks her away before she can emphasise that she would never, in a million years, have sex with him. Caroline can't even try to run, with her entire class practically held hostage. Never mind that she doesn't actually, really care about them all that much. She still refuses to let them die, even if it means spending time with possibly her least favourite Mikaelson.
To her surprise, he doesn't drag her to the airport and force her on the first flight to the Bahamas, he takes her to a swanky looking area where the streets are stacked with nothing but fancy restaurants and upscale bars.
They don't step inside any of those places though. Instead, Kol points her towards the rows of expensive cars neatly lining the street, then tells her, "take your pick!"
"You're going to steal a car?"
"No, no. You're going to steal a car."
"What?! No! I'm not doing that."
Kol rolls his eyes. "You're such a stick in the mud, Caroline. Come now, just pick one. Remember, Kim's life is on the line here."
Ugh. God. So she's really doing this then. Caroline grumbles, gives Kol's shin a swift kick for good measure, but starts properly observing the cars like he wants her to. She ends up stopping in front of one that's sleek and silver. Not too flashy, but elegant looking. The kind someone from Wall Street might drive.
"A Porsche." Kol whistles. "Good choice. Now, the first step to stealing a car is, of course, getting into it. You could go for a window, or pull the door open, but another option..." He pats the trunk with enough force that it pops open, then gestures for her to get inside. The car alarm is blaring, but any time someone approaches to ask them about it, Kol compels them to walk away without even saying a word.
Caroline gets the idea. She huffs, shoving him aside so that she can crawl into the trunk, aware that he'd probably chosen this particular method of getting into the car just so he could see her bend over. She's wearing her favourite jeans today too, so she knows her ass looks phenomenal.
Ignoring the weight of his not so innocent gaze, she pushes on the barrier between the trunk and the backseat, waiting until it flops forward so that she can crawl past it and to the front seat. Once she settles herself behind the wheel, she looks up to find Kol standing by the passenger side, waving. She rolls her eyes and opens the door for him.
He climbs in and shuts the door behind him, then proceeds to teach her how to hot wire a car. She has no idea when he'd learnt this, or why, but she listens as he explains, and actually feels a bit of a thrill when she manages to successfully get the car started.
"Knew you had it in you, darling."
Caroline prevents him from saying anything further by stepping on the gas, jostling him hard enough that he has to grip the dashboard to prevent himself from getting thrown around as she turns a sharp corner.
She doesn't even know where she's driving to, she just keeps speeding until everything's mostly a blur, making crazy U-turns as if she's in a Fast and Furious movie, hoping Kol might get thrown out the windshield if she tries hard enough. Unfortunately, Kol's cackling gleefully beside her, even as she threatens to drive them both into the river.
She'd forgotten that common sense doesn't apply to him.
The car comes to a screeching halt back at Tulane, Caroline braking so hard any normal person would've been propelled out the window from the car seat.
"There, you had your fun. Now will you uncompel my classmates?"
Kol taps his finger against his chin, considering. "I might need a little incentive..." He leans back, uncrossing his legs and gesturing to his lap. "How about a bl—"
"—Do not finish that sentence—"
"—ow—"
"—I will castrate you—"
"—jo—"
Caroline lunges before he can sound out the 'b', her fingers digging into his chest just as his plunges into hers. Somehow, the momentum ends up pushing her onto his lap, and now she's heaving, her thighs on either side of him, her fingers clenched around his heart.
From beginning to end that smile hasn't left Kol's face. "It seems we're at a bit of a standstill."
There's definitely something wrong with her. Caroline's heart is in Kol's hands, literally, yet she doesn't feel as scared as she should. She's a little tense, maybe, but more than anything, she feels exhilarated. The entire day, starting with the car, then the reckless driving, and the constant threats in-between, has been fun.
Kol smirks at her like he knows, like he's aware of each and every traitorous thought in her head.
She squeezes his heart just a little, watches as he squirms just slightly under her tight grip, and grins a little victoriously when this half mangled sound comes out of his mouth.
"My brother has you pegged all wrong, doesn't he?" There's this triumphant look on Kol's face now that Caroline wants nothing more than to scratch off.
Caroline scoffs. "You just bring out the worst in me."
Kol reaches out with his other hand to caress her cheek. Caroline could move, but if she did she'd be risking her heart being pulled out. So she stays still, lets him run his finger along her skin. "So you say, but would you like to know what I think?" Caroline swallows. Doesn't say a word. "I think I'm the only one who's given you the space to let your real self come out to play."
She'd like to deny it. She really, really would. But there's probably no point. The thing about being with Kol is that he's so terrible it makes Caroline... careless. She doesn't try as hard to keep a leash on her baser instincts because she doesn't need to with him. There's nothing in the world Caroline could do that would be anywhere near as bad as the things he's done, or said, or thought.
"Stop trying to turn me into you," she hisses.
He's the one who breaks first, pulling his hand out of her chest with a sickening squelch, before using that same hand to brush a bloody thumb across her lower lip. "Oh, darling, I haven't even begun trying."
Caroline convinces herself the uneven thumping of her heart means nothing.
-
Caroline's beginning to realise she's not very good at this, at pretending to be normal.
Whatshisname is handsome. Dark hair, dark eyes, sharp jaw. Like Tyler, but without the werewolf factor. And she's realising now, that the werewolf factor matters quite a bit. She'd been deluded about the things she thought she was looking for in college. She thought she wanted simple, she thought she wanted normal, but now she's here, on a blind date with a hot guy who's genuinely interested in her, and she's bored.
He's human, and that shouldn't be a problem, but it is.
"So... my apartment's like two blocks away..."
Caroline tries imagining for a moment what it would look like if she were still human, if she was as into him as he is her. She'd go to his apartment, they'd have sex. She'd get his number, then maybe call him a couple days later. Not too early to seem desperate, and not too late to seem uninterested. They date. Might somehow miraculously make it through the six month mark. Then a year goes by, she brings him back to Mystic Falls to introduce him to her mother. Somewhere down the line they get married, they have kids, and then she dies all wrinkled and fulfilled, with a bunch of her children and grandchildren by her side.
At one point she used to want that. Now the picture of a happy family and a cozy three bedroom home just seems stifling.
"Get home safe." Caroline leaves him one last fake smile before turning on her heel and exiting the restaurant.
She doesn't get very far.
When she reaches her car, she finds all her tires have been slashed. There's also an ominous splotch of blood pooling on the ground, due to whatever is bleeding inside her closed trunk.
She pops it open and is met with the sight of a bound and terrified man. It takes her a while, but she eventually places him as the waiter that was serving her earlier before someone had apparently taken him and shoved him into her trunk.
He's bleeding from a bite mark in his neck, but he's not anywhere close to dying yet, thankfully. Caroline sighs, leaning down to untie him before compelling him to go home, get himself fixed up, and forget everything that happened that led him here.
As the poor waiter turned victim crawls out of the trunk and hobbles to wherever home is, Kol emerges from the shadows with blood on his shirt and a devilish smile on that annoyingly attractive face of his.
"Evening, darling," he says, like they're not both watching his latest snack stumble down the street after being stuffed into Caroline's car.
Caroline steps on Kol's foot. He doesn't even attempt to move it out of the way. "What do you want this time?"
"Me? Want something? Whatever do you mean?" Then, to her utter bafflement, Kol pulls a fake sunflower out of his sleeve. "I simply came to wish you a happy birthday with a gift." He then offers the bright neon-yellow sunflower to her, grinning.
Kol has apparently learnt how to do magic tricks, during his long stint on earth. Caroline is reminded of how much time she has herself, of the things she could learn if she just put her mind to it.
She plucks the plastic flower out of his hands, admiring it for a moment, before dropping it to the ground and grinding it beneath her heel. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't call a half dead waiter in my trunk a gift. I would've preferred one of those cheap, tacky birthday cards from the grocery store."
Never mind that Kol's actually the only one who's wished her a happy birthday so far. Even if his idea of a present is more like a threat than an actual gift, she might be kind of... touched. A little bit flattered even, that he went to the trouble of finding out it's her birthday today.
She'd been keeping it a secret, not quite sure if she was ready to celebrate it properly without her friends by her side for the first time.
"Come now, darling, you deserve much more than just a bit of printed paper. You shouldn't be spending your birthday in a place like this."
"This place has a Michelin star."
"That, and a waiter who sneaks bits of food off of plates he's delivering to tables."
"Wait, really?"
"Yes, when I found him he was—"
"—Ugh. No. I actually don't want to know. Just... tell me what you're doing here, Kol."
A suspicious glint enters his eye. "I've come to whisk you away."
Caroline should know better.
Caroline does know better.
She takes his hand anyway. Lets him lead her to a motorcycle (that he probably stole). Wraps her arms around his waist when they speed down the road. Pretends there's no fluttering in her stomach when they dismount in the woods, at the edge of a lake.
It's picturesque, the way the moonlight reflects off the water, the yellow of the fireflies hovering over the surface.
The image gets disturbed when Kol jumps in, breaking the calm surface of the water, completely naked. Caroline moves before the water can get on her shoes, frowning at Kol when his head re-emerges, hair wet and dripping.
He beckons her to join him with a finger and a smirk.
Caroline has already come this far. She slips her shoes off, silently. Pulls down her dress straps, unhurried, even though Kol's gaze burns. Then she's standing there in nothing but her underwear. Her fingers hover at the edge of her panties. Kol's smirk slips off his face. Caroline pulls it all the way down. Unclasps her bra. Walks in.
She meets him somewhere in the middle.
Neither of them say a word.
A hand finds her waist underwater, drags her close until she's pressed right up against him, wet skin against wet skin.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she confesses.
Kol smiles something small, something private. "Good. You should never know what you're doing. Life is only ever interesting when you have no clue what's next."
"Yeah. I think I'm starting to get that."
If it weren't Kol, she'd kiss him. She's close enough that she can count every single eyelash, close enough that they're practically already exchanging breaths. But it is Kol. It's Kol and that means not even this, not even skinny dipping in a lake on her birthday, will end the way she expects.
She leans in close, feels him suck in a careful breath, and bites his neck.
Kol's fingers dig into her side. She tastes his blood in her mouth, but it's not about that. It's not about the blood. It's about the bite, it's about the pain. Because if she's learnt anything about Kol in the last few days, it's that he likes getting hurt. He likes it intimate, likes bordering the line between pain and pleasure. Caroline sinks her teeth in deeper. She learns she likes being the one hurting him.
When she finally pulls back, mouth wet with his blood, he runs a thumb along her jawline with something akin to gentleness. "There you are," he says, like she's a discovery.
Whatever game it is he's been playing, Caroline's pretty sure he's winning now.
-
There's a letter waiting for her when she gets home.
The letters of her name have been spelled out on the front using magazine cutouts, and when she opens it, she finds a picture of her professor bleeding and tied up to a chair inside. Poor Mr. Harris. She sighs, takes note of what little she can grasp of his surroundings from the picture, and gets to work.
A few hours later Caroline walks cautiously into an old abandoned warehouse, sidestepping bear traps that she suspects are laced with vervain, and avoiding going anywhere near the man with the bleeding neck propped up against the wall. The tantalising smell of B+ beckons, but Caroline grits her teeth and pushes past it, only stopping to compel him to run home before she walks in further.
She does end up finding Mr. Harris, only he's not tied up to a chair like he had been in the photo she received. She finds him handcuffed to a bed— a red, heart shaped bed. The handcuffs keeping him spread apart are pink and fuzzy, too. Caroline feels like she's just stepped into a cheap porn set.
"You know you could just call me, right?" Caroline says to the room at large.
After a few moments of silence, Kol glides into the room from some side door she didn't notice. "You never gave me your number, darling." He's smirking again, acting as if this is all fun and games. She supposes to him it probably is. Everything is. Caroline's starting to understand the rules a little bit better.
"Well I'd rather you asked for it, like a normal person, instead of making a victim out of everyone in my life."
Kol steps in close, twirls a single golden curl around one of his fingers.
Caroline gets the sense he might not actually know how to do this any other way.
"And here I thought I'd done quite a good job in loosening you up."
"I'm never going to think kidnapping is okay, Kol."
"Ah, but you have no qualms with taking a bite out of me? Or digging those dainty little fingers into my chest?"
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"Well— it's you."
It's as good as a confession. Caroline knows Kol knows it, with the way he stills, the way the lighthearted expression slips off his face. But this, she can tell, she has more experience with. This back and forth, this... something, this not quite flirting and not quite fighting. He's the one who has her professor tied up and locked away, but she thinks she might actually have the upper hand for once.
Caroline takes Kol's hand in hers. "Let him go," she commands gently.
"No," Kol says. He's staring at her like she's crazy.
She steps in closer, reaching up to brush some of his hair away from his forehead. She watches him hold his breath as she traces her finger down the side of his face, her touch featherlight. "Let him go," she says again, voice barely above a whisper. Kol deflates.
He sets Mr. Harris free with a put out expression on his face, wandering back over to her once her professor's gone.
"I don't know where this is going," he admits.
Caroline smiles. "We can figure it out together."
His hands go to her waist, touch soft, until he tugs her closer. Her arms wrap around his neck, until their faces are close enough to touch. He hesitates here, searching her eyes for something, a sign of uncertainty maybe. Caroline just rolls her eyes, grins, and stretches up to kiss him.
The moment their lips meet, a strangled sort of noise escapes Kol's throat. His hands go from her waist to the side of her face. The kiss turns a little desperate, a little needy, but it remains soft, tender. Caroline finds herself smiling into it, at how careful he's trying to be. She bites down on his lip to test him, only to get a growl in response. She ends up breaking away to laugh, only for it to turn into a breathy moan once he starts working his way down her neck.
Her nails dig into his shoulder as he mouths over a pulse point. "Kol."
He pulls away all of a sudden, smiling patiently at her when she glares at him. "Yes, sweetheart?"
She jumps up, wrapping both her legs around him. "Take me home."
When she kisses him the second time, it's with a renewed urgency. Caroline barely registers the scenery blurring past her as he rushes them both back to her apartment. Her front door splinters around them as he runs them both inside, but she can't find it in herself to care, especially not when he flashes them over to her bed and literally rips her dress off.
"Kol! I just bought this!"
"I'll buy you another just like it—"
"—You can't just ruin my clothes—"
"—I'll let you do the same to my shirt—"
"—That's not the same—"
"—Caroline, darling, I like you, but for once would you shut up?"
Caroline's mouth snaps shut. "I— You—"
Kol ignores her sputtering, too busy kissing up her bare stomach.
"I like you too," she says, once he reaches her mouth again. "But you owe me a new dress and a new door."
Kol smiles. "Whatever you want, darling."