I parked the car in the school lot, already late for class — not that I planned on attending. I was here to talk to Care. I'd ditched one of her dances, and the one where Klaus showed up to wreak havoc, without telling her why. I'd ditched her; she was bound to be pissed.
I barely stepped into the hallway before an annoyed voice rang out:
"Bonnie Sheila Bennett, where in the blazes of hell have you been?"
"Hey, Care Bear. You are not going to believe the night I've had." I turned toward the raging blonde with my best innocent smile — which fooled absolutely no one.
Caroline grabbed my arm and dragged me right back outside into the parking lot.
"You better have a good explanation, sister, or else I have a rant planned that you will listen to until I'm finished."
"Listen, ditching your party without telling you was a bitch move. It had nothing to do with the fact that the 60s are the lamest theme you've ever come up with — though they are — and nothing to do with Klaus planning to attend." I paused. "Actually, it did have to do with Klaus attending."
"The 60s are not lame. And if you try to tell me you didn't have an outfit, I had one ready for you. What does Klaus ruining my party have to do with anything? Thank God the Salvatores and Klaus had their pissing contest outside the gym or it would've ruined everything. Did you know he was possessing Alaric?"
"It seems everything went well without me. That's cool. Even if I'm feeling slightly unimportant." I headed toward my car, Caroline stalking beside me.
"You still haven't explained where you were, Bonnie. Or why you didn't pick up your phone."
"Okay, I have a great explanation." I unlocked the car and nodded toward the trunk. "See for yourself."
Caroline opened it, gasped loudly, slammed it shut, and whipped around with saucer‑wide eyes.
"Bonnie. Why is there a vampire corpse with a dagger in his heart in the trunk of your car?"
"Because I knew Klaus would be busy last night, so I stole his brother's corpse like a master thief."
She blinked. Slowly. Then opened the trunk again for another peek.
"Oh my god. That's the vampire pirate."
"Yup," I said cheerfully, still proud of myself.
"Why does he still have the dagger in his heart? I thought the plan was to help him."
"The deal was that I'd get the dagger out. Not that I'd do it myself. Or immediately." I shrugged. Kol's ghost was probably cursing me out on the Other Side.
"Okay, stealing a sexy vampire pirate corpse is an acceptable excuse for ditching my awesome party," Caroline said, way too delighted.
"Awesome."
"So what are you going to do with him?" she asked.
"Use him as a bargaining chip, obviously. I'm going to get as much out of him as possible."
"That sounded super dirty, but I approve."
"Anyway, I need to get to the Lockwood house. Wanna come?"
"You're not ditching me today, Bon Bon." She climbed in. "By the way, why are we going to Tyler's? I just saw him in science class."
"We're going to see his house guest. And possibly crash a tea party."
Lockwood Mansion
We walked in without knocking. Caroline tilted her head toward the living room — vampire hearing — and I followed.
"Yes, Klaus is my brother," Elijah said as we entered. He turned and nodded politely.
"I am shocked," I gasped dramatically, hand over heart. Caroline snorted.
"Bonnie, Caroline… what are you doing here?" Elena asked. "Did Stefan and Damon send you?"
"Do we look like mail?" I asked, taking a seat beside Elijah. "We're here for the Original."
"Glad to see you're back from the dead. Again," I said to Elijah, pouring myself tea. "So, your bro is in town being dramatic. Tragic business. Thank God I skipped that party."
"Right, they're brothers. I'm still processing," Elena muttered.
"Miss Bennett, always a pleasure. And a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Forbes," Elijah said.
Caroline beamed. "Pleasure is all mine. I mean, you're like one of the procreators of my kind — it's like meeting Adam and Eve. By the way, you, mister Original Vampire, have great hair."
"Thank you, Miss Forbes," Elijah said with a serene smile.
Caroline stole some of my tea and made herself comfortable. I was amused — only Caroline would compliment an ancient vampire's hair like she was judging a pageant.
Elena tried to steer the conversation back to her, as usual.
"So… there's a whole family of Originals?"
Elijah explained. Seven children. Human beginnings. Oldest vampires in the world.
"Damn, they didn't have television back then, did they?" I snorted.
"I can assure you we did not," Elijah said.
Elena asked about the curse. Elijah explained the fake Sun and Moon curse. I snorted again.
"You're a Seer?" Elena gasped.
"I thought I mentioned that," Caroline said.
"No, you didn't!"
"Why are you surprised?" I asked. "I predicted your mom was an evil vampire bitch and your dad was creepy Uncle John — and I didn't even charge you."
Elena huffed. I didn't care.
Elijah dropped the truth: the curse was fake. Klaus had been planting it across continents for centuries.
Elena's brain short‑circuited.
Then Stefan called — Klaus went after Jenna.
Elena panicked. Elijah refused to let her leave. She begged. He relented.
Caroline and I stayed behind.
"Miss Bennett, Miss Forbes, your company is appreciated," Elijah said. "But I believe our deal remains intact. Or are you breaching it like Miss Gilbert?"
"Not at all," I said. "I just have new information you'll appreciate."
"Enlighten me."
"I've been haunted by an annoying ghost lately who insists he needs my help."
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Oh, nothing… except he looks like you and has a dagger in his heart."
Elijah blurred forward, suddenly inches from my face.
"Explain."
"Your younger brother Kol is a menace. Even from the Other Side he gets what he wants."
"That's impossible, he's—"
I handed him my phone. "I recently changed my wallpaper."
He unlocked it.
He gasped.
Kol's corpse stared back at him from the trunk of my car.
"How?"
"I did mention I skipped the party," I said smugly. "I stood up one brother to go grab the other."
Elijah stared at me, calculating. "Where is he?"
"Still taking a nap. I'm not putting myself on his snack list."
"What do you want, Miss Bennett?"
"There's a secret human organization experimenting on vampires. They're creating a virus that forces vampires to feed on each other. I need help dealing with them."
Elijah's expression darkened. "Done."
"In return, I'll give you Kol — but you must take the dagger out immediately."
He hesitated. Then nodded. "Deal."
Caroline suddenly chimed in. "As a sign of faith, we'll give him to you now."
I raised a brow. She smiled tightly. I sighed. Fine.
"Yes, we'll give him to you now," I said. "And in return, we hit the Augustine Society tonight."
"Agreed," Elijah said.
We walked to my car. I opened the trunk.
Elijah immediately pulled the dagger from Kol's heart, tucked it into his suit, and slung Kol's corpse over his shoulder like a gym bag.
"I shall deal with Elena and the Salvatores. I'll call you when we're ready to deal with this secret society."
"We?" I asked.
"Yes, we. Kol will be up for a massacre as soon as he wakes."
My eye twitched. Elijah smirked — actually smirked — and vanished with Kol.
Was the noble Elijah teasing me?
Caroline giggled. "I'm coming too. No way I'm missing this party tonight."
I glared at her.
My best friend was up to something.
And I wasn't sure I'd like it.