Overview: This is an AU Klaroline story loosely based off of the Underworld movie series. In this story vampires cannot walk around in the sun, there are no such things as daylight rings, and werewolves and vampires have been at war for a little over a century. Caroline is a Hunter (a werewolf hunter) who inadvertently rescues Klaus and in doing so uncovers secrets of both the vampires' and werewolves' history that will change their world forever.
Rating: M, for language, gore, and some adult content (but nothing too smutty)
Notes: I've always enjoyed the Underworld movies and I had been playing around with the idea of a TVD story that was based off them for a while now. Then I thought, eh fuck it, I'll just post it and see what you guys think. If you like this first chapter then I'll write more. The chapters following this probably won't be as long. I just couldn't find a good place to end it...
And now onto the beginning of a new story! My lovely readers, I give you Demons...
"You sent for me, mother."
Elizabeth Forbes looked up from the paperwork that was strewn across her desk. She looked haggard and sleep-deprived. Caroline was taken aback by the sight.
"Caroline, please shut the doors," Liz waved her daughter in as she shuffled the papers around on her desk, apparently searching for something.
Caroline had never seen her mother like this…so frazzled. Yes, there was no other word for it, although the word did not seem to suit her normally stern and collected mother.
She swiftly shut the doors behind her and came back to stand before her mother's cluttered desk.
"What is it? Why did you call me off the raiding party?"
Liz ran a hand through her short blonde locks and sighed heavily. "I've just received some disturbing reports from Damon Salvatore."
The name made Caroline tense, but aside from that she kept her emotions in check and her features unreadable. Had she made any indication of her disdain, though, her mother would not have been surprised. It was well known that the two had ended their relationship on less than amicable terms. But Liz chose not to dabble in her daughter's love life, as long as it didn't interfere with work.
"The Lockwood Pack is on the move. They've been traveling along the mountains headed north, for the most part, but their movements are erratic. He's been searching for something…and he doesn't seem to mind wreaking havoc along the way."
Caroline nodded her understanding. "So you want me to track his pack down and put a stop to it."
Her mother shook her head. "No, it's much too dangerous to go after the pack when they're in full force. We'll wait until they get desperate enough to split up, cover more ground in their search. Then we'll strike."
Caroline's brow furrowed. She could tell her mother wasn't telling her everything she knew.
"What are they looking for?"
"It's more a question of who they're looking for," said Liz.
She grabbed a particularly dense looking file off her desk and handed it to Caroline. Paper-clipped to the inside of the front cover was a standard 4"x4" photo of a young woman, roughly Caroline's age. She had olive skin and dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders in sleek sheets. She was very pretty, Caroline had to admit.
"Who is this?" Caroline looked up from the file inquisitively.
"She doesn't look familiar?"
Caroline shook her head.
"Her name is Elena Gilbert. She went to school with you when we first moved to Mystic Falls, although back then she would have been a few years younger than you."
Caroline's fingertips brushed over the photograph in a borderline reminiscent gesture. She tried to recall the faces of her stint in public school, but it had all been such a fleeting period of time in her long life as a vampire.
"She was the adopted daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert, until she and her uncle moved to Chicago when she was 15."
That caught Caroline's attention. She didn't know why she hadn't made the connection immediately.
"She's the one they say died in the car accident that killed her parents years ago," said Caroline. "The year that we moved here."
Liz nodded and continued. "Obviously, she is still very much alive and kicking. She was relocated for her safety and has been going by the name of Katherine Pierce for the last decade."
"What does the Pack want with her?"
"That's what I need you to find out…"
Katherine desperately hoped that her plan would work. After all, it wasn't just her life on the line this time around. This vampire was their best bet at defeating Tyler. So it was imperative that she successfully reawaken him.
She had to work fast though; Tyler's wolves were on the lookout for her. In fact, she was fairly certain they had already caught scent of her trail. She focused on keeping her hands steady as she went through the motions of each step her mother had outlined.
She swiftly set up the catheter, using her own blood for the source. If she'd done it right, the blood would transfer her memories to Klaus. It was her fail-safe, in case she didn't have time to explain everything to him.
Then she gently removed the dagger from his heart and waited.
Slowly, he began to liven. The color seeped back into his skin as the blood gradually flowed throughout his body. It was working!
"Elena!" The sound of her partner's urgent voice crackled over the com-system into her earpiece.
She stood still, frozen in fear. It was too soon. Her work wasn't finished yet.
"They're headed your way," the young girl whispered frantically, "You've got to get out of there now!"
"But he's not awake yet," Katherine protested.
"Leave him! Run!"
Katherine did the only thing she could think to do. She wrote a note and stuffed it into his cold, dead hand. Then she fled.
She ran as fast as her human legs could carry her and prayed that she'd had enough of a head start to outrun the werewolves at her back.
Caroline adjusted the specs on her night-vision binoculars. She watched from her perch atop the apartment building across the street as Tyler and his wolves entered Elena's—or Katherine's—complex.
She was too late.
On instinct, she began formulating a rescue mission. Her best bet was to wait until they were about to exit the building, then she could snipe the driver and pick off a few of them before anyone noticed what was going on. They would have to split up to pursue their attacker, leaving Elena less guarded. That's when she would swoop in and make her move.
So she waited, making sure to listen carefully to the movement and voices from within the getaway van.
After about twenty minutes she overheard a voice coming through the com-system in the car. "We've got the goods. We're coming back down."
The goods? What goods did he mean? Something wasn't right…
She watched, poised to shoot, as the men came through the doors of the apartment building alone. Elena wasn't with them.
Then where was she? Nothing was adding up.
Swiftly, Caroline packed up her gear and headed back to her own car. She called her mother as she made her way down the stairs.
"Elena wasn't with them," said Caroline, "Or at least she didn't leave with them. She might still be in the apartment. I mean, maybe they left her for some reason. Maybe they took what they needed and killed her."
Liz's reply was well thought out, "No, they wouldn't just get rid of her like that. They've already gone through too much trouble to find her; I'm certain they need her for some greater purpose."
"So what do you want me to do? Follow them or look for Elena?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
"Follow them." She hung up.
Caroline carefully tracked them for four days of almost non-stop travel. They pretty much only stopped for gas, since they were able to take turns driving and sleeping in the passenger seats, which meant that Caroline had been subsisting on the naps she'd been able to steal here and there. If it wasn't for light-proof tinted windows, there was no way she would've been able to keep up with them during the daytime.
Even being a vampire though, with her increased stamina and healing abilities, four days with almost no sleep was starting to ware on her. She was relieved when they finally stopped in a city not even half a day's drive from Mystic Falls. She was curious, however, why they chose to stop there when they were already so close to home. It seemed too strange for there not to have been some pressing reason.
So she kept closer tabs on them this time around, following them like a shadow, or as best she could being confined to her sun-proof car. Throughout the course of the day, she realized that they were following someone themselves: a young man—mid-twenties, medium build, Caucasian with dark blonde hair.
She'd never seen him before and she couldn't imagine what Tyler Lockwood could possibly want with him.
Of course, there were only two ways to find out. She decided to go with the one that didn't involve a face-to-face confrontation with the wolf. That would've been too messy.
While the Pack was busy trailing the man, she broke into the apartment she'd seen him leave earlier that evening and tried to find some information within his belongings—not that he had all that much to go off of. The man was an absolute neat-freak.
There were no pictures, no books, hardly any personal items aside from the necessities. She vaguely wondered if she'd gotten the wrong apartment until she finally found a silver stake buried inside a duffel bag full of money hidden away beneath his bed. The stake at least confirmed he in fact knew of the existence of vampires, but other than that there was little evidence to gather from the contents of his duffel.
Caroline's investigation was cut short by the sound of someone at the door. They were placing the key into the lock and she was reaching for her gun. She pressed herself up against the wall, around the corner of the entryway, to give her a better vantage point.
When the person rounded the corner, she grabbed him by the shirt collar and shoved him up against the wall. Her arm crushed his windpipe and her gun came to rest against his left temple.
"Who are you?"
The man stared back at her, his eyes narrowed in anger as the veins beneath them began to pulse purple.
"What does the Pack want with you?"
No answer.
"Talk!"
The man winced. "Can't—"
Caroline understood and removed her arm from his neck, although she kept the gun pointed at him, cocked and loaded.
She was about to continue her interrogation of him when suddenly she heard urgent voices and hurried footsteps headed their way.
"Shit," she swore under her breath, "They've caught up with you already. Alright, there's no time for you to grab your things. We've got to go now. Is there a back way out of here?"
He nodded and then pointed to the window next to the bed. "The fire escape."
Caroline lowered her weapon and strode over to the window. She yanked it open and turned back to grab the man.
"Come on—" She stopped short at the sight of him fleeing out the front door, silver stake in hand. "You've got to be kidding me!"
In hind sight, she realized that pointing a gun at him probably wasn't the greatest way to introduce herself. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that he wasn't willing to follow her down a fire escape, or anywhere for that matter.
She ran after him, but wasn't able to catch up to him before he hopped in the elevator and the doors closed shut.
From the other end of the hall, about a dozen of Tyler's pack members were closing in on her. Thinking fast, she reached behind her and grabbed two wolfsbane grenades from her utility belt. Then she ripped the pins from them and threw them into the pack before running for the stairs.
The shrieks of burning werewolves assaulted her ears as she tore open the door to the stairwell and leapt over the railing, falling straight down eight floors and landing gracefully on two feet. Her knees absorbed most of the impact and she was up and running from her crouched position in seconds.
"Hey," she yelled as she peeled out of the stairwell and into the lobby, "Listen to me! I'm trying to help you!"
His vampire speed kicked in and he flashed out the front door. Caroline sped after him only to stop short when she saw him fall to his knees in front of Tyler from across the parking lot. He was clutching the side of his neck where Tyler had shot him with what she could only assume was a vervain dart.
Without a moment's hesitation, she aimed and fired four shots into Tyler. The silver bullets hardly seemed to faze him, but they slowed him down enough to give her time to get to her car. She screeched out of the parking space and floored it.
Tyler had been teeth deep in the man's neck as her car sped toward him. He dropped the man out of the way and ran headlong for the fast-approaching vehicle. Part of Caroline was worried that he wouldn't back down before they collided, but she quickly dismissed that thought, reminding herself that Tyler was the enemy. She needed to save that man he'd just been trying to drain and she'd do whatever it took.
She rolled down her window and kept her foot pressed firmly to the gas pedal as she readied her gun. She knew Tyler was just going to jump over her car, so she waited until they were seconds away from impact. Then just as they were about to collide, she leaned out the window and shot him square in the chest.
The bullet took him by surprise and then the car took his legs out from under him. His head careened forward and smacked the hood of the car with a sickening crunch.
Caroline slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. She quickly ran to the other side and put the drugged-up, bleeding man in her passenger seat. As she raced back around to the driver's side she checked to make sure Tyler was still unconscious beneath her front bumper.
He was still out cold, but there was no time to lose. The wolfsbane would have been wearing off soon and Caroline did not want to get stuck in a showdown with twelve very pissed off werewolves.
She took the car out of park and gunned it out of the parking lot. At first, she headed toward the freeway, but then thought better of it. It would be safer and more difficult to track if they took the back roads to Mystic Falls. There were countless backwoods mountain trails that crisscrossed each other in a maze of forestry, some of which would take them home. Luckily for them, Caroline knew this country like the back of her hand.
Of course, she hadn't really anticipated getting caught in a thunderstorm of biblical proportions.
Caroline glanced over at the man sitting next to her, the man she'd just saved. She yanked the collar of his shirt down in order to examine his wound more closely and had to hold back a cringe. It was much worse than she'd initially thought. Tyler had taken quite the chunk out of him.
"Who are you," she asked once more. "What does Tyler Lockwood want with you?"
"Who?" The man winced in pain as they went over a bump in the road, causing him to jolt back into his seat.
Caroline shot him an angry glare mingled with confusion. The man's evasion of her questions was irritating her, but he seemed to genuinely know nothing about his attacker, which was curious.
"Tyler Lockwood," she replied impatiently, "The leader of the Mystic Falls werewolf pack. How do you not know who he is?"
"Just—passing through," he ground out through clenched teeth.
"What do you mean," Caroline asked, shooting him another questioning glance, "Which coven are you with?"
He shook his head and looked back at her with heavily lidded eyes. "No coven…I…travel alone."
Caroline had never heard of a vampire traveling alone. It wasn't safe, with the century-old war going on, especially near Mystic Falls.
"No vampire travels alone," Caroline retorted, as though it was the most obvious statement of the century.
The man mumbled something, but she wasn't able to make it out over the sound of the torrential downpour they were currently speeding through. It also didn't help that his voice was weak with fatigue brought on by blood loss.
All she'd been able to make out was the word "original."
"Shit," she swore as she sped along the tree-lined gravel road, "We've got to get you back to the boarding house and soon."
No one had ever survived a bite from the opposite species before. She was certain he knew that, but she hated feeling helpless. There had to be something that she, or at least Dr. Fell, could do. There had to be something.
Suddenly the man started writhing in pain, crying out and clawing at the leather dashboard. His screams grew louder and more persistent with each passing second. And Caroline watched in horror as his bones began to shift beneath his skin.
"Pull the car over," he yelled angrily.
Caroline's gaze vacillated between him and the road, unsure of what she should do. "I can't pull over here; we're in the middle of the woods!"
The man continued to scream as his body began contorting into frightening positions. She could hear the bones in his body breaking, apparently of their own accord.
"What's going on?" She began to panic. "What's happening to you?"
"Bloody hell, stop the goddamn car!"
Caroline did as he asked. As soon as the car came to a halt, the man tore open the door and ran out into the rain. If it weren't for her vampire agility and heightened senses she most certainly would have lost him in the storm. But she managed to quickly grab her supply bag and race off after him. He had collapsed some twenty yards into the forest and was lying there in the fetal position as the waves of pain wracked his shivering body.
Caroline knelt down and tried to assess the best way to go about helping him. They couldn't very well remain out there in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Trying desperately not to succumb to panic, she swiftly scanned their surroundings for any sign of shelter. Off in the distance she saw what looked like the outline of a building, but she couldn't be sure. She didn't want to drag him all the way over there only to find it had been a figment of her imagination. So she told him she would be right back and she flashed off in the direction of the building-shaped mass.
It turned out to be an abandoned barn, one that had been abandoned for quite some time. It wasn't much in the means of shelter but it was better than nothing.
Caroline sped back where the man lay writhing on the forest floor and gingerly helped him to his feet. She carried him to the barn on her back, thankful once again for her vampire abilities, and set him down on the ground in the least damaged area she could find.
After that she sat there and watched terrified as he continued to break every bone in his body. She didn't know how to help. But she figured the least she could do was stay with him until the pain subsided, just so he wasn't alone.
"You should leave," the man growled.
The guttural, angry sound of his voice took her by surprise, but she merely steeled herself and refused to go.
"I'm not going anywhere."
The man punched the ground hard. He had his forehead pressed to the floor and every ragged breath sent dirt flying from around his mouth in puffs. He was drenched both in rain water and sweat.
"It's not safe—" He flew back, abruptly experiencing another mind-numbing wave of pain, and landed on his back with his legs awkwardly bent beneath him. "I'm not safe."
Caroline had never actually seen a werewolf turn before, but she could only assume that's what was happening to him. After all, Tyler had bitten him. She didn't understand how though. No one had ever survived a bite from the opposite species. That was common knowledge. Why was this man different?
"You're turning," she whispered somewhat in awe.
The man shut his eyes, as though hearing her validate the truth was too much for him to bear.
She could only imagine the pain he must have been feeling. Not only was he being forced to break every bone in his body, but he was also being turned into his mortal enemy. It must be excruciating, both emotionally and physically.
"Tie me up," the man cried out, "You need to tie me up."
Caroline nodded her understanding and began rummaging through her bag for any sort of restraints that would be strong enough to hold him down. She had some wire-enforced cabling and a pair of steal handcuffs. Using those, along with some old reins she found in the barn, she managed to tie him to a post pretty well. At the very least, the time it took for him to get out of her makeshift straight jacket would be enough for her to escape.
He winced as she tightened the ropes about him, which made her feel strangely guilty.
"Sorry," she mumbled, "I don't want you to wriggle loose."
"No, don't apologize."
Their eyes met and suddenly Caroline was acutely aware of their close proximity. She coughed nervously and wiped her hands off on her pants.
"That should do it," she said as she stood up from her crouched position.
"Thank you," the man wheezed right before his neck snapped forward painfully with a loud crack.
Caroline stood frozen in fear. When the man lifted his head back up the irises of his eyes had turned a bright amber color and his pupils had narrowed to canine-like slits. The sight startled her and sent a chill down her spine. If he was truly turning into a werewolf, one bite from him would be the end of her.
Soon after his eyes changed, the hair on his arms, legs, and chest began to grow longer. His ears became pointed and his fangs elongated. His hands and feet morphed into claws and his entire body grew in size; while in his normal state Caroline had pegged him at around 5'11", he was now closer to 6'4".
She had killed enough werewolves in her lifetime to know what a normal one looked like. And whatever he was turning into was most definitely not a normal werewolf.
Finally the pain seemed to stop and the transformation appeared complete. The man heaved a heavy sigh and sagged down onto his knees. She was certain that had the cabling and reins not been holding him to the post, he would have collapsed to the ground, a languid heap of sinewy, hair-covered limbs.
He remained slouched there, unmoving except for the labored rise and fall of his chest. Caroline inched towards him carefully.
"Hey," she tentatively called out to him, "Are you alright?"
The man groaned.
That seemed like a good enough sign. Caroline closed the distance between them and gently took hold of his head, lifting it up from its slack position so that she could look him in the eyes.
She examined him closely, checking for any signs of hostility, but all she could see were signs of exhaustion. The transformation had drained the man of every ounce of energy it seemed.
"Do you want to tell me your name now," she asked softly.
The man stared back at her, too weak to care anymore about not trusting her.
"Klaus," he replied faintly.
Caroline repeated it, rolling the name off her tongue as she wracked her brain for any hint of familiarity. She could find none. She'd never heard the name Klaus before.
"Well, Klaus," she said with a smile, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Caroline. It looks like we're stuck here for the night, so we may as well get comfortable."
She began to untie him from the post, despite his protests.
"Hush," said Caroline, "I know you won't hurt me."
He gave her a questioning look, to which she shrugged.
"I just know." She smiled. "Besides, as it is, you're currently too weak to even hold yourself up, let alone take on a fully-trained Hunter like me. And it looks like you've still got your wits about you, which is more than the average werewolf can say."
"How are you so calm about all this?" The man looked at her with both curiosity and awe.
Caroline shrugged. "When you grow up in the world I come from, not much fazes you. Or at least, you get over it really quick."
Klaus eyed her warily as he leaned back against the post. She sat a few feet in front of him, digging around in her backpack full of supplies.
"And what world is that exactly?"
Caroline's head snapped back up to gawk at him, a granola bar dangling haphazardly from her mouth.
"The world of Hunters and Slayers," she replied as though the answer had been quite obvious, "Where have you been for the past century and a half? Don't you know there's a war going on?"
Klaus looked off into the distance, perhaps recalling some long ago time. "It seems many things have changed since I last walked amongst the living…"
Caroline's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
Klaus turned back to her and sighed. "Well, since you've now saved my life twice, and seeing as how I don't particularly have any choice in the matter, I suppose I'll just have to trust you.
"My name is Klaus Mikaelson and I am one of the Originals."
Caroline bit down on her tongue in the midst of chewing her granola bar.
"As in," she swallowed slowly, "the Original vampires?"
Klaus nodded. "I've been…asleep for over a hundred years."
Caroline stared at him disbelievingly. "I don't—how—hold on a second. That's impossible. All the Originals are dead. That's what everyone says."
"Well, everyone is wrong…" His breathing was steadily becoming more shallow and he looked as though he might pass out.
"You need to feed," said Caroline, after assessing his symptoms.
Klaus smirked. "Was that an offer?"
Caroline was momentarily at a loss for words. She took a minute to reevaluate her companion, unsure of how to respond.
"Relax," said Klaus, shaking his head amusedly, "It was only a joke."
Caroline rolled her eyes and reached inside her backpack for a blood bag. She tossed the pouch to Klaus, who then promptly tore off the top and sucked it dry.
"Easy there tiger," said Caroline, "You don't want to get heartburn."
That got a smile from him. "Now look who's joking. Have you got any more of these?"
"Maybe if you ask nicely."
"Please, may I have another one?" Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.
Caroline obliged by handing him a bag of O negative with a smug little smile.
"Why aren't you afraid of me," Klaus asked, his expression suddenly growing more serious.
Caroline had asked herself that very same question numerous times over the course the night. And for the same reason she wasn't scared, she gave him a genuine answer,
"I don't know…I just feel like I can trust you."
She noticed that he looked marginally better after drinking the two bags of blood. His skin looked less pallid and his breathing was less labored, although he was still leaning heavily against the barn post and seemed as though he was fighting to stay awake.
"Look," said Caroline, "You should get some rest. I'll take first watch."
The man shook his head. "I can tell you're exhausted and you've already saved my life twice now. I owe it to you to take first watch."
Caroline crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. "You can barely hold your eyelids open! I'm not letting you take first watch only to fall asleep ten minutes in and get us killed."
"I thought you just said you trusted me."
"Yeah," Caroline scoffed, "To not attack me, not to stay awake all through the night."
"OK I think we got enough of a head start on them; I'm sure we can both afford to shut our eyes for at least a couple of hours. They won't be able to find us in this downpour."
Caroline considered his argument carefully before finally giving in. She laid down on the floor, using her bag as a pillow, and curled up in a ball. It felt like it had been ages since the last time she slept. Even vampires needed their beauty sleep.
Within minutes she was out. The last thing she remembered was Klaus watching her intently from his post. A part of her knew, in the back of her mind, that it wasn't very smart to fall asleep in the company of a vampire-werewolf hybrid stranger who could probably rip her heart out faster than she could say his name. But there was something about the way he looked at her that made her believe she was safe.
When she woke up Klaus was back to his normal appearance, kneeling over her and shaking her gently.
"Come on love, we've got to get going. I'm afraid we've already lingered here too long…"
Caroline sat up swiftly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and nodding. "You're right. OK, let's go."
The two gathered up their things and made their way back to the car. A tree branch had fallen on the hood sometime during the storm, but it hadn't done any real damage aside from a few scratches.
"So where to now," asked Klaus, after they'd buckled in and started the engine.
Caroline stared ahead down the wooded road, her face set with determination.
"Now, we take you to meet my mother."
Tyler stormed into the mansion, his werewolves trailing in after him with their tails between their legs. They were the very picture of shame and defeat—the two things he despised most in the world.
They'd lost Caroline's trail in that goddamn thunderstorm and had no choice but to return to the mansion. He couldn't understand how that little blonde blood slut had managed to outsmart them yet again. Caroline…just the sound of her name was like nails on a chalkboard and a dagger to his heart all at the same time. She was his darkest secret and his worst enemy—a perpetual thorn in his side.
Thanks to her, he would now have to come up with a new plan. He supposed having just one Original would have to do.
Ignoring everyone he passed by, he strode through the marbled hallways until he came to the library. From the shelf facing the windows that overlooked the backyard he pulled a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula, revealing a hidden passageway. He didn't bother using a flashlight as he entered the darkened stairwell; his werewolf eyes allowed him to see perfectly well in the dark.
The passage led to an underground chamber lit by fluorescent lights. The small, dank room was littered with beakers full of ominous looking dark liquids, machines to process bacteria, microscopes, and all manner of chemicals.
Tyler hated it down there. It smelled like death and cleaning supplies.
"Shane," he called out, trying not to inhale any more of the fumes than he needed to.
The slim man in his mid-thirties with a bushy head of black hair came out from around the corner. He was wearing safety goggles, a white lab coat, and blue latex gloves.
"Did you find him," Shane asked excitedly as he weaved his way through the maze of delicate scientific instruments, "Did you manage to bring back Klaus?"
"No, but I did manage to bring back some of his blood." Tyler gave his companion a once over and asked somewhat nervously, "Should I be wearing protective gear or something while I'm in here? I'm not going to get infected with something am I?"
The other man laughed and began removing his goggles and gloves. "No, no you're completely safe. I just forget to take that stuff off sometimes. So you bit him then? You actually bit Klaus?"
"Yeah," said Tyler, reaching into his pocket and retrieving the vial of blood he'd managed to save, "Here, take a look."
Shane accepted the vial with a gleeful look in his eyes. He deftly set up a microscope slide and began examining the sample.
He spoke aloud while he worked, "I wanted to examine Klaus to make sure that the girl wasn't just some fluke, but this will do just fine."
He gazed into the microscope silently for a moment before turning to look at Tyler in awe. "We've done it my friend. By now Klaus will have already turned and become a full-fledged hybrid. My hypothesis was correct!"
"Congratulations," Tyler spoke without quite so much enthusiasm, "But what does that mean for me? I need to know how I can become a hybrid too."
"You brought the Gilbert girl's blood as well?"
Tyler nodded and handed another vial of blood to the scientist.
"Let me run some tests and—"
"Screw your tests, Shane," Tyler shouted suddenly, "I've waited long enough for this. Test it on one of my wolves and we'll just see what happens."
Shane blinked a few times, startled by Tyler's outburst. "Alright then, we'll go straight to live subject tests. It's your call."
"Good."
"We'll need the girl—"
"I'll get the girl to cooperate." Tyler headed for the stairwell and called back over his shoulder, "Have everything ready by tonight."
"You're telling me that man sitting out there in our living room is one of the Original vampires?"
Caroline's mother stared at her skeptically from across her desk.
"Yes," Caroline replied calmly.
"And he's been bitten by the Lockwood boy?"
She nodded curtly.
"And you trust him?"
Caroline paused at that, but when she replied it was with the utmost certainty. "I do."
"Well I suppose now we know what the Pack has been after, although I don't understand what Elena Gilbert has to do with any of this…"
"Neither do I," said Caroline, "But I have a feeling she's the key to how Klaus was able to survive the werewolf bite."
Liz was silent for a moment. "So you two are on a first name basis, huh?"
Caroline's brow furrowed at her mother's rather odd comment. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," said Liz as she shook her head and stood up from her seat, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."
She'd walked around her desk so that she was now standing toe-to-toe with her daughter, stroking her hair and gazing worriedly into her bright blue eyes.
Caroline stared back at her, both intrigued by this rare display of affection and unsettled by her mother's abnormal behavior.
"Well you probably shouldn't have chosen this lifestyle for us then…"
Her mother frowned. "You think I chose this life?"
Caroline wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she was spared from having to when a knock on the door interrupted their conversation.
One of the guards popped his head in and informed the two women that the Salvatore brothers had returned.
"Send them in," said Liz.
Caroline took that as her opportunity to make her escape. "I should show Klaus to his room."
Liz nodded vaguely and made her way back to her desk just as the two brothers entered the room. They each greeted Caroline in passing—Stephan warmly and Damon less so.
Klaus was standing in front of the fireplace staring intently into the flames. Caroline watched him from across the room, leaning against the archway at the top of the steps with her arms folded. For some reason she didn't want to disturb him.
"Your mother seems nice," Klaus called from the fireplace without turning his back.
Caroline scoffed. "You don't have to start lying to me now. We were doing so well."
He turned to look at her as she came down the steps and poured each of them a glass of bourbon.
"She is rather…intimidating, isn't she?"
She looked up from the glasses and cocked her head to the side. "You think?"
He smirked in return. "You know, she actually reminds me of someone I once knew a very long time ago."
"Oh yeah?" Caroline took a sip of her drink and handed the other to Klaus. "Who?"
She sunk down into the antique loveseat and propped her feet up on the coffee table. Klaus sat down across from her in one of the armchairs, staring into his drink as he swirled its amber contents around pensively.
"My mother," he finally replied after a beat.
That gave Caroline reason to pause. She surveyed him carefully, attempting to gauge how much he would trust her with personal family information.
"What happened to your mother," she asked quietly, deciding to risk it.
Klaus looked up at her and Caroline was startled by the emotion she saw there: remorse.
"She died."
"Klaus," she said, leaning forward a bit, "I'm so sorry…"
He shook his head. "Don't be. It wasn't your fault and it happened a long time ago."
"Hey, well you're welcome to share mine if you'd like." Caroline offered him a small smile and a shrug.
Klaus chuckled. "Thanks, love. That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
Caroline laughed as she stood up, finishing off her drink. "If that's the truth then I really am sorry for you."
Klaus downed the rest of his bourbon with a smile and followed her down the hallway. She led him up the grand staircase and down another hallway, equally as grandiose as the first one.
"What is this place," Klaus asked, his eyes roaming the vintage décor and outdated oil paintings with curiosity.
"It's the old Salvatore boarding house," Caroline answered over her shoulder, "It belongs to a couple members of our coven and we sort of use it as our home base. You'll meet the owners along with the rest of the coven later tonight, but for now you can freshen up and get some rest. You'll be staying here."
She opened the door to one of the many guestrooms and gestured for him to go inside.
He entered the room, slowly looking around and taking in his surroundings. It had been so long since he'd last been awake, and since waking he'd been on the run, staying in cheap motels and abandoned buildings. The antiquity of the boarding house was a welcomed familiarity.
"You'll find fresh clothes in the dresser and toiletries in the bathroom," said Caroline.
He turned to Caroline questioningly. "Will you be staying nearby?"
She smiled and nodded. "I'm just a few doors down. I'll come by when it's time for dinner."
Klaus nodded and with that she left. There were so many other questions she wanted to ask him, but she could sense that now was not the time. There would be other opportunities for that. So she retreated to her own room for a much needed shower and nap.
When Caroline and Klaus entered the dining room most of the coven was already there, mingling over drinks. But everyone fell silent when the two walked in.
Caroline inwardly groaned, but plastered a smile on as Damon Salvatore approached them. She shared a pointed look with his brother Stefan, but informed him that she had things under control with a barely noticeable shake of her head.
"Damon," Caroline greeted her former beau, "I'd like you to meet Klaus Mikaelson."
Klaus stepped forward to shake the other man's hand.
"Klaus, this is Damon Salvatore."
The two men stared each other down while Caroline stood between them, awkwardly glancing back and forth from one to the other. She knew that Damon was really the only one she had to worry about as far as acclimating Klaus went. Once Damon was on board, everyone else would be as well.
After what seemed like an eternity, Damon finally held out his hand. Klaus shook it stiffly, still unsure of the other man's intentions.
"Just so you know," said Damon as he tugged Klaus a few inches closer and glared menacingly, "I can tell you know more than you're letting on. But Blondie here is probably the best judge of character I know, so I'm going to trust you…for now."
Klaus flashed him that familiar smirk Caroline was beginning to get used to. "Thanks mate, I appreciate it."
Caroline failed to miss the hint of sarcasm in Klaus's voice. She hoped desperately that Damon would either not notice it or simply ignore it. The last thing they needed right now was a fist fight at the dinner table.
When they released hands Caroline let out a breath of relief. She then proceeded to introduce Klaus to the rest of the coven: Bonnie, Stefan, Matt, Jeremy, April, Jenna and Alaric.
Aside from the little showdown with Damon, dinner went smoothly. They ate and then gathered in the drawing room to discuss the last couple of days' events.
The coven was like a democracy. Although Caroline's mother was technically in charge, she never did anything without consulting everyone else first. There were no secrets amongst the family they had become.
So it was necessary for Caroline to fill everyone in on the discoveries she made whilst tracking the Pack. She told them about Elena's apartment, Tyler's strange behavior, following their trail to Klaus, saving Klaus, and then witnessing him turn into a werewolf-vampire hybrid.
As Caroline recounted the transformation she could tell her friends were growing nervous. Their eyes shifted toward Klaus, filled with uncertainty and distrust…and fear. They were afraid of him because he was the unknown. He was an abomination that wasn't even supposed to exist. She couldn't blame them for acting the way that they were.
After the coven was adequately informed, Liz dismissed everyone, stating that they would hold a meeting the following morning to further discuss their next point of action. As it was, the Pack always seemed to be a step ahead of them. And that needed to change.
Klaus followed Caroline upstairs to the wing where their rooms were. When they arrived at his door they paused awkwardly, both unsure of how to part ways.
Caroline wound up blurting out the first thing that came to mind, just to fill the uncomfortable silence that had stretched on between them,
"Well, I guess we'd both better get some rest. I have a feeling this meeting tomorrow is going to be a long one…"
Klaus was staring at her—not in a creepy way, but almost as though he was trying to better understand her, like he was trying to read her.
"Yes, you're probably right," he said after a moment.
Caroline nodded and took one hesitant step back. "Alright, goodnight then."
Klaus smirked. "Goodnight, love."
She turned on her heel with every intention of walking to her room, but instead she turned right back around.
"You know I think we should—"
"Would you like to come inside?"
The two spoke at the same time. Caroline blushed, much to her dismay. Klaus smiled devilishly and averted his gaze to the floor.
"Um...sure," she said quietly.
Klaus looked up, still smiling, in fact even more if Caroline wasn't mistaken.
"Good," he said, "I could use the company."
She followed him inside the bedroom, meanwhile thinking to herself how strangely attracted she was to this man. He held some sort of sway over her, though she couldn't understand why.
She knew that it was dangerous to get involved with someone she hardly knew, but she followed him into the room anyway. The only way to get to know him better was to talk to him. So that's what she planned to do. At least, that was how she chose to justify her behavior.
Klaus shut the door behind them and Caroline took a seat at the foot of the bed.
"I'm glad you invited me inside," she began, "I think we both have a lot of questions for each other that need to be answered…"
Klaus spread his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Well, for you darling I'm an open book. What do you want to know?"
Caroline gazed up at him and asked, "What have you been doing up until now? I mean, what brought you to Mystic Falls?"
"That's a rather long story…"
"We're vampires—long stories kind of come with the territory."
Klaus cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes, as though he was evaluating her. "Perhaps for me, but not for you… You can't be more than 20 or 30 years old."
Caroline stiffened. "You can tell how long I've been a vampire?"
"I'm over a thousand years old, love. I can tell a lot of things."
"So tell me about how you wound up in Mystic Falls. And don't even think about trying to deny that that's where you were really headed when we crossed paths in Fairmont," Caroline quickly regained her composure and put on her stern face, "This town is home to the only vampire coven in Virginia and it's got history. In other words, this is someplace a newly re-awoken vampire lord would definitely have on his 'Top 10 Places to Visit' list."
Klaus chuckled when Caroline motioned air quotations around the last part of her sentence.
"You're right," he admitted candidly, "I was making my way to Mystic Falls when the Lockwood Pack caught up with me. I was following a lead…"
"Towards what end?" Caroline pressed him.
"I've been trying to find my family."
Klaus ran a hand through his cropped locks exasperatedly. It seemed merely talking about his failed attempts at being reunited with his family was frustrating. The gesture struck Caroline as uncharacteristic, even though she didn't really know what would be considered in character for him.
"Trying being the operative word," he grumbled.
"Hold on a second," Caroline stopped him, "Maybe I didn't choose the right question to start off with. You mentioned that you've been asleep for a long time and just recently woke up... What happened to you?"
Klaus smirked. "I told you this was going to be a long story. Alright, let me begin by telling you that the history of Mystic Falls goes much further back in time than anyone today now knows. Mystic Falls was once my home, before I became a vampire.
"My family and I lived here for many years in peace and happiness, until settlers from the Old World came and brought with them a plague. The sickness they carried across the sea wiped out our entire village. Everyone fell prey to it, except for my family. For some unknown reason we were immune to it. Thinking back now, I realize that my siblings and I never got sick as children, not even with common illnesses that went away in a few days. We were always perfectly healthy. It just took a plague for us to connect the dots.
"Call it evolution or whatever you'd like—our family had somehow developed immunity against all forms of sickness. But we later discovered our genetic mutation had other…darker side effects as well. My brother Finn was bitten by a wolf and he became the first werewolf. The night he turned he killed our youngest brother, Henrik. Unable to bear the guilt, he fled and we haven't seen him since. Then, a couple years later my sister Rebecca was bitten by a bat. She became the first vampire. Afraid of losing another of her children to a monster, my mother had each of us bitten. So we all became monsters. Later on, after we'd gone centuries killing as we pleased and leaving nothing but death and destruction in our wake, my father decided we had gone too far—lost too much of our humanity. He tracked us down one by one and desiccated us with silver stakes. See, we can't be killed by a stake to the heart, but a silver stake will keep us incapacitated if left in."
Caroline nodded to show that she was keeping up with his story. Klaus had, at some point, started pacing the room as the words flowed from him and painted the detailed picture of his dark past.
He continued, "My father kept each of us hidden in coffins scattered across the world. I was holed up in a crypt in Chicago until about a month ago when someone came and set me loose. I don't even know who it was. I just woke up one day—the stake was missing and the door to the crypt left open. A note had been tucked into my hand, presumably by my rescuer, explaining that it wasn't safe for him or her to stay in the area for too long and that I must travel to Mystic Falls. I was told that the right people would find me once I'd arrived. Regardless though, my plan is to find my siblings and release them. Then, together we will track down our father and end this family feud once and for all."
He stopped pacing and stood still in front of the window, staring out into the night with a wayward look in his eyes.
Caroline observed him silently for a moment, letting the gravity of everything he'd just told her really sink in. It was a lot to process.
After thinking things through for some time, she finally spoke, "I think Tyler might have known about your true identity."
Klaus turned around to face her, his gaze wary. "How?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly, "But it would explain why he worked so hard to track you down and bite you."
Klaus nodded slowly, following her train of thought.
Caroline continued, "I doubt he knew for certain what biting you would do, but I bet he was hoping it would turn you into a hybrid. The only thing is…I've no idea how you didn't die. No one has ever survived a bite from both species before. That's like Vampirism 101."
He chuckled at that as he came to sit down next to her on the edge of the bed. "I think it has to do with the fact that I'm an Original. Our blood is special…it adapts to any sort of virus it comes into contact with."
"Yeah that makes sense. But why did Tyler want to turn you into a hybrid in the first place? I mean, it doesn't really seem like there's any benefit for him."
Klaus shrugged. "My best guess is that he wants to somehow turn himself into a hybrid."
"Do you think it works the same way as becoming a vampire?"
"Possibly…but I'm not sure. I am somewhat new at this whole hybrid thing."
Klaus turned to look at Caroline, offering her a small smile. There was something sad about that smile though—something that called out to her, pulling on her heartstrings and reminding her of a feeling she was all too familiar with.
Seeing that smile, she came to a decision.
"I'm going to help you find your siblings," she stated abruptly, "I promise."
Klaus's gaze was unreadable and for a moment Caroline feared she'd said the wrong thing—offended him somehow—until he spoke, his words barely above a whisper,
"Thank you."
Caroline left for her own room shortly after. She went to sleep thinking of a certain hybrid and his telltale smirk.
Tyler stormed into the dungeons that lay hidden beneath his property, once used to house unruly slaves and his ancestors on the night of a full moon.
Chained against the wall of one of the cells with her arms dangling above her head, a young blonde woman glared at him. Dried blood matted her hair to the left side of her face and the skin around her right eye was the sickly, yellow hue of an old bruise. Her bottom lip was torn, as well as most of her clothes. And she looked like she hadn't seen light in weeks.
"I didn't expect you to come back empty-handed," she spoke venomously.
"Plans have changed," he replied as he knelt down and grabbed ahold of her chin, "I'm going to need you to make a phone call."
Caroline awoke to the sound of an incessant buzzing noise. She lifted her head up off her pillow and glanced at her nightstand. Her phone was going off.
Who the hell would be calling her at this hour?
Groggily, she picked it up and stared at the blindingly bright screen. It was an unknown number. That was odd.
She answered it, afraid that it might be some kind of coven emergency. "Hello?"
"Hello Caroline." Tyler's smooth tenor voice had her frozen in place. "It's so good to hear your voice again. We didn't really get a chance to catch up the last time we saw each other."
"How did you get this number?"
"Don't be so naïve Care," he laughed, "Let's move on to the more important questions at hand shall we. I'll go first. Where is my hybrid?"
"He's somewhere safe, where you can't get to him," said Caroline.
"Well that wasn't exactly an answer, but thanks for letting me know that he's with you and your little coven, holed up in the Salvatore boarding house."
Caroline was seething. Tyler somehow always managed to send her over the edge. "What do you want with him?"
"I'd like you to put him on the phone. I have someone here who I'm sure he'll be very interested in talking to."
Reluctantly, Caroline climbed out of bed and slipped over to Klaus's room. A disheveled and disoriented Klaus opened the door. He was surprised to see her.
"Caroline," he asked, obviously confused as to why she was paying him a late night visit. "Is something the matter?"
She silenced him with a finger to his lips and gently closed the door behind them. They sat down on his bed and Caroline handed him the phone.
"It's for you," she pointed to her Bluetooth earpiece, "Don't worry; I'll be listening in."
Klaus hesitantly lifted the phone to his ear, his wary gaze locked with Caroline's.
"Hello," he spoke quietly into the receiver, "Who is this?"
There was a small sob on the other end of the line. Then a young woman's voice came through, "Nik? Is that really you?"
Klaus's eyes went wide and for a moment he was at a loss for words.
"Rebekah?"
So? What did you think? I'm dying to know. Was it too hard to follow? I know it may seem full of plot holes right now, but that's just because I purposely wrote the story to gradually unfold and make more sense the further along you read. Most questions that this first chapter posed will be answered in the next chapter, or some later ones. But first things first I need reviews! Let me know if I should even bother continuing with this story!
Also if anyone is interested in beta reading this story for me it would be much appreciated!
xx
AmasVeritas