CHAPTER 1

"How Soon Is Now"

Caroline grimaced as she hugged her brunette friend as tightly as she possibly could. Caroline was well aware that Elena was distraught, but so was she. Both Damon and Bonnie were gone, yet it appeared their friends only felt it necessary that Elena was consoled. Sure, Elena lost her soulmate, but Caroline lost her best friend, Stefan lost his brother, Jeremy lost his former lover, Matt and Tyler lost their friend. None of them were left unscathed. Nevertheless, Caroline could never bring herself to have any bitter thoughts towards her friend.

"You have to get him back. You swore you would," Elena instructed Caroline. Caroline remembered this promise very well, but it was only an ill-conceived attempt to comfort her. However, she couldn't let her friend down, and she certainly wouldn't be content if her best friend was trapped forever, so at the least she would try to save them from wherever they could be. She would enlist Stefan's help, and try her best to free their friends, even if it involved losing her sanity in the process. While she regretted her assurance to Elena, she was positive she would have put forth all of her effort anyways.

"It's going to be okay, Elena," Caroline lied. The truth was that there was a high likelihood Bonnie and Damon had vanished completely. The other side and all supernatural creatures who previously inhabited it were nonexistent. She had devised a flimsy plan to seek out and consult powerful witches who could serve as beneficial to this case. She was familiar with a few in New Orleans, so that would seemingly be her primary location.

Elena gave Caroline a grateful smile and headed out the door to meet Jeremy. Caroline breathed a sigh of relief and took her cell phone out of her back pocket. She was debating whether or not she should call Stefan immediately or wait a few hours until he had returned from wherever he had mysteriously disappeared to this morning. He had claimed to be taking a trip to the hospital to swipe us a couple more blood bags, but there was no logic behind that because they had nearly two hundred in the cooler downstairs in the Salvatore mansion.

After several arguments and counterarguments in her head, Caroline pressed call, although she was ninety nine percent sure he wouldn't pick up. She heard one ring before she was sent to voicemail. She couldn't let another second that could be used to save her friends go to waste. Putting her phone in her back pocket, she grabbed her purse and left her house. Much to Caroline's expectations, there was no sign of Stefan at the hospital. All of the sudden, she caught a whiff of a familiar aroma. As she sensed her face shift into its supernatural state, she desperately tried to push her desires away. Stay in control, she repeated in her head, like a mantra. Her mission was to find Stefan and convince him to assist her in the recapture of their friends. The second half shouldn't be too hard, but Stefan could be anywhere by now. She quickly followed the stench to its origin.

"Can I help you?" a middle aged blonde nurse questioned her. Caroline's gaze instantly flicked to her the woman's neck, on which she noticed a bandage and a blood stain of a considerable size. Caroline took a step closer to her and aligned the woman's eye with her own. However, she was hesitant. Caroline adored the power she possessed to force anyone to confess their deepest and darkest secrets, her guilt was multiplied every time she compelled a human.

"Who did this to you?" she interrogated the woman, Allison, her name tag read.

"I don't know his name," Allison replied obediently. She looked terrified, and Caroline couldn't help but feel terrible for her. She told herself that she wasn't doing anything that could be potentially harmful to the woman; her intentions were pure.

"What do you know about this man?" Caroline reluctantly continued to press the woman.

"Red eyes, bushy eyebrows, light brown hair," Allison described the man whose features coincidentally resembled Stefan. Caroline was not surprised at his carelessness. He clearly hadn't bothered to compel Allison into forgetting the attack. Stefan had gone off the rails on numerous occasions, although most of them were short lived, with a few exceptions. During the previous incidents, he hadn't made much of an attempt to cover up his tracks.

"What exactly did he say to you?"

"He rambled a little nonsense about witches in New Orleans and then disappeared." Caroline furrowed her eyebrows and sped off. Maybe Stefan had a similar plan as Caroline, and he was only one step ahead of her. She vigorously messed with her hair as she always did when she was frustrated or stressed. She knew she was going to have to find Stefan on her own. She sprinted to her car and spent the next several hours on the road. She tried Stefan's cell over and over again, with no luck.

At last, Caroline stepped out of the car and wandered aimlessly along the streets for nearly an hour. The truth was that she had no clue where to begin. She spotted a cafe across the street and decided it would be no harm to stop for a cup of coffee. She was about to cross the road until she heard a voice that caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Hello, love."

A/N: I sincerely hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I'm a newbie writer for The Vampire Diaries, but I love the show, especially Klaroline, with all my heart. In case it wasn't clear, this story is set just after the season 5 finale. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thank you, and expect monthly updates.