…

"Who is this?" Elena asks as Stefan hands her one of his old books – leather and musty – opened already to one of the fragile yellowed pages.

"Klaus," he answers, sitting down next to her and she feels her heart stop as she stares down at the printed sketch of the original vampire. She stares at it for a moment. "There are no pictures of him. There wasn't photography when he was made and he's a bit of a recluse. This is the only known drawing of him and we don't even know if it's right."

"He's young," she feels the need to say and they're the only words that she can form. "Younger than I imagined him to be."

"He's only in his twenties… plus a thousand," Stefan rubs his hands on his jean-clad thighs and then taking the book gently from her hands, he flips to another page. He lays the book once again across her lap and she finds herself looking at another sketch. "And this is Caroline," he says.

"Caroline," she tests the name on her tongue and stares down at the aged sketch of a beautiful young girl, no older than she is now.

"When you hear the story of Romeo and Juliet, you like to imagine that after they killed themselves, they were reunited and are spending an eternity together," he says to her.

"I've never really thought about it before but… yes, it sounds nice," she smiles a little.

Stefan doesn't return the gesture. Instead, he stares at her with the utmost solemnity, his jaw a bit tight, the muscles in his face twitching. "Imagine Romeo and Juliet, spending an eternity together as murderous lunatics."

There is a lump in her throat she tries to swallow down and her fingers tighten around the sides of the open book, her knuckles almost white. She tries not to let on just how frightened she is.

"They've been together for nearly three hundred years," Stefan continues. "You hear stories. Rumors. Legends. Who knows what's real? One thing that is constant in every single one is-"

"They are madly in love," Damon enters the room, an empty glass in his hand, his eyes flashing.

Elena glances at him and then at Stefan before back down to the sketch. Stefan leans in to look as well, studying Caroline's sketch.

"The kind of love they share, it's the most dangerous, Elena. They will do anything for each other," Stefan says. "That humanity switch I told you about?" He pauses and she nods, remembering. "They turned theirs off long ago. They don't feel anything except… what Damon said. They love each other and will kill anyone who threatens harm to one or the other. She was seventeen when she turned and he found her and there was something about her that he liked. He took her and trained her and they fell in love and have been together ever since."

"According to some stories, she's crazier than he is," Damon smirks, pouring himself another drink. He walks over to the couch and takes the book from Elena's lap, looking at Caroline's sketch. "You thought Katherine was bad?" He asks and sits down in the chair across from them.

"Damon's right," Stefan rubs the back of his neck.

"I bet it just killed you to admit that," Damon raises his eyebrows from over the top of his glass.

"Klaus is an original. He's nearly invincible and as long as Caroline's with him, she is, too," Stefan says, ignoring Damon's comment. "He will never let anything happen to her."

"So that's why we need to get to her and do something to her," Damon pipes in again.

Elena looks at him, her mouth falling open. "You want to get to Caroline and hurt her? You just got finished telling me how insane she and Klaus are for one another."

"Exactly," Damon nods, staring right at her. "We kill his little girlfriend and he becomes even more insane and drops his guard and makes it easier to get to him. He'll come to us and he'll be way too emotional."

"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness," Stefan says just soft enough for her to hear.

Elena tries to swallow the dryness in her throat again but to not avail. Her stomach is in knots and her heart is pounding so quickly in her chest, it nearly begins to make her rib plate hurt. "This is one of those plans where a thousand things can go wrong," she tells both brothers.

"We'll have a few back-ups," Damon immediately assures her but it does nothing to calm her nerves.

She turns her head and looks at Stefan.

He gives her a small smile and rubs a hand on her thigh. "Klaus knows about you and he's coming. We'll figure it out before then."

She nods and they both look back towards Damon when he makes a "Huh" sound.

The book is now across his lap. "Caroline is a younger vampire than Klaus. Maybe there's an actual picture of her."

Stefan shakes his head. "I doubt it. If he isolates himself, she probably does, too."

"An eternal seventeen-year-old who is a recluse? Not likely," Damon nearly snorts. "She goes out. Someone has had to have seen her in all of this time."

"Who do we know that would have seen her?" Stefan asks and Damon sighs with impatience, giving his brother a minute to catch up.

"Katherine," Elena is the one to figure it out first.

"Ding, ding, ding!" Damon slams the book shut and stands up. "As much as I hate to admit it, we might be able to use her help with this."

Stefan is ready to protest but Elena covers his hand with hers and gives it a squeeze. They look at one another and she does her best to smile though it doesn't reach her eyes.

"The more plans we have, the better," she tells him. "I want to be ready when Klaus and Caroline come to town."

…

A/N: just a short introduction chapter to a different sort of Klaus/Caroline than what I've written. I hope you like it!

Please, please, please comment if you read. I would love to hear from you! I know this isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but I hope some of you like it. Thank you!