Call You Mine

by cupcakemolotov

As Klaus' first hybrid, Caroline slowly carves out a life for herself in his empire. But while the ghosts of her past have never been very far away, neither has Klaus. Twenty years after the events that activated her werewolf gene and lead to her transformation into a hybrid, Caroline finds herself facing both her demons and the truth of her feelings for Klaus

For Luce. Written for the 2018 V-Day Exchange on Tumblr/A03.

---

The metal hood of the parked Jeep was still warm against the back of her thighs as Caroline hoisted herself up. Her bare heels swung against the grill as she waited, the full moon bright. Picking up the paperback she'd found under the car front seat, she flipped to the middle and perused the content.

She'd have liked to have sprawled across the grass, dug into the earth with her bare toes with her wolf a rumble through her veins as she watched the open sky. It'd been a long time since she'd spent the night in the woods. Virginia summers were hot and balmy, the distant sound of cicadas a soft memory from her childhood. The spark of fireflies had faded an hour or so ago, and it was almost a pity she was there for work.

Turning a page, Caroline didn't bother looking up as voices broke through the glade with the loud, staggering footsteps of wolves recently changed and drunk off their success. She'd been expecting them. The sounds of bones cracking had faded nearly an hour ago, and the noises that had carried through the trees had been a different kind of torture.

At first she'd been amused by their lack of awareness. Caroline hadn't seen much of a point of being quiet as she'd clambered around inside their vehicle, though she had avoided slamming doors. The night had little breeze, and while her vision was keen enough to read in the moonlight, she'd been told that her extreme senses were more acute than they should be at her relatively young age.

The witches had ensured she'd be different after the days they'd spent torturing her with Elena's blood. Monster they'd called her and monster she'd become. Caroline just wasn't the monster they'd tried to create.

"Hello Tyler," she said without looking up from where the hero was slipping his fingers beneath the bra of the spunky heroine. Supernatural romances had come a long way in the last four decades, and she was particularly fond of their ideas about werewolves. The one was a surprisingly good choice. "It seems like you've finally learned a thing or two about lady parts. But I suppose it has been a few decades, hasn't it?"

He snarled, cleary startled, and then there was a momentary scramble as clothes were noisily pulled on. Their panic filled the air, and she wondered if they feared what they should.

"Caroline," Tyler said harshly.

She glanced up then and took in his face for the first time in twenty years. There were threads of silver at his temples from a lifetime of difficult changes, grooves starting at the corners of his eyes and near the set of his mouth. Two decades had taken the boy she'd once loved and turned him into a man. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her.

Hayley stood next to him, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Her face hadn't changed in the past few years, but as a hybrid, that was expected. Hayley Marshall was a schemer, and a pretty one, but not quite smart enough.

Caroline closed the book and swung her feet in parody of the teenager she'd once been and whose face she still wore. Holding up the book, she let her grin turn a little salacious.

"Aww, don't be embarrassed on my account. It isn't anything I haven't seen before." She twisted her wrist. "I like this author. Did you decide on a little roleplaying tonight?"

Tyler look a step forward, tucking Hayley behind the line of his shoulder. His jaw hardened, eyes like flints. "How'd you find us?'

The words were ground out from clenched teeth, and she shook her head in disbelief. "You seem to be operating under the mistaken impression that we ever lost you. Please, Tyler. Tell me Hayley, did you really think a single witch would be enough to hide you from Klaus?"

Hayley watched her with narrowed eyes, gaze calculating. "What about it?"

Caroline smiled slowly. "I like witches. I particularly like them dead. What do you think will happen to your witch once I find her?"

Hayley's eyes filled with disgust. "So you really are his pet dog."

As a barb, it was weak. But certain things couldn't be allowed. Not by her or her wolf. Letting her words turn sweet, Caroline sighed dramatically. "I'd watch your tongue, if I were you. Klaus won't care if you're just a little damaged as long as I only rip things off that'll grow back. He doesn't particularly care for betrayals and here you are, carousing with the enemy."

Tyler's gaze hardened, his wolf a rumble in his words when he spoke. "I won't let you hurt her."

Caroline hopped down off the jeep, bare toes curling into the earth for a single moment of sensory pleasure. Tyler's jaw worked at her sudden movement, but he was smart enough not to lunge at her. The white-knuckled fists, the bunched shoulders, told her he wanted to. "Cut the posturing. I'm not here to hurt you, Tyler."

For a long moment, she thought they might actually try to jump her. A few broken bones wouldn't hurt either of them. But instead of giving in to his temper, Tyler took a steadying breath. His hands opened and closed as if he was trying to control his temper. She was almost impressed.

"My uncle is dead, Care."

The familiar nickname fell between them. Caroline refused to let it hurt. "I know. So is your Mom. I watched them both die, Tyler. Did you know that?"

His eyes flared, gold ringing the pupil vividly. "My mother loved you."

"Your mother saw me as a threat to your precious bloodline," Caroline said flatly. "She sold me to those witches, and your uncle helped her. All because they thought my mom's bloodline wasn't good enough for their future grandchildren."

His teeth clenched tightly around his words. "You don't know that."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. I was there when they slit Elena's throat and drained her of blood. I was there as they siphoned magic from Bonnie, and it's kind of hard to forget how they forced me to kill that homeless person to activate my gene. Oh, and the hours and hours of experimenting they did to create something they hoped would challenge Klaus. I remember all of it. Do you know what else I remember?"

Hayley licked her lips. "What?"

"My rescue."

Tyler's fists clenched, jaw hard. "I didn't know you were being tortured."

"Just that I had been abducted and sold into slavery by your family?" Caroline shook her head. "I waited for you for hours, Tyler, while I lay there in a pool of my blood, listening to Elena scream. I thought you'd fight for me. I was wrong."

"It wasn't like that."

Caroline arched a brow, anger surging. "You didn't know what your Mom had done?"

He glanced away, jaw working, and she nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You left me to die." Caroline laughed bitterly. "You left all of us to die."

"Care…"

She held up her hand and stared hard at him. "I'm not here to hear your excuses. It's done. But what isn't finished is my accounting for it. I won't rest until every witch, every pack that was involved in that slave trade is destroyed."

He took a step closer to her, but Hayley locked her fingers around his wrist, her nails digging in so tightly they broke skin. The monsters beneath Caroline's skin rose to the surface, the world sharpening further, but the push to kill, to survive was becoming more manageable every day. Two decades had been not only what she needed to scrape together the control she'd had stolen from her but to thrive.

"Is that what Klaus promised you?" Hayley asked. "He does nothing for free."

Caroline smiled at her with too many teeth. "Mason thought the same thing. He learned differently."

"One day, you'll die, and I'll be there to watch," Tyler ground out.

"Debatable," Caroline dismissed. "Now, as enjoyable as this walk down memory lane has been, I really am here for a reason. Hayley accepted Klaus' blood, did you really think you could escape the price?"

Hayley stiffened. "I don't know how you found us…"

"Witches, duh," Caroline interrupted. "Whatever witches you think you have, he has better ones."

Hayley at least had the decency to look wary. "You can't know that."

Caroline's laughter was loud in the darkness. "Can I not? You of all people should know the story of Katerina, Hayley, since she is the one who dragged you into this mess. You know, the doppelgänger who didn't stay dead after Klaus' had broken his curse, and who changed to a vampire to escape his clutches? Ring any bells?"

Hayley lifted her chin. "She escaped him. So will I."

"She led him straight to the second doppelgänger line," Caroline pointed out with a raised brow. "And we both know what happened to her after New Orleans, don't we?"

Her pretty face paled, and Caroline pinned Tyler with a steady gaze. "You can't afford to ignore me Tyler. I'm here because we were once friends. Hayley will sacrifice you if she thinks it will save her."

His words were bitter. "Courtesy? Klaus is systematically destroying everyone that opposes him. The other side is gone, Caroline. Do you know what that means?"

"Witches stay dead," Caroline said with utmost satisfaction. She hadn't been involved in the whole Cult of Silas problem that had cost them Kol and left parts of New Orleans in smoking ruins. But she'd seen the reverberations of it.

The panic in the witches.

"How can you not care? We need the other side."

She ignored his plea. "And of course Klaus is slaughtering his enemies. Did you think he'd take the loss of his brother lightly?"

Tyler's laugh was bitter. "Is that his excuse? He enslaved us, hunts our bloodlines to destroy us, and all because of the sins of witches."

Her gaze was pitiless as she watched him. "I wouldn't believe every rumor you hear."

"So says Klaus' pet werewolf. You recruit for him. We can't believe anything you say," Hayley snapped.

Caroline shook her head. "Then I suppose I'll be seeing you in less pleasant circumstances in the near future."

Hayley licked her lips, eyes calculating. "You could turn against him."

Caroline laughed. "Is that the angle you really want to take? With me?"

Gaze searching, Hayley shifted her weight. "Would it be so bad? Aren't you tired of being his pet werewolf? Of enslaving our people?"

"You shouldn't speak of things you know nothing about," Caroline warned. "This is your only warning. If I were you I'd go to Chicago and face what awaits you. You're more likely to survive that way. Don't be stupid here, Tyler. Whatever your plan, whatever you think you have on Klaus, it won't work."

Tyler made a harsh sound of derision. "You can't expect us to actually walk into that city willingly."

Caroline tossed the paperback onto the hood before scooping up her shoes. "Of course I do. Whatever Klaus wants from you, it's far better to face it down than to force him to come collect you himself. Your witches aren't good enough to hide you."

"So that's it? You're just going to deliver his message? Why don't you kill us?" Hayley demanded, for the first time her face showing fear.

Caroline shook her head. "Regardless of what you think of me, I cared about Tyler once. Just because he betrayed me doesn't mean I'll do the same."

"You didn't have to take his side, Caroline," Tyler said harshly. "You didn't have to help him."

"Maybe not, but why wouldn't I? I didn't choose to be a werewolf. And unlike Hayley, my turning into a hybrid was an accident. All of it was because your family thought I wasn't good enough to have your spawn." Caroline watched him with pitiless eyes. "Do not play the the martyr, Tyler. This mess is entirely your family's doing. We all have to live with the consequences."

She deliberately turned her back as she walked away and there was only silence behind her. It was a short ten minutes before she heard the sound of the car engine turning over, and she shook her head. They should have abandoned the car and walked back to civilization.

Caroline closed her eyes and fisted her shaking hands now that she was alone. Seeing Tyler again, seeing the way life had left its mark on him in ways it would never touch her had hurt. All of her human dreams and hopes had included him and it remained a bitter pill that they'd been taken from her.

Exhaling slowly, she forced herself to walk in the direction she'd parked her car. The confrontation had been necessary, but it'd probably piss Klaus off when he found out about it. Not that she'd let that dictate her actions, but she doubted Enzo had this in mind when he'd sent her that warning that Tyler was close.

Still, the convenient GPS tracker underneath the vehicle would provide her with information, and the fact that she'd cloned their phones would offer more. Odds were they'd hardly consider either of things to be the weapon she'd use against them. Too many supernatural were grimoire bound, certain the biggest dangers were witches and their spells.

It was a tendency she happily exploited. If there was a conspiracy growing among the wolves she wanted to know about it. She wasn't sure what she'd call her relationship with Klaus, but as complicated as it was, she wasn't going to let them try to kill him.

She narrowed her eyes as she thought about Hayley's mysterious witch. The only witch she wanted alive was Bonnie, and her wolf grew edgy and violent if forced to endure even her spell casting for too long. It was an instinct she wasn't certain she'd ever be able to break. So instead of spells and magic, she made a point to specialize in technology. She found it soothing, to pull things apart and make them better.

In the cramped confines of Chicago, the detailed work helped settle her wolf. The harsh skyscrapers and masses of people were a stark contrast to her little hometown of Mystic Falls. But the city allowed her the anonymity to maintain life in a single city long after she'd outgrown her face in one neighborhood.

The only home that was truly hers in all the ways that mattered was the little cabin in Montana, and she'd spent years renovating as a way to deal with her PTSD and her underlying rage from the torture. The rage that lived beneath her skin, the need she couldn't articulate any more than she could act on it had taken time to grow accustomed to. But she'd learned to live with it and to grow comfortable in her own skin again.

Her control had been fought for one renovation project at a time. But it wasn't always her demons that ruined her. Sometimes it was Klaus.

Caroline knew that he tolerated a great deal from her that he allowed no one else. The minions mistakenly thought it was because she was his first hybrid and her fellow turned-wolves thought it was because they were fucking. If only it'd be so easy as sleeping with him.

The day she'd woken in the back of his SUV, wolf a wild rage as she shuddered back through her first change in months, he'd smiled in the face of her rage. He'd wound his fingers into the wild frizz of her curls and given her a look of such delighted admiration. In that moment, when she'd been ragged with terror and exhaustion, he'd anchored her with her hands and his smile.

Bonnie had worried for months that she was under a sire bond, Hayley had all but said it. The accusation behind Tyler's eyes as he watched had not been a new one: sire-bound. As if Klaus could dictate her movements with the mere hint of his approval. But Caroline had never feared Klaus in that way.

Her wolf would tolerate no cages.

And neither would she.

To say that the years after her rescue had been tempestuous was an understatement. Klaus had wanted to drag her with him around the world, a living prototype for his world domination. Caroline had vehemently disagreed. He'd been furious; she'd refused to be cowed.

It hadn't been until Bill had attempted to murder Caroline and her mother that things had changed between them. Caroline still wasn't certain what had happened in those hours when Bonnie and Klaus had hunted for them, but after that second rescue, Klaus had given her the space she needed. In turn, she answered when he called and didn't eat all of the minions who spied on her.

Then he'd found Saul.

Caroline had known that things would change then. She might be the only living hybrid made from a doppelgänger from the Petrova line, but Saul meant that one day Klaus would be able to create his army. No longer would he haunt her doorstep and snarl about her lack of proper reverence for her maker.

It'd taken weeks to realize she missed him. She hadn't known what she wanted from him, if anything, but Mystic Falls had become cloying. Bonnie had started doing more secretive, witchy things and Caroline had run into a dead end when it came to hunting the conspirators who'd been involved in her abduction.

It hadn't been impulse that had driven her to make a devil's bargain, but she couldn't name the myriad of emotions that had sat in her chest. Things between them had always been complicated. The years had been topsy turvy as she'd tried to find her place, but Klaus had been her constant. Sometimes she'd hated him, sometimes she'd wished a painful death on his existence, but it'd been years since she'd looked at him in such a way. She'd tried to blame her wolf's need for pack, but that hadn't been the truth. It'd been a tangled knot of revenge and curiosity, a mixture of emotions that left her fingers trembling when she'd dialed his number.

To her surprise, Klaus had agreed to her terms without so much as an off-hand remark.

It really should have been her first warning.

She'd thought that killing the witches would help her breathe better and it had. But it'd been the unexpected freedom of travel, having a purpose, that had really given her the tools to be free. Slowly, with time, she'd grown back into her own skin and settled.

And Klaus, with his creepy spies and ridiculously easy way of reading her had apparently seen it. The careful boundaries that originally had been necessary for her sanity had disappeared. The first sign that he was deliberately changing the rules had been when he started popping up on her little trips to foreign cities to recruit.

Caroline was careful. It wasn't about converting an entire pack and she wouldn't lie. Joining Klaus had its risks, and a lot of them could very easily result in death at Klaus' hands as easily as his enemies. But there was always a hothead or two willing to risk it, more who had grown weary of the brutal cost of their monthly change. Then there were those who saw the chance for immortality and took it regardless of the cost.

Klaus' little hellos had started small. A glass of wine in São Paulo, gelato in Rome, and then dinner in Zurich. Small, harmless things where she'd assumed he'd wanted a debrief on her recruiting discussions, but then they'd somehow never managed to discuss work. In Salzburg she'd blown him off.

It hadn't been anything in particular that he'd said in his text. He'd been the same Klaus she'd known for years now, demanding and impatient and far too knowledgeable. It'd been her reaction to seeing his invitation that had freaked her out.

Caroline never handled surprises well. Realizing she had somewhere developed feelings for him had rocked her. Lust she could deal with. She understood lust. But while rolling her eyes at his message, pleasure and something softer bubbling to surface had been an unexpected complication she hadn't been prepared to handle.

She'd gone home. Camped out on her mom's couch and ate way too much ice cream while critiquing real life crime dramas. Liz hadn't commented about her abrupt appearance, had grown used to Caroline darting in and out of her life, but there had been something knowing in her silence. She could never fool her mom and she hadn't really tried.

Klaus hadn't reached out even though she'd been certain he'd known the moment she'd touched down stateside. And instead of the clipped phone call she'd expected, or worse, Klaus showing up at her mother's home, he'd been utterly silent.

She'd finally cracked, and messaged Bonnie. Caroline had definitely felt more of those complicated emotions when she learned that Klaus had been pulled into some tiff in Brazil. She knew he'd be fine, but she couldn't help the small spike of worry.

Then Enzo had texted her about Tyler.

It'd been a double-edged knife. She'd once thought she'd loved Tyler. It was why he still lived, for all of her words to him earlier that night. Part of her had hoped for an apology, for a chance to change something. He'd denied his involvement but his eyes said he wished she'd died.

It'd bugged her more than she wanted to admit.

Shaking herself out of her musing as she approached her car, Caroline tossed her sandals into the passenger seat once she reached the SUV. Digging out her phone she turned it back on and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as it booted. She stared at the trees until the familiar beeping caught her attention. Lifting up her phone, she studied the series of text messages waiting on her.

Two from Bonnie.

Five from Enzo.

One from Klaus.

Her pulse jumped, and she forced herself to read Enzo's' first. A couple of complaints about her unplanned vacation, nothing useful. She skimmed Bonnie's before letting herself look at Klaus' message.

Bonnie (1:45 AM): Something in Rio got a certain someone crazy paranoid. More so than usual.

Bonnie (1:46 AM): Be careful.

The cryptic words were weird, and Caroline was tempted to call her for more information but she was an hour ahead of her friend. Bonnie would not be pleased with a pre-dawn text, particularly if she'd been up late doing witch-y things. Frowning, she pulled up Klaus' text.

He'd sent her a single set of GPS coordinates.

Her confusion turned into a frown as she typed them into the console. Her frown turned into a glare as she realized they were for a private air strip located fifteen minutes away. There was only one reason Klaus would expect her to show up at an airstrip. He'd decided to collect her personally. For a moment, she seriously considered just going back to her mom's.

But Bonnie's text niggled at her.

Head tilting back to stare at the brightening sky, she groaned. She could ignore him a second time and she was absolutely certain he'd show up pissed and confrontational, and she didn't want to fight in front of her Mom. Particularly since she wasn't sure her self control would last if he pushed her too hard.

It was hard enough not biting those smirking lips when she'd thought she didn't care about him. It was going to be a nightmare now that she realized she did. Picking her phone back up, she took a message Enzo about the information she'd grabbed from Tyler and Hayley's phones. It wasn't much but perhaps he could start on the work she was certain she'd be unable to start on until Klaus was no longer looming.

Knowing it was the best she could do, she turned on the engine and she shifted her SUV into reverse. If she was lucky, Klaus just wanted a personal debrief on how her conversation with Tyler had gone.

It was a pity she'd never had much luck.

---

"Are you going with Tyler to prom?"

Caroline didn't look up from where she was studying her collection of nail polish. The girls might tease her about her perfectly organized life, but they still tended to gift her with new colors every birthday and holiday. With spring blooming outside, it was a nice day for a little bit of girly fun. Her mom would be working until midnight, but she had okayed the girls coming by for manicures and pizza.

"If he asks."

She could sense the confusion from her friends, knew they were exchanging looks. Picking up a deep shade of red, she studied it for a moment before showing it to Elena. "This will look great against your skin."

Bonnie peered forward from her position on the bed, a pretty shade of yellow griped next to her knee on the nightstand. "Is that one new? And agreed. Now are you going to tell us about the real reason you made me pick up three pints of Phish Food? And why we're having pizza on a Tuesday? Doesn't that break some sort of code?"

Elena leaned forward, brown eyes wide. "Did you have sex with Tyler?"

Caroline's rolled her eyes and handed Elena the polish. "I've been having sex with Tyler for weeks, Elena. Why do you think Mom took me to get on the pill?"

Elena squealed and Bonnie covered her ears with a groan. "How was it? Is being naked with someone else awkward?"

"Oh my god, Elena, don't ask those questions," Bonnie covered her face with one hand. "She'll answer them."

Caroline shrugged, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Sex was fun. But everything she read said it could probably be better. If only Tyler wouldn't turn so red when she brought up trying different things. Like, her boobs were great, but there were other parts of her that could benefit from his tongue. But Bonnie would die if she mentioned any of that.

"It's good."

Elena looked disappointed. "That's it?"

Bonnie shook her head. "Not a word, Caroline."

"Anyway," Caroline said hastily as she straightened her shoulders. "I'm not sure it matters. I think he's going to break up with me."

There was a long pause and Elena's brows crept up. "That'd be seriously stupid. Like, none of the cheerleaders would date him, they're scared of you. Who is he going to bang? April?"

"There are other girls at other schools," Caroline pointed out with narrowed eyes. "One of them maybe?"

Bonnie threw a pillow at her, face sympathetic and tinged with exasperation. "Why do we think he's going to break up with you? Maybe you're just being overly dramatic. Tyler chased you for years."

Elena nodded. "True."

Caroline sighed heavily. "He's been acting weird, okay? I mean, Carol used to like me? But now she keeps giving me the stink eye on the beautification committee but she can't say anything, because my ideas are amazing and under budget. And I picked Mom up from one of those city council meetings she hates to go to and the vibe was way weird."

Elena shared a doubtful look with Bonnie. "That doesn't really mean much, I think? But Aunt Jenna is friends with Carol, I could ask?"

Lips pursed, Caroline shrugged. "It's just weird, okay? I told my mom about it and she just brushed it off. But she got that funny wrinkle between her brows when she knows something she doesn't want to tell me."

Bonnie hesitated. "You could be reading it wrong?"

"Nope. It's the expression she wore when she told me about the divorce and then, later, when she broke it me that Dad was not only gay but had a shiny new family to replace us. Trust me. I know that look."

Both girls looked uncomfortable. Elena chewed on her lip and then sighed. "Has your mom talked to you about any of the weird council stuff?"

Caroline narrowed her eyes. "What weird council stuff?"

Elena's mouth opened but the doorbell ringing interrupted. Pointing with one bright nail, Caroline narrowed her eyes. "I'll grab the pizza and then you're going to finish that sentence."

Bonnie sighed, somehow managing to look stubborn and chagrin at the same time. "Yeah. We'll tell you."

Annoyed that her friends had been keeping all the good gossip to themselves, she slide around the corner. Glancing out the window to confirm it was in fact the delivery guy, she paused as she caught sight of the three shadows outside. Her stomach dropped past her knees and she took a step back, finger fumbling with her cell phone to call her mom.

They didn't seem like the type to deliver a pizza.

Just as the line at the station rang, her phone dropped the call. A moment later the power was cut. Something slammed into the front door the just as Elena started screaming.

---

Caroline parked her rental as dawn broke across the trees. Sliding out of the SUV she tossed her keys towards the vampire that was waiting on her, only bothering to grab her purse. Someone else would take care of her bags.

Digging through her purse, she paused as a familiar sensation of being watched washed over her. Caroline glanced up, and the noise around her disappeared as she took in Klaus for the first time in weeks. Dark jeans, familiar Henley and boots, his riotous curls were more golden than usual in the early morning sunlight. The sunglasses pushed up and the necklaces tangled around his neck gave him a casual appearance, but there was nothing relaxed about the glint behind his eyes.

If he'd decided to drop in because he didn't trust to her handle Tyler appropriately they were going to have words. Adjusting her purse, she headed in his direction. She knew Klaus could see her temper, but the curling smile as he watched was anything but alarmed. The familiar intensity of his gaze did little to ease her growing agitation, and if they didn't have so many watchers, she'd have bared her teeth and growled.

"Why are you here?" She demanded as she crossed the space between them with long strides.

A dimple peeked from one cheek, brow arching upwards. "Miss me, love?"

Ignoring the way his gaze dropped to run along the bare line of her legs, she moved close enough to breathe in his scent, uncaring who saw her in his personal space. Taking in the mixture of smells, she leaned back with a scowl.

The moon no longer called her change but its wax and wane still played a part in her moods. Above them, the full moon lingered just out of sight. It left her temper, never particularly even, more tempestuous than usual. He didn't smell like the forest, but the scent lingering on his skin was worse. It left her wolf wanting to rub against him and erase her from his skin, to bite the smooth line of his collarbones until they bled. That Klaus had another woman's scent on his skin pissed her off though she had no claim.

"Seriously? Greta?" Her eyes flicked over his shoulder towards the stairs leading up to the plane to see if the witch was lingering, and her lips curled in disgust. "Was she really necessary?"

The flicker of emotion in his eyes was only a flash. He gripped her arm lightly, the feel of his skin against hers heady as he directed her towards the stairs. "My business with her concluded some time ago. You won't be subjected to her presence today."

Caroline bit down on her lip to hold in her growl as they went up the stairs. She'd never hidden the fact that she hated Greta. Looking at Klaus, knowing that the witch had had her hands on his skin left her grinding her teeth. That her scent lingered on his skin clear some time after their meeting and its implications pissed her off.

"And how much of that business," Caroline demanded as she sat on her favorite seat, glaring as he settled across from her, "involved Greta doing tracking spells?"

Klaus' lips curled into a smile that made her want to bite. "Greta is still useful, love. You can't kill her just yet."

She bared her teeth as the engine rumbled to life beneath them. "Then don't have her track me."

"In this instance, you have nothing to worry about. It was Ms. Bennett who confirmed your location." Klaus leaned back, ankles crossed as he watched her with an intensity that left her skin hot. "Which wouldn't have been necessary had we the opportunity to speak earlier."

Caroline scowled at him. They both knew that if it had been urgent enough Klaus would have collected her from her mother's. "Are you sure this doesn't involve Tyler?"

"Hardly," Klaus dismissed as a stewardess brought in refreshments before slipping back behind a curtain. His narrowed gaze followed the compelled girl for a moment before his stare moved back to meet hers. She wasn't insulted by the quick distraction. After Kol's death, his paranoia had only grown and he took no chances with safety. As much as compulsion still left her uncomfortable that wasn't a complaint she couldn't throw in his face.

Not after Greece. She forced down a growl at the memory. As a distraction, Caroline glanced down at her drink and refused to be charmed, the white was one of her favorites. It was still early for alcohol, but her dislike of flying was one that Klaus had experienced before.

Klaus broke into her musings and she glanced back at him in aggravation. "Tyler is your ghost, love. And a fairly incompetent one."

Caroline frowned. She took a breath to ask what that was supposed to mean when the plane lurched forward. Nails briefly pressing into her palms, she forced her voice to steady when she spoke. "Then why are you here?"

Klaus leaned back, ankles crossing as he watched her from a deliberately casual pose. "Perhaps I missed your company."

She crossed her arms and scoffed. "Please. You always have fifteen reasons for any one action."

His smile showed too many teeth to be entirely pleasant. "While that is true, Caroline, we both know your presence is an exception to a great many thing."

It was difficult to keep from shifting uncomfortably at the steadiness of his gaze. She wanted to pace, but the plane hadn't leveled out yet and she didn't completely trust her knees. She also didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing just how annoyed he'd left her. "Then what was the point of my vacation being cut short?"

"Now sweetheart, we both know you'd have grown antsy under your mother's tender care in another day or so more, hmmm?"

It was easier to be annoyed than nervous. "Seriously?"

"Your work overseas has drawn some unsavory attention," Klaus said mildly, tone belying the hardening of his eyes. "Lockwood isn't the only fool who wishes to contest my rule."

"I," Caroline said coolly, "can take care of myself."

"That is not the matter which is in question, love."

The blade of his tone should have aggravated her further, instead it eased the offense. "Tyler was spouting some nonsense about the packs. You think they are really gearing up for a coup?"

"It appears to be an assortment of conspirators," Klaus murmured, the tightening of his jaw a warning of his temper. "They seem to be emboldened by Kol's death, and are making targets of certain hybrids."

"Okay," she said carefully, nails flexing briefly into thet couch as the plane shuddered before finally leveling off. "But what does that have to do with me specifically? I'm not a minion."

His eyes burned and for a moment, she wasn't certain what he was going to say. "You're my first."

She didn't know what to think at the stab of disappointment that churned through her. Instead of wondering about it, she kept her tone hard. "Why wait to tell me?"

"You'd know more about it, Caroline, had you chosen to meet with me in Salzburg."

Her teeth clenched together, jaw working at the reasonable tone he'd used. Curling her nails tightly into her palms, she tilted her head and met his stare evenly. "Why not just tell me that's why you've been following me around?"

A hint of yellow touched the edges of his iris. "While a bit of rebellion isn't entirely unexpected, it is hardly the reason I've chosen to seek out your company."

Caroline stiffened at the bluntness of Klaus' statement. There was a challenge in his gaze, an unspoken dare, and it was a strain not to call him on it. Not now, when she still didn't understand her own reactions. Swiping her tongue across her lips, Caroline took a steadying breath. "What do you mean it's not unexpected?"

His lashes lowered, gaze going heavy-lidded and hot in a promise that they weren't finished discussing Salzburg. "The moment you started to gain inroads into the European packs, it was a guarantee that you would become a target."

Caroline considered that as she finally kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet underneath her. Discussing business was a safety net, and one she was delighted to have just then. Being this close to Klaus was ruining her emotional equilibrium. "They really think you're trying to wipe out the packs?"

"It appears to be a predominant concern."

"Okay, but even if I'm some weird symbol, it's not like I'm an easy kill. And let's be real, you have people who can replace me."

It had been a point she hadn't understood, even with their bargain in place. Caroline had offered to go to the packs because she'd been the only hybrid. But that had changed. Klaus didn't need her anymore.

"I wouldn't reference your death so flippantly, love." Klaus said tightly, temper sharpening his cheekbones. "To utterly destroy werewolves, I'd have to hunt the seven bloodlines to the very last drop. Should they manage what should be impossible and kill you, then it is a very realistic fear."

Caroline swallowed at the intractable expression on his face. "You need werewolves to make hybrids."

He swirled his drink, eyes heavy lidded and hot. "I've already reached perfection in that area. The rest are merely fodder. There are always fools who can be flung into the fire, Caroline."

The honesty in his words shook her. The way his eyes drank in every twitch of her muscle, the wolf-bright sparks in his eyes. He meant every word. "How many witches are involved?"

His gaze narrowed a hair as she avoided addressing his statement. "We believe just one."

Caroline blinked. "Ballsy. Who?"

"A matter of some debate still, I'm afraid." She muttered something profane and Klaus' smile was genuine, dimples cutting deep. "Hmm, I do believe that the witches are aware of your dislike. Particularly after Greece. Remind me love, you killed the entire coven, did you not?"

"I didn't instigate that fight," she muttered, glancing away. She hadn't discussed that night with him. The clever little trap she'd fallen into and the way her wolf had gone feral and nearly mad when they'd tried to cage her.

"So I've been told," Klaus murmured. "But not by you. Elijah, however, was nearly loquacious regarding what details he collected."

Scowling at the tease, Caroline leaned back and finally picked up her drink, refusing to meet his eyes. It hadn't been Elijah's presence that had brought her back into her right mind, but that he'd belonged to Klaus. Admitting that to Klaus seemed like too big of a reveal when he already knew of the jealousy she couldn't hide.

Instead, she changed the subject. "Tyler is definitely working with the packs here to form a resistance. Hayley has a witch. Odds are they're related to this other mess."

Klaus watched for a moment before addressing her question instead of the badly-hidden truths between them. "Lockwood is rather ungrateful for the life you've given him. Curious, that Hayley continues to believe herself a puppet master when she is clearly the pawn. Elijah will be most disappointed."

Caroline snorted out an agreement as she finally relaxed enough to sip her wine. She'd barely finished swallowing when it caught in her throat, razor blades cutting a path through her esophagus. Blood filled her mouth and she choked on it, the glass slipped between her fingers as she grabbed her throat. Klaus was in front of her before the flute hit the floor, his bloody wrist pressed against her lips a moment later.

Her fangs sank down on instinct, and she struggled to swallow his blood. After the first tiny trickle it was easier, until her last swallow went down smooth. Lifting her mouth, she shuddered out her next sentence, voice rough. "Wolfsbane."

Klaus eyes flared, rage a violent promise. His fingertips brushed across her bloody lips where she'd blistered and he licked them clean. His words were terse. "I didn't smell it."

Caroline gripped him tighter as the plane shuddered beneath them. "Me either."

Instead of responding, his head snapped around to face the back of the cabin, mouth forming a tight line. Caroline realized with shock a heartbeat later that the engines had cut off and the plane was eerily silent. Shaking her head to clear the buzz from his blood, she straightened and looked around.

"What…"

Her words were cut off as Klaus gripped

her firmly by the elbows and lifted her to her feet. She tripped over her shoes as he yanked her towards the closed exit hatch, jaw a hard line.

"You must be joking," Caroline rasped as the plane started to tilt. Only her grip on Klaus kept her steady, and he had a solid grip on the door. "Please, please tell me we are not jumping out of this plane."

Klaus yanked her close as he ripped the door open. "Hold on to me, Caroline."

Her fingers scrambled into his shirt, nails digging into skin as the door went flying. She caught a dizzying glimpse of the ground coming up to meet them, the treeline too close, and then Klaus was pulling her into open air. She screamed instinctively, her grip turning white-knuckled as they careened around each other, the strength of their monsters the only thing holding them together. Panic turned her brain to gibberish as the ground rose up beneath them, the hard line of Klaus pressed against her the only reassurance as they tumbled.

A moment later the plane exploded behind them, and Caroline's world went white.

---

Caroline twisted violently, her wolf tangled in something slick that she couldn't shake off. Panic left her scrambling, and she heard cursing as the world suddenly halted. She slammed something hard enough to daze her, and voices echoed around her.

"Force the change witch if you want her mother to bury a human. No werewolf has survived the conversion to become a hybrid."

"But what if…"

A car door slammed, and a moment later another opened and shut loudly as well. There was light and noise, and she snarled and snapped as fingers touched her fur, but she couldn't see them.

"She ingested my blood, it's why she's alive, but she won't be for long. I can offer her a quick death but you requested she be human for her mother. Unless you wish to change a corpse, do it now."

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of chanting enraged her. She fought the hold on her scruff, but the hands held her easily in place as the voice that echoed in her bones. The craze of her wolf disappeared under a terrible pain but it was one she'd felt before.

She was becoming a girl again.

For the first time she was changing back and the screaming inside her head became moans as her voice transformed. It took a long time for her bones to break and mend, for fur to change to skin. Her fingertips found the cool surface of plastic, and she realized she was no longer a wolf.

Naked. Defenseless. Utterly, horrifically thirsty.

The sun burned as the tarp was yanked away and fingers tucked beneath her chin, lifting her face into the sunlight. The unmistakable violence in the man's gaze was tempered by what might have been pity. She bared her teeth in response, human instincts drowned out by the wolf she'd been for too long, and something raw bloomed in his gaze.

Behind him, she caught a glimpse of Bonnie, and her friend gasped, fingers pressing hard against her trembling lips. "She looks like a vampire."

The terrible expression on the man's face slowly softened, a strange sort of satisfaction darkening his gaze before his eyes bled yellow, veins crawling. When he smiled, double fangs sat where she'd expected a single set, and a strange sort of awareness jolted through her. His fingers softened their hold, becoming l a caress against her skin.

"She's a hybrid," he replied slowly. "And she survived the transformation whole. Tell me, what exactly did the witches do to her?"

At the word witch, she lunged.

---

Caroline woke with a moan, body throbbing in a way that promised multiple broken bones and internal bleeding. Coughing weakly, she forced her eyes open to see a pair of booted feet crouched in front of her. Glancing up, she didn't bother hiding her relief at the sight of Klaus. He looked singed, his clothing a bit worse for wear. But he moved as if he hadn't just fallen several thousand feet and slammed into the earth.

She hated him just a little.

"That sucked," she rasped. "We are never doing it again."

A hint of a smile as he helped her sit up, hands careful against her skin. Caroline groaned at the movement against her ribs, and she shuddered as her legs shifted. When Klaus offered his wrist she accepted it with a hiss of relief. She took several mouthfuls, but when she went to pull away he shook his head.

"I found a hiker, take your fill. We've a bit of a trek before us."

Permission given she sank into the taste of him, greedily drinking until the agony of her bones disappeared, the last of her cuts and abrasions fading. Finally letting go, she took a slow breath to ease the high, curb the urge to press her face into his throat and breathe in the scent of him. Klaus shifted to cradle her jaw, the open wound on his wrist rapidly closing.

"Better?"

She nodded slowly, struggling not to lean further into his touch. The fall had been terrifying, and even though she'd clearly survived, her lungs were still too tight with remembered panic. "I hate airplanes."

He released her face and brought his thumb to his mouth. Licking it clean, he smiled. "We survived."

Caroline looked around the clearing, taking in the chunks of debris and the signs that there had been some sort of burning. Flies buzzed around them, the occasional bee, and she swatted at a horse fly as it tried to land on her blood-stained knee. It'd been a few hours by the angle of the sun, and she wondered if emergency services would be swarming soon.

Glancing down at her body, she grimaced at the torn and singed cloth, the bloody trails still lingering on her skin. Somehow Klaus had fared much better in the explosion than she had.

Figured.

"Someone just tried to kill us."

Klaus shook his head. "Someone just tried to kill you, love. An explosion is inconvenient but not the first that I've survived."

She froze, brain finally surging back on with a kick of adrenaline. "That would explain the wolfsbane. But no one knows I'm extra sensitive to it but you and Bonnie."

He dipped his chin in agreement, eyes blazing. "I imagine it was doctored by a witch. It'd be one of the few means of handicapping a hybrid without direct spellcasting. Fire will kill a vampire and werewolf both."

"But you were on the plane," she said slowly as she tried to work through the logic and failed. "How did they expect to incapacitate you?"

"A question I will delight in asking." He offered her his hand as he stood and she took it out it's a grimace.

Caroline winced at the faintest of twinge in her femur. To have any lingering pain after that much blood from Klaus, she'd bet she'd died from internal injuries on impact. Still, if she'd been on the plane when it exploded, her chances of survival would have been nearly nonexistent.

She was far more durable than a hybrid her age should've been, but she was pretty sure the witches hadn't made her fireproof. They'd wanted something strong enough to fight Klaus but they wouldn't risk being unable to kill her. Esther's greatest mistake had been creating a creature like Klaus that was unkillable.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she glanced over at Klaus as he watched her, his eyes dragging down her body. "You're still hurting."

"Your blood took care of the worst of it."

His mouth tightened in displeasure. "We're likely to find other hikers or emergency personnel making their way to the crash site. You'll need more blood before I'll risk flashing."

"I took a lot from you," Caroline pointed out reasonably. "I'm not the only one who needs more blood."

He shook his head. "I drained the girl."

Caroline wasn't certain she was up for that argument so she redirected the conversation instead. "Okay, so if they were specifically trying to kill me how did they know I'd be on that plane? I didn't know I'd be there."

His smile was a bladed one, teeth a gleaming threat behind his lips. "The easy answer is of course, witches. But I'm not particularly fond of easy answers. The likelihood that this was an act of opportunity rather than a well-coordinated plot is high. Which may explain how we slipped their noose."

She scowled. "Sloppy. Why go to so much effort to handicap me if they weren't going to spell the door shut? And why take the time to sneak a bomb on board the plane if you were going cut the engines in the first place?"

He reached out and pushed a bloody curl away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "There are certain measures in place to prevent the plane from being spelled in such a manner. As for the engines, commercial flights aren't the only aircraft with little black boxes. I can only assume they hoped to muddy the waters."

"Okay, but if you have the doors spelled so they can't lock you in and force you into being the next Capsicle a la Steve Rogers, how'd they fuck the engines? The pilots are compelled, aren't they?"

His gaze burned. "A matter that will be looked into, I assure you. Particularly since the poisoning speaks to a familiarity of your habits, and I don't care for such knowledge to be so easily acquired."

Caroline took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not thrilled that people know I dislike flying enough to drink so early in the AM. And I liked that wine. It's going to be ages before I'll be willing to drink it again."

"You'll have the time to grow past the aversion," he murmured.

She gave him a quick smile before sobering. "Everyone knows your seriously paranoid, Klaus. What are the odds they wanted you to, I dunno, watch me die? Your precious symbol going up in flames?"

Something deadly flickered through his gaze, and the small hairs rose on the back of her neck. "I suppose we'll find out soon enough. They have no reason to believe you survived."

She squinted at him. "The first thing I'd do if I was in charge would be to have their witch confirm I was actually dead. You know, if I wanted to kill me."

A smile played across his lips. "And that's why your plan would be likely to eventually succeed. However, scrying is not an exact science nor one that is easily performed without a personal connection. It is doubtful that the witches have a way to link specifically to you, love. We have some time."

Her shoulders relaxed at his reminder. Klaus was right. Bonnie could find her, but Bonnie was not only kick ass but her best friend. Which meant they had some time to work in the background. Blowing out a slow breath she nodded. "That makes sense. And thanks, by the way, for saving me. Even if you did throw us out of an airplane, which isn't going to help my love of flying."

Klaus' eyes narrowed. "I'm not interested in your gratitude."

"Well," she said firmly. "You're getting it."

His jaw clenched, fingers before curling tightly before he spoke. "The hiker was your size. As delightful as your current ensemble is, Caroline, most humans wouldn't hike this distance barefoot. I'll bring you her things."

Caroline opened her mouth and closed it with a sigh when he didn't give her a chance to reply, turning and walking away. Pressing her lips together, she tried to grapple with the realization that had been niggling at her.

Klaus cared about her. His threat about destroying the werewolves hadn't been idle. Neither had his concern been fake. She just didn't know if it was for the girl or the symbol.

But watching him walk back towards her carrying a backpack and a bundle of clothes did something funny inside her chest. Right then was not the time to dig into her emotions. "How do you think they'll explain her lack of things?"

"Wildlife," he said with a shrug. "Mother Nature. We're quite some distance from the crash site. They won't look for her here, and her body isn't in a place easily located."

She frowned at him for a moment. She knew what that kind of worry looked like on a mother's face. Maybe in a few years Bonnie could help her find the remains and they could report them. Decided, she stripped out of her ruined top. Klaus obligingly handed over the stolen shirt at her impatient motion for it, his gaze dipping along her skin in a look that was more clinical than lustful as she pulled it over her head. But it still felt like to intimate when she was reeling from her earlier revelation.

"How exactly did we land? And just how long where you dead?" Her words were briefly muffled and she shoved her hair away from her face with a grimace.

Klaus's lips briefly pressed together, something almost like chagrin darkening his eyes. "The explosion ruined our intended trajectory towards the water; with no way to slow down, we hit fairly hard. I woke perhaps an hour or so before you."

She shimmied out of her shorts with a grunt. "So we splatted, like pancakes."

Klaus tilted his head in silent agreement, a hint of amusement on his face. "Avoiding the trees was important. As long as your heart remained intact, you'd heal."

Caroline wondered how much he wasn't telling her. A heart could explode from that kind of stress, even a vampire, but hers had been augmented by doppelgänger blood long before she'd become a hybrid. But as far as she knew, the experiments the witches had performed were secrets even from Klaus' siblings. The witches who'd tried to kill her wouldn't have known about her added sensitivity to wolfsbane or her extra resilience.

Pulling up the cargo pants he gave her, she then wiggled her bare feet into the hiking boots. The clothes were a bit big, but still in far better shape than hers had been. Digging into the pockets, she found a rubber band and a granola bar. With a grimace, she scraped the tangle of her hair into a sloppy bun. "We still smell like exploded jet fuel."

Klaus shrugged. "Humans aren't likely to notice or care."

She nodded in agreement. "Well, the dust will help our stories. My hair is honestly disgusting."

Klaus brushed a flyaway away from her cheek as if he couldn't help but touch her. "We should aim for Lexington or Nashville, depending on how far west we made it."

"Ehh?" Caroline repeated, eyes skimming the trees around them with a frown. She had no idea where the flight path had been scheduled to take them but they were definitely in the Appalachians. "We couldn't have been in the air all that long. Why not head straight to Chicago?"

"Chicago has too many eyes and ears. Once we return the fact that you are alive will be quite apparent." His head tipped back to consider the angle of the sun. "We need to be far enough away to stay out of immediate visibility. I'll contact Elijah once we are back in civilization."

Caroline pulled a face and swatted at another horsefly. "Yeah, part wolf or not, I'm not really into hiking. The sooner we get out of here the better."

He gave a short nod. "Agreed."

She bit the edge of her lip and forced herself not to stare as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, baring his forearms before bending down and picking up the backpack. He swung it into place with an easy motion, ignoring the straps that were adjusted for a much smaller chest. With those few touches he somehow slipped out of angry hybrid and into someone in their mid twenties, dusty and tired from a long hike.

Unexpectedly, she wanted to kiss him. Just a brush of her mouth against the stubble of his cheeks, to assure herself that he was fine. She shook the thought away with a shiver. Motioning his chin in the direction they needed to walk, Klaus fell easily into step with her.

"After you, sweetheart."

---

Caroline sat on her front porch swing, trying to absorb the silence around her home. Midnight had come and gone, and she'd jerked awake with another screaming nightmare. The sweat had dried, the terror had faded, and she still couldn't bring herself to go back inside.

Her mom was working a graveyard shift and Caroline wasn't sure she'd know what to say to her if she'd been there anyway. She'd been tempted to call Bonnie, her friend had been hollow-eyed and brittle the last time she'd seen her. Grams had worn such a weary expression, as if she'd bargained with the devil and lost more than she'd anticipated.

She didn't know how any of them would recover.

"Nightmares, Caroline?"

A shudder slipped down her spine at the drawl of her name and she glanced over at the steps with a wary expression. Beautiful, absolutely dangerous to her sanity, Klaus was the only other monster just like her. Her very own devil. He also intended to use her change as a yolk that bound them.

"Klaus."

He took his name as an invitation, boots loud on the steps. She was certain the noise was deliberate and she glared at him as he leaned against the railing, the moonlight bright on his skin. Not just her devil, but the supernatural scourge

The monster Grams had bargained with to save Bonnie.

"Nightmares are a normal reaction to trauma, sweetheart. A bit of a coping mechanism if you will."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I don't need you to diagnose me, Freud."

Klaus grimaced. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't compare me to that fraud."

She gave him her sweetest smile. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop being a creeper."

A cluck of his tongue but there was no amusement in his eyes. "Hardly polite of you to make such an accusation."

Without blinking, she tipped her head in the direction a shadow had disappeared into an hour before. "So you don't have creepy spies hanging about?"

Any trace of false amusement disappeared from his face as he straightened. He made no move to shift closer, but he suddenly felt bigger. More dangerous. "You shouldn't see any of them."

"Uh, yeah, because they shouldn't be there."

"Naive of you to say so," Klaus said. "You're a Hybrid, Caroline. My very first and clearly more than intended. You could be quite the target. Think of your mother."

She snorted and kicked her foot against the porch, letting the swings movements help hold her temper in check. "Which no one knows about, so my mom should be fine. Unless you've been advertising? It'd be quite a dick move since I'm pretty sure I've made it clear I'm staying right here with my mom. But I've been told you are kind of a giant ass so…"

His head tilted slightly to the side, eyes narrowed as he absorbed her insults. "Brave of you to have such a loose tongue if you know what I am."

Caroline shrugged one shoulder. "I didn't ask to be a hybrid. I didn't ask for any of this. But if I'm stuck with it, which is seems I am, then I'm doing this on my terms."

His smile was all teeth and razor sharp anger. "You're my creation."

"Technically I'm Elena's," she said flatly. "Since all your creations have ended up dead. She's the real reason I'm alive. You made a bargain with Grams, not me. I'm an accident. You have no claim on me."

He was close then, his breath on her face as he loomed above her. The yellow of his eyes, the veins beneath called to her own and she hissed. He didn't touch her, but his anger was a dangerous heat between them. Instead he dipped his head until their noses nearly touched, voice soft and terrible.

"My blood runs in your veins. Your monsters are a mirror of mine. Do not imagine that I am so easily tossed aside, Caroline. It would be a mistake."

She should be frightened. The eyes watching her were so old and filled with the promise of violence, but there was something wrong inside her. The girl who'd tried to call her mom when they'd broken into her house, who'd cried when the witches forced her to kill and who had mourned as a wolf at Elena's death had broken. The wolf colored to much and it was a violent, wild creature. The vampire was a sly whisper in her veins.

"Then kill me now," she said instead. Chin tilting, she defied the yolk he demanded and refused to be caged again. "Because I will never be subservient to you."

She expected violence, but the soft laughed that brushed her lips like a caress startled her. Smile turning lazy and dimpled, Klaus straighted. "I do not require you to be downtrodden, sweetheart, but there is more than way to learn obedience. It will be a pleasure teaching you."

A moment later, he was gone.

Swinging on the porch alone again, she felt cold.

---

"So I realize you were around when the Model T was invented," Caroline drawled as the stolen Jeep bounced against a pothole. "But are you sure you don't want me to drive?"

Klaus glanced in her direction as he smoothly shifted the gears, brow arching in faint amusement. He'd allowed her to fiddle with the ignition and get it running, but had firmly refused to let her take the driver's seat. "Quite certain."

She set her teeth and forced herself to stare at the oncoming dirt road in grim silence. The vehicle had been a lucky find. A group of teenagers had clearly been out for a joy ride with a backseat full of booze and pot. Caroline had been careful not to take too much blood from anyone and to check that their cell service had worked before they'd compelled them. A late lunch and a vehicle had been a good trade for their lives.

They'd tried finding a radio station that they could both live with, Klaus' firm hatred of pop running sharply against her dislike of classical. They'd both vetoed the country stations and now sat in silence as they careened towards civilization. Caroline would really have preferred driving if it meant not being forced inside her own head just then.

Caroline rarely allowed herself to indulge in Klaus' presence, unwilling to test her self control of being near him in anything but a work capacity. Spending time with just him, his terrible sense of humor and biting rejoinders was fun.

The lazy heat in Klaus' gaze, the deliberately casual way he carried himself told her that it was a deliberate move on his part. Klaus had given her a peek at what an actual relationship with him might look like and she hadn't hated it. There had never been a doubt about the sexual chemistry between them, but their walk had shown her something she hadn't known she wanted.

She enjoyed him. Fantasizing about hot, sweaty afternoons and sleepless nights was entirely different from picturing him nearby while she read a book. She found she wanted to gorge on all the little details he'd give her until the intimate surprises were few and far between.

"Something on your mind, Caroline?"

It was a strain not to flinch at the unexpected interruption. She snuck a glance at him, and dragged her teeth across her lip. Klaus was unfairly gorgeous in the bright afternoon sunlight. His gaze slid to hers and she covered her leering with a scowl.

"We've already crossed one item off my bucket list of horrors," she replied tartly. "I'm hoping to avoid a second."

Klaus' expression was curious as he slowed to take a turn at a slightly less hair raising speed. "How long have heights left you nervous?"

"Since I was a kid," Caroline said with a shrug. "I don't like falling."

"I had noticed."

She jabbed a finger in his direction. "You threw me out of an airplane."

"Yet," he said in a perfectly reasonable tone, "you survived."

"What does that have to do with wanting to avoid free falling for thousands of feet?"

Klaus tilted his head in silent acquiescence to her point before his lips curled into something devilish. "Rumor has it that you took Stelvio Pass in Italy quick enough to induce car sickness in a vampire."

Caroline groaned and slouched in her seat, shifting her bare feet to press against the dash. "Must you spy on everything?"

He grinned. "Hardly spies, sweetheart, when it's Bekah doing the complaining."

She pulled a face. "Okay, first of all, it wasn't my idea. Enzo dared me. And who knew he had such a weak stomach? It wasn't that fast."

Klaus' fingers tightened on the steering wheel at the mention of Enzo's name. "It was never fully explained to me just how you happened to be driving one of Rebekah's cars during your little stunt?"

Caroline shrugged and picked at a hangnail. "I didn't know it was hers at the time, but it is a beautiful car. Handled like a dream. Besides, Enzo paid for it to be detailed to even her standards, so I don't know why she complained. I didn't put a scratch on it."

"And yet," Klaus said smoothly as the road shifted from dirt to gravel, a lovely precursor to the pavement she could see down the road, "this road gives you cause for concern?"

"I'm not driving."

His laughter was unexpected and it filled the car. Caroline squinted at him as she waited for him to finish, and hoped he couldn't see the way she wanted to trace his dimples with her fingers. His gaze caught hers and the affection there darkened with a familiar heat.

"Are you always so determined to be in control, love?" Klaus murmured.

The windows were cracked open, the breeze teasing the flyaways against her cheeks, and somehow the car was still too hot. Even when he glanced away to check the road, the heat between them was still palpable. "What if I am?"

A hint of something wicked touched his mouth but whatever he was about to say was cut off as the car suddenly jerked violently. Caroline's leg muscles locked as she held herself in place, fingers clenched tightly against the handle above the door. The Jeep skidded to a stop a moment later, and her heart pounded in her throat. The drop off was only a foot from her door and it was a long drop.

"Tire?" She finally rasped, tongue snaking across her lips as she looked at the ravine towards their right.

"Magic. Out of the car, Caroline."

Something about his tone had her scrambling. She shoved her feet into the hiking boots and only her supernatural reflexes kept her from falling out of the car as she tripped on laces. Klaus hand gripped her above the elbow, steadying her before he ushered her back into the trees.

There was something urgent in his hold but he made no move to flash them forward. Minutes ticked by as Klaus continued to urge her forward. She bit the tip of her tongue to keep from cursing as she tried to avoid tripping, but as the distance grew between them and the car, Klaus didn't relax.

When they finally stopped, Klaus tilted his head, obviously listening outside of even her range of hearing. Finally, he nodded and released her. His fingertips lingered on her skin as they slipped down her arm and a shiver worked down her spine. Looking around at the colorful countryside, she grimaced.

"We're being hunted, aren't we?"

"It does appear that way," he murmured. Klaus' gaze dipped to hers and his eyes were wolf yellow. "Since they have tried nothing else, it's possible we merely triggered boundary protection spells."

Adrenaline spiked through her and her next inhale was unsteady. "How?"

"In certain parts of the world, witches hunt werewolves. It is possible we have stumbled into the territory of such a coven."

Caroline pulled a face. "Okay, but that seems a little coincidental. Our luck surely isn't that bad."

He nodded slowly. "Which means they may have been tipped off to our presence, which would suggest our little adventure took some planning after all. There were a limited number of individuals who knew that I planned to return stateside today. Fewer still, who knew that I planned on collecting you personally. It narrows our pool of conspirators considerably."

She frowned. "You were in Rio, right?"

His gaze sharpened. "How did you know that?"

"Bonnie," she replied honestly. "But while she might not like you all that much she'd never betray me."

Klaus tilted his head in silent agreement.

"You'd have refueled in Miami instead of Virginia if you'd gone the usual route." Caroline said slowly, trying to recall the exact flight plans she'd seen dozens of times. "If the witches wanted you in a specific region after the crash, that would have still been doable with your flight path from Florida, right? So maybe someone is trying to take you out, not just me."

He unexpectedly reached up and cupped her jaw, thumb stroking across her cheek. "A tidy theory, but not the most likely."

"What do you mean?"

"You caught Greta's scent this morning."

Caroline wrinkled her nose, and tried to hide the flash of anger. "Uh, yeah. Personally, I think she stinks. All that patchouli is hard to avoid."

"I do so enjoy your jealousy, Caroline." His thumb stroked down her chin at her glare. "I met with Greta three days ago. Her scent should have long since disappeared from my person."

"What happened in Rio?" Caroline asked slowly.

Klaus was slow to answer, his gaze distant as he considered her question. "A minor issue with witches that should have been easily dealt with. I'm wondering if it wasn't the bait for a clever trap. There was… something."

"Is that why you decided to pick me up? The real reason?"

He shook his head. "No. The unrest with the packs is a topic we needed to discuss, and one of the reasons I'd intended to speak with you in Salzburg. But I've lived a long time, and have grown to trust my instincts. That I did not smell the wolfsbane, that the compelled pilots were so easy subjugated speaks for a plot that had been in the works for some time. They had time to blow the plane up when I was the only occupant. You were the target."

"And you think Greta is involved." Caroline pursed her lips as her next sentence nearly choked her. "She's almost fanatically loyal to you."

"Fanatic devotion can just as easily turn," Klaus murmured. "As you stated earlier, Caroline. Bonnie Bennett may despise me with every bone in her body, but she would not betray you. There was no reason for Greta's scent to linger on my skin unless her magic lingered as well. Foolish of her, when she must be aware of your wolf's paranoia regarding magic."

Brows tucking together, she slowly shook her head in confusion. "Okay, but why? Greta thinks I rate around a piece of chewed gum stuck on the bottom of her perfect shoes. She doesn't have any reason to want to kill me. She definitely doesn't want to kill you."

The way The witch looked at Klaus was all devoted obsession, and more than once Caroline had wanted to claw her. Greta rarely tolerated other witches working with Klaus, had made a comment or two over the years that showed a deep vein of vindictiveness. Greta would never attempted to strike out at Bonnie, but the only Bennett witch was too strong to be easily bullied.

"Perhaps, but I do not rate you as such." Klaus held her gaze as he continued to speak. "I did not share her bed this past trip or any trip since you lunged for my throat with your human teeth one sunny afternoon twenty years ago."

Caroline froze and his fingers stroked down the line of her throat to linger on the rapid beating of her pulse. "What are you saying?"

A hint of a smile curved the edges of his mouth. "What I've been saying for years, Caroline."

Biting down on her lower lip, she struggled to find the correct words. "I thought I was just a pretty showpiece for you."

"Perhaps in the beginning," he admitted with no shame. "I'd waited for such a moment for hundred of years, my very first hybrid, and you still left me breathless. But you've never allowed yourself to be so easily categorized. And the more you came out of your shell the greater my fascination. All the fury of your beasts and the defiance of the girl, the glory of your sunshine hair and monsters' teeth."

Carefully she caught his wrist, curled her fingers around bone, eyes scanning his face. "Is that why you want me? Because I'm your first?"

"No," he murmured, eyes hooded. "That you threw yourself in front of a spell meant for me, mere moments after you'd savaged my arm when I startled you? And all because I'd merely pulled the Bennett witch from her cage was intriguing. But then you defied me at every turn, denying even the magic that made you. You should have been sire-bound to me, Caroline, the same as every hybrid has been that has come since. That you were not was as fascinating as it was frustrating."

"I hate cages."

"Yes," he agreed, voice lowering to a wolf's rumble. "Do you see me as a cage, Caroline?"

Her fingers trembled where they pressed against the bone of his wrist. Swallowing, she shook her head, maybe she had once but that had been a long time ago. "No."

His dimples bracketed a smile that curled her toes. "I crave your loyalty, and I have grown obsessed over your devotion. But it has recently occurred to me, sweetheart, that perhaps I already have both."

She licked her lips, let her hand drop away. They were hovering on a precipice and she knew if she took the leap she'd need to touch him. Klaus wasn't the only one who craved more. She wanted to mark him with teeth and nails, to embed her scent into his skin until it was a warning to every covetous look he received. She had for far longer than she had wanted to admit. "Ask me about Salzburg when the witches are dead."

Klaus tilted his head and studied her face for a long moment. He must have seen something he liked because the flash of satisfaction and triumph in his gaze left her breathless. His lips parted but the sounds of a vehicle moving down the road cut into their conversation. Caroline twisted around and stared into the woods, listening to the sounds of car doors slamming. A shudder ran down her spine and her eyes narrowed.

"Witches."

His gaze narrowed. "You are certain.'

She nodded her head. Her wolf was never wrong. "What are the chances that they aren't involved in this mess?"

"It's been roughly eight hours since our plane went down. Plenty of time for a coven stationed in the region to mobilize." He murmured. "Where we went down may be more important than we assumed. The Appalachia are old, love, and the old places in the world still have their secrets. I need you to shift, Caroline."

Caroline's gaze darted to his. "You know my wolf will kill the witches."

His smile was as wild as the thrum in her chest. "You say that as if it is a detriment, Caroline. Your wolf is a glorious creature. There should be no shame for either of your monsters."

Glancing around, she worried her lip for a long moment. When the witches had experiment on her with Elena's blood they had created an awareness and immunity to most magic she thought they hadn't expected. It was a trade off for her sensitivity to wolfsbane. Her wolf could track the smallest hint of magic, could smell it on a witches skin for miles. It was why she'd been able to kill the witches in Greece so easily.

Glancing back to see him watching her, she finally nodded. "Alright. But I don't want to kill innocents."

He stepped closer then, the heat of his chest tantalizingly near. Her fingers twitched with the need to touch him, and she curled them tightly into fists. "I'll stop you if necessary, but I think you'll find that it won't be the case."

"Because we're alone?"

"No. You said it yourself. You didn't start that fight in Greece; had the witches left you alone, you wouldn't have hunted them them to the last child." His gaze skimmed slowly over her face, the edge of his teeth just visible between his lips. "But the slaughter when you do engage…"

There was no judgement in his eyes, the glimmers of such wanting left her breathless. Slowly, as she worried he'd flinch back, she touched the edge of his jaw wished she could take his mouth as she desperately wanted. With lips and tongue and teeth. "Let's hunt some witches, then."

He caught her hand and kissed her fingers, eyes hot and just as wanting as her own. "Indeed."

Stepping back, she pealed out of her clothes. To her surprise, Klaus didn't watch, but turned and faced the direction of the car. It would take her several minutes to change, and she appreciated that he watching for their enemies. Closing her eyes, she called on her wolf.

Caroline always forgot how painful the transformation into werewolf could be. The grinding of her bones and the agonizing shift of muscle. She felt every individual change, every inch of flesh transforming into fur. The cracking of her bones was sickening, and the low whines that escaped her couldn't be helped. She lost track of time as she slowly took on a different shape, and when it was over she panted for a long moment before the endorphins hit. Standing, she shook off the last of her aches and looked around as she stretched.

Klaus moved into her line of sight then, crouching low to study her. Caroline realized she had never been changed in his presence since that first time she'd been forced to transition back into the girl. Lifting her head, she didn't flinch away as he smoothed his hand down the side of her face. "Beautiful."

She wagged her tail and then went still, lifting her nose into the breeze and catching the scent of magic. Her muzzle pulled away from her canines in a silent snarl, body vibrating in anger from the incoming threat. Klaus ran his fingers down her coat, voice soft.

"They've been steadily moving closer for the past half hour. There are three: a werewolf and two witches. I'll deal with the other werewolf, love. If possible, I'd like the opportunity to have a chat with one of the witches, but the wolf will do."

Lifting her head, she nodded in agreement and he smiled, dimples cutting deep. "Be careful."

She moved away from his hands then, sliding further right than where he stood. He chuckled softly at her offended body language and then took a direct path towards the witches hunting them. Careful and on quiet feet, she circled around and kept just outside of any magic the witches might have been deploying to track her.

Klaus voice carried through the woods as she continued to skulk.

"Where you perhaps looking for me?"

There was silence, and as she rounded another tree she caught sight of their adversaries. Both witches were female, and the male werewolf watched Klaus with curled fists. There was a long silence as they studied him before the smaller of the women moved slightly closer. She smelled heavily of burned herbs and older, darker scents that told Caroline her magic wasn't entirely nature based.

"We saw the plane and were curious. Humans wouldn't have survived such an explosion."

Klaus smile was lazy. "Of course. Is that why you attacked out vehicle? Curiosity?"

The werewolf shrugged. "These mountains are our territory, we don't like strangers."

Hand clasped behind his back, Klaus nodded as if he understood. "It was rather rude of us to barged in after surviving out plane wreck. I do wonder, if you were so curious about survivors, what precisely were you hoping to accomplish?'

The other witch froze, shoulders tightening as she glanced around. Caroline lowered herself to her belly and slowly crawled her way closer, inching across the ground silently. "Us? You are not alone?"

"Hmmm," Klaus murmured. "Come now, you didn't expect something like an explosion to really take my Caroline out, did you?"

She lunged on his words and went for the throat of the witch standing closest to the werewolf. A heartbeat before her jaws crushed the gurgling throat of her chosen prey, she heard the other witch scream. The fear and terror from her morning turned into rage as blood hit her mouth and she shook the witches body until it went limp. Dropping the body, she prowled towards the other witch with a bloody face. The witch was white faced and sitting on the ground with both of her arms broken. Caroline growled loudly and snapped in her face, watching her jerk back with a short stream.

Klaus laughed behind her, and it reminded her that they needed one alive. Sitting down, Caroline never took her eyes off of the witch.

"We'll done, sweetheart," he murmured from behind. "She'll make a very pretty canary with her broken wings, don't you think?"

The witch stared at them with eyes filled with hatred. "Our coven will not let you leave these woods."

Shaking his head, Klaus made a disappointed sound. "Does your coven even know you are here? Surely you didn't decided to challenge me without the full force of your power behind you? Or where they unaware of the little deal you'd struck?"

Caroline angled her eyes and bared her teeth.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"No? Well then aren't these texts interesting?" Klaus said from behind Caroline as he finally strolled over. His wrist was bloody, as if he'd shoved it between someone's teeth. She turned to locate the werewolf to find him sitting on the ground, his expression glazed over and his mouth stained red. Satisfied that he'd been dealt with, she turned back to face the events going on in front of her.

Klaus spun the phone between his fingers and smiled. "I thought I'd need to compel the wolf to discover the real reason that you were following us, but it appears my order were perhaps a bit of an overkill. Your little alliance will be very disappointed that you were silly enough to bring your phones with such damning evidence to hunt me and mine. I'll save the phone for you love, but it appears these witches were sent to confirm your death."

Caroline bared her teeth and growled, and the witch lifted her chin with false bravado. "You can't compel me."

Klaus crouched next to Caroline and clucked his tongue. "I don't have too. With both of your arms broken, you have no way of casting your spells, and your pet wolf is mine now. If you try to run I'll have him drag you back. You wouldn't do that to him, would you? Where you aware that a compulsion worded correctly can leave a victim aware that what they are doing is wrong but unable to stop it? He'll feel the betrayal for every step he takes as you thrash against him, and he will know that he only prolonging your life when you should be seaking death. He will carry that horor with him for the rest of his long, long life."

Eyes dark with fear, the witch swallowed. "You deserve to die."

Lips curling into a bladed smile, Klaus canted his head to the side. "Other people have suggested such things, but I live to disappoint. But while your death is assured the quality of what remains of your life is not. You will not die until I am assured that you have let slip every secret and answered every question I have. It is up to you if you will do so as a witch or if we'll be watching you make the transition into vampire."

Flinching back, she shook her head. "No."

Klaus ran his hand down Caroline back as she snapped her teeth together and fake lunged forward, body vibrating in silent menace. "No?"

Lips trembling, she curled into herself and swallowed. "I was told you'd be incapacitated, that the wreck would have left you badly wounded. You weren't supposed to have gone this far west. She was supposed to be dead."

"Interesting," he murmured. His attention turned back to the phone in his hand and he swiped through multiple screens. "It is a pity for you that you chose to engage me. Hubris is a terrible thing in the wrong situation. But we will get to that in a moment. I believe we will start with these fascinating messages. Tell me, who sent them?"

---

Elijah had never been her favorite original. Too buttoned up and stuffy, she'd never been able to relate to him. Rebekah hated her, but she hated everyone. Elijah simply didn't bother with those who were beneath his attention. As arrogant as Klaus without his charm, she'd thought in the back of her mind. Ruthlessly efficient never entered the equation.

Perhaps it should have.

Elijah had been handing out strict orders in rapid fire since she'd become a girl again. She was certain the rumor of a wild dog gone rabid would spread like wildfire. Rabies was an extremely rare occurrence, but not one that had no precedence. Humans wouldn't look too closely at the murders and the Supernatural world would eventually learn the truth.

"My apologies for the delay, Ms. Forbes," Elijah said as he walked over, suit only slightly rumpled from the heat. She glanced up from where she was sitting on the rock, barefoot and cold and naked, wrapped only in the blanket. Most of the blood had disappeared when she'd changed back, but her skin and hair felt gritty.

She'd never been less hungry in her life. Her wolf had gorged on her victims until both the monsters in her veins were sated. The minions Elijah had brought with him had avoided her eyes, skittering around the edges of her peripheral, but she was too numb to care just then.

She realized after a moment he was waiting on her to speak. Exhaustion left her nearly boneless, and she cleared her throat. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Ms. Bennett was most alarmed by your lack of communication. Klaus will be arriving within the next three hours. He contacted me as I was the closest."

Caroline glanced away, looking at the landscape around her with unseeing eyes. For six hours she'd roamed the island, killing anyone who smelled like a witch. It had been the appearance of Elijah, as he stood so calmly in the little outcropping of rocks waiting for her, and the fact that he belonged to Klaus that had brought her out of the haze.

She must have sat silent for longer than she realized because Elijah broke into her thoughts.

"I would not let their deaths torture you, Ms. Forbes. Whatever death they found at your hand was far more merciful than what they'd have suffered had they killed you."

"That's what bothers me," she said without looking at him. "That it won't bother me that I killed them."

Her wolf saw only threats that had been eliminated. The woman had panicked, and the monsters had taken over. But Caroline had not threatened the coven, had not impinged on their territory. They had chosen to attack her, not understanding who and what she was or the danger she posed. They'd only seen hybrid and hoped to kill her.

She'd killed dozens. Entire families. And all she felt was relief.

"We are what we are, Ms. Forbes," he finally said after a long moment. She glanced at him, but he wasn't looking at her, instead gazing into the distance as he adjusted his cuffs. "To change that we must erase the parts of ourselves that have clung the most violently to life. That is a price too high for any of us, I believe."

Caroline watched him for a moment, wondered at what old griefs lingered in those words even if they weren't reflected on his face. Kol's death had shaken the Original siblings, but she wondered if that was the history he'd seemed to recall so vividly. Instead of prying, she slowly stood, wincing as bare feet stepped onto unforgiving gravel.

"Thank you."

Elijah inclined his head before motioning to an incoming vehicle. "Your ride, Ms. Forbes."

She gave him a thoughtful look. Disapproving or not, she couldn't tell, but he'd treated her with nothing but courtesy. Perhaps she should do the same. "It's Caroline."

A slight tilting of his brow was the only reaction she received. She hadn't expected more than that. Bones aching, she headed for the car and hoped the hotel would have a bath.

It would give her a chance to reset her defenses before Klaus arrived.

---

The sun started to dip below the horizon when Caroline opened her eyes as a girl again. The moss under her cheek was soft and she was thankful she'd had the piece of mind not to change on a pile of sticks or pine needles. That had happened once or twice and been an unpleasant surprise. Stretching out, she let out a low groan as her bones popped and her toes curled. Laying there for a moment, she went back over her memories of the wolf, trying to see if there were any gaps. It was rare, that she didn't remember every part of her transformation, but what was important to the wolf wasn't always what needed to be concentrated on.

But today wasn't one of those days.

Klaus had taken his time interrogating the witch, and then the werewolf. He'd eventually broken them both. It'd been a relentless interrogation with even the smallest of dodges brutally punished. She'd sat on guard, her wolf unblinking as she'd absorbed every question and answer with a growing anger.

In the end, Klaus had fed the witch his blood to heal the worst of her injuries and suggested that she run. She'd done so, even as the werewolf had begged Klaus not to kill her. Neither of them had headed those pleas. In the distance she could hear the werewolf still sobbing, and she felt no misplaced sympathy. The wolf had enjoyed her hunt. She could still taste her death on her tongue.

Caroline was fairly certain that Klaus had intended to organizing his siblings from one of the stolen phones while she'd killed the witch. She vaguely remembered him handing out a series of orders to the werewolf while the witch had gotten her head start. She was pretty sure the cars had been moved and electronic devices collected.

They'd run down every lead, reconfirm every agonized accusation, but much of what the witch had said appeared to fit. Caroline looked forward to crushing whomever was involved. More importantly, she wanted to do it with Klaus. It was a change as startling as her shift in emotions. Once again boundaries between them had changed but this time she didn't want to run.

Instead, she wanted a bite.

Satisfied she'd retained most of the afternoon, she pushed upwards into a sitting position and rolled her neck. Reaching for the shirt that Klaus had left for her, she'd barely pulled it over her head when Klaus stepped into her line of sight. Lips curling at the heat simmering in his gaze, she watched him from beneath heavy lidded eyes. Her blood high and the endorphins left her skin too tight and needy, and Klaus looked delicious.

"Did you reach Elijah?"

Klaus pushed off the tree and crouched next to her, fingers catching the stray strands of her hair and winding them around his knuckles. It was a struggle, not to lean closer and breath in the scent of his skin. His smile was a smile, private thing, as if he knew her thoughts and dared her.

"Yes. He was most annoyed at the loss of resources, as you can imagine."

"Well he is likely to be the one who has to deal with the paperwork," she pointed out before frowning. "Did I follow that correctly? Greta actually set this up?"

"Hmm, it appears so. Rebekah is seeing to Greta's detainment. She has been warned against killing her," his expression was hard, eyes filled with iron. "I imagine Greta will regret the sloppiness of her minions."

She couldn't quite manage not to touch him and she hooked one hand in a necklace, fingers toying with the beads. "I still don't understand why she'd even risk such a move. Two witches and werewolf are no match for you."

His gaze darkened, heat shimmering in the moonlight. When he spoke, his voice was nearly a rumble. "As you said earlier, they were sloppy. I do not believe they expected me to be at full strength. Which does as to some credence to out theory that they had spiked more than just the wine."

Caroline wrinkled her nose, fingertips grazing the hollow of his throat. "I can't imagine that they actually expected it to work. Even desperate fools aren't so sloppy."

"I don't believe Greta ever imagined that it would be linked back to her," Klaus stated paintently, skimming his thumb down the curve of her ear. "You are known for your hatred of witches and have struggled to believe in her guilt. Other will feel the same. If I cared about politics within the community, it would perhaps be a bone of contention. But I do not. As for her motivations, you are the child of a Sheriff. Are the three greatest motivators for murder not money, sex and greed?"

She studied his face and noted the resolve. It was likely that Klaus was right, and if so, it meant that for the moment, they were as safe as they could be. Shoulders finally relaxing for the first time that day, considered Klaus in the moonlight. She could agree with him and pull on some pants, and they could start making their way back to civilization. But tonight, with her wolf a victory song in her blood and his skin against her fingertips, she decided it was time to take a risk.

Lowering her eyes to trace the curve of his tempting lips, she allowed her voice to turn teasing. "Am I really supposed to buy that Greta staged this as an attempt to remove her competition? Are you saying you're just that good in bed?"

His smile turned hot and his gaze filled with invitation, fingers shifting to cup the nape of her neck. "Would you like to find out?"

She really, really would.

Not bothering to answer with words, she moved forward and slide her fingers along his jaw as her mouth chased his triumphant smile. She bit down on his lower lip hard enough that his chest rumbled before slipping her tongue along his. His hand shifted to her hair, winding tightly before using his grip to adjust the angle of her kiss and sinking into her mouth like a starving man.

Pulling back with a pant, she dragged her nails down the nape of his neck just to watch his eyes lighten at the edges. "Just so you know, I'm going to want a bed later."

Klaus tipped her head back to bite his way down the sensitive line of her throat. Her nails dug into his skin hard enough that she smelled blood and he lowered his hand and thumbed her nipple roughly thought the t-shirt. Her sharp inhale seemed to be the reaction he liked, and he repeated the motion until she shuddered.

"Will you?"

Tugging at his shirt, she growled until he laughed lowly and gave into her demands, releasing her to pull the soft fabric over his head. Her breath hitched as the moonlight illuminated the dips and shadows of his torso, the splash of color on his shoulder. She pressed her fingertips and them palms against his skin, glanced up as she used her nails as she dragged them lower. "It'll easier on my knees, don't you think?"

He caught her fingers when they went for his belt buckle. She scowled and he lips curved into something dangerous when her gaze jumped to his and he caught her hand and brought it his his mouth. Kissing her fingers, he sucked the tip of one between his lips and made an appreciative noise. "The sight of you with my cock between your pretty lips is one I will adore, Caroline. Later. "

She pursed her lips as he dragged a fingertip down the line of her sternum and belly, brushing against the top of her thigh before tugging lightly on the hem of her shirt. "What do you mean, later?"

His smile turned devilish as he tugged at her shirt in turn. "I believe you've made a few expectations clear, have you not?"

Allowing him to remove the shirt, she ignored the way his gaze dipped down to her breasts, his expression hungry and greedy even as he made no move to touch her. "What if I want to touch you?"

Klaus made a considering noise and pressed a fingertip to her chin. "Oh, I hope you do. But we're not leaving these woods until I've satisfied my curiosity. I want to know how you taste, how your voice roughens with need, the look behind your eyes as I fill you with my cock. A thousand different expressions for every touch, every taste, and I want to know them all."

There was no hiding the tightening of her belly at his words, her nipples hard peaks in the moonlight. Her thighs were already slick, and he hadn't really touched. Breath unsteady, she leaned closer and nearly brushed his nose with hers. "And why should I let you have all the fun?"

"Does the idea of having me at your mercy turn you on, Caroline?"

She slid the tip of her tongue along his lip, and watched his eyes bled gold. "Would you be at my mercy, Klaus?"

He sucked her tongue between his lips and she moaned, swaying forward as one hand reached up to cup her breast. His fingers gripped her naked him, pulling her closer, and her legs bracketed his hips. Tangling her fingers into his hair she rocked against the hard line of his jeans. Klaus groaned into her mouth and pulled back, cheeks flushed and lips as kissed bruised as hers felt. His eyes never left hers as he reached for his shirt.

'Hands behind your back, love."

Caroline angled her head and considered what he was asking. She was draped over his lap, knees pressed into the soft moss. A slight shift of her spine was all it would take to leave her exposed to his fingertips or cock, and she shivered. Her next words were a breathless taunt with no sting, and he tugged at a nipple in response. "I thought the plane was to save my knees?"

He nudged her nose with his, the motion affectionate while his dimples promised sin. "I'll make it up to you."

Deciding to oblige him, she pressed her wrists together as he leaned forward and knotted the shiftly firmly about her wrists. 'I want to come when you're inside me."

"Eventually."

"Klaus…" she started, words shuddering to a stop as he cupped both breasts. Her head dipped forward to watch as he toyed with her nipples, fingers tugging and shaping her breasts until she moaned his name. He bent and kissed the hollow of her throat, licking a hot line up her neck until he lingered beneath her ear. "You can't make me forget with orgasms."

His laughter was softly and intimate. "No? Something to aim for then. I look forward to that bed as much as you, Caroline. I'd hate to mar your pretty skin with a misplaced rock or stick, hmm? But I think we can manage quite well for now."

He used his mouth to map her throat and shoulders until she could feel herself dripping onto his jeans. Her wrists twisted helplessly in their bindings, and it was a struggle not to break free and shove his hand between her thighs. Instead, his fingers traced her spine, the curve of her ass and the softness of her thighs until her clit ached. Panting heavily, she pressed her forehead against his. "Klaus, please."

His mouth grazed hers, slow and soft. "Please what, Caroline?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I want to come."

His fingers slipped down her sweat slicked belly and lightly grazed her clit before lowering as he sank finger inside her. Her eyes rolled back and she it was a struggle not to whine for more. "You're all wet for me."

Caroline nearly bit him. "I'd come for you, if you'd just apply a little more pressure."

His free hand pressed between her shoulder blades, encouraging her to arch into him as he circled her clit with his thumb, easing in a second finger. Fingers twining into the shirt, Caroline's moans turned high pitched as he increased the pressure. She thought managed to plead his name again, but her words were garbled as her thighs gripped him tightly, her orgasm building with each lazy motion of his fingers. His mouth caught hers, teeth sinking into her lip, and the unexpected sting sent her over the edge. He groaned with her cry, gaze never leaving hers as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"So lovely," Klaus rasped. "I'll spend weeks trying to perfect the perfect shade of blue for when you come."

His fingers shifted o his belt and zipper was loud between them. The unsteadiness in his voice matched the shaking of her limbs, and she tried to engage her thigh muscles when he encouraged her to rise up. He pulled her closer, words a low murmur she didn't pay that much attention too as the head of his cock pressed against her. His hand palmed her ass, helping hold her steady as she sank slowly along the length of him. Caroline shuddered once he was fully seated, the position leaving her almost unbearably fully.

Keeping one hand on her spine to hold her steady, Klaus tweaked her nipple. She cursed, head falling back as he teased her. But when she went to rock against him, he tightened his hold and wouldn't let her. Head lolling to the side, she tried to glare.

"In a moment," he soothed even as his jaw worked in a visible sign of barely held restraint. "I want you just like this."

She shook her head, swaying in his grip. "I need you to move."

"No,'" he replied, fingers slipping between them. He pinched her slippery clit between his fingers and she clamped down as the sensation crawled up her spine. Klaus groaned heavily and continued to toy with her clit the way he'd played with her nipple. "Not yet. Just like this first."

She wanted to argue, but she couldn't draw the air. The world turned hazy at the edges as he coaxed her into another orgasm, his lips parted and wet, so much greed and need on his face as she quivered around the length of his cock. The wave hit her hard this time and she slumped against him, body shuddering for long moments as the feel of him buried inside her prolonged the aftershocks.

"Forgiven?" he questioned against her temple, voice strained as he untied his shirt and encouraged her closer. Caroline rolled her head against his neck and bit him with blunt teeth. A moment later, and she was flat on her back, protected by his t-shirt from the ground and her hands were pinned above her head.

"Fan of bondage?' She drawled as she wound her legs tightly around his waist.

"Hmmm, I have scarves made of spelled silk and the color of your eyes," he said tightly. "I look forward to using them."

His first thrust turned her response into a gasp. The next had her nails digging sharply into his hands. His eyes never left her face, and he continued to make the smallest adjustments on each thrust until she was screaming, thighs clamped tightly around his waist. Klaus groaned out her name, releasing her wrists to skim his fingers between them to lightly circle her clit. She came on a loud cry, fingers clutching him closer as he pressed his face into her neck, thrusting roughly through his own release.

Caroline laid limp and dazed. Klaus lifted his head and watched her for a moment before kissing her lightly. "Alright?"

She deepened the kiss, tongue lazy against his before she nodded. "I'm good. My turn."

He kissed her chin, dimpled with such intent, and slid down her body without answering. Caroline clawed at his back, spluttering out his name, but he didn't give her a chance to stop him, lips wrapping firmly around her clit. She arched into his mouth, fingers curling tightly in his hair, and couldn't bring herself to complain when his tongue slide inside her.

They ruined his shirt.

Later she stained her knees on the grass as she sucked on his cock, the syllables of her name transormed into profanity as she teased him with the same consideration he'd shown her. When he finally coaxed her onto her hands and knees and took her from behind, his teeth sharp against her throat, midnight had come and gone, the woods and a lone werewolf the only witness to her screams as she shattered around him again.

And again.

Until when they finally staggered into what remained of their clothing her knees wobbled even with the taste of his blood fresh on her tongue.

---

Caroline stared at family plot and her father's grave. He had been dead less than 48 hours and the grief still mingled with rage. Her injuries had healed within moments, but the emotional scars would linger longer than her mother's physical wounds. Fingers curled tightly into fists, she wondered how you could love someone and hate them so much.

"Come to speak with the dead, love?"

She shook her head slowly, refusing to look at the man who had saved her twice. "He said all he needed."

"And what about you,? Did you say what needed to be said?"

She finally turned them and faced him, jaw tightly clenched. "Why does it matter to you?"

Klaus watched her for a long moment but he made no move to close the distance between them. The last few days had been strange, his behavior not what she had come to expect from him. "Immortality is a gift. But it comes with risks. Regret can eat you alive, if you allow it. I would not have that for you."

"Seriously?" She drawled, gaze challenging. "Well I suppose that would ruin your plans to use me as your propaganda machine?"

There was no anger on his face, just a sort of watchfulness she couldn't read. "You'll find, Caroline, that my motivations are never so clear cut."

She snorted and turned her back on him. There was silence for several long moments before he moved forward and joined her at the grave. Her shoulders tightened, nails biting sharply into her palms. They stood that way for a long time before he spoke again.

"My father hated me as well."

She gave him a wary glance. She wasn't sure she wanted those details but she also knew that it would niggle at her later. Too exhausted to want to deal with her curiosity as well as her rage, she frowned at him. "What happened?"

"He hunted me and my siblings for centuries," Klaus murmured, hands sliding into his pockets. "I eventually killed him, once I had broken my curse."

"Are you saying that you regret it?"

"Not even a little. But you are not me, Caroline. And you are so very young." He shifted to face her. "But you are also not wrong."

"About which point?"

"I want you as part of my kingdom."

She crossed her arms, face set in stubborn lines. "Just because you rescued me doesn't entitle you to my loyalty."

His head angled to the side. "But I want it."

Her lips pressed tightly together as she struggled with a response. Two weeks ago, she'd have declared what he wanted impossible. But she'd seen him be gentle with her mother after viciously ripping out her father's throat. He'd been careful with her as well, offering Caroline his wrist without a single comment about cost. As if he could sense her mood, he stepped back.

"I have no desire to be your cage."

She frowned at him, trying to understand this about change in his attitude. She wondered what had happened in those hours she'd been missing. The Klaus who has promised she'd obey, who had relentlessly circled her defenses seemed to be missing and it left her off kilter.

"What are you saying?"

"You're free Caroline, to choose your own fate."

Blinking in shock, Caroline stared at him. "Does that mean you're leaving?"

His smile startled her. "Of course not. How can I convince you that you want to be with me if I am not here?"

There was something in his tone, in the hunger in his eyes, that she couldn't read. "You say that as if it will be easy."

"I do enjoy a challenge, Caroline." Unexpectedly his head dipped towards the grave, eyes softening. "My condolences for you loss."

She stood alone in the late afternoon sunshine for a long time.

---

Caroline woke to a lingering kiss against the nape of her neck. Lips curling even as she pressed her face further into her pillow, she made a low noise of complaint. Klaus chuckled against her skin as he dropped slow kisses between the knots of her spine. "Good afternoon, sweetheart."

They'd spent hours in the woods, trying to satiate the need between them. It had been a need for blood and Caroline's desire for a bed that had finally had then pulling on clothes and heading back to the Jeep. Klaus had instructed the werewolf to the backseat of their Jeep and they'd made the long drive to Lexington.

"If it's only afternoon, why are you waking me up?" It was an effort to keep her muscles relaxed at the first hint of his tongue against the base of her spine. Her body had stirred awake at the first brush of his mouth and it was a struggle not to be coaxed into the pleasurable haze of the night before.

"I thought you'd be interested in knowing that Tyler had a brief conversation with Greta the night you saw him and Hayley." He skimmed his fingertips along the same path he'd taken with his mouth. "I believe we will find her involved in a great many things."

Blinking open tired eyes, she glanced at the little bedside clock and groaned. She'd only been sleeping for a handful of hours. Rolling onto her eyes, she yanked the sheet up in revenge and peered at him from lashes. "Do you know what time it is?"

A smile played across his lips. "Of course I do."

Muttering profanities under her breath, Caroline sat up and shoved her hair away from her face. She took a moment to orent her caffeine starved brain. Klaus sat patiently and she was momentarily distracted by his lack of shirt. He was wearing jeans, but thankfully not the pair from yesterday. She supposed that meant she had clothes here as well.

Glowering when she knew she looked wrecked, she sighed. "Is there coffee?"

"There's blood."

Caroline snorted at the murmured comment. Klaus was the only other source of blood in the room and she doubted it'd ever be a clinical exchange again. Not after she'd come with his teeth in her throat, her breast, her thigh; his blood on her tongue as she taken his cock between her lips. "Here I thought you want to talk."

His smile was dimpled and satisfied as he swung off the bed. A moment later he returned with a mug and she wasn't at all disappointed to smell coffee. Enzo has teased her more than once of her preferred way of shaking out the cobwebs in the morning, but Caroline didn't care. Snatching it from his hand, she settled against the headboard and let the sheet pool in her lap.

"Now whose tempting who?"

Caroline lifted one shoulder. "No funny business until I'm finished."

A brow arched in what she was certain meant he was planning something, but he didn't comment as he resettled. Head canting to the side, he broke the silence as she took her time with her coffee. "I believe you had less consideration for my cock between your lips than that drink, Caroline."

She held back a laugh at the dig and grinned at him over her mug. "I'll make it up to you. You said something about Tyler?"

Narrow eyed, he allowed her to change the subject. "Hmmm. It appears that Kol took it upon himself to follow up on some information that your friend dug up while digging through cell phone records of the cell phones you found on Tyler and Hayley."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Did they seriously plan world domination on phones they kept on them?"

"The foibles of the arrogant, love. How have you put it? The supernatural are too grimoire bound?"

"I maintain that Greta should have known better."

Klaus tipped his head in silent agreement. "She perhaps would have managed it had she not over extended her hand. Choosing to use a spell to hide her magic on the plane might have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for your nose. But spiking the alcohol was an overreach. If we'd access to the remaining bottles, I believe we'd discover that they'd have taken no chances and poisoned them all."

"Still," Caroline said slowly. "I still think it was an unnecessary risk. Particularly if she was the witch riling the packs. What was the purpose?"

"We will have our answers to those questions soon enough," Klaus said. "But it may in the end have more to do with Greece than we expected."

Caroline startled. "Greece?"

"This series of events speaks of desperation. If that is the case, it cannot have been the first attempt to kill you. Greece, perhaps other little events you'd have otherwise brushed out. It suggests there are other conspirators that aided her and they will be dug out. Elijah has offered to personally collect Lockwood and Ms. Martin. I'd given them forty-eight hours before they are spilling their guts."

Caroline wrinkled her nose, knowing it was both an idiom and a very real threat. "So that's it?"

"Most conspiracies are much easier to clean up than you'd imagine," he said easily. "Supernatural circles are small, and while many enjoy a good plot to break up the ennue, few are willing to risk their long lives by hiding those who have been caught."

"Seems like a lonely way to live."

"Perhaps, yet so few have your extraordinary loyalty, love," Klaus murmured. "But now that the little unpleasantries are handled, I believe you have promised me an explanation."

Caroline glanced down at her mug, her cheeks turning pink. Even knowing that Klaus was dealing with similar feelings didn't make it any easier. Taking a deep breath to quell her nerves, she stubbornly glanced back at him. He hadn't looked away, eyes devouring every shift of her expression.

"Salzburg."

"I thought we'd had a delightful time when each time we met up before," Klaus said. "What changed?"

"It occurred to me that you were being sneaky."

Klaus made a noise low in his chest of clear disagreement. "There was nothing sneaky about my intentions, love."

She pointed a finger at him. "You let me assume they were business meetings."

He looked entirely unabashed. "For a business meeting we discussed very little business."

Caroline huffed. "Yeah, that eventually occurred to me."

"And you ran."

It'd be so much easier to let him believe that. To take her time working through her feelings as she learned to share his life, his bed. Caroline was under no allusions that he'd allow any kind of distance now but she was sure she didn't want the distance, either.

"No," she admitted lowly. "I went home because I realized just how much I was looking forward to seeing you. I needed to sort out why."

His eyes heated, tongue swiping across his lips. "Did you figure out what you needed, Caroline?"

She held that burning gaze as steadily as she could manage, fingers tightened around her empty mug. Knowing she might shatter the ceramic she set it aside before answering."I wouldn't have slept with you otherwise."

His smile was dangerous in all the best ways. "And what was your decision?"

She shot him an unamused look. "Seriously?"

Klaus have a slight shrug, fingers curling around her ankle. "A man might think you're just using him for sex."

She looked heavenward. "Are you serious right…"

Her words disappeared into a yelp as he pulled her down the bed, her naked skin sliding smoothly against the sheets. She spluttered a protest as he loomed over her, dimples creasing his cheeks. "Indulge me."

Unable to stop her answering smile even as she rolled her eyes, she reached up to skim her fingers down his throat. It was hard to remain nervous when he looked at her like that. "Despite being an absolute pain my ass, apparently I quite fancy you. I want to give us a try."

His mouth caught hers before she'd fully finished the sentence and he lowered his weight until her breasts were pressed against the heat of his chest. She hitched one leg against his side, fingers threading through his curls as they exchanged lingering kisses. She tilted head her back he when he slowly moved towards her neck, tongue hot and wet against her skin.

"I thought you wanted me to suck on your cock."

It was a tease and a taunt, and his teeth scraped against her shoulder. "Later. You wanted a bed, love, and I'm inclined to make you beg. The mattress should be far more comfortable for what I have in mind than the woods last night, hmm?"

She shuddered as he continued his path down, but was unable to help her next taunt. "You say that as if it will be easy."

His tongue snaked delicately across her nipple in a way that slick tease of his own. "Oh, but I do so love a challenge."

Fingers curling into the sheets, she gave him her wickedest smile. "Me too."

His laughter was its own caress against her breast but not as good as the teeth he followed it with. Sinking into the arousal he stroked so easily, she knew that her words weren't just about sex. A relationship with Klaus was always going to be challenging, but it was one she was utterly certain she wanted.

Caroline couldn't wait to see what was in store for them.

---

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