Of course, I saw the good in him. It was too easy to see the way he treated me and the way he treated others because of me to not notice. But it wasn't just that I saw the good in him, but that he saw the bad in me. Urges, desires, and wants so deeply imbedded in me that no one but Klaus managed to sense.

"Hello Caroline," Klaus smiles at me and I clenched my jaw in reaction. He'll sense that too, that I'm forcing it. The only way I've managed to resist him is by being cold.

"Klaus," I spat, before turning my heel and walking over to take a seat at the bar at the Mystic Grill.

"Now, come on, be nice Caroline. I came all the way to see you. How about a smile?"

The worst part was that I wanted to smile. Klaus promised that he wouldn't return to Mystic Falls, a promise I'd secretly wished he would break. I bet he knew that too.

"You said you weren't coming back," I said with a softer tone.

"I suppose I thought you would be in New Orleans by now. Perhaps you'd gotten bored of the life you keep telling yourself you wanted before you met me," he seemed more confident now than ever. It drove me crazy.

I glared at him. "How dare you," I hissed as I got closer to him, staring right into his eyes. "You don't know anything about me."

"Yes, another small issue I would have taken care of if you'd let me," he paused then, his eyes were smothering. "Come with me. I'll give you everything you've ever wanted. I'm the most powerful being on this planet… I'll show you the world."

I scoffed. "And what? Leave my friends behind to hop on plane with an original vampire who's done nothing but cause trouble?"

Klaus smirked. "Now, now, Caroline, we're past that."

"Since when?!" I barked.

He quickly got closer to me, his nose grazing mine, "since I've been inside you."

I exhaled before his lips were on mine. I was kissed hard and passionately and I was overwhelmed. I kissed back; every nerve in my body flickered and was set aflame.

Klaus.

I pull my lips away but he doesn't move back, his face hovering just above mine. "Stop," I whimper.

"Caroline... For you I'd do anything. But even if I stopped now, I'd be back again. Perhaps a year, a decade, maybe even a few centuries. But it won't chance anything. Maybe in that time you'll find another love to occupy your time and your energy but he won't be me. He won't be terrible and godly. He won't see what I see in you, Caroline, and that is true misery."

My skin pricked at his words. Klaus is the worst. I know it. What I want though is everything he can give me. I bit my lip to keep from saying something I know I'll regret. Like being with him made me feel more alive than when I actually was alive. That being with him made me feel even more powerful and strong. Klaus is hot and not feeling that heat ate at me.

"Misery," I repeat as if I was in a trance. But I knew well enough that Klaus wouldn't compel my feelings, my urges, because he didn't have to.

He smiled. "Quite."

I shook my head. "I have a conscience, Klaus." I started to get on my feet. "I have friends here, friends who would never accept this. There's… no way…" I went on, stumbling over my own words, trying to get myself together. I put on my leather jacket and took a step back from him. "I just can't."

"I understand," he said. "You need more time to consider it," he smiled.

I scoffed, "I don't need more time."

He stood then and touched my cheek. "When you're finally mine, I don't want you to feel conflicted. Our past discrepancies aside, I think we make quite the pair," he smiled, big and wide. It was a smile I knew that was rare to him, one I knew that was all for me. I smiled back. "There it is… that smile."

"I need a drink," I said, taking my jacket back off.

"I know… because that's our thing."

"We don't have a thing," I countered though I couldn't stop smiling at this point.