I've been told that On the Run seems like it is unfinished. Since I can't really think of anything that I could write to add to it, to let it still have it's ominous tone, I decided to write this. It will be a full length story that I hope you all will come to enjoy. This takes place after episode 3x21, but before the finale. Because I have no idea what to do about you-know-who in so-and-so's blank.
Note: Everything will be explained in the story itself. Bluntly, honestly. I promise.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.

Prologue
To Treason

He was dead. Or, at least, a semblance of it. He supposed this must have been what his siblings felt like when he had them in their coffins; floating outside of space and time, just kind of doing their own thing.

Dear God, he'd been around teenagers too long. He could hardly think in proper vernacular.

"Niklaus," a voice whispered, seeming to come from all around him.

Head moving to each side, he tried to find the location of the owner. It was eerily soothing, this woman's voice, as if she were someone that could protect him. Protection? He shouldn't have needed any; he was The Hybrid, the one creature in existence that had no real natural weakness. Or so he thought. But this woman was like what he guessed a mother should have felt like; warm, soothing, protective.

"Niklaus, son of Mikael."

There it was again, though he had no idea how long it had been. Being dead meant being unhindered by such a small thing as time. For all he knew, the voice could be speaking only every few centuries; the world he had known could already be gone. Did he truly want to wake up? If he wasn't truly dead, was there any reason that he couldn't assume he was safe?

"Oh, for the love of...fine. Don't let me have my fun. I'll just show myself to you." The woman's voice had changed to that of an exasperated babysitter, as if she had better things to do than watch over him. "Just trying to be all 'trust in me' over here, NBD."

He glanced to where the voice had sounded, finding himself staring into a large flame. The sight seized his throat, making it hard to swallow. Here to kill him, perhaps? Maybe this was what it was like if he was stabbed through the heart with the White Oak Dagger; he wouldn't know.

Still, the dancing fire was mesmerizing, hard to look away from. Was he finally going to move on? Was he going to leave a world that had let him be created, only to revile his existence? Relief blossomed in his chest. Finally, he thought.

"Oh, no, don't go all remorseful on me now. I need you the way you are, mmkay?"

Suddenly, the fire faded into the body of a woman who stood only a few feet away from him. She was short, curved in the right places, and holding quite the impressive bow. She wore a dress that looked as if it was made of a sheet, white and flowing carelessly around her, showing her bare feet. Her skin was paler than he'd ever seen a person's, like white snow; it made her dress look...dirty. Lithe, bare arms cradled her bow—with one notched arrow—slender fingers curving with obvious knowledge over the wood. Her face was that of a pixie: sharp and high cheekbones, wide eyes, small—slightly upturned—nose. Eyes like liquid gold, the color swirling in her gaze as she easily held his, pink Cupid's bow lips pulled into a wide, if subtly insane, smile.

But it was her hair that drew him. It was like the flame lived on her head, falling around her without causing burns. It was styled as he'd seen many young women do in this era; choppy layers and bangs that swept over her forehead. A flare in the power of her mane nearly sent him reeling.

She tilted her head to one side, watching him with that creepy smile.

Finally, he spoke. "Who are you?" he demanded, though he wasn't quite sure of himself. Not as he should have been, at least.

Tapping a finger on her chin, she looked above, taking slow steps towards him. "Who am I?" she wondered as she drew closer and closer to a dangerous being. She froze just before him, eyes catching his, something flashing in their depths. "I've got a name, I suppose, but it isn't important right now. What is important is that you trust what I'm going to do for you. And, if you do, that you swear your loyalty to me."

Insane, he thought. This woman is absolutely mad.

"Oh, as a hatter," she answered brightly. Patting his cheek as he watched her in shock, she said, "You really don't think that there isn't something out there bigger than you, do you? Don't you come from a time of gods...and goddesses?" Laughing, she turned away from him, striding back to where she had come from. She spoke again, to nothing. "There's a poem I once heard about a hybrid. Of course, I have no idea how it goes, but it's something to have a poem about your kind, isn't it? Means you're scary, powerful." Glancing down at her palm, a fireball erupted there, glowing in her eyes. "So much power."

As if snapping herself out of it, she clenched her fist, extinguishing the flame. Grinning over her shoulder at him, she asked, "But you know all about power? You've gone a bit crazy with it, don't you think? But there are always checks and balances in nature; we make sure of it."

"What do you mean?" he demanded. "Are you a witch? A spirit?" Confusion swamped him. Who the hell was this crazy woman standing in front of him, looking as if she were nothing more than a girl with a wild imagination? Did she not know the kind of pain he'd inflicted upon countless beings in his long lifetime?

"That's why I need you!" she said cheerfully, suddenly in front of him again. She tapped his nose—tap tap—with a grin. "You see, I've got this pesky plan I've been cooking up for years and you are one of my main ingredients. You are to me what the Petrova doppelganger was to you." At his widened eyes, she giggled. "I need you to live to give me what I need. Unfortunately, this"—she waved a hand into dark open space—"isn't going to help me out much. So I'm going to help you out. A boon for a boon."

He stepped back, unsure what to make of this female. "And if I refuse?"

Darkness filled her eyes, leaving them completely blackened from corner to corner. Her hair flew up, the fire growing as her skin began lining with bright orange veins. "I won't allow you to refuse," she answered darkly.

Just as quickly as it had happened, she was back to normal, strutting away from him. His heart beat wildly as she raised her bow, aiming it directly at his chest. She giggled before whispering, "Trust me, Niklaus."

Before he could think to turn and run, the arrow hit him hard, sending him to the ground, dead in his own desiccation.

To Treason

Caroline tossed and turned in her bed as nightmares flooded her mind. There was fire all around her, consuming her as her friends cried out in pain all around. To her left, Elena clutched Damon's head in her lap and cried, rocking back and forth as blood spilled from his mouth. Stefan stood above them, eyes glowing with the pain she supposed only a sibling could feel at a loss as blood dripped from his body as well. To her right, Matt laid in a pool of his own blood, watching her with his lifeless gaze. His hand was extended towards her, as if he had been trying to help her, save her.

In front of her, Tyler staggered, clutching at his chest, tearing at the skin above his heart. As his blood met the ground, it sizzled as if it were acid, burning him from the inside out. Still, he made his way towards her, dropping to his knees yards away as he struggled to get closer to her. Eyes turning to that of his wolf, his body convulsed before dropping to the ground, motionless.

"Tyler!" she shrieked, her voice and throat raw from the smoke around them. But she couldn't move any closer to him, her body too weak to move.

"Vampires and werewolves are abominations," a bodiless voice murmured. "Those pathetic enough to be taken in by their tricks and charms deserve to die along with them."

Pain burst anew in her head, making her cry out as she buckled to the floor, her face buried in the dirt. Unable to control her screams, she almost missed Bonnie's voice coming from behind her, full of tears and pain of her own. Just as it had been when Caroline's mother had killed Jeremy.

"No, please! Don't kill them! They don't deserve to die!"

As more pain erupted throughout the blonde, she heard another—different—disembodied voice whisper, "I can fix all of this, you know. I can help you to protect them; all of them. You just need to pledge your loyalty, swear to do as I bid, and I'll help you keep all of your loved ones safe."

Sitting up with a jolt, Caroline awoke and looked over at the clock. Five thirty-eight. Not exactly her best night of sleep. Flopping back down on her pillows, she stared at the ceiling, wondering if she had ever felt so scared by something as simple as a nightmare.

"No, that's not a nightmare, my dear blonde friend. That's what we in the biz call a 'premonition'."

The voice that had come to her in her dreams! Breathing heavily, she sat up once more to find a small woman sitting on her dresser. Fire hair swirled around her, burning nothing yet somehow filling the room with the light smell of a bonfire. Golden eyes watched her with amusement.

"Come on, now, say it with me: pre-mon-i-tion!"

She was going to die; that was all there was to it. Either that or she was the crazy one. Could she have made up this person in her mind, though she was so...real?

"Well, yeah," the girl answered, leaning back like a bored girl at a slumber party. "There's always that chance. Schizophrenia's possible for humans, so I guess it could be amplified in a vampire." The girl shrugged. "Eh. But that's not the case here. I'm here, you're here. Two's a party and all that." Jumping down soundlessly and gracefully, the girl strode towards Caroline, perching on the end of her bed to glance over at her.

Frantically, the blonde scrambled to her headboard, hoping to put as much distance between herself and this creature as possible. "Wh-what do you want with me?" she asked, voice breaking.

Smiling, the girl asked, "What does anyone want?" Then she laughed, throwing herself onto her back on the bed as if it were some inside joke the two shared. "I'm not here to kill you, Caroline Forbes. Who would take your place as Miss Mystic Falls?" Turning a suddenly serious gaze to meet Caroline's shocked one, she asked, "You did already win that, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she answered, pressing herself more fully against the wood behind her. "I'm Miss Mystic Falls for a few more months."

"Oh good! I didn't give away the ending then." The girl looked back to the ceiling, a smile on her face. "So, are you going to do like I ask of you? I mean, it really isn't much. I'll help you out and stuff, but I can't be directly involved with...some things. Bad karma for me, you know."

Caroline inched to the side, hoping to get away from her room, perhaps to the Salvatore house. If she could just go somewhere that had people that would help protect her, that would be perfect. She didn't know what to make of this girl, whether she was friend or foe, and didn't particularly want to be.

"First of all," the girl said with a chuckle, "if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead. I wouldn't be asking something of you. Second, I can give you the power to fend for yourself and for your friends. You'll have an ability like no other, something that you'll never have to share with another." Their eyes met again. "Do you accept?"

With another quick glance to the door, the blonde vampire tried to decide what she should do. Duck and run or stay and chit chat. What was the harm in making a bargain with this girl, anyways? If it would get her the hell out of there, it was okay by her.

Suddenly, the girl was standing on the bed, her hair swirling around her. Both of her eyes were entirely black and the heat from her hair filled the room. "Don't think you can escape me, vampire. I am more powerful than anything you have encountered. To fight me would be suicide and some part of you knows it. Heed that instinct or perish once I find someone else to do as I command."

Swallowing, Caroline said hastily, "Tell me what I have to do."

The girl was instantly back to normal, sitting on the bed as if she hadn't just gone all apocalypse-y on her. "So you will play the game?" she asked excitedly, eyes flashing with mirth. She clapped her hands together. "Goody! Then, before we do anything else, I need to give you something." Flames erupted from her hand, glowing in the shape of a...bow and quiver? She handed them to Caroline, dropping them in her lap. "I give you these, Caroline Forbes. You now have my archery ability. But if you miss your target, the pain you will feel will be unimaginable. Still, that shouldn't happen too often; I'm pretty awesome with a bow.

"Now, I need you to do your first deed for me: release our other key player from the spell your friends put on him. Bring a dozen blood bags to his coffin and rip one open—only one! Then, climb to the roof above it; you'll be able to see his body through the skylight. Shoot an arrow directly into his heart, then run. Go anywhere; I'll cover your tracks. As long as you get out of these United States within the next twenty-four hours, you'll be fine. I'll come to you with your next mission in one week. Unless you're dead."

Before Caroline could do more than gape at the girl, she waved with a girly wiggle of her fingers and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Glancing down at the bow in her arms, the blonde wondered if she dared to disappoint that being.

To Treason

"Barbie woke Klaus! She brought the bastard back without a thought to what that meant to those of us that killed him!" Damon roared, throwing furniture all over the Salvatore study. Stefan clutched their liquor table tightly in his hands, his head hanging as he ground his teeth together.

Grabbing the blue-eyed Salvatore's arm, Elena said, "We can think of something; we always do. We'll be okay."

Damon turned on her, a slow calming spreading in his gaze. When her hand went to his cheek, he covered it with his own. "Not with Alaric running around. He makes you Public Enemy Number One; Klaus will come for you." As they gazed at each other, neither noticed the pain in Stefan's eyes as he watched them, trying to detract himself from the situation. He knew that he needed to let Elena choose on her own, but it hurt to know there was a chance he wouldn't win.

"Ooo, I love this soap! When is the announcement of the twins, one from each brother?"

All three heads swung to a woman perched on the railing only feet behind them. None had heard or seen her approach. She wore light jeans with burn holes over each of the knees. A yellow shirt with the words "I will let you burn" across her chest clung tightly around her, showing off a curvy—if skinny—physique. But they couldn't help focusing on the flaming hair spiraling from her head. It was literally fire!

Still, the Salvatores stepped in front of Elena, blocking her from the woman's view. Their shoulders went back, arms crossing over their chests, ready to die for the doppelganger.

But the woman waved them off. "Oh, don't be all macho with me. She's really the last person on my radar. It goes something like Joseph Morgan, George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston, many others, then, at the bottom, Elena Gilbert the human." Glancing at the brunette, she shrugged. "Sorry, but it's the truth. You just aren't really as interesting without your little love triangle here. Has anyone told you that you need to think about not always sacrificing yourself?" Again, the fire woman waved her hand in the air, standing on the banister. "But that's not the point. I still need the three of you on my chessboard."

Without a word, Damon and Stefan flew at her, the older Salvatore making it to her first. His hand went to her chest, clutching her heart and tearing it away easily. The body slumped to the ground with no climactic revelation or death. "Well, that was surprisingly easy."

"Oh, yeah, I would say so."

The brothers twisted to see the woman standing beside Elena, who was completely petrified. "What the hell?" Damon demanded. "I seriously just killed you! You can't just be...alive!" When she merely lifted her eyebrow at him, he snarled, "Whatever. I'll keep killing you until you just decide to stay dead." He flashed towards her, only to find himself meeting air as she danced easily on the other side of the room.

"I so knew that this was going to happen! Do you really think that everything you encounter can be killed? In the true...cycle of things, vampires aren't the strongest out there; nor are your ferocious Originals. Which reminds me," she added with a smile, "I was the one that made Caroline Forbes, the one you call Barbie, Blondie, Vampire Barbie, etc., wake Klaus. I have this very particular chess game I'm playing and they're my most important pieces. You three, however, can be replaced at the moment. Don't make me have to find others."

Stefan stepped forward, arms over his chest. "Why would you team up with Klaus? He's not exactly someone that you can keep on a tight leash."

"Oh, I can. He owes me a great deal. Plus, I kinda did this thing to bring him back to his roots. Nothing to worry about."

"His roots?" Damon laughed. "You mean the ones where he doesn't know his real daddy and the parents that raised him hate his guts more than anyone else? Yeah, making him revisit that sore subject is definitely going to make him like you. I'm sure of it."

Suddenly, the woman was in front of him, eyes black and hair moving like true fire above her head. Before he could blink, she'd pulled free the button above his heart and put it in her pocket. He caught his breath as she gave him a Creature With Which One Does Not Fuck smile. Then she was normal again, patting his shoulder patronizingly, though she was a foot shorter than him. "Thank you. Sometimes, I just like pretty buttons." She strolled away as the three in the room with her stared in shock. "Anyways, it's not those roots. It's his werewolf ones. You see, before vampires were around, wolves had children with wolves because there was a bounty of them. Human blood really didn't dilute it much. They were animals wrapped in pretty clothes.

"Turning didn't hurt the ones that were born from two wolves; it was natural for them, not really a punishment. They mated for life, too, just like their cousins that stayed wolves. It was all romantic, really; one look, sniff, touch, taste, sound, and they knew who they would be with for the rest of their extended lifetimes. They age slower once they change you know.

"But then vampires came around. Thanks to Esther, who is personally on my shit list, so don't bring her up. They started killing off a great deal of the wolves. Soon, the bloodlines were getting watered down with more and more humans and the whole magic of them was lost. Werewolves now will be lucky if they live ten years longer than regular humans and they can't even sense their true loves anymore. Otherwise Tyler wouldn't have wasted time on Caroline; they really have nothing other than sex going for them."

"If you know all this so well, why are you here for us? Why use Caroline?" Stefan asked calmly, though it was obvious that he was ready for a fight. "And what does that mean about Klaus? He's suddenly going to find true love and all that? Good for him; keep him away from us and we won't pick apart your little plan."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Don't you know anything about the powers that be? Can't get our hands dirty and all that. Anyways, I keep whoever I see fit safe. It's the best I'll do for players who aren't key just yet. Maybe in the sequel, but for once it isn't all about the Salvatores and their girlfriend." She glanced at Elena, raising her hands in innocence. "No offense."

"None taken," the brunette answered quietly.

"You teaming up with Klaus makes you dangerous," Damon said quickly. "He's killed tons of people without care and that makes him a murderer."

"And what are you?" the girl asked, now sitting on a tall bookshelf. "Over your lifetime, you've killed. Same with your brother. Hell, Elena here killed the guy you're now all cowering from. Isn't he your guardian too? It might have been to make sure that he came back to life, but you did kill him; still counts. So I wouldn't go talking about the kettle, pot." She looked at each of them individually. "Here's the thing; I want to use you later on in the grand scheme of things because you're already connected to my particular problem. You're my knights and bishops in this chess game. I already have a king and queen, which makes you expendable this round." The black began seeping into her eyes once again. "I can find other kings and queens for later. But if you try to ruin this first phase, I will send you into a hell you have never imagined."

Her finger pointed directly at Elena. "I'll burn her at the stake in front of you, then give both of you brothers visions of each other burning until you beg me to kill you. So, do as I say, okay? I'm pretty nice when people do as they're told." Glancing at her non-existent watch, she clucked her tongue. "Tsk, tsk. So much to do this week. I guess I'll make your appointment for the next, okay? Be ready." Before anyone could respond, she disappeared in black smoke, leaving them to stare after her.

Who the hell was the undead crazy woman?

I hope you all like this! Honestly, I've been playing with this idea since On the Run was published. It's kinda related to it, but at the same time entirely different. Hope you liked the prologue!