Caroline knew Klaus was simply staring at her as her eyes remained fixated on one particular block of the sidewalk; the one Tyler had just fled from. Her eyes remained on the ground for a long time. She couldn't look at Klaus, she couldn't let her eyes wander the space for Tyler, and she certainly couldn't speak. This time she was truly at a loss for words. She snapped out of her thoughts when Klaus gave her arm the gentlest of tugs.
"Let's get to the bottom of this." Caroline heard Klaus mutter; and she knew what he was going to do. In no time, Tyler was running back down the street toward them, hands in his pocket. Klaus had used his and Tyler's sire bond to get him to return to them. One thing Caroline didn't approve of was hybrids, or sires bonds- but Klaus was Klaus, and she wasn't going to protest. Caroline's arm was still linked with Klaus' as she looked at Tyler.
Tyler had an odd expression on his face- Caroline instantly noted that it wasn't anything near a normal expression; it was a mix of anguish, hurt, and most noticeably anger. Caroline hadn't ever seen Tyler like this. Not when she had pushed him away in the past, when they'd gotten in fights, nothing ever had seemed to piss him off as much as seeing Klaus and Caroline together.
"What seems to be the problem, Tyler?" Klaus cocked his head to the side, for a way of interrogation; Klaus was staring Tyler down, she had a feeling that this would end ugly- one way or the other.
"Caroline is my girlfriend." Tyler said through gritted teeth, it seemed like he was resisting the urge to lash out at Klaus. For his sake, Caroline hoped that Tyler wouldn't, Tyler couldn't possibly stand a fight against Klaus; he would lose. Caroline, Tyler, and Klaus himself all knew that.
That's when Klaus's head snapped toward Caroline, he was gritting his teeth now. Caroline now realized what Klaus looked like when he was about to boil over, and she didn't what to see that happen, especially because of Tyler.
"Is this true, love? Do you belong to him?" Klaus said in disgust, the same look of pure rage on his face as he turned to Tyler, then back to Caroline herself.
Caroline's mind became entangled in her thoughts. If she said no, she would lose Tyler forever, if she said yes, she'd lose Klaus, and possibly face his wrath, too. She took a deep breath as she voiced her decision.
"No I don't. I'm not his." She said in her strongest, most determined voice, she thought it would come out shaky because even though she truly meant and stuck by her choice, she felt as though she was being torn apart from the inside out; honestly she was on the verge of tears.
Tyler stared at her, mouth open in shock, and she just casually looked at him, trying not to show emotion, she probably seemed like a cold-hearted bitch to him now, but she couldn't allow herself to care; at least not now, she was about to take off, not knowing if she could bear the pressure of the situation when Klaus's ominous voice broke the stressing silence.
"There you have it, lad." Klaus was glaring at Tyler now, and Tyler advanced forward, that's when Caroline was pushed behind Klaus, for her protection, she was guessing, and she peered over his shoulder at the hybrid she'd rejected.
"You best go, Tyler- now." Klaus' tone was once again demanding, and there was a slight hiss in his voice that Caroline caught onto, Caroline knew Klaus was once again using the sire bond because Tyler simply stared at her, then turned and walked away. That's when Caroline stepped in front of Klaus.
"That was remarkable, what you did with him." Caroline looked up at Klaus, she might have lost Tyler, but she hadn't lost Klaus just yet. He smirked, but it was followed by a playful chuckle. He seemed amused by her statement, not boastful like Caroline thought he would be.
"That wasn't remarkable, love- that was easy. Hybrids can be worrisome creatures, though. They are pests, to be honest with you." He chuckled again but held out his arm to her like he previously had before Tyler and Klaus's brief spat. "Now, if there are no further interruptions," he glanced around the sidewalk, as Caroline did the same. There was no one around that could possibly ruin a moment like this for her and Klaus. "How about we get going on that walk?"
Caroline nodded and again linked her arm through his, a smile on her face. The two started to walk down the pale gray sidewalk, and they turned a corner, headed toward the forest. Caroline looked up at the sky, and all of the sudden thought of her dad. She didn't think he would be proud of her for taking sides with the most powerful vampire mankind had ever seen, but she knew he was supporting her.
As Klaus rambled on and on about how Tyler was an ignorant hybrid that didn't know his place, while also listening to Klaus's words, she mouthed 'I love you, Dad,' up to the sky, and the last ray of sunshine that fell upon that day before the sun sank beneath the clouds fell upon Caroline; and she couldn't help but smile as she turned back to Klaus.
Little did Klaus or Caroline know, there was a figure hiding in the shadows of the Mystic Falls cemetery as they passed by it, on their way to the forest where Klaus was leading Caroline for the walk their were going to go on. Caroline was simply mesmerized by Klaus, even though she didn't recognize it as being mesmerized, but they were lost in a small talk conversation, and neither she nor he paid any attention the figure in the shadow of the mausoleum.
"Oh, Caroline; silly little vampire, how can you be that naïve as to actually trust him? No one else does, I should know." Tyler laughed darkly and silently to himself, his voice a hushed whisper. Something sinister had clicked in him, as soon as Caroline spoke those bitter words; it was something that he himself didn't even have recognition of; something dark had flooded his mind. "You should know you haven't seen the last of me. You're not even close." That's when Tyler Lockwood, infamous sired hybrid of Mystic Falls, disappeared behind the tombstones.
Caroline and Klaus continued their walk, still completely oblivious to the voice that came from the cemetery.
"So, you mean to tell me that your mother actually tried to kill you?" Caroline looked up at Klaus, her eyes full of disbelief. She'd met Esther, only once, before she'd come up with the plan to destroy her entire family. Well, the kids she had left, that was.
"Yes, my dear. I wouldn't simply kill the woman who had given birth to me out of pure spite; that and the fact that she did have an affair. Even though I hated my father, I surely didn't ignore adultery." Klaus stared out into the distant as he spoke, reminiscing in his memories those faithful days so long ago. He'd been through hell and back, literally. He'd never let that show to anyone that it'd almost broken him.
"Doesn't all this get old, being alive for century after century?" Caroline glanced at Klaus; it was already difficult for her, knowing that she'd outlive a lot of her friends. Matt, Elena, her own mother. She hadn't been a vampire for even a year and it was already dragging her down. "I mean, it has to get old, right?"
"Ah, well. You get used to it, I suppose. Once you start to learn the ways of the world around you, it isn't so bad." Klaus spoke quietly. They reached the edge of the forest, the tree limbs nearly whispering in the wind. Caroline's hair whipped around her face as she turned toward Klaus.
"I don't want to be a killer. I don't want to murder innocent people. I… I don't want to be like- like you." Caroline said. Klaus's expression soon turned dark. No female in as long as he'd been around had even detested his authority as much as Caroline had in that moment.
"I'm not a killer." Klaus snarled and looked at her, his eyes were even turning black now, with yellow hints around them. Cat eyes, which could only relate to one thing in Caroline's mind- a werewolf; Caroline took a step away, fearing the worst.
"You expect me to believe that? You lived centuries, Klaus. And killed a century's worth of people, for what? You gained no happiness, no friends- nothing."
"I'm sure you're not perfect," Klaus spat as he walked along, he was bottling his anger inside, but he didn't know how much longer that would last, "you've killed people, I'm sure."
Caroline knew she had killed. The keyword there is had. After she killed the one guy at the Mystic Falls carnival, she swore never to spill another drop of human blood. She'd killed plenty of vampires, but to her, that was different. Vampires didn't have souls; vampires were damned- she herself included.
"I've only spilt human blood once- once. And how many times have you spilt human blood?" Caroline stared at him, and that's when it happened.
Klaus's entire body to convulsive and shudder, and with one jump, Klaus was no longer standing in front of her. In Caroline's eyes, there was a growling black wolf, with silver streaks throughout its shiny fur, the wolf was beautiful, deadly, but definitely beautiful; the wolf's eyes the same color as Klaus's were before his physical human form disappeared.
Caroline couldn't believe what she was seeing. Had she really made him that mad that he'd turn? Despite that fact, she wasn't exactly afraid. She'd seen Tyler turn more than once in the past months, so she calmly backed away, hoping Kla- well, scratch that. She was hoping the wolf wouldn't come toward her. At the same time, Caroline was staring into those bright yellow eyes, yellow eyes filled with horror; filled with pure anger.
The wolf circled her, snarling and hissing; Caroline swallowed hard, not showing any emotion as her eyes followed suit with the wolf's circular motion. To Caroline, this felt exactly like the night Tyler broke free of his binds on the Lockwood property and attacked. That time, Damon suffered the consequences; he'd saved her from a terrible fate. This time, she had no one to save her. It was her and Klaus- werewolf Klaus- alone, in the forest.
While Caroline was lost amidst her memories and thoughts and memories when the wolf lunged at her; the last thing anyone in the forest heard that night was a bloodcurdling scream.
