Thank you so much to all the people that have taken the time to read this story! I am in need of a beta so if any of you are kind enough, I will love you forever!

In reply to Sophie: I was doing it to show tension, in most of the chapter they stay one POV, though in some high tension moments, I do that same thing… But not that often…

Follow me on tumblr at swingklaroline or louoftherings

-xoxo Katarhyne

Bound By Blood

Chapter Two: Caring

Caroline POV:

Some corner of my mind was awake, though I was still on the shores of sleep. I knew the chest I was nuzzled against did not belong to Tyler. I knew that I should be as far away as I can from the beast that is cradling me. Yet, I can't seem to pull myself away. No one has ever held me this way. Like I'm treasured. It feels so good to know that there is someone that puts me first.

The sad thing is, that someone is not my boyfriend. My boyfriend would put his pack before me. The man who everyone thinks is so evil, so heartless, had enough of a heart to put me first. He put me before his need for revenge. At this thought, I snuggle closer into his rock-hard chest, slowly opening my eyes.

I stare at his boyish face. He doesn't look like a killer. He doesn't look like the broken man I know him to be. As he begins to stir under my gaze, I squeeze my eyes shut. I hear him sigh, exasperatedly, most likely at himself more than me, though he doesn't get up.

Curiosity gets the better of me. I slowly open my eyes, seeing him stare at me with such raw emotion in his eyes.

Love, compassion, wonder… Yet also, self-loathing, and something I can't put my finger on.

"Hi." I squeak, looking up at him. Instead of responding he slowly gets up, picking me up with him. He places me on the couch and speeds back to the edge of barrier. Ugh, what is with him and human contact? This frustrates me, though I can't get the feeling of how tenderly he picked me out of my head. I get up and straighten my clothes. Then I look directly at him. He is staring at me as though I confuse him. I guess I do… I mean who cuddles with the guy that delivers the bite of death?

"Thank you." I say, not knowing what else to say. Before he can open his mouth, my phone rings. I walk into the kitchen, my opportunity lost.

Klaus POV

"Tell me you're not serious," Caroline said, speaking to Elena, calling from that dreadful island. I honestly did not expect Caroline to be here when morning came. She should hate me. Yet, when she was awake in my arms she did not cringe in disgust, she thanked me. She fascinated me, confused me. Who says thank you to their would-be killer, who allows the monster to hold them?

"I wish I weren't. When we got back from looking for Jeremy, Shane and Bonnie were both gone too. Shane needs Bonnie to cast the spell on Jeremy's tattoo in order to find the cure, and he managed to sneak them both out from under our noses." The doppelganger says, filling Caroline in on her own personal soap opera.

"Well, where is Damon in all this?" she responds, her thoughts almost connected with mine. Where was the doppleganger's "devil with purpose?"

"We had an argument. I thought he was just taking a walk, but then when we went to the beach, we saw signs of a struggle." I smirk, the man can't even last in a fight. Though I wipe it from my face, when I see the distress in Caroline's face.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning somebody probably jumped him, and then grabbed him."

"Do you think Shane took him?" That human? Caroline is brilliant, she should know better than to think that the weak professor could take a 150-year-old ass.

"No, I mean he's not strong enough to take Damon on; even with the element of surprise, he must have someone, or at least a few some ones helping him."

"God, I'm so sorry, I wish I was there to help." No she doesn't not really. When she says it, she looks straight at me. Though she could not say it out loud, she wants to be here with me.

"Well, maybe there is something you can do from home." Excellent. What does my former blood bag have planned now? Kill me too? Or burn my brother's corpse?

"Anything! Tell me."

"So Shane's looking for the cure. We think we can find him. We have pictures of Jeremy's tattoo, but we just can't translate the map."

"Unless you get the Hunter's sword from Klaus." Well this conversation is taking the turn for the better, more time with Caroline, if she gets the sword. Not that I actually want to help my brother's murderers, but I'm more than willing to help Caroline…

"Exactly."

"He'll never give up the sword." Oh, how little you know, Darling. She is staring at me now. I smirk at her, making her think the complete opposite of my true thoughts.

"Yeah, but if anyone's going get him to give it up, it's Caroline." I hear Stefan say in the background. Did everyone see it , but me? That I'm in love with her?

"He will never give up the sword, not even for Caroline. He's terrified we'll use the cure against him to make him mortal and even if he wasn't, he wouldn't want any of us to derive a moment's happiness from being human." My sister says. She is partially right. Of course I'm terrified of being human again. Being human means I'm weak.

When I was human, I was at my father's mercy. I remember the closest time I ever came to death. Though my father had tortured me, abused me, many times throughout my childhood, when he tried to drown me was the worst. I had been 8. My horse, Torsin, had gotten loose, and trampled Mother's garden. When he found out, he grabbed me by my hair and took me to the Falls. He held me under until I went limp. I had been barely alive when he tossed me out of the water. Then, he left me there. I squeeze my eyes shut at the memory. I am not weak. My past is my past. I am strong. I turn back to Caroline's conversation.

"Bye." She looks at me, while grabbing her phone. I figure that I might as well offer some form of help, as she will just come back to me anyways.

"Need my help with anything, love?"

"Nope!" Rejected again. She'll be back. I know it.