So sorry it's taken me so long to update! But I'm sure everyone knows how hectic the holidays can be, but I'll be better I promise! And I have the next few chapters mapped out and I know the direction that I want the rest of the story to take… now I just need to write them!

Read. Review. Enjoy!


"Ughhhh" I growled as I dumped the chess board onto the floor as Stefan sat back against the couch with a grin on his face.

"You were winning by the way" he said with a chuckle

"I don't care, I am so tired of being cooped up here Stef! Come on, I think we've proven that this has been one big overreaction" I tried to reason with him.

"It's only been three days Care. And just because we haven't seen the Originals doesn't mean they haven't seen us… Trust me, I spent the summer with him. If he wants something then he will get it-"

"But he doesn't want me! He wants Elena! And she gets to go to school and leave the boarding house!"

"But that's different Care. Damon has an agreement with Klaus about this… for now, Elena makes monthly donations and Klaus leaves her alone and she can live her life… and until we come up with a better plan this is how it is. You, on the other hand… we have no idea what is going on with you and them"

"There is nothing going on with me and them! Rebekah confused me with someone else and she hasn't been back to bother me about it since! She must have realized she was wrong"

"Alright alright… You want to go back to school?" he said, holding his hand up to stop to stop me

"Yessssssss…." And he chuckled.

"Fine, we'll go back to school tomorrow but I don't want you out of sight of either me, Bonnie, Elena or Tyler the entire day… is that clear?" he said, his tone surprisingly serious, and I was touched that he was so concerned with my safety.

"Yes father" I mumbled at him with a smile and I got up to sit on the couch next to him and he put his arm over my shoulders and I was reminded of our conversation the other night after Stefan had woken up.

"No way Barbie! You're not leaving the boarding house" Damon had said as I got up to leave with Tyler later that night after I had told them what happened in the dungeon with the strange phone call.

"What are you talking about? Of course I am" I responded

"Listen… You were taken hostage by one Original; badgered by another obsessed she-Original; and you were told to stay put because the third Original was coming for you… Am I missing anything?" he asked the room at large, with his arms outstretched.

"Care… I think he has a point" Tyler said from beside me, and I spun around to throw the traitor an angry look.

"I agree" Stefan said as he rose from the couch.

"But- But, what about my mom? She must be going out of her mind with me not coming home last night!"

"Bonnie talked to your mom and explained everything"

"Oh… But what if the Originals go after her? She's human"

"With you gone and clearly here they have no reason to go after her" Damon replied.

"But what if they decide to use her against me?"

"She's still taking vervain right?" he asked and I nodded, "And none of them have been invited in, right?" and I nodded again, feeling that my chances of getting out of this were slimming, "Peachy… I'll watch over her when she's out and at the station and then she'll be fine at night in the house"

"You- you will?" I asked, shocked that he would do something nice for someone out of the blue, especially me…

"Always so shocked Blondie… Liz happens to be my friend and a very useful ally to have in this town" he said, but I could see through his excuses, he cared about my mom and he might even care about me a little, not that it changed anything between us. And it seemed to have been agreed for me that I would stay at the boarding house with Stefan and Damon and Elena, who had also moved back into the boarding house. And every day since then Bonnie had come by to pick up Elena for school, Damon would go out and watch over my mom and Stefan and I would remain inside the boarding house… bored out of our minds.

"Well, don't you two look cozy" an arrogant voice drawled as he came into the living room to get a drink.

"Oh good… your home" I said sarcastically as Damon leaned against the mantle of the fireplace facing us.

"Glad someone missed me" he smirked and I rolled my eyes before I got up from the couch.

"I am going upstairs to finish the rest of the homework Elena gave me for tomorrow"

"Woah, what's tomorrow?"

"I am going back to school Damon… The Originals haven't showed their faces in three days… most likely they realized how wrong they were and just gave up"

"Damon, she's been cooped up long enough. Plus I'm going back too. And Caroline promised," he gave me a pointed look as he paused, "that she would never be out of sight of me, Elena, Bonnie or Tyler and-" and Damon snorted at the last name.

"What?... What's so funny about Tyler watching out for me?" and Stefan sent Damon a furious look.

"You mean Stefan didn't tell you?" Damon smirked

"No… But I have a feeling you're about to."
"I would be delighted to… It seems your little boyfriend, Hybrid Junior, has been spending a little time with Hybrid Senior this week…"

"Are you- are you telling me that Tyler has been spending time with Klaus…?" I asked, my mouth dropping open in surprise and dismay.

"Well now I know why you're in the running to be valedictorian…" Damon said sarcastically as he took a sip from his drink.

"For what possible reason? Do you think Klaus is compelling him? Or forcing him or torturing him? Maybe he's threatening to hurt one of us, or-"

"EEEH! None of the above Princess… We know what's wrong with your boyfriend"

"Damon…" Stefan said in a warning voice

"Have you ever heard of a vampire being sired?"

"No…"

"It's a hold that the vampire who turns a human has over the person that they turned. An influence. That person then wants to do whatever that vampire says or wants and lives to please them… of course there are varying levels…"

"So you think that Tyler is under that sort of control with Klaus?"

"It's our working theory… we have yet to test it out"

"You're wrong. Tyler is stronger than that… he would never feel any sort of loyalty to that monster" I said

"I guess we'll have to see then…"

"Do whatever you need to do Damon… He'll prove you wrong" I say with a smug smile and I continue down the hall and up the stairs to the room I had been given. I tried to look confident on the outside as I bounded up the stairs but inside I was terrified that Damon and Stefan were right. I had never heard of a sirebond before, but they seemed sure that was the reason for Tyler's bizarre behavior… and the more I thought about it the more it made sense. It would explain him saving Klaus that day that they rescued me… But I tried my best to put it out of my mind as I finished taking notes, and then when Elena got home I was able to put it fully from my mind.


I drummed my fingers impatiently on the armrest of my seat as I watched the ground quickly approaching from the window of the jet, and I recrossed my legs for the hundredth time that flight. I hadn't been able to sit still since I had gotten the call. Her call… I could still hear her sweet sigh over the phone and her familiar voice as she said hello. I had waited over 500 years to hear that voice again, never believing that I would. It had been like an electric shot through my body, followed by a numbness of disbelief that spread to my limbs. After all of those years of searching, and all of those decades of hoping followed by despair, my heart had hardened against the idea of further loss… but I felt a crack in that hardening as I thought of seeing her again.

I brushed imaginary pieces of lint from the front of my suit as I tried to quiet my raging thoughts. Like the thoughts of the day that my father found us in a small village near London, four days after she had been taken from me. He taunted me with hints of Caroline's whereabouts and the fact that she may still be alive… and I shuddered as I remembered how he brought his hand to his mouth to lick some dried blood from it, and as the wind shifted I smelled that it was Caroline's. Rebekah and I snarled at him as the smell reached us and I lunged at him. My siblings and I managed to subdue him but he wouldn't give up the location of where he was hiding her. After close to an hour of questions, threats and violence, Niklaus finally snapped his neck. We searched the town all day and into the night and couldn't find a trace of her. Kol stayed behind with our father and continuously snapped his neck when he began to stir… and then just as dawn broke again we found the dungeon in a nearby estate. The cold stone floor was bathed in her blood, and the walls were splattered with it. Everywhere there were signs of her… but there was no her. I upended a table in frustration and threw a stool against the wall, watching is smash to smithereens on impact, but it did nothing to appease my anger.

"Elijah, this blood is fresh…" Rebekah said as she bent down to examine a rather large puddle in the middle of the room.

"She's right brother. Caroline must have just been here" Kol said.

"Do you think she escaped on her own?" Rebekah asked, her eyes wide as she took in the amount of blood in the room, realizing that it wasn't likely.

"When was the last time you gave her your blood?" Niklaus asked quietly from the shadows of the room.

"A few days before I left to come to you… over a week ago"

"So the blood would have been far gone from her system, if she had any blood left at all" he replied quietly as he too surveyed the room.

"Unless father gave her blood?" Kol said

"He wouldn't do that"

"But wouldn't he-" Rebekah started to argue, but I cut her off.

"No sister, he would never give her a chance to survive this…"

"Then where is she brother?" Kol asked, gesturing around the dungeon.

"I… do not know Kol. But I will find her" I vowed… but I wasn't able to keep that vow. I had searched the surrounding town and then the countryside for any sign of her, eventually widening my search to nearby counties until I found myself back in Lancashire months later.

The gardens, once beautiful and manicured, had become overgrown and unkempt, but the smell of spring flowers still hovered in the air; in stark contrast to the sight of half burnt mansion. I walked up the front steps and through the burnt remains of the entryway. I walked around the rooms, some burnt beyond recognition while others remained untouched, and then I made my way to the second floor. My steps echoed as I slowly made my way to her chamber, and her scent enveloped me as breathed her in deeply. I suppressed the despair that built up in my chest and I focused on the task. There was no sign of the pendant anywhere in her desk or vanity drawers, so she must have been wearing it at the time of the attack, but my father hadn't mentioned discovering it. There was also no sign of the bodies that had littered the estate from that night, but otherwise the interior had remained untouched these long months. I left her chamber and went to my own, surprised to see that it was untouched. I retrieved a knapsack and started to gather important belongings. I picked up my journal from my side table drawer and flipped through the pages, catching snippets of passages as I went.

"…and it is most surprising that a female as accident prone as she had not met some sort of untimely demise by the time I had been forced to save her that night of the storm, only a few weeks ago now… Although most surprising of all, finding a female with such loyalty and devotion …"

"She must be the most infuriating female in all of England! She has no regard for her own safety and for the feelings of those that would mourn her. Would I mourn her were I to have been too late to pull her from the waves? I believe I would, but I cannot feel this way. I mustn't. I only know that I had not felt terror like that, helplessness like that, in decades…"

And I flipped to one of the last pages I had written in…

"She knows what I am, and she loves me despite it. An angel, in love with a monster, redeeming that monster with every breath the angel takes… with every smile. The night had started with such terror as I watched her fall from the crumbling cliff face, but it had ended with such bliss as I held her in my arms as I made love to her. This woman, this angel, will be my wife."

Every page was filled with descriptions of her laughter, her eyes and her wit… all before I had even known I was in love with her. But as I read through my own words I realized how blinded I had been. My love shown through every written feeling of frustration and confusion, as I described her unwavering loyalty to others and her own selflessness as she went about her charity. It shown throught with every exasperated description of our arguments, and a begrudging respect I had for her as she stood up for herself. I had been attracted to her since the first moment I laid eyes on her, but I had been in love with her since our first conversation… almost exactly a year ago now.

I had taken the journal, the copy of Utopia given to me by Caroline's parents, the painting by Caroline, all of the handkerchiefs made by her; and I added them to the letter that she had written to Niklaus, in which she signed her name Caroline Forbes Mikaelson. I had continued to write entries in the journal, chronicling my search of her and my desperation as it morphed into anger and then as the anger morphed into grief. I mourned her loss, but I never gave up hope that somehow she had survived and was simply waiting for me to find her. Every crowd could contain her, every letter and then phone call could be her… but it never was. Until now.

I was startled out of my thoughts as the jet finally touched down on the runway and I sprang from the chair and retrieved my bag, counting the seconds until the door would open and I could finally return to Mystic Falls, and her.