Hello, readers. I hope you're enjoying the story and I would love to hear more of your thoughts as the story progresses so I know you're there and so that I can try to let you know if your predictions are correct as we progress toward the end. Remember, there are at least two more seasons before these stories are done but it is dependent on you the readers for me to want to write them. On with the show…

Chapter 3: The Hunt is On

"Stop!" Caroline demanded.

Bonnie jammed her foot on the brake. "What? Please, don't tell me I hit a dog or something!" Looking into the rearview mirror, Bonnie looked for a horribly mangled pet or some type of wildlife.

Getting out of the car, Caroline ran across the street and up the long driveway. Stopping in front of the door to the mansion, she rang the doorbell. Rocking on her heels, she sucked in a deep breath as the door opened. "Caroline? What a pleasant surprise," Mayor Richard Lockwood greeted Caroline with that annoyingly creepy leering grin of his. "How can I help you?"

Caroline forced a wide grin of her own. "Actually, Mr. Mayor, I'm here for Ty. We're going on little camping trip over the weekend. … So, I'm here to pick him up." She hoped that the Mayor would believe the lie so that she didn't have to kidnap Tyler and get a felony charge on her record.

Thinking about it, the Mayor seemed to be trying to figure something out. Caroline resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew it might take him a couple of hours to come up with a conclusion. Really, she did not have time for this. Just as she was about to shove past him to go looking for the young werewolf the elder Lockwood spoke up, "Yes, I think he did mention a 'camping trip."

The way the Mayor said this made Caroline want to vomit with all that innuendo she wondered why he wasn't sued for sexual harassment every other day. "Tyler!" Mayor Lockwood yelled up the stairs. "Caroline is here for your 'trip!"

Tyler appeared at the top of the stairs and jogged down. "Hey, Care!" Tyler greeted Caroline with a wide grin. "Did you say trip?" He asked, looking from his father to Caroline with a look of confusion.

"Yeah!" Caroline replied, staring at Tyler trying to convey her silent message.

Beginning to nod, Tyler grinned, "Yeah, I totally spaced and forgot about the trip. Let me go upstairs and get my stuff."

"I'll help you," Caroline told him as she walked past Tyler's father and they ran up the stairs to Tyler's bedroom. Jerking her phone out, Caroline sent Bonnie a quick text to let her know she would be done soon. Shoving it back into her pocket, she strode over to Tyler's closet and grabbed some clothes, throwing them to Tyler. "Pack what you think you might need for a long trip," she ordered.

"Caroline, what in the God's name is going on?" Tyler asked, crossing his arms over his chest and standing still.

Gritting her teeth together, Caroline started to grab random things she thought a guy might want for a couple of weeks and threw them into a duffle bag. Grabbing the bag, she walked out of the room and Tyler was forced to follow her. "Seriously, Care. I'm not going to just leave without an explanation."

"Keep your voice down," Caroline snapped at him as they headed back down the stairs.

"Have fun on your 'trip," Mayor Lockwood called. He didn't seem to notice that Caroline was carrying Tyler's bag or maybe he didn't think it was strange.

When they were outside Caroline sighed in relief. "We're going hunting and I need a werewolf," she informed Tyler.

"Why?" Tyler asked, feeling even more confused and slightly worried. "Are you going to use me as bait or something?" he joked with light laugh until he saw the serious look on Caroline's face as she turned toward him. "No, Care. No." Tyler began to back away from Caroline.

Caroline rolled her eyes and grabbed Tyler by the collar of his shirt. Pulling the door to the backseat open, she threw him in and called to Bonnie, "lock the back doors." Tyler looked around him as the locks clicked into place.

"This is kidnapping," Tyler yelled as Caroline opened the trunk and placed his duffle in with the other bags. When he tried to open the doors they wouldn't budge. "Come on, guys, this isn't funny." Reaching into his pocket for his cellphone, he found it was missing.

Sliding into the passenger seat, Caroline looked back at Tyler. "Looking for this?" she called, waving Tyler's cell in her left hand and then shoved it into her jeans' pocket.

"Care, give me my phone," Tyler demanded. He was becoming more and more pissed off as he leaned forward. He didn't care that Caroline was his friend or that she could kick his ass. He did not plan on becoming the bait for some kind of freaky hunting trip.

"Okay," Caroline told him. "You're right. I'm being unreasonable." Caroline pulled out the phone and handed it to him. Tyler was relieved as he took it and began to dial 911. When there was no dial tone he became suspicious that Caroline had done something to his phone when he felt something prick his arm. Raising his eyes from the dead phone to the girl with the syringe, he began to feel the world become black.

"What did you do to me?" Tyler asked as he slumped against the backseat.

"Caroline! Are you completely crazy?!" Bonnie yelled as she stared at Tyler's unconscious form slumped in the backseat of her car. "Did you just drug the Mayor's son? And now you want to go over the state line with him?" Shaking her head, Bonnie's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "That's it, Care. I'm out. This is just too much. First, you torture Stefan. And now this. Find someone else to help you."

Caroline sat staring at Bonnie. "Mikael drove a stake through the heart of the guy I was in love with. He drove the same stake into my lung and nearly killed me. I need revenge, Bonnie. Yes, I'm probably crazy. But I can't rest until I know that he's never going to hurt me again. Or anyone I care for. And then I'm going after Klaus."

Bonnie shook her head as tears pooled in her eyes. "Care, please, this is a suicide mission. Mikael will kill you. He was after Klaus the first time. But if you get in his way, he will come after you."

"If I let him go, he'll kill Kol. Do you want your boyfriend to die?" Caroline questioned Bonnie coolly as she sat back in her seat. She had learned a few tricks from her limited time with Klaus.

Bonnie sucked in a shuddering breath. Closing her eyes, her tears began to slow as she reopened them with a sense of determination. Placing her foot down on the gas pedal, she began to drive down the street. In the silence that accompanied their exit from Mystic Falls she knew she had to help Caroline. "Okay. So, I will help you with this but what happens when you are done? You're going to take us with you to hunt Klaus?"

Shaking her head, Caroline kept her eyes on the road. "No. Klaus is mine to deal with."

Somehow this did not make Bonnie feel any sense of comfort as they headed through North Carolina. Yawning, Bonnie looked at her friend. "Can we pull over?"

Caroline nodded and Bonnie pulled into parking lot. Tyler was beginning to wake up as the car stopped. "Oh, man, what the hell happened?" Tyler moaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We're getting some food and coffee." Caroline told him. "Do you want something?" She felt a bit friendlier as she got out and stretched.

Tyler got out of the car, too. "Where are we?"

"North Carolina," Bonnie told him as she walked slowly toward the diner in front of them.

"What?" Tyler yelled as Caroline followed Bonnie. "Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Georgia," Caroline called over her shoulder.

"Why?" Tyler asked as he fell into step beside her. "And why do you want me? Why a werewolf?"

"You remember my ex, Klaus. Well, he's still alive and his little obsession with werewolves is, too. Apparently, someone is tracking packs and they're in Georgia. To add to the wonderful news, I think his father picked up on the fact that he's still alive and is tracking him. I'm going to use you to lure Klaus, who will lure Mikael." Caroline explained rapidly as they entered the diner and she took a seat in a booth.

Tyler blinked, "Doesn't that mean Klaus would have to have broken the curse on him?" He remembered back when he met Klaus that the Original had mentioned something about a curse that he wanted to break and that he would be at the top of Klaus' hybrid to-be-list." This made him gulp. He really did not want to be a hybrid. He hated being a werewolf to begin with.

"What?" Caroline whispered, her eyes glazing over as she thought about what Tyler had just said.

Bonnie looked sick. "If Klaus is a hybrid… then Elena is…"

"Dead." Caroline finished, dully. How was that possible? Sure, she hadn't heard a word from Elena since she and Damon left for Europe, but there had to be more to the story. Surely her friend could not be dead all summer long and she wouldn't know… Right?

Pulling out her phone, Caroline dialed Elena's number. She drummed her fingers on the table top. "Caroline?" Elena called into the phone. "Where in the hell are you?" Her voice sounded angry. But very much alive.

"What did you do to my baby bro, Slayer Without a Cause?" Damon bellowed in the background. "You better get your sorry ass home. NOW!"

Caroline could weep at the sound of Damon's threats. She hated to admit that she was fond of the psycho older brother of her close friend. If she admitted it Damon had become one of her closest friends. When they weren't trying to kill each other.

"I'll be home soon. But I have something I have to take care of to keep us all safe. Bye." Before she could hear anymore protests that would make her question her resolve she hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket.

"I'm getting breakfast." Tyler announced looking at the menu the waitress had handed him.

"That sounds good." Caroline replied although she wasn't really interested in food at the moment. It didn't mean anything to her. Nothing meant anything to her. All she knew was that she had to find Mikael. Then she would put an end to her nightmares. Once and for all.

"Here's your pancakes, honey. Can I get you anything else?" Their waitress asked as Caroline's lids began to flutter shut. Pinching herself hard, she sat up straighter.

"We're fine," Caroline told the woman brightly. She nodded and walked away. Tyler was ignoring her as he dug into his food. Bonnie was unusually stoic as she played with her scrambled eggs.

"I know you two don't want to be here. But can you at least talk to me. Please?" Caroline asked them as she suppressed a yawn. If she fell asleep they might ditch her. And right now she didn't want to be alone.

"Why should we talk to you?" Tyler asked around a mouthful of pancake. "You're forcing us to come with you on this mission of yours rather than asking, like any sane person would. I mean, come one, Care, friends don't use friends for bait. And they don't kidnap them either." Shaking his head, Tyler continued to eat, "Oh, and you're paying for this because in your hurry I forgot to grab my wallet."

"Well, then they'll have to identify your remains with your dental records if you keep smarting off at me, Ty." Caroline snapped as she sat back, giving him her best evil stare.

Tyler sat there with his mouth hanging open for a moment. Looking from Caroline to Bonnie, he exclaimed. "She's kidding, right?"

"Of course, she's kidding." Bonnie reassured him, leaning over and patting his non-fork wielding hand. "Right, Care?"

Caroline just grinned at Tyler. "Yeah, I was just kidding, Tyler." Deciding that conversation may not be in the cards for the trio, she began to devour her waffles. Who cares what Tyler thought? Just because she was using him to lure two of the world's most deadly creatures so that could kill at least of one of them was not something to get that bent of shape about. Bonnie was even worse. Seriously, they had been friends for like forever. Bonnie should trust that Caroline had their best interests at heart.

When they were done Caroline paid for the food and they got back into the car. She had purchased a cup of coffee and had taken the wheel so Bonnie could take a nap. Driving through South Carolina, Caroline felt her eye lids begin to droop several times. Somewhere along the way the car started to drift into a ditch.

"That's it," Tyler called as Caroline pulled over and shook her head. "You're getting in the back. And I'm taking the wheel." Getting out of the back of the car, which Caroline had forgotten to lock, Tyler strode over to the driver's side door. He motioned for Caroline to get out.

"No way." Caroline shook her head stubbornly. Although her body craved sleep.

"You're going to kill us," Tyler argued. "I promise I will drive us to Georgia as planned."

Caroline reluctantly got out of car and slid into the back. Laying across the seat, she fell into a deep sleep. Walking through a long hallway she came to a room which was decorated in white roses. "Hello, love."

"Go away, Klaus." Caroline snapped as she picked a rose off the wall and inhaled its scent. She would do anything to avoid him.

"Don't be mad at me, Caroline. I could not tell you the truth. I would be putting your life in danger as well as mine. My survival instinct is far too advanced for something like that to happen." Klaus reached out and placed a hand on Caroline's shoulder, pulling her back toward him.

"Get out of my head, Klaus," Caroline moaned. "I hate you."

"You don't expect me to believe that, sweetheart," Klaus whispered as he turned her around to face him. "You will never hate me. Nor will I ever hate you. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness and you are the only person who could truly destroy me. But I know you, Caroline. You will never do that because you will destroy yourself as well."

Caroline glared at him. "I will stop you. Even if it means we both die." She informed him as she stared into his eyes. She watched as his smile disappeared and he began to frown deeply. "Remember the old saying, Caroline, 'Be careful what you wish for…"

Waking up Caroline muttered to herself. "… you might just get it." Shaking her head, she stared out the window. The sun was coming up and she yawned as she saw the Welcome to Georgia sign pass by. Tyler had made good on his word after all.

"Miracles do happen." Caroline said as she sat up. And then her blood ran cold because Tyler was not the one driving the car. Sitting up, Caroline gasped as she found Tyler out cold beside her. Bonnie was slumped in the passenger side.

"I do not know much about miracles. From what I have seen of life there is much more evil that one may experience than good. But you and I have a common goal, Miss Forbes, to eradicate the evil that plagues this planet. My children." Mikael announced as he drove along the road like they were on this trip together and her friends being knocked out shouldn't bother her in the slightest.

"I'm not going to help you." Caroline snapped at the Original.

Mikael began to chuckle. "I see why my son is fond of you. You have sprit. That is good. As for helping me. Well, I do believe you will come to see you have no choice in the matter."

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Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing: Jeremy Shane, WeasleysGroupie, redbudrose (there will be ass kicking for sure), and lainbaput (yes and no. I'm not sure that the Klaus of this world has yet to discover how bad Caroline's temper really is. But he'll find out soon).

Peace,

LL