Chapter 3:

Katerina was slowly starting to regain conciousness, but Klaus was an impatient man. He picked up the vervain water and force fed it to the half awake vampire, she gagged on it and stared at him in agony.

'Klaus! You have to listen to me! I was trying. I really was. But its not easy!' she tried to reason with the original vampire standing in front of her.

'You gave me your word love, you promised me the Salvatore brothers. And you haven't even turned them yet. The only reason you are still alive is because I want the Salvatore brothers. I gave you my word that I will spare your life, but you aren't exactly keeping up with your word are you?' Klaus had a dangerous smile on his face.

Katerina struggled with her words, darkness was starting to cloud her mind again, she could not keep her eyes open any longer. She slid into oblivion. And there it was again, all the agony, all the pain, all the muted suffering, all the torture. She couldn't take it anymore. She screamed, he had finally broken her.

'I have no more use of you my love.' She heard his dangerous, silky voice as though from a distance.

And then she felt the pain, a pain that was more than anything she had ever felt in her entire human or vampire life. And in her last moments of life, she felt guilt like never before, she felt like she had wronged, she felt like she had been unjust. She should have told him, when she still could have.

Klaus left her body on the forest ground to rot, his bloody hands still holding the heart that he had just ripped out of the traitorous doppelganger.

There was still so much to do. He required the Salvatore brothers at any cost. But they had seen him now. And the witch, oh the witch! He would have to deal with her before he could move any farther with his plan.

Klaus dropped the bloody heart on the ground and walked towards the stream in front of him. He felt a patch of soft mud and grass on the banks and sat down. He turned to wash his hands in the running water and found himself caught up with his own reflection, he had dried blood all over his clothes, his long flowy hair was a mess covered in leaves and dirt, his hands felt numb with all the vervain he had touched today when he had been torturing dearest Katerina. He needed to cleanse his body and his soul of all the bloodshed that had happened today.

Klaus took off each piece of cloth that covered his body and walked calmly into the freezing water. It felt like someone was stabbing him with hundred sharp knifes against his soft, smooth skin simultaneously. He scrubbed himself from head to toe slowly and carefully till he was completely satisfied.

He stayed in the water for what felt like a few hours in the least, concentrating with all his mind on the freezing water and how it felt against his naked body. It was like a penance for him.

Every time he failed in doing something, he punished himself by inflicting pain on his body.

He took some of the water and splashed it onto his tired face and opened his eyes. The forest around him looked calm and peaceful, hence a scream of agony was not what he had been expecting. He looked around himself once more, this time more carefully checking every nook and corner of his surroundings. Nothing!

Klaus put his clothes back on and quietly and carefully tried to locate the source of the sound. He moved through bushes and trees and sifted through cobwebs, but nothing. It was as though nothing had happened. He almost started to wonder whether it had just been a figment of his imagination when he saw her, blood dripping from her lips, her face staring in horror at the body lying on the ground beside her.

But how can this be? She had lived in a town filled with humans. Katerina? No. He would have known if Katerina had made someone have her blood.

Blood? Damon Salvatore! She must have had the blood that Damon had stolen from his house. So Damon has been successful in turning his beloved Caroline into a vampire. Pity, Damon is not here to help his beloved Caroline now when she will need a comforting shoulder the most.

Klaus stood behind a tree waiting, his majestic hair tied in a knot behind his head. His eyes had the gleam of a lion waiting to catch its prey. He stared at Caroline's unstable posture. She was holding onto a tree, her face contorted with agony.

She was walking away from the body towards the tree behind which Klaus was hiding. Klaus waited, a few steps more, beloved Carolina!

And then in a quick snap of movement, Caroline lay unconscious on the ground. Klaus picked her up and carried her, he had to be fast before anyone of the villagers woke up.

Klaus did not stop running until he reached his den, his home. He took a moment to smell the delicious aroma of blood. He turned around and saw his housekeeper standing behind him her body trembling.

'I was just leaving Mr. Mikaelson.' She said, her eyes strictly looking at the grass. Klaus waited till she was out of sight and then carried Caroline down to the basement of his den.

He placed Caroline on the table beside the daggered body of his little sister, Rebekah, locked in the basement for too long now and went to have a drink. He was thirsty and tired and had a dire need for blood before he could begin executing the well formed plan in his mind, the plan to get the Salvatores, in which the bait would be the lovely blonde lying next to his sister.