Playing Cupid
DG32173

Sarah: Well, what did you think of the spin at the end of last chapter? I bet the Klaus/Caroline fans are squealing with joy right about now. This chapter will follow Caroline. I've never done much work with just Caroline, so please excuse any out-of-character behavior. Chalk it up to the being tied to Klaus for eternity. Anyways, please enjoy. I don't own "Lone Wolf" by the Eels.

REVIEW REPLIES

kfulmer7: I love how you review every chapter! And it was a true love spell so of course it wouldn't work if they weren't already in love. And Caroline will end up happy … once she gets over the fact that she's tied to Klaus for eternity. And Stefan's still going to try to get Elena back in spite of the warning Bonnie gave him. I might have Bonnie cast a different spell to bring Stefan's true love into his life. Actually, I will. And nobody's going to like who that true love is. I'm so glad you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Padfoot Heir: how much trouble will Stefan cause Elena and Damon? A lot. Will they find a way for them to be happy without Stefan's interference? Yes. Will Klaus cause trouble for Tyler and Caroline? The spell itself will be more trouble for those two than Klaus himself. Klaus will just sit back and wait for the perfect opportunity to waltz in and steal the girl.

Chapter 4
I'm Tied to the Wrong Hybrid

Caroline stretches with a big grin on her face. It's Valentine's Day. Only her most favorite day of the year. It's a day dedicated to love. What could be more perfect than that? She doesn't really have any plans for today but she could always go to The Grill. Ever since Mama Bear took over back in the sixties, they've had three chocolate fountains set up on Valentine's Day: white chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk chocolate. The treats that Mama Bear sets up around the chocolate fountains can be picked up with –super-long toothpicks and held under the fountain of your choice. And best of all, it's all free! Nothing is better than free chocolate. Mama Bear says it's her Valentine's Day gift to the town. Her only rule, strictly enforced, is to never mix the chocolates. If you have to mix the chocolates, she provides small plastic cups to dip under each fountain and you can dip your chosen goodies into that. Only one person was ever stupid enough to break the rule and has subsequently been banned from being served at the grill ever again. He could play the pool tables, people could buy food or drinks and share it with him, but he's not allowed to be served directly because he decided to stick a big marshmallow under first the white chocolate and then the dark chocolate. Seriously, who goes and blatantly breaks Mama Bear's rules? She doesn't have very many rules for behavior in The Grill but they are strictly enforced and the punishment for breaking them is being denied service.

Caroline decides that since she's a vampire now, she can so pig out on all the chocolate she wants because she won't ever gain an ounce from it. That decided, she quickly vamps into an outfit for today: a short-sleeved blouse with a heart over her chest, a pair of jeans, socks, tennis shoes, and her coat. She so envies Elena for that lamb's wool coat Damon got her. Why doesn't anyone spoil her like that? Then she remembers the number of fine things Klaus has gifted her with. Her favorite is the picture of her and a horse that he had sketched himself. Wait, why is she thinking of Klaus on Valentine's Day? Why is she thinking about him period? And what is with this strange desire to go find him? Talk about weird.

Caroline shakes her head and leaves. "I'm going to The Grill for the chocolate fountains," she calls to her mom as she walks out the door. She doesn't wait for a response as she shuts the front door behind her. It's one of Liz Forbes' extremely rare days off and she's probably sleeping in. She takes one look at all the snow piled behind her car, her mom's car, and her mom's sheriff's car and quickly decides that she'd rather 'walk' to The Grill than bother finding a shovel to dig out her car. She strains her senses as she turns in all directions to check for anyone who could be watching her. Seeing no one outside on her street, she smirks and takes off at vamp speed for The Grill. It's normally too risky for her to use this particular vampire skill. But the snow that's still falling is keeping most people inside. Only a few cars are on the road and there are no pedestrians to avoid as she races down the sidewalks. She loves vamping around. She agrees with Damon that it's one of the few thrills that will never get old.

She makes sure to slow down half a block away from The Grill. After Damon got over the fact that Elena wouldn't let him killer her, he had proceeded to train Caroline in everything she needed to know to keep the human act going and not give anyone the least little reason to suspect that she wasn't human. Which included no vamping directly to the front of a building with a glass front. That was one of the big no-no's on Damon's list. And The Grill has a glass front. He said the closest she could stop vamping to such a place is about half a block away, in a very secluded spot so that no one sees her just 'appear out of nowhere'. Considering there is no one on the sidewalk and no cars are nearby right now, she can slow down right on the sidewalk. She smirks to herself and makes her way at a human pace the rest of the way to The Grill.

Again, the thought of going to find Klaus pops up and she shoves it away just like the others. Besides, she doesn't even know where he is! She pulls open the door to The Grill and smiles when she sees the chocolate fountains are deserted. She can tell by the fact that one of the servers is refilling the goody bowls that they've been in use already, but for now she will have them all to herself. She doesn't even bother looking around to see who she knows of the customers hanging around but heads straight for the chocolate fountains. This is how she misses seeing Klaus tucked in a dimly lit corner nor does she see Tyler trying to get her attention.

But Klaus is hyper-aware of her arrival and sees how the hybrid puppy is trying to get Caroline's attention. He's had more than a thousand years to build up his self-control and learn to wait patiently until the time is just right before acting. This is how he refrains from announcing his presence when Tyler shrugs and gets out of his booth to go greet Caroline, who is obviously infatuated with the chocolate fountains set up at the bar.

Caroline picks up one of the super-long toothpicks and spears a big marshmallow with it. "Hey Caroline," Tyler says as he takes the stool next to hers. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Tyler," Caroline replies, studying the three chocolate fountains before her as she tries to decide which one to start with. She finally chooses dark chocolate and holds her marshmallow under the stream of liquid goodness, twirling the super-long toothpick so that the chocolate covers the marshmallow evenly.

Tyler rolls his eyes. "Apparently you love chocolate more than you love me," he remarks.

"Well, I really love chocolate," Caroline says with a smile. She stiffens as Tyler wraps an arm around her shoulders. She doesn't want him touching her like that. She doesn't know why, but she doesn't. "Um, could you remove your arm?" she asks.

Tyler frowns but takes his arm from her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asks, concerned.

"Yeah, I just … for some reason, I don't want you touching me like that," she replies. She stuffs pulls her marshmallow out from the stream of chocolate and lets the excess chocolate drizzle off until it's just dripping. Then she stuffs it in her mouth. She lets out a noise of pure bliss as she chews her marshmallow.

"Caroline, I've always put my arm around your shoulders, even before we started dating," he says. Caroline flinches when the word 'dating' leaves his mouth. "Caroline, seriously, what's wrong?" he demands. "Did I do something to upset you? Because if I did, I'm really sorry about it even if I don't know what I did wrong."

"I don't … I'm fine. I just feel different today. Like something's going to happen and I'm going to love it and hate it at the same time, which is ridiculous," she tries to explain.

Tyler sighs. "Maybe Bonnie can figure this out," he says, pulling out his phone.

"Well, while you talk to her, I'm going to eat more chocolate," Caroline declares. Then she thinks of something. "While your at it, tell her I keep thinking about Klaus for some reason."

"You're thinking about Klaus on Valentine's Day?" Tyler demands, looking up from going through his contacts list.

"I'm not just thinking about him," Caroline grumbles. "I'm thinking about looking for him to hang out with him or something. Creepy, right?"

"Definitely creepy," Tyler agrees, turning his attention back to searching for Bonnie's name on his contacts list. When he finds her, he hits send without hesitating, despite the early hour. Everyone in their group knows not to bother Bonnie before noon on a day they don't have to be up earlier unless it's an emergency. But this qualifies as an emergency.

It takes the whole first verse of Lone Wolf by the Eels for Bonnie to pick up. "Tyler, it's only nine. This better be an emergency," Bonnie grouses.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Tyler says. "Something's wrong with Caroline."

"What do you mean?" Bonnie asks, sounding a lot more awake.

"Well, for one, she doesn't want me to wrap my arm around her shoulders, which I've done since we were kids. She flinched when I referred to us as dating. She said she feels different today. She says she feels like something's going to happy that she'll love and hate. And she told me to tell you that she keeps thinking of finding Klaus so she can hang out with him or something," Tyler explains.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no. This can't be happening!" Bonnie groans. "How is this even possible?"

Tyler sighs. "Bonnie, what did you do?" he asks in resignation, having figured out that Bonnie had tried to do something good for Caroline only to have it backfire.

"Is she sure it's Klaus she wants to look for? Not Matt? Or anyone else on this damn planet?" Bonnie asks, and Tyler can hear her begging him to say that whatever she's thinking isn't true.

Tyler glances at Caroline, who nods. "She's sure," Tyler tells Bonnie.

"I'm not going to explain this over the phone. You two need to get over here. And start praying that we can find some way of reversing the spell I cast because as of right now, there isno way of reversing it," Bonnie says.

"I have to leave the chocolate?" Caroline asks, aghast.

"Caroline, the chocolate will still be here later. I think this is a little more important right now. Don't you agree?" Tyler asks, dredging up all the patience he can muster.

Caroline sighs. "Two more marshmallows and I'll come," she says. "I need to have a marshmallow with each type of chocolate."

Tyler growls, grabs a plastic cup sitting nearby, and fills it one-quarter of the way with each type of chocolate, leaving a quarter of the cup empty so that it doesn't spill over. He shoves the cup of chocolate in Caroline's hand before grabbing a plastic bowl and putting a big handful of marshmallows in it. "You can eat as we go," he tells the blonde, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out of the grill.

Klaus smirks and gets out of his corner booth. He knows the fun is only just beginning. There is no way of reversing or even altering the spell. Emily Bennett wasn't the first to cast that particular spell. In fact, it was first used around the time Katherine Pierce was still Katarina Petrova and still human. He makes his way out of The Grill as soon as Tyler pulls out of the parking lot, Caroline in the passenger seat of his SUV. He grins victoriously before vamping off to hide out near the Bennett house so that he can listen to everything that goes on inside.

Bonnie's house fifteen minutes later

Bonnie immediately lets Tyler and Caroline in, having to give Tyler a formal invitation so that he can actually cross the threshold. As soon as the three make themselves comfortable in the living room, Tyler sighs. "Okay, Bonnie, tell us, what did you do?" he asks.

"I was trying to give Elena and Caroline a Valentine's Day gift with my magic and I thought I had succeeded up until you called to say that Caroline was acting differently," Bonnie says, running a hand through her hair. She glances at Caroline. "You should know this first, Elena and Damon are together and Elena is happy about it, even after I told her what I did," she says.

"You hooked Elena and Damon up?" Caroline gasps. "But he's Damon!"

"He makes her happy like Stefan never has. Haven't you seen how Damon is able to bring out the Elena we knew when we were growing up only for Stefan to automatically assume he's corrupting her in spite of everything we tell him otherwise?" Bonnie asks.

"But…!" Caroline starts.

"I thought I was using the same spell on you and Tyler. And the reversal for it has never been found. Not to mention it's permanent," Bonnie says, sighing.

"What was the spell?" Tyler asks.

"I needed a strand of hair from each individual I wanted to cast the spell on. So I snuck into yours and Damon's houses and took a strand from your combs. Then I took a strand of hair from Elena's and Caroline's brushes while I was over at their places. I wrapped each strand individually in wax paper and labeled them as to who they belonged to. Then I stuck them in my purse. The day I got your strand of hair, Tyler, I had a few errands I needed to do afterwards. I remember that I left my purse for just a few seconds at one point. Everything was exactly as I had left it," Bonnie says.

"Klaus must have caught on to what you were planning and switched a strand of his hair with mine. Remember, he's one of the Originals. He's extremely fast," Tyler concludes. "So, what exactly does the spell do?"

"What baffles me is that it's a true love spell. Regular love spells can be cast on anyone. But for true love spells, both parties have to at the very least be open to falling in love with each other for the spell to succeed," Bonnie says, looking at Caroline as if the blonde had grown a second head. "The thing is, both times I cast the spell, the pure red fire burned the knotted strands of hair to nothingness. That was the signal that the spell had succeeded. The complete burning of the hairs made the spell permanent."

"You wanted to fall in love with Klaus?" Tyler demands of Caroline.

"No! I mean, I don't think so," the blonde replies, confused.

"I said that both parties had to at least be open to the idea of falling in love with each other, not necessarily that they wanted it. And the spell doesn't look at the what the conscious mind wants. If your heart was open to the possibility of being with him for the brief window of time it took to cast the spell, then the spell would have worked even if at any other time it wouldn't have," Bonnie sighs.

Tyler sighs. "I hate to admit it, but you do find him attractive, Caroline," he says.

"But that shouldn't matter, should it?" Caroline protests.

"The big problem we're facing at the moment is the side-effects this spell will be giving both Caroline and Klaus," Bonnie says.

"Side-effects?" Tyler asks dubiously, not liking the sound of that.

"They're going to want to defend their bond against intruders, like you, Tyler. The more the intruder tries to get between them, the more vicious the warnings to back off will be from both parties. If the intruder refuses to take the hint, they could very easily end up dead because they one they are trying to get with will kill them," Bonnie says. "When Emily cast this spell for a girl who was secretly in love with one man but was being courted by another, the girl was able to let her feelings be known. But when her ex-suitor kept trying to get her back and refused to pay heed to their increasingly vicious warnings to back off, the girl ended up using a kitchen knife to carve out his heart. And then the girl, who supposedly didn't have a mean bone in her body, told Emily that she only regretted that he didn't listen when he was warned to back off but didn't regret the act of killing him."

"But I wouldn't kill Tyler, I l-l-l," Caroline says, trying to get out that she loves Tyler. "Why is it so hard to say?"

"Because you're bound to Klaus and the spell views Tyler as an intruder trying to get between the bond," Bonnie explains.

"Okay, and can you explain why I'm not hating this situation as much as I should?" Caroline asks.

"Because the spell took whatever feelings you had for Klaus at the time it was cast and pretty much made them permanent," Bonnie says regretfully.

"Great," Tyler mutters. "And you said there's no way to reverse the spell?" he asks with a sigh.

"I went through several grimiores trying to find a way to just tone down the viciousness because I so don't want Stefan dead. And we all know he's not going to give Elena up without a fight, not even after I warned him that sort of stubbornness could easily get him killed," Bonnie says. "I came across several references to the spell, even in some grimiores that were older than Emily's, but they all said the same thing: it's irreversible and the bond between the two is protected viciously and in some cases ruthlessly by both parties. Four times I saw it likened to the eternal mates bond of vampires, whatever that means."

Tyler grimaces while Caroline looks confused. "I heard about it from the werewolf who helped me break the sire bond," he says. "She said that the eternal mates bond of two vampires ties them together for eternity as soon as they mark each other for eternity."

"You never offered to do that with me," Caroline protests.

"Caroline, I'm a hybrid. The mating mark on vampires is placed by biting the juncture where the neck meets the left shoulder of each half of the pair at the same time and then feeding off each other for a bit. If I bit you, I'd poison you with werewolf venom," Tyler replies. "I'm not going to do that, not for anything. Anyways, the mating mark on a pair is supposedly unique to them and impossible to replicate. And once they're bound for eternity by the mark, the eternal mates are said to jealously and viciously defend each other and themselves against advances an outsider makes on one of them. According to my friend, eternally mated vampires are extremely rare and you can never find one without the other being somewhere nearby. She said that it's almost as if they are physically bound to each other and can only go a certain distance away from each other without being forced back together."

"I don't even know where Klaus is but I have this really strong urge to go find him," Caroline says. "And it's like I'm being drawn in a certain direction."

"Sounds like a mating bond to me," Tyler groans.

"I'm going to call Elena and see if she and Damon are having the same symptoms," Bonnie says, pulling her phone out of her jeans pocket. She had decided to get dressed for the day while waiting for Tyler and Caroline to arrive considering she wasn't going to be getting any more sleep today. She goes to search for Elena's name on her list of contacts.

"I wouldn't be calling them right now if I were you," Caroline says with a blush.

Bonnie looks at her in confusion. "Why not?" she asks.

"If they are having the same symptoms I'm having, then you really don't want to hear what's going on over at the boarding house," Caroline explains, her blush deepening.

Tyler groans, burying his face in his hands while Bonnie flushes. "I'll take your word for it. I'll try later," Bonnie says, clearing the screen of her phone and returning it to her pocket.

Outside

Klaus knows exactly what Caroline is talking about because he's feeling it, too. The intense urge to take the blonde vampiress over and over in every one of the sexual positions he has learned over the centuries is driving him insane. "And the plot thickens," he tells himself as he forces himself to remain in his perch on the roof over Bonnie's window. He doesn't have an invitation into the Bennett house and he knows he's not going to get one anytime soon. He'll have to wait until Caroline exits the house to swoop in and snatch her away, no matter how uncomfortable he is or how tight his jeans are getting.