The 'biergarten' was actually TJ's TapRoom, and it was already packed. As soon as they all walked in, however, a roar of "Big John!" came from the assembled masses, and a server came over and led them to a very long picnic table in a small cobblestone garden off the side of the bar.

John Dodd kissed the server on the cheek, and sent her away with a "Thanks kindly, Dottie. A round for everyone."

There were already several people seated at the table, chatting and drinking. One of them, a small man with large glasses, looked up as Caroline sat next to him. "Not Dottie. Daisy. I think?" He pushed his glasses up. "Maybe Delia? Yes." He bent back over a napkin that he was scribbling on.

John went to the head of the table, and waved a hand in the general direction of Caroline and Klaus. "Old friends, meet new friends! Caroline and Klaus - they are artists of life. Make them welcome, everyone."

Before Klaus even had a chance, Tedrick sat down on the other side of Caroline with a "Best friend! I've missed you!" and a big hug.

"Oh, okay," Caroline said, hugging him back. Michelle sat down beside Tedrick, and just rolled her eyes.

"I really don't get this at all. Teddy doesn't normally like people this much," Michelle said. "Well, Caroline, all settled in?"

"Yep, very much so. We love Mallory's place."

From his seat on John's left hand, and beside the small quiet man still scribbling away, Klaus responded, "That is perhaps too strong of a word, Caroline."

"Peter," The small man said, suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Caroline asked him. He never looked at her, just grabbed another napkin from the stack in front of him and kept scribbling.

"Peter. That's me. Yes. Um."

"Oh - hi, Peter. Nice to meet you."

"Nice, yes."

Caroline watched as Peter drew a very accurate portrait of her on the napkin.

"You. See? There it's you."

"Oh, how lovely. Klaus, look." Caroline pointed at the drawing. Klaus scowled at it.

"No, mate. Her cheek curves like this." Klaus took the pen from Peter's hand and sketched on a different napkin. "Here, see?"

"Right. Yes, I see," Peter said, his hand twitching from it's loss of the pen.

Caroline pulled another pen from her borrowed purse. "Here you are."

"Yes, thanks." Peter drew another picture of her quickly. "You."

"Yes, it's definitely me. I love it."

"Again, too strong of a word," Klaus said. He reached for another napkin, and also began to sketch her. She'd never seen him draw before, his hands so sure and confident, but with such a delicate touch. "These napkins are ridiculous. They keep tearing."

"We seem to have a competition here," John said in a booming voice. "Are we judging on quality, quantity or speed, gentlemen? Must warn you, Klaus, my favorite apostle here is a quick draw. A kiss to the winner, eh, fair Caroline?"

At Klaus's dark look, John amended that to, "Well, maybe not. So, Klaus, we never finished talking about Schiele and why you feel the other Vienna Seccessionists merely tolerated him."

"Ah, yes. I never said he wasn't a successful Seccessionist. He was, truly. Perhaps the only actual radical of the lot." Klaus turned away from his sketching, and Peter took that opportunity to snag his pen back.

"Before you start in on all of that, Father John - has there been any news?" Michelle cut in.

Several other people on their end of the table quieted their conversations, and turned towards John.

His face serious, John Dodd stroked his beard for a second. "No news, friends. Sorry to tell you that we still stand outbid and outplayed. The tide has not turned, we remain out to sea."

There were several groans, and then conversation around the table resumed.

"What was that about?" Caroline asked Michelle.

"Oh, just this real estate deal. There's a warehouse in Greenpoint that somebody was converting into these live/work spaces for artists. But the developer went bankrupt, and now the bank owns it. John and Annie have been trying to buy the building for months and months, but no luck. They want to house artWHEELS there, and have classrooms and a gallery space - and of course, places where some us could live and paint or whatever. Nice dream, but it's not going to happen."

"What a shame. It would be nice for the Dodds to get out of that tiny place they live, too."

"Well, you've seen the miniscule closet where Teddy and I live. We'd be the first to sign up."

Pitchers of beer were brought out by Dottie (Delia?), and Caroline downed a mug quickly. At Michelle's raised eyebrow, Caroline just shrugged. "Thirsty."

"Hope you are not a lightweight. These nights get pretty serious where the beer is concerned."

"No worries about that." Caroline nudged Tedrick. "No banjo tonight?"

"Do you want me to go get my banjo?" Tedrick asked, hopeful.

Michelle sighed, and put a hand on his arm. "Oh, let's not, Teddy. Just one night without, please."

Caroline tuned into some of the other conversations going on around the table. There was a cluster of people at the far end arguing about whether or not some guy named Dan Witz was taking a major step backwards from the hyperrealism of his mosh pit paintings now that he was doing the series of cell phone portraits. And just on the other side of Michelle, a jewelry designer was arguing with her drummer boyfriend about whether or not he could go on tour in Canada with his former band, which happened to feature his ex-girlfriend as the lead singer. They were leaning towards not.

Another man was extolling the virtues of cheese. Caroline wasn't sure she had heard correctly the first time, but it was definitely cheese he was talking about, specifically why it was easier to carve monuments and statues out of cheddar than Muenster. Apparently, the guy had just returned from a pilgrimage to Sarah Kaufmann's cheese carving studio in Wisconsin, and was planning a trip to the U.K. to visit with members of the Experimental Food Society to try his hand at crafting architectural jelly molds.

Peter was now doing quick napkin portraits of Klaus and John, capturing their hand gestures as they argued some point about Klimt's influence on Schiele's later works.

Klaus appeared to be enjoying himself. Protest as he would, with all of his Manhattan-centric snobbery, and his dismissal of the Dodd's messy family life, he needed someone to argue with him and challenge him. Even if that someone was a human mayfly. Caroline had high hopes for John's influence over Klaus.

There was one scary moment, though, when she heard Klaus say, "Ah, yes. Wally Neuzil. Schiele's love for his Wally. He didn't deserve her for a second, not as a model, not as a lover. Wally was a work of art in her own right. Those angles, the way her joints fit together. Remarkable. She always had scrubby elbows, though, and she would insist on going barefoot everywhere. But that mouth! Tremendous in every way. Lips peaked like a mountain range, but she was a crude child and never said a thing that wasn't crass. Not a real redhead, of course, but then nobody really was in Vienna in those days."

Caroline held her breath, and looked at John, but it appeared that John was already off on a different tangent altogether, and the moment passed.

Caroline decided that this portion of the evening was over when Tedrick fell asleep on her shoulder. She tried to shrug him over into Michelle's lap - but Michelle, more than a bit tipsy, just shoved him back onto her with a laugh. "You're his new best friend. You get him home."

"Klaus?" Caroline said, turning towards him. "We had plans, right?"

"Ah, yes, of course. It's past time." Klaus stood, and waved down John's protests. "Sorry, mate. The lady has spoken. And she's far too beautiful tonight to waste on this drunken lot."

Caroline pushed Tedrick onto Michelle, saying, "He's all yours."

She stood up, just as Peter grabbed her wrist. He thrust a stack of napkins at her with his other hand. "Here. All you," he inclined his head towards Klaus, "and him. Lovely, yes."

"Thank you, Peter," said Caroline with a smile. She took the napkins and put them into her purse. "See you around?"

"Okay, yes."

Klaus put a hand on Caroline's back to guide her through the bar and to the front door. It had become quite crowded in the hours they had been there.

"The city that never sleeps, huh? I guess that's true," Caroline remarked, as they exited onto the sidewalk.

"This is not even the city, Caroline. I will show you the city." Klaus pulled out his phone, and checked his text messages. "Next time you speak to Damon Salvatore, tell him to stop texting me, love. It's becoming tedious. Maybe he thinks he can annoy me into bringing you back home."

"He just cares, that's all. Forgive me for having friends. So - which way to the subway? I'm completely turned around now."

Klaus laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm never letting you near public transportation again. With my luck, you'll end up following a juggler home to Hoboken, and I will have two weeks to learn circus tricks to keep your affections."

"Oh, don't be mean."

"I sent a text to Fitz half an hour ago. He should be here - oh, yes. There he is."

"You timed that well," Caroline said, as she stepped into the sleek black town car after Klaus opened the door for her.

"I could tell by the droop of your new best friend's eyes, and the way he was listing, that you would need to be rescued soon." Klaus sat beside her, and then leaned up to Fitz, sitting in the front seat. "I believe you know where the Moroccan is, Fitz."

"Yes, Mr. Nikaus."

Caroline leaned up as well. "Fitz?"

"Yes, miss?"

"So what is the deal with this Carlos guy? I'm starting to think he's imaginary. Have you ever seen him?"

"Yes, miss. He's my boss."

"Oh, right."

"He's a scary motherfucker, miss."

"Oh." Caroline looked back at Klaus, who just smirked at her. She looked over at Fitz again. "How about you?"

"Pardon, miss?"

"Are you . . um, you know. Scary?"

"I'm a vampire, miss. I eat people."

"Yes, that's scary. But do you like . . . have any hobbies?"

"Besides eating people, miss?"

"Yes? Besides that?"

"Well, I like monster trucks."

"Racing them or watching them?"

"Building them, and then running over people with them. And then eating the people that I've run over," he paused, adding, "Miss."

"Oh. Right. Um, that's all."

Caroline sat back against the leather seat.

"Don't go looking for humanity among Elijah's people, Caroline. That's not what he pays them for," Klaus said, amused.

"But they are vampires."

"Yes, that's the point."

"No, I mean, why do they work for him at all? That's kind of the thing about being a vampire. You don't really have to have a job. See, want, take - right?"

"Ah, yes. But these vampires all owe Elijah a debt of some kind. They do get paid, yes, but they work in order to pay off their debt."

"And if they don't want to?"

"Are you forgetting that I, and my siblings, can compel other vampires? There is no refusing us. Few are willing to go the route you and your friends are, with the actual ingesting of vervain. Most vampires would never dream of drinking it voluntarily."

"Well, it's not fun, I can tell you that. Ugh."

"I don't imagine that it is. I almost admire your idiot friends for being brave enough to follow through with it. Masochistic enough, even. Although, I am quite hurt that they feel they need to."

Caroline realized that they were heading for a bridge. "Oh, a bridge, finally. I've been in this city long enough."

"The Queensboro Bridge. Not one of the prettier ones, I'm afraid. Nothing very notable about it."

"I don't care. It's pretty enough for me. Back in olden times, how did you guys get around this place before the bridges and tunnels were built?"

"We didn't. I can recall taking a boat into Manhattan a few times, and then we pretty much just remained there. Haven't spent a lot of time outside the actual city."

"Really? I would never have guessed. What about other people? People who weren't as snobby as you?"

"I have no idea, Caroline. You give me too much credit for knowing what other people do."

"Stuck up, pretentious, arrogant . . . " Caroline looked at him, the way the lights from the bridge were creating slanted shadows on his face. She sighed. "But you are lovely, too. I'm falling hard for you, you know. No rhyme or reason to it. Just falling and falling. Can't seem to stop."

He caught her in his gaze. "Do you want to?"

"Stop? I should, maybe. I need to be more careful about my heart, and I know that."

"That's not the advice I would give you. I would say that you need to let go."

"Well, the longer I am away from Mystic Falls, the harder it is for me to remember why I shouldn't fall for you."

"Then we will stay away from there forever."

Caroline laughed. "You're funny. I can imagine that phone call going over well with my mom. Or with Damon."

"Damon Salvatore presumes too much."

"Oh, leave him be. I like that my friends care, remember? I realize that means nothing to you, since you have no friends."

"I have had friends, Caroline. You imagine that I am incapable of that, but I am not."

"Are you capable of that? Really? Because I have only known you as the lonely one, Klaus. A man so lonely that he has to force loyalty from his hybrids, who has to box up his family to keep them from leaving him."

"Enough, Caroline," Klaus said. He looked out the window, away from her, and she could see weariness on his face, in his profile. Caroline moved closer to him. She turned his face with her hand.

"Has the day come yet?" she asked him, forcing him to meet her eyes. "Are you at least a little less lonely when you are with me?"

"A little less, perhaps."

"Well, that is enough for now," Caroline said softly, and she kissed him.

The Moroccan did turn out to be a vampire club, which is what Caroline was expecting. It was not, however, very Moroccan at all.

They were escorted to a side door, after Fitz had left the car to have a quick word with the bouncer. When Caroline shot Klaus a questioning look, he just shrugged and said, "Privileges."

Given the way the people waiting in line were dressed, Caroline was very glad that she had decided to wear one of Elena's dresses. It was a casual halter neck dress in a soft peach, but at least it was Miu Miu.

The club was very dark inside, naturally, but the beaded curtains and floor pillows and belly dancers that Caroline had expected from the name did not materialize. Everything was sleek and modern and a little dull. Flashing colored lights, of course, but the walls and floors were a shiny, steel gray. The furniture was all varying shades of gray as well. Caroline was so busy noting the decor, that she failed entirely to also notice that the section of the club near their door had gone nearly silent when they walked in.

Klaus had one hand on her waist, and he held up the other one. He said, with a smile, to the vampires watching them, "Please, carry on."

Conversation resumed, but there was much murmuring and side glances. Their escort showed them to a secluded table on a raised dais. "Mr. Klaus, we hope you will not be disturbed."

"Yes, you had better hope that," Klaus smiled at the young man, who cleared his throat, and then backed away into the crowd.

Caroline was beginning to feel uncomfortable with all of the staring and whispering around them. She heard the phrase 'the hybrid Klaus' and the phrase 'the Lord Niklaus' both mentioned several times. "Does everyone know you here? I thought you generally kept a lower profile than this."

"I am known in many circles, yes. This is one of them where I am legend. Where I am king."

Before mounting the steps to the dais where their table was, Klaus turned suddenly and shot out his arm. He pulled a guy out of the crowd, a guy that had been trying to vamp speed to the door.

"Alonzo. It's been a long time."

"Yes, Mr. Klaus. Lo-long time."

"Did you not know I was in town? Surely, you did not."

"No, Mr. Klaus. I didn't know." Alonzo swallowed hard, and Caroline saw his eyes dart around quickly.

Klaus let go of the man's arm, to wrap his hand around his throat instead. Alonzo's eyes were soon almost popping out of his skull. Klaus slowly raised him off the floor and held him in the air.

"Klaus!" Caroline said with a hiss. "What the fuck. Seriously!"

"No concern of yours, love. Alonzo and I simply have a score to settle," Klaus said, still maintaining eye contact with Alonzo, whose feet now dangled well above the floor.

Caroline pulled at his arm. "Come on, no. Lines in the sand, remember? You are going to make me sorry that I came with you."

Klaus took a deep breath. He jerked Alonzo to him, and then said, "You will leave this place. You will never return to it. You will never speak my name to anyone, ever. And you will never take an easy breath again, you little bastard."

Klaus released Alonzo, and the vampire fell to the ground. The murmurs and side glances in the club increased exponentially, and several other vampires discreetly exited the club.

Klaus turned to Caroline and offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

They mounted the dais, and sat down at their table. There was a curved wall of frosted glass that separated their table from the rest of the club. No windows anywhere, of course. Caroline realized there was something else different about a vampire nightclub as well. The music was playing very low, adjusted for super hearing. It was a nice feature.

The man who had escorted them stepped forward with a drink list. "May I recommend the '83 today?"

"Excellent," Klaus said, only glancing over the list before handing it back. "We'll start with that."

"So what did he do?" Caroline asked.

"Who?"

"The guy you almost strangled, of course, Alonzo. Why did you want to kill him?"

"If I had wanted to kill him, he would be dead. I had no such intentions."

"Well, what did he do to make you want to nearly kill him?"

"He scratched my car. In 1978."

"Wait, what? Are you joking with this?"

"Why would I joke about that?"

"Was this when you were living in Greece?"

"Yes. Alonzo was my driver in Corfu. It was his responsibility to maintain my vehicles. He failed in his duty."

"Oh, for God's sake."

"The car in question was a Maserati Bora, Caroline. Brand new. One of the last ever made. I hadn't even driven it yet."

"You are unbelievable. Seriously."

Luckily for Klaus, their server returned at that moment accompanied by a blonde woman. The server nodded, and left the woman standing at their table.

"Um, is she our other waitress? How many servers do we need?" Caroline asked Klaus in a whisper.

Amused, Klaus said, "No, love. She's our drink. The '83 I ordered."

"Oh, right. Oh, wait - how is this different from that terrible place in Richmond that I kept yelling at Tyler about?"

"It's not. Not really. More expensive, definitely."

"Wow," Caroline looked at the woman, who stood there with a dazed expression. "I am such a hypocrite. What a strange thing to realize about yourself."

"You did want to go on a journey of self discovery, Caroline." Klaus stood and took the woman by the arm. He gently sat her down between himself and Caroline, and then he sat down again. "Would you like to go first?"

"Maybe we do it together? Not killing her, though, right?"

"I did not forget that, love. Although, not killing her will be considered rude behavior at this club. And yes, together."

Caroline took an arm, while Klaus focused on the woman's neck.

The woman's blood had obviously been spiked with something wonderful, because Caroline felt a heady rush almost immediately. There were lights and explosions behind her eyes, and Caroline moaned.

"Easy, love," Klaus whispered, raising his head slightly. "Easy, bobcat."

"Mmmm, yes. Easy," Caroline said, with another moan. She left the woman's arm, and began to nibble on her exposed shoulder, making little bites and then licking up the blood that dribbled. "God, so good."

She found the woman's neck, and feasted. Nothing had ever been this tasty to her. Not birthday cake when she was a kid, not her first ever frappucino, not her first human kill. Nothing ever. Whirligigs and ferris wheels and spinning tops. Her head was spinning, spinning.

"Caroline," Klaus said softly. "Caroline, love. Kill her if you want to, but make sure you are making the decision to do so."

"Hmmmmm. What?" Caroline asked, as she raised her mouth from the woman's neck.

The woman was limp.

"Oh, God. Did I?"

Klaus felt the woman's other wrist. "Afraid so, love."

"Oh, God. Oh, God." Caroline could feel the blood dripping from the edge of her mouth. Klaus took his thumb, and wiped it off for her. Caroline looked down, where there was still just a few drops pooling on her dress. "Oh, God. I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't."

"You should have stopped me," Caroline said, with an accusing tone, on the brink of tears. "This is not okay."

"Shhhh, sweetheart. I'm sorry, love. I should have realized how it would affect you, but I didn't in time. My fault."

Caroline stared down at the woman, whose head was slumped onto their table. "I'm definitely freaking out now. This is not real."

Klaus raised a hand, and waved over an attendant. He indicated the dead woman. "We have finished with this one. Bring us another. And a bottle of Perrier-Jouet '28"

"What?" Caroline raised her eyes to him. "What did you just say?"

The attendant pulled the woman away from the table, and carried her off.

"You must learn to do this properly, Caroline. It just takes some practice. The women here have ingested a special herb. It has no effect on the human, but it is a powerful intoxicant for vampires. Kol discovered it in South America a very long time ago."

"But you . . . does it affect you?"

"Not in the way it does you, apparently. Just a mild pleasantness for me. It adds to the overall experience, but it doesn't overwhelm me."

"For me . . . for me it was like every carnival in the world was happening inside me."

"Marvelous, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Oh, God. It really was."

"The champagne will alter the affects of the drug this time. It should make it easier for you to stay in control."

"I can't. I can't do it again."

"Yes, you will, Caroline. You are turning your nights over to me, remember?"

Caroline's hands were shaking, and she laid them on the table to steady them. "I just killed someone."

"Yes, you did," Klaus said, gently. He covered her hands with his. "You are a vampire, and it was an accident. You have no idea how much you impress me, Caroline. Your control is remarkable, especially for one as new as you are. But you must find your limits and test that control."

"Is that why you brought me here? To teach me a lesson?"

"No, I brought you here because I wanted to show you what vampires do at night in the city. How we enjoy it."

"Well, the way you enjoy it sucks. People die."

"Yes, in general they do. But this one does not have to." Their server put the bottle of champagne on the table with two glasses, and Caroline looked up to see another blonde woman standing there.

"Right," Caroline said, taking a deep breath. "This one won't die."

Klaus popped the cork on the champagne, and handed her the whole bottle. "Here. Drink as much of this as you can."

Caroline tipped the bottle down her throat. It was golden and light and delicious. She set the bottle down when she had emptied it. Then, with some deliberateness, she took the woman by the arm, and pulled her into her lap.

"I will hold you, Caroline. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, I will stop you this time. I promise."

Caroline nodded. She was already remembering the amazing taste of the last woman. This one smelled equally divine. She could feel Klaus up against her back, as he held onto her bare shoulders, lightly caressing them. She moved aside the woman's long curls, and sank her teeth into the woman's neck.

The lights exploded again. Swirling colors and everything bubbling over inside her. Caroline moaned against the woman's neck, and she heard Klaus say, as though from a very long distance away, "Careful, love."

Spinning and spinning, around and around. She drank deeply, until she felt Klaus's fingers pressing against her shoulders. "Now, my darling. Let her go, now."

And so she did. She released the woman, even though it was physically painful to do so.

Caroline could tell that the woman was still alive, although unconscious. She felt triumph flooding into her. She could do this.

"More," she said, with a gasp. "Can I have more?"

Klaus laughed. "Yes, of course," he said, snapping his fingers. "Waiter, another for the lady."

Caroline cried in the town car on their way back to Queens. She cried all the way over the Queensboro Bridge. Klaus held her, as she cried, and she let him kiss the tears from her face.

And when she was done, she clutched at him, saying, "It's okay. I'll be okay."

"Will you?"

"Yes. I know now. I'm going to be okay."

"You don't hate me, Caroline, for taking you there?"

She shook her head, fiercely. "Hush. Just please. . . hush and kiss me. Make me forget."

Fitz pulled the car over, and parked it. He sat on the hood, smoking a cigarette, while Klaus did his very best to make Caroline forget.