A/N- Here we go!

Not possible.

That was the phrase running on endless loop through Klaus' brain as he left his car parked, if not in the driveway, at least in the general vicinity of his house.

Not 'impossible' because after centuries and centuries, he knew that to use such a term was to dare fate into turning impossibilities into realities.

Therefore, he settles for the phrase 'Not possible', hoping that such an act on his behalf would appease the cruel fates.

Not possible.

It was not possible.

But even as he begun uttering the words aloud, his treacherous brain was confirming everything that he had seen that night and providing him with confirmation in the form of half-forgotten legends and little tidbits of information from the dark recesses of his memory.

The wolf that had attacked them had been male, large and with astonishingly white fur.

Throughout all known history of werewolves, there had been only one wolf with fur as pure white as freshly fallen snow.

Myths said that he had once been a golden furred creature, but his blood lust, his skill as a warrior had seen him cursed by a witch from an enemy tribe. His fur had been turned white so that he would be unable to hide in the forest, visible even in the very depths of night.

Even then, his enemies hadn't been able to kill him.

Every dawn, he had awoken covered in their blood…until one dawn.

When he had been slaughtered not by a man, but by another beast.

A vampire.

Mikael.

Even with his new powers, Mikael had been afraid to fight the white wolf on the full moon, so he had waited until a lunar eclipse, when the wolves would be at their weakest and wiped out the entire village, driving the leader onto a stake and leaving him to die in agony.

His revenge against the man for his infidelity with Esther.

It had been the sight of his blood father dead on the stake, his hair covering his face and wide eyes that had driven Klaus to massacre their own village and kill his mother in retaliation.

And that had been the last time he'd thought of his father.

Until tonight.

When he had attacked him in the forest.

Attacked him and meant to kill him.

Which, if nothing else, solved the crime of the murders that had been taking place over the last few months.

The wolves of old had been territorial beasts, the alphas claiming the land and keeping the law as they saw fit.

Why should the passing of nearly a millennia have the white wolf acting differently on his own land?

Thinking of those murders brought to mind Caroline.

Another 'Not Possible'

It was not possible that he had been stupid enough to fall for the same act again.

But he had.

She had been playing him.

A longer game than she had done previously and a more intense game but a game all the same.

And she had done it so well, those lingering smiles, her eyes lighting up when she saw him, the perfect composition of tenderness mixed with desire when they touched.

She had done it so well that he'd actually believed her.

How could he have been so foolish?

With a roar of frustration- and perhaps unacknowledged hurt- he picks up and throws the first thing he comes into contact with, an antique coffee table, it flies across the room and shatters when it hits the marble fireplace, splinters flying everywhere and it does nothing to appease his tortured soul.

But the responding moan does distract him.

Following the sound, he finds a foot dangling off the same couch he'd once cradled Caroline as she slept, but this isn't Caroline's foot.

And considering the uncouth way in which the shoe is scratching the leather, he almost doesn't believe that Elijah could still be in possession of his foot.

But he is.

When Niklaus rounds the couch, he sees his brother spread out over it, his clothes drenched in blood and sweat, his eyes open but unseeing, his face pink with fever.

He's muttering under his breath and Niklaus crouches beside his big brother, picking up on the German and realizing that he was hallucinating.

Thinking himself back in Vienna, at a café with his old friend.

"Shush," he strokes Elijah's hair back from his face, "I'm here, brother.

He hears something crinkle and spots a piece of white paper in his brother's suit pocket, carefully he pulls it out and sees that it's a note.

'He was attacked and bitten by your hybrids, most of whom are now dead'

No name attached and Niklaus frowns at this before deciding that perhaps his brother will hold the answer.

Not in his current state though.

He bites into his wrist and holds the wound above his brother's mouth, letting the blood dribble in and deliberately not reacting when his brother reared up and grabbed his arm, forcing it against his lips as he drank greedily.

He breaks away gasping, falling back against the couch as the poison is wiped from his body, deep breaths until the air fills his lungs and the pain has receded.

Only then does he open his eyes.

"Little brother," he moans, rubbing a hand across his forehead,

"Thank-you ever so much for your kindness in having proffered me your blood."

The sarcasm is so thick that Klaus can't help but take immediate offence,

"Should I have left you to wait it out?" he suggests coldly, "Nothing like an Original being driven to violence by the happy voices in his head."

Elijah has the grace to look ashamed at that pointed remark, but only for a moment.

"Perhaps you could explain to me why your hybrids attacked me in the first place?" he responds,

"I was barely through the door before they began jumping on me, I'm afraid you now have less hybrids than you did this morning."

It's on the tip of his tongue to ask which of his hybrids Elijah had killed, to ask for their names before remembering that his brother didn't know any of his hybrids from a bar of soap.

He hadn't known why Klaus had been so eager to create them and he hadn't ever bothered to care. He'd never tried to understand why his own half-brother had gone to such lengths to turn the werewolves, had assumed it was his megalomaniac tendencies.

He'd never paused to consider how terrifyingly, achingly lonely it was to be the only one of your kind. To be the first and last, staggering in the darkness, with experiences and sensations unique to you alone.

To have no-one who could ever truly understand you.

"Yes," he clears his throat, "Well, I would commiserate but I myself had an unpleasant evening, to be specific our Mystic Falls brethren decided to make another attempt at ending my life."

That barely warranted a glance from Elijah, "If nothing else, you have to admire them for their perseverance."

"They had a white oak stake."

His brother tenses and his eyes run over him, as if to search for a wound, or perhaps to try and determine whether he is actually there and not a figment of imagination caused by the werewolf venom.

When he is either satisfied or has decided to follow the hallucination through to the end for entertainment, he pushes himself up into a standing position with a groan,

"Very well," he sighs, "Do tell me your plan for retribution."

Actually…

Klaus currently didn't have one, which was unusual for him, the Original who could be planning a violent revenge before a traitor or fool had even finished their idiotic treachery but between the revelation that Caroline had once again been playing him and that his father was alive, he hadn't really had time to plan anything.

He claps his brother on the shoulder, "First, why don't we go have a little chat with whichever of my hybrids remain living hmmm? Figure out why exactly they suddenly went rogue on me?"

Thankfully, Elijah doesn't pick up on his subterfuge, instead only requesting five minutes to change and he resists the urge to roll his eyes, knowing that it will be five minutes to the second when his brother comes down the marble staircase, showered, groomed and impeccably dressed in a new suit.

He would wash the attack away with the blood and grime, sending it down the drain and emerge anew.

Klaus would never be able to achieve such a feat and hates his brother for it.

"Here."

He hands him the now crumpled note, "I found this in your suit, it appears you have a guardian angel."

He's pretty certain he knows who would go to such trouble to see Elijah to safety but not wait around to speak to him and his suspicions are confirmed when his brother glances at the paper and clearly recognizes the handwriting, paling considerably.

"Yes," he clears his throat, "Well…perhaps they'll come forward so I might thank them properly."

Klaus buries his smirk and clasps his hands behind his back and widens his eyes with an innocence he hasn't had since the night he strangled Esther.

"Perhaps."

For that matter, perhaps Katherine Pierce would have some idea as to why his hybrids had decided to revolt?

It takes very little time to find four of the remaining six hybrids.

One is lying in the middle of the town square with a bullet through his head and the other three are in the closed Grill, feasting alternately on Matt Donovan and the liquor supply.

Klaus clears his throat as he enters and sees that if they're no longer sired to him, at the very least they still fear him.

Matthew is choking on his own blood and pain, bent over backwards by the hands gripping his hair but still sensible enough to open an eye to watch Klaus as he approaches,

"I've had a rather irritating experience this evening," he offers by way of greeting, "And finding out that my creatures decided to attack my brother did not improve my mood all that much."

He stops just out of arms reach, noting that Timothy has a tight enough grip on Matthew's head that a sharp yank would kill the poor boy.

And Klaus would probably be blamed.

"So," he shrugs and looks every one of them in the eye, "Who would care to explain to me exactly what the bloody hell is going on?"

He doesn't have any immediate volunteers but eventually Hank speaks up,

"We're free of you!" he boasts, raising a bottle of cheap bourbon to salute that statement,

"We don't have to follow your orders or do nothing you say no more."

Behind him, Elijah bristles and he can almost hear his brother bemoaning the grammatical errors in that declaration,

"How exactly?" he demands, moving closer and when Timothy yanks Matthew's head back a little harder, Klaus shoots him a warning glare,

"How?" he repeats and his tone is fair warning that he shan't ask a third time.

Timothy shrugs, "Don't know," he admits, "It happened this afternoon, one minute we were sired to you and then…we weren't."

Well that was about as bloody helpful as a blood drained corpse.

"Anything else?" he snaps, "Did one of you deliberately try to break the sire bond? Did you meditate? Bury your wish at a crossroad at midnight? Did one of you make a deal with a witch?"

He trails off at the last word.

A witch.

He only knew of one stupid enough to get between him and his desires.

One who would have been looking for a way to unlink him from his creatures.

Not his hybrids but she was woefully untrained despite her sheer power.

"Brother," he spins on his heel, "Your vengeance awaits."

Elijah grinned and flashed forward, ripping out the hearts of the two hybrids who held Matthew, the beleaguered bus boy dropping to the ground with a rather alarming smack of his head against the hardwood floor. Klaus walks away slowly as his brother finishes devouring those he had hoped to make his family.

But he had failed.

Again.

There's a gasp, followed by a cough and he steps out into the night only to nearly collide with a blonde woman.

Her hair is so much shorter than Caroline's and her build completely different, but Klaus instinctively catches her, mistaking her momentarily for her daughter.

She doesn't recognize him at first either, but when she does, her eyes narrow and spit fire in their hatred,

"Your…things," She growls, "One of them killed an innocent bystander."

And?

Klaus shrugs, "Sorry, Sheriff, they aren't my creatures anymore, but perhaps you could speak to Ms. Bennett about that? Or those who pull her strings, the Salvatore brothers?"

She has a look on her face that he's seen many a time on her daughter's, she's about to tell him- quite graphically- exactly what he can do with that suggestion, but before she had the chance, the radio at her hip begins emitting strange sounds and she hurries off to check on that.

Matthew, wisely fleeing the scene of Elijah's crime before his brother decides that he's in need of dinner, joins him on the pavement, his hand pressed to the back of his neck,

"I'd get that checked if I were you," Klaus suggests without even looking at him, keeping his gaze firmly on the horizon of the dark night.

"I would so hate for my sister to return only to find you confined to a wheelchair."

The poor human pales at the thought but doesn't immediately flee, choosing unwisely to linger in his presence.

"I don't know what happened tonight," he begins, "But if you hurt Bonnie, Caroline'll never forgive you."

Klaus' hand curls into a fist and he wants to put it through the boy's heart just to prove a point. But he's surrounded by idiots and would have to explain this point verbally to properly make it and that would take so much effort.

"I don't give a damn what that harlot thinks," he replies cavalierly, "Though I would like a full explanation from Ms. Bennett about that spell she used. Have her come by early tomorrow, unless you'd like me to seek her out?"

"Don't call Caroline that!"

The words fall almost automatically from Matthew's lips as he rises in defense for his friend, but Klaus turns to him with a click of his heels,

"No?" he challenges, "What label is appropriate for a woman willing to give her body to a man as means of distraction so that her friends can plan his murder? A woman who would go to bed with this man and feign willingness? I can think of a few words but I doubt you would approve of them either."

The boy's hand curls into a fist, and every bone would shatter upon contact with the Original Hybrid's face but he's obviously not even considering that as he rises to the defense of his friend.

A woman whom, only a few hours ago, would have driven Klaus to similar actions.

Elijah leaves the bar, moving with feigned casualness as he ends up stepping between them, pulling his handkerchief from his pocket with a flourish he begins wiping his hands clean of the blood,

"The night is beautiful," he comments, looking up at the full moon, "Even if the activities taking place underneath it have been less than pleasant."

He doesn't respond but Matthew shakes his head in disgust,

"Whatever man," he sneers, as he begins to walk away, "You aren't worth it."

His heart would be warm and light in his hand, the blood cascading over his skin and he starts forward, intending to kill the boy when Elijah shifts his weight ever so slightly, protecting the retreating back, "We shall leave him alive for the moment," His brother whispers,

"A later death might suit us better."

His brother so rarely interferes in his slayings, so Niklaus will give him this one life.

For Elijah.

Not for Caroline.

She was nothing to him now.

Stefan tried his best to sit still.

He had to appear calm and collected otherwise there could be panic.

It was something he'd learnt during his time as an ambulance driver in Egypt.

If you let your patients see your panic, they would think they were fatally wounded and then, a simple small cut could start bleeding horrifically and before you knew it, this barely injured man was dead on your watch.

So he kept his body still and his face placid.

But it wasn't easy.

Damon was pacing between the wet bar and the fire place like one or the other might hold the answer they needed on how they were going to survive the night.

They'd had a plan.

A plan to kill Klaus, come back to the boarding house and release an angry Caroline.

The plan had failed spectacularly.

They had planned to surprise Klaus but when Stefan had met him in the forest, the hybrid hadn't been surprised to see him there, but he hadn't been suspicious either.

He'd assumed that Stefan was there to try and help him track the werewolf that had been committing the murders, or to get an update. He'd been crouched down over a spoor and thinking aloud and Stefan had felt his heart tear.

He'd loved Klaus once.

Like a brother he'd proclaimed back in the twenties, now though, he understood himself and his heart a little better.

He'd been supposed to lure Klaus to a set point but that was where the plan had gone wrong.

Tyler had crashed through the underbrush with murder in his eyes, 'Planning the victory lap before the starting gun had even been fired' was how Damon had put it. When Klaus had realized that he was in an ambush, his eyes had darted between Tyler and Stefan before he'd come to the clear decision.

He'd spared Stefan and grabbed Tyler, using him as a human shield, grabbing a hold of his heart even as the rest of them raced to the scene.

Even then, the situation could have been diffused except that Tyler had begun talking.

Bragging really.

About Caroline.

About how everything she'd done had been to trick Klaus, about how she loathed him and she wanted him dead, had begged them to kill him for her.

None of which had been true or had helped the situation.

Damon had thrown a stake- not the white oak but another one- at Klaus, but he'd caught it and sent it flying towards Stefan.

It had gone straight through his head and by the time he'd woken up, everyone was long gone.

He'd made his way back down to where they'd parked the cars and found his there at least, with his keys still in his pocket and had tried calling his brother, his girlfriend, his friends.

None of them had picked up and unable to think of what else to do, he'd headed back to the Boarding house, which had taken twice as long because he'd been stuck behind a very slow moving truck that was either carrying a prisoner or nuclear waste, judging from the warning signs on the back and the unmarked car escorting it.

When he'd finally got home he'd noticed three things.

One, Elena was safe and sound.

Two, she was sitting on the couch pressed up against his brother.

Three, Caroline had somehow managed to escape the basement cell using what appeared to be explosives.

He doesn't really have time to focus on any of these things before Matt comes staggering up behind him, covered in blood and injured, panting about how the hybrids had gone feral and attacked him and killed three people.

To make an already bad situation worse.

"We should warn Caroline," Elena says, grabbing her phone, "Because if they're out…"

"They're dead," Matt interrupts her, "Klaus' older brother killed the ones in the Grill and Caroline's mom got another one."

"We should find Caroline," Bonnie suggests, already putting the phone to her ear,

"After tonight, Klaus will be looking for revenge."

Damon sneers, "And thanks to Tyler, blondie will be at the top of his list. Way to sign your own girlfriend's death warrant buddy!"

Tyler had been skulking by the window but snaps at that comment, "Screw you!"

"No," Stefan interjects, "He's right. What the hell were you thinking tonight? I get you hate Klaus, we all do, but the things you said about Caroline? What is wrong with you?!"

Tyler glares at them all, "I don't have to explain myself to any of you."

He sounds so much like his asshole father that Stefan wants to punch him out of principle. He stomps past them to leave but Matt steps in his path, blocking him and daring him to throw a punch,

"When I spoke to Klaus tonight he called Caroline a slut," he begins, "Did you have anything to do with that?"

Tyler answers 'No' at the exact time Damon smirks 'Yes'.

"Quarterback, you should have heard the things Wolfie was saying, 'She can't stand you, she despises you, she wishes you were dead'" Damon grimaced,

"I almost felt bad for the guy."

Bonnie clears her throat, "Why did you say those things Ty?"

Tyler is still glaring at them but reminds him less of a spoiled brat and more of a cornered animal,

"None of your damn business!" he snarls but Matt doesn't move out of his way,

"Man, I swear, if you've put Care in danger…"

"Caroline put herself in danger when she started sleeping with Klaus!"

Tyler had shouted but even if he hadn't, they couldn't have missed his statement.

Elena and Bonnie screech 'What' in unison and at such a high pitch that the vampires and werewolves wince, but their shock galvanizes Tyler.

"She must have started after she broke up with me," he begins, speaking as if he were testifying in court, "Adam told me that he saw her hanging with a blonde guy on the bleachers and Sophie told me that she and Klaus had been acting suspicious at the football game."

"Wait," Bonnie says when he falls silent, "That's it?! Tyler, I hang out on the bleachers with Stefan all the time and he and I sneak off 'suspiciously', we all do, because we're supernaturals who don't want to get caught by the town."

There's a flash of something in Elena's eyes and the darker part of Stefan feels a tiny stab of pleasure at the thought that she might get jealous from now on.

"We're not denying that Caroline is attracted to Klaus," Elena assures him, "Because, yeah, we think she is, but there's a huge difference between being attracted to someone and acting on it."

No.

No there isn't.

Not really.

Tyler is still pouting, clearly not believing them, "Why would Klaus have been so pissed if I was wrong?" he asks and this time none of them can answer.

Not because they agree with him, but because Sheriff Forbes storms into the house before they have a chance.

"Where the hell is my daughter?!"

Flashing images. Jarring sounds. Paralyzed limbs. Unable to run. Unable to fight. Unable to breathe.

She screams.

A/N- Hope everyone enjoyed!