Author's Note: This is a kind of start-up chapter for the main plot and it does have some undertone of child abuse and a bit of discomfort with intimacy, so if that bothers you please tread carefully.

I just wanted to remind you guys that Caroline is very naive when it comes to sex. Sure she understands what it is and that people have it, and even that it is enjoyable to most, but she doesn't understand why because she's never had a good relationship with a man or intimacy. I'll go more into that later on.

So, don't think that Caroline and Klaus are just gonna jump into bed and do it anytime soon. I'm not sure what I'll have them do, but unfortunately for you guys the tension is going to remain thick ;)

Anyway, I love the feedback, so keep it coming! :)

Disclaimer: NOT mine.

Enjoy . . .

His lips were softer than I had been anticipating as they settled over mine. My eyes remained wide open. Watching his shut ones. I had kissed boys before. Matt and I had been together for two years and there had been kissing involved. But it was always slimy and gross, so I never really pressed him for it. Klaus' mouth wasn't slimy or gross. It was a bit damp when his tongue trailed along my lips, but instead of discomfort. It sent a sensation of warmth along my entire body. From the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes. Until I was nothing but a tingling pile of mush.

Slowly, my eyes fluttered shut and all I could do was lean into him as our mouths explored each other. It was good. Really good and I liked it. But soon the weight of his body became too much and my lungs burned for the air they didn't really need. I needed him to stop. Now.

My hands pushed against his chest as I ripped my mouth from his. He pressed his face into my cheek when I turned my head. The throb was back and the wetness pooled, but the twisting in my gut prevented me from allowing this to go any further.

"No." I gasped and immediately his body was gone. My own didn't follow him this time because my defenses were back and locked up tight. I met his gaze and stared. He was flushed, well, his mouth was. His chest was also heaving, as if I affected him just as he affected me.

"Go home, Caroline." He says, shocking me.

"What about your hours?" I blurted, not sure why I was upset that he wanted me to go. I wanted to go . . . right?

"Another time, luv. Good night." He turned his back to me and with a wave of his hand, I was transported home.

OOO

I sat numbly on my couch with a bottle of gin in my hand. My fingers wrapped around the bottle neck. I didn't drink. It smelled and it made men do bad things. Really bad things. Things that hurt people and destroyed lives. It was also really gross. As in, it stung when going down and was basically the equivalent of drinking battery acid. So, I didn't do it . . . often. Bonnie said that I was drunk when I called her and I don't remember that.

My point is, maybe if I don't remember what happened once. I can forget again. I could forget that I kissed Klaus. I could forget that I might, maybe, kind of want him. I could forget about that man from when I was ten. I could forget everything with the help of this bottle of liquid. Fuck, I was being dramatic. I didn't do dramatic and it pissed me the fuck off. With a swift jerk of my arm, the bottle flew from my hand and shattered against the wall.

I wasn't dependent on anything. Especially alcohol. That was for another person. Not me. I was so done wanting that damned devil. The devil. I just needed to stop. It would be easy, I mean, definitely easy. I won't want him and I can just live my life. He probably won't even have that many assignments. I would be safe. Or at least, that's what I was telling myself.

OOO

Over the course of the next month. Klaus had given me nearly twenty assignments. I'd finish one and he'd immediately send me into the next. I found myself subjected to a routine of hunting the damned across the entire universe, killing them, and then returning home for a couple hours of sleep, if I was lucky. Money was good, though, but it got to the point where I couldn't control my anger.

The last four times I'd been summoned by the arrogant prick I've scorched his suit to a crisp, destroyed one of his massive fire places, and pinned him to the wall using his own drapes. To say he was displeased would be the understatement of the century.

Yet, he was also amused, bewildered, and dare I say, impressed. I felt rather good those days even if I did want to bash my head in.

At the moment I was in the swamp lands of hell which basically meant, I was taking a bath in shit smelling slime that was a weird mucus color. When Klaus told me he needed me to retrieve a runner – which was a soul trying to escape hell – from the swamp lands, I thought he was joking. In my opinion, subjecting yourself to this hell pool was punishment enough, but whenever the boss man says to do something, I don't ask questions. I complain and bitch a lot, but I don't ask questions. Even I'm not that stupid.

I lift my arms up high as the liquid starts to get deeper and I'm forced to trudge through waist deep sludge. "I do not get paid enough for this!" I sing to myself. At least it was cold. I think that if the liquid smelled this bad and was hot, I would probably not stop vomiting.

A hand wrapped around my calf and I didn't even have time to groan before I was being yanked under. There was a struggle. There was sludge up my nose and in my mouth. There was also a moment of clarity. When I got out of this, I was going to break all of Klaus' elevator's.

OOO

Katherine blinked at me rapidly as I walked passed her while carrying the fool who tried to drown me in slime. "What the fuck?" I didn't bother acknowledging her as I stomped into the throne room. Klaus looked up and comically blinked as I dropped the man with a splat onto his pretty floor.

"I want a raise." I say immediately.

"What is this?" He asked, motioning toward the man.

"Your runner, Klaus. What does it look like?" I growl and Klaus rubs his jaw, examining the man cowering on his knees with his head on the ground.

"Caroline, my runner is a woman. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that thing right there is most definitely a man." Klaus says and I blinked.

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't a runner?" I asked the man and he cast me a terrified glance.

"You stabbed me." His voice shook with bewilderment and fear. Klaus pinched his eyes and I frowned.

"Yeah, I know. I was there. You still could have said something." I mumble and Klaus laughs in astonishment.

"Bloody hell, luv, you smell horrible." Klaus covers his mouth and nose. I was tempted to smack him.

"You don't have to be so obvious about it." I grumble, crossing my arms. I glanced down at the man still cowering at my feet.

"Uh, you can go now." I snapped at the man and without bothering to even hesitate for Klaus' orders, he bolts. Klaus blinks at the door before looking at me.

"What did you do to the poor man, to make him fear the likes of you, instead of the devil himself?" Klaus questioned.

"She most likely got too close to the man." A feminine voice spoke up and my attention switched to the woman across the room. She was tall with short golden blonde hair. Beautiful blue eyes and a womanly body.

"Caroline, this, unfortunately, is my mother. Mother Earth to be exact." Klaus clipped, tossing the older woman a glare.

"Oh." That was all I could manage to say.

"Call me Esther." The woman smiled in a way that was anything but friendly. The air was cold in the room and thick. That wasn't a good combination.

"You address him by his given name, do you? Not, 'Lord' or 'Devil' or even 'Sir', but Klaus. My, my, such familiarity, my son." Esther said and I blinked.

"My mother calls him Klaus and I doubt they're familiar." I say and then hesitate to speak again. Katherine addresses him only as 'Lord'. Damon doesn't really say his name, Bonnie calls him, 'The devil', and anyone else that has ever come in contact with him has never used his given name. My realization came with a shock. Esther's lips quirk.

"So, this is the Caroline." Esther's voice tinged with ice.

"Mother." Klaus warned harshly.

"I'm merely curious, Niklaus, she is beautiful. And of legal age." Her smile was cruel, but I was confused.

"Leave my home, witch." Klaus flicked his wrist and she was gone.

"I have a bitchy mother, too." I nod in hopes of reassuring him and he glances at me.

"Come, let's get you showered."