Cahpter 10!=) And I promise you that the action is going to pick up from now on.

Title: Holding On And Letting Go - Ross Copperman

Caroline sat on the swing in the garden in front of the house.

The mansion was surrounded by grass and a few trees that were also hidden from preying eyes behind a large hedge. No one from the street should be able to look inside of the garden. It was as much for the residing party as well as for the people outside of the green walls. The things they might see would only haunt them in their dreams.

The swing wasn't as much a swing as it was rather a simple wooden plank that had been secured to a thick branch of an old tree by normal ropes. Her feet were barely touching the ground while she moved slowly forward and backwards with her feet never leaving the ground. The weather was nice since the sun had decided to make an appearance and the light breeze that was blowing was very refreshing making the air smell of grass and fresh water.

Despite the beauty of the day Caroline's face didn't look as happy as someone might have thought she would be on such a beautiful day. Her eyes were on the ground but she heard the steps anyway. They were slowly approaching her and she knew even before he had reached her who it was. She didn't even need to look up.

"Hey sweetheart." She raised her head and blinked because the sun was right behind his head up in the sky. He took a step to the right to block the sun from her view and a corner of her lip twitched.

"Are you okay?" Klaus asked and his voice was surprisingly soft considering his fit of rage he had thrown yesterday night. Caroline nodded. "Ja, I'm okay." She said and swayed with the swing. Klaus held on to one of the ropes.

"It's just something to take in." She explained and Klaus sighed deeply.

They had had this argument last night and he had promised himself to be patient and try to understand her feelings, but it wasn't easy for him, especially because it brought everything back that he had thought they had left in their past. The feeling he hated most of them was the insecurity that he all but tried to bury as deep inside of him as it would go.

It made him more than uneasy since he had never been insecure about anything before in his whole long life. Caroline's feelings however were something he couldn't and didn't want to control which made him uneasy. The loss of control cost him something that he wasn't used to give. Trust.

But he wanted to trust Caroline even more for the fact that she trusted him as well.

"I know you don't understand it, but…" She sighed. "Tyler had been a very important person in my life. He had been the first guy who had really appreciated me." Klaus didn't want to hear it, but he listened anyway. "I just hate that we couldn't have stayed friends. I hate to be at odds with him even though he had really hurt me last year." She remembered the moment when Tyler had looked at her with so much disgust after figuring out that she was with Klaus. Klaus had been there for her last year, when she had lost her humanity.

She had gotten to know the sides of him that had made her feel something for him. Klaus had been her saviour when she had been captured by a pack of werewolves and ever since he had been challenging her. He, the big bad hybrid was the one that challenged her to be better.

"You shouldn't have saved her." Tyler had told Klaus back then and it simply cut every bond that had ever been between them. "She will be your doom."

She knew that the words had left a shadow on both of them, Klaus and her, even though none of them saw it.

"I thought I was over it." She shook her head at herself. "I just can't believe that he still holds on to his rage! How can that be possible? Why can't he just enjoy his stupid life?" She asked frustrated and kicked the dirt on the ground.

Klaus crouched down in front of her resting his hands on her knees. "Elijah always admired Elena's compassion, in you he sees someone with a huge helper syndrome." Caroline frowned at him and Klaus added. "Well, he might have phrased it a bit more positively and to be honest no one, not even me could ever resent you for it, even though I think you are overdoing it."

She ran her hand over his cheek and tried to smile.

"Sweetheart I know this isn't easy for you and I am trying to see through your eyes, but Caroline when it starts being serious, should it come to a battle then I need to know how you would decide." Caroline didn't answer immediately. Her hand dropped from his face, but Klaus captured it between his. "Caroline, you need to make a decision. Would you take Tyler down if need arose?"

He looked into her eyes and Caroline didn't evade his stare. She swallowed.

She had been thinking about it the whole night. Would she be able to kill Tyler?

She stood up and started pacing. Klaus watched her and waited patiently. The movements were taking a little bit of the edge off of her confused feelings. Her hands stroked through her hair.

"I am not sure…" She shook her head. "No, I couldn't kill Tyler." She said and looked directly into his eyes. Klaus' features hardened when he heard that. He gnawed his teeth, but Caroline cut him off before he could throw something at her that he would regret later.

"I couldn't kill Tyler myself, but if he is teaming up with Marcel, conspiring against you, against us, then I wouldn't stop you either." She knew that if Tyler was to die it would happen by Klaus' hand.

His face muscles relaxed again and he nodded in understanding.

Caroline stepped in front of him. "I wish there was a way that he wouldn't have to die, but I am afraid that he will never stop until you are dead, not even when I beg him to let it be. And…Nik. I don't want to lose you." She used his first name, the nickname of it on purpose, to show how close they already were and because she knew that he liked to hear it. It made her a part of the family.

Klaus pulled her towards him and embraced her. Caroline buried her face in his shoulder and inhaled deeply. Her hands fisted in his shirt while she took in his scent that had become the air of her haven. Klaus fastened his strong arms around her that had become her sanctuary.

Tyler had loved her on a very different level than Klaus did. Tyler had adored her, but he had also always put his own feelings first, especially his revenge, without changing anything of it even when she had asked him to. Klaus had always put her first, had stepped out of his ways for her and encouraged her to grow.

She revelled in his scent for a while, appreciating the fact that he was here with her and not forcing her to kill Tyler. She knew that he wanted to see him dead more than anything and Caroline was aware of the fact that she would never be able to stop him, but it didn't matter as long as he asked her to make her own choice anyway and maybe if she steadfastly refused to let Tyler die he would have compromised with her on it, but they had been there before. Klaus had let Tyler go because of Caroline and the only thing she saw in a compromise was for history repeating itself and she didn't want that. No, what she wanted was for Klaus to keep his promise and show her the world and only he could do that.

Someone cleared his throat behind Klaus and a female voice called his name.

Caroline raised her head and saw Camille standing at the entrance of the garden. Her hands tightened the hold on his shirt and she shook her head. "Oh no." She pleaded close to whining. "Please no." She couldn't deal with 'a' Camille today.

Klaus cupped her face between his hands. "Don't worry I'll take care of it." He said and kissed her sweetly on the lips. Caroline returned the kiss lovingly and she wished that she wouldn't have to let go of Klaus.

Camille watched Klaus kissing Caroline and her eyes widened at the sight. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to get her confusion into any kind of order. Somehow she had thought that Caroline had been with Elijah and not with Klaus, but this didn't look like they were just friends.

She couldn't take her eyes of them kissing and she felt like biting her tongue off.

Marcel had warned her about Klaus, but she had refused to listen, because there was something about him that had drawn her in. She scoffed.
What an asshole!

Caroline felt her lips burning against his, all the while holding on to his shirt and pulling him down towards her. With one last flick of his tongue he licked over her bottom lip, before he unfastened her hands from his clothes.

Caroline watched how he walked over to Camille who had a facial expression as if she had bitten into a lemon.

But suddenly the young vampire noticed something strange and she spun around her on heels. But there was nothing there. She frowned and tried to detect what might have caused this sudden apprehensive feeling inside of her. Her eyes searched the grounds, looking for anything that seemed out of place. Goose bumps ran over her arms making her shiver. She took a step forward and her gaze focused on the hedge. On the outside there was nothing but green, but Caroline took another careful step. Her gut told her that something was wrong and so she slowly stepped towards the dense green plant. She squinted and tried to see something.

"Caroline?" She jerked and turned around. She hadn't even noticed him approaching, but Klaus was suddenly standing right behind her. "Are you okay?"

Caroline glanced one last time at the hedge before she nodded chuckling nervously. "Sure. I thought…never mind." She leaned forward and rested against his body. "I think I need some distraction."

His finger tips left a burning trail on her cheek when he answered lightly. "I am sure we will find some distraction for you. Come on, love." He pulled her away from the hedge and towards the house, but not without casting another look at the green of the hedge. Since his vampire senses couldn't detect anything unusual he let it go, but one could never be too careful. These were dangerous times.

He retreated into the bush watching them disappear into the house. She had been close and he longed for the moment when they would first meet. The fact that she had almost detected him thrilled him. Her light was so magnetic that he could even understand the hybrid's fall for her.

Soon, honey. Soon.

Tyler had lost count of all the drinks he had ordered. The bartender shoved another glass into his direction and he caught it in its slide over the counter. He eyed the liquid and turned around to see if anything had changed, but the young vampire was still sitting alone in his dark corner. He turned back to the bar and groaned under his breath. Maybe he had been wrong, but his feeling told him that there was something strange about this guy. Tyler didn't trust him and that was why he had been following him since this morning when he had left the church.

Joshua had no daylight ring so he was bound to the shadows at day time. The way he had walked through the streets, always turning around and watching his back had peeked Tyler's curiosity. The young vampire had not the slightest idea that was being followed and Tyler wanted to laugh at him for being so inattentive.

The bartender dried a glass with an old dirty towel when his eyes wandered towards the entrance of the bar. Tyler turned around and almost cursed out loud. He flashed from his stool to the backdoor.

Elijah Mikaelson wasn't allowed to see him. He would recognize him at once and then, well who knew. So Tyler flashed out of the backdoor and up to the streets.

"Holy shit!" He gasped and checked his escape route to see if anyone had followed him, but the alley remained empty. Tyler searched for a hiding place close to the front door from which he could observe it without any difficulty. The coincidence that Elijah Mikaelson had just happened to visit a filthy bar like that was too absurd, but Tyler waited patiently for the original to leave the bar again before he would make his phone call.

A grin divided his face when Elijah left the bar again not much time later. No, he certainly didn't have had a drink in there. Tyler pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial.

"Marcel, you wanna hear something interesting about that Joshua kid? Seems like he has got the wrong friends."

Bonnie opened the door to her room quietly and she stuck her head out of the door to cast a look down the hallway. There was no one there and everything was quiet.

The hallway was long and dark, to her left there was one single window at the end of it. The right direction would take her to the staircase and hence downstairs where they were probably all waiting for her to make an appearance. She hated the situation she was in. She hated this house and she hated the vampires downstairs.

The witch drew a deep breath and had to remind her that there was nothing they could do to her, because she was strong enough to defend herself, should need arise. Her foot touched the ground outside of the threshold carefully and oddly enough she expected something to happen. Anything that would make her escape and run and never come back to this dreadful place.

She felt almost disappointed when nothing at all happened. She placed the other foot next to the one in the hallway and waited, but the hallway remained dark and empty. Bonnie closed the door and started to walk towards the staircase. She remained close to the wall as if it could give her shelter if somebody came up to her. In that case she would simply morph into the wall and vanish from sight.

Her hand slid over the cold surface while her eyes followed the pictures that were lining both sides of the way. She mused that Klaus must have drawn them and the number didn't surprise her at all. There was only so much you couldn't do with so an eternity on your hands.

Suddenly a noise reached her ears and she needed a moment to figure out that it was the sound of approaching steps. She turned around and saw the oldest Mikaelson brother coming towards her and she strangely felt immediately relieved that it was Elijah instead of Kol or Klaus who had discovered her first. Out of the three of them Elijah was the one she would probably trust the most if she was to choose.

He smiled friendly at her and there were nice little creases around his eyes. Bonnie had to admit that he looked very dapper in his suit. "Miss Bennett." He said charmingly. "How are you? I hope your stay here will be as pleasant as possible under the current circumstances."

Bonnie raised her head proudly. "Let's hope it won't take too long."

Elijah pursed his lips in a wry smile. He understood that his brother had caused a lot of damage in her life and that she wasn't particularly fond of their family. "So, why don't you tell me why exactly I am here?" Bonnie asked and Elijah nodded. He held out his hand to motion for her to move on towards the stairs.

"Of course, I'll take you to the study."

Bonnie peeked at him from out of the corners of her eyes while they walked next to each other.

When they descended on the stairs the front door opened and Klaus and Caroline entered the mansion. She wrinkled her nose at them and glanced deprecatingly at his hand around her waist.

"Bonnie." Caroline said and her tone almost reminded Bonnie of the good times they had had when they were still best friends. Bonnie didn't even look at her, but her eyes focused on Klaus' face.

He straightened and a small smile appeared on his lips. "So, you finally came out of hiding."

"Niklaus." Elijah said but Bonnie ignored them both.

"So, tell me what exactly you want me to do!"

He waved his hand toward the study and the witch strode towards it immediately. Klaus sighed annoyed and rolled his eyes at Elijah who simply shrugged at him.

Caroline felt his hand squeezing her hip and she looked up at him out of sad eyes. Klaus bend down to kiss her forehead before he pulled her along with him.

Bonnie came to stand in the middle of the room crossing her arms over her chest and faced the vampires sternly. She looked expectantly at them and Klaus chuckled amused. He let go of Caroline and put the tips of his fingers together walking towards Bonnie.

"First question would be: What do you know about witch rituals."

Bonnie raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "There are loads of them, I have no idea."

Klaus nodded. He had expected as much, however she could help them look into some grimoires. "You need to locate a witch for me and infiltrate another witch's mind. We have the spell for the latter here." He turned around to Elijah who handed him an old parchment with ancient writings on it. Bonnie took it and looked at it curiously. She studied the spell biting her tongue. "Can you do that?" Klaus asked and Bonnie raised her head.

"This is a very powerful spell, I am not sure if I can harness that much power."

"We will try anyway." Klaus stated and Caroline opened her mouth to say something, but she refrained from it and shut it again.

"I need a piece of the witch you want me to locate."

Elijah reached into his pocket and pulled the t-shirt out of it that Josh had given him earlier.

"Here, that should do." He said and Bonnie took the shirt from him.

The night came quick and soon Hayley and Reese were surrounded by darkness in the dense forest. However since they had wolf's blood running through their veins their senses were better than any normal humans. They saw perfectly in the darkness, they heard every mouse rushing over the dried leaves and they smelled every danger.

They walked in silence until they had reached the boundaries of the territory of Cortez' pack.

"Do you think he will know something?" Hayley asked and Reese shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. I mean why wouldn't he have told us before if he knew something?" He wondered and looked around himself to see if there was a pack member around.

"Well, you know him better than I do, so you tell me."

Reese smiled and nodded, but his attention was on something else. He waited for the guard to greet them. Every night a wolf had to stay guard, which was just a precaution, because no one actually came into this part of the forest, but the wolves slept better knowing that someone was watching out for them. Besides it was part of their instinct to have a guard.

Suddenly a black haired man stepped out of hiding from behind a large tree. He blocked their way crossing his arms over his chest.

"Grant, you are quite close to the camp, aren't you?" Reese asked him addressing the fact that he had only discovered them now. Grant had a bored expression on his face.

There were disgusted lines around his mouth and he drawled: "What's it to you?"

Hayley suppressed a snort.

"Grant, take your position!" Reese ordered, but Grant just stared at him. Hayley's eyes wandered from one man to the other and waited for what was about to happen. Reese frowned angrily at Grant.

"You are not Cortez, are you?" Grant said and Hayley thought that he'd look at his nails any moment, because he sounded as if he couldn't care less.

"Just do what you are told!" Reese said and pushed past him. Grant rolled his eyes towards the sky without moving an inch. Haley raised her eyebrows and Grant looked at her.

"What?" He asked and Hayley raised her hands shaking her head. She wasn't going to engage in this argument and followed Reese instead.

She picked up her pace so she wouldn't lose him and as soon as she had reached him she asked: "What exactly is his problem?"

Reese sighed. "Grant is harmless. He is a very good fighter when it comes to it, but he is bored to death with the guard duty." He laughed. "He's more the action type of guy."

Hayley coked her eyebrows at no one in particular.

It was only a short distance towards where the other wolves were staying. Their campfire shone eerily through the trees and it smelled of food. Hayley's stomach rumbled and she corrected herself, it didn't just smell of food, but it smelled deliciously of food. She hadn't noticed how hungry she had been since now. The hunger had been her constant companion and she didn't feel it anymore, only when she smelled something like this.

Reese grinned at her. "Hungry are you little wolf?"

"Oh shut up!" Hayley said and punched his arm which made him just laugh.

The pack looked up at them when they entered the lit circle around the fire, but as soon as they had recognised them they didn't bother much and returned to their dinner. Hayley eyed the pot next to the fire hungrily and she unconsciously licked her lips without noticing that Reese was watching her closely with a bright grin on his face. He thought that she was a very entertaining creature.

"Come on, we'll get you something to eat before you bite your own tongue off." He commented dryly and Hayley gave him a funny look while he turned his back on her to get a pair of bowls.

He was slowly starting to get onto her nerves with his constantly cheery attitude.

She sat down onto a tree stump and Reese returned with two steaming bowls in his hands. Hayley smiled. "Thanks."

He nodded and sat down next to her starting to eat. When the food touched her mouth she had to suppress a groan because its taste was even more delicious than the smell. It was some sort of spicy stew that she eagerly gulped down. It was hot and burned the tip of her tongue, but Hayley didn't care. It felt as if the hunger increased even more now that she was filling her stomach with food. The salvia watered her mouth and mingled with the sauce slowly gliding down her throat.

Reese had stopped eating and watched her amused for a second before he went back to his own food. The wolf girl had to remind herself that licking the bowl wouldn't make a good impression when she tried to get even the last bits and pieces out of it, scraping the bottom with her spoon.

Reese laughed shaking his head.

"What?" Hayley snapped at him, but the food was slowly improving her mood.

"Nothing. You're getting used to food again, aye?"

Hayley wanted to give him another annoyed look but she got a grip on herself and simply nodded. "Probably."

The fire crackled in the middle of the pack members. Some of them were mumbling something she couldn't understand. When she looked around the wolves she noticed that Cortez wasn't there.

"Where is Cortez?" She asked Reese who didn't even bother looking but simply shrugged his shoulders. "No idea." He didn't seem to care and Hayley wondered if maybe his disappearance wasn't unusual to them.

Reese just finished his stew when Hayley noticed that someone was stepping out of the forest and towards the fire place. She recognized his pace and when the flames lifted the shadows off his face her assumption became verified.

Cortez met her eyes and he made his way towards her. "You found what you have been looking for?"

He put his hands onto his hips coming to stand in front of her.

Haley looked up with her big eyes. "No and yes."

Cortez frowned at her curiously and Hayley noticed how Reese lowered the bowl in his hands and his look also went to his alpha's face.

"We found a werewolf." Hayley went on and looked expectantly up at the alpha who suddenly started laughing, but Hayley had noticed the ghost in his eyes.

"That's not possible! Was probably a normal one." He said putting her off, but Hayley suddenly rose to her feet.

"No, I can differentiate between a werewolf and a normal wolf." She answered and Cortez' eyes looked angrily at her. "Reese, tell him what we saw." She said looking for support, but Reese faced the ground.

"Well, we could have been mistaken." He back paddled and Hayley's mouth dropped in disbelief.

"No, we haven't! Look there is something really strange going on there." She waved a hand into the direction of the bayou and Cortez squinted at her. "This isn't normal!"

Cortez shook his head at Hayley and was about to turn around mumbling. "Stay out of it, Hayley."

But Hayley stood her ground. "Cortez what is going on in the bayou?" She demanded to know and even Reese had raised his head to look at his leader who had stopped in his tracks.

"That should not be your concern. I suggest you forget what you saw." He took a few steps, but Hayley sprinted forward and grabbed his arm which caused everyone to become quiet. All eyes were suddenly on her and Cortez eyed the hand that clasped his arm. She quickly let go of it again when she noticed what she had done. She looked around and somehow couldn't believe herself what she had just done.

He was the alpha and she, she was in a much lower position than him. She bit her bottom lip looking apologetically. However, when no one said a word and she recovered a bit from her impertinence she asked in a subdued voice. "Cortez please, what is going on down there? I need to know! If the pack has anything to do with my family then, please, tell me!" She pleaded.

The alpha stared at her scrutinizing her face and Hayley fought the awkward feeling that rose inside of her. Instead of playing with the hem of her shirt she balled her hands into tight fist.

After what felt like an eternity Cortez nodded his head and motioned her to follow him.

Each and every one of her steps was accompanied by the disapproval looks of the pack members.

Cortez led her away from the fire and into the blind darkness where no wolf would overhear them. Behind a large tree he turned around to her and stretched out a hand to lean against the tree trunk. Hayley waited for him to start, showing him some respect this time.

"If you are clever Hayley then you better stay out of this." But the warning did nothing but peeking her curiosity and Cortez saw it in her eyes. She had come a long way and wouldn't give up now, in fact she would probably never give up. This fighter's spirit Cortez hadn't seen in someone in a long time, least of all in a young girl. "We have nothing to do with the pack in the bayou, not since they started a war with the witches of New Orleans."

"They did what?" Hayley asked and shook her head. Werewolves wouldn't start a war against witches, would they?

Cortez drew a deep breath. "There is a large witch coven living in New Orleans. They have a long line of ancestors and are very proud. Vampires run freely in the city since Marcel seized the commando. Werewolves were living in the city as well, until Marcel got control over the witches. The witches had kept the balance between the vampires and the werewolves, but vampires were getting the upper hand and the werewolves found themselves forced to resign.

The pack we are talking about is a very old one and I told you before that some legends call them the very origin of our race. They wouldn't retreat freely and wanted to take Marcel down, but the witches interfered. For some reason they didn't want the wolves to act. They had other plans which needed time to develop, but the wolves were eager, not ready and too proud to give up on their home. The pack demanded them to help or they would declare war on both the vampires and the witches. The witches couldn't have that and they cursed the pack."

Hayley's eyes widened. "They cursed it?"

"Yes, they reversed the werewolf curse, so now they can only turn into humans at a full moon."

Hayley gasped trying to imagine that kind of life. In the beginning she had hated her werewolf curse, but only being human for a day once in a month seemed to be even worse.

"But…we need to help them." She uttered and Cortez closed in on her.

"Do whatever you want but don't drag my pack into it, none of them!" He said sternly emphasizing his last words that obviously meant Reese.

"But…"

"The witches are not our business!" He said and turned around to walk away, but he stopped once more muttering. "Deveraux. Sophie Deveraux. Goodbye Hayley."

He left her alone in the forest and Hayley understood that he had just told her that she had overstayed her invitation to stay. She leaned against the tree and slid to the floor.

"Sophie Deveraux." She mumbled.

There will be a difficult quest coming for Caroline and Klaus.

Thanks for your support!=)