Chapter 8.

Klaus knocked on Caroline's door for the third time. Of course she had brought havoc in this house at that ungodly hour so now she seemed to have fallen asleep with the dead.

"What?" He heard her sleepy voice ask from behind the closed door.

"You should come down...breakfast is ready." He answered her.

"I'm not hungry." She grumbled from inside. He swore he could feel her glare angrily from behind the door.

"I think I know..." He sighed at the door. "May I come in?"

"No!" She shouted.

"I got your clothes here, cleaned up and ready to wear."

She just replied with a curt, "Leave them outside."

If that's how she wanted to play this…he would show her once more, she couldn't win with him. "Okay. But I'm going to wait out here with them until you come out."

"Like hell you will!" She bellowed…and suddenly a deep pain shot in his leg, almost making him buckle under it.

Klaus rushed in the room, finding her crouched next to the bed, "Caroline?" He called out to her, before picking her up gently in his arms and laid her back on the bed. His arms and hands tingled from where they had come in contact with her skin, and he winced at how it kept affecting him each time it happened.

"It's my fault...I should have been more careful..." She said in a barely audible voice.

Klaus looked at her. She was so beautiful even when she had just woken up. "Do you want your breakfast to be brought up here?"

"No...I'm okay really...I can walk...but as I said, I'm not hungry."

He sighed patiently. He would try to explain what he had been thinking about since he woke up. "I think I know why you're feeling worse than I am...you need to feed...you gave me your blood, remember?"

"How could I forget? It's the reason I'm trapped in here." She replied angrily, "...and really how do we know who is really feeling the worst? You're the one who was bitten after all and we're sharing the same pain, aren't we?"

Again he tried to explain. "Because I was in no pain until you put your foot down...I tell you, you need to feed...and the food isn't bad either."

"Maybe later."

"No, now." He ordered briskly.

Her brows came down to meet above her nose. "What are you my mom? You can't force me to eat."

He glared back at her. "I can...if it makes me weak because of you."

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not." He let out a frustrated sigh. "I will not go around limping because you refuse to be reasonable and feed."

"You don't know if that will solve the problem."

"Only one way to find out." He told her, before grasping her by the waist and flung her on his shoulder.

"What the hell?" Caroline shrieked, "This. Is not happening! Put me down immediately."

He took a couple of steps with her on his shoulder before asking. "Are you coming down on your own?"

Suddenly she started pummelling his back with her fists. That would be a no, I guess.

He couldn't help let out a small chuckle when she abruptly stopped at realising she was hurting herself.

"Ok, I'll come down...but not in this." She finally gave in.

Klaus walked until he was one step out of her room and slowly put her down, ignoring the stab of pain in his leg, and paying attention with her own pained leg too. He kept holding her hand to steady her in case she couldn't stand up on it. He tried to read her face to make sure she was sincere. She harshly pulled back her hand from his hold.

"You're a brute! I refuse to be ordered about by you like some..."

Not another tirade, he thought as he put his palm up to quieten her. "You either come down in five minutes or I am coming back up and..."

"Oh shut up! I hate you!" She shouted at him before slamming the door in his face.

"And that's how we say good morning it seems..." He said. A second later, he heard the bathroom door being slammed even harder if it was possible.

Klaus felt Caroline coming down the stairs and then entering the dining area because he felt a distant throbbing pain in his calf, every time she took a step. He watched her as she shot a glance towards the table where he and Rebekah were sitting, dressed in her clean clothes. The light blue blouse and her jeans that hugged her thighs and bottom, and then looked at the long table that held everything anyone could wish for breakfast and anything else too. From coffee, tea to fresh juices, everything that made up a traditional English breakfast, to a wild variety of fruits. He gave a small sigh as he realised she was trying to hide her limp as if he wasn't acutely aware of all she was feeling.

Rebekah grumbled as she took a sip of her coffee. "She deigns to join us."

Caroline shot Klaus a dark look before she sat down and then started studying the room, from the furniture to the paintings hanging on the walls. He saw her eyes dart to the door where the hybrids were helping Klaus' chef prepare all the food, even if there was no way they would consume it all, but the important thing was that the Michaelsons wished for nothing.

Rebekah gave a small laugh as she drank some more from her cup. "I think she's expecting half naked humans to come in so we can feed."

"Do you want some blood now?" Klaus asked Caroline, ignoring his sister remark even if the nervous look the other girl shot her could mean that her thoughts hadn't been that far off.

When she shook her head in answer, he added. "Then take whatever you feel like. They'll bring some blood bags soon."

"Blood bags, ewww." Rebekah made a disgusted face. "But I guess it's still much better than your usual bunnies and squirrels."

Caroline stayed silent and just looked down.

"You cut her tongue off last night, Nik?"

"Unlike you, I don't need to hear my own voice to keep me company, I actually have friends."

A small but searing pain surprised Klaus and he felt something wet and hot coming down his cheek. A fraction of a second before his eyes had seen a knife fly from his sister's hand towards Caroline's face. The younger vampire had tried to deflect it but Rebekah had been too fast…as was Caroline a second later when she threw her fork in retaliation at the other girl but which his sister caught in her hand before it hit her body.

"You little bitch!" Rebekah growled at the other girl as she stamped the fork loudly on the table.

"Bekah! Enough!" Klaus shouted at his sister as his eyes took in the trickle of blood coming down Caroline's cheek.

"But Nik..." His sister stopped in mid-sentence and her eyes widened as she saw the cut on his own cheek.

"Oops," she whispered, "it's just a nick...Nik." Rebekah tried to smile at her own pun but he frowned heavily back instead making her smile die immediately on her lips.

Klaus took a clean table cloth and putting it to his cheek cleaned the blood smear off his face, fuming inside. At his sister, for what she just did, at Caroline for provoking her, and at the whole situation which was suddenly rendered incredibly clear, if the pain in both his and Caroline's leg hadn't already, how exactly the Bennett's spell was working.

Caroline raised a trembling hand to her own cheek and wiped it clean too. Seemed that his sister's little act had pushed the harsh reality in Caroline's face as well.

"It's wasn't a nick you aimed for." He finally answered his sister.

"Neither did she." Rebekah defended herself.

"You attacked first." He reminded her.

Rebekah grasped her hands tightly in front of herself. "Did you hear what she said to me?"

Caroline mumbled but they both still heard it. "Truth hurts."

Rebekah's hand went for another knife in front of her but Klaus hand grasped hers before she could do anything with it. "Drop it...You will not hurt her in any way."

"Fine," His sister agreed. "I'll make do with her friends then."

"Don't you dare!" The other vampire growled at her.

Rebekah ignored her, knowing she had the upper hand. His sister knew exactly where to hit, she had learned from the best. Him. "The only problem is that I've already killed her best friend so..."

Caroline sprang up but Klaus was already between them before she reached Rebekah.

"Enough, both of you." He said looking first at Caroline. "You, stay off that leg and start eating now. You," he added, gazing at his sister. "Go to school."

"No." They answered in unison.

Klaus looked upwards asking, "Oh my Lord wasn't one brat in my life enough?"

"Don't call me a brat."

"I'm not a brat."

Their voices, once more overlapped on the others'.

Klaus took a long, deep breath inside and then looked straight in his sister's eyes. "Go to school."

She stared right back at him and then gave in. "Fine."

"And remember what I told you. Let the hybrids know where you are." He added to her back.

"They wouldn't be so stupid as to attack me in daylight and among people." She said as she turned her head to look at him.

"Still..." He had already ordered his hybrids to take turns in guarding Rebekah. He was taking no chances with these wolves.

"Okay..." She smiled at him. "You be careful too."

"What?"

"It can be dangerous if one should forget to think..." Her smile grew into a mischievous one, "with his head." She finished darting a look at Caroline.

He couldn't help smile back. "Get out."

"I'll say hi to Matt for you, Caroline." She said looking at the other girl, the same smile still on her lips.

"Hope he spits right in your face in answer." The other girl rudely replied.

His eyes noticed how his sister's smile died on her lips before leaving the room. Seems like Caroline knew where to hit too, he thought as he turned his eyes on her.

"Eat." He ordered her again when her eyes met his.

She got up with a sigh and poured some cereal with milk in a bowl which she then put in front of herself. Filling a spoon to the brim, she looked at him as she put it in her mouth and started crunching loudly on its contents.

A hybrid came in, put some blood bags on the table and left again.

"Take them." Klaus told her in a quiet voice.

"Seriously?! You think..."

"Yes."

She let the spoon go in the bowl with a splash then grabbed two bags from the tray and put them next to her bowl.

He was about to order her to drink but before he could she said, "I'll take them upstairs with me if you don't mind."

Was she embarrassed to drink in front of him or of drinking blood? He thought, his eyes narrowing on her. "Are you ashamed of whom you are?"

"No, I..."

Yes she was. "Bad idea…since it's who you'll be for the rest of your life."

"I am not ashamed, I just don't flaunt it."

"Why not? Being a vampire has helped you change from that little human girl you were. You should be proud of the strong, fearless girl you are now."

He looked straight at her, his eyes softening. Surely she could see that she was born to be a vampire. She did see, he realised, as she stared back at him and read it there in her eyes, she was happier this way…maybe she didn't show it because she was afraid of being judged by her mother or friends… their opinion mattered to her. Too much.

"Paying me compliments won't make me like staying here, you know?" She said, finally lowering her eyes.

His lips tilted up at the sides as he took a piece of apple from his side plate. "I have a feeling that nothing will make you like staying here...and you will let me know that very clearly, won't you?"

She immediately raised angry eyes to him.

"Still,' he continued, "the only way you'll leave here is when we're un-spelled...now eat some more."

Her mouth pursed in an angry snarl. "You ordering me about was not part of our deal!"

"Neither the four am music was…I guess, we'll just both have to make do, won't we?"

Her fist twirled around the spoon as she filled it once more with the cereal and munched it down.

Another hybrid came in the room from behind Caroline.

"You have a visit." He informed Klaus.

Klaus frowned. It had better not be one of her friends, he had told them to stay away. "Who is it?"

The hybrid glanced at Caroline before saying, "Sheriff Forbes."

Caroline ran out of the room in a flash, making Klaus wince at the pain in his leg hit him once more. "Mom?!"

Klaus followed her out at a slower pace, and found her in the living area hugging her mother tightly.

"Sheriff Forbes, do you think it's wise coming here?" He asked her.

The Sheriff turned to look at him, releasing her daughter from her hug, "Bonnie explained everything to me, and while I understand why you told the others to stay away, I'm the sheriff of Mystic Falls, I don't think it's strange if I find a need to visit a house...any house."

Caroline smiled at her mom, her love for her shining in her eyes. Liz turned to her and returned the smile while caressing her cheek. "Bonnie, also packed a bag for you, she got you the things she thought you would need…Your laptop is in there too, so you can communicate with your friends and with me too of course." With her hand, she pointed at the luggage at their feet.

Caroline hugged her again and Liz, turned to Klaus, with her daughter still held close. "I talked to the group in the forest, the pack. They told me they were camping and they are not breaking any laws, so there's nothing I can do about that. They are about twenty five..."

"That many?" Caroline asked with a start.

"Twenty six plus the three I killed." The original vampire corrected the sheriff. Before going to his room last night he had sent his hybrids to check, and this morning he had been filled in on all the details. He had also stressed to them all that as long as Caroline was under his roof, protecting her was their first priority. They would keep her safe at the cost of their own lives…which would end anyway if she was killed.

"What are you going to do?" Liz asked him in a serious tone.

"What I have to."

That seemed to satisfy her as she nodded then fixed her gaze squarely in his eyes. "I trusted you once, on her birthday ...and you gave her back to me. I also know you saved her from the council ...and again this week...so I have to believe that my daughter's welfare is important to you."

"Mom?!" Caroline didn't like being reminded of Klaus coming to her rescue.

"And from what Bonnie told me, now more than ever." Liz finished heavily.

The Sheriff already understood that this was not a normal situation and that it was better left to Klaus to solve and he simply nodded to her.

"Good, then promise me no harm will come to my daughter...you will protect her or you'll have me to answer to...and I know that to you, I may look just like all the other helpless humans, and maybe you're right, but this isn't a normal human being talking to you, this is a mother and I swear that if something happens to her because of you..."

There it was. A parent's love for their child. Ready to take on the world for her, if need be. Even if it was a useless threat against him, he respected the emotion behind it.

"I promise you Liz, I will keep her safe." And he meant it. He would never let anything happen to Caroline and not just because in this moment they were bound by the spell. His eyes turned to the young vampire and found her looking at him with something that for once wasn't anger but something soft he couldn't read but that it made that thing in his chest tug hard, once again. It was almost becoming a familiar feeling, he thought as his eyes reluctantly left Caroline's to look back at her mom.

"Thank you." Liz said simply. She believed him.

Caroline must have heard it too in her mother's voice because she turned stunned eyes on her. "Mom?! He brought me here against my will!"

"Honey, if I had to choose the safest place for you in the world right now, it would be by his side." Her mother explained.

"What!?"

The sheriff sighed. "I'm not saying I like it, but it's the truth... you heard what I said, they are a really huge pack. It would be way too easy for them to hurt you. Please, don't do anything crazy or stupid, stay here."

Caroline turned angry eyes on Klaus. The soft look from moments before completely disappeared. "Did you compel her or something?" She asked him.

"Seems your mother is the one who have realised exactly what is going on here...and the best way to help you."

"Thanks mom." Sarcasm dripped from the words.

"Honey...I got myself four corpses in the morgue...and I'm scared out of my mind because I can't help thinking it could have been you...please, just stay here."

Caroline closed her eyes and when she opened them gave her mom a big smile. "Mom, I won't be here long, Bonnie will soon break this stupid spell and I'll come back home."

"Yeah, I'm sure of it too." Liz said after a hesitating moment, returning her smile.

The sheriff was worried. The Bennett witch told her something else.

"Don't worry mom, I'll be fine." Her daughter said.

"I have to go now. I have to...investigate." Her mother said with the same sarcasm Caroline had just used while giving her one last hug. Caroline hugged her back.

Why did they all seem obsessed with hugging? Klaus thought once again.

"...and thank you so much for the bag." She added, finally letting her go.

"I will visit again." The sheriff told Klaus, before giving one last smile at her daughter.