"Hello love."

Caroline's head snapped up and she stared as the original who was hunting her sauntered towards her, smiling, looking very pleased with himself. Of course he was there, of course she should have known better than to put her trust in Katherine, the backstabbing bitch that defined the terminology.

Honestly, the only thing that suprised her was the fact that Katherine had waited a full three months to sell her out, she would have expected it to be more like two weeks, if that.

Fine, if this was the beginning of her eternity of misery, she might as well enjoy her last couple of minutes of freedom. Dumping the bags at her feet, she sighed and feigned ignorance as she walked into her flat, squeezing past Klaus while barely sparing him a look.

"I suppose there's no point in asking where Katherine is?" she called out over her shoulder as she headed through the livingroom with a beeline for the kitchen and the unopened bottle of champagne she had inside it. Granted, this wasn't a celebratory situation, but she had it, and she may as well enjoy it for as long as she could.

"Gone with the wind, I'm afraid."

Caroline snorted, popped the cork on the champagne and braced her back against the kitchen counter, noticing for the first time that Klaus wasn't the only one currently taking up space in the apartment.

"Who are you?" He was hot, in a cute kind of way, but looking into his eyes she could tell there was more than a little crazy in him.

"Why Nik, you didn't tell me she was such a looker. Tasty little thing, isn't she?" No one had ever called her a thing before, and she didn't like it much, but she wasn't immune to the compliment.

"Well, you aren't so bad yourself." She muttered, then held the bottle his way, "Champagne?"

The guy who thought she was "tasty" grinned and sauntered her way.

"Love some, darling." She gave it up, and turned her attention to Klaus who was watching both of them closely, and he didn't look particularly happy.

"So what, you're here to begin my eternity of misery, is that it? Or have you decided to just make quick work of it and kill me after all. I mean, I did mess up your ritual by killing your little witch. Sorry for that, by the way, nothing personal, but I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"That was only a temporary set-back, love. The ritual is completed, there are plenty of celestial events, and your friends were happy to help after some convincing." Caroline stared at him, now it was her who was watching him closely, and she couldn't tell if he was playing her or if he was telling the truth.

"In fact, you saved me a lot of trouble doing what you did. My mother was a cunning witch, you see, but with the added time you gave me, I was able to discover the little twists in her spell. And your friends, Bonnie and Elena, only had two conditions before agreeing to help me."

"You're lying. They hate you, there is no way they would agree to help you."

"And yet they did, in exchange for your freedom from my wrath and Elena walking away from the ritual with her life intact. So, you have nothing to worry about love, I won't put a hand on you. I'm a man of my word, after all."

Well, clearly, she'd missed a lot, and also, maybe it wasn't such a good idea of her to ignore Bonnie's calls in the past couple of weeks.

"So I'm free to go, just like that."

"Yes," he agreed easily, flicking out a hand, "you have nothing to fear from me. Though, I will warn you not to get in my way again, I tend to hold a grudge."

The other guy snorted and Caroline looked at him.

"Understatement of a millennia, brother. How many times have you daggered me and carted me around in a coffin. Same with Bekah, and not to mention poor Finn, he's been stuck in that coffin for nine hundred years. And Elijah, well, that's an entirely different story."

Now Caroline was staring at her champagne drinking companion, mostly because he'd kalled Klaus "brother", and he'd shared a lot of family history in that little comment.

"You dagger your siblings and haul them around in coffins?" Seriously, coffins? That was so cliché.

"Yes, he does. The name is Kol, by the way, Kol Mikaelson. I'm clearly the most attractive brother."

Caroline couldn't help it, she laughed, grinning at Klaus' brother, and that was something she never had imagined possible.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's nice to meet you. You seem like a lot more fun than your brother, Kol. You know any good spots in London? I haven't had a night out in a while, and I could really use one."

"Brother, you are not taking Caroline drinking." Her eyes snapped to Klaus after he uttered those words and she narrowed her eyes.

"Why?" She demanded, getting annoyed, "It's your fault I've been the most boring vampire in history the past three months, the least you can do is let your brother show me a good time."

"Oh, I'll show you a good time sweetheart." Her eyes moved back to Kol and she smiled, even though the innuendo was impossible to miss, and while he was cute, she found she wasn't even slightly tempted. No, apparently, her vampire brain had made her crazy because she found she was partial to a blonde haired, blue eyed, psychopath who up until twenty minutes ago, she was sure wanted to kill her.

"Say another word brother, and I'll tear out your liver." That softly voiced menacing threat made Kol grin wide and glance between his brother and Caroline.

"If that's the case, then why don't you take lovely Caroline for a drink, Niklaus? You know London far better than me anyways. Besides, I have some business to attend to, and someone needs to keep Bekah from massacring the city."

"Is your entire family here?" Caroline asked curiously, glancing at Klaus, and he sighed.

"Unfortunately. It was the only way to keep Elijah happy, but I do keep a dagger or two on hand, in case one or more get too annoying."

"You guys could really use some family therapy." She muttered, which Kol found hilarious by the sound of his laughter and Caroline could not deny she liked Klaus's brother. He seemed a little crazy, but a whole lot of fun, and she liked to think she was a bit of both too.

"So, let me go freshen up, and then I expect a night in London I will never forget."