CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:

CAROLINE P.O.V.

Klaus stood in the corner of the room, a full glass of bourbon clenched in his hands. I sat on the opposite side of the room, watching him carefully, my stomach twisting as I watched his hand shake with nerves.

I hadn't taken my eyes off of him all morning, not since he returned from his breakdown. I didn't ask him where he went, but guessing from the blood that stained his lips I could hazard a guess. Not that I had had a chance to ask him, even if I wanted to. The house was filled to the brim with people here trying to help find Hayley, and Klaus had yet to even look at me let along come anywhere close to me.

I mean, I understood that he was distraught about Hayley. We all were. But ignoring me, and not even apologising for throwing me across the room, wasn't the best thing to do in this situation.

"We know she's being held in some sort of cabin or shack somewhere. But where?" Katherine was saying, leaning over the map that was splayed out across the coffee table.

She wasn't the only one leaning over the table and scouring the map. Half of the people in the room were trying to get a look at it. It was suffocating.

"There's a lot of those shorts of shacks on the outskirts of the city in the bayou, not to mention those that are even further out than that. There's no way of telling you where she could possibly be. It would take forever search them all." One of Marcel's men added, leaning on the backrest of the couch where I sat.

Klaus looked over at him, his eyes briefly resting on me before he looked back out the window. He didn't speak up or offer any thoughts of that revelation. He probably knew all of this anyway.

"Surely we can get a witch to do some sort of locater spell on her." Rebekah grumbled, drinking what I hoped was a glass of wine, but was probably something very different.

"We tried that already, remember?" Katherine replied, turning her head to look at Rebekah. "He obviously has witches on his side that can block her location."

"It was just a suggestion." Rebekah looked dejected and looked at her older brother.

Elijah stood to the outskirts of the group like Klaus, except he was scrolling almost manically through his phone. He only looked up when someone spoke to be polite, then his head tilted downwards again.

"You could offer up some sort of bait." Marcel muttered, his eyes moving to me. Klaus' tightened his grip on his glass so hard that it shattered, splatting bourbon all down his front.

Everyone flinched.

"No one is being offered up as bait." I said calming, standing from the chair. I had made a vow to myself that I would never be offered up as the blonde distraction again. I had spent too much time risking my life to distract someone, or lure them out. And I wasn't going to do it now.

I quickly excused myself and headed upstairs to the bathroom, pulling out my phone and scrolling through my contacts as I leant against the sink. I found the name that I was looking for, a number I didn't think I had ever called before, and pressed call.

A happy voice answered the phone. "Caroline? What are you doing calling me?"

"Hey, Jeremy." I said, running my hands through my loose hair.

"Are you calling to see if Elena is still pissed at you? Because she is."

"No. I'm not calling because of Elena. I was wondering if you could still talk to Bonnie or not."

He paused, and I could almost hear his hesitation through the phone. "Look, Caroline, Bonnie doesn't want us to call on her just because we can. I mean, she even doesn't want me calling on her unless there's a proper emergency."

"This is an emergency Jeremy." I tried to figure out quickly how to put things without revealing too much to him. "A pregnant woman here in New Orleans has been kidnapped by an old vampire. We're trying to locate her, but it seems like witches have blocked her location. I just want to know if there's anything Bonnie knows about getting around this."

He paused again, this time for longer. I heard him mumble something to himself before he called out loudly for Bonnie. I sighed a sigh of relief. He wasn't asking more questions.

Then Jeremy started to talk to Bonnie, answering the questions and complaints she obviously had about being called on. "Bon, Caroline says that there's someone pregnant who has been kidnapped. She wants to know something about a locator spell."

"…Yes, I'll ask her." He said after a short moment of silence. "She wants to know if you've tried the average locator spells already."

"Yes, we've tried all of the basic ones. But, we're being blocked."

I waited as they spoke for a couple of minutes. Jeremy excused himself from the phone, walking off only to return with what sounded like a book in hand. "Okay, Bonnie said that there's a couple of spells that you can try. But not all of them are accurate. The witch you have there, if she knows this sort of magic, should know these spells. One requires blood of someone related to the victim, and another requires something that she came into contact with in the last 24 hours."

My heart sank. Hayley didn't have any family that I knew of. And she had been missing for longer than 24 hours. They were both useless. "Tell her I said thank you Jeremy. I'm not sure if this will help, but we'll try."

"Okay, if you need anything else just-"

I flinched at the loud crashing sound coming from downstairs. Jeremy cut off on the other end, swearing, having heard the loud sound as well. I opened the bathroom door and hurried down the stairs to see what had happened.

"Caroline, are you okay?" Jeremy asked, still on the phone. I quickly assured him that I was fine, hanging up the phone and rushing into the lounge room.

Most of the people who had previously been in the small lounge, were now standing with wide eyes in the entrance hall, or on the porch.

Elijah, Rebekah, and Katherine were still in the lounge with Klaus. He was obviously having another breakdown, or a panic attack. His face was changed, his teeth elongated, and his eyes shining gold. The table that had been in the centre of the room was split in two, and the bar was flipped upside down.

Katherine stood back, a large gash on her arm, while Rebekah and Elijah held him back. I walked into the room, not thinking twice about how dangerous it could be. I walked straight to Katherine, who was staring down at her arm in shock. Teeth marks.

"Katherine, why don't you go and clean yourself up." I said, grabbing a tissue from the box that sat off to the side.

She looked up at me as I handed her the tissue, panic in her eyes. "You shouldn't be in here. He could hurt you. He wouldn't want you in danger."

I rolled my eyes. "He'll be fine once he calms down. He isn't going to hurt me."

Katherine shook her head. I turned back around to look at him. He had a pained look on his face as he hunched over, his bones cracking as he moved and warped with the change. He was turning. I had never seen him lose control like this.

"What happened to cause this?"

"Some idiot decided to mention that the chances of us finding Hayley alive were slim-to-none." Katherine whispered to me, trying not to get the attention of Klaus. "I happened to be standing next to that idiot, and Klaus bit me instead. He just snapped."

"He needs to calm down. He can't snap every time he hears something he doesn't like." Marcel spoke up from the entrance hall. Klaus' head shooting in his direction.

"Of course he did." Katherine growled, seeming really emotionally affected as she stepped forward to stand directly in front of Klaus, who was still keeled over in pain fighting off the change that was instinctfully going through his body. "He isn't used to experiencing these sort of feelings as a wolf. It's taking control. His connection to Caroline is overpowering him, and his paternal instinct is kicking into overdrive now that Hayley is gone."

She reached out, taking his face in her hands as she met his eyes. He didn't look like he was fully there as she spoke to him in a soft whisper. The next second an ear-splitting crack filled the room. Klaus collapsed in Elijah and Rebekah's arms.

Shock filled their eyes as she took a bite out of his arm, standing up and brushing herself off, the wound on her arm already healing.

"What the fuck, Katherine?" Rebekah yelled, dropping her brother to the ground.

"He was having a panic attack. He wasn't in the right state of mind, and could have killed half of the people helping him." She yelled back, crossing her arms. "Sorry, if I have everyone's greater good in mind, but we can't keep coddling him just because he's finally feeling some sort of human emotions."

"Katherine…" Elijah said, stepping forward to reach for her, but she pulled away.

"No, Elijah. Klaus isn't the only one here who has lost people, or had the threat of losing people. In fact, he's probably caused half the people in this room's misery. I understand that he's trying to change, but he needs to pull his head from his ass and get shit together. This is about Hayley, not about his hormonal outbursts."

She rushed from the room, heading upstairs. I stood there in complete shock. Anger and confusion running through my body. I had never seen anyone get that close to hurting Klaus, let alone break his neck.

I mean, breaking his neck wouldn't hurt him at all. He would wake back up in a few hours perfectly fine. But, that didn't mean I liked the fact that that was the solution that we ended up using to calm him down.

Elijah told everyone to reconvene later that night, sending them out of the house as he and Rebekah carried Klaus up the stairs to Klaus' bedroom. They laid him down on the bed, and I sat beside him on the bed, reading one of my books that I had brought with me the other week.

It was two hours later when he finally sucked in another breath, eyes shooting open. He sat up, clutching his neck as he looked around the room in confusion. His eyes landed on me and I looked at him over the top of my book, raising my brow.

"Katherine broke my neck." He said, not sounding angry, but more so incredulous.

"Yes." I said, turning the page and continuing to read about Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby."

"What's happened?" He said, getting up from the bed. "What have you guys done while I've been out?"

He looked frantically around for his phone, his eyes not meeting mine again, but rather searching every surface of the room.

I reached into my pocket and held it out to him. "Elijah told everyone to come back once you woke up. They didn't want to do anything until you were awake again."

"So you've all been sitting around wasting time?"

I slid my bookmark into the book and closed it, resting it on top of the bedside table. "No, Klaus. We haven't. Elijah, Rebekah, Katherine, and Nadia are in the lounge room scouring the maps for any sign of a place where she might be. They've been talking to witches and trying to figure stuff out. But, there isn't much they wanted to do without you to oversee it, or add in your input."

He looked lost for a moment, still not looking straight at me. I sighed, climbing off the edge of the bed and walking up to him. I rested my hand on his cheek, moving his face so that he would finally look at me.

"Klaus…Nik, we're going to have to talk about it sooner or later." I whispered, reaching up to press a kiss to his lips.

"After we get Hayley back. I can't focus on anything until Hayley is back."

I nodded, giving him a hug and holding him there for several seconds. When I pulled back I offered him a small smile. "Nik, I'm going to stay at Nadia's tonight. Don't look at me like that. I need time to think everything over, and to clear my head. I'll be back here early tomorrow morning."

He shook his head down at me. "I'll leave you alone. But please don't spend the night somewhere else. I need to know that you're safe and sound, and I can't do that if you aren't here."

It was my time to shake my head. "I already talked to Nadia about it. Her housemaid, a witch called Kida, is coming to pick me up in an hour and then Nadia will be there tonight."

He continued to protest as we made our way downstairs. I smiled at the group that sat there, Marcel and a few of his men having arrived since I had last come down. They updated Klaus and I on what developments they had made, and then proceeded to discuss with Klaus what their best options were.

An hour later, Kida knocked on the door and I wished everyone well for the night, heading back to Nadia's house and climbing into the shower to release some of the tension that ravaged my body.

#

I groaned as a knock sounded at my door, waking me up from my much-needed nap. I rolled out of the bed, yawning as I opened the door to find Kida standing there anxiously.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panic filling my body. "Was Andre here?"

"Someone is here to see you and I don't know what to do. He says that he knows you, but I don't want to invite him just in case." She wringed her hands together, tapping her foot as she looked at me. "If you would come downstairs to identify him. I will be there just in case he is here to harm you. But, I don't want to turn someone away that is truly your friend."

I smiled at Kida, confused as to who could be here, but happy that she didn't want to offend me by sending any of my friends away.

I followed her through the house to the front door, which was shut as to not let anyone else out there in. I stood back as she opened the large door to show…Tyler.

My eyes widened as I took Tyler in. He looked like shit. His eyes were bloodshot and he had a light dusting of facial hair across his face. He smiled as he saw me, but I didn't return his smile. I was still angry at him for what he did to me the day of Bonnie's funeral.

"Ty, what are you doing here?" I said, causing Kida to relax as she realised this was someone that I did know. "How did you find me here?"

He ran a hand through his short hair, looking at me sadly. "I tracked you. I went to New Orleans and found your scent. I just followed it here."

I crossed my arms and shifted my weight from one leg to the other. Then I turned to Kida and told her that she could go. "That doesn't explain why you're here Tyler. I thought after our last conversation that you wouldn't want to see me again."

"No." He all but shouted, making me flinch. "I had to come and talk to you, Caroline. I figured it out."

I stepped forward, leaning on the doorframe and looking him up and down. "Figured what out, Tyler? That you were an inconsiderate asshole in how you treated me."

"No, that's not it." He shook his head nonchalantly. "I figured out why you were there with Klaus."

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath in and out. "Okay. I'll bite. Why was I there with Klaus?"

"You wanted to make me jealous." I sniggered. Of course he would make this about himself.

"I wanted to make you jealous?"

"Yes!" He called, throwing his hands up with a massive smile on his face. "I mean, I cheated on you while I was off learning about being a werewolf, and you rocked up with Klaus to make me think that you were sleeping with him."

"There's one problem with your theory Tyler." I said, catching his attention and meeting his eyes. "Klaus and I are in a relationship. He wasn't there to make anyone jealous. If that was the case I would have brought him to the funeral, instead of having him pick me up outside where I didn't expect anyone to follow me."

His expression hardened and he went completely still. "You can't be with him Caroline. He's a monster."

I groaned and felt tears come to my eyes, I didn't want to be having this conversation with Tyler. I didn't want to have to make him understand my feelings for Klaus.

"We're all monsters, Ty. Each and every one of us. We all drink blood to survive, and we all have killed innocent people. We're just as bad as Klaus, he's just had longer to build his reputation."

"None of us are as bad as he is Caroline."

"Really, then how do you explain Damon? Or Stefan? Or Elena when she turned her emotions off? Even me, for Gods sake!" I stepped out the door, throwing my hands up in the air. "I don't care about Klaus' past, and I don't care what anyone thinks about our relationship. It's none of your business."

I turned around to head back inside, stopping at what I saw there. Kida was laying unconscious on the ground, Andre standing over her.

I heard one thing before everything went black.

"Wrong answer, Care."

#

KLAUS P.O.V.

I cornered off the sections on the map where each of the group would search for the shack where Hayley was being held, my head struggling to stay clear as I thought about the fact that Caroline wasn't here.

I hadn't heard from her since she left, but Nadia had called her housemaid who told her that Caroline had been sleeping, so that eased some of the worry that bubbled within me. And Nadia had left half an hour ago to head home, promising to make Caroline call me before she left.

I turned to Elijah and pointed out the different sections, telling him who should go where, and where we should meet up to regroup after the initial search.

Rubbing my eyes hard with my hands, I stood up from the chair to grab a glass of bourbon, checking my phone to see if I had any new messages or phone calls.

"Hello, Nadia." Katherine said happily. I turned around to see that she had answered her phone.

Her face dropped, and I immediately let my ears hone in on the phone. "-door was open when I arrived. I didn't find that weird, but when I came inside Kida was unconscious ground. Someone bit her and knocked her out."

I didn't have to hear any more of the conversation, I ran for the door and pulled Katherine and Elijah along with me, Katherine still on the phone. Not bothering with a car, we ran on foot, speeding out of the driveway as quickly as we could. I continued to listen to Katherine's conversation.
"I searched everywhere for Caroline, but she's not here. He somehow got to her." Katherine hung up her phone and quickly began to type away on the phone.

We came to an abrupt stop when we reached Nadia's house. We all hurried up the steps, Elijah and I stopping in the doorway, unable to get inside.

Nadia and the witch came rushing forward, the witch was on full alert although the bite mark was still on her neck. The witch invited us in and I quickly followed Caroline's scent to her room, slamming open the door and making sure she wasn't there.

Then we searched the house for clues, Nadia sitting with Kida to ask her what happened. When nothing turned up in the house, or in the garden, we all sat in the kitchen with Kida working on something at the stove.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting down and fidgeting as I thought of all the things that could be happening to Caroline right now.

"Someone knocked on the door, so I answered it. I didn't let them in." She reassured us, shaking her head with a scared look in her eyes.

"I know." Nadia whispered.

"He told me he knew Caroline, so I told him to wait, then shut the door and retrieved her. She knew him, and then she told me to leave, so I did. I heard them arguing so I went to go and see what was happening. That's the last thing I remember. Someone must had gotten me from behind." She paused, taking a long swig of her cup of tea. "I don't know how they got in. All of the doors were locked except for the front door. And even then, no vampire would be able to get in with my invitation."

"Who was the person here to see Caroline?" Katherine asked, crossing her arms. "You said she knew him."

Kida thought hard for a moment, her brows furrowing. "I didn't recognise him. I'd never seen him before."

"Did she mention a name at all?" Elijah asked, sitting forward slightly.

I held my breath as Kida's eyes widened.

"She called him Ty." She said, excited that she could remember something helpful.

My blood ran cold. Tyler. I growled, making Kida flinch. Then I proceeded to lose it. I ran from the house, not wanting to hurt anyone, then I tore apart as many trees as I could get my hands on.

When I had calmed down, I walked into the room to see Katherine on the phone. I ignored her to look at Kida. She was holding something in her hand now. A photo. My blood chilled.

Kida held it out to me. "I found this in my pocket when I woke up."

I looked down at photo, my stomach clenching as I took the image in. It was Caroline. Tied up in the back of a car. I snatched the photo from her hand and looked at it closer. Nothing seemed to be wrong with her, physically at least. I just hoped that they had only knocked her out and nothing worse.

A tear threatened to all from the corner of my eye and I rubbed it away before it could fall. "How did Caroline act when she saw Tyler?"

"She was defensive." She said, tapping her nails on her cup. "But she told me to leave, so I assumed that it was okay. If she thought she was in danger she would have wanted me to stay."

I groaned, pulling at my hair. "She wouldn't have thought she was in danger. She always tries to see the best in everyone."

Kida turned from me, placing her glass in the sink. When she looked back at us, her face was scared. "Is it…is it okay if I go and clean myself up? I do not feel comfortable like this."

After she left we all sat there thinking about what we should do next, Katherine still whispering away on her phone to who I know knew was Rebekah. My heart beat fast in my chest, my brain running around what I should do next.

The wolf inside of me was pushing to break to the surface, but after my outburst earlier today I wasn't going to let myself lose control when the life of my mate and the mother of my unborn child was at stake.