I swallowed, not remembering ever being this close to Stefan before.

"That was, uh, quite an entrance back there." he said as we danced. He was very good.

Not that that was surprising, of course.

"Everyone was staring, it was so embarrassing it was..."

"Painful?"

I laughed, thinking of the pain in my head which had disappeared again. "Oh, you have no idea."

I looked around the ballroom at all of the dancing pairs.

Rebekah was with Matt.

Damon with Elena.

Caroline with... Kol.

She looked pretty annoyed as she spoke to him. He was grinning down at her, and I saw her scoff.

I couldn't spot Klaus...

"How are you?" I asked, gesturing to Damon and Elena who were dancing next to us. "About that."

He sighed. "Let's not get into that."

"Why? You can bitch about Damon to me." I shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Elena can't hear you," Damon said loudly, "But I can."

Stefan rolled his eyes and steered us away from them.

"You still love her, don't you?"

He didn't say anything.

"Then fight for her. Without hurting Damon."

"And how, exactly, do I do that?"

"I don't have a lot of experience with wooing Elena, Stefan. Ask Matt."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to ask Elena's ex boyfriend how me, the guy that basically took her away from him, can get her back?"

"Precisely."

He shook his head, smiling. "I think there are a few flaws to your plan."

"Well, if you don't do something you'll lose her. You seem miserable all the time so it must be because she's... well, you know."

He frowned. "Don't you want her to choose Damon? You and him are close, so I thought you—"

"Stefan, if this whole love triangle thing was up to me Elena wouldn't end up with either of you. I'm just trying to be a supportive friend."

"Well, thank you, but I think I know what I'm doing." he said.

"I'll remember you saying that when she chooses Damon."

"Rayna." he said warningly.

"Look, if you act so cocky she's not gonna know which you is you and if you're old new or new you or new, new you. So which one are you, Stefan?"

"What?"

"Do you have your humanity back?" I asked him. He didn't answer.

"I think she's just confused right now." I told him softly. "Maybe instead of focusing on getting her back you should sort yourself out first. Yunno? Get yourself back together."

"Let's stop talking about Elena." he said, before spinning me around and pulling me back against his chest. His rock hard chest.

"Have you been working out?" I blurted.

He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I didn't say anything." I told him, my eyes wide.

He laughed.

It went quiet, and I enjoyed the peace as Ed Sheeran's song played softly in the background. I wasn't nervous about dancing any more.

He leaned forwards slightly, his face inching closer to mine before his lips were next to my ear.

"You look beautiful." he told me.

He spun me around and I left his arms before he caught me again, and after a brief pause we continued to dance even more fluidly. I didn't look up at his face, too focused on my footwork.

"Do you think Klaus' mom is a little bit creepy?" I asked, in an attempt to change the subject. "I mean— her name is Esther. The only Esthers I know was that eight year old psycho killer from that film, Orphan, and the one in our history class. The one that put gum in my hair in fourth grade."

"Your hair seems perfect to me, sweetheart."

I looked up, eyes wide to see Klaus.

I was dancing with Klaus.

He was smirking down at me.

Holding me very close to him.

And I was dancing with him.

Did I mention that? Well, I was. I was dancing with my arch nemesis, and he was holding me very close to him. And I... didn't dislike it.

"What the— how..." I realised that Stefan must have twirled me into Klaus' arms before. "Oh God."

"I apologise for interrupting you speaking about my mother."

Well, shit.

"Um, sorry? Wait, no. I'm not apologising to you! You're a— a person who does bad things... Like buying me dresses... Don't do that."

He raised both eyebrows. "I see you charitably gave your dress to your friend, Caroline." he said and we looked at Caroline who was dancing with Elijah, less tense than she was with Kol. Neither one of them were speaking, and it looked very awkward.

Poor Care.

"I didn't want to throw it away. That would be rude."

"And giving it to somebody else isn't?"

"No. You wanna talk rudeness? Kidnapping me for an entire summer."

"By choice, love." he pointed out. "You did choose to come. To save Damon."

"Irrelevant..." He chuckled.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." I said.

"You see, I am just a little confused. You say I cannot buy you a dress and yet here you are, looking ravishingly beautiful, might I add, in a necklace I gave you as a birthday gift."

I swallowed.

I had been hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Well, I think it's safe to say I did notice." he smirked.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes."

I seriously needed to stop doing that. "Why?" he asked. "It's quite entertaining."

"Damnit! Again, seriously?!" I looked at Klaus, remembering something that had been in the back of my mind. "Your brother. Kol? He was dancing with Caroline before."

"And you want me to ask him to stay away from her?" he asked.

"... No." I said. He looked at me disbelievingly but with a hint of amusement in his eyes. "I'm telling you to." he gave me a look. Klaus did not like being told what to do. "Or, you know, asking... that works too."

"You know," he said after a moment, "You're quite the dancer."

"I wish I could say it was a natural talent, but... I had training. For the pageant last year."

"I know."

I stood outside with Caroline and we watched the horses outside.

"They really went all out for this, didn't they?" I asked her.

"Why were you dancing with Klaus?" she demanded. "He's the enemy, Rain."

"Why were you dancing with Kol?"

"What makes you think it was my choice?"

"What makes you think it was mine?" I counter, before laughing. "So, what's he like, then? You seemed pretty close."

She glared at me. "He's... just... so..."

"Infuriating?" I offer.

"Exactly! Kept on calling me darling every five seconds. Well I'm no one's darling... Except maybe Tyler."

"Has he called you, by the way?" I ask. Tyler hadn't made a single move to talk to Caroline since her father died. I understood that he might have blamed himself but the guy seriously needed to grow some balls and be there for his girlfriend who needed him.

"No." she sighed.

I shook my head. "I mean, there has to be a logical explanation for this. Maybe he's trying to get some help." I offer. "It would make sense. Maybe he's trying to control his hairy little problem."

"I dunno." she shrugged. "Maybe."

"You like horses?" A voice asked.

We both turned our heads to see Klaus walking towards us. He stood next to me.

"Nu-uh," Caroline said, glaring at Klaus. The man who turned her boyfriend into a hybrid. "You don't get to speak to her. And she sure as hell doesn't have to speak to you."

Klaus narrowed his eyes.

"It's okay, Care. I'm fine."

She looked at me for a long moment before glaring at Klaus. The man who had turned her boyfriend into a hybrid.

"Call me if you need me." she said before retreating back into the Mansion.

"Well, she doesn't like me very much." he said.

"Caroline and I have a lot in common."

"I wouldn't say so, sweetheart." he said. "You don't detest me nearly as much as you pretend to."

I glared at him. "Why am I here? Why did you invite me here tonight? Why do you keep on—"

"I fancy you."

"Wh-What?" I stuttered.

I heard him wrong. My hearing is going. He didn't just say that...

"Is that so hard for you to believe?" he asked.

"Yes." I say, shaking my head. "Because you're lying. You have to be. It doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it does. You're beautiful, you're brave, you're strong... I enjoy you."

I didn't know what to think.

"You know, horses are the opposite of people." he said calmly as he looked at the beautiful horse. His voice was soothing. Klaus' voice, not the horse's. "They're loyal... My father hunted me for a thousand years and the closest he ever came was the day he killed my favourite horse. He severed it's neck with a sword, as a warning."

I didn't know what to say. What could I say to that?

So instead of commenting on his psychopathic father, I asked him something else.

"What was the horse called?"

He looked at me for a long moment, before finally looking away. "I can't remember."

I bite my lip. "What are you doing, exactly? I mean, you can't actually expect me to believe that you... when all you've ever done is exhaust every possible method of hurting me."

"It was never intentional."

"But you still did it! Look at this from my point of view, Klaus. You came to Mystic Falls hell bent on sacrificing my sister, and you almost succeeded. You took Jenna away from me. Someone who'd been there for me my entire life. My family. And then, yeah, maybe I did choose to leave with you over the summer but I didn't have that much of a choice, did I? I would have done anything to save Damon. And then, the second you came back to Mystic Falls you murder one of my best friends."

"I turned Tyler into a hybrid. I helped him."

"Did you?" I asked. "Because you turned him into a hybrid he made himself turn and then put Caroline's dad in hospital... So you can't just act charming or buy me a dress and dance with me and call me your sweetheart, or your love, and expect me to just swoon. I'm smarter than that. And I know you're only doing this because I'm your Prophet. That is all I am to you... And in answer to your first question, yes. I love horses. But I also like people, and some of them actually like me, so I'm gonna go back inside before one of your siblings murders one of mine."

I turned and walked back inside of the mansion, almost bumping into someone in my rage.

Two hands steadied my by the waist.

"I'm so sorry, I—" I looked into a pair of sparkling brown eyes. "You're Kol."

He let go of my waist.

"You're... Rayna, I believe?"

"Yes."

"The Prophet?"

"Yep."

"The Doppelganger's twin sister?"

"Yeah."

"My brother's girlfriend?"

"Yes. No. No!"

"No, you mean yes, or no you don't mean no?"

I glared up at him. "Caroline's right about you."

He grinned. "Has she spoken a lot about me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please, get over yourself, she's taken."

He grinned and picked up my hand before kissing my knuckles. His eyes lingered on mine.

"I see why my brother is so interested in you." he said, ominously.

"If you will pardon me, I have to leave, d—"

"Call me darling, love or sweetheart and I will give you an anneurism faster than you can say Original."

He raised his hands defensively. "I apologise for offending you, darling." he grinned before walking past me and out of the front doors.

I shook my head, before I saw my sister in the middle of the party. I walked towards her but stopped after seeing Elijah step up behind her, and they started to talk.

I had the feeling that something was happening that she hadn't told me about.

Not that that would be the first time.

"Rayna, I believe." a man said. I recognised him as Finn.

I nodded, and he studied me through slightly narrowed eyes.

"My name is Finn. Have you spoken to your sister this evening?"

Why would he ask me that? Creep.

"No. Why?"

Kol walked next to him, and Finn shrugged off my question. "No reason."

"I see you have met the lovely Rayna, Finn." Kol grinned.

The sound of clinking glass made everyone turn to look at the staircase on which Esther stood.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," she said, in a tone that made me all the more wary of her. She was downright creepy. "Waiters are coming round with champagne," on queue a waiter stopped infront of us. Kol picked up two glasses and handed one to me. I reached to take it, but he pulled it out of my grasp.

"Are you old enough to drink?" he inquired.

I glared at him before snatching the glass. He grinned.

"I invite you all to join me in raising a glass." Esther continued. "It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening." I caught Caroline's eyes from across the room and she gave me a look identical to mine, which meant that we were both either highly suspicious or highly scared of Esther. For Caroline, it was probably the former. For me... I had a good mind to run out of there, though I had no idea why and knew it was probably just me being stupid. "Cheers."

"Cheers." everyone said. I felt someone looking at me, and my eyes connected with Klaus' across the room who raised his glass before drinking.

I looked back at Esther, who looked between myself and her son with the smallest of smirks on her face.

People began to talk again, and Kol turned to me, as though he was about to say something, but looked past me and smirked. I frowned and followed his gaze to see Klaus walking towards us.

"Niklaus!"

"Kol."

"Niklaus."

"Finn."

DONKEY!

"I see you've met Rayna." Klaus said, glaring at Kol. I sensed a lot of tension between the two.

Finn walked away.

"Bye, Finn!" I called after him and waved, even though his back was turned. "It was great to meet you too!"

"Yes," Kol said, ignoring me. "She's... delectable."

Klaus growled and Kol chuckled. "Relax, brother. Rayna and I are pals." he clapped me on the back. "Aren't we?"

Klaus clenched his fists.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's my favourite colour?"

"Blue."

"How did you guess?!"

He shrugged. "I'm pretty psychic myself."

"I'd like to show you something." Klaus said, looking directly at me.

"Fine." I said. His face softened, and I realised he probably hadn't expected me to agree so easily. To be honest, neither did I.

"Keep it PG, you two!" Kol yelled as we walked away from him.

"How does he know what PG means?" I asked Klaus. "Well, he spent all day playing on the Xbox or watching the television."

"You have an Xbox?"

"No." he said, as though the very thought was ridiculous. "I have three."

"So," I said as I followed him into a separate room. "What did you want to show me?"

"One of my passions."

I stopped in my tracks as I saw a beautiful painting hanging on the wall. I didn't say anything as I took a step closer and looked down at the desk in front of the wall, covered with pieces of paper with sketches on. I picked one up of a woman with long silky hair.

Did he... No. He couldn't have. Could he? He draws too?

"Did you do these?" I asked, looking up at him to see him watching me.

"Yeah, um, actually one of my landscapes is hanging at the Hermitage, not that anyone would notice."

"Oh my God." I breathed, as I picked up another sketch.

"Do you draw?"

"... I used to." I said after a while. "After my parents died, I kinda stopped. Jeremy's the artist of the family now."

"Have you been? To the Hermitage?"

"That was one good thing about this summer. I got to travel. Other than that I've never really been anywhere..."

"I'll take you. Wherever you want." I raised an eyebrow. "Rome... Paris... Tokyo."

We laughed.

And then I realised that I was having fun, or rather, who I was having fun with.

"You know, it must be nice to get whatever you want all the time... Is that why you collect hybrids? Why you compel people to turn off their emotions so that you can use them?"

"You're making assumptions."

"Then why else would you need Tyler? Stop controlling him. Give him his life back, or at least help Stefan like the 'friend' of his that you claim to be... I get it now." I laugh, without humour. "You're father didn't love you so you assume no one will either. But you don't even give them a chance first. That's why you need to control them, isn't it? You can't stand the thought of them leaving you. It's why you turned Tyler. Why you compelled Stefan. It's why you carted your family around in caskets for hundreds of years. Or you try to buy them off," I said.

I took off my necklace and threw it on the desk. "It doesn't work that way! You don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them, and you don't let anyone in because you don't want to lose anyone. You're terrified of someone seeing your true colours because you're afraid they won't like the person that they see."

"It doesn't work that way, Klaus." I said before turning to leave the room, but I stopped. "You were lying to me before." I said. "About your horse... The one your father killed. You do remember it's name. What was it?"

And it took him a while, before finally, he said the word quietly. Almost too quiet for me to hear properly, but I did. And it made my heart swell to hear him say something so quietly, with such vulnerability, and more emotion than I thought could come from him.

"Henrik."

"Hey!" Caroline said, standing in front of me. "Have you seen Matt."

"No. Why?"

"I can't find him anywhere." she sighed, before walking towards Elena.

I shrugged before walking out of the mansion and down the steps, moments before a body fell from the sky.

Well, from the balcony.

"Kol?!" I yelled. Before I could help him up, Damon jumped on top of him began to try and snap his neck.

"He..." Damon said through a strained voice as he used all his strength to overpower the Original. "Tried to... Kill... Matt."

Snap.

Kol lay unconscious.

"Damon!" Stefan yelled, running out of the mansion. "Are you crazy?"

The originals walked out behind Stefan and Elena ran outside.

"Maybe a little." Damon shrugged, then looked at Elena pointedly. "Far be it for me to cause a problem."

He turned and walked away, into the night. "What did you say to him?" I asked my sister. She looked at the ground guiltily.

"Look," I said, looking mainly at Elijah but also at Klaus and Stefan. "Damon said that Kol tried to kill Matt. So, I'm sorry, but Esther granted us peace. Damon was within his right to protect Matt."

"Thank you for telling me that, Rayna." Elijah said gratefully. He cast an annoyed glance at Kol's body. I merely nodded before turning and walking towards the cars, hoping Damon hadn't left already. I needed a drink.

I sat at the bar in the Grill, still in my dress. Damon was still in his suit. Rebekah and Matt were talking a few seats away from us.

"You were a lovesick fool." I said after downing another shot.

"I was a lovesick fool!" he agreed. "I was completely under her spell... It's like I was compelled, or something."

"Yeah. Imagine. Katherine compelling you..."

"Funny." he said sarcastically.

"You loved her for over a hundred years. And you just... stopped? Just like that?"

"It wasn't instantaneous, Ryan." he patted my head. "Rayna." I corrected. "Rain. Ray. Maybe even Ray-Ray... But Ryan? No. I am a girl. Remember? Look at these two twins right here. I am female."

"Prove it."

"No."

"Then I don't believe you." he said, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I missed this." I slurred. "Us being binking druddies."

"I think you mean drinking buddies." he shook his head. "Lightweight."

"We used to do this all the time! And then... summer happened." I growled. "Why did you have to get bitten by Tyler? I knew you had the hots for him but when werewolves are concerned kinky can become deadly in a second."

"I missed it too."

"Missed what?" Rebekah asked sitting on Damon's left side, where Ric usually sits.

She helped herself to some of our shots.

"You might wanna leave now, Rayna." Damon warned. "Why?"

"Cause I'm about to seduce an Original." Rebekah scoffed. "Charming."

"You can join us if you want." Damon said, wiggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. "No."

He ruffled my hair before I stumbled off the chair and out of the Grill very slowly. I walked down the road just as slowly and walked into someone. A pair of arms steadied me.

I looked up.

"Stefan. Let me guess. Texted Damon you?"

He chuckled. "Damon texted me. C'mon. I'm taking you home."

I pouted. "Noooo."

"Come on, Rain."

"No." I stomped my foot.

He shrugged. "Fine."

I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet any more as Stefan picked me up and carried me in his arms bridal style.

"I don't want you throwing up in my car," he said before flashing us away.

OG AUTHOR'S NOTE: A/N— I'm not writing the Klaus and Rayna moments in a way to 'copy' Klaroline at all. I change these scenes in a way that reflects both Klaus and Rayna's characters and how they are around one another. Basically, Klaus is different around Rayna in this story than he is with Caroline in the show because the dynamic between Rayna and Klaus is completely different to that between Caroline and Klaus. Now that that is out of the way, what do you all think of Kol? Did I do him justice? Did I write him correctly? I hope so. How did you guys feel about Caroline and Kol, or the introduction between Rayna and Kol? I love Kol. Wish he hadn't died. TO would be amazing with him. Anyways, yeah so this chapter took quite a while, but when I was busy posting this chapter I saw how many people have followed this story, so I had to add this at the end of my little speech. THANK. YOU. So many people said last chapter was good, and I didn't think it was my best, but I'm so happy. I smile every time I get a review, and some of them make me laugh even though they aren't funny. I just get very giddy and excited about it all. And when I see that someone has

followed or even FAVORITED this story I just... Wow. It really means a lot.