Chapter 14: Smile like you mean it

Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

When Caroline woke up the next morning, she felt empty. Drained.

She got up and dressed into a white, lacey top and navy silk shorts. Putting her hair up in a ponytail and washing her face, she tried not to think too much about the previous night. Or at all, really. Instead, she finished getting ready and doing a casual makeup. After which she headed towards the mini-fridge in her room but found herself cursing aloud at the lack of blood bags in it.

"Just great." she muttered to herself right before her phone started ringing from the bedside table. Speeding over to pick up the call, she frowned a little when answering. "You forgot to restock my fridge." she said accusatorily after seeing the caller ID.

"Hello, gorgeous. I'm great, thank you. Did you sleep well?"

She snickered at his mocking tone. "Actually, I slept horribly. And now I'm hungry."

"Well, it's a good thing we will be having breakfast soon then."

"That's not the kind of hungry I was referring to." she sighed and flinched when suddenly hearing something outside of her suite.

"Let me in and I'll find a way to clench your thirst." he teased, his voice now coming from the other side of her door.

She rolled her eyes and ended the call, leaving the phone on the bed and then opening the door. Having had a witty remark prepared and ready to be said, she bit her tongue and held it back once she saw that Enzo was holding up a paper bag.

"Don't say I never gave you anything." he said with a smirk and walked past her into the hotel room.

While she closed the door he sat down on the desk chair next to the French balcony with the paper bag on his lap. She stood and waited as he dug out the contents and threw her one of the two blood bags in his hands. "Thanks." she mumbled when she caught it.

Instead of taking the other blood bag for himself, he stored it in the fridge underneath the desk. He cast her a glance and told her: "for later." which she rolled her eyes at, but not without a small, grateful smile on her lips. Then he discarded the paper bag in the trash bin before settling in on the chair, resting one leg over his knee. "Now, what's this I'm hearing about you not sleeping well? Was Marcel not as satisfactory as hoped?" he smirked.

"You could say that." she shrugged; her eyes averted to the floor while she began drinking the blood. "I ran out on him and got attacked by some drunk scum." she said and averted his gaze.

"What the bloody hell? Why didn't you call me?"

"I was kind of busy trying to run back to my hotel room." she scoffed.

"Caroline, this isn't something to take lightly to. You could've gotten seriously hurt! You should've at least waited to get some back-up."

"Well, I'm fine, Enzo. No need to feel over-protective." she pointed out. "Besides, the guy was drunk and rude. I tried to tell him to back off, but it didn't really end well. So, I took him down." she felt the guilt turn her face sour at the last words and looked away once Enzo started taking it all in.

"By yourself? What about Marcel?" he asked with a surprisingly calm voice, almost sounding curious even…

"It happened really fast, ok? And what matters is that I made it out of there." she said truthfully with a small nod.

"As impressive as I'm inclined to admit that is, I suppose it would be best if I no longer let you run off on your own then."

She snapped her head up to glare at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she huffed as he stood up from the chair.

"It means," he drawled and nodded at the blood bag in her hands. "That you'll need to finish that off and come with me. We're going for breakfast, remember? And after that I'm not leaving your side for the rest of our stay here."

"That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can, gorgeous, but that doesn't mean that you should." he smirked at her and began walking towards the door. "Now let's go! I found this formidable little patisserie that serves homemade beignets, which is incidentally very close to where the witch Damon mentioned may or may not be living."


Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"If Freud was so damn good at his job and so potent to the history of psychology, tell me: why has almost all of his theories been debunked?"

"Trust me Care, if I knew the answer to that I wouldn't need a study group."

"Speaking of which, where were you earlier today? I thought we were going to meet up in B-house and go through those notes from the journalistic writing lecture?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was stuck at the library."

She was still as wondrous as ever... He thought as he listened in on the conversation between a group of students in a lecture hall.

Hearing her voice for the first time in so long, he could practically see her expressions and faces if he closed his eyes. And with it, he imagined the way her blonde hair bounced over her shoulders when she shook her head. How her nose crinkled when she disagreed with something or that spark in her blue eyes when she smiled.

But he was forced to drag his attention away as a familiar presence appeared nearby. He didn't need to look over to know that it was Stefan Salvatore. "Hello, old friend." he chimed with a smirk.

"Klaus." he said in response, standing next to him with his arms crossed over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I've heard that Dallas U has an excellent finance program, and the students sure seem... Prosperous."

"Don't you have a kid now, Klaus? Do you really not have anything better to do than stalking her?"

A chuckle escaped the hybrid's lips as he shook his head lightly. "Don't worry, Stefan. I haven't come to lure your girlfriend away from you."

"Elijah told you?" Stefan said with a sigh.

"I don't blame you." Klaus continued, shrugging lightly. "Only a blind fool would be able to keep from falling for her."

Stefan nodded shortly. "Well, we're not together anymore. Haven't been for a year or so."

"Which makes you the biggest fool of all." Klaus murmured and leaned against a tree as he frowned at him. "I am not here to intrude on Caroline's life. And neither, my friend, are you."

"What, are you her bodyguard now?"

"Aren't you one to talk?" Klaus chirped in response. "Were there really no other corners of the earth for you to go? You just had to end up in her city, and according to my brother: with dangerous enemies following in tow."

"So, you're here to chase me out? Is that it?"

Klaus grinned silently before speaking up again. "Why don't I buy you a stiff drink in a cool bar? I can't be the only one dying to get away from this heat."

"Let's not, Klaus." Stefan grunted, letting out a deep breath. "We don't have to go through this rouse, alright?"

"And what rouse would that be?"

"The whole 'pretending we're still friends' bit you keep insisting on doing."

"Ah, I see..." Klaus muttered, turning away with a sigh.

"Listen, I really didn't mean to cause any trouble when I asked Elijah for help." Stefan continued, earning a nod from the hybrid.

"And yet..." he said, raising his arms in the air to gesture his response. "So, let's cut to the chase then. What do you want?"

"A protection spell."

Klaus snickered, pursing his lips as he shook his head. "Let's try again... Shall we?" he said and walked up to him in slow steps, enunciating every word. "What do you want?"

"I want you to kill someone. A vampire."

"And why do you want this lad dead?"

"He took everything, everyone, from me."

"Ah... That's more like it." Klaus grinned. "And why should I kill him for you?"

"Because I'm asking you to." Stefan responded, earning a deep chuckle from Klaus.

"Oh, do you now?" Klaus said, laughing on. "And why, pray tell, would I ever listen to you?"

Stefan watched him with a frown before turning to look over at the campus, in the same direction that Klaus had been listening to earlier. "Because he isn't just a threat to me."

Klaus shook his head slowly, feeling disappointed in himself as he couldn't help but take the bait... He focused his hearing again in Caroline's direction, catching her loud and clear as she sat down in a shaded park, eating lunch with fellow students. She said her goodbyes to them, seemingly done with her break and in need to go move onto her next lecture. Klaus had to fight the urge to follow her, seeing her, talking to her...

"Very well." Klaus finally said. "Once Elijah and his witches have finished the spell you need to cloak yourselves, and my friends are done checking up on the leads your sweet Valerie gave us on the missing Strix witches... I will find the location of this vampire of yours. And I will kill him."

"You will?" Stefan said, sounding incredulous and relived at the same time.

"Yes. But in return, you will do something for me."


Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"She is nowhere to be found." Enzo said bitterly as he was talking to Damon on the phone.

Caroline rolled her eyes at him and sipped her smoothie, they were having a late, afternoon-lunch in a cute coffee house in an open and wide square. It was green and light and beautiful and a preferable distraction from Enzo's boring conversation as he filled Damon in on their failed missions of the day.

"Not to mention that Lucien Castle never showed up last night. There is a rather good chance that we may have scared him off." Enzo said, glancing over at Caroline.

"How about Freya? Did you go find her yet?" Damon asked.

"Freya?" Enzo repeated and got an equally confused look from Caroline in response.

"Don't tell me Blondie is still avoiding the Big Bad Wolf?" Damon snickered.

"Damon…" Caroline sighed but heard Ric's voice in the background asking for the phone. Enzo in return handed his over to Caroline.

"Hi, Care." Ric said warmly, making Caroline sigh again.

"I'm not going to seek… him out before we have all of the information here." she said, feeling a little guilty as she saw Enzo's exasperated look.

"Really, gorgeous? Have I earned no trust from you by now?" he asked incredulously.

She sighed. "If you guys want Klaus' help then you're going to have to come here and ask for it yourselves." she said.

"Klaus?" Enzo echoed. "Is that the old friend I've been hearing so much about?"

"More like boyfriend." Damon snickered in the background, making Caroline wish she could hit him over the head. An 'ouch' from his end letting her know that Ric covered that part for her.

"According to Damon, Klaus is the only way to get to the witch, Freya." Ric explained. "And if you aren't getting anywhere with this Marcel-lead anyway, then what's the harm?"

"Oh, Caroline is certainly getting somewhere with this Marcel-lead…" Enzo sneered, earning a slap on the arm. "Ouch!" he said in protest, making Caroline shake her head.

"Anyway..." Caroline said. "I think we should just focus on researching Lucien Castle more now that we know for sure that he's the one we're looking for."

"We just left Missouri and are close to entering Texas, apparently he has some properties in Dallas. We thought we'd check them and see what we can find." Ric told her.

"Dallas?" Caroline echoed, a frown covering her face as images flashed through her mind. "Are you going to visit Ginnifer?"

"Um…" Ric said, clearing his throat. "I probably shouldn't, Care."

Caroline swallowed hard as she nodded in agreement, deciding to come clean about the events of last night… "It happened again, Ric."

There was silence for a short moment before he responded. "Really? It's been so long since last time… Did the exercises help?"

"Only if you define help as beating up a drunk and running out of Marcel's apartment last night." she muttered.

"Maybe you should consider taking a break, Caroline. They usually happen when you're feeling stressed..."

"I'm sorry, would you two care to share with the rest of the class?" Damon then chimed in the background, making her groan loudly.

"It's nothing." Caroline said coldly, equally aimed at Damon and Enzo as he watched her with wide eyes and a deep frown. "Let's just drop it and focus on one problem at the time."

"Well, you do know that the only way of solving our problem is if you suck it up and go talk to your boyfriend, right?" Damon said, making Caroline clench her teeth.

"Bye now." she quipped and ended the call before she got a response. Putting the phone down on the table between them, Caroline felt Enzo's eyes at her and sighed. "What!?" she hissed when she met his expecting look.

He shrugged. "I'm simply waiting for you to explain the whole 'boyfriend' bit of that conversation."

She sighed deeply. "Klaus is not my boyfriend. He never was. Damon is just being… Damon."

"Very well…" Enzo said with another shrug as he seemed to let her avoid the other subject this time. "And who is Klaus in that case?"

She bit her lip and glanced around the tables outside, the people passing them by and the kids playing in the park a few feet away… Could she tell him?

Seeing Enzo's impatient frown, she sighed and decided that she might as well come clean, and if anyone around them were to decide to use them to get to Klaus – then she hoped the universe was kind enough to have Klaus find them before anything went south.

"Klaus is… Was…" she began and shrugged. "He is an Original."

"An original what?" Enzo asked.

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly as she realized his years in the Augustine's captivity had clearly kept him from not only the knowledge of the existence of werewolves, but also the fundamentals of vampirism…

Or perhaps she had merely had the privilege of learning these things through living in Mystic Falls, how fortunate she had been, huh! She scoffed to herself and then shook her head. "An Original vampire." she clarified.

He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. "And also…" she said sheepishly. "The Original hybrid." Enzo looked confused for a moment, so she quickly explained. "Part werewolf. Not witch."

He blinked a few times, shaking his head. "And you know him?"

"Well, we not only know him…" Caroline shrugged. "We tried to kill him more times than I can remember, even succeeded with a few of his siblings…" her stomach turned a little at the last detail, since it came off as something she was proud of but really, the reminder made her twitch.

"Siblings?" Enzo echoed. "How many of them are they?"

Caroline pouted her lips as she thought about it for a moment… Not having personally met each and every one of them but coming up with a pretty sure number… "Five, all vampires though. Klaus is the only one with the werewolf gene." she said. "There's only three of them now… Oh, and there were also their parents, but they're dead now."

"So, you've crossed paths with them many times in the past?"

She nodded. "It's complicated, really. They moved to New Orleans just before you popped up. And quite frankly, we haven't really had any reunions planned since then." she said with a nervous giggle.

"Yet, Damon seems to think this Klaus would want to see you, correct?" Enzo said, making Caroline sigh again.

"That's even more complicated." she said with a shake of her head.

"Is there any reason for us to fear him?" Enzo asked.

"I… I don't think so." Caroline said slowly. "I mean… He has his mood swings, and you can always trust him to find someone you love for him to kill or manipulate or turn… But I don't think he would intentionally hurt us without a reason… As long as we don't get on this bad side."

"Would he hurt you?" he asked.

Caroline looked at him in silence for a moment, remembering two sides of Klaus. One which had stabbed her, forced Tyler to bite her and who had nearly sacrificed her in the ritual to break his Hybrid curse… And then the one who had healed her, bought her presents and drawn her pictures, told her stories and promised her the world… "I… No, I don't think so." she said honestly.

"Do you trust him?" Enzo asked then.

"As much as you can trust someone who saved your life a couple of times but who also killed your friends' family members and whom you haven't seen or heard from in years…" she scoffed.

"Why, then, are you so hesitant to contact him now?"

She gulped hard and looked down at her hands in her lap. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"If he can help us find Bonnie then I don't see why you wouldn't call him the moment we landed in Louisiana." Enzo said and shook his head, taking his phone and standing up. "It seems to me you are the one making this far more complicated than it needs to be, Caroline." he said and left her alone at the table.

Caroline swallowed hard and ran a hand through her hair. Was he right? Was she only dragging their rescue mission out further than necessary? Or was it better to try and save Bonnie without the Originals' involvement?

Caroline was at a loss. She stood up and quickly turned away from the restaurant and began walking to somewhere that was becoming familiar to her. "I need a drink." she mumbled to herself as she headed for Rousseau's.


Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"What is this place?" Stefan asked as Klaus opened the doors to a cold locale next to some offices.

"You'll see." Klaus said, leading him through a hallway and to a pair of double doors. He nodded towards the sign that hung nearby.

"Alcoholics Anonymous." Stefan read aloud.

"There is someone here who needs... Guidance." Klaus continued and opened the doors just slightly so that Stefan could see the people inside. "I believe you know him as Ric?"

And just then, Stefan saw the pale and wrinkled face of his former friend. He was sitting in a circle along with other alcoholics, and as if it had been planned - it was Alaric's turn to share with the group.

"I'm Ric and I'm an alcoholic." he said, followed by a murmur of hellos in response. "I fell off the wagon. Again." he then said, sighing deeply before continuing. "It was the anniversary of their due date the other day... And I guess I thought some whiskey would help me get through it, you know? The reminder of them not being here? Of them not ever having been born?"

Stefan gulped heavily as he listened on, studying Alaric's dark eyes and beaten down demeanor. He looked like a shell, only emptiness and pain inside. The man who had lost everything, again and again.

"My friend, remember I told you about her before? Caroline? She tells me we need to cleanse ourselves of the pain. To become new people, with new lives. That the only way to move on, is to leave the past behind. And for a long time, I agreed with her, but these days... I just don't know what good I am anymore, you know? And still, somehow, here I am. So, yeah. That's all. Thanks."

A round of applause followed as he nodded silently in response. Klaus closed the doors then, leading Stefan away from the group session.

"Did you bring me here to punish me?" Stefan asked, earning a frown from Klaus.

"Not at all. I brought you here to fix things."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"By giving him a reason to go on."

Stefan furrowed his brows as Klaus suddenly nodded in a different direction. A woman was talking on the phone as she hurried past them and through the double doors. "Sorry, I'm late. I know. Didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry. Please continue." she said as she joined the others.

"Her name is Ginnifer Lloyd. She's been sober for ten years this spring. She has a teenage daughter with her former husband, from whom she divorced a while back... I believe she could be useful. " Klaus explained. "Which is why I need you to compel her."

"To do what?" Stefan sighed then, feeling more confused now than before.

"To assist your friend." Klaus said, a serious look in his eye as he studied him closely. "Compel her to help Mr. Saltzman back on his feet."

"Why do you want me to do this?" Stefan asked, but he realized the answer to his question as soon as he'd uttered it. "For Caroline?"

Klaus nodded shortly. "Yes. For Caroline."

"And why don't you just do it yourself?"

"I have my reasons for not getting involved." Klaus responded with a shrug. "So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

Stefan looked down at Klaus' outstretched hand and shook it firmly. "Deal."


Present Day
New Orleans, Louisiana

"Twice in two nights…" an amused voice said from behind Caroline. "It's getting difficult to believe that you're not in fact following me."

She didn't need to turn around to know that it was Marcel, his tone was too big of a give-away; charismatic and confident. Smooth and charming. As if he was used to women lingering on every word and melting at the mere sight of his pearly white smile. But she couldn't even pretend to reciprocate his interest tonight, she was too buried in the weight of how badly her plans were going.

She barely even noticed him taking a seat next to her until he suddenly rested a warm hand between her shoulder-blades. "Are you okay?" he asked as she snapped her eyes over to him. He looked at her with concern, having apparently dropped the smug attitude which seemed to be his signature move.

Looking into his worry-filled eyes for a long moment, she finally nodded in response. The warm hand on her back accompanied by the warmness in his chocolate eyes did bring some comfort to her; whether she'd like to admit it or not.

He gave her a soft, kind smile. It was sympathetic, caring even, instead of the suggestive smirks and grins from last night. His hand stroked her back slowly, spreading warmness over both her shoulder-blades.

"I'm sorry about last night." he said, without looking away from her even though she had dropped her gaze and was currently studying her drink. His hand continued with its movements, massaging her shoulders and neck softly. "Let me assure you that he was not in much better shape after you left."

The thought made her eyes widen in panic as she stared at him. "You didn't kill him, did you?" she breathed, suddenly terrified that she had a part in some drunk dying just because she lost control of her anger for one night.

His eyebrows wrinkled together at her, his hand stopping at the middle of her back as it had been on its way further down. "No." he said and observed her barely auditable breath of relief at his answer.

"Good." she said and looked away from him, closing her eyes as she tried to let go of the guilt that filled her stomach. She still couldn't believe how aggressive she'd gotten. How strong she'd felt as she had flung that man towards the wall like a softball. How powerful she'd felt knowing she'd literally knocked the smug look off his face. The rush of adrenaline as she bit into his neck… The memory sent a shiver down her spine which made Marcel resume stroking her back.

"Hey…" he said, leaning closer to her face and giving her another kind smile once she finally met his eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong." he assured her, shaking his head and massaging his way up to her neck. "He harassed you."

Only meeting his glance a short moment before looking away, she nodded again and took a dep breath. His hand moved over her neck again, his thumb massaging circles against her scalp before moving down her back once more. Until now he had stopped just under the middle of her back, but this time he seemed to aim for lower.

She tensed up under his touch and twisted a little to get his hand away. It worked, except he didn't draw it back as she'd expected but instead he let it rest on the back of her chair. Making sure to lean forward, away from his touch. "I should probably apologize." she murmured, earning a confused expression.

"For what?" he asked with his eyebrows pushed together slightly. "Oh..." he said, answering his own question after studying her face.

She looked away from him then which he seemed to read perfectly fine, bringing his hand away from her chair to rest on his leg. "Then I guess I should be the one apologizing." he scoffed then, disappointment and rejection circling his words.

"I don't know what came over me." she sighed, shaking her head with closed eyes as she hoped the memory of the whole night would just go away.

"Don't worry about it." he told her, giving her a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I was actually really impressed with how you handled Wilson." he said, breaking the silence after having ordered a drink and taken a sip from it. He met her confused eyes and began explaining. "The guy from last night; he was one of my day-walkers."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Right. That's why he had no manners; it was night-time." she scoffed.

He laughed softly at her sarcasm but didn't elaborate on the whole day-walker thing. She could guess it's meaning though, so she didn't push the subject. "He's usually well-behaved." he said with a smirk that she read as: – believe it or not.

She was suddenly struck by fascination towards the man next to her. Was he always such an open book? Or was this just a distraction from his actual motives? She knew firsthand the dangers of underestimating someone with a pretty smile, maybe he had the same game tactics as her?

"So, what, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time?" she sneered, still using sarcasm to cover the fear she'd felt for a split second that night. The fear that had tumbled into rage like a snowball in downhill, growing as it rolled faster and faster…

He smiled at her shortly before shaking his head. "Clearly you shouldn't worry about being anywhere at the wrong time. You could more than well take care of yourself." he stated with a shrug before knocking back his bourbon.

Studying him closely, she awaited some comment that she sensed was hiding in his mind. "You seem surprised." she noted.

Meeting her eyes, he turned in his chair to study her. "Well… I wasn't expecting you to be so strong." he admitted. "I'm usually pretty good at estimating a vampire's age. At first, I hardly noticed that you weren't human. Which made me believe you were barely a few years old; still breathing as if you've never stopped. Your heart beating as if it always has been, not having rested for a single moment…"

His gaze roamed her body for a second, as if trying to find some evidence of whether he was correct or not by studying her physique… Was he looking for wrinkles? she thought to herself and held back a smile at her own joke. She only looked back at him without giving anything away, she had a brilliant poker face after all.

"But you showed quite some muscle back there." he said after reaching her eyes and locking her gaze with his. "Making me reevaluate to a much higher number."

"So… You can tell someone's age just by watching them fight?" she asked incredulously.

He smiled at her then. "Usually, yes."

"Then what's your guess on mine?" she asked curiously, realizing with a smile that she'd somehow gotten out of her sulky mood.

"With fear of possibly insulting you…" he said with a smirk before giving in. "About 50."

She gasped at his words, she couldn't help it. It didn't surprise her that the anger she'd felt last night had fueled her strength, but she had never imagined it being able to add decades to her age. "In total or vampire years only?" she asked with wide eyes.

He squinted slightly as he studied her expression. "The latter."

She shook her head in disbelief. Either he was terrible at math or he was overestimating his ability to pin-point a vampire's age… His answer was either way ridiculously off.

"What?" he chuckled and smirked at her. "Too low?"

Visibly flinching at that, she stared at him wildly. "What!? No." she stuttered. "But I do think you've done some miscalculations."

He raised an eyebrow in question before she continued. "Either that or there were simply other factors affecting my strength last night." she suggested, the memory of her anger still fresh in her mind.

"Why is that?" he asked both curious and amused.

"Well, for starters. I'm only 26 years old." she said and looked him straight in the eye. "In total."

His expression switched from surprise to disbelief to confusion. "That's…" he said and shook his head slightly. "Not possible."

She nodded in amusement and shrugged a little, enjoying having been able to stun him. "Like I said. Different factors."

"So, my first instinct about you was right then?" he said with a serious face.

Rolling her eyes at his words with a breathy chuckle. Of course that would be the part he concentrated on. "Yep." she chirped and picked up his glass as it somehow had been refilled without her noticing. She knocked the drink back the way he had before. "I guess anger makes your adrenaline take over, huh?"

He studied her as she put the glass down on the bar, a smirk dressing his lips. When he looked up at her she realized she'd probably just done something inappropriate. Crossing the line between innocent flirting and straight out seducing once again. Suddenly she felt the need to do or say something to make the smirk on his face go away as he looked at her thinking he had her all figured out.

So, she scoffed and shook her head, looking away from him. "Seriously, I think you should look up classes in math over at Tulane." she mocked without meeting his eyes.

He chuckled. "Well, I would actually prefer testing your strength out to try and determine just what it is that makes you so strong."

She looked back at him then as curiosity took over. "What are you suggesting?"

A wide smile spread over his lips. "Don't worry…" he said and licked his lip. "After what I witnessed last night, I'm convinced you'll really enjoy what I have in mind."


Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"I'm in college. I'm building a life for myself. I have plans; and a future; and things that I want and none of those things involve you. Okay. None of them."

"I see."

"No you don't. Yes, I do cover our connection with hostility, 'cause yes, I hate myself for the truth. So if you promise to walk away...like you said, and never come back. Then yes...I will be honest with you. I will be honest with you about what I want."

"I will walk away. and I will never come back. I promise."

A phone ringing in the distance woke Caroline up. She shook the dream out of her head and looked over at the time at the display: 01.21 am. Groaning loudly she ignored the call and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling.

Where did that come from? She wondered as she still felt the memory linger on her mind. It had been months since she'd dreamt about Mystic Falls. And even longer since she'd dreamt about... Him.

The phone began ringing again, making her exhale loudly. "What!?" she said as she responded to the call. "Is the world ending or something?"

"Hi, Care."

The voice made her sit up straight. "Tyler?"

"I'm sorry for calling so late but... Can we meet?"

"Meet? Where are you?" Caroline asked, feeling disoriented as she got out of bed.

"Outside your apartment."

She stilled and peeked out a window to confirm it, Tyler Lockwood was indeed standing outside of her building. Waving up at her from the curb.

"Let me get dressed, I'll be right down." she said before hanging up the phone and hurrying to meet up with him downstairs.

Caroline took a deep breath and steeled herself before stepping out of the building. The air was still humid and thick from the heat, but it was far cooler than it had been in days. "Hey." she said as she walked up to her old friend.

He smiled warmly at her and opened his arms, and in a second they were wrapped up in a tight embrace.

"I can't believe how long it's been." she murmured against his shoulder.

Nodding into her hair in response, he let out a deep sigh. "Gosh, I've missed you." He admitted.

The words made her tear up, she buried her face into his jeans jacket and breathed deeply. "I'm really happy to see you."

He hugged her tighter at that, stroking her back lightly as they stood silent for a moment. "You're... you're not human anymore." she whispered, feeling an old scent to his skin which she hadn't been in contact with for a very long time.

"Yeah..." he chuckled low. "A year or so is just not enough time to work on those anger issues, I guess."

She leaned back and studied his face. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Care."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, gripping his shoulders hard to reaffirm herself of his presence.

"Oh, you know... I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by." he said with a warm smile, making her shake her head in a chuckle. "Can we go somewhere, talk?" he asked then.

"Of course." she said and nodded towards the end of the street. "Campus isn't too far from here, how about a walk?"

"Great." he said and gestured to her. "Lead the way."


Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline struggled to remember just how Marcel had talked her into doing this. Then she glimpsed the smirk on his face, daring her. It only fueled her motivation, or stubbornness. Either way she refused to let anyone underestimate her. Even if it included doing something as crazy and uncivilized as fighting some of Marcel's vampires.

He had taken her to a large church in the heart of the French Quarter, one that for some reason was shut down. It had been cleared out of all furniture a church usually had and turned into a gym. It had a fighting cage in the middle and various training equipment spread around. There were even two different boxing bags hanging in separate corners of the building. It all screamed fight club and Caroline had to resist the impulse to laugh out loud once he opened the doors for her and showed her this place.

There were about ten other vampires training as they entered the church, they were all either caught up in punches or lifting weights, but their attention was immediately turned to their visitors. Caroline didn't enjoy the looks on the men's' faces as they stopped their various activities to walk up to Marcel after he called on them to gather around. They were creeps, clearly. Looking her over as if they were ready to swallow her whole.

"This is Caroline." Marcel said with a hand on her lower back. "I thought it'd be nice to let you guys go up against some real competition."

His words brought a small smile to her face. So, he wasn't underestimating her after all, he was actually expecting her to be better than his own men. Whom were all huge and intimidating and probably way, way older than her. That was, admittedly, rather flattering.

"I thought you had a rule against outsiders training here." one of the men said to Marcel. Caroline quickly located and studied the man as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was one of the bigger ones, looking as muscular as Marcel himself with his big arms and broad shoulders.

Then again, he could be one year younger than her and that would be enough for her to have an advantage on him – despite his form. That brought another, more challenging smile to her lips. She really enjoyed vampirism sometimes, knowing she could go up against scary men like that without fear of getting squashed like a watermelon between his knuckles.

The man caught sight of her expression and snarled at her. "Never mind. I'm going first." he said with a venomous smile.

Marcel chuckled. "Slow down, Connor." he said and stroked her back a little with his hand.

Caroline was about to glare at him for it or pull away from his touch but then she saw the way the others somehow retreated due to it. The gesture seemed kind of territorial; he was letting them know that she was under his protection. The amount of testosterone flying around was ridiculous and brought a scoff to her lips that she couldn't keep away.

"Let's start off small. What do you say, Caroline?" Marcel asked with his eyes studying her face intently.

She pouted her lips as if taking a moment to think about it before she glanced over at him with a shrug. "Yeah… They'll probably need some warm-up anyway."

Marcel could barely keep a laughter back at her remark, grinning at her amusedly as everyone stared at the two of them with wide eyes. "Alright then." he said and looked to the crowd. "Josh?" he called out, not necessarily with any higher volume as before since they could all hear him clearly either way.

Caroline watched as a somewhat tall, skinny young man with dark, curly hair, light skin and brown eyes stepped forward with a pained grimace. "I don't know if I'm up for this, Marcel." he admitted. "I mean, I'm sure you're really strong and all, Caroline. But I kinda have a thing against fighting girls, whether they're vampires or not."

She smiled a little at him, it was adorable of him since he was the only one not willing to show off his almightiness by beating up a young blonde. Not that there was any risk of them actually outmatching her; something told her they were all muscles and no brains. Or age… Whatever. She just had a feeling she could take them, especially since Marcel seemed so sure of her strength.

"Please." Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't think that applies to vampires older than you." she said to Josh, leaving a small smile and friendly wink at the end of her words to take the sting off her tone.

In the corner of her eye, she caught Marcel glancing at her and she realized he actually had the possibility to out her age right there and right then. Except he didn't. Instead he smiled at the young vampire before them.

"Don't insult the lady, Josh." he said, half-teasingly. "And make sure you don't hold back; she can handle anything you throw her way."

Josh frowned a little, his uncertainty covering his grimace as he studied her. "I don't get what you're even doing here. You have some sort of death wish or something?" he asked her.

She couldn't help but smile at his bluntness, knowing she could've taken ill at his words but finding it hard to do so when he sounded like an insecure little teenager. "If it makes you feel better, I highly doubt you'll actually hurt me."

She glanced over at Marcel who nodded at her in agreement and gave her a smile. "Ready then?"

A jolt of excitement hit her, the feeling doing cartwheels in her stomach. She was actually excited about finding out just how strong she was… Even if it meant possibly ending up with some bruises and sore muscles. It would all heal in the end anyway, as well as any of her opponents' would.

So, there was really no harm in indulging some of the left-over rage from last night since they'd all heal and go on with their lives at the end of today. She was only a little scared of not being able to conjure the same amount of strength she'd done when up against- Wilson, was it?

Marcel had explained on the walk over here that the vampire from last night was in fact 39 in vampire years. She'd had a hard time covering her chock over that fact but he reassured her that they'd take it easy while testing her strength. Taking it one step at the time. Starting with someone close to her own age and slowly, gradually, making their way up to a few extra decades.

As she and Josh made their way into the fighting cage, she began biting her lip nervously. She needed to find a way to get as mad as she'd been last night, but it was difficult since Josh seemed like such a sweet little soul. In contrast to the very real threat and douche-bag Wilson.

She was grateful to find out that Josh was about a year younger than herself and that he clearly had been chosen by Marcel as warm-up. Although, he still looked at her with uncertainty as they were about to start. The others stood around the outside of the cage and studied as Marcel let them know they could begin once he put some music on. She'd rolled her eyes at that but realized it could be useful to get into some kind of zone where she could focus on tapping into whatever she'd felt last night.

The music began and Josh didn't move. He was standing right opposite her, his hands raised to his face in fists as she mirrored his position. She caught sight of him raising his eyebrows quickly at her, signaling to her. Taking it as a sign that he was letting her go first, she whooshed over to him and punched him straight in the stomach.

He let out a grunt and backed up into the fence behind him. A mere second passed before he recovered and launched himself at her, his fists flying towards her face.

She dodged his punches with her arms and ducked to hit him in the gut again. Feeling exhilarated, she jumped a little on her feet as he straightened up. Suddenly he grabbed one of her legs, pulling it up so she fell on her back, down on the floor.

Letting out a grunt and sharp breath, she quickly rolled away as he was about to throw a fist aimed at her face. They were soon standing face to face once more, their hands covering themselves as they walked in circles around the cage.

She was realizing that he was focusing a little too much on punches instead of other moves, probably due to some lack of diversity in his training. But the leg-thing had been a sheer impulse, she could tell. It had been drawn from instinct; he saw an opportunity and took it.

Taking that as a tip for herself, she started studying him as she assessed any possible opportunities of her own. She then realized she could use the one thing that everybody always fell for; underestimating her. So, she whooshed towards him in a straight line so he could tell she was aiming at his face the way he had hers. Except as he ducked to try and dodge the hit, she grabbed his shoulders and flung him over her head. He landed behind her on the floor, right on his back the way she had before.

Taking advantage of his momentarily chocked state, she spun around and kicked his side hard enough to have him flying up and forward into the fence. He fell down to the floor next to it breathing heavily.

She smiled as she realized she'd won and looked over at her side to catch Marcel's approving grin.

"Not bad." he smirked and gestured to Josh to leave the cage.

The brunet slowly got up from his spot on the floor and looked up at Caroline in astonishment. "I guess I had that coming for doubting you." he said with a slightly pained smile.

She bit her lip. "You okay?" she asked softly as she laid a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded. "Yeah. Fine. Great. Are your ears ringing too? I think I broke a few ribs…" he rambled which made her giggle slightly – it reminded her so much of… herself.

Soon he'd left the cage and was replaced by the buff guy who'd made a comment before on her training here. She remembered his name being Connor and glared at him as they took their positions.

"Connor isn't very old, but he has some obvious power in his punches… so to speak." Marcel explained from outside the cage. "Might be interesting to see how that affects things."

Caroline kept her eyes on Connor, not putting it past him to take advantage of any single second that she might be distracted just to prove a point. In the back of her mind, she remembered that the rest were all watching and probably taking notes on any strategy that she may seem to have. So, she decided to not give them the satisfaction on thinking they could predict her moves.

No one underestimates Caroline Forbes.

However, Connor wasn't quite the gentleman as Josh had been, deciding he should go first instead. He sped to her and let his fist fly across her jaw, so hard she felt the bones in her face crack. The first punch was quickly followed by a second in her gut, making her fold and fly backwards against the fence much like Josh had been before.

She spat up some blood and coughed as he made his way over to her in human speed – up until now she'd gotten used to the blurry movements that included a vampire fight. But Connor seemed to want to savor the moment, or perhaps give her some time to build up a fear for him.

"Not so smug now, Barbie?" he sneered as he closed the distance between her and grabbed her shoulder to throw her across the ring and against another fence.

She fell down at her knees, coughing. Her ears ringing like Josh had complained about. But his words echoed in her mind, vibrating through her and making her veins burn.

Barbie.

He whooshed over to stand next to her, ready to pick her up once more and probably throw her down to the floor. But she had already started feeling adrenaline pump her up and straightened just in time to catch his hand in the air. She held it in place over her head and kneed him in the stomach, hard.

Grunting, he folded against himself, but she wasn't done yet. As the taste of her own blood still filled her mouth, she gripped his throat by her free hand and squeezed it roughly. His eyes widened with terror, her vamp-features reflecting in the light brown irises. She lifted him up from the ground, still with her hold around his neck, and threw him down on his back.

Bending over him, she leaned in close to his face and let out a growl. As her mind began getting to work on what to do next, Marcel suddenly called out.

"Alright! That's enough."

She jerked her head up and glared at him through the fence, her fangs showing as she almost let out a Tiger-like sound.

Suddenly she learned that her guess on Connor's willingness to use distraction to his advantage, was very much spot-on. He freed the hand she'd grabbed before he could punch her earlier and used it to hit her straight in her side. She flew off him and he whooshed over to pin her down on the ground with both his legs and arms keeping her hands and feet in place.

A wave of terror washed over her as she stared up at the huge man that had her pinned down in this vulnerable state. But when a sly smirk crept onto his lips she soon snapped from her fear and was consumed by rage instead. The effect was like recharging a battery, suddenly she was able to get her legs out from under him and used both to kick him in his stomach. He flew backwards against a fence and grunted as his eyes suddenly shut closed.

She let out a warning growl as she got up on her feet and launched herself at him once more, but then a pair of strong hands suddenly held her back. Keeping a firm grip on her arms from behind. She spun around to attack whomever dared get in her way when she met his face.

Marcel.

He had stepped into the ring and held her from going after Connor yet again. "That's enough, Caroline." he said with such authority in his tone that it made her wonder how she could've ever doubted his status in this town. He was clearly a leader, ruling with an iron fist. It made her face quickly change back from her vampire-features.

She pulled away from his hands roughly. "Fine." she spat out and glanced over her shoulder to see Connor struggling to get up from the ground. "Who's next?" she challenged and Marcel sighed a little.

As she looked back at him to study his apparently amused expression, he shook his head in disbelief.

"I'm not done." she told him seriously, feeling the veins in her face start to reappear.

He smiled at her with a dark look. "Good." he said. "We have all the time in the world after all."


Four years ago
Dallas, Texas

"It's been a long time since we've been on a football field together." Tyler mused, making Caroline grin as they sat down on a bench together. They stared out into the field in silence as a nostalgia hit them momentarily.

"Yeah... It feels like decades." she agreed before turning to study him closer. "What's going on, Ty? How did you find us? Did Stefan tell you where we were?"

"Actually... I crossed paths with this witch down in Panama... She helped me keep track of you guys."

"So, you're not here with Stefan?"

"I didn't even know he was here." he said honestly and sighed. "You ok?"

She frowned and glanced away at that. "Not really. But I'd much rather talk about you. Why are you here?"

His relaxed smile fell dark, his shoulders slumped forward and he sighed. "I need a favor."

"What kind?" she asked, her tone reserved and suspicious as she studied him closely.

"There's this spell, to help control my transitions during full moons. But there's something I can't get on my own."

"What's that?"

"The blood of someone in agony." he said, nodding slowly.

"Oh." she said, unable to say anything else.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to bother you guys. Really! But for the spell to work properly, I guess it's pretty picky about who's blood it is. It has to be from someone who's felt an immense amount of pain - the emotional equivalent of the physical one during a transition."

"So, you're here to ask Ric for his blood?"

He nodded. "I was hoping that going through you would make it easier on him, I know none of us are his favorite people in the world right now."

"Right..." she said, staring off into the football field for a moment. "Tyler, I'm sorry but I can't ask Ric to do that."

"Care... You, more than anyone, know the kind of torture transitioning is to me."

"Yes, I know." she said. "But I can't bring Ric back into this, Ty. Not for anyone."

"But Care, I'm not just anyone." he protested, the hurt and betrayal clear on his face. "And you know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't important."

"I just, I can't." she whispered, her voice breaking lightly.

"Not even for me?" he asked, the desperation in his voice making her heart break.

"I'm sorry, Tyler. I really am." she stood up and turned away, stopping when he suddenly spoke up again.

"Would you do it for Klaus?"

She froze, staring at him with blinking eyes. "What?"

His anger shone through his eyes. "If it was Klaus who showed up here, asking for your help, instead of me. Would you do it?"

"How can you even ask me that?" she said, shaking her head as frustration tightened her chest.

"Come on, Care. I'm not an idiot. I know you had contact last year, when you were supposedly locking everyone out of your life who had anything to do with the supernatural."

"So?"

"So! You still have feelings for him!" he shouted, making her flinch.

"You're crazy." she said and turned away from him again, wanting to storm off. But as a thought instead crossed her mind, she looked over at him with arms crossed. "And you know what? Klaus? He would've never even asked."

"Right." he said, nodding as she started walking away from him then.

But suddenly, she was wrestled into the ground, his fangs digging into her shoulder. She fought to shove him off but feeling too weak from not having fed for days. He stood up, wiping her blood from his mouth with a cold expression. "That's what Klaus would've done." he said, turning away from her then.

She felt the rage and fear mix in her veins as she suddenly leapt towards him and snapped his neck. "Urgh..." she groaned, holding onto her bleeding shoulder in pain. "Now what?" she sighed to herself, before throwing him across her shoulder and speeding off into the distance.


Present day
New Orleans, Louisiana

Caroline had fought and won against three more opponents in the next hour. The first one after Connor had been 30 in vamp years only. A tall, middle-aged Scandinavian man named Sebastian. The one after him was a red-haired woman named Felicia, 42 vamp years but not looking a day over 20 human ones. She had been a little more of a challenge since she was so clearly skilled in tactics and strategy, but eventually Caroline had upper handed her as well.

Now she was facing an Eastern-European man, regular built with dark hair and thick eyebrows. He had a look in his brown-borderline-black, eyes that surprised Caroline – as if he was at peace. Or maybe he was just expecting to win.

"Joseph, my friend. Please show Caroline what fighting those gruesome wars in the middle-east has taught you." Marcel said, suspiciously leaving out the man's age after having been quick to announce that information about each and every one of her opponents before him.

She glanced over at Marcel through the corner of her eye but quickly looked back at Joseph as he suddenly disappeared from her view.

He showed up behind her, grabbing her arms and twisting them back with such force that she dislocated both shoulders at once.

Letting out a loud, pained scream, she fell backwards from the affect. He then kneed her in her lower back, making her fly forward and nearly through the fence this time. She pushed her shoulders inwards, relocating them properly as they began healing. Of course, not without the company of a moan as the bones settled in and brought tingles down her arms and fingers.

She didn't have much time to think as he headed towards her once more and she could just barely catch his movements as he aimed for her stomach. In a flash, he was in front of her, and she suddenly flew her wrist up under his chin in an uppercut. His head jerked back at the impact and his body followed, flying back and away from her.

Immediately as he hit the floor underneath him, she sped to throw herself at him, but he was suddenly gone once more. This time she spun around just as his knee went up to hit her back and instead reached her gut. She folded against herself in a loud grunt and he used that opportunity to give her a taste of her own medicine as his fist flew up to her chin. She had to admit, uppercuts were no fun when you were on the receiving end.

She was lighter than him, and he was stronger, so she flew further away from him than he had. However, she managed to land with a straightened back against the fence behind her, preparing her to protect herself as he ran towards her once more. His fists flew from all directions in such speed that she barely saw the movements, but she somehow managed to dodge each and every one of them with her arms. Probably in such contact with her body's own instincts by then that she hardly needed to even think about her next move before she made it.

Using the one disadvantage all men had against a wrathful woman then; she kneed him between his legs hard enough for him to let out a loud grunt and slightly lean forward. He recovered quicker than the ones before him though and straightened his back to throw another punch at her gut. She managed to slide sideways, his fist hitting the fence instead of her. Then she grabbed his wrist and as if taken straight out of some ninja-movie; she kicked her heal down on his leg in just the right angle to break his knee.

He grunted again, a little more painfully this time. Before he could even think about retaliating, she grabbed his other wrist as that fist came flying towards her from the side. Now holding both his arms in her hands, she quickly pushed herself backwards to the fence to gain some balance. Then she used it to run over his chest and shoulders, jumping to land behind him on her feet with his wrists still in her grip. His shoulders couldn't withhold the rotation and cracked loudly in result. A short scream finally escaped his mouth as he accepted defeat and fell to his knees in pain.

Letting go of him then, she spun around to study him as he attempted putting his arms back in place. Suddenly, the result of her acts hit her. She felt her veins run cold as if someone had just turned a bucket of ice water over her head.

What had she done!?

She was actually shaking as she looked down at her hands, which were slightly stained with some dry blood from previous hits. Some of it were signs of her own pain, others were memories of the pain she herself had inflicted.

Once again, she had let her anger take a hold of her and this time she had gone way too far. Feeling the guilt slowly eat away at her stomach she walked up to Joseph and quickly began helping him heal properly.

He flinched a little as he noticed her touch but soon realized she wasn't going to hurt him anymore. Allowing her to rotate his arms back and his shoulders into place, he let out some loud grunts but was soon healing correctly and quickly.

She stood in front of him and laid her hands tenderly on his shoulders. "I'm sorry." she breathed as a plea for forgiveness.

"Don't be!" Marcel chuckled as he stepped into the ring with clapping hands. "That was brilliant! Absolutely magnificent!"

Joseph seemed to wince a little at the man's words and she gave him a soft smile. "You fought well." he told her in his deep, East-European accent.

She frowned a little. "I'm sorry." she whispered once more and stepped back from him.

He got up on his feet and studied her with a confused expression for a moment, but then Marcel laid a hand on his shoulder and patted it harshly. "Wasn't she spectacular, Joe?" he asked with a broad smile.

"Yes." Joseph admitted and turned around to leave the ring.

Caroline looked up to meet Marcel's grin with a gulp. "I went too far." she admitted shamefully.

"Trust me, Caroline. You didn't." he chuckled and walked up to her. "Did I mention Joseph's age?" She shook her head and brought her hands up to stroke her upper-arms. "89." he told her with wild eyes.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. 89!? She felt shivers run through her entire body with fear. Not from Joseph or his age or his obvious strength and what he was capable of due to it… But instead fear of what she was capable of. Her tactic had been to tap into that rage she'd felt last night and feed off of it, but it made her lose control. She clearly didn't know how to give into that kind of anger, fury… hate, without letting it swallow her whole.

"As much as I am enjoying the show, I do believe it would only be fair to call it a night and resume this at another time." Marcel said, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her with admiration in his eyes.

It brought further tremors down her spine knowing that admiration was there because of the violence she'd displayed. Because of something horrible that she'd done. It made her question just how good she thought she actually was.

What made her any different from the bad guys that used to terrorize Mystic Falls?
What made her any different from the evil beings that had tortured her? That had inflicted pain and suffering. That had violently forced their will despite all and any's protests. What made her any better than them?

When she just as easily could be consumed by the same aggression as they could and inflict the same kind of pain and suffering as they would. "I have to go." she muttered silently under her breath and whooshed out of the church quickly.

She didn't get too far; Marcel's hands suddenly grabbed her waist before she managed to turn a corner leading to Bourbon Street. "Hey…" he said carefully as he spun her around to meet his observing eyes. "You keep doing that." he noted with a tiny smirk on his lips.

"I don't know what came over me." she admitted with the shake of her head.

"And you keep saying that." he said, chuckling lightly in an attempt to amuse her probably. But she didn't budge, her mind spiraling down a very dark path as she thought back to the way she'd fought those vampires tonight. And all in the name of fun or some experiment or sick and twisted test set up by Marcel.

"I'm glad you found me losing control so amusing." she sneered venomously and turned away from him.

He quickly whooshed to stand in front of her again. "Whoa! What are you talking about?" he asked running his hands up and down her arms to try and get her to focus on his eyes. "I haven't seen anyone so young fight with that much power before, Caroline. It was impressive to say the least…" he chuckled a little at the last words, but his face fell at her glare. "I'm guessing you didn't enjoy it then."

She looked down at her feet as she felt his last words hit her stomach. "Or perhaps you did?" he guessed correctly, making her unable to meet his gaze again. He let out a deep sigh. "Caroline, listen to me. Whatever you channeled to bring that strength out; it isn't something to be afraid of. It's actually a kind of gift. You just need to learn how to use it to your advantage without it… consuming you."

"And how exactly do I do that?" she whispered with such a flat tone that she barely recognized the voice as her own. When he didn't answer for a long moment, she looked up to see him frowning slightly. "There are different ways, depending on what the source of that strength comes from."

"Anger?" she asked.

"That's an easy one, you learn to turn each pulse of rage into energy." he explained and studied her for a short moment before continuing. "But that is not what your trigger point is, Caroline." he said with his eyebrows raised as if confused that she had thought otherwise.

"How do you know?"

He smiled at her then, the soft and kind smile that she'd received earlier this evening while at the bar. "Because I recognize rage when I see it. You're the opposite of anyone with anger management issues, believe me." he said, sounding amused that she didn't already know this.

"So… How do I know what my trigger point is?" she asked confusedly and pulled away from his hands. She wanted to find out just what all that power came from so that she could consciously avoid ever touching it again.

Shrugging a little, he kept his smile intact and a glimmer of something filled with excitement flashed in his eyes for a moment. "I could help you figure it out."

"How?" she scoffed incredulously.

"By testing out just what it is you react to… Like allergies." He winked at her shortly. "And then you can learn how to control it, instead of having it control you."

"What, more rounds of vampire sparring matches?" she sneered. "I don't think so."

"Had your fill already?" he asked in amusement and chuckled. "Alright. Then I have another idea."

She gave him an encouraging look, waiting for him to go on. "I'll train you." he gleamed with a bright smirk right then.

A feeling crossed her mind that maybe this had been his plan all along and she rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Your solution to less violence is more of it?"

"It wouldn't get to the kind of extremes like back there." he explained with a frown. "That would be too dangerous."

"Why is that?" she asked with a scoff.

He rolled his eyes this time and looked at her exasperatedly. "Because I'm a lot older than you, Caroline. You'd get seriously hurt."

"Just how old are you?" she asked after studying his face for a minute.

His lips tugged into a weird smile at her words. "Guess." he said.

She rolled her eyes again. "How am I supposed to do that?" she sneered.

He didn't say anything, only boring his eyes into hers in silence for a long moment until she gave in. "Okay, fine… Um, 100?" she asked.

He frowned a little at her suggestion making her raise an eyebrow. "150?" she asked.

Pouting his lips and raising his own eyebrows she widened her eyes as she made her final guess. "200?"

The smile that crept up on his lips just then made her shiver. "2-0-6." he corrected her.

She gulped down at his words. "And you expect me to just jump into that ring with you?"

"Like I said, it wouldn't go far enough to actually put you in harm's way."

A thought suddenly occurred to her, making her smile a little as it all played out in her head… If he was 200 years old and had such power over the city with all these vampires under his thumb; he could be a useful ally to keep on their side in whatever war they were entering while going up against Julian.

At first, he'd only been needed to give her information that no one else seemed to have, but now she realized that if they could get him to help them; they probably wouldn't need Klaus.

He could train her, help her become stronger and more capable of defending herself. And then he could most likely even have more information about Lucien that they could use to their advantage…

However, she couldn't let him think she'd just changed her mind on a whim. It would be too conspicuous. "And what exactly can you teach me that no one else can?" she huffed, fighting a broad smile as she found no possible kinks in her new plan whatsoever. This was the answer she'd been looking for. This was their way around involving the Originals. This was going to work.

"Trust me. There are quite a few things I could teach you." he said, his face suddenly just an inch away from hers as he looked into her eyes with fire in his.

She swallowed hard to try and find a way to go on with her plan without all the sexual innuendos and misinterpreted signals. "You promise not to hurt me?" she asked carefully.

His eyes sobered up at her words and for a moment he regarded her with surprise. Then he nodded. "I promise."

She nodded back. "Fine." she said and backed away from him once more, putting a few feet of space between them before she spoke again. "But I have a few conditions."

"Name it." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"First, you'll need to tell me everything you know about Lucien Castle."

He let out a long sigh at her words. "Anything but that." he said.

She flinched. "What!?"

"I'm not letting you get involved with Lucien. He's bad news… on a whole other level."

"You do realize you don't really have a say in this, right?" she scoffed and placed her hands on her hips in annoyance. Who did he think he was, trying to order her around?

"Caroline… Lucien is in bed with very powerful and highly dangerous people. If you get mixed up in their drama, there is literally no way out expect through a coffin… or an urn." he said with a tilt of his head.

She didn't buy the warning whatsoever. After all, she had dealt with far scarier people than he could ever imagine. Silas, Heretics and the Originals to name a few…

"What's your other conditions?" he said opportunistically as he hoped to have put the subject to rest.

He hadn't.

"None of the other conditions matter if you don't live up to that one." she said in frustration and threw her hands in the air. "Whatever, Marcel! I'll just go find someone else who can help me out." she turned around after her words, but he was immediately in front of her once more.

"Fine!" he said through gritted teeth. "Fine."

She studied him for a moment, almost expecting him to spill right there and then.

"We'll schedule five to seven training lessons; after each of which you get to ask me one question about Lucien. Deal?"

She thought it over for a moment before answering. "I can agree to three lessons over one week and I get two questions after each." she demanded.

He smirked at her. "Well, that's not very negotiable of you."

"Either that or I add a second condition." she shrugged.

He raised an eyebrow then. "Which is?" he asked curiously.

"That you don't get to make a single move, say even one pick-up line or as much as look at me flirtatiously. For us to be strictly platonic from here on out."

His jaw dropped at her words momentarily. "This isn't how you negotiate, Caroline." he chuckled lightly and continued. "What's to stop me from simply keeping all information about Lucien to myself and instead book a night for us to pick up where we left it last?"

"Marcel, I'm not going out with you. This is strictly a business arrangement, an exchange of knowledge."

"A fairly uneven one." he scowled and shook his head. "How is it that I'm not getting anything out of this deal, even though I was the one who suggested to help you?"

She thought it over for a few seconds and sighed. "Coffee."

"Coffee?" he said with a smirk. "In Manhattan? Under the stars…"

"I'm not leaving Louisiana for this, Marcel. Coffee, during the day, and in return we can discuss the training further."

"Why do you insist on keeping me at arm's length, Caroline?" he asked as he closed the distance between them, stroking her jaw as he pinned her gaze down. "Are you in such denial of your feelings and needs? First you try to convince me that you did not enjoy the rounds in the ring back there – now you're saying I've imagined this connection between us?"

Resisting the thrill of his touch, she shrugged lightly and sighed. "I just think we can work better as friends, that's all." she said innocently. "I have laid out my terms. Now, what's it gonna be?"

He smiled at her warmly, a spark in his eyes as he brought those charming teeth out. She bit her lower lip as she spotted something mischievous behind his smile. Suddenly, his face slackened as he seemed to look at something over her shoulder. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, turning around to see whatever it was that had caught his eye...

Her heart skipped a long beat at the sight; green eyes and a dimpled smirk…

He looked gorgeous. Breath-taking, earth-stopping and just drop-dead gorgeous. His hair was longer, a curl hanging leisurely above his right eyebrow and his face was oddly clean-shaven in comparison to how she remembered him. He wore a dark jacket with black jeans and just a small evidence of his necklaces, as one of the chains was visible above his low collar.

"Hello, love."