Yellow eyes were staring back at her. Big bright orbs with so much depth to them, she could get lost in all the thoughts and emotions she imagined swirling around in there. Even as she thought this, she was extremely aware that she was facing a lethal predator that could end her life with a single precise slash of claws of sharp canines tearing through her throat. Swallowing nervously she rose slowly, freezing for an instant as the large wolf growled deep in its throat, before she understood the growl was only a warning, as if it was saying "no-sudden-movements", as if she had a deathwish...

She was uncertain of what to do now, this wasn't exactly a situation she was familiar with, but the only thing she knew was that even so much as thinking about running would be the singularily most idiotic move she had ever made. Everyone knew that running from a wolf was a bad idea, wolves loved to chase down their prey and she had no intention of being somebody's dinner tonight.

Crack!

Turning her head she tried to see where the sound was coming from, but there was nothing. Turning back to the wolf, it seemed oblivious to the sound, its gaze trained solely on her and she had the sudden realization that whatever happened tonight... she wouldn't be the one deciding her faith.

Crack, Crack, Crack!

Caroline woke with a jolt, her eyes blinking open slowly as she fought of the last remnants of a dream that made no sense. For a second she forgot where she was, sitting up she clutched the sheets to her chest and as her eyes traveled around the unfamiliar room, it all came back to her and she exhaled heavily as she sank back into the bed, one hand going up to fist in her hair before she let go of her damp strands and dropped her hand by her side. What the hell was she doing here? She had no idea where to even begin looking for answers, who did she think she was; Nancy Drew?

"God, Caroline, you're such a-" Crack!

Snapping upright, she tried to locate that damn sound and what the hell it was. She knew it wasn't creaking floorboards, sure it was an old house, but she'd walked on the floors and she knew what a creaking floorboard sounded like. It was more like someone tapping on the window... the window! Turning her head to face the window, she saw the moon high on the sky, it wasn't a full moon but it was just as beautiful with all the stars surrounding it on the clear nightsky. Shifting her eyes she saw a treebranch and realized the sound was the branch being smacked against the window at every windtoss.

Nothing strange about that, it had happened all the time in her home when she was a kid. Huffing she threw back the covers and walked over to the window, pushing it open enough that she could reach out and grab the branch she considered the thickness off it, wondered if she was strong enough to break it off, turned out it was just a little bit to thick for her to do much about it. Pulling back her hand she closed the window again and leaned against the windowsill, her mind drifting back to the weird dream and those yellow eyes that had seemed so familiar and yet she had never seen a wolf her entire life. She'd always been fascinated by the animals, there was just something about them that she found utterly amazing. They were such strong, proud animals, and despite being predators they weren't monsters like so many wanted to think. They were no different from humans in many ways; they did what they had to do in order to survive and the people who looked down on them for that were hipocrits, she'd always thought so at least.

Figuring she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now that she was pretty much wide awake, she decided to do some exploring. Flicking on the light by the bed she walked around the room she'd occupied for the night, trying to figure out what kind of person had lived there before. Male she knew, from the records and the clothes she figured he was young, possibly a bad boy of the worst kind. Based upon the state of the room when she got here, he was either a neat freak or they used to have cleaning help when someone still lived here. She knew this had been an inn, probably a long time ago, but this room belonged to someone, it wasn't a room for guests, it was too personalized for that.

Moving on from the bedroom she walked into the hall and flicked on the ceiling lights, walking down the hall she pushed open the closed doors and peaked inside the rooms, trying to determined whether there had been others actually living here before or if the sole owner of the house had been the one in which room she was sleeping in. Most of them were rooms void of anything but beds and dusted curtains, there was another room that showed signs of a person having lived there, but that too had to have been a while ago. She wondered what had happened to them, where they were and what had made them leave in the first place.

Finally after what could have been hours she decided to head downstairs and get something to eat, it had been almost twenty-four hours since she had a decent meal and her stomach was starting to rebel, sounding like an angry grizzly. To her surprise she found a pantry filled with food of all kinds; bread, rice, potatoes and other ripe vedgetables. Everything she needed to make a good meal, although some meat wouldn't hurt... Deciding to check the fridge on the off-chance that there was actually something edible in there, she was extatic to find eggs and ham that seemed okay, and cheese, everything she needed to make a killer omelette. Whoever had lived here hadn't been gone for long, and while she wasn't exactly proud of her little b&e and stealing their food once she was at it, a girl had to eat, right?

Stefan had tracked the scent of the decaying body far into the woods surrounding the Salvatore house. He had caught the scent on the wind about an hour after the girl had fallen asleep, and had decided to check it out to see if their hunch had been right all along. Having located the spot where the body was buried he brushed away the pile of leaves on top of the unmarked grave and used his hands to dig away enough of the dirt to see the face of the body, another girl. Her eyes were open, clouded over with a white haze and despite his urge to dig her up and take her somewhere where she'd be found and returned to her family, he couldn't do it yet.

"What is that god-awful stench?" gently closing the girls eyes Stefan rose and turned to face the owner of the posh female voice.
"It's your brothers latest victim" he told her and walked over to take her in his arms, pressing a kiss to her temple before stepping back with one arm wrapped around her shoulder as two other figures joined them in the small clearing the girl was buried in.
"Brother, would you care to explain why there is a girl in our house making omelettes?" Stefan arched a brow as Damon walked over to glance down at the body, before returning his eyes to Stefan.
"I didn't know she was awake, an hour ago she was fast asleep." Elijah had a contemplative look on his face as he looked down on the dead girl, dressed in a pristine suit that Rebekah had once told him she was positive he slept in, he took a look at the surroundings and cocked his head as if listening for something.
"Niklaus is no longer here, this girl have been dead for days" his words were quiet, but they all knew what lay underneath. It would only be a matter of time before another body showed up, and time was something they were running out of.

"Yes, yes, we all know he's spiraling Elijah. It's been happening for the past twenty years, it's nothing new. Now are we going to see the girl or just stand here and sing campsongs?" Rebekah, they knew, had always favored Klaus of all her siblings, and she tried hiding her pain beneath thick layers of sarcasm and attitude but inside she was more scared than all of them.
"We can't just ambush her, Bekah. She probably doesn't have any idea about the supernatural world surrounding her, she's gonna run screaming if we all show up and tell her we're vampires and need her to stop a thousand year old hybrid on a deadly rampage." Stefan told her calmly, pulling her closer as she huffed in annoyance.
"How do we even know she's the one? We've been looking for the puny little human for nearly twenty years, why now?" Stefan shared a glance with Elijah, the original rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as he spoke.
"We know she is the one Rebekah, you do as well. We cannot all approach her at the moment, we need to wait for Freya to find all the components we need for the spell before we take action. She and Kol are working on the last remaining items as we speak. In the meantime, someone has to watch over the girl, make sure Niklaus does not get to her first. Preferably you or me Rebekah, while I appreciate everything both of you are doing, neither one of you are prepared or strong enough to take on my brother should it turn into a fight." Damon snorted but he didn't object, he'd tangled with the original hybrid once before and damn near got his heart ripped out if Elijah hadn't intervened on his behalf. He didn't have much to live for, that didn't mean he wanted to die.

"Fine, I'll keep an eye on her, you boys go do whatever it is you need to do." Elijah was about to respond when another windtoss scented the air with fresh blood and all of their instincts sharpened, Stefan's eyes snapping towards the boardinghouse.

"Damn it!" clutching her hand where she'd managed to slice a long gash just above her wrist she searched through cupboards until she found a clean cloth and carried it over to the sink. What she really needed was some sanitizer to clean the wound, but she was bleeding like a gutted pig and right now she just wanted to get the damn wound fixed up. It was definetely deep enough that she'd need stitches, but she was no doctor and driving herself with one bad arm in the middle of the night didn't seem like a good idea, not when she was bleeding so heavily she'd probably pass out at any second as it was.

"Focus" she muttered to herself as she turned off the faucet and wrapped the cloth around her arm, running up to the bedroom she found a belt and tightened it around the cloth so it wouldn't fall off. Her mind was starting to become blurry, dizziness overpowering her until she stumbled back to sit on the bed. She tried putting her head between her legs and taking breaths, but all she could see was the blood dripping onto the floor from her arm and she thought that maybe she'd cut something vital and now she was going to die because she was a clutz. Caroline was moments from passing out when she swore she heard voices from the first floor, it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her, but then she heard boots on the stairs and the last thing she remembered before it all went black was a pair of black leather boots by the puddle of blood on the floor.