SPOILER: Klaus is introduced in this chapter!

Ayla was barely up and awake when she walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She jumped at the sight of the perky blonde vampire who stood near the kitchen island. Her heart pounded as she put her hand on her chest and took a deep breath.

"Jumpy." Caroline pointed out.

"I got like no sleep last night." She sighed.

"Well, then it's a good thing that I brought you a latte and a donut." She held up the food in front of her. "You need to wake up! Tonight's your first dance back since you vanished last year. You need to get pumped and ready to have fun, okay? So... caffeine and a sweet treat."

"I could kiss you right now." Ayla smiled, taking a bite from the double chocolate donut.

"That would be a little weird."

"But totally hot, right?" Ayla smirked as Caroline's eyes widened. "I'm kidding, Care."

"Y-yeah, I knew that." She stuttered and Ayla rolled her eyes. "You're still having those dreams?"

"Almost every night."

"Well, forget about them today. And I'm gonna forget about the fact that I had to compel my boyfriend to forget that I was a vampire because I nearly killed him when I first turned. We're gonna forget about all of the drama and we're gonna go to this sixties dance and we're gonna look hot." Caroline's mouth was running a mile a minute and Ayla could barely keep up. "Which is why we need to find you a date."

"God, Caroline, please do not find me a date."

"So, I found you a date!" Caroline cheered as she walked into Alaric's classroom and sat right next to Ayla.

"Caroline." The young werewolf groaned in annoyance, not even wanting to go to the dance in the first place.

"He's a senior, he's single, and he's hot, Ayla! He's friends with Tyler."

"Which is exactly why I will not be going with him." Ayla's nose was scrunched in disgust, knowing that almost all of Tyler's friends were complete assholes. Caroline looked at her with a mixture of worry and disappointment. "I'm just gonna go by myself. I'll third wheel with you and Matty. Don't worry about me, okay?"

"Hello, class." Alaric said as he walked into the room. She felt his different energy today, he seemed slightly off as she examined him, unsure what was going on. She shook her head, blaming it on the lack of sleep and looked out the window. "Ahem... what... are we learning today?"

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week." Dana spoke up, Ayla just rolled her eyes and tuned out most of what was being said. She didn't care about school or the dance or anything else in Mystic Falls, really. She just wanted to run. She wanted adventure. So as she sat there, listening to the ticking of the clock, she imagined what her brother was doing in the woods and if he would be roaming free with Jules during the next full moon.

"You look good, Care. Or should I say Jackie O." Ayla smiled at her friend.

"Thanks, you look..."

"Like I put it together last minute?" Ayla said with a smirk. "Because I did. I have this really pushy friend who basically forced me into coming to this dance."

"Ooh, sounds like I would like her." Caroline laughed and Ayla rolled her eyes. "You really came with no date?"

"Well, I refuse to go out with any of Tyler's friends. And it's not exactly like everyone else is just lining up to date the weird girl who just came back to town after she accidentally killed her ex-boyfriend's parents." Ayla said, self-deprecatingly. "Sorry. I'm a little tipsy, if we're being honest. And I can be a little broody when I'm not completely drunk."

"I can tell." Caroline smiled a little sadly. "Well, any guy would be lucky to dance with you tonight."

"Thanks, Care." She gave a bright and genuine smile to her friend. She was happy she had someone who she considered a friend in Mystic Falls. Someone to talk to. Someone to hangout with. Caroline was the only person who actually made an effort with her and it made her feel just slightly less lonely. She watched as Matt and Caroline danced off together. Ayla just walked over to the punch, tasting that it was spiked and she sighed in relief. At least there was something to help her through this dance.

She laughed as she saw Alaric dancing and talking to Dana and Chad. She rolled her eyes, before going to stand in the corner with her drink. Everyone was clapping as Dana got up and began making a speech.

"Thanks for being here everybody." Dana spoke excitedly into the microphone, causing everyone to clap and cheer. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena." Ayla's eyebrows furrowed and looked over to see Elena and Stefan who were standing right next to each other. "From Klaus."

Her ears perked up at the name. She knew it from somewhere, she just didn't know how or why. She was only standing there for another second until Damon came over to her, and held his hand out to her.

"Dance with me."

"I would rather swallow my own tongue and die." She turned away from him.

"You said you wanted to know the truth. I'm about to spill it all, sweetheart." She looked at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before she took his hand with a sigh. Damon didn't hesitate to bring her out to the dance floor. His arms wrapped around her and she had to will her powers away, not wanting to feel anything that he was feeling at the moment.

"Who's Klaus and what does he want with Elena?" She whispered.

"He's an original vampire. He's the vampire that Katherine has been running from for the last 500 years."

"Well, he sounds persistent."

"Yeah, and he's practically indestructible."

"Great. So an immortal vampire with literally no weaknesses is in town." She scoffed. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"He wants to break the curse I was telling you about."

"The one where Elena dies?" He nodded once. "Why would an indestructible vampire with no weaknesses care about some stupid curse that probably doesn't even affect him?"

"I don't know, little Lockwood." He told her, spinning her. "You still hellbent on not protecting Elena? We could use a witch-dog on our side."

"Very nice, Damon." She rolled her eyes at him. "What would you need me to do?"

"Just look out for anything suspicious. That's all. Nothing else. No one will even know you're involved. Promise." She looked at him as she contemplated her decision. She just nodded, thinking about how much she used to care about both Jeremy and Elena. Elena used to be one of her closest friends after she moved to Mystic Falls, and she didn't want to see her get hurt, especially not by a vampire. "There's Ric, I'll be back."

She looked at Mr. Saltzman and he looked to be having a pretty good time. She wondered if he was also a little tipsy, she saw how much he could drink, considering he was at the Grill almost every single day after school. Ayla's eyes then searched for Elena and saw that she was standing in the middle of the dance floor with Stefan, a worried look on her face before she started to pretend as if she was having a great time. Ayla just kept her eyes on the girl for a moment, trying to keep the rush of emotions from all of the students from overwhelming her.

The alcohol helped slightly, but it was still difficult to block out all of the different emotions and feelings, especially when she was doing nothing to keep herself busy. With one more glance around the dance, looking out for any sign of danger, she sighed and walked over to Alaric, needing a distraction from her mind and her powers.

"You on 'look out for Klaus' duty too?" She asked him and the teacher looked at the much shorter girl. His eyes widening as he stared at her.

"You." He muttered so lowly that she didn't even hear him. He grabbed a hold of her chin gently and stared into her eyes. She looked up at him almost entranced before she narrowed her eyes at the older man suspiciously. She felt his arrogance being washed over with an overwhelming feeling of surprise and interest.

"What are you doing, Mr. Saltzman?" She broke out of the trance, not liking the spark that she had felt when he gazed into her eyes.

"Sorry." He let her go, taking a step back to put a little distance between them and then cleared his throat. "They roped you into looking for, uh, Klaus?"

"Unfortunately." She sighed.

"What do you think of him? The stories about him?"

"He sounds like he's an indestructible vampire that will have absolutely no problem killing us all without even trying. So I'd say the odds aren't great."

"Then why are you helping?"

"Because I'm an idiot who can't help sticking her nose where it doesn't belong for the people she cares about." She chugged down the rest of her spiked punch.

"Drinking on the job?" He smirked, looking down at her but almost afraid to keep eye contact with her. She just put her finger on her lips and made a 'shh' noise as she began smiling. He saw the smile from his peripheral vision. "Ahh, I absolutely abhor the sixties."

"I know." She laughed, appreciating the fact that the conversation was helping in maintaining control over her abilities. "Your little lecture in class today about how pretty much everything sucked but The Beatles." She smiled. "The Beatles, though, really? They're a little overrated. You could have picked so many other artists; Zeppelin, the Stones, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan."

"A classic rock fan?" He asked, surprised. She just nodded, thinking about all of the songs she used to listen to with her mother when she was growing up. "I'm more of a Jazz fan myself. The 20's, they were much more my cup of tea."

"Really?" She looked surprised, not expecting his response. But Damon came walking back over to them quickly.

"Anything, Ayla? Or are you just standing here flirting with Ric?"

"Ew, he's my teacher." She gave him a disgusted look. "And he's like twice my age!"

"Why don't you just go somewhere else and be useless while looking pretty, okay?"

"Aw, you think I'm pretty?" She asked sarcastically, shoving him aside. "Asshole." She muttered, sitting down at one of the tables by herself. She watched Jeremy and Bonnie dancing together happily, she felt the power dripping off of Bonnie and she knew that she was a witch as well. A witch that had a massive amount of power supporting her, somehow.

Ayla cleared her throat and looked away from the couple, choosing to just stare at her empty glass instead. She felt a familiar sensation of utter loneliness creeping up on her as she watched everyone dancing and smiling. She wished she could experience a normal high school dance like everyone else. But instead, she was worried about all the things that go bump in the night.

She was worried about feeling what everyone else was feeling, especially those that knew they were in danger. The fear, the anger, the dark emotions; they always seemed to drown her. Ayla sat alone and sighed, wondering why she had to be cursed with this life. What had she done to deserve this?

"Ayla?" She jumped and looked at the person who she just now noticed stood in front of her. She recognized him, but it sounded as if he was confirming her name.

"Yes, and you're Chad..."

"Would you like to dance with me?"

"Aren't you with Dana?" She asked, a suspicious look on her face, not wanting to get involved in some petty relationship drama when there were literally life and death matters at hand.

"I can't let the most beautiful girl in the room feel lonely."

"Is Dana okay with this?"

"Yes, I insist that you dance with me." She just stared at him for a moment before she stood up and took his hand in agreement. She couldn't really feel any emotion coming off of him though. He escorted her into the middle of the dance floor when someone on the stage spoke out.

"This song is dedicated to Ayla." She looked at Chad who just had a nervous smile on his face as 'Thank You' by Led Zeppelin came on over the speakers. She looked around suspiciously but continued dancing with him until halfway through the song when he finally spoke up again.

"Klaus wants me to thank you for this dance. He told me to tell you how lucky I am that I had the pleasure of dancing with the most beautiful girl in the room."

"I-I should go..."

"He said that you don't have to worry, Ayla." She pulled away roughly and sped over to Stefan and Damon.

"Ayla, are you okay?" Stefan asked her gently.

"Who really is Klaus and what the hell does he want with me? Is that why you asked me to help? You're- you're all using me to get to him?" She had tears in her eyes.

"What are you talking about, witch-dog?" Damon asked, with a roll of his eyes.

"He compelled Chad to dance with me... to tell me that I was the most beautiful girl in the room."

"Did you see Klaus? What he looks like?" Damon looked around worriedly, Elena just inched a little closer to Stefan's side.

"No." She spat at the vampire, who obviously didn't care about her at all. "You said no one will even know I'm involved, Damon. So how does he even know about me?" She waited for a response but none of them said anything. "We all know that no one here is gonna watch the werewolf's back and now there's a target on it."

"We won't let you get hurt, Ayla." Stefan tried to calm her down but she just shook her head. "We won't."

"So that means I should trust you?" Ayla scoffed and pulled away from him, needing to get away from them and the trouble that followed them.

"Where are you going?" Damon spat at her.

"I'm getting the hell out of here before I'm the one that becomes Klaus bait. I suggest you all do the same." Ayla ran out of the gym quickly, wanting to get back to the safety of her home. She was moving so fast that she didn't see the man in front of her, slamming right into him as she almost hit the ground. But he caught her before she could. Ayla took a deep breath and pulled away, looking up to see it was Alaric who had broken her fall.

"Where are you going, Ayla?" His voice was laced with concern.

"I am not dying for Elena or anyone else tonight. I'm sorry."

"And why do you think that you would be the one to die?"

"Do you really think that the only werewolf in this town is going to have any vampires looking out for me?" She shook her head. "No. They already killed the one person who was protecting me. And Damon... he's already threatened to kill me on more than one occasion. I used my powers to help save them once, I don't owe anyone anything."

"So you won't fight?"

"Maybe I'll fight when I know who or what I'm fighting against." She told him, inching closer. "You guys don't know who this Klaus is, or what he wants, or who he has standing with him. All any of you hear is Elena is potentially in danger so you want to try to kill what is probably the strongest vampire that has ever walked the earth. If me not fighting makes me look scared or weak, then fine..." She shook her head. "Because I am not going to sit here and trust them to keep me safe."

"Sounds like you're not as much of an idiot as you said. You sound pretty strategic to me. They would do well by listening to you." She just looked at him, with a stoic look on her face.

"Hopefully you won't die, Alaric." She turned around and started walking. "I actually kind of enjoy your class sometimes."

"Oh, I won't, love." He said under his breath.

And that night, she once again dreamt of the man with the amber eyes and razor blade teeth.

AN: I mean, he was kind of introduced in this chapter we just haven't met KLAUS-Klaus yet, only Alaric-Klaus.