Ayla had been alone in her still human form for what felt like hours, but she was unsure of the actual amount of time that had passed. All she knew was that the pain was getting increasingly worse as her transition persisted. She was groaning and grunting wildly, and she felt like what she was turning into; an animal. But just as she felt the bones in her back begin their displacement, the tell tale sign that her transformation was almost complete, her heart felt as if it was literally being pulled out of her chest.

She wailed in pain and looked down to see the blood that began to leak from five finger-sized holes in the skin of her chest. She could feel her skin and muscle being ripped through, and she was convinced she was going to die.

She was crying, begging whoever would listen to her to relieve her of the agony. To either let her go or to kill her. But it continued for a few more moments, each second more painful than the last until she finally felt alleviation. She gasped out, gratefully until she finally felt her spine snap. She heard a howl from just a few miles away and she couldn't help but howl back.

Her body ached as she woke up in chains the next day. Her bones had felt like they were on fire. Her head was throbbing as she whimpered and pulled at the chains, just wanting to be released. She was shivering as she felt a blanket placed over her. She didn't even see the person who had stood in front of her.

"Ayla." The voice called out to her, breaking the chains off of her wrist and her ankle. She took the clothes that were handed out to her before she was helped off of the ground, pulling the warm blanket tighter around her body. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Elijah." She whispered, recognizing the familiar voice almost immediately.

"I'll give you a moment." He told her and walked out of the cave. Ayla followed after him a few minutes later and he cleared his throat. "He broke the curse."

"I know." She told him. "I heard him out there."

"Klaus told me you were here before he completed his transition. He sent me here to release you from the chains and to make sure you were safe." He nodded to his car just a few hundred feet away, parked on the dirt road. "I'll take you home."

"Is Elena dead?"

"Damon had fed her his blood. If she goes through with the transition, she'll become a vampire." Ayla felt a little relieved that her old friend wouldn't be completely dead, though she highly doubted that Elena would go through with the transition, but at least she would get the choice. Ayla followed the vampire to the passenger seat of the car where he had held the door open for her, she just nodded her thanks as he sped to the other side. They drove in silence before Ayla finally spoke up.

"You didn't kill him."

"I almost did. I had my hand wrapped around his heart, only seconds away from extracting it." Elijah told her. Ayla's eyes widened at the memory of her heart feeling like it was being pulled out of her chest just hours before. "I could have killed my brother."

"But you didn't."

"No, I didn't." Elijah cleared his throat as he drove onto the Lockwood property. "Klaus will be in touch."

"Why?"

"Your connection to him, Ayla." She eyed him angrily, not understanding why he would be bringing this up again. She was so tired of hearing how she was connected to a thousand year old vampire that she had never truly met before the previous night. "Klaus does not care about the suffering or torment he inflicts upon others. He hasn't for centuries. But he made it clear that he wanted me to find you and keep you safe after your transition. He does not care for a great deal of things anymore, Ayla." He handed her a piece of paper and she opened it up to see a phone number written on it neatly. "If he is willing to help you and protect you, he must feel that connection, too."

"What is this?"

"A way to contact us, should the need ever arise."

"Thank you for the ride home, Elijah." She closed the door and moved quickly towards the Lockwood Estate, wanting to end the conversation with the Original vampire. She went directly to her bedroom, not wanting to speak to her step-mother or her brother. All she wanted was to be alone.

She looked at the number that was in her hand once more before she crumpled it and threw it into her trash can before she laid on her bed, not realizing that she would sleep for an entire day.

Ayla had barely been awake for an hour, having little to no time to actually get on with her day before the doorbell rang. She ignored the ringing, hoping that someone else would answer the door, as she finished eating her small lunch. When she heard the doorbell ring again, she sighed, coming to the conclusion that she was the only one home. So she walked slowly through the foyer and opened the door, seeing Stefan Salvatore standing in front of her with an aura of persistence and desperation radiating off of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"You heard about the sacrifice?" He looked at her, she just nodded then opened the door for him to enter. He followed her into the kitchen where she has previously sat on the kitchen bar stool. She took another sip of her second cup of coffee and waited for Stefan to continue. "Klaus killed Elena and her Aunt Jenna."

"I heard." She looked down sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." He shook his head before narrowing his eyes at her slightly. "What is it with Klaus and you? Damon said you had some sort of bond with him."

"You mean when Damon kidnapped me and tried to get Klaus to sacrifice me and he didn't?" She asked sarcastically, before shaking her head. "Look, I don't know, okay? There is no bond or connection between us like everyone thinks. He just… he protected me. He helped me when I was transitioning. I don't know why."

"And you haven't heard from him since?"

"No. Not since that night." She looked at Stefan, she knew he was waiting to ask her something. "What do you need, Stefan? I know you guys only come around when you need something from me, so just tell me."

"I need you to try to contact Klaus."

"And why would you want me to do that?"

"Because your brother accidentally bit Damon." He sighed nervously. "He's dying, Ayla. And there might be a cure, but we think that only Klaus can help."

"Damon kidnapped me. He wanted me dead."

"He was scared… for Elena. He thought that somehow Klaus might have been willing to trade you for Elena."

"No one wants me more than Elena." She laughed sadly. Stefan just frowned at her self-deprecation. "That never would have worked. Klaus never would have traded Elena for me and I think deep down Damon knew that."

"Ayla…"

"'Kill two wolves with one stone' those were Damon's exact words to me. He wanted me to die, Stefan."

"I'm sorry that he treated you that way." He said honestly. "But he's my brother. You can't tell me you wouldn't do anything for your brother." Ayla thought for a moment, knowing that she would do anything for her brother. For the only family that she had left.

"Fine." She spoke tactfully, causing Stefan to nod gratefully. "I'll reach out to Klaus and Elijah. But that's all I can do, Stefan. I can't promise anything."

"Thank you."

"I'm not doing it for Damon. Or for you, for that matter." She told him. "I'm doing it for Tyler."

"Still, thank you." He spoke, genuinely.

"I'll call if I hear from them."

Ayla felt strange pulling the crumpled paper out of her garbage bin and then dialing it into her phone. She wondered why she was even willing to save the life of someone who murdered her uncle. Someone who would have let her die without even an ounce of remorse.

But she knew that Tyler would have been the one feeling the guilt, the shame, and the pain if Damon had died, especially since the vampire had saved both his and Caroline's life. Even if he didn't care for or really even know the vampire, Tyler still had already been through so many traumatic things. She couldn't let him feel at fault for another death. So she dialed the number and listened to the trilling of the line for a few moments.

"My sweet Ayla." Klaus finally answered. "I was wondering when I would hear from you."

"Klaus." She felt a wave of consolation as she heard his voice, and she found that to be unexpected. "Are you still in Mystic Falls?"

"We'll be back in just a few short hours. Can't wait to see me?"

"Actually… there's a small problem and I need your help. I'll meet you at Alaric's?"

"I can't wait, love."

Ayla arrived to the apartment first, Stefan followed shortly after her and they both walked inside together to see a distressed Katherine standing there, with a look that said she was ready to kill.

"Hello, Katherine." Stefan greeted the vampire. Ayla just walked into the apartment and looked around for any sign of Klaus, but figured he had not returned just yet.

"Two days, I've been waiting. I am supposed to be free of Klaus' compulsion by now. He's supposed to be dead."

"We ran into complications."

"Complications?" She scoffed with an attitude. "And you brought the dog, wonderful."

"All you vampires are so rude." Ayla rolled her eyes.

"We need to find Klaus. Where is he?"

"He said he would be here, Stefan." Ayla responded.

"Yes, Stefan." Klaus walked in with a smug grin. "I told the lovely little wolf I would be here. And here I am." He put his arms up condescendingly. "And you just keep popping up, don't you?"

"I need your help…"

"Ah, Ayla said she needed my help. That's the only reason why I am here."

"For my brother." Stefan continued.

"Well, I thought it was for Ayla. That's why I rushed back." He smirked at the desperate vampire as Ayla watched their conversation. "Well, whatever it is, he's gonna have to wait a tick. You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention."

"You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here." Elijah spoke up, inching slightly closer to Stefan. "My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own."

"And so I shall." Klaus stabbed Elijah in the chest with the dagger while Elijah screamed in pain. Ayla gasped at the sight of the greying skin and blackening veins making their way up Elijah's neck and face.

"Klaus!" She called out to him, he just looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes before going back to shush his brother as he dropped the body to the floor. Ayla moved quickly to Elijah's body and went to pull the dagger out of his chest.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that, love."

"W-why?" She looked up at him, wide eyed. "He's your brother!" Klaus ignored her, choosing to speed over to Stefan before shoving him up against the wall roughly.

"Now, what am I gonna do with you?" Klaus whispered before stabbing Stefan in the chest. Stefan gasped in pain. "You feel that? It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement, and you're dead."

"Klaus… please." Ayla whispered at him, seeing Stefan hunched over in pain. "He's just trying to help his brother."

"The brother that offered you up for a sacrifice? That killed your uncle and tried to kill you?" Klaus tried to understand why she wanted to help Damon. He tried to understand why she wouldn't want both of the vampires dead when they would offer her up without any remorse if it meant they could protect themselves.

"The witches said you had a cure." Stefan gasped again. "Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want."

"Klaus, please." Ayla begged, not wanting anyone to get hurt. Klaus looked back at her before pulling the stake out of Stefan's chest, causing him to fall to the floor. Stefan continued groaning as he was hunched over in pain.

"Trouble is… I don't know if you'd be any good to me the way you are now." He poured blood from a blood bag into a cup. "You are just shy of useless."

Stefan pushed himself up into a sitting position as Ayla watched from her spot against the wall now. She didn't know what to do, what she could do, so she just watched.

"I heard about this one vampire. Crazy bloke, always on and off the wagon for decades." Ayla's eyebrows furrowed, unsure of what Klaus was talking about. "When he was off, he was magnificent." Klaus whispered before standing up and walking over towards her. "1917, he went into Monterey and wiped out an entire migrant village. A true ripper." Klaus looked over at her. "Ayla, do you know what a ripper is?"

"No." She whispered, shaking her head.

"A ripper is a savage vampire. They are quite sadistic. They mutilate, terrorize, and hunt their prey. And they enjoy it. They feed so brutally that the heads of their victims get ripped off."

"A-are you a ripper?" She asked fearfully.

"No, love." He smiled at her. "But Stefan here was."

"I haven't been that way in a very long time." Stefan spoke up and Ayla could feel the shame drifting off of him.

"Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with." Klaus told him. "That is the kind of talent that I can use when I leave this town. Katerina, come here." He held his hand out to her and when her hand touched his, he immediately bit her wrist. Ayla gasped again, knowing what would happen to her.

"No! No!" Katherine screamed, staring at the werewolf bite on her wrist. Klaus then bit into his own wrist before forcing Katherine to drink it. The werewolf bite immediately started to fade away and the fear that lingered off of Katherine began to dissipate.

"You want your cure? There it is."

"Your blood is the cure." Stefan spoke quietly.

"Gotta love mother nature." Klaus smirked, putting his hand on Stefan's shoulder. "Now… let's talk, you and I." Klaus sat down across from Stefan, dragging a blade across his hand as he let his blood pool into a bottle. "There it is. You want to save your brother? How 'bout a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for you when we leave this town."

"I'm not like that anymore."

"Well, that's too bad." He started pouring his blood out into the sink. "You would have made a hell of a wingman."

"Wait." Stefan spoke up and Ayla wished she could shut off her powers. She wished she couldn't feel everything that Stefan was feeling right now. His sadness, his anger, his self-doubt, his torment. But more so, she felt Klaus' arrogance and amusement. He enjoyed being cruel to Stefan.

"Now that's more like it." He smiled, tossing a blood bag over to Stefan. "I want you to join me for a drink." Klaus smiled as Stefan began drinking from the bag. "Finish it. All of it." Stefan stopped drinking. "You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal." Stefan drank the rest of the blood, releasing an animalistic grunt. She felt his relief as he finished off the blood, but it immediately faded when Klaus toss another bag his way. "Again."

The pattern repeated several times. Ayla just looked down to the ground, not wanting to see Stefan suffer, yet still enjoying what he was doing so much. She wanted to leave. She wanted to run from this town, from everyone. She wished that she never came back to this town because nothing ever good comes from being in Mystic Falls.

Ayla teared up, not wanting to listen anymore as Stefan began grunting and groaning out. His teeth gnashing against the blood bags as he sucked the bags dry. She could feel his desire to taste fresh blood and it made her tremble. She could feel his pleasure as he overindulged on the blood.

"You're very cooperative." Klaus smiled. "It's almost as if you're enjoying it. You can feel it, can't you, Ayla? Is he enjoying it?"

"Klaus." She tried to plead with him. She hated feeling what Stefan was feeling. He felt shame. He felt anger. But most of all he felt gratification. Fulfillment.

"Is he, Ayla?" Klaus asked gently, looking to where she was sitting.

"Yes."

"No more." Stefan said as Klaus dropped another blood bag. "Not until you give me the cure.

"Not until we make a deal. It's your choice, Stefan." Klaus knelt down to him. "You can either remain here, living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace what you truly are, leave town with me, and save your brother's life." He handed over the blood bag. Stefan took it viciously, ripped the bag open with his teeth, then began gulping down the blood in almost record timing. "That's the spirit."

Ayla clenched her eyes shut and leaned her head against the wall, begging for the sounds to stop. For the feelings to stop.

"Katerina, take this over to Damon and come right back." He held the cure in front of Katherine's face.

"You want me to leave?" She confirmed.

"Yes. And if I were you…" Katherine ran out the door so quickly, Ayla could barely see her. "I'd hurry."

"No!" Stefan called out. "She'll never take it to him. She'll never take it to him." Klaus just shrugged with a smirk on his face, as if he didn't care whether Damon lived or died. "Please, give the cure to Ayla. Let Ayla bring it to him."

"And why should she do that? Your brother killed her uncle, threatened her, kidnapped her, put her through immense pain." He shook his head. "No. She got me here for you. I think she's done doing your dirty work, Stefan."

"I don't mind, Klaus." Ayla spoke up softly as the hybrid moved closer to her slowly.

"You're too nice, sweetheart. They take advantage of you. Of your kind heart."

"I don't want anyone to die because of me."

"If Damon dies it will be because of his own stupidity." Klaus took a gentle hold of her chin, she just looked at him with innocent, pleading eyes. "If anything, you're the only chance Damon ever had at surviving."

Ayla just stared at him as he gazed into her eyes. She blinked away the tears and nodded before excusing herself to the restroom. She needed a second to freshen up and to calm down. She stared at herself in the mirror for a minute before rinsing her bare face. She took a deep breath then stepped out of the door, almost immediately bumping into Klaus who stood by the door waiting for her.

"Stefan and I, we're going to be leaving Mystic Falls."

"For how long?"

"I don't quite know, love." He looked at her thoughtfully but she couldn't decipher what exactly he was thinking. "You can come with us, if you'd like. I can teach you control like I promised. The shifts, your magic, the emotions. Anything."

"You're cruel and spiteful and mean." A frown grew on his face as she looked at him with her expressive eyes that told him everything. She was upset, he could tell. Even if she hadn't told him exactly how she felt, her eyes spoke volumes. "But you're not to me. Why?"

"I have dreamt about you for centuries. I don't know how. I don't know why. But I have." He held his hand out and she hesitantly took a hold of it. She saw him in a memory of what must have been over two hundred years ago, drawing her all alone while he sat in a field by himself. She felt the tenderness and the affection that lingered off of him as he spoke to her with a soft voice. "The emotions, they're overwhelming for you sometimes, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Sometimes." She nodded, pulling her hand away. "How is it that I can dream, draw, and… feel someone that I've never met before."

"I've asked myself similar questions for the last one thousand years." He told her honestly. "Maybe it's our gift." He stared at her, his eyes intense. "If you wish to leave with us, I can help you, Ayla. I can teach you all there is to know about being a werewolf hybrid."

She thought hesitantly for a few moments as he looked at her with an unwavering intensity. She swallowed roughly, thinking of everything that had happened in Mystic Falls. She had an overwhelming urge to escape the town, to escape the loneliness that embodied her life.

"Okay." Ayla nodded and he gave her a smile, and she couldn't help but return one back to him.

Ayla stood next to Stefan as Klaus stared at the casket holding his desiccated brother. She saw four other caskets in the storage container and wondered if it was the rest of his family. The family that Elijah had told her about before she had even met Klaus.

"I suppose, brother, you've been reunited with our family." He took a deep breath, closing the casket. She felt a pang of remorse lingering off of him and she wondered why he would do this to his family if it had made him feel guilty and sad. "Put him with the others. We're leaving town tonight." Klaus told a man before he walked over to the two of them, hearing that Stefan's phone was vibrating in the younger vampires pocket. "So… did Katerina make it in time?"

"You won't be seeing her again, you know." Stefan told him, confirming with a nod that she did.

"Because she's on vervain?" He looked at Stefan with questioning eyes. "I've been around a long time, Stefan. I rarely get played for a fool. Besides, she won't get far. You'll help me see to that."

"What is it you really want from me?" Stefan inched closer to Klaus.

"All will be explained in time. Once we leave this tragic little town." He put a hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"And what about Ayla? What is it you want from her?"

"Her company." Klaus smiled.

"I doubt that."

"Okay… mean." Ayla spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout, clearly taking offense to Stefan's comment. "I am good company."

"Yes, love, you are."

"Think about it, Ayla. You're a werewolf-witch hybrid. He's obviously playing at something."

"You are accusing me of exploiting her?" He looked at Stefan. "The same person who used her to find a cure for your brother? To help protect Elena? To find me at that sixties dance? To kill me? My intentions with Ayla are pure. I only wish to help her."

"I'm sure you do." Stefan spoke sarcastically. "Are we done here? Can we go?"

"Not quite. You see, I have a gift for you." He pointed behind one of the storage bins. "Come here, sweetheart. Don't be afraid." Ayla looked to see a girl standing there, though she was told not to be afraid. Ayla knew that she was, even though she couldn't feel it. "Ayla… do you wish to wait in the car?"

"Uh, yeah." She nodded, looking to him with innocent eyes.

"Go ahead, darling." Ayla left the storage bin, but she still heard the girl screaming from outside the car. She leaned against the car for a few minutes waiting patiently to leave Mystic Falls with the two immortals. She watched Klaus walk towards her first and gave her a small smile before opening the door to the backseat for her. But she refused for a moment and looked at him.

"I don't want to be involved in any of… that." She demanded. "The ruthless killings of innocent people. The darkness. I don't want to be forced into it. I just want to learn what you have to teach me and that's it."

"I would never burden you with any of that darkness, Ayla." He caressed her cheek gently. "And I will never take away any of your choices. I give you my word."

AN: This is a long one for you guys. I can't wait to delve deeper into Klaus and Ayla's relationship. Thank you so much for 1200 views! All of you are so amazing, but a special thanks to Blu3b3rryT3a and Guest for leaving reviews. Let me know what you guys think about this chapter!