I've pushed the later half of S2 back as Klaus obviously hasn't broken his curse yet or even knows for a fact Elena exists. S1 happened as normal, but here Caroline went far away to NYU for college. She and the Mystic Falls gang grew distant with all the secrets she wasn't in on this time around. Timeline wise it's her second semester making it 2012 and Caroline nineteen.

Klaus pursed his lips, absently wiping off the blood of his incompetent, former minion from his hand. Good help was near impossible to find these days. Stepping over the corpse, making a mental note to have one of his witches burn the body later, Klaus peered around.

He needed someone innocuous to fill the newfound vacancy. Preferably a girl this time, one that might have an easier time sussing out the veracity of the Doppelgänger sightings. Making friends and keeping the chit occupied if the rumors proved true, freeing up his time to track down his missing moonstone.

Perhaps, he would take a trip to Florida. There was bound to be someone he could easily snatch from the plague of party-going college students. Klaus suppressed a grimace as he imagined the shrieks of the masses that swarmed certain locales. Swearing he'd not step foot in a place like Daytona.

Even his Doppelgänger wasn't worth that headache. Not when he could just as easily find beautiful bait somewhere a bit less popular.

Caroline wanted to whine, desperately, but she was better than that. Even when she was girly, little Caroline (who she didn't want to be anymore, who she wasn't anymore), she knew how to work hard and achieve her goals.

That being said there was a difference between useful work and busywork. And in her opinion, this was the later. There was nothing unique or challenging about reading through a book list and writing up what amounted to a synopsis. There was no critical thought or analysis, it was simply meant as a measure of dedication. Only those who completed the assignment would be paid to go to Key West.

And alright, she understood why she had to do the work. The school didn't want to pay for a trip just so students could screw around on someone else's dime. That being said, just because she understood the reasons, didn't make the work any less annoying.

The blonde grumbled quietly and cracked open the last of the list, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and started reading.

It was grim, Caroline thought a few hours later. Bloody and human and somehow, just a bit hopeful. She stroked the cover thoughtfully. This one she was glad to have read. Its tale only further inflaming her resolve.

See, for the longest time Caroline had wanted to go into broadcast journalism. She thought she had the face and personality to do such a job. Plus, she honestly did love learning more about the world and the things that happened in it. But after the haze of junior year, friends shutting her out, waking from sleep sweat-soaked and shaking from nightmares she didn't understand, she wanted to do more than just report other's stories. She wanted to live her own. Really understand different people.

Which was why she switched her focus to international journalism and decided she would head to Asia first, arguably home to the most turmoil. Russia, China, North Korea just to name a few. Decided she would supplement her journalism courses with a dual major in East Asian Studies, and a list of other classes that would hopefully qualify for a minor in Russian and Slavic Studies.

It would be a lot of work. Far more than powering through a reading list, but the things worth doing often were.

Besides that was the end goal. This upcoming trip to the Annual Hemingway Celebration in Key West was a baby step of her journey, giving her the opportunity to report on a subculture in the safety and familiarity of her own country. It didn't hurt that Hemingway was a journalist before he was a novelist, having spent time witnessing for himself the horrid and the beautiful parts of humanity.

Caroline sighed, stretching out on her beach chair. The main events were done for the day and she had spent all of yesterday socializing. Even extroverts like her needed some time to herself. She let her eyes shut, soaking up some strong Florida rays.

"Hello, love, do you happen to have the time?"

The sudden British voice was quite unexpected and Caroline's eyes popped open as she looked up. The owner of the voice was attractive - blonde curls, blue eyes, a hint of dimples when his mouth shifted - but it was marred by the fact he was disturbing her relaxation time.

Still, her mother didn't raise her to be rude and she reached for her phone, wondering why he couldn't check his own. A quick tap revealed the time to be 4:06 PM.

"4:06," she read out, quickly flashing her phone in his direction so he could see for himself, looking over as she did so. Froze when she looked at him.

There was nothing wrong. Technically. But something about his expression sent the hair on the back of her neck rising. His eyes slid to hers, seeming to sense her alarm as he cocked his head.

"Thorough and precise. Sharp instincts. Certainly traits I can appreciate."

He seemed to be speaking more to himself than her, though her was still eyeing her speculatively.

She was wigged out to say the least.

"Right, well if that was all…" Caroline trailed off as she stood, making sure to rise on the other side of the chair from where he was.

"Nothing personal, sweetheart." She heard from behind her.

There was no time to process the words before a bloody arm was shoved in her mouth. She choked, accidentally swallowing a few gulps of blood.

A sharp crack was the last thing she heard.

Klaus looked down at the blonde in his arms, wiped the blood from her lips as he lifted her into a bridal carry. It had been fortunate the girl had chosen a decently isolated spot, and it was easy for him to claim his girlfriend had simply fallen asleep to anyone who asked if she was okay.

She had surprised him, this young girl, barely old enough to be considered a woman by current standards. Her instincts were sharper than he expected and she hadn't been taken in by his looks or accent.

He continued to walk.

Well, she might just survive her time in his service.

Caroline's return to consciousness was sudden and painful. Every part of her ached: her head, her toes, muscles she hadn't known existed until now. The room seemed painfully bright, red flashes on the back of eyelids, yet when she cracked them open all the shades were drawn.

She groaned, tasting copper on her tongue. Pain quickly turned to panic as she remembered the weird British man doing something to her. Rocketing upright, she took in her unfamiliar surroundings, trying to figure out a plan.

All for naught, as the man suddenly appeared in her room, an apparent vagrant held in his grasp. Before she could demand answers, his hand shot across the side of the man's neck, a spurt of blood shooting out from the wound.

Caroline's vision shifted in an instant, sharper but somehow seeming hazy too. And the most delicious scent she had ever smelt was permeating the room.

Thump-thump-thump

Pounded away in her ears. She groaned, feeling her mouth and teeth flare with a sudden sharp tearing pain.

God, but what was that smell?

She was standing before the man before she even realized she moved, her teeth (fangs) digging into the gash.

Gulping, Caroline swallowed. It felt like an orgasm had somehow erupted in her mouth, her brain buzzing on the high.

Thump…thump

No, you are the only stupid thing here. And shallow. And useless.

Icy blue eyes suddenly swam into her mind and she finally grasped what she was doing. That her fangs, fangs, were buried in some poor man's neck. She flung herself back, spine impacting the wall as she panted, a phantom pain in her own neck.

She cried out, clutching her head as a swarm of memories crashed over her. Memories of painful bites hidden with scarves. Her mind being twisted into knots. Screams that echoed only in her skull as a man rutted into her unresistant body.

Another memory floated to the surface. About how turning required blood and death. That spelled rings would prevent burning in the sun. She felt her heart lurch in her chest, its beat alien and slow.

No.

No, she wouldn't be someone else's nightmare.

She refused.

Klaus watched with sharp eyes as his newest sire fed and completed her transition, pleased with her speed and ferocity.

So, it was a shock when she suddenly ripped herself away before killing the man. And when she cried out he was concerned she wouldn't be able to handle the transition, disappointed that he had wasted his time.

But then he saw the look in her eyes, the daze of a sudden rush of memories, and realized she had been compelled as a human.

Very interesting.

And potentially useful.

He continued to observe her as clarity returned to her gaze. And just as he was about to address her, the girl rushed over to the nearest window, ripping the blinds off and instantly beginning to smoke in the sunlight.

Klaus was so stunned, that it took him a moment to blur forward, long enough that the first tongues of true flame scorched her flesh. He tackled her onto the bed, pinning her down and snuffing out the lingering fire.

However, as soon as her back had touched the sheets she fought him furiously, screaming and feral. There was no reason in her eyes anymore and he reached forward to snap her neck with a flick of his wrist, sitting back on his heels as he contemplated the girl.

Given that extreme reaction, he had his suspicions about what might have happened to her. Debated if she was going to be worth the trouble.

Perhaps, he should kill her? It seemed to be what she wanted a moment ago.

Klaus frowned as her eyed her, shifting from the bed to a chair beside it.

That seemed like an awful waste of potential.

…And vengeance could be quite the powerful motivator.

Decision made for the moment, he settled back in his chair, waiting for her to awaken again.

The title was the closest I could come to "Here Be Monsters" in Chinese.

3/15/2020 Mini-sequel additional content below.

Coming back to life the second time was only minimally better than the first. This time only Caroline's neck was in pain, and all her mental faculties were in place. Which was good in that she wasn't confused or disoriented. Less good in that her mind was already spinning trying to figure out what was in store for her future. She knew she was a vampire and she knew she was still being held captive.

In fact…She sat up and opened her eyes, looked directly at where she could feel his presence. It was unnervingly spot on and her wary eyes met his darkly contemplative ones.

The longer she stared at him, at this monster who had single-handedly ruined her future, the higher her fear and anger spiked. And without even realizing it she was snarling at him, face feeling oddly tense as her fangs once more appeared.

But before she could start spiraling in a cycle of shock, disgust, and rage, the man was inches from her face, his hand wrapped with deceptive gentleness around her throat.

She froze, every one of her instincts screaming to submit. That there was a bigger, stronger predator in the room.

His thumb pressed against her pulse point, where her newly dead heart beat out an unnaturally slow rhythm.

"You do not snarl at me, little vampire," he said softly. Somehow sounding more threatening than if he shouted.

Caroline swallowed, and for a moment considered defying him, her fear of death still out of commission. But…She stared into the blue abyss of his eyes and managed to retract her fangs, felt the veins she now remembered seeing on his face also recede.

No, maybe she didn't fear death anymore, but she could feel a new fire burning in her chest. She would live, if only to spite these monsters who thought they could toy with her life like it was meaningless.

"Okay," she acknowledged, voice quiet but steady. "Please, stop touching me."

Klaus felt almost proud of this infant sire of his. The loveliness of her fierce monster, tempered by astonishing control. Her delicate throat in his grasp and she dared to make polite demands of him.

And just this once he would concede, suspecting what he did of her past.

There was a long moment when he didn't react at all, and Caroline couldn't read anything in his expression. But even as she braced herself for an attack, she refused to take her words back.

And then his hand was gone, the man sprawled in the chair once more.

"You do not give me orders, Caroline." She jolted at the sound of her name, realizing he must have checked her driver's licence, felt thankful it was her recent New York one and hoped he hadn't done anything more thorough. "I am your Maker, and you owe me your respect."

"Respect is earned," she couldn't help but interject.

His eyes darkened, even as a smirk not a snarl crossed his face. "Shall I be blunt, then? I do not care if you hate me with the entirety of your being, Caroline. When I say "respect" I mean that you will be polite and you will follow my orders or I will kill you." She shuddered at the cavalier way he spoke, knowing that he meant it. Tried to hide her reactions better when she saw her fear pleased him.

But even now, a rage still simmered below her alarm. She licked her lips, aimed for level, but ended on a near hiss. "And if I'd rather be dead than serve you?"

He leaned forward, eyes glinting. "I am many things, Caroline, nearly all of them monstrous." He paused, seeming to make sure she was truly listening, before revealing how much he had already discerned. "What I am not is a rapist."

She froze, her breathing growing ragged, and a tiny, non-panicking part of her marveled that he didn't pounce on such an obvious show of weakness.

"So, if you wish to defy me, Caroline, I will end you now and be done with it. But personally, I think that would be a waste. There's a whole world out there, and you can have it all as a vampire. Strong. Ageless. Fearless."

In her panic, Caroline hadn't realized the man had approached her once more. Uttered the last word with a stunning and infuriating note of empathy.

"All you have to do is say 'yes'."

He was close to her once more, though not touching, not even looming really. Just close.

As she stared up at him, Caroline felt like Eve, tempted by the promises of a silver-tongued serpent. Knowing it could only be the wrong choice. Yet the other option was death and had she not vowed a few moments ago that she would live to spite these monsters? And for all that she had compared her so-called Maker to the Devil, so far he was not the greatest evil in her life.

One heartbeat. Two.

She sucked in a breath. Exhaled.

"Yes."

Caroline fiddled with her new ring, a thin silver band that twisted around a small blue dome of a stone. Lapis Lazuli, she had been told, a stone particularly good at channeling and holding magic.

She peered down at it, thankful that at least it was a decent piece of jewelry, but stunned by what her life (death? undeath? relife?) had become. Vampires, witches, spells. Caroline still didn't want any part of it, but if she wanted to live then she would have to learn to deal with it. And she didn't just want to "deal with it", she wanted to thrive, which meant absorbing every detail she could.

And boy, did she have an information overload to deal with. She leaned against the window pane, feeling the odd sensation of heat-not heat from the no longer lethal dawn. Her eyes slid shut as she tried to process everything she had learned last night.

Caroline watched as a wicked smirk curled at the corners of his lips, deceptive dimples decorating his cheeks. Felt more certain than ever that she had made the wrong choice.

"It truly would have been a shame to kill you, love." He regarded her for a long moment then, his gaze uncomfortably scrutinizing, before turning away. He motioned for her to follow as he exited the room.

She pursed her lips, hating to be called to heel like a dog, decided to test her boundaries as she finally followed, a snarky question on her tongue.

"Who are you anyway? And if you want me to call you 'Master', you can forget it."

His head turned sharply as he eyed her over his shoulder, an odd glint in his expression that sent a shiver down her spine. Again, Caroline cursed her reactions as he smirked at her, thankful though that the glint had faded.

"Klaus," he finally said, "you may call me Klaus."

She looked away with a half-scoff, hating how easily he unsettled her. "Weird name," she muttered.

Klaus just chuckled, apparently not offended, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. They came to a door which he guided her through, nothing but a simple office space beyond it.

The man went to straight to business, probably the only trait of his Caroline actually appreciated. Informed her that she would stay in this house until he was satisfied with her adjustment to her transition and then started to fill her in on what he wanted from her.

To say Caroline was stunned when he whipped out what looked like a vintage photograph of Elena was a vast understatement. For a split second, the old, insecure Caroline rose up, angry that even apparent monsters wanted the darling of Mystic Falls. But that part quickly deflated as the word monster properly registered in her thoughts. Whatever Klaus wanted from her once friend could not be anything even approaching good.

"This," Klaus said, rousing her from her thoughts as his finger gently tapped on the image, "is Katerina. Although I've heard she prefers Katherine now. Troublesome little thing."

Despite his flippant words, or maybe because of them, Caroline felt more unsettled than usual listening to him talk about this so-called Katherine. And it wasn't even because of her startling resemblance to Elena. No, it was the air of cruelty that seemed to surround him, the monster that she could clearly see hunting in his eyes.

Those eyes scored her as they bore into hers. "But nevermind Katerina, I'm searching for a girl that looks exactly like her."

Caroline reopened her eyes and stared blankly out the window, absently noting that the sun had fully risen. Klaus had been scarce with the details, not specifying why he needed Elena, a "Petrova Doppelgänger", but she didn't need to be a genius to know her initial thoughts were correct. Klaus didn't want anything good from her.

Wild theories raced through her head. Everything from needing specific bait to needing her death or torture. Were rituals a thing? Because she doubted Elena had any skills that Klaus didn't already have access to. The tight ship he ran would almost be admirable if it wasn't so awful. Her thumb twisted her new ring, remembered the witch he had spell the thing with barely a flick of a finger. How the woman had appeared fanatically devoted rather than disgusted as she followed his orders.

The blonde bit her lip and tasted blood, felt the way her face rippled and her canines grew into fangs. Swallowed the little trickle of copper and power and life. Hated that even her own blood called to the monster that now lived within her.

It was frightening how easy it was to contemplate going to Klaus and telling him about her once friend. A friend made in the sandbox when they were each tiny children of four or five. And yet they hadn't been friends in years.

She wondered if they had ever really been friends at all. A new light cast on their last few years, now that her memories had been returned. Elena defending, caring for, and aiding Caroline's fucking rapist. With the benefit of hindsight she knew Elena was at least partially aware of what had happened and still...

The blonde jolted as a bite of pain flared in her palms, looked down and slowly uncurled the fists she hadn't realized she had clenched. Felt a slight itch in her skin as the tiny red crescents sealed over, leaving just specks of blood behind. She raised her palm to eye level and scrutinized with unnatural clarity the lines and folds and creases in her skin. Then, with slow deliberation, purposeful intent in her movement, she brought her hand to her lips and licked the tiny flecks of blood away, let the flavor burst like tiny suns in her mouth.

Klaus leaned back in his chair as he fiddled with his phone, his meticulous gaze absorbing every detail of the pictures he was scrolling through. He wasn't a fool, he had seen the look on his little sire's face when he had shown her Katerina. Known then with near certainty that his Doppelgänger did indeed exist.

He should be compelling or torturing all the girl knew out of her at this moment. And yet instead he was lounging at his desk, waiting to see if she would come to him. Strangely, preferring the outcome where she does.

As if summoned, his keen ears caught the faint sounds of hesitant footsteps coming down the hall, their pace slowing to a crawl as they neared. He waited as they fidgeted on the other side of the door. As they steadied themselves and inhaled. Exhaled.

Knock Knock Knock.

"Come in."