I do not own The Vampire Diaries

"This is getting tiring," Mikael sighed, shaking his head disappointingly at his daughter.

"Let me go," She hissed, yanking at her chains.

"We've been through this," Mikael began.

"I don't give a damn!" She snarled, her vampire features coming out as she truly began to struggle with all her might.

"You're wasting your strength Rebekah," Mikael said over her screams of rage.

"I can't wait till Niklaus gets his hands on you," She hissed.

"And what is it you expect him to do?" Mikael asked coldly.

"What you yourself fear he will do, beat you," She said. "Don't look at me like that. Why is it you never face him head on like a true man? You're afraid of him, you know he can beat you, that's why hide behind all these silly games and threats."

That was all it took for Mikael to snap. "You stupid girl," He growled, grabbing ahold of her roughly. "Niklaus does not scare me, no one does!"

"Not even me?"

Mikael loosened his grip and slowly lowered Rebekah back onto the bed, a smile coming to his face as he turned around. "I see you've finally made your way back to me," He grinned.

"I wish I never had too," Caroline replied.

"We both know that's not the truth my dear," Mikael said, walking towards her. "Excellent job by the way, forcing Rebekah to run away. Smart of you to separate them. I assume once Niklaus finds out she's dead he'll go on a killing spree and it'll be easier to finish him once and for all."

"Oh my God," Caroline muttered, watching him in fascination. "You have lost your mind."

"Watch your tongue," Mikael snapped.

"The fact that you actually thought this was all one big ruse, and that I was actually trying to help you is hilarious. No not hilarious, it's actually pretty damn sad," Caroline said. Mikael lunged for her, but Carline moved out of the way. "I thought you would have gotten the message when I shoved a stake through your heart, but then again, your own wife tried to kill you on several occasions, so I can see why that might confuse you."

"Have you lost all respect for your elders?" Mikael hissed.

"I am an elder," Caroline shot back. "Or did you forget?"

"Oh I remember perfectly well," Mikael said, picking up a knife off the table and throwing it at Rebekah. She cried out in pain and Caroline glanced at her, but quickly looked back at Mikael, realizing her fatal mistake too late.

He grabbed her arms and yanked her to him, teeth tearing into the delicate skin on her neck. She managed to bring her knee up and knee him in the groin, and it was enough to cause him to let go, and she stumbled away, but it wasn't enough to stop him. He slapped her across the face and she tumbled to the ground. He kicked her and sent her flying through the air and into a wall.

Grabbing her by her coat, and hauled her to her feet. "I remember perfectly well, and if I do recall, back then you use to keep your mouth shut," He hissed into her face.

"Back then I was afraid of you, now I know you're just an overgrown brat," She snarled, her olf accent making its way back.

He pulled her away from the wall, and slammed her back, doing this a couple times. "Maybe it's time I remind you of your manners," He growled, throwing her on the ground.

She went to get up, but he placed his foot on her back, shoving her back down. He kept his foot on her while he undid his belt and pulled it out of its loops.

"Father, don't," Rebekah tried, gasping in surprise when he brought the belt down on Caroline's back. Caroline didn't make a noise, but it had to hurt. "Please stop."

"Shut up before this happens to you," Mikael hissed at her, and kept bring the belt down, over, and over again. Caroline kept her mouth shut the entire time, refusing to let him hear her pain, but she couldn't stop the way her body jerked every time the belt made contact.

Her silence didn't sit well with him, and he made sure to change that. He stopped his beating inly to grab a handful of her jacket and rip it off her, and in the process ripping her shirt off as well.

"No," Caroline gasped, and fought to get up. He managed to hit her across the face with the belt, and that stopped her struggles, and she finally gave in to the beating, dropping back onto the carpet and dealing with the pain.

All that could be heard in the spell room was the sound of leather meeting with flesh with a sickening ripping sound. Caroline couldn't hold back the small whimpers that escaped now, groaning loudly whenever the belt met the same mark over and over again.

Mikael stopped swinging the belt and starred down at her marked back, panting from all the work. Caroline's back was now a maze a red melts, most of them had little droplets of blood starting to ooze out. He reached down and pulled her to her feat, placing her in front of him. He lowered his head to her back and licked one of the injuries, collecting the little bit of blood from it.

Caroline gritted her teeth at the feeling of his tongue on her body, but she had to put up with it until he time was right, until the right opportunity presented itself. He slowly started to trail lower and Caroline closed her eyes, and counted slowly in her head. Finally his grip on her loosened and she swung around and she wasted no time snapping his neck.

She fell back down on her butt, closing her eyes and resting her head on her knees. Her body was shouting in pain and wanted to shut down, but she had to find a way to fight through.

"Caroline?"

The sound of Rebekah's voice drew her out of the fog and she straightened up, hissing in pain. She stumbled to her feet and over to Rebekah after she swiped the key off the nearby table. Her vision was getting blurry, but she managed to get the key in and unlock the cuffs. She would have collapsed if Rebekah hadn't caught her and support her.

"We need to get you blood," Rebekah said.

"No," Caroline rasped, forcing herself to straighten up, swaying slightly. "We need to get out of here, now."

"You're in no condition," Rebekah began, but got caught off as Caroline placed her over her shoulder and zoomed out of the room, and as far away from Mikael as possible.

They only stopped once, and that was so Caroline could get another shirt and so Rebekah could feed.

"Aren't you going to grab something?" Rebekah questioned, pulling away the girl's neck.

"No, it'll take too much time. We need to get back to Mystic Falls where we're safe," Caroline said, buttoning the shirt she had taken off the girl Rebekah was feeding on.

"Why are we so safe in Mystic Falls?" Rebekah questioned.

"For one, we have backup there. Mikael is less likely to attack knowing he is greatly outnumbered. Also, Bonnie had a spell over it that blocked Mikael and his witches from finding us, and it worked until you went and left Mystic Falls," She replied.

"Why won't it work now?"

"It was linked through everyone, and if one left, it broke. You left, it broke, now Mikael knows where everyone is. Will you hurry up?"

Rebekah went back to her feeding, stealing occasional glances at Caroline. The girl had taken a beaten, and yet she still looked ready to fight. That was something Rebekah had to admire about her, but she couldn't admire the fact that she acted like it was no big deal, and the fact that she wasn't feeding.

She finally let the girl go, and turned to face Caroline who was staring down at the ground.

"Why?"

"Why what?" She asked without looking up.

"Why would you take that from him?"

"You were there Rebekah, I didn't have much of a chose."

"I mean for all of those years, even after you were turn. Why would you stay with him after all he had done?"

Caroline looked at her and seemed to be wondering the question herself. Why had she stayed with him all those years? After a while, sure, it was for Alex, but what about before then? Before she even had Alex to worry about? There had plenty of opportunities to just get up and leave, and heavens knew there were plenty of reasons, but she stayed. Why?

"I suppose it was because I had no one else. Mikael was all I knew, and he was the only one in my life left. I guess it was because he was familiar."

"Did you ever think about leaving?" Rebekah asked.

"All the time, but I never had the courage to do it until Alex came along."

"Alex? Why Alex?"

"Because Alex is Alex. He has the ability to make you feel loved, welcomed, like you're at the top of the world even if you're at the very bottom. He looked at me like I was unstoppable, like no one could beat me, and I began to believe it. He was the only person in this world that actually cared about me, that worried about me, and he was the only one I cared about and worried about. He became my family. So the minute Mikael knew about him and the minute he hurt him, I left. I left, and even Mikael knew I was done and he lost the only ally he had."

"But you went back."

"Yes," Caroline said, looking at the ground.

"Why? If you finally had the courage and motivation to leave, why would you go back? Go back to that monster?"

"Because he hurt Alex to the point of no return," Caroline said, meeting Rebekah's eyes. "Alex was past the point of no return and the thought of that, that I wouldn't get him back... It was enough to make me go back. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him, nothing I wouldn't sacrifice from him, and even if he's a pain in my ass, he's my family. So yes, I went back to that cold hearted, abuse monster, but it was all for him. It was all for Alex."

Bonnie couldn't help but worry. No matter what anyone else told her, no matter what she knew, she was worried. Caroline may be tough, but Mikael was tougher.

"Still worrying?" Kol asked, sitting next to her,

"How can't I worry?" Bonnie asked. "She's all I have."

Kol frowned and stared at the witch, his frown deepening when he heard her sniff and a tear run down her face. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him, surprised when she gripped her shirt and snuggled deeper. He let her cry it out, and was disappointed when she pulled away and got up to wipe her face off. She had her back to him, but he could see her shaking, and got up and placed a hand on her shoulder. She tried to cringe away from him, trying to get away from him, but he boxed her in. He had no intention of letting her get away this time.

She finally turned around to face him and starred into his dark eyes, flinching slightly when he touched her cheek, but didn't pull away. "What are you doing?" She whispered.

"I don't know," He answered, rubbing his thumb across her lips.

She swallowed hard, aware of her sudden dry throat, and dry eyes. He looked like he was about to kiss her when the sound of the front door being thrown open forced him to pull away, a frown on his face.

She watched him head towards the door, and she closed her eyes in relief. What just happened? Was Kol Mikaelson just about to kiss her? Was she about to let him? All thoughts of the almost kiss slipped from her mind as she heard a familiar voice.

"Are you going to welcome me home Kol, or are you just going to stand there and stare at me?"

Bonnie practically ran into the hallway and would have attacked Caroline with a hug, but Kol had beaten her to it and had his arms wrapped tightly around her. "Move it," Bonnie growled, shoving him out of the way and squeezing the life out of Caroline herself.

"Who knew it, Mikael can't hurt me, but hugs from a witch can," Caroline muttered, returning the hug.

"Alex," Rebekah whispered, throwing herself at him. He easily caught her and brought her as close as he could, kissing down her temple and finally her lips.

"You okay?" He muttered.

"I'm fine," She whispered.

He kissed her forehead and gave her one more squeeze before moving to Caroline, who was still holding Bonnie. "How bad?" He asked.

"It's nothing," She said softly.

Elijah and Klaus showed up at this point and hugged their sister, grateful she came back alive. "Thank you Caroline," Elijah said, nodding to her.

"So how did you do it?" Klaus questioned.

"Excuse me?" Caroline asked with raised eyebrows.

"How did you escape Mikael, seemingly okay?" Klaus asked.

"She didn't," Alex said. "How bad?"

"Don't worry about it Alex, I'm fine," She said, detangling herself from Bonnie.

"No she's not," Rebekah said softly.

Caroline's eyes bore into Rebekah's, betrayal flashing through them, and she felt slightly bad, but it was too late to take it back.

"Show me," Alex demanded.

"Back off Alexander," Caroline snapped, her accent once again making an appearance for the second time that night.

"I'm not asking you again Caroline. Show me," He said through clenched teeth.

"Just leave her be Alex," Bonnie said.

"Stay out of this Bennett," Alex said, approaching Caroline slowly.

"You don't want to do this," Caroline warned.

"That's not the shirt you left in Caroline," Alex said softer. "What happened?"

"I'm not going to stand here and argue with you about this," Caroline growled, turning to leave.

Alex moved and pressed his forearm against the back of her neck, pressing her into the door while his other hand ripped her shirt off, revealing her injured back to everyone.

Caroline didn't struggle and pressed her forehead against the door, eyes closed as everyone examined her back. Alex ran his hand gently along her spine, causing her to jerk and hiss out at him.

"Why aren't you healing?" Elijah asked quietly.

"You should have healed already," Kol added.

"You're not eating, are you?" Alex asked softly, continuing to run his fingers across the wounds. He knew Caroline better than anyone, and on many occasions he was the one that held her after these beatings, so he knew this was a comfort to her. After these beatings, she tended to want to be touched in a soft, gentle way, and Alex had no problem being the one to do it.

"She refused to," Rebekah said, leaning into Elijah.

"Care," Alex said softly. She forced herself off the door and away from her, flashing up the stairs, grabbing a shirt, and flashed back down before anyone could move. "Caroline, wait-"

She was already gone, and wouldn't be coming back for quite some time.

Caroline's hands shook as she flipped from page to page, not even registering the words. All she could think of was the burning in her back, the stiffness of the muscles, and their faces. The look they all gave her when they saw her injuries, the pity. It made her sick.

She let her head fall back and closed her eyes and fought the tears, knowing they wouldn't help. They wouldn't erase all the pain she felt, she knew that better than anyone. She also knew that crying in front of someone else was a major sign of weakness, and she had no intentions of starting now.

"I'm not in mood Klaus, you're going to have someone else tonight," She said. The lack of response made her angry, and she spun around to face him. "But that doesn't matter to you, does it? The fact that I'm not in the mood, that I'm in pain and don't want anything to do with you right now? As long as Niklaus Mikaelson gets what he wants, everyone else can be damned, right?"

His face was unreadable as he slowly approached her, and it made Caroline aware of the situation and she tried to take a step back only to find the table digging into her back. She held her hand out in an attempt to stop him, but he simply grabbed it and used it to pull her against him.

Caroline closed her eyes and waited for whatever he was going to do next, waited for the pain, but she certainly wasn't expecting what happened next.

He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on top of her head, being surprisingly careful of her wounds. He picked her up bridal style and carried her over to a wall, where he sat and pressed his back against, holding her in his arms. He continued to gentle stroke her hair until she relaxed in his lap and wasn't so tense.

"I know the wrong in my actions Caroline, I now know I was out of line. My only hope is one day you can forgive me for it," He said, placing a gentle kiss on her head.

They stayed like that for a while, Klaus stroking Caroline in soothing ways while Caroline curled up on his lap and resting her head against his shoulder. "You need to heal Caroline," Klaus said quietly, not liking the way she tensed up in his lap.

"I can't," She croaked.

"Then let me help you," He said gentle, bringing his wrist up ti his mouth and biting it, before offering it to Caroline. He thought she was going to refuse, but she wrapped her fingers around his wrist and brought it up to her lips, sucking gently. He closed his eyes and tried not to moan, knowing it wasn't the time for that, no matter how good it felt.

His blood is amazing, was all she think. It tasted so fresh, so right. It tasted like it belonged to her. She knew it didn't make sense, but she couldn't get enough. She knew eventually she would have to pull away, but for now, she was perfectly happy just where she was. She only pulled away when she felt all her injuries heal, and she was sure to lick all the blood off his wrist before looking at him.

The look they shared was heated and full of passion, and in a few seconds they would be tearing each other's cloths off if someone didn't look away. Caroline slowly licked his blood off her lips, and it was almost too much for Klaus. He was just about to make the first move when there was a loud bang, pulling both of them out of their trance.

Caroline got up off his lap and walked towards the cause of the noise. A book that had fallen off the table and was flipped open to a random page. She crouched down and read over the spell, her breath catching in her throat.

"What is it?"

Klaus's voice drew her back to reality as she stood up and faced him.

"It's the spell," She whispered. He came over and read it over her shoulder, a grin spreading over his face as he caught on to what the spell entitled.

"This is going to be interesting," He grinned, and Caroline couldn't help but agree.

Some Klaroline action! This chapter was so much fun to right, especially the blood sharing part XP. I'm super excited for the next few chapter, lot's and lot's of fun things to write. Would you believe me if I said less then 10 chapters left? I was going over all my notes for this story after I finished writing this and it made me realize this story doesn't have that much longer to go on. Crazy huh?

Thanks for all the reviews and everything from last chapter.

Review!