Chapter 4

In hindsight, she should have flown. The drive was only 12 hours, a straight shot down I-85, but every minute was spent wondering if she was too late. It is possible that Tyler is not going to attack today. They could still be planning and not arriving for another day or two, but what if they aren't and Caroline shows up just after the slaughter?

Klaus could kill her, he could think she was involved and he would not hesitate to rip her heart out of her chest. His baby would absolutely trump her on the pillar of importance. Either way she had to try. She needed to get to Klaus before Tyler did.

She also needed blood. It's what she had forgotten to pack. She made sure she had enough clothes but not enough blood. Caroline took a moment to ponder her still new vampire being. She hates that she can still forget things, that there is still a necessity in her life that so defines her. She could stop at a hospital along the road to steal some blood bags but then, once again, she could be too late to warn Klaus. Her only hope was that Klaus had some blood on reserve. She stepped on the gas, the gauge on her speedometer inched towards 90mph. Caroline had hit a point where she could not tell if she was starving or tired or nervous. She just knew she needed to get to New Orleans.

The time passed slowly while she was driving in the car. The sun had set somewhere around Georgia and the road seemed endless in the dark. Caroline's whole body perked as she saw the sign telling her to exit for the city of New Orleans. She pulled off of the highway and began to navigate the streets of the city finding herself, for the first time, in a place that was unfamiliar to her. She had never really left Mystic Falls.

She pulled up to Bourbon Street, parked and moved out into the night. When she saw the street crawling with vamps she knew she had pulled up in the right area. Klaus would be here.

She left her car with her bag in it. She was hungry and tired, but continued on her mission. She walked towards a bar on the edge of the street, assuming that Klaus would like a nightcap in New Orleans just like he did in Mystic Falls. She was halfway there when a group of vampires took notice of her. They asked her where she was from, and her vampire senses heightened as she realized she was being surrounded.

Three vampires stood around her, One in front and one on each side of her tiny frame. The tallest one grabbed her and held tight as she tried to rip her hand away from his. "Where did you get that ring?" His fingers gripped her ring and moved to take it from her. This is the ring that gave her the daylight, and in lieu of loosing it Caroline pulled her other arm back and punched the vampire in the face.

Her arm was shaking slightly as if her muscles could not believe what she had done. But the vampire had reacted, his head flung back. "They're new," she thought, "they haven't been vampires as long as I have. Older means stronger." The other vampires moved in on her and she grabbed the one to her right and flung him into the one she just punched. She kicked out, defending herself against the third vampire in this little group of thugs and he flew back into the wall ten feet behind him. She took three steps back in order to brace herself from further attack, the vampires were already recovering and she felt that some distance would be to her advantage. On the third step she bumped into a hard body. Fuck, she thought, these bastards had another friend and he was right behind her.

Before she could turn around, she saw her attackers look up in fear. They did not move towards her again. The one who had grabbed her arm backed away while putting his hands up in a submissive gesture. "We were just talking to her," he stammered.

Caroline turned slowly around and her eyes opened in shock, "Elijah?"

"Why is it," said the Original ignoring the girl in front of him "that you are accosting a young girl for simply walking into the Quarter?"

"She has a daylight ring" this guy was clearly the groups spokesperson, "we were wondering how she got it. O-or who she is."

"Well," Elijah smiled and moved Caroline behind him, "let me explain." He walked towards the vampire calmly. "She is a friend of my family, and she" his hand jutted into the vampires chest, "is off limits." he ripped the heart that had been beating in his hand out of the vampire's ribcage. He turned back towards her.

"Hello, Miss Forbes. Welcome to the French Quarter."

She stood there in shock at the spectacle in front of her. The vampires who approached her quickly fled the scene. Others present were looking to see what had happened. Most of them were intelligent enough to run once they saw Elijah was involved. He walked quickly over to Caroline and took her arm. "Come with me."

They moved deftly through the street and took several turns. Caroline knew she would have to walk around for a while in order to find her car again. Elijah had yet to let go of her arm and it was starting to smart at the pressure. He made a sharp turn and pulled her into a building. "My dear, we have very little time before my brother is aware of your presence so you will answer me quickly. Why have you come to New Orleans?"

"I came- wait, what? Where are we? I need to see Klaus." Elijah was looking at her like she was someone out to get him. He towered over her. She was a tall girl, but around him she felt tiny. She shrunk in the presence of his experience; his age alone made her seem small.

Caroline shook away her feelings of inadequacy and readjusted her posture. Standing tall, she met Elijah's gaze, "I came here to speak to Klaus. So, you can either bring me to your brother or you can think about this moment a few days from now and think 'Gee, maybe I should have listened to Caroline' because you all want to know what I have to say, and I am only saying it to Klaus."

He stared her down in deep contemplation. What could this girl know that would be of such value? Niklaus would be upset with him if he hurt her. He would be upset if he knew this conversation was happening. The Original gave her a half smile. "Fine, I will bring you to Niklaus, but let me make myself clear. If you being here is, in any way, a plot to hurt Hayley or my brother what happened to the man in the square will seem like a small spat in comparison to the hell I unleash upon you."

She looked up at him behind her lashes and nodded once. There was no question in her mind; he was speaking truthfully. Elijah is noble, but that does not make him less of a threat. It makes him more terrifying. This man keeps his word, and he would not hesitate to kill her.

When she inclined her head, Elijah once again grabbed her arm, "I can follow you myself, without you dragging me along." He stopped, looked at her, then nodded and released her from his grasp. This must be why Klaus likes her, he thought; she is almost adorable in her defiance. And he walked into the night with a blond baby vampire following behind him.