No matter what she tried, the locks weren't budging. She sat on the floor, exhausted. She had no idea how long Nik would stay outside, he could be coming back any minute.

She turned her attention to the suitcase. Was the bracelet still in there? She dug around and found it. It really was beautiful. How could she be foolish enough to think a paramedic could afford to buy girls diamond bracelets within days of meeting them? She had been clueless to the signs.

Rebecca was right, though. It didn't matter what someone's job was or if they had to lie about it. She hadn't told him about what her group of friends did for money either. Although she had a sinking feeling he knew all about them somehow, considering the warning he was trying to give Rebecca about Stefan. Caroline decided to just leave it alone. Whatever it was in those boxes didn't change the fact that she liked him.

She reluctantly put the bracelet back in the suitcase and was ready to leave the room when her hand grazed something. She knew right away what was off about the bottom of his suitcase because Tyler had made her carry one just like it. It had a false bottom. She felt around for the spot where the latch was hidden, impossible to find by anyone who didn't know it was there, and pulled. In the tiny compartment there was only a flat manilla envelope. She pulled it out and opened it, pouring the contents onto the bed.

It was all pictures of them. Her and Elena and Stefan and Damon and Tyler. These pictures must have been taken a month ago when they were in Colombia. There was one of her and Stefan laughing, another of her eating dinner with Tyler. There were a lot of Tyler with people she didn't recognize. A red dot appeared next to Tyler's face in each of the pictures. There were little cards with notes about each of them. One had the following notes: T.L. job - wait for call. Client: D.S. Nik had killed Tyler. Damon had been the one to order the hit. She felt dizzy. Everything had been a lie. Nik didn't care about her. She was a job to him. He was using her to get close to Tyler. Oh, god. did Damon know who Nik was the whole time? How could he let her carry on with him without warning her. The little speech Stefan gave her about thinking she would be happier without Tyler, that was just to make it easier when they had him killed? Did Elena know too? And Nik, she had been so open with him, she felt so safe with him. She had been foolish and reckless.

She didn't want to be in that room anymore. She wanted to get as far away from Nik as possible. Her hands shook as she pushed the photos and cards back into the envelope and slid it back into its hiding place. She made sure everything was how she left it and was just about to leave when she heard the key slide into the door.

She considered hiding, but decided just to run out of the room when Nik opened the door. Attacking her in the hallway would be too risky. She told herself she would be safe if she could just get into the hallway.

The door opened, but it wasn't Nik.

The middle aged man on the other side was holding a gun in one hand and a knife in the other. He seemed surprised to see her standing in the room, but he smiled.

"Well isn't this an interesting turn of events" he inched towards her. "I heard Nik was spending his time with a pretty little thing. Killing you would send a message."

"Who are you?"

"Well to begin with, I'm the last person you'll ever see. But you can call me Mikel."

"No. He said you were dead. His parents died in a fire."

"His parents are dead. Niklaus is not my son by blood. But I raised him as if he was my own. And how did he repay me? He killed my wife, his mother. He beat me within an inch of my life and left me for dead."

Caroline felt tears roll down her face. The gun was pointing at her. She was going to die and it was all for some guy she didn't even know.

"What's the matter? Your sweet little boyfriend isn't the person you thought he was? Thats too bad. Niklaus always was a disappointment."

"No. Nik wouldn't do something like that. He loves his family. He wouldn't."

"You stupid girl. Niklaus was fifteen when he killed his mother. He set her on fire. He killed his youngest brother. Almost killed me too."

She just shook her head, unable to believe it.

"He's killed people on a regular basis since them. I've lost count of how many, but let's just say, Niklaus usually takes his time. I wonder what he would have planned for you. You have such a pretty face. I doubt he'd let it stay that way. I'm thinking acid, maybe?"

Caroline was backing away from him, but she had nowhere to run. She would never make it past him to run out the door.

"No. Nik would never hurt me."

She said the words but didn't believe them. Nik had said his parents died in a fire. This man was telling her that Nik was the one to set his mother on fire, and beat him, his stepfather to near death. Even if this guy wasn't telling the truth, he was here, alive. Nik had been lying to her.

His hand grazed across her neck. "I'm going to slit your throat and spill your blood over everything he owns. What do you thing will make him more upset, seeing your dead body or not having any clean shirts to wear?"

He forced her to her knees over the open suitcase. Caroline felt the blade sit against her skin as she looked down at the shirt Nik had torn strips from to make her bracelet. She wanted so much to believe that the Nik who did that for her was real, but it was all ruined.

Something happened. There was a click. The door? She hoped the maids had come to clean, giving her a chance to dart out of the room.

Nik was there. Mikael took one hand away from Caroline to point his gun at Nik, still using the other to press the knife against Caroline' neck. Nik's hand found his gun as soon as he opened the door and it was pointing back at Mikael.

"Step away from her."

"Good to see you too, Niklaus. I was just having an interesting chat with your little pet."

"You're not stronger than me anymore, old man."

"I'm still smarter than you, boy. And I seem to have some leverage. Take one step towards me and I'll kill her."

"That was the last threat you'll ever make towards me. I've been waiting years for this moment. Now I'm finally going to put you in the ground for everything you've done to our family."

"Our family? My family. You're the bastard born child that never had any place with us. No one cares about you anymore, boy. Your siblings are repulsed by what you've become, you only have their loyalty though fear. And besides them, who would even go near you? No one. You have no one."

Nik took a step towards Mikael and Caroline could feel the knife press a little harder. It was just about to break the skin.

"Your impulse, Niklaus. It is the one thing that keeps you from truly being great." Mikael smiled down at her, ready to kill her and then deal with his foolish stepson.

Nik took the opportunity to rush towards him.

The two men moved at a blurred speed. She heard a scream and felt a spray of blood hit her and the wall in front of her. Caroline put her hands to her neck. It was fine. The noise and the blood didn't come out of her. Something dropped to the ground next to her with a loud thud. The gaping wound in Mikel's neck splashed at her as his body fell to the ground, lifeless. Nik hadn't just slashed at it with a knife, he tore the flesh apart, pulling Mikael's esophagus out of his body.

Nik was standing there, looking down at her and the body. His entire hand was stained red. It was as if someone else had taken over. The cold she had seen in him when he fought with the man at dinner was nothing compared to this. He was a creature made of ice and stone, unfeeling and inhuman, living in the same skin as the Nik she thought she knew. Blood had splashed across his face. He absently licked his lips, tasting the blood on them.

He was surveying the room. It wasn't an ideal situation. There was a lot of blood and the body would have to be disposed of, but he had finally done it. Mikel was dead. He didn't know why Caroline was there, but judging from the way he found them, Mikel was only seconds away from slitting yet another throat as a warning to Nik, letting him know he could still track him.

You managed to track me, but you couldn't kill me. Nice try, old man.

He was clicking open the boxes, thankful he had brought everything he needed for situations like this. The largest one was full of plastic bottles of acid. He pulled all the bottles out and dragged Mikel's body in, folding him, snapping and dislocating joints to make him fit. He uncapped the bottles one by one and poured them in.

Caroline watched, stunned, as the clear liquid bubbled and steamed as it melted the flesh from bone, slowly turning Mikel into something unrecognizable. Once Nik had poured it all in, he closed and locked the large box that contained what used to be Mikel. He was opening another box, pulling out garbage bags, cleaning supplies, bleach. He sprayed something around the room that made the blood stains start to lift. She was frozen in place while she watched him work meticulously.

After a few moments he seemed to come back to his senses and notice the blood covered girl sitting on the floor watching him work.

"Caroline, go take a shower." he handed her a garbage bag "Put all of your clothes in here"

She started to head towards the door to leave for her room. He wasn't Nik anymore. Maybe she could just get away, he didn't seem to even notice her in there with all of his attention focused on cleaning.

"No." he said, pointing at his bathroom "In here."

"Nik, just let me go back to my room."

"No. It's not safe."

"Nik, please."

He stormed over to her and gripped her arms tight so she couldn't pull away. "He almost killed you."

"And you killed him. He's gone now, you don't have to worry about me, just let me go."

He looked back at her, loathing the person he was, that he would have to do this to keep her safe. She would hate him for it, but she would be alive. "I can't let you go."

She looked at him, full of fear and anger "Are you going to kill me?"

"Kill you? Do you really think that low of me?"

"Yes." she hissed "I know who you really are now. You kill people. You killed Tyler."

"Listen to me very carefully, Caroline. Mikel does not work or travel alone. People are here watching me and when they find out he's missing they'll come after me and they'll start by killing anyone I've ever cared about. I'm getting out of here and I'm taking you with me. You can either come willingly or I will make you. Now get in the shower, you're covered in blood."

She felt numb as she walked into the bathroom. He stopped her before she shut the door, and reached into her pocket and took her phone. He closed the door most of the way, leaving it open a crack. She was too shocked to fight him on it, so she just pulled the blood soaked clothes off, threw them in the sink, and got in the shower. She scrubbed and watched the swirls of pink in the water as the blood came off her skin. Once she was clean she sat on the floor of the shower and cried. It was all too much. She had almost died and then she watched Nik kill someone right in front of her. Oh, god, what had happened to Nik? The sweet man she knew was gone, the one who healed her and helped her see a life after Tyler. He was a monster, a cold blooded killer. And she was stuck with him, he was going to drag her out of here and she was terrified of what would happen next.

Nik cleaned the room at record speeds. He had everything bagged up and ready to be disposed of in the trash room he stole the key from days ago. It was all free of any trace of his DNA, and if anyone ever managed to unlock the box Mikel was in, it would be impossible to identify the remains or even determine how long they had been in there. He hesitated to leave the room, but the shower was still running so he darted across the hall to get rid of the piles of evidence. He called Becca as soon as possible, and hoped she wouldn't be mad enough to ignore his calls. She ignored the first two but answered the third.

"Nik, leave me alone."

"It's Mikael."

"He's here?"

"Not anymore. His men are going to come after me."

"If this is a ploy to get me away from Stefan..."

"Becca you need to get out of here, go as far away as possible. Take the emergency credit card and go to the place we talked about and stay there until it's safe. Call Bonnie, she'll arrange a private flight for you so they can't track where you're going."

"I'm not leaving Stefan."

"Take him, take Damon and Elena too. I have Caroline with me. I've spent time with all of them and I don't know how much he saw, so they need to be protected."

"What should I tell Stefan?"

"Tell him whatever you want, just get out of here now."

"They're not going to just follow me without asking questions."

"Is he there?"

"No, I'm up in the room with Damon waiting for him and Elena to return from picking up some food."

"Put Damon on the phone."

Rebecca rushed into Damon's room holding her cell. He looked confused, but turned off the T.V.

"It's Nik. He needs to talk to you. An emergency."

Damon grabbed the phone. He was confused by this whole situation.

"What?"

"Damon, it's Nik. I need you to listen carefully, what I have to tell you is very serious."

"I'm listening."

"I'm going to tell you something so you know just how serious I am about all this, and that I have your best interest in mind."

"Go on."

"I was the one to do what you called Emily for. Do you understand?"

"How did you know about Emily?"

"I just told you. Now, you have to trust me. There are people after me, and they want to harm Becca and Caroline, and maybe the rest of you as well. Becca is going to get a private flight for all of you and take you somewhere safe. Go with her."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't. But I'm trying to save your lives here because Becca seems to like your brother for some reason and because Caroline would never forgive me for getting her friends killed. So do what I say and go with Becca."

"Where's Caroline?"

"With me"

"Send her back up to us."

"There's no time."

"If you do anything to hurt her..."

"Damon, you have my sister with you. Every second you stall her from getting out of here puts her in danger. She won't leave without Stefan and Stefan won't leave without you and Elena, so stop dragging your feet and get out of here. If anything happens to Becca because of you I will kill you and everyone you've ever loved, and I will do it slowly."

He hung up.

Now all there was left was his suitcase and the garbage bag he was going to throw his and Caroline's clothes in so he could burn them later.

He walked into the bathroom and saw her clothes in the sink. He threw them in the bag and looked over to the shower, hoping to catch a glimpse of her behind the clear door. His heart stopped when he thought she wasn't there, but he noticed her curled in the corner of the shower floor.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" He opened the door and saw her. He hated himself more than he knew was possible. She was shaking and crying. He had convinced himself that he could protect her, that he could make her happy. He had failed miserably.

He stepped into the running water, fully clothed. She flinched and pulled her knees tighter to her chest, refusing to look at him. He hesitantly sat down next to her. She wouldn't look his way, but her body was tense. She was trying to create a hard outer shell to protect herself from what was going on. He pulled her up into his lap and hugged her tight. She closed her eyes and tried to erase everything she had seen that day.

"Just let me go, please. I don't want to go with you." She said.

"I know. But you have to." He pulled her up and wrapped her in a towel.