Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or any of its characters.

A/N: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for all the wonderful reviews! They all made my day! :D Anyway, I won't keep you any longer, I know there are lots of questions to be answered! Here's chapter 8!

-xxx-

"Come out and face me, Niklaus. Or she dies," Mikael said in a chilling tone.

Klaus watched as Caroline slowly came to. She rolled over and raised her fingers to her temples, massaging them. "Klaus?" she called out as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and then opened them one by one. She peered up at him, still too weak to stand.

Klaus stared down at her, horrified. If it were anyone but Caroline, Klaus would've called Mikael's bluff. But it was Caroline, and he couldn't risk it. Besides, Mikael was a vampire hunter, and Caroline was a vampire. He wouldn't hesitate to rip her heart out. Maybe if he convinced Mikael that she wasn't important to him, he'd let her go.
"She means nothing to me," Klaus lied.

Mikael was unconvinced. "That's not what your precious hybrids tell me."

Klaus cursed internally. They must've overheard his and Caroline's conversation and spilled the details to Mikael when he'd compelled them.

"Let her go," Klaus growled.

"If she dies, you'll live forever with no one at your side." Klaus remained unwavering. "Nobody cares about you anymore, boy! Who do you have besides this girl and those whose loyalty to you is false? No one."

Caroline watched from the ground, too weak to move. She saw a single tear fall from Klaus's eye, shockingly enough. Seeing him so vulnerable made her want to shed a few tears of her own, but all she could do was watch the scene unfolding in front of her.

"No one," Mikael repeated in a whisper. "So come outside and face me."

"If you kill her, you lose your leverage," Klaus tried to reason.

Mikael chuckled. The sound frightened Caroline. "Will I, now? What about the doppleganger?"
Klaus clenched his jaw, glaring at his father so intensely that if looks could kill, Mikael would be a pile of ash by now.

When it was clear that Klaus wasn't going to come outside, Mikael leaned over Caroline, his hand ready to plunge into her chest and rip out her heart. Caroline tensed, closing her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. If Tyler hadn't injected so much vervain into her, she would've been strong enough to run away. But since she was full of vervain, all she could do was lay there and wait for death.

It never came, though, as Klaus chose that moment to throw himself at Mikael, tackling him to the ground before he could hurt Caroline. Mikael grasped a hand around Klaus's throat, flipping him over and sending his head crashing into the ground. As they struggled, the hybrids began approaching, ready to attack.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. Someone had thrown a grenade filled with wolfsbane and vervain at the hybrids that were closing in around the fight. Klaus managed to peel his father's hand off his throat and kick him back, but before he had a chance to stand, Damon was upon him, wielding a white oak stake.

Klaus was pinned again by the Salvatore, who had stabbed the stake into his side. Klaus yelled in pain and frustration as Damon yanked the stake out and raised it over his chest.

The situation seemed hopeless. Damon was a millisecond away from sinking the one weapon that could kill Klaus into his heart and there wasn't any time for Klaus to do anything about it. He didn't even have time to prepare himself for his inevitable death. He only had time to think one word. Caroline.

All of a sudden, Stefan appeared, throwing Damon off of Klaus and pinning him to the ground. Klaus used the opportunity to grab the white oak stake. Mikael was standing, ready to pounce again, but Klaus launched himself at him and drove the stake right into his heart.

Mikael stared down at the stake imbedded in his chest, shocked. Then he turned gray and was engulfed in flames, the fire drowning out his screams. Klaus stood back, watching. He wiped his face of the tear that had fallen without his permission. The last thing he needed was to look weak in front of his enemies.

"What the hell did you do," he heard Damon ask Stefan.

"He's earned his freedom," Klaus answered, stepping over to Stefan as he rose off of his brother and turned to face him. "Thank you, my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You're free," Klaus compelled.

Stefan's mouth was hanging open in shock at what he'd just done. They both looked to where Damon had been on the ground, but he disappeared. Klaus glanced over to the porch where Caroline was still lying. He approached her, leaning down to swoop her up into his arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She nodded, whimpering.
Klaus carried her to his car, placing her in the passenger's seat gently before getting into the driver's side. Caroline's head rested against the window, still weak from the vervain.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. He meant it. He was sorry that Mikael had tried to kill her. He was sorry that she would always be in danger because of who he was and the enemies he'd made. He was sorry that she would always be someone's leverage if they ever needed to get to him.

Klaus knew what he had to do to protect her. He just wasn't sure she would like it.

-xxx-

Tyler woke up with a start, his throat sore. He raised his hand to massage his neck.

"What the hell?" he muttered, unable to recall what had happened.

Then he remembered. Another one of Klaus's hybrids had walked in right as Tyler had rendered Caroline unconscious and snapped his neck.

Caroline! Tyler jumped up swiftly, realizing that the blonde was no where to be found. He hoped she had just woken up and left on her own accord, but in this town it was smarter to assume the worst.

He rushed out of the house as the last of the party goers started heading home. How long was I out? He wondered. He hopped in his car, not even bothering with the seatbelt as he sped toward Caroline's house.

-xxx-

Klaus left Caroline's room quietly after making sure she was safe, running into the sheriff again on his way out. She had let him in when she saw Caroline's weak condition, asking him a million questions that he had skillfully avoided. It wasn't his place to explain to Liz what exactly was going on, so he decided he would let Caroline handle that.

"I trust that you can see yourself out?" Liz asked in a snarky tone.
How dare this woman talk to him like he was beneath her. Didn't she know who he was? Klaus itched to put her in her place, but she was Caroline's mother, and hurting her would just upset Caroline. So Klaus replied with a polite, "Yes," before opening the front door and stepping out into the crisp night air.

"Klaus?" Tyler asked in confusion as he approached the house. "What are you doing here?"

Klaus didn't answer. Instead, he glanced back at the house with a soft expression on his face as he thought of Caroline.

Tyler seemed to catch on. "Wait, what's going on between you and Caroline?"

Again, no answer.

This really seemed to get Tyler worked up. "You need to stay the hell away from her. Do you hear me? Leave her alone."

Klaus met Tyler's glare and stepped towards him, getting in his personal space. Tyler, although intimidated, didn't cower underneath the intense stare. "What position are you in to order me around?"

This time it was Tyler's turn to remain silent.

Klaus smirked and walked away, leaving Tyler paralyzed for a moment before he entered the house, climbing up the stairs to Caroline's room. He found her lying there with her eyes closed. Her breathing was rushed, leading him to believe that she wasn't asleep yet.

Caroline opened her eyes after a minute and used all her energy to glare at the hybrid standing in the doorway of her room.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked.

"What do you think?" Caroline replied in a snarky tone. She knew he had more reason to be upset with her than she had with him, but that didn't change the fact that she was pissed.

"I'm sorry I stabbed you," Tyler apologized, but the way he said it made it seem like he wasn't sorry at all. "It was the only thing I could think of to get you out of there."

Caroline rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically. "Oh, yeah? How about 'Hey, Caroline, I'm worried about what might happen this evening, so why don't you go home and watch Dancing With The Stars'?"

"If you knew all your friends were going to try to take down Klaus, would you have left?" he inquired.
Caroline gazed up at him with doe eyes, trying to think of the best way to answer. Of course she wouldn't leave, but it would be for reasons other than he thought.

Tyler appraised her for a moment. "What the hell happened while you were gone?"

"Tyler..." Caroline began, but she didn't know how to finish her sentence.

Tyler stood up, sending her a look of disgust as the pieces fell into place. "Klaus? Really? Klaus?"

"I can explain." Truthfully, Caroline couldn't explain.
"Keep in mind that this is the man who killed Elena and is using her as his human blood bag. He destroyed all our lives!" Tyler yelled.

Caroline began yelling back. "You should understand better than anybody! I mean, you're sired to him!"

"Understand? You want me to understand?" Tyler was boiling over with fury, but a light bulb went off in his head and he seemed to calm down slightly. "He's compelling you, isn't he?"

"What? No!" Caroline shrieked.
"Then why him?"

"Because there's another side to him that you don't know about! Underneath all the evil, there's a severely damaged man who just needs someone to love him. And when he's with me, it's like he thinks I'm the only person in the world. No one has made me feel as special or as wanted as he has. Because as much as you may hate it, Tyler, he cares about me!" Caroline shouted.

Tyler just shook his head at her angrily, his hands balling into fists at his side. He opened his mouth to say something else, but closed it, hurrying out of the room.

Caroline took a deep breath and began wiping at the tears that started forming in her eyes when her doorbell rang moments after Tyler left. Annoyed, Caroline swung her legs over the side of her bed and climbed down the stairs to open her front door.

"Caroline," Elena breathed in relief.
Seeing her best friend made Caroline fall apart. The tears flowed freely now, and sobs shook her entire tiny frame.

"I had to make sure you were okay," Elena explained as she pulled her into a hug and let a few tears of her own escape.

Caroline let Elena inside, and they stood in the living room. Caroline was still sobbing and Elena had silent tears running down her face. Caroline cracked a forced smile. "Look at us," she teased through sharp breaths. "We're a mess."

Elena chuckled once without humor, but became serious again. "This wasn't part of the plan," she started. "Mikael wasn't supposed to take you, he was supposed to take me. That's why Katherine was there instead."

Caroline just now noticed that Elena was dressed in the clothes she had worn that day instead of what she had worn—or, more accurately, what Katherine had worn—to homecoming.

Elena continued. "I'm so sorry. We didn't tell you about it because we were trying to keep as many people out of it as possible. That's why I daggered Rebekah and why Mikael killed Stefan temporarily."

"But Stefan was the one who pulled Damon off of Klaus," Caroline said.

Elena nodded. "I know."

Caroline sunk into her couch, covering her face with her hands. "What are you going to do?"

Elena sat beside her, hugging her friend close. "I don't know, Care." She paused, letting Caroline cry for several minutes before speaking up again. "Why did Mikael take you instead of Katherine?"

Caroline's voice was muffled by Elena's shoulder. "Klaus's hyrbids told him that...that..." Caroline struggled for the right words before just spitting it out. "Klaus...cares about me. They overheard us talking, and...they must've told Mikael when he compelled them. Tyler had already injected me with vervain, but one of the hybrids must've grabbed me while I was unconscious because the next thing I remembered was waking up on the porch." Another sob escaped. "I'm so sorry, Elena."

Elena shushed her. "Shh, Care. It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for. You can't help that Klaus suddenly decided to take an interest in you."

This brought on a fresh round of sobs. "You don't get it. I...I fell for him, too."

Elena was quiet for a moment. "But...Caroline, he killed me. He killed Jenna. He took away Stefan's humanity."

"Please, Elena, I already fought with Tyler, I don't want to fight with you."

Elena didn't let the subject drop. "He's terrorized every single one of us. How can you be with him?" She let go of Caroline and stood up, getting angrier by the second.

Caroline stood up, too. "Wow, Elena. Could you be more of a hypocrite right now? Look at everything Damon's done! How can you be okay with that?"

Elena was shaking her head. "That's different. Everything Damon's done has been to protect me."

"And everything Klaus has done is because he didn't want to be alone," Caroline argued. "People change, Elena."
"Klaus isn't changing, Caroline! He's evil, and he has been for over a thousand years! It's going to take a lot more than some...infatuation to make him a good person!"

"Why can't you just let me be happy?"

Elena calmed down, looking at Caroline sympathetically. "I want you to be happy, Care, but this is Klaus we're talking about here."

"I'm well aware of who he is." Caroline crossed her arms over her chest.

"So is this how it's going to be? If I want you in my life, will I have to deal with him?"

There was a long silence.

Elena sighed sadly. "Then I guess this is goodbye, Care. I don't want him in my life more any more than he already is."

With that, she took her leave.

-xxx-

Klaus had gone the next day to check on the coffins. He had just gotten off the phone with Rebekah—or Rebekah's answering machine (where was that girl?)—and had just reached the moving van that he kept his family in. At noon he was planning on checking on Caroline and telling her about his plan—the one he knew she'd be against.

His phone rang, and he was surprised to see Stefan's name light up the screen.

"Stefan," Klaus greeted happily. "Miss me already?"

"I just wanted to thank you for my freedom," Stefan replied on the other end.

"Well, I like to think I'm a man of my word. More or less," he joked.

"The thing is, it came at too high of a price. You took everything from me, Klaus."

"Let bygones be bygones. Trust me, resentment gets old."

"You know what never gets old?" Klaus pulled open the back of the moving van to find it empty as Stefan said his next words. "Revenge."

"No," Klaus growled into the phone.

"What's the matter, Klaus?" Stefan mocked. "Missing something?"

"What are you doing?"

"Just enjoying my freedom."

"I will kill you and everyone you've ever met," Klaus threatened.

"You do that, and you will never see your family again," Stefan shot back. "I wonder, Klaus. As someone who's been one step ahead for over a thousand years, are you prepared for this?"

-xxx-

A/N: So, right now they're back in Mystic Falls but don't worry, because it won't be for long. And I apologize for the lack of Klaroline in this chapter. Believe me, there will be plenty to make up for that in chapter 9 :) Review please!