A/N: Welcome readers and thanks for the quick reviews! I promise that all my chapters will be fair length! That chapter was to just get the feel of the story and to grab some attention quick! Sort of like a prologue or a prelude! So here's the first real chapter.
Klaus had tied Caroline's wrists and legs together with vervain ropes, so he wasn't worried when she awoke groggily during the middle of their long car ride. Klaus turned his head to smile at her. "Welcome back, love. Now tell me, what's your music preference? I'm thinking… Pop."
Caroline tugged at her restrained arms, tied around the back of the seat and the movement dug the ropes into her skin. She hissed. "What the hell Klaus? Untie me."
He shook his head. "Sorry, I can't trust that you won't try to run."
Caroline clenched her teeth together. "If only I had a dagger."
Klaus chuckled at her. "Now, now, let's not be mean."
"Seriously though, these ropes are killing my arms. What kind of genius move was it to turn me into an arm contortionist?"
Klaus was visibly annoyed, but he pulled over. If it were anyone but Caroline, he would have probably just snapped their neck again and kept on driving. But Klaus, for some reason, had a soft spot for this blonde baby vampire. He made his way over to the passenger side. "If you try to run, I will chase you down and snap your neck again."
"I won't run." She said quietly, defeated. He released the ropes from her wrists and legs and she cringed as the ropes peeled off of her burned flesh. She stretched out her stiff limbs and watched as the wounds disappeared.
Klaus got back into the car, shut the door and continued driving. But Caroline's vision quickly disappeared and everything went black. "What the hell are you doing now?" She muttered angrily.
"Blindfolding you, of course." Klaus replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I can't have you knowing where we're going and where we end up."
"I hate you." She grumbled.
She could only hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Join the club."
Caroline's vampire instincts hated having one of her senses cut off, so she spent the entire ride in a tense, uncomfortable silence. Klaus, of course, couldn't let it go. "Why so glum, sweetheart?"
"Go to hell." She spat.
He couldn't help but roll his eyes. Her resentment had gotten old. "Now Caroline, I think our time together will be much more pleasant if we let bygones be bygones."
"You just kidnapped me, snapped my neck, tied me up with vervain ropes in a car, blindfolded me and are driving me off into the middle of nowhere to be held captive as a pawn in your little game. That's not exactly what I would call a bygone." She snapped.
Klaus smiled again. He found he had been doing much of that since he kidnapped Caroline, she was quite amusing. "I knew I liked you for a reason, Caroline." He said casually. "Not only are you beautiful but you're strong, fiery and full of spunk. It's very refreshing."
Caroline thought of a whole string of insults that she could have screamed at him, but instead, she decided that she should stay quiet, and she let out a spiteful "thanks."
And finally, after what seemed to have been forever, Klaus stopped the car. "We're here. Don't move." He said. She could hear the numbers being dialed on his cell phone. "Hello Bonnie." He said warmly. "How are you on this beautiful evening?"
"Where's Caroline?" Bonnie asked. "I know you have her."
"Would you like to talk to her, Bonnie? I can easily put her on the phone." He turned to Caroline. "Here you are, sweetheart. Your friend wants to talk to you."
He pressed the speaker button and guided the phone into Caroline's shaky hand. She grasped it tightly. "Bonnie?" She whispered.
"Are you okay, Caroline? Has he hurt you in any way?"
Klaus answered for her instead. "Caroline will not be harmed unless I don't get my coffins back. I'm coming directly to you Bonnie, because I'm quite aware of the love that you have for this young girl. And because Stefan proved to me last night, when he proceeded to almost drive the doppelganger off a bridge, that he no longer cares about anything. I will give you one month to use your witchy interference and convince Stefan to give me my family back. If you try any funny business, I will know about it and for each indiscretion, I will rip one of this baby vampire's limbs off. If you fail to succeed, I will rip her heart out of her chest. Are we clear?"
Caroline could hear her heart beating out of her chest and the fear swelled up and got stuck in her throat. "I understand." Bonnie said slowly.
"Good. Oh and Bonnie sweetheart, don't even bother trying a locator spell because I have my own set of witches more powerful than you could imagine, ready to fight you off. They will harm you, and maybe even kill you. And then Caroline will lose one of her beautiful limbs because of your mistake. Remember, if you die, there's no chance of me getting those coffins back. So that means Caroline dies as well. Goodbye Bonnie, I will see you in thirty days." He said sweetly, and then he hung up the phone.
Caroline found herself struck with fear and unable to move. She sat still for a moment, figuring that Klaus would say something or tell her that it was okay for her to get out. When he was silent, she reached her arms up to remove the blindfold.
His hand wrapped around her wrist. "Not so fast, love." He said. And then, he spoke again but he was closer than before. "Like I said, it's nothing personal."
And then she was suddenly immersed in blackness again.
Klaus couldn't help but feel bad that he kept snapping her neck, but he didn't want to take any chances. There was always the possibility that she was going to run and he would have to actually hurt her. And he did not fancy that at all.
He stroked her still face with regret, knowing that she'd never forgive him for kidnapping her and vowed to make the best of her company while he could. He had one whole month to bask in her presence before he had to give her back…
Unless he didn't get his coffins back. What would he do then? Would he have the ability to kill her?
He tucked a little curl behind her ear. He would have to find the will to kill her, or else risk being known as soft. Klaus couldn't afford to have a weakness, especially not one as pretty, small and weak as Caroline.
Yes, he would have to kill her.
But he didn't think about that now, he had time. Besides, he was almost positive that Bonnie would pull through for him. He wasn't the only one with affection for Caroline.
Sighing, he stared up at the abandoned Mikaelson mansion. They had many more, but this one had been untouched for centuries and he wasn't surprised, considering the location.
Lifting the unconscious blonde into his arms, he slammed the door shut with his foot and made his way up the steps. The mansion was quiet. It was late and his witches were probably sleeping on the top floor.
He made his way down to the basement and regretfully threw Caroline into one of the rooms that he had made into a cell type place, complete with vervain bars.
He didn't want to hold her captive like this, or torture her like you were supposed to do with a "prisoner." He just needed her as a bargaining chip really. However, he didn't want to risk her running away so he created this barrier to reassure him. He tried to make the place as comfortable as he could, complete with an enclosed washroom.
He gave one last glance to Caroline, knocked out cold on the bed and he pulled the fluffy comforter over her tiny body. He then closed the bars behind him, locked the cell and made his way upstairs. She probably wouldn't wake until morning.
"Goodnight, sweet Caroline." He whispered, turning off the lights and closing the door behind him.
Day #1
Caroline awoke for the second time with a sore neck and a throbbing head. Klaus had snapped her neck again.
She must have been out for a while though, because the sun was shining through a window that Caroline couldn't find. She sat up, realizing she was in the middle of an extremely comfy bed and then she blinked, trying to clear her bleary eyes.
Finally, she noticed the bars in front of her. "Great, a cell." She muttered, rolling out of bed and making her way over to the bars, ready to bust them open. Immediately, the skin on her hands began to burn. Hissing, she broke away and looked at the bubbling skin on her palms.
"I wouldn't try that again." Klaus' voice came from behind her and she twirled around, noticing him for the first time. "You vervained the bars?" She asked angrily.
He shrugged. "Merely a precaution. A much needed one, obviously."
Caroline crossed her arms and huffed loudly. "I'm not an animal."
He smiled in an ironic way and held up a cup full of red liquid. "Breakfast?" He asked. Caroline inhaled the sweet scent of blood and snatched it out of his hands. Getting her neck broken twice had taken a toll on her energy level. "I know O negative is your favourite." He said.
She sat on the edge of the bed as the warm liquid flowed down her throat. "So are you seriously going to keep me here in this cell for the next thirty days? I'm going to fall behind in school, how am I going to catch up enough? I need to graduate you know, this is my senior year! And what about my squad? Did you forget that I'm the cheerleading captain?"
Klaus couldn't hold in his laugh. She was truly a teenager. "I hope that the time you spend here with me will make you realize that there are more valuable things than such trivial high school problems."
Caroline sneered. "High school is a rite of passage and I tend to finish it." And then she huffed again. "Are you going to sit down here and bug me the entire time?"
His lips twitched. "Maybe."
"Fine, then I want to talk about Tyler. Free him from the sire bond." Caroline pushed. Klaus' face broke into a full on grin. "Why are you smiling? I'm serious! And don't think that I've forgiven you for making him bite me. That really hurt."
"Oh Caroline, are you forgetting that I also saved your life?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, after you endangered it! And then you kidnapped me! So I say that your argument is invalid."
"Whatever you say, darling." And then he got up to leave.
"Wait!" She called after him. "What about Tyler!?" Her answer was the sound of the upstairs door shutting. With a pinched face, she downed the rest of her glass and slumped back into the bed.
What the hell was she supposed to do down here by herself for the next thirty days? Bonnie had better hurry.
Back in Mystic Falls, Bonnie was panicking. How the hell was she going to convince Stefan to give the coffins back to Klaus, to save Caroline? He almost ran Elena off a bridge the other night. He was past the point of caring.
She sat down and tried to think clearly. She didn't need to rush this and risk screwing up, she had a whole month before Klaus harmed Caroline. As long as she didn't do anything stupid to piss him off, Caroline would be fine.
She had time to plan.
Her first idea was to try Tyler. He was Klaus' first successful hybrid, and the only one that was allowed to stay in Mystic Falls. Bonnie could only hope that Tyler had an idea of where he could be.
She knocked on his door rapidly, and the look of expectancy on his face dropped when he saw it was Bonnie there. "Oh, hey Bonnie," he said dejectedly. "I just thought you were Caroline. Come in, what's up?"
She gave him a look. "Why would you think that I would be Caroline?"
Tyler led her into one of the back rooms, where he shut the doors tightly. Bonnie didn't usually visit him and he knew that it had to be important, so he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing. "We had a fight the other day, after I… Well you know. I haven't heard anything from her since."
Bonnie took a breath. "There's something you should know about Caroline, Tyler. Klaus kidnapped her."
"What!?"
"He must have been invited in so that he could feed Caroline his blood, and he used that to his advantage. He took her somewhere and he's threatening to rip her heart out if we don't get Stefan to return his family." Bonnie explained as quick as she could.
Tyler was pacing now. "Well okay, then just return the coffins Bonnie. It's that simple."
Bonnie tried to hide her annoyance. "It's not that simple, Tyler! Stefan will kill me before I can even get one of those coffins out of there. And they're being hidden by one hundred dead witches that absolutely hate him! There's no way they're just going to let me waltz in and take them. Especially not for a girl that they don't even know. A vampire to be frank."
Tyler tried to brainstorm. "What about a locator spell? We could use her mother's blood to find her."
Bonnie shook her head again. "I can't. Klaus has his own witches. As powerful as I am, there are more of them and I do not doubt that they are going to be old and strong. He threatened to have them kill me and then without me, there would be no one to get the coffins. So Caroline would die."
Tyler sat down again next to her and put his head in his hands. They were both frustrated. "This is all my fault," he moaned. "If I hadn't bitten Caroline, there would have been no reason for him to be invited in. He wouldn't have been able to get her. I would have been protecting her."
Bonnie shook her head. "No, this is no one's fault except Klaus'. There's only one thing I can do." She stood up and started to walk towards the door.
Tyler followed her. "Where are you going?" He asked.
"I'm going to talk to Stefan."