I amble carelessly back to Elena's house and enter without being asked. Elena heard the door close and gave me a hug when she noticed it was me.

"Caroline. I was so worried about you. I thought he might of, I don't know, hurt you or something. Especially when you didn't show up with him."

I jerked my thumb back to point outside. "I was just out there the entire time."

"Why didn't you come in?"

"He didn't ask me to."

"Since when did you care what he wanted from you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, whatever," Elena sighed. "All that matters is you're safe and here with your friends. And Klaus is gone forever."

"What if someone invites him back?"

"I only let that slide because I knew that no one would. In fact, he's normally more intelligent in him plan making than that. There's no way he thought that anyone actually would."

"I'm just saying it's a possibility," I whispered. "Never rule out what seems impossible, Elena.

"What got into you?"

"He got to me, Elena. There's something about him that keeps me interested, keeps me wanting more. I don't understand how, but it happened. The problem with your solution, is I'm going to miss him. I'll want to see him."

"Oh. Well, you can call him or something, but you have to promise me you won't invite him back. We finally just got rid of him. It's much safer for all of us this way."

"A: I don't know his phone number, B: That's not going to be good enough."

"Please, Caroline," Elena pleaded desperately.

"Fine. I promise. Now, I'm going to go home and take a long shower. I'll see you tomorrow."

I trudged out the door and back to my house. I turned the shower faucet in my bathroom and observed each unique spray of water come down against the tile. I hopped in and ran my fingers through my hair, letting the curls work their way out. I simply stood there letting the smoke weave it's way through my senses and relax me. I had just blown everything way out of proportion. Sure, Klaus had interested me but if I just let him go, tried not to think of him ever again, how much would I really miss him?

I stepped out of the shower, blow dried my hair and then tousled it up into a simple messy bun and sunk down onto my bed.

I was staring blankly at the ceiling when the rings from my phone shook me out of my daze. I whipped it of my bedside table to see that the number was unknown. I put it back on my bedside table. I never answered unknown's. If they were someone I actually knew they could just leave a message. And then it hit me, what if it was Klaus? I reached for the phone once more only to shove my pillow over my head, and then clasp my hands underneath my body. I was not answering that phone.

When it stopped ringing, I released myself from my own captivity and slid my phone up to see if they left a message. Sure enough they did. I dialed my voice mail wondering what the harm could possibly be in just listening to his voice, what he had to say.

"Caroline," his velvety accent said over the phone, "All I wanted was to hear your voice again. I'm having trouble falling asleep, and I have no fucking idea why. This has never happened to me. Please, if there is any voice in your head, any at all, whispering for you to call me, do. Because I know you're there. You never leave your phone somewhere you aren't present. And I know you are going to listen to this because you were intrigued and you never could resist. Please, I need you. When have you ever heard that leave my mouth? 375-905-1345," he laughed miserably. Then a generic female voice said I had no messages remaining.

I knew before the message was over that he was right. I couldn't resist. I dialed his number and waited through three rings for him to finally pick up.

"Hello?"

I said nothing, wondering if I even wanted to do this. I could still hang up.

"Caroline?" he whispered.

I sighed in frustration knowing that I wouldn't end this conversation right now. "Klaus."

I heard a large sigh of relief on the other side. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me."

"Can I hang up now, or was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"You."

"What about me?"

"What's your favorite book?"

"Jane Eyre. Has been since I was very young. It brings out every emotion in me. Fear, sadness, wonder, happiness, everything. Not many books can do that. What about you?"

"The Count of Monte Cristo. Any Alexandre Dumas book actually."

"Oh, I love that book!" I cried in delight despite myself.

"What was your favorite part?"

"When he was in jail with that old guy. Not nearly as exciting as the rest of the book but it felt so different from everything else. Like it was real and special. I don't know it's hard to describe."

"That's my favorite as well, love, and I can't explain why either. What do you want in life?"

"I don't know anymore," I sighed. "I used to know. I wanted to be a vet because I loved animals so much but now I don't want to do that. I can't imagine saving animals for a living that I kill on a regular basis. I used to want children but now I can't have that. I still want to fall in love, get married, and go on a honeymoon. I want what every girl my age wants."

"I just want my family to be whole again. I've been so obsessed with this hybrid thing a long time that I lost sight of that. I also love to paint, and that's my real passion. But you know that. Do you still have that drawing I gave you?"

"Yes, I do. It was too beautiful to throw away."

I almost thought I could hear him smiling. "What about your favorite movie?"

"Oh lord. I don't like talking about that. I really seem shallow when discussing movies because 90 percent of the time I only like a movie based on the ratio of hot guys to total number of characters."

"Well mine has always been Breakfast at Tiffany's. I just adore Audrey Hepburn in that movie."

"I've never seen that. Not one for watching older movies."

"Well, if I ever see you again, that will be the first thing we do. You'll enjoy it immensely I think."

"My favorite movie is probably Silence of the Lambs actually. No hot guys I know, but something about Anthony Hopkins made me tingle. He was stunning. And of course, Jodie Foster did an incredible job."

"You wanted to fuck Anthony Hopkins?" he laughed.

"A little bit, yes. Weird I know. Don't make fun of me," I laughed. And then we both broke out into hysterical laughter and couldn't stop.

"I love that. You should laugh more often, Caroline."

"So should you."

"Touché."

"I should go, Klaus. My mom just got home and Elena is probably having someone monitoring me 24/7."

"Actually?"

"No, but, she was not pleased when I considered inviting you back. Not that that happened," I quickly said trying to recover my brief sign of weakness.

"So you do miss me? I heard what you said you know, when I left? I had a hard time believing you though."

"I do miss you. But I can't invite you back. I can't do that to my friends. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. One day you'll miss me so much that it won't matter."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe whatever you like, love, but I don't. Good night, Caroline, my angel. Sleep well."

"And you."

"I'm in agony already," he whispered and then a buzz singled the end his call. My call, to be precise and I hadn't had a conversation with a guy like that in ages. He might not be as awful as everyone made him out to be.

I woke up the next morning to find Damon perched on the end of my bed looking through on of my picture books.

"Really, Damon?" I moaned.

"How's Klaus doing? I heard you chatted with him last night."