Chapter 14: Blame, Guilt and Murder

Again, I must proclaim my devotion and love to the reviewers: klarolinefictionlover, MyloveforKlaroline, fanfictionfanatic18, CatValentinesCupcakes, and EtherealDemon.

Also, I have to thank my amazing new Beta klarolinefictionlover for all her help and support.

"Why should I?" shouted Klaus once Caroline had asked him to give Marcel a vial of his blood so that Tyler could go free.

"Because Tyler is a good man. He doesn't deserve to die like that."

"So?"

"And because, without him, we wouldn't be together right now."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We first met each other when you turned him into a hybrid. We had our first conversation after you ordered him to bite me-"

"Why do you care so much about him?"

"Because I love him," Caroline exclaimed. Klaus raised his eyebrows at her in an almost threatening way. She crossed her arms, offended. "No, not like that, you asshole, but because he's my friend and he's the first guy I ever truly loved. You know I'd do just about anything for any of my friends. And what would it say about me if I was with someone who refused to save my friend?"

After her confession, she expected Klaus to come straight to her side but he remained unmoved. "I don't think you understand what he did to me. He stabbed me in the back without a second thought," Klaus pointed out. "He plotted to kill me!"

Caroline scoffed. "That's bullshit and you know it. I plotted to kill you right by his side." Klaus lowered his head slightly, as if he was embarrassed. Sensing weakness, Caroline went for the kill. "Please, Klaus, I'm asking you to save Tyler's life for my sake. Please!"

Finally, for his love's sake, he nodded and stalked out of the apartment.

When Klaus and Caroline arrived at Marcel's home, night had already fallen over New Orleans. The lamps lining the streets cast shadows which made Caroline nervous. She felt as if death were following them through the French Quarter. Entering the cast iron gates of the courtyard was like walking through a graveyard on Halloween.

"Do you have what I asked for, Caroline," said Marcel in his deep baritone.

"Good evening, Marcel," said Klaus. He stepped in front of Caroline, which she thought was kind of sweet. "I think you have one of my hybrids." His teeth glittered in the moonlight.

Marcel wasn't about to cower in front of Klaus. He squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. "I believe you have the cure to a werewolf bite."

With a moment of hesitation, Klaus bit his own wrist; pouring the dark red blood into a vial he was handed. He didn't give it back to Marcel, though. "My hybrid," he repeated firmly.

Marcel signaled one of his vampires to go fetch Tyler. As they waited, Marcel commented, "You know, I was starting to think you might not come through. Miss Caroline here certainly didn't think so. But she's always been more convincing than she gives herself credit for."

Caroline didn't miss the threatening connotations of Marcel's words. This wasn't about curing a friend to him- it was about power, about proving he could force Klaus to do anything that he pleased. She watched her boyfriend warily, half expecting him to ruin everything by crushing the small vial. His jaw tightened but he remained perfectly still.

Finally, Marcel's henchman returned, followed thankfully by Tyler. She took a deep breath of relief, realizing that she'd been holding her breath. Tyler was safe and, though a bit beaten up, seemed totally alright. Begrudgingly, the vial changed. Taking Caroline's hand, Klaus walked away from Marcel, Tyler striding after Klaus.

The next moments would remain with Caroline forever as she turned around to check on Tyler only to see Marcel tear his heart out.

As she watched Tyler's body crumple and fall to the floor, Caroline let out a piercing scream that ripped through the quiet summer night. She tried to gulp down the sobs that were building in her chest. Before she could tackle Marcel like she desperately wanted to, Klaus rushed up towards Marcel. "We had a deal!" he barked. That was it: the last of his hybrids was gone.

Marcel's face displayed no emotion. Clearly and loudly, he declared, "Werewolves are not tolerated here." He was speaking to a crowd that had assembled around the dead body but his next words were for Klaus' ears only. "I'd suggest that you leave before you and your friend attract attention and force me to do something I'd regret."

That was the last straw. Threatening Caroline was like threatening his own life if he wasn't immortal. He was close enough to Marcel that it only took a split second for Klaus to lodge his hand into his chest and around his pumping heart. His eyes flickered up to Marcel's but as he followed his line of vision, he saw that Marcel was staring intently at Caroline, who was unaware that five of his vampires had surrounded her.

With a grunt, Klaus released the heart. He turned away, staring for a moment at Caroline, who was weeping over the corpse. Finally, he took her by the arm, forced her to her feet and pulled her home. He would have his revenge but now wasn't the time. If Caroline were killed because of him, he would never be able to forgive himself.

As soon as Caroline got home, she went to her room so that she could make the necessary calls. Klaus found her staring at her phone when he came to check on her. "What's wrong?" he asked, immediately cursing himself for it. The thing he said after her ex-boyfriend's death was 'What's wrong?'?

Caroline laughed without mirth.

"I mean, what's wrong with your phone?" he corrected himself.

"Nothing," Caroline stated. "I was just thinking about how, even though a lot of Tyler's family is dead, I don't know how I'm going to tell people that Tyler's dead."

Klaus offered, "I could, if you want,"

"I don't think my friends would react well to hearing about Tyler from the Original Hybrid."

"I could at least call Rebekah to ask her to tell Matt," Klaus pointed out. "Who else do you need to tell?"

"Well, Jeremy, for one. They were kind of close. And Hayley can't hear about it from you."

"Hear about what?" Klaus turned around to see Hayley standing in the doorway. To Klaus, she said, "Yeah, hi, you forgot about the OB/GYN appointment. I had Elijah drive me back here." Then she rounded on Caroline and repeated, "Hear about what?"

Klaus could have sworn he saw Caroline cave into herself, anticipating the confession she would have to make. Before she could, Klaus stated, "Tyler's dead."

The ordinarily brash and brusque look on Hayley's face crumpled. Her eyebrows were doing an odd kind of dance, flicking from one emotion to another. She murmured, "What?"'

"Tyler's dead," Klaus repeated. He just wanted Hayley to leave, to turn around and disappear so that he could focus on Caroline but instead she flung himself across the room and began to hit him with both her fists, shouting, "Murderer! You sorry excuse for a living being! You couldn't have left him alone after what you did to his mom, after me, after this baby, after Caroline-"

"It wasn't him," said Caroline after finally pulling Hayley off of her boyfriend.

Hayley quickly shook off Caroline and turned to face the girl." You expect me to believe that this monster, who's said on multiple occasions that he intended to kill Tyler, is innocent?" Hayley was clearly incredibly distraught, taking huge gulps of air, her chest heaving and tears pouring down her cheeks.

Caroline tried very hard to get Hayley to listen to her before resorting to grabbing her again. "Do you think that if he'd done it, I'd still be here? I was there. It wasn't him. It was Marcel!" Caroline spat the name.

"What?" exclaimed Hayley again, puzzled. She'd calmed down enough to take Klaus' place on Caroline's bed and begin cupping her bulging stomach.

As the blond vampire began telling the story of Tyler's death, Klaus slipped out. He wasn't exactly the ideal person to commemorate the hybrid's life with. No sooner had he closed the door behind him did he run into Elijah.

"Niklaus, could you explain to me what the corpse of Tyler Lockwood is doing in the closet?"

Klaus gritted his teeth as he explained in one word: "Marcel." Seeing the bemused look on his brother's face, he revised his statement. "He was killed by Marcel. That man is beginning to believe that he can get away with anything. We need to deal with him sooner rather than later."

Elijah contemplated him for a moment and then enquired, "I suppose Caroline is rather upset about losing someone so close to her." Reluctantly, Klaus nodded. "Take care of her before you worry about reaping blood over the city." As he blinked, the look of sentimentality which had come over him disappeared. "I'll be returning to Italy tomorrow."

"Again?" said Klaus. "Their wine must have gotten better since I was last there." He chuckled slightly at his own joke but Elijah remained serious.

"It's not the wine, Klaus." Steeling himself for his brother's rage, Elijah explained, "The night of Miss Forbes' high school graduation, Katerina Petrova was forced to take the cure to vampirism. When I said I'd gotten the doppelganger's blood from Elena Gilbert, I lied. I took some of Katerina's blood and, in return, I helped her find a home in Tuscany."

Klaus stared daggers at his brother. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't follow you there to snap her neck and dagger you for good measure."

"I love her, Niklaus," said Elijah steadily. "If you care about me at all, you will let her live out her life peacefully."

A few months ago, these words would have meant nothing to him. He'd searched for Katherine for centuries because she'd made him wait out half a millennium until his true nature could be unleashed. But now his brother's words left him powerless. He now knew what it was to love and he knew that, were Caroline in Katherine's place, he'd protect and watch over her for the remainder of her human life - that is, if he was stupid enough to trap her in this human form. "For all that it's worth; you're torturing yourself not turning her back into vampire."

Elijah ignored him and said, "Goodnight!" before striding into his bedroom and shutting the door loudly.

Then Klaus was alone. He couldn't help but listen in on Hayley and Caroline's conversation. It was either that or fight away murderous inclinations, mostly towards Marcel. Once Caroline explained that Tyler had been used to obtain Klaus' blood and had been killed anyway, she told her about how she'd found him in Delaware and how he'd broken up with her when he'd found out about her and Klaus being involved.

Hayley surprised Klaus by, instead of asking about the extent of their relationship, asking if Tyler had known about the baby.

Caroline replied that no, she hadn't told him.

Hayley said, "Good. I know I disappointed him but at least he didn't know at what extent. You know, I've really screwed up lately."

Caroline began to protest but Hayley must have stopped her because she continued. "I wanted to find my family so much that I sacrificed my other family: my pack. I helped Katherine Pierce! I slept with Klaus!"

As Hayley began to choke on her words, buried as they were with sobs. Caroline tried to comfort her, saying quietly, "I've done both those things too. Let me get you some tea and we can talk about it."

Klaus was flattered that Caroline would tell Hayley about their relationship. It probably made it easier to deal with Tyler's death to help Hayley. As Klaus heard her footsteps coming towards the door, he rushed to his own bed to avoid her knowing about his eavesdropping. As he sat on the large four poster bed, he remembered his promise to Caroline to call his sister. Though he was tired, he picked up his phone and dialed Rebekah's number. It rang almost four times before she finally picked up.

"Hey, Nik!" she said cheerily. In the background, he could hear vibrant Latin music and a man's voice, probably Matt's.

He cleared his throat. "Rebekah," he began, "I have some bad news for Matt: Tyler Lockwood was killed."

"Pardon?"

"Marcel killed Matt's friend Tyler a couple of hours ago," he repeated slowly.

Rebekah actually sounded concerned as she said, "I'll tell him. Goodbye!" She hung before he could tell her that there was most likely going to be a funeral in a few days. He felt kind of bad for making his sister the bearer of bad news but at least Caroline wouldn't be forced to tell Matt personally.

He made himself comfortable under the covers and picked up a sketch pad to take his mind off the recent tragedy. A few minutes later, he looked up to see Caroline padding towards him in her sweatpants and tank top. "I didn't want to be alone," she said softly. Nodding, he patted the space next to him and scooched so that she could have half of the bed. She watched a he continued to draw.

A little while later, she murmured, "I'm sorry our date got so messed up."

Klaus put his pad down and enveloped her in a hug. Looking into her bright blue eyes, which seemed now so devoid of their ordinary sparkle, he told her, "You can't blame yourself for this."

"But I do blame myself!" Caroline exclaimed. "I keep thinking how I should've stayed with him and made sure that he left safely. I should've never told him where I was. And you, you could have left him alone, given him permission to return to Mystic Falls..."

"So it's my fault?!"

"No!" Caroline said immediately. "That's not what I meant. It's just; I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!" They fell asleep, their arms around each other, Caroline crying for the loss of her first love...

OMG, I'm so sorry for the amount of Forwood in this chapter. At least now, he's gone for good.

Next chapter: Caroline returns home with Klaus for the funeral and to share some news with her friends...

There are only three chapters left so be sure to vote on the poll for Klaus's baby daughter's name.

Love you all,

Brianne