Chapter 6

The crack of another bone breaking echoed throughout the dim area, taunting Caroline with its pro-longed sound. In front of her was Tyler, crawling on the floor in agony. She remembered the first time she had witnessed his transformation; she had been there to support him in any way she could. She was just a spectator now and, in a sense, she was the cause of why Tyler was now breaking every bone in his body. He was partly doing it for her, for their relationship. So he could put her before Klaus.

She had to look away knowing she wouldn't be able to resist the urge to run over, break the chains holding him and call the whole ordeal off if she saw his painful expression one more time.

Her father just stood there the whole time, calmly observing, like there wasn't someone thrashing around in agony before him. Unwanted memories of when he had tortured her in an attempt to get rid of her vampire urges came flooding back.

"This is how I'm going to fix you."

She distantly heard Tyler howling in pain.

"Daddy… you can't change who I am."

Another broken bone.

"Please stop! Please!"

"I …can't," she barely heard Tyler whisper out tiredly, "..I can't."

"Try harder." Was all the support her father offered, showing no sign of concern.

"Can't he just rest for one second?" She shouted, sickened at his uncaring behaviour.

She couldn't take any more of this…this… torture. It was inhuman. Sure, the whole thing was technically inhuman and supernatural, but no-one should have to go through such torment.

"We are doing this my way Caroline. If you can't handle it you should go." Her father said firmly.

Caroline was about to tell him how 'his way' hadn't worked with her when she saw Tyler attempt to pull himself up.

"He's right Caroline," Tyler managed to gasp out, "just go."

"What? No!" She immediately said, "Tyler –"

"Go Caroline!" He snarled through the agony, his resolve not wavering.

She looked in disbelief at them both for wanting to continue. She was disgusted. Disgusted at her father for his methods, disgusted at Tyler for thinking she would want him to do this for her.

But most of all she was disgusted with herself for being unable to stay by Tyler's side.

She hurriedly left, but not quick enough before she heard the echoes of painful screaming start again.

Caroline somehow ended up at the Grill, the group's favourite place to hang out. Or at least it was before everything had turned crazy. She had strolled right up to the bar, compelled the waiter to give her as much alcohol she wanted for free and plonked herself into a corner table; which is how she ended up with a whole party worth of empty bottles. If it wasn't for a vampire's raised alcohol tolerance she was sure she'd have passed out. Normally she would be ashamed of compelling a human but this was far from a normal day and it's not like she was actually hurting anyone, right?

She downed another drink before she felt that horrible emotion, what was it called again? Oh yeah – guilt.

Guilt for making Tyler feel like he had to go to her father, of all people, and resort to torturing himself to attain his free-will.

She took another long gulp of her alcoholic beverage.

Guilt for leaving Tyler knowing that her father wasn't exactly the nicest person to have by your side in time of need.

She poured herself more, guzzling the liquid down as quickly as possible.

Guilt in knowing he was suffering right this second when she wasn't even sure their relationship would survive.

Caroline made sure to take a very long swig to swallow that guilt down.

She saw Matt, who was serving one of the nearby tables, looking at her worriedly. Another thing to drink to: in honour of making Matt worry.

She reached for the bottle only to find it was empty. When had she drunk all that? Looking up to call her compelled waiter to bring more drinks she froze when she saw who was sitting at the bar.

Klaus.

She hastily leaned back closer to the wall as much as she could, grateful she had chosen to sit in a darkened corner. She really didn't want to talk with him again today. Once was more than enough in a lifetime, let alone a day! Nosiness getting the better of her she focused her hearing so she could listen to the conversation he was currently having on the phone.

"-useful none the less. Are you clear on what you need to do?"

Great, he was acting out some grand diabolical plan. Elena and Bonnie were out of town so they should be fine she reasoned, hoping to settle the building panic. He had hung up and Caroline decided it was now time for her to get out of here before he turned around. She grabbed her bag and headed for the closest exit.

Klaus had seen her the moment she had stepped in the bar, of course. When she went straight to the counter and compelled the waiter before stomping her way to one of the available tables, all the while not noticing him, he had been very tempted to let his presence be known to the youngling. He resisted due to the sole fact that he still had orders to give his hybrid and she would have been a distraction, albeit a welcome one.

He couldn't help grinning in approval at her use of compulsion. Obviously sweet Caroline wasn't as innocent as she made people believe. She had a lot of potential if she would only succumb to the vampire side of herself and lose her hold on the humanity she so desperately seemed to cling onto. It was pointless to fight against ones nature. Eventually the fight became too tiresome and the desire too strong; Stefan was living proof of this.

Klaus had seen the angry expression she gave her alcoholic glasses at its failed effects and almost felt pity for the girl. It takes a lot more then intoxication for a vampire to forget their complications, he would know. He had tried enough times.

Sensing the precise moment she spotted him and then her attempt to get away from him, Klaus considered letting her go. However he wasn't one to leave unfinished business and that's exactly what he had with Caroline. With that incentive in mind he began to easily interrupt her escape.

"Excuse me," Caroline heard Klaus say to what she assumed must be one of the female workers, "be a dear and get me and my mate a drink would you?"

Mate? She was pretty sure he had been alone. She peeked a glance over her shoulder on her way out to check and almost dropped her bag in shock. Klaus was looking straight at her and when her eyes met his he grinned like the Cheshire cat as if to say, gotcha.

Uh-oh. Caroline had completely fallen for that dirty trick. She spun around, intent on still making a break for the door –

- and ran straight into his chest. She really must have had a lot to drink if her instincts were to slow to warn her to stop.

She backed up and looked around frantically, expecting to see people freaking out as Klaus had used lightning speed to practically teleport from one end of the bar to in front of the exit, but no-one had reacted or even looked up at the supernatural occurrence.

"I compelled the regulars here to not take notice of any abnormal behaviour when I arrived at Mystic Falls." Klaus explained seeing her confusion, "We wouldn't want any disturbances, after all. Humans do like to be overdramatic at the simplest things."

"They are not like your minions that you can just order around!" She snapped, all her hate from being compelled by Damon all that time ago fuelling her anger.

"Come now, love. You can hardly be taking the moral high ground as you compelled that poor waiter chap." He reminded her, smirking when she was made speechless.

How long had he been here watching her to have noticed that? She bit down on her lip in her annoyance. He was right of course, she was being a hypocrite. But she certainty didn't make a habit of it and compel them to do appalling things! Caroline had learnt that Klaus was amused by defiance or bold retorts and it would have been smarter just to hear what he had to say or even ignore him. This is exactly why she blamed the alcohol for her next comment.

"Piss off you pompous ass!" She spat out.

He laughed then. A laugh that was so not Klaus because of its lightness that she liked the sound of it, almost wanting to be the reason he laughed again. She quickly blamed the alcohol for that too.

"A pleasure to see you so soon too, sweetheart."