A/N: Hey guys. I went ahead and uploaded another chapter since I got so much interest and feedback! Thanks so much for reading!

Now we find out what happened to Caroline and what Klaus is going to do about it!

After a quick search of the town square everyone headed back to the boarding house, including Klaus. Caroline's body was nowhere to be found which hopefully was a sign that she was still alive. The sun was setting as everyone collected in the Salvatore living room.

"So someone may be holding her prisoner?" Elena asked.

"Most likely," Damon replied, "otherwise they'd have just left her corpse out there to rot for all of us to see."

"Who do you think took her? And where would they put her?" Bonnie asked.

"Well," Damon began, pouring himself a glass of scotch, "there are those tunnels and caves under the Lockwood house. And then the vampire torture chamber her dear old dad stuck her in before. Maybe they put her in there for another round?"

Klaus seethed in the corner while he listened to the others debate Caroline's whereabouts. If she wasn't dead now, she could be very soon, or at least in a serious amount of pain. He didn't want to even think about the irony of the fact that she had been defending the humans to him only an hour ago just to now have them torture her. His fist clenched at the thought of her in pain.

"Maybe we should check all of those places just to be sure," Jeremy suggested.

"Might as well. Process of elimination," Damon agreed setting down his glass.

"Ok I'm coming with you," Elena said.

"Like hell you are."

"Damon—"

"Elena if Caroline is sitting in some kind of death trap, there is no way I'm letting you walk right into it."

"Exactly. It could be a trap. I'm human, they are less likely to harm me."

"Human you may be but you still sympathize with us supernaturals. Take it from me, I was around the last time this town staged a revolt against the vampires."

"I agree with Damon," Klaus chimed in, "It's not safe for you. In fact, I'd much rather you never left this house at all."

"Klaus, you don't even get to have an opinion in all of this," Elena shot back.

"Unless on the rare occasion it actually makes sense," Damon replied.

Elena then turned her attention back towards Damon. Bonnie and Jeremy soon jumped into the argument. Klaus smirked. Finally they were distracted. Now he could slip out and go find Caroline himself. He didn't want the others to take care of it. He didn't plan on being merciful to any humans if she was dead when he found her. Nor did he want the others to know that he cared about finding her. He wasn't even sure why he cared himself.

Klaus left them in the living room and walked quickly towards the front door. His hands grasped the doorknob and he swung it open swiftly and quietly. There standing in the doorway, reaching for the knob, was the blonde vampire herself.

"Caroline."

"Klaus."

Relief flooded through him at the sight of her. His eyes danced over her figure checking for injuries. Besides torn clothes and a few bloodstains she seemed to be fine. Then, with his vampire swiftness, he shut the door and grabbed her by the shoulders taking her farther into the yard away from the house.

"Whoa Klaus. What the hell?"

"Everyone thinks you've been captured or killed," Klaus's grip remained on her shoulders. He was half yelling at her.

"Well neither obviously," she replied.

"Couldn't you have called or something to let us know where you were?"

"I had something to take care of, I wasn't exactly in the position to call. But I'm fine, everything's ok," Caroline looked into his eyes. They were icy and intense. Had he really been that worried about her? "Are you ok?" She asked slowly.

Klaus released his grip on her and stood up straight. His shoulders rolled back. He needed to get a grip. Caroline stood there looking up at him waiting for an answer.

"Of course I'm ok darling. My doppelganger is safe. Nothing to worry about," Klaus replied with an easy smile. Caroline continued to stare at him making him uneasy. It was as if she could see right through his façade down to what he was really feeling. Again, Klaus wasn't even sure of what he was feeling. Extreme relief that Caroline was ok; frustration that he cared so much. There were too many emotions warring inside of him to keep track.

"Caroline! You're ok!" Elena exclaimed with relief as she ran forward and hugged her friend tight. The moment between Klaus and Caroline broke, and he stepped back, watching the girls embrace. Caroline's eyes stayed on him though.

"Yep! Perfectly fine. What did you guys think happened?"

"We thought maybe someone on the council had taken you prisoner or something," Elena replied, "What happened?"

"Matt got caught in the crossfire of a vervain grenade and was pretty hurt. I saw him go down. I couldn't just leave him. So I took him over to my mom's to make sure he got patched up," Caroline explained.

"So your mom is still ok with us?"

Caroline sighed. "Yes. No. She's been so back and forth since she found out about me, but she seems pretty consistent in the fact that she doesn't want me to suffer. Unlike Carol Lockwood." She sneered at the mention of Tyler's mother.

Elena nodded. "Well come inside, everyone was super worried."

Caroline's eyes flicked from Elena to Klaus. He maintained his cool, disinterested expression.

"Actually, Klaus and I were talking. I'll be inside in a minute." Elena looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion.

"Oh Caroline darling, we're all done here. Best not keep your friends waiting," Klaus replied smoothly. Caroline opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off, "I have a few personal errands to run. I'll be back later to check on my doppelganger." And with a flash Klaus disappeared into the night.

"What do you think Caroline?"

Caroline started. She realized that Elena had been speaking to her.

"Huh?" She said removing her head from her hand and sitting up in attention.

"Are you going to be ok with all of this?" Elena asked again. Shoot. Apparently they'd been talking to her, or about her, for a while. And she had missed every single word. She just couldn't concentrate.

After Klaus made his quick exit, Caroline had followed Elena into the boarding house. She was met by many relieved looks, even from Damon, as she regaled the group with her reason for being absent. Now that everyone knew she was ok they moved onto talking about the events of the day and what now needed to be done.

Caroline hadn't been listening to though. She was extremely frustrated. Although she really couldn't be that surprised that Klaus ran off before she could confront him. All she could think about was their kiss outside of The Grill. It was amazing and terrifying. Having the lips of a cold-blooded killer on hers was terrifying. No matter how incredibly sexy those lips were. No, she scolded herself, she couldn't think like that.

She did find him incredibly sexy though. Even when she had first met him, his blonde hair, his scruffy face, his beautiful accent had all been very alluring. Of course the downside was that he had been trying to kill her best friend. It was always something with guys.

At first she had decided not to think about it. She found that since she had become a vampire she could still obsess, but at least she was more efficient about it. While she ran back earlier to warn the others about the attack, she had decided that the kiss was probably a fluke. Something Klaus had done to distract her or play with her or something else. It didn't mean anything.

But something in his face when she made it back to the house told her differently. She had been trying to be nonchalant as she walked up, acting like nothing had happened. But his normally steely eyes held a look of real concern. It looked as if he had truly been worried along with everyone else about what might have happened to her. Caroline couldn't help but wonder about what he might have done if something had happened.

After seeing those emotions run across his face, she wanted to know what that kiss had been about. Was it real? Did it mean something? She knew she shouldn't care; she should be disgusted. But for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to be completely turned off by the idea of Klaus.

"Caroline are you sure you're alright?" Elena prodded noticing the look on her friend's face.

Caroline blinked a couple times to clear her thoughts. "Yeah, sorry. Just thinking about Matt. He was so weird earlier when I saw him at the Grill just before the fight."

"Weird how?" Bonnie asked.

"Well for one thing he is definitely not on our side."

"Excuse me," Damon interrupted, "Can we save the girl talk for later? There are more important things to discuss here."

"Sorry," Caroline muttered sarcastically," So what was the question?"

Elena replied, "Are you cool with keeping an eye on Klaus? Figuring out while he's still here."

Oh, so that's why they had asked if she was ok with everything.

"Why me?"

"Because you already spend more time with him than any of the rest of us. He'd probably be less suspicious."

"Also out of everyone, you're probably the one he hates the least," Damon quipped. Caroline rolled her eyes at him.

"But don't we already know why he's sticking around," she said, "he wants to keep an eye on Elena now that Stefan has run off."

Caroline noticed Elena wince at the mention of Stefan and immediately felt bad. Even though Elena had seemed to have moved on, there were still a few unresolved feelings. After Homecoming, they had seen Klaus give Stefan his free will again and instead of rejoining them like they originally thought, he disappeared from Mystic Falls.

Damon claimed that he hadn't been that surprised. "He's free of compulsion, but he's still the ripper. Can't exactly shut that off with a snap of your fingers."

Elena continued, "Yeah but why would Klaus stick around and fight with us. I mean he could just kidnap me and take me away from all the fighting, then not have to deal with all of it."

"Although I still wouldn't rule out the possibility of him just escaping with you," Damon said taking another swig of his scotch.

"No there has got to be some other reason he's still in Mystic Falls. Some plan or something."

Caroline nodded. There was something keeping Klaus in Mystic Falls. Something other than keeping Elena safe from this human/supernatural war.

"You're right," the blonde vampire agreed, "but what am I supposed to do?"

"We'll pair you guys up more. Just see if you can get him talking or if you notice anything unusual going on with him."

Like him assaulting girls with his mouth? Caroline thought.

"Ok," she relented, "I'll see what I can do."

Klaus hung up the phone angrily. Another dead end phone call with Stefan. Stefan Salvatore who had betrayed him in every way possible. The vampire would be as good as dead once Klaus found him. But until then he had to bide his time in Mystic Falls. He groaned. At least he had his Hybrids with him.

"Hello children," he said painting a slick smile over his angry face," daddy is back."

The five hybrids turned toward him all smiling. They were gathered around a small bon fire in the middle of the woods. Klaus had been keeping them there on the outskirts of Mystic Falls since he had returned. He'd kept them away from the homecoming festivities. A contingency plan. He hadn't expected anything to go wrong, but in his 500 years of existence he learned that it never hurt to have a back up. Good thing too since it turned out he needed them after all.

"Can we leave the forest yet? I want to feed on something other than animals," one of the hybrids asked. He was a boy who looked no older than 19 or 20. They all looked about the same age.

"Soon," Klaus replied, "for now I have a little assignment for each of you."

Klaus was disconcerted by the attack made by the humans today. It was too organized, too planned, and way to surprising. Even though the human's petty weapons wouldn't kill him, they had come way to close to injuring him. And Caroline, he thought. He shook that train of thought from his head. She didn't matter. She couldn't.

"I want you all to watch over the council members, and a few certain hot spots in town where they might be meeting," Klaus instructed.

He didn't think Alaric was giving them enough warning. Clearly he wasn't really quite up to snuff in the double agent department. So, Klaus would set his own emissaries around the town to report back personally to him what might be going on.

"For tonight though, you made go out and feed, " Klaus told them. The five hybrids all stood eagerly. Their eyes already turning yellow and the veins of hunger spreading across their cheeks. They had been waiting for this a very long time. Klaus couldn't help but grin at their obvious thirst.

"Only keep out of Mystic Falls," he added, " be back here before dawn." One by one the hybrids headed off to hunt.

"Not you though Annie." He turned his attention to a short brown-haired girl. Her shoulders slumped at the order but she skipped toward her master eager to please.

"Yes Klaus?" she replied, her hungry face calming.

"I want you to go to the Sheriff's house. Keep a special eye on things there. Who comes and goes. When and where the Sheriff goes," Klaus ordered, "but do not under any circumstances harm the blonde vampire girl you might see there. If anything happens to her, you will pay dearly."

The young hybrid gulped and nodded; she then flew off into the night to do her master's bidding. After all the hybrids were gone, Klaus ran back towards the small house nearby that he had commandeered.

It wasn't anything grand, just a simple cabin that someone had built in the woods to get away from it all. There was only one room with a large bed, a couple easy chairs, a small kitchen area, and a fireplace. There was also a small bathroom with a shower. It was quite cozy actually. Klaus liked extravagance from time to time but considering the fact that he grew up in a small hut in the woods before running water had been invented he could cope.

Once inside he kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the bed. Klaus thought about the orders he had given to Annie. Especially that last part about not hurting Caroline. He had told all of his hybrids before that if they had a chance to kill any of the Mystic Falls vampires or their friends that they should do so. But now he couldn't help amending the rule. Although what was the point? When it came time he would have to kill all of them anyways. There was no way Elena's friends were going to let Klaus leave quietly with her.

But that kiss. What was it? A momentary loss in self control. It would have been so easy if she had just pushed him away but she hadn't. Instead she had pressed herself tighter against him. He could still feel the softness of her breasts against his chest, the curve of her waist, the way her lips burned their way into his memory.

After centuries of being alive, Klaus had lost track of how many women he had experienced, all of it for pure pleasure though of course. There was even that time that he had dallied with Katarina but it had meant nothing. But Caroline was different. The way she had felt that day in his arm had been different. No one had ever sent that electrical shock through his body the way she did when she touched him.

Klaus groaned as he drug his hands down his face. He needed to stop thinking about her. He needed a distraction. Suddenly he smiled. There was a bar not to far from his house, with lots of drunken females ready for the taking. And he realized he never did get that drink he was craving earlier.

To be continued...

Hope you guys enjoyed! Let me know what you think :) And just for all you Tyler fans out there, sorry I killed him off right in the beginning. I love him but it had to be done for the sake of the story! Also, there is a little mention of Caroline's thoughts toward him coming later :)