Klaus' return to the house was tense. The building, French baroque style over four floors – long shuttered windows with wrought iron semi-lune balconies at each level – was layered in darkness. It wrapped itself around cream exterior walls. It was silent. With an effort of will, Klaus bit down the anger inside. The frustration he felt within himself for - - for what, fool, what frustration – you are King. You need no equal for you are everyone's better. Still the little boy inside him was not convinced. Elijah waited in the shadows of the covered front door. Although the frontage looked out over the thoroughfare that was Bourbon St, the main entrance was hidden from view, a security measure to the rear. He had his head bowed in thought and Klaus almost missed the figure.

"Almost missed you, brother. But not quite. That was the idea, wasn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong but I assumed you'd be high up in the mountains. Please tell me that you're waiting for your ride?" His tone was deceptively light. Deceptive, not unnoticed.

"Rebekah would have me lie to you. I won't insult your intelligence. You are a clever man, whether you acknowledge that or not. He's dead, Klaus. He's dead and now he's beyond the veil." Elijah looked at his brother, noted the effect – the stillness, the frozen manner which betrayed his inner turmoil. It was fleeting. Momentary, and the recovery was quick -

"You tell me this, why? I don't care. I don't care that my hybrid is dead. That his were-whore had him at the last. I don't care!"

"You roar too much brother Wolf. I may not be a werewolf, but I understand bonds. Though he was not sired to you any longer than he felt necessary, I understand that your bond was still there. That you may not care that your experiment failed. That life will continue only now, there is that fear inside you that is Hope. That Tyler's demise will open doors you had closed. That is something you will have to come to terms with. Let me, though, brother, make one message clear: I do not care for your Vampire love; I care about the continuation of the family. And I feel that this may break us. So listen closely little brother, for I do not threaten lightly – if you seek her out, if you 'save' her in any way I will take the final stake and without hesitation end you. You will not bring this family down. And you will not bring her into it." Elijah did not wait for a response to his words. He had taken a moment of vulnerability and played his hand. Whether the threat would be held good, would be a matter of contemplation later, for now it was enough that it was said.

In the silence that followed this speech of loyalty over love, Klaus scowled. He kept his thoughts in check. He kept his fear, remorse and guilt locked away and focussed upon the beat of his heart, freshly renewed with life off a waitress from the dive bar along the street. Caroline was alone. Alone in Mystic Falls. He would wait. It would be his time soon.

Elijah had left. Gone, as he had agreed – his duty bound obligation – to take care of Hayley and of Caleb. His natural hybrid. His ultimate source of power. No creature had been born in such a manner. Yes, Werewolves could pro-create. They were animals; mammals – only a blip in nature's plan. Vampires however, they cheated death. They caused death. Life, for them, came through turning and yet, here was Klaus – an unnatural natural. Neither fully dead, nor fully human. He had succeeded in breeding. Would Caleb grow to be a vampire? It was too early to tell. Barely a year had passed since his birth. Would that too trigger a change to be a werewolf? When his first death, his first transition marked bone breaking days ahead?

Klaus had sent Hayley into exile. Afraid that to have them – to have her – so close would undermine all that he had built. Family, he scoffed, family was exactly what he had and what he feared the most. He had updates. Of Calebs' preternatural speed, his lightening reflexes and early development. Unease was not easily put aside – would the sun grow to taunt him? Make his days endless agony? Since the covens destruction Klaus had sought out the greatest Wiccan minds to no avail. Who would aid an abomination? He was tainted and he would suffer at the hands of nature. Klaus' sense of justice rebelled at this. He may be harsh, cruel, pitiless but inside there was the simple truth that he was without Hope, without redemption and solaced himself in extremes hiding the fact that the need for understanding – to be accepted, not feared governed his every waking moment. He must find a witch. He must find the magic to ensure his sons' survival. And now, with the news of Tylers' death there was the glimmer of Love. Of the romance he had long denied existed under this shell of a dark creature.

Not before destroying the old wood. Flora grows best when the plant has been cut; from the old comes the new. Elijah would pay for threatening him. Pay for the disrespect and disregard for his Alpha status. Oh, that crippling dichotomy again. A pack animal at heart who was cursed to walk alone through the long dark nights of the soul. Tragic fool. Tragic.

Klaus stalked into the house, his mood clouded with rage.

"You can stop now." Wallace ordered. Carolines' tears dried fast to her face, he was worse than Klaus. Worse. And she had, almost, betrayed herself by thinking softly. Briefly. Not now, he was cold. A monster.

No, love, a Demon

He smugly glanced across at her. Instant regret angering him.

"You know, you're classic passive aggressive? All that torture bullshit and then softening me up only to cut me down again. Is that a trait of Demons? Oh, wait, you wouldn't know – being the only one in existence!" She was fuming. Better judgement was not her strong point at times. Yes, she was at the whim of the moment, mostly she felt justified in what she said. Sometimes. The rest was instantly regretted and then washed over as best as possible. She stood up, stretching and arching her back where it had stiffened in position, "Do you even know how old you are? Why you look like him? Does he know about you – because let's face it, demon or not he would rip your heart out and watch you keel over. And if that didn't work, he'd keep doing it. Over and over again." Her voice was breaking, hysteria setting in. Adrenaline firing through her system.

Wallace watched impassively. His mind racing, though tired. She was strong, her resolve greater than anticipated. The tears had been a mistake, a reactionary mistake to her riling. He endeavored to react less, anticipate more -

"You're right, love, I am full of answers to questions you couldn't even begin to think of. Let me put some to rest now. Firstly, I am the age of Klaus. When he was born, I was created and cast off. I look like him because I am his mirror, his doppelganger – but you know about doppelgangers, right? Mystic Falls has enough of them. Let's see if you recognize my Sire's name, eh? Let's see how much you fear his influence, his reach: Silas. I am Silas' son. I am the reason he was cursed by Qatsiyah. She sought me out. Tried to hunt me down. I am witch and were and vampire in one. I am the Demon. The destroyer -" He had made his way across the clearing as his voice rose with power. The leaves trembled, writhed and fell. The heaven spot he had made for her burnt in flames around him as he strode towards her.

She backed up as far as possible against the trunk of a tree. Like a startled rabbit fleeing for cover, she glanced around hurriedly.

YOU CANNOT RUN

The words were in the wind, strong in the air. Desperately, she racked her brain for some panacea. Some tonic to calm him. Her blue eyes became vivid pools of ocean water stretching out to him. He was not Klaus. He was not her love. Yes, yes, he was her love. He had commanded it so. She could not run. Broken, he rent his gaze from her lifting a hand and like a rag doll in the arms of a tantrumed child he flung her across the clearing, she caught on the branch of a dead oak tree. The Bayou was silent. The wind dropped and in a second he was holding her. Catching her breath in his own.

Love me Caroline and you will be strong. Love me and you will not be just Queen but Goddess.

Wallace captured her weak body in his own. Together, in the night air he twisted upwards and they floated above the ground. Leaves cascading, a cyclone of a couple hovering above the Earth. This would be the end of Klaus. To claim Caroline, to have her take his side would be the balance – she was a Vampire who channeled. He needed her channeling belief to break his bond, to redress the balance. It would be so, or they would all die trying.