Caroline reached for the seat belt, feeling the pain in her wrist. The girl clenched her teeth – the hand was probably broken too. Finally being able to get free and genuinely happy that the door wasn't jammed, the blonde slowly got out of the mangled car. Caroline slipped on the wet grass, thickly growing on the hill and fell to her knees. Already wet with blood, her clothes have become even more dirty and wet. The pain from the injury was still strong and dulled the fear. But the higher she climbed, the more slow and uncertain became her movements. When Caroline finally reached the barriers, the girl felt like a she had just climbed the Everest. These few meters left her out of breath she didn't need any more. But all of a sudden the joy was marred. At one of the bars laid a small bouquet with a black mourning ribbon. Exactly the same bouquet Caroline recently brought to the grave of Jenna Sommers.

A slight panic started to fill her. She frantically looked around, waiting for Klaus suddenly pop out of the darkness. It was his tricks, Caroline had no doubt. But what was he getting out of doing all this? Did he want to kill her or just to torment?

Next came a rustle, and the girl unable to control herself started to run. She ran down dale, occasionally sticking and falling on the wet grass. Fear literally seized her. She turned around, instinctively sensing that she is being persecuted, but saw no one behind. Despite this, Caroline continued to feel a presence nearby. Was it Klaus himself or one of his henchmen? She didn't know the exact answer, but now it didn't matter. Whoever was hiding in the dark was clearly stronger than her.

Caroline continued to run, having absolutely no idea where she was going. Finally she stopped and looked around. A mere moment was enough to understand that she somehow came near a dilapidated basement, where Lockwoods once held slaves. On one hand she realized that she could be trapped going into the basement. But the risk was worth it. Down there she could at least find some weapon to defend herself with against the stalker.

Caroline again looked around and not hearing anything suspicious, quickly ran down the stairs. Opening the heavy door, she went into the damp, dark room. Finally her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the girl, trying to act quietly, took an axe from the wall. They used to joke with Tyler suggesting why Mason once brought him here. She weighted it in her hand, so she could take a better grip on the handle. Caroline heard a rustling behind the door and instantly moved to the wall behind it so that whoever comes in could not immediately see her. The vampire first caught the scent – judging by the tart flavour of the perfume, it was a man. But it was not Klaus, the smell of the Original she could tell from thousand others. It firmly associated with the scent of fear.

When the door was pushed forward, Caroline shrank into the wall and tightened her grip on the axe with both hands. One second was enough for the vampire to appreciate the might of the entering stranger. His smile did not foretell anything good for Caroline. It was definitely a hybrid, which meant... She was no match for him in a close combat. It was necessary to act right that moment while she had still at least a slight advantage. Aiming and swinging the axe with all her force, the blonde unleashed it on the man's neck. The stranger's head flew from the body so easily that Caroline was surprised. Blood gushed from the open wound onto her, but now the girl didn't care for it. Her enemy was dead. She felt relieved. No, Caroline was against the killings, but the realization that you can actually kill hybrids was a pleasant discovery. Hence, Klaus's army wasn't that strong. And maybe one day they will be able to get rid of the Original himself.

"Caroline, this is not very nice, not at all." Suddenly she heard a drawling voice of the ancient hybrid.

She raised a hunted look. The man stood in the doorway, leaning his shoulder lazily against the doorframe, grinning and looking at her. Caroline put forward the axe, as if it could scare a soulless monster. He clucked his tongue and shook his head, and then took a step forward, stepping over the headless corpse.

"This is not how big girls behave themselves." He said sarcastically, looking around the room. Having found the dead hybrid's head, the Original picked it up and in mock frustration clucked his tongue again. "He was really good."

Caroline took a few small steps back, still exposing the axe in the enemy's direction. One more step, and she bumped her back in the rusty grate. Being cornered, the blonde felt despair and rage at the same time.

"Apparently not good enough!" The vampire hissed, trying to figure out how to remedy the situation.

"You really think you can kill me with an axe?" Raising his eyebrows mockingly asked the hybrid.

The answer to him was a sharp swing of the axe. It cut the air, not causing the man any harm. Klaus, as if mocking his victim made a step back, so the blade flew just a couple of millimetres from his face. Klaus didn't even seem to be angry at her attack, he only looked at the furious blonde with a sneer, as if asking 'well, what's next?'. The girl clenched her teeth and then waved her arm. And missed again. In this situation, the vampire was just happy that sweep for sweep, she was winning back space from the hated Original. The girl moved away further from the grate and now she had at least slight freedom to choose paths of escape. She had a chance. A miniscule chance, but still a chance.

The girl rushed abruptly to the door. Only a fraction of a second and she once again found herself face to face with the man. He looked at her from under his brow, no hint of a former smile on his lips.

"If you'd let me in your house as a well-mannered person would, everything would have been different." Said Klaus, and Caroline realized with surprise that she believed him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Asked the girl with anguish in her voice, no longer hoping to escape. "Why me?"

Klaus, with his head slightly to one side and looking into her eyes, ran his fingers over the axe handle that blonde was still clutching in her hand. The man didn't even try to throw it away. He just removed his hand, as if the axe was no longer of any interest to him.

"Call it curiosity, Caroline." Said the hybrid. "If it wasn't for Tyler, I would be unlikely to pay attention to you. But now I really enjoy you, as I already said. Is this so hard to believe?"

Caroline was scared, but it was silly to keep quiet.

"What are you enjoying?" She hissed. "My fear?"

The Original laughed and shook his head.

"Rather your resistance. Although... When you're scared your scent becomes really special. It's amazing. By the way, did you know that the hybrids have very keen sense of smell? Once sensing the smell of someone we never confuse it with anything." The man said it as if the blonde should admire such talent, but she just pursed her lips angrily. "Sometimes I think I feel my little girl from tens of miles away. You're the only one I feel so acutely. Perhaps it's some special kind of chemistry. Something special between us, between you and me."

"Between us?" Caroline thought she must have misheard. "You're nuts if you think that I can have anything to do with someone like you!"

Klaus's eyes flashed a shadow, but a cocky grin still remained on his lips.

"But we have something that binds us. Tyler."

Everything inside Caroline froze. Though the Original said it in a calm voice, she could read a threat in his look.

"You wouldn't dare!" The girl wanted to sound as confident as possible, but still shook noticeably.

Klaus laughed, waving his hands to the sides.

"There is nothing, my little girl, that I would not dare do."

Caroline tried to find a way out of this obviously dangerous, for her and Tyler, situation. No matter how optimistic she could be, she realized they can't cope with the Original. Klaus was too strong. And too cunning.

"We could discuss calmly... our differences." The young vampire said, not really confident, trying to buy time to come up with something better.

The hybrid shook his head.

"I do not want to calmly deal with our "differences." Ironically said the man. "You had your chance, but you did not use it."

Caroline recoiled. Now more than ever, she felt a great desire to live. The girl waved the axe again, but this time, Klaus didn't play the "all-mighty hybrid." He just snatched the weapon from the hands of the blonde and smiled almost gently.

"Good night, Caroline."

A swift wave of the hand, and the girl plunging into darkness fell on the dirty floor.