Hello lovelies!

After having to write two essays for my English class yesterday and finishing pretty late, I decided that I seriously needed to sleep. Therefore, there was no update yesterday :(

I am actually super excited/ extremely nervous about today because... Well you'll find out soon. I'm also excited because a lot of you guys are into this story. Which is awesome. I'm glad that it's suspenseful for some of you because that's what I was aiming for!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

A chill ran down my spine as my feet pounded against the hard earth. A fine sheet of cold sweat settled all over my forehead and chest as I ran through the woods, weaving through trees and ducking under branches. I spared a glance back, but it was too dark to see if anything was behind me anymore. But I didn't need to see, I could feel it behind me, it's presence palpable through the night air.

I turned back around, only to feel the world spinning as I rushed towards the ground. I looked down, noticing my foot caught on a root. I untangled my limb from the obstacle, but when I began getting up, I could not move. I was paralyzed.

Everything was dark now, the only visibility being offered by the soft light of the moon.

I stayed still, looking for signs of danger, and soon finding it; a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the dark.

Waves of fear corsed through my body as I realized that the two mysterious orbs were getting closer.

I tried to scream, but my throat was tight and dry, not allowing any sound to escape.

The eyes were closer now, the faint outline of their owner visible, but I could not make out any human traits. Everything was hazy.

But the eyes were clear, and soon so were the teeth. Big, sharp teeth.

I closed my eyes and held my breath, waiting for the strike to come- but it never did.

I slowly opened my eyes and stared up at the canopy of green that was above me. The sun had probably been up for a while, because it was definitely not the crack of dawn.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position and stretched my arms up towards the sky, feeling the taut muscles in my arms and back loosen gradually.

I reached down to grab my bow and quiver which I had set next to me before going to sleep. But all I came to touch was grass and soil. I looked down, only to find an empty patch of grass and soil.

I suddenly became acutely aware of a figure lounging in the corner of my peripheral vision. I slowly turned my head and looked up at the man who was sitting on a log, twirling an arrow in his hand.

I felt my eyes go wide and my face grow pale. My muscles contracted once again, rendering the act of stretching pointless.

"Good morning" I said, trying to keep my voice as leveled as possible. The stranger smirked.

"Good morning" he replied, still playing with the arrow.

I stood up and dusted myself off, grabbing my cloak and tying it around my shoulders. The man stood up, paralleling my movements.

He had dropped the arrow and left it on the ground next to the bow. I tried to think of every possible scenario to get to them, but each one ended with less desirable outcomes. Here I was, with a stranger, in the middle of the woods. He was taller than me and much stronger (I guessed by the size of his arms).

I started inching closer to my bag, which I had thrown on the ground next to the log I had been resting against that night. He started stepping closer.

"I'm not going to hurt you" He said calmly, raising his hands up as if to show he had nothing to hide. For some reason, his words and his tone seemed to make me feel slightly at ease, but then I remembered where I was.

"Really?" I said, opening the bag, that was now behind me, with one hand, fishing around for something. My fingers brushed against the wooden handle of the axe, and I wrapped my fingers around it, getting ready to attack in case he made any sudden movements.

"Oh, come on. I'm a man of my word, and I promise I will not hurt you, love" he purred, sending shivers down my spine. I gripped the axe handle harder and stood up, taking it with me.

His eyes dropped to the weapon in my hand and his eyebrows shot up slightly. I swung it up so that it landed in my other hand.

"You promise?" I asked, more for the sake of stalling than actually believing him.

"Yes" He answered, not missing a beat and staring into my eyes. His own eyes were the deepest shade of blue.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, snapping myself out of his hypnotizing gaze.

"I live here" He said calmly, moving so that he could sit on the log that I had rested on that night. I stepped back, keeping the distance between us, which caused him to smirk.

In an attempt to not look at his dazzling smile or beautiful eyes, I looked at his arms, feet, anything. And that was when I saw it.

On his left wrist, there was a band with a small metal ornament. It would have gone unnoticed to me if it weren't for the fact that it was my father's. The metal ornament being the family seal, which I had seen on the letters that my father would write occasionally.

My heart started to beat fast, but time began to slow down as I gripped the axe handle harder and shifted it's weight to my right hand. Unfortunately, he had caught me staring at the band around his wrist and was now looking at me again, anticipating what I would do.

I moved a little further away from him, so that fire pit was between us.

"I promised I wouldn't hurt you" He said, something that looked like sadness and guilt passed through his eyes. But it was so faint that I dismissed the thought.

"I didn't promise anything" I said, my voice coming out strong and confident- as opposed to the pure fear that was settled in my stomach. My heart was pounding so loud that I could hear it in my ears, and I was pretty sure that he could, too.

He stood up and was by me in a flash, so fast that I didn't even see him. His hand shot out to grab me, but I swung the axe handle around his arm, moving to the side so that he was forced to turn away, his left arm sticking back an odd angle. I held him there for a few seconds, contemplating on whether or not to break his arm. He spun around and broke away from the position I was holding him in, grabbing the axe and pulling it away from me.

I quickly stepped back and grabbed the bow which was now behind me, moving as fast as possible to throw the quiver over my shoulder and reaching back for an arrow- aiming it roughly at where he was standing, letting it go. The arrow was going straight for his chest, when his hand snapped up and grabbed it in thin air.

It wasn't possible.

That wasn't possible.

I grabbed another arrow. And another. Each one aimed straight at him, each one he caught and threw to the ground.

"What are you?" I whispered, the fear now evident in my voice. He smirked slightly as he came closer. I let one more arrow go, but he caught it once again. I reached back to grab another one, but I had run out. He was now in front of me.

He reached out to grab me again but I ducked under his arm and went straight to the sword that was tied to Spade's saddle, pulling it out.

He chuckled and held up the axe he was still holding. I stayed stoic.

He then lunged forward with the axe extended, but I blocked the blow easily with the sword.

And it went on. He was hardly breaking a sweat (and advancing quickly), while I stood there, exhausted, trying to come up with a plan.

If there was only a way I could grab that axe.

I stepped forward at the same time he lunged, blocking the axe with the sword but trying to get as close as possible. And just when we were about chest to chest, I moved aside, causing him to lose balance slightly, and I took the opportunity to grab the axe handle and rip it out of his hands.

He stood there, slightly shocked, but then set his arms up in a defensive position.

"Why do you have that?" I said, gesturing towards the band on his wrist with the axe.

He looked down at the band and smirked.

"I found it" He said simply.

"Liar!" I yelled, swinging the ax and aiming it straight at his head. He ducked just in time for it to miss him, but barely. It landed, blade first, on the tree behind him.

When he got back up, I pressed the edge of the sword to his neck, trying to pull out the axe with my other hand.

"I'm going to ask again. Why do you have that?" I growled, pushing the sword forward so that it was almost cutting into his flesh.

"I found it" He repeated, uttering every syllable carefully. His voice didn't quiver. His pupils didn't dilate. His eyes didn't shift around. He was telling the truth.

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to look for any other signs that he was lying

I slowly lowered the sword and let it rest on the ground. I managed to pull out the axe from the tree trunk, and lowered it down to the ground, too.

He stood there silently. Watching as I began to walk towards Spade, slipping the sword back into it's scabbard. Then going to retrieve my bag and and the bows that were now thrown haphazardly on the ground, putting them back into the quiver.

Once I had gathered my belongings, I looked back at him. I made sure to keep the axe and the bow on me, just in case he tried to do something funny. He was, afterall, a man in the middle of the woods. And he was strong and clearly knew how to fight.

I walked over to him and stood right in front of him, staring into his big blue eyes. I reached over and quickly snapped the clip on the back of the band and took it off his wrist, taking a few steps back and away from him.

"You should leave" I said. He stood there for a while, staring at me with those too blue eyes. He was thinking, I guessed. I wasn't planning on turning my back on him until I knew he was far enough away for me to get on Spade and put some distance between us. I had noticed before that he was dangerous, but now I began to process all the details.

He had long sandy hair that reached mid-neck, and of course the blue eyes that could capture you from across the room. His skin was tan, not exactly olive like Tyler's but extremely close.

Well, he definitely spends some time outside because that complexion is not from sitting in a cottage or hut all day. He was clearly tall and strong. His white chemise was rolled up to his only his forearms, but the muscles there were bulging. Not so much that it looked unnatural but definitely enough to tell that he does some sort of manual labor. I had been around Tyler and my father all my life, and they both aren't as built as this man in front of me.

All his movements are well balanced and poised, like as if he is ready to pounce at any moment. His feet hardly make a sound as he steps- unlike a common villager who would be stomping around, unaware of the noise they would make by stepping on twigs and rocks.

No, he wasn't lying when he said "I live here". He most likely didn't mean in that exact spot. Maybe nearby. Maybe I was trespassing.

But he wasn't from a village. He lived in the woods.

In the woods.

The place that I was trying to find my father in. Maybe he knew how to track down these people.

I was about to step forward and stop him, ask him to come back.

But he was no longer in view. A few seconds ago, he had been standing right in front of my, then he disappeared.

I felt the leather of the band in my hand, pulling me back to reality. He had supposedly found it, and the thought gave me some sort of hope. But also fear. Not the fear that I might not find my father, or that he might be dead.

No. He wasn't dead. I could feel it in my bones.

The fear that he had it in his possession was what scared me the most. He was just one man and surely he couldn't stand a chance against a band of lumberjacks.

But for some reason, I was afraid.

That had not gone as planned.

She had been sleeping for some time when she started to stir. I expected her to be up and about at the crack of dawn, like she had the day before. But the sun rose and the birds chirped and she staying sleeping. When she did wake though, I expected her to fear me. And she did. I expected her to coward, maybe even run. But she did not.

Instead, she grabbed her axe and attacked me. Maybe if it weren't for the fact that she had seen the bloody band around my wrist, she would have never acted as such.

She was beginning to relax, maybe even trust me. But as swift as a change in the winds, her mood had altered.

What could that band have meant to her that she had fought to retrieve it? Called me a liar once I said where I had gotten it from.

And yet, the fire inside her as she was fighting was a magnificent sight to witness. She had given me everything she had- attacking with multiple weapons which she swiftly retrieved, even when I put them out of her way. Her aim was impressive. I had seen her only the day before hunting, but witnessing it up close was exhilarating. If it weren't for the fact that my reflexes were above par, she would have been able to put me out with the first arrow.

For now, I had to maintain my distance. Approaching her this soon was not the best idea. But we will see each other again- sooner or later.

Am I nervous or am I nervous?

While writing Klaus and Caroline's interaction, I kept a lot of your reviews in mind (some of you guys don't like the idea of Caroline going total-badass). But as I tried writing and rewriting it, they would always end up in some sort of fight. So I took it as a message from the Gods and stopped messing with it. Now AGAIN, there is a point to badass Caroline. Even though you may be sitting there and thinking "What is the point?!", just...trust me it will all make sense in the end.

Anyways, Klaus isn't giving up, and he'll for sure be popping up in Caroline's train of thought.

I kinda feel like this chapter was wayyy too short, but adding on to it just didn't feel right, but I promise next chapter will be longer.

And because I've left y'all at a cliffhanger for a second time in a row, please feel free to copy and paste this into the review box, letting me know how much you totally despise me for leaving you a a cliffhanger. Again.

Dear Maria,

What do you think of life? Leaving your readers at a cliffhanger...TWICE!

Not only that, but this was an embarrassingly short chapter!

UGHHHHH!

Sincerely,

*Your Name*

Bye for now!

~M

P.S.: An ENORMOUS thank you goes out to KLAROLINE (Guest), DreamsBeatReality, loveklaroline (Guest) and Aaaammber for leaving reviews, and to everyone who favorited and followed. You guys make me type faster!