Chapter 4

Charlotte turned to Caroline, shocked. "This is Klaus?!"

Caroline nodded slowly. She was still frozen in shock. A moment later, she turned frantic and asked Durik, "What's happened to him? Where is he hurt? Klaus, wake up! That's an order! You don't just leave for a few years, and then show up like this!" and started nudging him. "Just a second- you're gonna be fine- I'm gonna just-," and bit into her wrist. Her blood started flowing and she immediately used it to feed Klaus.

"Drink," she ordered him. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and then suddenly, Klaus started coughing. Caroline looked relieved that he woke up. He coughed up all the blood that she fed him, and said, "Caroline. What are you doing here? I must be hallucinating."

Caroline said, "No, you're not. I'm here. I can explain the details later, but I've joined this organization."

Klaus looked surprised. "You're with the Gard?"

Caroline looked puzzled, "You know the Gard?"

Durik spoke up and said, "Klaus is my second-in-command. He's been with us for years."

Charlotte and Caroline were both struck by surprise. Caroline questioned, "What?! Really?" in disbelief. Then she looked at the blood that he coughed up. "Klaus, you have to drink my blood to get better. But why aren't you healing?" She was confused, as Klaus was a vampire/werewolf hybrid, and so, his healing speed was usually even faster than regular vampires like herself.

"Marcel's witches. There were still a few left who are actually loyal to him," Klaus said bitterly, as he spoke of his former protege Marcel, whom he had turned into a vampire many years ago. "They tricked me and trapped me. They fed me a potion that would stop my blood from acting as an antidote to my werewolf venom for three days, and then one of them -one of them could somehow control me into biting my own arm. I managed to escape, but there were about ninety on my trail. Normally, it wouldn't have been much of a problem, just an annoyance, but with the venom taking effect, you see, I was slowed down, and they were able to inflict a few injuries on me. I don't know why the injuries aren't healing though. Bloody witches. They must have done something else too."

Caroline asked, "How long has it been since your bite?"

"This is the second day." Klaus had some bitterness, but there was also fear. He looked like he was trying to hide it, but she could see it. She could always see what he was feeling. She felt an urge to comfort him.

She said, "Okay, a normal vampire would die in about two days. But you're Klaus! Your age and power must have some effect! Maybe you'll last longer! More than three days! And until those days are up, we'll heal you the old fashioned way, and then you'll be fine, okay?"

Klaus looked at her and looked a little touched at her concern. "Okay, love," he said.

Later, Charlotte went to Durik to ask him a question. "Why did Klaus say 'Alex'?"

Durik turned his head abruptly, "Alex? When?"

Charlotte replied, "When he was asking for the door to be opened."

Durik said, a bit warily, "Ah, that. Well, I am Alex. It was an alias I used a couple years ago, when I went to New Orleans and met Klaus for the first time. I guess old names are hard to drop."

"Whoa, alias? That's cool."

Durik said, "Well, aliases are necessary in dangerous situations, when your name could be traced back to you."

Charlotte grew curious and asked, "So you and Klaus seem close. How did you two become friends?" She wanted to know because from what she had heard from Caroline, Klaus was the murderous type who didn't have any friends, well, none aside from Caroline anyway.

Durik's face filled with a hint of nostalgia as he thought back. He said, "I was working on Marcel's case in New Orleans. The way he made rules and killed anyone who didn't follow his strict rules didn't sit well with us. Klaus was also working to take Marcel down. Once, I was in trouble. One of Marcel's most powerful witches… a young girl, Davina, revealed to Marcel that I was planning to take him down. As a witch prodigy and possibly even something more, she saw everything. I was on the brink of death when Klaus and his own army stepped in. They attacked, and managed to defeat Marcel. I was in his debt. Another time, Klaus was in trouble. The witch Davina was trying to destroy Klaus for the deaths of many other witches. I stepped in and reasoned with her, calmed her down. I gave her an alternative that she accepted. And from then on, we spent some good times together. I guess we just understood each other somehow. And even though we also had a few … rough patches, you see, Klaus isn't exactly a sweet angelic figure… he's a dick," Durik laughed, "we became good friends. "

The next morning, Durik held a meeting. Everyone was to attend, except for Caroline and Klaus. They were excused. He announced, "Everyone, I have received orders from the Varden. They want us to drop the missions we have right now, as we do not have any huge ones at the moment, and concentrate all our efforts on our new mission: killing Murtagh. For Charlotte, since you do not yet know who he is, I'll tell you."

"Murtagh," he continued with an expression of extreme distate, "is a filthy traitor to the Varden. He's a monster, a mass murderer of innocent, good people." People have argued that he is only committing these acts because of the strong control that an evil king named Galbatorix has on him… but not all of his crimes can be explained away with that, I assure you. Besides, because of his acts, intentional or not, he is way too dangerous a person to be kept alive. And before you argue that the control the king has must be broken, that is way too complicated to do. He has a dragon as well. That's where he makes the difference. If he was just any other servant of the king, he could easily be replaced with someone else upon his death, but that is not the case. Eragon, his half-brother and honorary member of the Varden, is the only other dragonrider at the moment. Other than him, there is only one other egg that is unhatched. Taking Murtagh out would be of great help to the rest of the Varden, who can then put their efforts to focusing on Galbatorix."

He paused for a while, and continued, "Murtagh is not a foe to be taken lightly. He is extremely powerful, what with his fighting skills and magical enhancements that he has received. However, do not lose hope. The Gard is strong. We are elites. We have people, powers that will be unfamiliar to them. They will not know how to fight effectively against us. We can put Murtagh to justice! There is a reason we have come together. THE GARD!"

The agents cheered! "The GARD!"