"Caroline, don't!"

Caroline felt Rebekah's body tense up and took advantage of the Original's surprise to plunge the Silver stake she was still holding into Rebekah's thigh. Rebekah yelled out in pain and released just enough pressure on Caroline, so the younger vampire could run out of her strong grip.

Klaus met her half way and grabbed her shoulders tightly, his eyes burning. "That was foolish" he said, before spinning her around and trusting her into Stefan's arms. He then turned around to face his sister, his features darkening. All fangs out, he jumped on Rebekah and pushed her against the nearest wall. In a swift move, he grabbed the stake from her thigh and plunged it into her neck. Blood started gushing out of the wound.

"Nick!" she cried out. Tears were pouring on her cheeks and she reached her hand up to grab his, to pull the weapon out of her neck.

"Don't. Ever. Go after Carole again, sister. Or I will personally kill you by ripping your pretty little head off. Am I being clear?" His words came up barely in a whisper but the threat was easy to detect.

"Nick", she choked. The girl was a mess, drenched in tears and blood.

Klaus took the stake off her neck, but only to replace it with a strong grip on her throat, choking her.

"I said, am I being clear?" he growled. Klaus was undoubtedly scary right now, and Caroline kind of felt bad for Rebekah. But only for a second.

"Yes", Rebekah cried out. The rest of her answer came out in a whisper. " I'm sorry Nick".

"Sure, don't apologize to me, bitch" Caroline thought.

Klaus finally let go of his sister's throat and step back before turning around to reach Caroline. He needed to inspect her perfect body and make sure she was okay. But before he could take a step towards her, he heard a whooshing sound next to his right ear. He turned around to see Rebekah, a hand-carved stake with hunters' marks on it, plunged into her abdomen.

Caroline, Stefan and Klaus all turned around to see Damon and Jeremy near the entrance door, the latter was holding his Hunter Shotgun, a new stake placed on it, ready to be shot. Rebekah yelled out of frustration and took the stake out of her stomach throwing it aside. Her features changed, darkening, showing her true vampire nature.

"What the hell was that for?" she yelled. She was restraining herself from going to both of them, and knock their heads against the wall, but she was still afraid of her brother's reaction if she did such a thing.

"Sorry we're late", Damon started. "Aspiring Van Helsing here, wanted to tag along, and since I'm babysitting him for the moment, I thought I might as well bring him to a place full of vampires. Thought this would help with his training and all", he said smiling wickedly at Rebekah.

Klaus flashed at hybrid speed and pushed both of the newcomers against the cave wall, hands grabbing their throats. His eyes dark, veins and fangs out.

"How dare you use your vampire hunter weapons against us, boy" he said looking at Jeremy menacingly. He then turned to look at Damon and fought the urge to kill him right here and there.

"You're welcome" Damon choked, still smiling.

"Nobody hurts my baby sister but me, understood?" Klaus said merely an inch from Damon's face.

"Even if it was to save your sorry ass? … She was clearly going to … jump on you the moment you turned your back on her" Damon said between suffocating sounds.

"Is that true" Klaus asked.

"No" Damon responded without hesitation.

Klaus threw Damon across the room, where the older Salvatore hit the wall and slid to the ground not moving. The Original hybrid then turned his attention back on Jeremy.

"Klaus!" Caroline yelled out. "I'm the reason they're here. Please, leave Jeremy alone".

Although Klaus heard her, he did not let go of the young hunter. Jeremy's face was dangerously starting to turn purple with every second that passed.

"Don't waste your breath, Caroline", Rebekah said, smirking. Her wounds had all healed and she was wiping the blood off her neck with her black cardigan. "Whatever power you think you have over my brother, you don't".

Caroline did not give her the satisfaction of a fight, and instead approached Klaus slowly, putting a hand on his shoulder. She was glad to feel him relax at her touch.

"Please", she pleaded. "Let him go, they meant no harm, they were here to save us and thought they still needed to help when they arrived". She meant her friends wanted to save Stefan and her, but she did not feel the need to go into such details at the moment.

"They were not needed", he said, clearly unhappy. "How did they even know we were he… oh wait, let me guess..." he said turning his head to look at Caroline, "Matt".

Caroline just kept staring at him, eyebrows lifted in a "I'm waiting" position. The hybrid finally dropped his grip on Jeremy, who then fell to the ground gasping for air.

Klaus turned around to face Caroline and, as if in trance, he reached out his hand to move the collar of her blouse aside. He still needed to be sure that the scratch Rebekah had caused her, was gone. The cut had healed long ago and only left a small trace of dried blood behind. This was the only proof she had been hurt. Still he found he could not take his eyes off her fair skin.

The touch of his fingers on her bare skin sent electric shocks all over her body. Nevertheless, she invoked all her mental strength to slap his hand away, trying to hide how the contact had shaken her inside.

Klaus gave her an innocent smile, and then went to join Rebekah a few feet away from her.

"I'm gonna kill them" the blond Original growled, looking at Damon and then at Jeremy.

"Get in line, honey", Damon said picking himself off the floor.

"Not today darling sister", Klaus said ignoring Damon." I am taking you home, we have lots to talk about."

And then, just like that, he had grabbed her arm and sped off with his sister, out of the cave.

Caroline turned back to face Damon who had reached Jeremy and was helping him up. She noticed he was giving her a mocking glare.

"What?!" she shot out at him.

"Well nothing… or maybe just the fact you almost made out with the enemy in your ex-boyfriend's family cellar. It was just weird that's all."

Caroline felt herself blush. She sped up to Damon and punched him right in his cocky face.

"I did not just make out with Klaus! What the hell?" she yelled back.

"Sure you didn't." Damon said laughing. "How do we say it… Ah yeah, payback's a bitch Caroline, remember that."

"Oh so this was Damon's way to take his revenge on her, for the way she acted with him that morning?" she thought.

"Go to hell", she spat back.

"Oh Darling, trust me I've been there, I've done that. The place needs a little touch of feng shui if you ask me, but anyway… Buffy the vampire slayer (he looked at Jeremy) and I have an appointment with busboy Matt right now. Training to become the best vampire hunter and all, you know" he said sarcastically. "So we'll be at the Gilbert Lake house, if you need us to… you know… stake another Original for you"… He looked at Caroline and then added "or maybe you'd prefer we don't".

He moved away before she could punch him again.

"See you later Blondie", he gave her another cocky smile and then turned to Stefan, "Brother" nodding at him.

Stefan just looked at him blankly and then looked away, his mouth in a straight line.

"Right…" Damon said looking away. "You ready?" he asked Jeremy.

Caroline just noticed Elena's brother hadn't said a word since he came in. His muscles were tensed and his heart was beating fast. His jaw was clenched and his hands were balled into fists. She realized it must still be really overwhelming for him to be in the same room as a vampire, let alone three of them, and not invoke his hunter skills to rip their heads off. He made his way to where Rebekah had thrown his stake, picked it up and walked back to Damon, muttering his first words since he entered the cave. "I'm good, we can go". They both left, Damon giving one last wary look as his younger brother.

Caroline left the cellar with Stefan. Before getting into her car, she called Matt to thank him for sending Damon and Jeremy to their rescue. On their way to the Boarding House, Stefan kept quiet and only nodded at Caroline's attempt at innocent chitchat.

Once they arrived at the Salvatores', Stefan got out of the car, opened the front door, leaving it ajar for Caroline, and walked straight to the living room. He took out a bottle of scotch from his mini-bar, poured a generous amount of the brown liquid in a glass and drowned it in one big mouthful. He got himself another glass before sitting down on one of the couches, apparently lost in his thoughts.

"Stefan, are you okay?" Caroline asked.

"I'm fine, the wound has healed already. I'll just need to go hunt something after this drink", he said.

"That's not what I meant", Caroline said. She sat down on the couch opposite of Stefan's, looking him right in the eyes. "I left you with terrible news last night, and I feel awful about it. I don't regret the fact that you now know the truth, but I regret the fact that I was the one to tell you. It was not my place to…"

"I don't want to talk about it Caroline", he said not looking at her. "But, if it helps, I'm not angry at you."

"But Stefan…"

"Caroline, please, just drop it", he said finally looking up at her.

Caroline dropped her gaze to the floor, as she couldn't bear to see the grief and sorrow in Stefan's green eyes.

"I'm sorry", she whispered. A few minutes of silence later, she lifted her head and saw he was now staring at the fireplace.

"Stefan, can I ask you a question."

He snapped his head up and looked right into her eyes.

"What is it?" he looked concerned and she almost changed her mind. How could she even think to bother him with her personal drama? Still she felt she would go crazy if she kept her mouth shut any longer.

"I need to tell someone about this… secret I'm keeping, and I can't tell Elena 'cause she's probably still pissed at me about … well you know… and I can't tell Bonnie, 'cause she's with Elena, so… with her vampire heightened hearing and all, she could hear our conservation over the phone… and well I can't tell Tyler"… she trailed on.

"I get it", he said smiling at her, "I'm the only one you can tell. Go on, I'm listening."

"Yes, but I'm not coming to you only for these reasons, Stefan" she said. "It's also because, you might be the only one that will not judge me." After a long pause she added: "I need to talk to you about Klaus."

Klaus got through the front door of his house, Rebekah in his shadow. He brought her to the living room and turned around to face her angelic face. His face, however was deadly serious.

"What was that all about Rebekah?" he almost yelled at her.

"What ever do you mean, dear brother?" she said. She walked pass him and sat down on one of the leather sofas. She crossed her long legs and smiled at him, proud of herself. "Don't you think I could make a living as a professional actress? Hell, I think I should go to Hollywood right this instant and show the world what a real star looks like."

"You could compel your way to the top, dear sister, for all I care. But if you do go for an audition, this time, stick to the scenario" he said, clearly unhappy with her.

"It all went fine, Nick", she said exasperated. "You're overreacting…"

"The plan was to make it appear as if you would hurt her, Rebekah" he interrupted. "No blood was to be shed."

"Yeah, apart from mine it seems", she spat back.

"Don't be a brat, sister. You're an Original. You would have survived any bloody attack they would have thrown at you. Caroline on the other hand would not have had such luck; she could have died if you had put too much pressure on that damn stake."

The moment he had heard Matt and Caroline, at The Mystic Grill, mention his sister's inevitable umpteenth resurrection; Klaus had called Rebekah's cellphone from his concealed seat, at far end of the bar. He apologized for killing her yet again and had made it seem as if he was repentant and he finally offered her a deal. If she was to help him, she would then gain some freedom. She could decide whether or not she would stay with him. He also promised he would never dagger her again.

Of course, Klaus never intended on keeping Rebekah alive, whatever he had promised her. He just needed to tell her what he knew she wanted to hear so she would agree to his plan. He knew he needed her help now that his hybrid slaves were gone. And then later, once she had filled her purpose, he could dagger her again and hide her, permanently this time, before she decided to turn her back on him, yet again. He would no longer tolerate another deception from her.

Although she had agreed to go along with his plan, he still did not trust her completely. So he had gone into the cave with Caroline, convinced Rebekah was going to jump on them at any moment and kill Caroline right in front of him. The moment he saw Caroline bleed from the scratch Rebekah had inflicted her, he was sure he had been right to distrust his little sister. He had been this close to attacking her, feeling guilty for endangering Caroline's life in his foolish attempt at reconciliation with Rebekah, before Caroline decided to defend herself. He knew she was a strong willed young women, but he had still been quite impressed with the amount of guts she had shown in defending herself against Rebekah.

"You were lucky I was in on the whole plan at all, after what you did to me" she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I really am sick and tired of you daggering me and ruining really expensive clothes in the process" she finished, giving her ruined ensemble a pitiful look.

"And I told you, you had left me no choice in all these situations when I had to… put you to sleep."

"Well that's certainly one way of seeing it. So now what? Do you think Caroline will befriend you now that you played the hero at the cellar? Seriously Nick, what do you see in that girl."

"I don't see anything", Klaus said. He did not want her to know how much he really cared for Caroline. The younger vampire was becoming his greatest weakness and he needed to keep his feelings hidden for both of their lives' sake. "I already told you that by befriending Caroline, I will much likely know what she and her friends are up to, and then I'll be this much closer to finding the cure and use it on the doppelganger."

"Ah yes, so dear Elena can help you create a new army of hybrids" Rebekah said, picking at her manicured nails, she was frustrated to see that dried blood had stuck underneath them.

"Precisely", Klaus said. "I still need to fix your mistake, Rebekah".

He went to pour them both a glass of red wine, before coming back in the room and handing his sister her glass.

"I'm bored, Nick, what do we do next?"

"Now, it's time for Plan B."

Rebekah went into her brother's study, took out her cellphone from her back pocket and dialled a phone number stored in her phone's memory. The line was picked after the third ring.

"Rebekah? asked a man's voice, obviously shocked to hear from her.

A smile came up to her face when she answered.

"Hello Tyler."

A/N: Okay so I based the end of this chapter with what we saw in the 4x10 episode preview. What do you guys think? Did you see it coming?