Caroline jabbed at her phone furiously and murmured through gritted teeth: "Come on, pick up." Pacing beside her car, she sighed as the call went to voicemail again. "Elena, where are you? We're so late for the orientation and if I find out you're dawdling somewhere with Damon again, I swear I will wring your skinny neck plus kick his cocky ass. Urgh! Call me back ASAP, k?" Ending the call, she punched in Damon's number and held her phone to her ear while observing a group of freshmen moving somewhat uncertainly through the campus with their orientation leader. She was about to leave a scathing rant on Damon's voicemail when the back of her neck prickled and she heard a familiar voice drawl out her name.

She gasped and turned around to see him leaning against a tree. Even though his face was concealed by the shade cast by the elm's branches, she could practically feel his trademark intense gaze - the one that never failed to make her heart leap, the one that would render her momentarily speechless and the one that, until his run-in with Silas's mind tricks, she had consistently brushed off with a scornful scoff. She let her eyes rove from his brown-grey T-shirt, stretched over his broad shoulders which were concealed under a black peacoat, down to his rugged jeans and leather lace-up boots. Her gaze flew up when she saw the boots shift towards her and she felt herself deepening with colour at being caught ogling.

"Klaus? What are you doing here?" she asked a little haughtily to try to cover her embarrassment.

His smug look showed that he was seeing right through her futile act of nonchalance. "I couldn't miss your orientation for anything in the world, sweetheart. And I happen to have a little knowledge of the ins and outs of this lovely campus. Perhaps you would like me to show you around? I promise it'll be much more interesting than the one you'll get from that stuffy dolt with the flag," he said, offering his arm.

Caroline hesitated for a moment before ending the call to Damon. She cringed inwardly when she realised that her conversation with Klaus had probably gone into his voicemail. Ah well, at least he'll know where to find her if he and Elena got around to arriving here, she thought as she stashed her phone into the back pocket of her jeans.

"This had better be good," she said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at Klaus. Chuckling, he gestured towards a red brick building in the distance. "First stop, the library," he said and began his commentary about the history of the school, peppering it with backstories of successful alumni. Caroline followed half a step behind him, surprised at the depth of his knowledge and enamoured with the beauty of the architecture. Soon, they found themselves at the bottom of the cobbled steps to the building when she caught sight of a sign. When she saw what was written on it, she whirled round to face him. "I thought you said this was the library?" Caroline exclaimed accusingly. "The sign says 'Music Hall'!"

He threw up his palms and, without a hint of sheepishness, said: "OK, you caught me."

Caroline was stunned at his quick confession and torn between amusement and exasperation at his audacity. "What?"

"I mean, you're right. I was bluffing - somewhat - I wiki-ed some of it and made everything else up."

At his disarming grin, Caroline gave in to her bubbling laughter. "You're impossible."

"And you, my love, are beautiful and smart, as always," he said, taking a step towards her. The move caused an instant shift in the playful mood.

Caroline felt a shiver run down her spine at his words and stepped back to find her herself leaning against the gold-coloured plate that had given him away like a cornered prey. The sudden awareness that they were quite alone and out of earshot of anyone, struck her like a chilly wind as he leaned in closer, his palms against the sign on either side of her face. Her heartbeat quickened and she felt her pulse roaring in her ears as her breath turned shallow. "Wh-" the word barely formed before he raised a finger to her mouth, shushing her. She wanted to move away, duck her head or something, but it was as if an invisible force was holding her in place. Her mouth parted unconsciously as her gaze dropped to his lips which were a hair's breath away. But instead of closing up the distance, he seemed to be content with the status quo, their blue eyes boring into each other. And just as she thought that he was going to kiss her, he pulled back and said nonchalantly: "Well, good that we've established that now."

Caroline blinked, confused. Her heart was still racing and her mind still reeling from his closeness to barely comprehend the bizarre turn of events when he continued: "I have something to show you." He retrieved his phone from his pocket and tapped then swiped the screen a few times. Satisfied, he held it in front of her. It was a video of a poorly lit place and she could hear someone muttering: "Yep, here they are..." just as the screen revealed four figures who were seated down in separate chairs. The image shook as the person holding the camera walked towards the first one on the left. Caroline gasped in horror when she realised it was Elena, bound to a chair and gagged with a piece of cloth that had surely been doused in vervain because of the burn marks on her face. Her eyes were round with terror as she struggled silently to get out of her binds. "That's one," the voice counted. "Two." Damon came into the picture, gagged and bound like Elena. "Three." Jeremy. "And, last of all..."

"Mum!" Caroline shouted as the final figure came into focus. "Oh my god! Why are you doing this, Klaus?" she said, shoving him back.

He stood as still as a statue - as if her push hadn't even registered with him although she had used her vampire strength. Instead, one corner of his mouth turned up and he said: "Guess again, sweetheart. I'm not the one who wants to be your last love. I already have one."

Seeing her closest friends and her mother's captive forms had sent adrenaline rushing through her veins. Her mind went into overdrive as she mentally tossed up with all the possibilities to his declaration and her anger turned to fear as everything clicked together. "Silas?" she mouthed, the word coming out as a whisper.

"You know, I'm beginning to see why Klaus is smitten with you," Silas said with a laugh.

Caroline tried to overcome her panic, recalling her last encounter with Silas. Her eyes darted from side to side to find an escape while she blurted out the first thing that come to mind. "Stefan dumped you into the ravine!" she stated.

His only reply was a broadening of his smile. It was doubly terrifying, watching a repeat of the Silas/Klaus switcheroo since she had been seeing the latter in a different light after graduation. It was like talking to Elena when she switched off her humanity - but worse. "What do you want from me, Silas?" she asked, knowing she couldn't possibly outrun the oldest immortal on Earth.

"To play a game, Caroline." He paused for effect and continued: "I set the rules, you follow them. And I'll release your friends and mother without harming them when it ends."

"And if I don't want to play your games?"

"That's a stupid question coming from the clever Caroline, isn't it? You are fully aware of how things will pan out if you don't do what I ask. I have the leverage," he said, signalling to his phone, "and I'm pretty sure you'll find the task much more enjoyable than you think it'd be, considering your response to me - or Klaus, depending on how you want to see it - just moments ago."

Caroline stormed into the Salvatore house and tore through every room searching for her friends. She had stopped by her house first, and found it in disarray with numerous signs of struggle, which indicated that her mum had put up quite a fight. It was the same here, with overturned furniture, torn curtains and broken lamps, to name a few. Bile rose in her throat as she assessed the helplessness of her situation. She could think of a few locations in Mystic Falls where Silas was keeping her loved ones, but they all seemed too obvious. Even if she were to luck out with one of them, the place would probably be highly secured with magic, together with his minions, like the one who took the video she saw. No, it was too big a risk - her life, her friends' and her mum's were at stake. And she didn't want to tempt Silas's wrath by showing blatant disregard of the "rules" which he had set. Her scream of frustration was caught in her throat when 'Tyler' suddenly appeared in front of her. She knew it was Silas before he even uttered a word. "Why are you still here?" She spun round, her blonde curls whipping the air, only to be confronted with 'Stefan'. "You should be on your way to New Orleans." She flashed to the door to find 'Damon' blocking it. "Hm... who should I hurt first?" he asked in mock consideration.

Caroline's head was spinning as she succumbed to the stress. "No, wait! I'm going now. Please don't hurt them," she cried as 'Damon' disappeared. She took the chance to run out of the house as 'Elena' called after her, "Remember my rules! I'll catch up with you soon!"

Klaus stood in a shadowy corner of the bustling room, leaning against the wall and watched in distaste as Marcel spun Camille around before he scooped her up in one hand, clasped her hand in another, and tilted her back into a low dip. The music was blaring and there was a ton of people chatting at the same time, but Klaus's vampire hearing tracked their conversation easily.

"I can't believe you've been in New Orleans for two years and I only managed to meet you a month ago," whispered Marcel into Camille's ear.

"Well, there are close to four hundred thousand people living here," she countered with a breathless giggle as he led her up suddenly and spun her around again.

"In that case, I'm sure fate has something in store for us," he said as he held her close and they swayed to the music.

Klaus rolled his eyes at the corniness of the statement and wondered how a smart girl like Camille would fall for it. His thoughts then drifted to another blonde who had ridiculed his words, even though they had been uttered with much more sincerity. Maybe she was smarter, he thought with pride, a small smirk spreading across his face. A drunk's retch snapped his thoughts back into the present and he was reminded of what he came here to do.

He straightened up and strode purposefully across the room, the crowd melting away at his approach. Now, that's more like it, he thought, glad that all his menacing glares and carefully worded threats to Marcel's people had not gone to waste. His protegé's imbeciles finally had the good sense to steal fearful glances instead of looking squarely at him, and they would rather make a detour than risk crossing his path even though they knew that they had Marcel's backing. These pleasant thoughts and the fact that he made it to his intended destination in less than fifteen second put a genuine smile on his face.

"Klaus, so glad you could join us tonight," said Marcel in his dramatic way.

"Marcel. Great party, as usual. May I?" said Klaus.

"Of course," replied Marcel, placing his partner's hand into Klaus's outstretched hand and took a step back.

Camille was shaking her head in amusement as she let Klaus lead her away from Marcel. "You men and your alpha male behaviour," she muttered under her breath.

"Happy birthday, Cami," said Klaus, twirling her around pompously.

Camille threw her head back and laughed. "Thanks, Klaus. And don't think I haven't caught on to your subtle mockeries."

He widened his eyes in pretence and she rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, I confess. I am attracted to him. He's really cute and charming..."

"Says the psychology student who should know these characteristics all point to typical serial killer behaviour," he interrupted.

Camille's mood turned introspective and she sighed heavily. "I know right," she looked down and paused. Klaus saw her shoulders shaking before hearing her burst out into a round of giggles. "Seriously, Klaus. If I didn't know better, I'd be flattered at your chivalrous attempt to save me from Marcel. But don't worry about me, okay? I can take care of myself."

The song drew to a stop and Klaus acceded to Camille with a slight nod of his head as he produced a long, rectangular deep red velvet box. "This is for you," he said, popping it open to reveal a thin silver bracelet with two charms, one of which was a figurine with her leg in a karate kick, and the other, a box decorated daintily with a black ribbon. Taking advantage of her astonishment, he proceeded to secure the trinket around her wrists and grasp her hand in his. "It reminded me of a brave girl. Promise me you'll always wear it?"

Camille almost teared up at his unexpectedly thoughtful present and she returned a small nod to acknowledge his request. She couldn't figure him out - this enigmatic man whom she was sure wasn't attracted to her. But to attribute his actions to him wanting to assert himself to Marcel wasn't entirely accurate either. Perhaps it was this offbeat camaraderie they had, she figured, instantly touched at the thought that he valued her friendship. "Thank you."

"I love birthdays," he said, giving her a gallant kiss on her hand for good measure when he caught Marcel staring at them in the distance.

Caroline walked into the room thronged with party-goers. Feeling as if she was constantly spied on, no matter where she turned, she fought to keep her panic down and tried to locate Klaus in the chaos. She was told that he would be here today, and she had rushed to make her way to the address once she landed at the airport. She weaved her way in, casting furtive glances in a bid to stay inconspicuous. When she entered the main hall, her eyes were magnetically drawn to the middle of the dance floor. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt as if an ice-cold hand was squeezing her heart as her mind processed the sight unravelling in front of her. Klaus was putting on a bracelet for a pretty girl with wavy blonde hair. Then he raised her hand and bent his head to place a kiss on it. The feeling of deja vu had a paralysing effect on her. A mass of emotions assaulted her and she realised she couldn't grab hold of any one of them.

Caroline knew it was going to happen before it did with absolute certainty. And sure enough, Klaus eyes left the blonde's face and immediately fixed on her. Like how her vampire hearing had decided to tune to a constant bandwidth of white noise a few seconds ago, it suddenly decided to pick up on the one word coming out of his mouth - her name. The sound broke the invisible bubble and she turned around and ran out of the party.

Klaus watched her long hair fly up as she turned to run out of the hall. He hesitated for a second, barely believing his eyes before rushing after her. Catching her arm and pulling her to him, his eyes were still wide with disbelief and shock that the girl who had haunted his thoughts and dreams had come to look for him. It had only been a few weeks since he made the decision to let her go, and he had reconciled himself to the possibility that it would probably be a few decades before he could see her again. But here she was, standing in front of him, with a raging fire in her eyes.

"Let go of me," she spat. "Gosh! How could I be so stupid? I mean, your little gifts and silly endearments - I'm sure they're working well for you! Have you given her your beautiful sketches or showed her your impressive art collection? How many of these 'worn-by-a-princess-as-beautiful-as-you' bracelets do you have? Did you, like, get your little Rumpelstiltskin to make them in bulk for you?" rattled Caroline.

"Not here, love." said Klaus, his eyes dancing with amusement as he pulled her out of the house and down the street. When they were out in the open, he turned his head around to check that they were alone before loosening his grip on her arm.

"Was that jealousy I detected?" he asked, as if there hadn't been a break between her rant and his statement.

"What? No. Are you kidding me? Why would I be jealous?" said Caroline, her voice unusually high-pitched.

"Because the last I checked, Rumpelstiltskin had nothing to do with bracelets," he beamed.

She refused to answer him, and she crossed her arms to prevent herself from reaching out that slap that conceited smile off his face. Instead, she settled on giving him a withering glare which failed miserable to intimidate him even the least bit.

Instead of teasing her further, he decided to change the topic. "Why are you here, Caroline?" he asked.

Caroline's heart sank at his question. Seeing him with another girl had thrown her for a loop and in her annoyance, she had forgotten her true purpose for coming to look for him. "I can't tell you the reason, but can I please stay with you for a while?"

Her frankness surprised him and he decided not to push her for a reason, sensing her distress. His acquiescence was his proffered arm and a statement: "I'm glad you think my sketches are beautiful."

"You can't keep doing this, you know, Rebekah," said Matt, exasperated.

"Do what?" asked Rebekah.

"Terrorise every girl who glances my way. ."

"She was hanging all over you like a cheap suit - sorry, I mean, slut."

"Now, you're being mean. She was just doing her job. She's a waitress, Rebekah. She's expected to ask the diners for their orders and enquire about their meal. Besides, she barely said two sentence to me."

"Mean? Me? She didn't even look at me when I was placing my order! And instead, she kept throwing you suggestive looks."

Matt sighed and put down his fork. "I think I need a breather. I'm going to take a stroll - alone - before heading back to the hostel. I'll see you back there, okay?" he said and walked away from the table before she could say another word.

Rebekah watched despondently as Matt step out of the restaurant. It wasn't the first time he had expressed his displeasure at her possessiveness, but it was the first time he had walked away from her. How could he defend the girl who was so rude to her, she thought. But a voice at the back of her head was chiding her childish actions. Matt was right. She had to ease off on her controlling behaviour. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Placing a couple of bills on the table, she hurried out after him.

She stepped out onto the gravelly pavement and looked down both sides of the empty road. It was 9pm in the evening and the summer sun was just halfway through its daily descent. The roads were well-lit enough, but she couldn't see any trace of Matt. She frowned and took out her phone, punching in his number. Starting down the direction of their hostel, she raised the phone to her ear. She halted when her vampire hearing picked up a familiar ringtone sounding to her right, behind what looked like a abandoned building. She approached the grey and desolate-looking structure warily, calling out Matt's name. Then she heard a muffled cry and she rushed towards the noise to see a tall and muscular figure wearing a black leather jacket, rugged jeans and black working boots holding Matt's hands in a vice grip with one hand, and the other covering his mouth.

"Oh, you picked on the wrong guy to mug," said Rebekah, moving forward to attack the guy. She didn't even make it two steps before someone came from behind her and snapped her neck. As she fell into a heap on the floor, the light fell onto her attacker's face. Matt's eyes widened in confusion when he realised who it was.

"Hi, Matt. It's great to finally meet you. I'm Silas, and I need your help."

A/N: I guess I cheated a bit on the canon that Silas can only appear as someone else without the presence of anyone else. But he's still new to the show and we don't know the depth of his powers yet. Still, Caroline was the only one who could see him so that's my justification for the cheat. :P And I think everything Silas/Klaus did was true to what the real Klaus would have done. What do you think?