Klaus walked into the hotel suite, covered in blood. Caroline's stomach turned, she could only imagine how many people he'd had to impress to prevent a panic on his way back from wherever he'd been. She didn't have a problem with blood, obviously, but she did mind killing. It made her ill to imagine the carnage Klaus had done in the name of necessity. That was the thing that scared her most about Klaus. He did what he believed was necessary without ever considering if it was right and he never seemed to be plagued with guilt for his rash, destructive action.

She struggled to reconcile both sides of him in her mind. How could someone be so gentle and loving as she'd seen him be one second, and then kill without a thought the next? How could someone devoid of conscious be capable of love?

"Do I want to know?" She asked.

"I doubt it." He said, lightly, as though he hadn't just killed people, and as an afterthought, he tacked on, "The hunter's mark is complete."

The mark. She'd forgotten about the mark. To grow the mark Jeremy had to kill a vampire. To complete the mark, he would have had to kill a lot of them.

Vampires, no doubt, made special for the purpose.

Caroline nodded and got to her feet, retreating to one of the two bedrooms in the suite.

She locked her bedroom door behind her. She felt panic rising in her chest, making it difficult to breathe. What was she doing? What mess had she gotten herself into this time? She knew she couldn't leave now that she'd made a deal with Klaus, he would consider any breech of that deal on her part as permission to slaughter all of her friends in Mystic Falls. She had acted to save lives, but she was starting to think that she'd only succeeded in putting her friends in greater danger.

As much as she tried to ignore the truth, Klaus was capable of terrible things. But he cared for her, and there was something tantalizing about being the one thing someone like Klaus really cared about.

The trouble was, she was teetering on the edge of something. She had one foot firmly planted in her past life and with the other she toed the possibilities which becoming a part of Klaus's world opened to her.

She realized that she would have to make a choice. Either she needed to find a way to accept Klaus, dark side and all, or she needed to find a way out of her deal.

A rap came from the door.

"What's the matter?" Klaus asked.

"Go away," Caroline said.

"Come on, love," Klaus said through the door. Caroline could practically feel him smirking. "I do hope you don't intend to spend the rest of forever locked in your room?"

Caroline remained silent, her inner control freak was tired of feeling like a pawn, being moved to and fro for the sake of someone else game. He probably saw her as a petulant child, but she didn't care. She was tired of being shepherded around by the Mikaelson brothers, tired of Klaus treating her like a possession, tired of the warring thoughts in her own head.

Another, softer knock came from the door.

"Caroline?" Klaus murmured.

Caroline clutched her head, it throbbed with confusion. She felt unsteadied by the past few days. She felt like she was charging headlong into bad decisions but she didn't know how to put on the brake. Every time she thought she had pulled herself together, Klaus did something that made her head swim and she found herself struggling to tread water. She was trying hold on to herself, but she felt like she was being smothered by his more powerful existence. They were playing a game of manipulation but he was a master and she was losing her footing.

She had to keep her distance, clear her thoughts. She had to know her own mind before she came to a decision.

"Please," she whispered, "just go."


The door to the suite wrenched open and Klaus stood in the doorway. Stefan looked up in surprise, and he saw Bonnie flinch out of the corner of his eye. Jeremy had come back from his outing with Klaus covered in blood with a complete and visible mark stretching up his arm. He had staggered, stunned, into the bathroom and the shower had started, but Jeremy hadn't returned from his shower even though it had been a solid thirty minutes.

"Stefan," Klaus said his voice commanding and expectant, a tone that came from centuries of getting his way.

"Klaus," Stefan replied stiffly.

"Come." Klaus said, turning and leaving the room without waiting to see if Stefan would follow.

For a moment, Stefan considered ignoring the command, but he wasn't entirely sure that Klaus would continue to tolerate his presence on this expedition if he openly disobeyed him.

Rising to his feet, he followed Klaus out the door and stopped only long enough to close the door behind him and catch Elijah's intrigued expression.

Stefan found Klaus standing in the middle of the other suite gesturing to a shut door.

"Make her come out." Klaus demanded.

It took Stefan a moment to realize what was happening and when it clicked, he struggled not to laugh.

Klaus always seemed to admire Caroline's spirit, but now squarely on the receiving end of her displeasure he appeared flummoxed.

Stefan figured rubbing in the Original Hybrid's failure was likely to be hazardous for his health so he went straight to the door and knocked gently.

"I said leave me alone!" Caroline said from the other side of the door her volume escalating with each word.

Stefan had to bite his lip hard to hold in a laugh.

"Now, Caroline," Stefan said, "you're going to hurt my feelings."

There was silence on the other side of the door, but then the lock clicked and the door swung open.

"Come out?" Stefan asked.

Caroline glanced past Stefan and caught sight Klaus. She shook her head and said, "You can come in."

Stefan looked back at Klaus, there was a startling look of fury on his face, but he nodded his assent and Stefan slipped inside.

"Sorry," Caroline said as soon as the door was securely locked, "I'm just making a point."

She glanced at the door. They were both well aware that Klaus could hear and was definitely listening to every word that passed between them.

"And that point would be?"

"That I'm tired of being treated like a prisoner. That I'm not a doll for him to play with." She said, and then louder, directed at the door, "I will not be played with."

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will." Stefan said.

Caroline gave him a comical look, "Did you just quote Jane Eyre at me?"

"Maybe," Stefan said with laugh, "Fits, though, don't you think?"

"Which part?" Caroline asked, "Controlling asshole or…"

"A love you can't escape?" Stefan supplied.

Caroline blanched at the word. She made a little spluttering noise, but no words came out.

"Caroline," Stefan pressed, trying to keep any accusation out of his voice, "are you falling for him?"

Caroline opened her mouth to speak, shut it, and then tried again, "I don't know, he has a way of making things confusing. It's like I'm not sure if my thoughts are mine or if I'm thinking what he wants me to think. Does that make any sense?"

"Sounds to me like he's manipulating you," Stefan said, wary of his words, knowing that if he didn't watch his step the jealous Original would rip his heart out.

"He tries," Caroline said, "but that's not what I mean. It's just; Klaus isn't like anyone I've ever met. His emotions are visceral and it's like they bleed into me, blurring my own feelings. I don't know if I'm falling for him or falling for being loved by him."

Stefan could imagine Klaus's jubilant expression. Caroline as good as admitted that she was in love with the hybrid. Stefan was only her friend, maybe her best friend, so he tried to tell himself that his only investment in her romantic interests where in regards to her happiness and wellbeing, but if that was true, it shouldn't feel like someone had just punched him in the gut.

He struggled to collect himself, seeing her desperate expression looking to him for acceptance. The poor sweet fool. She was too kind, too forgiving. She saw the good in people even when it wasn't there. Klaus didn't deserve her and never would, but maybe if he had her he would try to be the man that she deserved.

Stefan swallowed hard. The words felt like a sacrifice, but what he was letting go had never been his to hold on to, something precious he'd never seen the value of until it was too late.

"Betting on the good someone is never a bad thing, Care," Stefan said, "but don't spend so much time trying to save someone else that you lose yourself, okay?"

Caroline nodded, her lips pressed together in thought.

"He's being such a controlling idiot," Caroline vented, "He's stuck on this crazy idea that you're secretly in love with me."

Stefan let out a humorless laugh.

"It is crazy, right?" She asked, "I mean I don't even have to asked, because I already know the answer." Caroline rambled, because that was what she did when she was nervous, "but you're not harboring some unrequited love for me, are you?"

Stefan studied her light eyes, trying to decipher her thoughts. Was she asking because she suspected he was having feelings stir for her or was she asking so that Klaus would hear him shoot her down?

Stefan opened his mouth and for one insane second he considered admitting that he wasn't entirely sure what his feelings were toward her, but then he remembered what Elijah has said to him on the plane. Klaus would never let go. She was already lost to him.

Stefan forced a smile and squeezed her hand, "You know I love you, Caroline, but only as a friend."

Caroline nodded as though his answer was exactly what she'd expected, but Stefan couldn't help but notice a stray note of disappointment in her voice when she said, "That's what I told him."


I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Please Review!