"Who's this one from?" Caroline asked, picking up the last gift and shaking it gently.

She looked around the room, but no one jumped to take credit for the plainly wrapped brown package.

"Haley?" Caroline asked, looking at her hybrid friend.

"Not me." Haley said.

Caroline looked the present over for a name tag, but she couldn't find one, so she slipped her finger under the seam and tore the paper. She opened the small box. Inside was a small diamond bracelet exactly like the one Klaus had given to her for her last birthday. She picked it up and showed it to everyone.

"Seriously, who's this from," She said.

"Caroline, drop it!" Bonnie launched out of her seat, but she was too late.

The bracelet, moving of its own accord latched itself around Caroline's wrist.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Caroline said as she struggled with the fastening to get the bracelet off, but the bracelet seemed to have fused itself together. "Somebody get wire cutters or something."

"That won't work," Bonnie said. She came over and studied the piece of jewelry.

"What do you mean that won't work?" Caroline demanded.

"Somebody spelled this bracelet on, it will take magic to get it off." Bonnie said.

"So use some magic," Caroline said.

"Not my magic," Bonnie said, "It's some kind of binding spell. This is some of the most powerful magic I've ever seen. The only person taking this bracelet off is the person who spelled it on." Bonnie said.

"Is there any way you can you figure that out?" Caroline asked.

"I can try."


Stefan watched as Caroline rubbed her belly and nervously paced the almost empty living room. Traces of the birthday party were strewn across the house, but almost all the guests had gone home. Bonnie chanted over a mixture of herbs in a chalice sitting in the middle of a map of the US.

"Sit down, Caroline," Elijah said, offering her a chair.

"Can't," Caroline said, shaking her head.

"Caroline," Stefan caught her by her shoulders and forced her to stop, "it's going to be okay."

"You don't know that," Caroline said.

"Do you trust me?" Stefan asked.

Caroline gave him and exasperated look. Stefan was relieved to see that she wasn't so afraid that she'd lost her ability to get annoyed with him.

"I will not let anything happen to you," He said, "Do you believe me?"

Caroline rolled her lip between her teeth, but relented, saying "I believe you."

"I've got something," Bonnie said.

Caroline pushed past Stefan to get to Bonnie.

"Who did this?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know," Bonnie said, "But I can tell you where the spell came from."

"Where?"

"New Orleans."

Caroline frowned, "I don't know anyone in New Orleans."

"Actually," Elijah interrupted, clearing his throat uneasily, "You do."


Klaus slapped paint onto the canvass with total disregard for what he was doing. He had no plan. Usually he enjoyed art because he could control the outcome through sheer force of will, but he was not in control and neither was the painting.

"Do you want to talk?" Marcel asked.

"Not particularly," Klaus said.

"Cami called, she's worried about you."

"Glad to hear that I'm providing exciting pillow talk." Klaus said, dropping the paintbrush. Not even painting offered an escape from his tumultuous thoughts.

"What's wrong, Klaus," Marcel said, "Cami said that you said today was someone's birthday, but I know for a fact that it's not the birthday of anyone in the Michaelson family."

"No," Klaus said, "It's not."

"What's got you so bent out of shape?" Marcel asked.

"Somedays are simply more difficult to live through than others, Marcellus." Klaus said.

"Alright," Marcel said, "If you don't want to talk, I can't make you."

He turned away.

Klaus looked at the half finished painting. He could see now the image he hadn't known he was drawing, a glowing figure in the midst of shadows. His bright angel in this endless night. Caroline

"There was a girl," Klaus said, he heard Marcel stop.

"There've been a lot of girls, friend." Marcel said.

"Not like this one, mate," Klaus said, "She was all light and hope and she embodied every beautiful thing I stopped believed existed." He paused, remembering when she came as his date to the Mikaelson family party. Her curls whipped his face as he turned her under his arm, and the delicate strawberry scent of her hair washed over him, he could almost smell it again, "I fancied her."

"Sounds like a hell of a girl," Marcel said, "What happened?"

"I lost her."


"Nik's the one who left," Rebekah said, "What reason would he have to do this?"

"I don't know," Caroline said, sipping the water her mother had brought her when Elijah and Stefan had forced her to sit down. All the guest had left, except for Stefan, Bonnie, Haley, and the Mikaelsons.

"Perhaps it is retaliation," Elijah proposed, "Perhaps he discovered our secret and this is his way to force you to seek him out."

"Elijah, we have known our brother for a thousand years. When have you known Nik to be passive aggressive?"

"Rebekah's right," Caroline said, "Klaus prefers aggressive aggressive solutions. If he knew about me, he'd have come here himself."

"That leads us to assume that this spell is the work of one of his enemies." Elijah surmised.


Please Review!

As for the question I recieved in a review about how long this story is going to be... I really don't know. I'm sort of just going where the wind takes me here! But I hope you're all enjoying the ride with me!