"I love you," Caroline murmured against his skin. Klaus shuddered at the feeling of her warm lips against his bare skin.

"I have only ever loved you, Caroline." Klaus confessed, catching her jaw gently in his hand and slowly guiding her up to him so that their lips could meet.

In a thousand years, he had never truly loved. There had been Tatia, but he hadn't loved her, not truly. It had been more about beating his brother than being loved by the Original Doppelgänger.

She pulled away slightly, her wide eyes gazing into his with the tender adorations he'd never truly received from another soul. He felt as though he had been waiting his whole existence to find her and only could see it now in hindsight.

Slowly, she leaned in to kiss him once more… and then he woke up.

Klaus let out a low growl as he woke alone in his cold bed. Caroline had never been in this bed, in this room, but even still he could almost imagine that he smelled her familiar scent on the pillows, soft and sweet, just like her.

He closed his eyes imagining the lines of her body. She was perfection in his eyes. Each imperfection made her more incandescently beautiful in his. She'd become his muse that night on her eighteenth birthday. She had shown such a spark and he's been chasing that spark like a dancing firefly ever since.

Perhaps the spark would extinguish, but he would protect it, feed it, and keep it with him for as long as he could.

He loved her more than he had ever thought possible to love another person and he would find a way to make her love him again.

He got up and dressed. He'd intended to go see Cami, but the bar was closed and he knew going to her place this late would only lead to additional reasons for Caroline to be angry with him, so instead he wandered the Quarter. New Orleans was never quiet, but there was an odd calm that hushed over the city in the hours just before morning.

He turned down a dark alley and stopped short when he spotted a familiar figure wandering down the street.

"Caroline?" Klaus called out to her, but she didn't acknowledge him. He frowned, bothered by the situation, so he sped down the alley and followed her down the street.

"Caroline?" He tried again, but still received no response. He grabbed her arm to stop her, but she attempted to continue walking. He stepped in front of her to head her off. "Caroline, what are you doing out here?"

He recoiled when he saw her eyes which were completely which.

"Oh love…" He murmured, realizing she was under Esther's spell. The first direct attack, and it made his insides burn with fury as Kol's warnings proved true. Esther was after the cure and she would do whatever she saw as necessary to reach her end goal, even if that included killing the woman her son loved and his unborn children. He knew that he wouldn't be able to rouse her, so he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back toward the witch, Josephine's, house.


Hayley got out of bed when she heard someone knocking. She opened her door and found Kol in her doorway.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed under her breath, looking around to make sure no one was around to see him. Unfortunately in a house full of people with super hearing there wasn't much chance that someone didn't already know he had come to her room.

Kol held a finger to his lips to silence her, giving her a look that clearly said 'you're the one who doesn't want anyone to know.'

Hayley rolled her eyes with more exaggeration than was entirely necessary.

"It's not going to happen again." She snapped.

"You mean, after this time?" Kol smirked, stepping closer to her.

Hayley pressed her hand against his chest to hold him back, "Don't…"

Kol rested his hand over hers and rubbed his thumb lightly across her skin in a way that sent thrills through her.

"I detest you," Hayley said vehemently, but she knew the sting of her words was negated by the fact that she moved closer to him.

He leaned in and kissed her and she let him. He guided her back into her bedroom. He closed the door behind him as he kissed at her neck. She made a soft noise, tilting her head slightly to grant him better access.

"Told you so." He teased as he pulled off her shirt.

She frowned because she didn't like that she was giving into him again, especially considering she'd repeatedly said she wouldn't. She let out a low growl. She couldn't deny that the feeling of him touching her drove her crazy, but the moment he opened his stupid mouth he made her want to smack his stupid face.

"Just shut up," She warned.

She felt him smirk as she kissed him and she found it aggravating, but not enough to make her stop.

She was just pulling off his shirt when a pounding on the front door caught her super hearing and she pulled away abruptly.

"I should get that," She said as she retrieved her shirt and pulled it on, grateful for the interruption that rescued her from her own lack of self-control, and hating that all she wanted to do was go back and continue as she raced down the stairs.

She heard the trio of heart beats that signified Caroline's presence as she approached the door and she frowned. She'd thought that Caroline was asleep in her room and at the very least not outside the house. She yanked the door open, ready to berate Caroline for been so incredibly foolish, but when she opened the door, she found Klaus on the other side, with Caroline cradled gently in his arms.

"I had to knock her out," Klaus explained quickly as he saw the expression on Hayley's face. "She's under a spell and it was the only way I could get her back here safely. Otherwise she would have injured herself."

Hayley nodded and took a step toward him. "Give her to me."

Klaus shook his head, "Tell the witch to invite me in."

Hayley looked at him like he was nuts, which he kind of was. "She's not going to do that, Klaus, and Caroline needs help now."

Klaus's jaw set in a look of resolution that made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of backing down. Hayley felt herself instinctively sympathizing with her sire. Of course he wanted it. He wanted to be able to stay beside his love and know when she was safe, not having to wait for someone to remember to tell him that she was okay.

"Get the witch." Klaus insisted.


Stefan was walking back to Josephine's house from spending the evening with Cami. He was taking his time, enjoying the atmosphere of New Orleans. He hadn't been back since just before he left for war. He had been newly sober at the time and Lexi had been helping him regain control again. He felt a thrill of sadness as he thought about his best friend. He would never forget her, or everything she'd done to help him over the centuries. Sure there had been long gaps of time when they didn't see each other, but he'd always felt that they would eventually see each other again, but now she was gone. She was gone and she wasn't coming back, and he missed her terribly. He wondered if that was part of what had drawn him to a friendship with Caroline at first. He'd seen the superficial similarities the fact that they both had a way of making him laugh and smile even in his darkest moments.

It was hard not to love someone who could do that for you, but as much as he loved Caroline, he knew he had to find a way to fall out of love with her. And Cami was wonderful. She was smart and beautiful. She was tragically wounded, just like him, and he wondered if maybe that was something that made them kind of perfect together. Maybe they could help each other stop wanting the wrong people.

He turned down Josephine's street and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that the house was all lit up. He ran down the street and straight into the house at superhuman speeds. He found the source of the disturbance immediately.

Everyone was gathered around the sofa while Bonnie and Josephine linked hands, chanting over an unconscious Caroline feverishly. Stefan rushed to the sofa, but stopped short as his gaze landed on Klaus.

"What's he doing inside?" Stefan asked.

Klaus gave him his characteristic smirk, if he had any genuine feelings of the current situation, he wasn't showing them.

"Can you think of anyone who has more right to be here?" Klaus asked pointedly, making it perfectly clear that he was aware, at least in part, of Stefan's feelings for Caroline.

"What happened?" Stefan demanded, not addressing the question because he didn't want to admit that Klaus was right. He was forever tied to Caroline and Stefan… wasn't.

"She is under a spell." Elijah supplied, when it was clear that Klaus had no intention of offering answers. "Presumable one of our mother's doing."

Stefan crouched down and rested his hand on Caroline's shoulder, even though he could feel Klaus's jealous gaze watching him and he knew the Original was seething.

"What kind of spell?" He asked.

"Mind control." Kol explained. "Mother was trying to make Caroline come to her. Lucky Nick here stumbled on our girl here before Mommy Dearest got her hands on her."

Stefan nodded to Josephine and Bonnie, "So they're trying to break the spell?"

"No," Klaus said, "They're trying to piggyback it and use the spell to lead us straight to Esther."

"Not trying." Bonnie said, suddenly stopping chanting and wiping a trail of blood from her nose. "Succeeding. I know where Esther is."


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