He didn't know why he had decided to attend the funeral of those two kids. Maybe he had the weird hope that Caroline would be there although she didn't even know that they existed. Of course she wasn't there. The sight of their coffins gave him a weird sense of satisfaction. They had served a purpose and now lived on in Caroline's body. While he watched the funeral from a distance he let these few critical minutes replay in front of his eyes.
He had just carried her out of the system of tunnels and hallways. She was barely alive anymore. He had never witness anything alike at least not in a vampire. They were invincible and immortal. They were creatures of the night and still Caroline was dying in his arms. He had no idea what he was supposed to do and then he heard those two kids. He had snapped. Why hadn't he thought of this before? She was a vampire, blood gave her strength. He had dragged the bodies to her their hearts still barely beating but she had not reacted. Her face hadn't changed and her fangs didn't appear. He pushed open her mouth and let the blood from the boy's wrist fall into her mouth. She coughed slightly but swallowed the liquid in her mouth. After the boy the girl was drained of all her blood as well. Caroline took everything in but nothing changed in her. She was still barely alive and her face stayed in its human form with the pearl white skin and the white lips that were now spotted with blood. He didn't know what to do. There was no one around and he was not going to leave her alone to go hunting. He finally had an idea. He pulled Caroline's head in his lap and pushed her now bloodstained hair out of her face. Then he bit his own wrist and pushed it against Caroline's lips. The moment his blood touched her she felt more alive in his arms. Slowly her face was changing and with a strong bite her fangs punctured his wrist. He had never felt another vampire bite him. The few times he had used his blood to heal someone he had let them drink but never bite his wrist. It was an interesting feeling and he had never felt closer to her. She drank hungrily from his arm and he had to stop her from taking too much.
Yet still she was white as snow and showed only few signs of life. He had carried her home the fastest way possible. He put her in the bed and left for a few minutes to find someone to fight his starting hunger. When he came back she was asleep and was breathing regularly. He got one of the armchairs out of the living room and waited at her side. From time to time he fed her some more of his blood which seemed to give her more life than a human's blood. He kept watching her for hours. He wasn't sure what he was expecting and if he was expecting her to wake up again so soon. When she started to move in her sleep and muttering words he didn't understand he was worried but then figured out that this was better than the silence before that.
When she finally awoke and recognized him he was happier than he had ever been during his whole life. She looked at him during that night like she had looked when they had been together. The night they had spent together before they went down to the catacombs had given him a spark of hope that everything could go back to the way it had been before.
He had been wrong he reminded himself coming back to the present. Caroline was somewhere out there and he had to find her. She was still sick and he didn't know how well she would keep up in this unknown city. He also had to find the witch that was the descendent and to make her take back the sell. He wasn't sure where to start his search but he knew that there was no use in convincing Caroline to come back to him. She was so stubborn.
Caroline had simply wanted to leave that apartment and had run as fast as she could to leave him and the memories of his betrayal behind her. Now she realized that she was lost in an unknown city where she knew nobody. She did not speak the language and she had no money with her. She could always compel people to do whatever she wanted but it was so much more difficult than simply paying someone. She had no idea where she was going. She knew she could not go back to São Paulo because the werewolves were still looking for her. She had no intent of going back to Mystic Falls and to all the problems associated with that city. She sighed.
In the end she decided to find a small hotel to stay the rest of the day and the coming night. Fortunately the hotel possessed a computer with internet access that she was allowed to use. She looked for interesting flights that left Rome the next day. She saw a flight to Paris that still had some spots open. She booked the flight and decided to go out for dinner for at least one time in Rome. She had just ordered a pizza in the small pizzeria around the corner that the receptionist had recommended when a big group of men entered the establishment. They seemed to be celebrating something and weren't exactly quiet yet they seemed to be very welcome at the restaurant. They sat down around a big table that was close to the corner where Caroline was sitting in the shadows. She was looking out on the sunset over the roofs of the city.
The group talked very loudly in Italian which Caroline of course did not understand but watching them she noticed that there was a lot of attention on a young man that seemed to be congratulated to something. Maybe it was his birthday, she thought.
They ordered and a few minutes later the waitress came back with lots of nearly rare meat and huge gallons of red wine. Caroline started to have a very bad feeling about this group and her suspicion turned into certainty when two of the man started to have a verbal argument and growled at each other. The looked like they would bare their fangs if they had some to scare the opponent of. Caroline couldn't believe her misfortune. Of all the restaurants she could have gone to she choose one that hosted a huge group of werewolves who were obviously not opposed to a good fight. This was already a great way to start a night.
She waved the waitress to her table and asked silently for the check. The waitress smiled at her: "I hope our other guests have not scared you, they are harmless and family. Please, don't be incommoded by them." Caroline nodded and smiled but asked for the check anyway.
It was of course her luck that she didn't only run into a group of werewolves she was also eating at a restaurant that belonged to a group of werewolves. For a short moment she thought of Klaus and that he would know what to do in that moment. But on the other hand if he had been with her right now they would have probably already attacked them. Was the werewolf community really that close? She didn't know. At least they had a community on the contrary to the vampires who were more or less lone riders. She suddenly remembered the group of vampires that had attacked them at the museum in Berlin. They had never discussed who they were and who could have sent them. They hadn't discussed quite a lot of things that Caroline would have liked to know but now it was too late. She would never figure them out as long as she was away from Klaus and she intended to keep it that way. She thought back to the slap in his face and smiled in satisfaction at the thought. She was pretty sure that no one had ever slapped him across the face and lived to tell the story. She paid for the meal with her credit card that she had in the purse she had subconsciously grabbed when she left the apartment.
As she got up to leave the restaurant she heard one of the man call something out loud. The waitress answered him and before Caroline could react someone was standing in her way and blocking the exit. She looked up into the face of one of the man from the werewolf group. She was sure that he didn't know that she was a vampire because he was smiling at her in an attempt to look charming.
"Hey, can I invite you for a drink?" He asked her with a strong accent in his English. She recognized the voice that had shouted something beforehand.
She smiled neutrally at him. " I am sorry but I am very tired. Maybe some other time, alright?" She tried to walk by him but he stepped in her way again.
"I just want to get to know you. We hardly ever receive strangers in this neighborhood. Great, thought Caroline, of all the places she could have walk she had landed in an absolutely residential neighborhood full of werewolves in which she already called attention just by being a foreigner. This was getting better and better.
She tried it again. "Look, I really appreciate the invitation but I am very tired indeed. I just want to go to my bed and sleep." She put her hand on his arm to show him her honesty and immediately regretted the move. Compared to a werewolf she was incredibly cold and he must have noticed the difference. One look up in his face confirmed her suspicion and without hesitation she pushed past him. Before she was out of the door she heard him scream "Vampire!" and suddenly there was a wall of bodies in front of her. She hissed at them but two people tackled her from behind. She was a good fighter and managed to knock out at least five of them but in the end she had to give in to their numbers. They grabbed her and forced her back into the main room of the restaurant. Looking around her she saw that all the guests had risen and where now surrounding a tall man that had sat at the head of the table. He turned around to face her and she could see that he had a huge scar on the left side of his face. It started close to the corners of his mouth and went up to the end of his eyebrows. He was now staring at her and his face showed an expression of deep thought. When he started to he had a low rumbling voice.
"What are you doing here vampire? We have not provoked your kind and we have not caused trouble. Why did you come unnoticed in our territory?"
Caroline looked him in the eyes. "I was not aware that this is werewolf territory. I was about to leave this restaurant after I noticed that you were werewolves. I never meant to cause trouble." Caroline noticed that in the crowd in the background some of the younger people were translating her words for the older ones.
The tall man looked at her and stayed silent for a while. "I actually believe you. But we have been protecting this city for centuries. It is no accident that the city was founded by two brothers who were nursed by a wolf. A few days a pair of siblings was killed in an accident that looked very much like a vampire's work. Do you know anything about this accident?"
Caroline had a pretty good idea who was responsible for the murder of those two but she was not going to tell. She shook her head. "I have no idea who is responsible."
The people in the group started talking louder and shouted at her in Italian. She had no idea what was said but she figured from the expressions it was not good. The tall man raised his hand and everybody immediately fell silent although they were still staring at her hatefully.
" My brothers and sisters think you are lying. I think you are hiding something from me. I want to know what it is and then I will decide what we are going to do with you."
Damn, she thought, he was good. Before she could respond something that would probably get her killed she heard a voice behind her.
"She had nothing to do with the death of those two. I killed them."
Caroline had never been happier and angrier at the same time to hear his voice. How the hell had he found her?
Suddenly he was standing next to her and was looking the tall man in the eyes. They stayed silent and immobile for so long that Caroline already wondered if they were ever going to talk and move again. Finally the werewolf said: "Klaus, I didn't expect you here. This is our city and although I can't make you play along with the rules I would prefer it if you respected them."
To Caroline's utter surprise Klaus nodded. "I am aware of the rules for this city. But my companion was hurt and no rules in this world would keep me from trying everything to heal her again." Even without the sharp tone Caroline realized that he had basically just said that he would kill them all if they touched her. The tall man didn't seem to be afraid of Klaus but said. "I understand your reasoning even if I don't agree with your methods. I don't want anybody to get hurt tonight, we are celebrating an inauguration." Caroline's eyes wandered to the youngest man that she had seen at the table. Suddenly she realized that they were celebrating that he killed someone. In the end they didn't seem to be so different creatures after all. "But I have to ask you to leave the city. Tomorrow will be a different night."
Again to her surprise Klaus nodded again and said: "We will be leaving this city tomorrow. We have already found what we were looking for." Without saying goodbye he turned around and started walking towards the door. When she didn't immediately follow he turned around to look at her and she started moving. He didn't look like he was in the mood for arguing and she really didn't want to be compelled again. They had walked a few steps with her behind him when he abruptly stopped and turned around.
"Are you aware of the witch in the catacombs beneath the city?"
For a short moment a shadow of concern seemed to go over the werewolf's face but then he had his mask of seriousness back on. "Witches are not part of my concern." He simply said. Klaus nodded and left the place.
Outside there was already a taxi waiting for them. They got in the back seat and Caroline stared out of the window.
He looked at her. "Are you alright?"
She ignored his question. "How did you find me?"
She thought she saw the beginning of a smile on his face. "I monitored your credit card activity. I knew you didn't have money and it took me very short to get here."
She thought about commenting on how creepy that was but decided to leave it. Deep down she knew that without his intervention she would be in big trouble now.
She hesitated and then asked: "Where are we going now?"
"Back to the apartment, I am not going to let you out of my sight again if you don't stop getting yourself in trouble every time I do that. Of all the places in this city you could have walked in you decided on the favorite restaurant of this city's most powerful and most influential werewolf clan." He chuckled at the thought.
"I am glad that you are amused by the situation." She said. "But where are we going tomorrow?"
"We are finally returning to Mystic Falls. There is a certain witch that I would like to talk to."