"Strumming my pain with his fingers. Singing my life with his words. Killing me softly with his song," - Killing Me Softly with His Song, The Fugees

13

When Famine Strikes

It had started as the faintest of flickers but, now, one thing was troublingly clear to Caroline — her emotions were coming back. Not with a bang, as they had for Elena, but like a slow, drawn-out burn. If she were being honest with herself, she'd been feeling shades of emotion, stronger and stronger, since Klaus had begged her on his knees to flip her switch.

She'd always known humanity-less vamps could feel some things, of course. Annoyance seemed to be paramount. Elena without emotions had zero patience for any bullshit. Stefan had outright rage issues, hence his becoming a ripper. Funnily, the vampire she most identified with at this current moment was Katherine. Katherine had clearly spent centuries feeling acute fear, on the run from Klaus. The difference was, while Caroline was officially afraid of Klaus, she wasn't sure if her fear was the only catalyst behind her emotions creeping slowly back in. She had a new sneaking suspicion that Klaus might simply have been her emotional trigger, in which case she needed to get out even more than before.

She never would have expected it, not given everything going on when she left college. She had been interested in Stefan not Klaus. She and Klaus had buried any lingering feelings back in the woods the first time they'd made love, hadn't they? After flipping her switch, Klaus had just seemed a logical and welcoming point of escape but certainly not her trigger.

Still, Caroline realized that Klaus had changed since she'd last seen him. He was no longer total blackness, as she'd so frequently worried before. She had always desperately wanted to see some good in Klaus. In the past, she sometimes thought she had but then he would inevitably find some way to ruin it — killing people she cared about, forcing them all into impossible situations just to do his bidding, or even making threats against her own life. Now, with Hope and the semblance of a real family (not a collection he kept daggered and entombed), Caroline was seeing everything her former self had professed to always want out of Klaus. The trouble was, she wasn't that girl anymore... But, that Caroline must have still been buried somewhere inside of her because she was definitely taking notice and she was trying to force the new Caroline to see it too.

On the bright side, with him treating her like this, he wouldn't be worming his way back into her heart anytime soon. Fear was an emotion yes but one necessary for her survival. And, in terms of keeping her humanity as off as possible, fear was certainly preferable to feelings of puppy love. New love could make you feel more intensely than ever before, everyone knew that, particularly vampires. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness, she reminded herself.

But, completely suppressing any emotions she might have been feeling for the past hour that morning, Caroline had kept a clear head to keep listening around the house. Elijah had somehow, against all reasonable predictions, managed to get Klaus out of the house after their talk in the study. Caroline, despite concentrating her senses, had really only caught bits and pieces of the conversation but she knew Klaus was still raging on about her behavior. His distrust was intense, ever since she'd planted the napalm. Further, it was clear he still wanted her humanity going back on.

It occurred to her that maybe she could trick him. If he thought her humanity was back, surely he'd let her out? And then she could make a run for it... That was a dangerous game, though. He might never stop pursuing her and then she really would become no better off than Katherine.

Before she'd had a further chance to think through that option, though, she'd distinctly heard Klaus leave with Elijah. They both had easily recognizable footsteps; Klaus even had a distinct way of slamming his door behind him. And the she'd heard the familiar thrum of his car's ignition as they left the compound.

Well, best not to get ahead of herself anyway, she decided. Before you could run you had to learn to crawl and then walk. And right now, she just needed a way to get out of this room.

Somehow, Elijah had cajoled him into leaving the compound to come across the river for a drink in Algiers. Truly, he didn't think it at all good for Klaus to sit around the home stewing about Caroline while the girl was in easy reach. He was likely to fly off the handle and do things he regretted.

"I don't understand what you hope to accomplish," Klaus said as they took a seat a table in a bar in Algiers, "Here or there, I'm going to be drinking whiskey."

"Why don't you slow down, at least while you're here?" Elijah asked, flagging them down two beers instead of any more hard liquor.

Klaus begrudgingly accepted the bottle taking a long swig of it before setting it back down.

"You can't preoccupy all the vampires in The Quarter forever, Niklaus," Elijah started, after a thoughtful second. "I know you do not trust Freya but even you must agree that Dahlia is a threat. We may need our people on the streets if she is to return for Freya."

"I've less people at the compound now than I did yesterday," Klaus argued. "And not a member of Hayley's pack remains. Not to mention, I feel I've told you too many times before that I don't care what happens to Freya."

"Be that as it may, who knows what Dahlia might do to the rest of us, or this city, just to get her back," he reasoned. "She might even be a threat to Caroline."

"Caroline can certainly take care of herself," Klaus growled back immediately.

"Not while she's locked in a room, like a sitting duck," Elijah returned. Klaus's eyes flashed, not having a response to Elijah's cogent argument. Elijah took it as a sign to press ahead, "And you do realize that even if she turns her emotions back on at this point, she may not forgive you?" he asked his brother, "Caroline is not one to remain a kept woman."

"You, of all people, should not underestimate my ability to keep the people I care about under lock and key," Klaus hissed back.

"So then your plan is to keep her your prisoner?" Elijah asked, incredulously. "If that's what you have in mind, let me assure you that you're throwing away what you've professed to want most this whole time — her love. That is no acceptable way to treat a woman you care for, Klaus!"

"I don't have her love either way," he spat back. "You might not have noticed but my being indulgent with Caroline hasn't done me any favors either."

Elijah considered this quietly. His brother was putting on a good show of anger and frustration — emotions he was undoubtedly experiencing genuinely — but Elijah could see that it was mostly a mask for the deep pain with which Klaus was grappling.

"I'm not sure you're right about that, Klaus," he replied. "I think the most emotion any of us ever saw out of Caroline since her arrival was always around you. Now since you've locked her up, she's only slipped further away. She's becoming a shell."

Klaus ran a frustrated hand through his hair, pacing about the room, "Then what am I supposed to do? After everything she's done, I can't trust her to roam the city free."

"You know what you have to do Klaus," Elijah said softly.

Klaus stopped avoiding Elijah's eyes to give him his full attention. Klaus wore an expression suggesting that he didn't know what Elijah was referring to but his eyes told a different story. The wounded look he was unknowingly flashing told Elijah that his brother had known what needed to be done for some considerable time now.

"You need to banish her from the city," he finished for Klaus, holding his steady gaze, "And she cannot come back until her humanity comes back on."

"Until? What if she never turns it back on? Or if she does and never wants to return?" he asked.

"Then you will likely never see her again and you will suffer but move on," Elijah replied. "And as hard as that could be you'll be sparing yourselves both a lot of pain in the long run."

Klaus sighed before abruptly standing from the table and briskly walking past Elijah and towards the door of the establishment, calling behind him as he did, "Maybe you are right, Elijah. I will think on your council. But I will not be acting upon it today."

Elijah watched his brother walk out before settling their tab and following him out. All things considered, the conversation had gone surprisingly well. At least Klaus was going to consider what he'd suggested. But, for everyone's sake, he hoped Klaus would make up his mind sooner rather than later.

When Caroline finally opened her door, she found exactly what she'd expected. Three vampires outside her door immediately turned into the doorframe to face her. They all had guns, undoubtedly filled with wooden bullets. She recognized the two women as the twins that had followed her the day she'd gone to get a passport. She'd made a point of learning more about them since then.

They were identical twins, women who had somehow been turned when they were in their 50's. It was strange as most vampires were turned before age 40, do to declarations of love, lust, and attractiveness and so forth. They were well known around town as pool sharks and they were rumored to have won their transformation in a game. They were genuinely skilled at pool but these days, frequently won using compulsion if they happened to actually lose. It was said they made so much money that they didn't even need to form an allegiance with Marcel; they just wanted to stay in New Orleans safely and permanently.

They both had boyfriends. One was dating an older alcoholic vampire, Shannon, who had a woman's name for no explainable reason. Caroline hadn't seen him at any point, so far, during her stay. The second twin was dating Caroline's third guard. He, apparently, had 'accidentally' cut off a man's arm during a bar fight, using a machete but, that was before he'd become a vampire. Klaus and Marcel certainly had picked the most backwoods scum-of-the-earth to guard her, she realized without enthusiasm.

"I'm not trying to leave," Caroline said, the moment the three of them had cocked their guns. "Klaus just told you not to let me leave the compound, right?"

The three guard exchanged glances, not confirming her guess but not outright denying it either.

"Look, I've been stuck in here for almost two days," she continued. "I'm not trying to leave; I just need to stretch my legs. Surely it doesn't defy your orders to accompany me on a walk around the house?"

Her guards exchanged noticeable glances again before one of the twins finally directed her attention towards Caroline, "Fine. If there's any funny business, we'll shoot you through the heart."

Caroline made a girl scouts honor hand-motion and pressed forward to walk down the stairs with her guards trailing behind her. Their threat was a laugh. Klaus was mad at her sure but she felt confident that everyone in the house was still on strict orders to keep her alive.

At first they'd just lapped around the house, in and out of the courtyard. It gave Caroline an even better sense of where the rest of Marcel's vampires were stationed around the house and their routines. Everyone was exchanging glances as if they were extremely worried that she shouldn't be out at all. Caroline knew they were right, only because she was cataloging so much information for her escape.

She didn't even bother trying to head to the kitchen, knowing everyone probably had their orders about her and blood bags. But, at this point, she was more interested in assessing the house anyway.

But then, catching her very suddenly as she rounded a corner in the hall, was Klaus. Her heart leapt into her throat as she immediately processed the thought: Oh, fuck. She hadn't heard him return. Behind her, her guards also stopped short and one of the twins gasped audibly.

His eyes darkened when he saw her but he didn't make a motion to do or say anything. Truthfully, his conversation with Elijah was still fresh in his mind and he didn't want to do anything to further distance her until he decided what to do next.

Caroline, certain after a few moments that he wasn't going to bite her head off, decided to chance conversation. Who knew when she'd get a chance to speak with him next? She didn't get very far, though.

"Klaus-" she began but he silenced her by putting up his hand. He was too out of sorts to assess anything she might have to say to him right now.

Instead, he addressed her guards; "It's fine if she wants to walk around the house. She can eat in the kitchen if she's hungry."

With that he hurriedly brushed past her, once again heading off in the direction of his study. How long would he hole up in there this time?

Well, at least she'd made some progress. She turned to face her obviously very relieved guards.

"Alright, well, you heard the man," she said. "To the kitchens!"

Hayley realized that they hadn't shared another awkward family dinner that night. Jackson had made his excuses to be out and speaking with his pack. They were still, quite understandably, upset about the four pack members they'd lost. With Jackson living in a house with the perceived perpetrator, they wanted revenge. But Jackson was ultimately committed to Hayley who was committed to Hope and, thus, didn't want to act rashly for the sake of vengeance and upset the balance of her daughter's family life — especially not with the threat of Dahlia still looming.

Later that evening, he had texted her saying he planned to stay the night. Hayley knew it was hard for him to be around Caroline, knowing that she'd planted the bombs. Still, she couldn't help but feel a tad abandoned since Klaus was all but holding her prisoner at The Abattoir as well. She reassured herself that it was just for a night and that Jackson would be back the next day and fell into a fitful sleep. She didn't want to live at The Abattoir; she'd grown accustomed to the sounds of nature lulling her to sleep in the Bayou and it felt like home now. She missed its sounds almost as much as she missed her husband.

Hope slept late that morning, as happy in her father's home as her mother's. She didn't wake Hayley with her restless cries until it was almost noon. She couldn't have been more grateful after the awful night of sleep. Sometimes she wondered if Hope's powers allowed her to sense these things or if her daughter had maturity they did not yet understand. She banished the thoughts from her head; all mother's thought their daughters were exceptional but Hope had Klaus Mikaelson for a father. Hope certainly wouldn't be getting any lessons in humility from him.

She rose from the bed to breastfeed, sitting with her daughter for a quiet and contemplative half hour before she heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. Buttoning up her shirt and cleaning up Hope, she rose with the child in her arms to see who was walking around. She'd heard Klaus leave earlier in the morning with Elijah and then return but hadn't heard him leave his study since then.

Peeking her head out the door of Hope's room, she saw a bored Caroline wandering the halls with a group of armed vamps trailing her dutifully. Caroline frowned when she saw her and stopped short of the room, several feet away.

"I have a bone to pick with you," Caroline said, clearly agitated.

Hayley eyed the vampires behind Caroline. She didn't like the idea of their guns being around her daughter, despite whatever abilities Hope had.

"Can you leave us for a few minutes, please?" Hayley asked them.

They exchanged charged glances with one another, not knowing to whose authority they should defer. Hayley shot them a pointed glare.

"Are you really going to argue with me?" she asked, asserting her authority over them as a Hybrid.

"Fine, she's got 15 minutes and then we'll be back," the male vampire said. "We'll just be down the hall."

"Thanks," Hayley intoned, dryly before waving Caroline into the room and shutting the door behind them for some privacy. "Well?" she asked the blonde.

"Well? Well?" Caroline replied, indignantly. "So, I guess the truce is off, for starters! Thanks for the heads up."

"What on Earth gave you that idea?" Hayley asked, defensively. "I'm not here willingly either."

"At least you don't have an armed guard at your side every second," Caroline continued. "At least you're allowed the luxury of feeding!" She kept the update that Klaus was now allowing her into the kitchens, where she'd promptly grabbed two blood bags, to herself. It wouldn't strengthen her argument any if Hayley knew Klaus was already cracking.

"Nothing that's happening to you is my fault, Caroline," Hayley said.

"If you hadn't promised me that you could keep exactly this from happening, I might have been several hours out of the city by now!" Caroline all but shouted, not wanting Klaus to hear them in his study.

"I thought we had more time, okay?" Hayley deflected. "He didn't seem upset with you after you planted the bombs in the Bayou."

Caroline cursed inwardly. That was true. Thanks to Klaus's pride, he'd played off her explosions as his idea in the immediate aftermath. Hayley hadn't seen how truly angry he'd been with her. Only Elijah had been witness to that.

"Look, you told me that if I kept Klaus distracted and away from the pack that you'd keep Klaus from going psycho on me," Caroline insisted. "You intimated that you could keep him from kidnapping me!"

"How is it kidnapping when you came here willingly?" Hayley asked her, 's behavior wasn't acceptable but none of this would have been happening if Caroline hadn't shown up in the first place. Not to mention, four more members of her pack would still be alive.

"Stopping to visit does not mean I signed a contract to live here forever," Caroline argued.

"I thought you wanted to live in New Orleans," she pressed.

"Not like a caged bird!" Caroline insisted. "You just said we were in the same position. If you're not here willingly either, then surely you have some idea of how I feel!"

"How you feel?" Hayley asked. "I thought you didn't feel anything?"

"It is my newest wish," Caroline immediately responded, "That since you have gained vampire traits that you will someday be forced into the position of turning off your emotions. Just so you can understand exactly what this is like."

"What is it like?" she asked in response, hoping that any amount of Caroline opening up might break her out of this ridiculous humanity-less shell.

Caroline scowled, "You think I'm just gonna tell you?" Caroline asked. "So you can run back to Klaus and give him all the information he needs to break me?"

"Look, I know you don't trust me. But, if anything, our mutual captivity here means you need to keep our truce more than ever. You're one step away from Klaus locking you up to rot and, if you mess with me again, that might do the trick. He is pissed at you Caroline, as is most of the city. You need me right now," Hayley reasoned.

"If the tables really have turned so suddenly, why are you helping me? We hate each other, why aren't you trying to get rid of me?" she asked suspiciously.

Hayley partially lied, obviously not to wanting to inform Caroline that she had plans for her in the future, once her emotions were back, to help temper Klaus's reign. "Look, getting you out isn't even an option. Klaus won't allow it at this point. He's going to do whatever it takes to keep you," she explained.

"He can't keep me! I'm an autonomous grown woman!" Caroline practically shrieked. "Hayley if your goal in all of this is just to keep me from messing things up for you… then forget the truce! You need to help me escape!"

Hayley sighed, shifting Hope onto her hip. She considered Caroline's offer. Yes, she really did hope that if Caroline returned to her former self and stayed with Klaus of her own volition that Caroline might help Klaus to ease up his pressure on the pack. At the very least, she'd be a good distraction rather than another source of conflict in the city. But Caroline wasn't any closer to turning her emotions back on… And that didn't negate the fact that if she helped the blonde to escape, Hayley would be putting herself in the direct line of fire of Klaus's wrath.

Just then, Hayley's cell began to ring in her purse that lay on the ground next to Hope's rocking chair. Needing to use both of her hands, it was Hayley's immediate harried-mother inclination to pass Hope to their nearest available person. However, since that person was Caroline, it gave Hayley pause.

But then, an idea struck. Everyone was trying everything to get Caroline's humanity turned back on but, no one had tried Hope. Klaus had clearly even naively thought he could apparently fuck her emotions back on — a fact that Hayley and Jackson had privately laughed about many times already. On the surface, Hope had no meaningful connection to Caroline but Hayley was aware that Caroline had just lost her own mother. And wasn't that always a source of emotion in female vampires? Their inability to have children?

Either way, Hayley felt confident that Caroline wouldn't hurt Hope. She had too much to lose and, besides, Hayley was more than sure in her abilities to protect her daughter.

Playing it off as a completely innate and noncommittal move, Hayley pushed Hope into Caroline's arms while the phone continued ringing. Caroline's arms had been crossed at her chest but, apparently, motherly instincts of responding to a baby ran deep, underneath whatever caused emotion or humanity. She instantly uncrossed her arms and accepted the child

"Can you take her for a minute?" Hayley asked when she felt Caroline take hold of Hope. "I need to get this."

Caroline accepted the baby immediately and naturally but not without a look of mild surprise that she was suddenly holding an infant. Her physical response to holding a baby had nothing to do with emotion. Despite feeling nothing for the child, Caroline immediately supported the almost-toddler beneath her arms and swung her up into a cradling position. It was instinct.

"Hey, what's up?" Hayley asked after seeing Jackson's name flash on her phone.

Next to her, Caroline didn't look at all like a threat to Hope, she just looked confused. She was staring down at the baby in her arms like she knew she should be feeling something, like she'd almost expected to, but still wasn't.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm on my way home," Jackson said from the other end of the phone. "I think I have things smoothed over enough with the pack for the time being."

"Good," Hayley responded, eyes still locked on Caroline. "We can talk about it when you get back."

Caroline was no longer cradling Hope but holding her out at arm's length. She was looking at Hope quizzically, clearly not knowing what to make of the squirming and gurgling infant. But, somewhere in the back of Caroline's mind — so deep that she almost didn't realize it — a memory was stirring. It was her mother again, holding her hand in the grocery store when she wasn't even old enough to talk, barely strong enough to toddle along at her mother's patient side.

"I'll see you soon," Hayley said into her phone and interrupting Caroline's memory, "Love you." She clicked the phone off.

Hayley was about to make a motion to take back Hope, still not seeing any sign of emotion on Caroline's face, unaware of the memory stirring within her. But, just then, the double doors on the opposite wall of Hope's room slid open and Klaus entered, Elijah right behind him.

The air in the room grew immediately tense as Klaus spied Caroline holding his daughter. He didn't even process the fact that everyone looked fine; Hope looked as happy and innocent as she always did and Hayley was clearly unperturbed. None of this registered in his mind, nor did his former insistence that Caroline would never harm Hope. The only thought that reached him was that a dangerous, unpredictable vampire with no humanity — who had every reason to hate him, right now — was holding his daughter.

Elijah noticed Klaus tense first and made a motion to grab him as he lunged at Caroline. At the same time, Hayley snatched Hope back into her arms. Elijah missed his grab at Klaus and the Original Hybrid finished his dash at the blonde, slamming her into the wall behind her with a resounding crack. He saw her wince.

"Don't you ever touch her!" he hissed into her face, locking a fist around her throat and squeezing, not even feeling her hands come up to claw at his fist.

"Klaus! I asked her to hold Hope!" Hayley insisted, rushing over with Elijah after putting Hope safely into her crib. Sensing the trouble in the air, Hope had begun to wail, making the situation seem all the more dramatic than it actually was. "I had to get the phone, Klaus! Let her go!"

"Klaus!" Elijah shouted, finally managing to wrench his brother away from Caroline. She promptly slid to the ground with her back to the wall, sputtering and massaging her throat. Most disturbingly of all, she looked completely out of it — like someone had suddenly plucked every thought right from her head and she was left with no will to fight.

"What were you thinking?" Klaus railed, finally turning towards Hayley. "Where were her guards?"

"I had it under control Klaus!" Hayley shouted back, "Nothing was the matter."

Klaus shot one final glare down towards Caroline, still feeling like he'd just escaped a close call with Hope, despite whatever Hayley was prattling on about. Rage was pounding in his head and he honestly wasn't hearing much of what anyone was saying. Footsteps were thundering up the stairs at the sound of the commotion and a group of Marcel's vampires were rushing up the stairs, including Caroline's guards from earlier. Klaus indiscriminately pointed at one of the vamps and gestured to Caroline.

"Just get her out of my sight!" he demanded and, with the help of a second vampire plus a few more trailing behind, they began to drag a limp Caroline back to her room.

She was scared, yes, but she hadn't lost her will. No, now she was just smart enough not to display any resistance while Klaus was still so sure she'd been prepared to hurt Hope. She hadn't been, of course. Caroline didn't have a death wish but she would be getting out of here. Tonight.

"Klaus, she was clearly just holding Hope!" Elijah called after his brother who had promptly stormed from the room the moment Caroline was out of site.

"He's right, Klaus!" Hayley joined in, both of them following him out into the hall. Hope was safely back in her crib and had finally calmed down.

Klaus whirled around the moment she spoke, "And you!" he growled at her, "What were you even doing with her? How dare you dismiss her guards without my permission! What was so important for you two to discuss that it required such privacy, hmm?"

Hayley held her tongue, knowing that he'd gotten her with that. Truly, if the two hadn't been conspiring in any form then there would have been no reason for her to send the guards away.

"What could those guards possibly have done to protect me that I couldn't have accomplished by myself?" she replied, defensively. "I'm a hybrid; they aren't!"

"Nevertheless, you had our daughter to protect as well," Klaus hissed. "It was foolish Hayley!"

"Don't patronize me as a mother, Klaus!" Hayley screamed. "If you really believe Caroline is so much of a threat then you know damn well that she shouldn't be here at all!"

Klaus growled and turned back around to storm off after that. Everyone was coming to the same conclusion because it was the only one that was correct. If he wanted Caroline with her humanity, he certainly wasn't going to get that by keeping her here locked up. But if he let her go, how could he be sure that he'd ever see her again?

Despite keeping a stoically catatonic face for the entirety of the time her guards were dragging her back, Caroline had heard the end of Klaus's argument with Elijah and Hayley. It would have been impossible not to, even without her vampire hearing. They had been shouting very loudly.

Hayley had made a good point — if Klaus was really that worried about Caroline then he needed to get her out of the house and the city. He hadn't denied that point either which, Caroline suspected, meant that he was truly considering it. And for Caroline, that meant this might be the best time she had to chance an escape.

Who knew if he'd actually let her go or not? He might have secretly agreed with Hayley and Elijah until the ends of time but have too much stubborn pride to go through with it. Either way, Caroline wasn't interested in waiting around to find out if he'd be benevolent or not. Klaus certainly didn't have a sweeping history with benevolence, anyway.

And, tonight, she knew he'd be holed up in his room or study — likely making his way back and forth between the two as he paced. But he'd be avoiding Hayley and Elijah like the plague, lest they make another good argument that was difficult for him to confront in a mature manner. By now, she also had the guard rotations down pat. She knew when they took breaks, when they switched off, and where they patrolled. Now was the time for her to leave. Now might be the only time she had.

There was no way she'd be able to waltz out the front door, free as a bird, so she'd been scoping out the options from her window for awhile now. Her bedroom window overlooked the courtyard in the center of the house and three vampires periodically patrolled in, out, and around its perimeter. But they had a set schedule; they'd unknowingly developed a routine. The first second all three of them were inside at the same time Caroline quietly opened her windows.

She scaled the wall to the roof first, carefully closing the windows behind her with the softest of clicks. Who knew how many floors The Abattoir had beneath it but above ground, it was only a two-story building so it was just a quick agile jump from the sill of her window to hooking her hands around the rain pipe of the roof. Once she had pulled herself on top of the roof, she pressed her body flush against it, lying down in case anyone might be able to make out the form of someone standing silhouetted against the moonlight.

And then, a new door in the courtyard opened. She knew the entrances from which each of the guards were coming and going… but the door that had just opened was not one of them.

She smelled his scent first; it was undoubtedly Klaus. He was out in the courtyard by himself, just standing there. Caroline pressed her body as low to the roof as she could. She was abjectly terrified that he might see or sense her there. Hardly daring to breathe, she waited. And after about 10 minutes, he finally turned around and walked back inside.

At the same time, the three guards exited back into the courtyard. They were a bit later than normal, but that was probably because they'd been giving Klaus his space.

Not nearly as worried about them as she was Klaus, Caroline kept herself low but began to army crawl her way up the roof. Tall trees surrounded the Abattoir. The branches were crisscrossing the roof. That was one advantage of living in the French Quarter — most of the homes were extremely old. And equally old trees usually surrounded old homes.

Caroline had mapped out a route over a day earlier. She'd never been on the roof before so, she hadn't been entirely sure that her route would work once she actually made it out of her room. But, luckily, it appeared that she'd planned correctly. As she scanned the branches of trees spreading out above the blocks of the city before her, she could see an easy route away from the compound.

She finished her army crawl across the roof. Above her, a solid branch loomed. It connected to a large tree that spread its reach entirely across the home next to them. Caroline leapt upwards, wrapped herself around the first branch, and began to make her way away from The Abattoir.

So sorry about the delay! I had a rough time with this chapter, not sure why. The next two chapters are being simultaneously written and are well underway though!

Would love to hear your thoughts; reviews really do encourage me to write and edit quicker when I'm otherwise zoning out. I wouldn't be surprised if parts of this chapter aren't to everyone's taste but stick with me! I think you'll like where it's headed.