A/N: I am glad you all enjoyed the last part of this story. I have nothing witty to say, just a thanks so much for reading, so on with the story!

No no no no no no no no. This could not be happening. What had happened in that alleyway couldn't be real. It was just a dream—no, a nightmare! It was one of those dark little fantasies that she sometimes had but quickly squashed upon waking. It was one of those moments that was never supposed to happen, that she wasn't even really supposed to dream about, the guilt every time she did wanting to tear her into two.

And yet it had happened. Klaus had kissed her.

Even worse, she had definitely kissed him back.

She was supposed to have pushed him away, to slap him, to berate him for even daring such a thing. Not drag him closer, definitely not lose her control and let her monster burst free, taking what she wanted from him. It was all a gigantic mess, one that seemed to be crashing in all of the walls around her.

She'd headed directly to their hotel and holed up in her room in their suite; door locked and curled up on the bed as she tried to get her emotions under control. Being a vampire meant they were always heightened and her anxiety was currently through the roof. She knew Klaus was in the suite as was his new little hybrid, but thankfully they both left her alone, though Caroline knew that wouldn't last forever.

Eventually she was going to need to venture out of the room and…she really didn't know what would come after the whole coming out of the room part. She knew what she didn't want happening again—the whole kissing thing—which she was fairly certain she could ensure didn't happen again with distancing, with falling back into the routine she had started at the beginning of the trip.

Part of her—the majority of her, if she was being honest with herself—didn't want to go back to that distancing technique, didn't want to try putting on the face of hating everything and the disinterest. She'd liked the last week or so and if she had a whole year with Klaus then she wanted to enjoy Europe and wherever else they might go. She just wouldn't allow for any more intimate moments. Not again.

Her friends couldn't blame her for having a good time, could they? Not when she was the one keeping him away from Elena and away from them and allowing them to figure out how to deal with Alaric and hopefully having something close to normal. Having fun wasn't betrayal.

Kissing…

She glanced over at the hotel phone on the bedside table and pulled it over to her, dialing like she'd done for her mother but needing to speak to a different person this time. Caroline wasn't even sure he'd answer because it wouldn't be a number he'd recognize but she hoped he would.

"Hello?"

"Tyler?" she half-sobbed his name, closing her eyes as she tried to focus on only him, tried to shut out the rest of the world around her.

It didn't work all that well. She still heard the breaking of a glass in the other room, could only imagine Klaus' demeanor at hearing her talk to her boyfriend after everything. She knew he might not react well but she needed to hear the other hybrid's voice.

"Caroline? Oh my god. Where are you? Did you get away from him?" There were so many questions, one fired off after the other that she almost couldn't keep up, curling up tighter on the bed as she rested the phone against her ear, pushing away the outside world.

"I'm okay. He's not hurting me." Location she wouldn't give him, couldn't give him because she knew Tyler. He'd try to come and find her and he'd end up dead, something she definitely didn't want to happen. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"He took you from your friends, from your mom, Caroline," Tyler continued. "Isn't that hurting you?"

"It was my decision to leave, Tyler, to help everyone else." To help him too. Klaus hadn't forced her to get into the car or to take the deal. Of course in an ideal world the deal should never have been a thing in the first place, but their lives were far from ideal and considering how it all could have gone down, there had been no unneeded bloodshed and everyone was safe. Maybe not happy, but they were all safe.

"But what about you? Who's helping you?" Tyler kept on and she knew he meant well, but this was not how she wanted their conversation to go. "We were on our way there. I'd gone and gotten Stefan and the others. If you'd just waited we would have desiccated Klaus and you'd be here and we could all go back to normal."

"So it's my fault?" she started, unable to believe what she was hearing. Was she seriously being blamed for helping in her own way?

"No, Caroline, that's not what I'm saying," Tyler protested, but god it had sounded like that to her. "We had a plan and it would have worked is all."

"Yeah, well, sorry, I missed out on the details of that one considering I was being tortured," she bit out, seething at his words. Was this really happening?

"Why didn't you stay at home?" Tyler continued as if he hadn't heard her. "You'd have been safe at home."

"I wanted to thank him better," she murmured, wincing at her own words, knowing Tyler wouldn't react well to them.

"Klaus is the reason you were even being tortured, Caroline!" he all but screamed into the phone, his anger getting the better of him.

"No. Alaric was." And maybe Alaric had been created to destroy Klaus and his siblings but she couldn't pin what that man had done to her on Klaus. Her logic wasn't that twisted.

Silence hung between them for a long moment and Caroline sighed, hating the distance she could practically feel growing between her and Tyler.

"Do you think you could get him back here, Care?" Tyler asked and she blinked, thrown by that question. "Or just tell us where you guys are and I'll get us all there and we can put him down, lock him away so he can't hurt anyone else."

"The others are in on this idea?" She couldn't really see them trying to come after Klaus. The Salvatores would be more focused on how Elena was safe now and trying to figure out how to move her and continue to keep her safe. Or hopefully dealing with Alaric. But deliberately coming after Klaus when he was leaving Elena alone…she didn't see that happening.

"I'll convince them," Tyler tried to assure her and she stared at the wall, all of her doubts about it confirmed.

"I have to go," she murmured, her head pounding because of what was being asked of her. She hung up before he could answer and placed the phone back on the nightstand. The conversation hadn't helped at all, had only made everything she was feeling worse.

She wasn't surprised when her door opened, didn't need to bother looking at it to know Klaus was in the room now. She'd know his presence anywhere, that scent that seemed to follow him and the air of danger and intrigue that seemed to swirl constantly around him. "Seriously, just go away. I am so not in the mood to talk to you right now."

"When can I expect the cavalry to arrive?" he mused, his tone light but she could hear that undercurrent of anger running through it.

"Considering I didn't say where we were I have no idea. Besides Tyler is the only one all gung-ho on coming after you." The rest of her friends seemed to be behaving exactly how she thought they would, all happy to have Klaus gone and working on other problems.

It hurt that Tyler wasn't trying to come for her, to "rescue" her, but more interested in simply taking down Klaus. She understood it on some level, knowing that stopping Klaus should be the priority but Tyler was her boyfriend, didn't that mean he should be trying to find her? Even if she was happy that he wasn't because it wouldn't end well for the boy but still, she couldn't discount the pain it caused in her chest.

The bed shifted with his weight as he sat down on it and Caroline finally did look over at him, wondering what he was doing. "You'll come to find, sweetheart, that revenge far outweighs love for many people," Klaus told her and she glared at that, looking away from him again.

"Not for me." Revenge didn't help. She'd done it once when she was little and angry and it hadn't squashed the anger, hadn't gotten rid of all the bad feelings, only exacerbated them. "Revenge doesn't do anything but ruin everyone involved. Love. That's supposed to blossom, to enrich lives."

"I've only ever seen it ruin, while I've seen others greatly prosper from revenge," Klaus remarked, and she rolled her eyes at that. "Worked quite a bit in my favor over the years."

"Right. So that's why you're hell-bent on creating another race of creatures instead of hanging out with your family who call you like every other day wondering when you'll be meeting up with them," she countered, rising off the bed, not caring if she was striking a nerve. "You just don't let yourself love because you see it as a weakness, because you only see how it can damage you, and maybe it has over the centuries. That happens. Not every person we love is good for us or can love us back how we want. Some loves end. Some loves don't. Some loves are seriously not good for us. But revenge—it's never good for us. All it causes is pain and it's a never-ending cycle that doesn't help anyone grow. We don't learn anything from it except for more pain."

And god, she was barely over eighteen and so done with deliberately adding pain to her life. "So no, I'm not telling anyone where we are because we have a deal and I'm going to make good on it. You've got me at your side for a year and any revenge fantasies anyone is carrying around can freaking wait that long and hopefully will just go away and they'll move on with their lives." The alternative to that, of having the revenge fantasies fester and grow was something she didn't want to think about. "Now I'm taking a bath and no, you're not invited."

She started toward her adjoining bathroom, stopping when she felt Klaus' hand on her arm. She tried not to tense as she turned back to him, unsure what to expect his response to be after her word vomit. "Try not to take too long. I have dinner reservations for us at eight," he informed her and released his grip on her arm before heading back out of her room.

He'd been smiling, something she really hadn't expected to see, and Caroline didn't quite know why, but she had a feeling that his smile didn't equate to anything good for her. A month or so ago when she'd done something similar he'd glared at her and asked her to leave, now he was grinning and looking at her with an expression she couldn't quite name. It should have been a positive but all it really did was make Caroline wonder just how far Klaus was willing to go to get what he wanted from her, as well as making her reassess exactly what is was that he wanted anymore.

This was seriously not good.

But she'd mull over it later. For now she just needed to soak in a bubble bath and try to forget the last few hours so she could recharge and be ready for whatever happened next.

Anyone from Mystic Falls showing up would be a definite blow to the plans Klaus had been forming since he'd switched end games with what he wanted from Caroline. He didn't need any of them appearing and trying to get her to leave with them or driving another wedge between the two of them when he was only just beginning to break through her walls. The best way to ensure he'd have her love and her loyalty was to do this alone, to not allow for any other distractions between the two of them.

It wasn't a foolproof plan, there were many possible ways for it to crumble at his feet, but he had already plotted out a number of failsafes and alternatives. Caroline was with him for a full year and he knew she'd hold true to that because she would sacrifice herself to save her friends. But he wanted her to want to stay with him after that year was over, needed her to choose the eternity with him over the others who he didn't think would ever be able to give the girl what she really needed.

Already he'd begun to see her blossom, to grow in the few short weeks they'd been away from Mystic Falls and he would not allow Caroline to stifle, to go back to that hollow little town and that wretched little life to be so easily sacrificed for Elena Gilbert all over again. Tragedy would always follow the doppelganger, that was part of the curse of it, and Klaus would not allow Caroline to be pulled back into it. Not if he had a say and he would make sure he had one before his year was up.

How to deal with Liz Forbes was another complication and one he couldn't handle in his usual ways. Driving a wedge between the two would most likely backfire on him and killing her was out of the question. Even getting someone else to do so would likely come back on him somehow. He'd deal with that part of the equation later. For now, the Sheriff was at a far enough distance to not be too big a threat to his current plans. He had time to figure out what to do about that woman later.

But Caroline had brought up a few good points in her little rant which he'd listened to, more amused than anything, enjoying the passion she displayed in it like usual. She'd cut to some truths right away, something he wasn't surprised to hear, she'd been good at cutting to the heart of him since they'd first begun to truly talk. But it was the bringing up of his family that had him busily orchestrating how to keep not only them at bay but the Mystic Falls gang as well.

Rebekah or Kol showing up would not be a pleasant surprise. Nor would Elijah but at least the eldest of their lot wouldn't be as big a complication as his younger two siblings could be.

"Hello, Kim, I have some tasks for you to carry out," he started once the young hybrid answered her cell. Klaus could hear the water running in the bathroom and spotted Sam on the couch watching something on the television. He headed out to the balcony and closed the doors behind him. "I need you and Dean to return to Mystic Falls for a bit. Compel a few people to keep track of the vampire population and the witch for me."

"What if they try to kill us?" she asked, and he looked up at the sky. He really did need to pick better werewolves to turn. Youth and all their annoying questions.

"Then I suppose its best you don't stay too long in town or get caught," he mused, tapping his fingers along the railing. "In and out in a day. Contact me when you've finished."

He hung up before she could reply, knowing the sire bond would ensure she did as she was told and if she died before completing her mission he'd simply send in others. Half an hour later and he had a few hybrids stationed near where his siblings were currently residing and some near the closest airports to Mystic Falls, as well as a few on their way to be closer to him. Those ones would simply keep their eyes and ears open and ensure no one got too close while the traveling continued.

Klaus headed back inside and got ready for dinner, pleased to hear Caroline moving about in her room, hopeful she would actually be taking him up on his dinner reservation. If not he'd simply need to vent his anger out on a few strangers and allow her to sulk for the evening. He didn't doubt for a moment that she'd be ready to see more of the city by morning even if she might need a few more hours to try and come to grips with what had happened between them in that alley.

She'd enjoyed that kiss as much as he did but Klaus knew it had been a little too soon, that she wasn't quite ready for that level of intimacy yet, even if he was ready for it and a whole lot more. Scaring her, causing her to try and put up all those walls again would be counterproductive to what he wanted, what he needed from her. So he'd play it slow for now, earn her trust, her love, show her precisely how priceless she was to him and then he would be able to take whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.

"You look stunning," he commented as she stepped out of her bedroom in a dark red dress that hugged her curves ending just above her knees, neckline plunging low, and teasing him with the amount of skin it showed. "Though I'm fairly certain that you could make a paper bag look delicious."

Caroline rolled her eyes and he grinned, noting how she played with her clutch for a moment, something he'd come to learn was a nervous habit of hers. "You seriously need better pickup lines."

And this was why he was so drawn to her initially, no matter her nervousness, her fright; she was still able to speak candidly to him. It was something he hadn't experienced in quite some time. There were never any deliberate insults, simply her speaking honestly about how she saw him and what she thought about his words. It had been refreshing the first time and still was every time after.

"It's hardly a line, Caroline. I'm merely repaying your honesty with some of my own," Klaus replied before glancing over at Sam. "You're free to explore the city, Sam. Simply be back by tomorrow morning."

The young hybrid looked overly enthused at the idea but it was Caroline's reaction, the hesitant approval he saw flash in her eyes before the confusion set in, that Klaus focused on. No doubt she didn't like that there needed to be permission given but she did seem to appreciate that he was allowing the boy to roam about as he pleased. The boy was now a soldier in the army that Klaus was creating and soldiers had orders and they followed them. To him it was as simple as that.

"Something on your mind?" Klaus asked as the two of them headed toward the elevator.

"Why do they need to be sire bound to you?" she asked as he hit the button and Klaus grimaced at the question, trying not to stiffen at the heaviness of it.

"It's a side effect of becoming a hybrid, love. Something I didn't even know would happen at first," he replied, thankful that the doors opened.

"But you could release them, couldn't you?" she continued, all that youthful optimism shining through and he wondered how long it would take for it to be squashed, for Caroline to truly see how the world worked outside of the confines of her small town. "Like they could still be hybrids and not be sire bound and still…work for you or whatever you want to call it. They don't have to be bound."

"No, but it does ensure a certain level of respect, of obedience that doesn't quite work any other way," Klaus pointed out, not at all surprised that she frowned at that. He'd attempted to simply allow others to give him their loyalty and respect over the years without compulsion but it never lasted. There was always someone else they were more loyal to, whether a lover or a child or a brother. Why make the same mistake now? "I give them not only freedom from the pain of the moon but also the ability to live forever. Why should I not want them to be grateful and obedient, Caroline? Am I to turn them all out of the goodness of my heart? To create a species of immortals even more powerful than the average vampire who can easily kill one and simply allow them to roam around free?"

Her hand moved to her neck, to that area where Tyler had bit her and Klaus knew she was pondering his words. "Most wolves are not like the young Mr. Lockwood, they've grown up with a hatred of vampires, they want to eradicate the lot," Klaus continued as the elevator descended. "Do you think that thirst will end because they've become half one?"

"It's not that cut and dry though," she countered, crossing her arms as she leaned against the elevator wall. "Because you're not like having them do nice things, you're having them kidnap people and threaten people, or bite their girlfriends."

"Ah, so it'd be okay to keep the bond if what I was doing met up to a certain standard?" Klaus asked as the doors opened again and he held them open so she could walk out first.

Was it wrong that he enjoyed her exasperated little sigh? "No, not what I'm saying." She dropped her arms and waited for him to step into the hotel lobby as well.

"Then what is it that you're saying?" he asked, trying to keep his amusement out of his voice as his hand found the small of her back, guiding her out of the building and into the street. She stiffened at first and he waited for her to push him away but she didn't and so he kept his hand where it was, enjoying the warmth of her proximity.

"I need a rain check on my answer," she murmured, and Klaus grinned, letting his thumb caress her through the dress.

"Very well. We'll move onto more mannered topics then," he started, smile only widening when she elbowed him in the side.

"I swear if you say 'like how you look ravishing in that dress'," she warned and Klaus held up his hands, delighted that she remembered their conversation at his family's ball. So many little tells being shown and he doubted Caroline even realized she was doing them.

"I was thinking more along the lines of what you think of the architecture of this city compared to London," he informed her, watching as Caroline's face seemed to light up before she started going into a long, detailed reply.

He watched her talk as they continued to head toward the restaurant he'd picked out, her voice wrapping around him and tugging at pieces in his chest he'd long thought dead. This stirring of his heart was a dangerous thing but one he couldn't back down from, one he didn't want to back down from. So he simply listened, continuing to refine his plan in his mind as they entered the restaurant, intent on learning more about Caroline's hopes and dreams so he could figure how to make all of them a reality and bind her life even more to his own.