3. Klaus

Staring through fair Caroline's front door, he waited for the blond human boy to open the door. When he finally did, Klaus wasted no time. "Tyler came to see me," he explained. "Poor boy, he seemed quite distressed, he said Caroline had had a terrible accident."

The blond boy glared at him, anger clear in his body language, as well as the vicious tone of his words. "You made him do this to her," he accused. "He would have never done something like this." Of course not. Tyler was the perfect hybrid, the perfect friend, the perfect boyfriend.

"I am here to help, Matt." He said, trying to stop the emotion from pouring out in his voice. He registered Caroline's mother walking in and added. "Please tell the sheriff to let me come in."

Liz Forbes raised an eyebrow. "I know this game, you want something in return."

He did, but not from her. What he wanted was Caroline's forgiveness. He wasn't sure why but he felt drawn to this beautiful girl and he couldn't stand the thought of her hating him. "Just your support," he said, knowing she wouldn't believe what he wanted even if he told her.

She assessed him for a moment, as if trying to see if he was telling the truth- then she invited him in.

Caroline was lying in her bed, looking weak and frail, when he entered. When she opened her eyes and saw him there asked limply, "are you going to kill me?"

"On your birthday?" The concern on his face was probably evident, but he didn't care in that moment. "Do you really think that low of me?"

"Yes." She replied shortly.

Slowly, he peeled back the cover to see the bite, hearing her breath hitch and cursing himself for hurting her. He let out a small shocked gasp himself. "That looks bad." That was sugar coating it. He'd seen this many a time before. She didn't have long left. "My apologies, you're what's known as collateral damage- it's... nothing personal." He flicked the charm bracelet on her wrist and thought about what he could do to make this up to her. "I love birthdays."

She laughed weakly, a beautiful sound, even in her current state. "Yeah, aren't you like a billion?"

He didn't laugh himself, at least not aloud, but he couldn't stop the amusement from colouring her voice. She was adorable. "Well, you have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire Caroline... Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial conventions." He smiled, the most genuine smile he'd had in a long time. "You're free."

"No," she denied it. "I'm dying."

The smile fell from his lips and he lowered himself to sit beside her on her bed, she didn't move away. "And I could let you," he whispered. "Die. If that's what you want." He prayed that she wouldn't, and he tried to convey his urgency in his tone. "If you truly believe your life has no meaning." Though how she could believe that he didn't know. She was so loved, by so many. And yet... "I've thought about it myself, once or twice, over the centuries, truth be told." He remembered when Tatia died, the depression he had gone into. When he thought Marcel was gone forever. A tear slid down his face and he remembered his words to Elijah oh so many centuries ago. Love is a vampire's greatest weakness. And we are not weak. We do not feel. We do not care. But it was all lies. He cared, he loved, he felt- he always had. Bending down conspiratorially, he whispered, "But I'll let you in on a little secret." She stared up at him, their blue eyes meeting as he let one more tear fall. "There's a whole world out there waiting for you; great cities and art and music." He wanted to show it all to her. He let his hand trace up her arm back to the bracelet, his eyes following it, then they met hers again. "Genuine beauty." Just like her. "And you can have all of it. All of you have to do is ask."

Her lip tremored and she said passionately, letting out a small sob, "I don't want to die!"

His lip quirked upwards with happiness and he pulled up his sleeve, pulling her up towards him. She let out a tiny gasp as he pulled her gently against his chest. Stroking her hair, he moved his wrist to her mouth. "There you go love," he whispered. "Have at it."

Love. That was what he was feeling. He was in love with Caroline Forbes. And maybe that was okay.

AN: Woo! I love Klaroline.

Next up, Stefan.