Thanks for the lovely reviews, wonderful favs, and amazing follows! *flatter* xD

I find it rather amusing when there are so many readers who pray/beg/demand that Caroline and Tyler better NOT be dating. *amuse* All I can say is that... keep reading. ;3

Warning: unbeta. English is my second. ASL is my first. I'm Deaf. *put on my sunglasses like a badass yet fail*

I don't own Vampire Diaries. *tsk and sulk*

Enjoy~ :D

Mystic Falls
High School
Couple of Days Later…

"This is a bad idea." Kol stated while dragging his feet after his vampire. Caroline has been planning to help her friend, Tyler with his werewolf problem. And the wild Original was not happy about it, as he kept poking his vampire since he was rather displeased and childishly sulking.

When Caroline and Kol saw Matt walking with his hands in his jacket's pockets. "Matt…" she hasn't seen her friend in a while and still felt guilty that she knocked him out. "How are you?" she asked, concerned.

Matt cleared his throat as his red eyes show that he was really upset. After all, he and Sarah used to be childhood friends. "I—I've been better. I gotta—" his breath hitch for a second. "—I gotta get to class."

Caroline nodded her head, understandingly and watch him quickly walk away. "Poor Matt…" Kol hummed disinterested. Then the blonde-haired beauty approached straight toward Tyler who is dribble his basketball. "Tyler, hey."

The werewolf lifted his gaze up at her. "Hey." He greeted her. "What's up?" he held onto his basketball with curiosity.

"You do realize there's almost a full moon, right?" Caroline decided to go straight to the point as she crossed her arms. Kol made a bitter face as he hates her plan.

Tyler nodded his head slowly. "Yeah…"

"Have you thought about it? The whole—" Caroline glanced around for any eavesdropper then leaned forward. "—wolf thing? Do you know what you're gonna do?"

The Lockwood kid narrowed his eyes at her with ponder. "…I have a plan." He reluctantly admitted.

"Well?" Caroline prob, with interest.

Tyler just shakes his head. "Sorry, Caroline. This is kind of private."

"Well would you look at that? The git werewolf doesn't want your help but at least you tried, darling. Now, please drop this ridiculous plan of yours before you seriously risk your life." Kol ordered his vampire, want her to be far away as much as she could from the werewolf.

Caroline huffed as she pointed at herself with confidence and resolved. "I'm student council Vice President, Head of the Prom Committee, not to mention I single-handedly organized this town's clean-up campaign." She cocks her eyebrow at Tyler who looked mildly impressed. "And you're really gonna turn down my help?"

Kol sighed exasperatedly.

Why did he have a fondness for a stubborn woman like her?

Oh, right…

It's because she is Caroline Forbes, the former human and infant vampire that caught his undead heart in her tiny palms.

"Damn it." Kol is seriously wondering if it's possible to have grey hair as a ghost?

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..

…

Only You

Chapter Twenty-Six

"The Sacrifice"

…

..

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Mystic Falls
Woods
Old Lockwood's Property
Later…

The wild Original is dragging his feet while sulking. He glares weakly at Tyler who is walking a bit too close to his vampire. They've been walking through the woods for few minutes in slightly awkward silence. Until Tyler opens his mouth. "So… does Matt knows the truth about you?"

Caroline shakes her head. "No. I don't want to drag him into this situation. It's not fair on him." She answered, coolly. She skipped over the twigs easily while Tyler steps aside from the log.

"I get it." The Lockwood kid understood.

The blonde-haired beauty just smiles at him while walking side by side with him. "Matt is my best friend and it actually sucks that I can't tell him about the real me." Tyler said, disappointed.

Caroline hummed in response. And they continue walking for a bit more until Tyler spotted something in the distance. "Right over there." He pointed at the old bricks. "There's a cellar that goes to our old property."

"I know." The blonde-haired beauty replied without thinking which made Kol's lip twitch with entertainment.

Tyler furrowed his eyebrows at her, puzzled. "You do?"

Caroline realizes that she wasn't supposed to know the old cellar's existence. She smiles charmingly at him. "I know that this is the old Lockwood property." She lied, hopefully, that Tyler accepted it and move on.

The Lockwood werewolf stared at her skeptically, then went to the old bricks. Caroline made a grimaced face and followed him while Kol shakes his head with amusement. "Watch your step." Tyler warned her as he steps down the stairs of the cellar.

The blonde-haired beauty and Kol descended the stairs into a dark room. Luckily, Tyler has his flashlight when it lit up the room.

Kol carefully studied the cellar as the beam of light moves around the room. "I'm guessing this is where Mason was headed the night he turned." Tyler explained while walking down the path. "It's this way." He informed Caroline who continues to follow him.

Once they are approaching deeper into the cellar. Tyler strolled in without any hint of hesitation while Caroline carefully entering behind him cautiously. "Did Mason tell you about this place?" she asked, morbidly curious while examined the cellar.

"Mason bolted before I triggered the curse, but I found these." Tyler shifted his flashlight at the part of the cave. Caroline and Kol got closer to inspecting and saw three deep scratches run across the wall.

"No doubt it. It's the werewolf." Kol mumbled, recognized the claw marks easily.

Caroline gap. "Whoa… they look old." She noticed the marks weren't new or recent. In fact, it looks decades old. Then Tyler moved the beam of light further the wall at a pair of rusty chains.

"And these bolts and chains. I need a new chain, but the bolts could still hold." Tyler grabbed the ring around the bolt and pulls it hard with his werewolf strength. It was durable and resistant which is good for werewolves during Full Moon.

Kol approved it. "Not bad." He commented, as long as the git werewolf stayed inside the cellar during full moon without breaking out and murder innocents—whom he didn't care— and his vampire—who he does care—.

"I think that's what this place was used for. Full moons." The Lockwood werewolf stated, calmly. Then he shifted his beam of lights around the cellar while Caroline hummed softly.

The blonde-haired beauty glance around the cave for a bit until she walks around. Kol just studied around with slight nostalgia. He briefly recalled how before he was different—when he and his siblings gathered in the cave to hide during Full Moon. When his mother and Ayana set up their magic barrier to protect them and the innocents. He even remembered that he did help them with his magic. His undead heart sank when he realizes how much he missed his magic to protect someone.

Kol instantly shook his old memories away as he doesn't want to deal with it at the moment. The transparent ghost focus on his vampire who steps forward when she spots something in a nook. "What's this?" she grabbed an item that was wrapped in a piece of cloth.

Tyler moved his flashlight to her with curiosity. He strides to her side and saw the item. "I have no idea." He has never seen it before and was surprised that he didn't find it earlier.

Caroline unwraps the cloth around to reveal a brown leather-made journal. "Was it Mason's?" she asked as she handed the journal to Tyler.

The Lockwood werewolf takes the journal not unkindly and flips through the pages. He paused at one of the pages and brings to read out loud from it. "August thirty-first—" he shines his light on the page. "—My body is changing. I'm edgy, angry, impatient. I get so mad, I blackout and forget what I say or do. I'm not myself, not since Jimmy's death. What's happening to me?" he trailed off then flipping through pages while Caroline bit her bottom lip worriedly and Kol stared off at the distance in boredom.

"He chronicled everything." Tyler glanced at Caroline then return to the page where he stopped. "The full moon is tonight." He read it out loud.

Caroline's blue-green orbs lit up with interest. "Well, does he say what happened?" she wondered.

Tyler continues flipping more pages until he reached the last and saw a memory card that was taped to it. Tyler plucks it out and smoothes the memory card with his thumb gently. Then he lifted it up for Caroline to see. "This…"

Kol blinked at it and leaned forward with mildly intrigued. "What is that?" he has never seen such a strange object before.

"Is that… a memory card?" Caroline asked, bewildered.

"I… think so." Tyler answers, perplexed.

The transparent ghost's face scrunches up with flabbergasted. "What's the bloody hell is a memory card?" he silently curses his stupid paranoid brother once again for missing out on something that has to do with the twenty-first century.

.

.

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Forbes' Residence
Living-Room
Later…

Caroline and Tyler are sitting on a couch with a table that is pulled toward them. Kol is sitting on the arm of the couch near his vampire. Caroline is looking through the pages of the journal while Tyler opened his laptop, inserts the memory card into the flash drive.

Soon, the window opened on the screen to revealed Mason in the video. "It's September fifteen— two hours from the first full moon since I triggered the curse." Kol raises his eyebrow with slight interest.

"He taped his first transformation." Tyler proclaimed in surprise to Caroline before he paused the video.

The blonde-haired beauty flipped back the pages and paused. "Um…" she flips forward and backward. "…there's nothing." She showed it to Tyler and pointed at the date in the corner. "September sixteenth, he—he wrote about everything the next day."

The Lockwood werewolf's lips pressed together then start playing the video that his uncle taped. Tyler decided to fast forward through the video while Caroline read aloud from the journal. "I chose the garage. I could deadbolt the door. It was far from the street so no one could hear. I bolted hooks to the floor for the carabiners…" Caroline frowned as she lowers the journal.

Tyler slows the video down and watches as Caroline tilted her head with curiosity. "Like for mountain climbing?" she muttered out loud in ponder.

"Retractable cables." The Lockwood werewolf said to her while his eyes stay on the video.

Kol just watches the video in silence. [On the video, Mason is drinking a golden liquid from a water bottle which made him sputters and coughs, kneeling on the ground.] The wild Original knew what it's in the water bottle. "To think that a werewolf like him would willing to drink wolfsbane… what a bloody git."

"What's he doing?" Tyler asked, morbidly curious and disturbed.

Caroline has heard one word from her ghost friend. "It's…wolfsbane." She silently wonders how Kol knows about that. Not only the Original but also werewolves and vampires. What… who exactly is Kol? Caroline mentally snapped out of it and focus on the journal. "I diluted wolfsbane with water to weaken myself, but I could barely get it down without puking. It felt like I was drinking battery acid. Over an hour passed and nothing happened. It got so quiet I could hear my own blood pumping. That's when…" she trailed off as she was reading aloud.

[Then on the video, Mason begins to scream in pain, pulling at the cables holding him. The older Lockwood grabbed the bicycle and throw it across the room effortlessly in anger and pain.] Caroline puts her hand to her mouth in shock while Tyler watches it in stunned. Kol just watches the video emotionlessly.

Caroline gulped nervously and continue reading. "I kept thinking I'd blackout and not feel it. But I did. I… I felt all of it."

[On the video, Mason has fallen to the floor due to the agonized pain he is experiencing. He cries and shouts for help. He was sweating and crying while trembling miserably alone in the garage.]

"H-how long is it?" the blonde-haired beauty watches the video in horror and empathetically for the poor older Lockwood.

Tyler reached the mouse to fast forward the video. "We're three hours in…" he said in a shaky voice. "…four hours. Five hours. How long does this last?" he asked Caroline incredulity that his uncle is going through harsh and terrible pain for hours during a full moon.

The wild Original just watches the video silently while Caroline flips through the pages but didn't respond. Tyler continues watching the tape when his uncle's body begins to contort painfully as he screams in agony, louder and louder.

The Lockwood werewolf paused the video as he was trembling with frightfulness. He pushed himself up to his feet as his eyes are watery. "I can't—I can't do that." He faltered around the living room. "Caroline, whatever that was…" he pointed at the laptop while stared at Caroline with tearful. "…I can't go through that."

Caroline bit her lip worried while Kol sighed. "It is what is it, werewolf. Part of your life. Permanently." He stated as it's a fact. And Caroline's heart breaks for Tyler when she heard her ghost friend's words.

The blonde-haired beauty closed Mason's journal and placed it on the table. "I don't think… we should read this anymore."

Tyler sniffed. "Why?" he steps forward and picked up his uncle's journal. "What did you read?"

"There's a—a reason it's called a curse, Tyler." Caroline plays with her fingers on her lap, anxious.

The Lockwood werewolf opens the journal and paused on the page. "Unimaginable pain. I thought it would never end. It was the worst night of my life." He read out loud then start to laugh humorlessly. Tyler shut the journal and slammed it on the coffee table. He went to sit back down on the couch, next to Caroline.

"But… he did mention that the transformations speed up over time." Caroline pointed it out when she recalled it from the journal easily. "But the pain never lesser." Kol added, offhandedly. After all, werewolves are used to it for many moons and years for the rest of their lives.

Tyler shakes his head, extends his hand to grab his glass of alcohol, and drained it in one gulp. Caroline bit her lip for a second and open her mouth. "So, if you can just get through this first time, then—"

"Why are you helping me?" Tyler interjected her, perplexed and confused when he shifted his gaze to her.

The blonde-haired beauty blinked at him in surprise. "Pardon?"

"Why do you care? We've never been friends before."

"And please continue not being friends." Kol said, knowing that Caroline wouldn't accept that.

Caroline huffed with half-smile. "That's not true. I've known you my entire life, Tyler. I—"

"We've never been close. Not like this." The Lockwood werewolf interrupted her once again which made Kol glares at him. "So disrespectful…" he didn't like when the shitty git of a werewolf dares to be rude to his vampire.

The blonde-haired beauty sighed softly as she rubbed her pants with her palms. "I don't know. You just seem like you… like you kind of need it." She admitted as she shifted her blue-green orbs to stared off at the wall across the living room. "I was alone when I turned." Kol flinched. "I had no control over my body or my… urges. And I…" she closed her eyes, guilty and remorse. "I killed somebody. I don't want that to happen to you." Caroline opened her eyes and glanced at Tyler who looked shocked. "I don't want you to be alone."

The Lockwood werewolf and the infant vampire stared at each other for a moment while Kol grumbling in growls.

This better not be love spark or some bloody bullock shit. the mischief Original mused, exasperatedly. So far, none of the boys has caught his vampire's heart but…

He knew that sooner or later, her heart will be caught by someone. Kol needs to catch her before any stupid mortal, or short-temper werewolf or weak vampire, or hell, a fucking warlock, gets into her heart.

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Caroline's Bedroom
Later…

Caroline plopped onto her bed after she finished her nightly routine in her comfortable pajamas—grey camisole and baby blue pants with grey stars—as her blue-green orbs stare at the reflection of the vanity mirror. She already had her hair pulled up messy bun with a clip to display the bite mark on her neck.

The blonde-haired beauty sighed softly as she tore her gaze away from the mirror to the notebook in front of her along with a pen in her hands. She extends forward to open the notebook and wrote down words on a fresh page.

While Caroline is busy writing down, Kol has been watching her quietly with concern. She hasn't been able to say a single word to him for a while and he doesn't like it. At all.

Kol stride toward her and glanced at the notebook with neutral interest until it changed to extremely interest. His vampire is writing a bunch of information about him. And even add words that aren't average for English these days. "What are you doing, darling?" he gently taps her shoulder with curiosity.

Caroline shivers rather hard by the freezing touch. "…Kol… I can't help but wondering—" she paused for a hesitant moment. "—how do you know so much of these… supernatural? You knew vampires, werewolves, witches, and the Originals! And I don't understand the whole Originals! I mean, I get that they are the first vampires which I assumed means they are the first ever made. And I am so confused and lost. Just—" she stopped herself harshly. "…who exactly are you, Kol? You… you are not a normal ghost, are you?"

The wild Original stared at her blankly while she was spitting out words. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I guess it's time for the truth…" he muttered, unsure how to explain his situation to Caroline.

"Time? Time what?" Caroline caught the word with puzzled. "Kol?" the transparent ghost feather-like touch her hand where she held the pen.

"Alphabet." Kol repeated the word until Caroline got it.

The blonde-haired beauty frowned but obliged when she turned a fresh page and wrote down the alphabet in order in large case letters. "Alright… now what?"

The wild Original tap her hand. "Tap. Letter." He has repeated a handful of times until Caroline got the message.

"Oh, you want me to point each letter until you tap me to stop?" Kol taps her shoulder to confirmed that she is correct. The blonde-haired beauty shivers but nods her head understanding. "Alright…" she points to each letter for a few seconds.

Point. Point. Point.

Tap.

Caroline wrote down the first letter.

She points to each letter slowly until she reached eighteen letters.

Tap.

Second letter was written down.

The blonde-haired beauty points each letter from the beginning again until nineteen letters.

Tap.

Third letter was written down.

Caroline repeated her action and stop at the twenty letters.

Tap.

Fourth letter was written down.

Again, repeat the action until stop at the fifth letter.

Tap.

Fifth letter was written down.

And Caroline got tap twice and she blinked at the word on the paper. "Curse?" she whispered, worriedly. "…are you… are you telling me that I'm curse?" no response. "You?" tap. "You're curse?" Caroline furrowed her eyebrows deeply with contemplative.

Then slowly her mind starts calculating for a moment. "Kol… tap for yes and no tap for no…" she bit her inner cheek, slightly disbelieved yet she has to ask this question. "…are you a real actual ghost?"

Silence.

No freeze touch on her skin.

Nothing.

"Oh my God." The blonde-haired beauty gasped in astonishment shocked. "Then… what are you?" she shakes her head and points at the first letter, second letter, third letter… and so on until she reached the fifteenth letter.

Tap.

"O."

Tap at the nineteenth letter.

"R."

Tap at the ninth letter.

"I."

Tap on the seventh letter.

"G."

Tap on the ninth letter.

"I."

Tap on the fourteenth letter.

"N."

Tap on the first letter.

"A."

Tap on the twelfth letter.

"L."

Caroline stared at the paper incredulity and astonished. Her blue-green orbs reread the word over and over in hope that it might change or that she's having a serious hallucination. However, the word didn't change at all.

Original

The blonde-haired beauty dropped her pen as she gulped nervously. "…you—are you… you're telling me… that you… are Original… as in… first vampire ever kind made?" she squeaks anxiously, edgy, distress, and apprehension.

An icy-cold touch on her cheek that confirmed the answer. And it has completely shocked Caroline to the point that she felt like she lost her voice.