CHAPTER 1: Know Thy Enemy

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

~ Sun Tzu,

"Rick, seriously?!" Caroline yelled at him throwing her hands in the air with a furious look on her face. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago!"

Klaus looked at her confused and amused at the same time. Was she talking to him? The guy, whose body he was temporarily inhabiting was a boring history teacher named Alaric. Rick could be his Nickname. So yeah, she might as well be talking to him.

Klaus double-checked her. At first sight, she looked young, beautiful and annoying, so he suspected she was his student.

Yet she talked to him in singular? And so casually? Could she be his girlfriend or something? Maybe the history teacher was a dirty playboy and liked seducing young teenage schoolgirls in his free time.

He almost licked his lips at the thought of this girl in his bed. She was something... But right now he had work to do... Maybe he would steal her away once he got his body back. It wouldn't even be a fair competition for the poor teacher though, it would be like stealing from a church. He sights trying to decide what to say to the girl, he probably wouldn't even remember her when he achieved his goal and returned to his original body.

"I'm sorry. I..." he started saying but was cut off by the doppelganger and her witchy friend.

"Stop harassing our favorite History teacher, Caroline!" said the doppelganger as she neared. She looked like she was in a good mood.

Uh, Caroline, the best friend. Thought Klaus.

She is supposed to be the vampire Katerina turned for the sacrifice. He had to admit Katherine had done well. She had found the moonstone and the doppelganger along with a witch capable for the spell, and she had turned a vampire and a werewolf for the ritual. If things hadn't gone South for her, he would've probably freed her for her apprentice. Or at he could least grant her the mercy of killing her quickly.

"You're out?!" Caroline asked choked. "Aren't you supposed to be imprisoned in the Salvatore prison house with the two mighty knights guarding the castle?"

Her voice was disapproving and judgmental. While the frown on her face made her look adorable.

"What's gotten you all biter?" asked the witch but Klaus only had eyes for the blonde vampire for some inexplicable reason.

This wasn't right. He had come all this way for the doppelganger. She was the key to breaking the curse. She should be the one he shouldn't be able to stop staring, not the irritatingly childish and surprisingly hot best friend.

"Well, somebody stood me up!" she said glaring at him with an intimidating gaze while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

She's certainly something. He thought, shaking his head.

Bonnie – the witch – rolled her eyes at the blonde vampire girl while Elena answered Caroline's question a little belated:

"I figured that just because the oldest and the most dangerous vampire in the history of time is coming after me, it shouldn't stop me from going to school. I took a page from your book. I'll just wear a smile and go on living my life like a normal teenager for as long as I can. I'll make the most of these memories."

"Aaaand," the blond girl gestured expectantly.

"And, I've seen the flyers, Caroline," she said smiling exhaustedly. "We're coming to the dance!"

The girl's eyes lit up like candles in the night and the smile she wore could make an entire room full of darkness shine brightly. Klaus-Alaric smiled and looked down. Yeah, he would definitely taste her once he took his body back.

Caroline started clapping her hands enthusiastically while jumping up and down, not knowing the dark thoughts forming in one of her companion's head. She was as enthusiastic as a little child visiting the carnival for the first time, Klaus thought and felt an unfamiliar tenderness forming in his heart. He felt a strong desire to protect her from the darkness this world held. Immediately, he shook it off and growled inwardly. One day in that teacher's body and he was already catching feelings.

"You're not gonna regret it I swear!" she said cheeringly before her face changed from happy into an outraged one in less than a second when she saw something - or rather someone - behind him.

And people thought that his mood swings were unpredictable?

"Hey! Where do you think you're taking that?!" she yelled at the boys carrying something heavy that looked like a speaker into the gym. The boys literally almost dropped it when they saw her intimidating and bossy glare. She took a few steps towards the boys and they backed away a little. "I'm sorry I've got to take care of this!" she muttered before stomping off to scold the poor high school boys.

He almost replied something along the lines of 'take your time, love!' but he had to restrain himself. He didn't exactly know in which manner the teacher referred to these people and he needed to be extra cautious.

"I'm so gonna regret this!" murmured the doppelganger as soon as the girl disappeared to scold the boys for not memorizing all the setting plans.

"Are you all right Rick?" Bonnie asked looking at him worriedly. "You seem a little... off?"

Klaus gathered himself, tearing his gaze from the blonde girl and put on his best poker face before answering:

"Yeah, just stressed!"

"So, how did you get stuck working for Caroline?" Elena asked chuckling amused.

What? He was working for the blonde vampire? What was that about? Why hadn't Katherine told him anything?!

"Don't get me started..." he said making an effort to sound vague and irritated.

Elena smiled and stroke his shoulder sympathetically. It took every inch of control he possessed not to jerk her hand away from his and snap her neck. He was Niklaus Mikaelson; no one was allowed to touch him without asking permission first.

"Well, good luck then Rick." She said before she headed towards the cafeteria. "You're gonna need it with a boss like that!"

Caroline came literally seconds after her friends left.

"So..." she said smiling with fake patience. "Are you gonna, like, help the guys carry the stuff in, or what?"

Ah, so that was the job huh? Play the fetch boy?! He thought. She is so gonna pay for this!

"Why are we even doing this?" he asked attempting to stall. He had better things to do than to carry stuff for a stupid decade dance. "Aren't we supposed to be like, super scared of the big bad wolf coming to town to kill Elena?"

"Not you too!" she said looking disappointed and tired of probably repeating the same thing. "Our lives can't be all about whether or not that vamp-werewolf freak show, shows up and kills us all! He could show up any minute, he could already be here right now, for all we know. I mean, come on! We don't even know what he looks like! And I refuse to be intimidated by a pathetic ancients sadistic vampire, in what could be the last days of my life, got it?!"

Klaus tried very hard not to laugh. None of what she said was funny, but the way she said these things. She was most definitely scared - and she should be, no one had ever insulted him the way she had seconds ago and had lived to see the day - but she refused to show any of it. She was amazingly good at putting up a facade in order to hide her feelings from others.

He saw right through her though. As she put the intimidating finger down and sighed deeply, he thought how this was – is – something he does himself all the time.

"So yes, we're really doing this!" she concluded. "We're gonna eat, drink, we're gonna dance until our feet kills us, and we're gonna have a great time. And when Klaus comes back to town, we'll deal with him. Like we always do, together. But until then our biggest crisis is how to turn the gym in the greatest sixties dance floor ever, till tomorrow night. So get your ass over to Matt's track and help him with the stuff!"

And just like that she took a huge breath and stormed off.

Ooooooh, boy! She is so going to pay for this!

Klaus was this close to killing Caroline and ruining everything.

She was bossily ordering him and the rest of the crew around. Where and how to put things, how high the colorful papers should hang, how much they should breathe and it was driving him insane! No one was a boss around him! He was the one giving orders! He was the Alpha male. He was -

"Rick, hurry up!" she yelled as she waved her hand, interrupting his course of thoughts.

Klaus growled again but complied.

Caroline's face was stern and worried, causing his annoyance to change into fake concern.

"Is everything ok?" he immediately asked scanning the room when he saw her face.

"Damon, called, they're waiting for you in the boarding house," She informed him a little tense. "Klaus made his first move."

Klaus fought hard to hide his smile when he saw her anxious eyes. So, the thought of him does intimidate her. For some weird reason, he found this arousing.

"What was it?" he asked faking worry.

"Honestly, everything Damon said after Klaus made a move, is kind of a blur," she admitted. "He said to meet him at the boarding house though."

"Does that mean we won't be coming to the party?" he asked victoriously.

"You wish!" she said slipping from her worried-lost look in her angry-bossy one in nanoseconds.

My, my! And I think I have problems with my temper. He thought.

"We are all going to the decade dance. That sick masochistic bastard won't ruin our last dance together!" she said angrily.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. He couldn't take it anymore though. No one was allowed to insult him. NO ONE! Especially a shallow little baby vampire.

More insults huh?

He never was a stable person. His impulses were the only thing in this world that could truly control him And right then and there the only thing he so strongly desired was to punish the blonde vampire. And that was exactly what he would do.

He sighed.

This girl had it coming.

"All right, everybody out!" he said in a loud clear voice and Caroline watched with surprise and confusion while everybody moved once Alaric gave the command. "Go back to whatever you want to be doing. Not you, Deena, you're gonna finish what Caroline started here, right after we leave and tell everyone it was Caroline's doing. Everyone, move!" he clapped his hands impatiently. "Come now, we don't have all day!"

"What's going on?" Caroline asked with disbelief examining Alaric's face intensely. He stared back with cold eyes and a sadistic smile. "Rick?"

Her voice trembled once when she said the teacher's name. She stepped back a little narrowing her eyes at him, not quite believing what her senses told her.

"Oh, I think you already suspect what is it that's going on, love!" he replied taking one threatening step towards her.

She measured his cold gaze and arrogant features.

"You're not Rick are you?!" she asked a little shocked and a little frightened while she kept backing up until her back came against the wall and she halted abruptly.

"Nope," he said smiling and stepping closer while she was trapped. "Make a guess, sweetheart!"

"I'll give you a hint," Caroline stood completely still while he trapped her in between his hands and leaned in to whisper in her ear "I'm the source of all of your nightmares..."

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him pull back and stare back at her, amused by the fear he saw in her eyes.

"Klaus..." it only came out as a whisper.

He smiled.

"You're a smart little thing aren't you love?" he said tilting his head to the side.

Her heartbeat and heavy breathing were all that sounded in the huge gym. Klaus played with her golden locks while she clenched her hands into fists trying to calm down and figure out a logical course of action, so she could destruct herself from panicking. She was going to die!

"Are you gonna kill me?" her voice sounded a little louder than a whisper and she had to avert her eyes to the ground. She hadn't realized that the words slipped out or that she was that frightened. A strange feeling of de ja vu crept into her chest. A feeling she couldn't quite explain.

"Not yet love," he answered with a sad smile "First I have to teach you a few lessons!" he said these words like he was explaining to a five-year-old that she had done something very, very naughty.

"You insulted me, Caroline," he said slipping back in the angry zone. "I have to make you pay for that, love. I was opting on compelling you never to be disrespectful towards me but I'm suspecting you're consuming vervain like the rest of them. Am I correct?"

Caroline closed her eyes wishing to wake from this nightmare.

"Oh, no, no, no, no love!" he said in a low, husky voice stroking her chin tenderly as if to comfort her. "Your nightmare hasn't even started yet!"

These were the last words she heard before everything went black.