Ch 15

The morning sun lit their room in a pale yellow glow. The room felt warm and welcoming, a stark contrast to how Caroline felt. Upon waking, much too early, she found that she had been completely healed. Caroline added it to her list of favorable traits of vampires. The sounds of distant, muffled screaming brought her back to why she had found herself up at this hour. She didn't have to guess to know who's they belonged to. But she left her room anyways in search of it.

Padding down the empty halls, past the great hall, she followed the sounds to the part of the castle she had never been to. The sound was still too muffled for her to know where it was coming from, she wondered if there were more hidden underground rooms. No doubt filled with unimaginable torture devices, and cobwebs. Klaus seemed the type to have a dungeon. Probably filthy, too. Caroline made a face at the image of dusty corners, cobwebbed ceilings, and bloody floors.

A door to her right opened suddenly, revealing the man of her thoughts, drenched in blood. Without a word, he pulled her into what appeared to be a study. Upon a second glance, though, it looked more like an artists study. Her eyes wandered around the room quickly before falling on Klaus who appeared to be waiting for her to speak. Taking a steady breath, she eyed his outfit, pulling that face she had made moments ago, "That will never come out."

A flash of confusion crossed his face only to be followed quickly by a chuckle. "I suppose you're right, sweetheart. May I ask why you are wondering the halls…again." His eyes darkened briefly before he schooled his features into an indifferent mask.

"I could hear the screams," Caroline admitted, eyes caught by a painting on the easel. "Who's painting is that?" As she walked closer, she realized the subject was her. The figure was half finished, still in that phase where the painter was smoothing out the features they were painting. Large swathes of color made up her cheeks and hair. Her face was unmistakable though. Her lips were bright and a rich raspberry color. She looked almost regal, commanding the viewer's attention with her intense eyes. "Is…is that me?" Caroline searched Klaus' face.

"It's still a work in progress, I haven't quite figured out the right shade for your blush. Or how to get that fire in your eyes." He walked over to stand beside her, admiring her and not his work.

"Why?" Caroline wasn't altogether sure what she was asking. Why paint her? Why was he torturing one of his own? Why her?

"I fancy you." He said with a shrug. "I can't seem to get you out of my head, Caroline." His eyes, stormy and consuming, bore into her. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he continued, "Your smile haunts me and your laugh is infectious. I find my days have been made better for knowing you. As stubborn and annoying at you can be." She rolled her eyes at that, although, his words touched her heart greatly.

"I have seen a great many beauties in my life. But none have captured my heart till now, all of the great beauties in the world are forever paled next to you. They have not your light, nor your wit, their skin...not as soft," his fingers grazed over her cheek causing her heart to stutter, "and their hair holds no sunlight. You have ruined me. I cannot possibly let you go."

Caroline held her breath as he leaned his head down to capture her lips with his. Sighing into it, she let him lead once more. His lips were warm and demanding. She would never get used to this feeling. Could he be telling her the truth? Was this his way of saying he loved her? That all too familiar feeling of adoration swelled in her chest, buoyed by the thought that it was not one-sided.

She pulled away, a sudden thought popping into her head. "The full moon is tonight."

Klaus smirked, "It is."

"May I ask a favor?" A raised eyebrow was her only reply. "Elijah has said that we are to leave this castle afterward. May I say goodbye to my family?"

He looked away, arms crossed in frustration, "A little late to be asking for such a favor, love."

"Please, I just want them to know that I am well before I leave if I am not to see them ever again." Caroline reached out to hold his face between her hands, "Please."

Her sincerity must have won him over as he caved to her request, "Fine. But you will be back before dinner."

She threw herself at him, arms clasped around his neck in a hug that surprised them both, "Thank you!"

He buried his face into her hair, sending a shiver up her arms and spine, before letting her down. "Before you run off," Klaus said as he walked over to a desk, taking a necklace with a small vile at its end from it and beautiful ring, set with a deep blue stone. "Take these with you. I hope you will not need the necklace."

Caroline held the little vile up to the light after she placed the ring on her finger. "Is this blood?" She cast a stern look towards him.

"You have a tendency to get hurt, call it a precautionary step. The ring I can explain later." Grinning at the face she made he gave her cheek a quick peck, "You best go now before I change my mind." Smiling brightly at him she quickly left.

Caroline eyed the necklace as the horse casually trotted along. The thing was prettier than it should have been, if she didn't know better she would have thought it a large ruby. With any luck, she would not be robbed on her way to the little cottage. Tucking it into her kirtle, she urged the horse on, eager to see her family once more.

In an hour, they rounded the final corner, giving her a sweeping view of the little cottage she had once called home. With the exception of the garden, which looked much worse, everything appeared exactly as she had left it. What would her family think? Did they miss her? Oh, how she longed to hug her father again. How did they fair without her, she wondered as the horse trotted up to the house. Would her sisters be glad to see her? Had they fretted over her absence?

The door opened as she was helped off the horse with the help of the servant who had accompanied her revealing a man she had never seen before in her life. "Who goes there?" He called out, a look of concern upon his face.

Her heart sped up, was her family inside? "My name is Caroline, Caroline Forbes. I used to live here."

"Forbes? That's not right, supposed to be in town." The man opened the door further, "Why are you here then?"

"I came to see my family. I…lost contact with them." Her heart beat on, faster still, fearing the worst. Where were her sisters? Her brothers? Her father?

"Ah, sorry, my lady. They left weeks ago, 'bout a month ago actually. Back to town. Heard the old man married his longtime mistress. Set up his daughters nicely too, I think." The man scratched his head, clearly bothered by the information.

Mistress? Her father loved her mother devotedly, how could he have a mistress? "That makes no-sir, could you tell me everything you know? Did they leave a letter for me? Anything at all?"

Clearing his throat, he obliged, "Well, he came into money, another one of his ships was found. The whole family was off to town faster than you could say 'good mornin'' to 'em. The wife told me the gossip from the ladies, the ones with family in town, was that he remarried his mistress and set up his daughters with an Earl and a Duke. Told everyone his youngest died of an illness." The stranger looked at her sympathetically, "Sorry, my lady, that's all I know. They haven't been back since. Likely never will."

They were gone? They had left to go back to their lives. Without a second glance back. She was as good as dead to them. A sob escaped her before her numb hands could catch it. She quickly made her way back onto her horse. "I thank you, sir," Caroline said in a clipped voice. Silently, she headed back towards the castle, her thoughts a storm inside her head distracting her from the ride.

His skin felt charged as if a thousand needles had been stuck into him. The moon climbed the sky, fat and tempting, and slowly being obscured by thick clouds. He paced the library in agitation. Everything had come together, the full moon, his vampire, his werewolf, his doppelganger, and the moonstone. The curse was as good as broken.

Mere hours away from being free and all he could think about was her. Caroline had tangled herself so completely into his life. He knew he was going to turn her weeks ago. She would make for a marvelous vampire. He wondered at what she would look like with crimson lips, upturned in a laugh. How her hair would look fanned out on his sheets, completely sated.

Where the hell was she? She should have been back an hour ago. He would kill the servant he compelled to join her if anything had happened to her.

A crack of thunder filled the air and with it the imposing doors opened into the castle. He could hear her slippered feet against the stone floor as she made her way further into the castle.

Impatiently, he flashed to her side. "You missed dinner. What took you-" Klaus began only to pause at the sight of her.

Tears rolled down her cheeks in long rivers. She angrily swiped at them, "I know, the horse fell and it delayed us and I lost the necklace and…" She sniffed, a fresh set of tears escaped. "They left, Klaus. They left me."

His heart broke for her, he knew what betrayal felt like. The acute way it cut into one's heart. Gingerly, he reached out for her and pulled her towards him. Comforting another was never something he had been particularly good at. Rebekah could attest to that. So he held her to him, with an arm around her torso and a hand on her neck. He let her sob into his shirt while he whispered words in her ear of comfort. He would kill anyone who made her feel less than wanted. Thoughts he was finding all too common, now.

"Caroline," he said while he pulled her away to look at him. Her tears had subsided, for the time being, her eyes were impossibly blue and bright. "You are meant for so much more than them. There are great cities, impossible places you could not imagine. Art and music the likes you have never seen or heard. And it's all waiting for you. All you have to do is take it."

Caroline gazed up at him for a moment before nodding her head, "Right. You're right."

"Now, go to your room and I'll have a servant send a plate up for you. In the morning, we start a new adventure." He smiled at her, a bright and genuine thing. One he rarely graced another with. He would turn her tomorrow. For now, he had a curse to break.

She offered him a soft smile, "Thank you, Klaus." She kissed him sweetly, lingering too long and making it harder to leave her behind. Klaus watched her as she left the room before setting off from the castle. Freedom awaited him.

The rain fell hard creating a muffled roar that filled the air. The hour had grown late and the servants all gone to bed. The castle was quiet until a booming knock echoed through the halls, pulling Caroline out of her thoughts. Her plans and packing would have to wait, she thought as she quickly hurried to answer the door.

A man, drenched to the bone stood on the other side, he shouted over the rain. "Do the Lords, Niklaus and Elijah, reside here?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, good, may I come in from the rain? They will be expecting me."

"Yes, do come in. I cannot have you standing in this weather!" Caroline yelled back, beckoning him in and slamming the door shut against the elements.

As she set the tray down, loaded with bread and fruit, for the gentleman now seated at the table, she asked him, "I'm terribly sorry, my mind is elsewhere tonight. You said you were invited to the party?"

He smiled, showing his teeth in a way that sent hers on edge. She was sure it was meant to put her at ease, though it accomplished the opposite effect. His eyes pierced her to the spot. "Yes, I hope I am not late."

"I am afraid you are, sir. By several weeks, actually." She eased into a chair nearby. Her nerves were rattled enough over the past month, but tonight...there was something in the air. Her lungs felt tight. Her stomach had been twisted in knots all evening as if in anticipation for the worst to come through that very door.

He frowned at her, "Oh, I am sorry to hear it. I must have mixed the dates up."

Taking a steady breath, she addressed the stranger, "I can't send you back out into that storm. The lords will have to make do for the night. There are several rooms unoccupied, after all. May I ask your name? So I may inform them of your arrival on their return?"

"Mikael, call me Mikael," he smiled, bearing his fangs.

The heady scent of copper greeted the brothers as they approached the castle. Klaus' rush of victory turned to acid in his veins, wolf growling low, eager to tear into whoever lurked behind those walls. As the sky turned lighter, they hurried their steps, throwing open the heavy castle doors, greeted by a gruesome scene. One they had become too familiar with in the last 500 years.

Rivers of blood coated the floors and walls. Bodies of their servants strewn haphazardly across it. A sinking feeling enveloped his chest. No, this cannot be. He had left her alive. Safe behind these walls.

Where was Caroline?

On silent feet, listening intently for any sounds, any signs of life, Klaus made his way further into the castle. He knew who caused this massacre, knew that the man very likely could still be lurking. But the walls and floors were silent, as if in solemn prayer for the souls that perished within. As he reached the great hall, his heart ceased its beating.

Lying on the table, in a macabre scene of eternal slumber, was Caroline. Her golden hair like a halo around her head, roses she had picked days earlier strewn around her as if she had been laid to rest. Her small hands still holding onto the knife sticking oddly of her chest.

Klaus slowly walked over to her. Despite what he knew, she looked peaceful. Carefully, he removed the knife from her chest, throwing it aside. He cradled her head between his hands. Her skin should not have been colder than his. She was supposed to be sleeping, her beating heart slow but steady. He brushed the strands of hair from her face. She should be alive, or undead. Death could not have her, he would not allow it.

His wolf clawed at his insides, demanding to be released, to tear and claw at the man who did this. The man who dared to take what was his from it. How dare he. And he would do just that. He just needed to find Mikael first.

"Niklaus, we must leave." His brother's worried voice sliced through his rage. Leave? She deserved a burial, he could not leave her like this! She did not deserve any more abandonment.

"I cannot leave, brother. What if she wakes-"

"She is dead, Niklaus."

"SHE IS NOT!" He screamed at his brother. She could not be dead. He had given her his blood. It must still be in her system. She would wake. She would wake.

"Brother, think of our family. We must leave. Our father could come back, we are not prepared for it." His brother begged him to see reason.

"Her necklace-"

"Was lost, as you said. She is not coming back, brother. We must take our family and go." Elijah grabbed his shoulders, shaking him lightly. "You can still avenge her but we need to leave."

Clenching his teeth, Klaus gazed at the woman who stole his heart, he would be leaving it with her lifeless body after all. He willed himself to memorize every feature he could before he allowed his brother to pull him away. He hardened his heart as they left the castle, new plans forming for his dear father.

The cloying scent of roses and stale blood greeted her as she woke gasping. Eyes wild, she assessed her surroundings. Bodies covered the floor, pools of blood spread out from under them. Caroline's throat burned and her gums ached. Water. She needed water.

As she rose to a seated position, the doors to the room opened revealing a disheveled Katerina. Her hair was wild and her neck bloodied. Her gaze swept the room before landing on Caroline. Her eyes were black and red, veins dark under around them. Gasping, Caroline called out, "Katerina! You're alive! Thank God!"

"You knew?" Her friend hissed at her, flashing to the table. "He killed me, drained my blood and you knew?"

"Kat I had no choice." Caroline pleaded with her friend. "I-I slipped you his blood, in your wine before bed. I knew not what would happen." She eased herself off the table. "You are just like them now."

"Looks as though we both are." Kat's fingers fluttered over Caroline's cheekbones.

Eyes widening, Caroline felt her teeth. Long, pointy fangs sat in her mouth. "I suppose we are."

"Well, I thank you, even though I am mad at you, I would be dead had you not. But how did you…?"

Caroline's mind wandered to earlier in the evening, how she came across Elijah on her way into the castle. He had offered her his blood, to heal her twisted ankle. And a warning.

"Leave. Tonight."

"But I don't have-" She had protested. She had nowhere to go. No family. No friends to take her in.

"Caroline, nothing good will come from you staying with us. Nothing but death awaits you." He had been right, of course. But she supposed he had meant death at his brother's hand and not their father's. Caroline had decided then to heed his words. To leave in the dead of night. Though her heart ached at the thought, she knew it was for the best. And how right she had been.

That sobering thought pulled her out of her memories. They had left her, like her family. They had left her here knowing she would turn. Caroline would properly mourn what that meant later. For now, all she could think about was the all-consuming thirst and the betrayal that sat heavy on her heart.

"I will tell you another time. I must drink something."

As they left the castle, with all its death and heartache, each woman vowed to help, trust, and rely on the other. They vowed to steer clear of the two brothers. But both knew in their hearts they would break this vow someday, and the next time Caroline would see Klaus was at a masquerade ball at the Sun King's court.

AN:

Thank you for joining me on this little adventure! :D

As you may have guessed, this is the first part. I had always intended it to end this way. So please forgive me for leaving it the way i did.

I hope everything made sense. I don't really care too much for canon so I don't know if slipping blood into Kat's wine would have really worked for the sacrifice- I felt like Elijah wouldn't have done it as he'd be afraid of what his brother would do in retaliation. So there's that. I already have plans for the sequel, I'm hoping it will be more actiony, more angsty, more favorite characters, more drama! And hopefully more of that sassy Caroline we all love.

Thank you for reading!