Written for my Sweet Swap Exchange!

Warnings: Smut, Violence, Discussions of Suicide, Lots of Smut, Murder, Blood Sharing.

There was blood in her mouth. Underneath the buzz of her skin, Caroline's body felt like a strangers; clumsy and heavy, her lashes were weighted down by stones. She hadn't felt this out of sorts since she'd become a vampire, but this felt like a bad trip and the aftermath of her sixteen-year-old self on a drunken binge with wine coolers rolled into one. It was nearly impossible for her to push this far past her limit, even if something was magically enhanced.

She and Bonnie had experimented, extensively, and more than once, in the safety of a spelled hotel room curious about their own limitations. She knew that neither alcohol nor drugs really stayed in her system long enough to leave her hungover if she was careful. One weekend in Vegas had been a particularly memorable one. She'd learned just how hard a magicked high could hit and how fast it could fizzle once she consumed blood.

Vampirism was awesome.

That weekend had been fun and the most relaxed she'd seen Bonnie in years, a break from the weight of Elena's curse weighing on her. Enzo had made a show of putting up a fuss that he hadn't been invited, but it'd been mostly in fun. It was a good memory but it slipped through her fingers, a warm, hazy dream. The familiarity and comfort of it tried to pull her down with insistent little tugs but Caroline couldn't remember why she was here.

The air was filled with the smell of old mud and decaying foliage, a strange combination she couldn't quite place.

Slowly it dawned on her that the buzzing in her ears wasn't insects, but chanting. It prickled along her skin like the drag of claws, but the rhythm of it was hypnotic. Caroline nearly let it lull her back into sleep, feminine voices fading into white noise.

The blood in her mouth niggled at her.

It was a familiar taste. Thick and decadent on her tongue, and she wanted another bite. If she could just get another small mouthful she was certain she would remember where she'd had tasted it before. Fuzzy and floating, Caroline struggled to concentrate. To do that, she thought, she'd just need to open her eyes.

But no matter how hard she tried, all she could manage was briefest parting of her lashes. The world around her was a shadowed blur and distantly, she could feel herself start to panic. Struggling futility, Caroline's heartbeat grew loud and pounding in her ears, nearly drowning out what sounded like a wolf.

A moment later and it clicked.

The blood tasted of Klaus.

Chanting meant witches.

For a moment shock left Caroline's brain skittering. It'd had been decades since she'd last seen Klaus during a stolen afternoon in the woods that had become a searing memory she tried hard not to think about, even all these decades later. She'd shoved it aside, deep into the pockets of her memory where she kept last love and you're safe. She'd forced herself to forget about all the little snatches of him and pretend that they didn't sometimes haunt her as she lay in bed late at night. The taste of his tongue. The scar on his hip that had lasted a millennia. The way he looked, lips parted, with her blood wet on his mouth.

It was that thought, that Klaus was here and there were witches that roused her enough to pry her eyes open. A moment later, she regretted it. Her vision was funny, she couldn't quite bring anyone into focus and the moon above her had tripled in size and gained two sisters. There was another far away howl, and Caroline sucked in a deep breath as the chanting increased in pace and depth. She could feel the words echoing in her bones, and panicked raked her insides.

Blinking firmly against the grit in her eyes she brought the circle around her into something like focus. She was surrounded by witches. The torches hurt to look at but it quickly became clear this was some kind of ritual.

Witch rituals were dangerous. Rituals she hadn't agreed to participate in were even more so. She tried to find Klaus in the mess of moving bodies, to find his face to see how much trouble they were in. If they'd both been trapped nothing good would come from this but all she could make out were swirling robes. Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, Caroline willed herself to steady.

It didn't work.

Her senses felt muted, and she couldn't drag her vampire to the surface. The predator that had lived as a constant threat since she was seventeen years old felt fuzzy, and no matter how she willed them, her fangs wouldn't drop. To make matters worse, some invisible force was holding her up and no matter how Caroline struggled against it, she couldn't break it. She could feel herself trembling with the exception from the fight, her breath harsh in her throat. But it was a strange, distorted struggle.

She refused to give up.

Slowly she freed one finger, then another from the invisible net, until her hand was hers again. It hurt. Clenching a fist nearly sent her mentally careening back into blackness, but she managed it. With the freedom of her hand came her arm, and she painstaking freed the other side until she could slowly flex her fingers on either side of her body

By then the chanting had grown so loud her bones had started to vibrate with it. Slowly, as if she was coated in molasses, Caroline turned her head and found the closest witch was so close, that if she could just lean forward she could touch possibly her.

The hooded figure had lifted her hands to the sky, and it took every ounce of strength Caroline had to lean half an inch forward. But she remained just out of reach. Panting heavily, she blinked rapidly to clear her fuzzy vision, and in that moment she finally caught a brief glimpse of Klaus. It shot through her like a rush an adrenaline, and she froze, suspended awkwardly by magic.

The sight of him on his knees on the forest floor was a shock, his shoulders straight even as the rest of him was forced low. He was bare from the waist up, and covered in symbols that looked like they'd been painted on his skin in blood. His eyes were wolf yellow when they briefly met hers and the glimmer of his teeth sharp with double fangs.

For a moment, she could only wonder.

Then Klaus started to glow.

In a strange echo of the pulsing symbols against his skin, her left wrist began to burn. For a moment the tide of the spell threatened to pull her under again, her body heavy and cradled by this strange magic. All she had to do was close her eyes and sink back under the rising tide of the spell and it'd just be over.

But Caroline had never submitted to anything in her life. Not humanity, not vampirism, not even the monster on his knees. She would not bend to these witches either.

Setting her teeth, Caroline groaned as she fought the hold on her with what strength she had left. The chanting was so loud that no one heard her struggle, and their attention was above them, on the moon. The world tipped and turned in funny directions, shadows glimmering strangely in the corner of her eyes, but she never stopped leaning forward. Her fingertips slowly inched closer to the pale throat in front of her, her bones and muscles burning with the strain. The pain in her wrist was nearly unbearable now, and it was with an agonized scream that she cleared that last inch of space.

Her palm connected with the warm feel of skin and the bubble holding her up popped. Limbs unsteady and weak, Caroline careened forward and slammed into the witch who'd started screaming the instant they'd touched. They tumbled in an awkward sprawl of limbs and robes, crashing across chalk lines and rolling into other bodies.

Caroline never let go of the witches' throat. Human-weak and disoriented, she clung with both hands to the gurgling windpipe between her fingers. Even a human was capable of the eight pounds of pressure needed to crush a throat, and while Caroline might have been drained of her strength, but she was still a vampire. The long nails scrabbling at her hold weren't enough to break her grip. She would not let go.

As the witch died, there was strange popping in her ears and suddenly she could hear. Around her the screams were loud, panicked, and she bared her teeth. The final beating of the witch's pulse against her palms finally had her lifting her gaze.

There was a drumming in her head, the sound of dozen of panicked heartbeats, but she could no more look for the closest threat than she could look away from the sight of Klaus watching her from inside his chalk circle. She'd apparently fallen towards him, and they were close enough that she could smell him as her head started to clear. Wolf and vampire. The blood on his skin smelled like hers. Deep in her chest the first stirring of her monster was a rush of relief.

Thirty years had done nothing to blunt the impact of his gaze holding hers. Violence was building behind his eyes, a terrible sort of rage, but none of it was directed at her. There was the hint of softness, worry he'd only ever let her see and she murmured his name, her voice a scratch against her raw throat.

Klaus's mouth curled upwards with a violent tilt of his lips, gaze yellow hot, and he started to laugh in the growing silence around them. Caroline tried to push into a more dignified position but her arms gave out and she fell back against the chest of the witch she'd murdered. She was starving, throat dry with thirst, but no part of her lunged for the body in beneath of her. Setting her teeth, she gathered her remaining strength and sat up with a groan, landing heavily on her ass. She braced herself on her hand and swayed badly, her reserves tapped out.

Caroline stiffened at movement in her peripheral vision as a witch stepped forward. Her hood lowered and she glared spitefully at Klaus, the gray of her braid wrapped around her throat like a noose. Her face was lined with wrinkles, the bones sharp in her face, and the hands that lowered to her sides were twisted with age and arthritis. His smile widened, dimples creasing his cheeks.

"You failed."

The witch's lips curled upwards, the pale line of her lips parting to show the edge of her teeth. "Oh, but we haven't."

Klaus rose to a standing position, the bloody streaks on his body bright in the moonlight. The chalk lines around him turned brilliant as he stepped towards them, and his jaw visibly tightened. "You don't have the power to complete the spell with only twelve witches, Josephine. Even with your stolen power, it won't be enough."

Rage darkened her cheekbones, and Josephine's mouth twisted. "You are an abomination. Whatever hell your mother found after the other side broke, she deserved. But I will succeed where she failed in correcting her mistake."

Klaus arched a brow, arrogance clear on his face. "While we may agree on my mother's fate, you will find the rest of your ambitions to be nothing but disappointments. I am not so easily banished."

Josephine laughed then, the sound old and raspy. Her gaze left Klaus to find Caroline, and her smile was a terrible thing. "The hubris of monsters. I don't plan to banish you, Niklaus Mikaelson. I plan on destroying you and your family, wiping everything you have created from the face of this planet as if you never existed."

Caroline's stomach twisted into a knot, her fingers digging into the dirt beneath her. Klaus seemed unmoved by her words, untouched by the unblinking state of the coven around them. The woods had gone eerily silent, not even the buzz of the insects breaking the stillness.

"Strong words, witch, but they are only words. We both know you don't have what you need to destroy me or you'd have already tried." Klaus shifted to the edge of his cage, the chalk lines sparking with flecks of moon-gold power. His eyes glittered, dimples a threat and a warning. "And it matters little. Dawn approaches, and the sun will shatter your little containment spell. Do you think you can hide from me? That you can hide your family? I will destroy your line down to the last drop of blood. Only then will I turn my attention to you.

"I do not fear your retribution, monster," she murmured. Her gaze dragged across Caroline's face and the wrinkles near her eyes deepened. "I am not Katerina, to flee before your rage. I will not hide. And you will shortly have other, more pressing matters to attend. A few days is all I will need to finish what has begun."

Klaus tensed as he tracked the witch's gaze, his fingers flexing near his thighs. "Be very careful, Josephine. For you, there are fates worse than death."

She chuckled and ice ran down Caroline's spine. "How curious. You do care for the girl. I would have thought it beneath you. Love is such a human emotion, after all."

Magic pressed into the clearing, thick and cloying, and Caroline's lungs burned with it. Klaus said her name harshly, and she tried to move, to get up and flash away. But the weakness from whatever had been done to her made her clumsy and the witches swarmed her, human hands holding her easily down. Nails dug into her skin, and entangled forcefully in her hair. Robes encircled her, blocking Klaus from her vision, and Caroline hissed as she was rendered immobile.

Josephine stepped forward to complete the circle, and the moon sat fat and heavy just behind the witch's shoulder. Slowly, with a surprising regal grace, the old woman sank slowly into a crouch, her eyes thoughtful as she watched Caroline struggle. "I did not believe him when he said you were the key, but perhaps I should have. It matters little. I have no personal grudge against you, Caroline Forbes, but we must all play our part. That you are of his line is a convenient little bonus and will make this much easier."

Caroline bared her human teeth. Her voice was a broken rasp when she spoke, razors sharp in her dry throat. "I will not help you."

The witch laughed, and the hands holding Caroline pressed harder against her shoulders. "You already have. Originally we thought to use you only as his chain but perhaps this will be better. Death will free you soon enough. Do not fear, we will not waste your death, for you will be the tool that ends such a terrible scourge on this earth."

Lungs tight, fear a sharp band around her lungs, Caroline stared back definitely. "No."

"Such spirit," Josephine murmured. "A waste that you were not born a witch, although perhaps it is a blessing. Such a monster as Klaus is not easy to bear. Better to be a monster to face one."

Caroline lifted her chin. "Like you? I am not the monster here."

She laughed softly. "Ah, child. Time can make monsters of all us. But I will grant you this gift. The truth of who and what you are, to match the truth of him. In the end, perhaps you will gladly seek the end I offer you."

Her weathered and twisted hands reached out and cupped Caroline's face. Lethargy sank into Caroline's bones for a second time that night, and the clarity of her vampire senses faded until she felt blind and deaf. Around her the witches chanted, soft and slow, stealing the last of her fight. Josephine made a soft little hum at Caroline's noise of protest, a gentle, raspy note that was so at odds with the harshness in her eyes.

"Let us see just how much a monster can care."

Underneath the witch's hands, Caroline's skin grew hot and her heartbeat hammered in her ears. The agony in her wrist ached twice as badly as before, and the world started to waver in her peripheral vision. Behind Josephine the moon grew in size, until it obscured Caroline's vision. Distantly, she thought she heard the tortured howl of a wolf.

An instant later and the pain disappeared. A heartbeat before the moon swallowed her whole, she heard her name: ragged and furious, the usual sharp consonants blunted by the magic filling her ears and mouth and eyes. For a single moment she could almost feel the rage infused in that single utterance blistering against her skin. It was a relief when the spell took her beneath the wash of moonlight, her mind going blank.

It was the murmur of her name that dragged Caroline out of unconsciousness. The male voice was insistent, the cajoling tone giving way to a firmness she recognized even through her sleep. It tugged her out of sleep and she slowly became aware of the buzz of insects and the humid, predawn heat. The uncomfortable sprawl of her limbs. There was something digging into her cheek and the smell of mud and grass was almost overwhelming.

Blinking open sticky lashes, Caroline groaned as she took in ruined chalk lines and trampled grass. Not a dream or nightmare then. But a reality somewhere that looked a swamp.

"There you are sweetheart."

The reminder that she wasn't alone was a good one even if she was pretty sure that whatever this mess was it was his fault. The shock of him being there still lingered, but if she was going to be stuck with a partner to deal with witch spells and rituals, he wasn't the worse. She might have even been a tiny bit glad to see him.

Caroline took a quick moment to take stock of herself, and it seemed that everything was still mostly in one piece. She ached in ways she'd forgotten she could and her throat was so dry her control should have been nonexistent, but the vampire cravings she'd coexisted with for three decades were still buried deep. It was alarming.

But just lying there solved nothing.

Her limbs were still shaky and human weak when Caroline finally leveraged herself into a sitting position with a grunt. She brought clumps of dirt and grass up with her, and she wrinkled her nose, swiping at her face before dusting her hands. "Gross."

Klaus' soft laughter had her to turning with narrowed eyes. He didn't look much better than the picture she expected she made, the blood along his skin was now smeared, and his hair sat in wild tuffs about his forehead. But even dirty and wild, she had to force herself to stop studying his naked torso and the clean lines of his chest and abs. The small curl of his lips was familiar as was the hint of the dimple in his cheek.

"What's so funny?" Caroline demanded, voice scratchy and rough. She cleared her throat and tried again. "What the hell was last night, Klaus?"

Anger darkened his eyes before they briefly slid shut. He sat still and quiet in the circle that still trapped him, muscles ridged before he sighed and tilted his head to scan the skyline. His shoulders might have eased a little but it was hard to tell for sure. "We have maybe half an hour before this clearing gets direct sunlight. I'm sorry that our first conversation in so many years must be a rushed one, but there are things you need to know, Caroline."

The sound of her name left her stomach doing little flips. It was unfair, that he could still affect her like the teenager she wasn't anymore. Ignoring her body's reaction to him, Caroline tried to piece together her memories. The night before was fuzzy but she thought she had understood bits and pieces. "You said last night that sunlight would break the boundary lines, right? Isn't that a good thing?"

"I wish it were that simple," he murmured. "How much do you remember, Caroline?"

She waved her hand towards the chalk lines, voice sharp. "Weird witch-y magic, I killed someone, the witch you called Josephine has a hard on for killing your family and somehow I got dragged into mess even though it's been, I dunno, thirty years since the last time I saw you?"

Klaus made a low soothing note in his throat as her voice rose in pitch and she slammed her eyes shut to block out the circle she still sat in. Going straight into a meltdown wouldn't help. Nails curling tightly into her palms, she took several deep breaths and tried to control the tightening of her lungs before looking at him again. "I don't know why I am here or why they magicked me. I should be freaking out and I'm not and that's freaking me out. Please. What is going on?"

"Josephine LaRue is a witch. Thirty years ago, she was the Regent of the Nine Covens of New Orleans, but there are too few witches of those lines left for that to remain true." There was an edge to his words, and Caroline's lips pressed together tightly to keep from interrupting. There was a story there but he said they had limited time. "Currently, she is the benefactor of the Dowager Fauline Cottage. Whatever is left of it."

Grasping onto his words, she frowned. "What did you do?"

A hint of a smile even as his eyes hardened. "Many, many things, I'm afraid. But I have done nothing of note to Josephine personally, although that is a state of matter which shall change rather shortly."

Shivering, because those words were not said in jest, Caroline worried her lip. "She didn't seem concerned by that."

His eyes narrowed. "There is that."

Alarm ran down her spine, and she tried to swallow down the rise of panic. Klaus looked irritated and not at all surprised that Josephine thought herself safe from retribution. His treatment of Katherine was well known among the supernatural, and so were other, more violent deaths. For a witch not to fear Klaus...

"Seriously, Klaus. What did they do last night?"

Klaus held her gaze. "I promise you, Caroline, I will fix it."

"Okay," she said, nails digging into her palms. "I'm really freaking out now."

He grimaced and rubbed his face. "Last night was the second of three planned rituals."

Caroline froze. "What?"

His chin lowered, eyes sympathetic. "You were completely unconscious for the first bit. It was fairly simple in comparison to last night, but the end goal appeared to be an attempt to create a prison world that could contain me. Josephine declared otherwise but her truthfulness in this matter is fairly suspect."

"Okay, but how does that involve me? And seriously, how did they even capture you in the first place? Aren't you uber paranoid about this sort of thing?" She waved a hand in his direction, gaze dropping to the chalk circle. "It's not like you stood still and let them do their weird magic whatever."

Neither Kai nor Bonnie had let themselves be trapped in a prison world either. But they'd both still been banished. She wondered if it took more power to trap something as ancient and dangerous as Klaus or if this was some sort of strange overkill.

"Betrayal has its price," Klaus said softly, interrupting her musings. "And it is a price I have put considerable effort into making unbearable, and yet…"

"But in order to be betrayed you first kind of have to like, trust someone?" Caroline stared at him with open disbelief. "You trust no one? And this seems a bit extreme for your siblings unless you've gone and done something really terrible that I don't want to know about."

A brow arched and the ring around his eyes lightened to wolf yellow. "It isn't entirely true that I don't trust now is it, love?"

The hammer of her heart in her throat had to be noticeable to his hybrid senses but she refused to dwell on it or the implications of his words. It had been three decades and she wasn't sure what was between them anymore. "Okay, maybe, on occasion but then who would have betrayed you? And why?"

Something like regret mingled with the rage behind his eyes and his cheekbones tightened as his jaw clenched and unclenched. "I have a son."

For a long moment, Caroline gawked at him. She was almost certain she'd hallucinated his response. But his expression never changed so it wasn't a joke, either. "What?"

"Adopted," Klaus continued as if she wasn't gaping at him and as if his words hadn't thrown her already scattered thoughts for a loop. "I thought Mikael had killed him but it appears he survived. We have been… readjusting."

It was just too much. She was totally allowed at least one freak-out. Caroline dropped her head into her hands and just sat there, trying to absorb what he was saying. Her morning had just gone from weird to insane and she didn't know what to think. Witches and crazy rituals were sort of normal in her life. Klaus as a dad?

Vampirism had brought along a number of surprises during her short lifetime, but she wasn't certain how to really deal with this one. Klaus as a father figure was horrifying, and not something she had never considered. "Oh my god. Is he even sane?"

Her words were muffled by her fingers but he clearly heard her just fine. His tone was wry when he spoke, edged in something on another person might have been faint regret. "Our relationship wasn't perfect, and a hundred years certainly has changed some of the parameters, but Marcel is quite sane."

She lifted her head. She wondered if Klaus' idea of sanity was even close to hers and pushed it aside. Not her business. "Okay, but then why would he betray you? If you raised him, then he had a front row seat of you and your sibling's family drama. No offense, but you're all crazy. Why would he inflict that on himself if he knows better?"

A slight shrug of his shoulder. "Arrogance is a common failing among vampires, love. But Marcel is a long story, and should he prove to be the traitor, it is one I will deal with. But we are running out of time, and there are things you need to know before true morning finds us."

Wary, dread forming a hard knot in her stomach, Caroline blew out a breath. "Like what?"

"Your left wrist, Caroline." His gaze was apologetic. "You'll find a new tattoo I'm afraid."

Her gaze darted down as she remembered the burning agony from the night before. He was right. There across the curve of bone and muscle was a tattoo. It was the same shade of blue as her swallow, it looked like two simple knots tied together. The lines were clean and precise, and she'd have thought them pretty if she'd given permission to have it etched onto her skin. The image niggled at her, she knew she'd seen it before but couldn't recall where. Mouth running dry, she wordlessly glanced back at him with wide eyes.

"Your interruption of the spell was fortuitous, but there is still a side effect or two we will have to contend with." His tongue snaked across his lips, the first real sign of unease she'd seen from him. "The most urgent matter being that you shouldn't need a sunlight ring as long as we are bound together."

Caroline's mouth opened and closed, and nothing came out. Her gaze darted back down and she inhaled sharply as she realized her ring was missing and she hadn't noticed, too distracted by her new tattoo. She's spent enough time with Bonnie to pick up more than an average understanding of magic from her. For her to share his immunity to the freaking sun…

When she spoke, she could hear just how shrill she'd become. "What?"

Klaus grimaced. "I'm afraid that's not the worst of it."

"How is that not the worst?" She spluttered loudly, shaking her newly tattooed hand in his direction. His mouth tightened and she kept going, words tumbling one after another. "Some witch bound us so tightly together that I might not need a daylight ring. What could possibly be worse?"

His expression shifted into something carefully neutral. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she suddenly had a hard time breathing. "It's possible there will be a surprise or two built in, but Josephine meant for you to be a chain, Caroline. It is unclear at this time if she meant that literally or figuratively, but we should expected there to be a limitation for how far we can be separated without consequences."

She couldn't even begin to process what that meant and Klaus didn't give her a chance.

"How hungry are you?"

Caroline struggled to follow his switch in topic when her mind was still spinning in circles. Blinking hard, she shook her head, words frazzled and lost. "I don't understand."

"I know," he said, voice dipping to something almost soothing. She'd have been offended but she was struggling not to just start screaming. Being magically stuck to Klaus was not freaking okay. "But it is important. How hungry are you? You've been with me for at least two days, and you weren't given blood during that time."

Unable to process that little tidbit on top of everything else, two days she had no memory of, Caroline dragged in a calming breath and tried to sort out an answer. Her throat was so dry her mouth tasted like parchment, and she was way past her usual warning signs that she needed to eat and right then. "I'm starving. I was thirsty last night too but I can't… I should have tried to eat that witch."

Caroline should have gorged.

She remembered waking with his taste in her mouth so she'd had at least one mouthful of Klaus blood, but that wouldn't have been enough to tide her over if she was this hungry. A beam of light broke through the trees and brightened a patch of grass near them. Klaus' jaw tightened and he nodded. "The witch's used a very old, extremely dangerous spell to muffle your vampire so they could contain you. It was developed in the 1700s to try to suppress rippers, and it's forbidden now."

She licked her lips and tried not to fidget. Stefan never spoke as his time as a ripper, but before she and Bonnie had left Mystic Falls, she'd picked up a thing or two. She'd learned even more during her explorations in vampire communities. Rippers were insane, driven by blood lust and utterly inhumane in their needs. She'd wondered at Lexi's determination to help Stefan, the type of will it had taken to bring him back from the edge so many times.

That a witch had developed a spell to deal with a ripper wasn't surprising. That it was forbidden was a shock. "Why was it forbidden?"

"It does exactly what it is supposed to do and it brings a vampire's humanity to the surface but at a very high cost. For a ripper, who seeks to gorge itself on blood and sensation, it gives them back a semblance of control. The problem is that it is a false control, and eventually spells fade or are broken." Klaus gave a small shrug. "A ripper is a true addict. They never stay sober long on their own. A ripper set loose when starving is a feral creature who only seeks to slake his need for blood and other, base desires."

Unease has her shifting away from the encroaching sunlight. Whatever the witches had done sunlight seemed to be the lynchpin that would break them and she wasn't ready for that. "Uh huh. What does that mean, specifically, for me?"

"It is a bit unclear," Klaus admitted. "The spell was only used a handful of times before it was supposed to have been destroyed. As far as I'm aware, it was never cast more than a few times. The risk was too high. The witch who I questioned regarding the details was unfortunately only somewhat helpful."

See: tortured. Caroline rubbed her aching head. "If the spell is forbidden, how did Josephine have it?"

"The Dowager Fauline Cottage is both a prison and a sanctuary," Klaus admitted. "There are a number of reasons for its existence and I'm afraid none of the witches there have a reason to particularly like me."

"Not really that surprising," Caroline muttered.

He shrugged. "Perhaps. But there are likely a number of spells the witches there know. It's more surprising that Josephine managed to coax such information from them."

"Why?"

"They are quite insane by now, I'm told." Klaus tipped his head. "It will need to be looked into, once this mess is dealt with. But a project for another time. Tell me about the day you turned, Caroline."

Her eyes jumped back to his. She had a hundred questions on the tip of her tongue, the most pressing what exactly did he mean by trapped? How had he been involved? Promising herself she'd dig later, Caroline shook her head. "My transition? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I need to understand just how much reign your monster has had, Caroline. Did your sire stop you from killing when you woke up or were you allowed to hunt?" His brows had furrowed slightly, gaze dark. "I'd assumed it was the former with your aversion to hunting when you were younger."

It was a jolt in her system as she realized that Klaus didn't know the particulars of her becoming a vampire. She had grown so accustomed to him being so far ahead of them during that time that it had never occurred to her that he wouldn't. What did it mean that he didn't know the particulars about Katherine or the hospital or the Fair?

Hiding a wince thinking of her childhood cut so suddenly short, she shook her head. "I didn't kill anyone when I transitioned. That came later. Why is it important?"

His head tipped to the side, curiosity slipping behind his gaze, but Klaus didn't push for more information. "With this particular spell, depending on the depth of starvation, even the most controlled of vampires risk blood rage, Caroline. You show no signs of desiccation but you are far paler than I like."

"Gee, thanks," she muttered. "How can you even tell with all the mud?"

"Did you think that I'd have forgotten you, Caroline?" His eyes darkened, gaze glinting with a familiar heat. "I assure you, I have not."

There was a wealth of meaning in his words and her breath hitched. Swallowing, because she didn't know what to say, she took a breath. "Why are you worried about the spell, Klaus?"

A hint of the rage she expected flared behind his eyes and his fingers curled tightly into fists. "For all of Josephine's bravado, she still needs enough time to put distance between us and her. She'll need to recover enough magic to hide her presence from my witches and I expect you are the distraction she plans on using."

"Okay," Caroline said, palms lifting to rub across her face, mud flaking away from her skin. "Great. But that doesn't really make sense? Actually getting blood should fix this whole worry about me going nuts? It wouldn't be a long term distraction."

Klaus tipped his head to the side in agreement but something about his eyes left her uneasy. "Yes, blood will help."

"But?"

"We are hopefully far enough away from New Orleans that you won't attempt to bolt straight for a populated area."

Caroline froze, taking in all the words he hadn't said. "Didn't you just say we might not be able to separate without consequences," she asked, mind reeling. "Like, can I head straight for New Orleans and leave you behind? Assuming I could outrun you, which isn't really likely."

"It would depend on the parameters of the spell," Klaus said bluntly. "But you might not care. Unless something drastically changed, it's unlikely you will be prepared for the strength of your monster taking control like this, love. Particularly if you managed to reign in your hunger nearly from the time you transitioned. We will need to take steps to deal with it."

She swore under her breath and tucked her feet closer beneath her to avoid the direct sunlight as the sky turned brighter around them. "And by dealing with it, you mean you?"

Drinking Klaus blood wouldn't be a hardship. It might come back to bite her in the ass later, but she was willing to risk it. Particularly when he watched her with that quiet intensity in his eyes, as if her taking a bite was something he wanted too.

"I was kept mostly well fed, since they needed me mostly functioning. I can give you some of the blood you need, Caroline, but not all of it. Not yet."

She bit her lip. "Half-starved is probably better than nothing."

"You need to know that on top of your hunger, it's also likely all of your emotions from last night will rise back to the surface. The panic and adrenaline, the blood lust from your kill? They could compound upon each other. You'll want blood, love," he said, voice carefully even. "And when you don't get the amount you need, your monster will try to gorge itself anyway it can."

Caroline froze, picking up on what he was telling her almost immediately. "Um, what?"

A hint of dark amusement curled his lips. "I'm sure you've noticed as you've grown into your vampirism that blood and sex are closely linked for a vampire, Caroline. Post-battle adrenaline very easily turns to lust, particularly when blood is involved."

She knew she probably sounded slightly crazy but she didn't care as words came tumbling free. "Klaus, we are in a swamp. There are bugs and snakes and alligators and mud. We have witches to hunt. Sex is a terrible idea. It'd be a terrible idea even if you weren't prone to ripping clothes. I'm not walking out of her naked."

A flicker of that heated amusement brightened his eyes, but his words were direct as his gaze tracked the sun breaking through the trees. "I'd offer to snap your neck and carry you back to civilization, but there is a chance it would only make the symptoms worse. We don't have the time necessary to go somewhere a bit more civilized, I'm afraid. But we didn't do so badly the last time we were in similar circumstances, did we?"

She swallowed. Hard. They'd spent hours in the woods. Thinking about Klaus above her with swollen lips or the way he'd moved down her torso, pressing hot kisses along her stomach before moving lower and licking her through an orgasm she had to muffle with her palm, would not help matters. Not when the first beam of sunlight was brushing across her skin.

For a moment, her heart hammered in her ears because she was terrified Klaus was wrong about everything and she'd start to burn. Caroline shivered violently in the humid morning air in remembered pain. She knew the smell of her burning flesh, the way it felt. But the sun stayed warm and bright on her unblemished skin. And just like before it was as if a shell cracked around her but this time her monster came flooding back with the breaking of the spell.

It wasn't a violent surge but a slotting of missing pieces. Her vision sharpened, her hearing returned, and the need for blood turned her mouth to ash. All at once she was aware of a thousand different noises, dozens of scents her human nose hadn't noticed, and Klaus. Beneath the mud and smell of her own blood, Klaus was familiar and welcome and arousing.

Arousal tangled with her hunger and she knew it would only take a single drop of blood and she'd lunge and take everything she wanted but didn't want to admit to. Klaus had been right. The intensity of her craving was nearly unbearable, and it clawed her insides with a need she hadn't been prepared for. Even when she'd nearly eaten the nurse, when she'd drained the man at the Fair, she'd never felt so uninhibited in her vampirism.

But where Klaus had speculated that her hunger would be a stronger version of her transition he'd been wrong. Waking a vampire had been terrifying. Horrifying. She'd had no understanding of what was in her veins, why she was starving and she needed blood. She'd been frightened by the monster she'd become and had no understanding of what she was in those moments. What she'd needed. But this? This was a rush and terrible high, and she knew if she'd just let go a little, she'd gorge until she was too full, too satisfied to move.

She'd probably even enjoy it.

Klaus's voice slipped past the pounding in her ears. "Caroline?"

The sound of his voice was difficult to focus on over the throbbing of her pulse and she took a deep breath, and then another. Another. Somehow she managed to claw back the smallest bit of control and she held it with clenched teeth.

"This is not how I was expecting this week to go," Caroline said finally, voice rough with strain. Witch rituals and crazy vampire sex with Klaus. She hoped it wasn't a Monday. "Seriously, this was not on my bucket list."

"I'll make it up to you," Klaus murmured as she sat rigid, fingers white knuckled against her knees. She heard him stand and walk closer, and guessed that his containment spell had finally broken. Anticipation thrummed through her. She felt fever hot and her body so sensitive to his presence she wanted to scream.

"A little mud, some blood, all problems a shower can solve," Klaus continued, voice low and holding a hint of gravel. "Would you let me wash your hair?"

Her body positively throbbed at the thought of Klaus naked in the shower with her and she hissed between her teeth. Opening her eyes, Caroline glared at him and his unrepentant face. "You can't say things like that when I'm under the influence of weird spells, Klaus."

He crouched in front of her and carefully cradled her jaw with his palm. The edges of his irises had bled yellow with his wolf and a shiver ran across her skin. "Later, perhaps, you'll tell me when I can make such suggestions, hmm?"

She wanted to bite back and to tell him not anytime soon, but those words wouldn't be quite true. Whatever she thought seeing Klaus again would mean, this really wasn't it. She needed to figure out what all of this meant. But not when she was struggling not to rip his clothes clean off his body and drain him dry.

Klaus must have read the struggle on her face but his words were soft, inviting. "It's okay to let go, Caroline. You can't hurt me and I won't let you harm anyone else. There is no shame in taking what you need when I am offering it."

Caroline reached up and gripped his wrist tightly, the bones of his wrists grinding beneath her fingers but his expression never changed. "Promise?"

She couldn't explain why this was important to her when so many other things were unspoken between them. Klaus rarely made promises outside of bloody vengeance and torture, but this spell had screwed with her equilibrium. Caroline had spent three decades learning how to be comfortable inside her skin but what this was demanding from her was too much, too soon. Having the last of her control ripped from her after everything else threatened to put her somewhere she hadn't been mentally in decades.

And Klaus, with his impeccable ability to read her, seemed to understand it. The line of his mouth softened, thumb running across her cheekbone. "Promise."

Some of the stiffness eased from her shoulders as his words untangled the knot that had formed in her chest. After all these years and still his acceptance, and her reaction to it, hadn't changed. She vaguely wondered if it would always be like this: Klaus taking everything she offered and wanting more but never judging what he found. There were things to think about later. The fact that she believed him and trusted him to keep his word being near the top of her mental list.

But she wasn't interested in possibilities anymore. She was hungry, aroused as hell, and Klaus had given her permission to take whatever she wanted. Leaning forward, Caroline forcibly stuffed down her need and arousal to angle her mouth against his and let herself just feel him for a moment. To indulge the part of her that had thought of his taste, the shape of his mouth, the heat of his skin, and the scruff of his beard beneath her fingertips for years.

She kissed him with the memory of long nights thinking of him when she shouldn't have and a refusal to let a witch's spell dictate the entirety of this encounter. Caroline kissed him like she'd missed him and she refused to feel guilty for it. When Klaus slowly pulled away, his eyes were hot and dark, except the encroaching band of yellow circling his pupils. His tongue dragged across his lips as if could chase the lingering taste of her, and her fingers tightened his hair.

"As much as I adore the way you linger against my mouth, Caroline…" he smiled, slow and wicked and oh so greedy, dimples creasing his cheeks before his eyes flared true gold and his fangs dropped. "You're hungry. I'm going to have to insist you eat."

Her pulse jumped, and she watched nearly hypnotized as the tip of his tongue dragged along one sharp point. The sight and smell of fresh blood shattered her iron grip and she lunged for his mouth with a hungry little moan, licking at his tongue until the cut finished healing and she went for his lips with her fangs. He met her teeth with his own and their blood mingled between biting kisses that teased her hunger. Klaus pulled her closer, the naked expanse of his chest hot under her grasping fingers, and the feel of her dried blood staining his skin ruined her.

Carding her fingers into his hair, Caroline yanked his head back and bit down sharply on his throat. Klaus fingers pressed tightly into her ass, his groan a vibration against her bite, and she only dug her teeth in harder. He had always been the best thing she'd tasted but half-starved, he was ambrosia on her tongue. She could drain him dry and it wouldn't be enough. Klaus worked his fingers into her hair and tugged just hard enough to send a shiver down her spine.

"That's enough." She'd wanted to fight him on it, her hunger was nowhere near sated enough, but he gripped the base of her neck and squeezed lightly. "Enough, Caroline."

The hint of steel in his words, the demand in his touch, sent an unexpected thrum of arousal through her and it was a struggle to force herself to unlatch her fangs. Her nails cut into his skin, breathe coming in uneven pants against Klaus' shoulder. Blood oozed from the puncture wounds at his throat and while she'd never been a messy eater the sight of his blood on his skin left her wanting to dig in little gouges. Bending her head she dragged her tongue against the rapidly healing skin, her moan low and hungry. Need raked her insides with its claws and she pulled back with bloody lips.

"I'm going to need that distraction now," she rasped, tongue running along her mouth. Klaus' gaze flared hot as he drank in her monster's face, his fingers tightening in her hair.

"Do you?" Gravel rough, his voice skimmed over her senses like a touch. His mouth lowered back into hers, tongue hot against her lips for a brief moment. "Beautiful."

His voice was reverent, strangely soft for the heat in his eyes, and she shuddered. Tangling her fingers tightly in his hair, she licked at his charming tongue, wanting to see if she could taste the reverence. Instead, Caroline found heat and his monster. He palmed her ass, encouraging the rocking of her hips and she couldn't get close enough. Her skin ached, the soft molds of her bra denying her the heat of his skin as she rubbed against him like cat. She wanted to crawl beneath his skin and she wanted him to carry her scent for days.

Moaning at the thought, Caroline raked her nails down his spine and a moment later the world spun. She found herself on her knees, fingers and palms pressing into the damp earth. Klaus followed her down, fitting the curve of his hips to her ass. Spluttering, she tried to rear back and reverse their positions. He laughed roughly against her ear as he caught her wrists, stretching her forward so that she could feel the hard edge of his trapped cock against the curve of her ass.

"And I thought you said I could take what I wanted?" Caroline demanded, wiggling impatiently.

His hold firmed as he transferred her wrists to one hand, and her stomach tightened with a fresh wave of arousal as he trailed his fingers down her abdomen to toy with the button on her jeans. Her breathing went ragged as her jeans loosened, his fingertips running along the band of her underwear.

"You were very clear that you didn't want me to rip anything, love." Caroline drew in a sharp breath, pulse pounding loudly in her ears as he moved to draw her zipper down slowly. "I'd hate to have you angry at me so soon for something avoidable."

She squirmed against his hold, monster wanting more and wanting it now, but Klaus didn't hurry. The cage of his body was arousing and frustrating, and she wanted him to touch her. This teasing was unnecessary when they both knew she was more than ready for him.

"Klaus, come on," her head lowered, body straining against his hold. "Touch me or let me touch you, but stop teasing."

His lips curled against her skin and it made her ache worse. The scrape of his beard against her neck left her shivering and thighs clenched, and arousal soaked. His fingertips naked under her shirt to skin along her abdomen, calloused fingers circling her belly button. She clenched her teeth to keep from begging, his careful touches not nearly enough.

"How would you touch me, Caroline?" His words were soft and thick. "Would you like to pin me down and ride my cock? I wonder, would you sink down immediately or would you feed the monster inside you just a little more and tease us both until your dripping onto my skin."

Her eyes squeezed shut. "Klaus."

His lips brushed the curve of her ear. "Surely you have at least one fantasy, love. I assure you, I have several. Just one, and I'll strip you bare from the waist down, and then we can negotiate further, hmm?"

"I do want you beneath me," she gritted out, shivering as his palm flattened on her abdomen and slid up towards her breasts.

"And?" Klaus asked as his fingers spread wide, touch just stopping beneath the wire of her bra. "Surely having me at your mercy isn't enough."

Her skin rippled with a shudder at the image his words painted. "I want to watch you bleed."

"Good," he murmured before his hand returned to her pants, fingers working down the stretchy material of her jeans down her thighs. He left the material tangled around her knees but she didn't care he ran his hand up her thigh. "Good."

Caroline trembled as he stroked over the front of her underwear, his groan low and rough as he felt just how soaked she was for him. His fingers lightly circled her clit, and she whined his name, hips jerking. She was trembling, skin flushed fever hot and she needed him inside her.

"Why are you still wearing pants?" Caroline managed to gasp. "Here I thought I was supposed to be getting off. Get rid of them, Klaus, and get inside me."

He shuddered above her, fingers tensing against her. "Ah, but there is something to be said for anticipation, Caroline," he murmured. "When I finally fill you I want the only thought in your mind to be more. More of my cock inside you, more of me."

The thread of possessiveness in his voice was weirdly hot. Her monster wanted to claw him back, to leave a mark just as potent on his skin as he was demanding from her. "We didn't nearly have enough time to catalogue your preferences before, Caroline."

"My preference is to come."

Klaus made a thoughtful noise, his fingertips nudging aside her underwear. The noise she made as he sipped his fingers through her arousal was nearly inhuman and her breath came in hitching gasps as he softly teased her clit. "But I am curious, love. I've thought extensively of all the different ways I can make you come, you see. All the ways I want you."

She sucked in a sharp breath at his words, hips mindlessly following the motion of his fingers. "Tell me."

"Hmm," Klaus rasped, keeping his touch light. "I want to tie you to my bed so that that I can tease you with my tongue until you are hoarse and begging, so aroused you're mindless with it. Would you like my teeth in your thigh or the curve of you breast when you orgasm?" He slipped his fingers lower, parting her dripping folds, fingers gently exploring. "I've often thought often of your preference for dresses and skirts, imagined taking you somewhere not entirely private, hard and fast, so that my release lingers on your bare thighs for hours. I want you slow and drowsy, still sleep warm beneath my mouth."

Caroline whimpered, body bowing as he finally firmed his touch with the slick little half-moons. Her head tossed against him, need a near violent throb. She needed just a little more and she strained for it, body moving desperately against his. "Please, Klaus, more, I just need…"

Her words turned into a short scream as he pinched her clit between his fingers and her muscles locked. His arm banded around her middle as she trembled through the aftershocks but he didn't release her wrists. But even as her body unwound she still wanted more. It didn't take long for the little motions of his thumb against her waist to send little shocks of need through her blood.

It'd been good but not enough.

"Did you miss me, Caroline?"

His words cleared a little of her monster's haze and she snorted. "Is this really the time?"

"Why not?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to concentrate on his words and not feel of his fingertips slipping low to skim through the arousal that had slicked down her thighs. "Weird spell, remember?"

"Perhaps you are right," he mused. "It does seem a touch unfair, to use your need against you. Later then. Perhaps when you let me tie you to the bed? Should I instead tell you of how I've missed you? Your taste. Your smell. The flash of your eyes as I annoy you. How beautifully you respond to the merest hint of filth if I phrase it just so when I'm inside you."

Caroline licked her lips, arousal flushing beneath her skin as her monster drank in his words. Widening her stance as best she could, she rubbed her ass against the erection she knew had to be painful. "How about you show me."

His body rocked against hers, a rough grind of his hips as he groaned through clenched teeth. But for a moment she still thought he'd decided to tease them both more but the feel of his hand moving to his pants had Caroline biting her lower lip in anticipation.

"I wish I could see your face," Klaus mused roughly as he unfastened his pants. "You didn't let me see your monster last time and she is exquisite."

"You're the one who wanted this position," she said raggedly. His low noise of agreement left her untouched breasts aching. Caroline nearly sobbed with relief at the feel of his cock pressing against her entrance. She tried to squirm back, but he held her steady.

"Tell me how you want it."

"Hard," Caroline ground out, her monster turning her words into a snarl. She was done with his teasing. "Now."

Klaus made a low noise but he obligingly pushed her underwear aside with fingers that shook, and Caroline moaned as he worked his cock inside her. With her jeans trapping her legs, his entry felt shockingly tight and she ground back into him with a little cry. In response he finally shoved his hand up her shirt to move beneath her bra to find a handful of her breast. He released her wrists and wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back roughly into his first thrust. Caroline fisted her hands in the earth as she pushed back onto his cock, panting out the syllables of his name.

"God," she managed. "Good. More."

His breath was hot and uneven against her shoulder as he ground against her, and Caroline didn't recognize the noise she made when he started to move, hips grinding roughly against hers. Her ribs protested his grip but she couldn't care as his cock dragged so perfectly inside her, the occasional low noise in his throat a perfect counterpoint to her high pitched cries. Her pretense of control frayed, monster loose and hungry beneath her skin and she rocked into his thrusts without care. His fingers tugged her nipple just hard enough to sting and she arched her spine, demanding more.

"Absolutely perfect," Klaus growled. Her orgasm built rapidly this time, encouraged by the roughness of his breathing, the filth he uttered as he slid in and out of her clenching body. Vision going hazy and white at the edges, she clawed at the earth, muscles locked so tightly it was nearly painful. Klaus ground out her name, his body a solid wall of tension behind her, his cock still unbelievably hard and thick inside her as she came down.

He held her as she regained function of her limbs. Head lolling forward, she shuddered at the arousal that sang through her veins as he helped her straighten on his lap. "Take off your shirt, Caroline."

Her hands shook as she did as he asked, somehow managing the dexterity to pull off the bra Klaus obligingly unhooked. Every breath reminded her just how deep he was inside her and she bit her lips bloody.

"Next time we are in this position, you will cup your breasts for me and pinch your nipples until you beg me to touch you," Klaus said through clenched teeth. "Then I'll let you play with your clit until you come."

Caroline reached behind her and gripped his neck, spine arching as he brought up both hands to toy with her nipples just as he'd described. "I'm not interested in next time. How are you going to make me come now?"

His laugh was ragged but he released her breasts long to tug her jeans past her ankles. She obligingly spread her thighs wider, toes digging into the soft mud as he began to toy with her clit, his other hand cupping and shaping her breast roughly. Hypersensitive, clit swollen and soaked, it didn't take long for her orgasm to creep up on her. Klaus jerked below her, mouth pressing against her shoulder as he joined her, her name a rough growl of his voice

Head lolling against his, Caroline tried to catch her breath. With Klaus soft inside her and the smell of their combined releases between them, it should have been enough. She should reach for her discarded pants and shirt, tell them it was time to go. It's what she'd forced herself to do in the woods the last time.

She didn't want last time.

Caroline wanted her turn. She wanted more. She wanted to hear Klaus say her name like an epitaph, rough and gravely, breaking just a little as he shuddered with the bliss of his release. She wanted to watch his eyes turn wolf yellow with strain and it was her turn to call the shots. Rocking forward, she got her feet under her and she twisted around, sliding back into his lap to kiss him, cupping the curve of his neck and digging in her nails until he bleed.

"You told me I could take what I wanted," Caroline said against his mouth, flicking her tongue against parted lips for another small taste. "Be good and let me, hmm?"

His eyes flared with gold. She hadn't bothered to reel in her monster, her fangs and red eyes still on display and he watched her with a warning in his eyes that she ignored. Leaning back in, Caroline sucked on his tongue until his fingers left temporary bruises on her hips. She moaned and rocked into the hard line of his abs, arousal slick against his skin before she pulled back with a gasp.

His fingers wound her hair around his fist and he nipped strongly at her chin as he tugged her head back. "Be careful, Caroline. I only have so much patience."

She shoved at his shoulders and followed him down when he released her and reluctantly leaned back. Shrugging one shoulder just to watch his eyes drop to her breast, she deliberately shoved a hand between her thighs, shivering above at how swollen and sensitive she found her clit. "You better find it then because it's only fair you that you have mud in your hair too."

Lifting her arousal slicked fingers to her mouth, she sucked her fingers clean, moaning at their combined tastes. Klaus jaw went rigid, small veins peaking from beneath his eyes as she accidentally cut her finger. Deliberately she sucked at blood, the taste of it mingling with their combined taste and her thighs clenched tightly together.

"Caroline."

She popped her finger free and shook her head as she settled against him, straddling the hard line of his abdomen, and ignoring his cock. She rocked against the heat of his skin, her hips making softly lewd noises as her arousal coating her skin. "Nope. I'm in charge."

"And what," he murmured, eyes glittering as he watched her move with flushed cheeks and wet lips. "Do you want?"

Leaning forward so her breasts swayed with each rough motion of her hips, she braced her hand next to his head and dipped a hand between her thighs a second time. "I want you to watch."

His eyes burned a line down her body. "Surely you'd like more than that. Shall I play with your pretty breasts? Maybe suck on your nipples?"

She circled her clit with wet fingers on a shaky sigh and shook her head, hips rocking a touch frantically. "No."

Her monster craved his need, the covetous way he watched the patterns of her fingers. The way her arousal dripped and smeared across his skin. She wished she'd thought to score his chest with her nails so she could watch the blood bead on his skin, and the thought pushed her towards another orgasm. She slipped two fingers inside her soaked passage, head tossing as she ground against her palm, and she thought of his cock and how easily it would slip back inside her.

Caroline came with a harsh cry. Trembling above him she watch him strain with forced patience, the striations along his jaw red and white. Letting her hand fall free of her thighs, she traced the fullness of his mouth with her slick fingertips. Klaus sucked them pad his lips, tongue laving at her skin, his appreciative moan low in his throat. Reaching behind her, Caroline curled her fingers against the still wet length of his shaft just to watch the way his lashes fluttered, head tipping slightly back as she warmed him with her palm. But it wasn't until she shifted back, pressing the head of his cock to her opening, that she relented.

"Now," she gasped as she sank down, pulling her trembling fingers away from his lips. "You can touch."

Klaus surged up with a flex of muscle that had her clawing at his thigh, his lips wrapping firmly against her nipple. Teeth and tongue played against her breast before he switched sides, sucking strongly. Caroline left bloody gouges in his shoulders, near his collarbones, as he shifted his hands to her thighs and encouraged her to rock against him.

"Harder," he demanded, fangs scraping against the curve of her breast. She moved against him roughly, hips swiveling to find the perfect angle, and he turned to stone beneath her hands when she found it, her body clenching down hard on his length. Her vision turned hazy at the edges, the building release tortuous. She pressed her breast against his mouth, and lifted a hand to tug at her other nipple.

"That's it," Klaus crooned, fingers moving to dig into the muscle of her ass. He scattered kisses across her sternum, slipped a shaking hand between her thighs to rub carefully against her clit. "Let go."

Caroline shook her head, body straining for a final peak, hips jerking as he touched her. "Bite me."

His teeth sank into her breast before she'd finished speaking, fingers pinching her clit and she shattered with a scream, body slumping into Klaus. He rolled them instantly, hips roughly pumping into her fluttering muscles before he stiffened with an oath, his release prolonging hers. For a moment he laid there, skin hot and slicked with blood and sweat, before he twisted again and pulled her across his chest. Caroline pressed her face into his throat, body pleasantly exhausted. His fingers came up to smooth her hair, and she closed her eyes and floated.

"Alright?" He murmured some time later, his voice a rumble underneath her cheek.

Caroline stretched out her muscles with a little sigh and evaluated herself. She still felt a little twitchy, her skin over sensitive and monster still hungry for blood, but she could think past it now. "I'm okay," she mumbled, voice still scratchy. "That was definitely... an experience."

His fingers caught lightly on a tangle and she shivered as he carefully unraveled the knot. "Hopefully not a terrible one."

She lifted her hand and dropped it against his chest in a terrible approximation of a swat. Five orgasms hardly qualified as a terrible experience. "Really?"

The noise he made was amused but mostly content. Caroline wondered at his ease but couldn't that she hadn't felt this relaxed in years. Their monsters had come out to play and that had been a different kind of release than the sex. It hadn't been one she'd known she'd needed.

And now with sweat still cooling on her skin, the swamp slowly coming to life around them after she'd fucked Klaus for the second time? It was just a little surreal. It certainly hadn't been like this the last time they'd had sex. There had barely been any kind a pause between rounds, and when Klaus had gathered his clothes she'd pretended she hadn't wanted him to stay, and he'd then he'd left with one more wicked curl of his lips that had promised she'd think of him.

And she had.

Caroline wondered if it was strange to want to stay where she was, naked and pressed against him, but they had things to do. This was not the time to figure out how she felt about Klaus and his sudden reappearance in her life. But even knowing that, she couldn't completely hide the tinge of regret in her voice as she broke the silence between them a second time.

"I am going to need more blood soon."

Klaus traced the knots of her spine, his breath stirring her hair. "Yes."

Caroline shook her head as she rose up on her elbow and to look at him. "So what's the plan? We aren't exactly presentable. You might have pants, but you definitely don't have a shirt and you are covered in blood."

There would be no hiding the blood or arousal that lingered on his skin like a beacon to supernatural noises even if he had a shirt. She was pretty sure even a human might have been able to pick on the smell of sex on their skin at this point.

"A problem easy enough to solve," Klaus dismissed, seemingly unbothered by his unkempt state. The curling little smile on his mouth suggested that he might even be enjoying it. "We can't be too far from New Orleans. This early in the morning, we should be able to acquire what we need without too much fuss."

Caroline's gaze darted back to his, her scan for her clothes put on hold as she latched onto his words. "Why not?"

"Ancestral magic, love," he said with a slight shrug. "Josephine and her little menagerie of witches will need to be in the city for whatever they have planned."

"Then why are we in a swamp?" Caroline demanded as she wrinkled her nose and gave the little clearing a disgusted look. She couldn't see the water but she could smell it. "Who chooses this much nature?"

"Not one for camping?"

She snorted and pushed to her feet, cheeks turning slightly pink as his eyes drifted slowly down her body. "I'm all for the occasional outdoor excursion, but sleeping in the woods is not my idea of a good time."

"Hmm, I'll remember that," Klaus said as he continued to shamelessly ogle her as she reached for her t-shirt and slightly mangled bra. Caroline tossed his pants at his chest with an exasperated noise before reaching for hers. Her underwear as a loss, soaked and stained as they were. The rest of her clothes smelled like the swamp, she smelled like blood and sex, and as she wiggled back into her clothing she tried to ignore the way Klaus' scent lingered on her skin, noticeable even with all the other scents.

Klaus took her hint and stood, shaking out his jeans before stepping into them. "However, I do have a few theories about why they'd use this location."

"And are you going to share those theories?"

Klaus looked up from buttoning his jeans and her fingers twitched to touch him. Shirtless in dark jeans was a really good look on him. "Building a prison world takes power, love, and likely an anchor of sorts. I'm sure you remember how Qetsiyah anchored the Other Side?"

Caroline shivered, arms crossing tightly, her arousal fading quickly. "You don't think…"

He shook his head. "No. Too risky. Even if snapping your neck wouldn't break the spell, Amara was a true immortal. Her body lasted under the pressure of the spell only because of that immortality."

She blew out a breath and nodded. "Okay, then why involve me at all?"

"A question I intend to find answers too," he replied darkly. "But as far as last night goes, their attempt to build a prison world, I'd guess that they'd hoped to use the land as their anchor. I once spent a great deal of time in the city, it could even be said I helped build it in part, and that leaves a mark. It probably helped that a wolf pack claimed this territory for centuries as their own. It's likely they saw it as a perfect mix of power to bind both wolf and vampire."

Caroline frowned, thinking of Kai. She needed to ask Bonnie what had kept him imprisoned for so long and how she'd broken out. "Wouldn't a pack object to the spell being done here? When these things fall apart, the cleanup is messy."

"If any of them still lived, I'm sure they would."

She blinked at him, trying to figure out what could have left such a note of old rage in his voice. She was really starting to have a list of things that would drive her crazy with curiosity. "Okay… so if we are dealing with a possible prison realm, when we get to civilization, I'll need to call Bonnie."

His head tipped to the side. "Are you certain the Bennet witch will be willing to help?"

"Oh she hates you," Caroline agreed almost cheerfully as she tried to fluff her hair. "Thankfully she is still my best friend. You'll just have to deal with her attitude and be polite about it. She has experience with prison worlds, and we'll need it."

Klaus face turned grim. "Experience?"

Caroline kept forgetting the things he missed. She wondered that he didn't know some of it and something fluttered in her chest that he'd kept his word so thoroughly. "She maybe, sort of broke out of one once, why?"

His brows furrowed. "How many people know of that little feat, Caroline?"

Unease stirred in her gut. "The witches who were involved are dead. Damon, Stefan… Enzo. Matt. Not too many outside of that, why?"

"As I'm sure you can imagine, you are not someone I speak of often or lightly. You wished for a chance to chase your human dreams, and I have done what I can to ensure you are not bothered by supernatural conflicts. It is also unlikely my siblings would speak of you. Whomever told the witches of your existence, the role you could play in detaining me, they may also have spoken of your friends." His mouth tightened. "We need to operate with the assumption that they know exactly who we would reach out to for aid."

Mouth dry, Caroline swallowed. "Bonnie and Enzo can take care of themselves."

"I'd say you are also quite capable of taking care of yourself and yet…"

They'd gotten the drop on Klaus. The knot in her stomach grew worse. "Just how close are we to New Orleans?"

"Let's find out."

New Orleans was a city Caroline had never been quite able to bring herself to visit, even decades after Klaus had left her his voice mail. She liked to pretend that it wasn't about him, that there really wasn't a reason to visit, but she'd always known the lie for what it was. She'd laughed off invitations to Mardi Gras, telling herself that she wasn't the slightest bit jealous of the stories of debauchery and blood sharing in the thick of the parade her vampire friends talked about.

Caroline had never really been able to pinpoint exactly why New Orleans was different. When she'd finally left Mystic Falls after her mother's death and Elena's fate, she'd needed to be free. Free of her friend's expectations, free of the ghost of her human life. She'd shaken off what had felt like lead weights on her shoulders as she'd traversed through the old cities in the world, and she found herself happy.

She'd visited Paris and Rome. Vienna. London and Berlin. It's been a rebellion of sorts tied into a refusal to let old memories and Klaus influence her life from the shadows. She'd worked her way down the little list of dreams her teenage self had once made, she had found herself in those little adventures.

But she'd never quite managed to make it to Tokyo. She'd never gone to New Orleans. Two lingering promises she could never fully bring herself to spoil. Caroline had never been fully willing to excise Klaus from her life and she'd justified once or twice to herself that letting those two memories linger wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

And now her first taste of New Orleans was bloody.

It had only been Klaus at her back, his fingers curved along the nape of her neck as she'd fed that had kept her from going too far. He'd warned her it might be her reaction when they'd stopped just outside the city, Klaus' fingers firm along her wrist when she'd been bombarded by the smell and sounds of people. Shivering, she'd gripped his forearm and used the heat and feel of him to ground herself.

"Okay," she said slowly, trying not to breathe too deeply. "I totally get why you thought I'd go charging straight in."

His thumb smoothed along the line of bone, voice pitched low and encouraging. "You're doing very well, sweetheart."

Her gaze shot to his incredulously. "Are you patronizing me?"

A brow arched. "Of course not. You're still fairly young for a vampire, Caroline. You've been magically tortured, be spelled and starved. Even without the ripper spell, you'd be expected to struggle with your monster. That you've not fought me when we can hear so many heart beats is a feat. You've handled yourself admirably."

Slightly mollified if still starving, she jerked her chin at the still sleepy city. "Then why did we stop?"

"I have a home in the city, but going there might be mistake. If I was the coven I'd have left a surprise or two," Klaus' watched his thumb move along her skin with intent eyes. "We still need to test just how far we can be separated, but I'd prefer to do that once you're fed. You've dealt with a number of strains today and I see no reason to add to them until you are a bit more rested. Stay close to me."

Close was something Caroline had been okay with. She'd needed two humans to slake her thirst. Usually a neat eater, she'd been slightly messier than usual, breathless and shaky with adrenaline. Klaus had cleaned up her meals without comment and then sent them away with a bit of compulsion.

Only once she'd been full, Klaus had sought his own meal and she'd watched him take his fill, surprised at how strongly she had reacted. Caroline had never hunted with another vampire before, and there was something about watching him eat that was riveting. The curve of his neck, the flex of his fingers. The little noise he'd made at the taste of his meal, a pale echo of how he sounded when he tasted her. It had struck a chord inside her chest she hadn't known existed.

She'd always reacted to his hybrid face, the promise of his monster a dangerous enticement, but this had been something else. Something more. Caroline had wanted to slip her fingers beneath the shirt he'd stolen and feel his skin flush with the new blood, taste it on his tongue. It hadn't helped that he still smelled like their combined releases, her scent lingering on his skin and clearly discernible beneath the hot scent of fresh blood.

Her control had held, but she hadn't tried to fool herself into thinking that Klaus hadn't noticed her body's reaction. He hadn't said anything, but his eyes had been dark and filled with an invitation Caroline hadn't known how to answer. Thankfully, they'd both had other things to deal with than address the stubborn smell of arousal between them.

Like a bit of petty theft. She had never mugged anyone before, but Klaus clearly had. He'd been surprisingly critical about the woman he'd plucked from the crowd, her build and coloring similar to Caroline's and her clothing trendy and cute. It had been weirdly sweet.

Scrapping her wild hair away from her face, Caroline used the hairband she'd found in the purse she'd stolen and pulled the blonde mess into a haphazard bun. Once done, she went back to digging through pockets. A little cash, a coin bag, and a lot of receipts. The unorganized mess left her teeth clenched and she groaned. "Ugh, really? Do people seriously not plan for emergencies anymore? Why is there not even a tube of mascara in here? How can you have so much crap in a purse and not anything useful? There isn't even a pen."

Klaus glanced up from the phone he had opened thanks to a bit of compulsion, brows arched high. His gaze skimmed down her face, head tipping slightly to the side. "You're lovely."

She didn't feel lovely. Her jeans were filthy but her stolen top was at least cute if a tiny bit big and it was way better than being muddy and smelling of swamp. But there was no denying his sincerity and she knew her cheeks had turned pink. "Thanks, but I'd be happier with presentable. Any luck with contacting your siblings?"

Klaus had been making calls while she'd struggled to make herself look less homeless. She'd felt bad about stealing someone purse but had tucked a credit card into the woman's pocket as well as her ID. Caroline was really only interested in the cash, and even without compulsion, she wasn't certain the woman would have noticed something missing.

Seriously, her purse was a disaster.

Caroline had made a note of the woman's name and address, promised herself she'd find a way to repay the woman for what she'd taken. She wasn't monster, but it would to be a strain not to send her few suggestions about organization, maybe mention a YouTube video or two about getting your shit together. Something.

Klaus' mouth tightened. "Rebekah is closest, but it appears that we aren't the only ones to find themselves embroiled with a bit of a witch problem, although theirs do seem to be far simpler."

Caroline frowned. "Are you worried?"

"Only in that Rebekah will lose her temper and forget to ask pertinent questions. Elijah will get back to me once he has a better idea of who is behind his little incursion." He ran his fingers through his hair, gaze sharpening. "For now, it appears my earlier assessment was correct. Until we know just how far the compromise goes, we will have to avoid my home."

Caroline had been expecting that conclusion. Klaus was paranoid bastard and they'd have had to have snatched him from somewhere. She honestly didn't care where she showered as long as she got to shower sometime soon. Shrugging, she gave him a tiny smile. "As long as you're footing the bill."

His lips curled in amusement. "Of course."

Holding out her hand, Caroline wiggled her fingers impatiently at the cellphone in his hand. "If you are done then, my turn."

She wanted to check on Bonnie. Klaus passed her the phone dutifully and she was thankful her witch bestie hadn't changed cell number since they'd been teenagers. Caroline had only memorized a handful of numbers in her lifetime, but this was one of them. She wasn't certain how to feel that it went straight to voicemail, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. Bonnie rarely answered calls from numbers she didn't know.

Leaving a short message asking for a call back, Caroline sighed tapped the back of the phone. Mid-morning was bright and cheerful around them, and she could hear the sounds of people moving through the streets. It was shaping up to be a pretty day, and if they hadn't been in the middle of this mess, she'd have dragged Klaus out to people watch with her.

She tucked the phone into the purse, slinging the strap over her shoulder and faced him determinedly. "Now what?"

"Hungry?"

"We just ate."

His mouth curved higher, a hint of a dimple creasing his cheek. "I have it under good authority that there is always room for beignets."

Caroline would have possibly killed for sugar just then. Coffee. She narrowed her eyes. "This is the sort of thing I will not find funny if it is a joke."

"It's been a few years since my last visit, but I should be able to point us in the correct direction," Klaus said as he came to stand next to her. "It won't take long to be recognized."

Caroline tilted her head. "Do we want to be recognized?"

"It's unavoidable, but it should cause us no harm. We need to speak to Marcel, and this will ensure that he knows that I am in the city." His gaze hardened. "How our meeting goes will determine a number of future moves."

She studied his face, the hard set of his jaw. It occurred to her that maybe he didn't want Marcel to have betrayed him in such a way. It was weird to see that he cared, but then again, Klaus had called Marcel his son. She didn't think that had been said lightly. Caroline knew how tightly he grasped the things he considered his and she wondered what it meant that in the years he'd discovered his son lived, Klaus hadn't tried to stuff him into a box.

Well, at least he might not have been trying now.

There was nothing she could say that would help make the situation better, but she could remind him that he wasn't alone. Worrying on her lip, she reached over and linked her fingers with his and squeezed. Klaus startled next to her, head turning sharply to glance at their clasped palms, and Caroline refused to blush, again. They'd just had wild sex in a swamp and it was hand holding that surprised him.

Swallowing down a slightly embarrassed laugh, Caroline cleared her throat. "So we play it cool then?"

"Cool?" He repeated, gaze not moving.

She rolled her eyes and bumped him with her hip before stepping out onto the street and pulling him after her. The sunshine was bright and she made a note to find a nice pair of sunglasses when she had a chance. She didn't need them, but a human her age would definitely be wearing them and she could use a touch of normalcy.

"You know, touristy? I've never been here. You might as well show me around until we meander towards wherever this Marcel will be waiting for us. And FYI, the beignets better be on the short list of things that are going to happen first. And coffee."

Klaus made a soft noise of amusement, but tugged her lightly to the right as they came to a light. It was a struggle to hold in a smile as his fingers tightened on hers as they moved down the street. Her life had taken a very strange turn but right then, she didn't mind quite so much.

She minded even less once Klaus had bought the promised treat. Sipping coffee, eating fancy donuts and listening to Klaus offer interesting little tidbits about the quarter while he dusted powdered sugar from his fingers, a hint of it clinging to the curve of his bottom lip, it made her wonder what it'd be like to do this more often. She forced herself to squash the thought because she didn't have the time or privacy to mull on it.

"So how exactly you end up as a dad?" Caroline asked as she fished out the last beignet from the bag. If she was going to meet Marcel, she wanted a few details and it was a good distraction from her need to touch him. "Cause it still seems really weird."

"I've lived for over a thousand years," Klaus said mildly. "Is it really so surprising?"

"Oh, definitely," Caroline mumbled around a mouthful before swallowing. "Having kids is a huge commitment and requires a certain… selfless mindset to be successful. Your morals are dodgy at best and a kid seems like it would seriously cramp your style."

A shrug. "We met at a funeral."

She cast him a suspicious look. "Are you pulling my leg right now?"

Klaus dimpled, amused. His hand came up and he ran his thumb across her lip, and it came away with a streak of powder. He licked it away, eyes warm and dark. "No. Marcel was the bastard child of the Governor at the time. He was clearly a smart lad, and perhaps I felt a touch of kinship towards him. The world is filled with discarded children, more so then, but Marcel had a certain… drive for survival that I admired. It was a simple matter to take him off the Governor's hands. He had no use for the offspring of his slave."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "What a dick."

He gave a short nod of agreement. "As for my morality, I've found that things human consider morally important change as easily as gold between thieves. Rarely do humans cling to that which is unfavorable for them. Why should I do what they are unwilling to try, particularly if it would be to my detriment? As long as my family lives, I will do what is necessary to keep them that way."

"That's an awfully bleak way to go through life," she muttered as she crumpled the bag and stuffed it into the purse. What was one more mess? "Not everyone is out to get you."

"Is it? And yet, rarely am I surprised." Klaus' eyes dipped towards her mouth for a moment before his gaze returned to hers. "Current circumstances aside, of course. As for the rest, I suppose you may judge. We're here."

Caroline glanced up and found a simple sign that read as Rousseau's. Blinking, she jumped a little when Klaus pushed the door open and stepped inside, his body blocking the light for a moment before he stepped in and held the door open for her. Deciding she didn't want to fight him on his paranoia so soon after being kidnapped by witches, she stepped around him silently and studied the space.

Red walls, concrete floors and a strange amount of wood for a bar owned by a vampire, the bar wasn't particularly a place that Caroline would have chosen to hang out. The place was surprisingly empty, New Orleans being famous for certain bars being open for twenty-four hours. There was a girls at the bar, her dark hair twisted away from her face as she cleaned glasses. She was pretty, with dark eyes narrowed and clearly familiar with Klaus as she took him in. The most startling part of her appearance was the streak of white that ran from her temple and disappeared into her ponytail.

She was also very clearly a witch.

"Oh, it's you again. Josh said you'd been spotted buying beignets of all things this morning. I was hoping he was wrong. You couldn't manage a few more decades before you showed your face again?" Her eyes swung to Caroline, sweeping down her clean shirt and filthy jeans, mouth twisting as they walked closer. "New lackey? Did you know it reeks of swamp?"

"And here I'd hoped a little bit of age would have improved your manners. It seems as if we are both doomed to disappoint today." Klaus placed his palm low against Caroline's spine, ushering her towards a stool. "Is Marcel in?"

"He left, but he is probably on his way back since he likely received the same call I did," she said. "Why are you here, Klaus?"

"A matter that I will discuss with Marcel," his head tipped towards the booze behind her. "A drink, if you don't mind?"

She snorted as she set the glass aside but she kept whatever she wanted to say to herself. Her gaze landed on Caroline again. "And you?"

"I'll take coffee if you have it," Caroline said, plastering on her best polite smile.

"Never known a vampire to turn down booze."

Caroline shrugged as she sat. "I've never know a witch to work at a bar owned by a vampire."

Davina's mouth tightened. "How witches could you possibly know? Witches have too much self-respect to work for a lackey, even his."

"Davina," Klaus said, irritation creeping into his voice. "Such petulance should be beneath a witch of your age."

Her teeth audibly ground, and the faint lines at the edges of her eyes deepening with growing irritation. Davina was clearly several years older than Caroline had originally thought, her appearance a strange mix of young and middle aged. Deciding that the witch's earlier rudeness could be excused considering who she was with, Caroline glanced around. "Is it always this quiet in the morning?"

Davina crossed her arms and clearly debating if she wanted to ignore her and pour drink or answer. Finally she shrugged. "We just cleared out a private event. My replacement will be here in half an hour. A pity that you couldn't have waited another twenty minutes before stopping by and I could have avoided you entirely."

"My apologies for the hostility, love," Klaus murmured, dismissing the witch with one motion of his hand. "Davina is a Harvest Witch, and as such, only has one life to live. She remains determined that it be a bitter one."

Caroline had no idea what a Harvest Witch was but the look on Davina's face turned hostile. Davina took a step forward, her hands balled into fists, when the door opened, letting the noise of the city into the tension filled room.

"Davina," a low, rich voice murmured in clear exasperation. "Klaus, must you?"

Caroline turned her head to study the vampire who had joined them. Tall, with a startling lovely smile, Marcel was pretty to look at and she could see how he'd slip past most humans as harmless. There was something engaging about his dimples, a charm she easily recognized, but where Klaus moved between murderous and charming with a dangerous subtlety, she wasn't sure yet how Marcel reacted to a threat. She suspected that since Klaus had apparently raised him, it would be swift and bloody.

"Ah, Marcellus, I must." Klaus didn't stand, so Caroline stayed seated as well. "And you? Come to ensure that I'm not plotting your demise?"

Marcel arched a brow. "Only a fool would assume you aren't embroiled in some scheme, but while your visit is a surprise, it's only been a week since your last visit. Even Kol needs at least that long before you're plotting murder."

Klaus' lips tipped into a falsely amused smile. "I too have found myself surprised to be visiting so soon. Tell me, Marcel. What has Josephine been up to these past few years?"

"Josephine?" Davina interrupted, her brows arched high above narrowed eyes. "She's an old woman with ruined hands. What could she possible be up too?"

Marcel shrugged his shoulders. "Josephine continues to tend to the insane and broken, as she has done for years. You know what she faces each day, Klaus, as you created that particular mess."

Caroline flicked her gaze to Klaus, biting the tip of her tongue to keep from asking just what Marcel meant. But Klaus must have sensed her question because he made an unapologetic noise, clearly unbothered by the accusation. "The witches knew what they were up against when they chose to help Kol."

"You trapped them!"

Klaus laughed then, and the sound lifted the small hairs on the back of Caroline's neck. "Such offense, witch. If I recall correctly, your family was quite delighted to use the Dowager Cottage for their own gains, locking away unsuspecting witches who have been judged as rule breakers."

"My family is dead," Davina bit out, eyes flashing. Her bangs moved across her forehead as if stirred by an invisible wind.

"So they are," Klaus with a blades curve of his mouth. "But they too knew what they risked when they choose to make me their enemy."

Sensing that the conversation was going to go way off the rails, Caroline cleared her throat. "People actual help Kol?"

Klaus sighed and reached for a bottle of bourbon. He offered Marcel the bottle but the vampire shook his head, and Klaus poured himself a drink. "Kol has a certain… way about him with witches. Particularly once he has convinced them they can destroy me."

Caroline did not see how that would go well for anyone involved. "And that plays into our current predicament, how?"

Marcel arched a brow. "Without knowing the details, I cannot imagine how. The witches of the Dowager House are generally harmless but only because they have no other choice. They are trapped, you see, and no one has been unable to free them. Even when they die, their spirits remain."

Klaus' dimples creased his cheeks. "A hundred and thirty four years and it remains unbroken. It was a particularly brilliant but of spell work."

Davina made a disgusted noise. "The number of witches you've destroyed over the years, you'd think they'd learn not to trust you."

"Speaking of witches, how is your search going, Davina?" Klaus asked. "Any luck finding that next crops of willing victims? The Harvest will be upon you soon, and certainly you of all witches have seen the cost of the spell not being completed."

Her lips whitened.

"What," Marcel interrupted tightly. "Has Josephine done?"

Klaus took a sip of his drink, eyes returning to Marcel. "As best I can tell, she attempted to lock me in a prison world."

Marcel tensed, the carved lines of his cheekbones sharpening as he absorbed Klaus words. But it was Davina who interested Caroline. She'd gone motionless, brow creasing sharply and the set of her mouth was pinched.

"You think I was involved."

"I'm giving you a chance to prove you are not."

Marcel shook his head. "A prison world takes power, and it would tie you unequivocally to this city. And while it's likely your siblings would let you cool your heels for a few centuries, eventually they'd come looking. I've no desire to turn New Orleans into a second bloodbath, not mention what you'd do once you were free."

"But she didn't try to tie you to the city did she?" Davina asked slowly. "She took you to the swamp. That's why you reek of it."

Marcel shook his head. "Ancestral magic isn't so easy to wrangle, Davina. You know that. Their magic is tied here and a spell of that magnitude would wrap back to their source of power. There is a reason no witch with Ancestral magic has managed to break the spell on the Dowager House, and why no witch from another bloodline will try."

"Josephine will suffer," Klaus said with quite menace. "As will every witch who offered her aid. If they'd chosen to simply involve my family I'd have perhaps been merciful, and simply killed them. But they choose to drag Caroline into this mess, and that will not be tolerated."

Davina blinked and glanced back at her, gaze curious. "Wait, you're that Caroline?"

Next to her leg, Klaus' thigh tensed.

"I wouldn't believe anything that Rebecca had to say about me," Caroline said with a shrug, sliding her hand to cover Klaus' knee. She had no hopes that she could stop him from murdering, but she hoped he'd try to stay calm.

The witch snorted. "Yeah, Rebecca and I aren't friends. Kol mentioned you once."

Caroline blinked. "You're friends with Kol?"

"Who do you think brought him back?" Davina's smile was twisted. "And we aren't friends anymore."

"Probably better for your health," Klaus pointed out. "Kol's toys have short lifespans."

Marcel sighed and reached for the bottle of bourbon. "Assuming that you are adequately assured that neither I nor mine are involved in this plot, what do you need?"

"For now," Klaus replied. "As for what I need, Josephine attempted to use Caroline as part of the spell. I want to know what the spell has done, specifically."

Davina snorted. "I am not helping you."

"No? No matter. Finding competent witches in this city has never been a particular problem, but I can't guarantee they will live through the meeting."

"Rude," Caroline muttered, knowing he'd do exactly as he'd said and he'd drag her with him. But unless Bonnie called her back they didn't have many options and she had no idea who they could trust. Davina's jaw worked tightly, the anger in her eyes showing that she too knew his words weren't a bluff.

"Fine," Davina snapped. "But you'll owe me."

Klaus arched both brows, voice deepening with warning. "Be very careful."

Her lips curled into something vicious. "I already paid my dues to your family when I rescued your brother. You want my help now? You owe me."

The silence dragged and Caroline judged him with her knee. "Klaus."

Finally his head tipped to the side. "Agreed. But Davina, should you breathe a word of the spell or Caroline's existence to anyone, I'll kill you. I will ensure that there will be no more harvest witches."

Her cheekbones sharpened but she nodded and held out her hand impatiently. Caroline set her hand in the witches. She wasn't used to magic that wasn't Bonnie's, and her fingers tightened on Klaus' thigh.

Davina's brows drew sharply together, mouth tightening for a long moment before she let out a long breath. "This is… complicated."

"Complicated how?" Marcel asked before Klaus could.

She shook her head. "It's hard to explain. The spell anchor is muddling things. I might have a better idea of what exactly was done if I knew her better, but you're definitely tied together. I don't know for what."

"We thought that might be the case," Caroline pointed out when Klaus remained tense and silent. "Josephine said she wanted a chain."

The witch pursed her lips and considered that, eyes slightly unfocused. "That explains the lover's knot for your tattoo, but not why it's saturated in werewolf magic."

Caroline's jerked, and her arm banged against the bar. "What?"

Davina's eyes focused on her and they were annoyed. "Lover's knot? A wedding knot? I thought it odd that a vampire would have one as a tattoo when your kind doesn't really believe in permanence, but if the witches wanted their spell to last, then I suppose it makes sense."

Her nails dug sharply into Klaus' thigh. "I refuse to be stuck like this forever."

"All spells have a counter," Klaus agreed, palm settling on top of her tense fingers. "We'll find this one."

"The witches you trapped for eternity might disagree about that, but it's not really my problem," Davina said with a shrug. "I'd expect you'll find it very uncomfortable to be more than a few feet from each other. I don't know what the consequences are but this spell is probably hiding something nasty."

"Great," Caroline muttered.

"A bit of advice? You want to find a way to break this spell? I'd avoid having sex if I were you."

"What?" Caroline managed. Klaus fingers had gone tense above hers and the knot was back in her lungs.

"Oh come on," Davina drawled, a mean sort of amusement curling her lips. "Why do you think sex is used in all of the really old rituals? It can bind when done properly."

Marcel frowned. "That seems to leave the spell up to a bit more chance than Josephine would want if she is still planning on completing the spell."

Davina shrugged. "There does appear to be one way to break the spell."

"How," Klaus asked tightly.

"If you kill Caroline, the spell breaks."

The room went silent.

"No?" Davina murmured, eyes narrowing. "Interesting. Well then, I know that abstinence is super hard for vampires, but you should start practicing." Davina nodded towards Klaus. "Although for all his bravado, you probably won't live long enough to regret it. I hear he doesn't share well."

Completely fed up with the witch's attitude, Caroline pasted on her sunniest smile. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. But just to be clear, when you say sex? Does that mean oral is still on the table? What about mutual masturbation? If bodily fluids are totally out does that include blood sharing?"

Davina's face tightened with disgust as she snatched her hand away, her revulsion clear. Marcel made a low noise of amusement but before Davina could say anything, the phone in Caroline's purse started to ring. Yanking it free, she glanced at the number and met Klaus' gaze.

"It's Bonnie."

Klaus' eyes glittered. "Then I believe it's time we take our leave. Marcel, a piece of advice? Keep your pet witch on a short leash until this is resolved."

The spray of hot water would have been blissful if Caroline hadn't been achingly aware that she wasn't the only occupant in the bathroom. The little flare of heat in his eyes when she stepped into the shower to strip had left her skin tight, and it'd been a strain not to think about the feel of his skin against hers. The sound of Klaus' heartbeat was slow and steady, the little tapping noises from his phone loud even with the water beating down on the top of her head.

It was really unfortunate that Bonnie had agreed with Davina's initial assessment when they'd spoken. Her best friend's words had been clipped, the sound of the car dashboard rattling loudly in Caroline's ears as Enzo had muttered creative threats at the other drivers.

"Care, how do you get yourself into these things? But if Davina is who I think she is then she isn't necessarily wrong. Bindings are unpredictable, that she sensed Klaus' wolf specifically could mean any number of things. Sex is probably not the best idea under these circumstances."

Her tone made it clear that she thought sex with Klaus was never a good idea anyway. Caroline glanced at him and found he had settled his face into a carefully neutral expression, and she mentally sighed.

He'd ushered her several blocks from Rousseau's before he was comfortable letting her return the call. She knew he was paying attention to what was being said between them but he was also listening for possible eavesdroppers, his hearing far better than hers.

That Bonnie disapproved of her attraction to Klaus was hardly a secret. It was probably best to rip the band off clean. Taking a quick, bracing breath, she'd winced into the phone. "Yeah, about that…"

Enzo had laughed at her when she'd finished her rough explanation. "You do find yourself in such fascinating situations, gorgeous. I'm impressed."

Klaus had gone tense next to her, and Caroline had nearly groaned. "Bonnie."

"In a swamp?" Bonnie had finally spluttered, her voice high with shock. "Caroline!"

"Bonnie."

"But…"

"Nope," Caroline had interrupted. "Unless you'd prefer the NC-17 version of events, it's probably best you let that go."

"Fine," Bonnie muttered. "We're almost to Dallas anyway. It's about seven hours to NOLA from here when normal people drive, but with Enzo behind the wheel, traffic willing, we'll probably be there by early evening."

"Assuming the engine doesn't blow," Enzo said helpfully. "And there isn't anything wrong with my driving. It's these blokes who don't know how to drive."

"Uh huh," Bonnie replied. "You were pulled over for weaving across lines and not using a signal."

"Turn signals are a sign of weakness."

"Dallas?" Caroline had demanded, interrupting their bickering. "Why are you in Dallas? And what happened to your car?"

"That might be a story for when we are in person, Caroline. We left a bit of a mess behind us." Enzo didn't doubt the least bit put out about it. "Let's just say we had to make a fairly quick exist and my witch nixed compelling us tickets or a private plane."

"What Enzo is trying to say, and failing, is that there has been some really weird shit going down. I left you a number of messages but two days is a long time for you not to respond." Bonnie's voice hardened. "Once I did a locator spell with my emergency-Caroline-supply, and we realized where you were… we decided it might be best to head your way."

"New Orleans has been on your avoidance list for so long, we figured you wouldn't be there without a reason. And any reason we could think of that had you in the city ended up with you needing backup." Enzo helpfully finished. "It sounds like we were right."

Caroline really had hoped her hair hide her wince. That was a bit of information she'd really have preferred Klaus not to know. At least not now.

Bonnie's voice had shifted to something wry, as if she could sense Caroline's thoughts. "So, ta da. We're on our way."

"Thanks Bon, really. You're the best."

"Don't I know it? We will see you soon." There was a pause and then a sigh. "Do me a favor and please let Klaus know that he can't kill Enzo. I don't care if it's temporary."

Laughing at Enzo's immediate protesting, Caroline had hung up and finally glanced back at Klaus. His mouth had curved into something privately satisfied and she narrowed her eyes in warning. "You really can't kill Enzo."

Klaus' head tilted to the side, smile deepening at her annoyed expression. "Been avoiding New Orleans, love?"

She huffed as he ignored her comment about Enzo, knowing that if he wanted to snap a neck, there wasn't much she could do to stop it. "I'd already told you that I've never been here."

He stepped closer, fingers gentle as they pushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. "Hmm, but that was before your friend so helpfully pointed out that you put effort into avoiding the city. Any particular reason?"

"Nope," she chirped, lying through her teeth. "Enzo is my friend. I expect you to remember that. And if Bonnie is on her way, I want a shower, Klaus. And clothes that aren't stolen or covered in swamp mud."

Because while Bonnie might not notice the lingering smell of sex, Enzo would. And he would be completely unable to keep from commenting on it. Better to avoid any neck snapping until after Bonnie had solved their problem. Less damage control that way.

His eyes laughed at her, proof that he wasn't buying her words but he hadn't argued. And while he had let her steer the conversation away from her past, she'd known the conversation wasn't over. There was no chance he wouldn't be bringing it up again, at it would totally be at a time that would be completely annoying.

Thankfully, the next few hours had been a bit of a blur. Klaus had felt comfortable enough to make a few stops which had thankfully included picking up new credit cards and then phones. He'd then let her drag him to the nearest department store to do some power shopping. While clearly not his preferred place to spend time, he'd kept his mouth shut while she'd found some of the basics. Miraculously, he'd even managed to keep from commenting her rushed collection of the necessities of bras and underwear. She'd forced herself to get cute and not sexy, ignoring the way his eyes had felt on her skin.

Watching him thoughtfully finger a pair of deep purple boy shorts in super cute lace had not helped her blood pressure as she'd checked out.

The hotel had been easy thanks to a combination of money and compulsion. By the time the bellboy had dropped off their purchases, she'd felt exhaustion creeping in. Mentally and physically exhausted, what she really needed was a chance to process. Unfortunately, it hadn't been in the cards. Before she could make a beeline for the bathroom to ogle the tub, Klaus had caught her hand.

"We need to test the parameters spell before we get too comfortable, love." His thumb had brushed along the bone of her wrist, his eyes intent. "I'd prefer to do it without an audience."

Caroline frowned. "What exactly do you think Josephine did?"

Klaus had shook his head and dropped his hand. "I know barrier spells, Caroline. None of them are particularly pleasant to deal with but they are usually manageable. Josephine has proven to be clever, but even she only has so many tools to work with. I imagine it will hurt."

"Define hurt."

His mouth had tightened. "Nothing pleasant. They would have focused on you, Caroline. Young vampires can be driven to madness by pain. We will need to be careful, but we need to know what we are dealing with."

Dread had knotted her stomach. Torture sucked. But he was also right. "Let's just get it over with."

It hadn't taken Caroline long to be grateful that they had waited. She'd fidgeted as Klaus had carefully move away from her. One foot. Two feet. Three. At five feet, the pain had scorched her bones with no warning. Klaus' jaw had locked tight, fingers flexing at the gouging pain and it'd been Caroline who'd staggered forward.

"Was that what you were expecting?" she'd finally gritted out, voice trembling.

"Unfortunately," Klaus said flatly, far more stoic than her but rage had turned his eyes hard. "I imagine it will only grow worse the further apart we move."

She sucked in a breath. "Shit."

He gave a short nod. "Yes."

Caroline had closed her eyes. While she had never been struck by lightning or had her flesh peeled away, she was acquainted with torture. Nothing that had been done to her had hurt that badly. "We need to know how far we can push this, don't we."

Klaus was silent for a long moment and she reluctantly opened her eyes. His gaze was sympathetic beneath the hot flashes of wolf, mouth set into a line that promised torture for someone else. "I'll make it up to you."

She ran a trembling hand down her face, tried for a bit of levity. "I'm keeping a list."

His eyes softened. "I'd expect nothing less. Shall we?"

Swallowing, she'd reluctantly nodded and stepped back. They'd learned that at six feet her control started to unravel; the sharper the pain, the more difficult it became to maintain her veneer of humanity. At eight feet, her monster had lunged to the surface and drowned the unyielding pain in rage. Need had spiked with adrenaline and all she'd been able to focus on was Klaus' heartbeat.

When she'd regained her senses he had pinned her carefully against the wall, and had been murmuring soothing words against her hair as he'd restrained her. She'd stayed there until her muscles unlocked, swallowing the little hitching cries that wanted to escape as her body sang with the remembrance of pain so terrible it had forced her feral.

A chain had been an apt description.

The entire thing had really sucked.

And now they were sharing the bathroom while she showered and he waited for his turn. The awesome bathtub had been nixed once it'd become clear that he'd need to be in the room with her. With Klaus sitting as far from her as he could, the distance was really not nearly far enough for her sanity. Her skin still ached from remembered pain and she'd have been really okay with him joining her and giving her something better to think about.

The no sex rule was a bitch.

Maybe they should have waited for Davina to answer her snarky questions about masturbation. Caroline wasn't certain she was going to be able to sleep without some sort of release that night. Her nerves were strung too tight and the five minutes alone she needed to put herself back together weren't likely to happen.

Tipping her face into the water, Caroline admitted to herself that on the other hand, more sex with Klaus would probably lead to complications she had no idea how to handle. His actions over the past twelve hours were adding up to a picture that was both tempting and terrifying.

Klaus hadn't changed his mind.

About her.

About them.

When she'd been dying all those years and told him that she knew he was in love with her, she hadn't entirely believed in them. Her words had been a gamble, a play for her survival. And at that time in her life, she'd had no idea the weight those words would carry.

But Klaus had known. He'd known, and then he'd chosen to give her life a second time. And later, he had given her a different promise entirely. Last love.

Three decades had passed, she'd lived what amounted to almost half a human lifetime lived, and she was just now catching a glimmer of what he'd meant. Just how unchangeable the truth of his feelings still were after years between them. It left her reeling mentally, and what she needed was a chance to sit down with a piece of paper and make herself a list of pros and cons, because Klaus was not easy. A relationship would never be simple.

But for the first time she was starting to consider that it might be worth it. Oh, she didn't think she was quite ready for what he had offered her once and what he apparently was still willing to give her. But she thought she did need to decide what she wanted, from him, if anything.

Caroline didn't think that would include a clean break like last time. Not now. Not after she'd had him beneath her hands and mouth, had felt the same greed and lust as before. It was heady knowing that he still found her mesmerizing, and she was no longer just a girl. Their connection didn't terrify her in quite the same way as before. But what she didn't know what that would mean to him or even how she'd bring it up?

But thinking about any of it with only a frosted glass door separating her naked body from his eyes was a bad idea. Determinedly she reached for the shampoo. Taking a deep breath, she broke the silence between them.

"Tell me about Harvest Witches."

There was a long pause. "Any particular reason?"

Shaking the shampoo bottle so that the thick goop would come out, Caroline rolled her eyes. "I'd like to know who and what Davina is if you're going to threaten her like that when we both know you care about Marcel. He cares about her."

The sound of him settling against the wall was slightly distracting. "Is that the only reason? Just curiosity, sweetheart?"

It figured he'd force her to actually admit what was bothering her. Huffing, she lathered the shampoo into her hands. "It is really weird having someone in the bathroom with me but not actually in the shower, Klaus. Be useful and talk."

The noise he made was low and rough, and she shivered. Shoving her hands into her hair, she tipped her head and started to work in shampoo, nose wrinkling at the knots that caught on her fingers even though she'd brushed it smooth earlier. Swamp-mud was viscous.

"A pity I can't take you up on that offer in a way that we'd both enjoy," he murmured. "You do so enjoy the sound of my voice."

Caroline scowled and shampooed harder. She wondered how much fun he'd find this once he was in the shower and naked. He'd probably still find some way to annoy her. "Klaus!"

"A Harvest Witch is an offering of sorts," Klaus said finally, voice rich with amusement. "Traditionally four young girls are murdered by their coven as a sign of their devotion to their ancestors. The ritual is meant to strengthen the ties between the living and the dead."

Caroline froze with her fingers in her hair, shampoo sliding down her neck. "What?"

"Power, true power, will always demand sacrifice, Caroline. When Qetsiyah changed the rules of the afterlife, she negated some of that cost. But the covens who chose to maintain the old ties in turn must keep their old rituals."

"But kids?"

"They do not remain dead," Klaus pointed out. "Davina is quite alive."

Caroline rinsed her hair, and considered that. "You said murdered, specifically. That had to really have sucked. Did they know they were going to die?"

"My understanding is that the last generation of Harvest Witches were not given a choice or warning of their fate. It caused a bit of a ruckus."

"What do you consider a ruckus?"

"It was a slight misunderstanding. Marcel shares your views on girls being murdered, particularly wishing his side. The witch who led the ritual thought it beneath her to speak to vampires and did not warn them to stay away from the graveyard. Marcel interfered, it caused a few diplomatic problems that were solved later. I imagine we shall see shortly if the next batch of sacrificial lambs are given a choice." Klaus laughed softly, and goosebumps spread across her skin, even beneath the heat of the water.

"What's so funny?"

"I find that witches who do so enjoy thinking of themselves as the saviors of humanity, the defense against the true horrors of the supernatural quite amusing. Such vehement hatred for our existence and yet, while vampires have no young, we generally do not eat them, either."

Lathering her washcloth, she considered that. She'd never been tempted by a child, the thought abhorrent to her, but she'd never heard of vampires eating them either unless they were rippers. "Okay, so why is Davina important? Marcel was preparing for a fight."

"My wayward child considers himself to be a mentor of sorts for Davina. He has done her no favors, allowing the nonsense of her self-hatred. A Harvest Witch must complete the ritual or the coven's magic will be greatly weakened. Davina May hate what she is but as the last Harvest Witch alive, it falls to her to kill her younger sisters." His clothing shifted as he stretched and she tried not to think of the long line of his legs, how appealing he'd looked jean clad and barefoot. "It's quite the conundrum for her, but she cannot continue to put off the ritual for must longer if her tiny coven wishes to maintain their hold. Two years ago, she'd have done a much better job of reading the spell. She'll lose her magic entirely in another few years. What is left of her coven will never stand for it. They will force her hand soon or a faction of the family hunting for power will move in and take New Orleans for themselves."

Caroline bit her lip and shut off the water. Bonnie had told her about warring witches. The damage they left behind. It sounded awful.

Opening the door, she reached for the towel she'd left in easy reach. Wrapping it tightly around herself, she carefully stepped into the steam filled bathroom and found Klaus watching her with hungry dark eyes. There was a world of promise there, and she tightened her grip on her towel.

She was pretty sure she knew the answer to the question but Caroline asked it anyway. "What happened to the rest of the coven? Why is it so small?"

Klaus smiled at her from the floor, his lips curling into a satisfied blade. "I killed them."

She swallowed. "Why?"

Klaus stood, closing the distance between them in a single step before he brushed the pads of his fingers down the line of her chin, eyes glittering with an old rage. "I'm sure even the rumor of my supposed progeny reached Mystic Falls?"

Caroline shifted her weight, tried to ignore the way the edge of the towel brushed his shirt. "Tyler said something about it before he left but it sounded kind of ridiculous. You saw my reaction to you having adopted."

His fingers trailed lower, down her line of her damp throat. "I've been dead for a thousand years. Even for one who has lived as long as I, true miracles are rare. Should such a thing have been magically possible I'd have heard of it, and then I'd have immediately destroyed it. A child for a vampire is an impossibility; death cannot create life, only abominations. My wolf is a dead as the rest of me, and to suggest otherwise is laughable at best."

Caroline caught his hand, unwilling to let his fingertips roam when neither of them could do anything about the promise in such a touch. She wondered what it meant, that he mentioned his wolf here, and earlier, so had Josephine and Davina. "What did you do?"

His smile deepened, dimples creasing his cheeks in vicious satisfaction. "I slaughtered them."

She bit her lip, and studied the harsh lines of his face. There was such jagged rage in his words for all that his eyes spoke of triumph. What had the witches done?

"What happened?"

"Come now, Caroline. I'm sure my wayward hybrid told you some of the details, Caroline." His eyes showed no apology regarding how he viewed Tyler. "How I fucked Hayley. Her attempt to reconnect with her pack. The ploy that she was carrying my child."

She frowned at him. "I didn't want the details."

His brows arched. "Interesting. It was a fairly straight forward plan, as things so. The coven convinced Hayley to pretend she was carrying my progeny, they rallied to convince my family of the miracle of nature. The attempts to tempt me with an heir were unwieldy at best and inept at worst. A kingdom needs no heir when the king is immortal."

Caroline stiffened to hide a shiver at the edge in his tone, the flash of the pit that lived behind his eyes. She wondered what his siblings had thought of the child. She wondered if they had agreed with his actions. A child was supposed to be a gift, something to treasure. But it could also be a betrayal.

Stefan had been drunk when he'd admitted that they'd tried to put Jo's dead children in her womb. Poison, he'd called her. A poisoned womb. She'd nearly thrown up for the first time in years from the violation of it, the expectation that she'd accept it and carry the dead things for months and let them grow. Her hands the way her hands had shook as she'd packed her bags and fled Mystic Falls. It'd taken her over a year to call Bonnie, to ask if her friend had helped, if she'd known. Her best friend's promise that she hadn't had soothed an open wound that Caroline hadn't known she'd carried.

"You aren't known for killing your enemies."

His dimples cut deep, lips very red against his teeth. "Katherine was an example for vampires, love. Witches cannot think in such timelines, for all that they can extend their lives. For them, the worse fate is a death that sunders them from their magic and their ancestors. A little vampire blood, perhaps some torture, and they are no longer welcome among their kind. Death itself becomes a curse. It is a pity that the ages can weaken a memory instead of strengthen it. I merely reminded them of what I am."

"And what is that?" She whispered, voice rough.

"A monster," Klaus said simply, casually, as if he wasn't toying with one of her curls and speaking of brutally murdering someone she'd known. "But I can have mercy. "Hayley was the first to die. If she'd truly carried a child, and not an abomination created by vampire blood and magic, it would have always been a pawn. Perhaps I did it a favor. Then there was the pack. There was always a chance some of the members were unaware of the choices their fallible leadership had made, of course, but their deaths will be a warning of the cost of shielding my enemies."

"And the witches?" The words nearly stuck in her mouth.

His head canted to the side, gaze brightening with his wolf. "I had planned to destroy anyone who had heard so much as a whisper of the plot down to the last child. Davina leveraged my brother's life to save a handful, but the coven here will take generations to rebuild."

Marcel had said he wished to avoid another bloodshed.

Caroline stared at Klaus and couldn't picture the slaughter he was describing. So many dead. She tried to find the horror, the outrage her teenage self would have felt, and there was a seed of it. She couldn't comprehend killing children. But beneath that was the memory of the lead weight that had formed when Stefan had told her about Damon's plan to save Alaric's children. If she had worn a thousand years of sins on her hands, what choices would she have made in that moment of utter betrayal?

She didn't know.

But she did know that if she was going to let this man into her life, she had to let the monster in with him. It was a sobering thought. Klaus' hand slipped from her grasp, and he pressed gentle fingers beneath her chin to hold her gaze. Caroline didn't know what he saw in her eyes, but his gaze glittered.

"I eliminated that threat the same way I will deal with anyone involved in this plot, Caroline. I will destroy Josephine's bloodline down to the last drop, erase her little coven so thoroughly their names will be forgotten." Iron filled his eyes, the blue hardening. "There will be an accounting for the harm done to you, and I will ensure that it is not easily forgotten. There will be no repetition of this idea."

Caroline drew in a deep breath. She should have been disgusted. But the monster wanted that promised bloodshed, and knowing that he would keep his word to her eased some of the strain in her shoulders. It was horrible and terrifying, and she was relieved.

She wondered if it made her a monster too.

Klaus stood patiently in front of her, unmoving as she studied the lines of his face. Finally, she nodded. "I know."

"Good," he murmured, eyes glittering as he studied her face in turn before he finally stepped back and pulled his shirt over his head. For a moment she let herself stare at the lean line of his torso, the tattoo on his shoulder before spinning around.

"I believe it is my turn to shower, hmmm?"

Caroline kept her eyes averted as he'd stripped, the sound of his clothing hitting the floor a serious temptation. It did not help that Klaus took his time, unconcerned with his nakedness. She refused to look but she found she wanted too, even after his cheerful recounting of his little murder fest.

She wasn't certain she took a deep breath until the shower kicked back on.

Running a hand through her wet curls, Caroline forced herself to ignore the sound of water running down Klaus' body and set about managing her hair. Blow drying would mean she'd need a curler or a straightener, and she hadn't grabbed either. Beachy waves were just going to have to suffice.

"I think it is your turn to answer a few questions," Klaus said after a few moments, his words faintly muffled by the water.

"Why is that?" Caroline asked as she fussed with her hair.

"The shower smells like you," he replied, voice low and just a little rough. "Wrapping my fingers around my cock and thinking of the way you feel wrapped around me, all those greedy little noises you make when I fill you, is unfortunately not an option just now."

Her fingers bit into the edge of the sink as he spoke. Shuddering at his words, the mental images her brain kept getting stuck on, she forced herself to focus on an unruly curl. Clearing her throat, she tried to keep her voice steady. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You never answered my earlier question," he replied. "Did you miss me, love?"

Caroline shot a dirty look at the frosted glass of the shower, her lips pressing tightly together. She knew if she could see his face he'd be completely unrepentant. "Seriously?"

"Quite."

Rolling her eyes, she dropped the towel and reached for her pile of clothes. Underwear, bra, shirt. She tugged then into place and held out the jeans as she considered his question. "I don't know if the word miss is the one I'd use."

The water cut off and Caroline hastily pulled on her pants. Klaus stepped into her line of view as she was yanking the zipper into place, his towel sitting low on his hips. He arched a brow at her as he ran a hand through his flattened curls, water spraying across the tops of his shoulders. "What is the word you'd use then, Caroline?"

She worried on her lip, straining to keep her eyes on his face and not tracing over the length of his body. Jeans and barefoot, wrapped in a towel; the forced intimacy with Klaus was doing wonderful and terrible things to her equilibrium. "When I left Mystic Falls…"

Her words faded as she tried to find the best way to describe what had happened, and failed. Sighing, she shrugged a shoulder. "I left for a lot of reasons. For most of them, I needed to be alone to deal with. I didn't miss you the way you're asking, but I didn't miss anyone."

His gaze narrowed. "What happened in Mystic Falls, Caroline?"

She shook her head and took a deep breath. She didn't want to talk about Mystic Falls. She didn't want to talk about her feelings, either. But for some reason, it was important to her that he know that he wasn't completely alone in this… whatever this was.

"I didn't miss you," she repeated softly, chin angling stubbornly. "But I thought about you, every so often."

Klaus' head tilted, eyes tracing the lines of her face something she couldn't read darkening his gaze. For a long moment, they watched each other, the air charged between them and then his head tipped to the side, and his lips curled, slow and sensuous. "And when exactly did you think of me, Caroline?"

Her face flames hot at his low voiced question, the implication clear. Before she could splutter out a response that was none of his business just yet, her phone started to ring. She didn't exactly lunge, and while she maintained human speed, it was a close thing. "Hey, Bon."

"Enzo is horrifying the valet with the car. Mind telling me what room you're in?"

Any chance of immediately getting down to the nitty gritty was immediately put on hold once Caroline got a good look at Bonnie's face. The witch looked exhausted, grooves between her brows and at the corners of her mouth she wasn't used to seeing. Instead of giving her a chance to start asking questions, Caroline had bullied her into sitting, grabbed several overpriced bottles of liquor from the mini fridge and slapped room service menu in front of Bonnie. Caroline had managed to avoid asking what had happened, but barely.

Klaus had been surprisingly cordial, if seriously distracting, with his damp curls and shower flushed skin. She'd only heard Bonnie muttering as she tried they key thanks to her vampire hearing. The rest of her had been really focused on not to watching as Klaus had fastened his the necklaces he'd picked up somewhere into place, the curve of his smile dangerous. Thankfully, Bonnie proved an excellent distraction from her raging hormones.

They'd camped out at the table, Klaus had obligingly sprawled across the loveseat, clearly messing about on his phone. She'd wondered what apps he'd consider essential, but had pushed those thoughts aside with Bonnie right in front of her. Enzo had slipped back into the hotel to find his own dinner, leaving the room service attendant for her and Klaus to nibble on.

"Jesus, how do you even get dragged into these kind of situations," Bonnie said finally, setting her spoon to the side. Caroline had been recounting the details from the night before she hadn't dared speak off earlier while Bonnie ate. "I thought you were trying to avoid the drama of our youth."

Caroline snorted and picked up her last fry. "I was never the one with bad ideas, thank you. And here I thought you didn't believe in that particular God," she continued. "Didn't you complain your way through those churches in Munich? Gold, gaudy monstrosities dedicated to useless ghosts, I believe is a direct quote."

"Oh, shut up," Bonnie replied, rubbing her face tiredly, a hint of a smile in her voice. "Enzo likes to take everyone's name in vain, and things just start to slip in."

Caroline pursed her lips. "How does that work? How many dirties can he really name? Did he learn about them before he was put into torture timeout or after?"

Exasperated, Bonnie shook her head. "You'll have to ask him."

"Torture timeout," Klaus repeated from his seat, amusement clear in his voice. "What does that entail, exactly?"

Bonnie's eyes narrowed in warning but Caroline waved her hand dismissively. So far, Bonnie and Klaus had managed to keep from sniping at each other and she wanted to keep it that way. "Enzo spent some time in the care of some human wackos who were trying to use vampire blood to cure human illnesses. They're all dead."

"Very dead," Bonnie agreed darkly. "But that's not why we are here."

"It certainly is not," Klaus agreed, setting his phone aside. "What do you see?"

"Davina was right," Bonnie said after a moment. "The spell is complicated."

"Great," Caroline muttered. Behind her, Klaus pushed to his feet and walked over, settling in the chair closest to her. His knee brushed hers, and the contact steadied her. "Complicated how?"

"This is mostly theory," Bonnie said carefully, gaze darting between her and Klaus. "I'll need to see the ritual site to be sure, but I don't see how Josephine definitely intended to bind you this way when she set this spell up. The limitations of movement, the degree of pain, the spell work appears to have been hastily thrown together. It's actually sloppy, which makes untangling something like this more difficult."

"Caroline surprised her," Klaus murmured. "Killing the witch ruined the ritual, and it was not a complication they were expecting."

"She tends to do that," Bonnie said with a slight smile. "You said Josephine was trying to build a prison world? Are you absolutely certain? Any deviation from a ritual with that kind of power could have some pretty nasty side effects."

He nodded, head tipping to the side. "We only have Josephine's word for her intentions, and while she denied it, she isn't particularly trustworthy. I've personally only heard of such a spell in passing, and the coven rumored to be able to create them rarely chooses to stay in one place long enough to be questioned."

"Yeah, well, there aren't many left. And I'm not sure you're wrong, about their intentions, as much as I wish you were," Bonnie said wearily. "The tattoo is bothering me. They definitely wanted to use it as an anchor point but didn't manage it. I'm guessing Caroline killing the witch played a part but I'm not certain they'd have had the power they needed even if the witch had lived."

Caroline stiffened at the word anchor. "What?"

Bonnie reached for Caroline's hand and traced the blue ink, her mouth set into a hard line. "Bindings like this are difficult. What they accomplished is a clever bit of magic but it can't be what they originally intended."

"First prison worlds and now binding spells?" Klaus interrupted. "Tell me, when did you become such an expert on such magic? I wasn't aware that was part of the Bennett lines repertoire and I've made a study of witches and their usefulness."

"It's a forced sort of expertise," Bonnie retorted.

"Interesting," he murmured. "And why, in your experience, do you believe that what was done was not planned, witch."

Bonnie was silent for a moment, gaze narrowed as she considered her answer, her lips pressed tightly together in a sign of her anger at his words. "When the Gemini coven created their prison worlds, they only managed to make a copy of a single day. It repeated, over and over. "

Klaus brows arched. "How tedious."

She shrugged. "Kai certainly thought so. However, the requirements for that spell are extremely specific: a celestial event, a magical artifact, and witch blood. Last night was a full moon but there wasn't anything particularly celestial about it. Neither of you have claimed to have seen a magical artifact nor would you have been able to miss it."

"Josephine definitely didn't have any of those," Caroline agreed slowly, deciding not to point out that it was a Bennett witch whose blood was needed for the Gemini Coven's spell. If Bonnie didn't want to share it, then neither would she. "But they were getting power from somewhere."

Nodding, Bonnie studied the tattoo for a long moment before sighing. "The best guess that I have is that they were working around those requirements by using you. And well, Klaus. The spell that created vampires is old and soaked power. We know that Esther used Doppelganger blood as a catalyst to link back to the power that was used to create the other side. And Klaus is a hybrid. He'd make a pretty good battery assuming he wasn't fighting the pull."

Caroline glanced at him, her mouth dry. There was only one reason he wouldn't fight them. His expression remained inscrutable, and her stomach rolled. "Klaus…"

His gaze flickered to hers, and he looked unbothered by her silent question. "I'm not a perfect solution to their power problem, love. Thirteen witches alone do not have this kind of power, even if they were drawing from me."

Bonnie nodded. "But they may not have needed it. Gemini prison worlds were created as prisons and the occupants inside were protected. They didn't want them dying or killing themselves. I'm not sure that's what they intended here. For one, that kind of power is unnecessary as Klaus can't be killed or even kill himself without a white oak stake. For another, he isn't a witch so the likelihood of him breaking out from the inside is slim. No the problem would be keeping someone from outside of the prison world from breaking him out."

Klaus eyes narrowed. "You think that is how they wished to position Caroline? As the lock?"

Bonnie shook her head. "For my money, they wanted her death as the key."

"But that doesn't make sense," Caroline spluttered. "I'm not immortal. I can die."

"But If we remain bound, how long will that continue to be the case," Klaus asked slowly, cheekbones sharp above his beard as he clearly worked through the possibilities. "You already share my immunity to sunlight. My siblings would likely enjoy the thought of me cooling my heels in utter boredom for a few centuries. Given enough time, depending on the draw of power, it's possible you'd absorb more than one trait from me."

Caroline stared at him in horror. "No."

"It's not quite that simple," Bonnie said. "I imagine there has to be part of you that has to be willing to share that immunity, Klaus, and even then it's no small feat. This kind of power exchange is unheard of and I honestly don't know how they planned to accomplish it or if they even could. Not without rewriting the very structure of the immortality spell that made you, and not even Esther tried that."

Caroline shook her head. "But I wouldn't have made it centuries. Rebekah would have no problem murdering me once she became bored, and so that's it's a moot point. It just seems like poor planning for so much effort."

"Agreed," Klaus murmured. "My family would eventually retaliate. Centuries or millennia later, though it may be."

Bonnie held up her hands. "There is another option. They could have been working off of an incomplete grimoire."

Caroline frowned. "That seems…"

Klaus leaned back, eyes narrowed. "It does occasionally happen. However, I would have thought Josephine wiser than that."

Bonnie nodded. "I know, but there are a lot of things we don't know. This really is conjecture. Most of the why and how doesn't matter. Caroline isn't the anchor or the key. As far as I can tell, neither of you are linked to any spell outside of the one binding you."

Caroline blinked. "What?"

"You're definitely bound to Klaus, but there are no remains of the spell they attempted to create the prison world with." Bonnie pulled a face. "I don't know why they bothered to bind you at all, to be honest."

"Why is certainly less important," Klaus said calmly. "Can you break it?"

"The binding?" Her brows wrinkled. "I think so but it's not going to be easy. I really do need to see the ritual sight."

"What would it tell you?" Caroline asked curiously.

"Quite a bit actually. I want to see how they'd hoped to bind Klaus and what runes they'd used for your part of the ritual. Bindings like this can be permanent but they usually require an artifact or given consent, which you didn't give, Caroline. And neither of you mentioned seeing an artifact."

"I definitely consented to the sex though," Caroline pointed out. "So did Klaus. And I think it's pretty clear that Josephine manipulated the spell so that we would end up having sex."

"It's not really consent if you're both under the influence of spells. And I'm not sure she really understood what she was doing. There was a lot of gambling going on here that I don't like. But you're also not… totally wrong." Bonnie's mouth twisted in disgust. "So no blood sharing. No sex. Keep your bodily fluids to yourselves and it shouldn't cause additional problems. And with that said, we are never speaking of this again."

Caroline dug her nails into Klaus thigh when he shifted forward, lips curling into a smirk. Interrupting before he could say something to embarrass Bonnie further, she met her friend's eyes. "Where do you think Josephine learned these spells, Bon? The Gemini coven doesn't share well and they are nearly extinct. They should be hard to even find. How would she even know where to start? Then there is the fact that Klaus said the ripper speller they used on me has been forbidden for generations. These aren't common spells."

"Ah, but I believe Miss Bennett has a lead on that," Klaus said. "You mentioned trouble, did you not?"

The door to the suit opened and Enzo walked in. His brows arched as he shut the door behind him, lips tugging into a frown. "Did I miss all the good bits, then?"

"No," Bonnie said tightly. "We just got started."

Caroline sat up, alarm churning in her gut. "What happened?"

"Yes," Klaus drawled. "What has the infallible Bennett Witch so worked up?"

Bonnie glared at him, fingers curling into fists. "I'm not saying a word until he promises to keep his promise to you, Caroline. Mystic Falls stays off limits."

"Ah," he murmured, completely unconcerned with the hostility on Bonnie's face. "I had wondered when this would circle back to our charming hometown. Which Salvatore will I be killing, I wonder?"

"You're welcome to try of course," Enzo said cheerfully as he spun the chair next to Bonnie around and straddled it, arms draping over the top. "However, I wager you won't enjoy reliving your death over and over."

"That spell doesn't exist anymore," Caroline protested. "None of them do."

Enzo shrugged and opened his palms. "It does now."

Klaus eyes narrowed. "Explain."

Bonnie shook her head. "We don't answer to you."

"Your Salvatore friends may be hiding behind a barrier, witch, but you are not." Klaus mouth curled into a menacing smile. "I might need you, but I do not require the vampire."

"I've already said that you can't kill Enzo," Caroline retorted, leaning forward to hold his eyes so he knew she meant it. The hot bank of coals there told her he wouldn't be pushed much further today, even for her. "So please just stop it, both of you. Bonnie, what is going on?"

"I'm touched, Gorgeous, but I don't need your protection." Enzo grinned. "My wife is more than capable of handling the situation."

Knowing that Klaus would not take the prodding well, she glanced at Bonnie for help. Mouth set into a hard line, Bonnie's shoulders slumped. She knew some of Klaus' tells and he did not bluff. Rubbing her eyes, she sighed.

"Elena is awake."

Caroline stiffened, a pit opening in her stomach. Shaking her head, her mouth opened and closed several times. Bonnie nodded. "Yeah."

Klaus' eyes narrowed. His voice was hard when he spoke, the threat impossible to miss. "What does the doppelganger have to do with this?"

"The spell around the town doesn't seem to affect Damon," Enzo continued, ignoring Klaus, when it was clear that Caroline couldn't find the words. "We haven't been able to locate Stefan."

"Are you okay?" Caroline blurted, teaching for Bonnie's had. "It didn't hurt you, did it?"

Bonnie smiled wanly. "I destroyed the car and almost killed Enzo. It was a rough morning."

Enzo shook his head. "Barely a scratch. A little blood and I was right as rain."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "It was not a little scratch. But with the spell breaking, and now with it being clear that someone talked about you and… Klaus, were pretty sure Damon is involved in this."

"It is damning that he alone can bypass the spell," Enzo said flatly, jaw hardening. "I suppose old friendships don't matter as much as I thought."

"He's an ass," Caroline agreed. "But I didn't think he'd risk Bonnie."

Enzo's gaze was hard. "Apparently he doesn't value her as highly as he values getting his dick wet. Not to mention that he is the only one foolish enough to run his mouth about you, Gorgeous."

"I believe it is time you started explaining," Klaus said into the silence that lingered after Enzo's words. "My patience is becoming quite thin."

Caroline closed her eyes. This was a conversation she hadn't thought she'd ever have to have. Klaus had shown no interest in Mystic Falls, and Elena's curse had no true loophole that they'd been able to find other than Bonnie's death. What had Damon done?

"It's a really long, complicated story," Caroline said finally. "The short version is that Bonnie and Damon were stuck in a prison world, and when they broke out, they brought the witch who the prison had been made to contain in the first place with them."

Bonnie sighed heavily and leaned against Enzo. "Kai was a problem."

"The Gemini Coven was a problem," Caroline said firmly. "You aren't to blame for any of it, Bon."

She gave a slight nod.

"I take it they ran afoul of your group's usual dealings," Klaus said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "How many still exist?"

"A dozen, maybe less," Caroline admitted. "Enzo and Bonnie have been… hunting them."

Enzo nodded. "Crafty witches, that lot. We finally had a solid lead when we ran into this mess."

Klaus lifted a brow. "Why hunt them at all?"

Caroline rubbed her face. "Because before Kai died, he cursed Elena. As long as Bonnie lives, Elena is cursed to sleep. And you can imagine how well Damon took that little hiccup."

"Well now, that does explain your sudden need to understand binding spells," Klaus said. Something about the softness of his voice, the flint behind his eyes sent a flare of warning through her. "That Damon acted selfishly is no surprise, but I wonder, how did he strike such a bargain?"

Bonnie bit her lip for a moment before grimacing. "Alaric claimed to have destroyed Jo's grimoires. When the Gemini Cove scattered I thought he had spoken the truth. They would never have left their secrets behind."

"They might not have," Caroline said wearily. "Damon is stupid enough to have bargained with pages or incomplete spells. But why?"

Enzo sighed. "I've been trying to understand his motivations for hours. The best I can come up with is that he might be trying to get his hands on another cure. Bonnie would eventually break the spell on the doppelganger, but she won't create a prison world for him."

"That would be impossible, prison world or no," Bonnie said flatly. "The cure from this world was destroyed, and so it cannot be remade a third time."

"A third cure," Klaus murmured, voice soft and deceptively gentle. "The first was given to the departed Katerina. Where is the second?"

And there it was. The can of worms she'd hoped to avoid for another couple of centuries. The look behind Klaus' eyes, the glittering dare, it reminded her that he hadn't broken his promise to her. He'd walked away so thoroughly he didn't know about so many things. Either she trusted him or she didn't. And if she didn't, she had no business looking at him and wondering about what a future with him might one day look like.

Caroline sighed. "Elena took it."

The silence in the room would have been deafening if not for the pounding of Bonnie's heartbeat. Klaus seemed to absorb her words, expression turning thoughtful. "Did she?"

"Leave her alone, Klaus," Bonnie said curtly.

His lips curled into a humorless smile. "Oh, I have no desire for her blood, witch. It's been tainted now, the cure runs interference on any magic a doppelganger blood might have once had."

Bonnie frowned. "I didn't know that."

Klaus looked amused. "Of course not. It would never have occurred to you, but Katerina did attempt to bargain her vampirism back. It was my good luck the witch she talked was smart enough to reach out after Katerina's death and offer me a sample, for a price."

Caroline's stomach dipped at the thought, but Klaus continued. "As for the other matters that she owes my family a debt, particularly her role in the death of my brother, as long as she stays tucked safely in the walls of Mystic Falls, she should survive to an old, brittle age."

"Pity," Enzo muttered.

Caroline shit him a glare even as the stiff muscles in her neck ease a little. "Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, love. A great deal of her continued existence depends on the spell wrapped so lovingly around Mystic Falls," his dimple peaked out of one cheek. "My family will watch it with great interest. But more importantly, witch, how likely is it known that Elena is human again? I assure you, it was not known outside of Mystic Falls that another doppelganger had turned."

Bonnie shook her head. "We've told no one."

Klaus laced his fingers across his abdomen, lips tugging into a curling smirk. "When we return to the ritual sight in the morn, I will be most interested in what you find. I imagine there will be traces of Elena Gilbert's blood and the magic her tainted blood made null and void."

Caroline stared at Klaus with horrified eyes. Elena could not have agreed to give blood if Bonnie had felt the spell break only two days ago. Not if the witches were already moving on her and Klaus. Which meant Damon had bargained blood that wasn't his to give.

Caroline licked her lips. "But using doppelganger blood in ritual…"

Klaus' gaze met hers, irises ringed in wolf yellow. "Silas' cure is not mine, love, for all that it neutralizes my mother's magic in young vampires. Kol has studied the lore around the cure extensively, browsing through my mother's grimoires. The only way to destroy the magic that made us is to reverse the spell, and that is beyond any living witch's capability. With the cure in her veins, Elena Gilbert's blood is quite useless. Qetsiyah's magical cure would have erased whatever paltry attempt Josephine had made to cultivate it for the catalyst she needed."

"But if catalyst failed," Caroline said slowly. "What did they do to the spell? That power had to go somewhere, didn't it?"

Bonnie met her gaze with worried eyes. "I suppose we'll find out tomorrow."

Caroline pressed her face deeper into her pillow and tried not to fidget. Bonnie had spelled their rooms so that they could have some privacy before Enzo had swept her into their room for the nights, so it was quiet. But the darkness of the room, the blissful silence were doing nothing to help her sleep. The king sized bed was super comfy, the sheets better than she'd honestly expect from a hotel, and she'd gotten first pick of the pillows. She'd been abducted, be spelled, fucked, and she was now seriously emotionally drained. She should have been face down in the bed and completely unconscious.

If only her brain would shut down.

Instead it was playing a game of Russian roulette and all the ways tomorrow could go wrong and running over endless lists of all the ways Damon could have screw them over. She kept bouncing from sick to pissed, and she wanted to beat her head against the mattress in frustration. She was terrible at feeling helpless.

"All right, love?"

Klaus' low voice broke into her rambling thoughts and she nearly groaned. The continued forced intimacy with him was another reason her brain just running along a mental hamster wheel. She had not thought through what sharing a bed with Klaus, for sleeping, would be like. The bed was big but it wasn't that big. She could feel the heat of him, had listened to the slow and steady pace of his breathing, and she wished she could have pressed up against him and breathed in some of his calm.

"Caroline?"

Giving up, she sighed and twisted to her side to stare at the shadowed figure that was Klaus on his side of the bed. She couldn't really see much of him, very little light filtered through the blinds they'd drawn shut. The outline of his jaw, the top of his tumble of curls was about all she could make out. It was a strain not to think of all his bare skin inches away from her, Klaus having forgone a shirt.

It was a struggle to keep her thoughts PG, as her sleep shorts and tank top wouldn't hide much if she let her thoughts wander to the feel of him, all warm skin and tense muscles beneath her palms. Forcing herself to focus on his face and not on the smell of him, she settled firmly against her pillow. "Sorry, this is just really weird."

A soft laugh and Klaus rolled to mirror her position. He was closer then, and she could almost read the expression on his face. "How so? I'm hardly the first man you've shared a bed with."

Caroline snorted. "Yeah, but those times were under really different circumstances. This feels like a weird co-hab, and it's freaking me out. I haven't lived with anyone for years and I'm really not ready to start."

"This may come as surprise, Caroline, but I too am not used to sharing my space," Klaus said, voice dry. "At least not to this extent."

"What if we're stuck like this," she blurted out before she could stop herself, fingers tightening around the blanket. "What if Bonnie is wrong and she can't break the binding? What are we supposed to do then? You can't possibly want to be stuck in a six foot radius of me all the time and I'm an only child. I occasionally need space. I don't share well. Being stuck in one place is going to drive me insane. I clean when I'm stressed. I'll want to re-organize your closet, you'll probably hate it and honestly, months of no sex sounds really terrible."

"Caroline," Klaus said firmly, though there was a thread of affection in his low voiced words. "The success of the Bennett Witch does not dictate our ability to break the spell. It is merely the first step in what could be a process, but rarely are spell such as this permanent."

"Are we lucky enough for that though?" Caroline asked doubtfully, voice wavering. "Because my luck really sucks."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," he said firmly. "I will ensure your freedom by any means necessary."

She swallowed harshly. "I don't really want to kill people over this, Klaus. I just want to be able to wash my hair without you looming on the other side of the curtain."

"You can't save Damon."

Caroline shook her head, hair falling into her face. "We both know I don't like Damon. But Bonnie does. Elena. I can't let you kill him."

Klaus slipped closer, the sweat-clad curve of his knee brushing hers. "Come now, love. Are you not the one who pointed out today how merciful it is for me to kill my enemies?"

Her breath hitched in her throat at the ring of gold the caught the faint light. He made no attempt to hide the rage she'd sensed in him in and off that day, and she hesitantly settled a hand on the taut muscle of his forearm. "Klaus…"

"What did they do that forced you to run, Caroline?"

She stiffened. Those memories were not ones she wanted to think of tonight. "Why do you keep bringing it up?"

"Damon seems to be under the impression that you are expendable," Klaus said with an edge in his voice. "I want to know why."

"Damon has always thought I was expendable," she pointed out in exasperation. "Do you think he'd have really cared if I'd died from either of my hybrid bites? He cared way more about my mom than me. He wanted to give her eulogy, as if I'd let him."

"I've heard nothing to suggest that you actually want him spared."

"I love Elena," Caroline murmured. "She's my friend. She loves Damon. I can't hurt her like that."

Klaus' head shifted forward, his breath ghosting across her lips. "And Stefan?"

Her flinch was barely imperceptible, but the narrowing of Klaus' eyes was unmistakable. "I could torture it out of him."

She rolled her eyes, digging her nails carefully into his chest. "No. Seriously, Klaus. Let it be."

"Why should I?" He asked. "Whatever happened has clearly shaped the events that lead to today."

Rolling onto her back, Caroline stared up at the dark ceiling. Weirdness factor aside, Klaus had proven to be a pretty solid sounding board before. He'd never judged her the way her friends had for wanting things, he had in fact pushed her to go after what she wanted. For all that he'd been right that she'd outgrow Mystic Falls, she didn't think he'd gloat.

"I couldn't breathe anymore," she said finally, voice soft. "My Mom died. Bonnie had once again saved herself. College had been a complete disaster with the Augustine society, and then there was the problems with the Gemini Coven. Elena was cursed. It was like there was always another disaster on the horizon and I just…"

Klaus didn't move towards her, didn't try to placate her, but the silence wasn't fraught. It was strangely comfortable, and it occurred to her that even with her stomach twisting in knots at the memories of why she'd left, she still felt safer than she had in years. Tucked into bed with Klaus Mikaelson, and he wasn't part of the nightmares that haunted her. It was a revelation.

"Tell me about the coven."

Caroline shrugged as best she could flat on her back. "They're kind of nuts. Old, with crazy ideas of succession and insane rituals. It totally bit them in the ass though. When their Head Wacko Kai died, he took pretty much everyone with him."

"What happened?"

She shivered, fingers curling into fists. "They wait for a set of twins to reach a certain age, and the stronger of the two eats the others magic. It's how they assume control of the coven. But that comes with a price, and when he suicided, they all just… died."

"That's not what I meant," Klaus murmured.

No, it hadn't been. Sighing, she traced a pattern on the bedding, considering her words. "Bonnie hates herself a little bit, all these years later, because Kai was a monster. Letting him out of his prison destroyed a lot of lives. You know about the Travelers?"

"I spent some time thinning their numbers after Katerina's little betrayal," Klaus admitted without shame. "I didn't want her to have any resources should she have looked for them."

Caroline nodded, somewhat unsurprised. "The Gemini Coven was tasked with keeping them from freeing Silas from the curse. It's how they justified what they'd done. The prison worlds, the killings, everything. But with Kai, things were different. He was a syphoner; the only way he even temporarily had magic was to eat it from another witch."

Klaus seemed to mull on that. "Useful, with a potential for a number of drawbacks. Witches are not limitless batteries, and if he too much, they'd likely kill themselves."

"Yeah, the coven hated him. How that's more of an abomination than a twin killing a twin, I'll never know. It was such a mess, Klaus. So many things went wrong. But there were bright spots too. Then Alaric fell in love."

"A happy occasion, I'm sure."

She found herself laughing at the dryness to his tone, the hint of distaste. Turning in his direction, she smiled a little. "It was for a bit. Jo was actually pretty great. It just… didn't last long. And then I left."

"True happiness rare," Klaus said simply. "And generally fleeting."

She pulled a face. "Geez, talk about a buzzkill."

"You mistake me, Caroline. You cannot compare the fleeting life of a single human to the eternity that stretches before you. They will die. You will not."

"You can't know that," she protested softly.

"I can. You know my intentions, love, and in order for you to make a choice you must be alive to do it. I will extend whatever resources necessary to ensure you will have whatever opportunities you need."

Caroline rolled into him, searching for his face. His skin was warm beneath her palms and she shuddered out a breath. "I can't give you what you want. I'm not ready."

He shook his head minutely. "I am perfectly capable of understanding you aren't ready for a serious relationship, Caroline. You've barely begun to spread your wings. You need to fly. But I'm certain that one day in the future, decades or even centuries from now, you'll find yourself ready for all the things I wish to give."

She bit her lip. "Still so sure you'll want me."

"That has never been a question," Klaus dismissed, fingers lifting to trace the line of her lips. "Even poisoned from a hybrid bite as a baby vampire, I found you fascinating. Time has not yet diminished our draw, Caroline. I am not a man to do things by halves. I want you to want me, to yearn for me, all of me, the way I desire you. I recognize that will take time. But be sure, love, because once you choose me, walking away will be no simple task. I will do everything in my power to keep you."

Her breathing hitched in her throat at the glimpse of the wolf, the steadiness and want of his gaze. Klaus meant it. He intended to wait. Still. Slowly, fingers trembling slightly, she traced the ridge of his jaw. "I can't be caged, Klaus. Not again."

"If I wanted you bound to me with anything other than your own desire, I'd have managed it when you were seventeen and fair more naive. What I want demands your free will." He caught her hand, pressed his lips to the pad of her fingers. "I'll settle for nothing less."

His words eased some unknown knot in her lungs, freed a tangled emotion she couldn't have named that she'd carried since Stefan had admitted what they'd tried to do. "Stefan tried to cage me."

Klaus mouth hardened. "Did he?"

"He didn't see it that way," she whispered. "But it was a cage. One I wasn't given a choice to carry. I couldn't stay after that. It hurt too much."

"One day," Klaus said slowly, thumb dragging across her palm. "Stefan will answer for his many sins."

Caroline held his eyes. "But not on my account."

The shadowed curve of his mouth tightened. "For now."

Exasperated, she knocked his foot with hers. "Not ever."

"A century for now, perhaps longer, who knows if you will feel differently?" Klaus lowered her hand and studied the shape of her mouth. "But that is a discussion for later. Now, do you imagine you'll be able to sleep?"

She shivered at the low voiced words, the hint of heat that had crept into his eyes. "I'll manage."

He made a considering sound before bringing her hand to his mouth. The scrape of his teeth down her palm sent gooseflesh down her arm. "Why only manage?"

"You heard Bonnie," she protested, voice slightly breathless. "No sex."

He chuckled darkly, lips curling wickedly against her palm. "I find it hard to believe, Caroline, that after your taunt to Davina that you'd feel shy about a little mutual masturbation."

Her skin went hot and tight, breath escaping on a whoosh. "How long have you been wanting to bring that up?"

"I've been mulling on the possibilities since you brought it up. It's a pity that we can't test the parameters of the spell just yet, but our trip tomorrow to the ritual sight should solve that issue. Tonight will need to be strictly no touching, but we're both clever. I'm sure we can find a way to entertain ourselves."

She debated his words for a long moment. Getting off would really improve her chances getting some sleep, but it could was a chance also make the ache for him worse. The swamp has been one thing. This would be deliberate and far more intimate than the fucking they'd done until now. Having him aroused and flushed just for her, his eyes glued to her every movement would not do anything to ease the need for him that she'd forgotten how to ignore.

But Caroline didn't see herself going three decades without seeing him again. There was no denying that today had changed things and sometime soon she was really going to have to figure out what. But like everything else, she shoved it aside.

Pushing herself into a sitting position she shook her head, hair tumbling against her cheeks. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

But for all her words, she couldn't keep the invitation out of her tone. Not when she could smell the stirrings of his arousal, when she knew he could sense hers.

"Hmm, perhaps. I'm willing to risk it. Take off your shirt."

Caroline shot him an exasperated look, lips twitching. "You're awfully bossy."

He sounded completely unrepentant. "Is that a bad thing? I know what I want. And tonight, I want to watch your nipples harden to perfect, pink points while I fantasize tracing the shape of with my tongue."

A shudder rolled down her spine. Beneath her tank top, her skin flushed and the nipples he admired with his words tightened. "Yeah, it's a bit late for that, but it's not like you can really see anything right now."

A shift of muscle and he sat up across from her. A moment later, and he stretched out an arm and flicked on his table lamp. It lit the room in a soft glow, casting shadows across his cheekbones from his lashes as his gaze dipped down her body. Even in the low light, her tank top didn't hide much.

"A problem easily solved."

Caroline exhaled slowly, letting her eyes follow the same path his had made down her body. Lean and muscular, his deceptively slim build always caused her pulse to spike. Her fingers twitched with a need to touch him, to explore the flat planes of his abs. "I suppose so. But if I do as you want, what do I get? Your shirt is already missing. I'm going to want a little quid pro quo here."

His tongue snaked across his lips as his gaze returned to hers. His eyes had heated, desire there causing her pulse to thud. "What would like?"

"If you get to watch," she said firmly. "Then so do me."

"Agreed," he murmured. "Tell me, do you enjoy watching?"

Caroline hummed an agreement before shimming out of her shirt. "We really didn't think our shopping trip through. If I'd known we were going to be doing this I'd have picked up a vibrator or two. It's been a long time since I've just used my fingers."

His gaze darkened, eyes dipping slowly down the curve of her breasts, the hard points of her nipples, before returning to her face. "An oversight easily corrected tomorrow. What would you buy?"

She took a moment to answer, cupping her breasts instead. She pinched her nipples, enjoying the shivery feeling of her arousal as Klaus watched each movement of her fingers with hungry eyes. "That depends. Would you be using them on me or would I be playing by myself?"

A fine shiver worked across his skin and she barely held in a pleased smile. "Those are both delightful options. Why choose only one?

To start, I believe I would set you in my lap in front of the large mirror in the living area. That way we could both watch as you teased yourself nice and slow. Later, I'd press it inside you and murmur all the ways my cock was jealous, of how badly I miss the feel of you wrapped around me in such an exquisite vice."

Caroline tugged harder at her nipples, a whine catching in her throat. "And you? How do you feel about sex toys, Klaus? A vibrating cockring, maybe?"

He chuckled, hand sliding down the flat plan of his abdomen to slip inside the dark gray of his sweatpants. "Interested in a little delayed gratification?"

"Maybe," she rasped. "Take off your pants."

Klaus' lips curled, eyelashes fluttering as he clearly gripped his cock. "You first."

"Rude," Caroline muttered, watching the hidden movements of his hand. "I let you watch me play with my boobs."

His brows arched, hands stilling. "Would you prefer I tweak my nipples for you, love?'

"Nope," she replied. She wanted to lick them herself, catalogue the tightening of his muscles beneath her hands as she used her teeth. But tonight they couldn't touch. "But if you're going to touch yourself, we've already agreed that I get to watch."

He made a considering noise, before removing his hand from his pants. His extremely noticeable bulge left her mentally cursing Josephine and her ridiculous binding. She was starting to ache, and in any other circumstances she would have been more than ready for him.

"So we did."

"Then why are you not taking your pants off?"

Klaus' dimples creased his cheeks. "As I said, you first, love."

Knowing that she was unlikely to get Klaus to budge when he wore that expression, she hooked her fingers through the elastic band of her shorts and panties, sliding them down and tossing them to the side. Reaching behind her, she organized the pillows to her satisfaction before settling against them. Parting her thighs to let him look his fill. It was impossible to feel self-conscious naked and dripping in front of him, not when he looked so pained at being unable to touch her, his hands curling into fists.

Meeting his eyes when his gaze returned to her face, she arched a challenging brow. "Your turn."

Caroline slid her lip between her teeth as he did as she'd demanded, discarding his sweats. She'd understood the earlier look on his face as she drank in the sight of his fully erect cock, the muscles of his thighs. Her toes curled into the sheet and she draped her fingers along her thighs, settling a little further into the pillows.

"I do so enjoy the sight of you like this," Klaus rasped as he curled his fingers lightly along his shaft before slowly stroking as he continued to watch her. "Flushed such a pretty pink and dripping for me."

Lifting one hand, she breathed out slowly, and twisted a nipple just as lazily as he touched himself, letting her other fingers stoke softly down her skin. "Did you think about me, Klaus?"

His lips curved. "Often. I'm a visual man, Caroline, and I've often thought of how I'd wish to paint you. Post-sex, flushed and heavy lidded, my release still slick on your thighs? Perhaps you'll allow me to tie you to my bed so that I could tease you soft and slow with my tongue, until your skin is fever warm, your hair wild and golden about your head. I'd paint you desperate and panting, with twisted sheets and glistening pussy."

Her fingers slipped lower, circling her throbbing clit and it was a strain to keep her movements slow and precise until she was panting, his words a wicked enticement. Slouching down, she speared her fingers through her slickness, dipping carefully through her fluttering muscles. It was a struggle to keep her eyes on him and not sink into the sensations, the images of his fantasy.

"That sounds time intensive," Caroline rasped as she pressed two fingers inside her slick passage, clenching down on the fullness that wasn't quite what she craved. His gaze was nearly black with desire as he watched her hands move, but while the cords in his neck stood out in sharp relief, Klaus didn't tighten his grip. His hold remained steady, breathing carefully even.

"Does it? Art does take time. We'd need to experiment. Perhaps even use one of those toys you mentioned early, hmm? Something pretty and remote controlled, so that you never quiet come as I sketch you. It'd require more than one session of course, I imagine you'd be such a lovely temptation, buying your lips as you plead for me to hurry, to come fuck you. I'd make it worth it."

Her fingers were drenched, body drawn tight as he rasped his fantasy. Arching to grind against her hand, Caroline whimpered as her clit rubbed along her palm. Her voice was hoarse as she spoke, hips jerking roughly. "And what if I have a fantasy or two?"

"Oh, I hope you do," Klaus rumbled. "I want to hear them. All of them. But I want you to come first. Let go, Caroline."

She whined, hand moving roughly between her thighs at his words. But it was the way he shifted his grip, the low rumble of pleasure as he finally thrust into his fist that sent her spiraling. Shivering through the grip of orgasm, she slumped down, finally pulling her fingers free with a wet noise. Klaus groaned deeply, hunger clear on his face as she brought her fingers to her mouth and sucked them clean.

"I want you to go again." He murmured, jaw tightening as he fought for control. Caroline's lashes fluttered at his words, the rough order sending a fresh flutter of interest through her. Still, she started to protest and he made a deep noise low in his chest. "You can. Remember how I licked you through your orgasm that first time you let me taste you in the woods? You were so sensitive, greedy for more but not sure you could take it. Touch your clit for me, Caroline. Slowly."

Thighs falling wide open, she moaned as her fingers carefully circled her clit. Hissing at the nearly painful sensations, she eased back. The next shaky circle was better and she sighed in pleasure, eyes heavy lidded and hazy. Klaus made an approving noise and the sound of his fist against his cock grew slick as he used his the moisture beading on his cock to smooth his strokes.

"Now," he said roughly, body drawn gloriously taut. "Tell me one of your fantasies."

She shivered and tried to gather her thoughts, mind occupied by the sensory overload. "How do you feel about public sex?"

A rough noise, and his grip looked almost painful. "Would you like me to fuck you in public, Caroline?"

She moaned, high pitched and needy as she increased the pressure. Panting now, she chased the sensations, words mindlessly spilling. "Sometimes, when I'm with someone else and I can't finish, I'd think about you. Your hands, your mouth, how ridiculously quiet you can be. I'd wonder if you'd have minded if I dragged you somewhere just barely hidden and asked you to fuck me, if you'd care if someone overheard."

Klaus groaned from deep in his chest, cheekbones flushed above his beard as his the movements of his hips grew more forceful. Caroline watched him from beneath her lashes, her orgasm building as she watched him absorb her words. Catching her clit carefully between her fingers, she fought to stay coherent. "Would you slip your fingers beneath my panties at a restaurant, Klaus? Tease me until the waiter could guess what was going on? I'm not very good at being quiet, someone would know."

His muscles locked, fingers nearly white-knuckled against his cock as he spilled into his hand, her name a harsh groan. It was all she needed and her second orgasm was softer but no less intense as it washed over her. After a long moment his muscles unlocked, one by one, and it was as satisfying to watch as his orgasm.

"We should clean up," she finally slurred, lashes fluttering. "I'm all sticky."

Klaus reached for his sweatpants and wiped his hand clean. "We'll shower in the morning. I like you like this."

Caroline found she didn't want to protest as he moved to turn off the light. This time, he didn't bother to keep any distance between them. He pulled her close, the feel of his skin pleasant against her spine, their legs tangling together. She curled her fingers loosely around his wrist, eyes heavy as she started to drift.

"Dream of me, love."

The feel of his breath against her shoulder, the heat of him, lulled her to sleep.

Flipping up her sunglasses, Caroline stared at the Dowager Fauline Cottage with a little frown. From this distance the house looked normal but something itched at Caroline's skin, an invisible warning. "This isn't at all what I was expecting," Caroline muttered. "Who calls this a cottage? Isn't it kind of big?"

Bonnie snorted, arms crossed as she stared at the house with a pinched mouth. The stress lines had smoothed out a little, but she still looked tense and tired. Caroline made a note to have a chat with Enzo about keeping a better eye on her. "I bet the witches who were stuck here thought otherwise."

Caroline tipped her head, eyes narrowing. "Who were stuck?"

"Davina was right," Bonnie said softly. "They're all gone, but where they've gone might be worse. What is here is… terrible."

Tucking her lip between her teeth, Caroline glanced around at what looked to be a perfectly normal yard. The landscaping fit in with its neighbors and for all that it had been used as a prison, it had been well maintained. The paint was new, the roof looked solid and the yard was well manicured. No one would have thought anything strange about the house, other than the doll head stuck on the fence post. But even that was brushed aside as pure aesthetic by drunk tourists.

Shifting her weight, Caroline glanced back at Klaus who was listening to Marcel speak, the bright morning light catching in his curls. Sitting on the sidewalk with her face buried in her hands was Davina. The youthful, girlish figure was gone and in its place was something hunched and old.

Their morning had been a terrible cap to an already difficult twenty-four hours.

But it hadn't started that way.

She'd woken up that morning half-sprawled across Klaus, her face buried in his pillow. He hadn't seemed to have minded that her bed-hogging had included him, his fingertips smoothing patterns down the line of her spine. She'd considered trying to go back to sleep, but the hot press of his skin against hers, the slight drag of calluses along the knots of her spine had left her achingly aware that they were both very naked. If the feel of his cock against his thigh had told her she hadn't been the only one affected. But Klaus had seemed content with their proximity, and it'd left something bright and happy in her chest.

Chemistry had never been part of her worries where they were concerned. She'd wanted him even when she'd hated him. Knowing that there was a possibility for this, quiet and intimate moments, soothed a few more of those ragged edges Caroline didn't know she had. She wasn't ready for long term commitments, but she knew that he was right. Someday she would be.

But that morning sleeping had been out, and unfortunately, so had lingering in bed. There was just too much temptation. Klaus hadn't protested when she'd sighed and kissed his shoulder before working to untangle herself from him and the sheets. Instead, he had watched her dress with heavy lidded eyes, but since she'd fully intended to return the favor she hadn't minded. Klaus had taken his time moving about and she hadn't minded in the least. Thankfully, Bonnie and Enzo had been up and moving, and it hadn't taken too long to caffeinate and find breakfast before heading out.

The swamp had been a different matter. No one had expected what they'd found. Klaus has called Marcel as Enzo had eased closer to the remains and snapped a series of pictures for Bonnie. Caroline had tried to keep herself from fidgeting, had exchange snarky words with Enzo to keep from screaming.

When she and Klaus had been in the clearing, it hadn't been so dark. So full of foul magic. Bonnie had theorized that Josephine had returned and stripped the circle of any lingering power, had left behind the rot deliberately. There had been no way to tell what had been used to create the spell, any doppelganger blood was long gone as was the chalk used to mark the circle.

Whatever Klaus had said to Marcel, it had been terse and short. He'd given Bonnie the time she needed to look things over, but had hustled them all back to the Jeep shortly after. Bonnie had sat tense and quiet, studying the pictures with a worried frown.

Now they were back in New Orleans, looking at what looked like a spell gone completely wrong. Rubbing her face, Caroline wished they'd had time to either pick up more coffee or grab a bloody pick me up. :"What do you see Bonnie?"

Her mouth hardened. "When I was the anchor, I grew accustomed to death. When I was stuck in the prison world, I learned how to despair. But I beat both of those things, death and despair. What I see? It is something else entirely. It as if the prison world formed only partly and then collapsed into itself. Nothing inside that house is good."

Gaze darting between her and Bonnie's faces, Enzo walked over, and shoved his hands into his pockets as he stood next to Bonnie. "Alright?"

Bonnie nodded. "Yes. But the containment spell is gone. In another day, maybe two, and this thing will start leaking out. New Orleans can't afford it. Someone needs to fix this and I don't think it can be me."

Davina's head came up, her eyes bloodshot with exhaustion and grief. "You have to save them."

Enzo tensed, jaw set, but Bonnie looped her arm through his and shook her head. "I can't."

"You have too," she repeated, pushing roughly to her feet. Marcel turned to face Davina, his mouth a hard line. "She took them. She took all of them."

Caroline glanced at Klaus, confused by the witches rambling and winced at the tiny smile that curled along his lips.

"Did she?" Klaus asked as dimples slowly creased his cheeks. "How unfortunate."

Davin flinched at his insincere words, but didn't look at him. Instead her eyes remained on Bonnie, the expression in them wild. "You're a Bennett Witch. Aren't you supposed to be special and powerful? Help me fix this. Help me save them."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at those words, shifting so her shoulder pressed firmly against Bonnie's. "I might not be a witch Davina, but even I know that's not how this works. Josephine is your coven's mess. Where are they?"

Bonnie gave the witch a pitying look, her sigh soft as she leaned slightly against Caroline. "They're inside, Caroline."

"What?" Caroline said in surprise over the sound of Klaus' soft laughter. Her gaze farted back to the house, shoulders tending. "All of them? Why would they… how did Josephine manage that?"

Marcel moved to place his hand on Davina's shoulder, expression drawn tight. "After your visit yesterday, Josephine sent out a series of group messages to the coven requesting that they meet her here. It was odd, as her arthritis meant she preferred to call directly, but many of the coven went anyway."

Klaus arched both brows. "And you didn't think that prudent to pass along?"

Davina curled her fingers into fists. "My family is none of your business."

"No?" Klaus drawled, hands clasped behind his back. "And after I came to you in good faith with your coven member's crimes. Did you at least warn your fellow members that Josephine had been dabbling in magic she didn't understand?"

Caroline pressed her lips tightly together to keep from saying anything as the silence grew at his words. Even Bonnie looked horrified that Davina had let them walk into a trap without warning. Davina's face was stubbornly defiant, but her eyes were too wide with the shock of what they'd found.

Klaus shook head, voice softly mocking. "You truly are a Harvest Witch, Davina. Perhaps I owe you a thank you. You have saved me a great deal of trouble of hunting for additional perpetrators in your family. This cleans that mess up nicely."

"You do not get to judge them when you're willing to murder babies. And it wasn't like that," Davina exploded. She gestured wildly at the house, face pale. "I should be in there with them. Marcel wouldn't let me go."

Marcel expression remained unmoving. He addressed his next sentence to Klaus, voice reluctant. "After your visit, I took steps to have this property watched."

"Did you now?" Klaus murmured.

Marcel nodded as Davina stared at him. "You didn't say anything."

Klaus made a derisive noise. "Josephine was always going to return here. Her magic is bound to this city, and she would have taken precautions in the one place those precautions would have gone unnoticed. This was the most likely option."

Caroline frowned at him. "When were you going to fill the rest of us in on that little detail?"

Klaus shrugged. "Once it become pertinent. The remains of the swamp were far more urgent. I did not anticipate that Josephine would manage to destroy herself no neatly."

Davina had continued to glare at Marcel. "When I showed you those texts, why didn't you say something?"

"What could you have done? She pitted herself against Klaus. You witnessed the bloodshed from the previous war, the bargain made to keep your clan from being wiped out." He looked more exasperated than annoyed. "Should I have let her involve you? You are a Harvest Witch, Davina; the embodiment of the link between your ancestors and your coven. Your blood has magical properties a normal witch does not, much like a doppelganger. What damage would your blood have done when she had already created this?"

"They are gone and I could have stopped it!"

"It is far more likely that Josephine needed either your magic or your blood to complete what she started and I saw no point in allowing her either." Marcel chin tipped towards the home. "If the Bennett Witch is correct, and the Cottage has been turned into a true prison world, then I will have no regrets that you didn't join them."

"My witch is generally right about these things," Enzo said. "If she says that they've gone and created a badly formed prison world and locked themselves inside, then that is what they have done."

"It's worse than a prison world," Bonnie said flatly. "What the Gemini Oven did was bad enough, but what Josephine did here defies logic. The power it takes to create something like this demands sacrifice. If your coven lived through those rites they regret it."

Davina's hands curled into fists. "There has to be a way to save them. There is always a way."

"I don't see how," Bonnie said with a surprising amount patience. "Josephine played with a spell she didn't understand. If this had been a case of a spell gone wrong we understood? Maybe we might be able to reverse it. But I don't know what spell she started with, I don't know how she has altered it. I can't fix this."

"That doesn't mean we should leave them trapped," Davina exploded. "Before, at least they could exist in that house. Now…"

Enzo snorted. "Seems to me that your coven merely made things worse instead of better."

Bonnie curled her fingers around his forearm. Enzo didn't relax, his gaze focused on Davina, but he no longer looked as if he was going to lunge. Klaus just looked amused.

"I saw what Josephine did in the swamp, Davina. That ritual was corrupted from the beginning. She had no intention of maintaining any sort of balance. Your ancestors should have stripped her of power long ago if this is here heart." Bonnie took a deep breath, her voice gardening. "A true witch ritual purifies the earth, leaves behind renewed life. If Josephine had succeeded, she would have put every living thing in the swamp in danger. It was only blind luck that kept her from managing to complete the ritual and here, at least, you can contain the vortex she has created. This mess needs to be cleaned up."

Caroline shivered, remembering Bonnie's face when she'd seen the ash of the ritual drawings. The grass had died everywhere the spelled chalk had touched, leaving terrible scars on the earth. Whatever spell that they had bargained for from Damon, it was far worse than Bonnie had originally theorized. She hadn't known what all the symbols meant, but by killing the witch, Caroline had somehow transferred her role in ritual to the dead girl's bones.

In doing so she had saved herself. She'd saved Klaus. They may never know from what exactly, but she fervently hoped she was never part of another witch ritual.

"What are we supposed to do with it?" Davina whispered. "It's terrible."

Bonnie shook her head. "I don't know. The only parts of it that truly exist in this world are the doors. If you were to burn the home to the ground, those doors would remain. If anything magical crosses this boundary, it will be sucked in to feed it. It's a hunger that can never be satisfied. We cannot leave it to grow, but its caretakers must be human. No one with any magical abilities can be allowed to cross that boundary."

Marcel frowned, dark eyes narrowing. "The witches here were few before Josephine culled their numbers. The remaining witches will likely be older or very young. I cannot sense the gateway as well as you. What kind of power will you need for that kind of barrier?"

"Coven magic will be needed," Bonnie said firmly. "And Davina, you cannot allow anyone to banish witches into this void when they go against your family's commandments. They cannot afford to let this void grow or it will eat the city."

"Pity that," Klaus said softly. "It was such a useful threat, wasn't it, Davina?"

Davina's shoulders slumped, her anger cracking into despair. "Something like this shouldn't be possible."

Bonnie's face tightened, temper flushing her cheeks dark pink. "Of course it's possible. Magic isn't a toy, Davina. It's dangerous. Do you think Josephine managed this kind of power on her own? She did this and knowing that her spell was failing, she called your coven to her. When everything was failing, she choose to sacrifice your coven to give her more power and she still failed. Klaus is free and your coven is in ruins. Harvest witches have power. Use it to protect who is left."

Davina looked at her hands, the visible trembling of her fingers. "I don't have the power to hold our coven together, much less put up the kind of barrier necessary. Not anymore."

Bonnie's mouth tightened. "You don't have a choice."

"Ah," Klaus said into the tension, voice low and brimming with satisfaction. "Now that is something I can help with. For a price."

Davina went rigid, and even Bonnie tensed. Caroline studied Klaus' face and considered protesting. This spell couldn't be allowed to grow, but Klaus had to know that. Biting her lip, she narrowed her eyes in warning when his gaze met hers but she held her tongue.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Oh, you shouldn't," Klaus said with an infuriating little smile. "But unless you wish to admit why your little coven came running to do Josephine's bidding, I don't think you have a choice. I'm your only hope to get the power you need."

Davina's jaw tightened and to Caroline's surprise, Bonnie backed Klaus. "It takes thirteen witches to shape this kind of magic, thirteen souls to hold it steady. Both in the creation and the binding. Josephine lost the moment her circle broke. You need help to contain this."

"What do you want?" Marcel asked when Davina remained agonizingly silent. His eyes were wary, and he sounded resigned. "What will you ask of us?"

"Your pet witch will help Bonnie Bennett break the spell that binds myself and Caroline," Klaus ordered. "You will give her access to your grimoires, your blood, whatever is necessary."

Davina blinked. "The binding spell? But…"

"And once the binding spell is broken, she'll help me cleanse the swamp," Bonnie added on when Davina paused, her voice firm. "It will stick better if a witch born here helps. I won't leave the magic there to rot."

Enzo frowned down at her. "I thought you weren't going to involve your bloodline here."

Bonnie stared at Davina with hard eyes. "I'm not. I will help them clean this mess but that's it. To maintain the spell, her family must ensure its containment, not fine. This kind of problem can last generations, and I will not be pulled back every time something goes wrong. My family has involved itself in too many powerful spells."

Davina blanched, but Klaus nodded. "Agreed. Davina will aid Bonnie in cleaning the messes her coven created, regardless of where they are found. If she cannot, then someone from her family must. She will also assume, on behalf of her coven, the responsibility of keeping this spell contained."

Davina exhaled a shaky breath. "That's all you want?"

"Oh, it's will not be a small ask," Bonnie warned. "The binding spell will take time. So will cleaning the swamp. Then there is the responsibility of this mess. I hope you can handle it."

Marcel frowned. "How long will you need?"

Bonnie's smile was grim. "I'll know more when I can see Davina's grimoire collection. Based on the ritual, it looks like she'd was using familial spells. I'll need to see them."

Davina opened her mouth and then closed it with a snap. Klaus tipped his head to the side, gaze nearly gleeful. "Are we in accord, witch?"

Davina was silent for a long time. Glancing at Marcel, she finally nodded. "Yes."

"Excellent." Klaus' dimples creased his cheeks as he reached for his phone. Tapping the screen for several moments, he smiled as it was answered on the first ring. "Hello Gloria, I have a proposition for you."

Caroline sat on the hood of her brand new car, spoon half buried in a slowly melting chocolate milkshake, and the paper container that had once been French Fries was empty except for the lingering traces of salt. In front of her, the newly replaced Welcome to Mystic Falls sign gleamed with new paint. It was a quiet fall afternoon, the leaves turning red and gold around her, the buzz of bugs were occasionally interrupted by a car speeding by.

"Did you really manage to talk Matt into bringing you lunch?" Bonnie's exasperated voice cut into her thoughts and Caroline smiled around her plastic spoon. "I'd have thought a Sheriff would have had better things to do."

"For a guy who complains he hasn't made a milkshake in over a decade, he still makes them perfect," Caroline said cheerfully, fishing for the extra spoon she'd asked him to bring. Holding it up triumphantly, she smiled at Bonnie. "Get up here and eat your half."

Bonnie laughed but boosted herself o to the hood and took the spoon. "Couldn't you have at least saved me a fry? I'm hungry."

"I'm your friend, not a saint," Caroline said with a grin. "Text your devoted husband and tell him you want food."

"He promised to take me to dinner, somewhere nice," Bonnie said with a sigh. "I should have brought a candy bar."

"Seems like an easily solvable problem for future badassery," Caroline said with a shrug as she dug out another bite of milkshake. "How'd it go?"

Mystic Falls was the last pit stop of the events of the last few weeks. There was a number of loose ends that Klaus was determined to solve, and the first was Damon and his loose tongue. The rest… well, they had negotiated.

Bonnie and Enzo had wanted to go with him, which had left Caroline the odd man out. Bonnie could only safely Shepard three of them through the barrier and in the end, Caroline had let it go. Punching Damon in the face had sounded cathartic, but she figured she could trust Enzo to do that correctly.

Klaus' plans were far more subtle and sinister.

Shaking her head, Bonnie scooped out a bite of milkshake and took a long time to answer. "He apologized."

"Before or after Enzo punched him?"

A snort, and another bite of the milkshake. "After. Elena is exactly the same as I remember her, you know. She's just so…"

"Young?" Caroline offered.

"Selfish," Bonnie admitted. "She was horrified of course, but I think it was more because Klaus was there than anything else. Damon breaking the spell I suppose can be viewed as romantic of a sorts."

"Yeah, except for the part where it could have killed you." Caroline snapped. "Jeez, Bon."

Bonnie patted her knee. "Enzo and I survived. Elena is awake. If Damon had just been smarter…"

Caroline took another bite of her treat instead of commenting. It'd been a little over two weeks since they'd discovered what Josephine had truly done. Whatever grimoire Damon had given the coven, it had been merely a blueprint. Josephine had attempted to recreate the impossible, and she'd paid the price. Wherever Josephine and the coven had disappeared too, it was likely a one-way trip, and it wasn't likely to be pleasant.

Not that Klaus was taking that at face value. He'd called in a coven from Europe to come in to lock down the property, and to confirm Bonnie's findings. Those grave eyes and strange accents had been accompanied by coveting glances, and Davina had been a tense ball of stress. It was clear that whatever the Europeans had seen they had liked, and it was only Klaus' indulgent reminder that they were there to do him a favor and not start war that had kept the peace.

Caroline wasn't certain for how long that would last, but that wasn't her problem.

The entire mess was such a waste.

"Do you think that Klaus will keep his word?" Bonnie asked softly. Caroline handed her the milkshake and leaned back, staring up at the blue sky.

"About what?"

Bonnie looked down the road, her voice low. "That he won't hurt Damon as long as Elena lives?"

"I cannot believe that was your favor," she complained, falling back dramatically. "That is such a waste, Bon."

Her lips curved sadly. "He was my friend."

"Yeah, well, he doesn't deserve you," Caroline muttered. "I hope whatever Klaus does have planned hurts."

"Caroline…"

The admonishment was surprisingly gentle, lacking any kind of heat, and Caroline huffed irritably. "Klaus promised me. He has never broken a promise to me."

It was something she'd come to rely on. The fact that he meant what he said to her. Bonnie's shoulders hunched with relief and Caroline was glad she hadn't told Bonnie what she had worked out with Klaus regarding Damon. The older vampire could have his few fleeting years with Elena, if he managed to stay with her. Damon wasn't what Caroline would call devoted, and Elena would eventually wear wrinkles and gray hair.

Damon never would.

She hoped the price he paid, the price he would continue to pay was worth his impatience. Because death would be a long time coming for him. Klaus had all but ensured it. She was certain his plan had been to walk in the sun at Elena's death, and the compulsion Klaus he'd agreed to use would ruin that plan. It would deny him a lot of things, but Caroline didn't regret any of them. All she had to do was think back to the agony of the spell Josephine had put on her, the strain and worry on Bonnie's face as she worked to find a way to break it, to wish Damon many, many years at Klaus' hands.

"Did you find out what happened to Stefan?" Caroline asked softly.

Bonnie's fingers tightened on the spoon. Her eyes closed, face tightening with grief. "As far as I can tell, he died as part of the ritual that woke Elena. I don't think she knows."

Caroline exhaled slowly. They'd expected that but it still stung. Stefan had been her friend once. In the end, he'd taught her some hard lessons and she wouldn't forget them.

"He loved her too."

"Yeah," Bonnie said softly. "Yeah."

"Speaking of spell," Caroline said once she could speak without her throat clogging. "When are you going to tell me why you were so careful not to do magic in New Orleans City limits? You made me trek back into the swamp to try to break the binding spell. It rained."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and shoved at her leg. "Oh, please. You won't melt, and it was drizzled hours before we got there."

"Uh huh. Spill it, Bon Bon."

"It's not that complicated," Bonnie said exasperated. "It's just… every major life event I've had has been a reflection of an ancestor doing something awesome and impossible, and screwing me over in the process. If I have kids someday, I don't want that to happen to them. So the other witches have to figure out how to clean up their own messes."

Caroline looked at her. "I'll be there for any of my future nieces and nephews."

"I know," Bonnie admitted. "I just don't need to stack the deck against them. But what about you? How are you doing? Have things eased up at all?"

Two nights earlier, during the new moon, Bonnie had tried breaking the binding. It had been a mixed bag of success. Caroline no longer experienced pain if Klaus moved too far away from her, but there had been… side effects.

Caroline shrugged. "I can tell you exactly where Klaus is right now, and how long it would take me to reach him. I can feel his footsteps. It's really fucking weird, but there is no pain, so I'll take it."

Bonnie blew out a breath, agitation written clearly on her face. "Davina is going through some more grimoires and I have a contact or two I can reach out too. I will fix this."

Reaching over, Caroline squeezed her arms. "Thank, Bon. Seriously. We'll figure it out. You gave me back my privacy, I can deal with a little weirdness."

Bonnie looked doubtful but nodded. Caroline knew how much it bothered her best friend that she was still connected to Klaus. God, she'd nearly had a tiny meltdown when she'd realized the new curveball the spell had thrown at them. Bonnie was powerful but still young for a witch, and the Bennett witches had a fair number of grimoires but binding spells were not their specialty. The Gordian knot Josephine had created was complicated, and it would unfortunately take time to understand all the little nuances that now bound them.

That part of the spell was tattooed onto her flesh had further complicated matters. Klaus had reluctantly admitted that it wasn't his vampire side that had locked onto her so tightly, but his wolf. It had made a strange sort of sense to her, with the way Josephine had bound them, but why remained a mystery. She wasn't sure they'd ever find a true answer to that question.

Which was extremely annoying.

Bonnie had confirmed Davina's theory, that killing Caroline would snap the connection, but Klaus had made it clear that wasn't an option. What he had done was start reaching out to a few, very select contacts. He apparently had a number of witch allies he kept in his back pocket for a rainy day, and she hoped someone would offer a solution to their problem. As far as Caroline knew, Elijah was doing the same. Rebekah had hung on him and she hoped she was nowhere near that confrontation.

And as much as Caroline loved her friend, there were some things Bonnie would prefer never to know. Like the fact that her internal Klaus-compass wasn't the only side effect they had experienced once Bonnie had tried to untangle the spell. It was the second change that worried her the most, which suggested they might not be able to break the spell entirely.

Only mitigate it.

They'd noticed it the first time Klaus had been inside her once Bonnie had reluctantly given them the green light for sex. She'd wanted to avoid the conversation entirely until Enzo had pointed out that vampire sex drives needed outlets. Caving, Bonnie had run the tests, mouth pinched tightly together

Enzo had smirked at her over his wife's shoulder and Caroline had refused to blush. In the days leading up to the New Moon, she and Klaus had done a fair amount of experimenting with mutual masturbation. They'd gone shopping and brought back a neat pile of toys, some Caroline had used before and some she hadn't.

Caroline had thought she'd known her body, her likes and dislikes, and all the things that turned her on but in the fourteen days she'd shared Klaus' bed and had been unable to touch him had been enlightening. Watching Klaus get off to the sight of her, watching his l eyes as she fell apart in front of him again and again while he rasped low voiced demands had been arousing and extremely gratifying, but she'd found she still missed him.

His touch. His taste. The way he felt. Just him.

That first night after they'd been cleared, he'd bent her over every flat, and mostly-flat surfaces of the hotel room before he'd spread her across the bed like a feast. Klaus had used every bit of information he'd learned about her body to drive her wild, to drag out her orgasms until she'd been nearly incoherent and she'd loved every bit of it.

But that first time he'd pushed inside her, her fingers scrabbling at his back as she'd chased the orgasm he'd been teasing her with for forever, she'd felt him. His desire, his arousal… the astonishing depth of his affection. She'd felt him like those things were her own and her reaction had been shocking. Her orgasm had gripped her so tightly her vision had gone white, and when she'd regained her senses, Klaus had clearly come as well, his face flushed and lips bitten-red. But his eyes. They'd been pure wolf and so full of want she hadn't been able to breathe.

After, he'd taken her in the truest sense of the word, and she was pretty sure she'd passed out somewhere in the middle of her last orgasm. And each night that first time he thrust into her it was the same. Klaus hot and thick inside her and his arousal pounding in her blood. She wasn't entirely sure she could think about it without blushing.

"Caroline?"

Shaking her head, she turned her face into the breeze and took a deep breath. "Sorry, was thinking. What did you say?"

Bonnie arched a suspicious eyebrow but let it go. "I asked what your plan was after this."

"Klaus wants to interrogate a number of witches about binding spells," Caroline said with a shrug. "He'd prefer that we stay within a certain proximity to each other as a just in case. Most of them the witches are in Europe, so I'm going with him."

Bonnie stiffened, her eyes flashing at the unsaid words. "My spell will not fail."

"I believe you," Caroline said. "But he's crazy paranoid, remember? Besides, he owes me a vacation, so for now I'll agree to what he wants."

Both of Bonnie's brows rose. "He owes you a vacation?"

"Yup," she said serenely. "I've kept a rather detailed list of all the things that were his fault since this mess started. We had spell driven sex in a swamp, Bonnie. I was covered in mud. The only mud I want between my toes is the expensive kind. The very least he can do is foot the bill for a little luxury."

"Ewe," Bonnie protested, face scrunching. "Not another word about sex and Klaus, Caroline. It'd bad enough that I had to triple check my spell work to make sure you could have sex. It's going to be years before I feel clean."

Caroline laughed at her. "Bonnie!"

Her face remained stubborn. "Are you sure this burst of generosity from Klaus doesn't have anything to do with his paranoia about not knowing just who Damon or Josephine told about you?"

Caroline narrowed her eyes, amusement dying. "Did he question Damon about that?"

"I'd be surprised if he didn't," Bonnie said with a frown. "I hate him, and I really don't understand what is going on with the two of you, but he does seem to want you safe."

He really did. She paused and glanced towards the woods. She couldn't see him, but he was moving in her direction now. She knew it in her bones. Knowing she was running out of time, Caroline dug into her pockets and pulled out the car keys. Tossing them at Bonnie, she jumped off the car.

"Car is yours, Bon."

Bonnie shot straight up. "What?"

"Just because you won't take care of yourself, Bonnie Bennett, doesn't mean I won't do it for you. Don't worry, Klaus footed the bill. He is the reason Josephine went looking for the Gemini coven and found Damon, so he's responsible for your car exploding. It's only fair he replace it."

"But…"

"It has all the shiny bells and whistles. His minions will be mailing you the title." She smiled as Klaus suddenly appeared next to her, his expression slightly exasperated. He didn't smell like blood, but there was something about the way his mouth kicked up at her examination that told her that Damon had not enjoyed their chat.

Ignoring Bonnie for a moment, he skimmed his fingers lightly down her chin. "Ready, sweetheart?"

"Absolutely," Caroline said firmly. "You promised me Bloody Mary's on the plane. I am so ready for that drink."

"Really?' Bonnie demanded. "You're just going to throw the keys at me and run?"

Caroline tossed her a grin, fingers curling around Klaus' forearm. Anticipation hummed through her. He had assured her they'd be flying private, and she'd always wanted to join the Mile High Club. She bounced on her toes, and her lips kicked up higher. "Sure am. I'll call if we find anything interesting."

Bonnie rolled her eyes, bracing her forearms on her knees. She looked a young woman waiting on a boyfriend in the afternoon sun, not a fifty year old witch with a vampire husband. Her smile was affectionate even as ignored Klaus. "Try to stay out of trouble this time, okay Caroline? Europe is a lot harder to get to than NOLA. I call you too."

Feeling Klaus' finger curve over hers, Caroline nodded. "I'll do my best, love you Bon!"

This time when her back turned away from Mystic Falls and they sped away, it was a comfortable goodbye. Just as before, there were adventures before her, some good and some bad, but this time, for now, she didn't have to do them alone. At some point she would walk away from Klaus, but in that moment she was surer than she'd ever been that Klaus was her end game. It'd take time, but one day, she'd wake up with him and she wouldn't leave.

Getting there was going to be one hell of a ride.

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