In the grand scheme of things, she's nothing, this fledgling vampire jointly made by Katerina and her sire, Damon. Just another complication that cannot be eradicated because she is friends with Elena, the second Petrova doppelganger.

But she is beautiful, in that fragile, blonde Barbie sort of way. And when he sees her, trying desperately to control the bloodlust in front of some pathetically human boy without a clue, a part of him gets angry.

She is nothing, a complication, but she is beautiful and tragic, and he wants to fix her.

So he makes nice with her mother, a situation in which he finds all sorts of irony. The original vampire making nice with one of the local Council of vampire eradicators. But he needs to be invited in, a feat that he manages in much the same way as with Elena's aunt. A little sweet talk and a bit of curiosity on local history.

And later that night, when the human mother is asleep in her bed and the fledgling vampire is sneaking into hers, he is waiting in a dark corner of the little vampire's room. Predictably, she doesn't notice him at first, and he sighs dramatically, which gets her attention right away. "Who's there?" she calls, fighting her instincts.

In less than a second, his left hand has both of her hands behind her back and his right is at her throat. "I could kill you so easily right now; you know that, little one? And, were you any other vampire, you'd already be dead," he says, his voice low. "But, unfortunately, you fall under the promise I made to the doppelganger, so you won't die. However, the situation in this town is precarious enough and does not need a little fledgling vampire with no impulse control running around flaunting the truth under the town's proverbial nose."

Little Caroline's eyes are wide, and her fangs are out and she looks so very hungry, but she does not fight him. He supposes she's smart enough not to test his patience. He looks straight into her blue eyes and holds her unwilling gaze. "So here's what we're going to do. You're going to start controlling yourself. You're going to stay away from that human boy toy of yours because he is not worth your time now. And you're going to forget I was here telling you any of this, but you'll do as I asked."

And she nods. "I'll do as you ask."