Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville/Vampire Diaries

Sequel to: Alliances of the Soul.

Chloe stared ahead of her in shock, unable to believe what was in front of her.

"She's not dead. She can't be dead." Bonnie's eyes were filled with tears. "No. This is wrong!"

Jeremy merely stood over the cold body resting on Chloe's bed in the Salvatore Boarding House, the boy keeping his emotions in check as he stared down at the girl and the awkward way her neck was bent. "Who did this? Why did they do this? And why did they bring her dead body to your bedroom?"

Those were all questions that been going through Chloe's mind endlessly as she stared at the dead body of Caroline Forbes. "I don't know."

Bonnie cried, turned and ran away, the door slamming behind her.

"Can you go check on her, please?" Chloe stared down at Caroline's dead body.

"I don't want to leave you alone with her."

"I'll be fine, I wasn't close to Caroline the way she was." Chloe was finding it hard to stay calm though, and knew that Bonnie must be feeling things a hundred times worse than her. "Please?"

Jeremy sighed before he went after Bonnie.

Chloe went towards her bed and sat down on the edge, staring down into Caroline's deathly pale face. "Somehow-this is my fault." She closed her eyes tightly. "Why else would they bring your dead body here? Why else would they lay you on my bed?" She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes, wiping at the tears she only now let fall, staring down at Caroline. "I'm so sorry."

Suddenly Caroline gasped as she sat up in the bed, staring around her, confused. "What's going on? Where am I?"

Chloe's eyes widened as she stared at Caroline Forbes in shock. "Oh my god."

"Chloe?" Caroline stared at her in confusion. "Am I in your bedroom? What's-why am I so hungry?"

Chloe stared at Caroline, watched her eyes bleed black, her features sharpen, her face pale and her veins darken, just as Katherine's had in Chloe's memories. That was when the truth hit her hard. Someone had turned Caroline Forbes, the girl was either a vampire or transitioning into one. Why would they do this to Caroline of all people? And why would they drop a fledgling vampire onto Chloe's bed? Was someone trying to kill her? And how in the world had they managed to get into the house? From what they'd learnt from Grams' grimoires a vampire had to be invited into a house by the owner to be able to enter the dwelling. So just how in the world had a vampire gotten into Salvatore Boarding House?

The girl took in a deep breath and stared at the newly arisen girl. "Caroline, I need you to keep calm, okay? I know that what I'm going to say is going to be unbelievable but-."

Caroline suddenly cried out as she grabbed at her mouth, pain visible on her features and terror in her voice. "What's going on?"

Fangs.

Fangs.

Chloe stayed as calm as she could. "Caroline. I need you to listen to me."

Caroline's blue eyes turned to her, terror in their depths.

"I know how crazy this sounds, but I think you're a vampire. I think the person who killed you turned you, and now you're turning." Chloe breathed in and out, trying to show Caroline what to do as the girl visibly hyperventilated. "I think you're hungry for blood."

"No!" Caroline shook her head. "You're crazy! I-!" She cried out as she pressed her hand harder to her mouth, muffling her words. "Smo… hrungy…!"

"I know you're scared, Caroline, but we'll get through this." Chloe kept her voice calm despite the fact that she felt about to faint. All she knew about what was going on with Caroline was that she was in the turning phase, and that if she didn't drink blood she'd die. Chloe was in way over her head here! She didn't know enough about vampires to be of a help to this girl!

No. But Thaddeus might.

Chloe's eyes narrowed.

"You're talking crazy, Chloe." Caroline hurried up from the bed. "I don't know what's going on..." She stepped into the sunlight and cried as she raised her hand to shield her gaze. "It's-it's so hot!"

Chloe was up in seconds and ushering the crying girl out into the shadow. "I think you're in the process of transforming."

But Caroline wasn't paying attention, her blues were now black as she stared at Chloe's neck. "I'm so hungry."

This was a volatile situation, and Chloe was worried about how being crowded by Bonnie and Jeremy would affect Caroline. She was already in bloodlust, barely hanging onto her humanity, and Chloe was scared that being surrounded by so many blood sources would overload her senses and cause the girl to vamp out and lose her mind - or forget these were her friends and not walking blood bags.

"Caroline, look at me." Chloe placed her hands on the girl's shoulders and moved her slightly so that her blues were staring into Chloe's greens. "I need you to look into my eyes and pay attention. Pay close attention." When Caroline nodded quickly with a whimper, Chloe took in a deep breath. She'd never done this before and wasn't even sure she could. But she'd lived through the memory of Thaddeus utilizing the power.

Bonnie could be right. If she had Thaddeus' mysterious strength, she might have his other abilities.

Feeling her eyes relax, Chloe kept eye contact with Caroline as she spoke slowly, her voice resonating in the room in an odd, ripple-like way. "You can control your hunger. Your hunger doesn't control you."

"My hunger doesn't control me." Caroline's voice was soft as she echoed the words, her pupils enlarging and contracting as she did so. "I control my hunger."

Chloe let go of her grip on Caroline's shoulders as something inside of her cracked, painfully, but she kept her gaze on Caroline's. "Just listen to me, and you'll be fine."

"I'll be fine." Caroline nodded as her pupils continued to expand and contract. "I'll listen to you."

The pain and cracking grew too much and Chloe looked away as she took in a couple of deep breaths.

"Chloe?" Caroline sounded worried as she reached for Chloe, who'd bent down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Chloe nodded and looked up, relieved to see Caroline look like normal, even though those veins were still there. She stood and took in a deep breath. "I'm going to give you blood, but you have to stop when I tell you to, okay?"

Caroline looked uncertain, but nodded slowly as she raised her hands to trail against her fangs. "How am I a vampire?"

"Do you remember how you died?" Chloe moved towards her as she held out her arm.

Caroline whimpered and shook her head. "No."

Chloe sighed as she brought her wrist up to the blonde. "Come on."

Caroline reached for it.

"Wait!" Chloe's eyes widened and she hurried to the windows, shutting the curtains. "Just in case."

Caroline eyed the curtains and gulped. "Right. Good thinking."

Returning, Chloe lifted her wrist once more.

Caroline let out a deep sigh as the veins around her eyes grew, and then she reached for Chloe's wrist and buried her fangs into it.

Chloe flinched as she felt the puncture, and then shivered when the sensation of her blood being taken, sucked out through the punctures in her wrist. Only when she started feeling dizzy did she speak. "O-okay Caroline."

Caroline pulled away and dropped Chloe's wrist, blood dripping down the bottom half of her face, the features of which had sharpened. This was her 'vampire face'. She'd turned.

Chloe looked at Caroline, assessing her warily. "How are you feeling?"

Caroline licked her lips and then grinned as she clapped her hands in excitement. "Much better!"

The girl looked so much like her normal self it made Chloe chuckle.

"I'm still hungry, but its not as painful as before." Caroline touched her lips in question. "Is that due to that eye-thingy you did to me?"

Chloe opened her mouth to answer when she suddenly noticed something and narrowed her eyes. "Where is the necklace I gave you? You wear it all the time so why aren't you wearing it now?"

Caroline's hand went to her neck and then she paled and sat down, hard.

The door opened and Jeremy and Bonnie froze in the doorway.

Caroline turned to look at them, her face and voice a mixture of shock and extreme hurt. "Elena killed me!"

Jeremy's eyes met Chloe's. "She's alive."

Bonnie's did as well. "What did you do?"

"Hey! I didn't do this! How exactly do you think I would've been able to?" Chloe then lifted her hand to stop their advance as she turned to Caroline. "How about now?"

Caroline's veins were making a comeback, and her voice was depressed and worried. "I want to rip their throats out and drink all their blood." She tilted her head in though. "But somehow I'm able to keep from doing it." She hugged herself. "It still hurts though."

Horror filled Bonnie's face as realization of what had happened dawned on her.

"She's a vampire," Chloe confirmed as she processed what "Elena killed me" meant for them. "Jere, I need you to go get blood from the butcher."

"Do we know what we're going to do with her?" Jeremy didn't look at Caroline. "Or address the fact that Katherine is back and apparently knows that you are Thaddeus?"

Caroline's eyes widened on Chloe. "You're a guy?"

Everyone ignored her.

"Please Jere," Chloe whispered.

He sighed and nodded before he turned to Bonnie. "Keep an eye on her."

"Of course." Bonnie nodded and threw him her keys. "Take my car."

He caught it and gave her a small nod. "Thanks." His dark eyes went to Caroline untrustingly before they turned to Chloe, his gaze on her bloodied wrist before a muscle jumped in his cheek and he turned and left.

Bonnie waited until he left to turn to Chloe and hug herself tightly, clearly unnerved. "How can Caroline even be here? In this house? She wasn't invited by Zach."

That was a very good question.

"Why are you guys taking this back-from-the-dead-as-a-vampire thing so well?" Caroline wanted to know as she looked between them. "Also: Elena killed me. Why isnt that having more of an effect on you all?"

Chloe sighed and sat down next to the vampire. "I'm going to need you to tell me everything about how... Elena... killed you."

Caroline looked between her and Bonnie before she let out a deep breath. "She came up to me and said she needed to talk about something, that it was important and she needed someone to talk to but that Bonnie was spending so much time with you lately that she didn't have anyone. I, uh, I get that feeling sometimes too so I decided to go along and listen to her. To be a friend." Caroline sighed, shoulders hunched. "But then, when we were by ourselves in the park she gave me this really un-Elena smirked, bit into her wrist and forced me to drink her blood." She shivered at the memory. "She then said: 'Hi Thackery, meet me at our usual place, XOXO.'" Caroline's face was a mixture of fear and revulsion. "She then snapped my neck."

"How does she know?" Bonnie turned to Chloe, obvioulsly disturbed by this story and yet not comfortable with the fact that Caroline was a vampire now, and definitely worried as to the fact that Katherine Pierce was obviously back and knew more than she should.

"What is going on?" Caroline's voice was shrill and vulnerable. "Why would Elena do that to me? And who is Thackery?"

"That wasn't Elena, Caroline." Chloe reached out and placed her hand on Caroline's shoulder. "That was Katherine. I think she's an ancestor of Elena and Jeremy's."

"An ancestor?" Caroline's eyes then widened. "Oh. Vampire ancestor. I see."

"You're taking this very well." Bonnie narrowed her eyes.

"I wasn't at first. I was on the verge of a meltdown of epic proportions," Caroline admitted. "But whatever Chloe did to me is somehow keeping me from freaking out." Her eyes rose to Bonnie. "Or from tearing your throat out despite the fact that the sound of your heartbeat - of the pulse in your neck - is so tempting and I'm starving." She cleared her throat. "But if I listen to Chloe everything will be fine, and she said I control my hunger, it doesn't control me."

Bonnie took a step back before she suddenly narrowed her eyes on Chloe. "Tell me you didn't!"

Chloe flinched. "Not now, Bonnie."

"That's dangerous, Chloe!" Bonnie was furious. "We didn't even know what could happen to you if you tried it and yet you did it when we weren't even here? What if something had happened?"

"Not. Now." Chloe flinched at the thought of how Jeremy was going to react when he found out.

"Not now?" Bonnie gave a dark laugh as she whipped out her phone and began to text furiously into it.

"Tell me you're not texting Jeremy!" Chloe stood immediately, pale.

"Send." Bonnie looked up from her phone. "See you try to weasel out of this when he comes back, young lady."

Chloe groaned and collapsed onto the bed next to Caroline.

The blonde vampire looked between them and blinked. "I'm missing out on a lot, huh?" She then cried and gripped at her stomach. "I-I-!" She cried and a hand went to her head. "What's happening to me?"

Bonnie hurried close. "What's wrong?"

"I'm in agony!" Caroline's voice rose and her eyes darkened. "I-I feel like there's this invisible wall that closing in all around me and-!" She screamed.

"She might need blood." Chloe held her hand out to Caroline. "Drink."

"It could also be the fact that she's not been invited!" Bonnie snapped at Chloe.

Too late.

Caroline bit down on Chloe's wrist and drank her blood deeply, her trembling and whimpers slowly beginning to die down as she did so.

Chloe reached out and rubbed Caroline's back soothingly as she looked up at Bonnie. "It must've been lack of blood. She's only just been turned."

"You also know that she shouldn't be able to be in this house, Chloe." Bonnie glared. "Zach needs to invite her in. That's how it works." She then froze. "Unless..."

Chloe looked up at her. "Unless what?"

Bonnie eyed Caroline feeding from Chloe's wrist with narrowed eyes. "I have a theory." She licked her lips. "What if its because of your blood?"

"What about my blood?" Chloe frowned in confusion.

"Well, Thaddeus was special, and you've got the two abilities we know he had." Her gaze went to Caroline before she returned to Chloe. "What if your blood is somehow making her be able to stay in the house?"

"How would that work?" Chloe was intrigued.

"I'm not sure, it's still a work in progress, but if I'm right then you might still have to give her some blood in between feedings or she'll feel that pain." Bonnie took in a deep breath. "And she can't leave this house. Not now. It's sunlight outside." She groaned and went to lean against the wall. "How are we going to explain her sudden nighttime fixation to anyone? Caroline's the preppiest prep that ever prepped. And what about school?"

Caroline slipped her fangs from Chloe's wrist and licked at the blood around her mouth. "What about my mom?"

Right. They hadn't even thought about that.

Caroline being unable to move around in the daylight... Chloe's eyes widened. "When did Katherine kill you?"

Caroline frowned. "This morning."

Chloe gave a laugh as her hands went to her mouth.

"This isn't funny." Caroline frowned darker.

"No - sorry - I just-." Chloe grinned. "Katherine killed you in the park. She killed you this morning in the park."

Caroline looked very hurt. "Yes."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "She was out in daylight."

"Exactly!" Chloe grinned. "Which means that she knows a way of going around during the day without getting burnt to a crisp!"

Caroline's hurt morphed immediately as she jumped up, excitement in her blues. "So I mightn't be forced to live in the darkness forever and get ridiculously pale!"

"Exactly." Chloe was getting excited. "She can help us figure out how to get you back into the daylight." She grabbed her bag. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Where do you think you're going?" Bonnie Bennett clearly thought she was Chloe's mother.

"I have a date with a vampire." She grabbed her keys. "You stay here and keep an eye on Caroline. I'll be back as quickly as I can - and with information on how to help her."

"What makes you think Katherine will just volunteer that information?" Bonnie wanted to know.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think she'll have a choice?"

Bonnie glared and grabbed Chloe as she yanked her off to the side and spoke in a low, harsh whisper. "I am not going to let you continue using that! It was foolish to use it on Caroline, even if it helps her!"

"Yeah, uh, guys?" Caroline called from across the room. "I can still hear you." She pointed to her ears. "I think I have super hearing."

Bonnie sighed and then spoke normally since there was no reason why she should be hissing anymore. "Chloe, it's dangerous."

"I'll be fine, Bon." Chloe reached out and hugged the extremely tense, extremely unhappy witch. "She just wants to talk, and I need to know how she knows about me."

Bonnie sighed and nodded before she hugged back. "Be careful, Chlo."

"I will," the blonde promised as she pulled away. "Caroline, stay here, okay? Don't leave my room. Don't attack Bonnie or Jeremy - no matter how hungry you get. And don't talk to Zach."

Caroline nodded. "Okie dokie."

Bonnie just eyed her vampiric friend and shook her head.

Chloe took in a deep breath and hurried away to meet with Katherine Pierce.

What was up with Elena Gilbert?

Tyler raised an eyebrow as he eyed Elena and wondered at the air of change in her. He didn't know what it was about the girl, but he suddenly did not like her. Or feel like he could trust her. He didn't know why he felt this way about his best friend's girlfriend, but there was something about Matty's girl today that told Tyler's instincts that she was dangerous and he should stay as far away as possible.

The bored-looking girl suddenly straightened and smirked as she stood with her hands on her hips, an evilly pleased expression on her face.

Tyler followed her gaze to find Chloe Alexander making her way towards her, her green eyes narrowed.

Things had been strained between him and the blonde since he'd attacked her that once, which was a bummer. He'd enjoyed their frenemy banter, and was surprised to find that he missed it. There was no way he was attracted to the girl because, damn it, she was scary, but a part of him had learnt to respect her for some reason. Plus, he didn't have anyone who could be just as much as a bitch to him as he was a bastard to them, and he enjoyed that.

It's reasons like that that Matty tells you you're twisted, man.

Chloe reached Elena, the two of them were too far away for Tyler to make out what they were saying, but he could see that Chloe was tense and Elena... Elena was flirty.

Tyler blinked and took out his phone to text Matt. How straight is your girlfriend?

Matt texted back. She just read that, you know. She called you a perve.

Tyler blinked, eyes wide. You're with Elena right now?

Matt answered. Yeah.

Are you in the park?

Matt sent him a confused emoticon. No. We're at the Grill. Are you okay bro?

It's nothing, ignore me. With that Tyler put his phone away and looked at the two women snarking in front of him.

If Elena Gilbert was with Matt, then who the hell was that?

"I wasn't sure how long it was going to take for you to come." Katherine smirked as she stood in modern clothes, yet her hair at least was the same. "It isn't nice to leave a lady waiting you know, Thackery."

"There's more efficient ways of passing along messages." Chloe stood in front of the vampire, not exactly sure why she wasn't even nervous. This was a vampire for crying out loud! "There's this nifty device called a phone. There's also the internet."

"But an email or text really doesn't pack a punch, does it?" She was completely unrepentant. "How's the girl?"

"She's a vampire now, thanks to you." Chloe narrowed her eyes. "You ruined her life and yet it doesn't seem to bother you at all."

"Believe me, I watched that girl, being a vampire will be the best thing that ever happened to her." Katherine eyed her up and down. "Where's she now?"

"Exactly where you left her." Chloe glared. "How did you get into the house anyway? You weren't invited."

"What? You thought I would lug her body around?" Katherine snorted as she anchored her hands to her hips. "I Compelled some human to do the dirty work and then forget."

"How are you able to go about in the sunlight?" Chloe's eyes narrowed.

Katherine's smirk grew. "This is quid pro quo. I help you, you help me."

"You're joking, right? You killed my friend!"

"I turned your friend," Katherine countered. "And anyway, I needed to see if you still had that ability, and considering that one of my spies is following Mr Gilbert as he gets blood, well... I don't care if Bonnie is a Bennett witch. You wouldn't have left her alone in the house with poor little Caroline if the disgustingly peppy blonde wasn't under control. And she wouldn't be under control. Not newborn. Not unless you controlled her."

Chloe let out a growl. "Just spell it out, Katherine, what do you want?"

Katherine smirked as she raised her chin. "We're going to finish what we started a lifetime ago."

"Oh really?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that?"

"Because, I know how to help your friend adjust to her life and pretend to be human, which she'll need considering there's a vampire hunting council here who will kill her if they know what she is." Katherine took a couple of steps forwards. "And, most importantly, because Klaus is still looking for us."

TBC