A/N: Hello everybody! Welcome to Red Queen, Season II! If you're brand new to this story, I'd highly recommend checking out Red Queen, Season I first (Which is, appropriately, entitled "Red Queen"). Quite a few elements of this story will make very little sense if you haven't read its predecessor. It kicks off with the hybrid massacre in Season 4, but with a twist—the massacre was prevented. And as a result, Klaroline happened! Oh, and some other plot. Kind of a lot of other plot.

But anyway, back to the Klaroline, when we left them, Caroline had just graduated, Jeremy had just come back to life, and with the closing of the veil, the world has gone back to its wacky imitation of normalcy. Caroline and Klaus are growing extremely close, but with Caroline recovering from a devastating tragedy, they're taking things slowly. However, she does live in his house. (Which it right about the part where it first becomes confusing to anyone who has not read Red Queen, which is 26 chapters long and definitely worth your time, if I do say so myself!)

A quick note, in the TVD book series, the town is called Fell's Church, rather than Mystic Falls. Falls Church, VA is a real place, so I'm using that approximate location for Mystic Falls, if anyone's interested.

Also, warning, this chapter contains (disappointed/sad/beginning-of-the-end) Forwood. This is a Klaroline fic, first, second, third and last, but this stuff is important to both character development and plot, trust me.

Edit as of 6/6:

**Typos have been fixed since original posting. Also, nota bene (please note) the title is according to Google Translate, which I know is notoriously riddled with errors. I'd like to thank the three native speakers who reviewed this chapter yesterday and let me know it was wrong, but I'm going to keep it as it is-I knew it wasn't quite right, but I did do that on purpose (well, the vocab, not the word order, that was just a Google fail) as explained in the final chapter of Red Queen.**

Disclaimer: unfortunately, I don't own the Vampire Diaries. But maybe, if I'm really, really good, Julie will give it to me as a birthday present?

Be Careful What You Wish For

Caroline pulled into the school parking lot, put the car in park, and after waiting a moment, turned off the engine and dropped her keys in her purse. Out of habit, she rested her hands back on the steering wheel, body still while her mind spun wildly.

'Happy damn birthday to me, I guess,' she thought sourly. Her special day couldn't have possibly fallen at a worse time. She was undead, the town was overrun by hybrid jackasses, her dad hated her, and she and Tyler were in a fight over his particular supernatural drama.

She supposed it wouldn't have bothered her quite so much if he could at least admit he had a problem, but he was so flippant about it.

"It's better," he'd said after the disastrous homecoming party, and she'd sat there on her bed in shock at the words coming out of his mouth. "If being sired to Klaus is the price I have to pay to never have to go through the pain of turning again, then so be it." She'd been avoiding him ever since. It just didn't make sense to her, that the guy she'd known all her life, who she'd helped through his darkest hours, Matt's best friend… was one of the "bad guys" now. She wasn't sure what she would do when she saw him next.

She knew that maybe she was overreacting. Not to the sire-bond issue—that was a serious problem—but to Tyler's attitude. It wasn't that he didn't care; he was probably just trying to accept what was happening to him in order to protect himself emotionally. If he let himself wallow in worry, it wouldn't solve anything, and it would only hurt him more. But, the fact that he didn't seem to have any plan about what to do about it—that scared her. Was he seriously going to live like this for the rest of his life—literally, the rest of eternity?

Was her relationship with him going to be another casualty of the supernatural, like her relationship with Matt, her relationship with her dad, the recently repaired relationships with her mom and Bonnie?

Caroline was good at being a vampire. She'd picked up on everything with precocious quickness, and—secretly—rather enjoyed the fact that she was strong enough to kick the ass of anyone who upset her, even if she didn't normally indulge in that kind of behavior. But… it was from the moment she turned, all of the little strings that had tied her to the people around her were being severed one by one. She hadn't even had time to outlive her loved ones yet, but she was already losing them.

And that, more than anything, terrified her.

She'd convinced herself that she could do eternity like this—strong, ageless, bloodthirsty, in desperate need of magical sunblock—but she didn't think she could handle eternity alone. She was a social being; Tyler had often joked about how she had a werewolf pack-mentality, despite her vampirism. But what was she supposed to do if her pack—her family—all left her?

It was at that moment that she looked up and caught Tyler's eye. He was sitting on one of the picnic tables, patiently waiting for her to get out of her car. Unbuckling her seat belt, she wondered how long she'd sat there, lost in thought. Probably not more than two or three seconds, she reflected as she opened the door, slung her bag over her shoulder, and stepped onto the asphalt of the parking lot. Her brain did work at vampire speed, after all.

"I can't talk to you," she said once she got within normal human hearing range of Tyler. It was too soon after their fight, and today was just… not a good day. She couldn't do drama today.

"I know you're upset," Tyler started, raising a placating hand, "but..."

"Upset?" she hissed, his 'now don't overreact to little things' tone rousing her temper. "You almost got Jeremy killed! And before you ask me to understand, or to support you, can you at least tell me what you're planning to do about your sire-bond to Klaus?" Just give me something—some reason to hope that we might eventually be all right. Just prove to me that this means something to you—that I mean enough to you that you'd be willing to fight for me. That's all I'm asking for. That's all I'm asking for.

"There is nothing that I can do about it, Caroline!" Tyler exclaimed in frustration, and Caroline's heart sank right down to the tips of her shoe heels. "That's the point. I just wanted you to know that I understand why you can't be with me. Even though I want to put you first, before anyone, I can't. I'll never be able to. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I just want you to know that."

He couldn't have known what she'd been thinking. He couldn't have known how much his word choice hurt her. But it did, and for a tense half second, she thought she was going to literally burst into tears right there. He was giving up on her too. Because what they had together wasn't important enough to merit a few hours of research or a conversation with a witch.

"I'm sorry, too," she finally choked out. Pride kept her emotions in check, but that was all. Right then and there it was officially settled—she wasn't going to school that day. She was going to get back in her car, get out onto the road, and put as many miles as she could between her and all of this.

Tyler reached into his backpack and pulled out a small drawstring bag.

"Happy birthday," he said softly as he pressed it into her hand. Then he turned and walked away. Caroline stared at his retreating back for a long, painful moment before she forced herself to stop thinking of morbid imagery. She opened up the bag and poured a little pile of metal rings into her hand. It was a charm bracelet, with her initials, a football helmet, and a cheerleader's megaphone hanging off of it at intervals.

She regarded it sadly. Her human life, her passions, her relationships… Perhaps it was fitting that as a vampire, she could easily have crushed it into a handful of powdered metal. Instead of destroying it, however, she carefully fastened it around her wrist. She wanted to pretend for a little bit longer that she didn't destroy everything she touched.

Then she whirled on her heel, got back in her car, and floored the accelerator to get out onto the closest highway.

She made the two hour drive to Richmond in about an hour and a quarter, disregarding all traffic laws and driving in a manner that generally would have made her police officer mother's hair turn grey, despite the fact that she knew her daughter was indestructible with unparalleled senses and light-speed reflexes. For lack of a more defined plan, she wandered into Regency Square Mall, meandering in and out of stores and trying on clothes that all looked fabulous on her, although she didn't buy a single thing. Her funk was too deep to allow her to fully enjoy anything.

Hours later, she'd spent exactly twenty-three dollars and sixty-four cents, on lunch for herself, and a pack of dress-socks for her mom. What a fun birthday. She'd considered compelling the people at Zales to sell her a diamond infinity pendant at clearance price, but stopped herself. She'd feel awful later, and where would she wear diamonds, anyway? Besides, the infinity symbol looked cool, but if she really thought about it, it was too depressing.

She was in no great rush to return to Mystic Falls, but didn't really have anywhere else to go, and didn't particularly want her mom to come home from work and find out that she'd been missing all day. So, she got back in her car, and headed for home, arriving only about twenty minutes after school had let out for the day. She set her purse down on the hallway table with a sigh, and then almost jumped out of her skin when Elena, Bonnie and Matt jumped out from behind the living room wall, wearing party hats and holding balloons.

"Surprise!" They all yelled in one voice. She'd been too preoccupied with her internal drama to notice them, and had to work to force her face into a pleasantly surprised half-smile.

"Happy birthday," Matt exclaimed with a wide grin.

"What are you guys doing here?" Caroline asked, wondering if they'd somehow known the crazy depressing thoughts she'd been mulling over all day.

"Well," Elena responded, holding out a large, decorated sign with the words "Happy Birthday Caroline" written on it in glitter, "You blew off school and missed our work of birthday art, so..."

"Change into warmer clothes," Bonnie instructed. "We're going to the Falls. S'mores, camp fire…" It was on the tip of Caroline's tongue to remind her friend that vampires didn't get cold, but she restrained herself. Taking a shot at Bonnie didn't help anything—it wasn't her fault that she was human.

"Cake!" Elena added to the list gleefully, "Like when we were little." Except that Caroline couldn't get fat, or make herself sick off of eating too much of it. But that was a perk of vampirism, she reminded herself, not a downside…

"Except with tequila!" Matt continued in a singsong voice, and that one made Caroline smile. She needed a little tequila. No, she needed a lot of tequila—enough to make her forget that Tyler Lockwood had ever existed. But that kind of drinking wasn't best done in a party atmosphere.

"Thanks, guys. Really," she said graciously. "I'm just not feeling my birthday this year."

"I'm sorry, what?" Bonnie responded incredulously. "You've already claimed your birthday as everyone's favorite day of the year!"

"Yeah, and now, it's just a reminder that technically, I'm dead." Caroline shot back, with more venom than she'd intended. Not their fault I'm a vampire, she reminded herself sternly. Not their fault I'm emo. Not their fault I'm in a fight with Tyler. But their collective expressions were demanding some explanation of her incomprehensible moodiness, so she continued. "Look, I didn't even like 17. Y'know, only point to being 17 is to get to 18. It's a filler year; I'm stuck in a filler year."

"You're not stuck, Caroline," Elena said soothingly. It was kind of a useless thing to say, but Caroline appreciated the gesture.

"Yeah I am," she sighed, "but it's okay. Y'know, it's all good, I'll be fine. But I just need some time to wallow in it." Two pairs of eyes started at her with worry, and one pair regarded her thoughtfully.

"Okay," Elena nodded, eyes narrowing down to slits as her mind raced. "Well I think I have another idea."

-0-

By the time they reached the Salvatore crypt, the sun had set, and deep shadows filled the otherwise deserted graveyard.

"Here it is!" Elena announced proudly, pushing the rusty metal door inward, and leading her friends inside.

"This is creepy, even for us," Bonnie observed, looking around cautiously.

"Caroline was right..." Elena explained, setting down the cake box and turning to face the others. "Technically, she's dead." She looked at Caroline and added, "Sorry." Caroline nodded. "You don't need a birthday," Elena continued, "you need a funeral. You need to say goodbye to your old life, so that you can move on with your new one."

There was a thought. Caroline pressed her lips together, considering that idea. It couldn't hurt anything. And the ties of her old life were being sheared away one by one anyway. Maybe it was healthy to accept that.

"Okay." She agreed, walking up to the alter in the center of the crypt. "Here lies Caroline Forbes—"

"—Cheerleader, Miss Mystic Falls, third grade hopscotch champion..." Elena listed playfully, sticking a candle into the strangely out-of-place birthday cake with every word she spoke.

"…Friend, daughter, overachiever..." Bonnie listed.

"...Mean girl," Matt chimed in. "Sometimes, no offense," he added quickly.

"None taken," Caroline assured him with the ghost of a laugh.

"She was 17," Elena summed up, "and she had a really good life. So rest in peace, so that she can move forward. That's what you really need. What we all really need. Amen," she finished awkwardly, after a beat. "Or, cheers or whatever. Bonnie?"

"Right," Bonnie murmured, and with a flick of her fingers, lit the candles with magic.

"Nice!" Elena exclaimed, echoing Caroline's own sentiments. She never got over how cool it was that her best friend could actually start fires with her mind.

"Okay," Elena said, holding out the cake towards Caroline. "Make a wish."

Caroline closed her eyes, thinking about the people around her, thinking about that day, thinking about that most horrible thing Tyler had said, that he couldn't put her first, even if he wanted too…

'I wish for true love,' had flitted through her mind without her ever consciously giving the thought permission to form into words. It was stupid and childish and this was only a wish made on birthday candles—it wasn't even like she was saying a prayer to a higher power, unless there was a deity of cake she had yet to hear of. But it was the truth, she reflected as she blew out the candles and grinned at her friends. She wanted an all-consuming love from someone who could and would put her first, no matter what. She wanted real, unconditional, eternal love, even though she knew it was ridiculous and selfish and probably didn't even exist in the real world, and even if it did, it wouldn't apply to her.

And even though she knew she would probably never get it, she felt a little bit better, admitting to herself what she naively wanted.

"Bon appétit," she said, reaching for the cake knife.

After that, the party dissolved into a more normal birthday-party-ish atmosphere, with cake and drinks and random conversation. After a few shots, Caroline was feeling better, and considering whether she should—without anyone noticing—leave her charm bracelet there in the crypt when they left, for symbolism's sake. But, the more she started at it, and the more she drank, the more she thought about the silly, grade-school wish she'd made.

Of course no one would ever put her first; people were designed to put themselves and their needs first. And, no matter how things were in romance novels, there was nothing really wrong with that. Tyler needed to do what he needed to do for himself, and she needed to deal with that and do what she needed to do for herself. And then, when all of that was said and done, they needed to figure out if they could still be together, considering their life goals. That was all.

Before she knew it, she'd sent him a text message, saying where she was. They needed to talk. She knew she was drunk, but that was mellowing her out, and maybe she could have a civil, grown-up conversation with him without losing her temper. That would be best.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" Elena demanded quickly, and Caroline dropped her hands to her sides, trying to hide her phone in the folds of her skirt.

"What?" She asked innocently. "Nothing."

"Okay," Elena snorted. "You're a bad sober liar; you're an even worse drunk liar." Well, she had her there.

"I might have texted Tyler," Caroline admitted, wincing a little.

"Caroline..." Elena groaned.

"What? I'm delicate," Caroline pouted, hoping that Elena would just assume the tequila was making her decisions and drop the issue. She was just trying to be a grown-up about this, for crying out loud.

"Give her a break!" Bonnie grumbled. "You can't control what everyone does all the time."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"Wow," Elena finally said.

"Ouch, Bon," Matt added.

"Sorry," Bonnie sighed. "I know it's Caroline birthday, funeral or whatever but, I just feel it's really wrong that you compelled Jeremy to leave town." Caroline watched her best friends argue in a sort of detached horror, like she was witnessing it on a TV screen. Only her strings were being snipped, not theirs. What was happening here?

"I'm doing it to protect him, Bonnie," Elena defended irritably. "I want to give him a chance to have a quiet normal life."

"He should be able to choose how he wants to live it," Bonnie countered, clearly working to modulate her volume. "You're taking his choices away."

"Bonnie, you can't tell him," Elena said in a low voice, reading the expression on her friend's face and preempting.

"Why?" Bonnie hissed. "Are you gonna compel me not to?"

Caroline made eye-contact with Matt, and a moment of mutual understanding passed between them.

"You know, you guys are ruining a perfect funeral," Matt chided, slipping the bottle away from Elena and taking a swig himself. A subtle reminder that none of them were thinking very clearly at that moment.

"I'm sorry," Bonnie sighed, grabbing her purse. "I'm just gonna go sleep it off or something. Happy birthday," she added in Caroline's direction before creaking open the rusty door and walking away.

After that, things were much more somber. Elena was lost in her own thoughts, Matt was monopolizing the bottle to try and cope with what all the hell he was involved with these days, and Caroline kept constantly checking her phone, wondering if Tyler would respond, or if he was too mad about that morning. When the door creaked open again, everyone looked up, and Caroline jumped to her feet. She'd expected a text first or something.

"Sorry," Tyler said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to crash the party."

"So, don't," Matt growled. He'd passed his happy stage and drank himself in to grumpiness.

"No, it's-it's okay," Caroline stammered quickly. "Hi," she added in Tyler's direction.

"Can I talk to you for a sec?" He asked. "It's kind of important." At her nod, he led her out of the crypt and into the forest surrounding the cemetery.

"I take it all back," he said without preamble. "Everything I said this morning. Klaus can't control me. Not when it comes to you. I won't let him." His sudden about-face had Caroline backing off mentally.

"Tyler, it's okay," she assured him, feeling like he was suddenly moving way too fast. That, or the tequila had stopped talking and left her on her own to resolve this awkward situation. "Maybe we just weren't meant to be together. Maybe we just have to accept that and move on."

"I'm not moving on from anything," Tyler growled, putting his hands on either side of her face. "I love you."

"What?" Caroline asked stupidly, her mind flashing back to the ridiculous wish she'd made. There was no way…

But when his lips claimed hers, she relaxed, and thought that maybe, maybe this was enough. He was doing what she'd asked; he was willing to fight for her, willing to meet her halfway. She kissed him back enthusiastically, thinking that perhaps this could work out after all, if they were both willing to compromise.

It was right about then that his fangs nipped into the soft skin of her neck.

"Ouch!" She grumbled as he pulled away, shock and horror etched across his face. "What the hell?" Slowly, irritation was morphing into fear. "What just happened?" She demanded in a more serious voice, although she already knew the answer—the two innocent little drops of blood slowly making their way towards her collarbone were answer enough.

"Oh, no," Tyler gasped.

"Did you just bite me?" She shrieked, realization finally making it through her liquor-and-passion-befuddled brain.

"Oh my god," he exclaimed, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Oh my god!" She screamed. "Just get away from me! Get away from me!" But that wouldn't fix anything—the infection wouldn't get better from his presence being removed. But Tyler backed off a few paces, and then sped away, leaving Caroline to slide down the tree trunk until she was sitting on the ground, clutching her neck in blind terror.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, hyperventilating and listening to her own heartbeat, which was, moment by moment, speeding deadly poison through her veins. She began to wonder disjointedly if it was better that she died here and now, rather than watch everyone she loved leave her. At that thought, the image of Tyler's retreating back that morning burned itself across her vision, and she found herself clutching at her heart.

Her heart was made of brittle glass, each shard tethered to a person. Her mom, her dad, Elena, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler, Stefan, the list was long, and the stings were many. But one by one, each was snipped clean through with a pair of huge scissors, or maybe they were vampire fangs, she didn't know.

Snip! Her dad was burning her alive.

Snip! Bonnie was rejecting her after she turned.

Snip! Matt couldn't deal with her supernatural world.

Snip! Tyler was walking away, content to live his own life in slavery rather than fight for freedom, for her.

Snip!Snip! Elena got Stefan back, and the two of the left town together when people started to notice Stefan wasn't aging.

Snip! She graduated school and all of her normal friends left her, one by one, snip by snip by snip.

Her mom, frizzy white hair splayed out on her pillow, looked up at her with bleary eyes sunk far into a waxy, wrinkled face. Her mouth said "I love you," but instead of a quavering little old lady voice, it was a loud, echoing snip!

And then she was free-floating through space, untethered, with nowhere to go and no one left.

She heard Matt's voice shouting, but it wasn't her name, it was her mother's. Then her mother was demanding to know what happened. What had happened? Caroline didn't know. She was still floating, bobbing around the ceiling of her bedroom, looking down at her own corpse. Better this way. Better this way? Was it? She truly didn't know.

"Caroline, honey, can you hear me?" her mother's worried voice asked. Better for her, but not better for her mom. Parents shouldn't have to bury their kids. But kids shouldn't have to live forever.

"I'm sorry, Mom," she sobbed, and that was when she realized she had a mouth, and a body, and was still affected by gravity and lying in her own bed.

"She keeps hallucinating or something," Matt's voice said from a long way off, but she couldn't tell from what direction. It had to be really, really far, though. He wouldn't come near her. She was alone. Forever alone.

Slowly, the hallucinations relaxed their grip, like she was experiencing sleep cycles and dropping out of REM sleep. Vaguely, she was aware that the venom was telling her lies, but she couldn't sort out the lies from the truths. If her mind had ever formed a truth in her short immortal life, which was dubious when she was this jacked up on deadly magic venom. She made an effort to breathe evenly.

'True love doesn't exist,' every evil fairy from every fairy tale whispered in her ear. 'Wishes never come true.' Were they fairy voices, or her own voice. 'I want to die.' That was certainly her own voice, but not aloud, she was pretty sure. Maybe it was her voice from when she was seven or eight—it sounded too young.

'I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down.' The Big, Bad Wolf was outside, snarling and snapping his jaws, eyes gleaming. But, no, she realized as a few more levels of consciousness propped her mind up to allow her to experience what was happening outside in the real world. That wasn't what he'd said, but the Wolf was outside; she recognized Klaus's voice even though she'd never spoken to him directly. Was he there to make sure she was dead? That was stupid. She was as good as dead already. Besides, she was nobody, in the grand supernatural scheme of things. Why would he care enough to kill her? Maybe it was just because he was pure evil—that would explain a lot.

"I know how this game works," her mom was saying. "You want something in return." But in return for what? Wasn't it obvious he was here to kill her? Why else would he be trying to come inside the house?

What if it was her mom he wanted to kill? That panicked thought shocked her into almost full lucidity.

"Just your support," Klaus was saying downstairs. Her mom would see through that one immediately…

"Come in."

Caroline's heart stopped for a minute. What?

The blank shock lasted for several seconds, and was rooted so deeply in her already fragile mind that it seemed only an instant later that he was standing in her doorway, in the flesh, contemplating her thoughtfully.

"Are you going to kill me?" She asked weakly. She sounded more frightened than she'd intended. Or than she felt, really.

"On your birthday? He murmured incredulously. "You really think that low of me?"

"Yes," Caroline snapped, hoping he'd drop the disturbing nice-guy act and just rip her heart out already. He walked forward, and against her will, her heart sped up in fear. But he only leaned over to get a better look at her neck.

"That looks bad," he observed. "My apologies; you're what's known as collateral damage, it's nothing personal." Why was he even bothering to talk to her? She wouldn't be alive to remember it anyhow.

"I love birthdays," he commented, touching the charm bracelet still hanging around her sweat-drenched wrist.

"Yeah," she snorted sarcastically. "Aren't you like...a billion, or something?" No point in censoring herself—he was literally there to murder her. But instead of getting mad, he grinned.

"Well you have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline," he informed her, as if they were old friends. "Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free."

For a moment, his words actually rang true, but in a much darker way. She was free. She'd been cut lose, and now she had nothing tying her to this world. But now, she was leaving it. And somehow, that was almost okay.

"No," she sighed, keeping up the bizarre conversation just for the hell of it. "I'm dying."

Klaus sat down on the bed next to her, and she was surprised by how normal he seemed. He didn't break the bedframe by dint of massive supernatural weight, or conjure a throne out of midair. The venom and tequila were doing her thinking for her again, she realized a little grumpily.

"And I could let you die, if that's what you want," he whispered. What had he seen in her face? Did he know what she'd been thinking? Or did werewolf venom make everyone depressed and suicidal?

"If you really believe your existence has no meaning," he continued thoughtfully. "I thought about it myself, once or twice over the centuries, truth will be told." There was something in his eyes, a hollowness, that prevented her from doubting him. But why would he tell her this? Probably because he knew she wouldn't live long enough to repeat it.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret," he added, eyes sparkling again. "There is a whole world out there, waiting for you. Great cities and art and music, genuine beauty." It was as he said that that her ears picked up the fast rhythms of her mom's and Matt's heartbeats downstairs. She'd hallucinated that they were gone, but they weren't, not yet. Most of her relationships were still in tact.

"You can have a thousand more birthdays," Klaus was saying. She could have the next few decades, she could have time, she could have more chances to fix things with the people whose strings had already been cut…

"All you have to do is ask." Tears gathered in Caroline's eyes, and she blinked, letting them fall.

"I don't wanna die," she choked out, and realized how much she meant it. She didn't want to say goodbye to everyone, not yet.

He slid his hand under her head to lift it, and offered her his wrist, exposed by his pushed-up sleeve.

"There you go, sweetheart," he murmured soothingly as she looked up at him, not quite believing that he would really do this. "Have at it."

Needing no second invitation, she sank her fangs into his flesh, and the hunger born from the venom made his blood taste like the best thing that had ever passed her lips in her short life. She gripped his arm, holding it in place, gulping down big mouthfuls.

"Happy birthday, Caroline," she heard him murmur.

When Caroline awoke the next morning, the disjointed events of the previous day seemed more like dreams than reality. She had to glance at her clock just to make sure that her birthday had even happened in the first place. As she stretched and rubbed at her neck, she ran through her memories, trying to sort out truth from tequila-soaked fiction. She'd gone to the mall, she'd gotten drunk with her friends in a graveyard… Everything after that was probably just one really bizarre dream. Maybe Matt had given her a joint. That would actually explain a great many things.

That was when she saw the little rectangular velvet-covered box, tied with a creamy white ribbon, sitting innocently on her nightstand. No one had given her any presents in little jeweler's boxes, she was at least fairly sure. Just how stoned had she been, she wondered as she picked up the box and pulled off the ribbon.

Inside, there was a little note written on old-fashioned parchment. "From Klaus," it said in unfamiliar slanted writing. She swallowed, hard. Apparently, the whole werewolf-venom fiasco had been real after all.

Under the note lay a white-gold infinity-symbol bracelet, encrusted in tiny diamonds. She gasped silently as she ran her fingers across it. It was beautiful—far more gorgeous than the necklace she'd almost ripped off from the jeweler yesterday.

Then she had an odd moment—which, afterwards, she blamed on residual effects from werewolf venom. It was like she could feel another new thread attached to her heart. It slid in and tied itself in a simple square knot, laying innocently among the others. One more tie to another person. It occurred to her briefly that perhaps one had to adjust one's perceptions of a great many things, when one was a vampire, and that relationships with others was one of those things.

Then, shocked at herself for even thinking it, she snapped the box shut and quickly set it back down on the night table. Obviously, Klaus—the baddest of the bad guys—was just trying to make nice with Stefan. That was all.

And this… this was creepy, she decided. Definitely on the darkest end of the creepy spectrum. She rolled out of bed and got into the shower, hoping to use hot water and steam to dissolve any and all weird thoughts of Klaus being an actual person with feelings.

It wouldn't occur to her until almost a year later what a sick sense of irony the birthday-cake gods had.

A/N: We owe our precious Klaroline to the Birthday Cake gods! In tribute, we must all eat a slice of cake. (Passes out cyber-cake.) Haha, kidding. But seriously, wishes have a power that's not to be trifled with!

So, that was the prologue to this installment of the Red Queen Series. This season will be substantially shorter than Season I, since it takes place during the summer, and that's simply a smaller time-frame than the Spring Semester that Season I spanned. Also, I don't have many canon TVD plot points to deal with, since the summer was skipped on the show. So there's less content. Season III, however, is outlined at approximately the same length as Season I, so don't fret, the installments aren't going to shrink—just vary.

Until next time!

B. Nottingham