Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries - the original books were written by L J Smith and the TV show was developed by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. This story is the product of their characters and world and my imagination.

This is an AU of 4x12 A View To Kill where Bonnie doesn't manage to trap Klaus at the Gilbert house.

Caroline wakes to the sound of pained screams.

She's lying on a bed in a room she doesn't recognise. It looks like a generic spare bedroom – neat, comfortable and entirely devoid of personal touches – and the view outside the window, magnificent though it is, does not give her much to go on.

She has no idea what is going on. All she remembers is having her neck snapped while she was walking down the street, and since her attacker was behind her she hadn't got a clue who they are, only that she's extremely annoyed with them.

Getting her neck snapped hurts, and the ache seems to linger for an hour or two after she wakes.

The screaming continues.

As Caroline listens closely she realises that there are two voices crying out in pain.

One female. One male. Both familiar.

Elena and Jeremy.

Oh god.

Suddenly, she has a very good idea where she is.

There aren't many homes in Mystic Falls, after all, which mix such fancy furniture and beautiful surroundings with bouts of torture.

She's in Klaus' home.

Caroline checks the door and is pleasantly (if suspiciously) surprised to realise it is unlocked. The corridor is deserted, and so she pads along the plush carpet in the direction of the noise.

She can't help but notice the paintings on the wall, and she idly wonders if any of them are Klaus' work. It's ridiculous to be thinking of such a thing at a time like this, but the memory of Klaus showing her his work at the ball remains stuck in her mind, as does the sketch he did for her ( the one that she looks at far more often than she'd like to admit).

The screaming gets louder as Caroline moves through the maze of corridors – trust Klaus, she thinks with a huff, to have a stupidly confusing house. There's probably some psychological reasoning behind it, because Klaus never seems to do anything without half a dozen different reasons, but right now it's just annoying.

She has to deal with three dead ends, two fake doors, a swinging bookshelf leading to a corridor that smells strongly of blood (she is not going to think about that) and what seems to be a room devoted entirely to relics of medieval torture (she can't decide if that's courtesy of Klaus, Kol or both of them) before she manages to find a relatively normal corridor that actually takes her to her chosen destination.

She isn't entirely sure whether it is wise to go near the Original Hybrid when he is so clearly angry, but she can't just sit around while her friends are being tortured in Klaus' house of horrors.

Caroline smells the intoxicating blood before she sees it, and she seriously considers turning back. It isn't because she's afraid (not really, though an angry Klaus is not to be trifled with), but because she's worried that all the blood will shatter the tight control she keeps over her monster and she doesn't want to hurt anyone.

She keeps going, though. She has to try and help if she can.

Klaus clearly knows that she's coming because he is facing the door when she enters, a dark smile on his blood-flecked face as Elena and Jeremy hang limply from chains behind him.

She flinches violently. Oh god, what is happening here?

"Caroline, sweetheart," says Klaus pleasantly, as if they've met at a party and not in what looks like a torture chamber, "I'm so pleased to see you awake."

"You snapped my neck," she growls at him, annoyance temporarily overriding sense.

"I'm afraid it was necessary, love," he tells her with an unrepentant shrug, seemingly unbothered by her irritation, "I couldn't have you interfering while I set the Gilberts up in their new accommodation – your loyalty to your friends is admirable but it can also be exceedingly troublesome."

"Caroline," Elena rasps, exhaling sharply in pain as she lifts her head, "you've got to get out of here."

Caroline shakes her head, "I'm not leaving you," she tells her friend, before turning to Klaus.

"Let them go," she insists, "what have they done to you to deserve this?"

Klaus flashes over to her and slowly trails a bloody finger down her cheek, "you've really got no idea, have you, love?"

"What?" she demands, shifting slightly away from him (his complete disregard for personal space is beyond distracting), "what do you mean?"

Klaus' expression turns serious and he looks more furious than she has ever seen him, "your friends," he tells her, "murdered Kol."

Caroline gasps and looks to Elena, waiting for the denial, for the explanation. When her friend only nods briefly, Caroline's eyes widen in shock.

"I've razed villages, destroyed towns, laid waste to cities," Klaus says with a vicious smile, "and yet not even I can lay claim to such a deed as this – the destruction of thousands with just one blow, the genocide of an entire line of vampires."

Caroline winces at the thought. Kol had been dangerous, unpredictable and often crazed, but she's sure that not every vampire of his line was the same as him. Some, she imagines, were a lot like she is, unaware of the supernatural before they were turned and now just trying to embrace the best parts of their vampirism.

She wonders how many around the world are grieving the loss of someone they love because of Jeremy and Elena's actions, how many have lost a friend or a relative or a lover.

It's always been relatively simple to forgive her friends, and to justify the attacks they have all made on the Originals, but this is not a sin that is so easily condoned.

And Caroline remembers her conversation with Stefan, the night that Klaus murdered his hybrids and Carol Lockwood.

"See that's the thing, we've all done horrible things. And I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what makes us any better than him."

You see Caroline has no doubt that if Damon lives to be a thousand (and while she wouldn't like to admit it to Stefan, she rather hopes he gets himself murdered long before that point) he'll have a list of horrific list of kills. He's not nearly as creative or clever as the Originals, but he's a nasty piece of work and his moral compass doesn't seem any better than theirs is.

Caroline doesn't quite know what to say in response to Elena's admission. She wonders what her friend expects, if Elena thinks that Caroline will understand.

Because she doesn't. She really doesn't.

"We had to," Jeremy sputters out, wincing at every little movement, "we had to make the tattoo grow – you want the cure too."

Caroline tenses as Klaus turns away from her to glare at the younger Gilbert.

"You think I care about the cure now?" he roars, "or my bloody hybrids? My brother is dead!"

"You were going to put Kol down," Elena protests.

Caroline shakes her head slightly at her friend's foolish interruption. Surely they know better by now than to stoke the fires of Klaus' mercurial temper.

"I was going to put him in a box," Klaus hisses, "until this mess was over. A perfectly reversible measure. I have kept my family safe for a thousand years and you think I welcome Kol's death? You are bigger fools than I have ever believed."

Caroline sees the exact moment Elena and Jeremy truly realise what their actions have unleashed in Klaus. She can feel his fury permeate the room, tinged with a powerful grief.

Klaus has always been terrifying, but she wonders if anything will save them from the consequences of this loss.

She'd very much like to get out of the room and away from the dangerous look in Klaus' eyes, but she has a feeling that any attempt to leave won't go over very well with him.

And Caroline knows it's pointless to run from a predator who outclasses her on every level. She's not an idiot.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asks Elena, eying Klaus carefully as he seethes across the room from her.

She doubts she would have been able to talk her friends out of their foolish plan, but she would have at least tried.

"There was no time, Care," Elena says.

Elena is lying, though. Caroline knows her friend's tells, and even if she didn't, the sideways glance Elena gives Klaus provides her with the real reason she was kept in the dark.

They think she would have told Klaus.

… they are probably right. Because she is loyal to her friends, but there is a line, damnit, and she thinks that they might have crossed it.

She chances a look at Klaus, who now has a wide, delighted smile on his face. A knowing smile.

He realises it too, the fact that she would object to what has been done, that she would warn him.

She has worked against him so many times and yet he still seems to desire her loyalty. It's a heady feeling, to have a monster's nightmare like Klaus fascinated by her, and yet she also knows it is a far from easy position to be in.

Klaus is intrusive enough as it is, but this will only encourage him.

He'll nudge and push and smoothly insert himself into her life until she either attacks or admits that there is something between them.

She's terrified that it will probably be the latter.

Caroline turns away from Klaus to look at Elena, "did Bonnie know?"

She's sure Stefan and Damon will have been aware, as they are always ready to do anything to help Elena, but Bonnie is supposed to be better than this.

When Elena whispers out, "yes," Caroline clenches her fists tightly.

She remembers when she was turned, remembers Bonnie's clear distrust and the threats about what would happen if Caroline hurt anyone.

One slip as a newly turned vampire still trying to process what had happened to her, and Caroline's best friend had looked at her like she was a monster.

Elena has never had conditions attached to her daylight ring.

And, apparently, mass murder is now ok with Bonnie if it is for Elena, and if the victims are vampires.

Klaus doesn't know much about her early days as a vampire (at least as far as she is aware, though you never know when it comes to him and his creepy spies – he knew all about Miss Mystic Falls after all). He doesn't know that Bonnie's acquiescence in Elena and Jeremy's scheme feels like a betrayal to Caroline.

However, what he does notice is that Elena's words upset her.

"Let's take a walk, Caroline," he says as he offers her his arm.

She wonders for a moment whether to accept it. Things are rarely simple with Klaus, and every action has multiple meanings. If she takes his arm then he will see it as a sign, as a reason to continue his pursuit of her.

But she finds she wants his company right now, even if her acceptance of it is mixed up with a hundred other things she doesn't want to think of right now.

At least Klaus is honest about who and what he is.

He has never pretended to be a good person. He has never claimed the moral high ground while killing thousands.

So Caroline takes his arm, and tries not to consider the implications of his triumphant smile.

She doesn't look at Elena and Jeremy. She doesn't want to see the (frankly hypocritical) judgement on their faces.

"Where are the others?" Caroline asks as they stroll through the well-kept gardens and she tries not to be so acutely aware of his proximity (she fails … she fails miserably).

"Bekah has been keeping Tyler and the Salvatores company," he replies, "and I've got a couple of witches ensuring that Miss Bennett doesn't think to try anything foolish."

"Are you going to kill them?"

It is a cold way to ask such an important question, but she knows that emotional pleas will not work with Klaus and so she tries to stay calm and collected.

"I'd like to," he says, as casually as if he's noting the weather, "it would be a delight to rend them limb from limb, to force the Bennett witch into transition and watch her suffer the loss of her magic, to revel in their screams. It's been a while since I've enjoyed the art of lingering torture. It's quite fascinating, really, to see how far you can push someone before they are entirely broken at your feet, before they spend every second begging for the release of death."

His eyes are dark now, his smile a blade, "it would be a fitting punishment for their parts in my brother's death."

Caroline turns away. It's hard, sometimes, to look at Klaus and try to reconcile her feelings.

He talks easily about the murder and torture of her friends, offers no apologies for his behaviour and his threats.

And yet he holds her carefully, looks at her like she is precious. He offers her the world and often understands her even better than those closest to her.

She is horrified by both his words and the picture he paints of the pain he wishes to inflict … but she is drawn to him too and she cannot forget it, cannot deny it any longer.

The monster that lives inside her, the one she tries so hard to keep hidden beneath her skin, wants Klaus. And in an even more worrying turn of events, so does the more human part, the girl who just wants to be someone's first choice.

She is in so much trouble.

"Do not tell me that they are all innocent," Klaus says from behind her after moment, tone angry and harsh.

She thinks he is waiting for her to argue his words the way she usually does.

She can't, though. She will plead for mercy, yet she does not think there are excuses for what her friends have done, at least not ones to justify such wholesale murder.

Kol's line were vampires, not humans, but it still counts.

It has to, otherwise what is Caroline's own existence worth?

"I don't think any of us are innocent," she tells Klaus quietly, "and I don't think what they did is right."

Klaus takes hold of her arms then and tugs her around to face him, "you'll ask for mercy, though, won't you sweetheart?"

He makes a small noise of frustration when she nods, "such loyalty is admirable, Caroline. You waste it, however, on those cretins."

"They're my friends," Caroline says, almost sadly, "I love them, despite their mistakes."

"A steel spine and a loyal heart," Klaus rasps out, thumbs rubbing circles on the bare skin of her arms and distracting her with the searing warmth of his touch, "you are a truly remarkable delight Caroline."

She tries to shift away, wanting to put a bit of distance between them (he's too close and she can't think clearly), but though his hold on her is almost gentle it gives no room for manoeuvre.

She makes an attempt to get her fluttering pulse and warm cheeks under control. Attraction, she reminds herself, should not always be acted on.

Klaus' grin, though, suggests he knows exactly how her body is responding to him.

"You cannot save the doppelganger, sweetheart," he warns, finally releasing her arms only to tangle his right hand with her left one and begin to lead her back to the house, "or her brother. Even if I was inclined to mercy, Kol will certainly not be."

"Kol's dead," Caroline reminds him.

"Oh love," he murmurs, "death is a tricky thing but it can be overcome, if you know the correct rituals, and the right witches."

"Which you do, of course," Caroline says flatly.

His smirk is all the answer she needs.

"Your other friends, however," Klaus says as they walk up the path towards the door, "do you wish them to live, Caroline? Will you claim them?"

She nods. She cannot save Elena and Jeremy, that is becoming abundantly clear, but she may yet keep the others alive.

"The Bennett witch?"

"Yes."

"Stefan?"

"Yes."

"Tyler?"

"Yes."

"Damon?"

Caroline hesitates for the tiniest fraction of a second.

Not even a heartbeat, but the pause is enough for Klaus to catch it.

He stills and turns to face her, taps her chin so that she's forced to look him in the eyes.

"What did Damon do to you, Caroline?" he asks, voice tight with an anger barely kept under control.

"Nothing," she insists, trying very hard not to look nervous.

"Your body says something else," he murmurs, "I can smell the deceit, sweetheart."

She scowls, "it's none of your business, Klaus."

"I'd like to know the reason I'll be peeling the elder Salvatore's skin from his body one tiny piece at a time."

"No."

"No?" Klaus tilts his head, "I'm not used to being the recipient of orders, Caroline, and I don't much like it.

"No," she reiterates, "Damon is a whole lot of things, nearly all of them bad, but you aren't allowed to punish him for whatever sins you imagine he committed against me."

"Oh I don't need to imagine, Caroline, I'm sure I can make a fairly accurate guess, and it will take only a little time to confirm my suspicions – Damon isn't particularly original, and there are many like him."

She shakes her head, "if Damon is ever going to die for what he did to me, Klaus, then he'll die at my hand when or if I wish it – it's not your right."

"Be careful, Caroline," Klaus warns, "I don't tolerate rudeness well."

"Urgh, stop it, Klaus. I'm not some enemy plotting your death. Damon will probably get himself killed sometime in the next century as it is – I'm honestly surprised someone hasn't already staked him – so this whole conversation is probably fairly pointless."

"I don't need your permission, love," Klaus reminds her, "though I'd like it."

"I am not going to be your justification, Klaus."

"Then shall we make a bargain, sweetheart?"

Caroline narrows her eyes at the Original Hybrid, "I'm, like, ninety-five percent sure that bargains with you never work out well for the other party."

His smile is all sharp, white teeth, "I'm happy to make an exception for you, love."

She ponders his sincerity and decides that that there is at least a semblance of it, enough for her to try and barter with Klaus.

"Everyone goes free," she says, "if Kol wants Elena and Jeremy then he can find them first."

Klaus laughs, "a bold suggestion, love, but I'm afraid I can't agree. Jeremy Gilbert, at least, will not be going anywhere – I won't allow that tattoo of his to see the light of day again."

Caroline huffs, "everyone but Jeremy," she offers, feeling terrible for throwing Elena's brother under the bus … but needs must and she knows Klaus has the upper hand right now.

"Kol does love a good hunt," Klaus muses, "though I imagine this doppelganger, even with assistance, will not have quite the same luck running as Katerina did – this one really is quite hopelessly dull."

She decides to ignore that depressing statement and focus on the positive.

"You agree?" she asks, tentatively hopeful.

"Oh I've a few conditions, Caroline. For one, I don't trust the Salvatores to be properly appreciative of what you've done for them, so I'll be placing a few compulsions on them."

Caroline doesn't question what the compulsions will be. She's got a horrible feeling that they'll be extremely nasty, but she also knows she won't be able to talk Klaus out of them. She has to pick her battles with him, and she's also rather glad she won't have to worry about Damon trying to stake her because of some misguided belief that she's at fault for this disaster of a situation.

"You should also advise the Bennett witch to be careful with her assistance of the doppelganger," Klaus continues, "I won't harm her for this stunt, though I make no promises if she acts against me in the future, but Kol won't hesitate to destroy her if she stands in the way of his search for Elena."

Caroline nods and she vows to have a very candid, serious conversation with her witchy friend. Bonnie may have been making questionable choices lately but she is Caroline's best friend and Caroline wants her around for years and years yet.

"And Tyler is free to run off to whatever forest he wishes," Klaus tells her, "I'm interested to see if he makes the most of the opportunity or chooses to squander it by making another attempt to work against me. A word to the wise, love, I'm not fool enough to rely solely on a sire bond and Tyler might discover some unfortunate side-effects if he gets any … dangerous ideas."

Caroline flinches at the thought of what nefarious compulsions could be lurking in Tyler's brain, but she's not sure whether it's better to tell him or not. Maybe if he still thinks he's free of Klaus he won't do anything stupid?

They've gone through the list of her friends and Caroline hopes this means Klaus doesn't have any further conditions. This agreement is nothing like what she wants for her friends, yet she knows it could have been far worse.

She's not deluded, she knows Klaus could have burnt Mystic Falls to the ground, taken all he desired and vanished in a matter of weeks (or even days) if he'd really wanted to.

"So do we shake?" she asks, hoping he won't insist on something like a blood exchange to seal their agreement (Klaus' blood is potent beyond belief and she doesn't trust that she won't do something monumentally idiotic like kiss him).

"Oh we're not done quite yet, sweetheart," he tells her with a darkly roguish twinkle in his eyes, "there's still the matter of your promise."

"Why am I promising something?" she asks, indignant and grumpy, "I haven't done anything wrong."

"My leniency towards your friends does not come without a price, love. There is much I would be happy to simply offer you without conditions, but I want something in return for allowing those party to my brother's murder to walk away."

"What do you want?"

She's wary and concerned. She's not entirely sure what Klaus will demand from her – it might be a simple date, or it could be a far more binding, intimate thing.

"I'll be departing Mystic Falls once our negotiations are concluded," he says, idly winding a few of her curls around his fingers, "I've a number of items of business to take care of in New Orleans, the most important of which is returning Kol to the land of the living."

"You're leaving?"

He smiles, "you sound almost sad, Caroline, I'm touched. I considered asking you to accompany me, as there is much to enjoy in the city – food, music, art and culture – and I think you'd love it there as much as I do. Unfortunately, New Orleans is going to be a little … messy for a while. Witches tend to get tetchy when you do things like bring back the dead - they think it messes with their precious balance. And I've heard a few rumours recently about an old protégé of mine who has developed delusions of grandeur regarding who controls the city, and needs to be reminded about what he owes to me."

Caroline doesn't know anything about Klaus' protégé but she finds herself feeling immensely sorry for him, whoever he is.

Facing an irate, vicious Klaus is no easy thing.

"I'm not leaving town now," she tells him, firm and stubborn on that point, "I've got plans and goals and graduation and college."

"I'd never dream of tearing you away from your plans, sweetheart," Klaus says, still playing with her hair, "but remember you can't run away from what is between us."

Caroline frowns, "and what if you get bored? You're a thousand years old, Klaus, and I'm sure I can't be that unique."
She can feel the old insecurity flare up. She doesn't usually experience it around Klaus, who always makes her feel like all his attention is concentrated on her, but she just doesn't know if she'll hold his attention once they're apart.

And she doesn't like the idea that he might forget her, that she'll be just another in a long line of memories.

Suddenly his hand unwinds from her hair and he flashes them forward.

Caroline feels her back hit brick wall and then Klaus' mouth is slanted across hers.

She's never been kissed this way before. Not only with a thousand years of experience but also with a passionate desire finally set free. All of Klaus' intensity, focused solely on her.

She feels dazed when they finally break apart, and almost shell-shocked.

Klaus smirks lasciviously at her, "I'll not forget you, Caroline, rest assured. And years will not dull all the ways I want you."

She finds she believes him.

"I'll give you time," he says, "you can go to college, spend time with your mother, perhaps travel a little. But when your mother is gone, when she no longer ties you to this tiny town, then I will come for you, Caroline, and you will give me a chance. That is the promise I want from you."

At first she wonders if his words are a threat towards her mother, worried that he might seek to shorten Liz Forbes' life-span in order to tie Caroline to him sooner. She doesn't think that is the case, though. He knows she loves her mom, knows that any hint that he might play a part in her death will only harden her resolve against what he has to offer.

"And until that time?" she asks.

"Oh you'll see me around, love, every now and then. I'll always walk away, though, while your mother still lives."

It's a terrifying thought, an eternity stretched out with Klaus by her side. Because she knows that when (and she thinks it will be when, not if) she chooses him, there will be no going back.

Terrifying, but exhilarating and exciting too.

Klaus is the horror of the supernatural world and she doesn't think she'll ever forget it. Still, there's more to him, and she finds she wants to get to know him properly.

She doesn't love him, not even close, but she thinks she could.

She thinks she will, one day.

"I agree," she says softly.

His eyes are bright, his gaze making her blush, "then the bargain is struck, love. Shall we see to your friends now?"

Caroline only nods, still processing everything that has happened in less than an hour.

Just before they enter the house Klaus cups her cheeks and kisses her once more, gently this time, and she knows that the memory of that kiss will linger for decades.

A promise for the future that's waiting for her.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.