AN: Just my stab at creating Klaroline. No Silas, no cure, NO dead Jeremy! Picks up after Tyler leaves town and Caroline receives his note in the last episode.

CHAPTER ONE: CREEP

I'm a creep.

I'm a weirdo.

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here.

Creep by Radiohead.

Lookwood Manor

Caroline curled up on the floor in abject despair. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them, her face buried in her lap as tear tracks lined her cheeks. Laying beside her on the floor was a tiny piece of lined paper covered in a male scrawl. The words on a single paper that ripped her undead heart out and destroyed her from within.

Tyler was gone and not coming back.

As she lay there on the floor of the Lockwood manor, or Matt's home now, she couldn't believe that this was where her life had come to. This was where her love had gone to. Doomed from the moment they set eyes on each other; doomed because of the cursed existence of one man.

Wearily, Caroline loosened her grip and unwound herself from the tight ball she was in. With a few calming breaths, she swiped her palms across her face and cleared the remnants of her tears. With her legs now on the floor, her knees facing each other, Caroline rested on her haunches as she raised herself to look up to the nearby mantelpiece. Atop the wooden counter, sat a picture of Tyler in his letterman jacket. He was smiling - a bright toothy smile, not the fake one he usually sported - with one hand over her shoulder, pulling her closer. A serene grin was on Caroline's face in that picture as she laid her head on his chest, a model of contentment.

Now, she was alone.

Wiping her nose with her sleeve, Caroline sniffed audibly as a fresh bout of tears threatened to escape her. With some effort, she hoisted herself to her feet and dusted her clothes. Putting one leaden step in front of the other, she slowly began to walk towards the door, she had to get out of that house. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her middle as her slumped shoulders continued to shake with irrepressible sobs.

Salvatore House

Despite being a vampire, Caroline was quite sure that this was how zombies felt. A feeling of stark emptiness permeated her very being as she nearly mindlessly walked around the Salvatore brothers' home with a rubbish bag in her hand. She swiped paper cups and alcohol-laden glasses from every surface and drained the remnants before dumping the waste in the bag. Half a pint of beer followed by some leftover gin and tonic, a few glasses' worth of scotch from several containers and of course, Caroline's old friend, Jack Daniels joined the mix.

All in all, the heady jungle mix of wine and beer and hard alcohol had quickly created an almost nauseating buzz at the back of her mind, which was just distracting enough to keep her mind off of the horrid reality concerning Tyler. Desperate measures they surely were.

"Desperate times, I take it?" A voice, smooth as a century old wine, sailed through the air. A hard edge of danger intermingled with an ever-present teasing tone that never failed to drive her to her very last nerve.

Caroline knew exactly who possessed that deadly combination in his mere voice.

"What are you doing here?" She spat out without even turning around.

Her eyes falling to the red cup in front of her, filled with some leftover alcohol that she couldn't even recognise.

"Not judging you for starters," he said in his lilting tone, "though if you are determined to get drunk, I might suggest something a little more sanitary."

Turning around, Caroline came face to face with Klaus in all his smug, black-clad, seductive glory. Blue-green eyes met hers with a knowing smirk encased with full pouty lips and a clearly judgemental raised eyebrow.

Yes, this was her problem. The love of her life had been driven away by this man and she was still fixated on his pouty lips. She deserved hell. With fresh determination, she tilted the red cup into her mouth as the questionably murky liquid of clearly cheap liquor went down her throat in a singe swallow.

The burning in her throat filled her with a burning anger, one that was fuelled by Tyler's loss, her pain, her love, and her unwilling attraction to the man that had caused those she cared about nothing but unrelenting sadness.

She tossed the cup into her waste bag, turning to look at the annoying Original with a challenge.

"Well then, you showed me," He said.

Dick.

"Shouldn't you be out chasing Tyler to the end of the Earth? Or do you still have some hopes and dreams you would like to crush here?" She said, almost half-heartedly.

No matter how much ever she got angry with Klaus, it wasn't helping her any.

"That depends..."

"On what?" She asked not even paying attention, her buzzed mind going on a different track as she began to check out of the conversation.

"On your love for the young Mr. Lockwood."

She looked at him, her hand gripping onto her rubbish bin a little more tightly as she sensed something threatening coming up.

"What do you mean, Klaus?"

He smirked in his casual way and walked towards her. With his hands firmly clasped behind his back, the Original stood in front of her with a happy dimpled smile and tilted his head to one side as she looked up to him, without backing away.

Her body was thrumming with wary electricity, but she daren't take a step back and let him know that she was scared.

"I have a proposition for you, Caroline. One that involves me sparing the life of your love and leaving your friends and Mystic Falls for good. Are you willing to hear it?"

She nodded, he definitely had her attention, but she wouldn't be surprised if this was one of his cheap tricks to get her hopes up and then bring them crashing down again.

"Come away with me, Caroline." He whispered.

For a second, she didn't fully understand what he was saying, and then it struck her.

She backed away, the black rubbish bag falling from her hands as she finally saw the possessive, almost hungry look in his eyes.

"B-Be more specific, Klaus."

He took a step forward and invaded her personal space. His hands, firmly behind him up until then, emerged to wrap around her waist lightly, his hypnotic blue eyes never wavering from her wide, fearful ones.

"One year, Caroline. Give me one year of your life, where you will come with me wherever I go. One year where you will give me your mind, body and soul." His hands tightened around her waist and drew her in closer, her chest pressing against the hard, lean muscle of his. "At the end of this one year, you can choose to leave me for good and I promise, I will never approach you, your friends, Mystic Falls or Tyler, ever again."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You won't try to kill my friends or Tyler?"

"No," he said, his smirk diminishing just a fraction.

"You won't hire or compel someone else to do it?"

"No," he said, his eyebrow quirking again in mild amusement.

"You won't in any way, shape or form try to backtrack or sidestep this blanket promise of leaving me and all my friends, especially Tyler, alone. Never to threaten us, never to approach us or Mystic Falls, directly or indirectly, in any way possible or not, via witch or magic or anything."

"I won't," As he saw her take a breath to launch into another diatribe of qualifications, "You have my word, Caroline. I mean what I say, I'll leave, for good, after I have my one year. With you."

Breath caught in her throat, Caroline nodded. She pulled backwards and disentangled herself from his arms. His eyes continued to follow her movements as she turned away from him, her hands clasping around her middle as her mind processed what she had just heard.

"You have until tonight," he intoned, she turned around to see him standing in the same spot, his hands once again firm behind his back. "Tonight I leave Mystic Falls to start my hunt for Tyler without you, or, if you decide otherwise, I leave with you for parts unknown."

He swivelled around without another word and began to walk away, "Meet me at midnight at the Grill." He said as he exited the door.

Slowly, Caroline sank down to the floor as she watched his retreating back.

What the hell will she do now?

Forbes Residence

"SHE'S NOT GOING!"

"Sheriff Forbes, calm down, please!"

"No, no I will not calm down! I will not let my only daughter go on to be...to be a sex slave to a crazed mass murderer!"

"I agree, there's probably something I can do, a spell, something, somewhere, to end this."

"What do you have left, Bonnie? What's fresh in your bag of tricks that isn't going to fail?"

"Damon, mocking Bonnie isn't the answer here."

"That's because there is no answer here!"

She couldn't take it anymore. With a loud screech, Caroline rose to her feet and raised her arms in the air to call for order. The bickering group of people calmed down and turned to her in surprise.

"Thank you all for your input, but...but I think we all know what needs to be done here." She said, her voice growing softer with every word.

"Caroline, no!" Her mother said.

"I'm really sorry, mom. But, I need to do this, for all of us. The murders, deaths, they won't end. Tyler will never be able to come home. We will never be able to have normal lives," she pleaded, her heart breaking as she saw her words sinking into her mother and reluctantly convincing her, "It's one year, one year of an unending lifetime."

Dead silence. Nobody spoke a word. Caroline wilted as her eyes swept over the room. Elena's concern, Bonnie's anger, Jeremy's sadness, Matt's shock, Stefan's resignation, Damon's determination and her mother's despair.

With vampiric speed, Caroline exited the sitting room and flashed to her bedroom. With lightning quick speed, she brought out a suitcase and opened her closet. With deliberate motions, she began picking articles of clothing and tossing them in.

She heard her door creak open. Her head turned in its direction and she saw Elena and Bonnie standing there.

"Guys, please, I have to do this. For Tyler, for all of us. Please don't make this harder than it is." She begged.

Neither of them said a word. Both girls entered her room and looked at the suitcase on her bed and the haphazard clothes thrown in.

Slowly, Bonnie picked up a top and began folding it, Elena sorting through the piles of strewn clothes everywhere and sorting them as well.

It was a quiet moment of acceptance and sadness. It took them an hour to pack all the things she needed. The three girls didn't exchange a word as the suitcase was filled up and closed.

Caroline came down the stairs to find her mother sitting alone in the living room, the others gone.

She walked towards Caroline and engulfed her in her arms, "I'm so scared Care, so frightened for you." She said as she hugged her tighter, Caroline could feel her mother's tears in her hair, "But I'm also proud," she pulled back and placed a tender kiss on her daughter's forehead, "so very proud."

"Thanks, mom." Caroline mumbled. "I'll see you in a year's time, I promise."

The sheriff nodded, her eyes watery, "I'm going to hold you to that."

Caroline quickly turned away, she didn't want her mother to see her cry. She stepped out of her house and could feel her friends' and mother's gaze linger on her back. She slipped towards her car and found Damon in the driver's seat. Stuffing her suitcase in the back, she got into the passenger seat and they drove off.

The ride from her home to the Grill wasn't a long one, and it felt especially short that night. They stopped just outside and Damon didn't move.

"If he hurts you, Caroline," Damon spoke for the first time, "I'll find a way, but I will destroy him for you." He looked at her, his silver eyes shinning, "And even if I fail, the rest of us won't stop until he pays."

A single tear escaped her eye as she nodded once. Opening the car door she stepped out and ran right into Matt.

"Hey, Matt." She said sadly.

Matt didn't say a word, just pulled her into his embrace and held her tightly. After several minutes, he let go, "Take care."

He turned around and walked away, Caroline's vampiric hearing picked up the light, strongly repressed sniffs and his quivering shoulders.

She pulled out her suitcase and walked towards the Grill. It was 11:50PM by her watch, she was here.

"I'm surprised you came." A teasing voice with a genuine mix of surprise.

"You made me an offer I couldn't refuse." She answered with little emotion.

A strong hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her to the left. Her eyes meeting her captor's. "This will be fun, Caroline. I promise."

With his free hand, the psychopathic Original indicated the Mercedes to his left.

"Welcome to the dark side, love."

End of Chapter 1

What do you guys think? Interesting? Worth continuing? Leave me a review or comment with your thoughts. Especially if you think I should continue.

The writing is a little rushed, writer's adrenaline and all that.

~ Gat