"He says he felt like he owed Klaus for turning him and all," Caroline said to Bonnie as the stood outside, listening to the band play. They had all been surprised at Tyler letting Klaus take over his mansion for a night. No one more so than Caroline, knowing the secret of hers that Tyler knew.
"It's not like Klaus did it out of the goodness of his heart," Bonnie quipped.
"That's what I said."
She didn't quite understand Tyler's reasoning, but who was she to question. She had fallen in love with the damnable hybrid against her better judgment. Still, it unnerved her that Tyler had changed his tune so willingly.
"So you and Tyler..." Bonnie nudged her with her elbow.
"Just friends."
"You sure? Is it because of the hybrid stuff?"
"No," Caroline said, "I'm off guys. It's Single Caroline from here to graduation."
"You do realize that graduation is still like eight months away?" Bonnie smirked.
Caroline made a face. "Shut up."
"Hey guys," Elena said coming up to join them, "what'd I miss?"
Caroline turned to Elena. She looked gorgeous with her curled hair and black homecoming dress. But something seemed off about her. Caroline just couldn't decide what exactly that was.
"What'd you miss?" Caroline shook her head, "what did I miss? You guys staked Mikael. I know I was out of commission but I thought you would at least catch me up on the important things."
"Sorry," Elena shrugged, "Damon wanted to keep things quiet until we knew what we were going to do about him."
"This is quiet?" Bonnie said gesturing to the party around them.
Elena shrugged again and took another sip of her beer.
Another song ended and everyone cheered, holding their cups up in a toast to the killer time they were all having. The band was pretty awesome though. Caroline tried to ignore the fact that it was probably a better party than the one she had planned. Her eyes slid to Klaus who was weaving his way through the crowd, talking to Stefan. Stefan was look thoughtful and broody and like he was still pretending he didn't care about anything.
"You know what," Caroline said, "screw it! What can possibly happen with all these people around? It's senior homecoming and I'm enjoying tonight even if it kills me!"
"Here, here," Bonnie teased, raising her cup to Caroline. The three girls clinked their red cups together.
"Now, I'm going to find Tyler and we are going to dance!"
Suspicion was a feeling that Klaus had lived with for near millennia. It more or less buried itself within a man permanently when he lived his existence constantly on the run. That was the reason Klaus's eyes and ears were open for something. Even though Mikael was dead, it still felt to good to be true. He couldn't fathom how his weak, human doppelganger had managed to achieve what he had been trying to accomplish since damn near the beginning of time.
But for now he was protected by his hybrids. They were weaved throughout the party, mingling with the teenagers, and keeping their eyes and ears open for anything...odd. Rebekah was in the corner, terrorizing the homecoming queen. Elena was accounted for, sharing a glass of cheap beer with her witchy friend. Stefan had made himself known, reasserting his fake loyalty. Caroline was in the middle of the crowd, dancing, with Tyler. Klaus's jaw clenched watching them move together, Caroline throwing her head back and laughing at something he said.
What Klaus had told her that night in the parking lot was true. Things changed. It was time to move on. That was always the plan. He had his hybrids now, he would have his family, he didn't need her. Besides, she could be lost. He still had enemies. Being a vampire was a dangerous existence, no matter how hard one tried to stay under the radar. What would be the point of having her back, only to lose her again?
But she did look beautiful, radiant even, in her silky red dress. Sometimes he missed the sight of her in the long, flowing gowns of the middle ages, but seeing her here in the present just seemed more right. She fit in better here, with her light, more than she did in the dark ages. He never dreamed that he would ever be this close to her again yet at the same time, so very far away.
Klaus thought about the night in her room, when he had saved her from her wretched father. It was glorious torture to be able to touch her, to feel her creamy warm skin underneath his fingers. He loathed having to save her yet again, but he couldn't let anyone else come to her rescue. Certainly not the hybrid boy she was currently wrapped around at the moment. Klaus would let her go, but she would always be his.
Tyler leaned in close and whispered something in her ear. Klaus watched Caroline pull her head back and nod before Tyler took her hand and led her away from the dance floor. He felt his mood turn even darker as he watched them separate themselves from the crowd, Tyler placing his hand on the small of her back and guiding her up the small set of stairs that led to the grassy dance floor. But the feeling dissipated a bit when he saw Tyler mouth 'be right back' to her and leave her at the crowd's edge, on the top of the stairs.
Of course, Caroline didn't stand there waiting for him. After a few moments, she turned and headed inside to the house. Klaus chuckled at her impatience, her headstrong nature not letting her wait for even a second. Now that she was alone, Klaus found his feet heading in her direction.
Caroline made her way through the crowd. Tyler had said he needed to go check on the kegs, but would be back soon. She decided that she wanted another drink. The one upside to not having the dance in the gym was the access to alcohol. She didn't see Klaus anywhere, but she did see Rebekah hanging around Matt, making swoony eyes in his direction. Caroline's mouth twisted in annoyance. What was going on there?
"It seems my sister has taken a fancy to your friend," Klaus said behind her. Caroline turned to see him smirking, "or your ex-boyfriend, if memory serves me."
"How did you know about that?"
"I told you, I checked in over the years," he reminded her, "join me for a drink?"
"No thank you," Caroline scoffed, turning from him. "I need to rescue Matt."
Klaus grabbed her gently by the arm, and spun her back toward him, the quickness of the action causing her breath to hitch. "Your friend will be fine. Trust me. Come along."
Klaus pulled her by the arm, through the crowd and down the hallway, not giving her the chance to try and escape him again. This was the Klaus she remembered from 1492. The one who was pushy and stubborn and annoyed the hell out of her.
He pulled her upstairs, and into one of the guest rooms that was on the second floor of the house. The stairs had been roped off from the rest of the party, discouraging people from making their way to the rooms to hook up. But obviously people would ignore that and sneak up there anyways. Klaus just did.
"I'm not talking to you until you tell me why the hell you're here," she demanded quickly, to get the image of her and Klaus and the bed out of her mind.
"To celebrate," he replied cracking open a bottle of champagne and pouring it into two delicate, crystal flutes. "Mikael is dead. I can now reunite my family."
Klaus passed her the half filled glass and she took it, holding it in front of her. She walked around the room, trying to get as far from him as she could. Through the curtains of the window she could see the band playing outside and everyone dancing and drinking below. They had no idea that a vampire/werewolf hybrid had made all of this possible to celebrate the death of his evil vampire father.
"Won't they be like, really pissed, that you've had them locked up for hundreds of years?"
Caroline recalled how angry Elijah had been with him back in 1492 over everything that had happened. Kol too. Kol had tried to even kill him that one night before Klaus stopped him and daggered him.
Klaus chuckled. "They'll get over it."
"Is that what you expect everyone to do Klaus? Just get over it?"
Klaus took a sip of his champagne, sucking in a breath before answering. "I'll also be taking Elena with me when I leave."
Caroline's head whipped up at his revelation. "You're going to kidnap Elena?"
"More or less." Klaus shrugged.
"You can't do that!"
"Oh I can love, and I will. I have no desire to stay in this town permanently and I can't trust the Salvatores to end their bickering long enough to protect her the way she needs protecting."
Caroline set her glass down on the windowsill and walked over to him. "I won't let you take Elena. You have her blood, go make your hybrids and leave us all the hell alone."
"I've already made hybrids," Klaus replied, "but I'll need to make more. This isn't a one off sweetheart."
A light bulb went off in Caroline's head. "So that's who all the extra people are..."
"Don't worry. I'll be as gentle with Elena as I can," his smile was so cruel and self satisfied. Caroline wanted to slap it right off his face. "In fact I want her to have a happy life. I want her to grow old, get married, and punch out a few more tiny doppelgangers so my linage can continue to thrive."
"I won't let you do this," she said standing right in front of him. "Please."
Klaus lowered his head to her, his gaze piercing hers. "I'll do this whether you or the Salvatores or anyone else wants me to or not."
Her tongue darted out and wet her lips as she stared up at him. He looked down at her, a fierceness at the edge of his eyes that attempted to convey to her just how serious he really was. No one would stop him. They hadn't before and they wouldn't now. The years had changed him, between the time they were together and the present. He was harder, crueler, even more single minded than he was back then. But then Caroline recalled the cave and the memory that Klaus had compelled her to forget but had allowed her to remember in the past.
"You told me the night of the sacrifice, when you came to say goodbye, that you would do anything for me," she tried to hold back the emotion in her voice. She tried to sound brave and convincing, hoping that she could appeal to the side of him that only she knew. Maybe it still existed. She had thought it was gone after their conversation in the parking lot on prank night. But when he had come to save her from her father, taken care of her, been so gentle with her, she knew that the good part of him still existed somewhere deep down. "I'm asking you to please, just let Elena go. Let her live her life. She deserves that. She's already been through so much."
"Don't talk to me about Elena Gilbert's hardships," he growled.
"Don't pretend to be such a martyr," Caroline shot back, "we all feel pain Klaus and it sucks, but it's a part of life. Like you said, get over it, don't take it out on other people."
He stood there, hovering over her, attempting to intimidate her. But she didn't buy it. More than that, she didn't care. She knew a long time ago that she would die to protect anyone she loved.
Her fingers twitched at her side, wanting to reach up and pull him in and make him understand. She gripped the sides of her dress to prevent herself from following through with that urge. They were at an impasse. There would be no appealing to him. Caroline scoffed and brushed past him, heading out to the party once again.
"This isn't 1492 Klaus. You can't scare me. This is my time now, my world, and I'll protect my friends no matter what."
"Caroline," Klaus called after her, she turned to face him again. "Don't make me do anything I would regret."
Caroline held his gaze for a moment longer before opening the door and leaving him alone in the room. She leaned back against the door, taking a deep calming breath. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed the knob. Instead of going right back to the party, she grabbed her coat from Tyler's room and headed for the front door. She didn't bother saying goodbye to anyone. She'd text Tyler and Bonnie and let them know she had decided to go home. Caroline just couldn't be there anymore.
She managed to make it out the front door without being stopped. The front lawn was strangely quiet and void. It was littered with cups and streamers, but all the partiers were either inside or around the back. As her foot hit the bottom step, she pulled out her phone to text Tyler and tell him she headed out.
"Hello Caroline," a voice said behind her. A chill rain down her spine as she turned around and locked eyes with the speaker. His hair was shorter and his beard was gone. He was dressed in a sleek modern day suit, but she recognized him.
"Mikael."
He smiled, descending a few steps closer to her, approaching her like a snake about to strike out at its unsuspecting prey.
"Although I don't quite know the reason why you are still alive, it is truly...lovely to see you again."