1.       The Vampire Diaries – Klaroline – Attracted to Darkness

April 4th 2013

“You cannot be serious.” Caroline’s mouth hung open as she spoke on the phone to one of the students on the decorating committee for prom. “Well tell them that it’s urgent… I don’t care; we need them… yes in that colour!” She hung up the phone and groaned to herself.

                She sighed and put a hand to her forehead as she lay back on the couch. “Why are people always so difficult?!” She asked herself.

Great, now she was back to thinking of freaking Elena and all the reasons why she was being difficult lately. Why couldn’t she just turn her emotions back on? It was really starting to annoy her.

What if she never got her best friend back? God, how selfish was that? She was worried about herself when Elena had just burned down her house with her dead brother inside and all of the memories of their childhood. Good work Caroline.

Sometimes it scared her to think of what she would do when she left school. The one thing that was keeping her sane, well, as sane as she could be, was organising the perfect prom. At least most things were going to plan and she was about to go and try on her dress one last time.

It was perfect, and although Tyler wasn’t going to be there to see it she would still make sure she looked beautiful. She was the former Miss Mystic Falls after all.

She looked out of her window at the sunny afternoon light falling across her front yard. Her fingers fiddled with the ring on her finger and she sighed once more.

At first she had hated being a vampire. She would lose control and she was just a hyper sensitive version of herself, and she didn’t really like that person. It took her a while to adjust, but now she finally felt like she was the woman she wanted to be, even if she was perpetually stuck at the age of seventeen.

At least she would be young forever.

The clock on the wall was getting close to reaching four o’clock and she would have to meet Bonnie soon to try on her dress. Poor Bonnie, she would have to go to prom without Jeremy, she would have to go through everything without Jeremy.

God, what is with this town and everyone dropping dead or becoming some fairy-tale monster? She shook her head and walked out the door, grabbing her keys on the way.

“You look amazing Caroline.” Bonnie smiled as she admired her friend in her stunning prom dress.

“I know,” Caroline grinned as she twirled a little in the mirror.

“I bet Tyler would have said the same thing.” Caroline’s smile dropped and she turned to look at a sympathetic Bonnie.

“Yeah… he would have.” They smiled in that fake smile kind of way, the one that you know only stands to hide everything underneath it. “But I can't afford to think about him anymore. He’s gone and he can't come back.” She turned back to her reflection.

“And whose fault is that?” Bonnie and Caroline turned to see Elena leaning against the wall. “I can't believe you girls would go out shopping for prom without me. It’s just so… childish, to be worrying about something like a silly little dance. You know that they’ll all just be hoping you trip and fall on your big Barbie heels and break your neck. Too bad that that’s only temporary for you now.”

“What do you want Elena?” Caroline asked, folding her arms.

God she could be a pain when she wanted to be.

“I just came to see if you knew anything more about Silas but, I understand that for some people prom is the number one priority.” She smirked and Caroline rolled her eyes. “You know it’s sad to see a vampire playing human, you’re really degrading yourself Caroline. Not to mention your little love troubles with a hybrid.”

“You can leave Tyler out of this; he’s got a far better track record than the kinds of vampires that you fall for. And I don’t care that you think wanting to go to prom is stupid, you’re not yourself Elena.” Caroline said.

“Don’t you feel anything? You can't miss out on your prom because you’re being stubborn. I know it hurts to lose someone, especially someone like Jeremy-”Bonnie started to say but Elena laughed and cut her off.

“You mean the little brother who tried to kill me? It doesn’t hurt. It happens. He’s just a pile of ashes now.” Caroline looked over at Bonnie who had started to get glassy eyes.

“Elena… This isn’t how you feel.” Caroline said.

“Actually Caroline, it is. By the way that dress would look much better on me.” She shrugged and headed for the door. “Oh and for the record, I wasn’t talking about Tyler. He’s not the only hybrid in town that you seemed to get along with.” With one last little sneer she left the store.

“Are you okay?” Caroline put her hand on Bonnie’s shoulder and she nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Are you taking that now?” She pointed to the dress and Caroline shook her head.

“No, I was just making sure that it was still the perfect dress.”

“It’s not like you could get really fat or something. I don’t think that’s how it works for vampires.” Bonnie smiled a little and Caroline laughed.

“I’m just glad that I had been on a bit of a health kick when I got turned. I would hate to have been bloated and carrying a few extra pounds and have to look like that for the next few hundred years.” She smiled and Bonnie just shook her head.

Caroline lay in bed that night, just thinking. Sometimes sleep evaded her, in fact, it often did. She couldn’t help thinking about Elena and how she was completely off the rails. How were they ever going to get her back to normal? Were they even going to get regular Elena back or would she just be so completely grief stricken?

God, why were there so many questions that no one could answer?!

Why would Elena bring up Klaus? Obviously he was the hybrid she was talking about, but Caroline was sick of people thinking that there was something happening between her and the crazy original un-killable vampire werewolf hybrid. He was the reason that Tyler was gone.

She hated Klaus, or at least, she wanted to. She thought back to the times when he had shown her his humanity. Why was it that no one else seemed to believe that there was some tiny shred of humanity left in the broken shell of a man that remained?

Why didn’t he let anyone else see that part of him?

She groaned and sat up in her bed. This lack of sleep was really starting to get ridiculous. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and opened the bottom draw of her bedside table. She pulled out the hand-sketched piece of art paper that he had drawn her.

Someone who can create something like this can't be all evil. There was something in Klaus that no one else would look for, or maybe he just refused to let anyone else see.

She hated how he needed to feel like he had ultimate power, and the most annoying thing was that he kind of did. It’s not like he could be killed or anything.

If he just tried to be… normal, for once, instead of this furious bloodthirsty monster then maybe he wouldn’t be so bad.

She fell back into her pillows and sighed. Why couldn’t she just turn off her brain?

“Seriously?” Caroline could not believe what she was hearing.

“Your friend came by earlier and picked it up for you, like you told her to.” The shop assistant looked a little confused at her reaction.

“I told you that I would be back, me, not someone else! I thought that you weren’t supposed to do that kind of thing!”

“Well I... usually we’re not… I don’t know why I gave it to her…” Great, she had been compelled.

“Oh just forget it!” Caroline stormed out of the store and got in her car to go to the only person she knew could help.

“Klaus! Klaus?” Caroline called as she walked through the elaborate mansion that he owned. She walked through the door into one of the sitting rooms to see Klaus standing in front of the fire. “Hello?! Did you not hear me?”

“Of course I heard you Caroline I think the whole of Mystic Falls heard you. I’m in no mood for company.” He said without turning around.

“Well I’m sorry that you’re having personal issues but I have a real crisis on my hands. Elena stole my prom dress. I went to pick it up but the tailor said that somebody else already did and when I asked who she said she couldn’t remember.” Klaus turned to look at her with a confused look on his face. “Hello? The vervain is out of the town water supply. She was compelled!”

Klaus shook his head and laughed. This was no laughing matter.

“It is not… funny.” Caroline said with the most serious face he had ever seen her wear and he tried to stop himself from chuckling.

“I know… I know.” He said with little restraint over his laughter.

“So stop laughing.” She scoffed and sighed. “Look, I know prom isn’t important to you but it’s important to me.”

“Surely finding another dress is well within your substantial vampire capabilities.” He said.

“Oh but I don’t want just another dress,” she said throwing her hands up in the air, “I want to look hot, like Princess Grace of Monaco hot. So… could you please go back into your creepy trophy case of family collectables and dig me out something of royal calibre?” She gave him a little smile and shrugged.

He gave his eyes a playful little roll and smiled back. It was definitely well within his capabilities as a thousand year old well-travelled hybrid.

“I’m sure we can dig something up.” She followed him up the stairs and down the corridor to the left.

“Can you even remember where you’re going in this house or do you get lost in here?” Caroline said as she looked at all of the rooms.

Klaus smirked a little. As he entered the room on the end he called back to her. “I think you’re overestimating the size of my residence.” He said.

She poked her head through the door and scoffed a little. The double bed was covered in gold lace pillows and a duvet and was made exquisitely. Klaus disappeared into the biggest wardrobe that she had ever seen and there was a large bookcase on the other side of the room by a desk. She took a quick look at herself in the giant gilded mirror and smiled at her reflection.

“Is this your room?” She asked.

“Do you really think I keep vintage dresses in a closet in my room?” Klaus turned back to raise an eyebrow before his lips curled into a smile. “However if you did want to see it I have no objections to showing you.”

Caroline popped her hip and folded her arms. “Can you please keep looking? I don’t want to be late to my own prom.”

“I understand that it is fashionable to be late to such events.”

“Yeah, but not to miss them entirely. It takes a lot of work to look as good as I do.” Klaus turned back to give her a look over and she rolled her eyes. “Can you please focus? I am this close to having a mental breakdown over here.”

Klaus had a little chuckle and walked out of Caroline’s sight and into the wardrobe. She looked around the room again and walked over to the bookcase to see what kind of things he had.

There were so many of them, these seemed to be from back before the Second World War. Did he categorise his books in terms of their age? It seemed strange that he would but then again she didn’t really know much about Klaus or his personality. She knew that he was artistic and that he had the capacity to-

“Love?” Caroline spun around quickly. Klaus was giving her that look where he only half smiles. “Was I interrupting a little moment over there?”

“You most certainly weren’t. I was just trying to amuse myself while you took your time in there.”

He laughed a little. “Well I think you’ll appreciate the time and effort in searching for this.” He held out a garment bag and she took it.

“Thank you.” She said, trying not to act like he had just done her a massive favour. “Now do you mind leaving while I try it on?”

“If I must.” He smiled and headed out the door.

She waited until she heard him walk downstairs to change out of her clothes and unzip the bag. “Oh my god!” She looked down at the stunning dress and almost couldn’t believe it. It was exquisite.

This was probably the most beautiful thing she would ever get to wear… so long as it fit. She stripped down to her underwear and carefully unzipped the back to slide herself in. She removed her bra because it was a strapless gown and tried to zip up the back but she could only get it half way and she didn’t want to be rough with a dress like this.

She closed her eyes. No, she was not going to call Klaus in here to help her. That would give him far too many things to say… but she needed to make sure this dress was perfect. She looked into the mirror and it just wasn’t perfect yet. With a sigh she opened her eyes.

“Klaus?” She called.

She heard him head up the stairs and he was at the door in a flash. She was used to the whole vampire speed but damn he was fast. He opened it slowly and peered through, that vulnerable look spreading over his face when he saw the bare skin of her back through the open zip.

She held the front even tighter to her chest and avoided his eyes. “Do you mind zipping me up?”

“Not at all, love.” He said as he walked over slowly to stand behind her.

She turned to face the mirror and looked down, her eyes flashing to his reflection as she felt him take a gentle hold of the fabric in one hand and the zipper in the other. He pulled it slowly upward, the knuckle of one finger gently brushing her spine until it reached the top.

She watched his eyes follow it up and wash over her skin.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

His eyes trailed up to her hair when he pulled it back and off her chest, his fingertips brushing her shoulder as he pushed it back.

“You look radiant.” He whispered roughly even though he hadn’t looked up at her reflection.

“Thank you, again.” She repeated.

She shrugged a little and he stepped back to look at her.

“It’s perfect.” She said quietly.

“I agree.” He said, making eye contact through the mirror glass.

She looked away. “Well I’ll bring it back tomorrow morning.”

“No rush sweetheart, consider it a gift.”

“I don’t think I should keep accepting gifts from you. You realise that this is probably worth more than my house right?” She ran her fingers over the intricate beading and couldn’t believe that she was wearing it.

“What something is worth is subjective Caroline.” She tried not to look into his eyes for too long, instead she turned back to her reflection.

“Well let me change then so I can go home and finish getting ready.” As she turned around to make sure he left she realised that he had already left the room.

Her heart pounded and she rubbed her chest with her fingers. Why did she let herself feel like that? Why did she have to wish that she could forget all of the horrible things that he’s done? And that she knows he will do again?

“Snap out of it Caroline.” She muttered to herself before slipping out of the dress and changing back into her clothes.

She definitely made an entrance at the prom. Quite a few people just gave her dress a good long look with their mouths open. Of course it was perfect, everything that Klaus gives her usually is.

She remembered the first gown that he had given her to wear. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. That was one of the first times he had ever really shown another side of him.

God, would you stop? She thought to herself. She would have to find Damon and get a drink. She knew he would have something on him.

Everyone looked so amazing, including Elena, which infuriated the hell out of Caroline because there she was in her dress. Not that it mattered anymore, she had a dress from god knows where and when that could top any of the others.

So why was she not enjoying herself?

Bonnie had disappeared, Elena had her switch flipped and couldn’t give a crap about prom and Damon and Stefan were trailing her around as per usual. She had no idea where Matt had run off to.

She had shared a dance with Stefan earlier but she couldn’t help feeling lonely now. She missed Tyler. The only reason he wasn’t here was because of Klaus, but she couldn’t be mad at him because he had helped her out of her crisis.

Not just that, but he was just so… something. She couldn’t decide what.

Why did he have to save that all for her? Why couldn’t he let someone else see the kind of guy he could be?

“This prom sucks.” She said as Damon sidled in next to her.

He offered her a swig from his flask and she happily took it.

“If anyone asks, I’ll be at the after party.” She handed it back and collected her things.

This wasn’t the night she had wanted. Her friends weren’t themselves, she didn’t have a date, and she was a vampire. If someone had told her this would be how her prom night was going to end up she would have laughed in their face.

She headed home to change out of the dress, she just couldn’t do this anymore, there was so much going on inside her head and she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

Her mother was working late so she came home to a dark empty house. As she dropped her keys on the table by the door she sighed and then she thought she heard someone approach.

She spun around to see Klaus standing in the doorway.

“Mind if I come in?” He asked.

“Since when do you ask to come in? You’ve already been invited.” Caroline said.

“Well I was trying to be polite but that seems to be lost on you. What’s wrong Caroline?” he asked as he stepped inside.

“Nothing, everything is just awesome.” She walked through to the kitchen and took her bag off her shoulder.

“Now that doesn’t sound anywhere close. Why are you home so early?”

“Maybe you should know, seeing as you’re here and clearly stalking me.”

He smiled to himself. “All I did was come over to see if your night was as magical as you had hoped it would be. It would appear not.”

“Well obviously.” She said sarcastically.

He just looked at her expectantly and she scoffed.

“Why do you do that? Why do you act all nice and interested and non-killer-hybrid when you’re with me? Why is it that you can't just let people see what you show me?” She snapped.

He took a step closer. “Did you expect me to show my weaknesses to everybody?”

“Is that what I am? Your weakness?”

“You know that I would kill for you Caroline.”

“But you won't let Tyler come back, and you wouldn’t die for me. It’s easy enough for someone like you to say you would kill for me because if I'm not mistaken it doesn’t take much for you to get the urge to kill but you are so scared of dying you would do anything to avoid it!” She said with a frustrated sigh.

“What possible reason could I have for wanting Tyler to come back?”

“I’m not saying that you have one but I know that you care about me so why can't you let me be happy?”

“Why do you need Tyler to make you happy?” He tilted his head to the side and raised his eyebrows.

“Well because… I mean he’s Tyler and…” she tried to think of a reason to give him but she was too slow to respond.

“Did you ever consider that someone else could do that for you?” She just looked over at him with uncertain eyes and he took another few steps forward. “I could show you the world Caroline, everything it has to offer. You have no idea what you’re missing by secluding yourself in this silly little town. I can take you anywhere you want to go if you’ll just… let me.” He was close enough for her to smell his smoky cologne and feel his warm breath on her face. “Caroline…” he whispered, lifting his hand to her cheek and strumming his fingers gently over her delicate skin.

She closed her eyes for only a second but that was enough for him to lean in and press his lips against hers. He caught her off guard and she pulled back with a loud gasp. She felt a little shocked; he had never been so bold before, never been less than a gentleman, well, mostly. Her fingers reached up to touch the place where his lips had just been and she just looked at him, unmoved from his spot and staring intently into her eyes.

She pulled her hand away and bit her lip a little. She couldn’t want this, it was Klaus.

He reached out again, gently taking her cheek in his hand. With the other he brushed her hair away from her face and refused to break their gaze.

With a dip of his head his lips had found hers for the second time and this time she let herself fall into him and parted her lips so that she could kiss him back. She had wanted to do this before, she had wanted to kiss him and feel something with this man who could only show his soul to her.

Her hands reached out to slide around his waist and he pulled her face into him further, unable to sate his need with the slightest of touches.

It couldn’t feel this wonderful to kiss him, it just couldn’t. He was so evil but… he wasn’t who everyone thought.

She slid her hands up his chest and looped them around his neck so he took one of his and pressed it to her back so that he could pull her even further into him. Her hands locked onto the back of his head and she heard him make a growling sound low in his throat.

She didn’t want to stop kissing him but she had to. She pulled away at vampire speed and leant back against the kitchen bench, panting a little. What the hell are you doing Caroline?

“Now that was wonderful.” He smirked a little and she looked away for fear that she would smile.

“No… no it shouldn’t have happened.” She whispered to herself.

All of a sudden Klaus was standing right beside her, his lips inches from her ear. “And is that because you didn’t want it to or because you shouldn’t want to?” She inhaled sharply and looked ahead. “We are all attracted to darkness Caroline, even those of us who are full of light.” He pushed her hair behind her ear but she still didn’t look at him.

No, no, no, this isn’t what you want Caroline…

“What are you afraid of? You know I would never put you in danger.” He was practically breathing the words into her ear now and she swallowed hard. “Is it your pathetic little friends? The ones who couldn’t even give you the prom of your dreams?” Her eyes darted to him for a second before she focussed them straight ahead. “Is that why you want me to show them what I show you? So that they’ll understand the way you feel for me?”

“I don’t feel anything for you.”

“And who are you trying to convince with that shaky pronouncement, love? Have you ever considered that I don’t want to share my life with anyone but you?” He put his hand on her cheek and turned her face towards him.

She looked up at him with her eyes full of terror at the thought of having real feeling for him. The rest of them don’t know him like she does, they couldn’t possibly understand.

“Consider this…” His eyes trailed to her lips, half parted and trembling slightly, before returning to gaze into her eyes. “Let me take you to see the world, get away from this town, let us explore the marvels Caroline… take the time to come with me and I will show you what the world has to offer.”

“I… I haven’t even graduated… I can't leave everyone here…”

“So graduate and then we can leave. And what do they care about you? All they want from you is to help them with their problems. We can leave it here and travel, just you and me.” He tilted his head and she looked up at him.

“What about Silas and the cure? Don’t you want to make Elena human so you can create more of your hybrids?” she said with a sharp tongue and he laughed to himself.

“Now what would I need with hybrids when I could have you?” He brushed her cheek with his finger and she rolled her eyes.

“So I would be your little lapdog?”

“Don’t twist my words Caroline.” He said, his lips flattening into a line.

“Well I don’t see how you could just get up and leave when you’ve been sitting here trying to become even more powerful for all this time.” She slipped away from him and walked to the other side of the room and folded her arms.

“Well if you decide you want to leave me after a year then I can always come back to that.” He said, a little annoyed that his advances had been challenged.

“A year?” she said, her jaw dropping. “You want me to drop everything and leave with you for a year?” Klaus’ face twisted into a smile and he laughed. “What is so funny?”

“Oh Caroline… your understanding of time is so… human. When you have lived for as many years as I have you will understand that a year is nothing. Time is irrelevant to us.” He said.

“You can't just ask me to leave my life and come with you to … enjoy the world when my friends need me here. I’m not that selfish.” She started walking to her room.

“No you’re impossibly good for a vampire, and maybe you should start thinking about what you want Caroline, not what other people need.”

She opened the door and walked inside, slamming it shut behind her. She held herself up against the door and closed her eyes.

She could hear him walk to the table and lean against it. He wasn’t going to leave until she gave him an answer. Wait, she had never said no.

She couldn’t possibly be considering it. No, she couldn’t. What about Tyler and Elena and Bonnie and her mom? She couldn’t just leave them behind.

Could she?

A part of her wanted to, a big part of her wanted to.

“If you need some help getting that zipper down just say the word.” She heard Klaus call from outside the door.

For some reason it made her smile, and then laugh. “I think I’ll manage.” She called back; the smile wouldn’t disappear from her lips.

She managed to remove her dress and lay it down on the bed before changing into a cocktail dress, she was still supposed to make an appearance at the after party, despite the fact that she didn’t want to.

She was ready to go but for some reason she couldn’t leave her bedroom. What was she going to say to Klaus? Surely she couldn’t go with him, no one would understand it.

She sighed and opened the door slowly. Klaus gave her a smile and looked at her expectantly.

“So tell me if I have this right.” She said, folding her arms.

“One moment just let me take the time to appreciate how ravishing you look.” He grinned and she rolled her eyes.

“No. so, you want me to give up everything in my life to go with you to the four corners of the world on some… romantic enlightening adventure?”

“That was the general assumption, yeah.” He said.

“So what would you be giving up then? If you want me to give up my life then what would you give up for me?” she gave him an expectant look, trying to act tough but it just made him smile.

“I believe that I will be leaving my home too Caroline.”

“Oh please, you know that it doesn’t matter to you, especially if I was to go with you.”

“You’re very sure of yourself.”

“Well you’re pretty obsessed with me.” Klaus laughed loudly and shook his head.

“Could you do something for me? If I came with you that is?”

He became suddenly serious and he looked hesitantly at her. “If you ask me to let Tyler come back I can promise you that my mood will sour very quickly.”

That made her feel a little guilty, but Tyler would be safe no matter her choice.

“Could you survive a year on blood-bags?”

He smiled. “You have no sense of adventure Caroline.”

“But I do have a sense of morality. If I was going to come with you I don’t want to be leaving a trail of bodies wherever we go.”

“If you say yes Caroline I would gladly abstain from any unnecessary bloodshed.” She raised her eyebrows. “Cross my heart,” he smirked.

She looked away from him for a second and he was back to within inches from her. “Would you stop doing that?” she said.

He put his hand on her cheek and stared down into her eyes. “So is that a yes then?”

Her heart pounded. “I have a party to go to.” She pulled away from him and walked to her front door.

“Allow me to accompany you.” He said, pulling the door open for her before she had the chance.

She smiled, “you are relentless.”

By half way through the party she had made her decision. Stefan had been non-stop talking her ear off about Elena and Damon and it was driving her crazy. She knew more about things that no one even thought were real than she did about the real world.

“Stefan?” She interrupted.

“Caroline?” He mimicked.

“Do you guys need me around here, I mean like really need me?”

His brow furrowed. “Why do you ask?”

“I just feel so trapped here! Everything is about Elena and Bonnie’s all Jeremy traumatised and in trouble with Silas and Rebekah won't shut up about finding the cure, not to mention Katherine is back in the picture. This isn’t my fight Stefan.” She let it all come pouring out and Stefan nodded a little.

“So what do you want Caroline?” He asked.

“An adventure.” Both of them spun around to see Klaus striding over cockily.

“Klaus.” Stefan greeted him sombrely. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m afraid I may be about to say goodbye for a while Stefan.”

“Well I can't say that I’ll be sad to see you go.” Stefan replied.

“You might change your mind about that, depending on other circumstances.” Klaus looked over at Caroline with a little smirk.

Stefan looked over at Caroline with a confused look.

“Though I haven’t made any concrete choices yet.” He smiled.

“What’s going on here?” Stefan pointed from Caroline to Klaus, who had a very cocky face going.

Caroline closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them; both men were looking at her for a response.

“I’m going with Klaus.” She said with a matter-of-fact shrug.

Klaus smiled genuinely and Stefan looked like she had come out with something completely crazy, which she kind of had.

“Are you insane?” He asked.

“I can't do this anymore Stefan. I can't sit here and just watch people die and turn into vampires and have crazy all powerful immortals chasing them and know that there is nothing I can do about it. You guys are strung up on Elena and trying to get her back well… tell her I left the country with Klaus and see if that stirs anything in her. You always let Elena make her own choices so why not just accept that this one is mine. And no, before you ask, he hasn’t compelled me.” She sighed when she had finished her little rant.

Stefan stood there with his usual brooding look and Klaus just smiled arrogantly.

“What about Tyler?” Stefan said.

Caroline scoffed. “Don’t try and give me some sad little guilt trip about Tyler okay? This isn’t about him it’s about me just waiting around while time goes by and not actually doing anything. It’s about me finally putting myself first and doing something that I want.

“You know this wasn’t the life I chose for myself right? Your bitch of an ex-whatever did this to me so I’m going to do something for me. This doesn’t mean that I like Klaus, believe me.” She glared over at the grinning hybrid. “I want to see the world and he’s kind of like a free ticket so you can just tell everyone that I’ll be back in a year.” She threw her hands up in the air and Stefan just looked completely perplexed.

“A year?” He said.

“Please, I have an infinite amount of them left so what does it matter if I take the time out for one of them?”

Klaus just laughed. “Unless you’d like to join us… Ripper.”

“Don’t even start.” Caroline said and Klaus shut his mouth and tried to hold back his laughter.

“Well, I guess we should say our goodbyes then.” Stefan said, his eyes telling her that she was making the wrong choice but she was done with Mystic Falls for now.

“Especially if we want to get a move on, love.”

She rolled her eyes when he called her love but she ignored it. Wait, what did he say?

“What do you mean?” She said.

“If you want to start an adventure we need to leave as soon as possible.” She looked a little shocked but her heart fluttered with excitement at the same time.

“Go on Caroline. Have your adventure.” Stefan nodded a little condescendingly and she shook her head.

“Good luck Stefan.” She said as she walked past him and out of the party.

Klaus trailed a little way behind.

“You don’t really mean that we have to go now right now do you? I don’t have time to pack or decide what I need to bring- where are we even going?”

“Slow down, you only need the basics and why should we need to know where we’re going?”

“Okay you clearly don’t know the way I pack.” She reached her car and turned around to give him a look and he was so close to her that when he kissed her he pinned her to the car.

For a second she let herself kiss him back but then she shoved him hard backwards.

“Don’t think that just because I said yes I’m going to let you do that. This isn’t one of those trips.” She lectured him and pointed her finger in his face.

He chuckled. “If you say so love.”

She scowled, a smile just peeking through. “Don’t call me love.”