I've gotta start doing that "update once every Friday" thing. Hope you guys like it. :)

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KLAUS

The message came about a half hour later. As Klaus walked through the city, unable to sit still, he tried to quiet the worry that wouldn't cease to put perfectly clear images of Caroline hurt in his mind. His eyes drifted to each shop and tourist attraction, silently asking himself where the next lead was.

Before he was about to enter one, he passed a pay phone.

It rang.

Klaus paused, whirling back to it and tearing the phone off its cradle. He raised it instantly to his ear, feeling his back go stiff with untamable outrage. "If this is who I believe it is, know your quality of life is to decline drastically if you continue to harm her."

"Not one to waste time, I see," the man drawled, and Klaus could decipher the light hint of amusement dancing in his voice. He was laughing at him. "I hope you know I don't take pleasure in harming her. It's rather bittersweet, in fact."

Klaus growled. "Put her on."

The man sighed, exasperated. "I'm sorry. She's a bit tied up at the moment."

Klaus gripped the cage of the pay phone with such force that the metal dented around his clutched hand. "Put her on the line now or I will believe her to be dead. And then I will devote myself to tracking you down in order to personally demonstrate how many methods of torture one can use with nothing more than a spoon. Now put. Her. On."

"Creative," he said, but he heard the line jostle, as if the man were moving. His voice reappeared but this time at a distance. "Say hello, Sweetheart."

"Screw you," Caroline's voice bit out and Klaus knew that, for once, it wasn't directed at him. He felt both relieved and disgusted to hear the weakness in her tone.

"Caroline, I promise you this will be over soon," Klaus said, and he could catch the desperation in his own voice. "I promise, I-"

A scream silenced him, echoing through the speaker and erupting in his mind. His hand tightened more, bending the pay phone until it was partially mangled. "You have no concept of who you are dealing with!" Klaus roared, the volume making his own ears ring. "I'll make you regret ever touching her in full, so much so, it's even indescribable to me and I have a thousand years worth of vocabulary to attest to that."

"A small man with big words," the man said. "Did you really fall for this, Dove?"

"What's up with old vampires and pet names?" Caroline's voice gasped on the other end, rough with screaming. "Seriously, do you have difficulty with a first name basis?"

"Such blatant disrespect," the man chided and Klaus had to unclench his fingers to stop from snapping the phone in two. "You really are incredibly stubborn."

"Oh, you want to start pointing out fatal flaws?" She asked him. "Yours is easy. Greed. And bad fashion sense. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to use so much of the same color in a single outfit?"

The man let out a bark of laugher. "What trivial concerns you have," he said, his voice becoming more clear as he neared Caroline. "But for the sake at quenching my curiosity, would you mind guessing what Klaus's are?"

Klaus breathed through his nose, trying to stop the tremors. He spoke before Caroline, furious at this game of cat and mouse.

"Caroline," Klaus said, his voice shaky. "How hurt are you, Love?"

He heard the annoyance in her voice, lilting with lack of strength. "I'm just super," she hissed. "Wet and tired and ankle deep in mud-"

Another scream tore through her throat and this time Klaus had nowhere to put his anger. Instead, he just shook the cage of the pay phone further, damaging it as much as he could without severing the line.

"That's enough chatting," the man's voice reappeared in place of Caroline's. "I wouldn't want her to give anything away. Now Klaus, let us discuss my propositions."

Klaus clenched his jaw, so tightly, he felt a tooth crack. He tasted a threat on his lips.

In that moment, however, he was suddenly caught off guard by a single thought, one that made him nearly stumble into the pay phone.

There were no graves in New Orleans.

Klaus silently cursed himself, running his hand through his sopping hair. How had he made such a mistake? New Orleans rested a top a swamp, so the deceased had to be buried in tombs constructed above ground, not below. And Caroline spoke of mud. Hardly the most efficient place to bury a corpse.

Unless....

Unless the dead weren't intended to be found.

Klaus felt his eyes widen, at the distant recollection of a burning home as it resurfaced in his mind. That had been over fifteen years ago and though it had been the rare occasion that Klaus hadn't caused the incident, he had assisted in cleaning it up.

Something in him released, like a breath of fresh air.

He knew where she was.

"Klaus?" The man's voice jerked him from his reverie and Klaus snapped his attention back. He coated his voice in his usual, neutral facade, ensured to reveal nothing. "You know what, Mate? I've been thinking about this in detail and though I would relish in killing you, I don't take orders from anyone."

There was a silence on the other end before the man replied, the subtle amusement now wiped from his voice. "Have I not made myself clear?" There was the whooshing noise of the whip and Caroline's third cry, and Klaus locked it somewhere inside himself, refocusing on the task at hand.

"I will kill her, NiKlaus," he promised. "I will."

Klaus didn't hesitate. "Believe me, your message is explicit, but you seem to perceive me as someone rather weak willed and spineless. You see, I don't wish to lose Caroline, but I won't resort to submission in order to attain her."

The man scoffed, pausing as if he were struggling to comprehend his words. "What exactly are you saying?" He asked.

Klaus pursed his lips. "I'm saying we're finished, Mate. Tell Caroline farewell for me."

And before the man could protest, Klaus ripped the phone from its cord.

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I tried to mask the expression of surprise I'm sure was written all over my face.

Tell Caroline farewell?

Was he really abandoning me to my own fate?

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the sensation that bordered on disappointment. He'd left me behind. Again.

I wasn't sure what I'd expected. Him piecing together my minuscule hints and then come barging in like some sadistic football player on steroids? I mentally kicked myself for even entertaining such a ridiculous thought, but I did allow myself to at least feel validated in my accusation.

That Klaus really didn't care. Not enough to do something about it, anyway.

I felt oddly smug as I turned my head to Aindreas, ignoring my screaming muscles. "Told you."

But the man grimaced, returning my look of complacency. "I don't buy it. He cares for you. It's painfully obvious."

"Klaus also cares for his siblings," I said, matter of fact. "But he's stabbed them in the back more than once. Their disputes bring a whole new definition to the term sibling rivalry."

"But I'm threatening to have you taken away from him forever," Aindreas remarked, discarding my words. "No man has that much pride."

"Then you evidently don't know Klaus."

"Every man has his weakness."

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond his pretenses. It was a challenge to do without emotions and for a glimmering moment, I wondered what the person I used to be would do in this situation. "Oh yeah?" I asked. "And what's yours?"

"I don't have one."

I chuckled, but my voice was devoid of humor. "Wow, hypocritical much?"

His gaze flicked away for a second before returning to mine. "I used to have many," he said, ignoring my jab. "Once, I used to have things I'd go to any immeasurable length to protect. But those weaknesses are gone. I have little idea as to what my sole one is anymore."

"How poetic," I deadpanned. "What, did you lose your entire family? Or did you just scare them off?"

Aindreas cast me a bitter smile, one that didn't touch his eyes. "They perished in the Bubonic Plague. All within the same month. So as you can see, I have no ties binding me to anywhere but here. But though I may not know my own weakness, I know Klaus's. And I don't doubt he'll fight for you."

I caught his fingers tighten over the whip. "Sooner or later, that is."

"I hope you have a few centuries up your sleeve," I replied, my voice becoming more ragged as I bit back the scream aching to be released. "Cause it could take awhile."

Aindreas let out a breath he seemed to be holding, casting a look over his shoulder. "Dakota, take over," he said, extending the whip to the vampire who'd delivered the recorder. She took the wrapped leather chord and uncoiled it, hitting it once against the burnt ruins of the house that used to stand here.

Aindreas gestured to me. "Don't bother drying it this time. It hurts more when damp."

When the lick of the whip lanced against my back, it felt as if it were coated in acid. I screamed again, tasting the blood from my bitten lip. A second lash came and my vision went black at the edges, tuning in and out of focus.

Then another followed in its wake.

"Stop," I whispered, my voice breaking.

He bent down to me once again. "What was that, Sweetheart?"

I wouldn't beg, I wouldn't plea or ask again. If I died, I died and I didn't realize I'd asked him to stop until it was done, his frame leering over my crumpled one. I sealed my lips shut, refusing.

He nodded. "Carry on then."

One.

Two.

Three.

Four. I was dangerously close to losing consciousness, and I screamed so loud it left my ears ringing. My body shook uncontrollably and I really didn't care if this was it; if I closed my eyes and never opened them again. I actually found a small fragment of relief in it.

Then something caught my attention. It was a distant sound, quickly making its way closer and I looked in the direction it was coming from, whooshing through the trees. The girl with the whip paused as another of Aindreas's vampires was suddenly knocked from his feet, the impact sending him backwards until he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

I squinted, willing my eyes to focus until I glimpsed what protruded from the man's limp body, the wooden picket burrowed deep in his chest.

Huh.

It looked like Klaus had gotten my memo after all.