CHARLIE WAS HELPING CAROLINE PUT FLYERS UP for the 'Spirit Squad Back-to-School Bonfire' when Elena came up behind them. "I forgot about the bonfire."

It was the first day of school, and Caroline had been going on and on about how this was their last first day of school. It was making Charlie really sad since she realized that most of her friends were senior and would be gone next year. She was going to miss all of them, even her brother.

Speaking of Tyler, he had been uncharacteristically happy ever since he was turned into a hybrid by Klaus. He had really been enjoying his life as a vampire, and he had been hanging out with Klaus and Rebekah a weird amount.

"You have to go," the blonde girl ordered, once again trying to make memories of their senior year. She really needed this since prank night did not go exactly as they hoped it would. "It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year."

"Relax, Caroline. I'll be there," the human assured her with a small chuckle, scared that her friend wuld have a heart attack if she said that she was not going.

The blonde girl breathed out a relieved day. "Thank you. It's just that—" she was cut off by Tyler swinging around her from out of nowhere to kiss her. The other two girls looked at each other with confused, shocked, and grossed out expressions.

"Happy first day!" he announced once he pulled away, smiling at all of them.

Charlie shot him a small, slightly freaked out smile before glancing down to his shirt where she saw a couple of spots of red on it. Her eyes widened as she exclaimed, "Is that blood?"

"Oh my God!" Caroline yelled when she saw it as well, and she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the girls' bathroom as the other two followed behind them. "Vampire 101: don't wear your breakfast to school!"

"Chill out. It was just a blood bag," the Lockwood informed them as Elena checked under all of the stalls to make sure that no one could hear their conversation about blood and vampires. It might freak someone out.

The Forbes girl furrowed her eyes as she stared at him in question since he was new to all of this and definitely did not know where to get a blood bag from. "From where?"

"Rebekah hooked me up," he answered with a shrug like it was no big deal that he was hanging out with an Original. Charlie rolled her eyes, having heard enough of Rebekah that morning. He was way too happy to be a vampire, especially one that was turned by Klaus. Sure, a plus side was that he never had to turn again if he wanted to, and who would not want that?

"Rebekah?" the blonde girl asked, shocked since she had no idea that he was besties with Rebekah now. "And what are you even talking to her for?"

The boy just smiled proudly, happy that he was important to someone as big as Klaus. Little did he know how unappealing that job was. It also made her really mad that he was so happy about the fact that he was buddy buddy with the man that killed her girlfriend. She did not mention this, but where was the solidarity and support when she needed him? Didn't he care that Klaus was the reason that she could not find the energy to get up all summer? He sent her into a depression, and he took the person that meant everything to her. "Klaus told her to keep a watch on me. Protect his new asset."

"His what? Why are you amused by this?" the vampire girl asked because it really was not as much of an honor as he thought it was.

Charlie nodded in agreement. "This isn't funny, Tyler."

"I'm his first successful hybrid, guys," he reminded them as if his sister had not heard him say it about a million times in the last couple of hours. "Don't you think that's the tiniest bit awesome?"

"Oh, wow! I cannot believe you just said that," the blonde girl groaned annoyedly. Charlie could also not believe how okay with this he was. He felt like a stab in the chest. She thought that her brother, at least, would always have her back, no matter what, when it came to serious things like this.

Elena handed them some paper towels before smiling awkwardly. "So, I'm going to go. Good luck."

☾❄☽

THEY WERE IN ALARIC'S CLASSROOM, AND THE BONFIRE was going on just outside in the woods by the school. It was nighttime, and Charlie, Alaric, Damon, Elena, and Caroline were al working on a plan to kidnap Stefan and get him away from everyone for long enough to knock some sense into him. Klaus had forced him to turn off his humanity, and now he was all dark and broody. The Gilbert girl went over her part, "I'll lure Stefan away from the bonfire. Then when he's distracted..."

"I'll shoot him," the teacher added, gesturing to his collection of crossbows to choose from which was definitely illegal to have in a school.

Damon groaned, sick of all of the elaborate planning and thinking of every detail and angle and coming up with backup plans for everything that could possibly go wrong when there was a much easier solution. "Can't Bonnie just ju-ju him or something?"

"I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this. I don't trust that Stefan won't hurt her," Elena explained to him, causing him to pout since he did not really care if Bonnie got hurt or not. "Caroline, are you covered?"

"Yes! I will make sure that the old Forbes jail cell is prepped and ready," the Forbes girl answered, and Charlie had recently learned that that was the name of the place where Bill had kept her and tortured her when he and Carol were conspiring.

Then, the Salvatore brought up something that none of them had mentioned yet, at least not to him. "We're forgetting a key player here. Rebekah? Wherever Stefan goes, the blonde ponytail tends to follow."

"Which is why it's your job to keep her away," Elena informed him.

"How? She's an Original," he asked, and Charlie was surprised that he had not just said that it would be easy and that his charm was irresistible. He was either getting humbler or stupider, and the latter was more likely. "Last time I checked, we're out of daggers."

The Gilbert girl rolled her eyes, upset that she would have to say it and inflate his ego, which was so big it might pop at that point. "So then preoccupy her with your charm."

"Might have better luck finding the dagger," Ric muttered, and the Lockwood girl snorted.

The vampire just glared at him and scoffed, still not understanding why the man was mad at him even though he freaking killed him. "Are you ever not going to be mad at me for a day?"

"Doubtful."

"Okay, Charlie, what are you gonna do?" Elena asked, trying to see if the girl had been paying attention.

She had not since usually she did not have a very big role in any of their plans. She shrugged. "I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there."

"Love the Harry Potter reference, but no. You are going to stand watch by Damon and Rebekah and keep everyone updated on everything that's happening. Got it?" the human explained to her and smiled when she nodded.

"Sorry I'm late," Tyler announced as he walked into the classroom. "What's going on?"

Elena turned to him like he had arrived just in time to do what they needed him to. "We need you to raid your mom's vervain supply. Enough to keep Stefan down for a while."

"You can't do that to Stefan," he protested, furrowing his eyebrows as if wondering why the hell they would even consider doing that.

Elena sighed at his reluctance, "Trust me, Tyler, it's in his best interest."

"Yeah. It's not in Klaus'," he reported, causing all of them to look at him in confusion since they had been trying to kill Klaus ever since they even heard about him.

"But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler," the Forbes girl reminded him, but it really was not something that he should need reminding about. This was nothing new. They knew that Klaus was the bad guy ever since Rose told him how awful he was. "You know, why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion."

The hybrid scoffed and rolled his eyes as if they were talking badly about his friend or something. "Klaus made me who I am, Caroline. I owe him everything."

"What is going on?" his sister questioned, so very confused. She kept pretending like it did not hurt that he was defending the man that killed her girlfriend.

He sighed and threw his hands up in surrender, telling them that he was not going to do what they wanted him to. "I'm just going to go." He turned around and started walking to the door when Damon rushed over behind him and injected him with a vervain dart.

"What are you doing?" the blonde vampire exclaimed as her boyfriend collapsed in the Salvatore's arms.

Damon groaned, "He's been sired."

"What?" Alaric asked, and they all nodded in agreement to his question since they had never heard the term before.

"Sired," the man repeated, and he sounded like he was explaining something to a class of kindergarteners. "He feels loyal to Klaus because Klaus' blood created him. He'll seek acceptance from his master. It's really rare. But maybe not so much in hybrids."

Charlie nodded slowly and understanding before cursing under her breath. This was one of the last things they needed — her brother being an inside man for Klaus. "So he's Klaus's bitch. That's nice."

"So how do I fix him?" Caroline questioned, wondering how she could get her regular boyfriend back, the one that was not so douchey and cocky.

Damon shrugged. "Get a new boyfriend.'

Once Charlie was done with her part of the plan, she had been cleared to go home. She had not gotten a good night's sleep in God knows how long. As she was walking past the Mystic Grill, she jumped as someone grabbed her by her arm and yanked her down the alley.

She tried to scream, but the person had their hand covering her mouth. She could hear light breathing, but it was not loud enough or distinctive enough to determine who it was. She came to the conclusion that it must be a vampire because whoever it was was extremely strong. She could barely move.

She gasped as the person took their arm away from her mouth for just long enough to shove something else in there. From what she could tell, it was a wrist, and there was a liquid dripping down it and entering her mouth. Once the substance hit her tongue, she knew immediately that it was blood.

She squirmed and wiggled, but about two seconds later, everything went dark.

Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked around to see that she was in an unfamiliar apartment. She was very confused until she remembered what had happened before she blacked out. The lights seemed brighter than usual, and she held her head in pain as she looked around. "What the hell?"

"Welcome to my humble home, Charlotte," a voice greeted, and she tensed up as Klaus stepped into the light with a grin on his face. "Or at least, my home for the time being. I plan on getting a more permanent one later."

"What did you do?" she asked with a shaky voice, but she was pretty sure that she already knew, remembering someone forcing blood down her throat. She had a weird feeling in her neck, and she realized that it must have been snapped.

He approached her as she glared at him. "Calm down. I'm doing you a favor."

"Oh, my God," she muttered as everything was pieced together inside her brain. Her hands started to shake as she looked down at them. She whispered. "You killed me." She started breathing heavily. "No, no, no, no. You did not do this, you monster."

"Oh, Charlotte. You're hurting my feelings. You seem a little stressed. I'm going to go get you a drink," he informed her after placing a playful hand to his heart, acting like he was offended.

She shook her head immediately when he pulled out a vile of blood. She felt the craving for it burning inside of her, but she refused to get ahead of herself. "No, I'm not drinking that. Are you insane? You killed the love of my life. I'm never going to be your slave."

"Yes, you are," he ordered, and then, he forcefully opened her mouth and dumped to vile down her throat.

She spit it out in his face, and he did not seem amused except by the fact that she was forced to swallow some anyways. She groaned as she felt the veins appearing under her eyes as her fangs came out. She roared, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"This is an honor, Charlie. You will go down in history as my second hybrid."