A Way Out

Chapter 16

                When Stefan got back to his hotel room, he was exhausted. After a long, hard day of searching for his blonde best friend in vain, his bunny diet really showcased its limitations. All he wanted to do was hit the sack but as soon as he opened the door, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. He felt a presence in his room when he stepped over the threshold. Shutting the door quietly, he inched slowly and quietly around the corner only to be greeted in his living room with a resounding…

“Ripper!”

Stefan almost turned around and went right back out the door. He swore that he would never return to New Orleans again.

He sighed defeatedly before saying sharply, “What do you want, Klaus?”

Smiling, Klaus replied, “Now, now, Ripper, don’t be coy. You know exactly what I came here to retrieve.”

“The word ‘retrieve’ implies that the object belonged to you in the first place. Besides, don’t you have a hybrid-baby-carrying werewolf girl to find? Why are you still sniffing around Caroline?”

Klaus’s smile became less sure.

“That’s my business,” he said, “I know she’s not here right now but either she’s coming back here or you know where she is. Either way, you will hand her over to me-“

“You know what I don’t understand,” said Stefan with a chuckle, “Is that you know Caroline’s humanity was off. Maybe you didn’t do it but you sure as hell took advantage of it. You’re a lot of things, Klaus, but stupid isn’t one of them. Why do you think she’ll still want to be with you, be around you, breathe the same air as you even…now that her emotions are back?”

Klaus’ smile by now had disappeared.

“Can’t you remember the reason she wouldn’t give you the time of day in Mystic Falls? Oh, my mistake. The reasons.”

The last word was barely out of Stefan’s mouth before Klaus had him pinned against the wall, his arm crushing Stefan’s throat.

“I did not come here for romantic advice. This is the last time I’m asking politely. WHERE. IS. CAROLINE.”

Stefan somehow managed to choke out. “I don’t…know…she vanished…thought…you…had her…”

‘He’s lying,’ thought Klaus, and bore down more forcefully on his throat. If Stefan wasn’t a vampire, he would have been dead already from the lack of oxygen.

When Stefan said nothing, Klaus released him. He turned his back on Stefan’s gasping coughs and clenched his fists. Something told him the younger Salvatore was telling the truth. Even if he was lying, Caroline would not be pleased with him if Klaus killed her friend. Besides, the Mystic Falls gang had a fatal flaw: they subscribed to “Never leave a man behind” in a big way. If he kept Stefan close, sooner or later, Caroline would come for him. Klaus turned back around and saw that Stefan was no longer gasping for air.

“What say, we join forces then? We both want to find her and I know this city better than you do,” Klaus offered.

“We both want to find her for different reasons so what happens when we do?”

Klaus crossed over to Stefan, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him out of the room.

“How about I decide if to throw you off that bridge when we come to it?”

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Elijah dropped the last chain to the cold stone floor of the basement. The limp body of Tyler Lockwood was held upright by the chains binding him to the iron frame at his back. The boy was yet unconscious but once he awoke, he would wish for the blank bliss of oblivion. Elijah fought hard not to awaken the boy with a vervain shower; Klaus would deal with him when he got home. So for now, Elijah was just securing him.