For the guest reviewer asking if I deleted my tumblr account, I haven't. I just changed my URL. I am now youaretrulybrilliant. Sorry for the confusion.

Alright this one-shot is a bit more intense but I tried to write it so the graphics were still to fit for the T rating. The original version was much more graphic and I decided to tone it down. Thanks for your dedicated reading and all the reviews!

Reader request: A call from Caroline has Klaus running the fastest he ever has in his life.

It was midday; the streets of New Orleans almost empty. The humidity was too much even for the lifers. They had all taken refuge in the bars or sat on age worn chairs under the balconies of row homes, trying to find relief in the shade.

Klaus and Elijah were watching from their position of their new home, both tense. Klaus hadn't said much to Elijah after their first day there, growing more and more frustrated with his new responsibilities. The faint ringing of his mobile could be heard from the depths of the house. Elijah turned back to the sound before glancing at Klaus, with a cocked eyebrow.

He decided just to spite his elder brother to ignore it.

Elijah's lips quirked slightly at the somber glare Klaus held in place before turning back to the streets below with a bored sigh. The phone kept ringing. It would stop and start again, the sound ticking incessantly to Klaus' extreme annoyance.

Elijah finally squared his shoulders and disappeared into the depths of the house, gently picking up the phone. The sudden screaming filling the air had Klaus by Elijah's side and ripping the phone out his hand before Elijah could press it to his ear.

Klaus knew that sound anywhere. "Caroline, what's wrong?"

Both he and Elijah could clearly hear the sounds of boots furiously pounding on a hard surface, labored breathing and Caroline whimpering into the phone. Klaus did his best to keep his face neutral to betray nothing to his brother who knew nothing of Caroline's significance, but every line of his face was petrified in a tense mask.

"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? You call when you need help and I come but the minute-"

There was a deafening sound of bullets blazing in the background and it punctured his ears as if they were bouncing around walls and stopped Caroline's rant midsentence. He no longer cared how Elijah was going to use this on him later, something was wrong. He slammed his fist into the table, splintering the antique with one blow.

Whimpers continued to pour into his ear, each new one tightening a pit within him that gnawed at his entire being. The last time he had felt so apprehensive was gazing into Mikael's eyes at homecoming. He gripped the phone tighter when he heard the crash of plastic and a low stream of curses from Caroline.

"I'm trapped and I don't know where the others are. No know is answering their phones. I have Rebekah, she's been staked but hopefully she'll revive soon. Oh God, there is so much blood. I'm so hungry. I can't do this."

Caroline was frantically rambling, her tongue non-stop as Klaus tried to understand what was going on. Elijah perked up at the mention of Rebekah's name his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. Klaus took one glance at his brother to see the lines of his jaws clench into to place.

"K-Klaus…" she uttered into the line.

It was desperate and small, nothing of the girl he knew.

He was out the door in an instant, the fear quivering through line spurning him onward without second thought. New Orleans be damned. Elijah was hot on his tail, matching his brother's steps with supernatural speed and grace that could only be found in beings as ancient as they.

He would never make it in a car. He would be faster if he transformed but the transformation alone would take up to fifteen minutes give or take. Fifteen minutes it was clear Caroline didn't have. So he would have to run the fastest he ever had in his life. New Orleans to Mystic Falls on foot would still take solid half hour; he would never make it in.

"You're a vampire Caroline, the most feared creature in existence. Bullets will not kill you," he said more forcefully than he meant too.

She really should be able to do this. Caroline would never make it if she couldn't. It paralyzed his nerves at the thought. Why she wasn't fighting back?-that wasn't the Caroline he knew. Rebekah just needed to wake up and take care of the problem herself.

"Don't you think I know that?" she laughed bitterly into the phone, "I already have I think five or six in my stomach as it is."

Klaus growled in response.

There was sound of slamming doors and something being dragged across the ground. He counted every breath being released from her lips and could now hear the measure of pain that laced each intake of air. The red that been steadily fringing the corner of his eyes raged and all Klaus could process was the sound of her voice and the desire to tear apart the being who caused that pain.

A squeak of surprise and the loud clattering of what Klaus assumed was the phone gave him pause as he had to pull the phone away from his ear as he dodged trees he zoomed past.

"Caroline!" he called into the phone.

There was the sound of flesh dropping to the ground and her scrambling to pick up the phone again.

"I can't hold the phone well. It's covered in too much blood….he cut off my finger. Klaus he has my daylight ring. I'm trapped. Rebekah said it's one of the five."

This time Klaus did nothing to hold back his growing anger. He uttered loud curses, any and all he could think of in all tongues. She had no chance with one of the five.

After a minute of counting her breathing there was the sound of Caroline putting the phone down, her voice drifting away from him. The distinct noise of something be pulled from flesh was heard, the squishing of muscle and fat being pushed together as an audible pop and sigh of relief was echoed across the line.

Caroline must have pulled the stake from Rebekah out. A gasp of fear trembled and Klaus strained his ears to hear in the background the echo of footsteps outside the room Caroline was currently hiding in.

He pushed himself forward, ignoring the burn of his body protesting at the speed it was being forced to stretch to. Elijah for his part was still matching his speed step for step. Klaus almost lurched to halt when he stopped hearing the sound of Caroline breathing.

The echo of footsteps that were hunting Caroline had grown steadily louder; he no longer had to strain to hear them. His heart beat wildly in his chest, anticipation building. Klaus duly noted the Welcome to North Carolina sign out of the corner of his eye as he blurred by. He might actually make it; he was going faster than he had ever run in his entire life.

A low groan was emitted from the phone, one Klaus recognized instantly as Rebekah's. The footsteps of the hunter paused and he could imagine the fear in Caroline's eyes as the dread in his own stomach plummeted.

They had been found.

The hiding spot was compromised by his little sister, choosing that moment to return back to life.

It took only a split second before the barrage of gunfire burst over the phone line. Caroline's screams followed immediately after.

He wasn't going to make it.

There was the sound of Rebekah growling loudly and then he couldn't tell was happening. The sounds of metal crashing, bodies being slammed, and gunfire were flying too fast even for him. All he did recognize was the abruptness of Caroline's voice stopping mid-scream.

Her broken whimper sounded before a loud sharp laugh was heard hacking away as Rebekah roared.

Klaus tore on faster; this was not to be her end.

"We're at the high school, it's the high school. Nik, follow the blood."

It was Rebekah bellowing into the phone, she was struggling with someone the scuffling getting closer to the phone. A small measure of relief pounded to know Rebekah was awake but even she had spoken with her voice laced with fear. Rebekah afraid wasn't a good sign.

A loud slap from flesh meeting flesh stung Klaus' ears and the broken whimper of Caroline was heard again. She was alive-for now.

The familiar streets and smells of Mystic Falls fell into place before Klaus, the picture of the town increasing his fears not quelling them. The outline of the high school came into view a second after that.

For the first time since his death, Klaus found himself uttering the words of a long forgotten prayer to his childhood gods. He hated the idea of a being more powerful than him but in that moment he wished for it. He prayed that he would be granted the eleventh hour and not the twelfth hour that for once nature would give him reprieve. Nothing would stop the rain of blood that would come if he found her ashen and pale instead of vibrant and breathing.

He didn't need the phone anymore to tell him the sounds of terror that centered deep in the walls of the building he could hear them just fine now.

He and Elijah didn't slow at all, the pouring of humans still running from the building, panicked cries of children and parents combining. It was clear that there had been casualties somewhere within and it was utter chaos. Several trails of blood marred the white floors, Klaus' fangs out and ready. The level of blood was intoxicating and almost blinding and he was over a thousand years old.

Honing in on Caroline's scent took a minute in the sea of fresh blood but he found it and was there at the room in the next instant.

Elijah knocked the hunter into unconsciousness as Klaus surveyed the room to find Rebekah cradling Caroline in her arms on the ground, both of them stained crimson.

It could not be the twelfth hour.

It needed to be the eleventh hour.

Klaus silently prayed again to any God that he had ever run across in his life in the chance one of them was real.

Not her-not Caroline.

He knelt down next to Rebekah, his face stony and cold prepared for what he knew was the truth. He could smell it the minute he stepped foot into the room. Rebekah's eyes were littered with tears.

Finally unable to bear it he cast his eyes on the pale face in his sister's arms.

A sharp bark escaped his lips.

It appeared to be the eleventh hour after all.