I'd gone to bed in a good place. Well, as good a place as I could considering the circumstances. Elijah had checked on me, explained his expectations of my role in the battle to come. Rebekah was doing okay even though I know she felt tossed around like a leaf in the tempest all around us.

And Klaus? We were okay. He would be okay. I wouldn't allow him to be otherwise. He was at the center of this storm. The target always. And yes, some of it he brought on himself. Some of it was because he was defending his family, because he was defending me.

Klaus wasn't alone this time. None of us - Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, and most especially me – would let him fall. Marcel and his people were on our side, Stefan was here, and Clarice certainly couldn't be counted out even if she was down at the moment.

I woke up some time later, disoriented. First off, the clock said it was just after three in the morning. And I was hot. Someone was cuddled up to me in bed but when I moved my hand to the head on my shoulder, it wasn't Klaus' rough cheek my fingers found. It was soft, long hair. The scent of human and warm blood reached my nose. I shot up and snapped on the lamp on the bedside table to see who exactly was in my bed. I found Christine fast asleep next to me.

The light woke her up. The child squinted up at me as I sat trying to figure out just what was going on.

"Caroline? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Christine?" My voice was scratchy from sleep. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," she said as if it should make perfect sense to me.

"Okay, what do you normally do when you can't sleep?" I tried next.

"Mom's not feeling well so I've been going to Rebekah's room."

That didn't surprise me. The sun rose and set on Rebekah as far as the little witch was concerned and the vampire totally allowed it, basked in it.

"So why didn't you go to Rebekah's room tonight?" I asked nicely as I could.

"She wasn't there," Christine explained, concern clouding her face. "And I couldn't find her in the house."

"So you came here?" I asked, trying to sound teasing. "I thought you were afraid of Klaus."

"Am not," Christine said with all the false bravado she could muster. "He was the reason I couldn't sleep."

Well, he wasn't in bed with us. I reached out with my senses. No, he wasn't in the room or on this floor. It sounded like he was downstairs.

"What happened, Christine?"

"You know our room is down the hall from Elijah's?"

I nodded.

"He was in Elijah's room talking and talking. Then he started shouting. And after an hour or so, I went looking for Rebekah because your rooms are down here and it was quiet."

"I understand." I told her. Klaus was still worked up. Not a big surprise there. It took time…

Then I got to thinking. Rebekah? Where was she? Now I was wide awake. Something told me I needed to go and check out the situation.

"Will you be okay if I go downstairs and see what's up?" I asked her. "I'll try not to be long."

The girl's eyes were heavy. I wasn't sure she even understood what I just said. She nodded, snuggling back into Klaus' pillow and I tucked the bedding around her.

One problem down. Now to see what was going on elsewhere in the mansion.

I grabbed the clothes I'd been wearing earlier and changed into them. That's when I noticed my necklace wasn't around my neck. I immediately looked to my bedside table because, when I remembered to remove it at night, I would put it there. I didn't think Klaus liked the idea that I removed it but he hadn't said anything. So far.

It wasn't there.

Only half-awake, I blew out my frustration. Once I was dressed, I poked around in the bed and found the necklace peeking out from under Christine's elbow. Grabbing it, I fastened it around my neck and was finally ready to go see what was happening.

That's when I noticed the smell. A familiar, earthy male scent that I knew all too well. And it wasn't Klaus.

Shit.

My heart sank and I sniffed around Christine, even pulling up the covers and noting that it was coming from her feet mostly. As much as I hated to do it, I nudged the child to wake her up.

"Christine, sweetie, I'm sorry." I nudged her again, finally get her eyes to slit open. "I need to ask you something."

"Okay," she mumbled, blinking up at me like a sleepy, little owl.

"You said you couldn't find Rebekah in the house, right?"

The child nodded.

"Where did you look for her?"

"Huh?"

"Where did you look for Rebekah?" I prodded gently. "Her room, of course. But where else?"

Christine rubbed at her eyes. "Her room. The kitchen because she eats ice cream in there at night and she shares with me."

I grinned. "Me too. Where else?"

"The library. The garden."

"You went out in the garden?"

She nodded. "She goes out there to walk around some times. She talks to herself."

"Was that the last place you looked?" I asked carefully.

"I think."

I eased her into a sitting position and tipped her chin up so she was looking at me.

"Christine, this is important. I need you to go get your sister and go to your Mom's room, okay?"

Sleep seemed to be falling away from her. "Right now?" she asked with a hint of fear in her tone.

"Right now. It's okay. I just want to make sure all the doors are locked is all, make sure everyone is okay. I don't want you to be by yourself. It would make me feel better."

Christine didn't argue. She immediately got up and followed me to the door. I walked her to her room before I flew down the hallway, down the stairs, and out to the garden door.

I could hear Klaus, Elijah, and Stefan talking in the library as the cool night air rushed over me. I listened to their conversation long enough to know they weren't talking about Rebekah. Hayley's future, yes. The baby's future, yes. Clarice's current state, yes.

But there was no mention of Rebekah and there should have been. Christine was right. She wasn't in the house, wasn't anywhere around the mansion. I couldn't sense her anywhere.

Yet I could smell Tyler's stench there in the garden. It was strong. He'd been there tonight and my fear escalated when I realized that Rebekah's absence was probably no coincidence.

Fear had me zooming into the library where my vamp speed caught three tired, slightly drunk, supernatural men completely off guard.

Elijah sat forward, looking alarmed. "Caroline?"

Klaus rose from his chair, approaching me carefully. His gaze roamed over me, taking in my hair which was likely in a state and my hastily thrown on clothes. "What is it, love?"

I trembled under the hand he placed against my cheek. All I could say was "Rebekah."

I could tell Elijah was reaching out with his sense. Klaus's eyes searched mine.

"What's happened, Caroline?" Klaus asked. I could tell he was willing himself to stay calm and barely managing.

"She's not here," Elijah stated what I knew.

I explained what had happened from the point I awoke with Christine in our bed.

Klaus was visibly angry as I finished what little I knew, shaken. His slender fingers slid down over my jaw and throat to lightly settle against the necklace he'd given me. In the next moment, he captured my hand in his and literally pulled me behind him out into the garden where he and I had argued and consoled each other earlier after Hayley was returned to us.

I heard him sniffing the air around us. He released me, spinning around looking for clues.

"There," he growled as Elijah and Stefan came out into the garden to join us in the darkness.

Klaus held up Rebekah's dainty daylight ring. It was gold with a lapis-lazuli stone at its center just like those of her siblings. She usually wore it on the middle finger of her right hand yet Klaus found it in the cool night grass, discarded.

Rebekah had been taken by Tyler and she was without the protection of her daylight ring for good measure.

Klaus' laugh was tired and hollow-sounding. I didn't know whether to be relieved that he hadn't exploded yet or worried that he was merely working up to it.

"So Tyler makes his first move." Klaus eyed his sister's daylight ring dangerously. "He's taken our sister because she was most vulnerable."

"Vulnerable?" Stefan asked.

"Our sister is ruled by her emotions," Elijah explained with deceptive calm. "It seems she's had a lot on her mind lately."

I cringed with guilt because she'd just been in my room, just a few hours ago, talking about her love life – or rather lack of one. I'd tried to make her feel better. I'd promised her she'd have someone love her as Klaus loved me – and that I'd keep that same brother out of her way. Her mind had been on anything but the dangerous situation we now faced and I'd encouraged it. With her head full of hopes for love, she must have been easy prey for Tyler. Still, he wasn't alone. It would take more than Tyler to take an original – and there were the scents of many all around us in the shadowy garden.

"What are we going to do?" Stefan's fear for Rebekah was obvious on his face. "We have to get her back."

Hope swelled in me. Yeah, Stefan cared very much about his friends. But he really looked concerned. Could he come to forget about Elena in time? Could he let Rebekah into his heart?

Not now, Caroline.

"Yes," Elijah's answer was immediate. "Come. We have plans to make."

And into the library we went to do just that. Klaus braced his hands on the back of one of the winged chairs, jaw locked. I could feel the anger coming off him. He seemed to be steadying himself, or trying to.

"Wow." Stefan looked like he was struggling to get his mind around what happened. "So Tyler shows up, takes off with Rebekah. Ballsy move for him."

I knew how he felt. It was startling. Tyler showed up again and this time plucked a member of the original family, right out from under our noses. If he wanted to shake us up, it was a hell of a way to do it. And yes it did take a huge set of balls to taunt the original family like this.

I shook my head. "I know he has hybrids and witches and this great hatred of everyone here. But… who the hell does Tyler think he is?" The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. He had no right to take Rebekah. None!

Elijah alone seemed to be maintaining his composure. At least on the surface. With Elijah, it was hard to tell sometimes.

"Tyler seems to be under the impression that he has a chance against this family," the eldest Mikaelson said, his voice even. "We need to decide on a course of action."

The winged chair Klaus grasped flew across the room to crash into a huge, loaded bookshelf. I jumped as heavy old tomes came tumbling down and as I took in the murderous expression on my lover's face as he glared at Elijah.

"Course of action?" Klaus was outraged. "He took our sister! For the second time, he's come to this mansion and took someone from us. That would seem to indicate, brother, that he is, to some extent, succeeding against this family."

With a sweep of his arm, a crystal brandy decanter smashed against the fireplace. Even Stefan took a step back at that.

"I want him dead, Elijah," Klaus growled. "I wanted every werewolf, every hybrid, every witch, every living creature that has sworn allegiance to him dead. That is the only course of action I will accept."

In an extreme state of agitation, Klaus raked a hand through his hair. When it looked as if he were going to grab another chair, I tried to cut him off.

"Klaus –"

Stefan grabbed my arm when his glare turned on me. And yeah, I was afraid. I didn't miss the way his gaze darted to the protective hand at my elbow. Oh, he was pissed. Not at me. Not at Stefan.

Just as his hands lifted to grab another of the chairs, my stomach dropped as I watched him tossed like a doll into another chair, the wind leaving his lungs on impact.

"What the hell is going on?" Clarice stood in the doorway and she looked every bit as angry as Klaus. Her pajamas were a rumpled mess, her normally immaculate hair was all over her head. "Do you know what time it is?"

Kol smirked from the doorway at Klaus, obviously enjoying seeing his brother so easily subdued. Christine peeked around the doorway too until Kol grabbed her head and playfully shoved her back.

"Has something happened?" Clarice demanded. "Why were my kids told to come to my room? What's going on?"

"That was me," I threw in, wincing when she turned to me. "Christine came to my room and…"

Kol being hurled through the room and hitting another bookcase next to me cut me off. Christine giggled in the doorway until she caught her mother's fury.

"Did you push him?" Clarice demanded of her daughter.

Christine nodded, not laughing now.

"Using magic?"

Again the tiny witch nodded.

Pointing to a spot on the floor just inside the door, there wasn't any broken glass, shards of wood or fallen books there anyway, and said "sit!"

Then she pointed at Kol when he tried to rise. "You! Stay down."

And he did with no hesitation.

Clarice rounded on Klaus. "What's happened?"

While he still looked angry as hell, Klaus did have the good sense to tread lightly with the witch.

"Tyler has taken Rebekah," he growled. "From these grounds, while we were all here."

"And destroying the library's going to remedy that, is it?" she asked.

Klaus' jaw was locked as he stared at the witch and for a tiny moment, I was afraid he'd move against her. Instead, he just stared back at her.

"Tyler's ultimate goal is to destroy you, brother," Elijah's gaze was fixed on Klaus too. "To destroy our family. Our entire family. The four of us, Clarice and her daughters… Caroline."

My heart swelled and sank at the same time when Elijah pronounced me part of the original family to the room. I loved the family we'd formed. But what if we lost it?

"There is also Hayley and the child to consider," Elijah continued, "They are weak and need to concealed. We need to protect them as well."

"Then let's do it," Clarice announced to the room. "I'm sure as hell not going to sit here and wait for that lot to come for my children or anyone else here for that matter."

A grin was slowly forming on Klaus' face as he regarded Clarice.

"We know from Marcel that Tyler has amassed a large army of hybrids," Elijah continued. "He has created an alliance with the local witches and apparently he believes he has a weapon that can kill original vampires."

Stefan's brow creased. Clarice scoffed.

"Weapon that can kill an original vampire?" Clarice shook her head. "There's no way. Not without killing all of your progeny. Isn't Tyler himself from one of your bloodlines?"

"Mine," Klaus said, sitting up now wit that grin still in place. Oh, I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

"He can't kill you without killing himself, so that's nonsense," Clarice declared.

Elijah looked about to say something but decided against it.

"We'll get Rebekah back. We can handle the hybrids," Clarice went on. "And if the local witches are the ones responsible for the so-called harvest and all that Davina went through? Oh, I want to meet them."

Klaus rose to stand before Clarice, his expression almost gleeful now. "And so you shall," he told her. "I promise you."

"Good," she told him, still irate. "What would be even better if I could do so with a proper night's sleep. But since that isn't likely to happen, let's plot the shit out of this thing."

"Mom," Christine whispered from her spot by the door.

Looking in my direction, Clarice's expression softened. "Would you mind seeing her back to my room? Tell her to stay there with her sister, please."

My first instinct was to ask why I had to do it but the warning glance I got from Klaus kept me from it. High as tempers were, I decided not to take that on. Not right now.

"I'll go with them," Stefan offered. "See you in the morning unless you need me."

Klaus nodded but he was still watching me. "Thank you, Stefan."

Reluctantly Christine pulled herself up from the floor and led the way as Stefan and I left the library behind her.

I blew out a frustration exhale.

"You okay?" Stefan asked as we reached the staircase.

"What just happened?" I stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

Stefan looked tired but as always, he was kind and wise. "Well, Rebekah has been taken, Klaus exploded and Clarice looks ready to march on New Orleans all by herself in red silk pajamas."

And that's when understanding hit. That's why Klaus' demeanor had gone from serial killer to happy hybrid in about sixty seconds.

Clarice was regaining her strength. I shook my head and smiled at Stefan.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they had everything resolved before we get up," he teased as we followed a sleepy Christine up the stairs, my heart feeling a little bit lighter, hoping that was true.