November 28, 2014, Friday

2 days until Katie's 19th birthday

I wiped a glass at the bar as I waited for Caroline to arrive. Adam had taken Eliza to the park, her favorite place to be, and wouldn't be back at the apartment until later.

The Grill was a little busier today than other days because it was a Friday. Usually teens would try to convince me to serve them alcohol, but I'd turn them down and they'd stomp away.

A blond sitting at the bar caught my attention, she waited patiently for me to come over to her.

"Hey Caroline" I smiled at her.

"Hi Katie" she responded in her normally enthusiastic tone. "Now tell me about soulmates"

I laughed, reaching under the bar and getting a bag of blood I'd managed to snag from the hospital on my way to work. I thought it'd be a way to repay her for helping my siblings out. Pouring the blood carefully into the glass, I hid the rest of the bag and placed the cup in front of her.

"Drink up, it's gonna be a lot of information" I explained at her confused stare. Gesturing to my now visible tattoo I began. "Traditionally witches and werewolves get their zodiac tattoo at around eighteen. They won't be aware they've found or seen their soulmate until they're nineteen. Now until you turn the magical number, you'll feel goosebumps, shivers, blush, and any physical responses like that when you hear their name. It's different with every supernatural."

"But I know I wasn't born in April or May so why do I have the Taurus mark?" Caroline asked.

"Ah, so how that works is you have your soulmate's mark. So with mine, he is a Gemini, the same way he will know I'm a Sagittarius" I explained. "Soulmates are your perfect other half, you balance each other out more than any other pairing out there. Now it's only for supernaturals so when vampires were created, it threw the entire thing off balance because someone who was once human can now have a soulmate."

"Do Stefan and Damon have soulmates?" Caroline asked, sipping on the blood.

I nodded. "As long as they have that mark on their wrist, they have another half. When both parties turn nineteen, they're magically drawn toward one another, so if mine is in Russia, we'll most likely meet somewhere in Europe"

The blonde vampire looked down at her glass, before speaking again. "So if I felt a connection with a certain person, and they were already well past nineteen, but I'd just gotten my mark, what does that mean? I had goosebumps and chills and all the things you described"

"Did your mark tingle?" I asked her, glancing around the bar to make sure I didn't have a customer waiting on me.

She nodded, looking anywhere but me. "His name is Klaus Mikaelson" I watched as her wrist twitched and goosebumps formed on her skin.

"And he's a vampire? A werewolf? A witch?" I tried to get her to continue but she seemed hesitant.

"He's kinda both werewolf and vampire" her answer made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion "he's a hybrid, him and his family are the original vampires"

My jaw dropped. This was information that even my parents didn't know. "Did he have a Libra sign on his wrist?"

Caroline nodded. "He showed it to me, claiming we were soulmates, but I didn't believe him and pushed him to leave Mystic Falls" she said regretfully, burying her face in her hands. "Great now I've lost my soulmate"

Moving quickly, I rushed around the bar and pulled the vampire into a hug. "Hey, I'm sure you haven't lost him" I told her gently, rubbing her back slightly. "He's probably waiting for you"

"You think so?" She sniffled.

"If he truly is an original, he's been waiting for you for a thousand years, and I know it's asking a lot, but" I began, pulling back. "If you could bring Adam and Eliza with you, when you go to find him, or hide them and leave some sort of message, I would be grateful."

"Of course!" She laughed, wiping away her tears. "I'm going to go pack, and I've got to say my goodbyes and what if he doesn't want me anymore..." I stopped her by putting my hand on her shoulder.

"You're going to do great, I'm sure he'll love you as you are." I assured. "Now, anymore questions?" I asked as I walked back around the bar.

"So many, but I'll figure it out with Klaus" Caroline giggled. "And I'll protect Adam and Eliza, I promise"

I smiled back at her, feeling good for the first time in a while. Maybe things are finally looking up.