Miss Mystic Forbes

I'm curious and I can't ask Tyler; I definitely can't ask Elena, who doesn't know, and who's probably done God knows what by now because she doesn't know.

"What's it like to be a sire?"

He's in his element here, amongst priceless works of art, sunlight soaking his shoulders from a high window. "To be a sire – not to be sired? I wouldn't torture yourself with the gory details of what went on in the mountains, love. Hybrid boy meets wolf girl, there's stolen glances and a lot of talk about being there for each other, personal hygiene is low, quality control standards aren't met –"

"To be a sire," I confirm. "Would you know you were, if you weren't expecting it? What would the feelings be like?"

You can barely see an Original move, so I jump when he does. Klaus is directly in front of me now, his long fingers seeming to flow down my throat. "Have you been running around on me, Miss Mystic Forbes?"

I want to blush. "Please." But I push his hand away instead. "Just answer the question."

His look darkens, and I know he doesn't believe me, so I don't know why he takes another step forwards. "There would be very little difference for me, except I'd sense your feelings toward me had changed. That's primal, however, not something I'd suddenly become attuned to when we bonded. If you were to become…available…" He's stroking up my arm, from my wrist to my shoulder, and the whole length of it burns cold.

Tyler, I think. Tyler.

Klaus goes on. "There'd be more hesitancy, more care not to look at me from you: more deference to my wishes, my desires. That's why you couldn't lie to me, Caroline." My own name makes me shiver, which is bad. "But you couldn't in any case. I'm attuned to you by choice. I've made a study of you."

"And if the sired approached you, the sire…"

There's barely an inch between us now, and he's gripped the back of my neck like a cat would a kitten. It makes me feel fragile, because he could and would strike any second. Snap my neck. Twist my head from my shoulders. Send my teeth crashing through my brain.

But he wouldn't.

It makes me feel fragile, because it's him.

It confuses me, because it's him.

"I wouldn't hesitate." He smells musky and strange, woody and bloody. "There's a moment before a kiss or a kill when you're not quite sure what response you'll get, so you hesitate. You wait to see what the fear in their eyes turns into."

I see Tyler and Hayley at the pageant again, I see red and red dresses.

I can practically taste him on my tongue. His skin would rasp against mine if I leaned forward.

"But you wouldn't hesitate?"

"A sire wouldn't." And he shakes me ever so gently, so my bones don't rattle and break. "Because he'd be sure – but you're an enigma, Caroline. I'm never quite sure of what you'll do next. I'm never quite sure what game you're playing or whose side you're on."

"That's your problem," I tease. "I've been called a sure thing more than once."

He laughs. "Names, love."

"Why?"

"So I can pull their innards out through their nostrils and make you something nice from their teeth."

I laugh too. I think I'm shaking. "Goodnight, Klaus."

Any second now, he's going to ask why I want to know about sire bonds, how I'm coping with the 'breakup', if there's any other reason I came to see him tonight. I guess that's why I don't pause before bobbing up to kiss him on the cheek, pulling back just as his head turns. I catch a look of absolute astonishment, the start of a smile before I'm flying out the door, through the woods, away.

True to his word, he didn't buy me a corsage. The next day, though, there's a huge bouquet of flowers on my nightstand: they're all red, so I wonder if he's trying to make a point about danger or Hayley or bloody teeth.

'Miss Mystic Forbes', the card reads. '2010 – eternity'.

I'll drop April Young's tiara back at her house later on this morning.

I'll just try it on for a minute…

Fin.