He wanted this. This was something he wanted. This was all he wanted. He only had this left. There was nothing else.

Except, apparently, a girl. And Klaus knows better than this. He knows he knows better than this. He's smarter, cleverer, stronger

But she's calling to him, as she lies there, almost pathetically. Blood runs down her cheek to mingle with the tears that spill from her doe eyes. Why was she crying?

It took him a minute to remember, entranced by her eyes as he was. Her aunt lay dead beside him, and he had planned to end her life next. That's what he needed to do; that's what he had planned to do. Planned was past tense, however. As in, he was no longer going to act according to his plans it seemed.

Coming to a rest for a moment, Klaus thought exceptionally hard about his options. The girl was not to die, of that much he was sure. But, would he be searching for other options? If the girl did not die, the ritual would not be completed, and he would not get what he had sought after for so long.

He doesn't want it anymore. The thought hits him like a ton of bricks, taking his breath away with the truthfulness of it.

He had been searching for something, anything, which might fill the emptiness in his life. He thought this was it. He was wrong.

All he needed was her.

And as he looked back down at her pleading form, watched her struggle to collect herself and fail miserably, he knew he was making the right choice. Watching as her eyes fluttered shut, as her body and mind gave up the consciousness they had fought to hold onto for so long, he knew this was the only choice left.

He wanted – needed – this girl, and he would have her. It would not be easy. And Klaus knows this. He knows this. But, somehow, he knew it was worth fighting for. Even if she was working against him.

His mind was made up..

With a grace he should not have possessed given the gravity of his recent thoughts, he bent down and carefully bundled the girl into his arms. She did not stir. His thumb came to her forehead, lightly tracing the lines of distress, and as though she knew she was in safe hands, the skin smoothed, her entire being relaxing into the hybrid's arms. Klaus held her cautiously, as though she were glass.

He would protect her at all costs.