A/N: Hello to everyone. So this is a new story.
My inspiration was running low but after the Klaroweek I suddenly got a weird idea and I could not help myself.
The dead travel fast is a story solely about Klaus and Caroline and is set in Romania. It picks up from the where the shows left off (however I have watched TVD only until season 4 and I haven't watched TO at all so some things might/will be deviating from canon at some parts) but this story features only Klaus and Caroline (with some cameos and references of other characters here and there;, but small ones). For now at least. It is not going to be a long story and not every chapter is going to be as long as the prologue.
I would also like to thank Anastasia Dreams for all her help. Best beta ever!
Enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. And if I did I hardly believe it would be TVD.
"Denn die Todten reiten Schnell.
(For the dead travel fast.)"
Bram Stoker - Dracula
.
.
Prologue
.
.
Romania. City of Transylvania.
Year 1528.
.
.
Daybreak was coming Klaus realized as he drew in a sharp breath. It was futile. He could not move pass the barrier. He had tried again and again only to hit the invincible wall that kept him away from Sorina; it was of no use. The witches knew who he was. They had taken their precautions and none of them was anywhere to be found. Rebekah was searching for a witch to help them, but he knew that she would not find one.
Sorina's people had condemned her and their witches had imprisoned her into the salt made circle she was now in. It was too late. Mikael and his followers were behind this. His father did not want to simply kill him. He wanted to take everything away from him first. Even the one gift he had sent to him. The one girl that managed to give him hope again. He would have to wait for centuries, but alas, now he had hope again. All thanks to the woman that was about to give her last breath to the sun.
The lapis lazuli ring he had given her was not on her finger anymore. Without it the sunlight would not show her any mercy.
The pendant she always wore around her neck was also missing.
He turned his head towards the east and watched as the light of the coming day started piercing the veil of the night. Grey colors and shades of purple diluted the black and blue colors of the dimness. The sun would soon come up and she would burn.
Sorina looked at the valley and at the mountains on the horizon and then turned her gaze back at him as she gripped the stake she held in her hand. The wind blew her hair away and her eyes shone with acceptance.
"Promise me…my sisters…they are still with them," she pleaded in Romanian with fear and Klaus stared at her, refusing to believe that she would soon not exist.
"Please Klaus. Get them out. Don't let them become like me. Promise me," she pled with him as tears fell from her eyes.
"I promise," he whispered in her language and she smiled relieved.
"Thank you."
With that, she swiftly pushed the stake straight into her heart and fell to the ground. Her skin turning its color to grey, her brown eyes void of life as her head collided with the dirt.
Once she was dead, the magical confinement all around her vanished and he could take her in his arms. If things had been different, Sorina could have been more to him and Rebekah. She could have been a weakness. Yet, she was nothing more than a passing shadow that shed light to his darkness. He owed her his gratitude and because of her he would have to start over once again.
He would not mourn her but he would avenge her.
This was the only thought he had as the flames from the funeral pyre he started for her took her captive, while the sun rose to the heavens and found refuge behind the dark clouds.
Come the chance, he would relish in his true nature and his father would pay. One day. One day he would see Mikael's corpse burning in flames even if it would be the last thing he would do on this earth.
Present time.
New Orleans
.
.
.
The moon had hidden behind the dark clouds and the gloomy night had spread wings over the French Quarter. One of many that seemed to plague New Orleans lately.
Tonight, he had not caused havoc, he had not shed blood. Tonight, many were grateful for his need to remain hidden behind his private walls. Tonight, he was more restless than any other night. And as the paradox many often found him to be the nights that his mind and spirit could not rest at all were the peaceful for the rest of the world nights.
However, New Orleans mystical midnights were not the reason he was on edge this night.
In the silence of his art studio, amidst the darkness, Klaus was sitting on an old armchair, a gift from Elijah from the days of Louis XIV of France. He slowly sipped from a crystal tulip glass one of the best cognacs he owned. He did not usually indulge himself with a Rémy Martin's Louis XIII Black Pearl limited vintage. Only, nights like these where melancholy captivated him and he felt restless and lost as if he had fallen out of time he would try to sooth his senses and relax by giving in to such rare pleasure. He had no paintings on his easels tonight. Tonight was a silent night full of memories that were rattling around the confines of his brains like rocks falling on a serene lake; disrupting the strained peace, causing turmoil and forever getting lost into the abyss of his mind. Memories were in-between his thoughts and the shattered spaces of his broken soul. Memories of his childhood. Memories his immortality and of his sins. Memories of lost enemies, of souls in time and most of all memories of…Caroline.
On his lap his sketch pad and a pencil rested. Black lines from hard graphite formed Caroline's face on the soft paper.
Ever since he had learned that she had landed in Bucharest almost two months ago, he could not stop thinking of her. Not even for a moment. Not that she was ever absent from his thoughts.
He had lived through a thousand seasons and he had seen thousands of wonders and yet, from the very first moment he had entered her room the night of her birthday the only thing he seemed to long to draw was her face. Her beauty. Her image. She seemed to have taken residence upon his desire and haunted him.
He had so many things to think of, so many plans and strategies to organize and yet Caroline seemed to always be hiding behind his every thought and rupturing what was left of his sanity. Unconsciously and sometimes consciously he was trying to find her in every new face and voice he would meet, in every emotion he would feel.
And whenever that need would become too heavy for his soul to bear he would lock himself away and he would draw her features on paper and on the canvas for timeless hours upon hours.
He had experienced obsession before, but Caroline was not that. It seemed to be a deeply rooted need. A memory, a desire, a longing.
He wanted to wait for her, but sometimes it was not easy.
And as always, he was once again sketching her, hoping that she would let him show her what the world had to offer, everything he had to offer, when he received the most alarming news about her that caused his blood to boil and turned his restlessness into rage.
.
.
.
Romania. City of Transylvania.
.
.
.
….I'll let you in on a little secret…
…There's a whole world out there waiting for you… Great cities, and art, and music….Genuine beauty….And you could have all of it. …You could have a thousand more birthdays…
….all you have to do is ask….
Heat was coming in waves from every side. It was not soothing. It was burning her up. It was scorching her wounds and boiling her blood.
…I fancy you. Is that so hard to believe?...
You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light. I enjoy you…
…come on. Take a chance…Talk to me. Come on…get to know me… I dare you…
She felt lost and alone and the only comfort she got sprouted from voices that seemed to be surrounding her as much as the heat did. She was trying to hold on to these voices but their echo seemed to be either too far away or was deafening to her ears.
…I wanna talk about you. Your hopes, your dreams. Everything you want in life…
…that's why I like you…
….The truth is, I've tried to stop thinking about you… and I can't.
She turned her head to the side and pain consumed her body. It slowly dissolved and gave way to other sensations. She was falling into a sweet delirium that resembled the aftermath of a shock as her body was slowly humming with life again.
….And above all, I promise to aspire, inspire and perspire." Obviously, we found a shortage of words ending in "spire"….
…what about you? Life used to be a lot easier. Don't you missed the days of being …"chair of the Mystic Falls beautification committee" and the "director of the policeman's yearly raffle"?
The laughter and the voices made her feel safe. Cherished. Wanted.
I'll take you. Wherever you want… Rome. Paris. Tokyo?
She stopped fighting those voices. She let them in. She eased up on them. On that sound. On that accented alluring sound that whispered sweet nothings in her ear that somehow meant things important to her.
You prefer who you are now to the girl you once were. You like being strong, ageless, fearless.
…We are the same…Caroline…
Whispers that made her feel less alone and it was then that she realized that these were not voices.
…I want your confession…
They were memories.
…You'll never again have to look me in the eye and cover our connection with hostility and revulsion….You'll never have to loathe the darkest parts of yourself that care for me in spite of all I've done….
And all she could do was hang on to them and hold on with everything she had to that voice. It was the sound of his voice that was bringing her back. The same voice she kept fighting so hard against whenever she was awake.
…because of you, Caroline. It was all for you…
The heat became a soothing blanket and the darkness gave away to the sunlight that reached her eyes bringing her back to life again.
….He's your first love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes….
Caroline jolted up with a scream, her heart pounding inside her chest. She felt lost, disoriented and panic filled her whole body.
She woke up. She was alive. She was not in pain. She was not dead.
Her hands immediately inspected her wounds only to realize that they were not there.
She breathed in heavily, her eyes blinking, her whole body feverish and trembling as she hastily looked around realizing that something was not quite right.
Or to be exact it was not wrong. Not anymore.
"What the hell?"
One night earlier:
.
.
.
The world had stopped being a safe place humans and vampires a long time ago. Centuries of carnage and bloodshed had ensured that.
However, just a few years ago, Caroline would have never believed that vampires not only existed but also had close relations with her hometown.
Now, that she believed, it was because she knew…it was because she was also one of them. And as such she should have known better; she should have stayed far away from humans that hunted vampires. Like her mother once did. Like her father and her ancestors had done.
Like the men that had found her and were now killing her.
It all started seven months ago with a box of memories. After the death of her father her mother had given her a box full of personal things that belonged to William Forbes.
Caroline had been avoiding it like it was the box of Pandora. There for her to keep, but never to open. And yet, just like Pandora, her curiosity eventually prevailed. With the pain of loss subdued she finally gave in and decided to open her father's box. She never spoke of it; she never talked with her friends about it. It was something she had to do on her own. She wanted to get to know her father better even if that was only through the stuff he had left behind. She wanted to experience his memories, to touch and see the things he had touched and seen in his life.
So, a journey to the unknown past of her father began. A journey through his personal items but most importantly through his private diaries.
Through the letters that were imprinted on the old papers of the worn journals, a new world was revealed to her. A world full of secrets, vices and unknown wonders. It was just the beginning of her journey.
A journey that turned into a quest and then into an obsession. This was not just the past of her father. It was also her own. It was the history of her family, of her ancestors. Things she did not know. Things that her own father would have taught her if he had lived but most importantly if she had lived.
Bill Forbes was taught by his father, who was taught by his own father and grandfather before him. All the members of the Forbes family were taught how to be guardians and hunters. Guardians of Mystic Falls and hunters of vampires.
A lifelong search had led her father to the steps of his own father. To Romania.
She had followed the same route until she reached Transylvania. Exploring the city's lore and the secrets and mysteries it held, she wanted to get in touch with her father's legacy, not understanding that she was stepping into dangerous territory. Because her very own nature was everything her father fought against all his life. In her naivety and her need to connect more with her father she followed the footsteps of a hunter. A hunter who belonged to a web of supernatural hunters spread all over the world, with one and only one purpose. To hunt and kill. Men and women born and bred to seek and destroy vampires. Her father, the perfect example. The very same man that had trained himself to resist compulsion and to torture vampires.
Her father who also tortured her.
However, the hunters that had her cornered in the dark alley were not trying to condition what her father considered his only daughter's crippling malady. They were simply trying to kill her.
Everything happened so fast. So fast, that for a moment she could swear that the men that had targeted her were not humans but supernatural beings. They seemed to be as fast as her and she was a vampire. However, they seemed keen on destroying her, her and everything else remotely vampire looking.
The first arrow found its way just underneath her heart. The second one penetrated her lung. And eventually a stake was shoved into her stomach.
The burning sensation that caused her skin to boil could only mean that the tip of the arrows and the whole stake were laced with vervain.
She grunted and tried to move, but she only managed to fall on the ground while her mouth filled with blood that trickled from the edge of her lips to taint her jaw.
She was spitting her own blood and she could barely keep her eyes open. She was trying to put as much space between her and the hunters that had targeted her as possible, but it was futile. Her strength was ebbing away.
The world spun out of control and all became blurry. Sunrise was still far away and everything around her was unnaturally dark and silent. She could barely focus on anything anymore and her eyelids were heavy. A light rain started to pepper the ground and to wash over her, wetting her hair and mixing with the blood that was pouring out of her wounds.
She tried to hold on to anything she could grab. The wood and the arrows that were stuck inside her skin and most importantly the arrow's splinters that were scratching her heart made it impossible for her to do so.
Two men approached her, leering at her, and she dragged herself on the ground as she unsuccessfully tried to take out the stake from her stomach. In total five hunters were against her. She screamed when she felt the vervain from the surface of the wood burn her hand and tears spilled from her eyes. Veins formed around her eyes and her fangs instinctively descended. Fear was making her breath hoarse.
She looked up, through eyes hooded with pain, only to realize that a handmade crossbow was directed straight to her heart. It was not an arrow that would pierce her heart now. It was another stake. And it would all be over.
She tried to lift herself up by pushing her body against the brick wall she had reached. Her fingers twitched on the ground. She raised her eyes to her attackers, but she could see only dark shapes now. It would be over soon.
"I do not want to die," she whispered almost inaudibly and she felt as if she was reliving the same scene when Klaus had entered her room the night of her eighteenth birthday. However, he had spared her life. These men would not. She and Klaus were supposed to be the monsters of the story.
She was about to lose consciousness when she heard the first crack.
Then blood burst into the air and started falling down the street, mixing with the rain. She tried to keep her eyes open, but it was too difficult. However, she could distinctly hear yells of pain and bones cracking. A battle was raging around her as she fell on her side, her eyes slowly closing.
Inside the haze of her pain she could tell that the same hunters that were about to kill her had now become the prey. Whatever was happening was extremely violent as blood splashed over her and bodies and limbs scattered around the alley.
She breathed in pain and was barely able to remove the wood that was scrapping against her heart. She was about to faint, she was drifting away.
She heard screams and some sickening sounds before the dead body of the last hunter dropped in front of her. She reached in front of her and grabbed the pendant that had broke and shimmered next to her. She gripped it hard and hissed as the vervain burned through her palm and reached the bone. However, she did not let go.
The last thing she saw was that the last hunter's neck was torn and savagely twisted in bizarre angle. After that everything became a blur. She wasn't able to recognize who saved her. She could not even tell if he was a friend or a foe.
All she knew was that his shadow was fast approaching her and she tried to move away but she couldn't.
"Are you hurt?" a harsh voice reached her ears, but she could not even speak. The face of the man was covered in the dark.
She was falling into an abyss and she screamed when the shades of his hands removed the last pieces of wood from her body. She heard hissing sounds that she knew too well. It was when vampire skin was touching vervain. The man was a vampire.
Then all colors faded as the unknown man picked her up from the ground.
She was unconscious before the man that saved her even blurred away.
One year ago.
Mystic Falls.
At the night of the Mystic Fall's high school graduation:
.
.
.
The moonlight and the stars were high in the clear night sky. He should be driving far away by now, but somehow he was holding off his departure since his feet were rooted on the street across Caroline's house. On the same street, he had stood the day after her birthday and watched her open his gift. He heard her gasp when she saw the bracelet he had chosen for her.
Klaus now stood amongst the shadows and watched Caroline laughing with her mother. Their laughing figures were clear to his eyes from the open window of her room.
She looked carefree and happy and he unwillingly smiled. He knew that he would have to wait for a long time before she would be ready to even consider giving them a chance. Still, that line of time had already started counting.
He had learnt how to wait for something he truly wanted, but admittedly, he knew that tonight was marking the beginning of an endless time without her.
"She must mean a lot to you."
Klaus didn't avert his eyes from Caroline when the man behind him slowly approached him. He shoved his hands into his pants' pockets and straightened his posture. What Caroline meant for him was no one else's business and as of now he could not risk it.
His first instinct had been to take her along with him. To seduce her into coming or even force her. Alas, it was not a livable solution. Caroline would never accept his invitation and he had never forced her in the past nor was he about to start now, no matter how tempting such an idea was.
He wanted Caroline to come of her own free will and he wanted her to be a Queen by his side. Choosing him above everyone else, as he chose her.
Most importantly, he had to make sure she would remain safe in order for her to step up to the throne he would create for her. And for that to happen, he had to take certain precautions. Until he achieved his goals, no one could ever know about her existence and her importance to him. She had to become invisible and nothing but an unimportant name for those that knew him.
"Keep an eye on her," Klaus ordered one of his oldest vampire servants with an unwavering tone that would seem unemotional if it wasn't for the slight crack of his voice at the last word of his phrase.
His eyes glinted in the darkness as Caroline threw her head back and laughed at something her mother had just said.
The man next to him nodded and Klaus looked at him seriously, his eyes colder than ever, letting the vampire that stood next to him know that if anything were to happen to Caroline there would be hell to pay.
After breaking the curse he had dispatched most of his devoted followers. However, there where many ready to still do his bidding at any given moment.
"I will not let her out of my sight," the man with the dark hair promised.
Klaus solemnly nodded and looked at Caroline once more.
"Keep tabs on her, but you are to report to me only if I contact you. Her safety is above everyone else's. Do not interfere in her life unless you absolutely have too and only if she is in mortal danger. However, she is to remain unharmed, no matter the cost; even if that means your life or anyone else's," Klaus demanded and the man in front of him bowed down at his authority.
"I will not fail you."
"For you own sake you better not," Klaus threatened him, his eyes turning yellow momentarily embedding fear deep into his servant's heart and then with a wave of his hand he dismissed him.
The man sped away even though Klaus knew that he would not be far away. From now and on he would become Caroline's shadow.
If Caroline ever found out about this she would be furious but he could not risk it. He could not leave without making sure she would be alright without him there to protect her. He had assigned two more people to watch over her but the man that had just left would never be far behind from her. He was one of his most trusted minions and on top of that he had also compelled him. It was the only way he could be absolutely sure that his instructions would be followed to the letter. Caroline would live her life and she would be safe and he would always know at any given time where and how she was.
In the end, it was the only way for him to be certain that Caroline's absurd need to put her safety in danger for her incompetent friends would not cost her life in the long run.
He had plans for her after all.
Plans that involved her eternity and demanded her well-being. Plans that ensured her place by his side.
He smiled again at how her eyes glimmered and at the way her hair fell over her cheeks when a light breeze entered her room and pushed the shimmering curtains to the side, hiding for a moment her figure for him; sadness washed over him at the realization that he would have to wait a long time before he would see her again.
He sighed and sped away into the night leaving her behind.
Present day.
Romania. City of Transylvania.
.
.
.
Caroline groaned and sat up on her bed. She shook her head and closed her eyes as the sunlight that crept through the curtains pierced the haze of her memories of Klaus and illuminated her bloody form.
She still could not believe that in a time like this her dreams would betray her. Showing her when Klaus was still part of her life. This was something that really confused her. She could not understand it and she did not want to name it.
When she reopened her eyes again she was no longer in danger, dying in one of Transylvania's dark alleys. She was safe in her hotel room. The problem was that she did not know how exactly she got here.
Her vision was still foggy and she blinked several times before she could see without any blurry spots tainting her sight. She hastily looked around and her hands instinctively pressed against her skin again. She checked out the places where her wounds were before she lost consciousness and noticed that they were all healed. Her clothes were, muddy, torn and bloody but the skin underneath was unblemished.
She frowned as she started remembering somewhat that happened. She clearly remembered the attack and the pain. She remembered how five men had taken her down. But after that? Someone had saved her. She could not remember his face. All she knew was that she was alive. She looked down and saw all the blood that covered her. It was not all hers.
'The hunters' she thought.
Most of it belonged to them. She remembered hearing their screams of anguish. Whoever helped her had been brutal. She tried to bring back to her memory each detail she could remember but she was coming up blank. All she could figure out was shadows and dark figures and shapes. The vervain they had used on the stakes and the arrows they had used on her had taken away most of her consciousness.
She noticed that the covers of her bed were she not unmade and she bit her lip when she saw a bag full of fresh blood awaiting for her on her nightstand.
Obviously the person that had saved her had also brought her back to her room and made sure she would be okay afterwards. Her savior must have left the blood bag next to the bed too because she was currently out of blood bags. Last night, before the attack, she was considering searching the hospitals in order to get a new stash of blood.
She looked around and tentatively got up. She reached for the blood bag and eyed it while her eyes searched for any evidence her "savior" could have left in the room.
She then gasped when she noticed that on the table next to the vase full of flowers there was also a portable cooler box. She ran to it and when she opened it her mouth hung open in surprise.
It was full of blood bags. And most of them, like the one she was also holding, were,
"B positive," she whispered as an unsettling emotion covered her.
"What is going on?" she asked herself as shivers ran through her. Her savior seemed more like a stalker. And she was all alone in a foreign country where –if her suspicions were correct- obviously a whole underground organization of hunters ruled it.
"Great Forbes! That's just great!" she reprimanded herself and bit her lip when she heard voices just outside of her room.
She closed the lid of the cooler box and ran towards the door. She stood still and bit her lip as she tried to eavesdrop.
She sighed, relieved when she realized that two of the hotel maids where gossiping. She could not understand what they were talking about. They were speaking in Romanian.
She could only understand some scattered words here and there, but they were enough for her.
Crimă... sânge...monstru...
Crime…blood…
…monster….
Caroline grimaced and silently opened her door very carefully when she heard the voices drifting apart and their volume coming from further away. She cringed when the wooden door creaked, but she peeked through the opening nonetheless. She was very careful because she had to make sure that no one would see her gruesome sight. She was covered in blood for God's sake!
She saw the maids speaking in fear. They were crossing themselves and kissing the silver crosses they were wearing on their necks as protection charms.
She immediately closed the door and leaned over it. This was so surreal. She was literally in a city where the vampire lore thrived and yet she was the one in real danger and not because of silly superstitions.
Maybe following her father's legacy was a really bad idea. Maybe she had to leave, but she shook her head. She did not want to run away. Not without learning more about her family history.
She opened the door again but no one was out there now. And no sign of her stalker/savior/mystery man.
She looked at her room again.
The only other thing she noticed that was out of order was the window shades. They were open. She flashed to the window and took a peek outside.
It was broad daylight, a rare occurrence these days, and no one was around the old street underneath her window.
She started pacing back and forth in her room. Her first instinct was to call Stefan. Her first thought under normal circumstances would have been that he was the one to save her, but if that was true why would he leave her like this?
Besides Stefan would have shown himself to her from the beginning and he would not have been so savage. There was also the little detail of Stefan not knowing that she was in Romania.
It was then that she froze on her heels.
"No way!" she muttered.
How could she have been so stupid!
She turned around abruptly and noticed a passing shadow from the opening of her window.
However when she looked out of it again nowhere was there.
"Ugh! I am going to kill him!" she screeched while she went to her bed, sat and tore into the blood bag she was holding. She hungrily gulped down the contents of the bag, realizing how much she needed to feed. She fumed in anger and hit her foot on the floor in an angry tempo.
When she drank even the last drop of the blood she breathed in relief, slowly coming to understand that last night had been a really close call. She looked at her reflection staring her back from the mirror on the opposite side of the room. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she sniffed them out. She would not cry. If anything she would regroup. And then she would find her answers. Not only about her father but also about her stalker. And even the hunters that wanted her dead for no reason.
'This is why I felt eyes following me around at every turn!' she thought and mentally tried to recall every single time she had felt that way…and she soon realized that this was happening ever since her graduation.
'However, it is not Klaus. Not him, anyway. I would have felt him.'
She kept debating with herself the possibility of Klaus following her around and even though she knew that it couldn't be him, she was ready to bet her life that it was one of his minions. Or even more than just one.
Truth to be told every time Klaus was near her she could feel his presence from miles away. It was a feeling she could not describe. Her whole body tensed It was a mix of fear, thrill and anticipation. It was something only he could provoke to her. Or to the vampire inside her. Which was extremely unsettling and weird and she was not ready to explore the reasons behind it.
She huffed and threw the empty blood bag on the floor.
She needed a bath. She needed to relax and to look presentable again. And once she was herself again, she would have to think everything through. How she would deal with the hunters for starters. She would have to decide if she would stay in Transylvania longer or not. She would not leave Romania but maybe she should change cities as a precaution. She would also have to check around and see what happened with the dead bodies of the men that hunted her down last night and if anything led back to her, even though she somehow doubted it.
And of course it was the matter of the person that saved her and was also following her.
So what? She had to be thankful for being saved, but what about the rest? Because yes, she should be grateful that someone made sure she would get out of harm's way, but at the same time she was furious at the thought that the same someone, and by someone she was certain that it came down to a raging lunatic Original Hybrid, was keeping tabs on her!
"Seriously?" she all but screamed and started swearing and throwing a tantrum that seemed childish even to her.
However instead of going straight to the shower she picked up her phone and called Stefan. She hadn't spoken to him for a while.
"Just great!" she groused out when her call was directed to Stefan's voice mail.
"Hi Stefan, I do not know when you are going to get my message but I need you to call me back. I have some things to tell you and…I…I was…wondering…if you knew where… Klaus is? Do you know if he is still in New Orleans? Ugh…never mind! Just call me back when you get this! Bye."
She threw her phone on the mattress and started peeling off her shredded clothes. She really needed to get under the water and clear her head.
As she sluggishly dragged her feet towards the bath she completely disregarded the hunter's pendant that had fallen on the floor next to her bed.
.
.
.
New Orleans.
.
.
.
He got up from his chair and furiously threw the crystal glass he was holding straight into the flames that roared in his fireplace.
The alcohol fed the flames that sizzled and grew bigger and brighter, sending glimmering sparks of light and rising thick smoke everywhere. He went near the fireplace and gripped the mantle. The orange shades of the flames' light reflected on his face and casted weird shadows that rejected the darkness that prevailed in the room.
The more he heard from the phone the more his body stiffened and his rage was turning into indescribable wrath.
"Incompetent idiot! She should not have been in that kind of danger in the first place! I will have your head for this!" he bellowed and could practically envision the man on the other side of the line shrinking in fear.
The meaningless excuses he was hearing were making him even more furious than he already was.
"I don't care for your apologies!" he yelled and felt the need to create havoc all around him, "Make sure no one gets anywhere near her again!" he snapped as his whole body was shaking in anger.
"I don't know how you'll do it, just keep her out of trouble and cover her tracks!" he stonily said and threw his phone away.
He ran his hand through his hair swearing and his blood ran cold in his veins as he realized what he had just heard.
He could have lost her. Caroline could have died just hours ago in a foreign country and he was miles away from her unable to keep her safe. The idiots he had left on her trail were obviously incapable of keeping her safe.
Not that this was surprising. Caroline had a unique ability to tangle herself in life threatening situations. As if her life was of no value to her. She could handle herself most of the times, but that didn't make him feel less worried about her.
He sighed and closed his eyes in defeat.
Caroline was not an Original. She was fragile. She was an immortal in a world where immortals did not meant forever.
Romanian words scattered in his mind like a rainstorm.
'Not even the immortals can escape death.'
"Dryaden," he whispered, breathless as memories of terror sprang out from the memory box of his mind. Memories he wished to forget but had now returned with a vengeance.
"The Dryad was founded in Romania," he whispered to himself. Was it even possible? Could Caroline have stumbled upon them?
"Impossible," he muttered but if there was anything he had learnt in his centuries' old life so far it was that nothing was truly impossible. Probably improbable –maybe- but not impossible.
Still, it was a farfetched idea.
Besides, normal human hunters could be found all over the world. And Caroline must have encountered some passengers.
What if he was wrong though? Then the protection he had placed upon her was not enough.
Could he even risk it?
He went to his library and took out from the upper shelf a book that was hidden behind some other old heavy books and was bound in human skin. Made in the fifteenth century.
He opened the cover and blew away the dust with a puff of his breath.
As a shadow of dust danced above the worn out pages the word Driadă written with blood ink captured his attention and brought vivid images back into the present.
.
.
Castle Hunedoara. Romania.
Year 1528.
.
.
The town was burning and houses were crumbling under the flames. Screams of fear and pain echoed into the night. The scent of scorched flesh was heavy in the air as the smoke rose high up to the sky and filled lungs with blackness and ashes.
The flames had already started licking the castle's walls effectively highlighting the majestic architecture of the whole structure.
He could hear the screams and he was ready to rush back in when Rebekah gripped his arm and pushed him towards the horses that waited for them near the castle's exit.
"We need to run Klaus, now! We need to run!"
"I can't leave them behind!" Klaus screamed at his sister as the same flames that tarnished the castle shimmered into his eyes.
"We have no choice, father is coming, there is no time!"
The urgency and the fear he heard in his sister's voice brought him out of his uncertainty. There was no time. She was right. He clutched the book in his hand tighter. He got what he came for.
Humans had no hold upon his heart. Nor did promises to the dead.
Especially hunters lost in the flames.
.
.
He closed the book with a thud and put it back to its place behind the other books that shield it from unwanted eyes.
His fist found its way to the carved wood that separated the higher shelves and it broke into thousands of splinters that flew around him like rainfall. Countless delicate books fell to the floor, some of their old pages scattering all around.
From all the places in the whole wide world, of course, Caroline had to go there!
"Bloody hell!" he yelled frustrated.
He turned his head to the side when he felt Elijah approaching. His brother had the lightest step, however he could always sense when he was near.
He sped over to his drawing pad and closed it. The last thing he needed was for Elijah or anyone else to see his drawings of Caroline.
He locked the pad along with the rest of his art of her into his safe and waited.
He exhaled in frustration and straightened his posture as the door opened and his older brother, soundlessly as always, and no matter the time, impeccably dressed in one of his elegant suits, entered into his private sanctuary unannounced and as usual unwelcome.
Elijah's sharp gaze inspected the chaos and then him.
"Is there something on your mind brother?" he asked intrigued.
"Nothing that concerns you," Klaus growled but then his fingers pressed the bridge of his nose.
He could not stay here. He had to go to her and yet everything was so volatile in New Orleans. How could he leave?
He had to make sure that Elijah would stay in his place because no matter the many things he had to do, he knew that soon enough he would find himself on the first flight to Romania.
It was true. He had many enemies to defeat and many goals to fulfill here. It was a matter of life and death to stay in New Orleans. However, he would not be able to do what he had to do and he would not be able to rest until he knew that Caroline was safe. And, now, she wasn't. Damn her stubbornness and deadly curiosity, she wasn't! Maybe he was exaggerating and maybe his fears were all for nothing but he could not gamble with her life like that even if the chances of his suspicions being real were from slim to none.
Elijah walked closer to him with tentative steps. He knew better than to pressure him when he looked like this.
So his brother chose the route of the concerned brother instead.
"You look troubled. If there is something-"
Klaus's expression changed. It turned from angry to skeptical and then to determined.
"Actually, there is something," Klaus dryly said and turned his back to Elijah as he went over to his desk and opened the drawer where he kept his passport. Under the name Nicolas Smith.
He would not take his private jet. He would have to make sure no one knew where he was going or under what name.
"I will have to leave for a few days," he informed Elijah and smirked at the way his brother's composure crumbled momentarily with surprise.
"Leave?" Elijah asked with disbelief.
Klaus shrugged and shoved the passport to his back pocket.
"I have to take care some personal matters and I'll be back in a couple of days," he cryptically said and it was obvious that Elijah was about to protest, but Klaus waved him off.
"No need to worry about my well being, brother," Klaus mocked him. "I am sure you will be able to fend for yourself in my absence," he said with a voice full of sarcasm. His own defense against the questions that Elijah would surely ask. Questions he would not answer, because they did not involve his family. Not in the present anyway and the past was and had to remain buried.
Elijah stepped in front of him as he was about to exit the room and grabbed his arm.
"What is the matter Niklaus?" he straight forwardly asked.
Klaus looked at Elijah's grip on his hand with a deadly expression until his brother removed his hand from his.
"It is none of your concern," Klaus replied with a cold voice.
"If this is a matter of our family-"
"It isn't," Klaus stopped him at once.
Elijah's eyebrows rose higher than ever and he looked at Klaus as if he had lost his mind.
"If it is not, then how can you leave when you are needed here more than ever? What is more important than our family here, Klaus?" he pressed as he looked offended even by the possibility of Klaus leaving right now.
Elijah however did not get his reply. Klaus refused to answer him or even cast a glance at him. He simply walked out the door leaving a dumfounded Elijah staring the empty place he had left behind.
He had a plane to catch, a dreadful destination to reach and a stubborn blond vampire to meet.
He could not waste any more time, even though Elijah's question kept repeating itself inside his mind.
What was more important than his family?
The answer was at the same time complicated and extremely simple.
Only one thing.
The one and only thing that he secretly and openly craved above everything else, and was currently in danger in the city he had once vowed never to return to. In Romania.
And that was where he was now headed.