The streets were all the same familiar twisted roads that lead to buildings upon buildings that he didn't care about. The scent that filled his lungs was harsh and burning -nothing like it used to be 35 years ago. His head spun thinking, had it really been that long since he'd seen her?
Mystic Falls didn't changed much over the years, same supernatural creatures, same council, same stupid celebrations every single fucking weekend, but he found himself calling it home.
Though as he walked the crowded streets of clueless towns people he wondered what had gotten into the air- something was off. Klaus noticed that people seemed to all walk in an orderly fashion, that nobody dared look each other in the eye. Something strange was indeed happening.
He crossed the road towards the Mystic Grill, thirty-five years later and it was still the local place for underage kids to get drunk. Even though he assumed if the Scooby Gang still hung around, everybody knew their secret by then.
A woman was at the bar, drying off glasses behind the counter. "Hello Love," She turned to look at him and froze. Klaus raised a curious eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"You're new." She swallowed thickly, not meeting his stare.
He shrugged, "Well actually I'm quite old."
Seeming to catch her attention her head shot up, "You're a vampire?"
Klaus leaned his elbows against the edge of the bar as he had many years ago. "And how do you know about vampire Sweetheart?"
The woman tucked a stray hair behind her ear, "All the locals do. We made a pact of peace with the supernatural creatures." Klaus listened intently, cocking his head to the side. "They don't attack us, we don't attack them. They take blood from the hospital, or visitors and we pretend not to notice."
"Impressive. How'd this come about?"
She busied herself with wiping down the counter top, "You should probably talk to Stefan he deals with all the new 's at the boarding house."
He was amazed that the Salvatore brothers were able to pull this all off. Klaus thanked the girl before standing up and departing from The Grill. The deal they made reminded him much of New Orleans. Klaus and Marcel managed to rebuild the quarter and once Klaus got bored -he left. 35 years wasn't much to a vampire, but to be separated from her that long killed him.
Outside was chilled, the same strange occurrence of quiet and settled people surrounded him, but he managed to plow through them. The Boarding House was only a couple blocks away, so Klaus decided he'd walk there effortlessly.
Nearly half way there he heard a shriek coming from the cleared forest area the town usually hosted parties and such things. He decided to see what was going on before continuing on his search for Stefan.
Upon arriving he was surprised to see that he hadn't been the only person that was attracted by the screaming. He stood behind the circle of what he could tell were a mixture of supernatural and mortal beings, awaiting the cause of the noise.
In the circle stood a brunette vampire with blood caked on her shirt and dripping from her lips. It appeared to have been from the man who lay on the ground frozen from death. Klaus thought that perhaps she had been a new vampire, but the look on his surrounding watchers eyes spoke differently.
"Cassie?" Another woman called from the crowd.
"I didn't mean-" She started to speak in shear disbelief but was cut off when a hand went through her chest and her heart was wrenched away.
Cassie -he assumed that was her name- fell to the forest floor instantly, her eyes still glued open in fear. Klaus had seen the face of death many times -and it never got old.
What he wasn't used to seeing was a beautiful blond vampire, with delicate creme colored skin, and the face of an angel; standing in the middle of the circle with veins underneath her eyes, and a still pumping heart in her hands.
Caroline.
He couldn't fathom what he was seeing. She looked taller than she used to, long, slender legs visible from the moonlight and the short length of her black, lace dress. Her hair was down, curled in large spirals that reached her breasts. Klaus couldn't help but picture royalty as he watched her drop the heart to the ground.
"That," she yelled, her face returning once more to the softness he remembered, "is what happens when you break my rules. No killing locals." Had he heard her correctly? Her rules? "Are we clear?!"
They all simultaneously nodded.
Her smirk was devilish, "Good. I don't tolerate rule breakers. Now move." The crowd began to divide in two, parting so that she would strut through them with ease.
Klaus couldn't help himself as he watched her go, his heart shouting at him not to loose her a second time. Using his vampire speed he raced forward and grabbed her arm, halting her. The crowd took a collective gasp.
She spun around to glare at him murderously, but froze when she saw his face. Quickly she regained her originally posture and tugged away from him. "Klaus." Her voice saying his name was sweetness to his ears. He hadn't known how much he loved his name until she was the one calling out for him.
"Caroline." He half smiled at her, joyed to be able to converse with her once more.
Her lips were painted red to match the color on her cheeks, she looked stunning as always. "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged, "Isn't it obvious Love? I came to see you."
The crowd was silent as they watched the two engage in a war of who could keep their eye contact the longest. Caroline reached out her hand to capture onto his throat, "you don't get to do that anymore."
Klaus's first instinct when he encountered a threat was to defend himself, and so he did. He pushed away her outstretched arm, grabbed onto her throat and slammed her body onto the ground with full force. She let out a loud breath as her head thudded into the earth.
His body was now leaning over hers, which was a position he wouldn't mind being in under different circumstances. "Don't threaten me Caroline."
Her legs wrapped around his waist as she brought their foreheads together thunderously. Klaus felt himself being pushed onto his back, eyes looking up into a face of pure anger. "Or what?" She teased, baring her fangs towards The Original. "You're going to bite me?" Her laughter was cruel, "we all know that wouldn't last long."
Klaus used all of his strength to send her flying into the air, landing half of the way across the clearing. As he stood he noticed all the other creatures had fled from the scene. From his standing position he could see her rising from the ground.
He flashed over to her, faces so close he could have kissed her with barely any effort. "I don't know who you think you're dealing with, but I will not be treated that way Miss Forbes."
She growled, "Don't show up in my town and expect me to welcome you with open arms Mr. Mikaelson." Her eyes bore into his with hurt and anger, "you left first."
A burning pain spread through his stomach as he looked down to find that Caroline had put a stake through his flesh. He grunted in pain as he pulled the wooden weapon out of himself. Caroline took a few steps back from him to watch the show, but there was no fear anywhere in her face.
"You think this is your town?!" He bellowed out, plunging the stake below her rib cage with reckless abandon. Never once had he thought that hurting Caroline would be on his list of things to do but she provoked him. "I was here long before you Sweetheart!" Her head rested against his shoulder, her groan drowning out all other sounds around them.
Caroline fell backwards towards the ground, making sure that her hands caught her before she landed flat on her back. Klaus watched her eyes glower up at him as if he were Satan himself. Yanking away the stake with a mighty tug, Klaus watched the hem of her skirt riding up to expose even more of her skin. "Was that necessary?"
He paced towards her, enjoying the loathing in her face. "You attacked me first. It was instinct." His body bent down so that he could grab her throat, pulling her onto her feet. "It doesn't matter who you are Caroline, I look out for myself first."
"You don't scare me anymore Klaus." Her sentence was choppy as she attempted to breathe. A human trait she still hadn't gotten over. Klaus nearly snickered at the pathetic act he had long forgotten.
Klaus let go of her, watching her feet drop towards the ground hastily. "I should." His eyes grew dark, his own fangs presenting themselves to the blond.
She shoved at his chest, "What is your problem? Can't you just greet me like any normal vampire would?"
If he was remembering correctly, she had made the first move against him. "And what would that be?"
"Running at the sound of my name, I don't allow strangers in my town." She held a powerful stance against him, as if she was waiting for his next assault.
"That's the funny part Caroline," his tone coated in mocking, "you don't frighten me. Nobody does." Taking a menacing step forward he allowed his face to lean dangerously close to hers. It was temptation in its simplest form. The animal inside both of them screaming to take hold of what they really desired -each other. "The people of this town may cower in fear at the mere thought of you but I know who you truly are down inside."
"Strong? Beautiful? Fully of light?" She egged him on, drawing on one of their earliest encounters. "Can't you see Klaus? I'm not her anymore." Her breath ghosted against his cheek, "I'm so much worse." She taunted, "I'm your worst enemy."
His body slammed against hers as he shoved her back into an oak tree, though her powerful aura never faltered as he held her shoulders against the bark. "I've outrun a thousand years of enemies Caroline, you're hardly the biggest threat." The words tasted like venom inside of his mouth, pouring from him and onto her.
She chuckled darkly, her eyes flickering over every inch of his face. "Really? Because I think that's exactly what I am." Her mouth collided with his harshly, begging for him to kiss her back. Klaus of course followed along, running his hands up from her shoulders to the back of her head, needing every inch of her.
Caroline flipped them around so that she was holding him in place, surprising him. Her lips broke away from his, her eyes filled with corruption, "I can get inside your heart Klaus, and that makes me the biggest threat of all."
He expected her to release him and laugh, run away with a story to tell to her friends of the big bad original who was soiled by his love for one baby vampire. However, Caroline did no such thing. "But do you know why I am the way I am?"
His ears perked at the sound of that. Klaus realized that her hands were clinging onto his necklaces as they had been moments prior when they'd been kissing. "Go on then, don't be shy." He smirked.
Caroline leaned forward so that her nose was grazing the side of his, "I'm such a god damn awful bitch because I couldn't get you out of my mind." Something inside of him erupted at her words. Knowing that Caroline had spent 35 years pondering the lost thought of him was nearly impossible for him to wrap his head around.
She placed a kiss on his jaw, "after our little adventure in the woods," another kiss, "I realized that I liked it." Her hands slipped under the fabric of his shirt, raising it up over his head. Klaus allowed her to do as she wanted, enjoying every moment of it. Her lips found their way to his exposed chest, "I liked the darkness, I liked what it did to me."
He wasted no time in following her lead, his hands pulled at the bottom of her dress until it was laying on the ground in a patch of dirt. His eyes filled with hunger as he took her in. It wasn't a new sight, but it was still amazing to him that she was so stunning beautiful and always would be. She brought her lips towards his once more, urgent and desperately they kissed. Both of them battling for dominance as their hands roamed every single piece of exposed flesh on their bodies.
Klaus began planting kisses down her neck, causing a moan to escape Caroline's mouth. He smirked into her skin at the sound, mind going back to their first time in the woods when nothing had ever sounded as delicate and beautiful.
"I've been waiting all this time for you to finally break your promise." She admitted, nails digging into his back as he lifted her legs up to wrap around his waist.
They paused, eyes catching in an exchange of emotions neither one knew they could feel anymore. She no longer looked murderous, and he wasn't feeling the urge to tear into somebody's chest cavity and remove their heart. They held onto each other, ready to delve into a night of passion and they felt love. Something both had been absent of for so long.
"Every King needs his Queen." He declared, watching her sneer grow nearly three sizes bigger than before.