Caroline Forbes's POV:
I stepped into the Lockwood mansion silently, and I could instantly smell them. The smell of… mutt was overpoweringly disgusting. I felt a pang in my heart, but pushed it down, under all my rage and dare I say it… hatred. I push my hair behind my shoulders, stand up straight and walk up the winding staircase to an all-too-familiar room.
I knew our relationship wasn't perfect, I knew we had things to work out. He was a reformed player and douche, and I was a reformed needy bitch. I thought we could work our issues out together.
Oh how wrong you were…
He said he left to get better, for me. He said he left to get rid of the sire bond, for me. He made me feel horrible, for keeping that picture Klaus drew of me. He made me feel like I was nothing, just scum on the bottom of his shoes.
No one will never, ever make me feel like that again. I am done being the distraction. I am done being disposable. I am done being used, and I am done being captured and tortured. I am done being everyone's second choice. My eyes involuntarily narrow and darken but I quickly take a deep breath and my face returns to normal.
I can hear them as if I were in the same room as them. I can hear her breathy sighs, and I can hear his groans. I almost lose my control again but I hold it back. I stop in front of his bedroom door and smile. It's about time I finally stand up for myself.
The door bangs against the wall as I open it, and Tyler and Hayley jump apart like they were burned. His shirt is on the desk, his pants unbuttoned, and her top is under the bed, her pants long gone. I'm thankful that they at least hadn't yet gotten rid of the undergarments.
Hayley's eyes were round, and Tyler's were gold tinged, but when he saw me they reverted back to normal.
Oh, did I interrupt?
I giggle and smile sickeningly sweet at the two of them.
"Hi, Ty, Hayley,"
"Care, you don't… I was going to… but then…" Tyler tries to come up with an excuse, but at least he doesn't try to deny it, or tell me it isn't what it looks like when it clearly is what it looks like.
Hayley tries to cover herself and I see Tyler move to stand in front of her, so she is covered.
In that moment, I swear I see red.
"You know," I talk over Tyler and he shuts up. I walk further into the room. "I took a chance on you, and you proved me wrong time and time again. You left with Jules. You hesitated to save me from Jules. You left again and didn't tell anyone. You bit me. You weren't there to save me from Alaric. You have never once been there for me when I needed you. You have never once given me what I want, what I need to hear… I have given you everything. I helped you turn, I've stayed by your side, I tried to help you when you were turned into a hybrid, and I still stayed faithful to you. Even though the temptations were… unimaginable. He made me feel like I was his first choice, like I actually mattered to someone. Each and every time I needed someone, he was there. How do you repay me? You find some common slut to add onto the notches on your bedpost."
I walk in front of them, dominating power, and I pull the dagger I have in my back pocket out, turning it over in my hands, and feeling the blade. They follow me with their eyes, and they don't dare take too deep a breath.
"You know," I giggle again and they both tense. "I am done being this weak girl. I am a vampire, and if I want something, I'll get it. And I want…"
I flash before them and before they can even blink Tyler is thrown at the wall across the room and Hayley has a dagger thrust into her stomach.
"You dead," I say to Hayley, turning the dagger and pushing it up, I watch briefly as she falls, then turn to Tyler. "And for you to watch her die. I want you to suffer before I kill you too."
He comes at me but my anger is too much even for his hybrid strength. He's thrown against the wall again and I turn back to Hayley. I take the stake from inside my boot and twirl it.
"Let's play, bitch." I growl and jam the wood into her shoulder.
She cries out and turns her head, biting down hard on my wrist. I yank the wood out and growl again.
"Wrong move," I whisper, and the stake is inches from her heart before Tyler bites my arm, and I'm thrown back.
His eyes are yellow and I laugh.
"All for this one, pathetic girl?" I flash again and he is the one who has the stake in his body now. I snap his neck as he doubles over, then I snap Hayley's.
Within three minutes, I'm halfway across town.
At least I went out with a bang…
Niklaus Mikaelson's POV:
"What do you mean she's dying? What happened to her?" I growl into the phone, my undead heart stopping again as thoughts fly through my head.
She's been staked.
She's been taken again.
Someone bled her out.
But, it's none of those things.
I make my way to the Lockwood mansion, and I don't even try to be quiet as I wreak havoc as I make my way up the stairs, leaving destruction in make wake. Two of my hybrids are in his room, both just waking up.
"Hello, mates," I say, and lean against the door jamb.
"Klaus," Tyler snaps, rubbing his neck.
The girl, Hayley, looks at me with fear. Good.
"The last time I saw you," I look at the girl. "You had left. And last I saw you, Tyler; you were going to tell sweet Caroline of your betrayal. I heard there was a run-in earlier. Do tell." I mock, and I know my time to find her is running out.
"Like hell I'll tell you." Tyler hisses.
I grab Hayley by the throat and lift her. "Tell me or your precious harlot will be compelled to kill herself while you watch. Or, better yet, I rip her heart out and shove it down your throat. Now, I'll ask one last time: what. Happened."
He barely hesitates, yet I don't let the chocking girl down.
"Caroline caught us, and then she stabbed Hayley, shoved a stake through my stomach and snapped both of our necks."
"Where is she?"
"Like I know? That crazy bitch deserves what she got…"
"And what did she get?" I ask deadly quiet.
"A werewolf bite and a hybrid bite."
The room is thick with tension and my grip on the girl's neck tightens.
"For your comment, mate," I say and look into the girl's eyes. Her pupils dilate. "Take that shiny little dagger over there; dip it in wolfsbane. Stab yourself with it and do not stop until you get a call from me." I release her and she does as I told her.
I grab Tyler by the neck and force him against the wall. His pupils dilate. "If Caroline dies, I want you to rip your whore's heart out. And do know that I am not done with you. No one causes her pain." I throw him against the opposite wall and kick him for good measure, breaking a few ribs and collapsing a lung.
I compel the girl to rip Tyler's heart out if Caroline dies, then I'm off to find my light.
I find her in her room. Her hair is in a messy bun, she's in a tank top and sleep shorts and her skin is coated in a thin layer of sweat, and yet, I still think she looks beautiful.
She really has made me soft. Yet, if she could share her light and I my darkness, we could become an unstoppable force. It's about time I made myself a Queen to help rule my empire. And what a magnificent Queen Caroline would make if I could teach her. If only she'd let me teach her how to be a true vampire, not the bunny-loving one Stefan told her about. She could rule the world with me if she knew all that she could do. No one would ever hurt her again, I'd make sure of it.
"Hello, love," I say quietly and her green eyes flutter open and focus on me.
She tries to smile, and manages half of one.
"At least my hallucinations are getting better," She mumbles to herself.
"Caroline, I am not a hallucination. I am right here, right now, with you."
"No," she shakes her head. "You aren't. Because you left town to go to Chicago a week ago; you left me. Or I let you leave me. I didn't get to tell you!" She sits up and looks around, panicked. "I didn't tell you, I didn't get a chance to tell you!" She flashes out of bed and nearly falls over but I catch her. "Let me go! I have to write him a letter! I have to tell him I love him!"
In a matter of hours, this baby vampire has my undead heart stopping and picking back up tenfold yet again. I walk over to her slowly, and I cradle her head in my hands.
"I am right here, sweetheart," I whisper as I stare into her captivating eyes.
She shakes her head and some of her hair falls out of the band holding it all together. I tuck it behind her ear as she leans into my other palm.
"I think I'm ready, Klaus." And then, she's on the bed again, curled in on herself.
"Ready for what?" I ask, confused.
"I think I'm ready to die."
Before I can even think my actions over, rage consumes me and I'm standing over her bed and I'm forcing myself not to let my Hybrid face show.
"You are not ready to die, Caroline."
"What if I'm meant to die?" She asks, and she looks so little and child-like I freeze. "I would have died when Jules took me. I would have died if no one saved me from my dad. I would have died if you hadn't saved me on my birthday. Maybe I'm supposed to die."
I sit on her bed, much like I had on her birthday and look at her.
"I'm not giving you a choice this time, Caroline. I'm much too selfish to do it once more. I've told you, and I've showed you countless times, that I fancy you. I'm not just going to let you die." Her skin seems to be paling and greying all at once and I start to panic. Her breaths are shallow.
"But you have to. Because you aren't real. You aren't here. You're still in Chicago and I'm in my room, about to die."
"Sweetheart, I'm very much here, and so are you. I heard there was a little disagreement and that you were hurt. If you really think that I'd just stay away while you died, that wounds me."
"You really are here?" She asks her voice breaking.
"I'm not going anywhere without you." I assure her, and I cradle her against my chest, just like her birthday. One of my hands is tangled in her hair while the other is in her lap. She looks up at me and she's crying.
"Have at it, sweetheart," I tell her, and she bites gently into my wrist.
Blood sharing is something I wasn't really interested in because I have never once wanted to let someone else bite me. With Caroline, I want to share. While the experience is one-sided right now, I can only imagine what it would feel like if we were joined together like that. What we could do together if only she'd let me. I let her take all she needs, and by the time she's done she's almost asleep, and I'm a bit dizzy, nothing I can't handle. I tuck her into the bed and kiss her forehead.
As I turn, her arm leaves the confines of her blankets and attaches her hand to my wrist. She looks up at me, her big doe eyes.
"Please don't leave me,"
I hesitate, because I don't know if she's going to regret it in the morning, but the way she's looking at me has me shrugging my jacket off and slipping out of my boots. She moves over and I slide into the bed next to her. I have never once slept in a bed with a girl. I always make sure they leave. I'm slightly uncomfortable as she snuggles into my chest but I soon relax and encircle her in my arms.
"Make the bad dreams stay away, just for tonight." She mumbles against my chest.
"How?"
"Give me a dream,"
I wait until I'm sure she's asleep before I relax fully and get inside her beautiful head.
Caroline Forbes's POV:
"Nik, look! It's beautiful!" I say as I stand on the bridge, looking at a castle.
"This is the Imperial Palace, love," He chuckles as I squeeze his hand and we walk closer to the palace. The grass has never been greener, the sun never so bright, the sky never so blue, and the flowers never so beautiful.
"Where are we?" I ask and he takes my other hand and spins me around.
"We were in Tokyo. Now, we're in Rome."
I look around again and we're in front of the Coliseum. It's huge, it's magnificent, and I can't believe we're here.
We walk around and we pass cathedrals and the town Centre and we pass other tourists, and then we come by a fountain as the sun starts to set.
"This is the Trevi fountain," He tells me.
"The fountain of love," I look up at him and he looks right back. "Well," I giggle and hold out my hand. He puts a coin in it and I turn so my back is to the fountain. "When in Rome…" I throw the coin and I hear it splash in the water.
"Go on," I continue, and turn him so he's right next to me, back facing the fountain. "Make a wish."
He locks eyes with me, that intense stare that I secretly love. His lips rise in a smirk before he tosses his coin over his shoulder.
We turn back around and I look at all the coins in the fountain, wondering which one is mine, and which one is his. Of course, I could never know, but I look anyway. After a while I clasp our hands together and we stand side by side in silence. I look up at him and he smile. Smiles, not smirks.
"Close your eyes, sweetheart,"
I do as he told me to and I hold onto his hand tighter.
"Open them,"
I open my eyes and look around. We're no longer in Rome, but in Paris now.
We stroll along the cobbled streets and I take in the bakery smells and the pretty lights as the sky darkens to a black. We come along a park and I see the Eiffel Tower, all lit up and magnificent.
"It lights up every hour," He tells me as we near it.
We stand under it for a little bit, and I look up, up, up and marvel at its height and beauty.
"Would you like to go up?" He asks and I nod my head and bite my lip.
He walks closer and wraps his arms around me, and the next think I know, we're at the top of the Eiffel Tower, on one of the ledges.
You can see the whole city from here, and we sit side by side as we take in the view. After some time I lean my head on his shoulder.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"What for, love?"
"For always saving me, for putting me first."
"Always, and forever," He responds, his family motto.
"Will you take me one day? For real, not just in a dream?" I ask and look up at him.
"Whenever you want. We could go tomorrow morning. I could have a plane ticket for London as we speak, and we'd be off by sunrise."
I can tell he's serious and I smile. He really does care, he really does want me around.
"Will you teach me how to be better?" I ask.
"You're already perfect," He answers, confused.
"Teach me how to fight, teach me how to survive,"
"You'll have no need to fight anymore, love. I'll always keep you safe."
And in his arms, I do feel safe.
"But, I don't ever want to be caught off guard again. I'm tired of being used. Just in case. Please, Nik?"
He looks down at me and puts his arm around my waist, drawing me closer.
"Of course."
I smile at him and snuggle into his chest, but then frown. "What about you're hybrids?"
"If I have you, I have no need for them."
"You spent a thousand years waiting to break the curse, and now that you have and have started making your army, you're just going to stop?"
"I'm no longer alone now, am I?"
"No, I suppose you aren't… you have to get used to a bitchy, neurotic, control freak now."
"And you'll have to get used to a moody, original hybrid."
"We do have forever to cope."
"That we do, sweetheart."
"Can we start now?" I ask.
"Of course."
She had finally found her prince, albeit not the traditional kind, but her prince. Someone who would treat her the way she needed to be treated, someone who would put her first and ensure her safety. He had finally found his Queen, someone who wouldn't take his BS, someone who challenged him and someone who would keep him grounded.
Always and forever.
Author's Note:
This is my very first PUBLISHED (kind of, sort of) story. It was intended to be a one-shot, but I'm thinking about possibly continuing on. No promise though, however, because I AM in school and freshman year is crucial if you want to college (and I do) so I'm powering through to keep my GPA an 'A'. I will try to get a chapter up every other Saturday. Keep the Favorites, Follows and Reviews coming, darlings!
-zoenichole