The blood dripped down his neck but he didn't care. All he could feel was the familiar burn of the pain of all the betrayals and disappointments this night had brought him. Caroline, Stefan, Tyler, his hybrids.
He had just completely destroyed the fruits of his labour in the last 1000 plus years of his existence. He walked through the forest back to where the party had taken place. He lifted an unopened bottle of champagne and pulled the cork out of the bottle. He guzzled it down in record time and picked up a second bottle that suffered the same fate.
He was on his fourth bottle when a sound behind him alerted him to someone's presence. "Klaus?"
He knew that voice; it belonged to the insipid mother of the person who he currently hated more than anyone else in the world.
"Mrs Lockwood, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he drawled. He heard her breath hitch in her throat as he turned round and she glanced at all the blood that still clung to his clothes. He smirked as he heard her heart beat speed up. "Is everything alright?" she asked. He could hear her voice wavering and he could practically taste her fear but he had to admire her bravery just a little bit.
"Everything's perfect, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find your son do you?"
Her eyes widened as she seemed to understand what he wanted. He smirked at her fear, "Please Klaus don't hurt him; he's all I have left." Klaus cocked his head to the side, "And you are all he has left, don't you see the perfect symmetry in that?"
If it were possible, her heart would already have hopped out of her chest ad run down the street but she said nothing. He heard her whispering under her breath and after he caught a word he realised she was praying. His eyebrows shot up incredulously, did she really think a prayer would stop him from killing her. She spoke again now, he voice much stronger than before, "Yes, I do see the symmetry." He watched as she closed her eyes and seemingly waited for death.
He laughed, and he took in her surprised face and laughed again. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the overwhelming amounts of disappointment and hurt that had been plaguing him but suddenly he felt something snap. "Good night Mrs Lockwood, pass a greeting to your son and when you see him, do me a favour and ask him how it feels to put your trust in someone and have them betray you for their own selfish gain."
He walked away without sparing her another glance, his thoughts on all of the warnings against finding the cure that Kol had given him. He needed to find out more about Silas. The search for the cure was no longer urgent. The appeal to hybrids was gone what was the point if they could all just be un-sired? Maybe now his family could actually be reunited. It seemed – strange as the entire concept was to him- that he had just had a massive and long overdue epiphany.
Maybe it wasn't such a curse being the only one of his kind. After all he was more or less a king amongst the remainder of both species. He continued to stagger down the road when he heard the car slow down. The door opened and he knew immediately who it was, or rather who they were.
"Stefan and my favourite actress Caroline." He drawled, slightly feeling the effects of his fourth bottle of champagne. Still, it would take a lot more to get him to the point where he could even pretend to be just a little bit happy with his miserable existence.
"Klaus-"
Klaus stopped Stefan from speaking.
"You made your choice today mate, I'm the only one who can help you find this cure of yours yet you decided to hold off the vital piece of information that my hybrids were revolting, now what reason do I have to help you find the cure?" His gaze shifted to Caroline for a second but when he looked at her, it hurt to know that all the smiles and the jokes had just been a ploy to help her foolish boyfriend.
"I have to admit though, the plan the Lockwood boy cooked up was amongst the most ridiculous I've ever heard. What did he think would have happened when I got out of his body after a year, or when Elijah and Kol caught wind of what he and those ungrateful hybrids had done to Rebekah and I?"
"We were never on your side! You have no right to get angry at us for wanting to protect our families from your tyranny!" Caroline exploded. "Caroline.." Stefan warned
The usual Klaus would have lashed out furiously in anger but he felt different somehow like he couldn't be bothered to get angry anymore. Her words hurt because she truly believed that she had been doing the right thing following Tyler's foolish plan without thinking of the repercussions.
"Since I do so love to give you what you desire sweetheart; imagine I'm gone. There will be no contact from me whatsoever and I'll be asking Kol and Rebekah to join me as we leave mystic falls. Imagine I was truly trapped in concrete on this night and with me went any knowledge or any help I could ever impart on you. I will still kill the Lockwood idiot because then you can imagine he was trapped in concrete with me and no one could ever get him out."
He heard Caroline inhale sharply and Stefan remained quiet. He looked at them once more before disappearing to his mansion at full hybrid speed. He didn't actually plan to kill the Lockwood boy but if he was ever in a fifty mile radius to him; he would not be held responsible for his actions.
He stripped from his bloodied clothes and dialled his brother's number. "Kol speaking, are you calling to tell me you've given up the ridiculous search for the cure?"
"I'm willing to discuss it, come home and tell me all you know of Silas and I'll see."
"No daggers lying about anywhere?"
"No Kol and I'll give them to you if it would make you feel better. I daggered Rebekah so once I undagger her you can educate us on the dangers of resurrecting Silas.
Xxx
Klaus naturally did not like the idea of not being the most powerful supernatural being on the planet.
"I vote that we don't resurrect Silas, honestly that cure simply isn't worth it." Kol spoke first to break the tense silence.
"I want the cure, I don't want to be stuck chained to you for all eternity Klaus." Rebekah shot back.
"And you won't be, not anymore. Mikael is dead and we are safe, you are free to live your lives how you please. All I urge is that you stop the search for the cure and leave this measly town because they will never stop trying to destroy you." Klaus spoke.
His siblings were astonished by his calm attitude and wholly disbelieving. "Yeah, like you're actually going to just let us leave. However there's still the problem of that pesky professor; I think it's time he had an accident." Kol said with a devilish grin as he disappeared out the door.
Klaus looked on after Kol for a second before returning his gaze to his younger sister who sat before him, "You can remain here, or you can come with me. The choice is yours but the search for that cure stops now. I have already instructed the sword to be taken and hidden where only I know. Kol is going to kill Professor Shane before he can teach Bonnie any more expression and our dear witch Lizette here is going to bring the girl back to natural magic over time. I am leaving Rebekah and I will not be returning for a while."
"I choose to stay here in mystic falls, go on without me." Klaus knew he was being tested so he shrugged and got up to prepare his favourite belongings to be shipped back to London.
"What about Caroline? I know you cared for her"
Klaus froze, "She made her choice Rebekah, I'm sure you're well aware that it was all a ruse." He continued up the stairs grateful that for once his sister had nothing to say.
Xx
"Have you tried calling him?" Stefan asked.
"He doesn't pick up and I haven't seen Rebekah around since she was undaggered."
Caroline was on the verge of tears. Everything had gone wrong and she couldn't help but feel like this time it was all their fault. She couldn't get the broken look on Klaus's face as he walked home alone that night drenched in the blood of the things he fought so hard to achieve. What shocked everyone was that he hadn't killed any of them, not even Tyler who had left town as a precaution after the message his mother had left him.
Caroline knew that Klaus had refrained from killing Tyler's mum, Liz had told her the story, but she didn't know why. They had discovered that Shane had been killed in a car accident not long after and with Klaus gone so was their only hope to finding the cure.
"We should be happy those pesky originals have left town, now we're free to live on as we choose." Damon argued as he sauntered down the stairs with a glass of Bourbon in his hand.
"What about Jeremy and being a hunter, what do we do about that." Elena who had been silent up until that point asked. Caroline stood there in the tense silence wishing with all her heart that they hadn't put all their faith in the were-slut Hayley. She screwed them all over and it was her fault that they couldn't find the cure. She was even angrier at Tyler who had been more or less using their feelings to manipulate her into being Klaus bait. He and the hybrids hated doing what Klaus said but they loved the freedom he had given them knowing they didn't have to turn every full moon. She thought they hated being hybrids?
A knock on the door interrupted her entire psycho-analysis session. Damon walked to the door and opened it. There stood Originals three and four looking just as perfect as they always did.
"Kol, Rebekah."
"Hello Darlings, I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas festivities?" Kol smiled happily, "I heard about the death of the creepy professor, quite tragic. They said it was a failed brake or something?" he sighed dramatically, "Pesky cars, you can never be too careful with them can you?"
Caroline knew immediately that the death of Professor Shane had not been an accident of any kind.
"Is there a reason for this visit?" Caroline asked.
"Yes, as you know your mongrel boyfriend unsired all my brothers other mongrels and planned to have his essence moved into mine and both our bodies buried in concrete for lord knows how long so he slaughtered every last one of them. He however spared your deceitful arse and that of your foolish boyfriend."
"Get to the point of your speech," Caroline snapped.
"She is a feisty one, I see why Nik was so taken with her" Kol smiled.
"My brother doesn't do mercy. Now I know he probably wouldn't kill you despite your crucial role in the flawed plan, but he would usually have killed the boy's mother and only remaining family just to spite him and then made him run for decades before finally torturing and murdering him."
Kol decided to continue, "Well you see, he didn't do any of the above before he left. He has instead promised to murder the Lockwood boy on sight. He didn't even procure the last white oak stake before he returned to London."
"Klaus is gone? What about the search for the cure and making more hybrids?" Stefan asked hopefully.
"Ah, the cure," Kol said as if he just remembered something important, "You see, you small town folks don't know much, you're quite a narrow-minded and comparably naïve bunch. Not to mention really quite stupid. I warned you that the cure was buried with someone called Silas. To get the cure you would have had to wake up Silas which meant that the witch had to practice the worst form of black magic out there called expression. It's so evil witches don't even call it magic, that's what your creepy professor dude was teaching her by the way." He said pointing a silent Bonnie. "Next it's the hunter; once the hunters mark was complete he would need to be drained for Silas to be raised. That's why there were five of them, one for the sacrifice and four to complete their goal. Now the thing about Silas is that he's the first immortal ever made, he can control minds and he's a lot worse than us originals I can tell you that for a fact. He plans to destroy the other side which means that every supernatural enemy you've ever defeated, will come right back."
The mystic falls gang stood there shocked and the two originals just stood there grinning.
"So my brother has decided it is not in his best interest or ours to go making ourselves less powerful and before Kol leaves to join him and Elijah, we need that white oak stake." Rebekah said gleefully.
"Not a chance in hell." Damon answered.
"We had a feeling you'd say that." He sighed heavily.
Before anyone knew what was happening, Kol had flashed to where Elena had been standing and injected her in the neck with a large syringe full of something yellow. She promptly collapsed.
Caroline gasped and ran to her friend, "What did you do to her?"
"That is a very large dose of Original Hybrid venom. Klaus is half way to London by now and we have the only thing that will cure her. It could have been anyone really but she was the closest and Klaus would have killed us if anything happened to you so we chose the next best thing." Rebekah shrugged.
"Give us the stake and she will live. If not she'll be dead in exactly an hour. And then we'll kill everyone in this room except Caroline and possibly Stefan before leaving this miserable excuse for a town to burn." Kol sneered before he and his sister flashed out of the mansion.
Damon sighed and rose from his seat to procure the stake. Stefan helped Elena as she tried to drag herself over to a chair and Caroline just stood there feeling slightly overwhelmed. Klaus was gone and now Tyler was on the run. She had realized that he hadn't even suggested that she come with him. It was like the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
When Damon returned, he tossed the stake at Caroline. "You can take it to Chez Originals, you're the most likely to make it out alive."
She faltered for a second before sighing and walking out the door before speaking of to the Mikaelson mansion. She needed time to think about what Kol and Rebekah had said. Were they right? Were the mystic falls group all narrow minded and selfish towards anyone other than themselves?
She arrived on the doorstep of the large house too quickly for her liking and she rang the doorbell. She still had about fifty minutes till Elena would die but she didn't want her friend in danger.
The door swung open and she almost had a heart attack when she saw who stood there. Klaus raised her eyebrow at her. "Caroline, what are you doing here I hope my siblings didn't use my venom on you?" he growled as he stood there looking delectable in a deep blue opened neck suit which fit his lean sculpted body too well.
She had stopped being indifferent towards him since the day of his family's ball but hell would freeze over before she admitted that. She could admit that she never had to pretend much to be distracting him; he was funny, charming, intriguing; the 1000 year old original hybrid, the word enigma didn't even begin to describe him.
Let's not forget the part where he positively oozed sex appeal, power and worldly experience.
He had made her question everything: what she wanted in life, what was wrong and what was right, and to an extent how she viewed her relationship with Tyler.
"Caroline, sweetheart, are you alright?" his deep voice penetrated her inner rant and sent a light shiver down her back. She noticed as his eyes glanced over her figure as if he was checking for any marks.
She cleared her throat nervously, "Um, yeah I'm fine. They poisoned Elena and asked for this in return for your blood."
He nodded "You looked surprised to see me?" he asked as he stepped away from the door and gestured for her to enter.
She found it strange that he could be so calm after everything that had happened. "They uhh told us that you had gone back to London."
He smirked as he found an empty glass and bit into his wrist. "You didn't really think I would leave without saying goodbye did you love?" the glass was filled with his nectarine blood and as the smell of it hit her, she felt the veins below her eyes ripple as her fangs ached to come out. She blushed slightly at his comment and looked away.
She heard the sound of footsteps and a pair of heels clacking towards them.
"Ahh, I see they sent you to do the dirty deed." Rebekah sneered at her, "Alright then, hand it over."
Caroline glared at the bitchy original and placed the enhanced white oak into her waiting palm.
"Caroline darling, you came through with the stake. See Bekah I told you they could be reasonable." Kol teased.
"Enough, would you please leave Caroline and I alone for the time being?" Klaus requested in his no nonsense voice.
The two originals exchanged a look before darting off into the recesses of the mansion.
Silence enveloped the room as Caroline tried to look anywhere but at the man standing in front of her.
"I guess our time is over for now then sweetheart." Klaus finally said.
"Uh, not to be rude or anything, but I kind of need to go save my best friend who is currently dying from your venom" Caroline shifted nervously trying to control the fluttering in her stomach.
Klaus chuckled. He suddenly moved so he was right in front of her and she nearly fell over in shock. He grasped her arm and gazed down at her with the intensity of a thousand year old hybrid. Her breathing spiked but he remained still only his eyes roaming around her face memorizing her features.
He leaned into her and she could only freeze in her position waiting for his lips to touch hers. She could feel his lips hovering above her throat as he took in her scent. She was still frozen in shock, her heart beating at a million miles per hour.
He moved his face back up and she felt his lips on her cheek, grazing the very edge of her lips. He lingered there for a moment and she could feel the sparks shooting from his lips down her arms and into her toes. He stood to his full height but did not put more distance between thier bodies.
"Goodbye sweetheart, we'll meet again in the future. The Lockwood boy is free to return; I'm not coming back here." he handed her the cup and turned away from her.
"How do we know you won't just hide out and kill him anyway?" she asked desperately.
He turned back to face her slowly, and studied her for a few seconds before speaking, "Caroline, do you want me to kill Tyler?"
"What? No!" she shot back confused.
He nodded, "Good, then I won't kill him."
Caroline was even more confused, "So now you'll just do whatever I say?"
"Of Course not love, you may have my heart but I still have my head, but why should I kill Lockwood, what is the point in that?"
Caroline tried not to blush at his declaration, "You've never been merciful before so why are you starting now?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Who said I was being Merciful?"
"Tyler's still alive and you're not even chasing him."
"Caroline one would think you want me to go after that pathetic excuse for a hybrid." Klaus mused.
"No! I-I'm just trying to understand." She said quietly.
"Okay, I'm not going to kill him for two reasons. One, you don't want me to, and that is probably the most important reason. Two, his punishment is to live with the knowledge that he was betrayed and that betrayal cost him 12 friends lives. Although that one will only make him smarter, he should have known that you can't take down the original hybrid with only twelve of my own hybrids. Let's not add to the fact that he will probably not believe I'm not coming after him." Klaus explained as he smirked at her.
"Your friends will be calling in a few seconds; they took a lot of my venom. Don't bother bringing the glass back love." He said and then he dashed off into the house.
She stood there still disoriented. She could still feel where his soft lips had touched hers and she raised a hand to touch the spot on her cheek where his lips had been. She had been pleasantly surprised that his lips, as sensuous as they looked, were super soft and smooth.
The piercing sound of her phone ringing brought her out of her daydreams. "Blondie, where the hell are you? She's already started to hallucinate!"
She sighed inwardly, "I'll be there in a ten minutes." She flashed out of the house and didn't look back.