Blackout
Chapter One: The Devil In White
Klaus's body pulsed with the need for blood.
He had returned to his own body only moments beforehand, his mouth curved into a smirk at the success of the transfer. Yet now all he craved was to sink his fangs into the soft flesh of a human and tear out their throat. It had been too long since he had had a decent meal. Regardless, he smiled at one of his witches and he motioned to the body crumbled on the ground.
"Mind taking care of this, love? I am going out for a bite." When he flashed his fangs, he felt a quick period of languor before recovering and turning to the troublesome doppelganger. "Katerina, do not be so foolish as to try to escape while I am away. You would not enjoy the consequences."
Katherine held her breath at his command, keeping down a sarcastic remark; it would do her no good. Instead she nodded, letting Klaus move past her and out the door.
After his departure, she eyed the doorway for a moment, making sure he was truly gone before releasing her breath and tossing her hair back, throwing a smirk in the direction of Klaus's witches as she left the room.
He had missed this. The hunt. Being in that infernal hunter's body did nothing to sustain his need for blood, and slaughtering a victim did not have quite the same charm when all the senses felt secondary.
As Klaus stalked down the street, he distastefully eyed the choices before him. He knew in such a small town the options were limited- alas; he was used to quality. Perhaps he had become too accustomed to that luxury; nothing had yet to catch his fancy.
Sighing, he scanned the area. He knew now was no time to be fastidious; the urge to kill was whelming within him, sharpening his senses. He stalked down the street and took on a predatory stance as he eyed the mortals walking through; anyone would do, really. Yet as he was about to lunge at a girl, his mind was split as his head pounded. He dropped to the floor in pain, hissing at the continued aneurisms assaulting his mind.
A side effect of the spell, perchance? Before he had time to ponder this unfortunate development, his thirst intensified, and he felt his consciousness fall as his eyes sealed themselves shut.
"It seems you have succeeded, Esther."
"Not quite," The women commented, watching over her son with disinterest. "He has not been disarmed, only weakened for the time being. Let us hope someone will kill the boy before the spell wears off; I can feel my power dwindling as it is."
"You do realize there is a way for the enchantment to be broken?"
"Nevertheless, he will not be able to cure himself in time for the next full moon."
The drive up until now had been quiet; it seemed Mystic Falls was at peace for the moment.
But of course nothing in Mystic Falls was calm for long, Caroline mused as her eyes caught sight of the body on the side of the road. Startled, Caroline jerked her head eyes to the window, her notice of the man finally overtaking her as she realized the affiliation of her thought.
"Oh god, not another one; poor guy!" Caroline said frantically as she slowed her car down to the side of the road, quickly exiting the front seat to check on the man's body. She hoped he was still alive; there was too much death in this godforsaken town.
"Hello? Are you alright?" She called out to him gently, walking towards him cautiously. When she reached him, she bent down to inspect the damage only to find the unknown figure to be utterly still. Tilting her head, she probed him with one of her fingers, hoping to elicit a reaction out of him.
Immediately her hand was snatched. Gasping at the abruptness, Caroline tried to pull her hand away only to have the grip tighten; screaming loudly in retaliation, Caroline struggled to have him release his hold on her hand.
She was shocked when she saw the man's head snap up, face pale. His eyes were narrowed, and had a covering of a red haze where the color of iris should have been; but what sealed the knowledge that he was a vampire were the long fangs protruding from his mouth.
She tried to back away once again, but was firmly held in place by his strength. His gaze seemed studious in intent, and flickered over to her neck numerous times. Caroline scooted as far as she could and regarded him with a scowl as he continued his scrutiny.
"Seriously? I try to be a good fellow vampire, and you want to eat me?" Muttering obscenities, Caroline tried to appease him. "If you let me go, I will go get you a blood…"
Before she could finish, the vampire attacked. Quicker than even she could see, he bit into her neck. Screaming again, she tried helplessly to push him off, to no avail. "Get off me!"
Yet her frightened words, he paused in his feeding. Taking his fangs out of her neck, he looked at the spot he had bitten before placing a small kiss on the two punctured holes left on the skin.
"My condolences," She heard vaguely, his voice scratchy. She was about to tell him he could go to hell, along with his apology, until he passed out.
Gaping at him, she huffed and began rambling in frustration.
"It would be so completely evil if I just left a guy here… But he's a vampire… and he bit me… But he looked sick… And he apologized… and what if he is dying? Oh my god, what if I just left a dying man- vampire- person on the street? I mean who does that?
But if I take him home my mom would freak… crap, I can't just take him to the hospital though; he is a vampire!"
Caroline let out a cry of annoyance before she finally lifted the man onto her back. Carrying him to her car, she opened the door to the back and deposited the man on the cushioned seats; it was an awkward fit, but it would have to do.
His limbs stuck out everywhere, and he appeared uncomfortable in his new position. If she listened close enough, she swore she heard death threats being spoken under his breath. Taking a breath of courage, she reminded herself that she was a good person; good people did not leave other people to die on streets.
However she kept getting this feeling that she was doing something completely awful and she had no idea why. He hadn't actually hurt her. Grumbling, she moved herself back into the front seat and started the engine, ignoring the voice in her head for the time being.
During the long drive, every few seconds Caroline would end up glancing towards the back of the car, as if to make the man had not woken or disappeared. Yet he remained as he was, stone still and sour-faced. She tried to think of this as a good sign.
When she got home she stayed in her seat for a minute, calling her mom to tell her about the situation and asking her if she could let the man in. Of course, Caroline didn't tell her that he was a vampire- she would freak, completely. When she agreed- and said she probably wouldn't be home for the next couple of days because of work, so to be careful- Caroline spent the next couple of moments trying to fill herself with calmness before dealing with the body in the back of her car. Breathing deeply, she opened the door and got out of the car.
Now she was face to face with the dilemma. Squaring her shoulders, she tossed her hair back in determination before opening the back door and reaching in to take the man in her arms.
"It will be fine, don't you worry. I will make sure you get better."
While it was a bit of a hassle, she was finally able to managed him in her arms while making her way into the house. Dropping him onto the couch, she sighed in relief; now she had only to address the bigger issue at hand: the mysterious illness that this vampire seemed to suffer from.
Deciding the best course of action was to get some blood in him, she went to get one from her supply. As quick as she could, she went back to the couch- before catching notice of his ruffled appearance.
In the light she noticed he was handsome, and even in unconsciousness seemed to carry an air of deadly intent. And she was for some reason drawn to him… releasing her gaze she scoffed at her own weird romantic novel musings. It was time to focus on the problem.
How was she going to feed him the blood? She frowned, her eyes going to his lips. Holding the blood bag in one hand, she pried open his mouth with the other before popping open the bag of blood and letting it fall to his lips. She was surprised when his face transformed and he latched onto the bag quickly, draining it in less than a second.
With that task done, Caroline relaxed. She got him another, and that was soon drained as well. Watching him for a moment before she stood, Caroline decided that for now it was safe to leave him there and dragged herself to her bed. This night had been way too eventful, and she was exhausted. When she entered her room, she collapsed onto the mattress and tried to let sleep overtake her, forcing herself not to think or worry about the stranger in her house.
Yet she could not help it as her fingers went to the mark on her neck that had yet to heal. Sighing, she knew it would be gone by morning, and tried not to dwell on it.
She was in a bedroom; one that was not her own. When she looked around, she saw drawings scattered about and paintings hung on the wall, along with… love letters? Peering around some more, she found that she was in a man's room. The furniture was tasteful, yet refined and masculine, and seemed to hold a journey through the centuries with various antiques and artifacts lying around.
As she surveyed around the area, she noticed an individual at the corner of the room seated on a chair. His face was covered in the shadows.
"Ah, I see you have finally noticed my presence." His low, smooth voice pierced the air, and Caroline shook herself- it sounded so familiar.
"Who… who are you?" She muttered, slightly frightened at the ominous aura surrounding the figure. About to take a step back, she stopped herself. She would not be scared! "And why are you in my head?"
"Not quite so much in your head, as in your dreams." He remarked elegantly, giving her a knowing look.
Crossing her arms, Caroline glared at him. "Hilarious. Now tell me why you are interfering with my dreams."
The man leaned forward and entwined his fingers, letting his chin rest upon them. "Come on love, you really think I will be taking orders from you? That is a foolish desire at best."
"Oh really? And whose dream is this? Who is to say I won't just snap my fingers and turn you into a flower- or a frog?" She remarked flippantly, staring at him in suspicion.
"Because you have no control over your dream at the moment," He said, voice cutting. "I do."
"Well why don't you go control someone else's dream- I am not your toy."
"Everyone is a toy to me, love." He began, eyes calculating as he regarded her. "A means to an end, and all that."
Determinedly, she ignored his cautionary looks and continued. "Are you done with the big bad villain tirade? Because I am not scared of you."
From the shadows, she saw two slits of crimson begin to glow in warning, causing Caroline to jerk back in astonishment. He was a vampire! Really, it shouldn't have surprised her, but it was still such a surreal thing, seeing a vampire who she hadn't already known –an apparently really old and grouchy one- but still.
The shadows danced around him as he stood up and made his way towards her, each step menacing and calculated to scare her. His strides seemed to become more daunting and confident as he came closer. "You do not want to test me, love."
Taking the final step towards her, his arm snaked out to grab her waist, thrusting her fully against his body. Refusing to heed to his demand, she brought her arms up to his chest, trying and failing to shove him away.
"My mercy only extends so far," He said, dragging a finger down her cheek. "And I could kill you, quite painfully. Twist your insides, spill your blood slowly. I love hearing a good scream. So please love, be more accommodating else things might become a bit messy." His finger now rested upon her mouth, tracing her lips slowly before he brought his hand down to rest on her hip.
"I'd rather you go to hell," Caroline hated that he could restrain her- it wasn't fair, goddamnit, she was a vampire now- and that she could only watch as he played with her.
"Don't pout," He tutted her quietly, chuckling at her attempt of resistance. "You see love, it isn't what you want. But do not fret, for at the moment I have pressing concerns elsewhere."
"What concerns?"She demanded, suddenly feeling even wearier of this unknown man than before.
"Nothing that you shall be a part of," He commented nonchalantly before withdrawing himself from her completely. "It's really too bad- you have made me curious, Caroline."
Gasping, Caroline fumbled around in her bed as she felt herself awaken. Shaking herself, she felt a chill go down her spine. Who was that man? How did he know her?
Deciding she needed to try to take her mind off her startling dream, she went to check on the unconscious vampire in her living room.
"Sweet dreams, Caroline."
First full length story I have attempted to write in quite a while. Hope you enjoy the read! - ohniklaus on Tumblr -
