The house smelled like the rain when he came home. Strange. It didn't pour the whole day.
Klaus would have thought more of this peculiarity if he isn't straining his hearing to the sound he has missed all day. Thump. Thump. Thump. It's a steady rhythm coming from upstairs. Klaus grins. He must be sleeping.
With a spring on his step, he heads toward the stairs when he caught it— the lingering whiff of sweet vanilla mixed with the scent of rainwater. A distinctly familiar fragrance he hasn't smelled since Mystic Falls, over a year ago—
She's been here.
Caroline's been here at his house.
His mind goes on overdrive.
Everything's been said and done that day when she graduated, the last time he saw her. They hadn't exactly kept in touch after that for a myriad of reasons and he made sure the Mystic gang are kept blissfully unaware of his family's whereabouts.
But for her to seek him now... How? Why?
He could sense it within him, that flickering hope. He was foolish to believe he had smothered every bit of it when he resigned himself to this road of hell he paved for himself. But oh such a sly and cruel thing hope is, and the mere thought of seeing her again sends him staggering off his tracks as if he was burned, every part of him setting ablaze with madness and desire.
The scent trail leads him to his study, where it coalesced perfectly with air. He doesn't need to respire as a hybrid but still he closes his eyes and draws a breath only to feel her a little bit closer—
"She left."
His eyes snap open to Hayley standing by the window, a glass of whiskey in her hand.
"Caroline's gone." She says, keeping her back on him.
"What do you mean?"
Downing the last of her drink, she tilts her head to side, meeting his gaze, and murmurs quietly he almost missed it. "She knows."
The glass falls and shatters to a million pieces as it lands on the floor along with a couple of books from when Klaus slams Hayley against a bookcase in a split-second.
"What did you say to her?" He questions menacingly, his fingers curling around her throat.
"The truth." Hayley chokes. "She will... have to know... eventually."
"She will! But on my terms!" Klaus growls and clenches his fist tighter. Oh how fucking easily could he snap her neck right now.
Hayley gasps and struggles to breathe, her brown orbs almost bulging right out of its sockets... and he relents.
He has almost forgotten. They have similar eyes.
Taking a step back, he lets go and the girl slumps down the hardwood unceremoniously.
"On your terms, huh?" Hayley mutters sardonically when she came to. "Tell me, Klaus, how else could you break it to her gently? 'Sorry, I knocked up a werewolf' won't cut it, you know?"
He offers her no response. He simply doesn't have one.
"I did you a favor." She mocks, her eyes telling him what her lips didn't. Revenge.
He has ruined her for Tyler and now she has ruined him for Caroline.
Hayley's face twists into a sinister smile, lifting one hand to massage her neck. It's done on purpose, you see, as he then spots the evidence glistening around her wrist.
Caroline's bracelet.
No, this is not about love. It never has and never will be between the two of them. This is about manipulation. Control. Power.
He knew it the moment he saw the fire in her eyes—a different kind, more scathing and virulent. And what is bearing the son of the King but another firewood to her inferno?
In a flash, he snatches the chain around her wrist. Upstairs, a baby begins to cry.
He turns toward the door, fiddling the linked lemniscates beneath his fingers, and sighs. The rainwater vanilla scent is gone.
"You may be the mother to my heir." Klaus tells Hayley somberly as he pauses, his gaze miles away to the blonde whirlwind who holds his heart. "But you'll never be my queen."
A/N:
1. Unbeta'd. Sorry for the mistakes.
2. I hope the heartbeat thing in the beginning didn't come off as a bit Twilight-ish. I've always liked heartbeats but now you can't just say something like that without getting Edward'd.
3. Didn't include this in ILY as certain dark things are to be loved coz of Hayley. I don't want her anywhere near there.
4. I cannot express how gratifying it is to choke Hayley in my fic. Bwahaha.
5. Thank you for reading!