Title: The Company of Wolves
Rating: T
Genre: AU/AH
Pairing(s): Bonnie/Klaus
Klonnie Appreciation Week Theme: Fairy Tales (Day Six)
Inspired By: Little Red Riding Hood/ La Finta Noona (The False Grandmother)/The Grandmother/Little Red Cap/ The Company of Wolves (Film)
Summary: Bonnie goes back in time through a dream in order to find an herb for a spell that will allow her to once again access her powers. When she comes upon Klaus after his werewolf gene is triggered she finds herself wanting to wake up.
Warnings: Language, Character Death (No One Impotant), Mentions of an OC, etc.
The Company of Wolves
"'I will take great care,' said Little Red Riding Hood, and gave her hand on it."
Bonnie Bennett frowned as the wooden cane came down on the tiled kitchen floor again and again, the sound echoing in the quiet house. She had been looking forward to spending the summer with her aunt unbothered as both of her cousins were out of town spending the summer in more exotic places than Chicago with friends, and her aunt worked more than she was ever at home. However, her paternal grandmother's house was being fumigated and so while her aunt and cousin's weren't there bugging Bonnie to get out of the house and do something like most summers, Bonnie wasn't in the house alone like she had hoped that she would be.
The cane continued to crack loudly as her grandmother's fist griped the wolf carved into the top of it that acted as a handle. Bonnie couldn't help but look up from her grimoire and watch the older woman. Like the grandmother Bonnie had lost Virginia Hopkins had aged rather grace fully. Her round face barely wrinkled. Her almond skin unscarred and without age spots. Her hair was long and brown, streaked with white gray. The only other sign of her grandmother's age was her limp. However, the limp had been there since her grandmother had been bitten by a stray dog at the age of eighteen.
Bonnie's gaze stopped as she met her grandmother's hard coffee eyes. Bonnie had always been intimidated by the woman, she always looked at her as if she could dissect her and peer into her soul.
"Head still in that book I see," Virginia grumbled, as she walked around the table that Bonnie was sitting at and toward the kitchen cabinets, "Find your answers yet?"
Bonnie frowned, her eyes moving from her grandmother to the book she had open on the dark oak table. She had just discovered the spell that would give her access to the powers that she had lost access to after bringing Jeremy back from the dead. She had been ecstatic after spending the summer searching, but had been thrown yet another curve ball when she had seen one of the key ingredients listed, lycopodiella alopecuroides, otherwise known as wolf claw. The herb hadn't been spotted anywhere near Mystic Falls in hundreds of years. She was back to square one.
"Answers to what?" Bonnie asked, playing dumb, once she remembered that her grandmother had asked her a question.
Virginia let out a laugh so chilling that it made Bonnie cringe. "You always thought we were the dumb ones," she chuckled, "You're the dumb one. Young and dumb is what you are."
Bonnie's hands clenched into fists and she fought the urge to respond with something disrespectful. She refused to be baited into a confrontation. The woman had always favored her cousins over her. Her father had told her it was because Virginia hadn't much liked Bonnie's mother. "Excuse me," Bonnie said, standing from her seat, "I have a phone call to make."
"You think I don't know what you are," Virginia said her eyes narrowed, "What your momma was? What your grandmother was? I know what you are."
Bonnie's own eyes narrowed, her chest clenching. "And what's that?" She asked.
"A witch," Virginia replied plainly, before turning and pulling a mug out of the cabinet, "Not a good one like Sheila, a stupid one like your momma. That's not your fault though. No one's been around to teach you."
Bonnie swallowed, and exhaled the breath she had been holding. So the other side of her family had known about her. Or at least her grandmother had. It explained why the woman treated her differently than everyone else. "Is that why you hate me?" Bonnie chanced to ask, playing with the hem of her sun dress as she did so.
Virginia laughed again, this time with more humor. Her hair swayed, the curls that moved about, so similar to Bonnie's own. "I don't hate you child," she said, "You are my favorite. Remind me of me. Before I was eighteen. All innocence and smiles. At least you did. But now….well now you remind me of me now. Disenchanted from seeing and knowing too much. I don't hate you. I wouldn't accept you if I did. I'm disappointed in you though. Letting those people walk all over you. Bennett witches aren't supposed to be anyone's doormat. If you think those friends of yours would die for you then you're wrong. You know who will, your family. Sheila is proof of that."
Bonnie's eyes were so wide by the end of the speech that she was sure they would pop out of her head. She wanted to be angry at Virginia for doubting her friend's loyalty to her but she couldn't because she herself doubted them. Every day that went by without a phone call or a text message, made her doubt. Every time that little voice in the back of her mind reared its ugly head and whispered that no one would need her if she didn't have her powers, she doubted.
Still even if Virginia had been telling the truth about her Grams that didn't mean that she was being truthful about Bonnie being her favorite. It made no sense. The woman insisted on pushing her and held her to a different standard that the rest of her grandchildren. But given the kind of woman Virginia was, it made sense for her to think that what she had been doing had been out of love.
Bonnie shook the thoughts away and focused on the questions that she wanted to ask. "How did you know about all of this? About me? About Grams? About my friends? And what do you know about my mother?" Bonnie pressed, the questions coming out before she could stop them.
"Don't worry about your momma," Virginia said dismissively, as she put some water on to boil for tea, "I can tell you that she's not worried about you. As for how I know. Well, the spirits talk."
"What?" Bonnie said, her face contorted in confusion, "Are you a-"
"Witch?" Virginia grinned, "No I'm not. But ever since I was bitten the spirits have been talking to me. Everyone said I was crazy so I just stopped telling them what they said. But they talk. Side effect of the bite, effects people differently they said. Poison to vampires. Bringer of supernatural abilities to humans. And to witches…well that's a can of worms that we had better not open."
"Bitten?" Bonnie said now convinced that grandmother had officially gone crazy, "So you were bitten by a stray dog and have been hearing voices for the past fifty or so years?"
Virginia rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. "A little condescending of you considering there are lot of people who wouldn't believe you if you told them you were a witch," she said, "But I guess that doesn't matter now that you don't have access to your powers."
Bonnie sighed, retaking her seat at the table. She knew that her grandmother was likely only telling her because she knew that Bonnie was dealing with her own supernatural issues. She also knew how frustrating and terrifying it was to reveal a secret of that nature to someone that you cared about.
Bonnie had seen and heard so much in terms of the unexplainable she was sure that it was as least possible that her grandmother was telling the truth. There was also the fact that she now had some understanding of why her father shied away from talking about anything supernatural. If Virginia had spent his childhood talking of spirits and supernatural entities it was no wonder that her father hadn't wanted her near Sheila while she was alive as well. "I'm sorry," she said, "Well…if it wasn't a stray dog that bit you then what was it?"
Virginia looked Bonnie up and down, seeming to consider her. She leaned her cane against the kitchen counter and gripped her floral print skirt in her hand. Lifting her skirt the old woman revealed a faded scar, the teeth marks slightly raised from her skin. Bonnie gasped. "A wolf," she revealed letting her skirt drop, "A werewolf. I meant what I said. It's lucky I wasn't a witch. When a wolf bites a witch nothing good comes of it."
Bonnie bit her lip nervously. "Why are you telling me this?" She asked.
"Because I can help you," Virginia said, "But you must promise me that you will be careful. If you're not careful then no one will be able to help you."
Bonnie reached out and took Virginia's hand as the woman once again gripped the cane with the other. "I will take great care," she promised.
:::
"….She gave her a little riding hood of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else."
Bonnie followed her grandmother into the guest room that her aunt had given her grandmother to inhabit. She was wary, the grimoire she had been looking in moments before gripped tightly in her hand as she walked forward. She jumped each time the cane hit the ground even though she was used to hearing the sound having dealt with it nearly the entire summer.
Virginia stopped in front of a huge trunk, the black paint covering it chipped and faded. "Sheila once offered me a chance to stop it," Virginia said, "After your parents were married and she found out about the bite. She said I'd have a chance to live a normal life. To make the voices stop. She gave me a way to go back in time and warn myself about the wolf. But I didn't want to interfere with the timeline. Well than and the spirits told me you were coming. That you would be born and when Sheila couldn't help you anymore that I would be able to help you. So I kept the gift that Sheila gave me just in case one day you might need it."
Virginia set her cane aside and began to kneel down. Bonnie grabbed her arm in order to assist her, as she positioned herself in front of the trunk.
"I was only ever tempted to use it once," her grandmother continued, "When Sheila died. I wanted to go back and warn her. Prevent her death before it happened. She was a good woman. You loved her and you needed her. But her spirit is one of the one's that had spoken. She had said that if it hadn't been her than it would've been you that had died and so I closed the trunk. But I guess it's time to open it again."
Bonnie fought back the urge to dwell over the guilt that thinking about her Grams brought as Virginia unlocked the truck and lifted the lid. Bonnie wasn't sure what she expected to find inside, but it wasn't the velvet red cloak that Virginia pulled out. Virginia's hair fell into her face as she ran her hand over the hood.
"A cloak?" Bonnie asked, "How is this going to help me? I found the spell I need to get my powers back but there's an herb-"
"Wolf claw," Virginia nodded, "I told you. The spirits talk, but you know that. That plant doesn't exist in this time anymore. If you want it then you will have to go to another time to get it. This cloak is how you're going to do it."
Bonnie looked puzzled as Virginia turned and placed the cloak in her hands. "How does it work?" Bonnie asked.
"Just put it on before you go to sleep," Virginia said, "Think of the wolf claw and it will take you to it, no matter the place or time."
Bonnie nodded. She wasn't sure if she believed her, but she would have to try. She wondered if she could put it on and think of her Grams the way that Virginia had planned on, and warn her of her death.
Bonnie shook her head. What was done was done. She simply had to go back and get the herb. "How do I come home?" Bonnie asked.
"Take the cloak off in your dream and you will wake," her grandmother told her, "But you must be careful. The herb often grows where wolves dwell. You must stay away from any wolf that you encounter. If one were to bite you, you would never be free of him."
:::
"So the little girl set forth."
Bonnie sat on the edge of the bed she inhabited in the guest room of her aunt's house, running her fingers over the cloak. Her eyes drooped with tiredness, but she hesitated at the thought of going to sleep.
She wasn't one hundred percent sure that the cloak would work, but at the same time she knew that she would need her powers, and without them she and her friends had no protection.
Making her decision Bonnie changed into her nightgown, putting the cloak on over it. "I can't believe I'm doing this," Bonnie sighed.
If it doesn't work, she thought, I can always try something else tomorrow. Getting into bed, Bonnie closed her eyes, picturing the plant in her head as she fell asleep.
:::
"And just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the wood, a wolf met her."
Niklaus Mikaelson had been avoiding Tatia for weeks. Contrary to what was believed about the village, it had nothing to do with the girl choosing his brother, Elijah, over him. In all actuality he was of the mind that as long as they both were happy then that was all that mattered. The actual reason behind his avoidance was his lack of control since his mother had changed him and his siblings from humans to monsters.
The others struggled with the blood lust, but for whatever reason for Klaus it was much worse, and there was the added strife of blind rage. Any little thing would set him off, and in spite of it being so close to where Henrik had died, Klaus often found himself looking for refuge in the meadow where the wolves dwelled when the moon was full before they attacked. The next full moon would be soon. Klaus was determined not to return to the village until after it occurred. Something inside of him wanted to see the wolves again. But once he did he would go back. He knew that if he stayed away any longer that the others would come looking for him.
In the forest there was not the full supply of human blood that the village offered. While he roamed the woods he fed from animals. He had managed not to kill so far, unlike both Kol and Rebekah. They had given themselves over to the blood lust the first time that they fed. But he knew, given how many days it had been since he had felt sated, that the next time that he fed a kill might be unavoidable. In that way it was both a good thing and a bad thing that he was staying away from the village for so long.
Klaus stood just on the edge of the lake. Pulling his shirt over his head he knelt down before the water. Bending over he scooped water up into his cupped hands, splashing his face and neck. He began to wash the dirt that had accumulated over the days he had been gone out of his shirt. The few of the belongings that he had taken with him were in a sack at his feet.
The blood lust was always there under the surface. However, the further that he was from humanity, the easier it was to withstand. Sighing he wrung out his shirt just as the sound of a heartbeat hit his ears. He froze in his motions as he focused on the sound. The thumping rhythm roared in his ears as a familiar feeling began to overtake him.
He saw red. Dropping his shirt, he sped toward the sound. Before long he found his victim. His hands grabbed them by the throat and his fangs descended. He grasped the unfortunate soul by the hair, titling their head back to expose their neck to him. So focused was he on the blood and the kill, Klaus didn't recognize the person's identity as he sunk his teeth into their neck. As the blood filled his mouth, he hummed in approval and drunk until he got his fill.
Letting his victim go, he came back to himself as he watched them fall to the ground. Klaus was horrified as he realized who it was. He kneeled down before Tatia, listening to the shallow sound of her breathing. Her brown eyes opened and looked upon him. It was too late to save her, he knew. She would die, and he would be responsible.
He watched the blood spill from the corner of her mouth as she tried to speak. "I found you first," she struggled out, "I told them that I would." A moment later she was dead.
She had been searching for him, and the others had as well. That meant that they would soon find him, and once they discovered what he had done they would hate him. Klaus began to back away from the body.
Hearing a noise behind him and still on edge, he turned around to find a girl who he had never seen before. She wore an odd red riding cloak, over an even odder looking dress. Her feet were bare and her hands shook as her eyes shifted between him and Tatia's body and back again.
He moved to attack, knowing that were she to scream that the others would find him and discover what he had done. However, he stopped as sudden pain ripped through his body. He felt his bones crack, and his knees buckled from beneath him. It was he who screamed and the girl took a step away from him. She reached up and went to untie the cloak from around her neck, her hands still trembling.
Klaus fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Not knowing what was happening, the girl he had been ready to kill just moments before, seemed to be the only hope. He growled, his eyes closing as he heard the sound of footsteps not far off.
"Please," he said, turning back to the girl, "Help me."
:::
"But she did not know what a wicked beast he was, and was not afraid of him..."
The last thing Bonnie had expected to see upon opening her eyes, was Klaus committing murder and then beginning the transformation into something else entirely. It was Klaus she was sure, though he looked vastly different from the way he had looked on the night of the sacrifice. His hair was longer, face smoother, but his eyes were the same.
The smart thing to do she knew, would be to take the cloak off and to return back to her aunt's home and her own time once she woke. She had planned on doing just that but something stopped her.
She looked over Klaus' body lying in pain on the ground to see the plant that she needed growing just behind him. It was close to where the girl that looked alarmingly like Elena, lay dead.
Bonnie swallowed. She would have to make a go for the plant no matter how dangerous the situation seemed. She had no choice.
She tried to find a silver lining. While she didn't have access to her powers, she knew that were she to take the cloak off she would be out of harm's way. There was also the fact that Klaus was incapacitated. There was no way he would attack her while he was simultaneously begging her to stop the pain that he was in. His vulnerability made him seem harmless. That ebbed her fear.
She took a step forward, and then another. Her body was moving to go through with the stupid and daring plan that was beginning to form in her head. She would have only a few seconds to grab a hand full of the plant and then remove the cloak so that she could go home.
Bonnie hesitantly walked around Klaus' form, ignoring his cries and his hands that reached out to her and clawed at the ground. For a moment she wondered what time and place she was in. It was obvious that she was witnessing Klaus' werewolf gene being trigged. The thought occurred to her that if she could stop the curse that would follow then she would be able to stop the events that occurred on the night of the sacrifice and the one's prior to it if she were able to kill Klaus or prevent his mother from tampering his werewolf side. She shook the thought off almost the moment it came however, knowing that she was unlikely to succeed now that she had no access to her power. Besides, she hadn't come to change history, she had come for the wolf claw.
She managed to get around Klaus unharmed, though his cries of pain made her cringe. She closed her eyes a moment as she stepped over the dead body of whom she assumed was the original Petrova. She reached down, eyes darting over her shoulder to Klaus ever few seconds, and wrapped her hands around the plant. She tugged but found it harder than she thought it would be to pull it from the ground.
Using both hands, Bonnie turned her full attention to the plant as she began to pull harder. Finally the plant came free, and Bonnie fell as she it came out of the ground. She turned her head and realized that she had landed close to the dead body and scrambled away from it.
Her hands gripped the plant, her mind whirling when she realized that it had suddenly gone rather quiet. Klaus' pained cries that had been filling the air a moment earlier were now gone. Her pulse quickened, the hairs on the back of her neck raising as she heard a low growl. She reached up to neck, her fingers fumbling with the strings and the hood falling from her head as she attempted to untie the cloak from around her. She heard panting, and felt hot breath on the back of her neck. That was her only warning before jaws opened and teeth bit into her shoulder.
:::
"Little Red Riding Hood opened her eyes and saw the sunlight breaking through the trees and how the ground was covered with beautiful flowers."
When Bonnie next opened her eyes she found herself being carried. Her eyes met the reddening sky, the sun shining through the trees as it began to set. Again she wondered where exactly she was and what time she was in. Her hands clenched and she realized that she was still clutching the wolf claw. Grateful that she at least had gotten what she had come for. She began to reach for her cloak that had been retied around her neck with the other hand but stopped, but stopped and cried out at the pain coming from her shoulder.
"Stop moving," a familiar voice ordered, "Your wound is healing on its own but slowly. Your magic is fighting to come to the surface to assist you but something is hindering it. I gave you as much of my blood as I could while you were unconscious. It should be healed soon."
Bonnie grimaced at the sound of the voice and began to struggle. "Let go of me," she demanded, "Put me down. I know what you are, you monster. Now put me down."
"And I know what you are witch," Klaus answered, "Now stop squirming. Your feet are bare. If you walk on the ground they will likely be bruised and bloody by the time we reach our destination. If my presence displeases you so then find something to focus on to amuse yourself. Look around you at the lovely sun shining through the trees and all of the pretty flowers."
She glared at him, the condescending tone making her wish she had her powers so that she could teach him a lesson. "You just tried to kill me and you want me to look at flowers," Bonnie spat, "I swear if you don't put me down I'll-"
"What?" He asked, "You have no powers." Bonnie felt the fight begin to leave her. She would simply have to wait for her shoulder to heal so that she could get away from him long enough to remove her cloak. "I never intended to kill you," he said after a moment.
"Excuse me," Bonnie said rolling her eyes, "So I guess I just have an open wound on my shoulder because you were trying to make friends."
"Clearly I was not in my right mind," he said, "And even if I were, if you were meant to be dead you would be dead. I would not be attempting to help you and I would not be taking you where I am taking you now."
"And where is that?" Bonnie asked.
"Somewhere safe from those who are looking for me," he answered, "I do not think I was meant to return to my true form so quickly after…I am not really sure what happened or how. But I am sure that I should have stayed that way…as a wolf much longer. But then I heard the others and I knew I had to protect you and-"
"The only thing I need protection from is you," Bonnie countered cutting him off.
Suddenly Klaus stopped walking. "Look at me," he told her, "And tell me if I look as if I mean to hurt you."
Bonnie acquiesced only because she was planning on looking into his eyes as she told him exactly what she thought of him, but when their eyes met her words fell on her lips. She felt herself suddenly desperate to draw closer to him. "No," she whispered, "You won't hurt me." She shook her head almost as soon as the words left her mouth. "Wait," she hissed, "What's going on? What did you do to me?"
"I did not do anything," Klaus insisted, "I think…I am unsure and I do not know how or why or even if it is possible….but I think it was the wolf. I think it chose you. Chose you and your magic."
"Chose me for what?" Bonnie asked, trying in vain to reach up to her neck so that she could escape, as her fear rose up.
"It chose you," he said, looking into her eyes again, "For me. As you have my mark I cannot hurt you."
"What does that mean?" Bonnie asked. She doubted he knew and she felt even worse as her grandmother's words echoed in her head. "You must stay away from any wolf that you encounter. If one were to bite you, you would never be free of him."
"It means that you are mine," Klaus said, "Now I have a question for you." Bonnie looked at him expectantly. "What is your name?" He asked.
"Bonnie," she whispered, looking away again, seeing no point in lying considering the situation she had gotten herself into.
"My name is Niklaus," he said, "And you should not be so upset. The wolf tells me I am also yours. My situation at the moment is not much better."
"The wolf is talking to you?" Bonnie asked, turning back to him with an eyebrow raised.
"Not exactly," he said, but offered no further explanation. He did not know what explanation to offer. He was not sure what was happening or how he had transformed into a wolf in the first place. A part of him thought he was being punished for his brother's death, but he remembered Ayanna had told him the werewolf curse was passed on through the genes of the father. None of the others had turned into this thing after killing and so something Klaus had always suspected was now true in his mind. Mikael was not his true father. Now that the wolves were all but gone, considering how deserted the land they used to dwell in now was, he would never find out who was.
Bonnie opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she saw the look on Klaus' face. Sighing, she decided to do what he said and look at the stupid flowers. "They are beautiful," Bonnie said, after a moment, "The flowers."
Klaus frowned at the abrupt change of subject but nodded. "Yes," he said, then he looked at her his gaze burning into her before he continued, "These woods are full of many beautiful things. If one takes the time to look that is."
Bonnie bit her bottom, and looked away again. She knew that he was talking about her but decided to ignore it.
:::
"The wolf pressed the latch, and the door opened."
Bonnie looked around the tiny wooden cabin as Klaus finally let her down to stand on her own. "What is this place?" she asked.
Klaus shrugged, setting down a sack full of his belongings that she hadn't realized that he had. She also took notice of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt and looked away. She then realized that she was only wearing her nightgown beneath the cloak and wanted to kick herself.
"I am not quite sure," Klaus said, getting her attention, "I found it abandon a few days ago. I have been staying here ever since. I believe that a family of wolves lived here at one point. I've discovered claw marks here and there."
"Werewolves?" Bonnie asked.
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Of course," he said, "Surely you did not think that I had thought a bunch of wild animals had built themselves a home with bed and a stone stove in the middle of the forest."
Bonnie crossed her arms over her chest, wincing at the slight pain in her shoulder as she did so. "You don't have to be an ass it was just a question," she said. Still she found it hard to be angry at him. Whatever bond that had formed was whispering in her ear to get closer to him. She suspected his blood being in her system was making it worse.
"A silly question," Klaus said, his tone less harsh than it might have been were he not completely enamored with her, even as she was beginning to irritate him again. Just as she had before growing silent on the walk over. "The others followed us," he said, "It will not be long until my family arrives. They will want to know who you are and why I killed Tatia."
Bonnie ignored the mention of the murder in favor of asking him another question. "If you knew they were following us then why would you bring me here?"
"I have just enough time to make sure your shoulder is healed," he said, "And to see how you got here so I can see about getting you back to where you came from. My mother is slowing them down, she is still human and cannot travel at the speed we now can. They do not wish to leave her alone because they still fear the wolves. " He assumed since she had called him a monster that she would be able to follow what he was saying without much question.
"You want to send me home," Bonnie said, for some reason hurt by this, "Itching to get rid of me already? Why care if I heal? Why bother with seeing where I come from? Why not just do your wolf thing and gobble me up? Or your vampire thing and drink me dry?"
Klaus sighed running a hand over his face. "Gods in Valhalla," he muttered, "You are more infuriating than anyone I have ever met." Tugging at his hair in attempt to calm his temper, he took a deep breath before he next spoke. "I want to send you home to protect you from my family," he explained, "They will ask questions. They will target you, perhaps even kill you if the mood suits them. Their characters are very changed from when they were human. I want you to stay but I would rather you be away from me if you are safe. Do you understand?"
"Oh," Bonnie whispered, blinking rapidly. She didn't know what she was embarrassed by more, misunderstanding him or being upset at the thought of him wanting her to leave.
"Please," he said, "Stop talking and sit down." Thankfully, she listened to him, sitting down on the edge of the straw filled bed. The odd thing was that though he thought he might find some release if he were to kill her as she suggested, the thought of her not existing filled him with intense pain. Even as his need to protect her outweighed his need to have her near, the thought of sending her back where she came from was painful as well. The conflicting emotions were making it hard for him to breathe. "You are dressed oddly," he said, "So I assume you are from somewhere far away. You are a witch and so I assume you got here through magical means."
Bonnie nodded her hand still clutching the plant that she had come back for. "Yes," she answered her free hand running over the red cloak, "The cloak brought me here. If I take it off then I will go back where I came from." She frowned at the thought of leaving him and frowned even deeper at the former thought.
"I see," he said, his tone carefully giving away nothing. Still it was telling that as he sat down next to her to look at the wound on her shoulder, he pushed the cloak to the side instead of taking it off completely. He examined the mark, saw that it was nearly healed but that it would scar which pleased him for some reason. "It is healing nicely," he said, "But it will leave a mark."
"Even with your blood in my system?" She asked, thinking of when Damon had bitten her. Stefan's blood had healed it completely, without a scar.
Klaus nodded. "The wolf…I claimed you," he responded, "I do not believe that it was meant to fade."
"Oh," Bonnie said, again.
"If I had been in control of my actions then I would never have done it," Klaus said, seriously. He frowned when he saw her face fall.
"Because you hate the idea of being connected to me so much?" Bonnie guessed. She didn't know why she cared, and thought again about Virginia's words.
"No," Klaus said, "I hardly know you at all, let alone enough to make such objections. If the bond means what I think it means. If it really exists. Then it will be nice I think…having someone so connected to me. Someone that would...be saddened if they left me. I do not mind the bond, even if you insist on misinterpreting everything that I say. I only meant that, it is clearly upsetting you to be tied to me in such a way."
"I don't really mind it that much," Bonnie said, hesitantly, "I actually like the way it feels. I've never been so connected to anyone before. Not even…." She shook her head stopping herself from mentioning anyone at home by name. "Not even the people that I thought cared about me the most. And I…I don't mind the thought of someone not wanting to leave me either."
Klaus could see it then, that she shared some of his suffering. The loneliness, the lack of understanding from others, being taken for granted, abused, and abandon. It was there in her eyes, the story her gaze told looking so similar to his own. "I understand now," he said, "Why it had to be you."
Bonnie swallowed, as he edged closer to her. "I think I understand too," she said. Even given what she knew about what he would become. Even considering the lack of what he knew about her. Even with what would occur between them in the future she had just left, she was sure that she would never not want the connection between them to exist in that moment.
Bonnie closed her eyes as he leaned down and kissed the mark on her shoulder. When she opened them again his eyes were on her lips and she knew his intent before leaned down again, this time kissing her lips. She kissed him back, her lips opening up to him as she felt the pressure of his tongue. It was quickly turning into the best kiss she had ever received when suddenly he pulled back.
Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion until he saw the look of panic on his face. "They are here," he said. He reached out and untied the strings that fastened the cloak around her neck but hesitated, unwilling to push it back from her shoulders. "Promise me, Bonnie," he said, "Promise me I will see you again or I will not be able to let you go." His head turned a moment as he heard the sound of Mikael's voice calling out his name. "Promise me," he demanded, looking toward Bonnie again his eyes wide and his tone frantic.
"I promise," Bonnie said, knowing it to be true, even if it wasn't as soon as he hoped.
He kissed Bonnie one last time before pushing the cloak down her shoulders. He felt completely empty inside as he watched her slowly vanish.
:::
"The wolf thought to himself, 'Now there is a tasty bite for me. Just how are you going to catch her?'"
Klaus Mikaelson sat at the bar in Gloria's watching as Stefan became reacquainted with his sister across the room. In a way he envied them, and in another way he thought them laughable. Stefan still loved the doppelganger Klaus new. He suspected her to be alive, which was in all likelihood why he could not make hybrids. And yet there Stefan was across the room in a booth, attempting to woo Rebekah. As for Rebekah, the girl fell in love as often as the sun rose and set. Neither of them knew real love, not the way that Klaus did.
There was only ever one person for Klaus, the only irony being that she was not yet his. It was the only reason that he could have gotten away with the behavior he had, that and the fact that the wolf had laid dormant thanks to his mother's curse.
The night that he had witnessed Bonnie vanish, and with her their connection, he had thought it all a dream. A hallucination brought on by his transformation. And after his mother had cursed him, no one had spoken of her. Nor had they claimed to see or hear anyone else when they had chased him when he had run after killing Tatia. He was sure that he had gone mad, and those few hours of being in her presence and suddenly disconnected from her had almost made him so.
Then he had found Gloria in the twenties and she had sensed in him right off a longing and need for his mate. Even as Klaus claimed her to be unreal, Gloria had shaken her head. "She's real," she had told him, "She just wasn't of her time. But even if she's near you now you will never find her until you let the wolf out. It will know where she is the moment she resurfaces with its mark." In spite of spending years trying to break the curse his mother had placed on his head, it had always come secondary to Klaus, his primary focus running and staying one step ahead of Mikael. However, after hearing the Bonnie was real and that the wolf could find her, his primary focus became unleashing his wolf.
But he had found her before he had unleashed the wolf, and before she had born his mark. The fact that she had yet to be bitten was the only thing that allowed him to harm her on the night they had fought, well that and he suspected that it also had to do with him being out of his own body. Still he had not aimed to kill her and he had not. He could have. It might've been easier for him if he had simply gotten rid of her before she went back and in turn gotten rid of one of his greatest weaknesses. Because once she was bitten she would become just that, a weakness for his enemies to use against him. But he had not, the memory of what it felt like to have her to great of a pull, even in the face of her possibly being used to cripple him one day.
It was funny how they had assumed he had been fooled. But he had known Bonnie was alive, even with Maddox's body magic to protect him, it would take more than a few hits on his person to do in a Bennett witch. She had expended herself rather unnecessarily with the magic she had done in the room in an attempt to distract him from the spell she was casting over herself. But he had been around too many witches not to pick up on it. He had learned a few things during the years he had wasted when he had been looking for her replacement, and found no one. Though with the alliances he formed it was not a complete waste.
Even if he hadn't had the experience with other witches he had heard her and Damon talk about the plan out in the open more than once during the night. Had he not wanted Bonnie alive, then the sloppiness of the Salvatore would have gotten her killed. So he had let it play out, even though he knew that she would live, just as he had known that Elijah would let him go once he discovered their family lived.
Upon remembering what Bonnie had been after the first time he had seen her after triggering the wolf gene so long ago, Klaus had approached Greta with it before the night of the sacrifice. She had told him that it was a plant that was used to rekindle magic.
Klaus had asked her to perform a spell. From what Klaus heard Bonnie assumed that losing her magic had been a consequence from bringing the Gilbert boy back to life. She had been wrong. He had taken her powers away, or rather he had had Greta do it for him. The spell had taken a while to take effect. Hindering her powers slowly so that she would not notice. It was the very reason she had been forced to call on the spirits to bring the idiot boy back to life in the first place. It was a wonder that she thought that she was not strong enough to do so with the power of one hundred dead witches. She would have been strong enough to bring him back on her own with the use of the right type of magic, and if the witches' power had been strong enough to kill Klaus, resurrecting Jeremy should have been child's play. But the idiots around Bonnie never questioned anything that truly mattered, and because she surrounded herself with idiots neither did Bonnie. And on the occasions that she did she kept her thoughts to herself.
Klaus sipped the bourbon in the glass tumbler that sat in front of him. Everyone around him had played into his hands. No one had ever questioned the fact that he had taken Stefan instead of Bonnie though they knew he was fond of collecting witches, because for them everything led back to Stefan, Elena, or Damon. No one had questioned why he had not killed Bonnie, even though as far as they knew (as no one else knew she was losing her powers), she was his biggest threat. Because they all underestimated Bonnie until they wanted something from her. And Bonnie had done exactly what he knew she would do, she had taken desperate measures to win back her powers so that she could save her friends another day. He knew that because the memories had come back to him full tilt, as if they were happening all over again.
She was his, in his grasp. And thanks to careful planning he hadn't even had to work that hard in order to catch her. All I have to do is wait for her to return, he thought, and then the wolf will find her.
:::
"And Little Red Cap returned home happily and safely."
Bonnie sat up in bed. The first thing she saw as she did so was her grandmother inspecting the tattered cloak. The holes from where Klaus had bitten her shoulder were evident. "I knew you wouldn't listen," Virginia sighed, "The spirits told me that too. At least you got the wolf claw, even if you bound yourself to a hybrid in the process."
Bonnie looked down at her hands and saw the plant clutched in her fingers. She set the plant on the nightstand happy that, even though Klaus was possibly lost to her given the obvious time gap and the events that had occurred for him in the time before she had gone back, at least she would be able to get her powers back. After a moment, she processed Virginia's words. "Wait a minute," she said, "If you knew that I would get bitten then why would you send me back? What kind of grandmother are you?"
Even as she said the words, Bonnie felt herself ache for Klaus. She knew her friends would be up in arms, Jeremy would be hurt, and her father would likely kill her but she could not be unhappy about the connection she now had with Klaus. Not when she remembered the way that he had looked at her, and the way that he had touched her. She was to him what she had always wanted to be to someone but never had been. She was everything.
"Because it was your fate," Virginia shrugged, "The spirits told me that as well."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and threw the covers away from her body. She was tired of the spirits. "Oh really," she said, "What else did the spirits tell you?"
"They told me your wolf was in Chicago," Virginia said, "Also where to find him. The fact that I am actually considering telling you where he is, makes me think that you were right about me being crazy."
"I never said you were crazy," Bonnie frowned.
"Didn't have to," Virginia shrugged, "He's at that bar just down the street. With that witch who your father has taken a liking to. Gloria."
"Huh?" Bonnie said, "What bar and what witch? I thought my dad didn't drink."
"He doesn't," Virginia said, "That isn't what he goes there for either." Bonnie's eyes widened. "You wouldn't be looking so shocked if you actually listened to the spirits every once in a while. There's a reason they don't talk to you and it isn't just because of them vampires you like to hang around with. It's because you're hard headed and you don't listen."
Bonnie huffed as she got out of bed. They were right in a way but she still knew for a fact that they could also be wrong. She was definitely tired of the spirits, even if she was grateful that she now knew where to find Klaus.
:::
"And he made his voice soft, as soft as he could, when he said: 'Come and kiss me, my dear.'"
Bonnie looked around the slightly darkened bar, feeling apprehensive. She was not looking for Klaus, she could sense him, feel him, as she was sure that he could her. However, she was afraid that he would reject her once he saw her. There was bad blood there on both sides, and there was liable to be tension. Still she knew there was no chance of her being able to stay away and so she stepped forward.
She made her way through the crowd that still lingered in the late hours. She glanced off to the side and was surprised to see Stefan in a corner booth with a blonde but decided it wasn't any of her business or what she was there for, and kept moving. Besides, given what she was about to do, she had no real room to judge him.
She stopped just as she came upon Klaus sitting at the bar with his back to her. She reached out and was about to tap him on the shoulder but he turned on the bar stool just before she could, catching her hand around the wrist. "Hello, witch," he greeted.
She was unsure of what reception she would get but the look on his face was blank and she knew he was also unsure why she was there. "Wolf," she nodded.
"Come to kill me?" Klaus asked, "Is there a huntsman hiding outside with an axe perhaps." Bonnie titled her head to the side, giving him a look that was going to be followed by a sarcastic remark until he used the arm he had in his grasp to pull her forward, until she was practically in his lap. "Or maybe you want something else," he leaned in to whisper, "Dare I say you sensed my presence and strayed from your path in hopes that you would encounter me and that I would gobble you up."
Bonnie laughed, at both the playfulness in his tone and the hope in his eyes as he looked at her. "I just got a new dress," she said, "Wanted to wear it out. I didn't really know that you'd be here."
He raised a brow at her but didn't call her on the lie. Instead he let go of her hand and began to unbutton the buttons of her black jacket, to reveal the red dress that she had on underneath. He pushed the jacket over her shoulders until he had removed it completely, and set it on the bar stool next to him. "I always thought that red was your color," he said, though his eyes were on his mark on her shoulder and not the dress.
Bonnie was about to continue the game and dance around the issue but as she looked at him she found that she would be the one to break first. "Did you miss me?" She asked.
"Always," he answered, immediately following suit and dropping the act.
"You're still mine," she said, leaving no real room for him to argue, not that he would have. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped in between legs, looking around to make sure that the other patrons weren't paying them any attention. Her eyes caught sight of Stefan and the blonde committing much more risky public displays of affection and decided that she had nothing to worry about. "Am I still yours?" she asked, turning back to Klaus.
"Yes," he said, his arms coming to wrap around her waist.
"So," Bonnie said, a crooked grin appearing on her lips, "What happens now then?"
He pulled her closer and his voice was softer than she had ever heard it when next he spoke. He sounded much more man than wolf when he said, "Kiss me."
Smiling widely Bonnie did.