*I know I'm lame. I don't have a huge desire to finish my other stories and I can't promise I'll finish this one either. I know it's been many months but I haven't had a ton of time. I still love all of you devoted fans out there and I hope you enjoy this story. I know I'm having fun writing it. More fun than I ever did with any of the others. So give it a chance. I can't decide if I should delete some of my other stories either so if you still want them up fight for them because I'm seriously considering it. You guys are the best and I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.
I couldn't breathe. An odd tingling sensation swept through my entire body and I could feel it fighting against my very bones much like a crippling disease. It wasn't painful but I was screaming anyways. I could vaguely feel the fluttering anxious hands of a women grasping my shoulders, my face, trying to calm me down. But there was no hope. I knew I was becoming human. I could still remember Katherine flitting in and out of my vision before catching me by surprise and practically shoving the entire vial cure and all down my throat. After that everything was fuzzy. Caroline and Elijah and Rebekah had been here as well but I couldn't recall why. All I knew was that the plan was supposed to include my cold hard body lying in a grave somewhere without a marker. I wish that was how it had turned out.
I felt my body releasing the tension and my vision was miraculously coming back into focus. Caroline had both her hands on either side of my shoulders. She was keeping her distance but still managing to hold me up. I couldn't help leaning into her shoulder and breathing in her light fruity aroma. Her hands built up resistance and began pushing me away but eventually she relaxed and let me slump against her.
"What happened?" I groaned into her shoulder, "Besides me being human right now."
"I couldn't say. I was coming...nevermind. I didn't arrive early enough. Katherine had already given you the cure and Elijah had her pinned up against a wall. But she escaped his grasp and Rebekah was just collapsed against a wall sobbing into her hands. So I ripped out her heart. I killed Katherine. I killed her," she trailed off, her gaze becoming distant.
"To save me?" I smiled.
She slipped me off her shoulder and I managed to keep myself up. "Who knows why. I just reacted. And Katherine and you deserve to be alive about the same amount so it was you or her. And I guess at the low of a bar, yes I chose to save you."
"I wish you wouldn't have," I mumbled.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm human!" I yelled ferociously, shooting up, my legs barely holding me. There was hardly any strength in them. I would no longer be able to rip hearts out, break necks like humans snap pencils, get places practically instantly, or feed on people just for the heck of it. I wasn't dangerous anymore. I couldn't...I couldn't protect myself anymore. I had a death sentence and too many enemies. "I can't be human, okay! I just can't."
Caroline said nothing but I could tell she was in deep thought by the way she clasped her hands in her lap and fixated on them with cinched eyes. Then she whispered, "I know. But you won't ever be a hybrid again. And probably not an Original either."
"Kill me."
"Klaus, no. There are a million things worth living for and I won't ruin that for you. There's amazing cities and beautiful art and music."
"This is the exact same speech I gave you."
"Your right, it is. But I think it's just as valid."
"I've seen it all, Caroline."
"No you haven't," she insisted. "The world is always changing and new pieces of art are always being made by people just as talented and just as creative. Just think, you could have a family, grow old, have a job. You could have a normal life."
"But I can't. There are too many people who want my head on a stake. And I don't know how to not be terrifying. How to not be evil, as you would put it."
"But don't you see," she pleaded. "This is your chance. You can be fixed."
I sighed and placed my hands on each of her cheeks, caressing them gently. More gently then I ever had before. "I don't want a family. I don't want to grow old. I don't want to be fixed or be anything but what I've always been."
"You lived for centuries simply as a vampire. Don't you think you could do that again?"
"Even then, I was one of the most powerful creatures on earth. Becoming a new vampire now wouldn't be the same. Not even close."
She placed one of her hands over mine to soften the blow of her words. "I'm not going to end you. You'll have to do it yourself and I'm sensing you won't be able to. So you're just going to have to suck it up and make a decision about your future. Don't run, Klaus. It's not you."
"Why do you want me to stay?"
"I'm not killing two people in a day. And hopefully I'll never kill anyone ever again. And because I think you need to learn that not everything in life goes your way and you just have to avoid the blows as best you can."
She was right, I wasn't a runner. I still hadn't gotten her and I still hadn't reconciled with my family. But I wasn't doing it as a human.
"Turn me, then."
She didn't say a word but cut open her wrist with her teeth and settled it just below my mouth where I could easily reach. I slurped it up without question but almost gagged at the intense smell and taste of rust. Blood was bloody nasty.
"Are you sure?" she murmured.
"Just do it, love." There was a second of excruciating pain and then the lights were out.
I came to and she was still there by his side, but turned away talking to Elijah and Rebekah. They were both standing and ominously towering over me as though I was a sticker in their finger.
"How are you feeling," Elijah asked.
"I'm very used to being a vampire so I'm not having any trouble. I could eat a couple of people though."
Elijah rolled his eyes but Rebekah was only too happy to oblige. "I've got two already out back, but you have to promise to share."
Rebekah was stronger than me and it was like she was inadvertently trying to prove it. I was in no position to be a dick so I stuck out my hand and said, "Deal." Rebekah tugged me from the floor and led me to the backyard, and it was only then that I realized this was the Salvatore house.
"Where are the Salvatore's?"
"Doing what they do best. Protecting Elena. Right when they heard Katherine was in town they mounted an entire search party but she completely circumvented them. Probably because she was expecting it. Caroline called them and brought them up to date so they're probably moaning in their self pity as we speak."
"And we're all going to be here when they show up?"
"No. We're leaving right after this snack. You could zip home like the rest of us or Caroline offered to give you a ride in her car, but on a condition."
"And what's that?" I sighed.
"You don't flirt or try and impress her. You just sit in the passenger seat and talk about boring small talkish sort of things until you're at home."
"Until I'm at home?"
"That's what she said."
I smiled and rustled Rebekah's hair, something I hadn't done in ages. But she hadn't had to have told me the last bit that included a loophole in which I could...flirt? It sounded childish when put that way. I simply wanted to show her how I felt about her and hope that one day it would be enough for her to reciprocate the feelings.
I was pulled out of my reverie by the sound of pierced skin and the squelsh of teeth hitting flesh. Rebekah sipped just a smidgen before offering a young woman up to me. I hungrily dug in and sucked her dry in little less than a minute when Rebekah shoved the last half of another young woman at me to finish off.
"Been upset with brunette women lately?" I questioned, gazing down at the two women flung carelessly on the ground, small pools of blood dribbling from their neck, the dark long brown hair covering a majority of their face.
"They're supposed to all resemble Katherine."
I nodded and walked back to the house shoulder to shoulder with Rebekah.
"You know," she began in a whisper, "I didn't wish this on you Klaus. Sure, I wanted to become human so I'm slightly bitter about that, but I know how much you're about to internally combust right now. And you're still my brother, and I still love you, so don't internally combust, okay?"
I chortled half-heartedly before saying, "Sure, love. I'll try."
It wasn't long after I was slouched in Caroline's car who was driving me through the darkened streets dotted with pools of light towards my mansion. Neither of us were saying a word. She looked afraid to begin a conversation and I was moping about my sad predicament. I'd only done everything I'd ever done simply to protect myself and now I had no means in which to do so. And I wasn't super into the idea of other people doing the job for me. I shuddered, and stopped my mind from going there by glancing over at Caroline and sopping up her radiant beauty. I just wanted to reach over and brush away a loose curl from her face or brush her cheek with the back of my hand to wipe away the tiredness. But that would be flirting. Plus, she was in a different world, in her happy place, judging by the grotesquely growing smile. Apparently, I wasn't a part of her happy place.
"What are you thinking about?"
She started, and grimaced at me. "Nothing. You don't want to know."
"You'd be surprised. Try me."
"Tyler."
I clenched my teeth and turned away. "Okay. You were right. I didn't want to know. Guess I should've seen that coming. What about him?" I asked, strangely curious.
"Klaus..." she chastised. "Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."
I pulled my puppy dog face out of the deepest chasm in my brain and just stared at her.
"He can come back," she murmured. "You can't hurt him anymore."
"Oh yes I could," I grumbled darkly.
"He's stronger than you."
I said nothing, knowing I wouldn't have a defendable answer to how I could kill him but I knew for sure I would be able to when I saw his cowardly face. I could tell she saw the determination written on my face for she sighed deeply and focused her attention back out the windshield.
We arrived and I flung open the car door and marched over to her side of the car and tapped the window. She grudgingly rolled it down and scowled at me.
"Couldn't you have done this in the car?"
"It was stuffy in there. I needed some air."
"What do you want?"
"I just wanted to say thank you for the ride," I breathed, brushing her cheekbone lightly with two fingers.
"Didn't Rebekah..."
"Yes, of course. There was a slight loophole in your wording, besides I couldn't resist. I've wanted to touch you all evening and thank you for saving my life. I realize that I wasn't super ecstatic about being saved but you chose me over someone and that means a lot."
"I think you're putting too much stock in the situation."
"Maybe so. Allow me to hope?"
"It's a free country," she said in answer. Then she rolled her window up and with a sarcastic wave pulled back into the street leaving me completely alone in my driveway wishing I'd had the gall to ask her in for a drink. Even if she'd said no she would've felt guilty about it. And the more guilty she felt the better chance he had of getting into her head and flip flopping her feeling for Tyler for him.
Rebekah saw me lumber in with my head down and she gave my shoulder a quick massage. "Don't patronize her brother. She'll never like you."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Be someone different," she stated matter-of-factly.
I couldn't.
