I used to like Christmas…
‚Tell me.' She turned to him, blond hair flitting through the air. 'Was there ever a time you liked Christmas?' In the flickering light of the candles Caroline's eyes swam in a hue of sparkles, her face lying in the shadows, her neckline barely outlined.
The fire crackled in the chimney spreading warmth throughout the small room.
'Yes.' Klaus finally answered, stepping to the second window, looking outside, trying to catch sight of what Caroline might have been observing. All he could see was a white mantle covering the ground, the trees and the mountains. No animal moved, no breeze tweaked the branches. The perfect stillness was overseen by the moon appearing from time to time in the cloudy night sky. The werewolf in him reacted to the beckoning moonlight and he felt his blood boil for a second. To burst out of this room and run free over those snowy plains, even the thought made his muscles itch. He forced himself to turn away, not accepting, never accepting the fact that his animal side was this much stronger, that his urges could only be controlled to a certain extent. His eyes fell on Caroline's still figure. She hadn't moved, and was still staring at the spot he had stood at only seconds ago. From this angle, the fire lit up her features and her haunting beauty sent a pang of desire coursing through Klaus's body. If he extended his hand, would she flinch away from his touch? Would this cold marble statue gain life and chastise him with those furious blue eyes that held nothing but disdain and maybe a hint of sympathy?
'Yes.' He repeated. 'There was a time I did.' He turned his back on her.
'What was it like?' The question came out like a sigh, a long forgotten story that needed to be told again, a dream of a moment. Klaus knew why he loved Caroline so much. For an immortal, there was nothing more intriguing than a person who bared his nerves and set them on fire, tingling with the pain and loss of life. A person who could make time stand still. Who could cut a slice of time that would end and never come back, so sweet, so tempting it almost hurt too much. He looked at the girl once more. She was a vampire now. She would come to feel this longing too. And if she did, he would be waiting for her to come running. He knew it would happen. Sooner or later. And that was the beauty of immortality. He could wait.
'Cold.' He started his narration before settling into one of the armchairs of the study. 'It was cold and dark and white. Quite like this night, actually. I liked Christmas best when it came quietly and stole its way into people's hearts before they realized why they were happy all of a sudden. The lights came on in the windows, more every day. Candles and torches of course. It was only the beginnings of electricity. I remember when one small little town presented its first ever power chord hung with five consecutive light bulbs. There was something humbling about standing in that crowd, waiting in the dark, surrounded by shivering bodies, racing hearts, frozen breaths, waiting with them, one of them. When the engineers switched on the power the cheer caught in my throat and only the buzzing of static disrupted that lack of sound. People didn't dare shout. They didn't dare rejoice. They knew something way more special had happened there and then. Instead, someone started singing. Quietly at first, with a thin, hesitating voice. A voice so fragile, I felt the wind could break it, would it want to silence her. Then more people joined in. It was my first ever time hearing Silent Night.'
He threw a log on the fire, watching sparks jump off and scatter into the air, before the wood caught fire and lit up the room again. Caroline was watching him intently, seemingly lost in that story of the past. He resumed talking.
'I had wandered into the town by accident and to be honest, I didn't even know what day it was. When the singing died down, people made their way to the local church. I followed them. When I stepped inside I saw two candles burning on a wreath. It was the second Sunday of Advent. That was the time that I loved Christmas the most.'
He stared Caroline directly into the face.
'I loved it because there was something about it that escaped me, that was beyond me, that I couldn't grasp. Yet it was fine that way. It was simply… magic.'
He raised his hand and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. That beautiful, kind face, that remained inscrutable and uncompromising only towards him. A face that bore a cold mask, reserved only for him. He had reacted on instinct, regretting his action the moment he saw a flash of surprise on Caroline's face.
Then to his surprise the mask cracked and the faintest smile lit up her features.
The fire died down to embers as they sat, silently. He had withdrawn his hand. She hadn't said a word. However, for the first time since he had started loving Caroline, he felt that maybe, just maybe, she could love him back.