REWRITTEN THE ENDING JUST BECAUSE I CAN. (No really. It's only a minute change but it felt necessary.)

Disclaimer: me no own TVD

When he first sees her, she is burning.

She is a scene to behold—eyes closed like in a deep prayer, skin blazing wildly beneath the sun.

And he's supposed to let her die. A merciless predator like him does not spare anyone especially a measly infant with a death wish.

But the moment the girl opens her eyes and meets his, he can barely contain himself from running to her rescue.

He knows innocence when he sees it. It's the very thing he had not seen for centuries from what is staring back at him from a mirror.

He knows courage especially if it looks you in the eye unflinchingly as it waits (and burns) painfully for its death.

He knows light so innate and pure and not yielded by her burning.

He knows, most definitely, that this life will be worth the save.

And thus when he comes back home carrying what seems like an immense pile of blankets but with a gentle protectiveness unusual to him, everyone understands.

Lord Niklaus has taken a stray.

He finds that she is more suicidal than he thinks she is.

The maids tell him she refuses to feed. And when he finally visits her, she only throws the goblet of blood back at him. In a flash, she has her pinned on the wall, his hand gripping her neck.

"Aren't you so eager to die, little one?" His eyes darken.

"Then end me!" She pleads him, fangs protruding her mouth. "Let me cease to be this monstrosity!"

He stares at her wide-eyed, the veins on his face receding slightly. He cannot imagine a creature so willingly embrace its death.

As she feels his hold loosen, she speaks. "Death seems to be my remaining choice."

"There is always another choice, love." He lets her go.

She crumples to the floor, sobbing, and he finds himself sitting down next to her heaving back. "I could let you die, if that's what you want. If you truly believe your existence means nothing." He says grimly.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret." He leans closer, voice softening into a whisper. "There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities, and art, and music."

As she calms, he boldly puts a hand under her chin and lifts her face up to meet his eyes.

"Genuine beauty." He breathes. "And you can have it all. All you have to do is ask."

She feels herself tremble at his words and before she knows it, she mutters.

"I… I don't want to die."

He visits everyday yet she does not even spare him a glance.

He hates it, naturally. A man of his caliber does not have to do as much as a glare to get anyone's attention. But Klaus can be a patient man—mostly to those who strikingly stirs his curiosity.

And bloody hell, he is curious. He wants to know her. To understand her. To have another glimpse of everything about her that made him go against his very nature and saved her life.

"… dark." He finally hears her say.

Perhaps she had tired of lying on her side, staring at the blank wall and obviously shunning him because when Klaus looks up from his sketchbook, she is now watching him with utmost interest.

"How do you draw? It's too dark." She repeats her query.

"We are vampires, love." He simply smiles. "We belong in the dark."

She stares at him thoughtfully before turning to look at the heavily draped windows. "Do we?"

There's a painful longing in her sweet voice, the curtains shadowing her beautiful face. He remembers her burning—the brightness and light she has shone—and he thinks, No, you don't.

With his vivid stories, he relayed to her the beauty of the world as his blue eyes see it. He wants her to see it too. He wants her to want it too.

And despite all of the obvious reasons for her to doubt him, she had let herself listen to his words. Because, despite all of the obvious reasons for her to fear him, he still saved her from herself.

Indeed, Lord Niklaus had been nothing but kind to her and she fancies to think that he only means well when he invited her for a walk outside. She has lived in the dark far too long and she is delighted to be able to behold the world again. And although it upsets her she can only tread under the somber moonlight, it is close enough to the light she misses.

Or maybe… He just plainly decided to end her.

She didn't say she has trusted him completely. A part of her believes she has put herself in an even direr predicament being indebted to a man like him.

Caroline groans at the thought as she starts pacing about in her dark room. A few moments later, the door flies open, revealing her beaming savior.

"Come." He says, holding out his hand.

"Lord Niklaus."

"Klaus, sweetheart."

"Klaus." She repeats. She has a bad feeling about this. "Are we searching for something?"

He chuckles. "No."

"Then I think I should retire, m'lord." She states.

"No, you won't." He insists.

Caroline gulps as she stares up at the lightening sky. She doesn't know how long they've been walking amid the forest but she does know she has to go back.

"Do you trust me, Caroline?" He questions suddenly, catching her off guard.

"I…" She starts to say nervously.

His eyes stares at her gravely. "Because I'm going to let you see the sun."

She stops walking as nausea floods through her. "Are you going to kill me? She tests daringly, seeing the first few streaks of the sun on the horizon. She has no idea how he does it himself but if it's her, she'll surely incinerate to her death.

"Do you trust me?" He asks again more firmly.

"I know I shouldn't." Caroline declares, trying hard not to let her voice shake even in the slightest. "You are a stranger and a possibly dangerous one at that. Yet I owe you my life. And I may very well regret this later but I do." She meets up his eyes." I do trust you."

She expects to be pushed against the tree with a hand on her neck that is why she's utterly stunned when he begins to laugh heartily.

"You are a brave girl for trusting me. Reckless, but brave." He says amusedly as he tosses something to her direction.

She immediately catches it and, when she opens her hand, she finds a ring.

"Lapiz Lazuli." He tells her. "Now go on, love. Wear it. We don't want you up in flames again."

She does as she's told, slipping the ring on her finger. He then leads her further to the woods and they come across a good spot to sit on. And just as then, Caroline feels the rays of the sun touch her skin. She feels no burn or pain, just warmth. Reassuring warmth.

That very moment, she is incandescent. She is ablaze even without burning and Klaus vows to make her a vampire as great as she can be.

That very moment, she could see him clearer than ever. He is a glowing god, far from the devil she deems him to be, and Caroline swears with her life to be loyal to him.

It's such an irony how she ends up taking refuge with the most feared family that may have walked the earth.

They are a myth—a legend too unimaginable to be thought as true, too frightening to be disregarded as false. Caroline has lived her life perfectly fine without knowing what to believe until she ends up in the arms of one of them.

Until she wakes up inside on of their mansion's elegant bedchambers.

Until she finally finds herself with their company, having an innocent meal.

Caroline edgily eyes the three originals in front of her as she takes the goblet to her lips. Somehow she feels relieved of tasting wine and not blood.

"It was nice to meet you, but I'm afraid I must leave early." Lord Finn tells her detachedly as he finishes eating in a hurry.

"Heavens, Finn, slow down. I'm sure your lady friend will not be going anywhere without you." Lady Rebekah mumbles sardonically. "God knows how desperately clingy that woman is."

Lord Finn only glares at her sharply before departing. She exhales heavily and turns to Caroline beside her. "I don't know what he sees in her, really. She's exceptionally dull. I had to sit with her once and I swear I can barely keep my self from sleeping as she speaks."

At this, Lord Elijah clears his throat while Caroline giggles, finding her frankness refreshing.

"You understand my sense of humor." Lady Rebekah observes, breaking into a grin. "Splendid! And here I thought I will be forever cursed of having an insipid sister because of my brothers' awful tas—".

"Rebekah." Lord Elijah interrupts warningly.

She ignores her older brother and queries Caroline. "You are staying, right?"

Caroline is surprised of her question. "I think… As long as Kla—Lord Niklaus will have me, m'lady." She responds.

"Well, he must!"

"Indeed, he must." A voice whispers closely on her ear. She gasps and turns to see a man, looking strangely like a younger Lord Elijah, smirking at her mischievously.

"And I do hope dear brother will be generous enough to share his new plaything with me." He takes her hand and places it to his lips.

"Kol." Lady Rebekah and Lord Elijah growl in unison.

She promptly snatches her hand away from him. "I am no one's plaything."

He only shrugs, sitting on a chair in front of her. The We'll see he murmurs under his breath does not escape her vampire hearing.

"Where have you been?" His sister then questions him. "You were supposed to join us."

His smirk twists from a playful to wicked one. "Let's just say I've been craving for a different meal entirely."

"What did I tell you about feeding on the maids?" Lord Elijah asks exasperatedly.

"I didn't!" Lord Kol quickly denies. "Actually, I found a tasty little brunette from town…"

"Please. Spare us from the indecent details, Kol." Lady Rebekah scoffs at him.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing you lot cannot handle." He wiggles his eyebrows knowingly. "Am I right, Caroline?"

She tries hard not to flush at his suggestive words and answers him brazenly. "I can handle you."

His siblings beam approvingly at her while he roars in laughter. "Well then, I am all yours to handle, m'lady."

At his remark, her control wanes and blushes like mad.

"Having fun without me?"

They all turn to see Lord Niklaus entering the room. He smiles at her but Caroline immediately looks away from him, refusing to be seen flustered. Klaus doesn't like it. Damn Kol. He thinks, quite aware of how he teased the girl earlier.

He walks toward them, nodding in acknowledgement to Lord Elijah and Lady Rebekah, but he stops next to Lord Kol.

"Nik." The younger brother greets him. "Sweet Caroline and I are just—"

"Say another word and I'll tear out your liver." He says grimly.

Lord Kol chuckles, unperturbed by his threat. "Oh lighten up, brother."

"Shush, you two." Lady Rebekah rolls her eyes. "We don't need a bloodbath over the dining table. Again."

Caroline titters at the exchange infinitesimally. Like a family having a conversation over a meal and, for a moment, the fabled Mikaelsons seemed so human. Yet she cannot help to note how casual it is they talk about killing. About death. The banality of it all makes her shiver to her core.

She wonders then when in the not to distant future will she speak such words as impassive as them.

A shriek snaps her out of her trance.

She sees Klaus flash before the screaming girl, pupils dilating. "Shut it and stay still." He compels and the human cowers shaking in a dark corner.

He gives Caroline a satisfied smirk as he leans against a wall. "By all means." He says, gesturing to something behind her.

Instantly, she spins and beholds of what she had done—Gaspard lying on the floor, mouth bloodied and an arm severed off.

"Please, my Caroline." He begs and Klaus snarls. The crippled man flinches, frantically beseeching her eyes. "Have pity!"

"Had you given me and my family even a hair's breadth of pity in the past, I would have given you mine." Without another thought, she snaps one of the stands of a wooden table and drives it to his chest.

"NO PLE—"

Flames engulf him before he could finish and Caroline watches the unmaking of her maker. Indeed, as she had vowed before, she will be the one to put a stake in his heart.

"Not yet." Klaus calls as she makes a move to depart. She turns and sees him holding the human by the arm.

She examines the bites on her neck and the bruises on her face, and she remembers how she was once tattooed by the same marks. From the same monster.

"Shhh… Everything will be okay." Caroline murmurs, letting the sobbing girl fall into her arms. The blood pumping in her veins begins thundering in her ears straightaway.

Klaus nods at her and, with that, she immediately sinks her fangs to the girl's neck.

"Listen, love." He reminds her and she focuses on the girl's faint heart. As she hears the beat dangerously slows, Caroline pulls away, bites her wrist and feeds her blood to the human.

As the girl heals, she stares straight to her eyes. "You will forget about all of this. You will live your life and die an old woman. Now, go."

The girl quickly abides and runs away. Caroline has her hand tightly gripping on Klaus' arm, willing herself not to go after her. One death in her hands is enough... for now.

A few moments later, she feels Klaus' hand on top of hers. He holds up her wrist to his lips.

"Good girl." He whispers, drinking the remaining trickle of blood from her closing wound. It is amusing how he cannot seem to hold back himself with her. He is eternally enchanted by this girl so strong, beautiful and full of light.

She shudders at the sensation, cheeks heating profusely. Klaus smirks, knowing he has this effect on the baby vampire. Caroline then rolls her eyes at his smugness, her fieriness surging back.

"Touchy much, m'lord?" She tells him teasingly. She walks past him but before she can go further away, she feels him breathe on her neck.

"Only to you."
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A/N: First of all, I'm sorry. I'm a failure and I haven't updated Off Limits. I am stuck on a rut and have been really busy this past few weeks with my new job so I feel like I haven't been able to put enough love into writing that. But don't worry. I'm not abandoning Off Limits! I just badly needed a breather.

Hope you enjoy this one anyway. I've been meaning to write something like this for like forever. Plus I've missed writing about the supernatural world. :)

This is supposed to be a oneshot but… Oh well. I'm still trying to make this short and sweet so a threeshot, maybe.

As always, reviews are very much appreciated. Thank you. :D