I'm not sure where this went, really. I had the beginning written for a while and then my Klaroline loving self took over and wrote this entire thing. I'm not too sure how happy am I with it, but it's nice to post something after a couple of months. Reviews would be much appreciated! Also, this is titled at the song Abducted by Cults.
He took my heart away and left me to bleed out, bleed out
-.-
She's got this complex. She has to save people, mother them, nurture them back to health. Pick them up from the sewers, dust off their knees, whisper some words of encouragement and send them on their way. Maybe it's because she loves the reward of doing good deeds. But maybe it's just that she likes the insurance policy, that just maybe when she's hit rock bottom they'll do the same. (She's sure they never will).
-.-
Matt was her safety-net. Tyler was her hero. Stefan was her savior. Damon was her nightmare.
He was different. He was all at once. Saving her from a pack of his rouge hybrids. Throwing her through a brick wall. Carrying her to her bed, tucking her in and brushing her fringe from her eyes. Terrorizing her dreams.
Despite all of their downfalls, their inevitable things-just-didn't-work-out, they were hers. Damon would forever be her maker. Stefan would forever be her teacher. Matt her best friend. Tyler her greatest lover.
He was none of these things and yet all of them. He was the original vampire. He taught her to drink human blood, but be clean about it. He joked with her, teased her. He fucked her like no one else did.
But unlike the rest, he always would leave her cold and alone in the middle of the night, with nothing more than a simple, "Have a nice night, love."
Caroline hated Klaus. And yet she loved everything he was at the same time.
-.-
Her breakup with Tyler is everything she imagined it to be. And worse.
She cries, eats a lot of chocolate, and cries some more. She's supposed to be Vampire Caroline, cool, sophisticated, not letting any boy get her down.
But suddenly she's insane, needy Caroline who needs someone to pick her up. No one comes. Elena is too worried about her Damon and Stefan and whoever issues. Bonnie was having a Jeremy related meltdown. Matt? She couldn't even remember the last time she saw Matt. She was all alone.
-.-
She calls Stefan the moment she gets word that he's skipped town.
He answers on the second ring, "Hello?"
"Where are you?" she hisses, backing away into the corner of the Salvatore mansion. Another day, another plan to take down Klaus. It was never ending in the lives of Damon and Elena. And Caroline, newly single and perpetually alone Caroline, was along for the ride.
"Gone," he replies easily, the cool tone of his voice a reminder of the Ripper he once was. "And it would be best for you to make sure it stays that way, Caroline."
"I can't just let you go," he's her friend. One of the only friends who will ever understand Caroline Forbes and her neurotic tendencies. "You're back now, the old you. So you can just come back to Mystic Falls and-"
"Things will fall back to normal?" he laughs, coldly. Caroline can just imagine the cynical look taking over his brow. "Because that's even possible."
"It is," she begs, because she's the forever optimist. "I'll make sure of it-"
There's a long pause, Caroline is almost sure he was about to say something, give her hope, lighten her darkened life.
It never comes, "Forget about me Caroline. Maybe when this is all over, and-" he pauses again. This time she is sure he's thinking about Elena Gilbert and her ending life, "-and you go on with your life, we'll meet somewhere. Madrid, Bangkok. Anywhere."
"Stefan," it's her last ditch effort. He's her Stefan. He doesn't get to leave her, not like the rest of them. She never thought he'd be like the rest of them. "Please, for the love of God just please."
"Goodbye Caroline,"
Score one for the Universe, and negative thousand for little miss Caroline Forbes.
-.-
Two days later, she's her chipper little self. Shopping, manicures with the girls, and just down right meddling in the love lives of her best friends. And of course she makes plans. Girls night out. Mystic Grill. Eight o'clock. "If you don't show up, you're dead to me," she says, lighthearted, but almost completely deadly serious.
They don't show up.
Caroline's really not too surprised. Damon and Elena have been hardly separable since Stefan split. Bonnie was, well she was Bonnie, and unreliable was her middle name.
It was then Caroline realized she didn't have many friends.
So she downs the whiskey she charmed the bartender into giving to her and leans back from the bar. She even made an effort, curling her hair, putting on make-up, dressing in her favorite little black dress and boots. All for nothing.
She slaps the glass on the counter, earning a "Hey!" from the dazed man behind it and pushes herself off the uncomfortable bar stool that was giving her lines on her bare thighs. She scoops her purse up, her jacket, and stomps towards the exit.
She swears he hit her first.
"Watch it," she sneers, because she's almost-sort-of drunk and actually-totally pissed. She's a mess and her purse slips from her hands.
"Darling, I do believe you dropped this," Caroline raises her eyes, pushing her blonde, somewhat sticky hair away from her eyes. She would recognize that haughty British accent from a mile away. Even without her super-vampire-hearing.
"Thanks," she mumbles, snatching it from his hand without a second thought and brushing past his shoulder. She hates him. He is the reason for everything that had ever gone to shit in her life. All roads lead back to Klaus. Klaus and his stupid curse and his stupid sister and his stupid need for world domination or whatever the fuck he was hell-bent on that week.
She's not surprised when he doesn't follow her out. She's a little bit more surprised to find the tires of her car slashed and a dead body lying in the backseat.
She screams and curses Tyler and his fucking-weird connection to his maker or Hybrid father or whatever it was. She hates brotherly bonds and affection and how no one has ever felt that way to her.
-.-
It's just her luck to run into a homicidal-drunk vampire.
She's on a run through the woods, because she's a vampire and obviously there isn't much on the planet that can hurt her. And she needs a good distraction.
He's sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree and knocking back a least four bottles of scotch. She skids to a halt, almost not believing her eyes. Here he was, the oldest Original in the history of time, drinking himself into a stupor.
She wishes she had her phone to take a picture.
No, she actually feels her heart twinge. Because she's Caroline Forbes and helping people is what she does. She approaches carefully, but she's certain he can't hurt her in such a state. His reflexes would be off. He'd never stand a chance.
"Klaus?" she asks quietly. He looks up to her and she feels startled. His eyes are so pure. She's shocked.
"Blondie," he says, drunkenly. The words fall from his lips carelessly.
"Are you, are you okay?" she kneels, picking up one of the bottles and examining it.
"He's got my family,"
He's so sad and she's Caroline Forbes. So she shocks even herself by pulling the other bottle from his grasp and pushing away the loose curls from his eyes. "You'll get them back. You're Klaus, aren't you?"
-.-
She meets him all over town the next week. In the school parking lot, he's leaning against her car and asking her in the stupid British accent of his whether she liked the gift he left her. She's hardly scared of him anymore, mostly because she's stupid and neurotic and now that there isn't anyone who gives a damn about her. So she glares at him, tell him where he can put it, and just drives away. Because what happened in the woods was a mistake. She may be nice and compassionate but she's not that nice. He's evil. It was wrong.
He stands behind her in the line at the grocery store. She ignores him the entire time.
He rings her doorbell at least four times in the middle of the night when her mom is away on some retreat thing that Caroline doesn't bother listening to. At first she just curls closer to her blankets, trying to block out the ringing. But it doesn't stop. And she's Caroline Forbes, and she's nothing if not curious.
So she pulls herself from bed, peeks at her reflection in the mirror (once again, because she's Caroline Forbes), and slowly walks down the stairs. Her mind races. She must have been shaking.
But she opens the door. And there he is, smirking up at her as if he just knew she'd come down at that moment. She studies him for a moment, at the safety behind the threshold of her house. She notices the dangerous look in his cool eyes, the scruff, and the soft curls on top of her head. Had he been anyone, Caroline Forbes would have let her horny vampire urges take hold. But he's not anyone. So she glares at him for a few moments.
"Can I help you?" she holds the door with one hand and places the other on her scantily clad hips. "If you hadn't noticed it's like three in the morning and it's extremely rude to rings someone's doorbell at such hours."
He chuckles, she frowns. He doesn't say anything. She frowns again.
"Well?"
He tips his head to the side and she briefly remembers Damon and his sociopath tendencies. She almost takes a step back, but instead she holds her ground. "You're an interesting vampire, Caroline Forbes." She tries not to shiver when he says her name. But she's still a baby and he's an Original. So she does, and he notices. "Do I make you uncomfortable?"
"No," she glares again. "You just annoy me."
He ignores her, stepping closer to the threshold. This time, she steps back. Stumbles, really. Grabbing on to the doorknob for balance.
"Seventeen, beautiful, daddy who hates her, mother who can't look her in the eye. Two best friends who would rather be each other's best friend. An endless list of ex-boyfriends, including my Hybrid. A diet of blood bags and bunny meat. Let me guess, you're planning on getting Prom Queen?"
Caroline bites down her lip, they may have all been facts, but they stung just like lies. She pushes her hair from her face and glares at him with all that she can muster, "I'm going to ask you one last time before I shut this door on your face. What are you doing here? What do you want?"
"It's more like what I don't want," the smirk grows on his face. Caroline grips the doorknob tighter, because she's certain this was quickly turning for the worse. "How would you like a little deal?"
-.-
Elena shows up on her bedroom at six-thirty that morning. It's so early, Caroline almost thinks she's Katherine for a moment. "We have a problem," Elena says earnestly, sitting down on the edge of her bed, then standing up just as quickly and pacing.
Caroline is rubbing her eyes, shaking her head, "What do you mean?"
"Stefan's got Klaus' family. And now Klaus is going after Stefan's family."
"What?" She's tired. And she can't seem to connect what is going on. Caroline tries to block the sunlight with her hand but she just can't seem to hide her face. Something clicks, and she gasps, "Wait, what?"
"Damon got this mysterious call from Katherine this morning, warning her that Klaus is going to go off the deep-end. So, just keep your eyes open, please Caroline?"
Caroline nods, still unsure of what's happening. But she nods and nods again. Because she's not even certain what she just got herself into.
-.-
"You tell me everything you know, everything that little gang of yours plans and I won't rip each and every one of their throats out. How does that sound, love?"
How could she say no that that?
-.-
This week, she meets him twelve times. Outside her house, down the street, at the falls. Anywhere and everywhere. She feeds him information like she's the worst person in the world. She's certain she is.
One day, she has no information for him. She's leaning against a tree, looking at her feet and hoping to God he won't be angry with her. He won't take it out on her. Or worse, take it out on someone she loves.
He doesn't show up for fifteen minutes. She knows he's unhappy by the slowness of his steps. "You're late," she manages to choke out, trying to sound confident, but knowing it wasn't possible anymore.
"I'm never late, darling," he says slowly, "You should know that by now."
The double meaning. She pushes it away. She never heard it.
She pretends to not remember that yesterday he took her against the wall outside the tomb and made her scream out his name. She pretends that she didn't like it. She pretends she felt nothing.
He's in front of her in a moment, pushing away the blonde curls to look into her eyes. She pretends she doesn't like him that close to her. She pretends that if she does it's only because she's lonely. And he's a warm body that's taken interest in her.
She pretends a lot of things.
"What have you got for me today, love?"
She doesn't look at him, "They've stopped telling me things."
"Now what was that?"
"They've stopped telling me things," she says, a little louder. "I think they fed me bad information two days ago. The plan never happened and Damon was glaring at me all night and I'm pretty sure Elena hates me and-"
His hand wraps around her neck and she's shoved even harder into the tree. Caroline gasps out, using her nails to scrape at his hand. "That isn't what I wanted to hear,"
"That's all I've got," she protests. "All I know is that Stefan is taunting you and he's probably in Virginia and he isn't going to do anything to them and-"
"That rambling needs to cease," he says, exasperated. He tilts his head, looking into her eyes. "I've found them already, my dear. I just need my special little helper to get them back with me."
"What?" He drops her at once, and she falls to the ground, rubbing her neck and trying to figure out what the fuck he was talking about. "What?"
He kneels before her, smirking, "You should have never approached me that night."
She remembers that she started this. Helping him. It was her idea.
She was so royally fucked.
-.-
Elena and Damon confront her when she gets home.
Damon claims he can smell him on her. Elena just shakes her head and asks, "What's wrong with you Caroline?"
Caroline shoves them both off, because they don't understand. Everyone always loves Elena. And Damon, despite his lonely thoughts, he's got a whole list of people willing to die to save his sorry ass. And Caroline? She's got no one. Damon just as likely throw her under a bus to save his precious Elena.
And she realizes just how far she's come.
-.-
The big showdown happens. Caroline doesn't go.
She stays at home and makes cookies and pretends nothing is going on except a new episode of Grey's Anatomy. Her phone buzzes seven times.
When she knows it must be over, she checks. Elena, Bonnie, Stefan. All asking if she's okay. If she's at home. Caroline Forbes bites her lip and puts her phone back down, not answering a single one. She doesn't want to pretend they care. Because they never really do in the end.
When there's a knock on her door, she's almost certain it's Klaus. He's the only one who visits her anymore. Usually to discuss the plan, or to fuck her senseless. So she slowly gets up from the couch and opens the door.
He's standing there, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans and just looking at her. His trademark smirk is gone. He looks almost, well almost sad.
"Klaus," she almost whispers, even though she knew it would be him. "It, it worked?"
"I just wanted to thank you, your loyalty was everything to me."
Caroline Forbes almost raised her eyebrows. But she stayed still. He took a single step forward, placing a kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes for a moment and just as she opened them, he was gone.
-.-
That night, Elena and Bonnie come to her house and hold her as she cries. She explains everything, though she doesn't want to. She feels like she's justifying her betrayal. Elena tells her it's going to be okay. They still love her. They'll always love her.
Caroline Forbes wants to believe them. But after everything, she isn't sure if she can.
So that was what rock bottom felt like.
-.-
Caroline Forbes is certain of a lot of things. But she's never quite certain of him.
-.-
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