Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand
Pairing: Caroline/Klaus
Rating: PG13
The amber liquid in the glass formed circular ripples as he rolled his wrist, watching the nothingness of reflection. The fire hissed and spitted in the hearth, lending an eerie yet homey glow to the room. Klaus could not think of a reason that he had a small suitcase packed, waiting by the doorway. He could take anything he needed by force, by cash, or by compulsion. It was not as if he needed to take materials things with him to sustain him on his travel. And yet he had spent the better part of his day in that ridiculously senseless activity, finding a bit of respite in the allowing himself the empty routine of pulling a sweater or two, bottoms and a watch and tossing them into the bag.
Anything was better, truly, than staring at the morose gazes, at the contempt laced with pity-mere lowly creatures as every one else he encountered were, they dared to take pity on him.
As if he could not extinguish the light out of each and everyone of them.
Extinguish the lights.
Until it was pitch black. Until the darkness.
Until the world mirrored his soul.
His brother walked quietly, almost soundlessly, with the grace of centuries muting the crass sound of his soles hitting the mahogany floor. Yet Klaus registered the moment that Elijah darkened the doorway, knew his purpose for being there.
"We've been together far too many lifetimes, brother," Klaus said softly, without turning around, his voice gentle yet menacing. However, of all the creatures in the world, it was Elijah who would be the least threatened by Klaus.
"Many, many lifetimes, Klaus," Elijah agreed. "So many I know a handful have been seared from your consciousness."
The screaming, the incredible heat. Again with that forsaken heat- if he were not immortal he would have thought he was burning in hell.
"Then perhaps you should stay in Mystic Falls, brother," Klaus offered. "I see no reason that you should come with me with the old city." Truly, Elijah would be a mere nuisance.
"And what do you propose I do, little brother, drink scotch and roam the old manor while you scour New Orleans?" Elijah shook his head. "When I left that city I swore I would help see to it that it stays safe from your wrath."
"Do you truly think you can stop me?"
"I know I cannot," Elijah admitted. "But I shall not be true to myself if I did not even try." Klaus heard the way that Elijah cleared his throat, and even before he continued the noise was deafening to him. "So many lifetimes, brother, and I find I cannot abandon you in your tragedy."
Klaus downed the liquid, letting it burn down his throat, wishing he was not so old and powerful that he barely felt the sting. He longed for its pain now. "There is no tragedy. We have lived a thousand years, Elijah. I've brought down Mikael; killed our own mother." And he cursed his own weak nature that even now his eyes turned liquid. "We prevailed over Silas." Klaus took care to turn his gaze up, futile he knew. Elijah knew him well enough that his older brother did not need to see the tears to know. "If you insist on coming, wait in the car. I forgot one thing from upstairs." Klaus made his way to the staircase.
"Of course." And then, "But bear in mind, Niklaus, that I can do what needs to be done in New Orleans. You can stay here."
Klaus paused at the foot of the steps, then turned to Elijah. "Once you had seen me and called me a deranged monster," Klaus muttered. "If I stay you shall know the true meaning of the word."
Klaus climbed the staircase and strode through the long hallway. When he reached the door at the far end, he paused for a second. He licked his lips, then abruptly realized he was holding on to the empty glass. He deposited the glass on the floor, then pushed open the door.
Bonnie looked up with concern and fear, and Silas waved off the attention.
"You said you were leaving," she declared, a hint of accusation in her voice.
"So I am," he responded with a hard edge. "I have to, don't I? I'm going to have to find someone powerful enough. You've certainly turned out to be useless."
The witch tensed. She set her lips in a thin line. "Just do what you said you were going to do."
He refused to look at her, yet he was like a newborn compelled, with no control over his own will. He would be damned if he did so with the witch watching. "Leave."
"I'm trying to do a spell, Klaus," Bonnie insisted.
"Well, you haven't had much luck, have you? If she'd been this incompetent when Silas had you, those witches would have still been alive and you'd be gone." He kept his gaze on Bonnie, but she called, heavens, she truly did. In that form, in that state, she still called to him. Like the siren that she was, singing to him so he would just jump in and lose himself. For her. "Within the hour, I will be out of here. Be grateful you have some remaining use to me, and I've allowed you to live." And then a softer plea, but he would deny to the ends of the earth that that was what it was. "Just give me a moment please."
Reluctantly, Bonnie made her way out the room. Klaus waited in silence, standing at the foot of the bed with his eyes on the floor. When he heard the door close, it was only then that his gaze rose. His eyebrows furrowed, and he walked closer to the head of the bed. There she was, still, silent. One would think her Sleeping Beauty had it not been for the rough dryness of her skin, showing signs of desiccation. Whatever Bonnie had been trying, it was obviously bound for failure.
Like the child he often became through his stubbornness, he brought his wrist to his mouth and tore at his skin, bringing it to her lips and finding her mouth slack, hardened by the dryness. His blood, precious to most vampires, dribbled down messily down the side of her mouth, staining the white pillow beneath her head.
Klaus leaned low until his mouth touched her ear, "Now how would you see the world, love, when you wouldn't even open your eyes?"
He took a deep breath, branding the scent of her in his memory. Klaus straightened and brushed tentative fingers down the drying skin of her arm.
"I will find someone strong enough to pull you out, Caroline," he swore to her. "New Orleans is a den of witches powerful enough they can do quite a bit of damage when they band together. Somewhere out there is someone who can make Bonnie Bennet look like an amateur."
He slid his hand into his pocket, then drew out the diamond bracelet she had once thrown to his feet. He slid the bracelet to her wrist and locked the clasp, "There you go. Throw this to my face next time, love, if it still displeases you. I'd welcome another fight. I could use some distraction because hell if this isn't more terrifying than a piece of white oak making its way to my heart."
Klaus stood there for an endless second, waiting for a flicker, a tiny gesture, a split second where it was not dead silent. In the nothingness he pulled himself up and walked away from the bed. He opened the door to find Bonnie waiting outside. He met the witch's gaze briefly, and when the tiniest bit of expression registered in her eyes, Klaus looked away.
"Try not to get her staked while I'm away," he said, walking past her. "Tell me you can do that."
"I'm not stupid, Klaus," she retorted.
The name barely fell from her lips when suddenly he was on her, his fingers gripping her neck, his strength pushing her back against the doorframe. "Don't even get me started with stupidity," he warned her. "Because the lot of you that caused this are imbeciles." Bonnie's eyes widened at the snarling sight before her. She choked in his grip as her feet rose from the floor, her toes wildly feeling for the ground beneath her so she could release the pressure from her throat.
"Brother, you may want to put Miss Bennett down," came the quiet suggestion. "You have got to remember, the plan that Caroline took part in was as much her decision to take as anyone else's."
Klaus murmured low in his throat, then released Bonnie so she fell to her knees. "Believe me, I know." He turned his back on Bonnie and walked back down the hallway, past Elijah, and descended down the stairs.
Three months ago
There was not a lot he feared on earth, and despite of this-rather because of it-little gave him joy. He was the most powerful being awake for a millennium it seemed, so nothing seemed to faze him, amaze him.
Until her.
His explosion of light in an otherwise utterly black, black, black existence. All of a sudden, no matter what evil surrounded him or emanated from him was quashed in her presence. All of a sudden the grim line of his lips would melt under the pressing curve of his lips. All of a sudden, immortality was not an empty grandiose existence.
There was not a lot he feared, but he was terrified of her power. There was not a lot that he desired, but he yearned for her. He had crushed his own maker under his might, but he trembled deep inside his gut at the sound of her laughter. When she cut him down with a glare, he was the basest creature in existence.
He had been at his lowest when he struggled with the demon death that Silas embedded in his head, the pain at its greatest, his walls gone as he pleaded with a newborn for his life. And so even though it rebelled against all that he stood for, he had allowed that hybrid back into town. In the sidelines for the first time in a thousand years he watched her fulfill a fantasy, and she glided, smiled, leaned her cheek against the dog pup's shoulder.
"Most of the time, Nik, you baffle me," drawled his sister from his side. Klaus glanced towards his lovely sister, pretty and young and innocent in her prom dress, marking the night with a lie with her very appearance. "You can kill that insolent boy from this far, but there you are watching as if he were your son."
"Pride, Rebecca. Is that what you see?"
His sister cocked her head to the side, then regarded him longer. With a bit of wonder in her eyes, she answered, "Not quite." She pursed her lips. "I cannot quite put my finger on it." She followed Klaus gaze once more. "I do think you've softened on the little bugger. Pity it didn't happen before you drowned his mother."
The small smile on his face evaporated at the reminder. His gaze narrowed briefly, at that particular moment that Caroline's head rose and their eyes met. He straightened his back, silently and involuntarily bracing himself for the look of hatred he just knew she would hurl at him.
Instead all she did was smile—and all he saw was the impossible gratitude in them.
Rebecca flitted off back to the dance, leaving him all alone in the sidelines, wondering now why he was at a high school prom. Klaus shook his head and made his way out through the gym doors that, as much as Caroline had adorned it to disguise that they were in fact dancing on the hardwood floors of the basketball court, really just looked like gym doors with sparkly, twirly metallic silver ribbons taped to them.
Moments later he found himself standing in the empty parking lot, vacant enough save for the handful of kids stumbling out of the party and quickly driving away before school administrators spotted them. Lucky children that they were, Klaus found his appetite completely gone after the small spectacle inside.
"Hey."
The greeting was warm, cheery. And despite the foulness of his mood from Rebecca's little reminder—and he did not know why he even cared—he found himself smiling a bit before he turning around. His breath caught in his throat. Good thing he did not require breath.
"In what universe does a volunteer chaperone leave his charges unattended?" she teased. "I think someone spiked the punch in your absence."
"From afar you I thought you looked stunning tonight, Caroline," he said in praise. "I was not quite prepared to behold you in all your glory mere feet away from me."
To his great wonder, she stepped even closer to him. "I take it you like the dress," she said. If he did not know better he would think she was flirting with him. At the very least she was fishing for a compliment.
"You look divine."
"And what do you know about divinity, Klaus?" Surprisingly, there was no bitterness tonight in her question. Any other night those words would have been spat at him, because he was dark and she liked reminding him of it. He was terrible, and she repeated that over and over until she could convince herself.
He chuckled softly. "When you have lived as long as I have, love, no matter what kind of soul you have, you would have witness heaven and hell tenfold. So believe me when I say you are an angel descended from heaven." The corner of his lips quirked for a split second. "Tonight."
Again, she stepped closer, and she was mere inches from him now. If he raised his arm he would be able to reach her, pull her against him if he wanted. He could have a taste of that light by dipping his head the short distance to her moist mouth.
"What are you doing, love?" he prompted her, curious enough to ask, careful enough not to scare her away.
Her lips parted gently, giving him a peek into the dark crevice of her mouth, a glimpse of pearly human teeth, a tip of tongue. Klaus swallowed, and noted when her gaze shot to his throat as it worked. Silly vampires they were, standing this close in the parking lot of a school dance, breathing, swallowing, working up who knew what while careful not to touch skin.
She licked her lips as she searched for her words, and the quick action drew his attention. "Why did you come out?" he asked. Flailing, desperate, he said, "I don't want you to waste your time out here on my terrible self when you finally have Tyler back in town."
Her brows furrowed. "I-" She glanced back behind her towards the gym, the music blared each time the doorways swung open, the lights lively within. She looked back at Klaus, and for a moment he thought he saw a hint of fear before she blinked them away. "Would a terrible person have let his grudges slide and let someone back to town to attend a severely human—and yes, I admit, probably super shallow in the eyes of a man who's lived as long as you have—tradition like prom?"
"I didn't do it for him," he reminded her.
Caroline bit her bottom lip, then nodded. "I know," she whispered.
"Now hurry along, love. I don't give favors so easily. I suggest you make the most of it." Klaus was bewildered when she did not budge.
And then, like he was caught in a dream, Klaus looked down at the exact moment that her hand rose and rested on his chest.
"Again, I'm going to ask you, because if I don't get an answer I will fool myself into-"
Caroline met his gaze. "Maybe you're right," she said softly.
"I'm right about many things, love," he responded. "You'll have to be a little more specific than that."
"Maybe you're right," she allowed, "that I'm attracted to darkness."
"Caroline," he said, his voice drawing tight with warning.
"Maybe you've been right all along, because I've spent this entire night with Tyler wanting to feel a smidgeon of what I'm feeling right now," she confessed. "I don't know what this is."
"You know what it is for me," Klaus told her. "For your sake, Caroline, I hope this is not some sort of-"
Her hand on his shirt tightened, crumpling the cloth with her fingers as she gently pulled on him, "Seriously?" she exclaimed at him. "Months of your irritating double entendres and your silly idea of courtship, and you respond to me by threatening me?"
He shook his head, then rested his hands on her hips. Caroline's mirth vanished. He pulled her fast against him. "How would you have wanted me to respond, love?"
Her eyes narrowed. She buried her fingers in his hair and stood on the tips of her toes, then, for the first time in her entire life, she took the moment in her own hands and dove in for the kiss. Klaus caught her up in his arms and tightened his embrace, partially to support their balance. He answered as passionately back, deepening the kiss and parting her lips with an insistent tongue. She gave fully, allowing him access and her hot tongue slid against his.
Had he still been alive he would not have doubted that his blood would be pumping deafeningly in his ears now, or that he would be gasping for breath due to the length of time that he allowed himself to sink into that kiss.
When he finally lifted his lips from hers, he gazed down at her and her sparkling blue eyes, bruised lips, that angelic face fittingly framed by the golden halo of her hair. And then like a masochist faced with the prospect of sublime happiness, he voiced to face his greatest fear, "I've killed."
"So have I," she responded, the light in her eyes never dimming, as if she were looking at someone far more special than he.
"You know what I mean," he pressed.
She sighed. "I know, but I also know how I feel." She cupped his cheek in her hand, rubbed circles over the bone beneath his eye.
"Do you?"
After a few seconds, she gave a lopsided grin. "Alright, maybe defining it needs some work." She looked back at the gym. "What am I thinking?" She looked back up at Klaus. "Did I seriously think it would be this easy, like I could snap my fingers the moment I realized that I have feelings for you? There is a primordial vampire trying to enslave you; Your sister absolutely hates me!"
"Your—everyone-will kill me the first chance they get," he pitched in wryly.
"Seriously, you're going to make a joke about this? It will take months, years, before anyone-"
He silenced her with a peck on her lips. "Caroline," he reminded her, "we have an eternity."
That calmed her enough. She gave a small, sheepish smile. "So we do."
tbc