Hi! Okay first of all yay new story! I'm almost done with my other one and I know I haven't updated in a while but I wanted to give you guys something new and shiny for the holidays. I really hope you like it because I've been toying with the idea for a while...(hides in corner nervously while you read and twiddles my thumbs)
"Nik!" The little blonde girl with the curly ponytail squealed as she ran from her best friend. He was taller, his legs longer than her and therefore he was faster, the poor girl never had a chance to get away from him. He laughed behind her and she took a second to look over her shoulder. He was gaining on her, almost to the point where if he reached out he would be able to touch her. She ran faster.
"Come on Care!" He yelled after her, his voice melodic and warm. "You can run faster than that!" Her arms pumped wildly at her sides as she ran. The house was in sight, she could make it, she could beat him. Just as she was approaching the house, only a few yards from it he whizzed past her. His hand reached out and touched the front porch railing. He wasn't even out of breath.
"That's not fair!" Caroline whined as she slowed to a stop, her chest rising and falling at a rapid rate as she tried desperately to catch her breath. "You always win," She pouted and shuffled her feet, kicking some dirt. He always did this, he would dangle the bait in front of her and then whip it away just as she was about to close in.
"Come on Care," Nik walked over to her and threw his arm around her shoulder as they walked up the steps of Caroline's house. "I gave you a head start that time, it was completely fair and you know it." She huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, sitting down on the top step and pouting once again.
"You jerk," she mumbled under her breath, as Nik sat down next to her he laughed. They sat in silence for a while. She knew that Nik didn't want to go home and he would stay out with her as long as he could until one of his brothers came to bring him back. She didn't understand why he hated his house and his family and when she asked him he would just tell her 'You'll understand when you're older Hummingbird'. He always called her that and she never knew why. 'It's because they're so full of life, like you,' he told her one day before bumping his shoulder against hers; she had blushed, looking down at her shoes in an attempt to try to hide her reaction.
She didn't want to go home either. Her mom was always working and her father was always so angry. Every night he would come home from the office and go straight for the bottles he kept on the top shelf of their refrigerator and then he would drink until he got mean. She didn't understand it of course, why her mother would so often come downstairs in the morning with a hurt lip or a black eye. She told Nik about it one day and he told her that her father was a lot like his.
"Caroline," he started one day. She was seven at the time, and he was twelve. They had been best friends ever since he had tried to kiss her on the playground when she was six and she had thrown a mud pie in his face. They were inseparable, every waking moment that they could spare they were together. "Do you ever think about the future?" He asked. They were sitting on the swings in the park across the street from the Forbes' watching as the sun was setting. Both knew that they would have to be home soon, to face their parents, but neither wanted to bring it up.
"I don't know," She thought about how she wanted to win Miss Mystic Falls one day but she didn't think that that was what he was talking about.
"Do you think that maybe one day we would get married?" He asked her, "Have kids, move out of Mystic Falls?" She looked over at him and he had a faraway look in his eyes.
"No," She scoffed. "I'm not marrying anybody, I'm going to be like Ms. Sheila and live on my own. Boys are gross they have cooties."
"You won't think that in a few years Hummingbird," He told her with a smile watching as the wind blew her blonde curls around her face. One brushed past her nose and her face crinkled up as she pushed it away.
A loud thud woke her from her dream. Her head shot up and her eyes met those of her commander, Alaric Saltzman. "I wasn't sleeping," She said hastily, moving her hand to her mouth to wipe away any drool that might have been there.
"Mhmm," Rick shook his head and gestured towards the coffee mug that he had so graciously slammed on her desk a minute ago. "How early did you get here?" He asked her curiously and she looked up at the clock that was in the corner of the room. The little hand was pointing a little after the four and it was still dark outside.
"Get here?" She asked, looking back to him.
"Damnit, Forbes," He sighed, "It's four twenty in the morning," Her eyes widened, "You never left did you," It wasn't a question. She looked down slightly ashamed.
"I need to find these two," It was a feeble excuse and she knew it. Rick's eyebrows raised and he sighed, putting his hands on her desk and leaning forwards.
"You need sleep Forbes," He chastised, "And more than a fifteen minute nap between shifts." He pulled back and gave her a hard look. "Go home," He commanded. "Get some sleep, come back tonight for the benefit. You've been here for 48 hours straight." She nodded as she stood; shuffling all the papers on her desk together into a pile and putting them back into the huge file. She reached to the chair next to her and grabbed her bag, placing the file back in there with all the other ones like it.
"Thank you sir," She said as she pulled her jacket off the back of her chair and began making her way towards the elevator.
"Forbes!" He shouted after her and she stopped abruptly, spinning around to face him. Rick was holding out the coffee he had brought her with a disapproving look on his face. She shuffled forward and grabbed it from him, muttering a hasty thank you before taking a sip and going back to the elevators.
Once the doors slid shut she let her head fall back, her head leaning on the wall with her eyes closed. His face flashed behind her lids for a second and her eyes flew open. It had been years since she had last seen him, or even heard from him in that matter. She had been eight when they moved, one day he was there and the next he was gone. Her mom told her that the whole family had moved to somewhere in England because of a job offer Mikael had gotten. She cried herself to sleep for weeks after that.
She wondered vaguely what he looked like now, if he had an accent, if his eyes were still the same shade of bluish green that they had been when he was thirteen. She didn't have to wonder what he was doing with his life; that was one thing that everyone knew. It was common knowledge amongst the agents working at the FBI.
Niklaus 'The Hybrid' Mikaelson was the most notorious serial killer in the country, maybe the world. In the nine years that he had been a serial killer he had left one victim alive. She was a pretty blonde girl, blue eyes, curly hair only 16 and her description of him led to the creation of the nickname that most knew him as. The Hybrid. Carrie, the girl who had been spared had spoken about how different he was. It was almost like he was two different people. He had taken her friend, a brunette named April at the same time he had taken her and she had seen him kill April right in front of her. He was vicious, not sparing the poor girl from any kind of pain. He broke her legs first, so that she couldn't run away, and then when she was lying on the ground begging for him to let her go, he drew out a knife and stabbed her twelve times. But when he turned towards Carrie, blood spattered across his clothes and his skin, his face changed. He had approached her slowly, setting the knife down as he did. And then he had let her go. Just like that, without even hurting her. The only thing he left her with was an order not to tell them what he looked like, and she hadn't. No one knew what he looked like, and the only person who had the faintest idea was Carrie and those that knew him before he became the Hybrid.
As far as the world was concerned Klaus Mikaelson was a ghost. Everyone who had ever known him or seen him aside from his immediate family was dead. Except for her, and she waited every day for him to come for her. Most nights she slept with a gun underneath her pillow, convincing herself that when she woke up in the morning he would be there. But for the past nine years she was left alive and she had no idea why.
Roughly a half hour later she made it to her small, shabby apartment. It wasn't in the best neighborhood but she didn't have enough money to rent one of the nicer places. Besides, she was a badass FBI agent; she could take care of herself. After throwing her things onto the kitchen table she made her way sleepily towards the bed in the other room. She fell onto it face first and groaned at how good it felt to be in an actual bed.
For the past month and a half she had been trying desperately to get a lead on the infamous twin sister duo known as 'The Doppelgangers'. So far she had nothing; no one had seen them in months. It was almost like they had disappeared off the grid completely. It was boring, tedious, un-satisfying work and she hated it; but Caroline Forbes always got her man, or woman, and she wasn't about to lose her perfect record now.
Pushing away thoughts about serial killers and their whereabouts, Caroline rolled over and adjusted the pillow under her head more comfortably. Within seconds she was asleep.
It seemed like it was only minutes later when her phone started beeping that it was time for her to get ready for the benefit. Why on earth they insisted on having these things every year was lost on her. Agents dressed up to the nines only to listen to the higher-ups talking about how great of a job they were doing and to keep it up. She hated dressing up. She would much rather sit on her couch eating take out and watching crappy dating shows in an oversized tee shirt. She groaned and pushed herself up off the mattress. Her hand went immediately to her cell on the bedside table next to her and she turned off the alarm.
Her dress was a long black, backless dress that she had picked up weeks ago in preparation for the night. She matched it with black louboutins and her hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck. She stood alone, sipping a glass of champagne and watching various people dance around her. She was about to go back to the buffet table when the sound of someone tapping on a microphone stopped her.
"Welcome everybody," Rick's voice floated through the room and everyone look towards where he was standing on the stairs next to Richard Lockwood, the head of the New York branch. "I'd like to take a minute to recognize a few very important people before I hand this over to Mr. Lockwood." She tensed, based on the drama that had unfolded this past year for her, what with the incident with Damon Salvatore and all; she knew she had a slim chance of him looking over her. "This year, as many of you know, there was an incident with one of our outstanding agents Caroline Forbes," He made a sweeping gesture towards her and all eyes in the room were suddenly on her. Her heart hammered and she raised her hand to give a small wave before Rick continued again, "Now Caroline here is one of three people in this room that has gone toe to toe with Damon Salvatore and walked away from it alive." Her palms were sweating, "While visiting Fell's Prison with two other agents, Caroline and the other two agents were attacked by Salvatore and taken hostage for a short period of time." Her eyes scanned across the room for a minute before finding the eyes of Matt Donovan, one of the other agents she was in that prison with. Only she, Matt, Jeremy Gilbert and Damon Salvatore knew what really happened in that room. Matt gave her a reassuring nod before looking back to Rick. "When attacked, Caroline bravely pulled out her gun and was able to get a few shots into Salvatore before the other guards came. Thanks to her heroic actions the lives of two agents and countless civilians were saved. So, for that, we would like to award Miss Caroline Forbes with the Medal of Valor." Everyone turned towards her and clapped.
After his little speech, Rick turned the mike over to Richard Lockwood. She tuned him out, bringing the glass of champagne to her lips and throwing it back. The alcohol burned as it made its way down her throat. She felt someone approaching behind her and she stiffened as they handed her another glass of champagne. She took it, thanking them without looking at who it was.
"You alright sweetheart?" The voice asked as she felt a hand on the small of her back. Images started coming back to her, flashes of what happened that night. Damon smirking at her as he stood over her, Matt and Jeremy in the corner screaming at Damon, unable to do anything because of the restraints holding them to the wall. The tearing feeling she felt when he forced his way inside of her. Her gut wrenching sobs. His promise that he would see her again. She swallowed thickly and began to shake slightly.
The man behind her, whoever he was, began leading her towards one of the more secluded corners of the room. "Breathe sweetheart, breathe," His voice was soft, melodic. It reminded her of her childhood for some reason but she had no idea why. Finally she turned around to face the man who was helping her. She gasped when her eyes met his. He smiled and put his hand to her neck, moving his thumb back and forth under her jaw.
"Nik," she whispered. Her first reaction was not that she was inches away from the most dangerous serial killer in the country. No, her first reaction was that after sixteen years she was seeing her best friend. He looked the same, his eyes were the same shade as she remembered, his jaw was more chiseled, the same dimples. "You're here," She couldn't form a coherent thought, it hadn't registered yet that the notorious Hybrid was standing in front of her. It was Nik, her Nik, her best friend. "You have an accent," He laughed, his dimples flashing. "I missed you," She wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. She felt tears well up in her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. She had her eyes closed tightly, letting herself get lost in the way he held her tightly, almost possessively, and the musky, minty way that he smelled. When she slowly opened her eyes she saw something on his neck that snapped her back to reality. It was a faint line, not very obvious but it was there none the less. She knew what it was; she had a couple on her from encounters with less than friendly criminals who had pulled knives on her. She reached out her hand and traced the faint scar from the knife wound with the tip of her finger, slowly pulling away from the circle of his arms. He let her go, watching her curiously.
"You shouldn't be here," She whispered, looking around, hoping that nobody saw her with him.
"Relax sweetheart," he said calmly, how was he so calm while standing in the middle of a room full of cops. She was freaking out and she wasn't the one wanted for an insane number of murders. "I've got it all under control," He smirked and she was reminded that this was not the same Nik that she knew from her childhood. This was Niklaus, the coldblooded killer who never took mercy on his victims.
"Are you here to kill me?" She whispered, looking around frantically, trying to catch someone's eye to signal for help. Luckily, Matt was looking in her direction again and he caught her pleading gaze. She saw him start to make his way over.
"Why on earth would you think that?" He asked, with just a hint of laughter in his voice.
"I know who you are," She whispered even though nobody could hear them. He took her hand and pulled her closer as if they were dancing. She vaguely heard Richard finishing up his speech and the music come back on before he was whisking her away from Matt and onto the middle of the dance floor.
"And you think that because I've killed everyone else who could identify me that I would come after you next?" He tilted his head, looking at her questioningly. Matt was standing at the edge of the dance floor watching her like a hawk, Jeremy approached him and they whispered something to each other before nodding in her direction. "Tell me love, do you really think that low of me?"
"I've seen your victims Klaus," He pulled her closer to him and her fingers dug into his shoulders until they started growing numb.
"So its Klaus now is it?" His smirk grew.
"I've seen what you do to them," She ignored him, "How mutilated their bodies are when you're finished with them. So to answer your question, yes, I do think that low of you."
"You're a fan of my work?" He asked, with his eyebrows raised, "I'm flattered darling," She clenched her jaw in annoyance. "But you should know," He moved in so he was whispering in her ear, "I would never hurt you," It send shivers up her spine.
"Why should I believe you?" She asked pulling back so that she could look at him.
"Because I'm here," She looked away, "And you're alive,"
"Why are you here?" She asked, bringing them back around to her previous question.
"You'll find out soon enough," He responded cryptically.
"So you're not here to kill me," He shook his head, "Are you here to kill someone else," He laughed, not the little chuckles he had been doing before but full on laugher.
"Sorry to disappoint sweetheart," He said once he had stopped, "But I can't really tell you that,"
"So what's your angle?" She was getting frustrated with him. He kept avoiding her question and she had the sudden urge to stomp her foot on his.
"Why do I need an ulterior motive to come see my girl?" He asked, cocking his head to the side and swinging her around in a circle. She was suddenly very aware of how close they were, and she tried to step back instinctively but the hand he had on her lower back kept her firmly in place pressed against him.
"I'm not your anything," She said after swallowing down her sudden nerves. He chuckled.
"Not yet anyway," She tensed and he smiled. "You were though, before,"
"No, I wasn't," She said through clenched teeth. He snickered and pulled away from her as the song ended.
"Oh but you were," He whispered, leaning in so his lips barely touched hers, "You were my Hummingbird," Her eyes closed of their own accord as he brushed his lips across hers. "I have to attend to some business now, but I expect to be seeing a lot more of you soon," Just like that the spell was broken and she pulled back quickly.
"I highly doubt that," She spat, glaring at him. He winked before walking away. She watched him, unable to look away from his retreating figure. He was going straight for Richard Lockwood and her eyes widened in realization. Grabbing her skirt and kicking off her shoes she started running towards them as quickly as she could. The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion.
Klaus reached into his jacket just as Caroline yelled for everyone to get down. Richard looked up towards her just as Klaus reached him and a gun went off. Richard's eyes went wide and in a second there were three men pushing Klaus down to his knees, the gun skidding across the floor. Richard fell forward, his white shirt turning dark from the blood starting to pool from the wound in his chest. Rick caught him before his head hit the ground. Everyone was shouting as she skidded to a halt looking to Klaus just as his eyes met hers. Blood was spattered across his face and he looked lethal. He wasn't the boy she had grown up with, not anymore.
"Allow me to introduce myself," His eyes were locked with hers as he spoke and the whole room suddenly went silent, "My name is Niklaus Mikaelson,"
And then all hell broke loose.
Okay so please tell me what you think! Too cheesy? Predictable? Caroline or Klaus not badass enough? I really hoped you liked it...