AN: Hello my lovelies! This fic is a Klaroline fin, if you don't enjoy the pairing then please don't read! I don't own The Vampire Diaries or any of its characters – although I very much wish I did! Please read and rate – let me know what you think! :3
"Come with me." Niklaus Mikaelson wasn't begging, but his voice was somewhat desperate in its ragged darkness. "Caroline, sweetheart, come with me, or I swear I will kill him now." His fingers tightened around the organ buried in Tyler's chest eliciting a whimper from the hybrid.
It hadn't started that way. It hadn't started with threatening her into leaving town with him. He had wanted it to be her choice; he wanted her to be with him because she wanted to be. He promised to show her the world in all its shining shimmering splendour, to show her what immortality could really be.
Klaus had been almost sure she was about to agree, when that wretched boy came waltzing through Caroline's front door. When Tyler had shown up, it became all too easy to give into his jealousy. Why should she choose Tyler over him? What could Tyler honestly give her that he couldn't? He was just a small town boy and Caroline could be so much more. Tyler was holding her back, keeping her from her full potential. Keeping her from him. If it wasn't for Tyler she wouldn't stay, what else could there be?
He had plunged his hand into the other's chest, politeness and charm gone. As usual, Tyler had almost ruined his plans. He'd almost had her – and again the boy had come and tried to take her away from him. Klaus knew in that instant Caroline wouldn't leave without a little persuasion. If she wouldn't have him, she wouldn't have her precious Tyler either, that he would make sure of. "What's it going to be, love?"
Caroline Forbes had stared in horror as she watched Klaus rip a hole straight into Tyler's chest. "Klaus! Stop it!" Her voice had begged hysterically as she shook her head desperately. "You can't kill him. . .You can't!" Tyler had come to save her. Klaus had been trying to persuade her to come away with him and she had been saying no, repeatedly. She was in love with Tyler, she needed Tyler.
Caroline knew Klaus was crazy, but not to this point. Tears streamed down the usually feisty blondes face as she shook her head. She could see Tyler struggling to even gasp, making gurgling noises. She could tell Klaus had his hand around Tyler's heart, with each passing moment giving it a tug – torturing the boy.. "Please stop. . .please!" she begged repeatedly, her whole body in shock. He'd given her an ultimatum, a trade. Tyler would live if she took his place. She couldn't live with herself if she let him kill Tyler.
Caroline took one last look at Tyler. "Don't. . .Don't Caroline. . ." the boy tried to plead, but looking at his pale face she knew she had no choice.
"Tick-tock, love. Your precious Tyler is living on borrowed time here." Klaus smirked.
"Okay, okay." she whispered as she stared at the blood stained floor, which had collected in a pool of blood at Tyler's feet. "I'll do it. . ." she said, her chest aching from her choice.
Klaus slid his wet hand out of the cavity, and he let the boy fall to the floor as he turned to look at Caroline for the first time since Tyler had entered the room. He took in the tearstains, the defeated posture. He tried not to care that she seemed so genuinely hurt by the idea of choosing him over Tyler.
"Good choice, love." His voice was deceptively calm given what he had nearly just done, the rage that had been there covered by cool control. Klaus leant down, wiping the blood from his hand onto Tyler's shirt as the boy panted pathetically at his feet.
"She's mine now." Klaus whispered to him in a warning. Tyler was so weak, she would be better off without him. He stood, straightening himself, holding back the urge to give the boy a final kick. "That wasn't so hard now was it? A simple acquiescence was all I required, and your precious Tyler gets to live so long as he doesn't interfere with us leaving." He intoned lightly though the words precious and Tyler dripped with sarcasm, and he had ended it with a thinly veiled warning.
Caroline couldn't take her eyes off Tyler, wanting more than anything to kneel next to him and tell him it would be okay. That she would make it okay. "You said as long as I came with you, you wouldn't hurt him." Caroline stated her voice shakey as she tried to regain a hold on herself.
She looked so heartbreakingly fragile, so in need of protection, though she had shown herself to be strong and full of light. "I'll never hurt him again." Klaus reiterated solemnly, and he really didn't think there would ever be a reason to, so long as she stayed with him, and Tyler kept his distance, there wouldn't be a reason. "You have my word, love" He promised, before quirking his lips.
When Klaus seemed to step far enough away, Caroline knelt next to Tyler gingerly, taking his hand. "I'm so sorry. So, so, sorry Tyler" she whispered to him sadly as he gripped her hand. She could feel Klaus getting riled again as she gave Tyler's hand one last squeeze before standing. It hurt to now she had to leave him there. Now with Tyler's blood on her hands, and her mascara half way down her face she looked a sorry sight.
"You'll never hurt him again? You promised. . ." she trailed off as she hugged herself, a shiver running through her body, her mind only just realising what was happening. Klaus would kill Tyler, he would kill him out of jealousy. It was summer; she should have been happy, warm. Instead her knees now had a coating of blood, so did the hem of her dress and her hands. She looked as though she'd come from a murder scene.
"I'll never hurt him again, sweetheart, I promise. Don't you trust me?" Klaus repeated. He knew she didn't trust him, he hadn't given her any reason to he supposed. He saw her shiver, and he shrugged out of his blazer before draping it around her shoulders. He might have ripped her away from Tyler, but he wasn't completely heartless. "Come." He commanded, extending a hand to her. "We'll leave immediately." There was no need to stay any longer, as he had already remained in Mystic Falls far longer than he intended. "Or tomorrow." He conceded after thinking about it, Rebekah wouldn't have been ready to leave at such short notice, not without resentment, and Caroline would already resent him enough "Your choice."
Caroline didn't feel comforted by the jacket he hung around her shoulders. Would this be her life now? Being Klaus' doll, to use and throw away when he wanted? She scowled as she swatted his hand away unhappily. "My choice? My choice?!" Her voice quivered, rising as he spoke. She considered running for it, but he'd only catch her. And in that second she decided she'd get away when he was least expecting it. She'd wait for him to be unaware and run as fast as she could. The idea of him hunting her until the end of his days, much like he did to Katherine was terrifying, but it was better than being his puppet.
A muscle in his jaw twitched as she swatted his hand away, there was the feisty Caroline who so often managed to both irritate and enchant him. Tonight, it was erring more on the side of irritation than normal. "Easy, love, this was all your choice!" He replied testily, "This was all your doing, might want to remember that." His voice was a low snarl to remind her that no matter what she saw of him, he was the alpha male. He was in control of, and a step ahead of, every situation. He didn't even attempt to talk to her after that.
"I don't care. I don't want to leave." She told him coldly. Klaus had decided she would change her mind - Caroline was stubborn, shaken and trying to process what had just happened. From there to the Original mansion she stayed silent, facing mostly away from him. She hated the idea she'd had to leave Tyler to bleed in her bedroom, to watch her leave him there.
She stood awkwardly in the hallway when they entered, listening to Rebekah complain that they had to move again. "You need a change of clothes" Rebekah told her, looking at her blood stained self. "And a shower." Usually the female Original wouldn't take pity on the blonde; but she looked like hell.
After they'd gotten Caroline into the shower Rebekah watched her brother carefully. "She's crying in the shower Klaus. What did you do to her?" she frowned. "Do we have to take her with us if all she's going to do is cry? What are you actually going to gain from this Nick?"
"Do I have to take you with me if all you're going to do is question me?" His query had no real heat behind it though. "One Salvatore brother is growing Jeremy's mark, one is pining for Elena, between the two of them I think they'll do most of the work on finding the cure, and Caroline gives us leverage here we didn't have before. I don't need to be here, and neither do you, sister. We can take a little trip." Not that they needed leverage, but it sounded good. Klaus would make Caroline see, he was her best – and only choice.
That's all for now, loves! Please tell me what you think! Also, follow me on Twitter MissKlaroline and let me know what you think on there!