Burning the drawings wasn't enough to offset the shock that his family could still be killed.
He had to control himself very hard to not crash the phone in his hands, but to give it back to his sister. The feeling of the fire behind him was strong.
„What are we going to do about it Nik?" she pressed.
His mind was empty except for pure anger.
Eyes shut he explained „I don't know, Rebekah." and began to walk around the room, thinking.
„What are we going to do about it?" she repeated stressing every word, knowing her brother must have a plan.
Raising his index finger to her, he very calmly said „Let me think"
It must be the adrenalin he hadn't felt in centuries that prevented him from ripping someone's heart out.
He exhaled „I need a drink" and turned to the cabinet where he kept his supply. A glas was unnecessary: he drank straight from the bottle.
Taking his time to empty it.
(When it was emptied, he dropped it to the floor, grabbing the next one and repeating the ritual.)
Having emptied half the alcohol he'd had he realised it was not helping. Sometime his sister had left, but right now he didn't care. Never since he'd been a hybrid had he felt so powerless.
It was only then that he noticed his hands were clenched into fists, the veins coming out of his white skin.
Trying to relax, he sat down on the giant couch, shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling very, very tired all of a sudden. Feeling as though he'd lived for a thousand years for the first time.
His mother tried to kill him; kill all of them. Caroline used him. His siblings were still in danger.
It's been all in vain.
He let out a deep roar, throwing the bottle of scotch at the opposite wall of the living room, where it ruined one of his landscapes.
What was he supposed to do?
Of course he had to find that bloody tree and burn it to the ground, collect all of its remaining ash and throw in the ocean, so that they were all safe again.
He'd hunt down the descendants of those who had planted this devilish plant and wipe them and everyone they'd ever met from the earth's face.
And it still wouldn't be enough.
Suddenly he felt an urgent need to kill. Someone. Just anyone.
An hour or so later, his house was full of women in short skirts, dancing or lying on the floor, dead, some of them even vampires.
Some popular music was playing and all of them were cheerful and happy and willing as if they were celebrating but the hybrid was just sitting on the sofa, biting a blonde in the neck and immediatley dropping her dead body to the floor.
Surrounding the couch lay several bodys. All of them well dressed and all of them dead.
Some had broken necks or cut throats or ripped out hearts, just whatever he'd felt like the moment his attention had come to either of them.
Their friends kept dancing, singing and drinking, taking no notice of the red mess on the wooden floor.
„You sweetheart" he pointed towards a blonde with a blood stained hand. „ come over here"
She smiled, honoured that he'd chosen her and came to sit on his lap, willing to do everything he'd ask for.
He examined her face: To humans she may have seemed good-looking or even beautiful, but not to him. She wore too much make up that didn't cover up her impure skin and her face was just asymmetric.
One moment he played with a stand of her fake blond hair, the next he took away the compulsion and enjoyed the irritated look on her face when she found herself in the scene of a horror movie.
With a smile and before she could even scream, he would shred her carotid with his fangs, blood dripping all over his face and body and anywhere else.
It began to bore him. He let go of the girl and gave the silent order for a massacre.
When she found him, the sun had already risen, but he hadn't moved from his spot on the soft cushions, staring blankly into nothing.
Seeing him, she sighed.
„Seriously?"
Her heels clattered on the floor boards as she made her way towards him, trying to climb over the corpses without slipping because of the blood.
She stopped in front of him, hands on her hips.
„You know, I haven't come here to clean up"
Klaus didn't react.
Caroline threw her hands up and rolled her eyes, whispering to herself „You can do this."
„Get up" she ordered, waving towards him to underline her demand.
He looked up at her not showing how she impressed him again. Everyone else he would have killed already.
„Get up" she repeated more slowly and he did.
„Good. Now: Where's your bathroom?"
He pointed to the stairs with his eyes, his look returning to her face.
The Hybrid felt blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, but didn't mind removing it.
„Come on, we'll wash all that blood off you"
Slightly smirking he began to move in the direction the master bathroom was, feeling hypnotised.
Caroline followed him up the stairs.
Having reached the bathroom, he stopped in front of the giant walk-in shower and gave her the hint of a questioning look by raising an eyebrow.
As if it was the most obvious thing in the world she said „In there with you" .
Slowly he stepped in and turned to her. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest.
„Remove your shirt" she dictated.
Mentally he smirked, thinking at least she has me undress myself.
The fabric fell to the ground in front of her feet. Only then did he notice how much blood it had soaked up: Instead of grey, his pullover was dark red.
She turned on the shower and cold water embraced his body, filling his limbs with life again;
his legs, his arms, he could feel everything again. Soon, the water turned hot.
Eyes closed, he laid his head back so that the water would fall merciless on his face. Her voice broke the silence „We're not just gonna wash that blood off of you, but everything. You'll feel like a whole new person" Caroline said this with so much confidence that he wondered if she had experience with this ritual.
The next thing was him being brushed with a towel. First his right arm then his left. She didn't even leave out his chest to be cleared from all the evil. „My dad used to do this for me when I felt like the whole world was against me" she explained in a yearning voice.
Klaus listened silently and enjoyed the feeling of her hands.
Shivers went down his spine when her fingers traced the shape of his eyebrows, stroking his eyelids as if actually rubbing something off. It was similar to a face massage, only she put special attention to his lips, probably making an effort to get rid of the blood there, of which he hadn't drunk a single drop. The little vampire would scrub his ears between her fingers and tap on his nose.
As one of her last actions, she cupped his entire face in bothe her hands, pressing her palms to his skin for relaxation.
He let out a sound of shock, due to her non-existent inhibitions, forcing him to open his eyes again. Caroline had left the room.
When her hands were gone eventually, much too soon, his muscles relaxed and he collapsed to the floor.
„Dry yourself, will you?", she shouted from a different room on the first floor. Getting up in vampire speed, he did as asked, knotting the white fabric around his waist when he was finished.
The sound of her steps came closer until they stopped in front of the half closed door. „Can I come in?", she asked resolutely.
Instead of answering he pulled the door open, smiling sadly at her. „Here", she held out a bunch of clothes to him „Get dressed". When he didn't take them, she tossed the garments to the floor and closed the door.
A second passed where he admired her strong character again, then he grabbed the plain shirt , boxers and jeans and put them on quickly so that he could open the door again to see her face; not that he would mind her seeing him naked. It was just that he enjoyed this game where she was sure she had the upperhand.
„Much better" she stated and turned to walk towards his bedroom. Curious, he followed.
She went straight for his bed, but Klaus wasn't so foolish as to believe the obvious. Still, he stopped in the doorway to raise an eyebrow.
Caroline was busy unfolding the sheets and adjusting the pillows. Suddenly turning to face him she insisted „Now, you go to bed and have some good old sleep"
In order to please her, he slowly walked towards the king size bed and laid down right on top of the blanket.
„Good" Now she wasn't too sure of what to do with herself. „I'll leave you alone then", she still remained at the door though she tried to get away, he assumed and gave her look as if he was about to kill himself or an entire village if not under her watch.
She sighed „Fine. I'll better stay anyway. Wouldn't want you to be in mischief, right?" It took a lot for him not to laugh at how easily she was manipulated or was it the fact that she brought herself to actually like him?
He wondered what she would do. Sit in the armchair in the corner of the room, on the floor or would she come into bed with him? He hoped for the latter.
It seemed she wasn't so sure herself of the where of her plan. To his surprise, she didn't have to think long. She went almost straight for the bed, sighing heavily when she lay down.
Though he still felt tired, he had no intention to sleep now.
At first there was silence, no heartbeats or bird noises. The thick curtains were closed except for a small split that let in the bright light of the day. And then she started talking about her dead father and what they used to do togehter, what it was like when her parents got divorced and even about her relationship to Elena and her other friends. Why did she start this now? Telling him everything about her. He listened iwith interest, laying on his side watching her while she was facing the ceiling.
Without knowing, she did exactly the right thing to distract him and calm him down: Babbling about unimportant stuff such as her dress at junior prom. He felt slightly ashamed that she had to do this for him, that she actually did.
Sometime, he would close his eyes to pay special attention to her voice, maybe pretending to sleep, so he would know what she'd do then.
He must have been persuasive pretending as she slid closer to him and started to stroke his hair absentmindedly.
Ultimately, she would stop talking and stroking and he would fall asleep only to wake up a few minutes later, feeling like a new man.
Since he had business to attend to, he decided she would find another drawing of her holding his head on her chest when she woke, saying Thank you for your company in his handwriting.