And you know that we're doomed, my dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room


Two days pass, and Klaus does't say a single word. Stefan brings them food, and they consume their victims in silence. The vampire begins to worry about his counterpart around sunset on the third day. Klaus has barely moved from the broken couch.

"We need to talk," Stefan says, knowing that no matter how he approaches this, Klaus is likely to tear him to pieces.

"Do we?" the hybrid snarks, shoving the latest feed off his lap. She hits the ground with a thud, and Klaus steps over her, his golden eyes gleaming with bloodlust. "And what do we need to talk about, my dear ripper?"

Well, at least he can talk. The vampire had begun to wonder.

"Something is wrong with you. Something is bothering you, Klaus, and I need to know what it is so I can help you fix it."

"You cannot fix me!" Klaus shouts, hurling something in a fit. Stefan sidesteps it easily, having expected it. The hybrid was nothing if not predictable when angered.

"Tell me what is wrong with you and I can try!"

This time, the hand presses to his throat. Klaus uses the hold to slam him into the ground. Stefan rises to his feet, unperturbed by the attack, and allows Klaus to circle him like a predator.

"You want to know what's wrong, Stefan?" Klaus says in a sickly sweet tone, and immediately Stefan knows he's in 's slammed back into the wall, and Klaus lowers his face to the vampire's neck.

"You want to know my problem?" he purrs, and the heat of his breath sends a shiver down Stefan's spine. "My problem is that I cannot get my fill from any other blood but yours. So tell me, what are we going to do about that?"

Stefan thinks the fix is simple, but he doesn't dare suggest it. He focuses on preventing the hardening of his body as Klaus rubs against him. The friction is torture to the already tense vampire, and Stefan doesn't dare move a muscle.

"I didn't think so," Klaus mutters, and his presence against Stefan disappears.

"So stop asking. You cannot fix what has been done."


Klaus emerges from the bedroom a few hours later, and his eyes survey the lack of bodies within the apartment. He doesn't comment on Stefan's efficient clean-up, and merely strolls to the liquor cabinet.

The vampire considers how Klaus might take an intervention to stop his drinking. He doesn't mention it.

The hybrid returns with a bottle of something old, whipping off the top and taking a deep swig. Stefan watches, entranced. There's something so compelling about Klaus, and it draws him in without struggle. The temptation scratches at his walls, so carefully placed, and Stefan fights to keep them in place. If he makes just one slip up around Klaus, everything will be over.

The bottle slams down on the table, and the hybrid eyes him darkly. "Get out."

"Excuse me?"

"I said get out!" Klaus bellows, and this time there is no flying furniture - perhaps he's run out, Stefan considers. When the hybrid speaks again, his voice is level. "Come back tomorrow."

There's a part of Stefan that goes to argue, but his overall sense of self-preservation overwhelms it and he exits the apartment. With the whole night to kill, he heads to a club they haven't ransacked yet.

Instead of feeding first, as is Klaus' usual demand, Stefan takes his time. He watches the dance floor from the bar, nursing a drink. Towards the right side of the floor, there is a blonde who reminds him a little of Elena - should his ex-girlfriend have champagne blonde hair. This woman seems a little older, and is wearing less makeup than the others. Something draws him in, and he makes for the dancefloor.

She agrees to the dance without compulsion, and Stefan draws it out before he invites her into the alleyway. He'd scoped it out before entering, and made sure there was a place he could do this without being seen.

There's just one thing the vampire doesn't count on, and that's the pretty blonde pulling out a wooden stake from god knows where and slamming it straight into his chest.

He comes to in an unfamiliar room, and there's a strange circular symbol on the roof above him. Even so, his first thought is Klaus. Dawn is already rising outside, and he curses as he thinks of what the hybrid will do when Stefan doesn't come back.

As is becoming common, he thinks of himself second. Pain shoots from his wrist, and when he looks to it he finds that his blood is being drained into a glass vase.

The blonde is standing nearby, conversing quietly with a taller brunette male. Stefan listens, but he cannot hear. They are so close that even a human may be able to overhear, yet the vampire cannot?

"It's the circle," the brunette says with a smirk. "In there, you are just as useless as a human. Sorry to inconvenience you, but it's necessary that you don't heal."

"Who are you?"

"There will be time for questions later," the blonde snapped at the brunette, obviously displeased with her partner, "go back to sleep."

The brunette's words are the last things he hears before he passes out.

"You're wrong. He won't come."


Thank you so much to anyone and everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I was so happy to have feedback, I really wasn't expecting it. It's thanks to you guys that this chapter made it up so fast.

Also, this story may seem a little PWP at the moment, and it probably is (I'm kind of writing this because I wanted some shameless Klefan smut) but there is something building. Hope everyone is happy with that. Let me know whether you'd prefer more PWP and smut, or if you actually want more of a storyline involving them. I'm curious.

Thanks again!