Chapter Two
"You are crazy, Klaus," she said. "But be one, if you will. You think I'd turn my humanity on just because you say so? Or just because we shagged before?" Caroline rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'll turn it on because you promised to be my last love. Let me go-"
"Sweetheart, you are mad!"
She did not quite like being called mad, but she would let it go for now. "What will you gain by doing this? Absolutely nothing. I will hate you so much for doing this."
"You're wrong. I'll have the old Caroline back and if I have to fight this Caroline to get the other back, I will."
Fight! Against her! She wanted to slap the triumph from his eyes, for he was making such a damnable mistake. She was being nice because she thought he would let her go. He deserved to suffer at her hands, certainly not the other way around! She stamped a foot in sudden fury. "You will let me go! You've no right—"
"But I do!"
His hands were suddenly upon her, drawing her close against him. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, she felt the rippling muscles within his hard, lean body, felt again the strength that had warmed her in dreams. Felt the fury and the tension, the trembling deep within.
"Let go of me!" she shouted.
"You know," he said, quite politely, though his grip upon her was still fierce, "you always were headstrong. A little spitfire. Well, love, this time, strength of will is not going to be enough. Perhaps I will let you go in time. But if and when I do, it will not be because you forced me to. It will be because I achieved what I want."
"You bastard!" she hissed.
He nodded, not even feeling any hurt. "That's right. Count on it. I will deal with you the right way you need to be dealt with."
"I will not surrender to you!"
"I'm a man of my word, love, you're aware of that. I will get your humanity back and there's nothing you can do about it. I will be here when you fall apart and I'll help you overcome your pain and grief. There shouldn't be any argument over this. It is happening. My advice to you, Caroline, is to get ready when that happens. However, this conversation will have to wait just a bit. I've a family business at hand. But fear not. I will return." He released her and turned, long strides taking him to the door.
"Dammit, you bastard!" Caroline called after him, panic causing her voice to rise. She couldn't let him leave just yet. She couldn't let her only chance of escaping go to waste. Who knew when he would be back, and she did not like the idea of being locked up alone, with nothing but her thoughts. No way. "It is never going to happen! You're wrong! I tell you, you will let me go! You've no right, no right at all—"
She broke off, gasping against her will, because he had suddenly, viciously, closed the space between them. His hands were upon her, hard. He was lifting her. Suddenly she was thrown back on the bed again, and this time he was atop her, straddled over her, staring fiercely down upon her. She twisted, writhing madly for her freedom, raising a hand in her wild determination to strike him.
But he caught her hand, and held it tight, low against the sheets. "Don't tempt me, Caroline!" Klaus felt her tremble against him—and the urge to surrender. Oh, the feel of her fingers against his. He had lain awake so many nights, aching, feeling the agony of loss. Yet that touch!
He swallowed hard, bracing himself. He would not give in to her! Not when her words and heart were so bitter, not when she lived, and despised him so. Not when it was he who should be so very furious with her! He would not surrender. He needed his warm, light Caroline, not this cold and emotionless one.
"Dammit, you've no right—" she repeated.
"You're mistaken. I've every right!" he roared. His teeth clenched suddenly as he stared down at her. He reached out, and for one fleeting second, it seemed that he touched her with some tenderness, his knuckles just stroking her cheeks. Then he tightened his fingers into his palm, snatching them away. "You-" he stopped himself and gave a heavy sigh. "I promised your friends I would get you back. They had faith in me that I would bring their friend back."
She lay rigid, staring at him. "They're idiots, then. Having faith in someone who will disappoint them." she returned.
"Ah, I see you're yet to accept the truth. Very well, Caroline."
They both held very still for a moment, staring each other. Then, with an oath, he pushed away from her, rising. His back was to her, his shoulders broad and taut, his back stiff, his hands clenched at his sides. He strode to the door. Caroline heard it open and then slam shut.
She leapt up, both panic and fury seizing her with such a force that she was determined to escape this cell, no matter what she had to do to accomplish the feat. She raced for the door, flinging herself against it, then screaming angrily because he had seen to it that it had been barricaded from the outside. He had known that she would try to escape. "God, I hate you!" she cried, slamming her hand against the door. "I hate you, I hate you …" Her teeth chattered. She wanted to shake him, hurt him. She wanted to wind her fingers around his throat.
He would come back. Soon, she was certain. Until then, she had no choice. No choice at all, but to wait and plan.
The door suddenly opened again. She sat up quickly, alert and wary. It was Klaus. He had returned. After three hours. He stepped into the door, letting the door fall shut behind him with a definite click. He walked across the cell with a natural grace, well honed and physically muscled and sleek. He came across the cell, his eyes upon her, but he did not come near her at first. He took a seat beside her, and leaned back, watching her with his condemning blue stare. Then he smiled slowly, a smile that was chill, and sent shivers along her spine.
"Well, Caroline, we are, at long last, alone and with time to share."
She controlled her temper through that, sitting as regally and as decently as she could manage with a pounding head. "And how was your family business, Klaus?" she inquired icily. "Had a blast?"
He arched a brow, staring at her. Then she tensed, nearly jumping, for his feet fell to the floor and he rose, approaching her swiftly. She inched back upon the bed. His arms created bars about her as he braced himself, leaning against the wall behind her. His face. So close. She could see the burning blue in his eyes, feel the warmth of his breath, and the hair-trigger tension within him.
"Didn't know you were interested in my family, love," he said.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I could care less about your psychotic, dysfunctional and abusive family. I asked because whatever business you had went bad, didn't it? I sensed it the moment you came." She laughed. "I couldn't be happier. I'm so sorry that today wasn't your day. Need a tissue from yours truly?"
He pushed away from her, and began to stride across the cell. He reminded her then of a caged cat, but he had created the boundaries of his own cage. He came to a halt then, leaning against a chair, half sitting upon the edge of it. His eyes hardened.
"Let's talk about yours, shall we? Your father hated vampirism and you were one. He killed himself to prevent him from ever becoming a vampire - a monster. Have you ever wondered, Caroline, even for a slightest bit that he might have hated you too? You were something he hated, surely you hadn't thought he would still love you." It was all lies. It broke him to say such things to her, but Klaus needed a reaction out of her. Something. And the best way to trigger an emotionless vampire was to talk about a painful memory. He absolutely hated it. "And your mother kept her distance away from you. To her, you were a monster who was sharing her daughter's body. Maybe the only reason why she accepted you was because she pitied you. She didn't love you."
She raised her chin and stared at her, then did the most unthinkable. She threw her head back and laughed. She laughed so hard that he noticed a few tears in her eyes. Klaus clenched his fists tightly.
"I'm so sorry," She choked back a laugh. "Was that supposed to make me feel something?"
He contained his anger and smiled. "Not to worry, Caroline. This was Stefan's idea which he wanted me to try first. My tactics are very different from what you expect. And moving on. I will not come visit you after I leave here. Not until I sorted out my problems. In the mean time, love, try and stay alive."
Caroline leapt up and shook her head vehemently. "Your business is more important than me?"
"My daughter is important to me," he fiercely reminded her, his tone taking an edge. "It is her life that is at risk. I cannot be here all the time."
"So you're going to dump me here? Just let me go, Klaus. I'll forgive you if you let me go," she told him. She closed the distance between them. "I'm this close to dispising you."
"Let me be clear about something," he snapped. "This cell is your home now. Unless your humanity is back on, get used to your new home."
She didn't think. Yet even if she had taken the time to, she would have done the same thing, no matter how blindly stupid her actions were. She struck him. Swiftly, surely, with fire and menace. And there was a wonderful, if brief, feeling of elation that filled her then, for her blow was quick and sure. Her hand connected loudly with his cheek. The blow left her fingerprints upon it.
Elation was quickly lost, for she saw the deep-set fury in his eyes and then found herself drawn against him, swept into his arms. Struggling fiercely, she flailed against him. "Let me down, you—ass!" She was distressed that she couldn't think of anything more heinous to label him. "Put me down. Now."
The violence suddenly left him. He released her, sitting back up on the bunk, watching her from the corner of his eye. "Don't tempt me then!"
She lay near him, panting. She tried to struggle up, inching away from him.
"Listen, Caroline, I will make a deal with you. I'll get you out of this cell and take you to a comfortable room instead if you promise to stop thinking about leaving here. And if you do not agree to my condition, then you will have to stay here. What is it going to be?"
"Go and shove your deal up your uptight ass, you hear me, Klaus Mikaeslon, and then you pray our paths do not cross when I escape from this place."
"Escape!" There was surprise, as well as thunder, in his tone. Then he smiled, though the curve of the lips over his teeth that was at all friendly. "Believe me, sweetheart, you can't escape from here."
"Get it through your head," She inched farther to her side of the bed, her eyes warily upon him. Escaping here is my priority. And I'm sure your noble brother won't take kindly to you keeping me here in a cell, after all, I did nothing that would land me locked up. I will scream so loudly that everyone in this mansion would come rushing here. Elijah will release me."
He smiled. "Oh, I don't think so. If I were to chop you into pieces, no vampire in this mansion would interfere or release you. They are under my orders."
She stiffened, her temper rising, but all she did was lift a questioning brow at him, whose expression mirrored not guilt, but a definite degree of frustration. "And Elijah? Rebekah, perhaps? She wouldn't want me to be in the same house as her. Not that I would blame her...I'm a nightmare."
"I don't give a damn," he told her politely.
"How can you want to keep someone who hates you?" she cried desperately.
A brow arched again. She trying hard to keep her distance from him. But he leaned against her. He reached out, just his forefinger moving gently over the angle of her cheek. "Do you hate me?"
"Yes!" she snapped back. "You kidnapped me! Refused to release me, how can you think I won't hate you?!"
The tender stroke of his finger stilled. "It is all for your own good."
She barked out a humourless laugh, her eyes throwing deep glares at him. "So, you think you know what's good for me? Because you were inside me, you know what's good for me? Come on, Klaus. We shagged, it meant nothing to me, and it doesn't give you the right to think that you know what's good for me."
He refrained from commenting on what she had just told him, too vexed to do so without losing his temper completely, strained as it was. It was what she wanted, for him to lash out and then end up releasing her. But he had mastered the ability to calm his anger down. She stood still now, those azure eyes glaring at him.
"You can still have that warm comfortable bed instead of this cold hard one. It's just a matter of a promise. Tick tock, sweetheart."
A promise. He wanted her to promise not to talk about leaving. Not bloody likely. The thought of escaping would always be on her mind, not far away. She would accept his deal because it would be her only means of escaping this godforsaken place. How foolish was Klaus. To think that she thought he was the smartest person on earth.
And then she accepted. He smiled in truimpth, thinking that he was finally winning her over.
The cell was all over on the other side of the mansion and Caroline didn't see anyone. Her hope of seeing Elijah was crushed down when she couldn't even see a single person in the mansion. Klaus had had his hand securely wrapped around her arm and she couldn't resist not snorting, however, he had ignored her. Her eyes was fixed on everything, her mind already forming an escape plan. A mansion without so much as security, especially Klaus', screamed alarm. She wasn't stupid. He wanted her to think that it would be easy escape when it wasn't going to be easy.
Caroline sat alone in the room. He had left as quickly as he had came. She suspected that he was in a hurry to leave, but the douche didn't forget to lock the door. A war might have broken out and he wouldn't still forget to lock the damn door, too determined to keep her locked up.
Being alone in the room gave her the chance to explore. The room was beautiful no doubt, and the windows were secured by iron bars. When her hand came in contact with it, it had burned. Vervain. That alone almost made her lash out in anger. That bastard was prepared, it seemed.
She headed towards the door and began pulling it open, using her vampire abilities but the door wouldn't budge. She kicked it hard and then she started kicking again, her hands banging on the door in frustration.
"Open up! Is anyone there? Let me out!" She screamed whilst banging and kicking enough to be heard.
Oh, she was heard alright.
"Niklaus, is there something I should know about?" Elijah Mikaelson asked warningly, yet his composure was calm and collected.
Klaus took a long sip of his bourbon, and continued to ignore his brother's question. The woman sitting farthest away from him in the room was eyeing him curiously, whilst the other was staring at him in annoyance and disdain, her eyes flashing in recognition. This wasn't how he wanted them to know he had a guest in his home. And Caroline constant yells and screams were enough to question his actions for bringing her out in the open.
She was a distraction. She was distracting not only him, but the occupant in the room. He needed his mind set on the task of killing Dahlia, and his mind set on protecting Hope, however, he could not when his mind kept going back to her. It wasn't a good thing. Maybe he had made a grave mistake when he accepted to help her but it had also given him a great opportunity to see her, to be near her and also to be able to protect her. He should not regret his decision.
"Niklaus."
He threw his brother a frustrated stare. "What, Elijah? There's nothing you should know about. Can we move on and focus on what's important?" he asked hopefully, yet his tone didn't leave any room for more questions concerning her.
"Are you serious, Nik? You don't hear her screaming our ears off and you're ignoring it? What the bloody hell is Caroline Forbes even doing here?"
"Rebekah, it would do you some good if you mind your own business," he said protectively, earning him a deep glare from his sister. Klaus almost rolled his eyes. How many times was he going to get glares from different women in the same day?
"Why is she here locked up? What is the meaning of this? Help me understand, brother. We have a lot of things to worry about, we don't need you to add more into it."
"I assure you, Elijah, that you need not to worry about Caroline. She is mine to worry about."
A disbelieving snort greeted that statement before Rebekah said, with a potent glare for her brother, "Then would you tell her to shut up? Better yet, why don't you let her go."
"No one should go inside the room or attempt to help her escape, especially you, Rebekah. You don't want a dagger in your heart again," Klaus said the words so icily and it was laced with a threat. The tension in the room thickened.
She exploded in anger. "She is going to keep distracting you, Nik! I don't want her here! She is a distraction! Tell him, Elijah." Sister and brother were both glaring at each other now. Elijah, in full agreement with his sister. Rebekah looked to Freya for help. It might be her home, but Freya wasn't about to argue with her siblings, and her look said so.
"Enough! I refused to argue about this." And Klaus turned around and left the room with his glass of Bourbon still in his hands.
"What about Dahlia, Niklaus?" Elijah asked but was ignored as he watched his brother disappear through the door.
"We are doomed, Elijah. As long as she is here, his mind will divide into two," Rebekah said in fright and anger.
"That would be a problem then," Freya pointed out. "Who is this Caroline and why does it sound like she is important to Klaus?"
