A/N: Well this originally started out with the idea of being a collection of non-related one-shots. It has now evolved into the beginnings of a story slightly longer than that. I'll try to update as often as possible, however university is starting soon which is sure to be a hectic time.
Also, forgive me if the characters seem a bit OOC. I do my best but Klaus is a pretty complicated character as I'm sure you all know.
Anyway, enjoy :)
It had now, unfortunately, reached the three week mark since Tyler had last been present in Mystic Falls, a fact which Caroline was feeling the full brunt of. He and Caroline had communicated via texts for a while, however that had ended abruptly with a clear dismissal. The simple message of "Dear Caroline, don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait for me." still made her heart clench and her stomach drop in fear. No matter how many desperate calls she made and frantic voicemails she'd left, Tyler had yet to ease her worry and pain. The last voicemail she'd left was two days ago, when Caroline had decided that she was acting like the overly attached girlfriend who nobody liked.
In yet another attempt to distract herself, Caroline had gone on a wild shopping spree with both Bonnie and Elena under the guise of helping Elena settle into her new vampire life. They had waltzed from shop to shop, buying pretty much anything that caught their eyes. Caroline, needless to say, had left with arms full of clothes, thankful of her recently acquired vampire strength. Her purchases now lay in almost-glamorous piles around her bedroom; a glittery dress thrown over her rumpled bed sheets, a pair of dark jeans over the back of a chair.
From her position at the window, Caroline looked down at the boots and lacy underwear that blocked her path to the door. With a resigned sigh, she gracefully nudged away a shoe which lay directly in her path before deciding to just wade through it all. At reaching her goal of freedom Caroline cast a half-hearted glance back into her bedroom, wondering if it would be against Stefan's high and mighty rules to simply compell someone to clean it up for her. How easy life would be with no morals.
Of course to add to her concerns, Caroline had yet to forget her last meeting with the original hybrid. The way his eyes had glinted in amusement at finding her grocery shopping simultaneously troubled her and sent thrills down her spine.
Shaking her head to clear the unwanted thoughts, Caroline moved from her doorway to the foyer, suddenly desperate to leave the quiet stillness of her house. Grabbing the jacket she had shucked off on arriving home, Caroline yanked open the door and stepped out into the slowly cooling afternoon. However, before she had even made it to her car, a sharp, cold pain blossomed in the side of her neck followed by a numbing sensation that spread through her limbs.
Vervain.
Spinning around, she lashed out at her attackers only to find her arms grabbed and pinned down beside her as her body was gently lowered to the ground.
"This is her, yeah?" A masculine voice questioned.
"Without a doubt. Blond, chirpy and a vampire? She fits the description to a tee." This time it was a feminine voice which spoke.
Caroline willed her eyes to open, to at least get a glimpse of her assailants. All she could see when she finally managed to force her eyelids open, however, were two large fuzzy blobs that swam in her vision before the blackness of unconsciousness overwhelmed her.
Klaus, contrary to seemingly everyone's beliefs, could sometimes be predictable. These certain situations were rather rare though, and usually occurred in attendance with either his family, namely Elijah and Rebecca, or a beautiful young blond vampire.
So when Klaus followed his usual route to the Salvatore house, the one that passed the street adjacent to Caroline's, he was greeted with an extremely unwelcome sight.
Caroline, his beautiful strong vampire, was being manhandled unconscious into the backseat of a car by a man while a woman walked around the car to the driver's side.
Klaus, again reverting to the more predictable side of personality simply reacted with all the fury and strength he could muster as the strongest of the Original siblings.
Blurring towards the woman first, he dug his fingers into the sides of her scalp, latched on to her hair and twisted, messily ripping her head from her body. Bloodied and ruined, her body fell to the ground, spraying the pavement with muck and dirtying the side of the car. Klaus dropped the woman's head and ran around the car to the man whose hands were now held in front of him in a gesture of surrender.
Klaus let his anger and bloodlust swell, feeling his eyes change in the manner which all hybrids shared.
"Pray tell, what is the meaning of this?" Klaus demanded, rage blackening his tone.
"Was just orders, I swear!" Came the panicked response.
"Orders?" Klaus questioned again. He took a step forward, bringing his clawed hand up in preparation to thrust into the man's chest. "Who's orders?"
The man's fear-filled eyes rapidly darted down to glance at Caroline's prone form before opening his mouth to respond.
Before he could utter even a single word, a muffled moan came from the direction of the car. Klaus jerked his head down to look at Caroline. She had one hand placed softly on her forehead, the other was prodding the tender spot at the side of her neck.
"What the hell?" The words seemingly fell from her lips before she pressed them together in faint annoyance. "Who's car is this?"
As Klaus fully turned towards her and lowered the arm outstretched towards the man, he heard a whoosh. He didn't even have to look to know that the man, apparently a vampire, had taken his momentary lapse to run away.
"Caroline, love, how are you feeling?" Klaus asked in a tone that could be called gentle by him.
"Like I was drugged by some criminals and stuffed in the back of a car like old luggage." She retorted with none of the gentleness Klaus had shown her.
"Well that's only to be expected, isn't it? Come on then, let's get you inside."
"Thanks, but no thanks.," was Caroline's expected reply, "I'd rather sit here all day then be helped by you."
"Now, love, don't be like that. Here I am trying to be a gentleman and all you do is insult me." Klaus's words were softened by the amused smirk he displayed.
Caroline's sharp glare was again the typical response Klaus had expected.
"Ok, ok, fine. At least let me walk you to your room?" This was asked with his head tilted to the side.
Rebecca had once remarked that his head tilt made him look like a kicked puppy and that if he ever wanted to keep his reputation he should never use it again in her presence.
Caroline let out a deep sigh before agreeing. She still didn't take his outstretched hand though, preferring to use the car door as leverage to boost her from the seat.
The trip to her room was exhausting in more ways than one. Firstly, she was still recovering from the effects of the vervain in her system. Thankfully her healing time had been reduced greatly with her daily ingesting of the herb. Each step was still too slow compared to her usual walking speed though.
The second issue was that Klaus walked with one hand hovering over the small of back and one lifted away from his side. When she had glared at him and then at his arm, he'd insisted that it was just in case she felt too dizzy to stay upright. She'd declared that he was being a mother hen.
Coming to her room, Klaus reached for the doorknob, twisted it, and gently pushed it open as far as it would go. Under the door it appeared that a remnant of Caroline's recent shopping trip blocked any of its further movement. Caroline could see in her peripheral vision how Klaus's eyes trailed up from the floor in front of them, over the underwear and shoes scattered around the ground, to rest on the bed, where by far the majority of clothes lay.
She turned her gaze at the same time he turned his. When their eyes met, he deliberately raised an eyebrow before opening his mouth in what was about to become a sarcastic comment.
"Oh, shove it." Caroline spat out before he could make a sound, a flush rising up her cheeks. "Technically I'm still a teenage girl. I'm supposed to over shop."
"If by over shop you mean buy the contents of three shopping malls then I can see why you were reluctant to invite me up here."
Caroline swatted at Klaus's chest for that comment, ignoring the way his grin lit up his face. "You've got what you wanted. I'm safe in my room. You can leave now."
Still smiling slightly from her casual touch, Klaus turned away to leave Caroline to her thoughts, but not before murmuring, "I hope that your wardrobe is large enough to hold all of your purchases. If not I can always show you my bedroom."
He ducked the shoe thrown at his head and blurred from the house, smirking in amusement. He had hybrids to call and a car for them to clean.
