FOR HELEN and her beautiful, ridiculous spamming of covers. They are so beautiful.
Caroline glanced around the lobby, fingers plucking at the do-dads on her purse. Last night she'd been worn around the edges, not really interested in exploring the hotel that Klaus had chosen. Bonnie had been tense, that last hour. They had paused and snapped a hilariously grim selfie in front of the welcome sign, before making ridiculous faces into Caroline's phone. But now it was morning, and she had little excuse not to take in the hotel.
Drat the man, it was lovely.
It had been a struggle, to stay in bed. Caroline wanted to roam. Wanted to follow the strange, new sounds that she could hear from the city. Follow the laughter and the music, until Mystic Falls was the last place she thought of.
But she'd forced herself to stay in bed, to rest even if real sleep hadn't come easy. If she was completely honest, she hadn't slept well since her mom died. Flipping her switch, the ridiculousness with Stefan, her itching need to protect Bonnie... she knew vampires felt more than humans, but she'd been blindsided by the possessiveness. The grinding in her bones to keep what was hers, safe.
Caroline needed to get herself under control.
This thing between her and Klaus were already complicated enough, without wanting to sink her teeth in and mark him as hers. Heat licked her face, and flushed through her veins at that thought. Klaus wasn't hers. Klaus couldn't be hers. Not yet. Not anytime soon. Although she could admit privately that never had somehow become a maybe.
Caroline shifted her weight and breathed deeply. They needed to have this talk, clear the air, and she needed to be very, very careful to avoid giving him an opening. Her emotions were a mess. Caroline knew that. Maybe they would have been a much bigger mess, if she'd shut her emotions off for the year she wanted. Still, facing them just then Had seemed to be just a little bit too much.
Shaking off those thoughts, she checked her watch with an impatient little huff. She was going to make Klaus regret it if he was late.
"Good morning love, sleep well?"
Turning her head, Caroline absorbed the impact of him. Klaus hair was a little longer, curls riotous and tempting. Dimples flirted from his cheeks, his usual Henley and jeans fitting attractively along mean lines she now knew intimately.
Her predator under her skin liked what it saw, that glittering and openly possessive expression. The rest of her wasn't so sure, but she'd know this was going to be different. It was one thing to deal with him on what she considered her territory.
Here, the rules changed. New Orleans belonged to Klaus. It showed.
Her stomach fluttered with butterflies.
"The room is lovely, thank you," Caroline arched a brow. "How many people here are yours? I was so ever politely ignored when I tried to switch credit cards."
Klaus made an amused noise, stepped up so that he was close enough to touch, if she wished. "Take pity on them, Caroline. I've made my preferences where you're concerned quite clear."
"I won't be indebted to you." Caroline said firmly, shifting her purse and lifting her chin.
"There is no debt between us, Caroline," Klaus said simply. "What I want from you will not allow for it. You came to me. Don't balk now, when you knew what it would mean."
"I'm hungry," Caroline said instead of touching that particular topic. "You promised me food."
"So I did," he offered her the curve of his arm and Caroline wrestled with herself before taking it. "Do you have plans today?"
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, but when have you ever known me to not have plans?"
"Let me rephrase that," he glanced at her, lips curved in what could only be called affection. He waited till they'd stepped outside, the early morning sunshine filtering through the buildings and trees. "I'd like the opportunity to show you a few things, introduce you to a few individuals."
"Why?"
"You mentioned relocating."
"Yup." And wasn't that going to be a slippery slope. Bonnie was worth it.
"I received a very interesting call from Stefan this morning," Klaus said as he guided her down the street. "He was quite concerned about your well being."
"Stefan is a worrier," Caroline replied, not looking at him.
"Is he? Regardless, I let him know if he wished to keep his head, he'd wait to storm my city until you contacted him."
Caroline ground to a halt, stared at him with surprised eyes. Klaus watched her, eyes filled with iron. "Why?"
"Perhaps we should sit, before we start this conversation?" Klaus said instead of answering, steering her inside an establishment. He dimpled at the hostess, and made a beeline for a little side room that was obviously used for private dining.
"You better not be doing that creepy, stalker thing again," Caroline warned after the waiter left. She cradled her coffee between her hands, eyes wary.
"Did you think I'd be unaware of what was occurring in Mystic Falls or Whitmore?" Klaus challenged, watching her from glittering eyes.
"And what do you think you know?"
"Not nearly as much as I'd like," came his calm response. "Why are you here Caroline?"
She met his gaze head on. "I'm not here for you."
"I'd never have assumed," Klaus replied, lips curving at the edges. "Not yet, at least. But even with the events of the last year, I'd have hardly expected you here."
Not telling him wouldn't work. Klaus was letting her know he'd part or most of the puzzle. She fully expected he'd spent most of the last twelve hours hunting down whatever information he felt necessary. She'd bet the he didn't know of her new feeding habits, but she sincerely doubted he didn't sense how close her predator was to the surface.
"Okay, first - how many times do I have to tell you that stalking is creepy? God, is anything personal with you?"
"Everything is personal where you are concerned, Caroline." His mouth tightened as he leaned forward. She flinched, looked away. "As you're aware."
"My mom is off limits," Caroline told him, voce tight. She glanced back at him, didn't bother to hide the wild mix of emotions she knew was written across her face.
"Unless your mother is why you are here, I have no reason to reopen those wounds, Caroline. Not when we both know you'll tell me eventually." His face never changed, but his gaze devoured her, something sharp glittering behind his gaze.
"You're an ass."
Klaus shrugged. "Perhaps. But I believe we've agreed to be friends and far be it from me to not offer you a comforting shoulder."
"Really?" Caroline stared at him in disbelief. "How do you even know that phrase?"
"I do have a sister."
"No, we are not going there," Caroline shook her head. But she knew if she wanted to avoid that talk, she needed to have a different one. Which was probably his point. "We're here because I don't trust Damon and Stefan near Bonnie."
"I assume this has to do with the doppelganger's newest predicament?"
"You know, I'd have assumed you'd have been too busy to pay this much attention to what was going on outside of your city." Her voice was snippy, eyes narrowed as he leaned back, seemingly amused by her attitude.
"Hmm, we both know that's not true," Klaus murmured, voice dropping to the low tones he'd used when she'd laid across his chest, catching her breath. Thankfully, the waiter reappeared with the plate of beignets she'd demanded the night before, so she was spared addressing that particular landmine.
"And how's fatherhood treating you?" Caroline could have cursed, instead she took a bite, paused to enjoy the taste of dough and sugar. If her mouth was full maybe she'd avoid embarrassing herself.
Klaus grinned, and watched her with the air of someone who'd been given a gift. Caroline ate a second beignet irritably. That tiny note of possessiveness that had crawled into her tone had come from a place with teeth.
"I think you'll find the current circumstances quite different from what you're expecting, love."
"You have no idea what I'm expecting," Caroline replied firmly. She shook her head as he leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Is it safe here or do we need to keep moving?"
Klaus went predator still, eyes streaking with gold as he watched her. "Be very specific, Caroline."
Caroline pursed her lips, wrestled internally before sighing. "You're the one who brought up that were looking to settle. Bonnie likes roots. It's important to me that her life is as long or short as she wants it to be."
Blue eyes flecked with gold watched her intently. "Not surprising, considering your predilection for putting your friends first."
She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Tulane is a good school."
He didn't flicker a lash, gaze boring into her. "And four years from now? Then what?"
"That depends on Bonnie," she tilted her chin, met the predator watching her with her own. "And you. If you're planning on turning New Orleans back into a bloodbath, or if having a Bennett Witch around will be an issue, we'll be gone in an hour."
His smile had her heart skittering in her chest. Gaze holding hers, Klaus curled his fingers around her hand, and lifted the underside of her wrist to his mouth. His lips lingered, hot and possessive against her skin; teeth a faint pressure against her rapid pulse.
"Welcome to New Orleans, sweetheart," Klaus murmured, gaze holding hers. "I think you'll find my city quite accommodating for whatever you may need."
Mouth running dry, Caroline knew Klaus meant exactly what he said. She'd come to him, not for herself and not for him, but he'd lay the city at her feet anyway. Give her anything, everything she wanted.
The price? Her heart.
Eyes narrowed, she let the predator crawl into her gaze, and didn't flinch away from the tension between them. She wasn't ready to claim this, him, but she wasn't going to hide from it either. That had clearly gotten her nowhere. But he wasn't going to push her, either.
Not yet.
But maybe one day.
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