Disclaimer: Same as before. Lyrics-Sam the Sham.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and alerts! Enjoy! :)
Who You Are and What You Could Have Been
Part 2: Chapter 1
Little Red Riding Hood
I'd like to hold you if I could
But you might think I'm a big bad wolf so I won't
Henry is seven when Kelsea dies. All beautiful innocence and startling intelligence for someone so young. Klaus finds he loves the boy more than he ever thought he could.
It makes his heart swell when Henry comes running into the house and through the dining room to his study, key chains (from Kol) on his backpack jangling with every step. It is a ritual now; Henry drops his backpack outside the door and slips in the room to perch himself on the arm of couch closest to Klaus, waiting patiently (sometimes) while he finishes painting, drawing, or reading.
Once the brush, pencil or book is laid down Henry bursts, telling Klaus everything he learned that day in school and wanting to know the real story about the Mayans, the Vikings and the Greeks. Klaus obliges, leaving nothing out, even the blood and gore. They stay in there until Kelsea (impatiently) calls them for dinner where the stories continue until she quickly puts a stop to them.
("Does someone always have to die a bloody, gory death while I'm eating dinner?")
They make his life whole.
v
Kelsea swears and reaches out (she knows it's a mistake the minute she does it), catching the knife by the blade. It leaves a deep gash across the palm of her hand and she watches in horror (fascination) as blood leaks from the wound and drips onto the floor.
She finally tears her eyes away and grabs a dish towel from the island. "Fuck… Rebekah!" she screams wrapping the towel around her hand and grabbing the keys to a car from the bowl in the living room, she wasn't sure which one (Nik has a few, five to be precise). He was in town, something about hybrids, a car maybe, she didn't know, doesn't really care at the moment, well she does, she would rather him there to drive her to the hospital (Rebekah's driving scares the shit out of her).
"Damnit, Rebekah!" Kelsea turns around and screams when she finds Rebekah right behind her. "God, did you have to - What's wrong with your face?"
The veins beneath her eyes are dark beneath the makeup and her eyes look funny but Rebekah says nothing just stares at the blood soaked towel around her hand.
"Rebekah?"
Rebekah shakes her head, her eyes going back to normal (she was just seeing things, blood loss and all). "Come with me." She pries the car keys from Kelsea's hand and drags her back into the kitchen, sitting her on a stool she placed by the sink. Her head feels funny, almost lightheaded, fuzzy, maybe it was shock. She needs the hospital, why did Rebekah bring her in here?
"What-" Rebekah shushes her and pulls the towel from around her hand, dumping it in the sink. She takes a breath, her eyes focusing on the gash for a moment before she looks Kelsea in the eye.
"Do as I say." Kelsea finds herself nodding and watching with a sick feeling as Rebekah bites into her own wrist with fangs, horrible skin ripping fangs. "Drink." Kelsea does as she says, she can't help it, she can't bring herself to stop drinking the blood flowing from Rebekah's wrist.
Kelsea pulls back, gagging and Rebekah pulls her up to help her wash her hands in the sink. She feels like she can't breathe, the blood thick in her throat, heavy on her tongue.
Blood and fangs, blood and fangs, oh no.
"I'm home," Klaus calls as the front door slams closed, startling them both. Nik will help her. Kelsea struggles against Rebekah, catching the side of her face with an elbow. Rebekah instantly lets her go and Kelsea runs from the kitchen to the study, throwing herself into Klaus' arms, clinging to him, soaking his shirt with tears she didn't even know were running down her face.
"What's wrong, love?He tries to push her away so he can see her face but she doesn't budge, just buries her head deeper in his shoulder trying to stifle her sobs (praying he is not what Rebekah is).
"She knows."
No, no, it can't be. They can't be…
Klaus sighs (not good) and Kelsea pulls back to look at him, she doesn't see the fangs or the veins beneath his eyes but she sees the tired knowing look he gives Rebekah. A sob bubbles in her throat. He takes her face in his hands, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
No, it really can't be… They can't be…
"You're vampires?" she whispers the word coming out slightly choked.
"No I'm a hybrid actually," Klaus replies, making it sound far more innocent than it is.
"A hybrid of what?"
"Vampire, werewolf. It's a long story for another time." He smiles an all dimple smile (it frightens her).
"Nik," Rebekah whines from behind them. "I'm tired of compelling her."
Klaus rolls his eyes and lets out a deep sigh. "Do you want her to be like this?" He raises his hand to stroke her cheek and Kelsea automatically flinches back, proving his point.
"But Nik-"
"No," he says sharply before adding quietly, "Until we know what we are going to do with her... things have changed."
"Nik…" He shakes his head and grabs Rebekah arms, shoving her towards the door.
"What were you going to do with me?" Kelsea whispers as he pushes Rebekah from the room. "Answer me!" she screams, throwing a vase at his head when the door is closed, anger overriding her fear. Klaus lunges at her but she stands her ground,if she is going to die she's not going out cowering.
"I was going to kill you," he snarls standing so close she can feel his breath against her face. "When Henry was old enough."
"Then do it, kill me." Kelsea holds out her arms in an invitation, more tears streaking down her cheeks as her whole body shakes.
Klaus' shoulders relax as his anger dissipates as quickly as it appeared. "I need you for Henry," he says grabbing a fist full of her hair and tilting her head back so her eyes meet his. "So I won't be killing you just yet, love."
"Then what are you going to do to me?"
"Just a little compulsion, sweetheart, it won't hurt a bit."
Is that a power that they have? Is that what made her drink Rebekah's blood?
"Please…don't."
"It's what's best for now."
"What will you tell Henry when you don't need me anymore?" she whispers. "That you simply got rid of me? How do you think he will take that? He will hate you!" Kelsea screams her voice taking on a hysterical tone as she fights against him in one last attempt to get away (as futile as it is). She rears back and slaps him across the face with everything she has (which isn't much really), earning a snarl in return.
Klaus forgets about compelling Kelsea, his rage overwhelms him as he grabs her arms and swings her around, slamming her through the opposite wall. They land in the next room, him over her, with a sickening crack. His anger recedes and his heart drops in his chest.
"Kelsea?" She lets out a wheezing gasp and closes her eyes. Klaus holds his breath to make sure he doesn't miss her next one but it never comes. "Kelsea!" He shakes her lightly and sees the pool of blood forming on the rug beneath her head.
"Nik?" a soft voice behind him says. Klaus turns, blocking Kelsea from view as Henry steps into the room, his backpack still over one shoulder. "Is mommy ok?"
Rebekah suddenly appears behind Henry, her mouth open in horror. Klaus opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. "Yes, she'll be fine," Rebekah supplies for him as she grabs Henry's shoulders and steers him from the room, keeping him from seeing the human sized hole in the wall.
She will not be fine. She is gone. She is dead. He cannot fix her. He killed her. He made Henry just like himself. Henry will hate him now. Rebekah will hate him. He will be alone. Always and forever.
He brushes her hair from her face as he feels his body start to transform. The thoughts and emotions ebbing away as the animal side starts to take over.
VV
Rebekah opens the door a few minutes later to find Klaus in wolf form lying on a pile of shredded clothes beside Kelsea's body, his head resting on her chest. He lets out a growl when she steps closer.
"She'll be fine, Nik. She-" Klaus leaps up with a snarl, his ears pinned back with his head lowered. "Nik!" He snaps at her fingers when she reaches for him and bolts from the room.
VV
Kelsea lets out shuddered breath as she awakens on the floor in the dining room. She feels funny, groggy even.
Not right.
Rebekah is by her side in seconds and Kelsea flinches back as she sits up. Hurt, Rebekah drops her hands to her lap watching as Kelsea assesses herself. She runs her hands over her ribcage that she knew had been crushed, her back she knew was broken and finally her head that had to have been at least fractured.
"Am I a vampire?" Kelsea asks quietly, letting her hands drop to her sides.
"Not yet. You need to drink blood in order to complete the transformation."
"And if…and if I don't?" her voice cracks with emotion.
"You will die."
Kelsea closes her eyes as tears streak down her cheeks. "What kind of blood? Human?"
Rebekah nods. "He didn't mean it," she adds quietly.
"Oh so he didn't mean to push me through wall and crush me?" Kelsea snarls. They fall into a tense uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. "I don't want to kill anyone," Kelsea says finally, accepting her fate. "I won't kill anyone."
The 'I will not be a monster' is left unsaid.
VV
They sit in the living room for hours talking, ignoring the mess in the dining room. Rebekah, free of having to compel Kelsea when she lets something slip, tells her everything. The first person since that doppelganger bitch.
Kelsea sits quietly in the old wingback chair beside the empty fireplace, nursing a blood bag as Rebekah tells of her family (she takes the news that she is living with the oldest most powerful vampires relatively well), the basics of being a vampire, and Henry's curse (the reason she is in this mess).
Kelsea stays silent, only asking a few questions regarding Henry's curse and telling Rebekah the things she already knew. Between the both of them over the years she knows their whole history only condensed down to seem like it was over twenty some years rather than a thousand. It surprised her just how much Klaus has actually told her (much more than she has actually, even things she did not know).
"He still loves you," Rebekah says to break the silence when she finishes with their story. Kelsea shoots her a skeptical look over her shoulder. "When he is with you I see the Niklaus I used to know, the sweet loving brother he was before we were turned. He likes to pretend that part of him doesn't exist but I see it."
"He only wanted me around for Henry, said so himself."
"Think of all he has done for you. If that were true you would be dead," Rebekah stands from her place on the couch to leave Kelsea alone with her thoughts (God knows she needed that when she turned).
"I am dead," Kelsea replies watching her walk to the door. Rebekah pauses with her hand on the handrail of the staircase and sadly looks over at the hole in the wall.
"He didn't mean it," she whispers glancing over her shoulder at Kelsea. "All he wants is to be loved."
VV
All he wants is to be loved.
Yeah, and turn her baby into one of his hybrid minions. Kelsea remembers them now, slipping in and out of the house, talking to Klaus, looking at her with apprehension and confusion until he compelled her to forget she saw them.
It's unnerving to find out someone has been playing with your mind, making you forget things, do things. All the things they let slip are coming back to her in flashes, Rebekah's affinity for the twenties, Elijah filling a glass with blood, the bite marks on Kols arms from Klaus for touching her…
All he wants is to be loved.
Those words are starting to haunt her, hurt her, enrage her. Why should he be loved, why should she love him when he obviously doesn't return her feelings? She hates him now, she knows Rebekah would tell her that's just her heightened emotions but she wants to hurt him as much as he hurt her.
Kelsea tosses the blood bag in the fireplace and speeds into the dining room where there is still a puddle of her blood on the rug surrounded by shredded clothes, broken bits of wood and drywall. She growls and knocks over the table, the chairs, everything in sight to vent her rage.
When there is nothing left she sets her sights on his study. She upturns the couch (for compelling her to get in his car), knocks over the end tables (compelling her to stay with him), breaks the lamps against the walls (pretending to care), throws books across the room (lying to her about everything), shatters jars of paint on the floor (not loving her), sends the stool through the window (killing her). She only stops when the only thing left untouched is the large table shoved against the wall, his artwork covering the surface. That would hurt him the most, the dagger to his immortal heart so to speak.
Kelsea takes a sketch book from beneath sheets of paper and with every intention of ripping the book in half, flips through it only to find sketches of her and Henry filling the pages. While Henry is prominent it's her face looking back at her most often. She drops it and grips the edge of the table so hard that her knuckles turn white.
It was not supposed to be this way, he wasn't supposed to care (it was easier to hate him that way).
Kelsea lets out a scream that quickly turns into a sob and sinks to the floor, beating her fists against the floor, leaving to dents in the floorboards.
How did her life get so fucked up in only a few hours?
VV
For two days Rebekah takes care of Henry, while Kelsea hides in her room and Klaus in his, still in wolf form (as far as she knows). Rebekah takes him to and from school, makes sure he is fed, and that his homework is done, all the while telling him Klaus and Kelsea are sick.
They were sick all right.
The cravings had finally come the night she died and she nearly sucked down every blood bag in the house since. Not that there were many since Klaus and Rebekah, she had soon learned, liked their blood fresh.
Kelsea was horrified when she found herself outside of Henry's room listening to his heart beat as he slept, the blood pumping through his little body, her mouth watering at the sound. That night she moved into Elijah's room on the other side of Klaus'. It was immaculate and smelled like him which calmed her. She had taken to sleeping during the day (like a real vampire) while Henry was at school so as not to end up outside of his room again.
She now knows what Klaus does when he leaves at night. She imagines it as she watches people jogging on the sidewalk outside the gate from the shadows of her room, their hearts rapidly pumping the blood through their veins (as she rips into their throats, their blood splashing over her).
Kelsea turns away and rips into another blood bag.
On the third day Kelsea grew tired of Klaus' self isolation. He wasn't the one who died. He wasn't the one turned against his will. He wasn't the one who couldn't be around Henry for fear of ripping out his little heart. He had no right to mope around like he is.
But as much as she hates him, she can't bring herself to leave. Besides the fact she has nowhere to go, she is a vampire, Henry has known no other family, she has a hard time controlling her cravings because she is a vampire, this is her home, her family.
After Rebekah and Henry leave for school she grabs a blood bag and stomps into his room, slamming the door closed after her. He doesn't even twitch. His room is dark with only a sliver of light coming through the thick drapes behind his bed (which she is thankful for).
Kelsea tosses the blood bag onto the rumpled blankets beside him.
"Eat, you fucker." His eyes open at that and his ears twitch in her direction. She stands with her hand on her hip that is cocked to the side (her bitchy pose he calls it) for a full minutebefore he closes his eyes. "Fine! Starve to death!" she screams slamming his door closed with enough force to rattle the windows.
VV
It wasn't supposed to be this way. He wasn't supposed to care this much. She's just Henry's mother, a friend, someone disposable (but she's not, not really).
He slips off the bed and stretches his legs out in front, his back popping, stretching stiff muscles. He shakes out his fur and sits beside the door, listening for Kelsea. Her dulled heart beat comes from Elijah's room.
Kelsea was dead, he was sure of it until she gasped to life hours after he killed her. That made this worse, made her hate him. Now he really is the monster, villain, the reason to be afraid of the dark. Why should he bother to change?
Klaus turns back, his body snapping and cracking, realigning into its true form. He slips on some clothes and grabs his jacket off a chair, going out for a bit to eat (blood bags are not his thing).
Be the monster that he truly is.
