Thanking everyone for their support and encouragement is the least I can do. Suggestions and improvements are more than welcome :-)
If I haven't already done so, I will state the obvious that I don't own anything related to TVD. (otherwise you would not be reading my stories, you would be watching my episodes of glorious Klaroline verse)
Enjoy!
Klaus didn't know if he should feel happy that she responded to him or sorry that she was there in the first place.
But all he could feel was guilt, a totally unfamiliar feeling for him. He wanted something, he acted. There was no place for guilt in his world, just satisfaction if he got what he wanted. Not if, when, he mentally corrected himself.
Yet he felt it was his fault that Caroline was there. Somehow it didn't make sense that she was the main target and he was just collateral damage.
He tried to make a list of the possible enemies behind this tragically stupid mistake, but he came up with none. That was not due to lack of enemies, but because his enemies were already dead. And if there was someone alive and breathing, holding a grudge against him, they were probably too insignificant to be classified as his enemies, they were just victims.
"Klaus? Are you there?" The urgency in her voice brought him back to reality.
"Yes love, I'm here. Are you OK? Have they hurt you?" He tried to keep his voice casual not to alarm her.
Oh, stop it with the love thing. Do I look like I am OK? But he couldn't see her, could he?
"No Klaus, I'm not OK. Where are we? Why are we here? Who "
She was having a break down and he couldn't do anything about it. Well, actually he could.
"Stop it Caroline." He ordered somewhat intensely and, to his amusement, she actually stopped.
Klaus imagined the lovely baby vampire standing behind the wall. It would take her exactly two seconds to recover from the first shock and say that mental Seriously? with the proper body language. He gave her another second to think of a smart retort. Then? It would come …
"Who do you think you are Mr.? You are not entitled to shouting orders at me."
That. She was furious at him right now and he couldn't suppress a laugh.
"Instead of shouting at me through the wall you can actually come over here." he said unreasonably amused by all this.
"What? How can I when I don't know where you are?"
She was confused now. It was obvious he was enjoying messing with her and she would make him pay for that. But how could she go to him? On one side there was the barrier, on the other side a locked door.
And then it dawned on her. She headed for the door and, using her vampire strength, managed to rip it open.
Klaus was standing on the other side of the door observing her with a slight smirk on his face. So the bastard knew she was trapped there and had done nothing about it.
Her long hair was disheveled, her light dress covered in wrinkles, her makeup kind of all over her face. Other than that, she looked unharmed. In other words stunning. He realized he liked her even when she was not perfect.
"What are you looking at?" she spat with an unladylike growl. How would he like it if she slapped him just to wipe that smirk off his face?
I'll probably get to drink his blood after he bites me in anger. Definitely not worth it.
Klaus was still smiling. "I am terribly sorry to interrupt your mental conversation with yourself. Did you reach a verdict?" His adorable accent was getting to her nerves.
"You're a jerk, has anyone told you that?" that was the best she could come up with. In her defense, being knocked out and tossed in a horrible place did mess with a girl's resources of witty comments.
"You, on multiple occasions." His eyes grew a little bit cold for an instant. "The others couldn't talk after I ripped their hearts of."
Caroline drew a sharp breath. Why does he always have to ruin the moment? But the comment reminded her that regardless of how he let her treat him, he was a very dangerous man.
"Right. Where are we? How did you know where I was? Why are we here?" She would continue her questions were it not for the warning in his eyes.
"You are in shock, love." He motioned for her to follow him into another room. "I will answer your questions at my best ability."
I am not thick you ape. Yet she felt she had to keep her temper under control. After all the original hybrid was unpredictable. So she just followed him to wherever he was leading, looking curiously at the horrible place.
It was a dark corridor leading to another closed door at the end of it. She couldn't guess at what it was. The walls seemed thick and there was no other way out.
They were heading towards a door beside the one she had just ripped off the hinges. When she entered the room she realized where the light that she saw beyond the barrier came from. It was his room.
"Why is your room bigger and better than mine?" she asked before she could stop herself.
OMG … I sound like a fifth grader. Mental slap was in order but she didn't have the time with his piercing eyes locked on her.
"It must be my charming smile." He was enjoying this. "Now if you would please have a seat so we can talk" he said motioning to the options she had.
"Yeah sure." She replied not wanting to comment on his charms. It was not a safe subject.
She eyed the bed and unwillingly blushed. It was his bed, she couldn't just sit there. She recalled that she woke up on the floor, so maybe he was on the floor too.
Still the images it conjured in her head were disturbing. Even if he hadn't slept on that bed, and by the looks of it he hadn't, it still was not safe. Because she was almost sure he would sit on the bed as well, a few inches away from her. Way too close for her liking.
So the chair it was. She sat there and waited for him to start explaining.
The hesitation in her eyes wasn't lost on Klaus. Not that it was a surprise, so he sat on the bed and faced her. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands nervously ruffling his dirty blonde hair.
Caroline was getting anxious by the second. If Klaus was nervous, things were not looking good. She could barely restrain herself from shouting at him to start already.
"I don't have all the answers to your questions. I woke up just as you did and had a look around. Then I heard your voice and " he started saying as if apologizing.
"Then why the hell did you bring me here?" Caroline was furious. All this suspense only to tell her he didn't know a damn thing about their situation?
Klaus was surprised by her reaction, though he should have seen it coming.
"You're hurting my feelings love" that seductive smile appeared on his face only to make her madder.
"I am not joking Klaus." her voice had increased an octave.
Even though he enjoyed the sound of his name on her lips, he was a bit tired of the drama.
"Sweetheart, if I had the answers we wouldn't be here now would we?" his smile was still in place but his eyes had lost that warm glow. The mesmerizing sky blue orbs shined with confined rage reminding Caroline of who he really was.
"I ..." she was taken aback and for once didn't know what to say.
"Lets start with the obvious. We have been kidnapped for what seems like a day, our cell phones taken away. I don't have a recollection of the moment I got ..." he wanted to say knocked out like a sandbag but it felt too undignifying a word. "Do you remember anything?" he changed the subject.
Caroline shook her head in denial. "I was going to my car after a tiring day and the next thing I knew I was on the floor sprawled like a doormat." She said trying to lighten the tension running through the atmosphere in the room.
Klaus couldn't help a giggle. "The sandbag and the doormat. We make a fine couple, don't you think?"
Couple? He was thinking of that even if they were kidnapped by God knows who?
"We are pathetic and we are not a couple." she declared unsmiling,
Then, a terrible thought crossed her mind. She stood up abruptly, her hands balled in fists, her face serious. "Wait, please tell me this isn't one of your tricks to get some time with me. Otherwise, I … I ..."
The very thought made her sick. Deep down in her heart, really really deep down, she felt a little bit flattered that he would go to such lengths to win her affections. But that feeling was crushed immediately and mercilessly.
Klaus didn't know if he should feel offended or amused that she had thought of that possibility. Not that he wouldn't do it if he believed it would have worked. But still, why would she always assume the worst about him? He was tired of having to prove himself to her every single time.
Hiding the hurt and irritation from his face, he was in front of her in the blink of an eye. He stood tall and eerily calm inches away from her. His eyes were now dark blue slits like the sea in the middle of a storm.
Caroline could feel the change in him. She didn't know how she could tell, after all he was the Original Hybrid, emotionless evil monster. Yet, the barely contained rage, the tension in his shoulders, the tightening of his jaws spoke volumes of his feelings.
"Otherwise you will do what?" A small pause to calm down. "I fancy you Caroline." his voice sounded like shards of ice. "But I am not that desperate."