Title: The Devil's Currency
Author: fadingtales
Fandom: Vampire Diaries
Ship: Klaus/Caroline/Stefan
Summary: When Klaus catches Caroline following him, he offers her a bargain for the younger Salvatore.

Previous chapters: one, two, three

A/N: Special shout out to my wonderful betas skerdypants and call-me-katherine. Without them this chapter would not have been possible.

Chapter 4

He splashes water on his face, trying to regain a clear head, only catching a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. Raising a fist in the air he brings it down forcefully into the reflection, shattering the mirror into a million little pieces. He ignores the short burst of pain as the sharp edges cut his hand. He'll heal quickly enough. He's been pumped with human blood for the past several months. They always made him stronger, heal faster.

They also make him edgier, more volatile and apparently more suspect to dangerous thoughts. Ripper thoughts.

"Why so angry? You did well."

Stefan whirls around at the voice. He had been too preoccupied with self loathing to notice that somebody else had entered the room.

He growls when he realizes who it is.

"I failed," he says tersely. "It's over. I messed up."

Katherine Pierce rolls her eyes and tosses her perfectly curled mahogany hair over her shoulder. She merely looks amused albeit maybe a little exasperated by his dramatics. She tsks her tongue at him and smiles.

"On the contrary. You've gained Klaus's trust now."

"The point was to bind myself to him, not gain his trust. And Caroline-"

"An unforeseeable obstacle, but nothing we can't overcome. Besides, the point was that we couldn't let Elijah be bound to Klaus. Of course it's not ideal that it was Caroline that he was bounded to instead... but I still see a silver lining. Klaus thinks you were trying to save him. We can use that to our advantage."

Stefan should've known that when Katherine approached him, whispering conspiratorially about schemes and spells and general backstabbing, that it was not a good idea. The female vampire had somehow stumbled upon Bonnie and Caroline's little plan with Elijah, and she quickly got to work to set it up to her advantage and roping him into it.

"I should've never listened to you. I shouldn't have interfered-"

"You knew that we couldn't trust Elijah," Katherine interrupts. "Klaus is his brother. No matter what, the bond between brothers is unbreakable. You should know that best. Elijah would never be able to bring himself to kill Klaus. No matter what he said. The girls were fools to believe otherwise."

"No, I'm the fool to listen to you," he retorts angrily. "It was supposed to be me, not Caroline!"

He shakes his head. Everything had spiraled out of his control. For one thing, he didn't think Caroline would act so soon. He had thought he had more time, maybe to warn her, maybe to talk her out of it. Come up with a plan that was better than Katherine's. And secondly, he had never thought in a million years that Caroline would have done what she did. That she would be so insane as to take it upon herself to replace Elijah in the ritual. Caroline was brave, he knew that, but he didn't think her a martyr. That sort of thing was reserved for people like himself.

"This has been a colossal mistake."

Katherine crosses her arms across her chest and narrows her eyes at him.

"Get over it, Stefan," she drawls. "We still have work to do. So you can either just sit around and twiddle your thumbs in anguish about what already happened... or you can help me see this through."

"I'm not killing Klaus. Not while he's still bound to Caroline. You're going to help me break that spell. I'm not letting anything happen to her."

Katherine studies him silently.

"Interesting... I thought it was always Elena, Elena, Elena."

"I love Elena. So yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well I just thought you were doing this for her," Katherine shrugs.

"I am doing this for her. She'll never be able to live a normal life with Klaus around."

Katherine yawns and fixes a bored look in his direction. Just more of her games, he realizes.

"What are you trying to get at, Katherine?"

She lets out a snort. "Nothing. I just think you might want to work on being more convincing for Klaus."

She turns on her heels and starts sauntering to the door.

"Come out when you're done with the self pity and loathing. We have a schedule to keep. I'll wait in the car."

Katherine lets the door close behind her, leaving Stefan once again alone in the bathroom. The flickering light above catches the shards of mirror all over the floor, setting them all aglitter like a million little stars.

Stefan looks down at his hand, and sure enough, it's completely healed. Studying the unmarked skin, he recalls another pair of hands. Caroline's. Her fingers had been laced through his as she urged him to run, to come with her. She had been trying to save him. Who knew he would end up the villain rather than the hero in the story?

He clenches his hand into a fist once again, wipes the excess blood on a towel hastily, and tosses it to the floor before following Katherine's footsteps.

xxx

Caroline goes to school the next day with panda-like rings under her eyes. Klaus had left her dreams alone after she hurled that lamp towards his head, but she still hadn't been able to sleep a wink. Not with the knowledge that they were separated by only the mere thin width of a wall. Besides, she was still fuming. The result was a lot of tossing and turning in her bed. The only good thing she saw out of it was that hopefully her fitful sleep also meant he didn't get any sleep either. Seeing how they're bounded and all.

Of course when she left earlier that morning the bastard was slumbering away as far as she could tell.

She goes through the motions of the day in a daze. You'd think such invulnerable creatures as vampires would not suffer from sleep deprivation, but she found herself snoozing through her history class.

Alaric taps on her desk with his textbook, startling her awake. She jerks upwards, muttering something about the prohibition era. It seems that Klaus had a thing for the Roaring Twenties. He dreams in black and white too. It was a strange sensation and she wonders hazily if he realizes she could access his dreams as he could hers.

"Caroline."

Alaric calls her name again and she blinks several times and tries to subtly wipe the drool from her mouth as she slowly came to recognize where she was.

"Thank you for that wonderful demonstration of knowledge on Al Capone, Caroline... but we've moved on from the 1920s to the Cuban Missile Crisis," Alaric drawls.

The class erupts in laughter and she slouches in her seat.

Alaric smiles and rubs her head good naturedly before moving on. She shoots him a hard glare behind his back. She found herself much more upset about his ruining her perfectly curled hair than the minor embarrassment of falling asleep in class. She might not look like it, but Caroline Forbes was an honor student.

It was all part of her perfect little plan. Honor student, head cheerleader, president of the community service club, and chair for the founder's day event committee. All ingredients needed for the perfect future as a wealthy politician's wife. That had been her plan. Until she got murdered and turned into a vampire.

How quickly her life had turned upside down. And now it was positively topsy turvy. She's not even sure if she knows how to stand upright anymore. Everything was such a mess.

When the class finally ended, Alaric asks her to stay behind.

"Are you alright, Caroline?"

She frowns at him. "I'm perfectly fine."

He gives her a look which clearly shows he doesn't believe her. "You fell asleep in class."

"I'm sorry. The Cuban Missile Crisis just isn't as riveting as you'd like to think. Not all of us are history buffs, Ric." She adds unnecessary emphasis on Damon's little nickname for him which gains her a disapproving look.

"Caroline, you were moaning," Alaric points out with a raised eyebrow.

Caroline immediately flushes a bright tomato red as she recalls the dreams she's been having courtesy of one very irritating hybrid Original. Just then Tyler knocks on the door, saving her from a stuttered mess of a response.

"Hey. Did you forget that we were supposed to meet after class?"

Alaric sighs and drops the topic. "Sorry, I held her up."

Tyler frowns and looks back and forth between the history teacher and his vampire pupil. "Is something the matter?"

"No!" She says a little too quickly. "I'm just... I've been a little tired lately because I haven't been able to get much sleep."

Neither Alaric nor Tyler has yet been filled in about the whole Klaus business, and it's not exactly something she wants to get into without Bonnie or Damon as back up.

"I didn't realize vampires even needed sleep," Tyler inserts.

"Yeah, well you learn something new every day," she replies snappishly.

"Just not about the Cuban Missile Crisis," Alaric jokes.

She sends him a glare in return.

"Somebody is testy today."

Immediately she feels guilty for projecting her bad mood onto her friends and brings her hand to her face with a sigh.

"I'm sorry. I'm just... cranky. I think maybe I should just go home. Can I take a rain check on the Grill?"

Tyler puts his arm around her shoulders and gives her a soft smile.

"Yeah, alright, come on, I'll give you a ride."

The two males exchange nods before Tyler leads her out to the hallway and in the direction of the parking lot.

The car ride is uneventful, and Tyler walks her to her door in an uncharacteristically gentlemanly manner. Before she can finish unlocking the door, he touches her hand and opens his mouth as if to say something, but when she turns and looks at him he merely smiles and lets go.

"I hope you feel better soon, Caroline."

Caroline smiles back and thanks him before going inside. She watches him pause on her porch steps for a moment before turning back to his car and driving away.

"How sweet, you've got yourself a little werewolf suitor."

She whips around and sees Klaus standing there with that ever present smirk on his face. His voice was dripping with condescension.

He catches her darkening expression and quickly adds, "Oh don't worry. Until I figure out a way to turn werewolves into proper hybrids, your little wolf will be safe for now. Besides, I think I'm fonder of the blonde at the Grill anyways. He smells tasty. You should pick him and invite him over sometime for dinner. Or as dinner I suppose."

It was naive of her to think that he'd somehow come to the conclusion that the Salvatore Boarding House was a better housing option while she was away.

"If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it. And stay away from Matt and Tyler."

She pushes past him, marching towards the kitchen. Crankiness was making her hungry. Of course, when she opens the fridge she finds it utterly empty, including the thermos of blood she hid in the back.

"Yeah, that little bit of blood was barely enough for a snack, love."

She slams the refrigerator door shut and whirls on him.

"Can you be any more annoying?"

She's quite ready to pull her hair out from her head in frustration.

He raises his eyebrow her in amusement. "Is that a challenge, little vampire? I must say that I do love a good challenge." His eyes twinkle with mischief and mockery.

Suddenly, he's there before her, invading her personal space. He places one hand against the refrigerator next to her head and leans in close. She had to look up to meet his eyes.
That's when she realized how tall he was.

"Consider yourself very lucky, sweetheart. I am restraining myself. We are linked so you know I am not lying when I tell you just how much I would like to rip that pretty little head of yours off that little neck," he says smoothly.

Caroline's in no mood for threats and so instead of cowering like he wanted her to do, she straightens her back and stares defiantly into his eyes.

"Well guess what? You can't. So you can simmer in that little bubble of hate and resentment all you want, because nothing is going to change. Not until we find Stefan. So you know what? Go ahead. Give me your best shot. I can take it. I have more willpower than you'd give me credit for."

She can feel it, his anger compounding with hers. Feels the growl in the back of his throat in her own.

He is chained to an infant vampire cheerleader and she's stuck to an insufferable psychopath. Neither finds the situation ideal. For the longest moment, they're just standing there glaring at one another, forever at a standstill and neither budging. The tension is so thick in the room that one could probably cut through it with a rusty dull spoon.

"Is everything okay in here?"

They both turn quickly to face the owner of the voice. Bonnie stands in the entrance way of the kitchen, looking back and forth between Caroline and Klaus. Neither of them had noticed when she had gotten there. They'd both been too preoccupied with trying to vaporize one another with their glares.

"Everything's just hunky dory!" Caroline says with sarcasm, narrowing her eyes at Klaus one last time. Shoving past him, she reaches out to grab Bonnie's arm to drag her friend towards the nearest exit. "Let's get out of here."

Bonnie lets her lead the way. She could recognize when Caroline was stewing in silent rampage and didn't press the blonde for further information. Only once they were in Bonnie's car and putting good distance between themselves and Klaus, the object of Caroline's ire, does the blonde vampire finally speak.

"Ugh! He's such an infuriating bastard!"

She buries her head in her hands for a moment and tries counting backwards from ten. It doesn't work. No matter how many times she tries. She's not even sure if it is her own anger or his that she's still feeling. It was frightening how tangled their emotions could be. Bonnie shoots a worried look over at her.

"What was he even doing there? I thought he was supposed to be staying with Damon and Elijah."

"So did I!" She shouts, lifting her face from her hands. "The asshole showed up last night saying he needed to 'protect me' or whatever," she says mockingly with air quotes. "Well if he thinks I'm going to play roomies with some psychotic hybrid killer then he has another thing coming!"

She huffily crosses her arms across her chest and leans back against the car seat.

"Who does he think he is anyways? We have the advantage here! We make the demands, not the other way around!"

Bonnie continues to nod along with her ranting until they reach the Grill. They slide into their usual booth, and she starts occupying herself with shredding her paper napkin and making little mountains of the pieces.

"Is it okay to just... leave him back there though?" Bonnie inquires.

"He's not going to hurt anybody. Well... not kill anybody anyways. I'd know if he was going to do that."

Bonnie wrinkles her brow at her. "How…?"

"I can feel what he feels. That includes the euphoria vampires feel when we feed. I'd know if he was draining too much. Right now he's probably just stewing and breaking things. Actually I'm pretty sure that's what he's doing."

If she closes her eyes she can practically feel his/her fist pummeling into walls and tearing apart various forms of furniture. He better clean up after himself and replace all the things he's breaking, she thinks dispassionately.

"Anyways, I'm so done talking about Klaus," she sighs.

After a moment, she decides to finally ask that question she's been dying to ask.

"Have... have you talked to Elena?"

She's been avoiding the brunette all day, ducking into corners whenever she passed by in the halls.

Bonnie's expression immediately falls. "Yeah..."

"How'd she take it? I know I was supposed to be there and talk to her with you, but-"

"No, no. It was fine. Elijah was there... and I get it. This must be the hardest on you. I mean you're the one chained to the psycho."

Caroline smiles a little at that. "But still. I should've been there..." She mentally curses her own cowardice. "So what did Elena say?"

"She's angry. That's for sure. She feels betrayed and I guess she has the right to be. I mean we did lie to her and in the end Stefan is still gone. She thinks we're crazy and..." Bonnie sighs. "She needs some time. Just don't be too shocked if she ignores you at school."

"Ugh!" She groans, laying her head on the table. "This is just great. My mom is god knows where, Elena hates me, Stefan has gone all ripper, and I'm bounded to Klaus the great psychopathic hybrid freak bent on world domination. This is just wonderful."

For a brief moment she wallows in self-pity of the mess she found herself in. Just as quickly she lifts her head up and looks at Bonnie with renewed fervor.

"I think we need a drink, yes?"

Bonnie laughs and nods. Caroline grins and saunters over to the bar to persuade the bartender in giving them some de-virginized Shirley Temples.

xxx

About a half dozen drinks in she's finally starting to feel the buzz; one of the few drawbacks, or not, of being a vampire. She didn't get drunk as easily as she used to.

The ease of which her mental faculties have been dulled by the alcohol makes her realize that she hasn't eaten anything in several hours. The lack of blood in her system made her body much slower to heal; particularly the liver organ.

She excuses herself, saying she needed to go to the girl's room, and sneaks off to the back. Even if she and Bonnie were friends again, she doubted the witch would like to be aware about all the times she had to feed. Be reminded that the old Caroline Forbes is dead. That this Caroline now was a vampire, a non-human.

But mostly she hid away because she didn't like the way her face changed, how feral looking she became when she drank blood. When she was younger she recalls an old playground myth that said if you made a funny face for too long, you would get stuck with it forever.

She has often wondered if it works the same for vampire faces.

She's run out of blood bags and she doubts Bonnie kept any in her car, so that only left one option. Bunnies. It's not her favorite method, but what's a girl vampire to do?

She's heading out towards the woods behind the Grill when she sees him, the new guy at the Grill. He had replaced Ben McKittrick as the bartender after Ben went all evil vamp, kidnapped Bonnie and Elena and then Stefan had to light him on fire. She doesn't know his name, but they've casually flirted a few times.

"Hey! Caroline right?"

He smiles charmingly at her, stubbing out his cigarette on the floor. He was cute in that boyish, flannel shirt wearing kind of way. But it wasn't his good looks that was distracting her.

He walks towards her and she can hear his pulse beating. It thunders in her ears, making her vision go red.

He says something to her, but she doesn't catch what it is. All she sees is the vein at his throat, pulsating. She's salivating just from the thought of the blood rushing through those veins. The hunger has never taken control of her this much before and she's feeling herself caving. The alcohol renders her will powerless to the instinctual craving for blood.

Maybe… maybe just a little taste wouldn't hurt, she thinks to herself. She never did like bunnies anyways.

He gives her a concerned look and repeats her name in a question, but she interrupts it with an apology as she sinks her teeth into his neck.

She's surprised by how good it was, how much she had wanted it. It's a wonder why she had repulsed the hunt so much before. The blood flowing from the open wound and into her mouth was intoxicating, more than any drink, more than any drug. She was getting lost in a haze of bloodlust.

"Now where was this enthusiasm when I wanted it?" Klaus drawls, stepping out of the shadows.

She starts at his voice and drops the boy from her arms unceremoniously to the floor.

"Oh my god."

She had been too absorbed in feeding that she didn't notice him approaching at all. Suddenly it dawned on her that she might have taken too much. She immediately falls to her knees and presses her ear to his chest. Only once a heartbeat has been confirmed does she release a breath she did not even know she was holding.

He scoffs at her efforts.

"I see you've been holding out on me. Don't you think it's a little hypocritical for you to criticize my eating habits when well..." he smirks as he gestures to the sprawled body of the young bartender on the floor.

She follows his gaze, and the sight of the unconscious boy strikes her once more with the feeling of guilt.

"I-This... This was a onetime thing. I-I don't know what got into me," she stammers. She leans back against the brick wall and looks up at him. "What are you even doing here?"

She's still feeling a little unsteady from the combination of blood and alcohol.

"I was getting hungry and then I felt you feeding."

Of course he'd get hungry. What with destroying her family's precious heirlooms and furnishings and what not. It must have been tiring work.

She wonders then if it was perhaps his hunger combined with her own that made her slip. She's starting to realize just how dangerous it was being bonded with him. That she was slowly losing her grip on the control she had fought so desperately to attain.

When she had felt the cravings creep in on her, when she had finally succumbed to it and sank her teeth into his neck and tastes his thick, delicious blood on her tongue, she couldn't stop herself. And because of that she nearly killed someone, again.

She scrubs at the blood on her face with the back of her hand, feeling a little disgusted with herself.

He groans and rolls his eyes. "Ugh. Here comes the remorse again. Why are you feeling guilty? You're doing nothing wrong," he sneers. "This is our nature."

She shakes her head. "I may be a vampire, but I'm still me. And I'm not a killer."

"Being a vampire is being you. You are the vampire and the vampire is you. They are one and the same. And it just so happens that killing is necessary for vampires. It's all part of the great Darwinian cycle."

"And that's a valid excuse to treat humans like simple food stock? Is that what you are saying? I should just be a crazy serial killer like you?"

"I'm not a serial killer."

"Oh my mistake, I thought the definition of a serial killer was a person who commits multiple murders. Say, what's your body count these days?"

"When humans butcher and slaughter animals for consumption does that count as murder? I am merely acting according to my nature, a simple tale of the scorpion and the frog. You can lie and deny it all you want, but we are hunters. Humans are prey. It is basic instinct."

"People aren't hamburgers."

"You are still so young and ignorant. You can try and suppress it now, but I can already sense the darkness in you. You will come to realize it on your own in time. You'll see. You'll come around."

"Don't hold your breath. I'd rather walk in the sun without my ring than 'come around' to your kind of twisted logic."

It's the second time she's used air quotes that day. It just goes further to show how much she had been drinking; or how being around him has regressed her into an immature, childish state.

She shakes her head at him and focuses her attention back on the human male on the ground. She crouches back down beside him and takes a bite out her wrist. Klaus hisses softly when he feels his own skin punctured by invisible fangs. She holds the blood up to the boy's mouth and lets him drink a few droplets. She checks to make sure that his bite wounds have been healed and wipes away the excess blood with her sleeve as he comes to.

"W-what happened?"

"You slipped on some ice," she answers readily. "And hit your head. But you're okay now. You're going to go back inside as if nothing has happened. It was just a bad fall and you'll ask to go home early."

The cute bartender looks back at her with that dreadful blank look the compelled always have.

"Yeah," he nods, agreeing. "Just hit my head a bit. It's still a little sore so I'll just go home early."

She smiles at him and helps him get up.

Klaus rolls his eyes when the boy walks past him and back into the building behind them.

"I'm surprised you didn't pat him on the head like a good little boy," he intones sarcastically.

She brushes off her pants and glares at him.

"Are you done?"

"I haven't even started."

She tries to push past him, but he catches her arm and pulls her back.

"I may be chained right now, but you would be foolish, little vampire, if you think you have the upper hand here. I could easily take you away from here. Hide you away in some little dark, dinky hole where you'll never see any of your friends or family again, freeing me to do whatever I wished. The only real reason I am not is because I still need to fix my little hybrid problem. And then there's the little matter of a... hunter that I'd like to get off my back. Both problems that my dearest brother has promised to help me with in return for my cooperation."

He releases her arm then and she suppressed a shudder. She hadn't thought of that. That Klaus could've just kidnapped her and lock her away. She'd be safe from any physical harm and yet still be rendered completely and utterly miserable; which would've worked perfectly to his benefit. The realization leaves her suddenly and painfully sober.

She had been naïve and fatally so. To think that she ever really had any leverage over him was completely laughable. The worst of it was he had known it all along. Let her believe she was in power, toyed with her. It was humiliating and she could feel her cheeks burning in a combination of shame and fury.

He leans in to whisper in her ear, "That's check, sweetheart. Better rethink your strategy."

He smiles a wolfish grin at her before walking away. She watches as his shadowy figure disappears in the darkness before going back into the Grill.

xxx

He's not there when she gets home. The house is eerily quiet and surprisingly intact. Somehow she finds herself oddly disappointed that he's not there. She always hated it when her mom worked late; hated the silence that echoed through the empty halls. It used to be a livelier place when she was younger. Back when her dad was still there and her mom didn't work 24/7. It is strange how in her very own home, she felt the most alone.

Some protector he is, she thinks sulkily.

She direly wished she was back at the Grill, but it was already past midnight and Bonnie pointed out that they still had school in the morning. It was only Monday after all; Tuesday now, actually. She sighed and got herself ready for bed. Wherever he is, at least he wouldn't be manipulating her dreams tonight.

She spoke too soon. She'll wake up in the morning with her sheets tangled about and sweat clinging to her skin. Klaus does nightmares just as well as he does fantasies.

xxx

Miles away from where Caroline lay, Stefan and Katherine find themselves into a crypt, hidden away in a little town in the middle of nowhere. There's no indicator at all as to whose body lies in eternal slumber in the darkness of the tomb, but they both march purposefully in.

Inside, the crypt is oddly clean. Its floors freshly swept, and a rather modern looking heavy wood casket lies at the center. Flowers adorning the ground meant somebody had been there recently.

The pair exchange nervous glances, but continue to move forth. They've barely reached the burial box when a voice stops them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

They turn around to face a man dressed in a plain black dress shirt and pants. Horned rimmed glasses grace a rather friendly, but stern looking face. It's a familiar face, but Stefan can't quite put his finger on where.

"Let me guess... you're here because you want to kill Klaus?"

Katherine narrows her eyes at the stranger, her pouty lips pulled downwards in a glower.

"And who the hell are you?"

The man smiles and, despite the kind tone and the rather paternal crows-feet crinkling his eyes, Stefan feels his hair standing on end.

"I'm the man who can help you put a dagger through his heart."