A/N- Thank you for all of your reviews! And I'd like to apologise once more for taking so long to update last time. As promised, CONFESSIONS! I'd like to thank GetTraught for giving me lots to think about and help as always, but especially whitedwarf for essentially BETAing this chapter and being the most incredible help I could have asked for. If you haven't read her Klaus/OC TVD/Harry Potter crossover story then you need to climb out from beneath the rock that you have obviously been inhabiting and read it NOW! It's amazing, I'm so excited for her next update.
Previously, on I'm Never The One- The Betrayal
"You're one of the Five." Klaus muttered.
I looked up at Damon and was glad to see that he was just as confused as I was.
"The what?" Damon asked.
But he received no answer.
"I'm faster than your average hunter." Connor said.
I felt a hand grasp my arm and the world blurred around me as someone carried me away at vampire speed. The explosion that occurred as the bomb went off rang in my ears.
When the vampire that had been carrying me stopped running, the only thing that prevented me from falling to the ground was a strong pair of arms encircling my waist. My head ached and everything was blurry as I struggled to make sure that my lunch didn't make a nasty reappearance.
"Sh, sh. It's okay, it's me, you're safe."
The soft, soothing voice allowed me to calm down and focus on the present. It was okay. I was safe. It was only... Wait.
I froze, and looked down at the arms wrapped around me. I heard a sigh, and they unwound themselves from me.
"You know where to take him," I heard the same voice say.
British accent.
I released a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and closed my eyes. Really? Him? Why couldn't Damon have gotten me out of there?!
I turned around to see a hybrid drag a strangely cooperative Connor out of the entrance hall to the Mikaelson Mansion. Unwillingly, my eyes flickered to Klaus.
He was currently on his phone listening to, I assumed, a voicemail.
I hadn't exactly looked at him properly, not since... Well, since before his supposed death. My blue eyes scanned everything, his tousled hair, his captivating oceanic eyes...
"Are you going to thank me, or are you going to continue to stare at me for the rest of the evening?"
I realised with a start that the question was directed at me.
"N-no," I said, not really answering his question but being too mortified to really say anything else.
And then, unsurprisingly, he gifted me with one of his notorious smirks.
I cursed silently. How embarrassing.
How infuriating that he found my humiliation amusing!
I looked away from his smirk, away from his dimples, away from him.
Because the more I looked at him, the clearer it became that a part of me had actually missed him.
And I hated myself for it, because I should have hated him, after everything he'd done- even after he allowed me for even one second to think that he was dead. That's what I simply couldn't even begin to comprehend. That's why I was angry with him.
It had hurt- a different, strange, raw kind of hurt- when Elena had told me that he was dead. I'd been so worried about how his death would affect those he had turned that my brain hadn't fully registered that he was gone. Something that I, regrettably, did not want to happen.
And I'd missed him. It was the one thing I missed about that summer with him and Stefan. Something about Klaus- something about his company. Something about the way he was so different when it was just me and him.
"I have to go now, love."
"Why?" I asked, my eyes snapping up again to look at him.
My urgent question seemed to make something in his eyes twinkle. "There are matters I should attend to."
"What about the five?" I pressed, my eyes narrowed. He seemed surprised. "I heard you, back there, in the hospital. 'You're one of the five'," I mimicked in a low british accent, waving my hands about for emphasis.
"I think you should leave the accents to me, sweetheart." he chuckled.
I tried to hide my smirk. "One way or another, Klaus, you're gonna tell me what the hell Connor's deal is."
"Of course." he said, smirking. "I wouldn't want to leave you alone for too long, love." he said as he walked past me and towards the front door. "After all, you might start missing me again."
My jaw almost fell to the floor, just as he slammed the door shut behind him. I scowled after him as I heard his chuckle.
THIRD PERSON
Elena and Stefan were lounging about in the living room of the Boarding House. Elena was exhausted, but happy. Klaus had just left the Boarding House after coming and giving her his blood because now, apparently, she was of use to him.
Stefan and her and been discussing what that could have meant, but her boyfriend seemed... distracted. Why? She had no idea. So when Damon and Caroline entered the Boarding House, she was relieved for the distraction.
"Damon, hey," Elena said from her spot on the couch. "Caroline," she added with surprise. "What are you two-"
"Where is Rayna?" Damon demanded, interrupting Elena. Stefan looked up from his lap at Damon. There was something about the urgency in his tone- something Stefan didn't particularly like.
Rayna's POV
Normally, I might have felt like an intruder going through Klaus' things- but I was enjoying myself far too much to think about it. I was in the room he had shown me what must only have been two months ago, but felt like an eternity. I was busy admiring his art.
He'd been gone for quite some time, and I had yet to explore the mansion fully. This room was both entertaining and time occupying, but I didn't mind. I loved it, he was an incredible artist. I could almost sense his emotions from every portrait, every landscape.
I was busy studying a beautiful landscape of what looked as though it might have been Chicago, when my eyes swept over another canvas in the pile. Gently, I lifted it up so that I could admire it, but I found my breath catching in my throat. This picture was different from the others.
In it there was a girl, sat in what looked to be a shopping mall, drinking from a glass of champagne. She had a determined expression on her face, as though she was trying to prove someone wrong...
I sat with Klaus and Stefan in the shopping mall. Klaus had compelled someone to pour us some champagne. A tall girl with dirty blonde hair who looked like a supermodel.
Typical.
He looked up at her as she bent over and filled his glass with champagne. I wasn't not sure if it was just her eyes he was admiring.
Hmmph. I thought as I gulped down some champagne which tasted absolutely disgusting.
"I thought you were under aged." Klaus said, frowning at me as I drank some.
"I'm not gonna let a vampire tell me how to drink." I retorted. "Grandpa." I muttered under my breath knowing full well he could hear me, earning smirks from Stefan and a growl from Klaus.
My eyes widened at the memory and I looked closely at the girl with dark chocolate hair and mystical blue eyes. My fingers traced the dark circles beneath her eyes due to the lack of sleep. I'd looked so exhausted back then.
My fingers gently prodded at the dark circles underneath my own eyes.
It was then that I realised that everything I had hoped and strived towards had been a lie. Things hadn't gotten better since I'd come back to Mystic Falls. They'd gotten worse.
Perhaps if I'd only stayed with Klaus, things would be different. Alaric would be alive...
"Not one of my best, I must admit." A gentle voice said from behind me. "I always find it difficult to capture pure beauty. It doesn't do you any justice."
"No." I replied, attempting to make my voice light and carefree. "No, I like it. It's real. But you didn't have to make me look like an alcoholic."
"I assure you, that wasn't my intention."
I put the canvas back down gently before turning to face him. "Look, I just want you to explain to me why Connor's here, and what the 'five' means. And then I'll be out of your hair and you can have the rest of the day to yourself."
"And what do I get in return for telling you?" he inquired, taking a step towards me.
"The pride of knowing you did something good?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "That isn't exactly what I was going for, sweetheart."
I swallowed. "Then what were you going for, exactly?"
"If you promise to have dinner with me tomorrow night, I will tell you. Those are my terms."
I looked at him for a moment, before gaping at him.
He was serious.
I scoffed and shook my head. "Why, Klaus?"
"Why, what?"
"Why do you do this? All the time, why do you..."
"Do what?" he questioned.
He was edging closer to me. I sucked in a deep breath and gestured between him and myself. "This! It's not- why do you..." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I wanted to phrase this right, but I couldn't seem to find the words. "Why do you do this with me, why are you so- so different with me when there's no one else, when it's just us? It's like, there's two Klaus Mikaelson's and I'm just, I'm just confused as to which one's real."
He studied me for a moment, really studied me. His eyes met mine and I felt like he was looking directly at my soul.
"You know why."
"No," I laughed without humour, shaking my head, "That's the thing I, I don't. I don't get it."
"At first, I'll admit, I was fascinated by you. Your power... I had no idea what you were- you were enthralling. Captivating. I had my suspicions, but I couldn't be sure until Gloria told me what you were, but by then it didn't matter. I enjoyed your company, Rayna... I still do. I enjoy you. The lightest and even the darkest parts of you make you who you are- a unique, fiercely loyal and passionate woman. You possess all of the qualities I admired as a human, and some of the ones that aggravate me beyond compare."
I didn't know what to say, or how to act. I just stood there, frozen.
"Perhaps you won't believe me, but you need to when I tell you that I have never done anything to hurt you, not intentionally. That was the last thing I wanted to do. And I regret some of the decisions that I made, because they ended in your suffering, and for that I apologise...I meant what I said, you know. Paris, Tokyo, Rome... I'll take you anywhere you want." he admitted, before smiling to himself. "I imagine we'd have quite the adventures."
THIRD PERSON
"She's at home." Elena said.
"Why?" Stefan asked.
"No, she's not." Damon told Elena, glancing around the room conspiratorially as though the Prophet would just pop out somewhere and yell, 'SURPRISE!'. "I've just been there and the Grill and then to Caroline's house, I can't find her anywhere."
Caroline sighed worriedly. "We don't know where she is."
"Well she has to be somewhere, have you tried calling her?"
"No, Stefan." Damon drawled. "Funnily enough we didn't think of that."
Stefan responded with a sharp glare.
"What're you doing?" Elena asked as Caroline pressed her phone to her ear.
"Calling Bonnie, maybe- Hey, Bon. Have you seen Rayna? Oh. Okay, thanks anyway- no, no reason, nothing's wrong. Nothing- everything is fine. Better. Better than fine. Everything's... cool. Yeah. Well...Gotta go, by!" the blonde vampire ended the call with a disappointed sigh.
"Where could she be?" Elena wondered aloud.
"She's with Klaus." Damon said, arms folded across his chest. "She has to be."
"What?!" Elena shrieked.
"How do you know that?" Caroline asked.
"She has to be. We were at the hospital, and-"
"Why were you at the hospital?" Elena interrupted.
"That doesn't matter right now," Damon said, "Look, the point is that she must be with Klaus. Don't worry, though," he added, upon seeing Elena's shocked and worried expression. "She'll be fine. He's wouldn't hurt her."
"What do you mean, 'he won't hurt her', of course he will, Damon!" Elena stressed. "This is Klaus we're talking about!"
"Exactly! This is Klaus we're talking about! He's not gonna hurt her, unless of course he goes down the whole 'if I can't have you, no one can' route which is seriously overdone."
"DAMON!" Caroline and Elena yelled.
Stefan watched the group and clenched his jaw.
"What?" Damon asked innocently, "Come on! This is probably the best thing that's happened to the guy all year. He's not gonna be thinking about hurting, he'll be a little preoccupied trying to get inside her pants. Which, knowing Rayna won't be easy. She is pretty stubborn."
"Damon, will you shut up and take this seriously for once!" Stefan yelled snapped as Elena and Caroline just gaped at him.
Damon's expression changed slightly and he narrowed his eyes just a fraction, raising an eyebrow at his brother. Stefan ignored him.
"Look, Elena," Caroline sighed. "Damon's disgusting and completely inappropriate but sometimes... occasionally he does happen to be right. This would probably be one of those times. I don't think Klaus is gonna hurt Rayna."
"Yeah, because she's useful to him!" Elena argued. "The second she becomes more of a hassle than she's worth or she is no longer of any use to him he will hurt her."
"You're wrong, Elena." Stefan said in a quiet, resigned tone. "His interest in Rayna... It's real."
The doppelganger watched the bitter expression on her boyfriend's face and pursed her lips.
Rayna's POV
I was a statue, I was numb on the outside but on the inside my brain was working on overdrive.
And Klaus, Klaus was a picture. There he was, standing before me in all his beautiful glory, looking more sincere than I'd ever known and admitting his feelings for... me. Me. Of all people. He could have anyone, literally. He was charming, intelligent, quick-witted, gorgeous, powerful, hypnotizing...
And he was telling me that he cared about me. No one had ever- he hadn't even tried with Elena. No one had ever done that. No one ever looked twice at me, not when my sister looked like Elena did and was as sweet as Elena and as likeable. And Klaus was.
But why? Compared to Elena, I- I was nothing. I was insignificant. Boring. Plain. Unattractive.
But Klaus, brilliant as he was, was also the cause of so many of my problems. He's done so many terrible things, and now he was telling me he cared? About me? Not about Elena, or even Caroline or Bonnie?
My brain was a muddle, trying to figure everything out at once. I suddenly needed so many answers but couldn't ask any questions.
He was looking at me, and it made me melt the way he was watching me. "I-" I said, "I'm sorry. I have to go."
I saw something flash in his face, something akin to hurt. But it was gone quickly and replaced by anger.
"I know you, Rayna." he said quickly. "Sometimes I don't know what you're thinking- what's going on in your head, but I know you. I know the important things. Like how you'd do anything to protect Jeremy, you'd do anything to protect him from your sister. The sister you secretly despise."
"Shut up." I spat, glaring at him.
"I'll admit," he said thoughtfully, "Despise is probably too strong a word. But you hate it, how everyone always has to save her, including yourself. You don't blame her, but you still hate it. Not because you're jealous, but because you disagree with the logic of everyone risking their lives to save one individual from something as petty as, say, turning into a vampire. Which she did anyway. You hate that John Gilbert died for no reason-"
"How the hell do you know about that?!"
"You hate how people overlook you because of your sister- even Stefan is guilty of that. Although, I don't suppose that matters that much, anymore, considering how drastically the tables have turned. I'll admit, he does have quite a bit in common with Elena, the both of them do tend to alternate between siblings."
My brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? Stefan's with Elena now. She chose him."
"But, answer me this, did Stefan ever say that he'd chosen her?" he asked, before smirking. "Stefan's feeling guilty. While Elena remained here in Mystic Falls waiting faithfully, or not so faithfully depending on how much comfort Damon gave her in the absence of his brother, Stefan was falling for non other than his sister. And boy, did he fall hard. He's desperately trying to ignore it, of course. He's trying to stop thinking about you when he's with Elena, or look at you every time you walk into the room. Only time will tell if he's successful or not."
I was silent.
He was right, of course. About everything he said about my feelings toward and involving my sister and brother.
But I refused to believe that he was right about everything.
THIRD PERSON
Caroline Forbes found herself sat at the bar in the grill, a thoughtful expression on her face. She wasn't alone. However, she didn't really feel like conversing with the vampire sat beside her. In fact, under ordinary circumstances she wouldn't have said anything to him at all. She would have ignored him. He would have been nothing to her but an annoying little bug in the corner of the room that she would overlook.
But not tonight.
No. Tonight, she had questions, and something told her he had at least a few answers.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead. I'm an open book." the eldest Salvatore said as he swirled the amber liquid around in his glass.
"Tonight, Stefan was-"
"-Abnormally quiet." Damon finished, with a smirk. "I was just thinking exactly the same thing."
"Something's going on. Elena knows too, did you see her face?"
"Oh, yes." Damon said, nodding. He sounded way too gleeful to Caroline. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I think it's safe to assume there is definitely trouble in paradise."
