Author's Note: Alright, here's chapter five for all you lovely readers.
Just wanted to remind all of you to tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it :)
Happy reading . . .
The destination he was leading me to wasn't what I expected. It was a large den styled in a definite man-cave likeness. Leather couches, pool table, foosball table, flat screen TVs, and a fully stocked bar and kitchen. I was impressed. To say the least.
"Nice place." I comment casually, but the tension continued to twist my muscles into tight coils of awareness as my gaze darted everywhere at once, looking for escape routes and possible weapons. Just in case, you know, he decides he does want to kill me.
"Are you thirsty?" He asks, surprising me. He loosens the tie around his neck while removing the coat jacket. My eyes widened in disbelief as I stared at the contours of his back. Ridges and crevices molded from solid stone by the hands of God himself. I wet my lips and shook my head in disbelief. Lucifer really was the most beautiful angel. A dark angel. A fallen angel.
"Blood." I answer and he casts me a glance over his shoulder before uncorking a bottle of wine.
"Or wine." I relent and his lips quirk as he pours. Surprise fills me when the glorious smell of blood reaches my nostrils. Was the devil a gentleman? I cock both of my eyebrows.
"I didn't think you let anyone get their way. Especially a woman." I confess as he hands me a flute glass filled with my reason for existing. He shrugged and watched me, before turning his back and pouring an amber liquid for himself in a glass of crystal.
"I like pleasing, Caroline. I'm sin, remember?" His voice melted over me like warm chocolate or caramel. I couldn't decide which. He moved toward a cabinet and opened it. The glance I got in the brief moment he opened it – of the interior – was enough to bring back my anxiety. The case wasn't wide in width, but it seemed to stretch on for infinity with rows and rows of corked bottles. Each holding a ball of light inside. They were message bottles, of sorts. Except smaller and without the long bottled neck. Some of the lights were bright while others were dim and some were blacker than the deepest pits of hell.
He shut the case and cast me a glance. An empty bottle twirled in his hand as he took a sip of his drink. He placed the bottle on the table before lifting his left leg and resting his foot on the rim of the table. Lifting his pant leg up to his knee revealed a set of knives. After removing the interior one from his calve, he stood up straight and faced me.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked and I set my glass down, shaking my head. It was a beautiful dagger with a golden handle engraved with scriptures of old and symbols of the ancient realms. Some of which I wouldn't be able to tell you about if my life depended on it.
"A dagger." I answered and his lips quirked in amusement. His long, powerful fingers trailed down the blade possessively as he inquired it with near lust. Not a sexual lust, but a blood lust. Blood filled my mouth and I flinched, realizing I had bit my tongue.
"Wrong. It's a gift. Crafted and blessed by the fates themselves. Blood spilled from this blade is cursed with my own in an unbreakable bond." His gaze flickered up after those words left his lips, searing into my own like a blow to the chest. And it knocked the air from my lungs all the same.
"Paper and pen, even blessed with magic is so futile, and temporary. Blood . . ." He inhaled with that lust again, shutting his eyes in rapture. They opened and locked with mine.
"Blood is infinite." Klaus turned away from me and I was thankful for the relief from his scrutinizing attention. Even if the pause was so brief.
"Infinite, Caroline. Eternity. That is how long my deals last. If you cannot commit to that, I would leave now. I'm known to get a bit angry when I don't get what I want." He leaned against a mahogany bar and crossed large arms over a broad chest. Rippling muscles bulged from his forearms and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't affected down below. I needed to talk to Elena about these reactions to him because dear God, heaven, and hell, I was going mad.
"I thought we were going to discuss terms." I remind him and he nods.
"We will, but I won't discuss them unless I have at least ninety-five percent of your cooperation. The other five will be for if you need to leave because you can't handle my terms." He shrugs and I nod, slowly.
"This is oddly formal. Anyone else thinking that?" I asked to no one in particular.
"Choose, Caroline. I'm an impatient man." Yeah, I got that. With an eye roll I moved toward his couch and sat down.
"You have me curious, devil. I'll stay." I was insane. This knowledge wasn't new to me.
"Some of my jobs will require you going to different realms, but most of them will take place here on Earth." He starts, moving to take a seat in front of me. For such a proper business man, he slouched. It was a sexy slouch, though. His legs spread as he sunk into the chair, resting his shoulder blades against the back. His arms crossed. At least he was comfortable. I had to suppress an eye roll.
"What will these jobs entail?" I ask, sweetly and he paused with the brim of his glass to his lips. He placed it down against his thigh.
"I thought I made that clear. You would be my executioner." He says and I wave my hand, dismissively.
"Yes, I understand that, but who would I be executing exactly? Would I hunt men, women – I won't kill kids." I say, immediately and he frowned at me.
"I'm bad, but I'm not that bad." He says and I nod.
"Good." I swallow.
"Caroline, I go after the damned. The ones who have succumbed to temptation. That very rarely if ever involves children. I have some morals." He rolled his eyes.
"Are they in your pants?" My question was automatic and uncontrollable. I didn't regret it, but I knew I should have.
"Is that an invitation?" He returned and I ignored him.
"I give you an assignment. You go and retrieve this assignment. Sometimes I'll have you bring them back to me alive and other times it's your choice as to what occurs, as long as the end result is a dead body, of course." He explains and I nod, this actually seemed easy enough.
"So, this is a literal job? I do these assignments for you and I get paid?" I asked and he nodded in reassurance.
"We can discuss numbers after I see you in action for myself. In return for this I'll give you your freedom. In exchange for your freedom, I want your loyalty and your time." He wet his lips and I squirmed.
"What would my . . . time entail?" I ask, hesitantly.
"When I want you, you're there. Until I say you can go." His eyes flashed and I scoffed.
"No, that's like accepting a dance from you, we'd never stop. There's a time limit." I say and he nodded.
"I can agree to that. Forty-eight hours." He says and I snort.
"Fifteen." I counter and his eyes flashed gold.
"Thirty-six." He offered.
"Twenty." I retort.
"Thirty." He wagers and my jaw tightens.
"Twenty-four." I deadlock. If he wanted more than that he could kiss my tight, blonde ass as I walked out of his stupid man-cave.
"Deal." Another flash of gold and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach.
"Fine. But the twenty-four hours can only take place once a month." I was also deadlocked on this. If I knew anything, I knew the Devil was a sneaky bastard and he'd somehow twist this twenty-four hour rule in his favor. Like me ending up on a new clock of twenty-four hours immediately after the first were over. Yeah, that sounds very devil-like, if I do say so myself. Amusement filled his eyes along with respect.
"Alright." He nods and I squirm.
"Okay, in exchange, I want you to get me out of my arranged marriage. And I want freedom. I don't want to be under your thumb all the time. These assignments vary." I add and he rubs his jaw.
"Alright, I can agree to that. Just a couple questions. A: Why are you in an arranged marriage? B: What's so bad about it that you need to make a deal with me to get out?" He asked, cocking a light eyebrow. I grinded my jaw.
"I'm in an arranged marriage because my mother is a moron. The bad thing about it is, I've already been tied to a man against my will. I don't want to be tied to another. Ever. I want freedom. I want a life." I don't think I've ever admitted that aloud. Damn bastard really is good at getting you to open up. I'll have to watch out for that.
"Okay, okay, so twenty-four hours of your time once a month and executing the damned at my will, varied of course. In exchange for a life and your freedom. I like this deal." He admits.
"I gathered that and that's what's terrifying me." I confess and he watches me.
"Good. When you're scared, you express it through anger. I like you angry. It makes your eyes glitter with violence." He smirks and I glare.
"Can we just get this over with?" I snap and he shrugged, standing up. He helped me to my feet before grabbing his special blade. He uncorked the bottle and placed it in my hand before grabbing my free hand and positioning it over the opened bottle. He held the tip of the steel to my palm and leaned over, brushing away some of my hair before tucking it behind my ear. His thumb teased my earlobe as he rested his mouth carefully against the shell of my ear.
"Do you fear hell, Caroline?" He whispered and the answer fell from my lips without my consent just as my skin split open, releasing a drop of crimson liquid which dropped into the glass with a defining ding. The sound lingered in the air long after he corked it shut tightly.
My answer continued to ring in my own ears and the weight of it lingered in my chest. My fate was decided by one simple answer.
"No."
I was officially damned.