Author's Note: Thank you for all reviews and comments. Sorry it's been a long wait for this update but I hope this extra long chapter makes up for the delay! Warning in this chapter for angst and violence.
Hope you all enjoy! x
xxxx
Chapter 7
As soon as they were back in the car, Klaus' mind started working overtime again. He played the exchanges with Caroline in the diner repeatedly through his mind, almost to the point of obsession, gauging the reactions he'd seen from her. Her reactions to his admittances about the state of his family had been…natural, and that surprised him. Deep down he didn't trust her but she was either exceedinly talented at deception or she was genuinely not some spy for his dad. She'd seemed horrified by his declarations. Unless she really was a good actress he doubted she could feign something like that.
In all honesty, he'd admitted the truth about his father partly because he wanted to see if she was genuinely surprised by the revelation. As much as his body was starting to be drawn to the spunky young woman, his mind still shunned the idea of trusting her with such secrets.
She'd passed his test.
But in some ways he wished she hadn't.
It would have been so much easier to just shoot the girl and drop her body into the ocean if she was a spy sent by Mikael, but she was so open and honest that it made him doubt his entrenched beliefs.
He hated her a little for that.
Because it made him actually want her. And that was more than desire. That was need. Klaus had often wanted things in his life and he'd gotten them because things were easy to acquire. But he doubted that Miss Forbes would fall into his collection so willingly.
Yet he needed to have her…to possess her.
So…he knew he'd have to do just that.
He'd do what it took to make her want him…and when she did he'd have her.
Of course, his thoughts didn't stray any farther into the future that that. He couldn't imagine that she'd mean more to him that just one casual, but obviously passionate night.
When they'd stopped off at the local mall to indulge in the shopping trip that Klaus promised her, Caroline had made a beeline to get all of the essentials that she needed to survive for the near future. She'd purchased some casual outfits and shoes before proceeding to bleed every store dry of cosmetics. At first, Klaus watched with detached amusement that quickly shifted to bemusement and finally annoyance when the girl's shopping habit seemed to never end. The girl was like a squirrel but instead of hoarding nuts for the impending frosty winter, Caroline collected anything that sparkled.
"Bloody hell, Caroline! There are other people in this town that'll need clothes, you know!" Klaus growled, traipsing after his…hostage? Was that what she even was anymore? He rapidly shelved that train of thought.
"But will they need scarves to cover up their neck bruises?" she replied with false sweetness, slyly infusing him with guilt.
"Fine, add them to the cart," he said with a wince, giving in to her.
Well, how else was he going to woo her if he didn't at least go along with some of what she wanted?
Caroline didn't argue…much…when Klaus had chosen some eveningwear dresses just in case to add to her purchases, secretly approving of his taste. It was a little creepy that he had such good taste in women's clothing, but she was sure there was a lot she didn't know about this cryptic man.
She was still stuck on the fact that it was insanely weird that they were actually getting along with other…sort of.
Of course, she forced him to wait outside when she made a little visit into Victoria's Secret.
There was no way in hell she was putting on an impromptu show for her kidnapper. And she had no doubt that his mind was perverted enough to ask for one, or even demand one from her.
However, she'd picked out some little gems that, even though no one would ever see them, she figured they at least made her feel good about herself.
She steadfastly ignored Klaus' comments about not needing half of the things that he was buying for her coupled with his whining that he didn't even get to go into the one store that was worth seeing. Secretly she was enjoying his annoyance as he trailed behind her into Bath and Body Works, laden down with her purchases like a pack horse.
It actually bordered on cute, although she was sure he'd be horrified at such a thought.
"I don't understand why the hell you need to smell like bourbon strawberries and Japanese cherries," he grumbled, glaring after her as she skipped happily through the aisles. "And what the bloody fuck does Love and Sunshine even smell like?"
Caroline hid her smirk and added a large bottle of Beautiful Day scented body wash to the mound of other things she'd already accumulated. "You really should be more open-minded," she chuckled.
"If I was being anymore open-minded my brain would tumble out of my skull," he snorted, digging his nails into his palms hard enough to draw blood.
Caroline rolled her eyes and ignored his complaints. "I think some of these would totally smell awesome on you. How about… Butterfly Flower?" She waved a bottle of the scented shower gel in front of him, prompting a growl from the Brit.
"Over my dead body!" he exclaimed, even though the subtle smile on his face and the gleam in his eyes belied his words of complaint. "I like good old soap and a splash of cologne."
Caroline shivered at the memory of his scent. No matter how much she mocked him, she couldn't deny that he smelled incredible, so deep and earthy with hints of sweet spiciness.
"Well not all of us can smell so naturally good," she drawled, huffing out a breath. The blonde blinked rapidly, however, when she realized her Freudian slip.
But before she could backtrack on her comment, suddenly he was pressed up against her, trapping her against the shelves. His nose nuzzled the crook of her neck, inhaling her natural sweet scent. "Oh, I beg to differ, sweetheart," he whispered hotly. "Some of us smell like pure heaven."
In that moment Caroline froze.
She could feel the length of his hard body flush against her and it evoked a deep shudder from the girl. She'd felt him like that before but previously any sensations had always been diluted by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear that he'd hurt her, fear that she would perish horribly at his hands.
Now, she was wracked with a different kind of fear as his hot breath tickled her shoulder.
His lips skimmed the arch of her throat, not kissing her, merely teasing her with the promise of a caress. She didn't want this. She didn't want a man who was capable of the things that Klaus was capable of to touch her.
"Don't," she hissed, her breath catching in her throat.
"So stop me," he challenged her huskily.
One deceptively gentle hand trailed the length of her arm, raising goosebumps in its wake and for several seconds she allowed herself to be caught up in the cloud of mutual lust.
His touch stirred things in her that she hated herself for even contemplating.
And she couldn't contemplate them.
It was wrong.
He was a murderer. A murderer. A man who'd hurt her before and would have no qualms about doing so again. He was arrogant and rude and remorseless.
He was…evil.
He had kidnapped her after all.
She had to get away. She needed to put some serious distance between the pair of them.
Angrily she pushed him away, breaking free of his loose grip on her. "We need to pay for this stuff and then get out of here," she said briskly, unable to meet his eyes. "And don't do…that again."
Klaus nodded, trying to control his ragged breath. He screwed his darkened eyes tightly shut for a second, pretending that he was master of this situation.
But he wasn't.
Not anymore.
Whatever he felt for this spunky blonde was spiraling out of his control.
He wasn't sure what had made him act like that. It definitely wasn't in the plan, even after making the conscious decision to woo her. But he hadn't been able to help himself. Feeling Caroline against him shouldn't have provoked such a primal response in him as it did. Holding her close had made him want to take her right there and then, to claim her as his own, to mark her in a bestial mating ceremony in between the aisles. His inner beast had screamed at him to force her to her knees and take her ceaselessly until she hoarsely screamed his name in the throes of unbridled pleasure.
But she wasn't ready for that yet.
Not yet…but soon…he hoped.
Klaus swallowed. "Okay, let's go."
Awkwardly they left the mall and piled the bags into the car, tension falling over them like a cloud of ash all the while.
He wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible. It was rare for him to stay in one place for more than a few days.
If he kept moving, it meant there was less chance of being cornered by one of his father's henchmen.
"So where are we headed now?" Caroline asked, fiddling with the radio dial as he drove and finally settling on some bubblegum pop that made Klaus' ears bleed. She was just happy that at least this time she was inside the car instead of being locked in the trunk. But she couldn't take another minute of their tense silence, mostly because the silence allowed her to remember what had just happened between them and she really didn't want to think about that…ever. "And don't tell me that I don't need to know."
"We're not headed anywhere in particular," he told her honestly, briefly glancing over at her. "I have to keep moving but there's no destination, only the journey. I suppose that's a bit like life in general. It's a box of chocolates and all that jazz," he added in a cringe-inducing attempt at Southern accent.
Caroline glanced down at her nails, studying her cuticles. "Yeah, maybe for some people. I thought I knew where my life was going though. I had it all planned out. Until…"
"Until I stole you away from the streets of New York like a vagabond in the night," he chuckled.
"That pretty much sums it up," she agreed.
"So what were you doing in New York anyway? I mean clearly you're not a native of the fine city," he commented.
"What makes you think that?" she asked bristling, only to receive an amused chuckle. "You're not a native either. You're not even American."
He laughed again. "What gave it away?" he drawled, accentuating his British accent.
Glaring, Caroline sighed. "Stop laughing. You're even creepier when you laugh then when you're Mr. Bigshot on the rampage."
She didn't add that the way his eyes sparkled and cheeks dimpled when he laughed stirred an incredibly inappropriate heat from deep within her.
Mostly because she feared that if his ego inflated anymore it might go pop on a nuclear size scale.
But also because it slightly made her doubt the last remaining shreds of her sanity.
Stifling another chuckle, he overtook a car that was traveling way too slow for him. "So, you didn't answer my question. Why were you in New York?"
Caroline raised an eyebrow, studying his profile.
Strangely, it seemed like he was genuinely interested. But she wasn't going to be fooled. Regardless of the less horrible things he'd done for her during the past day he was still basically a heartless psychopath. She'd witnessed him execute a man without blinking. He'd stuffed her in the trunk of his car and kidnapped her without a care in the world. And he'd come close to squeezing the life out of her.
He couldn't truly be interested in the sad little workings of her life.
"You don't need to know," she finally answered, mimicking his own earlier words.
Amusement colored his features again, a dimpled smirk spreading across his lips. "I don't need to but maybe I want to."
"Why?"
"I'm bored. Hearing about your trivial problems might keep me momentarily entertained."
Caroline clenched her teeth together, biting back the nasty jibe that threatened to leap from her sharp tongue.
Maybe her problems might seem trivial to a man like Klaus but she was heartbroken, even if she hadn't really felt the pain since she'd been whisked away from normality. If this had been a normal situation she'd have already been back in Mystic Falls by now, pouring out her heart to her best friends, Elena and Bonnie, as they comforted her.
Somehow she didn't imagine that Klaus would be down with eating a gallon of Ben and Jerry's and watching The Notebook with her.
But maybe it would help her to get some perspective on the whole situation if she did share her problems, even with someone like Klaus.
She steadfastly ignored the fact that she'd barely even thought about Tyler in days, chalking it up to the stress of being kidnapped overriding the pain of being dumped.
"I came to New York to see my boyfriend," she sighed.
His eyes flickered with a glaring intensity as he drank in her words. "I see," he said coldly. "And this boyfriend lets you run around the dangerous parts of the city alone, does he?"
"Actually, he broke up with me the day you and I met," she said, a pang of loss lancing through her heart. "We were doing long distance while he goes through law school but he doesn't want to do it anymore. He said it's too hard for him. We were together for six years and then bam one day he's just done with me like it meant nothing to him."
"Huh. Sounds like a bloody coward," Klaus commented glacially, a flash of quickly suppressed hope dancing through him. "And he clearly doesn't love you."
Caroline's breath clogged her throat at his declaration and anger boiled in her veins. "What would you know about love, Dr. Phil?" she scoffed, forgetting how dangerous this man could be for a moment.
"I know that if you truly love someone you don't hurt them like that."
"Right, thanks for your opinion. Do you even have a heart?"
For a second she thought she saw a glimmer of pain flash across his face, even as he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the road. But before she could process it, the look was gone and anger bubbled to the surface.
She feared that he might swerve into the passing traffic just to spite her, but at least his own sense of self-preservation was stronger than that.
"I do have a heart, I just choose not to go around letting it bleed for every Tom, Dick, and Harry," he replied gruffly after a short pause.
"Maybe that's your problem," Caroline informed him. "If you actually let people in then you would understand not everyone's out to get you. I mean, I know what it's like to be hurt, okay? I've been there more than once, being second best to someone else, but sometimes you have to suck it up. Let people in or you'll end up all alone."
Her words crashed through his brain like a freight train, making him roar in fury. They reminded him of his sister, Rebekah's, parting words before she flounced out of his life several years earlier in a blaze of seething hatred and recriminations.
She told him he pushed everyone away. She'd told him he was bound to end up all alone. She'd reminded him he was worthless when it came to people caring about him because he was so fundamentally damaged.
And he was damaged, a broken toy too cracked and splintered to be fixed.
He thumped the wheel several times, causing her to jump and recoil against the passenger side door. He didn't want to hear the truth because it cut too close to the bone and that alone made him want to smash and bash and massacre everyone and everything within a 100 mile radius.
Klaus feared that if she didn't keep her mouth shut, then Caroline would bear the brunt of his burgeoning anger.
"It's been a lovely chat," he said with cold chastisement. "But I really do mean it when I advise you not to say another word. That is, if you wish for me to continue to honor the terms of our…deal."
Realizing the gravity of his statement, Caroline took his advice, keeping quiet until they reached their next motel.
As he focused on the road, Klaus silently seethed. But his anger wasn't directed outwardly, as was so often the case with him. It was turned inward. He'd always been comfortable with what he had to do to survive and killing, maiming and bringing misery to others was his default setting.
Since he'd met Caroline he'd been given a stark reality check on the kind of man he'd become.
Because, as comfortable as he was with cutting down those who he saw as guilty, he'd never intentionally harmed an innocent girl. A girl who had no part in this world. He'd terrorized her and no amount of burgers or breakfasts or shopping sprees could make up for that.
Nothing could do it because he was forced to see what was happening to him.
He was becoming the very person he despised most in the world.
He was becoming his father.
And he couldn't bear for Caroline to point it out to him.
When they finally pulled up outside of the small town motel, neither Klaus nor Caroline uttered a word. They maintained the awkward silence that had descended over them. As they grabbed their bags from the car and headed to their room, neither of them noticed the blue eyed figure watching their every move from the black SUV parked across the street.
"Enjoy your last few hours on this earth, you bastard," the young man whispered, peering at the pair from under the small peak of his cap. "Because you're going down, Mikaelson. You and your little bitch."
xxxx
The new motel wasn't so different than the last, except it seemed a little cleaner and smelled a hell of a lot better.
Caroline would never have imagined she could actually have missed the scent of Pine-sol.
Klaus was still steadily ignoring her which should have made her happy but perversely pissed her off. He was the one who'd dragged her into the fucked up mess that was his life and he had no right to be mad at her for speaking the truth.
She leaned casually against the wall, watching his tense movements as he rooted through his bag, retrieving his sketchpad and art supplies. Turning to face her, he sighed, noticing her eyes fixed on him.
"Is there something bothering you, love?" he asked, his voice aloof and devoid of warmth.
"Not really, but I think there's something bothering you. You're pissed because I was honest. So now you're acting all weird and avoid-y."
Klaus marched forward toward her. His arm shot out to grab her, pulling her back against him. "Your honesty might be what gets you killed, love," he said harshly, pushing her forward as he released her.
"Yeah? Well your fucking pride is what's gonna get you killed, Klaus."
"Is that so? You've known me for two minutes…"
"…and what a pleasant two minutes that hasn't been…"
"…and yet you seem to believe you have some insight into my life. I'm keeping you with me because I don't want you jeopardizing my safety by skittering off to the nearest police station with tales of the naughty murderer who kidnapped a poor innocent girl. But your stay doesn't include an invitation to dissect what's wrong with my life. This isn't an after school special edition of The World According to Caroline."
"I'm just pointing out the facts, Klaus. Seriously, you spend your time running from your dad without any real plan and…"
"My plan is not to die and so far I've executed it pretty well, wouldn't you say?"
"Maybe it'd work a hell of a lot better if you just faced up to your father," she commented. "I mean, I only know what little you've deigned to tell me, but even I can see that running up and down the east coast like Bugs Bunny trying to evade Elmer frickin' Fudd won't work forever."
"You dare to tell me how to conduct my family business?" he roared. "You know nothing about this, little girl! Nothing! Don't for one minute think you can tell me what to do just because I've allowed you the luxury of continuing to live!"
She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Right, you're the big man who gets his kicks from threatening innocent women instead of going up against the one demon you don't want to face."
"And what demon would that be?"
She glanced at him as if it should be obvious. "Haven't you listened to a word I just said? Your dad, Klaus. You're obviously scared of him."
"I'll have you know my father isn't even on this continent, Caroline. He stays away because he's afraid of me!"
"Sure, that's why you run from town to town so he can't get to you."
"His minions are everywhere and I don't particularly care to wait around for them to find me. That's why I move. It's because I like to stay a step ahead of the bloody enemy, not because I'm scared. I'm scared of nothing!"
She shook her head. "Yes you are, Klaus! You're scared of yourself. I can see it in the way you act. Every time I say something too personal your feelings get hurt and when you're hurt you lash out. Maybe if you stopped trying to be the Big fucking Bad all of the time you might actually face up to the shit you pretend doesn't affect you."
Klaus opened his mouth to reply, but Caroline would never know what he was going to say because at that very moment the door crashed open with a terrifying bang.
Before Caroline had a chance to process what was happening, she was being hurled across the room by the intruder. Her body collided with the small nightstand and she slid to the floor, dazed and confused. Struggling to her knees she ignored the stars that were swimming in her vision.
She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her head, but when she managed to lift her eyes they landed on an imposing figure standing in the doorway, his pistol trained straight on Klaus.
Caroline frowned.
The man who was clad in faded black jeans and a gray hoodie looked very familiar. Blue eyes shone with rage from underneath a black newsboy cap. She'd seen him before. Then it all clicked, as she remembered the guy who'd shoulder bumped her in the diner.
It was him.
And he looked like a weapon of pure rage.
Her breath caught in her throat as he closed the door behind him, his aim unwavering as he ambled casually over to Klaus.
The Brit remained motionless, his own attention fixed firmly on the intruder and the gun he was wielding.
"I don't recall ordering room service, mate," Klaus quipped coldly. "I didn't think an establishment such as this one would provide it."
The stranger snickered, his lip curling in contempt as he stared at Klaus. "Oh don't worry. Your death is free."
Caroline's brain yelled at her to say something to try and diffuse the situation but she knew that she couldn't interfere. Whoever this guy was, it didn't seem like "reasonable" was one of his personality traits.
Klaus shook his head in amused disbelief. He'd spent his life dealing with men who were bigger and badder than this imposter and he certainly wasn't about to be cowed by some boy who was barely out of his teens.
"Thanks for the offer," Klaus drawled leisurely. "But I'm no charity case."
Without warning, Klaus slammed his fist into the other man's face, exploding the bone of his nose as his knuckles connected with the prone appendage. The stranger stumbled back, protectively cupping his face with one hand as blood gushed through his fingers, dripping down his chin onto the white of his collar.
The intruder whimpered in pain and the smile that was creeping onto Klaus' face spread wider.
Caroline couldn't help but notice the expression of unguarded ecstasy that colored Klaus' face as he unleashed his passionate fury onto this man.
This was Klaus in his element, joyfully inflicting pain on others without a single thought for the consequences.
And that thought was chilling.
She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to shut out the scene that was playing out like something out of a nightmare. But even when she closed her eyes, it didn't stop the yells or cries or sounds of flesh smacking against flesh.
In a flash, the Brit lunged again at the darker haired man, slamming him back against the wall and pinning him with his forearm. Fear bloomed behind the younger man's eyes as he realized why nobody had ever been able to bring Klaus down.
It certainly wasn't for lack of trying.
Klaus' hand circled his opponent's wrist, crushing it as hard as he could to disarm the boy who'd dared to challenge him. The gun clattered to the ground beside the pair with a thud and Klaus kicked it behind him out of the way.
"Now that we've established who the boss here is, I want some bloody answers," Klaus boomed authoritatively. "So here's how this game works. I ask a question and you answer me truthfully or you lose a body part."
The stranger seethed with intense hatred, his eyes darting around the room as if he was searching for a way out of the situation he'd gotten himself into.
"Okay, so let's get started. Who are you?" Klaus demanded of the man, his expression almost feral.
"Fuck you!" the other man spat.
"Ooh, wrong answer, buddy. Look, I can make your death quick or I can drag it out for months. Tell me who you are and what the bloody hell you're doing here and perhaps I'll allow you the mercy of the former."
Thierry didn't respond for a moment, shooting death glares at the older man. However, Klaus wasn't someone to be trifled with. Taking Thierry's left hand between his own, Klaus snapped the other man's wrist back and crushed his fingers. The nasty crunch of bone was only overshadowed by the roar of unadulterated agony emanated from Thierry's mouth, his desolate eyes straying to his ruined hand.
"Now that's just for starters," Klaus warned him. "If you don't tell me everything then every bone in your pathetic, worthless body will suffer the same fate. And if I don't hear what I want to hear I'll rip you apart and beat to death whatever's left. Got it?"
Gulping fearfully, his burst of courage having fled, the dark haired man relented. "I'm Thierry. Marcel was my boss and my friend, until you killed him."
"How did you find me?"
"I've been tracking you and your bitch for the past couple days, ever since you murdered Marcel."
Klaus mentally kicked himself.
Under normal circumstances he'd never have failed to notice somebody trailing him, but he'd been so preoccupied with Caroline that he hadn't even seen this clown coming.
And now his fascination with this little blonde distraction had put him in danger.
Well, once Thierry was dealt with, he'd have to make sure that Caroline went the same way.
All ideas of wooing her fled from his mind knowing that he'd have to enact her demise. However much it pained him to end the life of a woman who enchanted him as much as Caroline did, he would put his own safety first.
She was a beautiful weakness against which he needed to fortify himself.
He glanced over at the petite blonde, silently watching the scene unfurl from the corner of the room. Although her face remained neutral, he could see the horror shining from her eyes and rewarded himself with another mental kick that he actually felt bad that he would have to end her.
Refusing to let his self-annoyance show, Klaus shrugged and turned his attention back to Thierry. "So what if I killed Marcel?" He silently congratulated himself on covering up his thoughts with bravado.
"You can't just get away with that, you know?" Thierry actually seemed surprised that Klaus didn't seem to care about what he'd done.
Klaus chuckled darkly. "Don't you get it? I already did get away with it. He's dead and you've ventured into the lion's den with your empty threats and piss poor recriminations."
"Marcel didn't deserve to die, Klaus!" Thierry insisted. "He was a good guy, a good boss."
"Yeah, and a good backstabber. Maybe he treated you well, but he was a terrible friend to me," Klaus spat, his voice infused with every ounce of the bitterness that had plagued him for so long. "He knew better than most how I felt about betrayal but he still chose to work alongside my father to bring me down. Was I supposed to just allow him to run around trying to kill me?"
"You were the one who betrayed him first, Klaus," Thierry hissed haughtily. "Don't think I didn't hear the stories about how you cut him from your life because he fell in love with your sister. Everyone knows how you tore them apart and they both hated you for it. Your obsession with your sister is sick, man."
"Shut your gob, you little wanker!" Klaus snarled, his fingers clutching tightly around Thierry's injured paw. "I kept my sister away from Marcel because he wasn't right for her, because I knew he'd hurt her. Not for any other reason."
"Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night, Mikaelson. You still made her miserable and whatever sad little motivations you pretend to have, it didn't make her hate you for it any less. And it didn't make Marcel forgive you either. You deserve every goddamn thing that's coming your way."
"You think my involvement in their parting ways justifies my death?" sneered Klaus, his grip tightening. "You really are cut from the same cloth as your former boss."
"And you're no different to any of us. You're a selfish asshole. You hurt your sister and you hurt your friend. Hell, you even hurt that brother of yours, who still stands by you after he suffered at your hands. Or did he not mourn his beloved Katerina after you did what you did to her?"
Klaus shuddered at the name. He was still dealing with the fallout from that unfortunate incident in more ways than one. But he definitely didn't like to be reminded of it. "You really do like to stick your nose into things that are none of your business, don't you?"
Thierry shook his head, sniffing. "It doesn't matter now, man. It's done but you're going to pay for it."
"Really? You're hardly in a position to enact your ridiculous fantasies of revenge." Klaus laughed arrogantly, pushing Thierry against the wall, dazing him for an instant. "Did you think a boy could do a man's job? Marcel couldn't bring me down. What makes you so different?"
"Because I won't fail to avenge Marcel's death. And even if you kill me, you'll still get what's coming to you."
Klaus laughed mockingly. "Do you have any idea how pathetic blind loyalty is?"
"You wouldn't know a thing about loyalty, Mikaelson. I'm loyal to the people I care about and all you do is screw them over."
"Oh ho! So the little boy thinks he knows me, huh? I suppose it's all come via the grapevine from my former friend and confidant. Did Marcel whisper his vile hatred for me when you two lay in bed together?"
"It wasn't like that with Marcel and me!" Thierry glowered at Klaus when he laughed. "Fuck you, you bastard!"
"I bet you'd like to, wouldn't you. Most people would, it's one of the curses of being so wildly handsome. Unfortunately you're not my type."
"And what is your type?" Thierry spat.
"Alive," Klaus said smoothly. "And you're about to be…not so alive."
When Caroline saw Klaus pull out his knife from his belt, her eyes widened in horror. She couldn't bear witness to another murder. Without thinking she let out a shriek.
"No!" she cried.
Her shout only distracted Klaus for a split second but it was enough time for Thierry to writhe out of his hold and send his captor stumbling backward.
With an adrenalin fueled rush of strength Thierry leapt forward and grabbed the gun from the ground with his undamaged hand, leveling it at Klaus. Caroline yelled again but her cries went unheard. The auburn haired Brit launched himself at the other man, diving for the weapon but it was moments too late.
The sound of the shot ricocheted against the walls, before everything seemed to freeze. Time itself seemed to actually grind to a screeching halt as the bullet tore through her kidnapper's flesh, doubling him over in pain.
Caroline's eyes flickered over to Klaus, who was clutching his abdomen, blood seeping through his fingers.
Thierry took a step back and stared down at Klaus, who collapsed to one knee, sinking under the agony.
"Payback's a bitch, Klaus," Thierry said coldly a sinister smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "Not so big and strong are you, now? Your overinflated ego couldn't protect you forever, Mikaelson. You should have known that."
With blood pouring from his wound, Klaus looked up, seeing the other man with his finger poised on the trigger. He'd always hoped that when he finally kissed goodbye to this mortal coil it would be in a blaze of glory.
He never figured it would be on his knees at the mercy of some nobody.
His eyes briefly strayed to Caroline.
The young blonde was watching the whole scene play out with horrified disbelief. Regret flashed through him. Regret that he would never have a chance to enjoy the girl, that he'd never have a chance to truly know her. Regret that he'd die with her still thinking he was nothing but an irredeemable monster.
Regret that he'd made her hate him.
Unblinking, he stared into the barrel of the gun and steeled himself for the final shot, too weak to fight.
He knew it was the end.
No one could save him now.
Not even himself.
