A/N: Thanks so much for reading and your ideas on what might happen in this project of mine. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Klaus couldn't help but enjoy that he had new hybrids around, new ones to train, to help cultivate his perfect little army. He wasn't naive, while the death of Mikael and the plotting of Esther had definitely helped to reconcile the remaining members of his family, he still couldn't quite shake off the paranoia that they would one day try and betray him again. Too many centuries of seeing it unfold in front of him for love or power or simply for chaos in Kol's sake. Though for now, his main focus with them was to help block Alaric from finding any of them. He might not trust his siblings, but he did not wish for any more of them to die.
But with a few hybrids he'd turned earlier showing up to train the new batch it was time to be off. No doubt he'd find more werewolf packs along the way but his interests lay elsewhere, on the beautiful blonde waiting on the train platform with him. She had brokered a year of her life to him and he meant to enjoy every single instance of it, to finally have her in all of her glory and then get her out of his system. A weakness like she could represent wouldn't be good for him, he would not allow it, but Klaus wouldn't dispose of her until he got all that he wanted either.
Even if the thought of disposing of her in the end hadn't been settling right with him in days. Perhaps he'd simply let her go at the end of the year, let her run back to her friends and her small town, having him branded in the back of her mind and on every piece of her body. An echo of all she'd had at her fingertips and all she would never see again.
But that was for him to determine later. For now he needed to focus on actually getting her to come around to his side. Klaus knew jewelry wouldn't work. She didn't like when he gave her gifts, even if they all looked spectacular on her, but he'd heard Tyler mention the drawing he'd done for her one day while watching his unsired hybrid, wanting to keep fear alive in the young pup. And he knew her love of horses.
Perhaps gradual steps, getting her to feel comfortable around him, to open up to him would work in his favor.
"Why is Sam with us? I thought you were having your hybrids from home work with the new ones?" Caroline asked the first words she'd said to him since they'd made it back to Edinburgh.
"I have a specific task for him to complete," Klaus informed her, watching as the young man hurried over to them with a mug of coffee for her, just the way she liked it.
"What? Follow us around and be at your every beck and call?" she muttered, and Klaus grinned, watching her take the drink from the boy before thanking him.
"Yours, actually," Klaus replied, enjoying the shocked look on her face. "He'll be protecting you with his life. Wouldn't want a repeat of what happened the other day, now would we?"
Caroline didn't reply to that, sipping her coffee instead and Klaus smiled. While he would miss the interactions with his new hybrids he was glad to be leaving. The town they were from was small and hardly up to his specifications on how he liked to live. "Will they be okay?" she asked, and he glanced over at her, unsure who she was referring to. "The hybrids?"
"I've left some of my brightest and most loyal with them, Caroline. They'll be perfectly fine," he assured, believing every word of it. "The bloodlust will take time for them to control but I've no doubt they'll catch onto in time. Sam here is already doing quite a good job at it. Though, Sam." Klaus eyed the boy's collar, noting the flecks of blood across it. "Next time be a little more careful about getting any on your clothes."
Caroline scoffed, clearly unamused by the whole ordeal and that only fueled Klaus' amusement. "Don't worry, we'll pick you up some blood bags to tie you over when we reach our destination," he told her, and she glanced over at him, her confusion confirming that she hadn't expected that. "I do believe trying to get you to feed from others at the moment will only cause another scene and I'd much rather enjoy my time with you than chase after you while you're in a huff. Though I do quite enjoy how anger looks on you, love."
She rolled her eyes at that and went back to drinking her coffee. "Can't take a compliment, this one. Always thinks there's an alternative motive behind me doling them out to her," Klaus informed the other hybrid. "Can't say I blame her. I usually do have something else up my sleeve, Sam; you'll come to learn that about me." Klaus smiled at the boy who had the decency to nod and look a little afraid at that comment, before he turned his attention back to Caroline. "But I can't help but see genuine beauty when I look at her, even if she won't quite believe me."
He found himself actually meaning the words, just as he had that night she'd been dying on her bed, just as he'd meant that he wanted to know her hopes and her dreams outside the grill. The things this girl pulled out from the depths of him were frightening but he couldn't help but enjoy every last one of them. "Hopefully someday she'll realize just how much I mean it," he continued, gaze locking with Caroline's as she turned to look at him. Her scoff froze in her throat because of their proximity and he could hear her heartbeat stop for a moment, watched her tongue dart out to lick her bottom lip and he doubted she even realized she was doing so.
"The train is here," Sam informed them, breaking the moment and Caroline pulled away, rising as if she'd been electrocuted. Klaus grimaced; annoyed at the interruption, but there would be more moments like that, ones where he would actually get what he wanted from her.
"Seems it is." Klaus rose, motioning for Caroline to proceed toward the train. He enjoyed watching her wide-eyed gaze, knowing she'd never been on one before. "Get the bags, Sam."
He stepped forward and gently took hold of Caroline's arm, leading her toward the train and through the crowd of those departing and boarding. She didn't even pull it away, too enraptured by everything as they boarded and took their seats in business class. They were only headed to London, it wouldn't be too lengthy of a trip, but Klaus was already making plans to get them on a train with sleeper cars for a part of their trip. He had a feeling he'd enjoy her reaction to that.
She seemed to realize he was touching her as they arrived at their seats and gently pulled away, sitting down at the window seat. "Where are we going?" she murmured, not quite able to look at him it seemed and Klaus smiled, sitting down beside her.
"I thought you might enjoy London. I've always taken a fancy to it and I thought it'd be nice to get it out of the way before we head to some of the more exotic destinations I've got planned," Klaus informed her, and watched her finally look over at him.
"And hybrids?" she asked, and he'd been expecting it. After all they were still carting around Elena's blood.
"We'll deal with those as we come upon any werewolf packs," he replied, watching the wheels turn in her head at his answer.
"You never explained why you're still making them." But she turned away then, clearly not expecting him to actually answer that question. He hadn't the previous day and he had no intention of revealing that to her then or ever. "Can we see the Eye of London? I read about it and I've always wanted to go on it."
Klaus had no desire to go anywhere near what he considered to be an eyesore but he couldn't really say no to the one decent request she'd made of him so far. He could endure the Ferris wheel for a few moments if it got her actually opening up to him a little more. "I suppose that can be arranged. Though one Ferris wheel is similar to any other."
"Not when the only ones you've ever been on stop being exciting once you're over three feet tall," she murmured, a reminder that she hadn't really been anywhere out of her small town.
"Then we'll do the London Eye," he conceded, arching a brow at her non-defiant behavior. "I must say, Caroline, I'm quite enjoying the lack of arguing from you today."
"Didn't see the point in it today. I'd rather enjoy London," she told him with a shrug. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll get annoyed with you by nightfall and be right back at pointing out all of the flaws in your plans."
Klaus grinned, leaning back against the seat as she rested her head against the window. "I look forward to it, love."
Caroline had thought their suite back in Edinburgh had been extravagant but as she stepped into the penthouse suite of the hotel Klaus had chosen in London, she was beginning to realize that she really needed to redefine what extravagance even meant. Sam followed her inside, looking around just as she did and she wouldn't have been surprised if he had the same awestruck expression on his face that was no doubt on hers. She should probably pull that in, try to not look as giddy as she was feeling, but restraining herself from all her natural reactions had become tiresome. She wanted to enjoy her time and as long as Klaus wasn't doing anything that pissed her off she really didn't see why she couldn't do that.
She had a year with him, could it really hurt for her not to act insolent and enjoy herself instead of sulking around every corner? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and maybe it'd help her understand how to travel once she decided to do so again, after her mother was gone and she was ready to make her own way in the world.
She really should call her mother. Caroline knew the woman had to be worried sick about her.
"I have some matters to attend to in town for a bit. Feel free to explore the hotel but I'd rather you didn't leave the premises, Caroline," Klaus started, and she turned around, ready to give him an earful about that "Neither of you know the area and London is unlike anywhere you've ever been. I'd rather you not get lost. Enjoy the suite, perhaps call home and let them know I haven't gobbled you up. I'll only be about an hour."
Caroline nodded. An hour wouldn't be too bad; in fact maybe it'd be a nice time to relax. She could unwind with a bubble bath and finally take the plunge of contacting home. "Fine," she murmured, and headed away from Klaus and Sam, not wanting him to think he'd won. "I'd like to get a decent shower in anyway."
She picked up her suitcase and headed toward the nearest doorway which she hoped led into one of the bedrooms. Surely this suite had at least two. "You'll want to go down about two more doors, Caroline," Klaus called out, and she hated the amusement to his tone. "I thought you'd enjoy the master bedroom."
"Thanks." She headed toward where he had directed, trying not to hurry her feet but wanting to be away from him for a while. The train ride from Edinburgh, while peaceful, had kept her in close quarters with him for longer than she liked.
She sunk down onto the large bed as soon as she entered the room, letting the door close behind her. If she listened in, she could hear Klaus speaking to Sam about something but she really didn't care to hear whatever nefarious plan was going on in the Hybrid's head. Instead she scooted up on the bed and reached for the phone, opening up the guestbook on the bedside table and flipped to the page that explained how to make overseas calls. Caroline hesitated for a moment before finally taking the plunge and dialing her mother's phone number.
After a few rings it headed to voicemail and Caroline wasn't sure if she was pleased or disappointed before rattling off a quick message. "Hi, mom. It's me. I'm sure Elena has filled you in by now. I'm okay. I'm safe. And I love you."
She hung up and lay back down, staring up at the ceiling, unsurprised to find the detail etched into it. The luster of it all had worn off for her though and she sighed, before pushing herself up out of the bed and moving to unpack her clothes. Klaus had said they'd be in town for about a week and Caroline didn't feel like living out of her suitcase, not when there was a dresser and a closet to fill. Besides, keeping busy would help her not think about how everyone was doing at home and just how much she missed them.
She heard Klaus leave and looked toward the door, remembering that he was leaving behind Elena's blood. It'd be so easy for her to dump it then and there. Dump it and run. She doubted that she'd get very far; no doubt he'd kill her within an hour of returning and figuring out what she'd done. But the blood would be gone and…well…what then? He'd just return to Mystic Falls and bleed Elena dry and Caroline wouldn't have stopped anything from happening.
As much as she didn't like that they were carting around her best friend's blood, disposing of it would only cause more problems for her friend, and as much as she loved Elena, even though she'd sacrificed a year of her life for the girl, Caroline really didn't want to sacrifice her existence for her. She wanted to live, she wanted to see the world, and maybe that made her selfish.
Or maybe it made her human, even if she couldn't ever truly be that again.
Whatever it made her, Caroline knew getting rid of Elena's blood wasn't the solution. It was figuring out exactly why Klaus needed an army, why he was so hard-pressed to make the hybrids a reality, and maybe see if there was something else out there that could be worth more to him. She just needed to figure out what. Good thing she had a year to work it all out because Caroline highly doubted that it'd be an easy task to do.
True to his word Klaus arrived back within an hour and he came bearing gifts, or at least a stock of blood bags for her to drink from that he set in the in-suite fridge. He found Caroline sitting on the couch, her hair wrapped up in a towel and watching some nonsense on the television. Sam was standing by the window, watching the door to the suite and nodded once Klaus crossed the threshold, relaxing a bit.
Klaus tossed her one of the blood bags as he closed the fridge door. She swiftly caught it and he watched the blood rush to her veins for a moment, her fangs descending as she began to drink it. He'd never be a fan of the things, only using them when they were needed and he hadn't wanted Mikael to catch onto his trail. He also didn't like how her vampire features shifted back to normal so quickly. While he did find Caroline to be beautiful, he was also intrigued by her vampire features and didn't like how she hid them. Though perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised considering who her teachers had been.
"Thank you," she told him and once again he was thrown by the words. The genuineness of them reminding him of the hallway in the school all over again. Very few people ever thanked him for anything; even fewer seemed to actually mean it. But she did and he was finding that he quite enjoyed hearing those two words come from her mouth.
Klaus sat down on the couch, a suitable distance from her at the moment. No point in ruining the pleasant mood that had slowly built between them. Not yet at least. "Will you be ready to see that blasted Ferris wheel soon?" he asked, watching her face light up in delight.
It was hard not to mirror the expression and he found himself smiling back at her. "Give me like thirty and I'll be ready to go," she promised, already rising from the couch and heading toward the bedroom as she continued to drink her fill of the bag.
"Take your time, love," he called out to her even as the door closed. His phone rang, breaking the moment. "Feel free to have a bag as well, Sam. Wouldn't want you attacking any of the masses today." He waited for the boy to head to the fridge before answering. "Is there something you need, Rebekah?"
"Where are you?" his sister demanded, and Klaus sighed, unsurprised at her annoyance. He was supposed to have met up with them days ago but his plans had changed and he had no desire to alter their course again.
"I do believe I said it would take me a week or two before I'd be ready to meet up," Klaus reminded, even though he knew he'd be pushing that date back a few more weeks.
"I don't believe that's what I asked," Rebekah hissed, and Klaus leaned back on the sofa, not willing to give her his location. "It seems Alaric is no longer in Mystic Falls. Which I'm sure doesn't surprise you, but I thought you'd like to know he could be anywhere now."
"I assumed he wouldn't be hanging around that sleepy little town once we all had left it." After all, he was created to kill the lot of them. "Without a daylight ring it will take him a bit of time to truly travel anywhere."
"So you are overseas then?" Rebekah replied, sounding entirely too proud of herself.
"Keep safe, little sister," Klaus told her, hanging up as she started huffing. A twinge of guilt swept through him, knowing he would need to eventually reunite with them, that he wouldn't want to leave Rebekah alone for too long—even if she was with the others, he doubted their ability to keep her safe—but he wasn't ready yet to have Caroline around the lot of them. Not until he had her where he wanted her, only then would he have her endure the chaos that was his family.
Klaus didn't doubt for a moment that they would disrupt any chance he had for getting what he wanted from the baby vampire if he hadn't already ensnared her and he wasn't willing to risk that happening.
Caroline laughed as they reached the top of the London Eye, gazing out at all that could be seen. She'd read about the Ferris wheel when she was younger, had a picture of it clipped out and placed in an old scrapbook back home, but she'd never thought she'd actually be on it. Even after she had turned, after learning she'd live forever, she hadn't really expected to do so. Her mindset was still firmly fixed in human years and human yearnings and she was just beginning to see all that could be available to her if she really wanted it.
She just didn't expect it to include the Hybrid beside her. Sam was still on the ground somewhere waiting for the two of them to finish the ride, and while Caroline could tell that this wasn't exactly Klaus' idea of a good time, she was grateful that he'd come on the ride with her. This was a new mindset she really hadn't expected to have happen. Since when did she want to do anything with him?
But it was so much better than the constant fighting to not enjoy herself and she wasn't going to worry about if it made her a traitor to her friends or not. Surely they wouldn't want her to be miserable for an entire year. Right?
"Having fun, love?" Klaus asked, and she looked over at him, grinning brightly and was pleased when he reciprocated the smile.
"It's amazing up here." She looked back out as they began to descend. "Is there anywhere that you really want to go?"
"I've been all over London, Caroline," Klaus pointed out. "The point of this venture is to go to the places you want to enjoy."
She nodded, thinking that over. She really didn't know enough about London to know exactly where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do. "Well…is there anywhere in particular that you want to show me? And maybe we can get me one of those touristy guide books so I can like mark off what I want to do because I have no idea. I'm a little out of my element."
"I know," he mused and she made a face at that which he laughed at.
It startled her, that laugh. She'd heard him laugh before, he'd done it a few times around her, but it still threw her for a loop every time. It didn't go well with the whole 'evil hybrid jerk' persona that she had dubbed him with, that he usually so easily encapsulated. She really didn't like the fact that she enjoyed it, that thought twisting inside of her and causing the tiniest stirrings of worry. She also couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't like his laugh, why she was so adamant to try and remind herself that it was something horrible. It was just a laugh, and it wasn't as though he was doing it out of spite. If anything it seemed like genuine amusement over something ordinary. Should she really be trying to despise it as she was?
"I feel as though your mind is somewhere far away at the moment," Klaus commented, breaking her silent reverie and Caroline glanced over at him, shrugging.
"Just thinking that I'm quite proud of myself for getting you to do something you obviously can't stand," she replied, because she had seen his obvious disdain for the Ferris wheel, heard his little comments about it being an eyesore.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Klaus told her as the ride descended and they were allowed off. She hadn't been expecting that response and almost faltered in her steps. "Let's go get you that guide book and you can make a list of other annoyingly touristy destinations for us to enjoy while I work in a bit of culture to your list."
"Hey, what we just did was cultural," she tried to defend, but knew she wasn't going to win that argument based on the incredulous look he gave her. "I'm guessing the Harry Potter book tour won't quite meet your high standards either, huh?" She couldn't help but laugh at his rather skeptical look. "Those books are part of my generation. Kind of like the bible is part of yours."
"I'm hardly that old, Caroline," Klaus started as Sam headed over to them, handing Caroline back her purse. "But yes, we can do that ridiculous book tour one day."
She clapped her hands, unable to contain her excitement for that. Okay, so maybe this wouldn't be a completely horrible year. Maybe that little change in her attitude had been a good call because so far she was enjoying herself and having to hang out with this side of Klaus wasn't exactly a hardship. But she knew better than to let her guard down because this wasn't the only side to him, she'd seen the other. Sam was a constant reminder of how cold and calculating the Hybrid could be and while she could enjoy Klaus' company, she couldn't forget why she was even with him or what his motives were.
Because when the year was up he'd go right back to terrorizing Elena for her blood or worse and Caroline really didn't want that to happen. She was determined to figure out how to change that outcome. At least she had a good amount of time to come up with a decent plan and she was going to try and not feel guilty if she enjoyed herself a little before it all ended. Though she was a little concerned with how many mental plans she had going on in her head and with Klaus figuring out what she was trying to do. Considering she'd been the gang's little distraction for him before she wouldn't be surprised if he thought she might have her own agenda going on in her head. It wasn't like Caroline wasn't aware that he had multiple ones going through his own brain.
She didn't want to think about how similar they were in that one regard at least.
"So guide book?" she finally asked, needing to break out of her own thoughts.
Klaus nodded. "And then I think its time for a bite to eat." He must have noticed the face she made at the idea of that. "Actual food," he assured her. "It's nearing time for afternoon tea and something tells me experiencing that tradition is somewhere on that mental list of yours already."
She couldn't deny it. She did want to try it out, even if she wasn't exactly sure what it was. But she thought it was a quintessential British experience and so she nodded, quite happy to be given the opportunity to have it...even if she was a little worried about how he seemed to so easily pick out what she would like to try. It was disconcerting and maybe one day she'd try to figure out exactly how he seemed to know her interests, but for now she was content pushing it to the back of her mind and simply enjoying the day.
