A/N: Thanks to all of my reviewers for your kind words, I love you all for taking the time to respond to the story, it means a lot to me!
LaKessy, thank you for your in depth reviews! I'll put you out of your misery by updating this again today ;)
Readers, fasten your seatbelts, here comes the promised drama/angst. You're in for a bumpy ride!
Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. I am not profiting in any way from their use. The only thing I own is my plot.
Chapter Twelve
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Klaus heard the footsteps coming up the stairs long before his hybrid pounded loudly on his door.
"Go away!" Klaus yelled, silently cursing Bonnie for not stopping the hybrid as he returned his mouth to the blonde girl's throat. The redhead reached around him from behind and started working the length of him. He growled against the blonde's throat.
The doors burst open.
"Dammit!"
Within a second, Klaus was out of the bed, and he had the hybrid slammed against the wall by his throat.
"I thought I told you to go away," Klaus said, squeezing David's throat. "I told Bonnie to not let anyone interrupt us."
"Bonnie's not here," David answered. The words came out hoarsely, and he gasped in a breath as Klaus loosened his grip.
"What do you mean?" he asked, stunned by his hybrid's words. He took a quick glance at his clock. It was after midnight. Bonnie never went out this late.
"She was attacked," David said.
Klaus raced back over to the bed and compelled the three women to leave, with no memories of anything that had transpired. As soon as they were out of the room, Klaus continued his interrogation.
"She went out for a late night walk," David said. "We followed her. About a mile down the road, she ran into some vampires."
"Vampires," Klaus cursed. He'd forgotten all about the vampires. Despite having his best people on the job, he had been unable to turn up anything about why the vampires wanted his witch. "I trust that she's safely back in her room."
David shook his head. "She insisted on finishing her walk."
Klaus slammed him into the wall. "Finishing her walk?"
"She incinerated the first wave of vampires," David said. "She passed out. After she was on her feet again, she threatened to incinerate us if we didn't let her walk." David sucked in a breath. "The rest of the guard is still with her." That appeased Klaus a little bit. "I knew you'd want to know about this right away."
Klaus released him and turned away. "Fortunately for you, she's still alive. That's the only reason you still are. Get out."
David wasted no time in leaving.
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Bonnie didn't know how late it was when she returned to the house. The moon was getting fairly low on the horizon, and the sky was just beginning to lighten. She wiped her cheeks one last time, determined to erase any sign of the tears she'd shed; hopefully, Klaus was still busy with his blood food, but she didn't hold out much hope of avoiding him anyway. Her luck never worked that well.
When she stepped inside, she spotted Klaus standing next to the fireplace, leaning against the hearth and staring into the flames, his back to her.
Damn, she thought. If he'd been human, she might have had a chance to slip past him unnoticed. But he wasn't, and he had probably heard her coming a mile away. Nonetheless, she decided she'd just ignore him. He was the last person she wanted to discuss anything with right now.
She only managed a couple of steps into the living room when Klaus spoke.
"You sure took your time coming home," he said.
Bonnie stopped and glanced over at the hybrid. He still had his back to her. As tempted as she was to just coax the flames up to engulf him, she was aware that it wouldn't kill him, it would just piss him off, and she sensed that he wasn't too far from that now.
"I'm fine," she said, turning back towards the kitchen so she could go to her room. She pulled up abruptly when she found Klaus standing in front of her.
"That's not what I hear," Klaus said, worry evident in his eyes. He reached out to brush his fingers against her face.
Bonnie backed away, angrily scorching his fingertips with her magic. "I said, I'm fine." The instability of her emotions made her voice rise, and the lights flickered in response. The sudden surge of magic made her gasp, and she fell forward.
Klaus caught her, and she pushed him away. "Don't touch me!" She backed a couple of steps away and regained her footing.
"Bonnie," Klaus said, trying to get her to meet his eyes. He waited until she looked up before he continued. "The amulet's going to kill you at this rate."
"It's no different than what you plan to do," Bonnie said, "once I've outlived my usefulness to you."
"I don't wish you dead, Bonnie," Klaus said, his eyes darkening. "That's the last thing I want."
"Of course not," Bonnie said, the Eye of the Jackal front and center in her thoughts. "You'd destroy your precious amulet in the process." That had been the only reason he'd accepted her trade deal in the first place, and everything she'd thought was happening between them? It was all about him softening her up so she'd give it to him. With new resolve, she met his eyes, her own dark with anger, though most of it was directed at herself for being stupid enough to believe that he might actually care about her. "I will never hand this amulet over to you." She could feel the tears starting to fill her eyes again. "Never."
She walked past Klaus. He let her go. As Bonnie started up the steps, she heard his glass shatter against the wall.
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Klaus led Bonnie into the restaurant. His witch had been unusually quiet of late, but she'd agreed to join him on this meet and greet with Carl Rebeck and his second, Andrew Meyer. If they agreed to his terms, his pack would bring his number of hybrids to seventy strong.
Klaus studied Bonnie as they took their seats at the table. She was wearing a plain black dress, but nonetheless, she looked amazing. Her curls were tousled over her shoulders, and the Eye of the Jackal was nestled in its normal place between her breasts. It was only her eyes that told him that anything was wrong. She wasn't happy, but not in any sort of angry way. She was just...broken. And he didn't know how to fix that.
As he discussed business with the other werewolves, he kept watching Bonnie, hoping to see some spark of the fiery witch he knew, but to his vast disappointment, there was no sign of her.
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Klaus noticed Bonnie studying by the fireplace for the first time since the new year. She had been spending more and more time tucked away in her room of late. He was fairly sure she'd been avoiding him, and he had a strong idea of the reason. He just couldn't figure why it bothered her so much.
If she knew he was standing in the doorway, just watching her, she never gave a sign. Apparently she'd even given up all attempts to get under his skin and annoy him, and she was no longer letting him get under her skin. If he was honest, he missed it. He'd enjoyed the interplay, the flirting, it had provoked him in ways no one had stirred him in centuries. Most people were so easy to control, he liked her unpredictability.
Or, at least, he had. Now, he could almost guarantee her reactions to everything. There wouldn't be any. She had shut him out of her life from the moment he'd walked back into the house with those three girls after the new year. He could understand her disapproval; he'd known from the first time he'd brought someone back to the house that she hadn't liked it. She hadn't said anything, but he'd seen the fire in her eyes then, even as far back as from the first time he'd seen her, when he'd been possessing Alaric's body and she'd sworn to her friends that she'd kill him in order to protect her best friend.
But for the fire to be snuffed so completely? He didn't know how to take that. Could she care for him? Truly, feel for him against her will, against her best knowledge of his past actions? He glanced back at her; she was still absorbed in her book, and she was still not giving any indication that she either knew, or cared, that he was there.
"Bonnie," he said, pitching his voice just loud enough to get her attention.
The witch looked up from her studies. If he detected a brief moment of irritation on her face, it was gone before he could catalogue it.
"Come over here," he said, knowing that she'd comply. That's all she'd done lately. If he asked her to do something, she would do it, no arguments, no complaints. It was driving him nuts.
Bonnie set her book aside and walked over to stand in front of him. When she looked up at him, it was without the normally sassy 'what the hell do you want now' expression she used to wear on her face. He missed it.
Klaus wasn't sure what to say to her now that she was in front of him. Maybe, with the right words, he could provoke her. Get her to show anger. Something.
"Have you heard from Elijah lately?" he asked, studying her reaction closely. Was that a twitch when he said his brother's name?
"No," she said, her face just as blank as before.
"What about Damon?" he asked, watching her blink with surprise.
"No," she answered.
Klaus almost sighed in frustration. He had to come up with something that would get more than a one word answer from her.
"How is your coursework going?" he asked, not sure what to say to get her talking.
"Fine," she answered, glancing back at her books resting on the sofa.
Klaus bit back a growl as he threw his arms around Bonnie and dragged her to him, pressing her full against his body. She spun back, startled by the sudden move, and looking as scared as a deer in headlights.
"What are you doing?"
Well, he thought. He got four words that time. But she wasn't angry; her question had come out calm, with simple curiosity. He knew what would piss her off. He crushed his mouth down onto hers.
Bonnie didn't get angry, she didn't push him away. She didn't react at all. She just stood there and let Klaus unsuccessfully try to push her buttons. When he realized he wasn't having any effect on her at all, Klaus shoved her away.
"Damn you, Witch," he said, angry with himself for letting this bother him so much. She'd found a more effective way to irritate him, and she didn't even have to try. He zipped away up the stairs, missing the small grin of amusement that crossed Bonnie's face before she returned to her schoolwork.
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Fortunately for Bonnie, avoiding Klaus over the next ten weeks was easily done, and it became easier every day, as he spent more and more time out of the house, either working in the woodshop, or out amongst his new hybrids, and when he'd come home, she'd be safely tucked away in her room, where she couldn't watch him parading his nightly skanks through the living room. She'd begun spending a lot of time in her room, even when she was practicing magic, because it was now much too cold to spend any amount of time outside or at her herb garden, although she still buried the ingredients Elijah was sending her in it, knowing it was safer to keep them out of the house, where Klaus was more likely to find them. Luckily, Bonnie felt like Klaus was avoiding her as well, which made it much less difficult to keep herself, and her spell ingredients, out of his way.
It helped a little that she'd kind of met someone else. She didn't know him very well, but she liked what she knew of him.
His name was Owen Bradstreet, and he had short dark hair and an easy smile. He was in her Cryptozoology class, and they'd become study partners about a month after what Bonnie was mentally referring to as the 'Klaus Incident.' Since then, they'd become friendly and had gotten a few meals together on campus.
Owen walked up to Bonnie after their class Friday afternoon. "So, you ready for tonight?"
Bonnie smiled back at him, excited to be going on her first official date with him. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
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Klaus awakened Saturday morning and was relieved to find that the three women he'd brought home with him the previous night had already taken off. That meant he didn't have to chase them away. He settled back into his bed and listened, as he did every morning, for her heartbeat. The one thing that always made him feel calm in the mornings, and occasionally during the middle of the day and evenings, was listening to Bonnie's heart, because even when she wasn't right in front of him, he always knew when she was somewhere in the house. He always felt better when he knew she was safe. When she was home.
He knew he had hurt her; he could see it in her every time his eyes found her; he'd seen it the night after they'd made love when he'd brought his little band of blood whores home with him, because they were safe, they were not at all a threat to his peace of mind, to his way of life. He'd seen it when he'd stopped seeing her around the house; it was his fault she was avoiding him, and he felt badly about it, but he felt all sorts of confused and messy feelings over her. She'd been a virgin, for Lucifer's sake! He was a thousand year old abomination, and he'd taken her innocence. She hadn't stopped him, she hadn't even tried, but when he'd entered her and realized, he'd been overwhelmed. He'd carried on, but he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that she'd given him such a gift, especially afterwards.
Klaus calmed his thoughts and listened. And he couldn't believe his ears, so he tried again. He heard nothing.
He almost fell out of his bed in his haste to get up. Maybe he just had to get closer. He raced down the stairs and stopped outside Bonnie's bedroom, and he listened again. Nothing. Fear shot through his veins, and he shoved her door open, hoping that he had simply gone deaf. But her room was empty, her bed hadn't been slept in. He ran to the front door; her car was not in the driveway. She hadn't come home last night.
Klaus grabbed his phone and spotted several missed calls from his hybrids, so he called Amber, one of the hybrids he'd set to keeping an eye on Bonnie, to make sure nothing had happened to her. Amber reported back that she and her partner had lost her on campus; that she'd gone back to the college after her classes were over, and they'd hung back so as not to be seen, and when they finally had gotten curious and gone to look for her, she'd disappeared. But her car was still parked at the school.
Klaus hung up, worry flooding him. He prayed that nothing had happened to her. What if the vampires who'd been after her had attacked? Did they take her? Did they kill her?
His phone rang. It was Petra, another of his hybrids. He snapped, "What is it?" into the phone.
"Do you want us to go look for her?" she asked, having heard about the missing witch from Amber's partner.
"Yes," Klaus answered. "All twelve of you."
Klaus sat in front of the fire, downing whiskey, for hours, waiting for word, hoping that Bonnie would just come home safe and sound. But his phone didn't ring, and Bonnie didn't come home. And he continued pouring whiskey into himself.
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The weekend passed as though it were another thousand years for Klaus. There was no word on Bonnie; she hadn't been discovered alive or dead.
And then the call came. It was Monday morning.
"She just got out of a vehicle at the college," his hybrid reported, "and she's headed for her car."
Klaus breathed a heavy sigh of relief that she was alive, and apparently in good enough condition to walk to her car. But then fear for her life began to turn into another fear; the fear of betrayal. Had she betrayed him to his father? But no, Mikael was still safely ensconced on the east coast. Had she gone back to Mystic Falls? Maybe she'd just gone away for the weekend with friends? It wasn't like he was on the top of her list of people to explain her actions to, and she didn't need his permission to leave, but his worry and fear began to turn to anger. By the time he heard her car, and he recognized it by the way it almost wheezed a bit as it headed up the hill, he was furious.
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Bonnie stepped out of her car and shivered in the cold morning air as she looked up at the dark and imposing house in front of her. She was a little nervous about walking back into the house after having spent the last three nights at Owen's, but she was fairly certain she wasn't going to run into Klaus. After all, he was never up before nine or ten at least, and especially not when he'd had his blood sluts with him, and besides, he probably hadn't even noticed, or cared, that she was even gone.
Bonnie exhaled and started for the house, thinking about how she'd be seeing Owen again in a few short hours for class. She spent a minute cleaning the snow off her sneakers, and then she opened the door and stepped inside.
"Where the hell have you been?"
Bonnie almost jumped out of her skin, and she turned to find Klaus sitting on the sofa, looking every bit the angry hybrid. Apparently she'd misjudged his waking time, or his investment in her disappearance for three nights. She cringed inwardly, having hoped to avoid him altogether. Before she could blink, he was standing in front of her, just a few inches away. He smelled like whiskey; he must have been downing it for hours, she realized. He began circling her, like he'd circle prey.
"With a friend," she answered, sucking in a deep breath. Somehow, she knew this wasn't going to be pretty, but she was determined to not let him intimidate her. Still, she felt her pulse speed up, and she could feel adrenaline starting to surge through her veins. Fight or flight, she thought. She wished it could be the latter, but she had a feeling it was going to be a fight.
Klaus, planting a hand on the back of her shoulder, leaned in from behind her, close to her throat, as if smelling her skin. Bonnie felt his nose touch her neck, and she jumped again.
"What are you doing?" she asked, alarmed by his strange behavior. She was half afraid he might kiss her, and half afraid he might bite.
"Who is he?" Klaus asked, stepping away from her throat. "Your ... friend."
Shit, Bonnie thought. He was sniffing me. He can smell Owen on me. Better to take an offensive stance than a defensive one. Still, her words came out sounding defensive. "Why should I tell you?"
"Did you f*ck him?" he asked, circling again, then stopping in front of her. There was a scowl on his face, and the lines of tension on his forehead told her just how angry he was.
"What?" she said, startled by the blunt question, and by Klaus's interest in the matter.
"Don't make me repeat myself," Klaus said. His voice was low, dangerous. Full of barely contained rage, and his words scared Bonnie more than she was willing to admit.
"What I did or didn't do with him is none of your business," Bonnie told him, her own anger starting to kindle. What right did he have to question her about her love life? Especially after using her as thoughtlessly as he had, then taking right back up with his blood whores.
"I will not share you," Klaus told her, using his fingers to lift her jaw. He stared into her eyes, almost as if he wanted to compel her, but Bonnie knew that to be impossible, because he couldn't compel a witch. Still, his eyes were telling her that this point was one he was not willing to compromise on.
"I am not yours to share," she answered, angrily meeting his eyes as she pulled her chin free of his fingers.
"End things with him now," Klaus ordered.
Bonnie glared up at him defiantly. How dare he think he could order her around? He wasn't her boyfriend, he'd made that perfectly clear, and he certainly wasn't her father. And if he thought she was just going to follow his orders, like a good little soldier, he'd better think again.
"End things..."
"No way in hell," Bonnie told him, her lips pressed together in an angry glower.
"...or I will."
Bonnie had to fight to restrain herself from sending the overbearing hybrid flying across the room. "You have no right to tell me what to do," she pointed out. "And besides, you don't even know who he is."
"My hybrids have been following the car that dropped you off," Klaus informed her, proving that even if he didn't know who Owen was, he certainly knew where he was. "A blue Malibu, Oh-Four, license number GX3-"
"Your hybrids?" Bonnie caught, feeling sick over the invasion of her privacy. How could she have forgotten? "You've been spying on me again?" At least the last few times, the hybrids had come in handy, helping her to fend off vampires who'd attacked her. But this time, it was more than just her life at stake. It was her privacy, and her happiness.
"Guarding you," Klaus corrected.
Bonnie was pissed. "You said I could come and go as I pleased."
"Within reason, love," Klaus said, almost managing to sound reasonable. "How am I supposed to protect you if I don't know where you are?"
"I don't need you to protect me," she pointed out, glancing at the expensive crystal vase on the stand next to the sofa. She was ready to scream. How dare he try to act like a scorned lover when he'd been the one doing the distancing? The vase flew against the wall and shattered, spraying glass and water several feet in all directions. Bonnie almost jumped in surprise, aware of the sudden surging of both her emotions and her powers.
"Now, now, love," Klaus said, trying to calm her down after the unnecessary reminder of her abilities. He was angry with her still, but he was relieved that the Bonnie he knew and... that the Bonnie he knew was still alive inside her. "No need to take your anger out on the inanimate objects."
Inanimate objects. Shit. Bonnie shut her eyes as realization came to her. He hadn't been worried about her at all. No, it was fear that something would happen to destroy his prized amulet that had him so upset with her. He didn't care about her; she'd been stupid to even suppose he did.
"This is all you're worried about," Bonnie said, reaching down and grabbing hold of the amulet. She pulled the chain over her head and held the talisman in her hand for a second. Despite her previous vow to never part with the amulet, she'd had enough. If he wanted it so badly, it was his. "So take it." She tossed the jeweled necklace at Klaus.
The moment she released the amulet, Bonnie felt dizzy, weak, and she stumbled forward. Klaus, ignoring the pendant as it hit him in the chest and fell to the floor, reached out to catch Bonnie.
Bonnie managed to right herself before Klaus could put his hands on her. "Don't touch me!" She stepped back a couple of steps, away from him, taking a deep breath as she regrouped. She blinked and realized that her eyes were starting to water. Her voice caught with emotion. "You have what you wanted. I'm going home to Mystic Falls." She turned and took a step towards the kitchen, and Klaus cut her off.
"You can't leave," he told her in a calm voice, stepping in front of her to block her path. "We made a deal, Bonnie, and I haven't broken it. And I won't let you break it."
Bonnie glared up at him, tears of hurt and frustration welling up in her eyes. "I hate you," she said softly, but it was enough for Klaus's heightened hearing to pick up as loudly as if she'd screamed it.
Bonnie watched as the anger left Klaus's face, replaced by what she'd have said was a hurt look, if she didn't know how little he cared for her. The thought stabbed at her, and she felt the tears that were waiting to fall begin to slide down her cheeks. Embarrassed on top of hurt and angry, she shoved Klaus out of her way and ran for the stairs. Klaus, still stunned by her words, didn't even watch her go.
The thousand year old vampire turned hybrid could only barely process what was going through him. He hurt, in a way he never knew was possible. His feeling hurt scared him, and the tumultuous feelings swirling through him scared him even more. He felt helpless, and feeling helpless always made him angry. He sped over to the lamp and picked it up, chucking it against the wall, where it landed in pieces next to the vase Bonnie had broken. He grabbed a painting off the wall and smashed the frame on the floor. More things, whatever he could reach, went flying, until he was tired of throwing and smashing and breaking. When he stopped, he realized that his cheeks were wet. He swiped his hands across them angrily, but calmer, before he spotted the amulet on the floor.
Klaus walked across the room and picked it up. It was pulsing with life, energy, Bonnie's energy, her power. It suddenly hit him that within the last few minutes, he had finally gained possession of something he'd wanted for the better part of a millenium.
But he'd lost another, something more rare, far more difficult to find, and infinitely more precious.
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