AN: Thanks VampireJacinta! My one true reviewer haha (:

Part Twenty-six: Hide and Seek

"FUCK." Rin winced, her hand flying to her head. It had been six days since her first night in the Mikaelson Estate, and Klaus was trying to teach her to target a source she couldn't see. They'd been working on it for three days now with little success so far. Every time she tried to focus on his image in her mind, her powers seemed to bounce back onto herself, either draining her, damaging her, or both. It was as if she was attacking the image in her own head instead of the actual Klaus. "Klaus! I can't fucking do this!" Wherever he is, he should be able to hear me, right?

This time, they'd tried something different. She hadn't fed in two days and was running extremely low on energy. Klaus had thought that perhaps desperation would help her to focus, but so far it was only making her more cranky and exhausted. Lately, she'd even contemplating feeding without targeting any source, but then she ran the risk of perhaps killing someone and not even knowing it.

She'd received no reply from him. He's in the house, isn't he? "Klaus! I'm serious, I need to feed. Come out." Talking to herself in his room seemed a little strange, but she was sure he'd be able to hear her. In the distance, she thought she heard Kol laughing. A few moments passed and she curled up on the bed, sighing. "Klaus? I'm going to sleep if you don't come out." Still no response for a minute. "Fuck you!"

"Perhaps if you're a good girl," said the original vampire as he strolled in. In his hands were the keys to her Toyota and a cup holder containing two strawberry banana smoothies. Rin gaped at him.

"You're kidding me. You left? You got smoothies?" she asked, horrified. Then, she noticed the keys. "In my car. You stole my car to get smoothies during my lesson. Klaus, I will slaughter you."

"Someone's a little cranky. Relax; I got you one too," he said, repressing his laughter. Torturing her for the last two days was proving to be far more fun than he'd expected. He held the cup holder out for her to take hers, but she only glared at him. He sighed through his grin and placed her cup on the nightstand before bringing the straw to his lips, raising his eyebrows at her. "It's alright, really," he said thoughtfully before taking another sip. She continued glaring at him. "I see you're not interested in my beverage commentary." She narrowed her eyes.

"Can I please drain you now? I'm ready to pass out. I can't do it."

"I noticed. I didn't get into a single accident," he said, tossing the keys on the bed. Lips parted slightly in the shock of being ignored, she forced herself to get off the bed and stood in front of him, blocking his path to the closet.

"Klaus. I'm starving." He merely took another sip. It was all she could do not to bat the cup out of his hands. "I swear to God, if you don't give me permission I'll feed on you anyway. I'm telling you I can't do it." As Klaus continued drinking his smoothie, a familiar chime rang through the suite.

"You ought to get that," he said simply, his grin unwavering. With one, final glare, she swept across the room and retrieved her phone from her purse. The caller ID indicated it was Damon. Smoothies forgotten, her stomach flipped. This was the first contact she'd had from him since she'd gotten here.

"Hello?" she asked evenly.

"How's it going, cupcake?" asked Damon. He leaned back in the large, leather chair in one of the many offices in the boarding house. For the last few days, he'd tried to avoid calling Rin, but found himself missing his rebound after a while.

Cupcake? thought Klaus, scoffing as he changed into sweatpants.

"Terrible. It's fucking horrible. He won't let me feed. He stole my car." Damon kicked his feet onto the desk.

"He won't let you feed? Why?"

"To give me incentive to do something I don't know how to do," she said huffily, fully aware that Klaus was listening. "He's a sadist." From the closet, Klaus merely laughed, just loud enough for her to hear.

"And what is he trying to get you to do?" asked Damon, intrigued. Klaus was actually training her. He was doing Damon's job. It annoyed him, but it meant Rin was getting stronger, which was definitely a good thing. What he really wanted to know, however, was Klaus' plan, but he figured Klaus was within earshot. That would be a conversation to occur over text messages.

"Target a source I can't see," she said, leaning against the office wall. Damon was silent for a moment, pondering this.

"Why can't you do it?" Rin closed her eyes, annoyed at his prodding. Right now, training was the last thing she wanted to discuss.

"I don't know, Damon! I've been trying for days!" sighing again, she tangled a hand in her hair.

"And so far… you've only tried him?" asked Damon, ignoring her anger. She was notably upset. I guess that's a starving telepath, he thought, reminded of a starving vampire.

"Yes," she said evenly, contemplating hanging up.

"Try me." For a second, Rin thought about it, sourcing Damon and targeting Klaus. To her surprise, she heard a grunt from the closet as Klaus felt a stabbing pain in his neck. It hadn't taken any effort at all.

"Oh my god," she said quietly. "It worked."

"Ha! Tell Klaus I said hello," said Damon, pleased with himself. That was certainly an ego boost. Within seconds, Klaus had stormed over and snatched the phone from her.

"Hello, Damon. Goodbye, Damon." With that, he hung up and tossed the phone back into Rin's purse, which was on the desk chair. "I'll overlook that since you finally did it," he said, clearly annoyed.

Damon, meanwhile, poured himself another drink. Though short, that phone call had gone excellently.

"Can I drain you now?" asked Rin quickly, overlooking his disappointment. She'd done what was asked, and now she wanted the reward.

"No. Now you have to wait," said Klaus, scooping his smoothie up from the nightstand before walking out into the main landing. Rin chased after him, not wanting him out of her sight. After trying for days, she was already sure she couldn't source him from a distance, and she wanted his energy, not Damon's.

"I did what you wanted," she said, following him down the stairs with the urgency of an addict.

"Then you did something I didn't want you to do," he added. Though he could have easily sped up and out-ran her to some crevice in the house, he figured he might as well continue enjoying her starvation. Now she was literally following him. Suddenly, he felt a familiar weakness strike him. It always started in his joints, and then spread from there. Whipping around, he found that she had already transformed and had started draining him.

"He called me," she said, wide eyes fixed on him. To force her to stop, he sped into the kitchen before she had a chance to do any damage. Immediately, Rin was back to normal. Enraged, she let out a roar. "Klaus Mikaelson! Goddammit!" In the kitchen, he couldn't help but grin. He'd been playing this game of hide-and-seek with her for days now, and no matter how angry he got, denying her never got old.

However, he couldn't help but wonder why she could use Damon as a remote source and not him. Perhaps it was because she knew Damon very well now? Did she share some kind of special bond with him that made him available to her? The thought made him scowl a bit as he listened to her pace furiously into the dining room, hunting for him.

Either way, it was probably best to let her off soon. They could always play the Starve Rin game next time she had difficulty with a lesson. Maybe next time she'd be able to source him.

Once again calling upon vampiric speed, he appeared behind her, hands on her waist.

"Ask nicely," he purred, grinning. She bristled, as she often did when touched without warning.

"No. Let me drain you." Apparently, her pride was more important to her than her satisfying her hunter. His grip on her waist tightened.

"Only if you ask nicely." Rin could hear the smile in his voice, and being at his mercy was making her feel a little ill. Or maybe that was the starvation.

"I'm not going to ask nicely, Klaus." He leaned in closer to her ear, whispering.

"Oh, but you will." Her mind flashed immediately to her thoughts from earlier that week. Sometimes, Klaus seriously made her question what could be considered sexual. Because what he was doing now was quickly approaching that line.

"For fuck's sake." She cleared her throat, regaining her wandering mind. "Dear Niklaus," began Rin. Klaus grinned further at her use of his full name. "Please let me drain you til you're barely a husk of original douchebag." He drew in a slow breath, as if deliberating.

"Honestly, I'm not sure about that one…" he started. Once again, she let out a roar of frustration, her voice echoing in the dining room. With every passing second, Rin was becoming less patient. It was time to set aside her pride.

"Klaus," she began.

"Full name," he interrupted. Her jaw dropped as she glared over her shoulder, though he couldn't see her expression. That was it. Two could play at this game.

"Oh, do you like it when I use your full name?" She made sure to drop her voice slightly, speaking on a breathy exhale. "Does it excite you, Niklaus?" This time, he rolled his eyes.

"Whether or not it does, you're going to starve until you follow my instructions," he replied coolly, moving her hands to her shoulders. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling her gently into his chest. Rin was definitely one of the more resilient humans he'd known. Despite her suddenly racing heart, she was completely collected on the outside. He wondered if she knew he was aware every time her body reacted to him.

This was easily the closest they'd ever been, physically, and she could feel his slow breaths as his chest pushed against her back.

"Klaus, please, I'm hungry," she said quietly, trying the demure, damsel-in-distress approach. He laughed out loud.

"Please, don't attempt that one again. You've already managed to move into my bedroom," he replied.

"So you caught on," she said over her shoulder.

"Indeed I did. You must be getting very, very tired…" Rin sighed. There was no way out of this.

"Alright, fine." She paused. "Dear Niklaus," she began, using the same breathy tone she'd used earlier. "I'd really love if you let me suck the life out of you right now." Once again, he repressed his laughter.

"Too raunchy; try again."

"You have no sense of humor! You really are a thousand years old!" she cried, leaning her head back onto chest and sighing. If she looked up enough, she could see him grinning down at her. "Dear Niklaus, please let me feed now. Please." There. She'd all but begged.

Finally, he released her. Rin turned around so fast a pang of dizziness struck her through her exhaustion, and she barely registered his bemused smile. She didn't even need to take the time to think about it before she had transformed and began drawing his life force into her mind. Not expecting such a quick attack, Klaus staggered backward into the wall. After regaining his balance, he sank to the floor and sat, closing his eyes as he let his head rest on the surface behind him. As Rin became more and more energized, Klaus slowly drifted into weakness. In the back of his mind, he knew she deserved it, but it only made the process marginally less irritating.

When he felt himself reaching a dangerous point, he opened his eyes to indicate to her that it was time to stop. At first she was so lost in stealing his life force that she didn't notice, so he quietly called her name.

"Rin." She snapped out of her daze and stared back at him. Slowly, he struggled to offer her a pained smile. Rin dropped the transformation and flashed her usual half-smile, walking over to his crumpled figure and offering him a hand. However, Klaus had his own pride issues. Refusing her help, he supported himself with the wall as he forced himself to his feet. "You're getting lethal," he said, half-serious.

"It's easy now," she said, subconsciously tossing her hair over her shoulder. Draining Klaus was definitely one of her favorite activities. Now, she was on top of the world. For a moment, a part of her felt sorry for causing him pain, but she remembered two days of starvation and abandoned her pity.

"I can see that," he said. "I'll be in the attic." Slowly, he made his way up both flights of stairs to the attic as Rin sped back into the bedroom. It was best to keep away from Kol and enjoy her buzz in private.

Klaus, meanwhile, trudged into the attic room. After shutting the door behind him, he flopped onto the bed, exhausted. She'd insisted on feeding off of him, though Damon was technically available. There was obviously something about his energy that she preferred, but he wasn't sure what that could be. After all, he had no knowledge of what different people's energy felt like. He assumed it was like the differing tastes of human blood. Some were just better than others.

He let out a weak laugh. His was just better than others. Rin preferred it. She'd sacrificed her pride for it.

For some reason, this was fulfillment enough for him to ignore the weakness quickly overcoming his body. As he had several times over the last few days, he hoped he was carrying on normally and Rin hadn't noticed any change in him. On the whole, he was in a much better mood as long as he ignored his confusion, and he didn't want to abandon his image for a series of good moods.

He didn't have time to think twice about it before falling into a deep slumber.