Chapter 38

I'm apologizing ahead of time for this chapter because it sucks and I hate for this to be the chapter I give you after a month away. But lemme explain. This was previously about 20 pages long and was practically done. But then my computer was wiped out and had to get a new hard drive and this chapter, along with all my other stories, was deleted.

So instead of taking the time to write another long ass chapter, I decided to split it in half. This isn't the chapter where all the shit goes down. That will be the next. This is just the calm before the storm. This is also a VERY boring chapter. But I'd rather you all read 2k words than an 8k one. Those are just too long for my taste.

I'm in love with Marcel. They better not fuck him over like they did Keenan Ivory Wayans... I mean Vampire Hunter, Connor Jordan.

Oh, and btw, I know y'all are mad about Klaus being a papi. It's so fucking stupid. And I don't think you all are mad about Klaus having a baby. I think y'all are mad that it's with Hayley. But let's be honest here, didn't I say they were going to be together in one of my ANs? You didn't listen did you?

What will Klaus say when he goes to his kid's career day at school?

C . H . G . F

Klaus held birthdays in the highest regard. One would think after experiencing over one thousand of them the affect would've worn off by now, but the hybrid's love of them only magnified with every year. Klaus watched wars unfurl, met queens and royalty, saw kingdoms rise and crumble. He'd marveled at horrors and wonders, beauty unmatched. His birthday was only a reminder of those great experiences he was privileged to see. Tonight he'd celebrate another year of living.

But where was his Darla or Caroline to enjoy it with him?

He hoped he wouldn't have only his hybrids and the dozens of insignificant others to keep him company.

"Don't worry, she's coming."

Klaus eyed one of his hybrids, Penn Kennedy, as she nursed the champagne in her hand.

Taking a cautious step away, Klaus wouldn't take any chances of letting her drink spill on him. She may have been a hybrid, but the poor girl was clumsy.

"I'm not fretting over whether Darla comes or not," he lied, uncertain how she was able to figure him out. "And what makes you so sure that she'll show?"

Quirking an eyebrow, Penn pouted as if she were contemplating a question before giving into a cheeky smile. "Because who doesn't show up to someone's birthday party? A douchebag, that's who."

"Soiree," he corrected.

"That too," she said before downing her entire drink in one gulp. "You shouldn't have even thrown a part... soiree. You both are supposed to be having a birthday sex marathon right now. Well, she's human, so maybe that's a little too much for her. But sexy time is supposed to happen, for sure."

He laughed, knowing that this was just the hybrid's way of keeping his mind occupied for the time being. Penn's optimism and joie de vivre usually allowed Klaus to escape from his problems if only for a while. She was one of the few hybrids who was tolerable. You know, when she wasn't planning an escape.

"Are you drunk?"

"How dare you even ask." She scoffed as if she were offended by his asking. "A little. Is it noticeable?"

"Only a-" Klaus picking up on Darla's scent as it traveled through the air prevented him from finishing his sentence. He turned to Penn so he could excuse himself, but the spunky hybrid had already disappeared from his sight. It seemed as though she knew it was time for her to make an exit without him telling her to.

"Klaus," Darla gasped, breathing short and labored. A soft mist of sweat dampened her brow like dew does blades of grass. She'd been running and now presented herself doubled over, trying to recuperate. "Get everyone out of here. Now."

The raw amount of urgency in her voice would've normally unsettled Klaus, but not today, not on his birthday. Today there'd be no complications or difficulties. He was going to enjoy himself even if it killed him.

"You want the house alone to only you and I?" The thought crossed his mind immediately after seeing her. "Consider it done."

"No," she panted, taking him by the wrist. "Everyone has to leave. Including you and me. It's not safe here."

"You're safe and sound with me, love, I can assure you."

She opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced with Klaus shaking a finger at her.

"Can I at least dance with you before you tell me to cancel my soiree? It is my birthday afterall."

He allowed her to give a reluctant nod before he led her to the ballroom amongst all the other dancing guests. The two mingled in without a hitch, falling into the melody the string quartet played along side them. This was all he wanted-to enjoy the moment with the most important person in his life.

He reveled in her warmth and her frailty. Darla presented herself as such an odd and intricate person that sometimes Klaus forgot that she was still more or less, human. It was something he envied. Her humanity. Her purity. He wouldn't allow anyone, not Kol or a demon, to steal that from her.

"If I were in any sort of danger, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I tried, I couldn't find you," she huffed.

He had been very busy throughout the morning making sure everything was coming together accordingly. It was understandable that he was out of reach.

"So why did you come here dressed formally?" His hand tightened slightly around her waist, his fingers caressing the expensive lace fabric that made up her dress. It was quite unorthodox, what she was wearing. She was the only one to have worn a dress with sleeves. But it suited her. Charming and unique. His lips brushed the soft shell of her ear as he whispered his compliment. "You look quite beautiful might I add."

"I didn't want to look out of place."

When did she care about looking out of place? Fucking Kol, that prick had something to do with that.

"Tell me what's troubling you."

"I had a vision that everyone here gets massacred by the end of the night and Kol's the one who did it."

Hatred burning to the core of him at the thought, Klaus incinerated the thought. He wouldn't allow himself to fully believe her words unless without a shadow of a doubt they were true.

"Did you see Kol killing everyone?"

"No, but I'm one-thousand percent sure."

"How?"

"Because he said that after tonight, he and I would finally get to be together. He has something planned and wouldn't tell me." The little bastard wasn't the greatest planner. And if she were truthful, so what if he killed everyone at Klaus' party? Klaus was certain that Darla would remain unharmed and he couldn't even die without a white oak stake to the heart. So long as Darla and Caroline (who wasn't here) were safe, everyone else was expendable. "Even after I broke up with him, he still was saying how we were going to be together."

"You broke up with him?" Klaus tried to sound surprised by her revelation. He wanted to pretend as if he never saw it coming and this was a complete and utter shock to him.

Darla saw right through him and rolled her eyes. "Shut up, you knew it was going to happen."

"How could this have happened?" He wasn't going to go easy on her. He waited months for her to finally come to terms with the decision they both knew was going to be made. "You both are epic loves. Romeo and Juliet. Tristan and Isolde. Karenina and Vrons-"

"You're so mean to me when all I do is treat you nicely."

"I could never be mean to you."

"Speaking of being mean, do you know where Caroline is? I have to apologize to her for some of the things I said to her. They were out of line."

Klaus had heard about Darla and her sister teaming against Caroline in a lunchroom. From what Caroline had told him, it was quite the ugly spat. He couldn't believe Darla, someone he never heard talk badly about anyone or anything (Beside himself), could turn into such an uncouth little monster.

It was all the more reason for him to believe that she wasn't in her right mind.

But he wasn't going to bring that up, of course. He didn't want to get on her bad side tonight.

"She isn't here at the moment," he said, not feeling nearly as bad now about that now that Darla was with him. "I suspect that Tyler has her occupied or made her promise not to come."

"I'll just talk to her tomorrow at school then. No worries." Frowning, she looked a bit regretful over all that had spanned between the two of them. "What we should be worried about is Kol planning to attack."

Enough about Kol. This night wasn't about him. Even when he wasn't around he still was the center of attention.

"What if I told you that I have hybrids surrounding this place who have been instructed to kill Kol if he gets within a mile radius of my home."

Which he had.

"I'd say he'd slaughter them and then do what he came here to do."

That probably would've happened. Klaus adored his hybrids, but they were no match for an original. Age wasn't on their side.

"And what if I told you that I have three daggers waiting for him if he decides to show?"

Which he did.

"I'd asked you how else am I supposed to interpret my vision."

"Maybe what you saw happens three weeks from now, maybe it happened in the past. There have been a few massacres to take place in this very room. What do you have to say to that?"

Her resolve crumbled and Klaus knew that he'd won her over.

"I'd ask if you'd like to see your birthday gift."

C . H . G . F

"This is your bedroom." Darla inspected his room with the curiosity of a child. She removed her heels, casting them aside as she explored uncharted territory.

"Not up to your expectations?" Klaus asked, placing his tuxedo jacket on the back of a chair.

Fingers sweeping of the binding of his many books like she were checking for dust, Darla neither nodded nor shook her head. She simply soaked it all in. "It's very... you."

He took her words as a compliment. "Why is it that you called me in here. I want my birthday gift."

"So impatient," she giggled, falling backwards onto his bed. It was a good look for her – in his bed, lost amongst the hills and valleys his comforter created against her. "Oh, this feels like heaven."

Patient wasn't one of Klaus' strongest qualities and Darla could always adore his bed. Say... in the morning after a long nights worth of sin and pleasure.

"I. Want. My. Gift." He didn't even want her to get him one, her presence was enough.

Popping her head from beneath his sheets, she grinned. "I drew a portrait of you to continue our artist war, but it looked like shit-"

"I'm always here to teach lessons."

"-so I had to think last minute and I decided to let you see my tattoo."

Klaus gripped the wall beside him. If he didn't then his legs would've turned to linguine and gave out on him. He breathed a sigh of disbelief and looked at Darla as if she were the hybrid and he was the mortal.

"Is that a shitty gift? Because I thought you wanted to-"

Cutting her sentence short, Klaus sped over to his clairvoyant. Her back crashed against his chest as he lifted her to him in an attempt to find the marking. He inspected all the skin she allowed to be revealed only to find nothing. It was only after searching diligently for a few seconds did Klaus come upon a conclusion that made him one very happy birthday boy.

It was beneath her dress.

"Well?" she taunted, making him feel like a scared little boy who was hesitant to make a move in the company of his crush. She'd come to learn that Klaus was not a boy and nothing about him was little.

Slowly Klaus unzipped Darla's dress, drinking in every bit of porcelain flesh that peaked from the contrasting deep purple fabric. He appreciated her body. The freckles that whispered against her cheeks like blush also adorn tickled her back in isolated and irregular patterns. Her waist perfected and arched like crescent moons led to her breasts that were concealed with a black bra.

And as Klaus made his way to her right shoulder blade, he found himself staring at Darla's tattoo. It was funny, how they shared tattoos on the same body part. But while Klaus' consisted of a triangle with an interesting back story, Darla's was of an animal that fully represented her.

"Why this?" he said, touching the cerulean color that made up the animal's body.

"They live life to the fullest and with no regrets. They're free." For a brief moment, Darla sighed and lost herself in a sea of thoughts. Klaus wished he could've read her mind because not knowing what was going on in her head irked him. But she regrouped as if her little moment never happened. "Okay, zip me back up, it's time to go back to the party."

She had to be joking. That wasn't going to happen.

"This is all the party I need." His finger dipped into the well of her spine, tracing its outline and feeling the tremor ripple over her.

"Klaus," she warned. "What about the guests downstairs?"

Hands against her hips, he closed the little distance between them. He lips nipped at her neck that she'd mistakenly exposed by pinning up her hair. "I'm sure they don't even notice we're gone."

Feeling the thump of her heart quicken, Klaus closed his eyes and let it overtake him. Nothing compared to a woman's heartbeat. It was in fact, Klaus' favorite feeling and sound. A heart was the purest and most truthful element there was. Body language, words, eyes, they all were deceptive. The heart never lies. Its sound was of life itself. It brought forth emotions, held love in its highest regard, and swayed those to perform most likely what the mind would say was foolish. As warm as the basking in the sun and as soothing as raindrops against your window.

He kissed along the pathway that led from her shoulder to her neck. He peeled her dress from her and as as it fell to the floor so must've Darla's apprehension. She turned to face him, connecting their lips and resuming all that he should've done with her whenever they were alone.

He missed the way her lips felt against his. The way her chest rose and fell with her breathing. How her fingers clumsily moved to open the buttons of his dress shirt because she hadn't the practice.

This was what he wanted. The two of them. No one else.

He took his time with his movements. Everything was deliberately slow as he wanted to relish every feeling. This was the most human and loved he'd felt in God knows how long. He didn't want hybrid sex or rough, animalistic sex that held very little impact. Klaus wanted this to be sensuous. Meaningful. Something never to be forgotten.

And tonight was tonight.

"Klaus, we have to get Darla out of here."

And tonight wouldn't be the night.

Darla screamed at the sound of the intruder barging into his room unannounced, yanking his comforter over her body to shield it.

Swearing to himself, Klaus turned to see Penn standing in his doorway. Blood stained her brown skin and her once elegant dress looked as if it'd been through a paper shredder.

"What's happened?" he asked, deep down knowing exactly what was going on. "Fucking Kol. Penn, make sure Darla gets home safely."

"I'm not leaving without you." Darla shimmied her dress back on all while beneath the covers.

"They're actually asking for you, Klaus."

"They?" Klaus staggered backwards. Kol wasn't alone in his schemes.

Penn nodded her head, yanking a piece of dangling useless fabric that once was a part of her dress and used it to wipe the blood in her face. "The gang's all here."

C . H . G . F

Boring and a useless chapter, I know. Don't kill me. But I'll tell you now, Darla's vision hasn't happened yet.

Penn Kennedy. She's the hybrid I'm using for my Klaus/Hybrid OC story. I needed a hybrid to be in this chapter so I figured why not introduce Penn, Klaus' handy dandy assistant.

Question: What's Darla's tattoo of?

Question: Will You check out my page and read Night of the Hunter? It's Elena/OC. Yeah I said it. Elena fucking OC. Because you know what, we need to see her paired with someone not from the show. Pwetty Pwease check it out.

Next Chapter: Always and forever, the Originals