Katherine let out a heavy sigh as she finally rested her body down on the cheap motel bed. She didn't even care if she could feel some of the springs digging into her back, or if the blanket was nothing more than a thin sheet. It was better than spending the night outside. She needed to make the best use of money she managed to get from pawning the pearl earrings Elijah gave her. It pained her a little to part with them but she knew it had been necessary.
Closing her eyes slowly, she began to form a plan in her head. Tomorrow she would try to get a lift to the next town, and there she would find a job for a few weeks at least. Enough to get a paycheck. Then she would be moving on to the next town and repeating the same process until she had enough to rent out a place.
It wouldn't be a pleasant situation at all. But neither was staying with Klaus Mikaelson. In fact, she was certain that was worse. She'd rather live on the streets than spend another second near him. She just couldn't believe she stayed for more than one day. Thinking about it now, she couldn't understand why she did. She guessed it was because she had nowhere else to go and she was far too weak to refuse a warm bed and food.
Yawning softly, she pushed away all thoughts of Klaus and instead pulled the thin blanket over her in an attempt to get some sleep. She knew she would have to be out of here as soon as the sun rose and that wouldn't happen if she didn't get a good night's sleep. It wasn't like she was a vampire and she could easily go weeks without proper sleep.
The universe however, didn't seem to be on Katherine's side. Not that she could say this surprised her. But as soon as her eyes closed, she heard a noise that sounded a lot like glass breaking.
Instantly, she stood up from the bed, already on high alert. Looking around the small motel room she actively tried to look for something to defend herself with and finally took the lamp that rested on one of the nightstands.
Keeping her footsteps as light and silent as possible she slowly made her way towards the bathroom and mentally counting to three, she swung the door open and threw the lamp in the direction of the figure she could faintly see in the dark room.
Apparently it was a bad idea because the figure turned out to be a vampire who soon sped her up to the nearest wall, holding her by the neck. "Katherine Pierce."
Katherine only felt afraid very rarely in her life. And they were all mainly related to Klaus in some way. But when she heard the venomous hatred in this man's voice when he spoke her name, she suddenly felt absolutely terrified. "Do I know you?" She whispered struggling to breathe despite the man's grip not being so tight.
The man scoffed. "You should. But then again. I'm not surprised you don't. It doesn't matter anyway. I just want to see the look on your face when you finally die." He grinned.
As the moonlight outside illuminated the dark room, Katherine found that he did look familiar. She just couldn't quite place him. Though after five hundred years that was to be expected, especially when she was as scared as she was just then.
"Imagine the joy I felt when I found out the great Katherine Pierce was finally human. Weak. Vulnerable." He paused and smirked. "Killable." He finished before roughly throwing her across the room.
Her head roughly collided with the nightstand causing her to feel quite dizzy, though ever the survivor, she still stood back up even if she was struggling to. "Look whatever I did I'm sorry, okay?" It was a desperate act. Anyone could see it. But she had nothing else to bargain with. There was nothing she had that she could use against him. She didn't even have vervain. Which she now realized just how stupid it was to be a human in a place full of vampires and not carry vervain.
"You don't even remember what it was?" The man asked, the anger in his voice only increasing.
Clearly the apology only made things worse.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm still going to kill you and you're still going to suffer before I do. Just trust me on that." He muttered and before she could blink, he was holding her by the neck once more, this time much tighter than before.
"Please-" Was the last word Katherine was able to whisper before the struggle simply became too great. She knew now she was going to die. She found the situation so ironic. When she first ran into Klaus she all but asked him to kill her. And now that someone was actually granting her wish, she didn't want to die. Maybe she just didn't want to be tortured. Though that didn't explain why she asked Klaus to kill her considering that if he agreed, he probably would've done much worse than whoever this man was. However as the man squeezed her neck tighter, she found she didn't care why anymore. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut and she began to prepare herself for whatever would happen when she died. Would she end up somewhere as a human? She knew supernaturals had the other side to look forward to when they died. But what about humans? Where would she go? Or would she simply disappear forever?
Before she could find out, the man suddenly let her go.
Katherine instantly fell to the floor, heavily coughing as she struggled to take back the air that was missing in her lungs. She didn't even realize why the man who was set on revenge finally changed his mind, until she saw his lifeless body on the ground, and a very familiar hybrid standing over it.
Klaus didn't say anything and instead carelessly tossed the man's heart to the floor before carefully kneeling down beside her. "Are you-"
Katherine didn't know what came over her in this moment. She honestly didn't. And if asked about it later, she would most likely blame it on the lack of oxygen. But when Klaus kneeled down beside her, she didn't hesitate and quickly wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.
"-Alright?" Klaus slowly finished his question though his body was completely still and tense when he felt Katherine's arms around him. He couldn't really remember the last time someone hugged him let alone the last time she hugged him. After a few seconds however, he slowly placed one arm around her and very gently began to trace small circles on her back in an effort to calm her down.
"I thought I was going to die." Katherine whispered, tightening her arms around Klaus. For some reason that she couldn't be bothered with at the moment, his embrace brought her such comfort. She didn't ever want to leave the safety of his arms.
Klaus cleared his throat, trying to pull away from the tight hug but she clearly wasn't having it. Which was why he simply let it happen. She would come back to her senses eventually, once the initial fear and shock passed. "Yes well, I was not going to let some nameless bastard be the one to kill you. That is far too anticlimactic for your death. When you leave this world, it has to be something only worthy of the great Katerina Petrova. Not death by strangulation in the world's most run down motel room." He chuckled softly.
Katherine managed a tiny smile at his words, despite how morbid they were. She actually understood the amusement in them. Though just as she was about to relax her hold on him and simply rest her head on his chest, reality finally set in and she quickly pulled away. "Um." Clearing her throat, she slid a little further from him just to put some much needed distance between the two. She did not just hug Klaus Mikaelson. "T-Thank you. For saving my life."
Klaus felt relieved when she finally pulled away from him, though a tiny part of him that he refused to acknowledge did miss the way she felt in his arms. "You're welcome." He said softly. "Are you alright?"
Katherine was about to say yes, when she felt a sharp pang in her head. She visibly winced. "My head hurts a little." She mumbled, though 'a little' was a major understatement.
Klaus scooted closer to her once more. "Let me check." He delicately brushed his fingers along her soft curls when she turned her back to him, mainly looking for any bumps or bleeding. He grimaced slightly when he saw the small patch of blood.
Katherine stilled when she felt his fingers tracing along her scalp. The action was so gentle. She almost couldn't believe it was actually Klaus behind her. "What is it?" She asked noticing he stopped.
"Nothing. You have a small wound, that's all. You'll be fine." Klaus said knowing it didn't look too serious. "Here." He bit into his wrist and reached around, offering his arm to her.
"Klaus. I can't." Katherine said seeing his arm in front of her. "Even with the cure no longer in my system, I can't take vampire blood. My body just won't tolerate it. Why do you think I'm dying? If I could take vampire blood and turn believe me I would've found a way to get it."
Klaus slowly pulled his arm back at her explanation though he still refused to give up. "Oh I have no doubt you would have." He said quietly and reached into his jacket, pulling out a syringe filled with vervain.
"What are you doing?" Katherine asked raising an eyebrow as she slowly turned to face him once more.
"Finding a loophole." Klaus answered simply, emptying out the vervain on the floor before inserting the needle into his arm and slowly drawing some blood.
"That's not going to work. You think I don't wish there was a way I could take it?" Katherine questioned, her voice slowly becoming more frustrated at his stubbornness.
"Even if your body finds a way to reject it, it will be in your system long enough for that wound to heal." Klaus insisted, despite the look of protest and disbelief she was giving him. "It's small. However from the placement of it, I do not recommend you try to stand or move. And I highly doubt you want to stay here for the next two weeks until it heals."
Katherine sighed in defeat. "Fine." She grumbled, slowly extending her arm out to him. "But if this backfires I'm going to be very pissed off at you."
"Yes, whatever you say Katerina." He said as he tried to look for a vein. Finally, he gently pierced her skin with the needle and pushed the blood in. Reaching around he placed a hand on the back of her head, where he remembered the wound was and smiled in satisfaction when he felt it closing.
His satisfaction didn't last very long however because Katherine soon stood up and dashed to the bathroom.
Klaus gave her a few minutes, hearing the spitting and gagging noises she was making, he could only imagine that whatever was happening wasn't pleasant.
"Never, ever do that to me again." Katherine groaned, weakly leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom.
Klaus chuckled and slowly stood up from the floor. "Your wound healed didn't it? The least I could get is a thank you."
"You want me to thank you for making me puke my guts out?" Katherine questioned shooting him a glare. Though the way the corner of her lips twitched upward slightly indicated she wasn't actually mad. In fact she was a little impressed. Not that she would say that out loud of course. But she never thought of getting the blood into her system directly. Not that it would help her turn, clearly. However it at least helped if she was seriously hurt.
"You are still standing aren't you?" Klaus shot back with a smirk on his lips. "Now, get dressed so that I may take you back to the house." He said as he grabbed her bag and set it on the bed. "And before you protest, I suggest you take a good look at the dead man on the floor and ask yourself if you want to have this be a regular occurrence wherever you go next."
Katherine crossed her arms, her playful expression fading at his words. "I'm not going back. And the only reason this happened is because I don't have anything to defend myself with. Maybe instead of trying to be a tyrant and controlling everyone around you, you could get me something useful. Like vervain and wooden stakes."
Klaus rolled his eyes, already having been expecting resistance from her. "I am not here to argue. Either get dressed and come with me willingly or I will compel you to. Simple."
Katherine scoffed. "No. I told you I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Oh I think you are. Or are you forgetting that you owe me now?" Klaus questioned smugly, which seemed to shut her up for a moment at least.
"I'll find a way to pay you back. I highly doubt staying in your house counts as a payment. If anything it's just something else I'll owe you for." Katherine reasoned giving him a look.
"It does count if it's what I want." Klaus snapped before he had a chance to actually think about it. Truthfully he didn't even realize his mistake until he saw the shocked expression on her face. He suddenly wished that he could take the words back but he knew it was too late now. Even if he tried to fix it, the damage had already been done.