To Know Him Is To Love Him
The goodbyes the next morning were short and clipped with tension. Adrian had apologized profusely to Elena and Marie looked generally annoyed. Klaus chose to busy himself in the shower for the occasion lest he lose himself and paint the walls red with Adrian's blood. At least he could pretend the warm water running down his back was something else without horrifying Elena.
He chuckled to himself as Elena swung around the corner, holding onto the doorframe.
"Hey!" she stumbled over her words. "Oh, I'm s-sorry. I should have knocked." His towel hung low on his waist, hair clinging to his neck.
"Whatever for, dear?"
Her hand shot up to cover her eyes and she felt just as old as when she used to do that for her parents during kissing scenes in movies.
"Do you want to help me with breakfast?" Klaus smiled and let himself imagine a world where this was his every day. A simple world filled with conversation, pleasure and her.
He dressed quickly and followed her into the kitchen, where she'd already laid out everything to make an easy omelet. She picked up two coffee cups and offered him one. His fingers lingered on hers, "I preferred sharing, love." She blushed at their contented closeness that had been developing over the last month.
She hooked her arm around his neck and leaned in to kiss him on the check. Klaus couldn't remember the last time a woman just kissed him without trying to initiate anything further.
"Your embarrassment seems to have worn off."
"I wasn't embarrassed. I was surprised. Big difference," she defended.
They took their plates out to the patio, the morning sun reflecting back up and making everything seem so filled with potential. Elena loved mornings like this, they held so much promise.
"You seem so captured by the ocean," he commented.
"I am. It's just so beautiful here. I want to take it all in, last morning and everything. Have you had a good time?"
"I'm having a wonderful time, right now." His comment was pointed. He hadn't enjoyed the other people being there.
"I'm sorry about Adrian. I don't know what got into him."
"You're joking, right?" She shook her head and took a sip from her mug. "Elena, that boy was interested in you."
"How am I supposed to know that?"
"Anyone with eyes and any amount of common sense could have detected that."
"I don't like to assume. I prefer people just tell me straight out how they feel."
"So, then you are intentionally keeping yourself in the dark?"
She didn't like how easily he'd come to assess her in the seemingly short amount of time they'd spent with one another. At least, she didn't like it now when she felt like he was laying out a flaw so brazenly.
"You seemed to be having a pretty good time the other night." She chose a topic change in an effort to avoid confrontation.
"Briefly, yes. Until we were interrupted just so we could join in on a silly card game. And then you had the gall to force me back on the couch." His voice was snide at first, but then he leaned in, "I'd much rather we had the opportunity to finish what we started. You'd not so easily abandon me a second time, I wage."
How could he make her shiver even now in the morning heat?
With the sun shining and the warm ocean air on her skin. She was tired of this effect he had on her, especially with feeling like she had no effect on him. It was time, she resolved, to flip the script.
She stood up and walked over the open door, leaning against the white wall where the red flowers snaked up, growing on the vine. She hoped that the stark contrast of her dark hair and tanned skin against the bright white wall would draw him in to her. She wanted to create a vision worthy enough for one his paintings.
"So, then finish it." She left him with those words as she walked to the back bedroom and into the bathroom.
Days earlier, she'd noted the open shower. Curved glass encased the shower, offering absolutely no privacy. She'd been so careful to shower early in the morning, quickly before Klaus had woken up. Now, she was hoping for less privacy, hoping he would know to follow her.
Klaus was many things. A terrible monster, a man quick to a defensive anger, possessive and arrogant. Klaus was all those things and more, but he was not stupid.
He slowly got up and walked into the house, lingering to allow her time to lay out her unnecessary snare. It was too late for him. He smiled at each piece of her outfit she'd shed. The lacy top in the living room, the jean shorts in the hallway. He smirked at the bra hanging on the bedroom door. His smile fell a little when he opened the door, expecting to find her in bed. Until he heard the shower running.
"You have an admirable imagination." He pushed the bathroom door open, his mouth hanging open as he caught sight of her through the steam.
Elena was already in the shower, she stood with her hip popped to the side, her leg bent. Framing just how long her legs were. Her arms were up over hear head, lifting her breasts up as the water ran down her torso. She'd raised her mass of wet, dark hair off her back and looked back at Klaus. She doesn't think she's ever seen anyone strip their clothes off quicker than Klaus in that moment. She wondered if he'd use some of vampire speed or if that was just entirely a male response. She laughed when he snagged his heels on his pants trying to yank them off.
"Don't laugh at me, love. I'll make you regret it."
Before she knew it, he was in the shower, kissing her. She loved how plump his lips were, how easy they were to capture between her teeth. His hands wandered down, giving an appreciative squeeze of her rear before reaching down to her legs, trying to lift her up. She could already feel his erection between her legs, but she wasn't quite ready. She broke the kiss abruptly, slipping out of his grip. She could have sworn she heard him snarl.
"I think I'd like some payback."
Klaus was confused for just a moment until Elena went to her knees, mimicking him from the other night. Klaus moved to stand in front of the shower head, stopping the water from hitting her with his back. Her fingers were gentle, but firm as she grabbed the length of him, hardening with anticipation. When she took him in her mouth, exploring him with her tongue and experimenting with how deep she could take him in, Klaus swore in a few languages. His arms shot out to either side of the shower wall, attempting to hold himself steady in place for her.
She felt a sense of pride, in making him come unwound this way. She flicked her tongue a few times over his tender tip, her hand still on him, pulsing and stroking him up and down.
This time, she was sure it was his vampire powers as he sped to pick her up by her upper arms. He pushed her against the tile as he lifted, her legs wrapping instinctively around his waist. She kissed at the water dripping down his face and worried, briefly, that he had changed his mind somehow. The way he looked at her was strange, as if he was seeing her for the first time. He held such a raw need in his eyes for something more than her body and Elena thought to ask him about it. The thought vanished as he eased himself into her. Achingly slow before withdrawing only to push in further until he was completely inside.
His face was just inches away from hers. She could tell he was fighting with himself. His blue eyes taking on a darker shade. He pushed her wet hair out of her face and behind her ear. "Elena.."
He found a rhythm that suited her well, thrusting in and out as she managed to move to encourage his pace, needing him faster.
As her pleasure mounted, he became undone. Driving into her with an overwhelming need to meld their bodies together. Nothing about it was gentle. She screamed out his name and Klaus, again, found himself wishing she was using his preferred name.
His arms are strong around her, holding steady as she transfers her pleasure into long scratches up his back. When he draws out of her only to push himself roughly back in, over and over, it sends her over the edge. He captures her mouth with his as she screams out an orgasm. She bucks against him, filling herself up with him. His arms seem impossibly strong as he holds her up through it all. She feels safe, the idea that he could hold her there forever turning her on even more.
She moans and draws his head down to her neck. He hovers for a moment, wanting so badly to taste her. And it seems as if she is offering herself to him. He decides against it and bites her shoulder without breaking the skin as he buries himself further in her. She screams again, the mix of pain and pleasure swirling under her skin like a tumultuous storm heating her up from the inside.
He is quick to follow her, unable to hold himself back after witnessing how she can't. He shudders inside her and Elena has a brief thought about how irresponsible it all was until she remembered he was a vampire and couldn't possibly get her pregnant.
With his head leaned into her shoulder, his breathe labors into her skin, so loved by him. His wet curls tickle her chin and she traces out the tattoo on his back. He shivers under her touch and she feels utterly satisfied.
Afterwards, they lay on top of the sheets, their bodies intertwined as they dried. Elena was busy tracing the crevices and planes of his chest while his eyes followed her diligently.
"Tell me about your life."
Elena didn't mind the question, even if it is more of a demand. She just wishes he'd share more of himself. "I've already told you about my family. It's complicated. We moved a lot."
"Tell me about the other stuff. What were you like before? Your friends? Did you ever love anyone?"
She thought about how she could tell him about the year before she left without revealing how much she knew about his world. "Well, I was happy. At first, before my parents died. I partied with my friends in the woods. Danced. Drank too much. I dated a boy I'd known since I was a kid. But then when my parents…well I couldn't be the same person. I just wasn't. Something like that changes you. I was sad, of course. But worse, I think I was constantly worried about losing someone I loved."
Klaus nodded, completely understanding that fear. "So, you loved this boy?"
"I loved Matt, but I don't know that I was in love with him. I loved him as much as I could at that age. I was in love with the next one. But then I left and we tried to stay in touch, but..," she drifted off, tapping some unknown code on his chest trying to find the words. After some length of time she said, "I guess the older I got, the less it made sense to me. I had wanted nothing more than to be with him, but then I couldn't. I was a different person, again."
She shifted against him, molding her body more closely to his. "Tell me about you. Please? You don't really talk about yourself. Have you ever been in love?"
Looking down at her, the earnest way she looked at him moved Klaus. "Yes, I've been in love. A few times. The first one. Everyone was so infatuated with her. Myself and my brother." Elena's eyebrows crinkled together. Elijah hadn't told her this part of Tatia's story. "I don't think, at the time, I wanted to see it. She only loved my brother. It didn't stop me from chasing her though."
"You have a brother?"
"Yes, I have brothers. And a sister."
"Do you…get along with them?"
"At times, I like to think so, but at the moment we aren't close."
His answers were getting frustratingly short. She wishes she'd kept him on the topic of love since he seemed to reward her with better answers.
"Why did you leave me that night? When I was sick?"
"Did that really bother you so much?" She nodded, remembering her barb from the other day. "In truth, love, I don't know. I thought the worst of you that night. I thought you'd left without saying good-bye. And then you were there. I couldn't just leave you to take care of yourself. It didn't look like you were doing an outstanding job of that."
He shifted to his side, so he could hold her and see her. "I should have stayed until you woke, Elena. But even a man such as myself gets…" He trailed off, unable to say the words.
"Scared?" she offered.
"I suppose so. But not quite."
"Do I scare you?"
"In a way, yes," he admitted.
"How do I scare you?"
"I worry that you'll be my undoing. And I'm scared that I won't care."
The space between them grew as she considered this. It felt like the most truthful thing he'd ever told her.
"I'm scared too," she offered, hoping to connect with him.
"What are you scared of, sweetheart?"
"You." And what I feel for you, she thought.
"I would never do anything to frighten you," he vowed, but she worried that it was a promise he couldn't keep. Not when he'd been her personal boogeyman for so long.
Later, they lay out on the beach watching the sun go down on an old blanket she'd found in an ottoman. Elena felt sore in the best kind of way. In a way that makes her feel so alive. Each ache reminds her of him and she wishes that none of this had to end, to stay with Klaus on this beach forever. In this seclusion, she imagines that it is the outside world that is dangerous and not him.
Klaus is playing with her hair, wild and untamed. They are enjoying lightly touching each other, carefully exploring each other. She wishes she could be a simple woman, laying on the sand with her lover.
"Would tell me what I mean to you?" She is careful not to look at him, concentrating on the pattern of birds flying off into his collarbone. Trying to play it off as if she's only mildly interested. "It's just that, I don't think knowing you want me is enough for now."
He looks up into her dark eyes, his palm guiding her face to look into his, and professes, "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss…" He pulled her lips down to meet his and rewarded her with a soft, tender kiss. She delights in his tenderness as much as she finds pleasure in his roughness.
She pulled up laughing, "What was that, Nik?"
"Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. The first scene in act five with Helen's shade."
Elena swallowed, feeling cautious of where this was going. After all, wasn't a doppelgänger like a shade? A shadow self that was useful only for one thing, destined to be extinguished in the light of day.
He continued, "You are my Helen, Elena. In so many ways."
"Are you going to abscond with me in the night? Steal me away?" She goes for breezy, but Klaus can tell he's hit a nerve.
"No, love, it is you who has absconded with my heart I'm afraid." He reaches back up to hold her face in his hand. "Though, I would gladly start wars for you. To have you at my side, always."
Elena knows what that means, coming from him. Everything she's read about him, everything Elijah has told her about him. Warned her about. She should start running now. She should call Bonnie right away and tell her she's in too deep. She needs help, but she doesn't want it. "I wouldn't want you to spill blood on my account," she tells him, feebly. She doesn't believe he would change his nature at her request.
"Oh, I very much doubt that." His hand trails down her neck until he is pointing at her heart. "You are a woman who wields power well."
She is both flattered and concerned about how he perceives her.
Later, after Klaus had gone to sleep, Elena looked up the play he had referenced earlier on her phone. The light of the screen uncomfortably pierces the calming darkness. The same speech Klaus had recited those lines from later references Jupiter and Semele. Elena struggles to swallow the feeling she gets from that information.
She knew her mythologies. How could she not when she was part of one?
Would she die too, like Semele after Jupiter revealed his true self to her? Could she survive him?
He shifted against her, his arms wrapped around her stomach, possessive and claiming. She had the urge to run, her legs stretched out ahead of her, moving her body inches away from his. She was sleeping next to her destruction. He pulled her in even closer and suddenly his hold on her feels more like a bear trap.
When exactly had she started considering him to be more than her destroyer?
A/N: What do you think, is Elena getting ready to run?
