Waking up in a strange bed, I groaned softly and turned over, blinking myself awake and yawning unattractively before I began to realise that I had no idea where I was. The room was totally alien to me, I'd never seen it before and quickly sat up, trying to figure it out until I realised I could hear a shower running. Was someone taking a shower? Where the hell am I? Throwing back the covers I was still wearing yesterday's clothes, my shoes neatly placed beside the bed so I pulled them on as the water stopped running from the shower.
Lifting my head, I threw back my hair as it fell in tamed waves down my back, though a little messy and disorganised from having literally just woken up. A few moments later, the door opened and a cloud of steam swept out, followed by Klaus wrapped in nothing but a towel. Oh boy. "I see you're awake."
"Where…what…um…?" Completely thrown by the fact that Klaus wasn't actually wearing any clothes, just a towel with water still trailing down his torso like a glistening sheen and it became far too distracting for me, all I could do was stare.
"I apologise, if the towel is a distraction then I could always remove it." Klaus offered suggestively, grinning at me as I blinked then quickly turned on my heel.
"That's not necessary, you just…get dressed or something." Pointedly keeping my back turned, I asked Klaus where we were and he told me that we were still at the Lockwood manor. Seeing as no one else was home and there were plenty of beds and facilities going unused for the night, he'd decided to just crash here and had brought me up to sleep more comfortably. Touched that he'd been so considerate, I started to rub my neck as I hugged my waist at the same time. "Thank you."
"Well I could hardly leave you to sleep on the cold floor, could I?"
"You could have done, if you felt like it." Listening to him as he pulled on his clothes, I continued to remain facing away from him until he chuckled with amusement, telling me that he was decent and that I could turn around now. I did, seeing him wearing a clean shirt with no traces of blood on him. "So…what are you going to do now?"
"Since I am currently now running low on hybrids, it appears that it has become an even greater importance that Elena be given the cure so that I can make more to replace those I've lost." He said blandly, and I felt a little saddened by the fact that Klaus still didn't seem to care that he'd just killed people, and now he was talking about replacing them just like that. Already tired of this crap, I lay myself back down on the bed so that I could just stare upwards at the ceiling in order to try and think. Rebekah would be coming back any day now, and Kol would also be turning up soon. Strangely, I think he and I would end up on the same team as the two of us wanted to keep that dangerous immortal from being resurrected, which meant I had to figure out a way to get to him before everyone else.
According to my visions, there was a professor who knew where he was, but all I could see was his face. I had no idea who he was or how to find him, which put me in a difficult position. I know a lot of people wanted the cure, but it was better for it to remain buried with the guy who'd cause a lot of problems later down the line if he was allowed to come back to life. I didn't even know his name yet, there was just so much I didn't know that it was so frustrating. I was seeing less and less every time I tried to activate my visions, like they were getting pissed at me and just me the same things over and over again.
"What's wrong love? You look exasperated." Klaus said to me and I felt the bed dip as he came and sprawled out next to me, laying on his side and supporting his head on his hand. "Anything I can help you with?"
"Unlikely, but thanks." I turned my head towards him, frowning suspiciously. "You're in a considerably better mood. I thought you'd be angry at me for asking you to let Tyler go."
"Well I'll admit I was rather upset over the fact that you defended that little mutt despite the fact he tried to destroy me, but after a night of deliberating and watching you sleeping, I found myself unable to remain angry at you." Klaus told me, a gentle smirk playing over his mouth as I struggled to figure out if he was messing with me or being serious. It's hard to tell these days. My eyes dropped to the opening of his shirt where his pendants were showing, catching my attention. Reaching across I picked up the first one, the one that lay closest to his throat and rubbed my thumb over the beads, wondering what in particular made them so special to him that he wore them pretty much all the time.
Following the line of the beads, I then held the cross against my finger, thinking it rather ironic that he would wear a rosary since he didn't exactly strike me as a godly man. Letting that one go, I then pulled gently at the string of the next pendant, which was a smooth black fang. This one was a little clearer about its appeal to Klaus, being a werewolf hybrid after all. Then there was the newest one. My one. The crescent moon shaped pendant with the moonstone, the opaque stone smooth and cold to the touch. "Will it work?" He asked me in a soft murmur as I continued to study his three pendants with avid curiosity.
"That sounds like you doubt me." I returned quietly, letting my gaze lift to meet his, still fiddling with them.
"Not at all, love." Shifting a little closer, Klaus brought his arm around and over me in order to hold the side of my head in his hand, brushing against my hair as the support his arm gave allowed him to lean over me so that we were properly face to face. "Why would you give something like this to me?" I frowned slightly, not having actually thought about the answer to that so I searched for a moment, wondering before I then looked up at him again.
"Because I don't want you to hurt anymore." I could see the surprise and shock reflected in his face as each expression shifted from one to the other, like flicking through the pages of a book. His eyes crinkled with heaviness, uncertain of how to respond to my simple yet honest reply. There was so much going on behind those blue eyes of his I couldn't even begin to discern what he might have been thinking, but before I could even begin to try my phone started to go. I looked over at it, sat on the bedside table before I rolled over to grab it, seeing it was my mom. I answered it to immediately receive an onslaught of panic, telling me how worried she was when I didn't come home last night and all they'd gotten was a text saying that I was staying over at a friend's house and hadn't answered any of my calls.
Apologising for not letting her know what was going on, I frowned as I tried to figure out how I'd sent her a text since I had no memory of it. I then looked at Klaus who gave me a smug look. Well looks like I've found the culprit. Guess I owe him for that one, otherwise my parents would have sent the cops out looking for me. "I'm fine mom, I was just with a friend and I fell asleep before I could answer your calls."
"Who are you with?"
"Um…" I tried to quickly come up with a lie, but I was so bad at it and I knew mom would figure it out immediately so I just…stretched the truth a little. "I'm at Tyler Lockwood's place." The phone went silent for a moment or two, mom probably already jumping to conclusions. "Nothing happened! God mom no, don't even think about it."
"I didn't say anything!"
"I could hear you thinking." I protested, getting up from the bed in order to walk over to the window and open it, needing some fresh air stat. "I came over to tell him about his mom and I ended up crashing. It was a long day yesterday."
"Is he there now?"
"No, he's already left. I don't know where he is, but you can tell Carol that's he's okay." I glanced across at Klaus who was listening intently. "I'll be home soon, love you."
"Love you too honey, just don't let us worry about you like that again." Promising I'd make it up to her, I said a quick goodbye before cutting the call and exhaling with a groan.
"I'm impressed. You managed to keep the truth from them without even lying."
"I told you I'm a terrible liar, so I have to figure different ways around things." Rubbing my neck over the scars, I pulled at the flesh there like I always did whenever I was thinking deeply or nervous, frowning at the glass of the window which looked down into the backyard. Things will be getting intense soon enough, it made me anxious. Everyone's going to end up fighting each other for the cure, each wanting it for their own reasons and I'll be the one who wants to snatch it away from everyone in order to bury it with that immortal. It'll probably make me the most hated person alive, and I knew that Rebekah wanted it for herself, which would make it even more difficult for me.
She was my best friend and I wanted her to have the cure, but not if it meant raising the bad guy. I'll find another way to cure her, there has to be some way, I mean…druid magic had a lot of power that other magic didn't. I'll find a way to make it up to her. "Hey…" Hearing his voice beside me I felt his hand reach up to pull mine away from my neck where I'd started to scratch over the scars. "Enough of that, love."
"I should go soon, otherwise my dad might end up grounding me for a year." I said quickly, turning around and drawing back my hand from Klaus out of slight alarm, not having realised how close he'd been standing behind me. I looked up at him, pausing for a second before awkwardly trying to thank him. "Thanks for not killing Tyler. I appreciate that."
"Consider it your Christmas gift. I will not be so lenient ever again." Accepting this as probably the best deal I was going to get, I gave him an uneasy smile, thinking back to him covered in blood and wondering how long until the next bloodbath. "You should go, before your parents begin to worry more." I can only imagine the interrogation I was going to get when I got back home, and I was hesitant to willingly go towards it. "Ophelia?"
"Yeah, you're right." I blinked, shaking my head to return to reality before I started looking around for my keys, spotting them on the table where my phone had been. "I'll see you around, Nik. Try not to go on a murdering spree anytime soon. It's nearly Christmas, it'll suck if you ruin the festive spirits with a few dozen dead bodies thrown about the place." I said to him, striding over to grab my keys then glanced his way, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was watching me with that predatory gleam.
"I will try my best." He assured me, and I took it as the best compromise he was going to offer. Giving a final smile, I left the Lockwood estate in order to return home, where Carol was no doubt waiting for news on Tyler. He should be far away from here by now, if he had any sense. At least Klaus seemed calmer now, less murderous. I'd be surprised if we even got through the holidays without something else happening that'll throw the balance, but right now I didn't have the willpower to even care.
I just ducked my head down and carried on with my life as normally as possible, wanting to at least enjoy being an ordinary human girl for as long as it could last. Klaus and I didn't cross paths again for some time, though on the morning of Christmas day, I found a gift wrapped in gold ribbon with a sprig of holly, identical to how I'd prepared Klaus's gift. It had been a surprise to find it at my bedside, but mom later admitted that Klaus had asked her to give this to me and she'd thought it was so sweet a gesture that she'd wanted me to open it the moment I'd woken up.
When I'd pulled the ribbon free and opened the lid, I'd discovered a pendant necklace of my own inside, wrapped around a piece of paper rolled up like a scroll. It was gold plated by the looks of it, a delicate sun with waving rays stretching outward set upon an eyelet, one ring made from the same gold and another filled with tiny diamonds, identical to the ones that filled the centre of the sun and alternating rays. It was beautiful, admittedly, I fell in love with it instantly as I held it up and immediately spelled it so that the fine chain would never break.
After putting it on, the delicate face sat neatly against my chest. It was cold at first, but then it started to warm up due to my body heat as I picked up the scroll and straightened it to find a short and simple message from Klaus. It read: To my sweet Ophelia, merry Christmas. Growing rosy from embarrassment and a small measure of pleasure at such a thoughtful touch, I smiled to myself and set the note down before going over to the painting I'd won in the charity event, looking at it pensively whilst holding the sun pendant. There was no rhyme or reason to him, and I'd given up trying to predict his next move. All the visions and dreams of the future weren't enough for me to understand Niklaus Mikaelson, yet I found the unpredictability of his gestures and mood somewhat exciting, and I was already looking forward to what he might throw my way next.
Would we fight? Be friendly? Who knew? I was eager to find out.