Klaroline MashUp Event: Day 3 Troupe: Bed Sharing + Magic
Holding Out For A Hero
(Caroline is captured by a group of disgruntled witches on a surprise visit to NOLA. No magical babies of any kind and none of that Cami/Stefan nonsense.)
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The door to St. James Infirmary opened letting in the early afternoon light. Josh set down his rag to grab a glass and a bottle of bourbon when he saw just who it was strutting in. He had just poured the liquor over the ice in the glass as Klaus took a seat at the bar.
"So? How was your night?" Josh asked as he slid the glass to him barely holding back his excitement.
Klaus narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "It went as well as any night in the Quarter with the blasted witches causing their nightly riots."
"Yeah, yeah but besides that? How did it go?" Josh bounced up and down on the soles of his shoes causing the Hybrid to question the boy's sanity as it grated on his nerves.
"What has you bouncing with such chipper glee? I have half a mind to snap your neck just to stop that incessant squeaking of your heels." Klaus lowered his chin, the dark glint in his gray eyes showing just how close he was to following through with the threat.
Josh felt a tremor of fear lance through him, he wouldn't put it past Klaus do to as he threatened and instantly stood flat on his feet as he deflated, "So she didn't show up then? If she did you would be in a better mood or not here at all. I thought for sure she would show up."
Klaus groaned as he ran a tired hand over his face. He had come here to get away from the incessant arguing over how to handle the group of rouge witches, and instead of finding the peace and quiet he craved, he had to listen to Josh yammer on. "What are you blathering on about now?"
"Last night a few hours before closing a vampire I've never seen before came strolling in." He paused to think for a moment before waving his hand, "Well not so much strolling as slinking in. She came to the bar, ordered a drink and stayed pretty quiet for a while but oddly focused on the door. She seemed like she had a lot on her mind or something because she kept standing up looking all determined to do something before plopping back down on that stool over there and ordering another drink."
"I have no need for a play-by-play of the lady's night, only what it has to do with me. Get to the point Mate." Klaus hissed as his fingers flexed around the glass.
Josh's gaze was drawn to the Hybrid's hand wrapped around the glass. Gulping, he rubbed the base of his neck as if feeling phantom fingers applying pressure there. "No need for any neck snapping, I'm getting there but since she didn't show up I figured you should hear it all."
Klaus pushed his empty glass towards him, signaling he required a refill as he decided he would give the boy five minutes before the young vampire would be forcefully taking a nap on the bar room floor.
"So anyways, it took me a little while to get her to talk. She was stubborn but smart to keep quiet, almost like she knew she should be careful who she talked to. But after the fifth drink, well my fifth more like her tenth. Man, that girl can put them away!" His humorous smile dropped when he noticed Klaus's impatient glare, "But then she was all, fuck it! Klaus had better want to see me after all his big talks of last loves. And then she left."
Klaus felt the blood drain from his face as his heart skipped a beat, "What?"
"I said and then she left."
His mind raced over what Josh was implying. The words, last love, repeated through his mind. If it was her, and she uttered those words aloud it could only mean one thing. But then again, his mind was having a hard time believing she had actually shown up for him and not just for his help. "What did you say her name was?"
"Huh, I didn't actually." Josh said as if he had just realized that fact, "She said her name was Caroline I think. Yeah, Caroline."
Klaus felt his heart stop yet again before it began beating nearly out of his chest. She had truly come to him. Even going as far as to tell Josh, even if it was unintentional, about his last love speech. So then why was it he had not seen nor heard from her? "When did she leave?"
Josh furrowed his brow as he thought it over, "I think it was just after midnight last night? So, she would have made it to your place by now." He continued hesitantly, Klaus was known for killing the messenger and if his face was anything to go by this was not news he would want to hear, "I'm sorry man but I think she might have left for good."
Klaus knew that was an option. In fact, it was highly probable that Caroline walked outside, had the fresh air hit her, clearing her mind and sending her running before he caught wind of her presence in New Orleans. On the other hand, if anyone had overheard her talking in the bar and connected her to him, they could have easily told the witches. And unfortunately, the time frame of when she had left and when he and his siblings had ended last night's riot were only an hour apart. Which meant they could have her now. Which meant, "Damn it."
Josh's arm flew out, just missing the glass, watching as it shattered on the floor as Klaus flashed from the building. "We should really buy stock in the glassware company. At least then we could make some of our money back."
Klaus stopped when he hit the edge of the sidewalk outside of St. James Infirmary with the deep realization that he had no idea where to start. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he tossed it back and forth between his hands. If she answered, he would know she was safe. But on the other hand, if she did not answer it could meant one of two things, she had been captured or she was avoiding him after hightailing it out of town.
Hitting her number while hoping to hear her snarky lyrical voice, his lips pressed together as the ringing in his ear was echoed by a phone ringing close by. Not one to believe in coincidences, he kept the phone to his ear while following the sound to the nearby alleyway.
The alley was empty of any movements or sounds other than the ringing phone. He walked further into the alley, his boots scratching the stones as he spied something off to the side by a dumpster. There on the ground was a purse with its strap broken laying in a dried pool of blood.
Klaus held his breath as he ended the call on the third ring. His eyes slammed shut as his fear was realized. The phone had stopped its ringing just as he ended the call. Inhaling deeply, he took comfort that the dried blood did not carry the same scent as a vampire's.
Picking up the bag he was taunted with the distinct scent of Caroline coming from it, but it wasn't until he removed the phone finding, One Missed Call From: Klaus, staring back at him that be believed it to be true.
Caroline Forbes had come to New Orleans last night. She had come for him but was taken before she even crossed the street.
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Klaus burst through the door to Freya's apartment unannounced startling the witch.
"You could at least knock Klaus." She placed her hands flat on her workbench as she reprimanded him.
She was met only with a purse bring shoved into her hands and his demand, "I need you to perform a locator spell using this."
"Okay," She said slowly as she took the purse to her supplies and map of the city not wanting to push him closer to the edge he was obviously standing on if the slightly fearful and anxious look in his eyes was anything to go by. "Mind telling me just who it is that I'm looking for?" She glanced at him as she pulled the items she would need together.
"No." He spoke firmly as he watched his sister work.
"Huh." Freya breathed looking at the map strangely. Her hands moving quickly over it to perform the spell once more.
"What? What happened? Did you find her?" Klaus spit the questions out without taking a single breath as he waited for her answer.
"Nothing." Freya looked over the map again as she completed the spell the second time to garner the same results. Glancing back at her brother, she noticed his slip of the tongue. He had said her. "Well not nothing, it's just that I was able to find her fairly easily." She carefully watched him as he studied the map, it was obvious that whoever this her was, she meant a great deal to him. From all that she had learned about her siblings over the past few years, this was definitely something new. Klaus didn't care for anyone outside of their family and yet he was afraid, no terrified for this girl.
Klaus's eyes glanced over the map and the area where Caroline was being held before marching towards the door as if he was heading into a battle he had no other choice but to win. Only to have it slam close in front of him.
He attempted to pry it open only to find it was sealed shut by magic. His eyes flashed with anger as he turned back towards his sister, "Open the door Freya before I make one through your wall."
"You can't just go charging off to whoever it is you are looking for. I found her way too easily Klaus. This could be a trap." Freya could tell even before she was done speaking that her efforts to reason with him were falling on deaf ears.
"I'm quite sure it is, but I will not leave her there alone, having the Gods only know what happen to her." He eyes narrowed as he took in his sister's firm stance, "Let me remind you that there are plenty of ways to incapacitate a witch without killing her. Now," He growled menacingly, "Open the damn door Freya."
Freya wanting to hold strong but sighed and with a wave of her hand unlocking the door. With a worried look on her face she watched as her brother disappear. Closing the door, she curiously walked back to the purse, withdrawing the wallet from inside, "Who is Caroline Forbes?" She wondered aloud before trying to track down her other siblings to not only find out who this mysterious girl was but to send them Klaus's way. Something told her whoever had taken this Caroline and whatever they had planned would spell nothing but heartache for their brother.
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Klaus easily made it to the old dilapidated home near the edge of the swamp where the locator spell showed Caroline to be. His keen senses detected nothing but a faint vampire's heart beat coming from the lowest level of the once beautiful home. But he knew better than to believe that whoever had taken her had just left her here alone. Besides he scoffed, witches with their parlor tricks, were capable of maintaining a concealing spell hiding themselves even from the likes of him. For he had no doubts that the witches were behind this.
Though that wouldn't last for long. Klaus thought with a smirk as he tested the broken entryway of the home with the toe of his boot, finding he could cross without issue.
One inside, he cautiously followed Caroline's scent while keeping his senses open for the impending attack he knew was coming. Regardless of the trap he knew this to be, his main concern was the weak and slow thump of her heart.
His mind played a thousand scenarios as he crept down the rotting staircase to the cellar. The only thing stopping him from giving into his need to flash to her, only to be waylaid by a trap, was that her heart was still beating. She was still alive. Though he promised the pain of a thousand deaths to those who had harmed her, putting them through a thousand times more pain than they could ever imagine for touching a single hair on her golden head.
As he came closer to the room her heart beat and shallow breathing was coming from Klaus couldn't help the spear of guilt that burned through him. Whatever was done to her was his fault. If only he had left her alone. If only he had not charmed her, laying sweet promises that, even if they were the truth, only led her to this fate. If only he didn't feel the myriad of emotions he did for her than…
"Caroline." His self-incriminating thoughts were banished from his mind as he took in the sight before him from the doorway of her makeshift cell.
There the beautiful woman who had captured his heart with her sunshine smiles and stinging barbs laid on an old lumpy mattress, unfit for even the mangiest stray animal to lay upon. Her once alabaster skin now held a deathly gray hue with darkened veins marring its smooth surface, signaling to him that some sort of spell had been placed upon her. Her hair was dull as it laid haphazardly around her head where it once shined with a luster that would put the brightest stars to shame.
Klaus shook himself from his stupor, chastising himself for waxing morbid poetry as she laid near desiccation and perhaps death. Flashing to her side, he knelt to the edge of the mattress on the floor of the tiny cell. His hands ghosting over the rough texture of her face as he called her name repeatedly only to be met with her labored breath as her lungs rattled.
He quickly bit into his wrist as his other hand tried and failed to pry her mouth open.
Leaning down closer, trying to withhold the panic held felt in his breast from his voice, he whispered, "Caroline? Please Love, I need you to wake up for me."
Klaus pulled back, disappointed to find she was not responding. Hoping to rouse her, he placed his blood covered wrist with its now closed wound under her nose. "Come on Caroline. You need to drink. And what better meal than that of the Original Hybrid?" His heart began to sink when the expected sassy comment at his over-inflated ego did not come but was reawakened when her eyelids began to flutter.
Brushing her hair back and smoothing his hands over her face and neck he encouraged her, "That's it Caroline. Wake up for me Love. I need you to tell me what an egotistical male I am for assuming such things."
He heard her harsh and painful gulp coming from her throat as her eyes fluttered half open. His chin quivered in fear and anger at the dull shade of her once vivid blue eyes. Quickly dropping his fangs, he bit back into his wrist, tearing the skin open as he shifted his arm behind her neck for support as he placed it to her lips once more.
"Drink." He ordered firmly, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt her chapped lips open against his skin as she took a few small gulps of his rich healing blood.
Only that relief was short lived.
He turned her to her side as quickly as possible as she began choking and gagging on his blood, letting it fall back from her mouth and down her front as it expelled from her.
Her breathing was ever weaker as he rolled her back over, worriedly checking her over as her eyes drifted opened and shut, her mouth attempting to form words.
He was so preoccupied with her attempts to speak and the shock that she could not hold his blood down that he failed to sense anyone behind him until it was too late.
The cell door slammed shut with enough force he swore the house would crumble to dust and the chanting that followed confirmed his assumption that the witches were behind this.
Gently laying Caroline back to the mattress, he flashed to the door, using all his hybrid strength to yank and ram into the door, yet failing to make it budge even an inch.
A small porthole, barely large enough to fit a few fingers through, creaked open as he pounded on the door, shouting threats while the chanting continued.
"What is the meaning of all this!" Klaus shouted as he recognized the old witch as the leader of those who were sparking the nightly riots on the other side of the door.
The old witch cackled in glee, "This is us teaching you a lesson you won't soon forget. It was very lucky that a few of my younger coven members happened across your little baby vampire there." Her beady eyes shifted to glance over his heaving shoulders, "Though unlucky for her I would imagine."
Klaus felt his temper rise at not only what had been done to Caroline already but the threat of what was to come. His eyes flashed with rage as he snarled, "You will not look at her witch! She is innocent in all of this; your quarrel is with me!"
"She is a bloodsucker just as you are!" Her dark green eyes blazed with disgust, "Besides, she should have been more careful with the company she keeps."
"She is nothing like me. Let her leave this place without any further harm and you can have me." For a moment Klaus could see his unorthodox pleading for another's life threw the witch off her guard. But it only lasted for a moment before the hatred and triumph was back in her eyes as she realized she had chosen rightly by capturing the young blonde vampire.
"You think that is enough?! You think that the ones you've killed of ours where not innocent in this fight just like her?" She screeched.
"What is it you want? What can I give you to secure her release?" Klaus attempted to reason with the witch as the coven behind her continued with their chanting. Everyone had a price, he just need to figure out what this witch's was.
Her dark green eyes narrowed as what little he could see of her face fell blank before she stated firmly, "You made our people suffer, now we will make you suffer."
Klaus gnashed his teeth, hissing as he pressed himself closer to the door, "Whatever you do to us in here know one thing; we will get out of here eventually and when we do, I will kill you all."
The old witch smirked evilly, "When you are released you will be but a shell of the man you are now. Nothing but a haunted man who will be so wracked with guilt he will not lay a finger on any of us." Her withered lips curved into a mocking pout, "After all, I cannot imagine how you would have the will for much of anything after you have slaughtered and killed your very own last love."
With that the old hag slammed closed the small porthole and the chanting increased and with it his left leg snapped in two, rearranging itself into its other deadlier form.
Klaus turned his terrified eyes towards Caroline who was sprawled weakly across the mattress, covered in his blood as if she had attacked him. His heart started hammering inside his chest as he grasped that he was being forcefully changing into his wolf. His wolf who would see her as nothing but a threat to be extinguished.
For the first time in longer than he could fathom Klaus felt genuine panic. Sweat began to build upon his brow, trickling down the side of his face at the effort he exerted while trying to maintain his precarious control over his body. His yellowed, bloodshot eyes rapidly scanned the room, searching wildly for any means for her escape or protection.
There was nothing.
The small ten by ten cell held nothing but the lumpy mattress with the fragile vampire and an out of control shifting hybrid.
With a sudden pierce of pain shooting through his leg as it began snapping and shifting once again Klaus bellowed in pain as he fell to the floor. "No. No. No. No!"
His fist pounded against the concrete floor until the bled as he repeated his denial of their current situation as if it would prove to be nothing more than a horrid nightmare concocted by his traitorous mind.
"Klaus."
His breath was ragged and his head shot up as the sound of Caroline's raspy voice cut through his physical and emotional torment. Watching as her grayed arm lifted slightly, her hand beckoning him closer before it fell limply to her side.
He cursed himself a weak and undeserving fool as he looked at her, clenching his teeth as he crawled onto the mattress beside her.
"I will figure something out Caroline, I swear it." He hissed, pressing his lips together to hold back a groan of agony as his right foot bend and snapped at an unnatural angle.
She wheezed as she attempted to speak, feebly raising her hand to clutch his shirt, using it as leverage to work her way up to his sweat covered cheek. Biting out her words between shallow breaths, "Won't…hurt…me."
Klaus laughed disparagingly, his control slipping once again as his femur cracked. His voice labored and cracking as he shook his head, "I'll more than hurt you Caroline. In moments, I will be ripping your body to shreds."
Her head shook a minuscule degree, giving him a soft smile as a single tear leaked from his eye, "No. Trust you."
His fangs dropped of their own accord as he snarled, "You shouldn't."
Caroline opened her mouth to respond, her throat emitting a harsh choking rasp at her efforts. Her dry tongue swiped over her chapped lips as her dull yet expressive eyes glazed up at him, "Believe in you."
"Why?" The sheer agony dripping from his voice and eyes was no longer over the pain of the shift being forced upon him, but of how she could be staring death in the face yet still seep such conviction at what she was trying to tell him. "Moreover, how could you?"
Her teeth scraped against her lower lip before her rough, cracking voice whispered firmly, "Love me."
A sharp stabbing pain cut through him at her words. Yes, he loved her. He loved her more than he could even comprehend. But like all things he cared for, he eventually destroyed them in the end. He just never imagined this would be the way he destroyed her.
"Stefan." She panted reining his attention back in, "Elena."
Klaus furrowed his brow, wondering just why she would be bring up the Ripper and that pesky doppelganger at a time like this.
"Stefan. Elena." She said more forcefully. She huffed in frustration at not being about to say more than a few clipped words, "Compelled, but didn't."
A sudden flash of understanding dawned on him. He had compelled the Ripper to hurt Elena and yet his love for the worthless doppelganger had won out in the end. He recalled how utterly extortionary he had found it to be at the time. That the Ripper's love for that human girl had been strong enough to resist even the power of his compulsion.
Klaus clenched his jaw as he felt pressure in his back, signaling that it was only moments away from snapping in two. His eyes sought hers out, taking comfort and strength from the faith her eyes carried for him as she relaxed back on the mattress when she seen the understanding on his face.
Leaning over her, he placed a tender kiss upon her brow whispering, "I will not fail you Caroline."
He dragged his pain wracked body away from her, pulling his shirt over his head and grinding his teeth together as he carefully removed his pants from his misshapen legs.
Moments later the screams of pain he could no longer withhold mutated into a gruff groan of agony before a howling angry snarl echoed throughout the dilapidated house.
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Blood covered the broken walls of the barely standing house on the upper floor. Kol shook his head in pity as he dropped a dead witch to the floor, her neck savagely ripped apart.
"Such a waste of talent."
"They were plotting against our family Kol, they should have thought of the consequences." Rebekah huffed callously as she too dropped a ravaged body to the floor.
Elijah sighed in exasperation at his siblings who were too much like Niklaus is in opinion. "It is always a sad day when life is lost Rebekah, no matter the cause."
The old witch gagged against the pressure as Elijah held her by the throat against a wall, "How noble of you Elijah. Did you say the same before you fell asleep last night after slaughtering some of my people?"
Elijah turned a withering eye towards her, "I gave you my ideas for peace in the Quarter and you in turn shot them down. You knew the consequences and what would lie ahead for your people due to your action. Now, where is my brother?"
A malicious glint took over the old woman's eyes as she cackled, "He's downstairs. Though I warn you, I cannot guarantee how much of him his left."
Rebekah flashed to their side demanding, "What do you mean by that you old hag?"
The witch only smirked in defiance.
Elijah exerted more pressure against her throat, "You would do well to answer her now. There are worst fates than death." He promptly bit into his wrist, taunting her with his blood.
She chocked once more against Elijah's hold, but maintained her mocking countenances, "We forced him to change into his wolf form."
"Well that can't be that bad considering you have him locked in a room." Kol joked as he too moved to flank Elijah's side.
"It wouldn't be," The old witch rasped, "If we didn't lock him up with a pretty and desiccated blonde vampire."
Rebekah's hands covered her mouth as she gasped. Kol's eyes widened before he flashed forward, ripping the witches head clear off her neck.
Elijah groan as he let the headless body fall the floor, withdrawing a handkerchief from his breast pocket to clean his hands, "Was that truly necessary Kol?"
"Oh brother, you have no idea. The boon I granted her in death was more peace than she ever deserved for what she did." Kol spoke gravely.
"Why? Who is this vampire she spoke of?" Elijah questioned his siblings.
"Caroline Forbes." Rebekah replied woodenly.
Elijah furrowed his brow in confusion, "Elena's friend?"
"Oh, she is much more than that twit of a doppelganger's friend to our dear brother." Kol muttered as he eyed the stairway leading down to the cellar of the house in trepidation.
"I hardly see how any of this matters." Elijah announced as he walked towards the stairs only to be stopped by Rebekah's trembling hand on his arm.
"You don't understand Elijah. You weren't around during all the time he chased her."
Elijah huffed, gently removing his sister's tightly gripped hand from his forearm, "I'm sure she was nothing more than a passing fancy or a challenge to be conquered."
Kol flashed in front of his brother, stopping him from proceeding down the stairs with his arms on either side of the doorway. He needed Elijah to understand the severity of what this could mean for their brother, "I wouldn't count on that brother. I thought something similar once before back when our relentless Mother was back from the dead. But I am telling you Elijah, if he has harmed her in anyway, or Gods forbid killed her, we will lose him. Forever."
Never in their centuries of roaming the Earth together had he saw Kol as serious as he was in that very moment. His eyes flicked between his younger brother and Rebekah who, shockingly, was gnawing on her lower lip with tears filling her eyes.
"He truly cares that much for the girl," He cleared his throat, "For Caroline?" At their shaky nods, his mind whirled in confusion, "How was I not aware of this?"
"I'm not sure Elijah. It could be that you were gone most of our time spent in Mystic Falls but a part of me thinks it was something more than that." Rebekah replied thoughtfully.
"What do you believe it to be?" He whispered curiously.
"I honestly couldn't say Elijah. But both Kol and I, as well as the whole of Mystic Falls knew of his obsession with her. Don't you find it the least bit curious that you were the only one without that knowledge?"
Kol groaned, dropping his arms as he began trudging down the stairs, "All I know for sure is that all these twenty questions will not change what we may or may not find down here. So, let's be done with it and get Nik, and hopefully Caroline as well, out of that cell."
The three stopped outside the closed door, all taking a moment to steady themselves before any of them moved to touch the door. With the witches all dead, the barrier spell as well as the spell cast upon their brother would had vanished, yet still their eyes glanced between them as if trying to persuade the other's to be the one to open the door.
"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Kol exclaimed before he cautiously cracked opened the door.
What they found drained all feelings of fear and trepidation from them, replacing them with utterly astounded amazement.
There on a ratty mattress laid a large wolf, his body curled protectively around a haggard, yet very much alive and sleeping Caroline.
Leaning in closer in wonder at the sight, Kol let the door swing the remaining way open, sending it crashing against the wall.
The wolf's head shot up at the sound, the hair on its back standing on edge as it began growling viciously at the perceived threat.
Caroline groaned at the movement, cracking her eyes open to see Klaus's family staring at them slack jawed while Klaus growled and snarled over her protectively. Raising her arm, pleased to find that her strength, while still weak, was slow returning. She ran her fingers through the fur on his large neck whispering soothingly, "Hey, hey. It's okay. It's your family."
The siblings were left in a state of perpetual shock as the wolf let its mouth relax as he turned his snout towards Caroline's raspy voice.
Kol took a step past the threshold only to be pulled back quickly by Rebekah as the wolf's head snapped back, growling a warning in their direction.
Caroline weakly tugged on his ear, her dry voice firmly commanding, "Stop that. They're your siblings."
The Mikaelson siblings watched on in amazement as the wolf whined sheepishly at her before closing its large yellow eyes, taking in a deep breath through its nose. They watched with bated breath, wondering what would occur next as its eyes opened they could see the flash of recognition flare in his eyes.
Elijah took a cautious step forward keeping Kol and Rebekah behind him as he held his hands held up showing he meant them no harm, "Niklaus?"
His large head nodded and his siblings filed into what little space the room provided. Now that the danger had passed they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Kol chuckled as he picked up the pair of pants and shirt that sat on the floor, "At least you had the frame of mind to leave yourself something to go home in Brother. Wouldn't want to be strutting about the streets naked, now would you?"
"Must you always be so crass." Rebekah scoffed.
Kol looked blankly at her, "Yes."
"Whatever. Can we please leave this dastardly place and go home now that all the drama is over and down with? I have witch under my nails that will take me hours to scrub out." She huffed turning on her heels after giving a hesitant and slightly leery smile towards her brother in his wolf form and the weak girl on the mattress before leaving the cell.
"Leave it to our sister to be worried about her manicure." Kol teased following her out of the room.
Elijah cleared his throat gruffly, offering a grin to Caroline, "Please excuse my siblings' poor manners Miss Forbes. I believe they are not quite as comfortable with Niklaus in his current form as you seem to be." He eyed her slightly gray fingers that still combed through the fur on his brother's neck, "If you don't mind me being blunt, with your current coloring you are looking a touch weak." He walked closer to the mattress and began to bend down, "If you would allow me, I shall carry you from this place while Niklaus changes back."
He quickly withdrew from his crouched state at the threat of having his hand nearly bitten off seconds before he touched her.
Klaus snarled and snapped causing Caroline to roll her eyes, "I think he wants to play the hero. Thanks anyways. We will be up in a minute or two."
Seeing that her words had calmed his brother, Elijah nodded his head and took his leave.
Waiting until she heard the footsteps echo through the house and reach the front porch Caroline lamely smacked Klaus's side and scolded, "That was rude."
Klaus simply huffed with an eye roll of his own before looking at her in concern.
Sighing, she smiled softly, "I'm feeling better by the minute." As he stared at her with that look still in his eyes she pressed further, her fingers going back to comb through his soft fur, "I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine because of you." She smiled brightly, "You did it Klaus."
He preened under her touch and praise before abruptly jumping to his four legs and curling up in the corner of the room.
Still too tired and week to turn her head, Caroline could hear his grunts of discomfort as his bones shifted back into place. His ragged breathing echoed through the cell for a few minutes before she heard the rustle of his clothing as he put them back on. In the next instant, his hesitant eyes and elated smile were hovering above her as he lifted and shifted her body onto his lap.
Watching him as he bit into his wrist while he held her tenderly in his grasp, Caroline couldn't help but utter her words once again in awe, "You did it."
Klaus grinned down to her, pulling his wrist from his mouth as he retracted his fangs, "I did." He brushed his lips gingerly over her forehead as he whispered, "It was all for you."
Pulling back slowly, their eyes locked onto one another's with the gravity of what had happened and all it implied being silently spoken between them.
Klaus was pulled from the moment as he felt his wound being to close. Placing his wrist to her mouth he ordered her firmly, "Drink."
She smirked, "Of course, my hero." She giggled before latching onto his wrist, taking a small testing gulp of his blood before sucking in a larger pull when she found she could keep it down this time.
Klaus sighed quietly in relief when he seen that she could keep his blood down before her words caught up to him causing him to huff in embarrassment, "While I am a great many things, hero, is definitely not one of them. Besides," He grinned, "I lack the full head of the hero hair like our dear friend the Ripper."
Caroline's bubbly giggle against his skin brought a dimpled smile to his face.
Releasing his wrist from her mouth, Caroline swiped her tongue over her lips to catch the last of his blood before smiling up at him. "You are a great many things that's true. Terror, killer, all around pain in the ass," She softened her toned at the sulking look on his face. Her hand cupping his jaw, "But now, to me, hero gets added to the list."
His face fell as he turned away from her delicate touch, "If it wasn't for me, you would never have been in this situation to start with."
Putting her hand back to his face, feeling his scruff rub over her palm as she turned him to look at her once again, "If I had told you I was coming this never would have happened. If I hadn't drunk so much over my fear of showing up at your door and having you not want me anymore those witches never would have gotten the best of me."
Klaus gasped as what she was saying sank in, "You really were coming for me? You weren't just here for my help with whatever predicament your friends got themselves stuck in once again?"
By the awestruck look in his eyes Caroline couldn't believe she ever thought this man would not still want her. Just as she could see he carried the very same insecurities that she herself had. Sliding her hand behind his neck, she used the leverage to pull him in closer. Their breath mingling as their noses brushed, "It was all for you Klaus. I wanted to give this last love thing a chance."
Their beaming smiles mirrored the other before their lips were tangling and moving sweetly together. Caroline arched her body up to be closer to him only to fall back down, dislodging her lips from his with a groan.
Klaus's hands instantly went to her face, brushing her hair off her eyes, "What's the matter Caroline? What happened?"
She grinned sheepishly up at him, nibbling on her lower lip as her fingers played with the ends of his hair, "I guess I need a little more time to recharge."
Klaus smiled tenderly, brushing his lips over hers before scooping her up into his arms, relishing in the warmth that washed through him as she curled herself trustingly into his protective embrace. "Sleep Sweetheart." He whispered in her ear as he walked them up the stairs, "When you awake you shall have all of New Orleans at your feet and we will talk more about this chance you speak of."
He couldn't contain the happiness from his voice as he cleared the front door. Astutely ignoring the equal looks of shock and curiosity on his siblings faces, he gripped her sleeping form more firmly in his arms before flashing off towards his home.
He need a few moments alone to think over what all of this meant. Caroline was here, for him and not some plot for her friends' benefit. He had been forced to transition but had not harmed a single hair on her head. In fact, he had curled around her protectively and kept watch over her. His siblings had taken care of the witches in the house, but that did not mean there weren't more out there looking to continue the fight. But first…
First he had his sleeping Queen wrapped safely in his arms that needed a proper rest, in his bed, while he showered and devised a plan to make this chance she spoke of less of a chance and more of their reality.
.
.
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I hope you all enjoyed this one! I know I said I'd have the Part Two up for Chained to the Light and it's not there yet but I promise I will get back to work on it later this evening and (fingers crossed) have it ready for posting sometime tomorrow. Just in case you missed them, because I have updated every day since Friday, check back to Chapter's 29 and 30 for new drabbles. Thank you all so much for reading! Drop me a little line and tell me what you think.
