Curse of a Lonely Heart
Wednesday, October 18 – AU Week: Sci-Fi and Post Apocalypse
This is a light take on Sci-Fi. I went with the general meaning of light Sci-Fi which is to use elements of science and/or technology.
In this story Klaus is an immortal hybrid- a vampire/warlock.
Disclaimer: I do not own TVD. The phrases and poems used in this story by other authors are not mine and are only used to add to the story.
I hope you enjoy!
XXX
Over the centuries Klaus watched as treasured friends and close companions perished. He watched the ever shifting and changing of time and fashion. As witchcraft was persecuted, no longer was it safe to practice openly and, at times, even behind closed doors. Once revered and celebrated, it was replaced by dark superstitions and the wording of many men from their one God in lieu of one man and many Gods. As time went on, witchcraft changed yet again as it was labeled trickery by those fooled by a sleight of hand here and the turn of the dice there. Then witchcraft and the unexplained supernatural were replaced the latest time by that which astounded him. Men with far greater minds than he, created magic through elements and wires, steel and fire. They called it, technology and science.
As a creature who lived too many lifetimes to count, alone in a world that only continued to grow and shift, he drank this knowledge in. Absorbed it like a sponge, sifting through it like a baker does flour, until he was left with only the best of the knowledge available.
And then he did the unthinkable.
Where the craft was strictly against and unable to create life, to give a dying person a chance to live again, science and technology flourished giving him the means necessary.
In his workshop he scraped, salvaged, produced and reproduced. Welding metal, carving bone like structures out of the toughest of materials on earth. The internet, such a wonderful yet deadly tool, one that could turn the softest of persons into the cruelest around, offered him the ease to stay in his shop as he ordered things he would be frowned upon, even in such a day of age. Real human hair came by the boxes. Blondes, red, browns and blacks. Soft, wavy, curly, and straight.
Other items came from the seeder side of the web. The darker corners that one had to know not only how to get to but how to maintain access to without being caught.
Medical machines, organs, finger and toe nails, teeth, eyes. At times it turned his stomach to think on what he was doing but then only a small portion of his many long excruciating lonely years would flash before his eyes pushing him further towards his purpose. If he could accomplish this, his greatest desire would come to pass.
He would no longer be alone.
He could do what the craft strictly forbid by applying the loophole of modern science. At the exact moment when he had failed time and time again, breathing new life into a form by ways of magics, only to have the first breath drawn and magic take it all back. He could now use science to breathe life back into a humanoid form.
At least that was his theory, worse still, his hope.
XXX
After failing, he tore apart his entire lab and home in a fit of rage, burning it all to the ground and left. Klaus wandered from State to State, killing recklessly and drowning his sorrows in blood. Until one day, as if by accident or Fate, he stumbled upon a vast stretch of land high within the Appalachian Mountain range. His bloodlust and rage cleared the moment he stood there, surrounded by the greatness of nature, feeling an odd sense of belonging.
His drive and will to succeed came rushing back, filling him with a purpose that all the killings and blood could never hope to imagine.
It was time to rebuild.
It was time to start anew.
It was time to try again.
XXX
Combining all the efforts of his past failures and successes, it took Klaus less time to rebuild and restock as previous endeavors had. He kept things simple this time around, a small modest cabin with a basement to hold his newly acquired equipment. He felt a tingling within his body with every step forward he made. This would be the time it worked, he could feel it. This would be the time he created someone like him, someone to belong to, someone that would never leave him. This time he would not visit the darker side of things, he would not attempt to raise the dead, he would not build from scratch. This time he would find someone on the brink of death and at the exact right moment, he would breathe new life into them.
Klaus stalked the local hospitals, gathering supplies and searching endlessly for just the right subject. Time was closing in on him, the celestial event he wished to draw power and energy from was less than a month away.
That was when he found her.
A cancer patient with a brain tumor and on life support. She had been on her way to her treatments with both her parents when they had been involved in a horrible car accident. Both her parents were killed on impact, while she was left struggling to survive. Klaus hid in the shadows, watching and waiting for weeks for other family members or friends to arrive. No one came. He compelled the nurses and doctors, discovering that she had no living relatives that they were aware of and no friends had ever come to see her in the entire time she had been there. They told him how her body was shutting down and was no longer responding to any of her treatments, it was only a matter of time now before she passed.
She was the perfect candidate. Yet that was not what drew him in from the start. It was her long blonde hair; even dull with her condition he knew it would shine like the sun. It was her fair skin that he knew would blush with life. It was her unresponsive blue eyes that he knew would sparkle with emotions. She reminded him so much of the sister he had long ago lost. The sibling he missed most of all. It was as if fate and laid her in his path, gifting her to him and him to her. He could save her just as she would save him. They would be a family, she would live once more and neither would ever be alone again.
Klaus readied his cabin, outfitting the living room with all the equipment needed to keep her alive until that final moment. He took all the necessary precautions to ensure that the rest of the world would believe she had died peacefully in the hospital before spiriting her away to the cabin and with every ounce of hope he had, their new life together.
XXX
It was always assumed that the moon was what fueled the magic of a spell, while true, the sun also held its fiery rewards. But when combined in a celestial event, limits became limitless and unbounded. He had cursed Fate for their design with him, had ranted and raved after each loved one died and ceased to be, after each failed attempt at taking his own life. But as the full solar eclipse drew near, his hair raised on his arms, his fangs itched to sink into flesh, his magic flowed like an electrical current in his blood, and he once again felt the power of Fate's design. The curse of his lonely heart would be broken when day turned to night and back again in a matter of a blink of an eye.
He felt stronger than he had ever felt before, he felt a connection that was long absent from his life. His eyes shifted from grey to red as he conducted the spell, sensing that it must have been fate that lead him here; to this point, to his thirst for knowledge, to this cabin in the mountains and its remote location that sat directly in the path of the solar eclipse at the exact moment he would complete his life's work. To the hospital that held her, where she had been waiting for him as much as he had been searching for her.
A tube pumped his blood into her body, he poured a mixture down her throat as he drank it as well. Seconds before the full shadow of the moon fell over the cabin he flipped the machine giving her air off, chanting the spell as her breathing stopped and her heart flatlined.
His breath hissed through his teeth, waiting and watching for any sign of life from her. Light began to spill across the land, a single ray shining through the window making its way towards the bed she laid on. Klaus held his breath as the ray moved across her body, the faint beat of her heart thudded softly in the room before it pounded like a rapid drum. Her eyes flew open the instant she sucked in her first breath.
He inched closer to the bed, leaning over her in anticipation. This was the moment of truth, the moment of failure of success. Their eyes locked, one filled with dreaded hope while the other with confusion. Suddenly her body bowed, an ear-piercing scream let loose form her lungs before she flashed off the table, cowering and trembling in a corner of the room.
Klaus couldn't help but think that this was a good sign. He had never seen them live past that first breath. It had worked! By all the Gods! It had worked! His relief and excitement shone through on his face as he slowly edged closer to her, kneeling before her as she curled her body against the wall in fear.
"Shh, it's okay. It's okay. I'm here, you're safe." The softness of his voice seemed to calm her, leaning in he slowly pulled her onto his lap, holding her as he often used to do with his sister when she was frightened of a storm. Pressing her head gently to his shoulder, he soothed her with soft tones as he carded his fingers through her hair, "I've got you Caroline, all will be well. We are together and I will always keep you safe."
Her trusting blue eyes gazed up at him, her confusion clearly written within them. Slowly he touched the center of her chest and spoke, "Caroline." Before mimicking the gesture to himself, "Klaus."
Her nose scrunched adorably, her mind working and processing as he continued repeating their names and that she was safe. Her arm shakily rose, her hand touching her chest as she whispered clumsily, "Caroline." At his beaming smile she grinned, reaching for his chest, "Klaus."
"Very good, sweetheart." He praised her much to her delight causing her to curl further into his arms.
"Caroline. Klaus. Safe."
Klaus rested his cheek to the top of her head, "That's right, I will always keep you safe." A warm, protective feeling swelled within him as he whispered, "Always and forever. Happy birthday Caroline."
XXX
Months passed by, it had taken some time for Caroline to adjust to her new life. Klaus taught her how to walk, how to talk, how to read and write. She was determined and inquisitive by nature making her a quick study and bringing him pride. She drank in all the knowledge she could, so much so that he turned the small study in their remote cabin into a library just for her. He had started by reading simple and easy to follow books, but gradually the tables turned and she was the one reading complexed literature to him.
While Caroline's mind continued to blossom, so did her abilities. They were subtle, but enough to give him cause for relief that she held small bits of magic and vampire qualities within her. If she was angered or felt any intense emotion, candles would flicker or items on the shelves would rattle. She was strong, not nearly as strong as he, but strong enough to lift and carry the furniture in the house without an ounce of help from him when she felt the need for a change. She was fast enough that he only had to hold back a little when they would go off exploring the mountains and forest surrounding them, flashing through the trees quicker than any human could hope to see.
Even through all her progress, Klaus did have moments of concern. Caroline didn't need blood to survive, she needed human food as a necessity rather than the luxury as it was for him. The few times he experimented and spiked her drink with human blood she would curl her lip in disgust, claiming the taste was off. His constant fretting over her possible immortality kept him up most nights, running over the spell hour after hour, night after night, trying desperately to find the answer he sought.
Would she live forever by his side? Or like all those he had come to care for, would she too leave him to a lonely life of solitude brought on by death?
His concern was answered when her curiosity turned towards the kitchen. Klaus was making their evening meal when she suddenly closed her sketchbook and flashed beside him, bouncing on her feet as she begged to help. He chuckled lightheartedly at her childish ways but instructed her on how to chop the vegetables.
A few minutes of blissful companionship passed, the rhythmic sound of her chopping flashing him back to the times he would assist his sister with the meal preparations on the rare occasions when their Mother had taken ill. Klaus flicked his eyes to see the blonde hair of Caroline and was filled with a warmth he had not felt in centuries. The feeling of doing some mundane task with another person, of someone who could take the place of his favorite sibling he thought forever lost to him.
His peaceful interlude was broken with her sharp cry and the scent of blood rushing to his senses. Flashing to her side within an instant, he took her bleeding hand in his, leading her to the sink to wash the blood off. Only to discover the cut was not healing.
Caroline's bubbling giggle drew his panic-struck eyes to her, "It's only a cut Klaus. It will heal in a few days."
Numbly he dropped her hand, watching with ashen cheeks as she pulled out the First Aid kit he had no idea was under the sink to place a bandage on her thumb.
"See? Good as new!" She beamed, wiggling her thumb in the air, "No stop looking as pale as a statue and help me finish dinner."
Klaus flashed in a reserved panic as she went to pick the knife up once more, ushering her towards the cupboard, "We have plenty of vegetables for our fajitas, why don't you set the table Sweetheart."
"You worry too much." She smiled sweetly, patting him on the side of his face, "But if it will take that God-awful color out of your cheeks then fine, I'll go set the table."
Her golden curls bounced in time with her lively steps as she set about grabbing the needed dishes and cutlery before flouncing out of the room. His mouth was dry and tasted of ash as a lead weight settled within his breast.
She did not heal.
He could still smell the fresh blood beading beneath the bandage, rushing through his nostrils like a vicious poison. The reality of everything settling within him like a curse. While she had attributes of both a witch and a vampire, she was not immortal. Which meant she could die.
XXX
Klaus tried his best to remain unaffected by the new knowledge that she would leave him as all others before her had. He tried to tell himself that any time spent with her was a blessing, another moment he was not infinitely and utterly alone. That having another chance at having a sister running about was better than none at all.
Some days he failed miserably, some days he fell quiet or rude causing Caroline to act out or try harder to gain his attention. Often his guilt of bringing her life only to have no way of granting her eternity would win out and he would be his normal self with her again. Those days were as beautiful as they were heartbreaking, for while he gained more memories to cherish it was yet another day of her short life gone.
On one such night after a day of allowing himself to enjoy her company, she was tucked into her bed with Klaus sitting in his cushioned chair beside her, Caroline thoughtfully closed the book she had chosen on the wildlife found in their area. Her deep looks of contemplation always thrilled him, for he knew whatever would follow would be a question that would spark endless conversation.
She began as she often did, staring off into space as if her mind was trying to strategically put together the pieces of a puzzle. "Plants grow from seeds, animals are born…" Her large blue eyes looked lost as they focused on him, "So where did I come from? Did you find me and save me from some terrible fate? I read about how a person's mind who suffer untold trauma will shut down and block out such memories. Is that why I can't remember more than being here with you? Did I have a family? Do they know I am alive?"
Klaus felt his breath leave his lungs, how to answer such question. How did he begin to explain to her how and why she was here? That he had brought her to life because he wanted to fill the void of being alone. That he missed his little sister most of all and sought to recreate her image with her. How to explain that while it had all started as a means to build himself a family that he found odd moments here and there when he looked and felt towards her more than a brother should to an, for all intents and purposes, adoptive sister.
Knowing she was awaiting his answer, and knowing it was not the time to express just how she came to be, Klaus gazed into her eyes with nothing but honesty and raw emotions swirling within them, "I am your family Caroline."
Caroline gasped, her own eyes shining with emotions that she clearly did not understand. Breaking the moment, he smirked playfully, "Do you detest the idea that much, Sweetheart?"
"No!" She rushed out, sitting up to grab hold of his hand with a gentle squeeze before bashfully saying, "I quite like being your family and having you as mine."
The way his thumb ran over the skin of her knuckles so softly and the tender, happy gaze in his eyes as he leaned down to kiss her forehead before tucking her back into bed caused all sorts of new and untapped emotions to rile up within her long into the night. Fueling her dreams with shining grey eyes, gentle innocent touches, sweet smiles and deep soft laughter.
The dreams and the look in his eyes perturbed her for days. Sending her on a journey through his scores of books, reading and reading until one day she all but flew from the study with her classic exuberance and shining eye of when she discovered something new.
Klaus excitedly set his sketchbook aside, placing his pencil carefully on top as he looked to her with a wide grin, awaiting the moment she would speak. Knowing that once she did her precious rambling would start. These were the moments he cherished most of all, having the chance to see inside her lovely mind.
"Love!" She declared strongly with a beaming grin, "I love you!"
His indulgent smile fell flat from his chiseled face, "What?"
"I love you and you love me! See!" She held out the dictionary for him to read along, "Love, noun; an intense feeling of deep affection. A person or thing that one loves. Verb; feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone."
Klaus sputtered the instant the word, sexual, passed through her cherry lips. Placing a mocking yet stern mask upon his face, he waved her off, "Love is a weakness, Caroline. Love is nothing but made up drivel by weak minded fools."
Caroline scoffed, "Well that's a jaded way of looking at things."
"It has gotten me through countless years and has not failed me yet." He cringed at the lie, even if she failed to catch it or even understand it. Love was what had pushed him to create her, now look where he was. Fighting feelings he longed to have yet couldn't not keep, for he could not keep her.
Caroline snarled, slamming the dictionary to the coffee table and flung her notebook open, clearing her throat as she began, "I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her. And that is the beginning of everything. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote such a thing, an author you have told me a million times was worth every word he has written."
Her righteous anger combined with the words she spoke, words that so clearly described her in his own eyes, caused a tugging within his breast. Only the thought of her dying shriveled it down once again, "A wise man yes, still I stand by my point. Not to mention the man was a raging alcoholic, I would know, I shared a few drinks with the man in the twenties and he could drink even me under the table."
"Okay, fine. We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright."
"While Hemingway was an educated man, he was an awful dullard." Klaus smirked, he always enjoyed getting a rise out of her. And by all accounts it had worked as she began rattling off quotes and authors she had found.
"I've never had a moments doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life, Ian McEwan. For a few seconds they looked silently into each other's eyes, and the distant and impossible suddenly became near, possible and inevitable, Leo Tolstoy. If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever, Alfred Lord Tennyson. The only one you need in your life is that person who shows you he needs you in his, Oscar Wilde." Her blue eyes shined as if she dared him to deny the words she had searched out that spoke so clearly of them.
But deny her he must.
With a heavy heart he smirked devilishly, "Hacks. Every, last one."
"Oh yeah! Well what about your favorite poet, hmm? Edgar Allen Poe?" She straightened her shoulders as she began once more, "Sometimes I'm terrified of my heart; of its constant hunger for whatever it is it wants. The way it stops and starts. Or this one, There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotions."
Candles flickered behind her on the mantle as she read the next poem,
"Romance, who loves to nod and sing,
With drowsy head and folded wing,
Among the green leaves as they shake
Far down within some shadowy lake,
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been- a most familiar bird-
Taught me my alphabet to say-
To lisp my very earliest word
While in the wild woods I lie,
A child- with the most knowing eye."
Catching the light sheen of tears within his eyes, Caroline beseeched him with open palms, "How can something that so many authors have written wonderful stories and sonnets over be a weakness?"
Klaus clenched his jaw, refusing to acknowledge her.
"Come on Klaus. Please. You said we are family, that we only have and need each other. So why can't you just admit that you love me?"
Letting his rage that he held in such rigid restraint around her flow through he sprung from his chair, "I will not have my hand forced by you or anyone else! The sooner you let go of this ridiculous notion of love, the better off we will both be!" Snatching a hold of her shoulders, he shook her near-violently as he shouted, "Stop with this weakness Caroline!"
Knocking his hands off her, with tears gathering in her eyes, "I am not weak for loving! You are the weak one for denying love!"
Within a blink of an eye she was gone, and he was once again left alone.
He fell to his recently vacated chair, slumping down over his knees with his head grasped tightly in his hands. Hands that dared to touch her in such a despicable way. Klaus jumped to his feet, searching for a culprit to take his anger out on, only to realize with defeat that the only culprit was himself. It was he who hurt her, he who caused such a devastated look in her blue eyes. Disgusted with himself, he debated about going after her but decided she needed time to cool off. Instead he sat back to his chair, numbly staring at the empty fireplace.
Hours passed, the time for dinner came and went and still she did not come home. The air outside had grown colder as a cold front moved into the area, bringing with it strong, icy winds. Stoking the fire as the sun began to set and the first thick snowflakes began to fall, Klaus felt a pit gather within his stomach. Something was not right. Even as hurt and angered as she was, no matter how much she loved the snow, Caroline never stayed out past nightfall alone. Throwing on a thick winter coat that he didn't need, he left the cabin in search of her.
It took him longer than he would have liked to pick up on her scent. With the cold winds blowing and the thick band of snow swirling, it made it difficult to for even his elevated senses to make sense of much of anything.
Following his instincts, after circling the cabin repeatedly with no luck, he flashed towards her favorite spot. Just on the other side of the glade, only a mile away from the cabin, sat a lovely waterfall that fell into a crystal-clear pond. She was always loved the area no matter the time of year, in the warmer months she would swim, in the colder she would skate across its frozen surface. Some days they would just sit, taking in the sounds of the rushing waters as she read aloud or they secured their easels to the ground and painted.
The closer he came the more pronounced her scent became, filling him with relief and equal amounts of dread. He had hoped to find her well and safe, with a rigid set to her shoulders as she berated him for chasing after her. Though his worst fears were realized as he found her body ridged, not with anger but with cold.
Judging by her soaking wet, muddy clothing, she must have slipped and fell into the frigid waters. Her perseverance must have guided her as her body laid prone on the ground a few yards from the water's edge. But there was were her strength depleted.
Flashing to her side, finding he was unable to wake her, Klaus quickly removed his coat, wrapping it around her shivering form before flashing them back home.
Stripping her body of her cold wet clothing, he wrapped her in a thick quilt and placed her before the fire as he raced to draw her a warm bath in hopes to warm her.
By the time the sun began to shine over the mountain tops, her fever had spiked and her lungs rattled with the effort of every breath. He spent the first few days, spoon feeding her broth and altering between attempting to cool her and warm her as her sickness raged on.
As she rested fitfully on her bed, her skin as pale as when he had first found her and her fever high, he sat next to her cursing himself a fool for ever denying how things had changed between them.
Tenderly he placed a kiss to her sweat covered forehead, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he hoarsely confessed, "You were right Caroline. I love you more than I ever imagined I would. I love you in a way I never planned nor expected." Curling up beside her as she shivered he recited,
"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea."
Feeling her body relax against him, his eyes filling with tears, "Don't leave me, my love. Please."
He watched over her like a hawk over the next few days, haggard and spent, he calmed as she slowly began to take a turn for the better.
Caroline preened under his attention, unsure of what had happened while she was sick but took heart in his constant care. Though the better she got, the more a strange distance grew between them. He was no longer there at her side as she regained her strength and was able to walk on her own. She often ate alone which gradually turned into her cooking, eating and cleaning while he was nowhere to be found.
It was as if he was withdrawing from her and she didn't understand why. Every time she was set to confront him and find out, he would disappear for hours if not days.
She missed him, missed his smiles, his laugh, his wisdom and company. Her mind began to spiral down a heartbreaking path. Convincing herself that this was his way of telling her he did not love her and that she needed to move on. That he had only taken care of her out of obligation and just waited for the day she would finally take her leave.
With depression closing in on her, as much as the lonely walls of their once happy cabin, Caroline began taking long walks to clear her mind. She wanted to stay and fight for him but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was a lost cause, especially if he did not wish to be with her.
It was on one of her long, lonely walks she stumbled across a hiker, or more accurately, he stumbled into her.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" The man exclaimed as he helped her to her feet. "I didn't think anyone else would be this far off the trails."
Caroline dusted her clothing off and smile, "It's alright. I wasn't really watching where I was going either."
The man grinned, offering his hand once again, "I'm Tyler."
His innocent demeanor eased her suspicions as she shook his hand, "Caroline. So what are you doing all the way out here?"
"I'm a photographer for a nature and wildlife magazine." He waved at the large camera hanging around his neck, "I was hoping to come across some wild animals in their natural habitat. Though I haven't had much luck so far and I only have another ten days left until I move to my next location."
They sat and talked for almost two hours, Caroline trading the secret dwellings of the local wildlife as Tyler spoke of all the places he had seen of the world. As time caught up with them, Tyler shyly asked if she would want to meet him again at the same time the next day. Caroline surprised even herself when she answered yes, much to his delight.
Day after day they met in the same place, him sharing stories as she shared her artwork. As he exclaimed how life-like her drawings were, so much so that he thought she could get a job at his magazine, her thoughts began to wonder. The day before Tyler's final day there, with no sign besides a few dirty dishes of Klaus', Caroline made her decision. Showing Tyler the road that lead to the cabin, she asked him to meet her there the following day and to take her with him.
That night after packing what little she would take with her, writing and rewriting a letter to Klaus, she cried herself to sleep in her cold bed within what had become a lonely cabin.
The sun was shining as Tyler helped her place the last bag of her belongings into the back of his Jeep when a sudden growl echoed through the glade.
"What the hell is this?"
Caroline gasped as Klaus appeared for the first time in weeks, her hands twisting together as the light glinted off his barely concealed fangs.
Tyler not understanding the danger he was in, leaned closer to Caroline with a hard whisper, "Who's this? An angry ex?"
Caroline laughed nervously, "No, he's…well…he's…Klaus."
Sensing her distress, Tyler rubbed her upper arms, "Hey, it's alright. He doesn't look so tough, I can take him if it comes to it. Why don't you just get in the car." He quickly ushered her to the passenger door when they were stopped by Klaus's livid snarl and mocking laughter.
"You're leaving? With him?"
Caroline turned to face him, her chin held high, "Yes. And what do you care anyways? It's not like you've been around. I got the hint Klaus. I may not have lived…" realizing their audience she cleared her throat, "I may not have as much life experience as you, but I know when I'm not wanted."
"Not wanted?" Klaus baulked before shouting, "I never would have made you what you are if I didn't want you here!"
"Yes!" Caroline spat with her eyes lighting up like twin blue flames, "You saved me from a fate and life I know nothing about! You won't even tell me where I come from! For all your talks of family you can't even admit how you feel!" Rubbing a hand over her forehead, she shook her head, "No. You know what? This isn't worth the calories I burn talking to you."
Tyler, confused and creeped out about how they were talking, thought to help. Whatever had gone on between these two was obviously bordering on some creepy cult-like stuff, "Come one Care, let's just get you out of here." Turning her body by her shoulders, he tried to force her into the Jeep.
The slimy mutt's hands on her once again, combined with her hurtful words sparked a red-hot rage through Klaus. In a blink of an eye he snatched Tyler away from her, his shape fangs digging into the boy's neck.
With Tyler's fear stricken eyes staring at her, Caroline shouted, "Klaus! Stop! Please!"
Releasing his fangs from the boy's neck, blood dripping down his face, Klaus grinned devilishly at her, "Now that was definitely worth the calories."
Leveling him with a hard gaze, she stomped her foot, "That's enough Klaus! Let him go!"
"Why should I? You've chosen this poor excuse of a man to leave me with, I'm just showing you how incapable he is at keeping you safe." Klaus laughed darkly, "Look how the boy struggles within my grasp and yet cannot move more than an inch. How do you expect him to defend you if things should go wrong when he can't even remove himself from my hold?"
Caroline crossed her arms over her chest with a scoff at his childish behavior, "No one could get themselves out of your arms and away from you."
"You could." He spat back before his emotions seeped through, cracking his voice along with his hard expression, "You are. You're strong enough to leave me. I tried and failed to be strong enough to leave you, but I can't."
"What do you mean? I haven't seen you in weeks!"
"No, but I have seen you. I have watched you sleep, watched as the tears dried on your cheeks long after you fall asleep. I curse myself for putting them there. Me! The one who brought you here, the one who promised you forever."
"If it bothers you so much to see that you've hurt me then why are you doing it?" She begged him as she watched the pain cross his tired face, pain that echoed deep within her breast, "Why can't you just admit that you love me?!"
"Because you are going to leave me!" His voice raged, startling all of them into silence.
"If you'd just be honest with me I wouldn't go." She pleaded tearfully after a moment.
Klaus sneered, his face hardening once again, "But you will! You will die and leave me alone! But at least you won't have the chance with this one here."
Caroline gasped, knowing what he was preparing to do as Klaus's hands moved to the sides of the boy's head to snap his neck. She flashed, using all of her strength she yanked Tyler out of Klaus's hold, flinging his body behind her where it landed with a sickening thud and crack.
Caroline stared at Klaus, their eyes rounded in shock as she gasped before turning around, freezing in her spot as she found Tyler's body laying at the foot of a thick tree, his back and neck both sitting at such an odd angle.
Grimly Klaus walked over, bending to check for the pulse he knew he would not find to give himself time to figure out how to help her. Caroline was such a caring person, the fact that she had killed this boy would affect her in ways he wasn't sure he knew how to handle. Her earth-shattering scream hit in square in the chest, forcing his eyes to close in regret. Pulling himself together, Klaus stood and turned knowing he had to be there for her if they held any hope of surviving this. Only what he found as he turned set his entire world off-kilter.
Caroline was on her hands and knees, panting in pain with her head hanging low to the ground. Flashing to her side, Klaus placed his hand upon her shoulders, forcing her to lift her face. And what a beautiful face it was. Dark veins webbed beneath her eyes, eyes that were no longer his favorite shade of blue but as red as blood. Her breath hissed from between her teeth, teeth that now held a set of long, pointed and deadly fangs.
"What's happening to me?" Her voice trembled as her body shook.
"Shh. It's okay sweetheart. I'm here."
Gingerly Caroline lifted her trembling hand to feel below her eyes and her teeth. A gasp of surprise left her lips, "I'm like you now. How?"
Klaus's mind worked on overdrive as he ran over the events of his past and what had just transpired. The spell his Mother had cast on them when the plague had struck their village had not worked on his siblings. They all died of the sickness while he, in a fever induced haze, had killed his Mother, turning him into the creature he is today.
Caroline had killed the boy, forcing her body into its transformation.
Recalling the pain he had went through the first few hours after his change until he had drank his first sip of blood, he shushed her as he lifted her up into his arms, carrying her into the cabin.
"It's alright Caroline. Let's get you something to drink and then we shall discuss everything." He shouldered the door closed behind him, pausing to look down into her now blue eyes, "There is one thing you should know before anything else though."
Her hand tightened its hold at the back of his neck, "What's that?"
Klaus smiled bashfully, "You were correct in your assumption. I love you Caroline. I love you more than I could possibly say."
She smiled brightly in return, everything momentarily forgotten at his confession, "I told you so!"
Klaus laughed as he placed her to the kitchen counter, handing her a blood bag from the refrigerator, "That's all you have to say?"
"I love you too Klaus." She answered with a pleased smile before sipping from the bag. The blood went through her system, bring a wave of calm to her tense body as it went and centering her mind, bring her thoughts back into focus. Wincing she looked to Klaus who was watching her every move with concern, "I feel fine. Better than fine actually." She felt a warmth course through her at his visible show of relief and how he could not stop touching her in some way or another. A hand on her arm, her knee, a brush of her hair or cheek. She almost allowed herself to get lost in it before she remembered what had happened outside, "Klaus?"
"Yes, my love?"
She bit her lower lip at his new pet name for her before shaking her head, "There is a dead body outside." Her lips trembled as her eyes welled with tears, "I killed him."
Cupping her face, Klaus forced her to look at him, "Hey, hey. Listen to me. I will always keep you safe, remember?" At her nod he continued, "You go take a shower, get into your favorite pajamas and relax. I will take care of everything."
"And then we will talk?" She eyed him meaningfully.
"Yes sweetheart, then we shall talk."
He watched her go off to do as he has suggested, relieved that she had not argued with him this time. As he made the trek back towards the cabin after leaving the Jeep and the boy's body to look as if he had had a terrible accident who knew there was still so much left to discuss with Caroline. But even when faced with things that would likely turn into an argument with her he couldn't help but feel a spring in his step.
She was alive.
She was here with him.
Where she would stay for all time, always and forever.
They would never be alone again.
XXX
A special note to my readers:
I know I have said this a lot lately, that life and whatnot has pulled me from writing and that "I'm back." Well this time I hope to see this all through. I lost my way a little with writing due to writer's block, life, friends, kids…blah blah blah. I am working hard at getting back to my inspiration. I had a lot of fun writing this one. It's a different genre-ish than I normally do so it was fun and exciting. Don't be afraid to send me a "hey! How are things going?" message if I disappear for too long. Thank you to all of you!
Please leave me a little review to let me know what you thought of this story.
