Bite-Sized

Disclaimer: I own nothing except these words.


All of his mistakes lead up to this moment of truth.

"I'm in love with you."

It's as much of a revelation to him in the moment that he says it as it is to her.

Elena shakes her head, backing away from him. Her eyes are very wide, shining in the fading light of the setting sun, as her face leeches of color. "That's not possible."

He laughs ruefully, vexed with himself as much as at the universe at large, for allowing this to happen. It would have been useful to have reached this insight before he'd tortured and traumatized her friends– certainly before he'd had her brother killed, even if he had come back to life. That could put a damper on things. But alas. They were where they were.

"I assure you, only the most ardent and obstinate of feelings would ever move me to confess to you so."

"You're insane. You might think you feel something for me, but it's all in your head."

In a blink, he's circled around her. He captures her easily, just as he had the spring before, when fate had sealed her to him. He had been so blind.

Her heart flies as he slides his hands from her wrists down her sides, over her hips. "You feel it too," Klaus murmurs into her hair. "The blood doesn't lie."

"What I feel is revulsion. Disgust. Hatred."

"You have passionate feelings toward me." His hand slips lower, down her thigh, to the hem of her darling knit dress. His hand smoothes back up, pulling the hem of the dress with it. "All of those feelings balance on a knife's edge. How easily I could turn those feelings to desire. Adoration." He pauses, his hand skimming over her inner thigh. Nips at the scar he left her the year before. "Love."

"You sound like Katherine," his darling girl spits.

Klaus laughs against her neck. "I taught her everything she knows."

"You mean you're the one who twisted her into a psychotic monster."

"I taught her to break free of her inhibitions. I could teach you too."

Elena struggles against him, and he allows her to break free of his hold. "I'd rather die," she hisses. And yet, none of that can hide the flush on her face. The dampness he had felt gathering between her legs just before she twisted away from his touch.

"That, too, can be arranged," he tells her. He ducks down and captures her mouth in a kiss before she can protest. He smiles against her mouth when she leans into him, for just a moment. "But have a care, Elena. I'm playing for keeps, and this is a game I don't intend to lose."