Another take on the Hades/Persephone myth!

Caroline woke with a nightmare in her veins. Golden on her tongue, the lingering taste of metallic ambrosia left her thirsty. She could hear the witches, could sense their frustration as they waited for her to wake.

This was supposed to have been her final Spring Break. Her last adventure before she graduated and moved to NYC for her new job. The last three years, she'd secretly tucked money aside, until taking her mom to Greece was something she could afford.

Thankfully, vampires didn't need much sleep or an actual food budget. And after the horror of her high school - Elena being killed, those brief weeks the Originals had stuck around before disappearing? She'd only seen Klaus once, but it had marked her. Those iron filled eyes, the pitiless gaze that judged her and found her lacking. Still, she'd learned not to care what others thought of her.

And now for her all her vampire speed, she'd been kidnapped by a Greek Cult and her mother was dead. Exhausted, body weakened from the magic and ritual, for a moment darkness crept back along her eyes even as she fought it.

Shuddering a breath, she was drowning in flowers. There was power in the lingering darkness behind her eyes, but it was mere memory - something ancient and faded, gone with a laugh and the faintest flicker of sunshine power.

'The gods lie entombed, little vampire; we dream of our broken stars. Be wary, for my dreams are not the only whispers cast into the world. Death lingers in your bones, life in your veins. Be wary, child of my King, daughter of my Sun.'

Gasping awake, she rolled to her side and coughed the worst of the pollen, that lingering touch of something old from her lungs. Blinking open her lashes, she stared at the scorched marks of the altar she'd been bound to with vervain ropes while her mother bled over her. Rage welled in her chest, and her monster lunged.

When it was over, she was painted in gore. Lips trembling, she sat next to her mother's body and waited for the sun. She'd lost her ring hours before, and grief and rage were her only company as dawn's fingers crept along the sky.

Those golden rays did not burn.

She left Greece broken.

She headed to Spain, unwilling to return to the States. Standing on the sandy beach, she'd felt something flicker, a howling of darkness across an ocean. It wasn't the call that frightened her, but the way everything lunged towards it - the blooming of yellow power in her veins.

'Be wary, for my dreams are not the only whispers cast into the world.'

Arms tight around her middle, Caroline shivered, teeth chattering for a moment in the sun. She stared across the blue waters. She was still her. Caroline Forbes, daughter of Elizabeth Forbes, who was buried under the olive trees she'd loved. But she wasn't girly little Caroline anymore, the world had changed.

It was so bright. She found herself the happiest in color - the brilliance of dawn, the heavy scent of flowers and the wild laughter of people. She felt magic against her skin, skirted witches and their horrors. Understood balance in a way that even witches would scoff at. Most vampires ignored her, the thirst of her monster concealed by sunshine in her veins.

She was so lonely.

It was something Caroline didn't understand. She missed her mom so much she ached with it, but this set like a chill in her bones. The monster under her skin was near-feral with it at times - when the wind carried that howling, until she could almost taste the power of it. Heart hammering in her chest, fangs burning in her gums, she always fled.

London changed everything.

Caroline roamed the British Museum with curious eyes and a thirst she couldn't explain. A month ago, she'd found and destroyed a cult that had recognized her. Fools. For ten years, she had moved from an uneasy alliance with the power she was given to accepting and cautiously exploring. Her tiny, balcony garden was thriving, and she thought next year she'd try for something more complicated than herbs.

But she was still a weapon, death a companion that lingered in her shadow. More importantly, she was still a monster. That last witch, with her matted curls had been just so willing to talk if she'd just end the pain.

"Hades is hunting you."

Caroline arched one brow, curled her fingers a little tighter around the intestines she gripped between slick fingers. The witch screamed and went even paler. "I'm not prey."

"You were supposed to be an offering," she gasped out. "He's so angry."

She thought of that voice, of all the reading she'd done over the years, trying to understand. Hades had loved his wife. Caroline was still uncertain how gods who were dead and broken were influencing the world, but Persephone hadn't sounded lonely. Just a soft sadness, when she spoke of whispers.

No, wherever Persephone rested, she wasn't alone. So whatever part of Hades were crawling through the world had been stolen, not given. Well, she wasn't an ancient goddess even if she wasn't exactly a vampire anymore either. Whoever carried Hades in their blood could just deal without her.

"You thought bringing ancient power into this world was smart - so much for balance. If you're right and Hades really is somewhere, then I bet he likes vampires, since we're close to death and all. You should probably join us."

She ignored the gurgling screams as she shoved blood down her throat before wrenching her neck. Hours later, the witch woke crying and Caroline stared at her with black eyes.

"If Hades finds you, when he finds you, tell him to hunt something else. I'm not Persephone and I don't need him."

So now she stood among artifacts that should have resonated with those bits of ancient power inside her and she felt nothing. Relief was heady on her tongue. Persephone would have known these works, but to Caroline they were they were just pretty pieces of pottery, interesting history.

She really was just Caroline.

"Hiding among the dead, love?"

Caroline twisted, stared at the man who stood so casually in the doorway to the exhibit, eyes glittering. Blinking in shock, she held her ground but it was a near thing. "Klaus."

Those old eyes narrowed and he paced forward, curls rumpled, his beard hardly softening the hard line of his jaw.

"Caroline Forbes," he murmured and her stomach flipped over at his tone. The wanting that unexpectedly left her flushed. She sucked in a breath as he nearly touched her, and she narrowed her eyes in warning. "Pretty little Caroline. I was not expecting this. Or should I call you Persephone?"

Caroline stepped around him and headed for the exit. "You're an ass."

Laughter brushed her skin as he followed and Caroline shook as she realized that bone deep loneliness was gone. Instead the power under her skin was burning through her veins, the world shimmering out of the corner of her eyes.

"Going somewhere?"

"That's none of your business."

Iron fingers caught her wrist, spun her around and into his chest. She hissed, fangs bared but he merely cupped her face and smiled. "You're absolutely my business, sweetheart. You've run long enough."

Caroline kicked him in the knee, jerked away as he snarled. Tossed her hair, as she stared him down. She remembered what it was like, to be rejected by this man, to be found as nothing more than child.

"I'm not yours," she said flatly, refusing to bend as he straightened. "Whatever you think you know, whatever you think I might be, forget it."

Klaus canted his head, stared at her with amusement. "You can't hide from your blood."

"What's in my blood doesn't need you," Caroline said firmly. She ignored the tightening of his jaw, the blaze of fury behind his eyes. She wasn't a child and her power had been given freely, not stolen through corrupt rituals. "And I don't want you."

He arched a brow, lines shifting to a challenge. "You will."

Caroline snorted and rolled her eyes. "I sincerely doubt that."

Klaus smiled, a slow seduction that left his cheeks creased, his eyes hot with challenge. "Oh sweetheart, I'm looking forward to changing your mind."

She left him, in the hall of dead civilizations.

Refused to admit that part of her looked forward to it too.

Caroline accepted the mangled wrist, bit down with fangs as she was cradled against a hot chest, soft noises against her ear. The shock of his blood against her tongue shook her. Potent, drenched in a power that was old magic, she moaned.

"Take what you need, love." Klaus murmured low and soft. "I've got you."

She sank her fangs a little deeper in punishment. She'd dealt with the witches, and the werewolf bite burned but didn't poison. But those lingering touches of Morpheus, the curse that had tried to dig into her skin had nearly dragged her under.

'Be wary, for my dreams are not the only whispers cast into the world.'

And now, Klaus was in her veins.

They'd played Cat and Mouse, though she never knew who was hunting who. He stalked her across the globe, leaving presents and little insights into who she was and who she wanted to be. Living plants, bright paintings, gorgeous clothes that called to both woman and goddess. She dug in her heels, refused some, kept others and tried to ignore that niggling thought that he was courting her.

Then she'd been abducted. Not the first, not the last but with each beat of her heart he burrowed a little deep. His power pushed away Morpheus, sang through her veins like coming home and she shoved his wrist away with alarm.

She twisted, parted her lips to demand he release her when he kissed her. He licked her lips clean, chased his blood on her tongue and she melted against him. Hunger and contentment hummed in her chest, desire swam through her blood.

But it was the sting of his bite, that hot second of venom that her power burned through like sunshine that had her scrambling free. Eyes wide, body alive and wanting, she stared at him with a heaving chest.

Klaus smiled, licked his lips with his monster's face and Caroline knew she was in trouble.

Caroline's naked back pressed against the softest of grass, but she couldn't care. Panting, head tossing, she whined as the mouth against her breast released her nipple; whimpered as that talented, talented mouth skimmed down her abdomen and pressed where she needed him the most.

He'd lured her into this garden, tempted her with the softest of lures. Here, surrounded by the sun and his power, she'd let him spring his trap. With each demanding stroke against her clit, each thrust of his fingers she cared less that she'd let him win.

Instead, she clung to him harder; let the storm of her orgasm wash through her. Wrapped her legs around his waist and claimed him too. Klaus reached for her with fangs and stolen power, and she met him and claimed him harder.

"You the most stubborn creature I've met, little love," Klaus told her later, as she laid sprawled on his chest. "Why run?"

Caroline snorted, lifted her head. "Please, I'm worth enough to be wanted for me, not what lingered from a long dead goddess."

"Is that what you thought?" Klaus asked, brows tucked together as he toyed with a curl.

"What else could have possibly attracted you?" Caroline replied in amusement. "I remember Mystic Falls just fine, Klaus. You saw me as nothing but a baby vampire. Then suddenly, I'm worth something."

He shrugged, eyes narrowed. "I noticed you just fine, love. You thought otherwise? You, a creature of death and sunshine? But I've long dealt with the remains of a broken power, and while you were a temptation, it wasn't one I had time to indulge."

"I don't believe you."

He nipped her chin. "There is a reason the witches used you to draw a sleeping goddess' attention, sweetheart. But that's an argument for another day."

Klaus rolled her, ignored her grumbling protest as flowers were crushed beneath their weight. "I have all the time to indulge now, and sweetheart, I have plans."

Caroline smiled at him, cupped his face. "I suppose I'll let you lead, for now."

"You may take me to your heart's content," Klaus said as he kissed down her throat, lingering at her rapid pulse. "Later. Much, much later."

His fangs buried in her throat and she arched, golden power sliding through her blood. Shuddered as he groaned against her skin, body filling hers.

Not all the stars were broken.

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