I'm so sorry this took so long to update. There have been some crazy things going on in my life lately. I tried to rewrite this a couple of times, but it still feels strange. I hope it entertains you all anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Trust Issues
"Resistant?" Kiara repeated the word like it was unfamiliar. "What do you mean werewolves are resistant?" As she said the words, her mind wandered back to Ray Sutton, the failed hybrid they picked up back in Tennessee, and she remembered that there was a moment when he seemed almost unaffected by her charms.
"I like you, Ray. You're cute."
"I'm flattered," Ray said back, sarcastically. His eyes shifted back to normal.
"You should be. We could have a lot of fun, you and I," Kiara trailed a pattern along Ray's neck making him shiver. "If you answer some of my questions, it'd make me very happy."
"Yeah?" Ray suddenly grabbed her wrist. "What makes you think that I give a shit if you're happy or not?"
Kiara's eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly played it off with a laugh. "Because the happier I am… the better you'll feel."
Ray licked his lips and Kiara watched his Adam's apple as he swallowed hard. He struggled to respond. It was like the words were caught in his throat. "Y-you think I'd give up my friends, my family for some tail?" he asked. Suddenly he twisted her arm. Hard. There was a snap and Kiara screamed. Ray leaned close to her and said, "Pass."
At the time, Kiara had just assumed it was Holly's "medicine" giving her trouble, messing with abilities. But now? Ray may have actually been able to resist her charms the entire time. A possibility she just wasn't ready to accept. Because if Ray could resist her, then that meant that Klaus could as well. And the very idea caused a wave of questions to flood into her consciousness.
Gloria lifted her slim shoulders. "I mean just what I said, werewolves are the only creatures known to resist succubus charm." She crossed her arms and added, "It's nature's way of providing balance."
"No, no, that's not possible," Kiara forced out an awkward laugh. Purposely avoiding eye contact with the hybrid. "I've charmed werewolves before."
"Eh, I don't know about that. Ray seemed pretty uncharmed," Stefan pointed out.
Kiara glared at the vampire. "Yeah but that was different. I wasn't feeling well that day."
"You sure? He broke your arm." Stefan said and almost seemed to smile at the memory.
Kiara felt a spark of irritation flare-up in her panic but decided to ignore him and move on to the next werewolf that came to mind. "Tyler Lockwood! He was the first person I fed on."
"That was probably before he was technically a werewolf," Stefan told her. "He didn't trigger his curse until a few months ago. Have you tried anything with him since then?"
"I-" Kiara thought about it before finally shaking her head. She hardly even talked to him before leaving town. They weren't exactly close. Plus he was part of the Elena fan club. Finally, she turned her attention to Klaus. "Klaus? What about you?"
"It's hard to say, love. You and I are a bit… complicated, given our current circumstances."
"That's one way to put it," Stefan said with a scoff.
"Do you have anything useful to say, Stefan?" Kiara asked, her voice rising in frustration.
Stefan wasn't bothered by the outburst. He just smirked and said, "I'm just saying… you seem to have Klaus here on a pretty tight leash. He's been fawning over you for months. Now, I figured you had him under some kind of spell, but I guess it's a bit more simple than that, huh?"
"No one asked you!"
"Actually… you just did."
Kiara leaned forward, pressing her body onto the bar as if she might reach over and slap the vampire, but Klaus placed a firm grip on her shoulder. "Alright, let's all just take a step back."
"He's the one with the problem," Kiara said, her eyes shifting dangerously between emerald and human green when she looked at him. There was a questioning look in her eyes as they met because she knew he was frustrated too. In fact, if she had just stopped to think about it, she would have realized that much of the anxiousness and anger she was feeling was coming from Klaus himself. His werewolf temper was fanning the flames of her own annoyance to near murderous levels.
Although there was no longer any humor in Klaus's expression, he forced a smile and said, "There's no problem here." He flicked his eyes to his friend across the bar. "Right, Stefan?"
"I just find it curious that you've kept her around for this long," Stefan told him, clearly not picking up on how tense things were between the three of them. The comment made Klaus stiffen instantly. "I mean… it's either she's useful to you in some way that I don't understand or you actually have feelings for the soul sucker—."
Suddenly Kiara lunged across the bar and snapped Stefan's neck. Gloria let out a cry of surprise, but Kiara's glowing emeralds simply watched as his body fell limp to the floor. Her chest heaved with each breath, heavy with fury. "That's better," she said. Her voice was eerily calm. "I couldn't hear myself think."
"Sweetheart, if I may...," he gripped her arm and began pulling her towards the back exit of the club. "I think we need to have a chat outside."
Klaus pulled her out the back door and into the deserted alleyway. The door to the club swung shut with a thud behind them. As soon as Klaus stopped, Kiara ripped her arm free of his hold. He turned to face her. His clenched jaw was the only thing suggesting that he too was having a difficult time processing the information and regulating his emotions at the moment.
"Look, love, you can't just go around breaking people's necks—"
"Oh really?" Kiara folded her arms in front of her. "Since when? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's all you and Stefan have been doing since, I don't know, forever? At least I did it to a guy who can snap back from it."
"Where's all this hostility coming from, love?"
"Stefan's been an ass since we left Mystic Falls," Kiara reminded him. "He's had it coming."
"Perhaps, but this seems to be about more than just him."
"You only say that because you think everything is about you."
"Is it about me?"
Kiara felt tears well up in her eyes. The truth is it was about a lot of things. She'd been holding back this emotional floodgate for some time now. So much had happened the past couple of months, she hadn't really had much time to process it properly. She'd witnessed death for the first time. Survived another attempt on her life only to have it linked to a sociopath who can't be killed. Less than 48 hours ago, she slept with said sociopath, who could very well have romantic feelings for her, and the guilt she felt for betraying Elijah by doing so was so massive she didn't think she could carry the weight of it any longer.
Now she's learning that her mother was a succubus who seemed to have lived her life in constant terror and she couldn't help but feel like she was doomed to follow in her footsteps. And through it all, she's had no one to talk to about any of it.
She missed Holly.
She missed Elijah.
She missed the safety of her old life.
"Does it matter?" She shrugged. "I just-I want to scream, punch something, anything. But you won't even let me do that."
"Ah, yes, the controlling bastard strikes again," Klaus smirked.
Kiara's hands tensed at her sides. "This isn't a joke, Klaus! This is my life!"
"And just who was it that saved your life again?" he asked, sarcastically. He held both of his arms behind his back and took a step towards her. "Oh right, that'd be me."
"And that means, what, exactly? That you get to control it until the end of time?"
"Traditionally speaking?" Klaus raised his eyebrows.
Kiara let out a frustrated scream and lifted her arm to strike. When he didn't make a move to stop her, she slammed her fist into his arm and then his chest, not realizing the tears were slipping down her cheeks. He continued to let her beat on him, all the while taking steps forward, causing her to press her back against the concrete wall behind her. "Fight back!" she said. "You asshole, fight back!" Suddenly he lifted her by the waist and pressed against her, effectively pinning her between him and the wall. She tried to push him away, but he simply leaned into her more, all the while looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Slowly she stopped her movements.
"Are you quite done?" he asked.
She blinked in confusion, trying to catch her breath, before nodding her head. Then before she could say a word, he ran his fingers up into her hair and pulled her down, crashing her lips onto his. It was a rough kiss that only seemed to increase in intensity every second. Without even thinking about it, Kiara found herself clinging to him and pressing her mouth hard against his. Then, just as suddenly, Klaus pulled his head back and said, "Better?" Instead of answering, Kiara nodded and he smiled at her. "I thought so, you get quite irate when you're hungry."
"Hungry?" Kiara scrunched her eyebrows. Not even realizing she'd fed on him, if only for a moment. "Try pissed."
"You act like it has to be one or the other, love," he laughed. "I believe it's called hangry nowadays if I'm not mistaken."
"I don't understand. Why aren't you freaking out?"
"About?"
"Seriously? Are you really going to pretend that Gloria didn't just lay a massive bomb on us just now?" Kiara said. "My succubus charms don't work on you."
"And so what, love?" Klaus shrugged and placed her feet back onto the ground. "They work on me. They don't work on me. I think we both know how I feel about you by now. Last night's activities made that quite clear. Your succubus charms effect on me matters not. This link has always kept us aware of the truth. What does matter, however, is what they believe. Unfortunately, those I care for are often targeted by my enemies and we'll need to be careful from here on in if we want to prevent that from happening to you."
When a grumpy Stefan woke on the floor of the club, he was quickly dragged to his feet by Klaus who brushed him off and declared no harm done. Stefan, on the other hand, disagreed.
"You're joking, right? Your little girlfriend just broke my neck and now you're pretending like it never happened?"
"She's been spoken to."
"Oh, well, that makes me feel a lot better," Stefan said.
His sarcasm made Klaus's blood begin to boil again, but he didn't let it show. "It should," was all he said in response.
"Klaus, come on, admit it, you're losing control of her and she needs to be dealt with."
"I can hear you, you know," Kiara pointed out, only to be ignored.
"Is that right?" Klaus took a step forward and folded his hands together in front of him. "And how do you suggest I do that?"
Stefan looked back and forth between Klaus and Kiara who was standing a step behind him now. "An eye for an eye sounds about right."
"Ah, so we're to deal with this as the Romans did then? With the law of retaliation?" Klaus offered a wide smile. "I'm a big fan of it myself. Say, love," Klaus turned to Kiara. "Wasn't it Stefan who ripped your neck open only a week ago?"
"And I was punished for that."
"In the manner I saw fit," Klaus added without skipping a beat. His voice was suddenly gravely serious as he stepped even closer to Stefan. "If Kiara had chosen your punishment, I don't think she would have been so lenient. You're not her favorite person as of late. As far as I'm concerned, I did you a favor. But since you're suggesting I be more rigid, why don't we start with you? See if it cures this… attitude problem of yours." By the time he finished the rest of his speech, he was standing inches away from Stefan. Then he whispered, "Let us not forget," he patted Stefan's chest, straightening his clothing. "She's linked to me."
Stefan clenched his jaw and looked down. "Okay, I think we both said things we didn't mean." He looked up and met Kiara's eye as if silently asking her for help. "Any way we can just forget this ever happened?"
"Hm, perhaps." Klaus squinted his eyes at him. "I think we were bound to have a spat. It's been a long couple of days after all. What do you say, love?" Klaus looked back at her. "Alls well?"
Kiara, who had been watching at the exchange with her arms crossed, rolled her eyes. "He practically called me a whore then suggested I 'be dealt with'? I'm gonna pass on accepting the non-apology."
"Oh, come on, love. Don't be so dramatic."
"If you want to go back to playing friends, go right ahead," Kiara stomped away from the pair and towards Gloria who was standing a safe distance away. "Just leave me alone."
"If that's the way you want it, fine," Klaus said with a shrug. "Come along, Stefan. It's time we go see my sister."
"Wait, I want to go with you," Kiara said, ready to follow them out the door. She knew it was her only chance at seeing where Klaus kept his family. Where he kept Elijah. She wasn't going to give up that chance so easily.
"No," Klaus said. "I think it's best that you stay here. Besides, it'll give you some time to talk to Gloria about your mother."
"I can talk to her later."
"There won't be time later."
"I don't understand. Why don't you want me to go with you?" Kiara asked.
Klaus turned to walk towards the door. "Consider this your punishment for earlier."
"Wow? Seriously?" Kiara scoffed. "You're such an ass."
"I'll miss you too, love, but don't worry this won't take long."
This was all for show, of course. All part of the plan.
Klaus siding with Stefan was the only thing that would make Stefan's previous suggestions about his feelings for Kiara seem unlikely. Any retaliation on Klaus's part would have simply proven Stefan right and since Klaus didn't trust anyone, especially witches, that wasn't an option at the moment.
And although Kiara would have liked to find out Elijah's location, she knew deep down that now wasn't the time. Rebekah would go straight for her succubus blood if she were there when she woke up. The call is likely too strong to resist, even for an Original. Kiara looked down. Her hands flexed anxiously at her sides as Klaus's desire to keep her safe rolled over her. Despite his nonchalant attitude, she knew the truth. She called back to him, "Oh, please, don't rush back on my account."
Klaus only laughed.
When he got to the door, Kiara called his name. He paused and turned to look at her. "What I said this morning," she told him. "It wasn't true."
And Kiara knew Klaus understood. He turned away from her before he said, "See you soon, love."
This is all I have right now. I hope this doesn't feel to OOC Klaus. Please let me know. I always appreciate your feedback. Thanks for reading.
