Author's note: This was created for the Klaroline Fall Bingo Event.

Prompt: "I am thankful for"

Warning: Angst. OUCH.


He had expected fear. With a millennium of dust at his feet, Klaus was quite intimate with the smell of fear. It poured from the bones of his victims and he often fancied that each bite he took brought him closer to the secrets of the universe.

And yet, Caroline was not afraid. He had bitten her to spite his upstart hybrid. No. He bit her because she taunted him. Caroline's words were acid in his veins and he couldn't bear to give her that kind of power. When Tyler had taken her away, Klaus had been both relieved and alarmed. If Caroline wasn't in this wretched room where he'd been trapped by the brazen Bennett witch's spell, then he wouldn't have to watch her die. But it also meant that she would die.

He never imagined that Tyler would bring her back — that he would leave her there. Almost like an offering. The silence between them once his foolish hybrid had left nearly choked him, and Klaus fought to keep his expression neutral as he casually leaned against the wall. Caroline's breathing had grown ragged as the hours stretched on, and his cursed Original senses whispered that it wouldn't be much longer.

There should have been tears. And panic. Klaus certainly felt the urgent, wretched need for both. Instead, Caroline leveled her icy blue gaze at him, an ageless fury etched in her pale face. She'd always been a ferocious little thing. It's what had drawn him to her — but in all the times they'd been on opposite sides, breathing fire at each other, she'd never looked at him like this. There was no going back.

The silence dragged on until he thought he'd go mad, only broken by her labored breathing. Finally, he blurted out, "I thought you'd ask me to cure you."

"No. You wanted me to beg." Caroline's eyes flashed as she swore, "I don't beg." She gestured toward her blood-splattered body. "You're a monster. This is what monsters do." Despite her weakened state, she somehow managed to crawl from the couch where Tyler had left her, dragging herself across the invisible barrier that kept Klaus trapped.

He didn't want her to beg. Even after the things he'd done, Klaus was appalled that she would think so lowly of him. He ruined beautiful things — that always had been his way. But Caroline was so much more than another pretty bauble for his collection. Her light and strength called out to him, making him desperate. Impulsive.

"I am thankful for every glare you gave me," Klaus revealed, his face flushed with embarrassment as he stumbled over his words, "you — surely you must know how I feel? That fire between us is something we can't define but we feel it all the same."

Caroline's wordless judgement stripped him bare, as though she suddenly knew every thought, every secret he held in his bitter heart. As Klaus felt the weight of her gaze, his broken voice pleaded, "Sweetheart, don't let this be how things end between us."

Her smile grew twisted, the glint in her blue eyes hinting at a darkness that filled him with dread. "This won't be the end, Klaus. It's the beginning. You'll watch me die, knowing it's your fault."

The gray pallor of her face alarmed him even more than her fury. Klaus threw away his last trace of pride and flashed to the edge of the barrier, kneeling on the floor beside her. Mere inches away from his love. May as well be miles. He'd never be able to breach the witch's spell in time. "Please, just cross the barrier and let me heal you."

"No." Her smile was wicked as she promised, "But don't worry; I'll keep coming back to you. My pain will be your pain." Pushing up her stained shirt, Caroline began drawing strange symbols in her blood, covering her belly. The blood he spilled. She took a final gasping breath, her dead eyes searing his soul one last time as Klaus helplessly shouted her name.

And then Caroline kept her promise.


Author's note: This was created for the Klaroline Fall Bingo Event.

Prompt: Haunted house


Caroline spied a shotgun, nine semi-automatic handguns, two machetes and five grenades before she gave up counting the intruders' arsenal. These men definitely were the most interesting humans to cross the hospital's threshold in years. She perched on top of a tall pile of rusted metal chairs, curiously observing their argument.

"It's bullshit, Klaus! We could've outrun the cops!"

The dimpled man smirked, his tone condescending as he replied, "Ah yes, there's that celebrated Salvatore intellect that got us into this rubbish in the first place. Tell me, Damon, don't you recall bragging how you and Stefan had monitored the bank for months, and that the main vault wouldn't be a problem?!"

Several of the other men grumbled, exchanging fearful glances. "And now we're hiding out in a haunted house," one of them muttered.

"Hospital," Katherine's disembodied voice corrected, startling the men as the wildly looked around the dilapidated room.

Caroline rolled her eyes as her friend casually floated in their shadowy corner, a cruel smile touching her lips as she watched the bank robbers look right through them. The living were so predictable.

"The Salvatores are mine," Katherine decisively said, scratching her nails down the crumbling red brick wall. "You know how much I enjoy brothers," she purred.

The women looked on in amusement as the men argued over what caused the damage to the brick, their voices tinged with worry. Klaus suddenly took command, snarling out orders for them to stay in teams of two and three as they monitored from strategic points throughout the decaying ground floor. "That one's mine," Caroline stated possessively, a small thrill of anticipation surging through her as she studied their leader closely. The brave ones always were exciting to break.

The men reluctantly split off, unknowingly leaving behind their safety. And their sanity. The women watched the Salvatores carefully step around the black mold that grew along the middle of the warped linoleum. "They'll have a perfect view of the children's ward," Katherine murmured, "I wonder if they like clowns. Fuck — that wallpaper is enough to give me nightmares — even before I make them giggle and bleed from their eyes."

"I can smell the rot of their souls — what's left of them, anyway," she commented disdainfully as Katherine flickered out of sight.

With a wicked grin, Caroline listened to Klaus' impatient footsteps down the moldering corridor where the fevered used to be locked away long ago.

I prefer something a bit more...fresh.