Damon looked at the house. Who did these people think they were? Sure the house was large and decorated from what he remember from going inside the house, but there were surely other vampires that posed a bigger threat. And the name that they called themselves; the Originals. How pretentious.
Damon strolled up to the door of the house and without a thought turned the door knob. If there was one thing that he knew older vampires did not abide by it was locked doors. They thought that nothing could touch them and so they never locked the door. Damon waltz into the house and stumbled into what had to be the den.
The den was spacious with a soft vanilla couch, the walls were painted deep red color that reminded Damon of day old blood. The fire place was white and new, clean to show that the people of the house rarely used it. Damon sat on the couch, within arms reach of the couch was a small bar cart, stack high with glass decanters and filled with yellow-amber liquids. Damon grabbed one and poured himself a drink.
What it wasn't like they were going to miss a little alcohol were they?
Damon heard the footfalls of someone nearing the den and arranged himself in a lackadaisical fashion. He didn't want to look like he was to eager for someone to be in the house and he certainly didn't want them to think that he was below them. So the less effort the better.
Damon nodded his head and sipped on his… He took a sip and tried the taste of his tongue. Whiskey? It had a slight zing to it that made Damon think of tequila, but who cared what the drink was? It was good. Damon took another sip and let the taste of it rest on his tongue.
"Elijah, brother, I must insist that you hasten your search for the stone…" the man who walked into the room looked like a cherub. He had golden-brown curls resting atop his head and his eyes were a cool slate grey color. Dimples marked his cheeks and he looked so unassuming. Like someone you would catch in the pages of a catalogue as you skimmed through it.
Damon knew all about being unassuming.
"Sorry to barge in on you like this, but we need to talk," Damon said with a roll of his neck. He took another sip og his whiskey-tequila and propped his feet up on the coffee table.
"Brother, I'll call you back, seems I've found an interloper," the man said from his point in the room. The man stalked into the room and looked down on at Damon from his stand. Damon paid no mind to his assessment of his form and finished off his whiskey-tequila.
"And what could I have done to garner the attentions of you Damon Salvatore," the man said with a tilt of his head. Damon looked at him and was reminded of a golden retriever. Well this man was going to be a golden retriever then that just meant Damon had to be a Rottweiler. Damon rose from his seat and fingered the decanter of the whiskey-tequila.
"Listen I know that you have plans for this town. Plans that require Elena. And I'm here to tell you to back off," Damon said. He was pouring himself another drink, the same from before, but Damon cut his eyes to the man. His head was still tilted like he couldn't understand what the hell Damon was saying.
"Ah, I see. So you've talked to the Bennett witch I presume?" The man said.
A shrug of the shoulders. "She told me that and a lot about you guys. I'm here to tell you to move on. I'm sure Richmond holds more interest than the sleepy town of Mystic Falls."
"But Mystic Falls has everything that I need. Why look someone else?" The man even dared to smile. Damon frowned at that. This man wasn't getting the picture.
"Listen any plan that you have for this town and the people of this town just scrap it. We'll stop it. We'll end it before it even begins." The man's shoulders rose and fell and he pressed a hand to his face. To anyone it might have looked like he was weeping, but Damon caught the brightness in his eyes. The man was laughing.
Damon frowned even more at that and broke the bar top and rushed over with his vampire speed over to the much older vampire. The older vampire grabbed his wrist and stopped him, which was to be expected, but what Damon didn't expect was for his eyes to catch the man's.
"It seems that you miscalculated this little house call." The man said. Damon's eyes were caught by the other man's and Damon could feel something like fingers grip his mind. He couldn't look away even if he wanted to. "Stab yourself in the stomach will that won't you?"
Damon's arms might have been nothing more than rubber balloons at his disposal. He couldn't stop despite his mind screaming at his arms to stop moving. The broken wood carved through his stomach and Damon let loose a moan of pain as the wood broke skin.
How? Damon was a vampire. He had never met a vampire that could compel other people before. The compulsion that sat like tenterhooks in his mind loosened as the compulsion was complete. Damon bowled over, falling to his hands and knees, gasping for breath. He pulled out the wooden leg out of his stomach and coughed.
The skin knit itself back together, but the man was sitting where Damon once sat, his feet on the table, legs crossed.
"If I want to be here. I'll be here. Nothing you or your brother could do can change that. But cheer up young chap, I won't be here long. Once I have my doppelgänger and my stone I'll be out of your hair before you can even blink."
Damon looked back at the man who was sipping his wine, and looking none the worse for wear during their whole ordeal. He simply sat back and sipped his drink.
Damon had miscalculated. He wasn't the Rotteweiler that he thought, he was a Chihuahua and this man, whoever he was, was the Rotteweiler, only showing strength when it was needed. Damon rose to his feet, his hand clutching at the tender skin of his stomach.
"By the way," the man added almost as though this was an afterthought. "The name's Klaus." He waved to fingers as though he was saying ta-ta and Damon sped from the house. Klaus. He needed to do some research.
Strong and virile. That was her type. She loved when they looked like they engaged in her little cat and mouse game with them. The boy in her arms right now was the strongest that she could find in the Mystic Grill. He was all muscles and not much going on in his head.
Katherine pressed a kiss to his throat and he moaned as her hands wandered her body. Katherine licked a line from his stomach to his throat and caught him eyes. It was like watching a starving man look at water for the first time. His eyes blew wide open and his gaze followed her eyes. Katherine let a small smirk grace her face.
The man's eyes followed her own and she felt the power of compulsion rise within her. "Shhh," she whispered into his ears. "Just relax." His body went lax underneath her touch. She pressed an ear to his chest.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
His heart was strong, pumping blood in a steady rhythm that enchanted Katherine. She sat back and felt her fangs drop. The man's eyes widened at the sight, but his body stayed slack in the bed. Katherine caught his eyes again and those pupils were blown wide.
"This doesn't hurt. In fact it feels good," she murmured. The man smiled as Katherine snaked up his body and kissed the hollow of his throat.
She struck. Her fangs dug into the neck of the man and the man let out a small moan. Katherine sucked and she reveled in the feeling of hot blood rushing into her mouth. His blood tasted of years spent honing his body and training. Katherine bit down harder.
The door to her room burst open. Katherine rose from her meal, blood staining her chin. Damon walked into the room, well she couldn't say walk. He more accurately stumbled into her room and threw himself into the chair beside the bed.
Katherine zoomed over and closed the door. "What the hell are you doing here Damon?"
"You know if you wanted someone to play games with I'm always available," he said with a frown. Katherine sighed and wiped her chin. She went over to the man in the bed and caught his eyes again.
"Go to sleep," Katherine commanded. The man's eyes fell shut and his light snoring was all that she could hear.
"You didn't tell me that the Originals could compel other vampires," Damon said from his perch on the other side of the room.
"You never asked," Katherine said, grabbing a wet rage and wiping the blood from her face. "If you want something you have to ask for it."
"Tell me what you know about the Originals." Damon said. A bottle of whiskey was in his hands and he took a big swig of it. "And I mean everything."
"I haven't met all of them but I know three of the brothers. There is Klaus, Elijah, and Kol. They have a sister, but I never met her before. They each have the power to compel other vampires and they are older than any other vampire.
"They want a moon stone, a vampire, a werewolf, and a doppelgänger in order to break the Sun and Moon curse."
"The Sun and Moon curse?"
"The curse to makes us fry like bacon in the sun."
Katherine finished wiping the blood from her face and dropped the rag in the small sink that was in the room. She turned to look at Damon who was slouched in the seat.
"When were you going to tell me," Damon asked.
"About?" Katherine said with a raise brow. Damon rose from the chair and dropped the bottle. It landed with a hard thud on the ground. Damon walked close to her and cupped her face in both hands.
"When were you going to tell me that you weren't in the tomb? I was making plans to free you and make sure that you were safe. I-I missed you Katherine."
"Damon stop," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I had to pretend that I was in that cave or else Klaus would have found me."
"So who cares. Let that Klaus guy come for you, I know I would do anything to protect you."
"Damon stop," Katherine said a little more forcefully, but Damon ignored the warning in her tone.
"I could protect you Katherine. I know people. We could just disappear and forget about all of this—
"Damon. Stop!" Katherine said with a shake of her head. She pulled away from him with a quick movement. His hands were still in the air and Katherine shook her head, her chestnut ringlets bouncing around her head.
"It was never you Damon," Katherine said.
"What do you mean? You made me a vampire—
"By accident! I didn't think your father would shoot you! It was never you Damon. It's been someone else."
Damon let his hands rest at his side and looked down at his shoes. As quick as he came, Damon was gone again with a gust of wind. Katherine sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
Men.
Klaus had his arms around her. She was beautiful, long brown locks and the pouty look to her lips made her look absolutely delectable. The doppelgänger was resplendent in the way that she looked. She was the best looking out of everyone here at the ball. Even her.
Caroline was relegated to the shadows, forced to watch as the doppelgänger took center stage. Caroline wanted to reach out to grab Klaus and hide him away from the girl's sight, but the doppelgänger's eyes were trained on Klaus. And Klaus's eyes never once left the doppelgänger's.
"You are the most enchanting woman that I have seen," Klaus murmured to the woman. And the girl with Katerina's spark in her doe eyes looked up at Klaus. She leaned close, her mouth a hairbreadth away from his lips. Her eyes skirted to where Caroline was half hidden in shadow, her mouth curving upwards.
"Get rid of her for me, will you?" She said with all of Elena's innocence. Klaus did not even brother looking at her. With a snap of his fingers the shadows coalesced around Caroline and she could see them no longer. She was tumbling spiral down and down deeper into the darkness. Deeper into nothing.
Caroline woke with the sound of charcoal hitting paper. The sound of the brittle charcoal scratching against the page was music to her ears. Caroline dared to move, but Klaus stopped her.
"Ah, ah, I'm almost done with this sketch love. Don't move," Klaus said. Caroline flopped down on to the bed with a huff of breath and Klaus turned his eyes back to the paper.
"It appears that this town has a council," Caroline said lazily. It was when the welcoming committee was over that she heard the stirrings of what was supposed to be the council. Several towns that they had resided in had councils or people who knew about the existence of vampires.
She could remember the whispers that the lady Carol Lockwood tried to quiet when they were in her house. How the Fells were worrying about the amount of scarves that they were seeing when the summer had barely ended.
"Most towns do," Klaus said as though he did not care. "This town will fall just like the rest have."
"This council has been around for a lot longer than some of the other councils that we have experience dealing with. I think it would be better if we tried to get on their good side," Caroline said. She thought about one of the older towns, Salem, where they had resided for a while. The council there had been on the look out for witches, never once suspecting that there was more to the world than a woman with power under her fingertips. "I think that we should make our way into this council, so we at least know the maneuverings of the others."
"Don't tell me that you actually think that the Salvatore brothers can actually do something to harm our plans," Klaus said with a peek at her on the bed. Caroline sighed and turned away from Klaus.
There was something to be said about a man who had lived for as long as Klaus did. It said that he was a meticulous planner and everything that he did was done with intention, but there were times when she knew that he was underestimating the challenge that others could pose to his plans.
Caroline rose from the bed. "I'm not saying that I doubt your planning, Klaus. I'm just saying that it would be better to know what they think their next move is going to be before they think that they can get under our skin. Besides I hear that the town has a bad habit of tampering with the water supple and lacing it with vervain. I would hate to take a shower and have my skin burn off."
Klaus dropped the drawing and came close to her. Her gripped her around the waist and chucked up her chin, forcing their eyes to meet. "Caroline nothing will go wrong. If joining their stupid council will make you feel more at ease, then that is what we shall do."
Caroline could not help herself. She brought their faces together in a kiss. This man who was so old and stuck in his ways. He was always willing to bend for her, to bring about changes for her, and make sure that she was comfortable with everything that was happening.
Their tongues tangled together and Caroline hitched a leg around his waist. Klaus hefted her up in his arms and laid her out on the bed, never once pausing the kiss. They pulled away both of them panting from the kiss. Klaus dotted her face with kisses. Her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, nothing was safe from his reach and Caroline giggled at the attention. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close to her.
"I had a bad dream just now," Caroline said as Klaus kissed down her clavicle and chest.
"Oh?" Klaus asked, his hands going to the buttons of her top. Caroline nodded her head, giggling as she remembered the dream.
"I had a dream, you chose the doppelgänger over me," Caroline said.
Klaus paused in his movements and pulled Caroline close. His eyes were hard as they looked down at her and Caroline knew that when he looked at her like that he meant what he was going to say.
"Caroline, sweetheart, the doppelgänger is a means to an end. I only need her to break my curse and that is it," Klaus said. He cupped her cheek in one hand. "Once my curse is broken then she means nothing to me, she hold as much worth as the moonstone and the wind."
Caroline knew that this was the smaller, more insecure part of her that rose up in that moment. She knew that that small little girl inside of her needed to know this, for her peace of mind.
Caroline asked, "Even though she has the same face as Tatia?" Caroline wanted to take back the statement the moment that she said it. She knew that Klaus had had feelings for the Original doppelgänger once upon a time, but she needed to know. She needed to know if he still saw something in that face. In those doe eyes that Elena wielded like a knife.
Klaus sent her a testing look, one that let her know that he was sizing her up. She needed to know this. She needed to understand that Klaus was no longer in love with the doppelgänger. He shook his head and laughed.
"Love, do you take me for Elijah? Falling for the same face over and over again. I fancied myself in love with Tatia, but that time has long since past. And that is where it shall stay. In the past."
Caroline let out a breath. He wasn't in love with her. He still did not hold some hidden flame for Tatia in his heart. Caroline didn't want to play second fiddle in his heart, she wanted to be the only one in his heart. Nothing more. Caroline leaned up and kissed him again, cementing what she knew already to be true.
Klaus was her's and she dared anyone to try and take him from her.
Author's Note: Believe it or not the hardest part to write of this chapter was Klaus and Caroline's part. Review if you want more!