"If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die." She croaked. Klaus didn't have to look at her so see a scornful look etched into her beautiful face.
"Then you'll die. And Tyler will have learned his lesson the hard way." He replied, a frog suddenly in his throat from his first words. It was unfortunate such a beautiful creature had to die, but it was the truth. It didn't matter what Caroline would say to weaken him. Tyler would not win.
"How could you do this to him." She whispered. No reaction. "To his mom." Still no reaction. "To me." She tried for the last time, almost with a snarl. She would've if she were strong enough.
"I'm a thousand years old. Call it boredom." Klaus replied, staring at the opposite wall in resoluteness.
"I don't believe you." She replied, shaking her head and slowly blinking.
"Fine. Then maybe it's because I'm pure evil." He said, tears pooling in his eyes. "And I can't help myself." Klaus hissed. 'You're not even worth the calories I burn talking to you' she'd said. But he would not break.
"No." She said firmly with a strain in her voice. "It's because, you're hurt," Caroline said. Klaus blinked and looked at her. There was an idea that was beginning to surface from before. From their date. "Which means that there is a part of you, that is human." She told him.
His brow furrowed in curiosity and he pushed himself off the wall. He walked towards her and sat down on the table by her, all while keeping his eyes on her face. Curiosity peaked in his mind and he couldn't resist.
"How could you possibly think that?" He asked with venom. Caroline's eyes looked into his. She could see into them, but not as well as she could before. If she had to guess, he was still guarded and angry. Didn't take a genius to figure that out. She looked down at his hand, to find it was hanging over his leg, unmoving.
"Because I've seen it." She replied with a bit more strength, looking back up at him. Klaus stared at her, trying so hard to understand what she meant. She looked away and her eyes softened, hoping he'd give her his blood as the ticket to knowing the answer. But he continued to stay still. She turned back to her anger.
"Because, I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all of the horrible things, you've done." She said, her breath hitched as she drew it in. If she was going to die now, there was no need to keep secrets anymore, even if they were from him.
"But you can't." Klaus guessed, as she continued staring at him. "Can you?" He asked rhetorically. It was something he'd grown to accept. He did bad things, and it didn't matter if she could forgive any of it. She was dying. And he was going to let her.
She could see in his eyes that he wanted her to. He wanted her forgiveness, even though he might never get it. She could see the fear, and the longing and the wishing, all right at the surface.
"I know that you're in love with me." Caroline told him, expecting a retort, if she was wrong. If all this time, she was seeing a Klaus he had wanted her to see, but not the real him. If when he looked at her and he smiled, or he teased her about her Miss Mystic application, he just wanted to get the date going more smoothly to get closer to having another notch in his belt, then what was the point? Nothing would have changed. She'd still die for Tyler. She watched him closely, and saw something in his eyes. But what was it?
The poison was getting closer to her heart, because she couldn't see the look in his eye anymore.
"And anybody capable of love, is capable of being saved." She said slowly, her breath leaving her. Klaus started to fog altogether, and his blurred head moved. Her breath was rattled again for the last time. This was it.
"You're hallucinating." Klaus said, his voice sounding like it broke. But then, her hearing must've been going along with everything else. She tried her best to let out a little laugh, but it came out like a whimper. She closed her eyes.
"I guess I'll never know." She mumbled.
Klaus continued to look away, to regain his composure. She'd struck to the very core of his heart, with those words. Could it be possible? His feelings, whatever they were, for Caroline. Could they be the very thing that save him, make it possible for Elijah to see him as his brother, and no longer something that needs to be fixed whenever he hurts him?
A whimper came, and Caroline shut her mouth. Klaus looked back at her, suddenly fearing what was happening.
"Caroline?" He asked, wanting her to open her eyes. But she kept writhing and whimpering. Like she was drowning, almost. She wasn't fighting it at all, like the other vampires he'd bitten before had. "Caroline?" He prompted again, wanting so much for her to open her eyes. Even if it was in hatred, even if this was just a trick and she was going to use something against him right then to make him give her back her life, he just wanted her to open her eyes.
Caroline stayed silent, and stopped moving. Her face was pointed towards him, almost as if she was in peace. Her beauty mocked him now.
Now he understood. She had used something against him. And in using it, meaning she didn't feel the way he did yet. Yet.
She felt death overtake her, vein by vein, limb by limb. At least she'd loved Tyler. At least he loved her back, and he didn't try to use her. At least she'd fallen in love with a good guy. If she was going to die right now, she was at peace with that. She told him what he needed to hear, and what she knew was true. And that's all that mattered.
Even though Caroline's last breaths were still leaving her, Klaus didn't hear them. He stared down at the ground and then back at her, cursing his existence, cursing himself for ever doing this to her. He would've ripped the world apart right then if anyone else were to blame but him. He sniffed and sighed at himself.
There's only one thing to do, isn't there? He told himself.
He gripped the back of Caroline's neck, holding himself steady as he felt her head loll back, otherwise he would've crumbled to pieces, he knew he would. Klaus pushed Caroline up to sit and sat behind her on the couch. As Caroline's head lolled to the side, he could see the bite in her neck, then quickly looked away to unbutton the cuff of his sleeve. He didn't need a reminder of how immensely he screwed up.
Klaus quickly pulled his sleeve back with a jerk of his arm, and bit his wrist, feeling his skin part like bones cracking. He felt his blood pooling into his mouth and he sucked it in quickly, then turned to Caroline, looking at her face and putting his wrist in front of her mouth.
Caroline felt something against her lips, and grunted slightly in confusion, what was happening?
Klaus felt her lips touch his skin, and her fangs dropped automatically, down into his vein. He caught his breath in relief; he wasn't too late. He didn't have to kill himself for doing this to her just yet. Caroline's lips pushed against his skin, a little harder, and she fought for his blood. Klaus's eyebrow rose, guiding her into drinking from him.
Caroline opened her eyes again, not certain this was happening. She'd told him, she knew he was in love with her, and now he was pushing the hair on her head back, holding his wrist to her mouth like he was pulling her up from a cliff. She clung to his wrist with one hand, and gulped, hearing Klaus's breath, sounding like a sigh of relief. Her last finger closed over his wrist and she moaned against his skin, feeling herself come back from the dead. He stroked her hair again and she looked away.
So, she was right? The feelings she accused him of, they, they were real. She gulped again and closed her eyes, grateful now for the blood coursing into her mouth and allowing her to heal.
He didn't need to hold onto her for this long. He didn't need to give her this much blood. But this was Caroline. The girl, that he loves. Elijah was right. He had redemption. But it was in this girl, that had just told him a dark secret in his heart even he didn't admit to until right then. That made it a dangerous secret, especially since she just used it against him and won. This couldn't happen again. He needed to keep Caroline safe.
She knew she loved Tyler before. But Klaus was here, he just saved her life. Again. And he just proved, that he was in love with her. That made things so complicated. What was she going to do now, that she had feelings for two different guys, both which loved her back? This was even worse than Elena's problem; Tyler and Klaus weren't brothers so they wouldn't inevitably work their differences out and let her choose. She had to choose by herself, without either of their help. Secretly, even.
But right now, she knew she was falling for him. Klaus. She looked away again and slowly brought her other hand up, moving his hand and she held it, gripping his hand and pulling it towards her. It helped bring more blood into her mouth, but it was more than that. This was the first time that her hand had touched his without something between them. This was important. She stroked his hand with her finger and gulped again.
Klaus felt her hand grip his, but the significance of such a thing was lost to him right then. He knew he had to protect her. He had to keep the knowledge of her existence from any and all of his enemies. His own siblings didn't like Caroline or her friends; it would not end well if he told them of her. Any and all connections to Caroline needed to be protected somehow. Nothing could be traced back to her, and if it did, he would rip its heart out before it even uttered her name. She was his weakness, now. His greatest weakness.
No one would find out.
