Author's Note: Hello everyone! It's been a year since I completed Songbird and I would like to thank everyone for their beautiful reviews and comments on this story overall. I never expected such a warm response for this story and I am incredibly thankful for it!
I would like to give special thanks to Eliliyah for her beautiful reviews here and in tumblr and the gorgeous edit she created for this story. As of now you can all see it here too as it is now the cover for Songbird! More so you should definitely check her stories here in fanfiction net under the same penname 'Eliliyah'. She is a brilliant author and her stories are amazing! Go check them out.
All that been said I have noticed in the reviews that many people have shown special interest in the flashbacks of this story.
So while Songbird is complete I decided to post the flashbacks of this story in chronological order. The flashbacks featured in this added chapter are the complete backstory between Klaus and Caroline before you enter their story in present time in the first chapter. So this is kind of a full circle kind of thing because once you read this their story picks up from the beginning of Songbird again.
Keep in mind this is just their backstory before the characters first appear in the prologue of Songbird. I have not added the flashbacks that were in parallel time as the story carried on that mostly included revelations and scenes from on going and previous chapters from the contemporary story.
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Songbird - Special Edition
Summary: She asked for his protection. He gave it to her. But with Klaus Mikaelson everything came with a price and into his web Caroline Forbes went. However that was only the beginning. Mafia!Klaroline AU/AH.
Warnings:
Crime, violence, abuse, domestic abuse. Mature themes. References of depression and mental illness. Loss. Grief.
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Backstory Featurette
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Mystic Falls
December 1996
The storm was raging outside the window and every thunder was making her jolt up and clutch the blanket and her teddy bear tighter.
Caroline was afraid to go to sleep in the dark but more so she was afraid to sleep like this. She was feeling as if she couldn't breathe. She looked around scared knowing it was irrational to feel that way. After all, she was a big girl now. She was six years old and big girls shouldn't be afraid of the dark and the storms. Her mom surely wasn't afraid.
When the door creaked open she jumped up with a muffled scream only for her shoulders to relax when Elizabeth Forbes came in her room with a knowing comforting smile. Caroline lowered her head and sniffed hugging her sort bear close and bit her lip when her mom sat down at her bed and gently brushed her hair away from her face.
Her mom was so different when she wasn't wearing her uniform and Caroline preferred her that way.
"I don't like storms either," her mom confessed and Caroline looked up surprised. Her mother was smiling.
"In fact, I used to be terrified of them," Elizabeth Forbes confessed and Caroline blinked because she knew that her mom was not afraid of anything. She was the bravest person she knew.
"Not anymore?" she asked her mom with a soft voice and sighed when her mother took her in her arms.
"No. Not anymore."
Caroline moved on the bed and her mom lied down with her, holding her close. Another thunder and Caroline whimpered.
"My mom taught me how to not fear storms or… anything else really."
Elizabeth Forbes shrugged as she admitted that and Caroline looked up curiously. She wanted to know how to do that too!
"It's pretty easy really. When I am sad or afraid I do what my mom told me and all the fear goes away. Do you want to know what it is?"
Caroline nodded eagerly and her mother hummed.
"I sing my favorite song until it makes me happy and chases away the dark," her mom winked at her and Caroline giggled.
"Daddy says your singing chases away everyone."
"Well your dad doesn't know any better," Elizabeth Forbes snorted indignantly and then cleared her voice and sang.
…And the songbirds are singing, like they know the score.
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you, It's alright, I know it's right…
Caroline made herself comfortable in her mom's embrace and inhaled her scent. She loved her mom's smell. It made her feel safe. And warm. She smelled like vanilla and cookies and Caroline really loved cookies.
She didn't know how much time passed but her eyelids grew heavy and the storm outside her window was more of a soft tapping on the window now that actually felt nice to listen to. Her mother gently detangled her from her arms and put her head carefully on the pillow making sure not to disrupt her as she also covered her and her teddy bear with the blanket.
"Mom?" Caroline mumbled sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"Will you always be with me?"
Liz smiled and kissed her forehead.
"For as long as I can."
Caroline's eyes grew open again, the fear suddenly coming back, stronger than before. She gripped her mom's hand making sure she wouldn't leave her.
"What if you can't?"
Elizabeth Forbes sat back to the bed and kissed her hand that now held her tight.
"Then you will be strong," her mom said, "and you will know that wherever I am I will still be with you."
Caroline stared at her mom's serious face and she knew this was a promise and her mom never broke a promise. Her hold eased up but she still intertwined her fingers with her mom's and she closed her eyes and got comfortable in the warmth of her covers.
"I love your voice mommy," she sleepily said and it was her mom's laughter that lulled her to sleep after all.
"You are probably the only one."
Mystic Falls
2008
Dead.
Caroline held her mother's hand tightly and cried. She shook her head. This couldn't be happening. She just needed a little more time. Just a few more moments. She couldn't do this alone.
Liz's body was hooked on the ventilator and the smell of the hospital was the last thing she would carry with her. Her last heartbeat was a beeping sound that became a straight line in the monitor.
"Mommy! Please don't leave me," Caroline cried and fell over her mother and hugged her. Elizabeth Forbes was dead.
She was dead.
Dead.
Mystic Falls
September 2008
Caroline ran her fingers through the tangle of her hair.
She should really throw away her hair straightener. No matter how much she had tried her fizzy hair was out of control. She had kept brushing them and brushing them but it was of no use. Ever since her mom's funeral, she couldn't straighten her locks to perfection as she used to. It was driving her mad. So much that she couldn't sleep. She tried to sleep but she couldn't. Every night she stared at the ceiling and sleep would evade her. It was so frustrating. Almost as frustrating as the mess of her hair was.
Caroline taped one more box. She was packing her mom's things. Logan insisted it would be a good thing to put Elizabeth Forbes' things in the garage and use the free space for them. It would also help her move on and not be so sad since her mother's things only served as a reminder of the loss.
Caroline guessed he was right but somehow… it felt wrong.
Caroline huffed and blew a strand of her hair out of her face. The sunlight streamed through the curtains like fingers of brightness that stung her eyes. Her mascara burned as she clenched her eyes shut and felt wetness gather on her eyelashes. Shit! She didn't need her eyes to get more red and irritated. She had lost count of how many days had passed where she had no sleep. Caffeine was the only thing keeping her up these days but it made her so jittery. The lack of sleep and the endless coffees made her feel lightheaded and antsy. She shivered and felt cold and feverish but most importantly she had black circles under her eyes that looked red as blood and she looked as pale as a ghost. Make-up could not save her now and she had to go to Carol Lockwood in a few hours. She was after all head of the planning committee for the Mystic Falls' pageant. She couldn't back down from her responsibilities. Priorities and all. One dead parent was not the end of the world. Two were not either. She was on her own now. She had to handle her life and she had been organizing this year's pageant fundraising for months. She sure as hell would see it through.
Besides, it was not as if she was breaking down or anything. She held it all together. She was fine. She persevered. She could handle some sleepless nights. Her mother would have wanted her to be strong and carry on with her life. That was exactly what she planned to do. End of story.
The pain would pass. Pain always passed. And she had a fundraiser party to plan.
"Wow, those are really old," Elena called from the kitchen, and when Caroline lifted her head from the stash of books she was putting in another box she saw Elena bringing a bag filled with old disks and cassettes.
Her mom used to love collecting old cassettes. Caroline always teased her when it came to that but her mom had grown up listening to those cassettes and when the world turned to the digital age she held on to her tapes. She even kept a cassette-player in the living room that was as old as her tape collection. Caroline remembered her mother telling her how this was the one and only gift Bill Forbes had given her that she had actually kept.
"You should put those in that box over there. It is already labeled," Caroline told Elena that seemed to be too absorbed into checking out her mom's tapes instead of actually putting them away.
Caroline shook her head annoyed. She pushed her hair back and tied them in a messy ponytail.
She gave a sidewise look at Elena that took a tape and carefully put in the player. She fumbled with the buttons carefully and managed to turn on the audio cassette player. The plastic film of the tape started turning. The first sound was nothing but static but the more the tape strip was wounding around the more the grinding noise turned to actual music.
The quality was not the best but melody filled the room and sent a sharp pang of pain straight into Caroline's heart.
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For you, there'll be no more crying.
…
Elena smiled nostalgically but Caroline gulped down. She couldn't breathe.
Why did it have to be this song?
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For you, the sun will be shining.
…
Caroline pushed away the box she had in front of her. She fidgeted with her fingers using all her willpower to not bring them to her ears to block away the sound. She started trembling. Her eyes started burning more.
"Turn it off," Caroline calmly said but her voice was covered by the volume of the music.
…
And I feel that when I'm with you.
…
Caroline took a deep breath. One more.
But her lungs refused to work. She started shaking so much.
"Turn it off," Caroline said a bit louder but not loud enough. She could barely manage the words. Her voice barely came out.
…
The songbirds are singing.
…
"Turn it off!" Caroline yelled and ran and jammed her fingers on the stop button of the player shocking Elena that looked at her with wide eyes.
She got the tape out harshly almost breaking the old stereo and then she stared at the cassette she held in her quivering hands. Her mom's handwriting was on it. She had written the title of the song with a pen on the etiquette. Tears blinded Caroline but she refused to let them fall. She panted as if she had run miles.
When Elena tried to touch her she stumbled back as if she was struck by electricity.
She felt faint.
For a moment there she didn't know where she was. She shook her head. It was throbbing. She was so tired but at the same time, she was so on edge. It was as if she was constantly pumped with adrenaline.
Elena stared at her worried and Caroline dropped the tape on the table before she straightened her blouse and wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans.
"We need to finish this. I need to meet with Mrs. Lockwood in an hour," Caroline mumbled and turned back to her mom's books and started discarding them in the boxes in front of her no longer caring for organizing them by genre and author. She only wanted to be done.
"Maybe you should not go to Carol's committee Care," Elena tried, her tone soft, "It is too soon. Just take some time and-"
"I'll be fine," Caroline interrupted her, biting out the words and Elena gave her a look of disbelief.
Elena had also lost both of her parents and knew how it felt. Elena that was so supporting and compassionate and perfect and could handle grief with dignity.
But Elena had Jeremy and her aunt Jenna. Elena wasn't completely alone like her. Elena was an orphan too but she still had a family. She had no one.
"Care-"
Elena's placating tone was so irritating. Caroline wiped the burning mascara out of her eyes. She would have to re-do her makeup now and she was not in the mood for Elena's patronizing sympathy and understanding.
"I'll be fine Elena. Logan will be there and I'll be fine."
Elena Gilbert gave her a pitying look.
She hated that look. Everyone looked at her like that. Matt. Elena. The whole town. She had to get out.
But she had nowhere to go.
"You keep saying that," Elena protested, trying to make her see reason as if she was mad or something and Caroline realized she didn't even have the energy to glare at her. She didn't feel anger or despair or pain.
She felt nothing.
She pushed the box away. Storing her mother's memory away.
"I'm fine."
She felt nothing. She was fine.
Mystic Falls
October 2009
She kept thrashing against her bonds to the point where she thought that her bones would break. But it was of no use. She could not get free. The limb restraints would not give. She was trapped on that damn hospital bed. The last thing she remembered was Logan hitting her on the head and then everything went dark.
When she opened her eyes again she was restrained on this bed. She knew this place. It was the psychiatric clinic just outside Mystic Falls. Logan's sister used to do volunteer work here some years ago and Logan was founding them and calling it charity.
She turned her head when she heard the soft click of the door. A nurse came in holding a syringe. Meredith Fell also came in and her brother followed. Caroline shook her head in trepidation realizing that everything was spinning every time she even slightly moved her head.
"Don't do this," she implored the nurse but the woman simply injected the drug of the syringe into her IV.
"It is for your own good sweetie," Logan said looking at her sympathetically and the nurse smiled at him kindly.
Caroline grunted and tried to get free one more time but as the sedative started invading her veins her whole body felt lighter and her strength ebbed away slowly.
Once the nurse was out of the room the atmosphere changed. All pretenses of civility were not gone as Meredith looked at her brother with a hard look.
"She has a concussion Logan and two broken ribs. Soon enough people will start asking questions," she reprimanded her brother.
"The room is private under another name," Logan said with a shrug. This was becoming a pattern for him.
"Her mother was the Sheriff. You can't keep doing this to her and think it will go unnoticed. I can't keep falsifying the hospital's files! I do not even work here Logan!"
Caroline tried to focus on their conversation but she could barely keep her eyes open now. Her movements against the restraints were fading as she groggily tried to move her wrists and her head.
She didn't want to go to sleep. She had to stay awake. She knew they would start pumping her with drugs and she tried to stay alert. But it was impossible.
As she struggled to stay awake Logan's fingers threaded her hair.
"You should really stop fighting Caroline," he whispered in her ear and then moved his head so to kiss her lips.
Her eyes fluttered closed. She was unable to move. The last thing she thought before unconsciousness claimed her was that this was the end of the line. She could not take this anymore. She would do whatever it took. Even at the expense of her own life, she would set herself free. No matter the cost.
She would make Logan stop even if she had to kill him or kill herself. It was either him or her.
Mystic Falls
January 2010
Those voices. That buzzing sound they were making. It made Caroline even more disoriented. The voices had been loud when she had struggled in her half-conscious state before she felt the prickle of the needle on her skin as Logan held her down and mumbled apologies and sweet nothings in her ear. She had struggled. She remembered that. But then the voices became distant.
Caroline tried to move but she couldn't. The sheets underneath were not soft. She could still smell the disinfectant and the pain on her face was excruciating.
Someone was cleaning her up. Setting up a bone that should not have been out of place in the first place. Why was it out of place again?
Right…Logan had hit her. Again. But she could barely think. The only thing she wanted to do now was sleep. She was so dizzy. She couldn't even move.
God, she had to stay awake. To get out of here.
"Pray she doesn't have a concussion!" the female voice hissed.
Caroline tried to open her eyes. She knew that voice. It had to be Meredith. Logan's sister.
'Not again,' Caroline thought and a soft moan left her lips. Meredith Fell always helped Logan. Always pumping her blood with drugs. Always covered for him. Why was she doing this to her?
"The sedative I gave her will keep her down for a few hours at least. What happened again, Logan?" Meredith questioned him with an exasperated voice that somehow managed to battle what was burning in Caroline's blood that made her so weak and sleepy.
The last thing she remembered was the crunching noise the bone of her nose made when Logan punched her. She tasted blood in her mouth as she fell on his hands and when she blinked her eyes open again she was in the backseat of his car that was swerving in the road. She had been barely able to keep her eyes open. Her head had been burning so bad. And then she remembered Logan carrying her into the clinic his sister was occasionally working with. He had taken her miles out of Mystic Falls. She had tried to fight but she had lost a lot of blood and the pain was messing with her mind.
"I lost it! She was flirting with that moron her mother had under her protection," Logan's angry rant brought goosebumps all over Caroline's body.
"They are friends Logan!" Logan's sister almost shouted but Caroline could barely make out what she was saying, "Matt Donovan is looking out for her and this is not something he won't notice. You almost broke her nose! Those bruises will be really ugly and won't go away for days. No make-up will cover them. How are you going to hide it now?" Meredith demanded.
"Can't we get her to your clinic for a few days?" Logan asked worried, "I can cover it up. It's not as if she is stable anyway."
"I can't keep covering for you Logan. This has to stop. You know I am planning to run for Mayor eventually. I can't have such a scandal related to our name. People will start noticing and talking. What if they found out I have been helping you out with this. My career will be ruined!"
"Once my contract with the newspaper is done I will take her and get out of Mystic Falls," Logan told his sister with a reassuring voice, "start a family. A new life away from here."
Caroline's blood froze. She had to find a way to get out. She had to do something. But the only thing she could do now was sleep.
She was so tired.
Mystic Falls
March 2010
The hard leather edge of his boot was connecting repeatedly with the soft skin of her stomach. With force. He kept kicking her and all she could do was crawl to the floor. She didn't have any more strength, she could not fight back any longer. Her screams had ebbed away. She didn't believe anyone could have screamed as loud as she had. But this time she didn't stand there taking the punches without fighting back.
This time her voice had risen. The fearful whispers broke into a cry and she screamed and yelled and she wouldn't stop until her throat closed. Until no voice would come out. Until his hand wrapped around her neck and suffocated the life out of her before he threw her on the floor and started kicking her without mercy.
She was choking on her own blood, her vision blurry as her eyes were swollen shut, all bruised blue and red.
The world was fading away. She didn't know if this would be the end. She realized at that moment that she wanted to live. She didn't want to die.
It was just moments before she passed away from the pain and the blood loss that she heard the sound that brought her hope. Someone was banging on the door. But it was more than that. Along with the sound of her bones cracking the sounds of sirens coming closer reached her ears.
Maybe she was hallucinating, maybe she was not.
When she closed her eyes she didn't know if she was ever going to come back.
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Detroit
November 2012
Easy listening instrumental music was floating to the air.
The hands of the pianist were gliding over the piano keys. Sounds of relaxation along with the jazz melody the saxophonist was blowing to the air.
Rebekah Mikaelson was standing in a shady corner talking to one of her clients when the doors opened and a man all dressed in black, along with a security team following him, entered her bar.
Rebekah beamed once she saw him and run towards him, ignoring everyone else.
The man with the dark blond hair and the stubble laughed as she jumped on him and he twirled her around while he chuckled. His men around him laughed also and when Rebekah stood on her own two feet she hugged him.
"I missed you Nik!" she whispered and her brother smiled.
Elijah had already informed her that Klaus would be coming to Detroit this month. They were having some issues with the authorities in Chicago and this was a perfect opportunity for Klaus to supervise business in Detroit while Elijah would be left behind to his politics and Kol to his bloodshed.
Detroit was her territory; Although everyone knew that everything belonged to Klaus that just like Mikael before him he trusted no one. The new King had made changes but some things always remained the same. A different system but the same mistrust.
Klaus had divided everything that belonged to Mikael into different factions. Every sector belonging to a Mikaelson brother and for the first time in ages to a Mikaelson sister also. However, Klaus was controlling everything, and everyone, with an iron fist. He was the King and they were all under him. Devoted and obedient, otherwise dead.
As long as they were loyal to him he would kill and die for them all. He would give them power, territories, control. In his name, they could rule on their own and flourish on their own. They would have his support and he would even clean up after their mistakes. However, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah knew that Klaus had his spies everywhere even in unexpected places. He knew everything at any given time. He didn't believe in trust and they all knew that if they dared to cross him he would not hesitate to destroy them.
Even those that were not afraid of losing their own lives feared Klaus Mikaelson because they knew that he would destroy and even kill everyone they have ever met.
Klaus could not understand that his siblings would never do that. They were in this together and they believed in him. He was a far better ruler than Mikael ever was. He took control and he rose to the occasion. He took great power and made it even greater. He was born for this and they were born to be by his side even if he would never trust them completely.
In the same way, she owned Detroit Klaus, with Elijah by his side, reigned over Chicago while Elijah was also handling New York. Kol had his domain in New York also, terrorizing Harlem, Brooklyn, and the lower east side. From what she knew this year at Kol's birthday Klaus would give to Kol Los Angeles. A smaller faction that Kol would be able to control without Elijah's supervision. Klaus had done the same with her. Originally he had given to her Las Vegas to play but she was under his restrictions as Kol had been for years under Elijah's care.
At first, Kol wanted to be Klaus's protégé but Klaus refused because he didn't have the temper to deal with Kol that always seemed to take extreme pleasure at riling Klaus up. Of course, Rebekah always had her fun reminding Kol that Klaus had chosen her over him something that always upset Kol much to her delight.
Klaus's most trusted men, Stefan Salvatore and Marcel Gerard were controlling, under Klaus's wing, New Orleans and New England.
It has been years but in her mind time seemed to have passed by so fast. It was just like yesterday when Mikael started losing his mind. Turning into an even more unstable form of his former abusive self. He was always volatile especially with Nik but towards the end, he had lost his sanity completely thus endangering them all.
And Klaus stepped up. He confronted Mikael, Esther, Finn, and their allies. In a fight that turned bloody, Klaus won and liquor fueled days followed. And then more blood until it seemed as if Chicago was drowning in rain and rivers of it.
Mikael's death had been a gruesome sight. A message to them all. Esther simply gained a bullet to her heart and then a heartfelt funeral in which Klaus attended with a smile.
Klaus of course exiled Finn from their family's borders, however much to Klaus's dismay Finn had managed to create factions of his own in New Jersey and Philadelphia once he formed an alliance with his lover Sage and her family. He was a Mikaelson after all and after their parents' death by Klaus's hand, he ran away. And Klaus let him, the first and the last time her brother had shown mercy to anyone was the night he averted his eyes and let Finn escape Chicago, bruised and battered and with several broken bones, but no fatal wounds.
They all knew that Finn would forever remain loyal to the diseased Esther Mikaelson and by their unwritten law he was the next in succession something that Klaus or even Elijah would never allow to happen.
Finn ran for his life that night and Elijah stepped down from the line of succession as he always supported Klaus. Better to be a general and an advisor behind the scenes than a dead King he would say. It was in that time that Klaus killed everyone loyal to Mikael, dismantled the former syndicate, and stepped up as the new King.
'Long may he reign' was what the survivors would mutter bitterly under their breath. The King was dead, long live the King.
Then change followed much to the dismay of many.
One of the reasons Klaus had divided their empire was to create a new order different from Mikael's and to assure that no one outside their family would be able to rise against him. Many back then still planned to overthrown the Mikaelson bastard. Klaus needed to have trusted alliances and to expand his supervision while he was shuttering any reminder of Mikael's power.
It took time and effort. And most of all blood. A lot of blood.
Now the structure of their family was different. Klaus had changed the ways of the Mikaelson family, something that hadn't happened for decades. With this system, they would not have to be dependent on others. A Mikaelson would always be present and ready to summon loyalty and protection. If any of them was in danger individually and would be in need the rest of them would be able to provide safety, means, power. In their father's days, everything belonged to one hand. Mikael's. Now however Klaus always had absolute control but the power underneath him was divided.
If she was, to be honest with herself Klaus didn't plan on giving her Detroit. He always believed she was capable but not capable enough…Or so she had thought for some time.
Originally she believed that he had sent her to Detroit to isolate her. To put some distance between her and Stefan. As Klaus had said back then her love life was causing him a headache and he would rather not kill Stefan that was proving to be an asset. She had refused, screamed, and cried but none the less Klaus forced her to leave Chicago. His men had taken her to Detroit and if she was to leave the city then Stefan's head would hang outside her bedroom's balcony in Chicago as Klaus had so sweetly promised her.
According to Nik, she was distracting Stefan and he had plans for him. Plans that the ripper of Chicago was ready to destroy just so he would be with her. Something that Stefan didn't do in the end.
In the end, Klaus won and she came to Detroit brokenhearted.
As it turned out this was the best thing that could have happened to her. Living in Detroit was the first time that she was living alone without the suffocating attention of her family.
Las Vegas was a gift to her, but Detroit she earned.
First time on her own, far away from the clutches of her brothers Rebekah blossomed into the woman she was always meant to be. A Mikaelson, in spirit and blood.
And she had even made Niklaus proud.
She had multiplied their gains and she was supervising all aspects of their legal and illegal activities in Detroit. It took her some time before Nik and Elijah were convinced and it took some defiance from her part along with a lot of manipulation, threats, a few bullets, dismembered bodies, and some severed gang heads she delivered to her brothers but she was now the Queen. And she was not going to step down from her throne. Her heart was mended and her power undisputed.
Elijah had later revealed to her that Klaus hadn't sent her to Detroit to assure Stefan's development in their ranks. He had sent her there because her affair with Stefan was messing with the plans he had for her. Plans that ensured her position in power. She was meant to be a Queen and not just a princess in love and Klaus had made sure that she would get her throne and she would not throw it all away for an infatuation.
And so she did.
And now Klaus had come to her city. Sure she was spending some months in Chicago every year but having Klaus in Detroit meant the world for her. Showing to him her achievements and earning his approval was what she desired the most.
Always and forever they had said when they were kids and the promise was still running deep into their veins.
"You are looking great little sister," Klaus commented as he theatrically twirled her around. She smiled at him and took him to their private table. The one that was always empty, every night, waiting only for her Nik.
She ordered his favorite drink and she sat next to him, her gloved hand covering his own on top of the table. His men standing some feet behind them, along with her own bodyguards.
"I've heard about your last involvement with the latest liquor shipment," Klaus commented and her eyes sparkled.
"You did good Bekah," he praised and she smirked. Both of them knew that if she hadn't interfered the cops would have gotten the upper hand on them.
"I only learned from the best," she complimented him intentionally boosting his ego and in return, Klaus smirked at her. He knew she was buttering him up because she wanted him to give her permission to deal with the next gun shipment directly and not via Elijah's diplomatic means. The problem was that the next deal had common interests with New York and that was Elijah's turf.
They kept talking for a while. Seemingly two people in a bar socializing like everyone else, drinking their drinks, smiling, and laughing.
However, they were also plotting schemes and murder as easily as others inside the bar were having a good time and were talking about their ordinary lives.
Klaus had his hands rested on the back of the sofa, enjoying his cigarette.
Rebekah knew that her bar here was one of Nik's favorites. He always called it a Hybrid creature and he even created a club in Chicago decorated in a similar way that Loup Rouge here was. He had even named his club 'Loup Noir' as homage to this bar something that had sparked great pride in Rebekah.
This was a refuge for her after all. A place where more places were coming together. Part performance space, part lounge living room; all decorated artistically. Never-ending alcohol as the party would never stop. A place where people could listen, drink, dance, socialize. The perfect cover for working deals under the table.
A personal haven with explosive chemistry, good taste, and prestige. Things Klaus always appreciated.
Rebekah and Klaus had been talking for some time when the lights dimmed and the music stopped playing.
The only shadowy light now was coming from the candles on the table and everyone seemed to have stopped talking in anticipation of what was about to come next.
Klaus narrowed his eyes and looked at Rebekah that smiled innocently and shrugged.
Soon enough from the stage, the sounds of heels clicking on the shiny slippery floor resonated all around.
A woman dressed in a beautiful silk white gown walked to the tall stool behind the microphone. When she sat on it the spotlight illuminated her form and Klaus's breath hitched.
The pianist started playing again, a different tune this time, and the girl waited with closed eyes as her palm wrapped around the microphone and adjusted it in front of her face.
And then her eyes opened and it was as if her gaze was directed straight at Klaus.
Green eyes setting his world on fire.
Blond curly hair, a flaming halo, around her angelic face.
The girl breathed in, the inhaling sound a soft echo traveling all around before her red lips opened and she sang. With the most mesmerizing voice, he had ever heard. Klaus's body tensed as if her music had a life of its own and was wrapping itself all around him rendering him powerless.
…In the land of Gods and Monsters, I was an Angel living in the garden of evil…
He could swear that the angel on the stage was a bloody siren.
"Who is she sister?" he asked Rebekah while he was unable to take his eyes away from the beauty on the stage that seemed to be singing only for him.
"The girl on the stage you mean" his sister playfully asked and he nodded as if he was in a trance.
"My new singer Nik. Caroline," Rebekah said and narrowed her eyes at Klaus's reaction towards Caroline.
Caroline kept signing, unaware of how Klaus seemed to be looking at her as if she was the only woman left in the world. His eyes sparkling with lust and interest.
…Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed, shining like a fiery beacon…
"Caroline," he repeated, the name rolling seductively on his lips as sweet wine would roll warm down his throat.
Rebekah narrowed her eyes more at him but he didn't pay any attention. He was focused on the blonde that sang on the stage.
He brought the glass to his lips and slowly sipped his scotch. His eyes never leaving Caroline.
Then she noticed that for a split second Caroline's eyes focused on her brother. It seemed electrifying, a sensation that was bouncing from the stage back to her brother. Almost like gravity.
Rebekah had seen her brother showing interest in other women before. She had seen his desire for war, blood, sex. For power and control.
And yet it was the first time she was seeing him looking at another person as he was watching her new signer right now.
As if he was positively bewitched.
And he was.
.
.
.
…When you talk it's like a movie and you're making me crazy cause life imitates art
If I get a little prettier can I be your baby? You tell me, "life isn't that hard"…
Klaus downed his drink with one gulp, his eyes set on the prize he had decided to take for the night.
"Rebekah," he muttered with a hoarse voice and his sister looked at him with interest her eyes moving from Caroline back to him and vice versa.
"Bring her to me," he ordered with an unwavering tone that made even her feel uncomfortable.
Truth is that she and Caroline were not that close but the girl was one of the best singers she had in quite a while and she seemed nice. She didn't deserve to become one of Klaus's conquests. She would either end with a broken heart or a ripped heart and she didn't deserve that.
Rebekah tried to salvage the girl but she knew from the beginning that it would be futile.
"You do realize that the girl is a singer and not one of Kol's working girls right?" Rebekah tried to joke and make it seem as if Caroline was not available or interested in this but she jumped startled when Klaus's hand gripped hers unexpectedly.
…You got that medicine I need, dope, shoot it up, straight to the heart please.
I don't really wanna know what's good for me, God's dead, I said 'baby that's alright with me…
Caroline's voice echoed around them but her brother's reaction seemed to be silencing all sounds around them.
Klaus' eyes darkened and threw at his sister a deadly glance that turned her blood to ice. Rebekah's breath hitched and she gulped.
"I won't ask again sister," Klaus warned her.
Rebekah sighed and looked at Caroline that was singing across them almost with sorrow but when her brother wanted something then her brother would definitely get it. So Rebekah called for one of the waitresses ready to do what Klaus wanted.
Klaus let go of her hand and turned his attention back to Caroline.
Rebekah could not do anything now. If Klaus wanted Caroline then she would give him Caroline.
Once the brunette employee came Rebekah told her to fetch Caroline when she would end her singing performance. The waitress, nodded but as she was about to leave Rebekah added that she was not to take no for an answer and she was to bring Caroline to their table the soonest possible.
.
.
.
Caroline sat on her comfy chair in front of her mirror in her backstage dressing room. Her hands rubbed her neck and she looked at herself almost tiredly.
She had been working at Loup Rouge for a few months only but she was doing well. She enjoyed working for Rebekah. The woman was a bitch but the conditions here were excellent and far better than any other she had encountered so far at the bars she had worked before. Plus she always loved singing and even though she had never expected that this would become her actual profession she was enjoying it immensely. The shallow part of her vanity loved being praised and even desired.
She was thrilled to know that when she was up to the stage many would want her but none would be able to have her. Ever.
But as always every time she would get a phone call from back home her day would be ruined. Her mood destroyed and she would be on edge.
She looked at her reflection and she felt such anger that she had to physically stop herself from punching the mirror in rage. After every phone call, she had to relive too many memories that were too painful for her to handle.
Vicky Donovan, Matt's sister, had called her again on her cell phone today trying to convince her to come back home. Telling her that it was safe and that they would help her adjust again. Vicky never cared that much for her so she guessed that Matt was behind all this.
She sighed and unclasped her necklace and let it drop on the dresser in front of her vanity.
She bit her lip and then without any second thought, she turned off her cell phone. She removed the phone's lid and took out the SIM card. She looked at the can that was placed next to her dresser and she threw the card in there.
She would never return to Mystic Falls. Never.
She jumped startled when she heard someone knocking on her door.
"Yes?"
"It's Jessica Caroline, may I come in?" one of the waitresses asked kindly and Caroline smiled. Everyone was so professional here. Rebekah had ensured that and from the looks of it no one dared to get on Rebekah Mikaelson's bad side.
"Of course come in," Caroline called and soon enough the brunette came in with a smile.
"Is something wrong? I was just about to change and leave," Caroline asked and the girl went near her.
"Miss Mikaelson asked me if you could join her at her table," Jessica asked but in a tone that implied that it wasn't a request.
Caroline narrowed her eyes. Rebekah had never asked anything like this before.
"Is something wrong Jess?" Caroline asked worriedly and Jessica simply shrugged.
"She said not to be late," the girl said almost fearfully and then left.
Caroline's confusion and surprise got bigger but none the less she decided to go to Rebekah.
She checked herself on the mirror, fixed her stray curls with her hands, and straightened her dress.
Then she went back to the bar and one of the waiters pointed towards the private table where Rebekah was sitting along with another man. A beautiful man. Maybe the sexiest man she had ever seen before and was now looking at her with a wolfish stare.
Caroline tentatively walked towards them and Rebekah got up to welcome her to their company.
The man got up, eyeing her up and down predatorily and she felt chills running down her spine.
His gaze was marked with appreciation and something dark she could not decipher. All she knew was that it was taking her breath away.
She couldn't do anything else than watch him, almost scared of what he might do.
His eyes were glittering with possessiveness and it was as if he was memorizing the way she looked inside his mind.
He was tall and seemed to have a well built lean body. Blue dark eyes and dark blond hair. He had a stubble and when he smiled at her a set of enticing dimples appeared on his face and unwillingly the toes of her feet curled as her whole body seemed to be wracked with goosebumps.
"Caroline, let me introduce you, my brother," Rebekah politely interrupted their staring contest and Klaus smiled at her without even looking at Rebekah.
"You have a beautiful name sweetheart," the man said with a very seductive English accent similar to Rebekah's but far more tempting and Caroline blinked at the way he got closer to her. She barely noticed that Rebekah left leaving her alone with her brother.
She took a deep breath and then she took a step back noticing the way he arched his brow at her reaction. She pressed her lips and stood her ground taking a step forward again and he smiled widely at that.
"And your name is?" she asked him defiantly but inwardly guarded.
The man's smile grew even bigger as if he was enjoying her spirit and the anger that flashed in her eyes.
"Niklaus Mikaelson, but you can call me Klaus," he said and took her hand to his and pressed his lips on the top of her palm.
Detroit
December 2012
….I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day….On such a winter's day….
The sweet cadence of her voice slowly faded away as did the shining spotlight around her. Caroline finished her song under Klaus Mikaelson's scrutiny as she did for the past weeks ever since he had invited her to his table the first night he saw her singing. That same night she had rejected his advances and so she continued to do all the nights that followed. Despite his persistence and his charming words. Despite how he looked at her with admiration and lustful eyes.
Caroline knew about danger now. She could feel it under her skin like an electric current and Klaus Mikaelson was carrying lightning and thunder in every sweet invitation and luring temptation. He was bad news. She knew it, he knew it. Hell everyone knew it.
So Caroline stayed away. No matter how Klaus would come every night to hear her sing and then invite her to join him at his table.
And tonight was no different. As she was about to get off the stage one of the club's guards came near her and leaned over to whisper to her ear that Klaus Mikaelson would like it very much if she was to join him for a drink at his table.
Caroline rolled her eyes at Klaus' persistence but when she gazed in Klaus' direction she almost faltered at the genuine anticipation he found in his eyes.
Almost.
.
.
Klaus narrowed his eyes as he saw Caroline turning away and walking towards the pianist and he sighed, feeling a wave of disappointment and irritation crash over him. He didn't need the guard to come and tell him that Caroline Forbes had rejected him once more.
He had never met such a stubborn woman like Caroline before. Intimidation didn't work. Courting her was not working. Gifts were not doing anything. His infamous charm was not earning him any favors.
The guard approached his table and stood awkwardly just a step away and cleared his throat clumsily.
"Eh…she said…"
Klaus gritted his teeth at his guard's stalling.
"Go on!" he ordered the man that seemed to be in an uncomfortable position.
"She thanks you for your invitation …to join you for a drink…but.."
"But?" Klaus impatiently gestured to the man to continue, feeling annoyed with the guard's incompetence. Maybe he should consider searching for more useful assistants that would not stutter like fish out of the water.
"Ehm…She said she would rather die of thirst," Klaus' guard hurriedly repeated Caroline's rejection.
Klaus' pressed his lips into a hardline and the guard seemed to pale considerably and then a throaty familiar laughter reached Klaus' ears and made his fingers itch to grab his gun even more. He seriously needed to kill something and soon!
Kol Mikaelson chuckled amused as he hopped on the velvet sofa behind the table and sat next to his brother.
Klaus tried to control his anger as he watched Caroline disappear behind the curtains that led to the backstage rooms and his brother's grating laughter was not helping.
But before he could control his reaction he smiled at her defiance but also felt an inkling of genuine displeasure at how she walked away from him after rejecting him publicly and so blatantly. It was not just the superficial anger of being rejected or his ego talking. It was not even the result of his bad temper. It was a deeper cut and it was in that moment's realization that he decided that there would come a time where Caroline Forbes would only sing for him. Either it would be on her own accord or it would be him manipulating and pulling her strings the result would still be the same. He would have her.
"Should I bring her to you Sir?" the guard offered making Klaus glare at him with a ferocity that made the man take a step back.
"Leave," Klaus barked making his brother's laugh intensify. Something that turned Klaus' disposition more sour.
Kol reached for the expensive bottle of scotch on the table waiting for Klaus to snap at him for stalling and for laughing at his misery. He smirked at the way his big brother was giving him his most vicious death glare. Would you look at that! That girl had really gotten under Nik's skin.
"By the end of the week I want to know everything there is to know about Caroline Forbes," Kol sarcastically imitated Klaus voice from when Klaus ordered him to search about the singer's past and then he brought the rim of the bottle to his lips and drank a full gulp enjoying the heat that followed against the walls of his throat, "well one thing we know for sure is that she always looks good walking away from you," Kol mocked Klaus and he almost spat out the alcohol that danced in his tongue at the way his brother's angry stare change to one of genuine sorrow before shifting to an expression of daydreaming.
"She is quite the challenge," Klaus fondly said with an impressed tone that made Kol lift his eyebrows curious about his brother's behavior. What happened to 'love is a weakness'? Because Kol would bet his division in the family business that his brother's infatuation for the blonde bombshell was starting to turn into something much more dangerous.
It didn't last long though. Klaus turned serious again and the gleam in his eyes and the sneer that followed amazed Kol even more. Klaus was reacting as if this was a matter of life and death for him and he usually acted that way only for business and only when the severity of the situation demanded from him to resolve to resolute actions. And right now he was acting like this for a …girl. One he hadn't even shagged yet if what Bekah told him was true; and judging, by the way, the lovely nightingale rejected him Rebekah's estimation seemed to be true and Kol would bet that Klaus had not managed to get the blonde to warm his sheets. Maybe this is what his brother needed in order to loosen up after all. A beautiful challenge after a hard day of killing. Although if it was him he would just keep the killing part.
"It is the end of the week," Klaus remarked with a scowl feeling irked and barely able to control his temper and anticipation as he snatched the bottle from Kol's hand making his young brother pout childishly.
Klaus knew that he couldn't personally deal with such a trivial investigation. If anyone found out he would be putting his reputation and Caroline's life in jeopardy. He would have however wished to have had in his disposal a better hunter to search Caroline's past than Kol but admittedly his younger brother was the best of the best and even more so he was part of his family and therefore one of the few people he could really trust with this. Surely Kol would be the first one to jump at the opportunity to corner him with such personal information but when push came to shove their always and forever oath that put their family above all was prevailing. If only Finn had been the same.
Kol leaned back and snickered enjoying the power he was holding over the King of Chicago and he did not shy away from showing his extreme satisfaction over agitating Klaus.
"You know…invading your darling's privacy like that is not the right way to begin an honest and sincere relationship based on respect and understanding," Kol sarcastically taunted Klaus that literally growled at him.
"I swear if you don't start talking I will tear out your liver!"
Kol rolled his eyes and leaned back. Mirth dancing in his eyes.
"Always so prone to violence. No wonder 'Lijah thinks I turned out so emotionally unstable! Just look at the dysfunctional example I had to look up to," Kol theatrically lamented and held up his hands in mock surrender when he saw Klaus' fists clench on top of the table, "okay okay relax brother. I did dig up a few things that might interest you. And by might I mean surely. But if you want me to spill you will give me the next shipment. And two months' worth of profit from the New Orleans distribution," Kol demanded seriously.
"It's yours," Klaus quickly agreed without even bargaining and Kol looked at Klaus as if he had gone crazy but then he beamed satisfied before he took out of his jacket a small folder that contained the singer's personal information in a flash drive and handed it over to Klaus.
"You little Songbird has quite the history brother," Kol nonchalantly said earning his brother's undivided attention.
Later on when Caroline came back to the stage to sing again Klaus' eyes were glued on her form as Kol's words still echoed in his mind. Caroline's history and all the information his little brother had gathered about her for some reason were making his blood boil with rage.
….I'd be safe and warm…All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray…
Oh such a winter's day…
He had been right. The cut was deep and it would definitely leave a scar. It already had.
Detroit
December 2012
Elijah placed the folder with the documents Klaus signed inside his suitcase and shook his head. Klaus was needed in Chicago and yet his brother insisted on staying in Detroit these days.
As he stood up and got ready to leave Klaus leaned back in his chair and placed his hands over the desk. His demeanor emanating an air of royalty as usual.
"There is one more thing," Klaus casually said with superiority coloring his voice, and Elijah looked at him suspiciously. Klaus took out a tablet from his drawer and slid it on the desk towards Elijah.
Elijah looked at Klaus before turning on the screen and opening the only file on the desktop. There were photos inside and more files with detailed data and with official documents and old newspaper articles. Elijah's eyes scanned the information and frowned.
"Logan Fell. He is in prison. For attacking Miss Caroline Forbes," Elijah read out loud and he then made the connection in his mind, "Rebekah's singer," he realized and noticed how Klaus' jaw clenched.
"I want him to suffer. Make sure of that," Klaus ordered with an unyielding tone that made Elijah wonder why Klaus would act this way for one of Rebekah's employees.
"You barely know the girl Niklaus," Elijah reminded him and almost gaped at the intensity he saw for a moment in his brother's eyes. Klaus never allowed others to see what he was feeling and he never bothered with a woman for long. He would usually have fun with them and then would dispose them the next day. His brother always considered romantic attachments to be a weakness and he never indulged in those or allowed any of his siblings to do so; and now he was making this personal for a woman he barely knew.
Elijah had heard the girl sing in Loup Rouge. She had a sweet voice and a beautiful face but she didn't belong to their world and yet his brother seemed to be drawn to her. According to Rebekah however, Miss Forbes was not falling for Klaus' charm. Maybe this was what had made his brother act in this strange way.
"I know," Klaus acknowledged the fact with an impassive expression but then the edge of his lips curved in a hint of a smile, "but she has quite the voice does she not?" Klaus mused with a smirk and Elijah shook his head holding back his smile.
Well, this was new.
Detroit
January 2013
Caroline blinked looking appalled. For a moment she was unsure as to if she had heard Rebekah right. It was as if her brain refused to cooperate but then she felt anger bursting into her.
Rebekah Mikaelson had just ordered her not only to go and get a drink with her brother but to also stop 'playing' hard to get and go and spend the night with Klaus or as she candidly said to go and be her brother's strumpet for as many nights he would want her before she would bore him to death.
Caroline gulped down and looked at Klaus that had his back turned on her and was having a drink at the bar with another man and then she looked at Rebekah with heated cheeks while trying to keep her calm. The club was packed tonight and Caroline did not want to draw any attention but this was just ludicrous and beyond offensive.
"I am a singer, not an escort!" she hissed at Rebekah that had the audacity to look at her with eyes full of pity and mockery.
"What you are, is about to be unemployed," she simply said and Caroline gritted her teeth.
"So be it," Caroline bit out through clenched teeth and tried to walk away only to feel Rebekah's nails sink into the skin of her arm. Caroline looked at Rebekah's hand with open wide eyes before looking at her soon to be former employer's eyes that now shone with fury.
"This was not a request," Rebekah declared looking down at Caroline with a glare, "you will go and get a drink with Nik and then do what he wants," she ordered and Caroline looked at her as if Rebekah had gone crazy.
"Seriously!" Caroline protested trying to yank her hand away and then she saw two of Rebekah's guards taking a step forward pushing their coats to the side showing their guns. Caroline stilled and her breath hitched; Rebekah pushed her and she stumbled back.
Rebekah Mikaelson took an intimidating step forward and a sense of foreboding washed over Caroline. She then noticed that the guards came even closer looking at her in a menacing way that turned her stomach to a knot. She knew for whom she was working for but she had never imagined this. She had heard the stories about Rebekah Mikaelson's legendary mean streak and stories of the vengeful side of the Mikaelson sister. Some people called her the Mikaelson Princess of Chicago and others the Queen of Detroit but Caroline never paid much attention to these rumors because she didn't have to. So far Rebekah had been professional with her. If anything it was Rebekah that never allowed any of her clients to be rude or to sexually harass any of the girls that worked in Loup Rouge.
That was of course until now.
Ever since Klaus Mikaelson had shown his interest in her Rebekah's attitude changed. She became more demanding and condescending and the once upon a time strictly professional working place had turned quite suffocating.
Rebekah Mikaelson now looked at her with an enraged expression.
"Who do you think you are? You know who he is and you think you can keep on making a fool out of him in public every night? I thought you were smarter than that," she grit out with a patronizing smile.
Caroline looked at Rebekah and then at the guards that came closer and stood some steps away looking at her with dark eyes.
"Is this a threat?" she whispered trying to hide her fear even though her voice momentarily trembled.
"Of course not," Rebekah denied but the devilish smile that appeared on her lips was telling another story.
Before Caroline could retort back Rebekah turned around and walked away but one of her guards came closer and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Do as Miss Mikaelson commands. It would be a pity to find yourself in a ditch all of the sudden puddin," the man threatened her before harshly pushing her towards Klaus' direction. Caroline looked back at the guards that looked at her with hard expressions and she felt her body going numb. This was so surreal and yet terrifying.
Caroline felt as if she was going to scream. She felt as if the air was vacuumed away and there was no more oxygen for her to breathe. That feeling of helplessness she had felt with Logan returned with a vengeance. The same feeling of weakness she had sworn to herself to never feel again. That feeling of being a pawn for others and being too small to resist or even fight back.
She looked at the bar and saw how Klaus was chucking at something his friend was saying to him. They were having drinks and he looked so casual as if nothing was wrong and as if he hadn't put his sister on this.
She huffed and marched on to Klaus. She was seeing red. Who the hell did the Mikaelsons think they were? She had done nothing to feed Klaus' weird obsession with her and she was not a thing to be passed on to the highest bidder. She was not going to be manipulated or forced into anything. She was not going to become Klaus' whore just because he could not take no for an answer. She already had her share of abuse and terror and she would be damned if she would allow anyone else to terrorize her again and mess with her life.
Klaus saw Caroline striding at him and his lips turned into a genuine smile that vanished when he saw the anger that lingered in her stance.
Caroline finally approached him vibrating with rage and Klaus frowned.
"Hello love," he carefully said with a welcoming voice. Caroline however paid no attention to his greeting. Instead, she leaned over at the bar and gestured for the bartender to come and get her order. Klaus seemed confused and the man he was talking to seemed intrigued but didn't comment at all.
"Hey, Gary. Bring me a glass of champagne please," she asked in a sweet tone. An overly saccharine tone that made Klaus sober up immediately and look at Caroline all puzzled.
She tapped her nails on the polished surface of the bar as she waited for her order.
"Is everything okay Caroline?" Klaus questioned in a concerned voice that made Caroline press her lips. She didn't dignify him with an answer. She didn't even look at him.
"Caroline?" Klaus insisted and she grimaced in annoyance.
"Everything is…perfect," she bit out and Klaus seemed more confused than ever by the way she was acting. Caroline turned her head to the left and saw the other man that was sitting opposite to Klaus.
"Hi, I am Caroline," she introduced herself with a dazzling smile ignoring Klaus completely.
"Stefan Salvatore," the man replied smiling back at her and then giving a shrug at Klaus that had tensed behind Caroline.
"Nice to meet you, Stefan," Caroline beamed and gave her hand to Stefan for a handshake. Klaus seethed behind her and Stefan had to cough in order to hide his uneasiness and…amusement.
"You are Rebekah's singer right?" Stefan politely asked putting some distance between himself and the blonde when he noticed how Klaus glared at him.
"Don't really know about that," Caroline bitterly said and Klaus blinked at that but before he could ask her what she meant Gary brought the tall glass of champagne Caroline had ordered and she smiled at the barman and then casually pointed at Klaus.
"It's on him," she sarcastically said and Klaus for the first time since they met looked startled and out of his element.
Caroline took the flute of champagne and whirled around to stand up against Klaus. She considered throwing at his face the contents of her glass but instead she gave him a glare full of indignation before she apathetically clinked her glass with the glass of his scotch on the bar and then without taking her eyes away from his she gulped down the bubbly liquid in one go making her eyes burn and shine as the champagne tingled down her throat spreading the sweet dizziness in her bloodstream. She looked at Rebekah's guard that watched her from afar and she felt as if she had not just drunk champagne but acid.
She then pushed the empty glass to Klaus' chest aggressively and he caught it numbly; his eyes did not miss hers even for a moment as he first followed her gaze towards Rebekah's guards and then looked at her again. He stared at her dumbfounded with questioning eyes and in any other case it would be comical to see Klaus like that, all speechless and shocked, but right now Caroline was too angry to even notice.
"There! Happy now? I hope you are pleased because this is the only thing you will get from me!" she snapped at him and strode away furiously.
"Sweetheart, wait a minute," Klaus called as he ran after her but she didn't turn around. Klaus knew people were watching but he did not care.
Caroline walked even faster going towards the back corridor that led to the private bathrooms and the storages. She felt her eyes burning. She was so angry with herself most of all. She hated feeling weak. She hated having people push her around.
Before she could take another step Klaus practically jumped in front of her and she almost fell on him.
"Why won't you just leave me alone?" she shouted at him desperately and Klaus' eyes traveled up and down her shaking form with what seemed to be a mix of worry and concern and for some reason that made Caroline even more furious.
"What happened Caroline?" he seriously asked and she huffed and tried to walk away from him but he was not allowing it.
"I am not for sale you asshole and you are not going to get into my pants by threatening me!" she yelled at him all aghast and Klaus looked at her as if she had gone crazy. She pushed her finger against his chest and Klaus' astonished eyes followed her aggressive gesture before going back at her face. No one has ever dared to act that way in his presence. Everyone was too scared and cowered in front of him except this hurricane of a woman that he did not know if she was overly brave or just crazy.
"That does not work with me!" Caroline yelled furiously and repeatedly pushed her finger more aggressively into his chest," so you can take your stupid threats and your guns for hire and shove them in-"
Before she could even finish her rant Klaus had pushed her inside the first room he saw next to them and closed the door behind them. He had gotten her inside a dark dusty storage room. The place they were storing the scotch bottles.
Caroline pushed him back with her hands, ready to kick and scream.
"Let me go! I swear to God I'll-"
Klaus turned on the lights of the small room and took a step away raising his hands in the air in a reassuring gesture trying to show her that he was not going to hurt her. But he could not let her treat him like this in front of everyone either and they had to talk in private.
Caroline heaved and blew at the curly hair that had fallen over her face and Klaus looked pleadingly at her.
"Calm down Caroline!" he gently prompted and Caroline stomped her foot down.
"I am calm! I am perfectly calm!" she screeched looking all livid and Klaus raised his eyebrow as she crossed her hands over her chest while continuing to glower at him.
"Let me out of here!" she demanded and Klaus nodded.
"I will. Once you tell me who has threatened you," he resolutely told her. There was steel in his voice and somehow that made her anger dissipate a bit. His tone threw her off. There was an eerie calmness in him that was more threatening than any outburst of anger.
"As if you don't know," she spat with disgust and Klaus studied her with a piercing gaze and Caroline saw for the first time in him the dangerous gleam everyone seemed to be afraid of. The fear she had felt a few moments before in Rebekah's presence was nothing compared to this. It was as if spiders started crawling against her skin.
"I don't," Klaus growled, "but I promise you that anyone who dared something like this will never dare do it again," he said with a menace that took away her breath, "you have my word," he vouched and Caroline felt unsure and confused.
Klaus approached her and looked at her intently.
"Who was it Caroline?" he quietly asked again but it was the fervor in his question that made Caroline gulp down her erratic breath. He looked sincere and angry.
More angry than she had ever seen him before.
Caroline pressed her lips, her hands turning into fists as she averted her eyes from his and looked down at the floor.
"Bekah," Klaus realized and cursed under his teeth as all the pieces connected in his mind. He remembered seeing Rebekah talking to Caroline before she came at him all raging and angry. And then Caroline glanced at Rebekah's guards with fear. It all made sense.
"I am so sorry sweetheart," he sincerely apologized, "my sister is overzealous when it comes to my…happiness," he said and Caroline looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Happiness? Seriously?" she blurted out giving him the most disbelieving look that made Klaus smile tenderly at her.
Klaus took a step forward and Caroline narrowed her eyes.
"You don't have to worry about my sister. I will deal with Rebekah. I promise you," he gave her his word, and then his smile turned more affectionate. Caroline was stunned and glanced up at his face.
They were really close and the anger she had felt was quickly replaced by another feeling she did not want. It was electrifying and she felt another kind of helplessness now. She was falling for him. He was making her fall for him with his stupid reassurances and his care and his even more stupid dimples and lovesick gazes. He was a mobster and his sister had just threatened to throw her in a ditch if she would not sleep with him and surely Klaus was just as dangerous as Rebekah was. Hell, he was more. So why was he not like that with her? Why was he screwing with her mind like this? And why was she letting him?
She shook her head and huffed in frustration. The anger returned. She wanted to punch him and make him reveal his true character. This could not be real. She should know better right now.
"Don't! Don't do that! You can quit with the whole gentleman act! I don't buy it Klaus!" she yelled at him feeling her eyes burning.
Klaus looked offended.
"Have I ever forced you into anything? Have I made you feel threatened or made any inappropriate move towards you?" he demanded and Caroline stared up at him feeling her heart beating faster and faster.
"No," she reluctantly admitted, "I mean…I-"
Caroline bit her lip feeling uncertain and on edge. Klaus gazed at her for a long moment before he nodded and took a step back. He opened the door of the storage surprising Caroline and he stepped to the side allowing her to walk away. Caroline did not move.
"You have nothing to fear. I will deal with Rebekah," he promised her and Caroline saw the sincerity in his words. She slowly walked towards the door but without knowing why she stopped in front of Klaus. She did not move. She stood there not daring to look up at him. He was standing inches away from her holding the door open for her. He leaned down and inhaled her scent as she took a deep breath looking at the empty corridor outside the room. One step away and she would put distance between them and yet her legs were not obeying her.
"You are safe with me Caroline," Klaus whispered to her ear, "I only want you to give me a chance. To get to know me better. But only when you are ready," he told her in a low voice that made her shiver. She closed her eyes and felt his fingers skim the line of her jaw. He gently turned her face to him and cupped her cheek. Her eyes snapped open at the intimate gesture and without even understanding it she leaned into his touch pressing her cheek against his palm.
"You will always be safe with me," he promised and she saw no lies hiding behind his words; and for some totally insane reason that made absolutely no sense …she believed him.
Detroit
February 2013
Caroline rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. She needed to drink something warm and go to bed already but had just come down from the stage. The smoke from the club always irritated her eyes and throat and tonight was not an exception. She had sung all night long but lately, these nights were becoming longer and longer.
Maybe it was time to move on. She had settled down for longer than she had first intended. Rebekah's club had been a good environment for some time but lately, she couldn't handle the pressure…or the attention.
She couldn't lose herself again and yet she was losing herself every time she faced Klaus Mikaelson's piercing eyes staring at her night after night. It no longer felt as if she sang for the crowd of Loup Rouge. It felt as if she was singing for him and him alone.
He was there every night. At his table. His eyes boring into her until she found herself struggling for breath.
He had been inviting her to sit at his table ever since Rebekah had introduced her to him and every time she declined his offer. Politely but persistently and yet he persisted nonetheless. Ever since he had seen her singing on stage he never missed another performance of hers.
And then the gifts came. Flowers and chocolate and expensive jewelry. It wasn't until she actually strode to his table and told him to take a hint and stop showering her with his stupid gifts and leave her the hell alone that she realized how dangerous Klaus Mikaelson was. It would seem he had expected her reaction and that was why he had been sending her all those gifts, to begin with. He had wanted her to go to him. To face him face to face. To be angry, to lose her control and so she did and it brought a sinful smile to his lips and made her realize she was in too deep already. He looked at her with admiration and challenged her to give him a chance.
It was frustrating. How charming he could be. It was frustrating. And he was more than that. He was intelligent and persistent and clever. It was a bad combination because she knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was.
Klaus Mikaelson was the epitome of danger and every inch of that danger resonated in every part of hers that was attracted by everything he was and everything he could offer her. She couldn't deny that he was a breathing temptation and she was finding it harder and harder to resist.
Maybe she should really leave Detroit. She had enough money to travel now. She could go to Europe.
Or even return home.
No. Not home.
She would never go back there but there were so many places she could go even though lately, even that possibility paled in comparison to how exciting life could be if she took up Klaus on his offer and let him show her the world.
Caroline opened the door of her dressing room and forgot to close it when she turned on the lights and saw a jewelry box, wrapped up in a neat beautiful satin white bow, on the vanity table.
She bristled at that and let out a huff.
She marched to the table and harshly unwrapped the bow while shaking her head. She already knew this was from Klaus. No one else could enter her dressing room in Rebekah's club and this was a signature move of his.
"Just give up already," she muttered and opened the box expecting to see another set of diamonds but instead she frowned when she realized that this time inside the box was a folded paper.
She set the velvet box aside and carefully unfolded the paper and froze.
A gasp escaped her lips.
'Impossible,' she thought.
And yet…
This was far more than an expensive gift. This was a drawing. Her drawing.
So that was what it was she realized.
She remembered when a few nights ago Klaus watched her keenly but there were times for the first time since she had met him when his eyes would drop and she would miss the warmth and intensity of his gaze. She should have been relieved to have those moments of respite but instead, she had grown curious at what he was writing down that made him look so absorbed and pensive only for him to return his gaze back to her far more intently than before. He would stare at her with a furrowed brow and then turn his attention back to his notebook. She had wondered back then if he was writing something about her but she had never expected him to have such talent.
Klaus Mikaelson had sketched her. Singing on stage.
And she looked beautiful.
She ran her fingers over the lines that shaped her form. She looked…so…
'Is this the way he sees me?' she thought with wonder and gulped down. Her heart was speeding up. There were excitement and dread inside her building up. As if she had swallowed down a thousand butterflies that now flapped their wings and threatened to burst out of her. She knew Klaus Mikaelson was dangerous for her. He was reaching to parts of her she had wanted to ignore. He was pulling and pushing and her defenses were crumbling. She could run away. She could go to the other side of the earth but how could she outrun what threatened to become a feeling inside her?
"Why won't you give me a chance sweetheart?"
Caroline closed her eyes. His voice was warm and gentle and it should have startled her but instead, it made her ache.
When she reopened her eyes she saw him through the mirror. Klaus was leaning against the doorframe and he looked at her with so much longing and so much hope.
His question was direct. No more games.
She noticed how he was watching his drawing in her hands and the paper fell from her hands. It felt as if it had burned her and she took a step back when the drawing fell close to her legs.
Caroline took a deep breath. This wasn't good. She had to run away. She had to find a way out of this. With her past, she should know better.
Chemistry…attraction…love…
She couldn't fall into that trap again. Not with someone like Klaus.
Images of Logan entered her mind and that fire that grew inside her turned to ice. She knew the consequences of a bad decision. She knew what could happen if she trusted the wrong person. She couldn't pay the same price twice and maybe Klaus wouldn't physically harm her but men like him could hurt others in far more destructive ways and she had only just mended her broken heart again. She couldn't afford to have it shuttered again. This time it wouldn't heal. She couldn't take such chances. It would be easy. But where would it leave her?
Maybe she had turned to a coward but her morality, her fears, every lesson she had been taught now screamed at her to keep Klaus away.
And Klaus Mikaelson was not like Logan. He would never let her go. That much she knew. That much she could tell. And what was worse was that maybe she would not want him to let her go either and she had fought too hard to be free only for her to squander her chance away like this. She would not become anyone's trophy or obsession again.
So she put on her brave face and let the hostility spill out of her. It was the only way to cover everything she felt. It was the only way to protect herself.
She narrowed her eyes and glared at Klaus' reflection.
"What happens if I don't?" she coldly asked him.
Oh yes. She had heard the rumors. She knew what happened to those that denied Klaus Mikaelson but she was not one of his victims or worse even one of those that feared him and bent backward to serve him. She was not going to be one of those women that flocked around him begging for his attention either. Klaus Mikaelson had a reputation with women too.
Maybe she should have shared his bed when she had first met him and maybe he would have moved on the next day as he did with all his other conquests that never managed to keep his interest for more than a night.
But she had to go around and make it a challenge for him and now it was too late to just have a one night stand with him and move on. Deep down she knew this wasn't an option for her anymore. This wasn't just lust and infatuation. This game was lethal and it was a dead-end with no way out.
Klaus' eyes mirrored her reaction and he narrowed his eyes and Caroline tensed when he straightened his body and approached her.
She turned her head around only to see him staring her down. So close to her now. He looked at her as if he could read her thoughts. As if he could strip her naked from the inside out.
"Do you think so low of me?" he drawled, his tone inciting and yet wrapped in darkness and promise.
She steeled herself and did not back down.
"Yes."
For a moment there Klaus seemed surprised and almost crestfallen but she must have imagined it because then his eyes gleamed with amusement and determination and he smirked. It was as if her answer ignited pride and satisfaction in him. The blue of his eyes turned black and his eyes fell on her lips. The air thickened between them.
There was an onslaught of emotion crashing over her. She was trapped in the middle of the storm and all she had to do was lean over and taste sin itself.
Klaus' body slanted forward and Caroline held her breath when his nose almost touched her neck. He inhaled her in and then slowly lowered his body down. His eyes tracing every inch of her body making her feel so exposed and vulnerable. He was so close. His movement felt like calculation and intimidation but instead of filling with dread, her body hummed with desire. What she wore on stage for singing, silk and satin, offered no barrier between her and Klaus that now went on one knee before her, never taking his eyes away from her making her blink when she realized that he had reached for the drawing she had dropped.
Caroline found it harder to breathe as he got up slowly taking her in with his eyes in an even more impossibly intense way making her feel both desirable and trapped in her own skin.
He towered over her and then looked down at the sketch.
"Truly pales in comparison," he muttered and shook his head disappointed confusing Caroline as he eyed her apologetically, "I am afraid I didn't do you justice, sweetheart," Klaus observed and Caroline drew a sharp breath when Klaus tried to tear the paper.
No! He couldn't do that!
She grasped his hands stopping him at the last moment.
She couldn't let him destroy the drawing…for some reason, she couldn't.
The paper wrinkled. Their hands laced.
There was shock from them both and stillness. Caroline's eyes widened. She shouldn't have done that. Touching him…but he was warm when she had expected him to be cold.
…So warm…
It felt as if a current flowed through him straight into her. She looked down at their hands. She would fare better if she held a grenade…Why couldn't she move her hands back?
The sound of the paper further twisting snapped her back into reality. Caroline withdrew her hands back and stepped back ashamed for her reaction.
Klaus smiled fondly and approached her again this time carefully as if he was afraid she would either vanish in front of his eyes like a ghost or she would flee from him like a crazy person and then very gently placed the drawing back on her hands.
Caroline looked up at him, speechless and unable to even move.
Klaus said nothing. He only left and Caroline felt as if her legs could barely support her weight. She rushed to the door and closed it making sure to lock it.
She watched the crumpled drawing in her hands and for some reason, she hugged it feeling as if she was falling and that small piece of paper was the only thing that could ground her.
.
.
.
Klaus Mikaelson heard the lock turning just as he walked away from Caroline Forbes' dressing room.
He stopped moving and closed his eyes. He flexed and uncurled his fingers before he looked down at his hands. They tingled.
He had never felt this kind of adrenaline before.
One touch was enough.
Caroline was like his guns. A straight bullet to the heart. Aimed at him.
At first, he had been certain it was only a matter of time before she would give in. At first, he believed she had only been playing hard to get but the resolve in her eyes told him differently now. Thanks to Kol he knew of her past that defined her but he only had to look at her to truly know of her strength and the metal that laid beneath her fragile beauty that was only magnified by her hostility.
Her constant rejection irked him but a part of him was filled with pride for the way she handled herself. It was refreshing to meet someone so brave and fearless. Someone so beautiful that couldn't be bought or forced into submission.
Caroline was a breath of fresh air. A game he loved playing. She had been his muse for the last weeks and a challenge.
Only tonight he realized she was far more than that.
It was right then and in that moment when he decided he would keep her.
And once he did…he would not let her go.
Detroit
February 2013
She walked down the road when the sound of a familiar accent reached her ears.
"Caroline wait!"
She closed her eyes and heard tires screeching on the pavement and turned around to see Klaus running after her and almost getting hit by a car in the process. The men of his security were watching him from the other side of the road with wide eyes.
"Seriously can't you take a hint?" she protested tiredly. This has been a long night and she had a headache and this man would just not give up! He was relentlessly stubborn. Always trying to get into her good graces as his old fashion vocabulary would say whenever he was trying to woo her. He was trying everything. Asking her out, asking her for a drink, giving her flowers and even diamonds. He was crazy and smart and funny and his dimples and accent were wearing her down but she would never admit that. She was smarter than that. She had to be.
"Just give up already," she groused.
"On you love? Not ever," Klaus jested even though something told her that he actually meant it.
"What do you want Klaus?" she asked as she wrapped herself more into her coat. The midnight air was already messing with her hair.
Klaus sauntered closer and reached out for her. Caroline narrowed her eyes confused taking a step back noticing that he was actually trying to give her…her phone.
"You forgot your phone in the bar," Klaus said, his hand stretched out offering her phone back.
"Did I?" she suspiciously wondered out loud taking the phone from his hand and trying to ignore how his fingers momentarily brushed against hers.
Klaus' wolfish grin made her tilt her head up and examine his features carefully in the night. His roguish charm more pronounced under the moonlight.
"Thank you," she softly said and Klaus nodded.
"See you again tomorrow night love," he told her with a smile and Caroline chewed on her bottom lip. They were standing close and for some reason, her body was not obeying her brain's orders. Her legs were not moving and she was not leaving.
She nodded at him and when Klaus let his finger push a thread of hair from her face she shivered and pulled back.
"Good night sweetheart," he whispered and Caroline gripped her phone tighter.
"You just don't give up don't you?" she blurted out and Klaus smirked at her bluntness.
"Never. Not from the things that matter," he simply said not pretending to not understand what she was talking about.
Caroline raised her eyes to meet his and saw the intensity in those blue orbs and it made her knees go all weak and her breath hitch inside her chest.
"Sooner or later you will give me a chance," Klaus told her in a matter-of-fact tone and Caroline raised a challenging eyebrow at him.
"So what? You are trying to tire me out?" she laughed knowing all too well that she should not poke the monster.
"Is it working?" he flirted with her and Caroline tried to swallow back her smile feeling the edge of her lips trembling. She shook her head and Klaus gave her his most boyish smile making her feel as the blood inside her had just melted and warmed up her skin against the coldness of the night. She had not felt like that for so long. She had not flirted, she had not used her playful side, she had not allowed herself to show her carefree side; and she was doing that right now with a mafia boss that was relentless when it came to flirting with her. She was treading into dangerous waters and yet the only word she could use to describe what she was feeling right now when it came to Klaus Mikaelson was…gravitational.
"I think it is sweetheart," he beamed taking a step forward invading her personal space and then giving her a challenging gaze daring her to move back. That kind of game, that kind of pull and push was making her restless and unable to resist. She didn't want to let him win. He was not intimidating her but he was provoking her and she was never one to back down first.
"Arrogant much?' she sarcastically fired back and saw how Klaus' chest rose with a hint of laughter. The amusement in his eyes glimmering in the night.
"No. It is not a matter of arrogance," he confessed as he hovered over her. The fragrance of his cologne burning through the air making her inhale him in. "It's understanding your opponent."
Caroline gave him an incredulous look.
"We are at war then?" she questioned and Klaus' smirk turned dangerous. So dangerous that created heat between them. It vibrated in the air.
Thoughts like 'Ah Caroline Forbes what did you get yourself into?' blurred in the sweet dizziness that engulfed her. And all she could think was that she should have run before it would be too late. Why was she not running?
"Where all is fair," Klaus played with the words of the known idiom making Caroline cross her hands in front of her chest.
"And what is it that you understand about me then?" she pushed back knowing all too well that this was not clever. She should just walk away. Why wasn't she? Why was this danger making her feel… safe?
"You, just like me, love a good challenge love," Klaus declared and Caroline felt a charge of electricity invading her bloodstream.
She took a step forward and noticed how Klaus dipped his head down to reach closer to her. His eyes fixated on her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes.
"You don't know me," she told him with a steady tone.
"Then give me a chance to get to know you, Caroline," he whispered longingly and Caroline felt her weight lift on her toes. She swayed on her heels feeling her whole body being propelled forward completely out of her control. All she had to do was throw the match to the gasoline and she would lose herself. To the unknown. To the challenge. To all she feared and all that she had missed for so long. All that was so close to her reach now. She saw those raspberry lips and she realized how much she had missed the taste of a kiss. The taste of lips pressed against her own and the seductive whisper of a kiss.
"Your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life," Klaus' words were laced with such an alluring note of enticement that felt like a touch as intimate as a lover's caress.
"Give me a chance Caroline. I dare you."
Klaus did not move to touch her. He did not try to initiate this but he was already burning her. She was burning.
But she had been burned before.
She stepped back abruptly feeling the violence of her memories dissolve any desire and saw how Klaus' eyes darkened when he saw her rise he walls up once more. She looked at him and understood in that gaze of his that should she take him upon his challenge there would be no coming back from that.
Her hands were trembling and she felt an ache in her heart at the disappointment she saw in his eyes.
"Thank you for bringing my phone," she hoarsely mumbled avoiding drowning more into that ocean of need they had created between them.
Klaus' demeanor quickly changed and he bowed slightly at her. It was frustrating how fast he could compose himself again.
And yet the challenge was still there. In her grasp. Tempting her.
"Good night," she whispered and felt shivers going up and down her spine at the way he smiled at her. A gentle smile. An understanding one.
She turned around to leave and took two steps forward feeling his eyes boring holes into her back.
She abruptly stopped and turned her head to the side a little.
"Just so you know, I am too smart to be seduced by you," she said knowing all too well that he was still standing close watching her walk away from him.
She heard his throaty chuckle and just as she started to walk away his voice made her halt once more.
"Well, that's why I like you."
Caroline shook her head and left not daring to look back no matter how much she wanted it to. It would be hours later she would realize that Klaus had saved his number into her contacts.
Detroit
March 2013
Loup Rouge had closed its doors to everyone aside from those that were invited to Rebekah Mikaelson's private birthday party. There was a lot of commotion and noise and smoke. Alcohol kept pouring and everyone working in the club made sure to not notice all the guns people kept carrying with them.
Caroline had sung for the most part of the night and was now waiting at the bar to get her drink. She had her red dress on tonight and she put her brightest smile to her performance. Rebekah wanted everything to be perfect for her night and Caroline for the first time saw all the Mikaelsons gathered together.
She already knew Klaus since he was coming more and more often to Loup Rouge to listen to her sing. But it was the first time she had seen all the family united. They were presenting themselves like the royal family and Caroline didn't know if she wanted to roll her eyes at that display of power or be impressed.
However, she could hardly notice the rest of the Mikaelson family when it was Klaus' intrusive and penetrating gaze that kept following her every move.
She would have liked to say that she was immune to the way he looked at her but she was not. Every time she felt that flaming desire in his eyes bathing her from head to toe. It was making her blush and it was making her smile.
Ever since November, she had been seeing him regularly. And every time he was trying to charm her with his stupid dimples and alluring accent. He kept sending her gifts which she kept returning and he kept trying to win her affections no matter her constant, and most often than not, blatant rejection. He was just not taking the hint!
She had never seen such a stubborn man before in her life. He was so persistent and infuriating. He was always trying to make her laugh and to give him a chance. It would seem as if he could not believe that a woman would not fall for his charms. His ego was almost as massive as his megalomania and that said it all.
She glanced towards the direction of Klaus' table and saw Rebekah laughing at something he said but it was as if he had felt her eyes on him. He turned his gaze to her from afar and raised his glass towards her direction smirking and she quickly averted her eyes ashamed that he caught her sneaking a peek at him.
She cursed under her breath at the way he would probably look all smug and satisfied right now.
The barman finally came back and smiled at her as he served her drink.
"A glass of cherry wine for the lady."
Caroline smiled at him as she took the glass.
"Thanks, Jerry."
"Loved your performance tonight by the way," Jerry praised her with a wink and Caroline laughed as she took a sip from her drink.
"Thanks. Let's hope the boss liked it too," she joked pointing subtly towards Rebekah, and Jerry laughed with her.
"Goodnight Jer," she said as she turned around ready to go to her dressing room.
She stumbled back clumsily as she almost spilled her wine to a man that was standing really close to her. She didn't even notice how he came so close to the first place.
He was tall and overly muscular and was shamelessly checking her out; something in the way he looked made her mouth go dry. Being so close to this guy made her feel threatened somehow. It was the same unsettling feeling she was getting to the pit of her stomach as a danger signal back in Mystic Falls whenever Logan seemed to be getting angry.
She gulped and smiled politely. She looked around quickly. The place was filled with people. She would be fine. And Rebekah's security always made sure that no one would harass her.
However, the party was private and every guest was invited so she didn't want to make a big deal out of this and how much more when this uncomfortable feeling was just that. A feeling and nothing more. Sure this was only in her mind.
"I am sorry. I didn't see you there," she carefully said and the man gave her a salacious smile all teeth.
"No problem blondie," he drawled and she nodded and tried to leave. But before she could the man stepped in front of her blocking her way.
She held her breath and gripped her glass tighter.
"How about you keep me some company? You almost drenched me in wine after all" he laughed as he licked his lips.
Caroline tried to not grimace and she took a step back as he moved closer.
"That would be a no," she coldly said and tried to walk past him once more but yet again he blocked her path with his body.
She took a sharp breath and pressed her lips. Her hand was itching to throw her wine to his face even though tingles of fear were already running up and down her spine.
"Are you sure doll?" he insisted as he took yet again one more step forward.
This time Caroline stood her ground.
"Positive," she said frustrated and tried to walk around him but he only chuckled and didn't let her move.
Caroline looked around and noticed how the guards of the club were doing nothing to help her this time. It was probably because this was one of Rebekah's honored guests.
She was starting to feel extremely threatened but the man didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to be taking a no for an answer either.
He came closer and leaned over. Their chests were almost touching as she felt her back hitting on one of the stools of the bar table.
"And why does it seem to me that you are from those chicks that by no they mean yes?" he lewdly laughed and Caroline tried to move away again but once more his body seemed to be like a brick wall meant to stop her getaway.
She was starting to panic now. She left her wine on the surface of the bar and looked at the man straight at the eyes with as much seriousness and anger she could muster.
"Let me pass," she said trying to keep her tone clear and strict.
The man snorted and grabbed her by the arm bringing her closer.
"Or else?"
Caroline was ready to knee him in the balls when a voice from behind the creep that was manhandling made her hold her breath.
"You heard the lady. She's not interested."
The man that was holding her immediately let her go as Klaus stepped in. Caroline breathed in relief and rubbed her arm with her hand at the place that idiot had grabbed her.
When Klaus saw that his eyes darkened and a muscle on his jaw clenched. Somehow she felt her blood turn to ice as Klaus' lips turned to a thin line. He turned his attention to the unknown man but Caroline was sure that Klaus knew him.
"Hey man I didn't know she was yours," the man immediately apologized and stepped back raising his hands in the air in surrender.
Klaus didn't say anything but Caroline swallowed hard at the way he placed himself in front of her and put his hand on the man's shoulder. It seemed like a friendly gesture but she could feel how the awful guy that looked all threatening and powerful moments before was now cowering before Klaus.
People around them had stopped talking or even moving and simply watched. The man that was harassing her some moments before now stood immobilized as Klaus smirked and leaned over to whisper something to his ear.
Whatever it was made the other man's face go pale and she trembled on her spot.
Caroline blinked as Klaus gave a slight nod to his men and they came towards them. The gaze Klaus gave to his people seemed to be a form of code or a silent communication of sorts. Because they came at them looking certain of what Klaus wanted. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion now.
Before the man could even say anything Klaus' men had grabbed him and were pulling him towards the back exit as he was screaming for Klaus to forgive him.
Caroline gave Klaus an incredulous look as she looked at how his all in dressed black men were dragging the man that was frantically calling out for mercy.
Soon enough his voice got lost in the music and Klaus cast to people around them a deadly glare and suddenly everyone was minding their own business again and acting as if nothing had happened.
Caroline opened her mouth to speak but realized that no sound could come out. She was in shock.
What had just happened?
Klaus looked at her and his finger grazed the part of skin on her arm she had previously rubbed.
Caroline dropped her gaze and followed his finger with her eyes as shivers were born in her body. She glanced up and noticed how Klaus looked at her. With worry and affection.
"Are you alright, love?" he tenderly asked her and Caroline got a whiplash by how his mood had changed. The formidable man that caused terror just moments ago had disappeared and the charming gentleman was back.
"Uh…yeah...thanks…. I guess," she muttered confused and Klaus smiled.
"No problem, sweetheart," he said and helped her sit on one of the stools. She was shaken up a bit but not because that man had harassed her. Everything that transpired seemed so surreal.
She had heard the rumors about the Mikaelsons and Klaus but it was another thing to have suspicions and another thing to watch without a doubt all the rumors coming true just before your eyes.
Caroline looked at the direction Klaus' men had taken the man. This was not right. She did not want anyone to be hurt in her name…or worse.
"What is going to happen to him?" she quietly asked and Klaus shrugged dismissively as if her question was irrelevant.
"Nothing for you to worry about."
She gaped at his audacity and calm demeanor.
"Like hell, it isn't!" she angrily protested and Klaus raised his eyebrow impressed by her reaction.
"Seriously! What's going to happen to him?" she urgently pressed Klaus who sat on the tall stool opposite to her.
His lips curled in amusement.
"Nothing tragic, sweetheart. He will simply learn how to treat the fair sex better," he simply said and Caroline huffed in exasperation.
"By men that I am so sure are the poster boys for feminism."
Klaus laughed but the sound was not pleasant to her ears. She wanted to scream at him now.
"You are impossible! And you didn't even have to do that. I had it handled," she accused him and Klaus gave her a gentle smile.
"I know."
Caroline blinked at how sincere he sounded for a moment there.
"I am not joking Klaus!" she lashed out and Klaus' smile grew wider.
"Neither am I," he honestly responded.
"Then why-"
"Why I stepped in?"
Caroline nodded and Klaus took her palm into his hand. He leaned over and kissed the inner side of her wrist without taking his eyes away from hers.
His scent had enveloped her and everything around them disappeared.
"In what universe would I see you in any kind of danger sweetheart and I would not come to your aid?"
Those words were enough to break the spell he had created between them and she yanked her hand away from his. The place his lips had touched her skin burned but she also burned inside from a wave of anger that was born years ago. She refused to be weak. She refused to allow men to become the villains and the heroes of her story. And how much more men like Klaus that aimed to be both.
"I do not need a savior," she coldly said as she put her walls up once more.
Klaus narrowed his eyes. He was looking at her as if he was searching for something.
And what scared Caroline the most was his ability to read people. And the fact that somehow he seemed to have found in her eyes what he was looking for.
She opened her mouth to tell him goodbye as she wanted to get away from him but Klaus interrupted her even before she had the opportunity to speak.
"Then maybe we should just even the score. Repay me for my not needed help?"
His eyes sparkled with mischief and Caroline felt almost drawn to that feeling too.
"You overstepped. I did not ask for your help," she dismissed him with a voice full of indignation and Klaus held back his laughter.
"Well sweetheart I promise that I won't give you my help again unless you ask," he seriously told her with a curt nod and then smirked.
"However no matter how unwelcome my help was tonight when it came to your persistent admirer it was given. And from the looks of it you do not seem the kind of woman that wants to own favors to men," he playfully stated and she rolled her eyes.
"Of course you would ask something in return. The Devil always does," she sarcastically mumbled and Klaus arched his eyebrow at her.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was not meant to be one," she denied in a childish manner that had Klaus laughing as if he had no care in the world.
People around them looked at Klaus in surprise. As if they were not used to hear him laugh in that way. As if his genuine response was something new to them. It was not a cruel laugh and not an ironic one. It was not a signal of danger. It was just him laughing.
And all Caroline could think was how enticing that sound was. So boyish and carefree and she somehow doubted that Klaus was used to laughing that way. Or at least she was willing to bet that he had forgotten how to do so.
"I know sweetheart," he said, mirth dancing in his eyes.
Caroline looked at him and compressed her lips in an attempt to stop herself from smiling since his amusement seemed to be contagious.
"So what do you want for saving the damsel in distress," she grumbled with suspicion.
"Just a drink love," Klaus asked and reached for the drink she had left on the bar.
He twirled the liquid inside the glass and smelled it. Caroline watched him with a furrowed brow.
"I am sorry what are you doing?"
"You love cherries sweetheart?"
She nodded and Klaus raised his hand calling Jerry. The barman immediately came to take Klaus' order.
"Mate how about you get a Marasca Fizz for our lovely singer here and a Krug Grande Cuvée for me?" he said and gave to Jerry her glass to take back.
Caroline crossed her hands in front of her chest.
"Seriously? I already had a drink!" she complained as Jerry quickly brought them their drinks. The bartender now seemed serious as he strived to impress Klaus and Caroline refrained from rolling her eyes.
Klaus took their drinks and offered her the one he chose for her.
"Yes but is not champagne our thing love?" he observed with a seductive voice as Caroline took the tall flute that was filled with chilled champagne, a blend of maraschino and sour cherries. She was willing to bet that Jerry had used the same champagne for her drink as the one Klaus had requested for himself.
"We do not have a thing," she disagreed promptly and Klaus gave her a taunting smirk.
"Don't we?" he challenged and clanked his glass with hers with a knowing look.
Caroline took a deep breath before she brought the rim of the glass to her lips.
Klaus followed her every move as the heavenly flavor of the bubbly champagne hit her tongue. She almost moaned as she savored the unique taste that exploded in her mouth and soon ran down her throat already creating a slight dizziness.
She didn't take her eyes from his as he took a sip from his champagne.
She lowered the glass and played with the crystal in her fingers twirling the glass slowly in her hand.
She licked her lips before she drained the remaining alcohol.
"So obviously the rumors are true," she said in a low voice. Her tone was revealing a simple acknowledgment over a fact and no hint of accusation.
Klaus stared down at her until she raised her gaze to meet hers.
"Which rumors would that be sweetheart?"
Caroline gave him a knowing look accompanied by a bitter smile. She already knew who Klaus was even though she had never asked him before and Klaus was not an idiot. He already knew what she was talking about but he wanted her to be direct.
"Those that say you are dangerous," she clarified, her gaze defiant and fearless.
The smirk that highlighted his dimples was not playful or charming this time. It was dark and it made her heart pound faster. She gripped her glass.
"Well?" she insisted wanting Klaus to also give her a direct answer.
Klaus took the glass away from her hand and set it aside before he gave her his full attention. There was something unyielding and serious in the way he looked at her but most of all honest.
"Yes," he simply admitted. He did not have a hint of shame or remorse in his voice. He was simply stating a fact and Caroline felt an ominous portent of danger surrounding them both.
Why was she not running away?
Klaus took her hand into his and entangled his fingers and with hers.
"But not for you."
Caroline held her breath but she did not remove her hand from his. Instead, she squeezed his fingers. She didn't know why she believed him but she did. She probably shouldn't but somehow she trusted him.
She never learned what happened to the man that harassed her. But after that night no one dared to make a move at her ever again.
Detroit
March 2013
It was night and somehow they had found themselves in the park, sitting on a bench, facing each other in the dark.
It was dangerous to be out in this park this time of the night but nothing was as dangerous as Klaus and Caroline seemed to know this enough to feel…safe.
And he…well he hadn't felt this relaxed in ages.
He had been chasing her, trying to get her to give him a chance and after the stunt, Rebekah had pulled by trying to scare and blackmail her into submitting to him he thought he had lost all chance but it would seem that the fact he had put his sister in her place gained him a respite with Caroline.
It wasn't enough to get into her good graces or win her heart. Not by a long shot.
He knew it would not last.
But for tonight…it was enough.
"So you just want to talk. About my hopes and dreams," she nervously tapped her hands on her knees, "what about yours?"
He simply shrugged as if he didn't have any or even worse as if he was shrugging his away.
Caroline narrowed her eyes and he tensed. It was as if her gaze was penetrating the walls he covered his darkest secrets with.
"You have so many people around your orbit. Begging for you to notice them. Why me?" she finally asked in a low voice, filled with curiosity that sparked a weird sensation in him. It was warmth. It was soft. It was something he should be incapable of feeling.
He just couldn't name it.
He stared at her. Seriously. He could avoid her question. He could manipulate the truth. He did it all the time.
But he couldn't. Not with Caroline.
"You have something they don't."
She arched her eyebrow in question.
"Honesty," he simply said.
Her eyes scanned him for a moment.
"Are you really that lonely Klaus?"
His breath was caught in his chest. Uncomfortably tight.
But then all he had to do was gaze into her clear eyes and the weight lifted. He could breathe again.
"Not tonight… Not with you."
She couldn't understand it then. But for someone that was always utterly alone, such fulfillment was a trap. Because he would not let her go now. Not when she filled that hole in his heart like no other ever could. Like no other ever would.
Not when he would need her to breathe.
July 2013
Red Onion State Prison
He was in a bad shape. He could barely breathe. Everything hurt. In times like these, he missed solitary.
He had lost count of how many times he had ended up in the medical wing of this prison. Every scar his body now had was put on him only in the last months. Scars, like that one on his face, that would never heal.
He was losing his mind.
No one would tell him why. They had all ganged up against him. If not all then certainly the worst in here.
They had marked him for death. No. Not death. Torture.
They had marked him for torture and it would not end. One day, out of the blue, his misery began and it never stopped. Life in prison had never been a walk in the park. Not when they managed to put him in this supermax with the worst of the worst. He had found himself with more charges. Added charges. Not just on domestic abuse and attempted murder. They had dug up everything on him. Not all of them true but he hadn't been able to prove his innocence.
And all that because the cops in Virginia made it personal because he had dared to touch the dead Sheriff's precious little girl. As if they had cared for her. He was the only one that had cared. For her. For his Caroline. He still dreamed of her. He loved and hated her. She was the reason why he had ended up here in the first place. He had given her everything and that ungrateful bitch turned on him.
Caroline Forbes put him in here. His sister cut him off. His reputation was gone. His life was destroyed. He ended up in this hell.
He didn't know what strings Matt Donovan had pulled to send him in this particular prison but this is where he ended. The guards took 'special care' of him when he first arrived and he believed it to be hell. He believed those punishments to have been cruel. Inhuman.
At first.
He didn't know any better back then. He had believed the first months to be hard but nothing compared to what he was living now.
There was no respite. No mercy.
Only this time it had been worse.
This time has truly been bad. They had almost castrated him. The guard had saved him in the last minute but not before they had ripped out one of his balls.
He could not wait for his time to be done. He knew he wouldn't make it anyway. He heard the whispers from the other inmates that had set their eyes on him. They would kill him before his sentence was done. Hours even before he would get out. There would be no end to this.
Only he would end it. He couldn't take it anymore. He had already tried. That was why they had strapped him to this bed now. He couldn't take it any longer. He would find a way to end his life sooner or later. If not now then in the first chance he would get. He could not take the pain any longer.
Tears fell. He couldn't stop them. There was no more dignity. No more strength. He only wanted to die. He had begged, he had fought, he had struggled, he had lost. He only wanted this to end.
He froze and trembled when he heard the door creaking open. He didn't try to pull on the restraints. Fighting made no difference.
Only this time he wasn't visited in the after-hours by one of the sadistic guards or one of the even more so sadistic inmates that always found a way to break through the security and find him even in here, even in recovery and in isolation.
"Five minutes," he heard the gruff voice of the guard that opened the door, and then the soft reply came.
"More than enough. Thank you."
He opened his eyes to only see the silhouette of a woman. She came in as the guard turned on the lights and then left closing the door behind them.
He was practically blind from the one eye but his good one, if you could call it that in the state it was currently in, caught the glimmer of bright red.
He barely saw how the woman puckered her eyebrows and scrunched up her nose as if the smell of the disinfectant in the room was more than just unpleasant to her. Or maybe it was him and the sight he presented.
He couldn't keep his swollen eyes open. The lights burned them and he rolled his head to the side trying to hide his head from the brightness. It hurt him. It felt as if his skull would split open.
The woman dragged the chair from the other side of the room and brought it close to his bed. Then she sat and waited.
"Logan Fell," she said and he inhaled sharply. It was good to finally hear his name again. Not just the number code with which he was registered in the prison and not any of the degrading names these assholes in here gave him.
"We don't have much time. Let us not waste it," the woman advised him and he forced his eyes to open.
Everything seemed to be turning but it was her bright red hair that brought everything back to focus.
She looked at him curiously. She was beautiful. He hadn't seen a woman for so long. He missed a woman's touch. He missed Caroline's touch. He wanted to get out of here and have her back. He wanted to make her pay and hurt her and have her beg.
Only this woman wasn't Caroline. Whoever she was…she had a hard glint in her eyes.
Logan tried to speak but he could barely swallow down. His throat was so dry it felt like the flesh was cracking open.
"Who are you?" he croaked.
The woman said nothing. She kept staring at him for some long moments making him feel uncomfortable. She was very well dressed. As if she had jumped out of the pages of a fashion magazine like those Caroline used to read.
"My question is who are you? Why did he take such interest in you?" the redhead asked him and he flinched when his face contorted in an expression of befuddlement. He didn't know what she meant but even blinking hurt.
"What?"
"Klaus Mikaelson never bothers with the small fish," she stated, "more so those in small ponds outside his turf. What is it so special about you?"
"I don't understand what you mean," Logan groaned. Damn it, even talking hurt, "who is Klaus Mikaelson?" he moaned.
The woman looked at him as if he was crazy and then she shook her head.
"You don't know who is behind your hell do you?"
Logan stared at her completely lost. What the hell? Who was this crazy chick? As if he didn't have enough problems as it was.
"You have the wrong person lady. Go waste someone else's time," he spat and let out a whimper of pain. He needed pain medication but there would not be any.
"You really don't know do you?" the woman let out an incredulous laugh," of course you don't. The King of Chicago excels in mind games as he does in carnage and bloody torture. Why do you think this happened to you?"
Logan glared at her but she gave him a knowing look and the pieces starting coming together. She had the answers he wanted. As crazy as it was she knew why this was happening to him. She knew who was responsible and why.
Klaus Mikaelson she had said.
He hadn't heard that name before. He had only heard rumors about a Wolf King that put a target on his back but no one dared to speak of his name or tell him who he was and why he was doing this to him. This woman called him the King of Chicago. What did this have to do with him? He had never been to Chicago before. He had never met, wronged, or even heard of…Klaus Mikaelson.
Till now.
"Okay then," the woman with the red hair said, "how about you tell me your story and I will figure it out for you. And just maybe this could be your ticket out of this hellhole."
"Who are you?" he asked her, this time, despite the pain, more lucid than ever before.
The woman smiled and slowly played with the wedding ring on her finger.
Detroit
September 2013
The clock pointers of the old clock were set in the small hours after midnight. The drumming echo at each slow turn of the seconds' hand was the only sound resonating in her small apartment.
She closed the door behind her gently, her hands shaking. The living room had surrendered to the darkness of the night. She didn't bother turning the lights on.
Her heart was pounding wildly inside her chest.
.
"You will never have me," she had said to him just moments earlier and as always he had smiled tenderly at her.
"We will see about that love," he had replied and had leaned over to kiss her cheek.
Or so she had thought.
He hadn't kissed her cheek this time. He had kissed the edge of her lips. And had made her knees go all weak.
He had lowered his head then, his warm breath caressing her neck.
"Goodnight…Caroline," he had whispered her name like a spell of seduction in his farewell for the night leaving her breathless and mesmerized. He waited until she would get in her house. His eyes never leaving her.
.
She breathed in and out and without any second thoughts, she closed her eyes and unwillingly smiled as she leaned over the closed door and touched with her fingertips the heated side of her neck. The same part where Klaus's lips had whispered her name after his goodnight.
He, as always, had been a perfect gentleman and even though she had refused at first -as always- he eventually escorted her back to her house. As always.
He had been doing that every night after she would finish her singing performance in Rebekah's piano bar. Every night ever since he had first seen her singing in his sister's bar.
Originally she had accused him of stalking her but he had playfully claimed that it wasn't stalking since he was obviously not hiding and not lurking around.
Besides as he always pointed out he wasn't hiding his intentions. He wanted her. He would not force her but he would wait until she would eventually become his.
She had refused him a thousand times. He always persisted. At first she had even asked Rebekah to keep Klaus away from her but her employer had laughed and told her that if her brother wanted something he would always get it. Clearly hinting that he would also get her in the end and implying that it would not be a smart idea to try to avoid him or run away from him. He would always find her.
That admittedly had troubled her.
More so when she found out who Klaus truly was. And what had scared her more was that when he was around her she wasn't afraid of him. Somehow he made her feel at ease. His presence felt electrifying and yet also soothing. It was insane but it was happening. Even with her past, it was still happening. A weird disconnect between her logic and her sentiment. One that only Klaus could provoke in her.
Eventually, Klaus had tired her down and she had accepted him accompanying her back to her house without protesting that much.
Nowadays he would drive her back to her home and the silence between them would be either comfortable or vibrating with all the things they seemed to want to say but they would never actually say out loud.
And she always pretended that she was not noticing the two cars that always followed Klaus's car from a close distance. In the same way, he always had scary looking men surrounding him in Rebekah's bar.
She had also realized that Klaus knew where she lived without her ever telling him. He had been sending her flowers in her home and he knew exactly what roads to take when he was driving her home at night.
And that had originally startled her. Even though it shouldn't have been such a surprise that he had been able to find out her address. She should have expected that much.
What actually frightened her was that it seemed as if Klaus was creating a web all around her and expected her to willingly trap herself inside it. And like a moth, she was indeed drawn to the flame.
However, she had never invited him into her house and he had never asked her to. He always waited for her to get into her house and lock the door behind her before he would leave.
On the first nights, he had been kissing the outside of her palm while telling her goodnight, which she had thought was kind of cute but told him that it was ridiculous. After that, he would kiss her cheek instead.
She had refrained commenting on his kisses on her cheek because she didn't want any bolder progress. Or maybe what actually scared her and left her speechless was how sometimes she wanted his lips to claim her mouth instead of touching her cheek.
After that his lips would linger longer and longer on her skin and yet she would still say nothing but she would not turn her head away either.
Their eyes were always meeting then. His holding a promise, hers always guarded and…tempted.
He was always gentle with her. Witty and charming. Seemingly harmless. But she could tell that underneath it all the fire he carried inside him was explosive and scorching hot; it would burn her and would leave nothing but cinders and ashes.
She shook her head. No. She couldn't fall for him. Not for him. Maybe it was too late for that but she would have to put a stop to this. Before it would be too late.
She had already paid the price of a destructive relationship. She couldn't go through that again.
Something told her that Klaus would never hurt her. Not physically. But he was dangerous. Everyone feared him and with good reason. She wasn't blind or stupid. She knew perfectly well who he was and he knew that she knew. And if she was smart she should fear him too.
She unstrapped her heels and threw them off her feet. Her bare skin touched the carpet and she sighed.
She would make clear to Rebekah, again, that she was off-limits. This time she would not leave any doubts about it. Her brother should stay away and if he didn't she would leave. She should make this clear to Klaus too.
Besides, it wouldn't be the first time. She was tired of running but if she had to she would run away again, and this time faster than ever before. A small voice inside her mind told her that maybe it was too late. Maybe this time she wouldn't be able to disappear. Not from a man like Klaus.
She huffed and went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She took out her rocky road chocolate ice cream and tried to find a spoon. She sat on the kitchen bar and paid no attention to how her short tight dress rose up over her thighs.
She moaned when she had her first ice cream bite. Comfort food always tasted good and since she wouldn't experience any night of passion any time soon -or ever again for that matter- this was the next best thing.
Only it wasn't enough. It wasn't distracting her mind from its thoughts. Thoughts of a seductive English accent and a dimpled dangerous smile.
She shook her head again and her phone rang. She blinked surprised. It was really late, past midnight. She answered the phone and when she heard the voice from the other side of the line she froze.
"Caroline," a familiar voice from her past asked.
She gulped and squeezed the handset in her hand.
"Yes?" she whispered terrified.
"It's me, Caroline. Matt."
She blanched, unable to even move. Matt was the only one that had her apartment number and she had told him to never call her.
Never call her unless…
"Is everything all right?" she asked him, her fear rising.
"He escaped."
Detroit
September 2013
They had said goodnight just one hour ago. And just an hour ago she had told him that he could never have her. And yet here she was now, in the office of his house, across his desk, surrounded by his bodyguards begging for his help.
In her panic, he was the first one that she could think of. He was the only one that could help her. Protect her.
The police and the system had not been able to help her four years ago and obviously were also unable to keep her safe now. So she had to find a more effective way to protect herself. She was not safe. Not anymore.
She had thought of running away and hiding but she would not be able to run forever. Not from her ex.
She had then done the unthinkable. She had called Klaus, her voice a terrified request for help and he had immediately sent one of his men to pick her up and bring her to his house.
He had welcomed her for the first time to his house but she didn't seem to even notice the extravagant surroundings. Rebekah was there too but Klaus told her to leave them alone and she had immediately obliged.
Then he had offered her a glass of scotch which Caroline had immediately drained. That alone had turned his gaze darker as he was realizing more and more the state of panic she was in. The way she was trembling had also made his eyes express menace.
He had taken out his jacket and wrapped it around her before guiding her to his office.
He was intently staring at her now. He was sitting behind his desk, his expression pensive, his gaze calculating.
One of his men was standing beside him and one some steps behind her. She knew that two more were outside the door and many more inside and outside the palatial mansion. This place seemed like a fortress and this was exactly what she needed.
Klaus's domain was not even in Detroit. As far as she knew he was actually living in Chicago. She didn't know why he had decided to stay in Detroit for so long but he seemed to be living under extreme security precautions. If this place here was so guarded it meant that no one could ever get near Klaus without his knowledge or permission. Not here, not anywhere.
"Why are you here love?" he inquired with a gentle tone and she raised her eyes at him with fear.
"I need your help," she pled with a trembling voice.
"Do you now?" he probed with a smirk.
She lowered her gaze and bit her lip. She hated her weakness and her fear. She hated the fact that she had to turn to a man for help. Especially since that man was Klaus. And what she hated, even more, was the fact that she was giving to Klaus exactly what he wanted and that his satisfaction at this was multiplying by the minute. At first, he had seemed concerned. Now he seemed pleased.
However, she had no other options left. He was her safety net.
She almost burst out laughing. Klaus, the man everyone feared was where she felt safe.
"Yes. You are the only one that can help me. Please, Klaus! I am-" she stopped abruptly and her trembling fingers fidgeted with the hem of his jacket.
"Yes" he pressed and she fisted her hands and looked at him with a sharp gaze again.
She took a deep breath.
"In danger," she said. Her voice not wavering.
Klaus pressed his lips and for a moment she thought she saw anger blazing inside his gaze. So hot that it scared her. But then it was gone and he seemed indifferent again.
"From your ex-boyfriend I assume?" he murmured with an inquisitive tone.
Her eyes widened.
"How do you-"
"I know," he simply said and her heart started beating faster and faster.
She stopped even breathing when his gaze traveled slowly over her form. He scanned her posture, her eyes, her fear. He was taking every detail in and at that moment she felt more danger and fear than ever before. She didn't know what he would do and that scared her.
But if she was so scared of him then it meant that he was after all her best chance to survive this.
Klaus got up and prowled around his desk until he went and stood in front of her. He leaned to the edge of the desk in front of her and she lifted her head to meet his gaze.
"What I don't know is what it is that you want from me," he played with her, his voice turning slightly mocking.
She hated the way he was setting his trap especially since she was the one that voluntarily went into his den. He knew exactly why she was there and he was purposely making it harder.
Even like this, she could not look away from his dark blue eyes. The sick satisfaction he was deriving out of this was making her angry and stronger somehow.
"Protection," she said with no hesitation.
The edge of Klaus's lips curved into a smile. And she realized that this scared her more than anything else. His smile seemed more terrifying to her than his rage. And one night that a man had dared to offend her in Rebekah's bar she had seen his rage. And it was not something she wanted to ever see again.
Back then for the first time, she had realized why everyone feared him so much. It was the first time she had felt fear in his presence too. But now his smile seemed even more threatening somehow.
"And what do you have to give in return for my protection love?" he asked and Caroline pursed her lips together in defeat.
"Nothing. I have nothing," she admitted and Klaus's smile grew bigger.
"So you want me to protect you from your psycho ex but you have nothing to give me in return. Is that what you are saying?" he taunted her and her heart clenched.
She looked away from him immediately. Her eyes shining with tears she refused to allow to spill.
"I have nothing," she repeated again in defeat with a trembling voice.
Klaus trapped her chin between his fingers and tilted her face up. Their gazes met.
"That's where you are wrong sweetheart. You have more than nothing. You have everything," he told her with a soft voice that left her breathless.
He swept the tear that fell from her eye with his thumb and she shuddered.
"You have yourself," he said, his eyes glowing with expectation and he waited until she nodded.
And just like that what she had told him earlier that night proved to be wrong. She had claimed that he would never have her.
And now she was his.
In order to escape the demon, she had given herself to the devil.
Chicago
September 2013
The next day after their deal was struck Klaus took her to his home in Chicago. Caroline didn't even have time to talk to Rebekah about resigning from Loup Rouge or to even pack her things from her house. Klaus took control and said he would deal with his sister and that his men would go to her house and bring everything she wanted.
From the moment she gave in to him he kept her close to him. It was then that Caroline realized with awe and dread that Klaus had stayed in Detroit mostly for her and what it meant to be with him. It was overwhelming and scary. Once he got her in less than twenty-four hours they got to Chicago.
His territory he said as if he was referring to his own personal kingdom. And his castle-like house was probably one of the places from where he ruled.
House was one word for it. In reality, his "home" was a majestic opulent estate. Secluded and surrounded by acres of plush-green land and never-ending electric fences, iron gates, countless guards, and impenetrable security systems.
From the moment the limo passed the main iron gate and the cameras' control and closed behind them she realized she had passed the point of no return. She didn't care though. She was impressed by the security. From the looks of it, this place was a fortress and that is what she needed. To cage herself inside a place no one could enter. And from the looks of it, Klaus had no issue when it came to placing her in a golden cage.
Klaus introduced her to the guards and Stefan Salvatore and to his personnel as the lady of the house. Which made her feel extremely awkward and weird. To the outside world, he would introduce her as his mistress but to his domain, she served as his lady.
Truth was that she had never been in the center of so much wealth and she never had people following her around ready to satisfy her every whim. One of Klaus' assistants then took her to what was meant to be her room from now and on.
A breathtaking expensive-looking room that looked as if it was a 5-star hotel room. A bit impersonal but from the looks of it all hers. It was not tacky but it was massive. She also noticed that in the vanity there were products and cosmetics she was using. Along with her favorite perfume. And Klaus had seemingly arranged this in less than twenty-four hours which made her realize that he was planning this for some time. He was planning to bring her here. Probably one way or another.
She didn't know what to think when two girls came in and introduced themselves. One, Claudia, was meant to be her personal assistant that would help her with whatever she needed, and the other, Angelica, was meant to be her personal stylist. Klaus had already introduced her to the guards that would always follow and protect her.
She tried not to roll her eyes at Klaus' attempts to impress and maybe even intimidate her and she simply nodded.
She had expected to have lunch with Klaus that day but her meal was served in her room and later at night Angelica brushed her hair and got her a simple blue dress to wear before telling her that Klaus was expecting her.
Her stomach had turned into a knot upon hearing this. It was midnight and she was sure that Klaus was ready to collect whatever he thought she owed him.
She had gathered herself and followed Angelica's instructions letting her pamper her and then she followed her half expecting the girl to get her to Klaus' bedroom.
However, she only got her to some corridors further in the massive east wing where Klaus was waiting.
"Thank you, Angelica, that will be all," Klaus kindly said as his eyes scanned Caroline's form and the girl nodded respectfully and left them.
Klaus then approached Caroline and gently placed his hand on the small of her back.
"I know I have been a terrible host today sweetheart but after my absence, there were a lot of things that needed my attention," he told her as he led her towards the single door at the end of the hallway.
She remained silent and followed his lead. He wore a simple Henley and black jeans. His scent was overpowering her senses and she half jumped when they reached the door.
She still expected him to get her to his room. She tried not to flinch when he opened the old mahogany door. She was ready for him to lead her to his bed, undress her, and have sex with her. A part of her felt as if this would be terrible and yet exciting also.
What she didn't expect was for him to bring her into a room full of canvases, paint, and brushes. A room with many paintings and build in shelves full of books.
"What is this place?" she curiously asked as she turned and saw how Klaus gently closed the door behind them.
He looked amused as if he could read her thoughts.
"You can call this my personal…sanctuary," he told her and she looked around intrigued.
"Why would you bring me here?" she asked a little bit confused.
Klaus smiled at her then and walked further into the room.
"I am keeping some of my most precious possessions in this room," he admitted and she scrunched up her nose in indignation.
"Seriously?" she said with an annoyed voice that made Klaus laugh.
"Seriously love. But instead of keeping you here I decided to give you the room next to mine," he informed her and she squinted her eyes at him.
"Did you like your bedroom Caroline?" he asked and she noticed that his question was sincere and didn't hide any innuendos.
"Bedroom? I can hardly call it that. That place is like ten times my apartment in Detroit Klaus," she said with a tone that made it clear to him that she was not one to be impressed by his wealth and he smiled at her.
"And FYI I am not your possession," she retaliated and he raised his brow.
"How would you call yourself then?… after our deal that is," he asked her and she hated the smug look on his face.
"Inconvenienced," she muttered and Klaus's laugh filled the room and she tried hard to hide her own smile.
She straightened her back then and looked at him seriously. She was most definitely not his possession. Even if she had to stay by his side and even if they would have sex that didn't mean anything to her. She was her own person and in reality, she was the one manipulating Klaus' interest. She was using his attraction toward her to stay safe. It was her life. Her choice.
"I mean it, Klaus. I belong to no man," she declared and he nodded as he approached her.
"For now," he whispered creating a sweet haze in her mind, and before she could reply he put his warm hand to the exposed skin of her upper back and gently led her towards the fireplace while pointing towards the soft cushions on the floor.
He helped her sit there and she noticed that next to her was a silver plate filled with her favorite cupcakes and two glasses of red wine.
"Do you like Oscar Wilde, Caroline?" he asked as he went towards one of the bookshelves.
"Excuse me?"
"Oscar Wilde. Have you read any of his work?" he asked as he took a book out of one shelf.
"Uhm…yeah…why?"
"Yes you have read his work or yes you like him?" he pressed and then sat next to her on the cushions. The flames from the fireplace next to them were illuminating their figures more.
"That depends. I think I liked'The Picture of Dorian Gray' the most," she admitted and he nodded and opened the book.
"How about 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'?" he inquired.
"Never read it," she admitted and he smiled at that.
"…He did not wear his scarlet coat. For blood and wine are red. And blood and wine were on his hands. When they found him with the dead. The poor dead woman whom he loved. And murdered in her bed…" he started reading with a soft voice and she gulped.
Time passed and he kept reading. Her eyes trained on his lips. She looked at him with wide eyes not believing that the man everyone feared and the man she desired and despised in equal measure, the man that had offered her his protection and had manipulated her fear, was a man devoted to art.
A man that would paint, and read poetry and literature. A man that would kiss her softly on the cheek but ask permission to kiss her lips.
Soon enough she had made herself comfortable on the cushions. She had drunk her wine and ate some of the delicious pastries. She had propped her chin on one hand and rested her other on his thigh as she looked intently at him as he kept reading. His one hand was holding the book and the other was covering her hand on top of his leg.
Klaus was so strange. She could feel his passion and his coldness all at once. A man that killed and tortured without mercy and yet one that he wanted to sit next to her and find comfort in words of fiction and poetry with her. A man that she had seen with her own eyes hurting others and yet a man that talked to her about genuine beauty and music and art.
She could not believe it when he had started reading to her.
He had simply sat next to her, opened the book that seemed to be old and all worn out, and started reading.
"…Each man kills the thing he loves…" he continued and looked straight at her for a moment before he returned his attention back to the book.
"…Some kill their love when they are young and some when they are old. Some strangle with the hands of Lust some with the hands of Gold. The kindest use a knife because the dead so soon grow cold. Some love too little, some too long. Some sell, and others buy; some do the deed with many tears, and some without a sigh:
For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die…"
She lost all sense of time. All she knew was that Klaus had a magnificent voice. One that could enchant anyone. She should know. She was a professional singer. She was used to people looking at her in awe every time she would sing and yet she was not used to feeling so drawn to another person's voice.
She was also sure that this particular poem Klaus chose to read to her on her first night at his house was meant to tell her something. Either it was a promise or a threat. A thrill and intimidation. Her past, their future, and their present written and spoken in old words.
But yet she could not look away and she could not feel fear. She was now older and wiser. She would not feel fear not even when Klaus recited the poem by heart looking straight at her.
"…And all men kill the thing they love, by all let this be heard, some do it with a bitter look, some with a flattering word, the coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword!..."
She felt oddly comforted. Because she knew that she had in her past a man that was a coward and had broken her down. First with kisses and flattering words full of false and empty promises and then with his fists and his punches.
A man she hoped that maybe somewhere down the road would find himself in the "mercy" of the man that now read poetry to her.
Because she also knew that now she was in the presence of a brave man. A man that would kill for her and maybe even kill her too. But if Klaus was to kill her he would do it with a "sword" and he would look her straight in the eyes.
Maybe Klaus' way would be more cruel. He was already aiming for the heart. And yet her heart refused to fear him.
Chicago
October 2013
He hadn't felt panic for years and yet today he did. There had been a passing moment when he had truly panicked. It was irrational but there were times when he felt as if Caroline would vanish from his life as easily as she came into it.
So when he had returned to his home, still elated at the thought that Caroline would wait for him and he could have dinner with her and enjoy their banter and her reluctance to his compliments and his attempts to woo her, only to find that she was nowhere to be found he had felt the kind of insecurity that threatened to turn to rage.
Maybe she had changed her mind. Maybe she had decided to break their deal and escape not just Logan's threat but him too.
Logically he knew it would be impossible for Caroline to leave his mansion without him knowing where she went. His home was heavily guarded. No one went in or out without his knowledge. There were guards, dogs in every corner. Cameras, fences, and high walls everywhere.
Besides his men had direct orders to never let Caroline out of their sight. She could go nowhere without his permission and even though he had been lenient to allow her to move around in the city at will and go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted he had been adamant to always take Stefan with her and the security he had chosen for her. If for some reason it was dangerous for her to go out he would inform her since he also had many enemies but for now, she could go anywhere she wanted as long as she followed his rules or what he believed to be common sense.
Very soon he would introduce her to his circle as his woman. He didn't intend to hide her in as if she was his dirty little secret. He wanted to have her by his side. He wanted to make it known to everyone she belonged to him. He wanted to feel everyone's envy at owning such a beauty.
Of course, he would have to make sure everyone would believe she was nothing more than a sidepiece of no true importance rather than make her a beautiful invaluable trophy for him to parade around. It would be safer for her. She would not attract the wrong attention that way and no one would think to use her as a weakness against him.
He knew Caroline would hate the label of the mistress but it had been part of the deal she had agreed upon and even though he gave her time to adjust very soon he would start taking her to Loup Noir and then she would sing only for him. Everyone would learn that she was his favorite and no one would dare lay a hand on her. She would be important enough for others not to touch but she would also look as unimportant as needed for others not to bother with her and think of using her as leverage.
Still…she could potentially make a beautiful bait and Logan Fell was still out there. As were many morons that thought they could have what he had. Caroline's safety was of paramount importance to him so it made sense to have his men protect her at all costs.
It was for her own safety after all. This was why she had come to him in the first place. For protection. So he gave it to her and when she had protested that Stefan and his men felt more like her jailers rather than bodyguards he had only shrugged telling her that this was what she had wanted from him and that a deal was a deal and he was only keeping his end of it so she should now keep hers. And so she had.
Until tonight.
Until she was nowhere to be found and he knew that even though it was almost impossible for her to ran away he also knew that Caroline was smart and determined. He would not put it past her to have been able to fool everyone here and ran away under their noses. And if this was what had happened he would bury them all for their incompetence. He had made it clear that Caroline Forbes was their priority now. Her life was above everyone else's and he had to always know where she was. He had to know with whom she talked, who she saw, what she did. He wanted to know everything.
If she had run away he would put their heads on pikes!
As for her…there was nowhere she would be able to hide!
At that moment he knew he would turn the whole world upside down to find her and Logan Fell would become a fond memory for her. No one betrayed him. No one left him.
He hated to admit that what he feared the most was the idea that she could be in danger and he wouldn't be able to reach her in time.
He hated the fact that he felt lonely. More lonely than ever before. Now that he had her light in his life he could not return to his darkness.
It was only but a few weeks since he had brought Caroline to Chicago but he counted these weeks as the happiest of his entire life. They gave him energy and purpose and even though Caroline still kept the distance between them she now belonged to him. They read poetry together. They ate breakfast and dinner together. And he could relish in her beauty and warmth.
It would be too much of a cruel torture for that to be ripped away from him now. Not after all the time he had tried to make her give him a chance and maybe the way he got his chance was not ideal but it was still a chance. He didn't deserve Caroline but he had her and he didn't care for what was right or wrong so Hell be damned he would keep her. She had accepted his deal. She belonged to him now.
His mind went to a thousand places each bleaker than the one before and darker to the point of madness until Stefan informed him that Caroline had gone to the one place no one was allowed to go.
He had frozen at that before he flinched.
Stefan almost cowered in front of him as did most of the personnel that was brave enough to stand behind Stefan.
No one was allowed to go there but he had also given explicit orders to everyone in the mansion that Caroline was to have free reign in his house. They had to respect her as they respected him. They had to give her everything she wanted, when she wanted it, as she wanted it. She was free to go anywhere she wanted and they had to always obey her commands and heed her requests as long as she was not endangering her life. Her jailors as Caroline called them were not only there to protect her, follow her, and report to him. They were there to also serve her. To treat her like a Queen and to please her in any way she wanted. He wanted her to be as comfortable as luxury could make a person and to move around in his home in any way she wanted until she would feel it like her own.
So when Stefan had told him a few days ago that Caroline had taken a liking to his gardens he had been relieved to know that there were parts of his house that made her feel comfortable.
He had never thought she would find her way past the rose gate.
It was supposed to be locked but Rebekah always went there and just to spite him always left the gates wide open.
Caroline must have found her way there and given his orders no one had stopped Caroline from going there or even told her it was not allowed.
He turned around leaving Stefan and the terrified servants and guards behind him.
He had to reinforce the rose gate and make sure that not even Rebekah would be able to get there anymore. No matter the tantrums his sister would throw. He should have torn that place to the ground instead of turning it into a mausoleum because in truth this was what it was.
This would be the only place Caroline would not be allowed to enter. Why did she have to go there? To go to the place he had buried Esther's bones?
He sighed and shook his head. She didn't know. This wasn't her fault. It was his.
And yet all thoughts vanished when he walked past the rose gate and listened to soft music and the chirping of Esther's birds.
When Klaus walked further into his mother's rose garden and reached the pergola with the birdcages he halted mid-stride.
There she was. Caroline.
At the bench where Esther used to sit. Between his mother's luxuriantly planted flowers.
At the place where he had the only fond memories of his mother. The only place where Esther Mikaelson had ever cared for him. Far away from Mikael's accusing and prying eyes. Far away from his father's abuse. There, where she held him and sang him lullabies when he was only but a child. Where she gave him his bird necklace and made him love her hummingbirds.
There in between the marble pillars with the vines and the roses wrapped around them was where Caroline was now sitting.
She had carried her guitar with her. She watched the birds and sang.
And all the poison he had inside evaporated and he only stared at her.
He didn't dare step outside the shadows. He stood underneath the leafy tunnel and let Caroline's beauty wash over him.
And instead of happiness and accomplishment, he felt…sad.
Caroline looked just as lovely and just as lonely as his mother used to look a long time ago.
Klaus realized that maybe this was why Caroline had found her place in this haunting place. Loneliness always called to loneliness even if it was nothing but an echo.
He would have to do better with Caroline. He would have to find a way to make her happy. To make her laugh. This didn't have to be a prison for her and he would have to find a way to prove this to her. He would never gain her heart otherwise.
Because he had her in his domain but he didn't truly have her. He knew she only stayed because of her fear over Logan Fell and the vilest parts of him felt gratitude. Because at least in this way he could still keep her close to him. And now that she had fallen into his clutches he would never let her go. Having her so close, inhaling her perfume, waking up to know he could see her, and knowing that every night he could still see her again was a blessing. One he didn't know he would appreciate so much. Caroline was beautiful and she was his and he could now wait knowing that one way or another he would one day have more than just her presence. But to do that he would have to tear down the walls that kept him at an arm's length. Their deal was only but a chance. He would have to fight for her. He would have to gain a real chance with her.
Caroline wanted him. There were parts of hers that wanted him. And one day he would sneak up in her heart and he would have her body and soul even if there were parts of her that he had to stifle. He knew she still desired freedom. He knew she still wanted unrestrained independence and he could give her everything but that.
He wanted her loyalty, her trust, her devotion…her love. He knew he was unable to return her love but he would give her everything else she asked of him. He could give her safety and passion and desire and the whole world. When she would accept him and when she would settle into this life he would show her the world. He would take her to places she had only imagined and dreamed of.
She would be far more than the mistress of the King. She would be his one and only. His one and only weakness. He would give her the keys of his Kingdom and he would give her as much power as he could give to anyone. If only she wanted it…if only she wanted him.
He decided to get out of his hiding spot and was careful not to startle Caroline.
He hated seeing her in this place but he realized he didn't have the heart to keep this place away from her if this was where she wanted to be.
This was now her house too after all. If this was where she wanted to be then so be it.
He frowned when he heard the lyrics of the old song Caroline was mumbling.
...
Songbird in a golden cage
She'd prefer the blue
...
He stilled and listened more as Caroline played the guitar and he pressed his lips realizing how much he hated that song. It irritated him for some reason. As did this place. He truly wanted to take Caroline away from here and never look back.
...
How I crave the liquor of her song
She shall be my prisoner her life long
...
Caroline had noticed his presence as he came and sat by her side at the marble bench and he waited until her fingers stilled on the strings.
...
My songbird wants her freedom
...
He took out his jacket and gently placed it over her shoulders when he saw the shiver that ran through her body and yet Caroline didn't react. She kept watching Esther's birds in their cages with sadness and he felt as if she was miles away. She was closer than ever and yet so far away.
He followed her gaze curiously. The hummingbirds were cooing and Caroline was still lost in their sounds as if they sang to her in the same way she liked to sing.
"What's in your mind sweetheart?"
"Some birds are not meant to be caged," she only said.
Chicago
November 2013
Caroline was trying not to show how alarmed she was.
She glanced around at the basement feeling trapped. She had nowhere to run and there was something in Kol's maniacal look that truly scared her. The servants and the guards upstairs, despite Klaus' orders, looked elsewhere when Kol linked his arm through her elbow and pulled her with him.
If anything everyone in this house seemed to enjoy Kol's jests as well as being terrified of his bipolar personality. No one would stand up against Kol Mikaelson especially when Klaus was not in the house.
And Klaus right now had gone out with Elijah. Rebekah had sent Stefan to a business and Kol obviously decided it would be fun to show her around and of course as he said it would be a pity if she didn't experience all the Mikaelson hospitality which meant that now Kol Mikaelson had cornered her and walked her through one of his torture sessions in the basement.
And so she was now stuck in this mess. She doubted Kol would physically hurt her given how he would still have to explain himself to Klaus but that didn't mean she was safe with him. Besides she was on her own now. She was still new to this house. She tiptoed around everyone and everyone viewed her as one of Klaus' newest possessions and so they kept their distance from her. They were respectful and polite but distant. It was kind of lonely and frustrating and she was starting to miss Klaus' presence more and more. And how much more right now that she was here alone with Kol.
Well not exactly all alone with Kol.
In front of her, there was a man tied in actual chains. His naked body was severely bruised and swollen. He had sagged over and seemed unconscious. He was practically dead weight on the chains that held him up from his outstretched hands. It looked painful. As if his joints would pop. His feet barely touched the plastic paper that was placed underneath him and was now splattered with blood and vomit.
So much dried blood had also stained the man's mouth and chin.
It was so unsettling to think about how she was living in luxury upstairs while underneath, a few floors below, people were being tortured to death.
"Why did you bring me here?" Caroline asked trying to sound calm and not convey her fear.
Kol stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her spine locked.
"I am educating you, darling," Kol whispered in her ear before he rested his chin on her left shoulder and sighed as if he was bored, "Bekah told me about the deal you made with my brother. You sold yourself did you not?" he chuckled making her lips compress into a thin line, "and in exchange for your services, Nik is going to keep you tucked away from the world. Safe and sound in his gilded cage, no?"
"Get your hands off me," Caroline bit out and tried to yank his hands away from her upper arms while Kol simply continued pestering her.
His touch had nothing sexual but it was creeping her out big time. She wondered what Klaus would do if he ever saw that and a part of her knew this was a test. She had not seen the Mikaelsons interact that much because Klaus was trying to keep her away from his siblings, obviously for her own good, but from what she had seen Kol loved to rile Klaus up. Caroline was sure Kol wanted for her to go to Klaus and spill everything.
Caroline gritted her teeth. She would not give him the satisfaction. If he wanted to bait his brother he should find another way. She was neither bait nor Kol's sick entertainment.
Caroline stilled when a grunt of pain reached her ears. The man was waking up again. Slowly. Shit!
He looked so much in pain and he was trying to say something but Caroline then realized that they had cut out his tongue. And the noises he was making were as terrifying as that realization sank in.
But then it was the rich laughter she knew all too well that covered the man's pained noses and Kol's excitement. Caroline was used to that laughter. It was shrill and cruel. She had worked for that woman long enough to know that this sound never bode well.
Rebekah Mikaelson laughed as she stepped down the stairs careful not to smear her beautiful shoes with the grime and blood that lingered everywhere in the basement.
"If Nik finds out what you are doing with his toy you will end up counting broken bones Kol," Rebekah warned her brother bemused while still not missing the opportunity to insult Caroline.
"I am no one's toy!" Caroline huffed twisting her head away from Kol's hands that were now somehow fascinated with braiding her hair.
"Feisty," Kol snickered when she slapped his hands away and then he twirled her around as if they were dancing on stage, "what if I don't? Will you tell on me?" Kol taunted her but she said nothing. He frowned at that and then his gaze scrutinized her in a way that Caroline felt as if Kol could read her mind and her fear. "Nik saw a challenge in you but…are you really that weak?"
Caroline pressed her lips at the pity he heard at Kol's tone of distaste.
"I honestly don't see what Nik sees in her," Rebekah whined and Kol smirked.
"I do," the youngest of the Mikaelson brothers drawled.
Kol's gaze was vulgar. Caroline this time stepped away with the intent of actually leaving no matter the consequences but he pulled her back.
"Let me go," Caroline told him, her voice now cold and dry. "Now."
Kol seemed intrigued by the iron in her voice though. Caroline from the corner of her eye saw how Rebekah turned serious at once and shook her head calling Kol's name in warning.
"She is not one of your girls Kol," Rebekah reminded her brother and he snorted.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist Bekah," Kol said and rolled his eyes, "it's just harmless fun."
He then let go of Caroline and gave her a challenging stare.
"Stay darling," Kol crooned and stepped around her going straight for the man. Caroline held her breath as Kol grabbed the man's hair and pulled his head back violently relishing at the pained noise that left his victim's lips. Kol only turned around and winked at her specifically, "stay and learn. This is what my brother's protection means after all."
Caroline swallowed hard and watched as Kol tortured the man.
She had been at the receiving end of torture before but she had never stood by while another human being was been treated like this.
Memories of Logan's abuse started flashing in her mind but for some reason, she remained detached as the screams that started filling the basement were becoming louder and louder by the moment. It would seem that a person could still scream even without a tongue.
Kol Mikaelson was an expert at making others scream. He knew what crippled, what burned, what only caused pain. He knew how to use his hands and he knew how to use blades. He knew how to taunt and he knew how to give a false sense of a reprieve before he cruelly lashed out his sadism. He knew how to dangle someone at the edge of pain and life. Just a breath away from death but not just yet.
Caroline flinched and her skin turned clammy. Kol didn't want any answers from the man. This was just fun for him. Either fun or retribution or both. It seemed pointless to her but it wasn't for Kol.
A part of her, the human part was pulling at her. Telling her to do something. But the practical part knew it would not make a difference.
Somehow this was all about her. Kol's games were meant to test her. And she knew that should she give up, should she give in, she would lose and she was way beyond that point in her life. She knew what Klaus' protection entailed and she would own her decision. Blood, gore, murder, and all.
Rebekah Mikaelson next to her didn't seem to mind. She was checking her nails all bored. It was her that was blanching at the side of all that blood but otherwise, she was not allowing herself to show any discomfort. She wouldn't. She could play this game. From the moment she had signed up for this life she knew this would be a reality and she was not naïve to believe this reality would not touch her.
Kol stepped back from the man and eyed her reaction.
"Impressive," he said and rolled his shoulders before he wiped the blood from his hands with a cloth, "others would have puked by now," he jested, and as if on cue the man threw up and Rebekah scrunched up her nose.
Kol simply shrugged at her and went to the other side of the room and took a bat from the wall.
He swung it in the air. Once, twice.
Caroline watched as he expertly gyrated the bat in his hands. His eyes now had a dark gleam.
When she had first met Kol Mikaelson he had seemed young and carefree to her. Now, bathed in blood and with that insane look he looked every inch the monster and for the first time she could see the resemblance between him and Klaus and it left her breathless.
"This is what happens when anyone dares to betray us," Kol stated and the message was clear.
This was what they'd do to her if she betrayed Klaus and their family.
Caroline squared her shoulders as the bat rose and fell on skin and bone. The sound of bones breaking was deafening and the crunching sound had the hairs on the back of her neck stand on attention. But soon that grueling sound became a concert of wet noises. Kol was now beating up mashed up meat. It was inhuman and excessive. It was meant to send her away running in tears. Little did he know that she had heard those sounds before. The sounds of bones breaking. Of skin tearing over and over again. The squishy sounds of blood on torn flesh. Those sounds were every night in her nightmares. An echo on her skin every time she looked at her scars. Every time she relaxed and the ghosts of the past remembered her. She never forgot. It was nothing new. It would not fade away. And it could not scare her anymore.
"I've had enough of this," she tiredly said and turned around ready to walk away. She would not run but she would not play into Kol's games either.
"Leaving so soon?" Kol mocked her and maybe it was his mockery or Rebekah's ironic giggle but the next thing Caroline knew was that she was moving. To the opposite direction from the stairs that she had aimed to go to.
Instead, she strode up to Kol Mikaelson stepping over the blood, not cringing or showing any discomfort. She stood inches away from him and his bat. Rebekah's laughter died and Kol arched an eyebrow at her.
"You think this frightens me?" Caroline sneered as she stood next to the tortured man, "you are nothing but a spoiled child playing with matches but guess what…I've been burned by fire and you have nothing on me," she coldly said and eyed Kol up and down, "and I don't need Klaus to make it clear to you …to any of you," she added glaring at Rebekah too, "that my relationship with your brother is none of your concern so for all I care you can take that bat and shove it up your ass!"
Kol's expression was incredulous now as was Rebekah's shocked one but it didn't take long before Kol burst out laughing. Only this time the sound was not one meant to taunt. This time he sounded impressed.
"Would you look at that," Kol mumbled in awe before he turned his attention to his sister, "who knows sister maybe she can be one of us after all."
When Kol faced her again this time Caroline faced his seriousness. He stepped into her personal space but she stood her ground. He hummed pleased and gave her a nod.
"I know all about your fire darling," he confessed with a knowing look and Caroline tensed, "so stay," he said again only this time it was not a threat but an invitation, "and see for yourself how our family burns those that dare come against us."
Kol helped her walk to the side. Gently. Caroline blinked as he now treated her like a gentleman and gave her a wicked grin before taking out his gun.
"Forget about fire," he told her and the silver handle of the gun shone in his hand, "this is how we put out little candles like the one that scared you into submission."
Caroline watched him almost mesmerized as Rebekah approached her and whispered in her ear.
"Pay attention little songbird," she confided as if they were friends sharing a thrilling secret, "this is how you bring a man to his knees."
Rebekah's low laugh didn't drown the sound of the firing bullets or of the screams that followed as Kol shot the man in his kneecaps.
This time Caroline didn't even flinch.
Chicago
January 2014
"…You have been the last dream of my soul…" His voice echoed all around her and her hands stilled over his necklaces as she inhaled his scent deeply in. A mixture of whiskey and smoke.
They were entangled on the couch. A fortress of pillows was supporting Klaus's body while Caroline's had found refuge over his as if she was his personal blanket while a fluffy blanket was covering them both.
He held her close, his one hand wrapped around her waist, as her head rested on his chest, her fingers tangled with some of the leather chords he wore around his neck. She leisurely but carefully helped him turn the page of the book he was holding with his other hand and then she made herself even more comfortable into his embrace. His accented deep voice and the way his chest was rocking her body up and down gently with every breath he took were her passage to dreams and other worlds.
She would never admit it to him but in these moments she had found her personal safe haven.
"…Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule…" he read almost with reverence as his free hand traveled from her back to her hair sending shivers up and down her arms.
She lost herself in his narration and in memories. Of her past life. Of her new life with him. Memories that hurt and memories that didn't hurt so much. So far Klaus has been the perfect gentleman. He hadn't touched her and he hadn't shared her bed even though months have passed since the day she came to his house. At first, she had expected him to disregard any of her wishes concerning this. That was their deal after all. He would offer her his protection and she would give herself to him. However, he hadn't initiated anything sexual between them. Neither had she. No matter how there seemed to be times where both seemed to want to cross that line and give in to each other.
When they were in public he acted like a royal possessive prick that paraded his mistress around. Always claiming her and even kissing her and holding her close like an object. But when they were in private he never initiated anything more and he was always respectful and acting as if she was made of glass.
She knew that he had to look ruthless and unemotional to the outside world and she never objected. It was part of their deal after all. But his behavior when they were alone made her respect him. Something she never thought would ever happen.
And even though they were not be having sex Klaus was set on spending many hours with her. To his club and at the house. He was taking her out on dates and they were driving around the city. They were having breakfast, lunch, and dinner many times together. He was taking her shopping and to events, she liked like concerts, the ballet, and the opera. He was always attentive and gentle.
His guards were always following them and she knew that he was always armed up to the teeth but she had gotten used to it by now. It seemed normal to her. Klaus enjoyed parading her around and she enjoyed how no one dared to approach her. It was a brand new world; extravagant, lavish, full of debauchery, blood, alcohol, and shimmering bright lights amid smoky nights, and Klaus kept offering everything to her.
But it was these times she appreciated the most. It was right now that she felt comfortable with him. Almost every other night, like tonight, he would bring her to his painting room. His sanctuary and now somehow hers too.
He would offer her a drink and they would sit either on the cushions on the floor in front of the fireplace or on the red couch in the sitting area of the room. Then he would bring her closer to him and he would read to her or ask her to read to him. At first, he was the one that chose the books and they would read and talk about them for hours.
When he would read she would gaze at his lips hanging on every word and syllable. Maybe to others, this would seem ridiculous and pretentious but to her, it was thoughtful and made her feel all warm and comfortable. And it was their secret. Like how would anyone believe that the mafia King had initiated a book club with his mistress that was not really his mistress?
After a while, Klaus started asking her to choose the books and so far he had seemed to be pleased with her choices. For the past nights, they were reading Charles Dickens's novel, 'A Tale of Two Cities'.
"…Do you think that it will seem long to me, while I wait for her in the better land where I trust both you and I will be mercifully sheltered?..." Klaus read and then with a sigh he closed the book with a sudden move.
She blinked and looked up at him. He placed the book on the table next to them gently and looked intently at her.
"There might come a time when the police will come to you. If not the police then probably the FBI or the DEA. In order to get to me," he warned her, his fingers tilting her chin up.
"What do I do then?" she asked with a determined voice that reflected her loyalty to him and that earned her one of his smiles that were filled with pride.
Because they both knew that her loyalty could not be bought and here she was giving it to him. At least to an extent. And that meant a lot. For both of them.
"You wait for me to come and get you," he simply said and she nodded.
He wrapped his hands around her bringing her closer. Their bodies intertwined.
He then brushed her hair away from her face so tenderly that she could not believe that his hands could inflict unspeakable pain to others.
"I will always come for you Caroline," he promised and it was the first night she pressed her lips to his.
Chicago
March 2014
Caroline's laughter echoed all around Klaus bringing flame into his heart. An emotion he never considered would be something he would ever get to feel. Hell, he doubted he even had a heart, to begin with.
And yet watching Caroline, bathed in the soft lights cast from the chandeliers, all carefree and happy made his heart soar reminding him he still had one.
Caroline twirled around and looked at him with sparkling eyes. Her golden gown caught in its embedded crystals and its long train, all the reflections from the hanging lights in their living room; her hair flowed with their natural shine and the sparkle from the diamond pins that kept her locks elegantly braided and beautifully falling on the one side of the long curve of her neck. The artist inside him rejoiced for he knew that this would be an image that would be etched in his memory. An image he would get to draw over and over again. He knew that if he had to choose from his memories the visage of genuine beauty then this would be it. This moment. Her.
Caroline's excitement was still vibrating in her every move. Her eyes had shed tears and her hands had clapped when they saw 'Euryanthe' in his private box in the Lyric Opera; the entire time she was sitting next to him allowing him to cherish her every reaction between champagne sips and soft caresses.
"Did you like the opera love?" he asked her amused by the way she still hummed her favorite parts. He knew that for a singer like her tonight was nothing less than heavenly. She was thrumming with excitement in their return in the limo and hours later she still did. He loved seeing this side of hers. Her light. Her beauty. Her fearless abandon.
He loved seeing her embracing art and taking in everything he could give her and then more. She made him feel alive and through her eyes, everything seemed brighter and more beautiful. She was reigniting his hunger for life.
"I loved it! Thank you for taking me," she thanked him with a soft voice full of gratitude and he beamed at her while his eyes shone with wonderment. Didn't she know that he was ready to give her the world should she ask?
"I'll take you wherever you want sweetheart. All you have to do is ask," he promised her and saw how the wheels in her head started turning as she was just realizing all the possibilities his offer actually held.
He saw the eagerness and the astonishment in her eyes. The wanderlust. Caroline was a restless spirit that could not be contained in walls and by trivial conventions. She wanted her freedom and she was curious enough to want everything life could give her. Everything he could give her. Caroline wanted to travel and see the world and she knew that together they could even reach the ends of it and get soaked in its numerous cultures and miracles. And she wanted it. He could see how this tempted her and ignited her greedy side as all the possibilities that could now come true weaved new dreams in her.
However, she did not ask. He could see that no matter how much she wanted it she was not ready for that step yet. And he was willing to wait for her until she would be. Until then it seemed he would be the one that would do the asking.
He reached for her and his fingers slid over her arm slowly until he got hold of her palm. He felt the goosebumps that rose on her skin and saw how her cheeks fired up with a lovely pink tint that was growing more crimson with every passing moment.
He smiled at that and twirled her around bringing her closer to him as if both of them were dancers on stage.
"Dance with me?" he requested, his voice low and quiet as he wrapped his hand around her waist making their bodies crash into each other.
"No music," Caroline rasped as she looked at his lips, but her body was pliant. This was not a refusal he realized when she lifted her head and stared at him with eyes clouded with need. The same need he was feeling. The same desire that drove him mad every night ever since she came to live in his house. Knowing that she was so close and yet so far away. So many months. So much time. He was losing his mind.
His hand skimmed the outline of her jaw and Caroline gripped his shirt. Both of their breaths caught in their throats as their bodies brushed against each other. The grinding motion causing stifling moans to get lost between them. Their feet started moving and their slowly dancing figurines cast shadows spinning on the walls.
"Sing for me then," he whispered as he bent down his head and caressed the edge of her lips with feathery kisses. His hand on her back heated the skin over the silk of her gown and the heat that made her skin tingle was pushed back and forth between them electrifying the air and charging the atmosphere. It was as if the lights around them danced and flickered with every pattern their footsteps were making.
When Caroline wrapped her hands around his neck he found himself dangling between insanity and the warm sensation that lulled him closer to her. His hand traced her spine and curled around the nape of her neck. Her hair cascaded around his knuckles as he did so and Caroline blew out her breath over his lips that still trailed her face reverently.
"For you?"
The hoarseness in which she voiced her question made every muscle in his body tense. Tension was building inside him and he felt as if he was on the brink of the abyss. This time it was not the thrill that only the blood of a fresh kill on his hands could give him. This time the adrenaline was pure bliss and torture. It was leaving him vulnerable. In her hands. He drew his head a few inches away just so to level his gaze with hers.
"Will you?" he asked her allowing himself to appear weak for the first time in years. Time stopped as he feared her rejection and hoped for just one word that would make his heart soar.
Instead, he got three. And the world stilled and bristled in color that broke through the shadows and the blackness. The blood that stained his soul dissolved and the only thing that was left was the light Caroline carried with her.
"I want you," she finally said giving in to her desire for him after all this time of their hide and seek games and her lips touched his. She was claiming her kiss and his mouth parted giving her what she wanted. What she commanded and what he could not deny. He was falling and he could only hold on to her. His hands gripped her waist tight and lifted her up until her feet rested on the top of his shoes. He deepened the kiss yearning for more but managed to pull back just before he lost all control. The soft moan of protest that escaped Caroline's lips made him heave. It destroyed him. But he had to know. He had waited for so long. He could wait more. Even if it killed him.
"Are you sure Caroline?"
He looked into her eyes seriously. There would be no turning back from this. He would not let her go after this. Not ever and he saw in her eyes that she knew it. Their deal meant nothing when it came to this. This was the step leading to the point of no return for them. He would not be able to bask in her light and then return back to the shadows. If he had to do that he would take her with him.
So when she smiled and nodded leaning in for another kiss his eyes widened in surprise and then the weight of the world was lifted off his shoulders. His hands roamed over her sides until he buried them in her hair.
Their kiss went on forever and when Caroline hummed against his mouth Klaus felt as if she had breathed new life into him. Her complete abandon was enough to drive him crazy but instead of ravaging her senselessly, he did not get lost in wild mindless passion. He wanted to savor this moment. He wanted to worship Caroline. Every inch of her. Every secret her body hid from him. To take her slowly and to give himself to her piece by piece until the only thing she would be able to utter from those sinful lips would be his name; until his name would be her only thought. He wanted her to feel safe in his arms. He wanted for once to not destroy and torture and seek instant gratification. He wanted to give. To cherish and adore her.
Her lips were like a drug and he did not stop kissing them as he lifted her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck while her tongue danced with his and Klaus was lost in that long kiss as his legs led them to his room.
When they slowly dipped on his bed his hands wandered over her body. Exploring. Feeling her curves under his fingertips. Teasing. Memorizing every contour. Worshipping. He slowly skimmed her thigh and raised his head to see her swollen lips and her hooded eyes. Eyes full of lust and wanting and…trust. His breath was caught deep in his lungs when she buried her hands in his hair and pulled him closer for one more kiss. Her moans drove him crazy as he detached his lips from hers and let them cast a heated path over her neck and shoulder.
Caroline arched her back and pushed herself on her elbows when he gently took her knee in his hands and slid out her shoe slowly, erotically, caressing her foot. He kneeled for her. Down on his knees, he wanted nothing else than to worship her. His hand traveled up; without any hurry, he pushed up her gown revealing the smooth skin underneath and caressed her thigh. Reverently. Soaking in her heat. Her legs parted for him but his hand did not move further up. His nose followed his fingers over her long leg, up to her thigh, taking in her delicate scent and her softness, before he picked up his head to see her.
His eyes darkened at the way she bit her lower lip and he saw how she panted erratically when he did the same with her other leg; this time his eyes stayed on her. He took in every reaction. Every missed breath. Every tremble. Every shiver. She wanted him.
He wanted to take it slow and to be in control but his ritual was cut short when Caroline pulled him on her body and turned them around to straddle him. There was no choice to make. He gave in to her. Not even realizing how this had been the first time to surrender to a woman and allow himself to be dominated instead of forcing his control.
Caroline slowly unbuttoned his shirt and her fingers threaded the cords of his necklaces. She pushed her body up with her legs on each side of him; her hands reached the back of her dress pulling down the zipper of her gown, her eyes never leaving his. Her breath hitched when Klaus' hands cupped her breasts slightly pinching her taut nipples and she rolled her hips over him enjoying the way he immediately hardened more. His touch was filled with adoration and he closed his eyes for a moment as if he could not believe that she was in his hands like this.
Klaus reached for her hair and unpinned them. Her locks fell around her face in waves and he smiled tenderly at her. That tenderness made her stiffen and it was something Klaus instantly noticed and stopped moving. His palm cupped her cheek.
"Tell me to stop and I will," he whispered and all tension left Caroline's body getting replaced by nothing but desire. She shook her head and his smile got lost when her mouth crashed on his.
Chicago
October 2014
When Caroline entered Klaus' private parlor he was already sitting in one of the armchairs near the fireplace. He was engrossed in the book he was currently reading but Caroline could tell he knew she had gotten in the room despite how she had moved silently on her toes. She could never sneak up on him no matter how much she would try. He was always on alert. He always felt her. But she was also one of the few people he allowed to enter this place and she was glad to see him so at ease with her presence.
Truth was that she had come to love this place. It had become a sanctuary for her too. Here no prying eyes were watching. Here she was not the crime boss' kept woman. Here she was just Caroline and here the terrible Niklaus Mikaelson was not that terrible.
Seeing Klaus relaxed and comfortable was something she hadn't expected to like so much. Seeing him like this made her see him under another light. He looked almost normal. There were no lines of tension on his face. The dangerous smirks and the darkness of the cruel crime lord were gone. All that was left was the man underneath and she was starting to really like that guy.
She slowly walked closer and stood by his chair. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder trying to both annoy him and see what he was reading.
Which of course was a poem collection book.
From the sideways glance, she gave him she saw the amused hint of a smile that appeared on his lips at her shenanigans.
He said nothing as she leaned over more, her hair getting in his face, practically forcing him to stop reading.
"…Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by…" Caroline read out loud and Klaus finished Frost's poem for her, his eyes on her instead of the page.
"…And that has made all the difference…"
Caroline turned her head slightly. Their lips were so close. The air electrified instantly. It was not uncomfortable. It was magnetic. Charged in ways that made her curl her toes in anticipation. Klaus' eyes burned and she did not mind the tension that arose between them at all. She loved seducing him. She loved when he sought her kisses. Flirting with Klaus was giving her as much pleasure as she was getting when he was chasing after her. It was more than foreplay. She loved seeing what turned him on, what made him tick. It made her feel powerful to know she held such power over him. She had never felt that way before. She was always the one falling for guys and not the other way around and now she felt coveted and appreciated.
Every woman should feel that way she thought.
She slanted closer intent on kissing him. Or at least so he thought because what she truly wanted was to snatch the book out of his hands.
And so she did making him narrow his eyes at her as she jumped up and put some distance between them holding the book as a stolen prize she wasn't planning on returning.
"Caroline-"
She beamed at him and he slowly rose from his chair.
"Love," he warned her and her brows rose provocatively.
"Yeah yeah," Caroline mocked him and hid the book behind her back making sure Klaus wouldn't be able to get it back, "you and your pretentious poetry and reading," she sassed with a roll of her eyes and Klaus' dimples made an appearance.
It started slowly. Leisurely. Their game of cat and mouse as they began moving in tandem circling his chair. Klaus tilted his head at her and she imitated his move in a challenge making his smile grow wider.
"Are you calling me a…snob, sweetheart?"
Caroline grinned and was quick on her feet when he tried to grab her. He barely missed her when she leapt away and laughed at him. He had stealth but she was agile. She could keep this up for hours.
"Sure," she shrugged and when he tried to catch her again she chucked the book away.
Klaus looked horrified as the book made a couple of twirls in the air before it fell on the floor with the pages crinkling.
"No appreciation for the classics," he grumbled and Caroline stuck out her tongue at him.
Klaus actually tried to get to his precious book and she blocked his way with her body.
He eyed her from head to toe, slowly, making her shiver.
"Said the founder of our book club," she told him in a playful tone and she could see that even though he was undressing her with his eyes he was also trying not to laugh at her antics, "who would have thought," she dramatically lamented and placed her hand on her heart with flair, "Klaus Mikaelson…tormented poet slash artist slash mobster."
Klaus took a step forward. She took a step backward. A dance of sorts. She yelped when Klaus faster than she could predict got hold of her hand and twirled her around as if they were in the middle of a dance. Her body collided against his and she held on to his arms. She had to stretch her neck back to look into his eyes as he bent his whole body forward. She breathed in, he kept her close. It felt intense.
"You wound me," Klaus played along and Caroline chuckled happily. She loved it when he was in a good mood like this and the more she glimpsed at this side of him the more she was starting to fall for him.
"You'll live," she jested and Klaus's hand moved up until he wrapped a stray lock of her hair around his finger.
"You know love…I have killed people for less," he drawled and Caroline gave him a fake look of terror.
"You don't say!" she quipped and she knew she shouldn't be joking like this when in truth what Klaus said was true but somehow she couldn't help it.
Klaus' eyes lit up.
"Seriously," Caroline huffed exasperated, "no matter how much I like your 'classics' I…we…need a break. To unwind a bit."
Klaus arched his eyebrow intrigued.
"So if you are fed up with my pretentious poetry what do you propose?"
His voice was husky and filled with promises. She swallowed down hard. She swore that his voice was magic. Maybe it was the accent. Maybe it was the way his tone could drop down at least an octave.
Klaus could seduce the devil should he want it. And all it would take was that damn accent. That curl of his red lips.
And although his voice right now was the definition of temptation she breathed deeply and pushed away the sinful thoughts and him with them. Just a bit to be able to think clearly.
She had other plans for tonight.
"Well," she slowly said, clearing her throat to release some of the tension she felt before she bit her lip, "tonight I say we mix our arts."
Klaus gave her a cautious look when she took his hand in hers and started observing his fingers and the structure of his palm.
"I am going to teach you," she proposed and then glanced at the guitar she had left in one of the corners of the room earlier today.
When Klaus realized what she intended to do his eyes popped open. He yanked his hand away and Caroline tried not to laugh at his horrified look.
"Absolutely not!" Klaus shut her down and he actually lifted his hands on the air in actual terror as he stepped back making her shake her head at the comical way he reacted.
Who would have thought!
He wasn't afraid when people aimed guns at him but this actually brought him actual dread.
"Come on now!" Caroline laughed and grabbed him by the arm and started pushing him closer to the guitar while he kept resisting.
"No."
"I take your defense lessons like a soldier," Caroline complained and pushed him harder closer to the musical instrument, "Man up Klaus!"
"No!"
His tone made his refusal sound more like 'Hell, NO!" to her ears and she stopped trying to force him.
She stood in front of him and put her hands on her waist. They stared at each other and Klaus wasn't backing down.
She sighed and pouted but he still held his ground.
So it was time to pull out the big guns Caroline thought and she gave him her sweetest look. The one she had realized he couldn't fight against. Whenever she used that one on him Klaus could never deny her anything.
"Please!"
Klaus pressed his lips annoyed. Caroline could see that he knew what she was doing but that didn't stop her from turning the intensity of her gaze higher.
"No," Klaus grumbled but he was not so steady as before.
Caroline carefully approached him and ran her hands up and down his Henley. Klaus tensed and she started playing with one of his necklaces giving him a shy look.
"Pretty please?" she playfully asked him again and this time she even batted her eyelashes for him.
Klaus sighed and she smiled at him. He wasn't turning her down anymore.
"For me?" she tried again and Klaus' shoulders fell.
"I know what you are doing," he huffed and she arched her brow.
"Is it working?" she meaningfully asked and when his shoulders slumped she almost pumped her fist up in the air.
"No one finds out," he warned her with a dark look and Caroline let out a happy sound and hugged him.
"I mean it, Caroline!" Klaus grunted.
"I promise!" she rushed to assure him and then jumped up and down in excitement clapping her hands making him roll his eyes as he completely gave in to her.
Caroline took him by the hand and despite his reluctance, he followed her.
He watched as Caroline took the guitar in her hands and seriously looked at him. He narrowed his eyes at her when he saw how she was trying not to laugh.
"So lesson one," she started seriously, "these are called strings."
Klaus clicked his tongue at her gibe.
"You are not funny, love."
Caroline only gave him a cheeky grin.
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Days later
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"No no!" Caroline yelled, "you are not allowed to break my guitar!"
Klaus actually growled! He growled at her.
"I'll buy you a new one!"
"That's not the point!" Caroline exclaimed incredulously and Klaus gave her an intimidating glare.
"You do understand I may need to shoot something after we are done here don't you?"
Caroline sighed looking upwards making a conscious effort to not roll her eyes at him. His murderous expression would have sent anyone running for their lives right about now but his frustration didn't scare her at all.
"Don't be dramatic!" she scoffed but then no matter how much she tried she couldn't help but cringe at one more of Klaus' efforts to play the tune she showed him.
Much to his credit, he kept trying. But he really was an impatient student and despite being an artist himself when it came to painting he couldn't even grasp the basics when it came to playing the guitar.
Klaus' hands dropped from the strings and he cursed. Caroline cleared her throat trying to not burst out laughing.
"I am hopeless," Klaus groaned and this was probably the first time Caroline saw him giving up. He was usually so persistent and suave but she had never seen him doing something he wasn't good at. Klaus was usually perfect at whatever he did and seeing him failing on something so mundane and normal made Caroline laugh but the sound was a laugh of joy and understanding.
"I wouldn't say that," she softly told him and kissed him.
"I would," Klaus muttered in a boyish tone and Caroline caressed the nape of his neck making sure to thread her fingers comfortingly around his hair.
She then turned serious, her gaze locking with his. He looked so human at that moment. Innocent even. He held nothing back. And Caroline felt something inside her melt. Maybe it was the obstacles she had created to keep herself from falling for him.
The only thing she knew was that when he was like this falling for him wasn't the worst thing that could happen to her.
When he was like this she could even… love him.
"No you are not," she whispered sincerely.
The abrupt change of her mood made Klaus watch her confused, "I have seen more sides of you," Caroline confessed and she was grateful that Klaus kept those sides for her and showed them to her. Sometimes she felt as if she was the only person in the world he shared these parts of his heart with. As if it was only her that could bring out his human side. But that side was there. Buried underneath all the hate and the cruelty and the murder. She wasn't using it as an excuse for what she was starting to feel for him. She knew who Klaus was. That would never change. But if there was still humanity inside him then he was still capable of love and anyone capable of love was capable of being saved, "there's still hope for you yet," she promised him and somehow she knew he needed to hear this from her.
Klaus went absolutely still. He didn't dare to even breathe.
And she only smiled at him. She encouraged him to open up. There was no need for any words between them at that moment.
So Caroline waited. She waited until he smiled too. It was a tentative smile but it was one of the best he had ever given her.
One she would cherish. No matter what would happen between them. No matter where their story would lead them. That smile she'd take with her.
"Well maybe not for the guitar though," Caroline teased pushing the offending instrument away from him and her heart soared at his carefree laughter.
Chicago
December 2014
Caroline panted as the aftermaths of one of the best orgasms she had in her life washed over her trembling body. She rested her head over Klaus's chest and enjoyed the way he heaved after giving himself to her completely. In those moments he was only hers. He belonged to her and there was no world of guns and terror in the between.
Their legs were entangled and she let her fingers travel up the sweaty muscles of his chest and she then felt the smoothness of his body break into a gruesome line of stitched up skin. A scar just under his heart. An old one. A big one.
"How did you get this one?" she asked him. His body was filled with scars. Scars he gained from gang fights and from bullets and knives. But none was so close to his heart and none looked like this one.
Klaus tensed and pushed her hand away distancing himself from her.
"Maybe one day I'll tell you."
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Caroline's and Klaus's story continues in the Prologue and first chapter of Songbird
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Chapter I: Loup Noir
A/N: Every song, poem, book reference and so on that was mentioned here is listed at the end of each individual chapter in Songbird.