Hey Guys! had a sudden inspiration, and once I started I couldn't stop :) You guys are amazing, and honestly the reviews mean so much to me.

Special mentions to AnnaTom23, and klaroline4everlove for their reviews :)\

Chapter 9

"Well um, Merry Christmas Niklaus". Caroline was adorable, nervously playing with her fingers. There was silence. Lost in a trance, the hybrid gently brought his hand forward and caressed her cheek.

"Niklaus..." Caroline responded quietly, leaning into his palm. Their eyes met, and then, for a split second, her eyes glanced at his lips. Caroline blushed furiously when she realized that Niklaus had seen her, but then she slowly started leaning forward. His hand slowly circled around her petite waist, bringing her closer as he ran his other hand through her soft, luscious curls. Her eyes closed in anticipation as their lips met-

The hybrid woke up with a start. "Damn it!" In frustration, Niklaus through his pillow angrily against the wall, and accidentally knocked over his lamp, which broke into shards of glass. He swore loudly, then flopped back onto the mattress with a scowl on his face.

If anyone was looking at him, they would have thought he had a nightmare. But Niklaus didn't have nightmares, not much of them anyways. After all, he was the nightmare that plagued human minds. But this...this was worse. He was dreaming now of things that would never be, as he knew he would never be able to be with Caroline. How long had it been since that night? It had already been three weeks. And yet his mind had created images that simply manifested overtime instead of fading away.

When he first met her, he was intrigued. Overtime, he told himself that he loathed her, but he could never bring himself to kill her. But ever since that Christmas night, when he saw the kindness that she showed him despite their bickering, he had been unable to get her face out of his mind.

Unable to fall back asleep, Niklaus simply got out of bed and made his way to his painting room. When the dreams first happened, Niklaus tried everything to forget the dreams. He tried to fall back asleep, then went hunting, and even went to a nearby town once. There were many girls in that town, but none stood out to him the way she did to him. And that was the worst part of it. Gradually, Niklaus stopped fighting the fact that he constantly dreamt of his maid, and instead decided to vent his feelings on paper. She would never know, and when she grew old and died, the only remnants of his short time with her would be immortalized with art.

It was a routine now. This was exactly the 16th time he would be painting her in the middle of the night. He was starting to lose control of his with her, and painting provided this control. The canvas, the color, and every stroke was controlled by him.

Niklaus quietly hummed to himself as he dipped his paintbrush in the pool of colors, allowing himself to tap into his dream of her. Caroline angry. Caroline crying. Caroline smiling. Caroline laughing. But when he finished his painting, he always frowned. For no matter how hard he tried, he could never quite replicate the twinkle of life in her eyes when she was happy, or the fire in them when she was angry. The paintings failed to capture the sincerity of her smile or the essence of her character. So Niklaus put his brush down, let his 16th failed painting dry, and trudged slowly back to his room, where he would fall asleep again, with dreams full of her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Niklaus was pleasantly woken up with a pillow thrown at his face.

"Bloody hell! What in the devil's name do you want, woman!"

"This woman, who happens to be your dear sister, wants you to get your lazy arse up! It's nearly 9:00 am!" Rebekah retorted, unaffected by her brother's grumpy attitude.

"9:00 am is hardly sleeping in, Rebekah"

"Well it is for you! Honestly Nik, even when you were a human you used to wake up at the arse-crack of dawn!"

"Well now that I live a relatively peaceful life and for the time being face no plots to end my life, I would like to sleep in.

Rebekah's soft pout, turned into a full-on scowl.

"Well you look like hell swallowed you up and spit you back out. If someone's plotting your death, I would say they were succeeding-" Rebekah seemed to notice the shards of glass that used to be her brother's source of light.

"what happened to the bloody lamp Nik!"

The hybrid was about to answer when Rebekah acted instead.

"Caroline! Niklaus has thrown another tantrum and broke the lamp!"

Caroline appeared a few minutes later, and immediately started cleaning up the scraps as Niklaus groaned and smothered the pillow over his face, hoping to get temporary relief from the noise that was his sister.

Rebekah left a few minutes later, after realizing that her brother had tuned her out, muttering curses under her breath as she shot dirty looks at her brother.

"She's just worried about you, you know. I mean you haven't been yourself lately." Caroline spoke, trying to help the siblings reconcile.

Niklaus simply let out a bitter chuckly. "I haven't been myself? Love, you barely know me."

"Well, would it be so bad if I did?"

Niklaus stopped. What did she say?

"I mean, I'm going to be here for my entire life anyways, there's no harm."

Niklaus felt a slight jab in his undead heart. For someone forced to work for him, she was fairly amicable now. Somehow, after Christmas she emerged more cheerful and optimistic as ever. But she constantly reminded him that she was here against her will after all. It was selfish-for he was a selfish person.

But Niklaus still wanted her around him, in ways he couldn't explain. And he couldn't bear to ever let her go. He hated himself for that, but also hated the fact that he felt bad about keeping her. He wasn't supposed to feel anything anyways, for love was a weakness. And now, damn him, she was becoming his weakness.

Damn it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He woke up in the middle of the night, breathing heavily. His mind was full of her tender touch, her bright smile, and her soft full lips…

Instead of fighting his thoughts, Niklaus merely sighed and stepped out of bed, making his way down to his painting room, and began painting her, for the 20th time.

"Bloody hell!"

Niklaus quickly turned around, throwing his paint brush towards the noise out of instinct, before the voice even registered.

The paint brush impaled itself in the wall adjacent to his was Rebekah materialized beside him.

Rebekah would have been furious, had she not been so surprised. "Bloody hell, Nik…" she said softly, looking at the walls that were all filled with images of Caroline.

"What are you doing here!" Niklaus screamed, rage in his voice. "And how did I not hear you…" Niklaus spotted the bag of translucent powder, and snatched it up from a guilty looking Rebekah.

"invisibility powder, of course." Niklaus growled.

"It doesn't just make you invisible! It makes you undetectable!" Rebekah corrected, in a huff, before turning back to inspect all the paintings of Caroline as her brother stood, arms crossed, with an expression between extreme anger and embarrassment.

"So this is why you've been acting so strange. You love her, don't you?" Rebekah whispered softly, amazement in her eyes. He hadn't loved anyone except for his family. Not for centuries. And not to this level.

"I don't love her! She means nothing to me."

"Don't try that with me! I'm your sister for heaven's sake." Rebekah said softly. She honestly was happy for her brother. Perhaps this was what he needed, the key to his happiness.

"It's okay to love, Nik. Father's wrong, love is not a weakness-"

"He's not my father." The hybrid growled. "And what are you to tell me about weakness? You gave your heart to any man who showed the slightest interest, only to be left alone and broken hearted!"

Rebekah stiffened. Niklaus knew then that he had hit where it hurt the most, but he refused to back down. Rebekah had caught him in one of his most vulnerable moments, and now he had to make sure that she didn't know that.

"I don't love her, and I don't have feelings for her! She is merely a subject that I paint to relieve boredom, and you are a romantic fool if you think otherwise!" Niklaus sneered as he guided Rebekah back to the entrance.

"One more thing, sister. Caroline will know nothing of this."

"Is it so wrong to love!" Rebekah cried out shrilly, tears brimming out of her eyes.

"It demonstrates a lack of control and power, you know that!" Niklaus retorted.

"Power? Greatness? Perhaps you think you are great, and you think that people fear your very name. But one day, when your power is stripped, your so called "greatness" vanquished, you will only be known as the fool who couldn't love."

Rebekah's eyes burned into his now.

"And no one will ever sit around a table and tell stories of a man who couldn't love."

Niklaus was now losing control. His eyes turned golden as his fangs began to protrude from his mouth. "Leave!" He growled, before letting out a roar.

"You know, you think that you are great right now, but you will never be truly happy if you don't allow yourself to be! You say you don't care for the girl. Fine. She is patient with you, and she is kind. But one day, you will push her past her limits and lose her forever. Perhaps she'll even marry someone who is brave enough to acknowledge his feelings for her!"

Niklaus growled then, and Rebekah let out a sad smile.

"And you'll either kill her, or let her go, knowing too late that you ruined your chance with her. And when she dies, then you can decide whether I was truly the fool to let myself love."

Rebekah then turned around and closed the door. She knew she somehow affected him when she heard the crack of wood, and snarls that came from her brother.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"How do I look?" Caroline stood giving him a radiant smile. She was dressed in white, adorned with a veil, and hair adorned with flowers. She looked like an angel, bursting with light. He gulped nervously, giddy with excitement, as he opened his mouth to respond.

"You look...incredible." Another voice responded. Niklaus turned around in surprise, only to see a faceless man staring back at Caroline.

She ran into the man's arms. "We're going to spend the rest of our lives together, you and me." Niklaus felt all the happiness drain out of him, as he stood aghast at the scene that played in front of him. Caroline finally noticed Niklaus.

"Caroline…" He tried to say. Anything to make her stop this.

"Niklaus." She simply replied. But her eyes were now filled with hatred, hatred for him. She ignored his cries, begging her to stop but she turned to her lover instead, and their lips met.

"Niklaus". She sneered. "You had your chance. But you are just a fool incapable of love."

Niklaus. "Please" he begged.

The hybrid's eyes shot open, breathing heavily. He automatically started to make his way to the painting room, when he realized he wasn't alone.

"Caroline?" She stared at him now, eyes only with concern as she knelt beside his bed.

"Niklaus! Are you alright! I mean, I didn't mean to intrude but I couldn't sleep, and then I heard you and…"

He would have felt anger, had it been anyone else intruding. But all he felt was relief. Relief that she stared at him with her bright eyes, full of concern and not hate.

As if in a trance, he raised his hand to caress Caroline's cheek as he had done so many times in his dreams, silencing her.

"Niklaus…" Caroline said quietly, and she leaned into his hand. With his supernatural senses, he could hear her heart beating faster and faster-because of him.

"You're here. You're still here." Niklaus whispered, as a tender affection filled him. He sat up, and cupped her delicate face into his calloused hands, before he crashed his lips onto hers.

She was unresponsive at first, shocked at what was taking place. But then, her lips started to move with his, with tender motion. Niklaus breathed in her vanilla scent, until he realized what he was doing, and quickly broke the kiss.

Silence. The pair stared at each other, panting, as Caroline stared at him with wide eyes. Shame filled him, as Niklaus turned away, unwilling to let her see the emotions in his eyes. What was he thinking! How could he have lost control like this! She could never feel anything for him, he was a monster.

Caroline brought her tender hands to his face, and turned his face to hers. She brought her lips to his again, initiating another kiss. As her soft lips filled his senses, all thoughts faded away, as he lost himself in the most intoxicating kiss he had ever experienced. The kiss went from tender to hungry, as their tongue's began to battle for dominance.

Warmth spread through his body, like a breath of fresh air after the weeks of torment he had endured, dreaming about Caroline.

Finally, after what seemed like days, Niklaus reluctantly broke apart from her, as she stared at him Caroline looked at him through her long eyelashes, eyes dazed, as Niklaus looked into her eyes, unable to tear away his gaze, even though embarrassment began filling him.

"Niklaus…" She said, staring into his eyes.

No. He couldn't do this. He couldn't let her become his weakness. Most of all, he couldn't ruin her, which he would if this ever happened again. He allowed himself to stroke her soft curls, as she slowly melted under his touch.

But that would be the last time.

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