A/N: It took me a couple of days to get this chapter where I wanted it so thank you for being patient! Thank you too for being so kind! To SwanQueen4055, lateVMlover, chibichibi98, PerfectlyGoodHeart, DevilJolie, SarahCullen4, IamRomance, jessnicole, FallenAshe, Kaylabeth21, clashcityrocker083, Teamvampirebarbie22, spongee09, tvdandtoaddiction, cgirl, Jana4All, Nikki707, Hopelessromanticatheart26, Ellavm18, nightingale243, GrungeGirl86, PLL and Victorious RULE, whysotvobsessed, Jelsi4ever and guest - thank you so much for your reviews! Thank you for the follows and favorites. Thank you!
Iansarmy - Your team name made me smile!
Ash003 - I'll bet you've heard by now that Klaus is returning to Mystic Falls on TVD after the first of the year? Yeah, I know they can come up with 100 reasons, besides Caroline, of why he is returning. We can hope, can't we? =)
Klaus grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into the mansion, through the hallways. He wasn't using vamp speed but I was struggling to keep up with him. I could tell from the set of his face he was upset.
"Klaus?" I tried to slow him down, get him stop. He didn't look back, just kept marching.
"Klaus?" Rebekah came into the mansion as we reached the stairs. "What are you doing with Caroline?"
Then he stopped so abruptly that I almost fell trying not to walk into him.
"Where is our brother?" Klaus demanded.
"He took Kol's sword," she explained. "The locator spell to find the witches?" She did a hand motion that suggested "duh".
"And where have you been?" His anger was barely controlled.
"Out," Rebekah answered, hesitating in a way that suggested she didn't want to tell him exactly where she'd been. Her hair and clothes were mussed, her makeup slightly smeared here and there. It looked like she'd just climbed out of bed.
"Out," he hissed at her before he continued to drag me up the stairs. "We'll talk later."
"Klaus, let her go," Rebekah was coming after us, sounding concerned.
But he didn't stop. "Say another word or approach my room and I'll rip out your lungs, sister."
Klaus pulled me into his room, slamming the door furiously behind him. I swallowed hard. The bout of temper had been building all day. But where exactly it would be directed was always the question with him. That considered, I tried to pull out of his grip, my wrist was numb and starting to hurt.
He released me and I staggered back a couple of steps, almost hitting the canvas I'd seen him working on earlier. A quick glance showed it was a depiction of an abandoned city street, fire at the end of it. It felt like he'd laid my heart bare on that canvas as I studied it. Tyler had left my heart cold and abandoned. My other choice was to run into the fire that blazed at the end of that lonely street. And the fire was Klaus.
Returning my attention to him, I waited. He stood there staring me down and I could feel the tension coming off him. He looked ready to spring at me any moment, his blue eyes narrowed. Klaus was at his most dangerous in this state. I remembered well.
"What game is this, Caroline?" he asked quietly.
"Game?" I asked, watching his jaw tighten.
"Don't lie to me!" he bellowed.
"Klaus, I'm not part of any game. I –"
"Tyler shows up, just as Kol said he would." Klaus took a step towards me. "But it was more than that, wasn't it? Hayley arranged for him to come for her when Elijah was out. When Rebekah was out. And you…"
That Tyler and Hayley had plotted against him, against the originals, couldn't have been surprising to him. But that I was in on it?
"And me what, Klaus?" I stared at him in amazement. "You think I'm part of this? Really?"
"It wouldn't be the first time, would it love?" he accused. "Your break up drama with Tyler and Hayley back in Mystic Falls stands out amongst all the plots against me in which you played a part. That one backfired on you as I recall."
I didn't like the smug little grin he gave me when he said that. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me of that. To help my friends, to help him, my job was to keep you distracted. He was looking for a way to unsire your hybrids, to destroy you. He told me it was so he and I could be together. And didn't that work out well?"
Another step in my direction. I could feel his anger. Adrenaline surged through my body as he got closer. It wasn't lost on me how easily he could kill me. Not too long ago he'd stabbed me, bitten me in Elena's living room after Kol died. How could I have forgotten how dangerous he was? My mother had been right in warning me to treat him with care.
But the disappointment lingering beneath my fear was even worse. How could he show me the gentle man beneath and then turn on me so easily?
"What have they planned, Caroline?" he said, looking like it was taking all his effort to control his anger.
"How should I know?" I yelled at him. "I was out there trying to protect Hayley and your baby from Tyler, because he's apparently so far gone with plotting revenge against you that he's lost his mind, and she laughed at me, Klaus. Laughed. I'm sure they both had a good laugh. So if you think you're the only one who feels they were made a fool of? Think again!"
I took a step in his direction, letting my anger flow. "And yeah, I realize that everything between me and Tyler is over. It has been for a while now. And I got to listen to him tell me how naïve little Caroline should go home to Elena, her mother and all her friends. And you know what? That's a damn good idea. I should have been home a while ago."
I used my vamp speed to reach the door of his bedroom. I didn't expect to beat him there and didn't. Standing above me with his hand firmly on the door, he continued to glare at me.
"You're not going anywhere, Caroline, until I get some answers," he told me, leaning in closer to me than I was comfortable with.
"Gah!" I stalked away from him to the center of the room. "What answers do you want, Klaus? Until tonight, I tried not to think about Tyler. It hurt too much. The last time I saw him, he attacked me. Since then he's made no effort to contact me."
I turned around to find the fury and intensity in his gaze undiminished.
"But he sure made a point of getting in touch with Haley, didn't he?" I stared him down. "God, I'm so stupid. I tried to protect the werewolf who stole my boyfriend. The woman carrying your child. I defended you. Has that ever happened to you before? Tyler accused me of sleeping with you and I didn't deny it. I can't believe I did that."
"What did you expect, Caroline?" his voice was low, controlled. "When Tyler showed up for Hayley, did you think he'd take you with them? That he'd save you? Did you hope to somehow win him back?"
"What?" Was he serious? "Did you actually listen to anything that was said? Going with him was never an option. You're unbelievable! Do you know that? There's no way I could have defended you. There's no way I could be willingly looking after your interests. So I must be lying, right? I must be secretly in cahoots with Tyler and Haley."
That struck a nerve. My back hit the wall on the other side of the room, all the breath knocked out of me as everything in the room jumped from the force. He pinned me to the wall, his grip on my shoulders punishing.
"And the escape?" he whispered, his face just above mine. "You knew I'd protect you from Tyler."
And so we were getting to the heart of the matter.
"I wasn't trying to help them escape," I spat at him. "I was trying to get Haley in the house so Tyler couldn't take her."
"Even though I might have killed him?" His gaze burned into mine.
"I knew it was a possibility, Klaus," I admitted, not daring to admit that I worried that Tyler could have hurt him just as much. Not right now.
"If you're lying to me…" he warned me.
I tried to throw his hands off me, break free of his grip. He'd loosened his hold, it didn't hurt now. But he wasn't letting me go.
"Since you can't believe anything I say, compel me," I challenged him. "It wouldn't be the first time you've done it since I've been here."
I inwardly cringed when the hurt registered in his expression. It was a cheap shot and I knew it. He'd compelled me so I wouldn't feel pain, not to force me to do what he wanted me to do. He'd never done that to me before.
I had considered apologizing when anger twisted his mouth. He leaned closer to me and for a second, I thought he did mean to compel me.
"I actually was listening to your little conversation with Tyler, love. I heard the part where he explained to you how I was to blame for the fact that he couldn't be with you, Caroline. What if all of that was true? What if I engineered everything so you'd be mine in the end? You're in my home, within my reach. Any moment you could fall into my evil clutches. Did you stop and consider what he said, Caroline? Do you realize where you are? The position you're in?"
Oh, I understood my predicament all too well.
"It wasn't my choice to come here, Klaus," I told him, shrinking back against the wall.
Something changed in his expression and his anger seemed to be fading. That usually meant he'd made up his mind about something.
"But you are here, love," he explained. "And if it's compulsion you want, stop and consider what I could compel you to do."
One of his hands slid up my shoulder, roughly up my neck to my face. He dragged his thumb across my lower lip before I shoved his hand away. Tears stung the backs of my eyes as frustration, fear and hurt threatened to take me over.
Leaning in, I thought he meant to kiss me. His lips were so close to mine, I could feel the whisper of his breath across my face.
"I could compel you to stay in this room, my bedroom, for days, love. I could have you pleasuring me, pleasuring yourself for my entertainment for hours on end. I could have you screaming my name over and over, ravishing you again and again until you no longer have a voice. And all the while you'd beg me for more."
A tear spilled from the corner of my eye and his gaze darted after its movement. My heart squeezed in my chest when I saw the façade slip, the monster he put on to be the all-mighty Klaus. For a split second there, I saw a hurt there that mirrored my own.
"Do it then," my voice was shaky now. "Be just like Damon and Tyler. Use me up, make me your little plaything. When you're done, you can just toss me to the side like they did. And you'll be over it. And I can go back home."
More tears spilled from my eyes now and a sob caught in my throat. His hands fell away, the mask slipped. The blue eyes I gazed into looked… unsure. They were shining.
"But do one thing for me first," I struggled to get the words out. "Make me forget what you said to me last night. I don't want to remember that you promised not to let anything happen to me if you plan to hurt me. I don't want to remember you asking me not to leave you if it really doesn't matter. Make me forget that you said your plans weren't worth anything without me."
Taking a step back, a tear spilled down Klaus' cheek.
"All the things you said? They were the reason I took your side tonight. They were the reasons I actually thought I felt something for you, I –"
Klaus pulled me against him, cutting me off. His mouth claimed mine in a kiss that was gentle, seeking. His hands smoothed over my back, my hair, his touch so feather light that I shivered in his embrace. I didn't fight him, I didn't want to. My hands gripped his shirt, holding on to him, and when he realized that's what I was doing, his lips coaxed mine to open for him. His tongue danced with mine, tasting me. Savoring me.
He sank to the floor onto his knees, pulling me with him. I was straddling him, kissing him back for all I was worth. Wrapping my arms around his neck, my fingers sank into the thick locks of his dark blond hair. His arms held me tightly against him, one hand at my lower back pressing me against the hardness of him beneath me. His hips bucked up against me, letting me really feel him, leaving me gasping into his mouth.
Klaus broke the kiss, his lips gentle as they moved across my face to tease the sensitive flesh at the hollow beneath my ear.
"I meant every word I said to you last night," he whispered against my neck. "I would never hurt you, Caroline. When I saw Tyler here…"
His teeth nipped at the flesh at the base of my neck, one hand skimming up my ribs, his fingers brushing against the underside of my breast. I struggled to breathe as he assaulted my senses with gentle touches of his fingers and lips.
"I'm in love with you," Klaus whispered, pulling back for just a moment, he stared into my eyes as if he was willing me to believe him. Bending his head, he returned to his task of devastating me, his lips blazing a trail back up to my ear. "I won't tolerate Tyler being in your life. I won't tolerate anyone. I want you to be mine, Caroline. Only mine…"
Hope swelled inside me. He loved me, was showing me with every kiss, every touch. It wasn't just something he said because it seemed like the thing to say at the time. That's what Tyler had done. It wasn't something Klaus would really say at all. But he said those words to me, with such emotion and desperation.
I realized that maybe I loved him too. I pushed aside the scary part of the thought that maybe I wanted to be his.
His hand smoothed over my breast, making my body feel like it was going up in flames. I pressed myself into his hand, against the hardness of his body, making him gasp as his mouth returned to mine. When his kiss turned demanding, I pulled him closer. Our tongues played and I writhed on his lap, wanting more of everything.
I reach down for the hem of his shirt, wanting to see the beauty of his upper body, to feel his skin. I'd pulled it up just a few inches when his hands gently wrapped around my wrists, stopping me.
Surprised, I looked into his eyes. The raw desire I saw there took my breath away. Then why…?
Holding on to my wrists, he gazed into my eyes.
"You have no idea how badly I want you, Caroline," he whispered. "But…"
"I have some idea," I admitted breathlessly, making the corners of his sensuous mouth tip up slightly.
"Not tonight," he whispered. "Not like this."
I tipped my head in question, waiting for him to explain.
"As you've seen, in the time you've known me, sweetheart, I've been one to take what I wanted," he explained. "I'm talking the grand things I've wanted: the love and devotion of a family I've punished, to break the curse placed upon me to suppress my true nature, a hybrid army for protection. If I had to kill someone to get what I wanted, I killed them. If I had to threaten someone with their deepest fears to bend them to my will, I did. And more than once I did just as I threatened."
"Earning your love would be… the grandest thing that I could ever do." The way his blue eyes smoldered held me captive. "And it's the one thing I can't force, I can't manipulate. I could compel you into thinking you're in love me but I'd know in my heart that it wouldn't be real. And I want it to be real, more than I've ever wanted anything."
Lifting one of my hands, he pressed it to his chest, just above his heart.
"I struggle with the darker side of my nature, Caroline, even when it comes to you. Look how I threatened you tonight." Moving my hand, he brought it up to his face, pressing my palm along his cheek. "I want your love. I want you to give yourself to me. But I want to feel as if somehow I deserve you, your light."
Did he not realize when he said that he moved closer to what he wanted? The remorse in his eyes nearly brought tears to mine.
"Forgive me," his voice was a harsh whisper.
"I forgive you." I meant it.
Gently I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him so close to me. He pulled me even closer, his arms making me feel safe, loved. We held each other for long moments and there with him all the worries seemed so far away. What to do now that Tyler had taken Haley, finding the witches, bringing Bonnie back, stopping Silas. In this moment, I felt a welcome respite from it all. A tender moment with my cheek against the warm of his neck, the strength of his arms holding back the world. It felt like none of it could reach us here.
Until the door crashed open behind Klaus. His arms tightened around me as he glanced over his shoulder and I followed the line of his gaze.
Elijah stood there, regarding us curiously after smashing in the door. Rebekah was behind him, something like relief on her face when she saw her brother and I embracing on the floor.
"You see, sister," Elijah told her. "Caroline appears to be safe and unharmed by Niklaus."
My heart sank as Klaus looked back at me. Elijah. How would he react when we told him that Hayley left with Tyler? Rebekah didn't know either.
Oh, this wouldn't be good.