…
Caroline Forbes learned long ago that it is impossible to sneak up on him but she still likes to try.
He is still in bed, asleep, laying on his stomach and hugging the pillow that is hers to his face. She lingers in the doorway for a moment, admiring the way the sun streams through the unguarded windows, streaking rays across his bare back. The nail marks from the night before that she had scratched down his back are all healed.
She smiles as she watches him, forgetting for a moment her plan of pouncing on him. She likes to watch him sleep but rarely gets to do it. He is almost always awake before her and if he isn't, the instant he feels his eyes on her, his are open, watching her in return.
It is cold that morning – she can see fat snow flakes falling heavily from the grey sky through the large windows. They have been here – at their cabin – right on Lake Saskatchewan in northern Canada – for almost a year now but they will be leaving soon. Klaus has brought her here for a bit of a getaway – just the two of them – but she knows that he is ready to move on.
They will be heading south in a couple of days – to Virginia. She tries not to think about what will happen once they get there. For as long as she has known him and been with him, it has been a constant thought in the back of his head. Virginia. Moonstone. Doppelganger. All of it.
She sometimes gets really sick of hearing about it.
She moves towards the bed, silently, hunting her prey, but the instant she brings her knee onto the mattress, Klaus is up and grabs her, flipping her over and pinning her on her back. She bubbles with laughter and he grins, holding her arms above her head, trapping them to the mattress. She sticks her bottom lip out in a dramatic pout and wiggles beneath him.
"Not fair," she says but she's smiling and can't hide her delight. She does love being pinned to the bed by him and he knows it.
He leans down and kisses her swiftly on the mouth. "Sorry, love," he smiles. "Can't let you win every time, now can I?"
"Um, you never let me win, babe," she reminds him. "You know, you're the only man who doesn't like me to pounce on him."
His smile eases into a smirk. "I'm sure if those men knew what you had planned when you did pounce on them, they wouldn't be so welcome to it."
She giggles and shrugs and wiggles again. He releases her arms and she immediately loops them around his shoulders, pulling him closer, his body laying completely down on top of hers. They are both naked but both are warm against the cold from outside. She sighs contently as his lips skim across her cheek and down to the side of her throat, nuzzling that spot right beneath the corner of her jaw where he knows she loves to have attention bestowed.
"I'm hungry," she murmurs though she know she shouldn't be thinking about that at this particular moment and she feels his lips curve into a smile against her throat.
"I bet you are, love," he murmurs back.
She laughs a little. "For food, Nik," she smiles as he lifts his head and looks down at her, sharing her smile.
She is the only one to ever call him Nik. To everyone else, he is Klaus. The last person who had called him Nik, who had stupidly and comfortably treated him like an old friend, Klaus had snapped his neck. To her, he's Nik and Klaus and a thousand other nicknames that no one would ever be alive long enough to use.
Years ago, when they first met, when she was scared and alone with no comprehension of what was happening to her, when he found her and showed her how to hunt and feed and survive and live a life she never could have imagined, she hadn't been entirely sure what to think of him.
He had been charming and kind but there had also been something about him that seemed dangerous and frightening. His eyes would flash and his jaw would clench. He never grew angry with her though. She had seen him rip hearts from chests and snap necks but when it came to her, when he became angry with her, he simply left, staying away for hours and then returning, blood smeared on his face and clothes and dropping a dead body in front of her so she could eat, too.
"What do you have a taste for?" He asks, propping himself up on an elbow.
She thinks it over for a moment, drawing random patterns on his bare chest with her index finger. "Are you up for doing a little hunting?" She asked, her eyes smiling. "We haven't done that together in so long."
Klaus smiles a little, his thumb brushing along her full bottom lip. "Feeling a little bored, love?" He asks.
"I just want to do something," she was nearly whining. "The compelling people all of the time is getting boring."
He laughs a bit at that and lowering his head, he kisses her. Caroline lifts her hands to frame his face and her lips meet his, slowly and softly. He is trying to distract her and they both know it. Their hearts don't beat, their blood doesn't pump and yet, his kisses always warm her.
The first time he kissed her had been so many years ago – they had been companions by then for ten years but he had never shown any indication that he wanted more. He protected her, never left her side, killed any one he thought crossed her but she never anticipated him to kiss her. They had been in Paris and it had been 1887. Construction of the Eiffel Tower had just begun and Klaus had taken her to the site, a mess of iron and cables and she stared at it, trying to imagine what it would look like but the base wasn't even complete and she just couldn't see it yet even though he tried to explain it to her.
They stayed there for nearly an hour and then they went to the nearest café where he drew her a sketch of what the Eiffel Tower would look like in just two years with the opening of the World's Fair – something they would return to Paris for – and she had smiled and hugged the paper to her chest.
That was when he leaned over and kissed her. Right there, for no other reason other than the light from the gas lamps in the street posts and the glow from the café they sat outside of made her look beautiful and he hadn't been able to resist.
Klaus is an original and everyone fears him but Caroline, she is completely in love with him and she loves the way he kisses her.
"You're distracting me," she laughs against his lips and he smiles against hers.
"Want to get something to eat?" He asks and reluctantly, he shifts his body off of hers.
She doesn't answer that. Instead, she looks into his eyes and her hand lifts, her knuckles brushing along his cheek. "We're leaving soon, aren't we?" She asks quietly, already knowing the answer but she still asks the question nonetheless. She needs her to tell him. He has kept nothing from her over the years and they aren't going to start now.
"We've been here long enough, love," he nods. "Time to push off and move on."
She continues to stare at him. "Mystic Falls," she then says the name of the town that she has heard of often but has never seen.
"That is where the doppelganger is and the moonstone has been located. I have everything in place to complete the ceremony," he sits up and looks towards the window – the snow fall slowing down now – and then he looks back at her. She is still lying down, watching him. "We won't be there long," he then promises and she has no reason not to believe him.
"I hate her," Caroline is very aware she's pouting like a child but she doesn't care. She pushes the covers away and gets out of the bed. She doesn't care that she's completely naked. She stands there and glares at him. "You are completely obsessed with her!"
"Who?" Klaus frowns, his brow furrowing.
"Her! The doppelganger!" She yells at him. He stares at her for a moment and one corner of his mouth quirks in a smile. "Don't you dare smirk at me, Niklaus!"
He laughs now and she actually stomps her foot on the ground. "You're hungry, Caroline. Let's get dressed and get you something to eat." He stands from the bed as well and she glares up at him when his hands slide over her hips and pulls her closer to him. "I find you incredibly beautiful when you're jealous."
"I am not jealous," she insists though she is aware of how ridiculous that sounds since they both know she is.
"I need her blood. You know this. That's all I need from her," he reminds her. He tucks strands of hair behind her ears and cups her face. "She is nothing more than a blood bag."
Caroline sighs. "I know," she whispers.
He continues looking at her and drops his forehead to hers. "Can you stand to wait a little bit more?" He asks.
She tries her hardest not to smile but fails miserably. "Pig," she frowns and he smiles.
"You know what your jealousy does to me," he says as he turns her back towards the bed.
She rolls her eyes and though she hasn't blushed in nearly three hundred years, she still sometimes as if he warms her cheeks. There has been men over the years that have dared to make the mistake of flirting with her and Klaus reacted as he always does. Hearts and spines ripped out, necks snapped, blood drained. The only woman Klaus has ever shown interest in are those women from the damn Petrova bloodline and she can't very well do anything to them. He needs the Petrova doppelganger or everything for him is lost.
"We'll just be in Mystic Falls for a few days?" She asks as he lays her down.
"You have my word, love," he nods, his fingertips skimming down the side of her body.
"And then we can leave and we won't have to go back?" She asks, her hands running down his chest and her thighs part for him, cradling his hips between them.
"If everything goes according to the plan," he leans down and brushes his lips across hers. "Where would you like to go after Virginia?" He asks her, his lips now following the line of her jaw.
Caroline closes her eyes and tunnels her fingers through his hair. "Paris," she whispers.
…
They move silently through the inches of snow, deep in the forest that surround their cabin, alert and waiting. They can smell the rabbits and the deer and in the distance, there are bear and moose but they don't want any of that. They move, ears and noses at attention and almost at the exact same time, they catch scent of something that makes their fangs extract. They both stop and look at one another, her eyes turning black and his turning yellow, and the black veins spread throughout their faces.
The hunter is slowly walking through the trees, snow crunching under his feet, his shotgun held with both hands. His eyes are on the lookout for rabbits and nothing else.
Klaus and Caroline hunt together and it is as if they are dancing – each more perfected after centuries.
Klaus, older and faster and stronger, reaches the man first, knocking him back into a tree, instantly crushing his spinal cord from the force. The man, paralyzed, lies in the snow, gasping, in shock and unable to feel pain at the moment. Caroline is next, down at his side in a flash and then her teeth are buried in his throat, drinking his blood, gulping it down. Klaus stands, watching, letting her have her full. A gentleman always lets his woman drink first.
When Caroline stands up again, her mouth is covered in blood and she licks her lips.
Klaus lets out a growl of attraction and she winks at him, smiling.
He then goes to the hunter, nearly dead now, and the wolf in him snarls at the blood that soaks the ground around him. Caroline watches as Klaus shoves his hand into the man's chest, killing him instantly, and he rips the heart back out, the lump of tough muscle almost seemingly still pulsating in his grip. He chews on the heart, finishing it in five bites, swallowing it all down and then he licks at his own lips.
Caroline walks slowly up to him, swaying her hips with a bit more emphasis, flirtatiously, and he grabs her, tugging her close.
Their mouths meet, open and wanting, and they both moan as their tongues, coated in blood, tangle together. His hands bury in her hair, blood staining her streaks of gold and he kisses her harder, and her hands drop down to his pants, tugging at his belt buckle.
…
A/N - seriously, I was not expecting that much attention for the first chapter. THANK YOU so much to those who commented and put this on your story alerts. I honestly did not think anyone would want to read a story of very dark Caroline with Klaus but I'm so excited that some of you really want to read this. Thank you!