Damon's Daughter
Chapter 22
Humanity
A/N: The title of this chapter should be "I'm awful and I really suck at updating and I'm sososososo sorry" but I figured that was a bit too long. I apologize for the short length of this chapter. It's a bit of a filler but I assure you it was completely necessary. Thank you all for the reviews, follows, and favorites! They mean so much to me and keep me writing. :3

Unfortunately, the nearest hotel was about two hours away, which made for a long and awkward car ride. The moment I moved to the passenger's seat the atmosphere in the SUV quickly became uncomfortable. It was as if Klaus and I had finally realized that we were venturing into dangerous territory. We hadn't been so friendly in years, and I could feel my ever present feelings for him bubble to the surface. And honestly, I almost didn't care. However, Klaus did, and when he noticed our increasing closeness he started to be extremely curt. This made for an unpleasant drive and lots of forced conversation. All I wanted was to know more about the days I was gone, but I figured now wasn't the time to bother Klaus with all of my questions. I'd do that when he got off his man period.

"So, um, thanks for, you know, saving me," I hesitantly began. I was twirling a piece of hair around with my pointer finger, keeping watch for split ends.

"Oh, no problem. Your family's been a nervous wreck, and I was in town… Figured I might as well," Klaus shrugged, never taking his eyes off the road.

"Ahh… So what brings you to…," I stopped and glanced at a road sign, "Salem, Virginia? What the hell? We're only about an hour away from Mystic Falls."

"I know. Esther wanted to keep us close. That way she could easily gather us for a ritual. My idiot brother Finn is the reason I found you. I heard he was here aiding my mother. I assumed that if I found you, he wouldn't be too far away. Unfortunately, I have yet to find him and drive a dagger through his heart."

I scrunched my nose. "Harsh. Makes me glad I lack any siblings."

The two of us quickly slid into another uncomfortable silence. I shifted in my seat and began to fiddle with the radio. I purposely chose a Top 20 station, knowing the pop music would irk Klaus. It might even get him to say something to me. It wouldn't even matter if the conversation was just him criticizing the admittedly awful music. After all, negative feedback was better than no feedback. Unfortunately, Klaus only acknowledged the music with a barely visible eye roll. I sighed and put on the Alternative station. As much as I wanted Klaus to speak to me, I wanted good music more.

Miles later, Klaus's phone beeped and when he scanned the screen he smirked. "Ahh… Speak of the vampire."

I narrowed my eyes. This was the first thing he'd said in about twenty minutes. "What?"

He looked at me and smirked. "How would you like to have a go at the suicidal Original vampire who helped put you in this mess?"

We found Finn on the streets of some small town in Salem. Klaus quickly put the SUV in park when he spotted him.

"Hello Finn," Klaus greeted.

"Hello Niklaus. I have nothing to say to you," Finn said, continuing to walk away from us. He didn't even acknowledge my presence. That bastard. He helped torture me for god knows how long and he couldn't even say hi? Rude.

"Well, I'm not here to chat. I will ask you one time though, where's our mother?" Klaus asked.

"Gone to find another way to end our abominable lives. And when she does, I will sacrifice myself all over again," Finn replied. God he was a smartass. The thought of snapping his neck gave me obscene joy.

"Well, how fortunate that I found you. I require your assistance." Klaus smiled his trademark smile.

"I have no wish to help you. Only to see you dead," Finn spat.

"Right, well, that's the thing; you see you won't be able to see me dead, because if I die, then you die. So, wish unfulfilled, I'm afraid," Klaus replied.

"Oh, bother someone else with your hollow charms, Niklaus."

"Why? Why not come bother my big brother?" Klaus smiled. "I need you to accompany me back to Mystic Falls. I have a witch there who can help undo Esther's spell that linked us together."

"I have no wish to be unlinked," Finn said, trying to walk away. Klaus stepped in front of him and put his hand on his chest, stopping him.

"Again with the wishes! Let me rephrase, you will come back with me or I will put you back in that coffin in which you rotted for 900 years," Klaus glared, while I seethed beside him.

"What happens to one happens to all. You may not feel the effects of the dagger, but you'd lose your precious Rebekah," Finn said.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Klaus smirked.

Finn walked away from Klaus and then sped down an alleyway, but was suddenly stopped by Rebekah. My eyes widened in mild amusement when I saw her.

"Let's not make this more difficult than it has to be, brother dear," Rebekah said.

"You're siding with him? Rebekah, he stored us in boxes!" Finn exclaimed.

"At least he's not trying to make us extinct!" Rebekah shot back. Finn glared at her and turned around to face Klaus when I rushed to him and held him up by his throat. I was practically giddy at the chance to give Finn a taste of what he gave me.

My arms were tense as I squeezed his throat. "You're the reason we almost died. You tried to kill your own family, and you sat back and let your crazy mother torture me within an inch of my life," I spat and tightened my grip on his neck even more. "You deserve to drown in a coffin over and over."

"Kill me, then," Finn challenged.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, that's right, you've got a death wish. Fine. Pathetic, but fine. The thing is, I'm not going to let you take the rest of us down with you," I sneered and threw Finn into the brick wall with all my strength. While he was down, Klaus rushed over to him and snapped his neck.

I glanced away from Finn and turned towards Rebekah, who was looking at me with disbelief. "Hey, sexy Beks. Nice to see you again," I smirked.

"We… we all thought you were dead," Rebekah said.

I laughed with mirth. "You're kidding, right?! I was only gone for like… a week."

Rebekah shook her head. "No… Emma, you've been gone for nearly a month."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? Oh my god! Klaus, do you know what this means?" He turned to me and raised his eyebrows. "It means I haven't had a damn shower in four weeks."

Klaus and Rebekah laughed.

"Guys, this isn't funny! I probably have lice or something now," I protested and self-consciously ran my fingers through my greasy hair.

Klaus sauntered up to me and slung his arm over my shoulder. "Oh, Emma, love. You're so lucky you weren't born in the Middle Ages."

I smiled and let out a small giggle. Apparently he was no longer in a mood. My eyes met Klaus's and for a moment I was content. Blue eyes are so underrated. I probably would've stayed there next to him for hours, but Rebekah suddenly cleared her throat.

"I hate to interrupt, but we really need to get going before Finn wakes up."

"You're probably right," I replied. "You and Klaus can handle the idiot while I stop at the gas station. I'm starving."

Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Hungry for Twinkies or blood?"

I smirked. "Does it matter?"

He gave me a look. "I'm coming with you."

"No, you're not!" Rebekah protested. "You just don't want to help carry Finn!"

But Klaus and I had already started to cross the street, ignoring Rebekah.

"Bye Beks!" I called over my shoulder. "We'll be back soon!"

Rebekah scoffed and marched towards Finn. "Define 'soon'," she mumbled.

"Where's the gas station?" Klaus asked.

"No idea. We're not going to the gas station anyway."

"Oh, really? Then exactly where are we going?"

I bit my lip. "The park I think. I saw some girl there earlier and she looked absolutely tasty," I simpered.

"Emma," Klaus chided, and not playfully. He almost looked serious.

"What?" I said, feigning innocence.

"I don't think feeding on humans is… good for you right now."

I shot him a look. "What the hell does that mean?"

Klaus sighed and took a seat on the curb. "Listen," he began, and patted the spot next to him.

I kicked a rock away from me in frustration before I sat down. The last thing I needed was a lecture from Klaus.

"Emma, I know firsthand how difficult it was for you to stop feeding on human blood, and now you want to start feeding again? It's like taking one step forward and two steps back. I know it's not a big deal now, but once you turn your humanity back on, you'll regret it. I just don't want you to have to go through that again."

I ignored the pit in my stomach and rolled my eyes.

"And what if I never flip the switch again? I could just not care forever," I challenged. My eyes were hard and stony as I gauged Klaus's reaction. His face fell and he took my hand in his. Unlike Elijah, Klaus's palms were callused and rough. He was always ready to get his hands dirty.

"You can't really turn it off, you know?" I closed my eyes and tried to ignore him. Klaus either did not notice, or did not care, because he kept talking.

"It's a lie," he said as he rubbed circles on my hand with his callused thumb.

"There's no switch you can just turn off. You just decide that you don't want to care anymore, because suddenly life has become too painful. So you pretend and pretend until you cannot pretend anymore, and then you break. You're miserable, but you pretend you're okay so those who care about you stop worrying, and then you get tired of pretending to be okay so you pretend you don't care once more. It's a vicious cycle of pretending."

It was suddenly difficult to breathe and my breath hitched in my throat. "How do you break the cycle?" I rasped.

Klaus pulled me closer to him and brought his mouth up to my ear. "You stop pretending," he whispered. "You start saying what you feel, instead of saying what others want to hear. You do what you want, not what they want. You have to feel."

I let out a hollow laugh. "That's rich coming from you."

He raised his eyebrows, almost comically. "What's that supposed to mean? I don't hide my emotions. If I'm upset, you'll know it. When I'm happy, you'll know it. And I always do what I want." Klaus's lips brushed my neck and I shivered.

"Is that so?" I said. I turned my body to face his.

"Mmhm," he hummed. He brought his face close to mine; so close that our lips were almost touching. "For instance, I want to kiss you, and I think I will."

"You think?" I asked. "I thought you always do what you want."

"I assure you I do, but this is different… because I'd like you to kiss me back."

I could practically taste Klaus's breath; hot and sweet. I mustered up all the courage I had and shoved Elijah out of my mind. "I think I can do that," I murmured, and before Klaus could reply I pressed my lips to his.

His lips were soft, and seemed to respond so well to mine. Our light kisses and feather like touches quickly became fervent and eager. Klaus pulled me onto his lap and placed his hands on the small of my back as he kissed my neck. I whimpered and dug my fingernails into his shoulders. Klaus let out an animalistic growl and pushed me up against a brick wall. I ran my fingers through his hair as he roughly kissed me. A moment later he abruptly pulled away from me.

"You're not regretting this, are you?" he started.

I forcefully grabbed his shirt collar and smashed my lips against his once more. As Klaus started to lift my shirt over my head I heard someone cough awkwardly. The two of us ended the kiss so fast it gave me whiplash. I turned my head to the source of the sound and quickly straightened my clothing. Rebekah raised her eyebrows at us but said nothing.

"Rebekah… Emma and I were just-"

"Snogging as if your lives depended on it?" Rebekah offered. Klaus rubbed his neck absent mindedly while I made an effort to fix my hair, which had somehow escaped from its ponytail.

Rebekah smirked. "I hate to interrupt, but we've got to get going before Finn wakes up. The last thing I want to deal with is him freaking out in the car."

Klaus nodded. "Right, right," and began to walk towards the SUV, leaving Rebekah and I by ourselves. She looked me up and down and laughed.

"I want to say I wasn't expecting to find you two sucking the life out of one another, but then I'd be lying," she began.

I felt my lips curl into an embarrassed smile. "Honestly, I had no idea that was going to happen," I said, gesturing to the wall where Klaus and I had "snogged as if our lives depended on it," as Rebekah eloquently put it.

Rebekah smiled. "I figured it was about time. I could have cut through all the sexual tension between you two."

"Is that all it is? Sexual tension?" I asked.

She shrugged. "You have to be the judge of that, Em."

I sighed and sat down on the cold concrete. "What if I don't know?"

Rebekah gave me a sad smile and sat down next to me. "I think you and Klaus have always had this… thing. You understand each other. Klaus doesn't try to fix you, like… others have." I mentally noted her leaving Elijah out of the conversation.

"But Klaus is also… Klaus. He does very bad things, frequently. I think… I know that caring about him is difficult. I am warning you, Emma. Klaus does not take abandonment well, so if you decide you care about… someone else, more than him, be ready for the aftermath."

For some reason, Rebekah always chose her words carefully with me, as if the wrong word could make me snap. She'd obviously heard Elijah's stories. I looked up at Rebekah, puzzled. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you deserve to know exactly what you're getting yourself into." Rebekah then stood up and brushed dirt off her, undoubtedly expensive, jeans.

"Now, c'mon," she said and offered me her hand. "Klaus is waiting for us."

Again, I apologize for the short length of this chapter. I promise the next one will be longer. Please read and review my lovelies!