/|\ Tourist /|\
/|\
They start in a museum, both of their heads tilting to the side as they examine the splotches on a canvas in front of them.
Caroline makes an unpleasant face. "It's... interesting."
Klaus grunts noncommittally in agreement. "The color scheme is definitely unique."
She discretely looks from each patron of the arts to the other, reading their faces. They all look interested in which ever painting or abstract sculpture they were advising. Her eyes flick back to Klaus. He looks bored, which is strange. Caroline knew for a fact that Klaus loves touring art museums.
Then he is looking at her, one corner of his mouth lifting with suppressed laughter, and she sighs in relief.
"Thank god," She leans her head onto his shoulder, breathlessly laughing. "What the hell are we looking at?"
A chuckle vibrates from his chest and throughout her body. "This painting looks like the artist became agitated and proceeded to throw paint buckets of different colors at the canvas."
Her entire body is shuddering from giggles. "Well, I for one, do not understand modern art and think that the curator of this museum has terrible taste. " Then she tilts her head up, her chin resting on his shoulder as she gives him her patented full watt smile.
Klaus feigns a look of mock seriousness. "Who shall we complain to for these abominations passing as art?"
She turns her head around warily, eyeing the large statues, and groans. "Do we really have to go through the sculpture wing? I mean – c'mon, they all look like a toddler with play-do made them! They're ugly. I don't get modern art. We're in Budapest, I'm sure we can find something else to do!"
And with that, she grabs the sleeve of his jacket, tugging him past art enthusiasts with a hasty mumble of "'Excuse me, pardon me, get out of the way!" She abruptly stops next to the crowded city streets, snow turning into flurries all around them.
Caroline turns around on her heels, and stares at Klaus intently. "You've been here before," She gestures around her. "Show me."
And show her he does. She laughs, their arms swinging in between them as he tours Hero Square with her, sipping on Hungarian coffee. They study the large statue of their first king on a horse, their necks cramping just to gaze at the top of it.
They take the Funicular Railway up a huge hill, and she smiles at the breathtaking view when they reach the top. Caroline grabs as many brochures as possible, all proudly boosting facts about Buda Castle, with its gorgeous white columns and regal architecture. They eat lunch side by side at the steps the castle, relatively quiet. She loves that there were never many awkward silences. It was comforting, the silence. He throws his arm around her shoulder, and she pulls him closer, her own arm wrapping around his back.
At night, when even the night owl Klaus is ready to relax in bed, Caroline drags him to underground clubs.
"Intoxicated teenagers gyrating to loud noises, sounds fun," He complains as she drags him through the throng of dancers. It fascinates him how the colored lights seem to give an ethereal glow to her, and making her look impossibly more angelic then she already is.
She turns to look back at him, her white teeth flashing in a grin, and he realizes he's staring blankly at her. "Hey, I'm one of those teenagers. And this isn't noise," She scoffs as they finally stop at the bar. "It's dubstep."
"Dub-what?" Klaus grumbles, swiping a scotch bottle from behind the counter. He can practically feel the base in his chest, thumping along to the beat.
Caroline orders some fruity alcoholic drink with a tiny umbrella and downs it in one gulp. "Lighten up, predator."
And then she's grinning seductively at him, and he feels his breath catch in his throat as she turns on her heels and saunters off, hips swaying, into the crowd of wild dancers.
She disappears from his line of sight.
He drains the entire bottle of scotch quickly, but still feels frustratingly sober.
What Caroline calls "dubstep" (and he calls it random noises in an endless loop) stops, and a wild dance remix thumps in his ears, he eventually makes his way across the room, weaving strategically in and out of dancing couples.
Of course, she is in the center, commanding the attention from everyone around her, men and women alike. He's just part of the crowd, entranced by her fluid movements that seemed unreal. He stands in awe for several minutes, as the hype for the remix built up. When the bass begins to drop, he realizes she is his, and not somebody elses for the taking, and he reaches forward and put his hands on her hips possessively.
Caroline turns toward him, the same lust he feels consumed with reflecting in her eyes, and her hand clasps around his wrist, and she yanks him through the crowd with a purposeful step. When they reach the back door, leading to a stereotypical dark alley, she kicks it open. It almost snaps of its hinges with her haste and strength.
Before she can attack at him, he's already lunging at her, hands cupping her face as he backs her up, almost violently hitting the wall. His lips are hard and demanding on her own, and she shucks up his shirt and begins scraping his stomach with her fingernails, leaving behind red trails. Klaus groans into her mouth, illiciting her own matching grunt, and with that opportunity he plunges his tongue into her mouth, both of them battling for dominance and control. The kiss is sloppy, rough, and violent.
He pushes farther into her, denting the hard brick wall behind her. Red dust falls to the ground and attaches itself to her shirt.
The dark veins begin emerging under their eyes, and they make animalistic noises. Klaus grabs her thighs, hitching them around his waist, and she complies eagerly. Her elongated canine tooth nicks his lips, and she tastes the sweet tang of his blood in her mouth. He backs up, panting and staring at her, marveling in the darkness spreading under her eyes. He knows his eyes are yellow, and his own fangs, plus the werewolf fangs must be bared at her.
He yearns to bite her, to sink his teeth into the milky flesh of her shoulder when they both peak, as she does the same to him, but he doesn't want to risk anything. Potentially killing her would ruin, as she puts it, 'the mood'. She is to important to fool around with.
He takes her right there, in the alley. It isn't sweet or slow, but filled with any aggression the two were feeling. Clothes are ripped, snarls and growls filling the night as he marks her as his.
The last memory Caroline has of a dark alley was being attacked by a vampire hunter. The new memory she has is of being attacked, but in a much more pleasant manner.
They vow to return to Budapest later.
/|\
Caroline really likes Egypt. She loves the food, the sights, the dry heat and hot sunshine. And more importantly, she relishes in the fact that she can call him an old man.
They're standing in the Cairo Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, right in front of the solid gold burial mask of King Tutankhamen.
"Were you and the Boy King best friends?" She jokes, elbowing him gently in the ribs.
Klaus gives her a bemused look. "Fortunately for you, sweetheart, even I'm not that old."
They walk through a crowded market place, collecting stares from bewildered natives. You would think they are used to travelers and their paleness, but with their blonde hair and bright white skin, they stick out even more.
It's become their "thing" to climb on top of historical and national monuments. So, they could barely resist lunching and drawing at the top of the pyramids of Giza. They do it at sunrise, using their supernatural speed to bound from one crumbling block to another. She giggles, enjoying being so high up. Klaus rests on a sandstone block jutting out enough to sit on just under the tip. She joins him, leaning against the hot stone, her eyes closed.
After almost an hour, she cracks one of her eyes open and examines the paper Klaus is so carefully hunched over. The piece of charcoal is gently forming and shading her face.
"You... draw me that much?"
His hand freezes over the paper, blinking several times, before he turns around to gaze at her.
"Of course."
She sits up, her eyebrows furrowing, and she lifts her palm up to him. Wordlessly, he hands over his precious sketchbook, and she flips through the pages delicately, as if it would fall apart, rip, and turn into dust under her fingers. As she is beginning to expect, each page is filled with her. Her at the top of the Eiffel tower, hair delicately flowing in the wind. Another of her sleeping at the grand canyon, her blonde hair fanning out around her head, as if she was an angel. One at the top of the Colosseum, a grin spreading across her face. Another one of her reading a book on their bed. One of her ice skating, bundled up in a coat and arms outstretched, laughing. Another one of her crouched eye level with an elephant calf, stroking its head.
The details in each portrait of her is so precise and reverently done, she starts to choke up.
She feels his stare on her own face, gauging her reaction. She flips one more page, and feels ice coarse through her veins.
It's of her, lying in an alley, covered in blood and a painful expression on her face. The drawing itself has harsh and dark colors, surrounded by shadows, as if it were done hastily. She can see dried tear drops on it, and it's slightly crumbled up. The pressure from the pencil rips through the paper, the strokes rushed and hard.
Her own eyes flick up to his, waiting for an explanation.
"I thought... that if I drew it on paper, I could erase it from my head. Foolish, I know..."
Caroline reaches her hand out, and brushes it against his cheek. He lets out a sigh, eyes closing, and pushes his face into her hand further, kissing her palm gently.
"You have no idea how that day torments me."
"It haunts me, too," She whispers back.
They both lean forward, and their foreheads rest against each others, eyes closed. The moment is probably more intimate than when they are together, tangling under the sheets and focused solely on each other.
They stay at the top of the pyramid until its night time, wrapped up in each other in their own private world.
/|\
Caroline falls off the wagon in Chicago.
She and Klaus were arguing about something stupid and meaningless, and she storms out of their expensive hotel room, hastily buttoning up her jacket and shoving fingerless gloves on her hands. Truth is, she hasn't fed in a while, and felt super sensitive and cranky, picking fights over the simplest of things.
When she steps out into the night, she is pleasantly surprised to see snow falling. The white ice sticks to her hair and leaves white spots on her jacket. She is almost a block away from her hotel room, and she isn't seething with anger, when she hears someone approach from behind her on the empty side walk.
"Lost, doll?"
Caroline freezes, hands shoved in her pockets as she whips around.
A man in his mid-thirties is stumbling after her, clearly intoxicated, and smelling of stale beer.
"Uh – no, I'm not," She stutters incredulously, turning around. "Goodnight."
And she feels a force on her jacket, pulling her to his body as he wraps his arms around her waist, and she stands rigidly in shock. The arms are unfamiliar, and all her brain can think is 'not mine' and 'not Klaus.'
She panics, and then pushes against him with her full vampire strength, and he slams into a building, his head breaking the fall. Blood starts to pour from his nose and cut on his forehead as he groans.
"You're gonna pay for that, you stupid bitch!" He wheezes, lunging at her again.
She doesn't pay attention to a word he says, and the red blood is so bright and captivating, and she feels her canines grow and eyes become bloodshot with dark veins, and her attacker stumbles to a halt. She is consumed with hunger, thirst, and an aching want to be satisfied from her sudden craving. She has no control. Not anymore.
"What the- ?"
Then he's back against the wall, and she arches her own head back, exposing her teeth to the moonlight, and digs them right into his jugular, biting down hard.
Oh, and he screams, but she jams her hand against his mouth, silencing him. His pain is easy to ignore. Caroline swallows his life blood eagerly, gulping it down, and she feels the man slump as he grows weaker. His hands, which were once pulling at her back, falls to his side, and she tosses the body into the alley.
It takes several moments for the ramifications of her actions begin to set in. She stares at him in shock, and a mantra of "oh god" escapes her bloody lips; she falls to the stained ground, sobbing loudly, staring at the lifeless body of the dead stranger.
Klaus finds her there several moments later, covered in blood, hair mussed, and clothes stained. She is almost catatonic, and he crouches next to her and cups her cheeks in his hands.
"Oh, sweetheart," He whispers to her, his voice low.
She's trembling, still muttering "oh god" under her breath.
Klaus sighs, and scoops her up, one arm under her knees and the other wraps around her back as he cradles her to his body. Her own arms snake around his neck as she buries her face into his shoulder, trying to disappear.
"What have I done?" Caroline whimpers into his skin. He doesn't answer, only carries her back to their penthouse to wash and clean up.
Behind them, snow begins to cover the nameless mans body, forgotten in a dark alley.
/|\
Well, here, have some angst and trouble in paradise... Anyway, thank you all for your lovely ideas and destinations, they really help, and I can't wait to write more.
And, some shameless self promotion, I wrote a Elijah/Katherine one shot, with the story ID of /s/7865402 ! Thank you guys for your support!
Please leave a review!