3x11 Our Town (Continued)...
The indirect sunlight fell through Caroline's curtains and invaded her eyelids making her see red from under their skin. It was the precipice of consciousness that you get sent barreling through and by the time you realize what's happening, you're already awake. It gives the body a jolt. Even a vampire's. And after the night she had prior, it was amplified. Luckily, her head had mostly been in shadow so the sunlight didn't harshen her brain into a migraine. But she was a tad bit achy.
Slowly stretching into a sitting position, she began working out a few of the kinks, moving a hand to the bite on her neck that was now long gone. It took a couple seconds but it all came back to her and she let out a scoff of relief as she put her weight on an elbow. Thank you to whatever deity existed that she was still among the living even if she wasn't technically one of them herself.
Looking over to her right, something on her side table caught her attention. The night before, there had been cards sitting there, standing open. Now, all the cards but one were gone and in their place was a beautiful dark velvet jewelry box with a white ribbon around it and a small, cotton stock gift tag wedged in place.
Caroline furrowed her brow. Her mother and friends had given her gifts yesterday. Why would one of them leave another for this morning? It didn't make sense but she reached for it and sat up straighter to examine the present. She flipped over the card to reveal two words that looked like they were written with a quill.
from Klaus
This stopped her for just a moment. But that's all it took for her to have several memories flash through her mind.
When Klaus had stepped into the frame of her door hours earlier she had instantly been frightened even though she had no reason to be. She was going to die anyway so there was nothing really to fear from the man. It was the first thing out of her mouth though and he seemed offended that she would think he was there to harm her. The damage had already been done and once the initial fear had flushed out, she was just angry because he was the one who really did this to her. She let him see it because, really, what did she have to lose?
He had started forward very stern like he had decided to make her last moments torturous after all. She could feel the fear rising again. What was worse than death was an excruciating one and he was getting closer. This man's presence could be truly terrifying. She felt it radiating off of him. The power and confidence. It made a person's so called 'spidy senses' tingle. No one could miss it. But he wasn't there to torture her after all, she found. He began talking about how he really hadn't wanted to hurt her. And then a comment about loving birthdays.
At the time, she'd been so confused. One remark about his age and then suddenly it dawned on her that they had started a conversation. Something that they'd never really done. Their one on one interaction had been non-existent until this point. His tone was almost as though he was addressing someone he was fond of.
At her own declaration of her imminent death, he slowly lowered himself to sit on her bed, one leg hiked up on the mattress. This was closer than he'd ever been and she was able to smell his cologne. It was a deep scent of woodgrain and something else she couldn't punctuate. But point was that his proximity was overwhelming her senses and she didn't know how to quantify any of it. This threatening villain was using such gentle speech and movements that didn't seem to belong to him. Not the two dimensional monster that she thought he was.
Caroline's perception of the situation was being shredded in two; completely ripped apart. Seeing things in black and white was easy. But seeing the beginnings of light grey in the darkness? That gets far too confusing and it never gets any easier.
In that instant, in a different metaphorical light, his physical features even seemed to mutate. Of course she had known he wasn't hideous but she'd never really looked at him. His eyes were kind, his lips plump and his hair was full of boyish curls that softened his caveman-like brow.
"I could let you. Die. If that's what you want..." She could hear his voice in her mind. "But I'll let you in on a little secret..."
Caroline drew in a breath from the overload of memories from last night and slowly removed the white ribbon and opened the present. The sight of a beautiful diamond encrusted bracelet stole her next breath. Her heart was pounding. What did this mean?!
She touched the stones and they were indeed what she thought. Real. Nothing fake or cheap about this gift. But then, come to think of it, she couldn't see Klaus giving anything that wasn't fine quality. Not that she'd ever thought of him giving anything to anyone before this anyway. She really never thought anything much of him at all other than 'evil' and 'enemy'. But suddenly there were so many other words that were trying to burst their way in so fast that she couldn't even slow them down enough to realize what all of them were. What was he? What was this? What was he doing?
And what was this feeling? Fear? Excitement? Warmth? Chill? Her breathing and heart sped up and she quickly put down the box on her bed, leaving it open. She just sat there and stared at it as though it was an alien creature. It glinted at her in the sunlight. It was actually real but this whole situation seemed so false.
Klaus. This profoundly immoral and malevolent being comes into town and does the most despicable, vial acts. Terrorizes her friends and nearly kills her; suddenly he's a he. The moment that Klaus Mikaelson went from an it to a he is one that Caroline will forever remember. After an evening of pretty words and the discovery of this radiant gift, she saw a man-like monster where there had only just been a beast before. And that confusing revelation scared her beyond words.
"There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities and art. And music. Genuine beauty." His words touched her heart, in the kind of way that she literally could almost feel the inspiring warmth reaching into her chest and uplifting her soul, making her lightheaded. Through his eyes, she could see the gateway to the future and all of the things it contained for her. Everything else disappeared as she saw what he was describing. No one had ever told her she could have more than this small county in Virginia. Not even her mother encouraged her to reach beyond the town limits and in some ways, she suspected it was because her mother nor anyone else ever thought she would anyway. Those things just weren't meant to be hers. Or were they? It was a new question.
"And you can have all of it. You can have a thousand more birthdays. All you have to do is ask." There it was. The promise of endless tomorrows if she only said she wanted them. And beyond just wanting to live, she truly wanted those days. She wanted those possibilities. Caroline Forbes wanted more, wanted what she didn't think was afforded to her to want. She was being told point blank that it wasn't out of her reach, it wouldn't even be hard to get. This new dream was hers to take or to throw away.
This massive realization only came out in the verbal response of, "I don't want to die." The next thing she knew, she was in his arms, head close to his chest. He offered her a lifeline and she took it.
Blood sharing was something Caroline had heard of and discussed with Bonnie at one point just in a conversation of random topics. Neither one of them had known much about it aside from that it was very intimate. Caroline now knew that from personal experience. It had been as though there were a link conjoining their bodies and then that link were electrified with volts of strong current. His blood tasted better than any she'd ever had before and was more refreshing than cold water on a hot day. She had grabbed onto his arm and his shirt as she fed and could feel his breath on top of her head.
It was like another form of orgasm. Caroline froze. That thought set her on the path to 'freaking the fuck out' so she quickly shimmied back until she was sitting ramrod straight against her wicker headboard, as far away on the bed as she could get from the bracelet still in its box, still sitting open. That's when she noticed the teddy bear. It had been in her arms when she first woke up but only now did its placement hold meaning. He'd put it in her arms.
Klaus had been in her room after she was asleep and stayed long enough to place a surprise on her nightstand, find a stuffed animal to put in her slumbering grasp and God knows what else. Her cheeks heated as she looked around for anything out of place but nothing appeared amiss other than what she'd already noticed until her eyes fell on the window. It was slightly open and she knew it hadn't been last night. So either he'd cracked the window before he left after feeding her his blood, or he'd come back in that way later. Him returning to her room freaked her out more than if he'd done all of it in one visit. It looked like the beginning of a pattern. And patterns, they were bad.
Okay, now she really needed to call someone. Elena? No. Bonnie? Yes.
Caroline reached for her phone and as the screen woke up it reverted, as always, to the last thing it had been on. Her contacts were pulled up but there was one new name on the list.
Klaus Mikaelson.
