A/N: Wow, I know writers on here say this all the time, but seriously, you readers and reviewers are amazing. I want to give a shout out to the repeat reviewers in particular because not only do I like knowing that I'm attracting new readers with each chapter, but I like to know that many of the first readers/reviewers are still around supporting this fic! I enjoy hearing from all of you though *wink wink nudge nudge*
There will be another author's note to follow at the end.
Please read, enjoy, and review :D
"Get off of me!" he demanded, as he tossed his younger sister across the room, much as he had just done with Matt.
He rushed to the front entrance, but it was too late, he could see the tail lights of Matt's terrible excuse for a vehicle disappearing down the drive. Matt had escaped with the help of Caroline.
He stood there frozen for a few moments with his lips tightened in a straight expression and his eyes locked in a cold stare.
As he swallowed hard, everything that had just taken place began to sink in.
Not only had he frightened her off with his horrific tale about the letters, he had nearly killed her dear friend and ex-boyfriend Matt; the perfect cherry on top.
He scoffed and smirked at his actions. That's always how it was with him. If he was going to go out, it would be with a bang, he thought.
She was gone for good.
It was best this way. She was beginning to get the better of him. She was slowly undermining him. He could feel it, and he didn't like it.
If only Rebekah hadn't intervened, he could have put the final nail in that coffin, so to speak.
He could hear Rebekah grumbling to herself as she recovered from his throw.
"What the hell did you do that for!" he shouted, as he slammed the door behind him.
Rebekah chuckled at him, as she fixed her hair.
"That was for you pretending to care about Finn enough to avenge his death, and Matt's my date to the decade dance Nik, I can't have a dead date!" she hissed.
"Considering he helped kill Finn, I'm surprised you even care to have him as a date. Besides, you could have just compelled yourself another," he mused. "If the Salvatores find out we're divided, they'll exploit that weakness Rebekah. You cannot undercut my authority like that," he said sternly as he approached her.
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Your authority? Nik, get over yourself. The world does not revolve around you!" she informed him bitterly. "I don't want another date to the dance, Nik. I want Matt to take me, and you almost ruined that for me!" she lamented.
"Who's to say that I still haven't?" he snarled with a mean grin.
She slapped him hard. He was expecting it. He wanted her to hit him.
"Matt may have killed Finn, but at least he was looking out for someone other than himself. That's a lot more than you can say," she spat.
He didn't retaliate; he simply turned away from her and trudged angrily up the stairs. He no longer had the desire to bicker with her. He wanted to be alone.
Once in his room, he shut his bedroom doors with such force that the hinges protested violently, nearly tearing away from the door frame.
He surveyed the damage already done.
The bookcase he just finished would need to be completely rebuilt.
There were books scattered all over the floor; the spines landing every which way and pages bent and creased on the insides. He could only hope that none of the damaged ones were his rare favourites, but at this point, he didn't care.
He gazed over towards his unkempt bed and cringed.
There was an indent in the blankets and pillow where she had laid only a short time ago.
His jaw clenched as memories of the evening were quickly recalled.
He could almost feel the soft skin of her thighs under his fingertips, hear her moans of delight, and see her body writhe from her climaxes.
Turning back towards the bookcase, the darker moments of the night came to mind. She had asked him an innocent question about the letters, and he answered her honestly. In part, he had done this on purpose. He anticipated her negative reaction. He wanted it to happen; he wanted to push her away. Unfortunately it backfired on him as he gave away more information than he had expected. He hadn't intended to give her the reason behind those letters, and as a result, he exploded at her and then Matt.
The anger and disappointment on her face outside earlier was palpable.
Yes, she was gone for good.
In a way, he was comforted by that fact.
He had been dancing along a thin line with her. She was dangerous; she was becoming a weakness.
But the part of him that was comforted did not compare to the part of him that was enraged.
He shouted a few expletives at no one in particular as he kicked his feet at the debris on the floor.
Feeling only more frustrated, he grabbed at the remaining shelves of the bookcase and ripped them away from the frame, allowing the rest of the books to fall.
He could care less about the damage; he would need to rebuild the shelf anyways.
At this point his breathing was out of control.
Noticing the remaining blood in the decanter from earlier, he eagerly swallowed down what was left.
His nerves quickly calmed as the blood pushed through his dead veins.
He needed his mind taken off of things; he needed an outlet; he needed to paint.
Before he could paint he prepped his record player. The music would help drown out his thoughts. He was in a jazz and swing mood. He selected records by some of his favourites; Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Ben Goodman.
He hadn't even touched the paints or the canvas and he already envisioned what he would create; a dark abstract.
There were barely a handful of brush strokes to the easel before he heard his bedroom doors creak open. He knew it was Rebekah without even turning around.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked flatly, without turning to face her.
He heard her step inside.
"It's not like you to shy away from a confrontation, Nik. You disappeared upstairs without as much as a word..."
"I don't need your false concern right now Rebekah. I'm tired," he complained as he continued to paint.
"I'm sure you are," she said sarcastically. "It smells like sex and rage in here," she noted.
He listened as she stepped over the piles of books and pieces of shelving.
"Watch the books," he warned, finally turning to glare at her.
She held up her hands to convey her compliance and innocence as she entered the sitting room.
"So you slept with Caroline...Caroline slept with you. That's why she was here..." she said confused, putting the pieces together. "Isn't she with your sire boy?"
- "was," he interrupted.
"She's with you now?"
"No," he denied flatly.
"Would you just tell me what the hell is going on Nik?" she demanded, clearly annoyed with his cryptic answers.
"I don't think I need to describe to you how sex works," he snickered.
She scoffed and her hands went to her hips.
"You know exactly what I mean. Judging by the foul look on Caroline's face earlier, and your mood, something else clearly happened tonight," she said, extending her other hand to point at the evidence lying all over the floor.
He shrugged.
"Lover's quarrel?" he suggested.
Her eyes widened at him in frustration.
"Look sister, Caroline and I had a little spat, that's all. It's really none of your business," he said nonchalantly, as he changed records on the record player.
She folded her arms under her chest.
"Something obviously happened between you two to make you go off like this. Your attitude can't just be about the stake," she decided. "Don't play games with me, Nik. I know that you fancy her."
"Oh, do you now?" he retorted as he paced back to the easel.
She nodded self-assuredly.
"If she didn't mean anything to you, you would have killed her instead of Matt as part of your threat to get Alaric's stake. You didn't even know Matt would be driving me home. Not to mention the countless drawings you did of her," she pointed out.
He knew she had caught him. Why else would he have spared Caroline or sketched numerous drawings of her?
"You don't know what you're talking about," he responded.
"Then explain to me why you need Caroline alive," she countered.
"Rest assured, Rebekah. I keep no one alive who doesn't serve a greater purpose for my plans," he spoke cryptically once more, hoping to throw her off and satisfy her curiosity.
He knew her better than that though. She wouldn't be satisfied. She knew something was amiss.
"You know it's a bit hypocritical of you brother...to lambast Finn over his weakness for Sage; to have lambasted Elijah for his feelings for Katherine; to now lambast me for my feelings for Matt...when you have evidently developed feelings of your own for vampire slut Caroline," Rebekah pointed out.
Dropping his paints, he spun around, diving towards her.
Grabbing her by the neck, he pushed her up against the wall.
"Mind your tongue, Rebekah," he said through gritted teeth.
When she began to choke, he dropped her to the ground.
She laughed at him.
"Thanks, Nik."
He arched an eyebrow at her questioningly.
"For what?" he asked.
"For proving your feelings for Caroline by leaping to defend her honour," she smirked, speeding to the other side of the room before he had a chance to take his anger out on her once more.
"Bitch," he growled.
She seemed to take his comment as a compliment.
"So before you go on chastising your siblings for how weak we make this family, perhaps you should try taking a look in the mirror," she recommended, as she headed towards the sitting room entrance.
Ignoring her, he retrieved his paint brush from the floor.
He fully expected her to leave, but he could hear her still lingering in the room.
"You know brother...as long as you're on your little hybrid mission with Elena, Caroline will never ever give you her heart," she told him.
"I never said I wanted it," he remarked angrily, turning his face to the side so he could see her in the doorway.
"You didn't have to," she retorted.
Things fell silent between them as he tried to find an appropriate response to her invasive comments and assumptions.
"It wouldn't be the end of the world if you gave up your hybrid obsession, Nik," Rebekah suggested.
He tensed.
"I've spent hundreds of years trying to break the curse, and now that I have, I'm not giving up now," he answered flatly. "I need those hybrids."
She groaned.
"Yes, yes, I know; because you don't want to be alone. Well I hate to break it to you, but you're not alone. You have me, you have Elijah, you have Kol...and as much as she annoys me, you could have Caroline if you tried. Why is that not enough for you?" she berated him.
He clenched his fists together and fought the urge to explode once more.
"This conversation is finished," he decided, becoming more agitated by the second. "Leave, now."
She sneered at him.
"I've never seen anyone waste an eternity quite as perfectly as you, Nik," she admitted. "Perhaps you'll eventually come to your senses before it's too late," she hoped.
He turned as he heard her set something down on the table in the sitting room. It was her cell phone.
"Her number is in there," she informed him, disappearing from his bedroom before he had a chance to protest.
Her forehead clenched in confusion as she quickly tried to figure out why Rebekah would be calling her at this hour.
Maybe she was trying to get through to Matt...or maybe something had happened to Klaus? Or she had decided to be a hard ass about setting up for tomorrow's dance since she had pretty much taken over from Caroline.
She quickly answered. "Hello?"
"Caroline..."
The voice that spoke to her was far from the feminine accented voice she had expected. Instead, she was met with the deep accented voice she had become so familiar with.
"Klaus..." she whispered.
In an instant, all the conflicting emotions she had been battling with returned with a vengeance. She knew she could not relent to him so easily. She had to stick to her decision. She needed to keep distant from him for the sake of her sanity and for the sake of Tyler and her friends.
"I...I need to speak with you," he said, almost anxiously.
She huffed into the phone and tried with determination to focus on all the terrible things Klaus had done and said. It was the only way she'd be able to follow through with her intent.
"As you said, tonight was a mistake. This is a mistake. It shouldn't have happened, and because it did, Matt almost died. I have nothing more to say to you," she winced, before abruptly ending their call.
If she had given him the time to respond, she would have given herself time to reconsider.
Exhaling loudly, she fell back against her bed and rested her phone face down on her stomach. She bit her lip hard trying to fight the urge to cry again. What she just did had to be done.
When her phone sounded again, she flinched and instantly grew nervous and annoyed. She cursed Klaus for making this even harder on her.
She decided to answer.
"Klaus, I told you, I have nothing more to say to you. Please don't call me again," she urged him, becoming emotional once more. She hoped he would take her advice.
Before she could end the call, another new, but familiar voice responded.
"Caroline, it's Elena..." her friend spoke.
"Elena..." she said surprised."Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she apologized, her face red with embarrassment.
She covered her eyes in disbelief. She should have checked her caller I.D. she thought, scolding herself.
"Judging by how you answered the phone, I assume today didn't go well?" Elena probed.
She sighed and shook her head, even though Elena couldn't see her.
"Well, we all survived another day, so I suppose it was a success?" she suggested.
Elena laughed hesitantly. "I guess so. What happened today?" she asked.
Caroline scolded herself for not asking Elena about her day first so she wouldn't have to answer her persistent questions.
"It was fine for the first part; I kept him occupied like we planned," she informed her friend, still proud, despite what happened, that she was able to help in a significant way.
"What did you do?" Elena asked curiously.
She hesitated as she considered an answer. She decided that being partially honest was the best route to go.
"We had lunch...he took me horseback riding...we had dinner...watched a movie," had unforgettable sex, she added to herself.
Elena gasped on the other end of the phone.
"What?" she asked. "He took you horseback riding? You had dinner together, and watched a movie?" Elena repeated in disbelief. "We are talking about Klaus, right?"
Caroline laughed at how truly ridiculous it sounded.
"Yeah...oh my god Elena, can you believe his favourite movie is Night of the Living Dead? How ironic is that?" she blabbed, quickly realizing that her enthusiasm was too much...almost suspicious.
Elena scoffed.
"I can believe that. What I can't believe is your day with him. Who would have thought that in addition to being a heartless monster, he's also a hopeless romantic?" Elena chuckled sarcastically. "Geez Caroline, your day was like the ultimate dream date...aside from Klaus being there."
She found herself frowning at Elena's comments, but forced a laugh nonetheless.
"I know right? He's a creep," she commented, trying to cement her loyalty to her best friend.
"He has to be up to something," Elena suggested.
Caroline rolled her eyes and suddenly felt defensive.
"Thanks, Elena. A guy can't just like me, he has to be up to something..." she responded in a way that disguised her bruised ego.
Elena laughed hesitantly. "Caroline, you know that's not what I meant. I just meant that it's Klaus, and he always has ulterior motives. We just need to keep our guard up," her friend clarified.
"I know what you meant, I was just joking," she lied.
"Unless you actually want Klaus to actually like you?" Elena asked in such a judgemental way that let Caroline know there was only one answer to her question.
"Of course not," she answered speedily. "Tyler's coming home tomorrow," she added.
She felt the mood between her and her friend relax instantly with mention of Tyler.
"Oh really? I guess that means he broke the sire bond," she concluded.
"Let's hope so," she responded to Elena.
"You never told me about the second part," Elena reminded her.
"Second part of what?" she asked, playing dumb.
"You're date with Klaus; what happened?" Elena pushed.
"It wasn't a date," Caroline denied.
Elena laughed. "I'm just bugging you. But seriously, what went wrong tonight?"
She wasn't sure she felt like retelling the fake story again, but she knew her friend would not give up until she had some answers.
"Things went wrong the second I tried to ask him about more serious things..." she trailed off.
"Like?" Elena wondered.
"Like what his plans are once he gets the stake. What his plans are with you and Tyler," she confessed.
She heard Elena's breathing quicken on the other end of the phone.
"What are his plans? What did he say about me?" Elena questioned.
She hesitated, knowing her news would frighten and worry Elena.
"Once he gets the stake he wants to leave town...with you," she revealed.
Elena fell completely silent.
"Elena?" she asked, hoping her friend was still there.
"I'm here," Elena answered.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm okay Caroline. We'll all be okay. We'll figure a way out of this," Elena said reassuringly.
Despite all she had been through in the past year, Elena never seemed to lose her optimism.
"So why was Klaus calling you now?" her friend changed the subject.
"I'm not sure. I didn't give him a chance to explain. Damage control maybe..." she suspected.
"Damage control?" Elena asked, clearly wondering what she meant.
She stuttered a bit as she tried to finish describing the last part of her night. Telling Elena about Klaus's latest actions would only make Elena hate him more; would only push him further from redemption in her eyes. She felt pathetic and guilty for wanting to protect him.
"After our little confrontation about everything I stormed out. Matt just happened to be driving Rebekah home at the time. Klaus grabbed Matt and nearly killed him," she said quickly, wanting to get it out as quickly as possible. "He was gonna kill Matt to make good on his threat, but..."
- "But what?" Elena interrupted.
"Rebekah intervened thankfully, and I got Matt out of there," she finished.
"Oh my god Caroline..." Elena said before breathing a sigh of relief. "So I guess it looks like Rebekah has a crush on Matt, and Klaus has a crush on you," she noted. "He could have killed you and he didn't," she added, concluding the same thing Matt had earlier.
Caroline said nothing in response, preferring instead to let silence kill their current topic of conversation. "So Damon texted me. What's plan B?" she asked, hesitantly curious.
Now it was Elena's turn to hesitate.
"We're gonna take some drastic measures with Alaric. Stefan's gonna keep him at the boarding house to try and get evil Alaric to make an appearance for some info," Elena informed her. "Damon and I are gonna go to Denver to check in on Jeremy..."
- "You and Damon?" Caroline interrupted. "What does Stefan think about that?"
"Stefan suggested it. He wants me to sort out my feelings and figure out what I want," Elena told her.
If she was in a similar position as Stefan, there would be no way she would ever suggest something like that. She gave Stefan credit.
"Oh..." she replied, unsure of what advice to give to her friend.
Elena knew how she felt about her relationship troubles; Caroline was firmly in Stefan's corner.
"We're also gonna see if Jeremy can communicate with Rose to find out which original's bloodline she came from..." Elena added, as if to give her trip more purpose than exploring her romantic feelings for the elder Salvatore.
However, judging by Elena's pause, Elena knew that providing this information would lead to instant tension between them.
"So you can find out if you can kill Klaus, and by extension Tyler," she said, finishing Elena's sentence in a way she hoped conveyed her frustration.
Elena's news frightened her. If Jeremy was able to find out who Rose descended from...and that descendant wasn't Klaus then Klaus and Tyler were both dead and she would be devastated.
"Caroline...Tyler isn't going to die," Elena reassured her. "We just want to have the information."
She snorted sarcastically into the phone in response.
"Elena, you may not want Tyler dead, but if Damon finds out that Rose descended from someone other than Klaus, you know that he'll stop at nothing to kill Klaus," she reminded her sometimes naive friend as she began to grow emotional.
"I promise you that I'm not going to let Tyler die. I'd rather just give up my blood to Klaus like he wants than to see any of my friends die," Elena revealed. "Okay, Caroline?" she asked, needing reassurance that Caroline believed her.
Elena would never willingly allow one of her friends to be hurt in the effort to protect her. She trusted Elena's word, but Damon made her nervous.
"Okay, Elena," she replied reluctantly.
"So I was thinking you could 'fake' forgive Klaus and keep him busy tomorrow?" Elena proposed. "But, I completely understand if you're uncomfortable with the idea considering what happened tonight."
She heard Elena inhale as she waited for her answer.
"I would, but since Tyler's coming home tomorrow, I was gonna spend the day with him," she informed Elena.
"Of course. I wasn't even thinking," Elena apologized before giggling. "You can't keep Klaus busy tomorrow because you'll be getting busy with Tyler..."
Caroline rolled her eyes.
"Shut up Elena."
"You know I'm only joking," her friend told her.
"Listen; make sure you keep Tyler's homecoming to yourself. Klaus can't know he's back yet."
"Of course," Elena promised.
First she yawned and then Elena followed close behind. They both laughed when they finished.
"I should go to bed," Elena decided.
"Me too," she agreed.
"Don't have too much fun tomorrow with Tyler," Elena warned her humorously.
Caroline laughed, despite feeling a deep tension and dread growing in her stomach at the prospect of tomorrow.
"Don't have too much fun tomorrow with Damon," she retorted.
They both said goodnight to one another and suddenly she found herself alone in her bedroom with all of her thoughts.
She peeled back her blankets and climbed into her welcoming bed. Her cell phone was still in her hand and she glanced at the screen. She noted the call from 'Rebekah.'
Resisting the urge to call him back or send him a text, she tossed her phone on her nightstand and turned off the lamp.
At this point she found herself wide awake. All she wanted was to be able to close her eyes and forget about the day, but she couldn't ignore what happened; the good and the bad.
Rolling onto her side, she let out a loud sigh as she closed her eyes and tried for sleep.
She knew she had no choice in the matter; she had to forget. Tyler would be home tomorrow.
A/N: I hoped you enjoyed the chapter despite the lack of "Klaroline" moments. These chapters have to happen. I also hope Klaus's perspective at the beginning was satisfactory and realistic. I would like to do another chapter in the near future that is entirely from his perspective like in "Give Me Love." I like writing him better than Caroline, but I think it's important to get her point of view across.
Fun fact: the painting Klaus started in this chapter is meant to be the same one shown in 3x20.
Please also note that I'm trying my best to interweave my fic into the events that have already taken place in season 3, but some things will be altered for the sake of the story. Please understand. I hope this does not diminish the integrity or believability of my fic.
With that, you can expect that the next chapter will be a little repetitive in that it will contain some of the interaction between Tyler and Caroline from 3x19 but with some new twists and insights. Don't worry though, I plan to have more Klaus/Caroline interaction sooner than you might expect!
Also, I noticed that some of my reviewers have mentioned fics on this site with sexual content being removed. First of all, I think that's ridiculous. Second, I'll keep an eye on my stories. I have "Give Me Love" and the chapters of "Love Interruption" saved to my computer, and will re-post them if necessary, or find another online outlet to share them in the event that they are deleted.
Okay, I'm done rambling now.
*cough* review me *cough*