A/N: So first of all, I am actually floored at the response that this fic has gotten. Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites. Your kind words have motivated me to get this out faster than it would have gotten otherwise (because of all the other stuff I'm writing).
So, just to be clear, this is post-5x11 with weird canon. Katherine is still in Elena's body, and TO never happened. As far as this fic is concerned, Klaus & Co. left the show and are doing mystery things in NOLA that no one knows about that don't include babies. :P
As I said in the first chapter, the chapters for this story will be shorter than my usual ones, averaging around 3,000 words each. This may change in the future.
Thank you so much to justanotherfiveminutes for beta work! I am excited to share this part of the story with you.
Enjoy!
-Angie
Caroline knocked firmly on the door to the shop she'd been directed to by Luke Parker (who she'd really had to grill for the information), and waited for the witch inside to answer it.
There was a soft thunk of a cane on the floor and a few footsteps before the door opened to reveal a kind looking old woman, whose face dropped to a frown when she saw Caroline. "We're closed."
Caroline smiled at the witch cheerily. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I'm Caroline Forbes, and I was told you could help me with something?"
"I don't help vampires."
"Look, I don't need a spell. I just need some information on werewolves."
The witch cocked her head to the side. "Werewolves can be killed by-"
"No, no, I don't want to kill them. Can I please come in? I won't hurt you."
The witch gave her an assessing look before stepping aside, allowing Caroline to step into the shop. "I need to know about werewolf mating habits."
The witch raised an eyebrow.
"Look. It's a long story, but basically this guy that I know...He says I'm his mate, and I don't think I am, and I want to research it so I can go in with more information, you know?"
The witch remained silent but walked over to a bookshelf in the corner and pulled out a large grey leather-bound tome, holding it out to Caroline.
"This has what you need, though I request that you read it here. I do not like my books being taken out of the shop. I have never heard of such a thing as a werewolf mating with a vampire, but I suppose that there's a first time for everything."
"Thank you so much!" Caroline said, immediately plopping down on a nearby chair and opening the book, rifling through it trying to find a helpful section.
If a werewolf triggers the curse, it is common for them to quickly become connected to someone, it takes some longer than others, most commonly another werewolf, though there have been recorded instances where a human without the gene has been chosen.
This connection between mates is called a "Link," and it is unbreakable from the moment it is made.
Unbreakable? No, that couldn't be right. Magic always had a loophole. There had to be a way to break the bond.
The Link manifests itself in various ways, and different pairs might have different experiences. There are only two traits that almost always appear in mating couples.
When the werewolf's partner is distressed or in danger, they may feel an instinctive need to check on them. These instincts should not be ignored, because they are nearly always accurate.
The other trait is the inability to develop deep emotional connections with potential partners other than the mate.
Though the Link is unbreakable, when the mates first find each other, the connection between them is tenuous at best. Before the claiming, both parties are already affected by the traits of the Link, though those traits are a pale variant of what the mates feel after the claiming.
Caroline bit her lip. So, assuming that Klaus had been telling the truth and she was his mate, he hadn't been wrong about the difficulty with connecting to others, which was definitely a symptom she was feeling at the moment. She'd never had a feeling that Klaus was in danger, but then again Klaus was practically unkillable. She decided to keep reading.
In addition, after the initial claiming both parties may experience overwhelming desire for their mate when in each other's physical presence until the bond can be properly managed.
Other side-effects may include a variety of things that indicate from one mate to the other that they are unhappy, whether with the relationship, their partner, or their sexual fulfillment. Some examples are projected emotions (one mate sharing a specific feeling with the other, such as sadness or anger), a painful tugging felt in the abdomen when your mate is sexually fulfilled by another, or a partner feeling agitated because the other is angry with them.
She snorted. A painful tugging when someone else gave her an orgasm. God, that would be mortifying. She was glad that theirs didn't seem to have that, because she would have felt it if he had…
What if he hadn't?
What if he'd been painfully feeling her having sex with all of these frat boys and-ugh. Nope. Too creepy. Not going there.
She sighed, setting the book down and rubbing her palms over her eyes. "I think that's enough for now, but could I come back some other time if I have any more questions?" Caroline asked the witch tiredly.
"I don't see why not."
Caroline gave her a brilliant smile and thanked her before walking back to her car. She pulled out her phone to check for texts and made a face as she saw one from Klaus.
Lunch at Jack's Burgers.
She snorted. It was so Klaus to order her to have lunch with him without even so much a please. Yeah, no.
What's the magic word?
She checked the rest of her texts while she pressed the unlock button on her car remote and slid into the driver's seat (Stefan had asked if she'd seen Elena-she hadn't-and her mom had reminded her that they'd planned to have dinner that weekend) and was about to pocket her phone when it buzzed again with a text back from Klaus.
Noon.
Caroline rolled her eyes. Wrong answer.
She sighed and put the key into the ignition, twisting around to pull out and slamming on the breaks when Klaus appeared right behind her car.
She sighed and started to back up again.
What was the point of his immortality if she couldn't hit him with her damn car?
He reached out and put his hand on the bumper, stopping it from moving, and she glared at him. He didn't seem to be moving away, so she stopped the car and put it on park, getting out to walk up to him. "What?"
"We're going to lunch."
She glared at him. "No, we're not. You can if you want, but I have a microbiology test to study for."
"Don't you have questions?" He asked.
"About…?"
"Oh, come now, Caroline. I know exactly what you were doing in that witch's shop, and I believe that I can answer your questions better than almost anyone."
"If you tell the truth," Caroline mumbled.
He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. "What...characteristics, or whatever, does our mate bond have? Assuming that we are mates, I mean."
"We are. And I have discovered very few so far, but one of the most common traits is being sensitive to your mate's emotions, and I knew you were in an absolutely foul mood last night after I left, which is why I wanted to make it up to you with lunch."
"No."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself, love."
He didn't move, and she crossed her arms and glared at him. "I need to leave."
He met her stare with a heated one of his own, and she felt a small shock run through her. She felt like every time they made eye contact, she couldn't bring herself to look away. Her mouth went dry.
"So leave."
"You're in my way," She said, fighting not to rasp the words.
He smirked, and she wondered why he looked so calm when she felt like her whole body was on fire.
"Aren't I always?"
"Yes."
He smiled, and she wanted that smile brushing up against every bit of her body. She wanted his lips to touch her neck, to feel the fangs hidden underneath them elongate and bite her, mark her, and-"What are you doing to me?"
"I'm not sure I know what you mean, love," He said, his lips curled into that infuriating smirk.
"Of course you do," She said angrily, her skin prickling with a need to be close to him, to feel every centimeter of him against her naked body, to wrap her legs around him and- "You're making me feel… feel-"
"Aroused?" He asked, looking more amused than anything, "I'm not making you feel anything Caroline. You are attracted to me and your body is reacting," He said, as though he were speaking to a child.
"Stop being so condescending," She snapped, trying to calm the flush overtaking her body.
He moved closer in response, and she longed to lean towards him, but she restrained herself, gritting her teeth and taking a step back, closing her eyes briefly when the back of her knees hit the back bumper of her car. She was trapped.
"I'm simply telling you the side-effects of the bond," He said, moving even closer to her.
She could easily side step him and leave, but she felt as if her feet were rooted to the concrete, unable to move, and she kept herself leaning back away from him, knowing that if she gave in for even a second she wouldn't be able to let go.
"Why are you so calm, then? Is it just me?" She asked, her voice sharp, abandoning the prospect of denying this stupid...bond...thing...Link...in favor of needing to know why she was so much more affected by it than him.
He stopped in front of her, his body centimeters away from hers, his mouth bent near her ear. "You think that I'm not?" He asked, his hot breath on her ear making her twitch, a stab of arousal hitting her at just his proximity to her, "You think that I haven't wanted to bend you over and fuck you against the car from the second I saw you? That I didn't want to take you against the door last night in your room until you could barely walk, vampire abilities or not? That it's not taking every single bit of self control I have not to grab you, wrap your legs around my waist, and make you scream in front of everyone in this parking lot?"
She let out a small, breathy moan, wondering how he managed to have this much of an effect on her, how he wasn't even touching her and she already wanted to do every single one of those things, and perhaps one or two more…
"This is just as trying for me as it is for you, my love."
There was something about the way he emphasized his last words that made her breath shudder, and when he pulled away, his lips twisted into an evil smirk, and she came back to herself, she suddenly felt fury at his actions build within her at an alarming rate.
"Stop doing that," She said, her voice shrill and angry, "Stop making the Link...making me-"
"Stop making you want me? Now why would I want to do that? It might make me stop having to feel it every time you allow someone else into your bed."
"What?"
"Every time another person gives you pleasure, I feel it, and all I want to do is take you against the nearest surface-flat or not-and show you what a huge mistake you're making. No one else will ever be able to make you feel the way I can. No one else will be able to satisfy you the way I will. You are my mate, and every time that I feel you being pleasured by another, I feel the need to claim you again to show you who's name you should be screaming. Mine."
His eyes were darkened with lust, his voice rough and needy, and she felt an insistent ache between her thighs at his possessive words, the thought flitting through her mind that she might (would) feel the same way if the roles were reversed, if she knew that he was screwing some other woman.
He was hers.
She restrained the moan that had been about to escape her, and instead pulled herself away from him and stalked back to the driver's seat of her car, sliding in and starting the ignition. If he didn't move, she was going to run him over, whether it wrecked her car or not. When she turned around to pull out, he was gone, and she sighed.
This Link thing was ridiculous. They needed to find a way to break the bond, and quickly, or she would be stuck wanting to fuck Klaus every second of the day until they'd learned to "properly manage" the bond.
Not that there weren't worse things, really. No. No, Klaus was a terrible person, and she couldn't give in. She would just have to resist the impulse to go to him, and find a way to break the bond, and everything would go back to normal.
God, she needed a drink.
XXX
"We're over," Katherine said abruptly to Damon, trying to insert as much sweetness into her voice as possible.
"Very funny, Elena."
Katherine pursed her lips. "Damon, I can't take it anymore. The killing...The darkness...I love you, but I don't know if I can handle this."
Damon stiffened, looking up at her, and Katherine smirked inwardly. She was almost done with everything on her mental list of things she needed to do to sever ties with everyone in Mystic Falls and go off on her own.
The change had been gradual. After she'd found out Caroline slept with Klaus-questionable taste in men, to be sure, but incredibly convenient for Katherine-she'd been able to successfully divert most of the attention from her to Caroline. Now, some months later, she'd been systematically breaking off most things keeping her tied to Mystic Falls, while still keeping the connections that might prove valuable later (Caroline, Stefan, and Bonnie being most of them). You never knew when a witch would be handy, and Caroline had the potential to be able to keep Klaus away from her.
And Stefan? Well, that was more sentimental than anything else.
"You're serious?"
Katherine nodded slowly, faking a small tremor.
Damon's eyes clouded over, and his face was harsh and still. "Fine. Leave."
She let her eyes fill with tears and sped out of the front door of the house before allowing herself a small smile.
XXX
Klaus stalked into his hotel room a mile away from Caroline's dormitory, having ran there within minutes, and slammed the door shut behind him, leaning against it and running a hand through his hair. That could have gone better.
He cursed his werewolf senses for what felt like the hundredth time since she'd gotten out of her car, her eyes bright with anger and her curls rustling slightly in the breeze with her arms over her chest, and as soon as he'd met her eyes he could smell the beginnings of her arousal.
He had to admit to himself that part of the reason that he'd cornered her against her car, careful not to touch her, was so that he could inhale the scent of her, which grew with every second. He had decided before he'd arrived at Whitmore that the first time he took her she would have to initiate. He wanted her to have to admit to herself that she wanted him before he claimed her again, and if he made the first move, it might push her back rather than forward.
He had seen the desire for him in her eyes though, and thought that it was only a matter of time, even though his instincts had been burning inside him, insisting that his mate was wet and wanted him and needed him.
She was probably pulling up in front of her dorm, still rubbing her thighs together in the front seat trying to relieve the ache between them. He could almost still smell her, and he was hard, his cock straining against the front of his jeans, and he didn't think he'd ever wanted anything more in his life than how much he wanted Caroline Forbes with her legs spread wide, screaming his name as he pounded into her, and fuck he needed a cold shower or a strong drink or something.
He decided on the shower, and let his thoughts wander as he stepped under the spray. Caroline had not yet truly accepted the fact that she was his mate, and he doubted she would for awhile. Even so, once she had, she would tell her little friends, and they would want to kill him (because that seemed to be her friends' answer to everything. When in doubt, attempt to kill him).
Unfortunately, if they did, they would be condemning her to an eternity of misery, which he hoped that she would explain to them enough that they would decide not to.
Wishful thinking, he knew.
In addition, there was the matter of his enemies. Once Caroline had accepted the bond, she would obviously accompany him back to New Orleans. If anyone caught wind of Caroline's existence, there would almost immediately be attempts on her life, and she wasn't the type to sit around all day to avoid being kidnapped.
No, he needed to find a way to protect her.
Unfortunately, short of locking her in a padded room for the rest of her life (unthinkable) or guarding her every second of the day (which she would never allow), there wasn't much he could do unless she could protect herself on her own.
She was only two in vampire years, which meant that she had almost no hope of being able to fight off anyone over the age of twenty without the element of surprise or superior weapons. They would have to find a way to make her stronger. He could teach her to fight, but even then she would still be vulnerable to weapons, and it wasn't as though she could be made impervious to stakes through the heart.
Or could she?
His mother had created the spell to turn humans to Original vampires. What if they could modify the spell to work for vampires?
The consequence would be that such a spell would then exist, which would be dangerous for the whole supernatural population, unless he managed to keep it a closely guarded secret. The witch would have to be trustworthy.
He ran through the names of various witches that he knew, landing on Priscilla as the most likely to be able to help, having the needed background information already, and an astonishing sense of self-preservation, meaning that she wouldn't tell anyone that it happened if she wanted her head attached to her body.
They would first have to locate the spell, which meant that he either had to find a grimmoire copy of it (unlikely to exist) or have Priscilla contact Alaric Saltzman from the Other Side.
He would call her later that day, and get to work. It was settled, at least in his mind. As soon as Caroline accepted the bond and took her rightful place beside him, he would turn her into an Original.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Thoughts on their Link? Klaus's solution? What's Katherine up to? Let me know what you think! The only way I get to be a better writer is through feedback. :)
Hugs!
-Angie