Warning: Cause I get a little paranoid with ratings on this site, there is a warning for slightly suggestive content near the end of this chapter, so if you don't approve of that, then skip to the authors note after Caroline says her awesome ''You don't care...'' speech.
Enjoy!
"Champagne, please." Caroline said to the bartender.
"Make it two." A deep voice added behind her, and she froze, not needing to turn around to know it was Klaus. She kept her eyes trained on the glasses as they were filled, and as soon as one was placed in front of her, she took it with a smile.
"Thanks." She said to the bartender, before sweeping away across the marble floor. She didn't go far without a hand being placed honorably on the middle of her back.
"I heard you talked to Rebekah." Klaus said, studying her face.
Caroline glanced sideways at him as she quirked a brow and downed a third of her champagne. "Yeah?" She knew there was clearly more that he had to say, more that he wanted. She stepped slightly away from his hold. Charming though it may be, she wanted to be able to think and concentrate during at least one conversation with him this evening.
"I just want to apologize for any harm she may have caused." He deadpanned.
Caroline couldn't hold back a laugh at his seriousness. He looked at her, caught between humor and a scowl.
"What?"
"Rebekah was fine. I mean, she was Rebekah, which I guess I'll have to get used to." Her eyes widened a little as she realized she had let a future tense slip. "But she was fine. Nice, even."
Klaus looked pleased. "What did she say?"
Caroline flustered slightly, easily giving away the topic of conversation.
"Nothing that concerns you."
He chuckled. "It should concern me, since it clearly was about me, but oddly enough I'm not concerned."
"Good." Caroline managed in return. She glanced up to meet his gaze again before remembering that she should not do that anymore, and instead glanced around to the rest of the party.
"Looking for the footballer? Matt, is it?"
"Yes, his name is Matt, but no, I'm not looking for him. He's not my date, he's Rebekah's."
"And then who is your date, fair Caroline?" Klaus smirked.
She glanced wide eyed at him, thinking of possible answers along the lines of 'you gave me a dress, danced with me, invited me here in the first place, you tell me who my date is' but she went for the easier, poisonous option.
"Well it could have been Tyler, but since he's been a little indisposed…" By being too busy acting like a jerk, she added in her head.
"Still doesn't answer the question, love." Klaus said levelly, the only hint towards his feelings being the small flash of jealousy Caroline caught in his eyes.
"I'm my own woman. I don't need a date." She shrugged, feeling secure. She hoped he'd get the message and leave her alone.
Instead, Klaus eyed her appreciatively. "You've got some spunk, Miss Forbes. And it's quite tasty." He said in a dark, seductive tone that was far too inappropriate for the very public ballroom, and she couldn't hold back the blush that rose to cheeks and the rush that swept through her, even as she rolled her eyes dismissively.
She was trying to word a good come back when their attention was diverted to Esther on the stairs.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass."
Klaus gently took the half finished glass from Caroline and replaced it with the new, rose-colored liquid. She glanced up at him with a smile; she just couldn't help herself. He reflected it back at her, before they looked up to Esther once more.
"It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!"
Caroline suppressed a shudder. There was something sinister about Esther…but she just let it slide and sipped at the champagne. There was something odd about that too, but she let that slide also. Klaus was glancing over his shoulder as he drank, and she glanced warily at him.
"What is it?"
He looked back to her, caught, and gave his trademark smirk. "Nothing, love. Just some unfinished business of mine."
She came back from whatever small cloud of alternate world she'd been on with a jolt. Right. He was Resident Evil in this town, of course he had unfinished business. She wondered what he would use the cover of the ball to do this time.
"Well, good. You can go finish it." She snipped, walking over to Elena and leaving him alone.
"Would you excuse us?" Caroline said to Elijah. Elena flashed her eyes warningly at Caroline, but Elijah wore a polite smile.
"Of course. We'll talk later, fair Elena." He nodded his head in a graceful, modern day bow and walked towards Klaus, who was staring after Caroline with an expression somewhere between confusion and a scowl.
"That was a bit rude." Elena commented.
Caroline turned on her. "What, me ditching Mr Evil or sending away Mr Manners? Are you on their side now?"
"No, Caroline." Elena said in an exhausted tone. "But you're one to talk. Why were you with Klaus anyway?"
Caroline scoffed. "That's beside the point."
Elena raised her eyebrows at her. "You came in his gifted dress and you've talked to him an awful lot tonight. What's going on?"
"I don't know, he's seemed less….villainy tonight." Caroline caught Elenas disbelieving stare and she put up her hands. "I know, I know. I'm delicate, what can I say. He just does this weird wide-eyed abandoned puppy look, you know the one." She broke off under Elenas disbelieving look. "Oh come on, you do know the one."
"Care…okay. Even I have to admit that Klaus has been civilized tonight. But we've got to get used to the fact that things are going to change around here." Her eyes caught Caroline's in a knowing glance. There was a plan to kill them, there always was, they just couldn't say it right now with the Mikaelsons and their vampire hearing all around them.
Caroline nodded. "You're right. You're right."
Elena sighed, glancing back towards Elijah. "No matter how terrible we feel…we've got to remember that they are worse. They've done much worse than us. They've killed so many people. And we're in the right. Right?"
Caroline couldn't help but feel like Elena was asking more for acceptance rather than agreeance. She needed convincing just as much as her. And Caroline could easily go on to Elena about hypocrisy with the Salvatore brothers, especially Damon's actions, but the truth was that Caroline needed just as much of a reminder that they were doing the right thing.
"Right. They're evil. He's evil." He's evil, evil, evil. That was Caroline's new mantra.
Elena turned back to her with a tight smile. "It'll all be fine soon, Care. And Tyler will be back soon, right?" She looked up at her friend, trying to make her happy again.
Instead, the mention of her boyfriend…ex-boyfriend?...didn't bring the say reaction as usual. But Caroline was good at faking her happiness for the time being. "Yeah. It'll be wonderful." She smiled. Elena squeezed her hand and looked at Stefan, back in the room and brooding.
"I'm going to talk to Stefan."
Caroline brightened up further. "Good. Someone needs to put a smile on the Grouch's face."
Elena shot her a look before swishing over to Stefan.
Caroline couldn't help it. Her eye immediately found Klaus, mingling as a good host should, surrounded by three giggling girls she recognised from school, underage and unaware of just how dangerous he was. Caroline rolled her eyes, pondering whether it was worth going to save them if it meant putting herself in the line of fire from the English so-called 'gentleman'.
When she turned her attention back to the scene, she was shocked. Klaus had caught sight of her, seen her across the packed room and had excused himself to come over and talk to her again. Caroline refused to acknowledge that. It was such a change for her though; to be the one a guy crossed the room for, made time for.
They kept their eyes locked as he came nearer, and he held out his hand to her again.
"I'm not dancing with you again." She insisted, before realizing that no one was dancing anymore and that she sounded like a child. She grimaced at that, and the corners of Klaus' mouth tugged upward slightly in response.
"I'm not here to request anything but the pleasure of your company, sweetheart." He raised his hand again. "I want to show you something. Please."
Caroline shifted her gaze to the three girls, who were caught between swooning and envy. She looked back towards Klaus, confused by his gaze that shone with…was that honesty? She shook her head, huffing and accepting his hand. He didn't smile, but his face certainly looked lighter as he escorted her from the room, his hand burning on her back.
Caroline moved away from him once they were out of the crowded room, putting space between them. Rather than be angry, Klaus bit back a chuckle, noting the way that she rubbed the gloved hand he had been holding before setting her shoulders back and following him at a slight distance in silence.
"So, what did you want to show me?" Caroline said, never one to endure awkwardness without speech for too long.
"One of my passions." He replied, slightly uncertain as to how she would react to the painting in front of them.
"Impressive." Caroline noted, studying the layering of blues and greens with interest before stepping back slightly, not wanting to show any positive emotions towards him. "I take it the curators of the Louvre aren't on vervain?" She looked over to him, wanting to see if her words had struck home, and was surprised to see him smile and let a slight chuckle slip past his lips. He glanced down, and she was hit by how boyish he could be. She looked forward again, not wanting to be caught studying his face.
"Yeah, well, that's their mistake." Klaus joined her banter rather than fighting it. He'd rather joke about this passion of his rather than actually open himself to her with the truth; that he had painted everything in sight in here.
"And what about these?" She brought him back with a few simple words. "Where'd you steal this from?" Caroline held out her wrist to him, and they both admired the bracelet and how the diamonds caught the light.
"Well that's a long story." He stalled, recalling the night, how he had seduced the princess in question away from her betrothed, fed from her, slept with her, and stole the memento from her bedroom before leaving. That had been a time where his hunter side was slightly subdued, but his humanity was still near non-existent. He didn't want to remind this girl, this creature of the light next to him, of the beast inside him that he was fighting to subdue around her, because she made it easier for him to be gentle. He wanted to be gentle around her. He felt…well, not human, but as human as possible.
He came back from his musings, glancing up to see her studying his face. "Rest assured that it was worn by a princess almost as beautiful as you." She was infinitely more beautiful, but he felt that he needed some sort of reaction out of her, whether it be flattery from his comment or jealousy. She surprised him – though he should really expect the unexpected from her by now, he supposed – by scoffing and glancing away. He grimaced, unseen by her, but smiled, happy to be wronged for a change. He missed the unexpected. And she delivered it every time.
Caroline was tired of his compliments. Or tired of pretending that she didn't at least appreciate his old-world compliments. He had a way with words, probably due to the fact that he was around with the dinosaurs, she scoffed. But he still had a way with words that was unparallel to any of the boys who had complimented her before. She sighed, remembering Tyler and how he had purely been about sex recently…actually, for most of his adolescent life. And as she remembered, both of their new lifestyles had merely heightened those horny feelings, so she hadn't complained one bit. Still, she couldn't recall the last compliment he had made to her in a long time. She hadn't ever really been pursued like this before.
Caroline turned her attention to the drawings littered on the table in front of her, and she realized that they were the rough sketches of an artist, not something that was simply collected and strewn carelessly around the room. She fingered a page delicately, and he watched her with curiosity.
"Did you do these?" She asked incredulously. The boyish side came out again, and she was delighted to see him slightly flustered and uncertain.
"Yeah, um…" He recovered his composure by showing off, like any man. "Actually one of my landscapes is hanging at the Hermitage, not that anyone would notice."
Caroline looked down, hiding a smile at his behavior. It was nice to know that he could be ever so slightly human and normal. It was valuable to know that. She was reminded of her task. She sobered up.
Klaus mistook it for melancholy envy. "Have you been?"
"I've…never really been anywhere."
"I'll take you." He immediately assured her.
It was far too thoughtful for him to say, and she knew that she had to get back into the character where she wasn't being fooled by his act. Because she was a big girl now, she wouldn't get swept away by a suspicious gentlemanly act.
Caroline shot him a scornful look and scoffed as well, just to drive her disdain home.
"Wherever you want." Klaus continued softly, knowing that deep down, she did want everything he could offer her. "Rome. Paris." Caroline flustered, and Klaus continued, wanting to hear her laugh.
"Tokyo?"
"Oh, wow." Caroline said, making him chuckle, pleased with the reactions he could bring out in her.
She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them quickly, knowing she had to back off and back away from him. She couldn't let herself fall for his sweet gestures and gentleman act. He was a killer. He was a killer.
And in that she found her motive to push him away.
"Must be really nice to just snap your fingers and get whatever you want."
She glanced over to him and saw that sweet smile on his face still, apologetic as he stepped closer to repair damage. She struck again.
"Is that why you collect hybrids? A little servant army to take you places, and bring you things." Caroline fed her words from the anger she still felt regardless of his actions, because he had changed Tyler's life, and she still wasn't certain it was as good as he told her. Her anger made the smile fall fast from his face, and she felt torn between the triumph of her success and the twinge of regret that her comfortable time with him had to end. But she shrugged off the feeling, knowing that she could never be comfortable with such a monster. Even if he was in sheep's clothing, the man was still a wolf.
As if he was trying to prove her musings right, his face turned cold. "You're making assumptions." He growled.
She wasn't about to be scared into submission. "Then why do you need Tyler? Stop controlling him. Give him his life back."
Klaus would give her anything if she asked, if she demanded it from him, but she had hit a sore spot and could feel his heightened hybrid emotions bubbling up to the surface. He couldn't let her seem him like this; it would push her away completely.
"You know, this has been a fun evening." He deadpanned, emotionless to drive her swiftly from the room. "But I think its time for you to leave."
To his frustration, she stayed. Stubborn as always, she couldn't let him have the final word, the final command. "I get it. Your father didn't love you, so you assume that no one else will either. And that's why you compel people, or you sire them, or you try to…" She gestured wildly to her bracelet, unclasping it and throwing it to his feet. "buy them off." She gazed searchingly into his face. "But that's not how it works." He was a closed house, no light behind his stone cold eyes. Hurt by the lack of emotion, she delivered her final blow. "You don't connect with people, because you don't even try to understand them."
She turned away, leaving him speechless.
Caroline had seen right through to him.
In a thousand years, no one outside of his family had even tried to stand up to him with that amount of naivety and raw emotion. And no one had ever seen through his actions so precisely.
Who could have guessed that the baby vampire beauty would reach to the inhumane hybrid monster?
Caroline only made it halfway across the room before Klaus was in front of her again. She collided into his chest, something that clearly neither of them expected, and she reeled slightly. His hands flew out to her arms to steady her, and she inhaled slightly at the heated touch of his calloused hands on her bare skin, the first true contact between them that night. Caroline made a very blurry memo to never wear gloves again, it was clearly too much of a barrier between his touch and hers. She pushed that thought from her mind as soon as it entered, looking up at him impatiently.
Klaus let his hands slide down her arms slowly, letting her go before speaking again. "Caroline…" He locked eyes with her, and chuckled slightly under his breath. His hybrid emotions were still running wild, but he was filled with the need to make her understand. "You are fierce, and stronger than so many. But you are infinitely breakable."
Caroline frowned, opening her moth to retaliate, but Klaus spoke before she could. "You know how easy it would be to compel you right now?"
Caroline inhaled, locking her jaw, infuriated. "I'm on vervain."
"But is it strong enough?" He was doubt in her eyes, and he couldn't help but smirk. "Would you like me to test that, sweetheart?"
Her fire was back. "Don't call me that." She growled. He had no right, he knew nothing about her, nothing about humanity and care and emotion. She moved slightly, attempting to find a good escape. He stepped with her, not dropping her gaze. "I could compel you to fancy me."
"You couldn't. You'd never be able to compel me to." She jerked her chin up, defiant, not wanting him to break through to whatever had been growing between them. She was going to subdue it with the constant fact that he was a murderous, vengeful creature with no hope of change.
Klaus still found humor in her words. "You sound like you're trying to dare me. I assure you it would be very easy to compel you."
"You are repulsive." She shot desperately at him.
The smirk faded slightly. "You wound me, darling. You don't want to test me."
"Then let me leave."
"No."
"You told me before to go. So I'm going."
"No."
They stood, almost pressed together, both far too stubborn to back away. Klaus cocked his head ever so slightly, his irises growing. "I could compel you to be my lover."
The words, with his accent and his murmur, sent a shiver down Caroline's spine. Klaus stepped closer slowly, his chest a mere inch from hers. "I could compel you to kiss me." His irises continued to dilate, and she stood stock still, afraid and anticipating the next move, torn between running and curiosity and something more. His breath ghosted over her skin as his face hovered near hers.
"I could compel you to not run and let me worship your body like you deserved." They both watched Klaus' fingers trace the air above Caroline's arm, only a hairs breadth away the whole journey. Caroline swore it was one of the most intimate touches she had ever felt, and he hadn't even touched her skin.
She let out a shaky breath as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"I could compel you to wind your legs around me and let me take you to bed. I could compel you to let me have you again and again tonight so you reached highs you never thought possible. I could compel you to scream my name as I gave you the most pleasure you will ever experience. I could compel you to be my lover, Caroline." He grinned, his teeth just brushing her earlobe, and his hot breath rushing around her ear in a chuckle. "But I don't have to. I don't want to force you. And you will do all that of your own accord soon enough, and that will make it all the more pleasurable." Caroline blinked, realizing that her hands had twisted into clutching the lapels of his suit. She jerked them away with a huff and, after one final glare, stepped away from Klaus' knowing smirk. This time, he let her.
"Goodnight, Miss Forbes." He returned to his former pleasantries, bowing slightly from the waist. "Its been a pleasure."
Caroline felt her legs shake a little from the word 'pleasure' on his lips again, but she found her iron strength again, and stormed off to find her ride home, chanting unpleasant thoughts about that scoundrel Niklaus Mikaelson all the while.
Thank you to the reviewers! You make my day.
And as for the question as to where I'll be leaving the story, I have an idea that I want to explore which is AU after 3x22, but because I also want this story to remain believable for the season (and maybe even expand on it for season 4?), I'm going to continue the AU part in a separate story, and finish this at 3x22 so I might continue it into season 4.
Again, thanks everyone! There is one tiny outro up next.