AN UNEXPECTED LOVE AFFAIR – Fan Fic Season 2 TV-Vampire Diaries
Written by Véronique, Montreal, Qc, CANADA
Member: Vampdelenea
Writer's note: Enjoy this dinner! I know I did…Though I did enjoy it more from afar…I prefer red wine! (lol). I listened to Mozart – Piano concerto Number 21 – Andante while writing this chapter. You can listen to it on "youtube" while reading this first part chapter 5. Have a great time!
SHORT PREFACE – End of last chapter
"Hi!" Stefan said politely to them. "...How are you?"
The two strangers did not answer back to him.
"Is the Cabin yours?" Stefan asked again. "…Our car broke down couple of hours of walk from here…and we were hit by the thunderstorm… so we decided to stop here for a while."
Stefan and Caroline did not hear any answer back coming from them.
"Caroline go pick up your things in the Cabin, we're leaving!" Stefan said in a calm warning voice. "I'm right behind you!" He added.
Before Caroline could pass beside Stefan to direct her walk toward the cabin they were both hit by an aneurysm, holding their heads with their hands, feeling the sharp pain increasing with every passing second, before both fainting on the ground.
"Good job Gretta! Klaus will be proud!" Maddox said to the witch.
"He will be most of all surprised to see that Stefan Salvatore and his friend are not dead but alive!" She replied to him, before adding to a group of men who were hiding behind them and were just showing their presences. "…Bring them to Klaus!"
DINNER INVITATION AT THE DEVIL HOUSE – PART 1 -
Stefan suddenly opened his eyes, all his vampire senses in alert, while elevating his upper body with the help of both his forearms, rubbing both of his eyelids with his right hand, the strong darkness of the room prevented him from recognizing the place. The only thing he was sure of is that he was lying on the floor.
But where was he actually? What happened to him? Slow flashes images were coming back to him in his mind: the river, him and Caroline, both standing in front of a couple of strangers, when he suddenly felt unconscious and lying on the ground with Caroline at his side.
Caroline! Where was she? He though while rising on his feet in a straight standing position, only to notice that he was all alone! He finally understood where he was…looking around while passing a hand on his face to erase the vision of horror in front of his eyes… He was standing his feet on a floor of a closed dungeon! And if that was not enough….He was standing there almost naked…wearing only his boxer!
A fire torch on the corridor stone wall in front of his cell was the only light in this darkest place. He approached the bars of his cell; put both of his hands to try to open them with all his vampire strength, but it was a lost cause! He then turned around one last time to take a good look around his prison cell, and finally notice that the only furniture in the room was an old chair! He took a few steps to reach it, seeing that clothes had been placed on it for him to dress himself. But not any regular clothes…no…old clothes! And not any regular old clothes either! The exact clothes that he would have wear when he was a young man back in 1864! What in hell was happening in here, thought Stefan? And where was Caroline?
Caroline touched her forehead with her right hand, opened her eyes, and lift it her upper body in a sitting position in a matter of seconds! Where was she? Apparently at the present moment lying comfortably on a canopy bed, in what seems to be a bedroom with the last century decor! Red was the primary color…starting with the bedspread, and the silk curtains that were covering the canopy bed. She took a glimpse at her body and noticed that she was only wearing her underwear. She stood up out of the bed, while looking around, and suddenly called his name:
"Stefan?"
But without being answered, where was she? What happened to Stefan? The last thing she remembered was falling unconscious on the ground, with Stefan at her side, after their strange encounter with the couple, near the river.
She looked around in search of her own clothes, only to find placed on a red arms chair, a long red velvet dress straight out from the last century, or even the century before! What in hell was going on here, though Caroline? And where was Stefan?
Klaus was pouring a shot of whisky in an empty glass, standing in front of a buffet in the dining room. The table was set for a Queen and a King! Best china dishes, silk tablecloth and napkins, glasses lined with gold.
"Ah Gretta!" Klaus exclaimed her name noticing the arrival of the witch in the room. He was wearing the perfect replicate of a fourteen hundred inspired green velvet costume. "How are my guests?"
"They woke up…" Gretta explained to him while walking toward his standing position. "…The younger Salvatore's brother is in one of the dungeon cell…and the girl is in the west wing bedroom."
"Excellent!" Klaus said while drinking his glass. "Now we shouldn't make our guests wait for dinner Gretta…bring firstly the girl and then Salvatore!" He added with a demoniac sarcastic smile on his face.
Gretta nodded her head in approval before leaving the dining room.
Stefan was now fully dressed with the said borrowed clothes, pacing back and forth in his cell, while waiting …When he suddenly heard a low female voice from what seemed to be coming from a near annex cell.
"If you think that you'll get out of here alive, you're more stupid that I thought you have become Stefan!"
Stefan stood still with a stun expression on his face, before asking:
"Katherine?"
"In flesh and blood, but mostly blood since more than four hundred years, and without the heart…Though I'm starting to mummify as we speak!" Stefan heard a small voice sarcastically answering him back.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked her. "You were…"
"In the tomb….Courtesy of Damon….You know your brother man up the last century…I like him way more that way!" She sarcastically replied to him, adding. "Who do you think Stefan? Who do you think could have taken me out of it?"
Stefan nodded his head in disbelief before passing a hand on his face.
"Klaus…" He answered back to her.
"Wow! And you were able to put one and one together all by yourself!" Katherine replied to him back sarcastically.
"…what did he do to you?" Stefan asked.
"Well, well…Stefan Salvatore is worrying about me?" Katherine answered back while laughing.
"Not particularly Katherine…I'm just wondering what he will do to me and Caroline?" Stefan replied to her.
"Caroline?" Katherine replied. "…Don't tell me that you have brought this none useful stupid girl with you?"
Stefan did not answer her back.
"Stefan…" Katherine called in desperation. "…You have to get me out of here with you ok? I'm begging you…He's going to stake me for real this time…or worst …he will torture me for centuries to come!...If you ever had any feelings for me…Help me please!" She implored him to do.
"You're on your own Katherine…You've been on your own for a long time now! And, I'm sorry…But I never had real feelings for you…it was all a shimmer since the first day I met you!" Stefan answered her back.
They both raised their heads hearing the sound of a door being opened in the dark dungeon corridor, bringing a minute later, in front of Stefan's cell, the same men and woman that were standing in front of him and Caroline at the river.
"Mr. Salvatore!" Gretta greeted him.
"What do you want from me? Where is Caroline?" Stefan asked her.
"Your cooperation Mr. Salvatore…You will see your friend soon…Now I suggest that you follow us without trying to make a false move and I will spare you from another aneurism…Is it a deal?" she asked him.
Stefan nodded his head as for approval. Gretta opened his cell door while showing him with a hand gesture to follow Maddox who was standing beside her. Stefan got out of his dungeon's cell, followed the steps of the said warlock man, while passing in front of Katherine's cell. She got up of her sitting position on the floor, and walked slowly toward them.
"Stefan please, don't leave me here…I'm begging you…Come back for me!" Katherine screamed at him while passing an arm between the steel bars to touch him, but without any success.
Stefan did not give her the time of the day! He only look at her for a near second before turning his head back in front of him, and his mind on Caroline. He needed to know that she was alright at the present moment; the faith of Katherine was by far his bottom of the list problem!
"Hello my dear!" A man said to Caroline, who was frozen of all her movements, standing under the arch door of what seems to be to her, a dining room. Klaus was standing behind a chair, at the far end of the gigantic dinner table with a devious smile on his face. "Come…." He then added with a hand gesture. "…Don't be afraid sweetheart!"
Caroline took a few steps toward the men, before stopping near his standing position. Klaus smiled and thought "She's afraid, but she's courageous at the same time!" He took a few steps himself to reach her, before taking in his hands a strand of her blond hair while playing with it.
"Do you know who I am my dear?" Klaus asked her.
"No…." She answered back in a shallow whisper.
He approached her even closer, before bending his head near the right side of her neck, and sniffing her smell.
"Mm….the fresh smell of a baby vampire…" He added while looking into her eyes.
A voice was heard, and they both turned their heads:
"Let go of her!"
Klaus smiled at Stefan's intrusion, who just been asked by Greta to enter in the dining room, standing in front of the door, Greta suddenly closed the door behind him, leaving him and Caroline alone with the Devil himself!
"Or what…." Klaus asked him before bursting into loud laughter, adding. "…Very protective of your lady friend aren't you?"
"What do you want with us?" Stefan asked him.
Klaus pulled a chair from under the table, showing it with a hand gesture and a smile to Caroline. "Please my dear sit!" He ordered her to do.
Caroline locked her eyes with Stefan's, he smiled back at her while nodding his head to make her feel more at ease, showing her that she was not alone anymore, she sat down.
"Mr. Stefan Salvatore!" Klaus said while smiling at him. "Please come…Join us! Diner should be served soon!"
Stefan directed his walk toward the other side of the table, standing now in front of Caroline.
"Are you ok?" He asked her in a shallow whisper.
"Yes!" She responded to him with a smile.
Stefan suddenly turned his head to look at Klaus, which was taking himself a sitting position on a chair at the far end of the table.
"What's your goal in all of this Klaus?" Stefan said while putting emphasize on the name.
"Klaus" Caroline mimicked the name with her mouth, in silence, while looking at Stefan with wild open eyes, he nodded his head to Caroline one more time to make her understand that this was true! One of the "Original" was indeed their host.
"Now…" Klaus started while opening his silk napkin before putting it on his tights. "…Can't I invite my fellow vampires without being judge or critized?" He asked with a sarcastic smile on his face. "I see that Katerina has exchanged with you in the dungeon, Mr. Salvatore…" He continued while Caroline was opening her mouth and eyes even more while mimicking one more time Katherine's name on her lips now. "…My deepest apologies for the accommodations…You see, I had two choices, putting you there…or your lady friend…But judging by the way you would protect her with your own vampire life right now…I would say that I made the right decision, would you think so?" Klaus said with a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Sit!" He added as an order to Stefan. "I was so tormented when I heard that this bitch Jules had tried to kill you both…but then, so happy to see that she had not succeed!"
Stefan took his sitting position in front of Caroline.
"Now…That is better…" Klaus started. "…I don't see why we could not enjoy ourselves with a nice diner and great conversation…Are you enjoying classical music Mr. Salvatore?" He then asked.
"I have my moments…" Stefan answered back while locking his eyes with Caroline's.
"Beethoven? Mozart?" Klaus asked.
Stefan did not answer back.
"Mozart it will be then!" Klaus answered while clapping in his hands, hearing a few seconds later, the first sound of a piano filing the emptiness of the room. "Do you recognize it Mr. Salvatore?"
"Piano concerto number 21 – Andante!" Stefan replied to him.
"Brilliant Mr. Salvatore…" He firstly said while clapping both of his hands together with a sarcastic smile on his face. "That concerto is so powerfully romantic and yet so tragic, wouldn't say? Almost like dead itself!" Klaus said, wile adding. "Oh by the way…did you enjoy the clothes I specifically choose for both of you?" He asked them.
"A little bit nostalgic of the past I presume?" Stefan replied while locking his eyes with his.
"You would think so, would you?" Klaus answered him back. "…But that should have been my question to you, and not the reverse!" Klaus added while turning to look at Caroline. "…Sweetheart, did the cat bit your tongue?"
"Leave her out of this!" Stefan replied to him, while noticing that the candles on the table were reflecting on Caroline's hair. The dress she was wearing was simply stoning, and she looked gorgeous in it! It was a shock for Stefan to see how she would have looked in 1864!
"You know…" Klaus added to Caroline. "…I picked up that dress for you especially because of its color… the warm richness of the blood…Talking about blood…aren't you starting to be hungry sweetheart? It most had been a while since your last feeding? Isn't?" Klaus asked while smiling at her.
"You want nothing from her!" Stefan started while looking at him with a mad grin on his face. "It's me that you want…so let her go!"
"No!" Caroline screamed.
"Ah!" Klaus started. "She speaks…You can't stop a heart from screaming its love, can you? I seriously have tears in my eyes now! I'm wondering what Elena would think of this fuzzy feeling I feel between the two of you at this table." Klaus asked still smiling at them sarcastically. "Though…Last I heard she's …How can I put it…occupied with your brother!"
A couple of servitors wearing fourteen centuries costumes entered the dining room, while bringing silver plates with them, and serving them.
"Escargots…" Klaus told Caroline. "…Snails! It's French…but it's actually very good my dear, you should try!" He suggested before putting one in his mouth.
Caroline pushed her plate away from her sight, while putting a hand on her mouth and closing her eyes to forgot the intense throwing up feeling that was holding her stomach prisoner right his moment.
"You don't like it my dear…It's actually very tasteful!" Klaus said. "Stefan! Can I call you Stefan…Tell me everything about your turning in 1864! I want to hear every details of it!" He said while biting into a bread stick.
"What can I told you that you don't already know?" Stefan asked him.
Klaus smiled at him.
"True…I confessed, I know everything…Not sure that your lady friend does though?" He added while looking at Caroline. "Do you my dear?"
Caroline was looking Stefan directly in the eyes, knowing instinctively that the worst was yet to come!
"Do you know that Stefan was a well known Ripper back in the days?" Klaus asked her.
"What do you mean by that?" Caroline asked him, while noticing that Stefan was suddenly avoiding looking at her in the eyes.
"It's getting interesting…Don't you think Stefan?" Klaus asked him. "Should I tell her, or maybe your prefer to do it yourself?"
Stefan finally looked at Caroline in the eyes, and she noticed that tears were showing in his eyes.
"No…You don't want to?" Klaus asked sarcastically again. "I'll do it then….A Ripper my dear is simply the worst devil way of being a vampire…Stefan here was able to kill a full village in what…An hour Stefan?" Klaus asked while looking at Stefan.
Stefan was staring at the candles flames, not able to look Caroline in the eyes.
"So, how would you describe yourself then?" Caroline started, while both men suddenly turned their sights with surprise at her. "…thousands years of torturing, feeding, killing, playing games, thinking of using a teenager girl to sacrifice her for your sick purposes…I say that in that department Klaus, you are wining the first place of the worst devil way of being a vampire!"
"Caroline!" Stefan said to her as a warning to keep quiet.
Klaus suddenly lost his smile and throw his silk napkin on the table.
"I see that you are not only speaking…Lady Caroline…You have also a very strong opinion of me!" Klaus said to her with a mad grin in his eyes.
Servitors came back to take their plates, before putting their second service in front of them.
"I won't eat a think of what you are giving us!" Caroline said to him.
"Oh but…Who said anything about eating sweetheart?" Klaus asked her with a big smile back on his face.
A big crystal pitcher was brought and laid on the table in front of Stefan.
"Fresh – squeeze – human - blood!" Klaus said while articulating every word, before looking scrupulously at Stefan's reaction. "Would you care for a glass Stefan?" Klaus asked him, adding. "And as a side dish of this sweet nectar that you did not touch for so long and are graving so much…I though of a "Coq au vin", and like we say in French: Bon Appétit!"
Caroline felt it….She was trying her best herself to focus her sight anywhere but on the blood recipient, feeling the urge to throw her face in the pitcher and savor every gulp of the red nectar in front of her eyes. Stefan was lost! She felt it right away…she felt the turmoil inside his soul like it was hers….She needed to be strong for him! He was already transforming in front of her….his eyes, face, the fangs coming out.
"Give me your hand Stefan!" Caroline said to him, which he did. "Now look at me in the eyes…You can do this! I won't leave you…Ok...I know you can…I have all my faith in you!"
Stefan focused all his energy on Caroline, while looking at her in the eyes, and trying to confront all the demons that were battling inside of him. His face got back to normal. Caroline smiled at him feeling so relieve of seeing him back into his true normal self, though she knew that their true nature was to be vampires, she also finally understood that Stefan was battling a bigger demon inside of him...He was primarily a Ripper!
"Mm…." Klaus said while tasting his food. "…The "Coq au vin" is simply delicious! You should try it!"
Stefan stared at Klaus for a moment, like a hunter would at his prey, while standing silently on his two feet, before sending the crystal pitcher, with an angry vampire speed blow of his right hand, on the other side of the table, blood spilling on the tablecloth and on the floor.
Klaus raised his head and sight at Stefan, with an angry grin on his face, and evil sparks in his eyes, before getting up himself, and in an instant, with his vampire speed reaching Stefan's standing position while putting his hand on his throat, and pushing him on the right side wall of the room.
"No!" Caroline screamed while standing, and putting a hand on her mouth to stop her outburst.
"Now…" Klaus said at one inch distance of Stefan's face. "…Let me make something clear…It's not you who will be deciding of the next chapter of your pathetic vampire life! It's me! You can go against your true nature Stefan Salvatore! But we both know….Once a Ripper, always a Ripper….When the time is right! You'll be at my side! Count on that!" He said to him before letting Stefan go, dropping him at his feet.
It took an instant for Caroline to be at Stefan's side, kneeling beside him, and taking him in her arms. Gretta entered the dining room at that same exact moment.
"Master, I have to talk to you…." She said to Klaus.
"What?" Klaus shouted at her, not in a good state of mind to be interrupted by her.
She took a few steps to reach his standing position, and murmured in his left ear.
"We located Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert!"
Klaus's facial expression suddenly changed….A smile suddenly appear on his lips.
"My friends…" He suddenly said to Caroline and Stefan. "…I received news that obliges me to leave this lovely diner…" He started before directing his walk with Gretta at his side, toward the dining room's door. "…Gretta will take care of you during my absence! Till we meet again…." He said before making a reverence, before leaving the room with the witch at his side, shutting the door close on their way out.
Klaus directing his walk rapidly toward his bedroom while addressing his order to Gretta:
"I'll change my clothes; by the meantime…ask Maddox to be in front of the Manor with the car in ten minutes." He started, before adding. "As for my guests, wait an hour, and then bring back Salvatore in his cell, I want him to still smell the fresh human blood in the dining room for a while!" Klaus said to her with a smile on his face.
"What about the vampire girl?" Gretta asked him.
"Kill her! I have no use for her…and her death will bring the worst in him!" He said with a devious smile on his face.
Gretta nodded her head, before directing her walk into another corridor of the Manor.
Stefan was pacing back in forth in the dining room, while Caroline who was sitting on a chair, looking nervously at him. He directed his walk for the ten times toward the dining room door, while noticing for the exact same amount of time that it was close!
"Stefan!" Caroline started. "Please calm down!"
"I freaking can't Caroline!" He said to her, while still noticing and smelling the fresh blood on the table and on the floor. "Did you hear?"
"Yes! I did…" She replied while bending her head to look at her nervous shaky hands place on the red velvet fabric of her long dress.
"He knows Damon and Elena's whereabouts Caroline! Meaning what exactly? They were in Mystic Fall yesterday…So it means that they had to move! They are probably on the run somewhere…knowing Damon, he brought Elena to safety…and now, Klaus knows where they are …And I'm freaking stuck in this freaking house, and I can't freaking do anything about it!" He screamed at her while punching his fist into a wall, leaving a big hole in it.
Caroline stood up, and took a few walking steps toward Stefan, before touching his left forearm.
"We'll find a solution somehow Stefan!" She said to him.
He reached for her in an instant, took her in the protection of his arms, while putting his head on her head, and caressing her hair.
"Thank you…." He simply said to her, while kissing her forehead.
"For what…" She replied to him.
"You know for what…for saving me today…." Stefan answered her back.
They heard a loud noise, before seeing the door open, Stefan brought Caroline behind him, to protect her, no way in hell they would be separated one more time!
They looked with astonishment on their face at Gretta's body being thrown on the dining room floor, before watching a man passing the arch door and bending his up front body to reach her own lying body that was still on the floor, she tried to escape him one more time, but he was faster and he snapped her neck in an instant, leaving her death the second after!
The man got up, and started to swap away dust on his black stylish blazer.
"So sorry for the intrusion…." He said to Caroline and Stefan. "…There is so much dust in this manor it's unbelievable!" He added, before noticing the blood on the table and on the floor. "You had a little incident with Klaus I can see?"
"Elijah!" Stefan said in disbelieve.
Elijah nodded his head as a greeting for both of them.
"Could you explain?" Stefan asked him.
"Well…I truthfully doubted that you two were really death actually!" He replied to Stefan while smiling at him.
"What are you doing in Richmond?" Stefan asked him.
Elijah took a few steps toward their standing position while putting both of his hands, in his blazer's pockets.
"I actually was in New York before…" He started. "…Elena and your brother had decided to pay a visit to Klaus, believing that he might be in a dancing Club that he owns in the city….So I had to take action and find them…" Elijah continued explaining. "…At the same time, you were in Richmond to find the young Lockwood, and you were gathering information into the city."
Stefan looked at Caroline, while nodding his head in disbelief.
"Following the little rendez-vous of your brother and Elena in New York, I was ordered to present myself here, and I received the information that you died inside of an old flour factory, very original if I may add…cause of the deaths: an unexplained fire. Check the information, was able to find out that you had escape the burning blaze that had been set by Jules and her men….Put two and two together…And here I am!" He finished with a debonair smile on his face.
"Like that…Nothing more…" Stefan asked him, adding. "Why?"
"I gave my word to Elena that I would keep her family and friends alive. I am a man of my words Mr. Salvatore." Elijah replied to him. "Now...we lost enough time, here are the keys of your truck…" Elijah said to Stefan while putting the keys in Stefan's hand. "…Take it….All your personal belongings are in the cars…I suggest that you change before reaching Richmond city though…I doubt that it is the time for the Circus to be in town..." Elijah added with his impeccable English humor while smiling sarcastically at the sight of their 1864 clothes. "…I took the initiative to book two bedrooms at a hotel for you to pass the night…you'll find the address in the car also."
"Stefan!" Caroline interrupted. "…I'm not leaving without Tyler!"
Stefan startled hard at her mention, for an unexplained reason he just felted a hint of jealousy inside of him at the mention of Tyler's name.
"Mr. Tyler Lockwood is already waiting for you at the hotel!" Elijah added to a speechless but happy Caroline.
"I will drop you at the hotel!" Stefan said to Caroline. "But…I have to find Damon and Elena!"
"I suggest that you refrain yourself of that action!" Elijah replied to him.
"It's my brother and …..it's Elena!" Stefan started. "…I won't refrain from finding them!"
"I know their present location…I already took action into finding them!" Elijah explained. "I'll go, and I'll protect them! We both know that you won't be able to go against Klaus! Let me do it!"
Stefan took a few steps back and forth, sliding his right hand on his face to calm himself down; he knew that Elijah was right! It would be difficult for him to battle this evil Original alone, and with no time in front of him, Elijah had the strength, the time, and the information in his reach to go against Klaus.
Stefan nodded his head in approval.
"Now go!" Elijah said whit a hand gesture to advice them to leave the manor.
Stefan took Caroline's hand in his, before directing his steps to leave the dining room, Caroline made him stop by holding his left arm.
"What about Katherine?" She asked him.
"Katerina?" Elijah asked surprised, adding. "What about her?"
Stefan turned and looked at Caroline in the eyes.
"She turned you Caroline!"
"I know…" Caroline started. "…But, I wouldn't wish Klaus on my worst enemy!" She explained, before turning to look at Elijah in the eyes. "She's in one of the Dungeon cell!"
"In here?" Elijah asked surprised.
Caroline nodded her head in approval.
"It would have been a too easy place for Klaus to hide her here…Thinking about it now…It was the perfect place that I wouldn't have thought of…" He said, adding. "…Now go, I will take care of it!"
He looked at Stefan and Caroline's departure, before passing a nervous hand in his hair.
He would take care of it how? By leaving her in the cell's dungeon to die or taking her with him?
Next chapter: "Dinner invitation at the Devil house – Part 2" is coming shortly!
Thank you to my readers for reading me & please BE NICE AND DO COMMENT.