CHAP 34:
It wasn't until I saw the blur of a person down below on the road that I began to reconsider my compliance with the werewolf who was piggy-backing me. Though if I didn't do as directed by the werewolf he was strong enough to make me in any case. Despite the possibility that the speeding run of the person below could pertain to another werewolf, Klaus was all my brain would identify the blur as. I gripped tighter as my ride changed direction and covered even more distance on the next leap. Confirming the dread low in my stomach was warranted. A moment after he landed we were slammed forward onto the roof. Agony tore through my knees as they met with the tiled roof, breaking the solid clay material. I didn't even want to consider what the damage to my knees were. By the numbingly intense stinging of the joints, at the bare minimum my skin had split open. But that didn't account for the loss of feeling from the throbbing ache centred at the back of my knees. Down. There was nothing minute about this injury. My forearms and hands suffered the same fate as they were crushed beneath all three bodies into the roof. Howling when additional pain spread throughout my rib cage as I was sandwiched between two supernatural bodies. I knew the impact had taken it's toll on my ribs again. This time feels worse. I didn't want to move. Essentially paralysed with pain. I was grateful for being winded because I knew breathing was going to hurt. My whimper morphed into a low groan in response to being roughly rolled off my almost, possible rescuer. I waited frantically for my lungs to work out how to fill again while my vision clouded with tears. By the time I began agonisingly inhaling shallow breaths, the two men which did include Klaus were going at it in any way they could.
The werewolf put up a good fight but he was no match for Klaus. Soon he began defending instead of attacking. Trying to maintain a safe distance from Klaus and taking cheap shots. Their quarrel became far less spectacular and by the look of the werewolf he was merely delaying the inevitable. Covered in blood and bruises, his left eye swollen and bottom lip split he was wheezing a little. How I could discern the sound as coming from him I had no idea. It could easily have been one in my own range of distress signals. I was able to breathe but each breath one I took had to navigate the heavy moisture in my lungs. I'd suspected the moment my rib cage exploded in pain that this time I might more than simply broken or cracked ribs. By now I could safely assume I had blood in my lungs from a puncture. It cruelly reminded me of Elijah and I sobbed with exhaustion of this whole situation. Selfishly I wished he was here, right in this moment. He probably wouldn't or couldn't have been able to prevent my abuse. But I'd like to think just seeing him right now would be a huge help. When had I become so pathetic? Needing someone and confusing my feelings for them as something physically effective. None of that thinking would help me now. It has to stop! The completely abstract notion just made me want to curl up and die, or at least let a hole form beneath me and swallow me whole. I should be so lucky. Loathing how my thoughts of Elijah still made me resentful of relying on someone so much, especially when it made me feel so alone without them I closed my eyes. Intent on commencing another wallowing session like the other day. It wasn't right for my emotions to make me feel so ashamed when it seemed completely normal for most of the world's population. Suddenly I was unexpectedly included in the conflict as pain arced through me, white hot and blinding when someone pushed at my body. I'd been shifted in the direction the roof's decline towards the ground and my pain stretched on as I rolled toward the guttering. Not enough time had passed for the vampire blood in my body to heal me yet so I couldn't bring myself to stop rolling and left the roof with a whimpered sob.
Time exaggerated herself during my free fall. Eyes closed I bravely waited for the impact and relaxed. If I stiffened at all, it would hurt. If I was tense when I landed it would also hurt. I was already hurt enough, though the ground when I met it thought differently. My right shoulder met the bricked surface, that extended two metres from the back of the house; first. My coinciding hip was next to smack against the paved area, followed by my head. Though I'd craned my neck to the side in hopes of preventing myself from landing head first, it still took a strong whack from the brick and my vision blurred again. This time, the result of my brain rattling against my skull from the impact. Whimpering, I directed my concentration toward working out how to inhale humanely. As if breathing in this condition could be done without pain. Being starved of oxygen whether by hands around my throat, pain, or damage to my body's breathing apparatus seemed to occur far too often. Such an everyday occurrence shouldn't need to be performed with as much difficulty as I'd had to on a regular basis. I waited. Not for anything or anyone in particular. Merely whatever would rid my vulnerable human body of the pain it currently suffered. It wasn't long before Klaus came to my aid. If that's what torturing me some more before helping me was. Without a word he rolled me onto my back, to which I emitted a strangled cry. Gasping and grunting in pain, while suffocating more as the fluid in my lungs shifted.
"Shh. You're quite badly injured Elena. Just let me help you." He spoke in a soothing yet analytic tone as he pressed and prodded around my rib cage resulting in a gurgling rising up my windpipe. The wet sound forewarned of the slick smothering liquid, that seemed to seal my windpipe having risen and I couldn't breath. My eyes bulged and I convulsed slightly dosing myself with more pain. "Easy." He soothed before evenly pressing down on my chest with a hand on each side of my rib cage. The liquid rose up and my body's response was to cough it up. It shouldn't be there, not in my windpipe, not in my lungs. I managed to cough beneath the pressure Klaus applied and when I did he shoved down even more with his hands and I tasted blood in my mouth and coughed again. A sickening chesty cough that dulled to a gurgle as blood flowed from my mouth, running out of the corners of my mouth and down my cheeks to tickle my ears. Klaus removed his hands from my chest and I inhaled a deep but rattly breath while cringing from the pain it caused. As I exhaled Klaus stuck fingers beneath perhaps the most offending ribs and pulled up towards the sky. A silent cry left me before I broke out coughing and felt the ribs he'd adjusted secure themselves. One of Klaus' hands moved beneath my back and he sat me up. Screaming as pain ran from my hip to my shoulder, my tears fell at an increased rate. Half propped against Klaus my scream lessened to a wail before settling into a low howl as he felt around the back of my rib cage and up to my shoulder blades. "Ah. A little more tricky than a dislocation this time." He said before moving to settle behind me, his legs running along the outsides of my own.
"Please. D-don't." I managed to croak, barely above a whisper. "Blood." I knew I needed more blood in me to heal. He should just be feeding me his. A moment later he had pulled me back against his chest by my shoulders so they were rolled back as far as they could go. That took my consciousness to it's limits.
I wasn't out of it for long. Klaus was still behind me when my eyes opened and I took in the sight of my knees groggily. They were an absolute mess. Despite the minimal flesh that covered the front of the joints I'd sure bled a lot.
"Here you are sweetheart." Klaus breathed at my right ear. My attention shifted and I was aware of the tang of his blood wafting into my nostrils. His forearm approached me adorned with a bleeding wound so I extended my neck forward eagerly. Latching on I suckled the wound. The flow was measly no matter how hard I sucked so I bit repeatedly. Almost as if greedily gnashing my teeth against his flesh. When I bit and pulled back from the wound like some savage beast tearing meat from my kill I was sure I looked monstrous. In fact I must have because Klaus was chuckling and whenever I amused him it was never good. But it had the desired effect so I began gorging myself on his blood. Closing my eyes I sighed contently as warmth rushed through my body. Coating my pain with a tingling sensation that didn't remove it, but made it more bearable. My knees were the most sensitive, feeling as if they were almost vibrating. Opening my eyes slowly in assessment I looked at them. Noticing now rather than when I'd last seen them, that there was bone showing it couldn't even be likened to what a kneecap should look like. I continued looking my left one over casually while maintaining my true focus on drinking. The bone moved and appeared to knit itself back together. It was amazing. Beautiful even, though decidedly sickening. My jaw slackened over Klaus' arm and my eyes lost focus as my stomach lurched at what I was seeing. It seemed my consciousness had taken quite a hit from today's events and while I had rather a strong stomach, right now it was out of action.
When I came round I was back in the van lying on the floor where Klaus had first raped me.
"About time love. We're only nearly home. My patience is limited on occasion." Klaus spoke in an annoyed tone. Opening my eyes more from their just waking slivers I saw him sat next to me. His legs extended in front of him across the floor while his back leant against the back of the van. Without a word to him I began shifting to roll onto my side away from him, ignoring the responses forming in my mind from his arrogance. Poor Klaus. I'd inconvenienced him by losing consciousness. While the difficulty of keeping quiet niggled at me. I knew by how Klaus was acting that something had upset him. Grimly, I thought it was probably me. I groaned at how stiff I found my body as I managed to lie on my side. But it really wasn't anything to complain about compared to the intense ache in both my knees and shoulder. "Now, now. Don't be rude. At least look at me when I speak to you." He rolled me back toward him and onto my other side causing me to grit my teeth together grimaced and grit my teeth together. Resulting in my head resting in his lap. Intending to adjust it's placement, Klaus placed a hand below my exposed ear on my neck to still me. "Did I instruct you to move excessively?"
"No. You also didn't tell me I was going to be abused during your little visit either." Came my responding grumble. Suddenly my head was shifted slightly and there was pressure at each of my temples. Within seconds it throbbed to a piercing headache that increased in intensity with each following pulse. My hands went up to my head to find Klaus' on each side of my head pressing his fingers against the sides of my skull. As I tried to pry his hands from my head the rest of my body curled up towards my chest.
"Aaargh! Stop it!" I cried. He did and the tension in my body receded while my head gradually eased from the precipice of pain it had climbed to. I lay there panting, my head having been replaced on Klaus' lap and one of his hands now gently stroking the side of my neck.
"You wouldn't have been so involved in the resulting scuffle if you hadn't gone with that werewolf." He seethed and I felt his fingers tense mid stroke before he must have become aware of it and relaxed his caressing hand again.
"I didn't go with that werewolf. Unless you're blind, you'd have noticed I was dragged from the room." I spat half-heartedly to which Klaus growled, his caress becoming less gentle again. I flew my hands up to cover my temples assuming he was about to repeat his previous attack. Apparently I amused him because he chuckled softly before speaking again. But his chuckle didn't take any of the anger from the way he continued to speak to me.
"So I'm to believe that you were strapped on against your will to him when you were making an escape over roofs?" Like I'm going to justify your angered sarcasm with a response. When I didn't answer he put his hand around my upper arm and closed it painfully.
"Oww!" I complained. "Stop hurting me!"
"Then cut your attitude!" He roared and I cowered in my current position while his hand relented squeezing. "We're having a conversation. Therefore you answer me when required and you do so civilly." I tried to sit up and move away from him but Klaus took hold of my hair and yanked. Snapping my head back at an uncomfortable angle so that I tearily looked up into his eyes darkened with anger. He was frightening me more than usual.
"Answer me. Were you forced onto the back of the werewolf?"
"In a way, I-." He cut me off.
"The answer will be a yes or no Elena."
"No." I resigned after taking a deep breath. "But-." I began. Attempting to explain myself. Perhaps if I told him exactly what was going through my mind at the time it might settle his mood.
"But?" He drawled dangerously, as if daring me to continue. Lest it result in something I'd regret.
"But-you-know-he-would-have-forced-me-to-go-with-him-anyway." I rushed, tentatively pausing before diving in again. "I was just trying not to get myself injured or killed. I nearly had a stake driven into me! For some reason he stopped at the last moment when he realised I wasn't Katerina," I gathered confidence the more he allowed me to talk."Whoever that is! I went with him because I had no other option you idiot!" Okay, my confidence may have tipped the scales too far then. Swallowing hard his cold eyes bored into mine. I had to assume he was processing my words but I couldn't tell whether any good would come of it or not. To escape him I closed my eyes but opened them again almost immediately when something traced along my lower lip. It was one of his fingers.
"Look at me." He requested softly while his finger remained on my lip, prodding and stroking leisurely. Slowly raising my gaze to meet his I waited and watched him cautiously. "I do not appreciate your brashness. See to it that you do not continue to displease me." That was as far as his soft toned voice stretched for he picked up his aggression again. "As for you not having a choice. Perhaps there is some truth to that. However, not once did you even attempt to fight him off. Yet it seems second nature to you any other time. Especially concerning me. You say you didn't know whether you would be harmed by your snatcher. Yet you easily went with him."
"Huh. Jealous are we?" I thought in my head while glaring at him.
"I'm glad you find punishment so appealing that you willingly sign yourself up for it."
"My mind is uncharted territory. I'll think what I like!"
"Do you take pleasure from my wrath Elena? Because that's the only conclusion I can come to regarding your ignorance." He responded within my mind before switching back to using his voice. "Fore-mostly. I am not pleased with you because you did not continue the portrayal of loyalty to me by leaving with the werewolf. Additionally, leaving with him means that I now have due cause to end the existence of one of your remaining familiars. Unless you've forgotten about your consequences?" He paused and smirked at my parted lips and horrified expression. I hadn't forgotten, but I'd had so much to focus on. Not to mention things had moved soo quickly with the werewolves. I was just trying to take advantage of any opportunity that might have arisen by being taken by the werewolf Klaus had no doubt killed on that roof. "I was hoping that you wouldn't harm our relationship by forcing me to act in a way which will cause you to view me with even more disdain. I had actually hoped that we could grow close in a shorter time than I'd initially anticipated. We have been working well together Elena. But I will not tolerate your ignorance for much longer. It renders you unsafe in volatile situations like today. I cannot have you harmed." His voice became soft again and he paused long enough that I ventured to say something.
"But. This was my first day. I tried my best. I did. Please leave my family out of this. I didn't even know we were amongst werewolves until he referred to himself as being a mutt. I wasn't aware of the danger, though I was worried by it's possibility. I only did it for self preservation." I placed a hand on his chest and moved it over his torso in large circles slowly, as I shifted a little closer to him. Opening my mouth further, I dipped my head to enclose Klaus' finger within it and started suckling while working the digit with my tongue. His hold on my hair loosened and grimacing I moved with some difficulty until I had straddled his hips and pulled my mouth off his finger. "I didn't think. I didn't know. I know so little Klaus. Please. Leave my family out of this. Educate me instead, so I know what I should be doing in every situation. I'll be good." I finished with a sexy smirk. This had better work.
Trying to appeal to him by showing that I hadn't performed completely unacceptably, I lowered my chest against his own and nipped at the right side of his neck with my lips and teeth. Smiling cheekily when he sighed. The bastard shifted and flipped us over so I was pinned beneath him, gasping in pain as he snarled down at me.
"If you think distracting me is going to get you out of being punished then you're wasting your time. While I'm a man who takes liberties in your delectable womanly body and mind I have a goal to reach, and if you should get in the way of that goal. What you've already endured will be nothing in comparison to what will await you."
"I'll do better!" I sobbed over and over again like some mantra as my cries became softer and softer. Minutes passed as he looked down at me just watching. He still looked so angry. Finally he brought his hand came up to smooth some of my hair against my head.
"I know you will my pet." He spoke consolingly as the van came to a halt. "Now, I know you're in pain. But I need you to walk in the same way you did when we left. I then want you in our room. You need rest, I'll have some food brought to you shortly. Pull yourself together." Resolving myself to perform again I looked at him imploringly. Deciding I would gain his approval. For such a thing meant the safety of my family. I needed to make him feel there was no need to hurt them. Even if he was just threatening me with the prospect of what he could do. I would never know when he might be bluffing.
"Of course Klaus." I agreed devotedly. "Anything you ask." I finished in my head to which he chuckled and murmured anything.
Doing as he requested. I mentally gathered myself while he helped me stand. My outfit was practically ruined. Not that I was personally affronted by it's state. I had so much blood on me and there was more skin showing from the tears in the sheer fabric. My coat appeared to be long gone, but at the moment my lack of coverage wasn't what my mind prioritised me to worry about. Nevertheless I held my head high and stepped out of the van confident and sexy. Shifting my hips from side to side as Klaus directed me back inside. It was difficult. The stiffness in my body reducing the fluidity of my movement. But I managed. Inside, Sarah stood in the door frame between the kitchen and the main room.
"How was Phillip?" She asked smirking as she looked me up and down.
"He wasn't quite himself." Klaus replied stiffly. "Haven't you got something better to do? Like bedding anything that moves?" He shot at her.
"Ooh. Someone's upset with how their outing went." She teased then laughed loudly.
"Must you impose uninvited and with no authority, on my business?" Klaus said coldly.
"Not when your business obviously isn't running as smoothly as it should be. A girl's gotta entertain herself some how." She paused before continuing. "Why's your bitch covered in so much of her own blood?" Klaus removed his hand from my back and blurred to stand before Sarah.
"Shut your mouth or I'll do it for you by removing your jaw and placing it where you'll never find it." He seethed at her. "You may refer to her as Elena, or doppleganger. There's no excess in names for you to call her, that you haven't claimed for yourself"
"Leaving me my tongue just in case you need it again hmm?" She ignored his insult as if he hadn't said it. I watched as she trailed her hand up over her abdomen and the swell of her right breast while her eyes glued to Klaus. "Your meeting didn't go well did it? Bet she ruined it." Sarah gestured toward me, where I'd stopped near the entrance to the closest hallway. Her hand falling from her body to hang by her side.
"Elena was just fine. Fantastic even. She put on quite the show." He drawled proudly.
"Liar. You said I wasn't good enough. Why not give her the satisfaction of knowing I wasn't up to standard?" I thought.
"I never said you weren't good enough. Just that certain behaviours will not be tolerated and have consequences." Swallowing hard I was reminded by an entity outside my mind that he hadn't relented on his threatening of Jenna or Jeremy as of yet. If it was even possible for me to convince him otherwise.
"What? What was going on in the van? Make up your damn mind. Because you seemed real upset with me just minutes ago and now you've changed your tune."
"What can I say? I was hurt that you went so easily with Phillip. And when I'm hurt I get angry. I want, your loyalty Elena." He thought back at me with such carelessness it nearly knocked me flying. He seemed so intensely wronged by my behaviour just minutes ago. Now he was shrugging it off? I supposed he'd found someone else to fix his anger on now. God he was confusing! He turned his head to look at me, then back to Sarah. Before continuing on aloud with pride, his correspondence with Sarah. "As if I would expect anything else."
"Whatever." Said Sarah disinterested before moving back into the kitchen. Klaus looked to me again and gestured for me to run along so I did.
Stopping at the bathroom on the way, I assessed myself in the mirror. I had a massive bruise that crept down from my hair line at the top right of my face, far enough that I had a black eye. There was blood smeared nearly all over my face, with darker blood again up near the bruising. Another bruise extend over the top of my right shoulder and turning, I saw that around my shoulder blade was extremely dark with congealed blood beneath my skin. More dried blood marked where I'd bled. My reflection jogged my memory. Katerina. Elijah had told me of a doppleganger who'd been on the run since being turned. If the werewolves today assumed I was she, then Katerina must be the other doppleganger. How I hadn't even thought about that at the time was ridiculous. Not totally unexpected under the circumstances. But, stupid really because it was so obvious. Selfishly the thought of her taking my place and solving all our problems crossed my mind. She'd been alive for a good while, perhaps she'd seen enough of the world by now. Jenna and Jer would be fine Elijah and I could just continue from where we left off. The werewolves had thought initially that I'd been magicked to seem human, perhaps Jonas could do the same to fool Klaus. No. That's a pathetic happily ever after scenario. Who am I to coax another, vampire or not into taking my place? Just so I can be happy. I need to stop my feelings for Elijah clouding my conscience. You wouldn't act, but just having these thoughts doesn't help you in any way. Fooling Klaus wouldn't be possible in any case, I was sure. And if he used Katerina to unbind him. He would know when it didn't work that it hadn't been me.
We'd run full circle. Seeing enough of my damage I went to the toilet where setting about relieving my bladder, I was forced to see the deeply coloured bruising and visible puffiness of the joints. Oh my god. I'm a wreck. Finishing I washed my hands then my face before heading to Klaus' room. I hoped he wouldn't mind that I'd not gone straight there. I'd needed the loo after all and while he hadn't said that I could wash yet, I'd only done my face. Just to feel that little bit fresher. He hadn't returned himself when I entered so I found a robe and draped it over the spot on the lounge I intended to sit upon and got comfortable. I didn't know if I was permitted to change yet. If I was, there didn't seem any point unless I was going to be able to bathe. Closing my eyes while I waited I was nearly dozing off when Klaus entered the room. The door opened fully and smacked against the wall with a loud bang and I jumped. A quick assessment of him revealed his tense jaw and his flared nostrils as he appeared to take a deep calming breath. Exhaling loudly he looked to me as he put the tray he held on the bed.
"There's a sandwich and some biscuits here for your lunch and a glass of juice. We're out of coffee." He said inhospitably and with some irritation in his voice while he moved over to his liquor. As he poured himself a glass of scotch I tentatively cleared my throat. I thought I may as well be up front with him if he didn't approve of my pit-stop on the way here. It would at least make him feel powerful and that I was at his beck and call like he wanted me to be.
"Klaus?" I began. Remaining seated on the lounge. "I hope it's okay. I stopped off in the bathroom on the way here. I needed the loo and before I left I washed my face. I know you didn't say I could do so. But I figured it wouldn't be a problem. If it is, please let me know so I know not to do it again." When I'd finished my softly spoken confession I lowered my face slightly to look at the floor as if to show submissiveness.
"Look at me." I raised my eyes to meet his. He'd turned from his store of alcohol to face me and only then did I get the chance to see how bloodied and ripped his clothes were. Judging by how much damage his clothes had, today must have been much worse than when he'd last come home with blood on him. Home? I suppose. Perhaps today's confrontation hadn't even been expected. Perhaps the whole thing had gotten out of control. Even by Klaus' standards. He held my gaze for a few long moments as if deciding whether I was telling the truth. Maybe he thought that my openness to him was covering up what I might have done in addition to stopping at the bathroom. "That's fine." He said finally before downing the remaining half of the contents in his glass before turning back and refilling it.
I sat on the bed while I ate my sandwich with the robe beneath me. Klaus stretched out on the lounge and openly watched me. His upper body raised by the arm at the end of the lounge at the corner of the room. He didn't even have to appear like he was doing anything. In return I watched out of the corner of my eye as the level of liquid in his glass decreased at a fast rate, even for the sips he took. Though his eyes were on me he seemed deep in thought from the concentration etched on his face. He kept flexing his left hand into a fist which I took as a tell. He was still quite angry. Though I now wondered if he was angry in general rather than at me. Because he'd also been terse with Sarah. When I'd polished off one of the biscuits and it was obvious to Klaus that I was finished he instructed me to put the small plate of the remaining three over with his alcohol. Once I'd relocated the plate to snack on later I turned to Klaus and stood awkwardly shifting my feet.
"Can I change, or bathe now?" His eyes swept up to my face after lingering on the rest of my body. I forced myself not to roll my eyes or appear disgusted in any way.
"Soon." He spoke simply. "Tell me what happened today." He suddenly demanded.
"Could you be more specific?" I asked to which his eyes darkened.
"When you were grabbed by the real Phillip and dragged into the other room." The real Phillip. Remembering how Klaus had told Sarah that Phillip wasn't quite himself. I realised that perhaps for protection or to catch Klaus off guard, the werewolf who's lap I'd sat on was also performing as I'd had to.
"You mean-." I began quizzically, but Klaus cut me off.
"We're not having a discussion yet. You are telling me your account of what happened." He growled. Swallowing hard I did as instructed. Reiterating what had happened. "So there was no sudden departure from the room onto the roof? As if transported, for example?" Klaus asked suddenly once I'd told of being pushed into the bottom of the fireplace.
"No."
"So you went up the chimney?"
"Yes. If you hadn't stopped me, I would have said-." Flickering before me his sudden proximity was enough to silence me.
"Yes or no was all I needed to hear in this instance." Came his dangerous murmur. He then turned back towards the lounge. Well perhaps you could have told me that before you went into interrogation mode, arse hole. Spinning back towards me he backhanded me across my left cheek with enough force that I went flying. Thankfully propelled into the wall a little way along from all the glass containing his liquor.
"I'll let you know when you can elaborate from simple answers Elena."
"I didn't say anything more! Out loud." I justified softly with my left hand over my sunken in cheek bone, tears pricking my eyes surprisingly more in frustration than pain. Within moments the bone repaired and I wiped away my tears. Hitting me had been totally uncalled for.
"So how did you get onto the roof from the chimney?" Sniffing I sat myself up and leaned back against the wall.
"I was sat on his shoulders and he sort of jumped twice and we were on the roof." I explained, my voice hollow.
"That was a modern house, if a tacky one. It would have had a grate up the channel of the chimney. If you went up first you would have hit it. Was it already open to allow access?"
"No. He warned me to push at it on his second jump so that my head didn't hit it. So that's what I did."
"You assisted your abductor in yet another way?"
"No, I-" He was suddenly towering over me. Resulting in me sinking as close to the floor as I could. "Yes! Yes I did." I blurted my correction.
"Hmm." He considered aloud. "Good girl." One of his hands came towards my head and I cowered even more, covering as much of my face with my own.
"Please don't hit me." I thought in a whisper, despite it being inside my head. Fingers touched my hair and I sensed Klaus squatting down as he stroked my head and hair softly. Each time his hand disconnected I thought it was going to return with force. I didn't know what it was about being struck across my face but I was terrified it was going to happen again. I'd been hurt before. Quite badly today, obviously. Yet it wasn't until Klaus had gone for my face that a sense of paranoia set in regarding more abuse. All I could think of was the visual aspect of the attack. Though I hadn't really seen it coming. I should have, and approaching things always seemed to instil excess reaction.
"There's no sense in anticipating something you won't see coming sweetheart." He thought in an almost tender response to my plea. Regardless of whether there was some truth to his comment I couldn't relax as he continued to stroke my head while he mused aloud.
"There was supposed to be another resolution to today's attempt to take you. Either, they were unprepared because they believed you to be Katerina and weren't taking a bar of my supposed possession of you. Or someone else was meant to remove you once you were isolated. Wether by magic, or other. In any other case the grate would have been open in preparation." He stood and moved to place his glass next to my plate of remaining biscuits. "You can clean yourself up whenever. I'm going to be otherwise engaged for some time, so I'm sorry I can't join you." I looked up in distaste to catch his smirk before he left the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Guess he's still mad then. It seemed that I should take note of when Klaus makes lots of noise. His aggression seemed to have it's tells alright.
