I took some freedom with the locations and Klaus opinion but in general it is very much like what they are seeing. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
In the living room Caroline sat down in one of the armchairs and looked at Klaus pacing the room. He wasn't sure where to start or how much to tell her. There were aspects of their relationship she could not understand without feeling what she had felt for him. Finally he settled on a light version of their story.
He sat down on the couch across her chair and leaned back. He looked directly in her eyes. Caroline was excited and somehow frightened at the same time. He took a deep breath, finally starting to talk to her: "You are right we met again at the airport in Rio. You had been in the country for only a few days and you were miserable. You had convinced yourself that it was all a stupid idea and that you wanted to go back to your friends. I had watched you stroll through the city and go sight-seeing but you did not seem to enjoy it." Caroline nodded. "I remember that part. I hated Rio. It was not what I had expected at all. I even remember going to the airport to look for flights but then I changed my mind. I went to São Paulo instead and fell in love with the city."
"Why did you change your mind?" Klaus inquired. Caroline tried very hard to remember the path her thoughts had taken. But she could absolutely not remember why she had suddenly changed her mind. She shrugged: "I guess I just wanted to give the country another try in another city." Klaus raised his eyebrow and looked at her questioningly but continued his story nonetheless. "Well, since I did not want to lose the chance of meeting you outside f your friend's influence I decided to step in. I sat at the café where I know you would see me. You first looked like you wanted to run away but then straightened up and walked over to where I sat. You asked what the hell I was doing there and if I had followed you." He smiled and Caroline could imagine herself walking up to him, deciding to confront him. "I told you that I was in Brazil on a business trip but you didn't believe me. You immediately called me a liar and demanded the truth. I told you the truth that I had wanted to see you without your friends. I asked you to sit down with me and have a coffee. You hesitated but sat down in the end still staring at me in a very judging manner." He imitated the look on her face which made Caroline laugh for a second. The look she knew was to be spotted on her face quite often felt very out of place on his. "You let me order a coffee for you and I asked you how you had liked Brazil so far. You told me about your plan to go back to the US. I claimed you that you had not even seen five percent of the miracle this country held and that you couldn't go back without having at least seen the biggest city of the country. You laughed at me and called my attempt pathetic and that you would never go with me." He smiled again and Caroline got the feeling that she had not acted according to her previous statement.
"We talked for a very long time and I finally convinced you to stay one more night in Rio and to go out for dinner with me. We went to a restaurant at the Copacabana and you flirted shamelessly with the young waiter." Caroline interrupted him. "I remember that! I remember flirting with the waiter. He gave me his number but I never called him. I can't tell you why." He chuckled: "Well, I would not have appreciated that. But of course you were free to call him, you just never wanted. Don't worry," he added when he saw her brooding expression "Nothing happened that night or ever to the waiter. I was a perfect gentleman and brought you to your hotel. I promised to show you some hidden beautiful parts of the city the next morning. I picked you up early and we drove out to the summer palest of the former royal family of Brazil. At the end of the day I had you convinced to go to São Paulo with me for a couple more days. We went there, stayed at a hotel for a few days, always at two different rooms if you must know. You fell in love with the city in those first few days. So you decided to get an apartment in the city and I moved to my already existing apartment. After you had moved you invited me to celebrate your moving." He looked at her. "You really don't remember any of this? Not even the day you moved to your new apartment? It was pretty special for you." She shook her head. "I remember all these things but I don't remember you being there. I remember that I drank a lot of Caipirinha the night I moved in but I can't recall you being there. I was really hung over the next day and spent the day at the Buenos Aires Park."
He nodded. "I know, I was with you that day. We lay on the grass and watched the old people talk about us. I translated for you and we laughed at them for calling me "young man" although I was at least 930 years older than them." He stopped again and gave her a look she could not decipher. "So, that is the story of how we re-met." She could not believe that she really didn't remember any of this. Also he had not told her everything. She swallowed. "You said we were together. How did that happen?" He struggled with the answer and considered the best answer possible. "It happened slowly. I can't tell and won't tell you more. I don't think you will really believe me if I tell you the story now. Maybe when we find out what happened we can find out how to give you back your memories." She realized that this was the first moment that they had actually talked about her memory loss as a problem that had to be solved. Before he had just acknowledged the fact but never suggested a solution.
"Do you know what happened to me?" She asked him.
He shook his head: "I have assumptions but I have no proof for any of them."
"Is it possible that it was one of your siblings?" She asked.
He thought about the possibility for a second. "I have considered that as well but it seems unlikely. Elijah would always admit such an act, Kol is more about directly sending a message and Rebecca may not like you very much but she has been happy with Stefan for the past few months and has other things on her mind. Like her triumph over your dear friend Elena." He grinned. Caroline stared at him with her mouth open. "Stefan and Rebecca? When the hell did that happen?" Klaus was stunned for a second and then to her surprise started laughing. "Of course you don't remember that either. The same day you decided to tell at least Stefan about us he decided to tell you about him and Rebecca. You conversation was probably too mixed to separate those two pieces of information. They had started sleeping with each other out of desperation but figured out they still had real feelings for each other after a while. The last thing I heard from them was that they were travelling through India."
Caroline needed a few moments to understand what Klaus had just told her. Although she really couldn't stand Rebecca she was happy if Stefan was happy. Therefore Elena in the end did not have to choose. Stefan made the choice. Caroline felt proud of him.
"But who else would take away my memories of being with you?" She came back to the originally discussed theme.
"Well, I know some people who would like to see me suffer. What made me wonder was that not only you forgot us but a lot of other people as well. I think it was a witch's curse. A very strong one that put a lot of people under the spell. But some people it could obviously not trace back like the barkeeper."
"And my neighbor." Caroline added. Klaus looked at her questioningly. "She asked me about the blond young man that always visited me." He nodded. "She was probably not close enough to you contrary to your boss." They both fell silent for a while then Klaus said: "It is late. We should get going to meet Clarissa." Caroline had already forgotten about the other vampire they were going to see tonight. Then she remembered that Clarissa had seen them make out in the backroom of the club and she flushed. She preferred not knowing what the other woman was thinking about her but she was somehow pretty sure she was going to hear it tonight.
They departed from the apartment a few minutes later and got into the waiting cab. Caroline was still trying to wrap her head around what he had said. She had suspected herself that she had not been compelled by one of his siblings. They would have had to go through a lot of trouble to compel all these people. She still didn't have any idea why somebody was doing this to her. It didn't make any sense to take away her memories. Whoever did this must have known her well enough to know her friends and acquaintances and must have realized that Klaus would not just leave her alone because she didn't remember him.
The taxi stopped in front of a brightly illuminated stone building. It looked very old to Caroline and slightly frightening. Klaus got out of the car and held her door open.
"Where are we?" She asked him.
"At the museum where Clarissa works and has hopefully found an answer for us." Caroline suddenly remembered the wound in Clarissa's neck, where Klaus teeth had scratched through her flesh and left his werewolf venom. She knew how much a werewolf bite hurt and could imagine the pain that the other vampire was going through. Still she didn't feel like caring after all. It was her own fault for trying to attack Klaus and drawing his attention to her. Klaus was walking towards the entry and was calling someone on the phone.
"Clarissa! Where are you and how do we get there?"
Caroline couldn't hear the answer but Klaus affirmed the words and hung up. He motioned her to follow him. He quickly compelled the guard to let them in and forget about them immediately afterwards.
The museum was poorly lit and the marble statues seemed to stare down at them like they knew that they weren't supposed to be here. Caroline jumped slightly when she heard Klaus whisper in the darkness.
"Don't worry, love, I am older than some of these artworks. I can assure you there is nothing dangerous about them." She felt stupid for her fear and closed up to him. They walked through the museum together. "I promise you to come back with you again during the day. It is a remarkable collection of Babylonian and ancient Greek artwork." He said to her.
They entered huge hall that was filled with the biggest and oldest piece of art that Caroline had ever seen. It was an altar that spread along the whole eastern wall of the room. Caroline could only see the numerous steps up to the platform that was surrounded by columns on all sides. She stared at it in awe and then took in the rest of her surroundings. There was a panel on all the walls that featured a relief made out of marble as well.
"This is the altar of Pergamon that was built over 2100 years ago in the ancient city. It was the pride of the city and the people of Pergamon. They thought they were invincible and made this altar to show their superiority over every other race. Of course they didn't last. First there were the romans and then other cultures that conquered their territory. The altar got lost and forgotten until a German expedition found it at the end of the 19th century. It was shipped to Berlin and this museum was built especially for it." Klaus explained to her.
"It is amazing that people built this kind of things two thousand years ago. So much work just to be forgotten in the end." Caroline mused.
"It is a human thing to build places to be worshipped at. The biggest human fear is to be forgotten. We have overcome this. We don't need monuments to be remembered. We are monuments." Klaus voice was proud. She looked at him and he was staring at the altar with a mixture of admiration and repulsion as if he could not make himself believe what he had just said. She reached out to touch his arm and he fell out of his trance.
"Let's go. We have to find Clarissa."
They went into the adjacent room that featured an ancient huge gate inviting them to pass through. This time Klaus didn't offer an explanation but just went through the gate. After they had passed through Klaus motioned for her to turn around and look at the wall behind her. She saw a different gate that was made mostly out of blue glazed tiles. In rows along the gate and on the wall other stones formed golden bulls, lions and snake like fantasies. It was hauntingly beautiful. Now she noticed that along the walls there were more of the tiles and animals that seemed to walk away from the gate. Caroline's gaze followed the animals up the street. It was beautiful but the dim lighting made it look scary at the same time. She met Klaus eyes and smiled. She hoped that they could make the time to come back to see the wonders of this place during the daylight. The looked at each other enjoying the silent moment of understanding and peace. Then the world seemed to fall apart. Suddenly there were at least ten people around them. No, not people Caroline realized after less than a second. Vampires! They had walked into a trap.
Klaus had understood the situation even faster than she had and stiffened ready to attack. He didn't have to wait. As soon as the other vampires noticed that they had lost the element of surprise they attacked. As Caroline had feared they assumed her to be the weaker target and mostly attacked her. She had never learned to fight and felt paralyzed for a few seconds. Then the first blow struck her and her instincts took over. She ducked away under the next blow and used the swing of the next one to get up again. Without thinking she pulled one of her attackers in front of her to serve as a shield from another attackers blow. She didn't heasitate as she pulled her shields heart out and started on the next attacker. Klaus had meanwhile already killed the few that had attacked him and came to her aid. He broke a neck and ripped of another guy's arms in less than a few seconds. Then he saw the one of the others sneak up on Caroline behind her back while she was dishing out kicks and hits at two vampires at the same time. But he didn't have to worry since she turned around and ripped of the head of the attacker behind her in a fast move. She jumped over the body to give herself some space to be able to maneuver better. The two launched a new attack at her but Klaus rushed in front of them and let them run into his hands. Then he moved quickly backwards with their still beating hearts in his hands. The two vampires looked at him for a split second astonishment in their eyes and fell down.
Caroline looked around them. She counted eight dead vampires, one with a broken neck and one who was crying out for his arms that lay on opposite sides of the room. There was a lot of blood around them and on their clothes and bodies. She looked down at her bloody hands. Only now she realized that she had defeated vampires that were probably older than her. She knew that strength grew with age and she was still so young. Klaus had walked over to the still crying vampire and killed him. Then he looked at her: "I am glad that at least your body hasn't forgotten. You did very well."
"What are you talking about? I just got lucky." She answered confused.
He actually had the nerve to laugh at her in the middle of the dead bodies. "No, my dear you didn't get lucky. I knew some of these vampires. I actually think I turned some of them. They were much older and stronger than you. But your body remembered the training I have given you on how to fight most vampires. You were very good considering that this was your first fight after losing your memory."
He looked around and saw the one with the broken neck slowly moving and groaning. He moved over to him and shook the vampire. When the man opened his eyes he stared at Klaus face that was very close to his.
"Who sent you?" The vampire just shook his head and let out a contemptuous snore. Klaus rolled his eyes and compelled the vampire. "I am asking you again. Who sent you?"
"I don't know. I just followed my father who told us to come here and make sure the girl dies and you get caught. We didn't know anything else." Klaus fell silent and then in one swift move ripped out the man's heart.
Caroline shrieked: "What are you doing? He could have given us more information."
Klaus shook his head: "He didn't know more. He wouldn't have hesitated to kill you."
Caroline decided to let it go: "Do you think that Clarissa sent them?"
He shook his head again. "She is not an idiot. She knows that I am the only one who can heal her. But she doesn't know how. I would have never helped her if she had you killed." He stated. "I think we should go looking for her." He got up and walked down procession street. Caroline followed him. They walked in silence for a few minutes until he opened a small door to their right. There was a sign saying in five languages that the access was restricted to authorized personal only.
They went down a small staircase and ended up in a poorly lit corridor. Klaus followed the corridor to the right and stopped after a few steps in front of a black door that said "Archive". He opened the door and they entered the brightly lit room. All around them was chaos like there had been a fight with more than two people involved. On the left side of the door was the lifeless body of a vampire with a stake sticking out of his chest. A few feet away there was another body.
Across the desk lay the lifeless body of Clarissa and another young vampire. Both had a stake pushed through their hearts and their clothes were soaked with blood. The young woman was half sprawled across Clarissa's body.
"Oh my god. Who is the other girl?" Caroline said. Klaus went over to the dead body and turned her around.
"The other girl is her assistant and lover. She turned her just a year ago out of sentimentality." Klaus said answering Caroline's question. He looked at the papers surrounding the two. "She must have left some kind of note somewhere here. She always loved the written word. Look for anything that could tell us what Shane had wanted." Caroline started going through the papers but soon realized that they were all written in German and she couldn't understand a word.
But what she found was a purse that had fallen from the table on to the floor. It was hidden under a stack of old papers that had probably also fallen from the table during the fight. She picked up the purse and looked inside.
"Bingo!" She said. Klaus looked up from his search of the papers. "What did you find?"
Caroline held up a flat black tablet PC that she had found in the purse.
"You said the other vampire was turned a year ago. This means that she grew up in this century and was very unlikely to leave her notes on paper. I assume since she was Clarissa's assistant she had taken the notes." Caroline turned the device on and unlocked the screen. Luckily for them it was not password protected. Caroline opened a few applications until she found the work file. She had been right. There was a file simply called Shane and one called Klaus and some others that she could not decipher. She handed the tablet over to Klaus who opened the document. He scanned it over and then looked up at her. "It seems like we're going to travel again."
A/N: I would really like some feedback on how you think the story should continue. Do you want them to go back to Mystic Falls and meet everybody else? Is there a place you would really like them to go now? I have my own ideas but I am open to suggestions and reviews. Love, Santavice