A/N: Happy 25 days of Klaroline everyone! I know it's been a really long time and again really sorry about that. I thought I'd post this for Day 5 (Klaroline + Dark). This chapter was really difficult for me to write for some reason, hence why it has taken me so long. So I'd appreciate feedback. I'm currently on break from school so for the next few weeks I'm going to be writing this fic nonstop and also a few drabbles for 25 days of klaroline but I'm also going to be working because I got a new job. Also, a heads up, things are going to get angsty really fast since we're heading towards the third act.

Chapter Nineteen: Caroline Forbes

Klaus sat in the desk chair, his chin leaning on top of his fist. He had thrown on a fresh pair of clothes: a Henley with dark jeans. His eyes never strayed from the beauty, lying dead in his bed… for now.

After he had disentangled his limbs from Caroline, he had dressed her naked, bloody body in a pair of sleep shorts and a t-shirt she often wore to bed. Hopefully, she didn't hold a strong attachment to those articles of clothing and wouldn't bite his head off when she awoke.

Shortly after he laid her down for a not-so-eternal-slumber, one of the humans made the mistake of walking past his room soundly. Now they stood at the foot of the bed, compelled not to move a muscle until he gave his word.

Suddenly, Caroline sat up, her body trembling as she gasped for life. Her wide, blue eyes searched the room, confusion wrapping around her. "Klaus? What's happening to me?"

He was at her side in an instant, one hand on her lower back and the other on her cheek. His hand forced her to look at him, gazing at her with gentle eyes. "You're becoming the most beautiful version of yourself… you're in transition. You're almost there, love. There is just one more thing you have to do." He snapped his finger, summoning the human boy over to where he was perched on the bed. "Drink, Caroline." His fangs pierced into the boy's neck, blood perfuming the air. The human didn't even grimace.

He offered the bleeding neck to her, and she simply stared at it for a moment, licking her blood stained lips. His eyes burned with intensity as he watched her, wondering if she was getting cold feet.

She flicked her eyes towards him, a small smile on her lips. "Thank you." She pressed her lips against his briefly, staring at him affectionately.

He returned her expression, foreign emotions circulating inside him.

The door abruptly burst open, and Collins and Edwards appeared behind it, horrified countenances displayed on their faces.

The blonde gasped loudly, her complexion paler than it already was. Her wide eyes locked on Edward's malignant expression, noticing a white bandage stretching along the breadth of his throat. "You're dead…"

He simply sneered at her, clearly still upset about the incident.

Klaus grinded his teeth together, blood boiling as he shot up from his position on the bed. He took a defensive stance. "Caroline, drink. Now," he ordered, never taking his eyes off the two intruders.

He saw her oblige from the corner of his eye, and Collins and Edwards charged straight for her. He snarled and harshly jostled them against the opposite wall, their spines smacking into the concrete. "You're too late." There was a hint of arrogance in his voice; although, it sounded more like a threat than a boast.

He turned back to watch Caroline sigh in euphoria, her blue eyes now a solid crimson, purple veins protruding under her eyes, and two large fangs dropping down from her blood coated lips. She stared back at him, her eyes clouded in both lust and bloodlust. She kept her eyes locked on him as she quickly drained the boy, his corpse dropping to the floor.

Klaus felt the two men behind him climb back to their feet and rolled his eyes. Swiftly, he broke both their necks and returned to Caroline. Fresh blood dripped down her chin, and he couldn't resist licking it clean, causing her to moan.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I just woke up for the very first time… everything is brighter, more defined… I can't explain it. I just feel like I'm… more, you know?"

"I do." He watched her, an empathetic gleam in his eyes. "You are so much more, Caroline." He captured her lips, electricity sparking through them. His thumbs brushed against her cheekbones, feeling the protruding veins shift under his touch. He looked right into her dark red eyes, and his heart swelled. This was exactly what he had been dreaming for her, what he had hoped. Now she sat in front of him, radiating darkness. "You are so beautiful."

She blushed and purred against his touch. She then turned to the dead bodies by the door. "Are they dead now?"

He sighed, following her eyes. "For the moment."

"What does that mean? Are they like us?" She cupped his face in her hands.

"No. They're not human, not vampires, not werewolves, nor hybrids." He held her hands and brushed his nose against hers.

"Then, what are they?"

He gave her a hard look as he contemplated her question. "Let's get you out of here first before they wake up again. This requires a very complicated story, and you're going to need more blood before you can fully function."

She nodded in agreement, and let him pull her to her feet. With their hands locked, Klaus led her through the school.

Caroline spent the next hour eating the boys who occupied the dorms closest to the Mikaelsons'; although, they were all too predictable: wholly vulnerable to lust. Unfortunately for them, Klaus was more than thrilled to make their nightmares come true.

In one dorm, Caroline straddled Liam, her hands rubbing his shoulders teasingly. She looked up at him through hooded eyes, a predatory gaze sparkling in her blue eyes. She felt his excitement and had to bite back a giggle with how easily he slipped into her trap.

Liam panted and his hands were tentatively placed on her hips. His eyes continued to drift between her darkened blue eyes and down to her chest where he could see the outline of her pebbled nibbles. "Klaus is my mate. He would kill me if he knew you were here." He breathed raggedly, and leaned in to capture her lips nonetheless.

She held him firmly by the jaw, halting him a millimeter before he could kiss her. Staring into his eyes, there was a cruel glint to her enchanting orbs. "He would. But you would die just to have a taste of me, wouldn't you agree?"

A hesitant grin stretched across the human's face. "Yeah. Whatever you say, Babe." He pressed his mouth to her neck, leaving hungry kisses along her neck.

Caroline moaned and then quickly removed his mouth from her skin. She scraped her fangs along the throbbing vein that had been calling her since she stepped inside the room. Liam groaned, and she felt his heart race. She bit down harshly and recognized the familiar cry of pain that she got drunk off.

When he tried to speak, she ripped further into his neck, paralyzing his vocal chords.

She inhaled Klaus's intoxicating scent as he approached from behind her.

Liam's breath caught when he spotted Klaus, and she withdrew her fangs from his neck. She smirked malignantly at the terrified look on the boy's face. He would have pissed himself already if he wasn't already so hard.

"Why the long face, mate?" Klaus's voice was calm, but his eyes were burning with enmity. Even when he knew it was a game, Klaus couldn't help the blinding jealousy he felt when anyone other than him touched Caroline, and she couldn't help the rush that filled her. "Please, don't stop on my account."

"Kl- Klaus," Liam stuttered, seeming as if his heart was about to implode inside his chest, "I swear, this is not what it looks like. She barged into my room and sat on me and- and…"

Klaus's chest was pressed flush against Caroline's back. His face was impassive as he slid his hands under Caroline's T-shirt and palmed her pert breasts before Liam's shaken eyes. "And what exactly do you think is going on here?"

She leaned her head back into the crook of Klaus's neck. He pinched her nipples and she groaned audibly.

The human gaped at them, watching the unbalanced become tangled in one another. Realization soon dawned on him: this was a set up.

Swiftly, Caroline buried her fangs back into Liam's neck when she noticed the look of recognition cross his face. Liam groaned in agony as Caroline tore through his flesh.

Klaus then slipped a hand in Caroline's skimpy shorts. He brushed a finger over her clit and then pushed two fingers into her slick slit, growling.

The blonde vampire's moans were muffled by Liam's neck and she bit even more viciously as Klaus began to pump her dexterously.

Liam clenched his teeth, trying to suppress his cries of pain. Still, he couldn't pry his eyes away from where Klaus was thrusting his fingers into Caroline. He had never been so simultaneously terrified and aroused before.

The hybrid removed his hand from her breast and brushed her curls away from the side of her neck. His breath on her exposed skin sent shivers down her spine. He left a fiery trail of kisses down her neck, setting her entire body aflame.

Caroline sat up, licking fresh blood off her crimson lips. She turned, crushing Klaus's lips against hers. His lips were smouldering against her mouth, kissing her until her entire body was an inferno. There was nothing else she desired: Klaus and blood were the only things necessary to her survival.

She heard him purr hungrily and grinned lasciviously against him. When he met her eyes, she found his gold eyes staring her down, a ravenous shade to them. The blood rushed to her face as well. They both turned back to Liam, who tried to scream for help.

Caroline bit into the same place on his neck while Klaus ripped into the opposite side. It was so intimate; she couldn't explain the sensation. There was something so sacred about sharing a blood source. It was a feeling of selfishness, yet selflessness, sating your own needs while considering another's.

Just before Liam lost consciousness from the blood loss, Klaus released his hold on him and coaxed Caroline to pull away. Then, he placed Caroline on the other side of the bed, laying on her back.

Wrapping an iron grip around Liam's quivering neck, Klaus smirked wickedly. "Caroline is mine."

Liam nodded his head as fervently as he could with Klaus's hand cutting off his oxygen.

"I have no tolerance for those who betray me, Liam. Now what am I going to do about you?" he asked rhetorically.

"Please, don't kill me, Klaus," Liam whimpers, his eyes filling with tears.

He cocked his head. "But you told Caroline that you would die to have her. Now wouldn't you agree that she's worth it?" He nodded his head at Caroline who stared at Liam expectantly.

Liam began to heave as he begged Klaus for mercy.

"You know that I was never one for mercy, mate." The hybrid shoved his hand into Liam's rib cage, extracting his heart. "No one touches Caroline but me." His voice was cold as he tossed the heart over Liam's body which had collapsed onto the floor.

Behind him, Caroline brought her hands across his chest, pulling his back into her. Her lips kissed along his jawline. Each one seared his skin. "You're really sexy when you're jealous, you know that?"

He smiled naughtily and pinned her onto her back against the mattress. Wrapping her bare legs around his hips, he grounded himself into the apex between her thighs. "You are mine, Caroline. My vampire. My lover. No one else can make you feel this way. Only I can touch you in this way."

She gasped as Klaus ripped off her shorts in one smooth move, exposing her to the cool air. His eyes were clouded by a dark possessive shade. He cupped her soaking flesh as he whispered all the things he could do to her that no one else ever would.

Biting back a moan, she bucked into his hand, the blood rushing to her eyes. "Klaus… You know there's no one else I want… I need more…"

Using his other hand, he helped her out of the shirt and whispered against her ear. "How much do you want me, love?"

Caroline's large fangs dropped and she pushed him onto his back. She climbed astride him, his hand still grasping her pussy, claiming his territory. The lust filled glow of his eyes only exacerbated the ache between her legs.

Within a second, she pulled his Henley over his head, and Klaus eagerly obliged. Running her nose down the column of his throat, Caroline deeply inhaled his intoxicating scent. "Starving," she purred before sinking her teeth into his warm vein.

Klaus groaned unabashedly and caressed her hair. To think, he had thought there was nothing more Caroline could do that would make her even more sexy- he was obviously wrong.

Caroline mewled against his skin, every sound expressing her gratitude. She molded her body against his, smearing his dripping blood along both their torsos.

Klaus's erection strained further inside his pants as he felt her hardened nipples scrape his chest. Moving his hand to grip her ass, he shoved her hips down to the hard bulge in his pants.

Caroline gasped as she continued to greedily drink from him. There was no other experience that could ever compare to drinking from Klaus Mikaelson. It was like swallowing pure power while being worshiped as a goddess. Feeling this good had to be poisonous, but let her be damned if that was what it meant to have him.

She threw her head back, letting the feeling of euphoria course through her bloodstream. The rich taste of Klaus's blood still lingered on her tongue. She never wanted to forget the taste of him.

Klaus smoothed his hand along her cheek, causing the blood to rush to her face again, clouding her eyes red. He rested on his elbow and his eyes marveled at her, wholly fascinated. "Beautiful."

Her heart pounded. After a moment, she attacked his lips, pinning his head against the mattress. Klaus readily reciprocated her hungry kisses with his own and reversed their positions. He pressed her body into the mattress as his tongue dominated her mouth.

Caroline shivered as Klaus roughly kissed her, stealing her breath with each skilled movement of his lips. His hands traveled up and down her body, groping every inch of flesh he found. Groaning against his hot mouth, she encouraged his callus hands.

She arched into him as Klaus left wet, burning kisses along her jawline. Her hips earnestly rub against him, needing more contact. "Pants off," she said through clenched teeth. "Now."

He smirked against her skin and straightened himself. "So eager for me." Taking his time to open his jeans, he made a show of revealing his cock to her.

Her annoyed countenance melted away as she saw just how hard he was for her. Licking her lips, Caroline pulled him back on top of her, capturing his lips in a burning kiss. She felt her body rise to a scorching temperature as his lips filled her with a reignited fire.

To her dismay, he left her lips to heed her breasts. His mouth sucked in one nipple while his hands fondled the other one. He harshly rolled her nipple over his thumb until she whimpered. Caroline sighed wantonly and ran her fingers through his curls. Her pussy was throbbing intensely.

He moved his other hand to her pink flesh, brushing his fingers through her slick folds as his thumb circled her clit relentlessly.

"Klaus…" she moans his name mindlessly. "More…"

Before releasing her breast, he scraped his fangs along her sensitive skin, and Caroline hissed. He settled his head between her legs before she could protest. First kissing along her inner thigh, his breath burned her aching flesh and her legs began to tremble.

"Moan for me, Caroline. Say my name while you writhe beneath me, while my tongue threatens to drive you insane, while I swallow your arousal." His voice was low and predatory.

The blonde vampire weakly nodded. Her body became limber from Klaus's salacious words.

Klaus fervently devoured her, swallowing her sweet taste.

Caroline arched her back, pressing herself even closer against his face. She groaned audibly. His name fell from her lips again and again. He intensified his movements every time he heard his name, spurring her on.

His tongue was blazing against her bare flesh, sending flames shooting across her body. His mouth shifted between pressing hot kisses across the inside of her lips and lapping up her juices. She couldn't fight the urge to twist her hands in his hair, tugging on him as he drove her wild.

Her body flushed an even deeper shade of red as he groaned in appreciation of her taste.

Sex with Klaus had always been amazing when she was human but having him as a vampire was unreal. If she thought that he was intense before, the emotions coursing through her were dangerous; she could drown in the emotions he evoked.

Klaus wrapped his lips around her bundle of nerves, sucking down harshly.

Caroline instantly cried out, her body tightly coiled. Only a few seconds passed before Klaus pushed her over the edge. Her legs shook as ecstasy took hold of her.

Klaus didn't waste much time and was swallowing her screams as he pressed his lips against hers again.

Once Caroline's breathing returned to normal, she returned Klaus's breathless kisses. Their tongues tangled deliciously as he positioned himself at her still wet entrance. Klaus stroked her with his hand, preparing her body for him again.

"Caroline," he panted. "Do you want to know how I fuck my vampire queen?"

Heat pooled in her belly once more and she quickly nodded. "Fuck me, Klaus."

He hitched one of her legs around his hip and threw her other leg over his shoulder. Pinning her hands beside her head, he laced their fingers together.

Caroline heard her heart pounding in her ears as she stared into his adoring and protective eyes. She was suddenly ensnared by them, beguiled by the all-encompassing way he regarded her.

He slowly thrusted into her, and she breathed out desperately. Building a steady rhythm, Klaus continued to push himself into her tight walls, allowing her to envelope him in warmth.

"Scream for me, love," he husked against her ear.

With his hips slamming into her harder and harder, her body jolted as she began shouting his name. She brought her own hips against his, matching him with every thrust.

She grinned sinfully as Klaus released his own strangled moans. He drove himself deeper and deeper inside her, far deeper than when she had been human.

Her nails sunk into the skin of his hands as her muscles continued to coil impossibly tight around him. Klaus's body became strained while his hips slammed into her at a supernatural rate. She shuddered at the monumental force of his hips sending shots of pleasure radiating through her body. Klaus was thick and huge inside her, setting her ablaze.

She didn't think sex with Klaus could get better but apparently he had been holding back.

"God, yes!" Caroline sighed urgently, following Klaus's hips with her own.

Klaus now moved his hands to her hips and pounded into her with even more power. Had Caroline still been human, she might not have survived the night, but as a vampire, she would be left sore for a few moments afterwards.

He was buried in her searing heat, his erection huge and impossibly hard inside her. Her body and her screams were driving him mad. He knew that it wouldn't take much longer for him to carry her over the edge with him.

Watching her writhe beneath him, he couldn't help but wonder how beautiful she was here, taking him in, showing her gratitude. When she looked up at him with his eyes gold and his blood rushing to his face, she saw him differently. He couldn't articulate it but he knew it was there.

Leaning his head down, Klaus inhaled the slick skin on her neck and shuddered at Caroline's natural scent. His double fangs innately dropped and sunk them into her throbbing vein.

Caroline initially hissed and soon relaxed into his mouth, exposing more of her neck to him.

He groaned lustfully as Caroline's warm blood filled his mouth and his hips continued to drive into her forcefully.

Caroline clawed his back, her mewls spurring him on to push them both over the edge. It took a few more powerful thrusts for Caroline to cry out, her nails drawing blood and her legs squeezing his waist unrelentingly.

Klaus let Caroline's neck muffle his growls as he followed her over the brink. When his body gave out, he fell next to her, pulling her onto his sweaty chest.

She gave herself a moment to catch her breath before she kissed him softly, her lips lingering over his.

"Tired?" He smirked.

"Obviously." She wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Why? Did you want to go again?"

"Sweetheart, we're going to fuck in every room in this school."

Caroline grinned down at the ring hanging around her neck. She glanced at Klaus, who sat a beside her. He stared back at her hungrily. Blushing, she turned her attention back to the front, warmth spreading across her skin.

A part of her still couldn't get over the excitement. Partly from her new vampire status and the other part from the ring Klaus had given her. She promised him that she would never take it off: because it would protect her from the sun- but also because it used to be his.

After he had given her the ring, Klaus had filled her in on the Collins and Edwards situation. If she wasn't afraid of Klaus's mother before, there was no doubt now.

When the teacher walked in, her shoulders finally relaxed: it was a substitute. She supposed it was a good thing that Collins decided not to show his face after what had gone down. Though, it only made her more suspicious that he was using his time to take them down instead.

She turned around to gauge Klaus's reaction and he simply eyed the new teacher warily.

Class proceeded as normal as they discussed the cold war with the people around them.

"Do you want me to teach you how to control your blood lust after class today, or would you like me to teach you far more pleasurable techniques," he whispered against her ear, his lips burning her as he nibbled the shell of her ear.

"Klaus!" She shoved him playfully, ignoring the shiver that ran through her. "I think you did enough teaching last night." She looked over her shoulder to ensure no one had seen his lewd behavior.

"No such thing as knowing too much, love."

She shook her head, turning her head back to the front, where the teacher had the world map projected on the board. Her eyes were drawn back to the United States on the map, more specifically- Virginia.

Her heightened vision suddenly caused the image to sharpen more intensely than she had ever seen anything. It was like she could stare beyond the tiny state and see her hometown. The town, the people, and the memories. She could see everything.

"Are you looking at Virginia?" the substitute asked, eying her curiously.

"Oh, yeah," she mumbled. "My hometown is there."

The man nodded. "You know, my sister used to live there. Though, she moved because of a terrible high school bloodbath that happened in the small town she resided. Apparently, a handful of teenagers died at the hands of their childhood friend and some nasty secrets came to light in response. It was prom night too. Tragic, right?"

She swallowed thickly and she unconsciously gripped the edge of her desk almost hard enough to create indentations. Klaus's eyes immediately burned into her skull. Knowing that he knew something was wrong only made her heart race faster. "Oh. That is tragic."

"It was shocking too because the murderer was an honor roll student, popular, and accomplished but she had been harboring a secret for years: she had been institutionalized for most of her life and was the spawn of a serial killer that the town police force had been covering up in an attempt to preserve the town's spotless reputation." He paused. "What did they call her again…? Something- something about a killer Barbie… Bloody Barbie! That's what the papers called her."

Caroline gripped her head as she felt it begin to throb in pain. Her mind was suddenly inundated with memories that seemed much too fresh. She could hear the screams, the enmity on their faces, and the pain. The pain was searing now.

It all came surging through her like vervain coursing through her bloodstream.

She suddenly stood up, gasping for air like she was drowning.

"Caroline!" Klaus jumped to his feet, his arms trying to comfort her. "What's wrong?"

"Miss Forbes, are you alright?" The substitute teacher approached them.

"Look at her and I will tear out your eyeballs!" Klaus threatened and turned back to Caroline. "Caroline, what? Tell me."

Caroline rapidly blinked her eyes, trying to regain her focus. "Klaus, I'm fine." She feigned a painful smile as she ignored the scorching pain overwhelming her head.

"I can tell when you're lying, Caroline."

"It's fine," she repeated. "I just remembered something and it caught me off guard. I'm over it now."

Klaus's jaw tensed and then grabbed Caroline by the hand, dragging her out of the room and into the empty hall.

"What the hell are you doing?" She ripped her hand out of his grasp.

"When you become a vampire, any kind of manipulation to the mind ceases to exist," Klaus elucidated. "Caroline, you told me that the doctors from your town performed experiments to your psyche. Becoming a vampire would immediately reverse that. Caroline…"

"Stop it!" She ran her hands through her hair anxiously. "I don't want to see you. I just want to be alone… please."

"That isn't what you want," he assured her. "You're acting out because your hormones are still adjusting to the change-"

"I mean it, Klaus," she said coldly as she brushed past him.

Caroline curled into the pillow as she clutched her aching head. She had been plagued by the surfacing memories for hours, only allowing her brief moments to breathe before the pain would return. Klaus's overwhelming scent on the sheets and pillows was the only thing that offered her comfort now.

She remembered everything.

There were things that had been blocked from her memories and others that had been coated like a veil, concealing the magnitude of the tragedy from her. Her mind was unraveling and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She screamed and collapsed back onto the bed, dragging her hand over her face.

"Matt… Nadia… Sara… Alex… Samantha… Melissa… Elena… Tatia…" she mumbled to herself as a cold shiver ran through her.

It was like a wall had collapsed and all the pain and guilt that should have consumed her long ago devoured her all at once. She couldn't even name the emotions circling inside her. There was just iciness and agony.

Her father… she wanted to blame all of it on him. Oh, and it would have been all too easy. He had brought her into his world but she had reveled in it.

Now she didn't know where exactly she belonged anymore.

She stared at her reflection in the vanity, watching her innocent face morph into a monstrous one.

Who are you, Caroline Forbes?

Kol rolled his chair over to where Rebekah was busy texting on her bed, hovering over her shoulder.

"Do you mind?" Rebekah snapped.

"Did you notice Caroline's wrist?" Kol inquired.

"What?"

"Her wrist. There's a roman numeral number two on it- exact same place as yours." Kol lifted Rebekah's wrist into the air, exposing the marking on her skin.

"What?" Rebekah raised her brows. "Kol that's excellent news!"

He shrugged. "Only if a third sin is purified before then. Every step closer only accelerates the witch's curse which means we don't have a lot of time. And I'm guessing Nik is the last person who must convert a sin."

"Why do you assume that?"

"One, he's the least likely person on Earth to be virtuous. Two, you and Caroline are the closest to him. It only makes sense."

"So we're doomed then and I'll lose Stefan forever?" Rebekah stated through clenched teeth.

"Since when have I ever let you down?" Kol asked rhetorically. "Nik simply needs a little push in the right direction."

"Direction? Kol, we don't even know what the bloody hell we're doing. We don't know how I even got the marking in the first place and we don't know why Caroline received hers."

"Then, I suggest we start thinking."

Klaus paused outside the door for a moment. He could hear her sniffling inside. He wondered if he had made the right decision in giving her her space for the day.

It had been foolish of him to listen to her. She was a newborn vampire. She didn't know what she needed but he did, yet he left because he didn't want to face her wrath. He was afraid of exacerbating her pain that he had lost sight of helping Caroline heal.

Isolating herself would only emphasize the loneliness you felt when your past mistakes reared their ugly head.

Klaus stepped into the room to find Caroline tangled in the sheets, her eyes red and puffy.

"Caroline." He rushed over to the bed, cradling her head onto his lap. Stroking her messy hair, he felt her body ease into him. "It's alright, love. I'm here. I won't leave you again."

"Klaus…" Her voice is hoarse. "What's wrong with me?"

Klaus's hand suddenly stopped and she lifted her head up to look at him. There was a severe tone in his darkened blue eyes. "Nothing. There is not a thing wrong with you, Caroline Forbes. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't deserve you."

She smiled slightly, the heaviness in her heart feeling lighter. "I've never told anyone about what happened to me in the institution." She sat upright, leaning against his strong shoulder.

Klaus brushed her hair away from her face, cupping her cheek. His chest tightened as she indulged his touch. "I'm honored that you entrusted me with something so valuable."

"Why did you choose me?" she asked mindlessly. "You could have chosen any other girl here. You didn't turn any of the other girls. Why?"

He seemed taken aback by her bold question. "I think that's obvious, love."

"Is it?" She countered. "Because it doesn't feel that way when I ask you how you feel about me and you always skirt around actually defining what exactly we have. Why me, Klaus? Seriously."

He stared at her with hard eyes, peering into her very soul. "Why don't you just ask me what you really want to know, Caroline?"

"Fine," she relented, her voice reduced to just above a whisper. "Would you still want me even if I wasn't who you thought I was?"

Klaus's eyes never wavered, the fire in his eyes intensifying. "I know exactly who you are, Caroline."

"Just answer the question."

He allowed the question to settle into the air as he chose his words carefully. "There's nothing you could tell me that would change my mind about you." He leaned forward, smoothing his hands over her shoulders. "If you're referring to your confusion about the morals of your heart, I already know."

Her eyes widened and she was left speechless. "What?"

"You didn't think I would notice?" He asked, sounding almost offended. "I know you better than anyone, Caroline. Of course, I noticed. Those moments when I saw the light in your eyes, the way you laughed, and the way you first behaved when you arrived here. They are a part of you, just as I know that your darkness is a part of you. I wanted you to control your demons, not be overpowered by them. Without light, we're consumed by our darkness, forever tormented by the affliction and depraved parts of ourselves that we loathe the most."

Caroline was shocked by Klaus's words. She searched his eyes, only finding a raw honesty. As she grasped his face in her hands, she felt her blood pumping wilding. She matched his awed expression with her own. "Why didn't I meet you sooner?"

"I ask myself that every day," he confessed.

She crushed her lips against his in a bruising kiss. Unleashing her fears and insecurities against his mouth, they moved together like they were bonded by their secrets. Caroline moaned, engulfing his hot tongue into her mouth, her entire body becoming feverish.

His lips left her mouth swollen and burning and she couldn't get enough. There was something sacred about their relationship now. They weren't simply bonded physically anymore but emotionally and spiritually as well.

She had never trusted anyone in her entire life as much as she trusted Klaus.