Chapter 10 – One drop
An hour later they were driving along in Caroline's car, the lack of conversation a palpable crevice between them. After Klaus had wrapped himself in her yellow bath robe and raided her fridge, they'd gathered the pieces of the body to dispose. That had been a sobering experience and any zing that had been flying through the air between them had disappeared with each piece of flesh they gathered. Now they were driving to get rid of the rest.
Glancing sideways as she drove, Caroline looked at Klaus' body language and decided to break the silence. "What are you thinking?"
Klaus didn't look at her as he answered, continuing to look out the window as the trees sped by, choosing to avoid the issues at hand. "Nothing really, just how amazing it was that you could kit me out in this new wardrobe in just a few minutes." He ran his hands down the thighs of his jeans, smoothing out that new denim feel.
She'd raced into the local mall, quickly shopping for some clothes to replace his destroyed ones. "And I did a mighty fine job" she thought to herself as she watched the hand on his thigh and noticed how the shirt fit his torso. Even with only 5 minutes up her sleeve, she insisted on dressing him properly and it didn't hurt that she had such an attractive body to dress up.
"Well, I think walking bare foot in the forest in a bath robe might've drawn us a little too much attention. Besides, lemon wasn't really your colour."
He looked at her now, both sharing a small smile, before it became too hard and they looked away again. "It won't be like this forever Klaus."
"What do you mean love?"
"This feeling of bewilderment, like your world has fallen off it's axis and you have no idea which way is up or down. You can live a fairly normal life, especially since we're not in Mystic Falls. No mater what we did in that place, nothing every stayed normal. It was like a homing beacon for every weird, supernatural being to come visiting. And, I'll help you. I might not transform every full moon but I've helped others through it and I can find other people who can help you too."
"I don't want to talk about the werewolf thing just now. I have another 4 weeks before I need to contemplate that again" he said with a shiver. "I just want to focus on getting rid of this bag and driving away so I don't have to think about it anymore."
"Well, we're almost there" Caroline answered, pulling her car into a gravel parking lot. A path led through the trees of a small forest and they could hear the river bubbling nearby.
"Oh, it's really close then, the river" Klaus said as they got out of the car.
"Actually, it's about 3 miles away." When Klaus looked confused, she continued. "You can hear the river because your hearing is heightened. Humans can't pick the sound from this far away, it's just background noise. A werewolf and vampire perk is increased hearing. You have to learn to tune voices and sounds in and out. It does come in handy but it can be annoying when you accidently hear private conversations." Reaching into the trunk, she pulled out a large backpack, slinging it onto her shoulder.
Klaus screwed up his nose. The smell coming off the bag was strong although he suspected only a few people in the world would be able to smell it like he did. They'd tossed a few small pieces down the waste disposal, burned some more, all the while his stomach had turned over and he'd had to control his gag reflex. Caroline had sped away at one point with what was left of the head, returning empty handed, refusing to tell him what she had done with it. All that was left was a large chunk of the torso and a few limbs. And they were being thrown into the deepest part of the river, hopefully never to be seen again.
"I can carry that sweetheart, we have a bit of a hike ahead of us."
"Ah Klaus, so many things still to learn." She stood hands on hips, drawing his eyes to her body. "I am perfectly capable of carrying my own half piece of human thank you very much. And you have no idea how far and fast you can actually go now."
He had to smile, the fire in her eyes as she glared at him made her whole face light up. She was stunning. "Show me."
"Show you what?" she asked.
"The speed thing, you make it sound like we can go pretty fast."
"Let's put it this way, 3 miles, 3 minutes. Although I've never timed myself, it could be quicker."
"I like the idea of this perk" Klaus answered, reaching out to take her hand for a moment.
Walking backwards, she began to count. "3, 2, 1" and then she took off running, zipping like a blur through the trees.
"How does this work? Do I just run after her?" he wondered, starting to jog, feeling his speed pick up without even trying, following the trail of Caroline by her smell. She was ahead of him and always just out of sight but she was right, when he finally caught up to her, it was less than 3 minutes.
Caroline didn't mess around. Glancing around to make sure they were not seen by anyone, she took the bag and threw it into the centre of the river. The current was strong and the bag was weighed down with bricks so they watched as it flew through the air, landing with a splash and drifting slightly before sinking quickly below the water.
"Let's get out of here" she said, starting off quickly leaving Klaus to jog briskly after her.
"Wait up love."
"No, we need to put distance between us and the river so it's harder to trace us by our smell if anyone tries" she called back over her shoulder. Then she increased her speed with Klaus following quickly in her wake.
Crashing through the forest at high speed, he missed a turn and grazed his arm as he raced along. Pulling up next to where she was leaning on the car, he laughed. "You are fast love."
"Mmmhhhmmm" she replied, turning away with a frown.
"Did I upset you?" he asked, catching her arm and turning her back around.
The veins on her face were pulsing under the skin, her hand came up to try to cover it but he pulled the hand away and watched in wonder. "Why is that happening, are you hungry?"
"It's your blood Klaus, it will settle" she said pointing to his bicep, struggling to control her thirst.
Reaching to roll the sleeve up slightly on his shirt, he realised the graze was a little deeper than he though. Although it was already beginning to heal, it was bleeding quite a lot, the blood dripping lightly down his arm. "No harm done love, just a little cut."
"Yes, but I'm usually in such control around blood, yours is causing me a few problems."
"Problems? Like you want to bite me?" he asked, unsure of whether to give her distance or not.
She laughed, a hard sound. "Not bite exactly. Your blood smells... sweet. I like sweet." Shaking her head, she pulled away, closing her eyes and breathing in and out, settling her body. When she opened her eyes again, he was standing right in front of her, his werewolf stalking skills coming to play as she didn't feel or hear him approach.
"Don't hide from me love. I know you won't hurt me, you've had plenty of chances for that."
"I don't know if you should be standing this close to me right now Klaus" she replied.
"Caroline" he said, taking her fingers and lacing them with his to keep her from pulling away again, "all I want to be doing right now, is standing this close to you. Closer if you'd let me" he questioned, leaning in ever so slightly.
She closed the gap slowly between them, resting her lips against his and giving in to the flood of emotions that sprang between them. It was gentle and sweet and not enough. As they reached for each other again, Caroline's hand brushed Klaus' arm and she pulled away abruptly, blood on her fingers. Looking from her fingers, to his arm, to his eyes, hers were bright and fearful.
"You want to step back now Klaus, otherwise I'm not sure I can contain myself, the pull is too strong."
"Will it hurt?"
"Will what hurt? When I bite you? When I drink your blood? Yes and no and... I can't!"
"You said it can be intimate. Caroline, I'm ok with it, I want to be closer to you." He was almost pleading and her eyes grew bigger and more paniced.
"You don't know what you're saying Klaus. This is on a whole different level of supernatural weird stuff."
"Give it a try, we can stop if it doesn't work. What's a little blood between friends" he joked, staring her down.
Caroline shook her head a few times and muttered "this is crazy" under her breath.
"I heard that, supernatural hearing remember? I don't think it's crazy, maybe just one more step in our relationship. Caroline, I want to get to know you more. If giving you some of my blood will make you happy, take it, it's yours. You better hurry though, I'm almost healed. And remember, it's my first time" he quipped with a suggestive look.
She grabbed his arm, pinning him against herself and lowered her mouth towards his bicep. "Don't move" she cautioned as she slowly ran her tongue along his arm and for a moment, the world stood still.