Chapter 15 - Alpha Douchebag
Klaus woke later than normal. His dreams were normally troubled by memories from the past, keeping him up late and waking him early. But today he woke feeling refreshed and ready for his lunch with Caroline.
"There's a bunch more questions I want answers to" he thought. So far he had avoided thinking too much about the fact he would change once a month into a werewolf but the full moon was two weeks away so he couldn't avoid it forever.
Making himself a coffee, he switched on his laptop and decided to take matters into his own hands. "I'll see what the internet has to say about werewolves."
Typing in the word 'werewolf" felt ridiculous. What came up was more so. People claiming to be werewolves who obviously weren't, others asking to join a pack in order to become one. "If they only knew how painful the transformation is, they wouldn't be in such a hurry."
The images of werewolves had glowing eyes or they were shown standing on two legs like some kind of overly hairy man with long fingernails. The ones of these wolf creatures attacking humans were stomach churning. He shivered and closed the laptop with a bang. "That wasn't helpful" he thought, his mind now spilling over with the possibilities of what he was going to be like. "I'll ask Caroline to get in touch with that werewolf guy she knows to get me some real answers" he thought.
Unable to banish the images from his head, he went into his office studio and looked at the art he was currently working on. Standing in front of them for a few minutes, he drew a blank on how to continue and striding over to his shelf, he pulled out a large sketchpad and a pencil instead.
The lines flowed through his fingers and onto the paper as he poured his worry and anxiety into his picture. Half an hour went by and then another. Placing the final stroke, he put the pencil down and gazed at the image he had crafted. It captured what he saw and how he felt and he lightly touched the hair he'd drawn falling around her shoulders."I hope she likes it" he thought as he grabbed his coat and went to meet Caroline for lunch.
TVDTVDTVDTVDTVD
Sitting opposite Caroline in the booth, Klaus was having a hard time taking his eyes off her. She was smiling and it broke right across her face, setting her eyes alight. And she knew how to use those eyes, lashes fluttering against her cheeks and opening again to give him sideways glances when she thought he wasn't looking. But he was always staring at her, he didn't want to miss anything by looking away.
"So, I slept well last night love."
"Oh, did you now? I am so pleased." She grinned and took a sip of her water.
"Yes, unusually well. I'm puttingit down to you. Being in your world is exhausting."
"It's your world now too Klaus. And the craziest ride you'll ever experience. We've talked a little about the limitations with becoming a supernatural being but there are perks. Speed, strength, heightened senses."
"Supernatural being. Such an insane thing to have linked with me. I've always been so ordinary."
"Oh I doubt that Klaus" Caroline replied, scanning the menu for something she felt like eating. One of the great things about being a perpetual teenage vampire was the fact she didn't have to watch what she ate. Steak with mashed potatoes and salad it was then. "Ordinary doesn't seem like a word I would use to describe you."
"I truly haven't done much of anything with my life. I've always wanted to travel; to see the Great Wall of China, to visit the Lourve and see the masterpieces in person. I paint you see, or at least I dabble with it."
"I'd love to take you one day Klaus, I've been to the Lourve a few times. Paris in the Spring is amazing. But the artwork is something to see in person for sure. Do you just paint or do you use other mediums too?"
"Well, I do charcoals and I also sketch from time to time. Actually sweetheart, I thought you'd like to see this one." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the drawing from earlier that day and handed it over to her.
Reaching for it, she took the rolled up piece of paper and undid the ribbon holding it closed. As it unfurled, she gasped and her eyes flicked up to meet his and then back down to the image again. "Klaus, it's beautiful."
"As are you love."
"But how did you capture this so well?"
"A little bit of us overlapped in my memory with fiction. Your face is pretty unforgettable and I wanted the river to be something we could look back on happily and not as somewhere we just disposed of a body." The last bit he said under his breath but Caroline heard it clearly.
Looking down again, she took it all in. Caroline sat by the river, her shoes tossed to the side, feet dangling in the flowing water. She was looking over her shoulder towards the painter with her hair falling around her face and shoulder. It was simple, not too many details or pencil strokes needed but it felt rich with movement and the face she looked at was undeniably her own. "Even if it is a glorified version of me" she thought.
"You're so talented Klaus, to create something from just your memory and capture it so beautifully." She went to hand it back but he waved her hand away. "It's a gift Caroline. I took pleasure in creating it and I hope you take the same in looking at it."
"I will Klaus. Noone has given me a gift like this before. Thank you."
Leaning across the table, she placed her lips on his and kissed him fully before pulling away.
"You are very welcome. I'll draw one everyday if I get that as a thank you."
She blushed slightly, a little overwhelmed. But smiling she responded with a quip. "You can get one fo those everyday without the drawing."
"Right love, that's a promise" his eyes flashing in happiness. He hadn't felt this way in a long time.
While they waited for their food to arrive, Klaus played with her hand where they held them across the table. He wasn't sure how to bring up Tyler but since he wasn't getting the answers he wanted from looking online, he should really approach the source and get real answers.
"So sweetheart, I have a question but I don't want it to upset you."
"I'm feeling pretty good right about now Klaus, shoot."
"Ok then. This werewolf friend of yours, can I ask him some questions?"
He felt her hand stiffen under his as Tyler came to her mind and holding it slightly tighter in his, he moved to reassure her with light touches.
"Hmmm yes Tyler. Well, I can call and leave a message. He's out in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains with a pack at the moment so he usually doesn't get messages until he leaves the cover of the forest. The reception out there is sketchy at best. I can get him to call me back and ask him some questions for you?"
"Not if you don't want to talk to him love. I could always call him instead and tell him who I am?"
"He's being an alpha male douchebag at the moment so he would probably get all territorial with an unknown werewolf. He won't trust you that's for sure." She sighed. "It's ok, I can call him and be civil."
"He hurt you big time didn't he Caroline? I'm sorry to put you through it again for me."
"He did, along with Hayley. She's wolf royalty and I guess they are more suited than a wolf and vamp were ever going to be. I'm mostly over it but it wasn't pleasant at the time."
"I can find another way to get my answers if it's too painful to dredge up the past?"
"No it's fine. In fact, I'll do it now so it's out of the way."
Grabbing her phone she scrolled through, found the number she was looking for and dialed. "It's Caroline. You owe me. Call me back" and she clicked off. Smiling smugly, she said "I'd imagine we'll get a reply fairly soon."
"You can be ruthless love!"
"I can tear peoples heads off in one move Klaus, ruthless doesn't begin to describe me."
He felt a shiver go down his spine but oddly, her words didn't alarm him. He saw her as a powerful creature of beauty, capable of great destruction but courageous enough to have the self control not to. He admired her more than ever.
"So I'm going to spend the weekend with Elena and Bonnie. We're heading to a cabin that our friend Stefan owns. I miss them so much so I can't wait to see them."
"You've mentioned them briefly but it was amongst the fog of discovery you were a vampire. Elena is also a vampire? And Bonnie is...?
"A witch from a very line of experienced witches. Stefan and Damon are brothers and vampires from the 1800's, Damon is with Elena. Katherine who turned me is Elena's doppleganger which made it fun when Katherine reappeared a few years back and played with their feelings a little more. I can't imagine why you would find any of this confusing Klaus" she finished with a laugh eyeing up the expression on his face.
"Doppleganger? You being turned. The reality is that all sorts of crazy things are happening in this world and a week ago I didn't even know anything like this could exist."
"Yes, finding out while I was in transition was quite the experience. But Stefan helped me adapt and taught me how to control my blood lust, he's one of my best friends."
"So, you're my Stefan, helping me through the transition into werewolf?"
She laughed. "I guess you could say that. Although Stefan and I have only ever just been best friends. I hope you and I can be more."
"Oh you can count on that love. Now, you probably need to get back to work and I... I need to do some things too."
"We've not talked much about what you do Klaus? Are you working?"
He was silent for a beat before joking. "I'm taking time to find myself. Turns out now is probably the best time to be taking a break for work."
Caroline turned her head and looked at him sideways, knowing he was keeping something back but she didn't press him. She knew what depths secrets could hold so she didn't blame him. It did make her curious though. What did she really know about him and potentially his ancesterol line of werewolves?
"Yes, I should be getting back to cracking some bodies" she joked, standing up and flicking her hair onto her shoulders. Klaus was up in a flash, pulling back her chair and helping her with her jacket.
"Well sweetheart, have a fabulous weekend with your friends. I'm going to assume I might come up in conversation?"
"Oh, we'll be debriefing in full, you can count on that" she laughed.
"I'll miss you, is it too soon to say that?"
"I will too Klaus. It seems..., well it seems that somehow we've known each other forever or have at least always been destined to meet. I need to spend some time getting my head around that."
Taking her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it, lingering a few moments before slowly dropping it again. "I'll look forward to your return then sweetheart" and he walked backwards towards the door, only breaking eye contact to avoid crashing into the counter before she dissapeared from his view.
With a contented whistle, he strolled down the road, hands in his pockets. For the first time in a long while, life was certainly looking up.