Okay, I know this is an early update. But, I finally got caught on FFN from what was up on A03 - so here is some new content!
Also, a big thank you to everyone whose commented, and Favorited!
"When you let Caroline go, when you walked away. Did that actually mean anything?"
Klaus looked up from his sketch, glancing at the witch who'd interrupted him. Dawn was approaching, Caroline was asleep in the bed near him, and both of his siblings had left to disturb someone else.
A quiet, relaxing way to pass the early hours.
He took a moment to study the only true adversary he'd left when it came to Caroline Forbes. Bonnie Bennett hated him - she barely tolerated his family, regardless of who she let into her bed. She and Caroline were similar in that way - neither tended to treat sex as a vulnerability. For Caroline, it was the natural progression of being a predator - you didn't fear your prey, even stripped bare and welcoming. Underneath pretty Caroline Forbes' skin lived a monster and it did not bend.
Klaus had known it that day in the woods, when he pressed her against bark and earth, had matched her move for move, hold for hold. Finally having the delectable Caroline Forbes had been second to knowing that for her - for the first time since her change - she'd found not prey, but a predator. He wondered if she'd seen it that way, spread open beneath him with leaves in her hair.
He'd asked for her honesty.
She'd given it to him.
Caroline had given him her lust, her need, shown him the way she'd thought of holding him - fiercely, nails digging into his neck, shoulder, and scalp - every part of her demanding. She'd wrecked him with her body, with her taste and the way she'd gripped him tight as she stripped them both bare with her need.
But that first kiss.
Soft, delicate - the careful brush of her fingers against jaw. Tenderness and shyness, but even more, that affection. It was the affection that haunted him in the early hours.
That small, hitching hesitation in her when he'd said goodbye.
He'd walked away, but he'd never left.
"Some would argue that I didn't let her go at all, little witch."
Klaus watched Bonnie ball her hands into fists and smiled, turning back to his sketch. He understood the games Kol played and this one was feisty. He wondered how long his brother would continue with her, how long until she burned up and out.
Magic had its price after all.
"Don't call me that. Did it mean anything to you?" Bonnie asked ruthlessly. "Your promise?"
"Does it mean anything to you when you fuck my brother to the floor, pin him with your magic and dig in until he bleeds?" Klaus arched an amused brow. "Nasty little predator, aren't you?"
Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Shut up."
Klaus let his smile turn mocking. "I don't answer to you, Bonnie Bennett. When you are ash and dust, I will have forgotten your existence. Do not mistake my tolerance for your continued life and usefulness as an unwillingness to kill you; I know your betrayals."
"But she won't." Bonnie shot back. "She'll remember pigtails, sleepovers and saving the world. She'll remember me."
Klaus considered his sketch, shading in a few lines. "Your mistake is assuming that will stop me from tearing out your throat."
"She'll hate you."
"Will she? Forever is a long time, witch. Can you predict the layers of her heart centuries from now? I have the time." He looked up and held her gaze. "Ten, fifty, a hundred years from now, she'll continue to settle into her skin. Those little handicaps, society's morals will be less important. Eventually, she'll think of the time with you distantly, fondly. But the hurt, the rage at your passing will have faded."
Bonnie paled, but her chin lifted. "You'll risk hurting her like that? Risk your chance? Why do you even pretend that letting her find herself, Caroline growing was something you did for her benefit. It's just a way for her to forget all the horrible things you've done."
Klaus set down his notebook and watched her. Fingers lacing together, he braced his elbows in his knees, expression hard. To give the witch credit, she didn't flinch away from him.
"What amazes me about your so called friendship, Bonnie is how we continue to come back to this point. That Caroline is only tolerable or deserving now, when she is starting to grow into her potential. For someone who touts friendship, who's so willing to throw her life away, how long did it take you to give her the same acceptance you've always offered the doppelgänger?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," Bonnie told him. "You cannot expect me to believe that you're a better friend, that you love her. Obsession is not love."
"Ah, love. Such a weak, paltry word - a careless promise in these modern times. Yet, you cannot burn it out, you cannot rip it from your chest as it digs in its poisonous roots and stains everything it touches. To love - what have you seen of love? You who doesn't know how to accept, how to love what your friends are instead of hoping for what they will become?" Klaus smiled at her, a nightmare thing with teeth and steel. "Tell me, why has it taken you so long to join Caroline traveling? Why have you avoided leaving your precious Mystic Falls?"
"This isn't about me." Bonnie ground out. "This is about Caroline."
Klaus leaned back and laughed, eyes hard. "Is that what you think? Caroline is perfectly capable of telling me to bugger off on her own, has done so repeatedly. Let's be honest, shall we? It comes down, it always comes down to the fact that she's a vampire and you're a witch."
Bonnie licked her lips, squared her shoulders. "Caroline is my friend."
Both brows arched, and he looked at the unmoving pile of blankets on the bed, the stray curls the glinted gold in the soft light.
"Vampires do not change. Time does not eat our bones, it is not our great devourer, although it will take its price. A thousand years from now, two thousand and we will be exactly the same. Physically untouched."
Klaus ran his thumb across his incomplete sketch, considered the lines. "Now, ennui... it can sink into a man's bones until he feels nothing, wants nothing, turns everything he loves to ash. Carelessness is but a symptom, for what matters the damage inflicted when you have an eternity to play games and find forgiveness?"
"Caroline won't do that." Bonnie whispered. "Not with you. Not with anyone. She doesn't play with people."
"Even pretty Caroline. It is simply a matter of time, of which our supply is endless. But do you know, Bonnie Bennett, what her greatest gift is? This girl it took you too many years to see?" He motioned to the bed, glancing at her with a knife-blade smile. "Her heart is not fickle. It can be broken, it can bleed, but it does not falter on its own. It has to be pushed, trampled on and desiccated before it wavers. Do you know what I wondered once I realized that truth of her?"
Bonnie's jaw worked but she said nothing. Klaus flashed a mocking smile, knowing what drove her silence.
"What would it be like, to have a heart that stubborn, unbending in its devotion for those it's claims, as mine?" Klaus put down his sketch pad. "I've seen the great love stories. Watched them crumble - helped a few turn to dust - and yet a baby vampire from a tiny, backwoods down has outlasted them all."
He rose to his feet and paced towards her. Bonnie lifted her chin, refused to bend when he crowded her space. He didn't touch her, but his eyes - his smile - chilled her to bone.
"Oh, I don't blame you, for pushing her into my path and then trying to remove me from her life. What do children know of love - the kind that burns kingdoms to ash? What do the Salvatore brothers and their one century and Hangul of decades know of obsession? To stand alone for centuries, to admire, to hate and to destroy everything around you for eons - what do you know of time, witch? Your bones will be ash, your body composite for nature to suck away your few nutrients and your soul damned to enteral boredom. But Caroline - she'll be a Queen. Mine."
Bonnie shook her head. "She isn't some, cliché. She won't be your Queen of Darkness."
Klaus laughed softly, eyes mocking as he motioned to the bed. "Ah, but you see, Caroline has never needed me to rule."
Bonnie stiffened at the affection, the iron in his voice. Swallowed, as he let her see the weight of his years, the knowledge burning behind his eyes. Everything inside her stilled, frozen in silent horror at the creature watching her. His smile widened, delighting in her fear, before he turned away.
"You cannot imagine what I see in her." He said softly. "But do not attribute your short-sighted friendship to me, Bonnie Bennett. I have only ever wanted her as she is now, and not what I know she will become. Although it will be a delight to watch."
"I won't let you hurt her," Bonnie said stubbornly.
"What is between us is not your concern." His eyes raked her, sharp enough to cut. "My position in her life is not up for discussion with you. Should you attempt to interfere, should you try to use my brother against me, the horrors your precious spirits once whispered I'm capable of will be pale in comparison. I will break you. And I will ensure that you live an eternity to suffer.
"Do you think to scare me away?" Bonnie managed, shoulders squaring. "Do you think I'm unaware of my own failures? They are not weapons to be used against my friendship with her, Klaus."
Instead of rage, that mocking amusement colored him as he returned to his seat, the long lines of him sprawling. "They can only be weapons if they hurt, little witch."
Bonnie gritted her teeth. But she held her tongue. She'd given her warning.
"Now, may I suggest you leave, before I forget my good mood this morning?" Klaus murmured.
Bonnie paused once she was down the hall, arms wrapped tight around herself. The pit that had opened behind Klaus' eyes when he promised to make her suffer... a thousand years of nothing but vengeance and blood. And Caroline faced that horror, looked at it and grasped it between her fingers like it was hers to command. Maybe it was. But Bonnie worried.
Hades might have stolen Persephone, placed a crown in her head - but it had always been Persephone that was feared. Klaus said that Caroline didn't need him to be a Queen. What did he see in her that others had missed?
That she'd missed?
Caroline woke under soft sheets and a mattress so comfortable, she felt like she was floating. She assumed the pillow was just as wonderful, but it was currently tugged over her head to block the light. For a moment, she let herself hover at the edge of waking, perfectly content to just be.
It was the soft sounds of charcoal on paper told her she wasn't alone. Klaus. Carefully blinking her eyes open, she cautiously peaked out from under her pillow.
"You're quite the burrower," Klaus murmured without looking up. A faint smile curved the edges of his lips. "I didn't know that."
"Are you sketching me?" Caroline demanded, unwilling to sit up just then. She hadn't been this relaxed in ages, and she wanted to enjoy it, regardless of the lingering scents of blood and earth.
"It would be more accurate to say I'm sketching the bedding covering you, sweetheart." Klaus teased, before finally glancing up. His smile widened as he took in her in, eyes roaming over her face.
"Seriously?" Caroline finally sat up, shedding her pillow and blankets. The room was one she hadn't seen before, the understated wealth of it surprisingly tactful. Reaching to shake out the mess that was her hair, she paused as she got a look at the long sleeved shirt she was wearing.
"Am I in your shirt?"
"Rebekah offered something of hers, but my understanding is that her idea of sleepwear is... not meant for sleeping." Klaus shrugged, but the expression behind his eyes was anything but nonchalant.
"Seriously, immortality has made all of you way to comfortable with each other." She touched the sleeve of the soft, worn fabric. A favorite of his, if the age and comfortableness said anything. "But thanks."
"You're welcome, sweetheart." The low, sultry tone in his voice touched her skin with awareness. Biting her lip, she watched him from under her lashes for a moment.
"So... where are we?"
"Luxembourg. We're still looking into the extent of the witches who kidnapped you." His lashes lowered, blue eyes darkening. "Don't think I didn't consider Paris."
She pursed her lips. "I've got blood in my hair, gore under my nails and your flirting right now?"
"Hmmm," a flicker of dimple. "Yes."
Rolling her eyes to cover a laugh, she swung her legs free of the covers and stood. His shirt hit her mid-thigh, covering all the important parts, but Klaus' gaze still burned a line down her body. She wasn't nervous, not really, but she was hyper-aware of him.
"Shower?"
He tilted his chin towards a set of doors. She hesitated for a moment before determinedly marching that direction. Her bathing suit had covered less. Still, being in his shirt was... intimate.
She'd figure clothes out once she was clean.
"Caroline."
His voice was low, layered with a hundred things she couldn't identify and one she could: need. She stopped. Before she could turn, there was a displacement of air and then Klaus was right behind her.
He pressed his face into her shoulder, ignoring the blood in her rumpled curls. One arm curved underneath her breasts, hand splayed possessively against her ribs; the other settled against her hip. After a moment of surprise, she relaxed into him and just let Klaus hold her.
"If you had died, I'd have razed the world." His voice was hard, filled with iron and promising blood. Cautiously, she settled her hand against the one on her hip, and squeezed.
"The world doesn't deserve that."
A puff of breath against her shoulder, a tightening of his hold. "You told Stefan I'd lay waste. Do you not believe yourself?"
"You've got to stop eavesdropping," she chided, fingers tightening on his. "It's rude."
He laughed, the sound harsh against her skin. "Not even Silas understood the truth of obsession, love." He lifted his face, and the hybrid watched her. Turning her in his arms, he stroked his thumb along her bottom lip. "I would've killed Qetsiyah the moment she gave me the elixirs, burned her body to ash, and wiped her line from existence."
Caroline scowled at him. "Klaus."
He cupped her face between his hands, showed her the truth of him behind his eyes. "My rage would have swallowed the world."
She slid her fingers around his wrists, just to let him feel her against his skin. "Klaus. I'm okay."
"When I find the ring leader, what I did to Damon, what Tyler has experienced will seem like mercy." Klaus said softly, eyes hard. "I will rend their spirit, destroy its existence and force whoever it is to relieve their punishment for the rest of his very long, very healthy life."
She swallowed hard. There was only blood and iron in his eyes, a marrow-deep rage that she could feel under her hands. Carefully, she lifted her hand and touched the hard edge of his jaw.
"Okay."
Something feral crawled behind his eyes.
Caroline let her fingertips linger, met the darkness behind his eyes. "They hurt Bonnie. They hunted me. Do you think I haven't learned the truth of individuals like that? That I haven't seen what becomes of those so twisted and bitter by their own hate, their prejudice that they can only see the darkness?"
"Yet," he murmured, "you still look at me."
She shook her head, affection softening her body against his. "What they did was cowardly. You may be a stalking, mass murderer with a god complex, but you're not a coward."
He touched his forehead to hers. "Not anymore, no."
"I once told you that any creature that can love could be saved." Caroline said softly. "Being able to love, that capacity to care for others, you've always had that - even if you let everyone think you carted your family around in boxes."
"You see good in me that I'm not sure is there, Caroline. I'm perfectly capable of doing to others what was done to you. I've killed in rage and in boredom. I've cut a path so bloody through the centuries, that I've become a nightmare."
"But not mine." She told him. "You're not my nightmare."
There was a quiet moment, as he visibly absorbed her words. Then his mouth pressed hard against hers, hands winding in her hair as he tugged her closer. Caroline fisted her hands - his shirt, his curls - and gave back. Mouth opening, she caught his lip between her teeth, biting until he growled, before stroking the sting with her tongue.
One of his hands slid to her ass, the back of her thigh before he lifted her, pressing her into the wall. Her legs hooked around his waist, but he kept her just high enough that she had to arch her neck to kiss him. Klaus pulled away from her mouth and bit her jaw, her ear and scrapped a hot, wet line down her neck. She shuddered as he reached her shoulder, sucking hard where her pulse once beat.
"Are we having sex against the wall?" Caroline managed as her hips rolled into his. Another slid of his teeth made her moan, and he lifted his head.
"All wound up for me love?"
In retaliation, she twisted her hands tightly into his hair, biting along his jaw until she reached his ear. Lightly, delicately she caught his lobe in her teeth, tongue flicking out. His body shivered in her hold, hands tight enough to to bruise.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one." She breathed into his ear.
He pressed into her, kissing her neck where he could reach. She loosened her grip, eager to give him more access. Instead of her throat, he went for her breast and sucked her nipple through the borrowed shirt. Caroline moaned, shuddering at the feel of his tongue through the cloth.
"I'd strip you bare," he said slowly, lifting eyes gone wild. "Have you been worshipped, Caroline? Petted and stroked until you begged, until the softest of touches pushed you into orgasm? When was the last time you gave up control?"
She stared at him - lips parted, eyes dazed. His smile was sin, dimples cutting deep as he stroked her breast.
"I'd make it worth it."
Oh, God.
"I could give you the orgasm you want so badly, slide my fingers into the heat of you." He bunched the hem of his shirt between his fingers, tugging down until her nipples were bare. Slow, sucking kisses marked his path before he lightly kissed her nipple. "Stroke your clit with my thumb while you play with these pretty breasts."
"Now you're just being mean." Caroline gasped, toes curling into his thigh. "I swear to god, if you're just teasing..."
His mouth was hot, tongue a wet rasp as he sucked on her nipple, the hand on her ass kneading strongly. Caroline moaned, rocking desperately into him. He pulled back, watched her from lust glazed eyes. But the sudden change in his expression, the veins just darkening under his eyes, caught her.
He leaned forward and lightly kissed her throat. "We both know once I have you, once you're in my bed, I'm not letting you go."
Body thrumming, she ran a trembling hand through his hair. "I know."
He nodded, and for a moment, she thought he'd put her down. Send her to the shower to handle her arousal alone. Instead, moving so his eyes held hers, he tore open his wrist and offered it. His gaze dared her, yellow streaking through the blue.
Thirst burned at the back of her throat as the hot, metallic scent of his blood hit her. Legs tightening around his waist, she grasped his wrist in both hands, fangs latching deep as her monster rose. His blood was hot in her mouth, old and rich, and she shuddered as she swallowed in greedy gulps.
This was about sex, not life.
Klaus watched her, eyes streaked with gold before he lowered his head. His hand moved to her breast, rolling and squeezing the sensitive flesh; soft, careful kisses against her skin as she shuddered and rocked into him before the sharp, sudden feel of his bite.
Body unraveling, she bucked against him, muscles locking as she came. Her fingers tightened on his wrist as she rode out the aftershocks, bones grinding under her grip. Slowly, she went still and pliant against him as he finished. The slow, careful rasp of his tongue pulled her back into her skin, his blood warm against her chin as she unlatched her fangs.
Klaus finally lifted his head, eyes hybrid gold before he pressed his lips against her bloody mouth.
When he pulled back, his beard was streaked rust red. Chest heaving, she dragged her thumb along his lips before popping it into her mouth to lick clean.
"Do not tempt me." Klaus rumbled, hand sliding free of her shirt. "Or I'll forget my promise."
Caroline arched a brow, lips curving. "Which one?"
"That this will be your choice." He twisted a curl around his finger, caught her gaze with his. "I've had you once and walked away. I won't do it again."
Not can't. Won't.
"Put me down." She said gently, making no move to push him away. He did as she asked, hands on her hips as she steadied. Then he stepped back. He looked ruined; hair in spikes, face and chest streaked with blood. She knew she hardly looked better.
Taking a fortifying breath, she crossed her arms. "Go find another shower."
"Luckily, the suite has two." He mused, eyes sliding to the wet patches on her shirt, the blood stains above her breasts.
She lifted a finger and pointed. "I want clothes, actual clothes that are not yours, when I'm done."
His lips twisted into a slight smile, before he unexpectedly bowed. Her heart hurt, watching him. "Anything else?"
Caroline huffed at him before spinning on her heel and marching to the bathroom. "Nothing I can have right now."
His low laugh followed her. "You only have to ask, love."
Caroline firmly shut the door to the bathroom. That was the problem, wasn't it? His home. His family. His heart. They were hers, if she'd just close her hands around them and take.
Maybe tomorrow she'd be brave enough.
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