SWEET KISSES FROM RUSSIA
Fan Fiction – Alternate Universe
Caroline & Klaus
Elijah & Katherine
From: Lovely Vero
Chapter 9
"The morning after"
Disclaimer: This story is, and will always be, a fiction story, that is coming from the imagination of the author. It is not a bibliography of the author or any of the readers, neither a story that is exploring your own experience in life. It is not meant to be informative or to represent the perception or opinion of the author about the subject at hands in her own private life; it is not an encyclopedia, or a medical reference. It is only a fiction, the characters are fictional, and the story should be taken as such and not be mistaken with the private life of the readers or any of their personal experiences. Thank you.
Writer's note: Due to the delicate subject of this chapter that could seem abusive to some, please read with warning. Thank you.
Previously on Sweet Kisses from Russia
(…)
A little cry came out of Carolina's mouth, with a single tear running down her cheek, under the shrill but rapid pain of losing her virginity.
"Why, Carolina? Why…" He whispered, while reclosing his eyes, under a range of intense mixed emotions. "I'll be gentle, but I can't … I can't…" He murmured more, with incoherency, before slowly and gently pushing himself back into her narrowest.
His released came rapidly, and when he rolled away from her body, she turned her back at him, while raising her shaking legs on her stomach and encircling them of her arms, with tears rolling freely on her cheeks.
Klaus stepped away from the bed, grabbed his clothes from every corner of the bedroom floor, before sliding his pants on his legs. He, then, paced back and forth in the room, while passing a nervous hand through his tangled hair, before approaching the bed and bringing the bed sheet on her trembling body.
"Don't touch me!" She yelled, while pushing his hand away from her. "Don't ever touch me again!" She warned him.
He sighed loudly, while closing his eyes, under an emotional pain that he had never felt before this day, and over the thousand years of his own life.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why?" He yelled back, while pointing an accusatory finger at her.
She kept quiet, under the only sound of her sobbing, before hearing the suite door being slammed on its arch. Then and only then, she finally realized that he had left the suite, and that she could finally let out all of her emotional and physical pain.
The rays of light passing through the tick fabrics of the curtains awaken Carolina from her deep sleep, her swollen and heavy eyelids forbidding her to open her eyes. She moaned her discontent under her semi-state of consciousness, before forcing herself to open her mind to the reality of this new day, while facing it courageously with a blur vision.
She pushed the blanket and sheet at her feet before rising on her two shaken legs, soreness taking her suddenly by surprise as a vivid physical reminder of last night event.
She stood in front of the length mirror while sighing loudly. The time she had passed crying until the first hours of the day had swallowed her cheeks and darken the circles under her eyes to a point of no recognition of her own self, with the prove of her own reflection at the present moment. She passed a hand through her tangled hair before facing the bed once more and startling at the sight of the obvious red, blood stain left on the sheet. In an excess of rage she pulled the silk fabric away from the mattress, before throwing the sheet with anger on the wooden floor, her chest rising under her jerky breaths, while stomping her bare feet on it with all the rage still contained inside of herself.
She finally sat down on the mattress while covering her eyes with her right hand, tears starting to fill her eyes. She shook her head before stroking her eyelids one last time, while raising her chin with proudness and breathing deeply. She had given enough of her tears to this man named: Klaus Mikaelson … No more!
She slowly rose on her legs with her sight suddenly attracted by a black jewellery box left on the side table, its cover attached with a yellow ribbon and a small card with her name written in calligraphic letters on it: "Carolina", with all that had happened yesterday night, she haven't had the time to notice the box earlier. She bit her bottom lip, while against her own judgement reaching for it, before pulling on the ribbon to open the box.
Inside of the box, lying on the velvety black cushion, a delicate ankle chain with each letter of her name attached to each of its gold mesh. She reached for the card once more, and read its inside:
To my wife
Carolina, just know that I don't want to change you.
I come to like you just the way you are.
I hope this small token of my appreciation, will prove it.
For your ankle when you are walking barefoot.
I hope we'll enjoy our first night as husband and wife, Love?
Fondly, Klaus
She closed her eyes while feeling the beats of her heart rising dangerously in her chest. She couldn't have a coherent thought in her mind at the present moment; she felt a range of mixed feelings attacking her all at once. Carolina suddenly replaced the ankle bracelet in the box, before closing the cover and furiously throwing the box in the drawer of the nightstand.
"Damn you, Klaus Mikaelson!" She lashed out, while pointing the drawer, before pacing back and forth in front of the bed. "черт бы тебя побрал!" Damn you - She repeated in Russian. "You can't do what you did last night and then … This!" She added, before holding her pace and closing her eyes, with both closed fists placed on each side of her body.
She suddenly left the bedroom, while storming out of Klaus's suite a few seconds later with a loud slam of the door. She came back into the suite, while rapidly walking toward the bedroom, opening the drawer and furiously grabbing the jewelry box, before leaving the suite once again.
Maria entered the parlor room, in normal pace of her morning tasks routine, before walking toward the bay window, while humming an old romantic song and opening the curtains.
"Leave them closed." She heard a hoarse voice ordering her. "And please, stop humming that stupid song."
She startled with surprise, before turning on herself to face the intruder, while raising her right hand over her chest.
"I've said to close the curtains!" Klaus ordered in a louder voice, while bringing the bottle of Whisky to his mouth.
"Certainly, Duke." Maria replied, while reclosing the curtains in front of the day light, before turning to face Klaus who was presently sitting in one of the leather armchairs, still dressed with his wedding suit, the shirt opened on his chest, obvious stains of blood left on the fabric, his neck and hands. "Can I help you, Can I bring you…"
"I don't want anything. And don't you dare pity me, Maria, I hate when people pity me." He mumbled, angrily, while cutting her in the middle of the sentence, before gulping more alcohol. "The asshole that I am doesn't deserve pity; he only deserves to get drunk…Salute Maria!" He saluted, smirking, while raising the bottle and gulping the last drops of alcohol left in the bottle. "Well, this one is obviously empty?" He realized, before rising on his shaking legs, losing his balance repeatedly, while taking a few walking steps to reach the fireplace, before crashing the bottle on its bricks wall. "There… That is what my life has always been; thousands of broken pieces of glass dispersed everywhere, but yet, ready to be crushed in even more pieces." He added, while grabbing the fire mantle with his left hand, helping to keep his equilibrium, before sighing loudly and passing his right hand over his mouth. "Bring me another bottle." He asked of her.
"I don't think that is such a good idea." Maria responded, while shaking her head and nervously rubbing her hands together. "Perhaps I could bring you a strong cup of coffee?"
"I said: Bring me another bottle!" He lashed out at her.
She nodded her head, while directing her walking steps toward the bar, before grabbing a bottle of Brandy and bringing the alcohol back to him.
He grabbed the bottle from her hands, before snapping the cap and gulping some more. After a short moment, he finally turned his teary eyes toward the governess.
"What are you looking at? Don't you have something else to do than observing the jerk that I am destroying his pathetic life?" He asked her.
"You have blood all over you; maybe you should take time to clean yourself a little bit?" She asked, while slowly raising a clean cloth in her right hand.
Klaus lowered his head, before bursting into laughter.
"You think that I could also erase all my sins with this cotton cloth, Maria?" He asked her, while grabbing the small piece of fabric from her hands, before rubbing the blood from his skin. "I don't remember how many victims I attacked last night, isn't it ironic?" He added, with a demoniac smile plastered on his lips. "I believe that one of them was named Michelle, and her perfume smelled like Jasmine flowers."
"You had a relapse, it happens. But, I'm sure that your turmoil is not as bad as it looks?" She tried to encourage him, while addressing a timid smile and nodding her head.
"You think you know me don't you?" He asked her, his sight lost in hers. "And in the most twisted way, you actually do, and you don't even know it!" He laughed to her face. "And you're right; Maria, my turmoil is not as bad, it's way, way worst that you could even imagine." He replied, before throwing the cloth in the fire place. "Now go … Leave me alone!" He ordered the governess, before grabbing the fire mantle with both hands and bending his head.
Maria nodded her head, before storming out of the parlor room.
Katerina opened her left eye while noticing the day light filtering through the curtains of the bedroom windows. She lay on her chest a few extra minutes, a blissful smile plastered on her lips, before stretching her arms above her head and suddenly frozen all her movements with the memory of yesterday events coming at her all at once.
She frantically raised the sheet over her chest, before turning her head toward the other side of the bed, thankfully her new husband, the Duke Elijah Mikealson had left the marital bed early, she thought while closing her eyes and sighing with reliefs, her right forearm placed over her forehead. She pushed the sheet at her feet, before rising on her legs, and while standing immobile for a few seconds with her eyes shot, both hands on each side of her waist, before taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
For anyone who would have liked to know, this has been Karolina's Petrova ...Now newly married and renamed: Katherine Pierce Mikaelason, wedding night, and a very chaste one if she may add to herself. But, who would be interested to learn the biggest mistake she had made in her entire life? She had managed to married the only man that was not interested to fulfil his biblical obligation as a husband to her. In a sense she should be happy to live a life of luxury without having to sell her body for it, but for an inexplicable reason she felt unhappy and unsettle by this all situation between them.
She dragged her feet toward the bathroom door before strolling inside the luxury room, firstly unaware of the deep steam filling the air and misting the mirrors. She suddenly raised her sight in the one of her husband, while standing mouth opened, motionless, and frozen of all her coherent thoughts, before sliding her sight, on her husband naked body, from his head to his toes.
Elijah had stepped outside of the glass shower, while managing to grab a body towel on a near hook in the nick of time of his wife apparition in front of his sight, before covering the essential to her view. But, the damn fabric kept sliding from his wet hands down on his body before finding its rightful place on the marble floor.
"Well, this did not go certainly as planned?" He mocked, while lowering his eyes on the towel lying at his feet. "Would you say, Katerina?" He added, mockingly, while raising his sight in the one of his wife.
For Katerina one thing was certain; the nature had spoiled Elijah in all the right places, she thought while blushing and suddenly rushing by his side, kneeling in front of him to pick up the towel that he had just dropped on the floor, before raising her head and sight directly into his pubic area, a fire reaching her cheeks in a time space of a second.
"And this is something that I did not see coming, either." Elijah added, smirking, while putting both of his hands on each side of his waist. "But, don't let me be the one to protest in any shape or form."
"W… ha …What?" Katerina stuttered the word, under her blurry mind, before raising her head and sight into Elijah's. "No! You're mistaking." She added firmly, while rising on her legs, before wrapping Elijah's waist with the body towel, with a knot on his left hip to keep it for falling again, all of this, under his dumbfounded and speechless expression. "I just wanted to help." She explained, before standing in front of her husband, while rubbing her hands nervously. "After all I'm the one who should be sorry for the intrusion; I forgot to knock on the door panel before entering the bathroom, it's my bad."
"No harm done." Elijah replied, before taking a step nearer to Katerina's standing position, his head bending so close, his lips almost touching the lobe of her left ear. "We are married, Katerina, you can enter whenever you want, it is not upsetting me the least. I also believe that you saw all there is to see about my naked self." He mocked, while gently grabbing her chin and losing his sight in hers.
"I've seen my share of naked man in my existence, Elijah, nothing to lose unconsciousness about." She shrugged, falsely at ease, and with a raised eyebrow.
"And, were you pleased with what you just saw, do I get a good score under your qualified male radar?" He asked her, a smile curving the corners of his lips.
"Average, I guess." She replied, while blushing and lying through her teeth, before biting her bottom lip.
Elijah took a step away from her before lowering his head and bursting into laughter.
"A breath of fresh air that is what you are to me, Katerina." He responded, while raising his right hand and caressing her left cheek, before adding. "Did you sleep well?"
She nodded her head as a response to him.
"Well, now that the awkwardness of my naked average body is behind us, I'll let you at your morning routine, and go dress myself in the bedroom." He added, politely, while nodding his head to her, before taking his first steps toward the bathroom door.
"I don't mind if you stay if you need to do your own morning routine, I just needed to pee." She shrugged more, while seeing him turn to take a stupefied glance at her.
"You want me to stay in the bathroom while you pee?" Elijah repeated, while crossing his arms in front of his naked chest, in a state of total shock.
"Forget what I've said!" Katerina replied, ashamed, while passing rapidly by Elijah's standing position. "I'll go get dressed and pee in my own suite." She added, while blushing, before slamming the door in front of his speechless expression.
"Good morning, Mister Mikaelson." Maria greeted him, while lowering a silver platter on his desktop, before pouring tea in a porcelain cup. "You're up very early; I thought you would appreciate a cup of tea."
"Thank you, Maria; it's very thoughtful of you." He replied, smiling at her, before grabbing the handle and bringing the suiting hot beverage to his lips.
"Did you and your wife sleep well?" She inquired, politely, while smiling and standing in front of his desk with her crossed hands in front of her chest.
"Yes, we had a lovely first night in our suite, thank you." He replied, while raising his head from his opened file, before drowning his sight in the one of the governess. "Is everything set for the morning brunch in the main dining room?"
"It is, Mister Mikaelson, everything will be ready for 11:30 o'clock, sharp." She replied, smiling, while nodding her head.
"Thank you again for your services and that will be all, Maria." He added, before suddenly noticing her awkward and immobile presence in front of his desk. "Is there something wrong?"
"Actually, it's something I believe that you should know." She explained, uncomfortably, while blushing.
"I'm listening?" He replied, while lowering his pen on the desktop.
"I've found your brother in the main parlor room, earlier this morning, with several bottles of alcohol left on the floor, by his side, Mister Mikaelson. He's still there as we speak." She informed him. "Please, I can assure you that it's never my intention to put my nose where it doesn't belong."
Elijah sighed loudly, while raising his right hand to stroke his eyelids, before lowering his back on the desk chair, his hands joined in front of his chest.
"I'll take care of it." Elijah replied, while nodding his head. "Thank you for informing me, Maria."
"Very well, sir." She replied, before turning on herself and directing her walk toward the exit of the study room.
"Maria?" Elijah called her.
"Yes?" She replied, before turning on herself and facing him.
"You're family to us, please remember that." He smiled timidly at her.
"You're very kind, Mister Mikaelson." She replied, smiling, before grabbing the door handle.
"Maria?" He called again.
"Yes, Mister Mikaelson, may I be of other services?" She asked.
"Did you … I mean, it's kind of personal and private, actually." He tried to ask, while lowering his head and blushing.
"It will stay in all confidentiality; I can assure you of that." She assured him, while straightening her upper body and crossing her hands behind her back.
"I know, you're a trustworthy person, I never doubted that since you've became our governess." He reassured her. "I just feel like I'm the old boy who just got married, and knows nothing about married life." He confessed, while hitting the pen repeatedly on the desktop.
"Well, excuse my forwardness…" Maria started with uneasiness of how to formulate her sentence.
"Please, be frank with me." He begged her, with a hand gesture.
"But… You had your share of …" She added, before coughing discreetly. "How may I put it politely, Mister Mikaelson. You had your share of intimate relationships with women over the years."
"Yes, but not a single one of them ever ask me to watch them pee." He lashed out, while throwing his pen on the desk and sighing loudly, before passing a nervous hand through his hair.
Maria lowered her head, while holding the intense urge to burst into laughter.
"Oh please, I won't feel offended if you laugh at me." Elijah assured Maria, while closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"I'm so sorry, Mister Mikaelson, pardon me … It was just a moment of bewilderment." She replied, while raising her head and biting her lips to forbid her to laugh.
"Don't worry about it, I know the awkwardness of the situation, believe me. I'm sorry for keeping you, you can leave now." He encouraged her to do.
"Mister Mikaelson, if I may add something?" She asked him, politely.
"You may…" Elijah responded, while crossing his arms over his chest.
"I believe your wife is reaching out to you, in an awkward but adorable way." She explained, a smile blessing her lips.
"She doesn't need to reach out, I'm always available." He shrugged.
"Well …. You're seeing this as a man perspective, and man logic." Maria tried to explain.
"Which makes sense, I'm a man." Elijah replied.
"Yes, but as a woman perspective, I believe your wife is longing for more closeness." Maria found the courage to let the sentence out.
An awkward silence suddenly filled the study room, disturbed by the discreet tic-tac-toc noise of the wall clock.
"That will be all, Maria." Elijah finally released his governess for this awkward moment.
"Thank you, Mister Mikaelson." She nodded, before storming out of the study room, and sighing with reliefs while closing the door behind her.
Maria stood immobile in front of the kitchen window, her arms crossed over her chest, her sight lost in the winter scenery, before turning her head at the discreet cough sound.
"Miss Katerina." She greeted the young woman, with a smile. "May I be of services? Oh my bad, what was I thinking, I should name you with your married name as of now."
Katerina shrugged her shoulders, while detaching herself from the threshold of the kitchen entrance.
"Would it be too much to ask to keep calling me the same way you used to call me?" She asked the governess.
"No, of course not… I don't see any harm in that." Maria agreed, while nodding her head in respect. "Can I do something for you?"
"I can get my cup of coffee myself, thank you." Katerina answered her, while taking a few steps toward the coffee maker.
"Allow me." Maria suggested, while taking a single cup filter from a near box left on the kitchen counter. "Double espresso?"
"Yes, please … And thank you." Katerina replied, while smiling timidly.
"You share the same taste as your husband." Maria informed, smiling, while pushing the start button.
"That should make a big difference." Katerina mumbled, angrily, between her teeth, while rolling her eyes.
"I'm sorry…" Maria asked, dumbfounded.
"Nothing….Don't mind me." She replied to the governess, while shaking her head.
"Mister Mikaelson asked me to prepare a family brunch around the lunch hour, in the main dining room; in the meantime, I could prepare you a toast to fill the hunger void in your stomach, my child?" Maria suggested.
"What about my anger void?" Katerina murmured to herself, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Maria smirked at her comment, before grabbing a plate on a shelf, and cutting a slice of bread, before opening the small bread oven.
"Something you have on your mind, Miss Katerina?" Maria asked.
"Am I attractive, Maria? I mean, for the English men?" Katerina asked the governess, openly.
"I beg your pardon!" Maria exclaimed, outraged.
"I mean… I know in Russia men were finding me attractive, but in England maybe … Maybe they have other taste." She shrugged, in sadness.
"From where is this ludicrous idea coming from, Miss Katerina?" Maria asked, while lowering the butter on the kitchen counter. "You're extremely attractive and beautiful."
Katerina turned her head to avoid Maria's persistent glance, before crossing her hands behind her back, while jumping up from one foot to the other.
"It's coming from nowhere." She finally responded, while raising her sight in the one of the governess.
"Miss Katerina… You have a wrong perception of how your husband is seeing you, if you need to believe in something, believe my say to you." Maria replied to her. "Mister Mikaelson had grown very fond of you in a very short period of time of your presence in these walls."
"He had a strange way of showing it." She rolled her eyes.
"He's a man, my child; don't wish for too much at first." Maria replied, while rolling her eyes herself, before handing the cup of coffee to the young woman. "Maybe you should encourage him a little?" Maria gave the idea. "I mean there is certainly nothing wrong in pushing someone in the right direction, is there?" She suggested more, while winking at Katerina.
Katerina shrugged her shoulders, uncertain of Maria suggestion to her, before grabbing the plate and the cup of espresso.
"Thank you … I mean for both this and the advice." Katerina thanked her, while taking her first steps toward the door.
"You're welcome." Maria replied, smiling. "Nice slippers by the way, Miss Katerina." She mocked.
"Thank you." Katherina replied, smirking, before adding. "They were the only four inches slippers."
"Oh I'm sure, Mister Mikaelson, will appreciate them." Maria added, while raising her right hand in front of her mouth, forbidding herself to burst into laughter.
"I hope you have a good reason for this misplaced display of anger, Niklaus?" Elijah asked his brother, while entering the parlor room and trying to avoid the broken glass left on the wooden floor.
The eldest stood in front of the youngest while burying his hands in his pants pockets, his sigh narrowed intensively on Klaus.
"You know me, Elijah, always the black sheep of the family." Klaus responded, while taking another gulp. "Cheer, brother!" He saluted, before drinking some more.
"Since when did you start to drink?" Elijah asked, while approaching him and abruptly grabbing the bottle from Klaus's hand.
"Is it important?" Klaus responded, while shrugging and walking to reach the bar, before frantically opening the doors to find more bottles as his disposition, but without finding any. "It's empty; I'll need to go downstairs to the cellar."
"You drank enough." Elijah replied, with an ordering tone of voice.
"Says who?" Klaus responded, while shrugging his shoulders. "The conscience of this family, I suppose, Elijah the majestic, the only one among us who always stood for the respect of this fucked up humanity. How ironic? Because you see Elijah, we are not humans anymore."
"If you could have the decency to tell me from where, the blood stains on your shirt are coming from?" Elijah demanded.
"Michelle, Clara … Lise… and after that last one, I unfortunately lost count." Klaus smirked, before losing his balance and finding himself fall into a sitting position on the leather sofa.
"The police will come asking for answers again, Klaus, what am I supposed to tell them this time?" Elijah asked, angrily, and while sighing loudly. "And why aren't you with Carolina, remember her, your new beautiful wife?"
"Relax Elijah; the poor human victims are all alive. I just drank a little cocktail of all their bloods, before letting them go. If my memory is serving me right, they were still breathing at that time." Klaus replied, before passing a hand though his tangled hair. "Worst case scenario, you'll tell the police that it is impossible that I was the one martyrizing them because at the same time I was brutalizing my wife in our suite." He added, with a sadistic smile, before rising on his shaking legs and raising his teary sight in the one of his brother.
Elijah stood immobile for a couple of seconds, with a speechless expression plastered on his face, before raising a hand toward his brother.
"What happened to you and Carolina, last night, Niklaus?" He asked, calmly, while shaking his head in disbelief, before putting both of his closed fists on each side of his waist.
Klaus closed his eyes, before dragging his feet toward the closed curtains, before opening the fabric under the grey winter sky of London.
"I had no idea she wasn't experienced, Elijah. I swear to you, I never expected it." Klaus confessed, while shaking his head, tears rolling fluently on his cheeks.
"What are you saying?" Elijah added, in shock.
"I'm not sure." Klaus added, while passing the back of his right hand on his wet cheeks. "I don't know anymore, I keep seeing all these images in my head, and I'm still not sure what happened exactly?"
"Please, reassure me that you did not physically abuse your wife?" Elijah asked, his jerky breaths raising his chest.
Klaus kept quiet, while swallowing a nervous lump in his throat.
"Oh, for God sake, what did you do, Niklaus?" Elijah exclaimed, while raising his right hand and stroking his eyelids. "Why would you jeopardize the only good and decent relationship you had since centuries while not respecting her intimately? What possessed you to hurt her this way, couldn't you have the decency to be gentle with her? She is not one of your conquests that you'd picked up in a bar, she is your wife!"
"I never thought I was hurting her!" Klaus lashed out, while turning on himself to face his brother. "I thought she wanted me, the same way I wanted her! God I wanted her, but as it turns out, she wanted out of this marriage from the beginning. She never wanted me." He added. "It's the last thing that I wanted to do, to hurt Carolina this way, the last thing … Please, believe me, Elijah?" Klaus mumbled, while reaching the arm chair, taking a sitting position and burying his head in his hands.
A silence filled the room for a short moment before Elijah could speak again.
"You're entirely at fault, Niklaus. You could twist it all the ways you want, you would still be at fault." He said to him.
"There is nothing that you could say to me, now, that I did not already thought or said to myself." Klaus responded.
"Let me finish." Elijah ordered him, while raising a finger at him, before pacing back and forth in front of his brother sitting position. "You are the investigator of these arranged marriages. You convinced me to participate in this idea that I thought at first was the most ludicrous one I've ever heard, but after consideration, I agreed to it, because I fell under the charm of this Russian girl named Katerina. She is a beautiful, young woman, intelligent, cultured, I thought, like you, that all these mistresses were not for us anymore. And I agreed to it. I agreed to give it a try."
"What is your point, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while raising his sight in the one of his brother.
"My point, Niklaus, is that I gave it more consideration that you ever did. You thought that your power and money would grant you whatever your wish of the moment was, and you never saw the human being behind this young woman named: Carolina, you saw a way to an end." Elijah added. "You did not even grant both of you, the time to know yourselves better before furthering your relationship."
"I never learned how to be different, Elijah." Klaus responded, a single tear rolling on his left cheek. "I always took, because no one wanted to give me what I always been longing for."
"Love can't be bought, Klaus, it simply can't." Elijah replied, while shaking his head.
"Then, what did you do yourself?" Klaus responded, tit for tat.
"Probably the same mistake that you did. But, the difference is that I will try to, gentlemanly, live up to it." Elijah answered. "This said, you played with fire and you got burned, and in the process you made a huge mistake."
"Is that all?" Klaus asked, while sticking his head into his shoulders.
"No, it's not." Elijah replied. "You have your long list of flaws, Niklaus, and I know most of them, believe me, but terrorizing women has never been part of that list." He added. "Even if I believe that you are the investigator of this awful turn of event, I believe that Carolina has her own wrongs. She should have informed you of her inexperience; it is not written on her forehead. She should have informed you of her need to get out of this marriage agreement, as well as her own sister. She should have acted like a grown up woman and not like a young teenager." Elijah addressed the issue, while burying his hands in his pants pockets. "But, you're still at fault, and you'll need to fix it the more honorable way possible." Elijah concluded, while turning on himself before walking toward the entrance door of the parlor room.
"Because of me, you'll lose Katerina." Klaus mumbled, between his teeth. "I'm … I'm so sorry."
"Yes Niklaus. I figured that much." Elijah replied. "And now I wonder how it would be even possible to start to explain to them what we truly are." He added, before slamming the door behind him.
Elijah had summoned Katerina in his study room ten minutes ago, and now she was standing motionless in front of him, while keeping her sight lost in the emptiness of the room, all coherent thoughts absent from her mind.
He had exposed to her the present situation between Carolina and his brother, but she wasn't sure she had entirely understood the consequences of last night event. She only knew one thing for sure; she had made a mistake while believing that this arranged marriage, with a wealthy man, would make her sister happy. Carolina was a pure and free spirit, and she was not ready for what life has put her through.
She raised her teary sight in the one of Elijah, who addressed a timid smile to her, while raising his right hand and caressing both of her cheeks.
"I'm not sure if I fully understood what you've just said to me?" She mumbled the words.
"You did." Elijah confirmed, while nodding his head.
"But she… They seemed happy at the wedding and then at the reception, and they seemed to get along just fine." Katherine added, while grabbing her head with both hands.
"She doesn't want to be with him. Your sister's say, I couldn't attest of the truthfulness of her words." He added, as explanation. "I just know that my brother is deeply sorry of his actions, he was attracted to her but it was not reciprocated."
"He's sorry? I don't give a damn if he is sorry or not, he hurt my sister." Katerina lashed out, while pointing a finger at Elijah. "She should have been with you; she should have married you, not him!"
"Oh come on, Katerina, it's not a game of chess, we're playing. Things are how they are supposed to be, if you believe otherwise, it will change nothing." Elijah replied, angrily, at her.
"But, you were respectful and you did not force yourself on me." She exclaimed, angrily. "I have to find my sister." She added, while turning on herself.
"Please, don't go." He suggested, while grabbing her right forearm, before pulling her near him. "Yes, I respect you, Katerina, but we are different from your sister and my brother. We had put our cards on the table from the beginning, we managed to understand each other and accept what this arrangement would bring to us, the gain and the down side. We discussed the clauses like adults and we accepted the conditions. They didn't!" He explained to her.
"It is still not an excuse." She mumbled, between her teeth, while pushing herself away from his grip and walking toward the office door, before grabbing the handle with her right hand.
Elijah push the door closed in front of her sight, before placing both of his hands on each side of her upper body, on the wood panel.
"Katerina, please listen to me." He murmured, his muscular chest pressed on her back, his mouth near her right ear.
"What is left to listen, Elijah? You just told me that your brother had physically abused my sister, and you are asking me to stay calm and not react?"
He grabbed both of her forearms before turning her body to face him.
"I think there is more than meet the eyes between the two of them." Elijah said to her. "I don't think it was that easy to label as an assault. I think their nerves took the best of them."
"It's my baby sister." She mumbled, tears rolling on her cheeks. "She is hurt because of me. It's me who pushed her into this arranged marriage, Elijah, being the fault of your brother or hers; it doesn't change the outcome of me being the investigator."
"I know, and it's my brother also, Katerina. And believe me, I know how stupid he can be most of the time, but I never known him as an abuser." He reassured her. "As for your sister, you perfectly know that you've never twisted her arm to marry Klaus, she did it in her all free will. Now if she did it for the wrong reasons, she is at fault to have lied to him, and mostly to you."
"What are you saying to me?" She asked, while grabbing his forearms to keep her balance.
"I'm saying that they will need to figure out between themselves what happened." Elijah tried to calm her down. "I believe that my brother made a huge mistake, but if this is any twisted consolation, he usually makes them when he cares about someone. And I think he has deep feelings for your sister."
"She is a baby, and your brother hurt her." She lashed out, while trying get free of Elijah's grip, without being able to succeed.
"That is the burden of this humanity, Katerina. We hurt others all the time. Carolina is a grown up woman of twenty two years old, who had her own flaws and wrongs in this present situation." Elijah tried to explain to her, while pushing her wrists on the door panel. "Believe me, I am not excusing my brother for his actions, but I understand that they are both at fault."
Katerina closed her eyes, her chest rising up and down, alternatively, under her jerky breaths.
"You need to let Carolina take her own responsibilities and become the woman she is meant to be. She needs to grow up. She can't count on her sister saving her skin all the time." Elijah added to his wife. "Ok? Are you agreeing to give them the necessary time to sort this out?"
"Ok." Katerina agreed, while nodding her head.
"You're sure?" Elijah asked her, with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes" She replied. "I'll give your bother an hour, not a single minute more."
"It's fair enough." He replied, while letting go of his grip on her, before walking toward the window, hands buried in his trousers pockets, sight lost into the grey sky.
"In the worst upcoming case, you'll soon have two plane tickets at your disposition, as well as a Russian bank account established at your name." Elijah explained to her. "I'll contact the agency and explain to them that we've decided to mutually end this marriage for incompatibility. You and your sister will be free to go, Katerina."
"I don't want your money, Elijah, even if you are trying to do the honorable thing." She told him, while shaking her head. "If I could, I'll do my end of the bargain and stay here as your wife, like it was planned, but I need to think of my sister happiness above all. I need to know that she is happy, and I realize now that I forced her into a relationship she never wanted to begin with." She tried to explain. "And if she doesn't want to be with your brother, I can't force her."
"As for the money, I think it's the least I can do to assure the new start in life that you've wanted for you and your sister." He replied. "Though, there is still a good chance that you'll stay here, by my side, in this mansion, as my wife." He added, before turning to face her, with a smile blessing his lips.
"What you're saying? She won't start to like him in the time space of an hour, Elijah, we both know better." She responded to her newly husband, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Yes, and it is because I know better, than I am able to conclude that she is not indifferent to Klaus." Elijah explained to her, while drowning his sight in Katerina's. "I actually think she could be good for him, and vice-versa."
"I don't understand?" She responded, while shaking her head.
"They are both the same, Katerina: restless, unwise, and brutally passionate. They'll fight each other, because they don't know better and are scare." He explained, while sitting on the edge of his desktop, before crossing his arms in front of his chest and adding. "She stayed in his bedroom suite all night; I've checked with my night guard." He informed her. "Please, don't look at me with these judging eyes, like I did something wrong, I am trying to help." He added, while tilting his head.
"I presume that most of my moves are under your guard's eyes also?" She asked, with a raised chin.
"Mostly, yes, I won't lie. You're one of my most precious possessions, Katerina, I need to keep you safe." He replied, truthfully, while making her blush. "To come back at the subject at hands, your sister unconsciously waited for my brother to come back to her. She could have left his suite at any time, but she stayed in his bed. In the first hours of the morning she could have reached out to you, and as of now you would have left this manor. But, she didn't." Elijah shrugged. "Let them realize where they are standing with each other."
"One hour." Katerina bestowed, while drowning her sight in Elijah's.
"One hour." Elijah repeated, nodding, before lowering his sight on her feet. "Nice slippers, Katerina? I believe it's the first ones I ever saw with high heels." He added, while smirking and winking at her.
The noise of the front door being closed on its arch took Carolina by surprised, soon followed by the cold flow of air softly caressing her bare shoulders.
She felt the beats of her heart raising dangerously, her left hand placed over the chest, to calm her down.
The rhythmic slow tempo of Klaus's boots on the wooden floor rezoned into her ears, while approaching the bedroom where she was standing in front of the window, before stopping radically over the threshold.
She closed her eyes, with only the awkward silence filling the room, only disturbed by the heartbeats of her heart.
Klaus closed his eyelids, while listening to the calming tempo sounds of the raising heartbeats in Carolina's chest: Lub dub, Lub dub, Lub dub. He reopened his eyes, while narrowing his sight at her back, her blond hair cascading over her bare shoulders.
He shook his head; while forbidding himself to ever have one more thought of desire for his wife.
"I thought you would have been gone by now." He murmured the words, while lowering his head, his blurry sight kept on the floor.
"I don't have anywhere else to go, and I wouldn't leave my own sister behind." She answered him, after a short while, while mumbling the words and bringing, with her shaking hands, a cup of coffee to her lips.
"Carolina, I'm …" He tried to apologize, while raising his sight at her.
"I left the soiled sheet on the floor." She informed him, abruptly.
Klaus startled at her say, while closing his eyes and biting his bottom lip through the skin, drops of blood running down his chin, before closing his fists in anger … Anger, mostly directed at his own selfishness.
"I think Maria will see the blood stain left on the fabric. I should have washed them myself." She added, while shaking her head. "I did not think clearly, early this morning."
"Are the sheet still on the floor now?" Klaus asked, with a hoarse voice, tears filling his eyes.
"Yes" She murmured the word.
"I'll go take care of it." He responded, while turning on himself, being on the verge of leaving the room.
"Please, stay … It wouldn't change anything now." She said, while retaining him in the bedroom. "What's done is done. We can't change the past." She added, before turning on herself and facing his back. "I'm obviously not a virgin anymore. That is something that I can regain for myself, and that you can't give back to me." She concluded, toneless and emotionless, while dropping the cup of coffee on the nightstand.
The pain that Klaus felt in his entrails couldn't have been worst, except for the one that he felt in the deepness of his soul. He turned on himself, before facing her, and raising his sight in the one of the young Russian woman.
He swallowed a lump in his throat at her view: her gaze was empty of all emotions, puffed eyelids and dark circles under her eyes were a clear indication of a sleepless night. She was wearing a pink sweat pants and a large white sweater that denuded her frail shoulders.
She startled at Klaus's sight, even if she had promised to herself to stay emotionless and indifferent. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a white Hayley, long sleeves, t-shirt, rolled on his forearms, he had the greenish complexion of a man that had drank all night, and no life, sparkles or passion left in his blue eyes.
"You got drunk? Did you?" She asked him. "I'm used to the signs, as a Russian; I've seen my share of drunken men in taverns." She added. "Why did you drink?"
He lowered his sight, unable to face the reflection of his errors in her eyes, unable to face himself, his fears, his guilty conscience…But more so, unable to face his wife.
He approached a nearby side table, while reaching for an envelope left in one of his jeans pockets, before lowering it on its top.
"I wanted to forget. Alcohol makes you forget, Carolina." He replied.
"You had nothing to forget, Klaus. You followed the clauses of our contract; it is me who did not." She replied, with a cold tone of voice, while closing her eyes under a too strong emergence of emotions, before reopening them and glancing at the envelope left on the table. "What is it? You're bringing me in front of lawyers for breaking the contract?"
"In the envelope you'll find plane tickets for you and your sister, you'll go back to Russia. Elijah will take care of the papers for the agency. There will be a bank account set at your name. It's so little…" He sighed loudly. "But, it's the only thing I can do … to help. You're free of me, Carolina." He concluded, before taking a few steps away from the table.
Carolina approached the table, before reaching for the envelope and taking a look at the tickets and random papers in its inside. She suddenly tore the all content, with pieces of paper now falling on the wooden floor, under the shocked expression of Klaus.
"But you won't be free of me, Klaus." She replied, while raising her chin at him, tears filling her eyes. "You wanted me as a wife; you'll have me as one, now."
"You don't want to be my wife, Carolina, I'm giving you a way out…Take it!" He lashed out at her, while passing a hand through his hair. "Leave … Start new, try to forget that this ever happened."
"I wanted …." She tried to explain, her voice cracking under the emotion, tears rolling on her cheeks. "I wanted to fall in love, the old fashion way, I wanted for a man to cherish me, to love me for me. I wanted the fairy tale version of books. But this is real life; this is not a romance level." She added, while passing the back of her right hand on her wet cheeks. "And then, this all contract of an arranged marriage between us was a wakeup call, I've realized that what I always dreamed of was not real in this world. That is why I have so much anger inside of me, and that I've taken my anger on you, that I've tried to trick you, foolishly and childishly, when in fact, you were the honest one between the two. You were presenting yourself as the imperfect man that you are, but at least you were honest about what you wanted from me. You've never sugar coated your intentions to me, I was the one being dishonest to you, and it is my dishonesty that brought me the pain that I'm feeling now."
"You don't want to stay here, by my side, Carolina. I'm a horrible man, too horrible for a pure and young woman life you. I've managed to shatter all your dreams in a time space of a few hours." Klaus replied, while pacing back and forth in the bedroom. "I've killed your beautiful smile, your spirit, your soul. I've taken, against your will, what you have kept intact for someone that would have been worth of loving you."
"In the real world, people become the most imperfect version of themselves, Klaus." She said, while shrugging her shoulders. "I know that because I had become the worst I've ever been, yesterday night, when I've tried to drug you."
"I wish you had succeeded, it would have been easier for both of us." Klaus sighed, while lowering his head, lost in a range of turmoil that he had never experienced in his hybrid life before.
"Do you believe in love, Klaus?" She asked him, while taking the Original by surprise.
"No, I don't." He murmured, while raising his teary sight in hers, before sighing loudly. "But you do, and you deserve to find it, somehow, somewhere in this world."
"No, I don't want to find it, because I don't believe in this fairy tale anymore." Caroline replied, while shrugging her shoulders. "So, why would I leave? Why would I expose myself to the outside world, when I know, now, the kind of world I've put myself into while being your wife?"
"You want me to hurt you again?" Klaus asked her, before taking a few walking steps to reach Carolina's standing position, while making her step away from him, with fear showing in her eyes. "You'll feel fear and disdain every time that you'll look at me. You'll be stuck in a loveless marriage with a man that you can't bare the idea of him touching your skin. Mark my words, Carolina, I'll hurt you again, if not physically it will be in the deepness of your soul." He replied with his sight lost in hers, jerky breaths raising his chest, before slowly detaching himself of Carolina's proximity. "I'll hate myself for eternity for what I've done to you, but at least knowing that you'll be away from me, will be a small consolation."
"You did not do anything more than what I did to myself." She replied. "I want to stay. I think we could reach a new agreement between us. I am not saying that I'll be able to have you touch me anytime soon. But, I could try." She mumbled, nervously, between her teeth.
"Why would you put yourself willingly into this hell?" Klaus exclaimed, while grabbing his head with two hands, before turning his glance at her.
"My sister… I think your brother is good for her." She replied.
"But, I won't be good for you. You want to pay the price of this sacrifice for her?" Klaus sighed.
"Wouldn't you want to sacrifice yourself for the happiness of your brother for once in your life?" Carolina asked, while taking him by surprise.
"I've never thought of that." Klaus admitted, while shaking his head, before lowering his head, shamelessly.
"Maybe it's time for you to start." She replied, before adding in a murmur. "Maybe it will be a way for you to show me that you are worth of my forgiveness."
"I won't make you happy." Klaus replied to her, while shaking his head.
"But, my sister will be and that is enough for me." She answered him, while rubbing her hands nervously together. "We'll learn to be more honest to each other, with no more games from my part, and we'll learn slowly how to live together. With time, it will get easier."
Klaus nodded his head, while turning on himself to reach the entrance door of Carolina's suite.
"Klaus?" Carolina called him, while walking on his heels.
"Yes." He replied, before turning his head toward her standing position.
"Thank you … For the ankle bracelet." She thanked him, while nodding her head.
Klaus glanced at her surprisingly.
"You found it?" He asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes." She simply replied. "Is it true what you wrote, that … That you wouldn't' want to change who I am?" She asked.
"Never…" He responded, honestly.
"Then, it's a start." She replied, before seeing him turn the door handle. "Klaus?"
He turned his head once more.
"Contrary to what you believe, and what I made you believe, it doesn't bother me to feel your hands on my skin." She confessed to him, before slowly closing the French doors of her bedroom.
Klaus stood motionless and speechless for a few seconds, with his hands grabbing the door handle like his life depended on it. And, it is with a timid smile blessing the corners of his lips that he left Carolina's suite.
Thank you for reading,
Much love to all of you,
Lovely Vero
Answers to anonymous reviews:
Guest: Thanks for appreciating this story, Sweetie. As for the updates, I'll write them as soon as I can, in the middle of my real life, so be patient.
IloveTVD: Rebekah is snooping around … Because she is wondering if the women are worth both of his older brothers. I know that Elijah save my life in this chapter, he was the voice of reason that I wanted to say, without putting myself in the middle of it … lol… As for Klaroline, I hope that this chapter is giving you hope for a new beginning between the two?
Guest2: Yes, I hear you … He should have been more sensitive with her, but I guess he thought she was playing with his emotions, like she did since the beginning. Thanks for the review, sweetie.
The Queen Justine: LOL … Quelle introduction que je te fais, je ne te dis pas! Contente que le dernier chapitre ne t'ait pas trop terrorisée. Je crois que tu y a vu des vérités, dont j'ai répondu dans ce présent chapitre. Cette une histoire d'émotions, de sentiments, de peurs, de craintes, d'amour … Je crois que c'est l'histoire la plus profonde que j'ai écrit jusqu'à maintenant, tu sais. Il me tarde d'avoir ta review sur ce dernier chapitre. Je t'embrasse et te remercie toujours aussi chaleureusement pour ta présence.
Terry: Please, Terry, DO NOT DIE, because the story is far from being over…LOL. Your review literally brought a smile on my face, thank you so much for appreciating the last chapter.
VD: Awww no, no, no, sweetie, this story is far from being finished, don't worry about it. And, I am sincerely touched that this story is one of your favorite, because of course it is always nice to know as an author, but more so, because I really put my 150% in this story, I really give all of myself in it. So to have this nice retribution and appreciation, it brings a smile to my face. Thanks a lot for your nice review.
Jessica: I think you are looking at this story with your TVD eyes? Do I make any sense? You can't forget that this story is an Alternate Story from an author, who at this present moment is not writing an episode of the serie, so you are, of course, going to relate the characters to the show to this story, but it needs to stop there, if you want to fully enjoy the ride of what authors will bring to you, with their imagination. Thanks for your input, sweetie, and your review.
Angel: Thanks for your review and input, sweetie. Yes, I feel that it was very interesting that not only she was a virgin, but the reason behind it. She kept herself to find the real love of her life, did she? That is what the story will tell us for sure.
Tammingoftheshre: My dear I could kiss you if you were standing in front of me, you know why? Because in your review you've said: I have faith in your author ability…THANK YOU! That is what the readers should always have until the last sentence of a story or book…Faith in the author. Afterward, they can't judge and don't like if they want to, but not before knowing what is in store for the characters in the story. And not only that, you understood the story, brilliantly. Thank you so much, for this review.