Reminder: This chapter contains mature content.

6

Taking Persephone

Klaus didn't have much input on their quest to rescue Kol. He had always left such dealings up to the witches before and now was no exception. He'd always been more of the driving catalyst behind big plans like these, not so much one of the main engineers. Right now, though, he was standing in the room with Rebekah and all of Caroline's old friends, staring through the window at Caroline.

In turn, the new guests were watching Klaus, disturbed by his obsession. Even if they did get their old friend back, would Klaus let her go?

She was sunbathing again and, much to the disgust of Elena and Bonnie, she'd had Klaus call in a couple willing humans to serve as her refreshments throughout the day. They were being paid well and Klaus was keeping a watchful eye out to make sure she didn't kill any of them. It had been trouble enough covering up the mess she'd made in Atlanta.

Outside the window, Caroline sat up from the chaise lounge she'd been tanning on and got up. She was making a circle around the garden path of the patio, looking bored.

"You know," Damon called from the table, "Windows aren't one-way mirrors. She can see you staring at her."

"I'm well aware of how windows function, Damon," he spat. "Now kindly keep your mouth shut unless you have anything useful to tell us." Besides, he thought to himself, she likes being watched.

Rebekah had been talking over her body switch with Bonnie. The two were deep into conversation about Eva Sinclair and the flashes of her life that Rebekah would see on and off.

"As fascinating as all of that is, Rebekah," Damon said. "We came here on a different mission and we just want to get it done and get out. We're not really here to help them."

Bonnie looked up, frowning at being snapped at but conceded to his point. "Alright, well does anyone have any suggestions?" she asked. "How do we go about approaching Caroline?"

"I say we send in Stefan," Elena voted and immediately Klaus had turned away from his spot at the window to snarl at the group.

"He'll stay the bloody hell away from her," he hissed.

Elena stood from her spot at the table to circle over to Klaus getting right in his face.

"Klaus, do you want her to turn it on or not?" she demanded. "You said we had a deal."

"That deal never included allowing Stefan Salvatore to try to abscond into the sunset with what's mine," he railed.

"She isn't an object!" Bonnie insisted, inserting herself into the argument.

Klaus glowered. Was he really getting into an argument over semantics?

"Look, we don't have any other ideas," Stefan said. He'd been making a point of not reminding Klaus he existed, not wanting a repeat on the vervain torture but, he had to speak up about this. "Besides, if I go in there trying to profess my love she's gonna see right through it. I'd have to use a different tactic."

Everyone was looking at Klaus, poised to see how he would respond. He was pacing, mulling the idea over. Finally he faced Stefan expectantly.

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

The sun was beginning to set and a light chill was actually setting in. Caroline, stood to pull a jacket on over her bare shoulders.

She honestly couldn't believe it. They had been in their all day and no one had come to bother her, not once. Apparently their little bargain with Klaus was legitimate. But just as she had the thought, Stefan walked through the door to the patio.

"Hey," he called out.

"What do you want?" she responded warily.

"No tricks," he promised, holding up a couple of rocks glasses, "Just an invitation to drink."

She accepted one of the glasses from his hands. "Where's everyone else?" She was still skeptical.

"Wrapping up and getting ready to leave," he said. "You should come with us. Show Elena and Bonnie the town."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed, fetching some whiskey from the small bar kept out on the patio.

"Hey, maybe you don't remember but we had some pretty good times back in Mystic Falls," he said. "We still like to party."

"I don't think we go to the same type of parties anymore," she said.

"Try me," he pushed.

Caroline sighed and rolled her eyes, watching him pour out two fingers for both of them.

"Klaus said part of your deal was to not mess with me-"

"Caroline," he interrupted. "We're honestly not. It's just an invitation."

"Does Klaus even know you're out here?" she asked. She didn't think he'd be too happy about her being alone with Stefan. Not that she cared what he thought, she had no obligations to him. It was just… curious. Suspicious, more like it.

"If he did I don't think I'd be standing here," Stefan laughed. "He left a little while ago. So are you in?"

Caroline looked over his shoulder, into the house where Bonnie and Elena were shrugging on light jackets. Well if they wanted a taste of the lifestyle she was living… she was sure she could make the evening entertaining. Maybe even entertaining enough to persuade them to leave.

She set down her glass after swigging it down and brushed past Stefan.

"Come on, losers," she called out. "We're going out and you better be ready to go hard."

A few minutes after they were out the door, Klaus reappeared from upstairs and sought out Rebekah.

"I take it that it worked, then?" he asked his sister.

Rebekah nodded. "She's going to try to get rid of them tonight, I expect but, she'll have a hard time of it. They've really dug their heels in."

"Yes," he replied. "Perseverance has always been their most annoying quality. Let's go, I want to keep eyes on this outing myself."

Caroline still had no intention of leaving New Orleans any time soon. In truth, she'd grown to feel as if the city were home very rapidly. And though, she'd doubtless leave to travel at some point, she suspected she would always find a reason to return, even if it was after a century.

In knowing this, for purely practical reasons she was learning the rules of the city — what Klaus professed kept life smooth for all of them there. If she had any urges for true debauchery, she could always leave the city, which is exactly what she did tonight. Some of the local haunts in rural Louisiana could be incredibly depraved and dilapidated, she had seen the day she left the city to visit Atlanta. And, at the events she'd attended with Klaus, she's heard other vamps discussing certain spots. With her virtuous "friends" with her, now seemed possibly the best time to check them out.

She strolled into what was basically a modern day speakeasy, the rest of them trailing her, located in a multistoried basement beneath an abandoned building in a small, dangerous looking town half an hour outside the city. It was half strip-club-gone-wrong, half local haunt that looked the other way for vampire clients willing to pay — and Caroline was going to get her money's worth out of these patsies.

The club was dark and a questionable looking stripper danced half-heartedly grinding up and down a lone poll on a makeshift stage in the middle of the room. Behind the bar, there wasn't a menu because all that was up to buy was moonshine.

"Who's got the first round?" Caroline asked expectantly, turning to face the group making unpleasant expressions as they took in their surroundings.

Damon took out a ten dollar bill and slapped it on the bar, where a man missing far too many teeth brought out five glasses and a jug of clear liquid, sloshing a small portion into each glass. Caroline picked hers up and swallowed it down, not caring about the putrid taste or the bite. Bonnie visibly sputtered and even Stefan shook his head after swallowing. Only Damon swallowed it as easily as she had.

"What exactly are we supposed to do here?" Damon asked. "This place isn't exactly hoping."

"Hey!" Caroline shouted to the bartender to get his attention, "We need a key for the back."

"Sixty bucks," the man replied and Caroline turned back to the group with her palm outstretched. Bonnie rolled her eyes and took out her wallet, handing Caroline three crisp twenties.

Grabbing a key from the bartender, Caroline led them all backstage. There were guards standing back there, by a row of doors leading to private rooms. Caroline checked they key which had the number 2 stamped on a tag dangling from it. Flashing it to the guards, she led them into a dingy room laid out like the typical VIP rooms in strip clubs where you could get a private show. The wall of the room was lined by a huge booth seat for all of them. In the middle of it, there was a raised table with a strip pole. There were dark stains all over the booth.

"Seriously, Care?" Bonnie asked. "You took us to a strip club?"

"Just wait," Caroline said when the door opened and a waitress entered to silently deposit several unlabeled beer cans in front of them. "We'll need two," Caroline told her and the woman nodded mutely.

Music with a heavy bassline was pumping in from speakers around the room and Caroline was pleased to see how uncomfortable her companions looked. It was only going to get better from here.

A few minutes later, the door opened and a scantily clad man and woman entered the room, dancing to the music. Hopping up on the table in the center of the room, they started to disrobe each other in front of them. Caroline propped her feet up the table, watching with cool eyes.

Damon and Stefan exchanged looks. They had heard of particular clubs down south… and they were pretty sure they knew what was going to happen next.

Sure, enough, from the neck of her knee-length stiletto heels, the female stripped bent down to remove a small knife. Caroline broke out into a smile. The female stripper seductively trailed the weapon softly up and down the curves of her exposed chest and then that of her dancing partners. Up and down, back and forth, just barely pushing into the skin, not even scratching it.

Then, in an abrupt movement, the stripper flicking the knife downwards, harshly, leaving a deep red cut down the pec of her partner's chest. He was stony faced, even as blood started dripping down his abs. He took the knife from his partner and pulled out her arm, holding it wrist upwards. Slowly and sensually, he pulled the blade deeply along the underside of her arm. Bonnie was visibly wincing and Damon was watching her with concern. This was one thing for a bunch of vampires to sit in on but Bonnie was a human.

The cut on the woman's arm was vertical so, though she was bleeding deeply, the wound wouldn't kill her. She stepped off the table to stand over top Caroline in the booth, a leg on either side of the blonde. Turning her wrist upside down, she let her blood spill out onto Caroline's face. The blonde had her mouth open and her tongue out as if she was catching snowflakes. Bonnie gagged.

The man made his way over to Elena but she turned her face away.

"Not for me buddy, thanks."

Caroline, for one, was getting sick of this pre-show, though, and was ready to skip to the main event. Tugging the girl down, she lowered her fangs into her neck, drinking greedily and sloppily. Behind them, the man had cut another deep wound into himself, filling the air with the heady, rich scent of blood.

Caroline heard someone gag again, probably Bonnie, and the door open abruptly as someone rushed out.

"Bonnie!" Damon called and left behind her.

Caroline looked up from her feast to see everyone following the nauseous witch out. She rolled her eyes and took another long drink before tossing the stripper, still alive, aside and following them.

Outside, Klaus was in the parking lot with Rebekah watching the door to the basement.

"You should just go in," Rebekah said. They'd been sitting there for quite awhile and Klaus was just silently glaring.

"I need to trust that they're making progress with her. Getting her guard down," he said.

"So we should go home," she replied.

"But what if Salvatore is trying to win her over? He could be seducing her as we speak," he considered.

"So go in," Rebekah demanded.

Just then, though, the Bennett witch appeared from the door, running up to the parking lot with a hand over her mouth, Damon close on her heels. The second she stepped onto the pavement, she vomited all over the parking lot. Damon came up behind her, pulling back her hair from around her face and rubbing a back comfortingly. Klaus and Rebekah watched the whole scene play out from their car.

"Bonnie, it's okay. I know about these places," he said. "Vampires help run these joints. The employees are given blood after each session to heal them quickly."

"It's not that," Bonnie said, gagging and spitting as she got everything out of her system. "It's that anyone would choose to do that. And that Caroline wants to be a part of it."

Behind them, Stefan, Elena, and Caroline appeared from the basement. Caroline was wiping blood off of her chin.

"Bonnie are you okay?" Elena called.

"Get it together, Bon," Caroline, chided. "You've seen worse than that I know, I was there!"

"I think this is more a problem of… circumstance than squeamishness," Damon said.

Klaus could see from the car, Stefan was lagging behind the rest of them, watching Caroline from behind. His eyes never left the blonde's form, as if she were a riddle he was working very hard to solve. In a huff, he got out of the car.

"Leaving so soon, darling?" he called. "We thought we'd come to join you."

Rebekah rolled her eyes behind him, also leaving the car to walk up to the group.

"Bonnie can't handle the heat," Caroline called back to him, completely unsurprised by his sudden appearance. "The ways of the deep south are foreign to a girl from Ole Virginey. Why, she's practically a yank!"

Rebekah let out a small, snort of a laugh and Klaus cracked a smile.

"Can we go now please?" Bonnie asked looking up at Damon. "I think I'm just done for today."

He started to lead her back to the car, Caroline and Stefan following behind. Klaus caught Elena by the upper arm.

"Well?" he demanded. She shook her head in frustration.

"We just have to keep at it," Elena said. "When I had my humanity off… I withstood torture to keep myself that way. I never would have guessed that seeing my friend Matt die would finally be what made me crack but it did. Something will get to her. The emotions always find their way in."

"So today was a waste of time?" he asked, harshly.

"We made it a whole day without her running, or killing anyone, or insisting that we leave," she said. "I'd call that progress."

He nodded. "You'll be back first thing tomorrow morning," he said, shortly, and turned to walk away. "Caroline!" he called out across the parking lot. "We're going home now, ride back with us!"

Caroline shrugged, honestly wanting to get away from the Debbie Downer that was Bonnie Bennett and ran back over to Klaus's car.

"Shotgun!" she called, as she past Elena making her way back to the group's car.

"I'm already in the front seat!" Rebekah pouted, annoyed.

"Rebekah," Klaus said in a warning tone.

With an annoyed sigh she got out of the car and switched to the back seat. Caroline took her place up front with Klaus.

Once returned to The Abattoir, Rebekah excused herself to take the trolley to Marcel's apartment. Caroline had silently made her way into the kitchen after that where she was pulling whatever she felt like out of his fridge, including a carton of strawberries and a bottle of chilled white wine.

"Did you have fun tonight?" Klaus asked, leaning in the doorway to watch her and then turning on his heel to follow her when she made her way into the downstairs drawing room to sit. The table in the room was still overloaded with the books and notes they'd been leafing through that day.

"Are you kidding?" she asked. "We barely even got out before we were leaving. I guess it was fun watching Bonnie puke. That was kind of the whole point of taking them there."

"And seeing Stefan?" he asked, accepting when she offered him a glass of the wine. "How was that?"

She gave him a pointed look, standing to flip through some of the pages of a book they'd left out before walking in front of where he was seated and leaning against a wall.

"You know very well how tedious he can be," she said. "I mean, if he were still a ripper I'm sure we could have some fun."

He sat in silence for a moment, regarding her cautiously. She was staring back at him, her face emotionless. Klaus chanced a turn in conversation.

"At this point," Klaus said coolly, "I don't even have any idea who you'd choose if you turned it back on."

Caroline bit her lip briefly before taking a sip of her wine and setting it down on the side table next to his chair. "I think I do," she said.

He looked at her, completely suspicious. She was probably thinking of Salvatore but he let her continue.

"Let's just say that having all of my emotions turned off has been an introspective process," she said softly. "I think the old me spent so much time worrying about everyone else that she never really stopped to think about what would actually be best for herself or even what she actually wanted."

"And what do you think she actually wanted?" he asked.

"To be free. To see the world. And, for once, not to be somebody's second or third pick, not to be not Elena," she said. "I think I wanted to find someone who just loved me."

Klaus was practically holding his breath. She didn't say anything else. She was just holding their eye contact steadily, both skittish of the other. He couldn't hold back and let out a hollow sort-of half-laugh before replying.

"Surely, Caroline, you must realize that you're describing me," he said.

"I know," she replied, steadily, waiting to see what he'd do. She was still guarded.

But he didn't have a second thought once she'd said that. He stood up from his chair and had her in his arms immediately, pressing his mouth down onto hers fervently. She kissed him back, lifting her hands to rest on his face, pulling him into her before stepping back, just for a second to speak.

"That day," she began. "Back in the woods. Do you remember what you said to me?"

"I remember all of it," he breathed back. They were still close enough that their foreheads were touching, her hands now resting on his chest. He was already hard, dammit. He couldn't keep holding himself back. Not when she was here and so willing.

"Well, what you said... about the darkest parts of me caring for you, despite everything you've done," she said. "I think that's why I'm here now. All thats in me right now... are the dark parts."

This was the most emotional conversation he'd had with her since she had arrived. Was she turning her humanity back on? He almost couldn't dare to believe it but, in this particular moment, he convinced himself that he needed to. He certainly hadn't ever felt like he needed something so badly in his life.

He pressed his lips to hers again and lifted her up, grabbing her tight little ass as he did. She groaned in satisfaction against his lips. He was backing them onto the table where they'd been leafing through ancient magic texts earlier that day. Blindly sweeping out a hand while he continued to kiss her, moaning when she slipped her tongue into his mouth only to hear her return the appreciative sound, he cleared a stack of books off of the desk and onto the floor. He sat her down on top of it and she pulled him closer to her by grabbing the front of his shirt.

Roughly, he pushed her legs open with his hand, situating himself between them and cupping her through her shorts. Fuck, she was warm. With his other hand, he pulled back on her hair to tilt her head back so he had access to her neck, kissing up and down, almost to her chest, flicking out his tongue to get a taste of her.

"I'm going to fuck you senseless," he growled into her ear when he'd made his way back up to kiss her. Caroline wasn't sure anything had ever sounded so sexy in her life.

He pushed her down, so she was lying down on the table with her legs dangling off. He slid hands down her body while they kissed, relishing in how she writhed beneath him. Reaching her shorts, he undid the clasp and she bucked her hips up compliantly so he could slide them off. Through her panties, black and lacy and contrasting deliciously with her milky white skin, he stroked a finger up her slit making her arch her back and cry out his name.

"Klaus, just fuck me!" she demanded.

He smirked and tore the flimsy scrap of material that made up her panties off with an easy, practiced flick. Grinning up at her wickedly, he didn't take off any of his own clothes, he just dipped down his tongue.

"Oh fuck, Klaus!" she shouted, surprised when his tongue came down to trace the length of her slit before swirling around her clit.

"Klaus, yes!" she cried out as he continued to tease her, his tongue darting back and forth across her clit.

She was, quite literally, clawing her nails across his back as she squirmed. He sucked her sensitive bud into his mouth. Immediately, she cried out, in no language he was familiar with and and she arched her back again. He left her clit, only momentarily, to tear off every button that was covering her chest.

Upon ripping the last button, her breasts burst forth, still contained by a demi-cup bra. He pushed the left strap and cup down, to swirl his tongue around her nipple. She had her hands in his hair, mewling deliciously as he teased her chest. Not satisfied that she still wasn't completely unclothed, he slipped a hand beneath her back and snapped off her bra, removing it from her lithe frame and throwing it across the room.

He paused to stare down at her, now bare, groaning at the site of her — flushed, hair already a mess.

"You are too beautiful," he breathed out, inhaling deeply to take in the scent of her.

Not content to wait even a moment, Caroline sat up to press herself flush against him and kiss him. He took her breasts in his hands, tweaking her nipples and smiling when she moaned and pressed herself more forcefully into him. Her hands were working their way down his chest, undoing the buttons on his shirt and he helped her by shrugging it off when she had finished.

Now it was her turn to pause appreciatively, pulling back to trail her fingers down his well-defined chest and abs, making him shudder when she did. The dark veins beneath her eyes were appearing now and she surprised him when she latched onto his neck and bit him hard. He let out a strangled "Oh, fuck," and felt his cock twitch in his pants as she drank from him.

She was going at him with abandon, her hands trailing down to his pants while she drank, unlatching first his belt and then the buttons of his pants. She pushed his pants down with his boxers, grasping his length as soon as he stepped out of everything. He growled when she did. the jolt of pleasure at the feel of her small hands working him was instant. He grabbed her wrists to stop her and she looked up from draining him questioningly. His blood was still covering her lips and he kissed her, tasting himself there.

She made a move to take his cock again but he pushed her back down onto the table, kissing down her chest and stomach to bring his mouth between her legs again. He swirled his tongue inside of her to make sure she was wet and she cried out in pleasure. He needn't have worried; he replaced his tongue with a finger, curling it against her g-spot.

"Klaus, please!" she gasped out.

She was dripping, ready for him. Abruptly, he flipped her over so she was bent over the table, feet on the floor, and he slammed inside of her from behind.

That satisfaction was intense and immediate. Caroline could already feel the muscles inside of her beginning to clench in an anticipation. How was it so good? And how was it this easy? None of her past sexual encounters, even in committed relationships, had ever been anything like this.

Still pounding into her, pleased by how she met his every thrust, Klaus bent down only to wrench her torso up so they were both standing while took her from behind. Clasping her to him with an arm wrapped around her and pawing at her chest, he inclined his head towards her neck and bit into her soft skin.

"Fuck, yes," she cried. Her orgasm was building, the feel of him drinking from her was turning her on even more than she already was.

He was drinking from her much more gently than she had from him, though he knew that with his blood in her system there was no way for her to get hurt. He dropped his hand from her chest and slid it between her legs, flicking at her clit from the front while he fucked her.

That was it; Caroline was done for. She came hard as his fingers toyed with the sensitive bud, not letting up as the waves of her orgasm crashed around her. Her knees actually buckled and he held her up, smiling as he stopped drinking from her, concentrating hard not to come himself. The feeling of her walls fluttering in pleasure around him was heaven.

"Oh god, Klaus!" she screamed as she reached the peak of her orgasm and started to come down, aftershocks still coursing inside of her.

He pulled out but only for a split second to flip her again so she was facing him and lying on the table. He had blood on his face now too and Caroline swore she almost had to look away it turned her on so much. He lifted her legs so they were draped over his shoulders, her body bending easily, and he thrust inside of her again.

"Tell me you came here to see me!" he insisted in a low voice, the words coming out strained and punctuated as the feel of her started to overwhelm him.

"I came to see you…" she whimpered out, pleasure starting to overtake her a second time. Whatever he needs to hear, she thought, followed by, But it's true. Isn't it? Whatever doubts were racking her mind were quickly wiped out when Klaus started really picking up his pace. He was pounding into her hard and hitting that spot again and again and again. She was so close. "I came here for you!" she cried out again.

When he hit that point inside her again, her second orgasm finally exploded. Moaning and writhing underneath him, he came a second later with a strained "Fuck, Caroline!" before releasing her legs so he could lay on top of her.

Both sweaty and still gasping, they lay for a second, tangled in one another. Caroline's aftershocks were pulsing around his still-hard cock. After a moment, he slipped out of her and lay down on the table next to her, pulling her into his arms in a tight embrace and kissing her again and again. Don't leave me, don't leave me, was the refrain endlessly running through his mind.

In his arms, Caroline rolled over to reach out on the table and grab at a pack of smokes she had lying there. She lit one and took a long drag. She'd never smoked after sex because, well, before now she had never been a smoker. But God, there was a reason the post-coital cigarette was such a standard cliche.

"Well, you really didn't hold out very long," she commented, dryly, blowing out a puff of smoke. "I mean, I only had to wait a few days."

So she hadn't turned it back on. He'd known that, he supposed, he'd just chosen to live for a moment in willful ignorance. He watched her but didn't say anything, unable to help the swell of sadness he felt at the realization that what they'd just done had meant absolutely nothing to Caroline.

In the hallway next to them, they heard the front door click open.

"Niklaus?" a voice called out. It was Elijah.

Klaus's brother ducked his head into the room where they were still lying side by side and grimaced before turning his back to them.

"Klaus!" Elijah chided while Caroline laughed. "I'd expect this behavior from Caroline but really Klaus, have some decency."

"Hey man, when it happens, it happens," Caroline said behind them as she crossed the room to pick up the bra Klaus had thrown while pulling on her shorts. She'd have to go put on new underwear. Finding the torn, lace scrap she threw it at Klaus, hitting him square in the face. "Here, souvenir."

He still hadn't said anything to her and Caroline could tell he was upset about something. Couldn't a guy just be appreciative that he had gotten laid? She did notice that he tucked her ripped panties into the pocket of his slacks though.

When they'd finished dressing, Caroline left the room and Elijah turned to enter it. The brothers listened to her footsteps go up the stairs and heard her shut the door to her room.

"Well, Klaus, that appeared to be a mildly uncomfortable post-coital scene," Elijah commented, sensing the tension as soon as he'd seen them.

"Shut up," Klaus spat and stormed out of the room.

With a sigh, Elijah looked at the wreck they'd made of the library. Why did he find himself so frequently left with Klaus's messes? He'd have to start staying in Algiers again.

Blah, first smut scene! That's the first one I've actually ever written. I've intimated a lot in other stories but never anything to warrant a mature rating. It's kinda unavoidable in the Klaroline fandom, though, haha. Nervous to see what you all think of it!

Really wanted to title this chapter The Rape of Persephone but that sex scene was every kind of consensual. There will definitely be more smut (And fluff! I promise!) in future chapters but I don't think I'd ever write and legitimate rape scene. There's a time and place for that in super dark fics but, yeah, I'm not feeling that.