Big apologies for the delay! Explanation on why this took so long in the end notes; I've had a terribly bad stroke of luck recently. :/

WARNING this chapter is mature and not just for smut. There's some rather unsettling violence, but it's brief.

Mild SPOILER ALERT for The Originals episode 2.16. I borrowed a scene from there, keeping it almost entirely the same minus a few minor changes to fit it within my plot.

9

Deeper Into the Abyss

"You're the one who ran in the wild cause you're the one the wild called," - Up on Your Leopard, Sunset Rubdown

Klaus woke up with a note on his bedside table.

Out. Don't wait up. - C

Momentarily, he was shocked that she'd even left him a note; not to mention that she'd managed to sneak in and out of his room without his noticing. Klaus was a naturally light sleeper thanks to the centuries he had spent constantly watching his back. And Caroline had never bothered to let him know when she was leaving before, after all. But then it clicked into place that if she was planning to be out for a considerable amount of time by herself, she wouldn't want him setting the city on fire to smoke her out. The note was obviously her form of assurance that she would be undisturbed.

He dressed and headed down to his kitchen to pull out a blood bag from his freezer. He was hungry but didn't particularly want to go through the hassle of finding someone and compelling them or waiting to have someone sent over. But after he set it on the counter, he found himself so preoccupied that he began pacing about the room instead of drinking.

Don't wait up. That implied that she would be gone for a long while. How long was he supposed to sit around and wait for her to come back?

A new thought occurred to him: What if the note was a ploy to keep him waiting while she made an escape? Something had shifted between them last night. If he'd been able to see it in her eyes then she certainly would have been able to feel it. If Caroline was hellbent on keeping her humanity off, she might very well being attempting to leave as he paced through his kitchen.

Growling in heated frustration, rapidly working himself up by the second, he took his cell out of his pocket and dialed Marcel.

Caroline was not attempting to flee. Well, not today, anyway. Today she was simply preparing and organizing a back-up plan.

The flash of emotion she'd experienced the night before had troubled her. She'd thought about it all night, growing anxious at the idea that this new lifestyle she had grown so quickly accustomed to might be slipping away from her. She felt confident in her ability to hold Klaus at arm's length — hopefully while still getting laid too — but if she felt even the hint of her old self rising within her again, she wanted to be able to leave and she wanted to be able to do it quickly and efficiently. And that meant not getting caught by Klaus.

Right now, she was standing in line at a US Passport Agency, about to have her photo taken. She'd already compelled the staff at the front desk to issue her a passport ready to use as soon as she left the building, if she so desired. She did not want to have to wait the several weeks typically required, after being issued a passport, to travel.

Truth be told, so far in this scheme, the hardest part had simply been getting to the Passport Agency. Marcel's vampires were all over the city, she saw them seemingly at every turn. She'd become more and more aware each day she was here, particularly thanks to the couple of events she'd attended with Klaus. Where everyone else may have seen a boozy dumb blonde, she'd only been playing at the part of a lush and a vixen. In actuality she'd been steadily observing everything and everyone, cataloging every face and listening out for important snippets of conversation.

So when she'd left The Abattoir earlier that morning, she was well aware of the sandy-haired, brawny vampire she'd seen at Marcel's party in The Quarter. Walking down Decatur Street she'd seen two twin sisters that hung around the more influential members of the New Orleans vampire community like a couple of groupies. She'd had to dash in and out of stores rapidly, switching streets and doubling back, stealing a baseball cap and tucking her hair neatly in a bun beneath it, to finally evade them. Luckily The Quarter was always packed with tourists and it was fairly easy to disappear into a crowd of people.

And while she was bouncing in and out of various tourist traps to lose the twins, she'd managed to pick up a few necessities anyway. With Mardi Gras over, the costumage sold around the city was on clearance and Caroline had her choice of several wigs and gaudy sunglasses for next to nothing. She had shoved them deep into the bag she was carrying with her, not knowing when it might come in handy to have some supplies to disguise her appearance.

Eventually, after all the stops and doubling back, she'd made it to the agency in one piece, untucking her bun and combing her fingers through her hair to straighten it because — duh — she wasn't going to look drab in her first passport photo. After they'd snapped her photo, she was shuttled straight back up to the front of the line to wait for the finished copy of her passport, much to the chagrin of other waiting customers.

When she'd left, there hadn't been anyone on the block that she could see but, the twins appeared again a few blocks later. At that point, though, she was close to an establishment that Klaus had mentioned her first night in the city — the Hotel Monteleone. Her interest had been immediately peaked by the promise of a spinning carousel bar and, if anyone was reporting her whereabouts to Klaus, this would be a perfect cover.

Stepping into the elaborately designed old fashioned hotel, she followed a sign pointing the direction to the famous bar. Caroline was greeted by the twinkle of dimly lit sparkling carnival lights. Patrons were seated around a bar that had a real old fashioned carousel roof over it, their stools spinning on a slowly revolving platform that circled the bar in the center were bartenders busy mixing up cocktails.

It was enchanting and, with a genuine smile on her face, she found herself a stool. This was the first time today she had been able to completely slip back into her humanity-less mindset — her sole goal in life was to pursue pleasure.

She flagged down the bartender, ordering herself a free beer with compulsion, an Abita. It was a local brew that she'd discovered while she was here that was actually fairly satisfying, and she had never been a beer drinker. The rotating bar spun very slowly, a good thing considering everyone on it was drinking. It took a good several minutes before she'd completely made it around one rotation, her seat finally spinning back around to face the doorway through which she had entered.

As she was finishing up her first beer she saw a tall, lanky, older but attractive gentleman in a business suit enter the bar. He cast his eyes around first taking in some of the empty stationary tables before scanning the bar where his eyes immediately found her. She was staring right back at him, almost daring him to come over.

With a charming crooked smile, reminiscent of Dermot Mulroney's affable but sexy grin in My Best Friends Wedding, he approached her.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked, sliding onto the stool next to her.

Caroline directed her full attention to him. He looked like he was in his 40's and had salt and pepper hair. His suit was crisp and clean cut, paired with lilac tie, befitting of the ending Mardi Gras season. He was clearly far too old for her — since, to his knowledge, she was just a young human — but he was very handsome. He was the kind of man who had been your best friend's father growing up but you started to fantasize about in high school.

"I'd never turn down a free drink," she said with a fake flirtatious smile on her face. "I'll have another Abita." She shoved her first empty bottle further away from her on the bar.

"Are you sure I can't tempt you to try a Vieux Carre?" the gentleman asked. "It's their signature cocktail here. It's famous, you'll love it."

"Sure, why not?"

"Two Vieux Carres, please," he told the bartender, holding up a hand to flag down a bartender before turning back to her. "My name is Jim Milton."

She took his outstretched hand and shook it. "Sabrina Brinkman," she lied smoothly, in a cheery voice, quite sure that this middle-aged man had never met Caroline's former first-grade classmate with the same moniker.

The bartender set down two rocks glasses in front of them with amber liquid finished with a twist of lemon peel. She took a sip. It was a strong drink but he'd been right, she quite liked it.

"This is delicious," she told him honestly.

"It's why they're so famous, I suppose," he said with a laugh, taking a sip of his own drink. "So Sabrina, how's your stay in New Orleans treating you?"

"What makes you sure I'm visiting?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I come here on business several times a year and I always stay at the Monteleone. I've talked to a lot of people at this bar but it doesn't attract many locals because it's a little on the pricier side."

"Is that your not-so subtle way of telling me that you're a wealthy business man?" she asked in a flirty voice and he laughed. She continued, "Maybe I just know that when I come into a ritzy place like this I won't have to pay."

"A girl that knows what she's worth, I like that," he acknowledged, clinking his glass to hers in cheers. "So you are a local then?"

"As of recently, yes. I just moved here," she said. "And you? What kind of business brings you down here?"

"Investments in some local companies," he said. "Nothing you would be interested in."

The second he'd decided to make the bold move of patronizing the one and only Caroline Forbes she'd made up her mind. This guy had just bought a ticket to his own funeral.

"She's been spotted in several different stores in The Quarter," Marcel told Klaus over the phone. "Two of my best girls have an eye on her. She's fine, they said she's just been shopping."

Klaus let out a deep exhale through his nose, half in relief but half in continuing frustration. He had so many things to be focusing on right now but, as usual, his mind could only seem to come back to Caroline Forbes again and again.

"Thank you, Marcel," he said. "Keep me updated if anything changes."

He hit the end button on the call before his friend could say anything in response, slamming the phone down onto the counter beside him. He swore as he finally tore open his blood bag and drained it in a few gulps, feeling momentarily placated in response.

Well, he certainly wasn't going to sit around and wait for her. He did have a family now, after all.

Gathering his things and grabbing his keys, he head out to his garage where he promptly sped off to the Wolves' den.

When he arrived, there were already several members of Hayley's pack milling around outside and they took a guarded stance around the entrance of the home. They were all but camping out here in the woods. Klaus understood the necessity of the location for training the wolves with their new abilities but he wasn't entirely sure he wanted Hope to be there. Still, as much as he wanted his young daughter to grow up in complete luxury, there were benefits to being raised as part of a pack. She'd learn to hone her wolf abilities much more skillfully than he had ever had the chance to.

Stepping out of the car, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As usual the wolves were practically sniffing him down, fucking paranoid dogs. If they hadn't been trying to seriously keep themselves in check, he didn't doubt that they would have been circling him in defensiveness. Didn't they know who the fucking alpha male was here? He'd have to remember to teach them a lesson at some point, and soon. Caroline might enjoy that, he thought, wryly.

"Don't you all have a ball somewhere to chase?" he asked with a sneer. He may have been a Hybrid and, thus, part werewolf himself but, with so many years spent with his werewolf side locked away, he still subconsciously thought of himself superior as a vampire.

At his words, the door to the small house in the woods opened and out came Jackson.

"Klaus, leave my pack alone," he threatened with a growl.

Klaus smirked, finding the threat too funny to be intimidated or angry. Perhaps it was because he was too preoccupied by thoughts and worries surrounding Caroline but, the wolves' behavior wasn't infuriating him considerably less today.

"You can release your guard dogs from attention, Jackson," he replied, smoothly. "I'm only hear to visit Hope."

Jackson stared him down for just a minute before finally shrugging and waving off the members of his pack with a lazy, defeated hand. He opened the door again and walked in, leaving it open for Klaus to follow him. Crossing the threshold, he noticed Hayley at the window. She'd been watching the whole time.

Jackson was about to show Klaus to the baby's room when Hayley put up a hand to stop him.

"Jack, could you step outside?" she asked.

Jackson looked between the two of them, clearly agitated to be asked to leave his own territory. But finally he responded, "Fine."

Once he was out the door, Hayley turned to face Klaus.

"We need to talk," Hayley said as Klaus began to help himself to some of the shoddy liquor the wolves were keeping around in their foyer.

He sighed, already drained by the prospect of a "talk" with Hayley. He had really just come to check on Hope. "Do we indeed?" he intoned, dryly, already knowing where she was probably headed with this conversation. "Is this an expression of gratitude at the courtesy I've shown your husband? Or perhaps you want to thank me, for my efforts to protect you and your pack?" he spat at her.

"Damn good job you've done of that," she hissed back. "Considering the damage that little blonde bimbo of yours almost did to me."

He whirled on her enraged. "Do not bring Caroline into this. I've told you before that when it comes to her, there is no room for discussion," his voice was dangerously low, "And you will not refer to her in such vulgar terminology in front of me again."

Hayley rolled her eyes but didn't push it. Klaus would never hurt her; she knew that. In his own, strange, borderline disturbing way, she knew he loved her. She was the mother of his daughter and he would do anything to protect her. But she also knew that Klaus would stop at nothing to have everything he wanted, including Caroline, no matter what it took to make it work. He was an all or nothing man, wolf, and vampire — it was simply his nature. On this, it was best not to needlessly push him. She had bigger qualms with him right now, besides.

"Fine," she conceded. "All this tension with you, Jack, and the wolves… we need to put it behind us. Give Jack the space he needs to run the pack as he sees fit. No more orders, no more favors. He's alpha, period."

Klaus actually smiled and laughed at that. Who did these fucking wolves think they were? Their curse had been broken, giving them the opportunity to be human whenever they pleased but, once a mutt, always a mutt, he supposed.

"I'm sorry," he said, still laughing. "Did you ever think I'd agree to let Jackson rule the wolves?"

"You will show him respect, Klaus!" Hayley demanded, stepping forward with a finger pointed at him. "He's on our side and he's fighting for our daughter."

He was enraged but he practically bit back another laugh. She was trying her damndest to look strong and intimidating and sure of herself. Maybe it would have worked, too, if he hadn't been dealing with a certain spunky blonde the past several days. In comparison, Hayley looked like a fragile flower in the wind, trying her hardest to stand strong.

"You know, I've spent so much time lately with people who claim to be fighting for our daughter. Some I trust, some I do not but one thing is for sure — there is only one person that I trust when it comes to my child's safety and that would be me!" he railed at her, shouting vehemently now.

He began stamping away from her, eager to end the conversation so he could just go check on Hope but, he swung back around to face her with a final thought.

"You know, you all seem to think this is some kind of democracy but I assure you it is not! I decide how to protect Hope, no one else. If Jackson or anyone strays from the course that I set then they will answer to me and your husband would do well to remember that, in fact I think I'll leave it to you to remind him. That way, when he does inevitably incur my wrath again… you'll only have yourself to blame."

Finally he stormed out of the room to find Hope. Hayley remained behind, running a hand through her hair anxiously and sighing in distress before going outside to find Jackson.

"Well?" he asked her when she stood beside him in front of the house.

"It didn't go well," she admitted. "We'll talk about what to do when he leaves."

"And that tramp of his?" he asked, practically spitting out the word.

"Don't mess with her Jackson," Hayley said. "We have too much at stake with Klaus right now to throw her into the equation. He won't even talk about it anyway."

"I don't trust her," he said. "She's a threat to Hope."

Hayley shook her head, in genuine disagreement.

"Klaus will keep her away from Hope. Besides, I've dealt with Caroline before. She's smart enough, even without her humanity, not to get on Klaus's bad side. And as long as she's here, Hope may very well never be safer than she is now," Hayley told Jackson. "Anyone wanting to go after Klaus officially has two targets. That's preferable to when it was just Hope."

Jackson merely grunted in response. He understood his wife's logic but he still had reservations. Especially when Klaus was trying to run his pack.

Caroline felt like a succubus as she followed Jim to his room, giggling behind him while she held his hand, pretending to be drunk and out of sorts. As she did with most people she compelled in New Orleans, she'd already compelled the bartenders to forget her once she left, at the same time as she'd compelled herself free drinks for the afternoon.

With Jim, though, she didn't need compulsion and, that almost made this more fun.

They arrived at the door of his room and he pulled out his key card from his pocket, grinning back at her lopsidedly.

"Who'd have guessed I'd be so lucky tonight as to have a beautiful girl like you coming back to warm my bed," he said in what Caroline guessed he thought was his most charming voice.

She just laughed in response, pulling him to her by his tie as he unlocked the door. The two of them fell through the threshold while they kissed, stumbling over one another and laughing.

He broke apart from her for a second to ask, "Can I get you another drink? I can crack open the mini bar."

She kicked the door to his room shut behind her, pushing his chest hard to back him into the bed with purpose. Another drink? she thought to herself, Boy, can you.

"You're an eager one, aren't you?" he asked as she pushed him back onto his bed. "You're a naughty girl."

Every word that came out of this guy's mouth just made her hate him more but, not betraying her game just yet, she looked up at him with wide eyes and bat her eyelashes at him.

"Uh huh," she affirmed in a husky, little-girl voice, knowing that he was partly getting off on this because she looked about 25 at the most.

He tried to sit back up to kiss her but she pushed him down again by the chest, wagging a finger at him to chastise him. And then she began to undo his pants.

"You like to be in charge, huh?" he asked.

She didn't answer. She was tearing off his business slacks hungrily now, not bothering with his shoes, and then ripping his boxers down next. She glanced up at him to take in the hungry gleam in his eyes which matched her own and, then, she lowered her mouth onto his length.

"Yes, baby," he hissed in gratitude, clearly never guessing this was where the night would take them.

But she only moved up and down on him once, to make sure he was good and distracted, before lowering her fangs.

"Easy, baby," he said, "Less teeth."

She couldn't help but smile. And then she bit down, hard.

His scream pierced through the air, agonized and shocked. Blood filled her mouth instantly and she sat up to spit out his dismembered manhood across the room. His eyes were wide with horror and shock; he clearly didn't know what to do. His eyes were flashing between her and the empty bloody space between his legs, completely unbelieving and terrified. Blood was squirting everywhere from the recently engorged area. She was practically bathing in it. In a matter of seconds she had gone from feeling like Lolita to Lady Bathory.

Using her vamp speed, she flipped him so that his face was forced into the mattress, both muffling his pained groans and practically smothering him. And then she bit down again, this time on his neck, draining him quickly and enjoying every second of it.

Klaus had left Hope after only a short while. She had been napping when he finally made his way into her room after that enraging discussion with Hayley. He hadn't wanted to wake her. As usual, his visit was merely to ascertain that she was there, healthy, and happy. Looking down at her in her crib, his heart surged with a similar sort of joy to what he felt when Caroline was indulging him. But this was more real. The presence of his daughter was a true and pure love. He felt the same towards Caroline but, as long as she had her emotions turned off, any response she showed him was pure manipulation.

Still, he couldn't help but enjoy her here. It was certainly a step above her remaining in Virginia, completely uninterested in him. As he pulled back into The Abattoir, he found himself hoping that she might be home, waiting for him, for once.

Opening the door, though, the only sounds that greeted him were Elijah and Gia, laughing in the kitchen.

He walked into the room, where they both had wine glasses filled with blood set out in front of them

"Ah, Klaus," Elijah greeted. "There you are."

"Is Caroline home?" he immediately asked in response.

"Haven't seen her," Gia answered, bitterly. Klaus resisted the urge to sigh in annoyed response. Whatever had gone on between those two, he could not have cared less. But he had a feeling he was about to find out what had happened anyway, despite his wishes.

"Niklaus, we have to talk about Caroline," Elijah began, as delicately as possible. "You're going to have to get her under control while she is staying here.

Klaus bit back the first two thoughts that came to mind. 1) Don't you think I'm trying to get her under control? 2) What do you mean "while" she's staying here? Do you expect her residence to be temporary?

Instead he said, "Oh? Is she so out of control? So far, her messes have seemed fairly easy to clean up. Perhaps you are merely losing your touch with younger vampires in your old age, Elijah."

Elijah, sighed, setting down his glass. "Klaus she attempted to break up Hayley and Jackson's union," he said.

Klaus stared at him, completely unfazed, for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "And? They've married, the Crescent Wolves broke their curse. I don't understand the problem."

"She tried to make it look like Elijah was cheating on me, Klaus," Gia said, stepping in defensively. "That's not okay. She's just stirring up trouble for no reason."

"Oh, you two are… a thing now?" he asked, exaggeratedly faking interest before turning back to his brother. "So you're wasting my time because your girlfriend has hurt feelings, is that it Elijah?"

"Klaus, the changes in the Crescent Pack will only hold if the union between Hayley and Jackson stay together and live together," Elijah argued. "And Gia is an innocent woman, guilty only of befriending Caroline, besides. Caroline is ruthless right now Klaus, you need to get her under control."

"And either way, Klaus, no one in here is too happy with your girlfriend running around, causing trouble," Gia snapped, turning 'girlfriend' into a dirty word just as he had done to Elijah. "Sure it was harmless this time but she has her humanity turned off! Who knows what she'll do next just for the fun of it?"

Just then, Caroline rounded the corner into the kitchen, surprising all of them as no one had heard the front door open. She picked up an apple from the fruit bowl as she entered the room, crunching into it loudly.

"Gia, he's not my boyfriend," Caroline explained in a pitying voice. "You're just gullible."

"Could've fooled me," Gia muttered as she eyed the way Caroline immediately stepped up next to Klaus when she'd entered the room.

"But that's just it!" Caroline exclaimed, mouth still full of apple, "I did fool you. See?"

Gia turned away, back towards Elijah, clearly disgusted with the blonde now that she'd tricked her.

Klaus, meanwhile, could not stop seething from the moment Caroline had entered the room. The second she'd gotten close enough he could smell another man on her. And not just a man from whom she'd fed.

Pulling her harshly by the upper arm, he wrenched her out of the room. Once they were alone he grasped her by the side of her head and yanked her into him so he could furiously sniff at her hair. Yes, his suspicions were confirmed. Some man was all over her. It was permeating the air around him.

"Who is he?" Klaus growled into her ear.

Annoyed, she pushed him off of her with a glare.

"I think you mean was," she corrected. "Cause he's sure as hell dead now."

"Did you sleep with him?" he insisted. "Before you killed him, did you bed some other man?" He was yelling full out at her now. He'd known she'd slept with the men in Atlanta but, here and now, after he'd had her again, he'd grown far more possessive. Elijah and Gia were still in the house and could doubtless hear them now but, he didn't care.

"You say other man like I have some sort of obligation to you," she replied with a sneer. "I've already said it once today, Klaus. I'm not your girlfriend. I only pretended to be once to mess with Gia's head."

He full on slammed her into the far wall behind the two of them and, the harsh display of dominance sent a shockwave of desire straight into Caroline's core.

"It doesn't matter if you're my girlfriend," he growled into her ear, pinning her into the wall, "All that matters is that you're mine."

Truthfully, Caroline would have hotly debated that sentiment but, still on a high from the murder-blood lust from the hotel, she was too turned on to argue with him. Instead, she pressed her lips to his in a heady kiss. She thrust her tongue into his mouth first, catching him as off-guard as the kiss had itself. Immediately, his angry posture relaxed and he stopped pinning her into the wall and, instead, cradled her against him. Damn she could turn his emotions on a dime.

But she wasn't having any of his gentle holding or caresses. She fisted her hands into his hair, pulling him close into her and making sure their bodies were flush against one another. Again, not caring what Gia and Elijah might hear, he sped them both up to his bedroom, locking her beneath him and pulling down her pants before she had a chance to take stock of her bearings.

He had her naked from the waist down within seconds and was quickly spreading her legs apart to dip down his head. She leaned back with a moan the second he began tasting her. He was so good at pleasing her, it was almost intimidating. He'd learned her body so intimately that, in the heat of the sensations of pleasure he'd brought her, she'd never had the attention span to learn the same of him. But that didn't mean she was unaware how to use his desire for her to her advantage.

Klaus took a long languid lap at her folds, making her shudder, before darting his tongue inside of her, growing even harder when he could see and feel her clenching in pleasure. Quivering beneath his skilled, flicking tongue that was pushing closer and closer to ecstasy, Caroline abruptly realized that he'd had his taste of her far too many times to be fair. It took a great deal of willpower but, she pushed his head down and off of her.

He slapped back her hand, forcing a hand between her thighs to roughly hold them apart when she tried to close them.

"Not yet, love," he said, grinning at her, wolfishly, "You know I want to see you come undone this way first." He thought she was trying to get to sex.

Using her vamp speed she flipped them, unbuttoning his pants as she did so.

"I'm not thinking sex yet, Klaus," she explained, pulling his pants down along with his boxers, freeing his length as she did.

He hissed in need when his erection was freed and she was so close. And before he knew what she was doing, Caroline was enacting what he'd only ever dreamed of before. Gripping the base of his cock in one small hand, she slowly lowered her warm mouth over him, sucking him in gently.

He honestly couldn't form words at the feel of it and he let out a low, agonized groan of pure pleasure and satisfaction. The sound pleased Caroline to no end, especially given how many times he'd elicited the same moans from her. Still sucking, she pulled his length back out, releasing it with a pop like she was sucking and ice cream cone. She stuck out her tongue and firmly ran it along the length of him from base to tip, swirling quickly around his member's head, again and again, relentlessly.

His hands flew to her hair, holding her to him as gently as he could, trying to keep ahold of himself while she tortured him deliciously. He thought of everything he could besides her, to keep himself from exploding. She wasn't letting up with that devious little tongue trick. It was too much sensation and he was threatening to burst already.

The moment Klaus thought he was done for she stopped and took him fully into her mouth again. It alleviated the concentrated pleasure at his most sensitive point but, it was a whole new realm of hedonism. He'd never imagined she'd do this. First, because he'd never imagined he'd be with her — at least, not so soon. Then, because when she came to him with her humanity off… it didn't exactly make her the selfless type. But, glancing down at her to memorize the image of her bow shaped mouth moving up and down on his cock, he found her blue eyes staring wickedly right back. She was getting off on this. The realization made him even harder and, he hadn't thought that possible.

Something about the day's earlier events with the human eroticized this heavily in Caroline's mind. She was jumping from one extreme to the other — the actions disgust provoked versus the actions lust provoked. No one could have flipped her desires so dramatically while she didn't have her humanity except Klaus. She swallowed him fully, letting his tip hit the back of her soft throat.

"Fuck, Caroline," he fisted his hands in her hair again, tighter now and knowing, somewhere in the back of his mind, that it was probably hard enough to hurt her but — fucking hell — what she was doing felt so good.

Caroline could tell he was close. He was all but panting with effort to keep from cumming. She took him deeper, making the motion she would to swallow, allowing her mouth to close tightly around him. She was sure this would be the final move it took to have him coming undone beneath her for once.

And it would have been, if she hadn't been dealing with a ten-centuries-old hybrid who had mastered his self-control during sex. The moment she'd taken him so much deeper, he roughly yanked back on her hair — hard enough to pull her quickly off of him, but not hard enough to hurt her — and threw her back onto the bed. She landed softly back onto his pillows, laughing and flushed with pleasure at his expression. He was crazed with desire and she finally felt as though she'd given him a taste of what he usually did to her.

Positioning himself on top of her, he quickly and smoothly slammed inside of her, eliciting a loud cry of appreciation from her. He did it again, hitting the same spot but rotating his hips as he did so and she latched onto his back with her nails, clawing at him in fervor. He paused to take in the dazed look in her eyes and enjoy the warmth of her around him.

"God, Klaus, again," she demanded, before pressing her lips into his.

He kissed her back, sure that he would never grow tired of the feel of her lips, but growled roughly into her ear before he moved inside of her again, "You're mine."

He didn't ask her to respond; he just pounded into her again. And again. And then he began setting a relentless pace, fucking her harder than he ever had before, as hard as he'd ever fucked a woman ever, knowing she could take it.

The sensation was overwhelming. He knew exactly what points to hit inside of her and, before long, she was already a sweating and trembling mess beneath him.

"Klaus! I'm going to-" she bit off the thought with another delirious moan and he pulled her head back by her hair so she was forced to look at him.

"Cum, Caroline," he demanded. "Now!"

Hearing him say that, in the husky voice that only came out when he was buried inside of her, was all the prompting she needed. She unravelled beneath him with an ungraceful, "Fuck!" Every muscle in her body clenched as the rush of her orgasm overwhelmed her. She was pretty sure that, in the midst of it, she sloppily pressed her mouth to his jaw, kissing him almost tenderly. But she couldn't be sure, she was so overwhelmed by the sensations.

He followed shortly after, the exquisite fluttering of her orgasm around him and the sweet kiss she unconsciously pressed against him, finally sending him over the edge. He held her against him tightly as he came inside of her. She was practically limp in his arms, riding out her own orgasm.

When he finally pulled out of her, her eyes were half shut in exhausted gratification. He couldn't take his eyes off her — flushed and spent, too fully pleased to bother with a quippy response as she was typically loathe to do. She let him kiss her again without question, let him pull her into him like a real lover. Neither one of them said anything: Caroline because she was almost senseless from ecstasy; Klaus because he wouldn't dare do anything to ruin this moment.

Caroline was exhausted and his firm, slick body felt good — and right, though she wouldn't acknowledge that to herself— against hers, so she let him hold her. He turned them in the bed so she was curled into him, both of them laying on their sides.

It was only the afternoon but neither of them could stand the idea of moving at this moment, even if their motivations were different. So they fell asleep together, for the first time since she had arrived.

Thank you guys for your patience on this chapter, I am SO sorry for the delay. Let it be known that I really struggled with it and I'm still not sure it really came out as well as I imagined in my head. And, in the midst of writing it, I was very suddenly kicked out of my apartment after being physically attacked by my roommate! So, it took some time to find a place to actually finish writing. Ugh. I did make this extra long though to make up for it! I was in a bit of a hurry, though, to get it up once I'd finished, so apologies for editing errors.

Oh and, in writing this chapter I got my 169th follower so, in honor of 69… hahaaaa. Yeah, sometimes I have the sense of humor of a sixteen-year-old boy. And, obviously, I didn't write a legit 69 scene… my smut skills just aren't quite there yet, sadly. It came pretty close, though.

Last thought: The song I quoted at this start of the chapter I would highly recommend listening to. The full song title is "Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days" by Sunset Rubdown. Not only is just a very weirdly-wonderful song, many/most of the lyrics directly describe how I picture humanity-less Caroline.