A/N: Sorry for the delay. I hope you all enjoy the chapter though. Thanks so much for reading. :)
It had taken some money and a lot of compulsion, but not even a day after the incident with the mugger, Klaus had switched their residence in London to the Eastnor Castle. He remembered when it had been built, had stayed in it a time or two during his time in England, and thought it a perfect opportunity to show Caroline more of the world. The past was all around them in London, but the modern aspects of the city also took over, and he wanted to give her a taste of the past. To see the decadence that had come with being rich and in power, something that she didn't believe would go to her head.
Before leaving Mystic Falls with her he might have argued that, now he wasn't entirely certain anymore. Caroline Forbes was a force to be reckoned with and had barely ventured into the world let alone realized her own potential as a vampire. Yet she had an inner strength that he found quite admirable and her ability to bounce back from tragedies and still maintain her optimism was something he marveled at and coveted in equal measure.
The grounds were empty save for the staff, Caroline, Sam and he. There were signs at the entrances letting any hikers, campers, or other visitors know that the grounds were off limits for the week. She'd frowned at first at that, lovely lips turning downward in disappointment, telling him something about 'people and their livelihood'. So he'd succumbed and paid for the week. It would hardly dent his own accounts and seemed to bring about happiness in Caroline so Klaus figured it hadn't been too much of a waste.
They were walking through the gardens, Sam off in the town to pick up some essentials, and Klaus observed Caroline while she observed everything around them. "Is it really different than it was when you were last here?" she asked, glancing over at him and he watched her expression go through a number of emotions at realizing he was fixated on her.
She kept her gaze locked on him though, refusing to back down or act embarrassed, and Klaus enjoyed that about her. "Quite a bit. This is what is known as a revival castle. Was all the rage in the 19th century. Trying to recreate the glory of yesteryear. They did a rather good job with the rooms, keeping them up as they would have been centuries ago, but there are modern touches all throughout." Though nothing near as overpowering as London.
Caroline nodded, looking back out at the garden. It wasn't as lovely as it would have been in the summer or spring when everything was blooming, but there was still enough charm to call it beautiful. "Did you come here often?"
"Only twice. Once on my own and another with Rebekah and Elijah." He couldn't quite remember if Kol had been daggered or off on his own at the time. Not that it mattered in the end. "Rebekah complained the entire stay about the comforts of her room. Ate a number of servants."
"What in the world could she have found to complain about?" Caroline asked, glancing back toward the castle behind them. "My bed is heavenly and the claw foot tub. I could stay in there for hours."
Images of her laying in the tub, blonde hair cascading over the back of it, and bubbles positioned just so in the tub, revealing the tops of her breasts, her shoulders, and neck and leaving just enough for his imagination to go wild with what lay beneath the water. He wondered if she had any idea the restraint he was forced to endure around her, if she even realized the thoughts she'd elicited inside his head.
"In fact I think I will when we're done walking around," she continued, and there was no teasing to her tone. She even looked over at him again, smiling brightly and gestured around. "But no, really, what could she have found to complain about here?"
"It's quite possible she was in a mood," Klaus informed her, and watched as she quirked a brow, clearly wanting him to continue. "I may have killed her latest suitor before we'd arrived. He was a bore and much better as a meal than a lover."
He waited to see her react, wondering if she'd become preachy on him, tell him how he shouldn't kill his sister's suitors as he did, but Caroline simply shook her head, and Klaus could swear he saw her trying not to laugh. "Of course," was all she said. "You guys take the whole sibling squabbles thing to a whole new level. It's kind of ridiculous. But then I don't really have much experience with having my own siblings—only child and all—and can't even imagine what it was like to have them around for a thousand years."
"Trying and comforting all at the same time." They had been a liability he'd needed to snuff out more than once, packing them away in coffins, and dragging them along with him when they proved to be more stubborn than was warranted. But also they were his only true companions. Even those he'd sired would be disposed of in one way or another after a point. Not always killed, but often left behind when the inevitable time to flee happened. But never his siblings. He always had made certain they were transported to the next place and unharmed.
"I bet," she murmured and stopped once they got to the hedge maze.
It wasn't that intricate design that had stopped Caroline in her tracks though and Klaus couldn't help but swell with internal pride, pleased at having picked out something he knew Caroline Forbes wouldn't be able to turn down. He could tell she was becoming more comfortable in his presence, even with the death he'd doled out the day before, but he needed to keep cultivating that relaxation around him, for the girl to let her guard down and let him in completely.
So he had every intention of showcasing all of her interests and letting her know he could provide her every opportunity to enjoy them. Two of the staff was there tending to the two horses he'd had sent over for the day. "You were so fascinated by them at the Royal Mews—" And the ball at his house in Mystic Falls. Klaus didn't think he'd ever forget their conversation outside with the ones there. "—I thought it was time we do a bit of riding."
There was a tiny flash of hesitancy in her eyes, no doubt she was wondering if she should give in and do this with him, but it was almost gone as soon as it had surfaced. "I've only ever ridden once so don't expect me to be a pro at this. It was at Elena's seventh birthday party. Bonnie, me and her went to stables with her mom and got to ride for a whole day. So it's been ages."
There was a touch of sadness to her gaze for a moment before she grinned and stepped toward the closest horse. "And aren't you a beauty?"
"You'll want a firm but gentle hand with her when you're using the reins, Caroline," Klaus instructed as he moved toward the other horse, gently petting it in greeting.
The horse seemed wary of him, something he'd noticed happening since unlocking his wolf side. No doubt it sensed that predator inside of him, but seemed to calm down at the gentleness of his touch. "Do you require assistance in getting on?" he asked, waving off the other two men.
If anyone was going to help Caroline onto the horse, it would be him. She was swinging herself up like a pro before he could even get over to her, beaming down at him from on top of the horse.
"I think I got it," she grinned and Klaus nodded, swiftly mounting his own.
They rode for hours, easily chatting about numerous topics, her thirst for knowledge about the past almost overwhelming. But he liked the sound of her laugh when he explained something she found particularly funny. Or the way she so thoroughly listened to him as he went into a verbal tirade of some of the rather awful changes in the art world. Her nose crinkled in amusement and he found himself laughing as well, a genuine laugh, something he seemed to only do in her presence lately.
Caroline has her own stories that she tells and Klaus has never found the inner workings of cheerleading politics to be particularly compelling but he could listen to her speak of them for days on end.
He wondered if she knew how sharp her mind is, how easily she could switch the skills she used for planning the small town parties and pageants, those abilities for winning over the Captain position of the cheer squad, all of that determination and drive that just seeped out of her into other settings. Klaus had a feeling Caroline Forbes didn't quite understand all of the power she truly had at her disposal but he found himself wanting to coax it out of her, to watch it blossom into something fierce.
He wanted it to be his.
Klaus wasn't sure when it happened exactly, but it was no longer about seducing her into his bed and scratching that itch, disposing of her in a year or earlier as he'd originally planned. He wanted to see that elation at seeing new things from her every day. He wanted to hear her stories, to have her listening to the thousands upon thousands that he could tell to her, to see her grow and become the angel of darkness that he knew was inside of her, bursting to come forth.
His line about showing her Rome, Paris, and Tokyo had meant to entice, to beguile her and he'd expected her to fall right for it. To be in his bed that evening, writhing under him, screaming out his name as he'd given her pleasure that whelp of a hybrid would never be able to replicate. It wasn't a line any longer though.
He wondered what it would be like to see the world through her new eyes. He wanted to share her excitement at every single little thing, even if he didn't understand it at all. The weight of running from Mikael was off his shoulders. There would be no need to move from place to place at the speed at which he'd done it in the past, hiding from the monster who had raised him.
Klaus had expected to turn to rebuilding his family to the glory they had been but he had seen how quickly that dream had crumbled when his siblings were released from their slumber. They were too angry with him for all he had done, none of them understanding that he'd been trying to keep them safe. He didn't doubt that they would all stay with him for a while out of family duty, out of a need to cling to what they knew, to the notion of family that they'd twisted beyond repair. But Klaus knew that even that notion was fleeting.
In a decade Kol would wander off on his own, Elijah would be once more on an annoying mission to somehow 'save' him, and Rebekah would be threatening to leave with whichever lover she'd found for the time.
There were his hybrids, the army he was creating to be like him, but even that didn't satisfy the need that had been building inside of him. They weren't willingly with him. The Sire bond had them doing his bidding but he was not a fool. If it wasn't in place there was little doubt in Klaus' mind that they wouldn't run off at the first chance they were given, abandoning him.
But Caroline. Perhaps it could be different. Maybe he could work it so she had no desire to ever leave. That she would want to stay with him for eternity. His mind worked through the possibilities, his game plan changing.
Now he would figure out how to win her mind, her heart, every fiber of her being so that she was loyal to him. Not to those friends of hers, not to anyone but him. Compulsion would be so simple, but it wouldn't be real and it had to be real. If the emotions were not genuine then it would simply be like the hybrids and he already knew they weren't precisely what he wanted.
Klaus simply smiled as she continued with her story, laughing at the appropriate times, watching her guard drop a little more as they rode along, all the while formulating precisely how to manipulate Caroline so she'd never want to leave his side.
Caroline had never experienced anything like Eastnor castle before. She'd dreamed of something like it, of a large expanse of grounds and rooms that held more history than she knew what to do with. She wondered what it was like to be in them and know the pieces that were on the wall, to see a portrait of someone and not simply think it was beautiful but to have memories of them. It was like she was breathing in history as she traveled through the castle, in and out of rooms without anyone questioning her.
She eventually settled in the Great Hall, settling down on one of the sofas after she'd spent a few minutes looking every inch of the room over. She wasn't sure if she should be sitting on the furniture at first, wondered how old it might have been, didn't want to end up ruining it, but she figured her light frame couldn't possibly do that much damage.
She curled up on it with the iPad she'd bought, briefly contemplating contacting people from home and eventually sending her mother an email to let her know that she was okay and to try not to worry. Caroline doubted it would help with that aspect but she hoped it'd help to have at least been contacted. She shut off the Wi-Fi connection on it, not ready to deal with a response, and focused on finishing one of the books she'd put on it instead.
At some point Klaus entered the room, not saying a word as he sat down on the opposite sofa, sketchpad propped up on his knees as he started to draw. They sat in silence for a while, both focused on their own tasks, but Caroline had never been one for silences, comfortable or not. When others were in a room with her she was going to talk.
"I'm just kind of sitting here waiting for it," she murmured, and then wanted to smack her head. That was so not a good way to start a conversation.
"I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more precise in what you mean, Caroline. Mind reading is not one of my abilities," Klaus replied, and she pressed her lips together, trying not to smile at the amusement in his voice.
Thank god it's not. Having Klaus being able to actually read her mind was a scary thought. "I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop," she continued, and he looked over his pad at her for a moment, brow arched. "For you to show the rest of you."
"You already have glimpsed the monster I can be," Klaus informed her, looking back at his drawing. "Now is about showing you the other aspects of me."
"So I'll forget the monster? Because I won't." She couldn't. Not with him. Not with anyone really. Forgetting the monster was a dangerous game and one she wouldn't play. She wouldn't be vulnerable like that ever again.
"Considering you're one as well I don't think you'll ever forget what I am, Caroline," Klaus started, looking up at her again and she wanted to refute his words. That she wasn't a monster, and maybe she wasn't one quite like he'd managed to be or Damon did, but she had still enjoyed the kill she had made. "I simply want a chance to show you the rest. The artist, the traveler, and other aspects you're not quite ready to enjoy yet."
The way he said that coupled with the intensity of his look had Caroline trying desperately not to squirm in her seat. Was it getting hot in there or was it just her? All she knew for sure was she couldn't let him know he had any kind of effect on her.
He was leaning forward, hands steepled in front of him as he propped his elbows on his knees, the sketchpad set aside. "But never think that I won't take every opportunity to show you what you are, to try and pull out the beautiful creature within you that you steadfastly try to deny. I blame the Salvatores and that town, trying to clip your wings, to stifle your needs, to keep you human."
The way it comes out of his mouth it's like being one is something dirty, something so far beneath them and she doesn't like it.
"Which you're not, Caroline. Not anymore."
She pursed her lips at that, trying not to immediately jump on the defensive with him. "I'm not a killer." Well she was but she didn't want to need to be. There were alternatives.
"Did I say anything about killing?" Klaus asked with a smirk and she frowned at that, leaning back against the couch as he continued. "Though, you are, sweetheart. It's what we're made to be. The biggest hunters in the world. The whole point of my mother's spell was to make her family stronger than werewolves, stronger than anything so we'd survive." She couldn't help her frown and he must have seen it, easily altering the flow of the conversation. "But you're not quite ready for that yet. So we'll focus on opening your mind and horizons to what the world has to offer you. Tell me you're not enjoying that."
She had to smile. There was no time to build up any walls to force it back, to hide how much fun she was having with all of it. "I can't."
His smile nearly mirrored her own, but there was something in the way he was looking at her, the possessiveness of his stare that had her shivering. "I know."
Caroline swallowed at that and picked up her iPad, settling back against the couch to finish reading. Perhaps silence was a good thing to happen between the two of them. She didn't think she was quite ready to gain anymore insights. She needed to process everything, to think about that look of his, of what it meant for her and what exactly she was going to do about it.