A/N: Thanks so much for reading, reviewing, asking me questions on tumblr and stuff regarding this fic. I hope you all like this next part.
Caroline didn't dare open her eyes.
It had taken her a moment as her body had slowly begun to wake, remembering where she was and who she was currently with in bed. She was curled against Klaus still, skin-to-skin with the soft fabric of the blanket and sheets over top of them. She didn't remember having pulled them onto them but he must have done so at some point during the night.
She knew that she hadn't meant to fall asleep, definitely hadn't meant to stay the night in his bedroom but considering she could feel the early morning sun shining on them through the drapes, Caroline knew that's what had happened.
She expected the guilt to come rushing in now, for her mind to overwhelm her with all of the reasons why sleeping with Klaus had been a horrible idea. It was supposed to list off everyone he had killed that she knew, how he had hurt those she loved, terrorized her friends for the last few months but none of that came. Those reasons were all still there, it wasn't like they were going to simply be wiped away, but they weren't rushing at her to push him away because of it.
Instead she was focused on how laying there against him, with one of her arms curled around his chest while one of his was wrapped around her waist to keep her against him, seemed to be utterly perfect. It wasn't supposed to be. It shouldn't have brought about this feeling of contentment, of something that she could only classify as completeness.
She wasn't supposed to feel like he was the missing piece she'd been looking for and had finally found, completing a puzzle she didn't even know she was putting together. She was a strong, independent forever seventeen woman and being completed by some guy was so not in the cards. That was not how life worked. It wasn't how she worked.
But that didn't exactly shake the feelings coursing through her veins as she breathed in Klaus' scent. Nor did it alter how her body seemed to come alive as his hand that had been wrapped around her started to drift along her skin, igniting all of her nerve endings.
Klaus had her pressed back against the mattress before she could breathe his mouth against hers before she could speak. His hands moved along her skin and it seemed to Caroline as though he was searing his touch into her skin, branding her with the pads of his fingers. There was a desperation to it that she didn't expect, that she didn't quite understand at first, but the urgency with which he kissed her, with how he won't stop touching her, eliciting all sorts of moans that are swallowed by his mouth against hers that clued her into where his mindset had headed.
Caroline had a feeling that she wasn't the only one who had expected for her to wake up regretting the night before. His lips moved from hers but there's no reprieve from them, from that searing touch as he slid down her body, teeth scraping her neck, tongue coming out to soothe seconds after as his hands keep gliding along her skin.
She wanted to say something, to get an actual word out, but every time she was even remotely close to do so, for anything coming out of her mouth to be more than a gasp Klaus seemed to be one step ahead of her, his mouth or his fingers or just the press of his thigh between hers causing all thought to evaporate from her mind, drawing out a moan instead.
But was when he looked at her, his gaze catching hers that Caroline found all her words dried up in her throat. No one had ever looked at her with that intensity before and she wasn't sure that he even realized precisely all he was showing in those glances. Every touch, every breath between the two of them was only tying her closer to him, seemingly entwining their lives in a way she couldn't even dare to comprehend.
One thousand years of determination to break a curse his mother had put on him, five hundred of driving Katherine to the brink of insanity with their never ending game of cat and mouse, and Caroline didn't think either of those compared to the determination she could see in Klaus' entire being as he focused on her.
This was far more tempting than pretty pictures or jewelry or even the chance to see the world. This was a scenario where she wouldn't be second best, where she thought maybe she could be the one who would come out on top, where she could be loved. But then that begged the question if Klaus Mikaelson was even capable of that emotion.
She thought he might be, in his own way after a thousand years of life twisting the definition of what love was. Unlike the others she had been there when he felt the dagger go into Kol. She had seen the terror in his eyes in that moment on the bench. She'd seen the emotion he'd displayed when he talked of a horse and his father killing it. She also saw how the way he looked at her had changed over the last few weeks, but what kind of love would that even be?
Not like the fairytales but then life wasn't a fairy tale, especially not hers. How could it be when she was a vampire? She'd become the monster from the stories she used to love to read as a child, but couldn't monsters find love as well?
Klaus didn't speak but Caroline didn't need to hear the words to know what he was thinking. It echoed with every scrape of his teeth along her skin, with his fingers pressing against her clit and causing her to cry out at the touch. It was burned into her very being with the stroke of his tongue against her hip bone, with his fingers slicking through her wetness before pressing inside of her.
'Mine', they all said.
She had felt the rumblings of this back with Tyler, the need that seemed to overtake him with his triggered wolf to lay claim to her in bed, but it hadn't been with this intenseness. It had sparked the monster inside of her to come out and show that she was stronger but it hadn't sparked the need she was feeling now, the one that was frightening Caroline to her very core.
Because it wasn't simply Klaus' touch that was screaming mine; there was a part of her that was desperate to stake that claim on him as well, to emblazon the words on his skin with her tongue, teeth and hands as he was her. But Caroline pushed it down, wouldn't let it rise, terrified of what would happen if she did.
Thankfully Klaus didn't seem to have sensed that need, at least not yet, and Caroline was determined that he wouldn't. It was nearly a lost cause when his cock replaced his fingers, filling her and calling for the beast within to come out and play. So she wrapped her hand in his necklaces, using them to pull him downward as her legs wrapped around his waist, altering the angle for her pleasure.
Maybe kissing him wasn't the best way to keep her building emotions from him, but it allowed her to push back the urge to bite him at least a bit as their bodies moved. Klaus threw all of her intentions off though with the gentleness of his hand against her cheek, the soft stroking of his thumb such a contrast to their hips pressing into one another that she couldn't hold everything back.
Her fangs scraped against his lower lip, eyes opening and nearly completely darkened by her blood lust. That look mirrored in his own nearly gold irises and her carefully crafted control couldn't compete with that, especially not when he practically offers up his neck to her.
She sunk her fangs into his skin, hands moving to his back to help her hold on as he pounded her into the mattress. Caroline would never be able to explain how any of it ended, all she knew in that moment was the feel of him all around her again, of his scent surrounding her and his blood flowing down her throat and through her veins. It's a completeness that she didn't think could ever be felt and she didn't want to let it go.
It took Klaus grasping her hair and giving a hard tug to get her to stop sucking him dry as they both came down off of their highs. She stared up at him with wide eyes, his blood smeared on her lips and watched as he smiled at her before sweeping his thumb across her lips. "My ferocious beauty," he murmured before rolling off of her.
The way he said my was different now, so much more meaning in such a simple little word, and it caused her to shiver as she pushed herself up. "I'm gonna go take a shower and pick out fresh clothes. Are you doing more training with the hybrids today?"
Klaus was silent for a moment, studying her carefully, as if he couldn't quite believe the ease with her words. "First I plan on seeing what Kol knows of my other siblings impending arrivals and then yes, I was planning to continue training." He did want them to be more than simply competent. There would be no more hybrids as easily killed as his last lot was by Stefan Salvatore. "Unless there's something else you would like to do today."
Caroline was pulling on her dress and collecting the rest of her clothes before she looked back at him. "I'd like to see more of the town. Preferably when it's not dark outside this time." She enjoyed the way things looked in the sun, even if she could see well in darkness. Plus she had been a little too focused on seeing the families of the deceased workers instead of looking around at the landscape and architecture. "Maybe we could go into it for lunch? That way you can train and talk to Kol and I can finish up decorating some of the rooms. Though I'll need a hybrid or two to help with that now." Since his brother had ate the previous help.
"I'll let you have your pick of the group." Klaus smiled and she couldn't help but reciprocate it, thinking she'd never seen him looked as happy as he did in that moment. It was as if she had just given him the keys to some kingdom or something and maybe she inexplicably had but Caroline was not going to think about that right then.
"Okay. Showering now." She ducked out of the room before he could say anything else and headed off to her own, worrying a little that she was still smiling when she got there and that Klaus' presence still seemed to be surrounding her even though she was away from him. Though what worried Caroline most was how much she seemed to welcome that continued presence but she refused to let her day turn sour from worrying.
She had rooms to decorate and a town to see. The rest of it could be mulled over later that night.
She wanted to spend time with him.
That alone had Klaus' mind reeling with emotions he'd long thought extinguished, torn out from within him from the brutality of the years, the betrayals that he'd endured. But this barely year old vampire was bringing about pieces of him that he had been certain were dead and gone. It was maddening and yet he refused to give it up. Even if this was exactly the kind of weakness he had happily and eagerly exploited in others, using it as a tool in his most vicious attacks and punishments.
For a thousand years he had run from his madman father, cut a swath of wrath and rage through the world as he sought to undo his mother's ultimate betrayal, and he'd beaten the both of them. His curse was broken, his father was dead, and he had an eternity to celebrate those victories.
What was the point in celebrating alone though? His siblings and he might have come together to stand against their mother trying to kill them all, but Klaus had seen the looks of betrayal in their eyes that night they had returned. He had felt their anger with him and knew that it still festered below the surface. They would come to forgive him in time for making the choices he had to keep them safe, but they would not forget.
And his hybrids were hardly as unstoppable as he would have liked, far too easily killable in his mind for those who should have been the perfect species.
But Caroline Forbes wanted to have lunch with him, wanted to stroll through the small town they were currently located in, and Klaus Mikaelson couldn't think of anything more perfect than that fact.
She wasn't balking at his attentions, hadn't tried to crawl away in the middle of the night, nor had she been overcome by guilt for finally giving into her desires. He could practically see his eternity spread out before him and before it had been as dark as the last thousand years, now he saw the light of smile, the excitement in her eyes as she explored new places, tried new things.
He would not be able to let her go after a year. This was no longer an itch to scratch and then get rid of when he'd satisfied himself between her thighs. He'd been trying to take root in her mind but it seemed that Caroline had been the one to do that to him instead. The fact that she didn't even realize she had done so was almost laughable.
He'd won at least a part of the battle though if she wanted to spend time with him, planning ways to do so, and that was a definite step forward in keeping her with him.
Klaus tried to keep the smile from his face though once she had left to get ready for the day. Kol was already too amused with the entire situation and while his brother might act like an annoying little imp right now, Klaus was all too aware of how quickly his younger brother could turn vicious and deadly. He wouldn't put it past Kol to use Caroline against him if the boy saw fit. Though out of all his siblings it was Rebekah who he would need to watch closely around the girl.
Kol had been correct in his earlier assessment that their sister wouldn't take kindly to not being the center of Klaus' world any longer. Just as he couldn't stand when her attentions were wrapped up in the hundreds of men and women she'd fancied throughout the centuries. And he'd killed all of them, none of them worthy of Rebekah's attentions, but he would not allow Rebekah to do the same to Caroline.
"Usually this would be when you would be ordering a servant or Elijah if we were in between them," Kol started as soon as Klaus entered the room.
"Because you'd decided to eat them all," Klaus interrupted as he walked over to the assortment of liquor his brother had spread out on the drawing room table.
"I do believe that you helped me out with that most times," Kol replied with a happy little shrug. "Anyway as I was saying, this would be the time you'd be ordering for someone to take the dead girl out of your room to be disposed of. And yet, I do believe I hear the cheerleader still moving about."
Klaus didn't reply, simply poured himself a glass of scotch and sat down on the sofa. "Its darling, Nik, really," Kol continued with a grin. "And you weren't even at it all night long but she didn't leave until this morning. Which means you actually allowed her to spend the night in your room. Rebekah will have a fit. I can't wait."
"Speaking of our sister. When should we be expecting her arrival?" Klaus wouldn't comment on the rest of what Kol had said. No use in giving the boy even more ammunition to use against him.
"I left her shopping in Paris so who knows with her. Could be later today. Could be a week." Kol swirled the liquid around in his glass before downing it. "I prefer this with blood mixed in. Takes the edge off."
"And Elijah?" The three of them were together the last that Klaus had spoken to Rebekah. He knew she was highly irritated with him for failing to meet up as planned.
"He went off on his own for a bit. Had some situations to deal with or so he said." Kol topped off his glass again before snapping his fingers. "I took the liberty of getting you some new help." A young man strolled into the room and over to Kol, holding out his arm. Kol bit into a vein on the arm before holding it over his glass, pressing his fingers against the man's skin to help the flow. "Would you like some? Sweet, little Caroline is busy with your hybrids at the moment."
Klaus could hear her talking with Sam and one of the others a few rooms away. The girl had taken quite a bit of blood from him that morning and he hadn't drunk from her. He knew he needed to drink soon and passed his half-drunk tumbler over to Kol for filling. Once it was topped off with blood, Kol bit into his wrist and offered it to the young man who drank it, wounds closing up almost instantly.
"He's compelled to not do this in her presence," Kol informed Klaus before shooing the boy away. "See. I listen when you talk." Whether or not he actually followed the rules set out was a completely different matter altogether though.
"Why are you here?" Klaus asked, knowing he hadn't quite gotten the answer from his brother the first time he'd asked. "And don't tell me it's because you grew tired of carrying around Rebekah's bags." There had to be more to it than that.
"There's a coven I know not far from here. Thought they might be able to help with ridding ourselves of the white oak stakes and mother's nasty little invention." Kol raised his glass. "Plus when have I ever passed up the opportunity to annoy you? Is that not what younger brothers are for?"
"What makes you think they'll even want to help you?" Witches were fickle creatures. Useful to a degree and some easy enough to manipulate, but that didn't quite make up for the annoying ones who stuck too closely to all their little rules.
"It'd be easier if I hadn't been in a box for over a hundred years," Kol replied and Klaus waved that off. Nothing could be done about that now and it was his brother's own fault for the daggering to have been necessary. "But I have it under good authority that one of my old friends is still alive and kicking and the current leader of that one."
"Do what you need as long as you keep it away from here," Klaus told him before downing the rest of his drink.
"Don't worry, Nik. I'll make sure it doesn't interfere with your little romantic bliss," Kol told him with a smirk. "Like I said I'll let you screw that up all on your own."
Klaus didn't reply, didn't even glower as he left the room, refusing to rise to Kol's obvious baiting. He stopped Sam in the hallway though. "You're to be with Caroline at all times that I am not. Understood?" he told the young hybrid, knowing his early compulsion would help ensure that his instructions were followed.
He may love his siblings, but that didn't mean he trusted them with Caroline. Maybe that would change in a few centuries but Klaus doubted that he would ever truly let his guard down in order to protect her from them. There were too many betrayals between the lot of them for him to do that anymore, too many times he had daggered them and stole their lives for decades here and there for him to ever truly trust them with something so precious any longer.
Sam nodded, heading back in the direction he'd been coming from, toward where Klaus could hear Caroline instructing a few of his hybrids on where to move various paintings and furniture to. He smiled at the sound of her voice before noting Kol's departure from his vantage point at the window.
Soon his family would be safe from the threat of the damn oak stake and he would have Caroline with him forever. Mikael's words that had taken root in his mind that damn Homecoming night about no one caring about him were slowly coming loose and soon he would be able to tear them free and prove the man wrong all over again.
For now though he had hybrids to train and a lunch outing to plan.
But of course nothing ever went that smoothly in his life so it really shouldn't have been a surprise to find Rebekah strolling into the house just as he was about to head out with his hybrids.
"You better not have given her my room," his sister told him as she glowered at him.
"It's lovely to see you as well, Rebekah," Klaus bit out, his good mood obliterated.
"She did this, didn't she?" Rebekah looked around the foyer, disgusted with the placement of practically everything. "Her style is so infantile."
"You will leave her alone," Klaus warned, stepping into his sister's space, nose nearly touching hers as he fought back the urge to toss her across the room.
Rebekah simply smiled at him before heading for the stairs. "Have one of your new little groupies bring my things up." She gestured behind her at the suitcases piled up by the door.
Klaus glowered at her disappearing presence before stalking off to order about a few hybrids to deal with Rebekah's belongings. Lunch really couldn't come soon enough.