(Edit 3 Dec 2021)
Saw this beautiful pic of Caroline in a magazine (I haven't touched a mag the whole year, what are the chances?), she was all made-up and in this stunning dress 0n0… So now I feel like I need to write a scene where everyone gets to dress up and looks absolutely glamorous.
It's when I settle down to eat my peanut butter sandwich that he finds me again. Klaus slides into the seat opposite me, soundlessly. I don't bother to look up, if he wants to talk, he will. I start by eating the crust off the edge of my meal, taking small, bird-like bites until the crust has gone and I'm left with the actual sandwich. The barest tremble of my hands are barely hidden and his gaze leaves me nervous to eat, but I continue, unsure of his motives in joining me for dinner.
I don't expect him to eat with me, I'm hardly sure he is capable of eating.
"Was it you?" He asks, his voice softer than I'd ever heard it and I jump slightly at the sudden sound. "The wolf, that scent,"
I contemplate my answer; he'd know if I was lying, what would he do if I told the truth? There was no way to escape the inevitable. I brush back my hair, fingers catching on tangles. "Yes, it was me," I watch him closely, not sure what reaction I will receive.
He nods, "You phased," it's a statement and not a question, so I remain quiet, watching him as he lifts his gaze to pin me with uncertainty. "How is that possible?" it's the first time I've seen him look truly curious and it takes me aback.
For a moment I have no words, my shoulders lift in a shrug; he didn't want to listen to my ancestral tales the first time. "It's just how it works," I mutter and my gaze flickers to the abandoned sandwich which my stomach now deems unfulfilling
Klaus' lips curl and he is about to launch a verbal attack on me, his eyes glitter and his beautiful cheekbones flush with the slightest of colour. Instead he takes a deep breath and drums his fingers against the table, harsh and loud. "You're not a normal werewolf, clearly. It was during the day and we are not even remotely close to the full moon yet. So far only the hybrids have been able to control their phasing, yet even they face difficulties welcoming something this brutal."
I study his furrowed brows, his eyes are bright and the stubble on his cheeks rough - he's beautiful but it's hard not to miss the lines of strain at the corners of his eyes. I rub my thumbs into my eyes before blinking away the spots of dark. Let's try this again, well aware that he surely wouldn't believe me. "Because I'm not a werewolf," I tell him, my brows raised as I wait for the inevitable denial.
For several moments he doesn't respond, merely looks me up and down as if examining a piece of furniture. Then suddenly his lips part in a small telltale smirk that holds appreciation, a shocking expression on his face that fades quickly into incredulity, "You can't possibly be a hybrid," his eyes narrow and he shakes his head, "I created them." He looks up at me and pierces me with intense scrutiny, searching for the reason I exist in his world.
"I'm a shape shifter," I interrupt before any strange ideas can start forming in his blood soaked head, lest he start believing that there's another creature out there spewing out hybrids for fun. I could only imagine the consequences of stealing that ability from Klaus.
The denial doesn't come, he handles it much better than Elena and Caroline and I can't help but feel grateful. In fact, he doesn't bat an eyelash, merely looks me over slowly and nods. "You seemed different, your scent, your…" He waves a hand in my direction, "everything. You're unlike anything I've seen." I'm not sure whether this is a compliment or an insult so I tilt my head and wait for his next words. "And your tales of the wolves had too many differences from what I know. I spoke to Kol and he assured me that he hasn't heard of any 'imprint'." He says the last word with mild curiosity and my stomach flips in alarm. He leans back and pins me with that unnerving stare as if he could see right through me. I hold my breath. "Neither does the capability to hear another wolf's thoughts appear to be anywhere in our known history."
I sigh in relief and a small smile tugs at the corner of my lips. "Our pack is linked spiritually; it's not a special ability." Still a niggling disappointment eats at my empty stomach, as if for some unknown reason I wanted him to ask about the imprint. But the response he gave earlier was more than I expected and I feel somewhat proud of Klaus for investigating the things I had told him. Even if it wasn't fruitful. The man has useful resources.
"Despite no one knowing about this, I assumed your stories were true or at least assumed you believed them to be so. I'm good at sensing lies, and so far you've been truthful. I could always appoint a witch to check the facts, but that's wasted effort,"
He watches me,a curiosity radiates off of him that sets my mind atwitter with hopeful thoughts I'd rather not dwell on. And again that nagging feeling eats at me. I push the plate and sandwich away. "You handled it well, I assume. I've yet to find any victims or infinite destruction."
A bubble of nervous laughter rises in my throat and I shake my head, "I most certainly don't try to eat people, that's not what we do." Although at times rage can make you do strange things. But I look at Klaus and I have to admit him some destruction, "I'm rather skilled at ripping vampires apart though," I mean it as a joke but the moment it passes my lips I know Klaus is more than likely to interpret it as a threat and my face twists as I struggle to find appropriate words to backtrack.
"You're not as good as you think you are," Klaus says and I look at him sharply, observing the humorous glitter in his eyes that lights his face up from within. "You told me yourself, the blonde vampire overcame you,"
My lips relax into an easy smile, relief warming my chest, this Klaus I could get along with easily. He is charming and direct. Bizarrely different from the man who had tried to rip my throat out earlier.
"What did you say her name was?" He asks smoothly and I blink.
"Jane," I blurt the name then bite my lip and scowl, realising that I hadn't told him her name the first time around. Yet I guess him knowing the name of a Volturi member couldn't be too bad. "She was with the Volturi,"
"The strong vampire coven," he repeats my earlier words with less conviction and slight more distaste. "I don't like the sound of them. The weak should not pretend to be strong."
The weirdest image of Jane withering in pain on the floor crosses my mind and I chew the inside of my cheek, not sure whether I should feel as much pleasure at the idea as I do. I have no doubt in my mind that Klaus could take the Volturi if he wanted to. Take everything, actually. He is forceful and determined, a little off his rocker but still insanely possessive.
"Tell me again, this Jane, what was the power she wielded?" Klaus asks.
"Pain," I state simply and look him in the eyes, "Excruciating agony that paralyzes you and turns anything you've ever felt into child's play."
One of his brows pops up and he looks at me carefully with his crystalline gaze. "You don't say," he falls silent for a moment. "Do all your vampires have this ability?"
My vampires? I cringe, the idea of them being anything close to that. Disconcerting as it is, I'd come to like the Cullens in my last weeks in Forks. As time had passed by, their kindness and hospitality had been swept away by the brutal obsession with control the vampires in Mystic Falls wielded. I'd rather not think too much on vampires being anything as close as mine. (Unless it is Klaus, a familiar whinging says.) "Some of them have abilities: mind reading, seeing the future, causing paralysis… things like that." The ability to show you something wonderful through a single touch, my cheeks puffed at the memory of Nessy and fought back the sense of loss.
"So not all of them have these abilities?" I shake my head, "And those who do, how do they get the abilities? Can you take it from them?"
My spine stiffens and I imagine little Nessy under probing needles. "No," I inform him louder than is strictly necessary and sigh, running a hand over my face. "They cannot be taken," I don't necessarily know if that's the truth, but any alternative is unthinkable.
Klaus nods slowly. "You don't like vampires do you?"
I look at him suspiciously, wondering why he had to ask this. "Not all of them, not most of them."
"But there are some you trust,"
"Yes," I nod.
"The child, you liked her,"
Every instinct I have fires to life and I want to hurtle out the room, seek a dark corner to be alone in. How did he…? I don't answer; merely stare at him with wide, frightened eyes.
"Your face softened when you spoke of the young vampire," Klaus explains, looking undeniably amused. "I've been alive long enough to notice affection on even the hardest of faces."
He poses so well. Yet, he is as broken as I am. I catalogue the shadows in his gaze anew. Who showed him such care that he could notice it in a stranger, and who replaced that care with darkness? Was it the girl in the drawing? This Rebekah? For a moment my mind flashes on the absence of family portraits; the big, cold and lonely house with only an Original and hybrid to give it life. I ponder at the unlit pyre, my mind soaking in the knowledge that there were so many rooms in this house and no one to fill them with laughter or personality.
My breath parts my lips and I allow myself to blink away the sudden fear, shoving it down below the ache of the past, the sour lingering of shattered relationships. Instead, something different awakes in me and I look at Klaus' lowered eyes with interest. "You have a sister,"
His gaze snaps to mine and any softness that had been there before melts into anger. "I have no one," he pushes to his feet and the chair squeals across the floor, almost toppling over. "You'll come with me tomorrow, be ready to leave at dawn." With that, he strides away, back stiff.
"Wait!" I cry and leap to my feet, "Go where?" but he is already gone and if he bothers to listen to me, he has no response. I scowl at the empty doorway, feeling petulant and having the oddest desire to lock myself in the room until the next afternoon, just to defy him. After a silent moment I sink back into the chair and rest my forehead on the table.
A sigh parts my lips and I close my eyes. Klaus is as mysterious as he is dysfunctional. The uncertainty of him makes my head pound. Yet at the same time, he feels like an open book, a book with faded writing, but still an open book. He telegraphs his pain, the anger, and the longing, but the context of the emotions is gone. Why was his trigger so short? What made that smirk possible?
"Uhhhg," I groan and shake my head, my skin pressing painfully against the wooden table top. Hair scatters around my face, creating a dark curtain. I frown into the darkness.
The next morning is chilly, a solid wall of mist blankets the lawn in front of Klaus' house and if my core temperature wasn't so high I might have been shivering. I stare out the window in my room, observing the roof and tree tops peeking from the thick white air. The world looks different so early in the day, nothing like the busy town it would become when the sun stretches across the sky.
Curiosity had woken me earlier than I'd planned, my mind buzzing with both excitement and dread as to where Klaus would be taking me. Or maybe I was just glad to be leaving the house. The wolf brushes up against my mind, seeking a release from these confines - yesterday's freedom seeming insignificant now. For the first time since the Jane Incident I don't cower from the wolf's presence, I let the comforting strength of the creature flood through my body. My skin itches and from the top of my head down to my toes my muscles tremble. I shush the beast in me, it is not the time to phase. Yet.
The varying echo of growls swamp my mind, freedom in a language human ears don't understand. I close my eyes and focus inward, to the shimmering grey mass hidden beneath my skin. A minute passes as I soothe my burning need for liberty.
"You ready, mutt?"
My eyes crack open and I turn to Hayley lips pursed, frustrated. Hayley was aware that she turned into a canid too, right? I decide not to point out the obvious and instead give her my best pinched smile. "Ready when you are, lapdog." Since we are exchanging nicknames…
Hayley's eyes flash wide and she growls low, that almost makes me chuckle. Doesn't like her own medicine, does she? She glares for a moment before storming away. I follow slower, taking time to prepare myself for whatever awaits me in Klaus' presence. Hayley makes it down the stairs, into the foyer and has the chance to start fawning over Klaus before I could join them.
Pressing her grubby puppy paws all over what's mine, the wolf snarls.
My mate looks as delectable as always despite the fact that he clearly hadn't slept. I sweep my eyes over him, from neat polished shoes to the messy curls on his head. He is a walking contrast of all things brooding.
I feel warm despite the morning chill.
I'm not a child anymore, I fully understand what attraction feels like. Can remember vividly what Sam's lips taste like in the morning with his warm body hovering over mine. Right now though, Sam is not the focus. I feel my wolf's hunger, her appreciation for our mate reverberating through my bones.
The creature had welcomed Klaus as its mate much easier than the girl.
"'Morning," I mutter when I reach them and Hayley scowls over her shoulder.
There's something of understanding in her eyes but it's hidden under the instinct - my alpha, she says with the tilt of her lips.
"Good morning, Leah," Klaus responds, familiar; but when his gaze meets mine, it seems different from last night. His eyes linger on me a moment longer, some unknown question in their hazel depths. He turns away and starts walking toward the door.
Slowly I raise my hand to touch my hair. I'd cut the dark tresses the night before with the wolf in mind. The longer my hair the more uncomfortable the change. Did it look bad? Was that why Klaus had stared? I cringe at my own ministrations and shove my hands to my side, annoyed at my own obsessive behaviour. Klaus doesn't care how I look, and I shouldn't be bothering to make him.
We emerge into the mist and a wave of moisture instantly coats my face and neck. Hayley stays close to Klaus' side, a near shadow of his height and I nearly lose them to the sucking white walls of air.
I hurry to keep up and before I know it we're pacing down the road and the sun is starting to pierce through the mist. I have no doubt that Klaus would be faster if I wasn't with them and it makes me feel some twisted pride to know that he is taking me into consideration, if only not to lose me in his tracks.
I'm surprised when I find myself outside the Grill, but Klaus and Hayley enter without a backward glance and I follow their lead. The place is as I remembered it, warm and inviting. Only this time the tables are clear and the man behind the bar isn't Baby-faced Matt. I pause as Klaus and Hayley move further in, sniffing the air to catch the faint smell of oil heating. My stomach comes alive and I scowl, realising that I'd never gotten around to finishing my sandwich the night before.
The promising scent of food leads me after the Original, Klaus has slowed his pace since entering the Grill and I reach them before they get to the bar. As I come up beside my mate, I notice that there is another man by the bar, back turned to them. Klaus is staring at the back of the man's head with startling intensity. I blink and survey the man.
His scent is that of a vampire, I know this without effort, but who? After a moment the man chuckles and turns. "You not going to join me, Nick?"
My eyes widen and for the life of me I can't wrap my head around the nickname. I'd assumed that since everyone else called Niklaus 'Klaus', that it was the way he wanted it. My gaze flashes to Klaus and I watch his lips twist into an annoyed grimace.
"You actually came, I'm surprised."
The man laughs and his dark brows rise toward an even darker hairline. "You asked me to, didn't you?"
Klaus shrugs and takes the seat next to the man. "I suppose," the dark haired man pushes a glass filled with amber liquid to Klaus and my mate lifts a brow. "Drinking rather early aren't you?"
"Never known you to complain before," the man grins and downs his own glass. He waits, staring pointedly at Klaus until the man accepts the beverage with a small sigh. "Damn shame to waste a good drink because of the hour."
Silence ensures when neither man bothers to release their empty glasses and simply look at each other. Calculating. I cringe and look at Hayley who is focused wholly on Klaus. Her devoted stare does nothing to ease the sudden pricking of unease and my stomach protests again at its emptiness. With an annoyed groan I stalk off to the other side of Klaus, plopping unceremoniously into the seat, and wave my hand at the lonesome bartender.
Whatever Klaus' business was with the dark haired vampire, it wouldn't curb me from filling my aching body with delightful food. I frown slightly as I rattle off an order of 'anything that's warm and I can have now'. It's starting to become apparent that soon I would run out of money, which means I'd have to pursue that idea of getting work. Where to start was the problem. This town was foreign to me and my qualifications weren't anything to get excited about either. At home, life had been simple, easy when you excluded all the vampire and wolf nonsense.
I'd had a job, nothing fancy or special, just a shift helping the old baker man down at La Push and sometimes giving Billy a hand with fishing sales. It was good, enough to get Seth and myself by. We had food to eat, a home to stay in and just the right amount of gas to take us up the coast every few weeks. Of course mom and dad had been there, all before the phasing started. Dad had brought in a reasonable sum and mom worked hard enough. Before dad's stroke things had been perfect, then Emily came down after the funeral and I lost Sam. Mom couldn't stand to be in the house anymore and suddenly it was just carefree Seth and me, bitter me.
There was so much I would give to take back that single moment in our living room. My first phase. Dad's stroke. It all started on that day. It all started because of the phase. If I'd never phased I'd still have dad, I'd still be in La Push working out a way to get Sam to really commit. I'd be laughing at Seth's crazy antics and I wouldn't be imprinted to Klaus, control-freak Klaus who was in love with someone unattainable. There would be no vampires, no wolves, no need to run away.
But 'what if's wouldn't do anything. I am where I am and there is no going back to times when things were simpler.
"I take it this is Leah?"
I jerk my head up and I take a long look at the dark haired man, his jaw is stubborn and his eyes amused. He looked surprisingly pleasant for a vampire, but I don't trust the soft curl of his lips, the slightest tilt of his head. Behind the grins and gentle, inquiring voice lurks a predator. Involuntarily my lips twitched into an answering smile. "I'm Leah,"
The man's grin grows further and he deliberately reaches across Klaus to grab my hand. Although shocked at the action, I refuse to let myself flinch away. The smile does fade though and I watch him closer, trying to figure out what he's playing at.
"It's always a pleasure to meet such exquisite creatures," his eyes sparkle with genuine mirth and I frown, "Nick, has told me so much about you."
Has he now? My brows rise before my eyes narrow and I lean forward, we are boxing Klaus between us, my hand trapped in the other's. Whatever game he is playing, I could play, too. "That leaves me at a disadvantage. I've heard nothing of you,"
His grin grows so large it could split his face in two while his eyes narrow. "A shame really. I'm Nick's better-looking younger brother,"
"Indeed," Is all the encouragement I offer and hear the slightest growl from Hayley. "Does Klaus' 'better-looking younger brother' have a name?"
"You can call me Kol, darling,"