Chapter Text
"When will you keep your promise and finally reunite me with our siblings?" Elijah asked Klaus impatiently.
"Soon enough, brother," Klaus simply answered.
Elijah recognized that his brother had been in a foul mood for the past few days now. He did not know what had happened, but the edge in his voice suggested he was not to be trifled with for the moment.
He hang around a lot with the younger Salvatore brother. His attitude had also changed by 180 degrees. He had met him as someone deeply compassionate, but now he was just a brutal killer. He wondered if it had anything to do with the death of Elena Gilbert. Stricken with guilt he could hardly endure being in the same room as him. He had made a decision for the good of his family that does not mean he was without conscience.
"Niklaus, you gave me your word," Elijah tried again to shift his attention away from his painting he was currently working on.
"And I will keep it," he replied authoritatively. "Though it seems I give away my word too easily."
Elijah looked at him quizzically not understanding what he meant by that. However, his brother did not elaborate any further.
"Soon," Elijah repeated his brother's word with emphasis and left the room afterwards.
Shortly after his brother had left Klaus was disturbed again.
"I'm bored, Klaus. When are we finally leaving this dump?" Stefan entered Klaus' study.
Klaus sighed in response and set his brush aside for a moment. "Soon."
"You keep saying that, but we're still here," Stefan complained.
Klaus did not answer instead he just continued painting.
"Fine, don't talk to me. I guess I'll kill my time hunting some blondes in town then," Stefan said, making his way out of the room.
"No blondes," Klaus said before he could have stopped himself, making Stefan turn around curiously.
"Why?" He asked him and earned yet another sigh from Klaus in response.
"Just stay away from blondes."
"As you wish," Stefan mimicked the way Klaus talked in such an old fashion.
"Stefan," Klaus called after him who was leaving.
"Yes?"
"We're leaving first thing tomorrow morning," he said and turned his back away from the painting finally.
"I will pack my things," Stefan replied smirking and left.
For the next hour Klaus was just sitting in front of his three paintings, drinking brandy, losing himself in his thoughts. Even though he had compelled the girl to forget him that did not make him think about her less. Who would compel him to forget about her? He was furious how a mere human girl could get under his skin so deeply. He was Niklaus Mikaelson, how could he be tossed around so easily?
It was finally time to get out of this forsaken place and leave everything behind. Stefan was finally back to his old self even though he himself still did not know that. He was contemplating on when to tell his companion about how they had been friends before and decided to wait a little longer. For now he would concentrate on turning more werewolves into hybrids like himself.
"Niklaus," Elijah knocked on his door.
"We're not having this conversation again, brother," Klaus said annoyed.
"I'm not here for that."
"What is it then? Speak," Klaus replied, emptying the rest of his glass.
"A guest has arrived asking for you," Elijah stated.
"I am in no mood for company," Klaus said while pouring himself another glass.
"I think you'll want to reconsider," Elijah pressed.
Annoyed Klaus turned around to his brother, eyeing him skeptically.
"And why is that, brother? Who wants to see me this badly?"
"I don't know who this guest is, but I can tell you what the person looks like," he replied calmly.
"Do not test my patience, Elijah," Klaus said lowly.
He pointed at the three canvases in front of his brother and as expected his brother reacted to this.
"It's the girl from your paintings."
"Impossible," Klaus exhaled.
"See for yourself," Elijah said and held his arm toward the door.
Klaus immediately got up from his chair and went ahead downstairs. It was not possible for Caroline to be here. He made her forget about him. But the moment he stepped into the living room, he saw the same young girl he had pushed away before standing in front of the fire place.
She noticed him coming in and turned around with a shy smile. "Hi."
She was wearing a white summer dress with no sleeves, there was no scarf, and her hair was tied up allowing the many different colored bruises to be seen clearly. Some were fresh and had a dark purple color to it, others were fainter, indicating that they had been bestowed on her long before her last encounter with her now ex-boyfriend. Dead ex-boyfriend, Klaus thought with satisfaction.
Seeing her so bruised up sent his emotions into a turmoil. He felt strangely protective, even though the threat had long been taken care of. And yet his inner instinct screamed at him to take care of that young innocent girl, to protect her, to put her under his wings. Ironically he had always depicted her as the one with wings. Pure white wings if one was to refer to his paintings. His, on the other hand, were black; fitting for the devil he was.
Still entranced by her appearance he found himself unable to speak. Caroline noticed Klaus' eyes mustering her up and down, looking at all the bruises she was no longer hiding.
"I know, I look hideous," she let out a small nervous laugh. She paused a moment, fidgeting nervously with her hands. "I told my mum."
She let out a deep breath and now that it was out in the open she found it easier to continue.
"I told her about Ryan. How he treated me..." She trailed off, her voice becoming sad with the next part. "She was heartbroken..."
Tears started to well up in her eyes and she tried hard not to let them get the better of her.
"But I'm done," she sniffed, her voice steadier now. "I'm done hiding my bruises and my sorrow. I want to start living my life. And for the first time I want to live it for someone who is worth it."
She took a step forward, locking her eyes with his.
"I know you told me to forget about you, but I can't, Klaus," she replied, trying to remember the speech she had prepared already beforehand on her way to him. "I tried to forget about you, but I couldn't do it. Perhaps I'm being selfish when you don't even want to see me, but you have saved me. I don't want to forget about you. I don't want to forget anything that happened. Even the horrible memories, they shaped me to the person I am now. Forgetting you would mean forgetting what encouraged me to love living again. It would mean disregarding the most important change in my life."
She stepped even further, stopping right in front of him.
"It would mean burying my feelings for you," she said softly. "Which I can't. I just can't."
The confusion on Klaus' face was almost palpable. Caroline did not know he was not only trying to process her confession for him, but also the fact that apparently she remembered everything despite him having compelled her.
"I compelled you to forget about me," he said under his breath finally. "This is not possible."
"Compelled?" She looked at him puzzled.
"It's a form of mind control vampires use. I made you forget about me," Klaus explained briefly.
"But I remember everything clearly. I remember you clearly," she replied just as confused as Klaus was.
Suddenly, Klaus came up with the only explanation to this.
"Vervain," he mumbled.
"Vervain?" Caroline repeated being still bewildered.
"Did you drink vervain water?"
"I don't even know what that is," she answered helplessly.
"Let me taste your blood," Klaus said.
He had not really thought about what he had said twice. It had just been a natural conclusion to ask for her blood in order to confirm his suspicions. On second thought he was not sure he actually wanted to try her blood. Not because of the pain that he would have to bear if she indeed had taken vervain, he could handle that with ease, but rather because he did not want to let her go through the experience of a vampire sinking his teeth into her flesh; even if it was himself.
Again, where was this for him unnatural way of thinking and the sudden emotions of caring coming from?
He turned around, brushing his hand over his face, sighing. Obviously he did not mean it and dropped the idea right away.
"Okay," she simply agreed.
Klaus snapped his head back, looking at her incredulous.
And there it was again. Her purity, her innocence - her naivety. Klaus found his equilibrium again and he wanted to make sure not to be influenced by her again.
"You come to a vampire's house late in the evening and just offer yourself up willingly?" Klaus' voice sounded cold and his eyes pierced right through her.
"You asked to taste my blood and I don't see why I shouldn't let you," she answered softly.
"Haven't you seen what I am capable of? I think your ex-boyfriend is evidence enough that I don't have any scruple killing people."
"You wouldn't hurt me," Caroline replied not breaking the eye-contact.
He flashed in front of her and grabbed her by her chin.
"You think too highly of yourself," he growled only inches away from her face.
"You are kind," she said, placing her hand on the side of his face. "You wouldn't hurt me, not after you protected me and saved me from someone who was actually hurting me."
And in this moment he could not deny that. He would never be able to harm her.
Her hand was still resting on his cheek and not being able to stop himself from wanting to touch her he placed his hand on her wrist.
A sudden jolt of pain cursed through his palm and he let go of her instinctively.
The spot where he had touched her was burned like acid would. Klaus looked confused from his hand to her and then back down to her arm.
There was a brown leather bracelet hanging loosely on her wrist. And suddenly, everything made sense to Klaus.
"Your bracelet," he stated simply.
Caroline had no idea what was going on. She was still concerned about Klaus' sudden injury and inspected his hand worriedly, but was mesmerized as it healed itself so quickly in front of her.
"Your bracelet was soaked in vervain water. Did you wear this last time already?" He asked her.
"Yes, my mom gave it to me on..." She paused remembering the incidents of that day. "On the day Ryan died."
"This can only mean your mother knows about vampires and gave you this to protect you from our kind," Klaus said, emphasizing 'our kind' scornfully.
"My mother knows? I had no idea," Caroline stammered surprised.
"Which means you're probably belonging to one of the Founding Families, isn't that right?" He looked at her with cold eyes.
"Yes, I am one of the Forbes," Caroline explained.
"Now, don't tell me you're the daughter of the Sheriff?" He chuckled darkly.
"I am," Caroline admitted slowly. She did not know why he was so upset about this. Did he know her mother? Caroline had not been introduced into the duty of a member of the Founding Families yet so she did not know her mother was hunting vampires.
"And I assume you have told your mother already about the unfortunate incident that lead to your boyfriend's tragic death?" It would not really be a problem to take on some human deputies, but it bothered him that he had been so careless and, furthermore, he expected for this human girl to betray him.
"I didn't. You told me to tell everyone he left me and that I didn't know where he went," Caroline replied, unsure of why his attitude was so cold.
Klaus was yet again surprised by her. He thought he had compelled her and it turned out he did not, but she still did what he asked her to.
"Why would you listen to me when you're not even compelled?" He could not comprehend this.
"I don't know what this whole compelling is supposed to be or supposed to do. The only thing I know is that you wanted me to keep what happened a secret," Caroline explained herself, looking at him with her wide innocent blue eyes.
"And you did?" It was more a rhetorical question.
"Yes, I didn't want you to get in trouble," Caroline said sincerely.
This human girl was a mystery to him. All the experience he had gained over centuries reading people's motives and intentions were useless when it came to this girl. He was completely and utterly at a loss.
"If you remember everything, if you remember what I am, why are you here?" Klaus looked baffled into her eyes.
"Because..." She tried to overcome her nervousness. "Because I fell in love with you."
Her big blue eyes looked at him imploringly, wanting him to believe her, wanting him to accept her.
She was nervous about how he would react to her confession, but she would have never guessed he would react like this.
Klaus started laughing.
He turned around and walked to the living room's stash of booze, all the while laughing.
"That one is good," he said between laughs. "You falling in love with me? Tell your mother she has to come up with something better than that."
He poured himself a drink and made his way to the couch, slumping down nonchalantly.
"You really think I would fall for that?" He asked amused, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
If his feelings were hurt because he thought the human girl he took an unfathomable interest in was here by order of the sheriff to seduce him for no other reason than to find a way to kill him he had much worse coming. His heart contracted painfully by the sight that was displayed in front of him now.
The hurt in the young blonde's eyes was heartbreaking. Tears were silently pouring down and she was unable to look at him, too dejected to face him.
"I-I have to go," she stuttered and tried to hurry outside.
She had been serious...
Klaus squinted his eyes shut almost painfully, a deep frown marring his forehead. He exhaled in irritation, mainly because of himself, and struggled whether he should go after her.
Before Caroline could reach for the front door's door handle Klaus had rushed in front of her, blocking her way outside.
Her sad expression was agonizing. The tears did not seem to stop from falling and together with her quiet sobs they found their way under Klaus' skin.
Not wanting to bear seeing her crying any longer he reached out for her and wiped the tears away affectionately.
He sighed, being at an utter loss. Words did not seem to find their way outside his mouth, though he tried several times to say something. Being sorry was an emotion he did not feel very often and the word sorry itself did not seem to be in his vocabulary.
But she understood. He was trying to apologize and that was already enough for her. It was the thought that counted.
"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to..." Caroline said, a forgiving smile formed on her saddened face. "My mother didn't send me. She doesn't even know about you."
Klaus nodded, believing her now. How could he have ever doubted this pure hearted girl? He was just too perplexed having never before encountered such a good natured innocent human. It took time getting used to her. Especially if you are Niklaus Mikealson who was probably the complete opposite of her.
"I have the feeling you don't love easily," she started, staring into his eyes. "I'm not expecting you to love me. I'm just..."
She cupped his hands that were still resting on her face. "Asking you to let me love you."
Now tears were escaping Klaus' eyes and he was too preoccupied by her words that he could have even tried to stop them. There was this honest and sincere girl that was proclaiming that she loved him. Him - a vampire, a murderer, a devil.
"That's already enough for me," she said with teary eyes.
That was the final straw. The last push over the cliff.
He leaned close and kissed her. All the raw emotions surfaced in this one kiss. He cradled her face tenderly and pulled her closer to him, leaving no space between them.
His hand found the small of her back and he lifted her up a little, pressing his lips even more eagerly onto hers. Full of golden locks he enjoyed the soft feeling of her hair in his fist. Turning around he pressed her against the front door and lifted one of her legs against his side. She followed suit and soon wrapped both her legs around his waist. Her hands went gently through his hair and he welcomed the feel of it. His beard stubbles prickled lightly on her lips, but Caroline did not mind. She cupped his face and stroked affectionately over his cheeks.
Feeling the loss of oxygen starting to make her feel light headed she had to tear herself away from him to gasp for air. He let her catch her breath and in the meantime worked his mouth over the tender skin of her neck, eliciting an enticing moan from her.
"So all you want is to stay beside me?" He whispered raw beside her ear while his hand moved along her upper thigh.
"Yes," she crooked out.
"I will grant your wish then," he replied, but she could not see the devilish smile on his face while he said that.
He had taken a liking to this intriguing human and he decided to keep her by his side. After all he was a devil and he could do what he wanted. And she turned out to be the perfect distraction for his boredom...