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She was supposed to just be the distraction. Klaus decided to go all creepy stalker - even creepier than usual - and actually kidnap Elena. So when Stefan came to her for help, Caroline would admit she didn't exactly feel a ton of guilt over the thought of tricking the Original Hybrid.
It was possible that, maybe, she even felt a little bit smug about it. She wouldn't admit it out loud, because Damon would never let her live it down... but it wasn't exactly an ego wounder, that a thousand year old connoisseur of the finer things in life found himself at least a little besotted with her. And after Tyler's return from the Appalachians with a new pack and a new girlfriend, well, Caroline's ego needed a bit of stroking.
So two birds, one stone - Caroline would play the distraction and let her wounded ego be soothed by Klaus. And it had been going pretty good, all things considered; Klaus could be incredibly charming when he wanted, after all, and Caroline had kind of been in the mood for being charmed. So yeah, it had been going pretty good.
Until she got the text from Stefan.
How did you lose a whole damn person? Especially a whole ass person who should want to be saved?
Seriously, Stefan. You had one freaking job.
"Look, Caroline. You're beautiful. But if you don't stop talking, I will kill you."
And maybe, in another time, when Tyler hadn't cheated on her, and then brought the new girlfriend home as if he had done nothing wrong, Caroline would have just explained the situation. She would have said they'd figured out a way to save the day, but they just needed some help.
But this wasn't that other world, and Caroline Forbes had never been one to accept an ego shredding gracefully. She had basically no dignity left, and hearing Klaus speak of her like she was just another girl that was easily replaced...
Okay, so she might have a bit of a temper sometimes. And it wasn't like they hadn't just spent the better part of a hour tossing back alcohol compelled from the non-Matt bartender like it was water.
(Playing the distraction always went down a little easier with scotch... even if she really found scotch pretentious and would have preferred something fruity with vodka)
Point was, she was pissed off, and as close to being drunk as a vampire could be, and the fact that it was Klaus taking a shot at her self-confidence, when he was usually the one thing that could be counted on to make it a little less dented... well, it hurt. And the fact that it hurt pissed her off even more.
"Oh, fuck you!" she shot at his back, and man did those words feel good. There were so many people she wanted to say those words to - Tyler, Damon, even Elena and Bonnie - that she wasn't allowed to. Because she was supposed to be the bigger person who simply... accepted it. But Klaus wasn't her friend. Klaus wasn't even a good person. And saying that to him felt so sweet that she couldn't help but say it again. "Yeah... fuck. You!"
Klaus whirled towards her, and his eyes flashed black and gold, double fangs bared at her. She glanced around, but they were basically the only people in the Grill except the bartender, and Caroline was pretty sure multiple compulsions were starting to take a toll on his brain functions, because he was entirely ignoring them.
Or maybe he just wasn't paid enough to deal with them. Which... you know what, that would be entirely valid.
A snarl reminder her that she was facing a thousand year old hybrid who'd probably had even more scotch than she had, and who was seriously pissed off.
He had just threatened to kill her... and instead of being smart, and engaging her brain, she had decided to say fuck you. Not her most brilliant moment. Stupidest bitch to walk this town was going to be a terrible epitaph.
She gulped and backed away from him, as he prowled towards her. She was suddenly reminded in, like, the worst possible way that when they called him the Original Hybrid, that it was a werewolf that made up his other half. She always forgot that so easily. And now she was going to die quite possibly the most painful death ever.
She'd been bitten by a werewolf before. She knew it hurt.
She backed into a table, no longer able to retreat from him, and she gulped as he entered her space, pressing their chests together as he glared right into her eyes. She had never seen him this angry before. Obviously she knew he was probably capable of it and everything, but she had, perhaps, taking his little thing for her for granted.
He leaned in, his nose grazing along her neck and jaw, up to her hear. Oh God. Was he going to bite her ear off? Her heart was racing, and one of his hands came up, running his thumb along her pulse point while his other rested on the table next to them.
This was... she was...
She was sort of into this, and that said oh so many things that were really terrible about her and that she didn't want to think about. Horny stupid bitch was going to be an even worse epitaph.
She felt his chest rumble in a growl, the sound seeming almost more like a purr against her ear as he moved his hand, so that he held her neck.
"Fuck me yourself, you coward."
Caroline, who had fully been prepared to have her face bitten off, felt her breath catch. Had he just...?
He pulled back from her, his eyes still black and gold, but his fangs gone, and he quirked a brow at her.
"What did you just call me?"
The words were out before she could really think them through fully, and they probably weren't what she should have said. The whole coward things was probably the last part she should have been focused on, but if Caroline had a weakness, it was that she could never quite turn down a challenge.
"You heard me, Love. You offer up that invitation so sweetly, and then you don't have the courage to follow up on it, even though we both know you want to. I can tell by the way your heart is racing." He learned into her again, this time is fingers drifting over the pulse in her wrist. "So quickly. You're a coward."
"You just threatened to kill me."
"I know the difference between fear and arousal" - his eyes glinted, and Caroline thought her own monster was probably in her eyes as well, answering the smugness exuding from his - "little coward."
She could be shallow. She often spoke before she thought. She could be careless and cruel without ever meaning to. Caroline was well aware of her failings, thanks. But in no world - absolutely none - could she ever be considered a coward.
"Fuck. You." She said again, slowly and carefully enunciated. And before Klaus could open his stupid mouth and call her a coward again, Caroline pulled his mouth down to hers.
He tasted like that stupid scotch, and next time they got drunk, she would be the one deciding what they drank. Because expensive taste didn't mean good, and Klaus' taste in alcohol was particularly horrendous. Yet oddly enough, when it came with the taste of Klaus himself, she found that she didn't mind it nearly as much.
In fact, she could probably develop a taste for it. If doing that weren't a stupid, stupid idea. No way, no how would she grow attached to the vampiric Bogey Man.
"I'm not a coward," she said, pulling back just enough to make her words heard. Their lips grazed, and Klaus' eyes were dark and hungry as they focused on her. "And we'll never talk about this again."
Her hands fell to his jeans, where she fumbled for a moment, but managed to undo the button and fly. She shot another look around the bar, but the bartender had disappeared entirely, and the place was still empty. Apparently most people in Mystic Falls didn't day drink, which just seemed dumb to Caroline. If they knew the truth about what lurked in their town, the place would never be empty.
"The bartender could come back at any point," Klaus pointed out to her, though he didn't try to stop her as she shoved his pants down.
"We're way above his pay grade. I'm pretty sure he won't come back out until he's positive we're gone." She shoved her own pants down, taking her panties with them. The table was right behind her, and lifting herself up to sit on it was easy. She kicked her jeans away, and then wrapped a leg around Klaus', pulling until he took another step forward, closed that final distance between them. He was hard, which worked well for Caroline, because his little dominant act from earlier had left her embarrassingly aroused, and she would probably have to spend years in therapy someday, to go over this attraction she had to the actual devil.
Right now, she didn't really want to think about it.
"Are we in a hurry?" Klaus asked, hands grasping her hip as she wiggled against him, letting him know exactly how ready she was.
"I said fuck you, not make sweet and gentle love to you. Pay up or shut up."
In the back of her mind, there was a vague thought about Elena, and how Stefan was probably wondering what the hell was going on. But Caroline didn't really care in that moment. Even the brief thought she'd managed to summon disappeared entirely when he shoved her back and grasped her thighs, entering her fully with a hard thrust.
It had been months since she had last had sex, since before Tyler had left; one of them had been capable of being loyal, after all. Maybe she had been kidding herself, or just ignoring what she needed... but now that it was happening, God, she'd missed it. And Klaus was spectacular at fucking. Caroline was used to quickies snuck when parents weren't around, driven by teenage hormones and groping hands that were still learning exactly where to go.
Klaus brought some finesse to the whole thing.
He maintained a steady pace that had her clutching the edges of the table. she didn't care when she felt pieces of wood crush to dust beneath the force of her grip. Not when he hit just the right spot, and shoved her shirt up to kiss along the skin of her stomach, and where her breasts curved out from her bra. It was delicate skin that he nibbled and nipped, and then ran a soothing tongue over. She'd never been really into the biting game - her experiences with lover's bites had never been the good kind. But the way Klaus did it was teasing. She could feel his smirk against her skin, and when she looked down her body to meet his eyes, she found herself smiling in answer.
The smile turned into a gasp as he grasped her hips and sped up. Instead, she stared up at the roof, and then it was the darkness of her eyelids, her back arching, because fuck. She had never orgasmed liked that before.
She thought she'd known what vampire-hybrid sex was. She hadn't had a freaking clue. In fact, she felt kind of ripped off now that she knew how it could really be, left gasping and still shivering with the remnants of her orgasms, Klaus still kissing her stomach as she came down from the high.
And then she remembered Elena.
Shit.
"Shit," she repeated out loud, sitting up and shoving Klaus away and her shirt down. He let her put distance between them - it galled, but she knew he let her - and she grabbed her jeans, shoving her legs into them. "This didn't happen."
"I beg to differ," Klaus replied, putting his pants on as well, though at a much more languid pace. "It very much did happen. It was fantastic really."
Caroline ran her hands through her hair, and then down so she could bury her face in them. She totally smelled like Klaus and sex, didn't she? There was no way she didn't. Probably scotch, too.
"It didn't happen," she repeated. "I distracted you, then you threatened to kill me, and now I'm telling you we know how to save Elena, but we need your help. There is no... anything in between."
She turned slowly to look at him, dropping her hands from her face. He had his arms crossed, a single brow raised in a way that said he wasn't impressed, but he no longer looked as though he was going to kill her. Apparently sex could calm the monster. Good to know.
No. Not good to know. She didn't know that. She refused to know that.
She straightened her shoulders and shoved her hair back over her shoulders, and pretended that she could still feel where he had nibbled her on her stomach and chest. He'd probably left marks, but by the time she got home, they'd be gone. The beauties of vampire healing. It would be like it never happened.
"So, here's the story..."
By the time they separated, she had the promise of a hybrid sacrifice, and he had the promise of a date.
Neither of them mentioned the sex again. They didn't have to. Both were entirely too aware of the new heat between them.
---
Klaus was hardly a virgin.
In fact, just the thought rather made him want to laugh. He had been alive for a thousand years. He'd had as many women of varying types as he had wanted. Over the years, seduction had become as easy as killing, until it was almost as monotonous. At least when he killed someone, there was sustenance to be found. Over the centuries, sex had begun to become almost... boring.
Yet it hadn't been with Caroline Forbes.
In the immediate aftermath, he had thought, perhaps, he had gotten her out of system. He had felt infinitely more relaxed, and hadn't even seriously contemplated relieving Stefan of his liver for releasing Elena like a fool. It was an unique experience for him, being almost laid back.
But despite his initial thoughts, he hadn't managed to fuck her out of his blood stream. Instead, by the the middle of the night the day he'd had her on the table, he found himself wanting her even more. Now that he knew how she felt, how she tasted, he thought she might be as close to an addiction as he'd ever encountered. The shirt he had been wearing, covered in her scent, and the scent of them combined, had been hung in his closet. It should have been his first sign, that he'd been unable to toss it in with the rest of his laundry.
He could just imagine how Rebekah or Kol would react, if they ever learned how far he had fallen, brought down by one little baby vampire. Bad enough that Rebekah was somewhat aware of his unfortunate... infatuation. If she ever found out the truth of how extreme it was, she would let their other brother know, just to spite him. He almost went to check on her, to make sure she was still safely daggered away, where she couldn't observe and use the situation to her advantage.
Foolish thoughts, and he shook his head and checked his reflection in the mirror. He had other things to keep his mind busy. After all, he had managed to negotiate his way into a date, and despite her earlier sharp words, Klaus knew that Caroline was a woman of high expectations. The more he could show her the finer side of life, the easier it would be to convince her to come away with him, once he had his doppelganger and her blood once more.
For now, he would settle for charming his way back into her bed... or perhaps to simply charm her into a bed at all. He thought he would rather enjoy that experience.
---
This wasn't going at all the way it was supposed to.
After she had accepted that she would have to follow through with having Klaus as her date to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, she'd realized that it could work to her advantage. After all, as the previous year's winner, she had responsibilities. She basically in charge of the whole thing. Even if Klaus was her date, she would hardly have time to pay him any attention. Really, he was wasting his date on a situation that wouldn't really get him any of her time. At least, that was how it was supposed to work.
That was how it had worked in her head.
Instead, she got in a fight with Elena, was forced to see Tyler leading the other woman around as if they hadn't broken her heart, and been forced to interact with Damon. Which was a terrible event on a good day, which this was definitely turning out not to be.
And now she sat with Klaus on a bench away from the party, drinking champagne and being... teased. Genuinely teased. In a way that showed off his dimples in a way that made something warm and dangerous form in her stomach. She'd known he could be charming, but it was usually in a suave way, the kind that let you know he probably wanted something.
This was a boyish charm that put his dimples on full display and, for a few precious moments, kind of made her feel like the teenaged girl she was, but barely had the opportunity to act like between life and death situations.
He seemed almost... not human. Klaus would never be human. He had been alive too long for that, and Caroline wouldn't want him if he was. She had tried that with Matt, and it had ended poorly. Humans, no matter how hard they might try, would never understand what it was to be a vampire, and Caroline loved what she had become. She would never say it to her friends, who all seemed to hate their inhumanity... but Caroline liked it. She liked the strength it gave her. So no, Klaus would never seem human, and she wouldn't want him to.
But when he spoke of a hummingbird and how fleeting life could be... he didn't seem like a monster.
He seemed like a man, one that knew what it was to feel how fleeting life was, but who also knew what eternity could be like.
And Caroline...
"You're looking at me like you're imagining me naked, Caroline."
She knew she was probably blushing, so she distracted herself by throwing back the champagne left in her glass, and then looking anywhere but at Klaus. Across the lawn, her eyes met Tyler's. Hayley was next to him, talking about something. She probably could have heard if she wanted to, but after that unfortunate morning when she caught them having sex... she'd rather not listen in on whatever they were talking about.
She looked away, gaze clashing with blue eyes that watched her with a knowing that made her feel uncomfortable. Klaus always seemed to understand her, somehow knew the words that would speak to her the most. She sometimes wondered what it said about her, that he knew clearly knew her so well. She should look away again, but if she did, she'd just end up looking at Tyler and feeling that hurt all over again.
Instead, she held Klaus' gaze and held her flute out for a refill.
"It hurts now," he said, taking the seat next to her again. "Those young loves always do. But someday... someday you'll look back and you won't even remember what he looked like, much less how the hurt felt."
"I'm not sure that's a good thing," Caroline replied, contemplating her flute. "Isn't it those emotions that make us who we are? Forgetting that... I've never wanted to be a monster,Klaus."
"Don't worry, Love. I'm more than capable of being monstrous for both of us."
The words were light-hearted, but maybe he wasn't the only one that had an insight into the other's mind. Because Caroline knew that it was more than just a joke; it was an offer. All she had to was reach out, and how would do it. He would be the monster for her. For as long as she wanted.
"Who was your first love?" she asked, breaking off the tension that had developed between them. "Who have you forgotten?"
"It would hardly be forgotten if I knew her name, would it?" Klaus replied, but Caroline could see a shadow in his eyes, so she just took a sip of champagne and waited. "Her name was Aurora. She was one of the first vampires we ever turned... Rebekah was her sire. I can't say I remember what color her eyes were anymore."
"And have you forgotten the hurt?"
Klaus looked into the distance, his eyes contemplative. It was moments like this, that Caroline remembered just how old he was. He was so close to his anger and hurt over... everything, that she sometimes forgot how many centuries he had seen.
"I remember echoes. Not so much the actual pain, but I do remember that I wouldn't care to feel it again. Does that make you feel any better?"
Caroline looked across the lawn, and this time Tyler was looking at Hayley. It hurt less, when he wasn't looking back at her. When he was looking at the girl next to him, Caroline could feel the anger that he deserved. But when they looked at each other, the distance just seemed to be filled with what ifs and questioning her decisions.
She preferred the anger.
"I don't know. Maybe it will help in a century or two."
She didn't look back at Klaus, but after a few moments of silence, he took the flute away from her, and set both glasses and the bottle to the side. He got to his feet and held his hand out to her. She looked at it, and knew there were a dozen questions she should be asking. This was Klaus after all. He wasn't to be trusted.
She took his hand.
---
It had been an odd thing, to speak of Aurora. He hadn't thought of her in... centuries. She had been beautiful, but he only knew that because he could recall thinking she was such. But as to how she actually looked - there was nothing.
Would he someday think back on Caroline, and find that he couldn't remember the color of her hair, the way the sunshine glinted off the strands, making it seem lighter, yet richer at the same time. Klaus wasn't inclined towards such romantic thoughts; Elijah was the one who lingered forever over lost loves. Rebekah was the one who moved to her next love without a thought. Klaus was the one that didn't love at all.
Yet the mere thought of forgetting Caroline... he knew it wasn't possible for a heart to ache, yet he swore his was.
"Where are we going?" Caroline asked, as he led her out of the view of the party. He was sure someone was already looking for her to bring an end to some disaster or another, but hang them. They were perfectly capable of running a beauty pageant without her, and the way she had looked at Tyler Lockwood, with anger, yes, but also something like longing... well, jealousy wasn't a new emotion to Klaus. But the taste of this jealousy had been particularly bitter.
They reached an alcove, hidden from view by the architecture of the house and some decorative bushes, and Klaus twirled them into it, his back hitting the side of the house, while he tugged Caroline into his arms.
"We're doing this," Klaus replied, before he tugged her in for a kiss. He liked it, that there wasn't much of a height difference between them. It meant they could kiss without a strain on his neck, and their bodies fit so very nicely against each other. He expected her to push him away almost immediately, because Caroline did like to spite herself, if she believed she shouldn't want something - such determination to be "good" for a woman who, at the heart of her, would do whatever it took to keep herself and her loved ones alive, and damn the world otherwise. She surprised him, though, by clutching his shoulders and kissing him back instead.
"We shouldn't be doing this," she said in between kisses.
"We already have," Klaus pointed down, kissing and nibbling down her jaw and neck, to a spot below her ear that made her breath catch. He kissed her there again, and made a note to remember that point.
"No, we haven't," Caroline argued. "It didn't happen, remember?"
He pulled back, to look at her. The shadows that had filled her eyes as she looked at Tyler were gone, replaced by arousal and desire and an impish amusement that made him grin in return - a real, true grin, not a smirk.
"Let's not do it again."
He spun them again, so that her front was pressed into the wall, her back against his chest. One arm rested on the wall next to them, while the other reached down and teased the skin at the hem of her dress. Caroline's breath caught again, and Klaus kissed along her neck, and then moved her hair aside so he could kiss the back as well. His hand dropped back to her hem, and began to ease it up. The underwear she wore was a pathetic little scrap, meant to avoid pantylines in the dress. He had to appreciate the modern day version of underwear, as he eased his fingers under the scrap and found her already hot and wet.
He wasn't the only one affected in their little dance. Good. It would have been humiliating, to be reduced to little more than a panting pup, if she weren't in the same condition as well.
His thumb swirled around her clit, and she let out little noises of desire, moving restlessly again his hand. It was easy, to tear that scrap of cloth away and press his body fully against hers. pushing her against the house. He didn't want to break contact, but he had to - just a bit - to get his pants undone, and to pusher her dress up just a bit further.
Then he was thrusting into her, and God, but this was what he needed. It was what he had been longing for since he'd had her in the bar. He'd lived for a thousand years, and he thought that, if he died in this moment, he could probably do it happily. It was the first time he'd ever had such a thought. It briefly occurred to him, that it should disturb him. Such thoughts weren't in his nature.
But Caroline was hot and wet around him, moving restlessly, and he found himself lifting her leg and thrusting hard, and any thoughts other than what it felt to be with her disappeared entirely. Her head turned, and it had to be uncomfortable to hold the position to kiss him, but she was nothing if not stubborn, and if she was willing to move like that to kiss him, who was he to argue?
She had such wonderful lips, after all.
It was fast and hungry again. The party wasn't far, and it was entirely possible that any one of the vampires or hybrids there would hear them and come investigate.
Perhaps it would be the Lockwood welp who had hurt her so, and who could never again be trusted. If Klaus thought for a second Caroline would be okay with it, he would compel the boy to come and see what it was like, for to give a woman like Caroline what she truly deserved. But she wasn't there, not yet, and quite possibly never. He had a feeling that her sense of propriety was an inborn thing, something that would never quite disappeared.
No matter. That made luring her into these moments of public depravity so much more enjoyable.
She squeezed him tightly when she orgasmed, and it made him come apart as well. It was so delicious, the taste of her at the height of passion, the noises she made as she fell apart at his hands.
He wanted it again already.
They both panted as he let her go, let her smooth her dress back in place, as he straightened his own clothing. She stared at him, leaning back against the side of the house. Her legs looked like they might still be shaking, and her eyes were wide.
"Let me guess... this didn't happen?"
Caroline opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Her throat worked rapidly, and then she finally just straightened, and pushed her hair back over her shoulders, an attempt to straighten it out again.
She left then, not having answered his question. Perhaps others would have taken that as an answer in itself, but Klaus was beginning to understand Caroline Forbes a little.
And she hadn't told him to forget about it.
---
She was screwed. She had realized that as soon as she had looked at Klaus, disheveled after their... sex. She had looked at him, and instead of shame or guilt, all she had thought was how much she wanted to do it again. Only in a bed, where they could both take their time.
He was probably spectacular with his tongue.
And those were terrible thoughts for her to have. They had so much else to worry about. Thinking about how talented evil itself was in bed shouldn't even be crossing her mind. After all, thanks to Klaus, they knew now that Elena was sired to Damon, and that was a situation she didn't care for at all. She barely trusted Damon to not kill her on a good day. She didn't trust him to not use the sire bond at all.
And maybe she lacked some tact. In fact, she could admit she lacked some tact. But when Elena threw Damon in her face, as if her "relationship" with Damon hadn't ultimately been that of puppeteer and unwilling, compelled puppet... well, Caroline had found herself wondering if it wouldn't be better for all of them if Elena was just gone.
Another terrible thought.
She was just filled with them.
So maybe she almost deserved being taken and tortured by the hybrids, because she had all those terrible thoughts, and was doing terrible things. But did she really deserve being rescued by Tyler and Elena of all people?
Having to be grateful to them in that moment made her wish they'd just let her die.
They were maudlin thoughts, and no one ever made good decisions when they had maudlin thoughts.
"If I said yes, where would you take me first?"
"Good evening, Caroline."
"Actually, it's a terrible evening. But back to my question," Caroline stared up at the roof, her phone resting on her chest, speaker phone engaged, "Paris, Rome and Tokyo. Those were the places you mentioned. Why?"
"Why was it a terrible evening?" Klaus' voice was suddenly sharp, as though he were on alert. It was on the tip of Caroline's tongue, to screw the world, to tell him what his Hybrids had done, and let him figure out the whole plot about breaking the sire bonds. They had tortured her, probably would have killed her - so why should she care?
Except she couldn't do that. She stared at the roof, and tried to drum up rage again, but instead she just felt numb. This had happened before. With Alaric, with Jules and her minions. Always that rage, and then numbness, because she was expected to be the bigger person, had just sort of become resigned to never actually getting vengeance.
"I don't want to talk about that," she said. Her voice felt distant to her. Distant, and as if it belonged to someone else - someone who didn't feel emotion. Someone who was numb. "I want to talk about Paris, Tokyo, and Rome."
There was silence over the line, and she thought he might push it. Klaus didn't like being denied. She'd wondered more than once, if that wasn't why he continued to persist with her. Because she had told him no, and he didn't like that. Except she hadn't been saying no to him lately, had she? And yet he still answered her calls in the middle of the night.
Maybe he was alone in that big house, with only sired hybrids and no siblings for company. She hadn't asked where Rebekah had disappeared to; she wasn't sure she wanted to know. He was such a truly terrible person.
And still she turned to him for comfort.
"I would take you to the museums, first. To see the art of the greats, and the remnants from civilizations of the past."
She rolled onto her side, put her phone on the pillow next to her face, and wrinkled her nose. She still felt a bit detached, but there was comfort in forcing the reaction.
"Really? A history lesson? I can get that in class, Klaus."
"Not the way I would give it. I would tell you stories of the artist's lives, who they truly were as men." There was passion in Klaus' voice; Caroline thought that art might be the one thing in the world that he genuinely loved. What was it like? To be passionate about something like that, even after centuries? "And it wouldn't be a history lesson, Love. It would be a revelation. You might never know those artists or those civilizations yourself... but in a thousand years, you could know the next ones."
She closed her eyes and thought of that. Of living for a thousand years, and going to the museums of the future, and seeing portraits created by old friends. Seeing civilizations that she had outlived.
"It seems lonely," she said at last. "To see all that, to live all that, and for it to be gone."
"Perhaps," Klaus acknowledged. "But it also makes you feel powerful... and it doesn't have to be lonely."
An offer in those words. One that was more than just showing her the world and it's history. It was a promise to never be alone again. A heady thought, but Caroline was still young enough to look at the world through eyes that were all too human. And for humans, nothing ever lasted forever.
"You can't promise me that," she said, curling into a ball and squeezing her eyes shut. Tears began to fall, and she covered her mouth when a sob threatened to rise in her throat. She wasn't numb anymore. Not anymore.
"Caroline."
"Don't hang up," she said, and the words came out on that sob that refused to be held back. "Just... I don't want to be alone right now."
And so he remained on the line, probably sitting in some chair older than she was, and Caroline curled up as tight as she could, and she cried. She cried while he spoke to her of men and civilizations that were long dead, and it was the closest she'd felt to being loved in...
Maybe ever.
---
She was bright and perky, and judging by the way everyone around her acted, they believed today was no different from any other.
To Klaus, it appeared fake.
He had to admit, there was something to be said about watching her boss the rest of her cheer squad around. Despite the dark looks and grumbling, it was clear she ruled over her little corner with an iron fist that wouldn't be disobeyed. He could also appreciate observing her in the sports bra and tight shorts... but mostly it was the way she reigned over them.
He had seen women born to royalty who couldn't achieve such a regal bearing.
At some point, some of the girls began to notice him, began to get somewhat distracted. Caroline reigned them in, but that was when she became aware of their silent observer. The practice went on for about ten minutes longer, before she finally called it to an end, sending the other girls back to the school. She, on the other hand, charged towards him, hell in her eyes.
"Okay, Creepy McCreeperson - what the hell?" She came to a halt several feet from where he leaned against the side of his car, watching her. "First you... do whatever it is you did to Rebekah. And I don't want to know, I don't even really care, but she was part of this squad and I've had to cover for her which has been annoying. And now you're here to distract the rest of the girls with your" - she waved a hand up and down towards him - "everything?"
"Do you find me distracting, Caroline?" he asked, straightening up. He found himself rather happy, to think that perhaps he could distract him. He sauntered towards her, and she took a single step back, before steeling her spine and refusing to move any further. "I'm here to ask you on a date."
"A date?" Caroline stared blankly at him. "You already got your date, remember? There were dresses and ties involved."
"I do remember. I remember everything." It was clear exactly what he meant by everything, and the reminder of what they had done in that alcove made Caroline flush. He didn't think it was entirely out of embarrassment, either. "And that was part of a deal. Now, I'm requesting a date. One that isn't coerced or otherwise forced. I want to spend time with you, Caroline. Time that I don't have to bribe you into."
"Really, I was the one bribing you with the date," she replied, looking everywhere but at Klaus. "Klaus... I can't. You know I can't. You know why I can't."
Because he was the evil to her friends. He knew that of course; they were happy to have her spend time with her if they were offering her up with as a distraction. But otherwise? It would be considered a betrayal, and Caroline was nothing if not loyal.
"They don't deserve you," Klaus said after a moment, his tone harsher than he meant for it to be. But he would admit to anger and jealousy. Because he wanted that loyalty for his own. Perhaps, if he had that, he wouldn't be quite the ass his siblings often liked to call him. He thought, if he had Caroline's loyalty, freely given, that perhaps he wouldn't be quite so hungry for the power his hybrids gave him.
Foolish, romantic thoughts that he was stupid to even contemplate. She was a beautiful distraction - something they were both very aware of.
He should walk away now, he realized. Leave her here, to her her foolish friends and her dangerous loyalties; because they would get her killed. She wasn't Elena Gilbert. The Salvatore brothers wouldn't swoop into her rescue when her life was on the line. No one would.
"Where would you take me?" she asked, looking up at the sky. Her eyes looked sad, and it reminded her of the way she had cried on the phone - heartbreaking sobs that had eventually faded away, until she was listening to him speak, and then she had drifted into sleep. He wasn't sure how long he had listened to her do so, just that it had been far too long. He had felt like a fool.
And now he was asking her on a date, like some boy.
"I would like to take you to Italy. The streets are lined with bakeries and bistros. I would buy you those sundresses you so love, and we would explore them all. I know that you like to eat." Klaus didn't quite understand it, but he could admit, just to himself, the pleasure he took in seeing her do so.
It was the mouth. He did so very like her mouth.
"That's a nice dream, but I have a bit of a time limit - running off to Italy isn't really an option for her." It was, but it wasn't one she was ready to take quite yet. "So, how about here? The Grill?"
"No. The Quarterback would see us, and you'd be uncomfortable. Come to my home. I'll make sure it's minion free."
She lowered her head, looking at him with a raised brow.
"So what you really want is a booty call. You could have said that, Klaus." She still looked thoughtful, but she gave a shrug. "Why not?"
He wanted to be angry with her, for having been so hesitant over a date, yet being so willing for a "booty call." Not because it wounded his pride - he understood her thoughts, after all. He simply didn't agree with them.
No, he loathed what it said about her thoughts on herself.
She deserved better than moments taken in secret, out of fear of judgment from people who would never accept such judgement from her. She deserved to be shown off to the world, adorned in fine silk and jewels.
She... deserved everything he could show her.
"A seduction," he said at last, fighting between the parts of him that thought it better to kill than feel, and the part that already acknowledged it was too late to protect himself. "I would never be so crass as to request a booty call, Caroline. I'm not Lockwood."
"No," she said after a moment. "You're not." She bit her lip, and now she looked directly at him, and he felt as thought she were possibly seeing far too much. But at last she nodded. "Okay. But it's the same as last time - no dress or jewelry. I'll supply my own outfit."
Then she was gone, off to the school and the rest of her squad in the change rooms, leaving Klaus to feel bemused and as though the whole thing hadn't gone as it was meant to, even though he'd gotten exactly what he wanted.
---
Caroline stared at her reflection in the mirror and wondered if she was really going to do this. Klaus might call it a seduction, or whatever... but she was going over to his house. Klaus' house. She was going over there willingly. No plots of distraction, just to go there.
With every intention of having sex with him.
And yeah, okay, it wasn't going to be the first time. She knew that; she vividly remembered the other times. She had used a toy and her memory of those times to... relax more than once. But they had also been spur of the moment things. They had been fucking.
And this was, apparently, going to be seduction. How did you even get seduced? Had Caroline been seduced before? She didn't think so. For the most part, her experiences with sex had been in the heat of the moment. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable with this. How did you even go about this whole thing?
She sighed and ran her hands into her hair. Then pulled them out with a yelp, because she had carefully blown her hair out and arranged it in perfect curls for this whole thing, and now she was screwing them up. Hands out of her hair, she wasn't sure what she should do with them anymore. So she just smoothed down her dress. It was a sundress, because he had mentioned them, when he was talking about their imaginary date in Italy, and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about that. So she'd put on the bright yellow dress with the sweetheart neckline, that flared out just right at her waist. It was cute and bright... and she hoped it would make him smile.
"What am I even doing?" she asked the air.
Of course, there was no answer. Because this wasn't like a usual date, where she would have Bonnie and Elena over, and they would giggle and give her advice on what she should wear. They could never know about this and...
And who the fuck cared? Elena was dating the monster that still haunted Caroline's nightmares. Why did she spend so much time thinking about what she'd think about this, when her "friend" obviously didn't give her the same thought.
It steeled her spine, and Caroline slicked on another layer of pink gloss, before she headed to her car. Her mom was working late - as per usual - so she left a note that said she probably wouldn't be home until morning. Liz would likely think she was with her friends, or maybe with Tyler. Did she even know they'd broken up? Caroline couldn't remember.
She didn't want to think about it, either. It made her felt incredibly lonely to think about it.
The drive to Klaus' manor house was quick, which was probably for the best. Because had it been any longer, she probably would have turned her car around. She felt so... fidgety. This wasn't like her. Klaus was, like, the one person she actually felt pretty confident with - the one person where it wasn't a carefully curated act, put on so the rest of the world didn't know what a scared little girl she really was.
She pulled up in front of the house, and checked her reflection in the car's rear view mirror. No more time for depressing thoughts. She had a booty call... or a seduction to attend. She took a quick moment to check her makeup and hair, and then she went to get out of the car.
The door opened before she could touch the handle, and a hand was held in front of her. She looked at Klaus, dressed in dark wash jeans and a button down shirt. She raised her brows, because she'd never really seen him dressed in anything other than casual or full out formal wear.
"Wow, I'm getting the full chivalrous treatment. Impressive."
Klaus rolled his eyes, and just waited for her to take his hand. She did, letting him tug her out of the car, careful not to flash him as she straightened. He looked at her, eyes darkening at the sight of the sundress. She wondered if he was thinking about their conversation... but that was stupid, right? That whole Italy spiel had just been him being charming. It's not like he remembered everything he'd said.
She still felt stupid, for the way she remembered it, clinging to the words so closely, as if they'd ever come true. As if they'd ever be anything more than a high school cheerleader and a thousand year old monster stealing some moments away from the eyes of her friends.
"You're thinking too much love." His fingers grazed her cheek, and she blinked at him, something in her stomach tightening at his smirk, at the way his gaze focused on her, as if she were the only thing of interest in the whole world. "We should do something about that."
"Lots of people would say I don't think enough," she replied. "Especially right now. If I were thinking at all, I wouldn't be here."
"Then why are you?"
She wanted to look away, but when she tried, he gripped her chin - carefully, but firmly - and refused to let her turn her head. She could close her eyes, of course, and break eye contact that way. But that was the move of a coward, and Caroline hated to think of herself that way. So they stood there for who knew how long, eyes locked, until Klaus finally chuckled and released his grip.
"What's so funny?" Caroline asked his back, as he grasped her fingers and began to lead her towards the house. "Hey... you can't not reply to me. That's rude!"
"Nothing," Klaus replied, holding the door open for her. "Absolutely nothing is funny, Love. I have champagne opened in the sitting room. It's my favorite, out of France. I think you'll quite enjoy it."
"Are you going to try and get me drunk?" she asked him, deciding to let his lame answer go for the moment. Fighting might be kind of foreplay for them, but it probably didn't help with the whole seduction thing, and Caroline kind of wanted to experience it.
"I would never be so tasteless, Love. I'll attempt to get you slightly tipsy at best."
They entered the sitting room, and Caroline felt her lips curve as he poured them both champagne and handed her the glass. She glanced around, raising a brow as she took in what could only be considered a multitude of flickering candles. They were even held up in silver candelabra scattered around the room. They were probably older than she was.
"Electricity problems?" she asked after her glance, taking a sip of her champagne as she waited for his response.
"It's ambiance, Caroline. Hasn't anyone ever tried to be romantic with you?"
She thought of cookies and movies with Matt. Of Tyler riding to the rescue against his mother and her father. And maybe those were romantic in their own way... but it was a valid question. Had anyone ever done something romantic for her, just for the sake of being romantic?
If they had, she couldn't remember it.
"You know, Love, if we're going to do this, then it will take a little bit of trust. I can't seduce you if you're so wound up that you could snap at any moment."
"I'm always wound up. It didn't stop you in the past."
In a flash, he had taken her glass, set both it and his own aside, and had moved to her back, his hands on her shoulders. She tensed at his sudden presence at her back, and felt his warm breath against her ear as he chuckled, a sound that was low and dark. He dug his thumps into her back, moving them in circles. It took a few moments of massaging, but the knots in her back finally began to loosen, and Caroline felt her shoulder begin to relax, as she let her eyes drift shut.
She wasn't sure if trust was the right word, but she knew he wasn't going to hurt her. Not in that moment.
Probably not ever, but if she thought too hard about that, it would just make her tense again.
She relaxed back into his chest, and let him support most of her weight as he continued to identify and soothe out the knots and stresses in her back. Soon enough, the massaging became a caress, and his lips found her neck, kissing and nipping their way along her neck, up to just below her ear, and then back down again.
"Okay," she decided, turning in his arms and gripping the collar of his shirt in her hands, "I'm seduced. You were successful. Let's do this."
"Sweetheart, do you know what the most addictive part is, about immortality?" he asked, gripping her wrists and tugging her grip free. Caroline scowled at him, the expression fading as she swallowed hard, when he turned one of her hands over, and pressed a kiss to the delicate pulse point of her wrist. He glanced at her from beneath his eyelashes, his lips still on her skin.
Seduction could get addictive.
"What is it?" she managed to get out, her voice hoarse. "The most addictive part of immortality."
"Time," Klaus replied, the graze of his lips on her skin making her shiver. "We have infinite time. Time for seduction. Time to live. We can take all the time we want."
He had a way, of painting a tale of immortality with his words. One that made being a vampire seem like so much more than what anyone else did. Instead of expecting her to feel guilt for what she was, Klaus made her want to revel in it, and to experience everything it had to offer.
"What would you do?" she asked him. "If I said yes. To Italy. To all of it."
What if she said yes to him? That was what she was really asking, and the flare of desire in his eyes told her he recognized that.
"Are you?"
His question hung between them, heavy and tempting. More tempting than Caroline could express. Just leaving... running away and forgetting about Mystic Falls and all its baggage. It was so, so tempting.
And yet, she couldn't answer him. Didn't have an answer for him. His smirk was a twisted, dark thing, and it should frighten her. Instead, she just wanted to kiss it until it softened and became something far sweeter.
"Well then. For now, we'll use our time for easier things."
She was ready to say that there was nothing easy about them, and never had been. But before she could, he cupped her jaw and again and kissed her. It was a hot, open-mouthed kiss that was meant to tempt and cajole her into responding. She did, just as eager and hungry. Before, it would have been an immediate prelude to more. He would push her against the wall and shove up the skirt of her dress.
But Klaus had already said that today was about time. And so he stepped backwards until he could sit in a chair. Caroline knew exactly which one it was - some old wooden and ostentatious thing. It had probably belonged to royalty or something. Today, it was being used for a make out, but the cushioned seat was comfortable for he knees as she straddled him, her hands gripping his shoulders. One of his hands cupped the back of her neck, and the other drifted down, to run along her side, teasing along the length of her dress until he could grip her thigh, just underneath the skirt's fabric.
It didn't move from that position, even when Caroline wiggled in his lap, and clearly felt that he was just as into the whole thing as she was.
"You know, speed has it's place too," she said, breaking away from him for a moment. "I mean, forever is theoretical. We could also die tomorrow."
"Hiding a white oak stake, are we?" he asked her with a smirk, dropping his other hand down so it was also gripping her thigh.
"Okay, so maybe you won't die tomorrow, but I'm not an Original. I could."
She was suddenly on her back on the settee next to the chair they'd been in, Klaus over top of her. His monster was in his eyes, and one of his hands gripped her throat. Caroline should probably feel terrified by the sudden change in Klaus' emotions. He was well known for being mercurial, after all. Maybe she always should have expected he would turn against her.
But despite that, she felt safe, even comforted by the way his weight rested over her.
"Never," he snarled, and she blinked up at him. "If you die tomorrow, I'll tear whoever did it apart, and then I'll find a way to bring you back."
He froze, and Caroline gaped up at him. Because that was... a lot. That was...
"Shit," she breathed out, and Klaus pulled away from her. He grabbed his glass of champagne and drank what was left in it, then tossed back what was left in hers as well, before busying himself with refilling both. Caroline stared at his back. "Klaus..."
"Is this where you let me down easy?" the smirk he tossed her was probably meant to be casual and unbothered, but it was a bit too late for that. Caroline had a habit of loving other people more than they ever loved her. She could recognize the pain of feeling that way. "I'm very old, Caroline. I don't need you to coddle me."
"Klaus... I'm eighteen. I have plans and dreams and none of them include you. You're just..." she ran a hand over her hair. "You're a thousand years old, Klaus. You're intimidating."
"Well, at least I'm not a murderous psychopath in this little speech." He raised his glass to her, set the free one on a table next to her. "That's progress."
"Are you really joking right now?"
"If the alternative is discussing our emotions, then yes." He contemplated his glass. "You mentioned something about speed earlier. Perhaps we should go back to that."
For a second, Caroline was tempted. His lips, even in that bitter little smirk, were so damn tempting. She could grab him and kiss him again. She even got as far as gripping his face between her hands.
And then she stopped.
"I... you terrify me. And not because you're the big bad evil, which probably makes me all sorts of stupid, because that's really why I should be terrified of you. But it's not the reason. You make me want more, Klaus. More than all of those plans I've made, and it's terrifying. I'm no where near ready for it yet."
"Yet?" he repeated.
"Yet," she agreed, the echo of a promise in her words. It was a promise she should never make, but one that she realized she desperately wanted to keep. He gripped her wrist and turned his face, pressing a kiss to the center of her palm. His hands dropped to her hips and he kissed her again. It moments, it became heated, and he lifted her beneath her ass, her legs gripping his waist. "Take me to bed Klaus."
They broke apart to grin at each other, and the bitterness in his was gone. So she held his face, and rested their foreheads together, and let out a surprised laugh when the room blurred and they were suddenly in his room, and she was being tipped back onto the bed. The room was lit by the glow of yet more candles, and she would have asked about the power again, except that a foreign scent entered her nostrils. She turned her head, and reached out a hand to stroke against a velvety red object.
"Rose petals?" She picked it up, and then realized there were white petals as well. All of them scattered across the bed. Klaus ran his hands along her sides, until he could twine their fingers together. The petal dropped from hers, and she let him raise her arms over her head, and then returned his kiss when he sealed his lips to hers. The positing meant that their bodies were pressed together, and Caroline reveled in how he felt against her. Something soft and sweet unfurled in her chest.
And she might not be ready for him, not yet, but with that unfurling came the realization that Klaus Mikaelson could really, truly hurt her. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once. Falling in love always was.
And down that road lay danger. Klaus had broke their kiss, to press his mouth to her neck, and focusing on that seemed far less dangerous than thinking about emotions. So she turned her head and tightened her grip on his fingers when he hit a particularly sensitive spot. She wasn't sure how long that continued, before clothes got in their way and grips had to loosen, in favor of getting rid of his shirt, so he could push up her dress and remove her underwear.
The first round was as frantic and heated as the other two had been. They might have been trying to go slow, but maybe Caroline just wasn't made for slow. At least not until she'd had hot and fast and hungry. But once they had both finished, she rolled onto her side, and let him finish removing her dress. Then she watched as he kicked off his own pants and joined her in the bed. This time, it was skin against skin.
It was glorious.
She kissed along his pecs, and down his abdomen with slow pecks and licks. Then she took him in her mouth, because he was already starting to harden again, and if Caroline said she wasn't a little impressed with his stamina, she'd be lying.
She took her time at that as well, enjoying the way he cursed and clutched at the bed, until he pulled her up his body and reversed their positions, so he loomed over her. And this time he entered her slowly. It was beautiful and almost painful, because she was ready for him all over again, and he was clearly ready to sexually torture her. Normally, she would close her eyes, but his had locked with hers, and looking away wasn't an option. So instead she kept her eyes wide open, and rode out the orgasm with him, never breaking that contact until, finally, he collapsed next to her, just as sated as she was.
"Someday," he murmured into her shoulder, tugging her into the warmth of his arms. "Someday, I'm going to offer you Italy again, Caroline. And you'll say yes."
She would probably be part of a plot to try and kill him again or something before then. And he would likely double cross Stefan in their little turn-Elena-human plot. But at that moment in time, Caroline didn't care about any of it.
"Someday," she agreed.