Adore You || Klaus Mikaelson

Thirteen

"Don't you have any brains, Niklaus?" Elijah scolded. "You brought this," he paused, searching for the right word, "this child inside of our home! You know nothing about him! He could do much more harm than he could do good."

"And they say that I'm the paranoid Mikaelson," Klaus laughed, pouring himself a glass of Scotch. "You know what else they say, dear brother?" Elijah didn't say anything, just raised his eyebrows to encourage his brother. "To keep your friends close, and the kin of your enemies even closer." Klaus grinned and brought the glass of scotch to his lips, letting the cool liquid run down his throat.

With that last bit being said, Klaus stalked out of the room and walked into his art room on the other side of the compound. He took the incomplete painting of a meadow off of the easel and replaced it with a blank canvas. He dipped his brush in paint and began to make an outline of woods with a full moon shining above it.

Hours later, the painting was almost complete, save for a few minor details. He was interrupted from his work by a soft knock on the door. Klaus turned around to find Lydia standing in the doorway.

"Hello, love," he smiled, setting his paintbrush down and wiping the wet paint off his hands with a towel that lay near by. He walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I actually had a question for Elijah," Lydia admitted, "but when I saw you in here painting, I wanted to come by and see what you were working on."

Klaus let go of her and stepped aside to let her look at the painting. "It's not finished yet," he explained.

Lydia walked over to the painting to get a closer look. The details in the trees fascinated her, as did the swirls in the night sky and the texture given to the moon. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Yes," Klaus breathed, looking at Lydia, "it's beautiful indeed."

"Klaus! Klaus!" A disembodied voice called from the lower level of the compund, snatching the original's attention. "Klaus, look at this!"

"Excuse me," Klaus said, leaving Lydia in the room by herself. He made his way to Ryan, the boy he found in the cemetary.

The boy was holding a few pieces of paper and waving it around to no end. Klaus chuckled, bringing the boy's attention to him.

"Klaus! Look, look, look!" Ryan chanted excitedly, leaping up the steps to where Klaus stood. "It's the first A I've ever gotten on a paper!" He beamed up at the vampire, showing pride in himself.

Klaus took the paper out from the boy's hand and looked at it. Sitting at the top of the page in purple ink was a big fat letter A sitting right next to Ryan's name.

"Well done!" Klaus laughed, ruffling the boys' hair. "Now just keep it this way!"

---

"Why is there a little boy running around the compund?" Lydia asked the second she stepped into Elijah's room.

Elijah himself was stretched out across his bed, reading a book. He looked sleepy. Lydia blushed when she realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

He turned his attention from the Stephen King novel in his hand to the new vampire that just barged into his room.

"Niklaus," he began to explain, "stumbled upon him whilst searching for you. He made a comment about bastards and orphans being black sheep. I guess he saw a bit of himself in the boy and offered to bring him into our home, just as he had with Marcellus a hundred or so years ago."

Lydia bit her lip, worried. "He not-" Lydia began, then stopped herself. Of course Klaus wouldn't hurt the boy. He's not that monstrous, is he? "He's not going to turn that poor boy into a vampire, is he?" She asked, terrified at the thought.

Elijah looked at Lydia like he was studying her. He didn't say anything for a moment, leaving her in suspense, terrified at the words that might come out of his mouth. "He is indeed."

Lydia felt something in her break. Why would Klaus do such a thing? Why would he rob a little boy of his innocence, of the one thing that makes being a human so great? The boy will never know what it's like to hold his child in his arms. That boy will never know what it's like to grow old. Lydia paused for a moment before realizing what she was truly upset about. She wanted that. She wanted to be human again.

a/n: short chapter, I know. I hope you enjoyed it regardless :)