"Nothing is with me now but a sound,
A heart's rhythm, a sense of stars"
- W. H. Auden, Compline
In which Charlotte Salvatore wakes after a 145 year slumber and is thrust into a supernatural world before she can cope with the modern one.
(THE VAM...
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Klaus, Stefan and Charlotte had been on the road nearly two months now, Klaus grew more frustrated as the time passed and they still hadn't found any werewolves. They were still driving lots on their search from one lead to the next but now rather than sleeping in the car and driving through the night they were staying in hotels five or six times in a week.
Klaus stopped getting another room for Charlotte after the third night.
If Stefan had brought it up, Charlotte would've said that she was cold and Klaus was warm. Truthfully he was, the cold reminded her of her time stuck on the Other Side and being in his arms made her feel safe as she slept.
She slept better pulled in close and warm.
She liked his hand in her hair and her head on her chest, the sound of his heartbeat by her ear. She liked how he was when it was just them too, the way he talked to her, held her, listened to her. He didn't act the same when it was just them, he was kinder and softer in the mornings, his voice gravely as he held her from leaving, holding on to their mornings together. In the evenings as they curled up they'd talk too, he'd ask about her life before or tell her stories about his as they drifted off.
She liked how it was when it was just her and him.
She didn't really mind the way his hand gripped hers or wrapped around her waist when they walked now. She wouldn't admit it but she liked being with him. Klaus wasn't tugging her along just to watch Stefan's body tense with silent rage, now it was because he liked feeling her beside him. He liked knowing where she was always, knowing she was okay if she was beside him.
Fortunately for all parties, Stefan never brought it up. He watched it all, but he knew there wasn't anything he could say that would stop it without hurting Charlotte.
And then, after a fortnight of nothing they finally had a promising lead.
Klaus and Charlotte were walking up a driveway in the dark, his arm around her waist holding her close. She had tried to protest being part of this but Klaus had reassured her she only had to be there at the beginning and then made some joke about earning her keep and after hearing the plan, she wasn't sure she wanted to wait in the car alone out here in the middle of nowhere. So here she was, about to trick and threaten someone into helping Klaus' grand plan.
"Rudy," a woman whistled then yelled, "Rudy, come on. It's too hot to make me come looking for you."
The woman was tall and leggy, she had daisy dukes and a small top, with blonde hair that was wavy and full. She looked so normal and it made Charlotte's stomach turn, this could so easily be her, unlucky enough to be outside when someone came by looking for information on her brothers.
Klaus sped them forwards, so that they appeared before the woman suddenly causing her to jump back with a fright. Charlotte dug her fingers into his side in disapproval, if he felt it he didn't flinch speaking up in an American accent that would've made Charlotte laugh in another situation.
