Lone Came The Devil

Chapter One

Caroline looked him straight in the eye when she uttered her answer confidently in a single word.

"Yes."

Klaus could not believe the emotional turmoil going on inside of him. Why did it matter what some random baby vampire thought of him? Why did it affect him so much?

He took a step closer to her. And then another one, only to lift the blanket that was currently hiding Tyler's bite.

Klaus could not stop the air leaving his lungs at the sight of her current pain.

"That looks bad." He stated.
"You're what's known as collateral damage. It's nothing personal." He tried to justify, though not sure to whom.

In return Caroline just glared at him. Her eyes full of hatred for the man standing in front of her.

Of course, he could hardly blame her. He was the cause for all her pain after all.

That's when he recognized the pathetic excuse for a bracelet on her arm. He reached out to touch it.

"I love Birthdays." Klaus said, smiling to himself.

Caroline just gave a huff and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah." her weak voice answered.

"Aren't you like a billion or something?" Klaus's smile only widened.

There she lays, nothing but a baby vampire on the brink of death. Yet, she still possesses the audacity to roll her eyes at him. The original hybrid.

But for some reason he did not mind at all. More so, he enjoyed her courage.

"You have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire, Caroline. Celebrate the fact that you are no longer bound by trivial human conventions. You're free." he told her.

"No. I'm dying." At that Klaus's dead heart clenched in his chest.

She was right. The venom was already working it's way through her system. Without his blood she would definitively be dead before the night was out.

He took a seat next to her, feeling the need to be closer to the magnificent creature in front of him. "And I could let you. Die. If that's what you want. If you really believe your existence has no meaning. I've thought about it myself once or twice over the centuries, truth be told." Klaus was overwhelmed from all the emotions running through his body.

Never had he shared that piece of information with anyone. Not even with his siblings.

He blamed it on the smell of her blood.

Klaus leaned a little closer to her face and kept talking in a low voice.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret: There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities and art and music" He smiled, lost in her beautiful eyes. "Genuine beauty. And you can have all of it"

By now he could see Caroline's eyes starting to water with unshed tears.

"You can have a thousand more Birthdays. All you have to do is ask." Klaus was surprised himself. He could not shake the feeling that he would do whatever she asked of him indeed.

"I don't wanna die." Caroline told him on the verge of tears.

Klaus freed his wrist and took Caroline's fragile form in his arms.

And oh, he thought to himself, what a perfect little form indeed. He could not help but enjoy the feel of Caroline in his arms.

Holding his wrist in front of her mouth he spoke in a soothing voice "Here you go, love. Have at it"

He could feel her teeth penetrating his skin short after. He smiled, ravelling in the feeling of her feeding directly from his vein. Something no one had ever done before.

Donating his blood was something rare, something he had only done a handful of times over the centuries. But never would he have let anyone drink from him the way Caroline did in this very moment

"Happy Birthday, Caroline."

Klaus opened his eyes, not able to endure this torture any longer.

He could not say what it was about her. How could it be that a simple teenage baby vampire could awaken feelings in him he had presumed long dead.

All he knew now was that he had to have her. Claim her as his.

Of course, he would not want her as his equal. No. He wanted to scratch the itch she awakened tonight. Maybe take her to bed a few times and kill her when the time was right.

Klaus ignored the knot forming in his stomach at the thought of her death.

Instead he got up and headed to the basement of his huge but also lonely mansion. He opened the door to one of the rooms and went inside only to come back out a few minutes later, carrying a little box and a smirk.