The Last Petrova

Trust Me

December 31st, 1999, New York, Times Square

"And here you kept telling me human gatherings were a pathetic excuse for lost souls to feel like they have a place to belong," I said to Klaus with a smile playing on my lips.

 "Trust me, love, they are," Klaus said, as he stared out the window, looking down upon the people bustling about thirty stories below us.

"Still, it's not every day one gets to witness the start of a new millennium," Klaus said, raising a glass towards me. "To the one constant that remains, even for people like us- Time," he nodded.

I clinked my glass with his, and took a sip of the magnificently expensive wine Klaus had pulled out from one of his many mansions all over the world.

"Are they starting the countdown?" I wondered, looking over the balcony.

"One minute left until midnight," Klaus said.

"Ever heard of a tradition called the New Year's kiss?" Klaus said with his signature smirk. I rolled my eyes. "Keep on dreaming, Nik," I said.

"Five," the crowd began chanting. "Four. Three, two... One!"

"To a new millennium," I said, raising my glass.

"And all that is to come," Klaus added.

Present Day

"Going to let your ego kill your friend, Stefan?" I ask.

"Going to let your stupid games kill an innocent?" Stefan replies, controlling his breath. 

Our eyes meet, and neither of us move. My vampire hearing picks up on another groan from Caroline, and judging from how Stefan's face just fell into a pained expression, he heard it, too.

"Oh, god- Stefan, her skin's turning grey, why is her skin turning grey?" Matt says as he comes back out of the house.

Stefan laughs like a madman, staring at the ground. "You know what? If you're so desperate to win, then here," he says, getting down on one knee and spreading his arms apart, "You win. Now please, I am begging you, if there's even the slightest of humanity left in your empty casing of a body, help Caroline," Stefan says through clenched teeth.

"I'll admit, I did expect this to feel a little more satisfying..." I shrug. "Well, a deal's a deal," I say, and head over to my car. 

I take out a small vial filled with Klaus's blood. 

"Have fun, you two," I say, tossing the vial carelessly to Matt and driving away.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Klaus?" I call out when I enter the mansion. "Klaus, where- Bloody-" I swear, when a glass bottle comes flying my way.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you? That could have impaled me!" I shout at him. "I do apologize, love, I must have accidentally lost my grip on the bottle," Klaus says, sauntering into the room in a calm, careless manner.

"And here I thought vampires couldn't get drunk," I say, glancing over at one of the shattered glass pieces on the floor. 

"Trust me, love. They can't." he drawls. "And I'm not. It simply seems I've envisioned Stefan Salvatore's death one too many times and it's gotten to me. Not to worry though, I'm sure the effects will wear off once his ripped out heart is in my fist," he says with a placid smile.

"He still hasn't returned your siblings to you, then?" I ask in a controlled voice.

That's when I suddenly remember something... Something that I had forgotten all about until now.

During my angered argument with Elijah back in New York, I accidentally let it slip to him that I had let Mikael go free.

If Stefan gives the coffins back to Klaus, then Klaus will surely reunite his family now that his 'father' is gone. And Elijah, being the 'kind and generous' soul that he is, will not hesitate to say the one thing that will tear my entire existence apart. Elijah won't even need to lift a finger, Klaus will most likely kill me himself.

But will he, though? A small voice in my head asks. A lot has changed during the past few weeks... There truly is a small part of me that believes Klaus cares about me in a way he has cared for no other before. The way he sped immediately to my side after Stefan staked my this morning without a moment of hesitance...

"No... But I plan on making a little visit to the Salvatore House tomorrow morning, to have a conversation of pleasantries, if you will," Klaus says thoughtfully.

"And once you get them back? Will you be undaggering all of your siblings? Will it be back to old times? Me, Kol, and Rebekah going off on ripper rampages while Elijah tries to stop us? While you sit and relax on your chair, watching amusedly from behind?" I ask.

I take a step closer towards him. "No, that's not what's going to happen though, is it?" I say.

"Because the last memory I have of Elijah is of him chaining me up in front of a window, having his stupid witch torture me with a stake as the sun came up and burned half the flesh off my body," I say with a frown.

"I won't be releasing Elijah, if that's what you're worried about," Klaus says, caressing my cheek with his hand. His hand, as I have noted before, are beyond soft despite the countless murders he commits with them every day.

"Not right away, at least. I'm thinking of giving him a few decades to simmer down before I set him free again. Kol, though..." Klaus slowly nods. "Well, he hasn't been free in over an entire century, isn't that right?" Klaus asks. I nod.

"The business with the crazy witches of New Orleans. You daggered him in what, 1902?" I wonder.

"And not to mention my oldest brother, Finn," Klaus says.

I frown. "I've heard you mention that name before, I didn't realize he was another one of your daggered siblings, though," I say.

"Yes, well, Finn has been cooped up in a box for over nine centuries now," Klaus shrugs. "Nine centuries?" I say.

As Klaus goes on about his plans to change Mystic Falls once his siblings are brought to him, the fast beating of my heartbeat slowly subsides to a normal rate. Klaus isn't planning on freeing Elijah for the next few decades, or so. I know that, one day, in the far off future, I may have to run, as Katherine did. But-

My thoughts are interrupted when Klaus grabs me and kisses me. It lasts for a really long time...

Once I finally break away from the kiss, I finish my last thought-

I don't plan on running away any time soon.