Never Again {Klaus/OC/Damon}

Never Again Chapter One: Pains of the Past

"Look." Clara grinned.

"Thank you." He stated sincerely, his now healed hand moving to cup the side of her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek.

Clara relaxed into the warm, strong hand of the man she loved before pulling back with a smile. "Come on. Lets write our names here that way future generations will know that at one point in time, Niklaus actually had a heart."

Niklaus rolled his eyes before turning to face the cave wall, dagger in hand as he set about carving his name along with Clara's.

…because nothing is forever.

Niklaus knealt next to the charred body that had once been his love. Tears formed in his eyes but he never allowed any to fall as his hand touched the burned, blackened skin that had been Clara's. His eyes drifted to the barely there swell of her stomach.

Rebekah cried freely. She had lost her mother only a couple months before. She had thought her father's attempts at tormenting his brother would have ended at that, but no. Mikael had to take away Clara and the unborn child she carried. She wondered how he had even managed to convince the villagers to burn Clara at the stake.

Elijah placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, his face solemn despite the anger that was present in his eyes. "I promise, brother, that they will pay for this."

Klaus looked at him with rage filled eyes. "Oh they will," he snarled. "They all will."

~~~

Mystic Falls, 2011

"I don't understand why we have to stay in this dinky town." A tall, auburn haired woman who seemed to be around twenty complained.

The honey brown haired woman driving glanced at her. "You didn't have to come with me, you know."

Kayla gave the brunette a look. "Yeah, because the last time I left for a while everything went just dandy." She snorted.

Clare Evans glanced back at the vampire, a smirk on her face. "It wasn't that bad."

Kayla gave her a disbelieving look. "Mom, you were the witch equivalent of a ripper."

Clare rolled her eyes but didn't deny her daughter's claim. She simply pulled the car to a stop on a long, rocky driveway. "We're here." She stated.

"Please tell me we're not where I think we are." Kayla looked at Clare with wide, horrified eyes.

"What?" Clare asked innocently as she stepped out of her car.

Kayla sent her a dark look as she got out of the car as well and slammed the door. Stalking up to her mother, she hissed quietly, "You know I can't stand him!"

"Get over it." Clare ordered. "You wouldn't be alive if not for him."

Kayla scoffed. "Please. I could have handled it myself."

Clare stared at Kayla, obviously not believing her. "Plus, he's the closest thing I have to a friend…and he needs my help, so we're staying here until everything calms down."

"Fine." Her daughter relented, knowing her mother had a strong sense of honor. "Just don't let me catch you two naked again." She shuddered.

"That was one time!" Clare protested.

Kayla arched an eyebrow at her. "Try seven." Once again, another shudder.

Those were definitely images that she wished she could have erased from her brain. No one of any age should ever have to see their mother naked with another man. Talk about a nightmare.

"Drama queen." Clare muttered as she walked into the house.

"Learned from the best." She smirked, following her mother in.

Clare glanced around with a frown on her face. No one was home, that was obvious from the total lack of sound coming from within the house. Her eyebrow twitched annoyed. This was just like him. Of course he'd call for her help and then completely disappear once they arrived.

She let out an annoyed sigh before glancing at Kayla. "I give you permission to terrorize him."

"Yay." The woman cheered sarcastically as she removed a few strands of wavy, auburn hair out her face.

"Let's stop at the Grill and see if he's there. I'm hungry anyway." Clare remarked as she walked back outside.

"Me too. Blood bags suck." Kayla stated as she opened the passenger side door and got in.

Clare let out a long sigh. "Mikayla…"

"What?" Kayla questioned as her mother got in the car and started the car up. "Don't act like your some kind of saint, mom. God knows how many people you've killed."

"I'll admit that I'm unstable at times however, Damon said that the town's council is well aware of the existence of vampires. One little mistake…and your dead." Clare said slowly, emphasizing why they had to stay under radar.

What Clare didn't say out loud was that she did feel guilt over those she had killed. The guilt burned within her every day. It was who she was now, though. It was what years of pain had caused her to become.

"I wont kill anyone." Kayla stated. "…unless they piss me off. Then there won't be enough left of them for anyone to find."

"You are your father's child." Clare murmured under her breath.

"Insults, just what every parent should bestow upon their child." Kayla smirked. Clare rolled her eyes at that.

It was no secret that Kayla despised the man who spawned her. Not that she had ever met him, of course, considering he had abandoned her mother for her "safety". Her mother still had the scars from the fire, scars that Clare always did her best to hide from the rest of the world, but Kayla had seen them time and again. Kayla didn't hate her father because he abandoned his daughter. How could she? She never knew him so no harm was done to her.

No, she hated her father because of the pain his abandonment had caused her mother. Kayla had heard her mother crying late at night numerous times throughout her childhood. And the scars…The only person Kayla hated more than her father was her grandfather, the man who had nearly killed Clare simply because she was pregnant with, in his words, an "abomination's" child.

Kayla never wanted to see her mother in that kind of pain again, which is why if her father ever found out they were alive, she wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

No one would ever break her mother's heart again as long as she was around.