Nothing Dark Can Stay, Either

Chapter 35

She arrived back at the compound and found Klaus drinking again.

"Lucien dropped some sort of bomb, I assume?" she said, stepping into his room. He chuckled lightly and offered her his glass of bourbon, which she took, taking a small sip before handing it back to him.

"He told me about your little one night stand," Klaus stated. "It always strikes me as bizarre that some of you lot can never keep your mouths shut about your intimate encounters."

She made a face. "You were the one always asking for details in my ear when we were together. Don't pretend to be against such intimate discussions."

He cast her a look, and raised his eyebrows. "Well, love, it's very different when you're crying out all the dirty things you desire from me, compared to now hearing about your wild endeavours with another man."

"Ew, did he go into that much detail? Not my proudest moment."

"Yes, well, I had no desire to be told exactly which window he pinned you against, but if you were overlooking the city from that penthouse, I don't suppose one would think to object, hmm?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Lucien is quite the exhibitionist. He needs his ego to be stroked. Likes to be in control but deep down, it's so obvious that he's pretending he isn't naturally submissive."

Klaus let out a hearty chuckle. "You dirty little things. If vampires could procreate, I expect you and Lucien would have devils as children."

"Klaus! Ew, I didn't need that visual."

"No one told you to imagine it, love."

They were silent for a moment. "Why do you push her away, Klaus?" said Beatrix quietly. "Why... why do you act as though you don't feel things for her?"

He hesitated to answer. "Do you not see me, Beatrix?" he said quietly. "Do you not see the monster that I am? You would wish this on Camille?"

"We both know you would never hurt her, Klaus. You make yourself out to be such a terrible man but we both know that there is so much good inside of you."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed.

She turned him to face her. "Do you see me, Klaus? You, and a lot of other people missed me so much when I was gone. Were pained to think that I was dead, and were losing your heads when I vanished these past four months. Yet, I'm a killer. More brutal than you, might I add. While you have killed way more than me, you have done it mostly to protect your family, and you have never been excessively violent with anyone postmortem.

"You remember what I did when I turned off my humanity? And even before when I killed others? I was remorseless. I tore bodies apart for absolutely no reason. Completely innocent souls whose only mistake was having been there at that particular time of day when I caught them and chose to make them a victim. I know that perhaps, you think it doesn't make sense for us to be compared. But to me it does because all of you treat me with more respect than I deserve."

She put her hands on his face, pulling him into a memory.

"You're going to be the death of me, Beatrix," huffed Klaus as he chased after her, out in the grassy fields in 1832.

"Aw, poppycock!" she cried. "I'm not made of white oak!"

He rolled his eyes. "Very funny." He caught her by the waist and pulled her toward him, his arms around her as he rested his chin on her shoulder, her back against his chest, the both of them facing toward the nearby woods, where they could see a doe with a baby deer at her heels.