Klaus paced his studio trying to clear his mind from the night's events. Quietly he cursed the one person who made him feel so restless. Never in a thousand years had he felt so drawn to another being. Not even Tatia had made him feel so confused. So guilty.
Guilt, he thought to himself. That is an emotion he had not felt in centuries. An emotion he had solemnly sworn to himself to never feel again. It simply brought too much pain, memories he never wanted to relive again. And yet, here he was, not able to just shut that bloody guilt out.
Klaus went to grab himself a glass of scotch and sat down on the only sofa in the room. Taking a sip of his drink he tried to relax and closed his eyes. Again, the events came back to hunt him.
Klaus got out of his car and looked at the small house in front of him, a satisfied smirk across his face. So far his plan was working out the way he had expected it to. Now it was time to make sure the second phase of his plan came in motion.
He wanted a place to call home. A place that was safe for him and his family. A place where he could build and train his army.
Headquarters, he thought, was an adequate term. This little town in Virginia was the beginning of everything. He wanted it to be the beginning of the new era too.
It was time to make sure that no one crossed his plans. Not even these worthless little humans. That's why he found himself in front of the Sheriff's small house.
Earlier today he had told the little mutt, Tyler Lockwood, to bite his girlfriend, the Sheriff's daughter. He had put up a fight just like Klaus had expected him to. Normally Klaus would have killed him for even thinking about defying his orders. But given the fact that Tyler Lockwood was his first successful hybrid, he used the situation to test the sire bond. In the end he was not disappointed. Quite on the contrary, he was pleased to see that the little wolf has followed his orders, even if it was not by free will.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts he made his way to the front door.
He knocked on the glass door and shortly after the quarterback opened the door.
"Tyler came to see me. Poor boy. He seemed quite distressed. He said Caroline had a terrible accident?" He told Matt.
"You made him do this to her. He would have never done this to her." The human glared at Klaus.
"I am here to help, Matt" Klaus said, trying to make his voice sound honest."My blood will heal her. Please ask the Sheriff to invite me inside."
Behind Matt he could see Liz making her way to the front door, too.
"I know how this game works. You want something in return." The Sheriff concluded.
Klaus shook his head. "Just your support." he told her.
After that he could actually see the Sheriff's walls crumbling. Good, he thought to himself. His plan was working out just fine. "Come in" Liz finally said in defeat.
Klaus crossed the threshold, giving Matt just the tiniest little smirk.
After that all he had to do was follow the smell of blood to Caroline's room.
He entered and stopped in front of her bed to look at her. She looked awful, drenched in sweat, but at the same time she was radiant light blinding him and his thoughts.
"Are you going to kill me?" Caroline asked in a voice so broken Klaus felt his throat tighten.
"On your Birthday? You really think that low of me?" He asked her, shocked at the emotion his own voice was betraying.
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.