Men fight wars
Women win them
~ Queen Elizabeth
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Klaus was restless, he could't sleep.
It could be the events of the night, could be the fact that Caroline was still awake, or that this damn sofa was too uncomfortable. Why did he agree to give her space again? Oh, that's right, he had to seduce her. And also he had to make sure she thought he was giving her space.
She had dropped the walls a bit today.
It was a small step but it was huge for them. Barely tolerating him was a step closer than all-out hating him and it was better to have her interrogate him than to have her shoot him killing glares or nasty comments. He was pleased with the change but he couldn't for the life of him shake the paranoid part of him that thought it was all a trap.
"Why did you decide to do this tonight?" he asked after a while. If he couldn't sleep he might as well get some answers himself.
She didn't reply immediately and he was tempted to remind her he knew she wasn't asleep. He tried to be patient for once and it wasn't easy. Luckily he didn't have to wait too long.
"I figured it would be better than to sit around all day doing nothing," she answered after a while.
He smiled after a beat at her tough love.
"You know I'm not talking about dinner love," he whispered turning his head to see her curled up in the giant bed, covers carefully tacked around her. She lay on her right side, looking down towards him.
"I know," she whispered inaudibly after a few seconds. "I guess, I just wanted to talk to someone. I'm all alone here!"
The desperation in her voice didn't go unnoticed.
They locked eyes. Deep blue, ocean eyes against her baby blues. He saw in her eyes the same thing she always saw in his. It had just occurred to Caroline what it was, that emotion pulsating underneath his permanently cold demeanor; loneliness. So deep and distinct her own paled in comparison. She could try shaking it off, denying its existence, but Caroline was done fooling herself.
And if she was to survive what was to come, she needed to be honest with herself.
That fleeting moment when silence fell in the dark bedroom, illuminated only by the faint moonlight slipping behind the summer curtains, was the first moment they truly connected.
"Klaus?" she asked hesitantly a few minutes after they went back to pretending that they were asleep.
"Hmm..." he hummed as a response, eyes on the ceiling.
"Have you ever...?" she trailed off uncertain if she should let the words leave her lips.
The original turned his head to the side, examining her face for any tells of what might the fierce, young vampire was so hesitant asking. It wasn't like her to hold back, she was always so outspoken and blunt.
"Caroline, you can ask me anything," he reassured, his husky voice weirdly calming her insides.
"Have you ever turned it off?" she finally asked with a deep breath, avoiding his eyes. "Your emotions. Have you flipped the switch?"
She could feel his eyes burning the skin of her face with their intensity. It was a struggle not to look. She was almost afraid to see his expression, afraid that she had perhaps ruined their progress.
Klaus sighted after a little while looking back at the ceiling.
"You are not ready to hear the answer to that one love!" he said after a while.
"Why not?" her eyes snapped back to his face.
He remained silent for a few more moments.
"There is no switch, Caroline," he said at last.
The blonde vampire abruptly sat up on the bed, confusion written all over her gorgeous face.
"But, but," she struggled, earning a smirk from Klaus who had himself sat up on the sofa to stare up to her. "But I feel it! The switch, it's right there. One little flip and it's... off!"
Klaus smiled again.
"You are still so young, Caroline," he said with a smirk. "Still so innocent, even though I can tell you've been through a lot, there are still things, painful things, you haven't experienced."
She was still at a loss and he could tell.
"So, if you experience painful things, then the switch goes away? Or does it expire as you grow older?" she inquired genuinely curious. The gears in her grain turning ten times faster.
He loved that about her, her eagerness to learn, to explore and enjoy everything life had to offer. As if an infinite amount of pure energy was oozing from her very being. That aura, that golden feeling of life itself floated outside her, unable to be contained in her small form, wrapping itself around anyone that was lucky enough to be in her company.
"That wasn't what I meant, love," he considered for a moment how to best put it into words. "It's an illusion of sorts. Let's say, for example, that you lost your favorite shirt and you're sad about it. You go to the mall and buy ten shirts to distract yourself from the emotion. But at the end of the day, it only takes someone asking what happened to that shirt to make you feel sad again."
Caroline nodded understanding.
"That's what the switch is doing," he concluded. "As all of your feelings and abilities are magnified when you turn, so is the ability you have to push your thoughts and emotions to the back of your head, distracting yourself from anything and everything. But it always has an expiration date. At any point, anything and anyone can flip it back on, if they play their cards right!"
"Okay," she said hesitantly. "But what does age have to do with anything?"
"As you grow older in vampire years," he started "You learn to let go of some emotions completely while holding on to other ones. Controlling them is tricky, but preventing them to consume you is trickier. Takes years to learn, centuries, even! But when you learn how to do that, there is no more need for any switches."
"Have you?" she asked again. "Learn to control your emotions?"
Klaus chuckled.
"I thought I had, but then I broke the curse and met you," his eyes sliced into hers, the intensity leaving fleeting goosebumps on her skin. "In any case, I will never turn my emotions off!"
Caroline scoffed at his certainty.
"Is it because you don't have any left?" She bit immediately regretting her words.
Nice, Carebear! You're supposed to be winning him over, not insulting him!
He chuckled instead of being angry.
"No, love," he replied pausing for a bit. "When does a vampire usually turn the switch off?"
Caroline needed less than a heartbeat to consider the answer.
"When they're in pain?"
"When they're in pain!" Klause nodded in agreement. "I've been on this planet for a little over than a thousand years, Caroline. There isn't any kind of pain I haven't yet experienced or inflicted. I've learned how to deal with it. I've accepted it and I have no intention of avoiding it when I will certainly encounter it once again. I don't need a switch to distract me from it. I have enough control over myself to have control while in pain!"
"Since when going on killing sprees is considered 'control'?" she snapped unable to hide the disdain from her attitude.
"Since we are immortal creatures consuming mortals for survival," his answer was deprived of any emotion.
Caroline scoffed.
In a matter of seconds, Klaus had stood up from the sofa throwing the covers to the floor in the process. Her eyes lingered shamelessly on his golden skin, admiring the tattoo, so carefully and beautifully incurved on his sculpted body. For a brief moment, she wondered how it was possible for a vampire to have tattoos. Maybe he got one before turning? But, could Vikings really created something as delicate as the art showcased on the immortal's skin?
Realizing that she was staring, she quickly averted her eyes.
He maintained a slow pace as he neared the bed. His eyes glued to her every reaction, noticing as her baby blues scanned his body before resting on his tattoo. He looked down at her with an unreadable expression, fighting a smile when her heart started racing.
She looked up to him and he stared right into her exposed soul.
He chased away the stray hair, guiding it behind her ear before caressing her chin.
Caroline remained frozen where she sat on the edge of the bed. Watching carefully when Klause's eyes lingered on her lips for a moment. Shivers run over her skin once more as he licked his lips.
"I was wondering when you'd drop the nice facade," he whispered in his irresistible husky tone. She looked away contemplating what to answer when he grabbed her chin, guiding her face back to look at him as he leaned in, looming over her. "I'm glad you did. I love your quick remarks and feisty mouth, Caroline!"
She blinked a couple of times.
This was a historic moment because this was the first time in her seventeen years on this planet, that she was rendered speechless.
She cleared her throat almost disappointed when his hand dropped from her face.
"You don't have to pretend," he said in a low voice again. "I'm not going to hurt you, ever again!"
Her eyes snapped into his once more, searching for deception and finding none.
She sighed once more.
"And as for the killing sprees," he added. "Every emotionless vampire goes on at least one. So doing that while not flipping a switch is no less justified than when you still feel everything! I just don't have to pretend it wasn't my fault. Using the switch as an excuse. I embrace the monster inside me instead of taming it. Which is what you do. We all have our ways of dealing with things, this is mine!"
"Why are you explaining this to me?" she asked curiously.
Klaus shrugged. "You asked"
With that, the original returned to his makeshift bed took the covers from the floor and laid back down.
"You still haven't answered my question," Caroline said after a few more minutes of silence. "Have you ever turned it off?"
The long silence that followed had her doubting if she'd get any response.
"I think that was enough sharing for one night," he said at last. "Get some rest, tomorrow's a long day!"
"Goodnight Klaus," she whispered closing her eyes.
"Sweet dreams, Caroline," he replied with a smirk.
She knew it would be long before sleep came to him. He knew she would have anything but sweet dreams. The understanding they both came into for these seconds was both unspoken and unexpected. And neither of them knew if it would last for more than that one moment.
Something had changed between them, Klaus realized. It was more on his part than hers, but it had changed none the less. It wasn't this night that it had changed. It was just the realization that hit him tonight, informing him about the change of the tide. For the first time that night Klaus really considered what it could be. He examined the possibility of what he had run away from all these past months; the truth.
And the epiphany was unexpected as it was unwanted.
He cursed himself under his breath glad to realize she had finally fallen asleep. Why didn't he see it earlier? Why didn't he stop it? He looked back at the sleeping girl letting the truth settle in. He couldn't deny it anymore.
He fancied her.
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5:32 AM
Klaus was still awake.
His mind letting the subconscious part of it overwork and bother him, denying him the much-needed rest. He threw his phone away and sighed heavily. He had long realized that sleep was a lost cause.
It could be because of the uncomfortable couch, or the fact that he was used to having a certain blonde vampire in his arms when sleeping. Or both. Whatever the reason, sleep was out of tonight's to-do list so he might as well get up and do something useful.
Throwing the covers away, he once more checked the sleeping girl's form before heading to the kitchen. He poured a glass of water and was about to head upstairs when something caught his attention. It was his notebook. He had forgotten he took it with him from the car.
It's been decades since the last time he had held a pencil in his hand. Maybe more. It was mainly due to the fact that very few things inspired him lately. Everything tends to have a repetitive routine in his life. Things were different now.
He had broken the curse and was one step away from everything he has ever wanted.
Why not draw the sleeping beauty in the bedroom?
With renued enthusiasm he grabbed the notebook an whooshed upstairs.
To his disappointment, Caroline was awake.
"Hey," she said sheepishly.
He had startled her.
"Hey," he replied hesitantly. "Why are you awake?"
"Uhm..." she considered for a second. "I had a nightmare."
Klaus frowned.
"How come I didn't notice?" he wondered getting closer to the bed and sitting on its edge.
"Maybe because you were downstairs?" she guessed.
"I always feel it when you have a nightmare," he said still weirded out. "It's as if, our minds are linked or something. I always feel it."
Caroline looked worried but she managed to hide it. Shit, what if the vervain blocks whatever link the original was talking about.
"You never told me that!" she said frowning startled.
"I didn't want you to lose it like I'm sure you're losing it now," he said smiling reassuringly. "Relax, Caroline. I'm sure Felix will come up with a solution. He knows I despise failure!"
"Maybe he figured it out," she said feigning hopefulness as she knew what was the reason of the block in their 'link', for lack of better words.
To her dismay, Klaus shook his head.
"If he had, he would have called me," he concluded. "Get some rest, Caroline. Tomorrow is a big day!"
"Why what's tomorrow?" she asked curiously as he stood up.
Klaus looked down to her with a devilishly gorgeous smirk plastered on his luscious lips.
"Our first date!" he whispered.
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"This has to be it!" the young girl mumbled under her breath trying to give courage to herself.
She glanced nervously at the night sky, the sun would soon come up, she needed to do this quickly. Time was of the essence and she didn't have much of it left.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped outside the car she had compelled her boyfriend to let her borrow. Her boots against the pavement were the only sound echoing in the silence of the night.
To be honest she expected more from a town that was known for its supernatural inhabitants. Mystic Falls was surprisingly quiet. Even safe, someone could argue. She knew better.
The girl hesitantly rang the bell.
It was the middle of the night. Ten minutes before five. She needed this to be quick or she would end up to be toast.
She rang the bell once more. What if she wasn't home? What if she didn't believe her? What if the girl turned her down anyway?
What then?
How would she survive this?
Her anxiety got magnified as her bloodshot eyes watered. Why was this happening to her? What had she done to deserve this? This was so unfair!
She rang the bell more vigorously growing more doubtful and desperate, which was probably why she knocked on the door too.
"This can't be happening!" she whispered fighting her panic attack.
She had warned her about this. She had warned to get her emotions under control or her true nature would make its appearance. She started by trying to control her breathing and at first, it seemed futile. As her heartbeat slowed down, it started getting easier. Her breathing followed suit. She was calming down, fighting the veiny eyes and the salty tears.
As she did, she heard a groan and angry footsteps from somewhere inside the house.
The girl allowed herself a breath of relief and forced her vampire nature to revert back into normal.
"For fuck's sake it's 4:55!" groaned the girl. "Damon, if this is you, prepare for the aneurysm of the century!"
The door suddenly flew open and a sleepy girl with dark skin and raven hair appeared behind it, startling the newly turned vampire.
"Who are you?" she angrily asked, eyes softening momentarily when she noticed the tears in her eyes.
"Uhm," her hoarse voice surprised even the girl herself "I am sorry to be disturbing you at this hour. But you're my only hope!"
"Do I know you?" asked the other girl again.
"No. But I know you," said the vampire. "You're the Benett witch, right?"
"I go by the name Bonnie!" she said annoyed crossing her hands on her chest.
"Well, Bonnie," said the girl once more. "My name is Cynthia..."
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't know you!" the girl repeated fighting a yawn. "What do you want here at this hour Cynthia?"
"You might not know me," she said again. "But I'm sure you know a girl named Caroline Fobes. She's the one who sent me here!"