So, please note the M rating, yes?

Also, a huge thanks for justanotherfiveminutes on tumblr for keeping me sane while writing this.

This was written (and I blame completely) ckybrid for this. She seemed to like it though.

The mattress was soft against her spine, bedding kicked aside as Klaus pinned her hands above her head, grip bruising. Caroline kept her thighs locked around his waist, eyes drinking in the lean lines of him; the ink on his shoulder; the smoothness of his muscles. She wasn't sure she'd seen hotter than Klaus Mikaelson in nothing but jeans, hair tousled from her hands, lips kissed bruised and his eyes. She shivered, watching the way he drank her in, gaze dragging down her body possessively.

It hasn't started like this.

"I want your loyalty."

Caroline turned, facing the hybrid who'd just appeared. Fingers tightening on her bag, she stared at him in blatant shock. "What?"

He stepped into her space, lips curling at the edges. Awareness ran down her spine and Caroline straightened her shoulders. "Now, sweetheart, there's nothing wrong with your hearing."

"There must be, because I'm pretty sure you just informed me you wanted my loyalty. You."

"Hmmm," Klaus mused, watching her from under his lashes. "Yes."

"Why?"

Klaus reached out, as if to take her bag, and she twisted away from him. Instead of rage, amusement colored his eyes. "Why not?"

"Oh please," Caroline said flatly. "You're a thousand years of assholery. I'm a not even nineteen-year-old vampire. My loyalty means nothing."

His arms caged her in, breath hot on her ear. "Now sweetheart, it's a dangerous game, telling me what I believe you're worth."

"I don't care what you think." Caroline ground out. "Am I supposed to take this seriously? You terrorize my friends, and what, you think I'll just let that go?"

Klaus made another of those considering, humming sounds. Her insides tightened at the noise, body unexpectedly flushed.

"Why? Because I want you. I want the taste of you on my tongue, the score of your nails down my back, the echo of your cries between us. I want you hot and pliant, your blood between my teeth." He brushed his nose along her cheekbone as he pulled back.

Caroline was frozen, mouth bone dry. The heat of him pressed into her, sinking into her bones. He smiled at her, the slow stretch of a predator.

"So we'll start with your loyalty." Klaus brushed back a curl with gentle fingertips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Caroline dropped her bag from nerveless fingers and leaned against her car. What... was that? Did the Original Asshat just, proposition her?

Caroline closed her eyes, letting the rhythm of the music wash over tense muscles; ignoring the people around her, she jumped into the beat. Her week had been hideous, even on her oversized scale of awful. Putting a few miles between her and Mystic Falls to dance out some of her stress had been a good idea.

Pausing during a lull in the music, she reached for the hair tie on her wrist just as lips ghosted across her bare shoulder. Caroline spun - like hell, buddy - but Klaus caught her wrists with a smirk.

"Hello, sweetheart." His smile was charged, hot in ways she was unprepared for. "I like this dress."

"Stalking is unattractive," Caroline ground out between clenched teeth. "Let go."

Instead, Klaus tugged her close, hands hot against skin bared by the cutouts in her dress. His body slid against hers, chin resting against her cheekbone as he pulled her into the dance. The unexpected feel of him, the faint bite of cologne, and she was unnerved by her own reaction.

"Why are you here?" Caroline asked between clenched teeth.

"I wanted to finish our conversation."

"That wasn't a conversation. It was you making terrible innuendos and spouting nonsense." Caroline corrected, tense against him.

"There was nothing terrible about it," Klaus chided, body swaying with hers. "Have you thought about how I'd touch you, sweetheart? What a thousand years of experience would feel like against your skin?" His chin nudged her hairline. "Has anyone taught you patience? The delirium that comes from riding the edge of an orgasm, body wound tight by hands and tongue?"

Her breath slid out in a rush, body humming, and she felt his lips curve against her temple. She swallowed, centered herself. "Does it matter? What you want from me, I'm not willing to give."

"Am I so difficult to be loyal to, love?" His hands wound into her hair, held her still as he stepped back. "You've answered me with concern for your friends. You're not wrong to worry. I'll bleed their worlds dry and crush them under my boots if they move against me. I'm their night terror. But I don't have to be yours."

She grasped his wrists, dug in her nails. "Do you think I'm a fool? You've manipulated people smarter and older than I am, with less effort. I'm not playing this game. Elena is my friend. You want to use her as a blood bag, you've turned Tyler into a hybrid and he's gone. I'm not your Trojan horse."

Klaus' smile was wide, dimples cutting deep. "There's my girl. Tell me, Caroline. This trust between us, how do I make it grow?"

"There's no trust."

"Of course there is love."

"You're delusional." Caroline said, contempt and disbelief turning her words hard.

His thumb brushed against her lower lip as he pulled away, leaving her skin chilled. "You push back. You've watched me kill, seen your friend's blood paint my skin. Yet, this close, there's no fear."

Her chin lifted. "Go to hell."

Klaus laughed, hands sliding to his pockets as he turned to leave. "You believed me when I told you that you were safe with me."

She watched him go with bunched brows, arms wrapped tight around herself. She didn't like that he was right. Terrified with her skin burning from the vervain and torture, she'd believed him. Had felt only relief that he'd been there.

But that was situational. A onetime thing. Klaus was dangerous and she'd be an idiot - a dead idiot - if she forgot that.

Spinning on her heel, she headed home.

"I must say, Caroline. Modern clothing being what it is, I can see the appeal of your current attire."

Caroline glared over her shoulder.

This is what she got for staying late, determined to perfect the part of the dance routine she'd inexplicably had problems with. Alone in the gym with the hybrid. Great.

"Seriously?"

Gaze lingering, Klaus grinned. "You have beautiful legs."

"Harassment is not endearing." Caroline snapped, shoving her pom-poms into her gym bag. "Go away."

"Have you rethought my offer?"

"Do you understand 'no'?" She spun, hands sliding to her hips. "And do not feed me that line about enjoying me or whatever is going on in your warped, twisted brain."

"I adore you." He told her, eyes dancing. "Why would a little bite detract from that?"

"I don't believe you. I'll never believe you."

"Come now, Caroline. Don't start lying to yourself." Klaus moved, closing the space between them. His fingers went for her braids, and she caught his hand, eyes narrowed.

"Do. Not. Touch." Caroline ground between clenched teeth. "What do you want?"

"I've told you." He twisted his hand around, snaking his fingers through hers. "Would you like more, explicit detail? How I've imagined those legs wrapped around my waist, slung over my shoulders?"

"No. Stop inflicting your sexual fantasies on me." She ignored the tightening in her gut. "Seriously, what do you want from me?"

His expression went hard, hand tugging her into the line of his chest. She bared her teeth, as his free hand landed on her hip, holding her close. "If you'll give me this loyalty of yours, this unbending spine, I'll give it back. I will not betray you, if you will not betray me."

"You betray everyone." Caroline told him flatly.

His dimples this close were distracting. "What does the monster under your skin say?"

She started to retort, but his head lowered, so close that his lips nearly touched hers. "Do you think I do not see your hunger, the way you watch the world around you? You are comfortable in your vampire skin, love, but you fight when you should indulge."

"You've killed people I care about, people I love." She set her chin. "You have nothing I want."

"I'm not asking for your heart, Caroline. Not yet."

"That will never happen," Caroline didn't flinch from him so close, refused to give him any ground. "You want to know why you'll never have me? My heart and loyalties are not divided. You can't have one without the other." Caroline raised her chin. "Do you think they're truly separate for anyone? You're not loyal to those you hate."

"But you can be loyal to your hatred." Klaus tapped her chin. "Forever is a long time, Caroline. If that is what it will take, then give me your heart. Give me everything."

"No."

Thumb sliding up the bare skin of her waist, he finally stepped back. "We'll see."

"Tyler is alive."

Caroline's fingers hit her keyboard too hard. Swearing, she twisted around and glared at the hybrid standing in her bedroom doorway. "I don't have time for you. I have a million things to finish - including this paper."

"Not even for news about your precious Tyler?" Klaus questioned, smirk firmly in place.

Caroline pushed to her feet, glared at him. "Why? So you can use it against me?"

He laughed, arms crossing as he leaned into the doorjamb. "I do enjoy that mind of yours love. Of course, if you no longer care for my hybrid, I can just kill him."

"First, Tyler is not yours. He's a human being and we don't own other people. And for someone so determined for my 'loyalty' you sure enjoy pissing me off."

"Tyler is a monster. So are you, love. So am I. The rules change, for those like us, and it's all about being the top of the food chain; make no mistake. I'm the apex predator." He arched one brow. "Fighting what you are will only destroy you in the end."

Caroline huffed at him. "I'm not in some horrible, internal conflict regarding my vampirism. I know what I am."

"Good." Klaus smiled at her. "Tyler is alive, for now."

"For now?" Caroline ground out.

"His level of stupidity doesn't bode well for his future existence, sweetheart. Tell me. Do you think I've never seen a sire bond broken? That I'd base a thousand years of planning on it?" He laughed. "Come now, Caroline

"You compelled him." Her words were flat, eyes hot with fury.

"I gave him a choice." His gaze glittered at her. "Life away from here. Life with what he thinks he wants - a pack; with conditions, of course. Or he could choose you, this epic love between you; then I'd take his heart."

Caroline stared at him. He watched her with no give, iron in his eyes. She swallowed painfully. "Why?"

"Even monsters deserve a chance to choose their fate." Klaus tilted his head, watched her from beneath his lashes. "You're not surprised that he picked life."

"You already told me he's alive." She said coldly, heart crunching in her chest. It hurt, this painful edge of a serrated knife.

"He shouldn't be."

Caroline frowned at Klaus as he pushed away from the wall, stepped towards her with serious eyes. "I should be bringing you his heart in a box, proof of his love for you."

"Oh, yes. Because that would have gone over well." Caroline tossed out her hands, eyes glittering. "Do you want my hatred as well?"

"If I thought that was all you'd give me, what I'd need to slake my thirst?" He shrugged. "I've destroyed more for far less. But no, that's not what I want."

"Then why?"

"Because when you pick me, it's best you understand exactly what kind of monster I am. I will carve a path of blood and bone, the likes which haven't been seen since the Roman Legions, the kind only monsters can imagine, should you betray me." Klaus tugged on a curl. "And I will lay kingdoms at your feet, hand you your dreams - all you have to do is accept me."

"No."

He smiled. "Not yet."

"No!" She screamed at him.

It was misting, the air turning the sky slick. Caroline stood on the bridge, wreckage scattered around her. Damon dead at her feet, Stefan white-faced and Klaus' fingers clenched around his heart. Elena's body was unmoving. In hours she'd wake, choose to transition or die. It'd gone so wrong so quickly and she'd been nearly too late.

Klaus turned to her, face stark. Rage turned his eyes yellow, cheekbones vivid. The scruff in his beard was rust red. He looked furious - a pagan god of wrath and vengeance.

"No?"

Caroline stared at him, hands fisted at her sides. "No."

Those eyes - feral, furious - held hers. "And why shouldn't I? Tell me why I should let him - this betrayer - live?"

It'd started to sprinkle, the rain cold against her cheeks. Caroline stood still, rage and horror a beating drum in her chest. Too much. This was too much.

"Because they're mine."

Klaus laughed.

Pulling his hand free of Stefan's chest, he bowed. Bloody, the edges of him jagged with rage, Klaus folded his bloodstained hand over his non-beating heart and bowed.

"Of course, love."

The world rolled under her feet.

Elena was dead.

She'd chosen death over life, refused blood and fangs. Refused Stefan. The rain was pouring now, a river of water drowning out the outside world. She was sitting on her bed, comforter pulled tight around her shoulders.

"Why?"

Klaus looked at her, face still flecked with Damon's blood. Stefan had walked away, but maybe he shouldn't have. She'd worry about the ripper tomorrow. Right now, she'd a hybrid sitting on her bed.

He considered her. "You asked."

"You bend for no one." Caroline pointed out, voice quiet. She felt numb.

He hummed a noise, canted his head thoughtfully. "I want everything. Did you imagine I'd give nothing in return?"

Caroline shook her head. "Don't pretend that was about me."

"Wasn't it?" Klaus leaned towards her, eyes dangerous. "Do you think I'd have stopped, reconsidered staining that bridge with the blood of your friends? That what was once a friendship between Stefan and I would've given me a moment's pause? I was hunted for a thousand years by my father. Oh, he wasn't blood, but he still filled that role. You wonder why I'm a nightmare framed by flesh and blood?"

Caroline tightened her grip on her blanket, holding his gaze, face pale.

"For one thousand years, I was prey. I kept my family safe by whatever means necessary. Do you think I don't understand the weight of creation, that I do not acknowledge what I've made? What I am?"

"What would you have done, had you created more hybrids? Paraded them around? Tossed them to slaughter? So you know what you made, but do you care?" Caroline pulled her blanket tighter. "Elena is gone, so is her blood."

Amusement curled his lips. "I'll have my army."

"So what, in five hundred years, this starts all over? You find the next doppelgänger, force her into being your blood supply?"

"Sweetheart." He leaned back onto his elbows, eyes warm with amusement. He skimmed one hand up her thigh, before she swatted it away. "Use that brain of yours, Caroline. I've placed a hybrid among a well-established pack, whose bones break, whose bodies twist and deform each month, slaves to the moon."

Caroline froze.

"And every month, they'll watch Tyler avoid their fate." He flicked a smile to her frozen face. "Can you imagine, the harvest of all those little seeds he'll plant for me?"

"Elena is gone."

"So she is."

"You killed Damon." She whispered. "You tore out his heart."

"Yet, here I am. Sitting on your bed, the feel of your skin lingering on my fingertips."

Caroline stared at him, swallowing at the satisfied little smirk at the corners of his mouth. "You have more doppelgänger blood."

A wicked, burning smile. He stood, swiping the jacket he'd left on her desk. "Good night, love."

"He killed Damon. Elena... died."

Caroline hugged her oversized hoody closer to her chest, cold from the inside. Stefan was standing on her porch, face carved from stone. "I know."

Stefan looked at his hands, eyes a little glazed. "I've lost her again."

Licking her lips, Caroline chilled at the realization that Stefan was talking about Elena, or maybe Katherine? Uneasy, she fiddled with her sleeves. "What happened?"

"We were fighting. I lost control of the car."

Caroline's brows bunched, teeth worry at her bottom lip. "You lost control?"

"Damon pulled her out." Stefan said simply. "But she was already dead."

"How'd you know that she'd transition?" Caroline asked. "Did you give her blood?"

"No."

Oh god, she didn't like the conclusions she was drawing. Elena had Damon's blood in her system before she'd died. Surely Stefan wouldn't have run them off the bridge deliberately? Hadn't they seen what Klaus' rage had done to Katherine? There was no way Stefan would do that...

Why had Damon pulled her out?

A bitter, jagged thing curved along Stefan's mouth. "I've been thinking about the best revenge, now that Klaus' family is free of their coffins. His parents are dead, burned to ash. What is left to hurt something like him?"

"Stefan..." Caroline shook her head. "Revenge won't bring them back. You've already gone down that path, remember?"

He faced her, eyes like chips of steel. "Maybe I just didn't have the right leverage. I've been wondering, how much can he actually care for one baby, blonde vampire?"

"I'd be careful mate." Klaus told him, stepping suddenly onto her porch. Caroline took moved back, uneasy. There was a rage behind Stefan's eyes that worried her.

"That sort of discussion will have you joining your brother."

Stefan turned and flashed at Klaus. Caroline screamed, staggered back at the force that Klaus slammed Stefan into the porch floor. Hand digging into Stefan's chest, Klaus smiled at him.

"She saved your life, and now you wish to take hers? Poor form, old friend."

Stefan strained against the hold, but Klaus didn't seem to notice. "I've nothing left."

"You haven't lost everything yet." Klaus looked up and her, eyes gleaming yellow. "Still want to claim this one?"

"Don't do this." Caroline whispered. "Please."

Klaus fangs dropped, eyes filled with rage and iron. "He shouldn't have threatened you."

Moving too fast for her to stop, he bit into Stefan's neck. Caroline cried out in protest, but it was too late. When his lifted his head, Klaus' gaze was predatory.

"Well, look at that. No vervain, Stefan? That's a bit of an oversight. Pity that you didn't learn from the last time. Or were you hoping to have a newly transitioned vampire to share with?"

Caroline bit her lip until she tasted blood. She didn't like the fact that Klaus was vocalizing her worries. Her suspicions.

Leaning down, Klaus tightened his grip on Stefan's heart. Stefan's eyes opened, body arching at the surge of pain. Klaus held his gaze, pupils dilated.

"Here is what you'll do, Stefan. You're going to remember this moment. My fingers around your heart, the devastation of losing your brother, the knowledge that in the end, the doppelgänger didn't choose you. Feels like a serrated knife, doesn't it?"

Stefan stared up at him, face lax and her porch blurred as Caroline fought tears. Klaus bit into his wrist, dripping blood into Stefan's gasping mouth. "Hate for you to die from my bite; Caroline might hold that against me. Now, you're going to leave Mystic Falls and not come back, mate. But if you see Caroline again, if you consider killing her, you're going to peel yourself open. Starting with all those squishy, internal organs - liver, kidneys, guts - and once you've disemboweled yourself, it's a bit messy; you're going to have some trouble with your grip; you're going to dig these betraying fingers into your heart and remove it."

Caroline covered her mouth, insides churning. Klaus pulled his hand free of Stefan's chest and patted his cheek with a bloody hand. "Go on, mate."

Stefan disappeared and Caroline sat down, staring at the hybrid who'd turned to face her. "Why are you here?"

"Stefan was my friend, once. I know what he's capable of." Klaus shrugged. "Your death isn't an option."

"Are you happy?" Caroline asked lowly, wiping her eyes. "They're all gone now. No more Stefan, no more Elena, no more Damon."

"Stefan would be dead if you didn't value his life. Consider this a compromise. He lives, love, but I'll not allow him near you again."

"Was this your plan? Destroy everything around me until I have nothing left, until your promises and offers look tempting?" Caroline fisted her hands. "Force everyone I love into horrific deals in order to survive?"

He crouched beside her, but for once made no immediate move to touch her. "No. If I'd wanted to isolate you, I'd have torn your world apart. And I'd have started with you mother."

"Do not threaten my mother." Caroline said through clenched teeth.

"Oh sweetheart, I wouldn't have threatened." His voice was soft, but there was a lethal edge to it that left her cold. "It's a dance, to chip away at someone's emotional foundations. How much can they handle, how much pressure until they shatter? I'd have taken apart your friends, broken them like living offerings, and bent them until they served only my will. I'd have boxed you in, destroyed your escape routes, and your friends - those who were your most loyal - would've delivered you into my waiting hands."

Caroline stared at him, face white, her breath hitching in her lungs. He meant every word, face harsh and eyes flecked yellow. Carefully, slowly Klaus wound curl around a bloody finger. "I'd have wrapped you in a gilded cage; kept you locked away from anyone who might covet you, want you for their own. My beautiful, little songbird."

"I'd hate you." Caroline whispered as she grasped at her composure like straws.

"Oh sweetheart. I've told you. If all I have is your hate, I'll slake my thirst on it." Klaus tugged lightly on her hair. "Hate is such a strong emotion - it'd hardly matter with you beneath me, these eyes of yours spitting fire while your body writhed in pleasure. How hot would you burn, tangled in silk and sin, every part of you craving what you hate the most; there are a thousand ways to beguile, to seduce and none of them require love. In the end, you'd be willing."

Caroline lifted her chin. "No."

Klaus smiled and released her hair. Watched her with old eyes that glittered. "Fortunately for you love, that isn't how I want you. Well, not entirely."

"So you threaten me with that? To show me your benevolence?" Caroline pressed trembling palms to her thighs. "Why not just compel me?"

"That wasn't a threat sweetheart," his lips curved. "In another time, another place it would've been a promise. Let's call it a warning. I'm perfectly capable of destroying everything around you, but I do not wish to lay you to ruin, and I have no wish to be your nightmare. To compel... hate, love - the coin that your loyalty binds together, I've no need to filter either of those through my own perspective. I want you."

"So it's my loyalty or that?" Caroline demanded. "A life in a cage?"

"Caroline - what happened to your friends was tragic. But that is the cost of being in this world, the danger. Nothing is black and white." He sat back on his heels. "For all your internal strength, you're still a child. Tell me, what about me is so repulsive? I'm offering you the world."

"But at what price?" Caroline asked him lowly. "When do I wake up, in a box or a cage? How long until you grow tired of me and discard me like a toy? Until I'm told to wander off lest I remove my own internal organs?"

"Stefan wished to kill you. I will not allow that to happen." Klaus told her, voice hard. "Do you think I didn't mark his betrayals? Tell me, love, once given, would you turn your back on your loyalty? On me?"

"If that's your fear, why go through this?" Caroline demanded. "Why not leave me be?"

He laughed. "You stood up to the monsters whose names alone make others cower, in the name of your loyalty. I cannot say what the future holds - no creature can with any accuracy. But I will have this, you."

"Why?" Caroline shook her head. "You discard your family, you care nothing for anyone else."

"You with your sunshine heart, you cannot grasp the darkness I walk in." A pit opened behind his eyes, pupils crawling with something old and dangerous. "You cannot fathom what I see when I look at you. I covet and I desire, but what man does not crave the strength of your heart, Caroline?"

"Loyalty isn't a dead thing made of stone. You can't treat people like objects." Caroline swallowed. "You don't own me."

"Here is my deal, for you." Klaus said softly. "Your loyalty for mine."

Caroline froze.

"How you play this game, what decisions you make in this life? They are of no consequence to me." He leaned close, voice lethal. "I'm an unkillable Hybrid, Caroline. I'm offering you a gift."

"My loyalty is not blind," she whispered, throat bone-dry. "Loyalty isn't fanatical devotion, it isn't forced silence. I'm not a windup toy, to be paraded at your whims. I have a life."

"But you'd be mine." Lifting her hand to his mouth, he pressed his lips to her palm.

Swallowing, she shook her head. "Not like that."

"Not yet."

"Klaus..."

"Rejecting me, love?"

Caroline knew that'd be dangerous. She should, anyway. His hands carried too many sins. He'd broken Stefan, killed Damon and used Tyler as a marionette. But he'd let Stefan live, because she'd asked.

So she said nothing. Hated herself a little for her silence before this blood soaked monster, who strode to bargain for parts of her she didn't wish to give. Who looked at her like she was made of sunshine, but understood she was a creature of blood.

His smile was a sharp, biting thing against her palm. Another, lingering kiss and he stood. "Goodnight, sweet Caroline."

She sat in the porch for a long time, fingers curled tightly into her palm.

"My mom thinks you're a psychotic monster with a god-complex."

It was Sunday. Graduation was approaching, the cloying heat of summer making an early appearance. Klaus hadn't been giving her space since he'd banished Stefan, but he hadn't forced the discussion that was brewing between them.

Instead of words, he'd left behind drawings: some of far off destinations, some of local places she'd loved, some of her. Those were the ones that made her non-beating heart lurch, body heating at the images he'd so carefully sketched. None of them were inappropriate, never lewd, but they were... intimate.

The precise curve of her cheek. The lazy, heavy-eyed look of sleep. The stillness, the inelegant sprawl of limbs as she lay in her backyard, absorbing the gift of sunshine.

But the one that haunted her the most was the last one he'd left for her. It had been drawn as a portrait, the lines beautifully done. Her hair was in perfect, twisted spirals with her face somehow illuminated - black veins crawling into darker eyes, lips parted to just show the tips of her fangs.

It shook her, the picture of the monster under her skin. She'd stared at it, really looked at the contrasting perfection and wondered... just wondered.

"She's not wrong." Klaus said with a shrug. He moved up the steps, head tilted as he studied tilted her. Caroline had dressed for the afternoon heat - cutoff jeans and a tank top - one bare foot pushing the porch-swing as she read.

Caroline glanced up from her book, and arched both brows. "That's surprisingly self-aware of you."

"Denial is for those who can't accept what they are sweetheart. I'm many things - most more terrible than the next - but I'm hardly a fool." Klaus shrugged. "Why should I be ashamed of or regret the things I've done?"

"Generally, people care about society's conventions and rules." Caroline pointed out.

"Ah, but those change so often, fluctuating between right and wrong - based on religion, gender and power. Why should I change, just because the world has?"

"Seriously?"

Klaus smiled at her, relaxing against the railing. "The world changes, love. You'll grow, but change - the kind that sits in your bones - is rare for our kind."

"Well, at least you're honest - if possibly delusional." Caroline muttered, returning to her book.

"I must say, I'm surprised, sweetheart. Usually you're a touch more... combative." He placed his hands in his pockets, posture deceptively casual. "Did you like my gifts?"

"That's because you don't comprehend personal space." Caroline parried, closing her book with a sigh. Kicking the swing into motion, she studied him from narrowed eyes.

"What are the odds that you'll get bored with this game of yours sometime soon? Like, this century?"

"I hunted a cure for my curse for a thousand years, I taunted Katherine for five hundred." Klaus studied her from old eyes. "This grinding in my chest - this obsession for your smile, your voice, and your loyalty - is somehow worse."

"That can't be healthy," Caroline said, lungs seized tight in her chest.

His expression shifted, veins darkening around eyes gone yellow. "Do you think I haven't considered how much easier it would be to end you? You're so easily killed - existence erased in a matter of seconds."

"Then why haven't you?" Caroline challenged. "Why not end this?"

He turned away from her, shoulders tight. The creaking of her swing was the only sound between them as he stood tall in the afternoon sun. Finally, he sighed, fingers pressing into the railing in front of him.

"What good would it do?"

"What?"

Klaus turned, watched her narrowed eyes. "Could I then cut you out? Remove all the ways you've dug into my chest - with words, with those bloody smiles, your unreasonable optimism - and let them die? What scar-tissue would linger a thousand years from now? I regret nothing, sweetheart. Not Katherine, not the thousands upon thousands I've left behind like chum in the water. Not Finn, not Esther, not Mikael."

He clenched his fists, eyes darting away before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "But I believe I'd regret you."

Caroline let the swing come to a stop and stared at him, lower lip tucked tightly between her teeth. Swallowing, she clutched her book tightly between her hands.

"Some people would consider that love." Caroline said softly.

Klaus laughed. It was a ragged, torn sound as he turned to face her. "Do you think me capable of such an emotion?"

"I don't know," She said slowly. "I think you're the only one who can answer that."

"Perhaps," Klaus said with a shrug.

"Feelings change."

"Oh sweetheart," he paced forward, pausing inches from her. "You do not give yourself enough credit or understand the finer points of obsession."

"Is that what this is?"

"It'd be easier, wouldn't it?" Klaus said. "Easier to wash you from my blood."

Caroline licked her lips. "So now what?"

"Well, love - we stand as we've done for months: me wanting you. You rejecting my advances." Klaus shrugged. "It's an interesting dance. Are you tired yet?"

"It's not that simple!" Caroline snapped.

He crouched, arms bracketing her into the swing. "Why?"

"Why?" She repeated.

"Honesty this time, love. Give me my obstacles that I must conquer. Show me the road I must traverse." Klaus gave her a slightly bitter smile. "What must I change?"

"But that's my point!" Caroline said in frustration. "The things you want - the pieces of my heart necessary for the kind of stead-fast loyalty you so crave - that can't be won. I shouldn't have to change you!"

"Then what?" He demanded, voice rough and bitter. "What is lacking for you, Caroline? What battle have I failed?"

"Acceptance." She whispered. "Understanding. Friendship. They're the building blocks."

He sat back, face closing off. "And you can't accept me."

"I don't know!" Caroline snapped. "I don't know, okay? I don't want to - but damn you, you keep giving me these little pieces, and I catch myself wishing I could move past all those horrible things you've done, but then I wonder, why move past them? You're a thousand years of bitterness, of anger and self-loathing that I cannot even imagine. There so much wrong with you... yet..."

She stumbled, words catching in her throat at the expression behind his eyes. The weight of years she couldn't imagine, the ruthless tactician; the manipulator with his marionette strings, and what bits and pieces of man still lived within the beast. This was not a good man, but he occasionally chose to do good; given the right incentive. She would never be comfortable, never settle easily within his arms.

But what was it worth for him to put her first? To keep safe what she held dear? Her loyalty for his. What did that mean to a creature like this, before her on bent knees, waiting?

"Yet?" He said, the predator sharpening his cheekbones, sensing her weakness.

"What does loyalty mean for you?" Caroline questioned, shoulders tense.

His head canted to the side, all angles and hunting stillness. Rather like the wolf he wore under his skin. "Forever."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Didn't you say no one can promise forever?"

"I'm not promising forever," Klaus rejected with a shrug. "I'm giving it."

"Klaus!"

"What are you afraid of Caroline? Not death. You face it down without care too often. Rejection? When have I given the impression that I let go of anything? The slow, starving fate of indifference? Neither of us have the temperament; we're either ice or fire. You've no desire to face an endless eternity alone - not after the way you begged both your father and the doppelgänger to pick you, to pick life. Love - here I sit. I've chosen you. Choose me."

Caroline blinked hard. "We'll never agree."

"Wouldn't that be boring?" He caught her hand, nipped at her fingertips. "Caroline."

"I'm not your family, to be boxed away until you're bored again."

He kissed her palm, scrapped along sensitive skin with teeth. "My father is dead, ashes scattered to the winds. My brothers, my sister are just as far flung. I've no reason for boxes."

Caroline took a bracing breath, leaned forward till she could almost feel his skin against hers. Tugged her hand free. "If you betray me, I'll destroy you. I won't just kill you - sentencing you and everyone linked to you to an eternity of boredom - I'll destroy everything around you first. I'll take your precious kingdoms, your power, and your family. Then I'll kill you."

The smile that slowly stretched across his mouth was feral, eyes a wild storm she couldn't read. "I believe you're part of my line, love."

Caroline leaned back and picked up her book. Flipping it open, she shrugged. "It'd be worth it."

He laughed and pressed a blistering kiss to the outside of her knee. "Deal."

"Good. Now, go away. I want to finish my book."

"Well, I'll see you later then, sweetheart."

"And Klaus?"

He paused, brow arched as he turned back to her. She gave him a tiny smile, toes bending to rock her swing. "Your drawings were beautiful."

His smile caught in her chest - dimples cutting deep, eyes lit with happiness, and then he was gone. Caroline blew out a breath, eyes unfocused as she rocked slowly.

She'd struck her deal with the devil. That should've alarmed her, but it didn't. Chewing on her lip, she closed her book.

And thought about that kiss.

His lips on her skin. Teeth against her palm. Wondered how his promises - a thousand years of experience, those painter's hands - would feel against her skin.

Klaus kissed like a man drowning.

Caroline tangled her hands in his hair, mouth open beneath his as he licked and sucked, tongue sliding hot and slick along hers. Moaning, she rocked her hips into his, desperate for more contact.

She hadn't planned on sleeping with him. Not yet. Not when their truce was so new, when her agreement was so tentative between them. But graduation was a week ago, and today she'd gotten her acceptance letter - fuck you, supernatural shenanigans, she was getting an education, thank you very much - and he'd just... been there.

And she was so happy. Bubbling with it, smile too wide, she practically danced over to the hybrid on her porch, staring at her like she was the sun. And she'd kissed him.

It was supposed to have been a quick thing, a brush of her lips against his - but then his hands and were in her hair, mouth slanting open against hers and -

God, this man could kiss.

As if her mouth was his salvation, as if each moan, each roll of their hips was the answer to questions he didn't know existed. When he'd finally lifted his head - eyes dark, pupils blown, lips wet - he'd smiled at her with such adoration and lust, she'd kissed him again, hands sliding underneath the hem of his shirt to find muscle and skin.

Somehow, that'd lead to her happy, bright sundress being left in tatters in her foyer; bra somewhere on the stairs. It was how she'd ended up pinned to her bed, Klaus Mikaelson cradled tightly between her thighs.

"Pretty little Caroline," Klaus breathed as he licked at her collarbones. "All worked up and wet for me."

Caroline twisted her wrists, complained in the back of her throat when he didn't budge. "Klaus."

"Oh no, sweetheart," Klaus murmured, lifting his head with a slow smile. "I have promises to keep."

He lifted her hands, pressed his lips to the collection of veins that had once pulsed, and then pressed them next to her head. "Hands stay here, love."

"Klaus..."

He leaned in, feathered kisses along her jaw, her cheekbones. "I'll make it worth it."

Caroline blew out a breath. "You don't play fair."

Klaus grinned at her, tongue snaking out along his bottom lip. "I haven't started."

"Seriously?" Caroline questioned, both brows arching. "I'm mostly naked here."

"Hmmm, look at all this pretty skin." His hands dragged down the line of her torso, fingertips running along dips and arches, as if she was a canvas he'd yet to paint.

His lips pressed against her sternum, laved a scalding path to belly button; Caroline arched into him, panties sliding against the roughness of his jeans. His mouth skimmed across her abdomen, lighting up nerves she hadn't known were sensitive. The slick, lazy strokes of his tongue and the scrape of stubble had her gripping the pillow at her head, lungs heaving for air she didn't need.

She wanted his hands on her breasts. His lips on hers. "Are you always such a tease?"

"Patience." Klaus cajoled, kissing up her ribs, hips grinding briefly against hers. Caroline choked on a moan, body already tightly wound, his brief caress not nearly enough.

His hands slid to her thighs, coaxing her legs away from his waist. Hot, skin fever flushed, she complained in the back of her throat as he paused to look at her.

"Yes, love?"

"I'm pretty sure I lost patience on the stairs," Caroline said, voice breathless. "Stop teasing me."

Lips at her sternum. Tongue above her hip. Hands teasing along her ribs.

"Klaus, I swear to God..." Caroline started and he ducked his head.

Kissed the crotch of her panties.

Spine arching as he flicked his tongue over her clit, she moaned in protest as he kissed over to her hip, knuckles sliding up her ribs.

"Later."

She was going to kill him. Nails cutting through her pillowcase, she went to hook a leg over his waist, but he slid up the length of her; the sudden, unexpected feel of his mouth on her breast, his tongue a slick counterpoint to the slight edge of teeth, unraveled her. His hips ground into hers, the hard line of his cock behind the seam of his pants prolonging the rush of her orgasm. Shuddering, she blinked dazed eyes at the ceiling, body temporarily loose and pliant underneath him.

"Wound a bit tight, love?"

A soft, reverent kiss to her shoulder. A bite along her neck. Lips along her jaw.

"Oh, shut up."

A puff of air as he laughed, and Klaus slid back down her body, her underwear disappearing. The smile he cast at her was lascivious, eyes greedy in a way she hadn't expected. Tongue flickering out to wet his lower lip, he spread her open with his hands.

"I'll ruin you for anyone else."

Caroline shivered at his words, body still humming. "So you've said."

His dimples cut into his cheeks. "A challenge, then?"

His head dipped, and his tongue stroked broadly against her, flat and wet. Caroline bit her lip to stifle her moan, abdomen clenching as he repeated the caress. Klaus made another of those sounds, and she rocked into him, veins burning hot with each pass of his tongue.

"More," Caroline demanded breathlessly, body throbbing. "Klaus."

Lifting his lead, he licked his lips. Gaze flickering to hers, he deliberately lowered his eyes to her chest. Her breath caught at the demand in his gaze, the casual way he held her hips still.

"Play with those pretty breasts, Caroline," Klaus ordered lowly. His eyes dared. "Show me what you like."

Toes curling into the mattress, she heaved out a breath. His hands held her thighs apart, all of her bare and open to his gaze. His mouth was wet, and his gaze threatened to swallow her.

She hesitated.

"Caroline," Klaus cajoled, lips curving. "Don't be shy now, love. Let me watch you take some of your own pleasure. Show me what'll make you beg."

Tongue flickering across her lips, Caroline's lashes lowered. Glancing at him, she lifted her trembling hands to her breasts. Watched his eyes as her hands smoothed across her chest; felt Klaus groan in approval as she toyed with her nipples; her hands squeezing and massaging until she panted.

Spread open like this, there was no relief for the coiling in her gut, hips pushing against his hold. Eyes dark, lips just parted, he watched her like a starving man.

She was almost embarrassingly wet, desperate for his mouth or hands, anything to relieve this burn. Tossing her head back, Caroline tweaked her nipples and moaned. "Klaus. Touch me. Please."

"Just like that, then." Klaus breathed, his hand sliding beneath her ass as he lowered his head. Her entire body jerked with the first swipe of his tongue. He hummed against her, each slow caress so good, but not enough. She couldn't help the begging, panting moans, her hands loosing coordination as he slid two fingers inside her. Her spine arched, one hand desperately sliding to his hair, the other squeezing tightly at her breast.

"Please, please." Caroline managed, trying to rock into his mouth, her entire body a live wire of need, wound so tight, but not tightly enough. He made a warm, indulgent noise as she struggled in his grip, head thrashing against her pillow, fingers tight in his curls. He flicked his tongue against her, fingers moving too slow.

"I like the way you beg."

Opening her eyes she tried to glare at him, instead she shuddered at his expression - greed, lust, adoration. Tilting his head, Klaus kissed her thigh, lips curving. His fingers circled her clit, before they drove back inside her, thumb pressing rough and firm just as his teeth sank into her thigh. Caroline screamed, spine arching as her orgasm slammed through her, body trembling as he continued to feed, thumb and fingers drawing out every aftershock until she was limp and mewling.

Kissing a path back up her body, he tangled a hand in her hair - his kiss slow. Tongue lazily tangling with hers, his hand's gliding up and down her ribs. Smiling, he leaned back, biting through his lip before kissing her again. Caroline gasped, monster rising at the taste of him. He licked at her fangs, and she lapped at his mouth until his wounds healed

"On your knees, sweetheart." Klaus said firmly as he pulled back.

"Huh?" Caroline managed, blinking away her fangs, body humming with energy after the rush of his blood. She sucked in a surprised breath as he slid his hands behind her, pulling her up. She bit her lip as her breasts pressed against his bare chest; shuddering at the slid of her pelvis against his. He kissed along her jaw, biting at her earlobe with blunt teeth.

"Turn around, Caroline." His voice was rough with arousal, but his hands were gentle as he helped her turn.

"On your knees."

Bracing her weight, she twisted to watch as he stood to shuck his pants, her breath hitching as he smiled at her. Long, lean lines and the rest of him... her core clenched.

"Don't look so smug," Caroline said without heat. "We both know you're attractive."

"Excuse me love, but I just gave you multiple orgasms." He licked his lips, eyes gleaming. "You're gorgeous when you come, glazed and helpless with pleasure."

She bit her lip, heaving out a breath as he rejoined her on the bed, naked skin hot as he pressed against her. Kissing a path up her spine, he slid both hands to her breasts. Caroline gasped, hands fisting in the bedding.

"Fast learner." She managed, biting her lip hard to stifle a moan.

He massaged her breast. "My new favorite subject. Spread your legs for me, sweetheart. There."

Klaus pushed into her, and Caroline choked on a scream, body still so sensitive. His hand tilted her hips and she arched against him, panting heavily.

"You're so tight," he breathed into her ear. The hand not holding her hips in place tweaked her nipple, fingers following the pattern she'd shown him earlier. "Would you beg for me, Caroline? Would you ask so prettily for another orgasm?"

"Oh God," Caroline moaned as his hips found a rhythm. Like this, caged by his arms, he was hitting all the right places inside her. His moans of approval as she tightened around him with each stroke only amplified how good he felt.

"Two orgasms and you're deifying me?" Teeth along her shoulder. "I'm flattered."

"Seriously?" Caroline managed. "I swear to God, Klaus -"

He dragged his hand down her abdomen, and pinched her clit between his fingers. Caroline's arms gave out with a sobbing moan. Klaus adjusted his hold, the new angle lighting up her nerves; Caroline gasped out his name, voice rising as he pulled out and stroked back in.

Her orgasm was building too fast, body almost painfully aroused as he took her. Fists bunching in the sheets, she desperately tried to match the movements his hips.

"Klaus," Caroline gasped, voice breaking. "Klaus."

His lips were rough against her shoulder, his hips snapping a little harder. "Again, love. Tell me what you want."

"Please," Caroline managed, internal muscles clamping down. He groaned, control teetering as she arched her spine. "Please, please. I'm so close, I..."

He growled, arm pulling her hips up higher, fingertips almost rough against her clit as he slammed into her. Caroline screamed, her orgasm sudden and brutal, body locking as she came. His body trembled, hips snapping through the vice of her body before came, name groaned into her spine.

Caroline couldn't move - didn't need to move - as the weight of him pressed her into the mattress. His fingers combed through her ruined hair, the touch soothing as she tried to recover.

"Alright," Caroline mumbled. "You probably have a reason to be smug. A little."

Soft, playful kisses on her spine. "So demanding, as if you hadn't just screamed my name."

She swatted blindly. "Be quiet."

He chuckled, cheek pressing against her back. But he was silent, the warmth of him sinking into her bones; she'd worry about this need, this affection tomorrow.

"Now what?" Caroline asked, too tired to move her head. Klaus laughed at her, lips pressing against her shoulder blades.

"Immediately?" He hummed low in his throat, the noise affectionate. "Shower sex. After that? Blood. Then I might bend you over that kitchen table."

Heat flushed through her, and she wiggled onto her back with a grunt. His eyes dropped to her breasts, tongue swiping across his lower lip. Caroline huffed, and his gaze returned to her face, pupils blown.

"Klaus..."

"Anything else depends on you," Klaus said. He brushed her hair away from her face. "I want you, Caroline. It doesn't matter if we're here or somewhere else."

"I got into the school I wanted," Caroline admitted, sitting up.

"Is that what that kiss was for?" Klaus dimpled. "I'd be jealous, if it hadn't made you smile like that. Congratulations, sweetheart."

"Thank you. I'm going."

He arched both brows. "Of course you are."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren't going to, I don't know, complain about that? I'm going to live in the dorms."

Klaus laughed, shoulders shaking. "I look forward to seeing how long that lasts."

"Shut up," she grumbled.

He sobered, caught her eyes. "Do you regret this?"

Caroline hesitated before reaching out to touch his jaw, fingers sliding through his scruff. Let herself really thing about what had just happened – how things had changed inexplicably between them – and shook her head. "No. I probably should, considering everything else, but no."

"Then stop fretting," Klaus said quietly. He rolled of the bed and smiled, eyes bright in a way she hadn't seen before. "When I look at you, I think in centuries, not years."

"You might think differently after a few years with me at Tulane." Caroline muttered. "You haven't seen me in the middle of planning."

Klaus arched a brow. "New Orleans, love?"

"What?" She narrowed her eyes. "Do not ruin my college years with whatever it is you're planning right now or I'll have you desiccated and dropped in the Gulf until I graduate."

"So blood thirsty," Klaus said lowly, eyes flickering gold. "Careful, sweetheart, I might decide to chain you to my bed as the easiest way to deal with your death threats."

Caroline rolled off the bed and walked to the shower, unperturbed. "If you want more sex, I'm in charge this time."

Both of his brows arched. "Oh?"

Caroline paused inside the bathroom and lowered her lashes, smile slow and devious. "I'll make it worth it."

"Well," Klaus drawled as he walked towards her. Picking up her hand, he kissed her palm, his sudden hybrid-face calling her own monster. "Let's see what you've got, sweetheart."

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