There was a pair of men's boots in front of her. Shivering through her shock and surprise, she glanced up with blood stained hands and face. For a moment, she hoped she was hallucinating, but then he smiled, teeth very white behind red lips. She tried to scramble back, heart hammering in her chest, but quicker than she could follow he'd crouched down and gripped her wrist. Between them was the dead body of the nurse, and the man looked delighted.

"Shhh, sweetheart, we don't want to attract too much attention, do we?"

Caroline tried to unscramble her brain, shaking her head violently. "I killed… I…"

A thumb brushed tantalizingly across the veins in her wrist, and those blue eyes gleamed at her. "Now, that's not quite true, is it?"

She froze. "What?"

He clucked his tongue, tugging forward until her free hand landed on the still warm body between them. "If you listen, you can hear her heartbeat. Concentrate."

Caroline blinked, and swallowed past the terrible hunger in her veins. His tone was nearly gentle, except for a thread of iron, and she wasn't sure what was going on, but she tried to understand what he'd asked of her. She could hear her heartbeat, frantic as a rabbits as it throbbed in her throat, but beneath that...

Weak. Fluttering like a wounded bird.

Dropping her gaze, Caroline stared at the woman she'd thought she murdered and slowly relaxed as she realized the nurse was alive. Her gums ached and she wondered if she she touched her should feel that sluggish crawl of blood. She wanted, wanted, wanted.

Exhaling, she glanced up and swallowed hard.

Some unknown instinct trailed down her spine in warning as she met those blue eyes again. She was suddenly, agonizingly aware of the blood cooling on her skin, the sharpness of teeth she'd woken with alien in her mouth. But with every brush of his thumb, her skin drew tight and achy, adrenaline leaving her nervous system in overdrive.

"What's your name?" He murmured.

She hesitated, heart skipping at the flicker of impatience in his eyes. "Caroline."

"Caroline," he repeated. His gaze skimmed down the blood on her skin, and instead of disgust, she realized with a start that the heat shimmering in his eyes was something else entirely. "How did you die?"

She jolted, at the memory of her lungs drawn so tight that burned. Her nails curled tightly into her palm, but he didn't release her. Just continued to watch her with eyes that never blinked, and ignored her little tugs to be free. "I was in my room, there was a car wreck… Elena…"

"Elena?" He questioned, tone cajoling.

Caroline looked at him warily, wondering why he hadn't attacked her. She'd seen her face, the veins beneath her eyes and the monsters teeth. But this man held her easily, didn't seem bothered by the gore. She knew the nurse was bleeding, her throat was dry with such a terrible thirst, and yet he just watched her. As still and steady as stone. "Elena killed me but I don't understand. She's my friend."

Another of those soft shushing nose, and her heart slammed into her throat as he brought her wrist to his mouth, tongue sliding hot and wet up bloody skin. The heat beneath her skin flushed hotter, and she shuddered at the scrap of his beard. Her breathing went shallow, and when his head tilted to face her again, she gasped. Beneath those eyes ran veins as dark as her own, and the smile against her skin was just as sharp. Gaze wide, her free hand lifted towards his face and then she caught herself, jerking back.

"Who are you?" She breathed.

"My name is Klaus," he said. Head canting, he traced his bottom lip with his tongue, intrigue darkening eyes that shined red. "Tell me, Caroline, are you still hungry?"

She shuddered, mouth opening and closing, chest heaving. "I ate…"

Klaus smiled when her words died. "Blood, love, you want blood. I confess, I'm impressed. Few baby vampires have the control to stop. But there isn't any reason to feel ashamed of what you need to survive."

She'd torn the blood bag free, had luxuriated in the flavor and smell, had wanted more. There was nothing special about needing more. She'd wanted to drown in the nurses' horror and pain, gorge on every drop. She didn't know why she'd stopped.

She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off neatly by taking bloodstained finger between his lips and running his tongue along blood slicked skin. Caroline froze, breath caught in her lungs, and heat pooled low in her abdomen. His gaze holding hers, Klaus released her with a low hum of approval, tongue gliding along the fingertip of the next. "Delicious."

The rush of arousal was heady, hunger pounding in her temples. Her fingers shook with it, and Klaus smiled as if he knew. Another hot kiss against her palm, and he released her hand, his fingers tugging lightly at the collar of her hospital gown.

"Most baby vampires wake starving. Rather rude of your sire to abandon you to the mercies of the humans," he continued, as if he wasn't touching her. "Did Katerina give you her blood?"

Caroline struggled to pull in a steady breath. "Who?"

A flash of dimples. "Elena."

She shook her head. "No… it was Damon, he…"

Her spine straightened, alarm and rage eating at the terror and panic. Memories crashed over her and she hissed, nails digging into the soft flesh of the nurse until blood stained her skin. Klaus laughed softly, reaching for her hand and repositioning it. "That is how you find her heart."

Caroline jerked out of her memory, blinked him back into focus. "What?"

"When you kill a vampire," Klaus said conversationally, fingers digging in deeply next to hers with a odd suctioning noise, wrist disappearing into the chest cavity as easily as reaching through paper. Her lips parted as he jerked his hand back out, blood splattering, holding a heart between his fingers. "You go for their heart."

Hunger slammed inside her so violently she nearly lunged for the organ. She panted, gaze staring at the blood as it dripped down his wrist, spilled past his forearm. "Why does it smell so good?"

"And yet, you hold back," Klaus mused, as if he was intrigued. "Such control."

She shuddered at his words, and he smiled with bloody dimples. She moaned as he brushed the heart across her lips. "It is a gift, Caroline."

Some part of her scrambled in disbelief but the rest of her hummed in pleasure as her fangs sank into the bloody organ. She pulled back panting when she would have eaten the flesh, head swimming. It was hard to panic, to hate herself, when Klaus watched her with such vivid fascination.

He made a low noise, and a moment later, the hot lave of his tongue across her lips burned her. She gasped, and he licked deeper. Her mouth opened wider, until blood smeared across both their faces. She didn't care that the nurse was now truly dead between them, not as Klaus' free hand slipped up her gown to cup her breast, and this new monster in her veins clamored for more.

Always more.

He chuckled against her lips as she fisted her fingers in his hair. Bloody fingers gripped her jaw, and she struggled to concentrate as his lips curved. "And yet, such a delicious greed, after all."

A moment later and she found herself beneath him, bloody fingers interlaced as he settled between her thighs. Her lashes fluttered as he ground down against her center, his wet lips hot against her ear. "You'll be a fabulous predator."

She wound her legs around his waist, wanting friction. He gave it to her and her spine arched, fangs cutting through her lip as she struggled to muffle her moan. Klaus dipped his head immediately, sucking the wound until it closed. He pulled her head back, scraped his teeth down the line of her throat. "Would you like to learn?"

She panted, squeezing his hips tightly as he rolled against her again. Old Caroline would have freaked at the way this man made her body burn with his bloody kisses and hands, but now she just wanted. The thirst she woken with hadn't been sated, and as Klaus lifted his head to smile down at her with monster's teeth, she bared her own fanged smile.

"I'm not a victim."

His lips curved against hers, wicked and satisfied, and she bit them. He groaned, breath ragged against her skin. "No. I don't think you are."

It was hard to think with her clit throbbing, her body a livewire of sensation, monster clawing for everything he'd give her. Forcing herself to meet his gaze, she twined their fingers tightly together. "I'm hungry."

"So," he rasped, nudging her chin with her lips. "Am I."

His fingers slid free of hers, but before she could complain, his greedy mouth slipped down her throat and found her breast. She buried her fingers in his hair and shuddered. The sound of a button hitting the floor was loud in her ears and she gasped when his knuckles dragged down the slick line between her thighs. He made a pleased sound, and the head of his cock followed his fingers a moment later. She lifted her hips eagerly and he sank inside her, the burn of him stretching and hot inside her. Caroline tossed her head back, his name a moan on her lips.

"Would you like a bed Caroline?" He rasped against her ear after his first thrust, fingers tangling in her hair as they rocked together. "Your slick skin against my sheets as I show you just how much fun being a vampire can be?"

She panted against his jaw, teeth grazing his skin as her spine arched at the perfection of him inside her. His fingers gripped her ass tightly, pulling her firmly into his body, and her toes dug into the back of thighs. Sex had never felt this good, and she couldn't think though each rough snap of his hips. Whimpering as she hovered on the edge of something explosive, the sudden burn of Klaus' teeth sinking into her shoulder sent her careening. Her nails dug into his skin until she drew blood, hips jerking against his as he tipped over with her.

She shuddered against him for long moment, trying to catch her breath.

Hot lips dragged against her skin, and she gasped as she when she felt him hardening. "You never answered my question.'

She swallowed. "What question?"

He looked at her, mused and flushed and wicked, with blood on his lips. "Would you like a bed?"

It occurred to her that she was on the floor of a hospital near a cooling corpse, that her skin was painted in gore and she was having sex, really good sex, with a monster she didn't know. A monster who'd given her a heart. She realized she didn't care. Tomorrow there'd be consequences and she didn't know what she was going to tell her mom, but the feel of his cock inside her was the best thing she'd felt, and she wanted more.

"Yes."

Lips dark from her kisses and share blood curved, and he pulled her leg higher against his side, before pulling out slowly and thrusting back in. Her eyes squeezed shut, scream building in her throat at the angle change, her body sensitivity from her orgasm. The fingers in her hair tugged, putting her throat where he wanted it, teeth blunt against her collarbones.

"Oh, the things I'll teach you, love."