He held her chin in his hands within a split-second. His voice was so low that even Caroline´s vampire hearing could barely pick up the compulsion. " Make her believe you are fine and happy." However he did not compel her to believe so herself, at least not while she´s on the phone with someone from the real world. Slowly, he pulled her back into his chest, listening to every lie she told her friend. His hand gently reached around her head to wipe the occasional tear from her face, he could feel her shiver at the proximity.

Her conversation with Bonnie lasted about 15 minutes, with Bonnie prying her for details, with Caroline coming up with more and more lies to cover up the danger she was in, while Klaus' hands had wandered below her shirt to caress her stomach. He noticed that Caroline also tried to keep Bonnie in the conversation, knowing that once her friend would hang up, she´d go back to being his plaything. When he went to trail kisses down her neck, he could taste the goosebumps.

As he listened to Caroline´s pure heart making her inquire more and more about the state of Bonnie´s mother while hearing her heart skip beats in terror, he finally felt what he had been longing for the past daze: in charge. Like all that power she´s been having over him was finally back where it belonged. With him.

Caroline´s knees nearly gave in, when Bonnie finally hung up, but Klaus held her steady. Stuck in a daze between compulsion and reality she just leaned into him in exhaustion, not letting go of her phone, until he finally took it out of her palm and placed it onto the night stand next to them. And just like that his initial compulsion returned.

When she joyfully span around to face him, he was quite taken aback by her face. It was beautiful, but slightly grotesque, as her the happy smile plastered onto her face contrasted with the tears that she had just shed. And just like that his feeling of power was gone.

"Hey, I thought we talked about this towel thing. I expect you to be decent by the time I return from the shower." she teased, gently kissing him.

With that he watched her enter the bathroom. He could hear her splashing around at the tap, and he briefly wondered if she was asking herself why there were tears on her face if she was supposedly happy. This time she didn´t sing during her shower. Oddly enough, he missed that.

When she lay finally next to him, he pulled her as close as he could. An hour after she had fallen into a deep slumber, he was at last convinced that every movement coming from her body came from her breathing, none of it was her shivering from his touch.

The next morning he surprised her with breakfast in bed, carefully watching as she grabbed the blood bag he´d placed next to her and put it bag without having opened it. Carefully watching, as she cuddled closer to him like he was her friend, not her enemy.

"So, what´s on the agenda today? I was thinking we could visit Liberty Island..."

"Actually, I had a far better idea."

She looked at him questioningly, arching an eyebrow. "Elaborate."

"Well, to my knowledge a girl is not allowed to enter New York without going on a decent shopping spree at least once."

"Yeah, but only a really sadistic girlfriend would take her boyfriend onto such a trip."

Boyfriend? His smile grew at the realization that she had attributed that word to him on her own accord. "So you´re my girlfriend now."

At that, her face froze in shock. "Oh, my god. I am sorry. I totally hadn´t meant to say that... I am sorry... I... I don´t know... why I ..."

He had her silenced with a kiss, before she could say anymore. "Please, don´t fire me again. I just got promoted." he teased.

"I just don´t want you to feel drafted into anything."

"I am volunteering, love." he said, while nuzzling her neck. "Now...about that shopping trip..."

Taking Caroline shopping was different than taking Rebekah. He practically had to drag her into all of New York´s finer stores with her insisting that she could find something cute and nice in a normally priced stores just the same. He was certain that she enjoyed shopping in general, but found it quite endearing that she felt slightly awkward with getting pampered. They found a beautiful light-blue summer dress within an hour, though actually Klaus had liked any outfit she had tried on gorgeous on her. She just claimed she hated them after discreetly eyeing the price tag. However, that blue dress - albeit a reduced item - looked beyond lovely.

"So, looks like we´re all set to go. I think we can still make it to liberty Island. I´ll just get changed and then we can be on our merry way..." she said after having twirled for him one final time.

"Love, we´re here on a shopping spree. We´re not done by a long-shot, love. " he smiled.

"Nik. I get it, but you don´t have to do this. I am perfectly fine with the clothes I already have. Plus, you might want to take an actual look at some of these price tags." she smiled.

"I already did, and sweetheart, I have a certain budget allotted for this trip and if you keep on browsing only through the on-sale section, you might be stuck here with me for quite some time."

"Nik... honestly, I am perfectly fine with what I have. The dress is great. Now let´s pay and get out."

"Is the store not to your liking?" He asked in a serious town, as he mentally thought of suitable alternatives.

"Of course it is, the stuff here is amazing."

"Then, sweetheart", he said, not getting up from the customer couch. " What´s the problem?".

Caroline just kept watching him as he finished his glass of champagne. "They are just a tad bit much for ... school and things."

At that he finally looked at her, seriously contemplating her words. Have a moment without any insecurities. And just like that his internal predator returned. Slowly, he got up and approached her. He bent down to whisper into her ear. "Love, please walk over to that mirror." His voice was commanding and quiet.

When they were both standing in front of the mirror, he swiftly placed his arms around her, pulling her back into his chest. Just like he did the other night.

"Please don´t be mad at me." she whispered. At that he placed a soothing kiss onto her shoulder.

"I am not mad at you. I am mad at whoever made you feel this way about yourself." he replied honestly.

"What way?" she asked perplexedly.

"Look into the mirror, love." he said, gently guiding her chin up with his fingers. " I genuinely have no idea what it is YOU see when you look at yourself, but I see something warm and breathtakingly beautiful. ..."

"Nik, ..." she tried to interrupt him, but he just placed a finger onto her lips, indicating for her to be quiet.

"Don´t. I don´t want to hear you say something humble or belittling about yourself right now, just because you fail to see that it is not the clothes that are too grand for small town Mystic falls. It is you that is too amazing for small town life. So stop telling yourself that you don´t deserve every second of this. Just stop it, love."

He watched her as she seemingly took in her own reflection for the first time in comprehension of her potential. Part of him considered compelling her into sharing her thoughts with him as her face slowly started to light up. It took her a whole minute to have the courage to gaze up into the glass. Like the challenge of accepting something bold and good about herself was just too much for her. Almost. His own smile returned as her eyes met her own. Like she finally started to see.

Klaus regretted that he´d have to erase this conversation from her mind soon. In a matter of days he´d be forced to make her forget about all of this. Every honest words he had just whispered into her ear. It would all be gone.

Suddenly she spun around in his embrace. "Okay, you win... now about that red dress you were asking me to try on... " her knees gave away before she got to finish the sentence. He caught her easily, for a second not grasping what was ruining the moment, when he saw her holding her jaw in her hands. "What the heck." she hissed, as her face started to alternated between vampiristic and human features. Of course, the hunger would be back soon.

"Don´t worry, love." he told her, for a second he felt at a loss what to do. Then the predator in him took over once again. In a blink of an eye he had a shopping assistant, middle aged and brunette, at their side and compelled her to offer her neck to Caroline.

Realizing what he was going to make her do, she started to struggle against his hold. "No, Nik, I can´t." He never let go off her. "Don´t make me do this, please." Tenderly, he kissed her on the forehead, before locking their gazes. "Love. Have at it."

He watched on as she slowly sank her teeth into the woman´s neck. Attentively, he observed the way she devoured the blood without spilling any onto her dress. How her inner hunter took more and more control of her actions. He didn´t stop her until the woman was almost dead, and he only did so because he did not feel like disposing of a body while being on date. So he fed the woman his blood, compelled her to reassemble her appearance before facing a sobbing Caroline.

The sight was tearing him apart. Like a victory that he could not just quite enjoy right. Like a stomach ache of having head a drop too much blood. Her eyes were red with blood lust, her skin was creamy porcelain. Like a twisted angel, like a fragile glass house that was somehow not shattering. It made him feel guilt and shame along with pleasure and glory.

He slowly moved to kiss her, drop by drop licking the blood off the corners of her mouth, feeling her shiver in his arms. When he caught her eyes, he spoke into her blue orbs. "You won´t remember this little escapade. You´ll only remember what we talked about until you mentioned that dress, love. This whole thing was just another bad dream. A really ugly daydream. Oh, and love. One more thing. If I should ever make you feel like there is nothing in this world for you to be insecure about, please, tell me. It would make me really, really happy to know."

He eyes closed for a moment, before they returned, bright and happy. "I am sorry, I think I just sort of spaced out..."

"No problem, you were saying something about a red dress..." he provided, pulling her into a sweet kiss.

They wound up spending hours in that store. He enjoyed watching her pick out various outfits matching different parts of her persona. He found himself getting lost in her laughter. Afterwards she dragged him into a cute little cafe, having forgotten all about Liberty Island. They had the multiple bags of purchased items delivered to the hotel, so that they could enjoy the rest of their day. But mainly so that he could drape his arm around her waist without having anything to keep him from doing that as often as he liked.

As they sat there sipping coffee, she suddenly looked up at him. "Why don´t you ever talk about yourself, Nik?"

A little bit annoyed by the question, he just diplomatically responded with "Not much to tell, love."

"It´s just... you go out of your way to be this sweet guy, you say you want to be my boyfriend, but I don´t think that I know anything about you apart from your secretive art hobbies and the way you like your coffee. I mean, I don´t want to nag you about it, if there are things you like to keep to yourself, but ... I don´t know I guess I just want you to know that I would like to know you."

For a second he just looked at her, reflecting on the irony that less than a week ago, he had been close to begging for her to get to know him, and now here she was, asking him sweetly to open up to her.

"Like I said, there isn´t much to tell."

"C´mon. You´re a way older vampire than I am. I am sure there is lots to tell."

"You´re wrong." he barked. A growl in his voice.

She looked at him insecurely for a few moments, biting her lips, fumbling with her cappuccino cup, before finally looking up at him.

"I get it." she said in that voice he remembered all too well. It was the same tone she told him off at the ball. "You don´t like opening up because it takes away your control. You like planning things, you like being in charge, gee, you freaked out on me for leaving you for a tiny moment to get refreshments the other day... It feels like you think that whenever you let someone else take over you´re vulnerable, like you´re scared of me getting up and leave you here any second. I don´t know why that is, but I know that the feeling sucks. So okay, you want to be secretive some more, that´s fine. I just wanted you to know that I care to know thing about you. Just in case you ever let me."

And then he just snapped. He was supposed to control her mind, she was not supposed to read him like a book. She was supposed to just be pretty and gorgeous and warm and kind and helpless, she was not meant to see through his walls. "You mean like you care to share the details of your bunny diet story?" he said, giving her a venomous look.

She gulped, before she quietly spoke again. "Fine. ... I was compelled once by this vampire. He fed on me, played with me. slept with me and then he kept on compelling me to think of him as my boyfriend. Not because he was actually interested in me, actually he thought I was a shallow kiddie pool, but I just fitted into his plans at the time. He used me to get what he wanted. Including my blood. And when I was turned, I suddenly remembered all of it. The feeling, the fear, the question of whether he´ll kill me now or next week. And it´s a shitty feeling. It´s like you believe your own lack of worth and nothing can ever make you feel like you did not deserve that ever again. ... I just don´t want to make anyone ever feel that way about themselves. And that´s why I steal blood bags and hunt bunnies. I try to be better than this." He looked up into her slightly watery eyes, and his anger evaporated and resurfaced in a disturbing mix of pure rage at whoever did that do her and appreciation for her candor. "And no, I did not just tell you all of that so you would return the favor. I just agreed with you that I have no right to ask for honesty if I am not willing to explain the things I am less than proud of."

He was about to speak up, but then a thought hit him. "Tell me his name."

"It doesn´t matter, Nik. It´s in the past. "

"His name..." he hissed.

She sighed. "Damon." Damon Salvatore. He would kill the raven-haired vampire for his actions. He´d torture him to death. As he caught her looking at him unsure of how to continue their conversation, he timidly took her hand in his.

"My father hated me because my mother had cheated on him with another man. And I am the offspring of that blessed union. He´s chased me down ever since I had become a vampire meaning to kill me, until finally I killed him. My siblings... "

"You have siblings?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I had 4 brothers and a sister. My sister and me we just got over a rocky patch. Two of my brothers are dead. One just died recently."

"I am sorry."

"Don´t be. He wasn´t really the type to endure life as a vampire. Yes, before you ask, my entire family is more or less immortal. Except of those that are dead permanently. Like my father. As for my mother, she has recently started plotting to kill all of us. So my parents both want my quick demise, while me and my siblings are more or less estranged from one another. Let´s just say, I am the black sheep of the family."

"Because you got the wrong father?"

"No, because I am evil and bad and selfish and I take whatever I want. I am a monster." he said, staring into her innocent eyes, waiting for her judgment.

"I have never seen a monster that paints. I´ve heard of a few that steal cookies, but I have never seen than stroll through art exhibitions. Also, I never heard of them talking kindly to insecure neurotic cheerleaders. But hey, I´ll believe the monster bit when I catch you steal a bag of cookies" she joked, slowly, gently rubbing her thumb across his hand.

He could feel his lips quirk up into a genuine smile, while she never let go of his hand, no matter what else they did that afternoon. And for a second, even he himself no longer believed into the monster bit.

As she was once more in the shower, he sat on the bed, pondering over the day´s events. He had been waiting for the right moment to compel the truth about her human past out of her, but she had beaten him to it, by telling him about what Damon did to her herself. The Salvatore would pay, he promised that to himself. He thought about the things he had told her, about the things he had confirmed to her simply by not denying them, and he found a bittersweet comfort and once more an ounce of regret in the fact that he´d make her forget all about it soon. And he thought about the way he had slowly made her face light up in front of the mirror earlier. It made him smile to himself.

She disrupted his musings as she came out of the bath room, wearing a red flannel pajama. He slowly got up, kissed her, before moving to take a shower himself now, when he felt her hand around his wrist.

"Everything okay?" he asked. Her response was a soft smile and a gentle finger placed onto his lips as she gently but affirmatively made him sit back down onto the bed. Before he could even grasp the situation, she had straddled him and started to slowly kiss him, motioning for him to lean back, with his hands holding them both vertical, while her hands found their way through his hair and finally onto his shirt. His brain started talking again, when she opened the first button. She was moving ahead of schedule. That was not how he had planned for it to happen. "Love, easy... "

She silenced him with a quick, innocent peck onto his lips. "Trust me." she whispered. And with that, he simply let her continue. It was a chain of many moments. He felt her unbutton his shirt. She pushed him down onto the mattress. He felt her lips everywhere on his skin. Like a breeze he couldn´t escape. And every time he tried to touch her, she just squatted his hands away. She made him long for her body. Long for more than that. He felt his dead lungs close up on him, as she removed the top of her pajama and threw it casually across the room, without breaking eye contact with him. His fingers were finally permitted to graze across her back as she leaned onto him, kissing his lips, stroking his length in his shorts, moving against him in a rhythm that drove him wild. She spent an eternity working him into a frenzy, never letting his hands stray from her back or her shoulders. When she finally allowed him enough control to flip them over, she locked their gazes. She never released him from her sweet compulsion until they both were all spent. Until he had enjoyed every inch of her perfection. Until they both forgot where one person started and the other ended.

Afterwards as they both drifted asleep, he felt her hold onto him. And finally, he relaxed.

She continued making love to him in his dreams. He could not get enough of her and she was relentless against him. He about to tell her just how beautiful he thought she was, when her face turned into one of fear. "No. Not again. Get out." She started to struggle against him. "Love, what´s wrong."

"Get away from me." she cried, flashing herself to the other side of the room. He didn´t figure out what was wrong until he caught his own reflection in the mirror. Locking eyes with Damon Salvatore.

He awoke with a start, panting heavily. As he searched around the bed, he found her lying close-by, her hand still intertwined with his. Slowly and quietly, but urgently, he got up and walked into the bathroom. Checking hi s face in the mirror. His memory still haunted by the fear in Caroline's eyes.

It was true. He might not be a monster that stole cookies, but he was a monster nonetheless. He used innocent people. He compelled fragile minds. Then he took everything from them that his mind could think of. He was destruction itself.

And then a voice in his head started to snigger. It took him back to her distracting him to kill Kol, to her plotting to kill him. It took him back a millennium to his father calling him out on his weaknesses. It took him back to why he was here.

Just like that, his determination returned. It was not the determination of a man seeking revenge. It was the guilty determination of a creature seeking havoc and harm knowing that the wrong path to travel by is the only he feel truly safe at. A creature knowing that being the darkest of them all, kept the other monsters at bay.

And with his mind gloomy and his guilt heavy, he went back to back, pulling her closer against his chest. Taking her warmth. Taking comfort.

Author´s note.

So. I know it took me ages to update this and I still am not happy. I feel like this should have come out way better, but I still hope some of you liked the chapter.