First and foremost I would like to thank AnastasiaDreams for her amazing beta work.

This story takes place after 3x21 but with a twist, after that the story goes AU, and 3x22 never took place.

Warnings: This is a story with dark themes!

So in this universe Klaus saved Caroline, then tried to kill Elena and Tyler, Stefan, Damon and Bonnie desiccated him. Damon and Stefan were about to leave with Klaus's body but Rebekah intervened and saved him. She snapped Damon's and Stefan's necks and threw them of the Wickery bridge and left with her brother's body. After that Klaus got revived and from a distance he saw the little party Caroline threw celebrating his demise and now he only dreams of revenge.

And revenge is what he is going to get. But maybe along the way he will get and something more. Maybe nightmares are after all the road to make dreams come true.

Sweet Nightmares…

Our life is twofold; Sleep hath its own world,
A boundary between the things misnamed
Death and existence: Sleep hath its own world,
And a wide realm of wild reality,
And dreams in their development have breath,
And tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy;
They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts,
They take a weight from off waking toils,
They do divide our being; they become
A portion of ourselves as of our time,
And look like heralds of eternity;
They pass like spirits of the past -they speak
Like sibyls of the future; they have power -
The tyranny of pleasure and of pain;
They make us what we were not -what they will,
And shake us with the vision that's gone by,
The dread of vanished shadows -Are they so?
Is not the past all shadow? -What are they?
Creations of the mind? -The mind can make
Substances, and people planets of its own
With beings brighter than have been, and give
A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh.
I would recall a vision which I dreamed
Perchance in sleep -for in itself a thought,
A slumbering thought, is capable of years,
And curdles a long life into one hour.

The Dream

Lord Byron

Chapter 1: Sweet dreams sweetheart

"Love is a vampire's greatest weakness."

He knew that perfectly well, but for reasons he didn't want to admit he let himself forget it. She has hopes and dreams all intertwined in a sweet face that seemed like a dream. His dream. Her golden locks, her green eyes, her crimson lips, an abyss calling.

And maybe it was time he thought. Maybe it was time for him to let go of all the years of torment and unrequited quests. Maybe she could teach him everything a millennia couldn't, how to laugh, how to hope...how to genuinely love. And oh the things he could teach her. She was beautiful, she was strong, she was full of light, he could show her the world, he could give her everything it had to offer and her light would shine brighter than ever. She was so young, so hopeful that she still held on to her humanity like it was her lifeline, but she was not alive anymore. None of them were. There is no lifeline. There is death, there is power and dreams that turn to nightmares. The sun doesn't shine for them anymore, only the moon casts dim reflections of light. Given the chance he would teach her how to walk into that fine line of night and death, he would turn her into a magnificent creature. Under his wings she would learn how to harness her light, she would learn to be powerful, untamed, free. She would be a Queen. His Queen.

His sweet Caroline. Only she wasn't his. She had turned him down every time. He saved her and she celebrated his death. For a moment in the corridors of the school he thought just for a brief moment that he had reached to her. Maybe for a moment he had managed to gain her respect, her gratitude. He had thought that would be enough because if he wanted to be honest he so desperately wanted everything that he thought that even a glimpse of something would be enough to hold him.

And then he was standing outside Elena's house unnoticed and through the window he was watching Caroline toasting to a Klaus free life while his hybrid had his hands on her. Touching her. Touching his dream. Touching what should have been his. An unknown emotion hidden until now made the way to the surface. Jealousy. He was familiar with hate and loathing but this was new and it was fueling his rage even more.

The Lockwood boy could never compare to him. He was an Original. He was the Hybrid. He was the alpha male. That boy that had his hands on Caroline was nothing and yet he had everything. But for how long? He would make sure that his happiness, not only his but all of theirs, would be short lived.

When the Salvatores desiccated him with that damn's witch's spell his whole life passed in front of his eyes. His human days, dreams of normality, days full of laughter and joy. His childhood days, the days when Esther was still his caring mother, days when she loved him, days long before she hated him like her sins. Images of Michael and fear surged though his veins as his heart stopped pumping his blood and his skin and soul screamed in agony.

Flashes of light and flashes of dark. He saw Rebekah as a child and as his companion, her confessions and her temper, so much like him, his baby sister. He saw Elijah, the voice of reason, his older brother that taught him how to hunt and how to use his sword. He saw him, Elijah and Rebekah holding hands, always and forever.

And Kol the spirit of aggression, his little brother the one that he would always protect even though there were times he wanted to tear his liver out. He saw Finn and his hopes to be what he never could, a human. Finn that used to tell him stories when he was younger and eager to know the Viking world. He saw Henrik and his heart bled out faster as the memories of his death haunted his own death. He saw Stefan as his best friend, the days in Chicago, the laughs and the music. He saw blood and he saw lust. Carnage and beauty.

But his last image, his last dream was her face. Her eyes, a kiss not given, a hope untold and a love not explored. Her sweet face. Caroline. That was his end, his last thought, one of pure love. As his last drop of blood turned to nothing inside his desiccated body he thought that this was the only dream that he would hold onto before darkness consumed him forever.

But his desiccated forever was caught sort. Rebekah hadn't left after all. She couldn't leave him behind, they always stuck together after all, one way or another. So before the Salvatore's even had the chance to take his body away she snapped their necks, threw them off the Wickery Bridge and retrieved his body. She brought him back. Now his need for revenge for what they did to him was immediately replaced by something more compelling. The need to see Caroline again. But she wasn't at her house. She was with all those pathetic humans and his hybrid celebrating his death.

Blind rage swept through his heart. Around his mind. He felt a moment of pain and sorrow and then his soul wasn't mourning anymore. The only emotion that was left in the end was revenge. Death.

But no! Death would be such a sweet release. So merciful from his side and if anything mercy was never his middle name. Terror maybe. Evil for sure. Darkness definitely.

So now he was drinking, the alcohol barely registering. His insanity was singing lullabies into his ears. Lyrics of destruction and pain. He could see himself slowly and painfully tearing apart everything and everyone. Especially her. Piece by piece until all the pieces of his undead heart were mended.

"We do not feel …and we do not care. We are not weak".

How was it possible to allow to himself to forget it? And all for a weak baby vampire. One that was etched in to his thoughts like burning fire. Driving him mad, insane, over the edge. He should just take her, ravish her and get her out of his system, but a thousand years had taught him better than that. He would buy his time. Make her suffer. How long would it take to make her lose her mind, her light? That thought made him throw his glass on the wall with all his inhuman strength while screaming his rage into an endless void. Shattered glass flew all around, dropping to the floor like snowflakes of light.

He wanted her light, he wanted her. The thought of her suffering in all the ways he had perfected over the years was almost unbearable to him. Almost.

Maybe her fear would be intoxicating, but he had to admit that his first instincts were to sooth her fears and inspire her dreams.

He stood still, a sadistic smile forming into his lips. That was the answer after all.

He would take her, again and again and in more ways than one but first he would crash her dreams and he would be the only one for her to turn to. He would be her nightmare and her only salvation. He will hold the keys to her soul's getaway.

"Rebekah dear sister come in"

He sensed his sister hesitating to come near him. She was afraid of him when he was like this.

"We need to leave Nik, Alaric is still out there, he is too strong"she said barely keeping a tremor out of her voice. She was an Original, but that creature her mother created was unstoppable. She almost lost Nik today, she will not stand by and lose him. He might have stuffed her in a box for decades, but he is her brother. He is her family, all she has left. And now they must run. They just have to.

"Yes sister I've noticed"his voice dropped dangerously low.

He was THE Original hybrid, he was indestructible, and Alaric almost ran the white-ash stake in to his heart today. His strength was a match to his own. This would have never have happened if he was still controlling everything and everyone like puppets on a string like he had when he first came here. He could see now that he had let himself grow weak the last few months. A year before that this wouldn't have happened. He would have been the one being steps ahead, but now he was paying for his own recklessness. He foolishly thought that Michael was his last challenge and that after his death he could finally stop running, stop being on the edge. That he could relax, have a chance for a less hunted life and then he let his guard down. Big mistake. And then a series of more mistakes followed. But no more. Things were about to change. He would show to everybody why exactly they should have never tried to play games with him in the first place. His Hybrid will pay, the doppelganger will pay, Alaric will pay, the Salvatores will pay.

SHE will pay.

"What are we waiting for then?"Rebekah asked panicking "Alaric is not the only one. The Salvatores won't stop either, they almost killed you Nik, we can't stay! Please!" she tried to reason with him.

"We are not going anywhere, not without setting everything straight"

Rebekah was ready to disagree with him again, but the darkness in his eyes stopped her. She knew better than to mess with him when he was like that. He was about to paint everything and everyone with blood, and the menace in his voice was turning her blood to ice. He walked near her and his hand caressed her hair.

"We are not running anymore Rebekah, this is our home, our domain, and we will leave only when WE want to!"

He moved towards a small cabinet and opened the lid. Inside there were the blood bags he had collected from the afternoon. In all the commotion the Salvatores had left the bags there. Those blood bags would have to do. He closed the lid with a thud. He has his family and he has himself. He already has turned enough hybrids for the moment being and those blood bags assured that he could turn more in to the future. Not many more, so he should be more careful with deciding whom he was going to turn in the future, but that was it.

"I had a witch spell the mansion, Alaric won't be able to enter without an invitation from us so we are safe in here for now"

"This is not a solution Nik!"

"No it isn't, this is why sweetheart you will have the honor of killing he doppelganger," he said in detached tone.

Rebekah stood still and then smiled slowly. He meant it. They wouldn't run anymore. They would stay and they could go anywhere they wanted. All she would have to do is kill Elena. Then they would be free.

"Say it's a gift for saving me today, besides I don't need her anymore, I have our family don't I?"

Her eyes lit up. Her brother is finally letting go of his obsessions for his hybrids. He is keeping the promise they once gave. Family above all.

She isn't a fool though. She knows that he is exchanging one obsession for another, but this is a harmless one. If they got reed of every threat against them her brother can have all the playthings he desires. Hell, she will personally bring Caroline to him, kicking and screaming if she has to, as a gift. As long as they make sure that Alaric gets destroyed, her brother can play with any annoying blond cheerleader he wants, any way he wishes. Eventually he will tire of her, and if not she is just a baby vampire, Nik can handle her. What is important now is to stay together, as a family.

"Always and forever Nik!"she said holding his hand.

He smiled.

Always and forever. Himself and Rebekah. A family, always and forever.

But forever is a long time and it is time to extend his family.

Caroline will make a perfect addition.

He might have lost the possibility to have a hybrid army, but that was the last thing he was going to lose. He had tried to change and settle down and have a different future, but they didn't let him. Now whatever he wanted he would just take it.

And what he wants now is Caroline. To make her suffer, to make her pay, to make her his. Her forever will become his. He will keep her, bind her to his will and punish her for all eternity, and he knows exactly how to begin her torment. This will be just the beginning. He has great plans for his little baby vampire.

Eternity is about to start tonight. And he, for once, can't wait!

Klaus was gone.

He was desiccated. It was finally over. Life could return to normal again. Well, what was normal for Mystic Falls anyway. Alaric was still out there, but at least one major threat was gone. Hopefully, for good.

She looked at his drawing over her nightstand. She didn't know why she had kept it. All she knew was that now, she and Tyler would have a chance to live their lives without fear. She had lost so many things in the last two years but she was still able to hope. To dream. She still had her friends, her mother, Tyler. They were anchoring her to all that was still human in her soul.

When she realized she wasn't a human anymore she was scared about staying in control. Terrified was a better term actually. She enjoyed her new strengths and abilities for sure, but she knew that it would be so easy to get lost. To lose herself into the nothing that lingered in a vampire's nature. There were no limitations, it was like the whole world had turned into a vivid fairyland ready to be explored and …devoured. The blood is a constant temptation, And everything just hurts more. Intensified to a breaking point. Love is not just love anymore, it is raging passion, it is never ending, raising higher than any flame, and pain is not dull anymore, it is excruciating, it cutes deeper and deeper, it mangles the flesh and breaks the heart into a million pieces. Everything just feels more, so unbearably more.

The world is spinning upside down so when an Original comes along and fancies you, you are left with a whole array of stray emotions.

She knows that she hates him, that is her starting point, and how could she not after everything he has done? She had to admit though, that for a moment or two she could see past all that and in the end that made her feel ashamed. When she learned that he tried to kill Elena today her heart filled with rage, and shame.

Shame because when he had found her in the school after Alaric tortured her she had felt safe in his arms. Felt a warmth she couldn't explain. His voice ended her fear. She knew that she was in the hands of a fearsome creature but her heart knew serenity. She thanked him and she meant it. For a moment she didn't see the dangerous Original that had harmed person she loved and cared about -her included- , she saw a man that worried about her. She saw a …hero. And maybe for just a moment she got carried away by that thought and let it turn into a weird feeling, a feeling that turned to ice when she heard what he had tried to do to Elena. How could she have been so stupid to even imagine that that monster deep down had a heart?

He didn't feel and he didn't care. He was just playing with everyone and everything and with her. She came to her senses soon enough and good riddance she said. Life would be better without him around killing and terrorizing people and drawing stupid romantic drawings. So she would celebrate his death even if deep down in her heart she felt a shimmer of guilt about it. He played with her mind and on some level maybe he succeeded in making her believe, even for a few moments, that he had some humanity left in him and maybe that guilt she momentarily felt was coming from that lie. Still, she toasted to a Klaus free life and she would do it again. She would be happy now, Tyler is all she needs. She can be happy. She should be. She just has to be.

But a little voice is taunting her, reminding her that she still holds on to that damn drawing. That deep down when she thinks of him trapped in a coffin, desiccated and lifeless, she feels chills running through her spine. A painful tug in her heart.

She sighed. She wasn't supposed to have those thoughts. After all, he was the enemy. A nightmare wrapped up in a nice deceiving package. Evil creatures shouldn't be allowed to have cute dimples and sweet smiles. She shoved the drawing into the drawer and closed it while promising herself that she would get rid of it tomorrow. A repetitive promise it would seem.

All of the sudden there was a change in the air. She stiffed. She slowly got up from her bed and closed her eyes for a moment. There was absolutely no sound. Then she heard footsteps. She moved closer to the door.

"Mom? Are you there?" she asked. Truth to be told she was still shaken up from the whole Alaric torture near death experience thing, but he wasn't invited in her house. She was safe here.

"Mom?" she repeated and she went into the living room. The lights were out, and nobody was there.

"I must be imagining things," she thought, but none the less she checked around her house. Nobody was there. Her mom was still at her shift. Besides she is a vampire for crying out loud. She is the scary thing that lurks in the night, she shouldn't be afraid.

She went back to her to room and when she went in the first thing she noticed was her window. It was wide open. It wasn't before though. She swiftly turned around ready to leave as fast as possible when she collided onto something hard. Or someone.

And now she couldn't look away from those blue orbs. His gaze was penetrating, taking in every detail. Like he was memorizing her features in a dark predatory gaze.

"Klaus," was the only word hat slipped from her lips.

He smiled cruelly, it was the first time that she was calling his name and obviously it was in utter terror. "Good" he thought.

"Hello sweetheart…"he said softly like a murderer in the dark.

She took a step back but he moved closer not allowing her to put any distance between them.

"You should be…dead," she whispered, her heart humming in her chest, still not believing that he was there in front of her and the way his eyed kept looking at her made her feel trapped. He had never hurt her until now, but right now all her instincts were screaming to her to get away. Danger was looming.

He smirked. Her fear, all her reactions were like a drug for him. And this was nothing compared to what he was going to make her feel. Images from the afternoon filled his mind again and rage was slipping from his every cell. She dared to celebrate his death. He was ready to give her the world and she was playing him like he was nothing. She never cared. Like Michael. Like Esther. He was an abomination for her and the only thing she wanted was for him to be gone. But he had killed Michael, and he had killed Esther. No one was going unpunished after treating him like that. Especially not a young, unimportant vampire like her, but she wouldn't have Michael's and Esther's luck. Death would just take her away from him, and he wasn't about to let that happen any time soon. It would be too easy…

"Sorry to disappoint love, but it seems that you have to put your Klaus free life on hold for now"he said with a mocking tone.

She blinked for a moment. He was there. He saw her. That wasn't good. She had to get out of here. NOW. But before she could even move he had her pinned up against the wall holding her hands over her head in a death grip. She gasped. His body was covering hers and his mouth was inches away from her lips. She couldn't make a move.

"Get off me!" she tried to command him in her most steady and intimidating voice, but it sounded more like a plead.

His free hand caressed her cheek and his finger touched her jaw. It would be so easy to make her cry in pain, and in passion. Images filled his mind. Her naked skin under his. Her mouth calling his name in ecstasy. Soon he promised to himself. Soon he would have her exactly where he wanted her, but first he would play with her.

A sound of fear escaped her throat. He knew that his proximity and the silence between them were scaring her even more, and a part of him hated that look of fear in her eyes but he suppressed that emotion.

He lowered his head and his nose touched her neck. She stopped breathing.

He took a deep breath. Her scent was calling him. Closer. Her blood rushing under her soft skin. He imagined tasting her red, scarlet blood. Filling his senses with her essence, his poisonous bite causing her torment and his blood being her only cure.

"You are the first…" he said.

She closed her eyes. She felt his lips hovering above the pulse vein on her neck. She was paralyzed.

"The first? " she sounded breathless.

He lifted his head and locked his eyes with hers.

"The first to betray me and walk away unscathed."there was a menace hiding beneath the surface.

"I want to know your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life," he had told her

Now she could see that man was long gone. She knew who Klaus was from the beginning. She knew that he wasn't forgiving and that he didn't take betrayal easily so she had taken her chances. It was either that or losing Elena and she would do it again if she had to, but now it was the end of the road. Somehow he must have seen her partying his demise, so now any leniency from his part was gone. It was time to pay for her stupidity for getting herself involved with an Original.

"This is it," she thought. "He is going to kill me"

He smiled a gentle smile like he could read her mind. Silently reassuring her that death wouldn't be her punishment.

It would be so much worse…

A tear escaped her eye and he looked at it mesmerized. Her eyes shone and he now knew that he wanted to make her cry more. To make her eyes light with that flame.

"I…"

"Shhh…" he soothingly whispered placing his index finger on her lips. It was a melodic sound and a sweet touch like the calling to a lover or the promise of an executioner.

His thumb caressed her cheek, the skin next to her mouth. Suddenly his demeanor changed. Like the sun hiding behind black clouds.

"He used vervain on you"he said furiously. No one was allowed to hurt her. That should have been his privilege and his alone.

She nodded. When he had found her in the school her skin had barely healed but the burning sensation was there carving into her flesh. She had been tortured before and she knew the effects of vervain but that soaked gag had her breathing fire in every breath. She was still shuddering at the thought.

"Do you now what that means sweetheart?"

The heat from his body seeped straight into hers stopping her from thinking straight. For some reason all the tension in her body was gone. She had relaxed in his arms. Maybe it was the way he was looking at her. Like he cared. All she knew was that she was feeling that weird feeling again. She was pinned up against a wall by the most dangerous creature to have walked the earth, an Original that was about to end her undead life and she was feeling numb and… safe.

"It means that the vervain is still in your system and that is just too bad…for you"

His words, his threat, the promise of compulsion, shook her out of her trance.

"Let go of me!" she thrashed under his hold to no avail. She kept moving and with every move she was getting angrier and angrier because it seemed that he was enjoying her helplessness.

"You had your fun today love, now it is time for mine…"

His body crashed over hers with all his might bruising her skin. He let go of her hands and she tried to shove him away but he wasn't bulging.

"Were you ever afraid of the monsters under your bed Caroline?"

His hands grabbed her head from each side making her look at him and only him.

His eyes held a cruelty she had never seen before. He was the hidden monster in everyone's nightmare. The creature that was hiding in the night. She was terrified of what he might do.

"The gates of horn and ivory are waiting for you my love"His hands were about to twist her neck, but for a moment, time stood still.

She didn't know how, but she knew that he would be there, in her wildest nightmares, in her sweetest dreams. She was terrified and not afraid at the same time.

She couldn't look away. Her fire met his ice and everything around them melted.

"Sweet dreams sweetheart"… was the last thing she heard before darkness consumed her.

Well this was the first chapter and the introduction to the story, should I continue?

Comments and critisism are always welcome.

-"The gates of horn and ivory" are a literary image used to distinguish true dreams from false ones. More information you can find in wikipedia.