#ineveitable

Fandom: Klaroline

Summary: He loathes this feeling that can make a god seem like a mortal again.

Note: This is for Anna, also known as AnnaTom23 on Ff.net. You have a ship and I'm going to help you sail it.

Love,

Ava

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The sound of frantic breathing filled the darkness.

“What did you do?” Caroline whispered, disbelieving. Afraid. “What did you do?”

I stood proud and unrelenting in the face of her growing horror. “What any man of the ages would do,” I told her starkly.

From within the confines of her shadowed space I heard her sharp intake. “What's that?” she demanded. No amount of bravado could hide how high her voice had become. The wild pitter patter of her heart was a beautiful thing.

I would not bend. I would not flinch. On the contrary, I savored her fear. My love had too easily forgotten who I was and what I was capable of. What I would tolerate. What I could stomach.

I traced a finger over the gold filigree. Such a pretty decoration on an otherwise ugly door. It reminded me of the old days, back before this notion of independence took hold in the modern era. When a man could protect that which belonged to him.

My jaw hardened. “Take what I want.” I raised cold eyes to the darkness, my superior sight easily piercing it.

Caroline was swallowed by the ink, but I could see her there. There was no hiding her disheveled hair or her trembling hands as she felt the heavy band decorating her throat. Her fingers caught hold of the little lock embedded just on the surface.

She let loose with a curse, the smell of burning flesh rising up. “Vervain? Are you insane?” She rushed to the door, the little square of light that allowed just enough illumination to interact. It was too small to even allow an arm through. “Let me out right now!”

I tilted my head, gazing at her steadily.

Alarm was well and truly alive in her eyes. “Klaus, this is crazy. You know that. You can't just lock me up in a tower with a collar. Okay? You just can't.” She was fighting to keep her voice calm, but its trembling betrayed her.

“You must truly wish to believe that.”

“I'm a person. There's such a thing as talking. Whatever is the matter, we can talk about it--”

I slammed my fist into the wood so hard it threatened to crack. “Talking has netted me nothing. Waiting has garnered nothing,” I spat.

“You said you would wait a century!” she shot back with a hint of desperation.

I laughed bitterly. “I said. I said.” I said a great many things in my exceptionally long lifetime. Love was a vampire's greatest weakness. We were not weak. I was not weak. I just wanted to get my doppelganger out of this one pony town. A million utterances, so many I could only remember those few in the moments I looked at Caroline. And what was it all? Bollocks. Shite.

Because I was in love. In love.

With a former cheerleader. Miss Mystic Falls. So puny, so insignificant, so disproportionately minuscule in the scope of my existence that it was laughable. To be in love was to be vulnerable. It made even a god feel mortal again. She made me feel my own weakness and I despised her for that. I loathed this desire to please her. In order to win her approval I had decided to give her the illusion of choice. When confronted by the stark differences between the Lockwood boy and myself, I knew she would choose me.

She didn't. She took my confidence and exposed it for what it was—false ego.

And that I could bear least of all.

My heart tight in my chest, I looked upon the girl I wanted for my own. The girl frozen on the cusp of womanhood, but whose eyes reflected all of her experiences.

She paled. “Don't do this,” she said. This time there was less fear and more determination, as though she had resolved to give reason one final go.

As if reason had anything to do with this madness. This longing and infernal wanting that never went away.

Her fingers reached up and curled around the edge of the wood. “I...I can't have feelings for someone who would do this to me. Let me go. Nobody should be held against their will. Do you understand?”

I softened. It was inevitable; this disease of mine would allow for nothing else. “Oh, Caroline,” I could not help but whisper softly through the torment. No longer angry but agonized. “It's you that doesn't understand. You cannot even comprehend what has been done here. It's only the beginning.”

Her breath caught. “I'll hate you,” she told me, somewhere between pleading and promise. “I'll with everything I've got, and forever.”

My lashes lowered. I smiled despite myself. “Not to sound cliché, darling, but forever is such a very long time. Lucky for us that's exactly what we have.” I reached up and caressed the exposed skin of her finger before she had a chance to yank it out of sight.

I ran my tongue across my teeth. There was nowhere she could go. Nowhere she could run. My beautiful bird trapped in a delicate, steel-clad cage, and I her loving master.

Such a sweetly savage thrill raced through me at the thought. This time when I met her gaze, I showed her my pleasure. “Until tomorrow, Caroline.”

I turned on my heel.

“Klaus?” Her voice echoed off of the wall.

I continued to walk.

“Klaus? Don't you dare!” Thumps on the wood. Her fists doing as much damage as she could, and it was not enough. “KLAUS!”

It would never be enough.

  The End (?)

This story is dedicated to Anna, a fellow Klaroliner that could use a little more fanfic love in her life right now. For more info, see this link: http://avari20.tumblr.com/post/97850795565/calling-klaroline-authors-sailing-annas-ship