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Caroline spins for the digital mirror, letting her augmented dress catch the light. It’s satiny and dark emerald green and gorgeous, and it’s not the one. Caroline groans. She doesn’t even know what she’s looking for. Actually, that’s not entirely true. She knows she’s looking for hot— drop dead in the middle of summer hot. It needs to be show stopping— a Drew Barrymore in Ever After, ‘just breathe’ kind of dress.
Caroline doesn't just need heads to turn, she needs his head to turn. She wants to catch his eyes, for him to linger on the shape of her and double guess himself. It’s a game she’s playing. A game he doesn’t know he’s a part of. A game she doesn't want to win.
No, actually, it’s a test, and it’s a little unfair, but when she was eight years old, she saw Serendipity in theaters, and that's when she decided she believed in true love. Two centuries later, she still believes.
For all his talk of last loves, she wonders if he does too. Forever is a long time, afterall.
There’s a masquerade being held in the French Quarter. Maybe Klaus will be there. Maybe he won’t. They’ve been dancing around each other for way too long, and frankly, Caroline doesn’t know if she wants that chase to end. So, she’s leaving it to fate. Heads Carolina, Tails California kind of fate. If Klaus finds her and knows it’s her, then… then she’ll consider herself well caught.
The chase will end, and then the rest of forever begins. Caroline isn't at all terrified of the prospect.
Maybe I should dust off my first Cinderella moment dress. She thinks to herself as she dons another gown. Then she shakes her head. The point is for him to figure her out. No hints or helplines.
She needs a dress that’s like a forgotten dream.
It’s an almost impossible ask, especially considering the fashions of the time are so incredibly soulless it makes Caroline want to burn the industry to the ground and restart it. All this technology in their hands, but no passion— Now, she’s starting to sound old and embittered. Gross.
About three hundred or so dresses (ok, maybe that’s over exaggerating, but it doesn’t feel like it), and twelve designers later, she finally finds it.
The dress.
Her lips curl into a smile as she spins. The dress catches the light like a thousand diamonds. It makes her think of Anastastia before she runs off with Dimitri. Long split sleeves fall at the shoulders and leave her throat on display. The skirt is full and twirls in perfect pirouettes with her. The brocade is heavy and the beading is intricate and unusual. It's the color of autumn leaves caught in between orange and yellow with pink bleeding into the seams. The neckline feathers out and leads the wandering eye wonderfully to her collarbone. Not obviously sultry, but enticing.
Perfect. Now all she needs is a mask.
It's a new moon when she arrives at the ball. The old cathedral it's being held in is lit with candles and a large chandelier. The low-light catches rainbows from the stained glass windows against the hallowed dark stone walls. It's a beautiful sight. Much less gaudy than she was expecting from a masquerade ball in the 23rd century. It makes her suspicious about who exactly planned such an event. The dramatics scream Rebekah, which would point to Klaus's involvement as well. Her heart flusters in her chest. It feels like a trap, but Caroline was careful to cover her tracks. He shouldn't know she's here.
She's shown up fashionably late. Her eyes skim over the dancers and wall flowers.
There's about twenty other blondes in the crowd. A few she planted on purpose, people who could pass as her with a mask and the right illusionary make up. Decoys. She doesn't see Klaus. Disappointment claws at her. Maybe he's not even going to be here. Last she'd heard, he was in Italy. Of course, last he'd heard, she was in Venice so she doesn't let her hope die all at once. Caroline picks up her skirt and walks fully into the room. She heads quietly to the bar even as eyes fall upon her. A gentleman with dark hair and even darker eyes asks her for a dance, but she declines with a shake of her head. He's not what she's here for.
The bartender pours her a drink, and she stirs the ice cubes around with her straw. Now, she waits.
Klaus watches the dance floor with little interest as he nurses his drink. Every flash of blonde that walks in makes him take another shot because it's not her. Maybe tonight is a bust. He'd thrown the bait to her in Italy with a carefully compelled airline hostess... Maybe he'd been too obvious. Or maybe she was just uninterested.
Blonde hair catches his eye as a late guest enters the hall. Klaus nearly chokes on his bourbon. The low-light bleeds amber onto her dress and gold into her hair. She's looking out into the crowd for something or someone, and her bare shoulders drop slightly when she doesn't find it. She's like a spotlight as she glides right past him, eyes pointed straight ahead. He's half hidden in the shadows at the end of the bar, so he decides not to hold it against her.
Then, a man approaches her. He strains his ears, but she doesn't speak when she declines his hand. It doesn't matter. He doesn't need to hear her voice to know who she is.
Klaus waits for her to settle at the bar, watching her red stained lips play with the straw of her drink before he makes his approach. She peeks up at him with a spark of interest. Recognition brightens her blue gaze from behind the rosy pink of her mask. The glittering facade covers the curve of her cheeks and the shape of her nose and the arch of her brows, and still, he is without doubt: It's Caroline behind that mask.
“Hello, love. Can I tempt you for a dance?”
Her lips twitch, but she doesn't reply with words. Instead, she just takes his offered hand. Klaus's eyes narrow. What game are we playing? He wonders as he leads her to the dance floor. A classic waltz begins to play. She follows his lead with primadonna grace. There's an easy quiet between them as they dance, but he wants to coax her into admitting whatever charade this is. So, he dips her low and pulls her up close where their breaths catch together and their noses brush. Nothing. There's no sign of her usual sass as his hands linger lower than they should. She doesn't object when he lifts her. When he twirls her back to his chest, she doesn't so much as giggle. Her neck is bared and he takes in her scent, feels her pulse stutter under his lips, but still not so much as an admonishment. Still, there's no doubt. This is Caroline.
“You're a marvelous dancer.” He echoes a past conversation and waits for her call back.
It doesn't come.
The paranoia in him starts to wonder if this is some sort of curse. Can she not speak? But then he sees the smirk on those lovely red lips of hers, and he's reassured. Klaus is not sure what he's done to deserve this silent treatment, but he's sure he can make her break it.
The song ends, and his hands are hot on her back, itching to peel the dress from her skin. Her tongue wets her lip as her eyes travel down his face.
He's no longer sure who has ensnared who when he asks, “Would you like to continue this dance in a more… private setting?”
She looks back up at him, her blue eyes dark with want. This time, it's her hand that leads him off of the dance floor.
The way back to his room is a blur, and not just because of the vampire speed. There's a curling want in his abdomen like a forest fire, and the lust has his mind hazy on everything except for her. He's running scenarios in his head the whole way home. Images flash in his mind. Caroline on her knees. Her hair in his fists. Writhing in tangled sheets with his blood on her lips. Fuck. When he finally has her behind locked doors, he presses her against the heavy oak with a growl.
“Are you going to admit your little game yet, sweetheart? Or shall I drag forth your voice with my tongue?”
Her smirk turns darker as she playfully tugs him by his tie into a kiss. He moans against her mouth just to prove a point, gripping her hips best as he can through the layers of dress. His fingers move then to her hair, so perfectly undone as he tilts her head back to nip at her jawline with blunt teeth. He sucks a red ring against her pulse point which he promises to taste in full later before pulling back. Her pupils are wide blown with need, and she's pleading with her eyes, but he prefers her begging aloud, his name lost on her tongue.
“So stubborn,” he murmurs against her ear as his fingers find the back seam of her dress. “But I'll have you screaming by midnight.”
Then, with very little effort, he tears the bodice away. Caroline growls, no doubt furious. Klaus remains amused as she grips his tie taut and pushes him against the door. She snarls with the eyes of a monster, fangs bared.
“Now love, you can't have expected anything else of me when you showed up tonight.” He says without apologizing, and fully expects her to retaliate with snapping words— but no, Caroline's competitiveness is in full force tonight.
Klaus has to admit, he's impressed by her dedication. She huffs, arms crossed against the bareness of her breasts.
“No corset? How risque.” He teases, and she rolls her eyes. “I'll buy you a new one.”
He promises, but she already expects that. So, he pulls her into a kiss because he needs to touch her, needs to feel the flush of her newly freed flesh against his skin. She shivers from his touch, her own slender hands finding the neat lines of buttons of his undershirt. She rips them apart with a warning nip bleeding his lip. He can't help the groan that escapes as she licks the blood from his chin.
“I'll make it up to you in all sorts of ways.” He promises in between bated breaths and flighty kisses. “Pleasurable, torturous ways.”
His thumb teases her nipple as she steps out from the wreckage of her gown. She's wearing lacey underthings complete with a belt and garter. He runs a hand down her thigh and hooks her leg to his hip. She presses down against him. The heat of her is absolutely sinful, especially when she uses his growing bulge to rub herself wet. It's the sort of sin that deserves a slow punishment to match it. Klaus drops his hand from her breast to cup her ass.
Then he drops to his knees.
He presses his lips to her inner thigh, watches her press her forehead to the door and shutter her eyes closed. His mouth skips over the seam of her panties and plays with the ribbons on her hips. Then his fingers find a slit in her lingerie. Klaus chuckles, the smell of her arousal heavy against his enhanced senses. He props one of her legs up on his shoulder, baring her on full display. Just to be cruel, he blows cold air against her wet thigh, lazily licks the taste of the lace just above where she so clearly wants him.
Finally, he hears a soft whimper.
Not yet begging, but it's a start. Klaus gives her a terse lick, moans at the taste of her and palms her ass to press her closer. A soft whine escapes her when he hooks a finger inside her tender walls. He growls in response, teases her sensitive clit until her legs begin trembling around him. He licks her slow and rough, golden eyes flashing with want. Her hips shake, and he's half holding her up. She's silently begging with her hands in his hair, but Klaus has yet to hear more than a sigh and a soft moan.
He stops.
Caroline pants and glares as he resumes skating kisses across her inner thighs, his fingers still lazily pressed inside of her. She tries to roll her hips for relief, but there's not enough friction. Klaus smirks as he removes her garter with his teeth. She snarls in frustration, crimson bleeding in her eyes as the monster wrestles with her furious need for control.
Klaus slips his fingers free and in a flash, he has them in his bed. Pressing her against plush sheets, he kisses her until her grumbles turn to soft sighs. He pushes her legs so she's spread wide, and Klaus admires the sight of her for a moment. Then, he leans in. They both groan when he grinds up against her slick entrance. She tugs at his belt loops, pointedly demanding he strip down too. Klaus laments, breathing in relief as he frees himself of the rest of his prisonous garments. He's painfully hard, and Caroline looks covetous under her mask— something he should really rid her of, he thinks, but she stops him when he tries.
Ah, he realizes as she squirms beneath him. This is part of the game.
“Did you think I wouldn't recognize you beneath the flimsiness of this mask?” Klaus kisses his way down her throat and nips at her collarbone, his hands wander down her ribcage pausing on the arch of her iliad crest. “I'd know you anywhere, Caroline.” He breathes in the scent of her, listens to the way her heart catches in her chest when he says her name. “If I lost all but one of my senses, I'd still know you. Your sweet smell; your soft, pliant touch; the sound of your voice… Even in the absence of everything else, your presence would call to me, pull deep into my heart and bones, and I would be all but powerless to answer.”
He lines his hips parallel to hers. She sucks in a breath as he dips just a bit into her. She's hot and wet, and it's so very tempting to fuck the cries he wants to hear out of her, but he decides against it. He's promised some torture, afterall. Klaus hooks her ankles upon his shoulders. Caroline's eyes flutter in surprise as he thrusts against her wet folds instead of burying himself immediately inside of her warm embrace.
Her mouth forms a silent oh as he rolls his hips, rubbing his wet cock against her clit until she's bucking mindlessly along with him. Her legs quiver, she curls the sheets tightly in her fists, and he knows she is agonizingly close to the edge.
It's a beautiful sight.
“I don’t know what exactly you’re playing at tonight,” He stills, and she squirms, panting, in his embrace, still chasing her release. “But my game is this: There will be no relief until you beg for it.”
Caroline all but screams at this betrayal of his, but Klaus wants her actual screams of pleasure. He wants to watch her fall apart and come back together. Most of all, he wants her to admit she wants him.
“Would you like to cum, Caroline?” She admits nothing, her jaw firmly clenched, and her head tilted in challenge. Klaus grins wolfishly. “No? Then this will be a long night, love. But I am more than happy to oblige.”
He palms at her breast with one hand, and takes the other in his mouth. She’s pinned neatly beneath the strength of his embrace, but her hands are free. She curls her fingers through his hair, tugging carelessly at his curls to distract him from her other hand which has snuck between her legs. He chuckles at the obvious ploy, and slips his own hands to join hers. His thumb brushes past her swollen clit, and she bites back a moan. Klaus licks her breast in one slow swipe as he adds a digit next to the two fingers she’s already fucking herself with. His finger is a fair bit thicker than hers, and longer too. He buries it down to the knuckle, pressing her palm hot against her sensitive core. He can’t reach her clit now with her own hand in the way, and she is left rubbing against her own wet palm whining for release.
“Caroline,” He nips at her breast, then drags blunt teeth down the curve of her stomach just to dare her into danger. “Say you want me, tell me you need me.”
He slips another finger in between hers and spells circles against the most tender parts of her. Tears prick her eyes and her own fangs split her lip as she holds her voice back. Klaus kisses her, sucks the blood clean until the wound heals over. Oh, he’s never forgotten how good she tastes, but it still makes him shudder.
She is slick enough he can slide a third finger in with her two. Her back arches with the pressure building inside of her, her panting breaths stutters and— He pries her fingers away along with his own. Klaus rolls her over and pins her arms to her chest as she snarls with the beautiful face of a monster. Now, she's sitting in his lap, back against his front. With his free hand, he brushes the hair away from her neck so he can smooth her ire with his mouth.
“That’s cheating, sweetheart.” He chides her, and she makes it a point to turn her head so he can see her roll her eyes. Her attitude is quickly adjusted when he thrusts against her, still teasing her neck pink with careless kisses. Caroline sighs and leans into him. “Come on, love. A little confirmation is all I’m asking for.”
Klaus adjusts the angle of their hips, and he thrusts up with a rough snap of his hips. Her head falls back on his shoulder, and she gasps. Klaus moans along with her. She’s so sensitive from her near orgasms, he has to immediately go still inside of her. It takes all his millennium years of will power to do so. She is quivering all around him, skin flush with the blood he can still taste on his tongue.
Not yet.
“Caroline,” He breathes out her name like a prayer. “Say my name, Caroline.”
He licks the salt of a tear off her cheek and barters another thrust. She spasms slightly around him, trembling and left wanting.
Her voice escapes in a torn moan, “Mnmmph—”
Klaus plays a slow circle around her clit with his thumb. She careens, fangs flashing in hunger. “My name, Caroline.” He growls low in her ear, bares his own fangs in quiet promise, and tilts his hips just so—
“K-klaus, oh god, please!” She shudders, swallowing her moaning with a needy little whine. “You win, ok? Just shut up and f-fuck me already!”
There she is, he smirks against her throat. “Well, since you asked so nicely…”
“Seriously, Klau—”
Her indignant cry is cut short by his fangs sinking into her blushing throat. His wrist presses firm to her mouth; she pricks his veins with her tongue hot on his skin. He feels her toe-curling moan vibrate through his bones. He feels he's lost to his senses, to her. "Caroline... Oh, Caroline..." She clenches around him as his hips thrust deep inside her, his fingers slipping against her clit as he fucks her through her orgasm. She’s still trembling and moaning even as he’s licking and kissing her throat clean. When she releases his wrist from her teeth, he flips her back into the sheets. She writhes in his bed, eyes overblown with bliss.
“Caroline…”
He lifts the mask from her face, traces the lines it left with his fingers and then with his lips until they disappear. She wraps her legs around his waist as he rests his head in the crook of her neck. He slides back into her, eyes shuttering, and she sighs softly in his ear. His thrusts are gentle and slow this time. She coaxes him into a rhythm and runs her fingers through his mess of curls. A moan is dragged from his lips by her tongue. He loses the rhythm when she begins tracing sweet nothings into his back with her nails.
His hips jolt and stutter. He swears he hears bells in her voice. “Klaus,” She arches, mouth agape. She says his name like it's something precious. “Klaus.”
He falls apart with his face cradled in her neck and her sweet name on his tongue. The room tilts. He realizes a moment later, it's Caroline pushing him onto his back so she can lay upon his chest. He sighs softly as she kisses his jawline and settles in his arms.
Klaus mindlessly caresses the line of her spine in the stillness of the dark. She's half asleep now. He can't help but press a kiss to her temple as she grumbles wordlessly into his chest. A glance at the clock reads 12:06.
“Caroline,” He smiles and almost laughs as she shushes him. They're both a mess. “Love, you'll whine even more tomorrow if we don't wash up.”
“Shhhh, that's tomorrow Caroline’s problem.” She mumbles out, “Sleep now. Consequences later.”
“Do you have an early flight tomorrow?” he begrudgingly asks.
She props her chin up and looks at him quizzically. “I don't know. Do you?”
“No?” He blinks, a bit confused as she smiles dazzlingly at his response.
“Then I guess not.” She settles back against his chest as he mulls her answer over in his head. It feels like it means something, but he doesn't quite catch her hint. “Goodnight, Klaus.”
“Goodnig— Wait, how long are you staying?”
She huffs but her eyes are twinkling with amusement. “How long are you staying?”
“I haven't any plans at the moment.”
“Hmm, then I guess neither have I.”
He stares at her, bewildered, until something clicks into place. “Caroline,” He's waited so long, he doesn't want to get his hopes up, so he clarifies. “How long are you staying with me?”
She smiles in a ‘got you’ kind of way.
“How's forever sound?”
Klaus opens his mouth then shuts it again. “Sorry, love. Say that again for me.” He feels like he's dreaming, and he has dreamt this moment before.
Caroline rolls her eyes. “How” She plops a kiss on his slightly gape mouth, “does” her lips drop to his jaw, “forever” blunt teeth catch on his ear, “sound?”
He drags her teasing mouth back to his, rolls her over, tangles their legs together in the sheets and kisses her til they're both breathless.
“...So it's ok?” She asks when he finally let her up for air.
“Ok?” He can't help but laugh, “It's perfect.” Her face flushes shyly like they hadn't just broken in his mattress. Klaus caresses her face, runs his thumb over lips. “Have I not made it clear? I love you, Caroline.”
“... I love you too," she admits.
“Say that again for me, sweetheart.”
She sits up in his lap. Her hands play with his hair like she's playing with his heart. Except this feels real. And he'll believe it, if she just says it once more.
“I love you.”
Klaus pulls her into one kiss. And then another. “Klaus,” She gasps out between his kisses. “What about—” He nips at her lip. “Sleep!”
His hands roam beneath the sheets and he gives her a sly smile. “What was that you said just a moment before? Oh yes, consequences later.” He traps her hips against his, and she bites her lips. Klaus leans in close and whispers, “It's later, Caroline. You can sleep tomorrow.”
She giggles, a bubbling sound. “It is tomorrow, Klaus.”
“Tomorrow's tomorrow, then.”
“That's quite an ask,” she gets a dangerous glint in her eye. “I bet you can't even make it til dawn.”
“Oh, Caroline.” His eyes flash. “I’m going to make you enjoy losing that bet.”