『Chapter Eighteen』
『the heart is a dangerous object』

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Between everything that happened, everything that Elijah and Bodie said, Klaus was more sure that there was a chance that he fucked everything up. He thought that Bodie worked everything out which—he was somewhat right about, but Klaus didn't want to admit it to him. He wanted to know what Bodie was keeping from him and as much as Klaus wanted to trust that Bodie would tell him when his siblings were all un-daggered, but he didn't know when he would decide to do as such. He wanted to know Bodie's secret because he wants to help Bodie heal, he wanted to know what Bodie was hiding from him.

What hurt him the most was knowing that there was nothing that he could do while Bodie kept his secret, and he just wanted to help him. And as much as he knew that he was going back on what he said and promised to Bodie, and as much as he knew that this would hurt Bodie if he ever found out, Klaus had to do this, even if he hated the thought of Bodie's ex-girlfriend being here. If Cataline was a way to find out what that secret is, then so be it—as long as it aided him, then Cataline was a means to an end, an end that he'd happily take the life off if he can keep this all a secret long enough.

Despite the small feel of guilt lacing within his heart at the thought of how much this was eating Bodie up, he was beyond angry. Angry over the fact that Amis went to talk to Bodie, angry over the fact that Elijah and the Woodfords brothers went to figure more things out knowing that the three of them were involved in this just as much as he was. He was close of slaughtering the entirety of Wembley because of the amount of rage within him, but he had to stop himself because he didn't want to draw his father here—he couldn't have that, he couldn't, not when he just managed to shake his father from him and his siblings trail.

Currently, Klaus sat in both Cataline and Amis' house, the house that he originally gonna move both himself and Bodie in but decided against—he didn't want to make it weird if they moved in together. Not that it would be weird, given how long they've known each other, but he didn't want to make anything awkward or fast paced. God, if he wasn't beyond angry at the moment, he would've stayed with Bodie just for the warmth that he provides but given that he was in the mood to make sure that bodies drop, he decided to pay Cat and Amis a visit. He wouldn't kill them, not when they have use.

He was sat there for about ten minutes, trying not to get over aggravated at everything. If they were going to ruin his plans, then he'll ruin their lives more than what Bodie did, he'll make sure that he's their walking nightmare in this life and the next. Wherever they go, Klaus would be their continued nightmare which they cannot escape from.

He heard them then, walking up to the door, talking to each other about whatever of interest in their lives outside of what Klaus made them do. There was a moment where there was nothing, as if he were hearing things, and the next the door creaked open, and they came in. First it was Cataline who walked in shortly followed by Amis.

"You know," Cataline was saying, "once we're done with all of this, I'm thinking we go to Spain. Or back to France. We could see if our old home is still there."

"We could, but even still, what if we don't finish this? We could be in this for years." Amis told. "It's fucking Bodie. It took us months to figure out that it was him that was doing the killings around our home and look what happened. But this entire thing is personal to him—he could take decades to do and even if he does admit to whatever it is, we could be dead for real this time."

Klaus cleared his throat then. "And dead is what your just escaping from considering the stunt you just pulled, Amis. Glad to see that the wolves didn't get to you, but that did leave you to now deal with me."

Both went stiff then, they both shared a look with one another before they turned to Klaus—who had been sat on the chair in the living room with his feet up on the table. He gave them both a look, wishing nothing more than wanting to murder the pair of them, knowing that it would bring him some form of satisfaction. But he needed the pair of them and no matter how tempting it was to kill one, he had to remind himself that he needed both. He'll just have to kill the unfortunate soul that walks past him on his way back to Bodie's side.

"Klaus," Amis greeted wearily. "I-I. . .we didn't expect to see you here."

"Clearly," Klaus said, swallowing his anger. "Though, what else did you expect when Bodie told me about your little talk with him, Amis? Hmm? You expect me to find joy in the fact that you risked telling him everything about what I planned, everything about why you both are here?"

Cataline narrowed her eyes between the pair as if she didn't believe anything that Klaus just said. He didn't really care for Cataline, he tried not to, given that every time that he looked at her, there was a small part of him which feared that she would try and take Bodie away from him. "What? He was here."

Amis stammered over his words then. "I-I. . .I didn't tell him anything of use! At least I thought I didn't! It's Bodie, he overthinks and gets ahead of himself! I thought that it was a good thing! Tell him some stuff to make him overthink about the situation while we prepare for the next step of our plan."

"What part of 'don't tell Bodie anything' do you fail to understand?" Klaus asked, overly hash. "When I brought you both here, I expect full and utter silence when it comes to our deal. And I do not appreciate the fact that the pair of you plan to split both me and him up."

Cataline straightened then, crossing her arms then. "What we plan to do has nothing to do with you. We could have told him straight away that you were the one to bring us here, the one who wanted to know everything about whatever the pathetic secret is."

Klaus' jaw clenched then, tilting his head slightly then. Between his anger and the level of somewhat disrespect that he felt, he found himself pinning Cataline against the wall, his hand around her throat all while she gasped for breath. Amis called for Klaus to knock it off, though he too was frozen in fear. Good. He was not going to have either of them fuck any of this up for him as a whole. He needed them to get the truth out of Bodie, but he will not have them disrespect him simply because of his plans.

"Klaus!" Amis called. "Please, please let go of her! I'll do anything, please."

He shifted his gaze from Cataline struggling against his grip to Amis whose expression was filled with nothing but worry for his sister's safety. "All I wanted from the pair of you was an understanding that you do not mention anything to do with my hand in any of this and for the pair of you to get the secret out of Bodie whatever it took. I don't want to remind you once again what it means to go back on anything you promise me, because I will make sure that your betrayal against me is filled with enough torture that you wish that you stuck with it."

"Please," Cataline pleaded, struggling over her words. "Yo-your brother said to somewhat hint towards it, get him to overthink."

Great, now he had to direct his anger towards his brother, something that he never expected to do when it came to this. He thought that he would just have to deal with these two, but the fact that he had to deal with his brother risking this entire thing was something that he really didn't want to do. "Ignore anything that my brother has to say, I will be speaking to my brother about this situation, though if I find out that what you just told me is a lie, I will make sure that one of you has to live without the other." He released Cataline from his grip, giving the pair of them a look. "Understand?"

Amis nodded. "Yes. Yes, we understand."

"What happens if we don't get the truth out of him?" Cataline asked, rubbing her neck.

"We shall see," Klaus said. With that, he made his exit. He didn't want to be there any longer than needed to be. He needed to talk to Elijah before he went back to his Bodie—he needed to make sure that his brother understood that even though he's helping with all of this, that him taking control and almost giving away everything was something that he was very much against. He didn't want Bodie finding out so soon.

The first person that he passed, he ended up grabbing and decided to drain their body of blood. He felt the need to take another's life if he wasn't able to with the people that he worked with. Maybe he could slaughter some more on his way back, it was something that was tempting, though he didn't want to explain to Bodie why he decided to drain so many of their blood.

He drained the first person of their blood on his way home, though that one quickly turned into six before he then made his way back to the Woodford's where he knew that was where he last left Bodie who was laying in his old bed asleep. He wondered if Bodie noticed that he was gone, though as much as he did wonder, he pushed that aside.

It took him around thirty minutes to get back to the Woodford's home which took longer due to his killing habits. He opened the door to see how Elijah and the brothers were sat around the living room table, talking lowly about the entire plan—though it was more like if they were sure if they wanted to continue with this entire plan as a whole, if they really wanted to risk hurting Bodie more than anything.

"Elijah," Klaus said, announcing his arrival. "When I ask you to not to intrude on my plans with the Bargeron siblings, I expect you to understand and follow my advice."

Elijah gave him a confused look then as if he didn't understand what Klaus meant then, though it took him a moment to realise as to what he meant. "I thought that it was best to try absolutely anything and everything for your plan for truth to work. I apologise if it ruined anything."

"The plan was for Bodie not to be aware that someone brought them here and now because of you, Bodie suspects something of the sort, which is opposite of what I wished." Klaus somewhat snapped.

"If your plan was to make sure that Bodie didn't know, there's a magical thing called trust," Henry suggested. "And you already lost Bodie's trust once because of this exact thing, but I suppose you don't really care for Bodie or his trust within you given that your deciding to fuck it all up once again. I wonder if he would take you back after this."

Klaus pulled a face then, if Henry didn't mean much to Bodie, he would have killed Henry ten times over because of the amount of shit Henry had said to him. "You know, if I knew that my Bodie was having thoughts of turning you way back when, I would have stopped him."

Henry threw up his middle finger which Henry was close of just snapping the finger. Oh, how Klaus was restraining everything within him because of Bodie, though for a brief moment, he wondered what Bodie's reaction would be if he did kill Henry—would Bodie care much? He knew that Bodie did care, but a part of him wanted to test it, wanting to test how much Bodie did care for Henry. Though, even still, Henry was someone of use to him, someone who he could use for an option when it came to breaking his curse and an ally when it comes to people to use in battle if needed to be.

"As much as I would like to see who would love to see a fight break out between the pair of you," Elijah spoke as if he was the centre of the peace, "with the issue at hand with Bodie figuring out about what you have planned, Niklaus, how would we like to proceed?"

"Gather information between all the factions, see what else they would know about what's happened. If you have to interact with the Bargeron siblings, keep it to a minimal, or advise them in how to get Bodie to spill his secret." Klaus explained.

"And what do you intend to do, Klaus?" Will asked. "While the three of us are running around doing this shit for you, what will you be doing?"

"Keeping Bodie entertained." Klaus bluntly said. "If we want Bodie to not get overly suspicious of anything that we're doing, he needs to be distracted."

"I would ask how you plan to entertain him, but I really don't want to know at all," Henry muttered, crossing his arms.

Klaus found himself grinning at that. "Now why would I tell you about my private details on my needs with Bodie?"

"Honestly, I really don't want to know." Henry stated, pulling a face.

Klaus gave a small shrug. "Bodie still upstairs?"

Even though he asked that, he didn't wait for an answer, he wanted to see his Bodie, he wanted Bodie's warmth once more. He never thought that he would have missed Bodie this much, though he suppose that he thought that he was close with knowing a secret Bodie was keeping from him. But even still, he just missed Bodie—after everything, he missed Bodie more than he expected.

When he made it up to Bodie's room, he took notice of how Bodie laid on his front, his head to the side and mouth hung slightly open. Oddly enough, Klaus always found it adorable when Bodie snored, it was never loud just almost inaudible. Bodie's hair was in his face and generally looked a mess as it always did, and the quilt was half-way down his back.

There was just something peaceful about watching how Bodie slept which made him wonder how and why he managed to keep one person continually in love with him. With his past partners—whether they be mainly women and the occasional man—they never really stayed, they were never as consistent as Bodie was. He always wondered that even after every breakup, why Bodie came back to him, always giving him another chance. He wondered as to what was so special about himself which made Bodie want him and always wanting another chance of his heart being broken.

He thought that maybe it was familiarity, that they were both so familiar with one another already which was the reason why Bodie came back. But even still, even if it was for familiarity, then why did Klaus always feel like his life had to align with Bodie in some way? Why did his thoughts always consisted around Bodie? Why was Bodie the centre of everything dear to him?

He never understood his feelings towards Bodie much other than the fact that being around him was something that he needed in life. He never understood it when he first knew what he felt towards Bodie when they were younger; though, then, he was more scared on acting on it because his need to seek for his father's approval and knew that his love for Bodie would go against that—though even still, he got with Bodie for himself, and no one needed to know. Between him realising that he first loved Bodie and now, he was still scared to even acknowledge his feelings for Bodie, but he was more comfortable with it when he was near him.

It was rather odd when he thought about it really, at one point he thought that he'd never experience the same feelings for Bodie like the first time, though whenever he sees Bodie, he feels like that teenager again, wondering why he wanted Bodie as more than friends. And every time Bodie spoke or done something to comfort him, he was reminded that no matter how many times they breakup and no matter how much time has passed between them, it still feels like that the time never existed or that pain never happened.

He knew that there was times where they were at each other's throats—like they were a few months ago—but he knew that even then, he was safe. Neither of them would do something overly extreme to harm one another—if he chose to ignore the white oak stake situation—and even if one of them did threaten the other, it meant nothing. Their threats when they were at their worst was something that they would never follow throw with.

Klaus wouldn't know what to do with himself if he ever hurt Bodie or was a reason why Bodie died. Bodie was everything to him and if he lost Bodie he knew that he'd loose everything within him to hold himself together. He knew that if he ever lost Bodie to death, even Elijah wouldn't be able to save him from himself. It made him afraid just to think about how much control Bodie had over him at times, and yet he had the opportunity to see Bodie in the most vulnerable state which made him realise that its because of this—because of how vulnerable Bodie could be which was why Bodie held everything over him.

Bodie groaned then which snapped Klaus from his thoughts. "Klaus. . ." his voice was quiet and almost sounded as if he wasn't awake.

It made Klaus smile to himself then as he stripped his clothes from himself, quickly popping to the bathroom to rid himself the feel of blood from his skin. Even if he loved the thought of being covered in blood, he knew that it was something that Bodie didn't like much, even if Bodie was a monster at times.

It took him five minutes to get himself all sorted before he came back into Bodie's room, slipping into the empty space beside Bodie. He found himself holding onto Bodie's arm, again wanting the warmth and comfort that Bodie unknowingly provides for him. He was grateful for having Bodie in his life, he wanted nothing more than live his long life with Bodie by his side, he didn't want anymore arguments or fights, he just wanted peace for them both, he wanted them both to be at what they were both meant to be. He wanted to love Bodie without the fear of his father coming for him, without his curse binding his werewolf side, without anything hidden between the pair of them, without the fear of loosing Bodie because of something small and pathetic.

Bodie turned to his side then, facing Klaus then. In some way it snapped him out of his thoughts about what he wanted in his life. Bodie still seemed peacefully asleep even when he buried his head more into the pillow, the sight alone made Klaus feel like he was falling for Bodie once more, only this time more intense.

Klaus ran the tips of his fingers across Bodie's face, moving his hair away from his eyes. Bodie stirred then his eyes opening just ever so slightly before closing again. Bodie reached out then, his arm thrown over Klaus' body then which somewhat surprised Klaus, but not enough that he was taken aback by it, but enough that he realised that he never wanted to let Bodie go.

Maybe Henry was right, maybe this would ruin this—maybe his plan would make Bodie leave him once more. He was too far deep into his plan, and even though he could just stop all of his, he didn't trust that the Bargeron wouldn't tell Bodie of what he attempted, he didn't trust that the Woodford's wouldn't say anything. He couldn't turn back, and he knew that he was going to loose Bodie if he found out—he already was figuring stuff out because of Amis, he just wished that Bodie wouldn't think too much into it.

Klaus sighed, turning his head slightly to kiss Bodie's forehead. "I love you, Bodie. I love you." He rarely said it out loud, he rarely said it to Bodie, but he meant it. He meant everything that those three little words hold. He wasn't sure if he would've gotten through everything if it wasn't for Bodie—along with his siblings—but even still, he was grateful to have Bodie by his side to comfort him in his times of need. He was grateful for everything Bodie done, the good and the bad, even if Klaus was terrible at showing it, he loved Bodie beyond anything, beyond life itself.

He was eternally grateful that Bodie came walking into his village, looking for help because he was 'lost,' even though no one believed him to be lost given the birthmark on his shoulder. He was grateful that Bodie's werewolf ass made his way into his village and came into his life. Bodie was everything to him and Klaus intended not to lose him, because his life changed because of Bodie coming into his life. And for that he would forever be grateful, no matter what happens in their life. He loved Bodie and he intended to love Bodie until forever ends, and he didn't care what happened between the now and later, he'd love Bodie until the world ended and beyond that.

He needed Bodie in his life like it was oxygen, and he was struggling to breath. Bodie was his salvation, and he would do anything to keep it even if he didn't admit it. Bodie was everything, and he hated that he was going behind his back just to find out the truth.