❝𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵-𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦❞

"GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE."

Damon smiled cheerfully as he opened the latched door into the cell in the basement, his eyes immediately falling on the bound and gagged werewolf sitting in the dirt.

Jules startles, but her eyes narrow into accusing slits when she catches sight of Damon. She grumbles something through the cloth in her mouth and Damon turns his head, cupping his ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that,"

She stays silent, and he chuckles lightly, dropping the plate of food he'd brought down to her. "So, good news and bad news," He reaches behind her and undoes the ties on her hands, watching her immediately reach for the gag in her mouth to pull it down around her throat.

Jules lets out a ragged breath and glares at Damon as she reaches for the food he'd brought. "What would that be?" Her hoarse throat burns as she talks, but she ignores the pain in favor of stuffing food into her mouth.

"Well, the good news is the full moon is tonight, which means you're a free woman."

She scoffs, looking away from the vampire. "You mean I'm dead tonight,"

"Well, yeah, that was part of the good news," He shrugs at her. "The bad news is, your little wolf buddy, Tyler, is back in town and I have this terrible feeling that he's going to cause problems that I don't want to deal with."

Jules's eyes widen and she stares at him in disbelief. "Tyler's back? Oh, thank god–"

"I wouldn't get too excited there, Balto, from what Klaus has said he's not Tyler's biggest fan."

"Tyler hasn't done anything." She looks at him, panic clear in her wide eyes. "If you leave Tyler alone, I'll go down without a fight, I promise."

He huffs an amused laugh. "You wouldn't have been much of a fight, anyways. You've been malnourished, and deprived of sunlight for a week. There's no competition here. You're dying tonight, and Tyler's life is up for grabs. Though I can't say I'm rooting for him at the moment, he's a little too possessive over a friend of mine."

"I promised Mason I'd keep Tyler safe if anything happened to him, just promise me you won't let Klaus kill him."

Damon lets out a heavy sigh, contemplating her words. He looks her face over, taking in the fear in her eyes with a heavy heart. Damon meets her eyes again, and shakes his head at the hopeful look growing. "No,"

He smirks, and locks the door behind him as he leaves, the sound of her angry screams following him up the stairs.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡ 

Klaus smirked as Tyler walked away, rage obvious in the way he huffed and puffed as he stormed off.

He looks down at the blonde beside him as she steps out from under his arm, to face him head on.

"So," She clears her throat nervously. "This is your... real body."

"Yes, I much prefer it to that lush history teacher," He rolls his eyes and adjusts his jacket.

Caroline sighs, eyeing him up and down shamelessly. "I have so many questions,"

"Let me buy you lunch, and I'll answer all of your questions, love,"

Her light eyes shoot up to his face, disbelief coated in them. "You want to buy me lunch? Why?"

Klaus shrugs, and offers her his arm, which she takes reluctantly. "I find you intriguing,"

He can tell she doesn't believe him, and it irritates him to think that there's been a man out there to lie to get her attention, or worse.

She leads him into the Mystic Grill, and the door encloses them in the lively atmosphere that he eyes curiously. It's not often he's exposed to so many humans at once, and it's been nearly five hundred years since he's been in Mystic Falls, he's truly fascinated.

They sit in a booth, pushed away from the majority of the crowd, and Klaus orders a drink as soon as the waitress approaches.

"Ask away, dear," He gestures for her to speak, eyeing her tense shoulders closely.

"Katherine said you were a hybrid. How does that even work?"

He chuckles, both at the mention of Katerina, and at the genuine interest in her voice. "It's a long story,"

"You've cleared my schedule,"

He raises an eyebrow at her snark, and meets her unwavering gaze with a conceding nod. "Alright, then. If you want the whole story, we have to go back to the beginning. Our start as vampires is a story I don't care to revisit, but my siblings and I are the Original family. From us all vampires were created."

Caroline raises her eyebrows in surprise, and leans into the table with piqued interest. Klaus eyes her minuscule movements, but says nothing as he continues.

"We were a close family at one point. My mother bore seven children, Finn being the oldest and Henrik the youngest. My father and I never got along, but my siblings always tried to protect me, even if it meant meeting the back of his hand to do so."

Caroline's eyes filled with pity, and he found that for once the feeling didn't infuriate him like it usually did.

"When we became vampires, we found out the truth. My mother had had an affair many years before, and I was created from it, born into a different bloodline. When my father found out about this, he hunted down and slaughtered my real father and his entire family, not realizing that he'd just started a war between species that's lasted to this day."

She furrows her eyebrows in confusion. "Between species? As in vampires and werewolves?"

Klaus nods. "My father, my real father, was a werewolf. When I became a vampire, I became both. A hybrid. But witches, the servants of nature themselves, wouldn't stand for such a deadly, powerful creature, so they saw to it that my werewolf side be kept dormant."

"Is that where the Sun and the Moon curse comes in?"

Klaus chuckles, shaking his head at her. "No, no, that curse is fake. Elijah and I made it up."

"You what?"

"We made it up, of course. We wrote it into every culture we could, Roman scribes, African tribes, it's been cemented into history to protect me while I looked for the things to break my curse."

She nods as she comprehends his words, the bits and pieces Elijah and Katherine explained to her falling into place with the full story. "Elijah was protecting you all this time so you could break your curse?"

"He's noble, that one," A wry, but fond smile quirks his berry lips and Caroline feels her pulse stutter at the sight of it.

"So, the curse you're breaking is actually going to undo what the witches did, and then you'll be a true hybrid?"

"Exactly," He takes a sip of his drink, watching as she processes his words. There's no judgement, no hostility, just understanding, and curiosity.

"What are you going to do after you break the curse?"

He sighs, shrugging a bit. "Once I break the curse, I'll be able to sire my own bloodline. I'd build my own race of hybrids."

Caroline's eyes widen, and she leans towards him again. "What about the dagger? I mean, I know it's safe with Elijah now, but can't it kill you if someone gets ahold of it?"

Klaus grins, chuckling a bit. "Not at all, love, but your concern is sweet,"

He laughs as she flushes, giving him a scolding look for his deliberate charm. "When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. And Originals can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. It's one of nature's loopholes– the dagger doesn't work."

"So what could kill you?"

He sighs. "A witch, if they could channel enough power to do so. But it'd kill them, as well."

Caroline furrows her eyebrows. "Like Bonnie. But she didn't kill you,"

"Yes, it's a shame she perished before she could save her precious friend,"

Caroline frowns, looking at Klaus worriedly. "She's a Bennett witch. They're like, crazy powerful."

"I'm aware of the history, Caroline,"

"No, no," She waves his sarcasm off, shaking her head. "If she channeled her ancestors, she'd have enough power to kill you, whether it killed her or not. But you were walking upright when she died."

He sits up, shoulders tensing. "I had a witch protecting me, she wouldn't have gotten far anyways,"

"But," Caroline groans softly, frustration tensing her shoulders. "There's no way you would've still been walking if she channeled enough power to kill you, she's too strong. Not even your witch could overpower her. But she died before you even bled, it doesn't make sense."

"What are you saying, Caroline?"

"I think Bonnie's alive,"

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡ 

author's note; so far for scheming duos we have damon and katherine, and now caroline and klaus,, let's be real, it's what we deserve

edited and published; 12.4.23.

- liz