#klaus doesn't tolerate disrespect to the wifey

[morningstargirl666]

WIP WEDNESDAY

This is a snippet from chapter 36 of TBBW, a very very rough draft - I haven't done much for this chapter because I'm obvi focusing on editing. However, I'm sure you'll still find it exciting - and a hint to where the fic's plot is taking us next.

Klaus eyed the new girl standing in the Lockwood study, watching as she perused the family’s various collectables and ornaments decorating the room, admiring a painting which Klaus thought rather tacky that was hung over the fireplace. There was a scent about her, tainting the entire room, wet fur and damp earth - a werewolf. Interesting.

“You’re a new face,” he commented, making her jump. She hadn’t noticed he was there.

To give her credit, she recovered quickly, spinning around to face him, taking in his appearance with a sharp eye. Klaus let her look, stepping further into the room, his hands behind his back.

“And I take it from your accent you’re an old one,” she pointed her finger at him, tilting her head in question. “Klaus?”

He smiled down at the floor, amused by her valiant attempt to hide her fear. Unfortunately, her jumping heartbeat gave her away. 

“My reputation precedes me. Hopefully not all bad.”

She curled up her lip in obvious disgust. “A little bad. Mostly repulsive.”

His smile dropped, no longer amused at all. He couldn’t work out if her disrespect was foolishness or arrogance.

“So you’re a friend of Tyler’s-” he continued, walking closer towards her, eyes narrowed. “That’s strange. He’s never mentioned you.”

The girl clamped her mouth shut, suddenly with little to say. And that was when Klaus heard his name being said, far away at the other end of the house, by a voice whose cadence he recognised instantly: Caroline.

“You’re kidding me? Klaus?” 

Klaus turned his head slightly, frowning as he listened in more intently. He could practically hear the wince in Tyler’s response.

“Yeah, and I really don’t want to piss him off so…You should go to the party. I’ll be fine here.”

“But I’d rather hang with you,” he heard Caroline reply, so tentative and so very hopeful.

Regardless, Tyler shot her down.

“Trust me, I am no fun right now.”

Why would Tyler turn her away? The petty, vindictive boy Tyler was, no doubt he’d jump at the chance to have Caroline on his arm while Klaus was in the house. A childish fuck you, since he couldn’t turn the hybrids protecting him away. So why say no? His mother was out, so she wouldn’t intrude, he was alone in the house except for-

Klaus’ gaze fell back on the new girl, looking at her in a new light. Suddenly, her presence took on an entirely different meaning, one that Klaus didn’t like at all.

“And I think I know why,” Klaus continued, shooting her a smile that was all teeth.

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah, I’ll call you,”

“Yeah, okay.”

Klaus felt his hands clench behind his back, an anger settling his chest at sheer disappointment and hesitance he heard in Caroline’s voice, like she had done something wrong. The nerve of this boy-

“Tell me…” he trailed off, pointedly looking at the girl.

“Hayley,” she answered quickly.

“Hayley,” Klaus echoed, beginning to circle around her. “Tell me, Hayley, how did you and Tyler meet?”

She shifted her weight to one side, folding her arms around her chest. Defensive. “I ran with the pack he sought help from.”

“To break my sire bond?” Klaus asked, her face confirming his suspicions. He waved the panicked look in her eyes away. “Yes, I know all about that. So, you are one of the Outcast then.”

Hayley frowned, shaking her head in confusion and looking rather impatient, as if he was rambling nonsense. “Outcast?”

“Werewolves like yourself and Tyler: descendants of the same wolves that stabbed their brethren in the back for a chance of mercy. Doomed to forever wander in aimless, disjointed  packs,” he explained, stopping behind her, forcing her to turn to face him. His mouth curled into a sneer of his own. “Traitorous little things.”

She scoffed, smiling a little. “I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No. You wouldn’t,” Klaus drawled, tilting his head again, in that wolf-like way. Her smile fell. “Allow me to enlighten you,” he continued, pointing a finger at her, “You see, werewolves like you, like the others I made my hybrids - they know not of our nature. Instead of making a stand, staying to fight against the vampires and witches alike - your ancestors ran and hid. And in hiding, they failed to teach their children the ways of our kind. The traditions, the knowledge, the culture. All was lost until they were so far from what they are, they believe their wolf is a curse. Outcast. Alone. Forgotten.”

“Lycanthropy is a curse.”

Klaus grinned. “Is it?”

Her eyes narrowed, taking a step back from him, clearly ill at ease with what he had just said. “What would you know of our histories? You’re more vampire than wolf, I know that at least.”

“My father is what we call an Alpha of Alphas. A King,” he said, closing the distance between them, not allowing her to escape. “Do you know what that makes me, Hayley?”

“Am I supposed to say Prince Charming?” she sneered, all disgust and foolish defiance.

Something dangerous settled in Klaus’ gaze, violent and spiteful.

“Werewolves follow power. They do not follow weak Kings.” His hand shot out, enclosing around her throat and lifting her up by the neck. His eyes bled black and gold, veins crawling across his cheeks. “Do I look weak to you?” he growled out through sharp fangs.

“No,” Hayley choked out, fingers scrambling at the hand holding her throat.

“Then tread more carefully then, because unlike my father, I am not prone to mercy," he snarled in her ear, tightening his fingers around her throat for emphasis. "And learn to curb your tongue or you will find yourself without it,” he said, almost as an after thought, before letting her go. She dropped to the floor, gasping in lungfuls of air and curling over, coughing. Klaus cocked his head, his expression suddenly serene once more. He looked almost bored. When she looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes, he raised a brow, gesturing to the door impatiently. “Go.”

She didn’t need telling twice.