#text from don't lie by vampire weekend

[staghunters]

It's the last time running through snow

'Cause the fire can't last and the winter's cold

Yellowjackets Appreciation Week Day 2: favorite character

[shelbgrey]

Next to me(Emmett Cullen)

Chapter 19: they're vampires y/n!

A/n: sorry this is short and pretty late.

Table of contents

My door slammed opened the next morning, jolting awake. “huh?” I said trying to control my pounding heart.

“they're vampires y/n!” Bella said coming into my room panicked. I gave her a strange look not fully awake.

“who are are vampires?” I asked. Bella grabed my shoulders setting me up in my bed. She shook me a bit. “Edward and Emmett!”

my brain literally went, 'oh yeah... They are vampires' I chuckled “you just got that?”

Bella's eyes widened and she let go of me making me fall back in my bed. “you knew?!”

I set up on my elbows and smirked. “remind me nerve to tell you a secret”

Bella sighed and looked out the window just as Emmett's jeep rolled up. I claimed out of bed and threw some clothes on for school. I jogged down the stairs as Emmett walked into the house.

“Sherlock cracked the case” I mumbled. Emmett's golden eyes widened.

“I won't say anything” Bella said hiding behind me. I rolled my eyes and moved out of the way. “yeah, you can't you aren't even supposed to know” Emmett said.

“she's knows” Bella said pointing to me. “that's different” I said.

Not wanting to reveal anything, Emmett took my hand and we walked outside to his jeep. Emmett rolled his eyes as he turned on the engine and drove to school.

~~~~~~~~(.......)~~~~~~~~

“your gonna get an ear full from Bella today” I said to Edward as we walked to Geometry. He shrugged not really bothered.

“Alice had a vision last night, so I'm not surprised” he said handing me a math text book from the back shelf in the classroom.

“what are you gonna tell her?” I asked setting down at the table. “I don't know” he sighed.

“she bought this book in Port Angeles and she stayed up all night doing research...she has a pretty good idea about you” I mumbled.

Edward rolled his eyes as he got out the homework we did a couple of days ago. “you don't have to tell her anything, ya know” I mumbled.

“I don't want to lie to her... Emmett didn't lie to you” Edward mumbled. “I'm a different story, I knew from the start”

“dose bella know about the whole wolf thing?” he asked quietly. I shook my head no. “Owen doesn't either... He knows the leadgens, but he doesn't believe them”

“ms. Swan and Mr. Cullen, please pay attention this will be on your test next week” Mr. Booth said interrupting our conversation. Not wanting to cause trouble we shut up and communicated by passing notes to each other the rest of the class.

At lunch Bella was determined to get to the bottom of what ever my boyfriends Family was hiding. Me and Emmett sat down at the Cullen's lunch table getting ready to play uno with Jasper and Damon. Damon was determined to beat Emmett at this game of chance. As Emmett was shuffling the cards Bella came up behind Edward.

“we need to talk” he sighed and followed her out of the cafeteria. “hope do don't get Murdered!” I shouted.

Bella told me to shush like I was talking to her. Edward turned around and gave me a slight smile. We started the game and about five rounds(Damon won none) he was just bewildered. He had about 20 cards in his hands and he slammed his head on the table.

“I don't understand” he wined. I laughed once I threw my last card down, winning that round.

“do you think he's gonna tell her?” Rosalie asked getting annoyed with the subject at had. I shrugged as I dealed out cards for the next round. “I don't know, if he doesn't she's just gonna figure it for herself... She might not have much of a personality but she's a lot smarter than people give her credit for” I said.

After I got my cards I shifted so I was leaning my back in Emmett's massive bicep and I propped my feat on Edward's empty chair.

“do you want to come to the house this weekend?” Alice asked. I thought for a moment, making sure I didn't have anything going on. “Sure, Owen might have to tag along though... He doesn't like being left alone”

“that's perfect, Esme wants to meet him anyway” Alice smiled. I nodded as I placed a +4 card, making Jasper draw some cards.

Once it was Alice's turn she didn't do anything. She zoned out having a vision. “What did you see Alice?” Jasper asked setting his cards down.

“Bella knows... He told her everything” Alice said. Rosalie slammed her cards down making them slide acrossed the table. “everything?!”

“just what we are... Carlisle changing Esme and him... That's about it” Alice mumbled. “she asked about You and Emmett, but he said it was your job to explain” she said looking at me.

I sighed. “I don't even know what to tell her... Far as she's concerned I'm human” I said as I collected Rosalie's cards and handed them back.

“Edward is gonna want to bring her home... We should do something nice” Stefan suggest. Rosalie quickly shook her head at her brother-in-law. “absolutely not, let's not help her get attached”

“we could cook for her I guess... That's a normal human thing to do for people” Damon said. “ow” he suddenly growled and looked at Rosalie.

“don't encourage your brother” she said sternly.

“anyway... you want to study for our English test tonight?” I asked Emmett. He looked at me and smirked as he probably was thinking of something along the lines of not studying.

“at your place? Is your uncle gonna be home?” he asked cheekily. I shoved him playfully. “no, but Owen will be”

“shucks... But yeah we could study” he then flashed me another suggestive smirk. “I'm a great study buddy”

“keep it PG... We don't need any little Emmetts running around” Jasper joked.

Emmett snorted and chuckled. “like that would ever happen”

Even if it was a joke I now relized me and Emmett couldn't start a family of our own. Sure we could adopt, but I couldn’t have a child that was purely our creation. I thought about a little boy or girl with his smile and dimples. I questioned if the kid would be tall like Emmett or short like me, would the kid phase like me or be strong like Emmett.

I was thankful the Rosalie was the only one who noticed my sudden mood change. She gave me a soft smile and placed her hand on top of my free one, she gave it a comforting squees before the Bell rang.

~~~~~~~~(.......)~~~~~~~~

“did I upset you at lunch today?” Emmett asked as he pulled out his English book from his bag. I turned away from my book shelf and gave him a confused look.

“what do you mean?” he sighed and put a pencil inside his text book so he wouldn't lose his place. “when Jasper said we didn't need any little mes running around... I said like that would ever happen... You looked upset and I didn't want to ask infront of everyone” Emmett explained.

I shrugged and took my spot next to him on my bed. “I hadn't really thought about kids honestly... I mean would love to be a mom”

Emmett looked down with remorse. I've seen him happy, exited, pissed, but I have yet to see any sadness in those golden eyes. “I'm sorry...”

I quickly shook my head and placed my hand on the side of his jaw. “don't be sorry” I turned his head so our eyes could meet.

“maybe in the future... When we're ready we could adopt or something... You don't have to be sorry about anything, I have you and that's all that matters”

He leaned forward and kissed me softly, he pulled away and rested his forehead on mine. “What did I do to deserve someone as amazing as you?”

I chuckled softly and nuzzled my nose against his. “I love you Em”

“I love you too” he smiled as he pulled me to his chest. After a moment of silence I slipped out of his arms and grabed his text book.

“okay, studding” I said getting comfortable between his legs and rested my back to his chest. He chuckled. “I honestly thought you were joking”

“unlike you I actually have to study and graduate” I joked. “I can just give you the awnsers, I've seen it all” he said closing the book.

I opened it back up. “that's cheating” I said opening it back up. “well your stuck with me the rest of eternity, so that means many centuries of more school so I doesn't matter” he said closing the text book yet again.

I sighed and threw my head back on his shoulder. “your not gonna let me study, are you?”

Me leaned down and kissed my forehead. “maybe later”

I playfully rolled my eyes and closed the book, so I could give him the attention he so desperately wanted.

[pocket-luv101]

I don't know if your still taking requests for the 100 ways to say I love you but if you are, Sakuya X Mahiru #12 or #14 please! These two are so sweet! I'm going to die from cavities!

SakuMahi {12: “Take my jacket, it’s cold outside” + 14: “CanI have this dance”}

Sakuya stood on the edge of the frozen pond, spellbound bythe sight before him. In the middle of the pond, Mahiru was skating over theice. His movements were smooth and fluid as he skated in a languid circle. Thenhe bent his knee and sprung into a graceful jump. A bright, proud smileappeared on his face when he landed on the ice successfully. Gleefully, hespun, keeping his foot straight and his body relaxed.

As he watched Mahiru, he forgot how to breath. Sakuya cameupon the small pond by accident and saw Mahiru skating. At first, Sakuya wasgoing to call out to him but he soon became mesmerized by Mahiru’s elegantmovements. He could only stare at him and the joy on his face. Mahiru let hismomentum carry him until he came to a smooth stop.

Before he stopped entirely, Mahiru looked up and his eyes metwith Sakuya’s. Suddenly having an audience made him self-conscious and heturned his foot the wrong way. He lost his balance and fell. Sakuya immediatelyraced onto the ice and almost slipped as he made his way to Mahiru. He wasalready sitting up when he reached him. “Are you okay, Mahiru?”

“Don’t worry, Sakuya, I’m fine. I’ve had worse falls.” Mahirureassured him. He was a little confused by Sakuya’s sudden appearance becausenot many people visited the pond in the winter. Before he could ask himanything, Sakuya took off his jacket and wrapped it around Mahiru’s shoulders.

“Take my jacket, it’s cold outside. Never thought the everresponsible Mahiru would forget to wear a coat. The next time you try tolecture me, I’m going to bring this up.” Sakuya teased. “But I didn’t know thatyou could skate like that. You were awesome! I’m no professional but you lookedlike an angel out there.”

“Stop exaggerating, Sakuya.” Mahiru playfully hit hisshoulder when he continued to shower him with compliments. Hearing the honestawe in Sakuya’s voice, he had to blush. He adjusted Sakuya’s jacket around himto distract himself and hide his flushed cheeks. He didn’t need his jacketbecause ice skating kept him warm but he had to admit that he liked wearingSakuya’s large jacket.

“So why have you been hiding this secret talent from yourbest friend? If I knew, I would’ve joined you.”

“I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. It just never came up.The others don’t know either and they’ll probably laugh if they found out.”Mahiru shrugged and Sakuya had to feel a little happy that he was the first oneto know of his ice skating. “I used to come here with my mom and she’ll teachme how to skate. It’s like a secret spot for us. Sometimes, I like to come hereand skate when I miss her.”

Sakuya didn’t know how to reply to his admission. Even thoughMahiru was smiling, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He placed his fingerbeneath his chin and gently tilted his face. “I’m not much of an ice skater butI know how to dance. They’re similar enough so maybe you can teach me how toskate.”

“You’re not wearing ice skates and I doubt you brought somewith you. Also, ice skating and dancing are similar but they’re not the samething.” Mahiru pointed out. He knew that Sakuya was trying to cheer him up andhis efforts made him smile. He was his best friend and he always knew what to sayto him. Sakuya stood and Mahiru followed his lead.

“Okay, we can’t ice skate today but how about we dance?”Sakuya suggested and Mahiru gave him a wry smile in answer. It was irrationalbecause Sakuya wasn’t wearing ice skates and the ice was slippery. Only Sakuya wouldsuggest something as absurd as dancing on ice. Then again, only Sakuya couldconvince him to do something so silly with only an eager smile. “Can I havethis dance, Mahi Mahi.”

“You may, Sakkun.” Mahiru returned his light teasing by usinghis nickname. A bright blush appeared on Sakuya’s cheeks like he expected andhe chuckled at the sight. Sakuya was a little unsteady his feet so Mahiru tookhis hand and placed them on his waist. “Keep your center of gravity on yourfront leg and it should be easier for you. Lean on me and that should helptoo.”

Being so close to Mahiru made him flustered so he tried tohide how nervous he was. “Hey, with those ice skates, you’re almost as tall asme.”

“Oh, please, Sakuya.” Mahiru puffed his cheeks. “Rememberwho’s keeping you from falling face first into the ice.”

“You wouldn’t let me fall.” He pointed out and Mahiru knewthat he was right. They moved together and danced to the light melody Sakuyahummed. It was a little difficult at first but they quickly found a comfortablepace. Every time one stumbled, the other would catch them and they laughedtogether. Never once did they let the other fall.

“This is nice,” Mahiru whispered and he nodded. When Sakuyalooked down at him, he saw something over Mahiru’s shoulder. He became pale foronly a second but Mahiru noticed it. “Sakuya, what is it?”

Mahiru started to turn to see what caught Sakuya’s attention.He quickly cupped his cheeks and stopped him. At first Mahiru was a littleconfused but those thoughts quickly left him when he realized Sakuya wasleaning down towards him. He could feel his breath brush his lips and he closedhis eyes. Was Sakuya going to kiss him? They were only friends but Mahiru foundhimself anticipating his kiss.

His heart was beating rapidly for a few moments. Afterwaiting a few moments, he opened his eyes and tilted his head in confusion.Sakuya was standing frozen before him. Then the tension left his body and hegave him a shaky smile. Mahiru wondered what he saw but his expression didn’tgive him any hint. “Sorry, I thought I saw an alien.”

“C’mon, Sakuya, you did not see an alien.” Mahiru had toadmit that he was a little disappointed that Sakuya didn’t kiss him. It seemedlike he only saw him as a friend and nothing more.

“Don’t look so annoyed, Mahi Mahi. Let’s dance some more.Don’t look away from me, okay?” Sakuya led him to the far side of the pond,away from what he saw. He placed a hand on his cheek to keep his gaze on him.To distract him further, he said. “I have this secret ability where I can seeinto people’s past lives. In one, we were famous ice skaters and took the worldby storm. Now, how much of that was a lie?”

“Your lies are getting more and more absurd.” Mahiru gave hima weary laugh. Then his phone rang and he reluctantly let go of Sakuya. “Sorry,I need to get this. It’s just a text from my uncle. Oh, he’s coming hometonight! I should head home and make something special for him. Sorry to cutour dance a little short. If you want, we can try again next weekend.”

“I’ll bring ice skates then.” Sakuya nodded and walked him towhere he left his shoes and bag. He would’ve liked to walk him all the way homebut he couldn’t. The best he could do was watch Mahiru leave until he was outof sight. He sighed when he couldn’t see him anymore and guilt fell on him. Helied to him more than once during their dance. Even if it was for his ownsafety, Sakuya hated lying to Mahiru.

“Well, it looked like you were having fun.” He turned to seeTsubaki step out from behind a tree. Sakuya’s brows furrowed and he threw aknife at him.

“You idiot! Mahiru almost saw you biting that subclass. He’sa human!” He originally came to the pond because Tsubaki ordered him to kill asubclass who lived near the area. The mission completely left his mind when hesaw Mahiru. When he was with Mahiru, he forgot that he was a monster and couldbe a normal human.

“Yes, yes, I know. You don’t want your Mahi Mahi to beinvolved in such nasty business like us vampires.” Tsubaki said with a boredexpression. “That’s why I killed that subclass for you before it couldinterrupt your little dance. You should be thanking me. Even if Mahiru saw me,you can just erase his memory of the entire thing. Maybe you could replace itwith—”

“Don’t joke about this.” Sakuya eyes narrowed but Tsubakionly shrugged. Mahiru didn’t know anything about vampires or that his bestfriend was one. He hoped that he could keep him blissfully ignorant for as longas possible. When they became friends, he made a promise to protect Mahiru fromthe dark world he didn’t know existed.

Okay, I tried ice skating once and ended terribly. I havezero balance and coordination so I can’t ice skate and rollerblade. Also, thisis the last req I’ve gotten.

[100 ways to say,“I love you”] Closed

[highgaarden]

ok so bc I'm all like DON'T GIVE UP THE SUPERPOWERS wrt Caro rn I thought why not request a canon-compliant superhero non-AU for Caro where somewhere down the line she decides to ~use her powers for good~ and do the vigilante thing, mask and everything (no stupid impractical costume tho). Extra points if she and Bonnie form a whole Witch/Vampire superhero team. Klaus can read abt it in the paper and figure out it's Caro+Bonnie and be amused and be into it. ♥♥♥

i tried my best. also, i have no clue what’s going on in the originals, but from scraps i get an a very helpful explanation from my friend anne, i sort of got the gist of it, tried to work more of the plot into this, and then decided to just… not. much apologies, please be kind to my v. confused self should you decide to leave a review.

12:51;

or: a superheroes origin story in five parts. 

Klaus/Caroline, Bonnie/Damon | wc. 3705 | ch. 1/5

read on: AO3 / ff.net

.

.

—

PartOne

InWhich Everybody’s Week Must Have Been Pretty Rough

—

 .

.

The weekend after Klaus escaped from his wall, he sat down in his studywith three bottles of liquor and double that amount of fresh blood, a steakcooked medium rare, and five years’ worth of newspapers to catch up with theworld.

Freya regarded him curiously. “You could have done away with the mess.We just ordered those new tablets.”

Rebekah was much ruder about the piles he left. She was probably stillmad she had had to miss four seasons of Supernaturalin order to save his skin.

Klaus didn’t answer them. He continued skimming the pages with aprevailing interest, rubbing ink and paper between his fingers. He soon foundthat he hadn’t missed much in his Marcel-imposed exile; that the mundanities oflife had persevered through the years.

His thoughts started to wonder when he was three-years deep into hiscatching up. Nothing caught his eye, and he was starting to feel the gratitudeof being able to sit in a comfortable armchair as opposed to being shackled toa floor dusted with rubble chip away.

Until he saw it.

He read the little opinion piece, then read it again, and a third timefor good measure.

And then he called Damon Salvatore.

—

At that point, not even Damon knew of their little hijinks despite havingmoved himself into their apartment. He used the pretence of “keeping an eye onthem” to make it past the front door. The living room became his sanctum santorum, and the couch he tookrefuge in constantly smelled like booze and Doritos.

Caroline was not happy with this arrangement, and made sure to be veryvocal about it every chance she got.

Sometimes it ranged from loud, to shrill, towake-your-neighbours-up-at-3am-because-Damon-you-fuck-you-left-your-underwear-in-my-laundry-basket piercing.

Tonight, Damon had the apartment to himself, and was glad for the peaceand quiet. Caroline was out on a date, and Bonnie was at the library borrowinga book. She was always at the library borrowing books, and he liked tellingpeople how bookish she was in a tone that was both patronizing and fond. It hadtaken some time, but he had finally perfected it.

In the middle of his Grey’sAnatomy rerun (“Denny? You chosea dying sack of meat over Alex? Really,Izzie?” he yelled at the tv), his phone rang.

It was Klaus. He hadn’t heard from the fucker in more than a decade, andwas immediately suspicious.

“City Morgue,” he answered cautiously.

“Just to be clear, you’re still second best,” came the familiar gout ofKlaus’s voice. “I only called you because Stefan’s number seems to not beworking, mate.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s not,” Damon said. “How do you still have mine?”

“If I wanted idle chit chat I would’ve resurrected Finn again.”

Damon muted the tv and got to his feet. “And yet here you are, makingidle chit chat.”

“I merely called to enquire about Caroline and Bonnie’s wellbeing.”

“They’re fine,” Damon said shortly.

“You best make sure they’re getting adequate rest for all thecrime-fighting they’re doing,” Klaus said, and killed the line.

Damon spat out his bourbon.

That’s how it all started, really.

—

Caroline was having a crummy night. The sole of her shoe had torn awayas she was chasing her assailant across the rooftops of Midtown, and it nowflapped with every step she took, and slowed her down considerably.

“I’m gonna get you, Raul!” she yelled, to make up for how she was losinghim, fast. “Your album sucked!”

Raul the Eurovision Vampire came to a screeching halt. He was screechingquite literally, because of all the insults Caroline had hurled at him in thepast week of stalking him, this one hurt the most.

“And your win last year?” Caroline continued as she hauled herself overa crumbling ledge. “Total pandering.”

Raul hissed and bared his fangs. “You know nothing of talent, sillygirl. If you did you wouldn’t be spending your nights in cowardice, hiding yourface with a gaudy mask. A poor man’s Catwoman.”

Caroline bristled, because it had taken her and Bonnie splurging on asewing course in Uptown to get their stitching just right.

“And you would’ve gotten more than a deal sponsoring mattresses afteryou won Eurovision,” she retorted, and Raul actually looked pained.

Actual, legit pain.

Caroline sighed. “Look, I’ll cut you a deal. See this stake here? Iwon’t stick it in your heart if you meet my conditions.”

Raul warily eyed the stake she was twirling between her fingers.Normally he would have told her to kiss his ass, but he was cornered, and hedidn’t fancy becoming a splat on the sidewalk.

That, and he was afraid of heights.

“And the conditions are?” he asked finally.

Caroline took a moment to rip the failing sole completely off her shoe.It came off with one clean pull, and when she looked up Raul was still there,which meant there was still hope for a redemption arc for him.

She gave him a winsome smile. “Do you have a pen?”

—

Bonnie slid in through her bedroom window, heady with glory. She hadgotten better at sneaking in and out at odd hours, but evidently not by much,since she managed to wake Damon up.

This was because he was in her bed when she threw herself on it.

“Damon, what the hell?”

Damon awoke with a snort. “A-ha! Proofof your foolhardy life choices!”

Bonnie rolled her eyes and unhooked her cape. She made a mental note to passCaroline twenty dollars. “Took you long enough to realize.”

“I am living with hoodwinks.”Damon pouted. “How could you not have let me in on this secret?”

“Damon, you helped me with laundry last week. You literally foldedpieces of my costume. It had my alter ego name on stitched across the front.”She swung her feet and walked to the paper partition by her dresser, where shewiggled out of her outfit safe from Damon’s prying eyes into a worn Whitmoresweater and blue shorts with lightning patterns on them.

“Are those anti-aging potions you’re brewing finally screwin’ with yourhead?” Damon was still on a roll. “You know how I had to find out? Klaus!”

“Klaus is alive?” Bonnie asked.

“Yes, and even in his state of barely living he ousted you and BlondeDistraction’s sly night crime-kicking.”

Bonnie started to respond, but then got sidetracked. “Blonde Distraction?”

“Uh – yeah.” He fiddled with his phone. “Blonde Distraction and FeistyFire.”

“That is fucking terrible,” Bonnie said mildly. “And not even ournames.”

“That’s what I call you in my blog, which I only update when I’m drunk. I’vebeen following you for years. Checkout the threads!” Damon waved his phone in her face.

“Are you drunk right now?” she asked.

“Yes,” Damon said sulkily, “but only half-stupid. You were never at thelibrary, were you?”

“Well, you were really sweet about it—”

“And you kept missing all those scrabble/pizza nights!” Damon howledinto his hands, betrayal gutting him like a fish.

“Damon,” Bonnie narrowed her eyes. “I’m tired. “The next time you spendthe night in my bed, I’m burning your brains out.”

“Reduced to being treated as one of your petty criminals,” Damonsniffed. “So be it. Our friendship always had an expiry date, huh?”

Damon slinked out of her room. Bonnie considered calling after him, butfigured she’d reason in the morning. For now, she had a huge bruise in her sideto nurse, and sleep was calling.

—

It started with scaring off new vampires from innocent clubgoers, andthen keeping the pasty creep-o’s who lived in the apartment adjacent to theirsin line when bodies started piling up in their shared dumpster.

Caroline hadn’t blown all her cash for an apartment in New York just forit to be crawling with the diseased, depravity and blood, so she took it uponherself to clean it up. An act of charity, if you will.

At night, she donned a mask and put on sensible boots. No stupidimpractical spandex for her, nor did she for a minute entertain midriff-baringleather, no matter how hot she might have looked.

Sipping from her thermos of warmed AB, she kneeled by stone gargoylesand prowled through the night. Afterwards she would either jump from rooftop torooftop, or practice her parkour, feeling invincible and (not gonna lie) reallyfucking cool.

At around 1am she got the read from Bonnie (in other words, Bonnietexted her in their coded-emoji) that their target for the night had arrived.

From five stories above she followed the sound of his footsteps throughthe alleyway, waiting to catch a heartbeat. When none came, she knew that hewas the one. His steps faltered when he heard a noise behind him. Caroline tookthe opportunity to jump down on him.

“Hello,” she smiled sweetly, when he was thrashing and spittingunderneath her. She was sitting on his back, which couldn’t be comfortable.

“Killing. Maiming. Money-laundering.” Bonnie came slowly from the mouthof the alleyway, her cape flowing behind her. “That last one’s kind of random,but the other shit we have on you—yikes.”

Caroline gathered his hair in her gloved hands and yanked hard. Thevampire cried out, enraged, but didn’t look away from her piercing gaze.

“You’ve got a locker full of civilians waiting like lambs forslaughter,” she said slowly, so he might not miss the threat in her voice.“Tell us where they are and you get to live.”

“I’m gonna have to call your bluff,” he rasped. “I’ve cut a pretty gooddeal, and ain’t no stinkin’ blonde and her twitchy sidekick are gonna stop me.”

Bonnie’s face darkened.

“Oooh,” Caroline whistled. “Bad choice of words there, bud. She’s not mysidekick. We’re partners. I kick ass, she takes names. Sometimes I take names,and she kicks ass. Though ‘kick’ might not be the right verb here…”

“I prefer not having to touch you scum,” Bonnie said, and from herfingers erupted flames.

Caroline smiled, eyes shining brightly in the fear that Bonnie hadincited into the now-still vampire.

“What are vampires most afraid of?” Caroline whispered into his fear.

“Werewolf venom.”

Caroline clicks her tongue. “No, the other thing.”

The vampire, cold sweat on his forehead, hesitated. ‘Uh—stakes?”

Caroline knuckled the base of his skull. “Fire, you moron. She’s waving it right in your face!”

It didn’t help that he passed out immediately.

Bonnie sighed and dropped her hands. The alley dimmed once again. “Canwe talk about this whole intimidation tactic thing?”

Caroline refused to look her in the eye.

—

It took about twenty minutes for him to come to, by which time Carolinehad gotten bored of sitting on his back and had decided to chain him to thedumpster instead.

After they heckled and tortured the information out of him, Carolinepulled out the usual contract – stating that no further harm would come to himfrom their hands if he got the hell out of the city and signed along the dottedline – when he started monologueing and posturing in a way that was really, really familiar.

Caroline pulled the pen away from his trembling grasp for it. Shesquinted in the dark alley, trying to make out his eyes.

“Caroline?” Bonnie asked, but Caroline barely heard.

The vampire was still monologueing, and Caroline felt a rising anger.She knew a compelled gaze anywhere.

“Damn it, Bon.”

Her fist swung out of her own accord, knocking the vampire out cold.There was a satisfying crack accompanying the slump of his neck, and Carolinedusted her hands off.

Bonnie eyed his body with distaste. “Harsh, Care. Don’t you usually waitfor them to sign the contract first?”

—

True to his word, Damon had indeed started a blog following the accountsof Blonde Distraction and Feisty Fire (not their actual names, but given thefact that he only ever blogged when he was drunk, he never bothered to learntheir real names) and their vigilante crime-fighting on his blog, WatchOutVillainz.com.

It was a smorgasbord of garish colour, Comic Sans, and badly-wordedheadings.

Klaus would never admit it, but he loved reading it.

He followed it with the same tenacity Caroline had for new episodes ofThe Bachelor, and one night even set up a username for himself to partake inthe lengthy discussions over who Blonde Distraction and Feisty Fire might be.

His username was entirely anonymous, and he enjoyed having a persona toparade as he took down trolls and ventured the tags, verbally maiming anyoneand everyone who dared speak ill of Blonde Distraction or Feisty Fire.

Granted, he didn’t care much for the witch, but thought that Carolinewould like it if he were to stand up for her too, so he did.

Damon showed up at his hotel room one night sullen-faced. “Get off mywebsite.”

“Make me,” Klaus said, typing progressively faster on his keyboard.

Damon failed to make him, and returned home, turning all his loyalfollowers on one hybrid_master_127. Unfortunately, Klaus seemed to have accrueda cluster of minions of his own in his short time of perusingWatchOutVillainz.com, and they threatened to hack into the mainframe of one ofhis life’s most precious work.

Damon, having limited knowledge of IT, highly doubted the existence of amainframe and whether or not it could be hacked.

In the end decided to play it safe, and Klaus stayed.

—

The way Caroline figured out it was Klaus who had been sending thugvamps her way was almost as fast as him discovering their true identities asthe Vigilantes of the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

A week after Damon had almost thrashed his hotel room, Klaus opens thedoor to his magnificently ransacked quarters. Caroline was sitting on whatappeared to be the cracked granite of his bathtub, in his living room, with herlegs crossed. She was still in her mask and boots.

“What is wrong with you?” sheyelled. “Why can’t you pick up the phone and call like a normal person?”

“That would have ruined the fun,” Klaus replied. “Besides, would youhave answered?”

Caroline hesitated.

“I thought so.”

“You never answered any of mycalls.”

“I was chained up in a wall, love.”

Caroline considered this. “Hm.”

Klaus picked his way towards her, straightening lamps as he went. Minutegoosefeathers floated about his shoulders; the pillows had all been spearedonto the ceiling fan like kebabs. “It was all too easy to suss out it was you.”

Caroline refused to bite. Instead, she stayed silent, watching him comecloser and closer.

“You offered them redemption instead of gutting them alive, in documentform to boot.” Klaus sounded reproachful and he righted an upset table to hidehis exasperation. “Furthermore, Bonnie made no secret of her pyromanicabilities. She was always very artful with that certain power of hers.”

“You compelled yourself a massacre just to draw me out,” she hissed. “Ihappen to take my craft very seriously—”

“I know, love. I’m not laughing.” And indeed he wasn’t. In fact, he sortof admired the spirit in which she undertook her task. In all honesty, he believedthis to be a phase—it took him a while to process the fact that she’d chosen tospend her eternity (or at least, a significant early part of it) doing this.

“So why are you here?” Caroline asked.

“Because.” He paused. Why was hehere? Papa Tunde’s torment had left him withered and raw; Hayley and Freya hadgone to the ends of the earth to release him and when he’d woken up Hope waswell in her teen years. Despite the world staying to same, too much of what hecared about had changed. He needed—he needed to make sure, needed to see forhimself, how she was.

Perhaps she was right. A phone call would have worked better.

“I wanted to offer my services,” is what he decided on at last.

Caroline snorted so loud he thought it was a piece of his ceiling fallingon them.

—

“I know all the criminals in this city,” he insisted, dogging her downthe street. Caroline walked remarkably fast in the night. She had left her maskin the debris of his room, stating she had ‘plenty more’.

“I’d rather go to vampire jail,” she told him sedately.

“Ah, that rather poorly masked vampire rehab you set up,” he said,falling into step with her. “The Elizabeth-Bill Institute for the MorallyBankrupt. I was just short of amused as to what an easy target you madeyourself.”

“And yet the only person who managed to figure it all out was you,” shesaid.

“Well—Kol did, too. We were playing crime-bingo with your exploits.”Klaus grinned. “I was one money-launder away from a win, so I decided to pullthings to my favour.”

“I’ll wall you in myself,” she seethed.

“Oh, where will you possibly find the time in between all thiscrime-fighting?”

Caroline whipped around, fangs bared. “Leave me alone, Klaus.”

“How are the twins?” he asked gently.

“None of your business.”

“They should be around Hope’s age, shouldn’t they?”

“Stop talking about them.”

Caroline took a detour through an alleyway, and with more agility thanKlaus expected, climbed her way up the side of a building, all to get away fromhim.

Klaus weighed his options, then hefted himself up after her.

He found her sitting on a rooftop edge, the city pulsating beneath them.He sat down beside her and was surprised when she offered him a thermos ofblood. It was still warm.

“Where were you keeping that?” he asked admiringly, studying her outfit.

She sent him a look that could kill, and went back to countingheadlights. “Please don’t tell anyone,” she said quietly, after a while.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said. He cleared his throat and glanced ather. “When did it start?”

Caroline shuts her eyes. “A few years ago. Josie and Lizzie were growingup pretty fast. Alaric—he, well. Didn’t want me to have…” she gestured vaguely,“words were exchanged. I decided that if I could do my part to help in anyother way, I’d do it.”

“You’ll soon be bored with the futility of it, I imagine.”

“I’ve got an end goal in mind,” she said absently.

After a fashion he realized she had stopped counting headlights and wasfocused on a window in the building across the cobweb of streets. Two girls,remarkably alike, were pulling the curtains closed for the night.

“They’re nocturnal creatures,” he said softly. “If I could venture a guess,just like their mother.”

Caroline didn’t answer. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder. Hestiffened in surprise, but she didn’t comment on it, neither did she move away.“Next time, just call. You can’t base my reactions on the girl you knew tenyears ago.”

“Some things will always remain singular,” he said. He wasn’t speakingabout her. She hoped she saw it in the look he was giving her.

Caroline pulled away slowly. For a long time, she only looked at him.Klaus took a chance and reached for her hand, after which she tangled herfingers in his. They stayed that way for only a short moment, but the feelingof her palm, soft in his, lingered long after she’d slid her thermos back intoits hiding place on her body and left.

—

Damon had taken to fixing them breakfast in the wee hours of the morningwhen they finally returned. He reasoned that it was the least he could do, whatwith all the slander he keeps slinging their way on his website.

“To blindside the scrutinizing eyes of the public!” he insisted,flipping pancakes.

However, when Caroline returned home with an extra guest, his spatulafell onto the island with a smack.

“I refuse to feed him,” he told Bonnie. So offended was he that Carolinehad brought Klaus home that he refused to speak to Caroline too. Looking rightthrough them, he pointed out, “And I only made pancakes for three.”

Damon gestured angrily at the table, where three immaculate plates piledhigh with pancakes and cream had been set.

Klaus scowled. “But there’s four more, burning, by the way, on theskillet.” He tried not to sound too indignant.

“You kidding me? These are all for Bonnie!”

As the two immortal beings squabbled, Caroline speared a triangle ofpancake with her fork. Bonnie sipped her glass of orange juice. It felt strangefor the apartment to be so full, especially with the presence of Damon’s entireliquor cabinet dotting every corner.

Klaus finally wrestled himself a seat next to Caroline, but not beforeflicking off Damon’s shirt that had been slung over the back of the chair with dispassion.

“That’s it! I’m done! You can make breakfast yourselves from now on!” Damon yanked off his apron and was gonewith a huff.

“Does this happen a lot?” Klaus enquired, sniffing around a piece ofbacon.

“More times than you can imagine,” Bonnie said.

—

In the coming days, Klaus visited more often. His hotel room had beenproperly demolished, he took to reminding Caroline, who sighed and held out atowel for him to use her shower.

Bonnie delighted in the fact that she now has leverage against having abroody roommate/parasite, seeing as Caroline had one of her own now, too.

Damon continued to be miserable.

Klaus continued to goad them with his offer.

Caroline and Bonnie continued their crime-fighting.

“Let’s not make this routine,” Bonnie told Caroline as she garrotted avampire who had been hell-bent on chowing down on a family of four. “By nextweek we kick them out.”

“You got it, Bon,” Caroline said, waving the contract in the chokingvampire’s face. “We’re burning the couch. And can we finally talk about that cape of yours?”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, but nodded her agreement as the vampire veryreluctantly signed her name along the dotted line.

—

tbc

9B��`