Sunlight

Chapter 19: The Morning After

Klaus woke up in a forest of pine with no idea of what time, day, or country it was. He would have been startled, but it wasn't the first time. He also then realized he was naked, so he assumed it was after a wolf transformation, and he waited for the memories to start kicking in. He felt the slight nagging ache in his bones from the transformation, one that said he had been stretched to the limit, but it was a good feeling for him, even if it was accompanied by the thin layer of dirt on his body. A pair of pants hit the ground next to him, and he turned, expecting Elijah like the time before.

He was surprised now. Caroline was the one sitting on the low bough of one of the old fur trees, only three feet off the ground.

"Morning sunshine." She called, and her voice was cheeky and bright enough, but he knew there was something else in store for him from her.

"Hello, sweetheart." Klaus crooned in response, and stood up to put the pants on. "I wasn't expecting to see your face after a transformation. How did you stick around?"

"You're not that scary." She shot, tossing him a shirt when he was done. He pulled it on and paused to do up the buttons, but found that Caroline had walked over to tap his hands away and do it herself, brushing her fingers languidly against his chest as she did so. He smiled softly down at her, but she frowned up at him, her fingers searching along his shoulder and collarbone that he hadn't noticed was pulsating in an odd way.

"They must have tried to put a stake through you last night too, you've got splinters all along here. I couldn't see it while you were in wolf form." She murmured, and he remembered what had prompted the transformation in the first place.

"Alexander." Klaus growled in a fearsome undertone, and Caroline's eyes widened, but not out of fear. She was never frightened by him, she always knew she was safe. Even when he was at his worst and lashing out, like at the Grill, she was never scared of him, knew that she wouldn't be harmed by him. She may not have known it at the time, but she knew that now.

"Why were you there with him?" He asked shortly.

"I followed him there." She answered simply.

"Why did you follow him?" He asked in a tone that added another underlying question. Why the hell would you follow him, at what point did that even seem like a remotely good thing?

"It seemed like the logical thing to do." She said in answer to the unsaid question in his eyes, and continued on quickly as his eyes narrowed at the word 'logical'. "He tried to compel me, and I was wondering what he was planning."

"He tried to compel you?" Klaus repeated, his eyes narrowing even further while his brows came together.

"I thought only Originals could do that." Caroline said, wondering what information Klaus was holding back on.

"He was one of the very first vampires we turned, and we've noticed that the closer one is to the bloodline and the longer they have been around, the more powerful they are. But even then he shouldn't have been able to compel a vampire." Klaus said, thinking out loud for her benefit – if he withheld too much she would know. She always knew. "Unless he had some other help."

"Like a witch? He had a few werewolves with him." Caroline said helpfully, but it only reminded Klaus of the men who had held her down in an attempt to kill her.

"How did you think you would escape them anyway?" He challenged, and she bristled.

"I can take care of myself perfectly well. I knew I could handle it."

"At what point were you handling it? Pray tell me, love." He said mockingly.

She seethed. "Well I thought I would be fine."