Who: Klaus and Lydia What: A deal’s a deal When: Thursday Afternoon Where: The White Wyrm Rating: Medium for some vampire blood stuff
Lydia was trying desperately to steady her heartbeat. She was scared and she knew it, but she didn’t want Klaus to hear it. It was easier to breathe as she walked up to the place with Scott by her side, but she knew Scott had to wait outside and that part she hated. Maybe she should have felt a little guilty that Scott had to wait outside in the cold, but she wanted to be selfish about that right now. She lied and told Scott she was fine - she was sure he could hear the lie if he was listening to her heart, but whatever. Then she pushed her way inside.
She could barely bring herself to look at Peter, but she forced herself to because she was stubborn and then followed Peter up to the door that would be where this whole thing would take place. Lydia made another attempt to calm her heartbeat down as she opened the door and entered. Of course her breath caught when she saw him sitting there so casually and she fueled all her helpless feeling into ire for him. She didn’t glare, but her expression was solidly on the ‘I’m doing this because I have to’ side of things.
“One thing before we start. If I tell you to stop, it’s not because I’m telling you to stop entirely. But if the voices in my head get strong enough, it’ll make me scream again and I won’t be able to control it and I have no idea what will happen when you bite into me. And since I don’t want to hurt you again, we just might have to take things slow.” She knew she was risking saying that to him, but it was the truth. There was a part of her that still hoped her blood tasted like death or was poisonous, but she didn’t think she had that kind of luck. If she had to guess, it would taste human with something extra and with her luck probably in a good way. “Or maybe nothing will happen at all and I’m just being overly cautious. Who knows.”
--
Klaus would never admit it, but he wasn’t all that excited about this either. She was little more than a child, and something deep in his heart wanted to simply let this go and let her walk out the door. But he couldn’t. She had to pay for the insult she’d dealt him, and this was the way that had been mutually agreed upon.
He stood when she entered the room, clasping his hands behind his back as he gave her a crooked half smile.
“Very well. I certainly don’t want you screaming at me again.”
He moved one hand to the front and held it to her, palm up.
“Come here, little one. I promise I won’t hurt you. I have plenty of experience with this.”
***
She felt a rush of annoyance. It wasn’t unexpected that he’d look the way he did and give her that pet name. What was it with supernatural men? Lydia managed to keep the flash of annoyance to a minimum. It was helped by the fact that with the door closed, she had to make good on this deal or she’d be putting a lot of people at risk. Stiles and Scott and every one of them had saved her at one point or another and while she apparently saved Stiles in the future, she wasn’t there yet. The least she could do is save them now.
She should have bowed her head and stepped forward and shut up, but Lydia was a Martin and Natalie Martin especially had taught her daughter to be strong in the face of even the scariest of things. She took in a breath.
“My name is Lydia.” She wasn’t a child, her tone seemed to imply, but she then walked over to him and placed her hand in his with a confident motion. It was only when she actually felt his touch that her breath caught for a moment.
Maybe she was a little worried that it would hurt, but Lydia found herself more worried about how weak she’d feel afterward. She had made sure to increase her iron intake for several days before just in case, but Lydia hated feeling helpless.
--
Klaus couldn’t help but be somewhat amused at that. He respected women with spunk; they’d always been the ones to keep his attention. This girl, however, she was barely older than his daughter, hence he would always think of her as ‘little one’ and would continue to call her that because he wanted to.
When she took his hand, she would notice that it was warm, unlike some of the vampires of mythology. As long as he had enough blood, he looked and felt like a regular person, although he was far from being that. He led her to a couch, and on a small table beside it was a bottle of orange juice and some strawberry fruit roll-ups. He could be thoughtful when he wanted to be.
“Would you prefer to sit?”
Just in case she got weak while he drank from her. He didn’t want her collapsing, and the sound downstairs alerting the wolf.
***
There was a lot she didn't know about vampires, obviously, and Lydia made a mental note to do some research after this. Of course the fact that every vampire world probably had different lore wouldn't help, but doing some research would at.least help her feel somewhat in control.
"...yes I would."
Though she didn't make a move to actually sit. She understood mthe dynamic. She'd wait for him to give her permission. Mostly she was focused on her hand in his and worried she'd start trembling before he even broke skin. Thankfully she was stubborn enough not to let that happen.
--
Klaus put his hand under her chin and gently tipped up her chin so that their eyes met.
“You are not afraid,” he declared, firmly yet not unkindly. “You know that I’m not going to hurt you. In fact, this isn’t going to hurt at all. You’re going to be surprised that it actually feels very good. Very good.”
He then broke eye contact and sat, indicating the seat next to him.
“Sit, Lydia.”
***
Her eyes widened a little, but Lydia didn't even know what to look for to resist or to fight and her pupils dilated as if to signal she accepted his words.
When he looked away, she blinked, her expression calmer now and her heart no longer racing. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought that odd, but she knew she could be determined. She didn't feel scared anymore. He had given his word, after all, and by even account Klaus was a man of his word.
She sat down and pressed her lips together. "... By the end of the year, I'd like to know." Lydia was being careful with her words even if she knew she was also being a little forward. "I'd like to know why you felt the need to kill. The real answer. Not now-" she didn't think she'd get a real answer from him now, if ever, but she thought having to be around her on a weekly basis for a year might allow him to be a little truthful. Maybe that was just because a part of Lydia knew the 'bad guys' like Peter and Theo could change. "- later. When you'll tell me a real answer."
--
“We’ll see,” was all he said to her words. He wasn’t the kind who opened up to random people about his issues, and she would have to hear a hell of a long story before anything he told her made sense.
He took her hand arm, bringing it to his mouth. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t give her any time to anticipate. His sharp teeth broke the skin of her wrist and he lapped up the fresh red blood that erupted forth. He’d never tasted banshee blood before, but it had a little something that made it utterly divine, like nothing he’d ever had before. He managed to stop himself with the amount he’d promised, though, and pulled back.
Then he ripped his own wrist open and held it to her mouth, meeting her eyes and compelling her once again.
“Drink. It will heal the wound.”
And her blood supply.
***
When he pierced the skin, her mouth parted in a tiny gasp. She definitely hadn’t expected to like it and it to make her feel, well, good. And it did. Her eyes closed and she took in some deep breaths, but not because she was dealing with pain. Somehow despite herself, when he stopped, there was a moment where annoyance crossed her eyes like how dare you stop before she caught herself - what a ridiculous thing to think.
She saw what he was doing to his wrist and she panicked a little, her eyes going from this wrist to his gaze in a ‘what the hell are you doing?!’ but the silent thought was caught off as she stilled and listened to his words again.
Blinking, Lydia reached out and lifted his hand to her mouth the rest of the way. She inhaled softly against his skin as she tasted his blood, her eyes lulling closed for a moment as she took in his blood and didn’t hate it like her mind said she should. Lydia had no idea when to stop, though, and because of her inexperience she had blood on the sides of her mouth like she had just drank a glass of milk.
--
Klaus let her drink for a moment, making sure she had enough to heal the wound on her arm as well as replace the blood she had given him. Then he firmly pulled his arm away. “That’s enough, little one. Wipe your mouth. Then sit and have some food.”
He really didn’t want to hurt her. Honestly, he didn’t really want to be doing this at all. But he couldn’t simply let the insult sit. It would open up the floodgate for all who thought he could be disrespected.
“Are you alright?”
***
When she realized her mouth was messy, she looked a little sheepish and wiped her mouth. She swallowed and looked at the food he had brought. She tentatively reached out and took the orange juice. She opened the top of the bottle slowly.
“Fine.” More than fine. She didn’t feel any different. Or not really, anyway. She felt weird about letting him, but she realized she liked it and she wasn’t sure what that said about her. She looked at the orange liquid for a moment and then took a sip, thinking.
“You’re still alive, so I guess I’m not made of poison.” She was semi-series and semi-flippant as she looked at him. She already knew he’d be more complicated than probably he wanted people to know - they always were. If she hadn’t known Peter or Meredith or even Theo, maybe she’d think more in black and white, but that wasn’t the case.
--
“I’ve yet to find any creature I can’t drink from,” he said. “Unless their blood is laced with -” He stopped. He didn’t want her lacing her blood with vervain, so he certainly wasn’t going to tell her that. He wasn’t stupid.
“Do you know my daughter?”
He wasn’t sure why he changed the subject to that, but they were about the same age, so he was curious whether or not they were friends.
***
She did note him catch himself and took a mental note. So there were some things that affected him. Maybe not kill him, but he wasn’t as invincible as he seemed to make people believe. She didn’t say anything though and took another sip like she didn’t even notice what he said.
“I know her name. Hope, right?” She knew the name only because of all this. She hadn’t expected him to have a child, but then, again, so did a lot of supernaturals who had a lot of trouble with their feelings. “I don’t know her. Does she go to the college here? I skipped freshman year.”
--
“Hope, yes. And she hasn’t graduated from High School yet. She will this year, I believe.” Or next year. He wasn’t exactly sure how human schooling worked here. He wished there was a school she could go to like the Salvatore school back home, but he thought that would probably be pushing it a little. The townies weren’t too keen on the ‘refugees’ as it was.
“You skipped a year. I suppose that means you’re very smart, then.”
Perhaps book smart, but she clearly had some things to learn, or they wouldn’t have been in this position to start with.
***
“I suppose so. I’m studying theoretical mathematics at the college.” And she had an IQ of 170, but Lydia didn’t usually go around saying so. Stiles was more likely to point something like that out. “I planned to go to M.I.T. back home, but then I ended up here, so I have to settle for Hanover.” She didn’t sound thrilled about it, but she was trying to make due. It wasn’t so bad, except there was one class where she often had to correct her professor. She knew it annoyed him, but he was lucky Lydia didn’t out him to the faculty for being a fraud.
She opened her mouth to say something else, then paused and closed it. She figured ‘how does someone like you have a child’ would sound insensitive and he promised Scott she would try not to provoke him. Lydia studied him again for another moment.
“You must feel lucky to have your daughter here with you.” This was a better way of going about it anyway - how he answered would tell her a lot about him.
--
The question wouldn’t have insulted him - Klaus hadn’t quite believed it at first either. It was well known that vampires couldn’t have children, and Hayley’s pregnancy had been a fluke that could only have happened under the most specific of circumstances. It was a miracle, and Hope was his miracle child. He adored her all the more for it.
“I do, and I am,” he said simply. “I couldn’t spend as much time as I wished with her back home.” First her safety had necessitated that they send her away, and then the Hollow had kept them separated. He’d done everything he could for her from afar, but their time together had been fleeting and short.
“It’s nice getting to know her as a young woman.”
***
She hated how hearing that made her miss her mother suddenly. She shouldn’t be able to feel anything but annoyance and ire for Klaus. Lydia decided she was clearly losing her grip on reality. Just like she wasn’t sure why she drank some of his blood, but she had, or why she felt better because of it.
“Yes, well, we can’t all be that lucky, can we.” She sounded more bitter than she meant to while trying to play nice, but it was extremely unfair how a homicidal megalomaniac got to have his family here and people like Lydia or Stiles or Scott didn’t.
Lydia drew back her shoulders and looked away from him and down at her lap, mumbling “Sorry” even though she wasn’t really because it was unfair and she missed her mom something fierce.
--
He stiffened a bit when she snapped. He hadn’t meant to make himself so vulnerable, anyway, and her words had knocked a bit of sense back into him.
“Very well,” he said quickly. “I believe we’re done here. I’ll see you next week?”
***
She noticed and she silently berated herself. She had to be more careful or she was going to mess everything up. Lydia closed her eyes and breathed for a moment before she stood up and gave him a nod. She was keenly aware of how she seemed to want to see him next week. Or rather, she wanted to have the feel of him feeding on her again. What that said about her, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
Lydia smoothed a wrinkle on the bottom of her shirt. “Yes. I’ll see you next week.” She almost felt the need to thank him and that made her shoulders tense. Maybe she was seriously losing it.
She walked to the door and then paused, turning half way to look back at him “....Thank you for keeping your word.” Or part of it, anyway. She had no idea he had compelled her.
--
He’d promised not to hurt her. He hadn’t promised not to compel her. To him, that had been part of not hurting her, and it was hardly a big deal. She was much less traumatized than she might have been otherwise.
“Of course. Next week it is.”
***
Lydia definitely preferred it when she was angry and annoyed at him. It made things far simpler and less confusing. She took another small breath mostly to compose herself and then pulled open the door. She’d have a hard time looking at Peter as she left, too, and she hoped he wouldn’t take it too personal. Right now all she wanted was for Scott to take her to Theo’s and for her to try and forget the day.