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Chapter Text

Klaus POV

I don’t know how long I sit here on the ground staring at the fallen hybrids around me. My glorious army now rendered useless.

I replay the events of the last few months in my head from the sacrifice ritual to now. I analyze every action I took to lead me to this moment over and over again.

What could have possibly gone wrong?

I take another swig from the bottle I barely register that I am holding. I hear Stefan’s footsteps but I continue to stare at the ground, unseeing. What could have gone wrong?

There is a grunt and a heavy thud a few feet away from me and I look up to see my comrade setting a body down on the ground. I recognize the great useless lump as the first werewolf I tried to turn today.

I feel Stefan’s gaze on me, waiting expectantly for me to acknowledge his presence and I slowly raise my heavy-lidded eyes to his. “They went rabid.” I tell him simply, my voice slightly hoarse. “Some of them I killed. The others just…” Frustration and rage start simmering deep in the bottom of my stomach. “Bled out.” I spit the words.

Stefan’s eyes widen minutely, but he stays silent, waiting for me to continue. I stand and start to walk towards him, my movements stiff. “In the end,” I rake my eyes over the bloody bodies around me cast in shadow by the moonlight. I turn my eyes back to Stefan. “They’re all dead.”

In a flash, something in me breaks, just snaps and I hurl the nearly empty bottle into the woods so far that I can’t hear it smash on impact even with my superhuman hearing. My frustrated scream echoes through the forest and I whip around to face Stefan again whose face is a mask of shock.

“I DID EVERYTHING I WAS TOLD!” My hands clench so hard I feel fractures spiderweb through my bones and quickly heal over. In the back of my mind I register faintly that Stefan is frightened of me. Not that this is an uncommon occurrence in my lifetime, but somehow it’s different with Stefan. For some reason, I don’t want him to fear me.

I take in an unsteady breath. “I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf.” I go over everything I’ve been thinking, this time out loud. “I killed a vampire.” My voice lowers to a whisper. “I killed a doppelganger.”

A strange expression like realization flashes over Stefan’s face but it is gone before I can make sense of it. He’s probably just shocked.

I shake my head to dispel the anger I feel burning inside my chest again. I will get my hybrids. I will find out what went wrong and I will fix it.

But not now.

Stefan’s face gleams with sweat in the moonlight and his chest falls up and down heavily. The anger dissipates slightly as I see him in this state. “You look like hell.” I observe.

Another brief expression passes across his face, this time something like fear and apprehension. It vanishes quickly and he says, “Last I checked, I’m dying.” He glances down at the bite mark on his forearm. “And you don’t wanna heal me.” The infection has spread considerably since a few hours ago. When that rouge werewolf bit him, I told him that I would heal him only if he brought him back from where he ran off. The leverage is useless now, considering I have no use for these failed hybrids anymore.

Stefan glances down at the body lying at his feet. “I had to take him out.” He breathes, his voice sounding strained. “Didn’t have a choice.” He looks back up at me, his dark eyes pleading. “I failed you. I’m sorry.” He takes a few steps toward me out of the shadow of a tree. He really does look like hell. The harsh angles of his face stand out more than usual and his eyes are bloodshot. “Do what you have to do.”

Does he really think I’m going to kill him? I almost laugh at the thought.

I see a bloody, lifeless hand out of my periphery and I clench my jaw. “It should have worked.”

I turn around and spot another empty bottle lying where I had been sitting a moment ago. How many of those had I gotten through? I pick it up off the ground and turn back to Stefan who is eyeing me warily. He seems to do that a lot. Not that I blame him, but I still feel a strange emotion when I see the way that he looks at me. Like I’m a monster.

Which I am. I only wish he'd realize that he is too. He's a vampire, after all.

I slowly raise my palm to my mouth, watching as Stefan's eyes bounce between my face and the bottle in my hand. I continue to watch him as I rip a gash into my palm with my fangs and let the blood drip into the empty bottle.

Relief relaxes his shoulders a bit when he realizes what I’m doing. I sigh and hold out the bottle to him. “Bottoms up.” I tell him as he takes it cautiously. He really needs to lighten up a bit.

I take a few steps away and take one last look at my fallen soldiers. “We’re leaving.” I say regretfully.

Stefan is still watching me carefully, having not drunk from the bottle in his hand.

“It appears you’re the only comrade I have left.” I don’t realize the truth of the words until they’re out of my mouth.

I, Klaus, don’t have friends. I have people who fear me. People who hate me. I don’t have people who love me. I don’t regret my decisions, I learned long ago to harden my heart, but that doesn’t mean that those decisions don’t affect me.

That doesn’t mean that I’m not lonely.

I realize as I look at the vampire before me, staring at me skeptically, wondering if he can trust me, that I don’t want to be lonely anymore. This whole time, I’ve told myself that I forced Stefan into this deal to get back at him. At his brother. But now I know that that wasn’t the reason, not all of it anyway.

In the penetralium of my heart I know the real reason.

I want Stefan Salvatore to love me.

Chapter Text

“You want to save your brother?” I dangle the bottle in front of him, swishing the blood from side to side. His eyes are fixated on it. Such pretty eyes. “How about a decade long bender?”

I watch the decisions war on his face with glee. It will be good fun to have another talented individual like Stefan around. If only I can get him to stop being so repressed . It’s tragic to witness, really.

“You know I have big plans for you… when we leave this town.” I'm gonna get the old Stefan back.

He attempts to regain whatever dignity he has left. “I’m not like that anymore.” He reiterates uselessly.

I sigh. “Well, that’s too bad.” I slowly tip the bottle of my blood toward the sink. “You would have made one hell of a wingman.” Blood trickles out, pattering on the stainless steel like raindrops.

An intake of breath. “Wait.”

I glance back at him and grin. “Now that’s more like it.” I slide a blood bag slowly across the counter. “I want you to join me for a drink.” He stares at it for a moment, his face settling as he gives in. Accepts he has no choice. I raise my glass and he opens the top of the bag. He takes a tiny sip. Really?

“ Finish it .” He glares at me, bag still inches from his lips. “All of it.” If he doesn’t start drinking soon, I swear I will strangle him.

I set my glass down and remind him. “You do everything I say and I save your brother: that’s the deal.”

He raises it back to his lips. His eyes turn red and dark veins appear on his cheekbones. His gulps increase in frequency and he crushes the bag in his fist, sucking the blood out of it. He throws the empty bag on the ground.

I smile and toss him another one. “Again.”