Klaroline Bingo 2020 (4/?) - Hunting
@klaroline-events
Summary: After killing her abusive boyfriend, Damon, Caroline triggers her werewolf curse and goes on her first hunt. In the woods, she finds a lone, white wolf, and develops an inexplicable connection to him. It turns out that he’s been looking for her... for a thousand years. (Mates AU)
you put a fever inside me
The pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She could feel every bone in her body, ones that she didn’t even know existed, snap and mend.
The bloodied body of her boyfriend - well, her now ex-boyfriend, may he rest in peace - laid on the floor, contorted as she threw him against the fireplace in a fit of superhuman rage.
Actually, come to think of it. May he burn in hell, over and over again. After months of abuse at the hands of Damon Salvatore, she had finally had enough and fought back.
Maybe a little too hard. Seeing as he was ummm... dead.
But she had little time to contemplate her actions, let alone allow her moral compass to kick in, because right now, she was a little preoccupied by the fact that her entire body was breaking into pieces. It was almost like the most severe case of brittle bone disease, on crack.
What the fuck was happening?
She let out a noise that vaguely resembled a howl, something that she was sure she had never heard from a human being in all her eighteen years of existence. The howls slowly morphed into bloodcurdling screams that was sure to go unnoticed by the miles and miles of foliage that surrounded Damon’s lake house.
Her gums began to ache and her screams were muffled by the ringing in her ears. She collapsed onto her knees and her back arched in agony. I’m going to die, she thought to herself, this is the retribution that I get for killing Damon.
Her vision became thickly veiled, so much so that she couldn’t see the black fur sprouting from her skin. Her mind became so hazy that she was beginning to forget where and what she was.
She let out one last cry, before she lying down, unmoving on the floor, exhausted.
Seconds, minutes, hours went by. She couldn’t quite tell the concept of time anymore. But she had the urge to feed, to hunt, and began to get up.
The first thing she noticed was that instead of standing, she was on all fours. The second thing was that she had paws where her fingers once were. The third was that her senses were sharper than they’ve ever been before.
She caught her reflection in by the glass window that spanned from ceiling to floor.
She was a wolf. A fucking wolf.
She would’ve been surprised, maybe even cried a little, if she were in her human state. But right now, she couldn’t help to revel in the feeling. She felt powerful and she wanted to be every bit the predator she was born to be.
Leaping out of the lake house, she sprinted towards the forest and searched for prey. Animal instincts took over and she was able to see clear as day in the dark shadows of the tall canopy of trees.
It wasn’t long before she found food. Two rabbits and a small deer, not bad for a newbie, she mused.
As she was finishing up her meal, she heard a howl and immediately stiffened. She gingerly padded away from the deer and laid low on the forest ground. Using her wide vision, she scanned her surroundings.
On a boulder stood a lone, white wolf, twice as large of her, and as much as she wanted to run or camouflage herself, his eyes were zeroed in on her. There was no way she could escape him.
He leapt off the boulder and onto her level, whilst slowly padding towards her. She felt a sudden pull and he became the sole focus of her sharp vision. The closer he got, the more intense the feeling became. She felt compelled to meet him in the middle.
Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, she had never heard of a Klaus before, but she was sure that this name echoing in her mind was his.
Up close, she could see the golden specks in his stormy grey eyes, and she whimpered as he pressed his snout into the fur of her neck. He sniffed for a few moments before circling her, as though he was assessing her in some way.
He soon came to a halt, once again face to face, inches apart from her own.
Caroline, she heard what she assumed was his voice in her head. From the look he was giving her, she concluded that he was somehow telepathically communicating to her.
Only with mates, he says in her head, as she began to comprehend his meaning, and I’ve been looking for you for a thousand years.
She stiffened, the fur on the back straightened in shock. A thousand years? How was that even possible?
You’ll find that there’s a whole world of monsters out there, he answers, I’m a werewolf and vampire, the first of my kind. A Hybrid.
And I intend to make you one, too.
What? She hadn’t even had time to wrap around the fact that she was somehow a shape shifter, a werewolf, or whatever the hell he called it. But a vampire? To be immortal? That was something that never even crossed her mind as being in the realm of possibilities.
You’re my mate, Caroline. And being a Hybrid will keep you safe from many dangers out there, he explained, his voice was low and husky.
At her silence, he continued. It’s a lot to take in, but we’ll have time to talk come morning. Run with me, Caroline, feel the power of the full moon. Revel in your beast.
She nodded. As a child, she had read stories after stories about naive little girls who ran off with strangers. But for some inexplicable reason, she trusted him, she yearned for him. And she wanted to obey him.
They took off in the dead of the night, their howls harmonising like a beautiful melody. And she felt free. God, she felt free.
As a human, she had always strived for perfection, and lived in the shadows of her own insecurity. But from the way her mate was looking at her, worshipping her, she could feel his need to keep her safe, to hold her above all else, to succumb to her wishes.
"Was that your first turn?” His soft voice came from behind her. The sun had just risen and they were lying bare in their human forms on the jungle floor, entangled in one another.
She had never felt the level of intimacy with any other person, despite only having just met his wolf-self the night before. But there was a sense of warmth, comfort and something she couldn’t quite place. She sighed restfully.
“Yes,” she turned around to look at him, her body pressed up against him, unbothered by their nakedness. She smiled at how beautiful he looked in the break of dawn. “It was quite a shock. Still is, actually. I had no idea what was happening.”
“Who did you kill?” He asked. There was no judgment in his voice, only curiosity. She raised her eyebrows, wondering how he had known. “The werewolf curse is triggered by the first kill.” He explained.
She nodded, and took in a deep breath, “My boyfriend... my ex-boyfriend. He... he wasn’t a good person. He was violent. Volatile. You could never guess when he would be in one of his moods. He hit me a few times before. Twice, it got so bad that I ended up in the hospital. But he came begging for forgiveness every time, and for some reason I did just that. But last night, he had too much to drink, and he just wouldn’t stop. I snapped, and I threw him against the fireplace with strength that I never knew I had. His skull cracked open. He bled out. He’s dead.”
Reality settled in and she was conflicted in her emotions. On one hand, she felt guilty for ending someone’s life, but on the other, she was glad that he would never come back to hurt her ever again.
She was almost afraid to look at Klaus’ face. Afraid to see the judgment in his eyes. But when she did, he looked impressed.
“I’m glad you finished him off, love. Because if he was still alive, I would’ve ripped him to shreds.” He said casually, throwing in a little grin. But his demeanour and tight grip on her waist told her that he meant every word of it.
Deciding not to dwell on her ex-boyfriend, she diverged, “What did you mean last night? That you plan on turning me into a hybrid? Is that even possible?”
“It took me nine hundred years to figure it out, but yes, I’ve created a whole army for you to meet.” For you to rule, he doesn’t say.
“Are you sure you want to do that, though? You would be stuck with me for an eternity. How can you even know for sure that we’re mates?”
“Tell me, Caroline. Do you feel that tug inside your body when I’m close. That for some inexplicable reason, you find yourself trusting me, caring for me, wanting to submit to me?”
She gulped, but nodded nonetheless.
“That’s how I feel about you,” he whispered, “Perhaps even more so. I’ve only been searching for you for the past one thousand years, after all.” He smiled, touching her face gently.
“And maybe you don’t understand it now, but one day you will. Now that I’ve found you, I will never let you go, Caroline.”
He leant in to capture her lips with his, and in that moment, she did. She understood perfectly.
Because she, too, never wanted to let him go.
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