From a Cradle to a Grave

Chapter 2

Hayley's Pov

Klaus grabs my shoulder, and abruptly turns me around.

"Where do you think you're going?" he says.

"Away from you," I reply.

"It's funny you still seem to think 'leaving' is an option," he hisses.

We stare at each other for five long seconds.

And then, I bolt for the window.

Klaus is momentarily taken by surprise, since he was expecting me to make a move for the door. But he quickly gets over it, and uses his vampire speed to tackle me to the ground.

I use my legs to turn us over, so that I'm on top of him. I break his nose using my fist, and make an attempt to jump out the window again. Klaus grabs my leg and pulls on it, causing me to come smashing down onto the floor.

He grabs a fistful of my hair and pulls it backwards. I let out an enraged yell, before using that momentum to hit his jaw using my head. He stumbles backwards, and I run towards the door.

"Enough!" Klaus roars. He reaches the door right when I open it. He closes it shut using his arm, then slams me onto the opposite wall, and holds me there.

I realize what he's about to do a split second before he actually does it.

"Klaus, don't you dare-"

My sentence is interrupted by a scream that erupts out of my mouth. Klaus sinks his fangs into my throat, and begins to feed from me. 

The vervain that I've been taking on a daily basis ever since I left him gets sucked straight out of my veins.

"If you do this, I will never forgive you," I say in a weak voice.

He's taken so much blood from me that it'll be a miracle if there's a single drop of vervain left in my entire bloodstream.

"You're coming back to New Orleans with me," Klaus compels me.

I shut my eyes, trying to drive his voice out of my mind.

I can't return there. Not after what happened. I can't.

"You will return to New Orleans!" Klaus says once more.

This time, I can't fight his compulsion away. The defense system that I've been trying so hard to keep up melts away, leaving my brain vulnerable to his orders.

"I hate you," I whisper.

The blood loss causes me to lose strength in my legs. My knees buckle, and Klaus leans forward and catches me. Unable to move anything but my eyes, I glare at him with all the hatred I can muster.

He lifts me up, and carries me out the door. One of the vampires who wait outside for him hold open the door to an expensive looking car. Klaus helps me into it first, before getting in himself.

"What are you going to do to me?" I mumble through the drowsiness.

Klaus glances at me. "You should sleep," he tells me. "We'll be arriving in New Orleans by sunrise."

Whether it's unintentional or deliberate, Klaus uses compulsion when he says the words, 'You should sleep'. My eyes close themselves up against my will, and soon, I fall into a series of dreams...

"Get her down on the floor!" Genevieve yells.

"We should take her to the City of the Dead," Monique insists.