Dissipating Darkness [Klaroline]

Chapter 10: Pep Rally Posters

"So, you want to go get the boys here a round of drinks or not?"

My eyes dart up to Alaric standing over me as a genuine smile graces his features. I can almost feel my dead heartbeat; thumping in my chest. It has an eerie resemblance to that Poe story where the beating of the murderer's own heart simply drove him mad. I can hear Alaric's heart thumping away in my head. I can hear him choking on his own blood. The hushed, gargling noises his throat makes as blood blocks his airways--

"Klaus? You coming or not?"

I open my mouth to answer just as Damon hops up.

"Ah forget it, Ric. Let us real men get the alcohol." Damon clasps his hand on Alaric's shoulder and guides him toward the house.

Matt and Jeremy rise a few seconds later.

"Yeah, we're going to go see what's up with Elena and everyone. Care looked upset. Do you know what happened, Mr. Mikaelson?" Matt asks.

I would not betray Caroline.

"Sorry, Matt, but no I don't. I'm sure the girls have solved the problem, though."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Mr. Mikaelson. Elena and Bonnie are usually the pick-me-up Caroline needs." I don't fail to notice the smile that twitches at Jeremy's lips as he says Bonnie's name.

My vision moves to the right of Jeremy, and I see the three women walking down from the patio's ledge; gravitating toward us. Jeremy moves from the area he's standing in and quickly takes his rightful place at Bonnie's side. Matt soon follows after Jeremy waves him over. Bonnie and Caroline playfully loop their arms together with Elena as Matt and Jeremy lead the girls to the makeshift dance floor.

I look over and see Stefan smiling softly in Elena's direction as she dances around with her friends. It's his genuine smile that makes envy course through my veins. I cannot understand why, though. I've been virtually alone since the day it was discovered that I was unlike my siblings. So, why am I silently fuming over a two hundred year old vampire's unrequited love for a seventeen year old high school student? A high school student that just happens to be in one of my classes; just like Caroline.

Caroline.

Why do my thoughts always seem to direct themselves to her name, or rather to her pure existence? I can't even imagine that the centuries before her actually happened. I can't imagine that centuries after her will happen.

"Why don't we take a walk, Klaus? Unless you want to show us some dance moves from the last five decades?" A grin breaks out on Stefan's face as I rise and start to walk with him toward the weather-worn path.

"Very funny. If I remember correctly, you aren't that young yourself."

"One hundred and sixty-two as of last month." The bitterness in his tone doesn't escape me as we pause a little ways away from the party.

"I can't tell if you're being nostalgic right now or not."

He lets out a deep sigh.

"Maybe I am. One hundred and forty-five years ago, that was a better time. A better place."

"How so?"

"I was human, Klaus. I was the normal, seventeen year old, Stefan Salvatore."

"And?

"And maybe that Stefan would've been a better fit for humanity than this one."

I feel my eyes roll involuntarily.

"Again with the humanity? Believe it or not, that ship has sailed, mate. The moment you died with vampire blood in your system that ship was long gone."