His Muse (Klaus Mikaelson/The Vampire Diaries)

Chapter Six

After giving Maddox the job in getting ahold of Tyler; entrusting Greta to retrieve Caroline; and letting Alaric go to deliver a message to the scooby-gang, Klaus left the history teachers apartment with a newfound spring in his step.

Tonight was the full moon, and his entire body was tingling with pre-victory celebration. Tonight, was the night, where he would finally be his true self.

He made his way through the streets of Mystic Falls, as he had done upon his arrival to the town; but this time, he had an actual motive aside from tonight's plans. Klaus found the blonde beauty Bethany Forbes, sitting on a park bench - flicking through pictures she had taken on her camera (no doubt as inspiration for her art).

Klaus needn't hesitate in front of a young woman, for he had over one thousand years worth of experience in the art of charm, but he was vaguely aware of his chest tightening as he approached her. He blamed spending some time in a humans body, as the reason for his weakness.

"Is this seat taken, love?"

"No." She replied, and as she looked up at him with a small smile, her eyes met with his and she blushed a little. Oh, how Klaus was pleased!

Klaus flashed her a charming smile, and when her pink cheeks turned scarlet, his lips morphed into a dashing grin.

He lowered himself onto the bench beside her, and acted as though he were merely taking a break from his walk. He listened to her heart beating rapidly in her chest, and prided himself on being the cause of that just by his presence alone. Although he was going to wait for her heart rate to return to normal, he realised that it wasn't going to do so. He made her nervous, and he grinned again upon realising that it was a good nervous.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

Her voice was even more enchanting to his ears in his own body, than it was when he was in Alaric's.

"How did you know?" He questioned back, allowing the dimples that every woman seemed to love, appear in his cheeks.

"It's a small town." She replied, returning his smile as if it were infectious.

Now, being that she was Caroline's sister and Alaric's apprentice - she would have been warned about him. So, he held out his hand towards her and offered her the name that he would only allow his family to call him.

"Nik." He introduced himself proudly.

"Beth." She replied, placing her smaller hand in his. As she did so, he received what felt like an electrical current running up his arm and into his chest and a small vision flashed across his mind - but she obviously had not been affected, for she was not alarmed. "How long have you been in Mystic Falls?"

Klaus almost hadn't heard her, for he had been so distracted by the shock and the vision he had had. "About a week." He finally replied, "Give or take a few days." To be honest, he could've been in Alaric's body for a month by how pathetically weak and lethargic he had felt in it.

He realised then, that he was still holding her hand in his own, and he saw green and yellow paint under and around her fingernails. "You're a painter." He said, despite already knowing the answer.

"What gave me away?" She teased, slowly removing her hand from his and examining the colour stains.

"A hobby of yours? Or work?" He knew the answer to that too, but didn't want to appear stalkerish.

"Both." She replied, "I teach art at the school. And I teach myself when I'm at home."

Klaus nodded, appreciatively at her words, "A true artist is forever teaching themselves."