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❛ 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙀𝙀 ❜ ════ ⋆★⋆ ════
Klaus' lips upturned into a small smile at the sight of the Gilbert girl asleep in the passenger seat. Her head was tilted back, her lips slightly agape. Her arms were curled around the backpack in her lap—it was an endearing habit of hers that Klaus had picked up on; Rory constantly needed something to cuddle up to when she was asleep. It meant for slightly suffocating nights when he would sleep in the same bed as her. Usually, he was a light and easily irritable sleeper; any form of contact and noise could wake him. But he found that he usually didn't mind being in Rory's embrace—the girl brought him comfort instead of him flinching away from her touch.
"Are you just going to keep staring at her like a creep—" Stefan Salvatore inquired from the backseat of the car. Klaus gave him a slightly irritated glance, not realising that it was he, himself, that spent most of the time just tracing the lines of Rory's face with his eyes. "—Or are you going to tell me where we are?"
Klaus didn't give him a response, simply reaching over to shake Rory awake. The vampire mumbled in her sleep, nestling her nose further into the backpack on her lap. Klaus insistently shook at her shoulder, which caused her eyes to fly open. "What?" the brunette inquired snippily, a frustrated look on her face. She hated being woken up from her sleep.
"Up and at 'em, sweetheart," Klaus retorted as he killed the engine. Rory's cheeks flushed in realisation that they were at their destination, and she was probably the one delaying everything.
Then, Rory's gaze flickered to the outside of the car. She sat up slowly, her body tensing up as she realised where they were. The familiar buildings, the cafe branch that she liked so much, the hotdog vendor down the street... no way in hell. They were in—
"Welcome back to Chicago, Stefan," Klaus grinned as he stepped out of the car.
Rory couldn't believe it. Her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest with how panicked she felt—what in God's green earth was she doing back in Chicago? There was no worse place to be. This was where she had met Nik, where she had started a new chapter in her life after her parents died; now, it was going to be tainted by her vampiric activities that she was sure Klaus would indulge her in. She swallowed the bile that threatened to crawl up her throat.
"What are we doing here?" Stefan raised his eyebrows in an inquisitive manner.
"I know how much you loved it here. Truthfully, I have a soft spot for this city as well," Klaus' eyes flickered to Rory, who was gnawing at her lip. He averted his eyes as he continued to talk. "If I'm not mistaken, you favoured Chicago as well. Bringing back memories of the good old ripper days?"
"Blacked out during most of them—a lot of blood, a lot of partying. The details are all a blur," Stefan responded.
"Well, that is a crying shame. The details are what make it legend—word was the Ripper of Monterrey got lonely, so he escaped to the city for comfort. It was Prohibition; everything was off-limits then, which made everything so much fun," Klaus looked up at the sky. "Chicago was magical. It still is." The end of his sentence was punctuated with an exchanged glance with Rory, who simply clenched her jaw and looked away.
