Two Lost Souls

Breathe

Caroline stays quiet for a while, her eyes narrowed at Klaus as she considers his question and the best way to respond without giving too much away. It's hard to believe that he really just asked her that after everything he's seen over the past month. But then again, she knows how perceptive he is. That he picked up on what she's been so successfully hiding from his siblings is not that surprising.

"You've seen the way I act. You've seen me kill someone. You know I wouldn't do that if I was still myself. Hell, I wouldn't be sleeping with you if I was."

"I'm not saying you're yourself. I know you're not. But I also know I've seen you show surprise once or twice over the past few weeks. You did flip the switch, I don't doubt it. I just don't think it worked exactly as intended."

Her eyes widen slightly at that, proving his point, and she shakes her head, at a loss as to what to do now. She knows he's got her cornered and she has no other choice but to come clean. When she comes to that realization, her body seems to relax slightly and she sighs in resignation.

"I think there's something very wrong with me."

"I think there's something horribly right with you," he counters quietly. "Tell me."

"I get these... glimpses, I guess. My humanity is off, and most of the time I really don't feel anything. But every once in a while, there's a flash of something. It's very dim and easy to ignore, but for a fraction of a second, it's there. It's mostly just surprise. Sometimes amusement or curiosity. There was also this moment of hatred when I first met Marcel, but I chalked it up to frustration. He did interrupt us at the most inopportune time." After a beat, she asks, "Have you seen this before?"

"Yes. And so have you." At her quizzically raised eyebrow, he elaborates, "The Ripper."

"Stefan doesn't get amused or surprised when his emotions are off."

"No, but he does feel remorse. That's why he poses his victims so that it looks like they're just resting."

She nods in contemplation. She's heard about this, about how he tears heads off only to place them back on the bodies before he leaves the scene, about how he remembers the names of every single person he's ever killed, even when he doesn't have his emotions.

"How does it happen?"

"Some vampires are so human, for lack of a better word, that the switch never really works to its full extent. They're never completely emotionless. Something remains of their true self. Guilt and self-loathing in Stefan's case, most likely because he never could accept what he is. You... well, clearly your enjoyment of life tends to make itself known. You're too vibrant to ever completely let go of everything you love about living. I can't say I'm surprised this happened to you."

"Duh. You don't get surprised."

"You know what I mean."

"When did you start suspecting it?"

"Honestly? As soon as I found out you had turned it off. It only happens to those rare vampires who are full of life, loving and inherently good. I've never met anyone who fit the bill more than you did. I didn't know for sure though, not until I heard you laugh."

"A laugh? That's what tipped you off? Emotionless vampires laugh, Klaus. You do," she points out.

"Yes, to taunt or mock. Your laughs, rare as they are, are genuine." There's a small pause as he reaches out to brush a strand of hair away from her shoulder, fingers caressing the side of her neck, and his eyes turn a few shades darker when she instinctively leans into his touch, still craving it in spite of their earlier activities. "I was right about you. You want to feel. You wanted to even back when you decided to flip the switch. You couldn't take the sorrow and the misery, but there was still a part of you deep down that remembered the good."