Fade Into Me

Party arrangements

"When you said that your brother was obsessed with giving you the best, I thought that you were showing off..." Caroline was awed by the enormous family room and she still couldn't digest her first impression coming up the luxurious driveway that ended with a big fountain smack down in front of a majestic porch.

Rebekah smiled. "Nik enjoys only the finest in life." she pointed at the long staircase. "I won't take long, I just need to fetch something from my bedroom but make yourself comfortable Caroline." she hurried upstairs.

Alone in the room Caroline took a closer look around, they had really expensive furniture although the decoration was classical and even a bit vintage but she could tell that it was freshly out of a store, according to Rebekah the main responsible for the décor was Klaus so the man had good taste, no one could deny that.

On the farthest wall from where she was standing there was a painting that had her puzzled, it was of a beautiful young woman and she was depicted with such detail and perfection that it slightly took her breath away now that she was closer to the piece of art, when she heard the approaching footsteps she turned around to find Klaus coming in with all of his swag and Caroline was at least happy that she had the chance to prepare herself before he spoke.

"Do you enjoy art?" He asked her quietly.

"I don't really know that much about it. If you take a lot of rusty old stuff and glue them together and claim that it's art I might laugh in your face so..." she tilted her head with a smile.

"You know the difference between beastly and beautiful, do you not?"

"Sometimes..." she responded to his inviting dimpled-smile with a tiny flirtatious look.

"As in life, art is subjective, what appeals to one might repulse the other..." he looked back at the painting. "Do you find her beautiful? I find her mesmerizing."

Caroline analyzed what she was seeing. "There's honesty in the way that she is captured on paper and the way that she is looking down with her hand resting on the side of her neck like that... she's shielding herself and she looks sad..."

On his end Klaus was interpreting everything that he gathered so far about Caroline, she was breathtaking, everything about her was natural and genuine and just beautiful, her fair complexion, her hair, the way that her mouth curved, the thick black eyelashes that protected her blue immense eyes... he could list a million of tiny details about her that were captivating.

His introspective moment triggered a look from her and she was instantly captive of the depth that she found in his eyes.

But he could tell that hers had seen too much, her eyes held back an overwhelming sadness, as well as despair and loneliness, all things that he had learned to keep hidden from the world and that she still hadn't, she was tough but yet still very fragile which was an amazing contradiction. "She was aware that she was going to die." He explained the painting.

Caroline concentrated on the bottom corner of the painting where she found his name. "You... did this?"

"Yes, both deeds actually. I did a sketch of her and then I killed her."

"She knew..." Caroline murmured.

Her face was a magnet and he didn't deviate from his staring. "Yes."

She closed up her vulnerability behind a witty smile. "Remind me to never pose as a model for you."

"You should know something about me sweetheart." He toyed with his tone of voice. "I always have what I want."

Caroline laughed warmly with a hand over her chest. "Seriously? You don't hear a no very often, do you ?"

Proudly he answered her with a smirk.