The Salvatore Sister

Chapter Fifteen

Downing her fiftieth drink in the past two days, Arabella stumbles down to the living room. She is completely over being the collateral damage of her brothers' failed plans. This time, if she's going to be anyone's bargaining chip, she is going down in a drunken burst. 

She isn't expecting the hybrid to be lounging in one of the chairs and drinking up the good stuff. Stopping dead in the center of the entrance, Arabella lifts a brow at the man in the chair. "Is there a reason you just entered my house, uninvited and unannounced?" She asks in a slurred tone. 

Klaus turns his head, appearing to be slightly amused. He usually finds her when she's in the process of getting drunk. This time, however, she is clearly on the edge of being uselessly drunk and somewhat functioning. "I came here to have a nice chat with Stefan," he responds. He lifts both his eyebrows curiously at her. "I don't suppose you know where he is?"

A snort leaves the werewolf's mouth as she takes another sip of her bourbon. "He's probably out trying to ruin your life further. All resulting in proving why I should never be alone with you again." She pauses a moment, realizing that she is alone in the same room with him. Turning to leave, Arabella knows that if she doesn't go now she'll most definitely admit to something that her sober self will hate her for later. "If you'll excuse me—"

Klaus's amusement is gone, replaced with what appears to be genuine confusion. "So, you're going to ignore the fact that we had such a good time together at that party?" He asks. His statement freezes Arabella in the doorway. "That you enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed yours?"

Arabella turns to face Klaus. How could she have ever consider listening to the man who took away Tyler and Stefan's free will, made Tyler bite Caroline, and only sees Elena as a blood bag? There is no way that she can allow herself to truly hear him out with no judgment. Not without facing a serious moral dilemma. 

"I'm not ignoring it," Arabella responds cautiously. She stares at Klaus, who looks somewhat pleased by the statement. "I'm regretting it." Instantly, his face falls into what appears to be anger. He's angry at her for telling him the truth. "I regret the fact that I ever let my guard down with you and forgot all the terrible things you do to the people I love."

Standing from his chair, Klaus shakes his head. "I only do terrible things when I have to! All I want, right now, is to get my family back! If Stefan hadn't taken them, I probably would be long gone from this tragic town!" 

A breathy laugh releases itself from Arabella's nose. The sound is closer to frustration than anything else. 

The girl walks closer to the hybrid in her anger, finding herself standing only a few feet away from the chair he was sitting in. "Yet, you build a house here in said tragic town! You go to all the parties to associate yourself with all the important people of the town! You even flirt with me and try to catch my eye all for what? To leave this 'tragic town' behind with your family?" 

The tension in the room is so thick that you could slice it with a knife. Klaus eyes the werewolf, taking in her anger. His anger is long gone in a somewhat sobering tone. Replacing it is some sort of realization, as though he is discovering a truth that he has been long denying to himself. 

Klaus closes the gap between them, standing so close that he can intimately hear her heart beat. "Only one of those things have a true importance to me," he murmurs. "I could care less about the people in this town or that empty little house I'm in the works of constructing." Before he can stop himself, he finds himself brushing a strand of her silver hair behind her right ear. "All that would be meaningless if I could have you."

Arabella's breath catches in her throat as butterflies explode in her stomach. Despite all her knowledge about how awful of a person Klaus is, she finds that she cannot stop herself from being attracted to him.