CAPTURED MY HEART, BODY & SOUL [1]

52 : UNDERLINING THE TRUTH

        This couldn't be real. Charlie had no idea how it was, feeling like this was some cruel prank. She must have said those words out loud because there was an audible chuckle from beside her.

"Oh, it definitely is real, love."

"Why are you following me?" She snapped, not even looking at him, just continuing down the street.

Klaus hummed. "I'm pretty sure if I'm walking beside you, that means I'm not following you, does it not?"

"What do you want?"

"I'm soaking this in." He laughed. "Princess, you should have seen your face!"

"Is this a joke to you?" She whipped around to face him, with Klaus not expecting it but clearly still greatly amused as he grinned at her.

"Of course,"

"I bet it isn't even true," she snapped. "You're messing with me."

"If I was going to do that, love, I'd do it with more creative flair." He pointed out. "It's hardly my fault you're a harlot."

"I am not-" she cut herself off, as the streets were always fairly crowded during this time of day and some of them had taken notice of their argument. She scoffed before continuing to storm off in her anger, knowing Klaus was going to follow her. "I'm not a harlot." She spat once she felt his shoulder brush against hers. "Not that it's any of your business, but I've only slept with two guys in the past year and one of them was Elijah. So fuck off and leave me alone."

"How well do you know my bartender then, princess?" He ignored her comment about her sexual history, which she was mostly glad for because she didn't even know why she told him in the first place.

"Who cares?" She scoffed. "You wouldn't even answer my question about why you're here."

"I'll tell you," he said casually. "Once we're away from possible prying ears."

She didn't even know where she was going, just walking, but at least this meant she could have some answers, even if that was the furthest thing from being the central point on her mind. She did want to know how she ended up in the same city as Klaus, and presumably the daggered Elijah, and whether it was Fate's way of throwing her and her soulmate back in each other's lives, but she couldn't stop the building panic at the thought of Klaus having been honest. Was she truly pregnant? She tried to think about her last menstrual cycle, but she just knew it happened before she returned to Mystic Falls, at least a week beforehand. She didn't need to pay attention to things like that. She'd had three sexual partners in her whole life and she hadn't considered the possibility of family with any of them. Mason always expressed he wasn't meant for fatherhood, Elijah was a vampire, and she and Walt had had a one night stand. She spent so much of her life mothering Lily that she hadn't thought being an actual parent was in the cards for her. What was she even meant to do with that? It didn't even matter, she decided, because she wasn't pregnant, as it wasn't like Klaus ever told anyone the truth.

The fact that Robin was also Klaus's soulmate also stuck with her, even if she mainly felt sorry for him more than anything else. Robin was one of the few friends she'd made in the city and he was a genuinely good guy. He had responsibilities that he inherited, problems outside of the supernatural and he had had to raise his siblings, similar to her own role in her sister's life, and if anything, she'd felt like he was a kindred spirit. She understood his exhaustion, even if he had more because she had one fiery sister in a town that was quiet for most of her life, while Robin was trying to save his pack, raise his siblings, protect his niece, all the while having a dormant werewolf gene and working in a bar that was often populated by the vampires and witches that caused his family so much pain. She knew Fate must hate them, but especially Robin, to force Klaus Mikaelson upon him. Klaus could say he didn't want a soulmate all he wanted but he still sounded pretty damn possessive when he spoke about the blond behind the bar; and no, she wasn't talking about Cami. She also didn't want to get between them, because although she most definitely did not want to leave Robin in the dark (it was pretty obvious he didn't know about the bond yet), she also couldn't have everyone finding out about her own bond with Elijah. For now, it was best to leave things be. She liked Robin, she did, but she couldn't risk this very delicate role she had in this city. It would be far too easy for her to lose it, or disappear altogether.