Madness

The village was on fire; people were screaming and running in every direction and Klaus was trying to maneuver through the chaos to find his beloved Ashleigh. The sky was thick with smoke, and if he were a normal human, he would be struggling to both breathe and see through the wreckage. But Klaus was the first of his kind – a vampire werewolf hybrid – and he found the red head easily.

She was struggling to help people from the burning shack, the straw roof was bound to cave in at any moment and she was standing beneath it oblivious to what was about to happened to her. In his mind, he was met with a decision. Risk exposing his true identity to save her or let her die to save himself?

The choice was obvious, and he was beside her in seconds, grabbing her around the waist and speeding to safety just as the roof fell and the whole area surrounding it was engulfed in flames. She froze, trying to regulate her breathing as she looked up at Klaus in awe. How did he do that?

“What… what?” She stuttered, “What are you?”

Klaus could hear the fear in her words, and smiled gently at her. He reached up to soothe her cheek, but she jerked back away from his touch. “I had to save you,”

“But how?” She looked back at the fire that was once her home. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s not important right now,” He dismissed the subject, hoping that she would forget about it, but deep down he knew she wouldn’t. “What is important, love, is that we get you to safety.”

“We can’t leave; we have to save those people!” She motioned with her hand to the people trying to put the fires out and to the unfortunate souls still stuck in the burning houses.

“Fine,” He agreed in frustration. “Stay here, please, love. I’ll be right back.” He quickly kissed her forehead, praying with everything in him that she would stay put.

Klaus ran in his super speed around the village, helping everyone he came upon as much as he could. His family had left already, they being the ones that started the fire. He stayed behind to get Ashleigh, but was now playing the hero to the fire he, himself, created. The people that witnessed his abilities couldn’t comprehend how he was doing it, and automatically assumed he was a witch or a demon from the depths of hell and forgot about their homes burning to the ground.

He knew he could single handedly take out the whole village of people that had formed a mob and were now cornering him, but he decided that it would be best to just Ashleigh and leave, but when he returned to the spot he had left her; she was nowhere to be seen.

“Ashleigh!” He called, frantically looking in every direction, but all he could see was flames. “ASHLEIGH!”

If his heart could, it would be pounding out of his chest as the townsfolk moved in on him. In a moment of weakness and little options left, he left the village without looking back, leaving his missing beloved behind.



“It’s because you’re hurt. Which means a part of you is human, and I know this because I’ve seen it.”

The words echoed through his mind, nagging at his very being. Could he be so translucent that the pain he’s been hiding for centuries has surfaced? He remembered helping his love once a long time ago, and ever since he’s shut off his emotions. They were nothing but a weakness to him, and if he was going to cause others misery to feel better about himself, his weakness couldn’t be known.

He’s tried to move on, but she was always there. In a reflection, in the wind, in the thunder he could hear her voice calling to him. He couldn’t escape his beloved.

He had tried looking for her; going back to the village that burned to the ground, but she wasn’t there. He had come to terms with her being dead decades ago, but he always had that small ray of hope whenever he caught sight of a red head walking down the street, on the television or even in a magazine. It was just little things that reminded him of her now, and he would hold onto those things for as long as he walked the earth.

His family was daggered and in coffins, leaving him to be alone with his thoughts and his glass of whisky. The fire crackling in the fireplace had brought back memories of the night he had lost her, and once he shook himself of those thoughts he downed his glass of alcohol in one gulp without even flinching.

The rain was pelting down on the rooftops and at the same time as the thunder boomed, the door was knocked on. A human wouldn’t have heard it, but him being who he was, was at the door before they had a chance to knock again.

When he opened the door, his eyes widened in disbelief. Her red hair was framing her face in dripping ringlets, and her clothes were suctioned to her body. Her gaze was locked onto the ground, but when she looked up at him; blue eyes meeting blue eyes, he knew that this wasn’t some illusion he’s been cursed to see many times before. She was real and standing at his door.

She zoomed by him, stopping at the fireplace leaving him awestruck at the door. Once he composed himself, he closed the door and walked back to the din, where she was standing with her back to him.

She heard him clearly, her name fell from his lips as quiet as a breath, but she heard it. Ever so slightly, she turned to look at him, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

“How?” He asked, bewildered. How was she here and a vampire no less?

“When you left me, Elijah came back for you. He couldn’t find you, and told me to come with him. Told me you’d come after them. You never did come back for them. Eventually, he explained what you all were and how you became that way and then he turned me some years later. I’ve been looking for you, but you’re a very hard person to find, Klaus.”

His name from her lips sent a shiver down his spine. He closed his eyes in bliss before needed to look at her again. Once he opened his eyes, she was standing in front of him now, so close he could feel the dampness of her shirt against his chest.

“But I found you, my love.”

Without thinking, Klaus wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her to him, their bodied molded together like one. He brought his other hand to the back of her neck and pulled her closer, and their lips crashed together just as the lightning struck outside his window. His hand found its way up into her wet hair, tangling around his fingers. She hugged his torso; her fingers arched into claws, and scratched at his back.

He pulled back just enough to look at her once more. “Ashleigh,” Her eyes closed and he picked her up effortlessly. “Let’s make up for lost time, love.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him; gentler this time, and more loving. She caressed his cheek with her fingertips, and smiled at him. “That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard of.”

She could feel his hold on her tighten, which brought her even closer to him, if possible. He could feel the black hole that was growing bigger and bigger in his chest closing as he looked down at his beloved redhead. The pain he had spent so long hiding was now gone in an instant now that he held her in his arms with no intention of ever letting her go again.