In Cold Blood

Madeleine woke up sometime around 5 a.m. She blinked her eyes, trying to figure out her surroundings. When her fuzzy vision cleared, she saw that she was still on the couch, with a pale pink and white comforter draped around her. She glanced around the still-dark room for Klaus to find him across the room at their top-of-the-line computer, hunched over, staring intently at the screen. He looked like a statue, like he hadn't moved for hours.
"Klaus?"
He was back across the room in an instant, sitting by her side and running a hand through her hair. All that tracing he did made Madeleine dizzy.
"How did you sleep, love?" Klaus was peering at her intently, studying the dark shadows under her eyes. Upon really studying her- something he hadn't done often enough, he realized guiltily, or he would've noticed she was sick- he saw that the porcelain skin he had seen on her yesterday was all makeup that was fading off where she had sweated last night, revealing skin so pale her veins were starting to show, big dark circles under her eyes, and she had lost more weight than he had realized, but tried to hide it with baggy clothes. She looked so frail and weak.
"I slept okay." She smiled at him. "I got kind of restless when you got up to go on the computer around 2 a.m."
Klaus grinned at her- of course she'd noticed the exact time.
"So what were you doing on the computer, anyway?" she asked.
Klaus's grin slipped away as he remembered the details of what he'd read. "I was researching your. . . . . "
"Cancer," Madeleine said quietly. "Oh, Klaus. You shouldn't have done that. It's not a very nice read."
Klaus closed his eyes while phrases jumped out at him. 'Without active treatment, metastatic pancreatic cancer has a median survival of 3–5 months'. . . . . 'pain is present in 80% to 85% of patients' . . . . . 'complete remission is rare.'
"Complete remission is rare," he quoted quietly, opening his eyes again.
Madeleine winced at the words. Klaus immediately pulled her into his arms, hugging her fiercely, trying with all his might to take away her fear. "Don't," he said fiercely. "Don't be afraid." He tilted her chin up to level his eyes with her. "I wish you'd let me turn you," he said quietly.
Madeleine shook her head. "I cant steal people's life force like this cancer is stealing mine."
Klaus had never wanted to scream so badly in his life. "We can get you on a blood donor's list! You'll just drink donated blood, you wont have to hurt anyone!"
Madeleine was still shaking her head."If I'm going to die, I want to die as myself. Not a vampire.
"But if you were a vampire, you WOULDN'T die!" Klaus said, exasperated.
"I might, someday. By another vampire, scared humans afraid of what they cant beat, or just an awful accident."
"I would never let anyone hurt you," Klaus said fiercely, holding her head in his hands. "Never. I saved your life, remember?"
"I was a child, then, Klaus," she said gently. "A helpless child. Of course you felt inclined to save me. But I'm just another adult now and-"
"You are NOT just another bloody person," Klaus practically snarled. "You're nothing like other people."
Madeleine was staring at him, fascinated, and Klaus realized he must be starting to transform in his anger. The transformation was so strange and beautiful to humans that it was practically irresistible.
Madeleine touched his face, enthralled. "You're so beautiful, Klaus," she sighed, in a voice he had never heard before. His skin was glowing like white rose petals, his teeth were slightly elongating, and his eyes shone.
Klaus watched with a mixture of confusion and excitement as Madeleine ran her hand down his face, down his neck, and then up the back side of his head, curling her hand in his hair. They both sighed in satisfaction.
And without warning, Klaus shot forward and kissed her.