i put a spell on you
This was going to be about 300 words when I started, and then it suddenly wasn't. It really just came out of nowhere.
i put a spell on you
The Vampire Diaries; Tyler Lockwood/Caroline Forbes; PG
1,480 words
Unbeta'd
Tyler has to deal with Caroline under Klaus's compulsion. Set sometime after "Know Thy Enemy." Assume spoilers up to that point. These are not my characters.
Title from, um, "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Cut text from "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell On You)" by Aqualung.
She keeps screaming that he’s going to die, that she’s going to die, that they have to let her go so she can do what she’s supposed to, not even bothering to lie to them.
Everyone else is in the next room, talking strategy and trying to block out the noise, but Tyler can’t leave her, not even when Stefan points out that she’s calmer when he’s not there. They keep saying that she’s got no control, that she’s like a different person now, but that doesn’t change the tears streaming down her face, or how hard she had struggled to mouth a warning at him and he’s not abandoning her during this.
(He’d dragged her to the Salvatore house because he couldn’t think of anything else, because he knew turning back to find Jules wasn’t going to help Caroline.
“Compulsion,” Stefan had said, his mouth in a grim line. “Klaus must have gotten to her.”
Damon sighed. “Great. I guess he’s getting ready for the sacrifice. I’ll go set her up in the dungeon.”)
He wrists are bright red where the chains are pulled tight and Tyler finds himself walking across the room and grabbing at her wiggling arm. “Calm down, Caro. Calm down,” he says, his voice far more soothing than he’d thought he could muster. She yanks her arm away with another yell but there’s only so far she can move and he does have some supernatural strength of his own so he easily captures it again. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Tyler,” she whimpers. “You have to die. You have to let me go so we can die.”
He nods and rubs his fingers along the scabs under her wristbone. “Maybe I will, maybe I’m won’t. But first you have to stop straining so much. You’re not going to be able to heal yourself if you keep reopening the wounds.”
She doesn’t respond, doesn’t pull away again, but she won’t look at him. He continues the steady strokes along her wrist and is rewarded by the slight flutter of her eyelashes and the slowing of her tears. He watches them close and then stay that way for a minute before popping open.
“Get off me!” she yells, fighting the chains with such force that Tyler has to step across the room. “You have to leave, go as far away as possible, and-” The words are cut off by some dry heaving and then she’s throwing up blood all over the floor.
Tyler runs into the room next door. “There has to be something we can do for her,” he announces. “She’s in so much pain.”
“We’re trying to help her,” Damon says, rolling his eyes. “Killing the vamp that compelled her is the only way to stop her.”
“There has to be another way. I think she’s fighting it, so maybe there’s some other way to break it. Can’t Bonnie do a spell?”
“It’s a trick. A play for sympathy, a means to an end.” Damon snorts. “Let it go.”
“You don’t see how hard she’s resisting.”
Katherine scoffs. “No one can fight compulsion. I couldn’t do it and I’m a hell of a lot stronger than vampire Barbie in there.”
“Then maybe you don’t know how strong a person Caroline really is!” Tyler snaps, punctuating it with a punch to the wall. It leaves a dent that’s so satisfying that he doesn’t even bother apologizing to Damon and Stefan for damaging their house. No one’s looking anyway, all too busy frowning at maps and spellbooks to care.
(It had seemed too good to be true, her showing up on the doorstop of the crappy apartment Jules had been hiding him in without specifying who he was hiding from.
“You have to come back to Mystic Falls. We need you there.”
“We?” he’d squeezed out past the surprise paralyzing him.
She’d shrugged. “I need you. Whatever. Come on.”
And he should have known better, should have at least asked more questions, but that smile was too blinding to resist, and he’s only human.
Well. He had been once, at least.)
He exits the room without a sound and peers around the doorway at Caroline. She’s not struggling anymore, just collapsed against the wall like there’s no more fight left in her. She’s still crying, the tears sliding down her face and mixing with the blood that now covers her mouth before dripping down onto her white shirt. He strides past the room - room, he stresses in his head; not a dungeon - and up the stairs to the bathroom. There he grabs a washcloth and wets before returning downstairs.
“Tyler,” Elena says before he can join Caroline again. “We need to talk about the plan, see what you can do.”
“Anything.” Elena winces at the sharpness of the word but he doesn’t care. “Whatever it takes. I just want to help her.”
Elena looks like she’s going to say more but Tyler doesn’t stay to listen. He walks back over to Caroline and crouches down to dab the washcloth at her mouth. She looks at him with dull eyes. “Look at the mess you’ve made,” he teases. “Do you know how to get blood out of clothes?”
“I’m sorry, Tyler. I can’t help this.”
“Shh, shh. I know you’re doing your best, and that it’s hard. But you don’t have to try so hard.” Tyler takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly. “Maybe you and I can work out a deal.”
Caroline’s staring at his knuckles. “You’re bleeding.”
Tyler shakes his head. “Not anymore. Accelerated healing, remember?”
“Did I hurt you? I don’t remember hurting you but-”
“No, no. I just punched a wall.”
Caroline smiles, just a flash before burning out. “I think even a werewolf would lose that fight.”
“Well, I’m not always the brightest guy, but maybe I’ve learned my lesson. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“You’re not stupid. I wouldn’t love you if-” Caroline cuts her words off with a sharp bite of her bottom lip that produces more blood.
“I just got you cleaned up and now you’ve gone and made another mess.” There’s a lightness in his head now, like he could float away. Or like he’s lost the small bit of control he’d had left, like he could change at any moment, Jules’s helpful tips be damned. “What am I going to do with you?” he whispers, or maybe he just thinks it, because she doesn’t react at all.
“What kind of deal?” she asks suddenly.
“Mmh?” He double checks that there’s no more blood on her face and drops the washcloth to the ground behind him so he can scoot a little bit closer to her.
“You said that we could make a deal. What is it?”
“Oh. That.” He brushes a loose hair off her face and then holds back a wince at the determined look in her eyes. It’s just so Caroline of her that he forgets to breathe for a minute. “What if I agreed to do this sacrifice thing for Kline-”
“Klaus,” she corrects.
“Whatever. Santa. If I died, is there any chance that you wouldn’t have to?”
“Oh, no, Tyler. Don’t do that,” she says. “You can’t just give in.”
He shrugs and looks away. “I’d do it for you. I know they said that everyone always dies when they finish their duty, but you’re different. You’re special, Caroline, and you’re stronger than any of them.”
Caroline’s furiously shaking her head. “I’m not special. Stop saying that.”
“Yes, you are-”
“Besides, I can’t live because I’m not even human. I died a while ago.”
“Bullshit!” Tyler exclaims. “Never ever say that. What happened to my- What happened to the fierce Caroline Forbes that would crush anyone who crossed her?”
Caroline laughs weakly. “Did you just say fierce?”
“I guess I did. Because it fits.”
Caroline’s laughter fades, but her smile lingers this time. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Tyler clears his throat. “Maybe this compulsion crap will wear off with time. Most people probably don’t hold on this long so nobody would know how long it really lasts.”
“Maybe,” Caroline says softly, the rasp of her voice ruling that out. She coughs and a few drops of blood splatter on Tyler’s arm. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” He lowers his head and presses his lips against Caroline’s. Her mouth moves under his and his heart leaps until he feels the sharp bite of her teeth slamming together.
“You have to let me go,” she says, and begins pulling at the chains against. “I have things to do, Tyler, so let me OUT.”
Tyler backs away and watches her struggle before turning to leave. He steps into the next room. “So what do I have to do?”
i put a spell on you
The Vampire Diaries; Tyler Lockwood/Caroline Forbes; PG
1,480 words
Unbeta'd
Tyler has to deal with Caroline under Klaus's compulsion. Set sometime after "Know Thy Enemy." Assume spoilers up to that point. These are not my characters.
Title from, um, "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Cut text from "Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell On You)" by Aqualung.
She keeps screaming that he’s going to die, that she’s going to die, that they have to let her go so she can do what she’s supposed to, not even bothering to lie to them.
Everyone else is in the next room, talking strategy and trying to block out the noise, but Tyler can’t leave her, not even when Stefan points out that she’s calmer when he’s not there. They keep saying that she’s got no control, that she’s like a different person now, but that doesn’t change the tears streaming down her face, or how hard she had struggled to mouth a warning at him and he’s not abandoning her during this.
(He’d dragged her to the Salvatore house because he couldn’t think of anything else, because he knew turning back to find Jules wasn’t going to help Caroline.
“Compulsion,” Stefan had said, his mouth in a grim line. “Klaus must have gotten to her.”
Damon sighed. “Great. I guess he’s getting ready for the sacrifice. I’ll go set her up in the dungeon.”)
He wrists are bright red where the chains are pulled tight and Tyler finds himself walking across the room and grabbing at her wiggling arm. “Calm down, Caro. Calm down,” he says, his voice far more soothing than he’d thought he could muster. She yanks her arm away with another yell but there’s only so far she can move and he does have some supernatural strength of his own so he easily captures it again. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Tyler,” she whimpers. “You have to die. You have to let me go so we can die.”
He nods and rubs his fingers along the scabs under her wristbone. “Maybe I will, maybe I’m won’t. But first you have to stop straining so much. You’re not going to be able to heal yourself if you keep reopening the wounds.”
She doesn’t respond, doesn’t pull away again, but she won’t look at him. He continues the steady strokes along her wrist and is rewarded by the slight flutter of her eyelashes and the slowing of her tears. He watches them close and then stay that way for a minute before popping open.
“Get off me!” she yells, fighting the chains with such force that Tyler has to step across the room. “You have to leave, go as far away as possible, and-” The words are cut off by some dry heaving and then she’s throwing up blood all over the floor.
Tyler runs into the room next door. “There has to be something we can do for her,” he announces. “She’s in so much pain.”
“We’re trying to help her,” Damon says, rolling his eyes. “Killing the vamp that compelled her is the only way to stop her.”
“There has to be another way. I think she’s fighting it, so maybe there’s some other way to break it. Can’t Bonnie do a spell?”
“It’s a trick. A play for sympathy, a means to an end.” Damon snorts. “Let it go.”
“You don’t see how hard she’s resisting.”
Katherine scoffs. “No one can fight compulsion. I couldn’t do it and I’m a hell of a lot stronger than vampire Barbie in there.”
“Then maybe you don’t know how strong a person Caroline really is!” Tyler snaps, punctuating it with a punch to the wall. It leaves a dent that’s so satisfying that he doesn’t even bother apologizing to Damon and Stefan for damaging their house. No one’s looking anyway, all too busy frowning at maps and spellbooks to care.
(It had seemed too good to be true, her showing up on the doorstop of the crappy apartment Jules had been hiding him in without specifying who he was hiding from.
“You have to come back to Mystic Falls. We need you there.”
“We?” he’d squeezed out past the surprise paralyzing him.
She’d shrugged. “I need you. Whatever. Come on.”
And he should have known better, should have at least asked more questions, but that smile was too blinding to resist, and he’s only human.
Well. He had been once, at least.)
He exits the room without a sound and peers around the doorway at Caroline. She’s not struggling anymore, just collapsed against the wall like there’s no more fight left in her. She’s still crying, the tears sliding down her face and mixing with the blood that now covers her mouth before dripping down onto her white shirt. He strides past the room - room, he stresses in his head; not a dungeon - and up the stairs to the bathroom. There he grabs a washcloth and wets before returning downstairs.
“Tyler,” Elena says before he can join Caroline again. “We need to talk about the plan, see what you can do.”
“Anything.” Elena winces at the sharpness of the word but he doesn’t care. “Whatever it takes. I just want to help her.”
Elena looks like she’s going to say more but Tyler doesn’t stay to listen. He walks back over to Caroline and crouches down to dab the washcloth at her mouth. She looks at him with dull eyes. “Look at the mess you’ve made,” he teases. “Do you know how to get blood out of clothes?”
“I’m sorry, Tyler. I can’t help this.”
“Shh, shh. I know you’re doing your best, and that it’s hard. But you don’t have to try so hard.” Tyler takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly. “Maybe you and I can work out a deal.”
Caroline’s staring at his knuckles. “You’re bleeding.”
Tyler shakes his head. “Not anymore. Accelerated healing, remember?”
“Did I hurt you? I don’t remember hurting you but-”
“No, no. I just punched a wall.”
Caroline smiles, just a flash before burning out. “I think even a werewolf would lose that fight.”
“Well, I’m not always the brightest guy, but maybe I’ve learned my lesson. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“You’re not stupid. I wouldn’t love you if-” Caroline cuts her words off with a sharp bite of her bottom lip that produces more blood.
“I just got you cleaned up and now you’ve gone and made another mess.” There’s a lightness in his head now, like he could float away. Or like he’s lost the small bit of control he’d had left, like he could change at any moment, Jules’s helpful tips be damned. “What am I going to do with you?” he whispers, or maybe he just thinks it, because she doesn’t react at all.
“What kind of deal?” she asks suddenly.
“Mmh?” He double checks that there’s no more blood on her face and drops the washcloth to the ground behind him so he can scoot a little bit closer to her.
“You said that we could make a deal. What is it?”
“Oh. That.” He brushes a loose hair off her face and then holds back a wince at the determined look in her eyes. It’s just so Caroline of her that he forgets to breathe for a minute. “What if I agreed to do this sacrifice thing for Kline-”
“Klaus,” she corrects.
“Whatever. Santa. If I died, is there any chance that you wouldn’t have to?”
“Oh, no, Tyler. Don’t do that,” she says. “You can’t just give in.”
He shrugs and looks away. “I’d do it for you. I know they said that everyone always dies when they finish their duty, but you’re different. You’re special, Caroline, and you’re stronger than any of them.”
Caroline’s furiously shaking her head. “I’m not special. Stop saying that.”
“Yes, you are-”
“Besides, I can’t live because I’m not even human. I died a while ago.”
“Bullshit!” Tyler exclaims. “Never ever say that. What happened to my- What happened to the fierce Caroline Forbes that would crush anyone who crossed her?”
Caroline laughs weakly. “Did you just say fierce?”
“I guess I did. Because it fits.”
Caroline’s laughter fades, but her smile lingers this time. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” Tyler clears his throat. “Maybe this compulsion crap will wear off with time. Most people probably don’t hold on this long so nobody would know how long it really lasts.”
“Maybe,” Caroline says softly, the rasp of her voice ruling that out. She coughs and a few drops of blood splatter on Tyler’s arm. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.” He lowers his head and presses his lips against Caroline’s. Her mouth moves under his and his heart leaps until he feels the sharp bite of her teeth slamming together.
“You have to let me go,” she says, and begins pulling at the chains against. “I have things to do, Tyler, so let me OUT.”
Tyler backs away and watches her struggle before turning to leave. He steps into the next room. “So what do I have to do?”