Title: The Petrova Diaries
Summary: Currently a oneshot, may become multi chapter story. Katerina Petrova has lived for five centuries, but how did she go from being a slip of a girl to the Katherine we know today? Read and find out. Expanded Universe. Katherine/Multi, not focused on romance.
Chapter summary: It's been days since Katerina had escaped Niklaus, and fed. Katerina realizes she must adapt to her new species in order to survive, both Klaus and herself.
Katerina Petrova was very uncomfortable. It had been days before she had fed for the first time on the owner of Rose and Trevor's household, her actions had truly haunted her. She had not the courage to compel her way onto the boat she resided on, she was paranoid that The Originals had spies all over the land of England, but indeed that was true for all she knew. In a nook between barrels containing goodness knows what, lay she – Katerina. Shovelling a hand into a ruffle of her dress, she took out a page with strange symbols written in a language unknown to her, and a smooth stone; the other component in a ritual that required her death. She was just a girl, one who had a beautiful baby girl and was shunned for it, expelled from her home and through independent thought she travelled to England, looking for goodness knows what. The decision to go there was as smart as volunteering to take the place of a prisoner on the gallows.
She shook herself. She would not – could not- dwell on her ill judgement, she would not allow herself to be destroyed after all she had done to survive. An opening door shocked her, sending her heart into speeds she hadn't thought possible. 'He has found me', she repeated in her head again and again. Tears shone in her eyes, though she was frozen to the spot she managed to hide the two things her human life was worth behind the barrel to her left with the stealth and speed of a snake.
"Ah, I spot several damaged boards on this floor." Katerina shifted to hear better by instinct, and tucked her legs in until they were practically invisible in the very dark cellar of the ship.
"Ach, easily replaced." The light of a lantern passed her, showing her a nobleman and what seemed to be a crewman judging by their clothes.
"Your captain will be displeased. I will make my recommendation that you are to be removed from trading." The nobleman placed the lantern down and invaded the crewman's personal space, an ugly expression coming over his aristocratic face as he bore brown teeth. "You will be out in the gutter – I suggest you bring a cutlass to your throat, our Lord and God knows you could not supply your family anything." A crunch, and the sneering man was suddenly on the floor, cradling a broken nose. A smell drafted to Katerina that made her gums ache and mouth salivate, she spotted where the aroma was coming from – the nobleman. The crewman ran up the stairs to the main deck, leaving the nobleman alone in the dark, apart from the lantern that rested upon a barrel. Worry drifted into Katerina's mind, this man was alone, bleeding and in pain – he could have choked on his tongue, been attacked by rats or – Katerina reeled. He could be attacked by her. She could do it, feed upon him like Niklaus was supposed to feed on her... As she told Rose before she ran, 'better you than I'. It wasn't as if he was a good person, he'd shown that much.
Rising from her hiding place, she stayed in the dark, observing. Would she be a bad person if she acquiesced to the hunger that was not abating? He was picking himself up, attempting to dust himself off and grab a handkerchief simultaneously.
"Are you alright, sir?" She spoke, her voice slightly rusty with disuse. He spun, and upon his eyes adjusted to see her, he tensed. A frown came to his face, confusion with his expression and fright with his heart. Is this how vampires see humans? She questioned herself, derailed from her hunger by the tiniest of details.
"Lady," He bowed, "How long have you been down here? You look starved half to death!" He seemed worried about her. It was very touching, especially after the many weeks she's had, maybe... She clamped down on thoughts of mercy before they sprouted. He was not a good man, in his ignorance he'd already revealed himself to be just that. Elijah denied it... By assuming she would be the lamb in his brother's sadistic plan to wipe away a god-awful curse, destroying all men by the hoards of vampires who could walk in the light, or werewolves that could revert to their monstrous form at any time. She was always merciful throughout her human life, but she was not human anymore, was she? She made up her mind.
"Yes, I am very hungry," She got closer until she was close enough to smell his rotten breath upon her skin, "So very hungry..." He smiled while his eyes glinted dangerously, probably thinking a way to exploit the starving vampire. She smirked in response, letting her urge roll around her body and access her face. The veins and capillaries around her eyes blackened and the whites of her eyes became a bloodied red. The nobleman tried to scream or shout, but as Katerina lunged for his neck, she miscalculated her angle of descent.
There was a crunch of the man's neck, suddenly air and blood burst forth from the windpipe and the severed arteries, pushing their way down Katerina's throat. Not even having to move a muscle in her skull, she let the blood flow and drank deeply, moaning. Her hearing was composed of his heartbeat, hissing of his lungs not reaching the voicebox to make sounds, her own deep, guttural sounds and the mutterings of crew members. It all stopped too fast for Katerina's satisfaction, she dropped the man in an easy motion that felt almost graceful, or rehearsed.
With a full stomach and now rejuvenated body, she could assess her situation with a logical mind. Her surroundings were accurate to memory as a mid-sized vessel, even though she was mind boggled and starving when she crawled aboard, she was smart enough to get onto a vessel that was Europe bound. Her easy and now wet eyes took in all the details, but when she finally looked at the body of the nobleman, she was instantly horrified. Katerina reeled back as if punched, the body, the bite, all of it was as if she were looking through Niklaus's eyes to one of his many victims. Suddenly, the weight of what she'd done had assaulted her. She'd never killed anyone before, she could pass off the housekeeper as a fatality of Rose's, but this was the reality of it. She had eaten a man.
All the emotions she was experiencing became too much, she pushed them down, encapsulated them in a chest forged from the power of her mind, and like the switch of a button, she didn't care. Katerina Petrova was emotionless. Or, atleast, as far as you can get to being emotionless without flicking the switch she heard Niklaus speak of to Elijah in her captivity, vampires went wild with it off without caring for survival – and she needed every ounce of survival instinct she had. She hurriedly walked to her hiding spot and grabbed her two only possessions, laid them on a barrel and assessed. The spell would create her a piece of jewellery allowing her to walk in the sunlight, she needed a witch to perform this. This was top priority, but when she grabbed the stone, her face folded in a frown. What to do with the one thing that was needed in the plan that could have killed her; destroy it? Cast it into the deepest ocean?
Tightening her grip on the stone, she realized that it could be used to bargain for her freedom – one day. And one day she would return home, pick up her daughter and they would ride into the sunset like a true family. But first, the current trajectory of the ship was to France and she'd heard of the sorcery they practised there. A plan was falling into motion, the cogs turning in her mind. Turning to look at the noble, with his throat ripped out and bones twisted at an unnatural angle, her eyes connected with his. No guilt shone in Katerina's eyes.
05/05/2015: Misspellings corrected, canon-compliant and set up for the next chapter.