Cursed Obsession
Chapter 1: If Someone Doesn't Like What You Have to Say, You Can Always Eat Them
Author's note: I'm excited to bring you this first chapter in my new multi-chapter Klaroline work! In this alternative universe, vampire Caroline is a smart, sassy college professor specializing in ancient cultures. She's unveiling her latest research in which she debunks the famous "Sun and Moon Curse" artifacts. Imagine her surprise when she meets the mysterious hybrid who perpetrated the hoax!
Caroline Forbes' blue eyes glittered with triumph as she gazed at her captivated audience. Her voice, brimming with confidence, echoed throughout the enormous lecture hall as she delivered the closing piece of her latest research findings. As a tenured college professor, one would think she would be past the insecurities and accompanying stage fright when giving a presentation, but she found that some parts of her DNA were too stubbornly ingrained to change. She noticed with distaste how her voice always would start small and uncertain as she kicked off her opening notes, and it wasn't until she could feel the crowd's genuine interest that she could allow herself to relax.
Countless times she had tried telling herself that if someone doesn't like what you have to say, you can always eat them after the lecture, but still her insecurities lingered. Being a vampire for more than a century apparently wasn't the confidence booster one would imagine it to be. "In conclusion, thanks to radiocarbon dating, my findings indicate that all of the artifacts associated with the so-called 'Sun and Moon Curse', originated around the same time — the mid-to-late 13th century." While her controversial statement didn't earn the same number of startled gasps from her audience that it had nearly an hour ago when she began her lecture, she still noticed that everyone's attention was upon her, hanging on her every word. She owned this stage.
She had spent nearly a year studying every aspect of the curious folklore tale and now she was reaping the rewards of her hard work. The Sun and Moon Curse was said to be an Aztec curse that a shaman had cast upon vampires and werewolves in which werewolves would only be able to turn on a full moon and vampires would burn in the sun. Being a vampire, naturally Caroline had wondered if the curse was real, but nothing in her findings proved conclusive, so she pushed forward with her research, assuming that it was a mildly entertaining origin myth.
What made this particular folklore so intriguing was the unprecedented fact that it was well-known enough to appear in multiple cultures throughout the world, from Aztec etchings to Roman scrolls and even African tribal carvings. Since her expertise was ancient civilizations, she had been drawn to the legend from the beginning and had spent countless hours poring over the artifacts theorizing the link between the curse's appearance in such diverse cultures and timelines. Late one night, she happened to be staring at the precise curvature of the Latin words taken from the Roman scrolls and noticed how the strokes were bold and confident.
That in and of itself was nothing, but she also happened to have detailed photos of the African tribal carvings lying next to it. The ancient Nsibidi script showed the same characteristics — every line was precise and seemed to carry a lot of power behind the hand that created the markings. She had had the absurd thought that wouldn't it be hilarious if the myth had been a hoax perpetrated by the same individual who had possessed a working knowledge of multiple ancient cultures and decided to create artifacts and scatter them throughout the world for their own amusement.
She had laughed at herself the next day, but the thought was always at the back of her mind, nagging her until she started paying attention. She prided herself on following her instincts, and once she suspended her disbelief, she started noticing other inconsistencies among the artifacts that led her to believe her theory was correct.
"As I mentioned earlier, you can see that the individual, while highly educated for the 13th century, did not have a firm grasp of the Nsibidi script of West Central Africa. Its characters demand more curvature. These markings are much more rigid, as though the creator had gone directly from crafting the hard edges of the Latin found in the Roman scrolls and couldn't quite make a convincing transition to the African tribal carvings." She gestured with her laser pointer to the enhanced PowerPoint slide, noting with satisfaction the murmurs of approval she picked up with her vampire hearing throughout the lecture hall.
Her audience chuckled at her cutting remarks and she couldn't help but add, "Also, it appears the creator meant to use the symbol for 'war' in this tribal etching, but instead used a symbol that indicates "goat'. Or possibly 'big breasts', so perhaps our forger was a goat herder with an overactive imagination and a bit of a fetish," she concluded with a grin, earning another round of laughter from her audience.
"While it is doubtful we will ever discover the identity of the unusual individual who created these artifacts to perpetuate the legend of the Sun and Moon Curse, or learn their puzzling motivations behind such an unprecedented act all those centuries ago, we can all agree it makes for a fascinating footnote in history," Caroline concluded with a warm smile, shuffling her index cards and basking in the afterglow of another successful lecture. The thundering applause from the audience stroked her ego and she was pleased to see the sour look upon Tyler Lockwood's face as he took note of the positive attention she was receiving.
Tyler was a mediocre professor of history at the university, and constantly went out of his way to try to belittle Caroline's research and applied for many of the same grants because he was threatened by her enviable career at such a young age. To the mortal world, Caroline appeared as a young woman in her mid-20s, having been turned into a vampire when she was 26. She was known as a gifted prodigy, and thanks to some helpful spells from her powerful witch friend Bonnie, she would be able to maintain this identity for at least another two decades before the humans would become suspicious.
The audience began to filter out of the lecture hall and she started packing up her notes, exhausted but exhilarated by what she had achieved with her research. She planned to squeeze at least three journal articles out of this research, and, if she was fortunate, may even get her own chapter in an upcoming edition of the Historical Anthology of World Cultures that was updated every few years. Methodical. Precise. Organized. Every aspect of her life was carefully planned out, and she took absurd pleasure in the comfort it brought her. She couldn't possibly have predicted how her life was about to be turned upside down.
Caroline had just turned off the projector when an amused, accented voice startled her. "What a fascinating lecture, sweetheart. I particularly enjoyed your prickly comments about the forger's tenuous grasp of ancient languages. Tell me, are you always so judgmental?"
