My name is Annalie.
(But you can call me Ana.)
I am 1000 years old. Giver or take a couple of years. And here is a few parts of my story, for you see – I am one of a kind and telling you it all would take longer than your body could sustain you.
I was born in eastern Europe very long ago. Longer than humankind can accurately remember. My sister married a wealthy landowner named Mikael. They had my nieces and nephews. Three are still alive, you might know them. They're called Rebekah, Elijah and Niklaus. There were many more back then, when the plague broke out. I was taken. Mikael and my sister put me in a cave where I was no danger to anyone else. Klaus and Elijah both came that night. Though they don't know that. The next morning I was told by my nurse that the family had left. They left me there to die. But I didn't. The spirit of mother earth took pity on my pain and nurtured me back to health. It only lasted a few years. But I took care of my allotted time. I discovered I could wield the elements and I discovered that I could not change my appearance. Nor age. It was wonderful. A winter many years later took my parents and siblings. It was dreadful. I watched them cough themselves to death. I heard their rattling breaths as their hearts grew weaker and weaker. And I too faded away. I was back in the cave. I wished I were dead. But there was a boy, my husband, he watched over me. That morning he cut his hand on a rock and I sucked the dirt out and his blood. I didn't know. My thoughts were muddled. And then I died. An ocean away my sister, the witch, cursed her blood with everlasting life and Mikael killed them. The spirits didn't want me to die and the blood curse made its lap around the world. I was the only one still alive and I died at the exact moment, and I had foreign blood in my system. It is the strangest feeling, to walk on the other side and see yourself lying there. And then feel that force, that connection pulling you, kicking and screaming back in. I remember it well. I woke up. And I was so hungry. And so out of control. And so scared. And my husband stared at me and screamed. I flipped. The urge was too strong. He was my first kill. The grief, knowing what I'd done, it spun me over the edge. I became the first ripper. That village vanished out of sight, out of history, far beneath the Earth's crust. You have to understand, I had no idea what was happening. No idea how it was possible to be an abomination of nature. I was alone.
The first vampire I met, I killed. First werewolf, same. But they kept coming. That's when I realized that the curse was spreading and I could do the same. Fifty years. Pitiful. But it wasn't until Italy during the 1200s that I realized I wasn't alone, that my family was somehow still alive. I was in St Antonio during a festival, watching one of the Five put on a rather dull display for the easily charmed assemble. And that's when I saw them. Across the crowd as alive as I was. Rebekah. Elijah. And Niklaus. I compelled the hunter to double cross them. I was still so angry. So angry I didn't even stop to make sense of their appearance. I just cared that they were there. They abandoned me. They left me to die. They were no family of mine. I had Alex, he was so cute and Rebekah was so in love with him. It was fun to watch. He was enchanted by me and my tricks. Yes, that's right. I am still a witch. And my powers grew with my hate and my love and my life. I was sad to see him go but it was worth tearing that trio apart. It wasn't difficult to make Klaus kill him. He already wanted to. I just gave him a nudge in the right direction. The first time he saw me he almost jumped out of his skin. One would think he saw a ghost. Of course I made him forget this. It wasn't time. Yet.
It was in Italy that I noticed how my powers grew. I was astounded, having learnt my sister's fate. A nature's servant can't be an abomination against nature. But somehow I became the first and last exception. The impossible hybrid. I heard the rules and I broke them. I broke them all. And I was the most powerful being to walk the Earth.
I have lived many lives over the years, in many cultures. One still considers me a God. They're so cute. I have loved and hated, I have fought wars and made peace. I have created and I have destroyed. I have raised vampires from a mortal life and I have helped werewolves survive the wild and witches harvest the magic only blood can give.
But this story really begins one stormy night when I met the last man I thought I'd ever see. Mikael. He was strong and we had an affair. It was hot and messy and he wanted money and I paid him with a knife in the back. I don't care for things like that. I gave my witches the power they needed to take him down. But the damage was done. And contained. That is, until 17 years ago. There is no explanation apart from my extraordinary situation. But I bore a child, a daughter. Even inside me I could feel the power she wielded and I had never felt such a thing before. She is stronger than me. But I am more invincible than her. So we balance each other out. But she scared me. I am ashamed to admit. I took her to see an old friend of mine in New Orleans, a town my relatives had founded many years earlier, and that friend was the man I made its king when my nephews and nièce split – Marcellus. And I gave my girl to a couple who I compelled to believe was their own daughter. She still had the ancestral power, and no one would know just how far back that power went. She grew up quite happily. Fell in love with a fella named Tim, brilliant violinist. She's a bit emotional but she does have a taste in men. When she hit puberty I tipped Marcel off and he took her out of school and into hiding. She was safe from those witches who was out to kill her. We couldn't have that, now could we? She spent her days in an attic.
While I roamed the world.
Had I turned off my humanity switch? No. It just dulled with time. I love ten times more than man. I hate with a fury that could match the seven circles of hell. I grieve with the heart loss of a thousand mothers of war. But one thing I do not feel: remorse. If I am to be blunt – I enjoy the little games, the toying with humans. I chose one, have some fun with them and then I kill them. Just like that. They have no purpose anymore. These ants of time. And I always get what I want. No matter how I get it. Perhaps, in that way, I am more like my nephew than any of the others. Doesn't change the way I feel about them. And I do talk about them – these old ones. And no one has heard more tales than my daughter.
I came back to her. I came back to New Orleans one summer day just over a year ago. Bless her. She scolded me for using so much magic, it disturbed her sensing when someone else was using it. That's my girl. Fearless and brave, compassionate and powerful.
I found my nephew in his mansion. There was that tickling, rippling effect as the barrier that keeps uninvited vampires out washed over me as I stepped over the threshold. How such a little thing can keep nightcrawlers away I will never understand, but on the other hand they're not me. No one is, but I. There were voices coming from the drawing room. Like the voices of ghosts from long ago, hardened and roughened by time. The voices of boys grown up.
Elijah: How do you want to play this, brother?
Klaus: I'm gonna kill that little witch bitch!
Me: And here I thought family mattered to you, my dear Niklaus. After all there are at least a few dozen boys who call you their brother.
Klaus turned around, fury in his eyes, and then fear. Glowing white hot in his eyes. I must have laughed because Elijah sat down with such a force the chair creeked beneath him. Relishing in the impact I had done - I was gone again.
I waited in the graveyard. I knew he was going to come. Come looking for the impossible. A past long since gone. And sure enough. There he was, looking for me among his precious witch coven, no doubt blaming the hallucination on them. I lured him further up the necropolis. It was so easy. Klaus has always been a fool. I waited by a gravestone belonging to one of my old allies back in the days. I sensed him behind me. Hesitating. Oh, the power.
Me: The Bennetts had potential. Took me a long time to prepare. And then you came and destroyed it all. Tss, such a foolish boy. Luckily I created a strong back-up.
Klaus: The Devereuxs.
His voice shook ever so slightly. He and I was the same like this, never ones to walk around the elephant in the room. I gazed at him, watching his every move. And what I saw I couldn't describe with words. It was fear and wonder, and hate and love and disbelief and a realization. Allt at once. He knew why I had come. I think he knew how I could be there. He certaintly knew he had earned my wrath. But did he guess my real reason for being in New Orleans? No. Marcellus couldn't tell him. I've made sure of that. And I couldn't help but smile.
Me: What's the matter, Nik? You look a little pale.
Klaus: This is your doing. All of it. My mother. The ritual. Jane's message. New Orleans. Father's little secrets. You gave Davina to Marcellus to lure us back.
Ok. So I had underestimated him. I must remember not to do that again.
Me: Good. I see 1000 years gave you a few more, what do they call them – IQ points.
Klaus: Why here?
Me: New Orleans is your baby, Nik. The first one you created and nourished. The first one you watched grow up. First one you scolded and the first who got away.
I will not dwell on the events that followed. I had my own agenda. These people tried to kill my daughter and no one does that. If they love their own lives. And it was time for Klaus to realize that New Orleans wasn't his unless I granted it to him. It was some time later that he came to me once more, tears in his eyes and begging me to forgive him. It took all he got to give sound to the air coming from his lungs.
Klaus: Please!
Me: No.
Klaus: Why are you doing this?
Me: When you've been alive for 1000 years one of two things happen. You either become human or you turn into a monster. And being a monster is just much more fun.
Klaus: I will destroy you and the girl. Family or not.
Me: Will you?
Klaus: Try me.
ME: Give it your best shot.
He prepared to attack and at the last minute I stopped him. He was mid-air and then, remarkably enough, he flew. It was simple enough. A thought and the twitch of a smile. He didn't expect that.
Me: Ah-a. Just remember your mother's dead, Nik. For all intents and purposes. You killed her physical form. Mikael's more monster than man. Your father is dead. Kill me and their bloodline dies. Do you hate me so much you would sacrifice your own life?
Klaus: You self-possessed little bitch! Think you're so important.
Me: That's because I am.
Klaus: Please, Annalie. Leave.
Me: Oh I have every intention of leaving.
Klaus: Where to?
Me: Mystic falls.
And I turned and forgot our little squabble. There were other, more pressing things on my mind. A certain something my witches were sworn to protect before their, dare I say, most inconvenient demise.
I know he called ahead and warned the local vampires and witches. But that is the beauty of coming to the Bennett's last home. Their spirits welcomed me. And that's when I met the most impossible girl I ever saw; Elena Gilbert. I thought the doppelgänger line had ended with Katerina Petrova, but how wrong I was and it wasn't long until I had solved the riddle, with a little help from the Salvatore brothers. They are so cute and can't help but helping a sweet young woman who asks for help. And then things really did get out of hand and all my little secrets and alliances where laid out in the open. Oh well, no reason to cry over spilt milk. I was standing by the lakeshore, trying to gather my thoughts when I sensed Elena behind me. Brave girl, I must admit. And not one to stand on ceremonies.
Elena: You could have let Matt die.
Me: Yes.
Elena: Why didn't you?
Me: His death wasn't necessary.
Elena: That never seems to matter in the end.
Me: Unlike others, I love a good point.
Elena: Wait. When we met you knew me. How?
Me: I know all of you. Not that you are very common of course but they are following you around. I can sense them. I bet your brother can too.
Elena: Leave Jeremy out of it.
Me: I take it you're not curious then?
Elena: Of what?
Me: Who the next girl is who will be forced to wear your face.
Elena: The next…?
Me: Your transformation has triggered the curse. You died. Surely you knew? The moment you became a vampire a girl was born and she'll grow up and… Well, I believe you know the story.
Elena: Does Klaus know?
Me: No. Not yet.
Elena: Please, Ana. Don't tell him.
Me: Why not?
Elena: Name your prize.
Me: An eye for an eye.
Elena: Anything.
Klaus would figure it out. He would in good time. And so we struck our deal. Humans, even vampires who left the switch on, are easy to manipulate. Save a loved one's life and they swear their undying loyalty to you. How very convenient. And how very odd that I should like her. But she reminds me of Davina and of myself so long ago. I took her into the woods, far from prying ears and eyes. She was very antsy. Pitiful. But she was safe for now. We stopped and I took her by force to a dark glade. The place for my plan to come alive. Elena was fighting but I was stronger.
Elena: Who are you!?
Me: I'm the original.
She stopped short on that. Forgetting for a moment to fight. To be scared. She stared.
Elena: You are an original?
Me: No. I'm the original. The last remaining of our little trio.
Elena: But…
Me: You're wrong. I say trio. Me, Mikael and Esther. We are truly the originals. We're the oldest. We turned first. Nik, Elijah, Rebekah and Davina are the second generation. Did they tell you differently? Well, of course they did. Their parents are gone and them still living. They didn't know until very recently that the only reason why that is, is me. Sweet irony, is it not? They left me to die, did you know that?
Elena: No.
Me: Are you afraid, Elena Gilbert?
Elena: Yes.
Me: Good. You should be. Because that dagger will only end up in your own chest if you use it. (Elena puts it away, shamed) That's better. Now, where was I? Oh yes. Two generations of originals. And now a third. Fancy that. There is hope after all.
I reached out into the air before us and felt the power surge. All around us the trees lit up by fireflies. I love the little things, so convenient. And from the ground a sapling poke up, drawn out by my fingers. Elena gasped and took a step back as her hand split open and blood dripped onto the ground. She watched it heal, wide eyes and with that annoying look of slow confusion and logics falling into place.
Elena: How did you do that?
Me: I can create life, just as much as I can take it away. When my sister turned my niece and nephews I died in a cave an ocean away. I am a witch, nature loved me and so she made our blood our power. I woke up with an undeniable thirst for blood. My husband got in the way and that was me. No one spiked my drink, no one killed me, but the other side was closed to me and so I became a vampire. And yet I can feel every thread of the Earth as she hurls through space.
I stopped to admire my work. There was a young oak in the middle of the glade now. It was white as snow and with evergreen leaves. I was filled with a sense of joy.
Elena: You resurrected the White Oak Tree.
I put defences up and we left. I took Elena home and then I let the night take me into her arms.
And back I went to the ever-changing city of New Orleans. It was time to meet Marcellus and Klaus and have a few words. There was a bar that I knew well, and sure enough I joined them by the bar. It was wonderful to see these two men jump and go pale, trying to retain their postures in public. But would he tell Marcellus who I really was? Would Marceullus?
Klaus: Bourbon please, and one for my friend.
Me: Make that a vodka whiskey and that is for me.
Klaus: And who the hell are… (Turns around) You.
Me: Missed me?
Klaus: You're… Here.
Me: Hello, Nik.
Klaus: Ana.
Marcellus: You two know each other?
Me: Oh, we go way, way back.
Marcellus: Hm. Another one of your ex-girlfriends, Klaus?
Klaus: Not exactly, no.
Me: Oh, don't be shy, Niklaus. We had a fling, remember? (I winked at Marceullus) I was his first kiss.
Marcellus: Really?
Me: Mm, I only did it out of pity.
Marcellus: Oof.
Klaus: Funny. Now I remember why we left you to die.
Me: Ouch. I'm hurt.
I joined them that night and we buried our axes. For now. For I sensed a greater threat in the air, coming from the ground. And I knew; the price I would have to pay was larger than my life. I was about to loose my soul to save theirs.