This one was based on a prompt on my Katherine RP account where she recounts the one person she loved who she never should have.
Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Just one?" she asked, scoffing. Most of the people whom she had loved in her long life ended up being terrible ideas - she figured it was her curse.
But one - one always stood out from the rest. Because this person never loved her back. He was simply using her as a means to an end - a simple little human to be manipulated before being slaughtered over an alter fire. His own personal little windup toy that he gave lies and half truths to in hopes that she would go along with them without asking - and that is exactly what she did.
There was one time in her lifetime when she remembered feeling happy, safe, loved, and wanted. Of course, this would all turn out to be a lie - but that still didn't diminish what she felt once upon a time.
"His name was Klaus." she shook her head. "God, that bastard. The Original Hybrid himself - the self-proclaimed most powerful man to ever roam the earth." she rolled her eyes. "I met him in England shortly after being banished there from my little village in Bulgaria. He took me in and showed me an immense amount of kindness - something that I had never truly received especially after my pregnancy."
"He was so enchanting. He told the most interesting stories of adventures he had throughout his years - and the way he told them made you imagine that you were there through it all." The normally stoic and sarcastic Katherine now looked as if she were that teenager in England all those years ago - still in love with the man she was describing. "And his paintings.." she started, smiling. "Indescribable." the brunette had no other words for the things she remembered - despite the horrors this man had committed - she knew he was a lovely painter. She remembered how he would make her pose for his art - hours upon hours spent laying still so he could capture her with his easel - and she didn't regret a single second of it.
"I was tangled in his web of lies, and honestly it is shocking I ever got out of it." her expression darkened. "When I learned of the truth.. it was.. mortifying. I was so caught off guard by this that.. I still do not know what it is I was feeling at that time." It all blurred together - the reveal followed by her putting on her bravest face in front of him and courageously stealing the moonstone had always kept so close to him from his pocket. "I loved him - there is no doubt in my mind that I did. I loved his brother, too - but just.. in a different way. I honestly can't tell you how much it hurt to find out that both of them had been lying to me for so long." she confessed.
"-but now, I hate him. And the feeling is mutual. The feelings of love I once felt for him have all caught fire and turned to ash, causing me to replace them with pure unadulterated loathing. He killed my family and hunted me down for centuries. I do not know if anyone would be able to feel anything but hatred toward someone like that."
"He made me what I am today and perhaps a part of me should thank him for that - because I am no longer the scared little girl who fell for seemingly kind eyes and entrancing words. I'm better than I was, stronger."
She said this with absolute certainty - no part of her was lying about this, or at least she didn't think she was.
But what she wouldn't ever reveal to anyone - not even herself - was that there would always be a part of her that loved Klaus. Always that little piece of her that clings onto the humanity she abandoned that would never cease to love him. Because she had always felt a connection to him, right from the very start. As if they were somehow the same person, just torn apart by fate.
She could never truly hate him because then what would that mean for her? If they were indeed as similar as she believed - hating him would be like hating herself.
And if she hated herself...
She couldn't admit this to herself, though, because it would make her doubt her entire life. Everything she did was built upon her hatred of this one man. If she even for a second felt differently.. everything that she was would crumble around her.