A/N: Hii! Thx for taking a look at this story, which will be my... God, I can't even remember how many VD fanfics I've written xD Anyway, I hope you like it and I promise you it will get more interesting. This story will be rated M for limes (gotta love limes xD) and I will be working a bit with Niknakz93, who helped me with the start :D
Btw, I'm almost done with the sequel to my other Klaus/OC fanfic "Völva". The sequel is named "The Sacrifice" and I'm also working on a Damon/OC fanfic named "Opposites Tend To Attract" if ya wanna check them out ;)
Again, I hope you like it and please review!
Disclaimer: (Sadly) I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of its characters. I only own those who aren't in the show or the books :)
Desires of the Heart
Prologue:
Bulgaria, 1491
"Come on, Ellie! We will be late if we do not hurry!" Katerina yelled as she ran past her older sister, hands holding up her beautiful dress, and her cheeks starting to turn red out of exhaustion.
A giggle escaped from her sister's lips, but she was right. They would be late if they did not hurry and then their mother would be very displeased. Tonight Katerina was attending her first ball, whilst this was Elizabeth's fourth, and therefore she was more excited about this than her sister.
Sometimes Elizabeth wished that she could turn back the time to those years where her parents were not trying their best to find a proper suitor to her. Ever since she turned 18 this year, they had been sending her off to all the fancy parties so she would find a wealthy suitor, who would marry a rather… outspoken young woman like her.
Elizabeth did not believe in marriage nor did she want to become the wife of a man, whom she did not love. She had many friends who felt miserable and who turned to their lovers whenever they were sad, while their husbands would turn to their mistresses. But even if she ever fell in love with a young gentleman, then she still would not marry him as she wanted to be free and travel the world rather than to sit in a fancy home all day and become a full-time mother.
"Oh… I do not feel so good," Katerina said, holding a hand to her stomach and bending over at the entrance of our home. Elizabeth quickly helped her inside and their mother rushed to aid her youngest daughter, who looked rather pale. Elizabeth truly hoped that she had not become ill, because she knew how much she had been looking forward to this ball. "Mother, I think she might have eaten the poisonous berries in the woods."
Their mother nodded in agreement for she did also notice the symptoms Katerina showed. Elizabeth had told her many times before not to eat the wild berries in the woods, but Katerina wanted to taste them and never thought that they could be poisonous to her, because of their innocent looks.
"But I cannot be ill tonight, Mother!" Katerina said stubbornly.
Elizabeth pitied Katerina and for a moment she actually considered pretending to be ill as well, but their Father quickly ushered her in to her boudoir and told the maids dress her before the carriage arrived. Elizabeth did not say a word, but simply stood in front of the beauty mirror and watched as the maids laced her corset. Her long, dark ebony hair was then curled and twisted like all the other young women's hair was and she began mentally preparing herself for how this night was going to go.
"You look beautiful, Miss Petrova!" one of the maids said cheerfully, taking Elizabeth's attention away from her deep thoughts. She stared at her reflection for a moment and sighed by the sight of those sad, dark brown eyes that stared right back at her. "Is something wrong, Miss?"
"Oh no, not at all," Elizabeth lied and turned away from the mirror when she heard her father's deep voice calling her name from outside their home. The carriage had finally arrived and she needed to go, but before she left her home she went in to her sister's bedroom and saw her crying sister lie in her bed. "Katerina, do not cry… I am sure you will be invited to another ball soon. Just… stay away from the wild berries in the woods, will you?"
Katerina wiped her tears away and looked at her older sister, who soon would be approached by well-known, wealthy, and lonely men. She sighed, but trusted her sister's words and simply wished her good luck. Elizabeth planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and then rushed outside to her impatient father who was waiting at the carriage outside their home. She stepped inside and discretely crossed her fingers, hoping deeply that tonight something good would happen to her.
When Elizabeth arrived at the marvelous mansion that was owned by the wealthiest family in town, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before entering the crowded entrance that was filled with familiar and unknown faces.
Personally, she did not know the family that well, but apparently someone who did know her had invited her and she was immensely frustrated by this. Most young women at her age would be very joyful to be invited to such an extraordinary ball like this one, but she was not one of those women. Every day she prayed to God that she would not be invited to any more parties, because her parents would always force her to go so she could find a proper suitor.
Elizabeth took another breath, first realizing now how tight her corset had been laced, and she glanced around in the beautiful ballroom in an attempt to find someone she knew. Someone she could talk with and who would help her avoid possible suitors. Sadly, destiny had other plans for Elizabeth tonight as a rather old, but very wealthy Lord soon approached her and introduced himself to her as the French Seigneur Jacques Chevalier II.
Elizabeth immediately found the old Seigneur very… tiresome. He spent almost half an hour by talking mostly about himself and about how much he owned in his hometown Paris. Of course Elizabeth tried to interrupt a couple of times to get a word in, but he seemed more interested in her looks rather than of which qualities she also held.
"Excusez-moi, but I do not reckon the young woman is solely interested in you, mon Seigneur." someone said, catching Elizabeth's full attention.
She was immediately stunned by the way he gazed at her with his haunting ocean-blue eyes and felt her heart flutter inside her chest. She did not know why she felt like this to a young gentleman like him. His wavy shoulder-long blondish hair, his charming and somewhat playful smirk, and his fashionable clothes were all no different to the other young gentlemen she had met. However, there was something peculiar about him – something that almost felt eerie.
"And just who do you think you are since you feel like interrupting my conversation with her?" Seigneur Chevalier asked angrily.
Elizabeth wondered that herself. She had never met a young man like him, who would bluntly come with his opinion to a much older and probably wealthier nobleman like Seigneur Chevalier. But in a way she actually found him refreshing and fascinating. Not that she would every say that aloud to him, because he – like many other men – might not care about her opinions on certain things.
However, the young gentleman seemed far from scared by the French nobleman in front of him. He simply caught the nobleman's full attention and told him to leave Elizabeth alone. But Elizabeth used this opportunity to sneak away from the two men as she did not want to neither of them. She just wanted this night to be over so she could go back home to her ill sister and take care of her.
Therefore, she chose to walk away from the crowd and went outside to the lone garden to keep it company. She wanted so badly to run away, to live a life of her own, and forget about her responsibilities as the firstborn daughter in her family. But as long as Katerina would not leave their home, she could not make herself leave. She loved her sister dearly and would do everything for her. Even to stay in their hometown and become the wife of a fine gentleman.
"Do you often wander off after being helped from being bored to death?" a familiar voice asked teasingly, making her blush out of embarrassment of what she did.
She knew that it was the young man she met before and was tempted to ignore his comment. But she still felt an odd attraction to this man and therefore she simply turned to him, meeting those haunting eyes of his.
"No, of course not and I do apologize. I simply needed some fresh air," she answered politely. "I hope Seigneur Chevalier was not too harsh with you…?"
"Lord Niklaus," he finished charmingly. "But do call me Klaus. And you are… ah, the infamous Elizabeth, whom I have heard so much about tonight. It seems you tend to avoid any possible suitors… Why is that, if I may ask?"
"You must certainly not," she said a tad irritated now. She did not like gossip and especially not when it was about her. And why was he even talking with her if he had heard about her tendencies? "But yes, I am in fact Elizabeth."
The Original smirked smugly and glanced at her from head to toe, clearly interested in what he saw. After he had "rescued" her from the stuck-up Seigneur Chevalier, he had been talking with many people and they all seemed to be puzzled of why the young Miss Elizabeth always avoided or rejected the suitors. He had heard how she had rejected even a fine duke from England, because he was posh.
"Well, Miss Elizabeth, it would very much please me if you would care to dance with me. I do not wish to propose. I simply want your attention for a couple of minutes – no more, no less." Klaus said, flashing her, a smirk that most young women usually fell for.
"I hardly believe that a man like you is not interested in more than just a dance with me," Elizabeth said defiantly. She had met men like Klaus before, she knew his tricks, his smirks, and his charming words, and she promised herself that she was not going to fall for him, because falling for him meant that they might end up getting married. "Now, if you would excuse me, then–"
Elizabeth was cut off by the sound of a woman's scream nearby and without thinking, she immediately ran towards the sound. Klaus was puzzled of why this young woman would do such a dangerous thing, but he soon followed her even though he knew exactly what was happening to the woman. It seemed that he was not the only vampire in town tonight…
"Well, look at that! Two meals in one night… how did I ever become so lucky?" the vampire said, tossing the now dead woman aside.
He glanced up at Elizabeth and smirked devilishly, blood still dripping from his mouth. Elizabeth gasped by the sight and was about to scream too when the vampire suddenly attacked her, sinking his sharp fangs into her exposed neck and draining her from blood. He only managed to drink a little bit of her blood before the Original pulled him away from her and penetrated his chest with his hand.
But when the Original pulled the vampire's heart out and then turned his focus back at Elizabeth, he noticed that she was gone. Like any other human she had a survival instinct and right now her instinct had told her to run as fast as she could.
However, when she reached the woods she felt herself bump into something hard and fell to the ground. She looked up and when her eyes caught Klaus' eyes, she immediately tried to get away again. She turned around and as she rose to her feet, she felt his arm around her waist, stopping her from running away.
"Let go off me, you-you monster!" Elizabeth panted, trying to push him away from her.
Klaus simply chuckled, grabbed both of her wrists, and forced her to face him. He cupped her face in his hands and held her still, long enough for her to calm down. He actually expected her to hit him, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the complete opposite. Instead, she just stood there and looked at him with scared eyes.
"You are bleeding," Klaus stated, making Elizabeth frown for a moment. He chuckled of that, because he soon realized that the reason to why she became so calm. But he needed to heal her wound and therefore he bit his wrist open, then forced her to drink his blood. "It will heal your wound."
Elizabeth tried pushing him away, but he slipped an arm around her waist, and held her close to his body as she reluctantly drank his blood. When he decided she had had enough, he wiped the remaining blood on her lips away and smiled weakly by the sight of her.
"Wha-what are you?" Elizabeth asked frantically, touching where she was bitten.
She found neither the wound nor blood and wondered for a moment if any of it had been real. Had she really been attacked by a creature of the night? She had heard tons of silly stories about them, but never once did she actually believe in them.
"This is the second time I help you tonight and once again you fled from me," Klaus said, smirking charmingly and making Elizabeth blush rapidly. She looked away and turned her eyes to the party far away from where they were. Her eyes widened as she saw flames, smoke, and dark figures running screaming away from there. Klaus too watched the scenery and knew that this could only be the work of werewolves. He did not expect them to come so soon, but he did kill the leader of the pack a few days ago. "Let me take you home. It is not safe to go back."
Elizabeth did not resist now, but let him take her hand and usher her safely away from the area. She was scared and puzzled, but she also felt somewhat excited of the feeling of being in danger. And even now as she walked with the mysterious hero of hers, she felt a strong attraction to him that caused her heart to flutter again.
"You are one of them, am I right? A creature of the night, I mean." Elizabeth said almost curiously.
Klaus glanced at her for a moment and simply smiled as he nodded and corrected her. "We usually go by the term vampire now."
Now Elizabeth stopped dead in her track and Klaus could hear her heartbeat increase its pace. His gaze trailed down to the pulsating vein in her neck and he felt tempted to take a bite like the other and clearly more inexperienced vampire had done.
"But why did you save me then?" Elizabeth asked anxiously now.
"I do not wish to see you dead. It would be a shame to kill a beauty like yourself," Klaus answered in a way that made her heart skip a beat, which was something that even Elizabeth herself did not expect to happen. "You wish to become one too?"
Elizabeth went to shake her head, but she changed her mind and thought about it instead. She had heard stories about how vampires traveled the world and lived a wicked, but free life. They were like demons and did exactly what they wanted to with no care in the world. But… what about Katerina? She could not leave her younger sister, and become a vampire too or… could she?
"Does it hurt? To be turned, that is?" she asked.
Klaus shook his head even though it was a lie. Of course it would hurt when she would get her fangs, but he needed female company on his many journeys and found her very interesting. Especially, after hearing all those things about her being every gentleman's worst nightmare.
"So do you want me to turn you or not, Elizabeth?" he asked playfully.
Elizabeth closed her eyes for a moment; trying to think this idea through thoroughly before she did something she was going to regret. But then she realized something. She had gotten the opportunity that she had been praying so hard to get and the only thing she had to do was to say one single word.
"Yes," she said and stepped closer to him. "I want you to turn me, Klaus."
